Listen to Elmo educate you about the days of the week.





OMFG just go hear what this freak is saying. I mean, to say that she deserves to die, although a bit hypocritical, would not even be considered extreme. Listen to WTF she's talking about! Crazy psycho-bitch she gotta be admitted into a mental institute. People like this, really make me re-think my decisions about helping the patients at SAMH / IMH. Plus my brother was telling me that actually many mental patients aren't even victims, or say comparatively, much less of a victim than those with terminal illnesses and such, which made sense, which just confuses me further so let's not talk about it. Yeah, she actually fickin' said that "Japan is a fantastic place to start" when referring to the Earthquake. "... with one day of prayer, with two days of prayer, to see god literally waking people up and say "you are going to hell"? Just imagine what will happen at the end of the 40 days". Okay, so that stinking bitch prayed for a fucking Earthquake to happen. She is far worse than the one from UCLA man! Her. Face. So. Punch-able.

I know we're supposed to keep our mouths shut about criticism of religions, but she's taking her belief too far. I was just discussing religion with my dad and brother yesterday, and seriously - no religion is bad. Everything started out with good intentions, creating a belief for people, but yet in these days things have spiraled into such a fucking disaster. Religion isn't about conflict, fighting or war. I hate what is being advocated to kids nowadays. I'm sorry to say but honestly, it's either many people are confused about what their religion is about or some people are teaching the wrong things. Like this bitch up here? And that day when I was volunteering, I talked to this patient from SAMH (who looks completely fine) but she was real annoying and bossy to the others over there, and she asked about my religion and commented "oh, so next time when I die, I'll go to heaven with God and the rest of you will go to hell". Seriously? It pissed my butt-cracks off but she was a patient so I pretended I didn't hear it. Okay this religion-talk can go on for days so I'll just leave it like that.

I'll share with you my volunteering experience some other day, when I'm feeling less pissed off.

The past week had been great. So my boss - once my tuition teacher - booked 2 rooms at Resorts World Sentosa for us (his assistants) for 'staff welfare'. The first night we had 4 people and 2 rooms, cause he's just rich that way. Me and Veron was completely pumped about having a house (okay, fine, hotel) party cause we're so extremely short of people. Plus our boss Gary wanted to sponsor 2 bottles of liquor for us. And we bought the cheap calamansi and cranberry over at Vivocity's Giant for mixers. But then he forgot about them and we didn't remind him so yeah, that's why you got no invites. And I was with Yasmin when we were buying the snacks / drinks after shopping, and because we wanted to go into the express queue (baskets only) so we tried to take up our things by hand from the trolley. Only 3 bottles and 2 packets of chips, mind you, in case you're thinking that I'm inconsiderate with those judging eyes of yours. Anyway, the cranberry bottle slipped off my fingers, knocked against an ice-fridge, and rolled and spilled an entire nile river alongside the yogurt fridges. Two kids were running and one of them slipped on my cranberry on the floor, in a sliding tackle-fashion, and no damage was dealt, thankfully. But I'm quite sure his cotton shirt drank up quite a lot of the cranberry on the floor.

So there I was, with a bunch of snacks thrown on the ice-fridge, wet and sticky hands while Yasmin went off to grab a basket and some tissue, and so I stood there and couldn't help. His mum rushed over, and looked at me, with the quarter-full cranberry bottle in hand, the bottle cap misplaced, and went "who spilled the drink ah? who spilled the drink", the boy pointed at me, but she had to go on asking the same question, right in front of the flustered, panicky, completely in a mess-me, while she waltzed across my blank face. That, my friends, is the kind of woman who needed a wet, cranberry-flavoured slap. I should have given her some of that for asking the world's dumbest question, which was apparently targeted at me. Or I could have at least replied "yeah, dumb, you a bit asking the obvious hor?". But I didn't. I regretted later.

Anyway, RWS was a great experience. I felt like a rich-f**k strolling down the hotel rooms, spinning the card key in my hand and entering the hotel room. I also feel like a rich-f**k walking around Sentosa like a tourist. For once I'm not going there like those (low-class - HAHA kidding) SPGs to play beach volleyball and I'm carrying my weekend bag filled with clothes, about to check into a hotel. I felt like quite a douche-(gold)bag acting all tourist-y around Sentosa but still it felt pretty great. Especially when it's all... FREE, FREE, FREE! Right?

USS was good as well. (Hi, I can't take it - I've a secret to tell you) I regretted not trying any of the food there though. But then the entire experience felt like we had the VIP express ticket cause there was almost no need to wait for any of the rides cause it rained in the morning, drizzled the entire day, and HELLO it was a off-peak Tuesday. I mean, the longest we waited was past two trips of the roller coaster Cylon (the blue one of Battlestar Galactica) cause we insisted on the first row seats. And uhm, honestly? The rides weren't much kick. Other than the first drop from both the roller coasters, there's nothing much else to anticipate. Cylon has a nice view though, with all the 360 and all. I super love the Woody Woodpecker mascot. I mean, I love how the woodpecker looks like lah, so bloody insanely cute I want to die. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.







