Wei Zhong

#418 HAHA EVEN THE JAPAN PEOPLE HAVE CAUGHT ON

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:52:15 GMT

Jodie (・´ｪ`・) says (11:51 PM):
i think you should work on your introduction
give it more BOOMZ

Highlights of H1 Chem P2

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:13:31 GMT

Things that made me go x.x during H1 Chem

Account for the trends in atomic radius, first ionisation energy and melting point across the period Na–Ar. 5 marks.
3/4 page of information on six organic compounds. Using all the information, identify all of them and give equations to all reactions. 20 marks, no part-questions.
Draw dot-and-cross diagrams to illustrate the bonding in NaCl, PCl₃ and CO₂. Explain the bonding in PCl₃ and CO₂ in terms of orbital overlap [emphasis in original]. Illustrate with diagrams. 7 marks.
PLOT a graph of rate against [NH₃].

Now a blow-by-blow account:

Account for the trends in atomic radius, first ionisation energy and melting point across the period Na–Ar. 5 marks.

5 marks for what must have taken 9,023,823 pages in my lecture notes??? Typically it's one property for 2–3 marks even in prelim exams, and because this is A Levels where you get 1 mark for writing down just the number of electrons in HCO₃⁻ (ans: 32), it should really be 3–4 marks per property. Because it was such a conditioned response for me to vomit out every single bit I memorised whenever such questions are asked, it imposed a lot more mental stress as I, for perhaps the first time (even though my 4x prelim papers were all timed) actually had to select what to write. Obviously Cambridge knows that they can't expect much out of 5 marks, so I'm crossing my fingers that what I, against my PRIMORDIAL INSTINCTS, jettisoned were exactly the things which were not needed (seriously, not writing things down when you know there's more to the answer caused me a lot of stress).

3/4 page of information on six organic compounds. Using all the information, identify all of them and give equations to all reactions. 20 marks, no part-questions.

gg for you if you identify the first compound wrongly. Guess I would have gone for it if my organic chem were really solid, but this is truly a high-risk endeavour. You could just screw everything up if you made a wrong intermediate conclusion. No part questions to save you~ So yea I didn't choose this question (it was in the 3-choose-2 section) although some people in my room did. But I secretly think it would have been fun if the question were in the compulsory section

Draw dot-and-cross diagrams to illustrate the bonding in NaCl, PCl₃ and CO₂. Explain the bonding in PCl₃ and CO₂ in terms of orbital overlap [emphasis in original]. Illustrate with diagrams. 7 marks.

I totally left this to the last 5 minutes of the paper, when I half-heartedly wrote down something like

3 3p orbitals each overlap with 1 3p orbital of Cl: 3 σ bonds

And I took forever to decide whether there were hybrid orbitals for C in CO₂ or whether it was restricted to organic molecules. Then I wrote something like

2 sp² hybrid orbitals each overlap with 1 2p orbital of each O: 2 σ bonds (ed: Yes it's sp not sp² but I wasn't thinking)
2 unhybridised 2p orbitals each overlap with 1 2p orbital of each O: 2 π bonds

And then I drew an ugly diagram which I'm sure I'm not going to get credit for.

Seriously! I've never encountered a question requiring description of bonding in terms of overlap. First time doing the question = Lots of mistakes, not hitting the key words successfully and consuming a lot of time. Wonder if doing the more updated papers would have allowed me to encounter this question type?

PLOT a graph of rate against [NH₃].

Sianzz the last time I plotted any graph was during H3 Physics almost a year ago >< Deciding the scale took a long time and eventually I opted to break the SPA rule of 1:1, 1:2 or 1:5 only by choosing 1:4. Eventually I did get what was required and my best fit line passed only 1 small square away from the origin, so it was still fine. But the idea of having to plot a graph was very intimidating and it did affect my confidence somewhat.

Civilian life post-exercise

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:52:51 GMT

Mid-autumn karaoke!

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 05:51:00 GMT

Saturday. We've had so many Jap karaoke sessions I've lost count. xD

Desmond insisted on a photo

This one was disappointing for me because out of 5 songs I prepared, 2 were not on the catalogue :'( 「算数チャチャチャ」 and 「虹色ラブレター」 would have made such great songs DD:

毎日　毎日　書いてるラブレター
The love letters that I'm writing every day, every day
いつか本にして出したなら　売れると思うんだ
If they were some day made into a book, I think it would sell
「想いを伝えたい人に贈りたい一冊！」なんて
"A book for people wishing to convey their yearning!"

