this is totally dumb, but its worth watching haha.

POP goes the wizzle.
i bet you it was sean paul's music that drove miss usa nuts.

MISS UNIVERSE® 2007 will receive the following from the Miss Universe Organization:
The new MISS UNIVERSE will be crowned with a custom diamond and pearl crown designed by MIKIMOTO, valued at $250,000.
A year-long salary as MISS UNIVERSE.
Personal appearance wardrobe.
A New York City apartment for the year of her reign including living expenses.
Official MISS UNIVERSE pearl tiara, valued at $20,000 from Mikimoto.
A swimsuit wardrobe from BSC Swimwear Thailand.
A year's worth of hair care products and tools from Farouk Systems.
A custom designed wardroe by Tadashi.
A two-year scholarship from The NY Film Academy in New York City valued at up to $100,000.
Ritmo Mundo Jumbo Jet Mystery Dial time piece valued at $30,000.
A shoe wardrobe from Nina.
A national and international multi-media advertising campaign and a complete denim wardrobe from YMI Jeanswear.
A trophy from Rogaska Crystal.
Personal services including a year-long membership to Gravity Fitness and year-long pampering at New York City's John Barrett Salon.
Modeling portfolio by leading New York City fashion photographer Fadil Berisha.
Casting opportunities and professional representation by the Miss Universe Organization.
Extensive travel opportunities with a personal travel manager representing sponsors and charitable partners.
Access to various New York City events including movie premiers and screenings, Broadway shows and launch parties.
Consultation with stylist Billie Causieestko and access to an event wardrobe from leading fashion designers.
Professional public relations media training.
Professional media/public relations representation by Rubenstein Public Relations and Planet PR in New York City.
Year-long dermatology and skin services provided by Dr. Cheryl Thellman-Karcher.

....and the first runner-up won this: $3,000 cash award and a trophy from Rogaska Crystal

sucks, doesn't it?

this is hilarious.


There. Semester 1 is officially over. Teachers heave a sigh of relief, and students cheer in jubilation.

yet, so many things have happened, that in 5 months' time, the batch of Sec 4s will be leaving RI.

Listening to the valedictory speech made by liqian today, i realized that oh my god. i'll be graduating next year and i'll be taking my 'A's in 2 years, and i'm going to army in 3 years.

now the very thought of it freaks me out. amidst all the work and proposals and things to be done, i simply had no clue of how my life in RI is coming to an end until recently.

but before we anticipate for the future, i shall recall the ups and downs in my past 5 months.

3rd - 6th January: Sec 1 Orientation Camp
Nagarro was the theme. Pride.Passion.Power.
I simply lurvved my OCBC Comm. leonard, me, wenjian, gabriel, and someone else. and not forgetting my PSL Class, 1C.

10th January - JRIC 'We are the young' Performance
First performance for me. Together with gabriel, jorel, yansheng, jon gan, we came up with a different rendition of the song.

13th January - Chen Hoon's birthday bash
celebrated her birthday at MOX (if i don't recall the name wrongly). the smoke was smoky, the noise was noisy, a new experience for me personally.

26th January - CEC briefing
Conducting the briefing for Lower sec CECs alone, and talked about the mechanics of CEC and CEC Council, as well as holding CECC nominations.

3th February - RV Welcome Party
Sec 1s officially initiated into the RV family.

15th February - Total Defence Day
Was the emcee for the 2nd time of my life. Wasn't feeling too good that day, but still managed to pull through, doing considerably well.

16th February - Chinese New Year Celebrations
The most emotional day of the year, where our efforts simply didn't get recognized. Came in 5th for Talenttime segment, but this was the turning point for me. didn't harbor so much envy or jealousy when i lost, but just accepting the fact that the results were opinion of 3 judges (whether qualified or unqualified or nullified hurhur).

19th February -
Dad admitted to hospital, was scared to death. Thank god he was alright, and made me treasure my loved ones even more.

24th February - Leaders-in-action-workshop
Headed to SMU for a workshop conducted by Talentpreneur Hub. A day of fun-filled activities and got to know some people, whom i still remain in touch with.

27th February - CECC Meeting
First meeting with the newly-appointed council members. It was really difficult to chair a meeting like this, and somehow i had problems trying to get the ball rolling. learnt some pointers on how to chair such sessions in future.

28th February - Prefect's Investiture
Did a pathetic role of ushering Headmaster up and down the stage, which made me feel wholesomely redundant. Met some old friends though (ok not THAT old), huihui and yanhan and more.

1st March - Track N Field Heats
Joined triple jump. result was pathetic.

2nd March - CNY Dinner Celebration
Celebrated CNY with the elderly from their respctive homes at RI Hall.

3rd March - Surprise
Had a surprise birthday celebration for me at my auntie's house.

5th March - MY BIRTHDAY!
Wenjian and yuzhou bought a cake for me. was very touched.

6th March - CEC Investiture
THE DAY. the day where i was officially invested as the council chairman and i made my speech. audience was noisy on that day though, destroyed the formal atmosphere.

16th March - Campus Superstar Audition
Made it to the 2nd round without any difficulty at all. no pressure, no sweat.

20th March - Royston Tan visits school to talk about the making of short films and promoting his upcoming movie 881.

31st March - Campus Superstar Audition
Got eliminated at round 2 again. didn't give a shoot about such competitions thereafter, cos it doesn't matter. a good prelude to april fool's day.

3rd April - Track n field finals
Buckley came in third, and broke the 5th-placing curse.

