Basket.

After the high of yesterday, back to the drudgery of daily life once more. Nothing much to say about a very ordinary Saturday.

Ha... smashed my own record for number of rounds of NetBig2 played at one sitting... 300 is the new one!

Played another 80 rounds later so that makes 380 in total today... new one-day record too.

"Things have just gone by... so fast." -Mrs Jasbir Koh

Today was a day when the present took backstage to the past, when old firends were reunited, old times relived and fond memories joyously revisited. What a day.

An incredible number of reunions took place today, and an incredible amount of cherished memories brought back out for a good airing. It exceeded my wildest expectations, and I truly had an excellent time.

The day began like any other, and with me still living in the present. After Justin and I lured Mr Loh out of the staffroom, the others sneaked in and put his gift on his table; so far so good. Then assembly begins, and after it we slip off to avoid both the lame warm-up and the walkathon that would follow. After some running around, Yen Yeong, me and Zihao along with a few others find a nice, quiet niche at the far end of the school and get out the cards. Bridge, the timeless leisure activity.

After about an hour of it, we decide we have had enough and think of heading back to RI. On the way, we pick up Zhiyang, and there's out first reunion; unconsciously we have brought back together the SMP group of over 2 years ago (save Wee Ping)! Immediately memories of the good times we had in the lab, the fish, the long days (literally) and nights (yep) we spent in there, of Nara, Sukumar and Clara, of all the crapping, horseplay, dissections, preservations, journeys, experiences at Ngee Ann Poly in 2001 come flooding back. On a whim, we almost decide to head back to Ngee Ann Poly later to shake hte hands of the abovementioned characters.

The front gate is guarded; we slip out through the back, missing everything RJ has planned for us. No skin off my nose; I'm going back to my alma mater and nothing will be better than doing so.

MRT journey follows; then a lot of time traipsing around J8 getting a bouquet of flowers for Tang Keen Yeen (BB boys' idea). By the time we get back, it is past 10.30 and large numbers of RI guys (mostly lower sec though) are leaving. Hopefully the teachers are still there.

And they are, and this is where my journey into the past began. First teacher I managed to get hold of was Ms Soh Ai Hoon; but she had to rush off. Next I met Mrs Tan Mui Hong, but she had a maths remedial and couldn't stay long either. By an amazing coincidence, I then met Weijie and Zhao Yi, who were going for the selfsame remedial. I followed them, and crashed the session; the first of three times I was to do it during the day.

After that my luck picked up. I managed to locate Ms Grace Chong outside SR 2; having not seen her inover half a year, I do admit I wanted to meet her rather badly. We exchanged greetings, and had a cordial talk. Then I went off and met Tang Keen Yeen with the BB guys at the tables outside the SRs.

Follwoing that, I went downstairs and saw... Mrs Jasbir Koh. My all-time favourite teacher, and one I hadn't seen in literally years. I practically ran to meet her. We had a good chat, and all the time ex-students like me kept stopping by to greet her and talk with her; a testament to her popularity among the student populace. The sec 3s just do not know how lucky they are to get her, and to have her follow them up next year...!

All good things have to come to an end, and I left her exchanging exhortations to take care and to meet again soon. I went back upstairs and met quite a few other former acquaintances, resulting in me crashing Mrs Tan's Maths remedial a second time. Then was the biggest and best reunion of them all; 4E 2002. I discovered them in SR 2 with Grace Chong. Almost all were there; notable exceptions were Zhao Nan, Kaicheng, Apoorva, Yihong, and sadly, Mr Brian Ng. As a class, we joked and laughed with Grace Chong, then went down to the next staffroom to pay tribute to our dear old Physics teacher Mr Mark Wee.

That done, we crashed Mrs Tan's maths remedial (yes, number 3 for me), as a class. In true 4E fashion, we imperiously strode into the LT and simply sat down, occupying two rows. Mrs Tan, to her credit, stoically showed almost no reaction and went on with her lesson after several adroit references to her former class. She was doing the Prelim Paper of 2002; we sure had fun trying to be funny and pretending not to understand (of course, I didn't need to pretend). She paid us back in her own coin, calling Eugene Leong up to answer and inviting us down to teach instead of her.

