Just Follow Lor

Watch the Jack Neo film with my mother. Overall, I find the show will only appeal to local crowds, perhaps including Malaysia. Our international friends might not appreciate the local lame jokes cracked throughout the show.

Unrelated stuffs: RI has very interesting names for its canteen vendors. Since the school underwent heavy renovation for the past years, the prefectorial board felt that it was apt to let the student populace decide the names.

Very creative I must say. Noodle store= Mee for Me! Western food=Journey to the West Vegetarian Store=Veggie Delight! and etc.

I only eat at RI canteen if I have no choice. Other than that, I would always prefer to take a long relaxing walk to RJ and enjoy the sights and sounds of youth.

Sweltering Heat

Dragged my No.3 shoes back to the gates of RI. The inertia to just remain at home is sometimes very tempting.

Could have ended my day very early, like the first week of RI, if I did not have the additional responsibility of taking care of 5 research project groups. It is making me work beyond the stipulated 5.5hr on Monday and Wednesday. Not to forget there is staff meeting on Tuesday as well.

Ate the canteen food at RI for the sole purpose of sustenance. A long day ahead, in which I also attended a talk by Sister Theresa, a 109 year old lady that is helping other old folks. She learnt a multitude of languages during her earthly tour helping in different countries. Surprisingly, from the video, she looked younger than other old folks 20-40 years her junior. Her quest for knowledge might also put many to shame.

Trudged home alone after an uncomfortable sleep on the MRT train back home. Under the sweltering heat, I ordered a Ben and Jerry icecream. Which was a huge mistake. Rule No. 1: Never order a cone icecream under hot weather. To my dismay, the moment I stepped next to my traffic light, the icecream was melting rapidly. I ended up licking my fingers instead of the cone, my handkerchief soiled with Ben and Jerry's. -_-

Repentance

Repentance: The changing of one's mind. Not the so-called over-dramatic exaggerated version of wearing a sackcloth, beating one's chest and immersing yourself in ash. Even Abba repented before.

There is nothing good about self---the flesh that is. Self-effort leads to emptiness, frustration, and finally failure. I am always welcomed back with open arms; I must remember that. No matter how many times the prodigal son runs from home, his father will always be on a lookout for him---even if the son returns home for the wrong reason. Why am I focusing on my self? That shouldn't be the case.

Funny how the countdown timer on my blog used to remind me of the dreadful days in army, where we did nothing but eat, sleep, laze, exercise, guard duty. How the army mimics the civilian world, just that the former is a microcosm of all the undesirable habits.

2100. 3 hrs before lights off.

The Gnawing Feeling

"What is worst, drugs or the feeling of emptiness in a person?"---The Protege

Visited only my maternal grandparents during the first day of Chinese New Year. Seems to have happened only recently, as I could still recall the memories when I was in my 2nd year of army. Usual steamboat lunch and dinner, but somehow, I find the atmosphere more muted and solemn. The abalone and fishballs felt colder than usual. Perhaps, it's because all my cousins are maturing. I never gorge myself silly with tidbits; watch TV the whole day while the rest of my relatives were busy gambling.

Even Flyff does not give me the kicks anymore. Slowly but surely, it will follow the way of DoTA. Weaning it off is hard, but possible with every frustrating wait. The amount of blog posts is inversely proportional to the amount of time spent on the MMO.

Once again, Chinese New Year flew past. It's almost time to return to my daily routine of relief teaching in RI again.

Have I fallen from grace? In my pathetic attempt to fill the void on my self-attempt to leave Abba, the void just becomes bigger, and bigger. Somehow, even if I believe, there is always a lingering feeling that all my atheist friends seem to cope fine without Abba. Which is contradictory. In all, I am a sad excuse for a Christian. That is, if one goes by the worldly expectation of a holy, moral, sinless, blameless bloke. I am certainly not.

Which makes me wonder what the hell am I rebelling against. By immersing myself deeper in any thing, I am purposely trying to estrange myself from Abba, ever since I was disappointed (is it in my own self-effort?Or am I just trying to shift the blame away?) 2 years ago. (though somehow some remnants of hope remain, how ironic, the human mind works in funny ways) .

It does not necessarily have to be Flyff. In fact, it could be anything that I can be dangerously obsessed with. I wonder if I had reached the end of myself. I wonder....

Total Defense Day

Total Defense Cay: A party girl defending herself against an evil Japanese Mushroom.

Total Defense Day. The day which Singapore was invaded by the Japanese on the 15th of February on the advent of Chinese New Year. What an auspicious day to choose the invasion.