Yeah, and on Wednesday morning I went to talk to this really nice full-time staff at SAMH (for Singapore Association for Mental Health) at Pelangi Village, and she showed me around the activities hub. There's something quite depressing about the place, like in most old-folks homes, many corners without sunlight and such. Nobody's really having a good time though some are talking to each other. I'm still not too clear about their mental situation, but the volunteer Sadijah (OMG first person I know to have the same birth-date as me) told me that only the more... active / 'high-functioning' patients (they call them clients) are allowed in the activities hub, which is really the main building in the complex. There are 7 other bungalows (according to my memory) and in there live the patients who are less able to interact. So honestly, I haven't seen much too deeply into the situation, and I'm really looking forward to understanding them. I'll update you with more when I get to take part in other things. But then I'm always really guarded around there cause I'm not too sure of how to behave and I'm always afraid I'll hit some landmine or talk about stuff which is taboo.

I haven't blogged for bloody long because I haven't had time for myself in forever. The past 2 weeks were just brain-wrecking, talking to people - deciding between NTU / NUS / SMU Business. Don't need to try to convince me on other courses, I have enough to think about already. I'm settled on Business. So far I've (almost) completed my NTU and NUS application. I should be finishing up on them tonight and SMU will be Saturday.

The only scholarship I've signed up for right now is NTU's Nanyang Scholarship, and I will be honest, I completed the 300 word essay on the bus. I faced a moment of indecisiveness before I clicked on the "confirm" button because I was torn between spending time writing something which sells myself or going with my heart. I decided to well... take the easy way out. Or to phrase it in a more noble way: I went with my heart. Here's my 300 words. I haven't considered the possible consequences of posting my scholarship essay up on my public blog, but I shall not think about that.

A week ago I heard that one of my volleyball teammates was about to embark on a solo cycling expedition around South-East Asia in April to help communities in need and experience life without material sustenance. He sold pastries, which he learnt to bake during a part-time stint as an assistant to a bakery chef at a country club, and is planning to use this money, along with his salary to fund the trip. I've always had in my 'bucket-list' such trips to unfamiliar environments alone - a personal exploration of life, also with the goal of touching the lives of strangers, to make an influence on them and mature myself with the experience.

What my friend really inspired me with was the fact that we are never too young to embark on anything. I left such plans to till I am well above twenty-five years old, but yet my friend was already well into his at a tender nineteen. In contrast to him, the rest of us are working jobs which seem so unfulfilling and so meaningless, only to earn more money.

It was like a wake-up call to me; it taught me to cherish opportunities, to work hard towards my goals and help others. I want to make a positive influence, much beyond the one-day service learning projects.

Since then, I have informed my superior that I would resign from my job as a waiter after this week. I have also contacted charity organizations such as the Singapore Association for Mental Health to inquire about volunteering opportunities. I want to do more meaningful activities before I enlist into National Service in May, and I want to leave my footprints (not carbon ones) and give back to society.

Entirely truthful. Except that it was two days ago that I heard it. And I am only going to tell my boss that I'm quitting tomorrow, on my last day of work. So I kinda shifted the time-line backwards. Nothing much what. Right? - Sorts out moral struggle - And I do realise that the essay is a weeny bit informal, but heck it, if they don't accept me for who I am then I don't deserve the scholarship right? Oh and anyway, the in-charge from the Association for Mental Health has already gotten back to me, and I will be meeting her coming Tuesday to discuss about how I can help and for her to brief me on an upcoming event. I have mixed feelings about it though. I'm bloody goddamned enthusiastic about helping out and understanding more about such patients, but then again I'm scared volunteering would be a very on-the-surface kind of thing. Like helping out at event booths or... you get the idea. Oh and yeah, to help you understand more about my friend, click here to view his note, written by one of the teachers in VJC. My GP teacher, in fact. After Ivan told me about it at work and I checked the original note posted on the VJC Facebook page, I was crippled with "woah". I thought about it the entire bus journey home, and so when I saw the NTU scholarship question, I couldn't think of anything else. It preoccupied my mind like the fattest Snorlax you've ever encountered, and I had to write about it to awaken the Snorlax and shoo it off my path, putting it figuratively.

Later, when I went home to check up on it again, I realised it was only a one-week trip. Which makes it less cool cause now it's less "Into The Wild". I was expecting at least two weeks. But then, still damn awesomegobblesmacking cool. I met up with Chi Shun and hey turns out its 40 days, not a week. So now that reverts it back to its goddamned awesome coolness state. I donated $30 to him yesterday, but hey anyway if any of you are inspired, and want to donate, I could contact him for you. But I know none of you are probably going to reply to this cause pfft we're all stingy people aren't we?


And yeah, in the midst of Japan's huge crisis, I want to show you an exceptionally heartwarming note here, where Jun Shiomitsu translated Japanese tweets and listed them down under. I hardly ever imagined that simple words like these could actually touch me so deeply. I've extracted a few on your behalf, cause we're all lazy people.

On the platform
The Oedo Subway Line for Hikarigaoka is very congested. On the platform and at the gate there are just crowds and crowds of people waiting for the train. But in all the confusion, every last person is neatly lined up waiting his or her turn while managing to keep a passage of space open for staff and people going the other way. Everyone is listening to the instructions from the staff and everyone acts accordingly. And amazingly … there isn’t even a rope or anything in sight to keep people in queue or open space for staff to pass, they just do! I am so impressed at this almost unnatural orderliness! I have nothing but praise for these people!

At the supermarket
I just came back safely from the supermarket! Man, I was so touched at how everyone there was mindful of others, buying only as much as they needed and leaving the rest for the people behind them.

