Weekend Mix...

Whoopee!!!

End of exams!!! Celebrations in the house!!! Freedom!!!

Fine, it wasn't that exciting (in fact, it was rather stale), but the Marking Days Weekends was indeed a rather decent period for us all to rest, no one could disagree on that. So what did I do during this period? Well, let's find out...

Tuesday
Immediately after the last paper, I went out with some of the 3.17 people (let's just call them Malachites) to watch Eagle Eye at the Cathay @ Orchard. The group comprised of Jen Yang, Jeremy Bin, Asher, Victor, Julian Lim, Sheng Yung, Junyi, Joshua Lee, David Tai (whom we met at the Cathay itself since he didn't have exams that day: darn 3rd-language students) and me. We quickly went to settle our tickets before grabbing a quick bite of lunch and running back up to watch the movie.

Overall, I'd say it was a well-made epic-rush film, and you can really feel the suspense of the characters as they tackle the climax of the show. Won't spoil the show for you, so go watch it! After watching the movie, we gathered outside the theatre to decide on what to do next. Victor decided to leave while he still could, fore-seeing that more nonsense was about to take place, while I had to leave because I wanted to collect my new school uniform from Bibi & Baba just a few blocks down Orchard Road.

So after lending my jacket to Joshua so he can hide his school uniform inside and play LAN with the rest of the guys, I travelled back up Orchard and trailed my way to the uniform store, where my pre-ordered package ofsize 14-and-a-half school shirts were waiting for me. Just as I was about to pay for the clothes, a whole bundle of doubt on whether I ordered the right size suddenly squeezed through my head in a split second, and I took back my cash with appologise to the cashier and with the request to try out the size again. Appearing a little shocked, she pointed to the rack of shirt samples next to the dressing rooms. I quickly snatched a 14 and a 14.5 and rushed into a cubicle to test out the shirts.

You see, my main problem for my current uniform was that the neck hole was getting a little tight for my neck, and so I'd always suffer from heatiness in the head because my neck can't release heat as efficiently since there's a collar strangling it. So I had to find which shirt size had a looser grip on my neck, and at the same time won't appear to have sleeves ridiculously long over my shoulders.

To cut a 15-minute story short (I could hear the cashier wispering to her colleague, "What's taking the guy so long?"), I finally stayed confident with my choice of 14.5, and made the purchase before dropping by Borders to listen to a few tracks in their music section and travelling on to my mom's office for a lift home.

Wednesday
Me and the rest of the Council Understudies had to come to school for an emergeny meeting with the Prefect Council for a briefing on what other dates we should take note of from that day till the day that the new Prefectorial Council 2009 is announced, and what to do for each event. The closest event was the Nomination Speech this Tuesday, where we had to deliver a speech each for the Year 3 level to decide who they feel should be part of next year's council.

That probably scared the socks out of most of us understudies (especially Arjun, who later claimed he would drop out to purposely miss giving a speech before coming back in time for the Interview with Dr. Ong).

After this meeting, Clifton asked if I was free to scout with him for umbrellas to purchase for the board, and I agreed (partially aware that that decision meant I had to stay in school for another couple of hours to wait for him to finish with Band practice). So to spend of those 2 hours, I first decided to play soccer with the other Prefects. It was a fun match (I've learnt I'm best as Right Defence), until the Year 6s suddenly gatecrahsed our game. Soon we could not catch up with their levels of activeness, and backed out from the game. By then, I still had another hour to kill.

So the remaining understudies stayed in the boardroom to joke about what they would do if they made it to next year's council, as well as a really funny session about what can happen if the wrong people got elected into power. Still another half an hour left.

Visited the library, bumped into Adrian and Liu Yang, chat with them about what they were doing and what I was doing and whether I should go for the Global Young Leaders Conference next year or not, brozed through the Reference Section, and vuala. 1 minute to deadline.

I made my way out ofthe library, and lo and behold Clifton walking in front of me, oblivious that the guy he's trying to call is standing right behind him. I followed him all the way to the Spaceframe before making it obvious that I was floating around, and he introduced me to his companion in the band before ushering me to the near-by shops to look for umbrellas.

After searching around and heavy pondering, we decided to take note of the common supplier of the umbrellas of the shops who we've checked, and order our own Prefectorial Umbrellas (maybe even cheaper). After chatting our way back to school to await for our own transportaions home, I rode away on a 74 before Clifton could say, "STOP TALKING ABOUT POLO!"

Thursday
My first day of Canoeing training in... 4-and-a-half weeks. And I tell you, training never felt this miserable. Not only was I the second slowest by a mile (and as Mr. See would say, "...with enough lag time for the competitor to still paddle back to you and run over you and steamroll you and gammar-ray you till you can officially say you've been owned!"), I clocked two minutes above an hour just to complete 10 kilometers! That's, like, 6 minutes and 12 seconds per km, and that's real disgraceful for a Racing Canoeist. Ah well, at least there's no running today...

