Leroy's Secret War Journals

Shroud of Darkness

2012-11-05T20:46:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[]
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Let's Talk NTU 2012

2012-01-08T18:48:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[7 January 2012]

“A” Levelsresults are coming soon, I am getting nervous. This coming Monday would be therelease of “O” Levels results. Somehow, that made me worries about my “A”Levels results. Hahas!

Well, Iguess it is soon time for reality to kick in and start thinking about thefuture!

One of thefew talks I managed to find time to attend was the session conducted by NanyangTechnological University (NTU) named “Let’s Talk NTU 2012”.

How I knew about such an event? NTU sent us aletter to all of us to raise awareness as well as the flood of emails byBrightspark to inform us of such an event. It was quite irritating later on becauseall the contents are essentially the same thing but I guess the organizers wereworried that no one would attend their talks.

For today’sevent, I would be attending the talk with Debbie, Cynthia, Laura, and Pei Shi.

I guess itis without doubt after the talks and the word-of-mouth that NTU is excellent inthe Business and Accountancy Degree. The direct honors program is also anotherplus for the Nanyang Business School. (Note that all courses in NTU offer thisprogram too) Hmm, perhaps I would enroll in that school should I decide toundertake a business degree. Hahas!

Apart frommeeting many friends during the events and understanding the various courses alittle better, there is nothing much to note for the talk.

But dang, I am still undecided on which course I should gun for! (if I scorewell, that is) Any ideas?

P.S: There is another exact same talk on the 28 Jan 2012. Feel free to see for yourself then!

Intern Union -- IDA

2012-01-07T21:02:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[3 January 2012 - 6 January 2012]
Another week has passed! I hope this is a short post because I have a lot of things to write about, hahas!

New Interns

As mentioned earlier, Wen Rui and Johnston had officially started work as Intern here from this week onwards. :)

This brings the total number of Meridian Junior College Students working as Intern to 4. With that many of us around in there (relatively), we could form our own student union in there! Hahas!

I am just worried that our mentors would think we are distracting each other. Let's hope not. I would like to think with more of us around, we could help each other in terms of moral support and improving each other's skills.

Helping each other in specific work may be more difficult, given the sensitive nature of our work. (Especially mine?) But I still believe there are ways to improve each other's work without needing to disclose too much information. (After all, I live with secrets everyday and I still get things in done in the real world.)
--
Wen Rui seems to be the busiest among us right now. However, I believe I would be much more busy than her in the near future once my side shift into high gear. :)

Johnston's first week seems similar to Joan's and mine. In addition, his mentor seems as friendly as mine. Wohoo! We must be lucky. :)

MPS

Meanwhile, on the eastern side of Singapore, I am back training as a case-writer!

This week, there are more volunteers than ever! I am not sure it was due to one week break than everyone had but wow, the room was filled with volunteers! Voluntarism in Singapore is indeed rising, for this particular activity anyways. Hahas!

It is a really much more enriching an experience than typing, I feel that I get to know how's the sentiment like on the ground and the various issues that people experience.

You should volunteer too! ;)

"Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it." - Henry David Thoreau

2011: For Friends

2011-12-31T20:22:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[2011][Long Post]

Ah, the last days of 2011 approaches.

What does it mean? It means that it is time to bid our good-byes.

This year, I decided that I shall call it the Year of Friendship.

Indeed, my friends. This year is dedicated to all who I deem as friends. There aren’t many, I know but know that each of you count. Numbers mean nothing to me.

After all, there is no point in claiming many as friends when you know at the back of your head that they are plotting your downfall.

Why this year, you may ask.

This year had been hella tough year. Family was not of much help (as usual). Of course, tolerating certain people also did not help much but I am glad that you people were there for me.

Some days when the days are cloudy and dark, you provide light to show me the way.

Some days when the days are bursting with tears, you provide shelter from its pounding droplets.

Some days when the days are beaming with sunlight, you would be there to bask in it.

In short, thank you for being there for me. :)

"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely." - Pam Brown

Of special mention are the following people:

1. Johnston

Thank you, my best friend. For being there, when I feel down. For being there, when I feel sick and tired of humanity. For being there, when I feel that there is no point in staying in this place. For being there, when I am at a loss of what to do next.

Thank you for making the effort to re-connect me to the world when I lost touch to the outside world.

2. Emelia

Your cheerful self reminded me of my past, in a good way. I am happy that despite having fewer opportunities to meet up in person, we were still able to keep in contact via new media. :) Your efforts in making those cards and greetings did not go unnoticed. Thank you! ;)

3. Marcus and Keller

Thank you both for setting aside time to go out with me for varying reasons. I do acknowledge that it takes some effort and patience to allocate a portion of your free time to go out. Unfortunately, you two sometimes became targets of wicked tongue when we meet because I am often in a foul mood this year. I’m sorry and can only hope for your understanding. I really appreciate how the both of you tolerated shit from me and kept our friendship alive. Thank you.

Keller and I should remain in contact either via Facebook or via mobile. :)

4. Qi Xiang and Meldon

My bubbly friend, Qi Xiang who had, perhaps ironically, made the best group of friends during his two year in Junior College between Keller, him and I. Sometimes, I envy his life though most of the time I wonder why (often ending up in much hilarious results)

Meldon, Qi Xiang and I actually have some common interests which I believe had ensured hours of talking (which may had distracted our studies slightly this year)

Still, it was fun talking to them and I really enjoyed the conversations a lot. Not to mention, the laughter coming from those. ;)

I’m not really sure why but somehow I felt that staying in touch with everyone could start to prove to be difficult. Here’s my analysis on who I would likely to stay in touch after this year: (maybe you would notice a trend…)

Primary School Friends:

Johnston – I’m sure we would remain in contact after all these ordeals. :)

Emelia – Similarly, I doubt we will lose contact. :)

Marcus – Based on past experience, I believe Marcus will also take effort to stay in contact. :)

Jia Xin – Staying in touch with her may prove to be difficult in the coming years since there is little opportunity to meet up. However, I like how we are open to the idea of planning meet-ups. ;)

?? ??? – Highly unlikely to meet you again. Sigh. Promises are just too powerful.

Secondary School Friends:

Keller – I have faith that he would take the effort to stay in touch but who knows what may happen in the future? Worse case scenarios, there’s always Facebook :S

Qi Xiang – Meeting up with him always had been hard. Hahas! At least we still can contact each other via Facebook (unless Facebook goes into a downturn, oh no!)

Cynthia – Kind of surprised hearing her coming with a plan to meet up with the rest of the group which I guess warrants her name being placed here. Not bad, much improvement on her part. :p We shall see how much she is determined to get it going. It is not going to be easy, but I think she needs the experience.

Siew Yan – She and I discussed about possible meetups in the future. I’m not really sure it was light talk but I’m pretty serious with what I said – Obviously one would prioritise old friends over bunk-mates during the NS period because the opportunity to meet bunk-mates is so much higher during that period anyways. In my opinion, the real challenge, for me, comes after my national service. I think there could be a potential for a conflict of interests then.

Lai Yin – I guess she will make the effort? Strangely enough, her schedule and mine seems to clash a lot. I guess we have differing definitions of free time and work. *Shrug*

Junior College Mates:

Shereen – Ah, my god-daughter of mine. I trust that her constant worry that we lose contact after National Service would be cause enough for us to stay in contact. She is always afraid I would forget her after NS. Hahas, silly girl.

"Never have a companion that casts you in the shade." - Baltasar Gracian

And also other things...

2011 was surprising an eventful year. Time to review my wishlist for 2011,
score: 5/8.
Details here.

Dang, not as well as I had hoped for. Still, I guess it can't be helped.

After all, some matters are really not up to me to decide.

Weekends in 2011 were pretty much devoted to housework and judging by how things go, it would be the same for the next year too. Shucks.

Don't get me wrong, doing housework is okay. Demanding people to do housework EVERY DAY borders on insanity.

Of falsehoods

I decided to pretty much cease writing about my broken family except for really generic stuff that everyone else writes about. The rationale behind is that I realised that those posts are getting quite a number of people worried about me. That is unfortunately not what I want.

So, to have less people getting concerned over such matters, I decided to stop writing about such matters in this journal. Originally, I just write those to calm myself down. I am someone who needs to write some stuff to organise my thoughts else those thoughts would run amok in my brain. (which could make me quite insane at times)

While at one hand I'm saddened by the fact that I had to resort to this on this journal, I guess I would get used to it. After all, I put on a false front everyday.
--

"A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better." - Stephen Leacock

Changes for the coming spring,

I decided to abolish some formatting styles for my entries for 2012.

Instead of the usual cyan background header in my entries, I should now adapt a simpler larger font size with bold for my headers (with Georgia), like these in this entry.
I guess most reader would probably exclaim, "Thank goodness, I thought this day would never arrive!"
But I still wish to justify my rationale for using the cyan background for my headers initially. It was to provide for a high level of contrast for easier reading. Of course, at times, that made it look out of place in the entire journal, the harmony of colour seemed broken at some point of time.
Thus, I decided to restore the harmony at the cost of its contrast. Of course, if any of you have a better suggestion, please do tell me and I would consider them.

Another writing technique I am planning to change could be using Microsoft Office Word to write out my entries from now instead of the native engine available online. I believe Office Word would provide me with more options for formatting and more room for creativity. Of course, this means that the underlying code could potentially become more complicated. (But I guess it is not your problem, to speak of hahas!)

For this post, I used Office Word. I would like to say I really enjoyed typing there, as if typing here is not already a joy! Hahas!

Another advantage in using Office Word would be that I could type my entries even when internet is not available. I am not always at places where there is internet, unfortunately, and that had hindered my efforts to write my entries throughout this year.
Of course, there is also an issue of privacy when I am typing the entries. After all, I am not very comfortable with typing my entries in the presence of people, in general.

What about changing the design of this journal, you say?
Hahas! Sorry, I have no plans to change the current just yet. Let's just say my mood when I decided to use this design is still aligned with how I feel like now. :)

Okay, how about removing that irritating cover post that had been there for months? Sorry again, there was a reason in placing it there as it is. Until there are more reasons to remove than leaving it there, it will remain.

One, I do not want certain people to know this journal is updated and well. Second, it is easier to track who is reading my journal and what post they were reading via the URLs visited.
For some inconvenience, I think the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages thus far. So, no not a chance.

With Love, Leroy

There were, of course, many things that I wished I did not do. Nevertheless, this year was also a year where I felt there was some progress in my long-term goals.

I am nearer to completing one of my promises.
I felt the presence of my old self, like finally.
I met my grandaunt, another recollection of my past.

One day, I will return to my old life and leave this pathetic life that I live now. I am working towards it, watch me.
--
With 2011 coming to a close, I realised there were also quite a number of misses, namely:

The inability to stay in contact with some people
Unable to find time to meet up with cousins during weekends which puts me in a bad mood some days because I miss them :(
The inability to spend time with myself and re-connect to my own world
The inability to have the time to pursue my goals
The inability to express myself due to physical constraints

I still sleep with much sorrow each day. This cannot last. Let's hope it ends this year.
What is this sadness that weighs me down? It is of loss. It is of denial. I feel so cold, where is the warmth in this world?
--

"A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts." - Harold MacMillan

IDA -- It begins

2011-12-26T21:45:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[December 2011]
Yep, I had officially started my internship! Wohoo!

Unfortunately, I cannot discuss much details of my work publicly because of certain sensitive information. While I can't disclose to you information about my work, I would share with you events that happened during this period of time, that are non-work related of course. :)
--
This post would be mostly introducing my job and it's environment. :)

So where do I work? I work in a cool building situated in Mapletree Business City. The security there is pretty advanced AKA cool. :)

I am not sure about the security about the other buildings but my workplace should be one of the coolest! =D

I'm on the 9th floor! Find me if you have access to that floor! :)

My Colleagues

I would try to introduce most of the people I met during my internship. Of course, my period of internship is short so I am unable to give much comment on them. (I am after all, more concerned of my weaknesses. :P)

Joan, fellow MJC-ian. She is sitting opposite my workstation. She is from another team though we are both in the same division. :)
Joycelyn (I hope I spelled your name correctly), a polytechnic graduate, probably leaving on 9 January. She often joins Joan and I for lunch for the past few weeks.
Xiao Zhou, MJC Junior. He completed his internship on 23 December.
Terence, my mentor. He's a great guy who wants me to learn as much as I can during my internship. Preliminary, I believe I would enjoy learning from him. :)
Kiranjit, also my mentor. She is very efficient and I think it would be great to learn from her. ;)
Jenny, she is very quick in thinking. I feel inferior at how fast I can think of critical questions on the sport. Wow.
Sophia, sort of Joan's mentor as well. She's a nice lady and I foresee working with her for some of my projects. :)
Melvin, it is fun to have him in meetings but I think he's really busy now too.
Johnston, my best friend. Joining us next year.
Others who I really have no idea how to spell as of now. Sorry.

A Visit

Before I end off this post, (yes I know it is really short but I am running out of time. ): I would like to share a particular event about a visit by Yan Mae, our friend.

One day, Yan Mae visited us during lunch time as she happened to be nearby.

During our conversations, I realised Yan Mae was also helping out at the Meet-the-PAP sessions and is actually a member of Young PAP. She is helping out at in Bedok while I'm helping out at the Pasir Ris. She was interested to helping out at Pasir Ris instead.
I encourage her to, since the place is nearer to her place of residence but we also need to take into consideration the consequences of changing wards. After all, it is not very nice to just pack up and help out at another place (sorry for being a sentimental guy). But I guess in the long run, it would be easier for her to help out at Pasir Ris instead. :)

Yan Mae, being Yan Mae, still teased me the moment we met. Tsk tsk. Nevertheless, I was sure we all had a great time when she visited us, not many would bother to visit us when we are working. It really takes some effort and I appreciate it. Thank you. :)

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence." - George Washington

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[25 December 2011]

Hohoho! Merry Christmas!
Tis the season of giving!

Yep, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas Eve parties! Today is Christmas, do enjoy yourselves as well! :)

--
I put off my current typing of my three posts for this impromptu post. Don't worry, I'm working hard on those three posts! Hope I can publish them all soon! Ciaos! =)

P.S.: I just finished one! Two more to go! Wohoo!

Korean BBQ

2011-12-10T22:13:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[10 December 2011]
Ah, what better to celebrate the end of examinations but with a nice and tasty meal?

Yep, and that's what happened. :)

Joining us for this outing would be organiser Cynthia with fellow 4D-ians, Eunice, Jie Sheng, Siew Yan, and Wei Ting.
Clarissa joined us after the meal. :)

But before joining them for dinner however, I met up with Meldon to conduct some trading. Then again, this is not really a trade because both items are technically mine. Hahas.

It was a rather smooth transaction since we were rather clear on what we are doing.

Fast forward and we have all gathered at City Square mall, going towards the restaurant Korean BBQ. :)

In case any of you are wondering why we chose to go so far to enjoy a meal of Korean BBQ, it is because Cynthia's sister is working there so well.... we could pay her a visit in the mean time too. :p

Food! Sorry, I meant 음식!

Check out their menu! Okay, you can't really since you're not there physically.

All right, I would try to describe to you verbally (if the picture above hadn't already). Hahas.
Frankly, I do not frequent korean restaurants very often. (Which many already knew, apparently, hahas)

Thus, personally, I was rather confused when I was presented the menu on its navigation. I know it is a korean restaurant and all and so it would write their menu in korean but really, it did not help me a lot since I read the Korean words before reading the english translations. (A big mistake, I admit but hey, everyone reads top-to-down, left-to-right. -,-)

By the time I recover, I figured it would be so much more efficient if we just communicate with the restaurant staff serving us instead of reading off the menu.

So in the end, I hardly touch the menu throughout the menu, not very useful in my opinion. Maybe it would be more useful for korean-fanatics but for causal diners like me, just order your food the posh way, from the staff. ;)

We ordered two hotpots and here we go!

Feeling hungry already? Go down there yourself and savour the food! :P

And we went home after the meal. ^^

Just joking! :)

For those who were sharp that I forementioned that Clarissa joined us the meal and cried foul. Good job! :)
How could we head home straight away the moment she arrived? That wouldn't had made sense. :P

See? Even Jie Sheng couldn't believe that we went home straight after our dinner. :D
--
So what did we do? Window Shopping and spam group photos! :p

Yep! Christmas is nearing! Bought your christmas presents yet? :)
--
Alright! It is getting late, it's 11pm+ now! Time to sleep! :)

Not immediately hahas! Tsk tsk, Eunice's tired already, time to go!

P.S.: Eunice wasn't really tired, she was just pranked by us. Hahas! Evil us.

Credits: Bao Lin, Siew Yan and Wei Ting for the pictures. More photos at Facebook, if you can find me (that is). :p

All in a week's work.

2011-12-06T23:30:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[6 December 2011]
Ah, it had been such a long time since I last posted. Some would had thought this Journal was discarded while I moved on to some other places.

Well, readers, you would be glad to know that this Journal is still being maintained and well. :)

I apologise for the lack of update for the past few days since the end of A levels but I was sorta busy finishing all my unfininshed drafts. I'm happy to say I had published them all though some entries I had to cut real short due to time constraints. (An increasing number of people had been complaining that this Journal was getting forgotten so I had to rush, no? :)

Alright! Ladies and Gentlemen, back to the intent of this post! =)

This marks the beginning of my busy weeks for my Post-A Levels vacation. First up, I went to Johnston's house today! :)

Unlike the past few visits to his house, I was noticeably later than usual. This was mainly due to me sleeping late last night and not being able to sleep well. (Yes, I also believe I should not had done so.)

