Sunday, March 30, 2008, 2:16 PM
kohconut
i think i know you're back from camp. haha. that wasn't my room, though i didn't exactly have a room to myself when i was four. shared with the maid.
sk
my mum washes clothes by hand. washing machine's for spinning dry. maybe your young isn't as young as my young. haha.
kohconut
i've never tried fitting into mine ever since my age turned out to have two digits.
yesterday i went to toa payoh, then i saw, pretty much to my astonishment, a certain brand of gel's "new" packaging.
that was what our prototype looked like, exactly, when my group did a project in primary 4.
that's seven years ago. we dismissed that idea because we thought that there'll always be some leftover gel that would end up wasted.
gagggggggg. i need ideas for project work. i'm sure my pi won't work. if it gets an ae i'll be happy.
but it's draft one anyway.
again from yesterday. my mum and i were walking home after lunch (no, not from toa payoh, that'll be crazy). then we saw this champagne gold bmw. when it passed us in a not-that-fast speed, i peeked in. the driver was a elderly man in coat and tie, and beside him was his (i suppose) wife wearing something that looked like an evening gown.
apparently my mum saw the same sight, and we were staring at each other with pretty big eyes.
how often do you get to see really formal-looking people in a beautiful car.
the kitchen toilet has purple handwash that smells like lavender. don't like the smell, but the colour makes me want to wash my hands more.
i'm stuck at math's gp. it's not making sense to me. especially after my eight rounds in the sun this morning.
and no, strawberry milk doesn't give me inspiration. running does.
steph.
Saturday, March 29, 2008, 10:07 AM
siewkiang
you can go fight over him with seb. i've long gotten over chucky.
before i start on my math and chem tutorials, i shall quote from yesterday's gp lesson.
from pg30 of our skills pack, taken from a's nov'01,
"the main point of adolescence, the very reason why teenagers exist, is to differ, and mainly to differ from their parents."dunno. i like that sentence very much.
and again from the same paper, this time pg32 of the skills pack,
"and usually, when it's all over (when teenagers have grown up), you (parents) get what you originally ordered--someone quite separate from you, but closely related, who might win a Nobel Peace Prize, or marry someone terrible, and whatever, you'd trust them with your life."at the point where "marry someone terrible" was read, i exclaimed, "that's definitely not what my parents want." THEN I HEARD GRACE LAUGH, from two seats away. it's an inside joke thing, cracked me up pretty much in class.
and yea, if i'm here online right now, it means i've got nothing on today. jas and gang are going to ecp at noon and funorama began more than half an hour ago.
okay. start on sigma and mi and drill redox.
i've been trying to convince myself, but apparently i'm not a very convincing person.
steph.
Friday, March 28, 2008, 10:30 PM
my blog analytics these few day's pathetic.
tomorrow's ac's funorama. it was initially a german class outing, where we get tickets from nic then go together wearing our german shirts. then dunno why we axed that plan.
butterfly just asked if i want to go. i doubt, cuz school's stressing me out pretty much. suddenly all the tests are coming and i feel like a sec four all over again.
let's see.
-chem tca on mole concept, 31marnot forgetting horrible tutorials which i have to somehow or another force them to make sense to me.
-gp tca, compre, 2apr
-math quiz on series and sequences, sigma and all, 11apr
-chem lecture test on tutorials one and two, week four
-math lecture test on chapters three and four, week 6
-econs tt on demand supply and price d, week 6
-pw pi final draft due 29apr
-econs group assignment due i forgot when.
econs group e! sam mel vita nutella xueni and me. our one group is more than one quarter of the class. dunno what we're going to do on. i lost that piece of project requirements paper.
on a brighter side. maybe if there really isn't cssp then i'll have more time to do everything.
oh yea. i'm meant to blog about my convo with flea during econs lecture in lt5 yesterday. i decided not to scan in my notbook pages because there're ALOT of stuff to be censored.
#1: we made mr tan grow. like, we drew stickmen that were ascending in size.question: how do you read a palm?
#2: she taught me how to use weird smilies.
#3: a02's suspected to be les. felice has a girlfriend in aj.
#4: flea had fun guessing my twleve school choices for jae.
#5: discussion about last year's nh council. there's a war raging in some school far far away.
#6: we were so bored we began reacting a cetrain hydroxide with acid.
#7: the discussion went as far as to a certain teacher whom we suspect loves flea alot.
answer:
weien thinks i'm going through end sec1/beginning sec2 again. only i'm sure this time i know better.
steph.
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 9:45 PM
yanru
hello hello! has mugging in aj been fun? of course i lookED cute. doesn't everybody, at least when they were young. and please, i didn't live in a washing machine. i lived in the house that contained this washing machine. lawl.
RAHHHH. is the cssp exco going to email us soon. all we know is that there's a cohesion training on sat, as for venue and time and attire and stuff, we've got completely no idea.
i think i need to stare at my tutorials. and do them.
dinner with yewei just now, and i've got another rj shirt with me. this time the green one. but it's liwen's. we talked pretty much, and i learnt more stuff about how rj really's like. i've got no idea how yewei can juggle french and four ccas and studies.
somebody enlighten me on why raffles can have a council strength of 87 while jurong's going to cut down from an already pathetic 30 to a completely nonsensical 20.
oh wells. i think my phone will be out of bounds, except for certain people, till april 18.
i supposed to blog about my wonderful adventure with flea during econs lecture today, but i'm lazy to scan my notebook. see if i feel more motivated tomorrow.
and yea, my training timetable says tomorrow's supposed to be forty minutes worth of jogging and walking. i think i won't do it in the wee hours of dawn. wait till school ends, then it'll be a training session plus tanning opportunity.
[edit]
emailed the exco. i hope they reply fast enough.
i don't know if the problem lies in my (lack of) height, but my tie is as long as the distance from the top of my head to the floor. why does any tie need to be 1.5m long.
[/edit]
steph.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008, 4:32 PM
kohconut
no.....
i think everything will work out fine. it's been for the past two days.
math today was...well. lately it's been hard to understand, like i told mr yeo, it's more a than a math. so i was staring at the screen while knowledge was being tried to be drilled into my brain, but apparently there was a pretty powerful force field underneath my skull. not only did the stuff projected not make any sense,the teacher's words seem to drone into an endless lullaby. meaning, i almost fell asleep.
because my pencilcase fell on the floor in lt one and almost everything fell out, and that, mind you, made me super awake. the teacher stopped her lecture for a moment while i picked up my stuff.
my home's going to have a new washing machine.
because this old one, which is thirteen years old, finally decided to retire. in a not so nice way, because it sorta fell apart inside. (not like you're interested in my home's washing machine, and yes that's me in the photo. when the washing machine was new. which is like, when i was four.)somebody said i talked on the phone like i was talking to my boyfriend. the person at the other end of the phone call was weien. i think i'm sure that i'm straight. seb says i've got a boyfriend, that's proof.
for weeks, i came online to chat. now i've got my eyes glued to videos. because nobody wants to talk to me. even jon stopped talking halfway la.
chocolate's comfort food.
wendy came back to try to sell fun-o-rama tix, but ended up slacking. called me twice when i was in pw and i was staring at my phone like it was going to blow up anytime. pressed "reject" twice, then msg-ed her to say i'm having lesson.
found her during break, then while we walked to the canteen, we spotted calvin outside firefly. he waved, but we don't know at who. HAHA.
today's wednesday. till saturday, there's still two plus plus days to go. countless hours huh.
steph.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 9:55 PM
sbas
because you're leaving for camp? i've got stuff to look forward to, rmb. (:
promises to others are important, but above all, i don't think anybody should break promises to themselves, however difficult that may be.
math's first tutorial of today was a horrifying experience, esp to the people at the front row, i.e. megan dora shannon eeling grace me. well at least we know, now, who we should never mess with.
second math tutorial today went okay, though i seriously think we need to speed up. after two weeks and we still haven't reached my question 13.
eeling asked me a very thought-provoking question today.
"why don't you want a boyfriend?"
i didn't know how to answer her.
ms heng sent me an sms while i was having german.
Hi, sorry to inform u tt u've not been selected for debates. Thanks for yr interest nonetheless, appreciate it :)i've come up with plan c.
mummy got me goggles for chem spa, but it's black at the sides. i hope it'll be accepted.
class today was real nice, thank you girls.
steph.
Monday, March 24, 2008, 10:26 PM
i don't know if what i've been doing's right. there're too much stuff occupying my small head.
mr ed ng's little talk today was pretty motivational. i never knew that emo side of him, but i'm glad i did. "they think i'm an idiot and i think they're bastards."
mr yeo surprised me with his v-chair of ccs in jc.
ms jesse lim made the nosso-funny issue sound like a big-ass joke.
mdm chong thought i'd continue with c lit. no thanks.
mdm yong looked very busy.
mrs tan wasn't around.
mrs b lim was scolding some guy when we walked past.
liwen's quitting council because of drastic stress levels.
i've got the periodic table in my gc.
debates. i'm officially convinced i didn't make the cut. so i need a cca. i'm still thinking, if things don't go my way, i'll look for plan b. or even c, d, e, and the rest of the alphabet.
weien will be away for cdayl tomorrow and wednesday. i'm staying back till near four tomorrow.
no idea when emcees course's starting. nothing of idp blog, nothing in announcements. mr goon said it's meant to begin tomorrow. but i seriously don't like people taking my tuesdays, though i'm the one who actually signed up for it.
it's been a rather gruelling two days. and probably the rest of the week. at least.
i think i can predict the future.
lipsey and steiner.
four am mondays, at least today, went pretty smooth. except i think i almost hyperventilated in lt5 twice. early days mean early bedtimes. i hope there's german for me tomorrow.
steph.
The Blue Ribbon
Bettie B. Youngs, Ph.D., Ed.D.
Autumn days are always perfect, and this one was no different. The lazy sun still warmed the skin; the breeze swirling at will through manes of hair was not yet an angry one. Clumps of bigger than life-size leaves—yellow, gold and sienna brown—chased by the unpredictable tantrums of gusty fall winds, tumbled aimlessly down the narrow streets of this seemingly sleepy little village. It was a day that suited this Eastern town where old and majestic trees, now splendidly painted in the vivid colours of fall, shielded from immediate view neatly kept houses with manicured lawns. It all seemed so picture perfect.
“We have wonderful kids and wonderful teachers, and wonderful parent, too,” he said. “I know you’ll enjoy your time with us.” The fatherly superintendent of schools chatted amiably (and nonstop) all the way from the airport to the school where I would conduct a workshop for high school seniors. Was it possible this little pocket of paradise had managed to preserve a sense of innocence for the town, its families and its children? Had this kind and benevolent school leader managed to protect these children from the perils of a global economy, shifting mores and changing family values—and from themselves?
The first thing I noticed as we drove onto the school grounds was the billboard. Just yesterday it had announced the school’s next football rival. Now it read, “Welcome, Dr. Youngs.”
“Nice touch,” I said sincerely. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” said the superintendent. “Thank Robby Ballen, the student council president.”
“Please introduce me if you can,” I said.
“Oh, Robby will be around all right. He’s everywhere. Quite a leader, that boy. He’s been elected student council president three years in a row. That’s pretty unusual. In all the years I’ve been involved in school leadership, I’ve seen it happen only a couple times. It’s pretty strong vote of confidence from your peers.”
“I’ll say,” I agreed.
