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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
WHY do female cleaners clean male toilets and vice versa? On tuesday I'd just finished contributing to Singapore's Newwater source and when I emerged from the cubicle, a female cleaner popped her head around the corner and said "Boy arh, ni you mei you chong shui" (did you flush the toilet). I nearly screamed "You're a she!" Man, I bet my heart had my teeth marks. I mean, the toilet is as sacred to a boy as an epee to a fencer... Oh well
________________________________________________________________________
Teacher's Day today. I think I'm blogging far to often, but admittedly integration, general waves, chem remedial and CCA paperwork doesn't hold that much appeal...
Yeah.... VJ was of course, a high standard today.... Watching Mr Robert Yeo annihilating a cockcroach to sounds from "unreal tournament", Mr Tan and Mr Wee saving VJ from a rogue meteor, Mr Lau doing something and Mr Ang doing something else was quite amusing to say the least... Stella, Phoon, Mursjid and Dory performed really well in dance... very cool... haha... although mursjid's haircut meant that I needed Li Ling to point him out to me... Alvin also performed in harmonica, as did Si Hui
Had a debate with ChuaH on the merits of cats and dogs before scramming back to AHS.... I can't figure out why the VS people chose the time to start doing their cheers (although I admit, I do envy their school spirit.... Personally single-sex schools have better spirit than co-ed... Look at how many unique cheers we have, for instance. Its lies around 0. We don't know everyone, or go out together as one big bunch, just because we're from the same school... we go out in ex-classes). Happily, it left 31 very empty for a happy load of AHS people, which included 4L-ers (Si Hui, Victoria etc), 4J-ers (Stacy), 4K-ers (Po Ying, Shi Min etcetc) and 4F-ers (me, xiaoquan, naicheng). Waha.
AHS performance was about twice as long as VJs, or maybe we just dismissed early... had loads of time to walk around, refil my water bottle blah. Actually all the people I met were Aerieans... Could have had a shot at finding the Mount-Kers, but I couldn't find them.... The netball people, wenrong, natalia, aloysius (who suan-ed me non-stop during the trip, protesting that I could hit him with my bottle cos he was sick and cos it went against the medical ethics of first aid... whatever).
People I ran into worth mentioning are (in order of appearance):
Mao Rui, who learnt to make cheese macaroni from my mother
Audrey, an IP from NJ who used to be my brother's classmate and a junior from St. John... Haha I could still recognize her, although she changed quite a bit and has grown quite tall also. We talked quite a lot, cos I was with no one, she was with no one, and we had an hour to kill before the celebrations were done...
AC2, my competition team, who were lounging outside the hall minus Si Han due to the extreme heat inside... Don't complain, if the stained glass had still been there you all would have died.
Mdm Teo, St. John teacher
Mrs Chong, St. John teacher
Ms Lee, (Li lao shi), sec. 2 chinese teacher.... I bet she was disappointed at my results...
Ms Chan, sec. 4 chem teacher (I didn't tell her I got D for chem)
Mr Peach, form teacher in sec. 4, under which we won the upper sec. debate comp (If Phoon, you are reading this, please don't kill me)
Mdm Sim, sec. 3 and 4 georg teacher (Who contributed to my producing of my pretty georg notebook... haha)
Mdm Hidayah, sec. 3 and 4 physics teacher (who pulled my physics out of the Cs. She said a C in JC wasn't too bad actually).
Yar, Mr Peach said tht I could go into the staffroom and look for teachers... I went in and was promptly chased out by Mdm Teo who told me that the prelim papers were out and I could not be inside (I wonder if it occured to her that I was already past the stage of O-level prelims).
I didn't hang about too long... pushed off back to Kong Hwa for the first time in 2 years or something... what possessed me to go back I don't know. A combination to laziness and mistimed St. John Public Duties caused that...
Unfortunately Kong Hwa chose that time to do contact time... so I had to wait til 1.30 before I could see Miss Soon, my pri 5 and 6 teacher.... meanwhile I walked around... looked at the staff noticeboard (only can recognize my P1 chinese teacher, Ms Soon and Ms Seah of the Scouts). I was the only JC student there, the rest were all lower secs.... and many of them were very tall.... The Kong Hwa uniform has changed (I remember it was a torture to put on my starchy new shirts) to white polo shirts. The pri sch students are very little... haha... n they were looking at me like were very old like that... My class picture of us at the NDP preview in Primary 5 is still on the noticeboard... I saw the pond where used to go during recess.... gazed at the 4th storey corner classroom where books would regularly fly out, followed by their harried and traumatised owners (discipline was darn harsh). Compared to AHS, the colour scheme was really very nice... and yes, I could still camouflage myself into the wall with my VJ uniform.
Most frustratingly, Kong Hwa is now like a bank... or a fortress... or a fortified bank... electronic locks were everywhere... Couldn't even go into the staff room... Must dial extension number... but all the numbers were at primary school level.... n it was painful for my legs to kneel and dial the number.... not to mention feeling a little ridiculous....
I waited an hour and was about to leave a note in Ms Soon's pigeon hole when she appeared out of the staff room. i waited a while for her other students to talk before I made my way forward. She took a while to remember my name, although it was evident it was just a memory lapse... haha... she could still remember the people from our class, and asked how they were, how many people were in VJ and so on.... I recall I managed to stop myself being flung out of the class by her.... one of the few people to have a clean sheet... haha. We talked a while... then I pushed off back home....
yup.. quite an eventful day.... oh... its past 12... Happy Birthday Soo Yee! You've been a great friend n Vice OC =) May you have a gd year ahead (n lead your taekwondo team well!)
________________________________________________________________________
Teacher's Day today. I think I'm blogging far to often, but admittedly integration, general waves, chem remedial and CCA paperwork doesn't hold that much appeal...
Yeah.... VJ was of course, a high standard today.... Watching Mr Robert Yeo annihilating a cockcroach to sounds from "unreal tournament", Mr Tan and Mr Wee saving VJ from a rogue meteor, Mr Lau doing something and Mr Ang doing something else was quite amusing to say the least... Stella, Phoon, Mursjid and Dory performed really well in dance... very cool... haha... although mursjid's haircut meant that I needed Li Ling to point him out to me... Alvin also performed in harmonica, as did Si Hui
Had a debate with ChuaH on the merits of cats and dogs before scramming back to AHS.... I can't figure out why the VS people chose the time to start doing their cheers (although I admit, I do envy their school spirit.... Personally single-sex schools have better spirit than co-ed... Look at how many unique cheers we have, for instance. Its lies around 0. We don't know everyone, or go out together as one big bunch, just because we're from the same school... we go out in ex-classes). Happily, it left 31 very empty for a happy load of AHS people, which included 4L-ers (Si Hui, Victoria etc), 4J-ers (Stacy), 4K-ers (Po Ying, Shi Min etcetc) and 4F-ers (me, xiaoquan, naicheng). Waha.
AHS performance was about twice as long as VJs, or maybe we just dismissed early... had loads of time to walk around, refil my water bottle blah. Actually all the people I met were Aerieans... Could have had a shot at finding the Mount-Kers, but I couldn't find them.... The netball people, wenrong, natalia, aloysius (who suan-ed me non-stop during the trip, protesting that I could hit him with my bottle cos he was sick and cos it went against the medical ethics of first aid... whatever).
People I ran into worth mentioning are (in order of appearance):
Mao Rui, who learnt to make cheese macaroni from my mother
Audrey, an IP from NJ who used to be my brother's classmate and a junior from St. John... Haha I could still recognize her, although she changed quite a bit and has grown quite tall also. We talked quite a lot, cos I was with no one, she was with no one, and we had an hour to kill before the celebrations were done...
AC2, my competition team, who were lounging outside the hall minus Si Han due to the extreme heat inside... Don't complain, if the stained glass had still been there you all would have died.
Mdm Teo, St. John teacher
Mrs Chong, St. John teacher
Ms Lee, (Li lao shi), sec. 2 chinese teacher.... I bet she was disappointed at my results...
Ms Chan, sec. 4 chem teacher (I didn't tell her I got D for chem)
Mr Peach, form teacher in sec. 4, under which we won the upper sec. debate comp (If Phoon, you are reading this, please don't kill me)
Mdm Sim, sec. 3 and 4 georg teacher (Who contributed to my producing of my pretty georg notebook... haha)
Mdm Hidayah, sec. 3 and 4 physics teacher (who pulled my physics out of the Cs. She said a C in JC wasn't too bad actually).
Yar, Mr Peach said tht I could go into the staffroom and look for teachers... I went in and was promptly chased out by Mdm Teo who told me that the prelim papers were out and I could not be inside (I wonder if it occured to her that I was already past the stage of O-level prelims).
I didn't hang about too long... pushed off back to Kong Hwa for the first time in 2 years or something... what possessed me to go back I don't know. A combination to laziness and mistimed St. John Public Duties caused that...
Unfortunately Kong Hwa chose that time to do contact time... so I had to wait til 1.30 before I could see Miss Soon, my pri 5 and 6 teacher.... meanwhile I walked around... looked at the staff noticeboard (only can recognize my P1 chinese teacher, Ms Soon and Ms Seah of the Scouts). I was the only JC student there, the rest were all lower secs.... and many of them were very tall.... The Kong Hwa uniform has changed (I remember it was a torture to put on my starchy new shirts) to white polo shirts. The pri sch students are very little... haha... n they were looking at me like were very old like that... My class picture of us at the NDP preview in Primary 5 is still on the noticeboard... I saw the pond where used to go during recess.... gazed at the 4th storey corner classroom where books would regularly fly out, followed by their harried and traumatised owners (discipline was darn harsh). Compared to AHS, the colour scheme was really very nice... and yes, I could still camouflage myself into the wall with my VJ uniform.
Most frustratingly, Kong Hwa is now like a bank... or a fortress... or a fortified bank... electronic locks were everywhere... Couldn't even go into the staff room... Must dial extension number... but all the numbers were at primary school level.... n it was painful for my legs to kneel and dial the number.... not to mention feeling a little ridiculous....
I waited an hour and was about to leave a note in Ms Soon's pigeon hole when she appeared out of the staff room. i waited a while for her other students to talk before I made my way forward. She took a while to remember my name, although it was evident it was just a memory lapse... haha... she could still remember the people from our class, and asked how they were, how many people were in VJ and so on.... I recall I managed to stop myself being flung out of the class by her.... one of the few people to have a clean sheet... haha. We talked a while... then I pushed off back home....
yup.. quite an eventful day.... oh... its past 12... Happy Birthday Soo Yee! You've been a great friend n Vice OC =) May you have a gd year ahead (n lead your taekwondo team well!)
