Do It with Don!

In the Still of the Night Pt. 1

2008-04-25T10:07:00.000-07:00

"Hide in that corner! No, not that one, this one! Here, let me show you!"

Massive, massive points to the Society for putting up quite a scare-fest down at the block.

We were first forced to watch 'Sisters', then 'Shutter'. Sisters was alright.

*WOOO-OOOH-OOOOHHOOOOOOHHHHOOOOHHH~~*

(No, stop pulling that lock of hair from the ceiling! No, you're gonna get us all - WHY ARE YOU STILL DOING THAT?!)

The last time I laughed that hard was during Ju-On. (AWWWWW itty-bitty boy's adorabl- ARGH GHOST GHOST GHOST)

Shutter was terrifying shit. It remains one of the reasons why I don't like using mirrors or cameras. That's my excuse for being camera-shy, because I'm trying to curb narcissism.

Cough.

Did I mention that both shows were the Thai versions? Good f*cking lord.

Midnight soon struck - And, ah, it was time for a nice relaxing walk through the FMS block, the same one built on an ex-cemetery. On hindsight, which part of Singapore -didn't- have something dead buried in it?

Groups were formed, and the OGLs did not allow us to carry ectoplasmic weaponary.

With every group member forced to complete at least a single station all alone, our 'challenge' was to look for clues in a murder case. It doesn't help that the 'murdered' has a fantastic sense of humour. So here you have blatent irony as she plays ping-pong with our poor hearts, while we're trying to -help- her.

So we proceeded to our first station.

AHHHHHHHH!

No, not yet.

We had two guys and four girls. 3-5 with a male and female OGL.

First station was an individual one. Everyone drew lots - numbered 'one' to 'six'. The one who got number 'seven' shat bricks. As probability would have it, a girl got numba one. A quick exchange later, the other guy went into the long corrider room-thing. Blindfolded.

He had to listen for guiding sounds, like chains, moans, and other supernatural noises. Instructions were to get to the other end by -feeling- your way through. Guy took chair and bulldozed his way through. Long story short, ghost gave up and relinquished the first clues. Looks like chairs are fatal to ghosts.

- - - - -

OGL warned of scare ambushes. We prepared for it.

Badly.

Lights flickered at the FMS lobby, and the first scare (IT WAS BEHIND THE PILLAR WASN'T IT?) sent the girls screaming into the dark abyss of the night. That sparked off a chain effect - The guys got quite a shock too (read: screamed like little girls).

I recovered from the shock quickly, and was in the midst of laughing it off when another one scared me shitless a few seconds later.

They were going for combos.

- - - - -

There were three elevators one could take to the ninth floor, where the second station would be located. The seniors somehow managed to short out the other two, forcing us to take the remaining one. No walkin' up the stairs - Rules are rules.

Okay, sure. Let's go up, then. The faster we hurry, the faster we can get this over and done with.

It was a different story when the elevator finally arrived though.

"I'm not going in there."

"You have to, it's the only way up."

"Bleh."

Reason: There was a hanging, bloodied head smack right in the middle of the damn contraption.

The guys took the lead and entered. My itchy fingers touched the... football? The paper mache was slimy and wet. Girls screamed in.

Only one button was lit. The rest of the buttons were covered with obituaries. Actually, the entire lift was. That's -alot- of dead people. The menacing whirring of the lift as it proceeded up didn't make things any better, as the head threatened to hit anyone who was foolish enough to stand too close to it.

Ol' head in the elevator trick never fails to scare anyone.

Everyone looked down and tried to compose their nerves for the rest of the night.

The night was still so very young.

FMS is a Happy Camper

2008-04-23T09:32:00.001-07:00

"FMS NUMBA ONE, DON'T BELIEVE? YOU KUKU."

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Editor's Notes:

Wow, this -is- a shit post.

Oh come on, cut me some slack - I wrote this piece of rubbish after days of crap-sleep.

Do I get points for spontaneity?

No? Damnit.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hurrah, new school.

Hurrah, new beginning.

Hurrah, homework!

Bugger.

I missed the Freshmen Orientation Camp - No more vacancies, they say. :(

At least I made it for the Film and Media Studies (FMS) camp. ;)

Hurrah, new people!

The last few days have been a blur - I'm half dead now from the lack of sleep, as with all camps.

Ice-breakers weren't half bad - Met cool, cool people. Thrown into SUPERHEROES. Sub-group SUPERMAN.

We're totally the strongest of them all. X-ray vision, super-human strength, and tight crimson underwear. Uh-huh.

Props to the Mass Dance too. Pretty well choreographed. Food isn't half bad, it was actually decent!

(And at this point of time, I seem to be giving a review. Monologues are not fun.)

Amazing race had Superman bonding pretty well - We laughed, we cheered, we broke a nail.

Oh. My. Gawd. I think I need a manicure - The sun, I swear, is ruining my gorgeous hair!

No, not that way.

Hmph.

I also like the night-walk! But I'll talk more about it next time round.

Off to bed.

Yay!

What now?

2008-04-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

"Save point."

Applications have fallen through, and guess what?

I'm officially a Ngee Ann Polytechnic Mass Communication student, rumoured to be the best media-related course for Singapore tertiary education.

It's hard to believe it when one has gone through hell and high water to obtain the dreaded Singpass in order to be eligible for the Joint Application Exercise for polytechnics.

Maybe it was over-kill when I sent in applications for both JAE -and- JPSAE. I admit, DAE too. I blame it on Singaporean culture, and insecurities on my O'level score. I mean, I'm a JC dropout after all. Maybe I'm older, wiser, or even tougher - But I was a quitter.

And I promise myself right here and now, this will be first and last time that I ever do.

Scout's honour.

I'm glad that I've gotten another chance.

Relieved, to say the least, really. I'm finally pursuing my dreams as a media-related student.

Okay, maybe 'relieved' is an understatement. It is only when you realise that education is not compulsory anymore that you begin to cherish it - The same as everything else really.

We don't cherish anything until we've lost it.

So what now? I've heard that polytechnic education much more open than that of a JC education - But of course, I'm not following by ear. Experience ought to be first-hand.

Meh.

Mum was pretty much supportive - She treats this as a 'last chance'. Everything's a 'last chance' to her though.

Dad still doesn't know.

One step at a time, I suppose - Orientation's in a week, and I can't wait for it already.

Guess I'm in for one hell of a ride.

Personality Disorders

2008-04-09T09:06:00.000-07:00

"Finally, something I can truly call myself! Ahahahahaha *snort*."

I've just taken a Personality Disorder test, courtesy from a very lovable source. It's hilarious, I tell you.

The scary thing is that it's highly accurate, at least in my opinion it is.

A series of questions and answers later, and you'll get your disorder with corresponding rating (it ranks from 'Low' to 'Very High' I believe).

I'll insert a short excerpt at the end of each P.D. for your reading convenience. That, and I don't like to steal bandwidth.

-----------------------------------

Common Personality Disorders

Paranoid: High

Paranoid personality disorder is characterized by a distrust of others and a constant suspicion that people around you have sinister motives. People with this disorder tend to have excessive trust in their own knowledge and abilities and usually avoid close relationships.

They search for hidden meanings in everything and read hostile intentions into the actions of others. They are quick to challenge the loyalties of friends and loved ones and often appear cold and distant. They usually shift blame to other people and tend to carry long grudges.

Symptoms include:-

Unwillingness to forgive perceived insults
Excessive sensitivity to setbacks
Distrustfulness and excessive self-reliance
Projection of blame onto others
Consumed by anticipation of betrayal
Combative and tenacious adherence to personal rights
Relentlessly suspicious

.

Schizoid: Moderate

People with schizoid personality disorder avoid relationships and do not show much emotion. Unlike avoidants, schizoids genuinely prefer to be alone and do not secretly wish for popularity. They tend to seek jobs that require little social contact.

Their social skills are often weak and they do not show a need for attention or acceptance. They are perceived by others as humorless and distant and often are termed "loners."

Symptoms suggest:-

Weak interpersonal skills
Difficulty expressing anger, even when provoked
"Loner" mentality; avoidance of social situations
Appear to others as remote, aloof, and unengaged
Low sexual desire
Unresponsive to praise or criticism

.

Schizotypal: High

Many believe that schizotypal personality disorder represents mild schizophrenia. The disorder is characterized by odd forms of thinking and perceiving, and individuals with this disorder often seek isolation from others.

They sometimes believe to have extra sensory ability or that unrelated events relate to them in some important way. They generally engage in eccentric behavior and have difficulty concentrating for long periods of time. Their speech is often over elaborate and difficult to follow.

Symptoms include:-

Superstitious or preoccupied with paranormal phenomena
Difficult to follow speech patterns
Feelings of anxiety in social situations
Suspiciousness and paranoia
Odd beliefs or magical thinking
Appears shy, aloof, or withdrawn to others

.

Antisocial: High

A common misconception is that antisocial personality disorder refers to people who have poor social skills. The opposite is often the case. Instead, antisocial personality disorder is characterized by a lack of conscience. People with this disorder are prone to criminal behavior, believing that their victims are weak and deserving of being taken advantage of.

Antisocials tend to lie and steal. Often, they are careless with money and take action without thinking about consequences. They are often aggressive and are much more concerned with their own needs than the needs of others.

Symptoms include:-

Disregard for the feelings of others
Impulsive and irresponsible decision-making
Lack of remorse for harm done to others
Lying, stealing, other criminal behaviors
Disregard for the safety of self and others

.

Borderline: Low

Borderline personality disorder is characterized by mood instability and poor self-image. People with this disorder are prone to constant mood swings and bouts of anger. Often, they will take their anger out on themselves, causing injury to their own body. Suicidal threats and actions are not uncommon.

Borderlines think in very black and white terms and often form intense, conflict-ridden relationships. They are quick to anger when their expectations are not met.

Symptoms include:-

Self-injury or attempted suicide
Strong feelings of anger, anxiety, or depression that last for several hours
Impulsive behavior
Drug or alcohol abuse
Feelings of low self-worth
Unstable relationships with friends, family, and boyfriends/girlfriends

.

Histrionic: Moderate

People with histrionic personality disorder are constant attention seekers. They need to be the center of attention all the time, often interrupting others in order to dominate the conversation. They use grandiose language to discribe everyday events and seek constant praise. They may dress provacatively or exaggerate illnesses in order to gain attention.

Histrionics also tend to exaggerate friendships and relationships, believing that everyone loves them. They are often manipulative.

Symptoms include:-

Needs to be the center of attention
Dresses or acts provocatively
Rapidly-shifting and shallow emotions
Exaggerates friendships
Overly-dramatic, occassionally theatrical speech
easily influenced; highly suggestible

.

Narcissistic: Very High

Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by self-centeredness. Like histrionic disorder, people with this disorder seek attention and praise. They exaggerate their achievements, expecting others to recongize them as being superior. They tend to be choosy about picking friends, since they believe that not just anyone is worthy of being their friend.

Narcissists tend to make good first impressions, yet have difficulty maintaining long-lasting relationships. They are generally uninterested in the feelings of others and may take advantage of them.

Symptoms comprises of many elements, some being:-

Requires excessive praise and admiration
Takes advantage of others
Grandiose sense of self-importance
Lack of empathy
Lying, to self and others
Obsessed with fantasies of fame, power, or beauty

.

Avoidant: Moderate

Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by extreme social anxiety. People with this disorder often feel inadequate, avoid social situations, and seek out jobs with little contact with others. Avoidants are fearful of being rejected and worry about embarassing themselves in front of others. They exaggerate the potential difficulties of new situations to rationalize avoiding them.

Often, avoidants will create fantasy worlds to substitute for the real one. Unlike schizoid personality disorder, avoidants yearn for social relations yet feel they are unable to obtain them. They are frequently depressed and have low self-confidence.

Symptoms suggest:-

Social inhibition; retreating from others in anticipation of rejection
Preoccupation with being rejected or criticized in social situations
Fear of embarrassment results in avoidance of new activities
Poor self-image; feelings of social ineptitude
Desire for improved social relations
Appear to others as self-involved and unfriendly
Creation of elaborate fantasy lives

.

Dependent: Low

Dependent personality disorder is characterized by a need to be taken care of. People with this disorder tend to cling to people and fear losing them. They may become suicidal when a break-up is imminent. They tend to let others make important decisions for them and often jump from relationship to relationship.

Dependents often remain in abusive relationships. Over-sensitivity to disapproval is common. Dependents often feel helpless and depressed.

Symptoms include:-

Difficulty making decisions
Feelings of helplessness when alone
Suicidal thoughts upon rejection
Submissiveness
Deeply hurt by mild criticism or disapproval
Unable to meet ordinary demands of life

.

Obsessive-Compulsive: High

While Obsessive-Compulsive personality disorder (OCDP) sounds similar in name to obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder, the two are markedly different disorders.

People with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder are overly focused on orderliness and perfection. Their need to do everything "right" often interferes with their productivity. They tend to get caught up in the details and miss the bigger picture. They set unreasonably high standards for themselves and others, and tend to be very critical of others when they do not live up to these high standards.

They avoid working in teams, believing others to be too careless or incompetent. They avoid making decisions because they fear making mistakes and are rarely generous with their time or money. They often have difficulty expressing emotion.

Symptoms suggests:-

Need for perfection and excessive discipline
Preoccupation with orderliness
Inflexibility
Lack of generosity
Hyper-focus on details and rules
Excessive devotion to work

-----------------------------------

Damn, I need help.
P.S. To take your very own test, click here.

Grown Up

2008-03-24T21:43:00.000-07:00

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate it."

Seventeen birthdays later and I reach physical maturity. Somehow, it doesn't seem as exciting as one would think it to be.

But yes, I'm finally of the age to...

... Buy cigarettes.
... And alcohol.
... Drink legally.
... Watch M18 movies in cinemas.
... Go clubbing legally. *sniggers*
... Apply for a driving license.
... Be charged as an adult in the court of law.

And I think that's about it.

Woop-tee-doo.

I confess, I have a bad memory for events. That, and birthdays. Call it selective memory, but I don't exactly remember unfortunate events that well (notthatimsayingthatbirthdaysareunfortunateeventsbuthaveyouseenyourbirth? thatssomelifescarringmomentthere).

But I digress.

Dad wasn't a fan of birthdays himself. He always told me that it wasn't exactly a "great" thing that you were born- It was the buddhist belief in him speaking; Nature's way of telling you "hey look! you've been good enough in your previous life, so you're now a mortal! Try harder next time though, because you're nowhere near immortality! :D"

I think that was an excuse for him to disregard birthdays. Ironically, I found myself doing the same thing year after year.

(I hereby apologise to anyone whose birthday I've forgotten over the years- I'm making an effort to remember now.)

Still, birthdays have always been a special occasion for me. You'd think that it's the only day you feel special, huh? Or maybe that's my perception. Nevertheless, adaptation and upbringing have probably made me the way I am today.

Memorable moments of my life have been far and few.

Age four saw my weaning off the pacifier and milk-bottle-drinking. It was a tough time, really. Dad and Mum was all "you're a big boy now, son, and big boys don't use pacifiers". There were the dreadful pacifier withdrawals. I would ask them about the urges, and they'd tell me that "it'll pass". Funny how i believed them then, because I still have these urges every now and then.

The only thing keeping me away from them is the fear of addiction to the strange plastic device- What can I say? I'm a sucker for these things, pun intended.

I remember age five too,when I was woken up by Mum in the middle of the night. Dad apparently bought me my very own Mercedes Benz 1:8 model car. That, and -tons- of soft toys. Bears, crocodiles, fruits (?), and even Donatello the ninja turtle (LOOKIE ITS ANOTHER DON LOL -.-). I still have some of those to this very day. His words that day still ring.

Fast forward.

The eighteenth would be slightly different from the rest, as it would seem - I would start the day off with a bout of mahjong with Mich and the rest of the guys.

We were to start at 9, and I arrived early...

... At 10.

The guys were great- Their hands too. You could see Neng Hao winning almost every game, his hand impeccably strong every single game. 'Tais' naturally came to him. There were too many 'peng peng hus' for any comfort.

My chips kept dwindling... But no matter. I was given a discount on my supposed 'loss' - A late birthday gift. Nice.

It was closing 6 when I got a phone call; I was supposed to be at Ang Mo Kio in fifteen minutes.

What?!

So I rushed from Kallang to Toa Payoh, hoping that I would have the luck of reaching the latter in ten minutes.

I didn't.

The bus had to spit and splutter in the midst of the bustling traffic, flustering every passenger onboard. That would make the second of a bout of break-downs I were to face in the near future.

Just my luck, really. So I got down near Toa Payoh, and boarded the next taxi I could find. And then it had to rain. :)

Fish & Co. at AMK Hub finally reached my sight half an hour later as I bounded up the busy escalator. A middle-aged woman gave out a snarl while unpredictable legs brought me up and past her in an alarming speed, threatening to throw her off balance. She didn't fall though.

Boo.

Long story short, I reached, we ate, and I got PRESENTS (yay!).

Amongst other things, I guess I got my present - Jerico, Jasmine, Darren and Dom makin' fun of each other, Jasper and Lynnette jokin' around, Pam and Xuan gossiping (as always)... Yeah, nothing beats a good gathering with these guys. That would be the best present of all.

They showed no mercy though - I had to stand on a chair while the staff sang me a birthday song. I got a balloon too! And the cake was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. It was just like my MacDonald's party back when I was 5 (except we had fish and chips instead of burgers, and... never mind).

And for the record - My weirdest birthday gift to date is no longer a toothpick (this is another story for another day); It is now a pair of polka-dot boxers. No prize for guessing who chipped in.

To top everything off, I got whipped-creamed. Yum. On the bright side, at least it was full-cream. Gawd knows I scoff in the presence of the lactose-intolerant.

.
.
.

Y'know, birthdays always remind me of how meaningful and interesting that life could turn out to be, and that one shouldn't waste any time at all in pursuing his greatest dreams.

I thus promised myself to dedicate myself to the betterment of oneself for the upcoming year, via the instilling of discipline and perseverance amongst other things.

After all, life is lived but once, and birthdays mere milestones to record our stories. And I quote, "life is made bearable by the stories we save and tell".

So I went home and got wasted.

THE END.

Hello, Hello.

2008-03-03T00:43:00.000-08:00

"Hello again."

I'm back.

The past few months have been eventful, to say the least. I actually accomplished more than I had expected, workin' my ass off so hard.

For one thing, I just finished my stint with DBS Vickers Online. I've never been so afraid of economics. So there I was, in the big cruel corporate world, and guess what?

Life has never been better.

Sure, 9-5 hours were a tad monotonous after a while, but good lawd, the stuff you learn is GOLD. The seniors and bosses are amazing - It's nice being the little kid for a change with everyone pampering you, kinda.

It must have been fate that threw me in, really. No one really believed that I was really seventeen, which is... comforting. The next youngest would be Fabius, at 20. Do the maths. Apparently, the requisite for the post of an assistant administrator would be either a diploma or an A' level certificate, of which I have neither. It must have been dumb luck.

The guys had almost zero politics, which is such a breather. That, or I mght have been totally oblivious to it. Being a temp. contract employee does have its fair share of benefits. I was assigned to pick up the ropes from some of the other staff, who were dealing with trading in the stock-market.

To say that I was taught plenty would be an understatement - there were constant tests to make sure I knew my work. I'd never loved learning so much. Every piece of information that I could get my hands on was absorbed. And my superiors obliged with the parting of their knowledge. Jennifer, if you're reading this, thank you.

I have found my calling to learn again.

And I have had much to learn. Some of these would come from some of my kids. Maybe it's dumb luck once again, but I have had the rare opportunity to hold classes with some of these bolsterous ones.

Being a tutor to a class and not on a one-to-one basis does take its toll. I finally realised how hard a teacher's job can be - I respect and give condolences to each and every teacher that has ever taught me. The unruliness, the lack of respect, the rhetorical questions, the mischief, oh... The horror!

It's Karma I tell you, because I see myself in some of them.

You'd be surprised how intelligent the little tykes would be these days. Being an egotistical bitch myself, I admit that I rarely think anyone's intelligence superior to mine (don't look at me that way, some of you are equally guilty). Yet, I've already found two kids of which are the smartest little brats you'd ever meet. I believe they're much smarter than me; Twice as anal though. They've got a good start - One's ten while the other's eleven.

The workload could kill, but I'm actually enjoying myself. Alot. Out of the house by 8am in the morning, back right before the stroke of midnight, sometimes even later if there is an event that stretches (random odd jobs at an event management company pay for my whimsical buys). Never mind that, OT pay's enough to cover my fatigue.

I'm so cheap.

What can one do while waiting for polytechnic admission but work? I've already slacked my ass away durin' the hols - Two weeks was more than enough. The third week got me more restless; The fourth made me tear my hair out from boredom. So what does one do? Apply for 20 jobs, throw CVs around, attend about half of the interviews and hope they pick you.

Perturbing, isn't it? Work in a nutshell, heh.

Which reminds me, I ought to choose a course for polytechnic soon. Great.

I'll get to it sooner or later.

Probably later.

I'm out.

Hindsight

2007-12-31T00:51:00.000-08:00

"Epilogue."

Dear all,

It has already been seven long years ever since the turn of the last millennium.

Damn, ten more of these and I'll be dead.

- - - - -

Time to look back on my past stuff and see what I have done:-

Get more arty-farty [√]
I can't remember the last time I drew something. On the other hand, I discovered my love for the arts via dance and music. The chorale has been great to me.

Sleep at 10pm [X]
I tried that for about two weeks. I gave up soon after. Who the hell sleeps at that hour?!

Concentrate on task jobs, [√]
It hasn't been easy to concentrate fully on one sole project particularly, but it's been done a few times. The wonders of the human mind continues to astound me.

Learn new instrumentals [√]
AHAHAHA I CAN STRUM THE GUITAR NOW, DOES THAT COUNT?

Stop being an asshole [X]
Are you kidding?

Study everyday [√]
Every other day, probably. Every day? Pssshhhhhhh. On the other hand, does one count doing homework "studying"? If so, yeah, I studied everyday- Only because there's -always- mugging and homework to do in JC. Ugh.

Gain five kilograms [X]
I lost two instead. =/

Start saving money, [√]
I like my scrounging and saving... only for all of it to be spent on expensive wants later. Easy come, easy go.

Work out 3 times a week [X]
CHECK OUT MY MATCHING PIPES! YOU LIKE?

Stop procrastinating, [X]
And the world would implode if that ever happened.

Start blogging 3 times a week! [X]
Totally.

That's not bad, I managed about 45% of my resolution. Not a bad start, considering it was 0% the last... decade.

Follow-throughs aren't exactly a strong point. =x

- - - - - -

What about regret?

I learnt many things along the way, so I don't regret the time I've spent in YJC. If anything, I actually did learn things. Things like responsibility, perseverance and limit-breaking, to name a few.

Surely there has to be some regret...

Junior College life wasn't too bad, still-- life should be more than studies and results. And passion above all else.

Self-delusion now.

And as I stood by the quay with Jasper and rest of the guys watching the fireworks, I remembered our promise to each other the previous year that should anyone of us get attached during 2007, we bring our other halves with us and celebrate the new year together.

He brought Lynnette.

I brought nobody.

Sigh.

Maybe everything happens for a reason.

Along the road the traveller takes, adventure and steps that he will make...

Four more months before I actually start on my unchartered route towards a polytechnic education. In the meantime, who's to know what will happen, eh?

Work is of utmost priority, of course. I have to figure a way out around that whole JAE thing. Clerical jobs seem like a decent job even with my hands bound to my kids.

Also, I still have no idea what course I'm about to throw myself into. Something in the arts would be good. That limits my choice to about a hundred courses to take. Great.

I might start on a long-overdue project that was supposed to be two years ago. Of course, without proper expertise and resources, it'll be fucking difficult.

This is going to be a difficult tim-

... For fools lie asunder their dark misdeeds, no crop sown will bear them seeds.

Ah, might as well go for it.

With that said, DiwD will be on hiatus for the next three months unless the author decides that he's ready to return at an earlier date (like that's going to happen).

Till then, this is Don signing off to explore the world for all of its eccentricities and splendor.

Cheers.

Regards,
Don.

Checkpoint, Pt. 2

2007-12-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

"Aren't rhetoricals supposed to be answered?.. Don't answer that."

It takes guts to continue;
to proceed with your job.
It's always procrastination
that never returns your lob.

And while learning to forgive
takes time to practice,
Learning to forget takes
a bout of amnesia.

People don't want to know
what's right or wrong.
They usually don't think
about it for very long.

Only when they realise
their deadly mistake,
they'd try their best to salvage
the situtation--

-- Yeah, like that's gonna work.

While there is
no better way to
keep score on things,
Money is a lousy way.

My best friend and I can do
anything or nothing
and still have the best time.

Actually, a stranger and I can do
anything or nothing
and still have the best time.

So take the chance
and party hard.
Then settle down
and make your mark.

Sometimes the people
you expect to kick you
when you're down
will be the ones
to help you get back up.

And at times when I'm angry
I have the right to be angry,
but that doesn't give me
the right to be cruel.

But why be angry?
You'll just be punishing yourself
for someone else's mistakes.

True friendship continues to grow
even over the longest distance.
The same applies to true love.

There are many ways of
falling and staying in love.
And there is no better way
to describe it.

And there are people
who love you dearly,
and everyone has a few
somewhere or another.

They just don't know how to show it.
Make the first move and demonstrate.

Although the word "love"
can have many different meanings,
it loses value when overly used.
Never say what you don't mean.

But just because someone
doesn't love you the way you want them to
doesn't mean that they
don't love you with all they have.

Experience is about
counting the days that matter
rather than
counting the days that slipped by.

While trials and tribulations
forges a soul of strength,
optimism preserves it.

Never tell a child that
their dreams are outlandish.
A tragedy it would be
if they believe it.
Young hearts have strong potential
but weak frames.

Sad to say,
your family won't always
be there for you.

It may seem funny,
but people you aren't related to
can show the same amount of
care and concern
and teach you to trust people again.

Families aren't necessarily biological.

And no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you
every once in a while
and you must forgive them for that.

Still, it isn't always enough
to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn
to forgive yourself first.

Time and tide waits for no man;
The world doesn't stop for your grief.

Our background
and circumstances
may have influenced
who we are,
but we are responsible
for who we are,
and what we are becoming.

Credentials do not make you
a decent human being.
Morality does.

Two people can look
at the exact same thing
and see something totally different.
That's when differences step in.

My friends fight,
I'm forced to choose sides
even when I don't want to.
Moral dilemmas never fail to exist.

And so does irony.
When I sit on the fence,
that's when they unite...
... against me.

And no matter how hard
you try to protect them,
they will eventually get hurt
and you will hurt in the process.

And it's hard to determine
where to draw the line
between being nice,
not hurting people's feelings
and standing up for what you
b-e-l-i-e-v-e.

That's when we realise that
we don't have to change friends
if we understand that friends change.

And just because two people argue,
it doesn't mean that
they don't love each other.
Similarly,
just because they don't argue,
it doesn't mean they do.

And one shouldn't be so
eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.

No matter the consequences,
those who are honest with
themselves get farther in life.
Of course, lying proves to be
effective in the short run.
That's where long-sightedness
come in.

Friends are mathematically impossible,
where amount accounts for nothing.
It's the kind of relationship you maintain
that quality counts for everything.

When you think
you have no more to give
and a friend cries out to you,
you will find the strength to help.

Of course, one's bound to be lonely
sooner or later
if you're always acting as the pillar.
Unless you crumble first.

And your life can be changed
in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.
Influence is a magical thing.

Writing, as well as talking,
can fulfill emotional needs.
It's a good stress reliever.

There's no excuse to go bitching
on the internet and via MSN.
Private blogs aren't private;-
The internet is never private.

People rarely practise
what they preach.
It has and always will be
a constant battle between
selfishness and selflessness.

And for all that's worth?
I've learnt that...
...it's taking me a long time
to become the person I want to be.

Alas!
The paradigm that we live in
is not all that is offered to us.

Or is it?

Think about it.

Checkpoint, Pt. 1

2007-12-26T00:07:00.000-08:00

"The following is tastefully edited from a certain idea that was ripped from a certain forum. That means I can't fudging remember where I first got inspiration for this."

Checkpoint

Seventeen years and a
false stop in act,
I've learnt plenty
with most of them fact.
Sense has been made
though less of them common,
Mistakes that appeared,
from what I would learn-

-that you cannot make someone love you.
Though you can try your best
All you can do is
be someone who can be loved.
(That's usually a test.)
The rest is up to them.

