Lebensraum

After two and a half years of continuos transition between school and home, I have grown strangely accustomed to this what deemed as strenuous routine. Commuting has become strangely therapeutic for me- giving me time to be closely aware of my surroundings. I see things that wouldn't usually catch my eye- or perhaps wouldn't notice. It has allowed me to think through things better, giving me areas of growth for mental health.

The 36/MRT Combination has definitely been the best route I have taken so far throughout my vie victorian. For one, the jam usually isn't very bad unless you're traveling during the rush hour. 76 had left me with some very bad (and even traumatic) experiences, leading me to express all sorts of vulgarities towards the motorists and (sadly) the bus driver. Mentally of course, I wouldn't do it verbally, although I know it's just as bad.

I went home during the rush hour today- skipping the usual take-all-the-way-to-Marina-Bay kiansu thing and just going straight towards Jurong East. It wasn't a time saver option, I just felt that I would probably be just wasting my time sleeping away all the way home. And there's just something so uncomfortable when sitting- and that's when every other executive-like, standing commuter starts looking down at you as if to say "I deserve that seat."

So I squeezed in with the rest of our working population and stood all the way to Admiralty. I have discovered -or rather- realized my favorite part of the train. And that's just the area by the train doors. Where you have a piece of glass to lean onto behind you and there're those wonderful windows to look out into.

Anglican High stepped straight into Victoria's ambit today and snatched our coveted title right out from our hands. As of today, we are no longer the champions for 'C' Boys East Zone Badminton. The atmosphere after the disappointing results was strangely not one of sadness (or at least that was what it seemed to me) but just this eagerness to break out into our school anthem and spelling cheer.

Victorianism.

Labels: commuting, Victorianism

I made my first online non-credit buy today from clubsnap- a Canon 18-55mm kit lens from ClubSnap user reneson. The very epitome of this purchase definitely isn't the lens, since I have used this lens (a symbol of my mediocrity) many times but the actual fact of reading a person online, hearing his voice on the phone and finally, meeting him.

The excitement, before meeting him. The tension, building up. The impatience, as he arrives. The swirl of thoughts, as you look at him, wondering if he's the person, and eventually, the amusement, upon meeting him.

Well of course I don't care how he looks like (decent) and what kind of person he is (can't tell from less than 5 min of conversation), I just want my bloody lens! And it better be in good condition. Thank God it is! So thanks reneson! Although I kinda doubt you're reading this.

The purchase of a new lens led me on an impromptu shutter happy spree (not really la, a net of 38 shots) around the Admiraltirian suburbs of Singapore. I flirted with the surroundings, clutching the camera to my pelvis area, careful not to induce the attention of the camera shy onlookers. It was rather successful, I have posted today's shots in a new set on my Flickr account, entitled "Decade Home".

Check it out.

P/s OH! You haven't noticed? I am now a proud father of an adopted girl from Cathay Photo. Her name is Carly =)

PP/s 3 Cheers for the Mirren Victory!

Labels: Carly, Photography

Pardon my lack of updates, I really couldn't find the heart to badmouth the holidays during the holidays. Somehow my only motivating factor was to collect angpows (ZOMG!) during the entire procession but of course with utmost maturity I have come to realize the significance of this oriental festival that has about one sixth (or even more) of the world's population celebrating it.

It's definitely (for many many of us Singaporeans) the very happiness of being in the new year. I mean people start sprouting stuff like "Happy New Year!" like they really mean it (believe me it's definitely not 客气话 -in English- Courtesy language) and when somebody says something inauspicious someone will say "Hey! It's the new year! Why are we saying such things?"

(My father started talking about how the designer of the Mandai Crematorium was the first one to use it and my uncle chirped in on how badly designed the crematorium was, lols)

I mean we don't even observe the Lunar Calendar for God's sake! We don't even know (or at least most of us) when's our Chinese Birthday! We don't even know the Lunar Month we're in on a daily basis let alone the day. The only thing we know is it's the year of the Pork (oh yarh, and we start receiving SMS like "I like to eat pork! Happy New Year!") because of the over-hyped publicity 12 animals get on teevee and how women are constantly looking forward to the year of the dragon so they can give birth then.

