Haha the highly anticipated earth hour was over so quickly. I even felt a bit sad when it was over. Im wierd. Lol. I was thinking, 1 hour of turning off your lights, what difference can that make to the world? And I think that is the same question that many people were asking. Hmm...I think that for one, Earth Hour serves to remind us of our role as global citizens through this 1 hour thing. And hopefully this reminder can go on further, and achieve many more 'earth hours' or even something even greater. =)
Secondly, I think that this event is also asking all of us to do something simple, but practical for our planet. Most of us know about the poor shape of our planet today, but how often do we actually do something about it? And that is what Earth hour is for, to send a message that its not good enough knowing about it and wanting to do something, but something has to really be done. This is meant for people like us, as well as to tell our leaders: "We care, do you?"
Think there are more, but thats all I've come up with...haha. Dont forget next year's Although it would be the best if there can be an Earth Hour every day, haha!=)
The last week started out with 2 tests+ 1 oral speech on Monday, and 1 more on Tuesday. Then there wasnt anything after those. So you should be able to guess how I did in those tests, especially those 3 on the first day after the hols... Was quite sad for the first 3 days becos of that, but think I recovered on Thursday and become mysteriously motivated! Haha. I started off the year okay, but kinda screwed up the next few tests. So fortunately I still had those that I did better in to save my grades for the first assessment report...sadly not all subjects have this luxury. =(
Still, whats the point of brooding over those sad stuff? haha. Im tempted to say that this week has been rather fun too, considering the fact that we could have a few relaxed days, when other are still taking their tests. And also, we are having the oral speeches this week for english, so yay just appreciate haha.
One of the most talked about issue this week: the chinese cct paper. One of the highest number of failures. The students found the paper difficult. The teachers found us weak in chinese. Haha. Who to believe? I dont know...but really, people are just talking about how difficult it is, how many failures there are in each class, the ONE class which didnt have any failures out of the 17 classes, one class with like 12 failures...yea basically...the whole level just did badly...I...was rather lucky, so...will work harder! =) Same for the other subjects! And for the sake of that I have decided on some small lifestyle changes haha. Simple things.
One of them being something which will make some people happy, I will not learn blindly and just accept what im told. I will question and get my facts right. And I will admit what I dont know. I realised that sometimes, I just didnt seem to want to learn, and take no interest in whatever is being taught, so yea, nothing much gets in. Mr Koh would call it unmotivated. I want to change that. I want to learn to be someone who is self-motivated. Yea. Thats seems to be quite a good thing to work on. =)
Earlier today, us ventures went to pathlight school, to teach the students there some of the campfire songs we are going to sing at our campfire coming up on the 25th April. We were all really excited about getting a much larger group than expected, about 40+ in total i think... It was really quite a new experience interacting with the students directly, because for the past few years working with the school, we have never done anything like this. So naturally, there was a slight fear. Not of them, but of the unknown. We went in, yes having a vague idea of what to expect, but what is a briefing compared to an actual session for interaction?
It wasnt an easy job I must say, because it is difficult to get everyone to participate actively. Some of them are really quiet and shy, while there are some who are really active and dont want to be just singing. But Im glad that I tried my best today to help them to join in the fun, and learn the songs so that they can sing along with the rest of the guests then! Hope that after today, they wont see us as strangers again! I felt really touched when some of the students came and talked to me after the session about how fun it was, and thanking us for teaching them...really didnt expect that. Wow. =) Hope that we wont make some of the mistakes that we made today again, and get them to be even more involved!
After the session, Alvin, Amos, Sup, Rong Jun, Jon Ed, Kenneth Lam and I, went back to school to practice for the inter-UG soccer. Im actually not involved, but I thought I would be useful as a dummy for target practice or something...so I joined the match. What started off as a small and simple match, became larger as more people joined, and we even had about 11 players on each team at a time. Haha, I realised that a little bit of soccer, occasionally, is actually fun haha. I enoyed the match very much, even though I was a defender for like the whole 2,3 hours. Haha, maybe soccer isnt as bad as I thought? Anyway, onward 01! Go for the medals! =D
Oh yes, tomorrow there is going to be a global election, and everyone is invited to take part. Im sure you know what Im referring to by now, haha. Its the election between Earth, and Global Warming. Your light switch is your vote. Earth Hour 2009. 28 March 2009. 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Local time. Remember to swtich OFF! Cities and countries worldwide will be doing the same, so join in and do your part for the Earth!
There is a gap in my heart, somewhere, and I want to fill it in.
