Inspiré par L'amour

2009-06-15T08:58:00.003+08:00

Graduated from BMT quite sometime ago

Found that BMT wasn't so bad afterall, if given a chance I would do BMT all over again. Army has given some very wonderful memories to cherish about.

"Kam-chong Kings"
Nearly my entire section belong to this group. I tend to go down 3-5mins earlier. Nicholas and Jasper have disappeared by then. Look out of the window, you may well find them in senang-diri position at the right marker's spot already. I guess its the kind of enthusiasm that can infect the entire platoon. By the 5th week, every section has their own early birds

"Sergeant P****"
Well, he's the sergeant that's the h**** one. The one that reads TinTin in his spare time. The weirdest but the most liked and most well-respected in the platoon. For him, water on the floor = c****** ; weather is hot = steam; cigar formation equals to something else (recall your hand signs now boys) double up = w******. But when it is time to be serious, we dont mess around with him

"Leftenant Jordan"
He's the one who seems to be pretty concerned with his hair. And says out his vulgarities in a fashion of rap. Perhaps the most fashionable of commanders, good luck with his subsequent batches of recruits, we were his 1st.

"Field-camp"
Thunderflashes. Fooling with an entire magazine of blanks. Rations that taste like crap. Digging your own craphole after the latrines were filled up. Doing tactical manuoveurs. And getting to see an entire family of wild boars, it happens only once in our lives. And it truly is bonding for you and your section

"Nightfall: Special Ops"
Last night in Ladang, we all slept way past the 2230 timing. This is where the demons have been unleashed. Kiwi soap pee, you name it. And Shankar lost 3 pair of short and shoes. And section 2 assaulted a combined group of section 1,4,5 unknowingly. The result: pillow fight

"Shankar"
Punching bag of platoon 3, well of the commanders most of the time. Simply stupid, simply selfish. Marching (can't march in time even on PoC-day) Stand-by-Area (Everybody is in position in smart4, the fool has only worn his trousers) Field pack display outside room (His et stick is on the parapet and basha pole's probably outside the toilet) Pumping by Commanders (shows middle finger).
Its an amazing phenomenon really, how such a dumb and retarded entity can actually exsist on Earth

"Kenny Perreria"
If you watch Army Daze, KP is the sissy in the movie. And we have a "zhar-bo" like that in platoon 2. Walks like a girl, laughs like a girl, oh and the poor fella is so blur that on the 4-5th week, he still doesn't know whats a gas regulator

"Naded"
Okay this happened during Live nade throwing. Some dumb-**** from platoon 1 dropped his practice nade in the bay and it exploded. Apparently, he didn't know how to hold it prroperly and neither did he have the strength to hold it for extended periods. Result:A good shelling from the Sergeants and most likely a stayin or two

Pegasus Platoon 3 "Pa Buay To"

I love my Smart 4

2009-06-07T11:29:00.002+08:00

Passing out tomorrow. IC for the past week, was tough, tough tough week, loads of crap. When given 40mins to expand Company evening's performance to twice as long, the rest of the platoon just melts away. When problems ensue, we only start to see the people that appear to help when in need. These are the people that we can finally see, people whom we can trust to fight alongside. Handed over to the "platoon best"

Who cares anyway.

Here's a little song we made

On a dark Tekong highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of the sea, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw my tracers go
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to shoot in the night
There he stood in the darkness
I heard the Sergeant yell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be heaven or this could be hell"
Then he smacked my helmet and I shouted IA IA
There were voices in my head,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel Pulau Tekong
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel Pulau Tekong
Any time of year, you can find it here

His mind is tiffany-twisted, he's got the Lieutenant rank
He's got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that he calls recruits
How they march in the jungle, sweet summer sweat.
Some march to remember, some march to forget

So I called up the captain,
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel Pulau Tekong
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin it up at the Hotel Pulau Tekong
What a nice surprise, bring your Eleven B's

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And he said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own devices"
And in the cookhouse canteen,
We gathered for dinner
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill Shankar

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the Penguin back
To the place I was before
"Relax" said the Sergeant,
We are programmed to receive.
You can bookout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

3rd platoon Curahee

2009-05-09T08:51:00.002+08:00

PEGASUS 3rd platoon. Timer. 66-man

just returned from 2weeks of confinement. Landed in perhaps one of the most interesting platoons. The biggest but fastest in the company. Hopefully BMTC2 too. Being in a C-coy allows you to see people from all walks of lives. From the subtle JC students to the garang poly volunteers as well as some of the more brash *** students. Just as what friends have been saying before we booked in

Ben's in Yankee, he says its hell and he's a timer for like 33-man (only =P)
Bryan's a Ninja, apparently he's like excused from everything (you better don't go to the MO too often, before they launch an investigation)

OTP is in Orion, they've just come back from field camp. Think it was them i saw looking totally flaked out 2-3days ago
Fairuz is in Scorpion

Oh well, did one jungle training lesson at Salabin already. Sounds fun but it really throws you in a situation of the nitty- gritty never expected. Had to lie on ant fields attempt to find a hiding spot to evade the "enemy" sergants. Oh well I didnt see them and they didnt see me. So I failed that particular mission.

Lots of stuff to say. Not too sure how to begin actually. But I'm actually and also looking forward to next week. I wanna see and enjoy what hell they have. And to seeing my buddies back in the section.

2009-04-23T23:36:00.002+08:00

Going in tommorow. My head's shaved. Now's time to face the entity called the ARMY
Hope I can do well in there.

Well, everybody take care, with love to my dad mum and sis

This blog is offically in a state of

CRYOSTASIS

well for the next 2 weeks at least

Love Story Viva la Vida Fusion by Jon Schmidt

2009-04-17T18:06:00.001+08:00

Fantastic music, I could feel the emotions of both songs without them having to sing any of the lyrics. Maximum pleasure comes when you tune up your volume really high. The added story behind the fusion is a touch of class by Schmidt

2009-04-12T13:04:00.002+08:00

Went out with 08 last thursday (It was thursday I think) to Shokudo. Great food, great people, great time. OKAY, great people, yes, but not great numbers of people, was kinda missing out on alot of people (Jon, YJ, bryan, yiyao etc). But, I'm glad the rest turned out. Sid came as well, and entertained the rest pretty well, albeit partly due to the numerous jabs and pokes he gave Benjamin, added on to the jibes Jia En gave him. Interesting conflict of words really.

Eg. Sid: Hey, army has made me better a person (gives ben a friendly poke)
Ben: (Rawr! Wel the rawr kind of look anyway)
Jia En: On the contary, I think you've gotten worst
Me: O.O (Looks at sid)
Sid: (Gives ben the lecherous kinda look) (Then pokes him again)
Me: yeah maybe maybe
Ben: (sees sid) WTF!! Rawr!

Then terk ming and hui long came. By now time goes really fast. Its like i last looked at my handphone (8.30pm) then went to buy my 2nd course (surprised no one ate much) and the next time (>>>22.45 O.O) Apparently ttm's in CISPEC (I think that's how its spelled) Well, good for him, I think he's the 1st commander in the class of boys. Amazing isnt it? Kinda hoping to do something like that, but sadly, unlikely. Well, we'll see how things go.

Ben, Jon and YY are enlisting tomorrow. Well, good luck fellas, and don't kena Rocky Falls Camp (well, I think that's the name ttm mentioned) and bring more toilet papers =X. Hope they do well and enter CISPEC too. Hopefully, 08 can meet up once more again, perhaps during our June vocational break.

Tata

ReShuFFle

2009-04-07T12:02:00.008+08:00

Finally, alas, I'm totally free.

Done with work (What a relief. Phew)
Done with Uni application (Well, I'll just see what destiny has in store for me, eh?)
Done with this HTML (this reconstruction actually took me days >.< Something's up with the html)

And...... I can finally go out and play.

Went out several times already, the most recent being ZOOMing around in Ice-world.
And that's actually ice-skating.

Super cool I must say, well, both literally and metaphorically

Well, I hope I can go out more often, this time with classmates, soon to be army boys =P

Group pic. Background's playing LeonaLewisand yes, Lady Gaga

SE Sal Liz

Then Sal seemed to have spent more time on the camera than raring around the circuit

Circuit's so empty that we're like the only amateurs in there. That girl was spinning that entire 2 hours

Then you have kidlearners on the rampage. Fall, fall and oops, you've almost knocked into them while they fall. Quite cute actually

President Barack Obama 2009 Inauguration and Address

2009-01-21T12:43:00.001+08:00

7 faces the Cashier has to service to

2009-01-21T12:15:00.002+08:00

Nearly a week since I started work. Amazingly, Jason's in the same line of work too. Just that I'm servicing in the expat area

Here's the 7 best and worst customers we need to put up with

(1) The Caucasion Family

=) =) =) They never expect anything from you. Only that you save as many bags as possible. Best for us =) There's no need to pack in any order. Its a FFA job. And they like small talk too

(2) The Indian Expat

=) =) Usually fine with anything. They have a strong tendency to get you to save the environment too. Though not as radical, at least in the Singapore climate, as the Caucasion family to bring their own bags

(3) The Phillipino Maid

=) Nothing said. Short and sweet. No troubles or anything. **Silence**

(4) The Chinese lady with an American slang

=) Usually buys only a drink. Short and sweet too **Is that slang faked???**

(5) The Japanese Couple

=S

Cashier : Ma'am your free item
Japanese Lady: A slew of Jap words **starts gesturing frantically**
Jap Husband : She don't want to buy it
Cashier : Its free **LOLX**

(6) The Chinese Family (China mainland I mean)

=| Comes with trolley loads of stuff. You pack till you're shagged. And then you see the husband and wife cuddle in public.

(7) The Singaporean Aunty

>.< Sub-zero environmental consience. And expects perfect packing. Bags for bread, bags for meat, bags for vegetable. Then when you put a 5kg rice pack in a plastic bag, she wants double baggage. **when her car is only 100m away >.< ** Everything done, she wants more plastic bags >.<

That's the people you meet. Naturally number 7 we dread the most =S Wonder what Jason faces?

