Computer changed from Windows XP to Windows NT

My computer windows version has changed from Windows XP to Windows NT as there is a trial period for Windows XP. My uncle had volunteered to come to my house, to spend his time and trouble just to help and render assistance to me in my computer because the activation period for Windows Xp is going to cease. So, in the end, we spent the whole afternoon doing computer and IT stuffs.
Yesterday, I had my gp common test. For paper 1, the essay questions are quite difficult and I pondered in thoughts for the whole of yesterday about my essay. I felt that I should have attempted qn 2 which is about no one daring to be different. This is a very difficult question to attempt as I felt a loss of words at that time when I was writing my essay. Paper 2 is fine except that I feared that my summary and AQ was badly done.
For today, just now, I had my maths common test. The test questions were quite okay with me although there were some parts of the questions that I couldn't do. Many of my classmates were commenting that the test was quite difficult and I agreed to them for some questions. I hope that tomorrow's chemistry test will not be a torturing paper for me to do.

Busy day

I had a busy day. I woke up early in the morning at quarter to seven. My father was the earliest to be woken up yesterday. After that, I brushed my teeth and washed my face to prepare for this sort of wonderful day. I ate some bread coated with nutella and the bread tasted delicious. What a good thing to start my day.
Following that, my father gave us a lift to AMK MRT station as my mother, my little brother and I were going to my auntie's house to witness a wedding ceremony taking place. We reached there at around 8 plus. MY little brother and I chatted with my cousins and we watched tv shows while waiting for the bride to come.
At around 10 plus, the bride came and we all crept into one of the rooms in my auntie's house. Another auntie which is my mother's sister came into our room that we all crept in and shared the tales of what was happening when the groom Davis which is my cousin arrived at the bride's house. What I could describe was that the obstacles were numerous and were impeding and hampering the path to marriage. Besides, they were not very easy to be overcome. Davis had to eat biscuits with wasabi on it. That needed a lot of water to cool him down. After that, I heard from my auntie that he had to use a skipping rope and skipped 200 times. Wow, that's a feat.
So, the buffet commenced after the bride came and both the groom and the bride served tea to the elders.
Later, we rushed back home just to prepare for the night because at the same night, we had a wedding dinner. The place was at Raffles Hotel and that was my first time exploring that place and coming into this place which is quite special. We arrived at half past 5 to witness the signing of the marriage certificate as a committment to both parties and after that, we toured around the place. This place had lots of shops and the toilets were indeed special. When I entered the toilets for the first time in Raffles Hotel and used its tap, I attempted to use when I was using taps in my school and shopping centres. However, I pressed as hard as I could but no water came out. I examined the tap feeling puzzled until my cousin told me about the correct way to switch on the tap.
We arrived at the ballroom at half past seven. As all of us had nothing to do, I began to chat about games with my cousins about games as games are our common interests. Time really just flew by when we were happily chatting. The wedding dinner commenced at half past eight. Wow's that was early. The groom Davis and the bride Jaslin walked onto the red carpet, bringing a smile on their face, seemingly having tremendous amount of joy of being the main characters of this occasion. The wedding dinner ended at eleven o'clock.

Revision

For the past few days, I spent hours revising my chemistry. I attempt very hard to finish all my revisions and attempt a few questions in the chemistry Ten years Series. However, I cannot really grasp the concept in Reaction Kinetics, about the order of reaction and so on. Oh No!!!! I have this feeling that time is running out and I don't have the attention span to read the books for 3 to 4 hours in one shot.
For today, I just came back from the tutition centre. I saw how my friend Eng Choon taught. His way of teaching was very different from mine. He was very confident and he told the class about many of the expoeriences that he had. That took about 15 minutes. He was talking about the importance of studying, about how studying brightened the future. For me, I just try to do my best to explain the concepts to them about chemistry. Chemistry to me is a very interesting subject to learn.

