Over-ridden

I am being over-ridden with troubles. Heaps of it, in fact.

The lesson today started off with Mr Tay announcing that we have to start on our ACE ATT 2. Didn't we just finish ATT 1? I thought that was over and done with, and then out comes a follow-up project, which will no doubt be followed up by another follow-up project called... ATT 3! Hooray.
Furthermore, I am facing the impending doom of common tests. It is not here yet, but I can already feel its overwhelming presence. I keep thinking that I should do something about it, but am too lazy to take any action.w

A few other projects that I am faced with (let me list them out for easy reference):
- ATT 2 (T3W1)
- Project Work (T2W5)
- Romeo and Juliet play (T2W4)
- Chinese project (T2W4)
- CME project (T2W4)
- Financial Lit project (T2W4)

Perhaps that are more that I cannot remember now... D:

*ripping my hair out in worry and rage*

At the same time, I have so many 'social' stuff to attend to. Yep, I am having so many outings despite the ongoing list of tasks I have.
I am going to watch Hunger Games. And read it too.
I am going to eat free ice-creams on Free Cone Day.
I am going for DHS CO concert.

Speaking of which, if anyone reading this is interested, please attend the Chinese Society (CS) concert! This is my CCA, but I am not performing. I will be helping out with the lighting.
Date: 5 May 2012 (Vesak Day - you can't claim to be busy!!)
Time: 7pm
Venue: Dunman High School (Singapore), Performing Arts Centre
Performances include chinese opera, drama and chinese dance :)
Tickets are sold at $10 for one.
**All performances will be spoken in Chinese.
If any non-Dunmanians are interested, please contact me at sueq51@gmail.com :)
No spam please. I WILL BLOCK AND REPORT YOU.

Anyway, I have just read the novel "The Sealed Letter" by Emma Donoghue, the author of "Room", which I also bought. It centers around the scandal of the Codringtons (you can go check it out) and the characters involved in it.
What makes the characters very believable is the fact that they all have some flaws. You can almost see them as being real people. Not all of them are truly noble, or truly evil.
Helen and Fido are friends whose friendship is threatened when Helen's affairs are found out by her husband, Harry, who presses for a divorce. Fido had helped Helen in the affair a few times and is thus, dragged into this unfortunate mess.
The nature of their friendship quickly unravels amidst revelations, confessions between them and of others. How much of it is truth, and how much lies? There is suspense in every page of the novel - the readers are always left guessing.
The language is vastly different from 'Room'. There is a certain eloquence and exotic-like quality with every sentence. Difficult words that are not often used are mentioned in the book too (useful to have a dictionary on hand). There are some Macbeth quotes in there too - finally, something useful from the education last year! The way of writing is much like the olden times as well. Long sentences which you have to re-read several times to grasp the full meaning. It may prove difficult at first, however, as you progress, you will find the sentences easier to read (at around 1/5 of the book).
THE ENDING WAS A REAL TWIST AND SURPRISE AS WELL. Though I suspected it after I found out what literary award it won...(hint hint)
The ending left much to be satisfied. The feelings of the characters after the trial were mostly left unknown, only Fido's were explained. A 3.75/5 for this book perhaps. The long-windedness at the beginning of the book cost it that 0.25, heh.

Gonna end off here now :))

Delirium... Pandemonium

Do you still remember when I talked about the book "Delirium"?

It is actually part of a trilogy and Pandemonium is the sequel to Delirium.

The whole story focuses on a girl called Lena who is in this world where love is considered a disease. At the age of 16, everyone has to take a injection (or vaccination) that will turn them into loveless being, devoid of sympathy or feeling. The government controls everyone, including who they marry. 

Delirium was really good. The concept of the whole story was good - a world without love. Man without passion. I was really interested in the idea of it and bought the book. The book is captivating - I remember finishing it in one sitting :) However, the only thing that I really did not like were the instances of romance. Somehow, it did not seem to fit in because of the fact that this was supposed to be world without love. There are hardly any moments of intimacy except towards the end. The book really did a good job of building such a scenario without love.

