"O" Levels 2007 - Prologue
Sunday, October 21, 2007
I originally thought of rewriting the memoirs, but considering that I am slightly behind my cramming schedule and that I should really stop wasting time, I will just talk about my pre-"O" Levels thoughts.
at the time of writing I am somewhat done with my planned history and geography revision. fell back a bit due to procrastination and also because the more you try to cram, the harder it will fit in snugly. decided to leave some revision till the day before as well, just to spread things nicely.
most people would start their exams tomorrow. since I no longer take A Maths (jiayou to those who are anyways), that would mean my next two days are free, which means hardcore chemistry revision.
at this moment, I feel more nervous than afraid. I want to see how the papers will turn out, not for the papers to never arrive. what I am really nervous about was whether SEAB or CIE (UCLES) will end up pulling some stunt in their papers and take everyone aback.
I really hope things will go well. dont think I could take the pressure if anything happened way out of what I had come to expect (such as the topics for SEQ, and if they fail to put natural vegetation with deforestation).
the last mile seemed particularly quiet. most people already stopped coming to school the week before the official study leave begins last tuesday or so, especially 4/1. heard attendance was 7 or so. my class too, about 10 decided to be elsewhere but in school.
the last time I went school was the 17th and the few who are still in school are mostly 4/3 to 4/5 people. some of them are still playing cards. but then again, some of the some of them (lol) actually studies a lot at home, something I dont do. so I must not compare myself with them.
well, this is it folks. the milestone of my entire secondary school life had been to build up and prepare for this. after this, a large part of my teenage life will indeed become memories etched and set aside to a corner of my brain.
honestly speaking, I dont want this journey to end. I dont wish to let go of all the friendships I have now. they are the ones who have accompanied through my many days where I slowly grew up. in fact, they may be the catalysts of the entire process, or even the random chemical that makes the entire process all the more enjoyable.
I am in a daze myself. would I be able to make friends as good as those that I have now as I enter the next stage? would my memories be as magical and memorable as those I had accumulated now? a small part of me constantly
despite all the gatherings and chalets on the drawing board, we should stop deceiving ourselves. relations between your current friends will be eroded slowly as we move on towards our new destinations that would open up as we overcome this milestone.
it is just like how the waves would never stop plunging against the headland, except now, time is the waves and the friendship is the headland. soon, all that is left are the little fragments of what used to be a majestic cliff.
but hey, the only constant in life is change. if everyone is moving on except me, it will become all the more meaningless. on this note, I wish everyone taking their "O" Levels this year good luck and to work hard for this final milestone.
at the time of writing I am somewhat done with my planned history and geography revision. fell back a bit due to procrastination and also because the more you try to cram, the harder it will fit in snugly. decided to leave some revision till the day before as well, just to spread things nicely.
most people would start their exams tomorrow. since I no longer take A Maths (jiayou to those who are anyways), that would mean my next two days are free, which means hardcore chemistry revision.
at this moment, I feel more nervous than afraid. I want to see how the papers will turn out, not for the papers to never arrive. what I am really nervous about was whether SEAB or CIE (UCLES) will end up pulling some stunt in their papers and take everyone aback.
I really hope things will go well. dont think I could take the pressure if anything happened way out of what I had come to expect (such as the topics for SEQ, and if they fail to put natural vegetation with deforestation).
the last mile seemed particularly quiet. most people already stopped coming to school the week before the official study leave begins last tuesday or so, especially 4/1. heard attendance was 7 or so. my class too, about 10 decided to be elsewhere but in school.
the last time I went school was the 17th and the few who are still in school are mostly 4/3 to 4/5 people. some of them are still playing cards. but then again, some of the some of them (lol) actually studies a lot at home, something I dont do. so I must not compare myself with them.
well, this is it folks. the milestone of my entire secondary school life had been to build up and prepare for this. after this, a large part of my teenage life will indeed become memories etched and set aside to a corner of my brain.
honestly speaking, I dont want this journey to end. I dont wish to let go of all the friendships I have now. they are the ones who have accompanied through my many days where I slowly grew up. in fact, they may be the catalysts of the entire process, or even the random chemical that makes the entire process all the more enjoyable.
