Thoughts of the first anniversary...

The love story series on animania has finally ended, and i bet most of you should have heard enough of me ranting about the final episode being friday and all.

But, this love stories have given me something to write about, considering that we are down to the last 7 days to the first anniversary of my blog (yes, when i started the blog i choose the date specifically so that it falls on the 31/12) and i would not be able to celebrate it as my parents suddenly decided that we should go overseas, i guess this would have to do as the last post of the year 2005 (hopefully, i would be able to get some sleep on the plane back and thus have energy to write one final post for 2005 on the 31/12)...

I was watching art central as usual and the advertisment for the last episode of "The Sopranos" caught my eye. the advertisment was going around the theme of "Why do we usually hurt the people we love the most?"

This theme seems to also recur in the love stories that were being featured on animania, especially Shinkon Gattai Godannar!! and Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (which art central still wrongly names it as Rumbling Hearts)... They both center around the fact that somehow, you always hurt the person whom you love the most. Take Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien as an example, Mitsuki was hurt the most by Takayuki, with whom she was actually really in love in. Unfortunately, Takayuki had already started a relationship with another person known as Haruka and yet Takayuki still love Mitsuki. Even Takayuki himself said it in one of the episode :" My relationship to Haruka is my responsibility, but my feelings are true for Mitsuki"...

So, somehow, as the series progresses, you see that Mitsuki gets hurt the most emotionally as she sees herself as Haruka's replacement for Takayuki, while Takayuki tries to get Mitsuki back. Even Mitsuki herself was hurt emotionally to the point that she wished that all of this never happened....

It just seems weird that the people whom we love the most, the people whom we protect the most, are the ones whom are hurt the most, most of the time. It just seems weird that humans are created like that, such that we hurt the people whom we love the most.

And i guess this is a lasting thought for the year which have gone by. The blog which i started is finally going to be one year old, and one year of criticism are also on it as well. Lets take this period of time, to relive the post that were written here, and than treat it as a final thought for this year, and than let it go, for grudges should not be kept, the new year starts a new ray of hope...

And here is discmon, wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, with hope, i shall be back here on the 31/12 to write one final post for this year...

Discmon

A huge sick cosmic joke...

hey you all, thought i would post a food for thought...

I've just become part of a huge, sick cosmic joke. JIC you are wondering, the SC is once again working on the sec 1 orientation. For the benefit of people who do not know what is going on, we need to prepare stuff for the things that are going to happen on that day, when we welcome the sec 1s into our school...

So, how is this thing a big sick cosmic joke...?

Well, I am in Logistics committe. You know, the bunch of people running around making sure that everyone has everything that is needed for the activity that they are going to be hosting. Ya, essentially, they are the people in charge of the store room.

We, for your general information, has the biggest committe, with an overall strength of 13.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that it is holidays, people are abroad, overseas, uncontactable, at camp, at chalet, and every other possible scenario...
So what does that means?
It means that logistics has just magically shrunked to about 2 people...
and we're supposed to do a dry run in two days time...

And its seriously becoming a really sick joke...

Discmon

Animania, its good, and its bad, and things to improve on...

Hey, people, great to be back...
Actually, i wanted to talk about the whole beijing trip and everything that happened there the minute i got back, but was a bit reluctant as i did not want to recall the terror of counting 26 people everyday during the trip, mutiple times in one day in fact...

But anyway,

Thanks to the fact that i'm back, i am able to once again indulge in my favourite form of entertainment, at least for the time being, Animania...

If you all had been paying attention, you all would have noticed that i have at least two post talking about this Animania thing on Art Central...
I think i am starting to see a connection...

The craze, for me, started when I realised that Shaman king was being aired. At that point in time, the 11pm show was inuyasha, and 11:30pm show was Shaman King. At that point in time, the two anime series was talking about shamans and spirits and the sort of thing although technically they were talking about different things.

After the two anime series ended, we had 11pm Peacemaker Kurogane (art central conveniently forgets the Kurogane and whatever parts in Jap all the time) and 11:30pm we had Scrapped Princess. Peacemaker Kurogane was rated NC-16 so it was a bit of problem for me to watch although it eventually was turned into PG for Art central. The two Anime series now focused on Peacemakers. Peacemaker Kurogane should be clear enough, while for Scrapped Princess it took some inferring. Scrapped Princess had peacemakers because of the presence of the Peacemakers, and the companions with the Scrapped Princess, and eventually in the last episode, Taurus herself...

So you could see the connection between the two anime series...

After this two anime series ended, we had 11pm Shinkon Gattai Godannar!!!(Art central forgot Shinkon Gattai as usual, and the exclamation marks) and 11:30pm Kita-He~diamond dust drops(Art Central forgot, you guessed it, Kita-He, which mean, to the North) and after Kita-He ended (around 12 episodes), 11:30pm became Kimi Ga Nozumo Eien (Can't blame Art Central for this one, which they named Rumbling Hearts. The fake title for the series is placed prominently in the opening screen, which is Rumbling Hearts...)(Anyway, Kimi Ga Nozumo Eien means, Kiminozo, the eternity you desire). The three anime series now focused on love story...

So i guess we all expect the next two anime series to be once again related in some way...

But that is not the main gist of the post. I am hoping that Art Central would finally get the titles of their Anime series right. Lets take a look at what had happened so far:
Peacemaker = Peacemaker Kurogane
Godannar = Shinkon Gattai Godannar!!!
Diamond Dust Drops = Kita-He~Diamond Dust Drops
Rumbling Hearts = Kimi Ga Nozumo Eien

I mean, they are giving me a bit of a trouble when i go searching the web for information on them. Rumbling hearts made me spend about a week trying to get heads and tails of what i am getting though google until i finally discovered that its title is actually Kimi Ga Nozumo Eien.

Art Central has done a wonderful job by changing the things that had happened over the film art vs Animania program shifting ceremony, and i guess we all are quite happy with that. I suggest that they can do a even better job by making sure that they stop forgetting to add the Japanese titles into the subtitles...

Oh ya, another irritating aspect of Art Central is that for Kimi Ga Nozumo Eien, the story characters leave notes for the other character. For people like us who can't read Jap, it get irritating when we can't find out what it means. The subtitle refuses to tell us what it means anyway, so we just have to guess...
For some episodes, the subtitles work and tell us what is on the notes...
So i guess it needs some standardization?

Art Central can do it, i am sure it can...

Discmon

We'll be back, in a few days that is...

I was thinking whether or not i should write a post today, as today, i would be leaving singapore and going to china with the school trip. Can you imagine that, for the first time in my life, i am going abroad without my parents? Kinda cool eh...

Anyway, just a slight update on the heater. It sorta like cleared up, no more leaking and we no longer need to fix it either, so, for those of you who can't wait to see me having bad luck, i'm really sorry, you'll have to er, think of a new bad luck for me...

Anyway, the purpose of writing this blog is not to dwell on subject beyond our control, but here i am trying to tell you about the problems with truth and dare...

Truth and dare, is a very fun thing to do to a certain extent, especially when everyone whom gets mentioned happens to be in the same room (keep that in mind when you all decide to come...) Anyway, i had been thinking about the answers to the supposedly hard questions that you all people would be firing at me, (Its giving me a headache)and i decided instead to think about the questions i would ask. I had been crafting a new question that seems rather irrelevant but get relevant along the way, and i believe it would be more effective than the standard question. (Which just proved to be ineffective especially after our failed attempts on two people)

So, i urge you all to stop thinking about the freaking hard question to ask me, and instead prepare yourself for the super irrelevant question...

Having fun?

Sorta gift to all of you even before i come back, enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Oh ya, countdown to the time when this blog becomes one year old: 35 days
Date created : 31/12/2004
so ya, do join in the celebration. I hope that i would be able to do the posting marathon on the last 5 days to the birthday of the blog, and the new year in fact. So, i'll be needing post ideas, and the usual stuff. Please send in your ideas, criticisms, so that i can be inspired...

