Post - A levels: Wednesday
Cookies baked during prelims and As to destress.

Lorraine if you are reading this, are your thighs aching as bad as mine?
i feel like im walking on two sore mechanical instruments!
i must recover soon soon so that i can hit my "50 min lor!" aim for stan chart. and yes lorraine ok thats a joke, ill aim for an hour ok! and yes mama if, you're reading this, rock-climbing is supposed to be on monday hahah.

Macritchie was really effective and like what jessica said, very shiok! our breakfast and talk about life was really really nice and heartening:) love you guys and wont ever forget the sec school memories yes yes:) i believe memories from 4 or 2 years ago, no matter how old can co-exist!:)

Woke up at 6 to go and okay quite crazy i know but catching the morning hours when you know all your friends are still in bed esp those suffering from hangover and all, PUI! sorry my bad if im being cynical and traditional, but really, cant stand all the weird facebook photos and all, if you guys want to live these kind of lives i dont think its any worth publicizing/ showing them off. As if it wasnt enough the world's going down already. ok end of rant dont worry i doubt they will see this, but if you do, uhh i still love you just that i dont condone the fb-ing part at all. Plus i cant stand the new fb because they show you random people's comments to each other which is so strange because you kind of naturally read it before knowing its not yours!

Anyway, i've applied for many many jobs, i must go and enjoy myself before they all start flooding me and then ill have to work day and night! Dont mistake me, i cant wait to work really, although my sisters are just telling me im going regret starting so early.

oh YES I HAVE BEEN COOKING dinner for my family ever since As ended:) and have been cleaning my house inside out I AM SO PLEASED:) im like the family maid now i guess this is good experience to see if i can be a domestic care-taker haha freee internship:) didnt take photos of the meals though but these are the dishes i have cooked.

1) Fried omelette with tomatoes (learnt from home econs in sec 2)
2) Fried Cabbage (no need to learn)
3) Chicken rice

ok thats all. haha the rest of the dishes were topped up by my mum:)

going out with jessie, eh and kaikeng tmr before mahjong! cant wait.
and Yes, im starting on Christmas presents heheheh:)
see you guys around, and have a fantabulous, clean, purposeful holiday!!

Part of our success that never ends!

You cant believe how proud I am of everyone who has endured the worst exams we've ever had so far:) I think we are so ready for our future. okay that sounds way too optimistic haha but hey i think we all really deserve a break and boys especially go enjoy enjoy ok while the girls, we can take our time:))

Before self-gratification, im going to dedicate today 20th November 2008 of my personal day of Thanksgiving!! So many things to be grateful for, above all,

• My dearest Daddy God who has really been my BEST FRIEND forever, really, I felt His friendship especially when worries couldn't be put into words or smses to friends or when i just couldn't think anymore. He was there at 11pm before my Maths paper, when i was wondering how i could fly 5 grades up, He was there when i was cramming history into my head, wondering if i was the only A-level student studying at the real 11th hour, He was there when i couldnt group my facts together during the paper, when my brain gave way to panic. And Hey, to make sure how i'll never forget this, He was standing right next to us along the small corridors we were separated by fellow exam-mates. He was always there for me, and i just want to give back this season and for as long i can ever put into words now.
• My teachers; I know all of you were always just downstairs in the staffroom and i could always call you all up when i needed help! Thank you Mrs. Koh, Mr. Harris, Miss Chia, Miss Low, Mr. Khoo, Mr Sayers,Mrs Ting and Mr Lum for marking a gazillion last minute practice essays and giving me emergency consultations (miss chia and mr sayers!) Special thanks to Mr. Lum for sending me my essay to my doorstep you really shocked me but i was really touched and then i promised to get that A for Econs! haha. i was saying yesterday that teachers were the next best treat besides coming into Vj alone. thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou:)
• My earthly angels who were always always always here for me:

