Sabre Outing!

As a brilliant close to an immensely tiring week, I thoroughly enjoyed today's sabre outing XD! Initially, there was only Char and me. We thought of going shopping but decided to play pool with David at 101 Building instead. We got pwned for three games X_X; it seems David's pro-ness extends beyond fencing and handball. Darren and Reub arrived later and avenged us, beating David twice in a row (close call though!) Had a girl VS guys game which we got pwned for but I finally won the last game cus Darren was in my team ^_^! As we were heading over to Carl's Junior for dinner, David regaled us with tales of Yan Loong's legendary blurness. Over dinner, I made a major blooper when I forgot to add ice and sugar syrup to "Iced Tea". On hindsight, the name said it all :S. Joanna came over halfway and had a really funny 5-way conversation after David left to watch Fracture. Left for the arcade since some of us were too broke for a movie. It wan't too long before the dazzling screens sent Darren and Reub into a slack-jawed stupor; they hardly realised we had all gone to the toilet. While they played Time Crisis, the we chose to play "Lost in the Jungle". It goes like this: a young couple encounters monsters during a holiday presumably in some SEA jungle and the only way to survive is to kill the rampaging critters! Not very violent except that maybe it promotes animal abuse =P. I got pwned at the first boss, a giant spider. Darren and Reub were poking fun at everything...from the spastic storyline - "Shoot dem! Shoot dem!", to our horrendous aiming. Passed by a family which won 5 stuff toys from a particular game station (sounds super pro right?)...after spending 50 dollars that is. Around 10, we headed to the MRT and while waiting for the train, Darren, Reub and Joanna did a little skit of the terrorist in the MRT scenario, starring Darren as the very suspicious and conveniently hooded individual, and Reub and Joanna as the uncommonly civic minded Singaporeans. I think we actually amused some of the bystanders. Had Joanna for company on the journey back which made the trip feel a lot shorter =).

Beware of Man like this!

Back to Clementi Training!

Oleg gave me a LESSON! XD XD XD

In the LT

Before Chem Lecture...

Shu Yi: It's very irritating when during Bio lecture that group of girls sitting behind our class
keeps chattering away.

Flo: So do you feel like turning around and throttling them?

Terence (in front of us): Kind of.

O.o

Carcassonne

Played about 4 games of Carcassonne with Eugene at the games room from about 11 to 1. Never been into board games but I have to admit, Carcassonne spurred my interest. It's a refreshing change from card games like bridge and computer games. I beat Eugene twice XD despite not really understanding all of the game but I guess it was beginner's luck because I lost the rest. Carcassonne was a whopping 42 bucks according to Eug O_O! Still don't see how a board game could be worth that much, even if it was the best board game of 2001 or something like that. Hmm..maybe I should go get a board game to entertain visitors and friends too.

If Only...

What I Wish They Stood for....

A is for Atrocious
B is for Bad
C is for Cannot Make it
D is for Dreadful
E is for Excellent
S is for Superb
U is for Unparallelled

Then getting an S E E S for CTs would be a lot more palatable -_-. Cannot wait for the coming GP results which will hopefully be a sweetener after the many bitter pills. Until then...

Night Walk a.k.a Halloween comes to RJ

OK I must admit the preparation for Night Walk was kind of screwed updue to lack of foresight on my part and unforeseen circumstances. We almost changed the route as a function that ended only at 11 was occuring and some of the lights that lined the routes weren't off. I went up to the 5th floor locker area with Balps to hang paper dolls and it was most frustrating since progress was slow - the dolls kept dropping plus my poor scotch-taping skills. Made some minor modifications to the plan so we could proceed with making fake blood. Denise and me made an utter mess of the handicapped toilet (good thing its hardly used), spilling floor and red food coloring on the floor. Worse to come, our "blood" was near indistiguishable from bandung! Later on, we figured the color wouldn't matter since the LT 2 toilets would be shrouded in semi-darkness, illuminated only by candles. Both of us went down to smear words and occult signs on the mirrors. A J1 walked in on us to my great annoyance but it was truly an accident :S. Denise went back to our scare point, a classroom strewn with table and chairs while I lit the candles. Meanwhile, Charmaine was applying freaky clown and Oriental ghost makeup on our ghosts. The pictures will tell you just how brilliantly spooky they were for a last minute job! David and Wing chose to join in the fun and donned hideous leather masks.
The Night Walk was planned to have a mix of atmospheric and full frontal scares. There were people leaping out from cubicles, chasing J1s along the route, weird sounds in dark classrooms, a remote car moving by itself, sudden thuds and booms, strange priests giving out lucky amulets. I think the Night Walk had a very good success rate; the girls were screaming continously and even some guys were freaked out! The reactions of J1's ranged from the expected (screaming and running) to the out-of-ordinary (spraying water at spooks) to the mildly violent (jabbing a ghost in the mouth). Zhenggang's reaction was by far the funniest; cowering on the floor whimpering "Go away! Go away!" while hitting the ghost with a slipper. My station didn't get any screams probably since it was more eerie than scary. The waiting period from one person to the next was nigh interminable. Was rather irritated with J1's who turned on the lights or went in with a flashlight. Unless you have night blindness, there's no reason to do so. Denise told me about a J1 guy who lingered in the classroom to see how long she could hold the noise for. She gave up in a bit and when the guy was on the verge of leaving, boomed "GET OUT!" in a sonorous voice, scaring him into a run! Way to Go Dee!
I couldn't stay for all of Night Walk although I would have LOVED to. Had to fence in Nat Trials the day after. Would like to give a Big THANK YOU to all those involved in Night Walk, especially Charmaine, Dee, Darren and the spooks. Cliche as it may sound, Night Walk wouldn't have been possible without all of you guys!



Balpreet as the kinky ghost. Slanted so tilt your head to watch!

Fencing Camp Day 2!