2009-01-17T22:30:00.003+08:00

For once, my eyes glazed after reading a novel. This is it, the true war inspired story in the words of a German U-boat Kriegsmarine Oberleutnant Erich Bock

Like all war novels, it composes of a right mix of action, the blood, romance and ideals behind a war thriller. However, what's unlike the norm is that this novel focuses specifically on a Kapitantleutnant's love and affection on his comrade-in-arms. What's especially heart-wrenching is actually the author's epilogue, the twist, on the reason behind him highlighting the publishing of this novel.

Here's an excerpt,

September 14, 1943

Dear Erich,

I have chosen to set pen to paper in English, as I fear you are fated to speak it for the rest of your days.
If you are reading this, it is because I have apparently abandoned you- marooned you- somewhere on the coasts of the United States....

.... I deeply apologize. In my professional and personal opinion, you are one of the finest young officers the Ubootwaffe has ever produced; in every way, your performance of your duty has been exemplary. When I report you killed in action...

.... Why? you must be asking. Nothing makes any sense. Why has my captain treated me in such a way? What have I done to deserve this?....

....During our last rendezvous with Captain Kessler abroad the U-395, east of Windward Passage, he asked me to come to his cabin. He had information concerning you, Erich, that disturbed him greatly, and that he felt he must pass on to me. In doing so, he put himself at considerable risk, for it was the information of the sort that can cause a man who repeats it- given the current state of affairs in Germany, to disappear. But I do not need to remind you how much Hans Kessler liked you. I say "liked" because sadly, I fear that Captain Kessler and the crew of U-395....

.... This is what Hans Kessler told me: last month, the Gestapo arrested your fathers and uncles for attempting to smuggle fifty-seven Jewish men, women and children out of Germany by concealing them abroad your family's three fishing vessels....

....The Gestapo decided to make an example of your entire family....

....A similar fate, Kessler warned me, awaits you upon your return from this patrol. Himmler and Goebbels themselves have a hand in it. They have convinced the Führer of the deterrent power of wiping out an entire German family sympathetic to the Jews, even if one of its members is a decorated U-boat officer. The frantic protests of every senior officer in the Kriegsmarine- including Dönitz himself- have fallen on deaf ears. The Führer has decided, you must be sacrifaced....

....You cannot go home, Erich. Not ever. There is nothing to go home to....

....Remember me as I will always remember you, Erich, and always consider me

Your captain, and your friend,

Kurt Stuermer

Such was the power of this book, in particular, this letter, that for a moment my eyes glazed. A truly good read.

The Script - Breakeven

2009-01-16T08:58:00.001+08:00

2008-12-04T08:51:00.014+08:00

Prom's over. Gonna miss everybody. Let the pictures do the talking

The Killers Human EMA 08

2008-12-02T23:38:00.001+08:00

2008-11-17T16:36:00.002+08:00

A'Levels suck
Hope that I can squeeze into uni. Any course will do.

Should have been looking forward to chalet.
But planning for it sucks
Weirdly, at such a timing so many people cannnot go for the full thing- Nearly half
Seriously...

Life sucks

And I hope those that somehow cannot make it really have something on.

Life SUCKS big time. -.-

2008-11-03T13:49:00.001+08:00

Its begun

Good Luck to all and God bless. (That's how much it means)

2008-10-04T18:04:00.000+08:00

ONE REPUBLIC- Say all I need

Do you know where your heart is?
Do you think you can find it?
Or did you trade it for something
Somewhere better just to have it?
Do you know where your love is?
Do you think that you lost it?
You felt it so strong, but
Nothing's turned out how you wanted

Well, bless my soul
You're a lonely soul
Cause you won't let go
Of anything you hold

Well, all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest
My head

Do you know what your fate is?
And are you trying to shake it?
You're doing your best and
Your best look
You're praying that you make it

Well, bless my soul
You're a lonely soul
Cause you won't let go
Of anything you hold

Well, all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest
My head

I said I all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest
My head

Do you think you can find it?
Do you think you can find it?
Do you think you can find it?
Better than you had it
Do you think you can find it?
Do you think you can find it?
Do you think you can find it?
Yeah, better than you had it (Better than you had it)

I said I all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest
My head

I said I all I need
Is the air I breathe
And a place to rest
My head

Whenever the end is
Do you think you can see it?
Well, until you get there
Go on, go ahead and scream it
Just say it

I'm tired

2008-09-20T00:52:00.004+08:00

Prelims sucked big time. Gonna fail maths time to review it. Chemistry- pass paper 2 with 3mark margin to pass. Physics looks optimistic, judging by Paper 1. Economics, just passed essay, relative wise, its fine I guess.

Anyway, went out today. Afternoon: to Ms Goh's house. Her child's quite pretty (seems to be an appropriate word for a girl) Name's YuYan i think, correct me if I got it wrong. Spent the entire afternoon chatting. Hmmm... anyway, Ms Goh's fine with more visits in future, though in another 2 weeks time (once she's done with her confinement and back in Sembawang) Well, here begins the stressful, challenging, daunting life of another Singaporean child.

Then kp, ben and I went to down to just walkabout. Went to Takashimaya to look for food, then 1 out of a 1000 occurence happened- met jon and yj. Jeez, what a small world. Then went to Borders, found a good read, gonna buy it. Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko, the last of a trilogy by the Oscar winning movie for foreign films. Then started to explore Orchard Road, to see how F1's coming along. Couldn't find a freaking place to eat, until we stumbled upon a small eatery. Hell, the wonton noodles are good. Finally when to HMV for music. Jason Mraz is on my list now. Then played some Halo (got owned by kp and ben 12-1. Jeez) But at least I destroyed a F-16 in some war game involving F-16.

Going out is a really good way to cool off. Looking forward to tuesday

2008-09-01T23:39:00.004+08:00

Went back to AMKSS recently. Visited Ms Chan with tp and co. Lol, she still looks as great as ever. We were her 1st class. I guess, the class she remembers the most. Afterall, I guess she was still finding out how to handle a bunch of rowdy and mischevious kids.

I remember with fondness the times we shared as a class. The obsession with Blind Mice, Catching, the rubber band battles in class while hiding from then- DM Mr Siva. Then as we went up 1 year, there was the Boys' Fund. Followed by the FHM cards that Mr Aubury Ong has yet to return (Lol) Then there was the durian fiasco and countless more... Of course the BB was something I looked forward to as an integral part of my life. I guess if given the chance, I would turn back time, back to the wild and carefree days of the past

Well, here are the photos (Courtesy of Miss Chan)

And now, to look to a future that still is uncertain. If JC and A'levels are a foretaste of adulthood. It sucks. Time to get back to work... Life sucks when the chips are down. God knows where I get the strength from... o.0

Thinking too Much am I?

2008-08-28T22:13:00.002+08:00

Thought I should blog about this again. Though I will probably recieve alot of flak about it, be it being random or idiotic

Class recently had a series of unpleasant events. Or not too recent either. But as we near the BIG ONE, it seems (note the word "seems") that things are getting more and more out of hand?

Well, this is not the first time seeing this situation. I still remembered the O's 2 years ago. As things started to heat up, we all started to compete against each other. The mood could be seen as fiery.

But compared to what I'm starting to see, this may not just be a flame, but wild-fire. That of competitiveness. But what I'm going to highlight is possibly one of my past experience. That is, within this class, we are almost not competitors. Almost all of us have different ambitions. Using that as a basis, we are probably gonna go for different courses, different time periods, so why the reason to compete?

Of course, this is also partly the fault of the environment's pressure, "Everyone in your class is trying to get in" and still vividly, from the NUS speaker "If you can't get in, it says a lot about you" Logically, it makes sense, it is the truth. Yet they paint an almost false sense of excessive paranoia/ fear into all of us. Yes, a little fear, a little pressure is always beneficial. But, it is never good if you're gonna start seeing every bush as an ambush. In the end, you hurt yourself, you hurt the bush. I fear a dogfight, and I know that some of the participants would end up ostracized/ isolated, and it will not be pleasant to end off our college experience in such a manner

Back again, on the basis of our different aspirations. Think about the idea I'm going to offer

We all have a common goal. AJC is not that lousy either. Let's just work towards it hand in hand towards our aspirations, out of this fog. Deep down, assuming the A's is just another test, we all would still continue carrying for one another, so why let it spoil the harmonious peace we CAN achieve.

For all those who have suffered problems, though I'm in no position to judge, I feel we should jump at every chance to make up for loss. In the end, the friendship at the end is what matters, anything else (pride or whatever is worthless...) Or even, take up the courage to make it up.

Post Note- I'm not that influential, so I hope that readers can take this in a positive light. Hence, at a personal level, do note that everyone has their own ways of de-stressing. Sometimes we jest about problems. Sometimes, unfortunately, we take it out on others. But please, take an objective view in whatever you see. It is always the spectator that sees more than the player, as I have mentioned to some before

Can we really be as Open as what We proclaim to be?

2008-08-25T22:49:00.002+08:00

Studied with Ben and Bryan at AMK library today. Then somehow or rather stumbled upon the issue of homosexuals and heterosexuals. Recalling upon the a blog post I made a couple of weeks back regarding "What makes a Real Man?"

Today's debate's and smses just made be realised that up till now, in reality, I can never accept the idea of homosexuals. To me, the idea of personal freedom to express one's love, regardless of gender has always seemed okay, I could accept the sight of homosexuals in public.

But on second thoughts, a black hole in this thought made me realise that deep down, I cannot accept the fact that idea one of my family, relatives or friends may become homosexual in future. Call me bigoted, and I can't say why, but to me, humping another guy and lusting after his heart just seems wrong. I guess that's the way I've been brought up and society deems what the norm is.

I can never unravel why. To me, its' just wrong, it just doesn't seem to be in the natural order for one man to love another. How about you? Can you accept a kin or friend loving another of the same gender?

