Exhaustion

Went to NY JC for band practice this morning at about 8am. Ah, from the moment I stepped in, I knew it was going to be a tough day. Indeed it was. The entire brass section went to a CT room on level 3 for our sectionals, Mr Chia conducted us today. We went through A Movement for Rosa, Multitude with one voice spoke and Nimrod. Haha, I still like Multitude, no doubt about it especially the first 40 odd bars.

Our sectionals ended at about 12:15pm and we moved our instruments to the hall first before proceeding to the Canteen to have lunch. Lunch was not too bad, Pizza was the only dish on the menu, quite miserable but it's alright under such circumstances. Chatted with this JC 2 guy called Raymond. He told me he was from Cheung Cheng High (branch) and that he joined the alumni band. That's really good, hope to do likewise one day, but first Mr Chia (HS principal) must approve the proposal.

Had combined band prac in the hall from about 1pm to about 4:45pm. Played Nimrod, Movement for Rosa, Multitude and Phantom of the Opera. The brass instructor was there as well. He did help us along the way and must say that he's really good. What made him good was the fact that he pointed out all our mistakes and was very 'music sensitive'. Haha, must recommend him to my sec school.

Glad that I've already 'sold' 5 tickets. Got Shamin to announce to the band about my concert this morning. Don't know about the response yet, hopefully it'll be good.

NY band games day

This week was the start of tutorials (CTs) which meant the start of the proper timetable. Ah, less breaks in between lessons now, how I miss those first two weeks. Luckily, it was kind of easy to adjust to the new timetable schedule because I had experienced tighter schedules in my sec school. Had Maths, Econs and GP lectures today, the only class we had was CT period and PE. My gosh PE was tough! Had to run 12 rounds on the stadium-like running track surrounding the soccer field. Almost wanted to give up there! Anyway, didn't complete my 12 rounds, only did 10. Haha. After lessons, I went to the library with Derek (no not Derek Peh), Kang Wei and Alvin, all from my CT. Did our Maths homework on Binomial Expansion, before Alvin and me went off. Went to the band room and noticed that the games hadn't even started. So eventually, we were led to a classroom on level 4 and that was where all the fun started. Played Whacko and Mafia, both interesting games where we got to know one another better. Let me now try to recall as many names as possible: Wei Ming (my Tuba section), Jing Jie (tuba senior), Bin (trombone), Yong Xiang (senior), David (band president), Angeline (band vice-president), Jamie (clarinet), Hui Min (percussion and from my class), Vincent (clarinet senior), Ruth (senior) etc. Left the school at about 7pm with this guy form the percussion section. Sorry, forgot his name. He told me he was from Beatty Sec band, but forgot to ask him what his sec school band would be playing for this yr's SYF. I should, the next time I see him, hope he knows. Anyway, LG outing tmr, that would be loads of fun! Haha

HS band performance

Sunday 16/1/2005 Went back to HS early this morning for the band performance at Rivervale Plaza. Noticed that a couple of teachers (non-band teachers) were also in school. Warmed up as usual before making our way to Rivervale Plaza in two buses. Once there, we set up all the instruments and arranged ourselves in quick time before we started playing our list of songs which included Ross Roy, FOTG, Shrek Dance Party, S'pore Rhapsody, Music from the Pirates of the Carribean, CTMEOY, Made in S'pore, Frenesi, Hawaii Five O, Friendship Runs Deep and QPM. Before that though, we played Fanfare to welcome Mr Charles Chong. Some SKSS band members were there as well, people like Desmond, Kenneth (double bass player, first time I've seen him after a long time), Khairul, Asmi so on and so forth. Went to Mac Donalds with Ben, Ridzwan and Sharmin for a quick bite before they told us to pack up. Took quite a long time to pack up for some reason. When we arrived back at HS, Mr Lee 'lectured' the entire band on discipline issues. Went for lunch at Mac Donald's at Hougang Point with the Ben, Ridzwan, Sharmin, Perseus and Mr Lee. Helped Ben edit some presentation report as well. After which, went home and waited for my dad to come back from his business trip. I was looking forward to getting a handphone so finally the time has come. We went to Bishan after my Dad came back and bought the handphone from an M1 shop. A Nokia 3120, a good enough start for me.