7th April - Bryan's birthday
Had a birthday bash at bryan chia's house.

11th April - SYF Rehearsal at VCH
12th April - Arts@the Atrium
14th April - Guest Performance for RJ Concert
18th April - Release of Progress Report
3.30 GPA

19th April - Final SYF Rehearsal
20th April - SYF
RV was awarded Gold. Well, reiterates my point towards judging competitions. doesn't matter.

21st April - EXCO Meeting with Mr Toh.
Reinforced my viewpoint again.

23rd April - Choir Celebrations, Geog CCT, NSW Science, Doctor Visit
Felt terrible on that day. almost died while takin NSW. phlegm was greenish-yellow, was feverish and everything.

25th April - Learning Journey Day
Went to ITE to ___________(insert purpose of visit)_______________

28th April - Parent-Teacher Meeting
Burden was entirely on me with the absence of Nich. But the one-man show risk paid off handsomely and was extremely proud of my capabilities.

30th April - Eric and Danielle wins Amazing Race: All-Stars

3rd May - Appeared on a channel u variety show featuring a clip of me singing in css.

8th May - Subject Combi Talk
Don't feel like taking physics after the talk. Plans were on H3 Geog/H2 Econs/H2 Physics/H1 Maths

11th May - Earl wins Suvivor: Fiji

19th May - Malay Stayover Immersion Programme
Got to interact with Encik Han and family. welcomed samuel and i with great hospitality. i was featured in suria news.

21st May - Malay Oral Prelims
22nd May - Malay Recording at MOE Building
24th May - Jordin Wins Idol
26th May - Founders' Day Celebration

-----------------------------------
Week 22 (21st - 27th May 2007)

1) Do you know (The Ping Pong Song) – Enrique Iglesias
2) Beautiful Disaster – Jon McLaughlin
3) Carolyna – Melanie C
4) Going to a town – Rufus Wainwright
5) Take Control – Amerie
6) Change – Kimberley Locke
7) The River – Good Charlotte
8) Your love alone is not enough – Manic Street Preachers
9) Chinese Democracy – Guns N’ Roses
10) Lost Without U - Robin Thicke
11) Everything is average nowadays – Kaiser Chiefs
12) Working class hero – Green Day
13) Extraordinary – Mandy Moore
14) Closer – Travis
15) Blue Sky – Hanson
16) Now or Never – Mark Medlock
17) Wake-up call - Maroon 5
18) Declare Independence – Bjork
19) What i've done - Linkin Park
20) Real Girl – Mutya Buena
21) Never again - Kelly Clarkson
22) Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
23) Makes me wonder - Maroon 5
24) First time - Lifehouse
25) Ordinary Day - Dolores O'Riordan

1) They got all the past season's winners back, except Fantasia, who's probably busy filming her musical.
2) A large variety of singers - mainstream artists & experienced powerhouses - Green Day, Gwen Stefani, Gladys Knight, Tony Bennett ++
3) Didn't like the Idol Awards thing - just a time-filler which didn't entertain anyone at all.
4) Blake's beatbox duet way better than the Jordin/Ruben duet
5) Kelly's starting 'never again' was baddd, so was Bette Midler's entire performance. but alaric wants me to give credit to her as she's already 70+.
6)Clive Davis' speech was WOW. he basically owns the music industry.

--------------------------
went for drama feste audition, after a boring malay lesson which showed some horror movie (which i spent my time during maths assignment throughout). thought my acting skills deteriorated tremendously, as compared to my pri sch years. and mathan just called me to say that i'm in a close fight with another person for one role. blah. doesn't matter whether i really get it or not, coz i'll be involved in choir and debating stuff if i don't land myself a role.

Blake Lewis VS Jordin Sparks
Winner: Jordin Sparks
(but Blake remains my favourite, so if he wins, it wouldn't come to me as a surprise either).
His songs were:
You give love a bad name - Bon Jovi
An incredible song choice, considering that this song actually irked Bon Jovi as blake changed the interpretation of the whole song. but it's good, so this tells you that blake really didn't give two cents about what the original singer thought about it. good job!
She will be loved - Maroon 5
A rather safe song, but still he belted out his vocals, as he possibly needed one to show that he, too, could sing.
This is My Now - Final Song
ok, this was totally not within his preferred genre. sounded a little odd in parts. he even tried to do some 'fantasia' prancing on stage. guess it wasn't a spectular song after all.

Her songs were:
Fighter - Christina Aguilera
This enters the list of 'what were you thinking??' nevertheless, it still managed to show how well she could make a crappy song good, so well done.
A broken wing - Martina McBride
Just when you thought she had reached the limit of her vocal range, she goes another notch higher. incredible.
This is my now
i thought it was a totally different song. she owned the song and i actually felt moments of heartwrench. definitely the winner for tonight.