The bakery lady
There was a small bread shop on the street I take to go to school. It has long been out of business. But last night, I saw the old lady of the shop giving people her handmade bread for free. It was a heart-warming sight. She, like everyone else, was doing what she could to help people in a time of need. Tokyo isn’t that bad afterall!

A little story about Papa
We live in an area that was not directly hit. When my father came downstairs and heard the news saying that our area had begun allocating electricity to the hard-hit areas, he quietly led by example, turning off the power around the house and pulling the plugs out of their sockets. I was touched. He usually NEVER turns off the lights or the AC or the TV or anything!

Card board boxes, Thank you!
It was cold and I was getting very weary waiting forever for the train to come. Some homeless people saw me, gave me some of their own cardboard boxes and saying “you’ll be warmer if you sit on these!” I have always walked by homeless people pretending I didn’t see them, and yet here they were offering me warmth. Such warm people.

And then you compare this to the recent reports of Chinese wankers in China / Hong Kong / Taiwan who are grabbing up all the salt / beef / whatever else Japanese imports in fear of radiation contamination? It sucks to be associated with them.

So far this week, I've already spent $164.40. I've spent $9.90 getting a singlet from Uniqlo (just cause I felt rich) and then $25 on EZ-link top-up. Other than that, the remaining $100+++ was spent on food, drinks, dessert and booze. Around $70 was spent with Angell and Yuting cause... (well, I got a couple of As) and mainly because they were nice enough to come down to Outdoors and visit me. See, I'm nice too. It's only yesterday that I started feeling broke. Which fuels my working at Outdoors I guess. I feel so tired everyday (ask my mum - she has to wake me up on 5 separate occasions before I'll get up at 9.15am to rush to work by 10am). Which explains why I'm late for work everyday. And then this Saturday, I'll have to treat my extended family to dinner. Cause I got straight As for A-level. See! Everything has its ups and downs! Going to some tze-char (however you spell it) place at Yishun. And they are 13 people in total. I hope my uncle's maid gets a tummy-ache. Or it will turn out to be 14. Yeah, so that's probably like $200 (let's hope there isn't any +++ to that). And then, by the end of the week, I would have spent $350 on food / drinks / booze. That's a full week of my hard-earned money. Cry myself a river. So yeah I've decided. I will scrimp and save on food for the next weeks. I'll buy the $2.30 chicken rice everyday. Not possible. I'll try to get it at least twice a week for lunch. Maybe. Yeah I'll try.

Oh uh-huh. I'm more than 30 pages into Ha Ha Ha. I only read them on the train to work, hence the pathetic page-count. But anyway, I've figured. I found out what I like to read about in books. I like to read about old age and adolescence. Two extreme parts of life, one being a fresh and innocent beginning, with every little experience shaping you in a life-changing way, just as the soft, fresh clay mold would be the easiest to shape when it is just mixed and battered.

The other - old-age, with knowledge and experience seeping out of the tin-can of life, ready for the day the finishing line draws near. I think life at old age would be real interesting. You would be prepared to depart from your loved ones anytime, so in many ways, your actions are carefully thought out, and you'll experience so much more, so much more significantly.

But of course I'm not saying I want to grow old now (since we obviously can't turn back time). I still do want to enjoy every single moment of my prime years. I just feel that those two segments of life are exceptionally meaningful and interesting. And I realised that I'm more into the writing style of a book than it's story-line. I marvel at how books like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as well as Ha Ha Ha manages to capture that child-voice so well throughout the novel.

So yeah I'm finally picking up pace on my life. Thank Buddha I went for the SMU openhouse. I mean, I stayed for like 5 minutes but then it knocked me into searching for answers. Thinking about life. I wanted to ask the business guy at SMU questions but I didn't know where to start without sounding lazy. "Hey, tell me more about business" or "What's the difference between SMU, NTU and NUS business courses?". So yeah I've been studying. I spent the past hour (plus an hour last night) looking through the university booklets and (for the first time) actually reading content instead of looking at how geeky the A-star scholars look.

Well, I guess I've settled on business cause I'm seriously not prepared to do anything design-related. And then poof, I have no other interests. So yeah, if you've done your research, please talk to me. If you're a senior, even better. Talk to me more.

Oh and in the past week, I've collected 3 cheques which means moolah, MOOLAH AND MORE MOOLAH! It sums up to be about $2000. There's my tuition centre's which is $900++, then there's the cheque from Outdoors (for 1.25 months) also about $900++, and then that day I went back to school to collect my good progress package which is $250. I think I'm almost earning as much as my mum in her Isetan cashier job. Good for me. Sandra don't read this and ask me for a treat. I've given you plenty already. HAHA.

Oh yeah, and today, 7th March, a Monday, shall be the start of my book-reading journey. I went to the Central National Library yesterday after ending work at 7pm, and I borrowed books for the first time in my life. I'm all for first-experiences so I felt good even though I embarrassed myself. The librarian was friendly though. I stepped into NLB and honestly confessed it's my first time borrowing books. She guided me along, created a membership card for me with my NRIC and then I proceeded to getting the books. I went to the wrong machine, stood there for a solid minute thinking about what I was supposed to do, turned back and she didn't laugh at me but gestured to the long row of machines on my far right. So I fiddled with the wrong machine. No biggie. And I felt good after borrowing the books. I felt like I stole. Cause it feels so surreal to be taking books back home for free. Anyhow, the books I borrowed are Paddy Clarke's Ha Ha Ha, Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman and Half Life by Roopa Farooki. So you know what type of books interest me. I'll tell you which is good and which isn't after I read them.

