Pendragon: Soldiers of Halla

Secret War Journal[28 August 2009]

Description

It has all been leading to this. Every victory. Every loss. All the thrills and sadness; the hope and despair. Bobby Pendragon's heart-pounding journey through time and space has brought him to this epic moment. He and his fellow Travellers must join forces for one last desperate battle against Saint Dane. At stake is not only the tenth and final territory, but all that ever was or will be. Everywhere.

This is the war for Halla.

Every question is answered. Every truth is revealed.

The final battle has begun.


Personal Views
Wohoo! An epic conclusion to the adventures of Bobby Pendragon! For those who had read one book or just have been following closely with the series, this is a must-read! Like the book states, all the questions are answered! Finally, it's good to know everything and the reason to why such an event occur in the very first place.

[Spoiler Alert!]

It's sad that Bobby and Loor were not together in the end. I was rooting for them. Darn. Hahas.

Get the book online now!

---

Note: I will be posting about the papers I took perhaps tomorrow...

Numb my Soul

Secret War Journal[26 August 2009]

Let's face it, I'm no Rand Al'Thor. I can't steel myself(which is probably a good thing.)

So I will try another approach. I'm going to stuff my myself, overwhelming myself with loads of work. Be it studies or personal work. I figure it's better than not being numb from other emotions(which I will be screaming in agony at school every single day until after "O" Levels Examinations)

So I hope you guys don't take it the wrong way when my face has a an indifferent look. :p

---

Card Writing Session@Skool

Right, it's been some time since I last talked about my class.

Today, we had PC(Pastoral Care) Lessons and it was rather strange(though unique).

We're suppose to write a card to encourage(or compliment) a random classmate in our class. This is done by balloting.

Shortly after the balloting session started, Ms Tan discovered that one lot(which meant a classmate) was not included in the balloting. Hahas.

So, the balloting restarted, with that missing lot included, of course. Kind of wonder why no one find this amusing, Ms Tan was more concerned about hurting a classmate's feelings that he or she was not included in it. Well, for this case, I don't think anyone would mind. No very serious to the point of discrimination so no damage done. (I guess)

Hey, I'm an naive kid. ;)

Anyway, Ying Ying got chosen to write the card to me:

Okay...so Ying Ying used this opportunity to praise herself too.(god, she's thick-skinned)

And I don't see how being Geek is an compliment(in her sense...)...Oh well...

Well, at least it sounds positive(this coming from her, wow! I mean I half-thought she would insulting me geek all the way. Hahas. Opps?). I mean yeah, it's good to feel appreciated. Thanks.

I don't understand why she had to hold back on the good wishes on Maths and Sciences!
(what's with the misconception that I'm good at those subjects???!!!) =.=
Yeah, I really need it for Chinese. Hahas. :p (thanks)

O.o...Oooo..I like the mouse-becoming-Kangaroo part. Novel. It's hilarious. That made my day... Hahas...

Overall, a thank you to you(to Ying Ying).
Okay, after saying that out loud, I realised how strange that sounded but it's the thought that counts, right?

---

Update on the day before Start of Prelim 3

I'm about two-thirds done for my mugging(yes, I'm not considering it as revision)  for Geography. Tomorrow's the day. I'm left with err..roughly 2 hours to mug before the Prelims officially starts.

Which would be roughly the time the dices start spinning...

Price of Success

Secret War Journal[25 August 2009]

Let's be frank. I had actually planned to screw up for Prelim 2. Yes, bad of me but at least hear me out first. The problem of getting too high a grade(especially that of Prelim One) so early before the main(and important) examination, which would be the "O" Levels Examinations, would cause complacency. So I figured after I should not score as well for Prelim  2 so as to use that as lasting warning that I should not slack and work hard for Prelim 3 and of course, ultimately "O" Levels Examinations.

Well, looking back(at the results). I would say the first phase plan went well. Too well. The warning hit me so hard that I had actually thought of giving up and lift my hand up helplessly. So hard that I felt there was no meaning in continuing the fight.

No, this is the moment. The moment to strike back(I hope). Have to. Must. I need to persevere.  The next phase of Plan is about to begin. It's either a complete success or complete failure. A morale boost or a lasting defeat. It's time to reset the Chess Board, time to take back what was taken. It's time.

Of course, Prelim 3 would be the penultimate indicator of how successful my plan is. So only time will tell.

Meanwhile, I need words of Encouragement, not words of insult(which THEY're good at. =.=. Okay, there are exceptions...)
Boy, I miss my primary six class. Oh well, guess I'm on my one for this battle.
On the side tone, I'm halfway prepared for Geography with a crash course tomorrow. I have revised for the other subjects. Most of them anyway, for some reason I seems to have missed out Geography in my Revision Plan(a blunder, yes)

Hmm..Enough time to salvage the damage from this abnormal leaving out of one subject, I guess. Tomorrow would require major memory work. (*Battle Cry*)

Talk about thirst of revenge.  
Talk about restoring pride.

