IB schools

I heard from one of my ex schoolmates that he is now studying in ACS international, in this International Baccalaurate (IB) course. He started school some time ago alr, like just after CNY. He still made his JAE application and got into his 1st choice course in NP. but of course he remained in acsi.

He told me that IB students graduate with a diploma after just 2 years. Thats so cool la. Like JC vs MI. Seems like that would need real good qualifications, but no. His score was 14, 19. Worse than me.

Maybe its very expensive. Surely that factor would not be enough to deter that many ppl to go poly instead. There so many rich ppl around who would pay any amount for a good education for their children. And besides, poly is expensive too. $2000+ a semester. ouch.

Cant be that its so stressful that many cant take it. Im sure those elite 6-pointer students could thrive in that environment. (and a 19-pointer can tahan also, anyway.)

The strange thing is, if IB is so good - graduate with same cert 33% earlier than poly students and doesnt need much qualification - then why is it that IB schools have close to no publicity? I never even heard of IB schools until he told me. It ought to be much more popular, perhaps even more popular than poly. There must be a catch somewhere.

Can someone who knows about and understands this IB thing enlighten me?

Propaganda Wars

My estate, farrer court, is in the midst of an en-bloc issue. If 80% of the residents approve, farrer court is going to be sold and we have to shift. Apparently some ppl r really desperate to sell their place. Recently, there have been ppl distributing propaganda or aka poison letters into the letter boxes of all the residents of my estate. And in response, a loyal resident distributed an opposing propaganda letter.

This is the poison letter to make ppl sell their flats.

In case it cant be read, it tells of farrer court having bad fengshui, and accumulated alot of Ying energy over the years, causing much bad luck to the residents. With examples and explainations. Frankly, its really effective in poisoning ppl's mind. If not for me not believing in fengshui nor having all those bad luck stated, i would probably have been freaked out and desperately wanna get outta here. I think that would apply to evry1.

And then came the 'reply letter' to try purge the poison.

Interesting propaganda war, competing to steal the resident's minds.
Obviously this author is not a christian also. And he must be really angry and loves farrer court alot. well.. we just need 20% of the residents to be like that, and farrer court stays! My family is against en-bloc anyway. Luckily being a christian, it enables me to dismiss those fengshui as crap, and continue to live peacefully in my first and only home.

Indecison Overruled!

Author's note:
my tagboard has been severely UNDERUSED. So i dont know if its because nobody even VISITS this blog, or everyone has NOTHING to say, to me or about my posts. So just for once, can EVERYONE who visits this blog pls TAG, so at least i know which is the case. Tag ANYTHING will do. But pls do not FLOOD the tagboard. So each person just tag ONCE. Thx.
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Finally, after 2 weeks of indecision between jc and poly, i have come to a conclusion. I am going to poly. Its a really unexpected twist, but i have got to terms with it.

I have always wanted to go to JC, long before i even took my O levels. Thats cos i have absolutely no idea where my interest or fortes are. I had no idea what i wanna be in the future, and even for jc, i dunno which subject combination i should take. So JC would be a better choice cos i have 2 more years to find my potentials. I preferred this 'extended sec school' system. Even when i did badly for prelims and couldnt qualify for orientation, i knew i could make it for O levels. I was also influenced by my good fren who i call Quack... he kept telling me stuffs about JCs in general, or specific JCs. I learnt quite alot about JCs from Claudia too, and she even lend me her notes to make up for what i missed in 1st 3 months.. So i was much more well informed about JC than poly. And all i knew about poly was from what i could see joel going thru, and it didnt reflect well.

So then came my results for o levels, and i thought i could make it into cjc. And i somehow didnt like the idea of Srjc then. So i put first 2 choices CJC, and 3rd choice poly.
And then came my posting results... and i was posted to my 3rd choice. Still in shock and mental unpreparedness for poly, i was unwilling to stick to what i earlier agreed upon: either CJC or poly. It seemed like i die-die also dun wanna go poly.

Anyway, i had commited the posting results to God, so it could mean that He meant for me to go poly. And by making my appeal to SRJC, i was partly testing if its really God's plan, or just cos getting into CJC was wishful thinking on my part. I ruled out possibility that my appeal there could fail. But God worked his magic, and it really failed. haha.

But that didnt come as a heartsinking moment for me, but instead a bit of relief. Cos the night before, i had alr decided to go poly, wether the appeal succeeds or not. And i had to be influenced by a number of things before i made that decision.

