week 6 now, pretty fast term i would say. school has been going fine, lessons have been super fun sitting next to zhongjun and behind shuqiao, and im learning pen spinning! all the subjects are pretty ok, maths is getting tougher but still managable, physics is a goner as usual, what with hyt not being able to control the class, chinese is the same, she is as angsty pangsty as always. hist is dam strict and she is bias, ss is getting better, she teaches well, english is dam sian. yup thats my definition of "pretty ok".

and im getting better at carrom! number 5 in the batch now i THINK. if i beat zj then im no. 4. been going to the den in the morning before assembly, during recess, and after school. never thought i would ever hear myself say "I like going to school".

as for 01, or rather 01-06, quite a lot of obstacles, but nothing too major to handle. this week we got bombarded with news that there is CCA and all of us who were applicable would be signed up. and prehike log is due on the 20th, 11 days after we were told there is CCA. and this week we have a full saturday act, next week is backwoods, there are CCTs coming up, RE presentation coming up, ERP presentation coming up. and we need to plan the route too. not sure how we are going to handle it, but it will be tough.

probably shouldnt type this here, but freedom of speech.
also didnt like the way teachers handled this. yesterday we we were told abt cca, and how we should all go for it since its once in a lifetime. so mr chan signed all who can, up for CCA. and later that night had a discussion with VTL, our batch, and thought that what the teachers were doing isnt right, i mean he shouldnt assume that all of us would want to go. so this morning we had a meeting with mr yuen and mr chan, and told them that it should be optional, seeing as how CCA is after all, a personal award. and then mr yuen angsted us, saying how it shouldnt be the case, that this is once in a lifetime, that after this march it will all be over, and asking why would you not want to go for it. even after i said all the commitments that we have, as i have said earlier, they still insisted on us going for CCA. or rather, they didnt insist, they make it optional but in the sense that if you dont go, teachers will hate you for life that kind of thing. and i think because of the way mr yuen put it across, some were "forced" to go for it, and peer pressure, one thing led to another, and in the end all who could go for it, are going for it.

i just dont see a reason for them to angst if SOME OF US, not all, dont wish to go. what could happen? we dont get as much FCS points, ok. the juniors wont respect us as much because we dont wish to go for CCA because we feel we are too busy? sure. there will still be some of us going, so whats the worry about being role models? i dont see past few batches having 8 people even trying for CCA, much less going for the hike, so why kick up a big fuss about it now? this sort of thing, we need mental preparation. it isnt as simple as doing a prehike log, going for the hike, and doing the hike log. maybe the teachers dont know this, thats why they think its so simple. to me, it seems as though what the teachers care all about is about having a continuation for CCA, and showing the juniors that we should go for it, and they dont really care about how we can cope. and there are many other issues, like companions. it isnt as easy as mr chan says, we will get them to go. if they arent willing to go for it, why bother even? and stuff like changing acts because of CCA. i understand that CCA takes priority over our acts, and that venture calender is our own calender, so it isnt much of a problem, but still we shouldnt just say change because of this. isnt being fair to the j1s who already planned the act.

despite all these, i want to go for CCA, but i just dont approve of the way the teachers handled it. this is purely my opinions, and i probably shouldnt get into any trouble with voicing my opinions.

whats wrong with me?

damn its so busy and its only week 1. venturing has begun and it isnt easy, so many different avenues and so many things to do. theres just so much expectations and so little time, and i have to cramp everything into the small brain of mine. it just makes me so angst at times and yet i try my best not to be cos i know its not anyone's fault that things are like this. sometimes, like last time, i wish people were all like me and all thought like me, then things would be done much quicker. but i guess the thing is to accept each other's differences and live with it, and also to make full use of everyone's niche area and capabilities.

on another note, school has started and most teachers are the same, except for hist ss english and maths. really happy that chem is the same, not so happy that physics the same, quite ok that chinese and bio the same. oh and ms tang seems quite ok, at least she can mange the class better than mr koh and doesnt SEEM to not hold back on calling of parents. guess i need to be a guaiguai boy and not screw up.

like i said last year, this year will be started anew and who really cares about your last year's gpa. mine wasnt very good, keeps dropping each year but grades arent everything. but yea i hope that it goes up thisyear, and i hope that i dont have to do anything yet it goes up =)

RT tmr, good luck

from now, my posts will be less of narrating, more on what i think. yes, emo, whatever. still will have day to day accounts tho, dont worry.

before eoy, i was so looking forward to after it. after eoy, i feel so empty. every day there is nothing to do, just stoning at home doing random stuff. theres more time, but to do what? i feel brainwashed, as if school has made me think that life is just about work. Yet if i play the whole day, I feel like I just wasted a day, not doing anything productive. Maybe the best time is when there are no exams yet it is normal school. At least you have something to do that will make time pass quicker.