Nevertheless, I played quite a large number of games today! :)

Upon reaching their house, we played monopoly since Emelia had been dying to play with us since the end of our major examinations.

Long story short, Johnston pwned all of us by being the only player who owned a complete set. Hahas!
--
We also played a few rounds of Cluedo!

I reckon today was the closest to the official rules I had ever played for Cluedo. One day I would play to the official rules, it would be really fun, not to mention more challenging. :)
--
We also played Monopoly Deal!

--
And finally, we finished the whole of Halo 3 Campaign! At last, I am updated with the Halo Lore. Hahas!

As a whole, I had a lot of fun at their house. =D

Post A Levels Wishlist

2011-12-04T16:41:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[December 2011 - March 2011]

Complete IDA Internship
Pass NAPFA
Buy a pair of Leather Shoes
~~Buy a pair of Vans Shoes~~
~~Play one match of Starcraft 2 FFA with friends~~
Play one match of Starcraft 2 Team battle with friends
Read "Economics in Public Policies"
Read "Dance with Dragons"
~~Pay Respect to/Visit Mum~~
~~Visit Grandparents-in-law~~
Score well for A Levels

Post A Levels

2011-12-02T22:43:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[2 December 2011]
What's the difference from A Levels Period to now?

Frankly, there ain't much difference.

When... would the time come where I finally not worry about everything, you and me.
When would I not need to worry about trivial matters?

When, when when?

I am sick. I am sick of thinking about so many things and not being able to do anything significant about it...

What does your Birthday Month tell you?

2011-11-16T21:00:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 November 2011]
JANUARY
Ambitious and serious
Loves to teach and be taught
Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses
Likes to criticize
Hardworking and productive
Smart, neat and organized
Sensitive and has deep thoughts
Knows how to make others happy
Quiet unless excited or tensed
Rather reserved
Highly attentive
Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds
Romantic but has difficulties expressing love
Loves children
Homely person
Loyal
Needs to improve Social abilities
Easily jealous
Very Stubborn

FEBRUARY
Abstract thoughts
Loves reality and abstract
Intelligent and clever
Changing personality
Temperamental
Quiet, shy and humble
Low self esteem
Honest and loyal
Determined to reach goals
Loves freedom
Rebellious when restricted
Loves aggressiveness
Too sensitive and easily hurt
Showing anger easily
Dislike unnecessary things
Loves making friends but rarely shows it
Daring and stubborn
Ambitious
Realizing dreams and hopes
Sharp
Loves entertainment and leisure
Romantic on the inside not outside
Superstitious and ludicrous
Spendthrift
Learns to show emotions

MARCH
Attractive personality
Affectionate
Shy and reserved Secretive
Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic
Loves peace and serenity
Sensitive to others
Loves to serve others
Not easily angered
Trustworthy
Appreciative and returns kindness
Observant and assesses others
Revengeful
Loves to dream and fantasize
Loves travelling
Loves attention
Hasty decisions in choosing partners
Loves home decors
Musically Talented
Loves special things
Moody

APRIL
Active and dynamic
Decisive and haste but tends to regret
Attractive and affectionate to oneself
Strong mentality
Loves attention
Diplomatic
Consoling
Friendly and solves people's problems
Brave and fearless
Adventurous
Loving and caring
Suave and generous
Emotional
Aggressive
Hasty
Good memory
Moving
Motivate oneself and the others
Sickness usually of the head and chest

MAY
Stubborn and hard-hearted
Strong-willed and highly motivated
Sharp thoughts
Easily angered
Attracts others and loves attention
Deep feelings
Beautiful physically and mentally
Firm Standpoint
Needs no motivation
Easily consoled
Systematic (left brain)
Loves to dream
Strong clairvoyance
Understanding
Sickness usually in the ear and neck
Good imagination
Good physical
Weak breathing
Loves literature and the arts
Loves travelling
Dislike being at home
Restless
Not having many children
Hardworking
High spirited
Spendthrift

JUNE
Thinks far with vision
Easily influenced by kindness
Polite and soft-spoken
Having lots of ideas
Sensitive
Active mind
Hesitating
Tends to delay
Choosy and always wants the best
Temperamental
Funny and humorous
Loves to joke
Good debating skills
Talkative
Daydreamer
Friendly
Knows how to make friends
Abiding
Able to show character
Easily hurt
Prone to getting colds
Loves to dress up
Easily bored
Fussy
Seldom shows emotions
Takes time to recover when hurt
Brand conscious
Executive
Stubborn

JULY
Fun to be with
Secretive
Difficult to fathom and to be understood
Quiet unless excited or tensed
Takes pride in oneself Has reputation
Easily consoled
Honest
Concerned about people's feelings
Tactful
Friendly
Approachable
Emotional
Temperamental and unpredictable
Moody and easily hurt
Witty and sparkly
Not revengeful
Forgiving but never forgets
Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things
Guides others physically and mentally
Sensitive and forms impressions carefully
Caring and loving
Treats others equally
Strong sense of sympathy
Wary and sharp
Judges people through observations
Hardworking
No difficulties in studying
Loves to be alone
Always broods about the past and the old friends
Likes to be quiet
Homely person
Waits for friends
Never looks for friends
Not aggressive unless provoked
Prone to having stomach and dieting problems
Loves to be loved
Easily hurt but takes long to recover

AUGUST
Loves to joke
Attractive
Suave and caring
Brave and fearless
Firm and has leadership qualities
Knows how to console others
Too generous and egoistic
Takes high pride of oneself
Thirsty for praises
Extraordinary spirit
Easily angered
Angry when provoked
Easily jealous
Observant
Careful and cautious
Thinks quickly
Independent thoughts
Loves to lead and to be led
Loves to dream
Talented in the arts, music and defense
Sensitive but not petty
Poor resistance against illnesses
Learns to relax
Hasty and rusty
Romantic
Loving and caring
Loves to make friends

SEPTEMBER
Suave and compromising
Careful, cautious and organized
Likes to point out people's mistakes
Likes to criticize
Quiet but able to talk well
Calm and cool
Kind and sympathetic
Concerned and detailed
Trustworthy, loyal and honest
Does work well
Very confident
Sensitive
Thinking
generous
Good memory
Clever and knowledgeable
Loves to look for information
Must control oneself when criticizing
Able to motivate oneself
Understanding
Fun to be around
Secretive
Loves sports, leisure and travelling
Hardly shows emotions
Tends to bottle up feelings
Choosy especially in relationships
Loves wide things
Systematic

OCTOBER
Loves to chat
Loves those who loves him
Loves to takes things at the center
Attractive and suave
Inner and physical beauty
Does not lie or pretend
Sympathetic
Treats friends importantly
Always making friends
Easily hurt but recovers easily
Daydreamer
Opinionated
Does not care of what others think
Emotional
Decisive
Strong clairvoyance
Loves to travel, the arts and literature
Soft-spoken, loving and caring
Romantic
Touchy and easily jealous
Concerned
Loves outdoors
Just and fair
Spendthrift and easily influenced
Easily lose confidence
Loves children

NOVEMBER
Has a lot of ideas
Difficult to fathom
Thinks forward
Unique and brilliant
Extraordinary ideas
Sharp thinking
Fine and strong clairvoyance
Can become good doctors
Dynamic in personality
Secretive
Inquisitive
Knows how to dig secrets
Always thinking
Less talkative but amiable
Brave and generous
Patient
Stubborn and hard-hearted
If there is a will, there is a way
Determined
Never give up
Hardly becomes angry unless provoked
Loves to be alone
Thinks differently from others
Sharp-minded
Motivates oneself
Does not appreciate praises
High-spirited
Well-built and tough
Deep love and emotions
Romantic
Uncertain in relationships
Homely
Hardworking
High abilities
Trustworthy
Honest and keeps secrets
Not able to control emotions
Unpredictable

DECEMBER
Loyal and generous
Patriotic
Active in games and interactions
Impatient and hasty
Ambitious
Influential in organizations
Fun to be with
Loves to socialize
Loves praises
Loves attention
Loves to be loved
Honest and trustworthy
Not pretending
Short tempered
Changing personality
Not egoistic
Take high pride in oneself
Hates restrictions
Loves to joke
Good sense of humor
Logical

If you love your dad

2011-10-02T00:41:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[2 October 2011]
t age 8, your dad buys you an ice cream. You thanked him by dripping it all over his lap.
When you were 9 years old, he paid for piano lessons. You thanked him by never even bothering to practice.
When you were 10 years old he drove you all day, from soccer to football to one birthday party after another. You thanked him by jumping out of the car and never looking back.
When you were 11 years old..............., he took you and your friends to the movies. You thanked him by asking to sit in a different row.
When you were 12 years old, he warned you not to watch certain TV shows. You thanked him by waiting until he left the house.
When you were 13, he suggested a haircut that was in fashion. You thanked him by telling him he had no taste.
When you were 14, he paid for a month away at summer camp. You thanked him by forgetting to write a single letter.
When you were 15, he came home from work, looking for a hug. You thanked him by having your bedroom door locked.
When you were 16, he taught you how to drive his car. You thanked him by taking it every chance you could.
When you were 17, he was expecting an important call. You thanked him by being on the phone all night.
When you were 18, he cried at your high school graduation. You thanked him by staying out partying until dawn.
When you were 19, he paid for your college tuition, drove you to campus carried your bags. You thanked him by saying good-bye outside the dorm so you wouldn't be embarrassed in front of your friends.
When you were 25, he helped to pay for your wedding, and he told you how deep he loved you. You thanked him by moving halfway across the country.
When you were 50, he fell ill and needed you to take care of him . You thanked him by reading about the burden parents become to their children. And then, one day, he quietly died. And everything you never did came crashing down like thunder on YOUR HEART.

Aftermath Prelims

2011-09-30T21:59:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[30 September 2011]
Really apologise for the lack of long posts recently.

Due to the examinations coming nearer with each living breath, I often find myself hard-pressed to even post a short post nowadays.

I guess you people just have to bear with the shorter posts in the meantime. :)
(I know some of you prefer the shorter posts but forgive me when I write abstract topics because I tend to do that for short posts to relay what I cannot express unless I write longer. :)
--
Well, Prelims just ended a week ago. In case none of you realised, it's been a long time since I wrote about school. It had been duly noted and I would try to write a post-mortem for the examinations, for you and of course, myself.

I figured it would be prefer since the Prelims would be the last major internal school examinations before the real deal. Hahas. It would probably be published next week but keep your fingers crossed, I might have to postpone the publish date if I am unable to type finish my reflections and thoughts. :P
--

Sometimes, I feel as though I just bought it just to put a face onto the people whom I had grown to loathe.

The veil of falsehood, most of the time amuses me, granted but that does not mean it was not masking my feeling of being irritated.

Seriously, they are just testing my patience.

X-Men: First Class

2011-09-26T12:00:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[24 September 2011]

Finally watched this movie which was highly recommended by Marcus! :)

Movie Plot Summary:

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-MEN. Written by Twentieth Century Fox

Movie Trailer

Personally, I think the movie was not bad. The development of the characters to the final climax was, in my opinion, relatively rich compared to other firms. I find that unsurprising because after all, that's the focus of the movie. Hahas!

Still, I sometimes find it difficult to relate to the previous scenes when the scene changes in the movie. It could be because I was somewhat slower in interpretation. Still, it could be just me reading too much and finding phantom links to the previous scenes which adds value to the whole storyline. :)

If you ever watched X-Men before, I strongly recommend to watch this. ^^

Value

2011-09-25T16:35:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[25 September 2011]

To realize the value of one year:
Ask a student who has failed a final exam.

To realize the value of one month:
Ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one hour:
Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute:
Ask the person who has missed the train, bus or
plane.

To realize the value of one-second:
Ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond:
Ask the person who has won a silver medal in the
Olympics.

Unlike any other

2011-08-21T22:23:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[21 August 2011]

At first, roughly 3 hours ago, I decided against posting this. But I guess I still end up typing all these out anyways.

See? I'm so feeble-minded. Tsk, tsk. Hahas.

Back to the topic.

Time for me to share a little bit of myself here. It is not very often I do so in such a straight-forward manner (in a relative sense, of course, I do not wish to court death. :) so chances are, this post may 'disappear' in the near future if I decide it's too revealing of personal information.

In my life thus far, yes, I have great moments of joy. Some similar, some rare, some unique.

Perhaps, the most unique of them all would be one particular topic in a conversation between my mother and I. Thinking back of this always brings back fond memories, I remember how I used to smile and feel really good whenever my mother would tell me how she decided on my name. In fact, I think I'm smiling now. Hahas!

The choosing of my name was in no way, accidental. It was a careful decision made by my mother(, and my father I suppose? My dad never tells me these stuff. Maybe we both are just as secretive. :)

Because close to no one else knows the rationale behind my name, it is like a secret between the both of us. I guess those were some of the first few secrets that I get to keep to. I am not sure if you had held one to secrecy before but personally, it feels really great to know something that no one else would ever know. At that point, you would experience first-hand that knowledge is power. Yes, some of you would claim the desire to reveal secrets is too tempting. But I assure you, it is not as hard as it seems to be. I can't explain it in words, you would have to attempt to resist the first time and it would become clear. It is not that difficult. :)
--
People may not know its meaning, I don't mind.
People may not see its significance, I don't mind.
People may not know its impact, I don't mind.

Your reason suffices.
--
We may lose a few battles, but we will not lose the war.
We will continue our struggle, watch over us.
--

Among all other people, my time with my mother was relatively short. But compared to my sister, it is infinitely longer. Even if the time I could spend with you is indeed short, I would have to be content that at least it was sufficiently long to have experienced happy memories of our family time. I have to, because my sister never had this opportunity. My despair would only lead to further despair...

Life has to move on, a king who is hardly sane can't lead. Truly, we live in heartless times

Persevere

2011-08-13T19:01:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[13 August 2011]

Life in Junior College is boring. Life is hard when you have to force yourself to to study and do nothing else.

Sometimes, I feel like backing out on my promise but I remembered that I won't be where I am today if weren't for you.

I must press on.

--

Give me hope.

Amplifier

2011-08-10T20:06:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[10 August 2011]

There is this one view about humans. We, humans are essentially, amplifiers of events.

Don't believe?

Ask yourself, in times of recessions, if you are unemployed and having difficulty find a job in these tough times, would you not wish for the existence of a welfare state that could at least sustain you until you finally find a job?

But think about it, maintaining a welfare state is actually costly, however it is argued. This is especially so in economic downturns where money is tight. Relying on welfare states and the increasing unemployment rate would place a heavy burden on the government's coffers. With less money available for them to kick-start the economy once more, our economy may well end up spiralling down.
Talk about a chain reaction, our short-term desires once again got the better of us.

Thankfully, not all is gloomy on this theory. In times of economic boom, I bet most of us would then be (using back the previous example) calling for the end of the welfare state since most of us are employed and it is simply not worth it for the extra taxes to maintain it. Yes, there would be groups who would get the bitter end of the deal but the Government now have more funds to help improve the standard of living in the country. (Infrastructure, healthcare, education, you name it.)

Humans, sometimes we over-react to events, sometimes we end up making things worse, but perhaps that's fundamentally what we are: Tools for the higher beings for a certain purpose.

We just have to avoid getting into sticky situations so that we would not fall into a bottomless pit of disasters.

ARiA, Miku Craze

2011-08-06T21:29:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[6 August 2011]

Going to start rambling about Hatsune Miku! Those who have no interest in her, feel free to go to other posts! :)

Recently, found this sorta old song sung by her. It's ARiA by Headphone Tokyo. I feel that the lyrics is very meaningful. Listen to the song above!

There is speculation that this song is a sequel to SPiCa, which was also composed by Headphone Tokyo.

As some of you might already be aware, Hatsune Miku has been conducting concert in Japan and soon USA!

In this video, she really looks very lively, compared to some of her other songs performed, in my opinion.

Here are some other Hatsune Miku Videos!

In this song using Hatsune Miku's Dark voice, it really sounds very human!

The Czar shared this, weird song but very catchy!!!

"If the King loves music, it is well with the land."  ~Mencius

Personality Test

2011-07-23T23:18:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[23 July 2011]
From http://www.quizbox.com/Personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Secret Base and Summer Anime

2011-07-17T00:00:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 July 2011]
I had been really busy lately, hardly unexpected with my National Examinations nearing. Thus, I apologise for the abrupt short posts recently here. (I would try to keep short posts only on my mobile blog but sometimes I can't help it). This post would also be a relatively short post because I am still working on another post. That would be long, I assure you. (It is taking a long time to type all of them out, hahas!)

Anyways, Summer Animes started airing last week and I only got the time to check out some of the anime series aired this season only recently.

This song was the highest rated song among anime-watchers when I checked the last time. The lyrics are rather touching. Enjoy!

So far, I decided to watch only about 1 or 2 anime shows this season. Mainly due to my busy schedule recently and partly due to not many of them catches my eye. Hahas.

