Post during O-levels (I)

We have officially launched into the O levels examination...
What am I doing here?!

Well, a piece of good news is that we have about a week to study into all our subjects before we continue on with the rest of our papers. Things don't look really good for some of our papers so far, but I think that chemistry practical so far is the only one of the many papers that many of us have no worries...
At least, most of us...

I want to really thank the SEAB for putting a week of rest in between the practicals and the rest of the theory papers, cause, through a series of unfortunate events, I've fallen sick again...
At least, the sickness isn't as bad as last time like when prelim just ended.

I don't exactly know what I want to discuss, but I thought I wanted to post something while I still have the opportunity, particularly during this short one week break...

To all the sec4s out there, please keep yourself healthy, and don't be like me...
Which means that no matter how weak you are in a particular subject, please don't over-exert yourself and fall sick the day before the exam...
And my apologies to all those people who were affected by my sneezing during the exams this week.

And seriously, it sucks when you sneeze continuously in the exam hall. You should try it one day.
(:

Discmon

Choice? and then regret...

Its been a very tiring week no matter which way you see it. (Except for the sec 1, 2 and 3 who should be pretty much relaxing and comparing how badly they failed) Some of our class people managed to get hold of the Sec 3 EOY chemistry paper, and we got a pretty good understanding of why the sec 3s failed badly...

But that's going to be another story...

Have you ever looked back and start thinking about what would have happened if you had not made "that" choice?
I'm talking about choices where both sides are morally correct, thus, this does not include choices that are about whether or not you should shoplift...

While I was making my way home from JEC, I was thinking about some choices that I had made. Then I started reflecting on all the choices that I had made. Things like whether or not I should have went to the Beijing trip, whether or not I should have stayed in Singapore then to go for all those events... and so on and so forth...

After several minutes on the bus ride home, I came to this conclusion that there is no such thing as a right choices and a wrong choice. They are all choices that you have made, and to me there is no point looking back and start crying over the spilled milk...

Using the earlier examples: After a really really long story after the beijing trip, I lost a friend, but if I had never went, would I know so many other people, many of whom I still keep in contact? Those friends that I made there are really unforgettable, they remind me of all the good times we all had had when we were in secondary 2 and could just made fun of others...

So looking back at it all, there is no such things as a wrong choice. All of them are choices, and if you hadn't made those choices in the first place, you wouldn't be here in the way you are now. Lets say maybe you hate yourself for getting addicted to maplestory, then ask yourself, if you hadn't get addicted, would you be able to mix with the people in your class who are all maple fanatics? Would you be able to talk to your maple friends non-stop for the whole bus ride? If you hadn't been to maple, would you even be like what you are now in the first place?...

So in the end, I feel that we must cherish what we have now, and not look back at the past and constantly cry over it... Yes, regretting is good because we learn not to make the same mistakes again, but then, there isn't such a thing as a time machine (Other then the clock, which only goes forward...) so you can't rectify your "mistake". (If you can call it one...)

And even if you are able to rectify it, a few good question to ask is:
-Will you really benefit from never ever making that choice?
-If you hadn't made that choice, will you still be what you are now?

Of course, it is good to remind ourselves that we are not dealing with choices that deal with moral values, or the above two questions will definitely be redundant...
I expect criticism...

Discmon

Some notes...

I can't get myself to write a post describing my feelings today...
Maybe when O level is over I'll get something to write...

Anyway, just wanted to make a short note cause I got a biology practical exam tomorrow.
If you guys remembered, I was talking about computing no longer being offered as an examinable subject in the A levels. I went to check with MOE, and received a reply in about 2 days time. This shows that they are highly efficient (The above message is not meant to be sarcastic).

Anyway, if you guys are interested (which I doubt anyone in the world who read this blog will be interested in) this is the message that I received back from SEAB:

"A-Level Computing (9349) will be examined for the last time in 2007 for repeat candidates only. The syllabus will be replaced by Computing (9754) as H2 subject and the first year of examination is 2007. This subject is only offered to school candidates."

So, remind me again, which JC said that computing is totally out of the SEAB examination syllable?
I don't think I am that evil and petty yet, but you got to sincerely hope that some schools get their facts right first.

Ah well, do your best people. Four years and its all because of this...
Anyway, to all you people out there, here's a thought to think about:

Everything is coming to an end...
Will you remember it all?

Discmon

Rantings on 11/10

One week left before exams starts...
Ok, it's much less then that, and I think I finally start feeling the need to study and do homework everyday...

But I still feel the need to write something before O level officially starts...
For the last week, I had many articles in my mind that I wanted to write about, but I found that I am unable to get past the second line of each article. It's like when you start writing about it, you write down the introductory line, then you look at the thing and you start to stare at the sentence. Then, you start to worry about what others would say about what you write, you worry about how you are going to complete the sentence and complete the whole essay... and the worrying list can go on and on and on with no way to stop at all...

