Fishing with Ginway

Had fishing with Ginway 2 weeks back, since he was complaining of boredom at home. On the train, I realised I forgot to bring an icebox and a knife. Met Alvin Ong at Bedok MRT and Ginway at the interchange. Ginway scolded me for being a free-loader, unlike Eddie Cai who was one a few hrs before. Even Kunting had brought some stuffs (well, actually forced to buy by Ginway) excluding his physics tomes. Had a long stroll to the jetty, when Ginway realised he forgot to bring fishing hooks. -.-'

Passed the time waiting for Ginway by eating his rations of potato chips. Alvin Ong tried to extend the fishing net by adding 2 wooden poles to it, which was useless in the end. Yeofeng came later to enjoy the breeze, and left feeling obviously bored.

Tried to have magi (crap, how to spell?) mee on the jetty by doing it the scouts way. It failed terribly. Even though we had Alvin Ong's scouting experience, we wasted half a box of matchsticks and spoilt a lighter due to strong winds. Our fishing adventure also started out quite horrendously, with the four of us trying to put the hooks, bait, weights and rod to form a proper fishing rod. In the end, we had to eat our pride and ask an old man to fix up our rod. Looks can be deceiving. Though he appeared knowledgeable, the only audible things he warbled was "Fix it the Apollo way". He tried to fix it, then left hurriedly back to his fishing spot, leaving us back to square 1. Never heard of Apollo way before. Ginway obviously looked pissed and consulted another young man, whose actions talked louder than his words.

According to Eddie Cai, the highest tide should come around 9pm. We sat at the furthest right corner of the jetty at East Coast, witnessing people coming and leaving until only some gangsters(gulp, i think) and us were left. Good thing we had Alvin Ong and Eddie Cai. Talked trash throughout the night, until there's no energy left in us to talk. (By the way, the old man with his wife had a much more decent looking net than us, one that can actually touch the sea). Threw away the disgusting fish back to the sea, the hard rubbery dead fish that was given to us as a consolation prize from the old man of our fishless night. Get scolded again by Gin Way, for losing his only fishing rod when I valiantly attempted to fish some major catch, only to find out that the hooks get stuck to the jetty legs. Meanwhile, Alvin and Eddie were making a mockery of Ginway, of how Ginway said that there were many sotongs to be caught.

At the end of the unfruitful night, we trudged towards the nearest toilet, had a washup before dozing off at a table. Left at around 6am, as Ginway had to pack up for his physics makeup lesson in a few hours time. Alvin, Eddie and I had a hearty breakfast at Parkway Macs before splitting off in different ways.

$10 plastic lily

Thats right. Will you buy the lily in the name of charity? Bet you won't. A few others and I that signed up faced the undaunting task of selling those fake flowers (okay, sounds so mercenary...persuading people to donate $10 to get a lily free) in the heart of Suntec City. It doesn't take much to realise that most people will get turned off by the price.

Nicholas (Yan Ming, to avoid confusion), Julian and I met at City Hall and proceeded to Suntec. Initially we thought that it would be held at Carrefour, as it had been held at NTUC for the previous few locations. Proven wrong as we met Ren Cong and Zhikai who appeared lost and insisted that they had gone around the place once. Went to the fountain to check out. True enough, there was a young lady and a nun beside a table covered with, guess what, lilies !..-.-'

I volunteered to be the "official billboard", carrying sad pictures of children who were too sick and had to depend on machines on a board. The five of us walked to the 2nd level of Carrefour, slacking there and hoping people will donate. Ivan came later and in the end, he managed to sell 8 out of the 9 lilies that we had. Was amazed at how easily people donated to Ivan. If it was me, I would probably carry the bouquet home:
Ivan~B(10,0.9)
Beng~B(10,0.0). Find the least amount of people Beng has to find to sell at least 1 lily?
Ans:Infinity.
After 2 hours of following Ivan, we had a much deserved lunch break (actually is Ivan that deserves) at Burger King. Went window shopping at a few sports and clothes stores after that and bought a shirt for Ivan since he forgot to bring one for LAN later. (at Paradiz, as usual). Boarded the bus 111 and only realised that I had left the sad pictures at Burger King! Got diaoed by the rest. Nick and Julian went to inspect some guitars at a shop in Paradiz. After a while, all 4 of us, including Raymond who came later, played to our hearts out for around 4 hrs. (well, technically, we sold all the lilies that is given to us). Played a co-op warcraft map called 3 corridors. Basically, you control a hero and help your army that is controlled by the computer to destroy the enemies' base. We stopped around 8pm, as we realised we had to be back by 8pm. ( a bit late there). Shared a cab with my CIP mates, with Raymond going back by himself. Reached there with the stall still open. Zhikai found my billboard at Burger King, much to my gratitude. Had dinner at Subway with Nick and Julian, before going home by MRT.