"It became painfully clear to me tonight that the style of music Blake would be forced into singing (the winning song for example) would be horrible for him. He looked so uncomfortable and ackward singing that crappy song. I believe he will be much more successful if he doesn't win American Idol and will have more creative input into his career. so...GO JORDIN!"

note: it seems that my blog counter's increasing incredibly quickly recently. maybe some teachers are indeed reading my blog. o.O haha.

malay recording was fun today. had to go through a mock oral test, which would be shown to future batches of MSP'ers on the do's and dont's for oral examination. thought i did pretty well in the conversation segment.

this will make you laugh.

www.anything.com.sg
[new Anything/Whatever drink for sale in S'pore]

ok i'm stopping here coz someone just freaking pissed me off and spoilt my train of thought.

malay prelims oral: manageable.
thank god i got an easy topic to develop. i had to talk on 'kegiatan masa lapang', meaning what activities i do during my free time. chriskwan somewhat got jacked, cause he was asked to elaborate on the topic of 'handphones'. like ??.
interestingly, i got stumped by the text-reading segment. there were so many freaking figures to read out (i.e $1860, $2600) and i lost my train of thought halfway. so irritating.

today's 'thorough hair cut' was rather entertaining. while giving out all the grad dinner surveys, i saw prefects pulling out 'potential hair-check failures' from all the classes, and seeing some of them argue and retatiliate with the prefects, knowing they already have quite ridiculous hairdos. the chaos reminded me of the shoe game for ss please.

highlight of the day was the very much lowly-publicized RISE concert. ironically, its a fundraising concert but the publicity of the event was as bad as britney's attempts in lipsynching her old songs. need not say more about the new auditorium; no backstage, lightings are rather weirdly positioned, stage is rather small. but the acoustics are stil considerably up-to-standard, so thats all that matters.

tomorrow's ambassador series talk. but won't be going. instead will be going for some malay recording session (speaking, not singing) at some building near buona vista. i'm going to be a true-blue malay soon.

Homestay across communities programme - Harmony Centre @ An-Nahdhah
The event turned out to be a really great and enriching one. I was really proud to be part of this exchange, to actually be able to learn the culture and way of living of the muslims in singapore. my foster family, encik han and mak cik mas, also warmly welcomed me to the family, consisting of them and the two lively kids, hani and harith =D


some funny ice-breaker which required us to dress up as Hang Tuahs. Eh, not bad ok, my family rocks. Out of the 11 Hang Tuahs, i came in 2nd runnners-up ok!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlWf0ge2LUk
Suria featured us on the news. haha! =)

some of the texts as well as qur'ans in the newly-built mosque beside 3rd lang centre. being a muslim truly requires a lot of discipline, considering the fact that you have to pray 5 times a day.

had lunch at the mosque, after which went to encik han's place which was at bukit batok (uber near my house, and uber uber near samuel's house.) went for a traditional malay solemnization @ sembawang afterwards, where we took a private bus there. its basically the same as a chinese solemnization, just that theres no tea ceremony, but the Kadi, aka the solemnizer, takes a larger role in the process, and the groom gets super stressed out and nervous because of the tension.

this intricate flower arrangement is used to symbolize the fact that the bride the bridegroom is about to marry is a virgin. (meaning if this symbol is not present during the wedding, then erm. yeah. she's not a virgin.)

ok these is the lovely stage ceremony held at the void deck. on the tables are loads and loads of dowry which the groom offers in order to marry his wife.
and not forgetting hani and harith, wearing their cool car-racing shirts (they can literally name every single car on the road. mazda, honda, mitsubishi, what car company, what brand, what model, EVERYTHING they all know). Hani is a silat pro, and is already planning for his secondary school prospects at primary 5. Harith is the super cute boy who's so attached to me, and never fails to keep his hands on either my iPod, handphone and my digicam (which all ran out of battery in a blink of an eye).

after that, had dinner, and went home again, where Samuel had to help me write my Malay speech for tomorrow's reflection sharing session. (Yes, Samuel is an evil person because he had to abandon me this morning to go for church and go for TUITION afterwards. what a sin.) But we ended up talking with our adopted family for the night through till around 12am.

next morning, samuel left, and i had breakfast along the food chains at the bukit timah street (you know all the malay eateries and chinese economical eateries) had thosai, and after which we headed to West Coast Park for some roller-blading. Too bad there are no pics of me roller-blading in action (ok, there wasn't even action. i was moving at a pathetic rate coz its my first time learning it. but i slowly got the grip, and i started moving around 4km/hr)

ok then went home again, stoned around, helped Hani with the 'I am a YOUNG _______' card. (you know, the one where you have to earn stars in order to get a badge. hani was like doing this IT Whiz badge, and its super duper easy. in a world where plagiarism doesn't really matter when you're in primary school, all you need is to find the website, copy, and PASTE!)

ok finally all good things have to come to an end. went back to the mosque@bishan, had the sharing session, had some tea reception, and encik han fetched me home. how nice. =)
my foster family~~


From left to right: Encik Han, ME!, Harith, Puan Rosenah (my teacher, also wellknown as Suria's Nek Canggih), Hani, and Mak Cik Mas.

I've decided to expand my chart range by 5 more slots, making it Top 25 Songs with immediate effect!
1) Going to a town – Rufus Wainwright
2) Lost Without U - Robin Thicke
3) Chinese Democracy – Guns N’ Roses
4) Change – Kimberley Locke
5) The River – Good Charlotte
6) Beautiful Disaster – Jon McLaughlin
7) Now or Never – Mark Medlock
8) Wake-up call - Maroon 5
9) Take Control – Amerie
10) Declare Independence – Bjork
11) Closer – Travis
12) Summer love - Justin Timberlake
13) Ordinary Day - Dolores O'Riordan
14) What i've done - Linkin Park
15) First time - Lifehouse
16) Never again - Kelly Clarkson
17) Step into the light - Darren Hayes
18) Stop me - Mark Ronson
19) Makes me wonder - Maroon 5
20) Brianstorm - The Arctic Monkeys
21) Big Wheel - Tori Amos
22) Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
23) Earth Intruders - Bjork
24) Do you know (The Ping Pong Song) – Enrique Iglesias
25) Carolyna – Melanie C

i hate today.
walked till my legs almost died please.
and some people think they're so busy and that i'm so free and just because i'm so nice you can take advantage of me. i'm busy too ok. its not as though i don't have better things to do.

