Adidas+ Challenge

Went to the Adidas+ Challenge to support Kamal & Nawas and their team, Blazing Salvo. The atmosphere was very good. Very very loud music and the crowd just, well, made it happen. I went a tad too early and Blazing Salvo was on only at 4.30+? Anyway caught quite a number of matches, all were quite good.

Think that was the first match I watched, not bad. But I think ended in a goal-less draw.

The teams there were damn creative when it came to group names. Of course rather than Blazing Salvo (meaning Blazing Sun), stuff like Nerdy Noobs, NOOB, Who da man, Skillz that Killz, Milkshake and stuff like that.

The guys in white there, are of course, team ACS Independent. Yes, they registered with their school name. How quaint.

More of ACSI
But forgot the outcome of that round.

Kamal's brother with Simon

pre-game nervousness

Ok, that picture, focus on the middle of it. Ok la my cam sux shitzors, but can you see a group of people in the centre, in tattered rags, & one of 'em is carrying a piece of cardboard with the words 'FREE HUG' on one side and 'BEG FOR A HUG' on the other. I el thinko that they're emulating the 'FREE HUG' guy in Australia (which how I got to know of the Sick Puppies). Paradoxical how one side says FREE HUG and the other side asks you to beg for it :/

Steve-o

An Australian team I think. Socceroos, they call themselves.

Goalies wait for the kill

Ok, rather than guys have all the fun, of course girls want part of the competition too. This is the 2nd all-girl team that I caught so far (first was in the U-19) I think the one below is called Arsenal Bishan Girls B or Bishan Arsenal Girls B... either those two.

They didn't win but they did well. When I was browing through the pictures I realized something. The girls were playing against my friend's team (not Blazing Salvo) No wonder that small kid looked vaguely familiar.

Blazing Salvo

Defense; Kamal and Huan Si with Marcus at goal

Bang Hur

It was a draw at the end. They didn't play that well but A for effort. That was their first round, I missed the second round.

Kamal and his brother

The team and I walked around Ngee Ann for abit. So I left at 6 to meet my mum at Dhoby Ghaut. She went to Carrefour to buy some stuff, I just waded around, my feet damn sore. Then I bought "Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny", before eating dinner and going home.

The movie isn't that great. ALOT of vulgarities. Funny, yes but if I were a world-renowned music critic, I'd give it 3 stars, just because of it's humour, music and my years of idolizing Jack Black. Oh yea, it comes with a free Gibson guitar pick, so that'd be 3.5 stars :/

Nostalgia - sort of.

Woke up damn early man. Especially on a public holiday when people usually sleep in till 2pm.

My parents and my bro went to Mustafa yesterday night. I think they went home damn late because my brother, aka the-guy-who-wakes-up-early-no-matter-what-except-for-this-instance, is still asleep and it's nearing 8! OMG~~ AHH~~ aha.

Flipping through my old music library, those not in iTunes, was rather nostalgic. Reminds me of sec 1 days, enjoying the tunes. Especially Jimmy Eat World, remembered my favourite track is (and will ever be I guess) Work. Yep, damn nice song if I do say so myself. I wanna hear the acoustic version! (and I have to wait a few hours for it :p)

Anyway, it's Vesak Day and I don't really know how to wish you guys so here goes;
Happy Vesak Day?

Oh ok
Happy Vesak Day ! :)

the -e,-i and the new -u prefixes

Tired out from today. When I got home, went straight for the bed and just knocked out for around 2 hours.

Let's see, slept at 10+ yesterday night (unearthly hours for sleeping) then at woke up at 2am (proper sleeping time) then slept again until 4am. Then stayed awake till 7am, which I then slept for another half an hour. Prepared myself for physics/amath class. Then after my classes was over, boarded the bus to Whitley Sec. We reached there when it was just about lunchtime. Lunch was okay, free la so it was okay. Ate up fast then went to practice my Third Symphony. Dammit, the piece is just too hard la. Especially when I have no time to practice (15 minutes of practice is obviously not enough for Third Symphony :/) Gonna get scolding from Mr Ng the next time I turn up for practice haha.

Realized my sound is very thin. Maybe because I'm on some cheap Rico Royal reed that came with the instrument, and I'm using it because Gerald just "didn't" have the time to get one for me. OR maybe it's just me. Sounds weird if I have this sound and play the solo from the third movement. 2nd mvmt solo, sigh. Only the first few bars is ok, when reaching those drastic high-to-low passages, just can't do it right now. Then worked on those running passages which just sounded weird with my thin sound.

Okay moving to combined practice. Started with some singing exercise for note pitching. Then moved on to some chorale passage with no bari sax part (such a travesty!) Can bet Mr. Sukit just lifted that one from Sibelius. Then broke off into sectionals for half and hour to work on the piece. After sectionals just went through the chorale for half an hour before we packed up and placed our instruments inside Whitley's band room, how kind. Just went home after that. Bought bubble tea and lepak there for quite long. I bought a disgusting cup, peppermint shit. bleah.

So tomorrow's Vesak day. No need go school, can rest at home. Yay yay yay.

Hmmmm, my Philip Glass torrent can't connect to peers. AHHH, can't listen to Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra!!! Nooo, and his 8 symphonies!!