And sometimes,
no matter how much you care,
some people just don't reciprocate.
I'd have faith in them though.
They will someday, late
is always better than never.

It takes years to build up trust,
and only seconds to destroy it.
It takes decades to develop a relationship,
and only a wrong turn for a hit.

And that what
you have in Life isn't important,
but rather who
you have in Life that counts.

Charm gets you by pretty well
for about fifteen minutes.
After that, you'd better know
something or it's
respect-back guarantee.

Irregardless of how hot and steamy
a relationship is at first,
the passion will fade, prompting you
to replace infatuation's hearse.

Comparing yourself to the
best others can do is fine and dandy,
but trying to be the best you can do is
another matter altogether.
I'd prefer doing the best that others expect of me.

Whatever happens isn't important.
What we do about it is.

We are always responsible for our actions,
and no excuse can deny that.
An instance of negligence
can produce a lifetime of regret.

And no matter how thin you slice a cake,
there are always two sides
unless you slice them again.
Even then, you can't have your cake
and eat it too.

It is far easier to react
than it is to think.
It takes seconds to understand,
but hours or days for it to sink.

One should always leave
others with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
Spite them and it will not.

It has always been an issue
of mind over matter-
You can keep going
long after you think you can't.
Limits exist for a reason, though.

It is the attitude
not the aptitude
that determines the altitude.

And heroes are the people
who do what has to be done
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.

There's a thin line, though,
between a hero and a moron.

-to be continued-

Another Closed Chapter

2007-12-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

"I finally mustered up the discipline to write this post, weeks after the concert. It's almost time for the epilogue."

Dear Diary,

It has almost been half a year of practice, and it all boils down to this very day.

A combined performance with a 120-strong choir -and- the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, right at the very heart of Singapore's art scene- The Esplanade. What a way to end it.

I remember the months before that all of us would scuttle to and fro our classes, and start learning our pieces for the Christmas show. Always a fan of John Rutter's work ever since I first heard Et Misericordia, Mr Poon's decision for YJChorale to participate in such a concert was almost godsend (pardon the pun).

Perhaps it was the passion to perform (ooh alliteration) that made me commit to the concert even after quitting YJC. Maybe it were the people. On hindsight, definitely the people.

Eric would always come in with his signature "Make way, hot stuff coming through!". It has never failed to crack me up. It was eye-opening to see the professional choirs work with such zest, and a pleasure to meet jokers like Mus-- (You are damn lame, can?) There were times when we whined and complained of late practices (Mus did that alot), but still, there was this certain sparkle in his eyes that told of his willingness to perform. That, or I might have been hallucinating. Thick coffees right before choir practices do that to you.

Funny, there was always that certain affinity I felt with the choir, no matter how much segregated it was said to be. I doubt we differ much really, we're all here to sing. And that's all that matters.

Unless you're a stickler for perfection, but even that's understandable. Give it your best shot, and never say die until you actually are. Dr Goh (remember ah, I'm a doctor! I can give you MC okay!) gave us a final dry-run, corrected a few mistakes, and let us go. Well, not the tenors though.

All of us were instructed to occupy Mr Poon's room, and he made all of us change colour. Both literally and metaphorically. I have a vague recollection of turning green as I struggled towards a vibrato. I succeeded that night.

It's appalling to see a half a year's vocal training make a difference. Nonsense, that would be what Miss Yap would say if you said that you 'can't'. Maybe it was that very spirit that allowed me to hone my still-abysmal voice. It cracks less now. I've therefore come to a conclusion that I can't sing.

I'm still trying.

Break a leg. It's your big night. Just relax and enjoy everyone, you deserved it.

Sure as hell we did. The crowd wasn't intimidating at all; The orchestra flagged the frontline.

A few minor adjustments and a flick of a wrist later, and we were all off.

Magnificat, magnificat. Anima Mea, dominum...

The sheer intensity of the song was atomic. I could actually hear the sound resonate back to where I was standing. That's easily half a mile travelled.

Just think of how far human culture and technology has improved in order for us to perform such a piece, from scratch even. Dozens of different instruments, eight-part vocals all harmonizing into a vibrant assimilation of jubilancy.

All that, for a mere five minutes. That humble five minutes where everything else just didn't matter. It was you, your peers, the conductor (always keep an eye on the conductor!), and your audience. Nothing else.

It was when everything settled down to silent melancholy that a round of polite applause should break it.

Plenisunt caliet terra, gloria tua. Hossana et excelsis...

That's where beauty transcends the set boundaries of language. A single non-conformity that implicates all senses, throwing all of them into chaotic disarray. With each and every different movement the audience was treated to melodic peace, abruptly interrupted by the foreboding layers of creeping, instilling fear. You don't know what to do or think anymore. You're enveloped by the climax. You are living the moment.

Salvation. You give your thanks and pledge allegiance. You bound around in joy. There is a nexus between you and your your benefactor. You can't feel any less protected than you already are.

Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the new-born king.

Amen.

And just when you thought that it was safe to breathe a sigh of relief?

"What would Christmas be without any carolling?" Oh right, the carols. It's Christmas after all.

We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year...

Less than a fortnight to the new year, and it's been a great ride.

Merry Christmas.

Signed,
Don

Blogging with a PSP

2007-11-26T03:12:00.000-08:00

"The wonders of technology."

This post is proudly constructed via the advancement of modern technology, and just that last sentence took five minutes to type out.

You have done it again, good chap.

Here's to my first and hopefully last post with a PSP.

Note: This entire post took 18 minutes to access, load, type out and publish.

Facebook

2007-11-13T05:41:00.000-08:00

"Don't friend you, liao! =P"

So I've just discovered this wonderful thing called Facebook.

Okay, so I'm alittle slow out there with all these weird thingamajigs; I actually thought that Facebook was a spin-off from the largely twit-popular social website that spawned from the pits of hell. And no, I will not mentions its name- It's not worthy enough. All I can say is that it starts with the letter F, and ends with the letter R, and rhymes with "fucker". *cough*

I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't have to write nonsensical testimonials for friends, nor did I have to pray for my friend-counter to increase in order for me to look "popular". Instead, I was invited to... as of count, 15 games. Yeah.

Fifteen.

Pets.
Ninjas vs Pirates.
Fight Club.
Haikoo Zoo.
Super Poke.
Human Pets.
Make a Baby. (I was -very- disappointed.)
Pirates.
Vampires.
Slayers.
Werewolves.
Zombies.
Water Fight!
Hobowars.
Warbook...

...I think there's still more.

What the fuck.

This is like Bonus.com, only better.

When I came online, I immediately got challenged to a fight by Mavis. Of which I lost horribly. Then I fought with Kayre. I died a death worse than... death. Then later on, Bernie had aliens abduct me, while I performed Sharon's vasectomy... and sticking chewing gum into April's hair, fighting Nimi with a light-sabre, bored Aaron to death with an old man telling stories...

... Lost yet?

Yeah. There's just too many damn things to do on Facebook. I sincerely apologise to everyone who I've mocked for having a Facebook addiction, because I find myself developing one myself. The games are too damn fun.

So, I was having tons of fun biting people with my werewolf, until some idiot that I didn't know came up to me and -added me as a friend-. I didn't know who he was, nor did he. He just wanted to "make friends". Right. I splashed his sorry ass with my 100 oz. water-filled fire hydrant, and deleted him from my list. Mwahaha.

Talk about weird people.

Then later on, a friend comes up to me on MSN, surprised that I actually joined a social website. It went something like this...

Friend: "You joined?"
Me: "Yeah. Join and add me as friend."
Friend: "Wtf."
Me: "??"
Friend: "Never thought you were the type that would actually be like this."
Me: "Like what?"
Friend: "Friend-whore."

Okay, what the fuck is a "friend-whore"?! One who participates in copulations with close aquaintances? Yes, please.

Since, you know, "the whole point of all these is to see how many friends you have".

Right. *rolls eyes*

He didn't see the point of creating a Facebook account for another social debacle, just because he feared that he would turn into a "friend-whore" like me.

Oei, harlo. If I consider you a friend, then you are a friend. If not, I wouldn't even bother talking to you. I add you because I want to -keep in touch- with you, not increase my friend-count, can? Anyway, don't add you, add strangers meh?

Because "I want to be friends with you". EEEEEE.

Think I'm like some people ar, must get 200 friends by the end of some period of time, meh? (True story.) I'd rather have my Fluffy-kins at level 20, my corsair pirate at level 80, and my foot up your ass.

Don't make me throw my hot potato at you.

So after he 'added' me as a friend (I can be pretty persuasive), I proceeded to bomb his sorry ass in Warbook. And Hobowars. And my entire werewolf/vampire/slayer/zombie entourage. It was to the point of which I had nothing else to throw at him did I "throw flowers" at him via 'SuperPoke!'.

That's what you get for being a douche.

Welcome to Facebook, friend. =)

Velleity

2007-11-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

"What to do now?"

The results are out.

I'm utterly disappointed.

And that's all I have to say.

Uncomfortable relief

2007-11-04T05:48:00.000-08:00

"I'm haunted by the fear of failure."

I'm finally done with the powerpoint slides and the videos for the Oral Presentation due tomorrow morning. Went through the scripts like, I don't know, twelve times?

Yeah, I'm -already- relieved for Project Work, even though one of its most significant component has yet to be completed. And to think I've been so indolent.

On the other hand, I'm more freaked out by the aspect of receiving the results for the promotional examinations. Yes, it's due tomorrow, 5th of November. You guys know the reason why the results are released so late.

*coffsopeoplewontbailonpwcoff* Yeah. Sorry about that. Bad cough.

It's quite a new low I'm getting right now, with the fear of retaining looming right before me. The rumours I've heard make me piss-less. <10% pass for Economics? <50% pass for Mathematics? I refuse to believe it... I think.

I've had enough punishment for now. The past weeks have had me drowning in self-pity, over my poor performance during the promos. I'm not blaming fate altogether, but urgh, this year is, and I quote, "so damn fucking suay".

Who would have thought that after mugging your ass off for Maths and Physics, you'll fall sick halfway through? Illnesses and examinations don't mix well. And even when I went to see the invigilators for an excuse (albeit a pitiful one), they tell me "there's nothing else we can do- you've already completed the exam". And I'm supposed to provide a medical certificate to certify my sickness. Meh.

Hell, I don't even think I'll score for Lit. It was said that the results for H1 Lit was released alittle too early, and when checked, I got a C. It wasn't really my day.

That, and I don't know how to face my parents. Or the rest of my family, for that matter. Ego aside, I feel that I've failed myself.

Self-persuasion (read:Delusion) has helped once again, but I doubt optimism exists within me anymore.

[emo] I don't know, really. I really don't. [/emo]

Bah. I've considered my options anyway.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Bad?

If I do not make it, I'll transfer to another school, hopefully they'll accept me into J2. Stamford Raffles JC, I hope. It's a drowning-in-a-river-straw-clutching move, but desperate times do call for desperate measures.

If not, I could always try for private schools. Take private A's, get it over and done with.

Or maybe consider Poly. Maybe, just maybe.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Good?

If I do actually get another chance at taking the exams again (in the form of Provisional Advancements or Sub-papers), then that'll be hella great. I've learnt my lessons. Constancy from now on. And purpose. *snort*

- - - - - - - - - - - -

But who's to know? It's said that 'they've already decided on ya', so there's 'no point worrying about it anymore'.

Okay.

I'm just crossing my fingers really tight now.

And it hurts.

Lookin' into the Future Pt. 2

2007-10-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

"I've learnt that if I can't finish posts up, and/or haven't the time or effort to proof-read my posts, sequencing them part-by-part would be so much easier on myself and you guys. So here's part II."

Look at where all of us are today? It's been a year, and everyone seems to be getting along well with whatever they're doing, mugging and all. Soon the guys will go to NS, and the girls to their respective universities.

We're growing up.

Who knew what was in store for us in the future?

Love? Fortune? Success?

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I was pulled into one of those palmistry booths during the Halloween Party@ Escape Theme Park.

Why? It was either that or the tarot reading, or gawd forbid, indian fortune-telling (it involves a bird picking a card, of which it would be read off and interpreted by the wisecrack).

So alright, I'm still not the superstitious kind, but hey, it's worth a shot, no?

I'm talking about chinese palmistry, not indian fortune-telling.

I don't know about you people, but I ain't gonna even -bother- listening to some turban guy with an intoxicated bird dancing around on some colourful mat, picking out a card that's going to tell me my future. I wouldn't have one anyway, after I take a whiff of its over-perfumed incense.

I think the bird's high on it.

Anyway, skeptical me entered the booth, and I was greeted by a gypsy.

No shit, we're talking curly hair, shiny white teeth, earrings mimicking aztec culture, a white plain-cut blouse ~~and a crystal-ball~~.

"Take a seat," she said, as she stretched her arms out waywardly, an obviously sign of fatigue.

I raised an eyebrow, and sat on the unforgiving frigid steel, its piercing wintriness numbing me. Didn't the last guy who sat here just leave? Damn, he must have freakin' cold buttcheeks.

"So, you want your fortune to be told?" She inquired, her calm and steady voice a perforation through the chatter of the queue only a mere metre away from where I was sitting now.

"Alright?"

"Stretch out your hands. (sic)" And I did, my fist semi-clenched, not knowing whether to show her my palm or the back of my hand first.

"Stretch out your hands properly," she repeated once more, this time with a hint of exasperation. I quickly heeded orders.

She took my hand, placing a well-trimmed nail at a line of which cut diagonally through my hand, her perfectly manicured hands feeling the crevasses of which were supposed to whisper to her my destiny.

She looked up, and straight into my eyes. Not one to avoid eye contact, I stared back. Then, she smiled.

"Your hands are clean," she waited for my response.

"Uhh, yeah. I kinda washed them just-" I couldn't resist such a comeback.

"- I mean it in another sense. You haven't sinned with these hands before, have you?" She raised her eyebrows at me, and only then did I notice the extremely thick mascara that she put on her eyes...

"Well, I've sinned alot..."

"I mean, stealing. Killing. Things like that." It was clear she knew I was playing her.

"Well, if you put it that way, no."

She smiled, as though comforted.

"Good. Because the hands never lie. You'll grow up to be someone honest..."

Honest? Hah.

"... Someone sincere... "

That'll be the day.

"... Someone who's true to not only yourself, but to everyone else around you."

"... Uhh, okay?" I was clearly unconvinced.

"Cherish those around you right now. You'll be surprised how many good friends you have."

"..."

"So! On with business. Okay, and so, this line is..."

She pointed out the corresponding lines and their attributes, and gave me the general idea on how things were going to be like.

So far, I am going to...

Live to about the seventies - eighties.
Have shitty luck with money early on, only to be much, much richer in the future.
Gonna get quite a few opportunies early on in life, but I would have to learn how to recognize them.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Here's where skepticism comes along.

If you think about this way, advancements in modern technology in half a century would -probably- get me breathing through a tube if my body does fail before I reach my seventies. I would, in the most literal sense, be a zombie.

As for money, I'm dirt-poor right now. I'm not kidding. As of now, I have... *checks wallet* 8 dollars and 55 cents. Well woop-tee-doo to my being rich in the future, I could be -ten times- as rich as I am now, and only have 85 dollars. Proportionality loopholes aren't funny.

Opportunities? Come on, lah. That happens to -everyone-. You just need half a brain to -realise- that what you're being offered is an opportunity right there, most of the time. Of course, such "opportunities" are usually dumb-ass risks you'll have to take in order to gamble for your success.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I was hemming and hawwing to the vague references towards my supposed fortune, and -then- she becomes all serious-like and warns me.

"Be careful when you reach 40. An illness may catch you off-guard... Probably something to do with the liver."

What about cancer? That would be SO much more melodramatic.

"I'm serious about this. Don't drink so much right now. I can see that you booze quite abit."

"Huh? How do you know?"

"I just know." Ooh. Creepy.

"Okay! So, interested in your love life?" She suddenly perked up, and grinned a toothy one.

I was suddenly intrigued.

I was struck with a prediction that I couldn't believe.

"You're going to have.. hmmm. I can't tell for sure, but at least two sons here," she was using a magnifying glass now, hunting for any clues that would give away my strength in fertility.

Wait.

Hold up one second.

"What do you mean two sons at least?!" I was flabbergasted.

"Well, you'll just have to be careful there, won't you?" She gave me a knowing wink, of which I shrugged off nonchalantly.

Then came the final blow that would probably affect me for a very, very long time.

"Try not to get married before you're 28, of it would end in tragedy."

OHSHITTHEREGOESMYHOPESFORANEARLYMARRIAGEOHGAWDDAMNIT.

"... Huh?"

"Well, you can choose to heed the warning or not, it's up to you. So just have fun now, and take your time to choose your soulmate."

"... Huh."

"Mm, is there anything else you'll like to ask me? I'll try to answer it if I can."

And so I asked her about my near future, of which I was certain she couldn't tell. I needed re-assurance of some sort about the promos.

"Let's see here... Well, you're going to have to take a short break from your studies for awhile as you focus on something new..."

Awshit.

"... And you'll probably be working and studying at the same time soon after. But don't worry about this, everything will turn out fine soon after this."

"And?" I inquired further.

"That's all I can tell. Now, good luck now. Oh, and be careful of the things I told you about."

"Thank you, happy halloween."

"And to you too, dear boy. You'll turn out fine, don't worry."

.
.
.

I return home and told my mum about the gypsy's predictions, only to realise that my eight characters speak of almost the same things.

There were some other revelations that were alittle too similar for comfort.

A mere coincidence, or are our destinies already set?

And I end off with a quote from my father's analogy on life, via presentation of the tangible.

"Some people have it, some people don't. You understand?"

"Okay, let's put it this way. However much make-up an ugly girl puts to beautify herself, she could never be as pretty as the pretty girl with light make-up. And no, don't count plastic surgery."

And I guess that's how Life works.

Lookin' into the Future Pt. 1

2007-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

"His success may be great, but be it ever so great the wheel of fortune may turn again and bring him down into the dust."

I can't believe I had to wake up so early on a Friday morning.

9am. Who the fudge wakes up at 9am?!

And no, it doesn't bother me that I had school. *whistles* The last day doesn't count.

So, I had to drag my ass down to Yishun (the irony!) and get stuff for the barbecue, and then head down to Downtown East to set everything up, all on a Friday morning.

But hey, it was a learning experience, albeit a tortuous one.

I've learnt that-

1. Girls can knoll (knell? meld? held?) marinated squid well, no matter what. Wait, do you actually need skill for that task?

2. Subway on an empty stomach is sheer delight. Whoever knew that Cold Cut Trio on a warm ~~summer's~~ day could be so heavenly?

3. Yixuan is -ALWAYS- late. Confirm, guarantee, plus chop.

That said, everyone hasn't changed; They're still the same goofy bunch of people I've come to adore. I doubt there was much change. Or at least, judging from my recollection of them. A few of them still retained their gifted attributes.

Son is still un-taopok-able. Four people tried to take him on. Four people, and all of them failed miserably. Think Hulk, but much shorter, and 34,359,639,834,502 times more mathematically efficient.

Oh, and I lagi buay tahan Nathanael. I believe he was the one who came up with the "Curse of the Bridge". The curse is of deadly accuracy, and targets each and every one who attempts to test this curse. And I quote, "When you first step onto the bridge, you will be cursed to get to the other side *cue spooky music*". Think about it.

What.
The.
Fuck.

Aaron was still as whimsical as ever, the little prick. He played Chubby Bunny (idea courtesy of our ever-insane-Pamela), and got seven marshmellows in his mouth. Both Han Hui and him went to 'kacau' Sarah's boyfriend too! The poor sucker must have had it hard.

I would join in the fun, but I was too late. They disappeared before I even knew.

Some people just have all the fun.

Joker also called Hao Bo about 10 (?) pm, and was greeted by the asinine barbarian with a "I'M SLEEPING LA -cuts line off-".

P.S. Which reminds me, I still owe Jiahao a blogpost of me insulting Hao Bo. It'll come soon, don't worry. Must wait until he does something stupid... Which means we don't have to wait very long.

.
.
.

Oh, and Jay's On The Run is going to be out soon. As much as I can't stand him, I gotta give respect, man.

As much bullshit he does throw around every now and then with Busy Cowboy(Nu Zai Hen Mang) and Listen to your Mother (Ting Ma Ma De Hua), even his shittiest had catchy tunes. That, and "Wo Bu Pei" and "Qing Hua Ci" were masterpieces.

Just for that, I'm obliged to forgive his dual-piano playing cockiness in Secret. And his Meteor-Garden-esque "Tian Tian De".

I'm almost beginning to be impressed by him. ~~Even envious.~~

I blame this on Mei Gui and ~~Jia Hao~~ Gead. Jia Hao will be henceforth known as Gead. 'Nuff said.

Because he has a big head. Literally. And because he owns in mahjong. And piano. Pui.

.
.
.

Okay, I just realised that I digressed too much and went off-topic.

Don't care.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Stranded

2007-10-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

"Some people should just die and return their carbon to the face of the earth so that something more useful, like a weed, can grow."

10.58pm

"I guess it's time for us to leave now," I muttered as we prepared to leave Utopia.

A hot shower just before left me with heightened sense as Nat and I raced down the concrete boulevard to catch the last bus out of Downtown East.

No luck. The last bus left minutes earlier.

My watch beeped as I glanced at it. I had only half an hour more to reach home before all hell was let loose.

I scanned the surroundings- There was no other choice but to walk. It was about a two kilo-metre walk; Sprinting there would shave off the precious time I had left though. A taxi was hailed.

11.07pm.

"We're gonna miss this last bus," I said as I alighted from the vehicle, a stone's throw away from the bus interchange.

"No we're no-Oh shit." A large crimson vehicle with an frontal incandescent 88 aglow sped past us.

"Great, that was the last bus, right?"

"Ya."

We decided to walk to the bus stop ahead of us, to see what other buses there was.

11.13pm

Another Number 88 sped past us.

"What the fuck?" I shook my head in disbelief as Nat comforted me.

"So now we know that's the last bus. At least you can take Bus 89 home."

"Oh yeah, I coul-Aw SHIT."

A quick turn of the head revealed Number 89 just around the corner of the traffic junction. A traffic light was its cessation. I signalled towards the bus captain, trying to persuade him to slow down. He shook his bald head. One could only board or alight buses at respective venues, namely bus stops.

"No, uncle, you don't understand. I'm not trying to board the bus, I just hope you'll slow down," I shouted, my shrill voice piercing through the engine's roar.

He shook his head, now marred with a disgruntled look.

"He doesn't get it. Let's just make a run for it. He'll understand then," and with that, Nat sprinted towards the next bus-stop, an estimated 300m away.

I followed suit, my long legs perfect for such short distances. My Adidas carryall, however, was not-so-perfect.

Unfortunately, abeyance was beyond the puny brain of this woodland creature. Upon seeing two teenage boys sprinting towards the very next bus-stop, the fucker ACCELERATED past said bus-stop. No amount of words could describe the displeasure (read: killing tendencies) I felt then.

11.17pm

"Die."

"Okay, let's just return to the interchange. Maybe we can work something out."

It was a dreary kilo-metre walk back, as I described various methods of which I could use to disembowel the dumb fuck.

11.36pm

A call had to be made, since most of the straight-journey buses were missed.

Mother wasn't too happy.

"Hail a cab and come home right now." That was all she said. It was enough to make anyone shit bricks.

"But..."

That half-witted response ensured my swift death via caterwauls (it's true, anger+middle-age woman= AHHH MY EARS).

My plan was to take Number 58 to Serangoon, then switch to an MRT via the North-East Line back to Sengkang. It was the most cost-efficient way, since there was no doubt that the taxi fare was going to come right out of my pocket, burning a hole twice as big due to it being midnight charge.

She relented (we call this the eye of the storm).

11.44pm

After refusing Nat's gesture of his mother sending me home (it wasn't in the way, and I hate being a hindrance), I boarded Number 58 with him.

Just when I was rattling on about how I've to figure out a new plan should I miss the last train home from Serangoon, luck changed for the better.

"So if you miss the last train, then how?"

"Walk home, la. Singapore so small, scared what?"

A Good Samaritan gestured towards me and told me that 58 does pass by IKEA Tampines, and that I could-

"Take 27 home! Genius!" I cried. There was a way out of this!

She just smiled.

"Wait, WeiWen. What if the last bus for 27 has already left?"

"It won't, I know it," she smiled again, confidently.

"That's a risk I'll have to take, then." I simpered.

Melodramatic.

11.59pm

"Just cross this junction, and wait for the bus there," the woman pointed towards a pitch-dark spot, with a pathetic looking stop-sign protruding from the side of it. It was bizarre, as its surroundings was brightly lit by overhead lamps. It looked nothing like itself in daylight.

Man, why does it have to be so creepy at night.

"Hey man, be careful, alright?" Nat's thumbs-up sign boosted my confidence.

Alighting the bus, I sped across the busy causeway, hoping as hell that my bright clothing would ensure my safety.

Just then, a familiar vehicle approached, its lambent 2 and 7 lighting the darkened bus-stop.

My fleet-footedness put me right in front of the two-storey vehicle. On hindsight, it might have been fatigue clouding my decision-making. Obviously, it screeched to a halt as I boarded it, its passengers staring at me in disbelief.

"Eh, boy. Siao arh? Want to die is it?" The elderly driver was none too happy.

"Paiseh, lah, uncle. Need to reach home early." At this, he lightened up and smiled.

"Don't worry, 27 last bus is 1 plus. You still have alot of time. Next time don't do this again, okay? I stop, never mind. What happen if I never stop?"

"Die?" I have this bad habit of replying rhetorical questions.

"YA LA!" His outburst startled me, along with half the passengers aboard.

"But never mind, you safe then okay already."

"Orh. Thanks ah, uncle."

12.19pm

An SMS was received as I alighted the bus. It was from Nat.

"Eh, if you miss bus, then don't tire yourself out. Tired then take a taxi. Dangerous to walk home at night. Life more important."

I laughed. I replied him as I turned the keys to my front door.

"Don't worry la, bro. I'm already home. ;)"

His next reply?

"Wtf"

What an adventure this has turned out to be.

Inevitable Imminence

2007-10-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

"Talk about having a deep moment."

The chalet site was so quiet; so... tranquil. The rustling leaves amongst the grassy fields which surrounds the crimson-brick constitution. Barbecue pits alfresco, a theme park and the beach a stone throw away; what more could one ask for?

As the sun set, one could see throngs of holiday-makers streaming in, setting up their picnics, barbecues, events, etc. Balloons and streamers hanging from gazettes, laughter filling the air, a cornucopia of pleasure.

No quarrels; no fights. Sizzles took place of harsh words, meat filling the orifices of which it would usually emanate from if left unchecked. The only outbursts would come from the over-excited children who were probably hyped up by their increased glucose intake.

No frowns, no sneers, and certainly no hypocrisy. No envy, no jealousy, no malice.

Happiness...

... It's almost like paradise.

A world of its own, sundered from the residuum of hatred, ignorance and brutality.

.
.
.

Utopia.

Strolling casually away from worries, the eye would notice the vast expanse of the sea. What are we working towards? What would the future bring?

Stretch your hand out.

Our horizon is in sight, but could we ever reach it?

I remind myself- The destination is a journey by itself.

The warmth that never was

2007-10-15T21:27:00.000-07:00

"So it's all over now. Woop-dee-doo."

One Flesh

Lying apart now, each in a separate bed,
He with a book, keeping the light on late,
She like a girl dreaming of childhood,
All men elsewhere - it is as if they wait
Some new event: the book he holds unread,
Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead.

Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion,
How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch,
Or if they do it is like a confession
Of having little feeling - or too much.
Chastity faces them, a destination
For which their whole lives were a preparation.

Strangely apart, yet strangely close together,
Silence between them like a thread to hold
And not wind in. And time itself's a feather
Touching them gently. Do they know they're old,
These two who are my father and my mother
Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold?

Elizabeth Jennings

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This was one of the poems for H2 Literature, the motif being marriage. It's such a beautiful piece that I couldn't help putting it here for all of you to appreciate. I'm from H1 Literature.

So you guys should totally appreciate it.

Now.

Yes, scroll up and read the thing. I know many of you just skip that.

.
.
.

Mm, the exams are finally over. Man, the real anxiety starts now. I'm freaked out for results, and it's been like, six hours since the end of the last paper.

Urgh.

The last few days have been one of the worst times of my life... as of yet. After studying non-stop for the past few days, I think I may have reached my limit break.

Why? Procrastination, that's why.

Economics went fairly well, but I didn't finish section B of one of the DRQ. Needless to say, 0/8 marks right there. For sure.

Bah, Mrs Koh was nice enough to tell me to "forget about that and focus on others".