after another few insignificant periods besides chem prac, went to angmokio to get choir posters printed.
took a train and alighted at amk. afterwards, walked for 20 minutes b4 i could find the printing shop. and i didn't know the cost of printing 2 A2 and 1 A1 paper with color graphics + lamination cost $110. my jaw dropped.

rather pissed today. the fact that i'll be away tomorrow coz i'm involved in a malay immersion programme, where i'll spend one WHOLE DAY with a malay family doesn't make it any better. better be a nice and friendly family if not i'll really scream because i want to sleep, do my homework and complete cec/choir proposals. totally not a good time for this, plus the fact that malay oral prelims is taking place on monday, which i only knew of it YESTERDAY. and theres some malay recording on the coming tuesday.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. good luck everyone for open house esp RV, while i'll be away eating ondeh-ondeh with dylan (-.-")
and lionel, claim the $110 yeah. i'm b-r-o-k-e.

Today’s lessons didn’t involve much brain activity, with the exception of Maths, and having to receive the Math Test marks, which I got 16.5/25 for. Health check was very fun, considering I was wearing my contact lenses for vision check. English was blah considering we did so little for biography trailer discussion, and our presentation is like next FRIDAY???

PE was physically exhausting, having to run 2.4km. I took 11:30 to complete it, 50 seconds worst than what I ran last year. Signs of deteriorating fitness, gotta do something about it!

The climax was during recess, when Alaric and I went to the library to find out who got eliminated. And when I saw the results, I let out a shriek-cum-laugh, and Alaric knew Melinda was out. LOL. Rather tragic. Looks like the finale will be an exciting one between Jordin and Blake. Hoping for a blake victory, but melinda’s fans will all be channeled to Jordin.

I agree with what someone said on the dialidol.com forum: “Jordin the straight-down-the-center-line pop princess, Blake the alt-beatboxer, and Melinda the All-'Round Singing Professional. So when Melinda was eliminated, I wasn't even slightly shocked. But one last compliment to Melinda's tremendous professionalism, that she was so extraordinarily composed and ready to sing herself out.” So very true. Tried to ‘high five’ with Alaric again, but he bitched me. Ahh.

(oh and by the way, maroon 5’s performance was dreadful. Adam Levine’s vocals were like what?! But safe to say, his live performances hasn’t been that stellar all along)

CLE was next, and was boring. We then took the highly-anticipated quiz which remains as controversial, with the whole world questioning the need to even set a paper to test our moral knowledge. I applaud the department’s efforts, it’s just their job. You can’t really think out-out-of-the-box, and I believe they tried their best by implementing all the money matters and moral courage sessions. But still, setting a paper for CLE is seriously quite unnecessary.

OK THIS IS AN APPEAL TO ALL SEC 4s INTERESTED IN BEING IN SUB-COMMS FOR GRAD DINNER, please read this carefully the various sub-comms which needs members right now. Interested sec 4s can email either me or Leonard Lee at louislbl@hotmail.com, or leo2406@singnet.com.sg. Would greatly appreciate everyone’s help if you have expertise in any one of these areas, or are truly keen to sign up.
--------------------------

Sub-Comms include:
1) Table Booking Comm – dinner publicity, table booking and sales of tickets, issue of tickets
2) Reception and Usher Comm – Preparation of guest book and seating plan, issuing of door gifts, deciding door gifts, collection of ticket counter-foil and lucky draw
3) Sponsorships and prizes Comm – Assist teachers in procurements of sponsorships, buying and wrapping of prizes
4) Logistics Comm – Ballroom décor, stage décor, AV support
5) Programme Comm – Plan overall programme, recommend and get two emcees
6) Performance Comm – Coordinate class performances (might not accommodate all, so depends on quality of classes’ performances), and planning order of item performance.

“In the past, our founders’ day song was sung in English, Chinese, Malay and Indian. Yes, even Indian.”
------------------------

Take a listen to my brother's band's song, My Brown Lollipop by King Kong Jane

Great, all the reality shows are coming to an end. Just waiting for a campus superstar show. See if we can scout any Melinda doolittles in Singapore. Heehee.
Jaslene wins ANTM Cycle 8 (incredibly, wanted Renee to win, grrrr). _______ wins a landslide 9-0-0 victory for Survivor:Fiji (Karliang doesn’t want me to name the winner, so ok. But it’s darn obvious.). Blake wins American Idol, also a landslide victory.

melinda goes home!

blake should seriously be in the final 2.
1) jordin deserves to go home because she thinks singing another time of 'i who have nothing' will see her through one more round. repeating the same song means having to prepare less for another song, and she's just being plain boring by attempting to relive her defining moment, which should only happen in the final two. she's pretty much singing her swansong.
2) blake is way more inventive than the other two. ok, the girls rock in vocals (yes, alaric and yuzhou and everyone says that), but vocals doesn't necessarily mean everything in AI. its more of engaging the audience and being distinctive, like how blake manages to incorporate his beatboxing into his own style, and at least when he performs, i bother to look at the tv screen and listen to him.