We approached the school building, and the superintendent rushed a few steps ahead to open the door for me. The instant I stepped inside a band began playing! I looked up and there, dressed in their school’s band uniforms, was a small group of students assembled on my behalf. Delighted, I paused to play centre stage to their tribute.
“Wow!” I exclaimed to the smiling and blushing students. “I’m impressed! Thank you for the wonderful welcome.” It was then that I noticed the banner above their heads. In addition to a very interesting caricature of me, every student in the school had personally written a short quip to welcome me and signed their name, age and date.
I turned to the superintendent who simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. We walked to the auditorium where I would conduct the program for the seniors. We continued down the hall, turned left, went down the next hall, turned right, walked down the next corridor past the cafeteria, then entered the next to the last door on the right. The banner followed the entire way!
“That’s a lot of work!” I exclaimed. A lot of paper too, I thought. “Don’t tell me,” I said. “This was inspired by Rob, right?”
“Actually, it was,” the superintendent replied. “All the students participated in carrying it out obviously, but it was Rob’s idea, and it was accomplished through his leadership.”
------------------------------------------------------------
I was testing the microphone and setting up when a voice nearby asked, “Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to help?”
I fully expected to see a custodian, vice-principal, counselor or any other adult who might have been assigned to oversee my needs for the program. Instead, there stood a young, handsome, muscular and well-dressed young man. “Hi!” he said, “I’m Rob Ballen.”
“Nice to meet you, Rob,” I said. “I’ve heard many good things about you. I’m Bettie Youngs, and yes, there is a way for you to help. A god friend of mine, Helice Bridges, has developed a little exercise that’s sort of like an award ceremony. A blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference is used to acknowledge a person for something they’ve said or done that has made a difference to you. In my workshop with your class today I’ll be calling on a number of students, but I need a volunteer to start it off. Would you mind if I called on you to come forward first?”
“Oh, that’d be fun!” he said without hesitating or asking anything more about exactly what it was he would be expected to do.
“Good,” I said. “I’ll count on you then!”
The seniors filed into the auditorium in various states of anticipation and expectation. “Sometimes we don’t express what’s really in our hearts,” I began, “This is particularly true when it comes to telling others, ‘Thanks for being there for me, for making a difference in my life.’ It’s important that we do this. First, it lets a person know that what he did was significant to you. Second, it gives the person the courage and motivation to do it again, to you and to others along the way. We needn’t wait for some major event to happen. We can acknowledge others for their acts of kindness, for acting out of integrity—especially when it’s not always popular to do so—and when someone accomplished a worthwhile goal. I’d like to show you a simple exercise that can help you acknowledge someone for making a difference to you in some way. I’d like to ask you to pay close attention to your feelings as we go through this process. I need a volunteer from the audience. Who would like to…” Rob’s arm shot in the air. “…volunteer? Okay, Rob, would you come up, please?” His classmates hooted and cheered and whistled good-naturedly. It was easy to tell that he was well-liked.
Rob came up and stood beside me. The top of my head just barely reached his shoulders. His presence with me and in front of them caused his classmates to giggle nervously and fidget with their belongings. After all, here was their handsome classmate standing beside a visitor who held in her hand a microphone, and who had the ability to call on them in front of their peers. It was their school, however, and they held the power to pay attention in a noisy manner or pay attention in a respectful manner. Power danced between them and me in perfect balance.
“Rob,” I said, “I would like you to know that the wonderful welcome that your classmates gave me when I arrived at school today made me feel warmed, honoured and welcomed. Since you were the one responsible for organizing it, I would like to thank you for being so thoughtful.” My words were met with claps, whistles and cheers. Even so, I knew they were happy it was Robby up there and not them. Now only quiet chatter could be heard among a few friends. “As you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words, Who You Are Makes A Difference. Your leadership actions made a difference to me. Thank you. Because you have acknowledged me, in a sense you have asked that i acknowledge you. Best of all, your actions caused me to want to connect with you and your classmates in a meaningful way. May I pin this ribbon on your shirt?” Little gasps, nervous giggles—and a few good-natured and mild-mannered catcalls—arose from the audience of adolescents.
Rob looked first to me and then glanced over the faces in the audience. “Yeah, sure,” he acquiesced. Smiling from ear to ear, he leaned down so I could reach the pocket of his shirt and pin the ribbon on it. All eyes were now upon Robby, all motions stilled by their nervousness. This was far too close for comfort in the minds of these young people still learning the social rules of human touch. Classmates poked each other to distract themselves from getting too close to the experience, no doubt relieved this was happening to Rob and not to them.
I continued the ceremony. “When you take this shirt off, Robby,” I said amplifying my voice a bit because of the hoots and howls these “risqué” words brought, “I would like you to remove the ribbon and place it on the mirror in your bathroom so that as you get ready for school each morning, you will be reminded that your thoughtfulness was genuinely appreciated. Your caring actions were important to me.”
I backed up a few steps. Now acting from the emotional energy of a speaker, rather than from the personal one-on-one I had just used, I looked at Robby and asked, “How does it feel to be acknowledged in this way?”
“Oh,” he said sincerely. “It feels good. I’m not sure if anyone had told me ‘thank you,’ for anything” He became solemn and reflective. Shaking his head, he quietly repeated, “I don’t think anyone has ever told me ‘thank you.’” It didn’t seem appropriate for me to examine that further, although I’m sure the audience “got it.” Here was a young man who had on occasion done many considerate things for others. Yet, Robby hadn’t been told--or he didn’t hear—their thanks.
“Rob,” I continued, “now that we can all see how this exercise works, I’d like for you to call someone up from the audience and acknowledge that person for making a difference to you.”
“Oh,” said Rob, macho posturing to impress, “that’ll be easy. Chad, get your booty up here.” Chad, his best friend, bounded up. Once again the classmates cheered and clapped. The two guys playfully punched each other another time or two, then stood at attention in front of me. Standing next to Rob to oversee and assist him with the ceremony, I nodded for him to begin.
“Hey, bud!” Rob began in a voice filled with spunk and spirit, “I’ve got a blue ribbon here, as you can see, with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference.” He turned tome a mouthed the words, “Now what do I say?”
“I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me.” I instructed.
“Yeah, I’d like to tell you how important you are to me,” he mimicked and then added, “And why.”
I observed, but said nothing.
“Why you’re important to me,’ he began, looking first at Chad, then the floor, then at the ceiling, then at me, “is because…” He stopped, cleared his throat, and tried again. “Why you’re important to be is because,” and once again he looked first at Chad, then the floor, then at the ceiling, then towards the back of the room and back again at me, “is because…” He stopped, cleared his throat, and this time Mr. Football used the hand of his “golden arm” to clear away the cloud of tears blurring his vision. The audience watched in disbelief, and perhaps in fear. Oh no. Was it possible that their hero, the pillar, was going to cry?
“Oh Chad, ol’ bud,” Rob began again, “I’ve never told you, I never really wanted you to know…but you…you…saved my life. I don’t know if you ever knew it, and if you did, you didn’t let on. Remember the time last year when I came to your house at 11.30 at night and you know I had been drinking? You took my car keys from me and though we argued over it, you refused to give them to me. You knew that I couldn’t drive and you called my mother, told her that I had fallen asleep and asked if I could spend the night at your house. I never told you, but my parents had gotten in a huge fight that night and my dad said he was leaving. He had filed for divorce. I was so mad and hurt, and I thought, What will my friends at school think? How can I tell them that my parents are divorcing when my mother is the PTA president and my dad always helps drive us to the football games? Now he’s leaving my mother and moving away. My class isn’t going to want me to be class president anymore, and…” Rob covered his face with one hand, then letting out a big sigh, continued, “I was going to drive off of old Highway 164 that night. You saved my life.” Chad reached over and pulled him into his arms. The two boys hugged each other for what seemed like a very long time.
The audience sat stunned, aghast that their hero had once entertained such thoughts—or was even capable of them.
Now just another teenager, Robby, with shoulders slumped, took a seat.
Chad, still dealing with all this, stood motionless beside me.
“Chad,” I said softly. “Here’s a blue ribbon for you. I’d like you to acknowledge someone who has made a difference in your life.”
It was a fairly sedate Chad that called upon Mr. Hudson.
“I’d like to call up the shop teacher,” he said. A bewildered-looking teacher in the second row of the bleachers got up and came forward, taking his place beside Chad.
“Ah, you know that I gave you a hard time all last semester in shop class.” Chad stammered. All the students in the audience were all but holding their breath. Though I didn’t know the situation at the time, they knew just who the shop teacher was. “I guess I better begin by saying, I’m sorry,” Chad said. It’s just that…” he stopped, as though choosing his words carefully.
It caught me by surprise, too, when Chad continued with the words, “Dad, it just seemed to me that you’d touch the other guys on the arms or shoulders, or help them with their projects, but you didn’t do that for me. It made me so jealous. You stopped touching me when I was in the seventh grade. I thought, Why do these kids deserve his touch and I don’t? Anyway, I gave you a rough time and I’m sorry. I admire you because you are such a good teacher and all the kids like you and think you’re great. I do, too, Dad. I want to give you this blue ribbon because I think you’re the best teacher ever. And you’re a great dad, too. And I love you. Can I pin this on you?”
It was a meek and tearful father who received the blue ribbon.
“It’s your turn, Mr Hudson,” I said.
“I’ll call Suzee Merril,” said the best teacher at the school.
“Suzee,” he said, “as you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference. I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me. You were the first girl to take up shop class, and that was a courageous thing to do. I’d like to…”
Suzee called up Bob, her brother. And her brother called up Tammy.
“Tammy,” Bob said, “as you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference. I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me. I’m no Einstein, but here I am, finally a senior, and it’s because of you. For the last three years, I got up and came to school only because I knew you’d be here. Though we’ve broken up and aren’t dating anymore,” he paused to look to Rebecca, his new girlfriend, sitting nearby with his class ring around her neck and his cloak draped around his shoulders, “I know that I’d dropped out of school, maybe worse, if it hadn’t been for you…” Though he noticed, he seemed unfazed by his new girlfriend’s scowl and look of absolute dejection. He looked again at Tammy and repeated, “If it hadn’t been for you.”
Tammy stood next to him, her arms tightly hugging her chest. This was difficult enough, loving him still; yet watching as he now dated another classmate was even more painful. Tammy didn’t want anyone else. She had hoped to marry her bob. She was so hurt that she couldn’t lift her eyes to his, not even after his kind words. When he said, “You were the most important thing that ever happened to me,” her arms unwrapped and followed her hands to her face, where the heavy black mascara and eyeliner she wore was now streaming down. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. The only boy she had ever loved had confessed her importance—humbly and genuinely. It left her visibly shaken emotionally, but more, her entire body was literally shaking. He pinned the blur ribbon on her collar, looked at her tenderly and said through his own tear-filled eyes, “Thank you for being there for me. I will always love you.”
Seventy-one students, hearts now standing at attention, sat bewildered. They were overwhelmed. They knew their own lives were complex, but was it possible that their peers could live in the same sort of inner disarray? And how was it possible that a young person, each and every one of them, could be so special and so meaningful to others?
It was a good place to stop the blue ribbon ceremony and begin my teaching, though much of what they needed to learn had already been accomplished.