Now, onto Pandemonium. I was really hesitant about buying Pandemonium because there have been sequels that fail, terribly. (The cover looked really good though.) And the words were in a slightly larger print - which I don't like. I like books with small print, somehow it gives them its authentic feeling. However, I still bought it in the end and I finished it in one day :) 

The book was fairly good, although it is not as good as Delirium. I'll give it a 4/5 for the fact that it's a sequel. The language was somewhat lacking in comparison to Delirium. However, it still makes for a pretty good read. Delirium was more about Lena gaining exposure and new insights about the world she lives in - the hard truth VS the lies. Pandemonium was more action packed with Lena getting physically stronger, and smarter. 

*Spoiler - Alex is PRESUMABLY dead, and Lena is slowly getting over his death. Then, she has to keep track of this guy called Julian who is a representative of a Youth organisation against the love disease. You can guess what happens. 

The ending of Pandemonium is perhaps the most upsetting and disappointing part. I was really hoping that this series would be able to avoid the usual cliches (meaning, love triangles -.-). Anyway, Julian and Lena makes an an unusual combination. Alex would be wayyy better because he did what Julian never did - he sacrificed himself for Lena.

I was also hoping that rather than exploring the love as love, Lauren Oliver would explore the love of friendship. Tackle where most teenage fiction writers miss or ignore, instead of going for the cliches of love between the opposite sex. It would be really good to bring back Hana and see what happens  - did she really take the cure? Would she still see Lena as a friend? 

Okay, so mainly what I want is: MAKE THINGS MORE DISASTROUS FOR LENA RATHER THAN GETTING HER INTO A LOVE TRIANGLE. 

Make her feel the dire consequences of a world without love! It would be REALLY good if she goes find Hana and Hana doesn't recognise her. MAKE LENA DEVASTATED. Make her desperate. Of course, it would be best if Lena finally manages to get Hana to feel love (friendship kind) for her again! That would really get readers to treasure the existence of love. RATHER THAN GETTING LENA INTO A LOVE TRIANGLE - REALLY, HOW CAN IT ACTUALLY COME TO SUCH A POINT. I am really disappointed!!! I really expected better for this series.

Especially since it had SUCH A WONDERFUL CONCEPT TO PLAY WITH.

And another thing: How can there be so many resistance members??! I thought they were the minority. And suddenly, there are so many helping Lena out -.- It seems rather unrealistic considering the situation they are in. 

At least one thing that was really good in this book is that there actually WAS a resistance plan - HOORAY. (spoiler!!) I've been wondering throughout Delirium what signs were of resistance were the resistance showing. Get it?? LOL. Also, it would be best to find her mother in the last book - focus on OTHER types of love!

Overall, I think I will still buy the last remaining book - I mean, I've already bought the first two right?? I really hope that the third book would be able to make good use of the concept in the first book :))

-- edited

Anyway, there is an ebook featuring Hana's viewpoint when she went partying while Lena went to look for her that night. I really want to read it!!! :DD Finding some way to do so...

Social Sciences Conference at SMU

I went for the Social Sciences Conference (SSC) at SMU yesterday along with Hannah, Huiyi, Siyun and Yunyi. :)

Anyway, being the slow me, I only realised yesterday that social sciences is actually a subject at other schools, just not at Dunman High, though we have something similar called ACE - which I forgot what it stood for. Oh! Active Citizenry Education, yep.

So we were supposed to meet at bras basah at 9.10am but then in the end, I ended up being the only punctual one (pat myself on the back). Huiyi ended up being the latest because she slept at 3am the night before. AS ALWAYS.

We had this Q&A session with S.R. Nathan. I REALLLY felt like asking him and question but could not think of any good ones so I just gave up and listened to the others ask him questions. Yep, and my wish to take a photo with him obviously dissolved because there wasn't even a chance to do so!

Anyway, I am quite annoyed by something he said though, "Singapore cannot change the world. We can only react to it." LOL. I wasn't really expecting those words to come from the ex-president of Singapore. I mean, have a little more faith in us! And these words were quickly refuted by the speaker during the breakout sessions.

