2010: Looking Back

Friday, December 31, 2010
Secret War Journal[Earthen Year 2010][Long post]
Many posts ago, I mentioned that I sort of owe Mr Goh an reflection because of my not-serious attitude for this year's Promos. Well I guess I said I would do it. In fact, I will do it on the very last moment of 2010 before 2011 arrives within a blink of an eye. Hahas.

This post may be very emotional or very confusing because of the nature of this post. So, if you're in the right mind, ignore this post, get the heck out of here. ;)

What shall we talk about first? Hmm...

Since my declaration in that phantom post that I shall not have an official Christmas post this year, let us discuss things that I would had if I had a post regarding Christmas. (Yes, it was purely intentional to forgo the post and not because I had no time.)

This section is dedicated to my best friend. Who better to start the post with other than my best friend? :)

How times fly, as I probably told you, we're finally in the same school. Truth is, that actually made a lot of things easier. No longer do we need to use phones to communicate, wait out months to finally meet up and have fun. Though junior college is without doubt more tough than Secondary school, your presence do help to provide much motivation for me to attend school. Hahas!


Thank you, for being there to encourage me when I was feeling down. Thank you for reminding me to think on the bright side when I felt all is dark. Thank you for reminding me that we're all humans. Hahas, yes especially that last part. You may not be aware but it was you who often inspire me and set me thinking if I did something wrong and allow me to think in other people's shoes which is useful because Mr Goh always wanted us to be able to think from other people's perspective as it gives us an edge.


This year, I'm glad that we managed to set aside time to have outings despite how busy we are from school.


Hahas, I still find it funny that we never once were in the same class. I guess God knew that if we were to be in the same class, we would keep talking like no tomorrow just like how teachers who scold us for talking in the past, disallowing us from sitting next to each other so that we do not talk, how we sent out of the classroom because of the noise we make. Ah, happy memories. :)


Speaking of memories, sometimes I wish school ends in the afternoon just like a few years back and we could meet up after school and chat, just like old times.


Did I mention I miss Fire Rash? I wish we could play that again, I really liked that game. O.o


Oh well, man I miss staying over at your house too. :p

I bet if Mr Goh reads this, he would be frustrated with me because I bet he was expecting another kind of reflection. Well, too bad. :p

Actually, one could say I was fated to go MJC. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but a bunch of us planned to go TJC, with the better ones going VJC, ACJC and NJC.

Due to unforeseen reasons, I ended up in MJC. I can't say I was disappointed in entering MJC because in a way, I placed my faith to God, to let him decide which school I shall go. Since I was posted to MJC, then it means I was not meant to be in TJC. That was probably why I did not appeal to TJC (well, another reason would be because I was lazy? Hmm) when my friend decided to appeal to TJC.

Unsurprisingly, the first thing I did was to check the name list of who was posted to MJC.

Jackie went to MJC (no surprise, given his score)
Marcus went to MJC
Johnston went to MJC (yay, he entered in MJC! ;)

Apparently, quite a big number of NCHS people came to MJC. Lai Yin came to MJC after the stupid smokescreen she set from telling our clique. =.=

Many more went to polytechnics. Throughout the year, I kept wondering why I didn't go poly instead(though I myself knew the reason why but I realised that that point is moot on my first day in MJC...)
Many times, I kept wondering, is my 2 years here worth it? I felt so restless. Something tugs me to a direction but I have no idea which. I felt so lost. I felt aimless. I don't even know why am pursuing in such a direction. It seemed so pointless now. My guilt that drove me for the past 4 years simply disappeared when I entered MJC. What drove to study simply vanished, leaving me feeling empty from the school life I experienced this year.
For a moment, I tried to use sorrow and sadness as a substitute but it just doesn't work. It just.... felt different.
Would poly be a better choice for me? I never considered poly when I was deciding which school to go to because of a simple reason. I guess I'm the one to be blamed for learning physics. After all, it all goes down to one stupid assumption and not seeing everything until it's too late. I can't help but feel that you placed me here for something because you seldom go out of your way to influence things. Throughout the year, I'm been thinking what you're up to but I'm just wild-guessing. After all, you are a master in these, you don't leave clues, you don't give room for things to be revealed until you know it is time. Much as I want, I can't reach that kind of level. After all, I'm just human.


