Wednesday, January 28, 2009.

ok this sunday marks the end of the 3-month long holiday, which means that life returns back to normal.

transition to normalcy isn't that difficult as it used to be for the past 10 years. it isn't ALL HOLIDAYS ---> ALL WORK, but a mix (transition), which makes the sudden process less sudden and abrupt (a good thing too lah).

anyway a filler post: taken from Facebook note. the facebook meme.

1. My favourite hawker food USED to be bak chor mee (with tons of vinegar) but after eating too much lousy bak chor mee (some with ter kwa), I got repulsed. So my favourite #1 hawker food is now a good nice bowl of Fish Soup. With milk.

2. I only started listening to Classical Music in late Sec 2 (credit goes to Ben Wee). It was sometime during EOYs I think, where I got exposed to a whole chunk of violin concertos (Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Sibelius, Brahms, Glazunov, Paganini #1, Saint-Saëns and Shostakovich #1 - the entry work into Shostakovich!). Of course I don't listen to violin concertos much now.

3. Sorry to disappoint, but I don't understand Mozart at all. (Translated, it means that I don't like him.) Oh yeah, and the LARGE majority of Classical period composers.

4. I actually never liked English (especially Literature). Somehow or another, my English marks shot up at the start of Sec 3, and till today I still cannot explain why. Either OBS turned me into some weird machine who could actually speak proper English, or I read a lot of English while sleeping.

5. Liverpool FTW!

6. In relation to Point 4, I always felt that I was never good in Languages as compared to other subject groups (e.g. Math and the Sciences, Humanities). (Sadly for myself I actually have statistical evidence to back this claim up.) Despite lasting for 4 years, I cannot fully claim I am proficient in Japanese (although that's one of my life wishes - to be at least trilingual.)

7. I still do not know till today whether I am shy or not. Although I'm leaning towards the former. I'm not sure whether people know that, but I tend towards not talking when in a group of people (who are already talking) that I do not know that well. Yet when placed in a group of people who don't know each other well I somehow start conversations very quickly.

8. I have slight face-recognition problems. And slight name-recognition problems as well. Not that I wish to, but well.

9. I am surprisingly productive on the MRT (and slightly less so on the bus). I can finish a chapter of Campbell and Reece (did it once!), write a graded essay (got 18/20 I think, but with comments that my handwriting was horrible), do EOY practice papers, study scores etc.

10. I am a sucker for rules (honestly!). Even now I don't dare to eat in RI outside the canteen (despite me loudly claiming that I would try that one day), although I jaywalk.

11. I dream of one day where the air around me could be cold, yet still equally humid. For some strange reason I really want to live in a country where temperatures are constantly 14 - 23 degrees Celsius. And the occasional snow.

12. Most importantly, on that day my nose MUST be functional. Not the nose that blows itself up every single time I go to a temperate country. My nose is a great tissue-waster. I remember using up ONE WHOLE ROLL of toilet paper for one day.

13. Sometimes I do get pissed that I'm short, but I've learnt to accept it. Anyway isn't it cool that you don't need to bend down your head ever?

14. To me, anyone who has good handwriting is really lucky/talented. I ever tried changing that rubbishy handwriting of mine (that exact handwriting that got complaints from nearly every teacher that taught me ever since Pri 1), but obviously failed. Yet I actually CAN read my own handwriting (with great difficulty.)

15. I am not very confident when it comes to decisions. When mulling over a possible course of action, I can take forever and forever even if the answer is obvious. I double-check what 3 + 5 is using my fingers during exams.

16. I have had several weird responses to my nickname (Lumpy), of which the most memorable one is this certain (coughyouknowwhoyouarecough) guy who told me he had a reindeer also named Lumpy. Somehow I now own that reindeer. Another very weird one was in OBS, where an instructor there was also called Lumpy (I think).

Labels: Life

{ 10:58 PM }

Wednesday, January 21, 2009.

the sky's very very fine today. near-total clear! even in the morning, early afternoon, evening and night.

i could see stars.

=D

anyway had chamber just now. the piece's fun, not *that* hard to play but very fun nonetheless.

finally for once i actually get to play a work of my favourite composer!

(ohyeah and hammering on your g-string for a large part of the piece is soooo cool. AND G-STRING is most probably not the thing you are thinking, naughty naughty.)

anyway i decided to retake Os after changing my mind rather suddenly.

not a shocking thing, seeing as Kenneth and KC are but 2 ppl I know who are retaking, but something i need to get used to. of course some people may label me as mad for retaking with a b3, but that's the only logical option for me.

and as tony summed it up: "If I were you I would do so too."

so from now i shall work hard, get that darned A and be happy.

and for some equally strange reason I actually got down to re-reading group theory (which is like "WHAT?" and some weird incredulous look).

don't ask.

just like how people shouldn't bother so much about why i call myself lumpy (which has happened twice so far and will most probably happen tmr and on orientation).

turns out that nearly everyone who knows my real name STILL call me lumpy despite me telling them my real name.

not that i'm being private or what, but it's just that I'm helping you save a bit of trouble (isn't it so much easier to call me lumpy? more memorable).

ok this post isn't getting anywhere (just like myself.) so.