And then the other 3 that I sang, I'd only prepared them on the day itself, so I found it hard to catch the melody too. Maybe I shall repeat the songs I sang in the past next time!

Sec 2 geometry

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:48:47 GMT

Jon says (1:32 PM):
i think jodie's solution is correct
Wei Zhong says (1:32 PM):
same
i saw
haha arts student > 2 science students D:
Jon says (1:32 PM):
i sent to xinyu too
i also sent to my friend studying engineering or math or something in cornell
i feel so stupid
Wei Zhong says (1:33 PM):
so did they solve it ahead of jodie?
Jon says (1:33 PM):
heck no, they haven't solved it
Wei Zhong says (1:33 PM):
HAHA
this is so interesting
Jon says (1:34 PM):
i still feel so stupid =(
Wei Zhong says (1:34 PM):
i feel stupid too

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:59:35 GMT

[23:44:09] Chang Xing: it was a bit nerve wrecking at first
[23:44:19] Chang Xing: like zomg what if i cant get the answer. going to get fired liao.
[23:44:25] Chang Xing: >_>
[23:44:29] Wei Zhong: hahaha
[23:44:40] Wei Zhong: and isn't it an ego thing too
[23:44:46] Wei Zhong: j3 le! still can't do sec 3 qn
[23:45:14] Wei Zhong: you just started is it
[23:49:47] Chang Xing: yeah
[23:49:59] Chang Xing: j3 is not an improvement over j2
[23:50:02] Chang Xing: its a regression
[23:50:04] Chang Xing: >_>

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 07:03:34 GMT

Saturday. I must have appeared stupid asking the cashier how I could cash my items, when the Salvation Army only accepts donations for the things they sell at their Family Thrift Stores. But since I've already made the effort (and spent the $0.91) to travel down to the middle of nowhere, I might as well give the cashier my items anyway, even if I won't be remunerated. It's certainly a relief to get rid of stuff like the clock whose ticking I can't stand (silent sweep ftw), Aesop's Fables that my P2 brother doesn't want either, and the GEP 20th Anniversary shirt whose front is actually classy but whose back is just ugly.

Still, I think this is probably the last time I'm going down to get rid of anything other than perhaps clothing, which Cash Converters doesn't accept. Looking at the prices of the items yesterday, I think the things sold by the Salvation Army is not cheap enough such that most people (other than students of the Japanese School) would be willing to specially make a trip down to the border of an industrial area just to shop, and to put up with the gross lack of variety. Some items have their original price tag on them, and are blatantly sold by the Salvation Army for prices higher than the original price. It doesn't make economic sense for ordinary shoppers looking for things with the cheapest price—at a matching level of convenience—to shop there.

The Salvation Army is clearly appealing to people specifically wanting to help the cause. But even if I want to contribute towards the Salvation Army's cause, putting up with the hassle and time wastage of going down and then buying overpriced second-hand goods sold as-is doesn't seem like a very smart way. I'd rather get my items from the shopping centre, first-hand and with warranty, priced reasonably, and then make a GIRO donation.

With such problems, I have no confidence that the things that I donate would go off the shelf and be reused.

■

Thanks to the 37 which didn't come at 2.58 pm as iris promised, I took forever to reach home. Then it was a rush doing my final revision, as it were, before japclass karaoke, and then travelling down to Cuppage Plaza for karaoke at Cash Studio on Basement 2 with Celene, Warren and Jon :D

Although our music tastes were divergent, other than Jon we generally sang a lot of emo songs D: Without realising it I picked many emo songs to mug. And in any case, mugging 4 Japanese songs (all from the compilation I received from Ack and Fiona) was grossly insufficient for 3½ hours, so I sang Chinese songs too, the restricted database of the latter notwithstanding. It was fun spotting Jpop songs that I like, and I compiled a list on my phone so that I can mug them for next time. (Interestingly the list contains mostly 2007 songs, which suggests that Celene and Jon's consumption of Japanese music might have peaked around 2007 and 2008. Jon admits being somewhat out of touch with Japanese music nowadays.) I've also realised how familiar I've become with ほうき星 (Younha, 2005) through all the karaoke sessions with Japclass.

