2007

2007 = Horrible year in terms of work and stress and crap. Memorable year in terms of trips, band and non-work related stuff.

Before entering ACJC this year, I swear life was 1 million times better. During the Barker days, there was time to while away the afternoons and watch anime/play dota everyday. Saturdays and Sundays were lazy days to stone and sleep and enjoy life until "O" Levels came. Compare that kind of life to now: full of band practices, tutorials, projects, research, fill up retarded and long scholarship forms but never got any, long school hours (waste a hell lot of time)... you know that I wouldn't prefer the latter. Never in my life have I felt so stressed until I faced 2007. It was such a horrible year. So horrible that I shall not continue to elaborate further.

In the midst of the negative atmosphere of work, there was surely something to motivate me. Ironically, it's band. Band provided me with something to look forward to at the end of each tiring week. I know it was tiring, but at least I enjoyed band. Every band practice, it's nice to see the clarinet section people and other band friends. I'm not that close to that many people, but I always feel good when I see the band. Though the soon-to-be J2s in band may not be bonded as a batch, I hope that next year, after the overseas trip, we will be.

Thank God, that in the midst of the piling work, I always managed to keep myself within the top 10% of the school. SA1-ers, thanks for being there to pressure me to study. Thanks for the wonderful memories in the void deck, the canteen, the lecture theatres, the classrooms and the places we go for PE. Thanks for my project work group, who made our event such a special one. Thanks for my circle of good guy friends in the class... rmd, darren, shaun, kok, david, tim, allan, zaneth. It is my only hope that as a class, we bond together and organise class outings with better attendance.

Vietnam OCIP people. Thanks for all the memories. We really bonded as one huge family. You guys were great. Those were the best 10 days of the year.

ACJC Band.. Gold With... cheers, tears of joy, delirium. Memories of the 10 second glorious B-flat, D (a bit flat), F chord in SCH still linger. I remember the enjoyment we had playing Feste Romane. This was the SYF which I never felt nervous at all. This was another great moment of 2007.

Thanks goes to the staff at NTU, who willingly helped to make my NRP project possible. Special thanks goes to Professor Law and Hongtao. They were the ones who made countless sacrifices.

Thanks goes to the physics teachers at ACJC, who taught me to tackle physics olympiad which no one got to the second round. They were the people who stayed on till late to teach us the difficult concepts.

Give all thanks for this year to God. This year was truly a challenge. It was a year which made my faith in God become such a roller-coaster ride.

Of course, I need to make some new year resolutions.
In 2008, I shall:
1. Continue my faith in God
2. Be disciplined in my studies
3. Save more money
4. Pack my stuff properly everyday
5. Be optimistic and be a true friend to others

Let me tell you the plain truth. 2008 will surely be worse than 2007. That is why I don't want 2008 to ever come.

solving the cube for the first time

After what seemed like hours of frustration and getting used to. I finally solved a Rubik's cube. So proud of myself. But sadly, I wasted an obscene number of hours.

Here goes:

The scrambled cube

The white cross

Completed 1 side and the 1st layer

Completed inserting in the edges of the 2nd layer

The yellow cross on the last layer

About to complete...

YAY! COMPLETED! :D

the saturday without band

To start off, this was a freaking huge white rabbit I saw at a pet shop in Great World City. 10000 times bigger than my 2 rabbits.

SSEF sucks. My teammates and I are dying under our own self-torture. The freaking computer takes 1 year to take 100 received signal strength samples from 5 access points. Every time, the 2 computers we're using goes wonky and hang a bit when we run the perl programming script.

The computer got stuck...

Edmund tries to solve the problem, but to no avail ):

Imagine the pain when you realise that you have to repeat this process for 324 times. (It could have been be more!) Estimated time needed to spend at NTU: at least 24 hours. And we have to hand this project up by January 9 2008. gg guys. I shall have to pon school on 1 or 2 days when it reopens. CRAP.

Guess what? I swear it's rubik's cube season! I'm not the only one trying to solve this colourful block of frustration which you can only observe RI/RJC or NJC or any nerdy/chao mugger secondary school guys fiddling in any science competition. Cos today I saw a man in the MRT trying to solve a 4x4x4 rubik's cube. To think I'm having trouble solving the original 3x3x3 at present... D: Oh, and Sheree saw another person doing it in public 2 days ago.

Yeah man! Doing a 4x4x4 in the MRT.