Pop Quizzical

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You represent... naivete.
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What feeling do you represent?
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Nightmares: Part I

Remember what I say about my weird dreams some time ago?Actually it isn't a weird dream, it's rather like a nightmare. The worse part is I can somehow remember most of my nightmares with clarity.

*Spoiler* Do not read if you know the ending, or have similar weird dreams as me...be warned...

Nightmare 1: 3 years ago

Begins with the world experiencing a nuclear strikeout, nothing new. That scenario is oft-emphasised in science thrillers. Anyway, somehow I escaped unscathed but others were not so fortunate. Especially my old flame. She suffered like disfiguration on her face like many nameless, faceless others with her. I think I cried after seeing what had happened. Scenario switches. I ended up flying and saw this huge coiling snake (really huge) around a tall skyscraper. The snake looks weird, looks more like a tubeworm than a snake (yucks, dunno why I dreamt of that). Anyway, something must have attracted me there. Flew there just in time before the crumbling building. Scenario switches again. This time I was flying miles above the sea. The worm was still coiling and writhing (imagine rotating a DNA molecule). Flew towards it again......then I woke up. I do not know what happened in the end, but fighting a huge worm the size of an Empire States building definitely does not make a good dream..*sweats*.

Nightmare 2: 2 years ago

This time, the scenario takes place in a jungle. Was supposed to hunt down some strange beast. The beast was like a huge dog, but its hide looks strangely metallic. Had a fierce fight with it, but I forgot what weapon I used though, I think it was a sword. Scene switches to a dusty ghosttown. Had a fierce fight with a cowboy (?) and was flying to avoid all his shots. I ended up bloody and injured, but was the last man standing. Woke up with sweat dripping.

Nightmare 3: 2 weeks ago

Just before Maths Olympiad, I had this nightmare at RJ canteen (Yes, RJ canteen!?). This canteen was extended to the netball courts. (imagine extra rows of canteen tables and seats in the parade square). Arrived late for break. Luckily, Alvin Ong had reserved a seat and bought a plate of Nasi Lemak for me, and I happily tucked in. After a while, I do not know what had driven me, but I jumped out into the parade square from the canteen railing and teleported in mid-air. Yes teleported. Should have sounded alarm bells in my brain that this was definitely a weird dream, but somehow I continued to dream on. After that, the sky turned bloody red. My whole vision was tinted red and the school was now desolate. Had this ominous feeling that something bad had happened to the whole school. Then I was interrupted (as usual), and I had to go for the Maths Olympiad. What a good start to a day...

Reflection: Do you notice that all my dreams I ended up either flying or teleporting? And none of my dreams had an ending. Do not understand what all these meant, I will gladly pay anyone who could interpret these strange dreams...to be continued.

Back to RI

One day, my mother was checking through my dusty old file of certificates, until she noticed that I only had my result slip and no O' level certificate. Frantic, I looked at the back of the result slip:"This is not a certificate...". I still thought that there was no O level cert, until Zhengxian, Raymond and Youwei told me otherwise. Realised I was quite screwed, especially after Raymond had told me that some of his juniors had already received their certs. Apparently, there was an announcement last year that told our batch to collect back the certs after some time, which I had somehow missed. Had always thought that the certs were given out together with the slips.