It's quite scary listening to Warren talk about how busy life in medical school is—after what is effectively only 7+ months of solid school, students are expected to know every single vein, muscle and bone in the human body; how the brain works; how the body works as a whole; medical ethics and laws; local and overseas healthcare systems; right down to how to skein information from medical journals; and a whole gamut of other things that he listed but I forgot. (I forgot to ask what they'll then do from Years 2 to 5.) To think that they said uni's supposed to be slack. And I can't imagine having my whole academic life revolving around just one thing, without the contrasting modules that other faculties get to take. But I also felt a tinge of envy for their being able to gain such detailed knowledge about our own bodies after such a short time. I think I'd be lucky to learn even 1% of that throughout my lifetime about my own body. Their lives seem even more enviable comparing the knowledge they'll gain in the next 7+ months with the knowledge I'll gain (or not gain) during the same period.

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 13:11:56 GMT

I think the best way for me to keep my bedtime is to keep the computer off. It's only 9 pm and, with the computer off since I got home, I'm already feeling sleepy. With the computer on, I only recall feeling awake way past my optimal bedtime, no matter how early I might have slept the previous night.

First of the season

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:08:16 GMT

Sunday. Met Qiongye and Hao Yang at the airport at 9+ to see Stacy off. It's being able to attend things like these that make stay-out life great :D It was nice being able to see people again and catch up with them (the girls like Linxi, Lorraine, Pei Zhi, Meiyi; my partners in stay-out Hao Yang, Royce and this guy in my camp whom I've kept putting off saying hi to; and lucky Eugene and non-citizen Qiongye). I'm so surprised that Royce didn't poke me about my environmental ideals when I mentioned learning driving; I guess three years is a long time. Anyway, haha the emocircle thing that Stacy did with her MOE scholar friends looks really cool x)

In front of the entrance to the restricted area, when Stacy came over to us (Eugene, Hao Yang, Qiongye and me), we still followed the pretty Singaporean-conservative style of only shaking hands, even though Stacy was complaining about no one going forth to give hugs. (With a certain someone around, this was only natural for the rest of us haha) For the rest of the time, I could only stand :O as I saw Stacy maintain her wide smile and cheery attitude during what must have been a difficult time. I think her ability to stay upbeat is really admirable. :)

Hao Yang sent me home—my first car ride from a peer xD Initially I was glad for the extra talking time that I thought the car ride would have provided, but in the end I was on my toes all the way looking out for the way home, for fear of losing our way and causing trouble to everyone. So in the end I didn't talk much :(

Read Stacy's note only after I reached home (Singaporean style again). So touched that she still wrote a card's length for me, even though she had so many friends to write to. If, like her, I only have a few days to write notes, I don't think I'll ever motivate myself to write beyond ten cards' length. Also appreciate her honesty in her writing too :)

I think tomorrow will be an exciting day. AQIS! That's when our hard work will pay off, and we're able to see whether all the work last week, and the late nights that were required to get the job done to that standard, was justified.

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:56:44 GMT

Before my driving gets rusty

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:26:48 GMT

Looking for a private driving instructor providing instruction in manual transmission in the SSDC (Yio Chu Kang) area. Passed FTT, holding PDL and ready to start immediately; aiming for TP around end-January. If you're under a driving instructor whom you think is very good and worthy of recommendation, I'd be very appreciative if you can pass me his contact! Thanks.

(I wonder why my friends who have learnt under private instruction each have such low appraisals of their respective driving instructors. Makes me want to look harder for a good instructor for myself!)

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:03:02 GMT

Pardon the primitive form of collaging; I'll make it better if I'm free after I get my new computer :D

Adding to the smile on my face is the 44% discount on tiramisu at that time!

The title reads 愛してる (lit. am loving)

(8 August 2009)

In memory of my HP Pavilion

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:52:34 GMT

D:

I just collected the body of my computer from the Challenger technician. Apparently, it has suffered from failure of multiple organs, namely the hard disk, RAM and motherboard. Replacing all the defective parts, and upgrading some other parts to support the higher-end replacements, would entail replacing most parts of the computer, such that it would probably be more worth it to get a new computer altogether.

