Saturday, December 26, 2009

ads!

oh look there are two ads showing on my blog! signs that i'm getting readers. but doesn't necessarily mean getting money! i'm paid only when you guys click on the ads, so please do((:

on the other not-so-bubbly-hand, wth, dec marks the EIGHTH month?! okay steph, stay calm. it's over anyway. long over.

=D

Thursday, December 17, 2009

the latest happenings.

okay wow i haven't blogged for so long my password to blogger's the old old one.

think i'm lucky i didn't go overseas before prom cuz now i'm covered with at least twenty mozzie bites. spent two nights in a msia kampung, woke up countless times every night, mostly because of the buzzing sounds of mosquitoes/houseflies next to my ear. so i'd wake up everytime shaking my head furiously like i'm on drugs, attempting to shoo the bug away with my violently shaking hair. and i'm super pantan, wore red panties everyday. yes i've got that many of them.

prom didn't spark any very special feelings. i look fat in most of the photos, and my arms, ugh! got any arm-slimming tips? oh yeah my make-up bloody took two hours to complete. and it doesn't look fantastic. but at least prom didn't cost an arm and leg. including ticket and makeup and dress and shoes, less than $200? don't take into account the borrowed prada bag and heavy chunky necklace. they add up to $700+. having sa's prom just next to ours was da bomb. but their's quite sad, cramped and expensive. i think our activity area was at least twice of theirs, and our ticket just a fraction of what they had to pay.

prom highlight: mr koh's going to rvhs. dunno how i should feel about this piece of news.

and so so so many people i forgot to take photos with! xiang hui, felice, greg...but i'm thankful that grace's dad sent me home!

fll ref training has begun, quite surprising that all the refs are ppl who don't need cip hours. and dom chua! so long never see then appear as a fellow ref. looking forward to sat's mass ice-break, we get to set foot on sst ground before the students! but eh, what to wear what to wear. think my wardrobe's really dismal.

oh hmm so far i've for two articles published on mypaper. dec1 and dec8, in the forum. all heavily edited, almost definitely to cut length.

i hope i can land myself a job to tide me through this long hols. but i'm also scared that i may have to retake a's.

seeing ade tomorrow! for the long-anticipated green polo tee!

just got a ridiculous sms. "listen to non-stop english, INDIAN, BANGLA songs conveniently at anytime, anywhere at only $0.12/min!" oh yes the b-word does remind me of hongyang's house drama: discovering the man under the maid's blanket. opens only on facebook.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

christian funerals.

xiaxue wrote a post about a christian funeral in 2005, and it was only yesterday that i had an opportunity to attend one. my grandaunt's mother-in-law's.

i didn't know about the rule that said "if you're not a christian you don't attend the service" or the one that said "don't gather around the pastor during service-time if you can't sing christian songs". but apparently the pastor believed in the first, and my mom believed in the second. there must be many people who followed either of the rules, because when pastor adam called everyone to go to the front for the service, only about half the people present moved forward. i hesitated for abit, but joined them.

i'm not a christian, and i don't know the songs. can't decide if i'm a rule-breaker or the rules just don't exist.

so i held the song book (hey it's provided, so who cares if you don't know how to sing. i mouthed the words and tried to catch the tunes) and tried blending in with everyone else. the everyone else happened to be taipopo's (that's what i call the deceased) church mates and direct family members who also happened, as it seemed, to know the songs pretty well. i hope the lady beside me wasn't offended because i "sang" in such a low-decibel volume and had to look at the songbook after every two words.

but after the song-singing i left the group cuz i was getting a little intimidated by the christianty involved.

but i hung around, while pastor adam delivered te eulogy and kinda began evangelising, like what xiaxue described. but at least pastor adam knew taipopo's name. he even affectiontely referred to her as "popo", recelled events at which he visited her at home. but i don't understand why he kept saying that "popo lived till ninety-plus", and not just remember the sacred number ninety seven. i had this huge temptation to write the number on a piece of paper and hold it up, hoping he'll see it and get the rest of his speech right. but i didn't la, no guts.

yeah, the evangelising part got me a little pissed. he kept motioning his hand towards the group at the back, i.e. the group that didn't join in the service, i.e. the non-christians, and kept saying that he hopes "these people" will get to know god, and that he hopes "these people" can join taipopo in heaven, and that if any of "these people" were hearing his speech for the first time and want to know god, they can feel free to approach him or any of his "brothers" that came with him. sounded so much like what xiaxue talked about.

maybe it's a standard procedure, just another item on the to-do list when pastor adam went to the funeral. to attract more people to become sons and daughters of god. maybe now the time for evangelising has indeed cut into funeral time.

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

temporary suspension.

oh wow look at that my tagboard has been suspended due to inactivity.

it is hereby announced that this blogger will try to the best of her
abilities to stay away from the evil evil vice that is internet, and thus will
refrain from blogging. this move will be in effect from 3...2..1..NOW. till she
decideds to succumb to the evil claws of the net. or otherwise, she promises to
be back after the advanced level examinations are over. at least according to
her definitions, thanks to the 13-day break in between.

she kindly requests for you to not miss her and not to remove this link and is in deep remorse if this inactivity shall cause you any emotional trauma.

nuffnang, please do not delete this blog from your list of sacred blogs, even though it is true that it is not churning in any moolah for you.

thank you for your attention, and have a nice day.


well on the other hand, am really happy to receive jayden's namecards! his sketch was awesome! (because it actually had my name there)

Friday, August 28, 2009

mom says i'm getting fat. i agree. i asked for suggestions for weight-loss methods, she said, do housework! mop the floor, wash clothes, iron clothes....

irritating shit. who's the housewife here.

Friday, August 07, 2009

may contain nuts--john o'farrell

i just saw a review that said this book's lousy. okay the person didn't say "lousy" per se, but this, instead: "I didn’t like this book, at all, for the most part. Sure, it was funny. But for John O’Farrell, well, it wasn’t quite up to snuff. It was heavy-handed, awkward, and tedious, at times."

and i was just about to blog about how i found this book quite nice. but wells. that review's just one leaf out of a whole forest.

okay so this book is about a bunch of extreme parents in an angmoh country, and you'll be surprised to read about how kiasu they are. almost exactly like singaporean parents. (which kind of makes my parents, unsingaporean, but that's a whole other issue.)

they go for millions of tutions, music classes, dancing classes, language lessons, horse riding and all that shit. and are forced to down herbal infusions to improve their brains. i've never really been to tuition, went for keyboard lessons but quit after a year, went for ballet for eight years until my mom decided it was a waste of money and attended art classes till i got bored and quit too. but i like chicken essence. and german was my choice.

but i guess these kids didn't have much of a choice. and they didn't even know if they're allergic to nuts, beause their parents never let them eat anything that has "may contain nuts" on the label. (hence the title)

so jo'f talks about a particular famile out of this group of families with extreme parents. not that this pair of parents aren't extreme, they are, and they actually went abit too extreme. molly, the child, wasn't really good in studying. in the clique, she's one of the worst in grades, so her parents naturally got panicky when it was near the chelsea college (kinda like raffles/hci in the sg context) entrance test, which all the other children in the clique are going for as well.

molly attempted tons of mock papers (and failed like all), tried and rejected herbal mixtures (of nettle and something-else), and the parents thought it was a gone case, that she'll be finally accepted in to chelsea college (hereby acronymed to cc), so they decided on a solution. that the mother (alice) takes the test on molly's behalf.

so alice dressed up as a teen on the day of the exam (complete with fake zits) and sat for it as molly. but because she sucked at math, she panicked halfway through her paper, and the girl beside her let her copy the answers.