Inspiration: Target player draws two cards...

Ya, I'll be needing it.

Happy holidays, and wishing that beijing's weather is great...

Discmon

Self-inflicted Banana...

Its been quite some time since my madness on blogger has ended (which ended with a three days straight posting of logs on blogger) The holiday is in full swing, the heater in the house, is unfortunately still leaking water, although it might be a piece of good news to those people who just can't wait to see me having ill-fortune...

But than again...
The holidays means that i would have more time to surf the net and do some stuff. I had finally gotten sick of neopets after almost 5 years (keep that in mind, Clara) and that means that i have more time to zoom around the internet.

Zooming around means that i get to visit more places around the internet, there was this one website which had gotten my attention and is now prompting me to write this.

One of my "friends", whom is a chinese, had written on his blog that he wished he was a caucasian...
Actually, not very weird, counting the fact that chinese had been suppressed for quite some time (remember, SAP school is not chinese school) and the fact that some people thing that chinese is bad...

What is so wrong with being a chinese? I mean, if you had watch Hotel Rwanda, a movie about the racial conflicts between the Hutus and Tutsi in Rwanda, you would seriously understand the meaning of why some people wish to become a different race, just as the aid worker has told the hotel manger :"One of the girls were screaming as she was being killed and she said:"don't kill me, i promise that i won't be Tutsi again..."

Have you ever heard of another story...
There was this international class that was held in England. The teacher, who is a englishman, wrote "hello" on the board and then told them all that this is how they greet people in their mother tongue. He than asked them to each come up to the board and wrote their own methods of greeting other people. Different groups of people came up one at a time. When it was time for the Singapore chinese turn, the chinese said:"my mother tongue is the same as your, teacher"
The teacher reacted in horror and said:"that is my mother tongue not yours, why you are a chinese"
"But i do not know how to speak chinese, in fact i think i am a caucasian"
You could guess what happen eh?

But come on, why do you deny your own cultural, your heritage. We, the chinese, have over a 5000 years history, and why deny that? What is so bad about China, when it is currently rising up again. Why do we have to become caucasians, where the name "John" could cause about a dozen people to turn around and look at you?
Look at how beautiful chinese names are crafted (at least in singapore). Your parent aspiration for you could just be found in your name. Personalities that parent wish that their children will have can also be found in their name...

I mean, even my cousin who was brought up in America could speak chinese, and he does not deny that he is a chinese. Just what is so wrong about it?

I think this is a thing to think seriously about. To me, denying your heritage is as good as denying your very existence...

But then, Singapore is a open society right...?

Discmon

*You can watch "Hotel Rwanda" on Singapore Airlines in order to understand the part on the Hutus and the Tutsis

The comforts of everyday life...

Have you ever heard about all those stories where something is taken away from whoever is the main character and than he/she learns the importance of the thing and how inconvenient life would become without it?

I bet you have, since this stories have been retold over and over again. But than, how many of us would really benefit from it? Because the things that is talked about does not usually happen and because it is a story, it would not be so easy for that fact to sink in. In fact, i recently discovered how fortunate i am to have a hot water bath, without having to boil water.

It all started, when i was in the bathroom... and its not funny...
I was minding my own business when suddenly, the false ceiling started leaking water...

Seriously, our ancient water heater has finally spoilt (it miraculously survived for five more years after the fve year warranty expired, and that is very rare in today's standard...) and now our house is totally cut off from water because we turned off the main tap that runs into the house. This is in a bid to stop the water from continuously leaking out from the water heater, but that also means that whenever we want to take a bath or wash something, we would have to make a small trip to the elevator landing and than open up our water tap.

Very inconvinient? you bet......

I guess we all have something that made our life simpler but yet we do not realize how fortunate we are to have it. Just like studying, it is a fortune that we are all able to study in school when some people do not even have the means to stay alive...

I guess it is a great food for thought eh...

Discmon

Survey that is...

Hi, been very busy on blog... Its like the thrid consecutive day that I am writing a blog again...
Anyway, i was thinking of writing about the SC survey that is currently being held in school

As most of you should know about it already (mainly due to my daily ranting on why my class will no longer have a SC), i will not be taking my time to explain what is going on. Anyway, to keep it really really simple, the school is conducting a survey on every single SC. So, basically there is a list of characteristics that Leaders should have and then a survey on whether or not they demonstrate it...

Easy in a nutshell.

But i think this sort of survey is a bit dumb due to the following reason:
1. It can serve as a way to get back to those SC whom stopped you from playing basketball in uniform, walking home in PE attire, eating food in class......

2. It can also serve as a way to "attack" those people who have made life difficult for you in one way or another (Although i did not say that this is a bad use of the survey)

3. And seriously, you will not be able to take the results seriously. For one thing, about half the class was asking who was who as we were doing the survey, for those whom we don't know, we might put it as average, or create magnificent patterns that shows up as wavy lines that look like this:
*------
-*-----
---*---
-*-----
---*---
------*
*------
and so on and so forth.......

Erm??? does this show that the SC is not really "popular" (can't find a better word). Maybe, cause that is what usually happens...

Well, who know how will this survey affect us? (I am sure the teachers know) and we all know that predicting the next president of the Student Council is still a long long way of...

Actually, not very long...

Discmon

Harry potter... and why i am so sick with him...

Because of the exams ( i am having mock exams even though my EOY is over), i am not going to be indulging in my normal type of topic, which involves "criticising" some people or organisation ( although i already have in mind what i am going to be criticising)

So, i would be ranting on Harry Potter and its various exploits.

With the release of the 6th Harry Potter book, I found myself flipping through the first few books so as to refresh my memory on what happened in each year where Harry Potter is at Hogwarts. JIC you had also forgot the order of the books, they are:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher stone (Read around 6 times)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Read around 6 times)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Read around 6 times)
Harry Potter and the Globet of Fire (Read around 5 times)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix ( Read around 2.5 times)(skipped the chapter where they were in the department of mystery, could not stand seeing Harry Potter being stupid again...)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (going to read)
Harry Potter and the ?????????????
which i am presuming to be something like " the dark lord......"

So anyway, why am i so sick with him. Firstly, according to the magic: the gathering colour pie, red is the colour of emotions. Well, i like to put Harry Potter right in the middle of red. Why? you may ask, well, he doesn't think at all....
The first book was fine and all, other than the part about Norbert, which i feel is a bit of a fault on Hagrid part...
the second book started off very red with driving the car to hogwarts... but other than that it was fine...
The third book was a bit dumb with sirius and all appearing, no problem with that though
The fourth book was really dumb. Personally, anyone wishing to be Harry Potter deserves a kick in the head. Getting into a tournament that he should not even be part of, getting all the attention, erm, getting killed...

The fifth book has just got to hit the cake...
Imagine if you are Harry Potter...
First, your scar is always hurting because of well, you-know-who
Second, you have a stupid dream which always ends in the corridor of the department of mystery
Third, you got umbridge around your back
Fourth, you lost someone whom you used to be able to talk to (Dumbledore comes to mind)
Fifth, you have a girlfriend whom crys all over you whenever you start talking about someone (Cho and Cedric comes to mind pretty frequently)
Sixth, you accidentally led to the death of your Godfather (i hate seeing sirius go)
Well, people whom are still thinking about it better get kicked in the face...

And, Ollivandar words still don't make sense. In the first book, he said that using a different wizards wand would not achieve the same result as using your own. Well, this "revelation" has rarely even been used...
In the second book when Lockhart used Ron's spoilt wand, that did not count because it spoilt
In the third book, Sirius used someone's wand, but no explicit mention of the difference is observed
In the fourth book, Voldemort and Harry Potter "duel" ( if you can count that as dueling) where their beams connect, reminds me of those very old cartoons, where two heroes fire some rays at each other at the same time and then they try to force that part towards the other side (Usually the evil side) and then a BOOM would occur following with someone being blasted to smitheerins...(Peter Pettigrew comes to mind)
Fine, that was a result, but still no mention of difference in the usage of different wands........