Sports- Uniting a Nation, yet exposing its Weaknesses too

2008-08-18T19:48:00.003+08:00

170808

This should be an exhilirating day for all Singaporeans. We have, for the first time, won the an Olympics medal as an independent nation. It is a day of celebration, for we have reach an unprecendented level of achievement. It is a milestone of the Singapore Spirit. Well, at least, that's what I felt, I was extremely proud of what we have done.

Yet, my day in school proved a totally different sentiment. Here's what I heard most of the time. "We won the Silver" but....... "BUT IT WAS AN ALL CHINA FINAL or WE WON THROUGH IMPORTED TALENT"

I was apalled when I heard what these people said. I was totally disgusted. They never saw this as a Singapore achievement. Seriously, if it was meant as a jest by one or two, I wouldn't have minded. But these jests had turned into a sentiment of the population, sick. Now, two groups of people said these, (1) The non Singaporeans, be it scholars or PRs, (2) Singaporeans

(1) These were the most vocal bunch of people. The 1st thing they said was, "You call that a win, you guys bought the medal" There's no need to say which country they hail from. All I thought was, if you guys want to talk so much about this, AGAIN and AGAIN, outdo us. Either that, or shut the f*** up (no offence at anyone, there's no personal attack against your personality, rather, an attack on your sentiment) We are a COSMOPOLITAN society, accept it. France does it, US does it, what's wrong with us doing it. Don't go around spreading your own sentiment, because if you do it and then try to raise the status of where you hail from, I guess it says alot about how your nation is, you represent your country, so watch what you say.

(2) Our own. Amongst both sides, you make me sick. Most of you are probably smarter than me, and some of you reading this may even be adults, when you say, "They're not one of ours", that's sick. Because you only show how narrow minded you are to think of that (Either that or think of some good reasons why we should not be proud). If you say that, because you have been influenced, you need to start thinking of why we should be proud of our achievements.

Why I think we should be proud? We have always tried to emphasise ourselves as cosmopolitan (and we admire the Americans for doing so). Only by shedding of such a sentiment, can we proclaim ourselves cosmopolitan (for those of you writing this in your GP essays, I hope you mean it). And things go beyond that, foreign talent enriches our society, I have no need to go into the nitty-gritty, you know why we embrace them, and that is the key to our Singapore flavour, and the Singapore Spirit. That is how we, as the nation's future should gear our mindset towards, be proud of what we try to achieve, and try to achieve for the best of this country. The flag that has fathered/ mothered us is the one we swear allegiance to, for as the ancient saying goes, where there is no country, the family cannot exist. Its' the month of National Day and National achievement, so start being proud of what we done.

Start thinking outwards, start thinking for ourselves, for following the mainstream may not always be the best.

Phelps- Following the Makings of a Legend

2008-08-13T20:05:00.004+08:00

Watching Phelps progress is enthralling. Though you won't see me cheering as he wins his 6th, 7th and 8th gold. I'm pretty much mesmerised as how he pursues a Legend for himself. Being a national athelete is never easy, its not just the training we're looking at, but something deeper, the stress they have to cope with.

Phelps is more than just a golden boy, he is a hero, and he is just one of the many we see in our google box. Thinking about how everyone is talking, "Phelps' gonna win the 8, and he'll do it". I wonder what is going on in the champion's mind. Afterall, he's got the hopes of 300 million Americans pinned on him. It is the country's pride, love and hopes on him that becomes the very pressure on him to deliver. And that's just the American side of the story.

There's also China. Yes, we are all in awe of the might of China, not just the opening ceremony, but the atheletes and their will to do their country proud. Many of them are products of the numerous state-run sports institutions that take hundreds of thousands of potential youngsters for training, just to produce that gold medal. 3 words to that- Big Red Machine. And imagine, the pressure on these successful atheletes, who not just carry the hopes of 1.3 billion hearts on their shoulders, but the will to fufil the dreams of their failed counterparts.

We should not just admire them for their feats in getting the medal, but the effort, peserverance and mental strength they have to achieve what they have gotten till today

Here's a slide show of some of the sportsmen whom I've thought to be fit for the title for heroes, be it local or international

Here's an extract covering Phelps pursuit for 8 Golds
BEIJING -- Michael Phelps' pursuit of the great eight begins Saturday.

Immortality will be chased over the ensuing nine days, as Phelps attempts the most ambitious Olympic program in swimming history -- five individual events and three relays against the best in the world. If he completes the sweep, Mark Spitz and every other Olympian -- in every sport -- will be shoved aside. Nobody has ever won eight gold medals in a single Games, and it would give Phelps 14 for his career -- another record.

Michael Phelps' first test will be a tough one -- the 400-meter individual medley.

The pantheon would belong solely to Phelps.

"We know how great Mark Spitz was," said four-time American gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg. "To me, [Phelps] is way above that level, because the sport is so much more competitive now. Like in other sports, he's the kind of athlete who comes along once in a century.

"He's definitely on the verge of something special. I think eight golds is very feasible for him."

But the only way you get to eight is to start with one, and that's part of the trick here. Phelps must break these Games down into 17 individual swims (counting preliminaries and semifinals) and focus on those instead of the great eight. While everyone around him is talking big picture, he must compartmentalize.

"He really does a wonderful job at taking one day at a time and attacking whatever's in front of him for that day," U.S. national team coach Mark Schubert said.

So we'll do this the Phelps way, handicapping one race at a time.

His coach, Bob Bowman, takes the necessary diplomatic route. "They're all equally hard," Bowman said, avoiding handing bulletin-board material to any of Phelps' rivals.

It's not true, of course. Some of the races are easier than others -- but none of them will be easy. Making history on this scale shouldn't be.

Event No. 1: 400-meter individual medley
When is the final: Sunday morning Beijing time, Saturday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Third-toughest of Phelps' eight.

It's a grueling opener, especially given the competition from fellow American Ryan Lochte. Phelps holds the world record in the event, but Lochte pressed him every stroke of the way at the U.S. trials in Omaha before losing by less than a second.

Phelps described that as "one of the most painful races of my life."

This one will hurt, too. Expect a near-dead heat heading into the final 50 meters.

The only other swimmer in the world who has come within three seconds of Phelps' current record time is Hungarian Laszlo Cseh. Phelps has a healthy respect for Cseh, who lowered his personal best in the event by more than 1.5 seconds in June. But given a full taper over the past month -- Phelps wasn't fully rested for the trials -- it would be a sizable upset for him to lose his first race of these Games.

SUNDAY'S END RESULT: Phelps kept pace with teammate Lochte and Hungary's Cseh during his weakest discipline, the breaststroke, before putting the hammer down in the freestyle to win his first gold of the Games in world-record time (4:03.84). Phelps' gold count: 1-for-1.

One of Michael Phelps' main rivals in Beijing will be French swimmer Alain Bernard.
Event No. 2: 4x100 free relay
When is the final: Monday morning Beijing time, Sunday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Toughest race of the meet.

The relays are only 25 percent in Phelps' control -- he will have to rely on his three teammates to close the deal. That's especially true in the 400 free relay, where Phelps is not individually dominant as a 100 freestyler and where the U.S. should get a fight from the French.

Frenchman Alain Bernard has posted the fastest 100-meter free time in the world this year (47.5 seconds), and France has four of the top 18 swimmers worldwide in that event this year. The U.S. has four of the top eight (including Phelps at No. 5, based on a prelim time he swam in Omaha to assure his spot on the relay).

If the Americans have four swimmers who can turn in sub-48-second splits, they should win. If one (or more) of them turns in a bad swim, it could derail Phelps' quest.

MONDAY'S END RESULT: Michael Phelps almost saw his run end, but Jason Lezak came back in the final leg of the 4x100 relay to help the U.S. men edge France to win gold in world-record time (3:08.24) in one of the most memorable relay races in Olympic history. Phelps' gold count: 2-for-2.

Event No. 3: 200 freestyle
When is the final: Tuesday morning Beijing time, Monday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Seventh-toughest.

Phelps should dominate this event. He's got 1.75 seconds on his closest competition in 2008 times. The X factor could be Dutch Olympic veteran Pieter van den Hoogenband, a former world-record holder in this event who won gold in Sydney in 2000 and finished second ahead of Phelps in Athens in '04. He has pulled some big upsets in his time, including beating superstar Aussie Ian Thorpe in his home country eight years ago. But van de Hoogenband is now 30, and his '08 best is nearly three seconds behind Phelps.

TUESDAY'S END RESULT: Phelps easily won his third gold of the Games for his ninth career gold medal, tying for the most career Olympics gold medals. In one of his strongest events, Phelps also broke his own world record (1:42.96). Phelps' gold count: 3-for-3.

Event No. 4: 200 butterfly
When is the final: Wednesday morning Beijing time, Tuesday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Easiest of the bunch.

This is Phelps' baby. He has held the world record for nearly 7½ years and has posted the five fastest times in the history of the event. A mistimed finish in the U.S. trials is probably the only thing that separated him from lowering his own record -- he missed by .11 seconds.

The only other swimmer in the all-time top nine times in the 200 fly is American teammate Gil Stovall, who finished 1.66 seconds behind Phelps at the trials. Stovall is an Olympic rookie who will be racing for silver, as will everyone else in the final.

WEDNESDAY'S END RESULT: It wasn't even close, folks. In his strongest discipline, Phelps controlled the race from the beginning to win the 200-meter butterfly, breaking his own world record in the process and becoming the most decorated gold medalist (10) in Olympic history. Phelps' gold count: 4-for-4.

Event No. 5: 4x200 free relay
When is the final: Wednesday morning Beijing time, Tuesday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Fifth-toughest.

Again, Phelps will need his teammates to come through for him -- but they should be up to the challenge. Australia is the traditional rival in this event, having won gold in 2000 and being touched out by the Americans by .13 in '04.

The United States' top four relay members in this event all rank among the top six in the world this year, while the Aussies have nobody higher than 12th. The Americans smoked Australia by nearly 7 seconds in this event at the 2007 world championships.

This will be a tough night for Phelps individually, swimming two finals.

