Thursday, May 26, 2005
First ImpressionZ
Yesterday night went to Causeway point to watch Coach Carter. Why Causeway point? because it is the only cinema that's still showing the movie..
Must say its a beautiful story.. it does its job of inspiring people and also demonstrates the brotherhood that often bonds a sports team, or a band of soldiers together like they were true blood brothers. Sometimes they are even closer than most blood brothers.. Truly beautiful, that bond.
AND on to less serious stuff...
OOOWWWWwww you got my nose~! You lousy misbehaving robot!! Argh..
Frederick in a car! A 2-D cardboard car with plastic windshield, that is.. haha -_-
Siiian.. the movie ended at what time? 2330 hours. And where was i?
WOODLANDS mrt.. and i'm supposed to get to tampines. Whoa. So i took a train, hoping that it would take me to City Hall at least. But alas it terminated at Toa Payoh, and i had to take a cab home. Sad la.
Tuesday was Day 1 of orientation. Simple affair. They just put all the freshies into the com labs and gave us a crash course on computer services in school. Lol. Poly really has a mind-boggling array of e-services lA.. Far dwarfs any JC in scale... Too much to describe here.. -__-
Wednesday. Today! Reported to sch audi for a round of talks by various people... and watched videos of clubs and other facilities in campus. Then my school's director came to give an introductory talk to the students.
Of all the mumbo-jumbo he said, this was the most memorable:
"Rules to follow: no slippers (duh..), no smoking (DUH..), and no short shorts (short shorts???.. er.). blah blah blah..." Then came the bomb: " We understand that you all are at an age where you fall in love, and there are many pretty girls and handsome guys around. So, in the future, if your ex is in the same class as you, you can request a transfer to another class, and we will arrange for such a transfer. Because we understand your predicament."
Mr. Director was dead serious. He wasn't joking. Lol. That statement sent a wave of surprised giggles across the auditorium...
Just to paint a profile, the Director is not some funky 30 year-old hippie. He was someone old enough to be my dad. lol.
So. First impressions of my school: NOT staid. Haha..
It rox. They provided refreshments (in the form of some deserts, drinks, bee hoon, chicken, and other stuff.. essentially a free lunch) for us after the talks. Which made me feel.. well, respected and looked after.
Poly really satisfies the liberal-democratic inclinations of youth these days. Firstly it really treats youths like adults. Meaning, YOU decide what you do with your studying life. Only 75% attendence required. Well, all in all, you are the one in control of your own life. What you do with it is all up to you. Which i think kinda reflects how adult life is ^-^. Secondly, i heard you could actually decrease the salary of your lecturer if he/she doesnt perform well.. Awesome. And the students in the hall were much more well behaved than those i witnessed in JC, despite nOt being amongst the upper echelon of our nation's bunch of students. Which kinda makes me conclude that appeasement is better than restraint. LOL.
Flag day tml! Wahaha..
jOhn thought at 3:46 PM
Monday, May 23, 2005
Rhythm & Seoul~!
Oh man. Orientation is starting soon. Going to kiss my freedom goodbye. Its been a happily long holiday for me, but alas its time to open another new chapter of my life =)
Went out with church-sp friends a few days back to celebrate Ray's birthday at Seoul Garden bugis.
Had a super crazy time there la.. after stuffing ourselves with food for about 2 hours, they took out the cake n sang birthday song for the birthday boy.
Then they started a cream fight right there in the restaurant. In the end some people kena cream until their face like got snowed on liddat. Even some of their hair was also streaked with cream. They had to go to toilet and wash up -_-
(birthday boy's the one on the right =))
Then they played the game zhou ji mi ma (if any mistake with hanyu pinyin, 4give me).. Where the loser who hit the number had to eat some really freaky things:
1. Noodles that had been boiled, fried, boiled, fried, and then soaked with yam ice cream.
2. Mixture of ice kachang, satay sauce, 4 types of chilli sauce, ice cream, bittergourd, and other crazy stuff. Haha.. the guy that made this was ironically the first one to kena it. LOL.
3. Some overcooked tom yam-prawn soup with too much chilli that tasted hot, sour, sweet at the same time.
After most people had lost at least once, they seperated the 8 people (out of 28) who still 'survived' and divided us into two teams of 4, where each person from each team took turn to say a number. If one person guessed the number, his team lost n had to eat the special edition concoction:
This insane thing had literally everything put inside. I think this was mixture no. 2 with added EGGS, papaya, fries, plus the most notable of all: GINSENG ROOT. From the soup base. -_-...
LUCKY THING throughout the whole game i survived, and my team also survived the final crazy round. So i didnt get to eat any of the insane goodies. Aww =)) Wahahaha.