Third symphony giving me nightmares... weird nightmares to make it worse ...

errand to do

Anyone can run down to HMV and see if they sell The Receiving End of Sirens' 'Between the Heart and the Synapse'? :D :) :D :)

Humouro uno

Had to attend a reception in the morning, so my whole morning was gone :( But I could skip the 3 hours of remedials, which I say would be very fruitful if I went. One and only Bio class and I missed it. Luckily got physics tomorrow, so make up for today's class. Hmmm, tomorrow there's day camp at Whitley. Don't really feel like playing the songs prepared for us, I'd rather practise on Third Symphony and Deux Mouvements.

Anyway, to kill the holiday boredom, here's some funny videos for everyone. Be it band members, classical fanatics or normal people, so don't worry - it's humour.

Victor Borge : Page-turner (that's his son by the way)

The funniest skit I've seen him (Victor Borge) in.
(the guy who uploaded this restricted embedding of the video)


Victor Borge and some guy from Instancowbul


Danny Kaye conducts The New York Philharmonic

... in a funny way (MUST WATCH FOR EVERYONE!)

Re-post of the video. Kinda gets lengthy if you watch it multiple times.
Drummer Assaf Seewi & Beatbox champ Donny Gambles

Torrents so slow ....

When is mainstream exactly mainstream? What is mainstream? AHHHHH

Answer that ^ for me.

Mainstream? Is it categorized by how the music sounds like or how many people likes 'em or WHO likes 'em or what? Radio music?

Just wondered about this topic when I was on my way to Amath class just now.

I've had small talk topics on this before, like which band will lose their 'status virginity'? (of course it's just a figure of speech) It's more of a euphemism for probably - going mainstream? no?

Ok I confess, I used to label mainstream music in SEC 1 (13 only ok) ya ya I was Alif the naive in oh-five. But not now la. But that doesn't mean I shake my butt to the tune of any Pussy Cat Dolls song.

So.. there is a difference between labels and preference.
Because Fall Out Boy sounds like FM Static.
I prefer both :/ Aye, don't go saying "AHAHAHAH dumb [insult] listen to FOB!"
Their new album not bad ok, got screaming one. Like "Saturday".

Ok, so there's also intolerance, to add on to labeling and preference.
Intolerant to PCD
Intolerant to M5
Intolerant to Sanjaya
Intolerant to Hip-hop/R&B etc.

Aye?

So when is a band mainstream? When it's being publicized? The first chord on their song the radio is played they're mainstream? Album advertised on TV?

ANSWER MY BURNING QUESTIONS.

ok la, I'm just bored. Got Amath homework to be handed up tomorrow. & I can't find my exercise books :(

Holidays : In A Nutshell

On a normal Sunday, when it wasn't the holidays, I would be doing the same exact thing every Sunday. Moping around my room, doing nothing, blasting 40 seconds of a song on iTunes and then lay on bed for 2 minutes before doing the whole damn cycle again. I was never bored.

Now, I am doing the same thing. BUT now I AM BORED.
Dagnabbit.

I hate the boredom-inducing holidays.
Well, kinda.

Holidays goes like this :
1.) YAY HOLIDAYS LIAO YAY YAY YAY
2.) ALAMAK REMEDIAL/CCA BUT STILL YAY YAY YAY
3.) ALAMAK DAMN BORING SIA HOLIDAYS :(:(:(:(:(
4.) WAH I'M GETTING USED TO IT LIAO YAY YAY YAY
5.) CRAP SCHOOL IN 2 DAYS TIME
6.) 5 HOURS BEFORE SCHOOL : ALAMAK GOT HOMEWORK

Okay la, something like that. Stereotypical :/

Second day in and I'm bored already

I'm bored already.
No more "new" South Park episodes to watch. Can't download some more until I clear some space on my drives because I'm left with around 4GB to work with. Maybe gonna put my South Parks and various vids on CD. Like that = 30+ GB already.

The thing about torrents is that it can be damn fast (like 4 episodes in 2-3 hours) when conventional downloads (eg Save Link As downloads) have a kinda uniformed download rate. Torrents also can be damn slow, because depends the number of people seeding that torrent. SO it can be a bitch sometimes. Criminal Minds, currently, is estimated to be ready in 39 days. Might as well don't download. Dunno la, just leave it overnight :/

So more on today, went back for SSW after a very very long time though it didn't feel like it. Felt like I went back there every week for the past month. Been a long time since I handled the CC's instrument. The thing about that Selmer is the low notes are quite hard to access as compared to the 2 Yamahas I've tried (YBS-32 and 62E) But the sound from it (Selmer S80) is just superb, better than Yamahas anyday. Yet to try a Yanagisawa though.

Anyway, attendance was bad. Two clarinetists came down but both no instrument. So went through Deux Mouvements first. First time that I saw the score was like more than 4 months ago? Remembered that I messed the piece up. Today was okay though, 2nd movement was abit better than the first time I tried it. Remembered the first time went I played the quavers Mr Ng say my notes were very packed and tight (and not tight as in cool) Then went through, dare I say?, THIRD SYMPHONY! Okay la, most of you guys know this..

Alif (inexperience noob at sax) + the great third sym = catastrophe + disaster + disease + unlawful + many more

Easier equation to remember than " A-P-P + P + energy -----> A-P-P~P "

Then lunch, blablabla, went through third symphony mvt. III. My solo was ok-ok lar, can be better. Even though it is a cadenza got my rhythms mixed up. Then after the third sym revelry, off to Aroldo which I missed the Allegro brillante part and messed up the bassoon cue.

Heh :/

Way Away Days Away Yay Yay

Click to enlarge the uber noob marks.

Yes, the worst has been dealt with. My results suck but I PASSED! YAY! I FAILED MY OVERALL PERCENTAGE YET I PASSED!