Okay, so I don't need to tell you that today's the A' levels result. Blimey boozelwaggy bolongy I got 5As. I know - I can't believe it myself. And I know I hardly deserve it. It's always that stroke of good luck huh, O' levels HCL and now A' levels. To everyone who collected results today as well, just know that I'm concerned about your results even though I don't ask. I just... don't want to bring up things, just in case they aren't satisfactory. And like I've said to many, honestly, getting different results (good or bad) would just land you on different paths in life, and behind that dense forest, you really don't know which ends up a dead end and which leads to a waterfall. I mean, even along the way, it's the little tiny steps that you take to ensure you don't trip over the tiny rocks and fall yourself head-down on the mud.

And yeah, the day wasn't great - hugs, teary-eyed smiles but amongst them disappointment, loneliness and much more tears. I think about it and I feel almost-guilty for my results. I'm not saying this as a consolation or anything else, but I actually feel bad. I have not a single inkling how I managed an A for Econs and GP. But you don't question the good things, so I'll just leave it hanging. But anyway, if I was my friend (or classmate), I'll congratulate but then a part of me will inevitably go "damn, he got lucky huh". I mean, I'm decently sure a couple of you feel like that at least. And I don't deny it. I'm sorry, but I'm undeserving of my results, but sometimes life just plays with us like that. In any case, it's not like the As change anything cause I'll still probably be going into the same business course as so many others of you out there. And then, by then, it'll be a fresh start.

And to the juniors, in a way I hope I could serve as a tiny-ass inspiration. A miniature success story. If you'd ask me for any small golden-remarks, I'd say study smart (which is of course easier said than done) and that... well, this isn't encouraging but I'd say at least enjoy your time. Go out and investigate studying in different scenarios with different people, and make sure you enjoy studying. Like, you'd (almost) look forward to studying. I think that's really the key cause it clears your brain, keeps you motivated and all. And uhm, take some time to play, cherish JC life. Maybe. I mean I would, but maybe not you.

And shucks one thing - now the results instead brought me so much confusion. I feel like I'd have to start to think about scholarships now, about overseas education (having to take the SATs will be such a pain in the ass) and other shit that I've never considered in my entire life. So honestly, AABB has its good parts as well. I'd just happily take some time to decide on which business school I'm more interested in, and enroll.

How ya doin', world? So I guess for most of us it's results day tomorrow. In season 2, the Skins characters got their results slips, kept it closed and met up that night, in the jungle, over a campfire, and opened their letters together. Cool idea huh. But I'm never going to do that with my friends. Cause firstly, stepping up to my form teacher and asking him to keep the result slip back into the envelope will receive the first wave of weird stares. Secondly, nobody's in this with me. I mean, I didn't even have to ask. I can figure others' reactions by myself.

Gonna meet up with the Phoenix NSFs for the first time tomorrow, there'll be so much to talk about. I have this feeling from now on, NS would fill up 70% of all conversations. Which would suck. 2 years ago I was just saying how NS would = no life cause NS life would end up taking over all forms of conversations involving guys. Especially when its' fully a group of guys, and there aren't any girls in the conversation to break it up by saying "Hey, could we change a topic? I'm real bored here."

Anyway, I kind of can't wait for the results. I started getting the anxiety today from thinking about results cause I thought: fuck, 6 years of studying for this day. Woohoo, in a sense I love the adrenaline. I was thinking about it on the way walking home today, and I pictured myself opening up the result slip, seeing AAAA and I can't help but beam at nothingness. Of course, positive thoughts uh! I'd be fucking happy with AAAB actually. I'd be double fucking happy with AAAA. Which is quite honestly an impossibility judging at my performance during the economics paper. I'm just really hoping I don't fuck up. So, I've decided I'll pray to Guan Yin Ma for a minute later before I go to bed. I believe that if Guan Yin Ma wants to bless me, even if the result slip's already packed up at MOE HQ, she could still switch the econ's C for an A with a finger point.

A lot of people believe that my loyalty / belief for Guan Yin Ma only comes when I'm praying for good results / good luck / money. But honestly? No. I believe in Guan Yin Ma, and honestly, I've seen a couple of mini-miracles in my life after I prayed - enough to believe in Buddhism / Taoism. I'm completely rooted, religiously. I may waver between Buddhism / Taoism, but no where else. This time when I was young, my mum had a really bad gastric problem, she was rolling around in bed and there was nothing I could do to help. But then I stood outside her door, pray for her pain to come to me instead, and surely, an hour later I felt the exact same pain while she was suddenly relieved of it. The pain died after a couple more hours, and my mum felt guilty cause she thinks that someway or another, she passed it to me - like flu - but then I know gastric doesn't work that way. I feel weird sharing this story already, cause if I was a mean stranger I'll comment that it sounds fabricated (but it's 100% true) so if you're a geeky medicine student-to-be, and know that there's some way of spreading stomach aches, please don't burst my religious faith-bubble by telling me the truth okay.

Listen to Elmo educate you about the days of the week.