One of them would be Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi. You could try watching them as well, it seems promising thus far. The plot revolves around the main character and a vampire. :)

--
Another anime that seems one of the most promising so far, in terms of art, would be Dantalian no Shoka. Here is its PV!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

2011-07-16T20:34:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 July 2011]

The finale has arrived!!!

Wohoo! The long wait is finally over! Just watched this with Jie Sheng, Wei Ting, and Dolly. Sure was fun! :)

I bet many of you would be wondering why am I even watching this when I seemed to have so much criticism for Part 1 last year. Well, All I can say is, the movie looked promising.

The movie didn't disappoint me, it was really a finale fitting for the series. Compared to Part 1, the pace is not as slow and there were more action, obviously since the last major fight is present in this last section of the story.

This movie is also notable for the increase in comic relief, mostly from the book itself but it was to see that the director included that in to relieve some tense moments in the movie and lighten up the mood in the cinema.
(Note: Pay close attention to Lord Voldemort! Hahas!)

Book fans may be disappointed to know that some of the plot was edited in the movie but there is hardly surprising. Most movie adapted from books often differ from the original plot by varying degree.

However, there were still some anti-climax moments, but as a whole, it is not that bad a movie. :)

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

2011-07-09T22:42:00.026+08:00

Secret War Journal[9 July 2011]
This is going to be a short post!

This week's Jie Sheng's Birthday!

To celebrate, we sorta planned to go watch Transformers!

But since school just started and things were very hectic at that time, only Johnston, Jie Sheng and I could make it for the movie.

Yes, it's sad but that won't stop us from watching the movie! :)
--
Alright, for the benefit of those who had not read up any reviews for this movie yet.

Some movie reviews blasted this movie for being senseless and being a movie meant for males.

Well, having watched the movie, I can't exactly blame them though I think it was a bit of a overkill by them.

Yes, the opening scene is really... excessive. The introduction of the actress who replaced Megan Fox was seriously achieved with too much fanfare.

That aside, Transformers is without doubt, the most action-packed movie of the year (until I found another in the remaining half of the year though I seriously doubt it because I will lack the time to watch that many movies for the rest of the year.)
I believe it is as action-packed as the previous two movies.

One should, however, also do note that some reviewers also commented that the action scenes are so much, it's hurting to the eyes. That is debatable.
If you are not a big fan of action movies, this is definitely not the one for you.

I would say this is a movie ticket well-spent. Rare from me. :)

"Just living is not enough.  One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."  ~Hans Christian Anderson

EMP

2011-07-07T11:36:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[7 July 2011]
My slightly older than 1 year phone just died today. I suspect it got short-circuited but I have no idea how because it wasn't in contact with water. Sonow I reverted to using the ancient mobile phones. I probably won't be using smartphones for a while. That also means my mobile blog would be momentarily inactive. Despair....

Update: My phone revived by itself. Thank you God!

“Never despair; but if you do, work on in despair” - Edmund Burke

Pretty Girls in this City

2011-07-06T23:05:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[6 July 2011]

My examinations just ended for the Mid-years! While I continue working on my post, let me update on my latest song that I've been listening to. :)

Helping the singer to shoutout to all girls! Stay happy everyone! :)

HOW TO TICK PEOPLE OFF

2011-06-26T19:20:00.007+08:00

Secret War Journal[26 June 2011]
Came across this at Pei Shi's blog, enjoy. (Oh, and don't do to anyone, especially me. I just had to say it. ;)

Leave the copy machine set to reduce 200%, extra dark, 17 inch paper, 99 copies.
In the memo field of all your checks, write "for sexual favors."
Specify that your drive-through order is "TO-GO."
If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with your pen while talking to others.
Stomp on little plastic ketchup packets.
Insist on keeping your car windshield wipers running in all weather conditions "to keep them tuned up."
Reply to everything someone says with "that's what you think."
Practice making fax and modem noises.
Highlight irrelevant information in scientific papers and "cc" them to your boss.
Make beeping noises when a large person backs up.
Finish all your sentences with the words "in accordance with prophesy."
Signal that a conversation is over by clamping your hands over your ears and grimacing.
Disassemble your pen and "accidentally" flip the ink cartridge across the room.
Holler random numbers while someone is counting.
Adjust the tint on your TV so that all the people are green, and insist to others that you "like it that way."
Staple pages in the middle of the page.
Publicly investigate just how slowly you can make a croaking noise.
Honk and wave to strangers.
Decline to be seated at a restaurant, and simply eat their complimentary mints at the cash register.
TYPE IN UPPERCASE.
type only in lowercase.
dont use any punctuation either
Buy a large quantity of orange traffic cones and reroute whole streets.
Repeat the following conversation a dozen times.

As much as possible, skip rather than walk.
Try playing the William Tell Overture by tapping on the bottom of your chin. When nearly done, announce "No, wait, I messed it up," and repeat.
Ask people what gender they are.
While making presentations, occasionally bob your head like a parakeet.
Sit in your front yard pointing a hair dryer at passing cars to see if they slow down.
Sing along at the opera.
Go to a poetry recital and ask why each poem doesn't rhyme.
Ask your co-workers mysterious questions and then scribble their answers in a notebook. Mutter something about "psychological profiles."

Winds of Change

2011-06-24T23:46:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[24 June 2011]
How Junior College has changed my life.

Today may will be officially my last day of playing computer games. Not that I can't (if studying for examinations is one reason) but rather I just simply lost the interest because of the stress from the examinations.

Ironic isn't it? Many perceive games as a form of relieving stress. Actually, it doesn't and it has been proven by studies.

I have, as a fellow doctor diagnosed himself, contracted Level 2 Boredom, known as existence boredom. It is not the usual boredom where you have nothing to do but rather having so many things to do, you start to feel it is meaningless to do any. Yes, this is now considered boredom.

Actually, I'm kind of glad this condition is called boredom. It felt as though I'm experiencing some mid-life crisis then.

Speaking of which, talk about the post-effects of Project Work in Junior Colleges and constant examinations, I have distanced myself from using computers. Now I use computers with a form of dread and also slowly but surely alienated myself from all forms of computer games (yes, including Facebook games, in fact that was actually very easy to quit altogether). Hahas, I always wondered aloud to my friends why can't they quit those facebook games. It was so easy for me. I didn't realise it then, I subconsciously stopped playing.

At this rate, people would hardly believe I was actually once the Chairman of a well-known Infocomm Club. I'm like avoiding gadgets like a plague. I respond slowly to my mobile phones now (slower than a few months back). I deliberately drain my phone's battery when I'm doing work too just so it can't distract me anymore.

Sometimes, my iPod discrupts my concentration but it is my last companion now. I feel a pang of sadness when I typed that.

What had education done to me. I feel as though Education is an deliberate policy by world governments to outcast people with excuse to different level of jobs. I mean, in the socially ideal world, everyone should be university graduates with Phd but that is Utopian.

Two more days before my examinations begin once more, my revision is not even anywhere near half-done. I can't really study. No motivation. Herein lies the problem - Existence Boredom. Ah, someone tell me the point of studying apart from the usual thing of going University. I need more feasible reasons! Argh!

Life in this century is truly sad. Educated but so life-less. Is that what we desire? Someone tell me.

"As I go through all kinds of feelings and experiences in my journey through life -- delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay -- I hold this question as a guiding light: 'What do I really need right now to be happy?' What I come to over and over again is that only qualities as vast and deep as love, connection and kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way." - Sharon Salzberg 

MSNz with Kelz

2011-06-23T22:47:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[23 June 2011]

You know we're screwed when we seeing (excessive) studying as a form of mental illness. :)

Birthday Cards

2011-06-20T22:23:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[June 2011]
This is a post dedicated to all my friends who had made a birthday card specially for me! Firstly, a heart-felt thank you to all of you! :)

Green Lantern, sadists, and Munchkin

2011-06-18T11:38:00.108+08:00

Secret War Journal[18 June 2011][Long Post][Photo-Heavy]

Belated Birthday Celebration

Wohoo! Another morning, my parents ain't back from overseas yet.

Johnston, Keller, Qi Xiang, and Marcus have organised a birthday celebration for me. Actually, they intended to have it yesterday but I already agreed to go out with Christopher and gang to celebrate birthday. Hahas!

I guess we can't have everything squeezed into a day unless I decided to not sleep at all. Hahas.

Before that, I would like to say I'm really grateful for Cynthia, Pei Shi, Laura, and Debbie for planning to bake a cake. Hahas. Thanks for your thoughts. ^^

Alright, before I go completely off tangent, I was a bit late for today's outing actually because I was doing house chores before I could leave with ease. (you know, parents complaining the shit out of me when the house is anywhere but perfectly clean....)

Nevertheless, I met up with Johnston first at Daiso, Plaza Singapura. He was buying some textiles for Emelia because Emelia wanted some as decorations for her scrapbook (if I recall). The textiles there are really a challenging area, me not knowing what to do with them. Hahas!

Heading towards where the rest were, I had a hard time locating them because they were dining at a place where we seldom go in this shopping mall. Half-embarrassed myself for spending around 5 minutes looking around like an idiot because I ignored the possibility of them being there. Here's a lesson to learn. :)

Of course, there's a reason why we're all meeting up at Secret Recipe.

There was a cake!

My surprised face. XD

This is where we all got sadistic and tried to 'torture' the cake. The above picture is me trying to 'slice' the cake with my bare hands!

Close-up shots of the cake they bought for me!

Caught admiring the cake, oops? :p

Going in for the kill!

Excalibur!!!

Widening the wounds of the cake!

Look at my evil smile! O.o

A fellow sadist. With added sound effects.

His trophy!

Really appreciated the cake and allocating one day just for me. I'm really glad you all meet and organised it. Special thanks to Johnston. :)

Hahas, the cake was sweet. :P
You people gave me a hard time thinking of a wish! :O Hahas!

Green Lantern: The Movie

Shortly after the clean-up of the corpse of the banana filled chocolate cake, we adjourned to the cinema above for a film of Green Lantern: The Movie.

I would say, this is a movie meant for hardcore Green Lantern Fans. Hahas!

Why do I say that? The climax was rather short. Worse, I thought that was a lead-in all along. Ah! Imagine how disappointed I was when one of the character did not become villain as I thought it would (according to the comics)

Oh well, not much cool effects. Average plot, not much action though.

Hahas, it's hard for a movie to satisfy me huh? :p

Fort Canning Park

After the movie, we went hunting for a place to sit down to do something.

From Plaza Singapura we exited and headed towards the Fort Canning Park for a desolated sitting area.

Well..... we couldn't find one but that doesn't mean we didn't have fun in the process. XD

We're stuck in the Fort! Noooooo!

~Qi Xiang teleporting away or trying to get out of here.

Guys! Don't leave me behind!

Think Gongfu Panda.

The Three Wise Men

No Kellers were harmed in the process of developing this picture.
--
This warrant a section of its own! Keller planking!

Munchkins

If you're wondering why we were looking for a place with tables and chairs, it's time for me to reveal (while I open my birthday present!)

Presenting the birthday present (left), an expansion set to Munchkin!

Munchkin is a boardgame that adapts a RPG style that is rather fast-paced.

So yep, we decided to go to SMU study benches to play our boardgames. :)

The Munckin gang!

With the board games!
--
Once again, I would like to thank you guys for buying this wonderful present! I had a lot of fun today! Thank you!

Dinner @ Clarke Quay

Thought that's the end? No way! Hahas! After playing Munchkins, we headed down to Clarke Quay to treat ourselves to fine cuisine. Ah, it's been such a long time. I think it's the first time we all went together to eat there. :)

Ordering the dishes was very fun. We accidentally end up in a Sichuan Restuarant (which is known for their spicy recipes) and half of us can't take spicy.

Thus, we ended up ordering non-spicy dishes in that restaurant which was very queer by itself, and earned stares from the staff. Hahas, there was this point of time where the waiters were staring at us, looking worried. So funny. :P

I guess, we must had been the strangest customers ever and freaked the heck out of them. The boss even came over to make sure everything was all right. Hahas!

The Fish ultimately became our main dish. We had a relatively long debate whether to include a fish into our course meal as we didn't want to over-spend but it turned out to be a good decision as it really filled our stomachs. :)

To end it off, we're treated to fireworks! Enjoy!

June: Rite

2011-06-17T23:59:00.058+08:00

Secret War Journal[17 June 2011][Long Post]

Kite flying

Hoo yeah! Second kiteflying this week! Awesome start for a day, no? (For a post too, hahas!)

Joining me today for today's meeting would be my 4D class clique namely, Christopher, Jing Ting, Lai Yin, Jing Ying and Guan Hui.

Despite Lai Yin asking us to bring kites for today, I didn't. Ha!

I wasn't intending to fly one since I just had one a few days back. Nevertheless, I still end up playing kite. Hahas!
--
After much kiteflying without much result (since it was hard to sustain the height that our kites reach), we headed out of the fields for lunch.

There was much debate as to what we should eat for lunch (we had been discussing this for ages. Hahas!)

After taking a slight detour, we decided to stop by Anchorvale Community Centre for lunch. Since Jing Ying was a vegetarian, we had instant noodles for lunch at 7 Eleven. XD

A bit pathetic but who cares? Hahas! Meanwhile, we played Monopoly Deal!

A pretty long game at that too, I wonder why I was slow in playing just now? Must be mentally tired, I guess. :S

Mr Popper's Penguins

Next up! We're now in Downtown East. As the heading above already revealed, the movie we're watching is Mr Popper's Penguins!

Actually, most of us had no real clue what movie was about (sorry for being an idiot? :p) and the idea was brought up by Lai Yin.

I can't really give much opinions about this movie since I had no real expectations.

Well, it's sorta funny? Hahas! But not as funny as Bruce Almighty.

Personally, I feel that the movie would look better if the Transformers movie trailer was not shown before this movie was played because the awesome action-packed scenes in the trailer really killed the mood for the actual movie because the contrast was too great.

JustAcia

My second time here! Hahas!

Originally, we wanted to go play pool or arcade. But....

For the pool, the place was packed and hence there were no available tables for us to play. XD

For the arcade, we didn't have the card to play there. Hahas.

Therefore, we ended up at JustAcia for our wonderful dinner. :)

Three of us had Herbal Chicken Rice Set. Jing Ting had Spicky Chicken while Jing Ying had Kimchi. It was nice! You should try it in the future. Continued playing Monopoly Deal until it was time to go home. :)

Alright, the time has come to shed an ounce of truth of what had conspired since last year. Since the event was officially over, I personally conclude that it is quite all right to disclose what happened.

Like one of my friend who recently revealed on my tagboard, there was a prank regarding my birthday a couple of months ago.

However, all these were anything but a part of the preparation for today.

You see, with the arrival of facebook, birthday greetings had been slammed with a feeling of insincerity since people would login into Facebook and find out that it's your birthday on that day itself.

Not much meaning is there? Thus, I conspired to hide my birthday on Facebook. Got a number of pals to post birthday wishes on my 'birthday'.

The objectives were two-fold - An excuse to hide my real birthday and mislead other people who didn't know when my birthday was into thinking my birthday was then.

The latter helps, in theory, to prevent people from getting cues from facebook posts on my wall later during my actual birthday. Thus, it serves as a form of confusion. Of course, it's only in theory, there are people who will vaguely remember and see through this amateur plot.

Nevertheless, today's post is actually meant to be a thanksgiving post. I would like to say my plan work relatively well and I would like to thank all of you for making my birthday so significant this year. After all, it's the thought that counts. :)

By chronological order:

My sister -- who had been wondering why my birthday falls on the same day as a certain event. :)
My dad -- Thank you.
Shereen -- Hahas, my 'daughter' who had been bugging me to know when's my birthday. Thank you for your well-wishes and facebook messages later with the funny greetings which really brightened the day. :)
Sally -- Thank you for remembering my birthday. Yes, I shall have a smashing year ahead! Hahas!
Cynthia -- Thank you for remembering my birthday. Still stay up so late? Hahas. Really appreciated. :)
Benjamin -- Ah fellow gemini whose birthday falls on the same day as mine. Thank you thank you. Hahas! :)
Emelia -- Your unique way of wishing me happy birthday really made laughed out loud. Great timing, if you ask me. Hahas! Thank you.
Shawn Teo -- Hey pal, thank you! :)
Janice -- Hi jie, thank you! :)
Bao Lin -- Thank you! It must had been tough sending to all three of us. Rest well!
Qi Xiang -- Thank you! Don't feel too bad about the kiteflying yeah? What matters is that we have fun!
Francis -- Thank you expert cuber! Go break the Singapore record okay? I will be supporting you, hahas! ;)
Aunt Michelle -- Thank you! Have a great time in London! :)
Shi Ming -- Long no see, thank you. Wonder how's life on your side?
Jing Ying -- Hahas, you cute, facebooking me when I'm in front of you and sipping hot chocolate. XD Thank you.
Eunice -- Yes, you got my chinese name right at last! Joking, thank you :)
Jia Pei -- Thank you, I see you post on the walls of all three of us. Hahas!
Yuki -- Hey! You tie with Jia Pei! Hahas, thank you, I really enjoyed today! :p
Travis -- Thank you Junior iCC chairman!
Rena -- Thank you Junior iCC Chairman! Hahas, coincidence much? :p
Sock Yii -- Thank you pretty junior! :)
Shi Jie -- Thank you junior!
Wen Rui -- Thank you. The conversation was funny to me. :p
Wei Jun -- Thank you junior! ;)
Johnston -- Thank you best friend! Hahas, thank you for coming up with such a unique of wishing me happy birthday! :)
Ivy -- Thank you!
Tze Yui -- Hey cousin! Thank you! Tap tap is fun, you know? XD
Joan -- Thank you! Hahahas! It's really fun whenever you join in the conversation. Hahas!
Qi Xian -- Thank you cousin! Mario rocks! LOL
Siew Yan -- Thank you for your attempt to send it at 11:59PM (which is now) :)

Update (18 June):

Gideon --Thank you junior! I will try to 'bump' into you more often in school! Hahas!
Keller -- Thank you, Johnston, Keller, Marcus, Qi Xiang for the cake and everything else! (More on my next post) Thank you emelia too for the present! :)))
Marcus --Thank you once again! Hahas! Thank you for sending me the pictures as well. ;)
Jie Sheng -- Hahas so creative! I hope my reply to you was just as creative. HA!
Yan Mae -- Thank you! :)
Ying Ying -- Thank you though why are you still calling me a geek? Hahas!
Pei Wen -- Thank you!