So the journey back to RI began.Together with Damien, I went to the office and since it was during the June holidays, the school was unusually quiet. Felt relieved that the school still kept my laminated cert in one piece, and Ali chided me for being the 2nd last joker (yes 2nd?! not the last..amazing) in my batch to collect back my cert. (though if my mother had not checked, I would have let it collect dust for decades.) Had this wild vision that since RJ is shifting to RI campus next year at Bishan, it would be nice to collect both O and A level certs together...

After that, we went all the way to Bukit Batok MRT station to meet Junda. He turned out to be late as usual. Went to West Mall for some gaming experience, though we ended up sorely disappointed. The games there were so outdated and when we loaded our games, it turned out that one of our computers would always get stuck. Paid $5 most unwillingly, and vowed never to step into that LAN shop, or any LAN shop in arcades.

Had lunch at burger king before going to Junda's house. Basically went there to view some Kenshin and South park cartoons. The former was quite violent while the latter was just plain....nonsense. Went downstairs to have a short respite of soccer with Junda's neighbours. Damien and I had to leave just as the sun set. Accompanied Damien in the train to Khatib, before proceeding the rest of the 33 stops in silence. Cannot believe that I had to travel past 33 MRT stations before finally reaching home. Spend a total of 2 hrs just travelling from one end to the another, but its worth it for a reunion of old friends. :)

Maths Olympiad

Slept at 2am the day that I am supposed to have Maths Olympiad, which was not a very good start to a test, especially so if its an olympiad. To make things worse, I had a weird dream(or rather nightmare which I will elaborate later) about the school, and I thought humans only enter the dream phase if they have sufficient sleep. With body still tense and heart racing, I woke up and was glad to be in the real world. Waited for Raymond at Buona Vista MRT for 15 min, during which I unexpectedly met with Zihao, my old sec 1-2 classmate. He was also waiting for his friends. In the end, his friends arrived first, leaving me in the lurch. Giving him a grace period of 15mins apparently was not enough. With my patience stretched (and legs cramped, stupid MRT...no seats one :(...), I called Raymond. To my horror, he was actually waiting for me at Tampines station, at the other end of Singapore. I wanted to wait for him, but he persuaded me to take bus 95 to NUS myself. So much for waiting. I really thought that he said Buona Vista MRT. Looks like memory had failed me that night.

A bit apprehensive as I have never been to NUS before, but it was easy to follow as there was a huge group of different JC students heading that way. Since it was the school holidays, the students must be also taking part in the same event. 95A came. I didn't expect bus 95 to have an A or B, but since most of the students boarded the bus, I hope they are right and played follow the leader. According to Raymond, bus 95 is a loop service and hence, it was impossible to miss it.

After alighting with a huge bunch of students, I went to befriend a JC1 girl, since she was the only person wearing a green skirt. Found out that she was taking part in the same quiz, to allay my jittery nerves. Arrived at my destination and found that we weren't the only early birds. Left with no choice, we went to rest in the canteen. I also discovered that she was actually a classmate of my track junior, which I have since retired a long time ago, sadly. Later our abrupt acquaintance came to an end, as she joined her classmates and I found Alvin Ong, sitting alone.

At around 930 am, I went in with Alvin Ong without Eddie Cai, since Eddie insisted on waiting for a girl called Christelle. Both of us scolded him for being zhong se qing you. (actually, in retrospect, which guy isn't?) Went to the top row of LT27. Lamented the fact that NUS had such comfortable seats and tables that were quite hard and rigid to write (and sleep) coupled with a nice ambience, compared to certain JC. :( Cant believe that RJC was disintegrating just after 31 years, while other schools like Oxford and Cambridge could last for centuries. Whatever happened to the architecture of the past?? Anyway, back to the test. We were given 2 1/2 hrs to complete 25 questions worth 1 mark each. May sound simple but think again. Those questions worth 1 mark could easily be worth 20 marks in common test. (though a bit exaggerating, but then just to prove my point on how @#$%^&* difficult the paper was). Time appeared to be on our side, but we squandered it , since we either (okay maybe me only) don't know how to do or the question was too tedious and hard (the worst combination) and there was no apparent (note: apparent) shortcut to it which some other geniuses there had found. In the end, I did a dismal 8 questions out of 25, with probably more than 1/2 wrong. Though feeling mentally drained, I felt that it was a good exercise to prepare myself for the next common test, since it involves endurance and a never say die attitude.

