Hong Kong

Dear all,

How's everyone doing? I'm finally back in HK.

I went to school on thursday and friday and freaked a couple of people out (hahaha).

I also saw IE - and it was pretty amazing. My only regrets are that Kishan and Pritham need to pick other songs - or just play better - and that Sachin and co.'s performance was too short.

I also went to the Xmas Bazaar, but only up until noon, then I left for this chiropractor who was supposed to help straighten my spine. I had planned on going back, but one thing led to another and by the time I was finished the bazaar was over.

A funny thing happened on the way down from the Bazaar. Cheryl and I were both headed in the same direction (She was going to some lesson in Mongkok, and I was headed to Yau Ma Tei), so we decided to walk together up the hill. At the top of the hill, we were confused as to which direction to walk to the next bus stop (since the one opposite the gas station was before the turn into Guildford Road, and we didn't want to go back down there). We were such total novices (idiots, almost) that we went the wrong way. We, in fact, walked halfway down whatsthenameofthatroad before we realised that a) there were no bus stops and b) there were no buses. Since we were like halfway down, we decided to just walk the entire way down. So it was that I enjoyed a downhill stroll off the Peak with Cheryl on Saturday. And ended up sweating and tired at the bottom of it. (We left at noon, remember?)

On Sunday my parents and I went shopping for 'work clothes' for me. I got a nice smart looking jacket (all I had was a hoody), and a few shirts.

I shall blog about my work experience later in the week.

Yours truly,

Jeremy

Update

Dear all,

It's been a long time since I've posted anything here, no?

Anyways you should be expecting this kind of lack of updates for now.

There's been a lot of stuff happening, so I'll split this up into several sections so you don't suffocate.

1. On Nov 10th, I had my Higher Chinese O Levels. I think I did quite alright. I didn't have any problems with most of the questions, although we will have to wait for the results to come out in January before jumping to any conclusions.

2. Today (well yesterday technically, since this is 1am on the 21st), I had my Sec 4 Commencement Dinner. Basically like the Dinner Dance back in June. It was pretty awesome, I'll have to say. Plenty of fun things that happened, and a nice dinner to boot. And we actually went to a real hotel! (Hilton Hotel). And we only had to pay $50 Sing each. We also got a T-Shirt, photo frame and a CD each.

Below is a picture of the T-Shirt.

'This shirt cost me 4 YEARS (2006-2009) to make // but it was worth every minute"

In case you can't read it.

And all that white underneath is a list of all 500 or so names of the cohort.

I'd have to say they did a pretty decent job. Who am I kidding, this is awesome.

3. Work! My dad had me type up a self-introduction and then sent it to his friends asking for someone to take him in for a job. And I got 7 offers which is pretty incredible. After a while we managed to work out an offer for me in a place called MAST (never heard of, and I doubt you have) which is in the apparel industry.

4. I'm gonna fly back to HK on Nov 25th, but with a stopover in Bangkok! Bangkok. Wow, really?

Damn.

Oh well.

After that my work starts on Nov 30th and ends Dec 16th. Then after that (around Jan 5th) I'm flying to NY to visit my beloved sister who I have failed to visit in her freshman and sophomore year. I'll be kinda sad that I'll miss the famous Times Square New Year countdown, but oh well.

After that I'm flying back to Singapore for the start of JC in Jan 18th!

More updates to follow in HK~ (maybe)

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

A Good Day.

Dear all,

Sorry for the drought of updates lately. I more or less forgot about the blog. For the past week, I went through some intensive Higher Chinese training, so I was a little tired. Besides that, I also have Chinese tuition which has been changed to twice weekly. So for the last week I've basically had a little piece of hell. But screw that, today's the last day of school! It's a happy occasion (yay!).