Talk about Stress. 

Grr...

P.S: Notice that I started to post on the daily basis again? Yeah, only for the moment. I need a platform to distress since I decided to stop gaming.(yes, it's about time). I need a platform to organise my thoughts. Where else but a journal? Hahas.

Anyway, I reverting back to my "Moral Mirror" Policy. I really see no point in giving people words of goodwill and encouragement when they never every offer once to me. Of course, as part of the policy, I will still give those to those who always had given me a helping hand. ;) Don't worry guys, I had never forgotten the help you offered me! :D

P.P.S: Hahas, and thanks to Hai Jin for your words of encouragement in the past. ;)

Hobey ho! And so we go!

Post-Oral

Secret War Journal[24 August 2009]

Oral Skills Reloaded

Even though my "O" Levels English Language Oral Examination are over, I've found use for the knowledge learnt from Ms Tan's lessons.

I'm teaching them to Lera. Well, sort of. Hahas. Of course, she can't grasp the meaning of consonant endings yet but it think it helps.

She can read one entire book with minimal errors now! I'm so proud of her! I taught her to pause between commas too(and she is applying it, unless it's just coincidental that she's out of breath after every comma...:o)

I took care to praise her, hope she's motivated to continue the good effort! ;D
P.S: Leo's riding on as well, though I think Lera went a bit too fast for him to learn...

I'm amazed at children's memory. They're so good at remembering stuffs. Envious, yeah.

Sad to say, she got scolded by Dad later at night. She's kind of addicted to Television now, you see.

---

Counting down to my Prelim 3, roughly 3 days left to Prelim 3. Some would be wondering why I'm even online...

Can I say I'm stressed? Probably not, I doubt anyone would even believe that.

Lastly, I think Ms Tan's got an impression that I'm very talkative.(which is probably true..Hahas)

:o

Don't let her know that I said that! That will only confirm her impression!(whatever that means) Hahas!

---

Alright! I'm about to be off and continue my studies. Just for an update, I finally officially started on my Geography Revision(like finally?) which is 3 days away. A bit last minute but I'm like that. (Opps?)

I skimmed through Tourism and read through Industry. Hope that helped.

You know what this means? I did not follow my study plan(which was requested by the school) again. Oh well...Live and let learn...

---

Errata

My father made a mistake in the end, my younger sister did not miss her orientation day. It's actually on 21 Novmember 2009. Talk about Panic for a wrong cause...

A New Beginning

Secret War Journal[23 August 2009] [2nd Post]

I'm thinking of this for some time and I'm glad I did it. Yeah. this also means that the Secret War Journals of mine isn't so "Secret" anymore. Hahas.

For starter's, I would like to clarify that I would not regret this move, in fact, I'm enjoying every moment of it right now. Tells you how long since I touched coding, huh?

Just joking! To be frank with you, the posts at the previous place was getting too stuffy and I figure I should just split them up into two. Hahas!

On the bright side, I can finally use the Tags system in Blogger for my Secret War Journals(at last!) LOLS.

And yeah, this is my first public post. Hell nervous, hahas. I'm not sure why myself either. Hahas.


Lastly, some of you guys may be wondering why I call these my Secret War Journals and not Secret War Diary. Let's just say I'm had intended to go public with these posts(with more and more people knowing where to find it, of course ;) and Diary is meant for my own eyes only. So Journals seems more appropriate.

Okay, I typed so much today, I swear, my fingers are breaking!

Today's post had already been posted, look it up in the archives or click Older Posts. I decided to still show one post per page(the posts are long, remember? Hahas)

Hope this isn't as lag as before, I did not move everything here. Hahas ;)

Happy reading!

Update: Oh, I'm kind of lazy to link people, but if you wish me to link your blog, please do say so, I will oblige and act on it upon reading it. ;)

2nd Update: Surprisingly, for someone who loads the webpage from the previous area and this new website, the previous one load faster by 3%. O.o But to me, this new webpage loads faster. Wonder why...

Secret War Journal [23 August 2009]

Wa...I sort of predict this is going to be a long post.. Brace yourselves! ;)

---

NCHS Prelims 2 Pt3 [2009]
This will be the final time I will be talking about this, I mean ain't you guys bored of talking the same old topic for the past three posts?!

Since some people are curious about the details, so I will oblige with this picture which will explain on behalf of me. :D

---

English Oral
Okay, back on track. First things first, my "O" Levels English Language Oral Examination.

One word, Horrible.

Elaborate? I screwed up.

