Hope

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - Romans 3:23

"...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." - Romans 3:23-24

Oh no

I didn't post for two days in a row.

Oops.

I actually feel a little bad about that.

--

I'm not really bothering to post anecdotes any more, so if you want to know what happened today go look at Carolyn's blog.

Speaking of Carolyn's blog...

ARGH.
But drama is STRESSFUL.
I tell you ah, somehow I became the i/c for sets, and though I'm happy Ms Karen is 100% satisfied with the boxes Rohini and I 辛苦地 painted, the whole production is falling apart.

First, we perform on Friday, 7 August. Next week..
Second, we perform in the ME Lau Hall. Lights and blocking = major issues.
Third, mikes are probably not going to be possible (vocal projection = nightmare).
Fourth, our juniors are getting all confused and whiny.
Five, some juniors should be shot and killed.
Six, costumes must be rushed out by the end of the week.
Seven, costumes logistics is so irritating.
Eight, people have decided to butt into costumes and props and talk, but don't act to help.
Nine, I was bored and freezing to death.
Ten, everyone was lethargic, and I was falling asleep.
Eleven, we don't have enough rehearsals scheduled. So far all proposed dates are impossible. Except the weekend. And, we need to redo lots of positioning and blocking.
Twelve...(need I go on?)

I went up with Jelly and En on Thursday afternoon to check out the lights in the ME Lau, and here's what we found.

Twelve, there's no center spot in the ME Lau Hall. Can you believe it? NO CENTER SPOT. Plus, the lights are stationary, so we can't move them.
Thirteen, the gels are all melting and the lights are all fusing. Two of them fused while we were testing them.
Just... Pffsht.
Fourteen, the curtains take seventeen seconds to open and close so En was timing fade down/fade up times for the lights with the opening and closing with my stopwatch.
Fifteen, tech. rehearsal is probably on Monday for National Day, and we haven't rehearsed in the ME Lau at all.
Sixteen, sounds aren't all done, especially the lead heart breaking. Anyone who finds a good, sharp, loud, singular cracking sound (that's free), do tell me 8D
Seventeen, when we went down with Uncle Henry to clear the boxes that we left there on Wednesday D: (He was going to do it himself!... so sad), the boxes were all chipped. Possibly it's either due to people stepping on them (?) or people dropping them (accidentally... I hope) on their corners...
Eighteen, after a month of no rehearsal, things are being forgotten. Too many things.
Nineteen, Shreya, our Happy Prince, is ill this week.
Twenty, if Shreya doesn't make it back in time... good luck, Rohini. (This isn't to say Rohini isn't good. She IS good. Especially with the Apollo experience. But so much to review and re-learn... and if Shreya doesn't get to do it wouldn't that be just sad?)
Twenty-one, (need I go on?)

Right, yeah

Maybe I should change my skin.

But I like my skin.



Oh wait, I mean my blogskin.
Or, more accurately, the layout of my blog. How my blog looks. The HTML.

Something.

--

I was looking through my old posts yesterday and I realised that I only reached Post 55 last year.

And here I am at three hundred and something.

Is it good to post more? Does it mean you're a prolific writer, or you just waste time on your blog?

Well, I certainly don't like blogs that don't get updated for months on end. They make me feel unnerved.

--

My sister just got DBSK's latest album, The Secret Code.

There's this unofficial shop that sells China music CDs at Anchorpoint. I strongly believe that their goods are pirated. They sold The Secret Code there. My sister didn't buy it, not exactly because it was pirated but because she wanted to respect DBSK.

But she bought Super Junior's album.

--

Drama until 5:30 pm today.

I mean come on, if we were going to do it during National Day anyway, why didn't they let us meet?

Even the school said those CCAs with performances in July/August could meet.

And ours is now on August 7th.

Which means we have ten days, including weekends, to prepare for it.

And most likely we've all forgotten everything due to being... inert? inactive? idle? for about a month. Which is why we've got to slog it out now, I guess.

Nice going.

I'm scared.

We have a lot to work on. Including how on earth we're going to get any kind of projection in the ME Lau Hall.

Which, as I've said before, is a Hall. We're all used to the Audi where everything can be heard. When CLDDS performs in the Hall I can't hear much from the gallery, where the control room is gonna be. Except for maybe the really good people who are way downstage. And we can't mike it either, because Zhi says we don't have a budget.

Sigh.

I still want a Drama Night.

Sad thing when the only public showings of Drama this year is school performances of about 15 minutes each. Poor juniors; they're missing out on a lot. And also, if Drama is performing, CLDDS should too. They deserve it. Honestly!

Meh. What am I rambling about?

Good luck to the MCs trying to connect a play set in FRANCE to NATIONAL DAY. Heehee ^^

--

I repeat myself too much. You must all hate me now D:

Already Gone

Post #367

I've had this blog for four years, and I've only posted this much.

I think it's because I only posted for a few months in 2006.
And maybe half the year in 2007.
I only started REALLY blogging in 2008.

And here I am now.

Progress?

Finished Science Chronicles entry last night. To Carolyn: In the end, wrote about the child safety idea.

I still need to do the Chinese file... but somehow I just can't be bothered...

I'm confused as to what to do with it.

A Loud Poem to be Read to a Very Obliging Audience

The Man Who Can't be Moved

Hey everyone

So, the Blogger layout bug has finally been fixed ^^. I might as well talk about both Thursday and Friday.

Thursday

Before School/Assembly/Before Founder's Day Rehearsal

After spending the night doing research for HACACS, Eleanor, Felicia and I were sitting around testing each other on capitals of countries. I think the first one was Maldives (Male). We didn't have any Assembly except for announcements and devotions for which we dutifully stood up anyway. We had to wait until 08 10 before the Founder's Day Rehearsal started, so Eleanor pulled out notes on the world leaders of countries, which I remember almost nothing from.

Founder's Day Rehearsal

Spent about an hour standing outside 3T watching the Girl Guides and Girls' Brigade, and waiting through the endless moments of silence trying not to explode. Jerusha is pretty good as a commander. I think Stephanie and Li Cheng were commenting on how Sheralyn should have been commander of the Guides like she was last year, because she was one of the only people that takes marching seriously.