My biggest disappointment this year is perhaps, not seeing your name on the name list. I checked the list at least thrice but your name could not be found. When that happened, I can't say I should feel sad or glad. Darn, I still feel guilty. I wish I could use that guilt for studies but every time I think of you, it's like judging myself. I'm reminded by how much wrong I had done. I'm reminded how naive I was then. I'm reminded how there is a need for control. I guess I owe you for making me see sense. The reason I may feel glad is because of the dilemma of whether I should thank you or apologise you. It's like a crossroad. But I have decided to walk that path, I doubt anyone could talk me out of it. After all, I've sinned. God's Wrath, I would say I deserve my suffering but the selfish me still wish I could walk without guilt one day. A day without things to remind me of my guilt. Ha, I wish.

Joel Stein called this year the year of leaks. (I can't disagree on that, hahas) I would call this year the year of Doubt.

Man, I have no idea why all the year I name are so emo-ish. Hahas, I guess the Golden Age ended years ago.

7 years... everything just went downhill from there. How deep is this fall? On the bright side, it's hardly possible for me to fall any deeper, I hope.

Why a year of doubt? Well, there has been a increasing number of people I know who started to doubt themselves. Some may be valid, some are without evidence. Nevertheless, we should not start jumping at shadows. We're not madman, not yet anyway.

I still believe things will go for the better (for the rest of you anyway). That much, I have hope. :)

Believe in yourself, you would surprise yourself how much I do. ;)

This year, there many difficulties, many challenges, many misunderstandings, but I know you can pull through because I believe in you.  Don't lose heart. I know you're afraid of the calm before the storm but you should know that you're not alone in this fight. So don't doubt yourself. :)
--
Speaking of which, yes it is sad but remember:
"that which does not kill us makes us stronger" - Friedrich Nietzsche

Take a deep breath and take a step, you never know where it may lead. =)

Going back to MJC, though I should discuss this at the end of next year but I'm curious about something so I shall try something different. :)

Strange as it is, I look forward to the daily gathering at the atrium every morning. I just wish I wasn't so tired and filled with homework.

But I must admit meeting you guys(Bao Lin, Clarissa, Cynthia, Darian, Eunice, Johnston, Lai Yin, Marcus, Siew Yan) in the morning really helped to stabilise my mood most of the time in the morning. As some of you probably know, my mood pattern sort of scrambled after I graduated from NCHS.

Now longer was I in the good mood from the morning until evening where I go into a foul mood. Most of the times this year, I'm grumpy when I wake up. (I suspect is the lack of sleep or...)

Though it's not every time everyone gather in the morning (missing one or two), at least it helps to well, remind me that I need to look on the bright side of life. I'm not really sure why but talking with Johnston always helps to soothe my nerves. =]

I shall finally reach the point that Mr Goh was driving about. Hahas!

Yes, it's my fault. It was a lack of self-discipline on my part for playing games during the Exams period. It was unwise to stare at Facebook when I should be revising for exams. I should thank Mr Goh for making me realise my errors of my ways and refrain from committing the same mistake next year with more crazy tests accompanying it. Hahas.

I did some self-reflection after promos. I think I had written them in my posts after promos. I should know when to play, and when not to play. I should not have have gone overboard and play as though there wasn't any examinations tomorrow when there is.

As such, I'm proud to tell you, throughout this holiday. I have succeeded in not playing a single computer game for a week, not using computer for an entire week. Not using facebook for a day or two. (That would need work but I'm aiming for the longer period when examinations are coming. ;)

And thus, that explains my unexplained absence from blogger for close to half a month. It's because I was I wasn't using computer for a month and when I came back, I had a lot of real work to catch up to for my a week absence. :)
(which explains my one week of not playing computer games as well. Hahas)

But this ordeal made me realise that I am actually not very interested in games (at least single player ones). That would explain why I prefer to go out and play together instead, the experience is much sought for though costly (and hence not as often). Anyway, I had people to talk to for that week of no computer usage so I felt no loss. Hahas!

Maybe the reason I use computers at home is because there is nothing else better to do. The alternative would be to interact with my family which would be..... yeah.

How did I survive Promos when I was playing like crazy? For that, I believe I need to thank Keller. Keller was the one who came out with the idea of group studying together but he is mostly lazy to organise. But he's the one who brought the idea. The rest of us simply made it last.

If it wasn't for the mugfests by ILM(Johnston, Keller, Darian and Qi Xiang), I would had been playing like crazy for real. But because I went out to study with you guys, I was able to survive Promos. Thank the gods! Hahas!

Mugfests made me realise that though I lost the driving force to study alone, I could still study in groups. :)
Not to mention, it gives us excuse to meet up and catch up with each other. Hahas!

