The 4th (and last) opening sequence for the "Full Metal Alchemist" anime series.
I miss the days spent watching FMA. I remember it was in J1 and I got the series from Debra and Sharleen, and strangely enough, we were the only ones crazy over it. I don't usually hang out with them in school, but we got quite close over anime and manga. Then again, I'm one of those people who appears to have been quite good at making friends with all the different cliques in the class, so yeah, how typical of me.
I remember having this SUPERB ability in predicting plotlines and I remember breaking Sharleen's attempts in teasing me about future episodes by saying totally random stuff about the storyline, e.g. 'I bet this character is actually this character's mother/father/child.' and laughing at her 'HOW DID YOU KNOW!?!??!?' face. I even correctly guessed that the Homonculi in the anime were simply the failed human transmutations that developed further due to the aid of the Philosopher's stone, and that was like a major twist in the storyline. So really, things don't really surprise me unless they really are good twists!
Many thanks to Dory for lending me her FMA mangas! The mangas are so different from the anime that I'm a little confused right now. But despite the confusing differences in characters and occurrences, the story really sucks you in. Very entertaining and exciting.
"The world isn't perfect, and the law is incomplete. Equivalent Exchange doesn't encompass everything that goes on here. But I still choose to believe in its principle: that all things do come at a price. That there's an ebb, and a flow, a cycle. That the pain we went through did have a reward and that anyone who's determined and perseveres will get something of value in return, even if it's not what they expected." - Alphonse Elric
Very true indeed. And that my friends, is the principle of Equivalent Exchange.
I was digging through my CD collection today when I came upon a CD that was burned by a friend of mine as a birthday present. Thinking that its been ages since I last listened to the songs in that album, I decided to listen to it. Written on the disc were the words 'Happy Birthday! You're 15 now!!!' Reading those words made me realize that THAT many years have already passed. Its quite bewildering really, because I can't seem to remember much details of what had happened in between the time spent til now. All that comes to mind is the amount of studying I did for my O'levels, then the A'levels and now Pros. Which brings to mind the image of me ,5 years from now, not being able to recall all the fun and interesting stuff I did in medicine when I look back to my medical school days then.
One of the songs in that album was the movie soundtrack version of 'There Can Be Miracles', which had the children's choir singing Hebrew in it. I remember being quite addicted to the song then. 5 years ago, I used to face any hardships with the rather uninspiring 'There can be miracles' quote. Somewhere along the road, I guess I dropped it. Perhaps its not to late to pick it up all over again.
HAHA, Geraldine uploaded two more new videos! These were from a concert at the Esplanade, my one and probably only time that I ever got to perform there. I think this concert precedes the one previously posted. Oh wait, Kailiang's in it as well! So yeah, it REALLY precedes the other concert then!
Honestly, the quality of this particular song was quite bad. HAHA. There were obvious blemishes and 管乐's 音准 was erm... not that good eh? And I remember that I never practiced this song properly! So yeah, wonderful memories!
I've performed this song like dunno how many times liao. Nice song though. Brings back lots of memories with the 中阮 people. Good times, good times!
It's probably going to be harder identifying me in these, because the camera guy didn't really focused on me. Again, really funny. AND WTF! I HAD DAMN BAD POSTURE WHILE PLAYING THE INSTRUMENT! Should have gotten a backbone then man! ________________________________________________________
Thanks to Geraldine, I'm ON youtube!
From some long forgotten era where I still played a Chinese Orchestra instrument called the Ruan (阮) and still looked like an anorexic nerd. Oh wait. That hasn't changed at all! I STILL look like an anorexic nerd! TRY AND FIND ME! A free drink for anyone who manages to find me in that mass of people!
If you looked carefully, there's this part where the video caught me changing notes halfway through the song, because I came to the realization that I was playing the WRONG note! Its quite funny when you realized that your mistakes on stage actually got caught on camera! But then, I wasn't that conscientious a musician anyway. Because I was so lazy, I didn't have the patience and will power to practice diligently, so I never mastered my instrument properly. But then again, that's a recurring theme in my life - I'm quite smart and talented enough to be okay in stuff I pick up, but because of my fickle-mindedness and laziness, I can never ever be perfect in them. Jack of all trades, but master of none.
On another note, it feels really WEIRD to see yourself on youtube. Now I know why certain actors never like to watch themselves on the screen - its just weird. It must have been weird for Gladys to discover that she was on youtube ages ago as well - boy, how I used to make fun of her when I discovered those videos! So I apologize Gladys, for any trauma I might have caused!
I actually think I made quite a number of mistakes in that performance! This is so funny! I think this video convinced me to not ever pick up that instrument for at least the next five years. I think I'm so much better off listening and appreciating it than being involved in producing it! Hehe.
Every weekend, I watch repeats of the classic Channel 8 drama, "东游记" also known as the "Legend of the 8 Immortals". Its one of my favourite Channel 8 dramas ever, and one of the last before I entered secondary school and stopped watching Channel 8 dramas altogether.
What I loved about the show then was its charismatic cast, that while not Hollywood perfect, had perfect chemistry and really portrayed their characters well. And of course the story between the characters, especially the whole friendship and camaraderie theme among the 8 Immortals, in particular that between the three 2nd generation immortals (who later became the most powerful of the lot): Lu Dong Bin, Han Xiang Zi & He Xian Gu. Now that I'm rewatching the series, I find that I love the show for exactly the same reasons, though I must say the animation, based on today's standards, is really tacky.
My favourite characters are Han Xiang Zi, He Xian Gu and Zhang Guo Lao. Han Xiang Zi because he is the perfect gentleman and I wanted to be like him, He Xian Gu because of her strong sense of righteousness and loyalty to friends and Zhang Guo Lao because he is so funny! How I wish I were an Immortal and I could be flying in the clouds and saving people!
Oh and it had an amazing theme song too! Absolutely loved it!
HCJC MAF '07 was held on the 15th of September. It was a night filled with the same old feelings of nostalgia. I sorta think MAF is just one big excuse for HC alumnus to just keep reminiscing of the good old times that are now long gone. HC is the only JC institution that has such an event, which strengthens the whole image of everyone of us being part of this huge family. But its good! Good excuse to just temporarily forget about the present and to live in the past. (just make sure you don't get stuck living in the past for too long. =p)
I miss 71. I really do. My favourite photo is that of the label on my classbench - they haven't changed it yet! It's as if 04s71's spirit still lives on in that wooden bench that we were so proud to call ours. Sigh.
