Last Saturday, I went to the New Creation Church Youth outreach event A Time To Shine. We brought primary 1 kids from New Town Primary School to Sentosa. Each volunteer is attached one-to-one with a kid. My kid’s name was Shafiq and he was best friends with Mh’s kid, Danial. After bringing them to the toilet and back, we realised that they are actually quite ‘violent’ as they will keep fighting with each other!

On the bus we let them sit together for a while, but Coach asked us to sit them separately. A teacher had to come and scold Danial. At the underwater world, it was quite fun to bring them around and have fun with them and intrigue their curiosity. Even though my kid went to the place before, I think he still enjoyed it. Actually they are very smart and inquisitive, and they are fascinated easily by sharks and what not. However, they run around a lot, especially Danial, and poor mh had to chase him around.

After that we went to sit the beach tram to beach station, where we had some games at a nearby grass patch. It was musical chairs in a mass version using hoola hoops and ’sharks’ running around to catch those outside the hoops. It’s very cute to see all the kids running around. Danial was very smart actually, cos he stood outside the hoop whenever nobody was looking. And then when a shark was nearby, he will immediately step back. He lasted quite long in the game haha. The second game was a telematch of sorts and we had to play with our kid, tie our legs together and walk from end to another.

After that we went for lunch. We had a toilet break at the beach station and I brought Danial and Shafiq to the male toilet. I assumed they went into the same cubicle and I went to wash my hands. However, when Shafiq came out from the cubicle, Danial wasn’t with him! I went out and told mh and she was stunned. I also did not know what to do and helped to look for him. Phew, by the grace of God he was with Selene and the Coaches. I am very sorry for my negligence!

We had a McChicken and apple pie for lunch. Somehow kids don’t really like apple pies. Think most people prefer fries. When mh went to the toilet, a drama began. They started fighting and snatching one another’s bag! I had to hold Danial’s hand tightly to prevent him from pinching Shafiq. It was quite bad and attracted the attention of another volunteer. He tried to talk to Danial but he purposely looked in another direction. After the volunteer left, they both started to smile at each other. Lol. They were playing afool all along! Mh came back and I told her she missed the drama haha.

After that, we took a tram to the dolphin lagoon. It became very hot as the sun shone even tho we were sitting in the shade. The kids started to play with sand while we sat in a distance. Then we wrote our affirmation cards on the fish-shaped cardboards and gave it to them. They didn’t really seem appreciative of it though. The weather made us all very thirsty and sweaty. Mh managed to entertain Danial later by asking him to continue drawing. It seems that he is actually quite smart in drawing and can draw shapes like starfish pretty well. The other worse thing was that the dolphin show had some problems and hence it was shortened and not very entertaining.

Finally it was time to leave and board the bus back to school. On the way back, Danial said he wanted to sit with me instead of Mh! Lol. Mh entertained them with some coin hiding game while I was stoning. Haha it was quite a peaceful journey back.

Back in the school hall, they started running around again. And this time, after being comfortable with me, they started “molesting” me! Lol it was really funny. Finally it was time to bring them out to the gate and send them home. Interestingly, my kid had no parent to pick him up. Apparently perhaps he has 8 sisters and thus they are too busy.

On the whole, it was quite interesting experience. I think that I feel blessed having learnt how to deal with kids even though they can be “tramatising” at time. I also learnt that I have limited strength and ability to deal with kids and I have much more to lean. They are quite an interesting bunch and their innocence can be trained in order for their hearts to be pure. We pray that we had imparted good and lasting impressions in their lives through a one-day experience.

1. Eat at somewhere different than usual, e.g. Little India’s Tekka Market, Chinatown/Kreta Ayer Hawker Centre, Adam Road, Seah Im Hawker Centre…
2. Wear something unusual which you don’t normally wear e.g. a long sleeved shirt?
3. Take a different bus route to school/work and enjoy the ’scenery’
4. Explore a new place, e.g. some area of your school campus which you have not been to before
5. Talk to someone new in tutorial whom you have not talked to
6. Change your wallpaper/ringtone/theme/skin/playlist and change what you are listening to
7. Give up your seat in the MRT to the old auntie for once!
8. Try to notice something new in your daily commute, e.g. the sky, the trees around you etc.
9. Say ‘Hi’ to the toilet cleaning auntie and hope that she smiles back?
10. All is vanity. Praise God for each new day as this is the day the Lord has made.

I REFER to yesterday’s reports, ‘PM signals a slower intake of immigrants’ and ‘A tip to students: Be driven about causes’.