Right. That spelt the two-day crash course on mathematics with dear Miss Phoon. She taught me the entire syallabus in two days. I kowtow to her, sia. I actually understood the lot of them. Unbelievable.

That was until I made a serious mistake.

But I knew I lacked practice, so I actually went an entire night of pure muggage, before sleeping for 2 hours before going for the exam. I'll sleep when I die.

So, an hour later, I felt my stomach grumble. Yep. Diarrhoea. No idea what caused it too.

Well, that may be unlucky, but that wasn't the mistake I made. I actually drank strong coffee right before the maths exam, just to "perk me up". Very bad idea. It was a three-hour paper, and I ended up going to the toilet for about close to half of it. But I did semi-finish the paper, up to question 13. (The last question was 14)

The end of the exam also spelt the end of me, too. I flipped back, and saw... Question 4, 5 and 6 was left undone. Unattempted. I only wrote the question number down. *facepalm* And those were the easy ones, if I remember right. Maclaurin's Series, AP-GP and all that useless junk.

Sigh.

But meh, what's over is over. I was pretty devastated about it, till Siow Ying told me to look for a teacher and explain what happened, not that it had any bearing on my results. It was to no avail. I was told, though, to provide an MC to certify my being sick, which I did, but I doubt it'll be considered as an excuse. YJC doesn't put up with excuses.

So, I dragged my sorry ass to the clinic and back to school of which a physics teacher taught me all that I had to know. Mind-blank moment. I knew from then on it was limit-break. With less than four hours of sleep over the past three days, I just couldn't continue. Lesson learnt. I tried my best to absorb all that I could, and then continued mugging for that entire night.

The next day was almost as bad. Physics turned out to be -horrible-, and I don't think I fared well for the literature one, either. I failed to see that the poems were, indeed, about sex.

Anyway, I'm dead beat from all the incessant information-absorb the last couple of days. Heading out to bed, with sweeping, strained relief. Hope I actually get promotional advance. (Which I doubt so, I'll prolly retain.)

So there, I knew that procrastination and sloth would catch up to me some day.

Guess it just had.

Econo-Academia

2007-10-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

"ELAS-CITY ELAS-CITY ELAS-CITY."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Author's Notes:
THIS IS A TRIBUTE TO ALL ECONOMICS STUDENTS.
OH, AND THIS IS TOTAL BULLSHIT.

(That means that the majority of the stuff here are just pure nonsense.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Econo-Academia

Define...

- Econo-Academia: Economics in academic context.

- Elasticity: The thing in rubber bands that make it go "boing".
- Demand: What I want.
- Supply: What you are supposed to give me.
- Monopoly: Board game by Parker Brothers.
- Firm: Not soft, not hard. Just nice.

.
.
.

Topic: Study Failure and Parental Intervention

Study failure occurs due to externalities, merit/demerit goods and public goods. (Merit/demerit goods and public goods are not touched upon as the author is a lazy-ass bitch.)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1. The Common Sense Mechanism

Studies use the common sense mechanism to allocate its scarce resources, usually time. It works automatically to allocate efficiently, with the end result being the maximization of personal benefit.

It is able to do this only if the following assumptions hold:

1) The entire cohort is perfectly competitive.
2) There is no externality.
3) Information is perfect.

However, in the real world, there is a failure due to the breakdown of the above assumptions:-

- There is inadequate information and immobile resources.
- The existence of externalities bring about partial study failure in the under-production of merit goods and over-production of merit goods.

In such instances, the role of the parent is to intervene in the individual towards a more efficient allocation of resources. When an individual does not result in an efficient allocation of resources, the individual or his studies is said to "fail".

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. Study Failure

Study failure can be defined as the inability of an unregulated individual to achieve good results in all circumstances.

Good results is obtained when there is constancy in work done and an adequate understanding of learnt topics.

It is attained when the amount of time allocated to its production of knowledge is such that the marginal private benefit is equal to marginal private cost. [MPB=MPC]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3. Some Important Concepts

Before we continue, it is of utmost importance that we understand some of the concepts that will be used in our analysis.

(a) Private Benefit: It is the benefit to the user from the consumption of a good. E.g. A user would be "full" of knowledge after eating a book.

(b) Marginal private benefit (MPB) : It is the additional benefit to users from consuming one more unit of the good. As more of a good is being consumed, the additional benefit to the consumers will fall. Therefore, DD=MPB. It means that users are usually super "kiam siap" (stingy) and will only pay the least that they can.

Note: Does not only apply to Singapore.

(c) Private Cost: It is the cost bourne by the individual such as time, respect, money, etc.

(d) Marginal private cost: It is the additional cost to individuals for one more unit of the good produced. As more units of a good are produced, the MPC will rise due to the law of diminishing marginal returns.

(e) Externalities: It can be a spillover cost or benefit that affects someone not directly involved in the consumption or production of the good and it is incurred without compensation.

- An example of external cost would be when a teacher screws up while teaching a class and causes the entire class to fail, he imposes an external cost on the students in terms of decreasing their productitivity. Such costs are not borne by the asshole, since he is only concerned with himself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

4. Welfare maximization: MPB=MPC

MPB=MPC is the criteria for an efficient allocation of resources to maximize personal well-being. Thus, if the individual does not produce where MPB=MPC, he or she would be allocative inefficient resulting in a failure to maximize welfare. In such circumstance, the individual or his studies is said to have failed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

5. Market Failure due to externality

In a free environment, the individual would only take into account his private costs, and ignore (or are unaware of >.>) the wider social costs and benefits. In this case, the common sense mechanism is likely to fail in bringing about an optimal allocation of resources.

[To put it in layman terms:

The majority of students succumb to laziness if left unattended to. They ignore the social implications like their failing of examinations and tests, so as long they can stay in the system. With that said, they usually have little or no common sense.

Why?

That is due to a inverse proportion between distractions and common sense. The higher the amount of distractions in your life, the lesser amount of common sense you have, and vice versa.]

In order to correct such externalities, parents have to intervene.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

6. Parental Intervention to Correct Externalities

To correct externalities, parents can use a slew of measures. Which measures they use will depend on the type of externality that occurs.

(i) Limiting

Parents can impose a limit that is equal to the marginal external cost. By doing so, individuals are forced to allocate their time towards knowledge-production, otherwise known as "studying".

Note: In the real world, there would still be some sort of negative externality remaining still. This is due to the obstinate individual insisting of not studying, following a "die-die must play" attitude.

Advantage: Many parents favour this solution because it still allows the individual to operate. By doing this, the individuals may be encouraged to find faster, more efficient ways to study. This limit thus acts as an incentive to reduce inefficiency in the long run: the faster the individual finishes his work, the more time there would be for him to slack.

Disadvantage: However, finding the correct amount of time to limit to eliminate efficiency loss isn't likely to be simple. Some things are very difficult or impossible to express accurately in terms of time. If we over-estimate external costs, we will tend to levy excessively high limites that more than correct for the actual external cost. In other words, the parents will piss the individual off for being "unreasonable".

(ii) Imposition of rules and regulations

Rules can be used to prohibit or regulate behaviour, usually by force, and/or punitive measures. For example, the individual should get good results in order for him to continue staying alive, or risk getting nagged to death by parents.

Advantage: Such measures directly reduce the level of negative externality to the desirable level, and are usually better than limiting. Furthermore, in most circumstances, parents have a better idea of the acceptable level of negative externality such as slacking than the amount of limit that would lead to that result. Rules and regulations are simple and clear to understand and are often easier to administer.

Disadvantage: The main problem of this is that they tend to be a rather blunt weapon. There would not be an incentive for the individual to reduce his slacking below the stated level. No matter how fast the individual finishes his work, he would still have to sit out the entire time allocated for his studying. Pfft. Furthermore, in order for the rule to be effective, the penalties of breaking it must be harsh and inspection or spot-checks must be frequent and rigorous.

(iii) Ban

This only happens in extreme cases, only if either party (the parent or the individual) is insane. You get the drift.

(iv) Parentalization

If the individual has a detrimental effect over his well-being, parents may be forced to take over his role completely, e.g. the sitting of examinations.

However, parents may not have information of the tested topics, and thus do not know how to do the papers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

7. Pseudo-Coase Theorem

Ronald Coase criticized parental intervention such as limiting and rules to correct externalities as he felt this will lead to greater inefficiency due to lack of information. He argued that whenever there are externalities, the parties involved could get together and make some negotiations to ensure efficiency. Thus, parental intervention may not always be necessary. However, there are three necessary conditions before Pseudo-Coase Theorem can be applied:

1. The word of each party should not be broken.
2. There must only be a low cost of negotiations, with little or no strings attached.
3. The source of externality must be well-defined.

As such conditions are often not satisfied in the real world, Pseudo-Coase Theorem is at most a theoretical exercise. However, it is still an important theorem as it forces parents to re-look at the way they tackle externalities.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

10. Conclusion: Cost-Benefit Analysis

This is an analysis by parents to measure the desirability of their intervening. They will weigh the individual's benefit against their own cost. If the benefit exceeds the cost, they will consider intervening without hesitation.

Yet, it's absurd that they would usually...

Limit-> Impose Rules -> Ban -> Parentalize.

Given that parental measures may have both benefits and costs, it is necessary for them to carry out such an analysis to assess whether their measures will lead to net welfare gain or loss.

Yeah, think about it.

Lecture over.

Being Anti-Establishment

2007-09-28T12:46:00.000-07:00

"This piece was written in 2006, during the good ol' days of secondary school. All has been left in its original form so as to retain its... blandness. Funny how a year has gone past now. Dug up for CTG 127, since they reminded me of it during a certain GP debate. Enjoy, y'all."

It is better to be a teenager today than in my parents' time

"Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush;
anxious for greater developments and greater wishes and so on;
so that children have very little time for their parents;
Parents have very little time for each other;
and the home begins the disruption of the peace of the world."
-Mother Teresa

Advancement in the human time-line has caused many changes- Political, economic, and social, to name a few. Undoubtedly, life has become increasingly challenging with aggrandized standards of living as the world evolves.

One has to agree to the belief that the lifestyle of teenagers nowadays is technology-based and hereby more titillating as compared to the past, one cannot avoid the fact that it is better to have been a teenager in my parents' time.

It was much healthier in the past with fresh air filling the lungs of our parents; the soft breeze that cooled their skin as they frolicked among the grassy highlands, admiring the scintillating view they had. Such joys cannot be enjoyed in today's society as more and more of Nature's splendor is bulldozed away to make way for towns and cities. No longer would teenagers enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that they have caught a fish from a nearby sewage drain, or marvel at the beauty of their kite floating amongst the wispy clouds that filled their skies. The simple pleasures of life have, instead, been replaced by long, unhealthy hours in front of the computer as teenagers battle it out in virtual reality.

School would have been unequivocally easier in their days as there was less to learn since school syllabus standards would have been lower as compared to today, where students have to undergo the learning of multiple subjects, trying to catch up with a system which would only aid them in their life only if they succeed in memorizing thousands upon thousands of facts without knowing why or how these facts occur. After a decade of monotonous education will today's students get a piece of paper to prove that they are indeed prepared to slave for their metropolitan master- Society.

Fast-paced society has caused many to break under pressure, creating a "survival for the fittest" scenario. On the other hand, life provided less stress as a minority of teenagers worried about their future. The only cause for their concern would be the welfare of their family, mitigated by their much-easier attained diploma should they choose the continuation of their studies. Those that chose to work at an earlier age found jobs without much trouble, a far cry from the hundreds of jobless university graduates today.

Family ties were closer then as compared to today. A rat race has enveloped the world in self-doubt and fear, causing everyone to work feverishly towards their goals. A terrible rush befalls them all as they are anxious for greater developments and wishes. This, in turn, has sparked off a vicious cycle in the lack of family bonding as the children have little time for their parents due to academics and entertainment, and vice versa.

Parents try their best to provide for their seemingly uncaring family as they try twice as hard to secure their jobs. Even parents have no time for each other, let alone their children. The times where the whole family gathers for a well-deserved dinner after a long, hard day has vanished. No longer do people thrive in the joy of having their loved ones as their primary concerns in life. The joy of family has been lost.

Life has been enhanced via the amelioration of technology, yet it is unfortunate that while the "bugs" in machines are being ironed out, the human race in general has been developing "bugs" of their own. Chaos run amok nowadays as violence penetrate our once-peaceful communities.

Due to misunderstandings and various insensitive actions, Man has unintentionally set him against himself- prognosticating a war between nations as the human race commits suicide. Terrorism builds a stigma of fear and hatred in the innocent, this contravention breaking apart the wall of trust had by all for each other.

How is it that a teenager living through this period would find living now better than living in the past?

Therefore, one has adequate evidence to prove a point that is already a fact. Are teenagers better off living today than in our parents' time? Or is it more fortunate for teenagers living in the past? One chooses the latter.

Tan Wei Wen, 4/1
Band 3 English, 2006

Andersonian, I am

2007-08-06T03:25:00.000-07:00

"A thank-you letter from the bottom of my heart."

To: Anderson Secondary School - Dated 06 August'07

Dear Andersonians,

It is with utmost gratitude that I write this note.

Don't worry, it wouldn't take too long- The teachers would kill me for making you guys late for your first lessons.

I'll start with an update- All the renovations have been recently completed, and my family have moved back in. Every one of us have mostly recovered from the burns and are getting back to our daily activities again. Mum is back at work, and I'm back in JC again, doing Anderson proud academically.

It has been a trying period, both physically and mentally. It takes quite a bit to stand up again after falling, and we couldn't have done it without the help from Anderson. The financial aid provided will go a long way to help pay for the household neccessities and bills.

C'est la vie. Accidents occur, and times like this require perseverence. And by this I mean constancy and purpose. Yes, it's the school motto. In all honesty, I wouldn't have survived this incident if not for the school. I know it sounds corny, but I wouldn't be here today writing this thank-you note if I didn't pay attention during a certain EFL on fire safety.

(Yes, I know it's hard to believe that I pay attention during EFL. Haha.)

I can't fully express how grateful we are to you, especially to those who do not know me. We appreciate the help rendered to us greatly.

There are alot of people whom we'll like to thank -

The student council who set up the booth to collect these funds, and also to those who made the posters to be placed around the school.
All the staff, students, and parents who have been so generous.
Mrs Angeline Yeo, who has helped us countless of times.
Mrs Poh for being so kind to us during this entire ordeal.
And last but not least, thank you Andersonians, all of you, for being a family.

Ever onwards, I'll never forget this alma mater of mine.

Here's wishing all of you a very happy national day in advance.

Yours Sincerely,

Weiwen

Full Circle

2007-08-01T06:08:00.000-07:00

"It's funny how the rope of time unravels its knots."

A decade later, and I still remember my kindergarten days.

I was dressed up in a light-blue collared shirt, with dark-blue shorts, if I remembered right.

Mum and Dad would look at me, his arm slung over her shoulders, and both would say 'what a handsome boy' I was. I remembered grinning till my cheeks hurt.

I had a Power Rangers haversack.

Grandma (to be known hereafter as Ah Ma) and I would always walk five minutes to the Yishun PAP Education Centre from home, and if I was lucky, I would have gotten for myself an ice-cream treat.

That particular day was lucky.

I had no idea of this 'school' that I had to go to- I don't remember any nursery days.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

There was phonetics class though, where I learnt to identify words at four.

The phonetics teacher who taught me about dinosaurs did not believe my identifying brachiosaurus as a 'sauropod' (pronounced saw-raw-pod, not sow-row-pot, that's what she said), and thought that supersaurus was an imaginary dinosaur that I made up.

I remember proving her wrong the very next day by showing her my large dinosaur book. Maybe I started my rebellion against the system since that very day.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Still, the prospect of being in a class without Mum or Ah Ma seemed to be terrifying.

The teachers, I remember a Miss Lee or something, would invite all the parents or guardians in for the first five minutes, providing a false sense of security to the little tykes, only to disappear soon after, prompting yet another bout of crying and wailing.

Yeah well, blah blah blah.

I couldn't understand why the other kids were so painfully annoying, it's not like they would be gone forever. We would be home before 3pm, no? (I only knew that I would go home at 3pm. I don't remember knowing how to tell time, yet)

Anyway, why are they crying so hard?

Sheesh. At least I knew Ah Ma was still there with me.

Right, Ah Ma?

Ah Ma?

... W-w-W-wWwAaAaAaAaAaaAAAaAaAAaAAaAAAAAAAAAAA!!~

I think I was the last person to start crying. Y'know, only after -everyone- had stopped?

It was, as Mum would later teach me, "embarrassing". (Remember boy, it is spelt with double 'r' and double 's'.)

We would have Milo breaks. Nap times (oh, I hated sleeping so much) were horrible.

Art time was- I remember getting three gold stars for a particular assignment! I was so...

"Proud, dear. P-R-O-U-D. Spell it for me... Good. It means you feel a sense of achievement (ac-what?) and you are happy for yourself. But remember, you must always be humble. H-U-M-B-L-E."

Hm. I learnt pride before humility.

I also learnt the word "friend".

F-R-I-E-N-D.

And two in particular were very well remembered.

.
.
.

Xin Yi.

Tan Xin Yi.

Funny how I could never forget that name.

She would be sitting on my left.

She had semi-long hair, a brilliant smile, and the cutest laugh.

She was the girl I remembered to pull a chair out for her to sit on.

There would be a boy sitting on my right.

He was thin, and had the generic little-boy-mushroom hairdo. That and he had an extra finger on his right hand. That, and he had the most sincere smile I ever did see. I was most intrigued.

No wonder he was the first person I said "hi" to in Kindergarten.

Toh. That was his surname. Toh Yong.. Something.

I never caught his entire name, not even once during the entire two years that I sat next to him. I always called him Yong.

Yong and I would always help each other out in studies. I was never good in chinese. He excelled in almost everything. But, time and again I would always do my bit to catch whatever english words that the Miss Lee wrote. I think he explained to me the concept of telling time, when I didn't pay attention.

I remember Xin Yi and I playing with sprinkles during a particular art lesson. We kinda went overboard and made the floor glitter. One of the funniest moments in my pre-pubescent life.

All three of us would be play at the playground after 3pm, waiting for our parents (or in my case, Ah Ma) to fetch us home. We would sit around and discuss our favourite foods (I liked pizza). Either one of them liked ice-cream, I remember.

Bah, but memories do get fuzzy as time veils over clarity. Time flew pretty fast, too. Two years went past, and Xin Yi went to Chong Fu Primary (I think Yong went there too). I went to Xishan instead.

Six years later, it was to my surprise to have met Yong again in Anderson Secondary. Toh Yong Yuan.

And guess what? A decade after Kindergarten, and I meet Xin Yi again. In Yishun Junior College.

Singapore sure is small.

Yep, full circle. :)

Deity Dilemma

2007-07-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

"Ohm mani pad mi ohm."

It has been a full transformation, I suppose. I think.

One could call it a 360 degree turn. (No, it's not a mistake.)

No, it isn't really one of the most momentous occasions in my life, but still, who's ever comfortable with Change?

I still remember Dad (Well, of course I do, sheesh. It's not like I suffered brain damage or something.) and his being mighty religious. Instilled in me are values from this Buddhist... way of life. Nothing could ever take these away from me, not even with him gone.

My values.

My paramita.

All my life has Avalokitesvara protected me from harm and danger. I've never had any serious injuries from any sport I played- On the other hand, I've never participated in any dangerous ones.

I was a daredevil, a risk-taker. Still, there was always this voice (common sense, I suppose) that always told me to stop "before it was too late".

A certain "gut feeling" always told me that something would be alright, and although I don't usually follow it (logic>dumb luck), it more than often turns out to be correct. Coincidence, I suppose.

No major accidents ever befell me, and even in emergencies was I actually -protected- from harm and danger. Now, it's not even about invincibility. I'm very sure that I wouldn't survive a ten-storey fall. Still, one couldn't help but think- Is there someone watching over me, or is it just common sense all along?

(Yes guys, harhar. I -do- have some common sense... I think.)

The Buddha Room has been converted (Mum's sole decision without any of my knowledge, goodness gracious) into a study room.

We're inviting Budai Lohan, Avalokitesvara and Parbawatiya away.

The laughing Buddha, the thousand-arm buddha and the buddha of wisdom.

Happiness, Protection, and Wisdom.

Seventeen long years of turning to them for guidance with life. I don't know. It feels discomforting in a spiritual way. It's almost like changing religion, even though I know that I am and will always be a Theravada buddhist.

Funny, really- I seem to have bonded with the Avalokitesvara and Parbawatiya. They seem to be the ones I always turn to when I try for deep meditation. Budai just... Laughs.

It's inexplicable.

Anyway, Mum's inviting Guan Yin to be in the house this Sunday. Auspicious day, whatnot.

Previous Buddhas out on Tuesday, resident Buddha invited on Sunday. That leaves four days of... lack of protection in the house? Mum seems to be a tad uneasy about this arrangement- And I won't kid anyone by saying I am fine with it, too.

Ah well, maybe it's all in the state of mind.

Oh, and guess what?

Seems like Avalokitesvara and Guan Yin are the same Buddha after all.

Sadu, sadu, sadu.

I Hate Chicken Soup

2007-07-23T03:35:00.000-07:00

"Oh, look! Another inspirational post! Give the man a trophy!"

Sudz is right.

One must change first in order for change to happen.

Apparently, the lack of enthusiasm for school shows. Ya know, that or the tens of thousands of sighs and 'sians' that escape that orifice I call a mouth.

"Suck it up, Weiwen."

"I..."

"Suck it up."

Okay, so it was more of a chinese version. "Zhen zuo qi lai" sounds so much gentler.

Still, I think that pretty much slapped me awake.

Funny how I take to someone's - someone who I've only met only months back- advice so readily during this time. Any other person saying it at any other time would be deemed a nag and dispensed with quickly and horribly.

'Wake up, sunshine. It's another glorious day.'

What ever happened to the optimism I had?
Was my spirit broken?
Why am I doing this right now?

These are the questions that one finds hard to answer- Not because he doesn't know the answer; He just doesn't dare to face it.

So here's a short-term resolution...

Don't say the word 'sian' anymore- A dollar will be put into a personal little jar for everytime I say it (good plan, really- it'll make me awesomely rich in savings).

Sleep before the twelfth chime strikes.

~~Evolve my lif.~~

Right, right. No more games. Poo.

And above all of these, there's an undergoing project that needs attending to...

Oh, and the nightmares have finally stopped.

Now that's some chicken soup for the soul.

No, you're doing it all wrong!

2007-07-19T03:38:00.000-07:00

"Die liao, die liao, die liao."

The calculator never lies.

At this rate, I'll have to score about Bs (in YJC's standard) for all of my subjects during the promotional examinations. And it's just around the corner right now.

And I quote Lamy, "There, around that corner. See, just over there. You can see it from here. So close."

I've lost the momentum, though. There has been tries to pick up the pace, and "sock-pulling", but of course, I never try hard enough. Physics baffle me now, and I barely understand what the Maths lecturer says half the time. And when I thought that Economics is fairly alright, most of what I understand were either 'incomplete' or 'totally wrong'.

Now, tell me if I'm being pessimistic, but...

... How in the bloody hell am I gonna promote at this rate?

It's like trying to run a marathon with blistered feet, aching joints, and a whole heck of analgesics plastered all over your sweat-covered body. You know you're gonna make it in the end, but you just don't know when.

I don't neccessarily feel afraid, however- Something in the back of my mind always reassures me that everything'll turn out for the better somehow or another- But look at the O's.

Contentment is one thing, but pure ecstacy is another. I don't know about happiness though- A thin line which I've yet identify separates them.

Is this another of those little curveballs?

Gotta get my head in 'da game.

Hey, I survived!

2007-07-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

"Only a few singes here and there, but we're all good now!"

The big ol' fire-breathing dragon won.

Stupid reptile burnt me good. My arsenal of toothpicks were no match for his single breath of fire.

I escaped with 11/100 for the entire mathematics block test.

Hurrah.

The results are mostly out, GP and KI not known yet. As for the rest, I got horrid results- U being ungraded. It's sad, really, when your paper is so badly done the grade given is non-existant.

So then, the grades are as follows...

Literature- B

I gotta rant about YJC's double standards. Apparently, 70-75 is YJC's B standard, while 70+ is an A in the other colleges. I want my A. >=(

Mathematics- U

Like we all don't know how hopeless I am at Math. That, or the lack of practice. *grins*

Physics- U

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha. Okay, that prolly should have NEVER happened. I blame my lack of homosexuality.

Economics- U S

Rumours has it that 9% of the entire cohort passed. It's an all-time low!

-Edit: Oh damn, looks like I got a low S for Economics instead. Damnit. I can't make a word outta it now.-

That brings my total count of subject grades to a...

BUUUS.

Gawdamnit! It was as though my report card was freakin' laughing at me.

And yes, I gotta go for some Saturday Study Programme where they make sure you'll have to be in school between the hours of 9AM to 2PM.

Right, like anyone could study on a Saturday morning.

Ah well, better luck next time.

Fighting with a toothpick

2007-06-23T06:32:00.000-07:00

"I'm so screwed."

Imagine Mathematics to be a big fire-breathing dragon.

Now imagine that you're the knight that has to slay it.

Your weapons are all laid there in front of you. You will be able to wield it IF you have learnt how to use it.

Let's see... Oh I can- No wait... This won't do... Maybe...

The only weapon that you find you're able to use is a toothpick, because you haven't mastered any other weapon yet.

Now fight the dragon with this toothpick.

No prizes for the correct guess as to who wins.

And I'm that knight, about to fight nasty ol' dragon tomorrow this Monday.

Guess I'm down for that Saturday Study Programme now.

...

Shit.

Picture this Pandemonium

2007-06-18T07:38:00.000-07:00

"So, the pics are up."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Note:-

Adverts are finally fixed.

Apparently one,

You heard me right,

-One- damn line of code made so many pop-ups appear.

Don't you just loveeeeeeeee computer logic.

But hey, it's all fixed now.

Hurrah.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The remnants of the air-conditioner. Cableee!

Most of the repair work has been done.

Still, here are some photos that I managed to scrape up from whatever photos I could take.

I'm not much of a photo-journalist, but hey- pictures say a thousand words, no?

That lump of plastic there used to be a heater in Mum's toilet!

Where's the shower tap? Beats me. Most likely Bhangla took that too.

No windows, no grilles. Want jump building? Easy liao.

That was the 'pad' visitors and I hung out at when we were taking a break from cleaning the house. At least something still felt like home.

JUXTAPOSE. BEFORE AND AFTER! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

All this was achieved in the span of three days. Yes, you heard me, three days. Rawr!

The living room-

moved around and squeezed to the middle to allow painting of the walls and ceiling.

AFTER- BEFORE.

AFTER- What my room looks like as of now.

BEFORE- Some of the items were lost.

I've got television, yes.

Another picture of my new room would be taken soon.

So yeah, that's it.

I'll upload more soon, I guess.

Don't count on it though- I know I wouldn't.

Cheers.

Chinese Apricots

2007-06-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

"I've crossed my toughest obstacle yet."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Quick Info:-

I've added past entries in, again.
Pardon for the procrastination.

Five new entries, including this one, up.
Scroll down to check it out.

I'm still fixing the adverts, though.
Do be patient.

Cheers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I have done my very best, and yes, I am pleased with the result. Thank you to all those who stood by me all these while.

The house is finally complete.

Home, on the other hand, is far from that.

At least most of the furnishing's in, and the wirings are done.

I DECLARE MY HOUSE HABITABLE AGAIN.

I'm finally back on my OWN computer, for the first time in half a month.

Bweehee.

This is horrid, though. The cooler fans are whack- They refuse to start up at times, prompting...

SYSTEM FAILURE- SHUT DOWN IN 5 4 3 2 1 *POOF*

My graphics card is thrashed. PIXELLATED SHIT OMG.

Oh, and I admit. I have had a tryst with Granado Espada. No, really!

Xuan was nice enough to let me have a taste of that stupid game. I'm SOOOO in love with the graphics. Still, everything's so automated it's almost like you're botting.

Of course, I start the game by creating my character- And man are the graphics hawt. The gothic style is amazing. I swear, everytime I see its designs, first thing I think of is Jia Ru. It's exactly like her. Elegance with a touch of audacity.

Oh, and get this. You can choose a ~~character~~ FAMILY name. Yes, all the other characters would have that as the last name.

I spent half an hour thinking of a good name, before finally coming upon Allevetro. It sounds so classy it's almost haughty.

So I enter the game, and what I do? Press space-bar to auto attack. Booya.

No need play game liao.