When the hard disk was fitted onto the test computer and a recovery program (reverse-delete program) used, none of my files could have been recovered. Thankfully, at end-2008 I did a complete backup of my files. I haven't been generating many new files since then that I haven't backed up, other than things like my commanders' appraisals. My chat logs and photographs were automatically synced onto Dropbox. It's a bit pitiful, though, that I lost almost a year of my RSS data :(

It's been a good 6 year 4 months with my old computer since I bought it in April 2003. It has served and supported me through
- the scores of reports and presentations from How to Improve RI & RGS to Apriorism vs Naturalism;
- the Elim Chew video-editing;
- the insane chatting activity during the second half of Sec 2;
- my learning of Japanese through rikaichan and news clips;
- my communication needs from Hotmail and MSN Groups to Yahoo and Yahoo! Groups to Gmail;
- my blogging hobby since the days I chronicled every single detail and posts reached 30 000 words, from the days of Diaryland to Blogspot to the defunct Diary-X to my computer acting as a 24/7 server at mine.nu to ultrahostings.net to Livejournal;
- and not least the various internet fads from Neopets to Runescape and now, to Facebook.

So it's been a long journey. I think I've treated my computer pretty well (computers belonging to most people don't last beyond 6 years), except that on that fateful day on 3 August, maybe I should have powered off the computer before spraying the Baygon. As the technician noted, the connection between insecticide application and hardware failure was tenuous and it might just have been a coincidence that the two happened successively. But intuitively, it seems there remains some chance that there was a casual relationship. And it doesn't feel good not knowing whether you might have inadvertently killed the computer which has served you for all of six years :(
Twitter and Facebook SMS Updates

How our hopes change

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 16:35:58 GMT

It's intriguing how our hopes can change so radically when we are placed in different situations and positions.

Every evening, when I'm on the 969 and it travels along Lentor Avenue (the long stretch of road along the train tracks between Khatib and Yio Chu Kang MRT Stations), I'll be glad that the bus lane is in operation so that the bus can travel more quicky without any traffic in front.

But today, when I was on the cab with Clive on the very same road, I was cursing the implementation of the bus lane. Although Lentor Avenue was a three-lane road, vehicles turning into Seletar Expressway had to keep left or centre lane. With the bus lane, all the traffic bound for Seletar Expressway was effectively squeezed into the centre lane, and everyone was travelling at the speed of the slowest vehicle in front. I can only be glad that there weren't any military vehicles (whoops) or trailers in front while we were along Lentor Avenue today.

Anyway, as I was discussing the stupidity of the Lentor Avenue bus lane with Clive, I realised that had I been on a bus on our left at that same time, I would have been thinking completely different thoughts about the bus lane.

And then I reached home and lugged my CPU to Challenger for servicing. As the customer service guy was powering on my CPU on the test monitor, I almost couldn't believe that I was hoping that my computer did not work. This was so that my trip down to Challenger wouldn't have been a wasted trip made when the computer was still working. And just a day ago, I was sweating in front of my computer wishing I had more fingers to cross so that my computer could work. Funny right.

My computer died

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:05:51 GMT

Happy 05/08 day! Haha I doubt they read this though.

I don't know why I'm talking about the computer, when I really should be covering my gigantic backlog of events, now that I have a rare opportunity to catch up on my blogging. But the computer issue is disturbing me now.

Yesterday night, it kept me up for an hour while I was trying to service it myself. Each time I start up, a random error occurs. Sometimes the RAM is improperly placed and I'll have to unseat it. Sometimes the power gets cut off after five seconds. Sometimes the power comes on once power is supplied at the plug, but dies soon enough anyway. Sometimes, when I'm lucky, the computer survives the black Windows startup screen or even the blue one, but restarts/reverts to command line/stops giving the monitor input soon after.

I think I shall send my (6-year-old) CPU to Challenger for servicing soon. It's so convenient that now, with the opening of Tampines 1, I have a Challenger outlet at my doorstep. I think it relieves a lot of my mental stress to let someone else take charge of this computer problem. If only I could do the same for some of my other problems...

But servicing means spending more money, and this doesn't bode well on my bank account passbook. I think I've just spent beyond my salary for the July work month (July 10–August 7). I need to start recording my spending and imposing budgets...