~JcZw~ at 11:20 pm
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Argh! Can you believe it? 1 month with a pulled right thigh muscle, and now yesterday I twisted my left ankle. My mother has ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN me to fence for the next 3 weeks (which is probably good, since promos are looming around the corner). Anyway, don't answer the question. Just believe it =)
Waha, this week looks not too bad... a few high notes so far... well, more than the average week...
Monday I had a terrible cold. My nose was leaking all my cerebral spinal fluid. I expended all my tissue in the first two periods, and had to scavenge from the toilet subsequently. Come chem lecture, I had to use about 2 full packs of tissue complemented by a 2 m long length of toilet paper. ChuaH kept trying to give me tips on saving paper, but it was no use since I had sneezed until I was incoherent and I felt as though I had killed my un-mitosisable brain cells, ruptured my appendix and split a rib. Add to the fact that the force of my sneeze virtually.... never mind, it shouldn't be talked about here... My sister would be very disgusted if she found sneeze-details here.... Thank you ChuaH, Charmaine, Phoon's Dawn, and the various toilet cleaners who kept the toilets well stocked. Also my apologies to S15 and S12, with whom I was sitting during Chem lecture.
Aha! During PE, against the wishes of the majority (or maybe half lar) of the class, we played soccer. I hadn't touched a soccer ball since.... June Camp I think.... totally forgotten how to play... somemore nowadays also no time to go n kick the ball around and practise saves with my brother cos of fencing, plus the fact that our balls are becoming holey (I mean, our soccer balls).
Compared with the match versus 05S43, this one was pretty uneventful.... the ball hardly came to my side =) hehe... for the first 20 min I could lean against the board and talk to Pei En and Trina... the "sit down picnic, ball come panic" thing from Kong Hwa... I only had to run out once to catch an incoming ball. Compare to the above mentioned match when the ball never left our half despite the VS guy's best efforts. Happily S43's shooting was so bad that they missed the goal on every occasion, and I only had to save once... hehe
Oh I paid for my complacency... Keefe caught me very off position and happily exploited my holey defending. After that I woke up and stopped talking... hehe... made 3 saves after that from the VS people... but Phoon, Jiamin and ChuaH were a very solid defence =) they saved me a lot of trouble waha. But as the squire said in "A knights tale":
"[his] technique rudimentary, style, non-existent"
I need xuan ming and his team man.... Oh curiously, in the one-on-one situation, fencing skills come in useful. Firstly, in advancing quickly, secondly, cos we're trained to observe our opponent's body language, so you watch both the blade (in this case, the ball), and the other feller's eyes, n that gives pretty good timing when to lunge (or dive), especially since in soccer your vision is not obstructed by a mask.
Its nice to play on a nice soft field though... instead of a cement street soccer court..
Right, so much for soccer...
During fencing, since we're already off season, Coach wired the two pistes together and we played 2-on-2 matches.... Quite interesting, cos new tactics have to be developed n all... This time we really had to use our peripheral vision, but most of us forgot all the compound attacks, fakes etc and just parry parry parry.... Kind of sad for the small IPs when they are alone and have to fence a bloodthirsty Anglicaner and VS person at the same time...
But my last bout I had to fence alone against Maurice and Elgin, the two long-armed VS guys, partially my fault, cos my teammates had died already.... For about 10 sec I retreated rotating my blade in front of me to cover my body with a whirling circle of steel. But the human wrist isn't designed to behave like that, so soon it was back to an abnormally and insanely quick cut and thrust against 2 people.... luckily their attacks weren't thaaat synchronized... The end was still quite quick though... I lunged at Maurice with my injured foot, missed his leg, brought my blade up to parry his counter, saw him raise his arm, my blade sweeping through empty space, before the two of them one after another slammed their blades into my right shoulder about 1 sec apart (Elgin's reaction was quite lag... Hit once should be enough liao lor).
Quite fun though... heheh.... Maurice gave me his ice cream... I appreciate tha, thanks!
Erm today... very tired lar... n very sian also.... kept falling asleep everywhere.... Came home and slacked around a lot... still slacking now in fact, although manged to clear some fencing and FAC stuff.... right...thats about it...
G'night to you, reader, whoever you are, be you OSSIS or SJer, tall or short, thick or thin, XX or XY or in between, or ex-XX or ex-XY. Bye! =)
Waha, this week looks not too bad... a few high notes so far... well, more than the average week...
Monday I had a terrible cold. My nose was leaking all my cerebral spinal fluid. I expended all my tissue in the first two periods, and had to scavenge from the toilet subsequently. Come chem lecture, I had to use about 2 full packs of tissue complemented by a 2 m long length of toilet paper. ChuaH kept trying to give me tips on saving paper, but it was no use since I had sneezed until I was incoherent and I felt as though I had killed my un-mitosisable brain cells, ruptured my appendix and split a rib. Add to the fact that the force of my sneeze virtually.... never mind, it shouldn't be talked about here... My sister would be very disgusted if she found sneeze-details here.... Thank you ChuaH, Charmaine, Phoon's Dawn, and the various toilet cleaners who kept the toilets well stocked. Also my apologies to S15 and S12, with whom I was sitting during Chem lecture.
Aha! During PE, against the wishes of the majority (or maybe half lar) of the class, we played soccer. I hadn't touched a soccer ball since.... June Camp I think.... totally forgotten how to play... somemore nowadays also no time to go n kick the ball around and practise saves with my brother cos of fencing, plus the fact that our balls are becoming holey (I mean, our soccer balls).
Compared with the match versus 05S43, this one was pretty uneventful.... the ball hardly came to my side =) hehe... for the first 20 min I could lean against the board and talk to Pei En and Trina... the "sit down picnic, ball come panic" thing from Kong Hwa... I only had to run out once to catch an incoming ball. Compare to the above mentioned match when the ball never left our half despite the VS guy's best efforts. Happily S43's shooting was so bad that they missed the goal on every occasion, and I only had to save once... hehe
Oh I paid for my complacency... Keefe caught me very off position and happily exploited my holey defending. After that I woke up and stopped talking... hehe... made 3 saves after that from the VS people... but Phoon, Jiamin and ChuaH were a very solid defence =) they saved me a lot of trouble waha. But as the squire said in "A knights tale":
"[his] technique rudimentary, style, non-existent"
I need xuan ming and his team man.... Oh curiously, in the one-on-one situation, fencing skills come in useful. Firstly, in advancing quickly, secondly, cos we're trained to observe our opponent's body language, so you watch both the blade (in this case, the ball), and the other feller's eyes, n that gives pretty good timing when to lunge (or dive), especially since in soccer your vision is not obstructed by a mask.
Its nice to play on a nice soft field though... instead of a cement street soccer court..
Right, so much for soccer...
During fencing, since we're already off season, Coach wired the two pistes together and we played 2-on-2 matches.... Quite interesting, cos new tactics have to be developed n all... This time we really had to use our peripheral vision, but most of us forgot all the compound attacks, fakes etc and just parry parry parry.... Kind of sad for the small IPs when they are alone and have to fence a bloodthirsty Anglicaner and VS person at the same time...
But my last bout I had to fence alone against Maurice and Elgin, the two long-armed VS guys, partially my fault, cos my teammates had died already.... For about 10 sec I retreated rotating my blade in front of me to cover my body with a whirling circle of steel. But the human wrist isn't designed to behave like that, so soon it was back to an abnormally and insanely quick cut and thrust against 2 people.... luckily their attacks weren't thaaat synchronized... The end was still quite quick though... I lunged at Maurice with my injured foot, missed his leg, brought my blade up to parry his counter, saw him raise his arm, my blade sweeping through empty space, before the two of them one after another slammed their blades into my right shoulder about 1 sec apart (Elgin's reaction was quite lag... Hit once should be enough liao lor).
Quite fun though... heheh.... Maurice gave me his ice cream... I appreciate tha, thanks!
Erm today... very tired lar... n very sian also.... kept falling asleep everywhere.... Came home and slacked around a lot... still slacking now in fact, although manged to clear some fencing and FAC stuff.... right...thats about it...
G'night to you, reader, whoever you are, be you OSSIS or SJer, tall or short, thick or thin, XX or XY or in between, or ex-XX or ex-XY. Bye! =)
~JcZw~ at 10:16 pm
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Finally the event we'd been waiting for, the Pesta Sukan Team event, and the inaugural tournament for the girls. Well, I guess everything could have gone better, but then, we weren't very fortunate, were we? Sighz, we managed to do not so very well, a combination of *beep* Fencing Singapore, and our own lack of experience.
We got there alright, mustered all members ('cept Randall, who was flu-ed). Did all the admin stuff and blah. Then the DT announced the sorting of the comp. "VJC Team A vs. VJC Team B"
Yes. Hooray. They managed to get us to fence AGAINST EACH OTHER!!! Of all the lousy luck! What could we do? Pull out together? Or just fence for the fun of it? I mean, theres no pleasure in eliminating your own is there? CJC and RJC died fighting against other opponents and they left VJ to commit hara-kiri. Well, thanks, that was nice of them, I don't think.
So the teams were as followed:
Daniel, 05S46, Under-17 Bronze Medallist
Elgin, 05S28
Liang Sheng 05S23
Randall 05S22
against
Jonathan 05S15
Maurice 05S14
Aaron 05S23
Mark Ortega 05S16
We just decided to give no quarter and may the best team win. I took some pics again using my camera phone. For obvious reasons, none of them contain me.
Maurice training with Coach Jeff a few weeks before the comp, practising hand hits.
The match opened up with me against Daniel. Predictably, with my leg giving severe pain, ans, we later found out, my blade was not working. So the score was 4-1 in his favour.Man, I scored at least 2 close quarters which did not register! Maurice saved our necks, grabbing the lead from Elgin in the next round to make it 10-6 or something. Aaron against Liang Sheng saw Liang Sheng, with already one comp under his belt, close the lead till the score was 13-13, from Aaron, who had been out of the U-17 with an operation for his appendix.
Maurice and I decided since we were killing ourselves, we should just unleash our reserve. Mark Ortega acquitted himself well, dropping only 1 point to Elgin, when he went up against him. Well done Mark! =) Seen here conducting a fleche
And here on guard against Elgin (who is the one further away).
Maurice took advantage of superior tactical skill to open a lead on Liang Sheng, which I subsequently widened. Here, Maurice on the left, half-lunges at Liang Sheng.
It all came down to Daniel (on the right) against Maurice (on the left). Both of them have fantastic footwork and bladework... just look at their posture. I think Daniel was rattled though, cos he dropped 8 points while Maurice dropped 5. We won 45-37.
