Smile

[indirectly recommended by Carmen]

Comparing Notes

Taking a break from Social Studies in a brief panic to consider my DSA options next year.

IB

ACS(I) [Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)][top choice]
Pros: Theatre Studies at IB Level, foreign languages, academic+miscellaneous DSA criteria
Cons: Gap between GCE & IB Curriculum, girls at disadvantage because of only two years...?

SJII [St. Joseph's Institution (International)]
Pros: With scholarship, about the same school fees as usual, possibly different regulations on MT?, very wide "DSA" criteria
Cons: Have to get a scholarship, no Theatre Studies at IB Level, only Spanish as a foreign language

SOTA [School of the Arts]
Pros: Theatre
Cons: Near impossible to get in so late, dropping in at the fifth year would be pretty bad... generally near impossible

A-Level [in alphabetical order]

ACJC [Anglo-Chinese Junior College]
Pros: Drama Elective Programme (is this a pro...?), English Elective Programme, Theatre DSA
Cons: DSA criteria is freaky!!! You probably need a voice examination qualification! Which I can't get!; apparently ACJC isn't that good??

HCJC [Hwa Chong Institution (College)]
Pros: Good drama, apparently [Jelly insists that I should go because one of the teachers (Mr. Perry?) apparently likes me, although I don't see how that's possible], academics DSA
Cons: No theatre DSA, will/may have to take Chinese classes if HCL results are not good, it's a SAP school!!

NJC [National Junior College]
Pros: Wide DSA criteria: Academics, Art, CCA, Science Research
Cons: According to Rachel Chew, the Drama CCA there is pretty dead. Though this isn't really a problem. Yet, not as appealing as it could be.

RJC [Raffles Junior College]
Pros: English Elect. at A Level, eh, probably the Raffles brand is just appealing. Eck.
Cons: No theatre DSA, cutoff is crazy high (then again, Hwa Chong is just as high too, and why should this matter at DSA...?), and rumours about poorer students being told to take A Levels privately o_o

TJC [Temasek Junior College]
[unable to retrieve any information about DSA]

VJC [Victoria Junior College]
Pros: Theatre Studies at A Levels, good impression of it
Cons: No theatre DSA, and... a bit strange to go back...

Interestingly, the only other JCs offering Drama for DSA are Pioneer Junior College, Catholic Junior College and Anderson Junior College.

Tick-tock, every heartbeat drops

You know what? Often I find myself sitting quietly in class during lessons, and nothing's really happening. Then...

Claire: [flails]

That's the impression I get nearly four terms, though it only started happening during the... third, or something.

Hurt

Again

As usual, I haven't been updating my blog for two days straight.

Today I am sick. That half gives me an excuse to write and an excuse not to, because a) I'm sick and b) I have time.

It isn't like I don't have anything to say; it's just sometimes I just don't want to.

--

I was almost torn between going to school today or not.

The only time I can ever be absent from school with a clear conscience is when I have a fever. Because when one has a fever, one is definitely sick enough not to go to school. Today, I didn't. Just, well, usual stuff (if you can call it usual), like nausea and giddiness.

So I woke up, brushed my teeth, wore my school uniform, read the newspaper, ate some food, and got into my mother's car to go to school. Still torn. I didn't want to go to school, but I kept thinking that if I was sick without a fever at home, that would be skiving. But I did feel pretty bad.

In the end, I only decided to go back home after pulling up outside the school gate. I had even unfastened my seatbelt.

But I went back anyway. Then I fell asleep until 1 pm, so I suppose staying home was a wise choice.

Looks like I just need to catch up on... eh, Periodic Table, which seems to be the only completely new thing taught today, though I'm not exactly sure what happened during Elect. Oh, and email Ms Newall with the Term Paper.

Live Like We're Dying

Maybe I'm Crazy

I went to a wedding dinner today. I don't really want to detail every single thing that happened, so:

1.