Went quickly to the bus stop so that we could catch Harry Potter 3. The bus stop was crowded with people, and amazingly, the bus stopped just right in front of me, even though I was standing in the middle of the stop. Took a train to PS and bought the tickets for the movie that was to be shown 2 hrs later, 5 rows from the front. (The lady tried to convince us that it was the middle rows, but somehow we left ban xin ban yi, meaning half believe half suspect literally). This showed how popular the movie was. Spent my 2 hrs slacking with Alvin Ong at Macs, before finally seeing the show. Since Gin Way had competition, we could not watch with him. Anyway, the movie is quite nice, much different from the 1st 2 movies ,which was understandable since it was by a different director. Left satisfied and went home after that. Ratings: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars...maybe my expectations were high.

Cooking

As both my ma and I were stuck at home for most of the time, she decided that I should do something constructive by learning how to cook. Nt exactly adverse to cooking. Since time is on my side, I might as well do something useful.

I got to prepare dinner for my family, which actually comprises 3 people at the moment (my little sis is off to a 5 days trip to Korea, and my elder sis does not stay with the family). Learnt how to peel potatoes in a faster time, which used to end up in disaster cutting my own fingers.(si bai)Still remember how my dad used to complain that my ma cannot cook, that's why he taught me how to cook basic stuffs like mince meat porridge years ago. Better to be safe than sorry, he told me, in case next time you marry a wife that cannot cook. Now I can add another recipe to my limited knowledge of cooking: bak kut soup. Mine tasted almost as nice as my ma's. Never mind. Practise (or practice?shux...my english.) makes perfect.

Maybe next time when I retire decades later, I will want to travel around the world and taste the fine dishes all around. Hmm, its not a bad idea to be a food connoisseur (is it correct?), sampling the different cultures of the world

The Desert Rose (Wednesday, 2nd June 2004)

Looking back at the events that have happened in the past two months, I realised that I have done the Desert Rose many wrongs. Made it too obvious that I like her, and she must have interpreted it as a sign of desperation. I heard in a tape a long time ago that desperation is the fastest way to lose a girl.

Shifted to the corner seats at the start of the year just to admire at her from afar, although I tried to seat with the class as close as possible. Silly me. Never thought of what happens if she discovers. On the bright side, I have made a few friends at the corner seats. I was accepted as being part of their cliques (or clicks?) in addition to my classmates. The corner seats have become our territory, and lectures have become much more fun talking everything under the sun with them. (to put it crudely, talking kock) :)

Still, I must resolve the issue with the Desert Rose. It was screwed up the day I gave her the rose. Have myself only to blame, as I should have kept my infatuation a secret. Now that the only way of communication between the both of us has been cut off, I guess that I must muster the courage to apologise to her personally, for all the screw-ups and embarrassment that I have caused to her. I do not know how, or when, but I really hope that our normal friendship can be restored, I do not wish for more.

Goal: Somehow I must isolate her from her friends, clear up this issue with her, even if it will cause me immense embarrassment....

Chorale Concert (Friday, May 7, 2004)

Mr Chan was unusually good to us, and let us off about 20 min early. Sold an extra chorale ticket to Nic at $10, while i got one free from Esther. (felt bad taking ppl's ticket for free, so i treated her lunch, but it was still an underpayment). Went back home to bathe and throw aside all my school stuffs.

I was confused of what to wear...in the end I decided to wear a blue sleeved long shirt. Met Raymond at Bedok MRT. He commented that I looked to formal, so he suggested that i unbutton the top 2 buttons (?!), and tuck out my shirt. Had this nagging feeling that i will look too beng in a concert,...how ironic. Went to this flower shop to accompany Ray to buy some bouquets for his classmates.

Reached Raffles Place at 7, where we proceeded to the toilet to have a final touchup on our hairs. I felt a little odd following a huge bunch of RJ ppl wearing only school uniforms. Nevertheless, we reached our destination only to wait for Yeofeng, Bingrui and Baoluo. Expectedly, we went into the concert hall late, where we had no choice but to seat the back rows. Just when I least expect, the Desert Rose came in with another guy (which i shall not name, cos he's quite famous, and he's my friend too...). Felt a tinge of jealousy arising in me, and a sense of helplessness. Why can't she come with her group of girlfriends? Watched the first half of the concert silently. The chorale girls, or rather ladies? , look angelic, just that the pink belt? sash? looks like ribbons, and the chorale guys look smart, except for the red scarf? they have to wear around their necks.