At least I feel I did. LOL. I really hate being the first few students to take the oral Examination(mine was on the very First day, =.=)

Some people said the topic on that day was the easiest so far. I, on the other hand, think not. It's so difficult, so uniquely special that I totally had a shock.

Talk about oral blues...Brr...

Before you start screaming at me for not telling you what the topic was(please don't scream), I will share with you guys. ;)

Topic: Holiday/Shopping

Sounds easy? Think again.

Question 1: Tell me about a far-off place you've been to or a place you want to go.
Question 2: How do you like to shop?

Question one was manageable slight because I sort of overheard the question when I was in the waiting area which in turn allow me time to prepare for this question. Quite a number of us overheard too, talk about flaws of having an oral examination in an enclosed area.

Question two was in every way twisted beyond comprehension. The addition of the word "How" adds depth and bring complications. I got a feeling I did not even answered their question. (Which is probably why I think I screwed up...)

On top of that, our examiners on that day was horrible. Luckily for me, this incident happened after I left the exam hall.

As told by Angeline...[Adapted]

For starter's, we have two examiners who are invigilating us(try to imagine...). On the left was a woman, and on the right a man.
Halfway while Angeline was answering the question, the man dozed off. (Yes, appealing)
Shocked, Angeline stood up and rose her voice, (subtly, of course) so as to 'indirectly' wake the man up. The man, of course, woke up and smiled back to her. (Daring)

From the looks of it, the man sounds indifferent. O.o

Another incident, as told by Christopher and many others [Adapted]

There were rumours about another pair of examiners that day, that one of them muttered a swear word.
And many agreed and witnessed that on one occasion after a student finished his/her oral, the woman(the same) sprinted off. Some said that she was heading for a loo.(reasonable) while others say she couldn't stand it anymore(which is not so reliable)

What angered me was not the fact that the man(the one who slept) dared to sleep but the fact that he did not even made an attempt to stay awake. I don't mind yawning(it helps the brain) because that's hard to contain but sleep? There's so many ways to stay awake. Drinking coffee or tea, for starter's and those WERE provided.

Tsk Tsk...

---

"O" Levels Chinese Language Results
Wohoo!

Okay, don't get the wrong idea, I did not get A1 or A2 but I'm happy all the same!

I reached my goal! B3!

Wohoo!!

Sadly, my school is forcing me to re-take at the end of this year. (Spoilsport)

Friends' Results:

1. Christopher Lim -- A2(D)
   
2. Christopher Widjaya -- C6
3. Cynthia -- B3(D)
4. Donavan -- B3(D)
5. Demond -- A1(M)
6. Hai Jin -- A1
   
7. Jia Xing -- C6
8. Jie Sheng -- B4(P)
   
9. Jing Ting -- B3(D)
   
10. Johnston -- C6(P)
11. Ker Shiun -- B3
12. Marcus -- B3(M)
13. Me -- B3(M)
14. Pei Si -- A1
15. Pei Wen -- A1
    
16. Sherman -- A1
    
17. Siew Yan -- A1
18. Wei Siang -- B2(M)
19. Ying Ying -- A1
    

Yeah, just some random people because I'm lazy to ask the rest.

In case you're wondering, those little letters next to the grades are the Paper 3 grades.
(P) = Pass
(M) = Merit
(D) = Distinction

Note: Paper 3 cannot only be taken once, hence these grades are pretty much permanent and hence so important in your decision in whether you wish to re-take at the end of the year.

Congrats to those who got A1 (which is half of my class!) :D

---

Checking of SGC
If I'm not wrong, SGC means Singapore Graduation Certificate. This certificate is awarded to you when you graduate from Secondary School. The graduating classes were asked to check for errors, during this week, in the Draft Version of the SGC so that our SGC would be nice and perfect when we officially receive it. :D

Here's how it looks like:

This is the cover page, some information has been removed due to privacy. ;)

The next page would be a blank page, followed by your "O" Levels Result.

Moving on, the following page would be your CCA Achievements and your CCA Grades.

The following picture is also not finalised(Because I'm still aiming for A1! Hahas!)


Finally, this last page will be written by your teachers who assessed you and write a testimonial of your qualities, which may be useful when you want to enter certain schools. ;)

---

Revisit: Primary One Registration
At the request of my cousin, I'm coming back to this topic for an update!

It has been confirmed not more than 2 days ago that my younger sister is successful in applying for Anchor Green Primary School!

But my family was too overjoyed to miss something - The orientation day, which was 3 days ago...

Yep, so we totally missed it, now the burning question is: Is my younger sister still successful in applying into that primary school? Guess we'll only find out when Monday comes...

Now we need divine intervention.

---

Overreaction
This hilarious incident happened today!