Spent the rest of the day playing Rise of Nations (gasp), but after 3 hours of playing I had to shut it off and look out of the window to prevent myself from barfing. I then tried to look throug the internet in sites like YouTube or Facebook or Blogger, but got bored after 5 minutes of brozing. Man, I didn't feel like it that day.

Friday
Had to wake up early again, this time to go back to school and do a prefect duty: The Annual ACPS and ACSJ visit to ACS(Independent). The primary 6 kids were lively with the post-PSLE spirit - too lively, to be exact. I must admit that when I was starting to get to know the class I had to tour, 6C from ACPS with David Hu, they appeared like spoilt bratsshouting as they pleased. But after a while, I personally got use to them and sparked of as much conversations with them as possible to get their undivided attention. Even made friends with some of them, although I never really got to know their names (like as if they got to know mine) so I may never meet them again unless they make it into the school.

*sigh* By the end of the duty, all the prefects who had toact as guides for the students were slumped on the chairs of the CPA 2, lying as if we were in coma from the shock of how hard it can be to control a mob of childish youths. We were so smashed, we begged Michael to give us debrief on the spot instead of having to walk all the way back to the boardroom. I'm just happy that unlike Jamie, I can still smile and laugh about the experience...

After debrief and a proper resting, I decided to help out Cliftom and a few othe prefects in cleaning up and tidying the boardroom. After a nice hour-long clearup, I left back for home to rest from the tought of the P6s that I've met. Ah, the flashbacks were at it again...

Saturday
Another day of training, just that with Ting Wei in a double, and with an additional 4 km to paddle in. The good news was that we could still paddle the standard goal of 11kmph as Mr. See had set for us last year. The band news was that we hit the target exactly. I mean, ussually we'd be 11.5something kmph, and now we're exactly 11.0kmph. That's a real drop in power, we had to admit.

And besides that, we had to face the good ol' Dam Runnin'. Yeap, the good Dam never fails to make us feel like dammin' it. But hey, at least it was a group run, easy push for starters and no push-ups. After cooling down and the dissapointment speech of how long we took to pack up Lower Shed (I'd agree; we've never had to take 20+ minutes just to keep boats for an easy programme), T.W. and I registered ourselves for the Round Ubin Race '09, even though we weren't certain if we'd survive ("Aw, just for the fun of it, lah.").

Strange, weren't those the last words of the guy who decided to eat an entire can of milk powder, only to die the next week from kidney stones after not realizing that the powder was made in China?

Sunday (i.e. today)
Pastor Prince is still preaching in the Hillsong Conference, so a guest speaker from Down Under too his place today. He shared about the signifigance of the Kindom of God - that it didn't just relate to heaven only but the entire rhelm of what the Kinghood of God could control and how it opperated - and how we must radically change to the ways of His Kingdom, and not clique-ishly remain in the ways of the world, in order to see the manifestation of finished works in our lives. I'm bad at sharing messages right off the back of my neck, so I'll just leave those who're interested in listening to go to the New Creation website and download the sermon.

Besides that, I finished my speech (yay!) as well as read up and watched videos of the current Presidential elections in the U.S. of A. And I found this;



Very cute. I must confess that even thought I'm Singaporean, and even without this video, I'm up for Obama for Presidency based on what I've gathered about the elections. (Go, Barack! Yes, you can!) God be with America, as He has already been with Singapore! Matthew 6:25-34!!! God bless y'all!!!

Wait, He Know's Me?...

Just beams daylight away from the final battle. And it just had to be the one with the twist. Ah, well. Best for last.

Anyways, after revising and memorising as much as I could for tomorrow's paper, I decided to rest by brozing through YouTube. Didn't feel like looking at music videos, so I just typed in random keywords that popped into my head.

*ehem* And now, here are the Top 5 Random Videos of the Day!:

No. 5


A mash-up of The Pussycat Dolls' 'When I Grow Up' and Cold Play's 'Viva la Vida'. Rather amusing how this person got two different genres (with obviously different emotions involved) to clash. I giggled at the first part, but I was surprized (in a good way) that the beats actually stays consistent throughout the video.

No. 4


The Queen's Guards doing a march-pass during her birthday. What amuses me the most is their 'L'-formations: I mean, instead of having the entire contingent rotate around a central position, or make it suddenly stop and then turn on the spot, these guys do it in an 'L'-shape. Amusing.

No. 3


Come on, it's funny. Well actually, this video was tied with this one:


And for those who don't get the spoof, here's the original video (which unfortunately did not win a position here):


No. 2

I salute this guy, seriously. I should try to do it too one of these days...
(Malgudi, Mal-Mal-Malgudi-Gudi, Boys take out you Mal-Mal-Malgudi)

No. 1


Yeah, please help me: I can cut down carbon emissions if you just let me! (For those who don't get the concept on how buying cork-sealed wine will help 'Miguel' save the environment, click here)

Mark 9:7!!! God bless y'all!!!

Journey's End...

Honours' Day was last Wednesday, the borderline separating the portion of the year that would be spent academically, and that which would not. Before that Wednesday, teachers scrambled as much hints and tips as they could into the remaining hours left to count down; after that Wednesday, the Series of Great Battle begins.