So? Ollivander words would be used in the last or the sixth book????
Maybe

And, well, that should be enough.

Discmon

End of exam, and peacemaker kurogane...

Well, its the... end of the exam!!!!
WOO!!!, cheers people, [raises mug], its time to celebrate....[gulps a large cup of pepsi]*hick*

---

or is it....

---

Well, lets say that on the bright side the end of year exam has finally ended...
but the bad news is that very soon the 'o' level chinese nightmare would be on us, and we obviously hope that we would not have to face the same thing that those PSLE students had to face, the unsolvable math question.......

I was thinking of archiving that question on this blog, but due to a lack of motivation, and also because i am not really in the mood of customising my blog to display picture, i would not be doing it....

But can you imagine what would happen if the same things happen again, to us in our O level scripts? Of course, you could say that it definitely would not happen since the examination board should have become more strict in their checks to prevent the same thing from happening again.

But then again, what is the point about worrying about all this....

Anyway, just a slight reminder to all you people out there who watch animania on art central, Peacemaker Kurogane (art central always miss out the kurogane part) is coming to an end, last episode should be this friday. And if you haven't notice, art central is pulling out all the stops on this show, with advertisment on Art central continuously emphasising that tommorow is the second last episode... bit of a waste considering that it is almost the end of the entire anime series and then suddenly advertising all about it.........

Well, an update on our lives i suppose....

Discmon

Art Central and Animania

I had been trying to find ways to write a blog this last few days, but has been prevented mainly due to the fact that exams are underway. I am so glad that it is coming to the first weekend in the exam and thus, i have a excuse to write here.

I had been watching Art Central this last few weeks to distress by watching Jap Anime during its section of programme called Animania. I say that although its very good, i am rather annoyed by Art Central.

I was really annoyed last wednesday, 28/9, when it suddenly cancelled the show peacemaker simply because there was another show on. That was ok, since i supposed that sometimes other channels do that.

Finally, the last straw was yesterday, 30/9. I was determined not to miss that day's episode as it is supposed to be one of the most thought provoking and most exciting one. They had been advertising on Art Central since the beginning of wednesday (28/9) that peacemaker Kurogane started at 11:30pm on Friday.

You know what, they suddenly changed the program slot back to 11pm, and for no obvious reasons whatsoever, i suddenly missed the episode.
At that moment, i was so furious i nearly threw a remote at the television again. (last time i had that impulse was only last wednesday(28/9))

So what can i say? Art Central does not take any pride in its Jap Anime that it features on Animania at 11pm... or that it moves its program as it sees fit, according to its schedule.

Or is it just that Art Central itself is like Channel I, where it has a lack of audience and thus does not care about the way it moves its program...

Lets hope that Art Central stop this irritating movement of program, and that it know that there is a group of people out there who really likes Animania.

By the way, Peacemaker Kurogane is about to end... Just a few more episode. Think it will be ending in exam week.

Discmon

blogging and freedom of speech

It has been a great celebration for teachers day, and JIC you people are wondering, this log had been in draft format for over 2 weeks, trying to get opinions from people whether or not i should post this...

I was just wondering whether or not i should continue my style of writing in my blog, perhaps in a less agressive style or should i continue writing it the way i had for this last few months... This would be something for you people to comment for me. Leave a comment and then i can decide for myself whether or not i should continue.

Here is my stand, for me, the blog is for me to pour my feelings out in torrent or even in confusion, as can be seen in certain blogs where their points overlap each other constantly. Somethings, i think that life has become even more grimer for me as i continue writing this blog... but i could not stop myself from writing. It was a way for me to piece the evidence together on what is making the world so bad for me.

I believe in freedom of speech on blogs, to give politically incorrect answers on blog. If this things are denied, isn't it the same as in 1984 where the diary written by Winston Smith is read by the thought police, where thoughts are controlled.

Sure, we may be young children, who do not yet understand how drastic a small sentence can change the situation. But if we are kept under this protection forever, how are we going to grow up learning what is to be siad and what is not to be said? This blog has given me a chance to talk about things that i would not had been able to talk to people about and some people had pointed out to me the things that i should take note of the next time i am writing blogs...

I know that my blog had been very critical of people and situations that occur. I guess its time for me to watch what I think (thought are being controlled, eh?) Ya, i know about all those post where i really just throw everything out. I think it is my fault that i cannot find another method to pour out my feelings and have to rely on blog. So, to all those people whom had felt offended by the blogs, my sincere apologies...
I guess we all learn from mistakes... and sometimes we repeat them to get our points across
and finally i need your suggestions, a short comment is really enough.

Discmon

End of 26th disco?!

It has been a rather weird final farewell to the seniors of disco, considering that it was a bit of a flop. Argh, don't elaborate on that. The main reason why i am here is not to just say a goodbye to the 26th disco but also to talk about the weird feelings that i have over this batch of disco.

You could say that this batch of disco had been the one that had gone thourgh a harder path compared to other batches that i had went through, probably because of a few things.

The leadership position of the 26th disco could be said to be in a continuous state of change and unsatisfaction. We used to have clara being the exco until just before the investiture because of the fact that she decided to go for the through train programme. This eventually led to Yu Jia becoming exco of disco, which all of you had seen in an earlier post the dissatifaction that I have had concerning that. The eventual acceptance after one year and than just a few weeks back, the sudden change in the leadership position once again, this time with Anna taking over.

You could say that this had been a rather turbulent journey for the 26th disco who had to change itself and later on fend for itself when the exco sort of "abandoned" the comm. I am saying this because there was this period of time when sometimes i feel that our comm. is actually running only on one exco and not two.

To say it rather unkindly, it seems a weird feeling when i finally thought out that i might actually be happy about the fact that Yu Jia is not our exco any more, probably because i do not think that she has the right attitude for a disco comm. member... Anna seems to be a better choice after the interactions with her during the sec two team building day. Of course, this change had nothing to do with us and more with the teachers... and i am still trying to understand what had happened so far on the teachers side...

And yet, another part of me wanted to see that Yu Jia is still the exco of our comm. for another year. Switching an experienced disco exco for an inexperienced member from another comm. seems to be too much of a a gamble for many of us. Not to say that Anna would not be able to make it, but its just this feeling that would come along with it.

Many should know that disco comm. had a significant amount of members lost during the election process. In fact, six members did not make it to the 27th disco from the 26th. But i guess you people have already heard enough of me ranting over this so lets just get on with it.
I guess people handle this sort of loss differently, some people treat it as the end of a sentence, where they start their life anew, but still keep in contact with the life they had lost. Others treat it as the end of a book, where they stop even believing that they were once a part of this.

Even though i am still in disco, i feel that, once you have been a disco once, it would stay with you forever. The spirit there, the people there, the enjoyment that you have to just be with them and be frank. To joke over other people and still be friends at the end of the day. This were the things i remembered from the 25th and the 26th. So, it seems weird for some people to just cut off immediately after knowing that they are no longer part of disco.

I think this is just a bit of perspective from my own point of view, but it ain't over yet.

After all this, lets talk about council. We had a sort of very very very "informal" AGM, which i could not really comprehend. Nothing much to comment over it.

Talking about the bad things in life makes the life which is dark even darker, in spite of all this i had written above, there must be some good time in the 26th...

Things like truth and dare session, going out to sentosa with me going there to help them pitch the tent ( which we had not returned yet, keep that in mind), an adrupt lack of my photos because i was running around doing other stuff while they were going outing ( usually aboard). Well, and of course, my first ever biking session at ECP, could never forget that........

Happy memories and the weird feelings that come along when you start reflecting over stuff that had happened....

Oh yah, it was a great feeling to have some of disco at the esplanade shouting the disco song... People were looking at us... Clara was trying to find methods to persuade her mom to let her go to be with the comm. that she had most attachment to...failed in the end, but nevertheless...