Awoke to see the J1s doing PT on empty stomachs. Didn't see anyone keeling over on the track though so it must be a good sign =P. Ran out of food for J1 breakfast and we ended up having to buy our own breakfast. As Alvin and me waited for the groups to arrive, we read the papers. Both of us chose that station because we didn't need to set up ^_^. Helped Jia Hua and Emmy out with their station, which involved suspending grapes on a string for the J1s to jump up and bite them off. Won't go into too much detail here, the videos of their games and subsequent forfeits should be pretty self-explanatory. Disclaimer: Not responsible for any embarassment suffered by guest stars. Our station completed, I wandered aimlessly from station to station, participating whenever I felt like it. Got to know some J1s better through "Whacko" and "Dog and Bone". Lunch was fun! We played games involving forfeits of the most malu-ing kind. Like doing a William Hung on the canteen table. After lunch, we played "March of the Penguins" at the amphitheater. Standing on chairs, the J1's had to form a line of chairs to a table by passing it from the first person to the last and back again. We seniors had the occupational priviledge of stopping them for forfeits whenever we saw fit. If we felt mean, we would just grab a chair. Next up was captain's ball and the different groups faced off. Participated in the Junior-Senior match and scored a couple of goals though the eventual score was 6-6 (EVERYONE'S A WINNER!). David sort of wanted to treat the sabreurs to 300. Sweet of him really but it fell through in the end. Chit-chatted with some of the J2s till about 6-ish before going to set up for the eagerly awaited...Night Walk....

FENCING CAMP Day 1!

This is going to be a really long post and I shall reserve a post SPECIALLY for Night Walk, which IMO was the BEST part of the camp (cus Darren and me were in charge of it XD...kidding!) And oh yes, there will be videos of J1s acting silly too. Now let's rewind back to Day 1...

Sat around the canteen with Faii and Denise guarding the food while the Group leaders were socialising with their allocated J1s. Our food was loaded with three kinds of vegetables because of Faii's command of Chinese - "san dao cai" -_-. Was interrupted during dinner to set up for War Games, which involved capturing as many bases within the time span and pulling off tails to win. My area had long periods of inactivity but when the Teams came to capture a base simultaneously, the skirmishes and scuffles were highly exciting, albeit dangerous. People were squirming on the floor and cornering each other in desperate bids to capture and protect their tails. At 9.45, we launched a surprise attack and the seniors rushed around pulling as many tails of J1s as they could. Naturally, they couldn't fight back and their terror at being chased and cornered was palpable XD! Almost everyone did some Raffles Cheers at the A-B bridge (I missed it >_<) then it was time to wash up. Zi Shan and Jerlyn were nice and stayed with me in the toilet while the frightened me showered. Did sentry duty outside the J1 girls sleeping area with Jin Han and we had a pretty engaging chat. It's interesting because sentry duty gives you an opportunity to interact with people you wouldn't normally talk to on a normal basis. Following that, BEDTIME!

Fencing Camp Preparations

It's been busy, busy, busy these few days because I've been doing Night Walk preparations. Spent the break before fencing doing Math Tutorial and cutting paper dolls for Night Walk with Balpreet, Ruth, Charmaine and Darren. We drew them all kinds of funny faces, even so, i doubt anyone will really notice in the Stygian gloom. Had meeting for Night Walk during training and did some fencing to prepare for Nat Trials since I feel extremely off-form. When the J2s were gone, Darren and me brought the rest of the J2s through the Night Walk route. Everyone was bursting with ideas and suggestions (cus Night Walk is the MOST FUN part of camp XD!) and we implemented a few new ones. The guys, especially Reub and Jia Hua, were attempting to scare the girls, with much success, every scare point or so. A few hair-raising screams could be heard, following a "BOO!" or a sudden pair of hands grabbing the shoulders. The finale of the night walk culminated in Jia Hua donning his hideous Halloween Mask and sauntering towards the girls a la serial killer style. Si Chen and Joanna were sent cowering against the wall of the tunnel below the Performing Arts Center to the uproarious laughter of the guys. Ranging from the chillingly atmospheric to shocking in-your-face scares (plus the somewhat incongruous Father Reub), I'm fairly sure the Night Walk will frighten the living daylights out of the J1s (not to the point of jumping off the Blk A-B bridge I hope. Lol)

Exchange Student

Jem's exchange student from Japan came for class today! Idea (ee-day-er not idea XD)) looked like L, minus the mascara and the height. Seemed like a soft-spoken fellow but it probably was cus he wasn't used to Singapore's English proficiency level. Asked him several questions through Jem about his interests and school life in Japan. During Econs, Mrs Leow tried to make him talk about the Japan Economy -_-. Give us a break man. The trauma from CTs has barely left our shattered minds. He seemed sort of bored during class but no surprise there, all of us were. Screwed Bio as predicted but the extent was a lot worse. Why do I even bother with mugging??? Did the fencing night walk trail with Darren and later, with Joanna and Charmaine, we planned the many scares to occur throughout the course of it. I think this Night Walk will be seriously freaky ^_^, replete with things that go bump in the night and moving inanimate objects. Oh, we brought Darren to the LT 2 girl's toilet. Indeed, it was an eye-opening experience for him :P. Had exco meeting later to discuss about fencing camp, where Mr Ng told us the rationale for not having games that involved hitting,water and food. Quote: "Whacko can cause head injuries, induce dizziness, loss of control and vomiting...which leads to wastage of food -_-." PE department needs to lighten up...

Jem's Bday Party!

I was one of the earliest to arrive and decided to make myself useful by helping Amelia and Suat decorate the board. On the board (one of Jem's SJI friend's idea), we adorned paper stars and long glittery strips of ribbon, with heartfelt notes and well-wishings pasted in the middle. The rest came in short intervals, one after another but sadly, the turnout wasn't very strong :(. The guys who had been keeping Jem occupied upstairs finally got him down and we presented him our presents as well as showed him the board, much to his surprised delight XD. He invited us to tuck in to the delicious spread of chicken wings, potatoes, satay, fishballs and other fried foods. Headed to the lounge for some KTV and had a great many laughs over out-of-tune voices to mismatched graphics and song lyrics or simply, plain ridiculous images. As I savored the chocolate sundae, I enjoyed the occasionally melodious voices of the singers and the crazy antics of the SJI guys. Finally plucked up the courage to sing "Kiss by a Rose" which I hope I didn't mangle too badly =P. Got into the singing mood (never knew KTV could be so fun!) and sang a couple more songs with Ching Ting and Philana before going home at about 11.