Finished revising maths

Yesterday, I finally sort of finished revising my maths. I have done like 90% of the questions assigned to me to do in preparation of the maths common test. Phew!!! Now, I have two more subjects for me to revise and a gp essay to write. For yesterday, I spent most of the time studying at home until the late afternoon when Kun Jian called. I went out with him and together with two of my other friends Mee Siang and Jia Xin to Hougang Plaza to play LAN. We play Warcraft III Frozen Throne. I have not played or touched this game before so I don't have absolute experience in playing this game.
We play two matches. In the first match, I anyhow choose a hero with the ability known as lifestealer. I train it to have a ability of rage which I think is the best and poison sting and speed. After fighting around in the map, my hero keep dying. Agggh!!! Mee Siang and Jia Xin levelled up very fast to level 14 or something while I was still at level 10.
For the second match, Mee Siang helped me to choose another hero which was known as the Skeleton King. I train it to have a ability of magical bolt which can deal 300 damage and it could stun opponents for 2 seconds, rage, critical hit and vampiric aura. I feel that the vampiric aura is quite powerful as the skeleton king could heal itself when nearby allies were fighting against th enemies. Besides, I used the magical bolt whenever I saw Jiaxing's hero and Kun Jian's hero now. When they were stunned, my hero went over and fought with him. There was once that Kun Jian's hero was trapped by me and my allies. Therefore, I managed to obtain a kill. Phew!!! That was my first kill. I feel so happy after playing LAN with them although it costs $2.70.
I feel that life must be fun and boring at the same time. Fun as it, I must learn to relax and have fun. When I was playing LAN, time seemed to run past me quickly without me noticing it. I had fun especially during the second match when I had better idea of controlling the hero.

Grandparents going to China

Just now, my father and I went to the Changi Airport to see my grandparents of to China. Besides, I was hoping to look what Changi Airport looked like in the morning. There was quite a number of people at arounf half past 7 in the morning in the departure hall in Changi Airport. Many relatives or friends were there to see their relatives going offto overseas. As people were entering into the departure gates, friends and relatives waved their hands vigorously and the kids were smiling happily. There were long queues in the counters in the departure hall. At there then I knew that my grandparents were being accompanied by our relatives whom I did not know to Beijing. They were boarding CA 958 plane. Before entering the departure gate, the kids belonging to my relatives were catching cat and mice game. They chased after each other and having a lot of fun.

So, by now, they have already boarded the plane and on their way to Beijing. One thing I recalled was that my grandpa was talking to my uncle and then he asked whether that daughter belonging to my uncle was a girl. Then, everyone started to giggle including myself.

So, for the holidays, I have only this week left for me to buck up in my studies. I feel very fatigue and tired and exhausted and bored about all this studying. Besides, the fear of me making numerous careless mistakes keep lingering in my mind. That indeed makes me stressed.

Brave

Sigh!!! My little sister and my little brother made a huge din in the afternoon which made me so annoyed and irritated that I scolded both of them. That is one thing that I had done on impluse. I was unable to control myself and things started to spill out of my mouth. Luckily, I plucked up the courage and attempted to explain to my brother of my rationale of shouting at them. My little brother seemed to fathom what I was saying. Phew!!! I was very glad to hear that.
In the afternoon, I went to the park to study and revise my work. I had only done about three maths questions in around a hour and a half. Doing maths questions is a waste of time but it is a practice and it can reinforce my maths concepts although I had made quite a couple of careless mistakes. In these few days, I must really work very hard and stop slacking and relaxing but at the same time, try to overcome the fear within me by plucking a lot of courage to speak up and create a din.

A "Professional" Teacher

Yesterday was indeed a bad day for me. However, that bad day gave me a lot of learning points and experience. When I reached there with Eng Choon accompanying me, I felt nervous. Even when I was teaching, I felt nervous with eyes staring at me. First things first, when I reached there, my former P.E . teacher called Miss Yvonne Ong last time told me that my dress was inappropiate. Ok, I wear a T-Shirt with Daffy Duck in front of the shirt and shorts. Miss Ong said that I should have worn long pants and a T-shirt with a collar.
I have this misconception that I was going to have peer tutoring with the students. Actually, I should be behaving like a teacher. For yesterday's lesson, the students were all girls. They were quite nice and kind to me. They listened attentively while I was teaching them chemistry. Besides, for yesterday, I was not prepared for the lesson because I did not prepare any lecture notes before the lesson. Sigh!!! I should have prepared some notes for them to refer to. I think that this will be quite a good experience for me because I have learnt that being a teacher is actually not easy. A teacher has to do lots of preparations before coming for class. He or she has to plan what she is going to teach in the class. I will try to overcome the nervous in me and I believe that for the next lesson, I will be more confident in the class as chemistry is one of my favourite subject. It is very fun.