The day started with a consortium assembly (the last time we would be in the High School Auditorium), where we received our results (and were duly surprised). Most of us had jumped a grade or two in some of our subjects, thanks to moderation. In the end, the only subjects I didn't get A1 was Higher Chinese and Additional Maths (B3 and A2 respectively). Which is awesome, by the way. I think it is, anyway. There were a bunch of people complaining that they didn't jump any grades at all (which is sad, yes, but most of those people didn't really need better grades anyway).

Afterwards, we went to the Aphelion Day concert. I suppose it's worthy to note that for the past years it's been Aphelion Night but due to circumstances today it's been moved to the afternoon. The concert was quite well done, marred by the usual technical failures (such as powerpoint links not working; mics not starting on time) but the MC was not completely boring and the games were alright.

A few things of note happened during the concert. The entrance of the Sec 4s. Ah, now that felt good. We were placed behind the teachers and walked into the Hall between our juniors who were standing and clapping as we passed by them. Have you ever seen those people who walk down an aisle surrounded by people clapping, and the smiles on their faces? Well, now I know why they're grinning from ear to ear. I do realise this might the only time this ever happens to me in my life (save during graduation perhaps), which is why I'm going to treasure this memory. The second thing of note was during one of the games, I was 'nominated' to go on stage and participate, which is another way of saying 'my entire class started shouting my name, clapping, and shoving me off my chair'. Luckily for me, at that point the MC said I wasn't needed.

Afterwards, I went to LAN with a couple of friends, and we played COD 4 (which is a bit old). I hadn't played in a while, but a few minutes revived all my old FPS reflexes. Over the next two hours, I pretty much sat in the top seat. At one point, I was playing 2v1, and I still ended up with more kills than the other two combined. Thank you, all those useless hours spent in front of the computer spamming bullets at zombies/nazis/japanese soldiers/tanks/other players/various other enemies.

Today was a good day.

hehehe.

Yours Sincerely

Jeremy

Just one more to go! Eh, wait, make that two.

Dear all,

Today, I obtained my results for English Language and Integrated Humanities Elective (Geography). Or I was supposed to, anyway. Geography turned out to be a disappointment, as Ms Cheong (geo teacher) turned up during the beginning of English paper checking, and told us that paper checking for geog was cancelled. Pooh. And it was rescheduled to tomorrow, some as-of-yet-unknown time. Ah, Ms Cheong, as carefree as always (she often spent entire periods telling us about her life and past experiences, which I admit was refreshing and very entertaining, but somewhat risky *coughcough*).

As for English, my results were less than expected. I'd expected to get at least 65%, probably around 70~72%. Instead, I got 64%. Ugh. Worse still, that meant I was one point away from a B3, which would save me from the embarrassment of being relegated to the lower echelons. As it turned out, the papers were mostly not well done by the majority of the cohort, and the highest in the class was an A2.

As I was busy scouring my papers for that precious life-saving one mark, I uncovered a marking mistake! As luck would have it, the marker for my summary was idiotic enough to give me 10 ticks in content and then only give me 9 content marks! The nerve of her (most english teachers are female)! Well, either that, or she can't count. I'd wager the former, since she is a qualified teacher and all, but don't hold me to that. Wait. Being idiotic and not being able to count are more or less the same thing.

Oh well.

Then I double checked the summary and it turns out I'd wrote over the 160 word limit. Perhaps she deducted a mark for that? Unlikely, since I ought to lose marks in language use then, not content. But when I asked my English teacher about the missing mark (cleverly avoiding any mention of going over the word limit), she checked through it a few times (seemingly missing the fact that I went over the word limit) and gave me the extra mark in the end. Whether I was supposed to get that extra mark or not, nobody will ever know.

All I care is that I got a B3. Ha!

Oh, and thank god my english teacher was in a rush, otherwise she just might have spotted that. Heehee.

Tomorrow I will get the results for my final and worst subject, Chinese. Fingers crossed that I can score at least a B4 (60%). Oh, wait, there's Geography too.