As told from my dad...[Adapted]

Today, my father dropped my Mother at the MRT Interchange at the dropping area so that my Mother can go to work. As my father wants to leave, he reverses and hit someone's car door.
(as to whether to the car door was already open or not is in doubt)
The driver, whose car was hit, came out and demand compensation from my dad. Thinking that the damage was severe, my father went out to take a look and assess the damage. To his amazement, it was hardly a scratch(if you can even consider that a scratch)
Damage? A tiny speck of paint from MY DAD's car was rubbed on to the other party's WHITE car. Now then, the white car's stained. Sounds serious, huh? My father went to rub on it, and the paint disappeared, or should I say flaked off.

Continuing the tale, the driver was pissed and demanded to claim from my father to have his car fixed(which was pretty much fixed by my father's handing rubbing off the paint...)

Obviously, this was too minor a damage to use insurance claim to repair. Hence, my father offered money as compensation instead and asked how much was the driver needs to fix it(LOL.)

To my father's horror, the driver demanded SGD 50 for the repair. (!!! Day-light Robbery!)
Luckily, my father refused and went off. The driver tailed my father back home(sounds like stalking to me...)

That's when I laughed. I mean, he actually chased my dad for such a trivial thing. LOLS!

When my father left the car, the driver called my dad to stop and give him my dad's IC. The driver said that my father was being ungentlemanly because he hit-and-run and all that stuff.

My father left him to his own devices and returned home.

You know, I got a feeling that the driver was using this opportunity to get money from my dad. With the context of recession now, who knows what people are capable of? But this is a first, demanding $50 for a paint-plating for such a small area. WOW. Just plain wow.

Worse, the driver's car was parked illegally, yet he had the cheek to demand compensation when my father was just dropping my mother for work. (I mean duh, that's a drop-off point?)

LOL. Recession makes people do funny things.

---

Phew! Long, isn't it? I even cut off some parts of my dad's story to make it shorter! For example, there was a mediator(an old man) who tried to resolve the commotion.

Well, next week would be my Prelims 3. another trial, another period of boredom. Until next week then...

Secret War Journal[16 August 2009]

Alright! Welcome back! Time really passes when you're busy.(Now, have I said that before? Hmm..)

---

First up is a event that occurred yesterday...
Extraordinary Lift Encounter!
Yep, it's the lift thingy again. But while the prior encounter touches on spookiness, this encounter is plain cool! (for me, that is)

This time, it involved the lift on the left! Here goes...

I was with my younger sister and I pressed the Lift Button as we're going down for lunch. (As in eating out.)
One lift was on Maintenance. What's surprising is that, it's that lift that came down for us...

I was like, "is this some sick joke"?

Before I jumped into conclusion, I looked at the other lift. It was not moving.

Oh great, why me?

When the lift arrived, I was expecting some lift repair workers inside, but it was empty.

Remember I said it was not spooky? Scratch that.

Nevertheless, I had no other options, we went in.
Obviously, my younger sister looks indifferent, she has no idea what's going on. Now could she?

It was a risk that could well end my life. But it was cool to be in a lift in maintenance, and it's lifting you too!
How cool is that? I mean, not many people ever could experience that.

I'm so proud I experienced that and nothing bad happened to us. ;)

Like I said, plain cool!

---

Prelims 2 Marks Pt2
Like I promised in the prior post, I'm going to share with you my pathetic results for Prelims 2.

• L1R4 -> Same as Prelims 1 L1R5; 11
• L1R5 -> 15
• Poorest Subject -> Chemistry
• Best Subject -> Probably E.Maths
• Overall %(For best 7) -> 70%

Okay, on the bright side, the overall percentage wasn't so bad. I don't really want to comment on the results but yeah, in case you're wondering, I'm definitely not the third in class anymore.
I mean, if I get third, that would just mean that my class is really lousy, (which I hope isn't, duh?)

Anyway, it just means that I have to work harder for Prelims 3! Right!

---

National Day@9 August 2009
National Day for me this year is kind of boring.

But here's a memorable experience: The pledge Moment

And I'm proud to say that my family and I participated in it, even though my younger brother only joined in the middle of pledge.

But it felt so awkward, reciting the pledge at home. I think it's because my family never recited the pledged as one family before. So it felt...so strange.

And I totally missed the aircraft performance. What a pity.

Despite that, we had durians on that day. Mmm! It had been some time since I 'mass eat' durians. :D

---

Primary One Registration 2009
Next year, my younger Sister would be going to a Primary School to start her first formal education.
Unfortunately, since we're new to Sengkang, the process is rather messed up.

For starter's, we wanted her to enter the Nearest(and the best around here) primary school, which was Nan Chiau Primary School. Sadly, due to overwhelming response, the places were left to luck...through balloting. Obviously, my younger sister did not qualify for a place there.

