Teacher's Day Celebrations

It was raining so I took bus to RJ for the first time. Teacher's Day Celebrations started off with three teachers and one instructor gyrating and grooving to salsa and hip hop music. The instructor encouraged us to follow suit but since my class was at the back, I could not really see much except for the bobbing of heads. Decided to scribble my well-wishes furiously on the many waiting cards of the teachers. Soon, a swathe of space was cut through the hall where several councillors and teachers were dancing in the center. Mr Chan and Mr Lee were DANCING like OMG!!! Mr Chan looked so hilarious and his face was red after the entire thing. Mr Lee wasn't too bad...not a psychomotor moron like me =P. Next up, was an exaggerated albeit rather hilarious video showing the importance of teachers. There was some PE teacher appearing stylishly on his Harley Davidson to help Cheryl Tay with her pushups using only one finger, a math teacher helping the clueless Reub with a looonnng and complex problem and the punchline, a teacher saving the hapless Isaac from an almost imminent car crash. Then, there was a magic show by a J1 student. The guy was pretty good, he could made some paperball like thing levitate up and around, pull cards out of his mouth and the standard make stuff disappear. Balpreet was emceeing the next item and she was a relatively engaging emcee even though the item itself was boring. It was the awards to be given out to the deserving teachers segment. I didn't know most of the "winners" so I shut down for a while. The last bit was a skit-musical. From a bunch of school girls getting short shrift from a teacher over their attire, it shifted to the new GP rep having a crush on the new teacher, Mr Lee. Hmm.. sounds kinda familiar... She burst into song about liking him which was followed by him singing as well. Mr Lee really is made for theater: magnetic stage presence, clear and good singing voice, decent enough psychomotor skills. We gave our many presents to the thankful teachers; Mr Lee had a whole bag full of presents! Inspires you to be a teacher too, doesnt it :P?
Went back to RGS with CT to find Ms Lim, my Sec 4 form teacher, but she wasn't in so we wrote our names on the present and left it in her locker. Wanted to sample some of the RGS food but all the stalls save for the snack stall was closed. What next but to head home and sleep?

Asian Schools

Came to Pasir Ris CC about one and a half hour earlier because I overestimated the time it would take to reach there. Went for weapons check and thankfully everything passed. Terence had some problem with his lame which was solved when Henry brought his along. Good thing because he could not have fenced otherwise. Did some drills with JX because some of the female sabreurs already were sparring and there were no spare partners. Nellicia is quite a nice person and sometimes you just need to get to know others better.
I screwed all my bouts: 5-1, 5-0, 5-3, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1. Despite knowing what to do (JX was giving me advice on the sidelines), I could not quite execute it. My basic technique was off, right down from posture to lunging. It's terrible knowing what I have done in drills doesn't translate to the actual moment on the piste. When I was watching Pool 3 fence, it dawned upon me that I had actually being placed in the easiest pool and I would probably have done a lot worse if i had been there. Still, I missed my chance for DE -_-. I predictably, came in last and somehow while rather disappointed, was not extremely so. I hope its not because I'm getting use to bottoming lists (it happened for U-17s too).
On the bright side, Terence did pretty awesome, winning 2 of his 5 bouts. He fenced well but unfortunately lost 8-15. The referee was clearly biased, denying him some of his parry-riposte points and making several wrong calls. After lending Nell my chest protector, I headed back to school, conveniently missng S cube talk and arriving in time for exco meeting =).
They were all decorating the teacher's day cards for Mr Ng, Mr Teo and Dr Wong. Got some enquiries on how I did and sympathetic looks after. Reub told me he was actually tied for last, but because of his surname (Yeo), they put him at the bottom. Ouch! Wrote my name on the cards, putting it especially big Mr Teo's. Some people thought it was rather limelight stealing but the size of the name is proportional to my respect for the teacher -P. KIDDING! All of them are incredibly nice and helpful people who have been supporting us ceaselessly. Never mind the fact that comment reeks of politcal correctness.
Bernice, Joanna and me, took the cards to the Teacher's Room because certain people were planning to skip skool and thus not be able to present it to them tomorrow. TSK TSK. We gave one to Mr Teo but later retracted it as we had a brainwave. Why not paste it outside the staffroom? It certainly would be a pleasant surprise for them! So, we blue-tacked the cards to the wall (I hope they did not drop in the night) and took a picture with Joanna's handphone camera. While waiting for it to charge, we actually did footwork along the corridors =P. Talked to Joanna for a bit before leaving for home, deadbeat.