WEDNESDAY'S END RESULT: Phelps chose to swim the first leg of the relay, and he immediately set the tone. Phelps built an almost insurmountable lead, and by the time Peter Vanderkaay swam the anchor leg, the Americans held a five-body-length lead. It was Phelps' fifth world record and fifth gold in his fifth race. Phelps' gold count: 5-for-5.

Event No. 6: 200 individual medley
When is the final: Friday morning Beijing time, Thursday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Second-toughest.

This will be Phelps-Lochte II, and it could be closer than Phelps-Lochte I. In fact, some believe if Lochte pulls the upset in the 400 IM, he'll win this one, too.

Phelps nipped his rival by 0.42 seconds in Omaha, when Lochte was coming off a thrilling 200 backstroke final less than 30 minutes earlier. This time, Lochte has only a backstroke semifinal earlier in the night, and he won't have to empty the tank to reach the final in that. So he should be more rested than he was at the trials. Cseh could have an outside shot in this event, as well.

But Phelps always has a way -- a will -- to reach the wall first. The better the competition, the stronger his response. "I like to see him challenged because that really brings out his best," Bowman said.

Event No. 7: 100 butterfly
When is the final: Saturday morning Beijing time, Friday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Fourth-toughest.

This is the only individual event in which Phelps doesn't own the world record. That belongs to countryman Ian Crocker -- and Crocker can lock in completely on this event while Phelps is swimming himself silly for a week to get to this point. Advantage: Crocker.

But Phelps is the superior competitor and the stronger swimmer mentally. Crocker's concentration and confidence can waver, as was evident when he got the American medley relay disqualified at the '07 world championships (costing Phelps eight golds there) and then false-started his way out of the 100 freestyle preliminaries at the trials.

Phelps has had Crocker's number recently in head-to-head swims, and his three 100 fly times in Omaha all were faster than anything Crocker has posted in '08. The only other competitor to watch here is France's Fred Bousquet, who swam at Auburn and has the third-fastest time in the world this year.

If Phelps' streak is still intact at this point, the mental strain will be reaching its peak. Expect him to handle it.

"If they gave black belts for handling pressure, he's about a sixth-degree black belt," U.S. men's coach Eddie Reese said.

Event No. 8: 4x100 medley relay
When is the final: Sunday morning Beijing time, Saturday night in the U.S.
How hard is it: Sixth-toughest.

This is the final event of the meet, which will heighten the drama. But, by this point, it could be a coronation more than a competition. Yes, Phelps will need strong swims from his teammates to seal the deal, but his supporting cast is completely capable.

World-record holder Aaron Peirsol will swim the leadoff backstroke leg, with '04 relay gold medalist Brendan Hansen likely to follow in breaststroke. If the race isn't over at that point, expect Phelps to put it out of reach in the butterfly and set up a leisurely freestyle leg for whoever finishes it off. (If Phelps is beaten by Crocker in the 100 fly, Phelps might swim the prelim and Crocker the final -- but both would get gold medals.)

America has never lost an Olympic 400 medley relay. (Australia won in 1980 when the U.S. boycotted.) Don't expect that to change now -- especially if Phelps has the great eight within his grasp.

Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com.

NDP Extracts- The Singapore Spirit

2008-08-10T22:03:00.006+08:00

Defining a Nation and its People- by Jermyn Chow
Article provided courtesy of The Straits Times

The world admired the way the Americans picked themselves up after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. The tragedy pulled them together like nothing since World War II.

On display was the American spirit at its finest: the construction worker and firefighter who pitched in to clear the rubble at Ground Zero; the student and Wall Street type who wrapped themselves in the American flag, lined the streets and let out loud, jubilant cheers of “Thank you!” as each fire truck and rescue vehicle passed them by.

On show, too, was the American attitude – the can-do, in-your-face gumption.

Ditto the Britons when the London Tube was hit by a series of coordinated bomb blasts in July 2005.

Singaporeans, too, when put to the test, have shown the Singapore Spirit.

In 2003, when the nation – and its stricken economy – rallied to battle the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong described a “national spirit” he said he had never seen before.
“Our country bonded with stout hearts, tenacity and determination. Sars did not break Singapore,” Mr Goh said in his National Day Rally speech.

That never-say-die attitude was also noted when everyone pulled together as a nation to weather the economic downturn in the late 1990s, the recession in the 1980s and the double-digit inflation in the 1970s.

More recently, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has drawn on that spirit in describing how the nation reached out to the victims of the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.

“It’s a spirit which will hold us together as one united people, each one doing his part, each one contributing to remaking our nation and building our home and, together, we will make it a vibrant, global city called home,” he said in his National Day Rally speech the following year.

That spirit is more than just the sum of Singaporean characteristics – the tendency to queue, the Singlish, or the penchant to complain “when the bus doesn’t come, when the taxis don’t come, about rising prices, and everything else”, as observed by 45-year-old taxi driver Vikram Pilai.

It is also more than the fixation on being No. 1 – first, best, state-of-the-art. What the Singapore Spirit captures is the nation’s resilience, its can-do attitude, and the will to build a nation where there was none.

It alludes to the ways in which the nation has tried to excel, and what drives it. And it is these characteristics that likely inspired the theme for the nation’s 43rd National Day Parade on Aug 9 – Celebrating the Singapore Spirit.

From show of military might to high-tech festivities
- by Tessa Wong

As torrential rain poured on Aug 9, 1968, then social affairs minister Othman Wok was leading a People’s Defence Force contingent on a route march from the Padang to Farrer Road.

It was the first National Day Parade (NDP) to get rained on. But the sun shone through later, and the starch from his uniform dissolved and hardened to form uncomfortable crusts on his skin.

Now 83, Mr Othman recalled: “I could hear the boys saying ‘So suay!’, but we pressed on. We had to march properly.” Suay is Hokkien for “unlucky”.

But stoic determination was to be a hallmark of the parade and the new nation.

Just like Singapore, much has changed in the NDP’s 43-year history. It has become more high-tech and sophisticated, but parade veterans agreed that, at its heart, it has not changed.

Mr Karim Namazie, 66, who did the parade’s TV commentary in English from 1968 to 1976, said: “It has become better; there’s been more money and thought put into it, but the spirit of celebration has always been the same.”

In the early days, military displays took precedence, as the NDP aimed to inspire confidence in the newly independent nation. The mood became more festive in the 1970s.

Mass dances and floats were key, with many incorporating images synonymous with Singapore’s work ethic, such as bees, cogs and hammers.

Filmmaker Tan Pin Pin, 38, has seen the parade evolve. In 2006, she studied all 40 years of parade footage to create a video installation for the National Museum of Singapore’s history exhibit. “It may seem didactic, but it reflected what was important to Singapore then and now,” she said.

Between 1975 and 1984, the parade was decentralised every other year to take the celebration out to the heartland.

In 1976, it moved to the National Stadium, creating a more collective experience. It was more interactive by
the mid 1980s, with flashcards and torchlights handed out to spectators.

By the 1990s and the 2000s, celebration had clearly become a priority, with the focus on high-tech entertainment put together by theatrically trained parade directors and awesome military spectacles.

It has become Mardi Gras-like, said interviewees.

The shift in mood reflects a maturing of the nation, said National University of Singapore geography professor Lily Kong.

Newly independent countries tend to have military displays to assert their might; those which have enjoyed sovereignty for a while have more relaxed, enjoyable affairs, she noted. “It’s more about us having fun now. We’re letting our hair down and showing we’re a confident nation coming of age."

1966: “I was very proud that I was able to participate, and able to restore confidence to the people of Singapore that we were prepared for any eventuality,” recalled former minister for social affairs Othman Wok (above), now 83, on his marching with the People’s Defence Force as an officer cadet in Singapore’s first National Day Parade in 1966. Mr Othman went on to lead the contingent in 1968, 1970 and 1973.

1974: “Floats back then were kitschy, yet heartfelt in the presentation of their messages. I am not sure if this earnest presentation will be bought by our youth these days,” reflected filmmaker Tan Pin Pin, on this float in the 1974 parade which depicted a man being punished for being lazy. She said it captured the way the parade heavily promoted the spirit of diligence and nation-building in its early years.

1997: Parade spectators whip out banner scarves from their goodie bags a part of an audience mass display. The parade began to have more audience participation by the mid-1980s, which fostered a greater sense of inclusiveness and unity. Items such as flashcards, torchlights, colour coordinated clothes, umbrellas and oversized foam hands have been used throughout the years for such displays.

Parliament of the Future- Built on the best Brains

2008-08-04T21:16:00.002+08:00

Just had dinner. As usual, parents were lamenting about the rising inflation, unemployment etc. Well, you know. But somehow, today's interest seemed to be referred to our sovergein wealth funds, namely GIC and Temasek Holdings.

This was where, ironically, a "spark" that got me thinking. National Day. I saw a bunch of teens doing the cheerleading thingy and singing the "One People, One Nation thingy..." Our future is supposed to lie in the hands of the best and brightest of our generations. (PS if things a going a little haywire, just recollecting my thoughts) I then recalled the rationale of the government raise in salaries for our politicians- to attract the best and brightest into our leadership (government) and keep them there. The increase for the top ministers is at a whopping 25 percent (on average).

Here's the common man's lament, "They get a pay raise, we private employees get 3 percent raise annually only. Then there's the GST hike, inflation. I still have to raise 2 kids, pay off my car, my house..."

That got me wondering, generally, we expect that the best of our generation to be from schools like RJC and HCI. Afterall, they're supposed to lead us being people who are the best. That's where my questions come into play---

These students come from what we commoners acknowledge as elitist schools, not to mention a much higher proportion of the rich (silver spoon kids). Afterall in Singapore- more money= more enrichment lessons= better teachers= better grades= enhanced chance to top schools (some things may not be bought, but money can increase the chances of getting it) They are in a highly competitive society of their schools, where academia (we all agree this unknowingly) matters the most. However, do they really stay in touch with the grassroots, do they really know the hardships of the common man? Note that they will be highly paid compared to the common man, naturally for being the country's leaders

"My dad slogs his butts off everyday just to earn 3.5K plus a month, and even so its' not enough, my mum works to ensure a comfortable life for our family. So, think about it, how hard is it to maintain a family today"

Ask the more well to do elitists, how many of them can appreciate the efforts of the middle class, not even to mention the lower class. I have no need to emphasize- we are facing a widening income gap, and who are the worst victims of this- the poor, the middle class. If this people are to lead us, I sincerely do hope that they have the experiences of the middle and lower class. CIPs and SLs towards the disadvantaged are not enough (my opinion- its all a FARCE). Afterall, why is our MM Lee so successful in leading Singapore of the past- he suffered the effects of riots, of a country in turmoil, and he had a vision, he was inspired to take care of all Singaporeans genuinely (I do believe that our ministers are working for a good cause too- Mr Khaw on SARS, Mr Lim as minister of PM's office etc) All I hope is that our privilleged generation can serve with as much thoughtfulness and respect for their people.