and "molly" got full marks for all the papers. not only was she finally accepted into cc, she got a scholarship too. the girl that allowed "molly" to copy her answers, ruby, came second, hence no scholarship. but the thing is, ruby came from a poor family. no scholarship, no studying at cc. kinda like how i didn't go to nygh after my psle.

so of course alice got really guilty and she became really good to ruby and family, till one day ruby's mom knocked on the chaplin (molly's family) door and accused alice of stealing ruby's scholarship. turns out ruby recognised alice under all that disguise.

so they take the argument into the principal's office of cc, in which they came to a solution to compare handwriting to determine if alice really did cheat. molly's handwriting sample came from a a-star graded mother's day poem, and the other sample was, naturally, the test papers. the principal glanced at the two samples, perused them, and said they were an "excellent match". ruby's mom wanted to see it for herself, but the principal said that "it's a private poem by a child about her mother and I think we should respect that", so case closed.

but ruby insists it was alice she saw on exam day. and alice that copied her answers. but the pricipal wouldn't hear of it. ruby's mom 's last words, i.e. before she left the office, were: "If we were white and we told you that a black family had cheated, you'd believe the white people not the black." and the principal cooks up some crap answer of how they put up basketball nets for the son of the nigerian ambassador to prove they're not racist.

but after ruby and mom left, the principal said to molly's parents, "it's amazing how much a child's handwriting can change!" and "gave a conspiratorial laugh".

in the end though, alice gave up that scholarship of molly's and sent molly to a neighbourhood school, the same one that ruby went too, so she could get a more holistic education since she could mix with people of all sectors of the community. and when ruby got bullied by the school bullies, molly stood up for her.

i kinda like the ending, but i don't understand why ruby wasn't given the cc scholarship after molly's was withdrawn. anyway this book gave me more reason to not study, cuz it emphasises on how academia's not the deciding factor in life, and how tons of other random things like manners come into play. not a good time to read this book huh, when prelims are eleven days away.

a singapore writer should write a book like this. it'll be cool to read the conversations in singlish. and it'll be so much more closer to heart.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

why do i love thee? let me count the ways...

last year my uncle promised to get me an iphone if i did well in my math promos. but alas, i didn't. thus continued my journey with my phone.

yeah, my current and first phone.


this, nokia 6680. (yeah i downloaded a pseudo-iphone theme to make myself feel better about not getting a new phone)

got it second hand when i was in sec 1 (was super seh when everyone had a normal normal phone but i was carrying the first 3g phone, but the effect wore off after a few years), and it has accompanied me through six years. through two relationships, through secondary school and soon-jc, to china, to germany, and i "lost" it once. at jj's sports day last year.

but now, i think it's time for this phone to retire and enjoy some golden years.(and because i feel weird still holding on to my first phone) so when i opened my hotmail inbox one day and saw the opportunity to win the htc magic phone, i thought i should seize the chance.

i mean, from this:





erm yeah it says 1.3 megapixel no kidding.


to this :



HTC Magic



WHO DON'T WANT?!?!

if you thought my previous post was some random quote, you're wrong. "i don't pursue freedom. i live it." that's taken from the htc magic website.

and it's true, htc magic gives the user freedom to customise the phone to suit his/her needs. and by that, i do not mean blinging up the phone with crystals on the exterior.

the phone, which runs on Andriod OS, comes with Andriod Market, which works like a catalogue and downloading heaven for all the applications you can wish for to complete your htc magical experience.

bored? search for and download games from AM. (this i like cuz my phone has no games)

need to remember a date? get your calendar from AM.

want podcasts? download MP3 applications from AM.

best. want to call for free? download skype from AM too!

so iphone users, thought there was no substitute for iTunes? think again! AM's the solution for all htc phone users! (at least for htc dream and htc magic.)

you know how sometimes when you change phone the new one just feels different and hard to get used to? this won't happen to me! the htc magic weighs 116g, 17g lighter than my nokia, so it won't be hard for me to adapt. and size-wise it's similar too! but thinner! i like big phones, they fit well into my palm(:

more reasons to switch:

htc magic's camera's 3.2mp, a big improvement from my 1.3mp. has auto focus too!

it has more phone memory and can store more music formats! (so this can replace both my phone and 1st gen nano altogether)

i can do my work on it, there's the whole google suite and ms office that can by synced to my windows xp comp.

it comes with chinese input and handwriting!

it's 3.5G with wi-fi and supports multiple windows, so it's like working with different tabs on the internet!

the touch screen has way better resolution so everything's clearer!

its speed is comparable to my computer!

to add to the magic, it has a predictable keyboard that completes your text before you can think about it!

magical right!


even arnold schwarzenegger approves of it!

he says, “Discover Magic with HTC Magic. www.htc.com/sea”

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

pre-htc

i don't pursue freedom.
i live it.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

teuer TestDaF.

argh. testDaF costs $320.

unknown:
i can't tag the details of the production house of the syf cd on my tagboard so i'm doing it here, hope it ain't too late a reply. hetian film productins, 100 jalan sultan, sultan plaza, #02-03, singapore 199001. tel: 62920779, email: hetian.film@pacific.net.sg. hope it's still the same company, cuz mine's the '05 syf dvd.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

pre-htc blogging comp.

i'm prolly the only one among the people i know still using their first phone. but thankfully my first phone isn't like my mom's first phone, which has those yellow and black screen. not the brick-sized one la! but my dad had that when my age was a single digit long.

so anyway nuffnang's holding a blogging competition about the htc magic phone, how it compares to my first (and current) phone, and it's judged based on creativity and knowledge of htc phones.

and since the due date's 21 july, i'll go do my math tutorial first. anyone with any knowledge on htc phones, please leave a message on the tagboard. i won't give you a part of the phone if i get it, though you'll be greatly appreciated XD

Sunday, June 14, 2009

yog volunteers' day

went to yog's volunteers' day at the expo yesterday. there were a few displays showing faces of jjcians who cheered at the padang when the bidding results were announced, but i didn't recognise any jjcians in hall 2. a little disappointed, do jjcians plan to do just cheering?

but on a brighter side, met a few ex-schoolmates! ade and andrea and serena from nh, azreen from primary sch, and hung around with her classmates after ade and andrea left. reuben and fahtiq, i think.

imo they spent alot of unneccessary money. maybe sponsored, but still resources were employed at the other end. so much food leftover, a pretty empty hall, and games that didn't seem to make any sense. think: light shooting (which ade played) and sumo wrestling.

and a guy kind of stalked me from the mrt there till the mrt back! a fellow volunteer too apparently. quite weird.

on the train back, there were these two ladies, prolly in her forties and the other in her sixties, who were volunteers too. recognisable because we all had our volunteer resource packs in our hands. as they alighted from the train, the resource packs ostensibly caught the eyes of a teenager, who made a remark to her friend that sounded like, "so old volunteer for youth olympics?!"

i think they should be ashamed that they're not carrying resource packs themselves. and fyi, yog accepts volunteers from 13 years old onwards, so even teresa hsu could volunteer.

Friday, June 12, 2009

offline messages.

S's offline message was about penis-enlargement pills, lol. refreshing, after so many people "sent" offline messages about slimming pills featured in oprah's show.

interesting viruses. they're the ones causing these messages right?

Monday, June 08, 2009

when?

Good morning school, I am Stephanie from the JJ Civil Defence Club. asst admin head, to say or not to say? This year, CDC was awarded the National Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP) award by the Ministry of Home Affairs. This marks the 5th consecutive year our club has received this award.

