Memories...
Friday, January 26, 2007
Haha, it has been a little wierd at first having Jonathan Leong sit beside me during tutorial on Wed..just one year ago, i was still helping Deans Office and PS Dept to help put up posters of him all around FASS, coz he was going into the final of Singapore Idol. Hmm, he doesnt speak too much during class, but he seems like a nice chap though.
Watched Apocalypto with Princess Shuang Er yest..was a really good show u guys shud see it yeah =) quite gory though, some parts. Eg, there were a number of scenes where the tribal guys wud rip out the heart from their victims after stabbing them..and u can see the heart still pumping.. Quite a unique movie i must say..
Had a nice meet up with Diana, Gracey, Eunice, and Rid at Minds Cafe at Boat Quay just now..haha..feels great to catch up with them..we also played some silly board games and had lotsa fun heh..
Tom night i ll be at the National Stadium watching the Lions take on Malaysia in our local derby! haha, its been a long time since i was there watching live match..the last time was the Asean Cup final against Indonesia 2 years ago..yeah, hope there ll be a wonderful atmosphere and great match tom!
Monday, January 22, 2007
There's a virus going around...After Shifty, Eileen, Gandhi, its latest victim is ME! *groanz*
Porridge for lunch? Yucks!
I ve been popping numerous panadols btw..hopefully i ll get better soon. I hate to be sick.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Its the weekend again! =)
Haha, i had a fruitful past few daes. On Wed i went for a career talk on hospitality management..yest i went for an highly interesting entrepreneurship talk sponsored by the Deans Office, where they invited 2 former FASS alumni to talk about how they set up their own businesses after graduating from Arts. Really really learnt a lot =) Though it reinforced my thoughts that being an entrepreneur and setting up an own business really isnt easy and involves plenty of determination, hard work, and calculated risk-taking..oh and also the ability to accept failures..oh, and it was good to see Thomas back from overseas..hopefully our weekend soccer team can resume matches soon haha..
I then had a very enjoyable and fruitful meeting with Natalie and Nadiah, where we finally settled and distributed our parts for the SMUN research guide..all thats left is to type down the stuff, compile, and edit..
Yeah, and todae i finally gave Kwang Ge my word that i ll apply for the NYC Youngmakers Panel post..its too exciting an offer for me not to try haha..
Also good to see the CLubroom buzzing with meetings and both new and old faces this week =)
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
I dun really like it when people throw me last min work to do, and like give me a deadline of 12 midnight when i only receive the msg or instructions at 3 pm. I mean, i can still get the work done, but i feel thats not the way things shud be done. And i feel its basic courtesy to at least ask nicely, or a simple word of thanks wud be be well appreciated.
Today Wang Meng Meng from the New Paper asked "Where Were You Fans?" with regards to the near empty Kallang stadium where the Lions triumped 11-0 against Laos. I ll like to give my 2 pounds (not cents) worth answering his question.
1st of all, maybe the New Paper and the local media shud ask themselves back "Where Were You Media?" before the Asean Cup began? Where was the publicity for the competition? The urging of fans to go to the stadium to support the national team? I have been watching football since the Malaysia Cup days, and year after year, it is obvious to me that publicity from the local media has been dwindling towards getting fans to the stadium to support the Lions.
It just happens over and over again. Every 2 years during the group stages of the Tiger Cup, fans support and turnout for the Lions wud be extremely poor. And then when the lions do badly or get eliminated, they get whacked left right centre by the media. And if they do well, progress to the semis, and have a genuine chance of winning, the media goes on a field day and asks once again "Where Were You Fans?". And then Singaporeans, being Singaporeans (who only like to see winning teams), wud arrive by the truckloads to Kallang, and then watch the Lions lift the trophy. Only to forget that they were Asean champions 2 short years later. My point is that what's the use of criticizing fans who dun turn up to support? It is obvious that there are deeper flaws underneath. Why doesnt the local media rally around the national team and launch massive publicity campaigns or massive calls for Singaporeans to go to the stadium right from the 1st match?? After all, this was what they had done during the heady Malaysia Cup days. Nowadays, the coverage for EPL gets at least 10 pages, while local football news get 2, 3 pages. It doesnt take a fool to figure out that publicity to drive up local support is sorely lacking.