1. My dear parents who have been absolutely supportive and tolerant of my weird quirks especially the last two weeks, and for sending me up and down.
2. My dear sisters who kept me on the ball and always reminding me of what my future would be like and that studies was never really the most important thing, although it may seem so haha.
3. My sisters and brothers-in-christ: Chia wen, Jon Muk, Phoebe, Charissa, My Mummy, Steph- thank you for taking down the dates of all my papers and even if we needn't sms/ talk, i know that every blessed evening and morning, there was always someone praying for me:) Thank you soooo much..
4. Seniors: Sidney, Christa and Steph for always cheering me up and counselling me hahaha
5. Juniors! Exco juniors and just all of you around for flooding me with good wishes and luck and all the bestest things in the world:)
6. My study partners: for helping me stay away from the track i took during O'levels. Oh no the names are gonna flood here because im going to attempt to PUT EVERYONE'S NAMES HERE because directly/ indirectly, you helped to create the most conducive environment for studying in school:), First and foremost there's my dearest Mouse Annabelle, who has always been there for me when i forget mynotes or things and dates and time and whatever not. We were hardcore and we meant it when we hit the books from 8am to 9pm! Library study-mates: Charissa, Beatrice, Pearlyn, Daniel, the s41 smart people who helped me solve so many problems- Eric, Chunhan; band people Dafril, Eric, Pin Rui! Classroom people: Veralyne, Ethel, Phoebe, Jastine thank you so much for keeping things up and cheery:) oh oh oh the people who always bought food for me! okay i shall confess that for every day i have studied in school, i have NEVER bought my own lunch and dinner okayy. thats how great you guys were! : Ethel, Shannon (beef noodles) Nicholas Kang, Freddie fredex, Sufiyan! hhaa, oh no i cant spell your name Deru? Dhiru? hahaha okay okay you know how thankful i am for you people cycling to east coast/ parkway in the midst of studying to buy yummy delicious food back! Miss Jansy for tirelessly calling for orders from Thaipan or the hawker and for sorting out messy orders sometimes.
7. Class girls for always helping me out when i needed help, and all the funny,sweet messages we shared in the wee hours of the night. I really am thankful for you all! thank you tricia for faxing me things ive lost or need thank you so much!
8. My dearest SC girls who have been with me since like secondary school and although we've not seen each other for ages (besides lorraine and shan:)) we can still message and im still laughing and falling off my chair imagining you girls saying all those things in your amazing voices and all our wonderful memories flood back. Special mention goes to lorraine , for meeting up with me to run during the study period, shan for all the funny smses and calls, jill for always making me look forward to meeting up with you hahaha, MAJELLA TAY who i'd say is Marvellous Tay haha in all her last minute studying tactics and crazy antics you always pull and never fail to crack me up. its true when they say, you'll feel like you're on top of everything when you have old friendships to fall back on, and new ones to show you how far you have come <3>

Okay these were the most important things i wanted to articulate, the rest will be kept safe in my heart, so if i missed you out, dont worry:))

Okay the next section is about things i would really have wanted to do better in school, not exactly regrets but since i cant think of an euphemism yea its just regrets then:(

1. Spending more time with my dearest class 07A13, and this i mean, the WHOLE class. okay you got what i mean:/ its okay because we've got memories of our 1st 3 months and i can dare say it was really PERFECT. <3>
2. Spending more time with my dearest section im so sorry if i was with the exco and tae and all and i always seemed to put you guys in the backseat!
3. Being quite unfeeling to some individuals and i have no idea how to make it up, hmm ill figure a way out okay. I think i tried my best but obviously it wasnt enough, really, my bad here.

OKay oKay i really got stuff off my chest here!

im so lousy my legs are hurting alr and i havent even embarked on our cycling marathon, rock wall, tree-top walks, hill climb etcetc. gotta go recuperate!

you take care!:)

100m dash

its down to ONE LAST PAPER
i cant believe i was actually smiling to myself today during the RF essay... i guess i was smiling so much i didnt see the word 'Islam' which makes the whole difference and so i know its going to be a disappointment i have to cope with...

BUT ANYWAY:)

felt rather liberated today after history and watched HSM with the girls. me abc and anthea were laughing so hard at some parts but it was really good overall. i mean troy and gabriella are all so natural now its the best outta the 3.

studying has been ok with all the peeps and im definitely going to miss all the funny times.
Shall tell you about the story of the white cat soon:)

For now, for all the strange things going on in my life, i give them up to God first cuz i need to store it with Him first while i concentrate on my last paper first okay, ill get back to it soon and try to straighten my life out after that. So if you're reading this, give me a few days, please.:/

the things on my mind:
1) Lit paper 2: gatsby, juno and owen
2) Stan Chart marathon! my gosh.
3) really trying to make it for church camp.
4) Sign up for driving?
Cant believe my parents said they would consider getting me a car. Wonder what the conditions are haha
5) have started looking for a job through wise contacts heheheh
6) feeling bad and sad im not joining eric and gang for the hongkong trip
7) contacting friends i have forgotten to reply or respond to, sorry!

