Apathetic Avenger

Bacca Thing

Today we had Baccalaureate Service.

Which is a fancy word for last day of school.

The service took place in the hall. People cried. Moving speeches were made. Hugs were distributed widely. Teachers spurred us on to make the most of our lives, and gave us some advice as well.

Towards the end, we all leapt onto our chairs, embraced each other, and swayed in that way, all whilst singing some emo song. I don't like writing cliches but it's not my fault if it's the subject matter.

Last year our seniors did the exact same thing. I wonder if this is some sort of NEVER-ENDING CHAIN OF INFINITY.

It was quite a wonderful experience, the ending of one phase of my life, a beginning of another. I will never be a uniform-wearing student again. This marks the final days of my junior college life.

Well except for tomorrow, I have to go back to school. Oh yea Monday, lessons and mock exam. And there's still the A Levels.

BUT after that, I will no longer be a student at ACJC again.

Oh I forgot about the day when we collect our results.

Oh yes thank you very much Daimyo. I'm really very touched by your present. I feel really special. All the best for your promos. Enjoy your stay in ACJC while you can. Soon you'll be in my position.

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 10:15 PM

Eating red dragon fruit turns your poo purple.

Blogged @ 10:15 PM

Exam Procedure

[Never mind. This post has been made stupid due to a paradigm shift.]

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 10:04 PM

NDP, only without the ND.

I was watching the Olympics opening ceremony. I'm not quite certain, but I think it started at 8:08:08 on 08/08/08. I was eating dinner at that time. You can sense my excitement.

That's a freaking lot of 8s. Chinese people believe the number 8 to be especially auspicious. They came to this conclusion because the the number 8 sounds like the Chinese character for luck. The infallible logic of rhyming.

If ancient Chinese voodoo practices are right, then we can apply the Law of Rhyming Co-relation to all aspects of our lives. We can eat honey to get more money. We can drink water through straws (suck) to get more luck. We could also... well never mind.

Well anyway, I was watching the opening ceremony. To me, all these events seem vaguely similar to me. A country wants to show off, puts up this large scale show, where thousands of people are roped into wearing colourful and bizarre costumes. They move in synchrony, waving their thingies and forming words and shapes and other wonderful symbols.

I've seen this performance before. I see it every year. It's called National Day. The Olympics opening ceremony was basically Singapore's National Day Parade, only that it's held in China, and they spend much more money, because they are bigger than us. They are the same in spirit. There's the cheesy song, the cultural thing, the symbolic performance, the dancing.

However, the later part of the ceremony was different. The countries started coming out one by one, displaying their Olympic teams. All 205 of them. You'd think that after a while, watching people carrying a flag and waving would get boring. It did. I stopped watching. But one thing I noticed was the China performer girls that were hanging around were clapping and cheering whilst the teams walked past. Their enthusiasm was palpable. Later in the evening, I walked passed the tv on the way to the kitchen. I saw that the China performer girls' enthusiasm had deflated abit. They were probably tired out and pissed off from all the jumping around in high heels for an hour. That was funny.

So that was pretty much all I took back from watching the ceremony. Girls with tired feet. Sure there was the singing and chinese culture and some strange painting thing where they rolled around on canvases while painting it at the very same time. Okay that last thing was pretty cool. But all the mass dancing and drums and clapping, and costumes and history are so common. I saw similar things on tv at the WorldCup, previous Olympics, and of course, NDP.

National Day is tomorrow. Happy National Day? I <3 Singapore.

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 11:38 PM

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Rejoice! Let us celebrate the awesomeness of this day, the 1st day of the 8th month of the year 2008.

I have finally removed my braces.

It has been a long an arduous journey. It began nearly 6 years ago. I'm not joking. Back then I was a wide-eyed innocent little boy (really.) that didn't know very much about the world. I was brought to the dentist's office, because as my mom told me, my teeth were hideous and freakishly out of place. We needed to spend a large sum of money to rectify that problem immediately!

I remember immediately after the installation was complete, I thought, 'Eh this isn't too bad, I'm not in that much pain.' However, within 2 hours, the pain set in. I couldn't even lick my teeth (not that it's a habit of mine) without feeling HELLISH STABBING JOLTS OF EVIL PAIN. That night, I had to chew food with my tongue.

So after a while, I became familiar with the routine. Every month I'd go and tighten... the stuff (that's the technical term), and be unable to eat properly for 2 days. Actually I could have made that into some sort of diet, but sadly, no.

However, after a while I just stopped going. I'm not sure why. There was a period of 6 months when I did not go for a single appointment. Maybe I became emotionally attached to my braces. Or perhaps I was subconsciously trying to resist change. Then there was the possibility of a childish fear of pain. But I think it was probably because I'm just a really lazy dude.

After a while, I decided to get my act together, and went for appointments! Woohoo. Within a few months, I could take off the bottom row of braces! Hoorah! But my top row of teeth decided to be pricks, and refused to budge. A year passed. Two years passed. I had to re-attach braces to my bottom row of teeth to use as reinforcements to pull those stubborn upper row fools down.

Over the past 2 years, my dentist would tell me after every appointment "just a little more", or "two more months", "we are almost done". On the next appointment I would be brimming with hope, my heart aflame with the possibility of freedom from the oppression of metal shackles attached to my teeth. I would then die a little upon receiving the dreaded phrase, "I'll see you next month then. We're almost done."

However, on this afternoon of the 1st day of the 8th month of the year 2008, things were different. He examined my teeth closely, with a look of satisfaction on his face. Very good, very good, his murmurs echoed in my head. Could this be the day?

I was given a choice. My teeth were looking pretty good. I could either wear my braces for a while longer, and make them look even nicer. OR I could take them off right there and then.