Juliana's Salle

For the first time, I fenced at Juliana's self-converted salle for training. Had some trouble getting to the place at first despite the lift good ole Pa gave me because the house was obscured by the flyover (my sense of direction was a little off back then =P). Thanks Faii and Terence for directing the clueless me to the place =)! It was cramped in the salle even though I got this cosy feeling about the entire shophouse (yes, they live in a shophouse). There was enough space for only one piste and some room for a computer, a couple of cupboards, footwork space and a dummy. Didn't feel as tired as before when doing drills with David probably cus we were stationary. Instead of the usual half an hour lesson, I winded up having a one hour one, which made up for the 1 hour journey to and fro. I worked on counter attacks and getting my lunges into order. Hopefully, this last ditch attempt to maintain my "skills" will assist me somewhat during Asian schools. Did some footwork after my lesson was over but there really was't much space to manoeuver as a class of foilists were having their lessons as well. Think I would still prefer Clementi Sports Hall for training; its much closer, never mind the lack of aircons. I watched some foilists fence and the Olympic video of women's foilists individual event. Poked around a bit, admiring the many medals and trophies Henry and Juliana had won and grinning at those competition identity photos of them. Decided there was not much point in staying since I couldn't free fence or electric fence so I called Dad and he gave me a lift home.

200 Hundred dollar koli

During Chem Lecture today, Mr Lai, out of "sheer randomness" took out a koli and asked us if we thought it was a 4 dollar koli from NTUC or a 200 dollar one. If you don't see the relation to organic chem yet, read on :). Most of us, being rational, scientific thinkers, thought he was speaking in jest. To prove his point, he placed his koli on the visualiser and said it could conduct heat so well that he could fry an egg on it, simply using the light from the visualiser. Still sceptical, I watched as he added cooking oil and cracked the egg and sure enough, the transparentness of the egg white began to turn well, white. And although the egg yolk did not seem to get the opaque yellow of cooked eggs, I was quite convinced the koli was indeed made of some super-conductor material or something along those lines.
Then, he revealed the secret of his 200 dollar koli. The oil wasn't cooking oil after all, but lead nitrate dyed yellow! So the whitening of the egg white was actually some chemical reaction occuring... Which meant, the 200 dolar koli was really worth 4 bucks. Guess it was a timely demonstration, my interest in organic chemistry is waning fast as the number of equations threatens to increase. But the demo has managed to sustained it.
For a while.

Hibernation in Liberia

soak in sibilance,
as fleet thoughts-born you. hold me
in raptured embrace.

PW outing again

As I'm typing this, my accursed wound refuses to stop bleeding. Drip, drip blood...I'm losing it in too many places and currently feeling PMS-ish at the moment. Am loathe to cancel fencing training with David but I don;t want to aggravate the injury.
Went to Novena Starbucks with PW group mates to do work. The seat near the power plug was taken up so we huddled in a corner to get some stuff churned out. My hand me down laptop was proving its obsoleteness by refusing to recognise Kaye's thumbdrive and later on acted in ways that would drive the most patient person crazy. The wireless wasn't working, the Microsoft word shut down when I typed enter, Paint shut down if you hit some key. In the end, we compiled a list of things to do on Susie's laptop and split up. I trained home with Susie while Kaye and Amelia went to mug at Macs.
Upon reaching home, I plonked onto bed and slept in no time. Woke and decided to burn those fats by jogging along the longkang outside. Had completed about 1/3 of my quota before tripping and falling. Was going to pick myself up and persist jogging when the blood, crimson and thick, started trickling from the wound. Two kind men, YC and Peter helped me up and walked me to my home (it was on the way, really but still it was awfully nice). It's a rather interesting experience talking to people way out of your age group. Another good Samaritan offered her jogging towel to bandage my bloody knee. I guess Singaporeans are not as cold as you read in the Forum after all =). YC and Peter showed me the route to Kranji Reservoir and remarked about how beautiful the scenery was. Think I'll go there when my wound heals. By the way, thanks for all the care and concern shown, especially since I'm a stranger to all of you.
Bid goodbye to them as they went ahead to finish their walk and hopefully I'll see them around sometime. Hovered at the basketball courts watching my chums play their matches. It's been a looonggg while since so many people were down and I didn't want to leave just yet. Watched and chatted a bit and as if on cue, blood began threading down my leg. Shuffled home to work, tutorials and assignments.