A Tale

Once upon a time (as most fairy tales go), there was a girl who was unhappy. Nothing too distinctive about her; she could have been anyone off the street. Like most humans, she was unhappy with her lot and sought to better it. A wiseman told he, if you meet the Ourobouros, joy, wealth and so much more will be yours. How shall I find it? I know not, but if you pick the nettles of the forest green and weave them into a cloth of thread so fine it seems moonlight made, the Ourobouros might seek you. So, she did dutifully as the wiseman said. Day after day, she would travel to the forests, returning only when her baskets were overflowing with nettles. At night, she would stamp on the nettles till her feet were crimson ribbons of flesh. Then, the weaving would begin. Days bled into weeks, weeks bled into months, months bled into years. The cloth was long and gossamer upon the skin and yet the Ourobouros did not come. Alas, she passed on, the nettles she had lived with for so long cloaking her in a funereal shroud. And if the Ourobouros arrived in the end, no one knows of it.

~The End~

Sentosa Beach Training!

Thanks to Eug's time-saving alternative route, I winded up at Harborfront station 20 mins late as opposed to 10 minutes early. Oh well, now I know better. Was the only J2 save for the omnipresent JX; the rest had other commitments, generally mugging. We reached Siloso beach one hour plus after 9 cus of much waiting for people and the next tram, dilly-dallying and simply, slow walking. (I was saboed to collect $$$ for the monorail ride =( Gimme a break! )Beach PT was actually quite bearable and not as awful as I imagined it to be. Probably due to the mild sun (yay! cloud cover ^_^) and the numerous one minute breaks. But I didn't managed to get the coveted full body tan =(; I think my face got slightly burnt really. The most annoying thing would be the insidious sand which wormed its way everywhere. Did sets of lunges, squats, tuck jumps, footwork on a big open sandy space. In no time, your feet begins to feel like its being bitten by many ants. Ouch!
PT completed, we headed to the beach for sprints and lunges in the water and the highlight of the day, captain's ball! Yan Long was pretty much our sole defender and though he did a decent job, our team still got trounced. Yuan Zi and David playing defence, were a formidable duo despite several brilliant saves Felicia and Shan Shan made. Piggy-backed on Yan Long as a substitute goalie for a while. (I hope he doesn't get a shoulder strain, I'm 50 kg >_<) Lost my balance quite a number of times and tumbled into the blue, nearly losing my specs. It's no mean feat trying to balance on his skinny shoulders, meanwhile looking out for the handball! Throughout our time at the beach, there was a mass dunking session from which only the heaviest were exempt =P.
After 2 hours of wet and wild fun, we washed up and went to Vivo for a late lunch. Lots of camwhoring on the monorail and guess I'll post pictures when I get them. Played multiple exciting games Heart Attack to the chagrin of some of the cleaners. All of the girls got sabo-ed through devious dealing of cards on Yuan Zi and fast reflexs on everyone else's part. Hmm..can't wait to see Shan Shan, Melissa and Lorraine running around with pillows tied to their waists next training. Lol. Played bridge with Chan, Mel and Shan Shan at the rooftop garden till we all went home. Except for the happening Chan who went to paaarrtaaay!!!

NUS Open house!

Phil, CT and me were the early birds, coming at around 9.30 thus when we were making away through the Student Activities exhibition, we were accosted every couple of steps or so. The Sheares Hall girls were particularly enthusiastic about promoting the perks of hall life; not that we didn't know about them but they certainly left us dying to stay in a Hall. One good way to avoid them is keeping eye contact with one of your NUS brochures. Alternatively, look like you want to beat someone up. Amassed lots of leaflets and freebies (waterbottle, pens, organiser...I feel like a freeloader), half of which I probably wil not use. Checked out the prerequisites for Pharmacy and Chemical Engineering; seems like I might not be able to take the latter due to my dearth of AO level physics :(. Was contemplating whether to go for NTU Open House after Phil and CT departed before deciding to visit the following year.While generally informative, I think I should have gone for this next year, after getting my A level results. Oh well, knowing how notoriously difficult it is to enter Pharmacy ought to provide me a sufficient incentive to bag those elusive 4 "As". Until next year then...

The End of Term 1

No relief at the impending March hols, no respite from the relentless rush of schoolwork because the holidays no sorry, study breaks are really for mugging. Common Tests gleefully await, fresh and ferocious, as soon as the holidays draw to a close. Need to do well enough to escape the evil clutches of remedial and more dreary hours of meeting Ms Soh -_- ... Let the mugging begin!

Ms Lim's (Now Mrs Tan) Wedding

For all the fretting I was going through in Pa's car that we would arrive late, the wedding began about 30 minutes later from the time we arrived. So much for punctuality. Ms Lim was a vision of loveliness in the wedding photos and it made me realise the illusionary wonders of photography. (OK kidding!! She truly is pretty) There was some worshipping and singing to praise the Lord, which made me feel a bit like a fish out of water. Following that, they screened a flash video with uber-cute and amusing animations chronicling the spark of the romance a.k.a How It All Began between Lydia and Seth. Its admirable to know their courtship has lasted for ten years and ten months; there are folks I know having their seventh partner or so in a span of say two years. I didn't manage to get any pictures of the bride walking the aisle cus I wasn't sitting next to it =(. After some standup comedy involving the reading of lines from the Bible by the 2 pastors, who were undeniably funny but a tad trying too hard, there was an exchange of vows. Ms Lim was so touched she cried and the pastors reassured everyone those tears were tears of joy. Proceed to Rolande Restaurant next for lunch reception. Between the lift and the stairs, the young, fit and healthy us chose the stairs. (If you think lift queues in RJ are scary, think again). Ate and socialised till Ms Lim and her husband came over to take photos with us after which people began to leave in dribs and drabs. B 5, the few of us left had cleared the restaurants for our respective destinations.