Had a short interlude. We met Ms Lui outside the hall and all three of us ate the same burger, the Chicken Fillet. Bell rang quickly and I had no choice but to stuff everything in my mouth. Ms Lui noted that Rafflesians were amazingly punctual to come back to their seats...if only they could apply that to lectures :). Raymond wanted to be alone for a while, so I had no choice but to be the last person to come back to my seat.

The second half of the concert was more light-hearted. The best part of the whole performance was the skit. Laughed heartily at their childishness and innocence when acting out. Their story was also quite humorous, complemented by their voices as background music.

The performance ended with encore (as usual), with them singing the school song (???!). Waited for Raymond as he went to gave away for his bouquets. Now I am on my own. Went to the toilet. Only realised I just walked past the Desert Rose and her friend when I was in the toilet. I walked past them, but somehow my tongue was tied. The Desert Rose looked back. Met Vanessa , Shiyan , Shunwei and Winglam at the coffee shop very nearby. Vanessa laughed heartily at my beng clothes, but I was too distracted to laugh as well. Went back to the toilet to greet her and ....her friend (almost typed out the name). Felt embarrassed as she was messaging on her phone, hence never really noticed me. Felt quite ashamed of myself for being such a...dunno what to say.

Proceeded to the fountain to wait for Raymond, as he also went to give bouquet to the only one that mattered. Wished him the best before he left. While waiting, a group from 3L approached me when I was deep in my thought replaying that scene. Was abruptly interrupted but agreed to help them take anyway. Raymond also returned despondantly. While on the bridge towards the MRT, another group approached me for a photo-taking. I wonder what I did that attracted people to ask me to take photos for them....strange. We went to Macs to chill for a brief moment. Yeofeng then told us a very sad story of one of my friend. His background was even worse than mine. Felt very foolish, as both of us realised that we often made trivial stuffs seem big while other people are in fact experiencing worse problems than us. Resolved to help my friend before concentrating on wooing the Desert Rose, as a person's life is at stake.

Old Rafflesian (Monday, April 11, 2004)

Played handball with 3H, which we trashed with vengeance. Even Miss Chan noted the power of our team. Despite the absence of a sick Zhang Yuan, we more than make up our strength with the towering Alvin Ong and Matthew Sng. We played for 2 periods until we lost count of the number of goals scored. Lessons proceeded as normal.

After practising speed-copying for Maths S (as usual), Dingjie, Colin, Jerold and I went to Ghim Moh for dinner. I still remember a funny conversation between DJ and Colin.

Scene:

DJ to Colin holding Bronze medal, and after diaoing Colin:....You sux.

Colin:F@#$

The fact that it was said so quickly make it very funny to both Jerold and me. Laughed heartily about them. While walking to Ghim Moh, I only found out that only team sports can attain achievement points for the top 3 positions. This excludes track and field (sadly), as it is a collective effort of individual contributions. That means the only time trackers and fielders get achievement points as a team is when we get the championship, which was last won 10+ yrs ago. Shared a 4-person chicken rice before we went our separate ways. Dingjie had an irritation in his right eye due to prolonged wearing of contact lens. I thought i brought my cleansing solution, but realised i took them out. Sadly, I could do nothing to relieve the situation, so we speedily went home.

On the train, I met a stranger, who apparently was an ex-Rafflesian. He was from batch '73. (which makes him older than Mr Chan Ter Yue !!) He was filled with pride when we talked about our alma mater. Amazingly, he still could remember bits and pieces of the school anthem even though it was 30 years ago. He proceeded to the other side of the train, i suppose to find other Rafflesians.

