Saturday, September 13, 2008

13-09-08 (Saturday) "One more week..."

I miss the days that when we just had that feeling that the worst we'd get was a "C" after walking out of the exam room...

I miss the days that when there were empty spaces on my exam answer sheet, they were only because I didn't manage my time properly...

I miss the days that there was actually time to check your answers in the given time of examination...

Studying in Singapore, or maybe just studying independently, is truly a humbling experience. After 11 years of formal education in Malaysia, I take my hats off to the 'A' Levels in Singapore. I think it's because of the heavy reliance on tuition in secondary school that caused this transition to be more challenging. Anyway, for those who've yet to stop their 'addiction' to tuition, all the best for the days ahead when it's not really possible to squeeze tuition into your schedule or even find people to tuition you.

Only one more week to go...

For those of you from ACJC(Sophil, Cephas, Hai Ching, JJ...), SAJC(Steve, Elden, Cheng Kim, Kien Poon, Gareth "Gary" Chin, Alvin, Zhi Li, Nuchapa "Mew" Thanasarnsopaporn, Lynn, the SIA scholars...) and the other JCs who have already finished but I do not know of, congratulations on finishing your preliminary examinations(prelims)!!!

Irregardless of what I may achieve, I will not falter and blame anyone but myself. I will still thank God for sustaining me through this time and helping me do whatever I can with whatever I did.

In times like these, it really makes one appreciate the times that you have off to just take one's mind off the books and just relax with fellow friends. Thanks, Matron Linda for the 'party' last night! Really appreciate it!

p.s: What a sh**ty time to be joining Facebook. Darn you social networking stuff!!!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

09-09-08 (Tuesday) "20Things That Make Life in Victoria Junior College Truly..."

...Victorian!

But before that... Let me let myself out first...

AAAAAHHHHHHHhhhHHhhhHHHA!!!!! AIIiiIIiEEEAAYYYYYAAAAIiiiAAaa!! AAArrrRRrrGGggHHHhhH!!!@$#!$!@%^!*%

AH!

I screwed up my Maths paper 1! I'm sorry for all the hopes you had pinned on me, mom and all my dear friends(... and the whole of Miri... Heheh. jk...) I am still wondering how come JC maths can be so different from back in CH. Or maybe it's just that my skills have dropped tremendously. Yup, I think that's it. I guess what goes around, comes around. I deserve it for not putting as much effort into maths then... Shoot...!

On a lighter note... 'A' LEVELS IS FRIGGIN' 54 DAYS AWAY!!!

But that's not the point. Life in VJ is drawing to an end soon and I'd like to remember the times I've had in VJ and what makes it all so memorable... Some(if not MOST) of these stuff are the things that just make life what it is in VJ. They're also stuff that make me proud to be a Victorian.

1. Orientation 1! Okay... Now, every JC in Singapore can boast of how great their O1 is but I'm not saying that ours is better. Just that it's very much very memorable to me! Most memorable would be the outings with your OG, even AFTER orientation! Not to mention the mass dance at Suntec City Fountain of Wealth every single year and the Sea Regatta where a new trend of walking-into-the-sea together instead of being dunked just started this year after the 'ban' by Mr You-Know-Who. And oh yeah... The OGL cheer. Heheh... "We're moving in, we're moving out *blur**blur* rar...rar...ararara OGL!"

2. Constant chants of "Full Day!" at least 3 times every week at assembly over the first 2 terms. The reasons? Amusingly, it can range from the glorified announcements of some CCA that got into the finals for the first time in a decade(reasonable) to just some plain simple speech by Mr Chan. It's quite entertaining at times, really, when some guy just shouts it and his friends totally abandon him to his embarassment. :P

3. Cheers. Every OG's got 'em, every house has got 'em, heck, even my CT has one! 1234543212s45, WHOO! Heheh... You really can't run away from cheers in VJ, which brings me to...

4. Match support! This is exciting in VJ cos' of the atmosphere that you get throughout the matches. (Sorry, S-League... Even though we borrow your stadium, our supporters are definitely more than yours any day of any week of any month of the year!)

5. Friggin' nice teachers! And lecturers! Some more very sporting and enthu! One in particular is our Civic Tutor, Ms Meta. She even joins in on our birthday celebrations many a time, even the class 'birthday' oso got us the adorable cakes! Birthdays... Hmmm...

6. Birthday celebrations! If you go to VJ one school day and DON'T hear clusters of ppl singing the birthday song like at 3x normal speed, it must be a day where some VIP just passed away or something. I'm SERIOUS! EVERY SINGLE DAY you hear someone singing the birthday song in English first... then in Mandarin... then just 'la la la' to the tune... Then the aftercheer. yeay...


7. Outings, outings and MORE outings... Mentioned this in the previous post abt Sg in general too. First of all, it starts with OG outing, then it moves on to class outing... Following that... CCA outings as you get closer to your CCA members. Of course, class outings never really DO stop anytime...

8. The plasma screens! I don't think there're many JCs that actually have plasma screens around the compound flashing reminders of announcements and upcoming events. The one in the canteen even shows live telecasts of important events like the recent Olympics! How cool is that!

