I was rather pissed off yesterday after I came back from school...

It was raining on and off yesterday so I decided to go to the library to do some work first. Met with my classmates so I sat down with them. Then 'Anonymous (A)' asked me why I came, so I said it was raining outside. I started doing my work... 'A' couldn't solve a question, so he (I should say rather reluctantly) asked me how to solve it. When I did solve it, he (supposedly jokingly) said he HATED me. Why? Because I could solve the damn Physics question.

Then he couldn't do another Physics question. So he asked me again. I solved it after some time when I understood what was going on in the question, but I couldn't really explain it to him. (All this while, I had this feeling that he was reluctant to ask me.) Then Yi Cheng (my roommate) came, saw the question and figured out the solution in 10-20 seconds. Bit by bit (through asking questions), 'A' more or less understood. Fine. Then he said he wanted to KILL me and Yi Cheng and some other crap about why you all so clever and stuff. WHAT THE HELL? What's his problem?! You know what? If you hate me so much DON'T ASK ME!

When I decided to leave, my friends, knowing I cycled to school, asked me to take care. He said something under his breath and when I asked him "what", he just said "nothing". And he's like giggling and smilling while he says these things. Don't you know you'll hurt other people's feelings? And it's not like I'm the cleverest person in the world... why don't you go kill all those people you can't beat? I mean, grow up lah!

Oh well... just felt like venting my anger properly. And then again I'm being so kind not to use vulgarities and maintain his anonimity... Sad to say, it's not the first time I come upon people saying this ('you scholar mah, so clever!' etc.)...I know some people are just joking, but some people really go too far.

I want to thank those real friends of mine that I have made in Singapore for making my stay in Singapore much more pleasurable. You are my source of happiness and emotional support...

Too busy to write blogs now, but I'll try to squeeze in a post or two once in a while.

Mrs Tan felt obliged to treat our class after we gave celebrated her birthday and gave her a card, a cake and a present. So, on Monday she treated us to the topless-5 offer at Swenson's at Marine Parade. Yay! My THIRD time eating it... haha... By right I should have tried every flavour, but this time our orders were random (too many people...individual orders would be too tedious and time-consuming)...

My revision is finally on track... Started my research and article-analysis for GP yesterday, and I'm learning vocabulary again... Doing many prelim papers from TJ and other JC's as well as Ten-Year-Series questions... Finally making progress!!!! At this rate, I believe the minimum grades of 1A and 3B's that I've set is achievable. Of course, I'll would love to get 4A's, but we have to be realistic, right? And it is quite obvious that Prelim Papers are harder (or much harder) than the actual 'A'-levels.

I've been bothered about something recently... Should I work in Singapore after the 'A'-levels? I definitely can earn more, provided I get a nice, cheap place to stay. I think I'll just have to wait after the MOE briefing next week to decide...

Received 2 letters recently... One is asking me to attend a concert held at Zouk...

The other one is from the government agency called FIREfly, inviting me to attend their scholarships talk on 28 Aug (Sat) somewhere at the Biopolis/ MOE region at Buona Vista. From what I've read, there will be many representatives from different countries to answer our queries on studying overseas etc. I'll be going... I've sent a reply to them (they requested it) yesterday and they have already replied. They're inviting my parents as well... but I'm not very sure if they can make it...

But concerning the scholarship that they offer, I think I won't stand a chance. Firstly, the scholarship is a rather prestigious one (evident from the fact that only those people who take 2 'S'-papers have been invited), so their standards are quite high. This agency also have some links with A*Star, who I remember required people who score 1400 and above in SAT to qualify for their scholarships. Secondly, it is very likely that they require foreigners to take up Singapore citizenship after their studies are completed and work under governmental agencies thereafter. I won't deny that it's attractive. One of the things I like about this scholarship is that they encourage you to take up a foreign language in your course of study. Of course, the best part is that they pay for almost everything...haha...

There's this hype I feel around me... people are starting to think about which universities to apply to, what scholarship to apply etc. I think I feel this way because Anbu has been taking his SAT, TOEFL, and going to take (or already took) his SAT IIs. The school also organised a talk for Year 2's recently concerning Interview Skills...

Another hype is people are CRAZY about studying these days... I saw Eric and Anbu trying out a mechanics question from NJC's F Maths Prelim Paper and I heard Joey saying that Question 5 from out recent Physics Diagnostic Test was from an RJC Physics Prelim Paper. And people are staying back in school until 7-something to get on with their revision/homework. And people are memorising words from the old thick 1100-Words book. Argh!!!!! Stress!!!!! (Actually, not really very stressed lah, I've just completed Paper 1 of 2003's Maths Paper. It's so much easier compared to our school exams!!!! Going to Paper 2 now...)

That's all for now... work hard!!!! (going to gym now...)