But of course, how happy can you be beating your own teammates. It was really a heartbreaking match, seeing that your already slim chances are now cut in half.
The next bout was no better.
Guess what?
We ran against the Singapore National Team. Zhi Hua, whom we had seen from FM, as well as Nicholas Fang, the MC at the International Olympics Committee who culd speak French. Can you believe it. We fenced against famous people that day. Or at least, we attempted to.
I'd hate to say this, but we didn't stand a chance. In 2 minutes Nick Fang had killed me 5-0. His lunge was so long, he was so fast, and his beats could knock my blade flying. An attempted fleche came to naught and I've never seen one go from defence to close quarter so fast in my life. His flicks and disengages danced around my ineffectual parries. I think the most damage I did was a few scratches on his guard.
In the second bout, Maurice (on the right), faced off with Zhi Hua. Maurice picked up two points to make the score 10-2 (guess in whos favour). Aaron's bout saw the score become 15-2. Then it was 20-3 after my second round. 25-3 as Aaron went against their reserve. 30-4 as Maurice picked up another point. 35-4 as Mark Ortega was substituted in. 40-4 as my last bout completed. Nick Fang held back in the last round, giving Maurice 3 points. They picked us off so easily. None of the bouts lasted more than 2 minutes. Note in the picture the score says "05". Our score, blocked by Maurice, says "00"
The Final Score. 45-7. We scored just 7 points against possibly the 4 best epeeists in Singapore. Oh my goodness. From left, Liang Sheng, Elgin, Randall, the scoreboard, Aaron, me (squatting), Maurice and Mark. Daniel had left with a friend. So ended our guys' venture into Pesta Sukan. It gave me no pain to lose to the national team, as it gave me no pleasure to beat my own members.
A few other interesting sights:
A sabre fencer with a blue electric jacket. I thought it was quite interesting and so took a pic.
Nick Fang and Wei Wen, both national fencers, competing.
Just look at Nick Fang's lunge! It is so darn long none of us could have moved back enough to escape the hit! At least here Wei Wen managed to score a stop hit. For the record, Nick Fang's team won the Gold. Yes, at least we can say we lost to the gold medallist.
Today was the Ladies' Event. Victoria, Eileen and Charlene acquitted themselves well, going down 45-41 in their first tournament to a RJC team, who had really tall members. Well, everyone will get better through experience though... Well done to them too! You all did well!
Here, Charlene (On the right) faces an RJ fencer as she shortened the lead and took it, abeit for a short while.
So ended Pesta Sukan. Well done everyone! We did well, for a comp of this level!
We got there alright, mustered all members ('cept Randall, who was flu-ed). Did all the admin stuff and blah. Then the DT announced the sorting of the comp. "VJC Team A vs. VJC Team B"
Yes. Hooray. They managed to get us to fence AGAINST EACH OTHER!!! Of all the lousy luck! What could we do? Pull out together? Or just fence for the fun of it? I mean, theres no pleasure in eliminating your own is there? CJC and RJC died fighting against other opponents and they left VJ to commit hara-kiri. Well, thanks, that was nice of them, I don't think.
So the teams were as followed:
Daniel, 05S46, Under-17 Bronze Medallist
Elgin, 05S28
Liang Sheng 05S23
Randall 05S22
against
Jonathan 05S15
Maurice 05S14
Aaron 05S23
Mark Ortega 05S16
We just decided to give no quarter and may the best team win. I took some pics again using my camera phone. For obvious reasons, none of them contain me.
Maurice training with Coach Jeff a few weeks before the comp, practising hand hits.
The match opened up with me against Daniel. Predictably, with my leg giving severe pain, ans, we later found out, my blade was not working. So the score was 4-1 in his favour.Man, I scored at least 2 close quarters which did not register! Maurice saved our necks, grabbing the lead from Elgin in the next round to make it 10-6 or something. Aaron against Liang Sheng saw Liang Sheng, with already one comp under his belt, close the lead till the score was 13-13, from Aaron, who had been out of the U-17 with an operation for his appendix.
Maurice and I decided since we were killing ourselves, we should just unleash our reserve. Mark Ortega acquitted himself well, dropping only 1 point to Elgin, when he went up against him. Well done Mark! =) Seen here conducting a fleche
And here on guard against Elgin (who is the one further away).
Maurice took advantage of superior tactical skill to open a lead on Liang Sheng, which I subsequently widened. Here, Maurice on the left, half-lunges at Liang Sheng.
It all came down to Daniel (on the right) against Maurice (on the left). Both of them have fantastic footwork and bladework... just look at their posture. I think Daniel was rattled though, cos he dropped 8 points while Maurice dropped 5. We won 45-37.
But of course, how happy can you be beating your own teammates. It was really a heartbreaking match, seeing that your already slim chances are now cut in half.
The next bout was no better.
Guess what?
We ran against the Singapore National Team. Zhi Hua, whom we had seen from FM, as well as Nicholas Fang, the MC at the International Olympics Committee who culd speak French. Can you believe it. We fenced against famous people that day. Or at least, we attempted to.
I'd hate to say this, but we didn't stand a chance. In 2 minutes Nick Fang had killed me 5-0. His lunge was so long, he was so fast, and his beats could knock my blade flying. An attempted fleche came to naught and I've never seen one go from defence to close quarter so fast in my life. His flicks and disengages danced around my ineffectual parries. I think the most damage I did was a few scratches on his guard.
In the second bout, Maurice (on the right), faced off with Zhi Hua. Maurice picked up two points to make the score 10-2 (guess in whos favour). Aaron's bout saw the score become 15-2. Then it was 20-3 after my second round. 25-3 as Aaron went against their reserve. 30-4 as Maurice picked up another point. 35-4 as Mark Ortega was substituted in. 40-4 as my last bout completed. Nick Fang held back in the last round, giving Maurice 3 points. They picked us off so easily. None of the bouts lasted more than 2 minutes. Note in the picture the score says "05". Our score, blocked by Maurice, says "00"
The Final Score. 45-7. We scored just 7 points against possibly the 4 best epeeists in Singapore. Oh my goodness. From left, Liang Sheng, Elgin, Randall, the scoreboard, Aaron, me (squatting), Maurice and Mark. Daniel had left with a friend. So ended our guys' venture into Pesta Sukan. It gave me no pain to lose to the national team, as it gave me no pleasure to beat my own members.
A few other interesting sights:
A sabre fencer with a blue electric jacket. I thought it was quite interesting and so took a pic.
Nick Fang and Wei Wen, both national fencers, competing.
Just look at Nick Fang's lunge! It is so darn long none of us could have moved back enough to escape the hit! At least here Wei Wen managed to score a stop hit. For the record, Nick Fang's team won the Gold. Yes, at least we can say we lost to the gold medallist.
Today was the Ladies' Event. Victoria, Eileen and Charlene acquitted themselves well, going down 45-41 in their first tournament to a RJC team, who had really tall members. Well, everyone will get better through experience though... Well done to them too! You all did well!
Here, Charlene (On the right) faces an RJ fencer as she shortened the lead and took it, abeit for a short while.
So ended Pesta Sukan. Well done everyone! We did well, for a comp of this level!
~JcZw~ at 4:56 pm
Friday, August 26, 2005
What can I say, today has been super interesting.
First was in the early morning. I was planning to sleep early and wake early to study bio (Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man busy, sleepy, and coffee addicted. I know it doesn't rhyme, but rhymes rarely do when you're sleep). But first I DIDN'T sleep early cos I was looking for my St. John CD.
Then, I woke up, spent half and hour trying to keep awake, then went to wash my face n brush my teeth. When I returned to my room 45 min later, flicked on the light and dragged out my Mitosis, I glanced at my phone and realised it was 1.30 am. Apparently I had IMAGINED my alarm going off. I was SO ANGRY AT MYSELF I felt like banging my head against the wall. I stumbled back into bed feeling exceedingly stupid. So I wasted a lot of sleep time.
When I finally got up at 5, my biological clock was absolutely kicked out of alignment. A cup of coffee changed that, although as Trina said, be careful of getting addicted.
Interesting thing number 2. In GP period, ChuaH and I caused a little uproar which prompted Mr Teo to mildly ask us what was so funny. It happened that in a minor altercation, he attempted to poke me, whereby I dodged prematurely, whereby he made a detrimental remark on my sensitivity and a superlative remark on his poking ability. Whereby I took an abandoned sweet wrapper left on the table my the last occupant and flicked it at him. It took a straight path to his face and landed somewhere very amusing that caused me to laugh for almost a minute nonstop... Needless to say, we created a series of loud noises.
Next on the list was SPA. Chem Skill B is definitely a failing point. I heated the wrong chemical, broke a measuring cylinder, burnt my fingers, and to cap it all off, slammed the cupboard door on my hand. I'm so gonna get an 8.
Then back to St. John. CCA proceeded as normal, then ended with Wei Lun, Xuan Ming and I throwing stars at each other. Quite fun, abeit a bit childish, especially considering we were already senior instructors. I managed to hit Wei Lun (the only time I hit) with a nice curling shot. He took immediate revenge which prompted a hasty (I mean, really hasty) evacuation from the canteen to the field by me. My speed versus his long legs. Haha..
Yup. Fun. Anyway I'm off to bed now, to get my sleep cycle back.
Pesta Sukan is tml... I hope we can do our best.. considering my thigh n all...
"Let me win. If I cannot win let me be brave in my attempt"
-Motto of handicapped atheletes
First was in the early morning. I was planning to sleep early and wake early to study bio (Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man busy, sleepy, and coffee addicted. I know it doesn't rhyme, but rhymes rarely do when you're sleep). But first I DIDN'T sleep early cos I was looking for my St. John CD.
Then, I woke up, spent half and hour trying to keep awake, then went to wash my face n brush my teeth. When I returned to my room 45 min later, flicked on the light and dragged out my Mitosis, I glanced at my phone and realised it was 1.30 am. Apparently I had IMAGINED my alarm going off. I was SO ANGRY AT MYSELF I felt like banging my head against the wall. I stumbled back into bed feeling exceedingly stupid. So I wasted a lot of sleep time.
When I finally got up at 5, my biological clock was absolutely kicked out of alignment. A cup of coffee changed that, although as Trina said, be careful of getting addicted.
Interesting thing number 2. In GP period, ChuaH and I caused a little uproar which prompted Mr Teo to mildly ask us what was so funny. It happened that in a minor altercation, he attempted to poke me, whereby I dodged prematurely, whereby he made a detrimental remark on my sensitivity and a superlative remark on his poking ability. Whereby I took an abandoned sweet wrapper left on the table my the last occupant and flicked it at him. It took a straight path to his face and landed somewhere very amusing that caused me to laugh for almost a minute nonstop... Needless to say, we created a series of loud noises.
