back to (old) school

On teacher's day, which is 29 august, i went back to my primary school - nanyang primary. I intended for it to be the last time i would pay a visit there as an ex-student, cos from next year onwards, my former school would be gmss, or rather.. clementi woods secondary. I took effort to be there early so that i would not see just the school building and hear just the wind like what happened last year. But still, i did not get to see any of my P6 teachers or any of my classmates. My P6 form teacher, who was the teacher i wanted to meet most, was on maternity leave. The only consolation i got was that one of her good friends offered to pass her a note when they meet. I thought i would never have another chance to see them again. Well, at least with my message, my form teacher would not be totally in the dark about what im like now and how im doing, after 4 years.

2 days ago, on thursday, i suddenly had an unexpected call. It was from my P6 classm8, chu xian. he told me about the ex-students day cum mooncake festival celebration on the 22nd september. this practice occured every year, but only this year did i know about it because chu xian made the effort to notify us. i was the 20th person from our class he called, using the address book we got before our graduation, and he said quite a number of them were interested to go. At last, another chance to see my classmates again! An interesting thing is that out of the 20 he called, only 3 of them had changed telephone number over the past 4 years.

Chu xian used to be one of my most detested people then; my worst enemy, cos he sucked up to teachers by being a goody 2 shoe, and in the process he stepped on my toes. Plus he was always acting smart. But when he called, we talked like as if we had always been good friends, and not even giving a hint about our past feuds. indeed, time restores relationship.

So the day came, which was yesterday, for me to meet my old classmates after 4 years. Nanyang completed its new building just after i graduated, and it is slightly furhter away. I walked along the route which i walked everyday to school during my primary school days. Memories came rushing back to my mind as i walked past familiar landmarks. I even saw the frail zombie-like old woman who lived in one of the houses. she is still alive but in the same state as before. Some of the old houses have been replaced with new modern-looking ones. There goes traces of history; gone forever.

When i arrives at the scene, there were only 4 of my classm8s there. Within the next half an hour, another 9 came, and in the end we had 14 ppl. I had changed so much over this time that even i cant recognise myself when i was P6, in terms of both looks and character. But somehow, even though my classm8s have all changed a lot, i could instantly recognise each of them. Only some of their facial features remain unchanged after this while. one guy looked nerdy in pri sch, but now he looks like some cool guy. 2 girls were good-looking then, and now both are short and abit fat. on the contary, one girl was ugly then and chio now. It was really nice and interesting to see how all of us had evolved during this time of rapid change.

We sat at the grand steps overlooking the running track and tried to catch up with each other. I noticed only a few were doing the talking, and the rest were just hanging around and replying questions. so i didnt feel so out of place. then sum1 commented that those guys who went to neighbourhood schools became ah bengs now, making inferences to some of my ex classm8s. But yet even tho i went to a lousy neighbourhood school, she said i wasnt beng at all. Im glad i can bring a better reputation to my school.

At 7, forms about joining some games were handed out, and 5 of us signed up for the 5v5 basketball game... and we lost to a team of hyperactive sec1 kids. then we went to watch the performances by some of the cca groups like wu shu and chinese orchestra. at 8pm we went to the canteen to eat some free mooncakes and have more chat, this time all around one table. I just sat there, listening to the conversation and adding in soem stuff when it appealed, while satisfying the occasional boredom with mooncakes. Tho it was a bit boring, i was just stuck to my seat until the school forced us out by offing all the lights.

After evacuating the dark school, we went to the gate, where we said a final farewell, wished each other luck, maybe exchanged emails and then parted on ways. some of us thought of having a gathering after our o lvls, but im not sure if its gonna happen. but if it does, i hope more of my ex classm8s would come.

The Songs Speak

I saw this appearing on ivan and derrick's blog, and im sure they are not the starters. It looks like fun, so i decided to try it out. i dont have an ipod, so ill use windows media player on shuffle mode. works the same!

dont look at the following questions yet. first list down 20 ppl who come to your mind and then spin the wheel of your ipod to get a random song. use the title of the song to try and answer the respective questions. if u try enough, most of them can! Have fun!

Now here are my 20 ppl. i restricted the selection to SJCers.

1. caleb
2. ivan
3. derrick
4. jeremy
5. joel pang
6. Karina
7. Joyce Teo
8. Joyce Lyn
9. P. Henry
10. Ting Ting
11. Stacy
12. Claudia
13. Ryan
14. Kam's Law, aka lawrence kam
15. Gabriel
16. Adeline
17. Joe N
18. Red egg, aka aik hong
19. Daniel
20. Happy, aka Kaixin

And here are the 20 questions.

What will 1's future boyfriend/girlfriend be like?
What is 2's secret?
What will 3's life be like?
What will cause 4's doom?
What can 5 do to make himself/herself happy?
What's 6's theme in life?
What does 7 wish for the most?
What does 8 think of John?
What's 9's most common habit?
What's 10's favourite word/phrase?
What does 11 think about his/her life right now?
What would 12 do if he/she had a million dollars?
Does 13 think he/she is good looking?
If Jesus came down to earth tomorrow, what would He say to 14?
What's 15's lifestyle?
Is 16 in love?
What does 17 hate most?
What will John do to 18 in the near future?
What will 19 to do John in the near future?
What does 20 think about this quiz?