OMFG just go hear what this freak is saying. I mean, to say that she deserves to die, although a bit hypocritical, would not even be considered extreme. Listen to WTF she's talking about! Crazy psycho-bitch she gotta be admitted into a mental institute. People like this, really make me re-think my decisions about helping the patients at SAMH / IMH. Plus my brother was telling me that actually many mental patients aren't even victims, or say comparatively, much less of a victim than those with terminal illnesses and such, which made sense, which just confuses me further so let's not talk about it. Yeah, she actually fickin' said that "Japan is a fantastic place to start" when referring to the Earthquake. "... with one day of prayer, with two days of prayer, to see god literally waking people up and say "you are going to hell"? Just imagine what will happen at the end of the 40 days". Okay, so that stinking bitch prayed for a fucking Earthquake to happen. She is far worse than the one from UCLA man! Her. Face. So. Punch-able.

I know we're supposed to keep our mouths shut about criticism of religions, but she's taking her belief too far. I was just discussing religion with my dad and brother yesterday, and seriously - no religion is bad. Everything started out with good intentions, creating a belief for people, but yet in these days things have spiraled into such a fucking disaster. Religion isn't about conflict, fighting or war. I hate what is being advocated to kids nowadays. I'm sorry to say but honestly, it's either many people are confused about what their religion is about or some people are teaching the wrong things. Like this bitch up here? And that day when I was volunteering, I talked to this patient from SAMH (who looks completely fine) but she was real annoying and bossy to the others over there, and she asked about my religion and commented "oh, so next time when I die, I'll go to heaven with God and the rest of you will go to hell". Seriously? It pissed my butt-cracks off but she was a patient so I pretended I didn't hear it. Okay this religion-talk can go on for days so I'll just leave it like that.

I'll share with you my volunteering experience some other day, when I'm feeling less pissed off.

The past week had been great. So my boss - once my tuition teacher - booked 2 rooms at Resorts World Sentosa for us (his assistants) for 'staff welfare'. The first night we had 4 people and 2 rooms, cause he's just rich that way. Me and Veron was completely pumped about having a house (okay, fine, hotel) party cause we're so extremely short of people. Plus our boss Gary wanted to sponsor 2 bottles of liquor for us. And we bought the cheap calamansi and cranberry over at Vivocity's Giant for mixers. But then he forgot about them and we didn't remind him so yeah, that's why you got no invites. And I was with Yasmin when we were buying the snacks / drinks after shopping, and because we wanted to go into the express queue (baskets only) so we tried to take up our things by hand from the trolley. Only 3 bottles and 2 packets of chips, mind you, in case you're thinking that I'm inconsiderate with those judging eyes of yours. Anyway, the cranberry bottle slipped off my fingers, knocked against an ice-fridge, and rolled and spilled an entire nile river alongside the yogurt fridges. Two kids were running and one of them slipped on my cranberry on the floor, in a sliding tackle-fashion, and no damage was dealt, thankfully. But I'm quite sure his cotton shirt drank up quite a lot of the cranberry on the floor.

So there I was, with a bunch of snacks thrown on the ice-fridge, wet and sticky hands while Yasmin went off to grab a basket and some tissue, and so I stood there and couldn't help. His mum rushed over, and looked at me, with the quarter-full cranberry bottle in hand, the bottle cap misplaced, and went "who spilled the drink ah? who spilled the drink", the boy pointed at me, but she had to go on asking the same question, right in front of the flustered, panicky, completely in a mess-me, while she waltzed across my blank face. That, my friends, is the kind of woman who needed a wet, cranberry-flavoured slap. I should have given her some of that for asking the world's dumbest question, which was apparently targeted at me. Or I could have at least replied "yeah, dumb, you a bit asking the obvious hor?". But I didn't. I regretted later.

Anyway, RWS was a great experience. I felt like a rich-f**k strolling down the hotel rooms, spinning the card key in my hand and entering the hotel room. I also feel like a rich-f**k walking around Sentosa like a tourist. For once I'm not going there like those (low-class - HAHA kidding) SPGs to play beach volleyball and I'm carrying my weekend bag filled with clothes, about to check into a hotel. I felt like quite a douche-(gold)bag acting all tourist-y around Sentosa but still it felt pretty great. Especially when it's all... FREE, FREE, FREE! Right?

USS was good as well. (Hi, I can't take it - I've a secret to tell you) I regretted not trying any of the food there though. But then the entire experience felt like we had the VIP express ticket cause there was almost no need to wait for any of the rides cause it rained in the morning, drizzled the entire day, and HELLO it was a off-peak Tuesday. I mean, the longest we waited was past two trips of the roller coaster Cylon (the blue one of Battlestar Galactica) cause we insisted on the first row seats. And uhm, honestly? The rides weren't much kick. Other than the first drop from both the roller coasters, there's nothing much else to anticipate. Cylon has a nice view though, with all the 360 and all. I super love the Woody Woodpecker mascot. I mean, I love how the woodpecker looks like lah, so bloody insanely cute I want to die. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.