I guess there are some things you must let go, and somethings you must remember always.
Goodbye 26th disco, the end marks a new beginning...A hope that it would be a better beginning...

Discmon

Ambiguity or a change of plans or ideas?...

Its been a rather hectic week, with tons of test, homework and exams all bundles together. The most notable thing that had happened so far was the AGM of the SC.

JIC you do not know what i am talking about, the student council had their AGM a few days ago and now, you could more or less say that the 27th Student Council is in office.

But, many things are very very very weird, and i don't think most people are very happy about it.

As i mentioned in my previous post, I was quite glad that YJ would still be with us for another year. But now, with the sudden changes by the teacher, YJ will no longer be our exco and it is now replaced with Anna. I found this terribly wrong.

First of, i only knew about this on the day itself. And anyway, the earliest of it being known was just the day before. Essentially, the teachers are only giving us 1 day to respond to the sudden change. I did not really like the change, cause Disco this year had already lost quite a huge amount of people during the election period, and now, we just lost another one because of the teacher's decision.

And as far as i know, the teacher's had promised not to alter any of the leadership position...

Now, lets take a look at the Central comm., not that i am being critical of it:
President: Tang Wei Guo
VP: Ho Kwan Ling, Choon Yen
treasurer/secretary: Er.... i forgot...

And how many people lost their rank in SC. As far as i am concerned, i count 3... Is that the teacher's promise????????

And, almost three years ago, one of the teacher in-charge of the SC told us that in the year we are in Sec 3, there will ne no such as things as Committee and everything will become one council. Well, I am in Sec 3 now, and i don't see it happening.

Sometimes, i think it got something to do with the way the teachers are doing things.

First of, when you talk about uniting the whole council together by taking away committee, you did not notice that what you are doing now is not promoting the council to become one council. Take this year new SCs for example, the moment they entered SC, they were posted to different comm. and were trained from there to perform their job. This led to a decrease in interactions with councillors from other comm. which would not promote the council to be looked as one.....

I mean, come on...

Second one is a bit of a joke. The Ad-Hoc committees. Well, they are back, with only one problem... They are very very very picky. For example, one read, only sec 2s.... Another read: 4 social comm. members.

I mean, you get my point do you...

And the greatest joke of the week is that the SC investiture is to be held on 8/8/2005.. Am i correct?
That is like, 6 months earlier compared to 2 years ago and about 2 months earlier than last year. Are they really so eager to get things done and locked in before problems cropped up, or are they over confident that this year SC will actually be gifted from the beginning......

Anyhow, on a side note... Anna is the head of our comm. and we all are very sure that she would be able to do a good job. Yujia, good luck for the rest of the year, you'll be remembered...

Discmon

Advance Wars 2 'Strategy' : Bundle City

Well, its been such a long time since i last talked about advance wars 2 startegy. I hoped that people who played advance wars 2 had benefitted from the walk though of little island.

Now, its time to fulfill the thing that i had promised for so long, the next advance wars 2 strategy, Bundle City. It is part of a celebration for finishing the physic test.

Bundle city is a pre-deployed map, thus you only have a limited amount of troop. In this map, you will receive:
1 B Copter
1 Tank
1 A-Air
1 Rocket
1 Artillery
1 Recon
2 Mech
2 Infantry

Another note is that bundle city has a huge amount of Cities, so much so you will think that this map was created simply for 1 CO

So it sounds kinda restricted eh? Well, there is a CO domination strategy available for this map which i exploited. So lets just get down to it shall we...

Our Best Pick CO:
Sensei (Yellow Comet)

Recommended COs:
Andy (Orange Star)(As can be seen by his CO power and he's overall usefulness in pre-deployed)
Colin (Blue Moon)(Tons and tons of city for you to capture, go and get Power Of Money and let those money you collected be useful)
Kanbei (Yellow Comet)(Always useful in pre-deployed map due to Overpowered troops)

COs that are OK on this map:
Max (Orange Star)(Because of his strong close range forces)
rocket right at the start... That probably explains everything)
Sonja (Yellow Comet)(Force your opponent to attack the wrong thing due to the concealed health and works well in FOW)
Jess (Green Earth)(Because of her annoying powered-up vehicles which can move very fast due to the easy terrian)

The rest of the COs don't really work on this map as
a) The map does not have very heavy penalties on terrain like mountains and trees as there is too much cities already
b)They do not have their strengths on this map (Eagle and Drake) so they seem completely useless...

Well, after the analysis of COs, lets get down to the strategy for the best pick CO.
As you can see from the map description, this map is just full of cities all cramped together, so why do i love Sensei so much on this map? Just because of his CO abilites.

His CO power causes 9HP infantry to land on all allied cities, ready to be deployed
His Super CO power causes 9HP mech to land on all allied cities, ready to be deployed

What does this essentially mean? This means that this map would no longer be a pre-deployed map. This is because you will just keep on receiving more and more troops while your opponent who did not choose Sensei would be crushed under the constantly appearing infantry and mechs.

In fact, sometimes they would become so scared they would not even dare to attack you...

You must remember that Sensei strategy lies in capturing lots and lots of building. The more building you capture, the more powerful your CO power will be, simply because more and more troops will land. You will also do well to remember that Sensei got an annoying firepower bonus for the foot soldiers.

So what can i say?

Have fun laughing at your opponent as you start a bloodbath with your troops, i mean you got too many to spare... Let your foot soldiers march across the map taking damage and getting wiped out. Once the CO power charges up, let it rip and continue marching across the map until you finish off your opponent.

One piece of advice for people trying this strategy: Do not disperse your troops right at the start of the game, because you still have to blunt the early attack of your opponent. Also, don't let them touch your infantry unless you have at least 3 buildings captured. There is an annoying counter against this strategy which includes wiping out your infantry first.

In short, do watch your troops. This strategy is not like the little island where it is usually a sure win. Provided that your opponent thinks logically and wipe out the infantry, you will be so doomed...

Another side note: Just like in Little island, Colin is very strong here under the hands of a pro... Do watch out

Go trash your opponent...

The next advance wars 2 'strategy' would be on hold for a while due to the annoying fact that there is tons of homework and no one for me to test the strategy on...

Discmon

A reflection over old posts...

Well its been some time since i had last been here. I feel it is time to reflect on an old post which i had written some time back. The post was originally named "The president of the council and the head of our committee". For those of you who kind of remembered that post, it would not be surprising to you that actually that post still exists, although i am not very eager to tell you where it is.

You could say that that post had some effect on our comm. as a whole, i mean, if we could hold a meeting just to talk about that it would mean that there is some effect. I am here to conclude it and to end of this post that had given me some trouble.

I think i would have to thank those people who had helped to made this matter clear to everyone who were still in the dark when i typed that post. I must say this, that after this year, i feel that my initial opinion that our comm. head does not "like" us had been too strong. After evaluating that point for some time, i feel that it could be because that this action could lead to a council spirit which is what the teacher had been emphasising all this while. Somehow, i feel different about our comm. head after such a long time and i am quite glad that i would be able to be under her leadership for another year, and thus i can repay all my misgiving to our head. So you could say that it is a happy ending.

As for the other person i talked about it that post. I do not think that she had been able to notice the post because i do not see much of a change from her. As far as i can see, she is still being not very serious, but at least she gets the attention of the council now. I think that is quite an improvement and i think that we should applaud that.

As for the rest of the council, i must admit that i do not know much because i tend to stick to my own comm. but i think that the happening this year had proved to me that our leadership is, if not perfect, correct.

Meanwhile, since i am on the topic, i guess its time to say goodbye to the people who would not be able to follow us to the 27th council. Words is not exactly the best method to express feelings but i guess if you are reading this that you got the point.

And guess what, Seok Hui is back...