I've finally found enough time to write about the events that have happened these few days... but I seriously won't be writing as frequent any more...

OK.. about the night cycling event. I seriously didn't know where we were going until I met with Yong Jing. He said we were going to Kranji! Kranji as in up-North-near to Woodlands-near to Malaysia Kranji! And we were going to visit the Kranji War Memorial Cemetery (in the dead of the wee hours of the morning)...

I'll just briefly state where I passed by along the way: East Coast Park, Kallang, Esplanade (first long break here), Orchard, Newton Circus, Hwa Chong JC / Chinese High, Bukit Timah (second long break at a petrol station), Ministry of Defence Building, and finally Kranji War Memorial Cemetery. We had to climb pass the gates to get in. It was not spooky actually...

The trip back was more torturous. All but one secondary school boy took cabs back at Kranji. The rest of us passed by Woodlands, Yishun (by now, the AHS PE teacher and the last AHS boy went back by taxi as well), Ang Mo Kio and Defu Industrial Estate. Somewhere near here Yong Jing asked us to just follow Jalan Eunos and turn left when we see the MRT line. He said he had to go to ECP...

Anyway, I was soooooo delighted to reach the hostel!!!!! It was 5.30a.m. already...... I nearly slept through the whole Saturday...

********************
Sunday:
Went out at 4-something p.m. with Yi Cheng, Yi Jian, Ching Mien, Wai Kit, Kok Vui, Mun Yin and Shing Yeong to Tampines' Swenson Restaurant. They were having a S$1.39 (excluding taves) for 5-scoops of ice cream promotion (to celebrate S'pore's 39-birthday). We were all quite shocked when the Earl Grey tea that Yi Jian ordered came in the form of a Lipton Earl Grey tea bag and a cup of hot water. We all thought they would brew some themselves! I guess I'll be going to Swenson's again soon... hehe...

Went swimming afterwards with Yi Jian, Yi Cheng, Wai Kit and Ching Mien. Big mistake! The Tampines Swimming Pool was so crowded (and toilets are horrible!). I think we'll always go to the Bedok one next time... Anyway, we are still trying to help Ching Mien swim... he's rather afraid of drowning so he's never left the sides of the pool by more than 15 feet.

********************
Monday:
Woke up around 6.00a.m. because we were going to Bedok Reservoir for the running event organised by All Saint's Church (which is located within Anglican High School). Wai Kit and I were running for fun. Ching Mien, Fuda and 2 NS guys were taking part in the 4 x2.15km relay competition, representing the English Congregation. Our hostel was represaented by Kok Vui, Visayon, Anbu and Chen Hoay (their group was called "Just For Fun")... Well, as expected, they won. They got S$50 Metro vouchers and a gold medal each.

********************
Tuesday:
Went to eat lunch at Sumo House with Yi Cheng and Ching Mien(he didn't quite like his lunch) and went to watch "The Village" by M. Night Shyamalan at 'Princess' Cinema at Bedok. The movie was OK... I think it was definitely worth the S$5.00 ticket (it won't be worth if it cost S$5.50)...

********************
I wanted to write about this for a long long time. First let me attribute this to those who have been there, done that (names in brackets)... Your experiences are well appreciated...

1. When you eat at Haagen Dazs, please eat ice cream and not espresso because it would "taste like shit" ! (Ching Mien, Chen Hoay and Ke Yeng)

2. When you eat at Swenson's, order desserts and main-course meals and not Earl Grey tea because they are out to cheat you of your money! (Yi Jian)

3. When you eat at Sumo House, order traditional Japanese cuisine and not some never-heard before Japanese Curry Udon because it would "taste like curry powder thrown into water"! (Ching Mien)

"Eat what food that best represents the particular restaurant when you dine there so you won't be disappointed!!! "

---Another wise saying by YoungPang

Time flies... the 5-day break is over! *sob*
I thought I could get some rest over these few days but it seems that I'm more tired now... I guess it was because I took part in many activities...

********************
Friday:
National day celebrations in the morning up till 10.00a.m. There was a group of Japanese and Taiwanese exchange students joining us. I brought my digital camera but I guess I didn't take many photos (or I forgot?). I will try to put up the photos ASAP. Anyway, the performances were not bad but the best part was that there was mass dance! Woohoo! Haven't danced in ages...

Had to rush to a 2-hours and a 1/2 Chemistry Practical after that... It may seem long but there just wasn't enough time to finish the 3 experiments and 2 planning questions!

Went to Bedok KFC for lunch. By this time, some unfortunate events have already took place, especially on Wai Kit... Went to Orchard after that. Bought tickets for the Russian Foreign Movie Vozvrashchenie (The Return) and then walked around a bit at The Heeren, Takashimaya (Kinokuniya!)...

