Among all the touching movies I've watched in Singapore (Artificial Intelligence, Wall-E, UP...) Hachiko: A Dog's Story is the only movie that has successfully opened the dam that has been preventing my tears from flowing out. I will not spoil the show for you so I'll just put Cathay's summary here.

Cathay's description of the film
"This heartwarming true story is an American adaptation of a Japanese tale about a loyal dog named Hachiko. This very special friend would accompany his master to the train station every day and return each afternoon to greet him after work. Sadly his master departs one day, passes away and never returns to the station. Hachiko faithfully returns to the same spot at the station the very next day, and every day for the next nine years to wait for his beloved master."



I never would've expected that I would spend money to watch a touching film because I always believed "why spend money to make yourself cry?". The same logic applies to horror films. So I have never went to a cinema to watch horror films (except with huijun but that was a totally different case altogether) or emo films before. This is my first time watching a emo film.  It was a special occasion and I thought it was a good opportunity to try something new. I'm glad that I did and I did not regret a single moment of it. In fact, it was one of the most memorable moments in my life :)

I'll leave out the details...

9 years... Let's put that into perspective. Lets say I start counting from now. At the end of 9 years, the year would be 2019 (Wow! great maths!). I would have been 28 years old (I'm still 19 now :p, die die also don't want to admit that I'm turning 20. haha). My ORD is in 2011. Shall get my degree in 2015 (hopefully). Lets say MOE allows me to futher my studies, I would have gotten my Masters in 2018 (with some buffer time in between). Tui would've ORD-ed by then. lol. Then, I'll go to NIE for 1 year. AHA! It would be 2019 after I finish my course in NIE. So...from now till I start working... that is 9 years. Come to think of it, I'll need to bring my wife to see Mr Liw before that! OMG!!! Get married before I start working? That's not possible! Sorry Mr Liw, guess I can't keep my promise after all. Luckily I didn't swear on anything. Haha.

Waiting for somebody for 9 years...that sounds almost too impossible to believe. If a dog can do that, I think humans can too right? Of course that statement is based on the assumption that human's sense of loyalty is stronger than that of a dog's, which may not be true. So for girls out there who like their man to be 100% loyal to you, please consider marrying a dog. Then again...Hachi is only 1 dog among the dunno how many million of the similar species. So out of 3 billion men in the world, maybe there will be a few thousand of this kind of man and probably only a few hundred of them are single. So to all single females and attached females looking for an affair, good luck ;)

I think I've edited enough...3 times...don't want to be stuck at this entry forever. lol.

p.s. I wish I were one of the few hundred men.

2009 went by very fast. Mainly because of NS. It's not my best year (thanks to NS) but there are still certain achievements worth mentioning here. First up on the list, Teaching Internship Program! My proudest achievement in 2009. It has successfully gotten me a sponsorship from MOE without the need for an interview and stupid registration forms. What a wonderful deal :) I can't blog much about NS, made many new friends; became a medic which I am very proud of :)

Sadly, some friends have to go overseas...I'm happy for them but feels sad for myself. Really hope that our bonds will not fade away as time goes by....

Let's look at my 2009 resolutions

1. Be a good teaching intern I think I have done that :)
2. Get 2310 for SAT1 Reasoning Test damn :(
3. Perfect my university and scholarship application er...what application? lol
4. Survive NS so far so good :)
5. World Peace well...Obama is still sending troops to Afghanistan...so....don't think we've achieved that :(

Now is time for 2010 resolutions

1. Survive NS
2. Promote to Corporal First Class
3. Keep in touch with all my friends
4. World peace

I realize my resolutions are getting lesser every year. Haha. Mainly because I have less desires in NS (what can you desire in NS man?)

Oh well, Happy New Year everyone, hope that you can achieve all your new year resolutions :)

Yesterday, I went to a Japanese buffet restaurant.

No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The handsome and genius WEN BORUI went to a Japanese restaurant.