Menu:

Cold Platter - Suckling Pig, Seafood Roll (Sister: a fancy version of otah), Prawns, Lobster Salad, Roasted Eel (Unagi)
Double-Boiled Shark-fin Soup - with chicken and dried scallop. Was quite sad that it wasn't the starchy kind which you can add lots of vinegar too. It was more like chicken soup. But it was great.
Cold Roast Chicken with prawn crackers - served with this little bowl of chicken salt which you rub on the meat before you eat it. Great.
Pork Ribs - didn't want to eat it at first, but I had to because they divide it onto little plates and serve it to you like that. Not bad, though.
Abalone - Gave mother abalone because she wanted it (and I didn't,) but the spinach and the mushrooms were quite good. Yeah.
Baked Fillet of Cod with Teriyaki Sauce - arguably the best item on the menu excluding the dessert. Impossibly tender and soft. But I had to give the rest of mine to my brother because my mother ate his while he was outside playing, and he got angry. But my sister passed some codfish to me because she was getting sick of it. So everyone was happy. Enough.
Sauteed Broccoli with Golden Mushrooms and Silverfish
Fried Rice - smelled and tasted impossibly of cake. So much so that my sister couldn't bear to eat it.
Baked Chocolate Pudding served with Vanilla Sauce - better than the codfish. Chocolate pastry circle, and when you poke a fork or something into it liquid chocolate gushes out and mixes with the vanilla sauce.

2.

The groom surprised the bride by belting out "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" by Aerosmith to show his love. Later, people gathered around the table I was sitting at to discuss how bad he was. Well, in the guise of saying he was very courageous.

3.

Discovered that being a civil servant is a lot like being a student leader in MGS. My uncle and his civil servant friends were discussing things like "Hey, did you get roped into YOG?" "No, but I suppose nearing the date they'll start getting everyone in..."; "I heard for F1 90% of seats are sold already... is that true?" "No, they reduced the capacity from 100000 to 80000, so it's like property agencies; saying 90% of Flat 1 are sold when there are only ten flats."

Sound familiar?

4.

The groom also took the opportunity to thank everyone he had ever met.

Not really. He just admitted that his thank-you speech was very long.

For all you know, you could be dead by tomorrow.

Which is why I stand at the gate and say goodbye, three times, five times, ten times, even if you're just going out for a while.

Which is why no matter what I'm doing or where I am when I hear the gate unlock, I call for you to "drive safe", or maybe "I love you".

Which is why I press my face against the glass walls at the airport departure hall and keep on waving even though you have long since turned your back.



I know it's selfish of me.

I'm supposed to be happy when you die, because you go off to a better place.

But even though that may be true, I'm going to miss you.

I'm going to miss you so much my heart is going to tear open.

I'm going to miss having you here. And even though everyone always says "You will see them someday", when?

And even though I'm not supposed to live my life in guilt, I will regret not saying goodbye, or not telling you something, or not giving you another piece of my heart.

And I will be sad. Whether you like it or not.

Laxative

PE

Dance grading today. Between the two classes taking the same dance class together, I think our class is somewhat more serious :/. Yeah, even with Alison's contributions of "life".

She tried to convince our row to yell "YO!" during the turn-jump. It failed, both times. (We charitably agreed to dance the routine twice to save the embarrassment of the row behind us who otherwise would have to dance alone.) I made her promise that she would actually yell during the dance itself. In the end, we both carried it through but no one else did.

Also, after every turn-jump, I immediately forgot the next step because I was so distracted by the YO.

They didn't even tell us our grades after that. And knowing MGS, we'll probably never know except for the vague As and Bs on our progress reports.

A. Math

Worksheet 9. Not really attempting to follow during the proving parts, because even though they're fairly easy it IS also somewhat tedious.

Lit.

Finished Part II of Fahrenheit 451. Epic milestone!

It was Miss Tan's birthday today. She says that we have "sharp ears" for being able to figure that out.

Recess

Went down for recess as usual. No matter what, I always have to eat on Wednesday. Saw Jelly and Diana (and later Zhi Lin studying for Chem SPA.)

Bio

New timetable: We now have back-to-back E Maths and A Maths for two hours straight on Fridays. It's actually quite an appealing combination; I don't MIND it or anything. But who knows how I'm actually going to react when the time comes.

Friday Lesson Order:
Chem, English, Recess (0940 - 1020... crazy! Stampede!), Elect. Humanities, E Maths, A Maths, GEL.

Chem in the morning? Again?

I don't know if Miss Lau is amusing, or amused.

SS

First time I didn't finish an SBQ in time. Usually I finish with at least thirty seconds to spare, but this time I was halfway through the last question. Glenda (Gand) was in the same predicament.

Assembly

Talk by the Singapore Women's Everest Team.

A little perturbed by the fact that every time they showed a picture of something remotely out of the ordinary the audience would burst into excited murmuring and therefore not listen to the speaker at all. Such murmuring was always shushed within a few seconds. So maybe I'm not all that weird.