Then we filed into the audi and sat in order of register number, which was a little confusing at first because so many people were involved in Founder's Day and thus absent. I think there were officially 13 people in our class not involved (less than half) though people were not in school.

Miss Lau told the class that we were to be sent back to class after we were seated but Mrs Chew only sent us back after the GB and Girl Guides had sat down.

Miss Tan and Mr Liu were both involved in the Founders' Day Rehearsal so from about nine fifteen till eleven we had an extended free period. Mrs Ng wanted to screen a video titled "Auschwitz"(?), but the sound didn't work, so she left.

Eleanor, Felicia and I resumed testing each other on capitals. I think by now I can safely say that Eleanor knows the capital of Ghana is Accra and I also think that five years from now she will still be able to remember that the capital of Ghana is Accra. I tested her five times over ten minutes, after testing her three times over half an hour. I think Steph should know what the capital of Ghana is too.

Interesting Capitals:
Maldives - Male
Switzerland - Bern
New Zealand - Wellington
Yemen - Sanaa
Mexico - Mexico City
Germany - Berlin (used to be Munich)

Felicia was on the other side of the class with Jerusha learning about the Cold War.

Somehow an arm wrestling competition erupted on my side of the classroom. Alison beat Liz Chan at left-hand arm wrestling (both left-handed, but Alison plays tennis and Liz plays softball, and Liz won easily at right-hand arm wrestling).
!

Didn't bother going down for recess since I was leaving at 12 20 with Eleanor and Felicia. Went to the library and wandered around for a while, then came back and went through the capitals again.

Higher Chinese

Advertisement presentations. Lao shi must be rather pissed at me now, because I missed my group's presentation while Felicia and Eleanor didn't. Basically we only had twenty minutes of lesson for the entire day.

Had a small plate of chicken rice for lunch. We all packed into a taxi with Mrs Ng and discussed JC and career choices.

(The three of us agreed that even if they didn't ask any questions on capitals it was still fun to know)

HACACS

Trekked through Hwa Chong to the exact same LT that we had YAWP! in. It made me feel nostalgic. Even though we were sitting on the opposite side of the LT that we did during the competition itself, but it was the same section where we were sleeping and eating teething rusks (and giving Iskandar teething rusks) while others were rehearsing. Peaceful.

NJC was sitting behind us; I realised MGS must have been the only school just to send one team. According to Mrs Ng, it's because it was during the OBS period.

For the Prelim round we were in the same room as RGS, and I met Hannah there again ^^. Neither of us expected the other to be there, apparently. And also, neither of us had prepared much. Seemed like RI and HCI were the most kiasu.

The preliminary round was nasty. I'm not going to touch on the thirteen questions that were gone through during a waiting period in the final round later, so I'll describe one now:

Palestinian representative at the UN (opinions, views on voting):

I was so pissed at myself during this period, because there had been a rep. at HRC, and it was referred to as the "Palestinian National Authority" but it could be Palestinian Liberation Organisation as well since it was in my notes that I vaguely remember. ARGH!

(Ooh, the PLO represents.)

Answer: None. Palestine cannot vote.
Evil.

After the Prelim Round, we all walked out and went through answers together; Eleanor and I had so many similar answers (Eleanor: "I'm convinced that we have some sort of telepathy or something.")

Refreshments were nice. I mostly ate the sugar donuts and potato pies. Passed by the RI team. Jarret was there. Every time we see each other it's kind of like an awkward, silent Hi. Because our parents are from the same cell group. Felicia said she'd be sick if Jarret ever did that to her.

Talk about the UNAS after announcement of finalists.

Final Round: ALL the RI teams got in. One HCI team got in. The announcers were trying to arrange the announcements so it didn't have RI in one big block, but it didn't really help.

The final round was freaking hilarious. Felicia and I were trying to hold back our laughter. I don't think Eleanor was as affected because she wasn't familiar with the RMUN inside jokes. The NJC teams must hate us now.

From one of the RI presentations:

"The Palestines took their knives and stabbed Israel, and Israel took their helicopters and blew up their poor little village."

I still can't get over that. Ask Felicia for more quotes from the Final Round.

Speed Round was, if that's even possible, even more hilarious, mostly due to the announcer, whose antics I will not describe here because words would not do it justice. Despite the fact that it was mostly verbal.

Jarret's team knew most of the answers while doing the ten-second MCQ round, but for one question they were actually shuffling the paper placards mahjong-style then held one up... and they were correct.

Announcer: "Which is [one of (?)] the countries that withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?"
Felicia: "RI had this on their selection test!"
Member from RI Team: "United States." (Option C)
The audience laughs.
Announcer: And the answer is.... A! North Korea!
All the RI teams have raised their A placards. Except the HCI team. They raised C.

During the open-ended question round, the HCI team got one question wrong and thus were left with -10 points. Then they got one back, and were back to 0 points. Then they got a question wrong again. Then they got another one correct.

Prize Presentation. The results were changed about three times.

Announcer: Third runner-up - Hwa Chong Institution, Team 24!
Someone runs up onto the stage.
Announcer: Excuse me.
They confer.
Announcer: Excuse us.
They confer.
Announcer: Okay, STILL third runner-up, Hwa Chong Institution, Team 24!

RI Team 4 (Jarret, Ben Mak and Adil, I think) were the undisputed winners.

Whee!

FRIDAY

Before School

Went into the classroom and discovered that someone (Lau, said Vi Chien) had drawn illustrations for 2PM (a clock reading the appropriate time), DBSK (a heart with four hands in it, the four characters written on them), FT Island (ABCDE(?)G + T-shirt + a picture of an island), SHINee (a shining gem thing with an e on it), and Super Junior (thirteen stickmen with a speech bubble that said "Sorry sorry sorry sorry")

When I enquired why Big Bang was not included, Vi Chien steadfastly replied, "We don't like Big Bang."

I enquired where Rain was. I drew a raincloud on the board.

Played UNO with Wendy and Glenda, then made flimsy card houses that kept falling down.

