Oh so lonely...

No one is visiting my blog! Sob!

Haha, it's alright (:

If anyone does,

A big cyberhug to all my friends out there!

I'm feeling sad because it's the last day of the year which means

It's almost the end of the Hols!!!

And I haven't completed my Commonwealth Essay...

What can I write?! What can I write?!

Ahh! Writer's block!

Anyway,

Happy New Year

to you guys!

TwoOhTwoOhEightRockers

To:

Adventurous Alicia (Claire)

Amazing Alicia (Sarah)

Adorable Angela

Compassionate Caethrin

Charismatic Cailyn

Patient Parisa

Lively Lynn

Playful Peiqi

Marvelous Michellin

Crazy (in a good way) Crystal

Fantastic Feng Yue

Honest Yi Hui

Gigantic Gina XP

Graceful Grace XD

Intelligent Isabelle

Jovial Jasmine

Wonderful Yuen Wan

Super Siyun

Valiant Valerie

Joyful Jia Ying

Bouncy Bingrui

Magnificent Mi Ru

Pristine Priscilla
Reliable Rashvin

Sociable Sheryl

Musical Mary

Merry Micole

Trustworthy Trina

Selfless Sarah

Quirky (in a good way) Yu Qing

Sensible Stephania

Yippie Yumin

Rock 'n' Rollin' Rachel

of 202'08,

Rock on

Live on

Dream on.

Love you guys!

(All those with names starting with Y, I used the first letter of the second word instead 'cos my 'Y' vocabulary is pretty limited...)

The Cookie Addiction

Honestly, I did absolutely nothing so far except waste my precious time. Urgh!

Well, I did bake... Who knew cookies were so addictive?! I simply love them! The beautiful, heart-wrenching smell of cookies in a cookie jar!!! Ahh! I need another one before I go crazy!

Right now, I empathize with the Cookie Monster. I won't mind eating the letter of the day because cookies just taste so fantastic! Okay, time to get past this addiction/ obsession with cookies before I get a sore throat.

You know if you search "cookie" on Google, you get about 108,000,000 results, that's more than searching "Johnny Depp" (16,300,000), "carrots" (10,900,000), "cakes" (38,100,000), "biscuits" (15,500,000), and "frog" ( 57,000,000 ). But it's still not number one, already, chocolate overtakes it at 212,000,000 and apples at 463,000,000 .

Sigh, someday, the cookie will be appreciated, I am sure of it, and everyone will have a cookie buddy! (Which we will still eat, but, yeah, the idea's there...) And maybe some rock band would like to come up with a song entitled The Cookie Addiction, that's random enough I suppose.

Halloween Blues II

I think I'm going to write a post like this every year... Hmmm... It'll just be the same title though because I tend to add stuff that is not relevant to the title.

It's Halloween again! But once again, I'm not celebrating it :( Yeah... But I've noticed that it has been getting more popular. If I get the chance, I'm doing Count Dracula. Always liked those teeth...

Training was killer! Okay, it was not that bad but all that running! On Wednesday it was at Macritchie, where we ran, a pretty long way, with monkeys plonking themselves in the middle of the pathway and staring at us as we crept past. On Thursday, it was Net Carn, which I played in, and thus ran some more. Today, it was weights, but after weights, there was this running thing, up and down the corridors. Whoosh, I am exhausted. After training, I felt like the walking dead. I was in zombie mode man! Thank goodness for certain objects known as FOOD.

Anyway, I will be missing the class gathering at Yuen Wan's house, oh man! I really wanna go. But anyway, in my current condition, my head will most likely be throbbing really badly by the end of the first hour. I'm barely aware of my surroundings. If I could sleep now, I probably would, but unfortunately I can't, it's sort of like a habit I guess, just can't bring myself to do so. Why am I blogging?!?!

I am so sleeping early tonight.

Prod in the Rib

I am nuts over Commentarius! It's a fanfiction written according to the Harry Potter Series, except that it is about James and Lily. It's really addictive. Man, she writes too well!
Anyway, the recent dining Etiquette course has indeed taught us quite a bit and I have to admit that it is useful, and entertaining for that matter. Great speakers (: But having been to two consecutive dinners (Chinese food, not western so well, the dining etiquette thing does not quite apply here), I have learnt quite a bit and here's my take on them (I am solely talking about Chinese food):

Number one, if there are only a meagre number of people with small appetites sharing a meal and you want to try a lot of other stuff, do not order soup or you'll never finish anything else. Unless you have Joey Tribbiani at your table, I suggest you do not try that.
Number two, if you are dining in a restaurant, unless there are seafood enthusiasts amongst your crowd, do not order crab (especially those with chili sauce and all) because they are inconvenient and positively disgusting. They make your fingers all sticky, ew...
Number three, no prawns, unless they are already peeled because unless you are extremely skilled at shelling prawns, that takes a heck of a long time (without using your hands).
Number four, if there is no one around your age at the table, to prevent from dying of boredom and awkward conversations, bring a book, but don’t forget to look up once in awhile and smile (and of course, don't read while eating).
Number five, keep all sarcastic comments to yourself because if you say them and no one is actually listening, it can be pretty embarrassing, not to mention awkward.

Well, that's just my take, they are not the best solutions and neither may they be absolutely correct or anything (personally, I am not following any of them except for Number 4 and 5). I will, definitely, encourage you to seek professional help on these matters rather than to follow my very dubious set of information. Thank you and good day (: Adios!

One Missed Call: Final

Came across the last part of this movie on Star Movies (the Chinese one) today. Man, it was so cool. I've never really been a fan of horror movies but the last part of this show wasn't that bad, at least not in broad daylight. This is the third and final (as implied from the title) movie for the Chakushin Ari (Japanese title for the movie) series. There are other versions of this show too but I really liked the last scene (: The part where they make you think it is all over and then it is actually the guy who is going to die...
I only watched like the last 20minutes of the movie so yeah, I only roughly know what is going on. From my understanding, for the this movie (not the series) is that this girl, whatever her name was (she was played by Maki Horikita from the Japanese version of Hana Kimi!), was very fed up with her schoolmates bullying her and her best friend, Emily, not standing up for her when she was bullied. So she tried to hang herself and somehow went into a coma and got connected to this little ghost girl (why must they all be children???) who was picking out people from her school's year book and sending them death sms with this freaky tinkly ring tone which if they do not pass on, they die. So like this other girl, Emily or something, and her friend who is this deaf boy, is trying to stop all that because there were a couple of mysterious deaths going around. In the scene which I watched, the boy suggested freezing the account/ Internet or whatever, so that no more mails can be sent out. So they were sending messages out and asking people to like spam the account. In the end they sorta managed and the computer just went berserk and exploded (sort of), but not before Emily swallowed this read stone-like object that was supposed to kill her (she kinda asked the ghost girl to keep her promise that she would be the last one to die). In the end, both friends woke up and found that they had been unconscious and all. Then Emily thanked the boy and they said goodbye and the boy walked out of the area with a revolving glass door. After he walked a couple of steps, Emily reached into her pocket, finding that her phone is not there, I think she realised then that the boy had it so she went after him but the revolving doors suddenly jammed and she was stuck inside. Then comes the explanation...blah blah blah... And then police cars were rolling in and the boy's body suddenly jerked and his hands went up to his throat and then blood gurgled out from his mouth and then he died (that was a great scene btw, at least I think so. Good acting). After that, they showed the same red stone rolling on the ground. Then they shifted to this scene where the two friends were at the beach, Emily in a wheel chair, possibly suffering from shock.
Great movie, but I don't think I'll watch it from the beginning cos that might just freak me out. Actually, I personally find horror movies very interesting and I really want to watch them (like Painted Skin) but I can't seem to work up the guts to. It's not the watching that is scary actually, it's after the movie, when I have all the time to think about it and let it completely fill my mind and drive me to the brink of insanity. You should all watch Ghost Ship (I think that's the title of the film). I watched the first part of it and I had to force myself to turn away from the screen because I knew I would regret it if I watched too much. The pull of curiosity was just too great. Thankfully, someone pulled the disc from the player and we all watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing chocolatier, Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, everybody give a cheer!).