2nd reason. While it is undeniable that the Lions are a much improved team these days, they lack charismatic and flamboyant personalities, or players with plenty of flair. People, fans love to watch heroes, or players that can fire up the imagination of the crowd. You dun have to look at people like Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo or David Ginola. Our own Singapore used to have heroes such as Fandi Ahmad, Malek Awab, David Lee, Nazri Nasir, Lee Man Hon, and super-sub Steven Tan! Familiar faces and names to the average household, while the closest the current national team possess of such cult personalities are prob Indra Shadan and Lionel Lewis. Too many names in the national team continue to be unknown to the majority of fans who dun follow the S-League (again underpublicized). Case of lack of publicity for national team players again? Probably.
3rd reason. A highly speculative one. Maybe Singaporeans deep down dun really feel much of a nation at all, and the sense of patrotism and nationalism is still highly lacking. I could be wrong though, esp when i myself was among the 50,000 fans doin the Kallang Roar and Wave during the Malaysia Cup days, and how all the entire neighbourhoods screamed with delight when Fandi and Abaas Saad scored in that famous 4-0 win over Pahang.
Perhaps it is really more of a case of lack of publicity and marketing for the national team.
I gotta say, its not easy adjusting to a new semester of life without mc stuff and worries..i rem how school always started with a bang for me for the past 2 years since i was a freshie..i rem 1st week always got OM..and then confirm guarantee will have booths to publicize Bash 1, Bike Quest etc..and then all e frenzied marketing will start..and then 1 by 1, V-dae bazaar, Arts Bazaar, BVB, ISIS, Foodhunt, Futsal, Openhouse, Arts Vital, Arena, Arts Quiz, Blogfest, insoms, Arts Camp meetings, Rag preparations, etc etc..bam, wham, slam, kabow~ before u noe it, the sem's over and its fop proper. Time flies past so fast that u didnt even realize it, and i do wonder sometimes how i survived these ordeals for 2 years haha..subconsciously these things grow to be so much a part of u that its not easy to shake off...
I wud think that last sem wasnt really considered a complete sem without mc life, coz there was still b2school bazaar, bash 2, elections (including a very busy external E), rop camp, AGM, thank u dinner, and lotsa handing over, admin and clearing stuff to settle..i rem i was still damn busy and packed for the 1st half of the sem, up till e very last dae of 26th Sept before stepping down..and thus the 1st half of the sem flew past quickly as well..haha, i rem not attending much lects in the 1st half of that sem as well..not to mention doing almost zero readings in the 1st half as well..
hmmm..what a contrast the sem and year has started for me haha..actually attending the 1st lectures, not falling asleep, and actually doing readings oredi in the 1st week! Oh my oh my..what happened to the incredible hock??!! haha nah..still preoccupied with other stuff as well..i signed up for quite a number of career recruitment talks to get myself more exposed to the different types of careers in both the private and public sectors.. Also been pondering whether to apply for the Young Changemakers Youth Panellist of National Youth Council as recommended by Song Kwang..had a long chat with him just now, and i think i am more or less quite sure that i would want to be involved in the panel, and learn much much more new stuff and network even more.
On top of all that, i have told myself i that i ll try my best to hit as high a cap score as i can this sem, to keep my glim hope of a 2nd uppers honours alive. Basically i ll need at least a 4.3 for each sem. Well, i shall just try my best and see how it goes this sem. 1 step at a time.. =)
Monday, January 15, 2007
I find it ridiculous that Jose Mourinho is kao bei kao buing about not having enough funds to spend on transfers. Haha! Who is he trying to kid? Gosh, what a whiner. Thats why everybody hates Chelsea. When they do not have enough beef to make hamburgers, they go all out to buy all the pork.
On another note, i also feel its absurd that Beckham is earning so much money with his new contract at LA Galaxy. Pls dun be mistaken, i love him for the memories he gave during his time at United, and i always felt that he was indeed one of the best crossers of the ball the world has ever seen. But i couldnt help but feel disgusted and turned off when i read about his weekly wage, reported to be a few hundred thousand pounds per week! And almost 5 times that of Steven Gerrard. Geeze..
Oh well, i guess thats life. Tats why kids shud never listen when their parents tell them to study hard so that one day they ll earn big bucks. They shud tell their kids to dump their textbooks, don those soccer boots since age 3, engineer a transfer to Europe by hook or by crook ala Fandi Ahmad, play for a top team, and earn enough coffers to feed the whole of Somalia for a whole year. If u happen to have good looks, better still. Do some endorsements or get a celebrity girlfriend. Otherwise, concentrate on getting a coaching licence so that u can be a manager when u retire, and still earn big bucks.