Founder's Day Parade

Xiu Qi, Alison and I all brought books along and left them by the side of the corridor during the parade. I think the marching was more synchronised than the rehearsal though I THINK there was a fumble somewhere...

Not much to say really.

Mrs Chitra says to pass on the following updates:

EL Common Test on Tuesday. Classes will end (hopefully) by 2 pm. 2.30pm in the Audi.

DRAMA ON WEDNESDAY ENDS AT 5.30 PM. This is due to the National Day performance. I think. Sigh.

Founder's Day Service

The usual. I ended up sleeping, just a little. But I was awake during the prize presentations, which seem to have grown shorter in my mind over the years although they have always been the same length. In primary school they screened a video during the presentations.

Ms June Tan was announcing the awards. The winner of one of them was obviously one of her students.

Ms Tan: And the Ellice Handy Medallist is... NATALIE ____ ____ ____ [name left out for privacy's sake, just in case]!
Alison wonders why she said her name like that.
Ms Tan: Natalie scored NINE A-ONES... and one B4
Natalie cracks up on screen. We all kinda crack up.
Ms Tan: She is a ROLE MODEL for her classmates...
I wonder why she can get away with this.
Ms Tan: ...and is CERTAINLY a DESERVING RECIPIENT of this HIGHEST AWARD IN MGS.
I guess she can't.

I'm getting kinda tired, so I shall not elaborate further. Nothing much happened.

The Time Traveler's Wife has been borrowed again, this time by Alison. My, it's becoming a popular book.

Err, err.

WHY IS EVERYONE COMING DOWN WITH FEVERS???

Maybe I should go and do a swab test, just in case.

Oh...

Okay, there's something really wrong with the posting screen for Blogger, so I regret to say that I probably can't post anything fancy for a while. The fact that this post box is only about 8 cm across is kinda stifling too.

Sigh.

Sorry, everyone.

If you even read this blog. I mean, if you don't, you probably wouldn't care.

Today's Playlist

Misery Business - Paramore
The Middle - Jimmy Eat World
Mad - Ne-Yo
Hotel California - The Eagles
I Hate Everyone - Get Set Go
Thnks fr th Mmrs - Fall Out Boy

?

Vanish

I regard my likeness, and she returns my gaze. I place my finger on her forehead and say, "Vanish," but it is she who will stay; I am the one who is vanishing.

-The Time Traveller's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

Anecdote for Monday. In present tense. Because I feel like it.

Before School

A little surprised to see that all the people that were quarantined on Friday are still quarantined today. And Claire, who is feeling sick.

The class is somewhat silent. Everyone is tired. People are imploring, all in fun, people like Glenda who have a wide radius of adjacent people including them, to get H1N1 so they can all get quarantined. Others joke, "Hey, I have a runny nose. Can I go home?" and yet others say "I wouldn't mind get quarantined, but not after Wednesday, because I don't want to miss Listening Compre."

[my sister says to type "My sister is so tired."']

Assembly/Chapel

Ms Lau admits today that she is very tired; even though we're four weeks into the term, it feels like an entire semester. And, she's been having a backache. "I'm getting old," she says.

I make a week countdown on a page of my notebook from weeks 1 to 10 of Term 3. I cross out weeks 1 to 3 and boxed week 4. Almost halfway there.

Felicia and Hui Xian lead Chapel. Ms Lau shows a video from the same guys (nooma.com) about anger with random bits of footage in a store slotted in it. Then we share about what makes us angry in little groups. Ms Lau joins ours.

Wendy says that being hungry makes her angry. I say that people waking me up makes her angry. Ms Lau shares about how she used to get angry when her domestic helper in primary school slapped her shoulder every day to wake her up. And about her boyfriend's obsession with World of Warcraft and neglect to call her.

Biology

We finish the Mid Year paper and all the Respiration worksheets. Ms Lau reminds us of the informal assessment on Wednesday ; respiration, 15 marks SEQ, 20 minutes.

I feel somewhat grateful that some Bio was taken up by Chapel. I kinda hate 1h 20 minute periods.

New Homework: NIL

Lit

Ms Tan returns our unseen papers which are dismal; the highest is 15/25. She says our writing is very "high-flown". I feel a little sad. I wish I could do better. I wonder how I had managed a 20/25 for the first CT. Maybe I should ask Ms Tan to re-mark it and see what happens.

She says that I make too many points within a point.

New Homework: NIL, but Character Analysis due tomorrow, and Unseen due on Wednesday

Recess

I sit at Charlotte's table, who's apparently feeling rather down, and her temperature's pretty high too (37.5 C). Claudia is there too. And the rest. I eat frozen yoghurt.

Higher Chinese

I am dead tired. I want to sleep. Luckily we do writing today. Bao zhang bao da, which lao shi says we will drill continuously until she is happy. Then we move on to other writing things. We do it in pairs. It is unbelievably slow. Glenda and I agree on that.

New Homework: NIL

SS

We go to the LT a little scared that we are late, but there's Tutorial today. No lecture until next Wednesday. Some people groan.
I am falling asleep. I nearly do. I see an entire row (Li Cheng, Yun Hua and Alison, separated by a passable awake Ka Yi) asleep.
Mrs Raj takes ten minutes off Mr Liu's time for a bit because Mr Liu is just standing outside or something.

New Homework: NIL

Physics

Everyone is really tired now. Nicole and Felicia half-scold Mr Liu for not chasing Mrs Raj out.

Mr Liu mentions him wanting to book an air-con room for this lesson so that we can wake up. Felicia says that air-con is conducive for sleeping. I think if we go to the library it will be too cold to sleep.

He also asks us if the class is any different without Carolyn and Stephanie; we say it's quieter. (Nicole and Felicia say "and we get to take over everything".)

Our side doesn't ask questions today, observes Mr Liu, especially Eleanor. Too tired, he assumes. He's right. Or that's my assumption.

We do specific heat capacity. Which is just Math.

New Homework: Worked Examples in Heat Capacity worksheet. No idea when it's due.

Lunch

Liz Chan goes home complaining of a headache. I have a headache too. Can I go home? Anyway, I trudge down to the canteen and order a $1.50 chicken rice. Then I go and sit with Diana, Yun Hua, etc.