My mum called me when I was in out field and asked me to go to  this Japanese buffet called Sakura near Yio Chu Kang MRT station so the family can celebrate her birthday together. How can I refuse? All she wanted was a family gathering on her birthday at some restaurant on which she has been eying for quite some time. I can even cancel a date with a pretty girl for this. So.....there I was, at a Japanese restaurant.

Since, this is my first time stepping foot into a Japanese restaurant since the day my brain can remember, I shall blog about my experience. The buffet is similar to all other buffets just that there is more Japanese food. I didn't eat any sushi because I really don't like the smell. I took quite a lot of cooked food, basically one of every kind that is new to me, just to try out the taste. Sadly, only  around 40% of the food that I took satisfied my taste buds. Mainly because it's mostly sea food and I don't like seafood. There are lots of oysters and clams which I've condemned immediately after the first bite.

After trying all the food that I have not  tried before, I just focused on  salmon, Wagyu beef and veggie. If I'm not wrong, I have eaten 3 plates plus minus 1 plate (a measurement without uncertainty is meaningless) of each.

As for the desert, I had a free choice of ice cream, green tea and Pulu Hitam (purple rice congee). The green tea is really cool because it came out of a coffee dispenser. I mean theoretically this is possible since all you need to do is change the coffee to tea but this is the first time I see people use coffee dispenser to serve Japanese green tea. The green tea is the traditional Japanese green tea with the powdered tea leaves making the tea look murky and my dad says there is also grounded sea weed inside but somehow I couldn't taste any fishiness (which is a good thing because the last thing I want is a seafood-soup-flavored tea). Oh! The Pulu Hitam! I first saw it in Nee Soon camp and I fell in love with it immediately. I would rate the food "excellent" whenever the cookhouse gives Pulu Hitam. Its a real pity that I only know it's name yesterday. haha.

Alright, so that's all for my Japanese food experience.

I had a dream last night. It made me very emo this morning...

Hey, it's been a while........OK fine, maybe a little more than a while........OK! OK! I surrender! It's been a long long while [ angel: around half a year -.-" ] I've been quite busy for the past half a year or so. And er.....when people are busy they tend to forget the less important stuff....I'm not saying that this blog is not important; just that there are many other more important stuff that are keeping me preoccupied. You know.... teaching... NS... outings....etc. So er.... I shall try to remember what happened for the past 6 months and hopefully keep you guys (if you are still there) updated.

Teaching
I've been teaching for the first 3 month of 2009 (I think most of you should know) and I have kept a journal regarding my teaching experiences (as required by MOE). I don't think I can share it with you here cos it's quite personal [ angel: Stop lying! Just admit that you don't know how to upload the file onto the internet ! ] Right...erm....so... I really enjoyed it and have decided to become a teacher. So I'm going to NUS faculty of science to study physics [ devil: After 2 years of NS ] [ angel: Do you always have to remind him about NS? ] [ devil: Yeah, cos I'm the devil. HA ! ]

Right...so the story continues....

NS
I'm not allowed to blog about NS so.... hush hush hush. All I can say is: POP lo! Right.... so.... according to my devil, I still have a long long way to go before I can ORD. [ angel: Not to worry honey, just think positive and you will ORD in a blink of an eye ! ] [ devil: Thats right ! The 3 year old Bo Rui totally believes you. ] [ angel: Oh shut up ! ]

So...what am I doing now? Thats a good question.

Now
I'm slacking most of the time now. Had a few outings and still training my togepi. Oh! I've also borrowed some books to keep my brain spinning. I'll recommend it to you. Its called " Universe on a T-shirt " by Dan Falk. It talks about the evolution of science from ancient times till now. I find it a pretty good read and arts students can enjoy it too because the book is mainly talking about the history of science. Negligible mathematics and insignificant amounts of physics concepts. So it's quite fool-proof.

So thats me for the past half a year. You can fit it into a T-shirt too :) See you next time (I don't know when) !

2008, like all other years which are odd numbers, has been a very good year. I had lots of happy moments with my classmates, 黄城 gay mates, OCIP Batam comrades and those that are not in any of these categories. The greatest achievement is, of course, my completion of A level. That's 1 big leap of my life. The next one will come is 24 day. The SAT1 Reasoning Test. But we shall not talk about that right now. (Oh by the way, McGraw-Hill says it is absolutely fine if you start your sentence using "But" if we want to achieve certain effects.)

