=*=*=*=American Idol Finals!!!=*=*=*=

Malay: Aduh! Lagu pertama yang dinyanyikan oleh Fantasia Barrino itu teruk sangat. Entah kenapa dia hanya menyanyi kadang-kala... maksud saya, dia tidak nyanyi melodi utama. Teruk! Saya hampir pasti dia akan kalah. Diana DeGarmo lebih persis--dua lagu pertamanya sungguh memuaskan dan lagu terakhirnya baik juga. Akan tetapi, Fantasia juga bukanlah sederhana aje. Lagu keduanya 'Summertime' (Waktu Musim Panas) pernah dinyanyikannya dahulu tetapi masih dapat menarik hati penonton.

Lagu terakhirnya juga lagu pertama Diana, tapi dia menyanyikan lagu itu dengan cara tersendirinya. Diana juga menyanyi lagu itu dengan baik, tetapi saya lebih gemar versi Fantasia kerana suaranya tidak senyaring Diana (Pada pendapat saya, Diana itu seperti menjerit-jerit semasa menyanyi nota musik yang tinggi). Jadi, saya masih akan sokong Fantasia!

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English: Oh! The first song by Fantasia Barrino was soooo terrible. I wonder why she only sings once in a while...what i mean is, she doesn't sing the main melody. Terrible! I was nearly sure she would lose. Diana DeGarmo was more consistent--her first 2 songs were impressive and her last song not bad either. However, Fantasia is not just a commoner. her second song 'Summertime' was sung by her before but she could still captivate the audience.

Her last song was also the first song by Diana, but she sang it in her own special way. Diana also sang the same song well, but I still prefer the Fantasia version because her sound is not as piercing as Diana (In my opinion, Diana was sort of like shouting through the high musical notes). So, I will still support Fantasia!

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OK, other stuff...
The TJC sports carnival started off yesterday and will end today. At first I didn't get any games that I chose to take part in, so I decided to just slack around. Well, in the end I actually joined my CG (civics group) in the 'Ultimate Frisbee' competition. Yesterday was the Intra-house competitions. My CG beated 3 CGs to enter the finals. We met CG18/03 in the finals--they reached the finals by playing only one game while the other 2 games were won because they "walked-over" (no CG came to compete with them). Anyway, after scoring 1-1 the rain became too heavy and the game stopped there. Both our CG's were declared winners of the Intra-house competition.

We didn't have much luck today however. It was the Inter-house Competition and we were against Alpha, Gamma and Delta houses in 3 matches. Other group comprised of both CG 02/03 and CG 18/03. We lost 2-0 to Gamma, tied 1-1 with Alpha, and lost 4-0 to (the strong, fast and coordinated) Delta. Anyway, Delta won 1st, Gamma 2nd, Alpha and Beta tied at 3rd. Oh well, at least we got some free towels (Can bring it to the gym next time!)!

Went to Golden Mile complex at Lavender to buy bus tickets back home yesterday. I actually couldn't find a bus that went to Batu Pahat at first. After searching around for some time, I found 'Maju'. My bus ticket was (relatively) cheaper than Yi Cheng's, Wai Kit's or Ching Mien's, but it is still the most expensive bus ticket I have bought to travel back to Batu Pahat (S$13/=!!!!). I think I might use the 'MRT-Bus 170-Larkin-KKKL bus' route again next time. It's more time-consuming though...

Performed with the choir for the last time during College Day... *sob* ... I have more free time now but I feel like my life is becoming boring...

Anyway, that was last Saturday. Last Saturday we also had a Hostel Barbecue. It was quite messy at first... hmm... we let the secondary school hostel committee members plan the games and stuff (ice-breakers etc. because there were a few new members). Me and Zhu Han were in charge of setting up the barbecue pits and starting the fire. In the end I still helped Li Yue in the game she was in charge of (the blanket game... same as the one we always play for choir orientation)... it was a terrible mess because the blanket was sort of 'see-through' and comprised of 3 blankets loosely stitched together at the sides. Furthermore, she didn't set out the rules properly and we didn't know how to determine who was the winner!

Oh well, at least the food was OK... except that NO ONE prepared any butter or honey (got some from the hostel matron afterwards). The Canteen lady prepared tasty Mee Siam, Curry and Salad for us. Cleaned up around 10pm so couldn't follow Yi Cheng and Yi Jian down to Simpang Bedok for supper. Anyway, I asked them to help me buy something which they dutifully did... My first "Blackcurrent-flavoured Hooch with 4.7% alcohol"! Don't worry, it was rather harmless...just wanted to try it out. In fact, it was much less bitter than normal beer.