As the superintendent drove me to the airport that next day, he said, “I don’t know where to begin. Quite honestly, yesterday afternoon opened my eyes. These kids are dealing with a lot more than they let on. I had no idea that under their ‘all-is-well’ facades, even the brightest students harbour such intense feelings and face such difficult challenges. There’s no way I can change the nature of their lives. It dawned on me that I’m not making the difference I thought I was. In fact, I no longer believe that I can make a difference.”
“Sure you can,” I said.
“How do you mean?” he asked, looking a bit forlorn.
“A man jogging on the beach on day came across a young boy picking up starfish, frantically slinging them into the ocean,” I began, relaying the story, told time and time again. “‘I’m afraid your efforts are in vain, young man!’ the jogger said as he approached the boy. ‘Hundreds of starfish have been washed ashore here, and they’re withering fast under the hot sun. Your well-intentioned efforts simply aren’t going to make a difference. You might as well run along and play.’ The boy surveyed the many starfish stranded on the beach, then looked at the beautiful starfish he was holding. Flinging it into the ocean, he replied optimistically, ‘I made a difference to that one!’”
“Unlike the man on the beach who knows all the starfish aren’t going to get rescued.” countered the superintendent, “and therefore doesn’t think it’s worth the effort, I want to rescue them all. I want my students, all of them, to be healthy, successful and, most of all, happy.”
“Oh, Mr. Thomasson,” I said. “It’s not up to you to rescue. Your job is to teach and prepare these kids to rescue themselves. Just as the boy’s singular actions made a difference to each one he touched, each student you touch and better prepare for life’s challenges brings you one step closer to achieving your own goal of truly helping them all.”
“But just how do I prepare them?” he asked sincerely.
“You begin by teaching through your own example,” I said to this loving caretaker, thinking how lucky this town was to have him as a father-leader to its children. “Don’t thin the way you maintain the safety of the school—its emotional climate, the attitudes and dedication of your wonderful parents and teachers—goes unnoticed. You are provided a model, a blueprint of a successful community and the elements required to make that community work for every students that attends. The focus on principle-centered values demonstrated daily through your actions and the actions of your staff are often the critical determinants as to whether or not these children will ‘wither’ or ‘swim to safety.’ I know that you make a difference in their lives daily.”
He looked at me in a melancholy way and smiled. “I appreciate what you’re saying. Seventy-one hearts were opened yesterday, including mine. Now I see my students and my job in a whole new light.” More to himself than to me, he added, “It’s time to look a little deeper to see past the surface appearance of these children and offer the additional support and leadership that truly will prepare them for the future in careers and in their personal lives.”
“It’s gratifying to come across leaders such as you who offer hope to all of us with your unwavering commitment to our youth” I told him. “I wish there were more leaders of youth with this type of working devotion, It’s people like you who cause me to believe in people and who make what I do worthwhile to me.”
We arrived at the airport. In parting, I reached out me hand to shake his hand. It was two large fatherly arms that returned my farewell.
This is why I do what I do for a living, I though. In uncovering the Mr. Thomassons of the world, my heart renews itself. How relevant the line from Richard Dreyfuss in the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, “Of all the changes I have helped bring about in others, the greatest change is what has happened within me.
Bettie B. Youngs, Ph.D., Ed.D.
Autumn days are always perfect, and this one was no different. The lazy sun still warmed the skin; the breeze swirling at will through manes of hair was not yet an angry one. Clumps of bigger than life-size leaves—yellow, gold and sienna brown—chased by the unpredictable tantrums of gusty fall winds, tumbled aimlessly down the narrow streets of this seemingly sleepy little village. It was a day that suited this Eastern town where old and majestic trees, now splendidly painted in the vivid colours of fall, shielded from immediate view neatly kept houses with manicured lawns. It all seemed so picture perfect.
“We have wonderful kids and wonderful teachers, and wonderful parent, too,” he said. “I know you’ll enjoy your time with us.” The fatherly superintendent of schools chatted amiably (and nonstop) all the way from the airport to the school where I would conduct a workshop for high school seniors. Was it possible this little pocket of paradise had managed to preserve a sense of innocence for the town, its families and its children? Had this kind and benevolent school leader managed to protect these children from the perils of a global economy, shifting mores and changing family values—and from themselves?
The first thing I noticed as we drove onto the school grounds was the billboard. Just yesterday it had announced the school’s next football rival. Now it read, “Welcome, Dr. Youngs.”
“Nice touch,” I said sincerely. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” said the superintendent. “Thank Robby Ballen, the student council president.”
“Please introduce me if you can,” I said.
“Oh, Robby will be around all right. He’s everywhere. Quite a leader, that boy. He’s been elected student council president three years in a row. That’s pretty unusual. In all the years I’ve been involved in school leadership, I’ve seen it happen only a couple times. It’s pretty strong vote of confidence from your peers.”
“I’ll say,” I agreed.
We approached the school building, and the superintendent rushed a few steps ahead to open the door for me. The instant I stepped inside a band began playing! I looked up and there, dressed in their school’s band uniforms, was a small group of students assembled on my behalf. Delighted, I paused to play centre stage to their tribute.
“Wow!” I exclaimed to the smiling and blushing students. “I’m impressed! Thank you for the wonderful welcome.” It was then that I noticed the banner above their heads. In addition to a very interesting caricature of me, every student in the school had personally written a short quip to welcome me and signed their name, age and date.
I turned to the superintendent who simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders. We walked to the auditorium where I would conduct the program for the seniors. We continued down the hall, turned left, went down the next hall, turned right, walked down the next corridor past the cafeteria, then entered the next to the last door on the right. The banner followed the entire way!
“That’s a lot of work!” I exclaimed. A lot of paper too, I thought. “Don’t tell me,” I said. “This was inspired by Rob, right?”
“Actually, it was,” the superintendent replied. “All the students participated in carrying it out obviously, but it was Rob’s idea, and it was accomplished through his leadership.”
I was testing the microphone and setting up when a voice nearby asked, “Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do to help?”
I fully expected to see a custodian, vice-principal, counselor or any other adult who might have been assigned to oversee my needs for the program. Instead, there stood a young, handsome, muscular and well-dressed young man. “Hi!” he said, “I’m Rob Ballen.”
“Nice to meet you, Rob,” I said. “I’ve heard many good things about you. I’m Bettie Youngs, and yes, there is a way for you to help. A god friend of mine, Helice Bridges, has developed a little exercise that’s sort of like an award ceremony. A blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference is used to acknowledge a person for something they’ve said or done that has made a difference to you. In my workshop with your class today I’ll be calling on a number of students, but I need a volunteer to start it off. Would you mind if I called on you to come forward first?”
“Oh, that’d be fun!” he said without hesitating or asking anything more about exactly what it was he would be expected to do.
“Good,” I said. “I’ll count on you then!”
The seniors filed into the auditorium in various states of anticipation and expectation. “Sometimes we don’t express what’s really in our hearts,” I began, “This is particularly true when it comes to telling others, ‘Thanks for being there for me, for making a difference in my life.’ It’s important that we do this. First, it lets a person know that what he did was significant to you. Second, it gives the person the courage and motivation to do it again, to you and to others along the way. We needn’t wait for some major event to happen. We can acknowledge others for their acts of kindness, for acting out of integrity—especially when it’s not always popular to do so—and when someone accomplished a worthwhile goal. I’d like to show you a simple exercise that can help you acknowledge someone for making a difference to you in some way. I’d like to ask you to pay close attention to your feelings as we go through this process. I need a volunteer from the audience. Who would like to…” Rob’s arm shot in the air. “…volunteer? Okay, Rob, would you come up, please?” His classmates hooted and cheered and whistled good-naturedly. It was easy to tell that he was well-liked.
Rob came up and stood beside me. The top of my head just barely reached his shoulders. His presence with me and in front of them caused his classmates to giggle nervously and fidget with their belongings. After all, here was their handsome classmate standing beside a visitor who held in her hand a microphone, and who had the ability to call on them in front of their peers. It was their school, however, and they held the power to pay attention in a noisy manner or pay attention in a respectful manner. Power danced between them and me in perfect balance.
“Rob,” I said, “I would like you to know that the wonderful welcome that your classmates gave me when I arrived at school today made me feel warmed, honoured and welcomed. Since you were the one responsible for organizing it, I would like to thank you for being so thoughtful.” My words were met with claps, whistles and cheers. Even so, I knew they were happy it was Robby up there and not them. Now only quiet chatter could be heard among a few friends. “As you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words, Who You Are Makes A Difference. Your leadership actions made a difference to me. Thank you. Because you have acknowledged me, in a sense you have asked that i acknowledge you. Best of all, your actions caused me to want to connect with you and your classmates in a meaningful way. May I pin this ribbon on your shirt?” Little gasps, nervous giggles—and a few good-natured and mild-mannered catcalls—arose from the audience of adolescents.
Rob looked first to me and then glanced over the faces in the audience. “Yeah, sure,” he acquiesced. Smiling from ear to ear, he leaned down so I could reach the pocket of his shirt and pin the ribbon on it. All eyes were now upon Robby, all motions stilled by their nervousness. This was far too close for comfort in the minds of these young people still learning the social rules of human touch. Classmates poked each other to distract themselves from getting too close to the experience, no doubt relieved this was happening to Rob and not to them.
I continued the ceremony. “When you take this shirt off, Robby,” I said amplifying my voice a bit because of the hoots and howls these “risqué” words brought, “I would like you to remove the ribbon and place it on the mirror in your bathroom so that as you get ready for school each morning, you will be reminded that your thoughtfulness was genuinely appreciated. Your caring actions were important to me.”
I backed up a few steps. Now acting from the emotional energy of a speaker, rather than from the personal one-on-one I had just used, I looked at Robby and asked, “How does it feel to be acknowledged in this way?”
“Oh,” he said sincerely. “It feels good. I’m not sure if anyone had told me ‘thank you,’ for anything” He became solemn and reflective. Shaking his head, he quietly repeated, “I don’t think anyone has ever told me ‘thank you.’” It didn’t seem appropriate for me to examine that further, although I’m sure the audience “got it.” Here was a young man who had on occasion done many considerate things for others. Yet, Robby hadn’t been told--or he didn’t hear—their thanks.
“Rob,” I continued, “now that we can all see how this exercise works, I’d like for you to call someone up from the audience and acknowledge that person for making a difference to you.”
“Oh,” said Rob, macho posturing to impress, “that’ll be easy. Chad, get your booty up here.” Chad, his best friend, bounded up. Once again the classmates cheered and clapped. The two guys playfully punched each other another time or two, then stood at attention in front of me. Standing next to Rob to oversee and assist him with the ceremony, I nodded for him to begin.
“Hey, bud!” Rob began in a voice filled with spunk and spirit, “I’ve got a blue ribbon here, as you can see, with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference.” He turned tome a mouthed the words, “Now what do I say?”
“I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me.” I instructed.
“Yeah, I’d like to tell you how important you are to me,” he mimicked and then added, “And why.”
I observed, but said nothing.
“Why you’re important to me,’ he began, looking first at Chad, then the floor, then at the ceiling, then at me, “is because…” He stopped, cleared his throat, and tried again. “Why you’re important to be is because,” and once again he looked first at Chad, then the floor, then at the ceiling, then towards the back of the room and back again at me, “is because…” He stopped, cleared his throat, and this time Mr. Football used the hand of his “golden arm” to clear away the cloud of tears blurring his vision. The audience watched in disbelief, and perhaps in fear. Oh no. Was it possible that their hero, the pillar, was going to cry?