I think I speak for all 71-ians out there when I say that our CT, Mr Wong totally made our day when he sent us a SMS that night. Here's the message; its too hilarious to NOT post it here:
"It was really nice seeing so many members of the class today. What I shall remember most about 71 is the solidarity of spirit shown and the sincerity of friendship shared. What impresses me too is the admirable humility of so many of you who are indisputably high achievers on your own terms. Wanted to catch up with all of you on a one-to-one basis, but think we were somewhat pressed for time today.. We'll meet again end of the year outside of college. Should be a nice change. Can meet for dinner at say, Marche or something."
Its such a typical Mr Wong kind of message. I was laughing my hearts out when I was reading it out to a few of the girls whom I was having supper with. But even though we thought it was funny, I guess we all felt that it was also darn true. All Mr Wong did was just use his awesome command of English and express what all of us couldn't. What he was describing was just that bond that my class had. It was a unique bond, and one that I can PROUDLY say NO OTHER CLASS in HCJC HAD. We were mad when we wanted to be mad, we were hard-working when we had to be hard-working; we had loads of fun all the time, but at the end of the day, we made sure all of us produced the results that was needed. And most importantly, we tried to do everything without anyone being left behind. It was a great class to be in, filled with genuine, good-natured, good-hearted people and I love everyone of them for being that just.
Geraldine and I are trying to get all 71-ians to change their MSN personal messages to "solidarity of spirit shown and the sincerity of friendship shared." That'll be so darn cool.
Photos galore! Credit for the light up photo goes to Shinwei, wasn't around at the light up because the guys + suan went off to watch Lileng's dance concert.
I met up with my classmates/fellow economics 'S' students, Ailin, Eesuan and Huilin last night. Weishu was supposed to join us and make it a full Econs 'S' outing (so geeky!) but unfortunately, something cropped up back home and he couldn't make it. So it was just me and the 3 girls. I brought them to the MINT cafe (and so, indirectly contributed to Huipei's pocket money) mainly to escape the crowds that was flooding the city on a Saturday night, and also to use all the coupons that I accumulated from DnD. (Huilin, if you are reading this, I WANT PHOTOS!)
It was great to meet up with them. Actually, I had already met up with them on separate occasions prior to that, but not as a group. So what was great this time round was the group dynamics of our Thursday lessons after school, staying back and lazing at the class bench all over again. I kinda miss studying Economics with them. I miss the days where I was dealing something that was ambiguous, where you could just argue or debate your way through, without needing that much fact to substantiate your views. Medicine's all about facts, which is so memory intensive that it causes memory burn. I miss my LDMR, market theory, fiscal and monetary policies etc.
It was interesting to hear the girls talk about their community service stints in China. All three of them went to China to do community service, quite a coincidence really. The fact that they all took the plunge and just gamely went on OCIP trips really impressed me, because I'm always deliberating over going to OCIPs (see my previous entry dated 27/08/07). But I've always felt the girls from 71 were all very unique and impressive individuals, and I've learnt so much from befriending them. Inspiring people.
2 years on and it appears we have all become slightly jaded. The girls saw my matriculation photo taken during prom, and they were commenting that I looked so 'youthful' in it, and that I look 'old' now. 'Old' is such a wrong word though! I guess its just time exhibiting its effects on all of us. I do feel slightly jaded with life actually. You learn things about life - about dealing with people, dealing with work, dealing with society. At least I know now that not everything is as simple as ABC, and not everything is as idealistic as how I want it to be. Also, I seem to be talking less these days, which is a good thing because I sometimes talk too much. I find that I have nothing much to share or talk about. The problems and experiences I have these days are so trivial compared to the problems that they have been facing, it makes me feel ashamed of myself.
Ailin said I've changed. Its interesting to note that change seems to be a constant in my life, because its not the first time someone told me that I've change. But hey, at least they all say that I've always been constantly changing for the better. Besides being thinner, more adult looking, apparently I've become more sociable and more sure of the way the world is and more sure of my place in it. Whether I've really changed or not, I don't really know. Maybe its a subtle thing, but I would like to think that if I've changed, its not for the sake of change alone, but rather change for a reason, from within.
Okay, I don't have much time to blog now, because my brother is gonna pick me up soon - we're going to my primary school teacher's house to visit her before she delivers in approximately 2 weeks time. Haven't seen her for ages - think its going to be very very awkward (argh). I just hope I don't die from the awkwardness or something. But then I think my throat's gonna kill me first so I don't think it seriously matters.
Anyway, had econs 's' outing with my econs 's' clique (sans Suan who's in China right now!) on Thursday (26/06/07) Ailin and Huilin are both back, so Weishu organised a get together to celebrate Ailin's belated birthday. Went to Suntec to eat Xiao Long Baos because the girls are sick of Western food, having been studying in Western countries for the past 9 months or so. After that went to TCC to drink coffee and chit chat and catch up. Brought back lots and lots of memories of the numerous econs 's' lessons, where we did nothing but talk cock because we didn't bother to listen to what the teacher was talking about, or because we just didn't understand what was being taught. Plus all the numerous outings as well, where on the surface it was supposed to be some discussion meeting for our projects etc, but ended up being a talk cock session or something like that. And the way the girls always bully me and Weishu - either asking me to treat them to ice cream or asking Weishu to do utterly stupid stuff. The sad thing was the two of us usually do as they commanded us to do... which is quite pathetic really. Oh and the fact that we like to make fun of various members of the Hwa Chong Economics Department! Always a favourite hobby of mine. =p
Everyone from 04s71 seems to be so damn busy, even though its like the holiday season. Its seriously hard to organise a class outing with a respectable attendance right now. Will try to organise one seriously big get together before the holidays end, when I am certain that everyone is back from their various overseas trips/attachments/CIPs and stuff. National Day looks good though... shall plan it out.
On Tuesday evening (26/06/07), I went to Ang Mo Kio Hub for what was supposed to be a 4I meddies gathering. Unfortunately due to certain reasons, only 3 of the 5 of us turned up. I have no idea if David actually invited Yih Chyn or not, and since Zejia was down with a fever, it was just him, me and Bingcheng.