The session which I went to (with Yunyi) was Who runs the World? Meaning, who takes charge and creates the rules in the world? We dabbled with a few ideas such as the United States and the United Nations. Is UN a world policeman? It would definitely seem ironic to call it so because it does not even have an army. The UN soldiers are mainly contributed by countries and most of the soldiers come from... guess where? Bangladesh! WOW. 

And I also find the UN's way of conducting affairs slightly unfair and even, let's say, biased, power-inclined? I mean, we have this 5 big powers who get to literally, have the FINAL say in everything. So long as one of them disagrees, the whole suggested plan will have to be scrapped! Imagine that! Instead of the United Nations, you might as well call it the 5 countries' nations. (LOL. maybe that was too harsh) 

But the UN does not not have its merits. I mean, it really does excellent in the philanthropy area! The usual idea is really that of UN = help. right?

But in terms of keeping peace, I guess the effects are really only felt in smaller countries. I mean, the UN can't actually help make peace between the US and China right? After all, they themselves are part of the 5 big powers! It would really be ironic to see them pass a veto on a proposal on themselves, HAHAHA. 

The other thing we discussed is US vs China. I guess VS would be a bit inappropriate.

Anyway, I don't really like the idea of having US troops stationed in SG. I dunno why but the idea just kinda puts me off because I mean, this is Singapore. Why do I need other people's troops in our territory? It's kinda intruding?? But then again, this is the government's decision and maybe, there are other issues at stake, so who knows? I cant give a definite judgement based on my own assumptions.

So anyway, the whole discussion was really interesting and cool. Although I did find that the seminar way of teaching is cool, it still freaks most of us out because we aren't used to the style of teaching. haha! So the whole discussion was actually pretty one-sided.

AND I REALLY LIKED THE LAST PART OF MS ANN's discussion! Because she said that we should not think that singapore is not important in the global front. Just because we are small doesn't mean we aren't significant! hehe. I think that that last part really empowered all of us sitting there because it really gave us hope that, hey, when we grow up, we can make a difference. As opposed to the seemingly pessimistic view of SR Nathan, haha. 

Yep, and we finally had the final part of the conference where we had all the professors come together and answer questions by us. 

There was this part which is really extremely memorable where a student asked if they thought that the recent hype over the general elections were temporary or sustainable. One of the Indian professors, who is a Singaporean answered this as the rest had only lived in SG for a few years. He said that he felt the hype was a mix of both. And then he went on to say that we should not discredit what the government has done as well. We have managed to achieve multi-culturalism to a certain extent, when many other countries have failed. At the end of his short speech/answer, the students applauded. I think that that was when the Singapore spirit really shone from the various students sitting in the auditorium. I could really feel that all the students/Singaporeans there felt proud at that moment, to be a Singaporean :)

After SSC ended, I went to Plaza Sing with Siyun, Huiyi and Yunyi. We walked around Daiso and Spotlight- mainly it was huiyi and siyun who were actually 'shopping'. We then went down to the basement and ate, because we were all so hungry.

I then met up with my parents there for dinner. We initially wanted the Manhattan Fish Market but it appears everyone had the same idea as us, haha! Partially because there was this coupon that they gave out (I had it at home too) which was really worth it! haha! So in the end, we went to the... FOOD COURT. Note the big disparity in food standards. After eating, I went to this bookshop nearby :)

Oh yeah! SMU gave us this book published by them - Social Space. You can go check it out. There are several articles which I thought was really interesting!!

"Of Spatial and Mindset Change" - interview with Tay Kheng Soon

      He talked about rubanisation! The idea is actually quite cool, where the urban and rural area come together as one. He also talked about communities as being small sustainable communities.

"The New Way of the Future: Small, local, open and connected" by Ezio Manzini

      Very similar to the idea of rubanisation!! He calls this cosmopolitan localism. I really wonder what SG will be like if the two ideas were implemented!