I ask Diana whether she wants a Drama Night. She says no, because she should focus on her studies.
I don't know if I should post it here [tell me to remove it if you don't want it here, please! Sorry!] but she mentions also quitting drama to join dance in Sec 4, because dance is more organised and apparently less demanding. And, she likes dance better.

I still want a Drama Night. I grab an ice Milo then trudge upstairs to the washrooms, then sprint back to class though the teacher was nowhere in sight.

作文班

I'm even sleepier, which is made worse by my boredom. Why did I even stay back in the first place? I should have gone home. I try vainly to stay awake and only wake up fully when we start writing the speech. I write the easiest, shortest topic on a Campus Superstar winning speech and am a bit surprised when only two people besides myself do so, while the rest of the class all write on the same topic.

Ten minutes before the class ends, Wendy and Ellie finish and Wendy stands up with her bag and Darth Vader bottle (so named by... Mrs Raj I think??), asking "老师，我可以走吗？", but the teacher doesn't let her, saying that ten minutes is ten minutes and why doesn't she sit down and rest, especially with her big bag and big bottle? Wendy doesn't, and she just stands at her seat.

Five minutes before the class ends, Wendy roams out of the class only to be stopped by the teacher, so she just stands by the door. The class is laughing sporadically. Ellie is sitting placidly at her table reading the Lit handout on banned books.

After That

I find the Poetry Slam group in the canteen practicing for Ms Chong (they're really good!). I go with Sheralyn to the toilet again later. We find Xing Xing. We discuss why Sheralyn doesn't consider Xing Xing fit to be in her field of vision.

I go home.

Now I'm here.

role playing

[inspired by/ in response to Eleanor's post: role playing]

We all have our own roles to play.
Why should we play more than what we already have?

To learn?
To teach?
To entertain?
To torture?
To indulge?
To escape?

For those who are good at acting/those who act/those who act so much they get good at it, why do you do what you do?

I play someone else's role for all these reasons.

I learn, by playing something someone else tells me to; sometimes something I've never heard of.

I teach, because sometimes people need to know what's going on, or what went on, or what was going through the head of a certain playwright or another.

I entertain; I make people laugh by making a fool of myself.

I torture, by sending across something so laced with venom that it's a poison without doing anything, even if I don't really mean it to.

I indulge, because it's fun... sometimes.

I escape, because all these roles make up for the fact that I don't really have one.

--

In theatre, there are measures put in place (sometimes) to make sure that people don't lose themselves in their characters.

I once heard of someone that played a really 'bimbotic' character in one of the musicals or plays, and in the end, she herself changed.

Maybe she liked it.

So it is possible to lose yourself. If you want to.

One way to avoid this could be to preserve a little part of yourself in the role you're playing.

--

I would never roleplay without an audience.

There is no point.

But... there is always an audience. Somehow.

Whee

I'm posting an anecdote today. First in a long time.

Before School

The Poetry Slam team were discussing a poem in the back of the room, and the people at my corner were half discussing the History and Current Affairs Challenge Shield at Hwa Chong and H1N1, especially the quarantines.

Some discussion throughout the day:

Felicia (on Hwa Chong History and Current Affairs) - basically our team is 'destined to fail', because RGS is sending TWO TEAMS including the China RMUN delegation, and RI is sending TWO TEAMS, including those from the US delegation like Jarret and Ren Jie. So that makes up the Final Four already. And, of course, Hwa Chong's own two teams as back-up.

Felicia (on H1N1) - Half her RMUN Council has/is affected by H1N1.

Eleanor (on H1N1) - I should get H1N1 so that our row will be quarantined x_x. Then someone else suggested that someone in the CENTRE should get H1N1, so that the radius would be wider...

Me (on H1N1) - I wondered if the seat partners of those quarantined were a little weirded out. What's the difference between 2 metres and 2.2 metres??

Alexa (on HC / RMUN, after someone commented on how all the RMUN people were gathered in a corner): "Oh, they're all from Egypt. I'm the only Denmarkian." (to which Nicole promptly replied DANISH!)

Audrey (on H1N1): Hey, if Shannon was quarantined due to close contact because of Oral, I was sitting on the other side...

Audrey (on H1N1, after I commented on how Zhi Lin had said "You hug me, later I really sick then how?" after I did so): I don't care. [hugs]

Then Ms Lau came in and was about to update on the situation but we had to have assembly first, then she did, and then she left.

Elect. History

War on Europe cont'd. There's a worksheet on LMS (worksheet 15). None/not many of the quarantined people take Elect. History, and not really any homework anyway.

Now there's no one sitting next to me during Elect., now that there's the new seating plan.

New Homework: None, except that worksheet 15.

E Maths

Bearings. Which is about exactly the same as Geography map reading. They steal it and tangle it up with geometry and trigonometry.

I actually like trigo, so far. I think it's because we haven't learned radians yet.

New Homework: E Maths Assignment, Trigo WS... 4. I think. The last one she gave out before Bearings, which is worksheet 5.

English

We got the summaries back; I asked Mrs Chitra whether there's drama next week... she said no.

Read a very short story that had been formatted in two columns, and Mrs Chitra only let us read the first column and asked us what we thought was going to happen next because of the building suspense in the story, which was about a man who gets in an empty taxi late at night and gets scared.

People were suggesting murder, kidnapping, ghosts, etc.

And in the end, I got it right, because ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED.

It always turns out like that.

After that Mrs Chitra didn't want to do any more with absent people so she gave out Newsweek, during which I finished my E Math.

New Homework: Do the questions included on the worksheet with the story. I can't remember the name.

Recess

Went to 3T for a while (Jelly reminded me to do ticket refunds, Xing Xing asked me if I could go with her after school) until their English teacher came in. Their recess ends at 1040 while ours ends at 11. Xing Xing asked if our class had done some compo yet, and I said no. She was shocked. "Really? I thought it was compulsory..."

I remarked that their teacher seems to do a lot of writing, and that I might enjoy her class a lot. Mrs Chitra does a lot of compre, and not as much writing as worksheets about writing, at least not as much as 3T does.