FOOD FAIR TOMORROW WITH MY MOMMY. <3

:)

We're in the midst of it.
The engine's getting cold
and the fuel's running low,
but school life has still been there for me and im thankful for it.
Burn away all the unproductive moments and burn away all the distractions and there you have it-
what you really need.
So many things to say, but i know if ill do, i'll kill myself thereafter and perhaps if anyone chances upon this, they'd kill me in school tomorrow too.

Cheers and thanks to all the people who've taken care of me and ball (mouse)- all the dinners from east coast, parkway, or miss jansy (ill you miss you alot:)) and all the lifts home:) thanks to those who've never ceased to be there for me during this period of time- i love you char po, phoebe, mouse and ethel:)! , class girls (even though i havent seen your for ages except during papers haha i know you are always a phonecall or sms away, thanks to all my new friends who've helped me discover another side of me and another side of vj. funny because school's supposed to have ended but not so, at least for me:)

love school, and funnily, im quite excited for all the papers ahead to come!

finally thanks to this bookmark i have right in front of me on my desk -
"Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed for the Lord is with you wherever you go."
- Joshua 1:9.

To all the bad papers, you're HISTORY! I shall not be afraid of the future also because i know my Best will be enough, even if its not enough for you , you, you and you, its enough for Him:) How wonderful!:)

take a chance on ... us :)

Farewell assembly yesterday was so memorable, everything seemed so perfect and it felt like orientation in j1 again. Somehow its funny to see how everyone has accepted everyone else for all the flaws we all have, and how different some may be from the rest. Perhaps from my single perspective, it may be biased and i do admit i dont think 100% of people in vj has loved it for what it has to offer. But hey, looking at my circle of friends and their friends and all the overlapping sets haha i beg to differ man. i mean really, when it comes to sports or arts, events and cheering and going out and trying to get those grades, climbing the roof (oops) and burning midnight oil with thaipan and all the people with BIG personalities i love you all man and i love everything that happened, even those not so memorable because it definitely taught me valuable lessons. I think some poeple have mixed feelings about leaving vj, saying they dont mind moving on too, again i beg to differ. unlike my schools of institution, i think jc has really been a different experience of me, and i guess the most me as well. but maybe its because of the us in it. :) im going to miss school so much and all the things we did when we were young and childish. i mean we cant really be childish in uni anymore right people will seriously think we are stupid sighh:) esp with the smarty-pants dragon boys ( haha vera and i agreed 'dragon boys' really sound like they are gonna take over the 'horse girls')! anyway 2 years is JUST TOO SHORT and we dont care but we are gonna recreate some of those things once again, after our As ok:)

like how 2 years is just too short, the last day of school was too short too, didnt manage to take pictures with so many people because we were with our class most of the time, but as a class, we did take loads of photos! also, reading my testimonial was rather emotional too because it was nearly unbelievable how i could seemingly do all those, its when you look back and then you are even more thankful for Him who was always walking with me and how He guided our hands and hearts to do all those things. Indeed, All glory goes to Him.

ill leave with a parting note, to those discouraged by their results, dont give up on yourself like how our school says they wont, on us! and to those who did well, press on, you'll get where you want cfm:)

A......ONE THREE! <3

hooked

im hooked on the crazy song we heard during the Mamma Mia movie:
"Dont... go... wasting your emotions, lay all your love on me..."

i realised i have a VERY bad habit! when im hooked on a song, i go source out all the different versions and arrangements of the song and then do this mini evaluation of all to see which is the "best" and sometimes i find myself cringing at the tacky chord progressions etc. trust me, it is rather addictive but time consuming.

anyway, anthea no worries, the version of the song on your iPOD is DA BEST!! :))

i also happen to really agree with my mum that the songs of the past were actually so much more meaningful than today's music. i mean really, after following "dont forget the lyrics" rather religiously (hahaha), i think the lyrics were not as repetitive as today's pop music and more often that not, each verse at least had some different flavour. i think that credit can only go to a few today. i mean, look at Jason Mraz, he does wordplay and then everyone goes gaga! (not that i dont support him but yea you get the gist).