but it's all well. chris daughtry didn't win, but he knew his target audience, and he didn't give a heck about how other people thought about his performances. at the end of the day, he ends up being a winner, because people who like his music will purchase his cd. try packaging jordin sparks into another katharine mcphee and see if she can even get a Platinum record given her superb vocals.

seriously, winning AI doesn't mean anything. Taylor Hicks --- he won.
-----------------------------------------------
AND someone really needs to wake up. like almost the whole world thinks you're weird. and WHY DON'T YOU GET IT??!! yes, i'm referring to you! ERGHH~~
-----------------------------------------------

hurhur. malay test was a blooper. everyone just died!
other than that, nothing much, except assembly period, with mrs albar talking to us abt the terrible expression pages done by previous batches and how we should avoid writing profanities in it. hilarious. oh, and also the founders day singing practice.
"the form teacher's faces have been darkened." hurhur.

i'm seriously considering whether to drop physics in rj. coz from what i can comprehend from current electricity, i only know that Ir>iq>iv>vi>iq>ri>rr>rq.
Seriously, i don't quite care whether that resistor has a higher resistance than the other or this battery has a larger voltage than the other. chem cba wasn't that impressive too, thinking i'll score around 14-15/20. Am quite confident for English Expo Essay though, i decided to write on 'Education is a right, not a privilege. To what extent do you agree?"

Started off this way:
"Freedom was once a privilege, but has become a right since liberalism was advocated. Computers were once a privilege to have, but has become a right to own one since the rapid advancement of technology. Similarly, Education was once a privilege, but has become a right. Why is that so? ....."

Cool isn't it. But it sounds rather fallacious now that I'm repeating it over and over again.

Dr Chionh puts it best: "Look at all the politicians! They are all people who are good in humanities. All the 4 humanities [SS+Lit+Geog+History] are very important! It's ok if you don't know maths and science, because you can just hire people to do the calculations for you! You just do the checking, that's all!"
***STANDING OVATION***

***Sits down again***
Ok, just watched the second episode of Deal or No Deal. And seriously, it's a No deal for me. Somehow, the past 2 contestants only managed to walk away with $10k+ dollars, and I believe the winnings for each episode will remain the same way, looking at how conservative and riskless the contestants are playing this game. And when my dad was listening to Vernon A and Justin on the morning show, they said that the contest didn't even require one to be intellectual! It's all about luck! True enough, it's all about luck. So if they're lucky enough, I might watch an episode or more.

Classic quotes on Channel 5:
1) Lifeline
"Welcome to the team," - Gurmit Singh
"THANK YOU SIR!" - Joakim Gomez
2) After Hours
"Pasta? So late in the night? NO!" - Joanne Peh
3) "I have never slept so well until i slept on Simmons." - Thomas Ong

Listen to the way celebs number 2 and 3 read those sentences. it's totally hilarious. intonations and pronounciation all wrong.
---------------------
just spent an hour doing yanjianggao. for now, its geog rubrics, geog greenwave, english trailer, ss notes compilation and choir proposal =)

1) Declare independence - Bjork
2) Stop me - Mark Ronson
3) Wake-up call - Maroon 5
4) Lost Without U - Robin Thicke

5) Brianstorm - The Arctic Monkeys
6) Never again - Kelly Clarkson
7) Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z
8) Earth Intruders - Bjork
9) Big Wheel - Tori Amos
10) Makes me wonder - Maroon 5
11) Ordinary Day - Dolores O'Riordan

12) First time - Lifehouse
13) Step into the light - Darren Hayes
14) Singal Fire - Snow Patrol
15) Summer love - Justin Timberlake
16) What i've done - Linkin Park
17) Closer - Travis
18) Until yesterday - JC Chasez
19) Thnks fr th mmrs - Fallout Boy
20) Big Girls don't cry - Fergie

ora'07 held at rgss this time. took a taxi there, and the taxi driver had to make 4 guesses before he knew where to head.
guess 1: ghim moh (old RJ campus)
guess 2: bishan (current RJ/RI campus)
guess 3: bukit timah (rgs primary)
guess 4: anderson road (correct.)
well, i don't really blame him.

gotta say the space allocated for this year's event was definitely tighter than that in rj/ri. i almost died of suffocation in the canteen. thank god the crowd started to disperse after an hour or so after the walka-talkaton, where we talked our way about interhouse debates for the entire duration, so much so that the teachers and marshalls had to tell us to hurry up.

thought the idea of setting up a games corner at the hall was rather smart, such as the dancedance machine, the samurai thing, the badminton shootout thing, and more.
was fun overall, managed to see some ppl after a while, and not forgetting that i spent $30+ coz i succumbed to the evil marketing strategies of all the stall sellers. only bully me hmph.



yuzhou, wenjian, me

me, yuzhou, jj (ok, this photo is worth millions because jj's gonna win campus.)

These past few weeks sure made me see how people have changed and how some have remained so close to your heart. Its through simple and the slightest of things that you see one person’s true character and personality, and sometimes you just can’t click with people who think differently from you. Times have past, and so many things have changed. I admit I too have flaws, and I got to work on them. So sometimes its good to criticize on others, at the same time, reflect on my own and realize what I’ve done and how I can improve myself.

Some people have surely changed for the worst. You can’t imagine them to being one of your closer friends in yr lower sec years, looking at how confused and lonely they choose to lead their lives now. Maybe I don’t know their problems or what’s going through their mind, but they sure enjoy skipping school and failing NAPFA on purpose, and going off to wander as we have our PE lesson. To this group of people, I don’t know them anymore and if they want people to accept them, they better have some self-dignity first.

