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)

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.

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.

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”

pre-htc

i don't pursue freedom.
i live it.

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

pre-u sem09

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

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?

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!

kfc porridge

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

MONSTERS VS ALIENS WIDGET

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.

termite.

thanks for the memories.

thought.

luck favours the prepared.

but how prepared am i?

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.

strongest winds ever in sg

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/424439/1/.html

hmm.