The most memorable things are definitely not the tests (which sane human would want exams and tests to be their fondest memory?). It is always the time that I have spent with my friends that is the most valuable. Those outings....love every single one of them :) Made a lot new friends in 2008; mainly juniors (young, pretty juniors :D). If anyone of you somehow feels offended by my sudden flirtatious behavior, I apologize. I promise this will not last. Making new friends is one thing. Strengthening existing friendship is another. I guess the class really got to know each other better in 2008 (if you use the number of class outings as a unit of measurement :D). I also got to know a lot of old friends better; maybe we have not talked much in 2007 but its not too late to do so in 2008 and hopefully more so in 2009 :)

Its too fast! I didn't even have enough time to enjoy those moments! There will definitely not be that many class outings in 2009. However, it is time for us to move on. As the saying goes: 天下无不散之宴席. But before we move on to 2009, let us recap a little on 2008.

These were my 2008 new year resolutions:
1) All "A" for A level Not sure yet
2) NAPFA silver (omg. imba tough) Didn't get it :(
3) Be a good welfare rep I hope so
4) Stay single (shouldn't be too tough...) YES! The only thing that I am proud of. haha
5) SAT reasoning test 2200 Didn't take SAT in 2008
6) World Peace er...don't think so...
7) Reduce poverty er...don't think so too
8) Increase standard of living in developing countries er...don't think so either
9) Be more environmentally friendly I hope so
10) Make those around me happy I think I did that :)

So...come to think of it, I didn't achieve much did I? Maybe I shall set less and more achievable goals this year.

Here it goes, my 2009 new year resolution

1. Be a good teaching intern
2. Get 2310 for SAT1 Reasoning Test
3. Perfect my university and scholarship application
4. Survive NS
5. World Peace

I think that should be enough. Although A level results are released this year but the test is taken last year so If I get all "A" then I would have fulfilled last year's requirement. Hope I can achieve everything this year :)

Happy New Year!
All the best my friends :D

Disclaimer: I have started writing this post since 18 November.

9745/01 marks the end of my A levels. Can you imagine, something that we have been mugging for 2 years has ended in just 2 weeks. I think you can. Right now, the big question that we should be pondering is: where do we go from here?

If we imagine our life as a 12 hour clock, that life begins when the hour hand is at 12 and ends after the hour hand has made 1 complete round and back to 12, we are only at around 2:30. We still have 9 and a half hours to spend. After we come out from NS, we would have only spent like 17 minutes. And by the time we finished our undergraduate studies, the minute hand would go clockwise by another 28 minutes. We would get married and have kids at around 4:30. We would then have to work for the family for another 4 and a half more hours before we can retire and spend the rest of the 3 and a half hours in bliss assuming u do not get any disease.

I am seriously at a loss of what to write. It is already 25 November when I started this paragraph. Its not hard to calculate how long I've took to write the previous 2 paragraphs. Let me catch up on what I've been doing from 18 Nov to 25 Nov. I have started  planning for the next 45 minutes of my life clock.

They include:

1. training for NS
2. Studying for SAT
3. applications for universities
4. preparing for MOE Teaching Internship
5. reading some random materials for personal enrichment
6. thinking of having a girlfriend (haiz...)

Its really amazing how boredom can do to your brain. I've been thinking about random thoughts since the end of A levels. I guess the pressure of A level has been keeping my thoughts from randomly flowing out. Now that the pressure is gone, they seem to radiate out of my brain in all directions. Surprisingly, I'm not as happy right now as I was before A levels. I seem to miss the school days. I tidied my table today. Cleared away all my pre A level materials. There was this sinking feeling when I did that. It feels a bit like when you were throwing away the pictures of your girlfriend when you broke up. Yeah, I guess that's the best way to put it.