ALL NEW ZEALANDERS, PLEASE SUBMIT A CHEQUE OF $2000 PAID TO METHODIST GIRLS' SCHOOL
ON TUESDAY.

--

Xing Xing is ranting to me about SPA right now.

Chem SPA.

Which is frankly not a good thing to talk to me about at the moment.

...

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!

--

Quote from Xing Xing:

How am I supposed to tell the examiner honestly I prefer countryside because people are idiots, and plants will hold more stimulating conversations than the retards in the city can ever do? [...] Misanthropic, I know. But seriously. All I said was a gross understatement. "I'm not really a people person." [...] People are idiots. Not all, but definitely most of them. God knows I can count the number of intelligent people I've met on two hands.

I don't agree much with what she said, but what she said does have some meaning to it.

Hip-Up

Quite randomly, here's a crudely done rendition of our hip-hop dance this year. We're having a test on Wednesday.

It's impossible to do with shoulder-less, hip-less stickmen. But whatever.

We were never meant to be

Recount today.

Chapel

Was distracted by a bird which was flying around the windows, the lights, the rostrum, the stage (really on the stage). I didn't like the band that much today, and the people around me pretty much agreed that we weren't sure what the speaker was talking about :/

Bio

Surprisingly we didn't actually do that much, despite there being one hour and twenty minutes of lesson (twenty minutes being taken up by horrible traffic [yes, traffic] and form teacher GEL-like duties). By right, the lesson wasn't really bad at all.

Ms Lau: [passes out little apple notes] Sorry, girls, I'm highly frivolous!

Literature

Slept a bit while waiting for the hip-hop half of 3T to come in (they were kept in because they still hadn't finished choreography; eep!). Miss Tan half questioning after my prone position and yelling at Claire for jumping in the way suddenly. The next time she did that, Claire and Wendy (?) both dove to the side.

We went through a poem called "Animal Farm" (which has nothing to do with the Orwell book). I didn't say a word during the entire lesson, which is fine by me.

[quotes in this post are not ad verbatim; I don't have a very good memory, really. You can go find other blogs with the same quotes if you want, e.g. Carolyn's blog, and compare.]

Jelly: ****!
Ms Tan: Did you just swear?
Jelly: [very seriously] I'm having very bad cramps.
Ms Tan: Wait, were you expecting it?
Jelly: Uh... yeah.
Ms Tan: Okay, good, so that means you don't have to go away and, like, wash yourself or anything.
Class: [soft laughter]
Ms Tan: You don't say that when there's a male teacher, right?
Jelly: No.
Ms Tan: Just tell him that... you just felt like saying an expletive in his class.

Ms Tan: [not exact]...and I know that even writing for half an hour is really tough, writing for two hours twenty minutes you'll probably be dead already. But the other schools decided that since we've only finished one book we should only have one paper... so we just take our orders from [raises arm enthusiastically] up there, and then we accept it with an "Orh." and then we pass it to you [smiles sweetly].

Recess - HCL

Slept through the whole of recess and came to consciousness a few minutes after lao shi entered.

Did a personal recount on something that taught [the persona] not to take anything for granted. Surprisingly hard; the people in my row were sitting there for at least five minutes thinking. E.g. Liz Chan insisted she had a "brain block", and later that she wouldn't write recount for the examination because it was harder than bao zhang bao dao (and the same with yi lun wen as it was too easy to mess up).

Liz was writing an elaborate piece on how the persona was to go home by herself after arguing with her mother:

Liz Chan: I think I'm going out of point.
Me: Why?
Liz Chan: Because I'm writing, like, this girl has an argument with her mother like her mother nags her too much, then the mother says to go home herself and see what it's like when she doesn't care for her, then the girl doesn't have any money and can't take the bus, so she has to walk for hours...
Me [crapping]: It should be okay, right? Because after that she can infer that she can't take anything for granted...
[later]
Liz Chan: Hey, can I say 跑啊跑，跑到巴士站? Is it okay or not?
Me: It's okay... it sounds quite dramatic, actually.
Glenda: Yeah, if you want to add drama.
[later]
[Liz starts laughing]
Me: What are you laughing at?
Liz: My own essay! [laughs] It's so stupid!