"Improving lives in the base of pyramid, profitably" by Stefan Jacob and Pin Kwok

      Mainly about how to tap into the lower class people's 'wealth'. For example providing cheap, but good quality products that are targeted at these people, rather than the usual high-end customers. It will not only benefit the companies involved, but the consumers as well.

"Working on the Rights of Singapore's Working Poor" by Siew Kum Hong

      OH THIS IS IMPORTANT. haha! Because it involves Singapore! It addresses income inequality and actually provides a SOLUTION called Workfare Plus! The idea actually sounds pretty good although I am not very sure about what is endowment... lol.

"Tiny Ideas, Big Changes" by Won Soon Parl

       This article is cool too because it talks about how citizens can take part in policy making, rather than only small groups of people working along with the government :) It would be really good if SG can implement this!

HAHAHA. I sound like I did a lot of work, hehe! :D 

I shall go relax now because I've finished all my homework! YAY. It was a really good idea to start on PW earlier!!! Really kudos to Hannah for speeding us up :D

I shall treasure all my time at home now before FACING SCHOOL TOMORROW D:

homework, to do or not to do?

Actually, the title might be a little misleading because I have actually finished most of my holiday homework. I am currently only left with two - chemistry worksheet and a history essay. It is the history essay which puts me off because I really have NO MOOD to start on it at all!
I usually have an enthusiasm for such things! I would be thinking, "okay, let's start on this and get high marks!" Yep, I am a person who REALLY CARES ALOT about marks. People often ask me why I do so well and I think the main reason is because of marks.
Seriously speaking, I hate studying. I have actually contemplated quitting school and getting a job before. Yep, I did! I think it was around last year when I starting to have these crazy thoughts. I felt like I did not have any direction or goal in life and that I was just wandering aimlessly. I did not know what I wanted to be when I grow up.

I was especially frustrated because I did not seem to have the passion for anything in life.

So, I have always been living in the moment. Even now.
I guess marks are just a short-lives motivation for me. I WANT to get high marks - that's essentially the key to whatever I do. To get the best results possible. I love self-satisfaction :D

Okay, anyway back to the topic - history essay. I heard from one of my friend Siyun that we did not have to do it O.o But I am really doubting that such miracles could come true! I believe that we will STILL have to write the essay eventually, it's just a matter of when. D: So, I WANT to do it ASAP, I am just too lazy to start on it!

And yes, I realised that I have been very lazy these days~!!!! I have SOME stuff on my agenda but I always find some excuse to push it back or refuse to do it -.- I NEED TO GET STARTED.

Oh yeah, I went to watch WICKED with Siyun (that was when she told me we did not need to do the essay), Nicole and Krystal.
We met up at Suntec and ate Astons! Siyun and I did the horrible mistake of ordering spaghetti - I did it to get the soup. LOL. The spaghetti was horrible. I never liked spaghetti with sauce. What's more, we ate dominos during lunch while doing project with Huiyi and Xuechun.
Krystal came over and said, "I saw you two eating spaghetti and I was like, why? why?" HAHAHA. yes, I now know my mistake. I WILL NEVER ORDER SPAGHETTI FROM ASTONS. To quote myself, "I was foraging for salmon amongst the spaghetti."
We laughed over a lot of stuff while eating. Oh yah, we also talked about Xiaxue and Naomi. I HAD NO IDEA WHO THEY WERE INITIALLY - "living in my own bubble".
I was just listening to them talk about them. Anyway, I was interested and since I was reluctant to start on my essay, I went to check out their blogs just now heh. LOL. Xiaxue's blog was pretty interesting and the most recent one about being selfish is kinda cool and truthful. I also went to read Naomi's one which was regarding her haters lol. She actually took the time to print screen her hater's twitter comments and post it on her blog, hahaha. I wonder how she has the time to do such stuff, while I am here worrying about my essay =_=

So, yeah, we then went to MBS. We took some pictures using Nicole's camera :)
And then, at 7.30pm, WICKED started.