The Aftermath

THE EXAMS ARE OVER! Well, they were since Friday but I am still so glad that they are. I want the holidays to last forever! It's so cool to actually have time on your hands to do whatever you want (which includes packing my room, sigh. It is a disaster in there...).
After the last paper on Friday (Integrated Science), the class was euphoric. I felt neutral, as per usual. Feelings like that take awhile to get to me... But the full extent of it can be felt NOW! Unfortunately, as the school year comes to a close, I feel kinda reluctant to see it end. I am really going to miss 202! But well, it's not like we're leaving or anything so, we'll still be able to meet each other.
Holiday to-do list (only the fun things):

1. Catch these movies - Twilight, Harry Potter (if it comes out soon enough) and any other nice ones...
2. Enjoy my overseas trip!
3. Catch up with "old" friends
4. Watch these shows - House, FRIENDS, Whose Line
5. Cook (something, anything edible...)
6. Play Guitar Heroes!
7. Go ice-skating (with friends)

There is much much more to do but for now, this is sufficient.

Man, I am going to love the holidays.

I Pray Thee, Let Me Not Slack

It's the exams again, no surprise really... They just get on my nerves!!! Quite a number of things happened this week, but sadly I can't seem to remember any of them. One good thing is that I have finally started on my revision and I don't get so easily irritated by math anymore, but I think I will be soon enough because I still have about 3/4 of the file left to complete... I can foresee that Indices is going to give me a headache.
Thank goodness for music. Music is so relaxing in times like these where I can't watch TV or go to youtube (because I know I'll get distracted) or do anything else that is related to "watchable media" other than the news and certain documentaries (that are also actually very interesting). Good thing I'm not addicted to blogging or I'll have to ban myself from this too... So lately I've been strumming the guitar quite a bit and listening to the radio (YES 93.3 (:). I didn't touch the piano because it's a little inconvenient. I'll end up sitting in front of it for a long long time. For the guitar, I'll stop at no more than half-an-hour, when my fingers start to get unbearably sore. Seriously, the skin's already starting to peel...
I've come up with a study plan but I'll most likely not be able to meet it and end up cramming last minute, AGAIN. But there has been an improvement. I think I've found a little bit of drive to urge me to work hard now. That's good news for me. I just hope I don't end up failing... Must pass man! So I can enjoy a guilt-free December Holidays.
I just watched a documentary (or part of it anyway) when I took a break at around 5pm. It was about heart diseases. Moral of the story, EXERCISE! That is the thing that keeps you healthy and of course, watch what you eat for you are what you eat (Who would forget that Personal Exposition). To all my friends out there, the exams are just around the corner, it's already the last leg of the race so please please please take care of your health!
All the best and good luck to us all! Let's strive for the goal together!

I am Bob

The Lit performance thing on Thursday was really cool! It was great fun :) Though we rushed our script at the last minute, I still thought that it was great :) Brownie points go out to Lynn's great acting skills and improv. And a shout out to the rest of the VIKINGS!!! Great job guys! Woo-hoo! Well, just to say, the "Bob the builder" line was actually borrowed from the musical We Will Rock You. (That musical is fantastic!) So it wasn't original or anything... I am no script-writing genius... Also, we only added the fact that Bob was a blonde so that we could have the Gold casket quote in there. So for those who realised, it kinda clashes with the fact that Elvis has black hair... We didn't have time to change that... Anyway, here's the script with slight editing. I removed the Bob line in case it was copyright or anything and some of the parts that didn't work out...:
Narrator: At a carnival, Shylock skips in merrily, brushing his beard and says to the pink candy floss in his hand…
(Lynn skips in, pretends to brush beard and says)
Shylock: O my beloved candy floss. I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty and witty and gay! (The candy floss was someone’s pink umbrella).
(I walk in a bump into Lynn and the Candy floss falls out of her hand.)
Shylock: O father Abram, what these Christians are, my candy floss! O my ducats, O my Christian ducats! Justice! The Law! Against this cut-throat cat! He and his shaming blood, pray see they be spilled!
Bob: By the bible, love thy neighbours, so I say, forgive me.
(At the same time, Lynn kneels onto the ground and mourns over her candy floss.)
Shylock: What mercy should I render when thou deserv’st… none?
Bob: If it pleaseths you to forgive me.
Shylock: Only over my Jew corpse with ducats by my side. Dang, did I dream of money bags last night.
Bob: By my love I swear, the quality of mercy is not strained. We do pray for mercy and that same prayer doth teach us all to render the deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much to mitigate the justice of thy plea. Thus, forgive me.
Shylock: (Aside) How like a fawning republican he looks. I hate him for he is a Christian. (To Bob) Now get me my candy floss, now a strain of dirt or dust should lie within this web of gentle fleece or I’ll shave your Elvis-like hair off!
( I do the "smoothening-hair" move and the Elvis Presley Saturday Night Fever Boogie move (:)
Bob: Oh no! Not the hair!
(Yu Qing and Yumin come into picture)
Old man: All that glisters is not gold, often have you heard that told.
Old lady: Alakazam, Alakazoo! That is blonde, not gold you fool!
Shylock: What difference is there?
Old lady: The spelling…
(Everyone looks at Rashvin, private joke. Lol!)
Old man: Here, take this candy floss. Can you share it with me? (Yu Qing picks up the same pink umbrella and offers it to Lynn who declines.)
Shylock: No, I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you, let alone share my candy floss. An oath! An oath! I have an oath in heaven! Shall I lay perjury on my soul by refusing his hair? No! I refuse! I decline to take this offer!
Old lady: Double, double, toil and trouble, potion boil and cauldron bubble, I have no choice but to bring, this magic book I picked from the bin.
(Takes out the book, which incidentally is the Merchant of Venice, and throws it onto the floor. Ouch!)
Narrator: The book trembles and Portia pops out of the book.
Portia: Give me what I want, what I really, really want. (Pause and surveys audience) Oh, good day. You can call me Portia.
Old man: Ah! My eyes! My eyes!
Portia: I am Portia, Portia the doctor, Portia, the lady, wife of Bassanio, Portia.
Bob: Oh, they call me Bob.
Portia: Yes, well… I am informed thoroughly of the cause…
Shylock: I crave Justice O learned Judge!
Portia: Why is it his hair you crave for? The quality of mercy is not strained…
Narrator (cuts in and says): And she goes on and on and on and on… (Well, this was a mistaken cut in but it still worked out quite well… Nicely done Sarah!)
Shylock: Tell me not of mercy! I will not hear of it! I will have his hair! I am very glad of it – I’ll plague him; I’ll torture him. I am glad of it.
Portia: I repeat, the quality of mercy is not strained…
Narrator: (cuts in again) And she goes on and on and on and on, again.
Portia: And therefore, I shall banish you back to where you belong!
(Opens the book in front of Lynn)
Shylock: Hate’s any man the thing he would not kill? I will get your hair! If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge! Ahhh!
(Lynn runs headlong into the book.)
Narrator: ( I think we omitted out this part) Portia pulls Shylock into the book
She may as well do anything most hard
As seek to soften that – than which what’s harder? –
His Jewish heart.

Members of the Cast (in order of appearance):
Sarah - Narrator
Lynn - Shylock
Me - Bob (the blonde)
Yu Qing - Old Man
Yumin - Old Lady
Angela - Portia

VIKINGS UNITED! <3

Love the spaghetti idea Sarah!