Now time to spin the wheel.

What will 1's future boyfriend/girlfriend be like? (caleb)

All i want is you (bellefire). wow Thats really cool! All his girlfriend wants is him. And thats the ideal girlfriend for all guys. Good luck, caleb.

What is 2's secret? (ivan)

All you need is love (moulin rouge). aww. deep inside this guy, under the cover of a strong front, is a deep yearning for love. dont worry, ivan. u will find it soon.

What will 3's life be like? (derrick)

Bad Medecine (bonjovi). uh oh. doesnt sound too good. keep taking the wrong medecine? haha. care, derrick. study medecine for protection.

What will cause 4's doom? (jeremy)

The tide is high (atomic kitten). this could mean a number of things... drowned during a high tide? (touch wood) or went crazy over sth during its high tide... like the latest fashion? oh well. just keep reserved, jeremy. that wil do the job.

What can 5 do to make himself/herself happy? (joel)

All coming back to me (celine dion). looking at the lyrics of the song, I guess that means he is happy by reflecting on his glorious or happy moments in the past. oh. i do that too.

What's 6's theme in life? (karina)

More than words (westlife) hmm. she wants to be sum1 who express herself in more than just words. youre getting there, karina. keep it up.

What does 7 wish for the most? (joyce teo)

In these arms (bonjovi) Cool. she wants simply to be in the arms of sum1. who be it? hehe.

What does 8 think of John? (joyce lyn)

Angels (robbie williams). hey, thanks lots, joycelyn! wow. she thinks im an angel! i feel so honoured. haha.

What's 9's most common habit? (henry)

Never say goodbye (bonjovi). Ooh. the pastor has a habit of not letting go of things. simply put, that would mean kiasu. well, he has to be in order to manage church funds well. It could also mean - he wants to live life to the fullest! now thats the thinking of a successful person!

What's 10's favourite word/phrase? (junting)

Any dream will do (joseph and the technicolour dreamcoat). heh. ting ting. i dint noe u were such a dreamer. and he likes every dream he dreams. can tell youre not scared of nightmares then.

What does 11 think about his/her life right now? (stacy)

Treat her like a lady (celine dion). Stacey thinks shes not being treated like a lady. serves her right for not behaving like one! wahaha!

What would 12 do if he/she had a million dollars? (claudia)

Summer sunshine (the corrs). she will spend it to travel to some sunny beach to soak up the summer sunshine! hey, youre tanned enough from swimming, claudia.

Does 13 think he/she is good looking? (ryan)

Run to you (whitney houston). thats means a definite yes! he thinks girls would come running to him! big ego huh, ryan.

If Jesus came down to earth tomorrow, what would He say to 14? (lawrence)

Melodies of life (Emiko Shiratori) ok, for the 1st time here i cant make any sense outta this.

What's 15's lifestyle? (gabby)

Music of the night (phantom of the opera). wow. he lives enchanted by the music of the night. hey im jealous of him. thats a really nice lifestyle! Just relaxing all day, listening to the captivating music. (see the lyrics of the song n u will understand.)

Is 16 in love? (adeline)

Caught in the middle (A1) manz, that doesnt sound good. either indecisive if shes in love anot, or worse, caught in the middle of another couple! omg. dont play the 3rd party, addy. not good.

What does 17 hate most? (joanne)

Because you loved me (celine dion). hmm. sounds like shes been dumped and she hates that guy cos he once gave her lotsa love, or sth lidat... haha. drama scene. dun think this is true, tho.

What will John do to 18 in the near future? (aikhong)

Queen of my heart (westlife) Oh NO! i have sth in mind abt what that could imply, and no, thats not gonna happen!

What will 19 to do John in the near future? (daniel)

Stacy's mom (fountain Of wayne) another thing i cant make out.

What does 20 think about this quiz? (kaixin)

Angels brought me here (guy sebestian). i tot 4 this qn is gonna be hard to get sense outta the song, buy hey, it makes perfect sense! she thinks this quiz is some kinda divine thing that angels bring her to my blog to read about this quiz. no, happy. its not. haha.


OK thats all for now. i thought this is only gonna take abt half an hour, but im so wrong! try doing it yourself to find out how long it takes. but anyway, i entertain myself just by doing this. its fun, really.

Subject Review

OK... few weeks ago i did a school review, and i dint get much response when i requested that readers make a similar type pf post. So i shall not expect anything this time. This post could be of some educational value to those who are gonna choose their subjects soon, as well as general sharing.


ENGLISH LANGUAGE
my favt subject and will always be. not cos its very fun, but cos its the only subject that i can do well in without studying at all. And that, is a real good advantage. I am safe from the worries that many of my classmates have about having 'no future' if they fail english. Apparently im better at comprehension than summary, but summary is actually easier to score. As for compo, marks for grammar make up a significant amount. content wise, not so good. Of course theres a price to pay for bein good at english -- my chinese suffers. somehow there must always be a trade between chinese and english. theres only 3 ppl in my school i noe who r good at both.