The other burning question? Sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek Holdings. Did you know that these 2 companies rank among the top 6 of the world's greatest SWF's (got that from Wiki) GIC with 330 billion and TH with 159.2 billion. Tasked to help ensure the economic "safety" of our country, they have been actively and successfully built up a wealth for our nation. However, several high profile acquisitions have caught my eye, especially TH

The acquisition of Thailand's Shin Corp stakes- 49 percent was highly contreversial. SC was a leading telecommunications company in Thailand. The Thais saw it as a breach to their national security since TH now had 90 percent of the voting rights in this company (according to Wiki). Not to beat about the bush- this sure makes economic sense, afterall, it is seen as an investment oppurtunity. But is it socially desirable to incur the wrath of our Thai friends, morally, it may seem to them as an infringement to their sovergeinty. I'm not too sure myself.

Several other examples, Wiki quote
"stakes in telecommunication companies such as Telekom Malaysia. It has also taken up stakes in foreign financial institutions such as PT Bank Danamon in Indonesia and NIB Bank in Pakistan. Temasek-linked companies (TLCs) also hold an extensive global portfolio, such as SingTel's ownership of Australian telco Optus, and Singapore Airlines' 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic"

With respect ot our future leaders in our generation, I hope that in managing our nation, they can be tactful, learn from such situations, and genuinely serve our people with care and concern

Words from an ordinary boy...

(This post was not meant to insult anyone. Apologies to any infringement or problems caused. Just let me know)

What makes a Man? (or Woman)

2008-08-03T22:22:00.003+08:00

Went out to mug at WLB with ljx. Finally managed to throw math out of the window. Woots. But thats besides the point. After leaving the library, I was waiting for my dad at Yishun MRT.

I saw this old man, but what's so special about this old man. He was wearing a earring, on his left ear, dressed in a mini skirt, and heels 3 inches high. Well, you get what I mean. Then, out of the blue, a group of adolescents walked past and shouted "Ah Kuah" (Sissy) at him.

My dad was late, and that 15mins gave me crucial time to think about the incident. The key point that struck me 1st was really, what makes a man,afterall, why would a man want to change his sex?

Is it genetic? Perhaps his body simply produces a heightened amount of oestrogen. Or could it be environment, maybe his parents were she-males? Though that's highly unlikely too. Afterall, while considered open to Asians, we are still a conservative society in Western eyes. Or perhaps, a failed marriage. If that was true, I find it really sad for a man to turn in his manhood in light of a failed relationship. Finally, and I sincerely hope not, a passion, a "crime" of passion? He simply admires the opposite sex so much he wishes to be part of it. Afterall, he was sashaying in the MRT station's main area for quite some time.

A second thing that struck me- the group of teens that walked past and called him a sissy. True, they were boys, but what they did, to publicly humilate a person, does that qualify themselves as men? As machoinstic. Does society consider men who behave in a barbaric way as men? I guess not.

Well, what makes a man? Your call

2008-08-01T22:19:00.002+08:00

LIVE AND LET LIVE

That's my quote for today. I see 2 factions in the class. And I truly think that sometimes we can be oversensitive. Its' like I go out with one group then someone says dark side. I'm like, oh, the KFC??? I certainly hope that's the way. The more i see it, the more it seems like its all a complex web of misunderstandings. Like what ben says, "I think you people worry too much"

Now I say, "You guys think too much"

Just LIVE AND LET LIVE

Terrorism Part 2

2008-08-01T21:47:00.003+08:00

Today would be on the contexts of Terrorism

Rather than look at the different types of definitions, it may be better to look at how Terrorism morphs over the different fields of Human Order

Conflict- We are looking at it in terms of conventional conflicts. Areas like commando units, when unleashed, the methods they use sometimes look a lot like terrorism. An example is Major John Anderson, a "commando" of the Federal Army in the American Civil War, he didnt wear a uniform, nor did he fight by the accepted norm. In guerrilla wars, they may use terrorist tactics to scare their opponents into submission. There are also examples like the bombing of Stalingrad by Hitler/ Goering's Luftwaffe and the bombing of Dresden by RAF and USAF of that time. You should thus realise that the definition of terrorism also changes with the nature of conflict.

Political power- Labelling opponents as "terrorists" can have profound impacts and results. Citizens seem willing to accept "abuses" of government power when a conter-terrorist programmes is ongoing. Hence, terrorists dont enjoy the same humanitarian priveleges as people

Repression- Some governments routinely use repression to keep domestic populations in line. This is where it can exist in political strutures as leaders use secret police forces to maintain power- Joseph Stalin, Hitler, Saddam etc.

Religion- In recent years, religion has played a more significant role in the process of terrorism. Religious terrorism can center round 3 main sources. 1st- Some groups may feel the need to purify the world to herald a new epoch. 2nd- Some may feel they are chosen and so destroy others in the name of righteousness. Finally, other people may become so consumed in their cause that they create a surrogate religion and take violent action to advance their beliefs

OTHERS: Technological Terrorism- This can come as weapons of mass destructions. Cyberterrorism- This can come as computer attacks, viruses or destruction of an information structure. Narcoterrorism- Drug organisations frquently use terrorist tactics and some terrorist organisations use drugs to finance their operations

Note that context is everchanging...

2008-07-31T21:17:00.003+08:00

WoW. The world is full of both sensitivities and insensitivity (though its not exactly the right word to use) Was exploring the net, you know, doddling around. Saw FITNA, that provocative videos.... And realised that society really is based on just sensitivity... Be it political etc.....

But what struck me is SOCIAL sensitivity.

0807 is one very good example. My friend, from some other class, once commented, "Yours is a divided class" And this really got me thinking. In the face of exams, the class seems to be dividing. Somehow, its all really sensitivity, not to go into the nitty gritty, I think some in our class are insensitive, some over-sensitive, and perhaps sometimes a concidince of situations has led to certain bad feelings that tend to accumulate overtime.

I always try to take the stand of the middle-man, stay a bridge if possible. But what struck me is a highly defensive stance taken by different cliques, well, we all have our own reasons. I think i know our classmates well enough to comment- then again, it could just be an illusion, not knowing enough? Its all respectable for each party, but somehow, I also feel helpless. We're, to quote my previous entry, "losing our sense of social order"?

This class has POTENTIAL, to see it disintegrate is sad, but I really dont know what to do, to bridge, seems hard, somehow, I'm already seeing the more vocal "activists" arising.... Weird???

Or just random thoughts? Man, this is hard

Terrorism Part 1

2008-07-31T20:43:00.002+08:00

Have been reading about Terrorism recently, thought I should share a little about it, so here goes...

Terror is an alarming emotion, to provoke it is to invite alarm. When it is used as a tool of social change, it invites to us a form social alarm, a disturbance to the basic sense of social order. It is rare, few of us will experience it directly, it is rare, but yet important because whenever it happens, it is a momentous social event. It impacts on the direct victims but more importantly, is all of us who lose a sense of confidence and security in social order. We are victimized, by the horrific act of seemingly senseless violence against innocent strangers for political ends. It makes us wonder if society, is somehow falling apart???

An opinion of terrorism:

- Terrorism is a tactical phenomenon that fluctuates according to geographical and cultural variables, it cannot be defined. It is intangible.
- Terrorism is sometimes a tool of revolutionaries and nationalists, but is actually most frequently used by governments to maintain state power
- It can be used as a tactic in guerrilla campaigns, but most guerillas are not terrorists
- Ideological terrorism is not exclusive to the revolutionary left
- Some form of criminalities cannot and should not be distinguished from terrorism
- Some forms of terrorism cannot and should not be distinguished from warfare
- Terrorism is not neccessarily a revolution, neither is it the other way round
- The theory and rhetoric of revolution are even further removed from terrorism than revolutionary acts
- Terrorism is difficult to study objectively since it involves some deep political emotions
- Specific terrorists can be defeated with logical policies and tactics, but incidents will still continue, for it cannot be ever eliminated completely
- Just about everybody is willing to support some form of terrorism, to understand it, we must know that it comes in a variety of ways

Stay tuned for the sequel... Lol

2008-07-31T00:41:00.002+08:00

I'm speechless for this

Man, I love this

2008-07-29T21:03:00.002+08:00

Had a pretty long Math remedial today. SERIOUSLY, Mr Quek is really making a very good impression on us. Taught us vectors today, super clear, and for a 3rd time running, we actually enjoyed a long math lesson 2.5hours lol. By 6, we're all a little stoned, until all the DUMB mistakes were showing

Ben said 9 divided 4 is.................

3 over 2. LOL

Bryan said root 10 over 3 equals

root 30. even more IMBAL

MATH- lols. Dark Ages

Randomness....

2008-07-20T19:07:00.004+08:00

Haven't blogged for ages.... Feeling blue in this few weeks. A's are approaching fast... Starting to feel the heat. Maybe that's why I've been more aggressive these few days. Sorry to those I've affected.

Oh well, did a Math mock test on Friday. Studied so hard for it only to get the solutions at the end of the paper. -.= Anyway, I'm starting to make it a habit to go to the library to mug on weekends. Lols, and jun xiang has been there for the past 1.5 years. Imba.