5min Spring Clean Dash

That was refreshing... I mean, we could just clean up our entire class in five minutes!!! The adrenaline rush was awesome!
Well, today we actually did the ICT project. Well, I usually try but most of the time I don't succeed. At least this time we got somewhere near completion... I really got to figure a way to put the pictures in... We are doing (whatever it actually is) some roll-over thing around the theme of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I don't know if that is acceptable but I LOVE THAT SHOW!!! I know Jennifer Aniston still acts but I'm not sure what the rest of the cast are doing right now :( It is shows like this that keeps the entertainment world going round! I love Full House too! Yay!
Went home and took out my ipod to listen to the songs in it. I don't know when the last time I picked it up was... Ahh, the memories...
We got another class booking, dang.
Oh guess what, the song just became Daniel Powter's "Bad Day". Sure, just when I was thinking about that booking...

It's all about Vampiring...

Yesterday was Bella's birthday, Bella as in Isabella Marie Swan from the Twilight series. Haha, I didn't realise that until I came across some Twilight fan site... Well, just stating :) I still like Alice better! (That was written for the benefit of a certain someone who disagrees with me ahem, REBECCA... Haha, JK XP But I really do like Alice better. I think she's cooler!) I liked Bella much more when she was a vampire though. Away with the weak and frail, hello new Bella... Alice's seeing into the future thing is a little freaky but extremely cool :) That's why she's my favourite character in the entire book, yay! I guess second to her will be Carlisle (love his name!), then James (I don't know why either...) and then all the Cullens are tied... It will be a long list... But hey, that's just my opinion...

A Thin Slice of Pi

Yeah, I finally reached a 100 digits of pi! Yes! Still a little mixed up with the order but, I'll live. Most people think I have too much time on my hands but that is so not true! I get bored sometimes so I do this to relax and wake myself up since I am banned from other forms of entertainment... Anyway, next target, 120 digits :)

Bye Bye Hols

The holidays are almost over... Sigh... One week just flew by so fast... I really need to find that source of inspiration and drive to work hard.
The week has been great besides the fact that I never got to throw a Javelin and I fell down and scraped my arm... Dang. I am not done with my homework yet and I still can't bring myself to start memorising Act II and III of the Merchant of Venice. It's just way to chunky for me to feel comfortable reading it, besides, I still do not know what's there that's significant in Act II scene II... Oh help me Good Launcelot Gobbo...
Six things left to do now, in no particular order:
1) Stop Slacking
2) Finish all my homework (including Philosophy)
3) Get a haircut
4) Study for Lit Quiz
5) Filing
6) Stop obsessing over a certain book... (ahem ahem, shan't say which one...)

Leaky Walls

The 16 day Olympics officially ended yesterday :( I'll miss watching all those events but will be looking forward to 2012!
On day 15 of the Olympics, I managed to watch the finals of Women's Volleyball and Rhythmic Gymnastics (All around finals). I was also able to catch three jumps of the women's High Jump (!!!!!!). Yay! Now I can strike off everything on my list!
Women's Volleyball
Women's Volleyball ended with Brazil winning 3-1 over USA. Brazil was fantastic with all the spikes and blocks. I remember one of the spikers, the tall one with a headband, was that Paula? Well anyway, someone really tall... All those that were supposed to guard the net (in Chinese, Er Chuan, or as I know it...) all blocked many many balls (like on average 14-15). Brazil was good, that's why they won and they were having a celebratory dance session at the end of the competition where they all hugged each other and galloped in a circle. Some were so happy they cried (I don't think I'll cry if I win something such as that, but I'll be extremely happy, not that there's anything wrong with crying, and it's only IF I ever get to that level...). Though USA didn't win Gold, they put up a strong fight. It was a good game. Brazil deserved their Gold and USA gave their best and utmost by making it hard for Brazil to get that Gold. Bravo to both teams for their excellent performance, a great way to end the season.
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Saw rope and and a little of hoop. They are just magnificent. Never in my life would I ever be able to do that. The Russians dominated the field for rope but one of them made an error in hoop. I'm not sure what happened after that but whether all not they won, I feel that they (all participants) should be commended for all that hardwork they put in for that one short moment on the international stage. Rhythmic Gymnastics is not easy.
Women's High Jump
I watched one whole hour of the Athletics event broad casted on cable but was only able to catch three jumps on the same height (including that of the woman who won Gold!). The first thing that came to my head when I first saw Tia Hellebaut of Belgium was "Wow, she's so tall!". Well, congrats anyway :)
Oh, also want to mention the nice pictures of the various events featuring different Zodiac animals on Google for each day of the Olympics. It was great :)
Moving on to why this post is titled "Leaky Walls". That's because my neighbour is renovating his house and somehow or another, water is leaking through the walls at the staircase (of my house) causing the paint to bulge out and crumple as they dry up. I didn't notice it until I walked downstairs and stepped into a puddle of water. I just went like,”What the…” Spent the next couple of minutes cleaning up the mess and then going out of my room with 10min intervals between each visit to check on the pockets of water... Bah. So freaking irritating!
Right now, I have no idea how to do Chinese Compo...

My Long Wait's Worth...

Finally I manage to see Rhythmic Gym!!!
I only saw it for about 15min or so but good enough to strike it off my must-watch Olympic events list :) It was as good as I expected it to be. Some of them go scarily high on their pointe... I'm not sure about this but I suppose some are better in twirls while others tumbles. I watched the ribbons and clubs routines just this afternoon and was so excited that I actually managed to watch all that I hoped to in the Olympics! It was the qualifying rounds (for a spot in the top 10) so no winners yet. I hope to see the finals though, it airs on Cable Channel 604 tomorrow at 10pm (Singapore Time) I think... Hope I can watch it!

Yes, I agree, it is the most beautiful Olympic event (and you can't say I'm biased towards my event or anything because I am not a Gymnast, I was previously a Volleyball player and now am a tracker)...

Throw Up, Pass Out, Wake Up

From the lyrics of Another Irish Drinking Song by Da Vinci's Notebook...
I first heard this song while browsing through the Internet where I found The Friars' videos (they are an acapella group) and they were singing that song, after tweaking it a little... They are really good and some of their performances are hilarious :) Way to go guys!
Right now I've got so many PTs to complete and a whole lot of revision to do. I guess I'm just blogging for relaxation, even though I know I probably really cannot afford to. I have to go through math now (Alternative Assessment) because there will be a discussion period tomorrow and I can't leave everything for my partner to do because that would just be mean...
Haven't been watching much of the Olympics lately, just snippets of it when I pass the television sets set up in the school canteen (sometimes shown in the foyer). I caught some of the synchronised swimming today but that was the duet thing. The one scene that stayed in my mind for a very long time for synchronised swimming was actually this one time where the Italian group's (once upon a very long time ago, not during this Olympics...) music could not be started and they had to start their entire routine again... Quite sad but they were really good, oh and before them was the Japanese team doing their routine to some Ninja/ Samurai song. Haiya! Unique...
Men's trampoline yesterday... Really nice event to watch, their form and style were just so perfect... China's Lu Chunlong taking Gold with 41.00, Canada's Jason Burnette taking Silver with 40.70 and China's Dong Dong taking Bronze with 40.60. Can't wait for the synchronised ones...
Before Trampoline was Women's (not on the same day) Floor event Finals for Gymnastics. Shawn Johnson was great coming in Silver but was overtaken in terms of score by Romania's Sandra Izbasa who had the highest level of difficulty and still performed the routine perfectly. Following them was Nastia Liukin (with Bronze), the all-rounded Gold medalist.
That's all I've caught so far. I've managed to strike off all the events in my must-watch list except for Rhythmic Gymnastics, which begins tomorrow (21st Aug) and Women's High Jump, which unfortunately was shown while classes were in session :( I only managed to see one jump on my way to Assembly...

Lucky Number 8

Phelps managed to achieve his goal of 8 gold medals today with men's 4x100m medley relay!
Whoo hoo! He's the man! With a total number of 16 Olympic medals, he is second only to Gymnast Larysa Latynina (18 medals), but his 14 career gold medals are the most of any Olympian.