HS band prac

Went back to HS this morning at about 8:15 am and noticed that the entire school was a ghost town as I stepped in. Well, maybe the band was the only CCA being held in the school, quite unlike my JC. Played Ross Roy, FOTG, Shrek Dance Party, S'pore Rhapsody, Music from the Pirates of the Carribean, CTMEOY, Made in S'pore, Frenesi, Hawaii Five O, Friendship Runs Deep and QPM. (hope I didn't miss any) Seems that we're going to play quite a lot of pieces for tmr's public performance at Rivervale Plaza.

Haha, quite a number of people were impressed with my golden mouthpiece. Tried explaining to them that I borrowed it from my JC band since they thought I bought it on my own. Not trying to show off here, just wanted to try it out on the Tuba.

Anyway, went to Hougang Point with Ben, Ridzwan, Sharmin, Fong Yee and Mr Lee after band prac. Chatted with Fong Yee about handphones, ah still not sure what phone I should get. At least I have an idea which plan I should get. Will be getting my handphone tmr after the band performance hopefully. Once I get my HP, then everything would be alright I'm sure.

We sat down at Mc Donald's for lunch today. Talked about a range of issues including the next potential Drum and Band Major and JC life. After spending more than an hour at Mac, we viewed some handphones and went to NTUC for a walk before going home.

Cannot wait for tmr's Tiger Cup final match between S'pore and Indonesia. My prediction: S'pore 2 Indonesia 1. Indonesia to score first but S'pore will fight back to make it 2-1.

End of yet another fruitful week

Introductory lectures aside, today formal Geo lecture started. Our first topic was Tourism, not exactly my most favourite topic, but still it was fun. Basically for our first formal lecture, Miss Tang (Geo teacher) introduced the definition of certain terms like Tourism and recreation. Thoroughly enjoyed this lesson particularly the segment on the Venn Diagram comprising of 3 circles, Tourism, Recreation and Leisure. My friend Yi Yi was confused about Tourism and recreation claiming that they should not intersect. Well, there are similarities with reference to the type of activities of Tourism and recreation. The only difference lies in the duration. GP was next and boy, it was fun! Mr Vincent Toh (GP lecturer) showed us photographs and told us to pen our thoughts down. Noticed that he liked to pick on people to share their views. However, my other Dunman High friend spoke up quite a lot, impressing quite a few students and GP tutors. Played soccer in NY JC after all the lectures today (haha, had only 2 lectures, 1 hr each today!) with my friends, Govin (primary school friend), Chee Tat and a lot more others, most from Catholic High. It was the Indians vs the Chinese I guess. Seems that racial harmony was lacking, haha. Met Sharlyn, Belinda and Lynette as well. Found out that they were going to SR JC to look for a couple of friends. They probably went back to HS I guess. Speaking of which, I miss HS to be honest. It's been only a week since I last went back to help out in the band and now I'm already feeling this way. Ah, life's like that I guess. Still feel the sense of belonging at HS, can't part with it..................... Will be going back to HS tmr (Yeh!) and heard that the HS band will be performing at Rivervale Plaza this Sunday. Haha, hope to join them as well!