Fruitless PW Outing

Wednesday so happens to be the earliest day in my week, with lessons concluding at 1. So it happened that Botanical Gardens was to have a CO concert at Symphony Lake, and we were to go down later today to interview people for PW. After Econs, I stoned for an hour before going for CCA leader's feedback session. It would seem that the antidote to many of the problems was "write a proposal and convince the administration department". Ultimately, its all still in the hands of the CCA department -_-. Well, to make up for the disappointment with the lack of resolutions, the cakes and ice lemon tea were rather delectable. Talked fencing stuff with Bernice and then went to the library to read comics while she and her friends mugged. Left about 5.40 to meet Amelia and together, we took 171 to the bus-stop close to the CCAB. It later became apparent we had been given the wrong directions (Jordan, you die tomorrow :) ), and we took another bus. Went walking along some road for quite a distance, asked for directions and realised we were walking the wrong way. Such a comedy of errors aye -_-? Travelled about a kilometer on aching feet to Symphony Lake, thank goodness it was near the entrance we were at. Had a sneaking suspicion that something was amiss when we saw Kaye alone at the green space surrounding Symphony Lake. Made a phone call that confirmed our worse fears, the concert was ALREADY OVER! In fact, it was held 3 days back, on Sunday. The startling proclaimation just sent all of us into hysterics and on hindsight, I still don't understand why we didn't blow up. Must be all the stress from school taking a toll on our already fragile sanity. Shu Zhang came and we showed him the priceless picture of the non-existent orchestra on the stage. He was utterly mortified and apologised to us profusely. Took several photos at the Botanical Gardens for mementos. This one's my favourite...

The Invisible Symphony

Windy Day

Extremely windy day today. Was sitting at the tables on the ground floor and my unruly hair was snapping back and forth to the relentless tugs of the playful breeze. Female classmates were trying hard to keep decent (not to do a Marilyn Monroe, which means keeping your skirt down) and male classmates were trying equally hard not to stare (ok kidding here =P). I swear if its this windy on the bottom level, you can practically test a car on the 7th floor.
I think the wind made CT a little high. When I commented that there was too much "feng" and too little "shui" at our present location, she went "Here is the shui" and I got a splash of water in my face. Splutter, splutter, blink, blink. Since the magnanimous, benevolent, epitome of kindness me was in a good mood, I didn't kill her :).

Bronze Medal for Pesta Sukan

To be honest, I thought our chances of winning a medal, while present, were not very high. The other teams all seemed relatively strong, or at least, stronger than us. So naturally I was elated when we did manage to garner one.
I came at 9, 2 hours before my competition started as I needed to pay for license fees and blah. No fees, no fencing! Watched the foil guys fence and unfortunately succumbed one by one to stronger teams. But they certainly fought a good fight! First, we fenced Duxton Plain for a chance at 1st or 2nd. For the first time, I won my first bout! And she was a leftie and the anchorwoman! Was down 1-4 and caught up 4-4. On the last point, I attacked and missed. She came rushing forward and I did some half-hearted beatblade followed by riposte which somehow got me the point. The rest of the bouts went kinda crappily and I lost 3 points and later zero points. The combined 14 point gap that me, Charmaine and Yu Hua had amassed was too large for Liesl to catch up, and eventually we lost 37-45. The whole thing could have been won but no point crying over spilt milk I guess. I have to start parrying more because sometimes, running back down the piste just won't be able to save yourself from a hit.
THANK YOU SO MUCH, ALL OF THOSE WHO CAME DOWN TO SUPPORT AND GIVE ADVICE! TERENCE, DAVID, JX, REUBEN, DARREN, JOANNA, KANG WEI, DENISE, SANDRA, XIAO TING and all the other sabreurs for everything you guys have done for our team!
Ok, instead of angsting overly about that 0-5 bout, I went around watching the Blade Club's team and the RGS team fence. Secretly hoped Blade Club would win because the team consisted of people I knew (1st, 2nd and 3rd for Nationals Women's Sabre) and we would have an easier time fencing RGS than them. They won =P! Hovered around watching JX's team fencing and Reuben's team too. Both teams just had to be at opposite corners of the sports hall -_-. Reub's team was fencing David's, which would mean the final bout would be Darren VS David. They fought hard and chalked up a decent number of points with several well-timed and properly executed attacks before losing 22-45.
The time to fence RGS came and I went with trepeidation to face this new challenge. To be honest, I had a slight fear of the RGS anchorwoman Nellicia, partly due to her ear-splitting shrieks and whambang whacks. The first bout against Charlene went poorly and I lost 2 -5 points. When it was time to fence Nellicia, things somehow mircalously did not turn out as screwed up as I expected, apart from the last "dubious" point, and I managed to get 5 points off her while she got 4. On my last point, her wire fell out and she raised it as an issue. Liesl, thankfully, pointed out that it happened after I hit her, so still my point (phew!). Charmaine did pretty good too, scoring 6 quick points in almost continous succession against Charlotte. Fencing Charlotte, another rather decent sabreur in my opinion, was relatively lucky business. For 3 times, I missed her attack, beat her blade and forced mine through. Somehow, there was only one light! In any case, I was glad Liesl would have a much easier time fencing Nellicia and win the team bout she did! Went into throes of ecstatic screaming and hugging and jumping around. Juliana later said we were the first team in the history of RJC to win something for Pesta, a lot of it comes from Liesl =).
Visited 7-11 with Kalps, Darren and Reub to hydrate and we bid goodbye to her. Returned to Clementi Sports Hall to watch JX's team fencing for 3rd and 4th placing. They lost to the NUS team, which so happens to have 2 of our coaches :S. Choong Wing proved his zai-ness by keeping his composure and scoring the last glorious point to seal the victory at 44-45. It was an incredibly tense situation with all the eager eyes riveted on the bout. Derrick's team was 1st and David's 2nd (predictably). Collected the medal and went for an early dinner at nearby Momoya. Had a major suanning session, me being the target :(, and shared several jokes over sashimi, udon, basically Jap food. We chatted for about 2 hours ++ and left Momoya sated, especially JX. It has been a really good day and once again, thanks everyone for all of your support! RJC Fencing Rocks!