I am in a daze myself. would I be able to make friends as good as those that I have now as I enter the next stage? would my memories be as magical and memorable as those I had accumulated now? a small part of me constantly
despite all the gatherings and chalets on the drawing board, we should stop deceiving ourselves. relations between your current friends will be eroded slowly as we move on towards our new destinations that would open up as we overcome this milestone.
it is just like how the waves would never stop plunging against the headland, except now, time is the waves and the friendship is the headland. soon, all that is left are the little fragments of what used to be a majestic cliff.
but hey, the only constant in life is change. if everyone is moving on except me, it will become all the more meaningless. on this note, I wish everyone taking their "O" Levels this year good luck and to work hard for this final milestone.
posted by Desmond, 11:00 AM
| link
Inbox
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
extracted from HardwareZone as usual. sometimes I think I really should be studying with all these time spent idling away.
a competition between jesus and satan ensues. how will it turn out?
==
Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on
the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was
tired of hearing all the bickering.
Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to
set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will
judge who does the better job."
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.
They moused.
They faxed.
They e-mailed.
They e-mailed with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did spreadsheets! .
They wrote reports.
They created labels and cards.
They created charts and graphs.
They did some genealogy reports
They did every job known to man.
Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.
Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed
across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power
went off.
Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curseword known in the
underworld.
Jesus just sighed.
Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their
computers.
Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE!
I lost everything when the power went out!"
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the
past two hours of work.
Satan observed this and became irate.
"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all
his work and I don't have any?"
God just shrugged and said,
JESUS SAVES.
a competition between jesus and satan ensues. how will it turn out?
==
Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on
the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was
tired of hearing all the bickering.
Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to
set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will
judge who does the better job."
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.
They moused.
They faxed.
They e-mailed.
They e-mailed with attachments.
They downloaded.
They did spreadsheets! .
They wrote reports.
They created labels and cards.
They created charts and graphs.
They did some genealogy reports
They did every job known to man.
Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.
Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed
across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power
went off.
Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curseword known in the
underworld.
Jesus just sighed.
Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their
computers.
Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE!
I lost everything when the power went out!"
Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the
past two hours of work.
Satan observed this and became irate.
"Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all
his work and I don't have any?"
God just shrugged and said,
JESUS SAVES.
posted by Desmond, 8:13 PM
| link
Inbox
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
for the final post of today, I shall leave everyone with a quote on why the difference between talking and writing. after all, blogging is just like sharing your thoughts with everyone, just like talking.
I thought the quote really hit the bullseye when it came to describing the entire phenomenon. on how one sometimes just wishes to write the way they want and not dictated by the audience.
quote is courtesy of quanxiang's blog.
==
"I want to write so that what I write and the way I write is me, because of the choice of words and the arrangement of the words, the way I combine them, group them together, orchestrate them. For me, words are music as well as - as much as - they are meanings.
Also, writing is different from talk. When people listen to talk they hear the speaker's tone of voice. They look at the speaker's eyes. They observe the movements of the speaker's face and hands, which helps them to understand what the speaker means. The listener can question and reply and interrupt. The speaker can change her (his) mind and say so, she (he) can stop and start and huff and puff. And all this helps to make the meaning.
But in writing there is no voice to listen to, no eyes to exchange looks, no movements of the face and hands and body to assist the words. No interruptions are possible, no questions can be answered. There are only these strange shapes as old as Eve and as new as tomorrow's baby, and to me they are beautiful and glorious."
-this is All; by Aidan Chambers
I thought the quote really hit the bullseye when it came to describing the entire phenomenon. on how one sometimes just wishes to write the way they want and not dictated by the audience.
quote is courtesy of quanxiang's blog.