Next on the list was SPA. Chem Skill B is definitely a failing point. I heated the wrong chemical, broke a measuring cylinder, burnt my fingers, and to cap it all off, slammed the cupboard door on my hand. I'm so gonna get an 8.
Then back to St. John. CCA proceeded as normal, then ended with Wei Lun, Xuan Ming and I throwing stars at each other. Quite fun, abeit a bit childish, especially considering we were already senior instructors. I managed to hit Wei Lun (the only time I hit) with a nice curling shot. He took immediate revenge which prompted a hasty (I mean, really hasty) evacuation from the canteen to the field by me. My speed versus his long legs. Haha..
Yup. Fun. Anyway I'm off to bed now, to get my sleep cycle back.
Pesta Sukan is tml... I hope we can do our best.. considering my thigh n all...
"Let me win. If I cannot win let me be brave in my attempt"
-Motto of handicapped atheletes
~JcZw~ at 11:08 pm
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Its a mere 2 days from Pesta Sukan and here I am still stuck with an injured thigh and 9 points worst than the average person in VJ, not to mention the National Teams of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, and all the other places where people grow taller than 1.64 m...
Its a simple fact that few can comprehend that fencing is not simply about moving your hands, its about moving your feet in concert with your hands! Thats why it has been likened to dancing so often. Its a simple fact that if your hands are not long enough to reach out and hit your opponent (like certain VS people can), you have to move, jump about, parry parry and parry and rely on your speed to keep you out of trouble, not your length.
Of course, when your limbs are not operating properly, this becomes just a leeeetle bit difficult. Especially since that muscle supports the lunging leg during basic attacks. To put it less cheemly, without that muscle you CANNOT make most of your attacks.
Mainly it comes down to counters and fleches. Huh. On thursday Maurice picked me off easily like a person would pick a flea off a cat. Fine I put up a fight, but its impossible to move fast now. If its not better by the weekend he's gonna be the anchor man. The bout against Jared was okay, but both of us were practising moves, not really fencing... won by a mere 1 point. If he's not an ex-foilist I'll eat my epee.... his moves and bladework are exactly those of a foil. The only thing lacking is his close quarter... hehe....
On wednesday we went to eat katong laksa at katong (itself. not somewhere else where they say they sell katong laksa when obvious they're not in katong. Katong laksa does not grow on trees). Mr Chong entertained us guys with anecdotes of his NS life. Considering the sheer stupidity that can be displayed by NS men, its a wonder many of them make it out with their anatomy intact.
But we saw something really freaky. On the way to the bus stop we saw this HUGE TENNIS BALL SIZED SPIDER HANGING ON A NDP SOMBERO SIZED WEB STRUNG BETWEEN THE SUPPORTS OF THE OVERHEAD BRIDGE! Everyone was like "wah" and pointing at it. But for me my arachnophobic instincts kicked in and I literally (i used to think this was a cliche, now i know otherwise) felt my blood turn cold, although I started sweating freely. I didn't move for a long long time and when I finally tore my gaze away from that horrendously colourful arachnid I felt quite weak.
Yes, I have arachnophobia. Ask Hannah and Joyce. Once I flung one of their shoeboxes down the Anglican hill when a little spider fell on it. In fact not too long ago I made a loud noise in the VJ library when I came across a picture of a gigantic tree spider while reading "Asian Geographic". Luckily I preserved my dignity and was contented with jumping violently and slamming the book shut. Why I hate spiders and anything with 6 or more legs (depending on the insect) I cannot explain. But I can tell you I was freaked out by "Arachnophobia", "Eight-legged freaks", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" due to the appearance of octiple limbed creatures.
Is it a coincidence that on the day of zone comp 2004 when we were having EL Compre test that morning (much to the disgust to me and soo yee), the topic was on tarantulas (that WAS auspicious... my foot) and I suffered a massive nosebleed in between....
Yes, I am firmly arachnophobic, thank you.
Yup thats all for now... gotta wake up n study bio g'night!
Its a simple fact that few can comprehend that fencing is not simply about moving your hands, its about moving your feet in concert with your hands! Thats why it has been likened to dancing so often. Its a simple fact that if your hands are not long enough to reach out and hit your opponent (like certain VS people can), you have to move, jump about, parry parry and parry and rely on your speed to keep you out of trouble, not your length.
Of course, when your limbs are not operating properly, this becomes just a leeeetle bit difficult. Especially since that muscle supports the lunging leg during basic attacks. To put it less cheemly, without that muscle you CANNOT make most of your attacks.
Mainly it comes down to counters and fleches. Huh. On thursday Maurice picked me off easily like a person would pick a flea off a cat. Fine I put up a fight, but its impossible to move fast now. If its not better by the weekend he's gonna be the anchor man. The bout against Jared was okay, but both of us were practising moves, not really fencing... won by a mere 1 point. If he's not an ex-foilist I'll eat my epee.... his moves and bladework are exactly those of a foil. The only thing lacking is his close quarter... hehe....
On wednesday we went to eat katong laksa at katong (itself. not somewhere else where they say they sell katong laksa when obvious they're not in katong. Katong laksa does not grow on trees). Mr Chong entertained us guys with anecdotes of his NS life. Considering the sheer stupidity that can be displayed by NS men, its a wonder many of them make it out with their anatomy intact.
But we saw something really freaky. On the way to the bus stop we saw this HUGE TENNIS BALL SIZED SPIDER HANGING ON A NDP SOMBERO SIZED WEB STRUNG BETWEEN THE SUPPORTS OF THE OVERHEAD BRIDGE! Everyone was like "wah" and pointing at it. But for me my arachnophobic instincts kicked in and I literally (i used to think this was a cliche, now i know otherwise) felt my blood turn cold, although I started sweating freely. I didn't move for a long long time and when I finally tore my gaze away from that horrendously colourful arachnid I felt quite weak.
Yes, I have arachnophobia. Ask Hannah and Joyce. Once I flung one of their shoeboxes down the Anglican hill when a little spider fell on it. In fact not too long ago I made a loud noise in the VJ library when I came across a picture of a gigantic tree spider while reading "Asian Geographic". Luckily I preserved my dignity and was contented with jumping violently and slamming the book shut. Why I hate spiders and anything with 6 or more legs (depending on the insect) I cannot explain. But I can tell you I was freaked out by "Arachnophobia", "Eight-legged freaks", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" due to the appearance of octiple limbed creatures.
Is it a coincidence that on the day of zone comp 2004 when we were having EL Compre test that morning (much to the disgust to me and soo yee), the topic was on tarantulas (that WAS auspicious... my foot) and I suffered a massive nosebleed in between....
Yes, I am firmly arachnophobic, thank you.
Yup thats all for now... gotta wake up n study bio g'night!
~JcZw~ at 10:14 pm
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Shall do a quick one before I go back and chiong for chemistry... Didn't know that being a science student would be so abnormally busy...
Refer to Si Hui and Jiayan's blog, they talk roughly about the same thing as mine, and yes, I am the last one to blog about yesterday...
The three of us got our sergeant rank yesterday in a four hour ceremony at temasek sec. Actually 2 hours, but they lagged a long long time and exploited our cadets doing manual labour (At least in fencing, you get paid $300). Started with Jiayan telling me to take the wrong bus, so I took the wrong bus to a junction, mistook the community centre for TMS and jumped off. Confronted with a cross junction, I had 3 roads to take. I walked the correct route, thought i was going in the wrong direction, walked to the wrong one found myself nearing AHS, turned back, walked the perpendicular route, and generally by the time I reached TMS i was hot (remember my specific heat capacity) and ready to spontaneously combust. Changing into that waxy horrow misnamed a full uniform while one's body temperature is above 36.9 deg C is definitely not something that the average person enjoys.
Ceremony went as planned... i admit that I was very nervous of fouling up when I went to take my insignia n cert... but instinct from 4 years kicked in and everything went alright... I wonder if Mr David Cheng noticed my hand was shaking... Thanks to our cadets n NCOs for cheering =) I wonder if the audience noticed 2 Jonathan Chans were announced back to back heheheh... And I wonder if they knew the shorter one was the older one...
You are hereby promoted to the rank of Sergeant with the effect from the 1st August 2005
You will at all times be loyal, discharge your duty dilligently and serve honourably in your new ranks.
I half expected it to continue "or face execution". Shades of Stalin
Reception was... foody... When will HQ learn that the only was to NOT have excess food is to NOT ORDER so much food? Well, it was edible, actually quite okay lar... as can be expected of mass produced catered food. After that we escaped to help carry chairs for the two reasons, one, to help the cadets (1 for all, all for 1... just cos we're no longer in AHS doesn't mean we don't carry on tradition), second, cos HQ is notorious for asking people hanging around to help finish food, and I didn't want to eat more mee siam than i wanted.
Then, of course, came the exciting part as we departed from the school.
Honestly, it didn't occur to me that I had to press the button on the traffic light. Just thought it was lagging for a long time... I was just staring at the road entertaining thoughts (how ironic), that if there was an RTA, there wouldn't be shortage of first aiders.
Crossed the road, and Jiayan was just asking for 55 cents and I was bracing for the rush onto the bus which appeared to be potentially crowded when there was the shriek of metal on metal, the howl of rubber against asphalt as the car lit up its brakes. The blur of the white car rushing past coincided with another blur of a St. John cadet rushing across the road. The much-cliched "sickening thump of metal against flesh" was stunning. You read about accidents in the papers, but you never think you'll get to see one.
Especially when the car took the cadet in the pelvis and flung him in the air, describing a lateral line across the road, head first, with the elegance of a goalkeeper diving for a ball, before he landed just in front of the pavement, and slid on his shoulder to rest on the road side
Especially when I recognized Jun Hao from Squad 3.
For all the training they give you in st. john, when such a thing happens you don't think calmly. None of us can remember how we covered the 7 meters or so from the bus stop to him. I must have dropped my wallet cos I found it lying on the floor later on. In a blur of motion and loud noises from myself, the road and the other SJ members, I only can remember asking him whether he could move his legs, and if he could, if he could move from the road in case the accident was compounded. I was preparing for fractures, blood, etc. It didn't seem possible that the human body could take congress with such kinetic energy and emerge unscathed. But thank God, he was alright.
The sole of his shoe was tore almost completely off, as was his toe nail. His arms contained numerous scratches and his pelvis must have sustained an awful contusion, but he was alive and conscious. I shudder to think of what it would have been if he had frozen as the car roared towards him, or if he had landed on his head. His guardian angel must have been working overtime.