back to mugging!!

history

history will always be history, it just depends on how faded the memory is.
I remember letting go a ton sometime ago, making sure I wouldnt ever look back upon it. Now that was hard and now and then I still wonder what would have happened if I didnt let the 'ifs' happen. Whatever beliefs I held true then, still hold true now, and im so thankful God gave me the sufficient grace and strength to come to my senses.
History will always be history, and those long stories i would have told some but not all, slowly fade into nothingness. It is next time when i look back, that I know ill be so proud of myself, that i know i did the right thing!

Cheers to memories!- of which some of it, we should just let go.

IT'S MINE!

im so tired, physically - i feel like an injured bird really, the balls of my foot hurt, the product of days walking around too much, not exactly in very comfortable shoes.
wanted to join the physics/bio people celebrating todayy but ah once again, im so sorry, but just too tired! promise ill be back in action soon, give me a day! :)

have been thinking of making a list of everything i want after watching oprah's show on the earth-person law of attraction thing that is actually pretty interesting. IT'S MINE!
its probably easy to think "it's mine!" if all we have to do is answer mcq questions or something, not that im being jealous, since i admit i really cant do science/ math or stuff like that. counted for my sister, realised that lit/hist/econs people have 18 essays to write, and thats all that counts for our grading man. having said that i really have to say that literature at A level is indeed interesting but we all admit its tough man. like improving is intangible, and you can never replicate success in one assignment for sure in another. its this inconsistency (not just in grades but how you feel towards each poem/prose/drama) that worries me. not sure if i can pull it off when the real thing comes. the strange thing is that you got to have a certain aptitude towards the whole thing to be confident of having everything under your control and manipulating the strange content to your own ways and logical flow everytime. that certain aptitude certainly comes with certain people we already know, but it doesnt appear with everyone who just puts in hard work. those who put in hard work may attain in, but that success doesnt come with hard work all the time. oh well, thats the price we have to pay for doing something we really enjoy, although forcing us to appreciate content in just a few minutes isnt really very enjoyable. I really really think they ought to give all candidates like a compulsory 15 min to appreciate the strange thing first, before perhaps an hour for writing. I understand time is a discriminant in itself, but really even appreciating literature has to be in such a crazy rush?

Whatever it is, like what i told my CT during connect 2, i wont ever regret whatever grades i get because i believe that i enjoyed a super fulfilling school life (even though others would say we enjoyed too much:(, and did all the subjects that we love, even though we may not be the best at it, the only thing is to do your best and live like you should at 17/18!:))

CHEERS EVERYONE, happy celebrating!:))

here are a collection of my favourite photos of all time, and hwee's birthday:))

22.8.08 : Happy Hwee Day:)

We still came to celebrate Teachers' Day although we were all sure we couldnt finish studying in time for prelims! and I baked till late the previous night and ants and abc had to write so many cards! I think that calls for some celebration:)

P.S. We can jump really high eh! haha:)

I cant remember when this was taken but it was definitely during the period we were supposed to settle down to study, no we didnt become jaded at all! :)

the fun bbq albeit the overwhelming smoke:)

mouse and my organised cip! hmm, i wonder where it has gone to, hopefully they keep it for next year too:)

time for family photos!:)

in our dear second home:)

in our favourite New York:)

my dear exco and tae:)

more around school:)

just so little from UK and France,

New York!

And how our school never fails to remind us that indeed everything is possible with labour:)

i remember how worried i was on the day before school started (although for most of the cca people we probably settled in faster than the rest) how radical this shift from bukit timah to farr east would be haha. Leaving behind all the memories from our favourite hangouts - Stevens Road, Serene Centre - island creamery, RTC, Prata House, Guthrie House and Venezia, King Albert Park, Coronation Plaza, Waffle Town, Town, the delifrance at Chancery Lane, Dairy Farm (!!), all my old buses i used to take, 67, 154, 960, etc etc to somewhere so different! i guess all those fears were unfounded and I made the right choice, under the umbrella of my dearest Daddy God under whose Will is always mine to adhere to.