We had dinner at New York New York. I had a juicy burger, which was really juicy. I had quite a messy time eating that burger which kept leaking juices all over the bloody table. It was quite a nightmare, but in the end, I managed to consume that burger as best as I could. Apart from the fact that it was dripping juices like a leaky sponge, it actually tasted quite good! Also had a rather nice bowl of vegetable soup, which was quite delicious actually. Tasty and healthy to boot!
After dinner, it was just more aimless wandering. There wasn't much movies to watch, and although David wanted to watch Nancy Drew, I absolutely refused to watch that film - so in the end, we didn't watch any movies. (I'm sorry David, but you can watch the movie another time. Just don't do it with me around.) I was also struck by a sudden urge to buy a box of durian pancakes for my family, and ended up queuing for an hour just to buy a box of 5 durian pancakes. In the end, to reward myself for my amazing show of resilience and patience, I also purchased a box of 20 durian puffs. Unfortunately, I am now suffering from a sore throat due to an over indulgence in durian puffs - I ate around 10 of the puffs for supper last night and woke up with the feeling that someone had plugged my throat with goo. So I'm not so fond of my durian puffs anymore. Instead, I've been trying to remedy the situation by eating lots of strepsils and drinking lots of warm water. I think I need to rest before the goo accumulates and spills out of my nostrils and ear holes or something. Argh.
Once I had purchased my Durian goods, we sat down at the fountain for some good old reminiscing. Its amazing that I can still remember the exact sitting arrangement of my secondary 4 classroom. And I can remember the names and characters of the people in it too. Unfortunately, I have lost contact with quite alot of them. I probably am aware of only approximately half of their whereabouts - the rest are really just... non-existent to me right now. Its quite sad, but the truth is I was never that close to my secondary 3/4 classmates in Chinese High - I had a very small circle of friends in 3/4I, was friendly to the some of them, and basically didn't really bother socializing much with the rest of the class.
I think I've changed quite a lot since my days in Chinese High. David and Bingcheng were both saying that I've changed, but exactly how I had changed, is still a sort of mystery to me. Bingcheng was telling me that I was 'very anti-establishment' during my days in Chinese High, and used to frighten people off because I was 'always sulking and in a sullen mood' whereas David said I 'didn't like to talk much' and was 'just very different'. I guess they were right. I remember being a very very angry kid in Secondary school. I was definitely very anti-establishment, I despised the majority and would usually choose to do things my own way, and would select a path that would obviously deviate very greatly from the general consensus. I definitely didn't bother to socialize. If I met a group of strangers, I wouldn't bother to be the first one to offer a handshake or make an effort to get to know you - I was more of like the guy who would just not care: if you wanted to talk to me, I would most certainly talk to you, but if you didn't want to, I wouldn't care either. (I know, I know, very AP right? But what to do? I was that kind of person then.)
And with regards to teachers, I remember being the kind of student who would respect the teachers I felt were competent, but would utterly loathe those that I felt were incorrigible, so much so that I wouldn't care if my grades for that respective subject would suffer as - as long as I hated that teacher, I would develop an intense dislike for that subject as well. That was the reason why I was failing my A-maths in Secondary 3, because I felt the teacher who was teaching us was a fraud, so I refused to do well and put in effort for mathematics. And when our maths teacher was changed in Secondary 4, my grades for mathematics saw a definite improvement, only because I respected the new teacher and his teaching style. And my intense dislike for physics could be attributed to the fact that I felt that my physics teacher in secondary 3 and 4 was an absolute joke. He was basically a male Trelawney, and he looked the part to boot, with his over-sized spectacles that made him look like a dragonfly or something, plus his tendency to speak in overenthusiastic/overmystical gestures about things like waves and forces and light rays. I was so turned off by his nonsensical teaching style that I became rather turned off with the subject he was attempting to teach as well, and thus, this officially led to the demise of what little interest I had in physics.
So yeah. I think I have long moved on from those angry, angsty days. I still think some things won't change, such as the fact that I'm pretty anti-establishment, and also the fact that I tend to choose to path I want to choose, even if its not exactly the path most traveled. But I think I've definitely mellowed over the years, I'm less reckless in that area these days - I'll actually stop to think about the consequences before doing anything too drastic. I think I've definitely lost my edge now. And I won't be non-conformist just for the sake of being non-conformist, which is something I definitely would do sometimes when I was in Secondary school. I am still proud of the fact that I have non-conformist tendencies, or even a social conscience that's more skewed towards causes that aren't necessarily supported by the majority. But of course, I'm also a bit conservative as well, so I guess I'm more of a conservative liberal or liberal conservative (whichever term you prefer to use.)
And in terms of socializing, okay, I think JC changed that considerably. I think I'm definitely more open to making friends and socializing these days, at least I know I'm no longer that kind of person who chooses to be a hermit. I definitely talk alot now, in fact I think sometimes talk too much. But I guess there's still a limit as to the amount of friends I choose to make - and when I meet people that are just acquaintances, I tend to revert back to my old character of avoiding them, or ignoring them even, because I seriously don't know how to relate to them - a kind of shock or even fear courses through me every time I meet someone that I recognise but isn't close to. I'll be gripped with a sudden urge to hide or disappear as fast as I can. Don't ask me why, I'm just like that. Its just a innate part of my character to not want to have to socialize with people that I am not close to. Maybe I fear the perceived awkwardness of the situation. Yes that has to be it. I am very very fearful of awkward situations. Especially awkward silences - they KILL ME.
I think one thing comes clear from such reminiscing sessions of old classmates - its a pity that I wasn't more into keeping contact with old friends. Just that well, the people I was really close to were the CO kids, and not 4I. My loyalty was to my CCA and not my class then. But things change when people grow older and develop as individuals. I don't really know whether I've changed alot or changed very little - I guess that's up to the people who have known me since Secondary School. But one thing is for certain; whether we change for the better or the worse, its best not to overindulge in what is nothing more than memories of the past. Let us instead, work on paving the way to a better future.
04s71 went to the zoo today. Or rather 6 members of 04s71 went to the zoo today. It was kinda sad that an outing with an expected turn out of 11 ended up just being an outing of 6. But its so typical of 71. What can we say, we sorta expected it. Haha. So in the end it was just the 6 of us: Gilyn, Shinwei, Khengwee, Yisheng, Anthony and me.