So why are we so hyped up about this holiday? I mean it's legitimate to be happy on 1st January when we enter into a new year but Chinese New Year?

But I guess the very epitome of this season (for me) is not the spirit, not the food, not the 过年 entering into the new year, but the family spirit. And these pictures speaks everything:




Photos courtesy of Esther Kok!

Labels: CNY, Family

Greetings people! I have just finished my Commonwealth essay! My mountain just cut a huge rock of itself and threw that part into the sea. My face feels lesser pressure on the sand as it continues to eat dirt.

I am too tired to post anything today. Here's an excerpt from Commonwealthy =)

The Pajero bustled down the winding road, descending the highlands of Ermera slowly. The driver dared not go fast, for it was close to dusk and the roads were unlit. The soft engine whirring was a soothing sound to the worried passengers. After all, they were traveling on one of the poorest built roads in the world – where landslides were prominent on the steep hills and roads could crumble to only a third of their original width. The driver then switched on the radio to break the uncomfortable silence. The first station tuned in to was a Christian music station from neighboring Australia. He left it that way and slapped his face to wake himself up.

The week was had been most exciting and extraordinary. Traveling to Timor Leste had been the most incredible experience of Jeremy’s life. It was certainly inspiring to be invited right into the country which kicked up a storm of the various great presses of the world. Her past, culture and heritage – and most importantly- her fight for independence. Was not this chain of events similar to a country he was familiar with? Oh right! His own country -- Singapore.

But Timor Leste had a history of brutal violence. A few days ago, a trip to the Santa Cruz Cemetery sent chills down his spine. Though the noon sun was smoldering at its highest, the environment felt strangely chilling. Walking past the various graves sent a note of empathy into this young man’s heart. He was distraught at the mortality rate, with gravestones after gravestones of young babies who had the same date of birth and death.

Hope you guys enjoyed that! Comment on this to read the next few paragraphs =)

Labels: Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition

The light spilled through the windows harshly, emitting a garish glow on the sitting commuters. Their black Asian hair looked white, as they continued their commuting activities. Just a brief paragraph of celebration that I returned home before the sun set today!

Today is Valentine's Day. Originally, today was suppose to be a day of hype and celebration. Right from the break of dawn my eyes were on those clocks, wishing school would end. Tick tock tick tock. Time passed so slowly.

Well the plot is that a bunch of Sec 4s and some of us Sec 3s had decided to buy a bouquet of flowers for the delightful Ms Tang to encourage and spur her on in her wonderful teaching career. Incessant rants of her burnt out teaching experiences has prompted our wonderfully compassionate Victorian hearts to do something for our beloved teacher.

At first, we settled on 16 roses. Why? 'Cuz we wanted her to think we thought she was always sixteen. Haha, so cheesy! Then because 16 was like to friggin' expensive we settled on 12. Which is usually the number of roses people buy- like in a dozen.

I never imagined roses were so expensive. Now I understand why 九十九朵玫瑰 (English: 99 roses) are so exclusive. I mean you probably could buy an iPod with that amount of money. I really think hope that my soul-mate in the future would rather me buy her an iPod than 99 roses cuz like an iPod is more worth it. Haha.
Lame!

And so at 2.15 we were suppose to bring her to the beautiful sand-themed PSB room and give her the beautiful bouquet plus the beautiful card I made plus the cheapskate M&M Chocolates! (Roses always come with chocolates what, don't you know that?)

Guess what? The stupid delivery man, said he was gonna call when he arrived, stupidly delivered the flowers to the general office, who stupidly gave the roses to Ms Tang straight. ZOMG how stupid can some people get? I guess it's not really GO's fault la but the dammit florists I really feel like killing them now.

So in the end at 2.15 without ANY element of surprise we gave her our card and M&Ms. A great day ruined.