But GE has proven itself to be the future of all games- Games that are so high-tech and advanced, it plays itself.

Anyway, I'm Level 24 the last time I checked- And I played for less than two hours. The rest of the time spent levelling was leaving the computer, and being Away From Keyboard.

Bah, I'm lazy from typing now.

Don, out.

Hoshit

2007-06-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

"Damn, and when you think everything's already settled. And y'know what? It IS."

I'm no longer the writer I was. Pardon this post's lack of organization- I just have alot of things on my mind to talk about.

.
.
.

So one thing leads to another.

They say misfortunes come in couplets- I didn't know Life was that cruel to throw me so many curve-balls.

And what's worst- I can't play baseball.

But hey, I'm learning to hit the balls thrown at me. (And to those who do not get this metaphor, shame on you.)

It's not that I'm surprised, really, after being pulled a fast one a few days ago.

I discovered something about myself, too. Y'know, after all of this.

Maybe it was just like me to keep everything to myself. Maybe, and just maybe, all of this was meant to happen.

I don't mean I throw myself at Fate whatsoever, but I believe in Karma (?).

Side-Anecdote:-
Being the neat freak that I was, I was compelled to clean up everything in the house. I was kinda like the guardian of the Buddha's room- took it upon myself after Dad left, so hey, why not clean it up, too.

I proceeded to the shelf, and picked out a book to clean- And 'lo and behold, it was none other than the "cause and effect" book.

You know- Do good, yay you. Do bad, burn to hell.

And funny how I just dropped it on the ground. It flipped open to one particular page:-

"Sinners who persist in a sinful life would have their residence burnt, and their material possessions lost."

Man, did that freak me out a bit.

Mum walked past- And I kinda hid it away. But I had to question myself- Did we?

I may not have lost much of my material possessions- Mum lost everything she had.

Yes, no one is perfect, but what did Mum do to deserve this? Of course, I don't take everything at face value (well, not anymore after sitting for a few KI classes. Those damn things give mindfucks like no other), and this was horribly non-sequittur.

Mum's the best mother anyone could ever have. Yes, she may be hella naggy- ten times annoying, and hell hath no wrath like a mother's scorn, but she has tried her very best to see through that the whole family stays and remains together.

And now, within this whole month, she has not only lost her home, but also her husband. That, and I suspect she has also lost respect for herself- I can see that she still blames herself for this whole incident and everything.

But things are looking up now, no?

Maybe, and just maybe, this is all for the better.

Hit me, hit me!

2007-06-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

"Pfft, now I know where all the hits came from."

Oei, Alvin.

Apparently, Tomorrow.sg got a hold of this blog, spurring on the largest amount of people I've seen in months on this blog.

I've got 400 hits a day, with half of them being new.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry- He actually suggested my entry for Tomorrow.sg, and the mods might have liked to use it. Wow, now a large part of the blogosphere knows about this crap.

Oh, and I understand where everyone's coming from about this "advertisements" on my blog.

I'll get around to fixing it. I can't seem to locate the damn code.

Pardon that.

Oh right, back to the case in point.

More strangers reading the blog= woot?

Hopefully, some of my family members locate this blog, so they may see me post horrible, horrible details of their lack of conscience.

I've half a mind to smack some of my uncles for being complete assholes over these two weeks.

Thanks, Alvin.

No more coffee treats for you.

Elected

2007-06-07T04:13:00.001-07:00

"With great power comes great responsibi-ahhhhhhhHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Choir elections for the next EXCO were held just yesterday.

Every one of the nine of us had to go out there to make a short speech, of which there'll be a vote to see who'll be the in the fifth YJC Chorale EXCO.

I was second last to go, and pretty much thankful of that.

Honestly, I barely prepared anything. Just thought of what we needed.

It was all a matter of throwing it all together, and then speaking from the heart.

You can't go wrong if you follow your heart, can you?

Best thing I've said all week-

"I believe that Music is the heart of the soul-
All of us merely follow this rhythm.
We dance to our own music-
it is reflected by our speech and our daily actions.

And what do we do here, in Choir?

We make Music."

I thank a certain someone for showing me this. :)

Anyway, thank you y'all for voting for me in.

I'm now your new Director of Publicity.

Now I have to network and deal with public relations.

You'll see YJC Chorale's advertisements soon, and you will be astonished.

Cheers.

Altruistic

2007-06-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

"I <3 Four-One, oh six."

I've changed my ambition- I want to be a Member of Parliament one day.

Yes, you've heard me.

Vote me for MP.

.
.
.

So, I had to go meet Mr Palmer at his constituency office.

Wa, sounds cool right?

I was, well, supposed to meet him during a "Meet-the-People" session, around 8pm. Thus, I set off at 7.40pm, knowing that I would reach there in only five minutes.

Well, better be early.

Okay, I was told by Mum to go to Block 123 to meet him. There, I was told to go to Block 193. THEN, Block 193 had no one there. Well, except a Kindergarten.

Something's wrong, so I went back to Block 123.

"Wait- are you VERY sure that Mr Palmer's there?"

"Let me give them a call," the clerk replied.

Uhh, yeah. It sounded VERY NOISY in the background.

So, I trudged back to the site (grudgingly, rawr) and hey, wouldja lookee that.

The session was held inside a kindergarten. So call me inflexible, impractical, blah. It was quite a sight seeing a grown man, about 6 feet tall, sitting in one of those tiny little... stools.

WE WERE GIANTS. GWARH!

I had to wait to meet him, though. One and a half hours of stoning.

"Excuse me, please take a number."

"Number?"

"Yes, you're here to see the MP, right?"

Walau, like doctor, sia.

Only that doctors take FAR LESS TIME attending to their patients.

I reached at approx. 8.10pm, and waited as my number (why was number 48 going before 42?!) arrived.

"It's because Mr Palmer wants to see you personally."

I'm not the patient type, and this explains why I kinda kicked up a fuss at about 9.20pm.

So, I enter his "office" at 9.25pm...

He knows me by name already, and we exchange greetings in front of his men, two of which I believe are terribly intimidated by my height. They never dare to look at me in the eye- Well, they had to raise their head to a seemlingly acute angle to talk to me, anyway. Snigger.

Ooookay. I put on my polite mask and proceed to conversate with Mr Palmer. What was it that was so important that he had to see me tonight?

"Do you have the forms with you for bursaries?"

"Handed them in, already."

"Oh, right right. So, how's the house?"

"Going pretty well, everything should be ready by next week or rather, sir."

"Good, good. Great to see that you're fine. How's your Mum?"

FREAKIN' INSANE.

"She's doing fine."

"Alright. So, call my men if you need any help, okay? We'll do our best to help."

Not that any of your men ever pick up the phone anyway...

"Okay, I'll do that."

"I'll pay your family a visit another day."

"Thank you."

"..."

"So that's it?"

"Yeah, thank you for coming down."

VSNLKnslaksnLKNDlknKBhgCGdfxDXjNMknj!11!!!!!!11!1

"Oh, okay. You're welcome."

jhJVHhTFytHkslnksSpFjaSBAbksBSBjvhGHSCGFgcfsC!1!!!!!11!!

Yeah, so I wasted 2 hours on this... "meet".

WTF.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anywho, Xuan called up earlier on informing of 4/1's class chalet.

Aw, how much I missed 4/1.

I wasn't intending to go in the first place- Due to this STUPID meet the flubba-session. Still, I went back to Dom's house, changed, and set off to Aloha Loyang to spend the night there...

... Only to reach there at midnight, with a Hoegaarden in hand. What can I say, alcohol's a good companion.

2/2'04 was there, too! Watching the rest of the gang get together to do crazy things- It was refreshing.

Abel was as annoying as ever- But what a funster. All popping into rooms and doing crazy shiz.

The guys TRIED to play cards- Failed miserably though. Jia Hao would be playing Spongebob's theme song as poor, sick Joan tried to fall asleep.

Son blasted his rock-music and OH GAWD ALL THE REPLAYS OF MUTTONS.

Aaron played on Yixin's PSP, and man does he SUCK in Bleach. Damn loser still has my belt.

OEI AARON RETURN ME MY BELT... (and play GE!)

Outside, Wilbur and Ian were participating in bouts of NFS: Carbon while the poly kids like Sarah and Apple had to study for an upcoming test... the following day.

Apple's Apple (ha!) is cool though. So pretty.

Yeah, it was a very good break from all the shit-munging the past week.

I knocked out at 3AM, though.

Bah.

JiaHao did the nicest thing though, when he presented to me this card, on behalf of 4/1 of course, to cheer me up.

It was terribly sweet. :)

Bah, I <3 Four-One oh six.

Oh, and great chalet, Sarah.

Cheers.

Running Outta Fuel

2007-06-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

"Fatigued beyond comparison."

Wa, sian.

Whatever I said a few days ago of me being back- Scratch that.

I hit rock-bottom yesterday.

Had another of those tiffs with Mum. Seriously, the stuff we quarrel about are too petty to even be considered... Stuff.

To those who were there that day, I thank you for being there, and apologise for your having to put up with this bullshit- Like everyone else hasn't had enough of this.

But anyway, I don't give a damn anymore.

I'm still going to have to give a damn about her, I'm just not givin' a damn to anything else in general for now.

I think I'm mentally scarred by this whole thing.

So then, I'm takin' up any offers for a counsellor. That, or I throw myself into Woodbridge for a few days or so, lar. Right after all of these, of course.

At least I can get some studyin' done in there.

Totally knocked out last night. Came back at 8PM, bathed, then slept at 8.10PM or something.

Rudely woken up by a nosey relative who asked what happened at 12AM. Grunted, cut the phone line, then went back to sleep... at 2AM.

Ironically, I was reading "Etiquette for Dummies" amongst other books found in the study room.

My courtesy has its limits.

Figures- There's actually point where optimism runs out. I'm tapping into reserves now.

It's pathetic, really, when you finally realise that logic doesn't solve everything- And you have to grapple with the concept of fate- or faith.

Hope? Yeah, a tiny sliver of that remains.

Just barely.

They say adversity builds character. I don't feel myself getting stronger or anything.

What I'm most disappointed in is myself. It seems to be like whatever I have been doing has been for nought.

I snapped.

So I'm human. I feel emotions.

The ache of sadness, the anguish of hatred and anger.

That moment of hopelessness within yourself, as you sit in a corner to ponder upon all your misdoings- You wonder whether you've made all the right choices.

You start questioning, and as the more you questio, the more lost you get.

The compass of wisdom didn't seem to be providing any directions, either. You had enough of that experience to find the way yourself- You just didn't know where to start from.

That has to be the emotional baggage I'm holding on to.

And every time you try to pick yourself up- You are knocked down by another scornful remark. Even when you know that you're numb to them already.

I feel so damn emotional now for this matter- Is this what they call 'teenage mood swings' or something? I fail to understand.

Maybe that's my flaw- My belief of self-infallibility and invincibility.

While I'm invincible, I'm still fallible after all.
(Hell yeah, I'm invincible.)

There, I said it.

Okay, now to pick myself up one more time, scrape the dust off my wounds and continue again. Right after this good night's sleep.

Come on, Adversity.

Give me your very best shot.

UPDATE:-

Paint is almost done. The people doing the cornices aren't exactly a punctual lot of people- They're delaying everything.

My room is finally done- 'cept for the air-conditioner. Need to get me-self a bed and a table- Not to mention start savin' up for another computer. Damn it.

Damn pimples are back. They have invaded my forehead again. And they come in tens. Urgh.

Again, pictures will be updated soon- I haven't had time for all of these; typing in a rush.

For those asking, I'm putting up at Wei Hong's house- A stone throw's away from my own. He has kindly allowed me to put up in his study room for a week or so as I clear this mess up.

And as for computer and MSN?
Oei, people also have computer what.

TO-DO LIST:-

Fix the air-conditioners.

Fix the cornices.

Finish painting the door.

Get a bed.

Get a computer table.

Save for a computer.

HOMEWORK.

SLEEP.

Bah, I'll settle the rest another time.

Time for a pit-stop.

Heart of Gold

2007-05-31T10:03:00.000-07:00

"Too bad all of you guys have a heart of gold, 'cause you'll sink in water."

Com dead today- Nokia PC Suite doesn't go well with some computers.

Boo, Nokia.

I'll update tomorrow again.

PAINTING TIME.

I'm Back!

2007-05-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

"I'm back, stronger than ever. YOU HAVE RUBBED OFF YOUR NICENESS ONTO ME! "

... THE ELECTRICITY'S BACK.

WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I apologise, no pictures of the place was taken today. Kinda forgot, haha.

Again, empty promises to all you people- but I'll remember to get pictures posted ASAP.

Okay, now to business.

First off, I'll like to thank everyone right now who has been helpin' meh. It has really been a trying period, and I appreciate all that everyone's been doing for me.

Really!

Don't know what else to say other than that, leh. I'll get broke if I say "next time makan my treat". Mwahahaha!

Oh yeah, before I continue...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lalala: do it with don get your house burnt down.

IP Address: 220.255.138.144

My, my.
What are you driving at?
Time to pull your head outta your ass and
Bring it on, baybeh.

Edit:- I'm feeling nice now.
Come on, be nice! =D

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I'm ~~horrible~~ that way.

Yeah, I'm back!

"And when you've hit rock-bottom, the only way you can go is UP!"

Ha, I'll still have to see a councellor one day, but I think my mental state's back.

Rested, relieved, and ready to take on whatever the world can throw at me again.

"It's the times of adversity do you grow and learn to overcome..."

I approached YJC this morning, tired as heck.

Looked for the Miss Tan, my CT. She wasn't around. Nevertheless, I went to look for the Mrs Ng, le principle. It was waitin' for her that I got to talk to the clerk. It's amazing how powerful her pick-me-ups were. I felt a new strength stirring within me.

For that one time in months, Life was actually worth livin'.

Okay lah, so I sounded emo in that last sentence, but walau, Life is worth livin' lor.

I read Phyllis's blog a few moments ago- She mentioned something about faith. No offence ar, I'm going to respond to this as impartially as I can.

It goes like this:

- - - - -

" Firstly. I dont know if Weiwen will read this or not, but if your friends list exhaust and need my help, just give me a call/message and i'll be down in a jiffy.

Okay that's not my main point, the thing is, he mentioned something about religion in his blog after his house caught fire. He mentioned something like although his Buddha statues are all burnt, he still lit the joss sticks and prayed for safety.

More like for him to hang on to something when there's nothing more to let him rely on. I guess that's why so many people have a religion. In times of desperation, they will only have their beliefs to rely on and pray for safety/goodluck/to seek solace/etc.

Im not saying that religions are serving the sole purpose of giving people the pillar of strength to carry on when all the others fail but think about it, why do people seek help from the unseen rather than from other people? There are so many people in the world, surely at least one can be of help?"

- - - - -

You're such a dear, haha.

When this incident happened, I felt lost.

I lost not only my house, but my home. The one true thing that I hold dear to my heart.

It pains me to see my mother in such a state- Her injuries comprised of both the mental and physical aspect. There was no way Mum could do all these on her own.

As for Dad, I am not ashamed to say that he's no longer there for us.
When I called him, all he said was "I will try to help". When asked for a definite answer of "yes" or "no", he told me that he couldn't answer that question. It's alright, I'm accepting it, I guess. He's still my father after all.

So then, I was on my own. I admit, I did lose hope for a while- I thought that there was nothing else for me to hold on to. I'm still trying to understand this, but Man has somewhat created religion in order to invoke inner strength, or something.

Troubled times require reassurance, and that's what religion to me is about, partially at least.

I lit joss-sticks and prayed not for safety- I was thankful.
Grateful that my family came out of this alive.

I respect the Buddha for his teachings, however (I'm so going to hell for this) weird it can be.

It is through his words that I live my life, even though I may stray from the path set for me.

I chose this religion for myself when I realised that I was no longer bound to accepting what my parents set for me- They have taught me to be independent via His teachings.

And I'm glad it has paid off- This is being put to good use now.

I'm not the best example for fellow Buddhists- trust me on this one, because I have violated at least... all of it. I don't abide, I take into consideration, I guess.

I didn't seek help from the Buddha- I realised that I was seeking self-assurance. I had to clear the self-doubt before continuing.

And to achieve that, I had to seek help from others.

And I have.

Hella grateful that my call for help was answered.

.
.
.

Religion is one thing- Belief is another.

It's not a question of what religion to choose, but what you believe in.

Now I ask all of you readers this question:
What do you believe in, and why?

Sometimes the answer may just be around the corner, sometimes it may be far from what we expect.

Think about it.

.
.
.

UPDATE:-

HAHAHAHA ELECTRICITY'S UP. One month of work, completed in three days.

Mum's room kinda finished cleaning. Window frames were installed today, instead of the scheduled Friday! Yay!

Patching of wall has somewhat been completed. WOOT.

Master Bedroom's toilet has been pretty much restored except for the lack of lighting- I'ma have to go get some from a lighting shop soon. YAY SHOPPING.

I made myself a small "pad" to rest in the balcony. It looks pretty decent. Must get pictures!

Jerico, Joo, and Anson came down today to help out. SUPERVISE HAHA. Bhanglas need supervision! >=(

The house is drier than yesterday! I can clean the dust off with BROOMS now, zomg.

Mum's gettin' better. She even cracked a joke with me today. LAME.

Approached YJC for a consent to submit a bursary form. Le Principle was very, very nice. She sent YJC'S Operation Manager to HELP ME, HAHAHAHAHA.

Everything's taking shape right now.

Very appreciative.

Let's make me a home!

WOO!

TO-DO LIST:-

IT'S VESAK DAY TOMORROW OMG CRAP. Need to relocate the Buddhas while I clean up this sanctuary.

CLEAN FURNITUREEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Submit forms.

Buy paint and furniture- GET READY FOR PAINTING!!

Change doors and arrange for window panes to come in.

Choose paint colours! Pink looks good, but blue looks awesome too!

Go to temple and pray, haha. Vesak Day!

Pictures- Because all of you have been super supportive! RAWR.

Friday- PAINTING BEGINS. NEED HELP PL0X!

I love being back.

CHEERS!

Touched

2007-05-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

"Guys, really, I thank you all so much for your help. Rock on. :)"

I'm so touched I feel molested.

Many people came today to help out.

Meigui, Chun Ying, Jerico, Aozy, Jiaru, Lynnette...

Chun Ying had to leave later because of a class- How nice of her to come down, lar! Poor girl looked so dirty as she left for her class.

Sarah and Shah! Both of them rushed down, hearing what happened, from school somemore!

Even Aaron, the twit that he is, came down to help. He went home wearing my belt. -.-

Jasper cabbed down, upon hearing my plight. Mad leh!

Alot of others sent their regards, too! Thank you, people!

Can I like, mount a plaque or something with your names on it?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

UPDATE:-

I'm livin' with Wei Hong's house now, a stone throw away from what used to be my house.

MP came at 7pm today- sent his regards and saw to it that we would be looked after (I hope).

Some things were said, to which I fear may happen. Nevertheless, I'll only divulge it only if the time is ripe.

Most of the debris has been cleared from Mum's room. Wiring would be continued in there tomorrow, along with the mains.

Wiring has been up and going, will be finished tomorrow. Three months of work in three days.

Doors and windows have been measured- Be made to arrive in a few days' time.

Walls have been scrubbed, it looks more decent now. May be ready for repainting soon. The room not scrubbed thoroughly is the Buddha's room, I'll have to postpone work on that for now- don't know if it would be okay shifting them around.

Gas was checked and reconnected- No leaks, all was okay.

Paint was chosen- Pink Frost as our main colour theme. Pink kicks ass.

So, electricity, gas and water are most probably going to be reconnected tomorrow.

At least the foundations of the house has been set.

Tomorrow would see the finishing of electric works.

As for Friday, painting would start, while the windows would come in during that time.

Hopefully, everything will be up and done by next Tuesday.

Funny thing is, the contractor that's managing this will be on holiday from this coming Friday all through next Wednesday, and not to mention this Thursday would be Vesak Day, a public holiday. All work would stop then.

I'm not expecting too much, am I?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

TO-DO LIST:-

I still have to look for my CT tomorrow- She wasn't in today. Need to inform her.

Gotta look into Mum's toilet. Dum dee dum.

Start cleaning and packing stuff into boxes- The boxes now are too wet to be used again.

Visit Golden if time permits. Poor thing.

Sigh, Granny too. I miss her badly.

I'll show pictures tomorrow if it's possible.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As for now, I thank all who is helping.

Thank you all very much.

Fiery Aftermath

2007-05-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

"It was total carnage like I've never seen before."

"Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke
because the Lord had descended on it in fire,
and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace,
and the whole mountain shook violently."
-- Exodus 19:18

I finally fell asleep at 5 AM- was waiting for the shock to set in.

It didn't.

Woke up at a quarter past nine, HDB called.

Mum's handphone was with me- She's in no state to handle these kind of matters now.

Being the control freak I was, I took charge of the situation.

Time for me to look after Mum.

Called AIG, got our policy number, arranged for the contractor to come down and fix everything.

Good, at least we had basic fire insurance. That would cover the four walls of the house.
Electrical wiring and painted walls.

Okay, that's a start.

So, an appointment was fixed with the contractor for 12.30PM.

Great, it was 10.30AM then. Quite a bit of time for me to handle police reports and the Fire Investigation Bureau.

They would be coming down at 4PM.

11AM came fast, and the contractor called again, saying that he would have to meet me earlier, at 12PM, instead.

Great, so Jerico and I walked over to Rivervale Plaza to grab a bite- Not that there was much to eat, anyway. No appetite, either.

It was 11.45AM when I got another call- The contractor has arrived.
Talk about punctuality.

So Jerico, the nice guy that he was, offered to get me food while I rushed to my house.

This was what I was greeted with.

Huh. Televisions aren't as hardy, I suppose.

Mum looked worse today. She must have spent the night worrying.

So did the Buddhas in the room, I suppose.

Just had no time to save them.

Funny enough, religion kicked in. Maybe I needed faith during that time, but I swore that I could see that the Buddhas were actually still there.

Y'know, in spirit.

Or maybe I'm just turning mad.

Still, I lighted up the candles and set a few joss-sticks.

The sight of the Buddhas... existing in spirit- It kinda gives you assurance.

Strength.

Well, I heck needed alot of that.

Mum's room was devastated.

Well, at least everyone got out safe and sound.

Town Council and RC came down, offering their assistance.

They sent some help to clear the house.

A foreman, with his four workers.

I thank the Sir who offered his men for this work.

But.

Damn, bloody Bhanglas.

There is mucho reason for me to feel this right now- Bhanglas are blood-sucking leeches.

They were LOOTING the burnt coins on the floor while cleaning up, even right in front of me.

It's alright, really- The coins can be given to them. Coffee on me, lah, for helping with this.

But I flipped when they just... Didn't stop.

Oei, too much coffee = Lao sai, leh.

On top of that, the shit that they were clearing had Mum's wedding ring.
(I was pretty hopping mad when I heard that.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT WEARING IT RIGHT NOW?!)

I'll have to leave that pile of melted piggybanks and jewellery boxes to another day as I differentiate them from the rubble.

It was just a huge mess.

Air conditioner melted and molded to the metal bed frame.

Walls cracked.

Glass on the windows, broken.

And the bed?

Well, whatever's left of it. King Koil does prove to be partially fire resistant, though.

At least it did better than this Dell.

And I just fixed this little baby up less than a week ago!

So, this was what I was faced with.

Crap.

Right, faith, right.

Okay, let's start with...

Maybe the...

Or the...

This is bad.

*blink blink*

Really bad.

At least we did get most of the job done today- Most of the stuff that could be saved, were salvaged.

I thank Jerico, Jasmine, Meigui (most efficient person, ever), Jia Ru and Yiling for taking time out of their busy schedule to help with this.

Even the neighbours were awesome.
Sponges, old cloths, pails, brooms...

Hong Xuan and his father, from the thirteenth floor, contributed their help to cleaning up, too!

You just had to be there.

Everything has to be cleaned up ASAP, so the wiring can be TAKEN OUT.

Then installed.

Then the paint can be applied.

Well, after the scrubbing of walls.

And the walls in Mum's room has to be plastered back.

It would take approximately 3 months to complete the job, they say.

And block tests start in 3 weeks.

I'm so gonna retain.
.
.
.

WHAT YOU GUYS WANT TO KNOW

I know, everyone's asking what happened, and what's happening now.

The fire was caused by some aromatherapy oil.

It ignited when it struck the fire accidentally, and Mum was burnt when it combusted.

One thing led to the next- And there was a flash fire due to all the flammable liquids in the room, like perfume, etc.

Mum, Granny, Yati, Golden and I were at home when it happened.

Don't ask what happened yet, I'll talk about it when I finally feel ready to.

Mum is alright now- Recuperating at an aunt's.

Granny is at another aunt's place for good, all her needs are being taken care of.

Yati is going back to Indonesia to visit her family.
Can't let this spoil her trip- Not fair to her.

Golden is with Mum- I may have to relocate her soon.

I'll be livin' with Wei Hong for the next week or so, as I clear up the place.
No one was hurt too badly in this.

I'm handling matters in the meantime.

AS FOR NOW...

Town Council is helping- and has helped with cleaning.

Mr Palmer, the MP of our constituency will be coming down tomorrow- Mum wasn't feelin' too well today and re-scheduled the visit.

The electrician would come at 9AM tomorrow.

Cleaners would arrive around 12PM, if memory still serves me well.

Nice Jia Ru volunteered to help me from the morning. I owe her big-time for that.

I would have to call YJC tomorrow, and inform my CT.

.
.
.

And now... Yeah.

Please,
I'm asking for help to tide over this crisis.

I would appreciate if you could help me with the clearing of the junk in my house, and cleaning.

Gloves, sponges, old cloths.

For all those reading this blog and knowing me, you should have my number.

I'm now asking all of you as a friend, an aquaintance, or as a fellow human being, while trying to handle this situation as calmly as possible.

Please help me.

I thank you all.

P.S. There may be some HTML coding errors, do pardon.
It's kinda hard to type on a thrashed keyboard.

From Ashes to Ashes

2007-05-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

" And I could have done more..."

The house caught fire today.

Raging fire.

House was badly burnt.

I'm still in shock, or at least waiting for the shock to set in.

Everyone's alright now- every one of us came out safe and sound.

Mum is alright- discharged from the hospital.
Grandma is staying at Aunt Rosalind's house, for good.
Mum, Yati, and Golden are staying at Aunt Catherine's house for tonight.
As for me, I'm 'thonning' at Jerico's place for tonight.

Went back to survey the scene. The master bedroom was devastated.

As for the rest of the house... I haven't really looked at it- Just came back from there to salvage whatever I had left, for the night.

I'll have to take pictures tomorrow morning for insurance claim.

Michael Palmer, the MP for our constituency, would be coming down tomorrow, for a "visit". Hopefully, we can get help from them.

I'll update more about it.

And to all the people I've approached tonight, I thank you for what you've done.

Catching up

2007-05-04T09:30:00.000-07:00

"I have a life? Damn, didn't notice that."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

DOUBLE UPDATE:-

Love the new layout?

You better. I spent hours on it.
Oh yes, I discovered the joys of brushes.
I also changed the general look of the blog-
It's no longer -just- black and white.
Still, I hope to achieve a professional sepiatone colour one day.

This would just have to do for now.

General changes:-

; Text is much bigger, that's for sure.
I realised that a few people were turning blind reading DiwD.
There's something called...
View -> Text Size -> Increase
Meh, it's larger now, anyway.

; Notice the Books section?
Yeah, it's called Literature now.
I've added a few must-reads- Enjoy.

; Oh yeah, the sub-headings are iconic now.
Haha, get it? Icon, just like picture- Never mind.

; Tagboard is changed-
Cbox was pissing me off with advertisements.

-Edit: Cbox is back. Wasn't Cbox's fault.
It was something else. Now a pretty grey.-

; And of course,
THERE'S FINALLY COLOUR!
WOOT!

I'm still updating the back-dated posts.
Stay tuned.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

UPDATE:-
As of now, there are 6/10 back-dated entries posted. You can read them via scrolling down or using the archive section- Just click on 'April 2006'.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Just a short note here to readers/fan/freakin' stalkers.

DiwD was not updated due to uhh... Renovations. Yeah, that's it.

We were- um... upgrading the, um, tagboard.

And installing new RAM into it.

To make it nicer.

*grins*

Okay, so I was just being a lazy little prat. Anywho, I'm dedicating these past few days to update my past entries. So if they're alittle short and/or aren't interesting, yeah. Ain't my fault. Okay, actually it technically is, but-- YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.

So then I'll just keep you updated for abit. Watch this spot.

