Now as the minutes run dry, and the seconds draw close, I feel it is about time to write my final post and reflections for the year 2007, the year that has been so good and bountiful in terms of harvest and experience.
I believe in the beginning of the year, it was a year of trials and new expectations, not just that, it was a totally different experience in terms of school work and aims. 5.13 started out strong, and still is going strong. At our first PC lesson, I wrote on the board and this remains etched in my mind "Treasure the times we have together". I think this is still very apt as the chapter of our class draws to a close in December 2008. We do not have a long time left before we guys go the army and you gals go to Uni. This year, I was shockingly made the Vice-Chairman of our class and to tell you the truth, I least expected anything like that. I have never held a position so high in the class comm since 2003, and the responsibilities this time were much greater. From the WoW trip and the gathering of funds, I feel that this was the most important task yet. I was honoured, and I believed many of you guys were shocked that an idiot like Leon could hold a committee position. Yeah I wasnt sure I was up to the task either. But telling you the truth, I enjoyed every single moment of it. Hope you guys still trust me.
However, I think the greatest thing that happened this year was still the fellowship and the strong bond that our class has. Trust me, even the guys in 4.17 06' that belonged to already such a great class thought that way too. It just got better in many ways. From the Feb birthdays I could tell this class was not going to be an ordinary class, and any doubts would be cleared by the time we reached WoW. I miss you guys after this holiday has started, and I wish the time of fellowship between us would never end, the song singing, the suanning sessions, the eating together and blah blah. And of course Ultimate Frisbee.
But aside from the class and what have you, I believe I must reflect on my personal life. My personal life has been an absolute disaster this year, and my grades has been on a downward curve since the start of 2005. I have never seen my glory days that I had seen in 2004 and I am not happy about it. It has gone to the extent that Jeremy asked me "Eh what happened ah?" Ya la, too lazy, too playful and what have you. Also the God element in my life receded in the past 2 years, and it was up to me once again to get my life back on track. I vow not to commit the same things again next year.
On the other hand, I have had some good times. My first Chinese pop song that I wrote was unforgettable. I still remember I wrote it before Church at Singapore Expo, in the Coffee Bean while my parents were having bible study. From the time it started to the climax of it's life, I believe I have seen success in many corners. An enjoyable song that is well liked by some of you guys, and the hauntingly highness of my voice. But the truth is, I must give credit to a few people also, namely my mom, who said it was nice and gave me the passion to continue, and Mr Wong, who helped me with the intro and the bridge of the song. And no Ying Hao he did not help me to write the chorus or the verse which was crucial in my opinion. I am now working on my second one.
To tell you the truth, even though music has not been going so well for me as a subject, I still find joy in song writing, and the pessimistic quality of life has not brought me down. I am also glad to have such good parents that truly care for me, and sometimes, looking at other families, I am glad the bond still holds. Especially the bond between my Mom and I that many of you guys mock. Truly, she is the only one that understands me and I am glad for that. Also I am glad that I have got to know my dad better, through all the things that we have been through.
It seems like one year has passed so fast. I cannot emphasize this more. My brother said back in 2006 that he wanted to get married in 2007, and it seems like the wedding has come and gone so fast. Last year I stood on the rooftop of my house, looking at the fireworks that Johor was putting up, and now, it is about to start 30 minutes from now. How fast could this year have gone? It seems like I have aged a lot.
I am really sorry if this is beginning to sound like a quarterly newsletter, but I have to take some time off to reflect on this year as a whole, the good times and the bad times. Sincerly speaking, the bad times have been kept to a minimal, the good times outweighing the bad more than 2:1. But I really need to get my academic life back up to scratch again.
My cat is looking at me now, and that Felix is so cute. I am truly glad that I have sacrificed a good 20 minutes wo write this post, and to tell you the truth, I am glad I sacrificed the Nintendo Wii next door to come back to this quiet corner of my house to write this reflection. And to end this long reflection off, have a great 2008 and the last few minutes of 2007!!!!
I hate it when people sing this song or play it but I guess I have no choice now.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I'll be mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We twa hae run about the braes
And pou'd the gowans fine.
We've wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin' auld lang syne.
We twa hae sported i' the burn,
From morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roared
Sin' auld lang syne.
And ther's a hand, my trusty friend,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
We'll tak' a right good willie-waught,,
For auld lang syne.
Thanks guys for all these memories and a god blessed happy new year!!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Lazy to blog, since life is so boring.
but i have seen the week fly past me, and thanks to Felix, the cat, it has been a memorable one. I, am sad to see him go today, and he will only be back in about 6 days time, and so.. Plus tomorrow night I am staying alone at home, so I will feel the effects.
But of course, work!!
EE is almost done, missing the second bit and nearing the conclusion, should be finished in a few days. MI havent started yet, History IA must start doing when I find the resources.
Argh pressure la!
but i have seen the week fly past me, and thanks to Felix, the cat, it has been a memorable one. I, am sad to see him go today, and he will only be back in about 6 days time, and so.. Plus tomorrow night I am staying alone at home, so I will feel the effects.
But of course, work!!
EE is almost done, missing the second bit and nearing the conclusion, should be finished in a few days. MI havent started yet, History IA must start doing when I find the resources.
Argh pressure la!
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
have you seen the latest addition to my family?
yeah looks traumatized but this cat has a sad history. My brother's wife (my sis in law) spotted the abused cat covered in paint (the poor thing) and adopted him.. (though she has like 2 birds and a dog)Oh and he is damm cute. one day drop by, and I will show you just how cute this guy is.
so for the time being..
yeah looks traumatized but this cat has a sad history. My brother's wife (my sis in law) spotted the abused cat covered in paint (the poor thing) and adopted him.. (though she has like 2 birds and a dog)Oh and he is damm cute. one day drop by, and I will show you just how cute this guy is.
so for the time being..
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
As I look back on my life in the last couple of years, seeing the number of failures that I have had in many aspects of my life, I cannot help but wonder all the time, what the heck is happening to me. I try my best, I do everything I can, do get the best I can get out of myself.
But many times, instead I see myself failing time and time again. I have many a time questioned the existence of God in my life, what I have done wrong, and why I can never see any successes in my daily living. Instead, I see more and more failures in my life, in academic studies, and a fruitless attempt to continue my passion for God. I do not see any promises, but many a failure instead.
Let me tell you now, I lost all my passion for my God and my lifestyle way back in 2006 already. I questioned the existence of God in my life, whether there was even a God, and nearly became a non-believer for good. I strayed further and further from the path that I was supposed to be on, and continuously saw a heartbroken Leon, who might have put on a brave, strong, and even a humourous front, but deep down there, was really a broken hearted one.
Now I am tearing as I write this post, because I finally see the mistakes that I have made in the past. As I watched the show, Facing the Giants, I finally saw what was wrong with me. I realised that I relied on my own strength all the time, no matter what I did, rarely succeeding, and always failing. This applied to my life even this year, and looking back, I am glad I turned back before it was too late. I had been disillusioned with church, who I had called God and so on, until I watched this show.
Not only that, I never involved God with anything I did, be it work, or studies, and never gave him the glory. Things seem easier nowadays, and I wished I had learnt my lesson earlier, and truly, I regret.
So next year I really look forward to God helping me through whatever I have done, and say, I have regained my passion for Christ once more again.
But many times, instead I see myself failing time and time again. I have many a time questioned the existence of God in my life, what I have done wrong, and why I can never see any successes in my daily living. Instead, I see more and more failures in my life, in academic studies, and a fruitless attempt to continue my passion for God. I do not see any promises, but many a failure instead.
Let me tell you now, I lost all my passion for my God and my lifestyle way back in 2006 already. I questioned the existence of God in my life, whether there was even a God, and nearly became a non-believer for good. I strayed further and further from the path that I was supposed to be on, and continuously saw a heartbroken Leon, who might have put on a brave, strong, and even a humourous front, but deep down there, was really a broken hearted one.
Now I am tearing as I write this post, because I finally see the mistakes that I have made in the past. As I watched the show, Facing the Giants, I finally saw what was wrong with me. I realised that I relied on my own strength all the time, no matter what I did, rarely succeeding, and always failing. This applied to my life even this year, and looking back, I am glad I turned back before it was too late. I had been disillusioned with church, who I had called God and so on, until I watched this show.
Not only that, I never involved God with anything I did, be it work, or studies, and never gave him the glory. Things seem easier nowadays, and I wished I had learnt my lesson earlier, and truly, I regret.
So next year I really look forward to God helping me through whatever I have done, and say, I have regained my passion for Christ once more again.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Sitting here in silence, I realise that it is almost 2 am in the morning.
Looking through my diary, recalling the days of old, I can hear and see the vision of each memory, deeply etched in my mind.
Yes, time flies, and before I had a blog, I had a diary. You see, my diary is almost 4 years old now. In fact, it is older than some of my neighbourhood kids. It stores slightly over 24 posts, posts that are influenced by anger, deceit, happiness, thankfulness, rejoicing, and almost every other emotion that the human might have.
My computer makes a heck a lot of noise, disrupting my thought process. It may be 1, but the memories of old, they will not disappear, they will not be forgotten, they will be etched in my mind forever. The good times, the bad times, the bittersweet moments, processes, and all. How could I ever forget them.
In fact, I would realise that hardly anyone reads my blog. But my diary contains stuff that I treasure the most. Stuff that I, would not want to blog on here. Private moments, moments of sorrow and that of victory, stored like archives, flooding through my brain even as I recollect every single one of them.
Short, long, they all are important to me.
It may seem that I am rambling off at 2am in the morning, but what better way to rejoice than looking at your diary once more, looking at the things you have succeeded in doing, the trying times that you have passed.
A blog makes you easily vulnerable to hate mail, like some of which my ex classmates would have known.
But dear diary, you who have seen through my darkest days and brightest moments, will never be vulnerable to attacks by malicious people, people who intend harm for you, will never be seen in you, no comments, no hijacking. Just pure thoughts from the reader.
And for that,
I love you.
Looking through my diary, recalling the days of old, I can hear and see the vision of each memory, deeply etched in my mind.
Yes, time flies, and before I had a blog, I had a diary. You see, my diary is almost 4 years old now. In fact, it is older than some of my neighbourhood kids. It stores slightly over 24 posts, posts that are influenced by anger, deceit, happiness, thankfulness, rejoicing, and almost every other emotion that the human might have.
My computer makes a heck a lot of noise, disrupting my thought process. It may be 1, but the memories of old, they will not disappear, they will not be forgotten, they will be etched in my mind forever. The good times, the bad times, the bittersweet moments, processes, and all. How could I ever forget them.
In fact, I would realise that hardly anyone reads my blog. But my diary contains stuff that I treasure the most. Stuff that I, would not want to blog on here. Private moments, moments of sorrow and that of victory, stored like archives, flooding through my brain even as I recollect every single one of them.
Short, long, they all are important to me.
It may seem that I am rambling off at 2am in the morning, but what better way to rejoice than looking at your diary once more, looking at the things you have succeeded in doing, the trying times that you have passed.
A blog makes you easily vulnerable to hate mail, like some of which my ex classmates would have known.
But dear diary, you who have seen through my darkest days and brightest moments, will never be vulnerable to attacks by malicious people, people who intend harm for you, will never be seen in you, no comments, no hijacking. Just pure thoughts from the reader.
And for that,
I love you.
Monday, November 26, 2007
FooFoo is back!
yeah it has been a heck of a weekend, and to add it off, I dont really know who is reading my blog anymore! not that I have been worried about it or anything..
but well, my first time as a best man, and the first time as a xiong di.. (which means brother of course). That means unequal amounts of getting saboed and eating wasabi crackers and bittergourd tea (disguised as sugar cane) and starjumps etc.. but doesnt seem so bad come to think of it.
I was working as a photographer for most of the morning, and continued into the afternoon, where I was relieved of my duties after the professional one came over. (once that photographer gives me back my photos i will show you K!) I had fun taking random pics and times and giving some good photos.
But I think the highlight has to be the dinner last night. Walking around, easing people into their seats, seeing some of my friends and good relatives really was heart warming, and well, I think I must be quietly (or noisily) satisfied with the whole outcome of the wedding dinner and cocktail reception by the beach. surprised by attendance, I think this has to be one of the better weddings so far, where everyone lasted until 11pm.
Hey I like champagne ok! (12% alcohol content) and this rocks! gave me the energy for the night. But by the end, I think I was considerably exhausted, and yes, the room service was good (since it was free yes!) and I was considerably tempted to order Movenpick icecream at 2 am in the morning. (add deli sandwiches, steak, salad, soup, milkshake.. blah) that everyone ordered! I think the hotel executive must be kicking herself for even offering that free deal to us (and no i am not going to tell you which hotel it was for obvious reasons) and I think that we throughly enjoyed ourselves! Thank you hotel management!
Well considerably tired I fell asleep around 2 am for the second night running, and almost awoke at 12 today. Lunch and then the wait to check out.
I think I must be blessed.
yeah it has been a heck of a weekend, and to add it off, I dont really know who is reading my blog anymore! not that I have been worried about it or anything..
but well, my first time as a best man, and the first time as a xiong di.. (which means brother of course). That means unequal amounts of getting saboed and eating wasabi crackers and bittergourd tea (disguised as sugar cane) and starjumps etc.. but doesnt seem so bad come to think of it.
I was working as a photographer for most of the morning, and continued into the afternoon, where I was relieved of my duties after the professional one came over. (once that photographer gives me back my photos i will show you K!) I had fun taking random pics and times and giving some good photos.
But I think the highlight has to be the dinner last night. Walking around, easing people into their seats, seeing some of my friends and good relatives really was heart warming, and well, I think I must be quietly (or noisily) satisfied with the whole outcome of the wedding dinner and cocktail reception by the beach. surprised by attendance, I think this has to be one of the better weddings so far, where everyone lasted until 11pm.
Hey I like champagne ok! (12% alcohol content) and this rocks! gave me the energy for the night. But by the end, I think I was considerably exhausted, and yes, the room service was good (since it was free yes!) and I was considerably tempted to order Movenpick icecream at 2 am in the morning. (add deli sandwiches, steak, salad, soup, milkshake.. blah) that everyone ordered! I think the hotel executive must be kicking herself for even offering that free deal to us (and no i am not going to tell you which hotel it was for obvious reasons) and I think that we throughly enjoyed ourselves! Thank you hotel management!
Well considerably tired I fell asleep around 2 am for the second night running, and almost awoke at 12 today. Lunch and then the wait to check out.
I think I must be blessed.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
A relatively busy day today and I ended up cooking for my family and for my neighbour. One heck of a hectic day as tomorrow my brother is getting married..
So I regret to say that there will be a fair bit of inactivity until monday.. and crap.. why is my tagboard still so empty?!
Anyway.. FRIES!!! In my favourite order..
1)Mos Burger (Big, and nice!)
2)KFC (Lightly salted, not overdone)
3)Mac (Little soggy, high salt content makes it nice)
4)Long John's Silvers (unique batter.. but too oily)
5)Burger King (starchy after about 15 minutes when you take away)
So well thats it.. and i am shelving plans to buy the ipod.. at least for another 3 years...
long day, tired and exhausted. (see clean the driveway, mop the floor, cook for 5 people) I cannot imagine how my mom does housework sometimes. SUPERWOMAN!
So I regret to say that there will be a fair bit of inactivity until monday.. and crap.. why is my tagboard still so empty?!
Anyway.. FRIES!!! In my favourite order..
1)Mos Burger (Big, and nice!)
2)KFC (Lightly salted, not overdone)
3)Mac (Little soggy, high salt content makes it nice)
4)Long John's Silvers (unique batter.. but too oily)
5)Burger King (starchy after about 15 minutes when you take away)
So well thats it.. and i am shelving plans to buy the ipod.. at least for another 3 years...
long day, tired and exhausted. (see clean the driveway, mop the floor, cook for 5 people) I cannot imagine how my mom does housework sometimes. SUPERWOMAN!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Comic fRenZY!!
haha.. I just love comics.. I borrowed like 10 in a span of a month! So here are my top 5 list for comics!