Anyway, back in school, the first period of my Thursday lesson is being swapped with the official assembly period on Tuesday. While most teachers bemoan the fact that they have one extra lesson on Tuesday instead of slacking around, I was feeling quite happy that my period on Thursday is a free one.

Ignorance is bliss. Only on Thursday itself did I realise that I have: Assembly, Bio, Bio Lab, Recess, Bio, Bio -_-. So, while I enjoy on Tuesday, now all the teachers who suffered previously get to enjoy.

As usual, on Total Defense Day, they invite some old boy (man) back to RI to recount his horrifying war experience. He read his experiences off a script (understandable, since he is like..90+?), which makes the boys restless. Had a moment of silence at the end for all those Rafflesians that were gone during the Jap Period.

Now, come to think of it. RI has a tradition of inviting old Rafflesians back on Total Defense Day...ever thought how will RI continue that 50 years down the road? It will probably be our turn to stand at the podium. "Rafflesians, 50 years ago, even though lao zi did not experience World War II, but I can recount vividly how the older boys used to say. Subjected to Kempetai, humiliation. We (actually they) ate sweet potato and tapioca. Oh yes, and we did not have President ____ on our notes...it was a banana tree...."

Chinese New Year Celebration: Came to school dressed like an angbao. Some has commented that I look like a bridegroom due to my maroon shirt O.O Anyway, received a $4 angbao from my Form Teacher, as well as a few oranges to plant on RI ground. RI concert: the 5 houses like to use Jay Chou's soundtrack. Bet the Chinese Department must have heard until xian liao, especially Ms Yong Chai May. Shook my head a few times in response to some of the very lame acting. Overall, it was very good to waste time.

Proceeded to have a Long John Silver breakfast with the relief teachers, after which we all went to watch a HK movie "The Protege". Quite a depressing show I must say. The only thing that I learn at the end of the show is that drugs is bad, injecting drugs on the neck and anywhere else on the body besides the arm is suicidal.

Clockwork

Every epic RPG must have some semblance of a final boss. Flyff is no different. In Final Fantasy, we have the Omega weapon and Ruby weapon. In Flyff, we have the Clockwork.

After a reinvigorating rest, (managed to somehow escape from the evil clutches of Project work) , I was alone in a dark room where no sunlight will ever reach me. Using the scanning mode of my chat radio, I happen to detect an urgent need for a fighter to kill this huge monster. "Well, might as well rid the world of a terrible evil" as I muttered under my breath, at the same time, scanning my environment to ensure that no aggressive monster senses my presence.

After a briefing done by the leader, we were blessed with divine protection before teleporting to the accursed cage where the monstrosity is kept.

The monster, or rather the mechanical beast created by the ancient gods of the world, did not detect our presence at first, that is, until I made the first move of slowing it down and lowering it defense.

It was a fierce battle. Like Emerald Weapon, we were faced with a daunting task of killing it within a time limit of one hour. The damage that was dealt to me was unprecendented. Despite the onslaught, we persisted, battering our knuckles, swords and axes against its cold metallic body.

It went smoother than I had initially thought, partially because there was a proficient healer at all times. At last, the beast fell down on its mechanical legs.

We distributed the loot at the end. There's even a youtube video coming up soon! (quite surprised there). It's time to rest I guess. I anticipate more battles in the future.

The End Of Lamentations

Went to sent Ginway off to Australia today. In the process, I abandoned 1 lesson, 2 practicals, 1 assembly and 1 department meeting. Soon, only Raymond and I will be left in Singapore as one by one, the planets depart from home.

Good to see some of the blogs being updated. This means that they are alive and well, which is good.

Recently installed Skype and some funky program from Eddie. "Very useful for reducing lag one...especially when you are flying and chatting" he quipped. Well, recently, Mr Philip Yeo got into an argument with Lee Wei Ling. I am almost certain that the former might be able to read Eddie like a book, and as the paper said, "even down to the GPA of the students, up til 3 decimal places."

Had been a long day today. Was already ultra merciful on my part to give some students a re-retest (yes, re-retest), while by right I am supposed to give them zero. So much for an early monday. Switched lesson with Ms Cho (or Beatrice); scheduled a last minute reretest after the last lesson. Had lunch only at 4pm. Almost 12 hrs away from my breakfast. By the time I was done, it was almost 12 hours to the daily routine.

Let's hope I am given the unofficial green light to not go for the CNY celebrations. Must find out the names of a couple of cuties that I met in school.