Larissa's Birthday Party

Words fail me as of now so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Suffice to say it was a great party, replete with lots of food (yay!), chatting and photo-whoring. Enjoy!

Stuck in Neutral

It's between me and the Cimmerian dark. When they say you look into the abyss, the abyss is looking back at you. How true that is. Now those blithe splinters of lights have bled away, those fever dreams and fool's hopes have fled and crumbled into diamond dust, all that remains is the waiting, lurking shadows. I'm afraid to succumb. So I say, darkness be my friend. If I truly am to fall. Until then, keep on dancing, grudging and gawky, to the carousel's jolly tune. In red-hot iron shoes.

Dramafeste!

It's not everyday when the vice-prinicpal of the JC makes a personal visit to your classroom from his far far away office just to tell you your mum has found your missing file. Unless of course, your mum told him there was a "family emergency."
Had MT dramfeste meeting in which Brian and Jonathan alternately disgusted and amused everyone else by having a lightsabre battle with their prosthetic wangs and singing "You Raise me up" as accompanying music. The song now hold new meaning for me...:S Had ushering duty for dramafeste; the final briefing right before the start of the event salved my guilt at missing all the previous briefings.
As the doors swung open, I spotted a few familiar faces amongst the throngs of people, namely Terence, Anna, GGY, Charmaine, Zhang Fan, Yuan Zi, Ching Ting, Philana and...Mr Chan!!! A few minutes later, I was fairly sure aisle ushers served no further purpose except to intimidate the audience into sitting down. I do believe everyone has a sufficient degree of intelligence and literacy to recognise and find their seats, thank you very much.
Mrs Butler chased us out to the outside world because we were potentially endangering the lives of the audience by blocking the escape route in case of a freak fire. Jennifer and me stoned outside during the HH play, entering the LT when it was MT's turn.
IMO, MT did a great job! William was so calm and collected despite the sound glitch or rather, lack of sound, that the audience barely even realised the prolonged opening scene was improvised. Seemed to engage the audience well enough judging from the scattered laughters now and then. Didn't catch BB's play but a nice, friendly BW usher, John, let me stay behind to watch MR and BW's play. BW's play had stellar cast so the performance was accordingly, stellar. Something about a play within a play, involving the theme of prestidigitation. MR's was like a choral speaking and far too much like a print-to-screen of 1984 for my liking. No points given for originality there. The co-ordination and blocking of the players was superb though, given the size of the cast.
Talked to Mr Chan following the end of the production and we shared some our ideas and views on the plays. Met Charmaine, GGY and their other classmates for a light super snack before going home.

Lost

ARGH!

I lost my homework file =).............:(:(:(.

What a brilliant time for it to go missing, when a deluge of tutorials are being gone through.

The silver lining: I have a cast-iron excuse for staring at a blank desk during lessons

If I don't find it, the cost of photocopying all the notes will be ASTRONOMICAL!!!

Not a good way to spend ang bao money on...

Wanted: Pink file with notes, tutorials and assignments done preferably =P
Reward: Eternal gratitude and that feel-good sensation that comes with being a good Samaritan

Steamboat at Jeremy's

When I reached Jeremy's place, the first thing I did was to head to the kitchen to check out how things were coming along. The spicy tang of Weilu's secret Chongqing recipe flooded my nostrils while the chopping sounds of Philana working on the meat filled my ears. Tried to make myself useful but my incompetence proved too much for Philana to take and she volunteered to wash and cut the vegetables.

Was quite ravenous by the time the steamboat or teppan yakki in my case (cannot take spicy stuff :( ) began so it was an eating spree for me! Black pepper fish, mushrooms, beef, fishcake, vegetables, more fish...Mmmm! I can feel myself ballooning :(... To add to the spread, there were love letters, kueh, pineapple tarts, pizza biscuits and ice-cream as well! Helped to clean up the unsightly leftovers; don't feel I'm so useless anymore ;).

Didn't feel like playing mahjong so I went to the lounge (seriously cool place with loads and loads of alcohol *swoons*) to play DDR, popping in and out occasionally to watch the mahjong folks. Left at about 11 with CT, sated and happy!

Take-Five!

The Mandarin oranges record-setting event was kind of lame; it goes into the Singapore book of records not Guinness. I highly doubt there were 2000+ people eating Mandarin oranges at the same time considering the number of ponners.
We dunked Jayanthi into the pool, never mind her fervent protest and exclamations. She tried her utmost to wrest herself free of our grip but unity in solidarity!!! Mr Hodge, whom we met along the way, made a deviation from his usual seriousness and went "Can you please not beat her up in front of me?", to our flabbergasted expressions after.
Split from the group after Jay became a "luo tang ji" to watch talent-time. It was extremely exciting for 2 reasons: One being the performances of the groups (duh!), the second being the painfully acerbic comments of Mr Vadi. "My grandmother can sing better than you. Do you want her number?" The other 2 judges' two cent's worth appeared trite and bland in comparison to his caustic words. Sam and Benny predictably won the Dance category and were asked to have an encore performance that wowed the masses for a second time.
Contrary to my plan of going home and sleeping, the ever-persuasive Terence and his sidekick Wang convinced Joanna and me to visit Coronation for lunch. There, we met JX and the 3 of them engaged in their usual irreverent conversation while Jo and me tried to comprehend the going-ons and laughed on the sidelines. Sometimes, it's a wonder how I get along with them well when our wavelengths can be so different. Wang paid an extra 4 bucks for my meal (me no $$$) and I owe him one bucks cus I possess only 1/4 of a conscience =).
Home it was to zzzzz...

Valentine's Day

The SO3Q guys surprised all the girls by giving them sunflowers! So sweet of them =)! I hope it can last for a few days more.