Xing Xing: "Well, you should join our class then!"
Me: "It would be a little awkward, wouldn't it? Unless I somehow ended up the only one not quarantined in my class... then I'd probably join yours."

Speaking of which, Charlotte isn't quarantined, nor are the other people that usually are at basketball. I guess it's because basketball's only 40 minutes long.

Chemistry
Someone in my row (gosh, I can't remember) mentioned that the lessons after school on Fridays were the worst.

I have to agree. ONE HOUR AND TWENTY MINUTES OF CHEMISTRY.

Anyway, Ms Yang got kinda scared upon considering her contact with Carolyn:

Ms Yang: "Was she in school on Tuesday?"
Me: "Oh yeah, she was." (And we had lab on Tuesday! Oh no!)

Later

Ms Yang: "Oh yeah, she had her jacket on in the lab... then I walked by to ask if she was okay..."

Later

Ms Yang: [picks up the duster, which promptly falls apart] Your class doesn't have better dusters? [gives up] Does anyone have tissue?

New Homework: Ionic Equations worksheet newly given out in school, but start doing Acids and Bases worksheet. Bring Indicators and pH.

O:

A Maths

Mrs Loh has started shopping again.

Nicole: "I thought you retired your credit card?"
Mrs Loh: "Yeah. I did. But I'm using my husband's credit card."
Class: [blink]
Mrs Loh: "You know my money is his money, so I should spend his money."

[later]
Mrs Loh: [picks up the duster, which promptly falls apart; she uses the black felt covering to clean the board] I know what G stands for. Garang guni!

Solving sin theta = x. Turns out we've been doing it wrong ALL THIS TIME!!!!!!
Okay not wrong, just incomplete.

She was about to start on radians but decided to spare us because too many people weren't in school.

New Homework: Assignment, Trig Worksheet 1

GEL

Leadership Seminar with 3T

One part was when the instructor divided us into "sculptor" and "raw materials" (drama girls may find this somewhat familiar) and ordered us to sculpt something without touching or speaking to the raw materials, but we could use gestures and the raw materials had a mind of their own, so they could choose to ignore you.

[when we split up into groups of four]

Xing Xing and Diana collapse to the left and right respectively while Carissa holds her palms together over her head and Jelly does arm waves behind her:
Jelly: IT'S A HINDI MOVIE!

The entire LT was laughing madly.

Other Highlights

Tabitha with her Domo (Yun Hua) and later with her Domo x3 (Yun Hua, Nicole and Christie)

Alexa, Carmen, Tze Shien and Ern Wei with their being called twice and their zombie saga

Later a video was played about Miss California possibly losing a Miss USA title due to saying "I think marriage is between a man and a woman" when asked the question that "gay marriages were being legalised in four states; what did she think?"

She said that she felt very proud for standing up for what she believed in, and she didn't want to be politically correct, but biblically correct.

Perez Hilton insists that she should have said "it's their choice" and be accommodating; Miss USA represents all of America.

Well, as I've mentioned before, these are my views: I do not discriminate, but I do not condone either.

Pastor Joseph Prince at NCC once said something like "Christianity is not about following a book of rules and opposing homosexuality."

He meant it as a joke.

The instructor then asked "Would you do the same?" or "is it too difficult?" I didn't raise my hand for either, because I would have done things differently.

Gay marriages are a choice, and we should respect that. But what Miss California said was also a choice, and we should respect that too.

New Homework: Ba-boom.

-----

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!

I want a kazoo.

My first embed videos. Inappropriate?

Tell me, won't you treat him right

Is it true that not all H1N1 cases have fevers?

If so...

I might be spreading H1N1 to everyone!

EVERYONE might be spreading H1N1 to everyone!

I mean, if some adults don't have high fevers and still are diagnosed, teenagers might too.

Which might explain runny nose and cough for the past two weeks. Or maybe it's because of the dust.

But no one knows!

Ooooo.

I wonder, when someone in a class gets diagnosed, does everyone in a 2-metre radius get quarantined?

Then maybe about half the class will be left, and those whose seat partners were quarantined would get a little weirded out.

Meh.

Anyway, in other news... oh, there is no other news today. Again.

Dammit.

Heeheehee

I got hit in the face with a netball today while playing benchball. It didn't really hurt. I'm just putting it here because it's the first time I ever remember it happening. Besides, immediately after that I scored a point so it doesn't really matter. It only actually started mattering after I took my glasses off and Tabitha saw two cuts where the nosepieces of my glasses usually are.

The one on the left is longer and more noticeable than the one on the right. When I took my glasses off the left nosepiece was almost completely flattened against the left lens. I've tried to fix it and my glasses sit on my nose again although they tightly pinch the bridge which makes me feel like an old lady for some reason. It's still a bit crooked but not as much, so I have to wait until I get to go to an optician.

In other news... whatever, there is no other news. I don't really have much to say.