WWRY Australasia Forum

Just made an account on http://wwryaustraliasia.proboards81.com/. Unfortunately, I have no idea how it works so I couldn't post anything. Anyway, just want to say a big thank you to Nat and Debbie who made this forum :) It is great and a fantastic way for WWRY Australasia fans to show how much the tour meant to them. So, THANKS GUYS!
I've read some of the messages posted by the cast and I think it's really great for them to take some time to post in the forum :) Yay!
So, I know this is a little late having watched their performance so early in the year but I just wanted to say great job guys! You were amazing and I enjoyed every minute of the performance. The band did a marvellous job and the cast and ensemble were fantastic too! Put together, you guys were sensational. I am thankful for having an opportunity to see you perform and hope to do so again soon.
Right now, this tour has officially ended :( But I had a great time watching the performance and I'm sure so did the cast, band and ensemble working together. This is a fantastic production.

ROCK ON!

Medal Alert!

After 48 years!!! Finally another medal for Singapore!
The second medal in the history of Olympics for Singapore was assured yesterday by paddlers Li Jia Wei, Wang Yue Gu and Feng Tianwei on Friday (15 Aug) for the team event in Table Tennis. Way to Go Team Singapore!
All the way for the Gold! And to the rest of the team too :)
Good luck!

In the Mood for Randomness...

Well, didn't watch much of the Olympics today except for about 15min of men's artistic gym on the bus and 10mins of women's archery.
Getting a little bored now... WHERE IS RHYTHMIC GYM?!
So House Captain and Vice Captains handover today... The new captain for my house this year is Veronica Teo, congrats :) Oh oh oh, and well done Pei Qi! Teletarbet... Hahahah XP
I wanna try archery... (Forgive me for whining but seriously, it's cool.)
Gotta do Biopolis presentation, prepare Chinese PT, English PT, and there's the Aviation presentation next Tuesday... Oh and Math Alternative Assessment (Aw man...).
The movie we watched in Chinese was so sad... Haix, the discrimination he faces... I wanted to tell the husband (whatever his name was), "Like dude, you should so trust him!" Was really happy for Liu'er that his nephew was so close to him though. Eh, didn't finish the movie but it was so distracting; I did not do anything else but watch the movie throughout the entire block. Except for drawing the design for English PT :)
FYI, the frozen Ethanol so does not leave your hand numb for half an hour. I got a whole lot of it on my hand today (by accident, if you were wondering) and it didn't feel the least bit numb...
Maybe that's because the Ethanol warmed up already after being in room temperature for so long... Pity.

Beijing Olympics 2008 - Day 5

Woohoo! Olympics craze!
China just scored with another three Golds from what I know... Men's Saber Fencing (last night, 12/8), Men's Synchronised Diving (This afternoon, most diving events are shown at 2:25pm on the 601-606 channels) and Shooting (Also this afternoon). They're like winning everything this year.
Went home together with Bingrui and Cailyn today. Bingrui was totally excited about Synchronised Diving (and so was I because I think it's really cool). We started talking about the China Divers while queuing up during lunch XP China's divers are just so good!!! For today's event (Men's 3m Synchronised diving), during the 5th round (2nd last), the commentators were like "China's just got to get into the water to win this thing". And they did, they won by quite a large margin too, about 50 points or so if I am not wrong (!!!!!!)... Good news for one of the Chinese divers for he slipped up during the Athens Olympics in 2004 and this time, BAM! Gold! USA unfortunately missed a medal for the 9th year running... Some teams really screwed up the last dive others on the other hand did really well, the Chinese team scored about 94 for their final jump which is freaking high! I have to admit that I kinda dozed off somewhere during the third jump (hey, I was tired) but I still think this event's cool.
Also watched Equestrian yesterday. Didn't know riding a horse and jumping over something has such a complex name. Seriously speaking, if I just saw the name alone, I would not have known what it was. The name sort of reminded me of Curling, to be honest (Curling's really cute, especially when the brooms are involved but it's more to the "thinking" side, i.e. It involves a lot of thinking, it's played during the Winter Olympics). I did not really watch much because I was more interested by this show on Nat Geog which was trying to fool a lie detector. However I do remember this one competitor, a girl, small-sized I'd say with her horse Rock Model. They were really fast, faster than the two male competitors in front of her (Whom I also thought was good). Equestrian is like a rider-and-horse bonding session but of course, it's harder than it looks...

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!

Beijing Olympics 2008 - Day 4

Yes, for 10-metre Men's Synchronised Diving, Lin Yue and Huo Liang, the duo from China, was leading all the way through (all 6 rounds) and eventually attained Gold with a total score of 468.18. They also won the 2007 world championships in Melbourne. China was followed by Germany's pair of Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding with 450.42 points (silver) and Russia's veteran team of Gleb Galperin and Dmitry Dobroskok with 445.26 points (Bronze).

Taken from http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/diving/story/2008/08/11/olympics-diving-china.html :

What makes the Chinese pair so formidable is that they don't rest on past accomplishments. After winning the world championships, Lin admitted that he wasn't "quite satisfied" with his performance and felt he could improve.
"They can do this event in their sleep," CBC diving analyst Anne Montminy said prior to the competition. "It would take a real disaster for them to lose. They should not feel any pressure because they are so far superior to everyone else."

Diving is a great sport to watch. It's simply amazing, elegant and beautiful :)

Beijing Olympics 2008 - Day Four

Day four into the games!
So far I've successfully watched (a lot of) swimming, men's and women's artistic gymnastics, a bit of men's and women's synchronised diving, a bit of both men's and women's volleyball, a tad bit of women's handball and just a peek into boxing.
Swimming
Tao Li got 5th in the finals for 100m butterfly. Good job! Getting close!
Phelps is really cool as per usual (I had no idea he was so young, incredible!). Unfortunately, I did not watch the relay where Jason Lezak performed exceptionally well (as I've heard, man, how could I have missed it?! Lezak is about 10 years older than 23-year-old Phelps.). Witnessed Kosuke Kitajima break the World Record for 100m breaststroke (by 0.22 seconds) with a timing of 58.91 seconds on Monday.
Men's Artistic Gym
Real cool :) Just watched it today. Saw one China competitor, Zou Kai, doing floor. He got 15.9 odd for his routine which I thought was really good. Kohei something, gymnast from Japan was also doing floor (15.7 something). Loved the last triple twist thing where the body is straight and you just twist three times in the air. Real good :) I should really go learn the technical terms...
Women's Artistic Gym
The China team was really good. They all look so young and small but actually the smallest looking one there is like 16-years-old. They were all really good. One of them slipped and fell for uneven bars though. As in she slipped off the lower bar and fell. But there was this other girl who was fantastic for vault (China). One difference I noticed (besides the different events both genders participate in) is that women have music for their floor exercise while men don't. Not a very significant observation but well...
Synchronised Diving
Another beautiful event :)
I didn't quite watch the women's synchronised diving so I cannot really comment on it. For men's, China was leading all the way through (or at least I think so because I kinda only watched till the 3rd jump) with divers Lin Yue and Huo Liang who also won Gold in Melbourne's World Championship. China's really good for diving, I don't really know what makes their routine stand out so much from the others in the first jump but they scored high. They are actually really sleek when slicing through the water. Much attention on the 14-year-old diver from Britain in the Men's Synchronised Diving. There are very little splashes in his jumps but the two are not quite as synchronised as the Chinese. Don't quite know what they are looking for though...
Volleyball
Finally, a game which I more or less understand. Didn't really watch the women's match so won't be commenting on that. Egypt vs Poland, still in the first couple of rounds so they might not be the best teams but are still very good. Whoever can get into the games should be good. The spikes are killer! Nice fakes and certain fantastic saves. Poland won I think. I realised that the same fake is used quite often. Someone sets the ball, one player jumps up and pretends to spike, causing the other two defenders on the other side of the net to jump up too and the spiker on this side jumps up a fraction of a second later and smashes the ball right pass their faces. Handy :)
Handball
Something like soccer I'd say, I was pretty much clueless about the rules. All I know was that the goal keeper of this one team got knocked square in the face (forehead actually) during a penalty shot. Ouch, must hurt.
Boxing
They don't fight till they drop. They go by points. Of course, if you knock the other out, you win.