1) Baby Blues (Kirkman)
2) Sherman's Lagoon (Tooney)
3) Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson)
4) Garfield (Jim ?)
5) Chew on it! (?)
Yeah man! Way to go!
.. Coming up tomorrow... top 5 fries in fast food restaurants!
haha.. I just love comics.. I borrowed like 10 in a span of a month! So here are my top 5 list for comics!
1) Baby Blues (Kirkman)
2) Sherman's Lagoon (Tooney)
3) Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson)
4) Garfield (Jim ?)
5) Chew on it! (?)
Yeah man! Way to go!
.. Coming up tomorrow... top 5 fries in fast food restaurants!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Have you seen a pastor paint pictures on stage? Well we did on Saturday.
Pst Phil is a very talented man and when it comes to painting, his talent knows no bounds. In 45 minutes, he painted a picture of Jesus and the 12 disciples, live and we were all astounded at the talent and calm he exuded.
I will upload the video of him painting when I have the time. Let me tell you.. I am surprised!
Pst Phil is a very talented man and when it comes to painting, his talent knows no bounds. In 45 minutes, he painted a picture of Jesus and the 12 disciples, live and we were all astounded at the talent and calm he exuded.
I will upload the video of him painting when I have the time. Let me tell you.. I am surprised!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Pedra Blanca Issue (2)
Malaysia: "The extensice reach of the old Sultanate of Johor is recorded in the Malay annals and confirmed in all the 18th century and early 19th century descriptions".
Problem 1: Pedra Blanca is not reffered to by name in the Malay annals.
Problem 2: Ancient history overrides modern history? In other words, India can claim Pakistan is part of it, but where do we hear of such things? When the British colonised Singapore, whatever land they divide overrides ancient history. The same for India. Just because Pakistan was part of India before the British came along does not mean that the land is theirs now.
Same in this case. Please, I beg you. Give a few reasonable arguments that an ACS IB student can rebutt. Surely you lawyers are smarter than that and know the limitations of your own argument?
Malaysia: "The extensice reach of the old Sultanate of Johor is recorded in the Malay annals and confirmed in all the 18th century and early 19th century descriptions".
Problem 1: Pedra Blanca is not reffered to by name in the Malay annals.
Problem 2: Ancient history overrides modern history? In other words, India can claim Pakistan is part of it, but where do we hear of such things? When the British colonised Singapore, whatever land they divide overrides ancient history. The same for India. Just because Pakistan was part of India before the British came along does not mean that the land is theirs now.
Same in this case. Please, I beg you. Give a few reasonable arguments that an ACS IB student can rebutt. Surely you lawyers are smarter than that and know the limitations of your own argument?
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
rebutting the Malaysian Foreign Minister on Pedra Blanca.
"Singapore work on the island (Pedra Blanca) because the British gave them permission many years ago, contrary to the evidence that Singapore had given last week stating that Singapore does not need to ask permission to work on the Island.."
-Malaysian Foreign Minister
However, this statement is easily countered by what appears to be a no-brainer. Malaysia has a piece of land in Singapore that is currently a train station, and the only reason for this is the British giving them permission many years ago. Given that the British gave Malaysia permission to have a piece of land in Singapore (which is by the way already more ridiculous than the Pedra Blanca issue), how then can they question the right of Singapore to obey a law that has been set more than 50 years ago by the British? We can question that too!
rubbish foreign minister.
1681 words
"Singapore work on the island (Pedra Blanca) because the British gave them permission many years ago, contrary to the evidence that Singapore had given last week stating that Singapore does not need to ask permission to work on the Island.."
-Malaysian Foreign Minister
However, this statement is easily countered by what appears to be a no-brainer. Malaysia has a piece of land in Singapore that is currently a train station, and the only reason for this is the British giving them permission many years ago. Given that the British gave Malaysia permission to have a piece of land in Singapore (which is by the way already more ridiculous than the Pedra Blanca issue), how then can they question the right of Singapore to obey a law that has been set more than 50 years ago by the British? We can question that too!
rubbish foreign minister.
1681 words
Sunday, November 11, 2007
With the hubub about the latest Ren Ci Hospital scandal (or should I say discrepancies?) I cannot help but feeling some sense of dramatic imbalance somehow.
Firstly, it just seems like the media is scandalising everything they set their hands on. After many countless previous experiences with NKF, Youth Challenge and blah blah, each story just seems to be growing bigger. There will be many problems as a result of this.
1) It is relatively obvious that by scandalising things, public trust in each welfare charity will decline exponentially. This will affect donations to each charity, and with the majority of charity relying on public donations, it is hard to see a charity surviving in such conditions.
2) However, I do not think that charities will be hardest hit. Guess what? It would be the patients who are relying on these charities and public donations to tide over the hard times. Without support and the necessary equipment, I see people sinking into new ebbs, with no one to help them, the situation would just be desperate.
I believe that the media could have handled things better. Do they not understand that even if you publicise such stories, do not sensationalise them. Keep them low key. This way, the public mistrust could be minimised, and a population that is already so disgruntled with public charites, will not be further disgruntled with the way charities are run in Singapore. Worse still, how will these patients trust all these charities anymore? These charities would need to help themselves first.
If only this situation was better handled, I see a better chance for these charities to regain public trust.
Firstly, it just seems like the media is scandalising everything they set their hands on. After many countless previous experiences with NKF, Youth Challenge and blah blah, each story just seems to be growing bigger. There will be many problems as a result of this.
1) It is relatively obvious that by scandalising things, public trust in each welfare charity will decline exponentially. This will affect donations to each charity, and with the majority of charity relying on public donations, it is hard to see a charity surviving in such conditions.
2) However, I do not think that charities will be hardest hit. Guess what? It would be the patients who are relying on these charities and public donations to tide over the hard times. Without support and the necessary equipment, I see people sinking into new ebbs, with no one to help them, the situation would just be desperate.
I believe that the media could have handled things better. Do they not understand that even if you publicise such stories, do not sensationalise them. Keep them low key. This way, the public mistrust could be minimised, and a population that is already so disgruntled with public charites, will not be further disgruntled with the way charities are run in Singapore. Worse still, how will these patients trust all these charities anymore? These charities would need to help themselves first.
If only this situation was better handled, I see a better chance for these charities to regain public trust.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Friday, November 09, 2007
one rainbow.. 2 rainbow.. 3 rainbow...!
All right.. I saw 3 rainbows today in total. One of them was a reflection of the other, and there was another one that stood on its own. I spotted it opposite my house (which is Johor) and the arch extended all the way to our housing area. That was super cool la.. I mean.. how many days in a year would you see a tri-rainbow? Only seen a double rainbow once..
Partly because it was raining in Johor, and the sun was shining in the direction of Johor. As a result of this, beautiful rainbows were formed.
So later, I went to play soccer.. and like my jaw dropped instantly. what I saw was the arch of the new Wembely stadium in England, with a full arch that was totally not blocked, very visible, and the whole arch was clearly seen. Now for a place like Singapore, it is rare that you have such spaces to view a rainbow. And to top it off, there was a reflection of that rainbow. We spotted it at around 5.45pm, and this lasted till 6.40 pm. wow. Never for such a long time have I had such an unobstructed view of the rainbow. omg.
today had chem SL and math SL, and both lessons were a joke. For math, the teacher let us go after the relentless pestering of Jim Seet. For chem SL, guess what! we had CT again! super amusing la. like we owned him once more in a pV=nRT question and a molar ratio question. Then of course, I nearly fell down when I was rocking on the chair, only to be saved by my heel.
(spontaneous laughter heard from select people like cherems..)
so I started laughing too, and he was like
"Leon, what so funny about attending concentration camp during the holidays.. You are holding the whole class up.."
hahahaha.. it is funny when you are teaching:) LOL!!!
He is just about the only person I know who asks his students to buy coffee for him and boy! it was super funny..
"Er.. Could you help me buy some coffee? (I walk away so Benk kana..) If there is extra money.. could you help me buy biscuits?"
(cherems gives me that funny look)
so of course we head down to the SAC.. laughing to ourselves at times.. Talk about the story of the century, and how I used to love those Islamic pictures and songs screened over TV3 when I was around 4 years old.. haha
enjoyable day so far, compounded with my love for my new EE topic and wanting to do more at the national library.. 1200 words and counting.
All right.. I saw 3 rainbows today in total. One of them was a reflection of the other, and there was another one that stood on its own. I spotted it opposite my house (which is Johor) and the arch extended all the way to our housing area. That was super cool la.. I mean.. how many days in a year would you see a tri-rainbow? Only seen a double rainbow once..
Partly because it was raining in Johor, and the sun was shining in the direction of Johor. As a result of this, beautiful rainbows were formed.
So later, I went to play soccer.. and like my jaw dropped instantly. what I saw was the arch of the new Wembely stadium in England, with a full arch that was totally not blocked, very visible, and the whole arch was clearly seen. Now for a place like Singapore, it is rare that you have such spaces to view a rainbow. And to top it off, there was a reflection of that rainbow. We spotted it at around 5.45pm, and this lasted till 6.40 pm. wow. Never for such a long time have I had such an unobstructed view of the rainbow. omg.
today had chem SL and math SL, and both lessons were a joke. For math, the teacher let us go after the relentless pestering of Jim Seet. For chem SL, guess what! we had CT again! super amusing la. like we owned him once more in a pV=nRT question and a molar ratio question. Then of course, I nearly fell down when I was rocking on the chair, only to be saved by my heel.
(spontaneous laughter heard from select people like cherems..)
so I started laughing too, and he was like
"Leon, what so funny about attending concentration camp during the holidays.. You are holding the whole class up.."
hahahaha.. it is funny when you are teaching:) LOL!!!
He is just about the only person I know who asks his students to buy coffee for him and boy! it was super funny..
"Er.. Could you help me buy some coffee? (I walk away so Benk kana..) If there is extra money.. could you help me buy biscuits?"
(cherems gives me that funny look)
so of course we head down to the SAC.. laughing to ourselves at times.. Talk about the story of the century, and how I used to love those Islamic pictures and songs screened over TV3 when I was around 4 years old.. haha
enjoyable day so far, compounded with my love for my new EE topic and wanting to do more at the national library.. 1200 words and counting.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Ironically, Focus Camp is starting to get really fun for me and I think I will miss it soon enough.
Chem is fantastic, basically, I know what is going on, and sometimes it is fun to teach instead of being taught. So much for the irony there.
Math is another one. Who would expect us to love it so much. With the exception of the first 2 lessons, whatever has happened so far is quite interesting as it gives me time to practice. Looking forward to vectors having said that.
EE has multiplied almost 2.5 times to 1097 words. I am really starting to enjoy the research that I do, and at times, I feel intrigued by the changing role of the Bhumibol in the Thai revolution and coup of 1973 and 1976 respectively. The Thai politics traditionally revolve around military rule and democracy, so the changing nature of the King can be noticed from time to time.
Having said all these, there is, unfortunately, still a mess of things to do. These range from Music investigation to TOK to History IA. I have absolutely no idea what to do for prac and i am getting desperate. Live from day to day, thats what I do.
Watching "Facing the Giants" has given me a massive boost. I now understand what is going on.. In my life.. I mean.
Chem is fantastic, basically, I know what is going on, and sometimes it is fun to teach instead of being taught. So much for the irony there.
Math is another one. Who would expect us to love it so much. With the exception of the first 2 lessons, whatever has happened so far is quite interesting as it gives me time to practice. Looking forward to vectors having said that.
EE has multiplied almost 2.5 times to 1097 words. I am really starting to enjoy the research that I do, and at times, I feel intrigued by the changing role of the Bhumibol in the Thai revolution and coup of 1973 and 1976 respectively. The Thai politics traditionally revolve around military rule and democracy, so the changing nature of the King can be noticed from time to time.
Having said all these, there is, unfortunately, still a mess of things to do. These range from Music investigation to TOK to History IA. I have absolutely no idea what to do for prac and i am getting desperate. Live from day to day, thats what I do.
Watching "Facing the Giants" has given me a massive boost. I now understand what is going on.. In my life.. I mean.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Digging through the archives..
Kok Choon power.. before Kenneth even made a joke out of him. Picture taken 25042007, Canon DSLR.
Kok Choon power.. before Kenneth even made a joke out of him. Picture taken 25042007, Canon DSLR.
I refer to the author of www.silentprayer--.blogspot.com. I am so pissed now I wouldnt even bother to mention his name.
and I don't go about it and making outrageous (see: homosexual) plays on his girlfriend's blog.
How was that outrageous? Face it. Your mind is bloody perverted.
Sorry Leon, for all your attempts to be a good guy your favourite move seems to be the self destruct.
Yeah I am sure you feel damm bloody sorry for me you moron. How the heck is that self destruct? So you think everything I do is self destruct right? In the first place, I was giving a complement, and I was never trying to be the good guy. What makes you think I was trying to me a good guy? Was it your warped sense of perception that is so warped that makes you think that everything I do is self destructing? Or what?
So, as we're on tagboards:
2 Nov 07, 22:47
oofed!: hi there.. ian brought us on a tour of OCS a week ago.. I just cant forget him:) you are so lucky:)
2 Nov 07, 23:43
hayl: oofed!: i hope youre a girl and not a guy. hahahaha yeah i know im lucky
I am sooooooooo sure I made homosexual comments yah. How is complementing a boyfriend equivalent to homosexual plays. Your bloody retarded mind just switches to that almost immediately. Rephrase "He is so unforgettable". Would that do?! I am so sure I was trying to self destruct. Yah and half the time you always go, "Do you know what Leon said?" You are so bloody insensitive and such a bloody moron and you hardly ever spare a thought for people's feelings I am sure. Even when my comments were meant to be private.
Reactions should range from the Yang-Jian "what-the-pong-Leon?!" to Kenneth's "Foo-you're-a-retard" to my "ROFLOWNED!" Ah Leon, Leon.
人云亦云 like you people always do anyway... So you guys read her blog also huh. Were you trying to stalk her anyway?
And for the record: There is only one Ian Vanderput, if I have to make it so painfully obvious so let's end this already. He sure would be appreciating all this free publicity. On the other hand, it might be fun seeing if he blocks Leon after reading that tag.
Yeah I am so sure.. I havent added him on MSN because my MSN is down. Your crystal ball seems to have failed on you. Is it broken? I suggest you get a new one. Yeah I am so sure it would be fun you moron.
I do not need the paparazzi to start flaming me just because I added some stuff for someone's curiousity. You people just like making people idiots so much and sensationalizing news. Why not become part of the British tabloids that flame people like soccer players week in week out. You do not even give people face to 下得了台. You just love making fun of everything I do dont you. You bloody insensitive freak.
Bloody morons. I dont give a bloody hell if anyone reads this, or if anyone is going to reply at all. This is just for me and my thoughts.
Out of the topic, my 2nd Chinese song is almost done. Just need to get things right. No Yang Jian, I am not addicted to Chinese songs. They come to me/choose when the time is right, I do not think of any melodies day in day out. So thats probably what I look forward to.
and I don't go about it and making outrageous (see: homosexual) plays on his girlfriend's blog.
How was that outrageous? Face it. Your mind is bloody perverted.
Sorry Leon, for all your attempts to be a good guy your favourite move seems to be the self destruct.
Yeah I am sure you feel damm bloody sorry for me you moron. How the heck is that self destruct? So you think everything I do is self destruct right? In the first place, I was giving a complement, and I was never trying to be the good guy. What makes you think I was trying to me a good guy? Was it your warped sense of perception that is so warped that makes you think that everything I do is self destructing? Or what?
So, as we're on tagboards:
2 Nov 07, 22:47
oofed!: hi there.. ian brought us on a tour of OCS a week ago.. I just cant forget him:) you are so lucky:)
2 Nov 07, 23:43
hayl: oofed!: i hope youre a girl and not a guy. hahahaha yeah i know im lucky
I am sooooooooo sure I made homosexual comments yah. How is complementing a boyfriend equivalent to homosexual plays. Your bloody retarded mind just switches to that almost immediately. Rephrase "He is so unforgettable". Would that do?! I am so sure I was trying to self destruct. Yah and half the time you always go, "Do you know what Leon said?" You are so bloody insensitive and such a bloody moron and you hardly ever spare a thought for people's feelings I am sure. Even when my comments were meant to be private.
