just a quote...

Got this from zi xin who got this from mrs tan choy ping...
"It is better to be a something in a nothing than to be a nothing in a something..."

and i added this part...
"...this is so that u can make a something out of that nothing and not remain a nothing in that something."

basically the idea is that one does not learn much if he does not get himself involved in whatever or whoever he is working for. so folks, in whatever u do, make sure u put your heart and soul into it, otherwise it ain't worth your time!!!

Cheers.

looking forward & thinking back...

a whole new year will start tomorrow, and a whole new school year will start in 2 days time. i'm looking forward to a new experience, since i've been out of a co-ed system for 4 years. there will definitely be a different way in which i view girls in jc, especially since in primary school we were quarreling most of the time :p haha primary school was fun... from playing hopscotch in primary 1 and 2, to playing table tennis in primary 3 and 4, and finally playing soccer in primary 5 and 6. in secondary school....sec 1, 2 and 3 mainly soccer, sec 4 mainly basketball, soccer, badminton, some tennis now and then. wonder how next 2 years will be like. most probably have less time to play all these sports. wonder what kind of drastic effects being a CI will have on my life. will definitely be more busy, since i've gotta take 2 CCAs next year, but at least we're taking less subjects :p only 5, GP, chinese, and hopefully maths econs and physics. will be seeing numbers in my sleep in a while. wondering how messy the place will be on friday. hopefully i don't end up with a bunch of irritating IJ girls in my OG, otherwise i might just flip out and go nuts....hmmmm.....

Cheers.

last saturday of the holz...

woke up at 10.10, then rushed to tanglin to meet up for a 2 hr badminton game. played 2 hrs non-stop again, but this time was more intensive. got people like ben tay, victor and zhi hong, all quite good. also got brian, ian yap, pradeep and donovan. played in 2 courts. played one doubles match with donavan, against brian and pradeep. lost that set 2-1, was really funny the way we'll played.

after that, played with victor, in another doubles match against zhi hong and ben tay. that one we won, but because victor is school badminton team lah, but not that i didn't play :p my smashes have improved, especially my backhand one, only that my netting still sucks. as in i can return when the shuttlecock's at the net, but i cannot hit the shuttlecock to near the net. guess i'll work on that in my own free time.

after the whole thing, came home makan lunch. after lunch my right shoulder blade started aching. guess overstretched a few muscles. spent the rest of my afternoon playing GTA 4 and going ntuc shopping. quite a sub-standard day lah. fell asleep on the sofa after dinner. woke up at 10+, and now typing blog entry.... watching a WWII movie on the german invasion of russia. mainly about the birth of snipers. quite cool, considering it's a movie about WWII. come to think of it, i like all movies about WWII. there was a movie during the CI BTC which was the life story about hitler, couldn't watch it, wasted :(

oh well looks like the 1st holiday in 4 years without holiday homework is coming to an end. next time will be in 2 years. less than a week to go. before i know it i'll be writing an entry here about my 1st day in JC. whoosh............Cheers.

christmas & boxing day...

i wonder why they call this day boxing day....maybe some time back alot of people got involved in some bar brawl or something, boxed the hell out of each other or something :p maybe over some christmas presents... hmmmm....

anywayz christmas eve dinner was nice. had ham, beef and turkey. baby back ribs, potatoes. meaty food.....all i need to put on weight again :) so eat eat eat, stuffed down the food, bloated, but a good feeling :p left house at 10.30 for midnight service. was an ok service, sang sang sang, dozed off during the sermon AGAIN...ahem ahem. got home at about 1, watched CSI and ate more, some rasin cookies, filling stuff. realised that i'm the opposite of alot of people, people wanna lose weight while i wanna gain it, i'm a rare gem in singapore society!! :)

christmas morning got up at abt 9.30. ate mee pok for breakfast, then slacked arnd until 11.15, left for aunt's house for christmas lunch 1. the cuttlefish balls were great, i ate like 10+, nearly 15 i think. then got curry puffs, nor hiang (or however u spell it), mee siam, bee hon, chicken wings, some funny desserts tt i didn't eat. eat tok eat tok until 2.30, then left fr my dad's cousin's house for christmas lunch 2. there got spagetti, ham, garlic bread, durian cake and cheese cake. but i was too full from all the cuttlefish balls, so i only ate the ham and garlic bread. it was good, mixed them together, got an interesting taste. night time had spagetti. the sauce was nice, could've eaten it alone, with no noodles, but too bad there wasn't enough. slept at 2.30 in the end, playing computer and watching godzilla on axn and the ending of shallow hal on star movies.

boxing day morning, woke up at 9, due to a certain incident i shan't mention. later on going for meeting. won't write here what i feel about it, got alot in my mind about the whole thing...kinda worried. oh wells looking forward to next friday. new environment, which also means new challenges. at least i have quite a few familiar faces that i'll be seeing. should make the experience less....frightening shall i say? or just uneasy.....