So much for studying yr guts out in Singapore haha~
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Had a real busy week man..such that i m still kinda sleepy haha..
went to help Rid and Eunice do camp instructor for Unity Primary School..haha, i must say, its not easy to take care of 20 primary school kids man!! Hmm, it didnt help that my group of kids were those who were less responsive kind to games and cheers etc..haha..hey but i still had a wonderful time, and a wonderful learning experience..kids can really be terrors and devils, but yet we still love them anyway haha..some of them hit me, bully me, and even said that i was childish when i tried to teach cheers to them! (gasp! how ironic to be denounced as childish by pri 5 students..duh)
Didnt realize how much i missed them until i went home..maybe thats why i made sure that i took pictures of all of them before we went home..i do wonder how and what kind of people they will grow up to be one day..i think the fascinating thing about children is their innocence and purity..unfortunately most people lose them when they grow up..so yah..i really hope that the children learnt more about themselves and their friends thru e camp as well... n_n
Made a lot of non-uni friends as well, from the fellow instructors. Some of them were from Polys, some were from JCs still waiting for A level results, some were from ITEs, some were just waiting to be called up into army..haha, i was the oldest instructor there together with Sylvia, but yet this was my 1st commercial camp..Really impressed with some of the ITE leaders, esp those lao jiao wan..they were really charismatic, funny, entertaining, confident, selfless, ra-ra, and professional when they need to be, and the kids absolutely love them! I really feel its important to learn and know how to mix with people from different social and educational backgrounds, which frankly, i feel a lot a lot of JC-educated students in singapore lack.
Sometimes i feel sad that with so much emphasis and focus on studies and results in singapore, people who may not do that well in studies get stigmatized by society. Thats why i m always against streaming at primary school level..it appals me to see with my own eyes some pri 5 kids discriminating their fellow EM3 counterparts as intellectually inferior or just plain labelling them..In life, there will always be those who do not do as well in studies, but that doesnt mean that they cannot do as well in other areas. Different people have different talents, some latent and some who are dormant..
On another note, i have been really tied down with SMUN research and meetings! Phew..but i must say, its been a good learning experience, and a good chance to noe new friends, not just from PS majors but also non-Arts Club people..Got to noe people such as Nadiah, Natalie, Kelvin, Yong Keong much better, and its been fun working under Alvin haha..good to see him doing well as the PD.. (eh eh, friendly ah)
I signed up for a host of company recruitment talks for the next 2 months, via the career centre website. I think its important to learn more about the job market outside, and the possible career options one can expose oneself to..This sem's workload is heavier for me, and maybe its time that i try to be more hardworking during the normal sem haha..i didnt put that as a new year resolution though, but i ll see how it goes heh.
Wonder how's the preparations for Beach Volleyball Fiesta this year... i really hope there will be one duh..Science Club have their trademark MC project in TalentQuest, Bizad got their trademark CEO Unplugged, Engin got their trademark Engin Day, SDE got their trademark Cultural Night, while BVB has always been a trademark event by Arts Club..Every year, the standards of the event has been rising, and hopefully it can be built upon..I noe many many people would be very sad, xian, and disappointed if BVB's gone haha..coz it took years to get it right, and left many special memories for many many people..
Feeling hungry now...
Sunday, January 07, 2007
The dae for me started off well enough with a combined SMUN meeting..but became xian after i heard from Thomas regarding Foreign Service only recruiting 2nd upper honours grads and above, while they wud not even consider those doing 2nd Lower..if thats really the truth, oh well, kinda disappointing..It got me thinking further about future career options and a lot of things...
A little good news is that i my faulty laptop battery could be replaced free of charge at the mac center in wheelock place..i waited for quite a while when i was there, but yeah, grateful that i can start the sem with a new battery..esp after e old one has been deterioriating at a drastic rate..
Bad news came in at night. Which got me thinking about some of the downsides of MC life. As the Chinese saying goes, "tan2 qian2 shang1 gan3 qing2"..sigh. I m genuinely irritated and pissed with how this issue was being handled, and brought back quite some unpleasant memories..but yet i cant just bochup and do nothing about it, coz it boils down to my own friends clearing the shit, but yet i am pissed becoz i noe all these shit could have been prevented in the 1st place long long time ago if people had listened and be more careful, but yet i noe its no point talking about all these when they happened so long ago, but yet i am irritated.
I dun fault or blame anyone who cant pay or have difficulty chipping in, coz coming from a not-so-well-off background myself, i noe its difficult to earn money, let alone ask for it. Moreover, i feel anyone has the right not to pay if he or she feels that the reasons for him or her to pay the amount are unjustified, esp when it is of no fault of the person being asked to pay in the 1st place. At the same time, when people ask for others to pay and share, they must also ask themselves when others faced similiar problems in the past, did they themselves step foward to help and chip in? Or did they adopt the very same attitude that others are giving them now? If thats the way they themselves acted in the past, they cannot expect others to readily chip in now.