I got 71.3% for History yet I still failed my overall (BUT PASSED MY EXAMS :D). My CA1 History marks was not expected, 100%! I think Mr Yeo didn't add in the essay into the CA1 marks. Heh, SBQ test I got 11/11 :) But SA is crap lar, 54% only means what Gary told me was true, sigh.

Nonetheless, I passed my exams and it's time for some holiday action (and I meant that in a PG13 way) But gonna do some revision on my subjects especially Amath, Physics and Bio.

SOUTHPARK!

The real pop sensation

Bored sia. Nothing to do.

Well, it's kinda like the holidays. Keyword is 'kinda'. There's still meet-the-parents session which my parents will bust a nerve looking my overall percentage. I am really hoping for a 70% for my History which I seriously doubt so, even though my CA is like kind of good, my SA (not the Brownshirts) are ... okay I don't know my Hist SEA marks. Gary told me my 'marks' but you can never trust people these days. If I get 70% for Hist 1st Comb, I will jumping in joy (and not get stuck - fat guy joke)

Moving on, my class conduct is kinda like crap , work attitude also like crap. Seems I'm only interested in 1 subject and that's history. So, Singapore has paid homage to the arts by opening with various arts school, homage to sports with the SSS, so I think it's time to pay homage to humanities. I can imagine the enrollment list :p

So I just want get tomorrow over with, get lectures by my dear ol' parents then can 'enjoy'. Yeah remedials and the comeback of the homework monster. Of course, jolly band practices with footdrill, pfft. 9th June, footdrill assessment AKA drum major selections AKA choosing of the guy who's gonna lead us in SYF'08.

My first 2 weeks are packed, but the last 2 weeks are not so bad. I think I'll be coming back once for English?

"Holidays"
28/5 - Add. Math (9.30am - 10.30am)
29/5 - Biology (7.30am - 8.30am); Physics (8.30am - 9.30am); Add. Math (9.30am - 10.30am)
30/5 - Physics (8.30am - 9.30am); Add. Math (9.30am - 10.30am); Day Camp @ Whitley
1/6 - English (10.00am - 11.30am); Day Camp @ Whitley
2/6 - Day Camp @ Whitley (8.00am - 2.00pm)
4/6 - Band Practice (9.00am - 1.00pm)
8/6 - Band Practice (1.00pm - 5.00pm); Rhythm XXI (still thinking about it)
9/6 - Foot Drill Assessment (9.00am - 1.00pm)
16/6 - Some pro guy birthday
19/6 - English (10.00am - 12.00pm)

Majority of it has got something to do with band. Sigh, I wanna go for the Desford Colliery Brass Band concert at NYJC, but it clashes with day camp. Personally, I would rather go for the concert, but no choice lar. But not bad lar this holiday, -9 days leaving around 21 days. -5 for SSW practices, leaving 17 days. Yay!, more than half of the holidays to sleep at 5am and wake up at 2pm!

Re-watching Southparks, sian.

Stuck in the very middle

Today was relatively good. My ENG file was 5/6 complete haha, not bad for an unorganized person like me.

History was the good today. Alot of interesting stuff, because t'was about the Nazis and of course, Hitler. Nearing the end of the lesson, Mr Lloyd Yeo explained about the breaking of churches from the main church and some other stuff that I can't recall. So before the lesson, Mr. Yeo played Johan Strauβ's (or Strauss) Radetzky-March because he wants to emphasize on what was important to the Germans - their army.

And I borrowed the CD of marches from him! Damn cool, he got it from Germany. The Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Herbert Karajan. The CD is called 'Radetzky-Marsch; Preuβische und österreichische Märsche mit Herbert von Karajan'.

The tracks are :

1. Radetzky-Marsch - Johann Strauβ
2. Yorckscher Marsch - Ludwig van Beethoven/Arr. J. Schade
3. Torgauer Marsch
4. Pariser Einzugsmarsch - Johann Heinrich Walch
5. Unter dem Doppeladler - Josef Franz Wagner/Arr. K. Mosheimer
6. Florentiner Marsch - Julius Fučík
7. Königgrätzer Marsch - Johann Gottfried Piefke
8. Wien bleibt Wien - Johann Schrammel/Arr. W. Schmidt-Petersen
9. Petersburger Marsch
10. Hoch- und Deutschmeister Marsch - Dominik Ertl
11. Preuβens Gloria - Johann Gottfried Piefke
12. Kärntner Liedermarsch - Anton Seifert
13. Fehrbelliner Reitermarsch - Richard Henrion/Arr. H. Männeke
14. Erzherzog-Albrecht-Marsch - Karel Komzák/Arr. M. Villinger
15. Fridericus-Rex-Grenadiermarsch - Ferdinand Radeck/nach Carl Loewe
16. O du mein Österreich - Ferdinand Preis/nach Franz von Suppè/Arr. L. Doblinger
17. Des Groβen Kurfürsten Reitermarsch - Cuno Graf von Moltke
18. Mir sein die Kaiserjäger - Karl Mühlberger/Arr. J. Blaha
19. Vindobona-Marsch - Karel Komzák/Arr. A. Mader
20. Hohenfriedberger Marsch - Friedrich II. von Preuβen
21. Troler Holzhackerbuab'n - Josef Franz Wagner/Arr. S. Tanzer
22. Alte Kameraden - Carle Teike

Yes, I get kicks from typing down German stuff.