I love the zoo. Ever since I was a child, the zoo was the one and only place that I loved to visit. It definitely has to do with the fact that I love animals, and in fact, I still do. I'd always said that if I didn't get accepted into Medical School, I most likely would have gone overseas to read veterinary science, and come back to be a vet or something. And working in the zoo, or volunteering there for the matter, has always been somewhat of a dream of mine. And unfortunately, its been a dream I have yet to have fulfilled. So maybe, one day, when everything is right, I will actually get to work or volunteer there. We'll see.
I just have to mention about this particular sheep. He has a serious case of an indirect hernia. I am serious. I was so so traumatized and worried for this sheep that I became quite distraught and obsessed with trying to determine what was wrong with him. You can ask the rest of them. Plus he was a sheep, one of my kind, and it pains me to see one of my kind in such trouble. Really felt the sheep's pain. I mean, it had horribly horribly stretched testicles, so stretched that it was touching the floor. It was so painful to even watch him walk around the enclosure. I hope the vets treat him or something, and put him out of his misery. Poor dude.
Spot the Kangaroo!
Shinwei asked me to pull the nose of the statue of the Probiscus Monkey and take a photo with it. So here it is. We did a lot of stupid things really. The girls were debating which animals they liked based on their faces - whether they had evil faces or kind faces - which I think is a very strange way to explain why you like a certain animal. And we kept pretending we were intellects who knew all about the animals, spurting out random facts about the animals, when the truth is that we were just merely reciting the information on the boards at the enclosures. Once, some of us even started jumping to try to get some goat like creature to jump with us. Oh and when Gilyn started singing 'When you're happy and you know it, wag your tail!' Shinwei and I actually went 'Wag wag!' And the four of them were quite amazed that 2 medical students could be so childish as to sing along. I think we were both quite amazed too. Haha!
Oh the Baboons are amazing. The Singapore Zoo's Baboon exhibit is a very very fantastic example of how landscaping plays an important part in making the enclosure so much more realistic. It was amazing to watch the Baboons running around, living lives so startling similar to our own. Its like watching a soap opera. Always a hoot.
This king cobra was apparently attracted to me. It slithered all the way across the enclosure, right to the corner where I stood. And when I moved away, it slithered away. The rest say its because it wants to bite me. I say its because it knows that I'm Lord Voldemort and thus am able to communicate with snakes. So it slithered across the room to pay homage to its great master. Hehe.
Butterfly from the Fragile Forest trying to suck out the juices of Yisheng's hand.
Ben N Jerry's! We treated ourselves to Ben N Jerry's after a day of walking.
I had fun in the zoo today. But then I always have fun in the zoo. Haha. Its an annual sorta thing, go there almost once every year. I think I will never get sick of it, seeing the animals, listening to them, makes me happy. I dunno why. Maybe its telling that I feel so much happier around animals compared to being around humans.
I have so many other photos of other beautiful animals to post. I'm just gonna leave them for my own viewing pleasure.
I met up with my class guys today! About time too. I think its been ages since we had a proper 'all guys outing'. It was a pity Alex couldn't make it due to his fetish for Saturday duties, but hey, a turn out of 6 out of 7 guys is still good. Oh well. The disadvantages of having so little guys in your class. Haha.
I arrived third today, around 15 minutes late. I'm sorry Kheng Wee and Yisheng! I didn't mean to be late, seriously. Blame it on the road conditions! There's always a jam at the junction near Tekka Mall. Irritating. But anyway, the rest of the guys were later than me, so the 3 of us made our way first to the restaurant to have our favourite Ah Yat dim sum. We chose to go to the Bugis branch, which we have never been to before because it didn't offer any discount. But we got so tired of walking into Turf City for the branch which offered the 50% discount so we had to exchange cheaper prices for the greater level of convenience.
By a sheer stroke of coincidence, we were allocated the table 71. Can you imagine our delight? Guys from class 71 being allocated the table 71. We should have bought lottery or something. We were feeling quite out of place in the restaurant because it was situated in a hotel, and I think most of their clientele is made up of rich tourists who were ordering huge abalone slices and stuff. And here we were, a bunch of university students and NSFs, complaining about the lack of discounts and high prices. It was quite amusing. Anyway, Hanjie, Anthony and Mao Jiang eventually arrived. We ordered lots of our favourite Dim Sum delights, like the delicious 龙须 and 猪肠粉. Despite the slightly higher prices, we just decided to let it all go and just eat. Just kept pigging out. It was really quite heavenly. Haha. In the end, I think the assistant captain of the restaurant got so impressed with us that she offered us a 15% discount, and told us to come back next time and look for her so that she'll offer us a discount again. So we were quite happy! Haha. In the end the bill amounted to around $20 each, which we felt was quite worthed it considering the amount of food we ordered. Money well spent.
We had a fun time catching up. I haven't met Mao for such a long time (I think the rest of the guys too.) He is the only guy among us 7 to sign on as a Navy Officer, so his life is remarkably different compared to the rest of us. He hasn't commissioned yet, he is commissioning on 10th of June, but since he is a LSA recipient, he is gonna start University this August, faster than the rest of the guys still in the military. Plus the fact that he was the only guys from our class to be enlisted in March, he was in a batch totally different from us. So his experiences in the military, is so different from us. The stories he kept telling us, about how his batch was filled with Poly graduates who are so much more... erm, promiscuous and flippant and rebellious than us JC graduates are so amusing. Just listening to how he has to deal with them, and how exasperated he gets is quite funny. But you just know that Mao has his ways of surviving without being tempted by their wild lifestyles, cause he is a man of principle and he knows how to deal with them, to politely reject their offer to go 'bang bang' with them without being rude. Anyway, Mao is just simply Mao. Still the same old gentle giant with the funny sense of humour. Haha. Really nice catching up with him.