That small episode over, we had time for one more reunion with dear old Mr Tan Puay Hock, our good Chinese teacher. Following that we kind of split up, with some remaining to play soccer and the rest going off for lunch. I, of course, belonged in the latter group. Together with Weijie, Lau Yan, Avinash, Winston, James and Lin Ming, I trooped down to J8 for a good meal and an equally hearty chat.

And we had great fun. The scene in Pastamania was one that had happened time and again over the past years in the canteen and classrooms of RI; a bunch of friends sitting around doing not much more than talking... cock. Crapping. Laughing, joking, exchanging sexual innudendo together. And we have lost none of that ability - it seems in fact to have grown with age.

At last though, it was time to part. All good things must come to an end, and we all went our separate ways, like we did at the end of last year. The past had forced the present into the backseat for the while, but now it brutally intruded, and we had no choice but to obey.

And thus it was for me, the last reunion of the day - the bus ride home. I didn't think I would ever again take 156 after my O Levels last year, but it has happened time and again. Yet this, surely would be one of the last times I would do so, at least for quite a while yet. The journey itself was a ride down memory lane; the route offered an incredible amount of flashbacks and the bus itself held countless memories. Of all the times I had been on it, whether alone or with friends, whether on the way home or on the way to SMP or even on the way to school. The bus had seen all my moods and most of the shades of my character. It was an unforgettable journey, the most symbolic reunion of the day.

Mrs Koh is too right - things have gone by extremely fast, too fast for some. Yet though I look back with great fondness on the times I spent in RI, the great memories I collected there, the fun I had there, I never for a moment wish I was back in there. Why? There is really no point in doing so. I guess perhaps it may be due to the fact that most of my friends came to RJ with me, but still. One must remember the past, yet look forward to the future. Such is the right way to live.

But I still have to say, 4E 2002, WE ROCK!=)

Back early today. Visited that rubber-stamp institution more popularly known as the Singapore Parliament, and learnt that wow, surprise, Singapore is a parliamentary democracy and its system ensures transparency and accountability! It is a mere coincidence, of course, that the "highest law-making body" in the land is completely dominated by the PAP. Brings a whole new meaning to "It's in your hands", doesn't it?

But at least the trip got us practically a half-day off and no PE. Ahhhh yes...

A Wednesday generally like all others long gone by... nah not really.

A very short day of lessons was followed by the cancellation of the History make-up lecture due to miscommunication. Never mind, gave us an excuse to sit down and do work, and talk cock at the same time, on the windy 3rd level. Quite nice, it was, and got some serious work done today. Good thing, and well-balanced.

Yes, Another Tuesday past. History, Maths, Econs, IPW, Gattac... erm I mean, GP, home, read newspaper, get online, chat/check mail/play NetBig2/do much other funny shit, get off, do Lit, do Maths, read Readers' Digest, read History, get online again, post on blog, soon to go to sleep.

Now, I shall bitch about how a reputable magazine such as TIME promotes stereotyping of Singapore.

So they have this article on Royston Tan's latest short film, 15, and what do they begin it with? Something along the lines of "Singapore, an air-conditioned nanny-state paradise". Fuck them. What do they take us for, a tin-pot dictatorship whose only differences from Cuba is we're rich and not socialist? Seems to be the fucking case here. And this thing is just going to deepen Americans' general ignorance on Singapore, which, if they know where it is (and not many do), think is an evil dictatorship that bans the chewing of gum, whips people who break that rule and hangs drug users.

All of which, dear reader, are untrue. TIME should be ashamed of itself.

Agh... a Maths test tommorrow and I am sooooo prepared and ready... TO FUCKING FAIL MISERABLY! WOOOO!

Ah, well... what a Sunday. Went over bright and early to Daniel's house and ended up spending an entire day there, mostly on IPW. That irritating fuck thing...