The hols are packed with remedials. Band practices aren't hectic 'cept for the day camp at Whitley. Then SSW will resume so during the free time I can entertain myself with Southpark and CRIMINAL MINDS!

Yay for torrents technology!

suay once again

Argh, damn suay man. I'm always losing my stuff, and I mean ALWAYS.
I can't find my Amath books and some other stuff.
Die la, I just want school to end. 2 more days to endure.

I think I should bestow upon myself a new moniker. Hmmm, 'Suay Boy'. Or 'Suay Boi' so it emphasizes how suay I am, can't even spell 'boy'.

School was good today. Particularly because of History. New topic that I've been been anticipating to know about :D

suayaus

Paranoia sucks

Lucky me, I didn't get in that deep shit (yet) today. Expected worse, like x2.

I'm paranoid now.
News spread that there's a huge increase in dengue cases.

Guess what? I'm feverish now.
AHHHHH dumb mosquitoes getting nourishment from my precious blood that I hope kills you(s).
And to further conclude (omg history essay) I got like 2 spots, probably treacherous bite marks of those mozzies.

nevermind, the cure will be ...

to play Niccolo Paganini's Caprice no. 24! Then all will be better.
if not, always got Bach cello suites :

DUDE, I AM SUAY.

I have 7 classes tomorrow.
Rest assured I will be scolded in at least 2 classes.

Argh, so screwed.

My P-T-M form is in my The Da Vinci Code book (which I read 3 times, not 17).
I left the book in school. Crap.

That was the third time I left an article in school, IN THAT WEEK!
1st was my bio workbook in class.
2nd was my physics file which was in the lab.

Strike 3, yer out.
And I dunno where I left the book. I remembered I put in my bag.
Maybe in AMath class :/

And I have another form which I've yet to hand up. The travel declaration form. I CANT FIND IT!

Die die die die die die die die die die

and to reiterate that I'm suay, my suay comb1 results :

English Language - 61.9%
Malay Language - 51.6%
Additional Mathematics - 16.8%
Mathematics - 48%
Physics - 33.3%
Science (Chemistry/Biology) - 49.7%
Combined Humanities (Social Studies/Geography) - 63.0%
History - ???

only good thing is I topped for English in my class (yes, with a B4) and I think I got second for combined humans (losing to KO). Like 0.3% more to pass science, my amath is like crap, my emath needs work. And hey, look at that, I passed malay :)

I need to get 70% for History to pass my overall (which I doubt so) My CA is quite okay lar, 80% for 1 essay test and 90.9% for my SBQ test. So thats 85.5% for CA?

Argh, my forms .... hmmm ....
I think I feel a cough coming up ;)

Stone, Pebble, Rock

Damn stoner, rather stone than work on that G!

Gonna waste the day away man. This may be the last free Saturday I have before I kick into SSW-practice mode.

Lazy to go out these few days. Dunno why I turned down an offer to go to Funan with my mom. She wants to pawn off the old laptop and then go to a movie. Aiya, just wanna stone at home.

The family got financial windfall sia. So lucky. Mom's pay got increment, two-fold some more. And grandma got like $5+k yesterday? How eventful. And my birthday is less than a month away :)

South Park kinda sucks now :/

So goooooood

I've gotten over my damn mid-year results which sucks [insert spherical object here].
I calculated my raw score and like failed by 1.somethingsomething mark.

I failed 2 math & 2 sciences.
I passed 2 languages & 2 humanities.

Wah lao, I failed the rather more 'impressive' subjects and the passed the slightly less 'impressive' subjects. I must buck up lar... though I dunno if I can picture a scenario I could PASS an Amath paper. Dunno if I should drop it.

So more on today, got back my final paper, which is SS. I did quite okay lar, seeing the average, I did quite good but of course, can be better. My SBQ got only 14/25 which sucks like hell. MY SEQ was quite okay I guess, 19/25. First part got 11/12 but my second one, 8/13 only.. wrote ALOT for the transportation (2nd part) which I studied alot for. The good governance (1st part) was like a run through before the papers.

So my humans is Geog - 33.5/50 and with SS, it adds up to 66.5%, B3 blah. Though I didn't expect to pass Geog which I gave up studying (kinda like bio, but with mirrored results)

Then, yesterday got back my compre part of English Paper 2. Got 18/25. Second in class for that quarter of a paper haha. Quite average though. Then today, my summary. I knew I did like crap for summary. My english use wasn't good enough. Failed summary, got 11/25. So total only 29/50 for P2. Screwed for me. Then Mrs. Lee announced our results and I got 64/100. Damn dissapointed. Lost to Daren, who got first, who got with 65.5/100. Second for English again, second time losing by 1.5 marks. First time getting a B4 for English also. Argh, A1 to B4. Big fall, but I should get over my marks already. So should rejoice right.

I haven't touched the laptop yet, so can't do my Mario suite (for now). SSW resumes on Saturday. Wrong timing, because we should be running through Third symphony on Saturday and I only touched my sax yesterday after a month or so (and I still dunno if I'm on tenor or bari). Screwed sia. So yep, band pracs resumed. Obviously, being only 50-member band of Sec 1s-3s, the sound wasn't there YET. Sesame Street (easy version) sounded QUITE nice though. Eupho section, only sec 1s, were quite good except that Eugene.

Anyway, dug out a funny picture which I posted before, so to just re-post...

Shaun humping his trombone case ^^

REVUP

Told mum about results already. Glad she understood. So second load has been lifted.
Liberation.

Sigh.