Named “Going into Community”, this award is attributed to the dedication and hard work of all the members of Civil Defence Club.

Our teacher in charge Mr. Lee Hee Fock would like to thank all teachers and members of the Civil Defence Club for their tremendous contributions to the community. This award belongs to all of you. nan hua memories anyone?

Now I am honored to call upon our Vice Principal, Mr. Chua to present the award to the president of the Civil Defence Club, Melissa Teh. Mr Chua, please.
award from mr lee to mr chua then from mr chua to mel, take photo and...
Thank you Mr Chua.

Friday, June 05, 2009

pre-u sem09

back from pre-u sem. disappointed in ij's leaders. but overall enriching experience.

Friday, May 29, 2009

sg vs china

tuesday, after my fire safety talk, all four of us went to je sports complex to support the jj badminton team. it was a first in jj's history to have both guys and girls make it to the finals.

the cheering was a compulsory event for the j1s, but that's not my point. quite a number of j2s went too, teachers as well.

both the teams got second in the end. more cheering for the team when the medals were presented during morning assembly on wednesday.

and on thursday morning, mr koh mentioned something about a biased article regarding tuesday's match. thanks to red sports, i found the article. and knew why mr koh had to bring it up.

The Electric New Paper :
Badminton finals between junior colleges turn into...
S'pore vs China
SINGAPORE 2 Foreign Talent 0.

28 May 2009


SINGAPORE 2 Foreign Talent 0.

That was the 'score' in the National Inter-School 'A' Division badminton finals at the Jurong East Sports Hall yesterday.

The all-Singapore boys and girls teams from Raffles Institution (RJC) beat the all-foreign girls team and almost all foreign boys team from Jurong Junior College (JJC).

Of the seven members in the boys team, four were from China, one from South Korea, and only two were locals.

The score for both matches: 3-1 in favour of Raffles.

For Jurong, it turned out to be a double whammy. Not only did they lose, but critics also questioned their foreign talent scheme.

Jurong was on a record-breaking spree in the tournament after their boys and girls team entered the badminton final for the first time in its history.

But critics were quick to slam the girls' team line-up as all of them were from China - enrolled through the Direct School Admission scheme.

The make-up of the squads had people talking. The vice-captain of the Anglo-Chinese Junior College (ACJC) badminton team, John Low, 18, said of the foreign line-up: 'It's unfair and we do feel a little resentful.'

Anglo-Chinese lost to Jurong 0-5 in the semi-finals.

Raffles coach Hamid Khan, 44, too, felt it was unfair.

He said: 'Foreign talent is okay, but there must be a cap in their numbers, say two or three every school.

'How are we going to raise the standard of badminton here if we have so many foreigners playing for one school?'

Sheena Tan, 18, who played in the first doubles match for Raffles, agreed.

She said: 'They do help raise the standard of schools' badminton. But there should be a cap.'

Raffles' reserve player, Lim Boon Tiong, 17, said: 'It's unfair. A lot of us feel like we're playing for Singapore, not just Raffles.'

But Jurong principal Steven Koh defended his school's position.

He said: 'We can't get good local players because they all go to the top junior colleges. For neighbourhood junior colleges like us to have a fighting chance, we need foreign talent.

'It's a problem faced by all except the top junior colleges.'

Raffles has so far won 19 sports titles this year, including yesterday's haul. Its tally includes major sports like track and field, cross-country, table-tennis and swimming.

Jurong girls got off to a good start when Zhang Xiao Dan beat Raffles' Melissa Leong 2-0.

But then Raffles went on to win the next three games to win the title.

How the boys did

In the boys, Jurong lost the first two sets. For a while, it seemed that they would fight back after Chen Yi Ming from Sichuan, China, beat Raffles' Aloysius Tan.

Then came the crucial second doubles game. Raffles needed one more win to take the gold.

Jurong's Francis Rathinam Charles and Jiang Hong Bo were pitted against Law Jia Hao and Daryl Wong.

The supporters of each team were on their feet, wildly applauding every point their team scored.

Even as the tension rose, one could see even Anglo-Chinese boys, perennial rivals to Raffles, cheering them on.

When Raffles won the final rubber set of the closely fought doubles 28-26, the ACJC boys were seen cheering their rivals.

To many, 'Singapore' had won.

Han Yongming, newsroom intern

as i was telling W this morning, the reporter thinks jjcians dunno how to read newspaper arh!

it would be useful to note that there are acutally more singaporeans in the badminton team, only they (really) didn't do well enough for them to be able to represent the school for nationals. and of course the foreigners who came over by dsa were good, that's why they were accepted in the first place.

if there was any party in the fault in this saga, it would be the team behind the dsa system. did they not realise it would rob singaporeans of their opportunities? but then again, as my secondary school principal put it, foreigners are here to motivate singaporeans to do better.

at the end of the story, it's really about how you want to see it. singapore indeed has a large proportion of foreigners. having kind of the same proportion in jj, is it better for all of us to be able to gauge how well we can succeed when we step into society in the nearing years?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

nuffnang: the things i want to do with my family!

so you know sg is largely pro-family, esp after the aware saga, and, perfect timing, sg's having national family celebrations!

i'm really thankful that i still have a complete family, as in, parents still intact, though i've got no more grandparents to be thankful for. but of course, i'm still glad for the times i shared with my mom's mom and my dad's dad.

and the world looks like it's ending soon. so we should all treasure our families more, in case we die tmr!

hopefully we won't, then we'll all be able to make use of may 30 to have a "family day out". it's an event from the national family council, and basically you can plan your own day out, or join the celebrations at the sg river!

but i'd really prefer to plan my own.

things i want to do with my family:
-go to the underwater world. there's this cc-organised event that allows families to camp overnight at the underwater world (cool right!) but it's damn expensive. my whole family of four would be set back by like, $200+? but it really is a nice idea. and i haven't been to underwater world for a long time. cuz it's always "too ex".

-go to the beach again! we went to ecp last year, but it seemed like we were only there for awhile. we should go apply for a permit to pitch tents and camp there overnight. and when we're bored with the beach, we can go to sentosa and go to the underwater world.

-eat sambal stingray. i think it's very amusing when my dad perspires ALOT when he eats spicy stuff. he's the only usually absent when we go out, cuz his work ends late. so most of the time it's just my mom, my bro and i. and my bro doesn't eat stingray. he should, huh. so we can camp at ecp, visit underwater world, then since sentosa food is expensive, we can go to some ulu kopitiam and have stingray.

-have a picnic! since young i've been reading enid blyton's books and somehow the kids always go for picnics. i've never been to a real picnic before. real as in bring a basket of pre-prepared food like sandwiches and egg salad, lay a picnic mat (red and white checkers!) on a huge grass patch, eat, and enjoy the sun and the wind. oh wait. there's a huge grass patch just downstairs. but no atmosphere, got mrt and alot of cars. should be done when we're camping at ecp.

-watch tv together. well. i haven't had tv for one month. at home, at least. cuz there's tv mobile when i'm on my way to school. i thought it was really nice when our whole family were sitting in front of the tv (which now has its wire snipped off) watching little nyonya and voicing our opinions about certain scenes. my mom can always guess what happens at the next minute. like she's the director.

-visit that restaurant that my parents used to bring me to before my brother was born. i rmb they have very nice dou miao, and it was where i first tried fried ice-cream. it was sort of a delicacy then, when i was five years old or younger, my mom told me before that then, our bill had to be of a minimum value before we could order fried ice-cream. but then as i grew up, fried ice-cream could be found for around a dollar for one at pasar-malams?!