Update (19 June):

Jia Hong -- Hey long time no see! Thank you!

Update (20 June):

Clarissa -- Yes very late. Hahas! Thank you!

Update (21 June):

Timothy -- Hahas, it's okay I knew you had tuition. :) Thank you!
Erin -- Thank you Erin! BizClub President! ;)

Update (25 June):

ZhenYao -- Thank you! Ironically, that day was my sister's birthday...

Actually, looking at this list now, I would say the operation was highly successful. Look at the date range. Hahas, I bet I never experience this before in previous years. Thank you buddies for making the operation so successful. Over and out.

"I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it." - Art Williams

June

2011-06-13T11:11:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[13 June 2011]
It's been some time since I post a sad post. I think it's becoming a habit of mine. I feel as though a part of me is missing and I can only organise my thoughts via blogging. Sorry world, you would have to bear with me. Haha.

My affinity with June. So many things return back to the word "June". Some consider 11:11 of significance. Apart from one or two things, I think June is of more significance.

June. Where it all began.

June. The name of the first girl whom I caused her to cry. So immature then, so not innocent then. Such a black heart I have.

June. The bond between my sister and I share.

June. Where all fell apart.

June...

Hahas, and what luck? The school administration decided to have my mid-year examinations AFTER june holidays. Is my life great or what? Hahas, I had been having difficulty finding motivation to study. Some help here? Haha?

What can I say? The Shadow King has grown old. His mental will has weakened. That, however does not mean he will stop his revenge.

I still walk the path of destruction.

A path of no return.

A path of whispered promise.

A path of hardship.

A path of great despair. 

But the question I seek now is...

Will someone provide light in this dark path? So many possible routes, so many filled with thorns. Where, oh where, lies the path that bears fruit?

Another step into the darkness, alone.

Double Whammy

2011-06-12T18:19:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[12 June 2011]
Today is one freaky day. Okay, short post.

First, I think my computer's internal clock died. I went to use the computer at 6pm and the computer clock was showing 2pm.

I was like mind-f***ed. (partly because the surrounding is still rather bright as if it's 2pm. Thus, there was a slight chance all my other clocks are wrong. Heehee)

Of course, I'm saying this because I think my face expression was rather priceless then. Needless to say, I recovered fast. Sync-ed my computer clock back to the atomic clock. Guess I would be doing this more often if my computer internal clock really died. :(

Next, I just login-ed into Facebook and the first thing Facebook informed me was that my anniversary was coming. (With a heart shape)

*Facepalm*

I have no idea where that came from. I immediately went to check my profile details and even some internal stuff and I couldn't figure out where I, if ever, placed such a date. (maybe my privacy setting is so strong, even I can't view it. Eh, wait, can others see that and misunderstand? Oh no...)

I swear, Facebook is becoming scary.

Raffles City Groove

2011-06-04T23:02:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[4 June 2011][Photo-heavy]
Ok, we were planning to study at Starbucks at Raffles City but it turns out that there was a musical performance there. Keller said it was for the Singapore Arts Festival which started this week. Lucky us!

There were many performances but I especially like the violinist. I did not take photos of all the performances, my apologies. Enjoy whatever few I have.

P.S: I'm trying to get keller to upload the video on the violinist so you can hear the music. :)

Update: Here's the video!

Audience participation!

The one in orange pants is the violinist. He could play while doing stunts. Very impressive!

Let the music begin!

The violinist talking with the audience

A bow!

Heading home, we decided to detour a bit, window-shopping a bit.

This particular scene is hilarious to me. Managed to convince keller to do this skit for me. Thanks! :)

He's standing in the middle of road! XD

May: The Month of a Million Birthdays

2011-05-31T04:28:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[31 May 2011]
My good friend, the Czar asked me to post about his post so here goes!

By The Czar
So, the Czar is back in his second installation of a-post-a-week, a worthy effort on his part, and no doubt a reason for his recent mental fatigue. The intense concentration and discipline required for the fruition of this post has simply been unprecedented in nature. In fact, the Czar’s advisors have repeatedly warned against the plausible consequences of continuing on with this madness; the Czar just shrugged it off and trudged onwards. After all, the promise has been made.
And only the weak break promises.

Here, as the end of May nears and June approaches, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. It’s not only due to the impending doom that many predicted would occur (the Mayans got it wrong; December 2012 is a lie. It’s September 2011, A’ levels period). Instead, I think it’s also because of the many events that occur this month.

Ah yes, this is the month with an absurd amount of birthdays. I had to congratulate many of my companions on their arrival to the world some many years ago. Not that it’s often worth celebrating (yes, to all my haters out there, I’m talking to you).

Probably a direct result of this monstrous behemoth of a birthday cluster is presents. The sending of presents. Of course, the Czar is not mindful of the number of gifts required; he is after all in possession of a large plentitude of wealth. Money simply isn’t an issue.
…is what I’d like to say. Sadly, things are quite the opposite — I’m broke.

Perhaps I’d better start saving up. Money management has never been part of my good points. Even so, I hope that my lack of material obligations are much made up by my mental and spiritual contributions. My well-wishes are all sincere and from the depths of my heart. And even if you have never (and probably will never ever) received a present from me in its physical form, you can be sure I have one for you. Emotionally. In my heart.
Yes, really.
Back to May; One thought often springs to mind — why are so many people born in this month? It is as though people decided to give birth en masse. I’m getting close to knowing someone with a birthday on each and every day of the month. And I don’t even have many friends (cues sad smile from the Czar)!
Interesting, isn’t it? Makes you wonder what is so special about the nine months prior to May.

Regardless, with a million birthdays naturally comes a billion birthday wishes. And the trend nowadays for birthday wishes are these little Facebook wall-posts. In fact, I dare say that you get more birthday wishes on your Facebook wall than in real life conversations. Or even conversations over the phone. Hell, even SMSes are rare.

That is … if your friends remember your birthday in the first place. Well, how tough can it be? After all, even if you forget it (or don’t even remember it in the first place, you lousy bugger), you will be reminded of your friend’s birthday on that day itself. Even if your date of birth is hidden, it will all be over when a close friend posts “Happy Birthday!” on your wall. Cry “havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war!

Here, think about it. What are the value of birthday wishes today? Before the inception of social networking sites such as Facebook, the average person has to remember his friend’s birthday by heart. Of course, some would cheat a little and mark it on their calendars, but that’s the most one can do, and even that would require some effort. Now, you don’t even have to do anything other than to log in to Facebook daily. Who knows if that person wishing you a happy birthday is doing it with sincerity or as a part of his daily log-in routine? In fact, I’ll even go so far as to say that 1 in 3 of those who post on your wall wouldn’t know about it if not for Facebook.

Don’t believe it? Try hiding your date of birth and getting a few friends to fake some birthday wishes. You’ll be surprised at the results.

Anyway, things aren’t all bad. After all, you do get a billion birthday wishes on your birthday; an effective ego boost no doubt, and a significant, though temporary, income increase if your friends are the gift-happy kind (hmm … the Czar needs more birthdays a year to cope with his financial crisis and feel less overwhelmed). Of course, all that pales in comparison with the warm, fuzzy feeling you get when your close friend celebrates your birthday with you. But, perhaps it all can’t be helped. We humans appear to be unstoppable in our thirst for a convenient and automated world. Maybe in the near future, even the birthday presents you receive may be generated automatically by some program. So before things like that happen, enjoy your birthday and it’s special meaning. Especially that one person who’s having her birthday today.

Yes, you! I’m talking to you!
spacespace
The point?
Look at the first letter of each paragraph.
From http://spiculated.wordpress.com/

In case you didn't get what the post was trying to say, it's a novel way to say Happy Birthday. Sorry, I had to spoil it because otherwise, I can't continue my post. Haha.

This post is to wish a number of people whose birthday falls in the month of May! Most of you would never ever see this post, but hey it's the thought that counts (in my opinion)

After all, if the Shadow King reveals himself, he will be very short-lived as a Shadow King, isn't it? ;)

By Chronological order:

Clarissa, :p - 5th May
Joan - 13th May
Siew Yan, you probably will never read this but... the speaker and card were by Johnston :) Meet up soon yeah? - 23th May
Zheng Yao - 23th May
Janus - 24th May
Marcus, well.... HAHAs, hope you liked it - 24th May
Simin - 24th May
Dion - 26th May
Gideon, my junior! - 26th May
Mr Quek - 26th May
Pei Si - 27th May
Angeline, just realised I don't have your mobile number. Hahas, had to use Facebook to wish you Happy Birthday after all - 28th May
Kelvin, hahas I really like our maths rep deal, win-win situation :) - 28th May
Last and foremost, my dad. Actually this post is dedicated to you, which is why I'm posting this today. Not bad for a closure yeah? (Nah, I will never tell my parent or siblings about this blog) - 31st May

I know I don't have much left. I'm trying hard to continue my life. I know I still have two of you with me. I will try hard to stay happy and not worry you so much. Sorry. Ah..... sounds so emo, enjoy your special day today and don't too much. :)

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." - Jimmy Dean

PSSC Fair / RSAF Open House

2011-05-29T19:35:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[29 May 2011][Photo-heavy]
Yes, me deciding to attend the Public Service Scholarships & Careers (PSSC) Talk was long decided. I had planned to invite some guests to the talk but because I was asked to register for them beforehand which I did not, I was wondering if they would be interested and didn't had the time to ask before the deadline as the decision to go was rather last minute too.

Johnston and I meet up earlier at Plaza Singapura for Lunch. This is perhaps a good time to inform you all, we are all pretty sick of fast food due to excessive eating of fast food during all our study sessions, dubbed Mugfest.

Much to our dismay, we couldn't find a food court in the shopping mall. I could had sworn I had seen a food court in there before. Oh well. We decided to dine at Pizza Hut.

Student meals were not available during weekdays. Johnston decided to order Baked rice while I ordered Hawaiian Pizza for lunch.

Keller arrived around 10 minutes later. At that point, our food had not arrived. I was starting to wonder where's our food and if the waiters forgot our orders.

Around 20 minutes passed and Keller started to complain about how long our food is taking to arrive because we were going to be late for the fair at this rate. As a result, we went to ask a waitress when is our order would be ready.

It was only until then we released they forgot our orders. Mine was prepared in haste while we were given a free plate of garlic bread since Johnston's baked rice would take a long time.

Well, eventually, we got our food though we missed some of the talks for the fair.

The fair was not bad. There were really a lot of information about the scholarships. In addition, there were talks scheduled by various organisations to inform us in depth what their organisation is about.

As it turns out, there wasn't a need for worry about not registering your name before the deadline. The fair was pretty much open to the public, if you were aware of such a fair in the first place. The event was pretty much hushed up.

I guess I'm helping them to do some publicity for them right now. Hahas. The event was at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel this year. I wonder where the event would be held next year. :)

In the fair, I met the other Leroy. Actually, he spotted me first. Hahas.

After the talks, we headed off for the Royal Singapore Air Force(RSAF) Open House!

RSAF 2011

For this, I had prepared an image slideshow for simplicity. Unfortunately, it's in the opposite order, my apologies.

Time to rise the curtains, for I shall let the photos do the talking. *Walks off*

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."  ~Bertrand Russell

Learning How to Write in the Sand

2011-05-20T09:52:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[20 May 2011]

A touching story about friendship. So true, so true. A short excerpt about two friends and how one of them learns what true friendship is all about.

Two friends were walking through the desert. In a specific point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one, who got slapped, was hurt, but without anything to say, he wrote in the sand: "TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt started drowning, and the other friend saved him. When he recovered from the fright, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE".

The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked him, "Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone?"

The other friend, smiling, replied: "When a friend hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness get in charge of erasing it away, and when something great happens, we should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the heart, where no wind can erase it"

Learn to write in the sand.

From http://www.yourlifehappiness.com/friends_writeinthesand.html

Recipe for a happy family life

2011-05-19T21:30:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[19 May 2011]

Ingredients in heaps of quantity:

A Home of Love
5 Beds of Patience
A Room of Kindness
A Big Sofa of Tolerance
A Kitchen of Good Thoughts
A Comfort room of Privacy and Happiness
A Basketful of Care and Concern
A Basin of Mindfulness
A Big Bucket of Respect
Ten jugs of Humor
A Barrel of Laughter
A Hallway of Playfulness and Physical Exercises
Bountiful Essence of Gratitude

Mix in A Home of Love with 5 Beds of Patience. Stir in a room of kindness and peppered in a big sofa of tolerance. Sift away negativity's and fill in a kitchen of good thoughts.

Allow a comfort room of privacy for growth and happiness. Set in the concoction of love in a basketful of care and concern and soaked in a basin of Mindfulness. Pour in a big bucket of respect for every person and serve each and everyone with ten jugs of humor and a barrel of laughter. Complete the portion with a hallway of playfulness,physical exercises and fun.

That is my ideal recipe for a happy family life. It all begins with love and when we have love for one another, failure is not an option.

Being mindful of one another and respecting each other is also the foundation of a happy family life. When we have care and concern and lots of laughter, family members can have their boost of positive energy for themselves and then they are encouraged to help themselves and to help others.

We have to be happy ourselves and only then we can encourage and support our loved ones. There will be times when there are challenges or issues and this is when the family plays an important role in being available and understanding for the family member. It is this support that the family member knows that they have in times of difficulty and this knowledge will help them go through the issue with confidence and growth.

Positive words are used to encourage one another and also allow each other to have space to grow. Respect for the young and old is truly important as one's self-esteem is linked with the respect one gets from the family.

Happy moments are created when there is fun time and playfulness. These happy moments will serve as an inspiration to each member of the family. Negativity should be trashed out and support is needed by each family member to help the one who needs words of encouragement, a pat on the back.

Acts of service and kind words are basic ingredients for a happy family life. We all want to be encouraged, to be understood and hence we all should encourage and seek to understand our family members.

Our lives are make up of moments shared with family members and friends. Let us always remember to appreciate our family members the way we do so for our friends, acquaintances and relatives. Gratitude is when we are so happy to have our loved ones in our lives and making us feel special and wanted.

For us to want the secret recipe for a happy family life, let us all cover ourselves with a blanket of love for ourselves and our loved ones. If we only have one ingredient, let that ingredient be love and that is the recipe for a happy family life. For us to have love, let us first love ourselves and then love our loved ones. The choice is ours to make and the recipe for a happy family life can be our legacy we leave with our loved ones.

By Helen Tay
From http://www.helium.com/items/872434-recipe-for-a-happy-family-life

Human

2011-05-17T21:53:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[17 May 2011]

Happy Vesak day people!

That's the end of the my happy statements. O.o Starting from this line, things gets emo...

Had a talk with my dad. Apparently, my stepmother had been having a global metldown since last week. (I thought everyday??? =.=)

I would say most of the case was moot since it was a pretty much one-sided argument and I got sick and tired to bring up my case already. So I pretty much tried this new approach of just listening and not replying. Gonna give that little brother of mine back the same attitude IN-YOUR-FACE style.

Everything was going rather smoothly despite the time wasted until my dad just brought up the past. My dark past.

Everything just went dark.
The event that led to all this.
I just broke down on the spot.
Where my perfect life just shattered into tiny pieces and into nothingness...

The room turned cold and silent. But the damage was already done.

On the bright side, this proved I'm still human.
On the other side, I'm still human. I'm not strong enough to change things...

I wanted to embrace the Sun once more, how I used to enjoy the warmth provided by the Sun, and move away from the cold, desolate Moon. But I was proven wrong, once again, that the path I undertook is a path of no return. There's no other routes available for me left. The only path is forward and I should not be distracted by the allure of other paths.

Perhaps you were the only one who will understand the significance of my name... My biggest regret is not being able to spend more time with you. What hurt the most was not that you left, it was me not being able to spend time with you. It's sad. Really sad...

It's being a long time since I shed tears, I couldn't stop it. Other sad events occurred but no tears formed. None were as painful as this... June is coming... memories....

With tears, I take another step forward, back into the darkness and beyond...