After lunch, we decided to go walk around at Bugis to see what we could do. The theatre there was screening nothing but "Spider-man 3" which most of us had already caught, the arcade there was freaking crowded, which kinda put us off, the place was PACKED which again put us off, so we decided to head our way to town. Hanjie left to go to watch a competition, so it was left with the 5 of us. We wanted to watch a movie, but the slots weren't good, and considering the fact that it was Saturday, the rest of Singapore was probably booking tickets in the cinemas as well. We tried looking for good timings, from Cine to Lido to PS to Cathay, trying to find good seats for a good time slot for either "28 Weeks Later" or "Bridge to Terabithia". But most of the theatres were actually reserved for "Spider-man 3"! Man, we were quite pissed, because the sheer number of theatres that Spidey3 took up was just reducing the number of theatres for other movies. Couldn't understand why so many people were still watching Spidey3 - most of the slots for it at every single cinema is sold out. Madness. So in the end we couldn't find a movie to watch, ended up chilling at Starbucks in Cathay, where we caught up with the latest trends, hookups (among the girls), and our individual lives. We started planning an all guys trip to Australia at the end of the year. And a fishing trip out on Anthony's new fishing boat. Kinda hyped up by that! Woo hoo! Fishing on a boat! What a life man! Anthony is gonna get a boating license, so that he can take people to Singapore's off shore islands to fish and do stuff! How cool is that?
We chatted all the way til the sun had set, then we decided to head our way down to Suki Sushi for dinner. Since we were still really full from the Dim Sum lunch, we decided to not eat the buffet and ordered a la carte instead. The servings there were HUGE. I think all of us ended kinda bloated from the sheer amount of food we had to eat. Argh. I hope we don't suffer from indigestion. Dinner ended at around 9, and we decided to just head home. Guess we can't handle long days out anymore without needing some form of perk-up like coffee or a nice afternoon nap. Sigh. We really are getting old. Bleah.
Really happy that I managed to meet up and catch up with the rest of the guys. That's the kind of thing you get when you have a class with a gender disparity. There were only 7 of us against 19 girls. So despite being remarkably different individuals, we really didn't have a choice - it was simply a case of guys uniting against the overwhelming oppression from the girls. Haha. 71 guys rule! Muahahaha.
10/05/07 I woke up at the unearthly hour of 0600 again. This time, it was so that I could go down to the Singapore Conference Hall to get tickets for the Singapore Youth Festival Central Judging for Chinese Orchestras from Junior Colleges. I've been pretty hyped up for this year's SYF, even more so compared to the years where I was actually competing in. Been looking forward to it since the end of Pros really, and the couple of times where I've went back to listen to the Juniors' practice sessions. I must say I was quite worried because in the last practice session that I attended, they weren't spectacular. But Alex told me that they improved tremendously over the past few days, and that they were definitely of 'Gold with Honours' standard now. So I was quite excited about their performance.
I reached the SCH at around 8, after hitching a ride with my Dad. It was a rather frosty journey because he was still mad at me. But anyway, he dropped me off at Aljunied MRT near his office, and I took the train down to Tanjong Pagar. Received a couple of rather distraught messages from Alice saying that there was no one there. Turns out that they were only distributing tickets at 0830 in the morning, so naturally most people were going to turn up at around that time. Ended up waiting for people to arrived. Quite a number of supporters from my batch and senior batches turned up. And then we went in at around 0845 or so, to watch the whole tedious proceedings.
The most difficult thing about sitting through an SYF central judging is the fact that you have so many schools, playing the same set piece over and over again. I mean, its okay if the set piece is nice, or if the schools are able to perform the set piece well... But very often, you get a set piece that isn't erm... fit for human appreciation, or schools that aren't of a sufficient standard to perform a rather challenging set piece. This year's set piece was rather nice, and a piece I was quite familiar with considering the fact that I'd been back for so many practice sessions. But sad to say, it was a very challenging piece to perform, and *cough* most schools were lacking in skill to perform it. So after awhile, I found myself hopelessly exasperated over the lack of standard and couldn't help but day dream. Geraldine, who sat beside me, was trying to overwrite her instincts to micturate, despite having a full bladder that probably reached the level of her umbilicus and all. But due to the fact that they juniors had a balloted slot in the late morning, we didn't really have much of a choice. We had to sit through a mind numbling amount of schools' performances before they performed.
I was very nervous for them. I was so distracted by my heart beat (that sounded strangely magnified during the set piece) that I didn't really pay attention to their performance. But listening to the recordings now, I must say they executed it well. A little mistakes here and there but that's entirely normal in SYF performances. I think their set piece was the best among the schools I heard that day, and I say this not out of biasness but based on what I know about Chinese Orchestra music. But their set piece wasn't what impressed me. It was their choice piece - by then, I had managed to calm myself down and was able to truly appreciate it. It was fantastic. I think it was so much better than my own batch's performance, and that it was on par to the performance my seniors executed to clinch the champion spot in 2003. It was very well executed, very well expressed. They did everything perfectly. It was very inspiring to see them excel on stage. I felt an upsurge of emotion during their song, something which hasn't happened to me at a concert for a very long time. And they did what my seniors managed to do 4 years ago - to not just perform a piece, but to make inspiring music.
There was such a marked difference in the kind of music the Juniors produced compared to the rest of the schools, so much so that there was a subtle difference in the way the audience reacted. It was quite amusing, because we were sitting in front of a row of TJC seniors. They kept expressing awe about our juniors' performance, and we couldn't help but over hear some of their conversation - "This is what is called 'Gold with First Class Honours'!", "Their pieces were so well executed! They sound so different form the rest of the schools! They are literally of a different level compared to all of the rest!", "This is why HCCO is the front runner of JC COs." Geraldine's friend who was in NJ and also present at the judging messaged her, telling her that 'HCCO come here and spoil market one! If you guys don't get GWH, the judges ought to go and die!' So it was quite amazing to see other school's seniors singing our juniors' praises. We were all so proud of them.
In the end, the juniors did it. They got the Gold with Honours. Kinda expected really. Haha. But I felt that even if some freak accident happened and they didn't get the Honours, I would still feel proud of them, because their performance was just so inspiring. The passion for Chinese Orchestral music that has been lying dormant in my heart has been reawakened by their performance, which is a feat that no one has been able to do over the pass 3 years. Kudos to them. Congratulations kiddos!
ARGH. Shit. Its 1128 and I'm supposed to meet the class guys for Dim Sum buffet at 1230. And I haven't showered yet. And I still have lots to blog about... cause my day hasn't ended. I'll just continue later.
Oh thank god I'm finally able to post today. I have so much to talk about over the last 3 days!