-go swimming together! my family used to go to je's swimming complex tgt once in a while, but we stopped going there after the jw sports complex opened near my house. so we can go almost as and when we wanted, and it so happens that most of these times my dad's unavailable.

-i just thought it'll be cool for all of us to visit my dad's worksite one day.

-experience winter together! when i first saw snow in germany last year, i was exhilarated. though it's just frozen rain luh. but still. i grew up in sg okay! but of course it'll be a million times better if i experienced it with my real family instead of my german host family. because they haven't seen snow too. and my dad's nearing 50!

-but if i only have one day. i guess it won't matter what we do, just as long as my brother doesn't get scolded. he arh, always do stupid things to make me/my parents annoyed so we scream at him. and it really spoils the mood of whatever we're doing. so, be it a picnic somewhere/underwater world visit/going swimming/eating/watching tv/playing in the snow, i just hope it's a peaceful activity.

hmmm. start planning for your own Family Day Out on 30 May 2009! visit www.nfc.sg!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

kfc porridge

the dudes and dudins (panz!) at kfc are finally sane enough to bring porridge back for breakfast(:

Sunday, May 10, 2009

vesak hol

the sg women's everest team will reach summit tomorrow or tues!

this long weekend. was supposed to be spent on loads of stuff. but just trying to get math right took me till today and it's not done. and periodicity's not on litespeed!

don't like the pace at which time's travelling now. but then again, i can't wait for this phase to be over. need a major life overhaul.

in light of influenza a/h1n1/swine flu, check out this game: http://www.miniclip.com/games/sneeze/en/

haha.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

termite.

thanks for the memories.

Monday, May 04, 2009

thought.

luck favours the prepared.

but how prepared am i?

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

how can anybody be virtually uncontactable? especially when the person's your boyfriend. phone that can't call/sms, comp's that's spoilt (AGAIN) and so msn cannot be used. makes me realise how vulnerable our relationship is.

i'm beginning to lose faith.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

senile old woman

i just thought, if one day i lose my memory by any chance, my blog may be a good avenue to retrive lost moments.

monday we went to marche for xtina's 18th birthday. joy, qimin, amber and her bf dearest. ruth was grounded. we had nice food, and my part of the pill was just ten bucks. cuz i koped food from everybody else. HAHA.

today is sebas' and mine one year, but being year three, he wa held up in school at fyp meeting. we were supposed to go out for dinner, but i returned home much to the surprise of my mom cuz she didn't buy dinner for me. but we shared what we had and were all comfortably full.

i got chewy juniors home because i haven't eaten proper breakfasts for two mornings.

the deadline to get our bishan soh umbrella was last week, but today some cdc people went to get so i got mine too. damn big, damn heavy, damn auntie. and it can fit four average sized teenagers under, me and sophia tried after exco meeting.

yeah j1-s exco interview (first round) was today. idk if any j1s actually come here, but anyway all i'll say is that decision-making in the end was hard, and we haven't got postitions settled yet. there'll be a second round for shortlisted people. but i'm really thankful for my team of exco, they're really fun people. and i'm still grateful that i got an exco post after barely a month of joining cdc. i must have been a really special person.

so tomorrow's complex numbers lecture test, and i still haven't made out heads and tails of the topic.

it's so amusing, our new vp has a girl's name.

i'm glad i have motivation for what's after a's.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

council invest'09

so, one fine afternoon i received an invitation to be the emcee for council invest 2009. apparently L recommended me to A who was the one that asked me and S was supposed to do it with me but she had an appointment on the invest day itself so i was given the chance to choose my partner. i mentioned cheri or Q, and i got cheri in the end.

after two rehearsals, on 15 april 2009, we were released from class by twelve noon to prepare for the ceremony.

last year when the 28th stepped up, i was among the guests, as a council applicant. for each name that was announced, i secretly wished them all the best in the journey that i wasn't bestowed the opportunity to venture on.

this year when the stepped down, i'm at the podium, mentioning at least half the names that ran through my mind the previous year. half just because i had to share them with cheri. each name that i mentioned, it was lined with admiration and blithe as never had they once let me down with the tasks they undertook. each photo on the powerpoint slideshow presented not just the 28th cabinet councillors. they were friends, and very special ones indeed.

i wished i had worked with them more, perhaps like cheri, but if i did, i prolly won't dare to step to the podium, it would be a very emotional goodbye as they bade farewell to their mornings at the grandstand.

i guess it's just my way of being behind them, watching them step up and distributing hugs, hosting their step down and giving yet more hugs.

vivid memories showed me going backstage after they stepped up, i was in tears as my fellow applicants who became elects were donning blazers to show their council status, and jessica and hidayah shared hugs. and jessica was the first one i hugged when i left the lt after the investiture was over yesterday afternoon.

and i almost kissed zhepeng because we turned to the same side to hug each other, lol.

classic was the moment after i announced the staff meeting for teachers. i caught many smiles.

it's a closure for me, definitely. and the house council get-to-know-juniors/seniors session this morning. even though we had to stand at the back of lt5 for the entire chem lecture because dr gan considered us late.

special people, special moments. i'm glad i was given this path in life.

Thursday, April 09, 2009

jk's third.

it's so hard to let go.

chicken porridge song had to be stopped from playing because i reached home, yet i couldn't help but play it again then i switched on my ipod this morning.

just like how he was forcibly taken away for us. we may seem to have let go, but time and time again, the memories return, and we still wish he was here.

every 8th april. the third has past.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

bishan ccl soh

i was interviewed by sunday times yesterday. for the bishan circle line station civil defence shelter open house. a mouthful of words, i know.

and the whole event at three circle line stations were only given two short paragraphs in today's papers. already shows how important the paper treats the efforts of our civil defence personnel.

anyway, during the interview, i was asked how i feel people of my generation is prepared for emergencies. i told the reporters that we are definitely equipped with all the theory knowledge, but what we need, really, is practical. so i suggested a war.

and they asked for my opinions about the event, and i said it's really beneficial cuz it gives us teenagers and heartlanders (visitors) a greater insight on the defence equipment put in for singaporeans, and it is not often that you see things in such a deep level.

and i proudly pointed out my flexible ventilation duct station, where i had alot of fun with the officers and ns men stationed there. there was this indian man mopping a small corner of the station for hours. like, an area of six tiles. he provided much entertainment as we speculated about how suspicious he is, and how we should run if he starts running away. and the higher up officers laughed everytime i suggested something be done about him, cuz it's really scary.

but i would think that ultimately, the most interesting station should be mel's dry toilet.

and i'm really sorry i was so pissed after lt chai talked to us. firstly it wasn't in a condusive environment as i don't relish staring at white light, and seconly it was a barrage of ideas that would not be able to be carried out before we step down. and trust me, some of them are really ambitious.

i was thinking of using the june scdf camp for my nyaa residential proj, then he said it's postponed indefinitely. but i found something else to do.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

april fools' 2009

fuck april fools'.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

fish bone saga

okay i saw the class tee day class photo on tracy's blog, and seriously, i look like i've been editted in. i.e., i don't fit into the picture.

anyways. you know the news recently reported that this woman overseas swallowed a fish bone and swallowed rice to push it down till it poked out of her neck?

i was thinking of a possible conversation between her family members and her at dinner, before she got sent to the hospital.