"

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll:

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

" — William Ernest Henly 

Throat Infection

2011-05-14T20:07:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[14 May 2011]

There was school holiday on Monday due to General Elections
School resumed on Tuesday
Went home early.
My first: Taking early leave green form and using it.
Missed School on Wednesday and Thursday.
Went to school on Friday.
Today's Saturday.

Basically, I only had two school days. Fell sick on Tuesday due to throat infection. I didn't realise it was that serious actually until I went to consult a doctor. I thought it was just a simple sore throat or a bad day where my daily problem is just worse than usual.

Guess not. But I must say it was super fun to not talk in the morning and using sign and body language to communicate. Sadly, I had to use speech at the later part of the day because there was communication breakdown with lots of people. Hahas, only Johnston could understand what I was trying to say. Had to resort to typing messages to tell Cynthia what I'm trying to say. Still, it was fun. It's not everyday you get to play Charades with friends. Hahas!

I managed to 'survive' in school before the Fever got the better of me and cause me to be unable to do conducive work and absorb what was being taught. (My head is still a bit dizzy now, hopefully from the medicine)

Staying at home while there is school just plain sucks, especially when you're sick. You can't enjoy the days where there are no school and you still feel miserable because of the illness. It's just plain depressing. Hahas.
Well, I manage to rest on Tueday before getting sick of sleeping from Wednesday onwards. Since I'm going to be behind the rest of the class, I can't really play computer games or watch anime. Thus, I was sorta forced (by myself and social pressure) to do my homework and finish assignment that I owe teachers anyhow.

Quickly, Friday came. I'm not really sure I dread that day or glad that day came (finally can get out of my house, oh my god!). Let's leave it as mixed feelings. :)

Boy, I had no idea two days of school can cover so much content. I just realised I'm so behind in terms of study. Gonna work double-time during school (can't really do much at home because I have difficulty understanding what's going on)

I really want to thank Cynthia and Pei Shi for helping me collect the notes and Pei Shi for helping fill up the the Chemistry Notes (and Laura? If she had helped, hahas!). It really helped alot! ^^

Hahas, I feel a bit bad to Cynthia for making her bag heavier because of the notes. :p

Once again, thank you! :)
--
To those who wished me well, thanks! Especially to my aunt and her family who just sms-ed me while I was typing this. Hahas! ^_^
--
Ah, my lips cracked on Friday, now have two ulcers on my lips. O.o

"Our own life is the instrument with which we experiment with the truth." — Thich Nhat Hanh

Rio

2011-04-25T22:09:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[24 April 2011]
Today is Darian's Birthday!

And we plan to watch a movie (since it's been a long time since we last watch) and we decided to watch Rio! Here's a trailer on it! :)

We watched the one at 12:25pm, but perhaps the most epic part was that Darian overslept so he missed the movie. So in the end, only Keller, Jie Sheng, and I went to watch the movie.

I didn't catch darian's SMS before arriving at the destination because I was playing on my phone and didn't bother to check my SMS. Oops! Sorry, darian!

Granted, this movie is a family movie but the mood is jovial which i believe suits us all because we need to relief some stress. :)

I'm not sure about the rest (those who didn't watch) and their opinions but I personally liked this particular movie.

Why? You know I always liked comedies and this movie is one of them with its jab of humour. Secondly, it reminds of Toradora! and Shana during the screening. Blu + Jewel = <3. Just had to say it, hahas.

That's Jewel. :)

Well, since Darian came late, he only had time for the usual rountine but that's his main objective anyway. I tried to drag him for the movie. Guess that failed. Sad.

Well, the next movie we're gonna watch would be THOR! Stay tuned! :)

"There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go." — Unknown

First Impression, do they matter?

2011-04-17T21:32:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[8 April 2011]
Today, I witnessed some incident and once again, it led me thinking about how people are so influenced by first impressions.

Someone(A) had a bad first impression of another person(B) because the latter appeared to be somewhat rude to his colleague.

In his defence, he wasn't exactly rude, it was appropriate for equal seniority. It was later revealed that he was actually the superior so it was nice he treated the other as his equal.

But the first impression was ruined, in A's sense. A had a very negative view of B, trending towards bias.

So I'm going to pose you a question right here, are you influenced by first impression?

I'm not sure about others but I had begun to view people at face value, the first impression hardly played a role in my opinion of that person. It's more about the person's attitude and behaviour, which can only be revealed with time, that I'm more concerned about. Yes, appearance play a hand but it's only useful if you getting that person for public appearances. Nothing much.

Of course, that's just my own view. I believe a lot of people judge people by their first impression. Disturbing though.

"People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." — Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

TM: Symposiums and NRP

2011-04-16T21:32:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 April 2011][TM Session#6]
Ah, how fast time passes. Today is the last session for Talent Management for this term.

Over the past 3 weeks, we discussed serious issues regarding Singapore and current affairs and had a intellectual discussion on them. This is the tradition of TM, sessions are set aside to discuss current affairs and solutions to them.

In addition, groups are tasked to present their findings before each discussion in the form of presentations like a Symposiums of sorts.

My team members are:

Chun Hong
Yonson
Tian Hoe
Stephanie
Vanessa

Really liked how we managed to set aside time to do it despite our busy schedules. Hahas, the presentation is rushed but it's good job nevertheless. ;)

NRP Symposium
Alright, the other I wish to inform you people would be the NRP Symbosium!

Hmm, actually I think I posted about that already. (Had to go recall if I did) *Shrug* Hahas!

Well, then I shall announce the results instead! :)

I'm proud to tell you guys I got Gold! :)
All those hard work paid off. I couldn't had done it without the help of my supervisor Assoc.Prof Ma and my partner Jesse Tang. Thanks! ^^

Wore blazer on that day. ^^
As the picture above indicated, there were three student presentation shown on that day to everyone, including the 2011 NRP Participants. One was really nice. It was the mod of the Guitar Hero guitar controller to a educational game. It was really amazing and I learnt something new that day day. I learnt that it's possible to mod any console controller with a program as long as it can recognise the button commands. It's like a remote control. After that, you can specify what each command does in your program and bam! You made a simple console game. Wow!

Finally, congratulations to all award winners! :)

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone the question. … Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good. If it doesn’t, it is of no use." — Don Juan

Time for all Eternity

2011-04-05T21:56:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[5 April 2011]

"Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love,
time is eternity." — Henry Van Dyke

Just a short post on my current plight so far. Hahas, I'm working on some overdue Economics Homework right now. Took eons to finish one part of an essay question. I question my own wisdom in taking up Economics in Junior College...

Alright, back to work! Ciaos~!

"To live without art would be rather (he)artless." — Sateesh Malla

The tiny bits in Life

2011-03-30T23:02:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[30 March 2011]
Hmm, depending how you view this, this post can be negative or positive. Normally, I would think of something post-worthy but later trash it due to lack of content or I feel that it is pointless but I feel something I experienced today is rather insightful.

We were waiting for a bus. There is this lady in front of me who dozed off while waiting for the bus. When the bus came, everybody started to board the train, leaving that lady behind. I walked past her... then decided to turn to her as I walked past her to wake her up, to inform her that her bus had come. The people behind weren't concerned about her missing the bus, they were more concerned of her blocking the way...

On the bus, I started to think... this is how the world has become since then. When someone need help, no one cares. Life goes on, what happened to others is none of their business. So what if your 'friend' is in trouble, you just move on as though that person never exist. As though you never knew that person, just a fragment of your reality that threatens to disrupt your daily routine.

Would you be the person who walk away when you meet someone in need? Or would be the person who lend that person a helping hand, pulling him or her out of the darkness when everyone just walks off? Guess we will never know until the situation arises...

Personally, I would say I had been tainted by the Society as well. I would not help those who had done me wrong or left me to rot when I needed help. (Guess you figured I'm someone who bear grudges.) However, I believe I will help those who never did me any wrong because I feel that they deserve that help. Because, in this world, no one else will. The majority won't anyway...

Lend a helping hand, every small, minute actions (you may feel) plays a long way in changing one's life, however big or small.

Yes, my friend. I totally agree with you. Sadly, I can't tell you how much I agree with you because saying so to you will only make us view this world with a much more negative light than it already is. There is hope, even if hope is a disease...

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending" - Carl Bard

Sucker Punch

2011-03-28T22:08:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[24 March 2011]
"Awesome day. Hahas" That was my cliff notes for this post and I think it's super hilarious for me to write that. (Still laughing, oops)

Okay apart from the fact this week's buzzword for me is "Awesome", though many of you probably already realised I mostly meant it in a sarcastic way. That's a tale for another day. Fortunately, this movie outing occurred before this week so the word "awesome" is meant literally. :) Saved by the virtue of the fact that...

Skin-deep or Cell-deep?

For this movie outing, Cynthia's the organiser.
Apparently,... actually forget it. I think it's too chaotic to be written down in words. Just know that everything was done on the spot, the movie to watch, where to watch, everything. Haha. I say Chaos at the cellular level.

Buddy Hoagies

Attendee(s): Johnston, Eunice, Clarissa, Siew Yan, Bao Lin, Cynthia

Ah, before I forget. Let me mention that today, 24 March, marks the end of my March Block Test! Of course there's a cause for celebration! No?

Anyway, after much discussion, we headed off to E!Hub to have lunch!

The restaurant we went to dine at was one named Buddy Hoagies. It sells affordable western meals! :)

I ate the Flame Grilled Chicken and it's not bad, definitely go try it out when you see a Buddy Hoagies resturant nearby. ;)

Sucker Punch, the Movie

Shoot, I'm running out of time. Let's jumpstart to the movie itself then.

I don't care what other might say but personally, I would relate this movie to one similar to Inception. The plot is rather complex which is actually thrilling to watch, plot-wise. However, the motivation of the plot was left unexplained which was a letdown in some ways. Of course, if you're someone who just wants action without much reasoning, then this movie suits you.
Yet, if you're a big fan of action, I would recommend you to instead watch Transformers: The Movie as it is more action-packed. Sucker Punch is a movie that goes from slow to high-gear then back to slow and so on.
Thus, one can say Sucker Punch is more of a generalist than of a specialised movie focused on one genre.
Sucker Punch incorporates a large amount of one's fantasy, much like Alice in Wonderland and one thing that I really appreciate about Sucker Punch was the director's use of movie technique.

The use of foreshadowing is very apparent in this movie, from the start to the end, subtle hints are dropped from scenes to scenes that allows your subconscious mind to already to be aware of what's going to happen yet at the same time, leaving you a sense of suspense. This, I feel, is very well done as it helps to enhance to the plot.

However, one technique I believe was badly used would be the slow motion scenes in the movie. Initially, I was impressed by it for the first few fight scenes. After a certain point, especially at one particular scene where almost every move was in slow motion, the technique was used too excessively which led to a negative afterthought about the scenes as it was far too slow for a fight scene and that particular move didn't seem to be of any significance (if it was used for a finishing move or one that would be critical for the finishing move i.e. the third move). Apart from that, this movie is still pretty decent despite the name. I'm not sure of the true meaning behind the movie unless what I suspect is true (but that doesn't make much sense in the plot. Okay, perhaps a little bit but...)

Really appreciated Johnston sacrificing his other events to join us. Thanks! :)

"Fear not darkness for that is when the stars shine the brightest" - Anonymous

TM: Interview Prep Workshop

2011-03-27T11:55:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[26 March 2011][TM Session #5]
Short post before I leave.
CVs, Recommendation Letters, and Essay Questions
MBTs have just ended, as such TM sessions continue on Saturdays once more. I will talk about MBT on another post. Let me focus on the most recent TM session first. :)

Since last TM session marked the end of the Social Etiquette, this week we attended a workshop by our own tutors on preparing for Scholarship interviews such as the the materials you would need to prepare for the application of scholarship.

Generally, for most applications for scholarship, they would require you to have the following documents ready:

Curriculum vitae
Essay Question / Personal Statement
Recommendation Letters / Referees

Curriculum vitae

Also known as Resume, it is basically a list of activities that you had did during your secondary schools and Junior College days. However, you should be reminded that you do not simply state all your activities, big or small, into the CV as it should only contain activities that are relevant to your scholarship and purposeful.

A CV should be placed in a format such that the latest activities are stated first and it should be reader-friendly. It should also contain details of the duration of your education in the school and relevant CIP hours.

Essay Question / Personal Statement

This is the key component of your scholarship application. There isn't any model answer of any sort because it is supposed to be your personal statement, thus unique.

If the organisation requires to answer a Essay Question, then you would have to. Different scholarships have different questions and so there isn't much guidelines on how to answer them.

On the other hand, if a personal statement is required, you would not be given any question but would have to write about yourself to convince them why you're the better choice.

In general, you will need to use relevant and unique points to highlight your strengths and get their attention so that they would call you up for an interview. Above all, be honest. ;)

Recommendation Letters

These are done by your tutors or other relevant supervisors upon your request but they may refuse if they're busy.

What I really learn that was getting to know the fact that we actually have a very small time window to submit our scholarship application, 7 days after our A Levels Results are released, especially for guys since we most likely have National Service(NS) during that period. That highlights the need for us to prepare these documents early.

"A pessimist is one who make difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties." - Harry Truman

Over you is the Answer

2011-03-18T22:24:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[18 March 2011]
Some of the songs may be old but I thought I would update a bit on the songs that I had added to my library recently. ^^

First up:

Maybe I should go search for more songs by Daughtry. Hahas!

A new group of singers, I really like this song!

Exams wise, next Monday is my Physics Paper. Ah, stress! Wish me luck! >.<

"OUR GREATEST GLORY CONSISTS NOT IN NEVER FALLING, BUT IN RISING EVERY TIME WE FALL" - OLIVER GOLDSMITH

Of arguments and philosophy

2011-03-14T23:38:00.005+08:00

Secret War Journal[14 March 2011]

Rare are the days I can finally post on the actual day itself. Rare, indeed. Hahas. Well, that is if I finish this post in half an hour anyway. :)

So I have been promoted to JC2 if you had not been following due to the recent chaos and today marks the start of the March Block Tests.

The first paper would be General Papers. Fancy attending for examinations during your holidays. How great is that?

The paper was tough, not a very bright start.

I did some essay question on space exploration. Not sure if I made the right choice...
Halfway through, I sorta end up writing philosophy though I went back on track (hopefully)
The comprehension was scary, especially the summary.

I hope I pass. I hope. O.o

Had KFC with Bao Lin, Cynthia, and Lai Yin. Tried this new Hearty meal (I think it's called that.)
Left for Simei where I meet with Darian and Johnston for Burger King. ^^

Thanks Darian and Johnston for helping me out for Physics! Much appreciated! :)

Didn't really want to blog about this but... actually, today is White Day, exactly one month after Valentine's Day.

This day is mostly celebrated by Japanese but I doubt that would be so this year with the recent earthquake (and its aftershocks) and tsunamis in Japan...

Not a very joyful day, or this period of time for that matter...

Anyway, be Strong, Japan.

Not meant to be

2011-03-09T16:51:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[9 March 2011]
Indeed, the path I took is one that has no return.

I was given an opportunity to take a turn at another path. When I was shown the opportunity, I was thinking, someone was giving me the chance to see if kindness pays off.

Sadly, like so many times in the past, I had been proved wrong again. Kindness is not often appreciated, not only mine but others, in the end, you only let others hurt you. Figures why there are fewer kind people as years pass... most notably you...

Can't believe I got tricked by Loki again... no matter I think I got the message, what does not kill us only make us stronger, history had been trying to tell us, and this time it will be listened, and heeded.

And thus, has the path which was not a path converges back to the path that I was destined. Another step into the darkness...

I must had been a fool, to allow others to hurt me so many times through my own kindness. God pray that I do not allow them to happen again...

Hurt

2011-02-27T21:40:00.004+08:00

Secret War Journal[27 February 2011]

All I wanted to say was... I'm hurt. When was the last time I...

True... My life's full of regrets. Hahas, ironic...

One by one, all shall fall just as prophesied.

You won't see it happening because you had let your guard down.

But it has begun.

Begun it had, none will be spared.

Just like how dominoes fall in succession.
This decision, I won't back down, we're too deep into it for that.

And so, I took another step further down the path of Destruction...

Past:Promise

2011-02-20T23:26:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[20 February 2011]

Our dark past....

...One binding promise

One filled with regret and misery...

I wish I could let go... but I can't.

You left when I needed you most. I admit it's my fault, I didn't know reality then...

You were my last strand of hope that dreams do come true.

You shattered it just had Death had. One part of me never moved on that year. One part of me is still trapped in that past. I don't want to remember the horrible things that happened.

But it had happened, and there ain't going to change... not even you, I guess...

Sometimes, I wish you never made me promise that. I wished I knew it was going to be binding. It's as if our path will never ever cross again.

Maybe those are just my excuses... but I don't believe that no one remembers you. That you're hardly ever mentioned anywhere when old friends are found after all those years.

It's as though you're just a fragment of my dreams and you never existed. Are you?

Even if it's impossible, at least let me apologise one last time? I've changed. I don't want to live with so much guilt, I have more than enough regrets already...

TM: Social Etiquette

2011-02-19T20:48:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[19 February 2011][TM Session #4]
This week marks the last week of the 2-week series of social etiquette by Ms Suzenne Zheng. Shall we begin?