Yeah, and on Wednesday morning I went to talk to this really nice full-time staff at SAMH (for Singapore Association for Mental Health) at Pelangi Village, and she showed me around the activities hub. There's something quite depressing about the place, like in most old-folks homes, many corners without sunlight and such. Nobody's really having a good time though some are talking to each other. I'm still not too clear about their mental situation, but the volunteer Sadijah (OMG first person I know to have the same birth-date as me) told me that only the more... active / 'high-functioning' patients (they call them clients) are allowed in the activities hub, which is really the main building in the complex. There are 7 other bungalows (according to my memory) and in there live the patients who are less able to interact. So honestly, I haven't seen much too deeply into the situation, and I'm really looking forward to understanding them. I'll update you with more when I get to take part in other things. But then I'm always really guarded around there cause I'm not too sure of how to behave and I'm always afraid I'll hit some landmine or talk about stuff which is taboo.

I haven't blogged for bloody long because I haven't had time for myself in forever. The past 2 weeks were just brain-wrecking, talking to people - deciding between NTU / NUS / SMU Business. Don't need to try to convince me on other courses, I have enough to think about already. I'm settled on Business. So far I've (almost) completed my NTU and NUS application. I should be finishing up on them tonight and SMU will be Saturday.

The only scholarship I've signed up for right now is NTU's Nanyang Scholarship, and I will be honest, I completed the 300 word essay on the bus. I faced a moment of indecisiveness before I clicked on the "confirm" button because I was torn between spending time writing something which sells myself or going with my heart. I decided to well... take the easy way out. Or to phrase it in a more noble way: I went with my heart. Here's my 300 words. I haven't considered the possible consequences of posting my scholarship essay up on my public blog, but I shall not think about that.

A week ago I heard that one of my volleyball teammates was about to embark on a solo cycling expedition around South-East Asia in April to help communities in need and experience life without material sustenance. He sold pastries, which he learnt to bake during a part-time stint as an assistant to a bakery chef at a country club, and is planning to use this money, along with his salary to fund the trip. I've always had in my 'bucket-list' such trips to unfamiliar environments alone - a personal exploration of life, also with the goal of touching the lives of strangers, to make an influence on them and mature myself with the experience.

What my friend really inspired me with was the fact that we are never too young to embark on anything. I left such plans to till I am well above twenty-five years old, but yet my friend was already well into his at a tender nineteen. In contrast to him, the rest of us are working jobs which seem so unfulfilling and so meaningless, only to earn more money.

It was like a wake-up call to me; it taught me to cherish opportunities, to work hard towards my goals and help others. I want to make a positive influence, much beyond the one-day service learning projects.

Since then, I have informed my superior that I would resign from my job as a waiter after this week. I have also contacted charity organizations such as the Singapore Association for Mental Health to inquire about volunteering opportunities. I want to do more meaningful activities before I enlist into National Service in May, and I want to leave my footprints (not carbon ones) and give back to society.

Entirely truthful. Except that it was two days ago that I heard it. And I am only going to tell my boss that I'm quitting tomorrow, on my last day of work. So I kinda shifted the time-line backwards. Nothing much what. Right? - Sorts out moral struggle - And I do realise that the essay is a weeny bit informal, but heck it, if they don't accept me for who I am then I don't deserve the scholarship right? Oh and anyway, the in-charge from the Association for Mental Health has already gotten back to me, and I will be meeting her coming Tuesday to discuss about how I can help and for her to brief me on an upcoming event. I have mixed feelings about it though. I'm bloody goddamned enthusiastic about helping out and understanding more about such patients, but then again I'm scared volunteering would be a very on-the-surface kind of thing. Like helping out at event booths or... you get the idea. Oh and yeah, to help you understand more about my friend, click here to view his note, written by one of the teachers in VJC. My GP teacher, in fact. After Ivan told me about it at work and I checked the original note posted on the VJC Facebook page, I was crippled with "woah". I thought about it the entire bus journey home, and so when I saw the NTU scholarship question, I couldn't think of anything else. It preoccupied my mind like the fattest Snorlax you've ever encountered, and I had to write about it to awaken the Snorlax and shoo it off my path, putting it figuratively.

Later, when I went home to check up on it again, I realised it was only a one-week trip. Which makes it less cool cause now it's less "Into The Wild". I was expecting at least two weeks. But then, still damn awesomegobblesmacking cool. I met up with Chi Shun and hey turns out its 40 days, not a week. So now that reverts it back to its goddamned awesome coolness state. I donated $30 to him yesterday, but hey anyway if any of you are inspired, and want to donate, I could contact him for you. But I know none of you are probably going to reply to this cause pfft we're all stingy people aren't we?


And yeah, in the midst of Japan's huge crisis, I want to show you an exceptionally heartwarming note here, where Jun Shiomitsu translated Japanese tweets and listed them down under. I hardly ever imagined that simple words like these could actually touch me so deeply. I've extracted a few on your behalf, cause we're all lazy people.

On the platform
The Oedo Subway Line for Hikarigaoka is very congested. On the platform and at the gate there are just crowds and crowds of people waiting for the train. But in all the confusion, every last person is neatly lined up waiting his or her turn while managing to keep a passage of space open for staff and people going the other way. Everyone is listening to the instructions from the staff and everyone acts accordingly. And amazingly … there isn’t even a rope or anything in sight to keep people in queue or open space for staff to pass, they just do! I am so impressed at this almost unnatural orderliness! I have nothing but praise for these people!

At the supermarket
I just came back safely from the supermarket! Man, I was so touched at how everyone there was mindful of others, buying only as much as they needed and leaving the rest for the people behind them.