And don't worry, I'll keep on updatin' normally in a few days' time.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

More to come... (ones in BOLD are the ones already completed slip-shoddily)

Solitude -
If you were the only one.

Photo-Moronic-
I'm in the news.

Happy Birthday to Me-
Many things have happened since.

Catharsis-
What have I become?

Google's Fools-
It's up to no good, again.

What would you do?-
When you've got her.

The Road Not Taken-
Self-realisation.

Friday the 13th-
DAMNIT -censored-

Basketball's Demise
LITTLE SUNNAVA- -censored-

Why not take a crazy chance?
You'll never know what it might bring you.

Because I'm a Youth

2007-04-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Social issues You a parking Ticket

I see the world the way it is,
How pigs don't fly and canned drinks fizz.

Taught to follow, never to lead.
It's no wonder I've lost my seed.

A drone in life's monotony,
Confess! - I spite authority.

It seemed a smart move - Yes it is!
Except one detail I sorely miss.

Same bozos there- all in plain sight.
Them records determine your birthright.

A degree.

Degree, they say, bring much prowess.
"It is the key to your success."

T'was once a student, now a mug.
Whilst longing for that hopeful hug.

This hug, they say, is joy and pride.
From those you know, all coincide.

A social bane in my respect.
Where quizzes gauge the intellect.

Tis' I was taught to learn and know-
For what you reap is what you ~~Cho~~ sow.

*Bury corpses! Plant them, okay?
Reproduction occurs today.*

Wait right there, it's ambiguous,
I hint of no upcoming hearse.

But as of now you're still in luck,
Listen now, start givin' a- GASP!

Got your attention? Then hear me.
'Cos I'm the Youth @ dot Ass Gee.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Oh yeah.
I'm finally in my element.

Time to get downright anal.

Social issues, right.
.
.
.

I'm typing this at 1.37AM in the morning, after five long hours of tech. support. I tell you, long-distance help is as good as no help at all.

This was basically the faeces that I waddled through. Barefooted.

I'll try to complete typing this while not imploding.

Stupidity's a social issue.

.
.
.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tech. Support: Hello, welcome to Linksys Support! My name is Candy, how may I help you today?

Me: Yeah, hi there. My wireless router doesn't allow me to connect to the internet. I need to know the firmware version that I have to downlo-

Tech. Support Candy: May I have your name?

Me: Er, yeah. Don. So as I was sayi-

Tech. Support Candy: What model of router are you using?

Me: WUSB54G.

Tech. Support Candy: D?

Me: G.

Candy: Z?

Me: No, G. For giraffe. It's the wireless one.

Candy: Excuse me, sir?

Me: G. For Ginko. Girl. Gorilla.

Candy: Oh! G, you mean?

Me: Yes, Geeeee!

Candy: I see, sir.

Me: Now then, I need to know the versi-

Candy: Now sir, may I have your e-mail address and phone number for our records?

Me: Can we do that alittle later? I just need to know whether it is Version 4.2.1.1.0 or-

Candy: Please sir, we need this for verificati-

Me: Ah, alright alright.

.
.
.

Me: Okay, can we finally start now?

Candy: Yes sir, but first I have to check- Are you using a wireless router right now?

Me: ... Yes. I just need to know the firmware and driver's latest ver-

Candy: Okay, can you please go to 'Start' and then 'Run'?

Me: What for?

Candy: You need to type in 'ipconfig' after you run 'cmd'.

Me: No, I've already located the problem, I just need the firmware so I can-

Candy: What is your current IP Address, sir?

Me: I just need to know the current-

Candy: The address, sir?

Me: ......

.
.
.

45 minutes later...

.
.
.

Idiot Candy: Sir, I suggest you uninstall your router software if-

Me: No, I don't NEED to unnistall the rout-

Idiot: Then I suggest you bring in on-site tech support, which will be avail-

Me: I just need the firmware-

Idiot: You don't understand, sir.

Me: No, look. You don't understan-

Idiot: Sir-

Me: VERSION. LATEST. MY MODEL. NOW!

Idiot: I don't understand, sir.

Me: v4.2.1.1.0, is that the latest version? XP-compatible?

Idiot: Your control pan-

Me: NO! Focus! Concentrate! Is it the latest version of the driver?

Idiot: Um, ummm... let me check, sir. Please wait as I put you on hol-

Me: NOOO!!

-puts on hold-

Me: .................................

.
.
.

10 minutes later...

.
.
.

Idiot: The latest version is v420051110 (or something), sir.

Me: Wait.

-Installs new driver and firmware-

*Wireless Network Connection successfully connected.*

Me: Great. It works now.

Idiot: Anything else, sir?

Me: No. I'll be off now. Thanks.

Idiot: Thank you for using Linksys Support. Your case number is-

Me: It's really alright, really.

Idiot: The number is...

.
.
.

Idiot: Okay then, sir. Would you like to verify your particulars once more?

-slams down phone-

Mum( from living room) : BOY! HELP! MY COMPUTER NOW NOT WORKING! DID YOU TOUCH THE INTERNET AGAIN?

Me: I INSTALLED NEW FIRMWARE!

Mum: MY COM DOESN'T WORK NOW!

Me: I DON'T KNOW HOW TO REPAIR LAPTOP CONNECTIONS!

Mum: CALL TECH SUPPORT!

Me: ...

.
.
.

Tech. Support: Hello, welcome to Linksys Support! My name is Candy, how may I help you today?

Me: .........................

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Seriously, people. It's no wonder people like that Cho guy from Virginia Tech. went on a rampage.

I attribute majority due to tech. support.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

But I digress.

Anyway, something pretty amusing happened.

Mother and I was out, apparently just window-shopping and catching up. There were a few beautiful stained-glass windows, and it was more of her catching up to me- I was walking fast.

Alright alright, I won't be lame.

.
.
.

So then, we Mum decided to see a fortune-teller. Ya know, just for the heck of it.

Just for the heck of it? I mean, what the hell were you thinking?

The fortune teller was brief.

Wrote down our birthdates and address, favourite food, exam grades, company name...

Okay okay, so it was just the birthdates.

He looked at Mother's palm first, and I think he could see that I wasn't much of a believer.

Must have been my staring and grunting.

He looks at my Mum's face, then palm, then face again.

"You have had a hard life..."

Wow, genius. Everyone thinks they had a hard life when they were young.

"But it's better now..."

GASP! Maybe it's because of Mum's Louis Vuitton. Ya think?

Mum's supposedly going to live till her 70s. Mum shooed me away for the rest of the information. Boo.

So then, it's my turn in the guillotine.

He looks at my palms, then my face, then my palms again. The incense was surprisingly aromatic.

"Impulsive, needs to control his rage."

Must... Resist... Urge... To... Strangle...

"Miss, is it right that this boy has some trouble with respect?"

"Yeah, very 'no big no small' one."

... I will eat all of you up.

"This boy has strong eyebrows. He has only two paths- Good and Evil."

Duhh! Got third one, meh? Neutral ah?!

"Keep him in the path of good. Don't let him stray," he tells Mother.

And just when I thought that Mother was going to shrug it off as a general remark--

"Yes, I've been doing that all these years. The last fortune-teller-"

Wait, so I already had my fortune told? So that means...

"Try not to enter bodies of water. It is your weakness. Because you're born under fire and metal--" I lost whatever else he was trying to say.

"So what about accidents?" I had to ask. Just in case, you know?

"Your only demise will be water."

Basket, liddat I can drown while drinking, lor.

So, I'm technically invincible, la.

Alot of other hoo-haa about my other stuff. I refused to hear when I'll get married, or the best age, whatever.

It kinda ruins the whole element of surprise Life throws at you.

So then we said our 'thanks' and my 'oh gawd, it's over? Already?'s .

Oh yeah.

Just... Just thanks. Yeah. Really.

But then his parting words struck me hard.

"Boy, you'll do very well in the government sector if you study hard and go there. It would most probably be your best choice of job."

Actually, it was more of "Xiao di di, du hao shu, qu zuo zheng fu. Ni you ben shi sheng gao zhi. Ran hou chong na li da shuan. Ru guo ni yi bi ye qiu cheng le sheng yi, hui hen rong yi shi bai."

Literal Translation- Little Boy, study book good, go do gahmen. You can get promoted. Then you decide from there. You'll fail if you start a business right out of graduation.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ouch.

There goes my (non-existant) hope and dreams of being a businessman.

But politics?

It's not like I can beat the Power of Three right now.

Maybe I'll just be content being a Durian and earn peanuts.

.
.
.

Depressing news, really.

MRT suicides have increased two-fold over the past decade; Latest one in Clementi, somemore.

It's not the suicides I'm worried about- It's more of the poor auntie or uncle that has to clean up that mess.

Oei, if you want to commit suicide, be considerate and do it privately, la.

It's bad enough that you threw your life away- Auntie has to spool away those pools of blood after it has coagulated. The police would investigate it, somemore. Waste of taxpayers' money, and poor Auntie!

What's worse- Your severed spleen may short the system and cause a MRT accident. Promotion offer, ah? 200 deaths for the price of 1?

Then poor Auntie has more to clean up.

She might as well be livin' under that public assistance. (It has been increased a friggin' $30! Woo!)

After all,

"We will look after the less educated and the elderly who have helped build Singapore."

Gahmen very considerate.

Considerate enough to eliminate corruption, too!

Who knew peanuts could have so much potential?

Careful though. Peanuts can give you a shitty day.

No wonder kind sir Lee gave up his peanut for the masses.

As a drone, I believe it is NOT 'obstentatious generosity' as what good sir V. Bala has said.

.
.
.

Wait, wait. You so happy for what?

All this are in lieu of Means testing in C wards and the 2% raise in GST.

Ya know, to 'narrow the widening income gap'.

Cleaning lady auntie would be so proud.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Social issues, no?

Cho just murdered 33 people, including himself.

Air strikes by LTTE in India- Cricket World Cup.

Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.

Indonesia bans sand export to Singapore.

Singapore voted 'one of most unfriendly nations' of the world.

Increased MRT suicides.

Call me pessimistic, but this is not boding well.

This is my take on THE social issue.

Everyone's in rush these days, none of them caring for one another.
No one stops anymore to smell the roses.

Anger is now replaced with hatred- And this hatred is strong.
Something's definitely going wrong somewhere.

Somewhere.

It's no longer about 'getting out of her elite uncaring face',
nor the always-increasing water bill.

It's just that-
Life was so much simpler then.

A social issue would be how Ah Huat lost his prized chicken,
Or something.

Everyone would then go look for it,
Find it,
Then eat it.

These days, you can get sued for eating that chicken.
Sure, thanks for the help-
But this is my chicken, paws off.

Okay, so we do have a few good samaritans.
They say one can make a difference.

But don't forget-
Good guys die early.
Assassination, lah.
Or that random maniac with a gun.

We are all killin' ourselves here.
Literally and metaphorically.

Luxuria, Gula, Avaritia, Acedia, Ira, Invidia, Superbia.

Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride.

The capital vices of our misery.

We rack our brains for solutions-
-And Dove starts a campaign to raise self-esteem in litle girls.

Motorola starts its 'RED' movement.
Bill Gates founds ~~twenty~~ charity organization(s).

Multi-national conglomerates with a master plan.
As effective as a kid with a toy hammer wanting to build a HDB flat.

Will they really help?
Or does the root of the problem lie in ourselves?

We wouldn't need solutions if
We didn't have problems in the first place.
I'm not saying 'ignore' it-
But don't trouble trouble unless trouble troubles you.

And don't say you cannot do anything about it.

If the front door closes on you,
Use the back door.

If the back door is guarded by rabies-infected pitbulls,
There's always that choice of bricks-

Throw bricks at the window and climb in,
NOT throw it at the dogs!

Are you mad?

Come now.

We already 'got together and did something'.

But what we really need to do is-

WORK together, and DO something.

I still have hope for a day
The news don't broadcast horrid news.

Maybe that will be a
Happily Never After.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What?

It's anti-establishment?

No lah, this is just satire.

Don't ~~Gomez~~ send me into exile!

I may be working for you, someday!

Basketball's Demise

2007-04-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

"Thank you, dear friend."

So, I lost my basketball.

What else is there to say today?

A 80-dollars Converse tack-soft composite leather basketball.

Which is seasoned. I practically marinated the damn thing!

It's now a pretty shade of marmalade, and VERY soft on the hands. Five hours of basketball, and your hands stay like that of a baby's. Well, only that your hands are five times bigger and, yeah, you get the drift.

Have I mentioned that the ball is also VERY, VERY precious?

My first ever self-seasoned ball. Marinated with concrete and granite.

URGH.

This is such a piss-off.

Oh, right. How it happened?

Playing basketball with the gang, I suppose.

Kenny (even though he denies it totally) took my basketball and proceeded to AND1 Dinosaur or whoever else. I got the guys to look after our balls (oh yes, haha -.-) while I went to get some drinks with some other bugger.

We came back, and I saw my ball being played by some other group of jokers- Which I PRESUMED were the moron friends of, you know, someone in the team. Maybe Jon's- They did say 'hi' to him.

Basic guy instinct- Aiyah, panic for what? Bochup la, not that the ball will get lost.

Well, it did- Because that ball that I was seeing wasn't my ball- It was just the same shade.

FUCK.

So I freaked out a bit, and Kenny and Jarl went to help find the ball.

It must be in the bushes, they say. No way the ball could have been lost.

Yes there is. It's lost, isn't it?

It being 10.30pm at night didn't really help- It was dark like the heart of Bangladesh.

But of course, this isn't that bad- At least the guys were helping. Things were looking up- Until it started to rain.

Hurrah!

Aiyah, screw this.

RIP, Converse.

And fuck the guy that took it.

May you burn in the deepest confines of YOUR hell.

Friday the 13th

2007-04-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

"Skjbsdgfdfg, dkaskjfngknjfkgjneirurjfahhhAHHHHHHHHH!"

What.

The.

Fuck.

So, it's Friday the thirdteenth today.

Everything was going pretty fine, considering that it was supposed to be a doubly-unlucky day.

Yeah, 'pantang' what. I'm stupidstitious that way.

I don't walk under ladders.
I throw salt over my shoulders whenever I spill some of it, lest el Diaboles gets me.
I place utmost importance upon the numbers '2', '7', and '8'.
I arrange my room according to 'fengshui'.
I sleep without my blanket over my head.
I don't cross my chopsticks when I use it.
I study before a test.

Get my drift?

Still, the sheer existence of logic refutes this... phenomenon.

Okay, so I'm still rambling without EXPLAINING (gawd, one day you people should all just connect to a channel of my mind, where my thoughts shall convey the message), so I'll try to make this as painless as possible.

I saw a fuckin' ghost.

She was by no means fucking, literally (it would have put me off sex for a decade or two if she really was), but hell, it freaked me to no end.

So.

It was Friday, after choir. I went to dinner with the gang, then went home.

Beep, beep. 11pm.

It was almost midnight, so I had better hurry up- The prospect of turning into a pumpkin being the main reason. After missing my stop, I took the other way home, the path behind Rivervale Mall. Normally, this path would be alright- I would be walking past a convent school, for goodness' sake. Major ogling.

Not at 11pm, though. I'm not the type to be afraid of the dark- Little is known whether it's afraid of me, though. The night is just so peaceful- Ludicrious, but I'm one of those weirdos.

I was enjoying a slow stroll past St. Anne's church, enjoying the cool air on my skin-- Till the point when the hairs on my back are standing. Damn static, sia. So I brushed off that static thing off my back for a bit.

Hmph, static in the air? Must be rain soon.

I quickened my steps. It's not healthy getting caught in the rain at night. SYF was coming, too. No way in hell I'm going to get sick before then.

It was hella quiet, though. I just realised there were no vehicles, and that was a T-junction.

I looked up at the lit sign of St. Anne's church- No doubt another horrible pun about the Lord. A slight chuckle escaped- Only to be echoed.

EHHHH, echo?!

It was this very moment that I turned around.

CHEEBYE!

Yes, there was a face behind me. Apparently, it was female. Not disfigured or anything, but it was there. A blue hue surrounded her eyes. There was just something blue. Not green. Blue.

I yelped.

I turned around quickly, blinked a few times, then rubbed my eyes. Must be fatigue, la.

Nevertheless, my pace increased two-fold.

I must be tired, haha. Wow, choir must be taking its toll on me right now, I mean, I couldn't have...

The feeling of static was back.

Oh crap.

Up to this day, I still don't know why or how I managed to garner the strength to look back.

"And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed." - Genesis 19:17

It was a miracle I did not turn into a pillar of salt. At least Lot's wife didn't see what I saw.

Yep, it was still her.

The same face.

And I had to stare into her eyes for just that split second...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I turned back again, as my quick steps increased to long strides. Nothing.

There is no abso-fucking-lute way that I could have seen what I did, right?

Right?

So there I was, running into the night, chanting pali scripture at breakneck speed.

I would have founded the Buddhist Olympics, or something. 400-metre sprint; screaming text from the Dhammapada.

Finally, there was the sight of my block of flat. And hey, vehicles!

Calmed down, and dialled any number I remembered at that time, hoping as hell that the person on the other line would pick up.

And by golly, was I lucky.

Thanks.

Still, this is a slight reminder to myself.

There is no fucking thing as ghosts.

There is no fucking thing as ghosts.

Yep, sure isn't.

No such thing.

I'm not walking near that place at night anytime soon.

Oh yeah, happy birthday Adrian.

What would you do?

2007-04-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

"It's funny how love works."

Okay, I admit.

I ripped this off someone else's blog, then cannibalised it.

But hey, this is soooo adorable.

Some things just make your day.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you could, what would you do?

If Jack Frost knocked upon your doors,
Give her one of your t-shirts to sleep in.

Hang out with her when she's sad.
Hang out with her no matter what mood she's in.

Kiss her in front of her friends,
then tell her she looks beautiful.

Heck, tell her she looks beautiful anyway.

Look into her eyes when you talk to her,
It's the courteous thing to do.
Then let your eyes do the talking.

Let her mess with your hair.
Mess around with her hair.
But not too much because she'll -thwack- OW!

Forgive her for her mistakes.
If she actually makes any.

Look at her like she's the only girl you see.
Because she's the only girl you have eyes for, anyway.

Tickle her even when she says 'stop'.

But not too much.

Hold her hand when you're around your friends.
It's very sweet.

Tell her you love her when she starts swearing at you.

And then duck for cover.

Let her fall asleep in your arms!

Get her mad, then kiss her.
Get her mad again, she'll kick you.

Tease her, and let her tease you back.
Go on, try it.

Stay up all night with her when she's sick-

Baby girl needs your care.

Watch her favourite movie with her.
A hundred and sixty two times.

Kiss her on the forehead.
Then grin widely.

Give her the world.
Nothing else matters.

Write her letters.
Then keep some of them.
While spamming the rest.

Let her wear your clothes.

Please don't wear hers.

Leave her cute text notes,
especially on doodled post-its.

Hang out with her when she's sad.
Hang out with her no matter what mood she's in.

Let her know she's important.
More important than soccer.
Or Pokemon.

Let her take all the photos she wants of you.
Take one picture of her- That's all you'll ever need.

Kiss her in the pouring rain.
Salty, but sooo worth it.

and

Love her like you've never loved someone before.

What would you do?

Happy Birthday to Me

2007-03-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

"Happy birthday, ohhh, happy birthday... Happy birthday to... Damn, I look old."

Seventeen years has gone and passed.
Funny how the mind works.
I can remember what happened a decade ago,
yet not be able to recall the contents of my last meal.
Now then, what have I learnt?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One year Old

Shiny bottle in the sun.
I like shiny things.
The glass was green, just like grass.
I like grass.

Mummy was in the kitchen,
and Daddy in the study room.
I think this is Mummy's thing;
She always presses a button
and then she smells like flowers.
I like flowers.
I like Mummy.

I held up the bottle,
Mummy's smell is inside!
But, where's the button?
It must be a puzzle!

I turn this thing, and
POP!

Oh, this smells good!
Like those flowers Daddy
always gave Mummy.

The flowers smelt great,
and it tasted sweet too.
So, this water must be...

Flower juice!

I press this button, then
PZZT!
PZZT!

Now my hand smells like flowers, too!

I wonder if flower juice tastes like...

YUCK!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Three Years Old

DisneyLand Japan was so fun!
I even took a picture with Mickey Mouse!
But why was Mickey so big?
Mummy said that I would only know
When I grow up.

She always tell me that.

But I want to know, now!
She told me it was a person inside Mickey.
It's because of magic, she says.

I don't believe in magic.

Mummy must be bluffing me again.
Like that time she wanted me to eat spinach.
I never got to eat that ice-cream she promised.

The hotel people talk funny.
Mummy was having a hard time talking to them.
Ah Ma tried to help,
but nothing worked.

Hey, a lift!
Wow, it even has golden buttons!
I wonder what would happen if I press this...

1...
5...
12...

Hm, I can go higher!
Yay, 52!

Maybe higher!
61!

Maybe-

Hey, where's Mummy?

Ah Ma?

Why is everything downstairs so small?

Why am I so high up?

... Mummy?!

WAAAAAA!!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Six Years Old

The shiny metal looked intriguing.
Daddy and Mummy never liked me going near it,
Always snatching it away from me.

Why?

It must be fun to play with,
Because Ah Ma uses it to cut fabrics.
She would then make a clean cut
between those two pieces of cloth.

Very neat.
Very pretty.

Cloth is soft,
And can be easily cut.
How sharp could the "penknife" be,
Right?

And they call it a "knife".
It doesn't even look like one!
This "knife" couldn't be sharp.

It couldn't.

Right?

So I ran my finger across it.

Fast.

OW!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nope, didn't learn anything from these incidents.

Absolutely nothing.

Happy birthday to me.

Photo-moronic

2007-03-22T05:41:00.000-07:00

"I look so unflattering."

Someone reckoned that I should photoshop this picture.

Good idea.

LianheZaoBao- On Bloggers.

Youth. Sg got on the news- They looked for some buggers to appear on it, and alas, I actually do.
Tmd, suay ka buay si.

I'm the guy in the bottom left corner. Oh yes, the one with his eyes closed.
It's the flash, la.

Of course, this picture was courtesy of Rachel, and Alvin- Thanks for the pizza, Alvin. Sure liked that.

Everyone there was alitttttle too quiet.

Oh, and Mervin aka Guttercat made an appearance! Sure was fun makin' fun of him and playin' with little Siobhan.

Bah, this is the news for you.

Pfft.

P.S. Yes, that's Kumaran by the right side. Gasp.

Over and out.

It's Vanilla Pie Day!

2007-03-14T01:04:00.000-07:00

"It's White Pi Day! I feel like a geeky caucasian."

Pi(e), anyone?

Pi Day is an unofficial holiday held to celebrate the mathematical constant π (Pi). This holiday is usually celebrated by people who think that there are not enough holidays.

Usually celebrated with a large serving of pie, this holiday is usually observed on March 14, due to pi being equal to roughly 3.14. Sometimes it is celebrated on March 14 at 1:59 p.m. (commonly known as "Pi Minute").

If pi is rounded out to seven decimal places, it becomes 3.1415926, making March 14 at 1:59:26 p.m., "Pi Second".

March 14 also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday.

Contrary to popular belief, 22/7 is not that close to π.

Secondary school's a sham.

22/7 is a widely used Diophantine approximation of π. It is greater than π, as can be readily seen in the decimal expansions of these values:

22/7 ~ 3.142857
π~ 3.141592

The approximation has been known since antiquity. Archimedes wrote the first known proof that 22/7 is an overestimate in the 3rd century BCE, although he did not necessarily invent the approximation.

Seriously, who notes these stuff?

His proof proceeds by showing that 22/7 is greater than the ratio of the perimeter of a circumscribed regular polygon with 96 sides to the diameter of the circle.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Digression:-

It's possible to prove that '0.999...' is actually 1!

Let '0.999...' be 'c'.

c= 0.999...
10c= 9.99...
10c-c= 9.99... - 0.99...
9c=9

Therefore, c=1.

Wait, what just happened?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

March 14th is also a day that is celebrated by White Day.

White Day is a growing tradition that was created through a concentrated marketing effort in Japan. It is celebrated in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and some other East Asian countries one month after Valentine's Day.

On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men; on White Day, men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day return the favor and give gifts to women.

Yes- What goes around, comes around.

This holiday is starting to gain popularity in Hong Kong, where Japanese influence is strong. The observance of Valentine's Day in Japan, particularly among students, is somewhat different than in the West.

Valentine's day is mainly for the girls to present chocolates (either store-bought or handmade) to the boy of their choice. The concept of "Giri-Choco", which translates as "Obligatory Chocolate", has also developed, where a girl will give chocolate to those close to her (co-workers, for example) but in whom she has no romantic interest.

When White Day rolls around, it is the boy's turn to return the gift in what is called "sanbai-gaeshi" or "triple return", since the gift the boy gives is supposed to be three times the value of the gift received initially.

Hence, it is advisable to invest heavily into Valentine's day. Girls, mortgage everything you have and buy everything for everyone you know. Get your boyfriend a sports car; he'll have to get you a jewellery store for White Day.

Heck, let it loose and buy a chocolate factory.

There are many theories about the origins of White Day. According to one, the holiday began in 1965 when a marshmallow maker started marketing to men that they should pay back the women who gave them chocolate and other gifts with marshmallows. Originally it was called Marshmallow Day, which was later changed to White Day.

Soon thereafter, confectionary companies began to realize that they could capitalize on such a tradition as well, and began marketing white chocolate. Now, Japanese men give both white and non-white chocolate, as well as other edible and non-edible gifts, such as jewelry or objects of sentimental value, to women from whom they received chocolate on Valentine's Day one month earlier.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All these being said, this is the perfect gift for the holidays-

A triple chocolate-fudge pie to your maths teacher.

Mdm Wong would be proud.

Junior College Musical- Part Two

2007-03-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

"Potassium Iodide and Di-Hydrogen Dioxide makes great fizz!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

BIG-ASS NOTE:-

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ
PART ONE OF THIS PIECE,
READ IT...

NOW!
(well, before you read this post anyway)
(it is the post right before this one)

THIS PIECE MAKES NO COHERENCE
WITHOUT PART I,
OR ANYTHING ELSE,
FOR THAT MATTER.

I WILL ENDS THIS CAPS LOCK NOW.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And we're soaring, flying
Into a brick wall that we could never see.

I know what most of you guys must be thinking right now.

"Are you mad, WeiWen? Why got Nanyang JC, and you don't want to go?!"

Yes, I kno-

"Know, know, know! Know your head, la!"

- - - - -

So I was sitting at the back of the hall, as always, and the principal just finished her speech.

There was now this announcement before the CTGs were sent on their way to their orientations.

"Those with the following names called for the particular CCA, please meet the teacher-in-charge outside now."

Funny enough, my name was called. Under Basketball.

Ha, BASKETBALL.

Now, I don't know why they didn't call me out for Wushu, but heck, I'm not complaining.

So I pack my stuff and got the hell out of the stuffy, stuffy hall, and made my way out with the rest of those called under basketball. And man, were those guys tall.

Apparently, there were only eight to ten of us chosen directly for the CCA. No audition for us, nuthin'. The only instruction?

"Come for the next training. As for your CCA application form, put Basketball as your first choice. We'll do the rest."

Sweet.

So I ask the nice, nice teacher for confirmation.

"Aren't you Wei Wen?"

Yep, I sure am.

"Yeah. Just put your first choice in basketball. You'll be in."

Turns out that YJC Basketball's a core CCA- Whatever student they want, they get.

So I'm in, right?

"Yes, you are. Come for the next training."

Awesome.

.
.
.

Hey, the story's not over yet.

So I skip off (Joy, I'm in Basketball!) to the next orientation thinger they have planned for us, and it is rumoured that all the boys would have to go for a choir audition.

Yes, you heard me.

Choir Audition.

Okay, so it's not so much as rumoured. It was actually true.

Damn, it was just like Anderson.

Oh, how I miss Anderson...

... But back to reality.

We enter Brahms Room after an extremely boring bonding session, and by gawd, were there alot of boys. We were split up into groups, and went up to the piano to sing.

"Okay, just try your best."

Gulp.

So I made a sound.

It sounded like a slaughtered chicken. On drugs.

"Okay, you, you, and you, boy. Step out to the front. The rest, take one step back," Miss Yap pointed at me and two others.

Oh crap. We were supposed to sing that particular note(s) again, this time without the accompanyment of anyone else.

"Shit."

It's amusing to see three tall, underdeveloped pube-voiced guys sing a high C.

"Use falsetto!"

Cannot, lah.