I am a student at the National University of Singapore. I agree with what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that bringing in foreigners will help ‘raise our standards and create a stimulating environment’.

I enjoy working with people from various cultures, having been exposed to them since Secondary 3, which is when the Ministry of Education brings in scholars from China and Asean.

However, at university level, there are sometimes too many foreign students competing for Singaporeans’ space to grow.

For instance, in a mathematics lecture I attended, almost three-quarters of the class comprised foreigners. During in- lecture quizzes, it was obvious that the foreigners were better than the Singaporeans, and so ’stimulated’ the learning environment.

However, it has come to a point where the competition has become stifling and stressful. This is because, in most cases, the foreign students have already learnt lower-level maths and science in their home country. Hence, Singaporeans are at a disadvantage in studying the same subject together with them.

Besides, universities here should give higher priority in offering places to Singaporean students from polytechnics and junior colleges. It is like giving your own children priority in education instead of those of a stranger.

Why should we give priority to foreign students at the expense of Singaporeans? I feel sorry for Singaporeans who have no university place because of this.

Singaporeans should be given more opportunities to learn and grow. Otherwise, many of those who cannot secure a place in a university here will go elsewhere.

[In the Straits Times today]

As I commute through everyday life, I often think to myself, is this the life that I really want? With the stress of school work and projects coming in, I sometimes question the existence and purposes of certain things. It does not help when you have lousy lecturers and you do not think you are learning anything from the lecture. It’s kind of related to ‘the box’ which I mentioned before. What if I am studying in some other place? What will it be like? Will I be changed from a geek to an artsy-fatsy person? Will I dress or look differently? Will my life be different?

Even joining CCAs now seem to be a burden than a joy to me. It used to be something fun which I enjoy doing, otherwise I would not have joined in the first place. However it seemed like things have changed over the months. The amount of planning and admin work is hindering my enjoyment. Maybe because I have done too much of these and they seemed so mundane. Or perhaps it I because the CCA(s) that I joined have a lack of sense of belonging. Not that they don’t have, just not enough I guess. Relationships and friendships are mostly subtle, except for a select few. By a sense of belonging I mean that we do things together – eating, celebrating, studying, relaxing. There are some components, but lack of others, which I have to look for in other groups of friends. (Or maybe some of us have different groups of friends for different purposes, that I’m not sure…) I would not say my social life is very satisfying, although it may seem happening.

I treasure it when good friends do things out of randomness and without much hesitation. Like how I went to play pool with a friend today. Like how a few of us decide to wear a common theme every Thursday (oops I forgot about it last week), how we decide to go for a movie within 5 minutes, how we play Left 4 Dead for 2-4 hours spontaneously, how we decide to go somewhere for a meal. These are the random moments which makes friendships special. While planned outings have their place in keeping in connect with people, the number of random outings shows the degree of spontaneousity and comfort level in your friendships. I think that is quite important. It is definitely more than a facebook wall or MSN message.

Sometimes, it is lonely when I have to do things alone, when I have to stay in school late alone, when I have to eat dinner alone, when I study alone. Although eating alone is a pretty common thing for me nowadays, I still prefer to do it with other people. I have many friends, but I feel lonely. I call it the “lonely crowd syndrome”. Is it because I have too many groups of friends? Or too few good friends who will be with me through thick and thin? Or is it because most people around my age have boy/girlfriends and they spend less time with their normal friends?

I still haven’t found what I am looking for.

The only thing I can look forward to now is going overseas and experience a different kind of life, and to look for what I’m looking for.

Two sundays ago (wow time flies), we went for a dragonboating trip with some SoC people. It started to pour as we walked from Kallang MRT to the sea sports club, and I prayed for no rain! We hid under the bridge for a while. Praise God! The rain subsided and we managed to reach the jetty.

It was very interesting, and it was not as difficult as I thought. The teamwork and sense of achievement is quite great and fun, and it was pretty cool to see the Flyer and the Singapore skyline from the sea, with the waves whoshing as your boat rocks left and right. Splashing water seems to be the norm, as everyone purposely went close to another’s boat (we had 3 boats of about 8-10 people each) and started splashing water at one another. Heck, the instructor even thought us how to splash water effectively using our oar!

Our instructor was darn good, one stroke of his oar is > 8 of us combined together. When he starts rowing, can really feel the boat going much much faster. haha. px and ed kept playing with water behind me, as they had to bail water out whenever people splashed water at us. After many strokes, your back will feel a bit strained, but somehow after the whole thing, I didn’t feel any strain in my arm or back at all. wonderful, can’t wait to try again next time if there’s chance, as we didn’t manage to get to Marina Barrage due to limited time.