Some people, on the other hand, just simply irk me and disgust me. You might be great at sports, you might have won a hefty sum of cash in your competitions, but if your character remains this way, you surely won’t go far in life. Many people have talked about the rafflesian principle of honour, and having self-respect and integrity. But I don’t see that in you; and yr actions sometimes really piss me off, such as:
1) Playing card games, during class, before morning assembly, EVEN DURING LESSONS, even though the prefects have tried umpteen of times to stop you.
2) Putting a chair beside you just to place your BAG and yr sports equipment.
3) Eating potato chips in class, playing handphone, many many more.
Even some teachers are getting quite upset with your behaviour recently.

Now, moving on to another person. I don’t know if you’ll read my blog, but I got to be frank: People are beginning to find you rather weird recently. It’s not only me who’s feeling that way about you; many people feel the same way about you too.

Your grades might not be as satisfactory as you’ve wished for of late and you don’t feel confident about how you’re studying and you’re beginning to have a clash of priorities between your leadership duties and academics. It really sucks sometimes to have all the stress and burden upon yr shoulders. But I don’t see how it can actually affect yr character, so much so that you are hanging out with people we (you know who we’re referring to) once deemed as weird and I don’t feel like I know much about your true self. I may be wrong, but it’ll really be great to see you as who you were once before, as I miss the old ‘you’.

Sometimes, I believe that maybe the overdemanding workload is making everyone crack under pressure. Just think about it, the deadlines we have to meet next week are as follows:
- English Biography Trailer
- Geography Project Task Rubrics Submission
- Geography Greenwave Draft Report
- Chem CBA and Practical
- Physics Quiz
- CLE CCT (if you consider that important, but I feel it’s totally absurd)
And these are just the tasks we have to complete by NEXT WEEK. There are many many more in weeks to come. Tell me, how then can I blame people for going insane.

Nevertheless, there’ll still be a group of people whom you’ll treasure close to your heart. Wenjian, yuzhou, lionel, Alaric, jiawei, so many more. These are the true friends who have remained so real, friends whom I can confide in, friends whom we share a common interest, and friends whom I feel a sense of security and don’t feel any barrier between us. Sometimes we might not say it, but it’s the times we spent together and the moments we’ve been through that truly mould our relationship.

Happy Friendship Week.
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Looking at the Swim Carnival today and House Carnival, it was really sweet to see Buckley fighting hard for the events.

Ok, speaking of this, I shall have to sidetrack a bit.
The attendance and cheering for Swim Meet this year was pathetic. By the end of the ceremony, there were around 100 people left at the pool, mostly of which were the lower sec people. Well, the presence of other sports events at other venues could have accounted for the dismal numbers at the pool, but I believe 500+ pupils have already reached home and indulged in their personal activities. It’s really sad to see that Rafflesian Spirit, as we always call it, drifting further and further away, albeit the leaders trying to emphasize on it again and again.
One simple suggestion: never never ever combine house carn and swim carn together ever again. Perhaps it was a scheduling problem that we had no choice but to put these two major school events together, but by combining these two together, it’ll just separate the school into two parts and there’ll be no bonding amongst houses.

Alright, back to Swim Carn. Well, Buckley ended up third, losing to Moor by around 40 points if I’m not wrong. It’s really encouraging and uplifting to realize that we have moved out of last place consistently this year, although our positions are currently mid-table and rather insecure. For the water polo final however, we ended up 1st runners-up. Not a bad thing, but it was really a bummer that we lost by such a narrow margin, and sometimes you really got to say it’s luck that gave this result.

It was really a nostalgic feeling to see how wenjian felt so down and dejected after his team fell short of being proclaimed champions. The series of events that followed afterwards were so reminiscent to how I felt after CNY talentime, the arena. You just feel as though you were so damn close to victory and yet you lost narrowly, and then you feel really disappointed with yourself, regretting that perhaps you could’ve done better and just change things altogether.

It takes time to realize that this is after all, a team effort. Whatever the result, just remember that everyone put in their best foot forward and that we should enjoy the process thoroughly, irregardless of the result. I was once apprehensive about feeling this way, but it is after trials and failures that I’ve come to terms that I shouldn’t be such a bitch and whine about how I failed to live up to expectations; instead, ravel at how far we as a team have come thus far, and that in future, we should move on and scale even greater heights. Perhaps it was that way of thinking that made me feel little rejection after I got ousted of CSS. I knew I did my best, and whatever other people thought, so long as I knew I did myself justice, nothing else could change my fate. I just had to change my way of thinking.
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I can run, if you can hide
And I'm allowed to change my mind
But if I find a way to erase
Turn the page on what we've left behind
Cos I can't breathe when your out
Of my sight

I, I don't believe in shame
But it's alright to feel the pain
Everybody feels some pain
And I know,
I've seen it in your eyes
Everytime I see you cry, I realise
I've seen your tears too many times
Were going through changes

I know I'm wrong, now realise
It's not my place to try
and justify what is right
I'm not that knife in your side
Cos I'm shedding the skin that I'm in
It's not my fate to live a life without you in

I, I don't believe in shame
But it's alright to feel the pain
Everybody feels some pain
And I know,
I've seen it in your eyes
Everytime I see you cry, I realise
I've seen your tears too many times
Were going through changes