Really, its little things like that that make you appreciate life. That could have happened to me, to Jiayan, Si hui, anyone else that had been there. It could have happened to anyone. And no guarantees the next person would be lucky.
Oh well. Anyway senior meeting... no comment. I hate bureaucracy =)
Yup, as for the reader.
If you're in VJ, you ought to go back and study chem (thats where i'm going)
If you're a sec4, go study for prelims
If you're sec3 or below.... alright, you can tag =)
Fine, anyone can tag, alright?
hahaha
right... chemchemchemchem
Refer to Si Hui and Jiayan's blog, they talk roughly about the same thing as mine, and yes, I am the last one to blog about yesterday...
The three of us got our sergeant rank yesterday in a four hour ceremony at temasek sec. Actually 2 hours, but they lagged a long long time and exploited our cadets doing manual labour (At least in fencing, you get paid $300). Started with Jiayan telling me to take the wrong bus, so I took the wrong bus to a junction, mistook the community centre for TMS and jumped off. Confronted with a cross junction, I had 3 roads to take. I walked the correct route, thought i was going in the wrong direction, walked to the wrong one found myself nearing AHS, turned back, walked the perpendicular route, and generally by the time I reached TMS i was hot (remember my specific heat capacity) and ready to spontaneously combust. Changing into that waxy horrow misnamed a full uniform while one's body temperature is above 36.9 deg C is definitely not something that the average person enjoys.
Ceremony went as planned... i admit that I was very nervous of fouling up when I went to take my insignia n cert... but instinct from 4 years kicked in and everything went alright... I wonder if Mr David Cheng noticed my hand was shaking... Thanks to our cadets n NCOs for cheering =) I wonder if the audience noticed 2 Jonathan Chans were announced back to back heheheh... And I wonder if they knew the shorter one was the older one...
You are hereby promoted to the rank of Sergeant with the effect from the 1st August 2005
You will at all times be loyal, discharge your duty dilligently and serve honourably in your new ranks.
I half expected it to continue "or face execution". Shades of Stalin
Reception was... foody... When will HQ learn that the only was to NOT have excess food is to NOT ORDER so much food? Well, it was edible, actually quite okay lar... as can be expected of mass produced catered food. After that we escaped to help carry chairs for the two reasons, one, to help the cadets (1 for all, all for 1... just cos we're no longer in AHS doesn't mean we don't carry on tradition), second, cos HQ is notorious for asking people hanging around to help finish food, and I didn't want to eat more mee siam than i wanted.
Then, of course, came the exciting part as we departed from the school.
Honestly, it didn't occur to me that I had to press the button on the traffic light. Just thought it was lagging for a long time... I was just staring at the road entertaining thoughts (how ironic), that if there was an RTA, there wouldn't be shortage of first aiders.
Crossed the road, and Jiayan was just asking for 55 cents and I was bracing for the rush onto the bus which appeared to be potentially crowded when there was the shriek of metal on metal, the howl of rubber against asphalt as the car lit up its brakes. The blur of the white car rushing past coincided with another blur of a St. John cadet rushing across the road. The much-cliched "sickening thump of metal against flesh" was stunning. You read about accidents in the papers, but you never think you'll get to see one.
Especially when the car took the cadet in the pelvis and flung him in the air, describing a lateral line across the road, head first, with the elegance of a goalkeeper diving for a ball, before he landed just in front of the pavement, and slid on his shoulder to rest on the road side
Especially when I recognized Jun Hao from Squad 3.
For all the training they give you in st. john, when such a thing happens you don't think calmly. None of us can remember how we covered the 7 meters or so from the bus stop to him. I must have dropped my wallet cos I found it lying on the floor later on. In a blur of motion and loud noises from myself, the road and the other SJ members, I only can remember asking him whether he could move his legs, and if he could, if he could move from the road in case the accident was compounded. I was preparing for fractures, blood, etc. It didn't seem possible that the human body could take congress with such kinetic energy and emerge unscathed. But thank God, he was alright.
The sole of his shoe was tore almost completely off, as was his toe nail. His arms contained numerous scratches and his pelvis must have sustained an awful contusion, but he was alive and conscious. I shudder to think of what it would have been if he had frozen as the car roared towards him, or if he had landed on his head. His guardian angel must have been working overtime.
Really, its little things like that that make you appreciate life. That could have happened to me, to Jiayan, Si hui, anyone else that had been there. It could have happened to anyone. And no guarantees the next person would be lucky.
Oh well. Anyway senior meeting... no comment. I hate bureaucracy =)
Yup, as for the reader.
If you're in VJ, you ought to go back and study chem (thats where i'm going)
If you're a sec4, go study for prelims
If you're sec3 or below.... alright, you can tag =)
Fine, anyone can tag, alright?
hahaha
right... chemchemchemchem
~JcZw~ at 7:48 pm
Friday, August 19, 2005
A month of injury for August, both mental and physical.
Well, I DID think it was slightly crazy to go for fencing so often, so I don't know what possessed me to go for 5 days in a row two weeks ago, which has now left me with a very strained thigh. Now can't lunge, and so cannot attack at all, which mean I'm restricted to reverse lunges and stop hits, neither of which work very well cos I have relatively short arms.
Man, yesterday I couldn't even score for than 6 points on each regular opponent =( Just a walking target yar? Once I had to grasp the wall for support cos Maurice pressed me so far back my leg wouldn't support me for balance.... And FM Open is this Sunday, Pesta Sukan is next Saturday! Well, if the leg isn't better than tml maybe I just won't go for FM open lar... save energy for Pesta Sukan...
Monday's session was very entertaining... Coach, who is always in a good mood, was in an extra good mood... kept telling us funny anecdotes and all... Told us about a "morse code" opponent who always blinked with a dot-dot-dot-dash pattern (The letter V? Why?) n he was like "So i would wait for the dot-dot-dot WHAM!" N we were laughing quite sadistically....
He suan-ed the VS guys for being too tall, suan-ed the 2 Jonathans (Chan and Boon) for being too short, blahblah... heh...
Yup... fenced with Aaron for the first time... tricky opponent and strong parries too... in the end I waited until he fleched, then locked his blade and went CQC... It was like "hey, this looks familiar" and let instinct take over....
___________________________________________________________________
I deleted my last entry cos I didn't think it was very edifying.... It was annoying me to think about it, and it would have annoyed Si Hui too if she had read it.... That sort of thing is as sensitive a subject as VS is now.... it was quite a weird feeling singing Victorian Anthem today given all the controversy over it....
I mean, if VS was to go co-ed, AHS would like, empty? Cos a lot of people want to go VS so that they can go VJ... typical Kiasu Singaporean... My tuition teacher also told me to go VS, which is why it was my first choice in my PSLE... only a last minute change at the second option made me put AHS and Cat. High. Happily, I fitted in well, n I have no regrets in choosing AHS... well, except for once or twice...
___________________________________________________________________
A song from my church that I remembered.... inadverdantly reminded of it by Li Ling and Charmaine at BK on wed....
This is your name
Your name forever
By which you are
To be remembered
From generation, to generation
This is your name, "I AM"
Jehovah Rohi, the Lord my Shepard
Jehovah Shammah, the Lord that is with me
Jehovah Jireh, the Lord my Provider
Jehovah Shalom, the Lord my Peace
Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my Banner
Jehovah Rophe, the Lord my Healer
Jehovah Tsikenu, the Lord my righteousness
You are my Lord, "I AM"
Well, I DID think it was slightly crazy to go for fencing so often, so I don't know what possessed me to go for 5 days in a row two weeks ago, which has now left me with a very strained thigh. Now can't lunge, and so cannot attack at all, which mean I'm restricted to reverse lunges and stop hits, neither of which work very well cos I have relatively short arms.
Man, yesterday I couldn't even score for than 6 points on each regular opponent =( Just a walking target yar? Once I had to grasp the wall for support cos Maurice pressed me so far back my leg wouldn't support me for balance.... And FM Open is this Sunday, Pesta Sukan is next Saturday! Well, if the leg isn't better than tml maybe I just won't go for FM open lar... save energy for Pesta Sukan...
Monday's session was very entertaining... Coach, who is always in a good mood, was in an extra good mood... kept telling us funny anecdotes and all... Told us about a "morse code" opponent who always blinked with a dot-dot-dot-dash pattern (The letter V? Why?) n he was like "So i would wait for the dot-dot-dot WHAM!" N we were laughing quite sadistically....
He suan-ed the VS guys for being too tall, suan-ed the 2 Jonathans (Chan and Boon) for being too short, blahblah... heh...
Yup... fenced with Aaron for the first time... tricky opponent and strong parries too... in the end I waited until he fleched, then locked his blade and went CQC... It was like "hey, this looks familiar" and let instinct take over....
___________________________________________________________________
I deleted my last entry cos I didn't think it was very edifying.... It was annoying me to think about it, and it would have annoyed Si Hui too if she had read it.... That sort of thing is as sensitive a subject as VS is now.... it was quite a weird feeling singing Victorian Anthem today given all the controversy over it....
I mean, if VS was to go co-ed, AHS would like, empty? Cos a lot of people want to go VS so that they can go VJ... typical Kiasu Singaporean... My tuition teacher also told me to go VS, which is why it was my first choice in my PSLE... only a last minute change at the second option made me put AHS and Cat. High. Happily, I fitted in well, n I have no regrets in choosing AHS... well, except for once or twice...
___________________________________________________________________
A song from my church that I remembered.... inadverdantly reminded of it by Li Ling and Charmaine at BK on wed....
This is your name
Your name forever
By which you are
To be remembered
From generation, to generation
This is your name, "I AM"
Jehovah Rohi, the Lord my Shepard
Jehovah Shammah, the Lord that is with me
Jehovah Jireh, the Lord my Provider
Jehovah Shalom, the Lord my Peace
Jehovah Nissi, the Lord my Banner
Jehovah Rophe, the Lord my Healer
Jehovah Tsikenu, the Lord my righteousness
You are my Lord, "I AM"
~JcZw~ at 10:19 pm
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
There are some things that only leaders can know. One might think its the pleasure of commanding. The prestige that comes with the position. They are sadly mistaken. The rewards only come once in a long time. And for the remainder of that long time, you fight against your personal ghosts. My squadron has known this pain and sometimes still knows it now.