——

On a side note, ST-Volkswagen lucky draw is hard to win, yet there are so many participants! Went down with JG on that day. And bus 985 actually allows me to reach home from Bukit Batok/Timah faster than from NUS. Amazing.

——

Last week was a week of fests. TimbreFest @ UCC was quite interesting, especially with this female rocker singer Shirley and the Unexpected. Free Tiger beer, which is the one of the lousier ones which I dislike. Over at NUSSU JamFest, it seemed pretty successful. After all, who doesn’t mind not 1, not 2 but 4 free drinks? The Japanese Asahi beer is pretty good, it is ’super dry’, hence it doesn’t give you a gassy/bloated feeling after drinking. And it was the first time I tried Singapore Sling, in its cute red bottle which some said was alcoholic Rose Syrup lol. I would say it tastes like 7up/Sprite that kind. The Japanese Sake is a bit too thick to be drank by itself though. And the drinks ran out at about 11pm already. I left early due to Film School and due to the Butter Factory music being not very fantastic. The setup was pretty good, with the Goodfellas and Jack and Rai and a few other bands performing. There were chairs and tables to sit and chill, as well as stages for people to dance on. The funny thing was, I heard the stage collapsed at the end of the event! Darn funny, caused a dent in the MPSH apparently. The lights were good, although I wonder what are the rafia strings deco for. I would say it is one of the better NUSSU event that they ever organised.

Jazz Band concert was very very good, I would say much better than both fests! lol. They sing well and play well and the music is pretty soothing. The rap song experimental piece was quite interesting, and I liked some of the dance moves and choreography. Maybe next time I should join a band. Haha!

——

Film School on Saturday was a miracle. Praise God for everything went well although everything was in a rush. Moving from CFA to COM1 is not a good idea, especially when we got so much equipment with us! Luckily we took a cap instead of pushing the trolley in the hot sun. There was a minor accident while we were carrying the trolley as my hand slipped. Luckily no equipment was damaged. Also, the programme was pushed back due to people coming late etc. and also Danny’s voice was losing his voice. Fortunately there was a microphone in the seminar room. We managed to finish everything on time and rush back to UCC for the jazz concert.

Pray that all goes well at EMCC tomorrow!

1. The smallest childhood experience can have a significant impact on your thoughts of your adult life
2. Dashing with a best friend to the water cooler and proclaiming “HAHA I reach first!” and giving a smirk on the face
3. Writing the same English word about 20+ times down an exercise book can actually improve your spelling and hence English ability
4. Writing the same Chinese word about 10+ times down an exercise book may not actually improve your spelling and hence Chinese ability
5. Saying that your mother wants to complain about the teacher can actually hurt the teacher’s heart
6. A large fish pond with a bridge are essential for any school garden (too bad not all schools have such luxury)
7. ‘Smoking’ was lingo for sneaking out to the mama shop to buy candies and soft drinks
8. How to prepare a WITS presentation with a fish bone diagram which possibly sown a seed in preparing for PW presentations
9. How to type a sentence in WordPerfect for DOS which possibly sown a seed for video editing in Adobe Premiere Pro
10. Music and singing “Sing Your Way Home” and “Top of the World” are essential for all music lessons and all excurison bus rides

10 years after we graduate from CBPS, my friend organised a gathering with some of my primary school classmates and even 3 of our teachers. Some of us change, some of us still look the same. Some faces I don’t recognise, while some faces grew more mature. The teachers have progressed, the students have progressed too. The image of us in the teachers’ eyes are always the little kids running around. The image of the teachers in our eyes are role models which taught us for at least 4-6 years of our lives. (My primary school was really small and I actually had the same Chinese teacher for 5 years (who is also my art teacher) and same form teacher for 3 years and same PE teacher for 6 years.) Fond memories still remain.

I still remember how my friend and I would play the recorder as others sing songs on the excursion bus. How I joined Computer Club and Innovative Club and we create a model of a city with a train moving around using recycled materials. How I had my first experience in a WITS project presentation. How we made a lot of noise in class and tried to mimic some Chinese drama shows. How being a prefect means you can get food at the tuckshop (yes, that’s the word, not canteen) 10 minutes before everyone else. How someone can actually have a crush on you at the age of primary 5? How it rained as we hiked to our campsite in Pulau Ubin. How we ran around the field touching the trees at the edges. How we played “S-T-O-P STOP” at the back of the staircase. How we fed the fish in the gigantic pond. And many many more.