And you got to admit they're creative people, not just smart. Hahas! 3 different JCs, maybe I should invite Jie Sheng over. Hahas!

Ah, I also appreciated Jie Sheng keeping in touch after graduation even though we end up at different schools. :)

Recently, we were discussing what University courses I'm interested in. The truth is, I don't know. Hahas. Nothing seems interesting, anyone has any good suggestions? ^^

If you asking why am I in Junior College then, that's a very good question that gets you no good answers. ;)

Now, let us review the wishlist I made in the beginning of this year! =)

Link: http://leroyr.blogspot.com/2010/02/jc1-wishlist.html 

Well, I fulfilled 9/13 of the goals I made myself. Due to imperfect information however, I came to realise that some goals cannot be fulfilled this year (a tad too late but yeah hahas). It's okay, those would be carried forward to next year. Now is a good time to review them and in the meantime, set goals for next year. Hahas!

Well, cutting those impossible ones. I would be left with 9/11. I'm working on #13 now, I feel that I can achieve that, but not this year, next year. I'm not sure why but I'm like the idea of wearing collared shirts this years. Hahas! Weird fashion sense of mine. :p

#7 should be able to be achieved but the phrasing was poorly done so it's not considered to be fulfilled. That too, would be carried forward next year.

I wasn't expecting to achieve #6 but hey, I did! I'm so surprised when I actually got into a mood to do just that somewhere in the middle of my June Holidays. I was feeling productive that period of time. Wow! I still can't believe it now. I mean, if I were to do it now, I don't think I can even produce a new version, not even thinking about completing an entire drafted product. Wow. So next year, let's draft finish Draft 2 and complete it! (I guess after A levels? Hahas ^^)

Woots, looking at my wishlist now, I feel a sense of achievement. Wonder what next year entails? Hmm...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! (sheesh, it's just one more minute, can't I wish you in advance?)

Another step, another stone to lay, be patience, vengeance would be ours.

Stayover @ Aunt's House

Sunday, December 26, 2010
Secret War Journal[4~12 December 2010]
By the time I am posting this, I'm not longer staying over at my aunt's house already. We have become so much more busy since the past few years. This is why it is so hard to organise a stayover nowadays. Not just my aunt's house, even Johnston's house. I always like staying over at their house, it's so much more fun. Hahas!

Ideally, I postponed all other outings and activities for next week where I would be back home so I can make full use of the time there but some things are not flexible enough to postpone. On the bright side, I enjoyed myself during the period of time either way. :)

It's been so long since I tasted my aunt's cooking! Not to mention the snacks her house has compared to my home where it seems to be devoid of nice snacks. Hahas!
Had papaya which most of the time, I'm too lazy to cut it myself at home. (Or buy it since I can't finish it myself) Really appreciate my aunt cutting it for all of us. ^^
Had Siew Mai, another rare food for me since I seldom eat that!

Hahas, like my uncle say, when I stayover I eat food that I normally would not had eat. :)
I still don't eat much seafood though. ;)

Oh man, I missed the instant noodles there too! Really liked how we would go cook instant noodles together for a meal. It's so much better than eating instant noodles at home. (Though I seldom do that nowadays, rather buy out since my house doesn't has instant noodles anyhow)

Funny as it may sound, I miss sleeping there too. I thought I would not be used to the different environment but I was able to have a sound sleep. (Hahas, nowadays I have some negative thoughts swimming at home. Wonder why...)

I'm proud to say that every morning I looked forward to breakfast! :)
Oh, not to mention the fact that I seldom use computer during the entire period. I'm so proud of myself! Ha!

Sadly, my sore eyes was not cured during that period of time. I suspect my phone is causing it. (Though I suspect my computer at home caused it first when I was rushing work.)
In the last few days, I decided to seek medication. It was very useful, it's much better now. Thank you! :)

I just wish Qi Xian could join us. It's been some time since I see his old self...

Ah, before I forget, this is one of the newer addition which I think is nice. :)
The words are not inside because I think my camera would not be able to capture it.

I also remembered how we even used facebook to communicate even though we were in the same room. Hahas! We really laughed a lot then. Ah, it reminds me of much my old life. If only times could go on like this, having such positive thoughts everyday, especially during school.
I'm not sure you would read this, but I really enjoy myself there. Thank you! ;)

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Thursday, December 23, 2010
Secret War Journal[11 December 2010]
Well, today, there is a meeting about a particular event that I would be involved in. It's called "Let's take a walk 2010". It's a charity walk which my class would be helping out at as part of our CIP hours project of sorts.