So, i guess it is time to wrap up this topic. I hope that i would not have to type this sort of article ever again. Meanwhile, i'll just comment on the speeches made by the candidates for the president of the student council: Can't they stop exaggerting the fact that they are from a committee in a council. I know that that is a very good way to get votes, but to me, i think that the best way not to have the things that happened last year to happen again is to let the president be someone who interacts with almost everyone.

I don't think that this is mine to comment further...

Discmon

Increase in transport fares? NEVER!!!!

In case you guys had been wondering how come I got time to write this blog, it would be good to know that i will not have to go to school on monday because i will not have any test at all on monday. Great news isn't it.

Anyway, in case you are wondering what this post will be about, it will be a continuation of one my older post, namely April's fool joke... If you happen to not know what that post is about, or you are simply too lazy to check, here is the main gist of that post:

The bus service around here has been made more incovenient by the very fact that they had phased out the buses and their stops, which means that you can't wait for all the buses in one stop. Other then that, the bus stop for most buses have been placed further away from the very end of that stretch of road, which now makes the traffic around that place even more inconvenient.

Now that you get the point...

SMRT is the company that is managing our transport system right? And what has happened recently? Another fare hike...

Ever since the recession had started, what do we see? We see that government linked company have a sudden fare hike, people are getting retrenched because of outsourcing effort by the government. Now then, another fare hike... This brings me to my next point.

Remember what i said about the thing about inconvinience. Now then, if there is a fare hike, it should only be logical that the service should be better since we pay more. But this isn't logical, especially when the service had just became worse.

Look at what i am doing, i am running two bus stops length everytime i need to catch a bus which unfortunately is stupid. Other then that, many buses go the same route, so you could just wait at one bus stop and see which one come first.

But no, the transport system hates anyone who is fickle. " We should be strong and be able to carry out what we want to achieve" Sure this does make sense, but isn't it stupid that the company have to waste consumers time by making them wait at separate bus stop almost 200m apart for some buses that will allow the consumer to arrive at the same spot?

What is so bad about the old transportation system? Ya, i know that we have to be like the mouse in the "Who moved my cheese?" , that we should change with the society. But this isn't the point. They are making the transportation system worse in a place that could be already be said to be the most unconnected place of Singapore.

Lets get some adjectives to describe the situation:
1) The company, SMRT is stupid
2) They think that by making them feel inconvinient for a while would change after they get used to it
3) They think that newcomers in the neighbourhood would be shocked by the transportation system and that a fare hike would help change the situation
4) They are trying to protest as they are trying to say :"see, no fare hike and we give you this..."

Other then that, there is this equation that talks about how to increase the fares. Well, they should add one more criteria, whether or not they had done a good job or not.

Thus from reading this post, and if SMRT is reading as well...(Hello! Hello!, do you listen to the public? Feel their disapproval!!!) You would know that a fare hike, regardless of whether or not the economic outlook is good or not, should never happen until the very day where they get their service attitude right...

That should be quite enough...

Discmon

Reply to comments...

Although you can't officially call this a post (and i won't call it one either)... I'll have to do it anyway, cause i was a bit shocked by the fact that lq had actually worked on getting his arguement our on the case of the charity show. (Check the comments section of the previous post)

Firstly, to reply to lq first comment:
This first comment sort of reminded me of a post which i made fun of this group of companies before. You might want to check out the post on the good old tsunami, which you should be able to see on the list.
In case people get too lazy, here is the exact quote:
" I think we have heard several times that some companies are donating something to the disaster area by buying something from them. Seems to be an unfortunate incident to allow people to do charity and buy more things for them under the pretext that they are helping the people who are in needs. But as we all already know, charity should be done of one's free will. Why must the companies ask other people to buy things so that they would donate to the people who needs this things urgently..."

"As far as I can see, a lot of companies and even people are using this opportunity as a chance to make money...How wonderful, cashing in on someone's else misfortunes..."

That alone should sum up my point against lq argument. That the companies should just directly donate to the organisation involved.

On the 3rd point that lq made:
So you have yet to answer the question. Why is there a need for our local actors to perform such stunts. Why can't they sing or dance and get people to donate. You know why? Because our local actors are bad, as in they are lousy. Look at our television programmes, other than CNA, all stays local, none made it to the international. What does it prove, our actors are bad. So what can i say?

Sorry mediacorp, but i think you guys can't make it. Look at CCTV, Phoenix ... Cartoon Network, Nick, why can't you do it?

Discmon

Charity and what comes to mind...

I watched the charity drive on TV as usual. Of course, ever since I grew up and got a bit of perspective, i decided that this is not charity...

I mean, what is charity when you are actually just taking part in a lucky draw? Sure, sounds absurd, but this is what is happening in Singapore right now. I was watching the show and i puked when i saw how they are torturing their actors. Someone had to stop a fan moving with his tongue, some other person had to use only glass bottles as support and get on to the top of a structure. Sounds weird eh. In past years, someone had to sit on swords, had to be stepped on while lying on broken glass, had to be burned in fire... The list goes on with any thing that comes to your mind as what acrobats does.

I think that there is something drastically wrong with this approach.

First, if donating money means getting some prize money from some sponsors, why not just tell the sponsor to donate their prize money directly to the people who are benefitting from it.

Second, if winning prizes is the ultimate end to donating money, what are we telling our next generation of children? That we should only give money to help the needy so that we can, through a series of unfortunate event, get some quick cash? And it just get worse each year, from three calls and get a brochure, to cars, bungalows, and finally, if you called last year and do it this year, your chance of winning increases by almost four folds. This is getting to become a bit of a joke.

Thirdly, why ask your actors to perform dangerous stunts. All those stuntperson that we see in this world today are those who had practised for many years, and not just for a few weeks. What they are doing is endangering that lives of their actors. How many actors had decided to pull themselves out of this performance because of injuries? 1,2,3,4,5,....? In fact, i think quite a lot. Someone suffered a back injury, one had her hand cut by a knife, one had her body injured with multiple blades of knives, and this is just quoting a few...

Fourthly, maybe you should say our actors are only small little clowns not worth much attention unless they perform amazing stunts which unfortunately have to include the amazing fact that they have to put their lives at risk. Wheras when Zhou Hua Jian appears, what happened, call amounts erupted, people were singing along with all their might. Do you think such people would appear in Singapore?

So, what can i conclude from this, that Singapore is a place where people get quick cash, not exactly, as some people do donate the money they had won back. Of course, i still prefer the one on Channel U with no prize money, at least that is more like a charity drive...

Discmon

The great historical editing...

Well, it has been a rather hectic week with a lot of homework, but i just could not stop myself from writing this.

If you people had been paying attention to the news lately, you would know that Japan is back to its old trick of rewriting history to suits its purpose. I do not think there is a need to quote a portion of it here as our school have enough people from china and just a single thought of this would send them into a frenzy of attacking the japanese.

As we all know, the chinese in mainland china had riot and the like. Well, in a riot, the most obvious target would be the Japan embassy in China. Here is the joke, remember that it was Japan who changed the history book and started the conflict. Rioters threw things into the embassy and broke several windows. Japan then uses all its might and its arrogance and asked the china government to apologise to them.

Anyone, who is not mad about Jap anime would see this as the ultimate insult. Does anyone of you read the very stupid comic called "la bi xiao xing"? Well, perhaps Japanese Government want to be just like the main character, the stupidest person who is laughed at by everyone by does not realise it.

I mean, if the japanese government wants to rewrite history, they also have to spare a "thought" for the atrocities that they had commited. Over thousands killed in Nanjing, the sook ching in Singapore, the death railway in thailand. I do not think that it is just korea and china to be afraid of this, but the countries in South east asia which suffered dearly in the hands of the japanese.

Lets get a bit of perspective shall we? Firstly, history book is written by the victors, so in a certian sense, history is never true. But this is getting way too absurd, for example "We INVADED countries in SOUTH EAST ASIA so that we can FREE THEM FROM COLONIAL RULE!!!!????!?" Do you think i would believe that?! It is a pile of utter rubbish.