Me giving tution?

Yesterday, Eng Choon had called me on about whether I was willing to spare my time in giving tuition to the 6 secondary 3 students in kovan. I would be teaching chemistry. I accepted this offer because I thought that one day, I also would have to work. I have to get some experience from working and this is one way that I can do it. Initially, I felt nervous at the thought of giving a lecture to 6 students. Suddenly, there are so many "what ifs" in my mind. What if I cannot teach them well? What if I cannot crap lame jokes? What if they are bored at my lecture? However, for now, I have started to calm down and plan for my 2 hrs lecture.
In the first 15 mins, I will be like introducing myself and ask them their names and their interests to chemistry. In the next 30 minutes, I will be teaching or rather revising with them on the topic on the particles nature of matter. I will be asking them about the things that they have known. After that, there will be a short break of about 5 minutes.
Later, I will be like giving them homework to do for the next 45 minutes. I hope that the plan goe well and the tuition goes on smoothly.
Regarding to my mom's sickness, she has improved quite a fair bit although for now, she still has cough. Now, three family members in my family has cough. Sigh!!!!

Mom is sick

Yesterday, Mom is sick and she is down with a cough and a fever. She really looked frail yesterday as she had dizzy spells and her body temperature. Since I am the eldest in the house, I need to take the initative to take care of the younger ones. In the morning yesterday, my mo went to look for a doctor while I took care of my little brother and sister. My little sister also wanted to accompany my mom to the doctor. However, my mom was sick and thus she was unable to take care of her while she was going to the doctor. Therefore, I had to insist that she stayed at home. This resulted to her crying.
It is very hard to humor someone. I try all means to pacify my sister by trying to play with her and trying to read books with her which she liked doing most. It was really a hard time. After that, I taught her some fundmentals in badminton and she ceased crying. Phew!!! I felt really relieved and satisfied with myself for being able to pacify her.
For that day, I try to help my mom as much as I can. I try to help her in doing the housework and in cooking by helping her to handle the wok. So yesterday, it was my first time to cut the apple into slices which I don't previously been doing. I tried my very best but in the end, I was like digging holes in the apples instead of removing the seeds in the apple and cutting them into slices. Sigh!!! Perhaps I should have learnt to do more housework and learn to know how to cut apples.
I have to constantly like accompany with my sster since my mom is sick. She may look annoying but she is quite smart. Although she is only 4 years old, I treat her as 9 year old kid, being able to listen to instructions and being a bit hyperactive. So, I apply the skills that I have learnt in my SLP, about talking to her level and being patient with her. Woot!! The skills that I have learnt in SLP has so many applications in the real world. It has really benefited me. I have learnt much more than what I have contributed.