I have been depending on class outings to keep my thoughts at bay but now my classmates have gone to Bangkok. This implies that NO CLASS OUTINGS FOR THE WHOLE OF THIS WEEK!!! This is bad. Real bad. The only thing I can do now is study for SAT and go to gym to prepare for NS. I know its not very entertaining but that's the least I could do. Its the best of the worst I guess.

I am once again at a loss for words. I am really not in the right mood to blog. Nonetheless, I shall not disappoint my supporters of  "Borui and the World". I do not think I'll write about why I am not in the right mood, otherwise it would not have been in the public section. To all my loved ones in Bangkok, have fun there and be careful :)

This is it. I'm gonna click the "Post to acewen" button. Haiz...this post did not meet my expectations. Shall improve on the next one. Hopefully I'd feel better then.

No square hats, no black capes, but its still one hell of a grad day. It had everything it needs to have. the boring prize presentation, the hugging, the kissing and the gaying the camera flashing. In general, I was very happy that day. Came to school early in the morning to do some final touch-ups on Mr Liw's present, then celebrated Ms Chua's birthday, which is today. After that was the briefing, then dinner and finally the ceremony itself.

I don't really have a word that can describe how happy I was yesterday. I was having lots of fun with my friends. You know.....Borui + friends = happy man. I just seemed to forget everything. A levels seems another 2 years away. NS seems like it will only happen in my afterlife. Its like I'm travelling at the speed of light and time seems to freeze at the moment before little teddy hit my @#$%.

I was quite supprised at the number of juniors present at the ceremony. Yi Xiao (cool name) was there to sing for me us, Marriane (ya, you all can sit down. lol) and Jiang Ying (my beautiful angel) were the emcees and Zi Yuan (paper birdy) was clicking the slides. I was amazed at how involved my juniors are in school events. Come to think of it, I don't know how many time I've ponned the official school events. "Green come out from blue and pwns blue" (sorry, I don't know what happened to my chinese typing software). I am very proud of them.

The heaven feeling was short lived of course. This morning when I woke up.....felt like crying very sad. Its only 3 days left. I don't wanna leave. I think I have said this many time before but I'm gonna say it again. I really miss all of you :( I have no clue when have I become so sentimental. Maybe its because.......Spongebob went jellyfishing with Patrick.  Today I was studying for chem after finishing physics 2007 paper. I took out my huge file (tiny as compared to the bio students' files) and just stared at it for 10 mins. Haizzz....

Its quite late now. I gotta sleep. Thats all for today. Hope Hoekit can upload the class video onto youtube so that I can share it here. It was the best video I've ever seen. Bravo!

p.s. all the strikes were not copyrighted from Guan Hui :D

Prelim is over. Went to watch Wall-e with my classmates. Its a very nice show. The sweetest romance movie that I've ever watched. I was trying my best not to cry. Think about it. A love story that made Bo Rui cry. It must be very touching. According to my memory, there is only one movie that made me cry. Its a Chinese film about a sibling traveling from a rural area in China to the city in search for their mother. I can't really remember the details. I was only about 5 years old then.

My feelings tend to get numb as I grow older. The previous movie that touched my soul was "Artificial Intelligence". The movie triggered the same string in my heart. Its also about the love a child (robot in this case) has for his mother. If I'm not wrong the robot traveled to many places in search of a fairy, which he read in a children's fairytale that would grant you any wish. And his wish was to see his mum (his owner) again. If you are interested you can go borrow some dvd and watch. I don't want to spoil it for you.

I guess what made these movies so touching is the naiveness of the characters who believed in something that most of us think would be impossible or stupid to achieve, something that is lacking in today's society and yet the characters are determined to achieve their goals. In the end, they may or may not be successful but the determination and courage that they have shown in the process of achieving their dreams will touch our hearts nonetheless.

The same goes for Wall-e. A simple robot was motivated by a 1969 musical film "Hello, Dolly" and wanted to experience love. The opportunity came when he saw Eve... Ok, thats all the spoiler you're gonna get :) Its a very nice show and you can be proud of crying during the show. So guys, please feel free to do so.

This is a video of the musical in the film. Enjoy :)

Book 2:

If I were to add up all my studying hours from the start of the holiday (24th May) till now (20th June), it should total up to (200+10)hr. Assuming that I am awake 14 hours a day, I would have used up 5/7 of a day studying and the other 2/7 hours eating, exercising and fantasizing.