Cheers.

been a week...

long time since i updated me blog. since then, nothing too special has gone on. on saturday went to He Yao Shan's live concert at city harvest church with cindy. apparently brendan went at the same time as me but didn't see him or his hair :p after that went out her and some of her church friends to jurong point eat yong tao fu...spent 5 bucks on it, but didn't feel 100% full.

sunday my cousin came to stay over at my house. he's still staying over until january, as his dad wants him to study damn hard for his GCSE exams in june next year. so he's been going to my aunt's house everyday to study there, as there is absolutely nothing that can distract him in their house, and that completely sucks. thank goodness my exams are over, or else i might be joining him!!!

monday went to school for 1st training and meeting as a PCI. not much of a different feeling. improvements in every department, although sense of urgency is still leaving me a bit worried. flagpole team is doing good, just gotta tighten their lashings a bit more. clocks are fine, but tension still lacking and time for securing is taking way too long. tent pegging team currently taking 20 seconds to start pegging, gotta cut it down to 10, and they gotta figure out their twine snapping problems, both of these through experience lah.

yesterday the basketball pole arrived. shortest height is 7.5 feet, tallest is 10 feet. right now playing with 9 feet. tall enough for me lah... after that went to meet lizz and becca at clementi sports hall for a round of badminton. ended up playing for 1 hour, 2 hours short of my previous longest time. well since becca was tired and there was no way that lizz was going to play, so came home and played basketball with my new pole :)

ah yes finally got my music back, still sticking with my james bond tune, as not much else really interests me, unless u want me to put the metallica version of the star wars theme. christmas is tomorrow, christmas tree not up this year in fear that zen my husky will chew it up, since she's already destroyed the rubber mat outside my house. going to collect turkey and what not with my mum later, not that i'm complaining. following my 16 year tradition i didn't buy any christmas presents for anyone this year.... but i haven't sent out any e-cards this time, maybe i'll get down to it later if my mum doesn't have any more things for me to do. most likely going to midnight service tonight (or tomorrow morning, whichever u fancy), been trying my best to catch up with my sleep debt, but the holz has wizzed by so quickly, must sleep more!! have a merry christmas to all reading my blog :) Cheers....zzzzzzzzzz

End of CI BTC....

it all ended on tuesday...2 long weeks of trainings and a 4 day camp wizzed by and it's now all over. made many new friends, learnt many new things, and i'm beginning to miss the people there (believe it or not). echo squad has been a great squad to work with from day one...although there are certain people there who irritate me, but the number of people who are great overwhelm the buggers :p just the echo namelist for me to remember:

Girls:
cindy
jocelyn
wendy
jasrina
farhana
cee teing
wiwiek
diana
shi jia
raudah

Guys:
darren
jun jie
jin kai
dennis
daniel
cun wei
rizal
faddil
zairul
asri
gary
kim hock
dickson

CIs in-charge:
Qin Hao
Yi Teng

i think that's all....*counts* yup tt's all. 24 people in echo squad....24 people who went through the exactly same shit as me (well more or less), and i believe that it is this shit that brought us all closer together.

on tuesday when the final training day ended, it just HAD to rain. but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as we all stayed in the drill shed for a while just snapping up pictures, still haven't finished my roll of film though. after that around 16 of 24 headed out in the rain to pizza hut at PS. rizal managed to get a lobang of 10% for us!!! haha.... ate 6 slices of pizza and 1 bowl of mushroom soup. was a nice and filling dinner. but the interesting part came at the end of dinner, as i used the napkin to calculate how much each person had to pay. never did that before, another new experience :p after that walked around in PS for a while, girls went neoprinting...while the guys just stood arnd outside waiting, talking, disturbing the peace ;) we'll parted ways at the mrt station, it was like some airport scene, where people were going away, but in fact people were going away, because we never knew when we might actually see each other again!! it was a sad moment...