Visit by my auntie

On Saturday 11th of June 2005, my auntie and my cousin visit my house. We have a morning breakfast at blk 151 coffee shop. It is quite a happy gathering as my cousins and I chat about computer games and schoolwork while my aunt and my mom chat about current affairs and gossip about er u know things that they are interested in.
After that, my cousins and I went to my home and the first thing that all of us did is to surround the computer and use it to play computer games. All of us took turns to play the computer. All of us were enjoying the fun as we watched intently on the person on the hotseat, utilising his tactics to win a match. Besides that, we also watched some movie clips which were quite funny and lame. Although I had watched them before, watching them again still made me laugh and made me feel totally relaxed.
At around 10 plus, Yilin called me whether or not I would be going to shiqi's house to celebrate Rui Xian's birthday. I have to apologise that I cannot go as I have to take the responsibility to take good care of my cousins as they are the guests. Nevertheless, I wish Rui Xian a happy birthday an a good year ahead of her.
We have our lunch at around 2 plus in the afternoon. I ruminated why the lunch was a bit later than usual. After our lunch, it was back to computer games and gunshots were heard in my room as one of my cousins John, was playing the game entitled "Red Faction". He was playing online and was fighting against other online players.
At around 4 plus in the afternoon, all of us except my little brother Jun Wen went to the badminton court to play badminton. My little sister insists on going with us to play badminton. I was attempting to dissuade her from going with us as she is still young and besides, she doesn't know about playing badminton but in the end, my efforts were futile. In addition to playing badminton, we also played a bit soccer among ourselves in the mini soccer court near my house. I thoroughly enjoyed the outdoor activities because I think that I had felt bored being cooped up in my house and another reason for my jubliance is that I am able to make my cousins happy. Usually, one of my cousins called Germaine and her younger brother John have conflicts with each other and their brother Ian and me have to be peacemakers to ease the conflicts between them. John likes to win as scores does matter to him. Ian and I try to find reasons to make the game seem fair so that he won't feel angry or disappointed. I have learnt some things from their visit and the things that I have learnt are from SLP. SLP really makes me a different person.

Raffles Cup Competition

I shall give a brief summary of what happened during my Raffles Cup Chess Competition in Raffles Junior College. The competition commences on Monday 6th of June 2005 to 10th of June 2005. For the first round, my team battles and combats against RJC team B and the whole team lost. For me, I guess that I lost due to the fact that my opponent had trapped one of my rooks and ensue in it being eaten up.

For the second round, my team battled against SRJC team A. For that match, I have made numerous wrong moves that result to my loss in that match. That match's duration was a bit short as I have attempted to make my moves fast but sigh!!!

For the third round, my team battled against SRJC team B. I was very happy that I have won in this match due to the carelessness of my opponent. He presented me with a free rook for me to capture. I looked and scrutinsed carefully whether that rook presented to me was a trap. I analyse for a very long time and I had discovered that it was a fake trap. So, I happily captured his rook. This was the first match and the only match that I had won. I had a bit of fear during this point in time.

For my fourth round, my team battled against JJC. That match was a walkover since my opponent did not come to the venue of the competition.

For my fifth round, my team battled against SAJC. That match was an exciting match although my starting was a bit not good. One of my rooks was captured because my opponent has successfully trapped it. I have tried my very best to catch up with him. I had ruminated ways of breaking his defence but unfortunately he had seen my ploy. In the end, I lost to him. However, I was very happy with this match as this was the first match that I had ever played without fear and nervousness.

For my sixth round, my team battled against CJC. That match was certainly a long one. I had only 2 remaining horses while my opponent had 1 cannon and 1 horse. In the end, it was a draw.

For my seventh round, I lost due to my carelessness. In the last few moves, I didn't expect that my opponent will move sort of kiddish moves and in the end, he uses his rook to kill my commander. One conclusion from this match, don't underestimate kiddish moves.

I feel that I can certainly do much better in the Raffles Cup Chess Competition if I am able to overcome fear. In the first few rounds, I played my rounds with fear clinging on me which had disrupted my rational thinking and hence ensue in me making wrong moves here and there. The power of fear is certainly great but I believe that I am confident of overcoming it.

Lastly, I wish to thank shiqi and seek fong for making a din in the class 28/04. I am very sceptical that the fuss that they have made are true and I caertainly hope that they are not true. Nevertheless, I wish to thank them for the fact that they have been making feel loved, encouraged. The power of love is certainly a tool to overcome my fear. Thanks shiqi and seek fong.

Things to overcome:
Fear of Losing
Fear of Failures
Fear of not doing a good job
Fear of being late for a certain events

There are still many things that I have to be done within myself. So see you again some day.