Reactions should range from the Yang-Jian "what-the-pong-Leon?!" to Kenneth's "Foo-you're-a-retard" to my "ROFLOWNED!" Ah Leon, Leon.
人云亦云 like you people always do anyway... So you guys read her blog also huh. Were you trying to stalk her anyway?
And for the record: There is only one Ian Vanderput, if I have to make it so painfully obvious so let's end this already. He sure would be appreciating all this free publicity. On the other hand, it might be fun seeing if he blocks Leon after reading that tag.
Yeah I am so sure.. I havent added him on MSN because my MSN is down. Your crystal ball seems to have failed on you. Is it broken? I suggest you get a new one. Yeah I am so sure it would be fun you moron.
I do not need the paparazzi to start flaming me just because I added some stuff for someone's curiousity. You people just like making people idiots so much and sensationalizing news. Why not become part of the British tabloids that flame people like soccer players week in week out. You do not even give people face to 下得了台. You just love making fun of everything I do dont you. You bloody insensitive freak.
Bloody morons. I dont give a bloody hell if anyone reads this, or if anyone is going to reply at all. This is just for me and my thoughts.
Out of the topic, my 2nd Chinese song is almost done. Just need to get things right. No Yang Jian, I am not addicted to Chinese songs. They come to me/choose when the time is right, I do not think of any melodies day in day out. So thats probably what I look forward to.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
A few thoughts tonight but I think I will start with Section 377A regarding gay rights.
Basically, in a nutshell, I believe that gays do have rights and we ought to respect that basic necessity. I am not gay, and I do not condone the actions that they whosoever may undertake. But do not get me wrong here, I support the repeal only on the basis of human rights.
From this experience I have learnt a few things and have some thoughts.
1) Society defines the laws set out my each individual culture, and I am seeing the context here where this applies.
2) What happens if one day, society becomes predominantly gay and gay sex between men are the way to go? What will happen to the hetereosexual man? If we apply what is happening now to a purely hypothetical situation in the future, there is a possibility that sex between male and females are outlawed. The same applies in this situation where gay sex is outlawed in Singapore.
Put ourselves in their shoes. I believe an individual must pay the consequence for whatever decision they choose. Gays can have sex with each other, but at the end of the day, it is up to them to be responsible for themselves and society, as well as the consequence as a result of the decisions they make.
Today was a good day. Karaoke in the morning, with a rather random fire drill in the middle. I thank you Malcom, so much for running all the way home just to burn another copy to replace the corrupted one. Thanks a million. Without you none of this would have been possible. Thanks to all the guys who worked in the music video including Paul Chu, Christabel Tan, Malcom Ong and David Liu. You guys are heroes who sacrificed a lot. Thanks a million.
Dear Andre:
If I was a loser I wouldnt be standing on stage. I wouldnt have the guts to stand on stage, nor the ability to write a song.
So before you call someone a loser, i advise you look at yourself first, and see who is the one who neither has the guts nor the ability to write a song.
Either than that, the day has been great, thanks for the support that you guys gave! Especially my class and a few individuals:) You guys rock! thanks to Mr Wong for his guidance along the way, and without your encouragement, I dont think I would have the confidence in this song at all.. so thanks to all of you!
Basically, in a nutshell, I believe that gays do have rights and we ought to respect that basic necessity. I am not gay, and I do not condone the actions that they whosoever may undertake. But do not get me wrong here, I support the repeal only on the basis of human rights.
From this experience I have learnt a few things and have some thoughts.
1) Society defines the laws set out my each individual culture, and I am seeing the context here where this applies.
2) What happens if one day, society becomes predominantly gay and gay sex between men are the way to go? What will happen to the hetereosexual man? If we apply what is happening now to a purely hypothetical situation in the future, there is a possibility that sex between male and females are outlawed. The same applies in this situation where gay sex is outlawed in Singapore.
Put ourselves in their shoes. I believe an individual must pay the consequence for whatever decision they choose. Gays can have sex with each other, but at the end of the day, it is up to them to be responsible for themselves and society, as well as the consequence as a result of the decisions they make.
Today was a good day. Karaoke in the morning, with a rather random fire drill in the middle. I thank you Malcom, so much for running all the way home just to burn another copy to replace the corrupted one. Thanks a million. Without you none of this would have been possible. Thanks to all the guys who worked in the music video including Paul Chu, Christabel Tan, Malcom Ong and David Liu. You guys are heroes who sacrificed a lot. Thanks a million.
Dear Andre:
If I was a loser I wouldnt be standing on stage. I wouldnt have the guts to stand on stage, nor the ability to write a song.
So before you call someone a loser, i advise you look at yourself first, and see who is the one who neither has the guts nor the ability to write a song.
Either than that, the day has been great, thanks for the support that you guys gave! Especially my class and a few individuals:) You guys rock! thanks to Mr Wong for his guidance along the way, and without your encouragement, I dont think I would have the confidence in this song at all.. so thanks to all of you!
Monday, October 15, 2007
it just feels so funny not blogging.
blogging is not second nature to me anymore, and in any case, my life does not seem to revolve around it.. I am not quite that desperate for everyone to know what i did.. but well..
i tend to get a little to critical about things at times, nagging and criticising others in my head for doing something wrong or what have you.. just one of my perhaps.. many faults..
but it is by the grace of God where I am standing here. I dont know why I am writing this, but on some silent reflection throughout this year, I realise that I have been blest abundantly. Perhaps I could give some firsts at the end of the year.
But oh so quickly time has flown past. the agony is over (well not yet) and I think I could look back on that Malaysia trip 3 days ago and say it was fruitful, but most importantly, i have learnt not to be too critical all the time.. it's not as if I could do better at times..
it's 1 am, but I believe that God will give me the strength to pull through tomorrow.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
An empty street, an empty blog, a hole inside my heart.
Music Compo 2 is finally finished with a bit of trouble. On tuesday my work got deleted partially thanks to the computer's non ability to save my work successfully while i am playing. So comes the hell of trying to recall what i wrote in the initial stages of my composition. Struggled but eventually found the right stuff. Thanks be to God! No wonder those who saw me on tuesday would have noticed my grumpy mood thanks to the deletes.
Badminton today was fun, we might have lost to 5.12 eventually, but it was not so bad considering that it was David vs Goliath with the ownage badminton that Alvin played. Nearly hit my face twice but i successfully evaded it without getting hit twice.
What's even better was that Kiran failed to turn up for class. Bridge and nothing else, catching up on those lost hours.
But perhaps what was worse today was the Composition Seminar. I am on the brink of generalising that any stuff organised by the MOE tends to be useless. I mean like composition relies more on inspiration then using technical stuff like retrogrades and inversions, and giving the ruthless nature of our teachers, I am not really surprised that if you fail to use these properly, you are asking for trouble. I try to shun all these as much as possible.
Well some of the stuff are common sense, given that you shld find an appropriate day and time to do your compos, and well, silence is a crucial factor. Noticably, it was the failure of the Instructor to teach us how to improve our compos that left me so disillusioned. Didnt regret going back to class for a little entertainment. Jaime yr laptop rocks. Randomly generated words provided us with much fun and laughter. Thanks.
This wraps up one of my dead days in which I wasnt awake until 8 plus, when Chinese teacher asked us to write our own compos, so there. Otherwise, as Harry Potter puts it, "All was well".
Music Compo 2 is finally finished with a bit of trouble. On tuesday my work got deleted partially thanks to the computer's non ability to save my work successfully while i am playing. So comes the hell of trying to recall what i wrote in the initial stages of my composition. Struggled but eventually found the right stuff. Thanks be to God! No wonder those who saw me on tuesday would have noticed my grumpy mood thanks to the deletes.
Badminton today was fun, we might have lost to 5.12 eventually, but it was not so bad considering that it was David vs Goliath with the ownage badminton that Alvin played. Nearly hit my face twice but i successfully evaded it without getting hit twice.
What's even better was that Kiran failed to turn up for class. Bridge and nothing else, catching up on those lost hours.
But perhaps what was worse today was the Composition Seminar. I am on the brink of generalising that any stuff organised by the MOE tends to be useless. I mean like composition relies more on inspiration then using technical stuff like retrogrades and inversions, and giving the ruthless nature of our teachers, I am not really surprised that if you fail to use these properly, you are asking for trouble. I try to shun all these as much as possible.
Well some of the stuff are common sense, given that you shld find an appropriate day and time to do your compos, and well, silence is a crucial factor. Noticably, it was the failure of the Instructor to teach us how to improve our compos that left me so disillusioned. Didnt regret going back to class for a little entertainment. Jaime yr laptop rocks. Randomly generated words provided us with much fun and laughter. Thanks.
This wraps up one of my dead days in which I wasnt awake until 8 plus, when Chinese teacher asked us to write our own compos, so there. Otherwise, as Harry Potter puts it, "All was well".
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Before my blog becomes a desert town I should start blogging again... and what better way to start with a story.
At a certain pub in the country deep in the night, an old man, lays alone, drinking outside on the veranda, watching repeat telecasts of the Barclays Premier League, sitting under the signboard that was possibly as old as he was. He is accompanied by no one except silent banners proclaiming loud slogans. All is peaceful on the adjacent road, the peace occasionally punctuated with the sound of a risk-taker speeding through the road, and the sound of the traffic light leading the blind to cross the road. As he sits there, he notices the sound of the door chime as it announces the presence of the only other customer in the pub. This man looks well dressed, a symbol of his well to do, but the face does not match the appearance. In reality, he was no more than an empty shell, heartbroken by the many rejections that he had faced, so empty, so empty. This certain man spots the lonely old man sitting in the corner, and seeks his company.
The younger one looks at his Rolex, makes a hasty excuse about time and parking coupons, and disappears into the darkness. The older one, just sits in darkness, heartbroken.
Tis the story about us and God. How much longer will we stay away from Him. How much longer shall we make him heartbroken. Draw near to the Lord, and he shall give you peace, love and affection.Thursday, August 23, 2007
sleeping pills: initial wearout
sugar rush: sudden energy
first aid kit: pulled my bloody something on my right foot
the day opened of well i suppose, with a tired me falling asleep rather easily in class. However, it was just about all the same, managed to awake for assembly, staying awake in chinese and so on. During Chinese it was the same old presentations, except that i had some problems with my math portfolio and so i consulted the Great Kenneth who shed some light on how he went about solving the area problem for the math potfolio. So after that it was already almost over, so what we did was play Call of Duty, which was rather fun, considering Kenneth died like a few times trying to get his tanks over to the other side... well... and the stupid comments about war added some humour to an otherwise boring period of Chinese.
History for Mr Tan Kok Choon and thats where the fun begins. Like Kenneth and Steven was commenting that since the Y3s were selling the cards for teachers, they might as well get one for him.. and following that Kenneth's comments about how he spammed Mr Tan with comments with "You have changed my life! I love you forever" or something on that line. Then Mr Tan says he forgot some sound cable and went to the staff room to get it. Fraser and Kenneth then run out of the classroom and say "Sir! Run!" followed by of course, Mr Tan taking an unusually slow walk. But then he stuns us with his quick arrival and Kenneth once more adds "Sir the finishing line is here! Run!" Which of course we burst into class laughing.
So during recess I broke precedence and ate before PE. Quite heavily (according to body mass) I must add. So one wonders how I would manage to swim but I did anyway. PE was swimming and the same, just that I hadnt swam for like almost 2 years, ever since I moved house.. While the grouping was being done, i pulled my muscle during the first breast stroke and regretted pushing a bit too hard. Ended up that I was the slowest (no surprise since I had pulled my muscle) and almost landed in Group D. But thankfully, the compensation for that was a solar halo, a beautiful one, one that I had never seen before.. so well.. Thank God for that..
Hedda Gabbler for HL3 and again, I have no idea how I managed to sit through a 1h 40 minute lesson of that. Thankfully some narration of the story was able to pull us through..
PC follows for the last of the last... and a silly propaganda talk that dragged on to 1715 hrs, but at least i saw some old faces like Zhi. Anyhow I manage to get home safely, and tomorrow, Math portfolio beckons.
Sighs.
sugar rush: sudden energy
first aid kit: pulled my bloody something on my right foot
the day opened of well i suppose, with a tired me falling asleep rather easily in class. However, it was just about all the same, managed to awake for assembly, staying awake in chinese and so on. During Chinese it was the same old presentations, except that i had some problems with my math portfolio and so i consulted the Great Kenneth who shed some light on how he went about solving the area problem for the math potfolio. So after that it was already almost over, so what we did was play Call of Duty, which was rather fun, considering Kenneth died like a few times trying to get his tanks over to the other side... well... and the stupid comments about war added some humour to an otherwise boring period of Chinese.
History for Mr Tan Kok Choon and thats where the fun begins. Like Kenneth and Steven was commenting that since the Y3s were selling the cards for teachers, they might as well get one for him.. and following that Kenneth's comments about how he spammed Mr Tan with comments with "You have changed my life! I love you forever" or something on that line. Then Mr Tan says he forgot some sound cable and went to the staff room to get it. Fraser and Kenneth then run out of the classroom and say "Sir! Run!" followed by of course, Mr Tan taking an unusually slow walk. But then he stuns us with his quick arrival and Kenneth once more adds "Sir the finishing line is here! Run!" Which of course we burst into class laughing.
So during recess I broke precedence and ate before PE. Quite heavily (according to body mass) I must add. So one wonders how I would manage to swim but I did anyway. PE was swimming and the same, just that I hadnt swam for like almost 2 years, ever since I moved house.. While the grouping was being done, i pulled my muscle during the first breast stroke and regretted pushing a bit too hard. Ended up that I was the slowest (no surprise since I had pulled my muscle) and almost landed in Group D. But thankfully, the compensation for that was a solar halo, a beautiful one, one that I had never seen before.. so well.. Thank God for that..
Hedda Gabbler for HL3 and again, I have no idea how I managed to sit through a 1h 40 minute lesson of that. Thankfully some narration of the story was able to pull us through..
PC follows for the last of the last... and a silly propaganda talk that dragged on to 1715 hrs, but at least i saw some old faces like Zhi. Anyhow I manage to get home safely, and tomorrow, Math portfolio beckons.
Sighs.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Object of the day:
cough drops: drowsy
YAWN!
tired for most of the day, deprived of my teh peng, and what have you... but at least i could eat breakfast at about 8.30am in the morning.
but it has been a rather good HL subject day, finished by Ludlam book, seen many IOP presentations (and by the way the standard is still quite high at this current point), laughed at the sometimes sheer stupidity of Private Bollocks, and the magnitude of the humour.
Recesses were basically spent playing CS and about 3 rounds of bridge, rather exciting day for all of us playing.
Photog installation, and I now have a shiny (but scratched badge) announcing "PHOTOGRAPHER". O well. quite nice. buffet was good, and food snapped up in about 20 minutes flat. Sandwiches were nice.. but I fear I am eating a bit too much.
I have been sleeping for quite some time since I came home.. but at least point form analysis on the Naturalist thing is done already.. so goodnight.
cough drops: drowsy
YAWN!
tired for most of the day, deprived of my teh peng, and what have you... but at least i could eat breakfast at about 8.30am in the morning.
but it has been a rather good HL subject day, finished by Ludlam book, seen many IOP presentations (and by the way the standard is still quite high at this current point), laughed at the sometimes sheer stupidity of Private Bollocks, and the magnitude of the humour.
Recesses were basically spent playing CS and about 3 rounds of bridge, rather exciting day for all of us playing.
Photog installation, and I now have a shiny (but scratched badge) announcing "PHOTOGRAPHER". O well. quite nice. buffet was good, and food snapped up in about 20 minutes flat. Sandwiches were nice.. but I fear I am eating a bit too much.
I have been sleeping for quite some time since I came home.. but at least point form analysis on the Naturalist thing is done already.. so goodnight.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Viagra: Full of vitality
Indian diet: FAT
Man's strap: Breasts
yeah well... i am feeling pretty weird now. what i did was i just tried doing History EE research, which just drove me crazy, and i am starting to realise that all these words above potentially describe me..