The bakery lady
There was a small bread shop on the street I take to go to school. It has long been out of business. But last night, I saw the old lady of the shop giving people her handmade bread for free. It was a heart-warming sight. She, like everyone else, was doing what she could to help people in a time of need. Tokyo isn’t that bad afterall!

A little story about Papa
We live in an area that was not directly hit. When my father came downstairs and heard the news saying that our area had begun allocating electricity to the hard-hit areas, he quietly led by example, turning off the power around the house and pulling the plugs out of their sockets. I was touched. He usually NEVER turns off the lights or the AC or the TV or anything!

Card board boxes, Thank you!
It was cold and I was getting very weary waiting forever for the train to come. Some homeless people saw me, gave me some of their own cardboard boxes and saying “you’ll be warmer if you sit on these!” I have always walked by homeless people pretending I didn’t see them, and yet here they were offering me warmth. Such warm people.

And then you compare this to the recent reports of Chinese wankers in China / Hong Kong / Taiwan who are grabbing up all the salt / beef / whatever else Japanese imports in fear of radiation contamination? It sucks to be associated with them.

So far this week, I've already spent $164.40. I've spent $9.90 getting a singlet from Uniqlo (just cause I felt rich) and then $25 on EZ-link top-up. Other than that, the remaining $100+++ was spent on food, drinks, dessert and booze. Around $70 was spent with Angell and Yuting cause... (well, I got a couple of As) and mainly because they were nice enough to come down to Outdoors and visit me. See, I'm nice too. It's only yesterday that I started feeling broke. Which fuels my working at Outdoors I guess. I feel so tired everyday (ask my mum - she has to wake me up on 5 separate occasions before I'll get up at 9.15am to rush to work by 10am). Which explains why I'm late for work everyday. And then this Saturday, I'll have to treat my extended family to dinner. Cause I got straight As for A-level. See! Everything has its ups and downs! Going to some tze-char (however you spell it) place at Yishun. And they are 13 people in total. I hope my uncle's maid gets a tummy-ache. Or it will turn out to be 14. Yeah, so that's probably like $200 (let's hope there isn't any +++ to that). And then, by the end of the week, I would have spent $350 on food / drinks / booze. That's a full week of my hard-earned money. Cry myself a river. So yeah I've decided. I will scrimp and save on food for the next weeks. I'll buy the $2.30 chicken rice everyday. Not possible. I'll try to get it at least twice a week for lunch. Maybe. Yeah I'll try.

Oh uh-huh. I'm more than 30 pages into Ha Ha Ha. I only read them on the train to work, hence the pathetic page-count. But anyway, I've figured. I found out what I like to read about in books. I like to read about old age and adolescence. Two extreme parts of life, one being a fresh and innocent beginning, with every little experience shaping you in a life-changing way, just as the soft, fresh clay mold would be the easiest to shape when it is just mixed and battered.

The other - old-age, with knowledge and experience seeping out of the tin-can of life, ready for the day the finishing line draws near. I think life at old age would be real interesting. You would be prepared to depart from your loved ones anytime, so in many ways, your actions are carefully thought out, and you'll experience so much more, so much more significantly.

But of course I'm not saying I want to grow old now (since we obviously can't turn back time). I still do want to enjoy every single moment of my prime years. I just feel that those two segments of life are exceptionally meaningful and interesting. And I realised that I'm more into the writing style of a book than it's story-line. I marvel at how books like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close as well as Ha Ha Ha manages to capture that child-voice so well throughout the novel.

So yeah I'm finally picking up pace on my life. Thank Buddha I went for the SMU openhouse. I mean, I stayed for like 5 minutes but then it knocked me into searching for answers. Thinking about life. I wanted to ask the business guy at SMU questions but I didn't know where to start without sounding lazy. "Hey, tell me more about business" or "What's the difference between SMU, NTU and NUS business courses?". So yeah I've been studying. I spent the past hour (plus an hour last night) looking through the university booklets and (for the first time) actually reading content instead of looking at how geeky the A-star scholars look.

Well, I guess I've settled on business cause I'm seriously not prepared to do anything design-related. And then poof, I have no other interests. So yeah, if you've done your research, please talk to me. If you're a senior, even better. Talk to me more.

Oh and in the past week, I've collected 3 cheques which means moolah, MOOLAH AND MORE MOOLAH! It sums up to be about $2000. There's my tuition centre's which is $900++, then there's the cheque from Outdoors (for 1.25 months) also about $900++, and then that day I went back to school to collect my good progress package which is $250. I think I'm almost earning as much as my mum in her Isetan cashier job. Good for me. Sandra don't read this and ask me for a treat. I've given you plenty already. HAHA.

Oh yeah, and today, 7th March, a Monday, shall be the start of my book-reading journey. I went to the Central National Library yesterday after ending work at 7pm, and I borrowed books for the first time in my life. I'm all for first-experiences so I felt good even though I embarrassed myself. The librarian was friendly though. I stepped into NLB and honestly confessed it's my first time borrowing books. She guided me along, created a membership card for me with my NRIC and then I proceeded to getting the books. I went to the wrong machine, stood there for a solid minute thinking about what I was supposed to do, turned back and she didn't laugh at me but gestured to the long row of machines on my far right. So I fiddled with the wrong machine. No biggie. And I felt good after borrowing the books. I felt like I stole. Cause it feels so surreal to be taking books back home for free. Anyhow, the books I borrowed are Paddy Clarke's Ha Ha Ha, Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman and Half Life by Roopa Farooki. So you know what type of books interest me. I'll tell you which is good and which isn't after I read them.