My class agreed to meet at Woodlands MRT station. Apparently, we were suppose to meet at some place called Boys' Town which should be located somewhere in Bukit Timah. Well, being someone who had lived under a rock for the past 10 years, I had no clue how to get there myself. (It's too far north to my liking)

I don't really like Woodlands either, (It's also located in the North. Zzz), but I guess that's the lesser evil compared to tampines because it's very inaccessible, not to mention my bad experience there.

Got a lift from my uncle who brought all the way to Yishun so that I can easily get to Woodlands, (from there, it's a just a few stops to Woodlands via MRT). I'm really glad that my uncle offered me to bring me to Yishun though I feel a bit bad because they could have taken their own time to have breakfast but they had to come out in a certain time to prevent me for being late. :S Really appreciated. :)

Took a bus to the place called Boys' Town.

Speaking of which, we passed by a LRT Station called Pending. One may thinking the station status is pending but it's actually the station name! Hahas! In fact, a few days after the meeting, the newspaper actually came out with a report on how misleading "Pending" Station was. ;)

When we reached the entrance of Boys' Town. We encountered the security guard. When he was asked about the briefing (well, we needed directions, it was a big big place. :), he commented that the meeting was in the morning and it was already going to be over.

(That turned out to be a scare as he mixed up our briefing with the walkers' briefing which was held on the same day, same place but on 9AM to 12 noon. Our briefing, being volunteers to help out, was from 12 noon onwards. :)

Nevertheless, to those who heard the conversation (I doubt many cared anyway), I guessed that rattled them for a moment.

It took some time before we finally arrived at our destination. We were a tad early and there wasn't really anyone else except us and the organisers. The briefing was short and brief. It was concluded with a statement that emails would be sent with more details which settled everything else.

After the meeting, we headed for Causeway Point for lunch. Following this was a very impromptu movie outing. Hahas!

Chronicles of Narnia
 Well, the movie wasn't bad. I guess you could call the movie average. Thrilling? Not exactly, it's more about the lore. Many things left unexplained and some parts felt skipped.

The dragon design was very awkward too.

Overall, I doubt this movie is worth the cinema ticket price. You should just wait for the movie to aired free on television some day when you're really bored.

It's saving grace would the subtle magic used in the movie. It's at least of decent quality. :)

Sadly, the magic showcased are not very elaborate so fans of magic could be disappointed as the magic is considered rather minimal compared to other movies and not meant for people to focus on. Like I said, subtle magic, I guess its role is just to supplement the atmosphere and the likes.

After the movie, I had to rush off to my Grandma's house! It's been a long time since I visited since my family visit in odd weeks while my aunt's family visit weekly. ^^

Had chicken chop for dinner! Yum! :D

The Nutcracker

Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Secret War Journal[9 December 2010][Long Post][Picture Heavy]
Here is where there some overlaps of events. I won't make much sense stating the context for this particular case as it requires some background information which should be addressed at another post.

Basically, on that day, I was watching a drama with my aunt (which is very rare but I enjoy it okay! :D) when Johnston invited me to a musical play called the Nutcrackers.

Despite the play being in Singapore for quite some time, I never got the opportunity to watch one so I was really looking forward to this one. :)

That was one problem then, I had no access to my wardrobe then. Hahas! Johnston says he intends to go there in MJC uniform since he doesn't have the time to go home and change. I was planning to go there in shorts but my aunt was like horrified by that idea (well, I guess I should be but hey, I had no access to any pants right now.) and she sent me off to collect appropriate clothes for the musical. Hahas!

I watched for a few more episodes of the drama with my aunt before leaving to collect shoes and cloths. It took one hour to retrieve them. Phew! When I come back, my aunt was still watching the drama. Hahas! Continued to watch with her, of course. :)

Johnston's handphone was going low battery so we quickly made sure we planned everything so that we can (hopefully) find each other at the meeting area.

Oh, before I forget, on that day, I actually forgot about Punggol's LRT system. I was reminded by my aunt who was telling me I do not need to take a bus 83 then transfer to MRT when I was like giving a very confused look because I only knew that way to the MRT station. Hahas!

Punggol MRT station is still as spooky as ever. Can't they add more things, like set up some shops? It's so empty.

The musical play would be held at the Vivocity near the HarbourFront MRT station.

The MRT Station seemed to have changed by quite a bit since I last went there since there are many more exits than I recall. I was a bit lost when I came out of the station (as usual, given my pathetic sense of direction). Hahas!