Wicked was really good and awesome. Electrifying, an eye-opener! :D The songs that they sang were actually good! The whole stage set-up was really cool and nice as well! The story really felt like Romeo and Juliet at the beginning (where they announce the whole story's ending at the prologue lol). The green girl really creeped me out initially. haha! Anyway, the story was really touching as well. I actually cried a few times during some of the parts.
The last musical I went to was Mamma Mia! which was when I was p4? I don't remember much of it already, just a woman at the top of a make-shift cliff singing something. So it was a really wonderful experience to watch such a fantastic play AND remember it! :))

And I finally managed to watch Guzaarish just now! The storyline is SSSSOOOOO similar to Me Before You!!! They should have collaborated or something, haha! Anyway, the movie was a tear-jerker :') You really feel as if you are in Ethan's shoes. Anyway, the movie is about a man who petitions for euthanasia because he is unable to move any of this body from his head onwards. Furthermore, he was a famous magician before that so the suffering and entrapment he feels is much more intensified. The movie is shot beautifully and everyone should watch it! :))

Yay, the past few days' events have been recorded :)
Now, on to whether I should do my essay...

Holidays!

It is finally the end-of-term holidays! YES!

Although I look forward to the holidays, in truth, it will be bombarded with homework. Also, the holidays is only one week long. There is an additional day of holiday tomorrow due to good A-level results of my school. I will probably be doing my chinese newspaper article review and my chemistry project. These are my top priorities! I still have a few, wait. That's an understatement. I still have TONS of homework undone. 

I am seriously hoping that I will be able to do them fast, and well. :))

I am currently obsessed about this movie, "Jodhaa Akbar". Yes, it is a Bollywood movie.

And yes, I watch bollywood movies (to those out there who don't know). In fact, I love them! I have a few favourites - Devdas (a must-watch!), Kal Ho Naa Ho, Dhoom 2... and many more! Because I am unable to find the disc for Jodhaa Akbar in the National library, I am now watching it on youtube. However, I want to watch it on BIG SCREEN!! So I actually emailed Vasantham (yes, I DID!) to screen the show during the Saturday 4pm timing where they show bollywood shows! HAHAHAHAH. 

And I also find this guy DAMN HOTTTT. HRITHIK ROSHAN!! (I'm just gonna spam his pictures now haha)

He acts in Bollywood shows! And he has two thumbs on his right hand (cool). His eyes have this really cool colour like grey/blue. GAAAAHHHHH. (okay, I know I'm fan-girling, wtv) 

He actually looks abit like Jason Mraz, but in a hotter and nicer way, heh.

If I ever see him, I wanna get a picture with him! :DD

I told my friends at school during physics lesson about him and his hotness and they all went, "huh! where got?" Either that, or "I didn't know Sue Qin's type was this kind." Yep, now you know! I went crazy about Takeshi Kaneshiro once too!

Yep, but now Hrithik is cooler. Much cooler. He has this Caucasian look :) :P <3

Anyway, I stayed back in school today with Siyun and we talked. ALOT. haha! It was really a good, nice chat that we had. We got free tickets to Sheryl and Elaine's ___. HAHAHA. It was really good! And it was so fun to watch them! Yep, and SIYUN WATCHES BOLLYWOOD MOVIES TOO!!! HAHA. I showed her alot of movies and we were discussing storylines and stuff :))

Overall, not such a bad day!

Oh, and I finished Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. SUCH A GOOD BOOK. It really sets you thinking about life and its meaning, as well as the power of love as well. You definitely won't regret picking it up! :D

And then it happened...

I am just here to review on a book called "And then it happened" by Linda Green.

Basically, I would rate this book 3.5/5.

It is quite a good book, but not an especially good one. I think that what annoyed me initially was the style of writing of the author. The author tended to write very long sentences, which forced me to re-read some of them in order to make sense of what she was saying.

The storyline goes like this: Mel and Adam have been together since 13 years old. (Seems kinda 'One Day'-ish) They are in love and have a child called Maya. They have a close friend called Steve, who is married to Mel's best friend, Louise. One day, Adam gets into an accident and goes into coma. This book narrates the trials that Mel faces during this period, and how she gets over them.