Was looking at some pictures in my folder. Thought these were quite funny

Down with Bugs- Baygon lol

This is my personal fav- INGENIOUS

LOL- IRONY

2008-06-08T21:21:00.002+08:00

胡歌 - 告诉他，我爱她
作词：林文炫作曲：胡彦斌

为我送朵花给她
不要玫瑰的廉价
她只喜欢河边开的花
那像我第一次见到她
为我写封信给她
问她今天快乐吗
这里的雨一直下
我每天只能想着她
为我陪她数星星
暗示那像我的心
永远为她一闪一闪亮晶晶
如果她愿意
我想给她这颗心
告诉她我爱她
那是我不敢讲的话
我想我永远照顾她
告诉她我爱她
那是我来不及说的话
只有我最关心她
明白她
为我送朵花给她
不要玫瑰的廉价
她只喜欢河边开的花
那像我第一次见到她
为我写封信给她
问她今天快乐吗
这里的雨一直下
我每天只能想着她
为我陪她数星星
暗示那像我的心
永远为她一闪一闪亮晶晶
如果她愿意
我想给她这颗心
告诉她我爱她
那是我不敢讲的话
我想我永远照顾她
告诉她我爱她
那是我来不及说的话
只有我最关心她
告诉她我爱她
那是我不敢讲的话
我想我永远照顾她
告诉她我爱她
那是我来不及说的话
只有我最关心她
明白她

2008-06-08T02:02:00.001+08:00

2008-05-25T20:17:00.004+08:00

Went for 15km skating in the morning- National Runway Cycling and Skating 2008 today. Did mine in about 1hour. But awww....blister tore

Then, got the inspiration to cook, and made this. Supposed to be Mediterranean mashed potato. But went to change some ingredients. The base potato is generally the same, just boil and mash with butter. But the seasonings' kind of tricky. You need black, red pepper. And olive oil together with olive. Added spring onion to give a extra taste to the mashed potato...

Video On Trial: Madonna f. Justin Timberlake - 4 Minutes

2008-05-21T19:49:00.001+08:00

Lol. Hahaha This is a hilarious trial of 4 minutes

David Archuleta - Top 3- Rendition of With You by Chris Brown

2008-05-21T18:44:00.001+08:00

Thought this was one of his best songs

Gekidou

2008-05-19T03:19:00.001+08:00

Thought this was a pretty good video made

Alice Nine - Ruri no ame

2008-05-14T20:00:00.001+08:00

Sis introduced this song. Thought it was not bad, though the lead singer seems a little "gay" Lol

Pangea Day: The First 20 Minutes

2008-05-12T19:50:00.001+08:00

I thought this was an interesting documentary to share...

Don't Give Up, You Are Loved

2008-05-08T19:37:00.001+08:00

For NAPFA...though its kinda corny. Lol

2008-05-08T19:32:00.002+08:00

Woot!!! Silver's in the bag!!!

NAPFA Results

2.4km 11.58 minutes (Fastest lap: 89 seconds)
Situps 44
Broad Jump 244cm
Sit and Reach 44cm
Shuttle Run 10.7seconds
Pull-ups 8

Next stop- GOLD!!!
Well, nice run people, whether 0807, especially TTM and LYY, that was a very brave run. Though ben was quite suay, Lao Kok teacher denied him 6 situps. And a fantastic effort by Kp, you'll get it next time round. JY: continue working hard. Well, that's all folks today.... Enjoy the music...

2008-05-07T17:46:00.002+08:00

Argh....Think I'm gonna fail my Chemistry. This is crap, studied over 2 days already. Question 1- No problem. Question 2- Reversed order of the right hand diagram and forgot about the left hand -COO bond. Question 3- Total crap. ZZZ.....Really don't know what's my problem. Maybe its the studying techniques...Ideas people???

2008-04-14T01:43:00.002+08:00

Never in my life of watch soccer have I been more insulted. Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1. WTF!!! And that's thanks to the referee. People say Anfield is a hotbed with 12 players (woot!!!) but this game... this DARN game. Man U had 13 players- the referee

Arsenal 1 Man U 0: Adebayor scores with a header

Arsenal 1 Man U 1: Man U awarded penalty for "handball" Erm...but the replay showed NO Gallas' contact and he was shunning away from the incoming ball. Well, that really pissed me off-ed

Arsenal 1 Man U 2: Hargreaves takes a penalty for apparently no foul??? Ehh...what happened? well, soccernet offers no explaination either. Howard Webb (ref)- FA should check him out

Whatever the case... Arsenal played better and should have won. Darn united. Lucky (perhaps planned luck?) donkeys

Vivian Hsu featuring Gary Cao - I Still Believe(MV)

2008-04-08T23:17:00.001+08:00

蔡淳佳 Joi Chua / Cai Chun Jia 《陪我看日出》 -TW Version-

2008-04-08T22:55:00.001+08:00

2008-04-08T22:32:00.002+08:00

Watched the 3rd last episode of Season 1. Things are really heating up. Lol... really envy Sylar, his skills makes him literally hero of heroes. To permanently absorb skills of the other heroes. And I must admit, Mohinder and Bennet- the father, are the real heroes, bringing out the best of the heroes. Watch out for the final battle between Sylar and the rest...

2008-04-07T18:57:00.002+08:00

Watched it yesterday. Pretty interesting. "L" strikes me the most. The way he behaves- especially with candy, eating it like no tomorrow. And notice... he uses only 2 fingers with whatever he does. I'd say 4/5 stars. And watch out for the "shimugami" or whatever you call it.

Lenny Kravitz- I'll Be Waiting

2008-04-07T17:12:00.001+08:00

The Shock Doctrine by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein

2008-04-03T18:53:00.001+08:00

This is a pretty good application of shock to the world. Lol

April 26, 1986: Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl PART 1 OF 3

2008-04-03T18:30:00.001+08:00

April 26, 1986: Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl PART 2 OF 3

2008-04-03T18:28:00.001+08:00

April 26, 1986: Nuclear disaster at Chernobyl PART 3 OF 3

2008-04-03T18:27:00.001+08:00

DOOMSDAY 2012: End of Days - Part 1 of 2

2008-03-27T20:28:00.001+08:00

Watch it. Quite interesting in terms of the doomsday scenario

DOOMSDAY 2012: End of Days - Part 2 of 2

2008-03-27T20:11:00.001+08:00

2008-03-23T19:07:00.001+08:00

Finished the Gundam seed series... Once again, the plot is a marvel. Amazing isn't it... to have war, love, betrayal and humanity in a anime. You need to watch it to understand it... LOL.

2008-03-17T21:25:00.003+08:00

Woot!!! Finished D Grayman episode 74. And long at last, the clown decided to show up. People, we should really watch this. The art is good and the plot is interesting... And I've decided to re-watch Gundam Seed. Still marvel at the plot...

2008-03-10T01:48:00.002+08:00

People- go to the IT fair if you can. What an experience!!! With tons of people thronging through, went there with the KP gang. Got the stuff I wanted at least... and saw a number of scams. Likea 1 dollar mouse, only the Chinese are capable of. Anyway, saw Creative selling the sound reduction earphones I'm using, -.= Its' now 49 bucks. Bought for 79 couple of months back. Next time I'm going back for more... it's exhilarating. PS. a lot of models there.

So long... BB camp tomorrow

One Republic - Stop And Stare

2008-02-18T22:47:00.001+08:00

WE LIVE IN SINGAPURA the MTV version

2008-02-16T19:55:00.001+08:00

Saw this in school. Thought it was uber cool

Jimmy gets high by Daniel Powter

2008-02-11T22:58:00.001+08:00

千里之外改版欠我十块

2008-02-08T23:53:00.001+08:00

Spoof verion of "Qian Li Zhi Wai" Quite funny

Chipmunks: Apologize by OneRepublic feat. Timbaland

2008-02-04T22:39:00.001+08:00

Lame rendition, but kinda cute as well. oh yes, the movie's good

BABOONS IN ERITREA

2008-02-04T20:26:00.001+08:00

Just some random video. Lolx

Gorillaz- Feel Good Inc. LIVE

2008-01-26T22:23:00.001+08:00

Interesting tune. Thought its Emo

Justin Timerlake - Rock Your Body

2008-01-23T18:22:00.001+08:00

Unigue rendition of Rock your Body

Stained Glass Masquerade By Casting Crowns

2008-01-23T18:01:00.001+08:00

Thought this was interesting...

The Golden Path (Episode Review)

2008-01-22T19:24:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was the last episode of The Golden Path ("Huang Jin Lu"). It is indeed one of the best shows I saw in years. But pity the ending was anti-climax. I was expecting a showdown... But Jin Long committed suicide, surprising he didnt shoot his brother. If your sister and gf is killed, even I would shoot the killer. And Kaijie (killer) was murdered by a robber. However, as he died, a picture of Lin Fei flew out. I think she's the one who sent the killer. What do you think?

Top actors- Nanxing, Tay Ping Hui and Felicia Chin (legend in years...lolx)

Hokkien LOTR

2008-01-21T19:42:00.001+08:00

This is LEGEND...funny

Fast and Furious Hokkien Drift

2008-01-21T19:41:00.001+08:00

This is intersting as well

2008-01-19T18:21:00.000+08:00

Yo, went on long distance cycling with jun yong. From his house to Pierce for the Prata, then took the Thomson Ring. We clocked at least 25km. Should ask more people to come along. Anyway we sad herds of monkeys and a large monitor lizard along the way back. Thought it was a croc in the canal as it was pretty big and had be lying there like some log. Wonder when the next trip would be???

Collide ~ Howie Day

2008-01-13T10:18:00.001+08:00

Dear Mr. President - Pink

2008-01-10T20:41:00.001+08:00

This is a beautiful song... Enjoy!!!

2008-01-06T23:27:00.001+08:00

Apologize- Timbaland ft. One Republic

2007-12-26T01:18:00.000+08:00

Found this Post by Pope Benedict. I admit this is a filler. Lolx

On Christmas, Pope Urges End to Wars

Tuesday December 25, 2007 5:01 PM

By NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press Writer

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI issued a Christmas Day appeal Tuesday to political leaders around the globe to find the ``wisdom and courage'' to end bloody conflicts in Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo.