(SCIENCE) BIOLOGY
the best subject for mindless zombies. all this subject needs is simply memorising. Super square. must always give textbook ansers if not lose marks. Sadly im not good at textbook ans.. i prefer to give my own version based on my understanding. So this is not a good subject for me. Anyways, i still passed. not a high pass, tho. Pure bio would be a much better choice. they dont learn much more. it think the science bio syllabus make up abt 3/4 of the pure bio's, but it counts as half a subject. same goes for science chem, geog and SS. so i keep reminding myself i take 1 extra subject cos of the 1/4 extra from each.

(SCIENCE) CHEMISTRY
this used to be one of my worst subjects. everything just confused me. now i realise the problem root: the teacher. she never gives hw. gives halfhearted ansers to student's qns. anyhow teach in class. gives notes that are not much use to me. I tot the problem lied in my lack of talent in the subject. The tide turned when the chemistry teacher was changed for 5 weeks. the new teacher was opposite: he piled us with tons of chem hw and forced us to copy chunks of the textbook. During those 5 weeks, chem made up abt 70% of my hw. big contrast from the previous 0%. luckily i took the opportunity, driven under pressure to pump on the subject. within 5 weeks i have improved a great deal. Now the teacher is changed back to that old one, but what i earned from those 5 weeks still remain. So rmb -- hw is good for u. be thankful if u got lots.

(ELECTIVE) SOCIAL STUDIES
a new subject to me. nothign like this was studied in lower sec. so im still tryin to get the hang of how to anser the diffrent type of qns. hopefully the model ans book i got recently can help me. source based is the bigger problem. consist of fully answering and inferential skills. as for essay qns, just gotta regurgit8 from the textbook. zzz... boring. too bad cant drop the subject; i already have only 6.

(ELECTIVE) GEOGRAPHY
My current worst subject. The most stingy subject too. Gotta write so much just for 1 mark. if not supported or textbook enuf, u lose the whole mark. for essay qn also gotta memories alot, plus dis time gotta add answering skill also. very easy to write out of point 1. wide syllabus for an elective subject, too. Stuggling to just pass, only by God's grace can i do well in this.

PRINCIPLE OF ACCOUNTS
A totally new and different subject, POA proves to be a big problem to many in my class. But heres the pattern: ppl either do well or fail badly. this is cos u gotta really noe ur stuff b4 u can do the qns. some qns can go up to 20 marks, where we have to do up like 4 accounts and each are linked to each other somehow. a small mistake could cause big problem further down. Tho 1 mistake could cause the whole account statistics to go wrong, they only penalise for that specific mistake. (if not no1 can pass!) We gotta really scutinise every bit of info that is given and carefully adjust it in. but once u get the hang of it, it all goes rather fine. best value-for-marks subject.

FOOD AND NUTRITION
An in-depth follow up of home economics. Gotta study a whole textbook for theory, and the theory make up for only 40% of the total marks for O lvl. Coursework part A is 40% and part B gives 20%. Coursework is no childs play... it takes up alot of time and its super boring. Still, it beats theory, which consist of stuff from all 3 sciences, home econs, and some new stuff. 3 essay qns make up 45% of the theory, 15 marks each. gotta realy noe every single detail in the textbook, if not you lose out on stuff 2 write. Only 2 ppl passed the midyears F&N theory in my class. proud 2 say, im one of them. but that just shows how hard the subject is, even just for theory. dunno if this is good or bad: but art is no better option.

MATHEMATICS (ELEMENTARY)
failing maths for O lvl had been one of my biggest worries in education. fortunately i no longer have that worry, after a sudden big improvement after spending more time on the subject with the help of detailed model ans. at least now i can fully understand the plight of the math-failers in my class without being one of them. now my problem is more of the speed. the alloted time is usually not enuf for me and i end up leaving behind qns which may be easy. well, its not too late to buck up on it.

CHINESE (B)
a useless subject cos it contribute nothing to my o lvl score. only useful for admission to JC. very easy subject, tho. its primary school chinese. just gotta tolerate the boredom of CLB classes. I was in chinese class until march this year. tho i always been failing chinese, i din wanna take CLB cos it straight away gives me a D7. but i realised that if i take normal chinese, i may get E8 or below, and that denies me of JC admission. I also couldnt stand my biased chinese teacher, who purposely made things difficult 4 me cos he thinks "i dont belong in his class".


K thats all the subjects i take. In a week's time comes my prelim languages P1, followed by the other papers in 2 weeks time. This are my mid year results. 27 points! cant go much places with this kind of grades. i shall compare this with my prelims and hope for improvements. Pray 4 me pls...

English 72 (2)
Accounts 71 (2)
F&N 66 (3)
Maths 51 (6)
Science 47 (7)
Humanities 46 (7)

Total (27)
Average 58.8