Next up, we applied for Anchor Green Primary School(never heard of this school until two days ago).
As of yesterday, there were overwhelming applies for that school too. Shocking, yes. It's all left to fate once more, whether my younger sister enters that school will be up to god's will. I have no comments on that matter.

---

Opps, I ran out of time. But rest assured, next week I'll be talking about my results for "O" Levels Chinese and how my English Oral went. Like always, wish me luck!

P.S: Boy, I'm very nervous about Oral!

Secret War Journal[12 August 2009]

Before I start this post, here's a (rather late) Message:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE!!!

Yep, it was Singapore's 44th Birthday a few days ago.

Contrary to the the previous post, this post will be very short. I'm rather busy this week so I hope you guys would understand.

I would not be discussing about my Prelims 2 Marks until I get back my report book (or until next week, I got time).
Like I said earlier, it was very disappointing.


Next up, lots of things happened over the week but I may not have the time to discuss them. I'm so sorry.

To be frank with you, I'm just updating with this super brief post so as to let you know that, no, I had not stopped blogging. I just simply lost track of time and you know, forgot to blog on Sunday. :p

Which is why I'm posting this post in the meantime before next Sunday which I believe, I will be writing about happened over last week as well. (Which might mean it will be another long post. Hahas)

Well, finally, next Monday would be my "O" Levels English Oral Examination, followed by the announcement of my "O" Levels Chinese Results on Wednesday.

So, wish me luck! (and for tomorrow's Amaths Test too!) Hahas.

Will update with a more worthy post, sorta promise!

Secret War Journal[31 July 2009]

Another week went by! That was fast.

I foresee that this post will be rather long, so bear with me. ;)
--
Prelims 2 Marks 2009 Part 1
So far, I'm not very happy with my results.

• Chemistry -- 59.2 [C5]
• Combined.Humans -- 69 [B3]

Not a single A yet! OMG! I fared really badly for these two subjects. I feel so sad. Chemistry, I can understand but combined.humans?

This is like Secondary One all over again. Argh. I need to see As. (Someone help me pray for As for the rest of the subjects. ;)

On the bright side, Mrs Hay said that my Chemistry marks should be rounded up to 60[B4]
Then it won't be so bad.

And I'm in the process of claiming one mark for my Combined Humans. Wish me luck on that. :D

English Paper 2
I got it back and the results weren't as disappointing as the other two aforementioned. I scored 32/50. I was not expecting to get the top position for this Paper 2 for my class(still not confirmed! Hahas)

Anyway, I hope my Paper 1 would be just as good, then my english would have improved way lots! Hahas.

And on top of that, this prelims would be memorable. Wanna know why? Because....

That's right! I wrote some funny answers on the Question Paper. I'm quite proud of it.

Please note, however, that these are not model answers and should not be used as learning aid or for educational purposes. There are simply meant for entertainment. ;)

Elementary & Additional Mathematics Paper 1

• E.Maths -- 72+1/80
• Add.Maths -- 62/80 (I think, I sort of forgot)

Here's something I think is funny(okay, that was evil of me)

I wanted to claim 2 marks from Mrs.Sim because she marked Cynthia's Answer(which is same as mine) correct but mine wrong. So I went over and it turned out that the answer was wrong(talk about false hope) and I sort of made Cynthia's marks reduced by 2 marks(my bad!)

But I need to thank her on one matter, because she lost two marks, she argued for one mark to be claimed due to method marks. Since she got the one mark, I got it too(Because I had that method too, hahas).

So her marks overall were reduced by one while mine was added one mark. Sounds like she sort of 'transferred' one mark to my paper. Hahas. (okay, should not laugh at people's mishap)

Let me clarify, I'm laughing on the way I got one extra mark. ;)
--
The Day there was Biology
That exams portion took you so long to reach here and guess what? It was just the beginning. (Told you this post would be long ;)

Next up, on Tuesday, my class and some other classes have no school on that day because of the fact that we have no exam papers on that day and hence we decided to go out and relax.

People who went(with me):

1. Christopher
2. Jing Ting, Jaytii
   
3. Lai Yin
4. Yan Zhi
   

This time, we have fewer people. Vanessa was feeling unwell and hence she did not come with us.

Well, it turned out that Vanessa still went out that day, with Bernice and co. She claimed that she recovered overnight(yes, hard to believe) and so can go out. Well, no matter what she claims(whether it was true or not), we have to respect her decision so no hostility there when we spotted her. Hahas.

After that, we went to Bugis for Lunch. Actually, I had lunch before meeting them but I ate all the same. Hahas. Of course, I did not order a full meal set. Just some side orders, which was just some garlic bread.
They decided to dine in "PastaMaina" for some pasta. I must admit, that was my first time dining there and I wasn't very impressed.(Partly because I don't really like pasta)
Nevertheless, they had a great meal and we went off to accompany Lai Yin to buy her musical tool(s), whatever that was.