Meanwhile, the stay-out life has been awesome. Had dinner with Han Liang yesterday night to commemorate 05/08 Day (haha, no la). Among other things, I got to catch up with what the NUS people have been/will be doing. :) What a pity that the first two days were spent on boring things, at least for his faculty, so the fun hasn't really started yet. The whole bond system was also quite interesting, how if you're on scholarship, you're like this girl attached to a guy. So when you break the bond (break up), the board (the guy) will calculate every last thing that they (he) has spent on you from Day 1 since you accepted the scholarship (got together), right down to the lunch and dinner receptions (!) and demand that you pay up. Aww.

Okay got to go.

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:14:27 GMT

How nice it would be if I could lose my memory.

Rurban (cont'd)

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:45:51 GMT

Haha so I was right about the cooking photos that come up on Monday night :)

[11:37:41] Han Liang: haha
[11:37:55] Han Liang: at least u can view them

Winding road

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:24:03 GMT

On my way home from japclass karaoke with jon warren jacq celene. Love the company and the hyperness! Running for our way home past midnight with Celene was fun. Looking forward to our next with the girls in Japan!

Rurban

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:42:28 GMT

The flurry of pretty facebook photos that continuously streams in, of OBS and other PDC activities, medicamp, lawcamp, batch outings and whatnot, is making me envious of all the girls and NS disrupters for all the fun they must be having now :( It doesn't help that on Monday, there'll be this new batch of photos of my friends who are the PSC scholars having fun with each other frolicking with pots and pans, just as we're stuck in camp doing something that we never really chose to do, and probably don't really want to do. I want to be like them too x(

I am aware that my NS posting is considered relatively good already, but I think the girls and disrupters will always be on a higher level because they have something that non-disrupting guys don't: freedom, and most pertinently, freedom of choice. To go to a uni they think is suitable for them, to study something they like, to spend time with the people they choose, doing what they choose to do. Sigh...

■

Chuida cycling was surprisingly good. Despite my insistence that I should not drag the rest down by joining them after dinner, Ackerley went ahead to text Fiona (and cc me) that I'd be learning cycling from them -.- Since he was so enthusiastic about teaching me, I decided to join them for cycling anyway, although I wasn't optimistic about being able to learn it from them because we might run out of time before I finish learning. It was to be my Third Attempt at Learning How to Cycle.

During the start of J1, 5B tried teaching me at East Coast Park (during the outing that 17 out of 27 attended). This was already my second attempt. The end result was that I could only cycle at most 5 m before fumbling to a stop. And this 5 m was only after I gave the bicycle some initial forward momentum by shuffling my feet on the ground. After this, we ran out of time and adjourned somewhere for supper.

The initial part of learning cycling from them was rather frustrating. It was hard trying and failing under the hot sun without making any visible progress and with everyone waiting for me. But I thank them for their patience and encouragement, and soon I was cycling for 100 m after a zig-zag start-off. During the path to lunch, however, things were less successful as I was required to start off and remain on a narrow path, which I couldn't at that stage. After lunch, I had more practice on the long and wide cycling tracks in Pasir Ris Park. I could cycle for hundreds of metres, but would have to stop when I encounter obstructions as I wasn't confident about squeezing through without banging into them x(

It must have been frustrating for them too, because progress was quite slow at the start, and they had to cycle to lunch at a snail's pace with me because I kept falling and restarting every ten seconds. Moreover, only Ackerley was pushing the idea that I should learn cycling from them, and I wasn't sure that the rest would share Ackerley's enthusiasm. But it turned out fine in the end and they continued guiding and waiting for me. Thanks friends :)

Also, thanks to the 5B people (Victor and Lorraine especially) for teaching me the other time, because I don't think I would have learnt as fast if yesterday were my first time and I had no prior experience.

Will rent a bicycle to build up on what I've learnt yesterday at the earliest opportunity! <3 living in Tampines and having a park with a bicycle rental shop just 5 minutes away.

The second half of the year arrived too quickly

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:32:02 GMT

Now I finally understand how people can neglect their blog for months from being too busy.

Life has been very good, except for some minor complaints (like failing my final military driving practical test, or the TP in civilian terms, twice in the past two weeks).