Benedict delivered his traditional ``Urbi et Orbi'' speech - Latin for ``to the city and to the world'' - from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, blessing thousands of people gathered in the square below under a brilliant winter sun.

Wearing gold-embroidered vestments and a bejeweled bishops' hat, or miter, Benedict urged the crowd to rejoice over the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth, which he said he hoped would bring consolation to all people ``who live in the darkness of poverty, injustice and war.''

He mentioned in particular those living in the ``tortured regions'' of Darfur, Somalia, northern Congo, the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Balkans.

``May the child Jesus bring relief to those who are suffering and may he bestow upon political leaders the wisdom and courage to seek and find humane, just and lasting solutions,'' he said.

Beyond those conflicts, Benedict said he was turning his thoughts this Christmas to victims of other injustices, citing women, children and the elderly, as well as refugees and victims of environmental disasters and religious and ethnic tensions.

He said he hoped Christmas would bring consolation to ``those who are still denied their legitimate aspirations for a more secure existence, for health, education, stable employment, for fuller participation in civil and political responsibilities, free from oppression and protected from conditions that offend human dignity.''

Such injustices and discrimination are destroying the internal fabric of many countries and souring international relations, he said.

In a nod to his engagement with environmental concerns, the pontiff also noted that the number of migrants and displaced people was increasing around the globe because of ``frequent natural disasters, often caused by environmental upheavals.''

The pontiff delivered his message just hours after celebrating Midnight Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

Benedict followed his speech with his traditional Christmas Day greetings - this year delivered in 63 different languages, including Mongolian, Finnish, Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, Burmese, and in a new entry for 2007, Guarani, a South American Indian language.

As he finished, the bells of St. Peter's tolled and the Vatican's brightly outfitted Swiss Guards stood at attention as a band played and a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands waved national flags and cheered.

So long...

2007-12-14T21:47:00.000+08:00

Attachment ended. A little sad. Oh well, here's a short photo log. Shan't load all, each one is about 1 to 2 MB. Pretty big, anyway, just enjoy, I'm actually looking forward to going back there to work again, maybe after J2??? Its' quite an enriching experience

Adeline and I

JiaYi

Group shot

Amanda and I

Ivan acting as if he's in prison

3 gals acting cute in toilet

Anyway, this job, while interesting and fun, along with the lucarative pay, can be dangerous as well. 2 accidents in 1 month. One is a fire. The yesterday, a scientist was injured after a chemical explosion. Cuts on the upper body and deep gashes on his neck. He was hospitalised, apparently, friends downstairs said that blood was splattered all over the sink. The chemical was a anti-fungal solution. Dangerous eh? But hell, it is being able to handle cutting edge technology and experiments that mesmerises me the most.

So long...

Falco - Out Of The Dark

2007-12-02T12:05:00.001+08:00

This song is pretty good. But, it seems a little emo

2007-11-24T22:57:00.000+08:00

Wow...this 2 days have been really tiring. Went to run the Biopolis compound during lunch break yesterday, took about 20minutes, I suspect its probably about 2.5km long. Then after work, went straight for a tennis game with my family, almost 3 hours long. Practiced lots of servicing, anyway, I must say, its' FUN

Then today, played soccer with the usual gang at SSC. Brought back the theme of crazy soccer, you don't care, you don't look, just smash the ball =P

Looking forward to the next tennis game... =)

2007-11-24T01:14:00.000+08:00

Got inspired by Ben, so anyway, I've finished a book as well, in the lab =P

Its' Velocity by Dean Koonitz.

Let me ask you a question, what to you is ART? But keep that in mind first, we're just gonna go through the plot of the story...

One day, you recieve a note, it says...

If you DO NOT take this note to the police, I WILL kill a lovely blonde schoolteacher somewhere in your neighbourhood

If you DO take this note to the police, I will INSTEAD kill an elderly woman

You have 6 hours to decide...

You think is a prank, but the next day, a schoolteacher goes missing... And then, you get another note...

If you still DO NOT involve the police, I'll kill an unmarried man who won't be much missed by the world

If you DO involve the police, I'll kill a young mother of 2.

The choice is yours, you have 5 hours....

The next day your best friend goes missing. In this case, the story revolves round a sadist and a innocent man, let me re-enact one of the scenes in the story.

" ...I'll kill a pretty redhead. If you say WASTE THE BITCH, I'll kill her quickly. Otherwise, she will suffer much torture. You have 1 minute to say WASTE THE BITCH... "

Finally, let's take a look at a extract of the climax.

" ...Each jar was lighted by fiber optics filaments under it, so the contents glowed against the backdrop of the black silk holding it. Each of these small glass worlds contained a memory of murder. In a preservative fluid held a face and hands.

Every face was ghostly, each like a pale mantis, perpetually swimming, the features of one hardly distinguishable from the other

'Aren't they beautiful?', Valis' voice echoed through the speakers.

The artist did not deform his work with the gaudy or grotesque, no eyeballs or internal organs, just faces and hands, strangely ethereal. Although perverse, here's an asthetic mind at work. A work by the master artist, yet a sadist as well... "

So basically, the serial killer sees the whole killings with a goal in mind, aiming to form an exsquisite piece of work, but with the media being human. Very much a good read...

IBN

2007-11-22T20:44:00.000+08:00

Alright folks, let's talk a little of where, what.... of my work in this holidays, basically, just lab research at the Institue of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Work at Level 9, beside the Director's Suite =P

....But that also mean only short trips to the pantry. So what am I researching on?

Well its' bound by IP rights of the company, but suppose I can just talk about the basics.

Title- Investigation on identification of proteins that exist on fibres on ECM of cells but, in this case, implanted on fibre scaffolds.

Methods of Identification- IR Spectroscopy, Protein release, Immunohistochemistry and manual sectioning of cells. I suppose they can be easily Googled

Anyway, let's have a look at the people in there

My thoughts-
I went there, they are all high flyers in their schools, so I'm went there and I'm like, "Ok, I'm the noob" Suppose there's an atmosphere that suggests tha as well?
Erm, yeah, they are all trying to emulate their mentors as well.

Well, the researchers are...

Benjamin Tai- My mentor. Specialises in fibre scaffolding.
Sau Yin - An A*Star graduate from Imperial College =0 Wish she'd smile more
Xiao San - Another graduate
Shona - One of the more senior officers, but her certificate tells it all, 8km in 37 minutes, silver medal =0
Andrew - He's rated as one of IBN's leading researchers. One of the imba ones =0

Then the attaches....

Amanda - Lab mate, under same mentor
Ivan - RJ boy, gel thingy on rat skin cells
Wen Yan - HCI. Very soft-spoken?
Jia Yi - NJ, working on some stem cell stuff
Darren - NJ, some gel thingy application on breast cancer cells
Adeline - Also stem cells, but on rat heart cells, I must say she looks like Vera
Irvin - Sec 2 RI, damn gay with Rubix cube. Solved my mess in 40 seconds
Douglas - Another Imba rubix freak
Swatika - boy from ACS, quite inquisitive actually.

Yeah...that's about the people in our lab.
PS. I'm doing rat liver. =P

well, I'm tired, time to catch some sleep

2007-11-19T23:21:00.001+08:00

-.= Some bugger stole my phone. Only 9 month into the plan and I have to get a new one -.=

Anyway, saw this on Jason's blog, and decided to check it out

***What Your Handwriting Says About You***

You are a fairly energetic person. You know how do pace yourself, and you deal well with stress.

You are very extroverted and outgoing. You are loving, friendly, and supportive. However, you are also manipulative and controlling at times.

You are balanced and grounded. You know how to get along well with others.

You need a bit of space in your life, but you're not a recluse. You expect people to give you a small amount of privacy, and you respect their privacy as well.

You are conservative, old fashioned, and a little stubborn. You are resistant to change.

You are a good communicator. You work hard to get your ideas across effectively.

What Does Your Handwriting Say About You?
http://www.blogthings.com/whatdoesyourhandwritingsayaboutyouquiz/

2007-11-17T23:50:00.000+08:00

Been tagged by benedict. Well, here it goes

1. Do the following WITHOUT complaint
2. Choose 5 people to do this after you completed yours.
3. Leave a tag on the person's tagboard to say he/she have been tagged.
4. Start your post with; I have been tagged!

FAVOURITES

Favourite Colour: Hmmm.....well I guess...lavender?

Favourite Food: Fish & Co.s Sambal Tilapia =P

Favourite Movie: Simple!!! Lord of the Rings!!! I kinda like gimli the dwarf...

Favourite Sport: Rollerblading, awww....sorry people, its' not soccer

Favourite Day: Friday I suppose. Not really anyway in particular

Favourite Season: Summer -.= That's the only one in Singapore

Favourite Ice-cream: I enjoy Ben & Jerry's New York (But just a small bowl =D)

CURRENTS

Current Mood: Tired. I think, after all that lab work.

Current Clothes: T-shirts and jeans

Current Desktop: Aston Martin DB5 (Check it out!!!)

Current Time: 11.56pm

Current Surroundings: Bedroom

Current Annoyance: Nope. None =)

FIRST

First Best Friend: Teck Meng (A primary schoolmate)

First Crush: silence....

First Movie: Broken Arrow. One of the great Hollywood oldies by now.

First Lie: I agree Benedict, we should eliminate this question.

First Music: Barney (same benedict!!! )

LASTS

Last drink: Bacardi Breezer- I just indulge once in awhile

Last Car Ride: 4hours ago?

Last Crush: lets keep this personal =/. (I like this answer Benedict)

Last Phone Call: Bertram

Last CD played: Timbaland- Shock Value

HAVE YOU EVER

Have you ever dated one of your good friends: Nope

Have you ever broken the law: I always jaywalk =/

Have you ever been arrested: Lame question -.=

Have you ever been on TV: Hmmmm.....no

Have you ever kissed someone you dont know: No. I'm still young

Random 5 things you are good at:

(1) Chinese Chess- Well Ben, be more careful next time
(2) Rollerblading - No complacency
(3) TV???
(4) Speeches???
(5) I'm just gonna give 4. Too bad.