“Oh Chad, ol’ bud,” Rob began again, “I’ve never told you, I never really wanted you to know…but you…you…saved my life. I don’t know if you ever knew it, and if you did, you didn’t let on. Remember the time last year when I came to your house at 11.30 at night and you know I had been drinking? You took my car keys from me and though we argued over it, you refused to give them to me. You knew that I couldn’t drive and you called my mother, told her that I had fallen asleep and asked if I could spend the night at your house. I never told you, but my parents had gotten in a huge fight that night and my dad said he was leaving. He had filed for divorce. I was so mad and hurt, and I thought, What will my friends at school think? How can I tell them that my parents are divorcing when my mother is the PTA president and my dad always helps drive us to the football games? Now he’s leaving my mother and moving away. My class isn’t going to want me to be class president anymore, and…” Rob covered his face with one hand, then letting out a big sigh, continued, “I was going to drive off of old Highway 164 that night. You saved my life.” Chad reached over and pulled him into his arms. The two boys hugged each other for what seemed like a very long time.
The audience sat stunned, aghast that their hero had once entertained such thoughts—or was even capable of them.
Now just another teenager, Robby, with shoulders slumped, took a seat.
Chad, still dealing with all this, stood motionless beside me.
“Chad,” I said softly. “Here’s a blue ribbon for you. I’d like you to acknowledge someone who has made a difference in your life.”
It was a fairly sedate Chad that called upon Mr. Hudson.
“I’d like to call up the shop teacher,” he said. A bewildered-looking teacher in the second row of the bleachers got up and came forward, taking his place beside Chad.
“Ah, you know that I gave you a hard time all last semester in shop class.” Chad stammered. All the students in the audience were all but holding their breath. Though I didn’t know the situation at the time, they knew just who the shop teacher was. “I guess I better begin by saying, I’m sorry,” Chad said. It’s just that…” he stopped, as though choosing his words carefully.
It caught me by surprise, too, when Chad continued with the words, “Dad, it just seemed to me that you’d touch the other guys on the arms or shoulders, or help them with their projects, but you didn’t do that for me. It made me so jealous. You stopped touching me when I was in the seventh grade. I thought, Why do these kids deserve his touch and I don’t? Anyway, I gave you a rough time and I’m sorry. I admire you because you are such a good teacher and all the kids like you and think you’re great. I do, too, Dad. I want to give you this blue ribbon because I think you’re the best teacher ever. And you’re a great dad, too. And I love you. Can I pin this on you?”
It was a meek and tearful father who received the blue ribbon.
“It’s your turn, Mr Hudson,” I said.
“I’ll call Suzee Merril,” said the best teacher at the school.
“Suzee,” he said, “as you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference. I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me. You were the first girl to take up shop class, and that was a courageous thing to do. I’d like to…”
Suzee called up Bob, her brother. And her brother called up Tammy.
“Tammy,” Bob said, “as you can see, I’m holding a blue ribbon with the words Who You Are Makes A Difference. I would like to tell you how you made a difference to me. I’m no Einstein, but here I am, finally a senior, and it’s because of you. For the last three years, I got up and came to school only because I knew you’d be here. Though we’ve broken up and aren’t dating anymore,” he paused to look to Rebecca, his new girlfriend, sitting nearby with his class ring around her neck and his cloak draped around his shoulders, “I know that I’d dropped out of school, maybe worse, if it hadn’t been for you…” Though he noticed, he seemed unfazed by his new girlfriend’s scowl and look of absolute dejection. He looked again at Tammy and repeated, “If it hadn’t been for you.”
Tammy stood next to him, her arms tightly hugging her chest. This was difficult enough, loving him still; yet watching as he now dated another classmate was even more painful. Tammy didn’t want anyone else. She had hoped to marry her bob. She was so hurt that she couldn’t lift her eyes to his, not even after his kind words. When he said, “You were the most important thing that ever happened to me,” her arms unwrapped and followed her hands to her face, where the heavy black mascara and eyeliner she wore was now streaming down. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. The only boy she had ever loved had confessed her importance—humbly and genuinely. It left her visibly shaken emotionally, but more, her entire body was literally shaking. He pinned the blur ribbon on her collar, looked at her tenderly and said through his own tear-filled eyes, “Thank you for being there for me. I will always love you.”
Seventy-one students, hearts now standing at attention, sat bewildered. They were overwhelmed. They knew their own lives were complex, but was it possible that their peers could live in the same sort of inner disarray? And how was it possible that a young person, each and every one of them, could be so special and so meaningful to others?
It was a good place to stop the blue ribbon ceremony and begin my teaching, though much of what they needed to learn had already been accomplished.
As the superintendent drove me to the airport that next day, he said, “I don’t know where to begin. Quite honestly, yesterday afternoon opened my eyes. These kids are dealing with a lot more than they let on. I had no idea that under their ‘all-is-well’ facades, even the brightest students harbour such intense feelings and face such difficult challenges. There’s no way I can change the nature of their lives. It dawned on me that I’m not making the difference I thought I was. In fact, I no longer believe that I can make a difference.”
“Sure you can,” I said.
“How do you mean?” he asked, looking a bit forlorn.
“A man jogging on the beach on day came across a young boy picking up starfish, frantically slinging them into the ocean,” I began, relaying the story, told time and time again. “‘I’m afraid your efforts are in vain, young man!’ the jogger said as he approached the boy. ‘Hundreds of starfish have been washed ashore here, and they’re withering fast under the hot sun. Your well-intentioned efforts simply aren’t going to make a difference. You might as well run along and play.’ The boy surveyed the many starfish stranded on the beach, then looked at the beautiful starfish he was holding. Flinging it into the ocean, he replied optimistically, ‘I made a difference to that one!’”
“Unlike the man on the beach who knows all the starfish aren’t going to get rescued.” countered the superintendent, “and therefore doesn’t think it’s worth the effort, I want to rescue them all. I want my students, all of them, to be healthy, successful and, most of all, happy.”
“Oh, Mr. Thomasson,” I said. “It’s not up to you to rescue. Your job is to teach and prepare these kids to rescue themselves. Just as the boy’s singular actions made a difference to each one he touched, each student you touch and better prepare for life’s challenges brings you one step closer to achieving your own goal of truly helping them all.”
“But just how do I prepare them?” he asked sincerely.
“You begin by teaching through your own example,” I said to this loving caretaker, thinking how lucky this town was to have him as a father-leader to its children. “Don’t thin the way you maintain the safety of the school—its emotional climate, the attitudes and dedication of your wonderful parents and teachers—goes unnoticed. You are provided a model, a blueprint of a successful community and the elements required to make that community work for every students that attends. The focus on principle-centered values demonstrated daily through your actions and the actions of your staff are often the critical determinants as to whether or not these children will ‘wither’ or ‘swim to safety.’ I know that you make a difference in their lives daily.”
He looked at me in a melancholy way and smiled. “I appreciate what you’re saying. Seventy-one hearts were opened yesterday, including mine. Now I see my students and my job in a whole new light.” More to himself than to me, he added, “It’s time to look a little deeper to see past the surface appearance of these children and offer the additional support and leadership that truly will prepare them for the future in careers and in their personal lives.”
“It’s gratifying to come across leaders such as you who offer hope to all of us with your unwavering commitment to our youth” I told him. “I wish there were more leaders of youth with this type of working devotion, It’s people like you who cause me to believe in people and who make what I do worthwhile to me.”
We arrived at the airport. In parting, I reached out me hand to shake his hand. It was two large fatherly arms that returned my farewell.
This is why I do what I do for a living, I though. In uncovering the Mr. Thomassons of the world, my heart renews itself. How relevant the line from Richard Dreyfuss in the movie Mr. Holland’s Opus, “Of all the changes I have helped bring about in others, the greatest change is what has happened within me.
steph.
Sunday, March 23, 2008, 1:52 PM
see that ad on top? haha. finally singapore has a search engine of its own, though i have no idea why it sounds like a hybrid between some products that're supposed to help aids patients and another certain product whose brand is a common fruit.
last night was chingay leaders' appreciation night, and sebas and i reached pasir ris park way before nightfall. think 3pm. seb was supposed to go to a temple. or so he told xiurong.the sky was being a real joker. rain and stop, rain and stop. the catch is, it rains when we find a shelter-less place to settle down, and stops raining when we find shelter.
walked past the bbq venue at like, near four. and pretended we didn't know the people there. i think they didn't recognise me, but seb was apparently a celebrity.
emo-ed at the breakwater, finally left when we were sure the tent-look-alike thingo behind us had a pair of sandals outside and was rocking like, scary. and also because it began raining.
earthworms dominated the cycling and running/walking paths like overturned plates of spaghetti. probably seven million plates of them and still reproducing. walking was a chore, since we were nice people who didn't have "kill earthworms by stepping on them" on our to-do list.
exco started fire in the rain. and succeeded.amanda's bag got "stolen" but was retrieved, i would guess muchly due to shiyong's presence. because he was among the group that went to chase after the guy who apparently thought that amanda's crumpler belonged to one of this groupmates.
i really think shiyong's finger's three times as thick as mine.
kaiping brought a volleyball along, but it wasn't hers. group of people at the pavillion decided to play with it. and given the very cramped conditions/their wonderful skills/them being jokers, the ball landed into puddles of water several times. so when kaiping came over and announced, "ehh that ball's not supposed to touch water.", there was a loud roar of laughter. but she didn't know what it meant. i think that's better.
pavillion had merci chocs and songs blasting from shiyong's phone and much much titbits and vandalism which were a joy to read and many people crapping. and a leaning tower of pasir ris. there are seven bags stacked together in the picture. seats were wet, but we sat anyway, till they became dry.i was rather un-time-conscious because i had to take off my watch since it isn't water resistant.
(no photos from here onwards because i was walking about and so happen to forget to bring my camera along.)
was wearing hh rj shirt, a girl wearing bw came. amanda, another one, said i'm a poser. ha. that bw girl was a true blue rjcian. i just happen to have lessons in a building within walking distance from rj.
wrapped potatoes in aluminium foil but ate none of them. survived the night on crabsticks and hotdogs and funny mixed drinks, and thankfully didn't die from shiyong's somehow-sour-and-raw chicken chop.
allan requested for our help to wash the aluminium trays, previously from putting fried rice and beehoon, so that they could be used for putting food. i dunno cooked or raw, i hope it's the latter.
i think we made pretty many trips to the breakwaters.
christina called at eight sixteen pm. said she'll arrive an hour later. near nine sixteen, sebas and i went to pick her up. but couldn't find a bus stop. then we saw 354 zoom pass, and stared at the bus, and saw christina on it. and waved frantically. and called, like on the phone, to ask her to alight at the next bus stop, wherever that's supposed to be.
that girl came from sph's qiang mai. lugging a big bag containing at least a laptop.
i think we shrieked all the way back to the bbq pits. erm. she did. seb and i were...suffering under the banshee's screams.
then christina got food and we sat on breakwater two. people with a mat sitting on the grass wanted to play hunter and bear, which sounded familiar, but also pretty dangerous. christina suggested truth or dare and seb and i ran away.
stories were told on the breakwater, revolving largely around christina and a certain other person present at the event. and that the moon's nice. that statement was repeated for uncountable times. because it'll just pop out of christina's mouth every now and then. and seb and xtina were discussing about stars, e.g. orion the hunter.
i think i've got a house on pulau ubin, which spans the length of the island. and chauffeurs who fly planes. while seb's house is a buoy in the middle of nowhere, which disappeared the second time we talked about it.
mommy sms-ed me to ask me to reach home by 1145 and therefore sebas and i left at ten thirty. the bus took forever to appear, so we didn't wait for it, decided through scissors paper stone that we walk to the mrt station. where we met up with kok kun and yewei to go home. yewei saved his number in my gc because my phone was dead.
when we stood up from the seats in the mrt, they were wet. result from sitting on wet surfaces the whole day.
sebas sent me home and cabbed home himself. washed my very dirty shoes, bathed and discovered the computer room was locked. so i slept and only woke up at eleven this morning, just nice to watch school house rocks. yea, i still watch kids central.
steph.