"Nonsense. You can do it."

And it sounded like a slaughtered duck on drugs.

...

I was placed as a tenor in YJC school choir.

.
.
.

Wait a minute, what?!

"Okay, before we start, do you have any objection to joining choir?"

Mmhm... Wait, what?

"Choir. You are chosen to be a tenor in our upcoming SYF choir and concert."

... Cool. Err, no objecti-

"Okay, great. Just write your name and class here..."

But-

"But?"

What do I put as my first CCA choice?

"Oh, just put choir. We'll do the rest."

Now, that sounded familiar.

Oh SHIT.

Um, Miss Yap? I have a slight problem...

... I am kinda in Basketball already. Supposed to go for their next training-

"It's okay! Just put your first choice as choir. We'll work out something with basketball for you!"

Wow, really?

"... Yes."

Now in choir for SYF, with a safe spot in Basketball.

The National Youth Achievement Award is going to be a cinch.

- - - - -

I know fairy tales don't USUALLY come true.

But this is Junior College Musical... (NOW do you realise the relevance of the above picture?)

... I'm going to be a dribbling singer!

Now I just gotta get my head in the game.

Junior College Musical- Part One

2007-03-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

"It's just like High School Musical! Only happening in real life!"

And we're soaring, flying
Into a brick wall that we could never see.

I'll cut this short.

Alright, everything's been great so far.

Not in much of a mood these days - It must have been the after-effects of the cold I had closing the end of the holidays.

That mood was almost like that of the undead.

All gnarling for the next meal, indifferent to anything or everything that happens, and slothy.

It almost got so bad that I left an impression on dear CTG 127 that I was "the guy who didn't bother going for orientation-treasure-hunt just to catch an early breakfast".

Hey, the school was huge. And! The food was good. Most generous servings of chicken chops.

EVER.

Oh yeah.

Back to the story.

Orientation wasn't the most interesting thing that happened, so I'll just skip that whole part.

- - - - -

Okay then, so I got informed that my appeal to NYJC was actually a damn SUCCESS!

They gave me a call, told me to go down for an audition on Thursday.

Clarence and I made a pact back in MI that we would strive for NYJC, 'by hook or by crook'. Obviously, I took the 'crook'. Direct Admission via CCA Achievements. Hooks are too sharp and pointy, if you know what I mean.

I got the call around Thursday morning, so that was no big deal, since it was only an audition, and nothing else. I was supposed to magically appear in NYJC the following afternoon.

Heck, what could I even show for the audition?

My solid 'ma bu'?!
Or MAYBE (just maybe) all of my ten strokes of 'si duan jian shu'.
Those ten strokes had better break boulders because it's only ONE-TENTH of the whole swordplay.
Even then, my rusty sword (and my rusty skills) would not have made the cut.

I didn't even bothered turning up in the end.

Funny thing though, the jokers gave me another call the next day, saying that after 'reviewing past records and achievements', they've decided to give me a place in NYJC.

That, of course, is IF I join their pugilistic society.

Yeah, I know. Wushu and stuff. I was pretty surprised, and flattered too, to say the least, because I doubt I did a good job in CCS back in Anderson. Still, a place is a place.

Friday morning came the call, was supposed to pick up some 'confirmation slip' or something from the school the following day (oei, I can't TELEPORT, okay?!) and/or Monday. Common sense would tell you to get the damn thing ASAP, no?

Friday afternoon, and Clarence and I played basketball, a weekly ritual. I didn't tell him about my placing in NYJC, until he told me that he landed an audition for NYJC's band. Him being part of the always-been-strong Bowen Band, needless to say, he eventually landed himself a placing in NYJC.

Monday morning he comes to school to say he has already been accepted by NYJC, and we decided to go to NYJC to pick up our confirmation slips.

Well, after my basketball match, alright?

So he said that he would go first. We would meet in NYJC later. It was around 2pm then.

He calls me around 5pm to ask for my location.

Still in YJC, I say.

And that was definitely a double-meaning right there and then.

Wushu just wasn't my thing.

- - - - -

Anyway, I was posted to CTG 127. It's a great class, everyone all friendly and all. I wasn't the friendliest around though. Too 'bochup'. Or 'dao'.

Meh.

Kinda clicked off with CKY immediately, funny how small Singapore is. It turned out that the fella was the CT classmate of Jerico in NYJC.

And the rest? One of the nicest people one could ever meet. Oh, except Aaron.

He supports Liverpool! Bleh!

But I jest.

Adrian and Yee Kiat, Man U fans through and through.

127's startin' to grow on me, and it has only been two days.

Give it two more years, I bet I'll be sproutin' mushrooms too.

- - - - -

Oh lookie me, I digressed.

Part Two, comin' right up.

Education Synthesis

2007-03-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

"This subject combination will affect me for life. Have I made the right choice, again?"

Yishun JC offers flexi-combination. So as long as you fulfil the requirements to study the subject, you will surely be posted to that combination.

It's a Rojak of academic proportions.

Don's choice combination would had been H2 Maths, H2 Physics, H2 Econs, H2 Knowledge and Inquiry.

But since Mr Spencer cancelled all KI classes for 2007, Don had H1 Geography replacing H2 KI.

H1 Geography? How would that be helpful?

Assistance was desperately required.

So, who else do you look for for a switch in combinations, but the head honcho herself?

Mrs Kwang. (She's actually an extremely nice person.)

Of course, the dean would help you in choosing your subjects should you approach her for help.

That Mrs Kwang is one hell of a marketer. She would persuade you over and over, till you choose a combination that would most probably work for you.

Her logic: If your subjects in O' Levels aren't distinctions, don't try attempting the subjects for A's.

Don's logic: Pick subjects that will assure you distinctions in A levels, and open up a route in universities.

Her logic, again: If you don't score well for the subjects that "open the largest possible path", there's no point in takin' them.

And a consensus was formed.

H2 Literature, H2 Mathematics, H2 Economics, H1 Physics.

.
.
.

"You should not take 4 H2s. H2 Mathematics would already be too much for you to handle, judging from your A Maths results from O's," Mrs Kwang glanced at Don momentarily before going back to her files.

"So I should-" Don was hesistant.

"You should take only 3 H2s. It's better that way."

"If you insist," the sigh was subtle.

"No, I'm not saying that you cannot take 4H2s. Instead, you should try for 3H2s. It's still your choice, you know."

"Then I'll-"

"But you must be careful. A' Levels is not easy. So don't come back crying if you're retained."

Don took the combination immediately.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

.
.
.

Don later found out that the distinction percentage of English Literature in YJC the previous year was...

1.4%
(out of a possible 150-odd students taking H2 Literature)

Oh, and just to rub salt into wounds...

H1 Physics opens up only ONE particular course.

General Engineering (which is so new that Don doubts any company would have even heard of such a degree).

.
.
.

The pineapple in my Rojak is sour.

Yuck.

There is no Spoon

2007-03-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

"God exists. Ergo. Therefore, God exists. =3 "

- - - - -

Update:-
No one got to take KI. Mr Spencer "found it unsuitable to hold a KI class this year".
Translation- Us students must be friggin' stupid, or he's just plain asinine. Ah well, more time to focus on the other subs.

On the other hand, 4/5 of the questions were "explained succinctly". Ha! Failed one was the inadequate proof pertaining to existence of God. But, but, "main point was grasped".

Distinction in test paper! Woot!

- - - - -

So school has started.

Again.

And woop-tee-doo, Don was insane enough to try for KI.

For the uninitiated, KI is the abbreviation for Knowledge and Inquiry.

Yeah, it's the study of knowledge and yada yada.

Take it to be General Paper. General Paper X 20. That's how "fun" KI is.

But it's about philosophy, no? I'll like it!

Adrian was nice enough to get Don the test paper, so Don sat for it.

Note: Don has already completed the paper, but can't be bothered to write the entire paper/ explanation here. Just add the pieces up. You'll get the picture.

Try attempting the questions, first.

- - -

1. In the course of the slave trade which took captive Africans under terrible conditions in slave-ships from the Guinea coast across the Atlantic to the Americas, a higher proportion of the crews (free men) of these ships died than the slaves in their holds. Explain.

Ooh, test of logic.

2. A lamp is set to switch on and off for 24 hours, in the following sequence. It's on for the first 12 hours, then off for 6, then on for 3, then off for 90 minutes, on for 45 minutes and so on. At the end of the 24 hours will it be on or off?

Limiting factor towards infinity, arh. Siao.

3. What comment would you make on the following arguments (both of which contain flaws) for the existence of God? You are not to make use of religion or faith or belief in your answer but just evaluate the argument as it stands on its own premises.

(a) Every event in the world, or feature in the world, is seen to have a cause. If we look for all possible causes for all possible events, eventually we will arrive back at a first or original cause and that cause is God.

Holy... Shit.

(b) If we came across an abandoned Rolex watch we would never assume that such an intricate mechanism did not have an intelligent designer or creator. Similarly, since the universe and life are inifinitely more complex than a Rolex watch, we should assume that they also have an intelligent designer, namely God.

Errrrrrr...

We have to analyse arguments to prove existence of God?

Siao, lah.

- - -

Don's Answers (or at least attempts):-

Gistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgistgist...

1. Proportion and conditional treatment. More slaves than crews. Takes 10 out of 100 slaves to perish to match the death percentage of 1 outta 10 crew deaths.

2. Off. Lightbulb would burst.

3(a). And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen. "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:21-22 NAS)

IMMEDIATE FAIL. CANNOT USE RELIGION.

Just joking.

Assumptions that God is the first premise. Cause and effect. Flaw lies in assumption.

3(b). Funny enough, an invention would not have an equally intelligent/complex inventor. Or not, a watch can create another one. Still, how can one explain cloning? But I digress. Flaw STILL lies in assumption.

It's pre-existentialism!

GOD EXISTS. THEREFORE, GOD EXISTS.

"For more information, visit EvilBible.com. It's a good laugh."

This test sure fail, liao.

Pui.

Hooked Again

2007-03-03T06:56:00.000-08:00

"But I'm almost Level 93! Almost... Yes! No, I can't stop now! Level 94 is only ninety percent away!"

So, I start my day trying to get all my characters to Lvl 99.

Then, I send them into transcendence, which would turn back back into Lvl 1.

Then I train them back to Lvl 99.

.

I know what you're thinking.
"Are you MAD? That's all you do?!"

.
.
.

No, silly. I get buffs before I train. (It) makes it faster, see?

I can't help it.

Don likes to do the...

RAGNAROK IMPOSSIBLES

So, I go killin' monsters.

It's fun, watching the experience points reel in while I increase my exp. percentage by 0.01 per monster...

... 1) And then along your journey, you meet a Lvl 99 poring.

A Lvl 99 Poring! With 9752 HP. Low-levels, beware.

Why do I even bother playing, really?

Oh, right.

To get Lvl 99.

And more buffs! Hurrah!

2) Don has max-leveled one of the toughest jobs in Ragnarok Online- The Super Novice.

A melee Super Novice.

It's like trying to drink soup with a fork.

Improbable, not impossible.

Ha!

.

Then later, you attempt to kill tougher and tougher monsters.

Yes, that's a Level 125 monster. With a 1,000,000++ HP.

Fucker's impossible to kill.

3) Yet, Don killed a Lvl 100+ MVP with a High Priest.

After two hours.

I'm still getting crap from these crazy-hard monsters.

Bored, I enter the player-vs-player arena.

AKA. "I can kill other people here" place.

4) Participate in a massive free-for-all and still survive...

... for all of six seconds.

These are all freakin' achievements, no?

Still, Deliverance Online had to close for a while due to its SVN upgrade.
(Which would make the server faster, stronger, and have more custom quests/items!)

The addiction is stopped for now...

... Only to be served by an 'upgrade'.

Aw crap.

Maybe I should stop spending so much time in Ragnarok.

Do Bovine Fecal Matter?

2007-02-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

"Extra, extra! Read all about it! Humans find more holes to poke stuff in!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Researcher develops acupuncture for plants to hasten fruit output

Can acupuncture be carried out on plants? Hsiao Kui-wen, who specializes in research related to Chinese medicine and traditional therapeutic techniques, has spent 15 years in determining the answer to this question. Now, he has finally discovered the acupuncture pressure points for plants. This enables him to carry out acupuncture on peach trees or apple trees, enabling the plants to ripen faster and enable harvest about a half a month earlier than normal. This also helps to prevent the threat of harm to the fruit from various pests. Hsiao has received a patent on his research from the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Intellectual Property Office. He has already received expressions of interest in the technology from people in the agriculture industry and is presently in talks on transferring the technology.

Hsiao presently operates a center that specializes in addressing spinal problems in people. The clinic is located in Yonghe City of Taipei County. One time by chance he noticed that the petals of a wild ginger flower changed color after different pigments were sprinkled over the flower. This got him to thinking that plants should have pressure points just like people do, and if this is the case, there is no reason that acupuncture could not be carried out. With this idea in mind, he started delving into research in this area.

Seventeen years ago, Hsiao began to engage in cooperative research with fruit orchard farmers at Wuling Farm, and farmers in Shihkang of Taichung and Lalashan of Taoyuan County. He took a camera with him and also carried a notebook in which he wrote down all sorts of details. He spent eight years in finding acupuncture pressure points in plants. He then spent another seven years in carrying out experiments with acupuncture on fruit trees. He has continued with his efforts for 15 years now, and finally his research has "blossomed." The peach trees he has carried out acupuncture on now produce wonderful examples of the fruit. When President Chen Shui-bian went on a state visit to Latin America, he even took boxes of the peaches with him as gifts for his hosts.

As for the needles that he uses for acupuncture on plants, Hsiao Kui-wen uses the steel wire from discarded bicycles. The wire is about three or four times thicker than that of needles used on humans. Hsiao said that he needs to prick a fruit tree in 20 to 30 places in the acupuncture treatment. Some of the points are on the main trunk of the tree, while others are on the branches. He declined to go into detail, as this is precisely the essence of his research, which has now been patented.

Once the acupuncture treatment is completed, he then sprays on a natural growth compound that is extracted from plants. Hsiao said most fruit farmers use agricultural fertilizers or hormones to spark the growth process of the fruit and provide for an abundant harvest. He said that this not only damages the environment, but also has an impact on the health of people.

Hsiao is 66 years old. He said that if he would have been able to successfully develop these techniques 10 years ago, he would have opened up a farm himself. Now, however, he feels he is too old to undertake the task, and therefore desires to transfer the technology. Hsiao said he is determined to keep this technology in Taiwan and not to have the fruits of his research be used to create a competitive edge for agricultural products in China. Hsiao stressed that if fruit trees are able to flower, bud, produce fruit and be harvested earlier than normal, the fruit can get to market ahead of that from other farms. As a result, the price of this fruit will be three to four times higher than fruit grown in traditional ways. He said the new techniques will help to increase the farmers of farmers and enable Taiwanese agriculture to have a competitive edge.

However, an academic from National Taiwan University's Department of Horticulture expressed a reserved attitude on whether acupuncture can in fact increase fruit output and prevent damage by insects. Assistant professor Yeh Teh-ming said that based on changes in various environmental factors, such as changes in temperature, humidity or light, people can already change or hasten the growth cycle of plants. He said that these methods are already in wide use. On the other hand, he said he has rarely heard of plant acupuncture achieving such results. Another assistant professor, Chang Tsu-liang, said that he has heard in the past that there was research being carried out on plant acupuncture by universities in Germany and China. However, he is only aware that research is ongoing, and has not heard of any actual research results or seen scientific evidence that the technique is successful.

END
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

To the lazy asses who couldn't be bothered reading this,

Gist.

Man is bored. He naturally finds more holes to stick his needles in.
Since the holes of mammals have already been filled, Man is curious about the others.
Insects and reptiles are too small. So He targets the plant kingdom.
Apparently, the art of acupuncture from TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) has found a way to help ~~humans~~ trees bear fruits faster!

"Acupuncture apparently already aiding acnes. Ah!"

.
.
.

WARNING!
Side-rant to follow.
What is the world coming to? Now then, I'm not subjecting acupuncture to debauchery, but this is quite brilliant. And by "quite" I mean "bloody", and by "brilliant" I mean "moronic".

What's next?

How about sticking needles into the ground to curb earthquakes?

"I'm sure the kind sir will be very pleased."

But hey, let's not stop there!

Let's stick needles into EVERYTHING.

Trigonometry will be SO much easier if we use acupuncture on it.
It would produce results faster, no?

Ah heck, why bother doing homework. If the teacher's the problem, poke her with a needle.

Don't you agree, little Billy?

- - -

"As a result, the price of this fruit will be three to four times higher than fruit grown in traditional ways."

And make it hella more expensive, too.

Stick the needles in the proper points, and poof.

INSTA-FRUIT. JUST ADD NEEDLE.

Oh wait, not that instant, huh? It speeds up the process by... half a month.

At least it's time saved, I suppose.

But wait!

"Once the acupuncture treatment is completed, he then sprays on a natural growth compound that is extracted from plants."

Ha! The irony!

He's using fertiliser!

Geddit, geddit?

You know, because he's using bullshit, that's why I'm calling this bull...

... Bah, never mind. You guys are no fun.

I am @ Youth.SG... Again, and Again!

2007-02-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Update:-

Dear Donovan,

Congratulations! You are one of the selected top 11 contestants for Round
4 of the Youth.SG blogging contest to win a Nintendo DS Lite!

Yeah!

OKAY THEN. DONOVAN IS B10!

B10!

Pwease, ~~don't burn my sheep~~ vote for Donovan!

Then he can win a Nintendo DS Lite...

... Or at least won't be that lau kwee, lah.

To vote, click...

HERE

You'll have to include your...

E-mail
Full Name
Contact Number
IC Number

All these are for verification purposes.
(Don't worry, lah. If I wanted your personal information, I would ask you myself. =P)

To reward everyone for helping us pick our winning entry, this week, FIVE
lucky voters will get to win a $10 HMV Voucher.

Voting will close at 2359hrs on 1 March 2007.

Remember, Don is B10!

Thanks. =3

.
.
.

B10!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now I REALLY @ Youth.SG, liao.

Stay up late late write this blogpost, leh.

4.46AM liao.

I put pictures, somemore!

Lemme win, la!

Oh ya, disclaimer.

All these are only in jest, hor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As a youth @ Youth.SG , Don has always loved games.

It's something that alot of us enjoy, no?

.
.
.

But don't take my word for it.

Even our government loves to play tug-and-war with us, lor.
Source: PAP Webby

Yeah, Don loves games a-lot.

So much that he can be considered a computer-geek. (And maybe semi-nerd)

"Ask all my friends, they can vouch!"

You see ar, when you talk to Don about games, the first thing that goes through his mind is COMPUTER GAMES.

BUDDEN HE CAN ALSO PLAY ~~BORED~~ BOARD GAMES TOO!

Pro, boh? Liddat sure Scrabble Championships liao, lah!

.
.
.

Don still likes computer games better.

He has played so much that he has...

LvL 9 Keyboard Mastery

Ability to Alt-Tab and multi-task between gaming and MSN. Success rate: 10*skill level%.
60 + 3*skill level% Word-per-Minute typing speed.
Max Level: 10

Lvl 2 Increase Accuracy

10 + 5*skill level % to type words properly while killing a mob of monsters.
Pre-requisite: LvL 1 Keyboard Mastery
Max Level: 5

LvL 4 Sleep Disdain

Ability to stay awake into the wee hours of the morning, approx. 5am-6am, gaming before going to sleep.
Status effects, e.g. Fatigue, listlessness, panda eyes, will decrease as user increases level of Sleep Disdain.

LvL 7 1337-Speak

Ability to substitute letters with numbers while speaking in-game.

"YOU NEVER HEARD OF 1337?
IT'S IN THE BIBLE!

HAVEN'T YOU READ THE OMG 13:37,
WHERE THE M0XX0RS LED THE J00S OUT OF PWNAGE?!"

Pre-requisite: None

j00 c4n d3n t0k !iK3 d15!11!!11!one!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

See? Don's really a maniac when it comes to games.

.
.
.

Huh, what games do I usually play?

Good question.

Here are a few good games that Don plays:-

- - -

RAGNAROK ONLINE

"I am Don, the Don."

Ragnarok Online has always been Donovan's favourite game.
It's all chibi-styles.
It has anime.
It's ultra-cute.

"But then I must pay money to play, right!"

... PRIVATE SERVER, LAH!

"Oh."

- - -

But Don also likes musical games.

Drum-mania would be one of them, but it's not cheap to play it in the arcades all the time.

So he opts for...

O2JAM

"Uhhh, where's the C chord again?"

o2jam REMIXES classical music!
Think Beat-Mania, keyboard mode.
FREE, SOMEMORE.

- - -

Now I know most of you will be wondering...

... "YOU GOT PLAY MAPLE OR NOT?"

Yea, once.

MAPLESTORY

"I am a cleric, lor! Duwan heal you! =3"

Don used to play Maple, and he was a level 50+ Cleric.

At that time, he could tank HORNY MUSHROOMS (giggle).

But then Asiasoft were harassed by the HORNY MUSHROOMS, so they became angry, and made sure that Maple Global would split so that MapleSEA would host only the... duhh. South-East-Asians.

Our accounts?

Most of them wipe, lor.

*random vulgarity*

So the next person who asks me if I play Maple, I will personally kick you, you Aquila, with my Bootes.
.
.
.

TRENDS GAMERS FOLLOW

A note-worthy trend would be people using REAL LIFE money to buy ONLINE money.
These online money would go to their account, which would then:-

1) Give them an advantage over those who didn't fork out any money.
2) Make themselves look better... ONLINE.

Hello people, you're paying for pixels?

Oei, you think money drop from the sky, ar?

Actually, money drops from large fishes.
The blue ones will drop diamonds!

.
.
.

Have you ever met a n00b?

A common misconception would be that "n00bs" are a slang for "newbies".
No, it isn't.

"N00bs" are termed and directly used on a person with little or no experience in the game, whilst presenting him/herself in a shady manner.

Don't be a dumbass.
Nothing good ever happens to them.

They usually misspell, and/or insult fellow gamers. Also, they have a weird fetish for saying 'plz' instead of 'please'.

"cn i hav (insert misspelled game currency) plz?"

"u suk lol"

"i wan itam"

- - -

Side rant:-

WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU NOOBS EVER SAY PLEASE?
IT'S ONLY 6 LETTERS LONG!
WHEN YOU WANT A HEAL/BUFF, JUST TYPE THE MAGIC WORD.
P-L-E-A-S-E.

IT WILL P-L-E-A-S-E US. AND ALSO THE GAWDS ABOVE!

"Yeah!"

"May I have a heal/buff please?" ALWAYS sound better than "heal plz".

- - -

The best way to react to a situation when facing a persistant, irritating n00b is to ask them to...

STFU.
(Most of you guys already know what this means, doncha?)

.
.
.

Or... You could always try strangling them n00bies.

Psychic strangling will seriously pWn.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You play the game because?

Better hand-eye coordination,

A good way to de-stress,
Definitely a great way to meet people.

After all, what are games without friends?

.
.
.

But if computer games aren't really your thing...

... Then you don't know what you're missing out on.

The Twelve Apostles, by Don.

Because that hand-eye coordination thing really helps.

Happy Cheena New Year!

2007-02-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

"OINK OINK!... It's sad to know that that's all I'm thinkin' of right now. "

Happy Cheena New Year, one and all!

*Stores red packets away.*

Right, off to the post.

It's now the year of the pig. But this is no ordinary 12-year re-occuring zodiac year.

This is...

The year of the GOLDEN pig.

(People say that it comes every 600 years, so it must be extremely lucky.)

This is MY version of a GOLDEN pig.
She only eats and sleeps.

Oh yes, wouldja lookit that! A picture... In a blogpost?!

Mmhm, to celebrate the year of the GOLDEN pig, Don is ~~selling out~~ trying out a picture-blog.

Yes, that means it will be more reader-friendly, and a helluva lot time-consuming for muah.

Who cares about broken pages and long pageloads.

You're now Doing it with Don.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

So then, pacing through the countless shameless articles about the year of the Golden Pig, one has to wonder:-

WHO THE F- CREATED THAT YEAR?

Look, if this rare year comes only twice in a millenium, then surely the annals of Ancient China would have recorded it... SOMEWHERE. And don't tell Don that it's because of a certain crazed 'first emperor' who burnt the records. Because he would have been long gone by the Ming Dynasty.

"Actually, I gave him the elixir of life! Take that, Hou Yi!"

.
.
.

But really, think about it. There has to be something to it. *coffdecreasingbirthratescoff*

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

But while Don was searching for stuff on t3h internet (it has everything), he came across another one of these GOLDEN little nuggets...

Chinese Zodiac

... And since Don was born in the Year of the Horse, why not?

Whinny Whinny? What onomatopoeic word does a horse make?!

People born in the Year of the Horse are cheerful, active, and popular. (Ha!)

They generally don't worry, and they adapt easily to different situations. (Woah, accurate.)

They also tend to be fickle and overly talkative. (Lagi accurate.)

Their ability to quickly analyze situations and handle business matters makes them good bankers and businesspeople. (Even more accurate.)

.
.
.

Man, I'm not one to believe in such things, but hell, the zodiac is pretty accurate.

What do you think?...

... Gimme angpao.

The Chosen Path

2007-02-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

"Anyone realise that the cut-off points of the more popular JCs stop at 13, while the less popular ones start at 17? Where will a fifteen pointer (with bonus, poo) like me go? It's a flaw in the system, damnit."

Okay.

Enough of the whiny-bitchiness.

This is a memo intended for Don.

Yes, I'm talking to ~~you~~ me you, asshole.

This post is concerning your choice of junior college after your O' levels.

Note that this is for your eyes in... A year's time. You better not be regretting my decision, because that would make you look like an idiot, not to mention me too.

So then, let's begin.

...

Dear Self,

I hate you so much short of jumping off a building to stop the hate. Because I like the hate. And torturing your very demented existance. Trust me when I say that you are like a meat shield of loathing. Well, a skin-and-bones shield, anyway. Get fat already.

Asshole.

Now that we're over and done with the obscenities, let's get down to business. Fifteen points, with bonus. Where to, where to?

Nanyang would be the first choice, but it is highly unlikely you'll end up in its Science course. You'll have to go to the Arts course, AND most probably contribute to NY's Puglilistic Society. Oh wait, you don't really want to continue with that CCA, do you?

Closer to home too, huh? But you know you won't be able concentrate on studies there?

So why the hell did you...?

Oh, for better chance in appealin'?

Fat hope.

*Nanyang JC. Arts course. First Choice.*

.
.
.

Catholic JC. Oh please. How did that even...

The location's bad for you.
The culture's unsuitable for you.
The CCAs pose no interest to you.

Then why are you...?

Because?

What the hell does a "because" explain?

Never mind.

You fail at life.

*Catholic JC. Arts Course. Second choice.*

.
.
.

Which comes to the last choice.

Wait.

What do you mean "last"? There's at least five more junior colleges!

Not interested?

Not interested?!...

You know what, never mind.

*Yishun JC. Science course. Third/Last choice.*

-

You know you'll get into YJC. You know it.

So then, howja figure out your courses?

Yeah, so you did better at the art/humanities subjects rather than science. Much. much better.
That doesn't mean you should pursue humanities mainly. Oh wait, yes it does.

You tell me now that you're interested in... what again?

What happened to aspirations in being in the medical field? I mean, you don't HAVE to be a doctor. You can be a paramedic. A male nurse. Heck, even a pharmacist. I'm sure Unity would love to have you onboard after your graduation from college learning how to differentiate a lilac white pill from a peachy one.

"Bah. They all look the same to me. Just pop, uhhh... all of them tonight before you go to bed," would be your last sentence as a professional.

No longer interested, huh? What, has that ego of yours retracted back into that pathetic excuse for a scrotum?

Whatever, sir. I mean, ma'am.

Arts now? What are you going to do when you grow up?

Journalism? Yeah, you look like good paparazzi.

Architecture? Sounds good. If you're lucky to be able to venture into that field.

Business? BUSINESS?! AhahAhaHAHahAHhaAhaHAhaha!... I think I just wet myself.

Yeah sure, sputnik. Go do whatever your heart tells you to. Even Mommy said so.

Just don't come back and scream at her for "not providing you with a proper ambition" or what-not.

For now, focus on the A's.

Yours Cynically,
Don

P.S. I really wish you all the best though. I want to see you make something out of your---- BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!... Damn, I was almost able to pull that with a straight face. You still suck.

O's noes

2007-02-09T23:32:00.000-08:00

"Man, I didn't do as badly as I thought I would. But still, I feel crushed. And stupid."