SS

While doing the Northern Ireland essay Mrs Raj came over to ogle at my Northern Ireland CMap. Which is colour-coded. Probably why she was so "impressed" by it.

Physics (\(O_O)/)

[explaining displacement]
Mr Liu: Let me use MYSELF as an example.
[walks over to the door and holds his laser pointer vertically]
Mr Liu: I start here. Then I run --
[starts running around the entire classroom]
Felicia: Wah, Mr Liu! No wonder you're so slim!
Mr Liu [still running]: [breathes out audibly] Huhhh.
[runs back to starting position]
Mr Liu: And I stop back here. What is the distance I travelled?
Class: The perimeter of the classroom.
Mr Liu: And what is the displacement?
Class: Zero!
Mr Liu: [triumphant]

--

Chem SPA tomorrow.

English oral tomorrow.

Re: P*rn

Thank you for your letter. We have published it in today's (Sep 13) Forum Page.
You can also view your letter on the Straits Times website at www.straitstimes.com.

Best wishes,


Yap Koon Hong (Mr)
Forum editor
The Straits Times

Shit!

Never thought this would happen, just out of one English assignment ):. Don't even know why it's published, because it's exactly the same as one letter written by someone else after the actual article came out.

The title's different from my original though.

My original was:

Increased action must be taken to prevent easy access to p*rnography by minors

while the edited one is

More can be done to curb access to p*rn

I'm bringing the article to school tomorrow because Mrs Chitra will probably want to see it. You can view the comments page here, because if you want to view the original article you're going to have to pay for it.


I'm not too affected by the comments (which largely say "don't ban, it won't help"), for example:

spfairley: Why ban it? Use the Singapore ERP-solution - just charge "interested parties" on a pay-on-demand system.

It's a win-win option. "Interested parties" get their p*rn legally from licenced outlets, who will verify the age (M-18) of the patrons. Government collects revenue - just like from sales of t*bacco products.

because not only are there many ways to deal with p*rn, I EXPECT p*rn to be dealt with in other ways.

Oh yeah, interesting comment:

register again: I'm equally concern at the writer who is literally asking to be spoon fed on responsiblity [sic]. I'm sure she can do better than that. :)

I'm mentally kicking myself for coming across that way.

I have to stop being such a pushover.

I was unsuccessfully trying to detach myself from the issue. Never mind. Somehow I think I was going for that, no matter how much that doesn't make sense at all.

As a spoon fed child who's been plagued by web filters all her life... I do actually think it's a good idea. Although I'm not that sure what "spoon fed on responsibility" refers to exactly.

Carolyn's letter is here, and Liz Goh's letter is here.

Verbosity

... or the lack of it.

I haven't posted for two days straight!

It's almost the exact opposite 'problem' that Carolyn has.

Plurk, on the other hand, is like this slavedriver for Plurks. If you don't post within 24 hours, it lowers your "karma" by 0.15 points or so and admonishes "You are too inactive!" And then you bow your head and obediently rattle off a Plurk detailing, for example, what you ate a few minutes ago.

It's a bloody pressure cooker. It's starting to piss me off, too.

Interesting, I hardly ever use the word piss.

--

My mother made ribeye steak today. My sister made mushroom sauce. Looks like I'm pretty much the only female in this household who can't cook. Also, I'm the only female who doesn't want to get married or have children. I wonder, if I don't cook, how am I going to live by myself...?

9/11/09

This was my post on the 12th of September 2008. It was a belated 9/11 memory post.

You know, about 9/11

2,975 died out of 17,400 in the building.
That's 20%.
Rest in peace.
And thank God for those that survived.

I heard somewhere (I think it was in church), about what happened on that day.
There were testimonials everywhere after that, when people started telling about how they had been caught up in traffic that day, or their cars wouldn't start, or they got held up in some way, so they weren't at the World Trade Center when the planes crashed into it.

Why did so many have to die?
And why did the survivors survive when they did, while others died?

I'll get back to you on that. I need to find answers and somehow I will.

You know what?
Maybe when it's someone's "time" to die, it really is.

Maybe they've done all they can and all they want to in this world. Or maybe if they want to do more, so much more, it might not have led to anything, or it might not have brought happiness.

When it's someone's "time" to die, it would mean that they have accomplished everything that they were supposed to do; it must mean that.

And that means that those people are extraordinary.

I Hear Music

Ryan Kasprzak, the fr*cking artist.
I agree completely. That guy brings it like a theatre performance. It's amazing.