Friday, March 21, 2008, 4:30 PM
sk
erm. idolisation is a sign of puberty. or so i think. i don't think you're weird. sebas answered your question.
liwen
err. what's done cannot be undone.
my brain's swirling now because i've done alot of stuff today. math tutorial 3b's scary. i don't think i want to do it.
liwen kindly requested to not blog about her, so i dunno what i want to blog about. because most of today was spent with her. how bout come back on sunday, because i'll be out tomorrow, and pray that i've uploaded something interesting.
Your view on yourself:
Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.
The seriousness of your love:
You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.
Your views on education:
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.
The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.
How do you view success:
You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.
What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.
Who is your true self:
You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.
--from http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx
steph.
Thursday, March 20, 2008, 10:39 PM
sebas
thanks(: rabbit. stew.
i think it's seriously time i accept the fact that there are really people of extreme personalities, such that even in a small group of random people, there are some that we can really click with, and some whose presence we simply abhor. and of course, some who walk in and out of our lives but live an impact.
today was i think the first time i actually listened in bio. maybe because the notes on my table weren't mine. borrowed wenjing's because i forgot to bring mine.
and i forgot my pocket money too, thank goodness for wenjing (again) because she lent me five bucks which lasted me the whole day, and i still have change.
chem was...stupidly slow paced titration. ms chua's voice is horrible over the speakers. my titration readings were screwed, i think i know the reason why.
civics was mind-boggling.
econs was spent finishing up chem spa worksheet.
culture studies was an attempt to get our chinese names and hp numbers. we're going thru conversational malay, yes third time for nan huarians, who apparently dominated the lt.
kenyi: eh stephanie why you never take 4h2? (cuz he realised my class was very very far behind)
me: because i scored fifteen, how to take 4h2.
kenyi: huh i thought you were very clever one?
me: clever in the wrong places mah.
kenyi: ahh. completely out of my expectations la.
thanks(: rabbit. stew.
i think it's seriously time i accept the fact that there are really people of extreme personalities, such that even in a small group of random people, there are some that we can really click with, and some whose presence we simply abhor. and of course, some who walk in and out of our lives but live an impact.
today was i think the first time i actually listened in bio. maybe because the notes on my table weren't mine. borrowed wenjing's because i forgot to bring mine.
and i forgot my pocket money too, thank goodness for wenjing (again) because she lent me five bucks which lasted me the whole day, and i still have change.
chem was...stupidly slow paced titration. ms chua's voice is horrible over the speakers. my titration readings were screwed, i think i know the reason why.
civics was mind-boggling.
econs was spent finishing up chem spa worksheet.
culture studies was an attempt to get our chinese names and hp numbers. we're going thru conversational malay, yes third time for nan huarians, who apparently dominated the lt.
kenyi: eh stephanie why you never take 4h2? (cuz he realised my class was very very far behind)
me: because i scored fifteen, how to take 4h2.
kenyi: huh i thought you were very clever one?
me: clever in the wrong places mah.
kenyi: ahh. completely out of my expectations la.
i dunno whether to feel insulted or honoured by what he said.
mental note: need to get goggles by next spa.
i dunno why on earth we need to get a common ring file for chem. since ms chua's probably not teaching us all the way and the file's meant to be for our personal use. i'm just saying this becasue there are way too many files at home right now.
sebastian accompanied me to third lang, found a way to occupy himself for the two hours i was having lesson, then accompanied me back. at least till clementi. when he's around, we're bound to crap alot. and it sorta removed my emo self for, let's see, three oh six to nine pm. thanks sebas for being there for, five hours and fifty four minutes. and giving me reassurance.
we actually went to browse the library and walk around in j8. to kill time before i have lessons. and the librarian had to ask us to keep quiet.
and i'm quite sure that lady in the mrt was staring at us because we were very noisy on the train. trains that we took today bore a striking resemblance. the advertisements/placing of them.
liwen's coming tomorrow. it's half an hour to good friday.
those days, when we were together. i think they're gone. this is my 411st post. there'll never be another four eleven. none like you awesome people. steph.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 10:03 PM
debates trials. we were giving three motions to choose from, i took, "this house would legalise euthanaisa." and spent four notebook pages and probably an hour listing out points, but when i went out of the prep room into the trial room...
rahh. at first it was okay. then it suddenly dawned on me that i had five pairs of eyes staring at me. my mind was chanting for me to calm down, but at the same time i could feel my cheeks burning. i hope it didn't turn tomato red, because i thought i saw the coach stealing a grin at the captain.
lynn helped alot. thanks.
i couldn't get my gc connected to the comp. even with the uber long usb cable. thank goodness liwen's coming over on friday. my mum allowed her to come even though she grounded me for the day.
econs tutorial started with us bidding for a book. obviously it was fake. and we got ice-cream sticks for answering questions. i got two at the end of the tutorial, one yello one purple, opposites on the colour wheel.
then i became so emo during math lecture, when the lecturer was teaching them(us) how to use the gc, i began writing down chinese song lyrics.
most of the class signed up for the pre-u sem interview. i hope i'll get it, even though then i'll be really busy. like, pre-u sem, cssp challenge, sg10k.
i dunno. nothing to blog about liao. there's another ad coming soon, from sph.
steph.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008, 10:54 PM
jon
if nick comes to my blog and sees that.....but i don't think anybody from cc10 actually cares about me la. except you, dear friend and entj parter who rated me eight on your scale. haha.
kaiwen
your founds=sounds? there's a period of time in our lives bestowed the name of puberty, and this is when hormones are raging, to give rise to what you deemed "sounds weird".
sebas
rabbit.
lihuan
you're an important friend to me, so your reply's a paragraph. at the end of this post.
i just changed out of my rj hadley hullet shirt! eng wei got it for me. it's purple, haha. and black.
gc was bought today, after a long speech by joleen. the many many buttons freaked me out.
my mum has this wonderful talent of making rain fall when she wants to. whenever she washes our bedsheets/curtains, it'll rain. seriously. never failed the seven years i've been in this apartment. therefore i have her to thank for being unable to leave jj till like, three thirty this afternoon. because once i stepped out of kbox, i stole a glance at the track and realised the whole landscape was blurry. heavy heavy rain.
pc today was reall pc. like, physical conditioning. had height and weight first. I AM TALLER THAN WEIEN. 0.5cm is a valid value also okay! then we went three rounds. first bit was a little nosso good because i was having those kinda morning flu. don't. like.
stella led cool down. thought it was pretty funny because after running for three rounds, most of the stretching was done for the upper body, when the lower was stressed more.
after morning assembly, while walking to class, tasvita asked me, "are you very quiet?" haha.
i dunno why i'm blogging against the timeline.
congratualtions liwen for getting into the national sc! haha. we were sms-ing each other at four plus. i thought calvin was the only other crazy person, apart from myself, that would be awake at that unorthodox hour.
it's nice to have an official counsellor as a friend. thanks sebas.
lihuan: i accept your apologies. really. when i first read those posts i was pretty appalled, by how my actions could actually cause such a big reaction in you. i've got to admit, for a period of time after reading those posts i didn't really like you, but then i thought thru it and came to the conclusion that you won't post stuff if they didn't make sense. and i'm at fault too. maybe chairman's not the post for me huh. which was why i didn't volunteer/contest for it on monday. i didn't want the class to fall apart, especially if i'm the reason. and i really meant to wish you luck. (:
steph.
Monday, March 17, 2008, 2:41 PM
s25's class comm, at least whatever's been confirmed.
chairman: lihuan
vice chair: tasvita
treasurer: shannon
civics rep: ee ling
cip rep: stephanie
ava rep: megan
megan wanted to be chairman rather badly. but lihuan had more supporters. i didn't contest for the post because i thought there was no point.
it means more to me, to complete a task rather than start it. that's why i'm entj.cip rep was a last minute decision. because a sudden thought flashed thru my mind: to get the whole of s25 in heartware. but after abit of consideration i think i'd better not.
at least i'm flexible. the MBPT asked me to choose between inflexibility and indecisiveness, what i would not tolerate. i think i chose the former. no, actually i really did choose that.
charles stanley said, "forgive the person who has wronged you." i'll cure then insidious cancer of unforgiveness myself.
lihuan, all the best in your this job. i know you'll be here to read. because i read you blog too. the posts which i'm supposed to read.
i'm going back to school. jj, yes. pw lecture's at four.
thank you friends. and thank you jon and sebas for that thirty-page long convo last night. termite.
steph.
Sunday, March 16, 2008, 4:51 PM
sebas
almost. because green power ranger in white said, "go. before i change my mind."
siewkiang
sebas answered your tag. but my reply is: "dunno. never watch. looks like an ice age movie to me, from the pictures i've seen on yahoo." i really went to search about your guy. people model leh. and actor and singer. i hate all these wonderful multitaskers.
DO YOU SEE THAT RED RED ADVERTISEMENT AT THE TOP. thank goodness it's not showing anything near obscene, given that it is meant to bring awareness of HIV/AIDS to the public. it's from this organisation youth advocating health, acronym YAH. do click on the ad to discover what lies within. open your heart.
.jpg)
this is my list of to-dos for today. it's 5.03pm, and i've only completed one and a half items.
people who're ending school at five tomorrow, say hi to me. i'll be the only pathetic one from s25 joining you people for pw lecture.
i'm actually looking forward to school reopening.
please visit my photoblog because i've (finally) updated it.
[edit]
jonathan said he agreed to make me dic because i was nice. how he could tell that when i was late the first time we met and when i didn't really speak that time, i've got no idea. and that guy says i'm "always mean on the outside but nice inside." always?!
njc's council interview:
interviewers: please give us a cheer.
letts: i don't think that's necessary.
interviewers: what would you do if (insert weird situation)?
liwen: i can't give you an answer because i don't forsee myself in that situation.
i think those two should really get into council. else the national sc will crumble.
[/edit]
steph.
Saturday, March 15, 2008, 6:42 PM
i realised i forgot to mention about sebas' friend on the tiong bahru billboard. we were staring at one particular guy on the advertisement while going down the escalator. first we were laughing about his very unique hairstyle, which was completely different from everybody else's in the picture. then as the advertisement disappeared from the top of our heads as the escalator descended, sebas exclaimed that the guy didn't have eyebrows. then we did something really childish.
we went up the escalator next to the one we just stepped down from. and laughed like two idiots from when we could see the advertisement, till we went down again and it disappeared for a second time.
dang i feel stupid typing this can.
anyway. today was rotting at home in the attempt of finishing my math tutorial. i was all happy when i was left with the last question. so i went to cook lunch (think along the line of instant noodles) for myself since everybody else was out, thinking that i'll solve it after i please my then very noisy stomach.
but i got stuck at that friggin question. i hate the feeling of not being able to complete a worksheet because of the LAST question.
but my lunch was nice though. there's a picture of it in my digi cam. but i'm lazy to get it into my comp.
wait i go read mail.