After the ride from Boon Lay, I met the clarinets at the Hong Kong Cafe at Marina Square. It serves good food such as milk tea and some mango ice kachang. The cheese baked rice never tasted so good.

Samantha, me and yel at HK Cafe.

We then went for the SparkWinds concert at VCH. Dorance and Cynthia were playing for the band (made up of RV alumni, Yuhua alumni, PJC). All the clarinets were there to support our fellow clarinetists. :D And some of the J2s. We kept shouting nonsense like: "Nice solo, Dorance!" when she was obviously in 3rd Clarinets. We refrained from "Woo, Peck Suan!", otherwise we would have been flamed by the crowd haha. (That's the conductor!)

Dorance, the "soloist".

We were damn bad to leave the concert just before the encore. lol. And went to walk around and blah.. boring... went to Ben and Jerry's at Raffles City and sat at their tables and drank up their water but never bought anything. Damn retarded.

Soon-to-be J2 Clarinet guys with an exception to Melvin. yel suddenly realises he's gonna be in J2. Better late than never.

We wondered why this water fountain at B&J's is so constant in its flow. Even my supposedly pro-ed physics couldn't explain it.

I went home and then watched football from 11pm, only to see Man Utd losing to West Ham 2-1. D: If only Ronaldo scored the penalty, perhaps the result would have been very different. Oh well, a sad ending to a sad day.

i am legend

I just only watched this. It's still fresh.

In this kind of 1 man movie, you need a kind of charisma to keep the audience interested. I thought Will Smith's acting was awesome. He did capture the emotions. I must say that he was damn emo in some parts. I could feel that he was damn scared. But there was still a tinge of his usual humour.

The director freaking used a lot of loud noise and sudden movements as shock tactics. Suddenly, this weird zombie person come out from nowhere accompanied with lots of noise. I was half expecting this kind of thing, so I didn't jump in shock like I do if anyone poked me. :D

Damn sad that lots of things die in the story. After a damn long character development, then suddenly this character dies, it feels very "wah lao, just die like that". Yup, that's the bitch called Samantha. Nice dog leh. She adds a lot of interest to the story. But without her death, the story would not have developed.

Smith's character, Robert, had a final act which was like what justified the name for this movie. Yeah, good man.

I would give 4 stars out 5 stars for this. Because I thought that Robert was acting too insane for his own good haha.

That's my 2 cents worth and no more spoilers already!

let me share some stuff

I found a damn funny photo album of animals and anime characters. The thing is, it's damn vulgar.
Here's the link:
http://http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/pagyu/

vietnam reflections

WARNING: BORING POST

I have to hand up my official Vietnam trip reflections for the school today and I think I shall show it here, starting from question 5.

5. Responsibility / Contribution:
(a) Photographer for workshop and competition
(b) Danced and modelled for concert items/ Led a group for the SOS Orphanage
(c) Contributed the chemistry practical used in the workshop

6. What did I expect of the trip/programme?

I expected the trip to be arduous and tiring but fulfilling at the end. This was because of the large number of activities that I heard that we were doing for the trip within a short span of 10 days. As a result, I did not expect the trip to be generally fun, but instead, I thought of it as serious hard work. I had expected a country which was very backward in development, not expecting the accommodation and food to be of a high standard. As personal development, I expected my leadership qualities, interpersonal skills, intrapersonal skills and photography skills to develop to some extent as a result of practice throughout the duration of the trip. As I thought that the preparation for the trip was a rather precipitate as many tasks were done at the last minute, I had expected a workshop and concert of just only an acceptable standard. In general, I anticipated the programme in Vietnam to be fairly successful.

7(a) What did I actually experience/see?

I actually experienced a trip which was truly more than once-in-a-lifetime. Although during the trip I was physically tired, I was never mentally tired because I enjoyed what I did in Vietnam. As such, the trip never felt as if it was hard work. In fact, I felt that everyone in the trip had put in effort in some or another way in making the trip a success.

It was fun to interact with Vietnamese students and they often surprised me with their mannerisms and culture. With my interaction with the students, I saw a side of Vietnam that not many foreigners would experience – that is, the mutual relationships that form the tight community. I also saw the inquisitive nature of the Vietnamese that may one day bear fruit for the already booming economy. The students were hospitable and tried their best to communicate with me in English, but it was still difficult to break down the language barrier.
I experienced Vietnam to be a place brimming with history and culture from the visits to places which were related to Ho Chi Minh and other places such as the Temple of Literature. These visits have made me understand more about the beliefs and ideology of the Vietnamese.