Beijing 2008

Second day into the games!
The Opening was fabulous! The lights, technology and special effects and basically just the planning of the entire thing was great! Nice opening drum performance. It must really take a lot of effort to get that many people in perfect synchronisation especially since there wasn't background music involved so nothing to hook onto except for themselves. For the marching in of the countries, it is apparent that China has the biggest team, all of them in red and yellow with Yao Ming carrying the flag and a little boy who saved the lives of two men during the Si Chuan Earthquake walking beside him. (Yao Ming is freakin' tall!) What was different was that instead of going in alphabetical order, they went by the number of strokes there was in the Chinese form of the country's name. Thus, Singapore was around the last few to march in with Lee Jia Wei carrying the flag. During the march, many athletes had cameras and some were even talking on their handphones, probably calling their families to say," Hey! I'm here! Do you see me?" Haha, ain't that just cool?! It must be such an honour to be there representing your country. Right now, I can only dream to be a member of the audience XP
I saw Quah Ting Wen compete in the IM. She was leading all the way until the breast stroke :( I guess it was pretty apt for the commentators to say that breast stroke is the point where the competitors start widening the gap as that was seen in other groups as well where the person leading eventually fell slightly behind during the 100m of breast stroke. But of course, there were those who kept strong throughout the entire event such as Stephanie Rice of Australia. Really strong competition there in Beijing... Anyway, GO EVERYONE! If you don't make it this year, don't give up cos there's always the next! Oh and Tao Li got into the FINALS!!! For 100m butterfly. AHHH! In the Singaporean manner of speaking, got chance, got chance (for a medal)!
So far I've only watched a bit of Women's Volleyball (like seriously a bit, I only managed to catch about 5mins of it, Italy vs some other country... Shoot, my memory is deteriorating) and men's Gymnastics. I missed the Women's one today :( Hopefully there's a repeat. The gymnasts are scary good. I was all like how the heck are they doing that?! They can do so many flips in just one jump into the air and land properly afterwards. I can barely do a split jump and can't finish a pirouette properly. How pathetic is that... (No, don't answer that.) Then, look at the muscles those guys have. Wow baby. It's really kinda scary and it sorta makes some of them look a little distorted... No offence. The Pommel Horse (At least I think that's what it's called) is really nice to watch though, and the High Bar, if they do well. Actually, everything is nice to watch :) I like the horse thing because it just looks so smooth. It's amazing where they get the arm strength from. Basically, I think I spend most of the time watching swimming events that can go on for two hours or more straight. I've watched the IM, 100m Men's Breast Stroke, 200m Men's backstroke (or was it 100m, or was it women's??? Dang, I can't remember...) and a little of women's 400m freestyle so far...
I am so making sure that I watch Rhythmic gymnastics this year, and diving.

The commentators of channels 601-606 were really good. Great job guys!

No school tomorrow, gives me a bit more time to study for the PPAs...

Olympic Rush

TOMORROW! Tomorrow will be the official opening ceremony for the Olympic Games 2008 in China! The 8th of August 2008 at 8.08pm (8/8/08, 8:08pm)! Well, hazarding a guess, they chose this day and time to hold the event because of all the eights involved. The number 8 is an auspicious number to the Chinese because another Chinese character with a similar pronunciation as that of 8, means to excel or to get rich (if you didn't know that).
The Olympics have been a major event all around the world up till now as it is the most prestigious sporting event since. It is the time where athletes representing their countries from all over congregate at one place to compete and learn from one another. This year, the Olympics being held at China has made every if not most citizens or even Chinese everywhere proud and excited about this event. China has also made massive improvements and changes to their country in order to ensure that this event will be a success.
This year, I wish to watch five events in the Olympics, namely Rhythmic Gymnastics, Diving, High Jump, Swimming and Volleyball. I might not find time to watch everything in each of these events but still, it would be great if I could just watch one session of each. However if any of the Singapore athletes make it to the semi-finals, I will try to watch it, and if I am unable to, I'll still be cheering them on! All the way Singapore! Go Quah Ting Wen!
I do not really recall what happened at the Athens Olympics in 2004 except that Lee Jia Wei almost got a medal for our country, but I do have a rather vivid image of the Winter Olympics that presided that. I especially enjoyed watching Figure Skating. The Russian skaters are really good! In fact all of them are :) But I really like Evgeni Plushenko (men's single) and Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin (pair skaters). I do not really know much about figure skating (not being one myself) but I know a little about form and style (having learnt how to dance) and I think they are fantastic. The things they do on ice! I was like dude! I can't even jump that high on land and you can do that with skates?! I think Scott Hamilton still rules though :) Besides that, the Winter Olympics also opened me up to different types of sports which I didn't even know existed, such as the thrilling Luge and the more slow moving Curling.
Well, can't wait for the Olympics to begin! Immerse yourself in the splendor of the Games and feel the Olympic spirit!

Virtual Pet

Aren't they just adorable?
Try clicking on the "more" button :) For Linda, click on her and see what happens and for Greg, double click on the strawberry when it's near his mouth :)

adopt your own virtual pet!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Inflammation, Viruses and Bacteria

Spent the whole day with a throbbing head and a blocked nose. Goodness, it was terrible. I felt like sleeping the whole day and it was not a good time as I had the MOV Lit quiz today (and I already have 5 questions wrong). I think it was because I slept with the air-conditioning turned on last night and somehow infected my throat and caught a cold. Thankfully, no fever just yet. Will sleep early today (or it will be a guaranteed fever) to let my body rest. GO IMMUNE SYSTEM!
My mother made me some orange juice just now (to replenish my Vitamin C content or something). It was nice but she chucked some salt into it (I forgot what that was for, something to do with dryness) so it tasted a little weird. But anyway, THANKS MUM!
So, shall go and finish up my homework now, still with a throbbing head, heavy eye-lids (not as bad as before after I took a half an hour nap. Dinner keeps me awake anyway...), an itchy throat and a foot that still hurts (there's PE tomorrow, FYI, it is no longer the same pain, I think I somehow injured it again)... TO THE BATTLEFIELD!

Thousand Year Love Song

Added a song from Imeem called "Thousand Year Love Song" from the Korean Drama Series 태왕사신기. I don't know why but the first part is cut off so the song kind of starts only after the vocals come in. The song is sung by 동방신기/ Dong Bang Shin Ki/ TVXQ/Dong Fang Shen Qi or whatever you call them.

Enjoy!

태왕사신기

That's a really nice Korean show, otherwise known as The Legend/ Tai Wang Si Shen Ji/ The Legend of the First King's Four Gods. I embedded a video of this person playing the song "Approval" the piano version from the soundtrack of this show. He's pretty good :)
I don't think I'll explain the plot because it might take up a lot of time... Just google the title XP
The show stars Bae Yong Joon as Dam Duk/Tande (also the original Joo-Shin King) and Lee Ji-Ah as Sujini (as well as the character Sae-oh). Apparently Bae Yong Joon injured himself quite a bit while filming this... My favourite character is the Overlord of Guanmi (I don't know his name but he was played by Lee Phillip) because he is always so cool no matter what it is. Cool as in quiet, mysterious and calm. Fab character dude! When it comes to who I think performed the best in the show, I would have to say that it was Lee Ji-Ah. I would say that because she is able to quickly switch characters (and convincingly too) from kind, quiet and humble Sae-oh to playful, somewhat noisy and lively Sujini, then return once again to the quiet character towards the end of the show when Sujini became wiser etc. Lee Ji-Ah won some best new actress award for her performance in 태왕사신기 if I am not wrong. Way to go girl!
Overall, it is a great show. Sort of a different kind of Korean drama (as compared to all those I've watched); refreshing change I'd say though of course, there is still a bit of romance involved here and there. Interesting characters and good fighting scenes. Some special effects were good, others were ... but soundtrack, FABULOUS! I love the soundtrack!!!
Oh, while watching, don't forget that it is always harder to play the bad guy, then to play the good one :)