Here's a nice music video to amuse you. By the way, I haven't actually watched it yet.

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

Humility

Dear all,

There's something else I'd like to talk about today, brought on by the issue for results. In Singapore, most of the students here are terrified of being seen as proud, haughty, contemptuous, or flaunting their stellar results in any matter. Aside from the fact that stellar results are quite common, this is obviously caused by their cultural upbringing.

The average reaction when someone thinks they screwed up is 'me too...' and then they go on about which questions they've got wrong. This can be seen from results betting and certain insults. Some of my friends have bet with each other that 'you'll definitely get A1 in this and I won't', although the amount is usually pretty small, like 50 cents. Other friends have taken to teasing the students with better results whenever they half-mention their own results, or talk about others' results.

This inherently isn't bad, I feel. It ensures that hubris won't be a factor in their lives, at least. But, there should be a limit to everything, and I think the limit's been exceeded. If you keep demeaning yourself without stopping, just because everyone else is, you'll just hurt your self-esteem. And some people are, obviously faking it their concerns, when in their heart they're thinking 'I'll probably do well'. I used to do this too, except I realised that it wasn't right. Because you're lying to yourself, and to everyone else.

I, myself, of course, don't flaunt my results or anything, but I'll feel confident about some of my results even if everyone else isn't. I think that if you honestly screwed up this exam, then that's that. Even if you tell everyone about it, it won't change anything, although it may create a sense of camaraderie. If you honestly think you didn't really screw up big time, and you've probably done well, then go ahead and admit it! It's not a crime to predict a good score.

Most people don't do this because they're afraid. Afraid of 'eating humble pie', or basically regretting what you said. Personally, I feel that being afraid or something doesn't mean you should lie about your expectations. If I overestimated my results, then that's that. I didn't prepare well enough for this exam (or not at all) and thus I was at fault. But I won't regret what I said. Because those were my true feelings at the time.

If you're reading this, and this is exactly what you do, then I suggest you be a little more confident about your results! For one, it'll help your self-esteem, and it'll also help you be more true to yourself. And if you can really not regret what you've said, which is easier said than done, then you've achieved a higher level of self-awareness.

Humble Pie, anyone?

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

Results!

Dear all,

So, where have I been these past few days? Well, nowhere, really, but sorry for the late update.

Anyway there hasn't really been anything up lately. The sunday tuition went relatively smoothly. But thanks to the upcoming O Levels HCL exam, now I have wednesday tuition as well. Which sucks, but I agreed to it, so oh well.

Today I went to school to check the papers for four subjects. Now I have the results for four and a half subjects, out of 7 subjects. The reason there's a half is that there are two subjects part of an overall subject called 'Integrated Humanities'. And I have the results from one of the subjects. So far, my results are more or less expected, which is to say, they're pretty good, at least above average. Of course, I have yet to receive the results for my worst subject (chinese) so it's not quite over yet.

Here's a nice song from Youtube (sorry, only audio).

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

No sleep = stomachache?

Dear all,

You may have noticed that I did not post on Friday. This was due to a number of reasons.

1. I was too busy doing a chinese essay for tuition, which I was too lazy to do earlier in the week

2. I was lazy

3. Nothing exciting happened that day, so I was a little short on material

However, today is a different matter. Earlier this morning (exactly 6:27 am) my tuition teacher called me and told me she'd stayed up all last night and had a stomachache this morning. As to why she did so, and how stomachaches could possibly be caused by a lack of sleep, I was too groggy to listen to. So now my weekly tuition has moved from saturday morning to sunday morning. Fantastic.

These days I've been considering upgrading my computer, mainly because that the frame rate is dipping on most graphically-demanding applications. Which is to say my games aren't running smoothly. However, until my parents get back, I probably won't go out to buy any components or anything.

Oh yeah. Monday is Deepavali make-up holiday, which means I have no school. Not that I have much school on the other days anyway, seeing as I only have to turn up to school for paper checking.