Battles so terrifying, people had cried minutes before the first fire ignites.

Battles so exhausting, men have collapsed out of breath just footsteps away from the battlefield.

But most importantly, battles so important, our futures depend on the final outcome.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. This war I share with you is none other than the Final Year Examinations. *climatic maestro*

But now that it's Hari Raya Haji, it really does feel like a seize-fire in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly so quiet, so peaceful. So now that I have time to relax, I'm just lazing around, taking a stroll in the park (and in Singapore, walking around your neigbourhood already qualifies as 'taking a stroll in the park'), and touching up on any parts of Advance Maths and History I haven't touched yet. And I still can't type out my post on Multi-Genre Music Appreciation, not enough time.

Oh, and I also updated a whole lot of pictures up on Facebook, as well as brozed through the photos of others' albums. Speaking of pictures, I might as well take this opportunity to archive a little on what happened during the F1 Singapore Grand Prix Finals which I attended last Sunday in pictures, can't I? Here's a brisk walk down memory avenue...

Ah, yes. Alex Loong, the only Malaysian F1 Racer up to date, giving us comments on what racing life is like (sry I couldn't get a clearer picture). He was part of a pre-race dinner programme laid out for us by Julius Bar, the bank that gave us the tickets to watch. After dinner (and some wine *hiccup*), we walked our way to the stands and took our seats an hour or less before the show began.
The Singapore Flyer towering above the circuit.
That's me.
And that's dad.
Cars from the old days parading along the track.

Oooh, Lewis Hamilton.
A parade of nations.
With Singapore walking alongside the F1 flags.
More pit-stops.
Even Austin powers came to watch the race.
Pit crews rushing onto the track to give finishing touches to the cars.
Pit crew setting up the pit stops for the race.
Only minutes to the race...
Chaotic pit crew on the track.
Fr those who can't see, PM Lee looking around the track, with representatives escorting him and answering his questions.
Singing the National Anthem.
Pit crew rushing off the tracks as the cars rev' up their engines (Man second from left starting to put on his ear plugs)
Race cars moving up to their starting positions.
Uh-oh, yellow flag. (safety car deployed)
Ah, yeah. Pit crew bringing back the hose yanked out earlier by a Ferrari. It was quite hilarious watching it from the grandstands: you see these cars zooming past you, then all of a sudden there's this obviously-slower pit crew chasing one of the cars. I tell you, the crowd was roaring with applause and laughter, which later died down when we realized what exactly happened.

However, of all the events I've had the privilege of going to, I've never seen as many middle-fingers pointed out in anywhere else than in here. But don't worry, it only happened because a couple of drunk Caucasian men were annoying the rest of the crowd by singing random songs in their language very loudly and very out of tune; even though the vehicles could easily drown out their voices, the both of them were nevertheless still annoying once the motors were an earshot away.

Man, I pitied the individual crowd usher who had to deal with the angry crowd by himself (he looked rather pathetic with the panicked smile on his face I assumed he was trying to use to calm the people down with). But I guess the sight of two full sections turning straight towards the drunk men sobered them proper, since we never heard their voices again for the rest of the race.

And eventually, the race concluded with Alonso as first, and with Hamilton at 3rd place (darn). Poor thing for Ferrari, though. Their two best drivers ended up crashing (the latter crash just 4 laps away from finishing), while the last car ended off at, what, 13th or 14th place? And with almost half of the crowd was wearing red (including red), many of us had to hide our caps and shout, "Viva Espana!"

Yeah, but when it all ended and the vehicles were parked back into their pits and the prize ceremony commenced and the champagne was shaken and poured over the crowd, my dad and I decided we better leave so I can sleep early for Language Arts and Core Maths tomorrow...

...after a few more photos on the tracks!
Me on the track directly in front of the Singapore Flyer.
My dad and I posing close to the last turn on the track (the rubber was still fresh and sticky, even my pants got a little stained)
View of the starting line, the crowd mostly condensed towards where the prize ceremony was.
Me running along the track.
Oooh, one of the damaged cars. ('Do-do you have a 1st aid kit handy?')
Another broken car (as evident by the missing right rear tire).
Policemen holding hands to stop us from moving any further.
Another pose with the tracks.
These dots are the rubber that the burning hot tires leave behind as they run along the tracks (now you know why they need to change their tires often).
Ouch, road kill. This critter was a fat moth the size of my palm, and compressed to the thickness of an average ball-point pen.
Posing with the safety car.
Hey, even Mediacorp artiste were present to watch the race (but I was too tired to ask them if I could pose with them, so I carried on walking).
Also having special passes to exit the race via River Taxi under Julius Bar, my dad and I sailed away from the crowded gates and into the relatively quiet hands of Clarke Quay (where we spent another 15 minutes searching for the MRT station to take us back to Orchard Road, where my dad parked the car). Here was a final shot of the tracks.

And that sums it up, I guess. All the best for the remianing half of the exams, fellow people-who-take-the-same-exam-schedule-as-me! Isaiah 55:8-13!!! God bless y'all!!!