Useful things to take note for public events:

Punctuality
Refrain from asking personal questions
Respect people's privacy

Tips for the actual day of interview:

Come early
Ask the reception who are the interviewers (to know how to address them) and for the interviewers' emails.
Do not cross leg until determining interviewer is friendly

Conversation Skills
General Tips:

Silence your inner critic
Begin with the obvious (conversation starter)
Compliment carefully
Use friendly body language
Turn the spotlight on others - Be humble
Listen
Keep the conversation light
Give equal time to other participants of the conversation (avoid one-sided conversations)
Have a sense of humour
Make your exit graciously
Avoid personal questions

Salutations (how to address someone):

You're not allowed to place titles on yourself when introducing yourself(e.g. Dr./Prof) unless you're in uniform
Introduce yourself without the use of "Mr/Mrs/Miss/Mdm"

If Jane Low is married to Jonathan Tay, Jane should be addressed as either

Mrs Jonathan Tay
Mdm Low
Mrs Tay

Note: Addressing Jane as Mrs Jane Tay meant that she's a widow.
--
How to introduce oneself:
"Good morning/afternoon/evening, Mr/Ms/Mdm [surname]. I'm [your name]. How do you do?"
How to introduce others:
"[Person A], please meet [Person B], [Profession of Person B]"
"[Person B], please meet [Person A], [Profession of Person A]"

Note:

Attend to the more important person first. In this case, Person A is the more important person.
By convention, women are more important than gentlemen
If both people are of the same gender, the older one is the more important person.
Business-wise, the ranking of the person is taken into account.
Do not shake hands if the other party is Muslim ladies or monks (not appropriate)

How to introduce oneself in a phone call:
"Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening, [your name] speaking"

Email Etiquette

Do not start with "Dear..." but rather "hi [recipient]" when ending an email with "Best Regards"
No smileys
No shorthands.

--
After an email, email the interviewer a thank-you note.
Example: "Thank you for interviewing me. I can be reached at..."

Dining Etiquette
Terminology:

Aperitif-- An alcoholic drink taken as an appetizer before a meal.
Entrée -- Main Course

Positioning:
Bread on your left; Drinks on the right

Ordering:
The gentlemen place order, not the ladies
E.g. "This lady wants [item], that man wants [item],..., [finally your own order]"

Breakfast:
Bread basket: Offer a bread to the left, take one for yourself, finally, pass the basket to the right.

Toast: Cut into 2 equal triangles (the standard); eat from the corners and one at a time.

Lunch/Dinner:

Knife, at all times, cannot point outwards
Fork, at all times, must face downwards

Buffet-style

DO NOT take for others, take only your own servings
Take at most 2 of the same item
Follow the meal procedure (appetizer, main course, dessert), do not start with the desserts.

Functions

The main focus is not on the food, mostly just drinking and socialising.

Check your personality
There are four main types of personalities as described by her, namely:

Natural

Sporty; casual dressing
Suited for athletes or NS men

Classic

Self disciplined; very organised
Pedantic (Anal)
Suited for auditors, accountants, etc

Dramatic

Dress to express themselves (relate Lady Gaga)

Romantic

Stylish; Best fashion sense among the four
Outgoing; good interpersonal skills
Suitable for entrepreneurs

By the request of Stephanie, here are some of our personalities, as analysed by Ms Zheng:

Stephanie -- Natural Classic
Leroy -- Very Classic
Joshua -- Classic

Note:

It is also useful for relationships, less conflict would occur between the couple if their personality are the same.

V

2011-02-14T22:27:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[14 February 2011]

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! :)

V means something else to me. It means Vengeance. Yes, this is the year of Vengeance. One by one, each will pay for all the wrongs they did to me in the past. I remember all and the time for karma has come.

JC Lightbulb Joke

2011-02-14T22:24:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[14 February 2011]

Q: How many RJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 4 whole faculties. One to design the new bulb, one to
manufacture and test it out, one to write a proposal on it and one to market it.

Q: How many HCJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: The whole school. To compete with RJC.

Q: How many VJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: The whole school. One student to screw it in and the rest to cheer and wave flags and banners to give him/her support.

Q: How many NJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They can study without light.

Q: How many AJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: They’re too busy trying to be one of the top 5 JCs.

Q: How many ACJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They’ll rather use all their money to employ YJC to do it for them.

Q: How many YJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Only one teacher to tell them what a light bulb is in the first place and to demonstrate how to change the light bulb. (So how do you think they’re able to change it for ACJC?)

Q: How many CJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: They’ll prefer it to be darker. (Hmmmm?*raises eye-brows* )

Q: How many JJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Their physics is so bad that they made their macho male physics teacher cry.

Q: How many TPJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. Would they even bother?

Q: How many SAJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They believe in praying for it.

Q: How many NYJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are still using oil lamps.

Q: How many SRJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Huh, what litebarb?

Q: How many PJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Heck the light bulb lah, the principal would do something about the rightbarbs. Let’s do 300 jumping jacks for not wearing the proper school attire.

Q: How many MJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are too busy trying to get promoted.

Q: How many IJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They are Innovians. They’ll find ways out of the dark.

Q: How many TJC students does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They think they are already very bright.

Note: This is meant to be a joke and it is not written by me. No offense is intended.

TM: Social Etiquette and Speaking Skills

2011-02-12T21:33:00.062+08:00

Secret War Journal[12 February 2011][TM Session 2 & 3]
Hmm, ahhh I didn't had the time to talk about the previous session last week. My sincere apologies. Perhaps I should start by talking briefly about the previous session.

Session 2: Speaking Skills

Basically, last week, we received advice from Mr Max on how to say or present.

I won't be talking in detail (though most should be self-explanatory) because the purpose of this series is to give you a clear idea of what Talent Management entails. Of course, it also helps to serve as a lasting mental note for myself. ;)

Alright, for Speech and Presentation, we can categorise them into 4 stages. Namely,

Pre-Speaking (Preparation)
Speaking - Fluency

Volume
Pacing
Pauses
Signposting

Speaking - Clarity

Vocabulary
Pronunciation
Stress & Intonation

Post-Speaking (Reviewing)

There are also non-verbal features in a presentation.

Posture
Eye Contact
Facial Expressions
Gestures
References to slides - Do no read from slides
Use of Statistics - Use sparingly

Other speaking devices include

Rhetorical Questions - to stimulate audience to think
Quotations - for effect
Audience Interaction - for relating to audience

These skills would be really useful especially for JC1s who are having their Project Work where they need to present in Oral Presentations (OP). :)

For more info: go http://eslgold.com/speaking/simple_presentation.html and http://eslgold.com/speaking/elaborating.html

Session 3: Social Etiquette

For this session, we have an external vendor, Suzenne Zheng, Founder of First Impressions Image International to come educate us on the aspects to take note of for job interviews.

In summary, she taught:

Top 10 list of what employers dislike during job interviews for males and females
Dress code for job interviews - including shoes and ties
How to tie a tie (which I hadn't done so for a year)
How to walk properly (in the business world)
Colour Theory (Cool and Warm and their definitions) - Colour Harmony
Appropriate Sitting Postures for Job Interviews (2 for males, 5 for females)
Appropriate hairstyles for males and females
Face shapes and how to identify them and apply styles accordingly
Appropriate eye brows
Appropriate Sock length for males
Need for punctuality for job interviews
Brisk walking
Avoid "bedroom face" (and long or spiky hair for males)

One interesting thing to note would be how your height affects your hairstyle (for females):

If you're >1.66m, you can keep long hair
If you're >1.40m but <1.66m, you can keep shoulder-length hair
If you're <1.40m, you should keep your hair short.

Alright, that should be all. =]

All of me and none

2011-02-12T20:44:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[12 February 2011]

Like all old amea, I wanted to forget everything...

One part of me did not want to move on...
Another part of me hope for a better future...
Yet another wish everything stay as it is now because of the bleak future ahead...

My daily dilemma of whether to hold on to fragments of memories continues...

Reason why I have this blog? To record my memories in case I forget them all...

Walking off, without a word

2011-02-09T22:27:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[9 February 2011]

By the time you realised I have walked off, I'm already too far away.

I left abruptly not because I have nothing to say or nothing to dispute your words.

It's because I'm sick... and tired of all these nonsense.

Yes, I would had tried to reason it out to knock some sense into the situation but patience had dried up. It dried up just as rivers did. I cease to care because no one does anyway. No one, on your side on that matter. So why I should I go an extra mile for people who don't even care? I might as well concentrate on others.

Sometimes, I just stop talking because I don't want to waste anymore of my energy to talk to an imbecile. Because talking and not talking seriously don't make a difference so why bother. It's much better to not talk, saves me the anger from...

Enough said.

Disappointment is one. But I rather have at least a single day where my mood is near genuinely happy instead of all these rubbish.

If you're going to give me attitude, I'm going to give you back the same shit, if not more. I will because I CAN.

False King

2011-02-01T22:17:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[2 February 2011]

Tell me I'm wrong,
Tell me I'm right,
Tell me I'm the false King.

TM: Induction

2011-01-22T22:49:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[22 January 2011][TM Session #1]

Hmm, I realise there's hardly any content about MJC's Talent Management(TM). Perhaps there's a reason why but I figure it would benefit others in the future, if they happen to chance upon these posts, people would have a better rough idea what is TM about. I suppose. Hahas.

Note: I'm skipping the selection process for TM. I'm not sure if I had covered before hand but... I'm definitely not intending to cover it. :)

All right, the first session for Talent Management is called the Induction Session. Personally, I call it the "Introduction Session", "Briefing", "Ice-Breaking Session", or however you would call it.

The first session of TM is rather carefree and easy. Basically, we would introduce each other and share a bit of ourselves, (just like Orientation). Hence, it being called a "Ice-Breaking Session". It's not bad, I get to meet new people. :)

It's called an "Introduction Session" because the mentors also roughly outlined what are the events and activities that we would be attending for the entire duration of the programmes. Unfortunately, the schedule that was shown has not been sent to me via email yet and I do not have superhuman memory retainment of the information that was flashed for a short 3 minutes. Rest assured, however that, if I would post a rough outline of it in my subsequent posts to give you people a better idea on what people do in TM programme. :)

The teacher-in-charge of TM also briefed us briefly on the criteria for the most prestigious scholarships, the Public Service Commission(PSC) and how the programme would prepare us for such scholarships. In addition, we did a bit of goal-setting as well, identifying one's strength and weaknesses and how to work on them. It may also be timely to mention that my tutor, Mr Max is the teacher-in-charge.

I'm not going to discuss the games that we played today. One, it would spoil the fun. Two, the games may well not be the same the following years anyhow.

Moving on, the first session is also the day where you find out who are your mentors. *Drum Roll*

Well, what can I say, I can tell you visions do work in reality. My mentors are Mr Max and Ms Loo. I'm in Group 2. (just a mental reminder to myself, hahas)
Perhaps, I should describe a bit about Ms Loo. According to a fellow TM member, Joe which was elected to be the second TM 2nd IC (congrats! :), she's a multi-talented teacher.

She's a maths teacher which meant that she knew me before I know her. :p
She's a musician, a good singer, a marathon runner, and she's also a scholar.
That last bit explains how she holds a rather high position in TM at her second year in MJC. Like we both agree, she's very imba (meaning she's very good, you know talented)

I feel owned. Hahas!
So yay! These two are my mentors! ^^

JustAcia

Oh, the school would provide you snacks during breaks so you don't have to worry about being hungry during the sessions, just digressing a bit.

After we are aware of which group we're in, the last leg of today's session is a lunch together as a group so as to get to know each other better.
After a short discussion, my group decided to head to the nearby E!Hub for lunch.

Well, turns out the other two groups are headed for E!Hub too so we went together and my group and one other went to JustAcia for lunch.

Come to think of it, the price is really worth it. For less than ten bucks, you get free flow of drinks and ice cream plus a meal. The meal is average but the highlight is the drinks and the ice creams. Hahas!

Drank 3 cups of hot chocolate today! Wohoo!

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending." - Carl Bard

A New Year. A New Face

2011-01-21T22:03:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[21 January 2011]

First official post for the new year 2011. The post that are supposed to be posted last year, will be.... posted sometime this year. Sorry for the disorganisation. There are other reasons for not posting them, hope you will understand. Let us start by talking about the class I'm in. (Well, yeah.)

The class strength has fallen by 3 to 22. Perhaps coincidentally, my index number is now 20. *Had you meant for this to happen or fate?*

There are several changes in subject tutors (AKA subject teachers) for my class.
--
For Physics, we have a new teacher named Mr Remedios. When he first introduced himself, the first thing that came into my mind was the word, "Remedials". Okay, a bit evil on my part and he don't deserve this because he's a great guy. He reminds me of a tuition teacher that I had when I was around primary 4. That teacher was Mr Ng and he tutored me for science then. That was the only tuition class that I had ever enjoyed so far (partly because I don't attend tuition anymore). I remember how I used to look forward to his lessons, going to Yuying CDAC for his lessons on weekends. Rocket science experiments were so much fun, especially when you're one of the few doing the crazy stuff, hahas!

Back to my new subject tutor, so far he's a fun guy though I'm not sure if things will go serious in a boring way. Well, hopefully not. I'm not saying the previous teacher is not as fun. I feel that it's a pity for him because his area of expertise is not covered in J1 so it's being a bit unfair for him. Strangely enough, his designation in MJC is a blank instead of teacher. Hmm...

For General Paper, we have Mr Max as our tutor again. Wohoo! My class is really lucky to have both Mr Lye and Mr Max as our tutor. Both are great GP tutors. Their approach are slightly different but I'm fine with both of them. Wohoo!

Alright, enough said.

A new year, the year of doubts is past us. Perhaps, this year will be a year of vengeance. It's high to enforce my principles to a even higher level. After all, don't everyone say we must not be complacent and constantly improve ourselves?

This year, the mask will slowly melt like wax. What was done will be done once more. As aforementioned, I will enforce the value mirror more strictly. Let's see how low one can go. :)

The Shadow King concept will also be enforced more as well, of course.

As for the first principle, I doubt it can go any higher. Hahas! I think I perfected that art already but I guess there's always area for improvement, I will go look out for it. :)))

These three should be the focus of the year, I presume. The others ain't so important, for now. After all, the word of the year this year is Vengeance. Enough said.

Physics Major Joke

2011-01-17T20:53:00.001+08:00

Secret War Journal[17 January 2011]

YOU MIGHT BE A PHYSICS MAJOR...

if you have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
if you enjoy pain.
if you know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
if you chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force."
if you've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
if when you look in a mirror, you see a physics major.
if it is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
if you frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver."
if you always do homework on Friday nights.
if you know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
if you think in "math."
if you've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
if you hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down
its wave function.
if you have a pet named after a scientist.
if you laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
if the Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the
Schrodinger's Cat experiment.
if you can translate English into Binary.
if you can't remember what's behind the door in the science building
which says "Exit."
if you have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because
there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
If you are completely addicted to caffeine.
if you avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the
eventual heat-death of the universe.
if you consider ANY non-science course "easy."
if when your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have
accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to
Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
if the "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.
if you'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math
easier.
if you understood more than five of these indicators.
if you make a hard copy of this list, and post it on your door.

Oh, believe me, how I wish for your death. Vengeance will be mine.

JC2 Wishlist

2011-01-01T17:32:00.004+08:00

Secret War Journal[Earthen Year 2011]
Another year, more challenges to overcome!

Get good grades for PW*
Be satisfied ~~grades for Chinese* PASSED~~
Be satisfied with NRP Results*
~~Get~~ more ~~collar shirts~~*
Able to set aside time on most Saturdays for Blogging
Able to set aside time for Map Development
Maintain healthy friendship in CG
~~Find a job~~

2010: Looking Back

2010-12-31T23:59:00.074+08:00

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

2010-12-26T00:04:00.001+08:00

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

2010-12-23T23:33:00.001+08:00

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

2010-12-22T23:00:00.000+08:00

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

2010-12-21T22:08:00.000+08:00

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. :)

NCHS Prom 2010

2010-12-20T22:32:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[19 November 2010][Long Post]
Okay, I know this is weird. No, JC1s in Singapore do not have Prom Night. That would be crazy to have Prom Night yearly, I think their parents would scream. Hahas!

No, it's not a Prom night by MJC nor am I the organising committee for a Prom Night. It is...

I guess the picture above spoilt things pretty much already. Hahas!

I guess you people must be wondering, "Didn't you already graduated from NCHS? How in the world were you allowed in?"

Well people, to answer you questions, I was there on official reasons as a NCYM exco. Together with the rest of the exco who were present that day, we were sort of advertising during their prom night about NCYM and hope they would join us next year. :)

Joining us tonight are

Leroy (Vice-Chair)
Yee Teng (Secretary)
Keller (2nd HR)
Leroy (Public Relations)
Yong Liang (Member)
School Staff
Secondary Four graduates

This year's theme seems to be similar to mine - Live Your Dreams. Hmmm....

This year's venue would be at the Holiday Inn, Attrium and they would be having dinner served! This is a far cry from my Prom Night where we had a conference room and had a buffet-style dinner. Theirs is so much more high class. T.T

Hahas, to be honest with you, I wasn't expecting myself to be attending their Prom Night with them, since I had CCA before the Prom Night which was virtually a clash of events so I was intending not to attend the event but lo and behold! My CCA ended earlier than expected so I was able to go home and attend their event.