Then we went down to marina sq to play some pool and slack around for a while. I just stood around watching because my pool skills are not pro enough! But i had a go at billiard. which is considerably harder than pool. So i am trying to train -_-.
Today i spent my night helping out with the banner preparation for the Parade. Its quite a large banner, about 5m long... we couldnt even complete sewing the words SINGAPORE POLY onto it by 10pm:
This guy thinks he's a chameleon. lol..
Im so happY! My church is moving to Expo! It will use one of the expo's halls every weekend! which means... I DO NOT NEED TO FLY TO JURONG WEST EVERY WEEKEND LE! YIPEEeee...!
"Who knows what could happen? Do what ya do, just keep on laughing, One thing's true, there's always a brand new day~!" -Avril Lavigne - Who Knows..
I put my trust in God, because He sent His Son to die for me. He was always there when I needed help, and even when i did'nt. How could I possibly doubt His existence, after all I've gone through, and all I've seen? Why should I hide Him? Also he's surrounded me with good friends who care for each other, made me dance and sing for joy, made me glad to be alive, and gave me a reason to live life like it should be lived. =)
I love God, I value life, I love my Church, I love my friends =))).
*Glad*
jOhn thought at 4:32 PM
Sunday, May 22, 2005
TiMeTaBlE
Yo all.. this is my timetable for the next semester, which is, 6 months long. Looks pretty dandy to me, just that one strange thing is, in the table, all the last periods of the day are shown ending at 5pm, n nothing after that. IF all my lesons reli end at 5 everyday, it means i have certain days with 4 hour long tutorials. Hard to believe yea. hmm.
Monday:
10-11: lecture. 11-1pm: tutorial. 2-5pm: tutorial.
Tuesday:
10-12: lecture. 1-5pm: tutorial.
Wednesday:
8-9: lecture. 9-12: tutorial.
Thursday:
10-12: lecture. 1-5pm: tutorial.
Friday:
10-11: lecture. 11-12: tutorial. 1-3pm: tutorial. 3-5pm tutorial.
Yep.. thats it. Nice and clean. At least i dont have to drag myself out of bed at 6am everyday. teeheehee.
jOhn thought at 2:54 PM
Thursday, May 19, 2005
IQ test~!
I now cordially invite you to take some time off your busy schedule for the simple IQ test below. Its quite a fun n enjoyable test. Made me exercise my mind for the first time in quite a while =pp.
IQ TEST
My score was 138 out of a maximum of 150, btw... haha... guess that means i havent become stupid over the hols. lol.
jOhn thought at 2:05 PM
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Fresh photos
Some pics of my beloved Parade tower! They totally rock man.. couldnt have had a better tower than this.. Love 'em!! Totally! POS would have been reeeall lousy for me without you guys! HaHa...
Our tower posing for the camera!...
Our tower just posing.
One of the early formations we attempted. This has since been changed. Too simple. Wont win any awards =p
Me sewing the banner up. That took a lot of tedious work yea.
And a group pic of the whole gang!! Though there's still more people. I'm at the top right corner..
I love my life. Totally. Even though i now spend around 10 hours out of home a day. =))
jOhn thought at 3:20 PM
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Discipline
One thing i am gonna talk briefly about: disciplining a child.
Today, while taking the train home, i overheard this guy talking on the phone to his friend. At first, it was about his business and other mundane stuff. But then the topic shifted to something that really pulled at my heartstrings.
The man happily told his friend that the day before, he went one step further in his disciplining of his child, presumably a young girl. He commented that she often threw tantrums, and grew rebellious. He also said that she could scratch him (from this i conclude the girl's about 8-10 years old..), and so he found that he was at his wit's end trying to control her. So, for the first time, he used a cane and caned her hard. He even commented that he made it extra painful so she would remember the pain. And also boasted that the cane marks remained for about 3 days afterward.
I was so disgusted and angry that i felt like just rebuking the man right there. But then i thought against it and decide to pen my feelings down instead.
Caning an innocent and growing child is inhumane and evil, even if it is done with good intent. For grown adults who know better than to rape and cheat and steal, fine. BUT any parent who resorts to using a cane against his/her child is desperate and sadistic. AND to parents who utilise worse methods of punishment, like making your child eat chilli, you are even worse and do not deserve a place on this Earth, and a parenting role. Since you love your child so much that you can bear to punish him/her like that, why dont you do the same thing for yourself, in exactly the correct adult dosage so that you would feel the trauma that your dear child goes through when you mercilessly tower over him/her and whack him/her repeatedly, ignoring his/her cries to stop, and only really stopping when you feel tired? This especially goes out to all parents who make their children eat chilli, and other sick and dastardly methods of so called discipline. Lucky thing i never experienced that.