The building is still at Ang Mo Kio St 44. Sometimes I walk pass and wonder if I can trespass inside and peak at the memories.

And how we bid farewell to a school which is no more.

Chong Boon Primary School.

Forward We Strive.

Inspired by SirWhale’s script style posts

REPORTER: NUS has just completed her 51st year of rag and flag. What do you think is the true spirit of rag?

RAGGER 1: All about my friends, the bonding, experiences..

RAGGER 2 (proudly): The sense of satisfaction of creating something out of nothing.

RAGGER 3: How we can use recycled materials to create the best and most beautiful float design.

NUSSU REP (even more proudly): It is a NUS tradition so we must uphold it.

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: Rag? Orh, the Chingay float thingy ah.

REPORTER: What inspires you to spend all your holidays on float building?

RAGGER 1: All my friends are here. They ask me to join, so I join lor. Besides, they say it is a once in a lifetime experience.

RAGGER 2: It’s all about the human creativity and innovation. How we can come together and invent something out of nothing..

RAGGER 3: Yah, inventing something that looks beautiful from recycled materials. We buy, er no sorry, collect recycled materials, for example red cans, to create the red colour roof that we want.

REPORTER: Did you just say buy? I thought you are supposed to use recycle materials?

RAGGER 3 (on the condition of being anonymous): Ya we recycle the red cans that we buy. Otherwise, you expect us to collect cans from the coffeeshop like the uncles and aunties meh? Those cans have to wash and scrub, some more there will be soil and maggots inside. Very troublesome leh. Then if the cans are dented also cannot use. Besides, there will also be white cans, green cans and definitely not enough cans for our red roof. So we buy red cans, then drink ourselves or let the plants help us drink lor. Same for newater bottles.

REPORTER: Wow, I did not know that. What about those milk cartons?

RAGGER 3: Oh that. Well you don’t expect us to drink tens of cartons of milk and fruit juice right? So, we buy the carton material straight from the factory. Cheap, clean and perfect for our float building.

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: (gives a surprised look)

REPORTER: Where do your groups get all the money to buy these things?

RAGGER 3: With the support of our alumni and some sponsors. At least our float is in-house engineered and built, unlike  some other group which outsource their float’s pneumatic  system to some company and spend thousands of dollars.  Heard their rag cost a whooping five figure sum.

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: Five-figure! So much money for one stupid float?

REPORTER: What? That expensive?

RAGGER 3: Yah, it is quite unethical and unfair to those of us who spend our own effort and strength to build the float…

NUSSU GUY: All the floats are judged fairly according to our rules and regulations…

REPORTER: What about the smoke? How did you get the smoke puffing at different directions?

RAGGER 2: We use fire extinguishers. Very innovative right? Since these extinguishers are already left lying on the wall for decades unused. Haha. So we make use of this opportunity to spray the smoke through some piped system at different sides of the float.

RAGGER 3: Yep, talk about making use of whatever resources and materials we have.

RAGGER 1: Ya, very fun. That day my friend anyhow spray at me…

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: One hall’s extinguisher was harmful to the environment. Make everyone cough and choke. Like what the heck?

REPORTER: So, do you think the time and money is well spent?

RAGGER 1: To bond with my buddies and gain teamwork experience, definitely. All the supper and long nights spent on building the float, once in a lifetime mah.

RAGGER 2: In the spirit of innovation and hard work, yes.

RAGGER 3: It is well spent, otherwise how can win?

REPORTER: So, is it just all about winning the title? For honour and glory?

RAGGER 3: Er…

REPORTER: Isn’t the money and time better well spent in some overseas community project or donated to the charities? I mean, a five-figure sum can easily build a school in a third world country!

RAGGER 1: Building up the spirit and what they call…cama-something…camarader…aiya you know that word!

RAGGER 2: As I’ve mentioned, it is in the spirit of creating something new. Without money, how do are we able to invent something so beautiful and entertaining?

RAGGER 3: Hey, don’t anyhow say. We did not spend five-figure unlike some other group. We are very cost-conscious and spend the minimal (whispers) and declare the minimal. More money is collected in flag day anyway so who cares!

RAGGER 1: I also got go Orchard with my buddies to collect money with the tin cans. So don’t say we never do our part for charity okay!

NUSSU GUY: A total of over $480,000 are collected on flag day for our beneficiaries.

REPORTER: But wasn’t rag intended to show off creativity to the general public so that they will donate money for flag? Now that the two events are separate, rag just seems like another entertainment show?