Sec 3 coming to an end really soon, and it has gone by really fast. I still remember last December holidays, coming back to school for GTC stuff and passing by the atrium with others from 01-2006. Then we saw the centralised notice boards with all the classes for everyone from our batch. Saw some names that I knew, some that I didn't; some that i liked, some that i disliked. Then it was OBS after that, still remember the long walk from our gear shed to the main area where most activities are. Also remember Seejay, or CJ, our facilitator. Details wise, forgotten already, but yet OBS didn't seem that far away.
And of course, scouting. What a big part of Sec 3, or any other year in RI for that matter. This year was the year of leadership, and I am quite glad the competition between patrols didnt affect our batch bonding that much. I am quite confident of saying that our batch is the most bonded of all, even possibly the j1s, despite their longer time together. Next year will bring that to an even greater height, and I am really looking forward to venturing. No more patrol stuffs, no more trying to get people to cooperate. We will be having acts within our batch, and I can imagine how fun that will be.
Leading Falcon this year has been a fun time, although now after EOY and the long break from scouting it seems that we didn't have much time together. Come to think of it, most of our members do not really like to stay around after act much. Sec 1s go home after saturday acts, missing out on patrol lunch. Sec 2s aren't there half the time. In the end, it is always the Sec 3s who eat together. Not sure if this is the case for the other patrols, but it isn't a good sign.

Now that EOYs are over, I have a lot off my mind, and a lot of time to think about stuff around me that is happening, think about myself, think about schooling, think about the future. Wouldn't it be fantastic if everyone is just like you, and you would be living around people who think exactly like you. No one would get on your nerves, no one would reject what you say. Life would be much more peaceful, albeit boring.
Reason I had that thought was maybe because I'm getting to feel something. I'm not sure if I have changed from the start of the year, but people seem to not like me. Not sure if it is something I did, or something I said, but I just have the feeling that people hate me. Have I become too arrogant? Too showoff maybe? I don't know, but I wish someone would tell me whats wrong. Hate it when people laugh, yet I don't know what they are laughing about. I hope that people will treat me the same as before, CCAL or not. I hope that that post won't make people change how they see me, for it is but a position.

Also had thoughts for venturing next year. I'm quite sure it will be a whole new and different experience, and I hope that I'll be used to "VU Sedia" soon enough rather than SU. For one, Mondays won't have activity as often for us. We will also be under VTL, rather than STL. We won't have SUTC, and AC. And most of all, we wouldn't have a patrol. Hopefully, getting used to all that wouldn't take too long, as venturing is only 1 year, and after that would be GC. Next year would be fairly challenging, first because it is 01's 75th anniversary (YAY!) and also because we have quite a bit of planning to do next year. Our meeting standards will need to be much higher, for anything productive to even be done each meeting. Fun is fun, but theres a time for work and play. I myself might have a problem staying focused, but I'll try. Most importantly is to remind each other, and we would all have a much easier time. While I am not in much a position to say it, having been in 01 for 3 years only now, but can see that the discipline standard is dropping, compared to when I was a Sec 1. Maybe something can be done about it next year, or even this year. SUTC wasn't good at all, so GTC better be excellent, or it will be hard to change the discipline in future.

That was quite a bit. Don't worry, I'm not emo. Just typing out what I feel. =)

re congress

yesterday re congress, boring as usual. this year had a slight change tho. first, its before eoy. boo for that. second, i have a booth. i wouldnt really say yay, its an extra responsibility. thankfully theres others to set it up =) my shift for the booth was the first one, when everyone else is in the hall listening to Dr William Tan, the one who made a record in 2005, before I was in RI. Thats really all that I know of him. Its good that my shift is then, which means I dont need to do anything at all hehe. After my shift, stayed in den till 11.40 before going to the hall for the sharing session. Expected turnout: 2 batches. Actual turnout: 1/2 batch. Cool. Cant say that its unexpected. After all it is RE Congress which actually spells "Day to Pon". Poor Cheryl Yap tho, for thinking that people really care about the booths. to be honest, people only care about the keychain.

After congress, stayed in den playing bridge till 2.45 for prometheum day rehearsal. its on tuesday, yay. get to pon 1 period of CHINESE. COOOOOOL. apparently the shield which jeremy will pass to me was given by Jin Fu's tuition teacher, Simon Eio. What a cool name. But such a coincidence that he was from RI and a teacher of 01. So the rehearsal was a waste of time, just hope i dont screw up on tuesday. Like turn at the wrong time, fall down, or drop the shield. That would be the worst thing to do.

Today was soo unproductive except for tonight. Morning played tennis, afternoon literally slept throughout, from like 2-7, which also means i did not go jogging. X_X il make it up tomorrow.

oh some good news, mugging is started and underway! gonna mug maths with amos tomorrow. haha surprising. i thought i wouldnt start until thursday or something like that. but still quite disappointed that i started so late. at least i started tho. the first step is the hardest to take.