*plays Bad Day by Daniel Powter*

I am not in school.

Yes, I am not in school today. Got my MC already, don't worry.

Yesterday felt really depressed and felt well-off being dead or non-existent. But I'm okay now and not emo (emo for one day only hor) and not feeling suicidal. Though the term suicidal is very extreme, I do not know of any other word. So I kinda feel like an ass right now.

Ok la, never felt suicidal. Dude, I love my life (just not that much right now)

I am fine and okay now. Don't call the counsellor on me.

So my results are something like Gary's results. Got back 5 papers yesterday, and passed 2 only. Malay got a B4 (when combined with my LC) and a C5 for History MW paper. I had my very first F9 in my life for Physics and my second F9 for Bio. I was damn pissed with myself. So were the rest of the class (with themselves, not at me). And I failed Math too. SIgh, life kinda sucks now. And I guess Meet-the-parents is next week, and I think I'm gonna tell mum about my horrigible results later or tonight. Hope she understands.

The class got back their Amath just now and I doubt I'll pass. PS got 5 and JJ got 2. Wonder how they feel now and I wonder how I faired. Hopefully a 2-digit result, please? Ok, should be Pure humans right now and I think Mr Yeo is giving out the SEA paper right now. I hope I pass (even though I wanna get more than a measly pass). I want my History grade to be a B at least.

I wonder if the upper sec had assembly today. Hmm.

Anyway, moving on to a less boring topic. I am finally getting to know more bands through unearthly ways. Takes a long time to get it though. Ahh, I guess this topic is less boring than before.

Ok, if anyone just wondered why my weblog has very little photos of my own, to tell the truth, I HATE uploading pictures. Very, how do you say, mafan? My CPU is t3hn00bz and has only 2 workable USB ports. 1 is used by my mouse, and the other is used by miscellaneous plugs. iPod USB cable, Printer/Scanner USB cable and of course my camera's USB cable. Lazy to plug out one and plug in the other.

I guess the best part of my post is when it ends.

Hoooray.

Waste myself with South Park episodes for the whole day.
or just sleep.

For the depressed (like me)

"The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's real glory. That's the essence of it."

- Vince Lombardi

SYF Central Judging for Junior Colleges and Centralised Institutes

So yesterday after my SEA paper, I headed down to the Singapore Conference Hall for the SYF. It was nearing the afternoon session. So, waiting outside the hall itself for tickets, it was damn crowded. Approximately 200 people at least, queuing for tickets. We reached there quite early, but the BandFusion didn't get the tickets. So I don't know how to do the reviews now.

Then they made attempts on how to sneak in the hall. They tried sneaking into the back door on the 5th floor, but failed. They tried it for the 2nd time, failed. So get the drift?

So the results are quite good.

1	Pioneer (Safari/Invocation and Toccata)	S
2	Anglo-Chinese School (IB) (Sunrise/Ghost Train)	G
3	Meridian (Sunrise/Orient Express)	G
4	Anderson (Sunrise/St. Anthony's Variations)	S
5	Yishun (Sunrise/Lord of the Rings - Mvt. 5 Hobbits)	S
6	National (Safari/Internal Combustion)	G
7	Hwa Chong (Sunrise/Symphonic Overture)	G
8	Nanyang (Safari/Sinfonia Nobilissima)	G
9	Victoria (Safari/Spartacus)	GWH
10	Raffles (Safari/La Mer)	G
11	Tampines (Sunrise/The Inn of Sixth Happiness)	S
12	Saint Andrew's (Safari/Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini)	GWH
13	Serangoon (Sunrise/A Longford Legend)	S
14	Temasek (Sunrise/Hymn to the Sun)	G
15	Anglo-Chinese (Safari/Feste Romane)	GWH
16	Catholic (Safari/Feste Romane)	G
17	Jurong (Sunrise/Hymn to the Infinite Sky)	S

Pretty good work by all bands. Congratulations to SAJC, VJC & ACJC for the honours. Congratulations NYJC for their gold in how many years haha. Clement & Jeremy Chan must be happy.

So before going off for dinner, congratulated Sean (ACJC) for their work. Went to Starbucks so Joshua Low could update the site's page. Then went off for dinner at BK.

Talked about alot of funny stuff, especially Victor. He's a damn funny guy (and does magic). Joshua also talked how people really use Multiply. And it's true! (wanna know ask me :P)
Went to Gelare after that, and Fikri got stuck with shit cookies. Haha, damn funny episode there.

Then went our seperate ways, I went home - very very tired and not feeling accomplished since I didn't get to watch the festival.

Exam update post

NO MORE EXAMS!

----
English Paper 1
The paper was okay la. Very tough decision to make during the exam.. on which question to write on. Chose Qns 4.. went something like "Television influences young and old alike. Discuss." Wrote 428 words. Was worried because it was my first time pacing my writing and I left lines in between. And also my first argumentative essay for an exam. And it was damn messy. Didn't have a correction tape with me and I became like Ke Ping. Cancel cancel.. argh. Okay moving on, letter.. I think I had my format correct. My content little bit ... ick. I think I exceeded the limit... bleah.
----
Social Studies
Thank god for Pure History man. Mr Yeo taught us the skill properly and did the SBQ questions in a snap. But 1C held me down. The text seemed shallow in my head, couldn't get it after reading both sources 5 times. Then figured it out (I think) and finished it. Essay .... more like essays. Been told to write 1 question out of 2 options. I did not know that 1 question = 2 essays. Ahhh so had to chiong sia. Yep, finished both essays. Very messy, again. Just regurgitated everything I remembered. So, yep .. no more stuff about ALS,ERP,Park-and-Ride scheme & VQA for some time now.
----
Malay Paper 1
Surprising not much of killer. Didn't study anything about this paper. Yep, never study l33t phrase, format or whatever possible worth studying. Chose Qns 2 & 5. Qns 2 being dialog writing (tops letter tenfold IMHO) Had to write a conversation between 2 friends about the lucky youth of today being able to do work by themselves without help. And 5 was descriptive. Wanted to try argumentative but the first word of the question I already don't underrstand. So Qns 5 was something like .. write about 2 friends who got into an argument then it must end off with a good ending. I think. Anyway, 2 hours was much too long for the paper, but ZH still got his lag.
----
Geography Elective
Killed me. Then killed me. Then tried to kill me.
Go figure.