BYE BYE BUSH,
ONWARD OBAMA!

Labels: CCA, Life

{ 9:07 PM }

Sunday, January 18, 2009.

it's amazing how i know quite a number of people having birthdays today, so if i haven't wished you happy birthday i apologise. but anyway yes happy birthday again!

especially a certain lim jun sheng who had to give out flyers on his birthday. and you too!

anyway 1) tabasco is the bestestestest thing on earth. period.

2nd in line is bundaberg root beer. =D

that was totally random, but yes it's amazing what lumpy can do with a tabasco bottle.

2) i will promise NEVER NEVER AGAIN WILL I REJECT FLYERS.
even if i'm quite a staunch environmentalist and wish to save this poor planet by taking one less piece of paper, in the end it's already printed, what can we do?

seeing as I just got the chance yesterday to give out flyers, i roughly know how it feels to be rejected (as all the old aunties, people getting down from bus 410 and little children/teenagers a few years younger than I).

quite fun though (although it felt quite tiring halfway through).

3) i will die shopping. how on this earth do females shop, shop, shop, shop and SHOP forever? and the worst part is that they don't even feel tired at all!

gosh females are weird species.

(actually i'm a weird species too. just don't catch me shopping at somewhere i WANT to shop, cause you'll die watching me shop.)

4) i actually can't bowl for nuts. despite my 1st round score, i realised that beginner's luck most probably helped me through most of it.

5) i have in mind some random project. sounds decently cool to me, yet impossible. but never mind i'll try.

Labels: Life

{ 8:40 PM }

Thursday, January 15, 2009.

it's just so scary, how something you dismiss just days before suddenly comes back and bites you hard in the butt. Something you may not really care so much for, yet something that really, ultimately makes 100% sense when the truth strikes in.

and the truth sinks in HARD.

Labels: Life

{ 10:27 PM }

Tuesday, January 13, 2009.

oh my gosh we conquered the 42km Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network today! =D =D

yeah after the previous cycling trip (2 Jan), we all decided that another one sounded good. So my mind wandered, and knowing myself, it wandered to the most epic and grand-scale thing one can ever do at East Coast Park - the whole Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network (ECPCN)!

well to be honest that didn't feel all that challenging then, since we did 20km in 2 hrs on 2 Jan.

furthermore, I ever did the Siglap part and knew practically the whole route (usually because I go around the East part of Singapore a lot more).

so it felt short.

THEN AGAIN, i have a very bad habit of grossly underestimating distance (remember my "stone's throw"?).

So it was really very very long.

Yes and there were many many weird moments:
1) The infamous overhead bridge across Bedok North Road (which left everyone swearing after that (and it was just 40 minutes into the whole thing!))
2) Gravel on Bedok Reservoir which taught everyone the importance of changing gear
3) Jiggy's pillar-holding/pillar-swaying right outside Tampines
4) Chain Screw-up Part 1 (KC banging onto pillar at Tampines)
5) Jerald's camera thingy (lost near the place in (4))
6) RAIN (part1) and cycling through the middle of Pasir Ris HDB estate
7) Jiggy's button-pressing (or lack thereof) at a junction crossing
8) Jun Sheng's hunger whines at the super-windy-and-damn-high-tide Pasir Ris Park
9) KC's up-slope lag near Downtown East
10) RAIN (part2) and epic chionging-thru in Loyang
11) Chain Screw-up Part 2 (Kenneth trying to go fast) near (10)
12) Jiggy getting stuck around Changi Village after taking the wrong turn around a tree o.0
13) Me walking into Changi Village Food Court with a bike
14) Nice TALL waves at Changi Beach Park
15) THE TREES AT CHANGI BEACH PARK ARE SOOO <3!
16) Epic 6+km straight road along Changi Airport!
17) Chain Screw-up Part 3 + RAIN (part3) just before the bend.
18) Everyone getting owned by the rain.
19) Jerald's tyre screwup at East Coast Park.

everyone was tired lah, but it was FUN. as in not that we intend to go another time till our minds turn bad, but it was a rather new experience.

Jaycycling anyone?