So the day began with music, like not much, and while others were suffering (muahahaha!!), we were just enjoying ourselves with (something that resembles) a free period, which means sitting down doing nothing. And what did I do? sit down and translate some stuff from english to chinese which is virtually difficult since some words cannot be reflected in Chinese easily. well, suffer then.
Finish it within one hour, thankfully, at least i would not need to spend my recess trying to dissect information into small pieces, then i try to enjoy myself with some Pro Evo soccer (which I know Fab is pretty hung up on now) and with a laggy commentary that gets rather irritating after a while (all you might just use that to describe me.. o well..) but revert to CS after like 20 minutes, com lag, restart. O well, the mouse has been unused for quite some time, no wonder it is in that sort of state.
At least after one week of holiday, we have some sort of enjoyment for ourselves, prevents me from going insane at times. TOK lecture was good, although i did spend some time drawing my fantasy car (which i know is pretty childish and even more ironic since it is just a vintage car) but well, TOK lecture makes a lot of sense, just that i think it is more of a history lecture than of a TOK one... but jolly good anyway.
Chem and well... what can i say.
Chinese.. miss group presentation by 15 minutes, and i think it was rather unexpected of that to happen. though the Q and A session was getting a bit idiotic after a while. nearly found myself falling asleep, still trying to wrap up my own preparations.
Recess and another round of CS, and the CS pple flex their muscles in the game, leaving me sometimes in awe, and well, thanks to the comhoggers (I mean in a goodway), I managed to play some bridge (kill Gareth please). 1 spades and 4 diamonds. well that was fun. There was no way Gareth could win when I had about 9 diamonds in my hand. So recess ends on a high note for me, especially since i havent played bridge for 1 week and yes, bridge withdrawal syptoms
Tired, especially since it is the end of the day, drag myself to the other end of the building for EE. Was a rather productive session, and I meet 2 of my EE teachers in 30 minutes and the question is still in the making, although i fear my potential question is already overdone/overdeon (no just kidding) but well.. at least its something to work on for the next erm... 7 months?
losing consciousness now so i bet its time to sleep. can hear my brain snore and make funny dreams.. just like last night
(man utd academic scholarships for the win.:)
Indian diet: FAT
Man's strap: Breasts
yeah well... i am feeling pretty weird now. what i did was i just tried doing History EE research, which just drove me crazy, and i am starting to realise that all these words above potentially describe me..
So the day began with music, like not much, and while others were suffering (muahahaha!!), we were just enjoying ourselves with (something that resembles) a free period, which means sitting down doing nothing. And what did I do? sit down and translate some stuff from english to chinese which is virtually difficult since some words cannot be reflected in Chinese easily. well, suffer then.
Finish it within one hour, thankfully, at least i would not need to spend my recess trying to dissect information into small pieces, then i try to enjoy myself with some Pro Evo soccer (which I know Fab is pretty hung up on now) and with a laggy commentary that gets rather irritating after a while (all you might just use that to describe me.. o well..) but revert to CS after like 20 minutes, com lag, restart. O well, the mouse has been unused for quite some time, no wonder it is in that sort of state.
At least after one week of holiday, we have some sort of enjoyment for ourselves, prevents me from going insane at times. TOK lecture was good, although i did spend some time drawing my fantasy car (which i know is pretty childish and even more ironic since it is just a vintage car) but well, TOK lecture makes a lot of sense, just that i think it is more of a history lecture than of a TOK one... but jolly good anyway.
Chem and well... what can i say.
Chinese.. miss group presentation by 15 minutes, and i think it was rather unexpected of that to happen. though the Q and A session was getting a bit idiotic after a while. nearly found myself falling asleep, still trying to wrap up my own preparations.
Recess and another round of CS, and the CS pple flex their muscles in the game, leaving me sometimes in awe, and well, thanks to the comhoggers (I mean in a goodway), I managed to play some bridge (kill Gareth please). 1 spades and 4 diamonds. well that was fun. There was no way Gareth could win when I had about 9 diamonds in my hand. So recess ends on a high note for me, especially since i havent played bridge for 1 week and yes, bridge withdrawal syptoms
Tired, especially since it is the end of the day, drag myself to the other end of the building for EE. Was a rather productive session, and I meet 2 of my EE teachers in 30 minutes and the question is still in the making, although i fear my potential question is already overdone/overdeon (no just kidding) but well.. at least its something to work on for the next erm... 7 months?
losing consciousness now so i bet its time to sleep. can hear my brain snore and make funny dreams.. just like last night
(man utd academic scholarships for the win.:)
Friday, August 10, 2007
anyway my post got deleted again so here is the repeat telecast.
This year's parade was fascinating. better than the previous years editions. simply because the organisers had more stuff to work with, had a nice backdrop and could pull off special stunts. simply mesmerizing.
so the day was spent trying to unsuccessfully do prose and poetry because i had no clue how to approach it, then played baseball soccer and soccer before watching the parade. kind of unproductive. went over to my neighbour's house for steamboat, breaking years of tradition of remaining at home.
this years national day celebrations at Queenstown makes me realise something. Children are one loyal bunch. No matter what house or school or team you make them support, they will remain loyal to it. so who had the loudest house cheers at the One ACS event? the kids. The statement is 2 fold
1) Children are loyal
2) Children hardly question your authority
So then again, no wonder Fascists regimes of
of course arguments evolve over time. this is probably almost irrelevant to our society and others, since we are in peacetime, but there is no doubt that children make good soldiers.
goodbye to an unproductive hol...
(you are finally seeing the unmicrosoft word version of this:)
Sunday, August 05, 2007
And so a weekend passes by just like that and many people ask.. So what happened to the weekend.
Today was pretty simple. I woke up late to compensate for the sleep lost on Saturday. Did my chem prac 11 that I supposedly owed Dalbot (and by the way, he is really pissing me off big time). My brother intends to buy a piece of property soon, so we went to La Casa to look at the layouts. I was throughly impressed, and if you look at the layout of each of the flats, it is really very nice. Coupled with the beautiful Karaoke room with steam jaccuzis and nice pools, a $600 K condo is really worth it, with a monthly maintainence fee of $200. I suppose I do miss condo facilities, afterall, I am staying in a landed property with no KTV room. If my brother ever buys it, I will be the first to exploit these properties. I swear.
But anyway, FOP on Friday was good. Not fantastic, but good. Where on earth in SIngapore can you get a solid 2 hours of praise and worship broken into 2 installments. Atmosphere was good for a Friday night, but the only thing worth considering was the neighbourhood that the SIS is located in. At night, the neighbourhood is swarmed with prostitutes and what have you, showing off rather shamelessly. Yea kill me please.
Tonight is the big showdown between Man Utd and Chelsea. My gut feeling tells me Man Utd to win, and this does not usually fail me. Going for a 2-0 win over Chelsea. A slight disappointment with F1 today, with Raikkonen taking 2nd only, Felipe Massa on 14th. I believe it was the wrong strategy for Massa, as his car was overly loaded with petrol that slowed him down too much,
Kick of beckons now.
Today was pretty simple. I woke up late to compensate for the sleep lost on Saturday. Did my chem prac 11 that I supposedly owed Dalbot (and by the way, he is really pissing me off big time). My brother intends to buy a piece of property soon, so we went to La Casa to look at the layouts. I was throughly impressed, and if you look at the layout of each of the flats, it is really very nice. Coupled with the beautiful Karaoke room with steam jaccuzis and nice pools, a $600 K condo is really worth it, with a monthly maintainence fee of $200. I suppose I do miss condo facilities, afterall, I am staying in a landed property with no KTV room. If my brother ever buys it, I will be the first to exploit these properties. I swear.
But anyway, FOP on Friday was good. Not fantastic, but good. Where on earth in SIngapore can you get a solid 2 hours of praise and worship broken into 2 installments. Atmosphere was good for a Friday night, but the only thing worth considering was the neighbourhood that the SIS is located in. At night, the neighbourhood is swarmed with prostitutes and what have you, showing off rather shamelessly. Yea kill me please.
Tonight is the big showdown between Man Utd and Chelsea. My gut feeling tells me Man Utd to win, and this does not usually fail me. Going for a 2-0 win over Chelsea. A slight disappointment with F1 today, with Raikkonen taking 2nd only, Felipe Massa on 14th. I believe it was the wrong strategy for Massa, as his car was overly loaded with petrol that slowed him down too much,
Kick of beckons now.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday was fun, and we had the luxury of laughing at an announcement made during chapel about travel plans. If you guys are going to "poetry farms" (poultry farms)... then everyone bursts out laughing. I bet DP 3 did not even realise it.
But well I have the luxury of blogging now since I have finished my IOP. And well, chem test, was ah.. not bad. the only problem was the enthalpy change, which i mixed up the order of finding the final enthalpy, though I knew how to do the question. Today must have passed quite fast for me, as history was a period spent on doing admin stuff and what have you... Music can be considered a free period, though at times the scratchy music played by the string quartet (and especially Ying Hao) was irritating at times.. but otherwise ok
And so Leon ends a day on another high note, but wondering whether to worry for tomorrow's IOP after massively changing the title of my presentation at least 3 times today. So thats about it for today. Stick around for tomorrow. I can assure you that there will be no lame jokes lest i really become unable to walk.
But well I have the luxury of blogging now since I have finished my IOP. And well, chem test, was ah.. not bad. the only problem was the enthalpy change, which i mixed up the order of finding the final enthalpy, though I knew how to do the question. Today must have passed quite fast for me, as history was a period spent on doing admin stuff and what have you... Music can be considered a free period, though at times the scratchy music played by the string quartet (and especially Ying Hao) was irritating at times.. but otherwise ok
And so Leon ends a day on another high note, but wondering whether to worry for tomorrow's IOP after massively changing the title of my presentation at least 3 times today. So thats about it for today. Stick around for tomorrow. I can assure you that there will be no lame jokes lest i really become unable to walk.
Friday, July 27, 2007
I suppose PE yesterday was real fun...
I really wanted to play badminton at first, out of somewhat desperation and the need to further to improve my skills. But we almost landed up playing Ultinate Frisbee once more for 3 weeks in a row. I was about to protest this move when suddenly they decided to change the game to floorball. Now I did not know what floorball was, nor did I have any interest in the game when I first heard of it. All I wanted to do was to go and play badminton. But nevertheless I stayed behind because I might pick up something new if I stayed behind and had a chance to learn something.
I somewhat realised that by the end of the PE lessons I really had no regrets staying behind. Floorball was really fun and trying to stop all those mad shots were fun. Made some decent saves along the way but grazed my knee after diving a bit too much to stop the balls from going in. But really, I was nervous when I saw the ball approaching the football goalpost line. It was really scary.
Kiran's lesson after that... and I really felt.. well... bored...
I nearly slept but thankfully, a music free period and we can watch all those gay homosexual stuff during PC, homosexual referring to 12 Night, where God! all the characters are gay I swear.
But that rounded off a pretty good day. Badminton at 6.30 with my neighbour and I feel a bit more prepared for the weekend ahead. Joy.
I really wanted to play badminton at first, out of somewhat desperation and the need to further to improve my skills. But we almost landed up playing Ultinate Frisbee once more for 3 weeks in a row. I was about to protest this move when suddenly they decided to change the game to floorball. Now I did not know what floorball was, nor did I have any interest in the game when I first heard of it. All I wanted to do was to go and play badminton. But nevertheless I stayed behind because I might pick up something new if I stayed behind and had a chance to learn something.
I somewhat realised that by the end of the PE lessons I really had no regrets staying behind. Floorball was really fun and trying to stop all those mad shots were fun. Made some decent saves along the way but grazed my knee after diving a bit too much to stop the balls from going in. But really, I was nervous when I saw the ball approaching the football goalpost line. It was really scary.
Kiran's lesson after that... and I really felt.. well... bored...
I nearly slept but thankfully, a music free period and we can watch all those gay homosexual stuff during PC, homosexual referring to 12 Night, where God! all the characters are gay I swear.
But that rounded off a pretty good day. Badminton at 6.30 with my neighbour and I feel a bit more prepared for the weekend ahead. Joy.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, July 14, 2007
feeling rather sad now because considering my number of points, it's quite pathetic really.
should have got at least another 3 more points. 2 for music and 1 for math.
Sickening. i miss math 6 points by one mark out of 90.
chem.. irritating subject. shld have got at least another point.
29 is pathetic. can do better than that. but better than last year at least.
should have got at least another 3 more points. 2 for music and 1 for math.
Sickening. i miss math 6 points by one mark out of 90.
chem.. irritating subject. shld have got at least another point.
29 is pathetic. can do better than that. but better than last year at least.
Friday, July 13, 2007
What a horrid day... i mean like we had a hell a lot of CAS and AEF forms to submit as well as proposal forms.
And Chemistry file. ARgh! Chemistry was as usual, a boring lesson over and over again. Dalbot did not explicitly want my file, so I left it under my table.
Then math. Fraser leaves for the Math Studies class, and I feel kind of sad as our class is down by one. Dalbot, the ******* comes in and asks whether he could see me for a bit. Probably hunting me down for my chem file which took me 30 minutes in the morning to file. So I give it to him, followed by him asking me a few questions about my prac file and where chem prac 1 was and blah blah. Then he tells me that he called my mother to bring the file in just because I did not give it to him in the morning. What an idiot.
Recess follows, and I had to go to the library to print out all the CAS forms. At the same time, I pay my library funds, only to find out that $2.50 had lumped to $4.20. I was partially broke by the end of the day.
By God's grace I pull through HL 3, English, 12th Night. Struggling to understand the book and I really must read it soon. Paper review and I listen to what the prose was about and how to get a higher mark possibly for the paper, but mine was really the poem. Find out that my points were not really too different from the marker, and it was probably organisational failure that resulted in my 60% which of course would leave me quite disappointed at the end as the points were really a repetition.
And Chemistry file. ARgh! Chemistry was as usual, a boring lesson over and over again. Dalbot did not explicitly want my file, so I left it under my table.
Then math. Fraser leaves for the Math Studies class, and I feel kind of sad as our class is down by one. Dalbot, the ******* comes in and asks whether he could see me for a bit. Probably hunting me down for my chem file which took me 30 minutes in the morning to file. So I give it to him, followed by him asking me a few questions about my prac file and where chem prac 1 was and blah blah. Then he tells me that he called my mother to bring the file in just because I did not give it to him in the morning. What an idiot.
Recess follows, and I had to go to the library to print out all the CAS forms. At the same time, I pay my library funds, only to find out that $2.50 had lumped to $4.20. I was partially broke by the end of the day.
By God's grace I pull through HL 3, English, 12th Night. Struggling to understand the book and I really must read it soon. Paper review and I listen to what the prose was about and how to get a higher mark possibly for the paper, but mine was really the poem. Find out that my points were not really too different from the marker, and it was probably organisational failure that resulted in my 60% which of course would leave me quite disappointed at the end as the points were really a repetition.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Mingle2 - Online Dating
Funny dream 2 nights ago. Fab on a motorcycle, Yang Jian wearing a black shirt. I take a lift down to Nirvana, then press on a speaker button and insist that i go back to earth...
Lol.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
07.07.07
Live Earth Day! CLU13 moves to Sentosa!
As a matter of fact, I think most of us enjoyed ourselves quite a lot today. Even with the amount of work piling up back home, we managed to put all of these behind us and enjoy ourselves for some time at least.
Beginning with my tutor giving me a lift to Botanic at like 2.30. I was the first to arrive there and was quite sian to find that the toilets were nowhere near me. So take a walk down to Gleaneagles Hospital to take a leak and at the same time, find some food. I lugged the 3kg worth of soft drinks down to the Gardens, hoping that at least someone brought cups and ice so at least we would have some mode to drink in.
At about 3 I see Mich and Yang Jian slowly streaming in, by then I had been waiting rather pointlessly under the hot sun. The Chicken pies were good (and cheap considering Delifrance overprices their food and I bought one for $1.35), but couldnt satisfy my hunger, so I bought some ice cream. You know like Botannic is the best place to jaywalk, and sometimes i cant help but to beat the red light.