Thank you to all those who gave me presents, be they chocolates, jellies or cookies, and those heartening little notes.

For Clementi fencing training, Oleg bought Nellicia a delicious mango sponge cake as a belated birthday present! I've been eating lots of savory chocs, cake and other such foodstuffs these few days. And to think CNY is creeping closer, bringing with it the promise of more delectable goodies (and unwanted calories =( ).

Skated around the carpark and saw a very familiar looking car number plate...guess who?? It was Eugene and his gf, probably going to his house to celebrate Valetine's day. For the second time, awwww...so sweet =P!

Let the love or friendship in the air works its magic on you people!!!

BBQ at JX's place

My darling Papa gave Joanna and me a lift to JX's house. It was a good decision because I realised his house was really really far in. To quote David "Oh baby...", when he got off and saw 9A. JX's place is 56G btw.
JX's has a room of his own!!! Ok no big deal but considering I don't have one.. Papa, if you're reading this which I highly doubt but hope in any case, *hint hint*. His house has an uber cool layout; unlike having a common corridor that branches to the different rooms, his rooms are all linked to each other, somewhat like a maze. And JX owns a sabre, no not the fencing sort. Went cycling with Terence, Faii, JX and Joanna around the slightly hilly estate. Cycling after a long reprieve from hitting the road felt like going home, achingly familiar. We didn't travel for long because we had to pick Charmaine up.
The bunch of us headed back to JC's room and some people started playing with my accesories, a black beret and punk bracelet. Dinner commenced not long following her arrival. Jing Xiao, JX's sister, baked us crumbly golden-brown cookies while Terence, master chef, grilled steak. The pictures will speak for themselves regarding the spread =). Our guest of honor David came in a bit, looking shagged and chao tar from beach handball. Thoroughly stuffed myself on the dishes and was unplesantly surprised to discover the teacher I had made a wise comment to in the lift was JX's lit tutor and that he had told his entire class about the incident. He would have even found my class if not for the fact JX covered for me O_O. Guess I owe him one..but he still owes me 10 bucks!!!
Terence fed the leftovers to the cats. The three girls peeked into JX's neighbour's Spanish-styled house. David tried to unravel the mystery of my lagging camera.
Attempted to do some clearing up before returning to JX's room. Me, David and Joanna koped the bed (not a threesome) annoying JX cus we were soiling his bed with his filthiness. Had a whale of a time laughing our heads off at Sec 3 David (guai), Reuben (chubby!) and Darren (Darren, only smaller). JX and Terence taught the clueless 3 how to play poker, which Charmaine turned out having quite a flair at. Won enough games to ensure I didn't kena the stripping forfeit that wasn't carried out anyway. If only Darren, Reuben and the rest of the sabre team knew the fun they were missing... Took a shot of vodka, thereby severely impairing my mental faculties and sense of awareness. Kept on insisting I had 3 of a kind (sixes) when in reality it was a pair of nines. Played till 12 plus then papa drove over to give us all a lift home.

Many thanks to JX for organising the bbq despite all the trouble and clearing up that came with it, Terence and Charmaine for doing the cooking, David for coming down even though the evil exams draw too close for comfort (best of luck for them!)and everyone else who made today so enjoyable =).

Little Juniors

David enlisted our help in getting the juniors to do proper basic footwork (step forward, step back) and simple lunges. Did some simple demo - a horrendously embarassing moment even though I didn't stumble over my feet. Sabre attendance was poor but on the bright side, we escaped PT...for now. Went around correcting juniors on their footwork, postures to the best of my knowledge. I sure do hope I was instructing them to do the right thing and not some mangled version of the appropriate way. In a sense, its somewhat like a bonding session. When I got a bit bored of playing the underpaid coach, I fenced a little epee.
There are 40+ J1s; I can barely put the name to the face on the side of the girls, with the exception of Lorraine, Shan Shan, Sarah and Hui Min, not to mention the guys. Hot on the heels of footwork came...PT -__-. We idled at the steps, watching the J1s work their little legs and gossiping, occasionally checking on the progress of J1s and spurring them on.
Was rather glad for the laxness of today's training. Hadn't slept much the night before as I had been talking to Eug. Better get more rest for Thursday's training...

Junior Trials

Final Placing: 8th out of 14. Bleh... It wasn't too bad considering the presence of heavyweights from the Nat Team and PRC and plus I was feeling mildly feverish. And apparently, this doesn't quite give you a lot of points.
I was in a killer poule (there were only 2 actually, but mine had more goliaths ) and lost 4 bouts out of 6. By the end of whole fiasco, I half-thought I was going to be eliminated in a tragic repeat of last week's Fencing Singapore Challenge. As it turned out, I was to fence Audrey (9th placing) and got pass the hurdle. Another thing that went wrong; my electric lame actually FAILED to conduct in at least 3 patches, probably since I have never aired it since...I can't remember. The Romanian ref, after giving me a touchy-feely demo on how to solve the problem, finally poured water on it so it would have better conductivity. While other people spend their CNY money buying new clothes, I might end up spending it buying a new lame -_-.
The most frustrating issue of all was when I was to fence the first-seeded girl. I didn't think that I would make it but by the first half, I was up 8-4 thanks to relying on the beat-blade tactic. I started to think I might win but lost 13-15 X(. During the one minute rest break, the Romanian ref who coincidentally was the girl's coach, went over and commenced yelling at her ("You see this! You like the score!!?). I felt so mortified and embarassed as I was sort of the cause of her predicament. Oh well...I need to focus more and keep my cool...David said the 1st and 2nd half were like 2 different people fencing O_O. My consolation was that Ellyn, was ranked 2nd, after losing to Ann in the final. Darren, Reub, JX and Faii predictably landed themselves a spot in the top 8. Reub managed to beat JX 15-14 cus his ankle was busted. Then again, JX doesn't quite need the ranking points as much.
Need to acclimatise myself to the fact that DE begins pretty soon after poules over. When I queried "Now?" twice, Oleg responded "No, no, no, Tomorrow" and "No, no, no, go to cinema" respsectively with some exasperation. :P