Fantasizing is a good feeling. Hard times calls for hard fantasizing. After having spent 5/7 of a day studying, its good to give your brain a nice workout. Think of the impossible: 2400 for SAT reasoning test, A for GP and Economics, 90 for science and maths... Latest personal test continues to say that I am an extrovert, even though I beg very much to differ. However, the feelings that I have felt throughout the holiday seem to support the personal tests. I miss the class. I miss seeing UJ's bag lying on the class benches. I miss seeing Danny, Xiuming and Jiali chit chatting among themselves before I arrive. I miss seeing Jiewei's hair but not her face on the class bench. I miss turning around at class bench to make sure that no one I know is missing from their class benches. To sum everything up, I miss the few precious minutes just before flag raising. Whoever thought up of this class bench system must be a great person. We, as hardcore Hwa Chongians, should be thankful to that person. All the above evidences points to one conclusion: I am an extrovert and I cannot live a single week without seeing my friends.

This holiday has been quite agonizing, totally cut off from the outside world and indulging in books and day dreams instead. But there seems to be some good that came out of it: at least I got to spend more time with my family and caught up with some of my work. So being cut off from the outside world is not necessarily entirely bad :)

Watched 2 more episodes of my boss my hero =D Yes, yes, I know its jap! Like I said, its modern jap. *sheepish smile* Older generation's mistakes should not be the burden of the new generation. Anyway, its a nice show, I recommend those who have not start watching it to start doing so.

"Its better than Phua Chu Kang!", The Borui Times

"Just can't stop laughing...", Aceweek

Well, what are you waiting for? Go and watch it now!


End of Book 2

Book 1:

I shall break up this post into different days.

Post: Aww....so sad, why break up?
Me: Because I don't have time to finish you in one day, idiot!

There was a hornet nest on my window sill. I do not know when or how it got there in the first place but all I know is I wanna get rid of it because there is this hornet keep flying into my room everyday and I don't want to get stung by it, even though it has not sting me yet. My dad got rid of it that night (what do you expect, I'm afraid of cockroaches... OK, no need to emphasize). There was 1 pupa and 3 larvae in the nest. My dad flushed them all down the toilet. That night I closed all my windows before I went to bed. I was scared that the mother hornet would take revenge on me. 平时不做亏心事，半夜敲门心不惊。So much for 平时不做亏心事....

Angel (no yang): Why do I have to destroy the nest?
Me: Because I'm scared that the hornet will sting me.
Angel: But did it sting you?
Me: No...
Angel: Then?
Me: It might in the future!
Angel: How do you know?
Me: There is a high possibility! I have to remove the threat!
Angel: Fine, then why don't you kill the mother? The larvae and pupa are harmless.
Me: Well, I'm too scared! How many times do I have to tell you?!
Angel: So you killed the off-springs because you are too afraid to face the mother?
Me: I guess so...

Well, conversations speaks a thousand words....er....I don't have any pictures....

Humans are like this aren't they? 为了达到目的，不择手段。

I don't even want to know what happened to the hornet or whats going through its mind when it cannot find its nest. It can't be anything good. But billions of years of evolution made us this way isn't it? Would another billion years of human civilization be enough to erase this gene? Probably we would be extinct if this happens.

"Nature is the greatest sin of all." How true is this statement?

End of Book 1

It has been a while since I posted the previous entry. I got the idea of the relationship between selfishness and love from something UJ asked during GP lesson on Friday.  If I am not wrong, he was asking about why humans regard themselves as being more superior to other animals and conduct experiments on them. For me, the reason is simple - billions of years of evolution has made us selfish in order to survive. I shall use a simple analogy to support my stand:

Borui's lizard model
Imagine you and a lizard are dying of thirst in the Sahara dessert. God took pity on you and gave you a cup of water. He told you that any living creature that drinks the full cup of water will be brought to safety and have 100% chance of surviving while the one left behind will die immediately.  So, what would you do? Will you drink the cup of water? Or will you feed the cup of water to the lizard? Maybe you can consider dying together with that lizard :D

I think the 1st option sounds pretty good. Although my analogy kind of convinced UJ that  humans  are willing to sacrifice other animals for their own survival, I had a sudden thought: what if you love that lizard? Ok, that sounds absurd. Let me rephrase my question. What if it was your pet dog rather than the lizard, or even what if it was your friend, someone you love? Would the first option still sound as good?

