YFriday, October 26, 2007

And So, The Year Draws To A Close...

Today was the last day of school.

As I reminisce, experiencing the nostalgia wash over me, I remember. It was a year of new beginnings. Unfamiliar faces, foreign surroundings, a chance the start over. It was a pretty good year for me. Now it's time for me to take a break. Enjoy the holidays, savour the moments, relax a little.

I won't be back in school for quite a while. I'm gonna miss this place. In fact, come to think of it, the next time I will be back in school will be... in 3 days time. Taking an exam.

I don't think Singaporeans fully comprehend the meaning of the word "holiday".

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Blogged @ 7:49 PM

YSunday, October 21, 2007

A Deviant?

One day our GP teacher posed this question to us.

"Would you say that you deviate or conform to the general rules of society?"

I think she asked us this because it had something to do with our GP Exam AQ question, for which I found out I had got 1 mark out of a maximum 8. By the way, Promo Exam results are back, and I'm promoted. So I guess I achieved everything that was required of me.

At first, I was quite certain that I was quite the deviant. I mean, just look at me. I read TIME magazine. I buy a lot of headphones. I type in proper sentences when I sms.

However, I realised that I was just fooling myself. A deviant? Definitely not. For all the things that I think make me unique, there are thousands, possibly millions of other people who do the exact same things. Then there the things that I do, that are considered social norms. I wear clothes. I speak two commonly used languages. I go to school. In the big scheme of things, I'm as unremarkable as can be.

True deviants are, simply put, a bunch of freaks. We're talking about rapists, murderers, those kinds of people. They partake in strange activities that would disgust most ordinary folk. They are the kinds of people that are locked up in mental asylums and prisons, for the protection of the rest of society.

I guess in the end, it's all about the voice of the people. Society wields an immense power. What is the weight of one opinion, in the face of vast opposition? If what you do is deemed to be inappropriate by the masses, they are gonna punish you.

I'm glad that I'm so normal.

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Blogged @ 4:58 PM

YMonday, October 15, 2007

AC Games 2007

As it name suggests, during the two day span of AC Games, we go to school and play games.

AC Games is held during the blissful period between the end of exams, and the release of our results. At this point, we experience a whole jumble of positive feelings, from relief, to joy, happiness, and an innate desire to stop thinking and do stupid stupid things. Yet we experience none of the negative emotions as well, the Promo Exam results haven't come back to us, and our A Level exams are still (quite) comfortably far away.

AC Games consisted of 8 games, Bridge, Soccer, Floorball, Benchball (Modified Captain's Ball), Captain's Ball, Basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, and Stargate. I'm going to completely leave out all of them except Benchball and Stargate. That's mostly because everyone is familiar with all of them, and talking about them would be boring and unnecessary.

It's also because my class completely sucks at them. I don't really like to recall how we got beat down so badly.

Heck, we didn't even participate in a single Ultimate Frisbee game. And I was the captain. You could imagine my disappointment.

So... Benchball. Basically it's Captain's Ball except with a bench instead of a chair, 4 teams instead of 2, and whenever you score a point, another person gets onto the bench. Eventually, the team with zero players remaining on the court wins. For some reason, we were quite good at this game. We managed to get overall 2nd. Yay SB3.

Stargate. It's one of those games that you played while in primary school. It has been revived to satisfy the cravings of your deprived childhood. One team stands on a row of lines. The other will try to run through the 10 or so lines of defenders without getting tagged. The teams will then change sides. The one with the most people across wins.

Stargate is one of those games in which distracting your opponent is of utmost importance. Some of the girls would just keep screaming, and the defender would be too stunned to do anything but let them pass. It was quite a friendly game, if there was one attacker and one defender, you could just slow things down and have a nice chat. Other times, one would use questionable methods to get past defenders, such as saying things like "Hey baby, look into my eyes." And when they start laughing, just run past them. Heh.

I particularly enjoyed this game. That's probably because we got 1st overall. I don't know how that happened. It just did. We managed to beat an entire class that was made up of ruggers not from that class, and another very athletic class.

Overall I enjoyed AC Games. It was pretty fun, and a good time to relax with your class, share a few laughs, and just not think for a while. However, there were quite a few complaints about how AC Games was organised. Some were a little lost and confused about where to go for their games. Others didn't like the way the points were counted. There were even a few who thought it was quite boring, and a failure.

People, I think we need to lighten up. It's just a bunch of stupid games. It's for fun. That's all. True, on the first day things were pretty messy, with people not sure which court they must report to, but let's give the councilors a bit of a break. This is their first major event. It's not like they weren't trying. And on the second day, they were much better organised.

Then there was the rain. On the second day it rained in the morning. So games had to be postponed. Then it rained again. So games had to be postponed again. Many classes chose to stop playing and go home. Now this really isn't anyone's fault. None of us can control the weather. It was unfortunate, but that's how things are sometimes.

Those who found AC Games to be boring, I think you can only blame yourself. If you decided it was a waste of time, and chose not to take part in anything, of course it was boring. I had fun. Those people from my class that turned up had fun. Let's stop putting the blame on others, and start shouldering some of the responsibility.

It seems that we only know how to complain, complain, and complain.

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Blogged @ 10:35 AM

YSunday, October 7, 2007

Like The Devil, Except In A Skirt

There are some things in this world that terrify me.

One of those things is/are (I really don't know which one I should use in this instance) women. More specifically, women who are walking.

When we walk, its perfectly natural for us to swing our arms. We all know this. It's a measure taken to keep balance while walking, so as to not fall flat on our faces and have our friends point and laugh at us. But then they would probably fall over too. Then we would get up and laugh at them. And we'd fall. Oh, what a vicious cycle.

Anyway, when you walk, you may notice that while you do swing your arms, the angle isn't very large. If you take vertical to be the normal, then I would say that your arm oscillates at no greater than 15 degrees both ways.

I sound like such a nerd. This is what studying Physics does to you. At least I have an entire year to forget what I've learned for my Promos exams, which are over, by the way. Yay for that.

Okay. However, if you make an attempt to consciously notice your arm swingage (not a word, I know) you would find that it would not follow the patterns it normally follows. This can be said of all subconscious activities. Next time, try to do the same for your breathing and blinking as well. You'll start to foam at the mouth. Or better yet, try to pinpoint the exact moment before you fall asleep.

Back to my point. So there are some women in this world, who for some inexplicable reason, have the tendency to swing their arms with obscenely large angles. I cannot draw any conclusions as to why, or even how they are able to do that. When I try to mimic them, I immediately feel tired and I can hear unsettling cracking noises along the length of my arm.

They have mad skillz. Respect.

I estimate their arm swinging oscillations to be about 40 to 45 degrees. Now you may be asking yourself, why is this moron talking about women swinging their arms while they're walking? And why is he afraid of them? What's wrong with this dude? Allow me to explain.

Whenever I find myself in a crowded place, I will always find this women in front of me. The one with the massive arm swing. She may be tall, short, skinny, or fat, but there she'd be. Whenever I see her on her backswing, my heart races, my pupils dilate, sweat pours through my pores, and I wail with terror (like in a manly way). Simply put, I'm afraid that her arm will hit me in my gentlemen's area. An area that I place a rather high value upon.

If she happens to be holding a heavy metal purse in her hand, the fear is multiplied several-fold.

So there it is, one of my deepest, darkest fears.

What? Did you expect me to have another intellectual debate?

Give me a break, I'm tired of thinking.

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Blogged @ 10:49 PM

YSaturday, October 6, 2007

Another Cryptic Message?

Things just keep getting better and better.

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Blogged @ 12:35 AM