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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Two days of JCT just passed.... or MYE, call it what you like. GP was pretty ok i think... I can pass that is... at least I knew what I was writing about for the compo. The compre, the perpetual Achilles Heel in my English (that caused me to be the only person in 3F 2003 to fail English two years ago, much to the horror of Ms Ow) was more manageable that the Singlish one we've tried to do before.
Chemistry was a totally different experience. I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again: I can't believe that I LIKED chem in sec. school! I mean, I really enjoyed it last time, which is why I told Mursjid that if he had to sabo me for anything, it should be chem and not anything else. Behold one struggling chemistry rep... pah...
Anyway for three hours my poor nerve cells battered themselves to death on the inner walls of my cranium, my Na/K pumps wore out and the brain juices dried up. Even the fungus died under the horrendous amount of flak that was being poored through my eyes from the death-dealing paper that went under the title of chemistry. I totally utterly got shot up by the paper. So was everyone, for that matter, 'cept maybe Nelson? PoYing? Well....
I was warned by my sister, as well as the past year papers... I knew it was gonna be hard, oh yes, theres no doubt about that. But when I still had 10 blanks on my MCQ after 20 out of 30 minutes I knew it was gonna be a killer. And no, its not supposed to be a killer, probably....
By the time I staggered home I was very numbed by the experience. Talk about chemical inhibitors. My enzymes now cannot digest the maths and bio that I'm feeding them. My conversation when I reached home with my sister was something like that.
Me: ArgH! It was a massacre!
My sister: Yar, chem right? Its always like that one lar
Me: There was one structured.... no, essay...
My sister: Especially Chemical Equilibrium..
Me: YAR! The chem equilibrium essay question! I'll be lucky to get one out of ten!
My sister: Haha...
Me: Except for "define Le Chatelier's Principle"
My sister: Haha... that one if you dunno can write "For every action theres an equal opposite reaction"
Me: [unintelligible growling noises] I was so sad I went to cheers on the way home n bought some nuts [although come to think of it, no link]
My sister: Oh
Yeah it went something like that. It was a terrible paper, about equal to my maths PSLE one... gah... anyway it was no consolation that everyone also found it difficult. And I bet my handwriting can't be read either.
Oh well... dual paper tml better go study... bye! n NC, jiayou for training yeah!
Chemistry was a totally different experience. I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again: I can't believe that I LIKED chem in sec. school! I mean, I really enjoyed it last time, which is why I told Mursjid that if he had to sabo me for anything, it should be chem and not anything else. Behold one struggling chemistry rep... pah...
Anyway for three hours my poor nerve cells battered themselves to death on the inner walls of my cranium, my Na/K pumps wore out and the brain juices dried up. Even the fungus died under the horrendous amount of flak that was being poored through my eyes from the death-dealing paper that went under the title of chemistry. I totally utterly got shot up by the paper. So was everyone, for that matter, 'cept maybe Nelson? PoYing? Well....
I was warned by my sister, as well as the past year papers... I knew it was gonna be hard, oh yes, theres no doubt about that. But when I still had 10 blanks on my MCQ after 20 out of 30 minutes I knew it was gonna be a killer. And no, its not supposed to be a killer, probably....
By the time I staggered home I was very numbed by the experience. Talk about chemical inhibitors. My enzymes now cannot digest the maths and bio that I'm feeding them. My conversation when I reached home with my sister was something like that.
Me: ArgH! It was a massacre!
My sister: Yar, chem right? Its always like that one lar
Me: There was one structured.... no, essay...
My sister: Especially Chemical Equilibrium..
Me: YAR! The chem equilibrium essay question! I'll be lucky to get one out of ten!
My sister: Haha...
Me: Except for "define Le Chatelier's Principle"
My sister: Haha... that one if you dunno can write "For every action theres an equal opposite reaction"
Me: [unintelligible growling noises] I was so sad I went to cheers on the way home n bought some nuts [although come to think of it, no link]
My sister: Oh
Yeah it went something like that. It was a terrible paper, about equal to my maths PSLE one... gah... anyway it was no consolation that everyone also found it difficult. And I bet my handwriting can't be read either.
Oh well... dual paper tml better go study... bye! n NC, jiayou for training yeah!
~JcZw~ at 7:49 pm
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Its the last weekend of the June Hols... Yay, soon we're gonna have our midyears.... my foot. I have a morbid sense of humour. Fencing Tournament got postponed 1 week.
Benefit: More chance to train, more time for my n maurice's blades to come
Drawback: IT CLASHES WITH N-COMP AGAIN!!!
Today my brother made a few interesting comments while we were in the room with our sister. I was at one comp, he was at the other n my sister was at the table... "There are only 3 kinds of birds in Singapore: Crows, pigeons and mynahs" or something like that.... Then my sister said "Not true, there are birds like the Oriel".
The Oriel in question is this yellow bird which we sometimes see around. Unfortunately, my brother heard it as "Oreo?" then, his dry sense of humour kicking in "The kind of bird that's black with one white stripe in the middle". Needless to say, the temperature of the room plummetted. My Thermal Properties notes were hardly sufficient to keep warm, despite the topic....
For those exceedingly inobservant ones, note that to relieve boredom, prevent myself from going mad, as well as to express my limited (very limited, as limited as the flight capabilities of an ostrich) artistic skills, I made a few changes to my blog. As said, I don't want to change the skin.... I don't really like those with a lot of arrows here n there... I like this one... haha.... n the words are big n easy to read...
Anyway I'd always like Isaiah 40:30-31.... I'd first seen it when I was Primary 2, in England during my father's overseas posting... the rest of the family had joined him for a holiday after his work was complete. At the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, this verse was there on one of the plagues, a tribute to the RAF pilots. I always thought about "that verse from Isaiah about eagles" but I never really found out about it despite various Bible quizes etc.
In sec. 3 (sec. 3? sec. 4?) It appeared on the walls of the hall in AHS. Very appropriate, considering the Anglican insignia on our badges. I never did find out whether that creature was an eagle or a falcon though.
I also spent a lot of time searching for a nice song for the blog. I chanced across this one "Power of your love". The line in the chorus:
"And I will soar with you, your spirit leads me on"
was a reminder that entrusting yourself to God's love was to let yourself be guided by him along the correct path.. I heard that song many times on the radio, but I never really went to think about it till recently. So i revamped the blog in the morning before I started studying.
When my sister came along, I showed it to her and asked her what she thought. She looked at it, then said "its nice, but you made a spelling error" Turned out I spelt "Isaiah" wrongly. Gah. I had to re-copy the pic, re-crop, put in the words, re-upload and re-link. Completed it just before cell group at night.
And wonder of wonders. We sang "Power of Your Love" during the cell group! WhoA! Haha.. it was like a personal thing from God yeah... Yup... The message was "The secret to a successful life". It got me thinking again.
It was about a successful life in terms of God's way of living. After all, the person that defines a successful life was, at the end of a day, still a person, not God. Take a simple example:
When I was in upper sec, a successful life meant being able to follow my sister to VJ n join their fencing club. When I got that in PAE, there was not really a sense of elation or anything. Then when school started, a successful life meant being able to stay there after 3 months. All of us longed to wear the uniform and truly become part of the college. But now that I look back, whats the big deal? The novelty of belonging to a "top JC" wears away in the face of tutorials, lectures, projects, conflicts, the very same abraisive things that wear down every JC, Poly or ITE student. So whats the big deal of heading to a top JC? Everyone still is stressed.
Sure, now the "successful life" would mean being able to actually do well for GP and get into the Medical Faculty of NUS next time. Then what next? You'd rarely be satisfied would you, if ever at all. The only thing that could seperate one JC from another is the alleged "bias" that RJ n HC students get into Med Fac more than VJ students do. If it isn't true, why worry, and if it is, then its also the fault of the people doing the assessments. All JCs are like gates to the University, except some are decorated with attractive pictures of torches whose flames are replaced by a "J", or with a griffin grasping a shield or something, or something that looks remotely mushroom shaped... No insult intended to anyone, but sometimes don't you find this kind of "ranking" thingy kinda EXHAUSTING!?