Reflection of the Second Service Learning Project

Basically, I feel that the discussion on the second day of second Service Learning Project strikes and impacts me the most. This is due to the fact that the discussion about certain things such as the debrief, about the kids feeling distracted during the debrief, about how many of us feel irritated during the debrief when the kids are not listening to us are frank. People like Alvin just expresses their views sincerely without leaving any things behind in his minds. The points raised in this discussion are good. The discussion benefited me by a lot because I am aware of what people may think and surprisingly, many of us have the same thinking about the second SLP, about it being not as interesting as the first SLP. Although I am not very involved in this SLP in June 2005 due to chess competitions, I have felt that the reflection today is very enriching or perhaps even more fruitful than any other reflections. I have learnt a lot from people such as Alvin and Diana as they share their vast experience and knowledge with us as a class 28/04. In my mind, I also feel the urge to share my experience and I guess many of us also share similar feelings and are eager to share but is stemmed by a word called "fear". The fear of offending other people and imposing your thinking onto others stems me from speaking up. I always feel that everyone has the freedom to do something and by imposing them through your views and the rules that you have set, you are like restricing the amount of freedom that they should have.
The next factor that stems me from speaking my mind is the lack of courage. The issue in the discussion is quite controversial and nothing is absolutely right. It is a matter of whether the argument is convincing. For me, I come from a simple background, only know about the improtance of saving. Money to us is very important because our household income is not very high. Thus, we have scrimp and save whenever we can. I understand and hence I do not request for a handphone even til now in year 2005. So, I am one of the "rare" species of people that does not own handphones at all. Only about 10 % of Singaporeans do not own handphones at all. Besides, my hobby that I have and the experiences that I have is absolutely unique. Itr is true that everyone's experiences are unique and special but for me, my experience that I have is absolutely unthinkable. I read Transitlink Bus Guides since I was in Primary 3 and I like fiddling with the pens, imaging that I was a bus captain, driving a bus to the destination. I fear that my classmates are not interested by my experience.
I think that I cannot overcome fear. The feeling of fear is very strong. This is evident when I was in Raffles Cup Chess Competition. I lose two rounds due to mycarelessness and partially due to fear. I try very hard to control the fear and stop myself from being pessimistic but in my mind, the images of losing keep flashing. The fear within me has disrupted my thinking and my common sense. What should I do to overcome fear?

SLP games today

Today is quite a nice day for me. I had SLP in the morning. Our whole class 28/04 played games such as relay, blindfold and spiderweb. The comments from my classmates is that I am really very thin. I think that I have heard this since I was in primary school. As usual, I remain slim and thin.

I feel that I am very slacked nowadays as Chin Kai just called me to ask me about a math question that he had doubt about. I suddenly feel stressed. Sigh!!!! Kiasuism is striking me again.

Star Wars

I have finally watched Star Wars Espiode III for the pioneer time. The show is not bad with cool graphics. The fighting is quite emphatised in the show although the part where the generation of the "Chosen One" succumbs to the dark side is a bit strange. After this show, I reflect and conclude that the idea of good and evil is very blur. I consider good and evil to be the two extremes now upon reflecting. I have learnt quite a fair bit in this show, about betrayal, about greed. These are all man's major weakness.

Jiust yesterday, the family went to Chinatown for shopping. We bought a lot of things such as barbecued pork. Never did I expect that the People's Park Centre is now upgrading in process. It has been a few months since I have visited Chinatown.

Besides, the SMO on 1st June 2005 is interesting but hard. I have made a couple of careless mistakes here and there. Sigh!!! Never mind. I know that I have done my best so I should not fear the loss of a bronze award.

SMO

Tomorrow is quite an important day for me. It is the SMO competition. I plan to get at least a bronze award for this year SMO. So, I have to work hard for it.

For today's SLP, it is quite fun although I am late for this program. I merely just dance and have fun listening to the music don't stop and hey now. The two music are quite nice and I like the music hey now especially because it has the essence of making me feel touched. So now, I have to resume my studying. Bye.