Ok, seriously. I only really studied this at 1am? Ended off at 4am. Couldn't remember anything... and a question on coniferous forest came out. Ahhhh, not surprised if I do badly (or even, fail for that matter) But gotta buck up and subconsciously think that Geography is the best humanities subject that tops history (which I concur) but yeah... work harder la.
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Malay Paper 2
Kind of hard, but did it. Yep. Truthfully ah, I was in a trance (ok thats how I will put it) because I was sleepy and flipping the pages then stared at one page for 10mins, doing nothing on it, flipped, did nothing, and etc. SO did that for an hour. Seriously did the paper and finished it :)
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Mathematics Paper 1
In short : can cry
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English Paper 2
Probably was one of the most hardest EP2s I've taken to date. Damn worried now because I feel that my summary was a little to short (loss for words, I'd say) And the questions was a little confusing. Nonetheless, finished it with 5 minutes to spare (spent 15 minutes on summary heh)
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History (Modern World)
Was rushing mad during assembly to just get down with the facts. During the exam, SBQ was a breeze. The SEQ was the killer one. One question was on the Treaty of Versailles + USA's involvement in world affairs and the other one is on League of Nations. I focused mainly on LON yesterday night only and before that, TOV was my main priority. So 3b was something on what did the Weimar Republic benefit from USA assistance. Sigh. Didn't know anything so I just wrote stuff about Germany. In the end, after the paper .. they all said it was something on the Young Plan and the Dawes Plan. Didn't mention either. Didn't study either. Sigh. Hope Friday's SEA paper will help me push up the mark.
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Physics
Whole class was like "Chiong ar!" before the paper. Yes, the paper was hard. 20 minutes before the paper ended (at 1.44pm) The questions that I didn't do, the marks accumulated to 38! (and not counting the horde of skipped physics MCQ questions) So what to do.. C&C lor - crap & chiong. In the end, lost 18 marks. 20 mark recovery in 20 minutes. Doubt I can pass lar, and this is a pure subject.. it's on it's own :(
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Science (Chemistry)
Surprising very easy, though MCQ was a tough section to go through with. First run through the paper, did only 70% of the MCQ questions and most of 'em were C or D. And overall, only like 2/3 of them were B's and no A? Okay section B, damn pissed off with myself for not knowing how to seperate crude oil and pretroleum (which is fractional distillation). Gah. But the rest was a breeze. Section C was quite easy too. Now I need to worry for Emath 2 & Bio :(
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Mathematics Paper 2
Was very surprised. Surprised at the fact that it was the easiest math paper that I have taken in my life. Was damn nervous because I didn't revise anything since bio was in my mind. Breezed by the paper, only blindly doing one question. Lucky for this paper, I may not fail my Emath!
----
Science (Biology)
Sigh. Don't wanna elaborate much, just that ... I hope my chemistry marks are high.
So to pass science :(
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Additional Mathematics
A real toughie. Did the first question in pencil first before outlining the finalized work. Of course, simultaneous question had a problem and lucky for me doing it in pencil. Then 2nd question, wrote stuff down and skip. 3rd, wrote stuff down then skip. And et cetera. I can honestly say that I will fail. 10 questions, did 3/4 questions fully (and not skip a part) and numerous question parts. Will be absurd if I pass, unless I get step marks, which I highly doubt so. Time for some colonization and stuff.
----
History (SEA)
Relatively easy paper. And I don't want to waste my time elaborating on this, NO MORE EXAMS! YAY! YAY! YAY! yay! yay! yay .. erm, okay.
----

Jubilation, Liberation - 7 hours 30 minutes

Paper in 6 hours. Only 60% done with revision. And let me illustrate to you all how I studied.

3pm : lay down on the bed, writing down notes on reasons for SEA colonization
4pm : lured away by distractions
7pm : read textbook reasons for French colonialism
8pm : TV got magic show, strike two for me
10pm : calls to Jeremy Leong, JX and KO about stuff
11pm : supposed '10' minute nap on the top bunk
11.10pm : went back to bottom bunk, and fell asleep (strike three)
2am : woke up
2.25am : chiong-ed, memorized the 5 Phases of French colonialism, political, social & economical impact on Vietnam
3.17am : short break, before chiong-ing at 3.30am

A very sad case. I'm sleepy as hell, but need to get over studying Malaya. Doubt I'll get any sleep now, though 3 hours is NOT okay.

Why must the last paper of every exam that I take always require me to stay up late doing up the stuff?

ONE more.