There was talk of watching a movie on Sunday. But in the end nobody went because they all said they had no money. Well, I just 're-discovered' that I had put aside some money for a 'rainy-day'... won't reveal the sum here, put it sure can make me pull through June... So I went to watch a movie on Monday with Eric Goh. No one else I asked was interested or they were not free. I watched 'Troy'... nice movie with the touch of history to it... any things quite expected actually because I've read some things concerning greek mythology and history... long movie (2h 45min), so it was rather worth my money...

Not sure if I'll be watching another movie in Singapore (it's still very expensive!)... I hope to go back to Malaysia and watch at least a movie with my friends back there (whom I haven't met for some time 5 months or even more than a year)... Harry Potter or The Day After Tomorrow maybe...

These 2 days have been tiring...

I went to the gym after school on Thursday with Ching Mien. I hope this can become more routine. Mr. Alex Fun said that skinny people can build up muscle (or at least keep fit) by going to the gym 3 times a week. After that, we decided to go run the 2.4 L-route. We saw Yi Jian so we invited him to join us. In the end we ran the >5 km Titans route.

OK. Then the next day there was PE. Ran 3 rounds gate-to-gate route. My timing was terrible! (>14 min.) Afterwards did some push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups (chin-ups).

=*=*=*=American Idol Final 3=*=*=*=
Yay!!! Yes!!! oh yes!!! Jasmine Trias is OUT!!!! Yes!!! She should have left LONG ago...she actually sang out of tune for her last song before she left...I was like *yucks!*... Anyway, shouldn't say too many bad things about her because my singing is not too good as well... I hope Fantasia will win!!

Masih ada 1 minggu lagi sebelum cuti sekolah bermula, dan saya sudah menanti-nantikan ketibaannya. Tapi cuti ini bukanlah cuti untuk berehat...saya akan cuba buat ulangkaji yang secukupnya untuk ujian bulan Jun yang akan datang.

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These few days have been rather boring, but nevertheless, busy and replete with activities, tutorials etc. Some of my friends think that is contradicting, but to me it definitely is not. Ever since the choir concert ended last Saturday, I have been feeling bored (of my tutorials, lessons etc) and this is compounded my the fact that the holidays are just around the corner. At least I've realised this tendency of mine... trying to rectify the problem now...

The Year 2 choir members will still be involved in one more performance, which is the college day mini performance.

Had a Physics test this morning... it was quite OK but there was a lot of writing to do. Just managed to complete the paper so I had not enough time to edit some 'wierd' stuff that I wrote. Never got above 30/40 before so hope to get it this time.

Finally, the choir concert is over and we Yr. 2's can finally more or less catch our breath (and complete tutorials in time). It was a good concert...I think it was better than last year's, but some people disagree because this year's performance lacked the entertainment value of last year's...

Anyway, on Concert day, I first went to school in the morning for Chemistry make-up lecture and then I cycled back to the hostel, took a bath a took my choir apparel and took a bus to school. Had lunch. Warm-ups were done in school and we then boarded the bus to ACS Barker. I listened to 'Magnificat' on Cliff's MP3 player along the way. Around this time I already felt a bit giddy...

By the time the rehearsal was about to start, I couldn't stand the pounding in my head any more and Desmond said I felt very hot so I rested while the others sang 'Magnificat'. I rejoined them only around the 4th or 5th movement when I felt a bit better.

Ate dinner around 6.10pm. By about 8pm we were ready to go on stage. The first three songs were Beatles songs (With A Little Help From My Friends, I'll Follow The Sun and Honey Pie). It was not very good, but I supposed the audience enjoyed the 'dance' moves for 'Honey Pie' (it somewhat lacked coordination though). The Year 2's presented 2 songs (Deep River and Bunga Sayang). As usual, I get 'thrown off' for the beginning of Bunga Sayang...ay...just can't get the right note out.

We had 4 Latin American songs (or rather, songs written and composed by Latin Americans). Cantate Domino and Kasar Mie La Gaji (pronounced 'Kasar Mye La Gahi') were the challenging pieces. We did the other do quite well (Duerme Negrito and Te Queiro).