In the end, you give up trying to write it, you delete the post, try again, delete it, look at the clock, and then you click the "sign out" button located on the top right hand corner of the browser...

So this is one of the few reasons why you all did not see any updating on this blog for the last few days...

Anyway, today was a really weird/funny day. Of course, it depends on the way you see it, but if you are optimistic and let others laugh along with you, then today would be a very funny day.
The day started out pretty much the way it usually does, with a cup of milo in the canteen. Of course, things started getting real weird when Yini and YeeJia decides to try and win me in an argument (which they did...). I forgot what was the argument about, but its seriously lame and you know how lame it would be when I lost to them...

Of course, it would also be nice to get revenge from all this arguments. All of you out there would know that Yini can barely reach the OHP screen when the rope is coiled up and tied to the screen. So, you could expect the revenge when I asked Yini to go pull down the screen instead of me pulling it down. I would like to thank Chyuan Sheng for coiling up the rope right at the moment when I most want it. Thanks a lot yar.

The rest of the day progressed almost as normal until we reach the JC talk.
I want to clarify something that you all are thinking. For one thing, I was not the one interested in the cut-off point for PAE. It's my classmates. They all know that I am going to ask about computing, so they all spam me into going there to ask about PAE cut-off point. It's sort of like a "since I am asking questions, might as well just help them ask the question". It's not like what you all are thinking, it's not that I am so desperate to get into a JC. I mean, I am even considering a poly course...

Anyway, I know the above paragraph would be read by people and they would say this:
"Are you trying to bluff?" and "Don't need to hide la, if you are so interested, don't need to push it to others" but of course, I hope that a small group of people would say :"Orh, so it isn't like that"...
And no, I do not appreciate if you said :"Orh..... So you are still trying to push the blame to others?!"

But anyway, why do cambridge need to pull computing out from its syllables... I was so looking-foward to it. Finally I get to do something in front of something that I would never sleep in front of. The below paragraph is detailed account of why I have never slept in front of a computer:

Have you ever tried to stay up to about 4am and still wish that you do not feel the need to sleep. I tried lots and lots of different methods, from reading books to doing math, none of them worked... Until I discovered the computer. The computer does incredible stuffs, you could be killing snails and mushrooms for 24/7. You could be editing a video that you really like, you could be watching videos off you-tube... You could do so much and more, you could do it 24/7. What other reasons are there for staying up late other then to spend your life in front of the computer...

Nevermind...
But seriously, both ACJC and HCJC has said that they would still be offering computing for their next batch of students. I am assuming that they have to pull this out since cambridge will no longer be offering the examinations... Well, another good reason to go to a polytechnic instead hehe...

Then, we had our study session outside the library as usual. Except that it seemed as though the only reason I was there was to be beaten and called a idiot by Fang Shiyi. She came to ask us some questions on physics, and decided to spend the rest of the time there while we were thinking to hit me and call me an idiot. Of course, that was partially because I was being petty cause she was making fun of me asking the same question twice during the JC talk (over the PAE thingy)...

Things took a turn for the worse when this person walked past our table being accompanied by msek and Mr Chua. We were thinking that the person is just another principal from another school when he stopped by our table and asked us about the school and about how things are like since the move and so on yadda yadda yadda...
I was pretending to be happily seating there and answering the questions that he was posing to me. Of course, you have to give the so-called "politically correct" answers. After the person left, Mr Chua gave me a tap and say:
"Do you know who the person is?"
"No"

And here it comes, the top reason why I am writing this post, the quote of the day, as said by Mr Chua:
"He is Ms Ek's boss boss boss boss boss boss".
*Note the need for accent and such. And make sure when you pass it on, it better sounds as though Mr Chua is saying it, or it will definitely reduce the overall quality of the joke...

Cai Zhi came over and talked about "how was the presidential interview", which I agree, except that I thought the president is supposed to ask whether or not you have eaten, like what he always does on National Day when he goes for the inspection...

The day was really weird to say the least and funny in my opinion as I sort of laughed my way throughout the whole day, even though most of the time, the joke came from me...

But hey, I bring enjoyment into people's life even when we are supposed to be freaking stress up...That is supposed to be a wonderful thing to do, althought it isn't exactly that wonderful when it is done at the expense of yourself.

And don't forget, you might be asked about your breakfast/lunch/dinner by someone's boss boss boss boss boss boss...

Discmon

Incredible things that can be done with an instrument...