MT Dance Prac

Since I had much time to burn till the 5.00 JC talk commenced, I went for MT Dance Prac straight after PE. Chose to perform with the basketball and had Brian, my OG mate and Jenny in my group. It was a good choice cus I'm a psychomotor moron as mentioned in a long ago entry, and the ball group had the easiest moves to pull off. You can't exactly twirl a ball unlike with a floorball stick. The music was the adrenalin-rushing Mortal Combat! Techno to get all of us into the aggro KILL mood =). In the final scene, chaos descends as the dancers pair up to attack each other. several mock tussles with Zheng Jie over his tennis racket. I hope I can remember all my steps by Wed.
The Gryphon Programme about sports injuries and sportsmanship while largely soporific, possessed several illuminating moments. People left right up and down of me were in various states of unattentiveness. I lost count of the books, notes, tutorials I splayed in plain sight of the teachers on the tables. If they had to catch all those who were doing other things, 3/4 of the group would get into hot soup, me included =P. Oh well, RJ students never did like long talks ;)

Overslept

ARGH!!! I can be such a pig when it comes to sleeping. Slept at 3.30, woke at 5 for a moment and promptly went back to sleep. Awoke again at EIGHT THIRTY and there wasn't much of a point in going to Clementi to fence for an hour. That's two missed Friday trainings in a row!!! RAWR

Novices Teams

Joanna, Charmaine and me clinched Gold for teams! Its really essential to focus on catching up the points instead or brooding about those that were lost and thankfully, I didn't have much chasing to do. Despite our 42-45 win over RGS, I still have doubt over my anchorman skills cus some of the points, especially the final counterattack, were iffy :S. Looking back, the Romanian guy wasn't that anal, just had this "My call is final" unfriendly aura. Then again, he almost carded me for not shaking hands after I won the first bout. I sincerely hope the three of us can keep fencing for as long as we are interested (I'm being realistic here =)). I remember there was a point (pun not intended) when I screwed up and the RGS anchor score 2 pts in a row to level the score 43-43. Almost the entire RJC bunch who was present yelled "FLORENCE!!!" in unison. Lol. David said every batch invariably gave him a heart attack for the final team bouts :P. Faii exhibited his powerfulMany, many thanks to all those who came to support and gave me the much needed encouragement and advice. I would not have acheived anything without you guys.
I need to wash my equipment more often but its so tough to get it to dry when training days are consecutive. The foilists were trying hard not to laugh when they saw me spraying my equipment with Nivea deodarant.
I wish I could have gone to support Bern, the Blade Club person and all my other fencing mates but there were many matches held concurrently =(. Some of us went for dinner at the nearby hawker center where Bern made delightful dinner conversation and sent Reub and Darren into peals of laughter. I knew they would get along famously =P. Went back to Clementi Sports Hall for some mass photo-whoring session with our trophies. Darren's Israel gang came over to visit him; so nice rit? All of us, Darren most of all, were kinda hyper after prize presentation. Took loads of stupid videos, cracked and cringed at the many lewd references, Charmaine mimicries and jokes that were made.
Dinner with Reub and Darren at Sumo House since Darren was still hungry. I think we must have annoyed those running it as we took up 3 seats, ordered really lttle, spilled one cup of green tea. After that excitement, I broke the chair leg (time to lose weight:( ) and best of all...
(Minutes after the cleaner came to mpp the floor)

Florence: I still don't get how it happened, did someone kick the table or something? (unconsciously kicks table)
*green tea spills*
*Reuben cracks up*
Darren: FLORENCE!!!

But dinner from then on, was uneventful and relatively dry =).

GP Debates

I would hate to be arguing with Suat. Her solid conviction in her stand, wild gesticulations, already commanding voice that tapered to a crescendo and red-faced exertion was enough to send our class into fits of laughter. By the end of the crossfire, only Suat and Jay were left to defend their viewpoints. The rest of us debaters bade a hasty retreat and joined the audience in their amusement. It was like watching Taiwanese parliament, the difference being in GP lesson. Jeremy was totally for his stand and showed it with his grave intonations, precise hand gestures, and fervent tries to engage the audience. In fact, he was so good I think he could have persuaded a desert nomad to buy ice-skates. As for me, I merely stood up and rattled off my speech with the paper covering my face. So, despite the amount of preparation put in, I don't think many people understood what I was intending to put across. Me included =P. Jay did a great job through helping the underprepared JunHow and Pam beef up their scant points and to their credit, they tried their best. Trust the ex-debater to set things right!
The opposition, composed of Amelia, Jeremy, Sut and Phil, won the debate, which was commendable because the motion "In order for Singapore to progress, we should not restricted by strict adherence to democracy, rather what really matters is good governance" highly favored the proposition. On a happier note, immunity from being a debater for the next round!

Fencing Trials

Gah...my muscles still feel kinda achy from Clementi training. I should have stretched out instead of going home straight. Anyway...
Today, we held fencing trials for the J1s. Seriously imba gender ratio, roughly 4 guys to every girl. The J1 batch seems a lot fitter than we were >_<; I was going around looking at the scores of some of the girls and their scores were on the whole better than mine. But then again, we were more lax with the standards.
David gave us a debrief and told us all that we fenced very well, never mind the loss of the double golds. Must get gold for teams to make up for it although I can't say I relish the prosepct of being anchorwoman. As a reprieve from fencing, we and some of the J1s played a thrilling, adrenalin-rushing game of netball. My school uniform hampered my movements somewhat but it was still fun as hell running about the hall, scoring close goals and attempting to block the guys. I could feel the sweat soakig my uniform after a few minutes. Fencing camp games is so gonna be as fun as this or more still! On my part, shall collaborate with Darren to make the night walk as freaky as can be... Hehe =P

Novices Fencing Championships

Where seeds of dreams are born, wither and at last, die...
Where the tree of possibilities and its infinites what-ifs and maybes blossom into cold reality...
Where I clinched the bronze...