08/05/07 I woke up at an unearthly 0530 today. Can you imagine? That's 30 minutes before the time I had set on my alarm clock. I was woken up by two messages from Yisheng, one telling me that he'll lend me a set of HC uniforms, and the other, asking if I had anymore HC badges. I briefly replied the messages, but couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to just go shower and prepare for my day.
As you would have probably guessed, I went back to HCJC on monday. Accompanying me on my mad trip back was Yisheng, Eesuan and Shinwei. Four crazy, and all-too-free lunatics who wanted to go back to their old school, dressed in school uniforms and all. It was hilarious really. We all looked pretty much the same as our JC selves, but I guess anyone will turn out that way if you don the HC uniform. Hurhur. Kept trying to avoid being caught by some of my juniors in the HC uniform. Can you imagine? Getting caught in the HC uniform by juniors that you know, who are like 2 years younger than you? My reputation would be gone in like an instance. (unfortunately, a couple of them did see me in my HC uniform, and I had to meet them two days later at SYF. Sigh.)
The reason why we decided to meet so early (at around 0710) was because we wanted to crash the morning assembly. We were already running a bit late because I had to change into the uniform, and the girls were slightly late, so we had to rush to get into line before the bell rang. We were literally the last few 'students' in the right wing, and we just charged into the central plaza, not knowing where we were supposed to stand because we obviously didn't have a class to stand with. Suan just led the way, and we ended up behind some random class. The funny thing was that we were so out-of-touch with the once familar routine of morning assemblies that we turned at the wrong commands and forgot that we had to do stuff like say the pledge and all. And when the teachers started going down the row to take attendance, we were quite freaked out that the teacher of the class we joined would ask for an explanation of our presence there. Yisheng even planned a story about us being foreign exchange students to explain our sudden existence. Haha. So we stood out like sore thumbs! Especially Shinwei with her red hair! HAHA. During the course of the morning announcements, swarms of teachers just kept descending on her asking her to explain why she had reddish hair. Some of them recognised her, being her council teachers and stuff, but it was still quite embarrassing trying to explain our existence there, and why we were in uniforms and all. One particularly anal teacher wanted Shinwei to change out of the uniform, because of her hair. Being young adults, we naturally didn't heed his words (and were quite lucky that we didn't encounter him again.)
Anyway, we wanted to crash some lectures, but found out from Yisheng's cousin who happens to be in 07s71 (our great grand junior class) that they didn't have much lectures today, except Economics. Haha. We didn't want to crash an Econs lecture, so we decided to just chill in the canteen first before we set out to find our tutors. And we ended up meeting our Maths tutor there! Chatted with him for awhile, then went to find the rest of our tutors in the staff room. Met Mrs Chong, our Economics Tutor, and had a rather hilarious conversation with her. She starting making a list of our class, but she kept spelling our names wrongly - 'Damian' as 'Daiman', 'Yuen Mei' as 'Yuen Mein'- the hilarious thing was the four of us sorta gave up correcting her - we felt that there was no point really. Haha. Then we met Mr Lee, our Chemistry tutor, and dragged him to the consultation area, where we had a lengthy conversation with him. It was very fun to catch up with him, because I was quite close to him and he is the youngest (and most childish) of our tutors, so the class sorta connected with him. And then our CT and GP tutor Mr Wong came after spotting Yisheng when he went to fill his water bottle! Haha! Then Mr Lee changed shift with him and Mr Wong then came to talk to us at the consultation area for a very very long time, til he had to take off for another lesson. Mr Wong's another tutor that I'm close with, and he just kept rambling on and on about people in class and stuff. Since he was sorta like our 'father' and all (Mr Lee kept telling Mr Wong that we were his "children"), it was really fun to hear him ramble on about our class again.
After that we invited Mr Lee, who was darn free for that day, to go to have lunch we us. We wanted to eat at our favourite eatery, Curry Wok, but they were actually closed on Tuesdays! ARGH! So we ended up eating at Prince in Coronation Plaza instead. Geraldine joined us for lunch as well, so we had a rather hilarious time there where we inadvertently helped Mr Lee order an adult set meal without knowing the price of it, while we helped ourselves to the ridiculously cheap student meals. Haha.
We were quite silly as we forgot to take photos with the teachers. And the ironic thing was that all 4 of us had cameras. I guess you just forget stuff when you are having fun. Haha.
We decided that we are gonna do this again sometime, to go play volleyball at the courts. Its our class tradition to play volleyball - though for my case, its always either to watch the rest play or go down onto the courts to provide comic relief. Can't wait though! Haha.
*I do have photos to post but blogger's taking abit too long to publish them, so I'll leave them for another time.
I smiled when I saw this on postsecrets. This was me!
I'm not a Christian or a Catholic, but I was from a Catholic primary school and pretty much grew up in a Catholic environment. I was actually sufficiently interested in the Catholic faith, so much so that I might have actually entered the faith if it wasn't for the fact that religion is such a sensitive issue with my Dad. So hey, I ended up becoming a free-thinker. But one with a heavy religious conscience of course.
I remember being quite excited about all the prayer and Mass sessions. One thing I always wondered though, was why we had to worshiped a 'holy ghost'. It didn't make sense to my simple brain then. A ghost had to be a ghost: something scary, evil and demonic even. I never really bothered to had those doubts clarified though, and somewhere along the line you just grew to understand such things.
Kaiming left a rather amusing tag in response to my tag on his blog in which he said I was so cheerful compared to the rest on Friday.
I guess the only reason why I appeared more cheerful than the rest of them, was because I wasn't living a life in green. And for that moment in time, I had nothing to worry about; no upcoming tests, no school for a long time to come, plus the fact I was riding high on my post-CA euphoria probably served to elevate the cheerful perkiness as well. Whereas they were facing an upcoming exercise in Taiwan, and other sorts of more pressing problems. So was it a given for me to appear more cheerful than them? I suppose that's a yes.
Despite the fact that I've already been out of the Army for at least 9 months now, I still get the 'what ifs' about not leaving the Green Mean Machine. Listening to them talk about all the changes, all the unhappiness, all the difficulties and problems, sorta make you wonder if anything would be different if I had stayed. How would I have reacted? How would I have faced the problems and difficulties and stuff? Would I have done what I think I would have done, which is stand by the side that I've always been closer too, or instead choose another side? Or would I have handled things radically different?