Lets put it this way. Ideally during CCA every NCO should be coldly efficient. Chatting, smiling, should be rare (unless of course, done in sarcasm. Refer to Camp 2001). Only after CCA do the emotions flood out and everyone becomes human again. In a CCA, sometimes you slide into a mode where you don't see your friends as Soo Yee, Wei Quan, Si Hui, Evelyn, Wei Lun and Jiayan, but as Vice-OC, HP members, Squad 2 ICs. And its in this mode where sometimes you have to ask your friends to do things you wouldn't ask them to do in normal student life, only because you are supposed to lead them. And then satisfaction at a distribution of manpower combined with a repulsion at what always seems like, but is not, an abuse of power. How do I describe it? If I had it my way, I'd do everything on my own, so that I would know whats going on. But that, of course, is foolish and impossible. Not because my squadmates are inefficient mind you, but out of maybe, a selfish wish to save yourself some guilt later on.
But worst than telling people what to do, is when you tell people what they cannot do. I remember when OCC asked me "Shall I tell them, or do you want to?" Since they were of my division. And if I told them, I'd regret it. And if I didn't I'd regret it even more. They deserved to have someone they knew tell them, not an officer they didn't know as well, just because I wanted to spare myself.
So on Mock Comp 2003, I told NC2 that they would not take part in the Zone Comp. Its easier to forgive others than forgive yourself.
The difference between scolding your own squad and scolding your juniors... Your own squad knew what you were going through, cos they had either gone through it before also, otherwise they were going through it now. They understood fully with near-telepathic clarity what you were thinking. But with your juniors, it was an unknown factor. You don't know how much you can push them before they reach breaking point. If you had faith in them, you pushed them further. If you didn't, you didn't go so far, and that was all the worst for their future development.
I recall treading very fine lines....making sure that any punishment was done out of need, not out of personal emnity. Only one thing could make me angry and that was if a person was insubordinate to me or my squad. Why? Because firstly, it was not their place to question us, especially in front of juniors. Secondly, cos these people were so one-sided in their arguments that the only line that worked on them was "Because I say so and I'm the NCO". I, you could say, hated that line. It only settled the argument, but not their own doubts in the system. But if you did not terminate the quarrel (See! Not even a civil talking session anymore), then it would just go on and on.
I dunno how to express.... My 4th year in St. John, you could say it was the toughest and scariest year (And i didn't even get 5 CCA points like the other CCA leaders... hmph.. but who cares anyway). But in the toughest times you learn the most about friendship I guess (Refer to Biggles stories)
Depressing post I know... kinda incoherent too
Lets put it this way. Ideally during CCA every NCO should be coldly efficient. Chatting, smiling, should be rare (unless of course, done in sarcasm. Refer to Camp 2001). Only after CCA do the emotions flood out and everyone becomes human again. In a CCA, sometimes you slide into a mode where you don't see your friends as Soo Yee, Wei Quan, Si Hui, Evelyn, Wei Lun and Jiayan, but as Vice-OC, HP members, Squad 2 ICs. And its in this mode where sometimes you have to ask your friends to do things you wouldn't ask them to do in normal student life, only because you are supposed to lead them. And then satisfaction at a distribution of manpower combined with a repulsion at what always seems like, but is not, an abuse of power. How do I describe it? If I had it my way, I'd do everything on my own, so that I would know whats going on. But that, of course, is foolish and impossible. Not because my squadmates are inefficient mind you, but out of maybe, a selfish wish to save yourself some guilt later on.
But worst than telling people what to do, is when you tell people what they cannot do. I remember when OCC asked me "Shall I tell them, or do you want to?" Since they were of my division. And if I told them, I'd regret it. And if I didn't I'd regret it even more. They deserved to have someone they knew tell them, not an officer they didn't know as well, just because I wanted to spare myself.
So on Mock Comp 2003, I told NC2 that they would not take part in the Zone Comp. Its easier to forgive others than forgive yourself.
The difference between scolding your own squad and scolding your juniors... Your own squad knew what you were going through, cos they had either gone through it before also, otherwise they were going through it now. They understood fully with near-telepathic clarity what you were thinking. But with your juniors, it was an unknown factor. You don't know how much you can push them before they reach breaking point. If you had faith in them, you pushed them further. If you didn't, you didn't go so far, and that was all the worst for their future development.
I recall treading very fine lines....making sure that any punishment was done out of need, not out of personal emnity. Only one thing could make me angry and that was if a person was insubordinate to me or my squad. Why? Because firstly, it was not their place to question us, especially in front of juniors. Secondly, cos these people were so one-sided in their arguments that the only line that worked on them was "Because I say so and I'm the NCO". I, you could say, hated that line. It only settled the argument, but not their own doubts in the system. But if you did not terminate the quarrel (See! Not even a civil talking session anymore), then it would just go on and on.
I dunno how to express.... My 4th year in St. John, you could say it was the toughest and scariest year (And i didn't even get 5 CCA points like the other CCA leaders... hmph.. but who cares anyway). But in the toughest times you learn the most about friendship I guess (Refer to Biggles stories)
Depressing post I know... kinda incoherent too
~JcZw~ at 11:08 pm
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Its been a period of weird dreams, since the start of this year... Actually, I also cannot recollect many of them, but three of them are particularly outstanding. And yes, I know they sound weird. They are, after all, just dreams. I hope.
The first one was the worst one and it still brings back a gut-wrenching feeling when I think of it. I shouldn't be thinking too much yar, but its still so vivid! It was before the JAE in the first 3 months of JC. In my dream, someone I cared for a lot was in mortal danger, sick with a deadly illness. I wanted that person to get out of it, get the person cured. I KNEW how to do it! But it would need that person's consent first. But the process was long and doubtful. In the end, that person told me "No". Told me to just let her go, since it would be over quickly anyway.
The feeling was of frustration of helplessness. How do you say it? To see a person so consciously going down a route you know will lead to sadness, but you can't stop her cos she's going of her own free will. You don't dare to stop her cos you don't know if you're right, but somehow, you know that by the time she regrets her decision, it would be too late. When I awoke, I couldn't sleep for some time. It was such a painful dream, not scary, like the nightmares I'd had when I was young. But it was just very sad. And along the course of the year, I had to experience this emotion again (but with regards to a different person). It was not, as in the dream, to do with death. Something much less serious actually, but like in the dream, I could do nothing to prevent it.
(When I say "her" in my dream, please don't misunderstand me. Think in terms of family)
In my second dream, much more recently, I dreamt that the world would end in two days. Somehow, I found myself in AHS with all the Christian friends I'd made from Primary School till JC. I can't remember what we were doing, can't remember the exact emotions. But in the chaos of the ending world, an aircraft crashed into the school building and the whole dream became chaotic, with Wei Lun, Wei Quan and I having to help to extricticate casualties and all that... I don't know what this one means though... I don't know.
The third one was plainly ridiculous. I was dreaming about DNA. Why? I don't know. Overexposure to bio is the only excuse I can make. What the. I woke up with my head ringing with "DNA, RNA, helicase, DNA polymerase, Primase, Peptidyl Transferase" and all that kind of stuff. Eerie. The moment I woke up somemore.... But the thing is that my brain hadn't been resting at night, so I was really tired throughout the day.
I had a fourth dream, but suddenly I can't remember what it is... thats what comes of thinking about DNA the whole night yesterday... hope [Mr] Jonathan Chong is happy...
Yesh shall recuperate now. Good night
In St. John, I view any disciplinary action I give as an instructor as a job. Few people would actually take pleasure in scolding people.
The first one was the worst one and it still brings back a gut-wrenching feeling when I think of it. I shouldn't be thinking too much yar, but its still so vivid! It was before the JAE in the first 3 months of JC. In my dream, someone I cared for a lot was in mortal danger, sick with a deadly illness. I wanted that person to get out of it, get the person cured. I KNEW how to do it! But it would need that person's consent first. But the process was long and doubtful. In the end, that person told me "No". Told me to just let her go, since it would be over quickly anyway.
The feeling was of frustration of helplessness. How do you say it? To see a person so consciously going down a route you know will lead to sadness, but you can't stop her cos she's going of her own free will. You don't dare to stop her cos you don't know if you're right, but somehow, you know that by the time she regrets her decision, it would be too late. When I awoke, I couldn't sleep for some time. It was such a painful dream, not scary, like the nightmares I'd had when I was young. But it was just very sad. And along the course of the year, I had to experience this emotion again (but with regards to a different person). It was not, as in the dream, to do with death. Something much less serious actually, but like in the dream, I could do nothing to prevent it.
(When I say "her" in my dream, please don't misunderstand me. Think in terms of family)
In my second dream, much more recently, I dreamt that the world would end in two days. Somehow, I found myself in AHS with all the Christian friends I'd made from Primary School till JC. I can't remember what we were doing, can't remember the exact emotions. But in the chaos of the ending world, an aircraft crashed into the school building and the whole dream became chaotic, with Wei Lun, Wei Quan and I having to help to extricticate casualties and all that... I don't know what this one means though... I don't know.
The third one was plainly ridiculous. I was dreaming about DNA. Why? I don't know. Overexposure to bio is the only excuse I can make. What the. I woke up with my head ringing with "DNA, RNA, helicase, DNA polymerase, Primase, Peptidyl Transferase" and all that kind of stuff. Eerie. The moment I woke up somemore.... But the thing is that my brain hadn't been resting at night, so I was really tired throughout the day.
I had a fourth dream, but suddenly I can't remember what it is... thats what comes of thinking about DNA the whole night yesterday... hope [Mr] Jonathan Chong is happy...
Yesh shall recuperate now. Good night
In St. John, I view any disciplinary action I give as an instructor as a job. Few people would actually take pleasure in scolding people.
~JcZw~ at 12:02 am
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
National Day again. I really got nothing much to write about, so permit me to let myself go and reminicise (or however you spell it) about 2002.
There are a lot of memories of NDP 2002, some of which can make me really laugh out loud, others which just let me snicker or smile to myself. The people that stood around me in the contingent... Aziyah of Bedok View, Hakeem from (I think) Pasir Ris Crec, both 1 year my senior, Pek Su Man of Junyuan whom I went with to NCO course later on. The girl on the right with the PVC shoes that made my effort seem like a waste (like duh). And of course, Wei Lun, competition team leader, joker, slacker, Number 1, fellow short squad member (then. Now he's overshot me). Ahaha! Such fun the two of us contributed to the surrounding people. I wonder where they all are now.
Is there an end to the memories I can amass? Here are a few of them:
Top of the list, on the way home from one session Sir Adrian told us to number off. And every SJer knows how particular he is about that. At his turn, Wei Lun, as normal, yelled "Seven!" Behind him, Xuan Cheng and I yelled "Eight!" at the same time. There was dead silence as probably every cadet and NCO waited for the scolding and the "semula" to descend upon us. Oblivous to this, Xuan Cheng and I glared at each other, then both bellowed at the top of our lungs "NINE!" The bus burst our laughing. Even Sir Adrian smiled. We got away with that alright... haha
On another occasion after the rehearsal, we were to return our bags containing our big NDP somberos. I had looped mine around my belt loop to prevent it from flapping while marching. However this time it had gotten hopelessly tangled with itself, my belt loop and my belt. Wei Lun and I watched with horror as they counted the flags while i tried to discreetly abeit frantically untangle mine. The officer's voice boomed "Who is the last one?!" Of course, I had to acknowledge or die. I chose to acknowledge. I watched him stifle his amusement as he said "I recommend you quickly untangle yourself, cadet". I got away with it again.