Boring day

Ah, somehow I miss my OG. About a week has passed since my OG split up. Heard that other OGs like Derrick's OG for example, are organising an outing. How nice! My OGLs have somehow disappeared, meaning I don't see them. (haven't seen Kelvin, OGL, in the last 3 days) Anyway, today was our first CT lesson with our form teachers. Haha, my form teacher happened to be my Geo teacher, and she seemed to be quite friendly. Can see that she takes a keen interest in the students because she's willing to talk to us about her hobbies, like Neopets. Asked Miss Tang (form teacher) about claiming CCA pts for assisting in sec school band, but turned out that she wasn't too sure and told me to see the band teachers for more details. Also happened to meet Jing Jie (my band senior) today outside the band room. Not sure what he and another guy were doing, but I believe they were trying to sell some of the concert tickets. Speaking of which, I hope to sell all the 10 tickets to my HS band members soon, as the deadline for the collection of money draws closer. Received a message from Fong Yee through Derrick that I had to go back to HS this Sat to sign something. You see, that's the problem, I don't have a handphone. So if people want to contact me, it's really difficult. Sigh! It's also difficult to contact my HS band friends nowadays, don't know why.

NY band prac

Aha, well, a long and monotonous talk again this morning by the different HODs and our principle, Mrs Ho (pls no offense to the staff at NY!). Assembled according to our CTs in the hall for these talks and honestly, I almost felt like sleeping. Luckily, I managed to pull myself together and told myself to focus. This tactic worked, surprisingly! Whatever you do, always perservere, that's the way! Anyway, lectures were on as usual. I shan't talk about them here since it's more or less the same everyday. My friend Chee Tat seemed to be a little sick today. Couldn't believe that he rushed all the way to school for the Geo lecture. He thought he was late but luckily the lecture was rescheduled. I even had another friend from Dunman High by the name of Yi Yi. Yes, that's a wierd name for a guy but hey, no offense. One precious lesson that I've learnt during my short spell in NY is that, if you give people a good first impression but don't subsequently follow up well, then it's totally pointless. It's as good as not making a friend at all. At band prac which started at 2:30pm, we played some really nice songs that we're supposed to play for our NY JC band concert on the 5th of Feb. Played And the multitude with one voice spoke (ah, still can't get bars 140 to 159 right!), Nimrod (dedication for the Tsunami victims, opening piece for our concert), A movement for Rosa (our SYF choice piece) and Animation ( Jap song). Hah, even had a new member in my section (oops, forgot his name). When I asked him some questions about himself, the first thing he told me was that he was a lousy player. My gosh!, what a thing to say about yourself! That first impression created is already wrong! Should never never do that! Btw, my section consists of four players including myself. Jing Jie (senior), Wei Ming (from Chong Boon sec) and the new recruit. Hopefully, the band would play S'pore Rhapsody soon (according to Jing Jie, my senior, they already played this piece). I would really like to play this song with them, really missed the song! Planning to go back to HS this Fri and Sat to help in the band. I'm hoping my plans will fall nicely into place.

Rekindled aquaintances

Ah, did not feel too well this morning. Felt like I was going to cough more than usual at school today. Indeed that was the case. Anyway, both the VPs spoke to us about the school first thing this morning. They claimed that the Parade Square could be completed by the end of Feb but looking at its current state, it seems unlikely. Unless of course, the workers work their socks off. My gosh, the ground has not even been flatened yet and I doubt it can be completed by the assigned date. Best of luck to those workers! PE lessons started this morning but I was very lucky. The 1.5 hr lesson was very straneous, 2.4km run, more than 20 pushups, pullups and situps. Thank God i excused myself as I was down with a flu and a cough. Maths lectures started as well. Already have H.W, and that's relatively fast. We started off with Partial Fractions. Visited the library with my primary school friend after the lectures. Haven't spoken to him in 4 yrs since my primary school days and this was the perfect opportunity. Discovered from him that other class 6C friends were in this JC as well, only problem is, I cannot recognised them! Haha, what a joke! Another tough day tmr. Ah, what to do?