Okay, so I don't need to tell you that today's the A' levels result. Blimey boozelwaggy bolongy I got 5As. I know - I can't believe it myself. And I know I hardly deserve it. It's always that stroke of good luck huh, O' levels HCL and now A' levels. To everyone who collected results today as well, just know that I'm concerned about your results even though I don't ask. I just... don't want to bring up things, just in case they aren't satisfactory. And like I've said to many, honestly, getting different results (good or bad) would just land you on different paths in life, and behind that dense forest, you really don't know which ends up a dead end and which leads to a waterfall. I mean, even along the way, it's the little tiny steps that you take to ensure you don't trip over the tiny rocks and fall yourself head-down on the mud.

And yeah, the day wasn't great - hugs, teary-eyed smiles but amongst them disappointment, loneliness and much more tears. I think about it and I feel almost-guilty for my results. I'm not saying this as a consolation or anything else, but I actually feel bad. I have not a single inkling how I managed an A for Econs and GP. But you don't question the good things, so I'll just leave it hanging. But anyway, if I was my friend (or classmate), I'll congratulate but then a part of me will inevitably go "damn, he got lucky huh". I mean, I'm decently sure a couple of you feel like that at least. And I don't deny it. I'm sorry, but I'm undeserving of my results, but sometimes life just plays with us like that. In any case, it's not like the As change anything cause I'll still probably be going into the same business course as so many others of you out there. And then, by then, it'll be a fresh start.

And to the juniors, in a way I hope I could serve as a tiny-ass inspiration. A miniature success story. If you'd ask me for any small golden-remarks, I'd say study smart (which is of course easier said than done) and that... well, this isn't encouraging but I'd say at least enjoy your time. Go out and investigate studying in different scenarios with different people, and make sure you enjoy studying. Like, you'd (almost) look forward to studying. I think that's really the key cause it clears your brain, keeps you motivated and all. And uhm, take some time to play, cherish JC life. Maybe. I mean I would, but maybe not you.

And shucks one thing - now the results instead brought me so much confusion. I feel like I'd have to start to think about scholarships now, about overseas education (having to take the SATs will be such a pain in the ass) and other shit that I've never considered in my entire life. So honestly, AABB has its good parts as well. I'd just happily take some time to decide on which business school I'm more interested in, and enroll.

How ya doin', world? So I guess for most of us it's results day tomorrow. In season 2, the Skins characters got their results slips, kept it closed and met up that night, in the jungle, over a campfire, and opened their letters together. Cool idea huh. But I'm never going to do that with my friends. Cause firstly, stepping up to my form teacher and asking him to keep the result slip back into the envelope will receive the first wave of weird stares. Secondly, nobody's in this with me. I mean, I didn't even have to ask. I can figure others' reactions by myself.

Gonna meet up with the Phoenix NSFs for the first time tomorrow, there'll be so much to talk about. I have this feeling from now on, NS would fill up 70% of all conversations. Which would suck. 2 years ago I was just saying how NS would = no life cause NS life would end up taking over all forms of conversations involving guys. Especially when its' fully a group of guys, and there aren't any girls in the conversation to break it up by saying "Hey, could we change a topic? I'm real bored here."

Anyway, I kind of can't wait for the results. I started getting the anxiety today from thinking about results cause I thought: fuck, 6 years of studying for this day. Woohoo, in a sense I love the adrenaline. I was thinking about it on the way walking home today, and I pictured myself opening up the result slip, seeing AAAA and I can't help but beam at nothingness. Of course, positive thoughts uh! I'd be fucking happy with AAAB actually. I'd be double fucking happy with AAAA. Which is quite honestly an impossibility judging at my performance during the economics paper. I'm just really hoping I don't fuck up. So, I've decided I'll pray to Guan Yin Ma for a minute later before I go to bed. I believe that if Guan Yin Ma wants to bless me, even if the result slip's already packed up at MOE HQ, she could still switch the econ's C for an A with a finger point.

A lot of people believe that my loyalty / belief for Guan Yin Ma only comes when I'm praying for good results / good luck / money. But honestly? No. I believe in Guan Yin Ma, and honestly, I've seen a couple of mini-miracles in my life after I prayed - enough to believe in Buddhism / Taoism. I'm completely rooted, religiously. I may waver between Buddhism / Taoism, but no where else. This time when I was young, my mum had a really bad gastric problem, she was rolling around in bed and there was nothing I could do to help. But then I stood outside her door, pray for her pain to come to me instead, and surely, an hour later I felt the exact same pain while she was suddenly relieved of it. The pain died after a couple more hours, and my mum felt guilty cause she thinks that someway or another, she passed it to me - like flu - but then I know gastric doesn't work that way. I feel weird sharing this story already, cause if I was a mean stranger I'll comment that it sounds fabricated (but it's 100% true) so if you're a geeky medicine student-to-be, and know that there's some way of spreading stomach aches, please don't burst my religious faith-bubble by telling me the truth okay.

emails: chew.bolong.2009@vjc.sg (main) / bolong02@hotmail.com (dominated by junk mail)
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bolong
mobile phone: yeah you wish.