Oh, its been over 60 years, wake up Japan, history might have been rewritten but it is by the victors. And please, for god sake, don't let history repeat itself.

Finally, JAPAN, you have yet to apologise for what you had done... Wait, i doubt that would be possible when a bunch of people in Japan are bringing people to court for announcing to the world the things that Japan had done wrong. If this continues..., well, do you think i need to explain...

Discmon

April's fool joke (Part 2)

I could not stand it, the urge for me to write this is overwhelming.

The SC nomination list is finally out after being delayed for a week. As I am the kind of people who usually heck care this sort of things, I naturally placed this right at the back of my mind and attended to other matters which I believed is significantly more important.

It was not until after school dismissal that I went and took a good look at the list. It turns out that i just found the joke of the week. For those of you whom had heard me rambling along about this would understand the irony of the situation here.

If you have been in the school for at least a year, you would know that the SC nomination were essentially the popular people and not the people who make unpopular decision in order for the greater good. Those who simply were able to make great friendships were usually the ones who get in. Sure, the principal says that we should consider our vote wisely and not just give it to our friends who might not be good leaders, but who do you think would listen?

Anyhow, the ironic part is of this. Last year, Lim Seok Hui and Winnie Lee Ying Ying were voted out of the SC due to a lack of votes. For Winnie, i think the situation is quite apparent as i am in the same class as her. The point is that the both of them were unable to stay in the SC as they lost quite a lot of popularity though their work. Well, for SH, i learnt that basically her entire class had hated her. Since she has been able to come back on to the nomination list, she must be more popular with her classmates now then...

Anyhow, that was the first irony, that support is recreated though a series of unfortunate events...

Secondly, the nomination ticket sepcifically states that nominees should have an L1R5 of at least 20. Well, thanks to a bunch of friends who are very efficient at getting information, they had compiled a lits of nominees with L1R5 more than 20. Sure, Fairness for everyone.

Well, this once again goes to show that popularity will get you somewhere in the SC. So the real question to ask now is, are we really picking the right people to be our leaders, to represent the school and also whether you would accept his leadership. As far as i can see, there was only that few influential leaders, others were well... average.

Finally, seems i am on the topic, I would like to offer my heartfelt condolences to Jin Liang, who has became the next seok hui as he has not been able to be nominated for another term of office in the SC. Jinliang has brought a good amount of life into SC and has also given us valuable insights. For that, i would like to thanks him and also for being a good friends during the time that we had met.

The saddest thing in everyone's life is when things don't work out the way you want, but maybe you could overcome it.

Discmon

April's fool joke...

Ya, really sorry to all you people who asked me to update my blog. I am trying to find time to do some updating on my current dislike to certain things that have to happen in this world.

In case you are wondering, the joke this year put up by the Bus service here in sunny singapore got to be the best anywhere else.

Lets get some perspective, Hillview Ave has a very bad name for transportation and ammenities. What with the government plan to knock down all the HDB blocks in Hillview and also the wet market here is just making the place even more hard to live in. Now, to add on to the pressure, they are moving the Bus stop for certain buses further away even though they still go pass that bus stop. It takes another five minutes to walk to the new bus stop. And just as we all expect, one bus still stops there. So it is kind of crappy that all the other buses bypass it when they could just stop there.

Ok, enough with that. Sure, five minutes walk seem to be quite a short distance for you. However, look at it in another way. Why force Children who goes to school by themselves run a longer distance when they see the bus right in front of them and they are way way too far away from the bus stop. Is this promoting the welfare of the people?

Sure, Hillview Ave is a PRIME estate, which simply means that the people who live here are supposed to be rich rich rich... Does that means that our parents drive their children to school everyday? Well, it there is nods here and there, than this would be the worst stereotype in history... Look, childrens also need to grow up. They can't continue to rely on their parents forever.

Sure, we could be rich. We would have to drive everywhere just to get anywhere... Food courts are unfortunately gone, shopping centers or cheap bargains area and not to be found within a near vincinity. Sure, we are rich, we drive EVERYWHERE!!!

Sure, this move benefits the new condominium that is being built up, but is this going to improve the situation of the old condominium in any way? I doubt. You are just making the older condominium less accessible.

Oh that reminds me, what is that piece of ground that is going to be leveled due to the destruction of the HDB going to be used for? Another condominium? Oh for heaven's sake, there is two more condominium along the stretch of road cutting through Hillview that has remain unbuilt for over seven years! We are in an economic recession people,use your mind and think, sure, go ahead and build condos, cos no one is gonna buy it as no one have money...

Well, that should be quite enough.

Discmon

Propaganda and its presence...

Today...
Lets start today's log with a rather interesting question...
What is propaganda?
According to the Longman Dictionary Of contemporary English (1984)
prop-a-gan-da/noun [U] often derog
(Actions taken, esp. By a government, to influence public opinion on some matter by spreading) True or false beliefs, ideas, news etc.

Ok, since we got the meaning in place, please keep it in mind as I start my log.

If you guys know about how our discipline mistress is called the head of pupil management, you would think that it shows that the school has really good discipline. Well, many Sec 1s are forced to believe it when they first stepped into the school due to the orientation talk on the workings of the school.

If you really believe that the school's discipline is that good, wait till you get a glimpse of the Management Diary (MD) that the Class Chairperson and the Deputy Class Chairperson holds in his hand. As far as I am concerned, last year when I went to update the MD, I correctly remembered that three classes can have their whole class be sent for detention as they have all committed more than three offence. And if they really think that this is all, just take a look at the amount of rule breaking that occurs after school ends...
Oh wait, you don't even have to wait until school ends, just look at how many people decides to eat sweets in class...

The Sec 1s who undergone the assembly talk would believe that the school has a really good discipline. OK, I can't deny to a certain extent that our discipline situation is ok, as long as there are no huge increase in the serious offences (Which I remembered seeing quite a bit in those few MD I updated, hmm... Note to self: remember to include it next time...)

So anyhow, is that the only thing that I am going to talk about here, no...

Lets take a look, hmm, we won the school distinction award... And what sustained achievement award, what best practice award, what Singapore quality class... I mean, what does this show of us, that we are better than other schools in terms of spirit and results?

Some people have the chance to go mix with people from other schools who may or may not have won this award. This people finds our school pathetic in a sense, that we do not have the spirit to be able to show to others what our school is and also even though they have not won all this awards, they still can do better than us.

Lets divert away from this topic a bit, what awards do MOE have for us to torture the school and its students.
First there is the Best Practice Award, the Sustained Achievement Award, Singapore Quality Class, Singapore Quality Award, ISO ????, School Distinction Award...........

Are they even AWARDS? Do they do anything in any sense. I mean why compare schools when they are trying to stop ranking schools according to results. The only thing that they are ever going to do to this award is to let me and some people get bored. I mean, why publish we had won this award almost everytime we had to bring a paper back to give to our parents. It is always printed at the bottom of the page with those nice little drawings, showing that we won this and that...

Does it gives the students anything? Nothing, for all I know, we had won all this award, blah blah blah... Does it improves the school outlook in anyway... SCs are still hated (to a certain extent), no one is stopping themselves from breaking rules, school spirits are not improving in any way (although some of us have got an idea how to improve it) I mean, what are all this things for...?

Looking at how other institutions fight for this award seems to be a bit of a joke. Why is everyone under pressure for getting this award that does not mean anything at the very end? I mean, if some institutions are forced to get the Singapore Quality Class (SQC) just because their other branches have it, does it make any sense?

Eventually, everyone would be in SQA (Singapore Quality Award). So what, does it really means that everything is the same in S'pore, everything is just awards, awards, awards... and more awards....

Some even decide whether they should look after some groups in school by looking at the awards they have received...

So, is it what you see that is true, or is it just another stereotype that has been punched into us...
I doubt I will ever know...