Friends have been making my life great.

For months there has never been a weekend without your company. Special thanks to Ackerley and Fiona, who have been a constant source of support during difficult times, a support only impeded by such unfortunate things as H1N1 and the limits of telecommunication.

On weekdays, as well, I have been lucky to have people around with whom I can connect, and I see that not everyone has such a privilege. Everyone complains about having to stay in but there are upsides too, like how we get to spend more time with each other, laughing and talking over music and games (electronic or board games), in meatspace. In contrast, home can seem like a lonelier place, in which any communication can only be done over the phone or online (but most of the time, online).

It's a special feeling seeing friends from the military willing to draw out precious bookout time to interact in the civilian space, even if once in a while. 05/08 met up at Waraku Marina Square yesterday, and catching up and laughing at/being depressed by/being terribly envious of/being happy you don't have to suffer like other people was great fun. 13 people was a lot (who cares about triskaidekaphobia) despite all the lack of commitment from people when asked before the date, and I hope that people can commit in the future too.

Japanese Speech Contest today was fantastic. I remember the Open category champion from previous years, and I'm happy that she finally clinched the top prize. Her speech was outstanding and she deserved every bit of her title. Attending the finals today makes me feel like joining the contest again next year... Coincidentally the Tertiary category champion talked about procrastination, on which I submitted a script last year but was rejected. Her handling was more suitable for the speech contest, I think, because it was more interactive and light-hearted, and less factual than mine.

Cycling this Saturday with chuida! :)

RJCO Concert 09 weekend

Sun, 31 May 2009 12:16:15 GMT

Crashing rjco concert yesterday night from backstage made me realise that there's nothing like actually putting on a long-sleeve shirt and black tie and performing with alumni. Being part of the action during the preparation, changing into concert attire, smoothing out troublesome parts last-minute, carrying your instruments here and there and finally being on stage together with the rest of the pack are the only ways to feel genuinely part of rjco again. And it gives you a legitimate reason for you to give out chocolates, which grants you the license to approach people you want to approach without any special reason (haha).

Luckily for me playing cards saved me from the awkwardness of sitting at one corner while the rest indulge in pre-concert euphoria. At the same time, it was nostalgic seeing Andrew and Aaron playing bridge again, just like they were doing every practice since I was in Sec 1.

I followed the alumni down to backstage and listened from the xianyue pieces onwards. The alumni's 《童年的回忆》 was, although repetitive, a nice and nostalgic piece. Followed the alumni to the back of the concert hall to listen to Pirates of the Carribean, the finale piece. The majesty of the piece, which I'm sure the orchestra tried to bring out, was perhaps lost due to the acoustics at the very back of the hall, where we were. Bing Liang's obviously spontaneous speech was quite funny at that point in time. It was quite fun sitting with Ackerley, Fiona, Yujing et al clapping and cheering at all the relevant moments, which were aplenty.

We made a quick exit to the holding room that was LT6. Contrary to what is the general case in RJ LTs, it was unbearably hot, but packs of audience members who somehow found their way up stayed for some time anyway to say hi and give chocolates and hug and whatever their friends and juniors.

Our post-concert plans were to tour the school and point out to each other the significant places to us during our school days. Unfortunately, our plans were aborted abruptly by security guards who flashed their torchlights in our direction in the pitch-dark stadium steps. There, we (me ackerley fiona kenny siyun elizabeth) had been singing Chinese songs and talking random topics (like the existence of ghosts, reincarnation) for the past hour. When the guards came, as I long expected but Ackerley and Fiona refused to believe, Ackerley and I looked at each other and both said, "Unceremonious". Be assured it was very much so.

Then the next half an hour was spent seeking refuge from the guards—in the female toilet. We were waiting for the girls to shower and change. It was my first visit into the female toilet in at least ten years. I refused to use the cubicles; I just felt wrong somehow. After a decision-making process which took a long time as usual outside the school gate on where to proceed, we walked over to crash Ackerley's house (his parents hadn't granted prior permission).

The five hours since we (six of us minus Elizabeth) reached at 1 am were spent on cards and talking. In retrospect, I can't believe I stayed up until 6 am. In the middle of the night, I started being really paranoid and scared easily, such that the slightest movement, sound or contact meant a very scary scream, which would in turn scare everyone else. I think I screamed at least three times this morning, for various reasons.