Not a bad visit though. We did some Maths, crapped a bit, even played dai dee... wah lau.=p Were productive, and found time to have some fun too. Right right that is the way it should be.

Another birthday today... Gwen. Wished her. Gosh, 13 already, where does all the time go?

And for course, there is the exciting prospect of a whole new drudgery-filled school week ahead! Wheeeeee!

Ha... family dinner tonight; I really stuffed my face with good food. Blah...

Which was a reminder that my parents aren't getting any younger; my mother turns 50 in 3 days. Wow goodness, half a century...

Hah... I love weekend nights, they're the perfect time for long MSN convos.=p

Anyway, had a long talk with one of our class (shall not name him), and apparently he has problems with a certain other classmate (whose name I shall also decline to mention). Apparently this unnamed latter character has been a real bastard lately. Ha, actually I always knew that, but it seems to have got worse lately.

Now this obviously cannot go on. If that asshole is reading this, I hope he will wake up to his errors and realise where he has gone wrong. Ha, like fucking real that will happen, and like fucking real I hope it will. Well, if you are reading this, I just want to say you are a complete fuckhead and your behaviour is shameless and disgusting. Fuck you.

Bah, forgot to post yesterday hehe...

Yesterday was uneventful, and was over in a whirl. This happens when you get into the daily grind of things.

Today? Well, it was nice and relaxing, until the part where we got bused off to Singapore Poly to be fed a healthy dose of propaganda. The usual crap about Singapore practicing diplomacy and deterrence and how powerful the SAF is and how NS is really necessary because we can only rely on ourselves to defend our own country etc etc all that fuck.

Pretty boring, but at least the place had comfortable seats. I could rant about some of the stupid questions, but nah. It wouldn't be very nice.

Ah, the Internet is back to normal, which means my first full post in 3 days.

Today was funny... a pseudo-Friday, which meant 5.10pm dismissal and double-period PE. Aside from those, it wasn't a bad day at all. Fair amount of clowning around as usual, and the usual study session with DT until 8.45. Reached home before 9.30, and now trying desperately to escape the soft, beckoning voice of another couple hundred rounds of NetBig2. Not bad at all.

Sigh... fucking Internet is horribly slow these days... explains the no update yesterday. Fuck it.

Cable still feels gooooooood...=)

A busy Sunday that saw me clearing all the overdue homework... history essay, GP (*gasp*, like, our second piece of homework this year!!!) and Maths, as well as a few miscellaneous loose ends. In between, squeezed time out to surf the Net, chat and finish Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain.

Just another routine day it was, and just another routine day it will be tommorrow.

So, the new EPL season's begun again. Man Utd thrashed Bolton 4-0... and did it despite missing a penalty?! Sad, I was kinda hoping for some kind of upset from the small boys. But no.

Watched half the match (and most of the goals). Cable feels so good...

Back online... my precious cable connection! One catch though... it seems we can't share it among two computers anymore. Hell at least it is back online. I'll fight to continue using it as before if necessary.

Not a bad day... only my insomnia returned with a vengeance. Slept at 2something and woke up not possibly later than 7. And couldn't get back to sleep, however hard I tried. Never mind, I seem to thrive on little sleep.

Cherylene, Gen and Jieqi came over to complete that beastly SEA project today... not bad, we were quite efficient, and we had some fun too. Quite a nice afternoon... and looks like I-Hist essay needs doing now. What the hell.

Moments you will never forget... and will cherish always

Ha... what a day today. Unforgettable, and an excellent one by any standards. After a hard day of lessons, went for the guitar concert with some of the guys.

Now that sure brought back a rush of nostalgia. I mean, it was the first time in four years I sat in the audience at a guitar concert... sure felt weird. To see Jireh and Amogh come on stage (the exact same emcees at RAGE more than a year ago), then the guitar players enter in one line and sit in three rows... it was practically deja vu - only now I was but a mere observer. And that realisation was what caused the whole rush of nostalgia. It, especially seeing James down in the first row, brought back all the memories of performances past, long practices, constant drilling, endless sectionals and hard admonishments by the conductor (some things I am sure our RJ ensemble endured in the course of preparing for their concert), as well as bitter memories of the SYF Silver of more than two years ago. The fact that all that was over simply hit - and hit hard. I was no longer a member of a guitar ensemble and would never be again. Four years... of memories, experiences and happenings are not so easily forgotten.