So as not to make my post incredibly boring, here's a picture to amuse you.

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

Exam Update

Dear all,

Today was a totally unremarkable day, save for the doom-and-gloom Math Exam.

Most of the questions totally escaped me, and I was left writhing in the proverbial dirt, grasping at straws. But if I keep worrying about it, I'll get depressed, which may have side-effects and adverse complications, which I'd like to avoid.

The best way to stop thinking about something sad is, of course, to think of something else that's good! Like the upcoming week of nothing but paper checking - i.e. no school! As in, we turn up to school for when paper checking is scheduled, go through the paper (an hour, maybe?) then go home!

Sadly, today was so totally completely uneventful and my head so utterly absolutely empty due to my attempts to distract myself, that my blog post ends here.

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

Last day of Exams

Dear all,

Today, I had a pretty average day. By that, I mean to say that I experienced some arguably good events, and some arguably bad events, and they more or less averaged out to make the day not particularly good or bad.

The Chinese Exam was difficult, but it was at the expected level of difficulty and thus I did not lose too much hair trying to do it. Overall I feel I did not make any obvious stupid mistakes (which I always feel like after any exam, until one of my fellow classmates tells me otherwise) but paper checking is next week, so we will have to see then.

As I boarded the bus to go home, I remarked upon the fact that this bus I was taking would drop me off furthest from my home. You see, no buses from the school go directly to my home, probably more a case of negligence than misfortune, but instead there are three buses that have three different stops that are around 10-15 minutes walking distance from my house, which isn't that bad once you get used to it.

The problem is that today, the sky was dark and gloomy. As I dropped off the bus and began my long walk home, it began to rain. And oh, rain it did. This morning I left my umbrella in my bag, which was fortunate. I must thank my laziness over not bothering to take it out to make my bag lighter.

Afterwards the rain lightened up, to the point where I could more or less hear the individual raindrops hitting the dirt by my feet. Just as this very thought passed through my head, the sky above thundered. It was like someone up there was watching me and saying, "I'm watching you" in that overused fashion ever since the 'Meet the Parents' movie.

When I stepped into my house, my helper grinned in a slightly nasty way and went, "I thought you didn't bring the umbrella". Did she envision me coming home with my hair sopping wet, my shoes and socks drenched, the bottom of my pants strewn with bits of debris and my face in a grimace that declared war upon anyone that looked at it? Wait, no, I just envisioned that.

In other news, tomorrow is the last day of exams! Yes! Haha! It's also Maths Paper Two, which is probably the paper that requires the most brain use and preparation, especially memorising all those annoying stupid idiotic yet incredibly helpful further trigonometric formulae.

Wish me luck.

Yours Sincerely,

Jeremy

First post!

Dear all,

This is my first post! Needless to say, this blog is about my life as a teenager, as a 'Returning Singaporean', as a Hwa Chong boy, as a German Swiss alumnus (makes me sound like a 40-year old), as an avid gamer, and as numerous other things I can't care to mention here, but probably will later. It wouldn't exactly be prudent if I used all my 'writing material' in the first post, yes?

Anyway, don't expect much for now, because I usually have commitment issues with things like these - games and online things in general, mind, not relationships (never been in one of those, so I wouldn't know) - so I might post once a day, once a week, or go missing for a whole month.

Mainly because I'm lazy. But then again, I'm a 21st Century teenager. Lazy doesn't really apply here.

I'm currently in the middle of the End-of-year exam period, so I get half days and extra stress. You might also be wondering why I'm starting a blog in the middle of my exam period, when I should really be studying. The answer to that lies in the paragraph above.

Tomorrow's the Chinese Paper 2 Exam (which is not as hard as Paper 1).

The bad news: I suck at it.

The good news: It starts at 11 15 am, which means I get to sleep in! Woohoo! Eat that, ha!

Yours Sincerely

Jeremy