I want to extend a big thank you to my coach, David, for his guidance before the competition and during it. I'm really sorry we couldn't clinch the gold medal for him, thereby breaking his glittering (literally, haha) quadruple gold record. All the more the reason to fight for the gold medal frot eams =). I also want to thank my team-mates and all those who offered comfort, support and advice. It was morale-boosting and gave me the confidence to last to the semi-finals. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't be there all of you guys, and for that, I apologise.
I think I speak for us all, when I say all of us tried our best
On a positive note, training at Clementi begins tomorrow.

Pan's Labyrinth

Tragically poignant and touching, it had me tearing as the surreal tale went inexorably towards the bittersweet end. I won't go into many details about the plot, considering the reveiws pretty much laid it bare, or spoil it here. The haunting score at the beginning of the film set the dark and depressing mood, which remained for the rest of the film. The transistion from certain scenes, especially torture ones, was a litte choppy, because there were some bits cut to give the film an NC-16 rating. I suppose it would be rated R-21 otherwise O_O, but the violent imagery, while not gratituous, still had me wincing and squirming in my seat, so I was glad for it.
Btw, the Pale Man with his stigmata eyes is one of the most frightening and memorable monsters I've ever seen on film... *shudder*

In the lift

It's things like these which make me think I should keep my mouth in check. But sometimes, the retort on the brink of my lips just can't resist being let out.
Me, CT and Shu Yi were rushing for the lift and it almsot shut on us when Mr Lee held it open. When we shuffled further into the cramped lift, I must have swung by bag quite vigorously for a Caucasian teacher complained about it. Here's a brief transcript...

Him: You should really watch where you're swinging that bag
Me: Oh... Sorry
Him: It was rather hard
Me: ...sorry
Him: I treasure my kidneys you know
Me:...Doesn't everyone have two kidneys..?

Mr Lee burst into laughter and looked away so no-one would realise. CT and Shu Yi glanced down in a bid to stifle their giggles while the rest of the teachers and guys in the lift grinned.

He: It felt like a ton of bricks

I didn't meant to be intentionally sassy but I truly didn't smack him with my heavy bag on purpose. Perhaps a better rejoinder would have been "Well, it just shows how much notes RJ is giving the students these days."

Fencing training was relatively slack as usual; attacking and defending drills followed by a crap session with David, possibly to help us relax before the BIG DAY. David told us to go there and enjoy ourselves, never mind the final tally of medals O_O. I must must must get at least a medal for JX, David, RJC and myself! Due to the drizzle outside, we planned to have a maggie mee party but the 7-11 was closed, ironically enough, before seven. So we headed to the bus-stop and that was when the Murphy's Law decided to come into play. The bus came really late and we had no seats. There was a terrible jam that caused the bus to inch forward. We all got exasperated and chose to walk along RI when some vehicle came and SPLASHED the whole bunch of us. JX got the brunt of it though. While walking, the self-same merrily whizzed past us as the jam finally cleared. And on the stretch of pavement to J8, the drizzle began to intensify into a moderate shower. Not exactly a brilliant evening for us huh?
David and Zhi Hua joined us for dinner at Pastamania, and together we ate...pasta (duh)! My seafood dish was super filling and I still feel a tad bloated even now. Darren and me finished one and a half bottles of cheese by dumping spoons and spoons of it onto our food. By 8.40, all the guys had gone,leaving me and Joanna to chat about random stuff. Her dad offered me a lift (lift again!) home which I thankfully accepted. Try lugging some 4kg bag home on a rainy day after a long MRT journey... Tomorrow, Pan's Labyrinth! I can barely wait...

CCA Feste

Just my luck to have 5 rounds of conditioning during PE before fencing for demonstration later. Everything went really smoothly; except that I got slightly annoyed at JX cus he was quite adamant that I fence, despite knowing that I was lethargic. On hindsight, which is 20/20 btw, it was for my own good. The bouts didn't exactly do much for my confidence for Novices though; I lost my bouts against Sun Lu (9-10) and Darren (13-15) by a close margin. After fencing, I went around trying to explain to the curious J1s the concept of fencing and the details of school trainings. Joanna actually managed to get ONE HUNDRED people to sign up, thus fufilling David's impossible request. And 100 people signing up, means about 50 turning up for trials, hence answering Mr Teo's prayers. Lol. Charmaine's star power certainly helped to entice many J1 guys =P. Clearly, joining storyline for Orientation is a direct pathway to instant fame and popularity. If you're as cute as Charmaine that is =P.

Fencing Fun!

Spent 3 hours travelling to Juliana's Salle from home because I took the wrong bus from RJ but the time I spent there made it all worthwhile. First thing, my equipment was subjected to weapons check, and as a outstanding testament to the durability of China made goods, my mask and lame both failed. MISERABLY.
Sun Lu, Joanna, Darren, Reub, Charmaine, JX, Faii and a guest celebrity, Nellicia were present. I fenced Nellicia and lost 6-15, fenced Joanna and won 15-13, fenced Charmaine and won 15-8. Same old stupid mistakes again...think I need to take things easy on the piste so I can carry out those moves. I admire Nellicia's solid footwork and powerful attack. Tried Henry's newly invented pseudo-foil with Darren and had such a great time. It basically a long oval piece of foam with some wiring and mechanism that emits a beep everytime the tip touches metal. Henry's a genius!
Instead of paying for the usage of piste, we opted to do some housework instead. But before that, I did parry riposte and footwork drills with Joanna while the guys were GLUED to the Xbox. JX and Faii took turns playing the piano melodiously as I listened. In another corner, Joanna and Charmaine were practising the Orientation Batch Dance. Then, the California pizza came and we shared a few jokes of an insulting nature over dinner. After that, the guys went straight back to the Xbox (duh!).
Reub left around 9 and we, or rather the guys, set about to do the housework. I attempted to be useful but there really wasn't much else I could do and in the meanwhile, Joanna took 4 videos of Darren and JX mopping the floor. She got them so "incensed" that they shoved the mops in her face and rubbed the dirty cleaner against her legs. My comment on the kinkiness of JX's action almost earned me the same treatment as her, but I sprayed him with detergent =P. Later, we went to the toilet to wash the bucket and the nasty JX did a number on me by spraying the unsuspecting helpful me with water as I was walking over to help him with the "faulty" water hose. I grabbed an umbrella lying nearby, trying to ram him with it, but chose to abort the attempt =).
Took the bus home with Joanna and alighted at the same bus-stop. Had a brief lively conversation that culminated in me almost missing 960 (extreme bad luck with public transport today).
I really, really am glad for the company of my fencing mates, who brighten my life with their numerous sparkles of wit and everything else :).