Labels: Valentines Day

SLI 07 has been an extremely therapeutic time for me. Being in the planning committee has been an extra sack on that mountain but I have pulled through all of it as a happier person. Oh man that sounds super cheesy but yea I think you get what I mean =)

I choose not to let the pictures speak their thousand words here although I painstaking edited them on photoshop being stupid and adding round corners and all. This time shall be unlike most other times where I hardly type anything meaningful on graphically enhanced entries at all.

This year's SLI was undoubtedly miles apart from last year's. It's definitely not the rush hour time slots home because I had rush hour time slots home last year too. It's definitely not the cheering, because I cheered last year too. I guess two things that made a stark difference for myself were the people and the planning. SLI had been a great bridge for me to understand a lot of people out there better than I ever had before.

Glen for one, *hi glen, doubts he's reading this* has been a great co-emcee, constantly setting the par on my performance. Being there on his first emcee session when we both screwed up proved to be extremely entertaining as well, muhaha.


And many seniors from grad batch 2007 have really thought me much and provided much mental support throughout the whole SLI. I guess the pivotal point about this is that I have got to know a lot of people much better. It was a process for me as a oddball in their midst to fit in. Definitely comfortable.

So although you guys are not BFS blogders I wave to you here
Nicolas, Chin Boon, Ren An, Jon Tan, Marcus just to name a few =)

And Ms Tang has also been a terrific mentor (I choose not to use teacher!) throughout this whole event. Somehow I guess we all feel that she is not the teacher in charge of this event and just some liaison between the school admin and students but one of us as well. She has broken through barriers in her appointment as SH Character Development. 3 Cheers for Ms Tang!

And then of course there was the usual emcee under John =) Who has once again risen to the occasion, making us acutely aware of our social responsibilities, letting us embrace the myriad of opportunities Victoria School has to offer, helping us recognize the esteemed recognition we were getting that night through being formally invested =)

Thanks John!


And last but undoubtedly not the least ;) there is Monitors' Council which has been such a terrific support through the years. It's takeover soon and as we scramble to assemble our new EXCO, I believe we'll achieve even greater heights (OMG so cheesy!)


And lastly there are the rest of people in my batch whom I really have to thank especially the flag bearers backstage giving me the great support before the horrifying emceeing =)

Labels: SLI, Victorianism

Once again, like every Monday, the homework from last weekend starts to dump itself with deadlines so unfathomable and grotesque. On top of me lays a mountain pounding me into the earth, making sure I never see the sun again unless I finish everything on top of me. Silly metaphor I know but the crap from school has beat the wit out of me.

And then there are tests. Today is CA Week. And last week's test miraculously (a seeming miracle at that moment) have been postponed to this week. Thus tomorrow I have English CA and Bio Class Test (from last week). Wednesday's hell sessions include the Physics Class test (from last week), Thursday is our Humanities CA and possibly the Mother Class Test. And lastly on Friday we have our Chemistry test which has been postponed last week and today.

Today was a half day- thanks to Class of 2006 which obtained immensely fantastic O Level results thus letting us off at 1045 in the morning. Unfortunately, due to the fact that enzymes will get denatured, we had to have Bio practical right after dismissal. So while all the other Sec 3 class skipped off out of their classes to play, here we were in class still mixing enzyme diatase with starch =(

And right after Lab lessons I went down to MC Room to attempt to finish the mountain though very unsuccessfully because of the immense amount of distractions around. I am still considering the viable option of camping in school every day to finish the horrendous workload we pathetic students of Singapore enjoy.

Nicolas has yet to send me SLI 07 pics thus I shall procrastinate the SLI entry. Shabalabadingdong!

Labels: education, homework, whines

Somewhere hidden in the corner of my room is a dusty chest full of dusty treasure. It contains mountains of stuffs I have collected since 2004 which are all useless yet containing immense sentimental value. Occasionally, with no fixed interval, I would sit in front of that treasure chest and start taking things out to reminiscent. They include old school autograph books, notes of farewell, trinkets and tokens from Children's Day, old sketches, old sketchbooks, old designs and farewell gifts.