-----Intermission-----

Magnificat-- I think the audience enjoyed this and most of my friends liked this the most among all the pieces we presented. It was fun cooperating with the ensemble too... nice blend of music. Esther and Sin Yi sung well for their solo parts...

After the concert ended, we had some photo-taking but I didn't last long because we had to evacuate the school premises. Got a rose from Li Ling (who stands beside me in choir practice)...hey! My first! haha... not really lah...
Met Jared, Kenny and some other seniors too... took the bus back to school. I walked back to the hostel (exhausted!) with Jian Hao and bought ourselves some drinks (too bad no beer! Guess I'm still allergic to it...) Slept around 1.30 am.

The choir has had a combined practice with the ensemble for Magnificat, and we'll have 3 more combined practices, including today. Last combined practice we listened to a recorded version of Magnificat sung by the composer's own choir. Fabulous!

Went to CCC's performance after choir practice on Friday night. Both Desmond and Esther's acting were fabulous! I loved the second act.
Went out to Tampines at night on Saturday, watched Van Helsing. It was quite OK...

I think I did my first non-assisted pull-up yesterday night, but I struggled. I hope from now on I can train to be able to do at least 5 pull-ups!

Oh, got back F Maths Statistics test results already... got 21.5 out of 30, not too bad actually, considering I only studied for 1 hour the night before?

Mr. Chung wants us to sell all the concert tickets and we'll have to absorb all unsold ones (means we have to pay for the remaining tickets)... *sighz*... very desperate liao... I've only sold 6 out of 10 tickets and I've already subsidised $2 each for 4 people... But it's still quite useless... no one else seems to be interested. How??!! My money in the bank is barely enough and I'm still going for the Chinese Orchestra concert, another choir concert and probably Chamber Ensemble's concert. That adds up to roughly S$30. What if I can't sell the remaining tickets? That'll be S$48. Altogether $2X4 + $48 + $30 +2X$18 (school's miscellaneous fees)= $122... arggh!!! How about food, transport, etc.? Seems like I can only last to end of May...

Leslie told the choir the results of the sound checks. So I've failed... again. Last year I failed twice so I didn't get to perform during the Singapore Youth Festival competition. I can't help but feel disappointed... but at least I've tried... I think I've always gone 'sharp' but Desmond said I went flat in the beginning... So ironic... Just hope they won't kick me out of the concert...

Choir practices have become rather stressful to me these few days... I'm quite worried that I don't sing well enough... Cliffton thinks I'm fine... I don't know... Anyway, some miscommunication occured on Wednesday and the choir didn't get to practice with Chamber Ensemble... (I don't exactly know what happened, but I heard that the Chamber Ensemble conductor came to TJ... he wasn't supposed to, so I heard it was the teacher-in charge's fault)

Had 2 maths tests recently... one was on Statistics (Binomial, Poisson, Geometric Distribution and Continuous Random Variable), and the other one was Maths 'S' paper test on Calculus (Differentiation, Integration and Differential Equations)... Winnie skipped the maths 's' test... naughty...
Anyway, the Statistics one was OK but I got a few things messed up. The Maths 'S' one had 4 questions and we had to answer all in 1 hour. I actually could only think of ways to solve some of the questions in the last 20 minutes... so needless to say, I won't be doing very well. Hope I get at least 15/30...

Labour Day just passed a few days ago. Our hostel matron, Mr. Ng. decided to treat the hostel committee (that's including me) for lunch at the Tampines Safra Club. If I had to pay, it would've been $20++ or $30++ for the buffet lunch but all I had to pay was the taxi fare to the venue. Tried to eat as much as I could... there was sushi, cakes, desserts, fruits, fried stuff, pasta, dim sum, ice cream, satay and soup. Mr. Ng. also ordered 2 large bowls of Chili Crab for us... had quite a full-filling meal...haha... thank goodness I didn't vomit!

Anyway, a lot of movies are out in the cinemas now, but it's rather difficult to find time to watch (and my money's not getting more...). Kill Bill Vol. 2, Van Helsing, Dawn of the Dead etc.... *sighz*... I think I'll have to wait until the choir concert's over first. The Chinese Cultural Club will be having their annual drama performances this Friday and Saturday, and Wai Kit has already forced me to buy a ticket. I suppose I will be going to watch together with Winnie, Cliffton and Jeffrey...