To all parents and future parents, DONT USE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT IN YOUR HOME. Trust me. Your child will grow to despise that side of you that chose to cane them. They will never forget. Furthermore, violence begets violence. When one party dominates the other for so many years, once the other party gains an upper hand, you will be the one dominated, and your reign will come to an end. In other words, if your child grows stronger than you, you are in deep trouble.
So. don't ever use the cane. unless you are uneducated, unintelligent, unstable as a person, and overreactive. In the same way you would not give your child 100 tablets of Panadol a day when he/she falls sick, DONT CANE HIM/HER. More harm is done than good.
So, what should you do? Well, anything. Except something that involves lifting a finger against your child. Reasoning through creative and effective means to make a child learn what is right and wrong is always good. Setting a good example will gain the respect of your child, and you will find your child treating you as a friend and confidante, even when in tumultuous teenage years. Instead of treating you as a distant character from whom secrets should be hidden. What could be better??..
ps. this is just half of the original post. *clue clue*
jOhn thought at 3:22 PM
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Gadget Galore
Woohoooo~!
Got me an Ipod mini.
A little late, i know. The little bugga was released late last year.
BUT, still i'm very glad that i bought it.
Begone! STUPID LOUSY CREATIVE ZEN MICRO! IM GONNA COOK CURRY WITH YOU.
You're the reason i had to buy a new player anyway.
If the ipod mini has a problem im really gonna pull all my hair out.
Not that i have much hair though. Haha.
APPLE ROX! CREATIVE SUX!
LiTtLe BlUe WoNdEr..
jOhn thought at 2:42 AM
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Da wEekenD'
Went for a briefing on saturday morning at sp. It was for the upcoming Sports Club Orientation Camp. Major sense of deja vu. They made us sit in groups and play familiar JC-style orientation games like Wacko and stuff.. But must say the forfeits are a little more... liberal. Lol.
Eg, there were these bunch of ppl who kena forfeit, two girls and four guys. So the game ics made them split into 2 group. One girl each. Forfeit was named 'Seven Wonders'. How to play? Simple. Do what they tell you to. So in the end the girls ended up with either hand on either boy's chest, with each boy's hands around her hips, with heads touching and one leg raised. By that time, both girls' faces tured a strange beetroot red. Ha. After that, they made one guy lie down, another guy lie over him, and both girls must put their hands on the guy's butt -_-. They cheated by holding on a waistpouch he wore instead, but the ics relented. STilL, snap went the camera, freezing that moment in time, for the amusement of future batches of freshmen viewing the Sports Club Hall Of Infamy. (made that up myself..) Oh, but the all-too-familiar forfeits of doing the banana dance or writing words with your butt still reigned supreme.
And so, the briefing concluded with a funky HokiE PokiE dance they taught, and then they sent us off with a list of things to bring on the actual day, together with an indemnity form, which essentially relieves singapore poly of any responsibility should the camp participant injure himself/herself and decide to sue the school or something. Haha.
Just imagine..
Overreactive mother: MY SON PRICKED HIS TOE ON A PIN!! DUE TO EXCESSIVE AND POSSIBLY FATAL LOSS OF WHITE AND RED BLOOD CELLS, POSSIBLE IRON ION POISONING, BLOOD CLOTS, DISRUPTIVE PUS DISCHARGE, POSSIBLE TUMOUR DEVELOPMENT, LOSS OF IMPORTANT BODILY FLUIDS, SCARRING FOR LIFE, PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE LEADING TO MENTAL HANDICAP AND TERMINAL-STAGE PIN-OPHOBIA (the fear of small metal pins..), I now file a lawsuit against Singapore Polytechnic for the above 9 charges related to malpractice and negligence, for the sum of 999999 million pounds in damages. -_-""""
Mother's Day on Sunday. Me and cousin took our moms out for dinner. Treated them to a nice little dinner at Fish & Co's at Park Mall. Ain't we just soo swEet?? =) Jkjk. T'was nothing reli. Just a simple gesture. Fish & Co were also full of other people treating their moms to dinner. Haha. We then watched XXX2 with cousin at plaza sing. Quite a cool movie i must say. But strictly for people who have a fetish for explosions. Hey, which other movie throws together vehicles like helicopters, sports cars, boats, trucks, presidential bullet trains, tanks and armoured personnel carriers?? AND my personal favourite: an aircraft carrier, the scene of a tank battle.
OH MAN, MOVIE TICKETS COST $9.50 ON SUNDAY NIGHT?? WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO....
Got a 3G phone, Nokia 6680. Pretty awesome phone. Best hp camera i've ever had, too. Though its video calling function is practically useless. Few people have 3G capability. So, next phone ya all buy MUST have 3G hor.. btw, 7600 still rocks! Trusty dependable phone. N furthermore, which other phone is shaped like a lEaF?? =)
OOoo.. late now. Should hit the sack. Good Morning guys!... ZZzzz.
jOhn thought at 4:57 PM
Friday, May 06, 2005
Kingdom Of Heaven
Finally! A short respite from the hectic practises. Haha. Shall blog about yesterday..