The thing that struck me was that I'd been thinking about all these things in the past few weeks. Before school closed I mentioned this thing about "whats the big deal" to a few people too... They generally felt the same. Sure, I'm proud to be in VJ, n I'm happy that I'm here, I'm happy with the school, but I'm not happy at the having to fight for survival to keep pushing the limit blahblah.
Uh huh, I've shot out everything that I felt like saying.... I think I should leave things to God lar... Liling once mentioned before (Not an exact quote) that "If its God's will for you to get into Medicine, you'll get in no matter how hard it is" It did a lot to allay my own worries =) haha... Its interesting how my sister n I started out from the same Primary school, took completely different route (One went through a single-ed Independant school of english background, another went through a co-ed SAP school of chinese background) before winding up in the same JC, with the same L1R5, in the same subject combi. Hopefully, in the same university course... hahaha
Oh yes, just a matter of interest... Dawn pointed out that the hydrophobic / hydrophilic properties of a phospholipid has been spelt both amphiPHAtic and amphiPATHic. Subsequently, Jiamin found out that both words mean the same and thus I think both would be acceptable... Thanks so much both of you... haha.
And just in case I don't post anymore over the weekend,
ALL THE BEST FOR JCT EVERYONE!
Benefit: More chance to train, more time for my n maurice's blades to come
Drawback: IT CLASHES WITH N-COMP AGAIN!!!
Today my brother made a few interesting comments while we were in the room with our sister. I was at one comp, he was at the other n my sister was at the table... "There are only 3 kinds of birds in Singapore: Crows, pigeons and mynahs" or something like that.... Then my sister said "Not true, there are birds like the Oriel".
The Oriel in question is this yellow bird which we sometimes see around. Unfortunately, my brother heard it as "Oreo?" then, his dry sense of humour kicking in "The kind of bird that's black with one white stripe in the middle". Needless to say, the temperature of the room plummetted. My Thermal Properties notes were hardly sufficient to keep warm, despite the topic....
For those exceedingly inobservant ones, note that to relieve boredom, prevent myself from going mad, as well as to express my limited (very limited, as limited as the flight capabilities of an ostrich) artistic skills, I made a few changes to my blog. As said, I don't want to change the skin.... I don't really like those with a lot of arrows here n there... I like this one... haha.... n the words are big n easy to read...
Anyway I'd always like Isaiah 40:30-31.... I'd first seen it when I was Primary 2, in England during my father's overseas posting... the rest of the family had joined him for a holiday after his work was complete. At the Royal Air Force Museum at Hendon, this verse was there on one of the plagues, a tribute to the RAF pilots. I always thought about "that verse from Isaiah about eagles" but I never really found out about it despite various Bible quizes etc.
In sec. 3 (sec. 3? sec. 4?) It appeared on the walls of the hall in AHS. Very appropriate, considering the Anglican insignia on our badges. I never did find out whether that creature was an eagle or a falcon though.
I also spent a lot of time searching for a nice song for the blog. I chanced across this one "Power of your love". The line in the chorus:
"And I will soar with you, your spirit leads me on"
was a reminder that entrusting yourself to God's love was to let yourself be guided by him along the correct path.. I heard that song many times on the radio, but I never really went to think about it till recently. So i revamped the blog in the morning before I started studying.
When my sister came along, I showed it to her and asked her what she thought. She looked at it, then said "its nice, but you made a spelling error" Turned out I spelt "Isaiah" wrongly. Gah. I had to re-copy the pic, re-crop, put in the words, re-upload and re-link. Completed it just before cell group at night.
And wonder of wonders. We sang "Power of Your Love" during the cell group! WhoA! Haha.. it was like a personal thing from God yeah... Yup... The message was "The secret to a successful life". It got me thinking again.
It was about a successful life in terms of God's way of living. After all, the person that defines a successful life was, at the end of a day, still a person, not God. Take a simple example:
When I was in upper sec, a successful life meant being able to follow my sister to VJ n join their fencing club. When I got that in PAE, there was not really a sense of elation or anything. Then when school started, a successful life meant being able to stay there after 3 months. All of us longed to wear the uniform and truly become part of the college. But now that I look back, whats the big deal? The novelty of belonging to a "top JC" wears away in the face of tutorials, lectures, projects, conflicts, the very same abraisive things that wear down every JC, Poly or ITE student. So whats the big deal of heading to a top JC? Everyone still is stressed.
Sure, now the "successful life" would mean being able to actually do well for GP and get into the Medical Faculty of NUS next time. Then what next? You'd rarely be satisfied would you, if ever at all. The only thing that could seperate one JC from another is the alleged "bias" that RJ n HC students get into Med Fac more than VJ students do. If it isn't true, why worry, and if it is, then its also the fault of the people doing the assessments. All JCs are like gates to the University, except some are decorated with attractive pictures of torches whose flames are replaced by a "J", or with a griffin grasping a shield or something, or something that looks remotely mushroom shaped... No insult intended to anyone, but sometimes don't you find this kind of "ranking" thingy kinda EXHAUSTING!?
The thing that struck me was that I'd been thinking about all these things in the past few weeks. Before school closed I mentioned this thing about "whats the big deal" to a few people too... They generally felt the same. Sure, I'm proud to be in VJ, n I'm happy that I'm here, I'm happy with the school, but I'm not happy at the having to fight for survival to keep pushing the limit blahblah.
Uh huh, I've shot out everything that I felt like saying.... I think I should leave things to God lar... Liling once mentioned before (Not an exact quote) that "If its God's will for you to get into Medicine, you'll get in no matter how hard it is" It did a lot to allay my own worries =) haha... Its interesting how my sister n I started out from the same Primary school, took completely different route (One went through a single-ed Independant school of english background, another went through a co-ed SAP school of chinese background) before winding up in the same JC, with the same L1R5, in the same subject combi. Hopefully, in the same university course... hahaha
Oh yes, just a matter of interest... Dawn pointed out that the hydrophobic / hydrophilic properties of a phospholipid has been spelt both amphiPHAtic and amphiPATHic. Subsequently, Jiamin found out that both words mean the same and thus I think both would be acceptable... Thanks so much both of you... haha.
And just in case I don't post anymore over the weekend,
ALL THE BEST FOR JCT EVERYONE!
~JcZw~ at 12:22 am
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
First, (one day of chem) + (1 fully functional brain) = (1 brain with the consistency of glue)
As surely as
(1 F16) + (1 AIM9 Sidewinder) = (1 ball of fire, gases and metal)
Anyway, it has been a thoroughly torturous 2 days, with insomnia at night (why do you think I'm blogging now) and falling asleep during the day. But, of course, its the holidays, and so theres the occasional cause to have fun.
I spent half an hour watching the video tapes that my father had taken of my sister and I when we were in England in 1989, my father being there cos of his job. This six-month stay, incidentally, is the reason why I cannot donate blood for the rest of my life - I am potentially Mad-Cow-ed. Even though my diet at that time consisted of mainly mushy white stuff with flecks of solid inside, better known as baby food. May I add that I think I was a highly intelligent baby =) My mother said I should attach a pic of my baby-self to this blog. I highly disagreed.
Well, first impressions of baby videos always centers around the clip my father took while we were at a strawberry farm about 5 miles from Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-on-something (Thats the way the English name their villages.... its like V - on - R, in which V is the Village and R is a river).
Well my sister and mother were happily picking strawberries, a novelty few asians get to experience, or else its limited to picking up packets of strawberries in the supermarket. Meanwhile, this blue-clad baby who looks remotely like a bug, who's head is verryyyy big and who has very little hair (yes, last time I had very little hair) and crawling among the strawberries. My father and I, watching the TV, laughed and laughed, or rather, I did most of the laughing, as I picked up a tuft of grass and raised it to my mouth, with my father in the video going "NO! Don't eat that!".