The storyline is really quite interesting. The chapters shift between the views of Mel and Adam every chapter. (similar to One Day again!) What particularly made me irritated was perhaps Mel's character after finding out about Adam's accident. She cried for a long period of time, which made me feel like going up to her and slapping her in the face and screaming at her, "Get a hold of yourself!" The vulnerability and self-pity she exhibits can be rather over-excessive in the first few chapters after Adam goes into coma.

Perhaps what could be noted could be the phrases that the author repeats towards the end of the book. I read the words and vaguely remember just seeing them a few chapters before, which makes the reading process undeniably unpleasant. UNLESS they had some significant or symbolic meaning to them.

What I REALLY liked about the book though, was its sense of realism and its ending. SPOILER* The ending might make some of us feel unsatisfied, as if it could have been better. However, it would be important to know that in real-life cases, happy endings do not happen. The stark realism of the ending really struck me and left me wondering where did the real Adam went? However, it is also weird and too exaggerated that the 'new' Adam and 'old' Adam are SO different! Their tone and intonation just do not seem like each other. I admit that they will never be the same, but they can't be that different, can they?

Well, either way, this book would made a good read for those who want a touch of realism and romance mixed together.

I am now reading a book by one of my favourite authors, Jojo Moyes, "Me Before You". If you have not read her previous book, "The last letter from your lover", you REALLY SHOULD. IT'S DAMN GOOD. <3
I also bought another book, "Before I Go To Sleep", which is on waiting list :))

fond memories

hmm... I think I have not posted anything on CNY yet.
Anyway, CNY was great. I had reunion dinners with both paternal and maternal relatives :))
Although, it was really quite awkward sometimes because I don't recognize some of the extended relatives. Some problems with extended families!
I went karaoke with my maternal family too. After that, I went to have dinner with 2k!! :DD

It was really fun. I went to Yohanes' house and meet some of them first. They were playing risk, although in actuality, they only really played for 30 minutes!
We decided to go to Changi Airport's Terminal 2's Sakae Sushi. We booked a tatami room :)
The dinner was really funny! We talked a lot, and joked around :D Yohanes tried to make us guess a scenario and we did not get even one correct! We came up with a lot of funny scenarios instead which got us all laughing.
And when we played black magic, I always seem like the last one to get the trick, especially FUZZY WUZZY. All of them tried to get me to figure it out, AND I FINALLY DID, HAHAHA! We also took a lot of photos :)
It was the first proper class outing in a really long time, and more than half the class attended it: Yohanes, Suting, Genevieve, Grace, Ying Xuan, Krystal, Pamela, Felix, Bryan, Alvin, Valen, Jinheok, Boning and me! I am pretty sure I got everyone there... >.<
I am really glad that we got together after so long! :)) I think that 2kellyx has got this 'thing' that most classes don't have! I hope that we will get together again after like, 20 years, when all of us are married with kids :')

Anyway, I am having some problems with my own class' stuff now... hmm... I better not mention it, haha.

I am currently trying my best to do my commonwealth essay, but I figured that there is no use trying to force myself to do something that I cannot now. I am going to watch my bollywood show! :))

In a Grove... and stats!

Lessons have been pretty interesting these days, I wonder why...

Let's take History for example. My teacher has given us something similar to a short story, "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. It is an interesting story. A samurai's corpse is found. There are three suspects for this murder: Masago (his wife), Tajomaru (a bandit) and himself (he might have committed suicide). Testimonies have been collected from the woodcutter who found the body, a travelling buddhist, a policeman who arrested Tajomaru, Tajomaru, Masago and Takehiko (the samurai). What is certain is that Masago was raped by Tajomaru; what differs is what happened afterwards and who killed Takehiko. You can read the story here.