Pam's BBQ

Alright, I'm blogging about this a day after it happened but I juast HAD to watch Mean Girls and HBO (in the process disobeying my dear sabre captain's sleep at 10 rule). Chicken wings, marshmallows, crabsticks, chocolate-dipped strawberries, chili sotong, sausages and punch galore! I really gorged myself on the sumptous spread and was throughly stuffed after I was done. We all took turns to help out with the bbqing, although the guys, ironically enough, were the better cooks. They hardly burnt anything while our stuff was on the verge of being carcinogenic :) Played some bball and then went up for some socialising. It reminded me of those halcyon days when all of us, the Windermere people, would sit down while waiting for a match to begin or end. Perhaps we should have more bbqs and games room bookings! Rounded the day or night off with Pam getting soaked with swimming pool water as part of a coming of age ritual (courtesy of Shane). Sorta makes me glad I won't be celebrating my birthday here.

National Day

Happy 41st Birthday Singapore! The lovely place I've lived, breathed and slept almost every single day of my life. I certainly hope there's a bright future for us all!!!

Nat Day Celebrations

We got to a festive start with class breakfast. All the J1 classes were cramped into the canteen while a band of 4 guys crooned pop tunes to thick crowds. Our class had a miserly amount of food compared to the classes next to ours. I couldn't feeling a tad envious seeing the spread of cakes, coffee, biscuits, pastries, chips, chocolates and little tidbits lying so invitingly on the other tables. Zinc, Larissa and Yun Ling baked us all some deliciously sinful brownies. They were so good I had to take a second helping =P. We had cranberries, two bottles of Pepsi, Toblerone, Mamee noodles and little things which I will not care to name. Mr Lee, Miss Soh and Mr Chan dropped by at different intervals for a bit, before leaving for other classes.
Went to watch Street Dance and Modern Dance's performances at the amphitheater. The jazz item of Modern Dance was oddly familiar and I think it was because it was lifted from Amarante. The Street Dance was remotely familiar too as during fencing trainings we got to have several "sneak previews". In any case, it was exciting seeing Wen Hao, Xin Zi, Claire and Sherlyn grooving to the hip hop music. Returned to the jam-packed canteen to see Mr Siva strumming a Chinese tune to the wonderment and delight of almost all the RJ students. They didn't let him leave the stage without an encore =). Most of the class was setting off for home soon after the performance ended. I took the opportunity to catch up and chit chat with my OG mate, Rebecca, about life and its little mysteries. Following that, I went shopping for hair accessories with Charmaine at J8. Fatigue from yesterday began to take its toll and I struggled to stay awake on the MRT journey back. Zzzzz time it was, at home.