So, you would be wondering, what's the freaking highlight of this outing? Obviously, our aim was not to wander around in the streets of Orchard. In fact, we haven't even reached out final destination yet. Yan Zhi was still not with us. (Surprised?)

Next Stop: HarbourFront
Yep! Insane as it sounded, I thought it was insane, we're heading towards VivoCity. Yes, the land of HarbourFront, on the opposite side of Sengkang, the great journey from the North to the East to the South. Ahh! We were really insane then. Hahas.
Now, of all places, where VivoCity, and why so far?

The reason lies with Jaytii - She wanted to watch a movie. In 3D(ah, the catch).
As to why this cinema, beats me. I'm pretty sure that isn't the only cinema in Singapore that offers 3D movies...

Oh well, so we go..the movie...:D

Ice Age 3: Dawn of Dinosaurs

Cute little poster, hahas. Basically, the 3D effects were really a let-down. Not much worth noting effects inside which is why I feel that we should had just watched in a normal movie environment. Sigh, I was expecting more...

As for the story, it's rich, funny and fresh. For that, I urge you all to watch this movie(if you hadn't)


P.S: I used my handphone on that day. Ironic, huh?
--
Interview Skills Seminar
On 31 July 2009, our school invited NanYang Polytechnic to host Seminars for our graduating classes. I chose "Interview Skills" Seminar which I found enriching, hence I do not regret going to that class.

Basically, we were offered the following choices:

1. Business
2. Roller-Coaster Engineering(something like that)
3. Interview Skills
4. Infocomm Technology
5. Life Sciences
   
6. Media and Information Technology

Our class was rather special, majority of us went for Interview skills. The rest of the classes mostly rooted for Business.

Unless I can split myself into many pieces, I did not attend the other 5. So, I can only discuss about the Seminar that I attended.
--
Key Tips in Interview Skills

1. First Impression lasts
   
   1. It takes 7 seconds to make one.
   2. 55% of the time, the outcome is based on your appearance.
2. Accept Compliments (Don't deny them :o)
3. Use Good English. (Simple English would suffice)
4. Use interviewer's name occassionally (For interaction)
   
5. Avoid simple answers like "yes" and "no".
6. Do not lie (It's a big no-no)
7. Don't be a "know-it-all", it will sound cocky and arrogant.
8. Never make negative statements about your present or former schools/organisations.

Life Skills touched on

1. "The world is unfair". This is why first impressions are so important.
2. Learn to prioritise which is more important and spend more time on it. Do not spend too much things on trivial tasks.
3. Don't spend too much. Learn to manage finance well.
4. Overall, family is the most important, not the company. Avoid becoming a workaholic and end up being married to the company instead of your life partner.

Preparing for the Interview

• Investigate the target organisation/Do your homework or research.
• Study the job description.
• Practise answers to typical interview questions.
• Expect to explains problems area on your resume.
• Build interviewing experience with less important jobs first.

Possible problems area on Resume

• Time Gaps. In between your timeline, what did you do? For example, you graduated in 2007 but only got a job in 2009. What were you doing during 2008?
• It is not advisable to put in your school grades unless they were superb. Else, it serves no purpose.

Fighting Interview Fears

1. Video Record a practice session to see how you come across(if you can)
2. Rehearse your closing statement.
3. Prepare 110%
4. Practise More.
5. Know how to answer the most frequently asked Questions.
6. Get ready success stories such as your experience as a leader. (If you have Leadership positions). Hence, get such experience by taking up leadership posts.
7. Take deep breathes to calm down and think. It is useful when you're nervous.
8. Remember that during some parts of the interview, you will be in charge.
9. Remember that you are also assessing the interviewer, and his or her organisation. This should give you confidence. (For e.g. assessing their culture)

Sending Positive Message

1. Never be late
2. Be courteous
3. Dress Professionally
4. Wait for the receptionist to offer you a seat.
5. A right and firm handshake (skill)
6. Introduce yourself
7. Control body movements
8. Make eye contact but don't get into staring contest
9. Sound sincere and interested
10. Smile

--
Your face is the most important tool in non-verbal communication.
--
I did not copy down the Don'ts for the Female and did not copy finish the Don'ts for Male.
--
Don'ts(Male)

• Bad Breath
• Oily Hair
• Short Trousers

Important Areas of Interview

1. Communication Skills
2. Attitude
3. Motivations - Your goals
4. Potential

Different Interviewer Types

1. Dominance
   
   • Interviewer of this type are often impatient, direct, short and sharp.
   • To counter this, be brief and confident.
     
2. Influence
   
   • Interviewer of this type are often chatty which makes you at ease.
     
   • To counter this, remember to smile and tell stories to illustrate your points.
     