Its not like at that age I knew that humans in fact do NOT have cellulase in their body and thus cannot digest grass.
Then my father kept trying to call me to look at his camera, whereupon my one-year-old self turned around and started crawling in the either direction to play with a little mound of strawberries. I WAS a very intelligent baby =D
The next scene shows my sister standing behind me balancing a box of strawberries on my exceedingly coconut-shaped head (my head only stopped being coconut shaped in sec. 3 also).
Theres another scene of us in the house, my sister and I chasing each other around the sofa. Whereupon I suddenly stop, then crawl to my father and start attempting to climb up his leg, such as a koala would, to reach his camera. Of course, I fail utterly and miserably, being a tiny feller (5 days before my first birthday!). Which shows from the start of my life I had some special relationship with my sister anyway, although at that time it centered around getting bullied by her... hehehehe
Its to my memory that I, at that age, was already FACINATED with CATS. Our neighbour had a cat named Banjo, and many times I would be perched at the window sill trying to communicate telepathically with it. Apparently it didn't occur to me that I had to open my mouth to talk to it. So I sat and stared and stared. And the cat most of the time would dao me anyway.
Incidentally, when my father brought us back in 1996, I being Primary 2, also on a business trip, we visited the house again. Banjo was still there, peering at us from behind the staircase... The neighbours recognized us and let us in... haha...
Yup, anyway some incoherent thoughts of my childdddhood.... my very child childhood, that is... If I were to write about the countless other funny incidents I would never get to sleep, so, thats all for now I guess... haha
Argh! Physics! Maths!
As surely as
(1 F16) + (1 AIM9 Sidewinder) = (1 ball of fire, gases and metal)
Anyway, it has been a thoroughly torturous 2 days, with insomnia at night (why do you think I'm blogging now) and falling asleep during the day. But, of course, its the holidays, and so theres the occasional cause to have fun.
I spent half an hour watching the video tapes that my father had taken of my sister and I when we were in England in 1989, my father being there cos of his job. This six-month stay, incidentally, is the reason why I cannot donate blood for the rest of my life - I am potentially Mad-Cow-ed. Even though my diet at that time consisted of mainly mushy white stuff with flecks of solid inside, better known as baby food. May I add that I think I was a highly intelligent baby =) My mother said I should attach a pic of my baby-self to this blog. I highly disagreed.
Well, first impressions of baby videos always centers around the clip my father took while we were at a strawberry farm about 5 miles from Shakespeare's hometown, Stratford-on-something (Thats the way the English name their villages.... its like V - on - R, in which V is the Village and R is a river).
Well my sister and mother were happily picking strawberries, a novelty few asians get to experience, or else its limited to picking up packets of strawberries in the supermarket. Meanwhile, this blue-clad baby who looks remotely like a bug, who's head is verryyyy big and who has very little hair (yes, last time I had very little hair) and crawling among the strawberries. My father and I, watching the TV, laughed and laughed, or rather, I did most of the laughing, as I picked up a tuft of grass and raised it to my mouth, with my father in the video going "NO! Don't eat that!".
Its not like at that age I knew that humans in fact do NOT have cellulase in their body and thus cannot digest grass.
Then my father kept trying to call me to look at his camera, whereupon my one-year-old self turned around and started crawling in the either direction to play with a little mound of strawberries. I WAS a very intelligent baby =D
The next scene shows my sister standing behind me balancing a box of strawberries on my exceedingly coconut-shaped head (my head only stopped being coconut shaped in sec. 3 also).
Theres another scene of us in the house, my sister and I chasing each other around the sofa. Whereupon I suddenly stop, then crawl to my father and start attempting to climb up his leg, such as a koala would, to reach his camera. Of course, I fail utterly and miserably, being a tiny feller (5 days before my first birthday!). Which shows from the start of my life I had some special relationship with my sister anyway, although at that time it centered around getting bullied by her... hehehehe
Its to my memory that I, at that age, was already FACINATED with CATS. Our neighbour had a cat named Banjo, and many times I would be perched at the window sill trying to communicate telepathically with it. Apparently it didn't occur to me that I had to open my mouth to talk to it. So I sat and stared and stared. And the cat most of the time would dao me anyway.
Incidentally, when my father brought us back in 1996, I being Primary 2, also on a business trip, we visited the house again. Banjo was still there, peering at us from behind the staircase... The neighbours recognized us and let us in... haha...
Yup, anyway some incoherent thoughts of my childdddhood.... my very child childhood, that is... If I were to write about the countless other funny incidents I would never get to sleep, so, thats all for now I guess... haha
Argh! Physics! Maths!
~JcZw~ at 12:38 am
Friday, June 17, 2005
Backtrack one day. Took some nice pics with my phone, so here goes for putting photos on my blog...
Well, yesterday was bio makeup, which I went for cos I knew nuts about photosynthesis etc (as a matter of fact, I didn't know much about ETC either). Went to school via 55 with my sister who was going to med quiz training.
The moment we reached the bus stop, a little cat, above kitten age, but not quite a full-blown cat yet, leapt out of the bushes and started rubbing itself against my leg. Thus so:
Anyway it was a remarkably source of amusement. This isn't the first time a cat has done this to me... At least 4 cats have done it, the most recent before this being outside the Marine Parade Library this year when a cat came and rubbed itself against me while waiting for Gerry and the others to go cycling at ECP (just after the release of O-level results).
Bio makeup passed quite well, although we didn't go through as much photosynthesis as I would have liked to.... oh well... sighz, frankly speaking, although this may not be right, I'd rather do well in the fencing comp than in midyears which I have no heart to study for anyway... I mean, holidays are for PLAYING, for GOING OUT and for SLEEPING! Not for studying. I mean, hello.... the definition is all there in the dictionary! Plus PW, which my group has ground to a halt as surely as a submarine meets a torpedo travelling in the opposite direction. Had fun going out for lunch with my classmates at least then, and telling them about star wars, but only after desmond and trina reassured me that they wouldn't be going to see...
Went back to AHS to train my NC team, well, not really mine, since I kinda adopted them only just before zone comp n helped them polish their shoes.
Then on to fencing, where by some incredible stroke of ill-defined luck I shattered a 4th blade of the holidays, this time an old and rusty club blade. I tell you, everytime I break a blade the dampening effect is like losing a match 15-0. I have totally no guts after that to go and lunge at my opponent, but will keep myself on the defensive, which usually ends in disaster. All my leads were cut a lot... 15-14, 12-11, 15-13... too close for comfort.
The high note was when Coach asked me to duel foil with a beginner foilist he was training, a law graduate who was converting from sabre. As we tested our circuits he said "Don't give me chance hor" and I replied "I'll try to fence well". In the ensuing bout, I won 15-1. =Pp But it could have been worst lar... he missed a lot... heh
I think I owe my parents a lot of money already.... n the FIE blades are really expensive... oh well... maybe if we can win the U17, and watching Daniel and Maurice really gives a sense of confidence, then we will get more money.. haha...
Today went kayaking at MacRitchie Reservoir with my church friends. Yan Chin and Chee Keen, two of my church friends, recounted many meories of theirs as we walked past RI, and later RJ (Where Chee Keen is from. Yan Chin is from VJ, 04A51). At JAE, Yan Chin told me "stay in VJ! stay in VJ!" and Chee Keen went "STAY IN VJ! STAY IN VJ!" oh well.. haha...
Thats Stephanie, my partner in the kayak. Behind are the 4 other kayaks of the other church ppl. All of us were very wet cos we had been splashing each other with water. My phone was kept in a plastic bag, which is why it survived. There were a lot of terrapins in the reservoir... N a lot of pro kayakers too... Saw a few VJ people, including Clarence from OASIS, don't think he recognized me though... HCI, RJ, SJI etcetc were all there.... Thank God it only rained at the end of our session... We were already wet, so it was no concern to us to walk through torrential rain to the toilet near the main road.