Most of my classmates felt that it was Masago who killed Takehiko. They argued that perhaps both men loved her and wanted to protect the fact that she killed Takehiko. Others felt claimed he committed suicide to 'save face' as it was better than dying in the hands of a mere woman. Somehow, I have a feeling that my history class is very wary of woman, especially beautiful ones. HAHA.

We are supposed to determine who is the murderer and write an essay on it. This is very interesting, and different from the normal lessons that we have done. After searching it up, I found out that it was never the author's intention to have a real murderer. What he was trying to prove was that our initial guess of the murderer is shaped by our moral inclinations and biased judgements. As humans, it is very hard to see the REAL truth. This story serves to prove that. What one character says is always refuted by another. It is almost impossible to decided on a real murdered based on their testimonies. 

After reading that, I was dumbstruck. How do people ever come up with such novel methods to prove a certain point? I was very impressed by this. However, I felt stuck at the same time. How am I ever going to decide who is the real culprit? This is when the true objective of the project hit me. I was supposed to use my INVESTIGATIVE and ANALYTICAL SKILLS to help me argue for one of the character. The main point wasn't which character I chose. The objective was to see how I made use of the testimonies by the non-parties and general knowledge to prove that the character that I have chosen is the murderer. 

Perhaps I will put up my essay the next time, if I remember!

Anyway, I was interested and went to find out the statistics for my blog. Here are some:

Pageviews all time: 4,741

Pageviews last month: 153

Audience: Singapore (3,332), USA (726) - Wow, who reads my blog in the US?!, Russia (71) - I guess they google translate or something???, etc.

Post with highest views: tag (click here) Apparently someone quoted from my blog and it appeared in the straits times! HAHA. I still cannot find the newspaper article... Maybe I should do some searching now...
[updated] I FOUND THE NEWS HAHAHA!!! It's here. It was featured on The New Paper, Thursday, December 03, 2009.

"But netizen Sue Qin, writing on her blog, felt that some of the rules in the Chua household (featured on the programme) are overly-harsh, citing the ones forbidding sleepovers, boy-girl relationships and another rule which stipulates that the computer be in the living room so the parents can see what sites the kids are visiting.

She added, however, that most of the rules – like the ones against skipping school, smoking and alcohol – are “kinda expected”.

She felt that Singapore is conservative because we are made up of races which have their own strict traditions about raising children.

“While too much control is not good, too little control is also not good,” she wrote."

AHAHA, I ACTUALLY FEEL QUITE PROUD OF MYSELF. How old was I? 13? HEHE ;D

And I am going to end my blog post now! The most recent book that I've read is by Lauren Oliver. It's called Delirium. I'm giving it 4/5 stars! Overall, the story is really good, except for some sappy romantic parts which makes the book lose some of its adventurous 'feel'.

School... again!

Today is the second day of school, when lessons officially start.

Initially, the idea of lessons really put me off there. However, today was better than what I expected it to be. I thought that the lessons would be really drawn out and exhausting because it lasted until 4.15pm today. However, time passed surprisingly quickly, except for the first 2 hours which felt like forever then. 

My new chinese teacher is a female teacher called Ms Sau. She taught me CME before. I was quite disappointed when she did not recognise me when she named the students whom she knew, but then, I must admit I didn't make much of an impression when she taught me the other time. Chinese lesson was quite interesting. It was about this female author called Zhang Ai Mei. I think that's the name. Apparently, she's a prodigy, a genius. How envious! We were told her life story which was kind of sad and pitiful. She wrote so much books on love, but her life was far from blissful. However, I think the scars as well as the joys of her love inspired her to write such great short stories and novels. I wonder if I can ever be like that as well. 

Literature - Romeo and Juliet. A classic. Although I don't mind reading Romeo and Juliet, I would really like it if the school could arrange for us to study a modern play rather than a Shakespearean one. I recently watched this film "Closer" which is based on a play of the same name. It is a modern play written in 1997. The concept was pretty simple, but the way it was played out was really cool and interesting. It is about 4 people, with 2 couples who commit adultery. The play is supposed to highlight the degrading nature of love and marriage in the modern times. Really deep...