I've no motivation to study. Seeing everyone reveling in jubilation, and feeling oh-so liberated, just makes me not want to study more. I can't focus on the textbook, notes. Heck, I can't even stay focus on staying awake. History is a great subject, no doubt about that, but it's kinda torturous to see about 97% of the Sec 3EXP level enjoying post-exam life.

There are so many things I could do right now like finishing up my Mario suite but sigh, don't feel right complaining about an elective subject which I opted for and can drop anytime. It was my choice, so yeah, I'll get through this very day of mugging. Who knows, I may miss it.

I'm confused on what to study. Okay, there's reasons for SEA colonization (and how was it different; Brit/Fra). Impact of colonization and which of 'em are not important; which seriously I don't get. So, I hope reasons of colonization comes out, impacts are just too hard to digest.

On a lighter note, finally going to serve my duty as a writer for SGBandfusion.com tomorrow at the SYF central judging for JCs. Other than that task, got one more that I've been told and I'm quite stoked about it. So, after tomorrow (and after SYF for JCs) it's back to the mundane school way of life. Results (argh) and more results, and band will resume on the first Monday of post-MYE week. New songs I hope.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF ftw.

Discriminant > 0 no?

Exams are going to end soon. A math & Hist SEA papers are left. And for some unknown reason, I'm more worried about the Hist SEA paper on Friday rather than the one subject I truly dare to say that I seriously suck at, which is of course, A math.

I just realised that I may not have a choice but, to cram both topics that were given to me to study. So from what I wrote in my trusty textbook,

2.1 -> Why did SEA become colonized? In what way was it different?

2.2-> What was the impact of colonization which was not important? In what way were they (impacts) different? similar?

I can only remember of 2 colonization studies. The one where Vietnam was colonized by the French & the other one is the colonization of Malaya by the British. So 2.1 suggests that I compare both French colonization & British colonization. So, I guess it's kinda like a bigger SBQ? Okay, point noted.

2.2, hmmmm. Impact of colonization ... I think this was what the first essay test was about. Impact of the colonization of Vietnam. There's the religious, social and some other reasons/impacts. Argh, lucky son(s)ofagun twins no A math. Extra day to cram all the info down.

Nonetheless, I tomorrow on 'mad chiongz' mode. Armed with a pen, textbook, ubër hax (notes), my notebook & my iPod playing stuff ranging from The Ataris to Antonin Dvorak; I will be the walking SEA terminator.

"I'll be bachk."

"After lunch."

amathamathamathamathamath is =/= <3

Apple Cider Vinegar

My dad has been hit by a bout of the gout.

And coincidentally, the last line rhymed.
It's been a month now, and it's been quite stable.

So, mum read up on this new home-made remedy that work wonders for treating gout, along with other problems. It's called Apple Cider Vinegar. My mum has been giving high praises about it and bought 2 big bottles of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar (with Mother, whatever that is). Mind you, it's not the nice tasting cider that people can freely drink. It's vinegar. And trust me, it smells like the one around any household.

To make this remedy of a drink, just take 2 tablespoons of this ACV substance and add it into 8oz of water. To make it just right, add 2 tablespoons of honey just for taste. Honestly, I kinda like it. It tastes like any regular sour apple juice but only with that pungent smell.

But read up on the internet and I found info that has been kept away from most people's knowledge of the drink. It has no such medical properties at all. Oh ok, so I wasted 10 minutes of my life drinking something that tasted kinda bad for a total of 3 times, and doesn't help me for that matter. But dude, this ACV (as it has been called) ruins the enamel on the teeth. Or in ghetto terms "Dawg, this stuff been screwin' wit ma teeth." So okay, my teeth will be destroyed. It ALSO causes corrosive esophageal injury, hypokalemia, hypereninemia and osteoporosis.

Is that enough to stop people from drinking ACV? I guess not.

Hundreds of testimonials have been written to praise this 'sacred' concoction. But for every ying there is a yang (and not in the form of a Matthew). And that is, Baking soda water. And somehow, I THINK I've heard about this before.

ICuredMyGout.org is a website created by some guy who accidentally cured his gout by alkalizing his body. Of course, foodstuff with less purine will help in preventing of gout breakouts. But this fella.. experiments on his body on one very fine day, by putting 2 tablespoons of baking soda into water. And drank it. He took the risk and now he's sharing that very same risk that cured his gout in 3 days, to the whole worldlike appetite loss, urge to urinate everytime and much, much more.

No one wants to pee every time right?

This guy, who's been suffering for twenty-seven years. Twenty-seven long & painful years; and he cured his gout in 3 short days! He says that the alkali in the baking soda helps the uric acid in your body dissolve. Since uric acid somehow the main "villain" behind gout, so isn't it good to have more alkali in your body?

Okay I'll break it down for y'all.
Uric acid -> kind of like the cause
ACV -> 5% acid
Baking Soda water -> alkali

Drinking ACV brings down your body's pH level (anything less than7 pH level is acidic) when there's uric acid to deal with? So more alkali brings up your pH level? Isn't that true?

(Note : I may be wrong. Don't put your 100% trust into this because I am just 14 years old. I am not a doctor. I barely passed biology. This is my opinion. So don't sue me for false information, because I am a kid. I have no money.)

There is the saying "fight fire with fire", but there is also "adding salt to the wound". There have been people who say that ACV has helped them! But Baking Soda is more focused on gout.

I am not preaching the battle of ACV vs Baking Soda water as a cure for gout.

The real question here is, why the hell can I memorize this useless information and I can't even memorize anything on 7 chapters of bio?!