Hear The Bells Ring

It's the first day of a new month! Heard the Church bells at twelve this afternoon, they sound so beautiful...
Today I was called up twice, once in Science and the other in Chinese. We should never use that point-to-the-picture method again. Well science was okay because at least I did do my research and was able to answer the questions but I completely screwed up for Chinese. I was chosen to do the PT presentation thing. Goodness, so embarrassing! I did not know what I was saying. Why couldn't she choose me at any other time?! I wasn't prepared for this one...
I started browsing through all the Sound of Music soundtracks when I came home. Ahh... The old times. That was the movie which I watched the most number of times in my entire life (so far, though I think no other show can beat this record). IT IS EPIC! Hahah. No quite the right word to describe it but it's really good. I suppose the kids that acted in it should be quite old by now...
I will be going for a concert at the Esplanade later (my friend's dance concert if you were wondering, though I would really like to watch We Will Rock You if it comes to Singapore again...). I doubt I'd really be able to see anything from my $20 seat (according to my friend). Anyway, I'm there to give moral support! If I can actually see something from there, all the better, if not, I'll just enjoy the comfy chair and air-conditioning and feel honoured to even be there XP
The Esplanade's stage is really cool. Hopefully someday I will have a chance to get up there and see how it works...

IVP - Philips Design Centre

Okay, will make this quick cos I want to go and sleep! Teens, we are so deprived of sleep nowadays...XP
So today for IVP I went for, I would say, a talk at Philips Design Centre. It was all about product designing etc. and the presentation was given by Ms Liz Teh. It was actually quite interesting to know all that even though my brain kinda switched off somewhere while she was talking about the designing process. She got kinda pissed halfway though cos some of us were literally falling asleep (with their heads on the table, eyes closed etc). I could tell when she said,"Maybe it's time for some of you to wake up now and pay attention." Woah, that was like pricking a needle into our skin so those sleeping just jumped up (I didn't cos I was paying attention) and started watching the video.
At the end of it all, there was a Q&A session where I asked a question, though misinterpreted by most. I have absolutely no idea why the rest thought my question was funny, I mean, what part of, "So what you do is find a problem and when you're done with it you just find another problem" funny? But it does lighten up the mood in the tense and gloomy environment :)
We managed to get a peek into their actual workplace eventually. Dude, it was CLASSY! The furniture were all so, well, classy and there were like so many flat screen computers (like huge ones), screens etc. HIGH TECH MAN! It's seriously cool to be able to work there. Managed to peep (from the side) at one of the person's designs that he was working on. It was fantastic! It's like really pretty and all, sort of reminds me of the Hp commercial. But it was really quiet in there. It was rather embarrassing because we were clogging up the whole doorway and there was this guy (he had a nice jacket XP) that was standing around behind us and Jodie went like, "Are we blocking him?" So we made space and he just slipped into the office with a soft,"sorry" and chatted a little with his colleagues over on the technological design side of the room. He could have said "excuse me"...
Working there must be really cool but I suppose I'll never get to have such an occupation. Apparently my left brain is stronger than my right... Ahh! It's so cool!

Service Learning - Care Corner

Stayed up till twelve watching House last night. Unfortunately, I could not watch the episode from 12 to 1am because I had to go for SL the next day so I need to rest.
Only two of us turned up for SL today (kinda pathetic but well, we are all rather busy so I can understand). Care Corner was still conducting parents meeting session today but there were more kids this week than the last. We did some fingerprint art thing but it does not seem to interest all of them, only some. Some gave up after an hour (by then the only thing that was on their beautiful blank pieces of paper was two blotches of paint) and started talking loudly and fidgeting while some of them who came late just hung around playing with the paints. The only person that actually took the entire thing seriously I'd say was Sebastian.
After we ended the whole fingerprint art thing, which was not really working out, we helped to clear up the mess. Sabrina volunteered to wash Lynn's paint brushes and I threw away the garbage and went to wash the paint brush that was left on the table (poor paint brush so lonely and forgotten... XP). After we ran it through water and all, I was just about to go back to the table when I saw Sabrina pull out a couple of tissues and started drying the brushes. I thought "Wow, I could learn something from her..." It was so thoughtful of her to dry the dripping wet brushes before returning it to the owner, unlike me who conveniently overlooked this act of thoughtfulness. I so ought to learn how to be a better person.
Later, we tried to teach them some forensics thing we are learning in Science by making them do a fingerprint profile (sorta thing) where we teach them how everyone's fingerprints are different and the different types of fingerprints (arch, loop, whorls). It wasn't exactly the most exhilarating thing to do so some of the boys soon became restless. At least we managed to get one of the boys who did not wish to be part of the day's activities involved... Then we played a couple of games including pass the message, ten-cent coin and Simon says (greatly spiced up with the help of Lynn :) ) until it was time to leave.
After all these weeks of SL, I realised that I actually met a lot of different children. Last week there was Samuel who seem to need more attention (or things could go wrong), then there's this other girl who was somewhat clingy. I say that because she wanted me to go to Wild Wild Wet with her on Saturday when we've known each other for like an hour or so and that she keeps sticking to me like bubblegum. I was thinking "What? For goodness sake, you don't just invite someone you've known for less than an hour to like spend the weekend with you!" Like dude, I don't even know her name and I seriously doubt she knows mine. Then there are the quieter and conscientious ones like Sabrina which kind of mirrors one of my friends when I was younger and the more playful and hyperactive ones like Anthony and Desmond who are really so much like my cousin.
Trying to keep these kids interested is a really tough job, especially for the more hyperactive boys. Brownie points goes out to the teachers who manage to keep them under their wings so well. It has been a great opportunity and learning experience to be able to do SL with them. Many thanks for the great experiences I've had and all that have contributed to the insights I've gained from this learning experience. I think we're only going to have one or two more sessions because we're running out of ideas but I suppose each will be just as meaningful as the other.

It just got worse...

Yeow! My foot is swollen all the way round the side now (dunno if you can picture that). Ouch! Just got it all wrapped up in bandages which will hopefully keep it from getting any worse.
Today was our last lesson for the rock climbing module :( Rock climbing is fun, though very challenging. Come to think of it, I've only been on belay once, and on the blue route too! I just managed to pass the red line (3m mark), so sad. I really wanted to climb today but then I got this injury. "How I caught it, found it, or came by it," I have no idea.
Belaying is surprisingly fun, even though the safety of the climber is entirely on you... UNDER PRESSURE! Haha :) (We Will Rock You the musical is really cool, everyone should watch it :)) Dang, really wanted to try the red route. I might just be able to reach the top and see what's on the other side.
Well, I guess I'll be limping even more in school tomorrow and suffer the "agony" of having to climb four flights of stairs all the way up to the 4th floor, and fast too, after assembly. Oh please please rain! (Nah, just kidding, though water is good...) I hope it gets better soon because it's really tiring to need to hop around on one leg all the time...

Foot Facts

When I got back from ballet class today, my right foot started hurting. I think I twisted a muscle. Haha, will most likely be limping to school tomorrow... Ow, it really hurts... Well, now that you are reading this, it's time to interest you with a couple of facts which I came across on the Internet. Actually, I was searching for "Amazing foot facts" but then I came across these :)

• You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206. (ooh, we actually shrink!)
• You can't kill yourself by holding your breath. (Well how 'bout that...)
• Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon. (Now we know...)
• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete. (Karate chopping blocks of concrete ain't that spectacular now is it?)
• One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!
• There's more sweat glands on your feet than any other part of your body. An average pair of feet will sweat a pint of perspiration a day. (So that's where all the water goes...)

Haha... Hope you enjoyed that "enriching" session. Certainly gets you thinking doesn't it. Below are the websites where all these amazing, fantastic and brilliant information came from. If you want to know more, just visit them!

