I realise I'm almost totally talking about gaming nowadays, and it seems everyone's getting the wrong impression that I've been spending my time cooped up at home gaming for 10+ hours straight. While that does sound nice (I haven't even completed Gears of War, damn it), my fetish for all things xbox 360 is being hampered by a couple of things, namely my mom, mom and my mom. Oh wait did I say mom?

You get the point.

As it is, gaming is restricted to a crappy short time of only 1 hour plus incessant nagging added in as a bonus. Of course I usually manage to wrangle a bit more time (requests for "5 more minutes" end up being always more than that), but it's still crap. Like, come on, it's the holidays, man. And now I won't even get to play much anymore because I'm off to HK on Monday, China when I get back from that and then my CI course after that, which lasts 3 damn weeks. And then I'll be wondering where the holidays went.

All that nonsense about my becoming a game addict is totally overrated and exagerrated. Of course I want to play it, it's bloody fun, and it's the holidays. But will I suffer withdrawal symptoms? NO. I didn't when I stopped Halo 2 for 2 months, so why should I for GoW, CoD3 and DOA4?

Sorta looking forward to Hong Kong, I've got tons of presents to buy, but it's kinda effed up that immediately after I come back from HK it'll be straight to China. And I didn't really want to go in the first place. Talk about coming back at 11+pm and leaving for the middle kingdom at 6+am. Bullshit.

Arrgh. Oh, and it's cold over at both countries, and I don't have enough clothes.

Collected my full uniform yesterday. Okay it was actually 2 sets of full uniforms and one set of ceremonial uniform. Choa Chu Kang is bloody ulu, it's no joke having to sit on a damn train for an hour and a half and then another bus which comes only once every half an hour.

Turns out 'uniform collection' wasn't just that after all. There was some briefing on uniform etiquette which was a bit of a joke, and another briefing on what to do on the first day, along with some shouting from the instructors. Don't get me started on them; a couple are okay, the rest not so okay.

They said not to season the peak cap, citing some stuff about 'disrespect to the State and police force' blablabla, which I found weird because to me, having poor outlook bearing is more disrespectful. So of course I'll season the thing after I pass out, which I can't wait to do. I've never liked such courses and will never like them. Of course, it'll be really cool to have POP in No.1 uniform, lah.


My 360 beckons, but some stuff's in the way so I can't play for now. My house's being painted, you see.

BW came over today and we had a blast with the 360. Pretty much, if child abuse can be considered that (he's the child). ^_^ Haha kidding. Gears of War was great, he was absolutely useless at Call of Duty 3 and I was the same at DOA4 because I never learnt how to play it at all. Halo 2 looks sharp on a 360.

We played for a couple of hours and when it was time to bid a fond goodbye, I lent him my old xbox so he wouldn't be groveling around whining that he's bored during the holidays. You should've seen his eyes light up like some cute kawaii soft toy. No, not really.


P.S. A few hours after BW left I turned on DOA4 again and learnt a couple of moves. Seems I'm not so useless at the game anymore, because I got past the story mode easier than he did. =P Didn't complete the last boss though.

It was about 9+ in the morning, I'd just gone downstairs and started reading the papers.


Dad: Are you going anywhere today?

Me: I'm meeting Yi He at Orchard. At about 2.30.

*slight pause*

Dad: The new xbox got offer is it?

Me: Yeah, the 360.

Dad: I'll bring you out to get it, and then I'll drop you off to meet your friend.




And that was how I got my 360. LOL really. Don't remember the exact conversation, but it was something really close to this.


Thank you seems to be the hardest word for me when talking to my parents. It's normally 'sorry' for other people, but I've no problems at all apologising if I've made a mistake or thanking others when it comes to friends or even strangers. It's just.....hard, you know? 'Sorry' and 'Thank you" are probably the least used words in my vocabulary when I talk to my parents, which is sad because I say these words all the time to friends, and one of my personal principles is always to mean it when I say them. But with my parents, it's different. See, it's not that I'm not grateful or anything. In fact the feelings of appreciation are even stronger with them, but I just don't express them outwardly. Weird, but that's just the way it is.

So it was the same when I got my 360. I really wanted to thank my Dad, but I didn't because my face was a visage of apathy and non-emotion. Inside though I felt really happy, really content and appreciative of how lucky I was. Corny from a guy, I know, but hey that's what a high EQ does for you (note I didn't say IQ so don't flame me pls).

Perhaps a high EQ is the key to being appreciative of your friends, parents and all those around you, because taking things for granted doesn't apply to me anymore. Thanks Dad.

Lazy to blog now about how exactly it happened, but in just ONE day after my previous post:





ROFL

It's over, ladies and gentlemen. Wait, that kind of didn't sink in.

IT'S OVER. NO MORE O LEVELS.

That's more like it. Somehow I thought it'd be something really special, but at the end of the day, nothing has really changed. You somehow think life's going to be totally different, all the stuff that you're going to do, but it isn't something drastic, really. Apart from the initial obstreperous feeling of being free, the abnormal sleeping hours that follow, so much free time that you actually can get bored, nothing much has changed, really.