Sigh. But yet if others dun chip in, the rest who are willing to pay have to pay much much more..And this makes it even heavier for them to bear..and creates new problems..
Oh well, super xian that after stepping down still need to clear this kind of shit, and this is not including the fucking APSMIA which collapsed leaving a fucking piece of big shit.
It's only the 7th of January, but looks like i gotta eat cup noodles for the rest of the month. I guess shit happens, sometimes due to the fault of others but sometimes without anyone's fault, thats life unfortunately.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Went to Wild Wild Wet with Princess Shuang Er yesterdae at Downtown East haha..i must say, we had a really great time even though the rides there were brief and e entire place wasnt exactly that big. Its my 1st trip there though, heh, and memories of fun during Fantasy Island years ago came back to me. As a highly adventurous young man, i love taking exciting rides in theme parks since young ahha..
Proceeded to Changi Chalet at night for the 27th MC bbq..wah lau e area was really ulu man..haha, but e amount of food being bbqed was really a lot man..cant rem when exactly was the last bbq i had..yeah, and e highlight of the night was undoubtedly bit bit's downing of 20 bourbon shots? ahahha! Respect man bit! Respect! ahahahaha..almost everyone was trying to toast e poor chap, and wow, he did a really wonderful dance when he was high.. *salutes bit bit* I have to say, it kinda reminded me of Get-Drunk-Night 1 year ago ahaha...
Met Don and Egg Head just now for dinner at Bugis..real glad to see donny man! haha, and happy for him that he enjoyed life in Australia heh..really interesting stories over there..3 of us had a good time catching up and talking cock..pity that donny gotta go back Aussieland soon, and i ll have to wait another 1 year for him! Gasp! How wud we both be like by then?? haha
couldnt bid for a Level 4000 PS module..hmm, which means i ll have to do e conventional 8 honours modules in 2 sems in my 4th year..phew..oh well, i guess some things are lan lan lah..
I ll finally be helping to do Group Instructor with Camp High Achievers next mon to wed..haha..ll be taking Unity Primary School to Jalan Bahtera, where i was last there myself in sec1, meaning like 10 years ago? wah lau..ll prob feel a bit nostalgic haha..kinda excited bout it i must say..but e relatively xian part is that i m like e oldest instructor there can..yet the newest..then e other instructors are all like JC girls waiting for their A level results or guys who havent even go in army yet..wah lau, all like 5 or 6 years younger than me! Guess i ll have to adjust mindset and get to noe them better along e way..geeze, but i still not in camp mood also, coz its like holidaes are ending and school is reopening! ahahha~
Yeah, hopefully i ll enjoy e camp..need the additional income as well~
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
~ OF 2006...LOOKING BACK AND FOWARD (PART 2) ~
Haha, its kinda interesting that here i am, 365 daes on from January 2nd 2006, same time same place, blogging about my reflections of the past year and hopes for the new year..
A fortune teller (he was the chief bouncer btw) whom i worked with at Paradigm once told me that 2006 would be a very very fulfilling year where opportunities would abound, and that i must seize them while the year lasts. As I look back, i have to say that he was most certainly right on this point.
Maybe before i touch on the highs of the year 2006, i ll like to think about the lows first, or what i didnt achieve...
First would have to be the failure to win Rag 2006 for Arts. I remember the burning desire that i had to bring the championship shield back to FASS after Jianghao did the same when he was President 4 years ago. I remember the feeling of helplessness, disgust, anger, disappointment, and sadness inside my heart when they announced at the end that Bizad and SDE had won instead of us.
I never really told anyone before, but the saddest thing about being a President is that while others were crying around me at that moment, i cannot allow myself to cry as well..for i have to give people hope. Hope that we will all be back 1 day, and that 1 day, indeed, we ll win 1 day, no matter how long it may take us. When i reached home that night, i allowed my grief to pour out. It was painful really. Despite the fact that we did produce a magnificent and probably the best float in years for Arts, friends who noe me and used to play football with me noe that i absolutely hate losing. Thats why i love Roy Keane.
Second ll be the bike accident i had on the night of ISIS Gala Dinner, where i was pilloning min min to kallang to prepare for Futsal the very next morning..it was a terrible memory and a real low for me, leaving scars (literally) for min min.
Third ll be the period where i was whacked left right centre by OSA and the Deanery due to the O Week incidents and the f-up reporting by this f-up reporter about Arts Camp in a certain newspaper article.