And so I came up with this hypothesis that love is the counterpart of selfishness.

Using Borui's lizard model, the person (you) would most likely drink the cup of water (1st option) if he or she has no relation of any kind with that lizard, in other words, he/she has little or no love for the lizard. The act of choosing this option is regarded as selfish as the person sacrificed the life of the lizard to safe his/her own. This shows explicitly the effect of billions of years of evolution: we care more about ourselves than any other organisms that are less related to us; and in life and death situations, we simply do not even care about those that are less related to us.

However, when we change the lizard to a close friend, the independent variable has changed. There is love between the test person and the friend. Whether the test person would still drink the cup of water would depend on how much he/she loves his/her friend. By how much the love for the friend exceed the imbue selfishness would determine whether the test person would still choose option 1. Perhaps by thinking love and selfishness as particles, the concept would be easier to comprehend. If there are more love particles than selfish particles, then the test person would most likely not choose option 1.

Since it is impossible to conduct an experiment to test my hypothesis, it shall remain as a theory...

"Love is selfless"

The blocks are over! Somehow, I am not as excited as I would expect myself to be. And personally, I do no know the reason why. I think part of it is due to the fact that everybody just went home after the test rather than staying back and celebrate or something. I have just transfered this post from blogger to livejournal for god-knows-what reason. I just feel like updating my livejournal which has been stagnant for quite some time.

Where was I? Right, no one stayed back after physics test. Since no one stayed back to have some fun, I might as well return home as well. But its equally boring at home. Due to the lack of hard disk memory, I had to delete most of my games last year, which left me "gamerupt" for this year. So I watched Gundam 00 episode 24, played a while counter strike and pokemon diamond ( I caught a Budew :D) and now I am stoning in front of my com blogging. I just came to realize how vulnerable I am without my friends' company. Just now chatted with UJ and camilia. UJ has started revising for the up coming chem test! I think I would spend around 2 days revising for it. Redirecting back to the topic, all it takes is Sunday morning without anyone close on MSN to make me feel depressed for the whole day. I don't really need to talk to them; just knowing that they are there is good enough. I realize this is getting emo, which is exactly what I hate but ironically what I truly am. So does that mean I hate myself? I don't give a damn!

Let us move on to a less emo topic for chatting. Physics was the best paper ever! How can I not fall in love with physic when doing it gives me so much pleasure :D. After walking out of the exam hall feeling depressed so many times, its feels really great to finally walk out of the exam hall feeling like getting some "A"s. And right now, half our dear 64s and all the bio and csc students are studying really hard, especially those with both csc and bio. So all the best for all of them :) Later got to send another wave of good-luck sms. Its like what sinyee said: trying to show off my negligible social circle.

The road is still long ahead. There is still the ONE TEST TO RULE THEM ALL. So good luck to myself and all those who are reading this post right now :)

黄城夜韵2008在昨晚10点半完美落幕。

四个月的筹备，三个月的努力，两天的公演，一辈子的回忆。。。

三个月前，我还在犹豫是否要继续参加今年的演出。我虽然选择继续留在黄城， 但还是有点“不想付出太多“的念头。但是，在这三个月里，这个念头渐渐地从我脑海里消逝。而又是什么东西让这个念头彻底消失的呢？我也不清楚，可能是种种因素造成的吧。

开工的第一个星期，4点开工，7点散会。我们还不认识对方，只是和认识的人讲话。道具：wooden crates，train

开工的第一个月，4点开工，9点散会。我们开始渐渐地认识周围的人，也交了不少新朋友。道具：bookshelf, backdrops,flaps, 第一个platform