Holidays :)

Oh!!! Holidays have arrived. Finally, I can take a break and have a Kit kat. Just joking. Anyway, just recently, I have gone to the guitar and the harmonica concert on 29th of May 2005. The concert was not too bad except for one thing that happens on that day which a fierce lady keep venting her anger on our class because we booked the seats in one part of the auditorium. I feel amazed by her reactions to this trival matter to me. More shocked rather than awed. Sigh!!!! This causes Joanne to be very sad. I just ponder about the rationale of making a big fuss about this.

Upon reflecting on this incident, I feel that it is quite inconsiderate to sort of reserve seats in the auditorium but I think she should not have shouted and making a din here because she can indirectly hurt someone by her verbal abuse and tone. Besides, upon further analysing, on that day, I see many seats available at other parts of the auditorium and so she can sit on any available seats. It is not as if there are no seats available in the auditorium and we are still reserving the seats for our friends. That act to me is considered inconsiderate.

I went to Orchard with my family last Saturday. As usual, my cousins and I went to a bookstore to read some books. I read about self improvement books about making friends and I have jotted some points in the books.

Handling people
1. Don't condemn, complain or criticise others.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Ways to make people like you
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile
3. Remember that a person's name is the few words that that person likes best.
4. Be a good listener.

All these things seem familiar to me but yet I am not practising it. Sigh!!! I have to improve on his skill.

Holidays coming

It has been almost a month since I have updated my blog. My computer has been spoilt for two weeks and this is one of the reasons of why I have not been updating my blog for a month.

My term 2 common tests have already been over and the results in my opinion are fairly poor although I have some improvement in my general paper. Phew! What a relief. This implies that environment is really my niche topic in the gp essay as the teacher commented that the points in the essay are quite well supported.

Let me write in my blog about the problem of my computer. This time, the problem that I have initially faced when I switched on my computer is that one of the system files is corrupted and therefore, the windows cannot be loaded properly. Thus, I can only load the windows in safe mode. I attempt to load the windows using normal mode but my efforts are futile. Next, I try to reformat my hard disk and install windows in my harddisk so as to refresh the whole thing and to reinstall the corrupted file using my two recovery disks. However, at about 72% of the whole recovery process, a message comes out and says that the disk in drive N is not correct. The drive N here I think refers to the cd rom drive. I try to change the recovery disk 1 to recovery disk 2 but the message still pops out. I have no choice but to cancel the whole process. After cancelling the whole process and restarting the computer, a message comes out and says that the operating system is not found and press any keys to try again. I try of course and still that message comes out.
I ask my uncle about this excerbating problem and he commented that the harddisk of my computer is corrupted. In other words, the computer is spoilt and I have to buy a new one. Then, my uncle lists down the available choices that I have when buying computer. First, I can buy the whole computer package at around 900 dollars including the CPU, monitor, mouse, keyboard. Second, I can buy only the CPU at around 600 dollars but at a better performance. I choose the second choice since my monitor and the keyboard and the mouse are still working. So I went with my uncle to buy a CPU on Saturday 21st of May 2005 at Sim Lim Square. I bought the CPU at around $665. I felt that the price is quite worth it for 384 RAM and 80 Gb harddisk space. The computer processing speed is 2.4 GHz which is already not bad. However, there is no floppy drive and so I have to install the floppy drive by myself from the old computer to this new one.
I spend the whole day 24 hours just to install the hardware and the software into this new computer. It was a tiring task and it was only me to be blamed for not taking care of my computer properly. Once bitten, twice shy. I know now and taste the consequences of not protecting my computer well enough. The process is really tiring. On Saturday and Monday, I spend about 24 hours in total to settle with my computer. After going out with my uncle to Sim Lim Square, I learned quite a lot from him. Besides, he also treated me to a meal. That is quite nice of him. I attempt to learn more about computers as much as I can from him so that I am able to repair my computer or to upgrade my computer by myself.
On Saturday, I went for college day. It was a rather boring event and the only thing that I do there is to clap my two hands to generate loud clapping sounds for the prize winners. I think that it is not easy to be a prize winners of the college day as it takes utmost efforts and that the person must be really hardworking to score good grades. For that Saturday, I arrived to school in a nick of time and luckily my uncle gave me a lift to Toa Payoh MRT Station. If I have chosen to board bus 851, I would have been late for college day. Ya, I remember something, for that day, I think that the choir performance is really cool. They make use of rhymes, stomping on the ground and trying to make background music to create the sense of atmosphere required for the song. They are really pro because they are not only just singing the song. I feel that the rhymes and the stomping of the feet on the floor and the making of music just coordinates well to form a masterpiece.
On Sunday, I went for the Big Walk. Wow. When I board bus 70 from my house to National Stadium, almost half of the passengers in the bus were also going for the Big Walk. For that event, my younger brother and I went to the Big Walk and I could say that walking 10 kilometres is certainly not an easy task. The route is from National Stadium to Esplanade Drive and back to National Stadium. My brother and I walked for about 75% of the 10 kilometres and ran for the remaining 25 %. The Big Walk event had a high turnout of nearly 50000 people. When the Big Walk event commenced, my brother and I waited for about 3 minutes until we really walked at our walking speed. My whole body felt refreshed after the walk and I was very satisfied with myself that I was able to complete a 10 km walk. After the walk, my feet had some blisters and mud as the ground there was muddy.
On that same day in the evening, I went to the Esplanade to watch the band and co concert. The concert is quite successful and I feel that the music played by the band and the co is really good. One can see that the band and the co have practised really hard for this concert. Besides, what is impressive is one of the performances by the co where one student from 03/04 performed solo. The thing that impressed me is that he didn't read scripts when he was playing with his musical instrument. Furhtermore, on that day, I witnessed how people dressed themselves up to watch a show in the esplanade. Some of them dressed formally with nice clothes and pants and dresses. It was a fashion show to me on that day.