Oh yeah, I recently read a news that the new salary proposal for the Singapore government is out. Now, the president's salary will be lower than that of the prime minister, which is kind of weird as the president is thought to be the 'head of the state'. Hmm... Though I guess I welcome the new salary change (it is now lower). I mean, it means less tax money being given to them? Haha. Next, they should deal with the rising cost of... everything. I mean, I have no idea why but, if our SG dollar is getting stronger, then shouldn't the items here be sold at a lower price?? I don't really get the idea of inflation but I think I will probably learn about it in financial literary lessons next week :)) Looking forward to it!

I finally sent an email saying that I want to redraw from AEP. The teacher asked to meet me, Dion and Beatriz because we all want to quit. Ms Gao will be there (@_@). I am seriously scared that Ms Gao will interrogate us like those officers in the police station or something!

Anyway, I celebrated Christmas and my cousin, Irene's birthday recently!

Christmas was at my auntie's house. I cooked Aglio Olio!! :DD Everything was finished eventually; I was so happy!!! Previously, some of the chilli padi's juice got onto my fingers so my finger was burning all the way to my cousin's house. Though, my efforts were definitely paid off seeing how they all enjoyed the spaghetti! :) We also played several games like charades. We had a gift exchange session. My present was for Iris. It was posters of Super Junior since she loves a member in it. My present was from Ivy. It was a lovely brown bag! My friend, Shermaine, said it looked nice when I brought it to the 3K class gathering.

Irene's birthday was fun too! We watched Running Man, which was this variety show where some celebrities played a game like Police and Thief. It was very funny! My mom and I chose a dress for Irene as her present :))

There was a 3k class gathering as well to celebrate Christmas.

I planned a treasure hunt with Dion, Beatriz, Trevor and Randy initially. However, it was all for naught when some envelopes when missing and no one wanted to play D: I bought a bracelet for Shermaine and I got a photo frame from Jing Ying. Thanks! I also played bridge with Jalyn, Beatriz, Chun San, Miss Lim and Jaime. There was this really funny moment when Chun San lost and Miss Lim (who was trying to make noises to hint to him while sitting beside him watching him play) asked him why he played some cards the way he did. He answered, "I play by instinct." And then there was this funny laughing moment because we all know that you can't rely on instinct in a bridge game. Haha.

It's now 9.17pm. I should prepare for school tomorrow and go to sleep :))

I now realised that my minimum sleep hour has to be 8 hours or the exhaustion will accumulate and by Friday, I would be very worn out.

I shall do my NYAA during the weekends. Hopefully, I can complete skills and service by then!

New Beginnings

Every year is a new year...

Upon looking back, I realised that last year passed by very quickly. Everything was a blur, I guess. New classmates, new subjects. When year 2012 is over, I will be in Senior High. Aah, I feel nostalgic just thinking about it (laughs).

This holiday is perhaps, in some way, the start of a new beginning for me. I have a new laptop! :) For me, who is quite engaged with the internet in more ways than one (like now), this means quite a lot to me. HP Pavilion g4 :)

I am looking forward to Christmas! I am going to have a family gathering with my maternal relatives, with potluck and such. My year 2 class is planning to organise a dinner gathering as well. Hopefully, the organising goes well.

Next year... Truthfully speaking, I am not especially anticipating or looking forward to it. Because,
a) It means the start of school, which can be dreadfully boring and draining.
b) I am going to take my O level Higher Chinese paper. I am totally NOT looking forward to this, though I am to the next two years if I manage to pass it!
c) A WHOLE YEAR, before the next year end holidays!!!
d) Less time for me to... well, not do anything productive.
e) Less time to SLEEP - the balm that nourishes your soul, yadah yadah yadah~

AND, I have not decided if I should quit AEP or not, which is actually what I have just realised while typing this blog post! This is bad! I should hurry and decide; but I have a feeling that either way, I am still going to continue with AEP =_=

The first blog post in many months *claps*
Be willing to wait for the next one for a long long time! (sniggers)

P.S. I am in the top 25% :)