After lunch we came home n studied, usual stuff...
Uh huh.... thats abt it... its pass midnight now, better go slp... happy studying to all year 1s!
Well, yesterday was bio makeup, which I went for cos I knew nuts about photosynthesis etc (as a matter of fact, I didn't know much about ETC either). Went to school via 55 with my sister who was going to med quiz training.
The moment we reached the bus stop, a little cat, above kitten age, but not quite a full-blown cat yet, leapt out of the bushes and started rubbing itself against my leg. Thus so:
Anyway it was a remarkably source of amusement. This isn't the first time a cat has done this to me... At least 4 cats have done it, the most recent before this being outside the Marine Parade Library this year when a cat came and rubbed itself against me while waiting for Gerry and the others to go cycling at ECP (just after the release of O-level results).
Bio makeup passed quite well, although we didn't go through as much photosynthesis as I would have liked to.... oh well... sighz, frankly speaking, although this may not be right, I'd rather do well in the fencing comp than in midyears which I have no heart to study for anyway... I mean, holidays are for PLAYING, for GOING OUT and for SLEEPING! Not for studying. I mean, hello.... the definition is all there in the dictionary! Plus PW, which my group has ground to a halt as surely as a submarine meets a torpedo travelling in the opposite direction. Had fun going out for lunch with my classmates at least then, and telling them about star wars, but only after desmond and trina reassured me that they wouldn't be going to see...
Went back to AHS to train my NC team, well, not really mine, since I kinda adopted them only just before zone comp n helped them polish their shoes.
Then on to fencing, where by some incredible stroke of ill-defined luck I shattered a 4th blade of the holidays, this time an old and rusty club blade. I tell you, everytime I break a blade the dampening effect is like losing a match 15-0. I have totally no guts after that to go and lunge at my opponent, but will keep myself on the defensive, which usually ends in disaster. All my leads were cut a lot... 15-14, 12-11, 15-13... too close for comfort.
The high note was when Coach asked me to duel foil with a beginner foilist he was training, a law graduate who was converting from sabre. As we tested our circuits he said "Don't give me chance hor" and I replied "I'll try to fence well". In the ensuing bout, I won 15-1. =Pp But it could have been worst lar... he missed a lot... heh
I think I owe my parents a lot of money already.... n the FIE blades are really expensive... oh well... maybe if we can win the U17, and watching Daniel and Maurice really gives a sense of confidence, then we will get more money.. haha...
Today went kayaking at MacRitchie Reservoir with my church friends. Yan Chin and Chee Keen, two of my church friends, recounted many meories of theirs as we walked past RI, and later RJ (Where Chee Keen is from. Yan Chin is from VJ, 04A51). At JAE, Yan Chin told me "stay in VJ! stay in VJ!" and Chee Keen went "STAY IN VJ! STAY IN VJ!" oh well.. haha...
Thats Stephanie, my partner in the kayak. Behind are the 4 other kayaks of the other church ppl. All of us were very wet cos we had been splashing each other with water. My phone was kept in a plastic bag, which is why it survived. There were a lot of terrapins in the reservoir... N a lot of pro kayakers too... Saw a few VJ people, including Clarence from OASIS, don't think he recognized me though... HCI, RJ, SJI etcetc were all there.... Thank God it only rained at the end of our session... We were already wet, so it was no concern to us to walk through torrential rain to the toilet near the main road.
After lunch we came home n studied, usual stuff...
Uh huh.... thats abt it... its pass midnight now, better go slp... happy studying to all year 1s!
~JcZw~ at 11:51 pm
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Just realised the last post was TOTALLY incoherent... Well shoot me, it was done around mid night when my endorphins were exhausted.
Anyway, its NOT my fault that N-Comp and Epee Team is on the SAME DAY! I mean, I WANT to go and support the NC team, but I CAN'T! How'd I know that the two competitions would clash? Even if I'm not in the first team (and I probably will be), I'm expected to go since I'm the captain!
I'd love to go n support St. John, but for those who know me, I'd never miss something that I'm compelled to go, cos of this sense of duty thing which St. John itself gave me, so there...
No one should be going out, getting poked on his birthday anyway. This is mad. Nvm, if (and I hope not) our team gets eliminated early I'll come over.... what a choice to make.
The Force be with everyone that has comp in July, SJ, Fencing, Kayaking, Soccer Girls' etc
Anyway, its NOT my fault that N-Comp and Epee Team is on the SAME DAY! I mean, I WANT to go and support the NC team, but I CAN'T! How'd I know that the two competitions would clash? Even if I'm not in the first team (and I probably will be), I'm expected to go since I'm the captain!
I'd love to go n support St. John, but for those who know me, I'd never miss something that I'm compelled to go, cos of this sense of duty thing which St. John itself gave me, so there...
No one should be going out, getting poked on his birthday anyway. This is mad. Nvm, if (and I hope not) our team gets eliminated early I'll come over.... what a choice to make.
The Force be with everyone that has comp in July, SJ, Fencing, Kayaking, Soccer Girls' etc
~JcZw~ at 12:32 pm
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
I can't believe that just a short 3 weeks ago, my record for breaking blades was virtually CLEAN. You guessed right. Its another fencing related post. Well I can't help it! Its so irritating. I've already given accounts of how i broke two epees. Now I shall elaborate on how I broke a second foil, or rather, how someone else broke it. The impt thing is that it broke!
Today, my father was on leave, and my sister back from NUS, and my brother had no AEP. I of course, was at home as per normal. So for the first time, all 4 of us could be around to go fencing together, 3 foilists and a sabreur.
When we got there, Coach Jeff was happy to see my sister after almost a year. But he told my brother that the sabreurs there were all of a higher standard, could he fence foil for the night. Yup, my brother didn't mind. He's considering converting to foil soon anyway... But ask a person who's body is tuned to slashing weapons to use a point weapon... my goodness.
My first bout was with him, wearing a bright blue electric jacket, stark constrast to my grey/silver one. I soon noticed how his eyes followed my blade and proceeded to execute an attack preceeded by flashing the blade from left to right, up and down. With his thus distracted, it was easy enough to win 15-4... but before that, he slashed me numerous times on various parts of my anatomy. Thankfully nothing vital was hit.
My second one was with my left handed father. Won by 15-8. His french grip was more suited to his style, which made him that much deadlier. In the end I wore him down for about 7 min before I pulled open a gap.
Last was with Nico, whom I haven't seen for a month, cos of SPA, camps, match supports etcetc. I lost narrowly 15-13.... Totally forgot how he'd fenced, using a charge down the piste while holding his blade back. I should have sucked him into close quarter, but I only realised that when the gap was already 13-8. I clawed back but missed a potential point while executing a close quarter and so lost the bout.
I was then chatting to him and Brenda, the law student, about training, tactics, school and so on, while half watching my brother duel with my father using my blade. Observing the wildly swinging foil, put through angles and impacts more suited to a sabre, Nico and I said "Sooner or later that thing is gonna break". And then we started relating our various experiences concerning blade snapping. Then my father walked up. "Your blade broke"
I was like !!!!! Nico and Brenda laughed a lot... I don't blame them, talk about "speak of the devil"
Sighz, anyway, getting an epee FIE blade, a foil FIE blade... gonna cos a mint of money... Guess I gotta wash my father's car more...
Yup, back to bio...
Today, my father was on leave, and my sister back from NUS, and my brother had no AEP. I of course, was at home as per normal. So for the first time, all 4 of us could be around to go fencing together, 3 foilists and a sabreur.
When we got there, Coach Jeff was happy to see my sister after almost a year. But he told my brother that the sabreurs there were all of a higher standard, could he fence foil for the night. Yup, my brother didn't mind. He's considering converting to foil soon anyway... But ask a person who's body is tuned to slashing weapons to use a point weapon... my goodness.