Break My Heart

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1 and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [done... though a lot of the questions are

probably completely wrong]

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [FRIDAY]

Nothing much.

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1 and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [done... though a lot of the questions are

probably completely wrong]

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise [and I WILL finish this by 7 PM. I WILL.]
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [FRIDAY]

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing

\(O_O)/

cherry tree

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1 and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [done... though a lot of the questions are

probably completely wrong]

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
报章报道 [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [FRIDAY]

Far Away

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1 and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [done... though a lot of the questions are probably completely wrong]

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
报章报道 [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [Tuesday]
Curves and Circles Assignment [Tuesday]

salvation

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1 and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [I've been on this since Monday and am completely... stuck]

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
报章报道 [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [Tuesday]
Curves and Circles Assignment [Tuesday]

Supplementary Classes
7/9: A Maths - 8am to 10am
Stuff to bring:
Maths file, calculator, pencil case, geometrical set, textbook,

forgotten page of WS 6 assignment (FRICK!)
Homework to do there until 3 pm: As much E Maths as possible,

probably A Maths too

9/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen], Chemistry -

2pm to 3pm, Physics - 3pm to 4:30pm
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap

paper, graph paper (?), my wits, chem textbook, file I guess

11/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen]
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap

paper, graph paper (?), my wits

Don't let me go

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1) and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [I've been on this since Monday and am completely... stuck

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment
Curves and Circles Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
E Math '08 Paper 2 [Tuesday]
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
报章报道 [Monday]
Trig Worksheet 8 Assignment [Tuesday]
Curves and Circles Assignment [Tuesday]
Supplementary Classes
7/9: A Maths - 8am to 10am
Stuff to bring:
Maths file, calculator, pencil case, geometrical set, textbook, forgotten page of WS 6 assignment (FRICK!)
Homework to do there until 3 pm: As much E Maths as possible, probably A Maths too

9/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen], Chemistry - 2pm to 3pm, Physics - 3pm to 4:30pm
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap paper, graph paper (?), my wits, chem textbook, file I guess

11/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen]
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap paper, graph paper (?), my wits

I am such a slacker.

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)
Dare to Dream essay

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1) and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2)

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment
QA worksheet [makeup]

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Worksheet 8 Assignment

Social Studies
Study everything

REMAINING HOMEWORK
Dare to Dream essay [Tuesday]
E Math '08 Paper 2 [Tuesday]
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2) [Tuesday]
Compre exercise [Monday]
报章报道 [Monday]
Worksheet 8 Assignment [Tuesday]

Supplementary Classes
7/9: A Maths - 8am to 10am
Stuff to bring:
Maths file, calculator, pencil case, geometrical set, textbook,

forgotten page of WS 6 assignment (FRICK!)
Homework to do there until 3 pm: As much E Maths as possible,

probably A Maths too

9/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen], Chemistry -

2pm to 3pm, Physics - 3pm to 4:30pm
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap

paper, graph paper (?), my wits, chem textbook, file I guess

11/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen]
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap

paper, graph paper (?), my wits

Intelligence

At my first year of college my physics teacher told us this rather amusing story, I’ve never forgotten this story - but I certainly have forgotten everything I learned in that class.

The following question was asked at the University of Copenhagen in a physics exam:

“”Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer.”

One student replied:

“You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the height of the building.”

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed immediately. He appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic principles of physics. For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn’t make up his mind which to use. On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

“Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer.

“Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper’s shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work uut the height of the skyscraper.

“But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sqrroot (l/g).

“Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up.

“If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building.

But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor’s door and say to him ‘If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper’.”

The student was Nils Bohr, the first Dane to win the Nobel prize for Physics.

I don't think Nils Bohr did this though

More Exam Hijinks

An Oxford Don is reading his newspaper as the student enters the interview room. Without looking up the Oxford professor says "Kindly say something of interest to grab my attention.

The student takes out a lighter and sets fire to the newspaper of the suitably chastised Oxford Don.

Q2. What is Courage? (50 marks)

- This is courage.

The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible,Guinessis, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, "Am I my brother's son?"

Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.

Nero was a cruel tyranny who would torture his subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

And Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper.

The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter. Romeo and Juliet are an example of a heroic couplet. Romeo's last wish was to be laid by Juliet.

Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained.