READ THIS.
Hello J1s,
Thank you for your interest in debates! :)
We are very happy with your enthusiasm on CCA Open House Day last week, and as with most CCAs, there will be a trials session conducted for debates. Here are the details:
Date: 19 March (Wednesday)
Venue: Classrooms 201 (Preparation Room) & 202 (Trials Room)
Time: 2.15pm onwards
The format for the trials is quite simple. You'll be given a debate motion when you enter the prep room (201) and some time to prepare your speech as the 1st speaker for the Proposition. Afterwhich, you will then proceed to Rm 202 to deliver your speech to our coach and our J2 speakers. No need to worry too much, even if you have no prior debating experience, our J2 team members will be on hand to guide you and answer any queries that you may have.
If you have any questions for me meanwhile, you can always just sms me and I'll get back to you as soon as i can.
Hope your holidays have been fruitful so far! :)
Looking forward to seeing all of you on Wed!
man. my last real debate was.....somewhere before my psle. that's half a decade ago. thank goodness at least i'm entj.
and and and!
Hey all Chingay Dream Team 08 Leaders!
To thank all of you for the hardwork put into the success of the project, we are going to have an Leaders' Appreciation Night on the 22nd March 2008.
GICs please forward this email to your DIC (regardless whether their email is in the email loop or not) thanks and get them to reply to me, this email.
Venue: Pasir Ris Park, Area 1, Pit 5 & 6
How to get there: Bus 403 from Pasir Ris.
Time: 5pm till Late
Dress code: Anything you deem fit, preferably Chingay Shirt
Theme: Tribal
What to expect: Great Food! Wonderful company! Delirious Fun! Brilliant Activity! Non Stop Adrenalin High! Euphoric Night! Lotsa LOVE!
i've got absolutely no idea what the "lotsa love" thing's about, but the "5pm till late" tells me i must go.
for once, out of a few million times, i read my mail to open stuff that are actually relevant and fills me up with anticipation.
OH OH I JUST READ THE NEXT MAIL.
Hi, Yeo Xin Ying, Stephanie,
Congratulations!
An advertiser has chosen to advertise on stephanie(:.
The advertisement details are as follows:
Campaign: Youth AIDS W1 LB
Week(s): 1. 16 Mar 2008 to 22 Mar 2008
Ad Unit: Leaderboard
Please do not remove the Ad Unit from your blog during the period(s) of time above or you will not be paid the full amount for the ad.
If you have a Skyscraper Ad Unit, please ensure that it is placed high up in the sidebar or the advertiser may choose to withdraw the ad.
Thank you.
The Nuffnang Team
omgggggg. steph is a happy happy girl now. not that having an advertisement about aids on my blog's a really joyous thing. but at least it helps the society yea.
n.b.: jasmine says to crap in a convincing manner.
steph.
Friday, March 14, 2008, 9:59 PM
alot of people turned up for the outing today.
kengyang, aswin, aaron, letts, weijie, josie, lixuan, jasper, junjie, huiyu, liwen, adelaine, me.
and jasmine lynn, the reason we're all there. mr chow came too.
liwen came running with a big bandage thing on her left leg.
jasmine took ages to find my present. because of the size. at least it's directly proportionate to my height. thanks darling.
we decisive people stood staring at the movie timings for fifteen minutes, then decided we should have lunch before deciding what exactly to watch.
left after lunch to meet sebas, went to ikea to choose a box for his friend's wedding gift. it wasn't easy i tell you, all those funny sizes they have there.
amidst alot of crapping, we finally found something suitable. then we bus-ed to tiong to watch leap years.
how many retards have you met, who laughs when ks is reading out the letter jeremy wrote to li-ann. there were two in hall three. us.
because our focus for some periods of time weren't on the movie, it was on a certain old lady who kept walking about, finally getting herself locked out. and a baby sound coming from we-don't-know-where.
when li-ann and jeremy were letting their paper aeroplanes fly, we were laughing about how serious it was littering the singapore river. and why the guy emptied the whole carton from the top of OCBC building. and that raymond's the guy acting as the green power ranger. and alot more stuff i can't remember. i think we'll be thrown out if the hall was full, for disrupting the peace of other fellow movie-watchers. thank goodness we didn't have other people beside/infront/behind us.
but the movie's nice la. if i can watch, seriously, for only parts of it and still say it's nice, you'd better trust me. just that the old jeremy super doesn't look like when he was young. and you'd really need a certain level of iq to piece the story together. because they flashback ALOT of times.
sebas could predict the storyline because he wrote the script. try finding his name in the credits.
i thought yangping was the extreme. till i met koh yue sebastian. Lol. that guy says making the first letter capital means the word's important. and the phrase lol comes from some L337 thing. you may want to give his blog a visit. cuz he blogged about the stuff i'm lazy to type out.
steph.
Thursday, March 13, 2008, 9:57 PM
kengyang
you all act cute arh. go out also must have somebody in charge one.
my phone's a little crazy, so if you, for any reason, need to desperately find me, erm. call my home number. or stare at your msn list of contacts and pray that i'm online.
liwen had a small accident in the library today. totally tested my impromtu-ness la. but it was really pretty scary. enough to prepare me for cssp challenge.
it'll be a miracle if i don't get fat. who eats potato chips at night.
ehh how how?! i've run out of stuff to blog about. gag. i need something interesting in my life, like seriously.
being able to nearly complete my math tutorial, with loads of help from liwen, isn't interesting enough. haha.
i hope this bout of rain helps accelerate the search of mas selamat.(:
One Moment In Time
Whitney Houston
Olympics 1988
Each day I live
I want to be
A day to give
The best of me
I'm only one
But not alone
My finest day
Is yet unknown
I broke my heart
For every gain
To taste the sweet
I faced the pain
I rise and fall
Yet through it all
This much remains
I want one moment in time
When I'm more than
I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment in time
I will feel, I will feel eternity
I've lived to be
The very best
I want it all
No time for less
I've laid my plans
Now lay the chance
Here in my hands
Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than
I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment in time
I will feel, I will feel eternity
You're a winner
For a lifetime
If you seize that
One moment in time
Make it shine
Give me one moment in time
When I'm more than
I thought I could be
When all of my dreams
Are a heartbeat away
And the answers are all up to me
Give me one moment in time
When I'm racing with destiny
Then in that one moment in time
I will be, I will be free
steph.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 9:33 PM
sebas
mine's only half, because the left side's not working. "charismatic"'s the word to sum up everything they say about entjs.
jon
yea yea! i wanted to copy that whole chunk out, but i figured nobody would read it.
calvin
i redid the test, and phoom! entj. haha. you can try doing yours another time too.
chatting with zhiyong, who was far far away in hk, last night reminded me of the old times, way back to 2006. i suddenly felt grown up, like i've been through a hell load of stuff to reach where i am now. though it's just a meagre two years.
i love lee liwen. we're going on a date tomorrow, after the farrer park soccer match. i may get my math tutorial done after all. (:
my mum forbade me to wear fbts in any place except for jjc. even when i'm out jogging. she's afraid i may fall prey to d.o.m.. (new phrase learnt from sebas this afternoon) but anyway i haven't been out running these few days because i'm scared that mas selamat may catch me. haha.
kengyang are we still having an outing?
steph.
ENTJ Strengths
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Genuinely interested in people's ideas and thoughts
-Enthusiastic and energetic
-Take their commitments very seriously
-Fair-minded and interested in doing the Right Thing
-Very good with money
-Extremely direct and straightforward
-Verbally fluent
-Enhance and encourage knowledge and self-growth in all aspects of life
-Able to leave relationships without looking back
-Able to turn conflict situations into positive lessons
-Able to take constructive criticism well
-Extremely high standards and expectations (both a strength and a weakness)
-Usually have strong affections and sentimental streaks
-Able to dole out discipline
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENTJ Weaknesses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Their enthusiasm for verbal debates can make them appear argumentative
-Tendency to be challenging and confrontational
-Tend to get involved in "win-lose" conversations
-Tendency to have difficulty listening to others
-Tendency to be critical of opinions and attitudes which don't match their own
-Extremely high standards and expectations (both a strength and a weakness)
-Not naturally in tune with people's feelings and reactions
-May have difficulty expressing love and affection, sometimes seeming awkward or inappropriate
-Can be overpowering and intimidating to others
-Tendency to want to always be in charge, rather than sharing responsibilities
-Can be very harsh and intolerant about messiness or inefficiency
-Tendency to be controlling
-May be slow to give praise or to realize another's need for praise
-If unhappy or underdeveloped, they may be very impersonal, dictatorial, or abrasive
-Tendency to make hasty decisions
-Make explode with terrible tempers when under extreme stress
congrats to sebas for achieving 65 unique views on his blog yesterday. LOL.
i was rather bent on completing my math tutorial, at least half of it, by today. but i've tried like, two questions and none of them were right, so i've decided to leave everything till school reopens. at least i did attempt to prepare for tutorials. so there's no reason for anybody to deduct my ap marks.
steph.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008, 9:36 PM
sebas
what's the masking tape for. to do your butterfly or do make sure your smile stays there when you die. haha.
jon
"hi i'm jon too!" dunno, i just keep being reminded of that line of yours. not only are entj people charismatic, they're supposed to get the highest pay among all the other personalities too. heh.
sebas
no, we're just more self-confident. you should be too. put your anti-social device aside.
whoo this is my four hundred and first post! ten more and it'll be 411. heh.
my mum thinks fbts are obscene. wanted to wear it out just now but she threatened to disown me on the streets. like, refuse to talk to me/walk with me outside. so i had to change into another pair of shorts before going out with her to send my bro for his guitar lesson.
mr koh said "so-called" thirty two times during the last principal dialouge session. the other time we sat for his half-an-hour speech after waiting for two hours, he said it 25 times. yes i counted.
there's this vial of purple stuff in my bathroom. almost, like intuitively, dispensed it instead of my shower foam just now. i still don't know what it is, probably lavender dynamo.
oh did you know healthy faeces is supposed to be yellow and floating on water? read it from the papers.
i seriously think i should update my photo blog. even though it lags like hell and nobody visits it.
steph.
i know it's not august yet, but i sooo want to watch august rush. i'm sure the first part of the previous sentence has totally no link (august's the name of the lead boy), but still, somebody watch august rush with me. gahh. eleven-year-old august holding his guitar's like me holding mine la. i estimate my guitar to be like, two-thirds my height. lawl.
official movie site here: http://augustrushmovie.warnerbros.com//mainsite/index2.htmli'm super happy i can play guan huai fang shi. and my term of guitar lessons have ended. term two here i come!(:
koped from sebas' blog:
-Prologue-
1. Who took your profile picture?
- what profile picture. msn's dp was from berber's camera. youthbank profile picture's from deviant art.
2.Exactly what are you wearing right now?
- powerpuff girls tee, esprit shorts.
3. What is your current problem?
- i've still got one and a half tutorials undone and it's tuesday.
4. What makes you most happy?
- err. wonderful grades? full exemption this year!
5. What's the name of the song you're listening to?
- was listening to august rush's soundtrack, but just closed the window.