I originally wanted to type this post in chinese, but after reaching around the second paragraph, I decided to give up again... sigh~ The main reason why is because I found out that I have to take a freaking long amount of time to write down what I have in my mind. In fact, the time interval is sometimes so long that I completely forgot what I wanted to write originally. So you could just blame it on the fact that it is horrendously hard to type out chinese in a computer...

Maybe someone might invent a better programme for inputting chinese into computer...
But that would be another story...

Anyway, about two days ago, we (meaning my family) went to watch a concert put up by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO for short)(I got a pretty good feeling that I'll be referring to the SCO over and over again in this post). Anyway, the performance is called :"胡琴王见王" and it was held at the Singapore Conference Hall, the place that we went to during our sec 2 life suddenly during one of our arts lesson. It should be very easy to recall for quite a lot of people...

Anyway, they invited 闵惠芬 (I feel darn disrepectful if I don't use her proper chinese name), who is a very well-known erhu player both in and out of China. Anyway, this should leave many of you out there to ponder a very interesting question: Why was this performance not held at the esplanade, considering that they invited such a famous person to perform? If this performance was held at the esplanade, more people would have been able to watch the performance and appreciate the way she play the erhu. The Singapore Conference Hall is simply too small to accomodate this performance...

And you just got to face it, this performance was a near sell-out. I counted only about 2-3 empty seats in the hall, and those seats are all single seats, meaning that they are very far away from each other...Having it held at the esplanade would also have made finding a parking space easier. You can never ever imagine how congested the carpark at the Singapore Conference Hall was. The place was packed and everyone was just doing illegal parking just to find a place to park their cars and watch the performance. So once again, it would have just been better for it to be held at the Esplanade.

Anyway, on with the performance. As usual, SCO, who is already well-known for playing weird pieces of music, decided to start with a very weird piece entitled "秋决". It is supposed to sort of like talk of the story of "窦娥冤"but you got to admit that the music was horrible and grating to the ears... Sounded more like ghosts flying around, especially when there isn't any ghost in the original story...

After the what seemed like forever, the horrible song was over and out came the highlight of the whole performance, 闵惠芬. She walked on to the stage to thunderous applause (I wished I brought a recording device to record the sound of the applause) and after thanking the audience, proceeded to play three pieces entitled :"绣荷包", "游圆" and "昭君出塞".

I feel a great sense of enjoyment from simply watching her fingers slide over the erhu and played out the songs. Her notes are deep, sharp and they pluck at the feelings in your heart. The songs that she picked are all songs that have deep emotional feelings in them, and the way she plays it makes you feel as though she just brought you into the world that is being described by the music. Her fingers are agile and move across the erhu effortlessly. I would say that the movement of her fingers is already an art by itself...

During the interval, we happened to stumble on the VIP reception. We did not realised it until we were about half-way though the whole reception thingy. By that time, we were already happily feasting on the reception provided... So here's another good reason why you should be adventurous...

Anyway, after the reception, we were once again treated to the weird music brought to us by the SCO. Their undeniable affinity for weird music, which actually allowed spells to be casted at a reduced cost of 1 generic mana per weird music spells in play, dominated the whole hall and sent people scooping their cards back into their hands as they admitted defeat to a turn 2 kill... (The above paragraph uses a wide variety of Magic: The Gathering slang)(Confusion is expected)

So, we'll skip that song...
The whole highlight of the concert was the next song, entitled "长城随想". This song is a piece that is mainly played by the erhu and accompanied by the rest of the orchestra. Her notes reverbarated around the hall as I felt myself revisiting the Great Wall Of China, which I only visited about a few months back...
And I found out that listening to it at home is different from watching it being performed on stage. The impact, the feeling, its all different...

After that, the performance has "technically" ended. The thunderous applause at this point was amazing, and I once again wished that I had recorded down the sound of the applause. It was simply... amazing. Our encore was succesful and she walked out back to the stage and said two words that sent the audience into a greater amount of clapping and even shouting cries of "好!!"

The word she said was :"賽马"..
Here, I want to blame the SCO for covering up her notes. The SCO played so loud that various parts of this great piece of music was covered up by the rest of the orchestra...
But, she changed the score of the music on some parts, resulting in a longer time at the end, where she made the most realistic sound of a horse that I had ever heard being made on an erhu. It was so realistic that it actually sent a member of the audience to scream "哇!!". I was holding on to my seat to prevent myself from screaming the same thing as well. It was incredible what could be done with such a simple imstrument...

And that sound of the horse was really incredible. Totally realistic. It was as good as bringing a horse there and making it neigh off-stage. But it was made by just an erhu...Incredible!

After that, we tried to make another round of encore, but we failed...
We were saying that we haven't had enough of the music, it was simply incredible. She could have just played 賽马 one more time, and we'll still be memerised by it...

It was incredible...

Discmon