Later, the Pilgrims crossed the ocean, and this was called Pilgrim's Progress. The winter of 1620 was a hard one for the settlers. Many people died and many babies were born. Captain John Smith was responsible for all this.

Lincoln's mother died in infancy, and he was born in a log cabin which he built with his own hands.

Gravity was invented by Issac Walton. It is chiefly noticeable in the autumn when the apples are falling off the trees.

The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of river to spring up. Cyrus McCormick invented the McCormick raper, which did the work of a hundred men.

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?

A: Keep it in the cow.

Mr President,

I am supposed to write you a letter of things that you can do to save the world. Apparently, today is Earth Day, so in honor of that, my science class is drawing pictures and writing fake letters to the President. What my science teacher absolutely forgot is that we are using paper which is killing trees. Is it just me or is it ironic that the way we are spreading awareness is doing the opposite of what we intend? It seems almost as if we stop spreading awareness that the whole problem they are trying to solve would just go away. See America? I am full of good ideas.

(Teacher's comments: We HAVE to write on something!)

Expiration

To Carolyn: I wanted to respond further to your post about the funny exam answers, but it wasn't exactly appropriate so I shall respond here.

Basically because I just wanted to post the ones I found interesting.

Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf he wrote loud music. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died of this.

When you breath, you inspire. When you don't breath, you expire. (True that.)

For head colds, use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops into your throat.

H20 is hot water. CO2 is cold water.

To prevent contraception use a condominium.

Blood flows down one leg and up the other.

Carrier

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1) and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2)

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Worksheet 8

Social Studies
Study everything

Supplementary Classes
7/9: A Maths - 8am to 10am
Stuff to bring:
Maths file, calculator, pencil case, geometrical set, textbook, forgotten page of WS 6 assignment (FRICK!)
Homework to do there until 3 pm: As much E Maths as possible, probably A Maths too

9/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen], Chemistry - 2pm to 3pm, Physics - 3pm to 4:30pm
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap paper, graph paper (?), my wits, chem textbook, file I guess

11/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen]
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap paper, graph paper (?), my wits

September Holidays

HOLIDAY/MAKEUP HOMEWORK

English:
Formal Letter ("ASAP", Mrs Chitra says...)

E Maths:
WS 3 + TB questions
'08 Papers (1) and (2)
Pass with Distinction Ex 4B, Test (1) and (2)

Chemistry:
Salts school assignment

HCL :
Compre exercise
报章报道

A Maths :
Worksheet 8

Social Studies
Study everything

Supplementary Classes
7/9: A Maths - 8am to 10am
Stuff to bring:
Maths file, calculator, pencil case, geometrical set, textbook, forgotten page of WS 6 assignment (FRICK!), WS 7 Assignment
Homework to do there until 3 pm: As much E Maths as possible, probably A Maths too


9/9: Chemistry - 2pm to 3pm, Physics - 3pm to 4:30pm
Stuff to bring: Textbook, file I guess

11/9: Physics SPA - 9am to [whoknowswhen]
Stuff to bring: Lab coat (?), rag, calculator, long ruler, foolscap paper, graph paper (?), my wits

Newspaper

I'll probably end up working for a newspaper when I graduate.

I'm good at coming up with things on short notice that are halfway passable.

At this point I feel like posting the comments I got for my RMUN "diagnosis" article that we were supposed to submit during the second briefing (which had nothing to do with politics at all), but I shouldn't.

--

For all interested,

I have a bruise on my arm, just below the wrist. It's greenish-yellow. It doesn't really hurt.

--

I had three hiccup fits yesterday.

Once half an hour before dinner, another five minutes after dinner, and another half an hour after dinner.

--

For the people who read my blog, how do you think I would fare as a newspaper writer?

And oh, interestingly enough, my brother just signed up for the editorial club/team/posse/thing in his school. From what I know, it's not like the editorial CCA in our school that apparently doesn't have formal meetings and therefore has zero attendance.

And oh, he failed English this term.

He's Primary 4.

--

For those seeking specific information as to what has been keeping me away from school these past few days, it is apparently a viral infection, affecting the inner ear.

This took about thirty seconds for the doctor to diagnose, after hearing me complain weakly about my symptoms, and after peering down my pharynx and prodding me with a stethoscope.

Bold

So, I've been invalided at home technically for two days, but I'll try to make it on Friday, yeah. So I should probably take this time to recount on yesterday.

Before PE

Progress reports. Interesting to note that the subjects I did comparatively badly in had the best comments.