The movie was... I don't know how to put it. It sucked I supposed (to me... most critics find it good!) but it was also intriguing ('cheem')... No wonder it was meant for mature audiences (mature not because it has obscene content but because of the need to decipher and interpret events etc.)

Came back to the hostel rather late. (Around 9pm?) Couldn't play badminton as the hall was used. I was trying to persuade Ching Mien to go with us (me, Yi Jian, Rohit) for the night cycling organised by Yong3 Jing4 (Mr. Yao). I made a very, very last minute decision in the end to go because I wanted to experience it.

I shan't write about the cycling trip now because it would be very tiring (it took up a full 4 pages of my diary!)

I just read some of my previous posts and I've realised I haven't written in Malay for a long long time... so, here I go again... (nothing really important)

Beberapa hari dahulu saya sedang beli barang kat pusat beli-belah NTUC di Fengshan. Seorang lelaki berdiri di hadapan saya di kaunter dan dia ingin beli sebungkus rokok. Sejak kira-kira sebulan dahulu, kerajaan Singapura telah mengarahkan supaya semua bungkusan rokok ada gambar-gambar yang mengerikan, contohnya gigi yang berdarah dll. Gambar-gambar ini bertujuan untuk menakutkan para perokok supaya menghentikan aktiviti merokok yang menjejaskan kesihatan badan. Alangkah baiknya kalau semua orang tak merokok. Tapi sayangnya, masih terdapat ramai orang (seperti lelaki itu) yang tak peduli... Ay...

SILVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I FINALLY got a Silver for my physical fitness test! Yeah!

Actually, I'm a bit disappointed because I could've gotten a Gold if my 2.4-km run timing was 20 seconds faster... But I guess it's OK, considering the fact that I started out my pull-up training 2 months ago wanting only to pass the test (i.e. Get a Bronze)... Many of my friends got Gold... I can retake the test on 17 August though, but I don't really think I want to... let's just see how it goes...

Argh, there are 6 tests in this week! (including the physical fitness test) I just got the schedule for the preliminary examinations... hope I can plan my revision properly from today onwards...

I couldn't finish reading the book, so I shall only mention one of the flaws in the arguments of the authors of Cracking the Da Vinci Code.

Well, firstly, I have no intention to offend any believer of the Christian Faith......*peace*.......

Dan Brown mentioned in his book through the character Robert Langdon that people (esp. the Church) had tried to 'immortalise' Jesus who he claims was human and was 'voted' by the Council of Nicaea to become god-like. So, naturally the authors tries to refute this. These are a few arguments that I've remembered:

• That Jesus must be the Messiah, because he could've saved his own life by saying that he was not the Messiah, but didn't.
• That his disciples could save their own lives if the could just acknowledge that they were telling lies and that Jesus is not the Messiah, but didn't.
• The authors said that any sane person would not be so committed and faithful to the teachings of Jesus if what he said was not the Truth.

Please don't get offended... OK, the authors are assuming that Jesus and his disciples are all sane and that they were 100% sure that Jesus was immortal and god-like just because they never saved their own lives by saying no. There have been many secret sects around the world, and many of these people also truly believe in the teachings of their sects to the extent that they would willingly die for the sect (this happened before in the US and Africa). And most astonishingly is that some of these people are professionals and should be so-called sane. But they're not quite sane in the eyes of many, right? People many follow the wrong path and be blinded because of their overwhelming belief in something. The fact that the disciples didn't try to save their own lives can only indicate their faithfulness and infatuation with what they believe, nothing else.

Personally I'm very open with religions. If there's anything you would like to discuss with me, please go ahead (Yi Jian, especially...I expect a lot of comments from you). I'm just trying out at arguing my points (hope I'm not doing to badly).

******************************

OK, back to everyday life. I went to Paya Lebar to study on Friday with the usual study group. The food is soooooo expensive there!

Anyway, I've bought a new bag (Deuter--'Spider' model)as my old bag if rather unfit to use. Also bought a proper water bottle (new Nalgene model) because everyone is saying that reusing plastic watter bottles is unhealthy etc. The bag cost be S$51.20 (I can see the bewildered faces of my parents now) and the water bottle S$12.50. Actually, it's not such a bad investment because the Deuter bag has lifelong guarantee and has many useful compartments. It also provides more support and reduce strain for my shoulders and my back.

Napfa test coming up. In fact, some are having their tests today. Mine's tomorrow. I hope to get at least a Silver grade (By the way I failed last year). At least I can do more pull-ups now... I'm more worried of the Standing Broad Jump actually...

I've asked Anbu to teach me how to play tennis. I think I should try to do a variety of sports and exercises. I should go and swim more often (Must FORCE Ching Mien to go or else he will still be afraid of the deep pool!).