_______________________________________
Chapter 1:ABOUT YOU
1.NiCKNAME?
- steph? cheri calls me stiffy.
2. Eye color?
- i don't think it's brown like everybody says so. i can't differenciate my pupil from my iris so i suppose it's black.
3. Nail color?
- it's not painted, that's for sure.
4.Height?
- 1.53m, 20cm shorter than jon, 30cm shorter than sebas and 40cm shorter than theodore.
______________________________________
Chapter 2: FAMILY ♥
1. Do you love your parent(s)?
- uh huh.
2. Do you get along with your parents?
- most of the time.
3. Are your parents chill?
- huh?
4. Do you have any Siblings?
- one younger brother. and an imaginary older brother.
____________________________________
Chapter 3: FAVORITE ♥
1. Ice Cream?
- depends on my mood.
2. Season?
- what seasons are there in sg. i'm fine with anything but i don't like rain.
3. Book?
- uhhh. Kit Pearson's The War Guests Trilogy
4. Band?
- i'm not in one and don't particularly listen to any.
5. Food?
- depends on what i feel like eating there and then.
6. Drink(s)?
- warm water. developed this funny thing since i was ill like, last year.
7. Pen color?
- wanted to say purple, but wells. black.
8. Store?
- ntuc? because nobody comes to bother you with the, "hello may i help you?"
9. Persons?
- note the plural form. all friends and (extended) family.
_______________________________________
Chapter 4: DO YOU ♥
1.Write on your hand?
- no, but draw, yes.
2. Call people back?
- yes if i know the caller/sense that it's something important. i don't know how the sensing thing works though.
3. Believe in love?
- guess so.
4. Sleep on a certain side of the bed?
- no because i keep tossing around.
__________________________________
Chapter 5: HAVE YOU ♥
1. Kissed someone in the past 48 hours?
- no.
2. If so...where?
- nowhere.
3. Had PHYSICAL therapy?
- no.
4. Gotten surgery?
- no knife stuck in my body for the sixteen-odd years i've lived, so i guess that means no.
5. Taken painkillers?
- dunno, don't think so.
6. Overdosed on pain killers?
- no for sure. overdosage of medicine's dangerous. the furthest i went was to keep on sucking on lozenges.
7. Been stung by a bee?
- a teeny vague impression. maybe. but i know i chewed on a bee before. it was in my ice blended something.
8. Threw up in a doctors office?
- no.
______________________________
Chapter 6: WHO/WHAT WAS THE LAST ♥
1. Person to text you?
- please hold on for a moment while i check my phone. calvin.
2. where is #1?
- as in where's calvin? how i know.
3. Thing you said?
- "last night". my mum asked when i put the nh buttons on my bag.
4. Person you hugged?
- errr. jing er in the middle of her dance prac on friday.
steph.
Monday, March 10, 2008, 5:04 PM
kengyang
thanks alot. haha.
met calvin outside jj to hand in our forms today, while kaihui and weien were part of the many many facils having camp. mr lee made both of us stunned for around a minute. ask me for more details. i was crossing my fingers behind my file, hoping he won't throw us out or anything.
then we went to boonlay, where i was supposed to meet sebas. mrt-ed to bishan with him while calvin alighted at je. jon actually took the same train as us. saw us in the train but didn't go over because we were "too far". LOL.
so we went to heartware together, where jon's supposedly 12 noon interview started at 12.30. we didn't slack in between our interviews because our whole timetable was screwed. played table soccer and crapped. alot.
my interview was...i don't like the questions they asked la. but i guess it's okay. john seemed like he didn't dare to shake my hand. complete opposite of mr jt. mori was nice.
lunched at ljs. sebas realised, only after he finished his food, that he left his other two forms in the heartware office. so jon and i continued eating while he ran back.
jon called jeremy and asked him to say hi to me (and i said hi back), and jeremy went, "why is she there?!?!" yes he totally sounded like he was pronouncing those exclamation and question marks.
then we mrt-ed back. wanted to go to one of the guys' house, but i was supposed to be home by four due to my mum's instruction, so yea. turned out i didn't actually have to be home that early, because my mum's plans were sort of ruined because of the rain. rahh.
chingay bbq on 22nd. somebody psycho me to go. if they do the chingay dream team cheer that night i'm so going to go crazy.
i want to go to giessen. but the whole student-hosting itinery's like, weird. i don't like the idea of "hosting" the german student while she's actually out with the rest of her german schoolmates on the moe-planned trip. it's like, just treating my house as a hotel and my family as the chambermaids la.
question: do you think you're charismatic?
jon: yes, at least my mbti says so.
my mbti's same as jon's. lol.
[edit]
from wenyao's forwarded email:
It's not the fault of student if he/she fails because the year ONLY has 365 days...
typical academic year for a student:
1. Sundays - 52 Sundays in a year, you know Sundays are for rest.
Days left 313.
2. Summer holidays - 50 where weather is very hot and difficult to study.
Days left 263.
3. 8 hours daily sleep - 130 days GONE.
Days left 141.
4. 1 hour for daily playing- (good for health) means 15 days.
Days left 126.
5. 2 hours daily for food & other delicacies (chewing properly & swallowing) - means 30 days.
Days left 96.
6. 1 hour for talking (man is a social animal) - means 15 days.
Days left 81.
7. Exam days - per year at least 35 days.
Days left 46.
8. Quarterly, half yearly and festival (holidays) - 40 days.
Days left 6.
9. For sickness - at least 3 days.
Days left 3.
10. Movies and functions- at least 2 days.
1 day left.
11. That 1 day is your birthday.
How can you study on that day ?!
Balance = 0
How can a student pass ?
| How will I die? Your Result: You will die of boredom. Try not to take so many quizzes. And while this answer may seem like a joke, it most certainly is not. Boredom is one of the most frequent causes of death. The body will simply stop functioning. Try not to become an excercise junkie. One cannot escape destiny... | |
| You will die in your sleep. | |
| You will die while saving someone's life. | |
| You will die in a car accident. | |
| You will die in a nuclear holocaust. | |
| You will be murdered. | |
| You will die from a terminal illness. | |
| You will die while having sex. | |
| How will I die? Create a Quiz | |
go read sebastian's blog. that guy friggin editted his nerd quiz results.
[/edit]
steph.
Sunday, March 09, 2008, 8:53 PM
siewkiang
no idea. maybe my tagboard doesn't like your that tag. i don't believe you're an introvert. because introvert=emo and sk's definitely not emo. i don't get ads really often too, haha.
sebas
it's a blog advertising company. click on the top banner or visit http://nuffnang.com.sg/ to find out more. that sounded like some advertisement already.
shana
yes yes! it's on my blog now too, with more others. haha.
siewkiang
i don't know if they're synonyms of each other, but it's true i like nuffnang. heh.
yangping
yes you're wei da. haha and you make it sound like you don't have holidays. my week's pretty packed.
mans. the new sony webpage (click on the da vinci ad on your left)'s super like nike's runaholic webpage la.
cssp interview's tomorrow! i'm actually going to slack with somebody from hci. what is the world becoming.
chinatown with family today. nice porridge and dimsum, walked like dunno what, got lost with an almost out of batt phone (thanks goodness for the one bar left and my streetwise-ness), and took some photos. i'll post them up when i'm free-er.
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Science/Math Nerd (Absolute Insane Laughter as you pour toxic chemicals into a foaming tub of death!) | |
| Social Nerd | |
| Drama Nerd | |
| Musician | |
| Literature Nerd | |
| Artistic Nerd | |
| Gamer/Computer Nerd | |
| Anime Nerd | |
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace | |
say i'm a pig. i'm going to sleep.
steph.
HAPPY EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY TO YANGPING!
.jpg)
thanks for being a wonderful bodyguard and friend, and a great person at the other end of the phone during my oc 1st night. and for going back to nh with me, erm, thrice? and for all the funny stuff you say, even though some weren't meant to be funny. and for making my first ever morning call possible! without you, i doubt my life in jj would be as fun(and safe, probably.)
steph.
Saturday, March 08, 2008, 10:14 AM
wendy
my timetable sucks too la. all are like, 3.30, except tues 2.30, wed 1 (but have cca) and either mon/thurs 5. and there's stupid culture lessons lasting one and a half hours.
kaiwen
you can go be friends with calvin liao. haha.
calvin
YES. thank goodness i'm not a guy.
i forgot what i wanted to blog about =X
my mum wants to go chinatown today. lol.
*went to read my mail*
i got my cssp interview! and sebas's slot is like, twenty minutes after mine. doesn't help that jon's is more than an hour before mine. maybe we could all reach together, then they'll do the first come first serve thing. heh.
and there's a cssp talk today, thanks to mas selamat. but but. i read the mail at like, 10.19 am and my slot's meant to be 10am. so funny. it isn't meant to be compulsory i think. because it was mentioned that, "Please let us know of your attendance by replying to us at..." and "by 7 March". haha.
s'bas-chen koh revived his (dead and emo) blog. and i'm part of the chingay people. the colour combi looks like the dance tagboard i did.
okay i'm really going to chinatown with my mum and bro. but first, attempt finishing my chem.
and there's a fish missing from our fish tank at home. there's meant to be five green fishes, yet after several attempts by us of counting them in several days, we could only find four. plus there's no evidence of a dead fish anwhere. no suspended scales, no little bones. so weird.
i like shana's blog song! though i remember crying to it like dunno what during song singing/revelation. haha.
the mas selatmat issue has sorta disappeared from the papers. i'm pretty disappointed with the spf.
[edit@2227hrs]
happy international women's day to all mature homosapiens of the XX chromosomes!
my family changed plans and will be spending nearly the whole of tomorrow in chinatown. just returned home not long ago from imm.
received my mas selamat mms from spf a few hours ago. when calvin received his during lecture days ago. how lag can they get. or probably they went by alphabetical order. c and y are pretty far apart. but i'm still not very happy with spf. mm lky was right to blame complacency for mr ji's escape.
i love pc lessons, like really. because the next day i'll feel super fit with those very sour muscles. filled with lactic acid from anaerobic respiration.
and time mag came again. i hate how punctual they arrive.
[/edit]
steph.
Friday, March 07, 2008, 6:31 PM
kaiwen
yes i changed my blogskin, haha. i saw (and smsed) you today!
wendy
haha thanks. i made it from bits and pieces here and there. haha. it's purple!(:
it's SUPER HARD to tell my favourite colour from the computer table. my homepage's my blog, which is purple, i've got my purple bottle on the table, and i'm writing with a purple pen.
i finally did something to my blog because my mum keeps nagging that the three pictures on the previous blogskin look horrid. well at least this new one doesn't have size twenty arial for people without the violation font. and it's purple!(:
lessons ended at ten today. mr yeo was amazed when i told him.
pc was love. ran three rounds, did funny stuff like slap wenjing's knees (and get slapped back) and chase her (and get chased) and piggyback her and attempted to wheelbarrow her.
but that girl decided that this morning, she should apply lotion on her legs, so the wheelbarrowing attempt was a total flop. the lotion is one thing, water on my palms from the morning dew/rain of the synthetic grass is a total other issue.
mr choo was pretty impressed when i piggybacked somebody ten kg more than myself. i am too.
pespiration fell like free la. didn't bring a change of shirt, so was sorta freezing in lt5 immediately after pc.
math confirmed that my march hols are gone.
we, meaning wenjing weien bowen calvin me, sorta mugged at the benches. from when our lessons ended till we were officially dismissed. but i think we crapped more.
thank you li huan for zapping timetables for everybody!
left jj at one to go back to nh. gave my uniforms to the office.
ms ban says there'll be new testimonials come term two, so she advised me to go back to get it when school reopens.
didn't manage to find mdm yong. nor zhongming. and jasper had super long hair.
ate canteen food, used the (five-star) toilets and walked around. then settled in the canteen in attempt to complete at least chem tut one. but i was stuck at the last qn because i forgot how to solve stuff with that CxHy formula.
yiling and company asked me to go watch them dance in the hall. that was very much appreciated, but i'd rather not go since there isn't any significance for me.
i still don't get why the new rule allows only sec four dancer girls to have plaits, while the rest have to be in buns. and why the lower levels girls may have to go without tees while sec four dancer girls are allowed to have their tees on. why the clear cut separation when nhds is meant to be a big family.
wanted to find annette but sec twos were having a leadership course. which mr jt was oversee-ing. somehow he always manages to find me when i go back.
left at four plus, met kityeng and wanting at the carpark.
clementi central's undergoing a really huge face-change. the area where we used to spend our afterschool hours is going to be demolished. macs is totally empty, bubble tea shop evacuated. super sad.