9. Silly antics by Victorians with all the highly-entertaining posters around. Some to make you feel guilty for NOT being as altruistic as Gates, others to remind you to spend money at the Subway booth in the canteen on Tuesdays, and others... Just to make you happy! :)

10. The treehouse! Darn, I didn't get to snap a picture of it. Must remember someday! One of those features that just literally stand out! It's this treehouse which actually consists of 3 really. Quite cool, even has those suspending bridges linking 'em up! Great place to chill out!

11. The igloo! Xbox, pool, darts, or just for the sake of relaxing somewhere quiet... Though I must say I'm not a real regular customer there... In fact, been there only once so far if I'm not mistaken...

12. Live ads. Sometimes really super lame. But many really ROFL hilarious! Some ppl come up cross-dressed, some without a tie on tie-day, others just perform a short skit... Gotta love the 'freedom of whatever-you-call-it-as-long-as-its-not-expression'. Heheh...

13. Mass dance. Every time there's sth to celebrate. The music goes ' terata dub dum... dub dum... dub dum... dub dum...... Boy you really...' It's quite fun when there're friends around to dance around with but unfortunately I haven't been participating much other than during O1. Heheh... I think I WILL miss this quite a bit!

14. Mr Chan Poh Meng's "short, sharp and sweet" speeches. Enough said.

15. Referring back to the 2nd point. The full days themselves are rather significant! I think on average, every school year we get at least 2 full days and 2 half days! Of course, they only come in term 2, mostly. Term 4 for J2s is basically full day ANY day you want! Heheh...

16. Lightning risk alert. The dreaded, irritating, "oh sh*t"-inspiring sound resonating from the red thingy that you normally see flashing on an ambulance that are strategically placed in front of the PE dept and 2 other places, if I'm not mistaken. Every (outdoor) sportsman's nightmare sound. "de de de, de de de, de de deh... de de de, de de de, de de deh..."

17. Musicfest! VJC's very own yearly 'talent show'! Showcases amazing talent in dance, singing and bands. Quite one of the hot things that Victorians actually have to BALLOT for tickets!

18. More than 10 concerts by all the performing arts CCAs every year, with the Choir being the most prestigious every year and followed by the Symphonic Band this year. Other popular ones include Dance concert, English drama and many more. Not to say that others are lacking in quality, it's just my personal opinion on which ones are more outstanding. Just my personal opinion...!

19. House events! Food-eating competition, inter-house shoot, frisbee, soccer, captain's ball... All in the name of bonding with classmates and other housemates as well as getting house points for the house to win! YAY PEGASUS! Looks set to be the first house 2 win consecutively for 2 years this year! Sad to say, this year not tat many house events though...

20. FEELING FAB! This has GOT to be one of THE most exciting things of VJ! It's sth like a day of enrichment. Everyone(prior to this year it was only for J2s) signs up for the stuff they're most interested in and have a fun-filled few hours or half day(for J1s only, darn it!) of the stuff! Stuff ranges from go-karting to kick-boxing(see below, looks more like senam-robik though...) to fencing to hip-hop(see lower pic) to breakdance to roller-blading to massage and even to learning foreign languages!


Actually started off wanting to write 10 only. Now I reached 20. Darn... Will try to add in the pictures if I remember some other day!

Given that the Mathematics score for the preliminary examination of students in a certain class of 07S45 is normally distributed with a mean of 60 marks and a standard deviation of 5 marks. What is the probability of Joseph scoring above 70 marks?

*press**press* *pause....* *press**press*

*Huh*?
*takes out GC*
*press**press**press**presses "ENTER"*

... I quit...

Saturday, September 06, 2008

09-08-08 (Saturday) "It's Very Early/Late Now"

Preliminary exams are in less than 60 hours and somehow I'm not too worried about it. I dunno whether I should be glad about that. Cos... To say that I'm fully prepared is not true at all but to say that I'm totally unprepared is untrue as well.

These days, hanging out with the other Malaysians out of the hostel and even within the hostel have put me in the mood of thinking about this: So what if exams are coming? Doesn't mean life must stop for me, right? There still has to be that balance to everything now, right? (Of course, that does NOT include staying up till 3 in the morning doing rather unproductive stuff...)

Had the J2 scholars' meeting the other day in VJ. Glad to have gotten this last chance to meet up with my other direct scholar friends from other JCs that day. There's SA, NJ, TJ, AJ but I didn't see the AJ ppl tho... Hmmm... Anyway, Eventually went to lunch together the SA ppl, Chen Pong(Steve) and Gareth Chin Yen Ket included. So cool... we all actually sat at the same table(with 4 other guys...) and the restaurant didn't sustain any damage at all!

Everyone's talking about their future after this year already. Sometimes, I do seem to feel some burden and pressure there like Jocelyn does but most of the times, I'm not too worried about it. Once again, I dunno whether that's good. I'm not even sure whether it's the peace of God in me. :)

One last thing I'd like to add is this. Many things in life take on this sinusoidal pathway, right? Emotions, holidays and even one's faith. I've been having one of those downturns a few weeks ago due to all the hooha from Daryl's blog but I'm glad to say that I'm slowly getting back on track and back in step with God now. Couldn't have been a better timing. Really decided that faith really ISN'T sth that one can rationalize out. With our puny minds which we can barely even use a fraction of, I don't think we can ever get close to comprehending God so I'll just stick to the basics then. Faith.