3. Steadiness
   
   • Interviewer of this type are often Patient
   • To counter this, speaker slower so that they can hear you properly and clearly.
     
4. Conscientious
   
   • Interviewer of this type are often questioning.
     
   • To counter this, be precise, be serious, and think before answering questions.

Closing the Interview

1. Stand up and shake hands again.
2. Ask when you would hear from them.
3. Thank the interviewer
4. Take notes of the interview when you reach home.
5. Write a thank-you letter to the interviewer and that you really like the job (if you're interested in getting the job)

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With that, I will end this post. It is getting too long and I want to revise for my Chemistry Practical Assessment Tomorrow. Until next time!

Secret War Journal [26 July 2009]

It's been a long time, how are you guys? I hope life's good because this week hadn't been so good for me. Hahas...

This week had been packed with Examinations and more Examinations. (lols...)

On top of that, this Wednesday, we had "O" Levels Chinese Listening Comprehension. I should have every reason to feel stressed right? Hahas...

"O" Levels Chinese Listening Comprehension
So, I guess let me start on what happened on Wednesday then...

Ironically, on this day, the World witnesses the Longest Solar Eclipse ever occurred. The whole of Singapore missed it, wow.
You would be wondering why the whole of Singapore(, shouldn't it be only the "O" Levels Candidates?). Well, on the Wednesday Morning, which is around 8~9AM, it rained. Well that's partial darkness for us. (Laugh out loud!)
For my class, we never figured when the eclipse occurred so yeah, we lucked out (big time)

But on the bright side, we had no lessons on that day. The School decided to let us relax before going for the Examinations. I heard from some teachers that this is the first time the School did that and they were trying to figure out why the school made this strange move after so many years. My answer to them would be: Who knows? Hahas...

On the not-so-bright side, we got back our Chemistry Paper 1 for Prelims 2.

Boy, the class screwed up. Only one-third of the Class(excluding people who are taking Combined.Sciences) scored above 30 out of 40. Which is disappointing. Even more disappointing is that, I'm not the few who got 30 or above. T.T

I got only 28!!! AHHHH!!!!
(Okay, I know 28/40 is A2 grade but I want A1!!! AHH~!!!)

So yeah, the class got lectured by Mrs Hay. Nice backdrop for day of National Examinations, huh? Guess not.

So I guess I can kiss my Ai-grade for my Chemistry goodbye. Haiz...
--
I have the Question Paper for the Listening Comprehension since they allow candidates to keep it. But I won't be showing it here because of Copyright issue. Duh? Hahas.

Anyway, I feel that the Paper was very difficult. So I'm just hoping that I scored at least 14/20. I would be leaping with joy that I reach that goal.
Hopefully, I do not need to re-take my Chinese at the End of this year. :D

NCHS Prelims 2 Pt2
This week, I took quite a number of examinations:

1. Elementary Mathematics Paper 1 & 2
Compared to the first Prelims, this paper is much easier and Mrs Sim had mentioned that we did well for Paper 1. Paper 2 was not known because she had not marked finish.
2. Chemistry Paper 1 & 2
Chemistry Paper 2 was a killer and I thought Chemistry Paper 1 was easier. With my Paper 1 so badly done, I doubt my Paper 2 would be anyway near better...
3. Additional Mathematics Paper 1 & 2
Same as Prelims One...Paper 1 easier than Paper2. Hope I did not screw it up like the first Prelims...
4. Physics Paper 1 & 2
Gee, what can I say, the paper should be easy but I think my answers are filled with careless mistakes. So I'm good as dead.

Which leaves one last paper for me to tackle: Geography. My weakest subject, you can say. Oh great. Yeah. I'm proud to say that revision should be half done. :D

But I still think I will screw it up. Best not get hopeful. Haha...

Wish me luck! Because I would really need it.
The Wrong Signboard
Next up, here's a queer thing that happened. ;)

Remember the shop that my family set up? It turns out that a typo occurred at the Signboard. It wrote "Quenna" instead of "Queena"
And guess what, neither my father nor me spotted it. I should have realised it because I was advertising it on Facebook and used the Signboard as the logo in there. And the thumbnail wrote "NN" right in front of me.
I can't believe I did not register the problem! Stupid me!

Well, thankfully, my stepmother spotted it and the problem is dealt with(I think). ;)

Which is why I changed the Logo for the Facebook group too. ;)
The Lift Encounter
Another queer thing happened recently would be about the right-hand-side elevator.

On this day after a stressful examination, I reached the Lift Lobby. The Right-hand-side lift doors opened and I entered. So far so good. ;)

I pressed my Storey number and pressed the button to close the door.