woman: oops. i think i just swallowed a fish bone. couldn't help it la, the fish i cooked was so soft it didn't need chewing...
son: mommy don't talk already la! swallow rice!
woman: okay, okay, not like my talking's going to make it worse...(proceeds to swallow rice)
.
.
after several mouthfuls
.
.
woman: eh i don't think it's helping leh! i can still feel the bone! (swallows somemore)
woman: okay im feeling the pain, maybe the bone is really moving down the pipe. (because she wouldn't know how to say an oesophagus)
.
.
family members stare as she continues stuffing rice down her throat
.
.
.
all family members: EH STOP! THE BONE IS POKING OUT OF YOUR NECK! (and quickly calls the ambulance to send her to the hospital to have that 3cm long fish bone removed)

Saturday, March 21, 2009

the simun journey

it bewilders the mind to imagine how hazelnut milk actually tastes like soya bean milk.

the 5th simun conference has officially been declared closed by issac, the sec-gen of this mun.

yesterday ukraine only had a strength of two, and greg and i were frantically submitting amendments but the chair persisted that she has to recognise us before we can put forward the amendment.whcih was not how it was presented in my political committee the morning and the day before! but wells. lunch was good, we had bolognaise.

last day started an hour later but ended hours later too. because of the cocktail party which i would say we immensely enjoyed. eleanor came today, increasing our strength to three.i raised a point of info for philippines, which in the end made us both confused. i wanted to clarify but follow-up wasn't in order. thankfully philippines (ryan) requested for me to rephrase, which was in order. and he actually smiled at me, which provided some relief because i suspect i was actually shivering with fright when raising the question.

then when it came to usa's resolution, which was the first one to pass the general assembly, i actually spoke against. usa wanted a poi but i yielded the floor back to the chair. that resolution won best resolution for political anyways. speaking at the podium was actually not as scary as raising poi. oh and i have to mention that my chance at the podium was bequeathed to me by eleanor, who finally decided against speaking.

gregory initially had a chance to speak, thanks to obama's and uk's decision to plant more troops. people actually cut out the straits times article this morning and a war almost raged between russia and usa and uk in the security council. it's mind-boggling how a model united nations conference actually became this serious and real. best thing was, after the emergency meeting in the security council chamber, which came to conclusion that no war would be raged, russia actually said, "no thanks" when usa offered a handshake.

sorry but, ukraine was supposed to support russia. because we're neighbouring countries so something.

and i got scolded for wearing school u. the dress code piece of document clearly stated, on three accounts, that school uniform is appropriate attire. benedict told me ytd that it wasn't allowed, but we all took it as bullshit since the dresscode clearly states that it is. but today during the break mrs cornu actually stopped me to sort of reprimand me for my attire. i raised up the issue of the dresscode, she said i read it wrongly. wtf? but after that i figured there may really be some problem with my reading skills since nobody else wore school u. either that, or everyone is just unloyal to their school. but all i had to do, to ensure that i am "identified by my country and not my school", was to remove all trails of school logo and name from my attire. so, no blazer, no collarpin.

simun's family orientated. dr cornu founded it with mrs cornu, their daughter was the deputy sec-gen. how weird.

i'm looking for photos of me speaking, any press corps member has any?

oh and, wow, shiru received two mentions of appreciation, from sec-gen and dr cornu.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

simun day 1, mrw's mail

steph to mr w:

we survived day one of simun! just that E and X left pretty much halfway cuz they were bored.

good news: i was a submitter of a resolution after lobbying.

bad news: nobody else except for the submitter (me) and the co-submitters (IMF and jamaica) voted for the resolution. and clapping was in order. the delegate of philippines said that we're naive and premature.

which i sort of agree with, after reading carefully the final resolution. some parts were just not very realistic, and there were quite a number of vague stuff.

but overall today's session was quite enriching, seeing how a hwa chong guy (japan's delegate) kept going up to speak and how everybody kept debating and how random people like zimbabwe's delegate passed notes to me to tell me where i went wrong or asked for clarification.

made some friends today, probably will make more tomorrow. i think the uae delegate who sits beside me's flirting with me :S

anyway, hope you're having fun in hong kong! the last time i went there, and the only time i did, was when i was in primary 4, which is nearly a decade ago. send your wife our love!

regards,
steph

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

simun simun simun

mr w has been very dedicated so far, throwing us emails with lots of attchments all the way from hk, with paid wifi.

i'm just thankful that he editted all three of my speeches for tomorrow.

i'd better prepare for bed. three long days ahead with practically no time to study.

Monday, March 16, 2009

i dreamt that aaron confessed to me at a deserted nh stairway.

OMG I WISH MY DREAM DOESN'T COME TRUE.

not when i'm stuck in a situation like this. it's highly tempting, but no.

not now. as nice as the dream might have turned out to be.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

63 prozent.

i realised i've left my photo blog dead for quite some time.

anyway, march hols have begun! i've got cca today and tomorrow, econs make-up on mon, fll outing on wed, simun from thurs to sat.

at least i don't have to think of how to spend my one week.

oh and, i got 63% for my online chem test.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

dinosaur.

was supposed to stay overnight with owens for sports day prep, but i came home to do my chem test and sleep. because i've got important meetingS waiting for me after sports meet ends. simun and wellness carnival.

deyan sms-ed everybody today to ask if who was free to go bugis collect owens mascot. apparently only i was willing to go, but after numerous calls and smses i finally got max to go with me.

but the guy had to go home to pack his overnight stuff so i only left school half an hour after him. i only took my wallet at phone, then i was at the bus stop with a 174 bus coming towards me, then i realised i didn't have my ez-link card. so yeah, more calls and finally got lynette to pass it to me.

so i mrt-ed to je, and the dude was still far far away. missed three trains, he told me to go off in the next train without him but in the end we boarded the same train. he found me after many "excuse me"s and "sorry"s. damn funny.

yeah anyway max was damn engrossed in his psp the whole journey so nothing much to talk about. i was sms-ing megan, because we were meeting her at bugis so she can go choose the mascot since she'll be the one inside. she's super nice, she volunteered! and she's damn excited about it, even though it's really very stuffy inside the mascot.

it's a yellow and green dinosaur btw. rono, yes, but the other two available were pink, and brown.

the three of us were in the masquerade for three different purposes. megan to choose and try the costume, max to carry it back, and me to pay money. mr tan had to fork out the $80 himself because syira disappeared from the face of the earth an hour before i left school.

and max was acting smart, he didn't really know the location of masquerade. but megan found it and was desperately trying to give us directions. we found her after like, five calls?

so yeah, masquerade's opposite golden landmark and diagonally opposite raffles hospital.

wanted to mrt back with megan, but mr teo was hungry so megan left first and we went to banquet at raffles hospital. the yong tau foo stall aunties thought our big bag contained a bear. so i told them, "not bear, dinosaur."

many many people were staring at the big bag in the train and bus. and because max had both hands full i had to tap his card for him. so at the mrt staion it was like, i tap max's card, he go in, i tap my card, i go in. and the same process for getting out.

he kept knocking into things, idk if it's on purpose but it's really quite amusing.

when we alighted from the mrt at boon lay we met my dad. only a brief hi-bye, but after that i called my dad to tell him that max is not my boyfriend.

so we returned to school and girls were wondering what we did that took us so long to return. if a scandal emerges it's their fault.

left school after owens dinner. first time there were four dishes. and two pieces of the malay stall fried chicken. each packet must have cost $3 or something.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

he meets me.

home learning today resulted in not very much learning. especially bio. maybe instructions were unclear, maybe i haven't been paying attention in class, but did ms ong mention that we are to do the prokaryotes thing? it bugs me alot, studying an entire topic on my own. and the structured question was weird.

but anyway i handed it up after throwing dices. i think the plural of dice is dice right.

tmr will be a long day. friday is sports day, and after that i have two meetings. sunday lee hsien loong is meeting me.

minister vivian balakrishnan's my friend. so is george yeo.