开工的第二个月，3点开工，10点散会。我们已经变成gaymates，生活不能没有对方。道具：platforms, spiral staircase, castle, door...

pump in，9点开工，11点回家。大家变成了sick gays，不分日夜地做出最后的冲刺。道具：没什么了，补paint而已

公演，9点开工，11点回家。这么多的血与汗，都是为了这两天。道具：只剩下换场了

现在，一切都结束了。没有开工，也没有散会。早上来学校，下午回家。不会再一起走出sidegate了。

pump out 的那一天，看着你们高高兴兴地唱歌，兴高采烈地砸道具。很想知道你们当时的心情是怎样的。我们亲手做道具，我们做的不只是一个木壳而已。不知道你们是否有感觉到，每一个道具有时好像在跟我们说话。 因为在你做道具的时候，你也不知不觉地把你的一部分留在了道具里。道具就好像你们的孩子一样，是你们给他生命，给他灵魂，把他带到这个世界的。你们给他上色，就好像在教育他，让他在舞台上散发光芒。

在这几个月里，真的要很感谢大家。因为有你们，黄城才有价值。

道具散会

Before I start go into the main topic, let me first wish everybody a happy Chinese New Year!

While many of you are having your reunion dinner and receiving 红包s happily, do spare a few minutes of your time thinking of those who are less fortunate, those who do not even have a loaf of bread to celebrate their CNY and those who are stuck in the snow storm and unable to return home for reunion dinner. The snow storm in China is seriously getting out of hand. Lots of people died, no food, no water, no electricity, etc. Although it prevented the reunion of many families, it did not stop the people from show their love to the society. The people really got united in this natural disaster. The soldiers went to every affected city to provide food, medicine and other daily necessities.  Government officials also went to the most heavily affected areas to give encouragement. Even civilians gathered together to help clear the snow and provide food and lodgings to the people. Its really heart warming to see everybody working together and helping one another through the tough times. I think this is the most heart warming CNY ever. This should be the spirit of CNY, or any other festivals: love. Wow!

Went to high school after CNY celebrations. Chatted with Mr. Fong. All the memories came back. I seem to be getting old. Life was seriously great when I was in sec 4. No A levels, just ACE, Projects Day,  华岗, Maple Story and a little homework. I really miss the old days. Humans are like that. When they were young, they want to be old; when they were old, they want to be young. They don't know how to cherish the present moment, always dreaming about the future or thinking about the past. Same for that kid in CJ7. Only when his dad died did he know how to appreciate the love his dad has for him. Well, at least its still a happy ending. I shall not continue spoiling the show for those who want but have yet to watch the show.

I think I have to stop here, its getting late. Its already CNY so.... Happy Chinese New Year!

Although OCIP Batam was over a long time ago, I think i still need to post something serious about it in this blog. Not really serious but more matured stuff. So I just copied my reflections here. Enjoy :)

OCIP Batam 2007 was successfully held from 16^th December 2007 to 23^rd December 2007. The preparation started long before 16^th December. We got to know each other and bought the equipments 1 month before the journey. However, at that time, we only knew each other on a superficial level and were not very bonded.

I remembered when I first heard of this OCIP, I was determined to join. I always wanted to go to other countries and help those in need. And thus, I was every enthusiastic about this trip.

And indeed, my enthusiasm did not let me down. The things that I have learnt from this trip are very unique in the sense that I got to do and learn things from a first person’s point of view, which is very different from what I used to - finding out first or second hand sources from internet or books – and this time round, the memory really sticks in my head. Take for example, the interaction with the kids in the school. If one were to read from a book or an online source, the most he or she can find out is the economic status of the children’s family. He or she would not know that the kids play “Do-Mika” after school or buy a 1000 rupiah drink from the school canteen or the nearby store. These are the things that one simply cannot learn from a textbook - the lifestyle and routines of the kids there. One really has to get down there and experience everything for oneself.

The most challenging thing for me is teaching the kids. The main problem is the language barrier. With only a limited bahasa Indonesia vocabulary, it is definitely not easy to convey the message to everyone in the classroom, especially when the kids are jumping around in the classroom. However, as time goes by, I managed to get used to the rowdiness and managed to channel their energy to good uses. For example, I asked them to come up to the front and play educational games and I am quite surprised to see them participate actively in all the games.