NUSSU GUY: If there is no rag, there is no flag. If there is no flag, there is no rag.

RAGGER 1: Flag was very fun with flashmob! Somemore we collect money for charity mah.

RAGGER 3: Yah, we must also collect the most for flag then we can win the overall shield. Otherwise no shield.

RAGGER 2: Don’t need to win the overall shield. Win best design is good enough for our creativity skills.

REPORTER: I sense some rivalry here. Is it just about claiming that title for your group?

RAGGER 3: Maybe, if some other group can spend some five-figure just for the title, then perhaps it is just for honour.

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: I do not understand why people can drop everything they have just for the title. Ten years down the road, they would probably look back and laugh at themselves.

REPORTER: Some of the floats were very impressive. What happens to them after the rag day?

RAGGER 1: Dunno leh, my friend ask me to pick the rubbish and throw in the bin.

RAGGER 2: The best float should be preserved for display to showcase our creativity.

RANDOM NUS FRESHIE: They should recycle for next year!

RAGGER 3 (again, on the condition of being anonymous): Hmm, I think some of them are being driven straight into the garbage area, literally.

REPORTER: Thank you very much for all your responses. It is amazing how 6 months worth of work, for one day of glory, and all goes to the trash. And the many man-hours and money spent. And much more hard work, sweat, blood and tears. All in the name of the so-called ‘RnF Spirit’…

(to be continued…)

After finishing NM2208 during special term, I would rate it as my favourite module so far. No exams, all graded based on assignments which were mini design projects…I wish more NUS modules could be like this! Less emphasis on examinations = less mugging and memorizing = more out of the box thinking.

FOW was good, although of course FOC was better. My group, darth vader had quite enthu group of guys but a few not so enthu girls. We had a great time at West Coast Park, and the amazing feat was that 200 over people bidding for their modules in the midst of our games at McDonalds. All thanks to Wireless@SG. Our group actually managed to win the most enthusiastic group, although I think in terms of cheering we are actually quite quiet. But they said we had good attendance and we participated in most games actively…that’s why. It was quite funny because some of the girls couldn’t even remember everyone’s names on the 2nd day and I had to keep testing them. Haha.

Food for thought: About thousand over litres of water and thousands of plastic bags were used in the name of fun. Is it worth it? Is it a wastage? Probably. Water can be sourced easily through the water cycle, although in water-scarce Singapore we are taught to save water. Plastic bags harm the environment when they are buried or burnt. Maybe someone can invent a more environmental friendly way of playing with water bombs and perhaps save the hundreds of similar camps which play water games. And earn some money.

I think the best part was when Guo Ting suggested we should go NTU for our flag day. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. True enough, as there were nobody else in yellow ‘competing’ for our business. Some of the people who saw the nussu on our shirts remarked: “wah NUS dare to come here collect money ah” “you have come to the wrong place” etc. Nevertheless there were still many people who donated. The most fun part was when we did two freeze flashmobs in front of their McDonalds. We stood in the shape of a heart, held our cans in front, and froze for 5mins and took a video. It certainly caught attention as many people thought it was innovative and donated money. The next one we did was not as successful, as we stood spread out and pointed at someone standing in the middle. All in all, I think flashmobs are darn fun and we should do more of them.

Our flashmob video was submitted along with another entry to represent SoC. There was an online voting and SDE was spamming it. After clarifying there are no rules, being computing students, we set up tens of laptops to spam the voting automatically using iMacro on firefox. Haha it was quite funny. In the end our votes were 6000+ against 3000+. But alas, the votes were removed from the judging criteria and SDE won the prize in the end.

Rag day was impressive. Amazingly, SoC won the least cost float, which is probably the first time we won something I think. And being least cost is certainly keeping the spirit of rag, unlike some other group which spent $x0,000 amount of money and even outsourcedk the pneumatic systems to some company.

Amidst the orientation, I had to rush off for Choices for 3 nights at ian’s and yoga’s house. It was very tiring as the camera rig was very heavy and it seems as if I have done hundreds of push-ups as my arms hurt. It was a good experience working with the actors, and my first time working on set with extensive lens and lights. It is very challenging to pull focus, and much more when most of our scenes were night scenes. Besides Yoga’s house had limited space to maneuver around. ian’s condo was very nice. We also went to Jurong Point to film, in which they were nice enough to grant us permission. The security guards were watchin us and people were staring at us as if we were from mediacorp.

After all the rarrar, school starts. I’m quite looking forward to this semester as finally I’m studying more of what I like to study except for one – math. May God’s favour be upon this semester!