PE

I think we managed to cover the last three sets of eight beats, and in my opinion, they're the hardest ones. I can't remember it, nor can I get it.

And apparently we end the dance with this somewhat obscene movement that the entire group of maybe 40 people does in unison.

Oh dear.

A Maths

Comparatively painless; I don't know why but A Maths seemed to be really short. More proving. Wasn't that bad. I think.

Literature

More of the text, until page 101, skipping Dover Beach. Nothing really happened during this lesson.

Recess

Tried to practice the dance with Audrey but by the third-last/second-last set of eight beats at least one of us would burst out laughing.

Biology

Bio. SPA involving onions. I love onions. And there were no Bunsen burners involved. So it was a good SPA, even though I likely messed everything up.

SS

I found it hard to concentrate during this period... Xing Xing was beside me lamenting about Progress Report and it didn't help that this chapter is one of the more boring ones.

Assembly

Not much, so I guess I'll skip this part.

Drama

Spent one hour doing warmups for essentially nothing (although that was kinda the point) and then went to the canteen where the Drama Society devoured eight pizzas. I had one slice of crab meat pizza, then all the pizza was gone. It's quite scary.

After Drama, I hung around in school doing the following:

1. Discussing subject combination with Marcella, Miriam, Jelly and Diana
2. Discussed Chinese, Higher Chinese, and CL 'B' with the same people.
3. Somehow the conversation got completely derailed and Jelly started shipping Kradam.
4. Then the conversation got derailed again. I can't remember to what.
5. Playing a long Tibetan Numbers with Miriam and Shannon; I am proud to announce that after a year, Miriam has finally figured it out.
   

Went home and fell asleep, and then watched Singapore Idol, details of which you can find in the post below.

After I fell asleep proper, I woke up at 3 am because it was really really cold, then fell asleep until 5.30 am, which is when my alarm rings, and stayed in bed until six, which is when I usually wake up. It takes me forever to wake up, which is why I prepare accordingly.

But today was different; I was up like a shot at five thirty, so I did nothing but wait.

Took my temperature, 37.8 degrees. I went to the toilet then went back to bed but took at least forty-five minutes to get back to sleep. Then at about nine fifteen I woke up again, then I think went back to sleep until twelve fifteen.

I just got back from the doctor. She says it's a viral infection. So I have tablets and stuff. Hopefully I can come tomorrow.

--

Random Things

1. 9 is showing in Singapore. Jelly and I are going to watch.
2. Speaking of Kradam, Adam's album drops in the USA on November 24th.
3. That's Carolyn's birthday, and a day before my birthday.
4. That's also Freddie Mercury's death anniversary.
5. Which means that Carolyn's birthday is Mercury's death anniversary. Specifically, Carolyn was born three years after Mercury passed on.
   
6. Hmm... what else is there to say?
7. My semicolon key is still detached. The little rubber stump left behind scares me.
   

Deep inside my heart, I feel it too

Before my recount of the day,

I just watched the Singapore Idol Piano Show 1 today. Here is a quote from my Plurk account.

Singapore Idol tonight: In my opinion, two good performances only: Tabitha and Syltra. I'll blog about this later.

Now on to a detailed analysis.

Charles "Stitch" Wong: The amazing beatbox-guitar-singer, singing "Collide". He started his performance with fancy beatboxing (which is good by the way) so I hoped that his performance would be a good one. But it kinda wasn't. He was quite happily singing away and seemingly rather unaware of his audience. In the end he started beatboxing again, which just made it worse in my opinion. Like it was added on with desperation and a square of duct tape. Why is there a need for so much beatboxing?

Frances Maria: "So What" by Pink, which in the end turned out too raucous for my liking. She didn't hit the low notes in the "I wanna start a fight" parts, so I found it quite clever that she changed it to ascending notes rather than descending. I thought it was okay. It would have been okay if it hadn't been her singing it. It doesn't match.

MJ Kuok: "These Walls" (had to look it up on the SI website because I couldn't remember what it was). He started out with leaping all over the stage with his guitar which immediately threw my mother off, but I thought it was okay at first, because again I've never seen this guy before. But in the end it just turned out rather juvenile. I'm not exactly sure why.

The judges liked all three of these performers but hated their performances, pretty much. From here, it isn't going to be in the exact order.