After that was over, I went out with Daniel and Zihao for dinner. It was a quiet night, one perfect for reflection and thought. We ate at the coffeeshop near Ghim Moh food centre, and there was the general crapping and clowning around. The guitar concert made me all nostalgic and philosophical though, and it just hit (not for the first time) me again just how unique and irreplaceable certain people are. I'll never meet another Zihao ever again in this life, nor another Daniel, nor, for that matter, another 1A01C 2003. We live but once, and the people we meet, the people we interact with, the people we befriend are all unique and special... we have to treasure them, indeed. Friends are just like seashells on an infinitely huge beach... ordinary, normal ones are easy to find, but true, rare, beautiful ones very difficult. One good, exquisite find... is much better than a vast collection of ordinary, plain ones. Not to mention, no two are alike... each have their flaws and their good points, unique and valuable in their own special way, and each occupy a special place in the heart.

It is moments like so many tonight, that I will never forget, and will cherish always.

Fuck... if only my network card had not shorted unexpectedly and taken my computer's cable connection down with it yesterday... I won't be fucking stuck with a laptop and a 56K connection in the living room right now. No privacy. Lucky the guy is coming down on Saturday... soon enough I guess, I can't take much more of this.

Aside from that, yesterday was quite a good day. Short day of lessons as usual, then went for a "very important" HISSOC meeting which saw the exco gorging themselves on Harrods chocolates and shortbread courtesy of Tse Yang. I then proceeded to clown around with Zihao and the gang (filling in their SATS forms), and after that went with Zihao (who said he was hungry) to steal food from the reception for the scholarship talks in the Concourse.

That done, we sorta wandered around the school for a while until DT came along. We then went to study, the three of us, until about six-thirty when DT and I went for dinner (yeah I pigged out yesterday) and Zihao home. We then came back to school and studied until around 8.30 before going home... to make my shocking discovery.

Today? Not much happened... muddled through another Thusday, sorta moping around mourning for my cable connection.

The Stupidity of People, Part 2, or, Fucking Idiots I see on the Internet virtually every Fucking Day

Right. The title basically says it all. The world is full of fucking idiots and a vast percentage of them seem to be connected to the Internet. In fact, the worst of the bunch, I would say.

So basically I go to an AoM fansite and I criticise the game. I also state that it is my firm opinion that Cossacks is better. And what I get in return is classic.

Basically, I can summarise all that was said by the opposition into one short paragraph, as below:

"OMG AOM RULZ AND COSACKS SUX A$$!!!!!1111 AND I FUCKING KNOW THAT BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER PLAYED THE FUCKING GAME BUT INSTEAD FUCKING BASE MY FUCKING OPINION ON ONE FUCKING MEASLY SCREENSHOT SOME OTHER FUCKING IDIOT POSTED EARLIER IN THE FUCKING THREAD!!!!!!!11111 AND WELL YOU FUCKING LIKE IT AND THEREFORE YOU FUCKING THINK AOM SUCKS AND THUS YOU FUCKING THINK THE USA FUCKING SUCKS AND THEREFORE YOU CAN FUCK OFF NOW!!!!!!!!!11111 GO USA!!!!!!!1111 USA R TEH GRAETEST!!!!!!!11111"

Lovely, isn't it? Profanities are my own addition and I think they convey very well what I think of fucking retards like that.

It just doesn't pay to try to have a good civil debate on the Internet. You make well-supported statements and instead get shit back. Things like, "Oh, you're from Singapore? then you must like Cossacks because the government tells you to.", or "Since you dislike AoM, you are not showing respect for the US", or even, "You are too much of a Cossacks lover to come here". Utter rubbish. Complete fucking idiots.

There'll probably be a third instalment, although I wish there wouldn't.