Furthermore, chances are that we are not allowed into the prom night since it's not our Prom Night. It should be like the last time the Alumni people did, having a booth at the entrance, asking people if they're interested to join.

Well, this year is a bit different. Firstly, we hardly used the booth. We decided to change tactics for this year, something like an experiment. We would distribute the registration form to each and every one by entering the attrium first and placing them on the tables. This would help to increase the outreach of our target audience. :)

After that, Keller was nominated to go up to the stage to advertise in front of the whole cohort. His speech is right after our Principal. :)

(I bet Keller must swearing at us for 'nominating' him. Hahas!)

Meanwhile, we were watching the emcees for the night rehearsing. :)

Here's the seating plan:

After Keller's speech, most of our work is done. With our junior's Prom Night, we were deciding where to have our dinner since we're not allowed to eat their food anyways. Hahas!

We discussed for a good half an hour, I guess? Turns out we're allowed to attend their Prom Night. (Boy, look at their shocked faces). We even had a table (shared with the councillors, of course) hahas!

This is roughly where we sit(not the table that the hand was pointing at, it was table 22):

Yep, our table is all the way to the front, just beside our teachers, the VIPs. Hahas!

Our junior's Prom Night had a lot of amazing food! Their appetizers had a lot of variety of food!

That's the appetizer, crazy much? O.o

I mean, Keller was saying he was full after the appetizer. Wow!

After the appetizers came abalone soup! My Prom Night didn't have such high-class food, you know.

(I think it was a 7 course meal, not sure)

One bowl for each of us! Mmm!

Then came chicken, sea bass, mushroom with oysters, etc.

Pork but I'm not sure of it's official name. Mmm!

I was full when desserts arrived. Hahas!

Of course, Prom Night isn't just about food, we went taking photos with our juniors and teachers. These are some of them. :)

Infocomm Club unite!

Hahas, they were shocked when we appeared because....well we graduated already. There was no reason for us to appear in their prom night right? XD

NCYM Exco!

From Left: Keller, Leroy, Me, Mdm Teo, Yee Teng

Food! See Yong Liang there? Hahas!

Yummmmm---seh!

Okay, that should roughly all. I shouldn't say too much about their Prom Night, it's theirs, not mine anyway. :)

After we finished what we came to do, we left after taking pictures and head home. Saw the Orchard Christmas Lights. Oh my god! I must say, as I'm sure many would, it is nicer than previous years. :D

Do take a look at the Orchard Christmas lighting when you can. :)

P.S: See Philbert, I did say I was going to gatecrash your Prom Night. Hahas, oops? :p Too bad, we never take photo together in the end. :p

Flyer - The Third Experience

2010-12-19T19:08:00.005+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 November 2010][Long Post]
Yes, yes. I know. Sorry for the unannounced absence from the Blogger Universe for close to half a month?
(Before you people start counting the days, I was indeed away for around half a month despite the previous post being less than half a month ago. Yes, it's entirely possible. :)

I don't like it either, you have no idea how many drafts/posts I need to post right now. Definitely not a good sign for me. Hahas! Well, let's stop wasting time and start finishing this post, shall we? :)

Wait, Flyer? Again?!

Oops, my bad. Hahas, yeah I'm aware that I had board the glorious Singapore Flyer twice before this already thank you. To spare you guys, (and myself), the agony of saying my views about Singapore Flyer, or anything related about it for that matter, those details would be kept to the bare minimum.

No, I don't think the post would be short. (Shorter than a full length post but not too short, I hope. Well unless I got too tired or I ran out of time, that is. I mean c'mon, it's getting longer as I talk more trash at its prelude than the actual post? Oops? XD)

Laura's House

Before I begin, please bear in mind my memory sucks and it's been a long time since the actual event. Anyway...

School was dismissed in the morning/afternoon (I forgot why) and thus, we went for lunch. We did not have lunch together. (Look, I forgot why for that part too, drop that throwing dagger, thank you)

After lunch, we went to Laura's House to well... play and slack. His brother was with his friends, playing PS3.

Boy, her house is....very empty. Oops? Well, either it is because it is in good order or it's too big. XD Anyway, her house is two stories high. Not sure if there's a third. *Shrug* I did not do much exploration since I was in fact, rather tired that day. Hahas.

Played Bridge there and oh man, I can't believe there was this one match where Debbie just won without any resistance at all and her partner did not need to do anything. (HA!). Basically, pure ownage on her part. There's a total defeat for the rest of us, I can't believe Debbie could so lucky. :S

On the other hand, Laura has a rather comprehensive bookshelf (as do all readers, well maybe except me. :()
I don't have much interest in most of the books there though. Oh well, hahas. At least some of the series she reads, I read before, I guess. :)

Lastly, you should visit her house with Debbie. I should assign the job: Treasure Hunter to Debbie. You will know why if you ever get to have the chance to visit Laura's house with Debbie. Hahas!

P.S: Hmm, maybe not, I think Laura would just throw us out. :p

1st Floor please. XD

After that, they went shopping. I was dragged along, wow. They went to many places. I think we should call it the walk-a-Singapore Shop-a-thon. Hahas.

Sidetrack a bit,

There was a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows exhibition at Illuma, not sure if it's still there. :p

Still sidetracking...

Those were some of birthday presents we considered for Pei Shi. Ironic that we end up buying neither.

One particular thing of interest that happened during their fast-track shopping spree was the one where we never got past the basement of Plaza Singapura. Seriously, that's a first for me. I guess that day I experienced the true power of people shopping. Hahas! So what happened? Well... we were eating to our hearts' content at the basement. Boy, can Debbie eat snacks. She should be dubbed "Snack Queen" Hahas!
Mental note to self: Never compete snack-eating with Debbie. XD

Here's a certain scene:
~Debbie just bought a snack
Debbie: Should I buy that? (Looking at another food stall)

Owned. I think she's the first I met who thinks about eating something else when she just bought a snack. A true master. *Salutes*

My first Popeyes

We had popeyes at the sort-of newly opened branch near the Singapore Flyer.

This is my first time eating Popeyes and I had heard quite a good number of positive feedbacks about it so I was looking forward to tasting it myself.

Sadly, I must say it was a let-down. I have no idea why people say it's better than KFC. Chicken-wise and taste-wise, KFC wins Popeyes hands down. I mean, if you omit the storage method that KFC uses. (I have no idea how Popeyes stores their chicken, probably the same way?)

Price wise, KFC win by a bit? This makes it more pathetic because KFC is cheaper and much more DELICIOUS. Zzzz much?

Conclusion: Popeyes is overrated. Hahas!

In other news, KFC now has Pepper Chickens.....

My third flying capsule

Going to Singapore flyer was rather retarded for us that day because it was raining. We alighted at the nearest MRT station and there wasn't a sheltered pathway to the Singapore Flyer.

Wonder why they don't want to just walk. Hmm... (okay, I asked myself a retarded question.)

Anyway, they(or we) decided to hail a taxi to Singapore Flyer.
(Yes, it's crazy. LOL. Hold that thought, I'm not finished. XD)

Yes, we managed to hail a cab.
Yes, it was hard to find a taxi stand there. So much for that station being a new MRT station.
Yes, we managed to find a taxi driver to go along with our crazy idea. (well, he would get paid anyway, no reason to say no and well he wanted to do a short one before going home....so yeah)
Yes, it wasn't cheap. Hahas!

Here's the real painful parter: The surcharge was much higher than the distance fare. So basically, we paid a bomb not because of its distance, but its surcharge. I bet that taxi driver must be thinking he just struck lottery after leaving us. Hahas!

Met up with Gerald, Wen Zi, Stephanie and Joanna before going aboard the flyer.

Attendee(s): Pei Shi, Debbie, Laura, Wen Zi, Stephanie, Joanna, Gerald.

First Time: With a professor, keller, and Qi Xiang - Day View with everything in sight
Second Time: Prom Night - Night View and all its splendor
Third Time: Raining, a new experience.

Well....I'm not only one who had board the Flyer many times... so when we board the flyer, the behaviour was well..... not like one who has just board the flyer for the first time. So yeah, you see people getting bored there and the likes. Wow, never thought I would witness that. Hahas!

One thing to note is that this time, the Integrated Resorts are completed and can be viewed from the Singapore flyer! But.....not everything completed yet, meh.

Met up with Yao hui and co after that. I headed home after that, too tired.

Hmm, this post is rather crappy. I got tired as I typed this too. Wow, remembering how tired I was that day made me tired now, amazing. Hahas! Well, at least I managed to put some random stuff which couldn't by itself sustain as a post. That helped to clear many things off my mind that I being wanting to clear. Hahas!

Hey, at least I managed to persevere and finish the post from the start to the end. Phew. Ciaos people!

Next up, the post on NCHS Prom Night 2010. All right!

Let's Take A Walk 2010

2010-12-18T00:36:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[18 December 2010][Long Post]
Took me some time to finally post this. I sort of give up of the pictures been released, guess I shall work with I have. =]

Let me begin by informing you what is this event about first:

Rally your friends, colleagues and family to walk for a good cause this Christmas! Make this December extra special by taking part in this overnight, round island endurance walk!
--
There are three categories for Let's Take A Walk 2010, 10km JalanWalk, 50km PowerWalk and 100km ExtremeWalk. These three walks are specially designed to cater to the varied participants and their interests. Registration fee is at S$25 for 10km JalanWalk and S$60 for 50km PowerWalk & 100km ExtremeWalk.
--
10km JalanWalk (Individual)

The 10km JalanWalk is ideal for classmates, colleagues, families, groups of friends who would like to enjoy a relaxing workout. The 10km route will take you through a combination of both quiet and bustling corners of the city as well as new hotspots such as Helix Bridge and Marina Bay Sands. (Subject to change, pending approval from authority)

Reporting Date : Sunday, 19 December 2010

Reporting Time : 7:30am

Official Flag-off Time : 8:30 am

Start & End Point : Liang Court, 177 River Valley Road

Fees : S$25
--
50km PowerWalk (Team 3 to 6 people)

Calling all sports fanatics, athletes, musclemen and sporty ladies and anyone who is gamed to put their fitness level to an endurance test. The 50km PowerWalk is a great chance to gather your like-minded friends, colleagues or relatives to take part, as co-walkers and be part of a meaningful event.

To take part, simply form a team of 3 to 6 people and register as a team to take up this challenging endurance walk. Spending the whole day walking together for a good cause through the heartland, park connectors and local attractions could easily bring your friendship closer.

Rally your friends as your own “ra-ra” support team to meet your team in between your walk to give you a moral boost, some tender loving care with their surprise late-night visits, massages and snacks.

The lovely night walk route will bring you through the less travelled western part of Singapore and ever popular Southern Ridges.

Reporting Date : Saturday, 18 December 2010

Reporting Time : 7:30 pm

Official Flag-off Time : 9:00 pm

Start Point : Singapore Turf Club, 1 Turf Club Avenue (next to Kranji MRT)

End Point : Liang Court, 177 River Valley Road

Fees : S$50 (early bird, register before 1 Oct) | S$60
--
100km ExtremeWalk (Team 3 to 6 people)

You walk every day, so what's so difficult about walking for an extended period of time, you may think. The 100km ExtremeWalk is the most challenging route in Let's Take A Walk. This walk is no easy feat and is both mentally and physically demanding. The walk is not for feeble-minded individuals, but with strong determination, good pre-walk training regime and a never-say-die attitude, nothing is impossible.

Put your endurance and mindpower to the ultimate test with this challenge.

This year route offer something different so even if you have completed previous 100km route, you can re-join us to discover the hidden treasures round the island.

Reporting Date : Saturday, 18 December 2010

Reporting Time : 7:00am

Official Flag-off Time : 8:00 am

Start Point : Tampines 1, 10 Tampines Central 1 (next to Tampines MRT)

End Point : Liang Court, 177 River Valley Road

Fees : S$50 (early bird, register before 1 Oct) | S$60

That's basically what the event that I'm helping out at is about. I was assigned to help out at two checkpoints.

First Duty: Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall

This is checkpoint 2 for the 100Km Extreme Walk

Our job is rather simple, whenever a team arrives, we just need to make sure that all the members of the team has arrived before giving them the stickers to certify that they have completed this checkpoint. After that, they are free to proceed with the walk and onto the next checkpoint! :)

For our checkpoint, we gave out water bottles to the participants. Some of them were wondering where are the fruits and they were informed that the fruits (if I recall, bananas) are available at the next checkpoint.
Certain checkpoints give out freebies to the participants to rejuvenate them since the walk is not an easy one. As previously mentioned, the checkpoint I'm in gives out drinks.

What really made the whole duration that enjoyable was the courtesy of the volunteers and the participants. It's been a long time since everyone I meet are so polite, cheerful and friendly. It really gave me hope that the world isn't all dark. :)

The volunteers had KFC Black Pepper Chicken for lunch but I didn't order one because I feel a bit bad for them to treat so I decided to just eat lunch after my duty. Hahas!

50KM Opening Ceremony

Next stop, Tuas!

Guessed I came a tad early but hey I had nothing to do for 3 hours! (that's the time gap between my duty hahas! Actually, I forgot what happened during this period of time. Oops.)

Anyhow, the place is already closed in preparation for the event but I can't enter yet because the co-ordinator who can verify my involvement is not here yet. (Because I'm so early, hahas!)

Had a chat with participants who also came early to prepare themselves, I feel so Wow-ed by them. :)

Night is upon us! The co-ordinator came and the guards allowed us in as we carried items to prepare for the opening ceremony. This is when times go hectic and crazy as we rush to prepare!!!

Had some time to take a breather while we were making balloons and tying them around the railings.

Looking at the seating complex, I wonder how it feels to be in the VIP lounge. Ahhh, life.

Sadly, after the preparations, we have duty at the entrance so I didn't have the chance to take a peek at how the opening ceremony went. Nevertheless, the 100Km Walk is still on and this place is one of the checkpoint as well. Lookie at the clock! Hahas!

Did some checkpoint duty before I headed home!

Update: This is recent. They actually went to officially thanks for our involvement in the event.

"Our young and energetic student volunteers from Meridien Junior College
Heng Wen Zi, Gerald Chan, Cynthia Tang, Debbie Sim, Jackie Lam, Leon Loh, Yeo Yao Hui, Germinian Gan, Kan Wei Chong, Gordon Goh, Leroy Lim, Joshua Tan, Timothy Lim, Kwek Jin Cheng, Goh Jia Lin, Lim Si Jie, Benjamin Ong Shao Jun, Ng Wei Jie, Ong Sim Juan, Ng Zheng Yi, Masaki Kor, Alan Khoo, Darren Teo, Muhd Asyraf Zainol, Joh Kia Meng, Pua Si Yan, Wang Xiu Hui, Kang Lei, Ahmad Naufal, Ang Weiyi Jerene, Benjamin Kitson Bok Jia Wei, Daniel Lim Zheng Yi, Darren Eng Kai Jie, Khoo Wei Quan, Koh Wei Yang, Lee Ying Hui, Tay Jun Hurng Ryan, Derick Tan, Chew Ee Zeng, Chong Kejin, Lee Jun Zhou, Tan Tian Hoe, Woo Wei En, Jeanette Soon Xiu Yi, Starnia Quek Ping Hwee, Goh Xuan Hong, Bryan James Leong Wei Xun, Esther Wan Yee Shuang, Sydney Tan Yu Ke" - Let's Take A Walk Committee

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale

2010-12-16T21:17:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[16 December 2010]
Finally, after so long, I have managed to pull off an outing. (I'm a lazy person, organising kills brain cells at a very high rate. Hahas)
Attendee(s): Bao Lin, Cynthai, Dolly, Jie Sheng, Wei Ting

Well, I will rush to talk about the movie first. :)

Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale is one of the best movies I had seen for 2010. In fact, I will strongly recommend anyone to go watch unless you people think it is too 'lame' then I have no comments.
For the record, this movie is considered a comedy by me, which was basically I went to watch. Hahas!

Apart from it being extremely hilarious until the ending, one should also take note the hard work required to animate the god-knows-how-many strands of hair she has. It is well animated for something so crazy. Hahas! However, logic wise, there's some places where the hair goes extremely short. I wonder why, okay, I know the reason. Hahas!

Still, it's a disney movie so you can see some of the elements of it are still the same, including those I don't like. But hey, it's one of the few movies that actually impressed me. XD

Nex Serangoon

This is a new shopping mall which is very messy in my opinion. Well, the people above us really did a good job making full use of all the land space provided but at the cost of making the place too crowded as every spare space offered by pathways are taken up by portable stalls.

Well, on the bright side, this shopping mall sells almost anything. Well, wonder why it me feels that I should not go back there? Maybe because it's too confusing for someone like me who has no sense of direction to be in...

Colorgenics Profile

2010-12-06T20:06:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[6 December 2010]

Recently came across this personality test and out of curiosity, I went to try it out. Here's my result:

You have always been on the move seeking affectionate, satisfying and harmonious relationships. Your ultimate goal has been the realisation of an intimate union in which there could be love, self-sacrifice and mutual trust. It has often been said that 'True love is just around the corner' and - if you haven't found it as yet - you possibly soon will.

You are feeling very vulnerable at this time. Nothing seems to be going in the right direction - business wise, private-life wise, everything. You need some emotional security and an environment which could possibly provide fewer problems, but the way you are feeling you can't be bothered even to make the effort.