Labels: friends

{ 7:35 PM }

Saturday, January 10, 2009.

went back to my alma mater (yes RI's my alma mater now!) yesterday to help out (or rather, slack around and talk cock and gossip) at Raffles Trail (or Trial, depending on how one sees it.).

swarms of sec 1s came and left the classrooms, some fat, some short, some noisy, some cute, but all sec 1s about to embark on a 4-year journey.

that reminded me about my life in RI, as a student, exploring the different and varied niches of our very diverse school.

was also introduced to a new teacher-i.c.. She's new to the school, and teaches geog.

And that, the fact that she teaches geog, just hit me.

That I'll be missing all the Geog lessons I had for the past 4 years, and in addition to that, all my Bio lessons and Jap lessons.

I always had a soft spot for these 3 subjects. Geog, partly because I was a minority in my history-dominated class (and I really like geog!), Bio because I actually like Bio a slight tad more than Physics (ooo surprise.), and Jap because it was really cool to take a subject that 90% of the population quit after at most 2 years.

For me, that particular sunset scene I see on the MRT everytime at the bend before Simei MRT Station never fails to remind me of the past 4 years after 3rd lang. Nearly every time, I would be on the MRT, reaching Simei at 5.30 pm, seeing the exact same view and the exact same sunset every week for the past 4 years.

So on that day when I stood at my favourite corner of the MRT, seeing that exact same sunset, I just, I dunno, started emoing. Really, to think that I would never go for a single 3rd lang lesson again, it hit me hard.

And then right after the whole thing, I walked out off that classroom (incidentally the classroom besides the ChemRA classroom), past the ChemRA classroom and stared at the classroom besides the ChemRA classroom.

I dunno why, but I just felt the need to go to that classroom again.

So my legs (magically/subconsciously) moved me here:


I pushed down and pulled the handle I pulled so many times the past year, and stepped in.

Waves and waves of memories flooded my brain. The project room and HY/Tjeng/Jie Liang/Jinghui's PRPP conquests, Jun Sheng's pencil case and Jerald/Kenneth throwing it around the class during recess, the aircon and someone's failed karate attempts at the button, the center of class and KC's F1 question...

It's amazing how even me, the guy who used this class least, could hold so much memories of this place.

I glanced at the imprints we left behind, footprints which were the products of one good PRPP game, marks of "deforestation", bloodstains on the door (look carefully at the picture on the top. yeah it was my fault D=), imprints of memories that just continuously replayed in my mind.

I couldn't bear it any longer.

Labels: class

{ 8:08 PM }

Wednesday, January 7, 2009.

I remembered Time's Man of the Year selection for 2006 when I saw this. I thought then when I saw it, that it was dumb, stupid, a waste of space when 2006 brought along much more great people who were more deserving of the award.

Yes, "YOU" were Time's Man of the Year 2006.

"And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you. "

Now I finally understood the significance of that choice. I dare say it's one heck of a good choice.

http://www.youtube.com/symphony





It's precisely because of the power of the Internet that's why we even have such a collaboration. Where even in the poorest of regions, in the most desolate of areas, someone with talent, with passion and skill can make his/her way to Carnegie Hall.

It's less of the music than the power of the Internet, really. To be honest his work isn't that great, but I like the whole idea of it, that people around the world perform a work online.

Now, music truly has no borders.

Labels: Music

{ 10:14 PM }

Friday, January 2, 2009.

wow the 1st 2 days of 2009/last 2 days of 2008 were fun! and somehow they were spent with friends =D

spent those 4 days being random and talking a lot of nonsensical stuff with people, which included ushering in the new year listening to music that totally didn't fit the mood, staying up till 5+ am, playing this new version of Texas Hold 'em Poker which involved the capitalists (Japan, Singapore, Germany, France, USA - guessable by 3rd lang and some circumstances) against the communists (Cuba, North Korea, North Vietnam), playing other random games like bridge and weird bimbo moments.

and since i just felt so guilty, thanks kenneth for lumpy.

(lol that totally didn't make sense did it?)

today was fun - cycling (or for some people, waking up, missing the bus-stop and walking for 2km) at ECP!
we were fretting about the weather for some time, till:
tony: jinghui so imba lah, if he screams at the sky the weather will turn good.
someone (impersonating jinghui): "screw you lah"!

Yeah thanks for keeping the weather good. =D

lol we had like 3 champions today - one who lost his way, one who lost his bag (but luckily found it) and one who lost a lot of time eating.

pity we only had 2 hours, or else we might have been able to go all the way to changi coastal park. no matter, we went to changi airport though!

*stares at jerald and starts wondering how long jerald will take to upload the photos*

err yeah it so rocks not needing to go back to school yet! just that i think we got some uncomfortable stares (at least I did, on the bus).

2009 smells good!

Labels: friends, Life

{ 10:45 PM }