Its kind of sobering that the group of us who went in there together, couldn't come out of it together. First there were 12 of us. Then I left for greener pastures. Then Jonah left for another unit due to his SAFSA commitments. And now there are only the 10 of them left. (granted 1 of them never really fitted in, but still, we started out as 12, and in an ideal world, all 12 of us would have stuck together til the bitter end) And now, things have progressed to such a level that you know will never ever heal, or revert to how things have been in the past. Kinda sad really. Such rifts from within are always the hardest to handle and heal, and now that I'm really out of it, I know that I have no business interfering or attempting to help. But still, I can't help but wish that everything will work out for you guys, and that if listening and providing an outsider's viewpoint on things is the only way I can help you all out, then I'll be glad to do the best I can.
Again, it makes me wonder if all this problems arose because of our departure. I really hope not, because if it did, in some way influence how things ended up in this state today, then it serves nothing to reduce the level of guilt I already have for deserting the pack of them just to go pursue my dreams. But a part of me also knows that this is all not my doing. That it was bound to happen sooner or later. And I guess both Jonah's and my departure from the unit just served as the catalyst for it to happen. There were now less people, and with less people, there arose more friction, and with more friction, conflict was bound to happen.
Its kinda hard to find out about all that has happened, hear about certain people and their actions, because I left the unit at a time when everything was still okay. Not perfect, but still okay, where peace and harmony still ruled, where we were all still sticking together due to the fact that we were new there, and sticking together was the only way we could have survived. So my impression of others, wasn't all that bad. But now, everything has changed. Like the guys like to tell me 'there have been loads of changes since you left'. People start becoming less polite, masks have been removed, claws and fangs have been barred. It ruins the whole image of the BN that I left. And it makes me sad that things couldn't have stayed the way it was just 9 months ago.
It feels like I'm really out of the loop now. But once a signaler always a signaler. And I'm glad I got to chance to meet a bunch of army buddies that I've grown close to. A lot of peers I know, don't have close army friends, whereas I managed to find a small group of close army friends. And I guess that's the difference between being a commander, and being in a unit. Its just a different level of interaction. In the unit, you really make friends, being a commander, its hard to make friends, and you tend to be alone... as so many of my command school friends would say. Its been a privilege really, knowing my 2sigBN buddies, befriending them, working with them. And though its been a long time since I left the unit, they have always continually treated me as one of their own. And I really thank them for that.
Hope you guys have a successful exercise in Taiwan! Have fun and take care! And then we'll meet up again in a month's time! =)
For 16 dollars, I relived my life as a JC student. For 16 dollars, I revisited the institution that took up one and a half years of my JC life.
And, like always, the best part was always the same old song sung at the end.
For a moment, I managed to escape the drudgery of life. And then the curtains came down, the lights came on, the people filled out, and it was back to reality. And reality sucks.
Its now 0837 on a weekday, and I'm not in school! =) Yup, decided to skip the Biochem review lectures for today and tomorrow, and just have a self declared study break. Mom just woke me up 20 mins ago before she left for work, so here I am, typing away while I sip a nice cuppa good old strong english tea to prep myself for another unrelentless day of mugging. (sigh.)
I'm here because I wanna blog about yesterday. About what happened yesterday. Yesterday was memorable! Memorable for all the wrong reasons! Hahaha. And I don't usually blog about my days in school in detail, but yesterday was just too memorable to not blog about it. Anyway. Yesterday was the last day of official new lessons! We had our last ever lectures, and our last ever anatomy tutorial. I'm gonna miss anatomy tutorials, especially those with Proj Raj and his unique style of teaching, the round table QnA format and 'playing with toys' initiatives. And of course, my anat + PBL + FRS + Physio groupmates. I'm glad I got to be in such a fun group, with all the other people ostracized by the Dean's office, because we have surnames starting with "WXYZ". =p Honestly, I'll miss having lessons with them all. All the good-natured teasing, strange bets and dares, all the outings, all the mrt rides home together, all the squeezing in cars, all the last minute discussion for physio, oh and our check points upon leaving the rooms. It was a blast working and having fun with them all, and here's to working and having fun with all you in M2 again! Haha. So yeah, we bought a card for Raj, took photos with him and a standing skeleton, and that was it! I was leaving the anat hall for the second last time!
We were schedules to have a clinical session at TTHS that afternoon, so all of us were dressed in nice shirts and pretty dresswear. And like the previous session, the group was split into 2 separate groups. I was in the first group, and so we went there like 40 mins earlier after hitching a ride from Matthew. Ended up eating snacks at Mr Bean, which was a must for Amanda whenever she's at TTSH; she gets sorta 'tamed' after some Mr Bean snacks (and on hindsight, this was absolutely necessary considering the events that happened later!) Walked around, doing the same usual stuff, like feeling embarrassed about Cindy and stuff! When to get our attendance taken, took out our lab coats and stuff, all prepared to go see some patients, when Michelle gave our Dr. a call, and realised she was ON LEAVE! Hoho.
Now at this point of time, a chill went down my spine because Cindy and Amanda went sorta berserk. Cindy's face was totally black and sounded like she was on the verge of tears, while Amanda... man, lets just say she said things that would make her qualify for the fiercest 3SGT award (and probably win it hands down)... in the office of TTHS somemore! Gerard and I were like... "Woah! Okay, that's seriously over reacting!". It was quite funny, the 3 girls were so agitated about it. Whereas the four of us guys were like just standing there, totally unfazed by the whole situation. Gerard, Gab, Proj Wu and I just shifted to the corner, and just stood there, watching the girls getting agitated and trying to argue and complain and settle the whole thing. Anyway, turns out there was some miscommunication between the department and our Dr, and she didn't know that she had to cancel one day of leave or something to come back and take us... The secretary came out and started to explain and apologise to us about the whole situation, and just to be safe, Gerard and I took precautions to hold back Amanda and Cindy just in case they decided to slap the secretary or something, which I'm sure if we guys weren't around to stop them, they would have gone up and just slaughtered the poor girl.