Discmon

Advance Wars 2 'strategy': Little Island

Lets see, I said games that goes with it right. Well, here we are, looking at a game that is rather old although it has not made me lose my interest in...

Advance Wars 2 is the second version of the wars series that is available outside Japan.
Before it was Famicom Wars (NES version), Super Famicom Wars (SNES version), Gameboy wars (Gameboy version). All this episodes in the war series belonged exclusively to Japan.

Advance wars was the first of the series to hit shores outside Japan. Starting with the debut of the Gameboy Advance, Advance wars was made only for Gameboy Advance only.
Advance wars followed up with a series called Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, which basically continued the series with more strategy and some new improvements...

I own Advance wars 2, not on ROM, but on real catridge and on a gameboy advance...
I hated the campaign, although it did allow me on more strategy on the other maps. After playing around with the Orange Star COs, I find that they have almost no specialization, which makes them easy to play around when you go map-hopping.

Other COs from the other faction seems to provide more interesting map domination strategy...

I hate doing reviews, I mean, others have done it, why should I?
So anyhow, I am providing some strategy guides in the versus mode, should you hate your friends so much that you want to thrash him...

This map is in the VS folder and it is called little island.
This map is a fast map, and poor CO selection on your opponent side can make the battle end in about 12 days.
(That is my record on the map).

Let me first make an analysis:
Best Pick CO:
Kanbei (Yellow Comet)

Recommended COs:
Max (Orange Star) (Only if he deploys faster than the opponent)
Olaf (Blue Moon) (Depends on how fast the snow comes)
Colin (Blue Moon) (If he deploy tanks extremely early)

OK on this map...
Andy (Orange Star) (Only if you play guerilla warfare)
Sami (Orange Star) (Only if her capture works faster than the opponent or if she does victory march successfully)
Sonja (Yellow Comet) (Fog of war only)
*Note that this analysis is based on comparison with the best pick CO, so all those in brackets are strategy to beat the best pick.

As far as I am concerned, the Green Earth COs are only any good if the terrain suggest that it is going to be totally either air or navy. Its land troops suck because the infantry suffer, and on this map, infantry is your most important asset for about 1/3 of the game.

I am giving the guide for Kanbei only. To make it easier for you guys, all the other COs on recommended or OK have to go first against Kanbei, or they would be thrashed. Kanbei can go first or second, regardless of what CO the other CO is. (Unless it is Kanbei VS Kanbei)

Basically the idea is to produce two infantry for two turns to capture the two buildings around you. Only send 1 of them for the buildings nearest to you. The other have to go and fight with the other CO over the possession of the other four buildings in the middle.

As Kanbei, your troops should be overpowered so leave the one that you used to capture the building nearest to you there to capture both buildings. Start saving for a recon first so that you can whack out the early attack of the infantry dying to capture those buildings. Make sure to get at least two buildings though.

Than, slowly fight off the resistance and get the other two buildings. During this period while you are trying to get the other two buildings, I like to produce tanks (if you run short, produce a mech instead) Make sure you only produce one unit a turn, this does not affect you too much.

When you get all four in the middle, Kanbei should have enough resources to produce a tank a turn. Slowly surround the enemy and decided your favorite method to finish it off.

Strictly speaking, Kanbei troops might be expensive, but it pays off on this map as you can quickly overwhelm your enemy. Never try Kanbei vs Kanbei though. In this sort of match, the player who go first would win.

Hope you would have a pleasant time thrashing your opponent. Please remember that on this map, the more tanks, the better...

One more thing, Colin is extremely cruel on this map if you happen to meet a Pro in Colin...

Next time on Advance Wars 2 'strategy' >> We'll take a look at a pre-deployed map that could prove unfortunately unfair to many people when you play with one certain CO...

Watch out for Advance Wars 2 'strategy': Bundle City...

Discmon

The unpopular denied fact...

Seems like I have a lot of free time eh?

Posting so many post in such a short amount of time. This is basically because I got totally sick of the great irony that exists in the student council that I unfortunately had to be part of...

Let me get this straight first, this is from my personal own point of view, and for the interest of others, all people listed here will be in code name, so, if you don't understand, try to picture the codes into names...

Lets start with what I felt ever since the new council came into being way back in September 2004...

First, everyone was fine, there were a few tears as we said good bye to the sec 4 whom would be leaving us as they are going to be progressing to JC. I think some of the more observant people in SC was shocked when they saw that HX became the president. Personally, I have no grudge against anyone being the president so I ignored the fact that there was a few shocked faces here and there.

I eventually knew why there was a shock much later thanks to a few friends whom told me about the dilemma of the situation. Of course, we all hoped that HX would do a good job and help us be as good or even better than the last council.

Than, things took for a worse...

First, the thing that I noticed the quickest, was the apparent fact that HX cannot control the council. I mean, last time whenever the president is going to say something, it would be as though a order was given. Everyone would suddenly quieten down and listen very attentively. As far as I can see, she is not commanding that aura of leadership around her. It seems to me that she is not commanding the respect of fellow councillors. I don't really understand this fact, even until now, but I believe it got something to do with the way she shows herself. As far as I can see, she does not show seriousness when she is supposed to do so, and I think that that is probably the reason...

There are many other reasons that my friends told me, but I was not really able to understand it, or rather put into my context, so I left them out. But this is the situation. I guess it is a bit of dilemma.

But what really inspired me to write this log is not the problem with HX or our various EXCOs whom people question their leadership, it is our committees own EXCO, and when I leave out that 's', it really means one of the two, not both...

The problem of a council that is separated by committees is that the council would eventually become a broken union as everyone sees themselves as belonging to individual committees. So, the council does not really work as one although it is supposed to do so. Well, I think any move by anyone to make the council more united would be a welcomed move by any teachers who are in charge of us, but sometimes, you feel that it is the wrong people who are overdoing the things...

As far as I can see, our exco, seems to resent being with us when she was elected to take over our previous exco (whom we all felt was very good in bringing us together and getting things done, the sort of aura that XSH, CZM and HFM would give to you. Unfortunately, she went for the through-train program) Although she seems to have taken the post in seriousness when she first took it, she now seems to resent the fact that she has to take care of us for another 2 years. It could be something to do with cracking some jokes in front of her, but come on, most of us gets this treatment now and then...

Lets show the situation...

First, unless its administrative stuff, she usually don't cares about us. She seems to be better bonded with the other SCs in the other committees. I mean, you can't say that it is a bad sign, but you would feel that she is really overdoing it. She rarely talks to anyone in our committees as JA has pointed out. JA may be a bit of a critic, but at least he doesn't critic everything that comes to him negatively.

The meeting yesterday was perhaps the biggest inspiration to put this point as the first one.
Lets see what happened yesterday, first, we all arrived at the meeting place and everyone started forming its own committees as I already stated earlier in the log that a separated council is possible for this sort of things to happen. So anyhow, we slowly settled down and then we notice that our exco is sitting quite some distance away from us. All of the members of our committee is sitting together, and yet we see our own exco 'deserting' her own committee. This made me unfortunately agree with JA on his earlier critic that our exco is resenting her presence as the exco of our committee. Unfortunately, she has to be closer to the other sc whom we don't really get along well. As far as I know, I never got along well with any other sc from any other committee, mainly because of the nature of our responsibilities.

Lets put it on a wider perspective, a lot of people/critics had pointed out that the choices for the exco had been chosen badly because they do not seem to possess that leadership quality. I don't really care about the other committee as I am not as observant as this critics are. I am only putting it here to reflect the situation of the mind of some people. I am not really thinking about wrong leadership as I never really personally had been under their control before.

I hope that this would be a form of a wake up call to some people so that the council would be able to pick up strength and try to make the best out of the new council that is going to be formed very soon.

In fact, JA and I reasoned that the apparent earliness of the nomination and election is not just to align it with the other ROD from the CCA, but it is also to get rid of the leadership that is currently not working. Too bad the exco I had been discussing about have to stay with us for another two years. For the earlier HX I talked about, lets hope she would think of this removal of power so that the next group could perhaps bring sc back to life in a comforting way.