Introductory lectures

Well, today was the start of introductory lectures. Though the day started off in a mess with many unsure where their CTs (Civics Tutorial class) were, the enitre school eventually settled down promptly because we were just told to line up according to our OGs. The China Studies (a compulsory subject) talk was rather wierd today because this was just a study about China. I've never taken such a subject before and hence it gave me a weird feeling listening to the humorous lecturer. Next up was the Geo lecture. Haha, my favourite subject! Could not believe that the lecturer liked Neopets, she even introduced her four Neopets to us! This lesson was basically an introductory lecture about Geo itself, the 'A' levels format etc. Asked the lecturer (my gosh!, how can I forget her name?) some questions about Geo after the lesson (like I always do in sec school!) along with my friend, Chee Tat. Might be going out with him to purchase some Econs and Geo books sometime soon. Economics was the last lecture for today. Seems boring this subject but I know I've got to perservere. Cannot think it is boring or else............. Talked a little about handphones with Derrick on my way home. Now that I found out I'm the last man standing, I hope to get one soon so that everyone in 4E1 has a handphone. Haha...... Then I can contact people easily. Yes!

Handphone soon?

Today

It was church as usual for me today. The pastor, Uncle kim San, touched on the topic of Life by the spirit. This passage of scripture was taken from Galatians chapter 5: 16-26. After the service, I met Auntie Michelle, Docus, Dawn and Michelle. Good news though, the Life group are thinking of organising a picnic outing on the 21st of Jan since it'll be a public holiday. Looking forward to that!

Anyway, after having late breakfast with my cousins, we went scouting around for handphones. Seems that the Nokia 3120 was kind of good for me although it only has the basic functions. It looks good and the HP is compact, this would be a good start for me. My purpose in getting a HP was just simply for contact purposes so that it would be easier for me to contact others and for others to contact me. Hopefully I'll get it by the end of this week!


Yesterday

Went for band prac at NY JC this morning. This was my 2nd prac with them and Mr Chia, our band conductor, immediately came in and wrote down the schedule for this band prac on the board. Wow, that's an organised conductor! I was impressed!

Anyway, we had sectionals from 8 to 11. Well it was brass sectional rather than individual sectionals. This outside brass instructor (my gosh! why didn't he introduce himself?) from the SAF band came and conducted us. He was rather comical, talking about lame stuff and on top of that, he taught us breathing techniques. When you breathe in, the upper portion of your upper body should be tensed while the lower portion of your upper body should be relaxed. When playing your instrument, it should be the exact opposite.

We went through Phantom of the Opera arranged by Johan De Meij and a new song And The Multitude with one voice spoke (saw this piece before in sec sch, but didn't play it) during brass sectional. Got permission to leave early due to my piano lessons.

Haha, getting a HP soon. Told my parents and they kind of agreed. Yeh!

Last day...of orientation

Today was the last day of orientation and personally, I had a mixture of feelings, both of happiness and sadness. Sadness because it's all finally come to an abrupt end, all the fun and games. Moreover, my OG would be split up for good due to our subject combinations. Happy because I love my subjects I'm taking, particularly GP, maths and Geo and I can't wait to get started. The time table for the upcoming week just came out today and it seems I'll end at about 1+ for the whole of next week! Yeh! We started off with the usual Zion skit this morning. Haha, I like the phrase:"Because Momo said so." An extract from the skit itself. Then it was wild games which included crazy soccer etc. Crazy soccer was great! Only thing was, the girls are the ones who must score and not the guys. So I did my best to create space and provide through passes for them to score. The faction game later in the afternoon was a little like the Battle for Troy. (a game I played during sec 3 ELC camp) This game was a little boring and probably a waste of time as it involved the entire faction. My gosh, a faction has like 200++ people and to play this game well was extremely difficult. Anyway, went home after having their buffet dinner (did not want to join the Disco nite, it was optional). Attended the Life group later. Ah, another tough day tmr, still must go back for band prac early tmr.