You lack confidence and that is a great pity because deep down you are indeed a warm caring person. This lack of confidence is making you wary of being drawn into any open discussion or conflict and so you feel as if you should let matters lie and leave well alone. But there may be a pleasant surprise in store for you. You are beginning to grow and very soon - sooner than you believed possible - this warm loving new you will be available for all to see and to appreciate.

You are an emotional, sincere and impressionable individual experiencing frustration and unnecessary stress. You are carried away by other people's enthusiasm and looking for that idealised relationship, be it in a business or personal situation, which you are able to share with a mutual depth of understanding. You have lowered your defences in the past and you have been hurt, so you are now extremely wary of being exploited. You are still ready to trust people on the condition that they are prepared to offer you proof of their sincerity.

You are inclined to be too trusting and you feel that you need to be on your guard against the possibility that your endeavours and actions may be misunderstood. Too often you have been taken advantage of and you have been mentally abused. Now you are seeking a relationship which can provide peace of mind, where you can be yourself and not have the need to put on a false front.

Hmm... well, you guys can also try it out on http://www.colorgenicstest.com/form.html :)

I'm working on the other posts. I just wanted to post this first since 1) I would forget the link. 2) I hardly need to type much for this. :)

Ciaos!

Startup @ Singapore: Entrepreneurs Unplugged

2010-11-29T14:48:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[15 November 2010]

Ah, business. I guess it's been a long time since I talked about that. Hahas!

Anyway, in case you guys didn't knew, 15 November 2010 was the start of the Global Entrepreneurship Week and to kickstart the week, there was panel discussion from Startup@Singapore and also a nEbO Biz Challenge [Finals] being held at the same day, same time.

Well, since I can't split my body into two (rather obviously, XD), I had to choose one.
I decided to go for the panel discussion since I didn't know what's going to happen at the nEbO Biz Challenge since no one I know is in the finals. XD
Furthermore, Johnston has questions for the panel. :)

Sadly, Johnston is not free for the panel discussion that day so I help him to ask the question the panel. :)
However, Keller, being my good friend, accompanied me to grace the event. I feel a bad for him though he was like questioning himself why he was present. Sorry! But I'm sure you learned a few things from the panel discussion and it was enlightening(I hope)! Hahas!

I must say Keller and I were rather funny that day. We were like constantly discussing what's the dress code for the event. I said business wear but Keller don't like that dress code. In the end, I sort of scam him since I ended up wearing Business wear to the event which Keller either claimed I was overdressed or he was underdressed. Actually, the dress code is loosely defined so it's alright for both of us.

We were almost late for the event which would be embarrassing since it's an official event and being late for a penal discussion is like super obvious! Hahas. I was rather clumsy that day, especially since I had no school that day, and I was actually later than Keller, who had school. Sorry, I was distracted by my phone. O.o

Not to mention that this is one of the rare times that I'm the travel guide given my pathetic sense of direction, I did not foresee Keller not having come to HDB Hub before and it's been a long time since I went there.
But I guess my luck was holding that day since I managed to get there without taking a wrong turn(which is to say get lost) unless Keller consider that going one big round when the place was just behind us is a wrong turn. Hahas, opps? (I would take that as a yes. :)

Apparently, we made it in time, still early in fact. yay! I was a bit retarded that day (I said that already, didn't I?) and went to re-register when I had do so beforehand. Hahas!

I was given the rare opportunity to become a nEbO member for free(normally, that cost money) but Keller dissuaded me from signing up. I'm still not sure if that was a bright move but what's done is done.

Finally, before the panel discussion started, someone shocked me when they knew about MJC BizClub and it being a company(of sort) when they found out I was from MJC Wow, I thought we were rather low-profile but we're rather well-known. Wow! Wow! Hahas!

They seems happy that someone from MJC came(though I don't think they know I am from BizClub :P). Hmm. hahas!

Time to get seated for the panel discussion!

Before the panel discussion start, perhaps it would be better for me to inform you who are the panelists and of course, the moderator. I would giving you a brief introduction later when the panel discussion starts. :)

Today, our moderator would be Ms Pranoti Nargarkar Israni, Founder of Zimplistic Inventions and Open Category Winner of 10th Start-Up@Singapore. The panelists are

Mr John Yap, co-Founder of Awfully Chocolate and Everything With Fries
Ms Christina Lim, Founder of Ocean Healthcare
Ms Susan Chong, CEO of Greenpac
Mr Leonard Tan, CEO of PurpleClick Media

Now the panel discussion has begun! Here's the gist of it:

Moderator
Ms Pranoti Nargarkar Israni
Founder, Zimplistic Inventions and Open Category Winner of 10th Start-Up@Singapore

Only in her 20s, she left her job at a leading electronic manufacturer to start-up on her own. She recently won the prestigious StartUp@Singapore 2009 grand champion trophy, which comes with $28,000 in prize money and one free year of office space. Prior to this, Israni's Zimplistic was awarded the YES! Spring Singapore grant for young entrepreneurs valued at $35,000. Israni aims to partner or license with a consumer appliance brand to bring Rotimatic to market in 2010.

Panelists
Mr John Yap
Co-Founder of Awfully Chocolate and Everything With Fries
Mr John Yap co-founded Awfully Chocolate in 1998. Today, it is a popular dessert franchise with 22 stores in 8 cities. He has since ventured into the eatery business with Everything With Fries, which has outlets in Holland Village and Joo Chiat. A father of three, he runs the businesses with his wife, Ms Lyn Lee.

What I learned from him:

Motivation to do well: Enjoying thecareer/field you're in

Raising the barrier to entry

Use of advertisement for endorsements

Bulk purchase may not be wise for F&B (depends)

Franchise enquiries: The importance of contract (best locally) and danger of imitation

Sometimes, it is not that important to go to the most crowded mall

Ms Christina Lim
Founder of Ocean Healthcare
Ms Christina Lim is a trained pharmacist and MBA graduate from Singapore, and she founded the Ocean Healthcare (S) Pte Ltd in 1995. Ocean Healthcare (S) Pte Ltd now distributes Ocean Health, Therapeutic Dermatologic Formula and Ocean Derma products throughout Asia. Christina still spends her time pursuing her passion: formulating new products, delivering lectures and sharing with people ways to improve their health condition for a better quality life.

What I learned from her:

Importance of research/background information
Importance of acquiring technology
Importance of gaining support from others.
Application (how to apply)
Think of future plans: Venture aboard?
Use of advertisements
Difficulty in expanding to regional: Difficulty in acquiring factories and the importance of contracts
Health supplements are not patent-able
Importance of communications: Communication between clients to prevent imitation of products.

Ms Susan Chong
CEO of Greenpac
Greenpac (S) Pte Ltd (“Greenpac”) is a knowledge-based company that specialises in designing and distributing environmentally friendly packaging products and solutions. Since starting the company in September 2002, Susan grew Greenpac from a one-woman start-up into a thriving multimillion dollar company.that serves Fortune 500 companies and is the market leader for environmentally friendly packaging solutions in Asia. Susan has won several prestigious awards, including the Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 and the Enterprise 50 (E50) 2008, where Greenpac was ranked #4 in the exclusive list of 50 of the most enterprising privately-held local companies in Singapore.

What I learned from her:

Importance of networking
Identifying a niche market
Identifying a hole/gap in the market
The need to be hardworking
Aware of your visions
Getting aid from government
Importance of perserverence
Need for creativity
Aware that SMEs have very little resources: Most operations done in-house
Use of avenues to obtain financial help
Seek advices from senior entrepreneurs

Mr Leonard Tan
CEO of PurpleClick Media
He founded PurpleClick Media Pte Ltd, an online search marketing agency, specializing in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and online media in 2006. PurpleClick Media is also the first and only agency in Southeast Asia to achieve accreditation from both Yahoo and Google, and has established offices in Singapore and Malaysia. His ability to create a successful and profitable enterprise that is socially responsible also garnered him the “The Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2009” and “Entrepreneur of the Year Award for eCommerce 2009”.

What I have learnt from him:

Marketing skills is important
A need to have the ability to sell
Must be able to market your products.

With that, we adjourned for dinner.

AFA X

2010-11-22T22:28:00.002+08:00

Secret War Journal[14 November 2010][Long Post][Picture-Heavy]
It's that period of the year again!

Anime, Cosplay, Jpop, Games, Vocaloids!

Wohoo!

Joining us this year are...

Johnston
Trevor
Keller

Zikry couldn't join us due to some unforeseen reasons. Therefore, this year, we have to come slightly earlier to buy the tickets which would be very long queue later in the afternoon.

No matter, Johnston and I came first and helped to purchase tickets for everyone else. Waiting for the rest to arrive but at this moment, I want to comment that there is very almost no crowd right here right now. Wow! I think all of them went to watch the Haruhi movie in there. O.o

Well, I'm not going to pay more for an animie movie which I didn't even watch. Hahas! I mean, I'm not even going to attend the AniSong concert later! T.T

When they arrived after some epic moments of finding us while standing in front of us and using their handphone talking to us (LOL!), we produced the tickets and entered the exhibition!

Okay, the previous post was the old narration-style so it's time to go photostory(not to mention that if I go write out in prose, this post could go on forever)! As I always say, "WIthout further ado" let the pictures do the talking!

Okay, you probably wasn't expecting this picture. I mean, "Where's the AFA pictures! This is not one!" but yeah, I couldn't find any other place to place this. :P

The "chop" to indicate we're allowed to enter the exhibitions.

Look at Trevor's face. So lustful. Joking!

Haruhi Figurines

Nanoha!

Hatsune Miku!!!!

Black Rock Shooter

Final Fantasy Cosplay. Not bad.

Maid Cafe?! To think Trevor and keller thought there was only Butler Cafe this year. :o

This is one car that is bound to cause car accidents.

I mean, it definitely would distract male drivers, I think. Hahas! Opps?

AFA X Official Car. O.o

Gundam Car. Now this is one Cool car, until you scratch it, of course. XD

Power Ranger? EPIC.

Power Rangers to the Rescue! (Roll on the floor laughing, can't stand myself saying that. Hahas!)

Unglam shot of red ranger. We're so evil. XD

Dolls. Zi Ying has lots of this, I think.

A nicer shot with nicer dolls. O.oOkay, maybe the previous shot was nicer. :p

Domo! Group Picture!

Toradora! Taiga! My favourite character there! Woots!

Taiga and Me. How come she's taller than me!!! O.o Scary.

Johnston and Taiga. Wonder where's Taiga's boyfriend. Never see him. O.o

Animax Station is here, as usual. But the voiceover is..... let's just say I prefer the original japanese version. :p

Eh....

Princess or?

White Princess?

Emm...the princess is nicer. XD (Evil me...)

More of princess

Random Hatsune Miku cosplayer. Hey, where's your leek? XD

Naruto with an epic touch.

Pikachu epic win version. >=D

Black Rock Shooter Cosplayer, look better in reality.

Sorry for the eye issue.

Christmas is here already?! Joking!

You got to admit it's nice though. :)

I should not saying evil. (Like Christmas? ROFL)

Nice right? I hope. XD

Now we have Halloween. XP

Snow white?!

And this year's winner for Cosplaying is..... Trevor for best cosplaying a commoner. Congrats!

Gundam. Sweet!

???!!1

Hatsune Miku Project Dive now has arcade version. Wow!

I wish I could play that game...

Hatsune Miku Green hair version.

Our good friend Wei Siang, who was working there, taught us how to do play a Japanese card game. ^^

Wei Siang VS Keller. Who wins?

Fun with playing cards! :)

Epic Staff. Sakura.

They were fooling with their skirts. Ok...

The traditional epic face pose! XD

This is actually a fail shot but it's so cool though people would had thought we were stalking people. Hahas!

Last picture... Aww...

Finally, to end it off, a compilation of all the pictures taken that day!

Credits: Johnston and I for the pictures.

Daybreak

2010-11-20T22:46:00.003+08:00

Secret War Journal[20 November 2010]
In the seed of darkness lies but a speck of truth...

Maybe I'm better off than others in the same plight as me...

I guess I should count myself lucky that God had taught me to be cautious and careful

Megamind and Résultats

2010-11-17T18:24:00.000+08:00

Secret War Journal[12 November 2010]

Official Promos Results

Ah, the verdict.

So yeah, I got promoted. For one reason or another, my economics was moderated up. So instead of a sub-pass (S), I have a E grade. Not bad, at least I officially pass...

But I'm still deciding whether I should drop though...I'm like at the opposite spectrum of distinction right now, dropping would be much more wise right now. Hmm....family ain't that much help since they don't even know what advice they giving when they don't even know what JC is... =.=|||

Maybe...

Megamind: The movie

Moving on, I recently watched the often-mentioned movie called Megamind!

This was organised by Lai Yin though I doubt she intended to watch a movie. Hahas!

Here's a bit of background information: XD

Well, originally Lai Yin wanted to organise a trip to Jurong Bird park (I still not very sure why...) with Jun Yong, Shi Min, Cynthia and I.

Well, obviously a lot of people didn't want to go there and Shi Min was not free (not very hard to figure, hahas) so she suggested going to Zoo (don't look at me, I don't know) or Shopping(I don't think Jun Yong will want to go that...)
To cut the story short, she decided to ask the 4D clique for shopping. Since it was so last minute, the couple couldn't make it, and Lai Yin actually didn't ask Guan Hui(so smart of her....=.=). Well, I figure she thought Guan Gui got lessons so she never asked (but we never know....)

Vanessa came and when we met up, (for the record, I tag along because I wanted to buy something, hahas!) she was wondering why a shopping outing out of the blue. (I agree on that but that's because no one wanted to go Bird Park or Zoo. XD)

Vanessa was thinking why not just catch a movie instead which I agreed straight away. (Note: Lai Yin was away during our planning. Heehee.)

We went to discuss what movies were on show right now. Vanessa wanted to watch the Social Network. I was fine with that.
Thus, that was our new plan to hijack Lai Yin's plan:

Go to Cinema
See the timeslots
Buy tickets, regardless of whether Lai Yin approve or not
Go watch movie
Continue Shopping

Did I mention Lai Yin was on a media fast? (Another queer thing about her.)

That made the plan not as easy as planned. Hahas. Lai Yin was very against watching movie. (The media fast was so extreme, apparently she did not play PS3 at Laura's house. :O Wow.)

Wonder what prompted her annual media fast. But anyway, we're not going to let a simple media fast interrupt our plans! Hahas!

So began our conquest to drag her to the ticketing booth to buy the tickets. That was the easy part.

However, there was a slight change of plans, the Cinema at Bugis Junction was not airing The Social Network. Vanessa and I made a compromise and went to buy 3 tickets for Megamind instead.
Well, I have heard quite a lot about Megamind from friends and the feedback was rather positive so I figure it would be a nice movie. :)

Here comes the really crazy part, right after we bought our tickets, Lai Yin announced to us that she was going home, we can watch the movies by ourselves.

*Shocked*

At this moment, Lai Yin started some "hide-and-seek" game which was took us in circles in search for her. That made Vanessa sort of pissed. :O
Well, can't blame her, who could had thought there are people so opposed to a simple movie screening? :O

After all those craziness, we managed to convince her to stay at a shop called "Guess".

Guess what? Vanessa and I had no clue where that shop was. Hahas!
Best part? The shop was just near the entrance of Bugis Junction. So epic fail for me man, hahas. I never knew that bag shop there was called "Guess". =.=
--
Final compromise after negotiation with Lai Yin (we sort of did this at the Coffee Bean in Illuma):

She would go in with us since we already bought the tickets, don't want to waste that ticket. (and it would be awkward.)
Since she's on a media fast. We provided her with a solution: Just go in, and sleep. Hahahas!

We went for the movie. The rest of them was too full since we going for snacks after luncc but I ordered a medium popcorn with drinks since I felt strange to go into a cinema empty-handed without the usual eating(habits, I guess). They convinced me not to go for the large popcorn, hahas!

So, in the end, our plan succeeded hahas!
--
Well, the movie was definitely worth the money spent. :)
The plot was well-written but I'm a sucker for the subtle reenactment tactics(not sure if the rest realised that) so I could be bias, heehee.

Furthermore, Megamind belonged to my favourite genre of movies - Comedy so naturally, if it is able to give me a decent laugh, I would give it an above average rating. ;)
But I must admit, the beginning was like a joke drought, nothing funny happened there. :O Can't really blame them though, the technique they use for the beginning don't really have much room for jokes. But hey, once the jokes comes, the fun begins. ;)

Oh, and Lai Yin? She didn't manage to sleep in the cinema in the end. She ended up watching after skipping the first few parts. (maybe 30 minutes?)

We all knew she would end up watching the movie, no? >=D

Now, shopping resume. Hahas!

Shopping! (Again?!)

Well, that day, we bought presents for Pei Shi and Debbie (a bit late, but it's the thought that count. :P)

Lai Yin keep patronise this childish looking shop which Vanessa started to pull Lai Yin away after the third time we ended up at this shop. (Super funny I tell you.)

Vanessa? She spent all on food. Hahas! (P.S: Don't kill me! XD)

After heading home, I bought some stuff for myself. Another off the wishlist for this year. Yes! I think I spent a lot this year though, a bit broke. :(