As for our conversation, the ideal boyfriend/girlfriend topic seems to be coming up rather often. While generally, the more people we have the more fun it becomes, it was difficult to be personal in the presence of too many people (for me, more than one counts as too many). Although I do trust specific individuals, I've never learnt to trust a group of people collectively, no matter how close the group of people may be. This is probably because I've never belonged to a specific clique in the past.

After Ackerley left to book in (it's a Sunday morning, but as our OCTs know, the army knows no weekends) we slept in for about four hours. We woke up at 10 am for another round of conversation until noon. It's amazing to think that after talking for so long, we never ran out of things to talk about. The power of talking in a group with the right people.

Lunch with Fiona at the Coffee Bean. It was nice knowing about her attitudes and ambitions. At the same time, talking about free will and determinism made me learn that post-sleepover isn't the best time to be philosophical. My thinking was so deadened already. But with my limited brain resources it was fun nonetheless. It's been quite a while since I last discussed philosophy, with the people in my KI class more than half a year ago.

8Q sam on Free Museum Day. Most of my time was on @ Home Abroad, and whatever I saw was rather interesting. There was a German film with the same guy portraying all the different roles, and his acting of the individual characters was stitched onto the scene. There were similarly crazy and arty stuff there, and it's weird to know that there are Singaporeans actually daring enough to do all this for a living. Unfortunately I only had less than an hour, so I could only visit a small part of their collection.

Sun, 24 May 2009 12:06:20 GMT

好难过。也许，时间会冲淡一切。

The past two weeks crawled by

Sun, 17 May 2009 13:38:24 GMT

感觉上，已经有好久好久没有见到日语同学了，想再找个时间一起出去吃饭、聊天什么的。但是当察看日历时，才赫然发觉到上个聚会只不过是两个星期以前的事。也许是最近这两个星期，有太多事情发生了吧，才让我感觉到这两个星期是好长的一段时间。

其实，下个星期应该也是感觉上来得长，因为我将会忙着适应三巴旺军营中的生活。我将会在那儿呆上八个星期，好学习驾驶军事车辆。我也会出席国防科技局奖学金的一系列面试（我希望是一系列），而等待奖学金结果的出炉将似乎拖慢时间的流逝。同时，等待，也不限于奖学金的事那么简单，嗨……

上个星期军中的活动不方便透露太多，只能说我很庆幸有朋友陪我一起度过了这一个星期的单位生活初体验。在军营以外住，感觉上实在不同，虽然在通勤上要花上一笔，但是自己也多了对新闻媒体的接触，感觉上也拥有了多一点自由。

星期二是汶川大地震一周年，唤起了对去年筹备莱初华乐团公演的回忆。当时，我们忙得连大地震的新闻都搞不清楚，唯有公演过后才真正地了解到地震的严重性。星期六更是公演一周年，虽然似乎没太多人记得。很庆幸能在那一天有华乐团朋友的陪伴。中档餐馆及 Café Cartel 的半价芝士蛋糕仍属于我们的最爱。晚上，我们还到了 S-11 食阁旁的游乐场聊天，那里是我们去年华乐午间练习过后去过好多次的地方，好怀念哦。下个星期是团友曲目的最后一场练习，所以我们到时应该还会再见。虽然没有一定的时间再会，才会使得每次再会的机会显得更值得珍惜，但我还是喜欢有一定的时间再会的那种舒适和安全感。

星期五晚上，到滨海堤坝观赏新加坡艺术节的开幕演出《太阳神赫利奥斯II》。当巨型螳螂花车在观众区盘旋时我觉得有点无聊，但是之后的杂技表演还不错，我这个俗人还能欣赏。但是表演者频频出错，动作有时也不和谐，这些都待改进。没料到最后会有烟花表演，倒是给我一个惊喜。璀璨耀眼的烟花在空中迅速地接连绽放，振奋我的心情。

表演结束后到滨海堤坝的周围逛了一下，发现到它是个举行聚会不错的地方，因为有辽阔的景色，可以看到新加坡的城市夜色，也能欣赏国家以南的海景。气氛静谧，又有广阔的草地，是个朋友聊天的好去处。只可惜地点相对偏僻，目前来看我们只能到怡丰城天台花园之类地点位置适中的地方。