Track Camp: Part II (Saturday, March 15, 2004)

Woke up seconds away from 7 am. I realised that my biological clock was quite accurate. Only remembered traces of the night before, where I only recall a stormy night filled with lightning. Thankfully, the girls helped us to close the windows at the indoor gym. My group went to Macs for breakfast and met Ivan along the way. Had more team-bonding activities afterwards, which includes blindfolds, jigsaw-puzzles, balloons etc. The track was also filled with touch ruggers. They seem to be taking part in a touch carnival. Went to the Media Library to have an inter-group competition in the form of a skit. It turned out to be quite funny and creative. (By the way, this camp was also meant to pick out potential leaders and exco members in the juniors, hence the leaders of all our groups were J1s, including Debra). Had training to end the track camp. While the sprinters practised their baton-passing, I had to make sure that I can still jump properly for the competition tomorrow.

After training, we had a prize presentation for the skits and group activities. Debra also received a call that was pleasant news. She managed to qualify for a scholarship in United World College. Only 5 ppl in her cohort clinched that. I didn't feel surprised as she was quite smart---10 A1s in her O levels. We decided to head to town for dinner, as we were quite tired of the food at Ghim Moh, however we were impeded by the sudden heavy downpour. Hence we were stuck at the canteen. Our juniors decided to play card games to wait for the rain to pass. Thankfully, it did not last long. John Samuel kindly escorted us to the side gate and helped us unlock it. I strongly felt that Solo Night will be much more scarier if it rained with flashes of lightning.

We got reprimanded by a lady on the bus for making a din. Apparently she was an ex-student from RGS and told Debra that she should not bring down the school's name. Debra felt quite miffed, as she felt that it was the guys that made the most noise. Alighted near Taka where we camped at the staircase near the fountain. Ate Lunchbox b4 going back with the group. Kit Fei and I took the east bound train. We talked about many stuffs, before she alighted at Bedok and I am left alone once more.

Start of Track Camp (Friday, March 12, 2004)

I had a hard time squeezing all my camping stuffs+books in my campro bag, and an even harder time walking to school. Thankfully, not many books were required on friday. I received back my physics test, which was unexpectedly horrendously lousy. Even He who should not be named had a better grade. All hopes of a pass grade was dashed----I realised an hour of just glancing through the textbook was not enough (plus the fact I went for Maths S the day before the double tests when everyone else decided to skip). Dingjie said that the best way to start is to try Physics TYS. I decided to follow his advice from now on and start doing every single possible question---until my physics get a satisfactory "A". Told myself I must study physics for 2 hrs every night before I go and play warcraft.

My mood went down and I decided to chill out at the 3rd level hall after physics practical. Ruth and Esther came there as well. Ruth was about to leave for Russia, hence she started to call her friend and well, talk for a long time. Bio Prac was short, but Mr Chan made us stay back for extra tutorial, in which our class (except Ruth who left at 1530) almost ended up locked in the lab.

Around 5, I went to the canteen to meet my fellow trackers. Realised that the canteen was almost empty. I chilled out for a while before Justin told everyone to meet at the indoor gym. After changing to our PE kits, we had to scrub the mats, the floor with rags and Dettol. (us= free labour). After that, we had some ice-breaker games as usual. I was assigned to Debra's group, along with Nonis, Wei Xian, Jon Chen, Bernice and Vivian. Had dinner at Ghim Moh after the games. I met whitney, vanessa and co. touch ruggers there...they must have had a long day as well.

After our heavy meals, we went back to meet at the basketball courts. Our seniors (almost all males except 1) began to tell us the other side of RJ's history. (=ghost stories). Debra was quite scared of ghosts, as she covered her ears in vain. Apparently, the toilet at 1-5 was locked for some reason, which I do not wish to elaborate. Another was about the tunnel linking the back of the canteen to the field outside LT 2.5. What it was built for none of us knew. The seniors told us that 2 guys went into the tunnel a long time ago. One of the guy tied a string to his leg and went in, the other held the string. The other guy waited for a long while and still felt no tug. Losing his patience, he pulled the string only to find nobody at the end. The guy that went in was never found again....