I took a moment to look at a mirror, and pretend that I hadn't already made up my mind the moment those words left his mouth. After a minute of contemplative silence, I whispered silently, 'I think they look quite alright. Let's take it off.'

I then danced silently in my mind.

Removing the braces is a wonderful feeling. After years of having to worry about getting food stuck in strange nooks and crannies, wrapping rubber bands around my teeth, and getting massive ulcers, having those metallic bits scrapped off my teeth felt wonderful. It really made my day.

I know this is an insignificant event, but I'm glad it's finally over.

Now my front teeth look massive.

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 9:30 PM

Hey

It's been about 3 months since I've posted up anything here. In my absence, I think there's an Argentinian man flirting with me.

Well prelims are coming yadda yadda A levels stress etc etc. Typical story of a JC student. Not that interesting, but it's all I know.

I'm surrounded by peers with incredible work ethics and high hopes. I see students studying hard. I see friends getting invited to scholarship talks. I see people who aspire to enter Ivy League universities.

What about myself?

I barely have my act together. I keep telling myself prelims are meant to be screwed up, so that I'll get terrified and study my ass off for the As. I'm aiming to get a place in a good course in a local university. I haven't really considered going overseas for my education. It's expensive, and since I'm not scholar material, I wouldn't be very comfortable putting this additional financial burden on my parents. They've done more than enough. NUS and NTU are actually relatively decent universities, and at a fraction of the cost, it's very hard not to consider them. Besides, both my parents went local (not that there was any other choice in their time), and they seem to be doing quite alright.

Recently I stumbled onto a few old friends from Japan in facebook. Facebook is great if you want to take dozens of personality tests or send virtual drinks to each other, but it's also great for finding lost friends and acquaintances.. My friends all managed to get into well-regarded universities, a few that I recall seeing were Duke and Northwestern. However, from what I recall, they weren't really all that fantastic in their studies. Maybe they got their act together after I left, but I still think that many of my current classmates in ACJC are at least on par if not better than them academically.

I think the problem with us 18 year olds is that we see getting into a good school as the end, but actually it's only the beginning. After completing our education, that is when we venture into society, and hopefully make a positive contribution in whatever ways we can. That's when it really counts. So screw that, I won't be jealous of people who get into better schools than me, I'll be satisfied with a Singaporean education.

Not that getting into a local university is a sure thing for me. It's time to study.

Hopefully everything will turn out alright. I may not be the smartest, cleverest, or the very best at anything, but I'm okay with that.

Oh since I stopped blogging I realised that the standard of my written English has dropped. Maybe I need practice. Perhaps I'll come back here more often.

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 6:31 PM

Yay Project Work

Oh joy! Project Work results are out.

A hearty congratulations to HCJC, for achieving the very outstanding result of 98% distinction for this very important subject.

Yes, that is not a typo. 98% Distinction. Seems just a tad excessive, wouldn't you say? Is it really possible that out of say, 1000 students, 980 had highly commendable work? That they all presented their unique ideas with charisma, and engaged their examiners with witty banter? Yes, it is possible, just like how it is possible that one day I will be bitten by a radioactive spider, gain superpowers, and I'll put on revealing tights and swing around the city at night, dealing with thugs and evil dudes. But then I'll get arrested for leaving all that web behind, dirtying our beautiful garden city with my gross stick discharge. That sentence came out wrong.

Spiderman could never live in Singapore.

Then again, maybe I'm just pretty damn jealous because I didn't get an A myself. I got B. But to be honest, I didn't really know what was going on, even until the very end. And I was the freaking group leader. It's not just me. Many people were the same. We all wandered around the school campus, muttering to ourselves, 'I don't know what the hell I'm doing'. All I knew was that I was glad when our OP, the final exam for PW, was over. I also know that I laughed at the J1s when they were told this year that it was their turn to do PW.

But the thing is that even amongst the classes at ACJC, the PW results varied greatly. There were some which had like 24/28 getting distinction, others with half the class getting the A, then my class with 2 getting the coveted result. That was awesome. It's not like my class is dumb. We're not. Really.

Perhaps I'm just being some crappy sour grapes. HwaChong students probably worked hard, and really deserved their As. Congratulations to them.

But getting a distinction is not really the point. Whether we have learned any new important skills after having been through PW, now that is the real point. Being really good at playing SuperMario isn't really very useful, but then again, it is a skill. Many people that I've talked to don't really know what they taken back from all this. I can think of a few things I've learned. The first is to bullshit. Because that's what PW is about. The second is Leadership. The third is working as a group. And the fourth is... wait, that's about it.

Yes. PW has imparted a few skills to me. However, I believe that all these skills can be taught much better in many other ways. Bullshitting, you learn that while interacting with your friends. Leadership can be developed through CCAs. Working as a group, CCAs as well. The thing is, ACJC has already had it's own PW for many many years. In fact, this year was the 19th year it has been carried out, compared to the 5 or so that the A Level subject was introduced. I feel that I really learned a lot from ACJC's PW, also known as Fun-O-Rama.

Oh man, you really learn a lot from Fun-O-Rama. Dealing with bullshit, other people, and other people's bullshit. And you actually carry out the project, so it's not all just planning and planning, it's also practical. Sure, you're being used by the school, and you're forced to neglect your studies for a bit, but earning money for the school does make you feel warm inside. The Fun-O-Rama atmosphere is really something very special. There's nothing like it. Wait for the one two years from now.

So anyway, what is the point of Project Work? It doesn't seem to fill in any niche. It's just there, filling no purpose, like the dude who you don't like, but you don't object to him hanging out with you, but you don't really pay much attention to him either.

Labels: Musings

Blogged @ 8:56 AM