==
"I want to write so that what I write and the way I write is me, because of the choice of words and the arrangement of the words, the way I combine them, group them together, orchestrate them. For me, words are music as well as - as much as - they are meanings.
Also, writing is different from talk. When people listen to talk they hear the speaker's tone of voice. They look at the speaker's eyes. They observe the movements of the speaker's face and hands, which helps them to understand what the speaker means. The listener can question and reply and interrupt. The speaker can change her (his) mind and say so, she (he) can stop and start and huff and puff. And all this helps to make the meaning.
But in writing there is no voice to listen to, no eyes to exchange looks, no movements of the face and hands and body to assist the words. No interruptions are possible, no questions can be answered. There are only these strange shapes as old as Eve and as new as tomorrow's baby, and to me they are beautiful and glorious."
-this is All; by Aidan Chambers
posted by Desmond, 12:54 AM
| link
Life
Monday, October 15, 2007
P.S. Thanks for the good lucks for the Os! I will need them. haha. to all those who wished and didnt wish me, good luck to you all too if you will be taking the same exam!
==
...and so I am back for round two.
remember that I talked about this final post before the next milestone in my life (ala O Levels)? this post isnt it. that final post will probably be a major rewrite of the CSS memoirs with some pre-war nuggets on thoughts and feelings. then I can proceed to compare how different they are after it is over.
and now onto what I am supposed to do for this post. and I have a feeling it is gonna be incomprehensibly incoherent and I am not going to try and sort through it. I havent updated in a while and so I have plenty to talk about. dont blame me.
==
after putting the entire weekend to waste, I failed to use any of today in a very productive fashion as well. guess I can thank ching kit and kah sing. still bloody jokers after four years. even my rather fine sarcasm skills picked up from janice beh and my post-primary-school life were put to the test. only rulangnites are able to challenge that.
the day started out well as I met mx, kenneth and gang at library to study. it was rather productive till hwee shi and gang came along and decided to engage in the activity best found in an integrated resort two years later as usual.
so I went up to look for the duo, whom hwee shi and I spotted not long after our arrival. some part of the time went into "old time" talk, some onto Brain Juice, some into fooling around and a trickle into chapter 6 of history.
==
talking about Brain Juice, everyone whom I introduced the game to loved it to bits. it is the amazing power of a game that is, for once, actually engaging YET educational. I recommend anyone to try it.
in the meantime, please stop stealing my phone to play it. it is pretty taxing on the battery. I had to charge it daily for the past two days. considering I dont use the phone all that much...
==
oh great back to today.
there are two main things that happened in library.
the first is that turns out both of them are going to JJC Arts for PAE! woohoo! finally some company! and I managed to convince them to go NP's BIT course too! now I dont need to be too afraid of my next stage of education to be without company!
the second is when this somewhat prepubescent girl and boy came and plonked their gathering of adipose tissues at the pelvis right beside our spot.
actually it is not really their fault, we wandered to JEC so those two can buy their waffles before returning, so I guess they didnt really expect us back that quickly. anyway...
it started off really innocent. we went about our business and the boy played with his PSP and the girl with her phone. then the boy kept his PSP and the girl kept her phone. then the boy and girl held hands and started whispering sweet nothings to each other. then the boy and girl fooled around like what you expect from a couple.
you can continue the story lah.
then I see liao I damn chek ark, those two are probably about 12 or 13, more likely sec 1s than P6s to me la, but definitely not higher. and they are already going steady.
==
you know ah, back at ah gong desmond's time (cough cough, I 16 years and 8 months old already), I dont know about the fascinating side of zharbors till I over 14 years old leh. okay la, ah gong thinks he himself late bloomer anyway. but once you discover the fascinating side of the opposite sex, you wont wanna turn back, as evidenced by many ah gong's buddies, no matter within or outside commonwealth.
see la, OT again. told you all this would happen repeatedly.