Food and accommodation were better than expected, but accommodation could be considered as far below par in luxury standards. Vietnamese food was generally appetizing, but the daily cuisine could get repetitious after a few days. Perhaps our group missed out on what the typical Vietnamese ate for his or her meals.

7(b) What did I see/learn that is new?

As this was one of the few times that I worked with people as a team to work out something practical to apply in real-life, I gained a more realistic approach to working as a team. For example, when I voluntarily joined the English conversation programme team on the night of discussion before the workshop, I had to keep in mind the limitations of their resources to come up with ideas to help the team.

From a viewpoint of a photographer, I learnt several methods that photographers use to capture a defining moment. The trip gave me an opportunity to experiment with taking pictures of people as the main subjects and this allowed me to learn different approaches to making shots more interesting.

(For more, refer to question 10)

8. What could I have done to make the trip/programme better?

(a) Before the trip

I could have signed up for more responsibilities before the trip to fulfil my potential. This could have possibly reduced the workload of others. Perhaps I could have proposed a new responsibility such as welfare to take care of everyone involved in the trip and keep them in good spirits. I could also have learnt more of the Vietnamese language so that I could hold a simple conversation in Vietnamese. Furthermore, I could have contributed more by volunteering to help others who needed help in their jobs to reduce their workload because I was not part of any workshop programme. With my help, it could be possible for certain parts of the programme to run better. Moreover, I could have done my job of interviewing Mrs Chan earlier to make the first video presentation more interesting.

(b) During the trip

I could have brought my laptop to save all the photographs that I had taken before giving them to my partner and for more efficient distribution to the others in the group. Furthermore, I could be more resolute in my ideas for the video presentation so that the other parties are more agreeable to my ideas.
I could have been more intrepid and proactive in helping others to solve problems in some areas of the programme which required ideas and help due to the almost completely new situations that some workshop programmes have been put into.

9. What could I/we do better if there is another trip/programme (or if somebody asked me/us for advice)?

Rigorous planning with multiple back-up plans is required for a successful trip. Try to find a balance between planning and spontaneity in conducting activities for the trip to keep yourselves open to new ideas that may improve your activities. Always be prepared to think on your feet. Look out for each other and never leave anyone behind, especially in a foreign country. Do not strive for perfection, but strive for passion to achieve perfection. Be wary of the working style of your group members to avoid or mitigate internal conflicts. Employ a passionate photographer who is willing to do photography for the sake of the people and photography for the sake of his/her job as a photographer. At the end of everyday, gather everyone to take 20 minutes to write their reflections of the day in point form to aid in the process of writing the post-trip reflections. Know how to speak the native language of the place that you are in to prevent communication breakdowns with the locals. Organise some bonding sessions with the group members prior to the trip regardless of the time left for preparation for the trip.

10. How can I apply what I experienced/learnt in the future?

I learnt that it is difficult to get things the way you want things to be due to certain limitations and it is always best to arrive at a compromise which results in a win-win situation for all parties. I can apply the skill of coming to a compromise in the future by asserting my views but also considering the other party’s view and this can avoid or mitigate any major conflict . I also learnt that I should be lavish in praising people because this breeds motivation and everyone can do their job much better and I can be in a better position to influence people. In the future, I can apply this learning point so that I can work better with people and keep people more positive in their attitude. After doing the photography for the more important events during the trip, I gained invaluable photography skills that I apply in the future. I learnt that hard work is an important component of success, and I can definitely use this learning point in my academic pursuits. When working in a team in the future, I learnt from the trip that it is important that we form a strong bond with one another and avoid conflicts so that we can be successful in our main jobs. It is the interdependency between the team members which contributes to success.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you out there! It is a time to remember about the birth of Jesus Christ, not just about giving and receiving and basking in the Christmas festive mood.

I'm not going to blog much because I have already killed off my fingers by playing the piano for so many hours today and have already drained my "musical energy" by doing endless sightreading of SATB parts of Christmas songs. I have to say that today's 8am Christmas Service at St Andrew's Cathedral wasn't so special because I felt that something was missing. Now I have figured that out already: I didn't perform with Barker Band this year at Barker Road Methodist Church, and I don't think there's even a Christmas performance this year since there's the One ACS Esplanade performance tomorrow.