My first bout was with him, wearing a bright blue electric jacket, stark constrast to my grey/silver one. I soon noticed how his eyes followed my blade and proceeded to execute an attack preceeded by flashing the blade from left to right, up and down. With his thus distracted, it was easy enough to win 15-4... but before that, he slashed me numerous times on various parts of my anatomy. Thankfully nothing vital was hit.
My second one was with my left handed father. Won by 15-8. His french grip was more suited to his style, which made him that much deadlier. In the end I wore him down for about 7 min before I pulled open a gap.
Last was with Nico, whom I haven't seen for a month, cos of SPA, camps, match supports etcetc. I lost narrowly 15-13.... Totally forgot how he'd fenced, using a charge down the piste while holding his blade back. I should have sucked him into close quarter, but I only realised that when the gap was already 13-8. I clawed back but missed a potential point while executing a close quarter and so lost the bout.
I was then chatting to him and Brenda, the law student, about training, tactics, school and so on, while half watching my brother duel with my father using my blade. Observing the wildly swinging foil, put through angles and impacts more suited to a sabre, Nico and I said "Sooner or later that thing is gonna break". And then we started relating our various experiences concerning blade snapping. Then my father walked up. "Your blade broke"
I was like !!!!! Nico and Brenda laughed a lot... I don't blame them, talk about "speak of the devil"
Sighz, anyway, getting an epee FIE blade, a foil FIE blade... gonna cos a mint of money... Guess I gotta wash my father's car more...
Yup, back to bio...
~JcZw~ at 11:41 pm
Monday, June 13, 2005
Its been a pretty exciting week, that is, I THINK i haven't really done much studying... Mainly focusing on bio and hitting it, then maybe I'll stop having the feeling that Mrs Foo is breathing down my neck for being an S1.
Ahhh... so many people came n tagged on the xin xian blog! =) so touched, our blog has been thoroughly swept clean... Thanks phoon for telling me where to put my pics... Didn't know my phone was so pro-ed also =Pp BHB. And also to wei quan for repairing the damage done to it...
On Friday Maurice (who lives about a minutes walk away) came to practise fencing using our plastic blades.... My accuracy is like *bleep* sighz. Yeah anyway quite fun lar... haha... then talked a lot. Then my brother, sabreur as he was, asked to fence with me, then maurice helped us preside. I won 12-10.. so many simou hits. Then he kept slashing me lar.... Haiyo, my chest had a massive red cross on it not unlike the England flag..
Saturday was Under No Roof. I must admit when I woke up at 5.30 in the morning after 5 hours sleep (haven't recovered from SJ camp loh!) I was scolding myself for volunteering for the duty. Hey I almost walked through the glass shower screen... Then went to Tankong Pagar, n I paired with SiHui... she's not FAC, but still a capable first aider (our certificates don't expire till 2006). JiaYan was also there... offered her one of our armbands but she didn't want... haha... Trina was also there, back from her ODAC trip... she's like so so busy, dunno where she gets all the energy from, with mid years on top of that... Anyway for the first 7 hours of the day SiHui and I, stationed in Bestway itself, did everything EXCEPT first aid... Helped them set up soup kitchen, tie streamers, carry food, tables, chairs blahblah. Thank goodness for the 1.5L bottles. Only at 2 pm we got our first casualty, an abraision case, quickly treated by us. Next were a couple of minor incised cuts and a splinter... How SiHui got the splinter out I don't know, it was so deep.
Oh yar, during lunch time... I was sitting at the side of the line murmuring "Finish your banana, don't choke, finish your banana, don't choke, finsh...." like a computerized parrot when I suddenly just conked out and fell asleep, much to the amusement of the people around me. Sighzz.... so paiseh...
At around 5 the rest of the first aiders pushed of first.... I stayed a while more cos I wasn't feeling to happy... wanted to hang around my friends a while more... plus by bitter experience anything can happen right to the end of a duty.... Recall Red Swastika Sports Meet 2003, Lay Theng and I were supervising the rest of the cadets to pack up, and we were just lounging there, then during the prize presentation a little girl fell down and tore her palm open on a metal spar, just as we thought everything was over... Talked to JiaYan and Trina yup.... then pushed off home...
Today was another exciting day, went to get my crown, that is, for my tooth... When I was a teeny little kid (I stayed teeny, i.e. below 145 cm until i was in sec. 3) I had serious asthma, and so took steroids to stay healthy or something, which caused some of my teeth to deform, that is, they were structurally weaker than the rest, or hypoplastic, in the parlance of the dental field. When it was discovered by the National Dental Centre people all of them pushed for them to be extracted and braces put in, even though under ordinary circumstances, my teeth were ok and didn't need braces... huh, try to cheat our money only... Anyway, got a second opinion with my father's dentist, a Dr Aaron Seow, who said a crown would suffice for the most serious one.
Today, with the skill of an artist, he injected my mouth with a strong anaesthetic (which put it to sleep for the whole morning) and proceeded to shatter the fragile tooth with a series of drills. The hypoplastic tooth was no competition and gave way with frightening ease...took a few moulds n then I got a temporary crown... it didn't hurt at all, although it was difficult to talk or drink for the rest of the morning due to one side of my face being numbed.
Anyway yar, just a post of sheerrrrr boreeedom!! I totally don't want to study... and now must devote some attention to chuaH who is suan-ing me online... ok, gotta go now..
Ahhh... so many people came n tagged on the xin xian blog! =) so touched, our blog has been thoroughly swept clean... Thanks phoon for telling me where to put my pics... Didn't know my phone was so pro-ed also =Pp BHB. And also to wei quan for repairing the damage done to it...
On Friday Maurice (who lives about a minutes walk away) came to practise fencing using our plastic blades.... My accuracy is like *bleep* sighz. Yeah anyway quite fun lar... haha... then talked a lot. Then my brother, sabreur as he was, asked to fence with me, then maurice helped us preside. I won 12-10.. so many simou hits. Then he kept slashing me lar.... Haiyo, my chest had a massive red cross on it not unlike the England flag..
Saturday was Under No Roof. I must admit when I woke up at 5.30 in the morning after 5 hours sleep (haven't recovered from SJ camp loh!) I was scolding myself for volunteering for the duty. Hey I almost walked through the glass shower screen... Then went to Tankong Pagar, n I paired with SiHui... she's not FAC, but still a capable first aider (our certificates don't expire till 2006). JiaYan was also there... offered her one of our armbands but she didn't want... haha... Trina was also there, back from her ODAC trip... she's like so so busy, dunno where she gets all the energy from, with mid years on top of that... Anyway for the first 7 hours of the day SiHui and I, stationed in Bestway itself, did everything EXCEPT first aid... Helped them set up soup kitchen, tie streamers, carry food, tables, chairs blahblah. Thank goodness for the 1.5L bottles. Only at 2 pm we got our first casualty, an abraision case, quickly treated by us. Next were a couple of minor incised cuts and a splinter... How SiHui got the splinter out I don't know, it was so deep.
Oh yar, during lunch time... I was sitting at the side of the line murmuring "Finish your banana, don't choke, finish your banana, don't choke, finsh...." like a computerized parrot when I suddenly just conked out and fell asleep, much to the amusement of the people around me. Sighzz.... so paiseh...
At around 5 the rest of the first aiders pushed of first.... I stayed a while more cos I wasn't feeling to happy... wanted to hang around my friends a while more... plus by bitter experience anything can happen right to the end of a duty.... Recall Red Swastika Sports Meet 2003, Lay Theng and I were supervising the rest of the cadets to pack up, and we were just lounging there, then during the prize presentation a little girl fell down and tore her palm open on a metal spar, just as we thought everything was over... Talked to JiaYan and Trina yup.... then pushed off home...