Haha sorry yesterday jim koped the com and I was too lazy to turn on the other, so...yea, heres it today. Most of yesterday was dedicated to a 601 gathering! Woke up late in the morning, and then had breakfast then went jogging with Jim and Wan Jing! Havent been jogging in a long time + scorching hot sun, so foam, lols. And then we went to hougang mall to have lunch, and as usual we couldnt decide on a place to eat, so just went to a random empty one. No one came to serve us, so we got an order form and filled it in ourselves, haha. The food took some time, so we had a really nice long talk about all the stuff so far in school, and about the old times...haha. And then after that we went to the hougang sports complex and met up with Kenneth and Tabitha. Joash came later, haha. And we played badminton! Havent played in a long long time too, so was quite bad at first, but after getting warmed up and stuff, got slightly better. But still far from the pros, tabitha and joash though...somehow the shuttlecock moves faster when they hit it, lol. Haha, I still like badminton as much as before! So fun, especially when its with friends! And when it just goes back and forth really fast, its quite exciting haha. And btw I have a problem with smashing. lol. Haha, I had a lot of fun there, but all of us were sweaty and tired after that, so we decided to go home first and meet up for dinner again later. Which we did. Haha, some lucky people cycled home and some others walked. lols.
I went home and just slept. Until like about 6.30pm when I woke up and ate a bit of the dinner at home before, going to pick up WJ and go for the dinner! For dinner, it was WJ, Shu Min, Kenneth, Wei Xuan, Yee Shing, Delwyn and me. Lols, looked around for places to eat again, but this time the only place which had space and had things we wanted to eat was the food court, so we went there. The atmosphere wasnt that good, and we were sitting besider the tray return area, lols, but it was still fun with so many old friends around, haha.
We all ate our stuff, and then after we ate, we decided to do some fun stuff, haha. Like playing cards there, lols. Nobody ever told me that we werent allowed to play cards there, so thats was wat we did! lols. Played a game or two of bridge, haha. And then...we er...called some people. Yea we called some people and talked to them in a weird way. Just to test them, haha...
So we sat there for a long time, do all these and discussing when and where our next gathering should be, and also...who we should invite, lol. Our hopes are high, but not sure if it will really be done, haha. Hope Darren can make it for the next one too! Oh yes...we should have taken some photos...darn.
Anyway, its really nice to have a class gathering once in a while, really helps in remembering the old times, when we were all so innocent, had more time, and had lots of fun time together. Haha. I miss being a kid, when theres really nothing much to worry about......
Note: sorry for this late post. I actually forgot that i havent published this yet and left it in my drafts, lol.
Haha hey everyone, the 'compulsory' jobweek period has just ended for us! (guess that many people around singapore are really relieved at hearing this haha)And generally, I find job week to be...a really interesting experience haha. Let me start off:
So as you can see from the last post, I was really privileged to be able to go to the istana for the job week opening last tuesday, and be one of the first scouts to do the jobweek, and also meet the president himself! First we met up at the scouts hq, so I missed a few lessons...=( (hehe) And had a short briefing, on what to expect and stuff. For some reason, a cub scout and I were selected to speak to the media, so we had an additional briefing and had to think through what to say. That got me really nervous, lols.
So we did our uniform check and went on our way in the scout vans to the istana! Some standard procedures, as Mr Teo would say, with the security, and then we were in. The istana was really beautiful. All the greenery, and the grand building...gorgeous. But once we were in, we didnt have much time to relax. It was time to do work. I was assigned to polish some silverware:
Haha so we did our work, until the president came into the room. We all rushed to join the rest, who were already standing in a row to get their handshakes, haha. He is a really nice person, and talked to everyone of us.
The president then signed the first jobweek card, donating S$2000 to us! Thank you! Haha. Oh yes, right after, a group of guests from the middle east entered and came to meet us. So we shook hands, and stuff, and I was the last guy in the row. Guess what? The prince/prime minister asked me for my scarf! Wow nobody told me about this...I was stunned! But then after a short while I hurriedly took of my scarf and said "of course", haha! That was seriously unexpected! I never thought of this...wow. And my hair was really messy from the beret haha.
Haha the president talked to me after that about the incident, lols. And we had a nice little chat over tea. haha. Then was the phototaking session. Took a few group photos.
Haha also got to know some of the other scouts and scout groups through the interaction! Heard some pretty interesting stories... Overall, a really fun and once-ion-a-lifetime experience! Thanks so much to the people who gave me this opportunity! =D
Now...the actual job week. Throughout the past 3days, from saturday to monday, I have been running about some parts of singapore, looking for jobs and stuff, to raise money for the scouts association! The three days were really quite tiring, both physically and mentally. There were many challenges I faced during this whole process, but I learnt many things and found this to be a meaningful activity, haha. Like when I just started learning, there were times when I got stuck and blanked out, lols, and dint know what to say. But then luckily I still managed to get through everything, haha. The first and second days werent too bad, cos we chose safe places where people do not usually take, but would receive less earnings. I guess that was a good choice for a beginner like me haha. Dont want to be competing witht he other groups. At homes, it was quite good, cos people like to be at home and are happy. haha. But there are some things people have to take note of. One of which is about the eyeholes. Do you know how it feels, when you ring the doorbell, and see the eyehole turn from bright to darkness, and then bright again after a while, and not see anyone open the door? Note very encouraging, at least tell me a 'no' please...daoing is not very nice... And oh yea, for all 3 days, there were rain. So basically Alvin and I got wet on all 3 days, haha. but I have to say, that made the experience even more memorable and fun haha. Still remember the first day when we tried to cross a road junction together with just one umbrella becos I was just too lazy to take out my poncho. We got ALL WET! Haha so sorry to Alvin, who never should have gotten that wet, lol.