Some videos of our antics...

Internal Sabre Comp

3 hours till the intra-club competiton so I chilled out at the library, alternating from attempting to do maths and chatting with some of my fellow fencer friends. The sabre tournament was rather rushed and despite the 3 pt handicap for pooles, I had 3 victories and 3 losses, conceding all my bouts to the PRCs. On a random note, there was this UBER rich ACS (I) guy who paid 300 bucks for his sabre and 800 bucks for his visor mask!!!
By some stroke of luck, I was ranked sixth and fenced off with Yu Feng. Beat him 15-5, many thank to the 8 point lead for girls. I actually managed 3 one lights on him! Fenced Joanna and beat her 15-13, certainly was a close call :(. Darren and Reuben must be fated to fence each other before the finals and their scores are likewise fated to be incredibly close (15-14 to Reub's favor). Reub did very well and smacked the other guys to a score of 15-4, considering he was having a stomach upset earlier on. I entered the semi-finals and was to fence Faii. Lost 15-12 but was pleasantly surprised to score 4 points. The others said I could have beaten him if I was less static, had bette technique and captalised on his aching back. Faii and Reub didn't fence because Faii's back injury was giving him a really bad time. Guess I should't underestimate myself too much. Confidence has never been one of my strong points. On hindsight, although it is ever perfect, I was frustrated to know I had been making the same mistakes I had been doing drills regularly to rectify. Darren says I need to learn how to keep a cool head under fire so I hope I can get that by Novices. In the mean time, drills, drills, and more drills!

And so it begins

I couldn't sleep for almost 2 hours last night. Tossing and tuning in my bed, occasionally registering the beep that marked the passing of an hour, my mind constantly wandered to those thoughts of him and the trace of bitterness and longing which infuses them makes me feel pathetic. As much as I don't like to admit it, I am jealous and disappointed, although I have no right to be.

Saudade... Maybe part of desiring something is knowing that it is possibly unattainable.

Felt the aftermath of yesterday's insomnia acutely around noon; my knees were actually trembling slightly with exhaustion. School was ok, I didn't bank on lessons to begin immediatly but RJ is RJ afterall. Was glad to meet up with Shu Yi, CT, Wei Lu and Philana and we shared out stories of our holidays over tutorials and recess. Skipped IHC because I was so damn tired; surviving on 2 hours of sleep is a mean feat and I thank Mr Sia for letting us off for PE. I managed to catch a bit of the Orientation storyline without getting caught by the PE teachers. Charmaine REALLY fits the bill of Misa Misa =P!

Blood Diamond

Thousands are killed as war rages for control of the diamond fields.

None of whom has ever seen a diamond.

I caught the sneak preview of "Blood Diamond" with Lestari at J8. The gritty portrayal of the brutality and bloodshed of civil war in Sierra Lone, coupled with the dramatic twists in the story kept my eyes riveted to the screen throughout (have a slight crick in my neck now, got third row seats >_<). The acting was consistently top-notch; sincere enough to lend weight to the plight of the characters when it could have easily degenerated into histronics, given the complex emotional burdens they have. I loved the lines in the movie, from the macabrely humourous jokes to the unflinchingly harsh conclusions of the reality in South Africa. And cool South African accent Leonardo Di Caprio had throughout the whole show mah frens.

Last Day of The Year

Went to Pastamania at Cineleisure for dinner together with Min Li and Nicole. Had a rather nice one hour threeway conversation over Vongole (Clams and Pasta) in cream sauce and garlic bread too. Eating slowly indeed does make you sated faster and as a side bonus, you don't put on as much calories =P. Hung around Hereen to do some window shopping and trying on of bling-bling accessories. I winded up buying a black punk bracelet on a whim; it complemented the rest of my outfit pretty well.
Follwing that, we took the MRT to Esplanade and almost missed our stop. Funny how Raffles City shopping mall is at City Hall MRT. There was a continous stream of people from the MRT all the way to the Esplanade, bringing to mind unpleasant memories of getting stuck in a crowd of foreign workers along Orchard Road. Witnessed a mini-stampede that occured at the mouth of the escalator because it was moving too fast. We had to walk a LOOONG way to reach the Esplanade in a light drizzle and many detours because the roads were cordoned off and some pathways were only for exits.
Due to the swarming mass of humanity at the bayside, we intended to go the rooftop terrace for a picturesque view of all the luminous floating spheres but it was closed for a private function. Caught a glimpse of the fireworks from one of the buildings and felt initially cheated since the display was rather miserable but the grand finale of fireworks, a spectrum of lights dancing across the canvass of black, was truly a spectacular sight to behold. We almost missed the first display of fireworks as we were rushing to one of the cafes for a much-needed ice blended treat. Photowhored lots and like many of the revellers, sprayed foam on unsuspecting individuals. This is one of the rare times when deviant behaviour is grudgingly condoned so we tried our best to play the rebels =P.
Decided to leave after the crowds had largely dispersed and we walked for quite a bit, eventually ending up at Suntec City Starbucks for a rest and some more ice-blended treats. At around 2, Nic called her dad, who very nicely gave all of us a lift back home.
It's been a good year. Relentless Time allows no pause however, so on we move aboard the carousel of Life.