Well, I definitely never foresee it being having so many exits so apparently there was an ambiguity in our planned meeting location. Oh great, I'm so lost. Fortunately, Johnston's handphone was not drained dry yet. He smsed back that is the exit with the Yogi Bear Movie advertisements. But there was a problem, I don't see any Yogi Bear advertisements. I'm officially very lost. Hahas!

At that moment, Johnston's phone ran out of battery. :O

Well, I wasn't aware yet but I knew for sure that happened when he started calling me via a public phone.
Well, at least, we did not lose so much time that we end up missing the musical. Hahas!

Had dinner at Burger King before setting off for the musical. (At least the inside of the vivocity didn't change much, hahas) The venue of the musical is at the rooftop of the shopping mall which was like sort of cool because I didn't know the rooftop had something. Hahas!

The play
Well, the ticketing system was short of defeated since you can catch a peek of the musical from the sides outside. Well, at least if you have tickets, you get to side while you watch. Hahas!

(My camera isn't very good so I hope you don't mind if the quality isn't top-notch. ;)

Thus, the magic (I meant musical) begins

They started to dance!

Sorry, big guy. O.o

The story officially begins

Welcome to the rat kingdom! :D

Oh, I forgot to mention this. Did you realise the nutcracker had already appeared?

Duel!

The nutcracker is now human!

The strange ice king and queen have appeared.

That's one weird fairy as well, hahas!

Happily ever after. O.o

Photo-taking session!

Rats! Hahas!

The Prince and the Princess!


After the photo-taking session, we went out and took pictures of the nearby gigantic christmas tree! (That tree went up on the news too, by the way)
 Merry Christmas in advance? XD

There, that's the big tree I was talking about. Magnificent, isn't it?

This was a bit of a fail shot. We did not know it was so dark in the picture. Hahas!

A final look at the tree before we headed home! :)

Actually, I already observed that that day. Stay strong and don't lose heart, my friend for you do not stand alone. There are many who will stand by you, I'm sure. So stay strong...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Secret War Journal[25 November 2010]
The penultimate movie for Harry Potter is out!

I don't think I need to explain why it is penultimate and not the final movie, right? :)

Anyways, this is an outing organised by Wei Ting. :)

We went through a lot of hurdles to have this movie outing, well sort of. Hahas, I will illustrate why later, sort of. XD
--
I have school that morning but since the lessons end like super early, like 10AM and we plan to watch the movie in the afternoon, This means that I had plenty of time to go eat breakfast/lunch/brunch with Pei Shi, Laura and Debbie. :)

After that, I headed home. Wei Ting and I decided to meet up earlier to buy the movie tickets.

We went to buy snacks for the movie. Wei Ting already bought milk tea beforehand, super smart. She went to buy fried mushroom while I decided to buy Prawn Crackers later. I decided to forgo popcorn since no one want share cost with me. Hahas!

15 minutes before the movie starts, Bao Lin and Jie Sheng have not arrived! Oh dear, I was starting to panic. Wei Ting called Bao Lin while I called Jie Sheng. It turns out that Jie Sheng was still in CCA. Noooo! He was like saying that most likely he cannot make it for the movies. I was like, "Come man, I bought the movie tickets already!" Hahas, evil me.

In the end, Jie Sheng and I reached a compromise. He would rush to the cinema. When he reach, he would get me a call and I would come out and give him the ticket. There, settled. :)

Bao Lin, on the hand, was able to arrive at the nick of time. I think she ran or something. O.o

Luckily for Jie Sheng, the advertisement for this particular movie at that particular timing was unusually long. After roughly 10 minutes after we had entered the Cinema hall, the movie had not started yet. After around the 20th minute mark, I received a call from (yep, you guessed it) Jie Sheng. (Smack yourself in the head if you guessed wrong, haha!)

By then, the movie has started by a bit. :O

Now, about the movie. The movie was, in general, not bad though the middle of the film was rather anti-climax in my opinion. I guess it is because the opening was so climatic and adrenaline pumping that makes the audience demanding more action only to be disappointed that the middle was somewhat lacking in that manner.
As you would had probably heard from other reviews, this film is more towards the romance genre. I can't say I disagree for that matter. Hahas.

I know there is a need for the movie to be split into two parts but I feel that it would be much better if it just one big film. It would definitely be much nicer. :)

Oh, if you intend to watch this film, here's a word of advice: go re-read the book first! ;)

I believe we headed home after the movies so see you all at the next post then. :)