Today was another exciting day, went to get my crown, that is, for my tooth... When I was a teeny little kid (I stayed teeny, i.e. below 145 cm until i was in sec. 3) I had serious asthma, and so took steroids to stay healthy or something, which caused some of my teeth to deform, that is, they were structurally weaker than the rest, or hypoplastic, in the parlance of the dental field. When it was discovered by the National Dental Centre people all of them pushed for them to be extracted and braces put in, even though under ordinary circumstances, my teeth were ok and didn't need braces... huh, try to cheat our money only... Anyway, got a second opinion with my father's dentist, a Dr Aaron Seow, who said a crown would suffice for the most serious one.
Today, with the skill of an artist, he injected my mouth with a strong anaesthetic (which put it to sleep for the whole morning) and proceeded to shatter the fragile tooth with a series of drills. The hypoplastic tooth was no competition and gave way with frightening ease...took a few moulds n then I got a temporary crown... it didn't hurt at all, although it was difficult to talk or drink for the rest of the morning due to one side of my face being numbed.
Anyway yar, just a post of sheerrrrr boreeedom!! I totally don't want to study... and now must devote some attention to chuaH who is suan-ing me online... ok, gotta go now..
~JcZw~ at 8:19 pm
Friday, June 10, 2005
Just got back from SJ camp yesterday, now can start studying....
The last 3 days was a great reminder of why I missed the division so much after graduation. They really performed admirably for the most part... The image of the glowing fireballs and flashing lightsticks on the second night is an image that I have seen before (Jovin's batch had 3 fireballs) but not one that I will forget easily.
Listening to Benjamin's "We few, we lucky few, we band of brothers" I smiled to myself that night. At the start of 2004 I was lazing in my parents' room saying "Tomorrow the sec. 1s are coming in! What things should I tell them?" and my father brought down this book and read that very quote. I didn't use it though, fearing it would be too lengthy.... That batch in question was Squad 3 '06.
I recall my first sec 1 camp when I was heartily traumatised by the bunk checks and all. The rain was an irritating drizzle as we dashed out to the parade square and back again, falling down, picking ourselves up, skidding on the frictionless floor, mentally cursing the heartlessness of the seniors. The experience rendered me permanently claustrophobic, crammed between, I remember, Xuan Cheng and Jarrod (now I hate being trapped in small spaces, cos the windows that time were opaque plastic, not the glass used now. Being stuck in a dimly lit classroom smaller than the present ones was a scary experience). The fact that the bunk check was taken by WenHao sir didn't help. It also caused me to fear my seniors greatly, that still exists today even though i myself am one.
I recalled that when xuan ming and I conducted the bunk check for the ambulance. This time the classrooms were brightly lit, bigger, with less members. Really, I felt quite jealous, although its sadistic for me to say that. I know Wei Song n Melvin did their best, its just that you can't think of everything when you're under pressure. Xuan Ming and I didn't really have the heart to confiscate many things....
Second, its RIDICULOUS to wear squad shirt n uniform bottom and take PT. I was severely irritated by our attire throughout the day. The fact that my shirt was too small and the embroidered part was very itchy grated on me. I'm sure it wore my chest into a concave shape. Heh...
I had the honour of doing Topo with Morion, their facilitator being Benjamin. Hoyan, Melvin, Crystal, James, WanYing, Angela and Jun Cheng, the latter 3 being some of the new sq. 1s. They left a lasting impression... haha... Walked from AH to ECP and from there to Parkway Parade. I knew the area quite ok, it was around VJC.... when we walked past I ran a little way into Marine Vista to see if I knew anyone there... For the first time in my life I fell asleep on my feet. Benjamin was talking to them at Expo station. I was leaning against the railing but a grand total of 9 hours sleep over 2 nights took their toll n I fell asleep, whacking my shin against the railinh. Of course, I woke up after that at once.... Yup quite fun =) Brings back memories of old days, Melvin being from Sadaukar in Sq. 3 and Crystal being in Lipan in Sq. 4.
Missed Tekan on the third day cos I was at school for chinese lesson. Came back in time to witness the promotion and handover. Haha... Guess who wrote the speech for promo =)
Handover took a long time to come, but it was worth waiting. I wonderhow everyone felt, wonder how Boon Kai felt. A couple of years back I was very tired and irritated, wanting to just sleep n forget about St. John after being COS IC on the third day. I watched my squad mates get their posts one by one. My heart sank when Si Hui got Squad 2 IC. Hey, I'd wanted to be PDI or squad 2 IC. I was lagging when it came down to me and soo yee. When Soo Yee got Vice-OC I was shocked. Soo Yee said that when they announced mine my face turned white. I really felt very faint. Thats why I dropped Siu Lun's file during the handover, that raised a great "Orh hor!" from the crowd.
It was hard to read Boon Kai's face from the distance, but I'm sure he was happy... His actions were happy. I was happy for him. When I was still an NCO, during comp training, he would come to me and wei quan, ask us about first aid things, ask us about NCO life etc. Wei Quan and Joanne were very proud of him from Harconan, his first aid ability and so on. I think the division is likely to be in capable hands. Hannah was also a good choice for vice-OC, abeit she's kinda small.... Hmmm.... But she seems capable of keeping discipline and order in the division. THey are the classic image of OC and ViceO. Last time when I had Soo Yee, she was bigger sized than me... hey, I felt quite intimidated myself at times.... Cos sometimes I didn't know the right things to say to scold people and all that.
Congrats Boon Kai and Hannah, and the rest of Squad 4 '06! It has been an honour to watch you all grow from Squad 1s to now. You all have really done us proud!
I watched the berets fly at the end of the parade (when I showed my brother th video clip he asked why are they throwing grenades into the air) just like they have done at the end of every squad's run in St. John. On each one glowed the proud silver insignia of St. John's, just visible in the mid afternoon light. It was a moving sight, with the yells of "S-J-A-B St. JOHN!" ringing in your ears.
Camp was always a fun experience, although I used to quail at the thought. Thus was that of Camp 2005. Well done, all of you! I, we, are proud of you all! You are Fire!
NB: For camp pics, go to our squad blog
The last 3 days was a great reminder of why I missed the division so much after graduation. They really performed admirably for the most part... The image of the glowing fireballs and flashing lightsticks on the second night is an image that I have seen before (Jovin's batch had 3 fireballs) but not one that I will forget easily.
Listening to Benjamin's "We few, we lucky few, we band of brothers" I smiled to myself that night. At the start of 2004 I was lazing in my parents' room saying "Tomorrow the sec. 1s are coming in! What things should I tell them?" and my father brought down this book and read that very quote. I didn't use it though, fearing it would be too lengthy.... That batch in question was Squad 3 '06.
I recall my first sec 1 camp when I was heartily traumatised by the bunk checks and all. The rain was an irritating drizzle as we dashed out to the parade square and back again, falling down, picking ourselves up, skidding on the frictionless floor, mentally cursing the heartlessness of the seniors. The experience rendered me permanently claustrophobic, crammed between, I remember, Xuan Cheng and Jarrod (now I hate being trapped in small spaces, cos the windows that time were opaque plastic, not the glass used now. Being stuck in a dimly lit classroom smaller than the present ones was a scary experience). The fact that the bunk check was taken by WenHao sir didn't help. It also caused me to fear my seniors greatly, that still exists today even though i myself am one.
I recalled that when xuan ming and I conducted the bunk check for the ambulance. This time the classrooms were brightly lit, bigger, with less members. Really, I felt quite jealous, although its sadistic for me to say that. I know Wei Song n Melvin did their best, its just that you can't think of everything when you're under pressure. Xuan Ming and I didn't really have the heart to confiscate many things....
Second, its RIDICULOUS to wear squad shirt n uniform bottom and take PT. I was severely irritated by our attire throughout the day. The fact that my shirt was too small and the embroidered part was very itchy grated on me. I'm sure it wore my chest into a concave shape. Heh...