As I would have foreseen, almost no one wore green, and Han An came in that silly Jesus shirt again, not that I am anti-Christ, but he wears it a bit to often, since Sec One. Taking bets really works. And as we find a place to settle down, we debate, finally settling for a spot under the tree.
The day revolves pretty much around food, bridge and soccer. Playing just left me a bit too tired and the food was just so good. By dinner I was quite full. But the whole time we were there it was just bridge, and more bridge, with my previous hopes of winning 4 and above coming to pass, considering my past win loss record. It's much better now except for the occasional mistake now and then.
Dinner was a quick affair and I really did not feel like eating. Debate between Masala and Char Siew for me. Char Siew wins. Masala too ex. but portion rather big. Rather filling, and Han An asks everyone whether they want soup. lotus soup. pretty decent, but hard to eat.
Going home was a sad affair. After such a nice day, we had to break off to our own homeworks and what have you. Chris, Fab, Han An and I start making our way to the MRT station by taking a bus. Quite a fun affair, singing all the way to MRT station. Was even more sad when Fab was taking the other line, Chris dropping at Bishan, Han An dropping at Yio Chu Kang.
So it was back to work. And once again, CLU13 prevails. Always.
Live Earth Day! CLU13 moves to Sentosa!
As a matter of fact, I think most of us enjoyed ourselves quite a lot today. Even with the amount of work piling up back home, we managed to put all of these behind us and enjoy ourselves for some time at least.
Beginning with my tutor giving me a lift to Botanic at like 2.30. I was the first to arrive there and was quite sian to find that the toilets were nowhere near me. So take a walk down to Gleaneagles Hospital to take a leak and at the same time, find some food. I lugged the 3kg worth of soft drinks down to the Gardens, hoping that at least someone brought cups and ice so at least we would have some mode to drink in.
At about 3 I see Mich and Yang Jian slowly streaming in, by then I had been waiting rather pointlessly under the hot sun. The Chicken pies were good (and cheap considering Delifrance overprices their food and I bought one for $1.35), but couldnt satisfy my hunger, so I bought some ice cream. You know like Botannic is the best place to jaywalk, and sometimes i cant help but to beat the red light.
As I would have foreseen, almost no one wore green, and Han An came in that silly Jesus shirt again, not that I am anti-Christ, but he wears it a bit to often, since Sec One. Taking bets really works. And as we find a place to settle down, we debate, finally settling for a spot under the tree.
The day revolves pretty much around food, bridge and soccer. Playing just left me a bit too tired and the food was just so good. By dinner I was quite full. But the whole time we were there it was just bridge, and more bridge, with my previous hopes of winning 4 and above coming to pass, considering my past win loss record. It's much better now except for the occasional mistake now and then.
Dinner was a quick affair and I really did not feel like eating. Debate between Masala and Char Siew for me. Char Siew wins. Masala too ex. but portion rather big. Rather filling, and Han An asks everyone whether they want soup. lotus soup. pretty decent, but hard to eat.
Going home was a sad affair. After such a nice day, we had to break off to our own homeworks and what have you. Chris, Fab, Han An and I start making our way to the MRT station by taking a bus. Quite a fun affair, singing all the way to MRT station. Was even more sad when Fab was taking the other line, Chris dropping at Bishan, Han An dropping at Yio Chu Kang.
So it was back to work. And once again, CLU13 prevails. Always.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
freedom comes at a price.
for which you pay.
8 hours a day
Market price $48
1 hour $6
but come again knowledge is priceless
FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, there's Mastercard.
lol... i am being lame...
but anyways, Tok catches up with me, all the undone homework back to haunt me. So Fab, stop asking for pics a while would you? i still need to change the blog design...
for which you pay.
8 hours a day
Market price $48
1 hour $6
but come again knowledge is priceless
FOR EVERYTHING ELSE, there's Mastercard.
lol... i am being lame...
but anyways, Tok catches up with me, all the undone homework back to haunt me. So Fab, stop asking for pics a while would you? i still need to change the blog design...
Monday, July 02, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
1 month since we have come back from Chiangmai. Still remember the good times that all of us had, and the uncommon friendship displayed by many just fills my heart with joy.
It has been one month. Since then, a lot of things have changed.
1) Exam period.
Who would have known that when school reopens, we would have a test
2) More Work.
As much as we want to live in a fantasy world of Chiangmai, we cannot. We have to live on.
Good memories will forever be with me as far as this trip was concerned.
It has been one month. Since then, a lot of things have changed.
1) Exam period.
Who would have known that when school reopens, we would have a test
2) More Work.
As much as we want to live in a fantasy world of Chiangmai, we cannot. We have to live on.
Good memories will forever be with me as far as this trip was concerned.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Ho says:
you have a very interesting perspective
tPL #18
yea
Ho says:
i guess photography lets you see through another's priorities
(nature on modern backdrop)
photography has been forcing me to look at something from nothing... where not possible... look through the pin-hole of the camera and you would probably find some inspiration. i guess that's the most interesting thing about having a dSLR, looking through its lens, and well.... it's just fun.
so what did I do today?
nothing.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
LINKS FOR PICS UP!!!
i'll be moving my diary of Thailand to www.lionleon.blogspot.com soon to facilitate easier reading and edits possibly...
i'll be moving my diary of Thailand to www.lionleon.blogspot.com soon to facilitate easier reading and edits possibly...
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Day 4 to 6 here
Day 4:
Woke up early as usual, chicken fried rice for breakfast, problems waking up earlier, since the previous night we slept quite late, and there were people making a hell a lot of noise on the 5th floor. So we left early, started the 1 hour plus journey to the elephant conservation centre. I managed to sleep for the journey, but after a while, Vicks and Yang Jian started taking pics of me sleeping. Yeah so i was awaken, and for the revenge, started taking pics of Vicks with flash and without flash, and her sleep was disrupted, much to my pleasure. The mountain scenery was rather similar to that of the Malaysian highway. When we arrived, I used the toilet first, pretty revolting experience, and we took a shuttle bus for our elephant ride. It was nice ad bumpy. Elephants are rather scary when they climb up a semi hill and it was scary. Yang Jian and Fab wanted to film some funny documentary on the elephants, pretty funny, but never materialised. Time for the elephants to shower and we saw many apprentices getting the elephants to shower. The elephants were rather cute, blowing water all over the place and seeing the daughter helping her mother to bathe was an amusing sight. It was the elephant show next and it pained me to see the elephants like primary school kids, trunks to tails and in chains. But it was nice to see the elephant beating the drums using its trunk. During the show I bought an ice cream, and of course, the sawadee-kaaaaaaaaaaaaa (with a sexual tone) started from here. But I must say the elephants are rather talented artists and can really draw. We then left to see the young elephant and her mother at the hospital. Saw a infant naked baby girl. Not a pretty sight. I managed to acquire a glass sprite bottle, but broke it before it could even get to Singapore. Lunch at a restaurant run by a Singaporean, remarking to me that the black sauce in Singapore was much better than the 5 star black sauce in Thailand. He bought it from Ang Moh, a big mart that my family goes to every weekend. Mr Tham was saying that he ate there once a week because he missed Singapore food. Well then we went shopping at the Airport mall, everything overpriced, and nothing much. For a while, a group of us were considering to watch Pirates at the cinema, but wth, lack of response, so we went to the arcade where I played Pro Evo with Fab. Super boring place, so we just walked around, bought some cheap ice-cream from Dairy Cream, (and i managed to get my brother a Tasmanian Devil)then to KFC. Stupid dinner, not nice la... we were all full already. At night it was the Sunday Cultural Walk. Many stuff to buy. I was looking at some nice canvas pics but it was a bit too expensive for me at 500 Baht. But I managed to buy a model fender guitar and 2 nice fans. There were a lot of stuff to buy but did not have enough time to walk through, thanks to the people who said shop for 1 hour only... So then we went back to the hostel with all our buys... Zhang bought a canvas painting, then we went back to the hostel. It was really amusing to see Zhang pack. really. I broke that dammed Sprite bottle in the Hostel and I really loved it so much but... ohohoh!!!
Day 5:
So the not so enjoyable part comes, checking out of our comfortable ho(s)tel to the not-so-known log cabins. Like would it have a mama shop with nice toilets and mini-bar? For the 1st time in 5 days i am glad I brought my towel. I think I was one of the last to check out and I was stressed since I had 3 plastic bags in addition to all those to my 3 other bags to carry. Made it down 5 mins late for breakfast and realised that a lot of people had not come down just yet. After breakfast, more bridge, and it ended up with me winning some sets and losing a lot. Went to Wavee coffee to get some Kiwi ice boom, but arghhh@#$%!$$$!!! got wind in the stomach after that and for the first time in a long time, I was car/van sick. By the time we got to Freedom Wheelchairs, I severly regretted my decision to even try that dammed juice. We adjourn to a stuffy, hot upper level and that was not really helping. Thanks to Chong Wee for giving me the Poh Chai Yun, the pill to help stomache. And yes, I was still well enough to emphatise with those disabled people, and how it was a sort of social stigma around them. The wheelchair designer was really talented, and how he could make his own motorcycle to take him around wherever he needed to go. Then the staff showed us more about how to make a wheelchair, and sometimes we do not realise how poor some of these people are and they cannot even afford a wheelchair, so I was thankful that at least a portion of the funds could help the foundation to make more wheelchairs. Some of us then tried to sit in a wheelchair and move ourselves around. Quite fun. But I suppose your hands would ache after a while. Freedom of movement is not really an option in Chiangmai, with hardly any pedestrian crossings for the disabled or toilets or lifts. We then go for lunch, and I am glad that I was feeling much better since I had tried to stay in the shade for a while until I felt better and it was going to be a good lunch. Green curry with tang hoon all and a menu that varies no better where we go. Some of us sit in the swing next to the restaurant after lunch, and I attempt to play chess with Daryl, but times up, as I try to set up the pieces, it's goodbye. The mango with sticky rice was fantastic and so was the green curry, so I brought 3 packets of green curry home. We go back to the hostel for the very last time to load up our luggages, and using this last chance, I buy more potato chips and chewing gum. After loading up, we leave for the highlands. Try to get some sleep during this time but it was disrupted when we stopped by the Queen's shopping arena. Many were like @#$%@ (add your swear here) like so many stops. So i grab one strawberry ice cream and very tempted to buy tea leaves but I say, forget it. Like why would I want to get tea leaves. We then move on again, expecting to wake up only when we reach the destination. Crap. We stop at a waterfall and more swearing again, Wesely making his point about stupid Mike Hock and why we have to stop here but by the end I think most of us were converted as the waterfall was rather peaceful and it was nice for me to have a quick dip in water to bring back my sanity. I was still thinking about my sprite bottle and yeah, I tried rather stupidly to bring one back. But no. 10 baht does not include the bottle and so for the 3rd time this day, I was going @#$$%%#$$%%%%!!!!! Also caused everyone to wait for me, so I am really sorry, but please blame it on @#$%%$$##@#@!!! sprite bottle. So we make our move up the mountains and a rather bumpy journey. Everyone trying to get more sleep as a result of those interrupted sleep previously and I managed to get some before we arrived at the top. I see some very nice log cabins and pray that those would be the places that we would be sleeping in for the next 2 nights. Da chuo te chuo (big mistake special mistake) when literally translated. Girls sleeping 5 in a room then I am like going heng ah... until Mr Chiam says 19 boys in a room then I really freak out. Because first, people snore. Because 2nd, privacy is an issue. Move your own mattress + pillow. So stained I can really freak out. But the aunties there are understanding and as we sleep, the aunties help us to add bedspreads and pillow covers to lessen the shock of "Columbus- discovering- dirty- pillows" discovery. Thanks to them, I had 2 good sleeps during the time that we were there. Then we discovered the toilet, like "Columbus discovering dirty fly infested toilet". 1 shower hose. 3 standing cubicles. Nasty. So we thank the girls for generously sharing their toilet, like " Queen Isabella sharing her ******* with Columbus". Thanks to them, we live another day. And in the mean time, I play bridge with Mich and Yang Jian and the last person who I hopelessly forgot. 1 Club rules the day man!!! Like 1 Club! 7 sets only. Peanuts. The joke continues and we win like hands down because Yang Jian had the Ace and I had the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8 5, and 2. It was a real joke. Never had such a low bid before. But anyway, we adjorun for dinner and guess what, Mountain food is really good like you have kapao with egg and seaweed soup. Nice. Kapao rather hot and everyone cries like a slain goliath. Wonder why I am still pretty much ok? Start singing some parody songs about myself using hymms. Like Beethoven's 8th symphony glory glory we adore thee. And that night we start singing practice and I am playing with my fan a bit too often, saying something about boys replacing girls, and so Michelle my mother decides to hit me real hard using my fan and I start laughing like a retarded person. I dont think I slept too early that night since other people were still playing cards and I was really tired. So I slept with Jammies and short pants, new fashion which everyone stares at me and thinks I am a weirdo. Yes I am one. Sleep with a blindfold on as there is still light and I cant sleep with lights on... And i hug my jackets to sleep, without pulling up the blanket. So I wake up in the middle of the night, freezing cold, but still , just pulled up the blanket and everything was ok! Good sleep. No one snoring. Glad.