下个星期依旧是漫长的一周，有新环境等着我去适应，除了等待、也有随时被拒绝的可能。真希望能顺利地挨过去，并期待那星期六下午才开始的周末再去观赏另一个艺术节的外围节目，并与朋友相见。:)

Mon, 11 May 2009 13:47:19 GMT

It's been a year (:(:

To share both his grief and his joy

Sat, 02 May 2009 09:05:30 GMT

Friday. After reading and hearing about some things that happened on Wednesday, I decided to visit RJCO prac in the morning to see if the scary mental picture I painted of prac was true. I am thankful that things appeared rather peaceful. Thanks to Klaxton who, after practice, helped interpret everything which I couldn't immediately see for me.

Lao Zhou still hasn't changed much, with his 罚五百块s and creative nicknames for many people. I didn't get to catch his nagging on attendance, but I'm pretty sure he still harps on it. It was nice seeing my juniors again properly after so long (and Sunday doesn't really count). On the other hand, while half the faces there (the J2s) were familiar, I almost didn't know any of the J1s beside Jun Sean and Patrick. This is despite the fact that I came from RICO, and many of the J1 guys should have come from there as well. I guess I never maintained close ties with my juniors back in RICO. That's why I always wonder how J5s like Zongjin still find it meaningful to join RJCO events, like watch them during their SYF rehearsal at SCH last Sunday. I think I won't find a purpose in visiting RJCO after the J2s graduate from RJCO, which is very soon.

Sigh I can't believe that it's been already a year since the last CO season. Somehow the scenes of CO practice together—silently observing the orchestra from my disheng corner, talking a bit more with Siyun during pracs when I got moved to beside her, self-pracs alone during free blocks in a half-lit CO room and so on—remain so fresh. Although I think I practiced hard and had a lot of fun with my friends, there were still some things that I wish I could be transported back in time to do.

Walking towards J8 with Qianwen and Lanya was enjoyable and reminded me of our tie-sourcing and concert-organising adventures last year. Even though it's been almost a year since we properly talked, on my end I felt very comfortable talking to them. I wish we'll somehow have J2/J3 CO gatherings, and across a wider range of sections, in the future.

To current members of RJCO, good job everyone! I enjoyed listening to you on Sunday and Friday, and I thought your coordination was very good. All the best for Wednesday! :D

□

Karaoke at CASH Studio in the afternoon with warren jon desmond ben xinyu celene jacq. I missed the previous one we had because I was in Japan. Karaoke continues to be at once uncomfortable and enjoyable, as it has always been to me. I feel guilty mutilating the songs I love so much (《恋爱频率》 and 《被风吹过的夏天》 especially) and continue to be self-conscious about my pitching and harmony. The gender ratio wasn't even so 对唱 wasn't as fun. I think the best part about karaoke is the 对唱 songs. Instead of a simple one-man or two-man show, there's the added dimension of coordination and harmony which makes things more interesting.

But it was interesting being exposed to new songs, English, Chinese or Japanese, or discovering the lyrics to familiar songs which are interesting and meaningful, but which you might miss while listening to an audio recording (水能载舟　也能煮粥　喂饱了生命). I like My Grandfather's Clock (written all the way back in 1876); the melody's nice and the lyrics are meaningful.

My Japanese repertoire remains restricted... I only sang the Doraemon song (an! an! an! tottemo daisuki: doraemon); the other Japanese ones I selected turned out not to be the song I wanted. I wish CASH Studio would find some way to integrate the Japanese and English/Chinese systems so that we can intersperse songs of all languages. I was almost dying while we were using the Japanese system, and Jon was also suffering while we were singing Chinese songs all the way.

Jacq left after karaoke and we had dinner at Waraku at the Heeren. Dinner was evidently a better place to catch up than the noisy karaoke box, just that Celene was the only girl left and poor she had to sit through agonising army talk again. And I don't get why they serve their stuff in such big bowls because customers will eventually see what's in the bowl anyway and so won't be impressed by the size of the bowl. In fact, the portion just looks smaller in comparison with the big bowl. But the creamy soba, which I tried, turned out to be very filling for the soba portion served, which wasn't very much.