I had the honour of doing Topo with Morion, their facilitator being Benjamin. Hoyan, Melvin, Crystal, James, WanYing, Angela and Jun Cheng, the latter 3 being some of the new sq. 1s. They left a lasting impression... haha... Walked from AH to ECP and from there to Parkway Parade. I knew the area quite ok, it was around VJC.... when we walked past I ran a little way into Marine Vista to see if I knew anyone there... For the first time in my life I fell asleep on my feet. Benjamin was talking to them at Expo station. I was leaning against the railing but a grand total of 9 hours sleep over 2 nights took their toll n I fell asleep, whacking my shin against the railinh. Of course, I woke up after that at once.... Yup quite fun =) Brings back memories of old days, Melvin being from Sadaukar in Sq. 3 and Crystal being in Lipan in Sq. 4.
Missed Tekan on the third day cos I was at school for chinese lesson. Came back in time to witness the promotion and handover. Haha... Guess who wrote the speech for promo =)
Handover took a long time to come, but it was worth waiting. I wonderhow everyone felt, wonder how Boon Kai felt. A couple of years back I was very tired and irritated, wanting to just sleep n forget about St. John after being COS IC on the third day. I watched my squad mates get their posts one by one. My heart sank when Si Hui got Squad 2 IC. Hey, I'd wanted to be PDI or squad 2 IC. I was lagging when it came down to me and soo yee. When Soo Yee got Vice-OC I was shocked. Soo Yee said that when they announced mine my face turned white. I really felt very faint. Thats why I dropped Siu Lun's file during the handover, that raised a great "Orh hor!" from the crowd.
It was hard to read Boon Kai's face from the distance, but I'm sure he was happy... His actions were happy. I was happy for him. When I was still an NCO, during comp training, he would come to me and wei quan, ask us about first aid things, ask us about NCO life etc. Wei Quan and Joanne were very proud of him from Harconan, his first aid ability and so on. I think the division is likely to be in capable hands. Hannah was also a good choice for vice-OC, abeit she's kinda small.... Hmmm.... But she seems capable of keeping discipline and order in the division. THey are the classic image of OC and ViceO. Last time when I had Soo Yee, she was bigger sized than me... hey, I felt quite intimidated myself at times.... Cos sometimes I didn't know the right things to say to scold people and all that.
Congrats Boon Kai and Hannah, and the rest of Squad 4 '06! It has been an honour to watch you all grow from Squad 1s to now. You all have really done us proud!
I watched the berets fly at the end of the parade (when I showed my brother th video clip he asked why are they throwing grenades into the air) just like they have done at the end of every squad's run in St. John. On each one glowed the proud silver insignia of St. John's, just visible in the mid afternoon light. It was a moving sight, with the yells of "S-J-A-B St. JOHN!" ringing in your ears.
Camp was always a fun experience, although I used to quail at the thought. Thus was that of Camp 2005. Well done, all of you! I, we, are proud of you all! You are Fire!
NB: For camp pics, go to our squad blog
~JcZw~ at 10:37 pm
Monday, June 06, 2005
It happened that I was flipping through one of my many old issues of Readers' Digest a few days back, trying to escape (but failing miserably) the reality of having to study... talk about escapist... My mid years are gonna die... Not to mention my Chinese Test on thursday...
Back to the topic.. I read the saddest, most tragic, tear-jerking article that I've ever read in my life. From the issue of October 1995 (I hereby acknowledge that the following knowledge was taken from Page 3 to 5 of the above-mentioned issue, written by Judith S. Johnesse)
Titled "A Boy and His Cat", it was an article my sister had shown me in Primary School when our first cat Cucumber had just died (mentioned in an earlier posts perhaps a month or two back). At that time I couldn't appreciate the way the thing was written, but now I could, and every heart breaking phrase and sentence leapt out to assail my already depressed state of mind.
Written in the point of view of a vet, the article is about a young boy who brings his much-loved cat, named Tigress to the clinic for treatment. The author finds that the cat is suffering from a tumour, and gives the boy an option of putting the cat down, or letting it live, but fade away slowly at home. A heart-breaking decision indeed. If it was me, I wouldn't be able to make up my own mind even. Being a cat-lover, it only served to make the story all the more tragic.
He listened carefully and nodded gravely. He said he didn't think she was very comfortable anymore and he didn't want her to suffer. He was trying very hard. The pair of them broke my heart...
And so, he opted to put his pet to sleep... a pet that he probably shared so many memories with... sobz... Its not a decision that a young person should have to make alone.... Death is not a thing a young person should face either.... Its hard to imagine living with the thought that you contributed the decisive factor in deciding whether someone lived or died.
...the grief I felt welling inside for this boy who had had to become a man so quickly and so alone....
And so, the cat was euthanized quietly with her loyal owner at her side. Who says that cats are aloof and proud? They share their own special bond with their owner. My cats do.... one day they'll have to go the way of this cat too, but they will also be thoroughly unforgettable cos of this.
The animal looked quiet and at rest. The owner now bore all the suffering. This was the finest gift that you could give , I said, to assume another's pain so that a loved one might rest.
There.... what a story, and the way it is written really tugs are your heart (as well as all the arteries that lie around).
I guess thats just life huh.... death is an integral part of life anyway (I'm trying to phrase this without sounding suicidal ok!). Yup, after all, better things are in store for us when the time comes to leave the world as we know it, at least thats what I believe.
Back to the topic.. I read the saddest, most tragic, tear-jerking article that I've ever read in my life. From the issue of October 1995 (I hereby acknowledge that the following knowledge was taken from Page 3 to 5 of the above-mentioned issue, written by Judith S. Johnesse)
Titled "A Boy and His Cat", it was an article my sister had shown me in Primary School when our first cat Cucumber had just died (mentioned in an earlier posts perhaps a month or two back). At that time I couldn't appreciate the way the thing was written, but now I could, and every heart breaking phrase and sentence leapt out to assail my already depressed state of mind.
Written in the point of view of a vet, the article is about a young boy who brings his much-loved cat, named Tigress to the clinic for treatment. The author finds that the cat is suffering from a tumour, and gives the boy an option of putting the cat down, or letting it live, but fade away slowly at home. A heart-breaking decision indeed. If it was me, I wouldn't be able to make up my own mind even. Being a cat-lover, it only served to make the story all the more tragic.
He listened carefully and nodded gravely. He said he didn't think she was very comfortable anymore and he didn't want her to suffer. He was trying very hard. The pair of them broke my heart...
And so, he opted to put his pet to sleep... a pet that he probably shared so many memories with... sobz... Its not a decision that a young person should have to make alone.... Death is not a thing a young person should face either.... Its hard to imagine living with the thought that you contributed the decisive factor in deciding whether someone lived or died.
...the grief I felt welling inside for this boy who had had to become a man so quickly and so alone....
And so, the cat was euthanized quietly with her loyal owner at her side. Who says that cats are aloof and proud? They share their own special bond with their owner. My cats do.... one day they'll have to go the way of this cat too, but they will also be thoroughly unforgettable cos of this.
The animal looked quiet and at rest. The owner now bore all the suffering. This was the finest gift that you could give , I said, to assume another's pain so that a loved one might rest.
There.... what a story, and the way it is written really tugs are your heart (as well as all the arteries that lie around).
I guess thats just life huh.... death is an integral part of life anyway (I'm trying to phrase this without sounding suicidal ok!). Yup, after all, better things are in store for us when the time comes to leave the world as we know it, at least thats what I believe.
~JcZw~ at 6:32 pm
Friday, June 03, 2005
Its been a week of mixed feelings (even though the week ain't up yet). Got back from camp on wednesday... Camp was pretty interesting, some parts were even useful.. haha... yup, interacted with many people and made quite a few new friends. Enjoyed playing bridge at 12 plus in the night with the OSSIS people, lighting charcoal fires blindly (cos due to allergic conjunctivitis I can't see in dusty and hot environments). My group was pretty nice, had a few people I knew, including Zu Hao, Maurice etcetra.
