Storms rock. There's the sunshine afterward to look forward to.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Switchfoot
Switchfoot, the band that brought you award winning singles like "Dare You to Move" and "Meant to Live" will be performing LIVE in Temasek Junior College O____O today at the TJC Auditorium at one hour ago!!!
Seriously, of all the places to go, it's awesome that they are here in TJC now...
Although I can't say I enjoy them. I mean, I like their songs, but my ex-roomie likes them too, and, well, his singing....................erm............................leaves much to be desired. No, in fact, it has traumatised me for life!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Expectations
It's like a curse. You start a new life in a new school in a new country somewhere under a government-paid education regimen.
"Hi! My name is Matthew, and I'm a foreign student from Malaysia."
"Oh? So you're a scholar?"
"Um......yeah."
"So that means you're damn smart, right?"
And from then on, it all goes downhill.
"Your values and answers were wrong!? Of all the people I would have expected you to get it all correct!"
As if scholars could do every problem or sum ever created.
"He's Matthew. He's a scholar. The smartest guy in our class!"
As if only scholars are smart.
"Matthew, that was lame. Was it some kind of scholar joke?"
I know it's not meant to discriminate, but different countries are bound to have different senses and ideas or humour.
"Matthew! Stop acting like a nerd!"
But wasn't that what you've been wanting me to do all along?!?!?!?!?
Rowland has been complaining about this for a long time, but never have I felt it so hard until now. Now I fully understand what Rowland was saying.
Must we always get every answer correct, no matter the circumstance? Must we always 'be intelligent'? Must we not 'be intelligent'? How can you have both? Must we always meet your expectations of 110%? Must we only laugh along with the scholars but get laughed at by the locals? Is it too much to ask to just LAY OFF AND TREAT ME LIKE A NORMAL PERSON?!?
You ask too much of me.
I ask too much of you.
Labels: asean, education, iq, scholar, scholarship, singapore, smart
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
It's Coming....
Wonder what I'm talkng about?
DJ MacHale's Pendragon
D.J.Mchale's Pendragon: Journal of an Adventure Through Time and Space Book Nine: Raven Rise, coming May 20th, to a bookstore near you...
Counting down... It's coming... Prepare yourself...
Monday, January 28, 2008
Going Green
Yesterday, TJC organised 'Go Green Day', a they-want-it-to-be-annual event which was all about collecting old clothes and newspapers from the residents of various HDB apartments in the Bedok area. They said it would be fun. They said we would be done by latest 1.30 pm. Boy, were they wrong.
My group did was assigned more blocks than any other group. We knocked our arms and throat out. It was one out of three scenarios:
No one in.
OR
"Good morning! We're from TJC, and we're here to collect your old newspapers and clothes. Would you happen to have any?"
"Oh, yes! Wait here..." and we end up with a knee-high stack of newspapers.
OR
"Huh? Gezzewha? *incomprehensible sounds*"
Unbelievable. I went green all right. Green with envy that the residents of the apartments got to sleep way longer than us. Green with nausea as I lugged newspapers up and down the lifts and threw them onto a lorry which took an eternity to come. We only left the HDB flats at 3 pm.
Then, we were waiting for the bus to take us to Bedok Interchange so we could go back home/hostel. Bus number 60 came, totally ignored our flagging, and shot past the bus stop. And stopped on the roadside. We thought he had come to his senses and was going to let us in.
What did he do?
He got out of his driver's cockpit, went to the upper deck, removed the '60' sign, came down, removed the '60' sign and the proud driver of Bus number I dunno waved to us and drove off. SBS is mad.
And I officially hate public welfare organisations...
Friday, January 25, 2008
Happy....but Sad...
There was collective screaming yesterday in the SJI Founder's Hall. The tension was obvious as Mr.Lui, our beloved urging principal, gave his congratulatory speech. The teachers seemed oblivious to the fact that we wanted all the speechmakers to stop talking and GIVE US OUR RESULTS NOW!!!
But, in the end, we got them after all, after some waiting. I screamed as loud as i could. I was jumping, and shaking my friends' shoulders, and screaming (have i mentioned that?) as loudly as i could.
8 points. My own personal best score. And I got the grades I worked like hell for, the grades that I never would have believed I got if I didn't see them with my own eyes yesterday.
English - A1 - it was a long time coming, and I finally got it back!
Malay - C6 - I'm just glad i passed
E Maths - A1 - Just like Ms.Lim wanted
A Maths - A2 - Big disappointment...
Bio - A2 - Yay!! I remember mugging my head off for this one...