On the last day, which was a monday, we knew that less people would be at home, so we approached the shops this time. And although I thought that it was a good move, it didnt actually turn out so well. We expected something like this, but it was worse than we thought. Because of the recesssion this year, the businesses especially, gave us amounts which were comparable to those at HDB. So it was rather difficult this time...and I got scolded many times at shops...seriously. Although there were also some kind souls who smiled when they saw us and talked to us nicely. =D Thank you! And also thanks a whole lot to Alvin Chua for kindly allowing me to follow him on his routes! And for listening to my demoralising comments, haha. Thanks a lot for showing me the ropes too! Cos now I see it! haha =) And also thank you to those who were manning the hotline, your help is greatly appreciated! It got us going when we were demoralised, and the suggestions were great too! =D Hope that the amount we earned would be enough for the group this year...$$$! lol.
Now that job week is considered over (for most at least), tomorrow some of the 601 peeps will be playing badminton together! I only hope that enough people would go, and...there are enough racquets, lols. =D
This is week 10. And its jam packed with tests, lol. There were supposed to be like 7 tests in total this week, which is...rather crazy. But haha luckily some guy in our batch was smart and told one of the big shots in school, and poof! Some of them were postponed! (fat hope waiting for it to vanish, haha) Now we are left with about 4. =)
Today was the chinese cct, i think i did badly, could finish the paper...and we also got our geog test back, and it wasnt well done either...dunno why this is happening...but i better work harder the next time round...
Work work work. This week is all about that. Homework, and then theres CCA work, lots of it. And tests. And assignments. But luckily tomorrow will be a really short day for me, cos Im going to the Istana for the job week opening! Im so honoured. And stressed too lol. Hope everything goes well tomorrow...
I look forward to the March holidays. Really do. Job week will be the first challenge. =)
Oh yes, Im so sorry for the lack of updates...yea the reason is obvious... but I will attempt to revive this soon! =D
Haha, sorry for not updating for quite some time...I would LOVE to write about the overnight and backwoods experience, but didnt have the photos then, haha. And then I find my school life boring sometimes, not really interesting enough to blog about, lol. Fortunately, I am able to blog about fun stuff sometimes because of scouts...=D
Shall start with something simple today. Today the class seating arrangement changed. Apparently Mr Koh suddenly wanted to have the discussion group kinda of arrangement, where we faced each other in class instead of all towards the front. The new arrangement...yea can see it work. But some side effects started to appear after just a day. It basically promotes communication...talking and chatting at the wrong times... Haha, so the perception of the new arrangement differed quite a lot from person to person...
Significance: Hmm...I cant help but start thinking about the significance of this new arrangement. You know, just before this, I was telling the people sitting beside me, how I wanted to change seats because I just couldnt learn well beside them. I still dont dispute this point though, I mean, unless you are really good at controlling yourself, who's to say that he wont be affected sitting between 2 of his good friends?
When I said that I wanted a change, they think I just hated them and couldnt stand them, like seriously. Do you really think that I care nothing about friends, and only want the grades? If that's the case, I would be an introvert and wouldnt even want to get involved in anything at all except academic stuff, not class soccer, not class deco. Then maybe I can get the 4.0 GPA everyone dreams of. But no, thats not want I want. Or maybe they think that Im just someone hard to please. Ok, thats justifiable, I do get pissed off sometimes, but dont we all come from different backgrounds, schools, classes and families? Dont you think that the actions that someone deem as alright, might not be so to another person? I know some people just cant understand why Im acting in a certain way, and that's ok, but im sure asking is an option, or if you're not interested, then just let it be. That goes the same for me, I refrain from imposing my own thinking and ideals on others. People are different. Some more than others. And that's what make you, you, and me, me.
Changing of seats doesnt have to be the end of interaction and communication. Hopefully the change of seats can allow all of us to experience how its like with other people, and maybe realise what each of us valued about each other, and form even stronger friendships in the process. That is what I really hope for.
I dont intent for this to be an attack of any form, but simply to explain where Im coming from, and how I view the issue. Hope you understand.
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Random incident: On the bus ride home today, I was holding on the the grab pole. And as usual, I started to feel the drowsiness, and slowly drifted off to sleep. My head just started to fall forward and it crashed against the metal pole. The loud sound and the pain woke me. Lols, people who happened to notice what happened must have been thinking of what kind of school RI is... I lowered my head, and rubbed where my head was hit. Didnt dare to look at people's expressions...haha.
Jack Tan
17
Capricorn
RI(JC)
01 Scouts- GC '10!
RECAS
ConSERVEcert!
106,202,302,401,501,601
1E'06,2E'07,3T'08,4T'09
11S03S
Wishlist
1. Create happiness!
2. Be a nicer person
3. Be enlightened
4. All my work- done!
5. Make many new friends! and build on the friendships!
6. Have a very happy life!
7. Achieve something! especially my dreams...
8. Make the best out of my life!