Were going through changes
Gareth Gates – “Changes”

aww...her exit video was so sweet. to think of the first time i heard her 'and i'm telilng you i'm not going', which totally blew me away, to her great rendition of 'this ain't a lovesong'. sadly, she didn't quite manage to 'stay alive'. but well, the 3rd runners-up in the past 5 seasons in idol hasn't been doing too badly either. tamyra gray, josh gracin, latoya london and chris daughtry (with the exception of anthony fedorov hurhur). so we shall see.

third lang today was finally GOOD, considering puan covered 34 proverbs, and the notes i took down for today were more than the combined amount of notes for the past 4 months.
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two exciting events in the next two days: house carn/swim carn and ORA walk-jogathon (which i have to freaking reach rgs by 710 *SCREAMS*)

1-2 Blake Lewis- 22.47
1-2 Jordin Sparks- 22.23
3-4 Melinda Doolittle- 12.05
3-4 LaKisha Jones- 11.63
HURHUR. taken from dialidol, a very reliable site which predicted chris' and phil' eliminations last week. the percentage's based on the frequency of some phone call received from each vote. not sure about it, yuzhou knows more.
so its byebye kiki! and i can't believe melinda's so pathetic. but if i'm praying for a miracle, i somehow wish melinda would go home. at least i feel some affection for the other three. melinda's performances are like forgettable to me, though she is totally superb, but she's not the contemporary singer you would see in blake or jordin.

omg i just found out something. latest news:
Melinda is going home tonight ...

unbelievable. i'll just go mad and jump up and down nonstop.
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1) Umbrella - Rihanna feat Jay-Z
2) Brianstorm - The Arctic Monkeys
3) Stop me - Mark Ronson
4) Signal Fire - Snow Patrol
5) First time - Lifehouse
6) Declare independence - Bjork
7) Lost without U - Robin Thicke
8) Thnks fr th mmrs -Fallout Boy
9) Big Wheel - Tori Amos
10) Earth Intruders - Bjork
11) Big girls don't cry - Fergie
12) If everyone cared - Nickelback
13) Never again - Kelly Clarkson
14) Closer - Travis
15) Until Yesterday - JC Chasez
16) What i've done - Linkin Park
17) Makes me wonder - Maroon 5
18) When you're gone -Avril Lavigne
19) You ruined me - JC Chasez
20) Break it off - Rihanna feat. Sean Paul

GOOD MORNING 2000 RI Boys!
life can't be more exciting with a few interesting teachers as well as shockingly difficult maths questions in ccts that stump you, but apparently its not that tough as deemed by other geniuses, just that you're not normal. well, thats the purpose of having tests: to differentiate the smart from the dumb. shoot, i just used differentiate. AHHHHhh~~~
ok after the disgusting test was the RJ talk abt subject combinations...right now these are my preferred choices:

General Paper H1, Project Work H1, Maths H1, Econs H2, Geog H2, Physics H2, Chem H1
I'm rather keen in Theatre studies too, though it is only offered in H2, and i already fulfilled the required 10 units. (1+1+1+2+2+2+1=10)
The most bizarre subject offered is China Studies [IN ENGLISH]. *applauses*

[H1 - Intermediate advanced - similar to H2 in difficulty but half in breadth
H2 - Advanced = "A" level type of depth and breadth
H3 - Higher Advanced [a.k.a ridiculous] = A variety of learning opportunities for highly-able students. though if possible, i might very well take a H3 Geog and drop Chem.]
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can't believe how malay is still so lax although prelims are like 1-2 weeks away and i dont even realize it coz our teacher is happily playing malay cd-roms and showing us random rap songs abt neighbourhoods and safety first.
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In 'Big Wheel' by Tori Amos, she was singing this phrase repeatedly:
"I..I..I..I'm a MILF don't you forget MILF don't you forget"
decided to check the meaning of the acronym on wiki and it described MILF as a (slang) Mother I'd like to f***: A (putative) mother found sexually attractive.
goodness.

Auspicium Meliori Aevis.

charla is one true hero. the way she competed in this season's amazing race all-stars was just spectacular! but nevertheless they ended up third coz up the challenging final task in which teammates had to correctly guess his/her teammate's opinion of the 'most overrated team, 'team which they would meet up after the race', 'team with the best sense of humor' etc and break a code sequence using their answers. totally cool.

as i came back from home, i took my shower as usual. as i was taking my shampoo, i realized that there was this FREAKING HUGE LIZARD STARING AT ME at EYE LEVEL. i somewhat shrieked and then stepped back and stopped bathing. and my heroic father simply took a slipper and whacked the lizard such that the tail got detached from its body, and yet it continued wiggling. disgusting. my maid screamed LOL.

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went to yanqing's restaurant along sixth avenue yesterday to celebrate mother's day for my grandma. restaurant sells shanghainese food, and overall, it tasted pretty good. ok this is some 'beancurd with crab roe' and the traditional xiaolongbao with extra crab roe on it too. haha.