==
okay okay, continue. and after that kah sing wants go shopping. I suggested IMM. and so we went. bad move.
ching kit and I literally watched him window shop happily along the multitude of branches of branded stores that opened in the new wing.
not that it is a bad thing, but it is the first time I know of a GUY that is so passionate about shopping. he spent a few minutes looking through the adidas shop for a jacket/windbreaker/sweater/blazer and told me newurbanmale sells cheap slippers. it is either I suaku or he champion.
since we are at it, can someone please tell me the difference between a jacket, windbreaker, sweater and a blazer? a reward of one hundred dollars awaits you if you can. the currency of the one hundred dollars in question would be decided with the winner at a later time.
guess that wraps up today. tomorrow WILL AND MUST DEFINITELY be a more productive day, especially since I will spend some time with consultation with Mrs Png in school, and to fetch answer keys for the E Maths O Level October/November past year papers.
==
revision really isnt going well though. I literally studied nothing in the past few days, simply spent time looking through all the exam packs of history. honestly speaking, it only made me more nervous, seeing all that multitude of questions schools have set the SEQ in.
I really really really damn bloody wish to get 5A1s at least. Commonwealth's West Coast campus's official opening is next year on 8th August 2008. not only is it such a nice number, it is also the awards day, since it IS the national day eve remember?
I will probably get to shake tharman's hand or something LOL. not I gay lah, more like IT IS A MINISTER right? damn wu seh ok!
even if not tharman, it is still a great honour to receive an award in front of the entire school. that is the reason I am working hard for anyway. being there to get that award. now that it is the official opening, it makes this even more significant.
I hope this will push me to work really hard and get my grades. even though I am not sure where the 5th A1 will be coming from at this moment, but I shall make sure there will be a 5th one, no matter which subject it is from!
==
and to end this post...
found rulang's yearbook in 2002. quickly flipped through for traces of the memories from years back. nice to see everyone "back to basics". haha.
4K got my attention other than the primary five classes (my batch) too. 4K in my school = top class okay. mai siao. apparently she was the clever type since a long time ago. she looked even more kiddish than she is now and sitting on the first row sia. so she still quite short even back then la? that she is not my crush but a good friend la. but if I just give any form of pseudonym the cat will be out liao. this line is more to tease that person whom I know will read my blog soon. lol.
I also think that she should just stop thinking so much la. makes you sad and angry and stuff without making the situation better in any sense. and people around will just worry more the more you dont tell them to. and dont make irresponsible comments about suicide la please.
happy guessing and good night.
==
...and so I am back for round two.
remember that I talked about this final post before the next milestone in my life (ala O Levels)? this post isnt it. that final post will probably be a major rewrite of the CSS memoirs with some pre-war nuggets on thoughts and feelings. then I can proceed to compare how different they are after it is over.
and now onto what I am supposed to do for this post. and I have a feeling it is gonna be incomprehensibly incoherent and I am not going to try and sort through it. I havent updated in a while and so I have plenty to talk about. dont blame me.
==
after putting the entire weekend to waste, I failed to use any of today in a very productive fashion as well. guess I can thank ching kit and kah sing. still bloody jokers after four years. even my rather fine sarcasm skills picked up from janice beh and my post-primary-school life were put to the test. only rulangnites are able to challenge that.
the day started out well as I met mx, kenneth and gang at library to study. it was rather productive till hwee shi and gang came along and decided to engage in the activity best found in an integrated resort two years later as usual.
so I went up to look for the duo, whom hwee shi and I spotted not long after our arrival. some part of the time went into "old time" talk, some onto Brain Juice, some into fooling around and a trickle into chapter 6 of history.
==
talking about Brain Juice, everyone whom I introduced the game to loved it to bits. it is the amazing power of a game that is, for once, actually engaging YET educational. I recommend anyone to try it.
in the meantime, please stop stealing my phone to play it. it is pretty taxing on the battery. I had to charge it daily for the past two days. considering I dont use the phone all that much...