I always hear the saying from our senior that we should support our EXCOs, I can do it for one of them who would be leaving very soon, but definitely not for the other one, whom I regarded once as a friend, a fellow councillor, and a leader in all odds during the SC camp...

If only she would understand that her resentment in being a member of our committee is not helping the committee in anyway, and also disappointing a lot of people who spoke for her as the next exco when CLA left...

I hope this serves as a wake-up call to that person whom I had been discussing about...

Discmon

The good old tsunami...

My last post left a rather bitter taste in my mouth in what I perceive as totally crap... I mean, what is so exciting about my life? Maybe something that would interest more people would be better on a blog such as this one...

Anyhow, people who likes to dips into archives of post, would know that most of my entries so far, have been talking about the unfortunate tsunami incident. Anyway, this is some things that I hoped people and perhaps some people who decided that just giving money would help to understand what they have been doing so far...

I think we have heard several times that some companies are donating something to the disaster area by buying something from them. Seems to be an unfortunate incident to allow people to do charity and buy more things for them under the pretext that they are helping the people who are in needs. But as we all already know, charity should be done of one's free will. Why must the companies ask other people to buy things so that they would donate to the people who needs this things urgently...

As far as I can see, a lot of companies and even people are using this opportunity as a chance to make money...
How wonderful, cashing in on someone's else misfortunes...

Anyhow, if some people had been paying attention to the critics on the newspaper lately, we would have heard of reports of people donating boxing gloves, golf clubs, 1-cent coins, curtains infested in cockroaches, and the one that hit the mark, tons of 50-cents coin so that those poor children there can go and play the arcade...

I mean, even people like us would feel that this is ridiculous. What does this show us, it shows that Singapore is too peaceful, what we feel as doing charity means donating things and money. We have lost all concepts of hardship and what it is like to be in war or a disaster. I mean, if a young boy would donate 50-cent coins so that the children there can play the arcade, what does this show of us singaporean...

I think critics and other people who writes on forum and any other citizens of Singapore who still fortunately reads the newspaper, would be able to comment on this. Otherwise, try and find a copy and just read the forum pages...

Not just that, some people even got raped after getting rescued. I think, like how the old saying goes, that disasters bring out the worst in some people, the best in others. Just like the donations where people who live in good old safety Singapore uses as a method to get rid of garbage and almost worthless 1-cent coins...

Not to say that they are worthless...

I think that this donation thing had just become another way for the nations all over the world to compete. I mean, donations are meant to be voluntary, but what has happened so far, makes me feel that the word donation should change from its original meaning.

I am getting a bit sarcastic so I decided to list down all the meanings alteration for the word donation...

For countries who are constantly donating more and more:
A situation in which whoever gives the most is most respected by other stupid people all over the world...

For Singaporeans:
A chance for them to get rid of useless items in their home
Also to show to the whole wide world, the singaporeans apparent disregard of how disastrous the situation is, and how we are so secured that we resent any preparations for the worst... And also the lack of education on our young on the possible chaos that could happen anywhere in the world and how 'safe' they are in their present surroundings...

I think that should be enough...

Discmon

New class of friends...

Sorry to disappoint anyone for my apparent lagginess on blogger and my apparent disregard to how my homepage looks like...

(I got a phobia against HTML after coding almost 12 pages of HTML two years ago for my computer project. I also seriously hated Dreamweaver after that)

Anyhow, this year is a whole new year. And like what the teachers had said for the past few weeks, Sec 3 is not like what we had experienced a few years back. Its time for the teachers to end the paradise sort of land they had created in sec 1 and sec 2.

I want to see how they are going to do it...

Anyhow, the good news is that on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I am going to have a free period. Being that I do not take C lit as a subject and some classmates do, so, tomorrow, all of us are going to bring some games to school. Games, that is like chess, scrabble...

Other then that, in another round of good news that just started on Thursday, Beier, who was transferred to NUS math and science school, has come back. Reasons are unfortunately unclear, although if you happen to one of his close friends, I would suppose that it would be a totally different way around.

The PRC scholars in our class are basically keeping to themselves as far as I can see. Probably because they had just met us for only about a week. I hardly know their names, but I expect that we would all be able to 'mess' around by the end of the first month.

I also managed to get some conversations going in class with the other classmates that belongs to 3D. Some of them are people I met in the corridors several times a day, but hardly ever talk to. Its great to know more friends isn't it.

I finally managed to become the AV rep after almost two solid year as the cleaniness rep. Hope to be able to foster good working partnership with the AV equipment.

Argh, this is crap...

Discmon

History of Discmon...

I was lagging a bit and because I do not feel like doing homework as it is the first day of school, I decided to elaborate on the history of this alias, discmon, which also happens to be a sort of machine made to help you with keeping disc which I only found out recently...

Discmon, was first created by me, way back in the year 2000, after my primary four streaming examination. We were pretty bored as we had nothing to do essentially, so everyone went to create games on paper so that everyone could play. Because we cannot bring Gameboys to school, I created discmon, which essentially, is pokemon on a slightly smaller and more luck based scale. I originally created stickmon, which basically forms the basis of discmon.

However, discmon was never played in school, mainly because by then, the holidays had arrived and no one would play this games anymore as we progress to primary 5.

Then, I started to play on neopets. I wanted a username without any numbers and thought for a very long long time. It was during this period that I remembered this game which never took off, and so, I commemorated it by letting my username be discmon. Which is currently still rather active although I am lagging over there at neopets.

In case you are wondering, that date was the 21st of May, 2001.
After that, discmon became my alias on the internet as it does not really show my particular unless you check neopets (which strictly speaking is also not showing any of me personal particulars). So, discmon is my alias.

Weird things happened after I went to secondary school. Discmon, which originally was just a game name, seem to have too much coincidence in my current life in school. For an easy example, Discmon starts with a D, and I am in D class. 1D, 2D, 3D. I mean, isn't it too coincidental. There are others obviously to make it worse, but I am only going to tell you this.

So, discmon, is my alias and its history is rather short. Well, my alias on Blogger is also discmon, in case you people have yet to understand, which you should.

Also to clarify things, Discmon was not originally created because my room is overflowing with CD, nor is it because of some dumb advertisements on the web.

Good things and alias take a long time to make an impact on you...

Discmon

Happy new year!!! Or at least to all those optimistic people out there...

Well, it is quite early right now and I got no idea where this energy to type this out came from...
But anyhow, I must say it is time to say goodbye to the old year and say hi to a new one.

Although there is no fireworks, we must all say that another year had just passed. It sort of reminded me of an article that I had read sometime back, about a child whose grandparent would always go mad whenever she hear firecrackers explode. For those who happen to know me, think of 2003 early February. It is because of the fact that whenever firecrackers explode, she would think it is the guns that is being fired as she had lived through the second world war and her husband was killed then. Whenever she heard that, she would go mad and start creating havoc around the house...

Anyhow, it was a very touching story, when for one year, all the neighbors decided that for one Chinese new year, they would not burn firecrackers. And it stayed that way until the author's grandmother passed away. I must say that it was a really quiet Chinese new year...

No fireworks, this is to be with the nations that had been dramatically affected by the tsunami that had occurred after the earthquake underneath the sea off Indonesia west coast. Fireworks were used to drive a old year out and welcome a new year in, but it seems that we would have to do without it, well, those people who had died had hoped to see the new year coming with all its joys and hope. Guess they would have to do without it...

This year, which means 2005, we all hope, that the world would be able to recover from all those things that had caused the world to become what it is today, and to become what everyone in the world wants, a peaceful world, for when war and natural disaster and the likes occur, the people who suffer the most is the peasants, the civilians, the people right at the lowest class...

A new year beckons a new hope, but as we welcome this new year, lets us all also not forget the people who had died just a few days ago, and whom will never see the new year in its full glory...

Discmon