Day 6:
Second last day before we leave on Wednesday. I was quite sure that when we left the country, it would be a matter of hours before we missed the experience altogether. So I woke up, wanting to take a shower. Taking a shower with cold water in a cold morning in the girl's toilet was excruciating. Can't believe that I had to pour water from a bucket to bathe. So then we dress up and head over for a mountain breakfast, probably the first and the last we would have on this mountain. Mountain breakfast is really cool man. Like unlimited toast with sunny side up eggs with fruits and milo and coffee blah blah blah. We leave for the English camp soon later. I slept in the van and when I woke up, I realised the driver had dropped us in the wrong side of the school, the primary school side instead of the high school side. But we finally get our bearings right and we are dropped at a school that looks pretty much like any other school in Singapore, but the facilities not so modern. Students stare on as we make our entry into the lecture theatre of Prince's Royal College. It's just different in the way that we had to take our shoes out in the school building and I guess that many of us were not familiar with this, since we walk around our ACS campus with our shoes on. We await the arrival of the Thai students and at about 9 plus 10, they had all arrived, with the majority wearing track pants and only the PRC students wearing their full PRC uniform. We then start the briefing on the day's activity for the English camp with Daryl giving a rather short (the shortest I should say) speech for the activity, as I/C of the day. Intro speech by an ang moh, saying English is important because 90% of the world's knowledge is in English. I cannot help wondering what would have happened if the Cultural Revolution had not occurred and books not burnt or Cao Cao not burning medical books. Groups are defined according to their rows and Me, Kia and Fab took Group 5, a rather quiet group at first, but after we talked to them, starting talking more and more. We were glad and of course, for a group that we had met for just 10 minutes, this was a good sign for the hours to come. A group photo came first and we spent about 15 minutes to take a huge and large group picture. Tea time, and wth lah! Tea after like 20 minutes of briefing and what have you? or is this just a way for us to interact over a cup of red and green drink and pastries? Then we go to the IT lab in the school for our next activity, finding the answers to 14 questions on Singapore that we pose to them. The school IT lab is really like ours, with websites blocking my access to games online, leaving me cursing and swearing at the power of the firewall. It was really cool looking at Thai students trying to find out the answers to "Who is the first president of Singapore" with weird answers like "Zubir Said" or Ong Teng Cheong... blah blah blah. Then the Singapore netball team name? Weird answers. Then Rekha claims mooncake is our national food, and I really can't help but burst out laughing. No. Really. Next game is Oral Charades, and I leave the beautiful comfort of the freezing cold IT lab that ah... is really nice and spacious. Back to that @#$%%@!@% LT that is more like an aircon playroom for kids than an LT with tables blah. Oral charades (or Taboo as many of us would know it as) was pretty dammed fun since most of the Thai students could guess our words without using nouns or Thai blah and they found the words pretty easily. On to round 2. Much harder words like urinal and journalist and detergent that the students are stumped. Cannot answer. So my group gets 15 points, 1 point deducted for using Thai, and out of a total of 22 points, I think that was a rather decent score. blah. blah blah. Stupid free round of 5 points for spontaneous guessing of words, and my group loses the lead like Salmons getting lost in the water. @#$%@#$! Afterall my group was dammed good and the PRC students were quite pro in their English. Andrew! how the @#$%@ did that look like an astronaut???!!! but the Thai students too pro, can guess the correct answer. So like blah, we go down for lunch, and I try to encourage the group with cries of "We can do better!" Lunch with a kway teow frier and fried rice is a new experience. Sitting on rattan mats and eating is a funny experience. The School must have some fascination for feet without shoes, as we are required to take of our shoes while sitting on the mat. Wesely encourages us not to sit on the mats and look pretty (though we are and the PRC students in the classroom are staring at us as we eat lunch like wow we definitely must be pretty when we eat) and interact with the Thai students instead. So I find a table with Yang Jian and the students are so hospitable that they bring us a plate of fruit with the special salt and ask us to share the fruits. We finish eating and go back to the !@#$#@! LT. In the mean time, I break my fan by tossing it around. The demise was soon to come. Chong Wee tells me that this fan is held together by a string of super glue and the impact must have broke it. I was like "are you sure it's super glue" and he then changes his mind saying "forget what I just said" like lololololol!!! You know I love ice-cream and I could not resist going to the local canteen to search for colourful food. And I find ice-cream. I get some toffee flavour with choco chips and lime ice. 10 Baht! 50 cents! Scrabble is the next game and with the points available to them after the last round of games, they are supposed to form words using the points that they already have. 1 point for consonant and 2 for vowels. Along the way, the rule changes and it gets so complicated my group is lost. They form funny words like freezing, physics, lyrics, procrastinate and what have you. So the twist is that they have to form a story with the words they have and significantly, it was going to be hard. But my group really gave its best, and we as group leaders have to be proud. Tham with a good job acting as the boyfriend. Other groups put up funny performances, Andrew's group with some sort of funny spiderman performance and rescuing girls but even though there was a winner, everyone had done well. So the camp ends. Prize presentation and certificates, with Mr Mike Hock saying that the attendees could use these certificates to register for a lesson with them free, but they would have to go through a placement test first... so.... i hate tests. Mr Chiam somewhat a guest of honour, gets the honour of presenting the certificates to them. Bookshare and we give out our books to the Thai students, a moment to remember. Then follows the pin-share and I swap badges with Tham, surely one of the names that I would never forget, since Tong has that same name too. Performance and after almost one month of work, we could present our mass dance and our vocals to them following a performance. Han An's solo with Vic was really good, with Han An claiming before the performance that he forgot the moves. Yah right. I then swap badges with another Thai friend for a different looking badge, she looks apprehensive without an ACS badge, but I change with her and she definitely looked happier. Photo taking and where the hell is my group?! Everyone disappeared! But with the remainder, we attempt to register our emails to register a long-lasting friendship that I am sure everyone would remember. Try to interact with the remainder of the students, saying "I hope you enjoyed yourself" and flashing a nice smile. But I am glad that all of them had enjoyed themselves as they had answered yes, to the director's question of "Did you enjoy yourself today?" University introduction for us and the senior Y6 Thai students and Morgan and what's her name introduced where they studied and what they were doing. Fraser is not convinced by US universities superior to UK universities and starts questioning Mike on all sorts of universities. Mike says he would discuss over dinner, which of course, he never managed to do since there was a shortage of time. Thai PRC students give us copies of their newspaper and we admire it, since it's much better than Ink! which is full/foo of crap. Career opportunities test and I try to find a better name for it, as a result of my considerable distaste for something called tests. Quiz and we go down to the IT lab once again. Handed out pieces of paper that can fly away easily and I struggle to differentiate between a zero and an "O" on the piece of paper. Thai students also struggling. Quiz is like bullshit la... if someone makes up his mind what he wants for his future, then surely the test is biased beyond comparison. Daryl makes funny comments about politics and how his potential job might lead him to an ISD cell. Finish that 240 plus question quiz and then play games on the computer. I land up playing hearts and trying to fish for online games, which the server blocked. Get out of the IT lab for the Farewell Dinner, which I was sure was going to be unforgettable for many of us. That night we sang songs like never before, Chen Fye goes crazy when he sings Bohemian Rhapsody and starts dropping the hotel roses all over the place... and karaoke session. Mike stops the party and tells us that it was late. Singing all the way back to the cabins where most of us attempt to stay up late, but many fail terribly. I comment that it is not long before we go back to Singapore, and Daryl says that at least there are a few more hours. I learnt that trying to take a shower at 12 am in the morning is not a good idea. Eat cup noodles, last minute photos and bridge games... and finally, fall asleep. A very deep and good sleep that I have been deprived of for months.
Day 7:
Guess what, we never thought we would leave this beautiful place. But well, even the longest feast on earth comes to an end, so with farewells and more last minute photos and email collections, we leave. Customs officer comes just as we check in. Must be the first flight we are on. Airport security is bloody lax. Buy some iced chocolate from a boutigue coffee store and some of us check out the duty free shopping before our time was up. First time we met the other Thailand group in a week. They really look like dead people. Flight leaves for Bangkok, take more last minute photos, and we are off. Bangkok airport, 2 hours transit time, 1020 hours check in. Shop around, look for stuff to buy and I was convinced the only thing worth buying was choco and bananas, 3 times the price here in Bangkok airport. People buying stuff, and I check out a book called Thailand's last executioner. Andrew tries to buy stuff for his mom, enlists the help of Debs and Jia. So well.... I was broke, and did not buy anything. Debs tries to get a present for our generous donor of $3000 and struggles. I really cannot help.. Time to check in and we take some last pics with my Tasmaninan Devil and Vick(s) reindeer that Han An so generously bought for him. On board the plane, Han An really pisses me off telling me that I shouldn't buy that devil and I lash out really bad... He answers in a pretty stupid manner, making me even angrier. Lunch on board the plane was good. Plane was nice, Satay rice for lunch. Good service, free 2 packs of cards. Satay rice runs out and a few lucky guys get to eat business class food. Beef and potatoes. wow. Changi Airport, fast clearance and we are back on Singapore soil with Starhub reception. Family members waiting at the airport makes us feel unforgotten. It has been a fun 7 days. Really.
Day 4:
Woke up early as usual, chicken fried rice for breakfast, problems waking up earlier, since the previous night we slept quite late, and there were people making a hell a lot of noise on the 5th floor. So we left early, started the 1 hour plus journey to the elephant conservation centre. I managed to sleep for the journey, but after a while, Vicks and Yang Jian started taking pics of me sleeping. Yeah so i was awaken, and for the revenge, started taking pics of Vicks with flash and without flash, and her sleep was disrupted, much to my pleasure. The mountain scenery was rather similar to that of the Malaysian highway. When we arrived, I used the toilet first, pretty revolting experience, and we took a shuttle bus for our elephant ride. It was nice ad bumpy. Elephants are rather scary when they climb up a semi hill and it was scary. Yang Jian and Fab wanted to film some funny documentary on the elephants, pretty funny, but never materialised. Time for the elephants to shower and we saw many apprentices getting the elephants to shower. The elephants were rather cute, blowing water all over the place and seeing the daughter helping her mother to bathe was an amusing sight. It was the elephant show next and it pained me to see the elephants like primary school kids, trunks to tails and in chains. But it was nice to see the elephant beating the drums using its trunk. During the show I bought an ice cream, and of course, the sawadee-kaaaaaaaaaaaaa (with a sexual tone) started from here. But I must say the elephants are rather talented artists and can really draw. We then left to see the young elephant and her mother at the hospital. Saw a infant naked baby girl. Not a pretty sight. I managed to acquire a glass sprite bottle, but broke it before it could even get to Singapore. Lunch at a restaurant run by a Singaporean, remarking to me that the black sauce in Singapore was much better than the 5 star black sauce in Thailand. He bought it from Ang Moh, a big mart that my family goes to every weekend. Mr Tham was saying that he ate there once a week because he missed Singapore food. Well then we went shopping at the Airport mall, everything overpriced, and nothing much. For a while, a group of us were considering to watch Pirates at the cinema, but wth, lack of response, so we went to the arcade where I played Pro Evo with Fab. Super boring place, so we just walked around, bought some cheap ice-cream from Dairy Cream, (and i managed to get my brother a Tasmanian Devil)then to KFC. Stupid dinner, not nice la... we were all full already. At night it was the Sunday Cultural Walk. Many stuff to buy. I was looking at some nice canvas pics but it was a bit too expensive for me at 500 Baht. But I managed to buy a model fender guitar and 2 nice fans. There were a lot of stuff to buy but did not have enough time to walk through, thanks to the people who said shop for 1 hour only... So then we went back to the hostel with all our buys... Zhang bought a canvas painting, then we went back to the hostel. It was really amusing to see Zhang pack. really. I broke that dammed Sprite bottle in the Hostel and I really loved it so much but... ohohoh!!!
Day 5:
So the not so enjoyable part comes, checking out of our comfortable ho(s)tel to the not-so-known log cabins. Like would it have a mama shop with nice toilets and mini-bar? For the 1st time in 5 days i am glad I brought my towel. I think I was one of the last to check out and I was stressed since I had 3 plastic bags in addition to all those to my 3 other bags to carry. Made it down 5 mins late for breakfast and realised that a lot of people had not come down just yet. After breakfast, more bridge, and it ended up with me winning some sets and losing a lot. Went to Wavee coffee to get some Kiwi ice boom, but arghhh@#$%!$$$!!! got wind in the stomach after that and for the first time in a long time, I was car/van sick. By the time we got to Freedom Wheelchairs, I severly regretted my decision to even try that dammed juice. We adjourn to a stuffy, hot upper level and that was not really helping. Thanks to Chong Wee for giving me the Poh Chai Yun, the pill to help stomache. And yes, I was still well enough to emphatise with those disabled people, and how it was a sort of social stigma around them. The wheelchair designer was really talented, and how he could make his own motorcycle to take him around wherever he needed to go. Then the staff showed us more about how to make a wheelchair, and sometimes we do not realise how poor some of these people are and they cannot even afford a wheelchair, so I was thankful that at least a portion of the funds could help the foundation to make more wheelchairs. Some of us then tried to sit in a wheelchair and move ourselves around. Quite fun. But I suppose your hands would ache after a while. Freedom of movement is not really an option in Chiangmai, with hardly any pedestrian crossings for the disabled or toilets or lifts. We then go for lunch, and I am glad that I was feeling much better since I had tried to stay in the shade for a while until I felt better and it was going to be a good lunch. Green curry with tang hoon all and a menu that varies no better where we go. Some of us sit in the swing next to the restaurant after lunch, and I attempt to play chess with Daryl, but times up, as I try to set up the pieces, it's goodbye. The mango with sticky rice was fantastic and so was the green curry, so I brought 3 packets of green curry home. We go back to the hostel for the very last time to load up our luggages, and using this last chance, I buy more potato chips and chewing gum. After loading up, we leave for the highlands. Try to get some sleep during this time but it was disrupted when we stopped by the Queen's shopping arena. Many were like @#$%@ (add your swear here) like so many stops. So i grab one strawberry ice cream and very tempted to buy tea leaves but I say, forget it. Like why would I want to get tea leaves. We then move on again, expecting to wake up only when we reach the destination. Crap. We stop at a waterfall and more swearing again, Wesely making his point about stupid Mike Hock and why we have to stop here but by the end I think most of us were converted as the waterfall was rather peaceful and it was nice for me to have a quick dip in water to bring back my sanity. I was still thinking about my sprite bottle and yeah, I tried rather stupidly to bring one back. But no. 10 baht does not include the bottle and so for the 3rd time this day, I was going @#$$%%#$$%%%%!!!!! Also caused everyone to wait for me, so I am really sorry, but please blame it on @#$%%$$##@#@!!! sprite bottle. So we make our move up the mountains and a rather bumpy journey. Everyone trying to get more sleep as a result of those interrupted sleep previously and I managed to get some before we arrived at the top. I see some very nice log cabins and pray that those would be the places that we would be sleeping in for the next 2 nights. Da chuo te chuo (big mistake special mistake) when literally translated. Girls sleeping 5 in a room then I am like going heng ah... until Mr Chiam says 19 boys in a room then I really freak out. Because first, people snore. Because 2nd, privacy is an issue. Move your own mattress + pillow. So stained I can really freak out. But the aunties there are understanding and as we sleep, the aunties help us to add bedspreads and pillow covers to lessen the shock of "Columbus- discovering- dirty- pillows" discovery. Thanks to them, I had 2 good sleeps during the time that we were there. Then we discovered the toilet, like "Columbus discovering dirty fly infested toilet". 1 shower hose. 3 standing cubicles. Nasty. So we thank the girls for generously sharing their toilet, like " Queen Isabella sharing her ******* with Columbus". Thanks to them, we live another day. And in the mean time, I play bridge with Mich and Yang Jian and the last person who I hopelessly forgot. 1 Club rules the day man!!! Like 1 Club! 7 sets only. Peanuts. The joke continues and we win like hands down because Yang Jian had the Ace and I had the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8 5, and 2. It was a real joke. Never had such a low bid before. But anyway, we adjorun for dinner and guess what, Mountain food is really good like you have kapao with egg and seaweed soup. Nice. Kapao rather hot and everyone cries like a slain goliath. Wonder why I am still pretty much ok? Start singing some parody songs about myself using hymms. Like Beethoven's 8th symphony glory glory we adore thee. And that night we start singing practice and I am playing with my fan a bit too often, saying something about boys replacing girls, and so Michelle my mother decides to hit me real hard using my fan and I start laughing like a retarded person. I dont think I slept too early that night since other people were still playing cards and I was really tired. So I slept with Jammies and short pants, new fashion which everyone stares at me and thinks I am a weirdo. Yes I am one. Sleep with a blindfold on as there is still light and I cant sleep with lights on... And i hug my jackets to sleep, without pulling up the blanket. So I wake up in the middle of the night, freezing cold, but still , just pulled up the blanket and everything was ok! Good sleep. No one snoring. Glad.