I didn't think I'll do that well.

A n extremely good reason would be that I've already done my best.
M ight not really have that well, but it's my best, right?

A nother thing, academics don't really reflect much on your intelligence...
N o?

E xactly my point. The results are already out, anyway.
M anly thing to do would be to pick yourself up.
O 's are nuthin', too. There will be A Levels, and Uni exams...
K idding myself wouldn't be the best solution, either.
I ndeed, I should really learn from such an experience and get on with life. Or...
D ie.

Self-monologue is never healthy.

- - -

-Under influence of medicine-

"Anderson did pretty well. We did better than the last batch, and retained our Band 1 standard." Mrs Poh spoke. Everyone cheered.

Glugg...

"Two of our students came out as top scholars, too." More cheered.

When are we getting the results back?

.
.
.

"Wei, Weiwen, why you so nervous?"

"I'm not.. I'm just sick..."

"Orhh.. No need nervous one, la! What's over is over!"

"Ya, but I really wanna sleep now... I don't feel too good..."

"Take results liao, don't be so sad la! Haven't take, then sad already!"

"..."

When did people get so thick-headed?

- - -

One by one, everyone went to get their results. Alot of people were squealing about their good grades. Then it was Don's turn.

He looked at Mrs Yeo, his gaze at her begging confirmation.

"Don't worry, Weiwen. You can go JC."

Man, that must mean I have horrid grades.

As Don peered as his grades...

- - -

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - A

Okay, that's expected.

GRADE NUMERICAL - TWO

WHAT? ... But it was a great narrati-- And the teachers told us to attempt Argumentative instead. Doh!

.

COMBINED HUMANITIES

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - A
GRADE NUMERICAL - ONE

Holy, that's lucky. No more English Teacher for me. And hell, I busted my ass for Literature. Social Studies... Fluke, sia! =3

.

GEOGRAPHY

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - A
GRADE NUMERICAL - TWO

Walau, two. Stupid sand dunes! Neh-mind.

.

MATHEMATICS

Oh shit...

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - A
GRADE NUMERICAL - TWO

WALAU, HENG AH! I can't ask for any higher than that! Busting that ass doing practice papers... All those hours. Phew.

.
.
.

Alright! So far, so good. That's four subjects now! Seven points. I'm still safe.

.

ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICS

Oh please, let me pass, let me pass!

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - C
GRADE NUMERICAL - SIX

YUSSSSS!~

.

Okay, sciences left. This should be alright...

PHYSICS

GRADE ALPHABETICAL - C
GRADE NUMERICAL - FIVE

That goes against all laws of Weiwen. But I studied hard for the - Oh, careless mistakes, yeah. But still, how in the world can you get a ... Never mind. Still got...

.

CHEMISTRY
GRADE ALPHABETICAL - C
GRADE NUMERICAL - SIX

... Wha? Okay, so muggin' that didn't really help alot. Meh. At least my HMT can pull down the L1R5 abit.

.

HIGHER CHINESE
GRADE ALPHABETICAL - D
GRADE NUMERICAL - SEVEN

Is this a cruel joke? Oei, not funny, lor.

.

And just for the heck of it,

CHINESE
GRADE ALPHABETICAL - B
GRADE NUMERICAL - FOUR

- - -

Total L1R5 = 2+1+2+2+4+5
= 8 16

Man, that's double of what I intended to score.

Ah well.

- - -

I tend not to regret things I do. And this?

Nah.

Not a single regret.

No more "What if's" and "I should have's".

Still, I'm disappointed.

I'm sure alot of people are with me, too.

Thanks for cheering me up though, people.

But I'm okay.

Really, I am.

Stop panicking!

2007-02-07T17:34:00.000-08:00

"omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg... Okay, don't panic... breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, again. Phew... Hurrrr, fooooo, hurrrrr, foooooo, hurr, fooo, hur, foo, hur- OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! Damn, still not working."

What if I can't get into a Junior college?

What if I wind up a bum?

What if...

Don hates surprises.

Sure, one can still go to a Polytechnic. But still, what can Don do?

... He no longer had an aspiration.

"Don't worry, lah. You're an Andersonian. Sure won't do that bad, lah."

"Yeah, the standard already there le, mah."

But, but.

"Why, are you doubting yourself now?"

It's not that I'm filled with...

"You're doubtful of your capabilities now, aren't you?"

No... Yes. After all, I actually did slave myself off for the preliminaries. I still got a pitiful twenty-plus grade.

"This is the O's. You'll do better."

Ya think?

"I know."

I really don't wanna go back to Millennia.

"You won't. You'll get into a JC. It'll be another new beginning from there."

I hope so...

"Stop hoping and do it. Where's the confident Weiwen I've always known?"

Gone, just like my balls.

"Stop bullshitting, and get some rest."

Will try.

Don laid motionlessly onto the bed, attempting to shut out all thoughts. Slowly, he drifted into a fatigued-induced sleep.

In the next room, the alarm clock beeped as its hour hand approached six...

Spick and Span

2007-02-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

"Lesson learnt: Procrastinated blogging results in none-so-accurate blogposts. Damn, my memory must be going through another existential crisis again. Oh, and I'm not in Youth.sg Top 11 for Round 3. Nehmind, I'll pia for Round 4. Alvin, I know you're reading this! Rawr!"

And the author writes:-

Everything is finally done.

El finito.

All is updated.

Doing twelve blogposts in a row does tire you out alot. What's the opposite of a writer's block? Because I'm sure as hell having that right now.

GO READ THE PREVIOUS BLOGPOSTS IN JANUARY 2007. NAO!

So then, about the 'three times a week' blogging thing I have going on here. I'll try to keep to my promise, but it would most probably be a 'two times a week' thing unless there's more interesting stuff. Updates will be on Tuesdays and Fridays, for sure.

So, here's the gist of it. I'll write about Don, and Don'll write about me. Then we'll prolly take turns writing the extra blogpost every alternating week. Yeah, it's insane.

What, don't understand the schizo? Wait till you meet Bi-polar Don.

Alrighty-then, I've added a few new items for year 2007:-

- A title to every post

That'll make it easier for you guys (and gals, pardon me, mdm) to look for the post you would like to read.

. . .

- A bear at the start of every post

He's like the material manisfestation of my inner thoughts, like a short introduction to the whole blogpost. Be nice to him. And for the record, the bear DOES NOT MOVE. It just sits there! Sheesh, you people are crazy.

. . .

- Blog Template changed

The blog template is still keeping its monochromatic charms. I happen to like black and white, thank you.

That, or the fact that Don doesn't know what colours match what.

Oh shut up, me.

. . .

- Blog Theme changed

Humour's the way to go. Let's get whimsical. And yes, there are sexual annotations to the theme. But stop thinking dirty, you perv!

Thanks to Jiaru for suggesting the current theme I'm going with. She deserves a cookie, and more pageviews.

P.S. From now on, Do it with Don shall have the acronym 'DiwD'. Pronounced: Dee-yewd.

. . .

- Blog address changed.

Wow, very perceptive there, Captain Obvious.

. . .

- More stuff in side-bar.

. Wishlist is updated. Buy me ~~stfu~~ stuf!

.. Teevee has tons of pictures of my favourite proggys. Watch them. They're good.

... A new feature called 'Read this' has been added. They are the classics of this very establishment.

.... Links has finally been added after two years of hesitation. It links to great reads. Check them out.

..... 'Proud to be' shows the affiliation DiwD has with. I just hope that I won't be a sellout, though.

VOTE DON FOR ~~PRESIDENT~~ SINGAPORE BLOGGER RANKING!
. . .

There will be consideration on pictures in Don's blog entries. As for now, Don would like to have the entries picture-free.
Cuts down on bandwidth (am I thinking for Blogger? Nowayz!) and helps load the page faster.

Don will sell out when he's ready to.

So, after all that's done, get ready to tune in to DiwD, where laughter is the best medicine.

Side-effects include giggling, hyperventilation, ROFL-ing, and prolly death.

I am @ Youth.SG... Again!

2007-01-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

I'm really @ Youth.Sg one, lor.

Really.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ASS, EM, ASS.

Don held a handphone in both hands.

Okay, let's try to work this thing.

Menu
|
Messaging
|
Close

*crap*
Damn butter-fingers.

Menu
|
Inbox
|
Create Message
|
Text Message
|
Close

*crap!*
Walau, why do I keep pressing that red button. Kao!
Eh? Got shortcut to message...

Messaging
|
New Message

Song, la.
*yay!*

.
.
.

"Youth.
A time of learning.
A period of innocence.
An interval of belligerence.
The age when Mum tells you never to play with fire, but you do so anyway.
...=P"

Err... 160 characters liao, leh.
Any more characters then must lagi-waste one more sms.

Options
|
Add Recipient
|
Youth.sg
|
Send

- - - - -

What makes a Singaporean Youth?

~~There are many things that make Singaporean youths... well, youths. Such examples can be seen from various characteristics super-imposed on theirselves.~~

Siao ar, writing essay issit?
Aiyah, lemme tell you about being a REAL Singaporean Youth, lar!

Singapore Style.

.
.
.

- - -

Beep, beep.

It's six AM in the morning.

The protagonist stirs in his sleep.

Walau, sian lah, still got school later.

But you still wake up, alas hesitantly, but you still do...

...at 6.03 AM

School would take about an hour to travel to, but...

Bopian.

The Primary School Leaving Examination has decided your fate after you submitted to it. According to your academic results, you will be posted to a secondary school of your choice IF you actually 'made' the cut-off point.
But if you don't, you can always appeal.

But the chances of you being accepted with a low tee-score would be as rare as... Winning at Toto or 4D.

=)

- - -

6.30AM,
and you're still at home. Apparently you fell asleep again!

School starts at 7.15AM, sharp!
Late liao, lar, you. The Discipline Master would be on your tail again if you're a latecomer. That means more detentions, and possibly a suspension.

You look into the mirror sleepily, your wax by the side of the basin. You spike your hair up.

Chiat lat, like that DM sure will catch one. Later cut my hair, how?

7.40AM
You put on your ankle socks and head out the door. The maid screams at you to 'drink your milo' before you go, and you do.
After all, you've been drinking either that or 'beh piang' (oatmeal drink) for years.

Eh, siao, did I remember to bring my handphone?

You check your pockets and it is there. You made sure to switch it to silent mode. Can't let any teachers catch you smsing in class with the noisy keypad, right?

"Taxi, taxi!"

.
.
.

7.12AM
The vehicle has reached finally reached the outskirts of the surroundings to the school.
You alight in record timing, but you made sure to get the correct change from the 'taxi uncle'.

Basket, why so much congestion on TPE today? You heard yourself asking, even though you are fully aware that you already know the answer to that. They taught you that during Human Geography.

The DM is standing by the side-gate, his long-sleeved shirt and tie somewhat unnerving you. A few of your schoolmates stood right outside the gate, rooted to the ground.

7.15AM
"Sekolah, sediya!"

The national anthem has already started!

Ah, cr*p.

.
.
.

"Okay, this is not your first time. I want you to write a reflection on how you're going to curb this habit of yours, and put it in my pigeon-hole by the end of the day," the DM quipped, he exuded more disappointment rather than anger.

Phew, lucky he hasn't...

"Oh, and you, boy. How many times have I told you NOT to spike your hair up? Go and wash that wax of your hair! "

"But this is not-"

The glare from him did it. You lost all will to rebutt - This is an argument you'll never win.

Stupid DM... at least he hasn't...

"AND YOUR SOCKS! ANKLE SOCKS AGAIN!"

ARGH!

- - -

7.35AM
You enter class, with everyone looking at you.

"Late again, ar?" The math teacher asked yet another rhetorical question.

"Ya, the DM lo..."

"Aiyah, boy, if you follow the rules then this wouldn't happen, right? The DM has to do his job. Now go take your seat, and take out worksheet 2."

In your gut, the loathing was momentarily erased for you knew that what the math teacher said was actually true. The loathing came back about a full four seconds later.

"So, have you done your homework? Show of hands for those who didn't do."

A few raised their hands. Certainly not you, though. You were smart to have completed the work. You did the first two sections by yourself, made sure you understood the theory, then copied the rest of the answers from a 'reliable'.

Apparently, three-quarters of the class had the same answers, with half of them having the same number of steps.

Coincidence?

- - -

RINGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

Yay, recess.

"Going to makan?" A friend asked.

"Nah, I playing Dai Dee with the rest."

"Eh, save me a place later. Anyone of you want us buy anything up?" The friend turned to the rest of the class, some reading magazines, some sms-ing. A few were even rushing out a Chemistry assignment due just next lesson.

Paus, soft drinks and chicken nuggets filled the list.

"Okay lah, I'll be back about ten minutes before recess ends."

"Oei, you want to play or not?" Another friend points at your already-distributed cards, lying neatly in a pile before you.

"Ya, I want to play."

"Okay, quick quick. Three diamonds, start."

- - -

2pm.

Ah, finally, school's over...

"Eh, Mrs Tan says she wants extra lesson with us, leh! Later 3pm, can?"

... Or not.

The classroom laid deserted five minutes later.

.
.
.

"Eh, we going play basketball. You want?"

"Got ball?" Practicality before everything else.

"Ya."

"Where?"

"The CC (community centre) there, lor."

"I join you all later, lah. Need to write reflection for DM."

"Haha, late again right?"

"Yala."

"Nehmind, we go opposite eat first."

"Okay."

.
.
.

Eh, eat what?

The Bak Chor Mee stall was closed.

Sian, today no tur kwa.

Thus, you ordered a large portion of chicken rice.

"Uncle, koi buay ba. Jia. Ka chuay peng." You speak, in fluent Hokkien taught to you by your grandmother.
(Uncle, chicken tail meat. Add more rice.)

"Wa, xiao shuai ge, jia fan duo san mao, hor!"
(Hey, handsome, that'll be 30 cents more for the extra rice.)

"Duo yi dian, lah!" You change your dialect immediately upon hearing the stallowner speak in chinese.
(Just only a little bit!)

"Okay, lah!"
(Okay, lah!)

You tuck in heartily to the 3 dollars worth of chicken rice, with all your friends watching you eat whilst drinking their Milo Peng.

Over at the other table, a fellow junior impresses the others by dropping Mentos into yet another bottle of Coke.

- - -

4pm,
an SMS arrives.

"Wan go LAN?"

You reply: "Cnnt lah, 6pm must reach hm."

Still 4pm, another one arrives.

"Can lah, we stop at 5pm, can? Nearby shop. 1 DOTA match. Can lah."

"K, meet there." You change into your New World Order shirt and wax up your hair in the nearby toilet.

4.15pm
A flurry of teenagers playing MapleStory and Audition surrounds you.

Ah, home.
Now let's pwn.

7.20pm
You ended up losing track of time. In the middle of the fourth match (first one was a leaver game, wtf), Mum calls.

Crap!

"Uh, hi Mum, on the way back home liao."

"Where have you been?"

"On the way home!" You dodge the question.

"Okay, the maid made dinner. Be back now!"

Click.

.
.
.

The bus arrives an eternity later. You board it, tapping your EZ-link card on the machine. A higher-pitched beep was heard.

Low remaining value 3.85 left.

Need to ask Mum to buy concession.

- - -

8.10pm
You reach home, decked in your uniform. Dinner is cold. You micro-wave it up before tucking in. Rice, tofu, eggs, char-siew.

Yum.

8.15pm
You've finished your dinner. The short recesses in school has taught you the ability to eat fast.

8.30pm
You plop onto the computer. You towel-dry your hair rigorously while MSN signs you in. You visit a blog-hop for abit.

8.40pm
You start stoning in front of the computer, unaware that Campus Superstar is on.

11.06pm
Wow, time sure passes fast.

Sian, tomorrow still got school...

MSN bleeps. You read a private message from a friend.

"Wei! Tomorrow got physics test leh! You study le ma?!"

Ohh, SH*T!

"Haven't! How!" You reply.

You waited in short breaths for your friend's reply.
He replied with a Domo-kun emoticon.

"..."

Aiyah, I'll just go polyclinic and get myself a MC tomorrow, lah.

- - -

Now if that isn't a true-blue Singaporean youth, I don't know what is.

EuU n0eSs? ^^

Sunny Sickening Sin

2007-01-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

"Me no likey the sun in the morning. Especially with a lack of vocabulary and cohesion."

"Kranji," a female voice crooned from the dozens of speakers positioned from the various angles of the train.

Don moved sluggishly across the train.

Damn, it's a going to be a boring day today.

Still, something was different today. It was no longer a rain-drenched morning.

What a splendid view.

As Don laid eyes on the aesthetic beauty of the sequittal surroundings, he noticed something out of the ordinary, the glory of the rising sun.

Ah, the dawn.

Invigoration was felt from within. A thin veil of clouds scattered across the cyan sky, its ashy pigment providing a soft blend of colours to anything it touches.

The bright orange hue of Sol spread elongated amongst the polychromatic river. A source of strength, a kneadling of power.

Don no longer feels tired. Not then, anyway. Memories laid afloat in his mind.

Anderson.

Only less than a year ago did Don experience such a feeling while on the way to Anderson. The bus filled with sleepy commuters and a grumpy bus-driver. None hindered such an experience.

And its iridescent rays bringing warmth and hope to whatever it touches...

... De Novo. The sun's rays signifying new beginnings...

The sun, the dawn, peeking from the shroud of flora of Bukit Gombak. Everything looked the different, yet so familiar.

The greens seen by the hills of Ang Mo Kio Park... Just like the jaded forests of Bukit Gombak.

The flowers by the residential houses nearby... A dead ringer of the efflorescence in Marsiling.

The waters in the 'longkang' a mere distance from the bus-stop... Exactly like the waters in the 'longkang' in Choa Chu Kang.

What splendor...

What magnificence...

Don unwittingly turned his gaze onto the sun itself, sheltered by the clouds and residing flora as he appreciated the beauty of the moment.

"Bukit Gombak."

Flora was replaced with concrete and metal, refracting the sheer intensity of the sun's rays into the Don's pupils.

It burned.

Basket, damn bright sia!

Pasta-Maniac

2007-01-12T00:29:00.000-08:00

"You can only call yourself a pasta-maniac only when you can differentiate a chicken bolognese with linguini and a beef bolognese with spaghetti in only one glance!"

The clock was ticking. Twenty two.

"Dhoby Ghaut station."

ZOOM!

Can't be late... Can't be late!

It was the first day of work in PastaMania.

Hurried footsteps brought Don into a fatigued stupor as he entered the frosty ambience of Plaza Singapura. Damn, when was it ever so cold in here? PastaMania was just around the corner of Watson's.

Five twenty-eight beeped on the analog watch. So many unfamiliar faces!

"Hey, are you the new guy?" A familiar voice quavered through the radio-ed music.

Don turned around, and saw Edward. The boss.

"Uh, yeah. Hi."

"Hi, what hi. You're almost late. Go punch in your card, then go change. Don't be late the next time, okay? We'll deduct your pay by doubling your lateness." Late for a minute, deduct fifteen minutes of pay. Late fifteen minutes, deduct thirty minutes. Thirty minutes, an hour.

"That means that if you're late for two hours, don't bother coming to work at all!" A finger prodded Don.

Huh?

"Wei, Maggie, don't teach the new guy bad things, la."

"New guy? Where?" A cook popped out from the kitchen.

"Hey guys, there's a new guy here!" One said.

"Where? Woah. This kid is tall," another commented.

"Hey, hi, new guy!"

"Hi," Don grinned sheepishly.

Ew, I'm the NEW guy.

.
.
.

"Oh, hey. I'm Maggie. Boss told me to teach ya."

"Mmhm."

"Okay, so the job is pretty simple. You've done this before, haven't ya?"

Don thought of his time in Terra. He nodded his head.

"Great. So it's just serve plates, clear plates, and crowd control. As for now, you'll learn clearing. You'll have to learn the different dishes we have here, first. Now, gogogo. See that guy with a tray on the table? Go clear it. And that woman there, at table 72, with the finished Mussels and Clams."

Wait.

"Howja know it's Mussels and Clams?" Don squinted at the table over at the other end of the restaurant.

"Of course I do, silly. There are two large shells on her side-plate. I'll tell you more about serving later."

Impressive.

"Maggie here is one of our best employees, la. She's been here for more than a year, already! You should see her closing later. Girl's so fast, you won't even notice she's been doing it."Boss quipped before nudging Don in the direction of Table 72.

.
.
.

Spaghetti is just like sek mee.
Linguini is broader and flatter, like mee pok.
Penne has a hole in its long, pointed structure.
Fusili is spiralled.
Farfalle is shaped like a ribbon.

Right.

"Okay, test time. What's this dish?"

It's a plate of noodles splattered with tomato sauce.

"Uh, bolognese?"

"Nope. It's Pomodoro. Just tomato gravy on it. Bolognese has chunks of meat in it. Now, this is bolognese," Maggie showed Don another dish. There were white chunks of meat on the rich tomato-gravy complementing the stringy noodles.

Still looks like a plate of noodles splattered with tomato sauce.

"Chicken, right?" Don looked at Maggie for confirmation.

"Yep. Hey, you learn pretty fast!"

Because there's only two kinds of bolognese served here, and beef is certainly not white and chunky!

"Okay, then what's this?" Don was shown another plate.

The dish had a soupy texture to it. Two mussels adourned the sides of the dish. Clams laid hidden beneath the hot, piping exterior.

Two shells? Mussel shells...

"Mussels and clams."

"Great! What about this?"

Same thing, just with only one mussel now.

Seafood something...

"Seafood surprise?"

"No, la!" The girl giggled. "Seafood MANIA!"

Ohh!

"So, two mussels, M&C. One mussel, Seafood Mania. No mussels and only clams, Vongole."

Right!

.
.
.

Time passed quickly, and it was time for closing. Don had to fill up the jars of cheese, wipe the tables and chairs, clean the counters, collect the condiments...

... And most of them were already done by the time Don got to it.

"Told you Maggie was fast," Boss looked over the counter at dumbfounded Don.

Hell yeah, she is.

"Just go refill tabasco and stack the chairs up. Then you can call it a night."

"Mmkay."

Ten forty PM, and it was time to go home.

"Wei, Weiwen, don't forget to punch in your card before you leave! Then pass it to me for signing."

Hey, he remembers my name, now!

"Anyway, good job today. Could be faster, though. You'll be fine in a few weeks. Welcome aboard Pastamania."

Hurrah.

Mi dUwAnZ g0es 2 MI !!

2007-01-05T05:54:00.000-08:00

"[C]entrallised [M]illennia [I]nstitute. Kao, CMI? [C] annot [M]ake [I]t, la!"

The silent night broken by raucous birdsong.

Ugh... It's morning already?

"Eh, wake up already. You need to go school, right!" Yati prodded Don awake.

"No la..." Went Don systematically, "I already graduated from my school already, what!"

"Today you need go new school!"

Oh ya, hor.

It was the third of January.

- - - - -

6.15 am had Dominic knocking on Don's door.

"Wei, you ready already?"

"Almost, la."

They would have to meet Leonard and Zhong Kang at Compass point in...

"Five minutes, leh!" Dom glanced at Don, who smiled at him cheekily.

.
.
.

"What do you think Millennia would be like?" Don questioned. His reply came in the form of a shrug.

I just hope it'll be good.

- - -

Introductions start. Friendly-mode.

"Hey, hi."

"Hi."

"Oh, this is Weiwen."

"Zhong Kang."

"Leonard."

"Hey."

"Hey."

Introductions over. Revert to guy-mode.

"Hey," Dominic nudged Don. "TKGS girl."

"Yes, yes, I know... Huh? Where?" Don just HAD to look.

What? I'm single!

Throughout the entire span of two hours, the foursome had this little game going on. It's something like "I spy", but only with female students. Preferably all-girl schools.

So we're basically talking "yellow" Crescents, Polka-dotted St. Marges', any of the pina-fored convents (like the Tanjong Katong girls), Sleeveless Nanyang, Sailor-suit Methodist Girls...

Now that you think about it, that's alot of schools. And ALOT of girls.

Oh, and why did we do it?

*looks down*

I don't know. =D

- - -

An eternity later, we finally got off Bus 66. There, in its newly-built splendor, the building of Millennia Institute.

"Wa-sey. We should actually be happy that we going to this, leh," Dominic said, to the curiosity of the others.

"You see ah, how many places in Singapore can be called 'institutes', leh! There's Raffles, Hwa Chong..."

"Err, Dom. I think they're called INSTITUTIONS. The only other 'institute' in Singapore is... well..." Don hesitated.

"Woodbridge." It was an unanimous answer.

- - -

"Let's cut this short. It gives me a headache describing anything about Millennia."

Day One

"Welcome to Millennia. Our theme this year is De Novo, which means 'a new beginning'."

.
.
.

Orientation sucked.

Still, the houses had awesome names (Or rather, they were called clans).

Wa, like MMORPG!

The following clan names of Millenia are defined by Don.

Aldora- Clan of fantasy-based origins. Wielder of magic. At war with Electra.
Electra- Clan based on the industrial revolution. Wielder of science. At war with Aldora.

Sol- Clan in the space-age. Wielder of advanced technology. At war with Utu.
Utu- Clan in the Mesozoic Era. Wielder of brute might. May or may not have discovered fire. At war with Sol.

Hesper- Clan with a royal bloodline. Intelligent and charismatic. Suspended treaty with Idalia.
Idalia- Clan of paganistic origins. Religious and disciplined. Suspended treaty with Hesper.

Kyra- Clan of noble folksmen dating back to medieval times. Wielder of alchemy and synthesis. At war with Mahana.
Mahana- Clan of tribal savages; islanders. Wielder of ancient knowledge and voodoo. At war with Kyra.

Stories could be written to explain their on-going buay-song-ness, but doing so would consume an obscene amount of time.

Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

Don was sorted into ~~Kakina. Jujuba. Hamana. Banana.~~ MAHANA FOUR.

Ooga ooga booga! *waves spear in hand, whilst adjusting feathered mask*

~

The only programmes were lectures , introducing all the Pre-U 1s to the various 'new' stuff that has been implemented.

Like we've not done our research.

Lectures, lectures, and more lectures. Four long hours of lectures.

Which sane person would stuff hundreds of teenagers into a seemingly non-air-conditioned 'hall' for four whole hours?!

Combination choices, introductions to subjects, blah blah blah. Oh, and chinese is still compulsory, even for those who have taken Higher Chinese in secondary school.

But... I've been told...

Nope. The fuckers lied. Chinese is STILL compulsory, even for the HMTL students.

Lazing in the grassy knoll with Dominic behind the school seemed to be a better way to pass the time.

And it was.

- - -

Day Two

9.15am

"Aren't we late for school?"

"And go for the gawd-knows-how-long talk on discipline by a horribly-accented teacher?"

"Let's be late."

.
.
.

A little over an hour later did Don and the usual gang reach Millennia.

So how do we enter the school? There's sure to be some security and at least a locked...

The front gate was wide open. No patrol guard was on duty.

Okay... That'll do.

As expected, the disciplinary talk was still ongoing. Surely they had to do something to pass the time? A deck of cards answered their call... for just about the span of ten minutes.

The cards were confiscated.

"Don't you know that playing cards are prohibited in this institution?"

Institute, damnit.

The teacher looked closely at the uniforms of the foursome that were playing. Three of them came from Nan Chiau, which left Don pretty much out of the whole scene.

Wow, being a minority sure pays off!

"Did Nan Chiau allow students to play cards?" Another hypothetical question was asked.

Zhong Kang shot back, "We play during break times. You can ask the discipline master."

Oh yeah, good shot! Punch harder, under the ribs, under the ribs!

"Yea? How about we give a call to your DM?"

"Go ahead, la."

"Eh, if he call, then how?" Don whispered to Dominic, out of earshot of the bespectacled man.

"Aiyah, don't worry," came the reply.

Sure enough, the tie-wearing chimpanzee came back moments later 'telling' the foursome not to play cards in MI, even though they COULD in their previous school.

Ha! Knockout! K.O.!

A glance or two was thrown at the parting man before Don finally asked, "So your DM really knows that you guys play cards, ah?"

"Duhh. He not blind one, lah. Just close one eye, lo."

Damn, Nan Chiau's DM sounds awesome.

~

Cheer was back in the air as the games started. Mahana lived up to its name.

It was a total rampage as Mahana beat Kyra by an excess of more than a dozen people in Poisonball, and a quick win in Captain's ball.

Yet, the councillors had to play devil's advocate and stop the 'wet games' (damnit) due to "lack of time".

It was time for the MI dance, the dance between a lovely couple comprising of a male and a female, both whom have not been aquainted before and most probably klutzy with footwork.