well even after CI BTC, i'm still going back to PA everyday till friday. preparation for NPCC day parade 2004. today was the 1st session. 3.5 hrs of rifle drill....phew it was tiring, and i've confirmed that i've learnt the skill of dozing off during drill sessions, but still being able to subconsciously do the drills :p (cadets don't try this at training) tomorrow going back to SJI (1st time in abt 3 weeks) to look for GSM. need his approval for me to help in NPCC day parade. hoping to complete my probation requirements by the time the deadline is over. 1 parade, 1 course and 2 functions. and i have absolutely no idea what falls under functions :( on the up side...there's a 99.9% chance that i'll be posted back to SJI, since ben didn't go for ATC, and he's gonna be stuck with HQ for the next 6 months of his life, which is gonna be a hell of a 6 months. i kinda pity him, coz he practically wasted 2 weeks of his holz just to be posted back to PA to be a slave for the next 6 months.

posting results came out today...CJC science for 1st 3 months. no complaints from me, but the question is now whether i'll stay there after release of O level results... coz CJC is the best place for convenience sake. it's sandwiched between PA and SJI, 2 places where i'm gonna have to go quite often for the next 1.5 years. oh wellz will think about that later. oh yah found out that dear old cindy didn't register for PAE, so went to CJ to register TODAY!!! absolute madness, but she got 16 pts, so shouldn't be too hard, unless there are alot of people like ian, who get 7 points and still applied for CJC!!! depriving people with pathetic points from a place in the few JCs that they can choose from. so far only 3 people who's going CJ science...neo jr, shaun and ian. gotta find more...

only 2 weeks of holz left, ok make that 1.5 weeks. up till now i haven't caught up with my sleep debt, but at least i've covered my exercise debt, no problem with that one :p enjoy your holz ppl, coz it'll be over before u know it!! Cheers.

We are from D'03
We shall not be moved (HEY!)
D'03 D'03 all the way (HEY!)
Work play train rest we are always at the best
Work play train rest we are always at the best
9 claps....D'03!!!!

CI BTC ATC....

just got back this afternoon..... tired, hungry, itchy. went to weigh myself...just for fun, turned out to be 63 kg, which means i somehow lost 5 kg in 5 months!!! that is so not the way man!!! i don't even want to lose weight, and i'm losing a shitload of it!!! anywayz before i get into the more "intimate" details, just some figures for you to absorb...

0 - the number of pushups given as punishment
1 - number of pants i wore in 4 days
1 - number of times i showered in 4 days
2 - number of times i pissed a day
2 - number of t-shirts i wore in 4 days
3 - number of sleeping boards given to each tent
3 - number of jerry cans of water used up by my group
4 - number of days of camp
4 - number of days of camp that it rained
4 - number of people in one tent
4 - the number of times it started and stopped raining on the 1st day
5 - the average number of biscuits i ate for breakfast
4 - the average number of hours i slept each night
7 - my group number....URANUS!!! :P
9 - number of jerry cans given to each group for use
19 - my tent number
uncountable - the number of bites on my body

now for the details...1st day i somehow managed to lose my poncho, so stayed in the canteen, making myself look busy, after that i don't think anything else interesting happened.....will add if i can remember..

2nd day PT quite standard lah, warm up>5BX>cool down, nothing too extreme, only that we did it in mud. so pushups and crunches were in mud, so "cool". after that went pioneering, built a chair that didn't really stand really well, but i'm beginning to see the fun of pioneering, even though it is a time consuming process, but u feel good at the end of it when u see what u tied actually standing. lunch, a few forks full of maggi mee, a few pineapple slices, and that was lunch. orienteering, IT SUCKED!!!!! the CIIs made us stop at every single corner to take map and ground bearings, count paces and all that crap, when we knew exactly where we were on the map!!! oh well i guess tt's orienteering, so what to do?? wasted 4 hours of my afternoon walking around pulau ubin with a map and compass :p


3rd day PT exactly the same as 2nd day, breakfast exactly the same as the previous day, after breakfast went kayaking....fun fun, paired up with yan siang, capsized once by accident, coz my left arm kinda buckled then i leant too far to the left, and i next thing i knew, i was looking into green water and was trying to stop myself from choking to death. at first i couldn't get the correct technique of kayaking, but after a while, with a few scares here and there i finally managed to get it, then managed to overtake alot of ppl :) lunch, sama sama lah, not much difference. after that was rafting, but only thing was it kept raining, so we had to tie the raft wearing our ponchos, which was always a hassle as it was always in the way!!! simple design and it served it's function, floated damn well, and when we did take it out for rowing, the current was so strong that once we stopped rowing, we immediately started drifting :p luckily they anchored us to shore with rope. overall rafting was more fun then kayaking, and rafting is only offered at CI BTC ATC :) so if u guys wanna raft, go CI BTC ;) at night didn't have to cook, had a buffet :) the food was nice, could have gone for 3 rounds, but only had time for 1 as had to prepare for campfire. so went to boat shed, bring the firewood to the council ring, stack it, bring over the twigs from the training shed, and low and behold, it kept drizzling..........so had to hold it in the canteen. the atmosphere was fantastic.....best campfire i've ever attended, only thing was that there was no fire :( all our time taken from lunch and dinner soaking firewood gone down the drain along with the rain water that caused us so much grief :p