Leaving you with a final fun fact here :

Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it. (Oh yeah baby!)

http://www.world-english.org/facts.htm

http://www.dumbfacts.com/facts/directory-of-facts/

First Video Upload

Well, I uploaded my first video clip today (I'm sure you can guess which website it was on...)! Not a big deal but hey, I succeeded! It was a clip from the RGS choir concert 2008. The song was Summer Nights which came from Grease (I think). It took seriously long (well, that's what I felt) so I couldn't be bothered to sit there and wait for it to upload so I just went on to do other stuff. Actually I just wanted to try if it really worked... No other particular reasons for uploading. I got 11 views about 11 hours from the time I uploaded it. It was a rather big surprise to me since I didn't think anyone would even watch what I upload. So, there you go, evidence that nothing goes unnoticed online... Later I decided that since well I got 11 viewers, my as well upload another clip and I did, also on the choir concert but a different song... I got a relatively good view from all the way up in the stalls (I think that's what it's called...) for a $10 ticket during that concert. No one blocks you because the slope is so steep and you can still hear relatively well. I went down to the $15 dollar seats during intermission and besides the fact that you were much closer to the stage the rest was pretty much the same, plus it was easier to get blocked down there. Not sure about the sound though... The negative aspects of the $10 seats are but the fact that you can't really see the faces that clearly and you have to climb 3 (or was it 4?) storeys up to get to your seats. Otherwise, it's really pretty much fine. For the record, I sat at the very last row. You get a pretty much clear view of everything from up there including what people are doing in front of you (whipping out cameras, reading etc...)... Quite interesting to sit at the back really cos no one knows what you are doing but you know what everyone else is doing! Haha... That is really not important, I just felt like writing (or typing) that...
Shall end here now, gotta go do math homework... Sigh!

Nationals! And Some Other Stuff...

Yep, that's today! I had to wake up at 5 odd this morning just so that I could get to Chua Chu Kang Stadium by 6:45. My event starts at 8:30 but yeah, got to warm up etc etc... I was totally freaking out before my event so I was rather "stiff" while doing jumps after I have taken my run-up but thankfully I managed to convince myself out of the whole oh-crap-I-am-nervous-and-my-legs-are-shaking business while waiting in the call room. Whew :) I managed to pass 1.3m on my second jump (YESS! But 1.3m is really no big deal to some others...) and eventually got 7th position. That's mainly because most others didn't manage to pass the qualifying (1.3m). However, if I was in B-Div, I would have got like some unrecognised rank or even not qualify (1.35m for B-Div). My reasoning comes from the fact that 7th place in B-Div this year has to pass 1.45m (about there anyway), seriously. I can so never reach that! I like jumping yeah but I'm not very sure if I can excel in it (not that I should care as long as I enjoy it) but I suppose I'll just stick to it for the time being and once again, try to get my flips right...
Really thank my parents and coach for all their support and my seniors and juniors who came all the way to Chua Chu Kang today to support us :) Oh and thanks Becca for the 100plus! Shout out to Yiyun who made a lot of friends today! Haha (:
Listened to We Will Rock You the musical songs after I got back. Real good. That musical ROCKS MY WORLD! The cast that came to Singapore was really good, MiG, Sivan etc etc all rocked! Unfortunately I think there was a stand in for Annie Crummer that night I went to watch :( But she was good too :) This show actually made me start to appreciate Queen's music and rock music in general, some credit to GH3! My guitaring skills is still rubbish as usual (as in the real guitar, not GH3), still stuck at some pentatonic scale... I will try to improve though, like really hard but first I gotta deal with my school work.
Whoever reads this and wants to know what WWRY is all about, type "WWRY" in youtube and you'll find some clips from the original cast (Tony Vincent and Hannah Jane Fox etc, again...), who are also really good but personally, I think the script made for the Australasia tour was funnier :) I found the script for WWRY London but I doubt I'll find the one for the tour just yet (cos it hasn't ended, they're performing in Thailand now).
Well I suppose I'll just end here :)

My Life Issues, boring stuff that you don't have to read...

Man, I totally sucked for Wings. I did fine for the first two heights then completely flipped out for 1.30m. Sheesh! Well I'd blame it on the water puddle that was there to make me slip (2nd jump). I could tell I was sort of freaking out towards the end... AHHH! Mental blockage kinda thing... So sad... Anyway, rushing all my homework right now... Just realised yesterday that I got in for Nat Juniors (Well they take in 12 for each Div and there were only 10 of us, of course I got in...). Now, the big problem is that my event (NJ) clashes with the IVP seminar that I have to attend... I just hope that I can go for the competition because by then, my evaluation for IVP would have been over and I need this competition. I need to practice having the right state of mind, plus it's my last year in C Div, last year with 1.30m as the qualifying height. Gosh, why must things be so hard! Hopefully I can leave the seminar early and go for my COMPETITION because I don't think I'll really have that much fun there anyway...

As I have said, well, one can't have everything.

New Com and Some Other Stuff...

Yay! Got a new com today at the PC show :) I know I'm breaking my only-movie-reviews thing but well, just felt i had to write this :) Well, I only got a new com because my previous one crashed on Tuesday. Thank goodness my Dad had his laptop with him that day or I won't be able to submit my Science proposal on time. Whew! So this time, instead of a desktop, we purchased a hp laptop. Bit confused as to how to work is though, i'm so afraid to spoil it. Ha-ha... Sad thing is that because my com crashed so suddenly and we didn't have a back up disc so a lot of information got lost with it. I hope nothing too important... Anyway, still glad that I got a new com!
Going for Wings this Saturday. Hopefully I do well, or should I say, better than usual. Now my PB is only 1.30m which is seriously sad. I just can't flip any higher than that. WHY?! Basically flipping is just the major problem here. I could go so much higher if only i could flip properly... Unfortunately, I 'll have to miss SL, on the first session too! Crap! How am I supposed to complete my 6 (or 7) hours of CIP? You know, they really shouldn't do this CIP thing so that we will be serving with our heart and not just for the hours. Oh well, life's like that, one can't have everything...

The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

Yay! I just watched it today (it opens today :]) with my P6A friends for our reunion! Personally, I felt that this was better than the first film. Okay, quick plot summary... Pardon me if I got some facts wrong. So apparently, it's about the conflict between the Narnians and the Telmarine. 1300 years have passed in Narnia since the Kings and Queens of Narnia (as seen in the previous Narnia film "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe") left Narnia and returned to their original land of the humans. The Telmarines have invaded Narnia and the narnians are thought to be extinct and the original grandeur of their lands were left in ruins. So this guy, Prince Caspian X, who is the next in line for the throne, is about to be killed by his uncle Miraz who wants to claim the throne for himself after his wife had a baby boy. So Caspian X escaped into the forest and met the Narnians. As he was about to be killed, he blew the magic horn that his professor gave to him before he left and that call for help transported the Pevensies from the train station back into Narnia to help him claim back his throne. Well, shan't spoil the fun, basically there were some conflicts and they eventually fought the Telmarine (they meaning Caspian X and the Pevensies, in the end, with the help of Aslan). There are quite a number of sub-plots here like faith, betrayal and leadership. Yeah... Go watch the show:)

This film is directed by Andrew Adamson starring Ben Barns (Prince Caspian X), Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), William Moseley (Peter), and Anna Popplewell (Susan). Personally, I think the graphics were really cool and pretty convincing. I especially liked the water thing at the end. XP Well, great costumes and certain props that can also be found in the first film like the magic horn. All really well made and thought through I think. There was a short appearance of the White Witch but basically, the main characters for this film were still the Pevensies, only this time accompanied mainly by Caspian X and King Miraz. The events were smoothly laid out and the songs were appropriately added in to add to the atmosphere. (The audio tracks were really good :]) It has a bit more fighting scenes than the first film and emphasizes the growth of Peter but a vast difference in character can be seen in Edmund from the comparison of the two films.
Well, that's about it... Shall not spoil any more of the fun :)

References:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499448/

Jane Eyre (2006 edition, I think...)