Everything was fine until the lift door could not close. Okay, let me rephrase that, the lift door could close fully but it does not move up but open the door again.(only to close it again)

Yep, just imagine a mouth that opens and close. That freaked me out. I was worried I would be trapped in this lift. (God, why me...) I pressed the "Close Door" Button so that I can somehow move up.

Well, that failed. :o

My next move was to press the "Door Open" button. Hahas...Well it opens it doors alright, only to close it again moments later. LOLS...

Now that's one freak lift, so I sort of time it and exit when the Doors are open. I jumped out, literally. Phew! I thought I would be crushed by those doors, given my fragile body. I'm so freaking glad I'm thin! Wohoo!

But that's not all, the freaky thing is that the moment I left the lift, it closed its doors and launched off...leaving me on the Ground Floor...

=.=
Talk about rejection...

Since the lift on the right-hand-side was moving up, when I pressed for a lift, the left-hand-side lift came for me. Nothing funny happened to me, thank the gods.

As to why the 'rejection' occurred, I have no absolute idea. Subsequent trips using that lift gave no problems. It was a one-out-of-million chance for that to happen, I guess.

Well, just to be safe, avoid using that lift. If needed, just be on guard, the lift's spooky...

Epilogue

All right! That's all, folks! Gotta go now and continue revising for my Examination tomorrow! Until next week! ;)

Secret war Journal [18 July 2009]

Three Subjects for Prelims over and done with. Woot! Two more weeks and I'm exam-free for a few more weeks. (before Prelims 3 begins...=.=)

Well, I don't know what to say for the past three papers. I guess, I can only talk about that after I get the results. Hahas

Well, to begin with, I took this few papers during the last three days:

1. English Paper 1 & 2
2. Chinese Paper 1 & 2
3. Social Studies
4. History

Yeah, and I should stop talking about Exams. God, I'm tired from all those papers.
--
Now, lemme think. Was there anything interest that happened this week? I think not. But here's something to take up the space. ;)

Queena Fashion on Facebook

Right! The thingy on top is a shop that has just been recently set up by my family. It sells Women Clothing. So those interested, please visit us and check it out! ;)
--
Come to think of it, it's been some time since I visited my Grandmother, maybe I should visit her next week.

Secret war Journal [4 July 2009]

Wee! What a busy day today had been! I was intending to start on my homework today but I guess I got distracted. Or rather, I was given no chance to even so much as touch it. :o

Now, why?

Early in the morning, I was woken up by my parents just so that I can help out with extending the visit pass of my grandmother. BUT!

They had an ulterior motive! They wanted me to help out at the shop we're setting up today. So I was moved from my home, where the homework lay, and to the the office. Okay, I meant the shop. :p

So that's basically why I did nothing, homework-wise. :o

But I can't exactly say I wasted the entire day. For starter's, I helped settled the problem of extending the visit pass for my grandmother(which was met with lots of problems, the government should solve them as soon as possible)

In addition, I read some pages for "Wheel of Time". But that is not important.

Today is the day. Today is the day that I see the shop for the very first time. It is not exactly completed which is the reason I'm summoned to help out in the first place.

We, parents and I, sorted out the goods and drilled holes for the installation of furniture. That's when we realised that the walls of the shop is HOLLOW! We were doing nothing for a period of time, deciding on the next course of action as we really need to screw some fixtures onto the wall. So we thought of an alternative (which do not require strong walls) and so they left me alone in the shop while they shop for those things.

That's the time when I started reading the book. LOLs...

My parents were away for a very long time and at 4 o'clock at the evening, I realised that my fingernails are blue!
Forget fevers, talk about frostbite in a mall! Panicking, I locked the shop and went out of the mall for warmth. After walking out of the mall, I kind of got awkward. Me, alone, walking around the entrance of the mall for no due reason(I know I have, but the others don't)

That's when I wish I had someone beside. At least, I won't be at risk of being accused of loitering. :p

Anyway, my handphone battery almost went flat. Thank god, there's still battery when my mother called me to buy lunch (at 5+ o'clock..=.=)

And guess what? I had my dinner at 10:15PM! -.-

What a life-draining, energy-draining and mental exercise it had been!!!

Oh and before I forget, here's an interesting situation that happened after my parents came back:

My father and I started to place price tags on the goods. I was using the machine which prints the price labels and it went out of labels to print after we sort of spammed it.

Then, a problem occurred. We just bought this machine, and...

We had no idea how to refill...

LOLs....We wasted lots of labels just for trying to figure how to make that machine work for us. In fact, we were puzzled at how the labels went from one end to the other. LOLs.

All came to light after my step-mother took out the packaging box of the machine and showed instructions on how to refill. LOL, I was such a fool.
--
It's late, before I go off and sleep, here's some tips:

Never go eat Beef Ramen in Far East Plaza (it's...just not nice)

See ya, guys!

Wake tomorrow for a bright sunshine!