The sharing session on the last day let Victoria and I say out what we felt regarding our position as a new student-initiated club... Mr Ho told us that we "had a good attitude" so I guess it was kinda reassuring. Watching Gerry set up her rock climbing club has also done a lot for me wanting to work harder at it. The soccer and bball people were really quiet during the session... Guess they realised finally how privileged they were while other ccas were fighting for survial. I mean, they deserve it, with their awards and all, but sometimes I feel that the distribution of funds for ccas should really be more communist in nature....
Oh yeah, discovered that in the PSLE first option, Tinyau put AHS as first choice, while I put VS as mine (ChuaH, Cat. High was my second choice ok?). The girls concluded that I would then have desmond's character while Tinyau would have had Phoon's... haha..... Quite true. But then again, I like being blur sometimes... It helps when certain strangers try to borrow your handphone. Clarification... I got into AHS cos of the second option for SAP schools.
Anyway yar, the camp was fun... and made me appricate my friends more... haha
Immediately after the camp Maurice and I chiong-ed home and then to fencing (so tiring, but we felt too inspired about winning the competition "Don't settle for mediocrity"). Thats when the first indication of bad things happen.
Note: I am a sensitive fencer, ie, I know when my blade is under pressure and know how to withdraw my blade, to prevent it from breaking. However, as events shown, that does not make you invulnerable to breakages. The VJ Fencing Club is fast gaining a reputation for breakages.
I was fencing with maurice when I pulled my classic move - a fleche for his arm. Two things went wrong. First, I missed, hitting under his armpit instead, at the side of the torso, tangling there. Second, I was running past to avoid his counter and he was still turning trying to avoid the blow. The stout triangular epee blade bent into a horseshoe before snapping completely. I had already been withdrawing the blade and so no one got hurt. Except mentally and psychologically (which is the same thing, but since I typed it already I think i don't want to erase it) I was quite distressed. One expensive blade down the drain!! I mean, relatively its cheap, low quality, crudely made, but its still more than 2 weeks pocket money for me!
The next day Coach Jeff fitted a new blade for me. This time I was fencing with Victoria, my vice-cap. It so happened we lunged at each other at the same time. Unfortunately she missed. So the weight of the two lunges, which should have been carried on two blades, was carried only on one. Mine. I can safely say, without exaggeration, it was bent at a 70 degress angle from the horizontal, creating a structural weakness. Coach says he's never seen a blade bend so much without breaking before, but now I think its doomed to break. And on its second bout too!! I feel really disgusted about it lar! Two incidents within 24 hours of each other! And because of unforseen things!
Oh yeah, quite a few VJ fencers turned out that day, including clarissa and charlene... it was nice to see them... haha
The good thing was that I won the first foil bout in I-don't-know-how long. The bout with Shawn(This SJI guy) was really hectic, we were so evenly matched. With 20 seconds left, he was leading 12-11. In the next 15 seconds, we had 3 offtargets. In the 4th second, I launched my final attack. At the final second, I lunged, he parried, but I had already gone to close-quarter mode, curling the lighter foil around my back and hitting him on the side of the torso on the very edge of his electric jacket, just as the buzzer went off. That red light was a really beautiful sight.
Of course, he protested the point. I would have. But Brenda, who was presiding, declared that it was valid, so we went into 1 min of extra time. I won through the fastest fleche I've done in recent memory.
Later on I fenced with Brenda. For the first minute we danced up and down the piste. Imagine doing your shuttle run for a full minute instead of 10.2 seconds. Thats what it felt like. It ended only when she attacked and I parried and countered. Both of us hit offtarget and we made gasping noises before we could continue. Oh, I won 15-7 i think... haha.... I love foil... it gives such a sense of security.
Yup, thats it for the past few days.... I probably bored some readers with details of the bouts, but I can't stand it! I really love fencing... haha.... Oh yeah, I gotta go study bio now... byee
The sharing session on the last day let Victoria and I say out what we felt regarding our position as a new student-initiated club... Mr Ho told us that we "had a good attitude" so I guess it was kinda reassuring. Watching Gerry set up her rock climbing club has also done a lot for me wanting to work harder at it. The soccer and bball people were really quiet during the session... Guess they realised finally how privileged they were while other ccas were fighting for survial. I mean, they deserve it, with their awards and all, but sometimes I feel that the distribution of funds for ccas should really be more communist in nature....
Oh yeah, discovered that in the PSLE first option, Tinyau put AHS as first choice, while I put VS as mine (ChuaH, Cat. High was my second choice ok?). The girls concluded that I would then have desmond's character while Tinyau would have had Phoon's... haha..... Quite true. But then again, I like being blur sometimes... It helps when certain strangers try to borrow your handphone. Clarification... I got into AHS cos of the second option for SAP schools.
Anyway yar, the camp was fun... and made me appricate my friends more... haha
Immediately after the camp Maurice and I chiong-ed home and then to fencing (so tiring, but we felt too inspired about winning the competition "Don't settle for mediocrity"). Thats when the first indication of bad things happen.
Note: I am a sensitive fencer, ie, I know when my blade is under pressure and know how to withdraw my blade, to prevent it from breaking. However, as events shown, that does not make you invulnerable to breakages. The VJ Fencing Club is fast gaining a reputation for breakages.
I was fencing with maurice when I pulled my classic move - a fleche for his arm. Two things went wrong. First, I missed, hitting under his armpit instead, at the side of the torso, tangling there. Second, I was running past to avoid his counter and he was still turning trying to avoid the blow. The stout triangular epee blade bent into a horseshoe before snapping completely. I had already been withdrawing the blade and so no one got hurt. Except mentally and psychologically (which is the same thing, but since I typed it already I think i don't want to erase it) I was quite distressed. One expensive blade down the drain!! I mean, relatively its cheap, low quality, crudely made, but its still more than 2 weeks pocket money for me!
The next day Coach Jeff fitted a new blade for me. This time I was fencing with Victoria, my vice-cap. It so happened we lunged at each other at the same time. Unfortunately she missed. So the weight of the two lunges, which should have been carried on two blades, was carried only on one. Mine. I can safely say, without exaggeration, it was bent at a 70 degress angle from the horizontal, creating a structural weakness. Coach says he's never seen a blade bend so much without breaking before, but now I think its doomed to break. And on its second bout too!! I feel really disgusted about it lar! Two incidents within 24 hours of each other! And because of unforseen things!
Oh yeah, quite a few VJ fencers turned out that day, including clarissa and charlene... it was nice to see them... haha
The good thing was that I won the first foil bout in I-don't-know-how long. The bout with Shawn(This SJI guy) was really hectic, we were so evenly matched. With 20 seconds left, he was leading 12-11. In the next 15 seconds, we had 3 offtargets. In the 4th second, I launched my final attack. At the final second, I lunged, he parried, but I had already gone to close-quarter mode, curling the lighter foil around my back and hitting him on the side of the torso on the very edge of his electric jacket, just as the buzzer went off. That red light was a really beautiful sight.
Of course, he protested the point. I would have. But Brenda, who was presiding, declared that it was valid, so we went into 1 min of extra time. I won through the fastest fleche I've done in recent memory.
Later on I fenced with Brenda. For the first minute we danced up and down the piste. Imagine doing your shuttle run for a full minute instead of 10.2 seconds. Thats what it felt like. It ended only when she attacked and I parried and countered. Both of us hit offtarget and we made gasping noises before we could continue. Oh, I won 15-7 i think... haha.... I love foil... it gives such a sense of security.
Yup, thats it for the past few days.... I probably bored some readers with details of the bouts, but I can't stand it! I really love fencing... haha.... Oh yeah, I gotta go study bio now... byee
~JcZw~ at 2:27 pm