The dance was a bloody two-steps-to-every-five-seconds kinda dance!

"Step left, step right, now step left again... Now right again... Guys, put your hands behind your back when you dance..."

Dance dance revolution presented a higher difficulty.

Bleh.

- - -

Day Three

The last day of orientation.

Finally!..

.. And then it's back to classes?

It was Games Day (if you don't count the four hours wasted before the games).

Yay?

Balloon popping @ 11am. A balloon is tied to your ankle, and you have to protect that piece of inflated rubber while attempting to pop the balloons of others. Free-for-all clan match.

Don got eliminated within the next five minutes. =(

It was a backstab, I swear!

Nevertheless, Mahana still won with at least dozens remaining on the field.

Ha! Take that, Kyra!

~

Scavenger Hunt wasn't too bad, either.

Thirty-five random items were chosen. Rules?
Get the most items without leaving the stadium to win.

Part of the list would be these:-

Live insect- Catch an ant!

1.5l Coke bottle- There was one discarded by the side of the stadium.

Parker pen- The word 'Parker' was written over the word 'Pilot' with permanent ink.

Blue handphone strap- Someone painted her PINK handphone strap blue with marker ink.

Puma bag- Plenty in the stadium! =)

A piece of paper with at least a thousnd words on it; must have integrity with this item- The gals started writing nine hundred and ninety eight 'Intergrity' words on foolscap paper. The other two words present on the paper were 'Millennia' and 'Institute'.

NTUC plastic bag- Someone had it store his compact umbrella.

6kg medicine ball- A few were lying around the place.

Batman mask- Draw, then cut out! ROFL.

Nail file- Don had one in his bag. *blushes*

Gatsby hair wax- Don didn't have that in his bag! Someone else did. Haha!

.
.
.

Mahana produced twenty good items, tied for first place in this particular game. (The batman mask was counted as acceptable, yay!)

But just when you thought that Mahana, being winners of EVERY game (hehe), would SURELY be winners, something catastrophic had to happen.

The whole versus clan thing is played by awarding points. Win a game, get a hundred points or something. Think Harry Potter, without the magical bull. The lower your points, the bigger loser you are.

So while Mahana was the only clan so far to achieve 600+ points, she had her OG cards stolen by the other clans' orientation group leaders. One lost card would fetch a negative fifty points. Mahana lost four of them due to negligence of her OG leader.

Or was it a conspiracy? They prolly just did that to balance the scores up...

But nevermind that, Don and the other Mahana Bananas went on a skirmish to reclaim the missing placards. That meant doing manual labour for the other clans' OGs, forfeits... the such.

It was damn fun, though.

Of course, doing these would void the point penalty.

Prize presentation followed the performed dances and skits by the various clans and their clan parades.

"Best skit..."

"Kyra!"

"Best mascot..."

"Electra!"

~

"And last but not least..."

"... The overall champion of De Novo 2007, drum roll please..."

Oh, get on with it and proclaim us winners already! xD

"MAAAAA-HAAAAAA-NAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The flag was hoisted by Don and the others, leading the hundred-strong Mahana-ians in a 400m run around the school track.

"EVERYWHERE WE GO!"

"Everywhere we go!!"

"PEOPLE WANNA KNOW..."

"People wanna know!!"

.
.
.

And as we have fallen down, we pick ourselves up, and start anew... Together.

De Novo. Is this really a new beginning?

Bleh.

Mi sTiLlz dUwNz g0eS MI !!11!!~~

Resolute!

2007-01-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

"Uh, and I have to HAVE goals now? What a chore." xD

The Twelve days of New Year

To the tune of 'Twelve days of Christmas'...

- - -

On the first day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the second day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the third day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the fourth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the fifth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the sixth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the seventh day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the eighth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Learn new instrumentals,
Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the ninth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Concentrate on task jobs,
Learn new instrumentals,
Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the tenth day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Sleep at 10pm,
Concentrate on task jobs,
Learn new instrumentals,
Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the eleventh day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Get more arty-farty,
Sleep at 10pm,
Concentrate on task jobs,
Learn new instrumentals,
Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

- - -

On the last day of new year,
My conscience said to me...

Start a new website,
Get more arty-farty,
Sleep at 10pm,
Concentrate on task jobs,
Learn new instrumentals,
Stop being an asshole,
Study everyday,

GAIN FIVE KAY-GEE!

Start saving money,
Work out 3 times a week,
Stop procrastinating,
and...
Start blogging 3 times a week!

- - -

Huh, it was a christmas medley? *shrugs*

Auld Lang Sigh

2007-01-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

"Isn't it hard to believe how fast time has passed? It's already year 2007."

"Wei, Jasper. So eat what now?"

It was new year's eve. There Don was, in the middle of Plaza Singapura, with Jasper. Yes, Jasper is a guy's name. On new year's eve, yes.

"Hmm... There's a PastaMania here, right? Hey, I wanna eat that, leh."

"Suay pian."

If not for Jasper's whims, Don may not have found a new job.

The orange glow of PastaMania peeked through the brightly lit corridors of the Plaza Singapura's basement floor. There, many shops laid closed due to the late hour and occasion.

"Hello, welcome to PastaMania! Table for two?" A female voice squeaked above the crowd chatter.

"Huh, you guys still open, ar?" Jasper asked.

"Yep. Wanna place your orders first?"

"Uhh, okay. Want anything, WeiWen?"

"WeiWen?"

Don was too busy reading the sign on the glass panel by the side of the outlet.

Looking for part-timers! Must be above 16, fun, and energetic!

Above 16, check.
Fun, double check.
Energetic... Unchecked.
Hyperactive, check check check check check.

I think I'm suitable.

Don eyed a middle-aged man wearing a uniform different from the rest.

Should be manager, right? Anyhow hantam, sure can one.

"Erm, excuse me. May I have the job application form for PastaMania? I would like to join our crew," Don asked unwittingly.

"I'm sorry, sir. You'll have to come back another day. We only do job interviews on weekdays, preferably 2-5pm in the afternoon."

And that particular moment? Sunday, Public holiday, and 11pm in the evening.

"Oh, alright. Ah, sorry for the inconvenience! And please, don't call me sir."

"Hm?"

"Because I may have to call you sir soon!"

Good tactic, no?

Don went to take a seat at the table with Jasper, who was mighty curious of his friend's actions.

"Eh, you went to apply for job, arh? This time they accept, meh?"

"No la, but at least try luck, mah!"

"Orh, chey."

Just then, the very same man who Don asked about the job application came to the table.

"Excuse me, do you have any past experience working in a F&B outlet?" The portly man questioned.

"Uhhh, ya. I once worked as a hawker's assistant, then in Terra Cafe@Vivo."

"Work for how long?"

"Uhh, which one?"

.
.
.

The conversation went on for just about a minute more, then things took a change for the better.

"Wait here, please. I'll go get the form for you."

... And after the form was filled up?

"When can you start work?"

"Anytime you want me to."

"Good. You start first thing next week."

WAHAHAHAHAHA.

"Wa, pro." That was all Jasper could muster up.

"Duh, of course pro. I'm Don, what."

.
.
.

"By the way, sir. How should I address you?" Don just had to ask.

"Oh, uhh. You can call me Edward. I'm the manager." And so, he walked away.

"Psst, that's Boss. He owns this whole outlet," a waitress nearby told me.

Zomg.

- - -

"So, where to now?"

"Go see fireworks, lo."

"Kay."

And just for the record...

- The last thing Don ate in the year 2006 was an egg-and-onion roti prata, smothered in mutton curry. Such a meal took place with Jasper as company, in a certain Juliet restaurant off the pier of Raffles Place.

- An attempt was made to enter Fullerton Hotel to take a look at its decorations, and to enjoy 'free air-conditioning'. Sadly, the security outside proved it un-admittable.

- Year 2007 fireworks display was watched with Jasper as company. He was probably the one that Don actually wished 'happy new year' to in year 2007.

Hence,

Don spent new year's eve with a guy in an indian restaurant, watched fireworks with him and both of them almost ended up in a hotel.

.
.
.

Happy new year!

2006-12-31T20:27:00.000-08:00

I am @ Youth.SG

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Double Update:-

The results are out!
Congratulations to Guttercat for his win on the PSP!

Chao Mervin, you are the very the good.

Congratulations, Guttercat!

Top 11 of Round 1 will be meeting at...

TCC, Clarke Quay.
2pm, 27th Jan.

Don will be looking forward to meeting...

Yuting
Theodorerex

...and of course,

'chao' Guttercat

Song la, Mervin. Now stop complaining about spending hundreds on its games!

xD.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Update:-
Donovan has entered Top 11!
He thanks the judges for this decision.

So then, blog-whoring time.

And I quote!

* * *
To vote, email them at iam@youth.sg with the email header . To reward everyone for helping us pick our winning entry, each week, three lucky voters will get to win a $20 Kinokuniya Voucher.

(Note: To vote, please include your Full Name, NRIC/Passport Number and Contact Number in your email for verification. Votes are restricted to one vote per person - repeated votes will be voided.)

* * *

1st step: Log in your e-mail account.
1(a)st step: Recover your password, or create a new account.
2nd step: Create new message.
3rd step: Title your message "I choose B6- (your name)".
4th step: Enter your name, IC number, and contact number.

The polls will be closed 19th Jan' 2007, 12:00AM.

And that's it.

Pimpin' Don, Out.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

.
.
.

With a push and a click
And a fast finger-flick,
The internet is surfed.

Don comes across this neat little site,
And he is filled with mirth.

He gladly joins the community,
For he's curious as can be.

And waddaya know,
This site turns out to be...

www.youth.sg
(Read youth dot ass gee)

---------------------------

Now then, why am I @ Youth.SG?

Don pondered for seconds before he proceeded to type out the obvious answers.

1) He's youthful.
2) He's Singaporean.
3) He's "hip, hot and happening"!

1+2=3
It all adds up!

... But really, what does Youth.SG mean?

To me?

Knuckles strummed against the wooden top of Don's computer desk, his thoughts raging through his mind. What does this website actually mean to him?

*Click*
*Scroll, scroll, scroll*
*Click, Click*

- - -

What's Youth.SG all about, anyway?

News...
For obvious reasons. Yes, asiaone will not be needed that much now. This is in a more idiot-proof, user-friendly format. Click twice for a pop-up window!

... Projects
Ooh. This would be so much more convenient than broadcasting your ideas and making them travel word-by-mouth until someone actually BOTHERS to call you up and help make your dreams come true. Now with 50% more CIP!

Scenes...
From reviews of the last theatre performance, to how hot some of the contestants are on Campus Superstar. Yes, this is youth paradise.

... Services
National service portal, transport planning, education and work application. Simply perfect!

Links...
Interest groups? Blogs? (link me!) Food? Technology? Aiyah, just click anyone of them when you need more sites to explore. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
(Oh, and join Action for Singapore Dogs today. It's hella good for the community.)

...Forum
Thread? Derail Thread? Flame wars? Or just "for the heck of it"? Mm hm. The forum's where you'll wanna sign up to be in.

.
.
.

And after countless minutes of checking the site out...
This particular sentence was found to be enough proof of Don's wanting to join the site.

Under "About Us",
2. We also want to show that community projects aren't NECESSARILY boring OR painful.

Just the word 'community' puts youths to sleep. Follow up with a word like 'projects', and students will drop to the floor in deep comatose. Youth.sg has a mission, and a tough one at that. Key word: Necessarily.

Bottomline: Youth.sg has a good sense of practicality, and above all that, humour.

Bravo, bravo.

- - -

Wa, still got blog, leh.

Youth.sg has set its first tab to be set to 'blog'.

I like.

Returning to Youth.SG's about us, we can see that they are promoting ~~freedom of speech~~ a platform for youth expression.

Siao, no disclaimer some-more. They have marbles, sia. Salute, ah!

WAIT.

Don stares at the orange-themed site, his thoughts racing once again.

And then it occurred to him;

Youth.SG reflects youth, singaporean life, and has the balls to do whatever she can, legitimately (politically correct-ness!), in order to achieve her goal...

... Just like Don.

Now then, Youth.SG would mean everything to Don, because Don means everything to himself.

Confused? Read the above sentence once more.

Because...

Don IS everything like Youth.Sg, just without the period.

Literally.

2006-12-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

Dum dee dum dee dum...

*click*
*click*

You've successfully logged into MSN Hotmail.

Hmm hmm...
Spam.
Spam.
S-Oooh, newsletter!
...Spam.
Spam.
Invitation?

*click*
*click*

- - - - - - - - - -

Dear Donovan

Youth.SG is pleased to invite all youth bloggers to join our exciting new
blogging festival, “I am @ Youth.SG”! Starting on 29 December 2006 all
through to March 2007, “I am @ Youth.SG” is an opportunity for youth
bloggers to blog about who they are and what they do.

We have identified your blog as one of the popular youth blog in Singapore
and we seek your help in making this event a success in the blogosphere.

To kick-start the contest, you can help us by being the first contestants
to blog a contest entry under the theme “I am @ Youth.SG”. (please read
attached Media Advisory document for more information)

Youth.SG believes in expression. This blogging contest will provide a
platform for youths to share more about themselves with the world.

Bi-weekly best entries will be featured on the Youth.SG blog, and receive
attractive prizes, including a Motorola KRZR mobile phone, Canon Ixus
digital camera, Sony PlayStation Portable and more! And at the end of the
contest period, a Mystery Grand Prize will be awarded to one lucky blogger
.

As an additional perk, all participants who post the “I am @ Youth.SG”
banner on their blogs will stand a chance to win iPod Shuffles!

We have attached below; additional information materials and promotional
banners, and would appreciate if you could help us to further publicize
this event.

For more information, please visit “I Am @ Youth.SG” at
http://www.youth.sg/blog/iam , or email me at iam@youth.sg.

For other enquries, please contact me directly.

Sincerely.
Alvin Lim


- - - - - - - - - -


...



...



...




-Still processing-




...................................... YAY.

2006-12-18T18:16:00.000-08:00

168 hours in a week, with 18 hours spent working.

That leaves 150 hours. 6 hours are spent sleeping everyday, so that leaves 108 hours, give or take.

From that 108 hours, about another 6 are spent travelling, and 20 hours outdoors.

That would leave an impressive 82 hours a week, no?

Convert that back into days, and that would be a little longer than three WHOLE days. Imagine what you could do in 3 whole days.

Well, Don does.

He plays the different characters set in a mythical land of Rune Midgard, bound in a brawl between the forces of angels and demons trying to reign supremacy. All knowing that should evil hold absolute power, the destruction of the land would begin.

Yes, NINE characters in these 82 hours.

- - -

And they await their death in this incessant brawl...

...For Ragnarok approaches.

Until then, lest the victor is known, none shall be enlightened...

... So aid us now, young warrior. Would you aid us in our quest towards Deliverance?

- - -

Don started off with his character having only a knife in her hand and a cotton shirt on her back.

He fought his way through the monster-infested lands, killing anything and everything he could get his weapon in. Pink slimes, caterpillars, butterflies, hornets, snakes...

A tune of victory was a heard as the character hit a new growth in experience, allowing her to gain new abilities and weild stronger equipment. At level 10, she could now advance into her first job, which would boost her powers greatly. Now a novice, the only skill she had was to "Play Dead". This useful skill allows you to fake your death, prompting the mosnter you were fighting to leave you alone. Whilst useful, this skill pales in comparison to the other new abilities which one would learn having a more advanced job.

This server being a private one, Don was spared the need of going through the job quest which he has already completed at least five times before in other servers.

- - -

"Which job would you like to be in?"

Strength and integrity would bode you well in the journey of becoming a swordswoman, but be forewarned, the journey is arduous and would need much preparation.

Agility and stealth? Your passion will soon arrive in being a thief. Scorn will follow your footsteps, and your only shelter lies in the shadows.

Mystics tell of a young woman who would one day master the art of conjuring the very essences of earth, fire and water. Magicians start out defenceless, but adapt quickly to their environment, summoning the inner strength in them to manipulate their surroundings and create... Magic.

Let faith guide you in your quest for acolyte-hood. Your true calling may lie with God after all. Your skills create, not destroy. That, and there are an awful lot of undeads all over the place now...

- - -

Meh.

Don chose the swordswoman, because sword-wielding girls are hawt.

Bash, magnum break! Endure!

... And so, hundreds if not thousands of monsters were killed as Dawny chopped and sliced her way to knighthood. Her powers will be amplified three-fold as she would be able to use abilities relating to one of the knights' strongest weapons, the spear.

Starting out running away from snakes and over-grown wild boars, Dawny was now able to take on minotaurs and gryffins. Her avian steed by her bridle, she stabbed countless animated soils and various mini-bosses to gain strength and experience. Slowly but surely, she has undoubtedly joined the fight between good and evil.

Of course, Dawny took the path of the light.

Because it's cooler.

- - -

Brandish Spear! Pierce! Bowling Bash!

The demon Dullahan cowered into his now-cracked armour as Dawn pierces through its defences, her holy-water-tipped oridecon spear tip searing into the tormented soul of the creature, its moan echo-ing through the deadly silence of Niflheim field.

"Yeah! Level 94!" Don cheered, as he just attained a new level on his knightess. She would be just a bit stronger now, with a higher damage achieved with each pierce.

There has to be preparation soon, for once the attainment of Level 99 comes the path of reincairnation. This path will lead Dawny towards transcedence, and soon she will become one of the strongest in the brawl to aid her angelic peers, with her newfound abilities and strengths.

Also, she would get to kick some MAJOR ass.

She would have to go through this INSANE test of loyalty and prove her perserverance to Valhalla and the gods.

One of the tasks include collecting various ietms through the course of your training.

Donovan presents you...

The 70 odd items for Deliverance Transcendence

25x Daenggie
25x Short Daenggie
25x Worn out Scroll
25x Skirt of Virgin
25x Wing of Red Bat
5x Matchstick
5x Piece of Cake
25x Manacles
25x Candy
25x Shining scale
1x 3-carat diamond
25x Rotten Bandage
1x Matyr's Leash
25x Memento
25x Cultish Masque
25x Broken Sword
5x Flame Heart
25x Ancient Lips
25x Detonator
25x Coral Reef
5x Mystic Frozen
25x Fabric
1x Emperium
1x Fake Angel's Wing
25x Maneater Blossom
25x Leopard Claw
25x Giant Butterfly Wing
25x Strange Steel Piece
5x Great Nature
25x Solid Shell
25x Shoulder Protector
25x Wooden Heart
25x Tough Vines
25x Sharp Leaf
25x Slingshot
25x Sharp paper
25x Poisonous Toad Skin
25x Worn-Out Kimono
25x Toxic Gas
25x Battered Kettle
5x Fluorescent Liquid
25x Flashlight
25x Old Pick
25x Little ghost doll
25x Denture from Dragon Mask
25x Dragon Horn
25x Lantern
25x Orc's Fang
5x Royal Jelly
25x Elder pixie's moustache
25x Festival Mask
25x Vane
25x Leopard Skin
25x Clock Hand
25x Little evil wing
25x Burning hair
25x Burning Heart
25x Live Coal
25x Earthworm peeling
25x Wing of dragonfly
25x Turtle Shell
25x Ice Cubic
25x Broken Shell
5x Hand of God
25x Red frame
5x Ice cream
25x Worn out page
25x Worn out prison uniform
25x Mud lump
25x Ectoplasm
25x Hung Doll
25x Broken Needle

- - -

It is not as easy as it seems to get those. At least ten of them are hard-to-get items because they're dropped by high level monsters. And such monsters are rare, too. One such instance would be the five matchsticks. Five seems to be a reasonable amount, no?

Dropped by only the monster Chepet, this matchstick can only be obtained once every hour, for that particular monster spawns only once every hour. Taking that the hunting time is negligible... It would take Don five hours to obtain all five matchsticks. He could always buy all five for a million zennies, but that woul be such a waste.

So then, off to hunting beasts, undeads, and demons.

Oh, and if Dawny finally completes the item list?

She would have to take the final test...

... To face Fenrir, guardian of the underworld.
He's twice as large, and thrice as strong. Oh, and he can summon minions to aid him.

.
..
...
..
.

...Challenging, no?

2006-12-06T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is an adaptation from a story that have been through countless emails, and was spotted by the author on 4ever-loves.blogspot.com.

The author thanks Vincent for contributing such a story.

...
..
.

You Should Let Me Love You

As I sat there in English class during the first grade, my eyes fell upon the girl next to me. Everyone knew that the both of us were best friends, nothing more. I couldn't help but stare at her, admiring her every quality.

But it wasn't of her physical appearance that attracted; It was in fact her heart of gold. She was the perfect girl, and it was that from that fact that I felt that I wasn't good enough for her.

Still, I wanted to love her, and for her to love me too. But it wasn't to be, for I knew that it was only going to be platonic. That was most probably the way she would have felt.

Platonic. Nothing More.

- - - - -

It was the seventh grade.

After class, she walks up to me and asks me for the notes she had missed the day before. I handed them to her dutifully.

She said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love her; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

- - - - -

It was the eleventh grade.

The phone rang with such intensity. I picked up the phone, knowing it was her. And it was.
She was in tears, mumbling on and on about how her love had broken her heart.

She asks for company, and I agreed. As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her soft, tear-laden eyes, wishing she was mine. After one movie, two hours and three bags of chips, she decided to go to sleep.

She looked at me with those doe-like eyes , said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love her; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

- - - - -

It was the senior year.

She walked over to my locker on the day before prom.

"My date is sick," she said.

That would make the both of us dateless, for I didn't have a date myself.

Back in the 7th grade, we made a promise that if neither of us had dates for prom, we would go together as "best friends". And only "best friends".

So we did.

Prom night went by smoothly, and after everything was over, I found myself standing on the steps of her house.

As we looked into each other's eyes... I wanted her to be mine, but I knew that it was not to be. For I knew that she thought us just as friends, most probably.

"I had the best time, thanks!" She said, as she gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love her; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

- - - - -

It was Graduation Day.

It has been a decade since I've known her. Both of us have graduated with high honours, our bachelors and diplomas attained after much hard work. We have felt dejected on various occassions while mugging for the exams, its contents a blur to us. Yet, through our support for each other did we perservere.

And now, we've finally succeeded.

Have we?

I looked on with a smile, watching her waltz up the podium to receive her diploma. The happiness within her was so subtle; there was no smile, yet one could sense it from afar. She walked to the middle of the stage and gave everyone a bow. Then, during that blink of an eye, both our eyes met. She gave me a mischievous wink, then walked off.

I wanted her to be mine, but it was not to be. For I knew she didn't think of us like this. We were just friends. Only friends.

Before everyone went home, she came to me in her smock and hat, and teared as I embraced her.

"You know, you're my best friend. Thanks!" She said as she lifted her head from my shoulder.
Again, there was that kiss on my cheek.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love her; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

- - - - -

A few years later...

Now I sit in the pews of the church. That girl is getting married now. I watched her say "I do" and drive off to her new life, married to another man.

I wanted her to be mine, but it was not to be. For I knew she didn't think of us like this. We were just friends. Only friends.

But before she drove away, she came to me and said, "You came!".

"Thanks," was what she said, before she gave me that sweet, sweet kiss on the cheek.

And that would be the last word she'll say to me.

I wanted to tell her, I wanted her to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love her; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

- - - - -

Decades have passed, and I've lived a fruitful life. My lovely wife and her loving husband beside me, we ponder upon the coffin of the girl who used to be my "best friend".

"From dust to dust, from ashes to ashes." And so, she was sent on her way.

Her husband came to me, an aura stirring within him that seemed to displaced me.

"You should have this," he said, as he passed me the yellowish, worn-out book. "I've found this while cleaning up her room one day."

It was her diary during her high-school days.
There, at the last page of the book, scribbled messily, but surely her handwriting nonetheless, was this message:-

I stare at him wishing he was mine, but it was not to be.
Because we're friends.
And only friends.
I want to tell him, I want him to know...
...that I don't want us to just be friends.

For I love him; but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Oh, how I wish he would tell me that he loved me!!

.
.
.

I wish I did too, I thought to myself.
Tears of angst flowed down that same cheek she has kissed decades ago, that very day.

I will, one day.

- - - - -

Now, as I lay upon my deathbed, I recall that best friend of mine in Heaven right now.
I would join her very soon.

My last few breaths were dedicated to muttering out these words.

I Love You.

-END-

2006-11-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

Am I late?

The backlight of the G-shock flickered at 12:00.

Shit.

Don was supposed to meet the rest at Changi Airport to send Son off to Hanoi, Vietnam.

Ha Quang Son. (Pronounce: Ha-Kuang-Sen)

Don could still remember the first time he met this little guy.

- - - - -

Everyone was shuffling off to the makeshift hall for the first assembly of year 2005, paying no heed to a foreign-looking spotted teen walking along the corridors. Lugging along of what seemed like a whole year's supply of tidbits, he looked quite lost. For some reason or another, Don approached him.

"Err, hey. Are you-"

"Ah, hallo!" The boy spoke out with an unrecognisable accent.

"Ahh.. Hi! Er, looking for something?"

"Ya. I am lookin' for mah class..."

"Ok-"

"Ya. The.. um... three one."

.
..
.

Hm? I'm in three one.

Don turned his head slightly, and raised his arm.

"There! We're right outside the class!"

"Oh, okay! Thank you thank you!"

LoL.

"Hey, we're late for this really boring assembly thing, so... ya. Let's go to the canteen." Don nudged the blur-looking boy.

"Huh, oh! Okay."

"Oh ya, I'm WeiWen. What's your name?"

"My friends call me Shaun."

"Shaun?"

"Ya, Har Kuang Shaun. I'm from Vietnam."

"Hanoi? Phnom Penh?"

"Hanoi."

"Mm, okay. Cool. I'm from... Singapore. Nice to meet you!" Don replied with a cheeky grin.

.
..
...
..
.

And as the others might say, the rest was history.

- - - - -

It has been two years now. Funny how it has passed so quickly. It seemed like only yesterday when Son proved himself to be a mathematical genius, solving the hardest of conundrums with the slightest of ease. People might take into account his being two years older than his peers, but still, that didn't hinder him into attaining his Mensa admission.

Now, he's going back to Hanoi to spend the rest of his well-deserved holiday "hibernating". The joker simply has no other words to describe what he was going to do.

"Eat and sleep, lor. It's winter there, what," Son said matter-of-factly, his Singaporean accent a courtesy of his peers.

It turned out that Don wasn't the late one. He was, in fact, one of the earliest.

"Eh, where are you ar, Son?" Don blubbered into his Nokia 6670.

"Huh? Wa, you sending me off, ah? Thanks thanks!"

"Thanks thanks your si-lang tao, la. That's why I'm supposed to do, what. I asking where you!"

"Orhh, I still on my way. Will be reaching in ten minutes."

"Huh? I thought your flight at three p.m.? No need check in, ah?"

"No, la! My flight at five, la!"

CHEY.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you then."

.
..
.

Everyone met up at about a quarter past three (Aw, Don's imaginary flight to Vietnam has already taken off.). Even Anson and MeiGui. Most went our separate ways to have some lunch, then meet back at the terminal.

After a hearty meal of Mac's, Don was told that Anson and MeiGui were going to go off. They had somewhere to go.

Right, somewhere.

"Haiyoh, Anson and MeiGui, ah!" Faris pursed his lips and pouted.

"Give them a break, la, Faris. Those two lovebirds must have been using this as an excuse to get outta the house."

"Bah, those guys, arh. Too lovey-dovey!"

"Hehe... Yeah." Don smiled.

Those two had quite a tumultuous relationship. It was pretty comforting to see them finally working out their differences and getting together once again.

"So, where to now?" Don asked.

"To budget terminal, lor."

Uhhh, budget terminal?

Woot.

It was quite expected of Budget terminal to have whitewash walls, plain tiles, and dirty seats.

"Haiyur! Why got coffee on this seat, one?"

"BUDGET terminal, ma."

"Why the toilet cannot make it, one?"

"BUDGET terminal, ma!"

"Why-"

"BUDGET terminal, ma!!"

.
..
...
..
.

... Yeah. You get the drift.

Still, the terminal has its redeeming qualities, like one of its corners being painted a myriad of colours. Again, it was Faris's idea that we took a group photo there. It didn't turn out half bad, too. For some reason, it was as if the picture was taken from a casting of "Friends".

"Call for Flight 1xxxxxx to Hanoi, Vietnam." The loudspeakers blared with a familiar monotony.

"Okay, I think I have to go now."

"Aw..."

Hugs and handshakes were exchanged.

"Take care, man."

"Hey, you too."

And there we go, two years of insanity...
...And he'll be back in a month, in National JC.

"Cya, Son!"