This morning PT was cancelled for some unknown reason, but i ain't complaining. area clean up, had to clear the firewood from the council ring, and bring all of the other firewood over back to the training shed. whole morning was drizzling, so everyone just walked around without a ponchom since we all had gotten used to it already. after area clean up was the grand finale, a telematch between all the 8 groups. stations were in order of sequence, kayaking>lamp lighting>knots & lashings> orienteering>tent pitching. i chose to do knots and lashings, not much a problem, only thing is that i forgot how to tie fireman's chair, dang it. after grand finale had camp closing ceremony, stood in a huge circle, CIIs came around to shake everybody's hand, mainly saying either "keep up the good work" or "try harder". got back to mainland and PA by 2.30, one hour earlier than stated, but good good, still no problem.

2 more days of CI BTC, i miss echo..... mainly becoz been with echo since the beginning of the course, so all been through the same shit, hopefully the spirit is still there for the final 2 days. must bring a camera, snap a few shots for memory's sake. oh yes...and i'm still banned from the locker room!!!!! must ask those CIIs after the course y the hell i cannot go there anymore!!! oh well 2 weeks is over in an instant, CI BTC isn't so bad after all, learning many new things, experiencing many new happenings, working with the elites from all the units is a great feeling. we've kinda promised each other to invite each other to their unit's functions in the future, for reunion sake...and i think tt's a great idea!!! :D oh well still gotta kiwi boots, iron uniform, standard for next 2 days has to be the highest, as we are gonna graduate soon :)

P.S. everything stated here abt CI BTC are the more fun aspects, i'll put up the not-so-fun aspects tomorrow, so if u think tt CI BTC is all about fun, wait till u read the next entry...

Cheers.

1st week of CI BTC...

it's not been as bad as i expected it to be. at the end of the first 2 days, i felt like quitting, then after the 3rd day when i was squad i/c, the thought never ever crossed my mind again. probably because i had gotten used to the environment, and because i knew the ppl in echo much better. learning quite alot from echo members, mainly because they all come from different schools, all different backgrounds, different school cultures... and not everybody has heard of SJI *stunned*

been doing alot of things during the course, drills, tent pitching, lamp lighting, flagpole erecting, pioneering (built a catapult), orienteering (fiddled with compasses and maps), lectures, planning campfire for ATC, trying to remember all the CIIs names (reminder: deadline is tuesday), and shooting the 0.38 S&W revolver (one step up from 0.22). the recoil of the .38 is really powerful, got a bit of a shock after i fired the 1st bullet! the whole gun literally jerked backwards. and after firing about 6 rounds, there was black smoke coming out of the barrel!!! i've got absolutely no idea how i managed to get my marksmanship badge, the way i fired that revolver. all my shots were flying to the left!!! damn paiseh man...

i must say it's not as physically tiring as our normal trainings, but it's mentally tiring, with all the homework to do at the end of each day. everyday report by 8.15, and dismiss arnd 6, tiring stuff, but fun, had quite a few laughs, especially over the past 2 days of training. next week going to ubin for 4 days, and after tt can probably learn ceremonial sword drill (WOOHOO!!!!) looking forward to that one.

went for renaissance XIII yesterday with lizz, once i stepped into the PAC ran into xin, shaun and neo, after tt xin kept bugging me. karthig was standing behind me, kept calling me, then i kept telling him to concentrate!!! ren hao was made famous, with his saxaphone solo, all the girls yelling out his name :p was a great atmosphere, with great music. played a number of popular songs, including CHIHUAHUA. the junior band was spectacular, the future of SJIMB is really bright!!! the only real shock of the night was tt sirhan was leaving the post as teacher I/C of the band, and that tan sia hui was going to take over...OF ALL THE PEOPLE!!! my damn nose began to run just before the start of the show, should've used my flixonase. anywayz at the end of it sang school rally, did JOSEPHS and hail hail, great feeling, although the alumni at the back did the hail hail too fast (too much energy already), but singing the school rally brought back some memories for me....

everyday on the bus back from PA i go past SJI, look inside and i'm reminded of why i'm attending this course, what the school has taught me, and the many great friendships i have forged over the 4 years there, may i never forget the friends i made at SJI, lord have mercy on me if i ever do... Cheers.