help

Everyday Life
Take this survey
1.You have 10 dollars and need to buy snacks at a gas station: Chips, ice cream, coke. Maybe if there's a Polar or a Delifrance there, a chicken pie. Or two.
2. If you were reincarnated as a sea creature, what would you want to be? I don't WANT to be a sea creature. Maybe I could be a koi and swim around in a peaceful little koi pond.
3. Who's your favorite redhead? Clare Abshire, The Time Traveler's Wife
4. What do you order when youre at IHOP? What's IHOP?
5. Last book you read? The Time Traveler's Wife
6. Describe your mood. Mood? I HAVE NO MOOD! Actually I don't know. Which is good.
7. Describe the last time you were injured? Uh, I banged my right hip just now...?
8. Of all your friends, who would you want to be stuck in a well with? Is stuck in a well actually supposed to be a good thing?
9. Rock concert or symphony? Symphony is easier on the ears, but it depends on what type of rock concert. Never been to one. They sound violent.
10. What is the wallpaper of your cell phone? A traffic light that says Upper Serangoon Road. I don't live anywhere near there.
11. Favorite Soda? Coke/Sprite or both. Spoke.
12. What type of shirt are you wearing? Some Little Miss Giggles shirt
13. If you could only use one form of transportation: Self-propelled supersonic flight.
14. Most recent movie you have watched in theatres? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
15. Name an actor/actress/singer you have had the hots for: I don't have the hots for people. Otherwise I kinda get obsessed for short periods of time, or long periods of short periods of time. I think you can tell which people.
16. Whats your favorite kind of cake? Ice-cream cake. Bengawan Solo's chocolate gateau. The cake my maternal grandmother makes.
17. What did you have for dinner last night? Tonight? Rice, fish, sweet and sour pork. Pork soup.
18. Look to your left, what do you see? The door. Which is open. So I see the hallway. In the opposite wall is another door. Which is open. So I see my brother's table. The rest is darkness.
19. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not really
20. Favorite toy as a child? I remember having a bear puppet I called Sophie but I lost it, so I got another one but I didn't like it as much because it looked different.
21. Do you buy your own groceries? Sometimes. In a family it takes turns.
22. Do you think people talk about you behind your back? Yes. Even in a best-case scenario I can absolutely guarantee my parents.
23. Whens the last time you had gummy worms? Years ago.
24. Whats your favorite fruit? I like grapes. Watermelons. etc.
25. Do you have a picture of yourself doing a cartwheel? No
26. Do you like running long distances? No.
27. Have you ever eaten snow? No
28. What color are your bedsheets? Yellow
29. Whats your favorite flower? Don't have one
30. Do you do ballet? I quit in Primary 3 and never looked back.
31. Do you listen to classical music? I used to until my radio broke.
32. What is the 1st TV Theme song that pops in your head? Mythbusters. It took me at least five seconds to think of one.
33. Do you watch Spongebob? Uhhuh
34. What temperature is it outside right now? Probably around 25 to 30 degrees celsius
35. Do people consider you smart? Depends on which people
36. How many piercings do you have? None
37. Are you signed on AIM? Nope
38. Have you ever tried gluing your fingers together? No
39 .How do you feel about your family?
40. Do you have an iPod? Nano, don't use it
41. What time do you go to bed? Around midnight.
42. What CD is currently in your CD player? I don't have a CD player.
43. What movie do you know every line to? I can't trust my memory any more.
44. What is your favorite salad dressing? Vinegar? Thousand Island?
45. What do you want for Christmas this year? I don't know. I could want a new laptop but I can't bear to part with this one. Sims 3? No space... where would I keep it? B3 for Chinese Os. Maybe. Does that count? No matter, I'll probably end up getting money and a Rubik's Cube. I just get the feeling.
46. What family member/friend lives the farthest from you? I've got family in Australia? Maybe America.
47. Do you like hugs? Very much
48. Last time you had butterflies in your stomach? Chinese O Level Oral
49. Whats the way people most often mispronounce any part of your name? Surname. People pronounce it as Ong.
50. Last person you hugged? Half-hugged my father. Does that count?

Shout

Isaiah 40:6-8

6 A voice said, "Shout!"
I asked, "What should I shout?"

"Shout that people are like the grass.
Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field.
7 The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the LORD.
And so it is with people.
8 The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever."

From Diana's blog.

Shout
You know what? Let's do it. Let's shout.
Nothing wrong with shouting.

Shout. Shout!

that the people are like the grass
, the grass. Grass fields; rows and rows of blade towers yet indistinguishable from each other.
The grass is green, sometimes yellow, but always the same.
The grass is beautiful. The grass dances in the wind. The grass rustles. The grass laughs!

The grass is beautiful.

Their beauty fades as quickly
, as quickly as a blade tower can stand erect and proud - it too can be crushed with no more effort than a thought

as the flowers in the field
; flowers are arguably much more beautiful than grass blades
but nobody cares about them,
because their beauty is taken for granted.
Regardless, no matter how beautiful, they can be crushed just as easily.

The grass withers and the flowers fade
; not only do they wither, they shrivel. They curl up. They rot. They disintegrate. They are decapitated by a spinning metal blade. Which may be better than withering.

beneath the breath of the Lord
, which is a steady, painful, reassuring, petrifying
constant

And so it is with people.
Even solids diffuse.
When we lift our hands to the wind, maybe, atom after atom, our hands are shrinking.

The grass withers and the flowers fade
, to fade, to dissipate, to become a ghost, to cease to exist
in physical form, in everyone's minds, in a satellite picture taken from outer space.
To exist somewhere is paramount.

but the word of our God stands forever.

MGS quiz

1. [ ] you own at least 4 pairs of FBT shorts (Two)
2. [ ] You recall the founders day when the school was vandalized (Nope)
3. [ ] You still believe Hock Seng recycles/d his straws (No)
4. [ ] You spent at least 1 year of your school life patronizing the red bowl stall (I HAVE NEVER BOUGHT NOODLES FROM THE RED BOWL NOODLE STORE WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME)
5. [x] You spent more pocket money on mayo chicken and hock seng’s snacks than recess itself (I love mayo chicken.)
6. [ ] You had 5 ting xie books so as to avoid doing correction/getting parents signatures (Uh, no I didn't?)
7. [ ] You cut queue at the Yong Tao Foo stall (I don't cut queues.)
8. [ ] You faked an injury to wear sandals to school (Never, really)
9. [ ] You got away with your skirt being 1 inch too short (Never too short)
10. [x] Your badge was never covering the pinafore bit, it was as low as you could get away with (sometimes)
11. [x] You made every excuse to not change out of your PE attire (I don't know. But I always change out at recess anyway.)
12. [x] Monday chapels were 1 hour nap time (Forty minutes... I tried to stop really but Monday mornings are crap.)
13. [ ] You fainted at least once during school assembly
14. [x] You always arrived late on Mondays to avoid the ‘read Chinese/MT books’ initiative in the quadrangle (I just live far away. One time I actually went, I was running, slipped on the grass patch and immediately got sent to the staff room showers to wash my scraped knees.)
15. [x] You played pepsi cola one two three in the linkway
16. [x] The only hopscotch tiles you know are the ones in the concourse (Yeah! Hopscotch TILES! HOW COOL IS THAT)
17. [x] You got upset by ‘Monkey Girls’ School’ (Sort of. Now we have Monitorlizard Girls' School. Ask Zhi Lin.)
18. [ ] You threatened a teacher that your parents will complain to XXX (My parents did. Not me.)
19. [ ] You remember Tuesday morning devotions with Mrs Tan (Wait, what?)
20. [x] You know what KAP and BTP stand for (Woohoo yes)