Went down to church at 11.30am, n met up with the group before going to the main auditorium to practice. They modified some of the dance steps for all of the guys, because yesterday the people who viewed the performances said the guys look totally disgusting shaking their butts at the certain points in the dance routine. It was one of the dance steps ma. While the girls look fine gettin' jiggy with it -_-. So the guys had to relearn some steps, replacing the butt shakin' with some more 'manly' moves. Which took us a few hours to get it right. Think our dance quite zai lor.. We wrapped up soon and ended quite early, around 3.
All the people also had to go online to check their semestral exam results.. Anyway I heard that one must score mostly Dist, As or Bs for the various modules in that semester to get into spore unis. Hmm. Well, btw my School Of Design has no exams! ^.^ Which means all my grading comes from projects. Which can be both good or bad news.
Poly is like so cool la.. Some guys were telling stories about how their friends mostly drive cars. So they use the car until got very little petrol left, n wait till parents top up the fuel before using the car again so they dun have to pay for expensive petrol. Whoa. Smart.
Then most of us went down to Jurong Point for a movie, Kingdom Of Heaven. So funny la.. During the Star Wars advert before the movie, when it was showing Darth Vader, this guy suddenly burst out: Wa Si Ni Lao Beh!!. (I am your Father!) Then the whole group started laughing -_-" Worse. More came. During the start of the movie, there was this baron who went looking for his son, who was a blacksmith at a small village. N when he saw him he said: I AM YOUR FATHER! Then the son's shocked expression was exactly like that of Luke Skywalker's when Vader told him that. Wahahaha.. everyone burst into peals of laughter. Again.
The movie was quite awesome. Though it would be easier to understand if you already knew about history during the time of the Crusades. Battle scenes rival that of Lord Of The Rings, and without any gratuitous violence. Its eye-opening to see how bloody battles were in 1194 A.D., when everyone fought with swords and arrows, and the troops in front were certainly dead. Either got sliced to pieces, burned alive by oil from castle defenders, squashed by some falling siege tower or rocks or trebuchet (big wooden catapults) projectile, or impaled by arrows. OwW.
WARNING: Spoilers Ahead!
Also some amazing castle defence tactics.
1. Pour oil on those fools trying to break down your castle gate with their battering ram.
2. Latch arrows with ropes connected to huge weights onto siege towers, then drop the weights to make the towers lean to one side and topple. Also squashes surrounding enemy troops.
3. If any siege towers make it near, once they open, throw flaming balls at them to set them and troops inside alight so they cannot storm your castle walls.
4. Trebuchets are very effective when enemy army is near. Launch flaming balls to flatten troops and some of their flimsy trebuchets.
But alas, these days, such tactics are useless. Want something destroyed? Get a jet and a laser-guided bomb. Fly over and drop it. Accurate to within 2 meters. Ka Boooom. Target decimated.
By the way, I love the nokia 6680.
jOhn thought at 2:19 AM
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Stuntman Wan.
Practice for my parade of schools has been stepped up to an unprecedented level. Haha. Now practice is held every single day, often lasting the entire day. Just today, i woke up at 8am, screamed in horror (okay, maybe not that kua zhang.. -_-"), and changed n rushed of the house, miraculously taking only 15 mins to completely change n pack my stuff. I then zipped all the way to SP.
Once there, we immediately set up camp in the badminton hall and started practising like siao for e next few hours, then we rushed down to church in Jurong to go for a rehearsal, where the organisers of the parade viewed our performances and gave their opinions on how to improve.
At least our stunts went smoothly today. Yesterday was much more eventful. We were training to get basic stunts up n operational first. So we did stuff like lifting girls feet up into e air (called Elevator)...
Then we also tried letting the gal fall backwards frm that position, then lift her up again (called Reloading). And also sweeping her feet forward so that she falls down in a lying position n we catch her (commonly called Sweeping). More advanced Bring-It-On-style stunts come later. Haha. We even practised in a swimming pool, so tt e gals can fall without hurting themselves. It was soo cool la. In both senses of the word. Haha.
Cheerleading stunts are tough. For guys, it is tiring. For girls, it is plain dangerous. Lucky thing no major accidents happened.
And today, AFTER 6 hours of crazy dancing, cheering, and stunts, i had to shake away all my fatigue and freshen up.. for.. CHOIR AUDITION! Miss singing on stage so much that i signed up for the awesome church choir. Audition was at 7.45pm. Standard stuff. Same as sec sch choir audition tt i had in sec 1. Haha hope i get in.. heard they are despo for guys.. tts good news =p
*TIRED*
jOhn thought at 2:55 PM