Damn, I LOVE the holidays.


P.S. Turned on my Xbox to play Halo 2 and found that basically everyone else had a 360 and was playing Gears of War. I can't reiterate enough that I need an xbox 360. Whether I get it ultimately is a different matter. If you've got too much money to spend, maybe you'd like to sponsor me one? ^_^

And if you really have too much to spend that you have some left over after sponsoring yours truly, you can try pressing those cool buttons on the MRT trains. $5000 a pop is worth it to totally screw people's lives up, isn't it?

I must confess that I didn't hold true to my word for once. I'd said I wouldn't touch A Math. It was my intention not to touch it, until people kept telling me that my math wasn't that bad and I realised that there are people out there who still get F9 for it after moderation. Well I did some reading through just now. And there's tons of things I don't know, so I'm still not using the damn subject. So, no more "U" in my cert, I guess. I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of a D7 or even a C6. A C is good, by the way.

All that bullshit about concentrating on my sciences. Damn, because of this I haven't done Physics. Die lah.



I realise that one thing that happens a lot of teenagers has never happened to me. I've never been grounded. Not that it's work on me anyway, but nonetheless, I've never had the ignominy of the words "You're grounded!" directed at me.

Damn, it's raining bullets here. 'Pouring' is an understatement. As such, I can't study.

I'd already gone down and was about to walk over to McDonald's when the heavens opened and water gushed from the cataracts above. Forgive me for being retarded here, it's just a good opportunity to exercise my linguistics. Hahaha.

"KNN (or something like that)", I thought to myself. "Fine, I'll just study at the void deck here."

So I did. For all of 5 minutes. I know because that's the time it took for the song I was listening to to finish. As you would have it, it seems that the bloody outpour wasn't enough. As the rain got heavier, the 'splash damage' (sorry FPS terminology!) got worse. And worse. Until there was a fucking cascade of mist coming in. It was all nice and cool for a very short while (read 3 seconds) , until everything got wet and it became cold. I took that as the cue to shift somewhere else.

So I did. Not willing to concede defeat, I went over to the next block.

"Oooh, there's a table!" I squealed aloud (I didn't do that, obviously), the delight obvious in my eyes.

"Cooooool."


I decided to buy some stuff from the provision shop there before returning and plunking down my stuff, ready to begin my day of studying. I bought the stuff, came back and.....

There was a fucking cascade of mist coming in.



THE END.



So that's how I wound up back at home, typing this sob story for all to peruse. Fifteen years down the road, when my son asks me, "Dad, how much did you get for L1R5?", I'm going to say it was shit because I didn't study, and because it was totally the rain's fault that I didn't do so.

Rain rain go away, come again another day. But by then the O's will be over.

Newsflash: I've totally given up on A Maths. Not touching it at all; focusing on my sciences instead. ^_^

Okay okay let's have a Q & A session shall we? Nothing like a good press conference to sort it all out:



Q: Why give up A Maths?

A: Because I hate the damn subject and was never going to count the stupid thing in my L1R5 anyway. Now bugger off if you want to persuade me to try at least.



Q: You really should try?

A: No point already. Too many gaping holes in my knowledge. Hell, I've even forgotten differentiation?




Q: Ehh but you practice so much already?

A: Hmmm....NO?! The only time I practiced (practiced with the -ed) A Math was whenever you saw me doing it. In fact if you ever see me studying, chances are those are largely the times I ever study. Cause I always go out study mah XD



Q: Hah...like that L1R5 how?

A: Of course got plan lah. See I got a good general idea of my cert already:

English: X grade (X= won't assume)
Chinese: X
E Math: X [Please give me an A1!]
Chemistry: X
Physics: X
Combined Humanities: X
Bio: X [screwed]
Additional Mathematics: UNGRADED


LOL. Ouch. Won't look good, but can't be helped.


In fact, if you take A Math, you really must thank me. I'm helping everyone 'tank bottom'. And I really should be studying now. Oh well.

What I'd really like to do now is take a nap. No, screw that. I'd like to sleep for a good sixteen hours. Unfortunately, or fortunately I can't because I'm meeting a friend to study. Unfortunately because I'm forsaking the sleep. Fortunately because I need help for Math.

Had Biology and Geography.

I'm kind of pissed of for Biology because I was really pa jiao and actually selected the wrong answer even when I double checked:



And I did wrongly some stuff which I shouldn't have gotten wrong. There goes my A1. Practical was totally screwed, so there's no chance. Even an A2 would be a pale substitute. But as always, I won't brood over it. It's over, damn it.


Geography today was.....okay?! I didn't study, just read through stuff an hour before the exam. Not that I didn't want to; was supposed to cover it yesterday, but I hadn't finished my Bio. And I knew how to do it all. HAHA. Of course the knowledge came from things I'd studied before, lah. And I managed to finish on time for the first time ever. I'm not going to assert anything, but with luck, this time I won't screw up my combined humanities so badly.