21. [ ] You got away with eating in class
22. [x] You have at least one good friend from GB (I guess?)
23. [x] You know where computer lab 4.1 is and you had classes in there (4.1 D:)
24. [ ] You remember when Maple Woods was just green grass (Nope)
25. [x] You were one of the brats who was picked up by your mum/ah ma everyday (I'm not a brat <_< )
26. [x] Alternatively, you got a lift from a friend whose mum/ah ma picked them up everyday (Uh yeah, sometimes)
27. [ ] You used the orange pay phone by the guardhouse regularly
28. [ ] You learnt “Rubber Duckie” as part of your music lesson (Can't remember)
29. [ ] You can’t remember the second and third verse of the school song (We still sing them.)
30. [ ] You caused a chain of effect of screams because you saw a bug/lizard (No)
31. [x] You miss the Touch Typing program offered in primary school (Oh, I'm grateful for it now)
32. [x] You never understood why you had to plait your hair when the ponytail reached the collar
33. [ ] You still wear coloured sports bra
34. [x] You wore shorts under your pinafore on non-PE days
35. [x] Your class scared a male teacher away before (Oh yes)
36. [ ] You have at least three relatives who studied/are currently studying in MGS
37. [ ] Your mum was classmates with your teacher/classmates mum
38. [x] You wore jackets in school because it was ‘that’ cold (sometimes, especially in the new library)
39. [ ] You miss MGS canteen food (Wait, I'm still IN MGS.)
40. [x] You had the fattest pencil case because it was stuffed with all those coloured pens and markers (No, actually staplers. I have two! And empty pens)

41. [x] You still use the blue/black uni-ball ultra-fine 0.37 pen
(I use the 0.38 one but I have to replace them all the time because I keep dropping them on the nib. So I use the Pilot G-2 0.5 which I don't like D:)
42. [x] You still wear your House/PE t shirt occasionally (Again, I'm still IN MGS, so...)
43. [x] You almost gave the Home Econs teacher a heart attack (Uh maybe)
44. [x] There is a theme song from one of the camps or REW weeks that you still remember
45. [x] You will send your daughter to MGS (depends on whether I have children)
46. [ ] You’ve gone back at least once to visit after graduating (irrelevant)
47. [ ] Your class made a Lao Shi cry before (I don't remember)
48. [x] Hock Seng used to call you by your house (address) number
(Apparently my sister did so I guess that counts)
49. [x] You wonder why we never actually had prom (It's a bit tough without male students)
50. [x] You wish you could relive it all over again (I don't know okay)

Count your unchecked boxes.
Deduct that number from 50
Multiply by 2.

54%. I'll add more, when I actually graduate.
50% o_o i expected less hahah

Misery Business

Surreal

Chinese O Level Oral is over.

The waiting was terrible... at least two hours. We were sitting upstairs, not allowed to move, not allowed to do anything really, except melt in our own panic.

The group downstairs was allowed to walk around and take books from the shelves. We were very envious of them. I think. All we were capable of doing, really, was to play never-ending games of chopsticks, drink water, try and remember "vicious cycle" in Chinese, and of course obsessively time the duration taken by all the candidates.

Shortest time: Four minutes (Felicia)
Mode (?) time: Seven minutes. I think that was the longest time too, but I didn't time mine.


Reading passage was about not missing what you never had/ the grass is greener on the other side of the fence/ we need to experience worse things to appreciate our fortune or a mix of all of them. I'm not usually good at this part but at least the passage was easy so I didn't do as badly as I would have otherwise.

Conversation topic was - get this - CIP!

As in volunteer work organised by the school.

The examiner started with 学校安排的社区活动... then I kinda forgot the rest.

I asked him to repeat it again as I was digesting it, because I didn't get all of it at first and I needed to think, then I suddenly thought ooh, could this be what I think it is?

So I asked him whether it was basically 义工, and he said yes.

Uh, yay!

I mean, I somewhat prepared for that and even if I didn't it's pretty easy to talk about too.

So I talked and then said something about never going to old folks' homes for CIP but since I've been there before because of my grandfather I do want to go there and help out.

The examiner asked something to the effect of "so, if you do go to an old folks' home, what will you do?"

So... I told him.

Then he asked, "So, if you do go to an old folks' home, how will you feel?"

And I thought wait, haven't I told him this already?

So... I told him.

The female examiner, by the time I got to the jie jue fang fa, was just smiling at me. I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing.

Then I left.

(I'm quite worried and quite intrigued by said pimple.

It's completely alone.

Well, it's about time anyway.)

--

My brother is having diarrhea apparently. My sister has had a stomachache.

You know what? I think it's the cherries.

No wait, it probably isn't. Parents are fine.

I haven't eaten the cherries, but the reason I feel like crap has nothing to do with cherries.

--

MY TELEMARKETER EARPHONE JUST BROKE

As in I plug it in but can't hear anything

D:

I loved that earphone.

Maybe I can fix it.

My mother just came along and told me to stop revising oral already.

But I can't.

Uh

I have a pimple on my forehead.

As in, one pimple. Just one pimple.

If it's not a pimple, well, it looks like a pimple.

It's so isolated.

Wonder if it's lonely.

Oh, what am I doing <_<

hi

I'm skipping church today with my sister... apparently both of us feel like crap today.

And what with H1N1, of course, if you feel unwell, stay at home.

Of course that doesn't really make any sense. But I don't want to spread anything, and I don't want anything to spread to me either. Even if it's not H1N1, which is not the only disease in the world right now.

Wait, so according to that logic, we shouldn't be going anywhere! We should shut ourselves up in little pods and communicate via internet.

I'll be in school on Monday... of course.

Shallow

I need to post something. So I'm going to post all the things that I didn't want to post before because I just thought it would be stupid.