Above mentioned stuff are stuff from the 5 min walking distance school aka Admiralty Primary.

And on a more recent scale things include christmas cards, notes of encouragement, old emcee scripts, significant documents contributing to school events (i.e. SLI 2005 Program schedule), programme booklets (129th Speech Day, Musical World, CO Concert, SLI 06, SLI 07), student ambassador scripts, old timetables, Leadership Training Camp Files (and of course the course material inside), old files I used in school, homework lists, certificates of distinction from the University of New South Wales, ticket stubs from various movies and events, name tags for various events/competitions and interesting pieces of documents (i.e. the page that I designed in terms of layout and one piece of content for the Straits Times Newspaper Competition).

These things mean a lot to me. But as they start to pile up, those occasional sessions start to deplete because of my lack of time. In the past, I would sit down and look through every note and browse through 99% of its contents. Now its more of a browse through and next piece.

I'm starting to realize that Victoria is dominating my heart. And that's not a bad thing =)

Labels: Reminiscence

There is something in life called saturated sleep. A saturated solution is when you can't dissolve any more of the solute into the solvent. A saturated sleep is when you can't dissolve any more sleep at one go. I just had saturated sleep today. 12 hours. Full. God blessed me.

Yesterday was a day of revelation and happiness. Victoria School's 'O' Level results were extremely good. Yet among the rejoicing as a school, there were pocketful of people around unable to accept the harsh reality of the scores they obtained. Since I gave a damn more about the people-I-knew's results, the happiness Principal felt didn't really sink into my heart. Sure, we could be a Band One School again, but right now, looking at the faces of those depressed people.

I've come to somewhat a conclusion. Not really knowing the truth about these underperforming individuals, but somehow knowing that they have really tried, they still underperformed. Will hard work guarantee that magical six that passports you to any JC (with the exception of those schools)? Will hard work guarantee that you'll realize your goal? Somehow, somewhat that's what I had always thought it would be. Unfortunately, no.

I mean wouldn't different forms of realist movies have already knocked that hell of that thought into my brain already? Or was I still floating in the air, thinking that at that time I would work hard till my guts flow out. Get into JC and then start to slack again? Or was it gonna be that guy in I NOT STUPID (one) who studied really hard for his mommy for the Maths exam and still fail? What was life suppose to be?

I'll leave that as a hanging thought. More about SLI when I get those camwhore pics =)

Labels: O Levels, tgif

The journey home today was long and treacherous. Then again, any uncomfortable traveling done at night is often considered long and treacherous. Today's commute home has been my latest so far throughout 2007. Walking back home from the station when the sun is just about to set and the environment is just lit by this slightest blue tint is just so nostalgic of the many Victorian projects I had sold my soul to.

Last year's SLI, 2005's Victorian, Commemorative Victorian, numerous Victorianas, Teachers' Day 2005 etc. etc.

Just that this time on my way home I had newly-turned 15 Danial to accompany me on this long treacherous road ;) And it was on this long treacherous road that 36 jammed on me for the first time. Unexpectedly, 36 was caught in Great Rush which plummeted the entire smooth journey down Singapore's well built highways (expressways rather) to rather jerky movements and stops.

I'm happy to say that I'm not the only one feeling the ridiculous stress (no thanks to Maths as one of the contributing factors) and monotonousness in school life. I was talking to Bryan on MSN the other day and he was asking me if school life was fun. And in my heart I was like what the?

I guessed the big part about it is the homework that just seems to pile up if you don't finish it quickly and then it starts to fright the guts out of you and you collapse under stress when you find yourself struggling with 3 more exercises of A Maths at 12:30 in the morning.

That was me until I finished the pile of shit yesterday and boy was I glad =) Sleeping time for me for the past five days except last night was 12+ in the morning! Really have to thank God for strength because I lasted through most of the lessons of the day.

Being homework free is like paying of your credit card debts.

Labels: commuting, school life