Sigh.

bio. sigh.

only at chapter 1 for bio! shouldn't have wasted time writing down points so I can memorize 'em better because it only worked twice in my life.

so maybe just finish off with writing down points on organelles and just bury my head in the book then.

Killer week is half-gone. Left with Math 2 (NO!), bio (NO!x2), A math (NO!x203211334) and Pure Hist SEA paper (ok-ok la). Then freedom arrives.

"Your face looks like the colour when a charged particle passes through a TRIGA reactor core at the speed of light... HAHAHAHA."


nerd humour. go figure.
and I made it up >.< gee, james too

Remember the Titans

Watch this movie. Seriously, it's very good. It's those type of inspirational movies that just makes your eyes glued to the tv set. And afterwards, makes you go .. "Wow."

There alot of these movies that go unheard of. Always the action-filled thrillers always get to the top of the chart. I'd rather watch a movie with a good storyline (and which makes you think) then can inspire people than 2 hours of special effects and masked men saving people. It will just make little kids think that they can swing from place to place.

This type of movies > any marvel movie. Anytime.
But if you talk comedies (I mean real comedy .. throughout the movie and not 2 second giggles) then it's another chapter :)

So please BUY the DVD or VCD because it's too good to be downloaded.

The new killer question - "Mummy, Where does money come from?"

Today went out to study. Let's see .. woke up around 9.15am then do the usual morning rituals. Left home at 9.30am? Headed for Bishan, then on the way bumped into Mark Chua. He freaking scared me la. From behind suddenly got pushed. As irritating as always la he. He was headed to Somerset to buy a new board. Rich kid.

Anyway, yes went to Bishan library. It opens at 10 and by 10.30am, all the tables were taken. Nevermind, I sat at the 2nd floor chairs. Read up on Stalin - his rise, his impact, his reforms. Even though in the exams Stalin is only tested through SBQs, just needed to read up to support any possible motion that will come out. Yeah, then met Justin. I thought he was like gonna mug or something but he just borrowed one book on photography. Yeah, then about 12+ I left. Walked around J8 but nothing much there. And oh yea, outside the MRT station there was one long line. Free stuff la what else. They gave out the Cookie Crisp cereal.. the normal big size one. Damn kiasu sia .. saw one family with 4 or 5 boxes.

Then headed to library@esplanade, to read up on TOV&LON. Before that ran thru some scores. Saw Paul Creston's Alto Sax concerto and found Elgar's Cello concerto but it was arranged for solo viola. Then studied for about 3 hours, and time passed by very fast. Then finished with history moved on to physics. Was really getting into it (yes, I know its very hard to believe) then the staff asked me to move because I was sitting at the listening area.. the one with the headphones. Yea so was ... the 'momentum' was just gone.

Then went home.. Stopped by MPH to buy stationery then when I was walking back I saw Mitchell working at Gelare? I think it's him.. looked like him. Then yada yada yada went home and slept till 7.30pm.

Need more mario themes .....

Bowser no show

Sigh, this MYE is screwed. I have risen from the ashes but now I will fall from grace.



HAHAHAHAHA I always wanted to say that.
Anyway, EP2 was quite tough don't think I can maintain that A1 from Sec2. Emath was just too tough for me and alot of people. The marks I lost accumulates to 15! And those are the ones I didn't do! Must buck up for P2.

So, P.Hist(MW) & Physics on Monday. Worried about both. Heh, worried about the whole week. I shall christen it the 'Killer Week'. Anyway, thinking about going to some library to study alone or with a friend. Big groups always lead -> talking -> not studying -> not too long ahead you're out of the library and at the food court.

glhf.

dull x2

Math paper 1 ... wonder how it will be like. Haven't done much, just did 34 indices equations. Lazy to do the other 20-odd left. 4 chapters + some sec 2 topics.
I'm damn bored. Need to get down with coordinate geometry, which I am lousy at. Dunno what to do, so blur right now.

Just realized, I have nothing much to look forward after exams. Yes, other than that "Yay-no-exam" feeling (which follows by the "Damn-get-back-paper" feeling) .. nothing much la. Band pracs will resume. No new songs to really look forward to (Mambo bleah) then the promos. Hopefully I can get a good post so I can serve it well. Then SSW pracs will resume also. Then fast forward to July, which I will have to perform in 2 concerts. Yep, bland. And whats on Ch5 now doesnt help.

Only good thing is that I'm part of sgbandfusion.com's Editorial team. It's cool being a writer for them. Can get interviews with conductors, soloists, composers (weeks back, they interviewed Mr Robert W. Smith!) and write reviews. Yep, kinda nice. And can go concerts for free heh (sometimes). But I guess, the current writers for the SYF reviews... damn stressed up also. Lucky me, but probably have to cover the JC SYF on the 11th (which is my Hist SEA paper). SO have to look forward to my first ever task :p

bored .. then the TYS pages are so confusing...

Geog = not win

ahhhh, my geog is ahhhhhh.

I'm damn worried I dont remember anything.
Geog textbook like, words damn dense ... word after word ... word after word that I cannot recall ...

dunno sia, feel like pulling an all-nighter (EOY flashback) .... (done) but, shouldn't make it even worse since like, don't you tend to forget when you're damn tired? I dunno la. The night before SS paper, I slept at 4 (and stopped studying at 1) and could remember some stuff. But the progress I'm making, an all-nighter WILL HELP ALOT.

ANYWAY, been watching the Ensamble Pleiade performance video & tons of Greg Patillo vids.
Watch videos only .. how to pass geog?