==
oh great back to today.
there are two main things that happened in library.
the first is that turns out both of them are going to JJC Arts for PAE! woohoo! finally some company! and I managed to convince them to go NP's BIT course too! now I dont need to be too afraid of my next stage of education to be without company!
the second is when this somewhat prepubescent girl and boy came and plonked their gathering of adipose tissues at the pelvis right beside our spot.
actually it is not really their fault, we wandered to JEC so those two can buy their waffles before returning, so I guess they didnt really expect us back that quickly. anyway...
it started off really innocent. we went about our business and the boy played with his PSP and the girl with her phone. then the boy kept his PSP and the girl kept her phone. then the boy and girl held hands and started whispering sweet nothings to each other. then the boy and girl fooled around like what you expect from a couple.
you can continue the story lah.
then I see liao I damn chek ark, those two are probably about 12 or 13, more likely sec 1s than P6s to me la, but definitely not higher. and they are already going steady.
==
you know ah, back at ah gong desmond's time (cough cough, I 16 years and 8 months old already), I dont know about the fascinating side of zharbors till I over 14 years old leh. okay la, ah gong thinks he himself late bloomer anyway. but once you discover the fascinating side of the opposite sex, you wont wanna turn back, as evidenced by many ah gong's buddies, no matter within or outside commonwealth.
see la, OT again. told you all this would happen repeatedly.
==
okay okay, continue. and after that kah sing wants go shopping. I suggested IMM. and so we went. bad move.
ching kit and I literally watched him window shop happily along the multitude of branches of branded stores that opened in the new wing.
not that it is a bad thing, but it is the first time I know of a GUY that is so passionate about shopping. he spent a few minutes looking through the adidas shop for a jacket/windbreaker/sweater/blazer and told me newurbanmale sells cheap slippers. it is either I suaku or he champion.
since we are at it, can someone please tell me the difference between a jacket, windbreaker, sweater and a blazer? a reward of one hundred dollars awaits you if you can. the currency of the one hundred dollars in question would be decided with the winner at a later time.
guess that wraps up today. tomorrow WILL AND MUST DEFINITELY be a more productive day, especially since I will spend some time with consultation with Mrs Png in school, and to fetch answer keys for the E Maths O Level October/November past year papers.
==
revision really isnt going well though. I literally studied nothing in the past few days, simply spent time looking through all the exam packs of history. honestly speaking, it only made me more nervous, seeing all that multitude of questions schools have set the SEQ in.
I really really really damn bloody wish to get 5A1s at least. Commonwealth's West Coast campus's official opening is next year on 8th August 2008. not only is it such a nice number, it is also the awards day, since it IS the national day eve remember?
I will probably get to shake tharman's hand or something LOL. not I gay lah, more like IT IS A MINISTER right? damn wu seh ok!
even if not tharman, it is still a great honour to receive an award in front of the entire school. that is the reason I am working hard for anyway. being there to get that award. now that it is the official opening, it makes this even more significant.
I hope this will push me to work really hard and get my grades. even though I am not sure where the 5th A1 will be coming from at this moment, but I shall make sure there will be a 5th one, no matter which subject it is from!
==
and to end this post...
found rulang's yearbook in 2002. quickly flipped through for traces of the memories from years back. nice to see everyone "back to basics". haha.
4K got my attention other than the primary five classes (my batch) too. 4K in my school = top class okay. mai siao. apparently she was the clever type since a long time ago. she looked even more kiddish than she is now and sitting on the first row sia. so she still quite short even back then la? that she is not my crush but a good friend la. but if I just give any form of pseudonym the cat will be out liao. this line is more to tease that person whom I know will read my blog soon. lol.