4 things you've done today: Download music. Took a blood test for dengue. Played wc3( SWAT). Looked up the UK top singles chart. Found a good singer- Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love

Things you can hear right now: TV. And Timbaland ft. One Republic's Apologise. (Thanks to amanda for introducing the song)

5 people i want to tag:

Ashley
Benjamin Tan
Ewen
Joel
(I'm just gonna tag 4 instead)

2007-11-17T21:14:00.000+08:00

Hmmmm.......haven't been active. Came back from a bout of dengue. Have been hospitalised.

Anyway, now working at IBN. Quite taxing I guess. My role is to investigate the role of proteins in fiber scaffolding and identifying the best for cell viability as well as using antibiodies to detect the antigens in the fiber scaffolds of the human cell. Anyway, my mentor says, if I'm fast enough, would get to implant and do a small study on the effects of human-processed fiber in a rat's liver.

Not supposed to speak to much about it though =P. Some IP thingy. Anyway, would upload some photos soon

2007-10-30T18:05:00.000+08:00

Woot!!!

Its' over. Finished off OP and MTL.

Well, thought I did okay for OP. Sidd -.=, said this
" I swear the disc came without the CD sleeve"

Nice try -.=

Anyway, its' the end of MTL for me. Hope it truly is =p
Well, animania!!!

2007-10-22T23:47:00.000+08:00

Went out with Bert and Siang Ee to rackee the night version for night cycling. Very lucky we did that. Otherwise would have been a great screwup.

The traffic of the day is completely different with that of the night. Suddenly, out popped the unexpected hot-spots. Then there's the problem of safety. Really had to go back down to scratch. Don't know how are we going to get the officers needed for safety, maybe I should take 2 days MC from attatchment?
On the spot re-routing and planning @ East Coast

The horror of the red-light district. Night-cycling??? A great nono.

2007-10-22T01:38:00.000+08:00

Today was a very tiring day. PW OP meeting from 10 to 1. Not exactly very productive, so so only.

But the KILLER was SL meeting. Lasted 3 hours. Only me, Jun Yong, Kathy and A.Lai. Apparently Lala was sleeping like half the meeting -.= . Anyway, when I went home to work out the proposal, it expanded nearly 3 times to 8.5 pages. Insane. Anyway, it taxed me of 4 hours just to think through and work it.

Now, I'm doing my MTL Composition. Tomorrow night still going to rackee out night cycling Route B (30km). Lolx. Sleep is now a scarcity.

Goodnight.

2007-10-20T20:08:00.000+08:00

Went out with Bert and Siang Ee today. We're planning a night cycling trip and went to rackee the whole place. Trip spans 50km in total, guess it would be pretty tiring.

Anyway, saw the A380. Its' beautiful, there was a Boeing Tiger Airways plane beside, it was half the height and two-thirds the length. Just an idea of how magnificient it is...

2007-10-19T21:08:00.000+08:00

Yes!!! Got promoted, Mr Chin. called me. Somehow, I'm elated, was living in fear of being a retainee. I guess its a advanced promotion. Congratulations to Kathy as well, principal wants to see us as well. Guess I'm going to be asked to drop Biology, kinda enjoy it, but the problem is a lack of time to devote to it.

Gotta work out on my studies this holidays. Or I'm gonna fail my A's

Anyway, did PW Oral Presentation today. Suen Xin was sick today, had to cover her part, so I spoke for about 9 minutes. Well, unknowingly, while doing her part, I started to stammer a little and fiddle with my tie- not that I noticed. Actually, if one looks carefully, my left leg was trembling while smoking out her part. Looked at Shaam and Ben, they recognised the symptoms of "smoking" the speech immediately, but did it convincingly I suppose.

Today's judhes were Shaam, A.Lai, Yiyao and Jia En. Their questions were like LEGEND hard. Shaam was the lenient one. But LEGEND, Jia En was the sharpest in judging, the questions really caught people off-guard, such as a question to Jon

" What makes you think bus companies would endorse your idea, what's the mileage?"

A question to Azri

" You talked about Norman Bolaug, about how his inventions help provide food security, but you DID NOT touch on the food scarcity problems worldwide? How is that so or possible? "

LEGEND. Well, the judges gave all the groups the jitters. Hope to improve on my part....

2007-10-19T02:50:00.000+08:00

Alright, I'm hopeful now. Passed Bio and Physics after moderation. But sianz, only need 1 more to pass Chemistry. Well, hope that can promote..... =)

Mugging for I &R. Got a name for it, Idiotic and Ridiculous. Sacrifacing sleep for it, hmmm.... looks like MK Fairuz etc. are still working on it. Anyway, no one likes it much either. But hey, I'm now preparing for OP, quite enthu about speech. Lolx

2007-10-16T22:41:00.001+08:00

I'm going down. Passed H1 subjects. But a triple S for my H2s? I'm angry not that I answered wrongly, but I studied so hard to miss out on the pass by a whisker. Dang

God help me

Class Outing

2007-10-11T00:33:00.000+08:00

I swear I'm redder than you. I'm a human lobster

Exams are over. Been struggling with PW. Anyway, had CDP today, our activities were extremely fun. After the sandcastle building workshop. Went rollerblading with Azri, A.Lai, Hui Long, Fairuz, Terk Ming, Shaam, Jon.Leo, Yijia and Ben. The scenery was.......awesome, here's some of the pictures taken. These includes that of the arcade and steamboat, not in any order.
Ok, these are who went for the steamboat. 7 people tanked 4 piles of meat. Quite a lot actually.
Top- Jon - Huilong - Terk Ming - Me
Bottom- Ben- A.Lai - Yijia

That's a heck lot of prawns from the steamboat, and that's just me =p

Here's the start of his long battle. Note how fast his fingers move. No wonder he's so good with ShadowFiend (DOTA)

Time Crisis 3. Well, you are running out of time indeed.

Thats' Hui Long and A.Lai, playing some kiddie game, supposed to push the opponent I think.

Still playing??? Goodness. He really makes his buck worth it

Here are some skating pictures. Not exactly in order.

Took this picture while blading down the renovated area of East Coast. Nice?

Just another random picture

This I think was a picture of Jon and Yijia.

Exams

2007-09-26T19:30:00.001+08:00

Haven't been blogging. Been trying to mug. Well, good luck everybody. Final lap. Just trying to pass promos -.= Seeya soon. and mugg

Thriller

2007-09-04T08:55:00.001+08:00

This is amusing

Polish Army

2007-08-27T17:18:00.001+08:00

A*Star yea...

2007-08-23T20:43:00.000+08:00

Went for A*Star research, will be attatched to IBN from 14th Nov to 14th Dec. Introduced be to my mentor scientist Ben Tai. Some tall, lanky nerdy guy who specialises on fibrous scaffolding and liver regeneration. So basically, that's what I'll probably doing. He brought me to his lab and I snapped some pictures...

This is their special room for conducting experiments in a more sterilized environment. Went in for 15mins and I got aheadache. Then he told me that it has a positive pressure to force air out.

This means that the room pressure is higher than my body pressure. And I went "wtf"

The tank you see behind is a UV tank, you need a UV hood to protect you from the radiation. It has a level 2 security clearance anf filter. More advanced machine to remove pathogens. Lol.

No wonder he and his compatriot looked so pale all the time...

Aha, this is the cold room, as the name suggests, it's their deep-freeze. The machine you see is actually a liquid nitrogen tank. He opened it up, the liquid nitrogen just boiled- literally. Cool eh?

Well, this is what they call a argon tank, made of purely argon where scientists conduct experiments, in the argon tank. The 2 potruding things are gloves for you to insert your hands into.

I'm Too Sexy - Severus Snape

2007-08-23T20:09:00.001+08:00

Another Crazy Video. Hilarious

2007-08-14T21:18:00.001+08:00

Look at how boring PW is...

Hey, Ben, the solutions you asked for. Hope you can see it. Had to use a camera to photo it =p

2007-08-11T12:17:00.000+08:00

Hahaha... This jun xiang is LEGEND. Had the cheek to play 1v1 with me, still said I was noob, then got pawned by me 10times, not killing me even once. Then he hid in his base, didn't even come out to fight. I just want to laugh...

The 42nd Celebrations

2007-08-10T00:14:00.000+08:00

Parents brought me to NDP today, well, the Apaches were stunning. Nothing much to talk about actually, so, just look at the pictures. Lol

Alone

2007-08-09T00:53:00.001+08:00

Then, after the AJ race, couple of us went to catch a movie. Benjamin, Jonathan, Terk Ming, YiYao, Wenson, Jia En, JiJia, Angela and I. Was expecting more. Anyway, we watched this movie- Alone. Some Thai horror flick.

In any case, many were screaming... There were also quite a few funny moments. Watching each other hiding under their palms and yelling, some of the audience were actually wondering which actor resembled who....

Here's Terk Ming and Benjamin

Ben- Don't tell me its' coming again.... (Shivers)
TM - Yea, look she's at the bed
Ben- Fella's gonna scare her from the right
TM- Perhaps...
Ben- or the left...
TM- -.=
Ben- Maybe the top...
TM- I want to watch...

GHOST APPEARS!!!

Ben- Arrrrgh... So SUDDEN

Next scene of the movie

A.Lai- (Pulls the sweater up to cover her face)
Me- (Looks to the right) Why are you looking at me? U're here for the movie rite?
A.Lai- I'm scared (Horror music plays)
Me- Ehh... actually I'm also afraid (Covers eyes)
A.Lai- Look leh
Me- Then why aren't you looking???
A.Lai- Scared.... (Climax)
Me- (Both look together)

GHOST APPEARS AGAIN!!!

Audience- Yells. (We shouted as well)
Ben- What's wrong with you 2?
Me- You didn't see...
Ben- Not really....

The both of us laughed

Final Scene

YiYao- (Screaming himself hoarse already)

GHOST BRUTALLY APPARATES

YiYao- (Yells)
Wenson to A.Lai- He just punched me

We all laughed again