[ edit]
wth? the top a's student had 9As. so many subjects? even with german i only have seven la. hwachong's super pros...
[/edit]
steph.
Thursday, March 06, 2008, 10:42 PM
kaiwen
lol. i read your wordpress too.
jiabin
so you should start tagging everytime you read. haha. why are you only free on mondays?!
kavan was nice to 90% send me home today! ninety percent because he u-turned back home when we reached the block opposite mine. haha.
s25 didn't turn out as bad as i had envisioned it to be.
principal dialogue session was...jiacheng said "leisurement". and made me and stella laugh like mad. then another kuku nugget actually asked mr koh if it was allowed for one to wear socks with sandals in school. that was when the whole hall roared in laughter. if you don't get it, please ask me personally.
timetable's out, s25 has five pm thursdays. which sucks for me, because i can't possibly, even with the very efficient sg public transport, go from jurong to bishan in half an hour. i hope the timetabling comm allows me to go for the monday lecture instead.
didn't get jra. rahh.
holidays are coming. heartware accepted jon's interview request but didn't reply to mine. even though i was the one who sent jon's, and after i sent my own one some more.
somebody join saucony 100plus PAssion Run as a volunteer please. you get a shirt, meals and drinks, a cert and cip hours. read more about it here: http://www.singaporepassionrun.com/data08/volunteerreg.html
steph.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008, 4:37 PM
人有悲欢离合，这种结局，我们早就该料到。这种安排虽然与理想中的差得远，但我相信，被赐这一班，上苍一定有自己的原因。而我，就慢慢去发掘吧。
人生就如一座雕像，它能不能成为名艺术品，全都掌握在雕塑家--自己--的手中。
现在，唯有“坦然接受”这条出路可让我走。
每一段路都是一种领悟。才刚踏上这人生的旅程碑的我，就已领悟了不少，看来，在来临的日子里，我的生活应该会惊喜连连。
okay for those un-chinese-inclined people, i'm translating this.
life is full of ups and downs, and we should have already predicted that such a thing would happen. even though this arrangement is far from what we had in mind, i believe that by being bestowed this class, whoever-up-there has his own reasons. which i'm left to slowly unravel.
how our lives turn out totally depend on us, like how famous sculptures are the work of great sculptors.
and now there is only one way out for me, and that is to simply accept this option.
i've learnt so much ever since i've stepped onto this milestone of my life, so i think there'll be much more surprises awaiting me in the coming days(:
steph.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008, 9:48 PM
i desperately need people to read my blog.
school was pretty mundane today. grace called me while i was nearing chinese garden, demanding my presence at bishan in a snap. but of course i only reached at like, an hour later.
had kartoffelnsalat and wuerstchen!
then our whole german gang sat at the upper level of the audi, minding our own business and laughing at the h2y2's really interesting quiz/play/emceeing.
mind you, people in moelc can really compose poems. the winning entries were like, whoa long.
spotted frau oestlund from five metres above. when we were dismissed i sorta sped down so i can catch her. then i realised i was the only one from her sec four class who continued german to year five.
frau koh asks me to try h2 though. the last time i asked herr spindler about it he says he'll monitor my progress, if can go over then he'll switch me to h2. i dunno. if it affects my other a's subs it's going to be pretty bad. since like, now you go overseas to study, most courses have a english-conducted alternative. it's even like that in germany.
we were being pretty crazy by wearing our german day shirts over our uniforms. eng wei had on the one that read girl in german. frau koh's read boy in german. i've got both but i wore the one reflecting my gender.
being game master was fun. this loraine st margs girl had a purple ribbon on. which was why i asked for her name in the first place. and we evil year fives koped their sweets/chocolates.
there's no chinese on friday, so the teachers sped through stuff like machine guns. those poor souls have a test when school reopens.
steph.
Monday, March 03, 2008, 6:48 PM
wendy
haha. thanks!
sebas
you sure arh. lol.
i'm so excited about being a facil for the cssp camp. it totally sounds like being an ogl in jj. and it's really beneficial to the society this time.
i hope they get me a nice interview slot with sebas, and i hope we all sail through the interview and get accepted (MATRICULATED!).
and i hope jiabin's appeal gets through. because education matters.
today was...a real great opportunity for me to see the true colours of lt5. because every single lecture was there.gp was unsleepable because the teacher had a very high pitched voice.
econs with mr ho should be okay, but with yangping beside it became...let's just say more fun and interesting.
two-hour break was pretty fun, esp with wenjie confronting calvin for stuff that's completely none of his business. and i met brenda with her parents.
chem was repetition of stuff, but none got into my head.
math. it began to rain outside so lt5 became increasingly clod. then my brain started blurring such that i had absolutely no idea what the teacher was preaching about apgp.
saw bright and company after school! and cut my hair.
i'm super looking forward to tomorrow mans. before i even have any lessons, i've already been bequeathed two and a half hours' break. then's one hour chem, half an hour break, and three continuous hours in lt5 to pickle my butt.
then's german day, but i've still got to endure one hour on the cold hard mrt bench to bishan. bless me/my butt. (:
steph.
Sunday, March 02, 2008, 7:09 PM
wendy
i've never attempted something like that before too. it'll be a really special event for me(:
aye aye mateys.
i had a birthday party this afternoon, and the theme was pirates. eveything had to do with those men, decoration, goodie bags, games to keep the kids occupied, and even the birthday boy's costume.
of course it wasn't my birthday party. i was the very important (and old) cousin.
waited forty odd minutes for the bus to take me to my cousin's ulu but ultra expensive condo. thought it was just some lag issue due to the rain or some unforeseen circumstances, so i killed time by reading the bus information they have at bus stops. then i saw that the bus service i was waiting for doesn't operate on sundays. lol. cabbed down then.
my dad counted 16 or 17 kids present. and i was like the babysitter because i was the only non-parent and non-maid and elder-than-them person.
i totally suck at names la. out of those kids i only know like, *i'm counting* seven names.
applied pirate tatoos for them with ice from the dessert we had during buffet lunch. just because yours truly was too lazy to walk like, twenty metres to get water from the toilet. but anyway the ice added fun to the whole process.
and i made them count to sixty before peeling off the paper backing. this kind of babysitter still provides education opportunities leh. where to find.
yea so i've got a pirate ship on my left hand too. i don't want to scratch it off because lele helped me apply it. i already scratched off the pirate flag that was on my right hand.
there was bubble solution for the kids to play with too, after they got tired of shooting each other with the eight toy guns luis brought over. and the bubble wands had little pirate figurines. mine was some captain hook-like guy, until i got everything mixed up (including toppling one treasure chestful of bubble solution) and the next bubble wand i got was some japlang guy on the pirate ship.
kids aimed their bubbles at each other, but mostly at me. it's just unfortunate to be taller than them and them occupying more surface area and therefore getting hit by more bubbles. but it's fun la. how many times can i actually get to feel tall man.
i only used up half my treasure chest of bubble solution before most of the kids went home. so i did too, and mind you i was dead beat. i don't know because of the continuous blowing or chasing after kids between four to twelve years old or carrying the little ones.
lol i just saw this quote, which is actually at the bottom of the left column of my blog. ambrose bierce says, "i think that i think, therefore i think that i am." i love this guy. most just go for the original, "i think, therefore i am." which is now, i guess, pretty boring.
steph.
Saturday, March 01, 2008, 1:35 PM
eisabess
haha no idea. i wasn't the photographer.
went to butterfly's blog and realised our whole group of people are on dawn yang's blog. not like it's a really big deal, but yea. go see. the chingay post.
the story behind the photo's real funny la. this bunch of really cool cars were driving past, then butterfly pointed to one car and told me, "eh that girl very pretty leh!" then i went to look and told him she's dawn yang. then he asked who she was. so i told him she's a sg blogger. then he went to spread down the row and one girl screamed, "HI DAWN!!!" then she panned her camera over to us (she was holding it and snapping away all along) and we all grouped together for her to take our photo.
anyway. i'm getting pretty bugged about the ji mas selamat person's issue. i think he's already out of sg anyway. he escaped on 27th leh come on.
i pretty much agree with mr tharman who said we shouldn't, now, think about who is to blame for the incident, but rather find him first.
and i don't think the police is wrong for not informing the public until four hours later. i mean like, imagine if they informed the press immediately, then right after the hr person ends the phone call with the sph person, he/she receives a call from some officer saying that guy's found. then the hr person'll have to remake those calls, and would have caused unnecessary confusion and terror in so many people.
that some guy saw mas selamat run fast fast a while after he escaped and the public wasn't informed yet, let's just say it's a pity. and it's really unfortunate that there was such a loophole in the security of the dentention centre that he could actually escape.
mr foo guesses his limp's fake. my dad even better. he thinks the whole issue is a bigass set up. LAWL. i don't think sg police is really so stupid la. SEVEN HUNDRED army and police personnel were at cj on thurs leh. waste so much manpower on a fake issue meh.
new paper headlines today was, he's everywhere...but nowhere. because there wasn't a single call to 999 wrt mr ji, except for that kuku 53 year old guy who pretended he was mas selamat and that dude who spotted him before news were released.
nic and i were discussing in the train about mas selamat. and came to the conclusion that if he's still in sg, he'll most probably disguise himself. with specs/botak etc. even my mum said it'll be easy for him to smoke through it all, given his rather common face and the availability of clothing and shoes outside many hdb flats.
i mean like, if you happen to see somebody on the streets who looks suspiciously similar to mas selamat, would you call 999 and follow his till the police arrives? nic and i both said at the same time that he'll most probably strangle you la. my dad was like, tell the people around you. spread it around, when he hears he'll get scared. i think my dad's abit insane.
i don't care how spf decides to do it, i don't care if rsaf gets involved, i don't care if the whole world's blaming sg for letting him escape. just catch him please. else come 2010 yog it'll be super dangerous. the stadium where they'll be competiting's near my house some more. i was telling my mum scarli they deploy one officer to each flat. then she said maybe they'll ask for one member from each family to volunteer their services to keep the area safe.
i love my parents. i love singapore too. enough to trust them to solve this problem soon. somewhere, somehow. a person can't just go missing like poof! anyway.
steph.