Orientation at HS

Morning It was the 'quest' today, something like the Amazing Race. We had an option of going to a few places within the Civic District that we could cover. So our plan was to cover Raffles Hotel first, followed by CHIJMES and then the St Andrew's Cathedral. Our job was simple, meet the station IC at each station and answer as many questions correctly as possible. Anyway, after our activities, we went to PS to have our lunch. Accompanied my friend Chee Tat to Long John Silver for a cheap meal (food was fine thankfully!). After informing my OGL I had to go, I took a train to Sengkang and boarded 156 for home before making my way to HS. Afternoon Turned out that the HS band was already rehersing the Nineties when I arrived. Met Fong Yee and Mr Nizam in the hall as I came in. So I chatted with them before joining my section. By then, the sec 1s had already started to pour in and that was our cue to get ready for the marching in. After 76 Trombones, we played the Nineties and Can't take my eyes off you. Watched the remainder of the cultural performances from the side seats and again chatted with Fong Yee, Mr Nizam and Rinto about common issues like JC matters. Found out from Fong Yee that SR JC had already finished their orientation and are starting their lessons tmr. What I particularly liked was that they end at 1+ and 2+ on some days. Our band set up a booth and encouraged sec 1s to join. Managed to recruit about 55 sec 1s, haha good job! Some band members then took the initiative and played songs like the Nineties to entertain the crowd. I did some publicity about my NY JC band concert to Ben, Sharmin, Ridzwan, Perseus, Fong Yee, Miss Wong, Mr Nizam, Jonathan and Mr Lee. Hopefully they'll attend my concert!

Exhausted after a long day!

Again it was wild station games this morning which included Dodge ball. Haha, this game was fun. Had to throw the ball from one side to the other such that the ball hits an opponent anywhere below the head. I got hit on the leg while saving the ball, unlucky there! The other games were equally interesting such as 'giant tic tack toe'. Though we lost most of our games, but hey, what mattered most was our team spirit. Applied for the subject combination as well. Chose Geo, Maths, Econs, CLAO and GP. We were taught another lame dance after that. Registered for the NY concert band after at the CCA bazaar today. Immediately attended today's band practice at 5:15pm and was introduced to my section senior and my other Tuba JC 1 player. They played Pirates of the Carribean (highlights), Phantom of the Opera (long version) and Shrek Dance Party (for CCA Bazaar). Haha, familiar songs all these, at least it gave me a sense of belonging. I was impressed by the way they played all these songs today and I must say they're really short of members. Quite miserable, only one Trombone, Tuba, Euphonium, Trumpet and French Horn senior each. Other sections had at least 2 seniors. My gosh! I noticed something distinctly similar to my sec school band; it seems both bands are improving fast. By the way, NY band's standard is only a little higher than HS band. Later I found out that they had a band concert coming up on the 5th of Feb. Haha, I'll be performing, so I hope to sell my tickets to my secondary school friends asap. Anyway, I'll be going back to HS tmr.

Second day of school

Today was a much better day than yesterday as there was much more team spirit and initiative by my group. First we were taught some lame NY JC traditional dance which was really boring at the beginning. However, as time wore on, it turned out to be not too bad. Some mild station games were next. Deception was first which was boring followed by a bench game, the one usually played in Survivor. All would stand on a bench before instructions were given to rearrange ourselves according to height and birthday. Must say it was tough squeezing and moving about on such a thin platform. The memory game was next in line before we proceeded to the hall for a de-briefing. Met up with the same four classmates after school and we all took 156 to our secondary school. Haha, it was really nice to be back, it felt really good! Went to the hall and discovered the band was playing the Nineties. They were rehersing for this Thursday's orientation. Then Miss Wong asked me to help out this Thursday and I promised I'll try my best. Fong Yee and Yong Qi were there as well. Good to see them back. Talked quite a lot with my section and with Ben, Sharmin, Perseus and Ridzwan, same few people. Jonathan wasn't playing his Tuba though. I wondered why, and it turned out he wouldn't be performing but will be sitting with the year ones. Saw Mrs Koh in school as well and talked a little with her. She was glad I came back to help, well I'm grateful for her compliments as well. Glad to see Mr Lee in school as well!

Welcome to JC!