There is always a bright light at the end of the tunnel, but first we gotta work.

Should be signing off not long, in lieu of our favourite exams!

IT'S MINE! <3

"wow, so you're not that kind"

I get a little disturbed when people get to know me better and then they say "oh, so you arent that kind!". i get even more disturbed when people fail to qualify when they mean by that kind! haha.
i mean i remember how some people always told me i wasnt like a typical SCGS girl, but... really? what a shame! Im definitely not refined when eating/ sitting haha although vj skirts have taught me to (hopefully) haha. and then some will be "ooh, you're so typical!" especially my own friends from sc, ok so i guess that has refined my opinion on stereotypes being a non-constant as well.

with this point, i think i meant to get something else across.
i mean, it doesn't really matter how people view you, does it?
Just as long you stay true to yourself and your values, there shouldnt be any need to be angry at people who gossip about you, about people who criticise what you do, people who praise you for what you do. OK, Maybe these views can affect us, as it would affect any normal feeling human being, but it shouldnt be to such an extent that it disturbs our inner emotional equilibrium. Having said that, its also important to make sure your values are sound. Do you let people quickly shake them and leave you all fickle and undecisive? If that is, perhaps you havent really found yourself and that set of principles yet.

To tell you the truth, friends i really admire are those who have found that true set of principles that i personally agree with to, just havent found sufficient resolve to implement it. So to those who have found it ( I have 2 in mine, imagine, after so many years!), CHEERS TO YOU!
Today Oprah's show was giving CHEERS to those she admired and i found myself crying (so embarrassing ok!) everytime those people were surprised, just with simple cheers for their admirable actions.

Also, i think that really, the best way to speak for something, is to show it with actions. Its not easy, but really dont you think its the best? In fact it just disillusions one when someone else says one thing but never does that.

SO now, i would like to give CHEERS to both of you ( i think i told you before so yea :)), and to others who are sure they have found their principles, and are reading this. :)

wisdom, where art thou?

We need so much wisdom in our world today!

Really, I cant emphasize this enough!

***

Anyway, i really wanted to take a picture of our exam hall, because i think it was really awesome and so inspiring. But due to no electronic devices allowed at all, i could just be content with the sight of it. oh well, try to imagine this poster

at the back of the hall flooded with classroom tables.

Awesome isnt it? :) the poster is much larger upfront also and the words seem more penetrating since its the only words you can see upon entrance into the hall. Thank you people who thought of putting this up! :) Hopefully it will still be there for As!

***

Today was also so so so good because we had such a good time - indulging in fat Carls Jnr burgers (haha leow!), both of us were suddenly quiet for some time, because we were just trying to finish our meal, obviously to no success- after chewing for half an hour i still had the semblance of a burger left. ! and simply chilling in Starbucks, dinner and MAMMA MIA. mamma mia! wasnt it good man! Anthea, Jac Vera and I had SUCH a good laugh (amidst squeals and singing too haha) i tell you, go watch please! :) it was really funny when we spontaneously sang along during 'Super Trooper' and immediately the music stopped for narrative, which left us singing for 2 seconds, so embarrassing ok!

Some really funny things which happened today included:

a) Finding a mysterious packaged thing left by somebody but nobody in the bus and hwee and mc telling the driver, with minimal response. Mc also resorted to kicking it to see what was inside. hmmm!

b) talking about how we used to have centre parting when we were young and how amusing it would be if we still had it now, including forcing leow to demonstrate first HAHAHA.

c) walking around shopping for a long-sleeved shirt for someone and discovering what makes the difference between normal long-sleeved shirts and our 'daddys' shirts'.

some other really hilarious things happened, maybe its just the liberation of the numbing effect of exams. met jessie and teresa and some of their friends, both of them tried to call both leow and i on our phones, but to no avail, as usual, remember the deadly combination - Brown mouse and white mouse together!!! haha. together we are amazingly childish, amazingly blur, playful and we study at the same pace (slow) hahaha, boo! so when we want to get reliable info etc, we tend not to ask each other. also when we want to know what we are doing, we try not to hang around each other haha! the sad thing is that we didnt really discover it ourselves, but people told us! eee.

just engaged in highly moral and religious stuff in my mind, prevented my itchy fingers from typing anymore comments on the overladen blog though. so tired i should go sleep!:)