Last Fencing Training Session...for now

I can hardly believe today was the last fencing training until the promos are over. No more laughing at the antics and rapid crossfiring jibes of Darren, Reub, JX and Faii. No more crapping with Charmaine, Yu Hua and Joanna. =(. Dull, dull are my Tuesdays and Thursdays going to be. I'll really miss you all guys loads... And with the LOONNG lag in training, I'm fairly sure my already shaky footwork and bladework will disintegrate into nothingness. Attendance was pretty good on the bright side and perhaps it was because it was the "final" training.
We fenced teams (4 teams of 3), with the girls being captains. I had David and Reub in mine and can you believe it, David refused to be anchorman!!! He wouldn't even let me finish first but that was probably since he wanted us to fight hard for the points. My first bout was remarkably awful and I would have had no points at all if not for the fact that girls get handicaps (2 point lead). Most of the rest were fine and with the overwhelming advantage provided by the handicap, I manage to get to the point cap first. When it was time for the 2 winning teams to fence, I foresaw grevious losses to Darren and Faii, but miraculously, it didn't go as bad as that. At least I scraped 2 points off them each. Darren has an uncanny ability for devastating counterattacks...:S. Reub was my team's anchorman and he did a fairly good job for all of his bouts. I, as the weakest link, think I screwed up my team...yet again. We rested afterwards and watched the other teams battle it out. Charmaine treated her team, me and Reub to drinks!!! Aw..isn't she so sweet? :):):) Watched Reub and Darren do drills, chatted with GGY for a while and did parrying drills with JX.
Left the hall at 7.30+ with Reub and Darren. We trduged to the MRT and were so incredibly slow that Jun Hao caught up with us. Parted at the traffic lights and spoke to Jun Hao about..guess what..more fencing stuff! Think I've mentioned this before and my apologies if I sound like a sentimental sop but I truly will miss those crazy, fun-filled trainings we had together...

Mad Hatter's Costume Ball

Finished Econs tutorial just in time for Mad Hatter's Costume Ball, the highlight of Lit Week. The two emcees, decked in girls' uniform, beatboxed and announced the entrants in a cool rap. Students clapped and cheered as their fellow class representatives dressed in outlandish garbs and garish costumes took the stage, sashaying and strutting. Willy Wonka, Lavinia, James and the Giant Peach, Neville Longbottom, Jack Sparrow and other familiar characters from Literature or pop culture made their
flamboyant or unglam appearance.
There was some best costume competition going on, but I didn't stay for the results. The thick crowds slowly dispersed with the ending of the catwalk.
Following that, was a renenactment of a scene from Anthony and Cleopatra, starring Seema, Sindhura and some guy. Sindhura's acting, as usual was stellar, as she brought out the maelstrom of emotions of the high-strung queen clearly. When she pummelled the unfortunate messager with her fists upon hearing of Anthony's marriage to Octavia, almost everyone's eyes were riveted. A Hokkien version of the sleepwalking scene from Macbeth was next and sadly, I failed to comprehend a word =(. Dialect is even more foreign to me than French, which I do not happen to speak either.
I browsed the many stalls after that, admiring the wares with a covetous eye. Shiny handmade trinkets and baubles, chocolate dipped marshmallows, chicken bits on a stick, pancakes, gingerbread men, brownies, nut delights and many others I will not name.
Hunger sated, I prowled around the amphitheater for a while and was going to head home when Janessa convinced me to enter her class's fortune telling booth. Reuben Foo went first and was accepted by the the soothsaying trio (Benson, Moni and another guy), so when it was my turn, I had 4 fortune tellers (or charlatans more like =P). Ok, it was pretty much a scam, and I, a willing participant to it. The comments ranged from utter gibberish to irrelevant observations (Southeast is the direction of the bus stop you must go - I don't take bus home by the way) to partial truths. Was highly amused and entertained by the entire experience. I especially liked the tea leaves part, although there was hardly any water to speak of. Paid up my $1 fee and headed for home...

Titus Andronicus

Incredibly short though the play was, I guess it was well worth missing my only break for. The actors who played Demetrius and Chiron were truly villanious and hateful as the taunting rapists of the poor Lavinia. Though Lavinia never said a word throughout the entire performance (her tongue was after all, cut off), she managed to invoke gasps of horror and disgust from the audience when she spilled cranberry juice form her "bleeding" mouth. My fickle camera chose to desert me by malfunctioning at the moment, so not pictures =(...
Fencing was fun as always. We were divided into 3 teams of 3 and free fenced. My team, consisting of Faii, Sun Lu and me did pretty well, mostly thanks to Faii. Beat Team 1 and lost to Team 3 by one damn point. I, being the only girl, was the weakest link which the others exploited to their advantage. David gave me a two point advantage and I manage to reach the point cap for all my bouts save for Darren's. Somehow, the "victories" felt hollow coupled with the knowledge of the fact that I would never have reached the cap without the handicaps. Still, the bouts did not go as horribly as I envisioned them to be and I did not drag down my team. Too much. Did some parrying drills after the team bouts were finished and came away feeling more tired and slightly demoralised. I really do hope I can fence better than this during Pesta Sukan...> _<.
Left school with Reub and Darren and trained back alone. Am now admiring that red-purplish bruise that sits happily on my elbow. Occupational priviledge, yups =)