This weekend looks set to be hell for me. I still haven't touched any of my other subjects =(

I have dark circles under my eyes.




Not that obvious, but I reckon I'll be able to give a Goth a run for his money if this keeps up. A month or so will do it, I think. Or I might just become a blabbering zombie, whichever comes first. Not that I've been studying that much, just that I study only late in the night.

I need coffee, but the stuff at McDonald's sucks. *Sigh* the things I do to keep awake.

Wee Shu Min
Is she devastated?
Far from it, ex-classmate says she’s ‘laughing’ at and ‘mocking’ web responses. Weikiatblog.
Oct 30, 2006

"I was a top student from RJC (Raffles Junior College). Just graduated a few years ago. Most people that I know in RJC were just too full of themselves.

They thought that since they are from RJC, they are the smartest in Singapore. Unfortunately, many of my RJC friends have low EQ and common sense.

Most only know how to memorise and practice questions and possess very weak critical thinking skills."

"To follow up on what fellow Rafflesian, Gene, said above, I would like
to emphasise that the majority of us from RJC are not like Shu Min.

In fact, few of us sympathise with her current "plight" (not that she
is taking it badly, she was in fact laughing and mocking at the
responses on various websites).

What had happened also did not surprise us because she is well known in school to have an inflated sense of superiority and low tolerance of the pedestrian and the uncultured.

But please remember that one Wee Shu Min does not make RJC. The rest of us from RJC should not be impeached because of her."

"I'm a classmate of Shu Min in RGS and RJC. Many of us don't know her
well because she does move around in her own exclusive circle of the
smart and well-connected.

And yes, she is conceited, overbearing and thinks that she and her clique own the world. But, I do think some of the comments here are excessive, even unreasonable.

You can fault her character and her worldview, but is there a need to descend to vulgarity?"

"As a Rafflesian, I am saddened that our good name has been smeared by
the poison pen of one elitist female.

The saddest part of this episode is that she reminds me of the remark made by newbie Michael Palmer, "Before I joined the grassroots organisation, I never knew there were poor people in developed countries".

Where does the PAP find such freaks? They are no better than the Hitler Youth, and our country can only be the worse because of them."

http://weikiatblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/looking-back-home.html

We all know about the Wee Shu Min incident, so I won't bore you with another repeat telecast of what you already know. Thought some of the views of her fellow schoolmates would be an interesting read, though. Suffice to say, her 'apology' was woefully inadequate, dismissing her own comments as being made in 'the heat of the moment'. Which only showcases the fact that intelligence is no substitute for empathy and humanity, and her that her post evinces her true immaturity; she simply did not bother to think before putting up something so inflammatory. Or if she did, then her depth of thinking is truly shallow.

It's never a bad thing to be circumspect.

Emptiness inside. Hollow and alone. Maybe I was meant to be this way, but I don't like this. I never will. Some part of me hopes that someday, sometime soon, that void will be filled. Will it? Because the void is not one of apathy, not something I can ignore. It is a void that keeps me incomplete, and the bleak nothingness glares at me like the shine of sunlight off metal. Except that there is no real glare. No, there can be none, or it would be too much to bear. Time and again the feeling has been suppressed, and for time and again still it will continue to be.

Whether you hear me or not makes no difference. I have said my piece.

I hereby dedicate this post to dear friend Muthu. HAHA. Now I really am going to copy stuff =P

Here's what I'm going to do. Like him in one of his previous posts, I'm going to make a list of my subjects and strike off those I'm done with, okay?

Progress of study:
Chemistry
Biology
Physics
Chinese (it's over already)
SS
Geography
E Math
A math

......okay I've got nothing to strike off. OH WAIT!

English



HAHAHAHA. NOTHING TO REVISE, GET IT?!



On a crappier note, I spent some of my meagre revision time today reading what has to be the most no-brainer chapter in Biology ever. Ecology is retarded enough, but "Human Effects on an Ecosystem" transcends that.

Get a load of this:

Why should we practise conservation?

A: "Conservation preserves the natural scenery and wildlife for people to admire and relax...."



Brilliant.

I can't stand most of the music on radio nowadays.

Press the button and you either get rap or some singer who seems to be snivelling. I'm thinking that isn't good. Some rap is fine (think stuff like Fort Minor, mainstream yes but who cares), but most of the rubbish nowadays doesn't even have a tune, or a a rhythm. Take for example one song - I don't know the name and I don't want to know it, either, but it was just basically two people moaning and saying retarded stuff like "I want you baby". What the hell? Get a room, you two, and out of the airwaves.

Bottom line: it ain't music if there's no tune or rhythm. For people who happen to like such 'music', either you're tone deaf or you're some horny asshole envisioning yourself moaning too. My suggestion if you're the latter is for you to tie a millstone around your neck. No, not as a fashion statement, you fool, go jump into the sea. Make sure you're secured tightly, too.