During one of the last few rehearsals, when we got our new gloves, before the parade Wei Lun stretched out his hand, retracted his fingers, and offered his empty glove to the girl next to me saying "all the best for later". The girl took the limp glove and promptly gave a scream. Heh... quite sadistic lar, but thats what happened.
I remember the parade commander's "Kaolan Ke-hormatan, Pandan Ke-ha-da-pan, Pan---dan!" always reminded me of someone about to asphyxiate from an asthma attack. The three of us, especially Xuan Cheng, took great pleasure in imitating him when we went back for normal CCA.
I remember the first time the F-16s went supersonic and flashed over the stadium following the Bomburst by the Skyhawks, it was like the end of the world had come. I never knew how I could stand at rigid attention without protecting my ears. And as they flew past, all of us stood that much straighter, looked more upward, saw the elegant fighters blasting past, afterburners aflame, smoke trailing from their exhaust ports, and sometimes their contrails flying from the wingtip hardpoints.
I remember once walking from HQ to the MRT station at Lavender, eating stuff we had bought from the shops around HQ. As we crossed the carpark, I skidded on my hollow heel and crashed into Xuan Cheng who was in the process of unwrapping a Mentos. The impact knocked the sweet from his hand and it landed neatly in front of Wei Lun, who promptly stepped on it and got it stuck in his hollow heel. I recall him hopping around on one foot, one hand to his heel, muttering unprintable stuff.
I remember after every session there was always extra KFC and gui ling gao to take home... hehe... The pizza, when it got to us, was invariably cold and stuck to the cardboard container. Thus although pizza was more "high class", we always prefered the KFC meal.
I recall the lines of bayonets glittering in the evening light as the soldiers of the SAF and SCDF, police, firemen, commandos, guards, armour, infantry, airforce, navy, presented arms to the incoming president, Prime Minister and so on.
Of course, there was the unpleasant stuff too. I remember once a little officer yelled right in my face while scolding the contingent. A combination of bad breath and sheer volume nearly rendered me comastose. I remember collapsing in the first rehearsal. Wei Lun and I hung on just long enough to finish the National Anthem before falling to our knees almost simultaneously trying to force the air back into our lungs.
If I could finish telling the reader the whole NDP story from start to finish, it'll take from.. well, April to August? 4 months? (How else could we have got 150 CIP hours? Thats 6 and a quarter days we spent on rehearsals) The NDP experience came at the cost of getting into double science. With so much time committed to rehearsals, I had little hope of getting in at all. Considering my maths was bad, its no wonder....
Yup. So thats it then
Happy Birthday Singapore =)
There are a lot of memories of NDP 2002, some of which can make me really laugh out loud, others which just let me snicker or smile to myself. The people that stood around me in the contingent... Aziyah of Bedok View, Hakeem from (I think) Pasir Ris Crec, both 1 year my senior, Pek Su Man of Junyuan whom I went with to NCO course later on. The girl on the right with the PVC shoes that made my effort seem like a waste (like duh). And of course, Wei Lun, competition team leader, joker, slacker, Number 1, fellow short squad member (then. Now he's overshot me). Ahaha! Such fun the two of us contributed to the surrounding people. I wonder where they all are now.
Is there an end to the memories I can amass? Here are a few of them:
Top of the list, on the way home from one session Sir Adrian told us to number off. And every SJer knows how particular he is about that. At his turn, Wei Lun, as normal, yelled "Seven!" Behind him, Xuan Cheng and I yelled "Eight!" at the same time. There was dead silence as probably every cadet and NCO waited for the scolding and the "semula" to descend upon us. Oblivous to this, Xuan Cheng and I glared at each other, then both bellowed at the top of our lungs "NINE!" The bus burst our laughing. Even Sir Adrian smiled. We got away with that alright... haha
On another occasion after the rehearsal, we were to return our bags containing our big NDP somberos. I had looped mine around my belt loop to prevent it from flapping while marching. However this time it had gotten hopelessly tangled with itself, my belt loop and my belt. Wei Lun and I watched with horror as they counted the flags while i tried to discreetly abeit frantically untangle mine. The officer's voice boomed "Who is the last one?!" Of course, I had to acknowledge or die. I chose to acknowledge. I watched him stifle his amusement as he said "I recommend you quickly untangle yourself, cadet". I got away with it again.
During one of the last few rehearsals, when we got our new gloves, before the parade Wei Lun stretched out his hand, retracted his fingers, and offered his empty glove to the girl next to me saying "all the best for later". The girl took the limp glove and promptly gave a scream. Heh... quite sadistic lar, but thats what happened.
I remember the parade commander's "Kaolan Ke-hormatan, Pandan Ke-ha-da-pan, Pan---dan!" always reminded me of someone about to asphyxiate from an asthma attack. The three of us, especially Xuan Cheng, took great pleasure in imitating him when we went back for normal CCA.
I remember the first time the F-16s went supersonic and flashed over the stadium following the Bomburst by the Skyhawks, it was like the end of the world had come. I never knew how I could stand at rigid attention without protecting my ears. And as they flew past, all of us stood that much straighter, looked more upward, saw the elegant fighters blasting past, afterburners aflame, smoke trailing from their exhaust ports, and sometimes their contrails flying from the wingtip hardpoints.
I remember once walking from HQ to the MRT station at Lavender, eating stuff we had bought from the shops around HQ. As we crossed the carpark, I skidded on my hollow heel and crashed into Xuan Cheng who was in the process of unwrapping a Mentos. The impact knocked the sweet from his hand and it landed neatly in front of Wei Lun, who promptly stepped on it and got it stuck in his hollow heel. I recall him hopping around on one foot, one hand to his heel, muttering unprintable stuff.
I remember after every session there was always extra KFC and gui ling gao to take home... hehe... The pizza, when it got to us, was invariably cold and stuck to the cardboard container. Thus although pizza was more "high class", we always prefered the KFC meal.
I recall the lines of bayonets glittering in the evening light as the soldiers of the SAF and SCDF, police, firemen, commandos, guards, armour, infantry, airforce, navy, presented arms to the incoming president, Prime Minister and so on.
Of course, there was the unpleasant stuff too. I remember once a little officer yelled right in my face while scolding the contingent. A combination of bad breath and sheer volume nearly rendered me comastose. I remember collapsing in the first rehearsal. Wei Lun and I hung on just long enough to finish the National Anthem before falling to our knees almost simultaneously trying to force the air back into our lungs.
If I could finish telling the reader the whole NDP story from start to finish, it'll take from.. well, April to August? 4 months? (How else could we have got 150 CIP hours? Thats 6 and a quarter days we spent on rehearsals) The NDP experience came at the cost of getting into double science. With so much time committed to rehearsals, I had little hope of getting in at all. Considering my maths was bad, its no wonder....
Yup. So thats it then
Happy Birthday Singapore =)
~JcZw~ at 11:22 pm
Monday, August 08, 2005
Time I updated I guess. I got a lot of things to think about, and I should be glad of my birthday resolution, otherwise I'd also have a lot of things to complain about.
The problem with ISFJ people is that when they're left alone they tend to think too much. Especially true for me, since I'm not "Intuitive" (S instead of N) I can't really detect what other people feel if they don't show it. A shortcoming that has plagued me since St. John days. So I start thinking of what I did, then what other people did, and whether I did anything to other people. Needless to say, the thinker, the "organic meatbag" (quote, HK47, Knights of the Old Republic) becomes very worried at the end of his thinking session.
Believe me, I had a lot of time to think today after the celebration. After all, I was alone with just my MP3 player for company when I went to Bedok to walk around, see if I could find the Aerieans as well as to look for stationery for a project. Of course, by the time I reached home, I was thoroughly depressed and snappish.
This topic of friends.... is one that is possibly the third most important to me (after God and family). How does one describe the different friends I've experienced throughout my school years?
In Primary School, it was a pretty close knit bunch of friends I had, mainly cos the teachers were scary (so we suffered together. Kong Hwa still reminds me of a prison camp when I think back). School buses also served as a medium for interaction. Although, as I've mentioned to some people, before I really began to know God in Upper Sec Sch, I could be really cheerful, but also flare up and lose my temper very fast. Yup. Primary School, in terms of friendship, could be one of the most valuable of my school life (We just met up not long ago this year!) Ah, for those innocent days..
Secondary school was a rude shock. For the first time I saw how ugly "friends" could be. Sec. 1 was okay, I thought everyone was fine, I had a sense of belonging to my class and all that. Sec. 2 was the one where, in starfighter command parlance, "Got vaped". I thought if I'd treated everyone nicely then everything would be okay. Such naivety. Instead people could take advantage of me. It was then that I stopped being extrovert and willing to make friends. It was then I shut myself up. It was then I thoroughly detested coming to school, to see the green AHS building in the dawn light. I dreaded coming to class, for it seemed I was so different from the rest. My experiences in sec. 2, the E. Lit project, the National Day Art incident, and above all, the horrendous NC Koh incident, which I've narrated time and time again to people, showed me how mean and rude and UNREASONABLE others could be. It was in sec. 2 that I lost my temper for the last time till the present day, thank goodness. And thank God, there were a few nice people who let me preserve my sanity during lesson, Evelyn, Lu Jia, etc
But for every action there's an equal opposite reaction. Since I could not find a niche in my class, I turned to the Aerieans of the St. John unit. There I found greater friends, friends whom I could really respect. Friends whom I could share thoughts and bond well with. How do I say it? In sec. 2 despite all the discipline and all which dogs a uniform group it was the best time with the SJers.
Come sec. 3, I think I took a longer time to make friends. I no longer wanted to open up so fast. But I did in the end. Some of my best friends at the end of my run in AHS were only made in the second semester of Sec. 3, like HuiYong.
By the end of sec. 4, I had firmly decided that all I needed was a small group of friends, the "country" way of thinking compared to the "city" way of thinking. Of course, it always had its disadvantages. After exams, or after school events, so long as I wasn't with the SJers I would be alone. Maybe this was the start of the thinking thing. Esp I didn't have an MP3 player at that time, so I really could think.