Service 168 is now one of my most frequent boarded service. It plies from Bedok to Woodlands via Tampines. The reason is that it is now fast to take this service to Woodlands rather than taking MRT. The time required to reach Woodlands from my house is around 30 - 40 minutes depending on the waiting times of the buses.

The End

A new me

It has been almost three weeks since I have last blogged. These three weeks were filled with enriching experiences and very valuable lessons that I possibly could not learn in the classroom. First up is the Track and Field Meet 2005 in the 28th of April 2005. A few days before the actual meet, I have problems handling the recruitment of the participants involved in the March Pass as many students are not aware that they are in for March Pass. Perhaps, the House Captains just write down their names in the list of participants for the March Pass without informing them. Luckily, Mr.Alex Lee, our teacher has managed to help us avert this imminent and impending disaster. Luckily, the whole Track and Field Meet 2005 is a success and there are not much screw ups during the March Pass in the actual Track and Field Meet 2005. Everyone has laughter and fun at that time and of course many free drinks and free foods. This is one experience that I will probably never forget because this is the first time that I have organising this event and luckily it turns out to be successful. Through this thingy, I have witnessed my own flaws and my own weakness. Therefore, I shall strive to minimise my flaws and overcome my weakness and be a new me.
On the 30th of April 2005, I went out with my classmates to Alvin's church. That was quite a new experience for me because I had never attended a church and I had never known about what the atmosphere would be like. The songs that Alvin had sung were appealing to my ears. It was as though that a rock band was singing and the sounds produced there was simply terrific. Although I was not used to the fact that every sentence that they were singing were praising Jesus, I began to love the music and attempted to adapt to this new environment. The speech that Alvin and the youth leader have given is simply very convincing. They talked about opening up our hearts and trying out new things. In my mind, I was cogitating about what is my purpose of living in this earth where pollution already prevails and man are killing themselves. Til then, both of them are the keys to the treasure chest that has been locked for around 17 years. I realised what is the purpose of my life and there was one thing that was stemming me and that was my confidence. My low level of confidence was impeding me into directing myself towards that purpose of my life that I wish to have. I fear that I will take a risk because I have not attempted it yet. After going to the church, we went for a dinner and Alvin treated us to Swensens and I ate an ice cream.
Tests are around the corner as May approaches. I got 68% for my maths and I have this strong feeling that my love for maths has become more and more distant. I began to feel the struggle of the difficulty of grasping cerain concepts in certain chapters. I was feeling very down and weary after long hours of school. The burden that I was carrying everyday to school and back to home was simply too heavy for me. Luckily, there was this Labour Day on the 1st of May 2005 to provide me with a day of rest and a day to catch up. On this day, I went to Woodlands to accompany my friends for revisions and to do our homework. With friends, we all managed to study for 8 hours without rest. That was one miracle for me as I had never persevered for that long before.
As May approaches, I can feel the immense atmosphere of competitions approaching. SYFs and sports competitions have been on the topic in AJC as many students are chatting about the rigorous training schedules and their hardwork and utmost efforts put specially for their respective competitions.
Stopping here!!!!
Avoid scaracity thinking