The day after my postings were revealed, i had a debate, my left brain vs my right, on SRJC vs poly. I listed out all the pros and cons of both sides and weighed the factors, and SRJC won by a close margin. So i proceeded with my appeal.

And some time later, i had a talk with Aikhong, and then my opinion of going to srjc improved. So i was all set to go srjc then.

But the turning point came when my mom got unreasonably mad at me because i wanted to use sum1 else's house as sorta a hostel for srjc. So the problem of distance became so big on my mind that i was turned away, and i suddenly decided to find out more about my poly course. So i read a SP booklet gotten some time ago.
And then going to SP was a problem cos i had no direct bus there, and i have no idea how to go. So i remembered that uncle Kam (lawrence's dad) worked at SP, and i called him just to find out how does he get to SP everyday. We live in same estate anyway. But he ended up spending a long phone call continuing on to talk about my course and telling me a load of stuff about poly. So after being more well-informed, i felt more secure about goin poly.

On sunday, along came Caleb, who majored in tourism. He told me all the bad stuff about poly and the course, and my opinion of poly deproved again, but at least then im informed about both the good and bad of poly, and gave me yet more security.

Then i also visited the SRJC website cos i wanted to get their phone number. And i stumbled upon this photo gallery... and OMG. The building looks so bad, and there are so many indians and malays! Almost half the population!! I cant imagine spending 2 years as a student there.

And the final phase came when i read this newspaper article about lotsa JC-qualified students choking up places in polys, so i thought, poly cant be that bad, if not ppl with single-digit scores wont choose it over even a top JC. Plus the article featured on some of the most popular courses in poly, and mine - tourism & resort management - was one of them. So it suddenly struck me: lots of people out there are actually eyeing my place in the course, maybe more than SRJC or even CJC. I should be thankful that i got in in the first place. And i could expect a number of classmates with single digit points for L1R5. So i counted my blessings and decided on poly.

Yesterday i called CJC and found that my appeal is not successful. And just this morning, i recieved a call to tell me that my SRJC appeal also failed. I couldnt believe it... how can a 15-pointer like me not make it into a JC which cut-off is supposedly 20? So i reckon, God's hand must have been in this thing. I dont believe its because everyone who got into srjc all got 15 points and below. I dun beliv i dont qualify for srjc. Prolly the principal looked at my appeal just after a big quarrel and tore it apart.

Well, it did cause some disppointment cos i tho i decided on poly, i wanted to go to JC just to have an experience of what its like to be a JC student, just for the few weeks before poly starts. It is an experience i longed to have since time before O levels. But i believe God has His reasons for denying me of that. Maybe the process of being enrolled in JC wasnt as easy as I thought.. like there could be complications arising out of it. Or maybe theres something better in store for me during this time until poly starts.

Anyway... i just found out today from some statistic that the cut off point for T&RM is actually 11! I JUST MADE IT!!! Thank God i didnt go to SRJC instead. ahahaha...

Major Defeat

Alas, just when i was about to accept my O level results and be contented with it, i am once again filled with bitterness over it, this time more than before.

I was awaken today by a phone call. An anxious caller on the other end told me that his sister, who got 1 pt better than me, did not make it to CJC.
The alarm bells rang real loud in me. I made a quick check on my posting result in case of a miracle, that somehow i do get in, but no. no miracle. i am posted to singapore poly, tourism n resort management.
And so he told me that we must hurry to CJC to appeal, cos its 1st come 1st serve, and i did not delay any longer before setting off.

At CJC, there were already a long row of appealers. I peeped at the application form of those in front and behind. they were 13, 14 pointers who did not get in. Chances look bleak to me.
There are just too many ppl who did well for O levels this time, choking up all the spaces in better JCs and leaving none for me.
Because of good results for A levels from CJC students, the cutoff point dropped to 11 for science, 12 for arts.

I later made my way to SRJC to make a second appeal. Yes i know its one of the worst JCs, alongside Yishun and Innova, but im left without choice. I really do not want to go poly. I have been so expecting to make it into JC, that a switch now would leave me mentally badly unprepared. Even at SRJC, 14, 15, 16 pointers came to appeal. Yet more competition.

To all those who believed i could make it into CJC, Thank you, and sorry for disappointing you.

I tried my best, but even my best is still not good enough.

Gone is my excitement of getting into my new school.

Gone is my drive to own the A levels

This event has proven my inferiority. A major defeat, and most of all, a severe damage to my self esteem in relation to studies. It seems that i have just that much potential.

Though not a tear i shed, it does not reflect how much this depresses me.

But i dont need anyone to comfort me. I hate being pitied.

Time will heal me, hopefully... With God's help.