Last that i can recall would probably be my failure to fufill my aspirations of being a bartendar, esp after i left Paradigm in May. Hmmm, but i m not too affected by this though, for i realize that it may not really be my cup of tea, and coz i didnt have much time to train. It is unlikely tat i ll ever return to work in the nightlife business tho.
What about the highs of 2006? =)
1st wud be successfully leading the 26th MC and the Arts Club to conclude a very fruitful and memorable term, one in which i m confident that has left behind many legacies and platforms for future coms to build upon...Indeed the com went thru thick and thin together, and we all had disputes, arguments, and disagreements at 1 point or another esp in the heat of work during our term. But i m really glad that we stepped down happily and left behind many many sweet memories. I ll like to think that i have relatively achieved my personal vision for the MC and the club, and it feels really wonderful to see all the year1s grow..many from being blur blur freshmen 1 year ago to full-pledged Project Directors and leaders. Thru the term, i hav also got to know many many new friends (list is endless!) while strengthening relationships with old friends and lao laos..I m proud to say that i gave my best, my all, and everything i could possibly give to the Club for the past year, and no regrets for the efforts i ve put in.. n_n
2nd wud be being together with Princess Shuang Er, for whom i love dearly and who have shared so many wonderful wonderful times and memories with me for 2006. Words are not enough to express how i feel, but I m really thankful that i have finally found the love of my life, and a wonderful Princess whom i have made up my mind to marry 1 day. =)
3rd wud be some of my personal memories as President. Having the honour of delivering a speech during Orientation briefing in front of the freshmen and the Dean and the entire Deans Office..many of whom shook my hand after the speech and congratulated me on the achievements of the club..i was really filled with immense pride..
Being on stage in UCC during Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony together with all the other club Presidents, and then seeing the Arts freshies cheer and clap damn loud when Danny Quek introduced me to the crowd..haha..it was an unforgettable memory as well..i think i got the loudest cheers among all the club Presidents as well heh heh..I rem sitting on stage and looking at the bright lights in the ceiling..telling myself that these are times worth remembering and living for, becoz they ll only occur once in yr lifetime...
Next wud be when we were pushing the Arts Rag float out on Rag Day 2006..the immense sense of pride and satisfaction that we had in completing the float..and i rem moments before Arts was about to perform, i was giving another raraing speech to pysche up everybody to rise and give their best..I dreamt of what to say for months..and it was really an unforgettable feeling as we prepared to showcase our efforts to the whole world..
Receiving the Gold Award from the Dean and seeing all the friends of the club at thank-you dinner 06 was also a high for me..
And lastly, my results (haha, results always come last for me)..i m really glad to have scored 4.3 during the 1st half of 2006, my best ever in NUS, and then got the same score again at the end of 2006..it has more or less consolidated my honours status and i m thankful for that. (Coz lydat i can slack more in my last 3 sems ahhahaa!)
What then, are my hopes for 2007? An interesting new year and beginning where i ll officially start without any MC commitments for the 1st time in a long long while....
On a personal basis, i hope to enjoy another wonderful and memorable year together with Princess Shuang Er, culminating in Christmas and New Year 2007 celebrations again! n_n
I hope that my family and loved ones will continue to stay healthy! As with my bike!
I hope that i can still be able to keep in touch with all my old friends thru out 2007!
I hope that i will be much slimmer and regain my former fitness now that i ll have more time to train!
I hope that the Singapore Model United Nations in June 2007 wud be a huge success! As with my trip to the Global Youth Symposium in May 2007!
I hope that the 27th MC and the Arts Club will enjoy a successful term! And that hopefully, Rag wud be won this year under their leadership!
Last but not least, i hope that Singaporeans can learn to be more compassionate, especially in the little things such as giving up seats to the elderly and the needy on MRTs and buses, and to be more understanding and courteous on the road. Almost everyday as a rider, i hear and see traffic accidents happening in our country, which is really really very sad..I hope that 2007 would be a much better year with much fewer traffic accidents.
On the world front, i hope that the Iraqi issue can be resolved and that the world becomes more tolerant and understanding of each other's differences. I hope that greater peace can be achieved in the Middle East, and that the world continues to make the efforts to improve the livelihoods of the poorer peoples of the globe. I also hope that the world sits up to take genuine measures to improve global environmental conditions, before Mother Nature decides to explode its wrath on us once again...
Very long post indeed. I m done! Finally! n_n and here's wishing all my friends a HAPPY 2007 once again, and best wishes for the year ahead!