Adding more spice (haha), Miss Poon also added her personal experience at RJ toilets just below the PE dept. By then, it was already 930, where everywhere else was almost shrouded in darkness. Hence, the next (sadistic?) program commenced----Solo Night. The track team was to be split up and each assigned to a spot throughout the campus. We were warned also that if anyone called our names, we should not turn our heads back, as this would put out the "lamps" of our bodies, making the person vulnerable to ethereal attacks. The patrolling trackers told us that they would say "cheesebuns" before calling our names. Hence, we were not to respond to any other voice that calls our name. I was assigned a dark spot at the staircase near 3--5. Tried not to recall all the ghost stories, as I had 1 and half hours to go. Began to think about many stuffs---the Desert Rose , goals for Track, studies, friends etc.At the end, I struggled not to sleep in the monotony of the silent night, occasionally punctuated by the noise of the patrolling trackers.

At the end of it all, we went back to the indoor gym. After washing up, I went back to the mat and began to sleep....(to be continued)

Street Soccer for PE (Monday, March 8, 2004)

Today PE was unexpectedly fun, after sitting through a gruelling GP mock paper. The teacher gave us 2 alternatives: to do her drills or soccer. Naturally, any self-respecting guy will choose the latter. 3H and 3J played in separate squash courts as it was very crowded. Soccer ended up street+kampung style. Felt quite happy, as my leisure times of playing street soccer with Raymond and Ken Toh (after promos) did not go down the drain (especially in the TS/LT4 where the goal posts were chairs). It rained unexpectedly heavy the whole day, which dampened the mood. Nothing significant happened, except that ms lui went at lightning speed at maths "s" tutorial + the fact that i can see the Desert Rose from the top row during maths s....quite a fitting end to a day :)

Flower for Huifang. (Saturday, February 21, 2004)

Went out at 11am to meet Justin at Orchard by noon, but was still late by 5 min. Both of us head towards Wisma Atria, as one of my junior, Benjamin would meet us there. Then, Justin went to the Perlinis to buy some necklace for his auntie. Ben managed to meet us there, and from there went to the basement of Taka and bought lunch. Decided to try Justin's recommended food, the Lunchbox, which was a japanese food outlet. We only camped on the floor at the basement when the security chased us away. He said we could camp at the staircase or the fountain. Went to the staircase and saw a surprising sight---a Neopets trading card outlet!! It must have been only erected today, for I saw some cameramen taking videos of it.

After our meals, we decided to shop for flowers for our captain (of the girls' side), Huifang, for a fitting birthday gift. Justin stumbled upon a flower shop selling a tall sunflower for only $3, but later changed his mind. All 3 of us proceeded to the flower shop above the MRT station---Gloriana Flora (quite a unique name). The lady was quite nice. She offered us either a 5 or 18 dollars package. Initially wanted to choose the $5--the cheapskate side of us...but then it would be injustice, so we chose the more expensive package. It was a wise move. From a simple sunflower, the lady managed to decorate until it looked like a bouquet. If not informed, people would have thought that we were dating Huifang. Left a very nice impression on me. One day, I will buy flowers for her from the same shop...it would be the perfect gift for the Desert Rose.

Left the MRT and proceeded to walk along Orchard Road, where we toured the Heeran and bought some sweets on the 4th floor. Since we had 2 hrs to kill before training starts, we just walked leisurely along that stretch. After a while, around 1.45pm, we took bus 111 to ghim moh. Hid the bouquet in Justin's locker in the council room. Along the way to the canteen, I saw that the Dance club was rehearsing something major at LT 2.5. Started our intense training in the blazing sun (as well as getting a tan), before which we wished Huifang a happy birthday. We trained until the sun was a golden hue. Apparently, the RJ soccer team had a friendly with AJ. We watched for a while, before I went to have dinner with my friend. The last time I heard was that the score was 1-3, against RJ...sadness..

Took bus 111 (again) to Orchard, where I had dinner with my friend, since I had no dinner at home. During the long journey, both of us talked about girls, juniors, homework, grades ...all the trivial stuff. Window shop at the Harley Davidson Shop. Maybe i will get myself a cool leather jacket next time. Ate at Delifrance at Taka, before he decided to go to Stadium to shop for pants. The queue was too long, so both of us went to the shop near the MRT and bought from there. Went to Borders afterwards to windowshop, before both of us parted ways, he taking the bus while I took the train home.