Monday, March 09, 2009

foreheads.

tomorrow i'll be typing out my chem spa limitations and errors here. i just know it.

what if my mom and my principal had telepathy? she's been asking me to pin up my fringe for dunno how long, and this morning the entire jj female population, the students at least, were demanded to have their fringes un-covering their foreheads. and not swinging by the sides of their faces.

because the p says chinese believe that the forehead represents luck, and if you cover your forehead, no luck.

mr s was trying hard tp supress laughter after he said that.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

steph memorising.

tell me how to study for econs essay test. huh HUH HUH!!

irritating. really, at the current situation, i'd rather channel my brain cells to understanding the difference between limitations and errors for my chem spa this wednesday. i know somebody answered that question of mine like, years ago, but now i've forgotten the explanation.

and i don't like memorising. which was probably why mdm goh said i'm in big trouble, in front of the whole class.

i don't memorise stuff, really because i don't like it. not because i can't do it. i can. and there's evidence. i just think memorising's a stupid way to learn stuff.

which is probably what landed me in jjc, instead of high and mighty schools that i totally have the ability to conquer. i mean like, if only i memorised my chinese lit stuff, if only i memorised more chem facts, if only i memorised steps to solving a math questions, if only i memorised the cheem things to add into my language compos...

i'd prolly be the top student of nh.

but, slap me and let me come back to earth.

whether i should commit stuff to memory now so that there's at least a minute possibility of Yeo Xin Ying, Stepahnie being the valedictorian of Jurong Junior College, i guess it's all up to me.

and if i use more than 2 percent of my brain, should my brain be cut up after i die for that to be discovered, then i'll be proclaimed to be cleverer than einstein. NOT SHANNON'S DOG.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

export organs after tsunami.

"if you're good in your o levels, then you're just good at an ordinary level. because the o stands for ordinary. but, you know what the a in a levels stand for or not? it's not, 'aiyah, same as o levels lah!'"--mr damien ler

a record breaking of 50% of my german class got b. only one person got a, which means sonja got nearly full marks, such that moderation put the mark range for a so damn high nobody else qualified. which i think makes it damn unfair because she didn't come for class at all, just came for the exam. because her family IS german. so i guess for language exams, especially foreign language exams, lines are blurred. i think second language and third language people should have separate bell curves.

while revising for my content quiz coming thursday, i realised our content book is actually quite an interesting storybook. it has made me stay glued to my chair, leaving only when i had to go for meals. and i actually talk to my book, scary. i'll read a question in the book, e.g. should the selling of human organs be prohibited? and tell my book my point of view.

i wonder what my book would say if it could talk.

anyway. yesterday was essay test and my chosen question made it feel like i was penning a blog post instead of a gp essay. which prolly means i won't score really great marks. i re-read my essay after i finished it, and i realised i couldn't find my loa and thesis statement in the first few paragraphs, and i couldn't find anywhere to put them in. but i read and re-read the essay nad thought that it actually flowed quite smoothly, except maybe at the concluding part but still i cross my heart and hope not to die.

"cross my heart" reminds me of scenes on the movie "the ant bully". when ants cross their hearts they cross their butt area, cuz that's where their hearts are.

monday's econs test, i'm sort of losing hope in ms tiong. ever since she walked away halfway through answering my question.

talking about questions. in econs class i always have alot of doubts, therefore i always ask questions. and when i realised we're having alot of make-up lessons for econs, i thought it may be due to my asking questions that delays the lesson.

so on thursday, i tested my hypothesis. i killed the question-asking temptation. and stayed almost non-existant for two hours. there is significant difference between the expected and observed results, therefore reject the null hypothesis. lesson still dragged. point proven wrong.

so i asked as much questions as i used to on friday. at least i felt more normal. after class on thurs melissa was asking me why i looked so tired. i said because i didn't talk in class.

there was econs make-up on friday after we got our language results. ms tiong asked, "after the tsunami in indonesia, what would they export more?"

and i replied, in the lecture theatre containing four classes, "organs."

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

cranky.

"i'm actually very impatient, just that i look patient only." -mdm goh


morgen ist deutsche tag! but i have cca. whyyyyy.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

deutsche satze.

dieses Jahr ist Schule eines ganz anderes Welt. ein schlechtes Welt, mit allerdings und jede Leute (fast). manchmal wuenshe ich laufen, schnell, von Zeuge ich kann in Worte sagen nicht. nichts kann so viele bedeuten.

ahh, this sucks.

somebody said a's results will be released next week.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

someone, lyrics

someone who

sees like a child
gives like a saint
feels like an angel
nevermind the broken wings

speaks like a picture
cries like the rain
shines like a star
as long as the fire remains

Monday, February 23, 2009

slumdog ftw!

the 81st annual academy awards started at 9.30 am singapore time at the kodak something in los angeles.

yay for slumdog millionaire! i hope the indian kids who went for the academy awards had fun.

and i think it's sort of a tradition, for all award ceremonies, to award a prize to the dead, if applicable. but heath ledger deserved it totally. for being a wonderful joker. now, who was the singaporean who had a part to play in the dark knight?

and why, somebody please explain to me, does it seem like only a few films were nominated for so many awards? sure it's great that slumdog got so many awards, but at the same time, shouldn't other films stand a chance too? look at the nominations list, all you see is milk, slumdog, dark knight, benjamin button, the reader...

for short film, we have spielzeugland, german for toyland. apparently the producer was the director, so he spent four years of his east german life coming out with the fourteen-minute film. but at least he ended up with a gold guy.

more of the oscars action at http://oscar.com.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

recollections.

this week has SO not been productive.

i mean, apart from the fact that i was engaged in school stuff for all seven days.

chancellor's challenge shield yesterday, i guess all of us from jj were too embarrassed to put on our blazers, so they were more like an arm accesory, as S mentioned. yeah so last year jj was second or something, but this year we went and left with nothing. like a saying that goes something like, when you come to this earth, you bring nothing with you, so when you leave, you take nothing with you. i forgot if it's an english or chinese saying, but that's about how it goes.

but we had nice lunch. S and M went to nus for smun last year, so S knew where the good food was. and it ended up that all jj reps went there for lunch. cheap western food, quite good. it's like a school cafeteria style, where you go down in one lane, order and pick up the stuff, then go to the end and pay.

mmm, and the emcee didn't know who steven chia, the goh was. i mean like, the very basic thing you could do, when you're an emcee for an event with a guest of honour, is to check up abit on the profile of the dude. so anyways. when steven chia came in and sat down, alot of people clapped, and she said something along the line of, "yes, very good! that's what you should do when he comes in later, so this is like a rehearsal." then i think somebody pointed out to her that he was already there, so there was a weird moment when she tried to take back her words.

dang my nose is pain. happens quite alot, irritating.

but anyway. one team each from hci, vj and nus got into the finals, and surprise surprise (not!), hci emerged as the winner. they sort of knew the answers to every question, which, after a few questions, became quite irritating. so when they got a question wrong people started cheering.

and for the top ten individuals, there was one each from pj and cj, and the rg girls behind were like, "there're such schools?" and one of them didn't know there's a war in israel. and said it out pretty loud too. talk about being refined ladies from a very prestigious school.

and today, cdc, together with a few jj leaders, went down for nanyang ep day. conclusion, cdc was unhappy with leaders, leaders were unhappy with cdc. i think there just wasn't enough communication.

this week, there aren't many tests, just on on thursday that covers organic chem up till carboxylic acids, but there's spa trial on wed and tomorrow's oscars!

oh yeah i watched slumdog millionaire with sebas, that's why i'm so hyped up about oscars. slumdog's got 10 nominations okay! and if you read sunday times today, yes the bollywood dance scene at the end was very entertaining. sebas and i needed the loo quite badly after the movie but we made sure we waited till the dance was over.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

can't believe that i'm a fool again

how was i to know, you never told me.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

well,

"i may stumble and fall but i will give it my all, i'll be strong with dignity, 'cause i've tried to be the best that i can be."

sorry that's just random. anyway..

teachers should NEVER show favouritism. if L and M both have the same highest scores in class, there's no reason why Miss should only announce that L topped the class.