Another Monday. The beginning of yet schoolweek #OMGINEVERDIDFUCKINGBOTHERTOCOUNT of my life.

Thoroughly uneventful day, and one that slipped by in a whirl of GP (Gosh Aaron Loh made us DO WORK?!), Econs lecture (fuck that stupid Indian), Econs tutorial, Donne, Maths and Elise Tan. I was so glad it was quick and relatively painless. Because Mondays never feel good.

Tommorrow, tommorrow, tommorrow...

Another weekend come and gone. What's with these things? They just seem to whiz by so fast.

Spent it doing the immensely irritating IPW. Plus, I was forced to do my History tutorial. Horror!

Not much else to post, so here are the lyrics for The Internationale.

The Internationale

Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

Ha. Our 38th National Day. Happy birthday Singapore, I guess.

Currently mired in PW (stupid fucking irritating shit, as if we didn't have enough to care about already); not a bad day I guess, it went by rather quickly. Had a nice lunch with my cousins, and managed to get started on History. Work, work, work... sigh.

Ha. Why did I go to school today? Did nothing at all, except nearly finish Congo. Good book, that is. Then came home, and started on Airframe. Having a thing for Michael Crichton these days, read 3 of his books in 2 weeks.

Rest of the day, played Worms Armageddon. It is just so fun to blow away classmates and teachers past and present. =)

Hah... long weekend over the horizon, so what? All the teachers are forcing me to do homework. Bah. Plus my ez-link card is fucked up again. Stupid bastards couldn't just stick with farecards, could they?

Urgh... my stomach upset, which seemed to be abating for a while there, returned with a vengeance today. Gosh, after a while you just get worn out by it all...

Another early Wednesday. They simply rock!=) Great rest after all that hard work I put in for my CCAs earlier, I guess.

Short day today, short day tommorrow, very short day on Friday. Wooooo...=D

Sample Arts Fac soundbites from recently-concluded Inter-Fac Maths Quiz:

"What are the last two digits of [insert unbelievably complex Maths sum here]?"
Arts Fac answer: "349."

"... waitaminit, 7 to the power of 7 is NOT 49!!!"

"... how many [insert object whose number can only be positive integer] are there?"
Arts Fac: "-81.326."

Oh we fucking rock. And Zihao... he dies tommorrow.

Ha, blew over an hour on Worms Armageddon. Blasting worms named after current and former aquaintances/teachers can be just so fun. And they die in the cutest ways.

Tried putting up a banner for the blog just now... didn't look very nice. I'll try again when I have more time or something.

Another Monday past, and the world is all the better without it. Another dreary day at school, exarcebated by the incredible heat. How the hell does it get so fucking hot in Singapore? Gosh...

Nothing of note happened today, but this is going to be one swell week considering only 3 full school days (2 left) and no PE at all. Party!=p

Boring, boring day. Nothing good or nothing at all in fact, happened all day. Except I still have a fucking stomach upset and it is rather unpleasant.

Back from one morning of playing bridge for the faculty. Was feeling kinda tired by the time I had finished two entire rounds of eight games each against Med 1 and Med 2 (Engine not enough people), so I got a replacement and came home. When I left we were lying third, not very good but hope we managed to thrash CPS or something.

The morning was fun though, never played so much contract bridge in my life.

Hah. Exhausting day today, but man was it good...

There was a normal day of lessons with all the crappiness, fun enough in itself. After that I thought I was going to die at PE but it ended at like 4.20pm instead; 50 minutes early. I ended up in the canteen talking cock with Winston and Zhongwei instead. Then the rest of the class came out after PE, and we went for dinner about 6.30. Me, Daniel, Justin, Yi San, Cherylene, Shuang Ning, Angeline and Roger. We then went for Drama Feste, which was generally good; especially the Arts Fac production; it was absolutely brilliant! They may have got runner-up but I'm proud of them nonetheless. It was really, really good.

Now back here with the time nearing midnight and me feeling all nice and tired. Seriously, I don't have a bad word to say about today and I'll go to bed happy.=)