Although I really liked teaching the kids, I like to play with them more. It was during the games sessions that I got to know the kids there better. We played “monkey”, “badminton”, “Frisbee”, “Do-Mika” and many more. It was really a great feeling watching the kids play and see the joyful and carefree expression on their faces. I am proud to say that I made quite a lot of friends during the games session and that I would never forget them even if I have returned to Singapore; and I hope that they would not forget me too.

However, things did not go as smoothly as planned during the trip. There were 2 days when we could not go down to the school because of Hari Raya and the last day of school. Although I was pretty disappointed about not being able to see the kids for 2 days, I think that we did not waste the 2 days by doing nothing. We managed to finish all the library cataloging and played a few interesting and meaningful games that tested our trust in each other and also our communication and cooperation skills. It was during these games that we really got to know each other better and bond together.

I think the most evident physical change that we have brought to the school is the 5 sets of computers. We managed to buy 5 sets of 2^nd hand computers using the OCIP Batam Fund. These 5 computers would be very useful for the children there because they will be learning how to use these computers for their exams and future uses as well. Furthermore, we helped to set up the computer tables using our blood and sweat. I guess this could be regarded as a very sincere farewell present for the school.

On the whole, OCIP Batam 2007 was very memorable for me as I got to learn so much during this trip and forged strong bonds with everybody. I would never ever regret coming for this trip and I am proud to say that I am one of the twenty-four students who went for OCIP Batam 2007. 

First week of school is over. I have to say it has been a productive week. I have finished all my homework for now and still managed to have some free time to blog. I think the biggest achievement yet is my I&I. I managed to finish it within 4 days (including Sat and Sun). And I have to admit, SAT really helped me a lot. I can't imagine I actually have anything to say for some of the issues. I guess the notion of GP being "unmuggable" is disproved by me.

Its wonderful to go back to school again to see all my friends happy and alive. This holiday was really a mugging period except for OCIP Batam and I am glad to know everyone. Last year, when Shermane or Valerie came to my class bench to look for UJ, I simply continued to do my homework or chat with Danny. But this year, when the same thing happened, I said "Yo! Comrades" and even chatted with them. See the big difference in my life that Batam has made? I am now looking forward to everyday just to chat with my Batam friends. From the left wing we have our dear UJ, Chengliang, Tingyi, Jasmin, Valerie, Shermaine, etc. And from the right wing we have our beloved Yonghao, Tianyi, etc. I am really looking forward to the Batam final debrief whereby I can see every again (hopefully).

I wonder whether there is anyone I know in my junior class. According to one of my juniors, CSC CME is under 08S60. But since there isn't a 07S60, I hope my class can have 2 junior classes, 08S64 and 08S60. Then I'll be able to see my dearest junior again. I have already thought up a very good ice breaker game for them. Hope they'll like it.

I think thats all, nothing much happened this week. Only homework after homework. Its still managable. But I wont guarantee it when huangcheng starts. Shall cherish every moment I have now. cya.

OMG! The results are quite extreme. haha. Dunno good thing or bad thing.







My Personality

Neuroticism	17
Extraversion	48
Openness To Experience	3
Agreeableness	94
Conscientiousness	65

You rarely get angry and it takes a lot to make you angry, however you are not generally self conscious about yourself. You get overwhelmed by too much noise and commotion and do not like thrill-seeking activities. You prefer familiar routines and for things to stay the same. You can tend to feel uncomfortable with change. You naturally assume that most people are fair, honest, and have good intentions, however you are willing to take credit for good things that you do but you don't often talk yourself up much. You have strong will-power and are able to overcome your reluctance to begin tasks. You are able to stay on track despite distractions.

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Hi all,

This is the first entry of acewen.livejournal.com. This journal would serve as a platform for me to express my views regarding certain social issues. Please give me your support and I hope that readers will participate actively in the discussions and make this journal a lively and meaningful one. Thank you.