M studied, and her effort is worth recognition.

i told my mom about it, and she asked why i didn't stand up for M. because i didn't know the scores until like ten minutes after L's achievement was announced.

i could have stood up then and questioned Miss, "why M got the same score as L but you never say she top the class?", but i guess that'll only make me look/sound like a bitch in front of two classes. and prove that i'm such a kaypo i go look at other people's scores.

sad life.

"but you'll just have to accept that fact that life is sad," says mdm goh, making the whole class laugh.

Friday, February 13, 2009

typical j2 post.

the teachers really love us alot. otherwise it cannot be explained, why we have four tests the week after the valentine's weekend.

mon's econs and gp, tues's bio, thurs' math.

sheryl was offering valentine's dates in the canteen:

in the form of red dates. "retro leh!" says sheryl, proudly exhitbiting the paper packaging.

and lihuan's rose was much much larger than mine.
yeah, painted thumbnail(:

Monday, February 09, 2009

HAHA.

tomorrow will be the last possible day of pe lessons from hell. because our dear seniors from some ancient batch are leaving after tomorrow.

so, let's see, no more:

-crazy abs training that makes people unable to laugh for the following week
-egoistic introductions to exercises
-mockery when we show signs that we're tired
-stupid hand burning under the sun
-push-ups on prickly ground
-outrages of modesty
-embarassing rabbit hops
-demands like we're some ug
-big-time flirting that doesn't do anything other than stoke hatred

which i think, gives us all reason enough to rejoice and welcome back female pe teachers with open arms.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

What will you do to find out if your crush is into you?

teenagers have alot in their lives.

i mean like, just look at us, in jc, we've got (at least) five subjects to handle, the better ones will have more, then cca, then when we turn j2 all the remediation lessons start bombarding us, and somehow we rediscover homework.

but more than all that, we cannot forget our private life, i.e. love life.

idk, this sounds weird coming out of my mind right. though i've got a boyfriend.

but think about it. when was your first crush?

mine was in kindergarten. k2. this boy was really cute. i still think so when i see my photo with him. taken just before our graduation performance. but idk what he looks like now, we never kept in contact.

then you begin to wonder as you grow up, what exactly is a crush? last year the girls in class had this eye-candy fetish and all of a sudden almost everyone would go all squirmish when they catch sight of the guy htey thought was good looking. i questioned. they said it's not a crush, it's just eye-candy.

till now i don't see the difference, since rumours have begun with girls and their eye-candy. isn't that what happens when you have a crush?

and, why do people have crushes? because they long for a partner? or because they read too much fairy tales?

back to my k2 guy, i remember imagining us living together, taking care of kids, cooking, everything like parents do. and in my imagination we still looked like when we were six. yeah. six year olds carrying babies and cooking.

so assuming i'm an average girl, crushes are who we think are potential husbands/wives? which means they are potential boyfriends/girlfriends?

oh yeah sebas, just so you know, i never had a crush on you. we were super good friends, and before i could imagine anything, poof! we were together. like magic.

okay back to the topic. so crushes are supposed to become boyfriends, speaking from the girls' point of view.

and love is supposed to be mutual right.

so assuming having a crush is having a secret love for that particular someone, what if, girl A has a crush on guy B, and guy B has a crush on girl A too?

crushes are meant to be secret i suppose, like how the eye-candy thing is supposed to be secretive too. but turned out everybody knew everybody's ec.

so if crushes are secret, then girl A would not know how guy B feels, and guy B wouldn't know what girl A feels.

but what if they find out somehow?

if i were girl A, and one fine day i realise guy B's actually just as into me as i am to him, i think at first i'll be happy for awhile.

awhile, because then i'll wake up. like hello? a crush? something caused by hormones? idk. crushes usually aren't friends right. so whatever we know aboutt he other person may be due to horrible stalking to find out what his name is, what class he is in, what time are his breaks so we can look at him from afar, what cca he is in, if he already has a girlfriend...

but we don't actually talk to them do we? i guess the most common reaction for girls if their crush suddenly appears infront of them is to get dumbfounded and be retarded for a few moments.

so yeah i'll wake up, because i realise that i haven't talked to that person, i only know what's outside, not what's inside. i could have observed his actions since forever, but i wouldn't know his character until i really get to know him.

same goes for the guy. if he has been stalking me all these while, he wouldn't know me inside out either.

so getting together...may not be impossible, but prolly friends first. but i guess before that i'll be so bloody embarassed that i'll never look at him again. too bad for him that likes me then.

idk, what will YOU do if you find out your crush has a crush on you?

Sunday, February 01, 2009

(:

bikila and rono will appear soon.

i was exploring heartware's website, and then i discovered all the testimonials. sebas has his face in han ying's photo.

idk, will somebody ask me to write a testimonial for heartware sometime?

meanwhile, to appease teachers, parents, relatives and myself, i am trying to figure out math.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

bannister


BANNISTER: Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister struck me as a very outstanding person.

the 4-minute mile, during his time, was almost scientifically deduced to be impossible. but bannister did it in 3min 59.4sec

we could say that bannister was probably a born runner. he only began training at the age of 17, and previously he had never worn running spikes, nor ran on a track. but one year later, after thrice-weekly training sessions, he could run a mile in 4 min 24.6 sec. and the next year, in 1948, he was selected to be an Olympic "possible", but he turned it down, cuz he felt he wasn't good enough. but the 1948 olympics made him more inspired to be a great miler, so he trained hard for the next olympic games, which would be in 1952. he ran the 1500 in helsinki in 1952, and set the british record with 3:46.30. which placed him fourth. but to him it was a failure.



so after the 1952 olympic games, he set the big goal, to complete a mile under 4 minutes. he failed quite a number of times, but the historic moment came on 6 may 1954. the stadium announcer was quite cute. he knew of bannister's goals, and he knew that alot of people went down to support him, so when he announced the results he purposely said alot before telling the people the timing. reportedly, it was like that:

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event 9, the one-mile: 1st, No. 41, R.G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which - subject to ratification - will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire, and World Record. The time was 3.."

then the crowd cheered like mad and nobody cared about the digits at the back.

but apparently the 4-minute impossible mile thing was a myth. for nine years, which was sort of war time, all the records set were a little more than 4 minutes. so human beings, who love whole numbers, took the number 4 as the magic figure. but it may have been broken during the nine years, because the war-time interrupted athletic progress.

nevertheless we shouold acknowledge bannister for achieving his goal, especially when he's a low-mileage trainer.

but yeah, the sad part was that his record was broken by another guy just 46 days after he set it.



and, he's sir bannister because in 1975 he was knighted for his services as the chairman of the sports council of england. he was also the sports illustrated sportsman of the year in 1955.

idk, would dr. bannister or sir bannister sound nicer? cuz this dude was a medical student.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

owens

after house comm meeting today, i just felt that i don't know enough about our house names. so i wiki-ed, and here they are.