--

So there was one time that I went to NCC, and the pastor was talking about something like Adam vs Christ:

P: So it's like Adam versus Kris.
General Audience: [silence]
Me: o__o
P: You know, like some AI joke.

And another time he started doing the moonwalk on stage when he suddenly derailed off into "Heal the World".

Rationale for not posting this: It's just pointless.
--

You know, MediaCorp loves Adam Lambert. Seriously.

I was reading the Today newspaper a few days back, and there was an ad for the 8 Days Magazine in there, and instead of something about whoever was on the cover, it instead said "Why is Adam Lambert carrying a Project Shop bag?"

I... don't really know what Project Shop actually is.

And on my way to school on that day, they played Mad World (the Adam version, not the Gary Jules or the Tears for Fears one) on the Morning Express on Class 95, and the following ramble went like this:

"That gave me chills."
"We should go to the supermarket and get some Lambert."
"You know, the cheese Lambert."

And the day after that the DJs said that they were going to play it again.
Or another song that Adam released. I didn't get to hear it, though.

For a moment I just thought Oh dear, Adam is following me.

But I realised that it was MediaCorp and that I am not going crazy.

In that time, they haven't played anything by Kris Allen as far as I know.

Rationale for not posting: Overanalysing
--

Last week, as everyone was getting ready for school, and we got to the car:

M: OPEN THE DAMN DOOR. [because the back door is jammed and whoever gets in first has to reach over and open the door from the inside]
S: It's not my fault, what.
M: You don't have to be so damn rude.

And I thought maybe her saying open the damn door was just as rude, but of course I can't say that. Because, well, it's rude.

Rationale for not posting: It depends on who knows my blog address.

--

I'm trying to listen to a cellcast. It's my second time trying but now I have the earphone half out of my ear because the sound quality is so bad.

And yeah, I only have a one sided earphone, with a mike. My mother calls it the telemarketer earphone. I feel like I'm going to damage my right ear.

Rationale for not posting: Who wants to know this?

--

New song to learn on Expert for Guitar Hero: Misery Business by Paramore

Rationale for not posting: I'm not really learning it, because I haven't been playing. Mm?

Buzz

I looked up a particular YouTube video last night about a previous event, and managed to find six pages of Google results, of which probably about five were actually related. The rest were all on... video search sites, those I've never heard about before o__o

Eh. It's kinda scary.



I need to post more.

White Gorilla

I am such a strange person.

I don't really have much to say today.

Starlight

Finally

The school has finally announced the cancellation of PAN. And other things.

That took a while, really. A week or so?

Also, CCAs cancelled next week.

Can't Drama meet any way? We need to. At least a comm. meeting. Please.

This post is meant to psych myself. You can ignore it if you want.

I am in Higher Chinese for a reason.

I haven't dropped out of it for a reason.

I managed to get a B3 on it last year for a reason.

Oral does not constitute 100% of the marks. It constitutes 20%.

My marks don't need to be very good. They just need to be good. At least for Chinese.



I can do this.

Changing Sides

Wimbledon Final today. I refuse to watch the sets after the score reaches 5-5, because it's going to raise my blood pressure due to stress levels.

Even though all the people in my family are Federer fans (well, some Nadal fans, but everyone prefers Federer to Roddick as far as I know),

My brother is openly supporting Roddick.
My sister is ignoring the final. (EDIT: She came out later and started supporting Federer)
My mother is not giving opinions, except that she wants it to be a close fight.
I am steadfast in my support.

However,

My father has been cheering for Roddick, because he expects Federer to win, so might as well cheer for the underdog.

He's drilled this into my head ever since I first started watching sports with him.

I asked him whether he wanted Federer to win.

He said yes.

So why was he cheering for Roddick?

Because he was the underdog.

I am amazed at the people who can rip apart loyalties and trusts just for the sake of entertainment.

He's cheering for Federer now, because I just reminded him that Federer was the underdog.

EDIT: After Federer won the set, he started cheering for Roddick again as he had become the underdog.

At the fifth set, I got him to start cheering for Federer because after all, he did want Federer to win and the set could go either way, with no break points and no tie break.

Halfway through, he forgot he was cheering for Federer and starting cheering for Roddick until I reminded him.

By 0115 h I was the only one left watching.

After Federer won, 16-14, I smsed the result to both my sister and father so they could read it when they woke up. He was still awake.

" :) I knew he would win :)"

Earth Song

Sigh

I was looking through the old 6.2 '06 blog, the blog that I never knew existed until May '09.

Carolyn writes in a similar style. Even then. There's even a copyright notice on the blog regarding a distributed compo. Now, where have I seen something like that before?





Ugh.



I didn't know about that bloody blog for three years.
The only way I found it was by following a link on Liz Chan's blog.

I'm such an idiot.

Homework for the Long Weekend

English File
Lit File
History Assignment 3
Chem (Mole Concept 2)

Tell me, who took your joy?

Because when I find out, I will hunt them down.

looks like a solo tonight

Nothing happened. Fever went down.

I'm... very tired.




The back molar at the right side of my mouth is cutting into the side of my tongue.

So close.

Temperature: 37.5 degrees Celsius

I'm still sweating etc so maybe later it'll be better.

I Hate Everyone

Hotel California

Courage

They still haven't posted about the cancellation of PAN yet; they have the date still as 4 July on the calendar, and the postponement notice is still up.

Anyway, I should stop harping about such things, especially if things are being done in response to it already.

--

I suppose you've noticed that I barely ever post anecdotes any more. The only way I can now is to force myself to by listing down every lesson and recounting it. Maybe nothing sticks in my head any more.

Do you want me to do that?

Maybe I will, just for today.


No, I won't.

Fighting

"I'm not going to go without you."

We're going to try and get a Drama Night.

i'm not there yet
G.
Sagittarius.
Singaporean.
MGS'01-'10
1.1, 2.2, 3.5, 4.3, 5.5, 6.2, 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G
MGS Drama Society Society of Dramatic Arts '07-'10.
ACS(I) 5.12'11 - 6.12'12.
ACSIS '11-'12.
!nk '11-'12
I write because I can't break the habit.

April 2006 February 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 January 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011

Updated 7/1/11

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