Day 6:
Second last day before we leave on Wednesday. I was quite sure that when we left the country, it would be a matter of hours before we missed the experience altogether. So I woke up, wanting to take a shower. Taking a shower with cold water in a cold morning in the girl's toilet was excruciating. Can't believe that I had to pour water from a bucket to bathe. So then we dress up and head over for a mountain breakfast, probably the first and the last we would have on this mountain. Mountain breakfast is really cool man. Like unlimited toast with sunny side up eggs with fruits and milo and coffee blah blah blah. We leave for the English camp soon later. I slept in the van and when I woke up, I realised the driver had dropped us in the wrong side of the school, the primary school side instead of the high school side. But we finally get our bearings right and we are dropped at a school that looks pretty much like any other school in Singapore, but the facilities not so modern. Students stare on as we make our entry into the lecture theatre of Prince's Royal College. It's just different in the way that we had to take our shoes out in the school building and I guess that many of us were not familiar with this, since we walk around our ACS campus with our shoes on. We await the arrival of the Thai students and at about 9 plus 10, they had all arrived, with the majority wearing track pants and only the PRC students wearing their full PRC uniform. We then start the briefing on the day's activity for the English camp with Daryl giving a rather short (the shortest I should say) speech for the activity, as I/C of the day. Intro speech by an ang moh, saying English is important because 90% of the world's knowledge is in English. I cannot help wondering what would have happened if the Cultural Revolution had not occurred and books not burnt or Cao Cao not burning medical books. Groups are defined according to their rows and Me, Kia and Fab took Group 5, a rather quiet group at first, but after we talked to them, starting talking more and more. We were glad and of course, for a group that we had met for just 10 minutes, this was a good sign for the hours to come. A group photo came first and we spent about 15 minutes to take a huge and large group picture. Tea time, and wth lah! Tea after like 20 minutes of briefing and what have you? or is this just a way for us to interact over a cup of red and green drink and pastries? Then we go to the IT lab in the school for our next activity, finding the answers to 14 questions on Singapore that we pose to them. The school IT lab is really like ours, with websites blocking my access to games online, leaving me cursing and swearing at the power of the firewall. It was really cool looking at Thai students trying to find out the answers to "Who is the first president of Singapore" with weird answers like "Zubir Said" or Ong Teng Cheong... blah blah blah. Then the Singapore netball team name? Weird answers. Then Rekha claims mooncake is our national food, and I really can't help but burst out laughing. No. Really. Next game is Oral Charades, and I leave the beautiful comfort of the freezing cold IT lab that ah... is really nice and spacious. Back to that @#$%%@!@% LT that is more like an aircon playroom for kids than an LT with tables blah. Oral charades (or Taboo as many of us would know it as) was pretty dammed fun since most of the Thai students could guess our words without using nouns or Thai blah and they found the words pretty easily. On to round 2. Much harder words like urinal and journalist and detergent that the students are stumped. Cannot answer. So my group gets 15 points, 1 point deducted for using Thai, and out of a total of 22 points, I think that was a rather decent score. blah. blah blah. Stupid free round of 5 points for spontaneous guessing of words, and my group loses the lead like Salmons getting lost in the water. @#$%@#$! Afterall my group was dammed good and the PRC students were quite pro in their English. Andrew! how the @#$%@ did that look like an astronaut???!!! but the Thai students too pro, can guess the correct answer. So like blah, we go down for lunch, and I try to encourage the group with cries of "We can do better!" Lunch with a kway teow frier and fried rice is a new experience. Sitting on rattan mats and eating is a funny experience. The School must have some fascination for feet without shoes, as we are required to take of our shoes while sitting on the mat. Wesely encourages us not to sit on the mats and look pretty (though we are and the PRC students in the classroom are staring at us as we eat lunch like wow we definitely must be pretty when we eat) and interact with the Thai students instead. So I find a table with Yang Jian and the students are so hospitable that they bring us a plate of fruit with the special salt and ask us to share the fruits. We finish eating and go back to the !@#$#@! LT. In the mean time, I break my fan by tossing it around. The demise was soon to come. Chong Wee tells me that this fan is held together by a string of super glue and the impact must have broke it. I was like "are you sure it's super glue" and he then changes his mind saying "forget what I just said" like lololololol!!! You know I love ice-cream and I could not resist going to the local canteen to search for colourful food. And I find ice-cream. I get some toffee flavour with choco chips and lime ice. 10 Baht! 50 cents! Scrabble is the next game and with the points available to them after the last round of games, they are supposed to form words using the points that they already have. 1 point for consonant and 2 for vowels. Along the way, the rule changes and it gets so complicated my group is lost. They form funny words like freezing, physics, lyrics, procrastinate and what have you. So the twist is that they have to form a story with the words they have and significantly, it was going to be hard. But my group really gave its best, and we as group leaders have to be proud. Tham with a good job acting as the boyfriend. Other groups put up funny performances, Andrew's group with some sort of funny spiderman performance and rescuing girls but even though there was a winner, everyone had done well. So the camp ends. Prize presentation and certificates, with Mr Mike Hock saying that the attendees could use these certificates to register for a lesson with them free, but they would have to go through a placement test first... so.... i hate tests. Mr Chiam somewhat a guest of honour, gets the honour of presenting the certificates to them. Bookshare and we give out our books to the Thai students, a moment to remember. Then follows the pin-share and I swap badges with Tham, surely one of the names that I would never forget, since Tong has that same name too. Performance and after almost one month of work, we could present our mass dance and our vocals to them following a performance. Han An's solo with Vic was really good, with Han An claiming before the performance that he forgot the moves. Yah right. I then swap badges with another Thai friend for a different looking badge, she looks apprehensive without an ACS badge, but I change with her and she definitely looked happier. Photo taking and where the hell is my group?! Everyone disappeared! But with the remainder, we attempt to register our emails to register a long-lasting friendship that I am sure everyone would remember. Try to interact with the remainder of the students, saying "I hope you enjoyed yourself" and flashing a nice smile. But I am glad that all of them had enjoyed themselves as they had answered yes, to the director's question of "Did you enjoy yourself today?" University introduction for us and the senior Y6 Thai students and Morgan and what's her name introduced where they studied and what they were doing. Fraser is not convinced by US universities superior to UK universities and starts questioning Mike on all sorts of universities. Mike says he would discuss over dinner, which of course, he never managed to do since there was a shortage of time. Thai PRC students give us copies of their newspaper and we admire it, since it's much better than Ink! which is full/foo of crap. Career opportunities test and I try to find a better name for it, as a result of my considerable distaste for something called tests. Quiz and we go down to the IT lab once again. Handed out pieces of paper that can fly away easily and I struggle to differentiate between a zero and an "O" on the piece of paper. Thai students also struggling. Quiz is like bullshit la... if someone makes up his mind what he wants for his future, then surely the test is biased beyond comparison. Daryl makes funny comments about politics and how his potential job might lead him to an ISD cell. Finish that 240 plus question quiz and then play games on the computer. I land up playing hearts and trying to fish for online games, which the server blocked. Get out of the IT lab for the Farewell Dinner, which I was sure was going to be unforgettable for many of us. That night we sang songs like never before, Chen Fye goes crazy when he sings Bohemian Rhapsody and starts dropping the hotel roses all over the place... and karaoke session. Mike stops the party and tells us that it was late. Singing all the way back to the cabins where most of us attempt to stay up late, but many fail terribly. I comment that it is not long before we go back to Singapore, and Daryl says that at least there are a few more hours. I learnt that trying to take a shower at 12 am in the morning is not a good idea. Eat cup noodles, last minute photos and bridge games... and finally, fall asleep. A very deep and good sleep that I have been deprived of for months.
Day 7:
Guess what, we never thought we would leave this beautiful place. But well, even the longest feast on earth comes to an end, so with farewells and more last minute photos and email collections, we leave. Customs officer comes just as we check in. Must be the first flight we are on. Airport security is bloody lax. Buy some iced chocolate from a boutigue coffee store and some of us check out the duty free shopping before our time was up. First time we met the other Thailand group in a week. They really look like dead people. Flight leaves for Bangkok, take more last minute photos, and we are off. Bangkok airport, 2 hours transit time, 1020 hours check in. Shop around, look for stuff to buy and I was convinced the only thing worth buying was choco and bananas, 3 times the price here in Bangkok airport. People buying stuff, and I check out a book called Thailand's last executioner. Andrew tries to buy stuff for his mom, enlists the help of Debs and Jia. So well.... I was broke, and did not buy anything. Debs tries to get a present for our generous donor of $3000 and struggles. I really cannot help.. Time to check in and we take some last pics with my Tasmaninan Devil and Vick(s) reindeer that Han An so generously bought for him. On board the plane, Han An really pisses me off telling me that I shouldn't buy that devil and I lash out really bad... He answers in a pretty stupid manner, making me even angrier. Lunch on board the plane was good. Plane was nice, Satay rice for lunch. Good service, free 2 packs of cards. Satay rice runs out and a few lucky guys get to eat business class food. Beef and potatoes. wow. Changi Airport, fast clearance and we are back on Singapore soil with Starhub reception. Family members waiting at the airport makes us feel unforgotten. It has been a fun 7 days. Really.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
This post is really for myself, really, commemorating the 6 incredible days that we had in Chiangmai, Thailand. Day 5 has been added. Already have 4551 words already.
Day 1:
We left for Changi Airport at a cruel hour in the morning, at 4 am since the flight was at 8, and we had to assemble at 5.30 am. So with much reluctance, I dragged myself out and quickly changed to leave for the airport in class tee and jeans. On the way I called Fabriz to tell Mr Chiam that I would be late and would not make it by 5.30 am. Turns out that he was on the expressway, the AYE, and arrived later than me in fact. So once I reached, I found out that most of the class was already there and there were a few people that had not reached. Fellowship a while before we left for the departure lounge. Tour agent a bit late, irritated me a bit, and she finally came, so we checked in. In true style, the Singapore departure lounge was really nice. Free internet access, Sakae Sushi, Starbucks, juice, hotdogs, and nice TV entertainment. Then on to the plane. Very long to check in, flight so-so, but that's not quite the important part. So transit to Bangkok, uneventful, but realised that Dr Kiran was not on the plane. Fell asleep on the flight, awoken only when we hit the ground with a bump, so... tired. We later realised that she had been deported back to Singapore. Sad. Arrived to a nice welcome in the airport with flower necklaces, and of course, the other group going to another town left without any nice welcome, just straight for the bus and nothing else. Well I was surprised by the warm welcome and looked forward to the next few days. Upon arrival, we found that the hostel was not a hostel, but if you remove the "s", it becomes hotel, which was really what it was, about 2-2.5 star hotel, with a mama-shop, coffee cafe, and laundry service. The room had a mini-bar, working toilets, and nice beds. The restaurant, served rather decent food like tempura vegetables, fried tang hoon and the like. Quite surprising indeed. We ate first then checked in, followed by a briefing about the days to follow. Rotary club bags were given to us, water-proof and washable. We met Mr Tham Chen Fye (HAPPY JIA??!), someone I thought initially looked rather Thai, but after the next few days, through his glasses, it was quite obvious that he was Singaporean rather than Thai, so there was the shocker. Morgan, was on hand to welcome us too, and later we went for a traditional Thai performance, one that was rather nice, but not before taking a walk through the streets, going back to the hostel and driving through the night bazaar that we would go to on Saturday. This diversion caused us a 1 hour journey. There were Chinese instruments like the Yangqin and the Guzheng. The food was rather nice, small little dishes with fried banana fritters and a lot of nice traditional food like pork, chicken, eggplant and so on. Fab was a little ill afterward and we were looking for plastic bags just in case he threw up, by his request. The space outside our hostel rooms was later put to good use for practising our mass dance and singing in the days to follow. So that was the first day. At night, our toilet broke down and it could not be flushed. Had to crap. I had no choice. So we tried to flush it with water but it did not work. No graphic descriptions required. Zhang had problems breathing, so a little noisy and I found it hard to sleep.
Day 2:
American Breakfast in the morning according to the forms that we had filled up. Looked rather unsubstantial and not filling at all. Looking at the chicken fried rice that others had ordered, I decided to order chicken fried rice the next day. Breakfast was at about 7.30 am, and we played cards for a while after breakfast before leaving for the Prostheses foundation slightly further away. There was a photo-taking session outside the foundation before we left for an introduction inside the foundation. We were introduced to the foundation, their aims and the prothetic legs that they made. Derek gave a good impromtu speech and gave the amount raised to the director. We then proceeded to do our community service inside the foundation that looked pretty much like a factory rather than a foundation. The process of fitting a prosthetic leg was shown live and we were amazed. All of us were split up into about 3 groups, I was assigned to wash the plaster of paris of the equipment that they had brought to various locations in Thailand and Malaysia. It later turned to scraping rust of bigger knives after lunch and it was very frustrating when we could not wash the rust of the knives. We sang while we were doing work, a morale booster that everyone enjoyed. We then breaked of for lunch with chicken drumsticks, nice sauce. We played bridge during the one hour break that did not include lunch and a half-hearted attempt to play murderer, which was not fun at all. Too slow. We never played murderer again. During the break, Fraser and Paul were playing with the wheelchairs, and it looked rather cool. Back to work. I got frustrated by the job about 15 minutes in and decided to help Chaya cut plastic bottles instead. Later, I went to help another group unscrew screws from some equipment and it was finished very quickly indeed. Mr Tham managed to obtain some isotonic drinks for us that tasted rather revolting, since I was used to the taste of Singapore's 100 plus and H-Two-o. All work finished. Our replacement teacher, Mr Liang, was here, and of course, I was happy that it was someone I knew. This was followed by a briefing by the rotary club for the next day's building of the check dams. My vision of the check dams was there, and I prepared myself for the hard work the next day. We later went to the Le Refuge home for girls, the ride was bumpy but I still fell asleep and when we arrived, I was reluctant to disembark. There was a funny smell and I wondered what it was. A long introduction to the home by the Father, and then some games like pass the hoola hoop and guess the leader. I was sabo-ed during the first game, as predicted, and did some funny forfeit like trying to do hoola-hooping. I was able to do it last time but rather hopeless this time round as I failed terribly in trying to get it to spin. The girls (and 2 boys) showed us their house and their rooms, and the fantastic view of the mountain from the computer room balcony. They were very excited when it came to showing the place around them. A sale of their items went on, with each group given 2000 baht to buy their products, since they did not want outright donations. I bought some table mats which I thought were rather nice, but not quite appreciated by my mom later. Following this was dinner, after the sales had been concluded. There were 3 girls on our bus and one of them was called Suk. Describing her would be hard, since she was a playful, lively character. Now we assume that all orphans would be sad and motionally disturbed, but not these girls. They are very happy people and they are really at home when we play with them and talk to them. They opened up rather quickly and we had a really really good time with them especially over dinner and during the lighting of traditional Thai lanterns. In our van, we sang with them, our Christian songs which we harmonised very nicely and we had never performed so well before, and they sang their version of Seek Ye First (in Thai), a song that I had wanted to sing when they were singing other songs. Divine appointment? Our treat for dinner, shrimp and other stuff, common palate. Kebabs were rather hot, what looked like peppers was really in fact, a super hot version of their green chilli and I had to drink a lot of water to flush away the heat of those chillis. Later we went to the open space near the restaurant to light the lanterns, where we played with the orphans in the mean time. Lalang was a common thing, and they used those rough ends to bully us, but in the end, we really had an enjoyable time. An eye-opener to Thai culture with the traditional lanterns which worked on the basis of hot air rises. We were asked, of course, the basis, and we played along to come up with some really dumb answers like "air is dense" and all those rubbish. When it came our time to leave, there was of course, sad farewells and even though we had known them for less than a day, Mr Chiam commented that we acted as if we knew them for years! He even had to block us from going to near their open air van to prevent any delays in the schedule. Our first practise took place in the "void deck" area, very effective for mass dance practises and singing practises. When I went back to my room, I watched discovery channel, but really, it was a repeat of the programme we saw in the morning and we were rather unappreciative of it. Crap. Watched ESPN and saw more repeats. Wondered what they did in Thailand when it came to satellite programmes. The toilet which was faulty was finally repaired. Slept like a log since Zhang did not snore and I used the softer spare pillow instead of the rock hard pillow on the first night.
Trying to teach girls to play murderer is a joke. Really.