A show adapted from the renowned book by Charlotte Bronte. Show... Yeah, I think it's a show. Found it while browsing on youtube. It is uploaded by MissJaneAustenfan and it is uploaded into 4 episodes with seven parts each. I haven't read the book yet (sadly) but I'll try to do so during the June Holidays. I don't think I'll have to explain the plot, just google the title and you'll most likely find something about it. Okay, the show was directed by Susanna White starring Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre) and Toby Stephens (Edward Fairfax Rochester). Apparently, according to some comments made on youtube, this adaptation was not quite very faithful to the book. I am not able to make any form of comparison as i haven't watch the other film adaptations, nor have I read the book. But for those who did, feel free to make your own judgements. Personally, I thought it was pretty much well done. I do not know the exact details in the story but is just seems as if there was this loophole, something in the plot that was left unexplained when I finished it (that's what I feel is not so good but I might just be a careless viewer). Well, maybe because i rushed through the whole thing (Hey, I wanted to know how it all ended!) and thus didn't really catch everything or have much time to digest the information. Seriously, when you watch/read stuff more than once, you find out that you tend to miss out on a lot of details, unless you are an extremely careful reader/viewer. For me, I usually miss out on a lot of the details the first time I read/watch a movie/book because for the first time I come a cross it, I usually read/watch just to get the jest of it, and the basic storyline. Back to the film, I wouldn't say it was action packed but there was quite a bit of romance involved and in some parts, mysterious and dangerous. It seemed pretty much like a summary on Jane Eyre's life (nothing wrong with that) but in my opinion, it isn't quite like any other romance stories. It is filled with sub-plots based on the life of Jane Eyre, not only her love life but her other relationships (such as familial), emotions (the suppressed ones due to her past life), religion ( a little, only), and i would say, the idea of death. It kinda portrays a darker side, you know, with the whole Bertha (the other wife) issue. I think that "other wife" twist was pretty unique. In the show, it was portrayed in a rather creepy manner where she started putting things on fire, like the wedding dress thing and walking around in a sort of haunted manner. It's quite a good show, in my opinion, relatively enjoyable but of course, all these are only my opinions, what about yours?

Awards:Nominated for Golden Globe, another 4 wins and 15 nominations.
Information from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780362/

Ballet Shoes

For those that don't know, this is a movie. I read the book like a couple of years ago and i have to admit that i kinda fell asleep reading it. haha. But I'm not saying it isn't a good book, just "not my type". Okay, time for me to explain as i remembered it from the book. This man, Great Uncle Matthew (GUM) while travelling, sent back three girls to be taken care of by his niece, Sylvia, namely (in order) Pauline, Petrova and Posy. Then the story goes on, blah blah blah, they were running out of money and thus they took in boarders in order to get money. A boarder, Theo Dane, is a ballet teacher at The Children's Academy of Dancing and Stage Training. After seeing Posy dance, she arranges for the head of the school, Madame Fidolia, to train them free of charge. Pauline then discovers that she has the talent for acting and acted in various plays to raise money for the family, Posy, a gifted ballerina and Petrova, with mechanics. I think it's something like that, I'm not sure if there's more as it has been quite awhile... Now, the movie. The newest remake was in 2007 starring Emma Watson, Yasmin Paige and Lucy Boynton, directed by Sandra Goldbacher. There was another film, also for the same book made in 1975. I haven't exactly watched the entire film yet (which can be found on youtube) but I think it should be quite alright. As compared to the 1975 film, the 2007 film was rated 0.7 more on IMDb. However, eventually, it's still up to you to decide. Enjoy!

References:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1083845/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275954/
http://www.whitegauntlet.com.au/noelstreatfeild/ChildFiction/BooksBalletShoes.htm

Amadeus

Amadeus is a 1984 movie directed by Milos Forman telling the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as told by Antonio Salieri in a flashback. It won 8 Oscars, 32 other wins and 13 other nominations. I've been dying to watch the entire movie since my encounter with a clip from that movie on youtube. I recently found that that disc could be found in the school library but I was unable to borrow it (for some reason). Some of my friends immediately seem uninterested when I mentioned this movie was about Mozart but seriously, this show is fantastic. Just because it's about a musician doesn't mean it's boring!!! In fact, I'm pretty sure that these famous musicians, including others such as Beethovan, have gone through much more than we have in our lives (for now maybe, considering our ages). Unfortunately, (fortunately for Mozart,) this show twisted a couple of facts and thus we cannot actually consider it a documentary (which is why we don't watch this in English or Lit. Just so you know, my EL teacher went," No!" when i suggested she borrowed this to watch after I mentioned it was about Mozart. No offence really...). Well, the facts might not be entirely accurate but really, you should try watching this movie (or just short clips of it will be fine too). If any of you have the disc and is willing to lend me ('cos I can't find it anywhere) please do let me know!

Note: Umm, I think there might be some scenes that might make you feel a little uncomfortable. I'm not sure whether it's PG or NC anything so yeah...

For your entertainment:

Trailer on youtube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9SXiiahtodo

Link to one of the "merrier" clips in Amadeus: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TIicAeMQS5U

More info on the film: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeus_(film)

References: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086879/

The Story of Stuff

Just watched the story of stuff on youtube. It is great. This short 20 minute clip made by Annie Leonard tells us how the "stuff" in our lives are made. There is more to just a $4.99 radio on the shelf of the Radio Shack. How can a radio be that cheap? Who is paying the cost for the production of this radio such that it can be sold for just $4.99? Annie Leonard tells it all. She explains the entire cycle from extraction all the way to disposal stopping at the little details in between that many of us miss out such as the people involved etc. Along the way, in this cycle, there are many events that contribute to the pollution and destruction of our world, Earth. She then brings attention to these issues and what we can do to reduce and prevent them. This clip not only gives us more knowledge and information to help us further appreciate the things around us, it also makes us aware of how we are harming our world and environment. It then teaches us what we can do to save this planet from depleting. So if you have not watched this clip, watch it, now and do your part to conserve the Earth's natural resources and keep our world a conducive place to live in.

This is the URL for the first part of the film. You can find the other parts under the same account.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OqZMTY4V7Ts&feature=user

Also visit http://www.storyofstuff.com.

Familliar face or total stranger?

Yes, it's finally CNY! Yeah well I know I should be doing my homework but whatever... Time seems to fly by like duper fast. Sometimes you see someone you recognise but if you look closer, you realise there's so much you do not know and that person then feels like a stranger. It's just this weird sensation I get occasionally like you do not realise how tall your baby cousin actually grew until you look carefully/measure his/her height and you start wondering how long ago was she only just as tiny as you could imagine considering the fact that humans differ so much from when they were infants as compared to, say, goldfishes (not including the time when they were eggs, maybe I should try guppies since they give birth to their young...). Eh, I think what i'm writing about now is utter crap but anyway, try this, think of a person in your family or group of friends and try naming their favourite colour, half the time, we don't get it right unless we actually do ask everyone for their favourite colour (Just for the record, mine's dark purple, wait no, black, uggh, i have no favourite colour...). Sometimes we even forget their surnames... Just a couple of moments ago, I was starring into my cousin's face and realised how much she has changed. I was completely clueless as to what to say, we were just so awkward around each other. Although I do see her almost every weekend, now, we mostly just smile at each other, you know, there really isn't much to say. Last time I met my friend at a class reunion, I thought "yes, i know her name but who is she?"
So do you really know the people around you or do you not? What does it mean to know someone anyway? Is it just to recognise them or to really understand them? What is the difference between recognise and know? Or is there no difference?
Perhaps everyone we think we know, actually, we do not.

Achmed

See the youtube video with the skeleton? That's Achmed. So far from all videos i've seen on youtube (on Jeff Dunham), this one's the best. Haha..."Silence! I'll kill you!" That's just genius. Check out his latest video with Achmed, Jingle Bombs, on youtube! Enjoy!