I also think that she should just stop thinking so much la. makes you sad and angry and stuff without making the situation better in any sense. and people around will just worry more the more you dont tell them to. and dont make irresponsible comments about suicide la please.
happy guessing and good night.
posted by Desmond, 11:11 PM
| link
Patch
updated links again. woohoo. since I am feeling philantrophic and pensieve today, I am going to point them out to you.
they are kah sing and jasper, in case you fail to notice their minute bobbling heads waving and screaming at you for attention amidst an entire conglomerate of their turquoise-coloured siblings.
kah sing is a long-time-ago friend from primary five. honestly speaking, I dont think I know him quite well back at that time, but I have been hanging out more with him and ching kit, another old classmates, this few months and so are considered back in active contact and thus I knew he had actually revived his dead blog.
jasper is a not-very-long-time-ago friend whom I have not been engaged with actively since an world-cramping event that occured weeks ago. but hey, he is still a good friend right. and so I added his link too.
==
once I come back from the mundane-but-extremely-important daily routine of applying esterified, solidified globules of fat that will act as enzymes, in this case one that is similar to lipase which will catalyse the breakdown of fats to glycerol and fatty acids (they are secreted by the small intestines and the pancreas too) without getting chemically changed at the end of the reaction.
they do that by offering an alternative energy path requiring a lower activation energy, allowing more energy to be used for collision between particles, increasing the number of effective collisions and increasing the speed of reaction.
what I am trying to tell all of you readers who are probably seeing a platoon of birds circling your brain at this moment is that I will be back with a Life update after my bath.
I apologise for using a patch post to practise my english, biology and chemistry, and thus unknowingly extending the length and affecting the precision of this particular post.
they are kah sing and jasper, in case you fail to notice their minute bobbling heads waving and screaming at you for attention amidst an entire conglomerate of their turquoise-coloured siblings.
kah sing is a long-time-ago friend from primary five. honestly speaking, I dont think I know him quite well back at that time, but I have been hanging out more with him and ching kit, another old classmates, this few months and so are considered back in active contact and thus I knew he had actually revived his dead blog.
jasper is a not-very-long-time-ago friend whom I have not been engaged with actively since an world-cramping event that occured weeks ago. but hey, he is still a good friend right. and so I added his link too.
==
once I come back from the mundane-but-extremely-important daily routine of applying esterified, solidified globules of fat that will act as enzymes, in this case one that is similar to lipase which will catalyse the breakdown of fats to glycerol and fatty acids (they are secreted by the small intestines and the pancreas too) without getting chemically changed at the end of the reaction.
they do that by offering an alternative energy path requiring a lower activation energy, allowing more energy to be used for collision between particles, increasing the number of effective collisions and increasing the speed of reaction.
what I am trying to tell all of you readers who are probably seeing a platoon of birds circling your brain at this moment is that I will be back with a Life update after my bath.
I apologise for using a patch post to practise my english, biology and chemistry, and thus unknowingly extending the length and affecting the precision of this particular post.
posted by Desmond, 10:46 PM
| link
Inbox: A glass washroom. Would you use it?
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/toilet.asp
a bathroom built with one way glass. of course is you can see outside and not the other way round la. it is quite safe, but would you use it if it appeared in singapore?
I havent been talking a lot about my life. life posts need plenty of time to sift and type. and its not like anyone is interested anyway. lol.
but I still think I would get one done before 'O' Levels start anyway, after all it will be another milestone in my life and its always good to reminiscence before all is gone. which is happening real soon I feel.
till next time.
a bathroom built with one way glass. of course is you can see outside and not the other way round la. it is quite safe, but would you use it if it appeared in singapore?
I havent been talking a lot about my life. life posts need plenty of time to sift and type. and its not like anyone is interested anyway. lol.
but I still think I would get one done before 'O' Levels start anyway, after all it will be another milestone in my life and its always good to reminiscence before all is gone. which is happening real soon I feel.
till next time.
posted by Desmond, 9:29 PM
| link