Of course, things changed in JC. People opened up so fast, and this time (it seemed), everyone was frank and honest with nothing to hide. Like I mentioned once "I was an introvert torn open by my surroundings". In the first 3 months, everyone was back to the innocence of Primary School, well, almost. Just the feeling of belonging to the class yar =) 05S15. It was the first time that I looked forward to coming to school... Theres something more to this feeling than simply that people had nothing to hide y'know? Its like, there were also people of the same character, of the same values, people who were also down-to-earth, instead of wild and foolhardy (There was once when a Sec. Sch classmate flung a lighted sparkler into the middle of a operational road, just as a car was passing by. The action was deliberately done, and i really feel disgusted that I didn't do anything about it at that time. It was such a reckless, stupid and childish thing for a sec. 2 student to do). Yup. I guess.
Sometimes though, I just feel like sitting back and doing some thinking again. Its sort of a integral part of me now... Since I'm very relational (Obviously I trust people a lot, otherwise I wouldn't own a blog), one of the primary things I'm concerned about is making sure I am worthy of another person's friendship. Cos I don't think I could be happy without friends. In sec. 3, when at the height of comp training my parents brought us to Australia, I dreamt about my squad virtually every single night.
That day during Operation Backwoodsman, when that guy said that ISFJs are the kind which steroetypically do a lot for their friends, it jolted me cos thats how I feel sometimes, that I'd do a lot to keep a friendship and to let others be happy. Of course, whether this happens in real life or not is a different matter and not for me to judge.
Yup... I think this makes me feel some sort better... Back to my project now...
The problem with ISFJ people is that when they're left alone they tend to think too much. Especially true for me, since I'm not "Intuitive" (S instead of N) I can't really detect what other people feel if they don't show it. A shortcoming that has plagued me since St. John days. So I start thinking of what I did, then what other people did, and whether I did anything to other people. Needless to say, the thinker, the "organic meatbag" (quote, HK47, Knights of the Old Republic) becomes very worried at the end of his thinking session.
Believe me, I had a lot of time to think today after the celebration. After all, I was alone with just my MP3 player for company when I went to Bedok to walk around, see if I could find the Aerieans as well as to look for stationery for a project. Of course, by the time I reached home, I was thoroughly depressed and snappish.
This topic of friends.... is one that is possibly the third most important to me (after God and family). How does one describe the different friends I've experienced throughout my school years?
In Primary School, it was a pretty close knit bunch of friends I had, mainly cos the teachers were scary (so we suffered together. Kong Hwa still reminds me of a prison camp when I think back). School buses also served as a medium for interaction. Although, as I've mentioned to some people, before I really began to know God in Upper Sec Sch, I could be really cheerful, but also flare up and lose my temper very fast. Yup. Primary School, in terms of friendship, could be one of the most valuable of my school life (We just met up not long ago this year!) Ah, for those innocent days..
Secondary school was a rude shock. For the first time I saw how ugly "friends" could be. Sec. 1 was okay, I thought everyone was fine, I had a sense of belonging to my class and all that. Sec. 2 was the one where, in starfighter command parlance, "Got vaped". I thought if I'd treated everyone nicely then everything would be okay. Such naivety. Instead people could take advantage of me. It was then that I stopped being extrovert and willing to make friends. It was then I shut myself up. It was then I thoroughly detested coming to school, to see the green AHS building in the dawn light. I dreaded coming to class, for it seemed I was so different from the rest. My experiences in sec. 2, the E. Lit project, the National Day Art incident, and above all, the horrendous NC Koh incident, which I've narrated time and time again to people, showed me how mean and rude and UNREASONABLE others could be. It was in sec. 2 that I lost my temper for the last time till the present day, thank goodness. And thank God, there were a few nice people who let me preserve my sanity during lesson, Evelyn, Lu Jia, etc
But for every action there's an equal opposite reaction. Since I could not find a niche in my class, I turned to the Aerieans of the St. John unit. There I found greater friends, friends whom I could really respect. Friends whom I could share thoughts and bond well with. How do I say it? In sec. 2 despite all the discipline and all which dogs a uniform group it was the best time with the SJers.
Come sec. 3, I think I took a longer time to make friends. I no longer wanted to open up so fast. But I did in the end. Some of my best friends at the end of my run in AHS were only made in the second semester of Sec. 3, like HuiYong.
By the end of sec. 4, I had firmly decided that all I needed was a small group of friends, the "country" way of thinking compared to the "city" way of thinking. Of course, it always had its disadvantages. After exams, or after school events, so long as I wasn't with the SJers I would be alone. Maybe this was the start of the thinking thing. Esp I didn't have an MP3 player at that time, so I really could think.
Of course, things changed in JC. People opened up so fast, and this time (it seemed), everyone was frank and honest with nothing to hide. Like I mentioned once "I was an introvert torn open by my surroundings". In the first 3 months, everyone was back to the innocence of Primary School, well, almost. Just the feeling of belonging to the class yar =) 05S15. It was the first time that I looked forward to coming to school... Theres something more to this feeling than simply that people had nothing to hide y'know? Its like, there were also people of the same character, of the same values, people who were also down-to-earth, instead of wild and foolhardy (There was once when a Sec. Sch classmate flung a lighted sparkler into the middle of a operational road, just as a car was passing by. The action was deliberately done, and i really feel disgusted that I didn't do anything about it at that time. It was such a reckless, stupid and childish thing for a sec. 2 student to do). Yup. I guess.
Sometimes though, I just feel like sitting back and doing some thinking again. Its sort of a integral part of me now... Since I'm very relational (Obviously I trust people a lot, otherwise I wouldn't own a blog), one of the primary things I'm concerned about is making sure I am worthy of another person's friendship. Cos I don't think I could be happy without friends. In sec. 3, when at the height of comp training my parents brought us to Australia, I dreamt about my squad virtually every single night.
That day during Operation Backwoodsman, when that guy said that ISFJs are the kind which steroetypically do a lot for their friends, it jolted me cos thats how I feel sometimes, that I'd do a lot to keep a friendship and to let others be happy. Of course, whether this happens in real life or not is a different matter and not for me to judge.
Yup... I think this makes me feel some sort better... Back to my project now...
~JcZw~ at 9:12 pm
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Quick update. Truth to be told, nothing really interesting is happening, bar one or two. Last friday's SJ is already written in my squad blog anyway. Discovered that quite a few people in our squad are chem reps, including me, jiayan and wei quan.
JiaYan and I have the additional honour of both being teacher-ed by Mr Lau. Yay (Theres a reason why I ended with a full stop, not an exclamation mark).
Well the days have certainly become tedious, as well as the incessant reminders that promos are looming around the corner and here's me with all my maths fouled up. Assuming that my battery is charged to the full on weekends, the weekdays would then consist of waking up early, going to school, school, long wait (in which I can gao tim my tuitorials, assuming I know how to do. At least stoichiometry is still alright, as is Bio. Its maths thats the problem), fencing til 10 plus, come home, PW on the comp till midnight plusplus, sleep wake up feeling so much more exhausted.
Thursday is always the most zonked day. At least Friday one can catch up sleep during lectures, but this is highly irregular and unadvisable, given the fact that I didn't study Bio in sec school, and my chem is lousy (ignore the fact that I am the chem rep). Also cos on Thursdays my father can fetch Maurice and I home from fencing, so can get home earlier.
Maybe I'm over-doing it, fencing 4 times a week (4 days in a row to boot), but Coach Jeff says that I have a realistic chance of winning a medal in the Novices for foil, and our VJ team has a good chance in the Epee Team event too so I'll keep hoping. As well as praying a lot that my time management will remain intact. Argh, as in, I also should be doing my part, not simply leaving everything to God. Well, I guess if I hadn't known God as I do, I would be worrying my head off now... although sadly I still worry from time to time...
Oh yeah, I finally made a deceision regarding my last fencing blade. Today I got my German-made epee blade. Apparently its specially heated so now the outer surface is a pretty dark blue colour... Other colours of blade include gold, white (the normal silver one) and rainbow (the colour of a paddle pop ice cream). The very first point scores, unfortunately, was on my opponent's backside, not the most classic of places to hit (Yes, I was doing close quarter).
Erm. One last thing. I can't play basketball for nuts. I found that out during the last few PEs. Maybe I should just slower during the warmup. haha. during the game always feel super exhausted. Fun to learn new stuff though I guess...
Yup thats it for now... When I have enough pictures I shall undergo the laborious task of removing my handphone cover without snapping it, to retrieve the memory card n post more pics...
Oh yeah. Go ahsjab.diaryland.com to tag also... haha
JiaYan and I have the additional honour of both being teacher-ed by Mr Lau. Yay (Theres a reason why I ended with a full stop, not an exclamation mark).
Well the days have certainly become tedious, as well as the incessant reminders that promos are looming around the corner and here's me with all my maths fouled up. Assuming that my battery is charged to the full on weekends, the weekdays would then consist of waking up early, going to school, school, long wait (in which I can gao tim my tuitorials, assuming I know how to do. At least stoichiometry is still alright, as is Bio. Its maths thats the problem), fencing til 10 plus, come home, PW on the comp till midnight plusplus, sleep wake up feeling so much more exhausted.
Thursday is always the most zonked day. At least Friday one can catch up sleep during lectures, but this is highly irregular and unadvisable, given the fact that I didn't study Bio in sec school, and my chem is lousy (ignore the fact that I am the chem rep). Also cos on Thursdays my father can fetch Maurice and I home from fencing, so can get home earlier.
Maybe I'm over-doing it, fencing 4 times a week (4 days in a row to boot), but Coach Jeff says that I have a realistic chance of winning a medal in the Novices for foil, and our VJ team has a good chance in the Epee Team event too so I'll keep hoping. As well as praying a lot that my time management will remain intact. Argh, as in, I also should be doing my part, not simply leaving everything to God. Well, I guess if I hadn't known God as I do, I would be worrying my head off now... although sadly I still worry from time to time...
Oh yeah, I finally made a deceision regarding my last fencing blade. Today I got my German-made epee blade. Apparently its specially heated so now the outer surface is a pretty dark blue colour... Other colours of blade include gold, white (the normal silver one) and rainbow (the colour of a paddle pop ice cream). The very first point scores, unfortunately, was on my opponent's backside, not the most classic of places to hit (Yes, I was doing close quarter).
Erm. One last thing. I can't play basketball for nuts. I found that out during the last few PEs. Maybe I should just slower during the warmup. haha. during the game always feel super exhausted. Fun to learn new stuff though I guess...
Yup thats it for now... When I have enough pictures I shall undergo the laborious task of removing my handphone cover without snapping it, to retrieve the memory card n post more pics...
Oh yeah. Go ahsjab.diaryland.com to tag also... haha
~JcZw~ at 11:05 pm