Stress?

Recently, I have really experienced the might of stress. In one of the surveys that I have done about my personality, it says that I am a "perfectionist". After looking up the meaning of this word in the dictionary, Longman dictionary mentions that "someone who is not satisfied with anything unless it is completely perfect."I feel that this is really true as I always set high expectations of myself when doing things. However, for now, I am beginning to feel that things are getting out of the control. I have many problems hounding in my mind, Track and Field, Studies, Chess, Maths Olyampid. These are the three main problems in my mind.
I feel that I am beginning to grapple with my studies. I find difficulty in grasping certain concepts in content based subjects. I think I have to settle this problem by hook or by crook.
Another week has passed with intense pressure applied on my brain. I keep reflecting every night and day whether I have set the expectations of myself too high that I cannot cope or that I cannot achieve. There is one period that I am careless in doing things and I don't even know the causes of this. Careless is a weakness but cannot be utilised as an excuse. I have to eradicate and obliterate this weakness of mine. This will be a psychological battle with the careless virus within my mind. I know I can control it and I know I can deal with it by relaxing myself.

Optimistic future

Recently, there is this earthquake that struck Nias. Just now, I was just doing a mindmap of this article entitled "Situation in Nias is worse than expected." This roughly gives the idea that this earthquake of magnitude 8.7 on the Richtier scale has inflicted tremendous amount of damage, be it to the people and economy and buildings. Many people were left homeless as buildings turned into debris and wreckages within a night and refugees camps were set up. An abandoned school has been convertedinto a temporry hospitial to treat the injured . One can detect the strong putrid stench of the rotting bodies at the streets as the rescue teams attempt to scramble for survivors.
When I knew about this incident three days ago, I felt fortunate and lucky to be in Singapore. However, the tremors occurring in Singapore as a result of this earthquake has prompted many people to call the police. This makes me ruminate whether Singaporeans are vulnerable to natural disasters. It is just that for me, I have encountered few setbacks in the case of natural disasters. I feel myself being weak and I suddenly have this feeling of unease. However, as I read the newspaper article, I am inspired by the reactions of the locals there. The reaction from the locals from this earthquake are quite similar to the reaction from them during the tsunami incident. This is what inspired me. The time lapse between the tsunami incident and this earthquake is rather short and yet they are not mentally beaten. They remain optimistic to the future, thinking that hope always prevails.

For yesterday, the filming of the Service Learning Project also makes me feel a sense of belonging to the class. I always think that it is not a matter of saying but it is a matter of doing it because actions certainly speak louder than words. When the whole class play one of the energiser games entitled "United We Stand", everyone just puts in their utmost efforts to stand up together regardless of race, language or religion. Although there will be always problems and difficulties that we encounter that impede our road to success, with a tenacious attitude and an optimistic mind like the kids in Indonesia in the aftermath of the earthquake, nothing is implausible. The filming yesterday was a tremendous success. Initially, I am very nervous with the camera staring at me, scanning the whole class as we proceed to do our reflections for our Service Learning Project, this feeling has abated as the whole class play the energiser game. Time really flies and for me, I was not aware of the time until Benjamin announces the stop of the playing of the games and proceed to do our reflections. I look at the clock and I am amazed that half an hours have been utilised just to play this game. During the time when the whole class was playing the game, all of us just act naturally and there were no NGs. Wow, that's cool.