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choir back to usual practice. looking forward to a great RV!! this term will definitely be a greater one =)

Week 19 (30th April '07 - 6 May '07)
1) Never again - Kelly Clarkson
2) Brianstorm - The Arctic Monkeys

3) Big Wheel - Tori Amos
4) Until yesterday - JC Chasez
5) Earth Intruders - Bjork
6) What I've done - Linkin Park

7) Umbrella - Rihanna feat. Jay-Z

great vid.
8) Signal Fire - Snow Patrol
9) Closer - Travis
10) Makes me wonder - Maroon 5
11) First time - Lifehouse
12) Thnks fr th mmrs - Fallout Boy
13) Stop me - Mark Ronson

14) If everyone cared - Nickelback
15) You ruined me - JC Chasez
16) Window - Shirlyn Tan
17) When you're gone - Avril Lavigne
18) Big Girls don't cry - Fergie
19) Break it off - Rihanna feat. Sean Paul
20) Wait for you - Elliott Yamin

SO MANY SONGS THESE DAYS, looks like my charts got to expand to AT40.

was featured on the css section on 'music in the air' yesterday. i am the 4th person to appear. haha.


spiderman 3 - 3.5stars
ok, generally the plot was good, characterization wise could've been stronger, guessed there were too many characters so they couldn't concentrate solely on one person.
some things i found rather weird with the movie:
1) why in the world are the ppl in new york city clapping and cheering as though they're watching a wrestling match whenever spiderman combats an evil person??
2) the news reporter said something along the line of: "Oh no, this could be the end of Spiderman!" I was like...erm, this is the end of New York City, not spiderman. If nyc were to be like that in real life, i think 911 wouldn't be much of a disaster man.
3) no ambulance or attempt was made to save harry's life.

overall, good movie, must-watch, but middle part was a little too dreary and draggy. didn't like it. the old man/woman in the show were the wise ppl in the show.

"THE CHOICE IS YOURS"
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i thought chinese paper was rather easy
chem cct - 20/35. i had like full marks for MCQ and mr koh put a GOOD beside mcq section. then i guessed i pretty much screwed up the rest of the paper, coz guessing wouldn't cut it. haha.

and blake is the only male finalist in the competition. told you he'll last long.
my predictions: lakisha 4th, jordin 3rd, blake 2nd, melinda 1st.
but if jordin pulls off another 'hey baby', then i think she'll take the 3rd runner-up spot.
FAB FOUR it is.

P.S I appeared on the Channel U Superstar Variety Show, which featured my audition clip for like 6-7 seconds, the longest amongst those featured. thanks charlene for telling me! =) gonna watch the repeat later tonight at MIDNIGHT. holy.

blake and lakisha owned today. blake did his original beatbox thrills, and lakisha belted her emotional and personality out. but my predictions for the boot are chris and lakisha, because lakisha's previous week performance was seriously dreadful. considering there were 70 million votes cast last week, i don't think she'll pull it through this week. but if all goes as planned, phil will take her place.

ok i'm starting to get hooked on 'never again'.
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school life's getting really frustrating for many people now. it's either you suffer from the flu bug, or your grades are plummeting although you worked yr ass in hopes of scoring well. im suffering more from the viral epidemic though, but its recovering. =)
all i got to say is, stop brooding over it and realize that there's so much more to come!! the more you get caught up with yr failures, the worse you'll become, and the cycle will go on and you'll soon burst. just keep that faith and jiayou!!
to ppl like bryan and gregory and everyone else struggling right now, don't give up. your sheer hard work will pay off.

ok had a humongous sausage platter with my parents yesterday at a german restaurant at vivocity, along with another pork knuckle. tasted great.

happy birthday wenjian!!!

its pretty fun irritating the world with georgia brown's high frequency scales. had great fun with it, esp during RE when everyone's bored to death, as well as sneezing their noses.
alright, bjork has another nice song called 'declare independence' wahaha.
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thanks mr low for giving me that box of ferrero rochers!!! finally i get rewarded for something i do as a cec person. haha. =)

Danielle: “Every Road Block that is designed for a guy, I am doing. And every Road Block for a girl, Eric does. He’s a woman.”

alright, one reality show down. now left with ANTM, survivor and idol. and all are about to end. project runway and apprentice HAD BETTER not start now.

had a really funny encounter today with some librarians. or rather, they went mad with us. first, we (consisting of wenjian, bryan, alaric, lionel and mingzhe, all from their RE group, leaving me as the outcast, but i just followed them because i had nothing to do) went to the children's section, and they intended to do their re discussion there while i was just lazing around doing my differentiation worksheet 2. and when i mean worksheet 2, i mean TECHNIQUES OF DIFFERIENTATION worksheet 2. now i finally am starting to understand chain rule.

ok. don't laugh.

then then, amidst all our laughter and lionel's loud thump onto the floor because the stool behind him was shifted, one real evil librarian came forward to us and told us that we couldnt have discussions in here. half-satisfied with their answer, we walked reluctantly upstairs, along with maybe 20+ other study groups who also reluctantly went upstairs. once we all left, the children's section was i-s-o-l-a-t-e-d.

ok. then once we reached the 'whatever-you-call-that' section, there was like absolutely no space for the 20+ study groups to find a comfortable area. so there were these round domes where books were stored, and we decided to plunge ourselves there. obviously, 5 minutes later, the evil librarian manages to find us and shoos us away to another place.

and the chain continues until finally, we found this awkward open area, which the librarian had no choice but to succumb to our stubborn perseverance, and she just reminded us to 'keep quiet'.

verdict: we win.---------------------------------
oh, antm yesterday was really cool. all the models had to pose a double stint (i.e ashton kutcher & demi moore, ellen degeneres and portia de rossi, beyonce and jay-z). totally hilarious, especially when anchal pulled an 'oprah' off.

Brooke to Janice Dickinson: "What makes you so...bitchy?"
CariDee to Janice Dickinson: "What makes you so overpungent?"
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hey, just wanna ask if putting a background music for my blog's good?