Jannah Shaharuddin: "No One" by Alicia Keys. I don't really like the song, especially sung by other people, so obviously this performance didn't sit well with me at all. The judges liked it, though. But, whatever. So much can be done with that song yet so little, most of the time.

Ryan Lee: "Moondance" by I'm not sure who, but I think it's a Michael Buble song among others. This guy's face reminds me of the Japan HRC delegate from RMUN. Don't you think so? The same face!! I love this song, Moondance. And Ryan likes jazz. Overall, I did like it. But apparently it's not strong enough, or brassy enough, according to the judges. In my opinion, as an inexperienced consumer of music, Ryan should have gone acoustic with this song. Even though he can't play the guitar. He still can. I think the brassy impression was created with the blaring trumpets in the background, which drowned out Ryan's voice a bit.

Farhan Shah: "When You Look Me in the Eyes" by The Jonas Brothers (had to look it up on the SI website because I couldn't remember what it was) boring. It's like he's stripped down to nothing but his vocal cords. Butter scraped too thin. Not even spread, really. Dollop of butter. Basically, smooth vocals without much variation of tone and not much feeling either.

Malaque Mahdaly: "The Voice Within" by don't know who. Overall it was a good performance. Malaque clearly deserves to be in the Top 24. In my opinion. But apparently not special enough? I don't know, at least it wasn't horrible. Middle-ish. And considering half will be eliminated tonight she might have a chance.

Nurul Huda: "Rehab" by Rihanna. Personally, I don't think people should cover Rihanna songs. Rihanna has a timbre and a sick vibrato that people can either not have or have them and be accused of imitation. Anyway, Nurul didn't have it, and I kinda didn't like it. She didn't do enough with the song. Strange dancing. Credit to her, voice is great. But not for Rehab.

Theodore Teow: is such the politician-mummy'sboy-pillowhugger. Reminds me of Eleanor. I don't know why. "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts. His words were really marbled. He was singing as though he was kinda sleepy. So I didn't like it.

Douglas Wong: "How to Save a Life" by The Fray. Again, rather marbled vocals. I'm not sure why. Anyway, not one of the performances that stood out to me. The judges were complaining that he had to appeal to the public, and since they thought he looked appealing I suppose it was the song. They said he was indulging in the song. But isn't the song itself already popular? Maybe it's just me and my bubble.

Tabitha Nauser: "One Night Only" by I don't know who. I liked it until I realised it was a disco song. I don't really like disco. Tabitha and Syltra convince me that this year's Idol will be female. According to Ken, she has both looks and voice. Which I have to agree with.

Syltra Lee: "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall. Excellent. Great guitar, great vocals. Dick Lee said "I have three words: Best Performance Tonight" and I thought he was going to get it wrong like someone I've seen before. Great.

Anyway, results now. I'm gonna go see.

EDIT: CHARLES AND MJ ARE IN THE TOP TWELVE. I'm quite surprised, actually. I don't know if I like this; it'll have to do with the remaining contestants who get in. But I didn't really like the two of them.

EDIT: FARHAN SHAH JOINS CHARLES AND MJ IN THE TOP TWELVE VIA PUBLIC VOTING. Meanwhile, SYLTRA LEE AND TABITHA NAUSER JOIN THE TOP TWELVE VIA JUDGES' VOTE. One spot remains. Again, Farhan's rather of a shocker. Wonder what the public thinks. I obviously don't think like them.

EDIT: MALAQUE MAHDALY ENTERS THE TOP TWELVE VIA JUDGES' VOTE. I didn't watch this myself. My mum just said "Oh, the girl, the rather pretty one" and I thought she might have meant Frances or someone before I went to the SI website.

Fatigue

Hi, everyone.

I've been feeling very tired recently, and as thus haven't really been blogging.

My posts are going to be pretty short in the near future.

Meanwhile, I'm going to post things to encourage myself.

--

1. Three days of school left before the September holidays.
2. Which means seventeen-eighteen lessons left before the September holidays.
3. Sec 4 Farewell tomorrow, which will basically mean a lot of food, which is always good.
4. Tomorrow there will be improv comedy which means I get to sit and be entertained. Especially with a hinted Party Quirks by Miss Karen. If someone gets Sanaa to do it I will be very happy.
5. Uh......
   

--

All my encouragements have something to do with school. Or, the negation of school. This is because without school, there is free time, and with free time, I can go and do something that might actually be enjoyable.

Maybe.

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.

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