Chem - B3 - Huh???
Physics - A2 - Erm... could've been nicer...
Combined Humanities - A1 - I stared at this for 2 minutes, I kid you not. I was stunned beyond all stun-age I thought was possible.
Lit - A1 - This was the first score I looked for on my results sheet and I screamed my voice out. Un-frickin-believable. Ms.Goh rocks! Hail to Ms.Goh!! Ping Yi, are you reading this???
So there I have a cause for great happiness. But with all happiness comes sorrows. 8 is a wonderful score, my own personal best, but is 8 enough to compete with the 7 and 6 pointers who also want to get into the noble Temasek JC? Some scholars may be kicked out of RJC or NJC or VJC and they will naturally seek to be admitted into the next best JC. At this rate, only God can secure my place in TJC.
And yet another sorrow. My roomie, sadly enough, shares not my happiness. He was unfortunate. And furthermore, because of the unfairness of life, his bonus points are less than the Higher Mother Tongue students. So, unless God intervenes, Leonard Kenneth Clerigo Barro will not be my roomie anymore in about 3 weeks time. God bless you, Kenneth, wherever you go...
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Flashbacks
It seems like aeons ago.
Surya was locking himself up in the far-too-tranquil environment of Study Room 2 to mug for his prelims.
Rowland and Truc agreed to disagree on best places to study for prelims. Truc chose their room, Rowland deigned to proceed towards the outside tables.
Conk and Tirta ventured 14.391286 metres away from their room to demonstrate their assiduousness at the study area just after the telephones.
Albert was mugging his head off while relieving his stress by insulting Khanh and Nguyen who just 'happened' to be opposite his room.
Kaizen and Matthew were playing. Ok, fine, sometimes studying. Sometimes.
And then, came prelims. All the CJC-Hostel scholars were frantically writing during their respective papers, some swearing silently, some confidently writing, some swearing silently while confidently writing. We called to mind all the facts.
What does enterokinase do? How do we find empirical formulae? What is the purpose of live wires? How the freaking h*ll do you write this compo topic out? AAAARRRRGH!!!! DIFFERENTIATION!!! YES!! I SPOTTED VENICE SUCCESSFULLY!!!
We survived, but just barely. Brain-dead. Mindlessly celebrating the end of prelims. But it was not to last.
The O'Levels loomed. Loomed faster than any other looming event that has ever loomed at a person who would not want to witness a looming event. The mugging started anew.
But something was different. We were more relaxed. We studied far less as compared to just a month and a half ago. We started to enjoy life. Not as much as the non-exam periods, but the true muggers were still staring at us in shock. And surprisingly enough, when the O'Levels came, although there was a collective swear word we all uttered as we entered the exam hall, the whole exam went quite okay.
Now, we, no, I, look back and wonder. Why? Why the sudden relaxation? Could it be because the facts we learnt for prelims had not left us? Could it be that our scholar-ness gave us some semblance of intelligence so we could still do the paper? What if we were overconfident? What if we did not study enough? What if the true muggers' shock was sound?!? Well, we may regret, but we cannot undo. The day draws near.
It looms, looming faster than any looming event that ever loomed at a person who did not want to witness a looming event. And now, as the day looms ever so close, we can only hope that we'll stay where we want to stay.
Tomorrow, Thursday, we find out if we did what was right. We find out which path is laid out for us in the future. We find out if we can be truly satisfied by our previous efforts. And of course, meet our ex-teachers and juniors.
Will we laugh with joy, or sob in sorrow? For everyone reading this, good luck. For all the ex-SJI scholars, an extra prayer i offer for you. Tomorrow, our O'Level results will be released.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Continuation...
Oooookay.....
My endeavours to make this new blog presentable and acceptable have paid off, methinks. Naturally, these previous two posts are completely out of point and totally uninteresting to read.
I just have too much time on my hands. Ironic, since I'm making an effort to multitask right now by doing my GP homework at the same moments as I type this soliloquy(did I spell it right? ;P)
Do not fear, fellow ex CJC-Hostel Scholars!!! You might see some interesting posts yet!! Come back tomorrow, when I shall present a remarkably accurate-and-yet-everyone-will-deny-it account of a crucial aspect of our existences...
If you are not an ex-CJC-Hostel Scholar, then come back anyway. I just might entertain you... O_0
The First Post...
Well, no one would know me except the other scholars anyway...
Ok, my name is Matthew, and while this is my first post for this blog, i've blogged before, except never stayed committed. i'm turning over a new leaf this time. let's see how it goes this time...
Scholars stay tuned....