So on to Day 3:
Day 3 was check dams day. Yes I can still remember what I wore, and it was a green shirt with black pants. We loaded up onto the bus (not the van) with our driver wearing a military style uniform with the ranking system very much like that of a pilot. Chiangmai transport company, the exact name. We loaded up and travelled into a mountainous area. Before we reached in, the exterior looked like a theme park with military style security and fences all over. Rather puzzling. But when we entered into the real thing, it was really like "in your face" sort of thing. What I expected was really what it was. So then we disembarked, waited for the guests to arrive. We played Pepsi Cola in the mean time, something that I had not played for years and of course, not expected many to remember how it was played. And yes, I was bad at the game. When the guests finally arrived, a long description of the project was described to us by the Thai Rotary Club there, in sub-standard English, and we were given souveniors to commemorate this day. A notebook and an elephant souvenir. As I was the I/C for the day's activities, I gave a speech about the importance of water, something that we in Singapore never realise. How fortunate that we are to have clean drinking water and do not need to dig for water. Yeah and people start nodding on the Thai side. Done a good job I think. Better than self destructing for IOP since it was a serious situation and I don't think I would have wanted the class to laugh on my joke "I'll make it brief". Famous last words. So then we start on the duties, with the flower necklace they gave us. Dump bags on the floor, take shovels and start removing all the rocks which may hinder the water from passing through. Then of course we run through the problems of having to remove fantastically big rocks. Han An starts digging and finds no way out to remove the damm rock. So we both do it and the rock which was damm big comes out. Like Wow. Tea break. Nice pastries and orange juice did it for me. Some say the apple juice tasted like medicine, so I was glad that I took the orange juice instead. Bus driver comes up to me and describes his daughter that is in Singapore in some exchange programme. A nice guy, really, and he gives me his contact card, saying the next time we come to Thailand, (you fill this in yourself). Back to work. Kerriann trips and falls, Benk insults her calling her rocket. The next moment he steps on a rusty nail and he is like "ouch!" It went right through his footwear and he lands up in hospital. Hehe... Revenge? This one is for real. We build check dams from scratch and it really was not easy. Cement and we have to hammer in the bamboo logs, put in the bamboo husks to use as a frame for the cement. To fill up the holes, I poured some concrete powder over the holes and added water. Much easier than trying to use other methods. I try to sit on 4 stacked bags of concrete and Mr Liang advices me not to, because cement is acidic... Later we have lunch at the site itself. It was chicken fried rice, something that I was quite familiar to by now, and in the mean time, interacted with Morgan to find out his background. Water in packet form runs out and I take the last of the orange jelly that was in there. A helpful lady pours some water into a flask with water and it becomes chilled and nice. Free flow of water. Continue service session and we finish building our dam by 2.45 pm. We then proceed to see how the "ideal" dam looks like and we were pleased to note that ours held water, just like the "ideal" one. Mr Chiam comments that he thinks ours is also ideal and of course, that made us happy. The villager also shows us what the villagers do with the dams, like making a small fish pond, and we can see the reservour of water around us. I cant see the fish pond, and Jaimie loudly comments, make way for me. Embarrassed and slightly irritated by this random behaviour. We walk through a short cut and we see how the village houses look like. A far cry from our ho(s)tel. Mr Chiam then says "Take the bannol" to have a phototaking session and all of us burst out laughing, since we know that Mr Chiam has a funny speech problem like "Frasole" and "Whispol", pronounced "Fraser" and "Whisper". I have my own rock that I unearth from the ground and it comes to good use, solving my backache just by lying on it. I return to the hostel deciding to buy iced boom chocolate from Wavee Coffee and it was really nice to have. Zhang washes the clothes in the toilet basin, mine and his and it was quite fun. But this held up the bathing schedule and when everyone had bathed, the 2 of us had not yet. Played bridge while waiting. Then we bathe and have another 2 hours before dinner. Dinner was at a nice buffet again at one of the restaurants with all sorts of food from roast beef to sushi to ice cream and the like. Try to get a sprite glass bottle but cannot get one. Slightly irritated. We then go to the night bazaar in the pickup and in the mean time, we do cheeky things like sending flying kisses to the ladies on the motorcycle. They start laughing. When we arrive, we are ready for the kill and start hunting around for stuff. My first purchase was the salt and pepper shaker, very nice and cute, and then we proceed to buy other stuff, from clothes to lanterns. We tried bargaining with the store owner for cheaper, but she gets pretty mad and we get pretty mad too. We say goodbye to her and she says goodbye in return. Han An wants to buy a stupid lighter and I tell him not to buy. He walks away and the woman starts chasing him. My considerable distaste for him shows up later, when he gangs up with Reks and Andrew claiming that the 100 Baht necklace was not a good buy. Anyways, Zhang managed to get a better price of 80 baht for 7 lanterns and we go home happy, but not before they film "The Biggest Loser" which I was pretty mad about.
Day 1:
We left for Changi Airport at a cruel hour in the morning, at 4 am since the flight was at 8, and we had to assemble at 5.30 am. So with much reluctance, I dragged myself out and quickly changed to leave for the airport in class tee and jeans. On the way I called Fabriz to tell Mr Chiam that I would be late and would not make it by 5.30 am. Turns out that he was on the expressway, the AYE, and arrived later than me in fact. So once I reached, I found out that most of the class was already there and there were a few people that had not reached. Fellowship a while before we left for the departure lounge. Tour agent a bit late, irritated me a bit, and she finally came, so we checked in. In true style, the Singapore departure lounge was really nice. Free internet access, Sakae Sushi, Starbucks, juice, hotdogs, and nice TV entertainment. Then on to the plane. Very long to check in, flight so-so, but that's not quite the important part. So transit to Bangkok, uneventful, but realised that Dr Kiran was not on the plane. Fell asleep on the flight, awoken only when we hit the ground with a bump, so... tired. We later realised that she had been deported back to Singapore. Sad. Arrived to a nice welcome in the airport with flower necklaces, and of course, the other group going to another town left without any nice welcome, just straight for the bus and nothing else. Well I was surprised by the warm welcome and looked forward to the next few days. Upon arrival, we found that the hostel was not a hostel, but if you remove the "s", it becomes hotel, which was really what it was, about 2-2.5 star hotel, with a mama-shop, coffee cafe, and laundry service. The room had a mini-bar, working toilets, and nice beds. The restaurant, served rather decent food like tempura vegetables, fried tang hoon and the like. Quite surprising indeed. We ate first then checked in, followed by a briefing about the days to follow. Rotary club bags were given to us, water-proof and washable. We met Mr Tham Chen Fye (HAPPY JIA??!), someone I thought initially looked rather Thai, but after the next few days, through his glasses, it was quite obvious that he was Singaporean rather than Thai, so there was the shocker. Morgan, was on hand to welcome us too, and later we went for a traditional Thai performance, one that was rather nice, but not before taking a walk through the streets, going back to the hostel and driving through the night bazaar that we would go to on Saturday. This diversion caused us a 1 hour journey. There were Chinese instruments like the Yangqin and the Guzheng. The food was rather nice, small little dishes with fried banana fritters and a lot of nice traditional food like pork, chicken, eggplant and so on. Fab was a little ill afterward and we were looking for plastic bags just in case he threw up, by his request. The space outside our hostel rooms was later put to good use for practising our mass dance and singing in the days to follow. So that was the first day. At night, our toilet broke down and it could not be flushed. Had to crap. I had no choice. So we tried to flush it with water but it did not work. No graphic descriptions required. Zhang had problems breathing, so a little noisy and I found it hard to sleep.
Day 2:
American Breakfast in the morning according to the forms that we had filled up. Looked rather unsubstantial and not filling at all. Looking at the chicken fried rice that others had ordered, I decided to order chicken fried rice the next day. Breakfast was at about 7.30 am, and we played cards for a while after breakfast before leaving for the Prostheses foundation slightly further away. There was a photo-taking session outside the foundation before we left for an introduction inside the foundation. We were introduced to the foundation, their aims and the prothetic legs that they made. Derek gave a good impromtu speech and gave the amount raised to the director. We then proceeded to do our community service inside the foundation that looked pretty much like a factory rather than a foundation. The process of fitting a prosthetic leg was shown live and we were amazed. All of us were split up into about 3 groups, I was assigned to wash the plaster of paris of the equipment that they had brought to various locations in Thailand and Malaysia. It later turned to scraping rust of bigger knives after lunch and it was very frustrating when we could not wash the rust of the knives. We sang while we were doing work, a morale booster that everyone enjoyed. We then breaked of for lunch with chicken drumsticks, nice sauce. We played bridge during the one hour break that did not include lunch and a half-hearted attempt to play murderer, which was not fun at all. Too slow. We never played murderer again. During the break, Fraser and Paul were playing with the wheelchairs, and it looked rather cool. Back to work. I got frustrated by the job about 15 minutes in and decided to help Chaya cut plastic bottles instead. Later, I went to help another group unscrew screws from some equipment and it was finished very quickly indeed. Mr Tham managed to obtain some isotonic drinks for us that tasted rather revolting, since I was used to the taste of Singapore's 100 plus and H-Two-o. All work finished. Our replacement teacher, Mr Liang, was here, and of course, I was happy that it was someone I knew. This was followed by a briefing by the rotary club for the next day's building of the check dams. My vision of the check dams was there, and I prepared myself for the hard work the next day. We later went to the Le Refuge home for girls, the ride was bumpy but I still fell asleep and when we arrived, I was reluctant to disembark. There was a funny smell and I wondered what it was. A long introduction to the home by the Father, and then some games like pass the hoola hoop and guess the leader. I was sabo-ed during the first game, as predicted, and did some funny forfeit like trying to do hoola-hooping. I was able to do it last time but rather hopeless this time round as I failed terribly in trying to get it to spin. The girls (and 2 boys) showed us their house and their rooms, and the fantastic view of the mountain from the computer room balcony. They were very excited when it came to showing the place around them. A sale of their items went on, with each group given 2000 baht to buy their products, since they did not want outright donations. I bought some table mats which I thought were rather nice, but not quite appreciated by my mom later. Following this was dinner, after the sales had been concluded. There were 3 girls on our bus and one of them was called Suk. Describing her would be hard, since she was a playful, lively character. Now we assume that all orphans would be sad and motionally disturbed, but not these girls. They are very happy people and they are really at home when we play with them and talk to them. They opened up rather quickly and we had a really really good time with them especially over dinner and during the lighting of traditional Thai lanterns. In our van, we sang with them, our Christian songs which we harmonised very nicely and we had never performed so well before, and they sang their version of Seek Ye First (in Thai), a song that I had wanted to sing when they were singing other songs. Divine appointment? Our treat for dinner, shrimp and other stuff, common palate. Kebabs were rather hot, what looked like peppers was really in fact, a super hot version of their green chilli and I had to drink a lot of water to flush away the heat of those chillis. Later we went to the open space near the restaurant to light the lanterns, where we played with the orphans in the mean time. Lalang was a common thing, and they used those rough ends to bully us, but in the end, we really had an enjoyable time. An eye-opener to Thai culture with the traditional lanterns which worked on the basis of hot air rises. We were asked, of course, the basis, and we played along to come up with some really dumb answers like "air is dense" and all those rubbish. When it came our time to leave, there was of course, sad farewells and even though we had known them for less than a day, Mr Chiam commented that we acted as if we knew them for years! He even had to block us from going to near their open air van to prevent any delays in the schedule. Our first practise took place in the "void deck" area, very effective for mass dance practises and singing practises. When I went back to my room, I watched discovery channel, but really, it was a repeat of the programme we saw in the morning and we were rather unappreciative of it. Crap. Watched ESPN and saw more repeats. Wondered what they did in Thailand when it came to satellite programmes. The toilet which was faulty was finally repaired. Slept like a log since Zhang did not snore and I used the softer spare pillow instead of the rock hard pillow on the first night.
Trying to teach girls to play murderer is a joke. Really.
So on to Day 3:
Day 3 was check dams day. Yes I can still remember what I wore, and it was a green shirt with black pants. We loaded up onto the bus (not the van) with our driver wearing a military style uniform with the ranking system very much like that of a pilot. Chiangmai transport company, the exact name. We loaded up and travelled into a mountainous area. Before we reached in, the exterior looked like a theme park with military style security and fences all over. Rather puzzling. But when we entered into the real thing, it was really like "in your face" sort of thing. What I expected was really what it was. So then we disembarked, waited for the guests to arrive. We played Pepsi Cola in the mean time, something that I had not played for years and of course, not expected many to remember how it was played. And yes, I was bad at the game. When the guests finally arrived, a long description of the project was described to us by the Thai Rotary Club there, in sub-standard English, and we were given souveniors to commemorate this day. A notebook and an elephant souvenir. As I was the I/C for the day's activities, I gave a speech about the importance of water, something that we in Singapore never realise. How fortunate that we are to have clean drinking water and do not need to dig for water. Yeah and people start nodding on the Thai side. Done a good job I think. Better than self destructing for IOP since it was a serious situation and I don't think I would have wanted the class to laugh on my joke "I'll make it brief". Famous last words. So then we start on the duties, with the flower necklace they gave us. Dump bags on the floor, take shovels and start removing all the rocks which may hinder the water from passing through. Then of course we run through the problems of having to remove fantastically big rocks. Han An starts digging and finds no way out to remove the damm rock. So we both do it and the rock which was damm big comes out. Like Wow. Tea break. Nice pastries and orange juice did it for me. Some say the apple juice tasted like medicine, so I was glad that I took the orange juice instead. Bus driver comes up to me and describes his daughter that is in Singapore in some exchange programme. A nice guy, really, and he gives me his contact card, saying the next time we come to Thailand, (you fill this in yourself). Back to work. Kerriann trips and falls, Benk insults her calling her rocket. The next moment he steps on a rusty nail and he is like "ouch!" It went right through his footwear and he lands up in hospital. Hehe... Revenge? This one is for real. We build check dams from scratch and it really was not easy. Cement and we have to hammer in the bamboo logs, put in the bamboo husks to use as a frame for the cement. To fill up the holes, I poured some concrete powder over the holes and added water. Much easier than trying to use other methods. I try to sit on 4 stacked bags of concrete and Mr Liang advices me not to, because cement is acidic... Later we have lunch at the site itself. It was chicken fried rice, something that I was quite familiar to by now, and in the mean time, interacted with Morgan to find out his background. Water in packet form runs out and I take the last of the orange jelly that was in there. A helpful lady pours some water into a flask with water and it becomes chilled and nice. Free flow of water. Continue service session and we finish building our dam by 2.45 pm. We then proceed to see how the "ideal" dam looks like and we were pleased to note that ours held water, just like the "ideal" one. Mr Chiam comments that he thinks ours is also ideal and of course, that made us happy. The villager also shows us what the villagers do with the dams, like making a small fish pond, and we can see the reservour of water around us. I cant see the fish pond, and Jaimie loudly comments, make way for me. Embarrassed and slightly irritated by this random behaviour. We walk through a short cut and we see how the village houses look like. A far cry from our ho(s)tel. Mr Chiam then says "Take the bannol" to have a phototaking session and all of us burst out laughing, since we know that Mr Chiam has a funny speech problem like "Frasole" and "Whispol", pronounced "Fraser" and "Whisper". I have my own rock that I unearth from the ground and it comes to good use, solving my backache just by lying on it. I return to the hostel deciding to buy iced boom chocolate from Wavee Coffee and it was really nice to have. Zhang washes the clothes in the toilet basin, mine and his and it was quite fun. But this held up the bathing schedule and when everyone had bathed, the 2 of us had not yet. Played bridge while waiting. Then we bathe and have another 2 hours before dinner. Dinner was at a nice buffet again at one of the restaurants with all sorts of food from roast beef to sushi to ice cream and the like. Try to get a sprite glass bottle but cannot get one. Slightly irritated. We then go to the night bazaar in the pickup and in the mean time, we do cheeky things like sending flying kisses to the ladies on the motorcycle. They start laughing. When we arrive, we are ready for the kill and start hunting around for stuff. My first purchase was the salt and pepper shaker, very nice and cute, and then we proceed to buy other stuff, from clothes to lanterns. We tried bargaining with the store owner for cheaper, but she gets pretty mad and we get pretty mad too. We say goodbye to her and she says goodbye in return. Han An wants to buy a stupid lighter and I tell him not to buy. He walks away and the woman starts chasing him. My considerable distaste for him shows up later, when he gangs up with Reks and Andrew claiming that the 100 Baht necklace was not a good buy. Anyways, Zhang managed to get a better price of 80 baht for 7 lanterns and we go home happy, but not before they film "The Biggest Loser" which I was pretty mad about.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Congrats to Chelsea,
but frankly (frank.(l)ampard+(y)), I was not surprised by the result.
Chelsea was much hungrier and outplayed us for long moments, so i really was not surprised since i predicted against Man Utd and bet Chelsea to win at 2-0. So there. Not really surprised.
So far my accurate predictions was the Newcastle Chelsea match, Man Utd Chelsea match, and Wigan Sheffield United match, where i correctly predicted Wigan to stay up. got many more but forgot already.
congrats again. really not bitter about the result, but i think it was cruel since Man Utd did play well.
but frankly (frank.(l)ampard+(y)), I was not surprised by the result.
Chelsea was much hungrier and outplayed us for long moments, so i really was not surprised since i predicted against Man Utd and bet Chelsea to win at 2-0. So there. Not really surprised.
So far my accurate predictions was the Newcastle Chelsea match, Man Utd Chelsea match, and Wigan Sheffield United match, where i correctly predicted Wigan to stay up. got many more but forgot already.
congrats again. really not bitter about the result, but i think it was cruel since Man Utd did play well.
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