New school, new environment, new teachers and new friends. That's the first thing you would think og when going to a JC. It's really tough to make the transition from secondary school to JC. It's a whole new world to me like being in a movie. Thoughts kept racing through my mind about secondary school life, my wonderful friends, my dedicated teachers and the familiar environment I spent during my Sec school life. Stepping into NY JC made me realise one thing; this is the real world and you cannot always feel comfortable. Go out there and make a difference even if means stepping out of your comfort zone! We were first introduced to our groups, I was in Osiris OG3, before the principal, Mrs Ho, gave a talk which included introducing the various teachers and departments. The NY spirit seemed to be very strong, with their many cheers, typical of the NPCC and prefectorial board in my Sec school. Then there were the Ice breakers, a game where we got to know one another better. Lunch was early today and after which came the University talk by NTU and NUS. The subject combination talk was the last item on today's agenda. Now, I understand the subjects better and am considering taking Geo, Econs and Mathematics or maybe even computing or Chemistry if possible. Well, I have until Wednesday to decide. Met Derrick, Lynette, Belinda and Sharlyn too. Glad that they joined NY JC. On top of that, I met my old primary school classmate and made a couple of friends. Noticed that quite a number of people came from Chung Cheng High (main) and Xinmin Sec. Well, tmr would be another tough day, but it'll be fun I'm sure.

Baptism

Today

Went to church as usual early this morning, only thing was, 3 people in our life group were getting baptised today. Indeed, it was a joy for me to see Dawn, Roy and Cheriel being baptised and starting their spiritual lives with God. A total of 96 brothers and sisters were baptised today, not as large as the 100 odd who were baptised at the beginning of last year, 2004.

Almost the entire life group were there to support them today. The whole gang of us were sat somewhere behind and some of us like Uncle Henry and Ivan tried to capture the best possible pictures of the baptism ceremony. They did not allow us to get on stage to take any close up views as they feared a "traffic congestion". So we could only take pictures of the screen, which showed the baptism ceremony.

Songs were being played while the whole ceremony was taking place. It was really good to see other people entering the house of the Lord. I was baptised last year during June, so I know what it is like!

Our church even mentioned about the Tsunami fund raising project today. Guess i should donate some money to this charitable cause.

Anyway, saw Mrs Lai in church today (HS school teacher, form teacher of 4E3 in 2004). Haha.. What a coincidence!

Reuben has a blog. Well that's wonderful! Good to have one, it's another channel where you can express yourself. Moreover, it trains your writing skills as well!


Yesterday

Happy new yr to one and all!

Had a family gathering and a BBQ party this evening at my house. my closer relatives and some of my mum's brothers and sisters (my aunties, uncles and cousins) turned up. On the whole, I had a great timechatting with them especially with my cousin Wan Yan. She assisted me in altering the scrollbar at my website and taught me a couple of other tricks. I believe she must have learnt them from Neopets. Anyway, thanks Wan Yan!

Last day of the year

What a year it has been this year! First of all, I would wish to thank some people for making an impact in my life this year. The HS symphonic band consisting of the alumni; Reuben, Eve, Fong Yee, Yong Qi and Hua Yi; my good friends in the band mainly Benjamin, Ridzwan, Sharmin and Perseus; my tuba section consisting of Jia Hong and Ridzwan; my classmates mainly my closer friends. The life group who had a great and positive influence on me and not forgetting my family and closer relatives. Anyway, turned out that Uncle Eric's children, Jeremy, Michelle and Daniel were staying overnight at Uncle Henry's place with Dawn, Docus and Ivan. They tried to call this morning but I wasn't awake yet. Heard they had a great time and only slept at 1 am. Went to church just now for a new year eve celebration. The entire life group turned up and we all had dinner before proceeding to the chapel for a praise and worship session. Half way through however, a few of us went out and played cards and table tennis at the lobby, hehe. Obviously, it wasn't the right thing to do, but never mind, it's just once in a while. Proceeded straight home after the service. It's already approaching midnight, 10 more mins. This'll be my last entry for 2004. So I'll be busy extending my list of new year resolutions. More importantly, I should furfill them. Anyway, bye for now and happy new year!