OWENS, after James Cleveland Owens. aka, Jesse Owens, but Jesse was never his name. one of his teachers misheard "JC", for james cleveland, as jesse, and so the name started.
i guess he's a great sportsman because of his olympic achievement, first american guy to get four golds in track and field. it was the 1936 olympics in berlin. hitler wanted to use the games to promote Nazi supremacy, showing that ethnic africans, e.g. owens, were inferior.


it's a sort of tradition for the goh person to shake hands with all the athletes right? so on the first day, hitler went round shaking hands. but. only with the german winners. so the olympic council people told him he had two choices, either to shake the hands of all medalists, or none. he chose the latter, and never turned up for subsequent prize presentation ceremonies.

so as with all big events the media people always like to tell stories. so they suggested that hitler never turned up because he didn't want to acknowledge owens' wins. but when interviewed, owens said that when he passed hitler, he (hitler) stood up, and they waved to each other. and he said that it wasn't hitler who snubbed him, it was his own american leaders. he did not receive any recognition from the presidents. only after around 20 years, the next president named him the ambassador of sports.


but after that his life sort of became less intersting. he was supposed to follow his team to compete in sweden, but he chose to return to the us to make money from advertisments. but it didn't really work out and in the end he became bankrupt and was prosecuted for tax evasion. he carried on with a few more jobs, then became a goodwill ambassador, stressing on the importance of hardwork, religion and loyalty.

there was this "black power salute" protest by black athletes in an olympic game some years later, but owens did not support it. so the participants criticised him.

before he died at the age of 66 he managed to convince the president then to not boycott the moscow olympics because the games are not supposed to be related to war/politics. yeah anyway he died of lung cancer because he smoked for 35 years.

coming in the next post is bannister. there were alot of great bannisters, but i guess the one the blue house is named after Roger Bannister, the first man to run a less-than-four-minute mile. though the record was broken 46 days later. so, please stay tuned(:

Monday, January 19, 2009

to sebas.

the trying period didn't take too long. and i'm thankful for that. sebas, i love the way you fit into my life.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

fll journey

my fll process with heartware wasn't very long in my opinion, though it was significantly longer than for the est of the volunteers. but i'm thankful for the team of thirteen referees, though we were only left with a team of twelve on the event day. exclusive of mr et, of course, whom i met just one day before the event, but that was all it took for me to respect him for who he is. the head referee.

the fll referee journey began on 15 nov. the first referee-timekeeper meeting at heartware office. i didn't exactly feel like going, cuz i was preparing for my germany trip. but i went anyway, and met alot of interesting people. sean, the 24 year old nus guy, bahari, a poly guy who joined just cuz he thought it'll be fun, sheryl, who was in jj for her first three months but went to sa eventually, joy, rj timekeeper who had her name on her wushu jacket, chiew lin, meiting and jiawen, hc triplets, and heartware staff. we played ice-breakers, and in one game we had to choose a food item to represent ourselves and we took turns to call each other by that. we had ice cream and ice kachang, which was quite confusing, and sheryl and i were prawn crackers and prawn noodles. kenneth was carrot cake. brown was ikea meatballs. joy was pizza.

since sebas and i got together, it was the first heartware meeting that we weren't present at the same time. but it was fun nevertheless.

my next fll meeting was with all the other volunteers already, at phpss. there were two other referee events before that, but i was more than ten thousand kilometres away at germany. this fll meeting, i went with sebas, and it was that day that my group of people, led by field manager wei hui, knew that i'm attached. because cheryl was saying that i'll have high expectations of my future boyfriend, and i asked why "future". and that was the day we met volunteers who were not referees/timekeepers. nicolette, from cj swimming, ayuni, srjc grad, cheryl and rachel, who kept switching their names (and cheryl has three ccas in rj), and weihui who had a deck of poker cards with weird photos on them. there was this very quiet nus guy, but i forgot his name. he reminds me of bowen.

and that day, we went for lunch at the bishan kopitiam which i went to with 2/1 people that time we visited mr chin for cny.

that was the last fll session with games. we took a group volunteer photo in the canteen, but as with most heartware group photos, i don't think i'll get a copy of it.

one week later was another all-volunteers meeting at heartware office. this time they made an exception, no need to remove shoes. i was present with sebas but since we played different roles in this project we weren't working together.

and this was the day we were given our table groupings. me at c4, with terence and cs, and xue er as our timekeeper. it was terence's first fll meeting that day, apparently. we very briefly went through the table layout and possible scenarios. i was supposed to be giving the briefing for my table, but then because sean's sounded much more interesting so in the end we sort of merged. luckily we did, because i was running out of stuff to say. sean went for skirmish while i was in germany, so that old guy had more stuff in his head.

the next few days were spent corresponding with kwan yong, who was in charge of our schedule for the next two referee meetings. i first replied his mail because his name was upside down. in his next mail, he sent me the link. i wanted to post the upside thing, but it couldn't show up. but do click on it yeah, it's quite interesting.

so my next referee-timekeeper meeting was on the follwing wed. it was a very heated up discussion with sean, me and terence. the rest pretty much kept quiet. i don't remember if it was then that we met ernest. either wed or thurs.

because the next day i went for the meeting too, since fri i had to be in school. ernest was a referee nominated by the head referee, who was his sec sch teacher. he received a special welcome from ida, but not exactly in a good way but in heartware there's nothing really bad. because he was overseas the whole time we had our other meetings. so ida had to print all the referee handouts for him, and that amounted to quite alot. referees have alot of responsibility.

the thursday meeting was much quieter, prolly because we had less questions to cover. then we went on to dual-lock all the mats and the models. and double sided taping the bottom of the mats so they could be attached to the tables. and that was the day i left my scissors at heartware. i don't think i'm going back to get it, since i live at jurong and heartware's at bishan and i've got no more third lang.

and the next time we met was on saturday at the national library. it was one day before the event. mr et was marking attendance and he came over to where me and sebas were sitting to ask if i was stephanie. sebas (and i) were astonished by his air of authority. he had this kind of voice that would make you want to listen to him and work with him and respect him. powerful.

that meeting was to set the area for competition purpose the next day. we helped pack the goodie bags, (and took some home ourselves), and we divided into our job groups to go through stuff that would happen the next day. referees and timekeepers and our runner basically stuck the models on the mat, qc-ed them, took them off, pack them back into their boxes, labelled them, and slack. and we were very happy about it.

and that was the day i started to know cs. i saw him on the phpss day, but only talked to him on this saturday.

and that night, he sms-ed me to morning call him the next morning.

so on 11 jan i woke up at 4.30 am. morning called sebas at 5am, then called cs at 5.30. by seven am at the national library the orange referees were very prominant around the other blue volunteers, whom mr et called the smurfs.

11 jan shan't be described further by words. pictures say much more.

nametag

chicken dance we're not clapping, we're doing the chicken dance.

blocked by pole

jb2

jedi black1

grin

droplet

mark

point

smile my favourite photo!

comp. area 2

reset table

screen

c4, polar bear

kids

big jacket

milo

referees

busy background

Saturday, January 10, 2009

heh.

die. monday got chem test. whole of organic chem. now i know what to bring for fll. chem notes.

and...math test on 20 jan, entire book three. well erm, i'll study for it, hopefully i'll get a decent grade.

went to shop for cny shoes at jp, three hours of futile walking about. gahh. luckily we're going to bugis tomorrow, sebas and i. only maybe in the afternoon...maybe we don't have much time. thanks to fll at weird timing. where got people do recee at 3-6 one.

Monday, January 05, 2009

last week of school hols

so. school starts next week.

but i guess fll takes priority now.