So we left the place, the girls in extremely low and angry moods. Tried comforting Cindy that what happened had already happened, and that she should just put it behind and just cheer up, when Gab said 'Yeah, its okay Cindy, you don't need the extra time to study for your vivas anyway!' Which I guess was just about one of the most inappropriate things to say at the moment. Haha. Needless to say, Cindy wasn't plesaed! Oh Gab... he always ends up with his foot in his mouth, with hilarious effects and consequences.
Afterthat, Michelle and Cindy left, whereas the 4 of us and Amanda went to have coffee. It was a perfect 'Lets go have coffee' moment; after some major let down, you just go to some coffee place, plonk yourself down and order a cup of mocha to chill. We decided to be nice and just shower Amanda with all the care and concern we could muster, offering to treat her to another round of Mr Bean snacks, or even Starbucks cakes and coffee, and I think she was quite happy that we were nice to her for a change! So her mood improved as she waited for her mom to come pick her up. Then after she left, the 4 of us continued to stay there, and started to discuss what had happened earlier. I think Gerard's right, its just so amusing to see how differently the girls react from us guys. We just shrug and say we'll come back some other time, whereas the girls were all so agitated that it kinda turned scary. There must be some kind of factors that testosterone gives us, and that the girls lack that makes us so damn different. Maybe someone should ask Denise Goh to research into that, think it has lots of potential. Hehe. After that, we stayed on, to mug a little, and discuss renal physio, genetics and lots of spots questions. As Bingcheng put it, it really felt like a scene from "Friends". A bunch of people just head down to a coffee place to chill and talk and stuff. Ah shit, I miss the days were I could just head down with people to just chill at some cafe without worrying about not passing stuff. Argh, oh well, Medicine can be such a lonely path sometimes.
But yeah, that was the end of it, and we'll have to go back for our lesson after Pros in April. I hope that there wouldn't be another 'miscommunication' then again, cause its quite unprofessional to keep doing that lah. And even then, I don't think even us guys could stop the girls from going on a rampage to destroy TTSH. Despite the major let down, I was actually pretty pleased with my afternoon. I think I had fun. Fun for the wrong reasons of course, but definitely fun. I was quite amused by the whole situation and left for home feeling quite saturated with endorphines. Haha.
However, my happy day was marred by finding out about something later that night. I don't know what to say... I honestly don't know if I'm more disgusted or angry about all the things that was raised. I think its dishonest, immoral, and just downright disgusting to do that. It just shows how deeply insecure some people can be, how little confidence they have in themselves, and that's something I can't stand in people, which is to underestimate yourself, especially when you obviously what it takes. I am miffed. (and probably pissed) Its just downright two facedness, and though I don't expect any of my friends to be all pure and true, but even if you want to be dishonest and unloyal and stuff, I would pray that you don't let me find out about it, or else when I do discover it myself, I'll make you pay. Big time.
Maybe its better I found out so soon. Maybe its not. But on hindsight, if you did what you wanted to do at the right place and right time, I'll probably not interfere and just step aside. I can't and won't stop you from doing what you want to do, even if it hurts me. And maybe that's why you are going on with this in the first place, taking my generosity for granted. Seriously. Unbelievable. Utter utter disappointment.
Ha. I was supposed to go watch "Letters of Iwo Jima" today, but I decided to trade it with "盛夏光年" instead. Yup, finally watched it.
Lots of things in our life, start out when we least expected. I remember being an extremely studious student in primary school. I was one of those annoyingly angelic students: teachers' pet, polite, quiet, studious. I was the class monitor for several years. And "Most Courteous Boy" for several years as well. YES, we actually had that title, and every year, each class would select a representative for that award. We even had a badge for it: a yellow smiley face with a green bow tie. It was horrendous, and embarassing to be crowned as the "Courteous Boy" but back then, I didn't care that much. Well. Come to think of it, I was most probably a horrible suckup. I dunno. But I remember being very snappish with peers though, because I was so high strung with trivial matters like keeping quiet when standing in line, not talking when the teacher was talking etc. (I must admit that the current me thinks that I was a real pain in the ass then.)
Which probably explains why teachers like to put naughtier students next to me in seating arrangements. Yeah. I was (and maybe still am) a 康正行. I was the kind of boy that teachers hope would tame the wild, ruly ones. The interesting thing here is that the meaning of 'Damian' in Latin is 'to tame'. Kinda cool, but back then, I didn't know what to think of it. (I thought back then that the name "Damian" simply meant the son of the Devil, and only realised that was because of the stupid 'Omen' movies)
Lots of the friends I had in Primary school (at least from P1 to P4) were not friends that I willingly took up. They were students that were in general thought by my teachers to be incorrigible, and probably had not much normal friends.
So I was their friend, maybe even their life bouy even.I would share my books with them (cause they always forgot to bring them), I would shush them when they started talking too loudly, I would teach them what little I knew that they didn't (although I was extremely impatient and was quite exasperated with them for being such slow learners) And I guess some part of me loved that fact that I was making (whether it was significant or not) some sort of impact in their lives, and that I had some degree of influence in others.
Which makes me wonder if I actually took this with me when I grew up. The friends I personally made as my own... did I become friends with them because I genuinely wanted to be friends with them, or merely because I felt a need to be friends with them, because in some ways or another, I felt they were being marginalised?
I was never someone who embraced being part of the majority. Maybe it was just me being rebellious, but I never placed myself in the position of being part of the crowd. I dunno, I always felt a need to be with the uncool crowd, even if it meant being more lonely, or more isolated or whatever. But the more you get into this quagmire of wanting to make a difference in someone's life, wanting to be that special someone that can change their lives, wanting to be that person that makes that special difference, the more difficult it is to get out of it, especially when it starts to hurt you.
Name: voldemort33
XY, 01/06/1987, s'porean typical geminian free-thinker moody & eccentric thinks far too much for his own good med student (be afraid. be very afraid!) demon45_6f@hotmail.com
crazy craves
music (jazz, rock and lounge) day-dreaming drawing & photography animals (sheep!) chocolate and tea! seafood, noodles and soup!
pet peeves
noisy crowds over-possessive, insecure, whiny people two-faced hypocrites housework and homework being called 'rich' rushing to do stuff crying, pesky kids
deepest darkest desires! (aka wishlist!)
to be a doctor (with a heart of gold!) a dog my own condo apartment a driving license and my own four wheel drive my own comic line someone to hug