Christmas is also a time for my extended family to visit the colombarium in Hougang. And yeah, I know it's one place that one wouldn't normally visit in this season but I can't help it because it is family tradition.

Yes, I can't wait for tomorrow, the ACS Bands are going to rock Esplanade down with Christmas songs and other songs. Then, after that it's section supper! Yay!

christmas shopping

Went Christmas shopping after church today in Takashimaya. Met Timothy and met Emily. Timothy dunno how come he was in Orchard and he called me when I happened to be around the same area. Either coincidence or something I don't know. So we met and I did him some favour. I met Emily in the department store but I swear she never even noticed me even though she was looking around my direction until I tapped her. lol, what's wrong with her?

Christmas shopping was not good because of the big big big crowd throughout Takashimaya. I was carrying some big bags of things and people just keep on coming and I found it hard to move about. If not for the big crowd everywhere, shopping would have been more enjoyable.

The next post will probably be on something on Vietnam. Perhaps I shall talk about the home visit, the orphanage and the visit to Dang Tham Mai Secondary School. Stay tuned.

the last christmas band practice

It was bad... at least for me. Every one of the conductors had to pick on me! Mr Tan, Ms Tan and Mr Wong. Damn retarded. So I walked out. And so my msn nick reads "ian felt that he was hated by all the conductors and so he left band practice early to prevent further upset".

So you think I'm so easily pissed off? Well, this is only half true. I left early to attend my neighbour's wedding (Huan Xin got married). The ceremony started at 6pm and dinner was at 8pm. So draggy... that's why I wouldn't like to attend weddings of people I don't really know.

I shall go back to the picking on me crap. Dr Lee didn't pick on me today, which is good. But on the previous day, he had to over tuning in the last part of Les Miserables and the starting of the first note of the "let us hear the people sing" part of the piece. Stupid lah. My B-flat clarinet playing has turned damn loud and tone improved a lot after changing to using the 56 rue lepic reeds that I bought. Every time I play loud sure damn loud. And my fortissimo can overpower everyone. Since the resistance is quite high, it is also quite hard to control the clarinet to play soft now. This is probably the reason why Dr Lee keeps picking on me when I play the B-flat clarinet. For my E-flat clarinet playing, Dr Lee is always full of things to say. He keep praising me for my ability to play damn loud in Armenian Dances and running notes in Charming Asia. Which is good haha. All I got to say that the E-flat clarinet is damn easy to play damn loud and overpower almost the whole band.

So second came Ms Tan. She was ok, with a little bit of picking on me. But I can't remember haha. So I shall skip this part.

Mr Wong started the main part of the picking on me for today. In particular, the first note of Christmas Festival. First, he said that I was playing the wrong note on the first note. Then he said that he did not have my E-flat Clarinet part on his score and he came over to my stand and looked at my score. He saw the high D and asked me use the tuner to tune my D. I tell you, it was perfectly alright since it was at the green light. Since the key was transposed on mine to B-flat major, D should be flat but that doesn't matter because I was pressing the right key anyway. Anyway, when he heard the high woodwinds every time on the first bar, he acted damn weird and asked the band repeat again and again. But somehow, he did say most of his comments on this in my direction although I was certain it was me as I was playing the D (or concert F). Furthermore, the starting section he commented so much on the loudness and roughness of the woodwinds leading the melody. I dunno whether it was me because I was only clarinet playing the actual melody. Crap lah, feel damn bad. He probably said more things than this.

When it was Mr Tan, the worst came to worst. First, he said that my tuning was sharp. I accepted that comment anyway. Later on, in Sleigh Ride, in the swing part, he told me that my rhythm was wrong and then asked me to practise solo in front of the band while he conducted me. By this time, I was laughing inside, cos I was unlucky to get picked on by all the conductors to play some notes in front of the band. I didn't like it.

So this ends my unlucky band day and I left early to put my instruments in the viewing gallery and left the college.

So as I reached the Holland Village bus stop, I spotted the 48 bus at the opposite side. So I ran out of the 74 bus I was in and dashed across the road and chased the 48 bus. As I was about to reach the bus stop, the bus started moving. I ran on while the bus was still moving - it just didn't want to stop for me. I ran till half-way between the previous bus stop and the next bus stop and stopped running because the bus was moving quite slow until then. Stupid bus driver, more blind than a bat. So I walked over to the next bus stop and waited damn long for the next 48 bus.

DAMN SUAY TODAY. But so happening.