6.13 Jerusalem

should i laugh or should i cry? should i rejoice or should i mourn? haha... i don't really quite know. but one should always focus on the pleasant things - the cranium, teachers' day celebration, the dinner at NYDC, the 'chatting' sessions (many hours) in the Counselling Room, the chinese & indian "discussions".

SMRT Challenge 2008

31st august - what a way to spend the eve of teachers' day with a group of students. participated in the smrt challenge 2008. it was a fruitful day as two of the three teams came in 4th and 3rd. among the top 4, we are the only non-tertiary institution. proud of you people!!!

maybe the organisers should consider putting the tertiary institutions (NTU, NUS, SMU etc) in the open category. the ability between them is too great for a hunt like this. it's almost like pitting the secondary school students with primary school kids.

3rd placed winners - zhi jie, alvin, louis, matthew - posing with their $1000 cheque which out of silliness suggested asking them to bring the big cheque to the bank and cash it in. :P

the SIN is on the medal tally

finally, SIN has a place on the medal tally... make sure you take a good look, one last good look at the medal tally. this phenomenon is even more rare that seeing the next total eclipse, or even rarer than seeing the next tsunami that will hit the shore of singapore. each generation of singaporean may only see the word SIN on the olympics medal tally once in their life time. so do cherish it...

delay no more/ delay no mall

one of the coolest name for a shopping center and brand in hong kong is the Delay No Mall and "delay no more"... say it fast enough and repeat it again and again... translate it to cantonese, you'll know what i mean by the coolest name/brand.

for those who has absolutely absolute no idea of cantonese, don't go around asking your parents before they smack you. just to give you a clue how cool the name is - translated in english, it means, FYM... go figure...

pesta sukan petanque 2008

fun and thrilled sunday, winning the pesta sukan petanque competition. thanks to two young chaps, who really performed well. without them, it's not possible for us to come back from the brink of defeat to winning the championship trophy!

Singapore Connected...

in memory of singapore's 43rd national day celebration in anglo-chinese school (independent)

enquiry letter part 6

Thank you for your email. We have both starter kits in hand.

I think it would be much better if we could set up a meeting to clarify some matters which we have doubts.

It is precisely your statement that the 'two teams visited the sites together as one and they had visited the sites physically. if they had not visited the sites, they would not have known the questions and the answers.'. This is also my point, that if your role had just been to check their answers before submission, how would it be possible that you knew if their answers were right/ wrong unless you were also there with them? Would that not then constitute assistance as they are supposed to participate in the race themselves?

Perhaps it is best we could meet up to to discuss the matter. If it suits you, would this Friday be good?

enquiry letter part 5

dear mr. tan,

"It would imply that you had helped the two teams in their race as they would not have known what the questions were at each of the 24 sites until the team (and by assocation, yourself), had visited the sites physically."

this is completely false! the two teams visited the sites together as one and they had visited the sites physically. if they had not visited the sites, they would not have known the questions and the answers. i was the one who registered the teams, and it is only right that i have to make sure that they filled up their registration particulars correctly, the team names and they ticked the correct category. in my reply to you, in no way did i say that i had helped/alter/change/given the answers to the students. so under what circumstances would it constitute "providing assistance" to the students?

to quote from your previous mail, "We are having some difficulty retreiving your starter kits." my queries are: what has happened to the starter kit of the other team? how did the results announced turn out to be that way if the teams had submitted the two cards one after the other?

desmond

enquiry letter part 4

Dear Desmond,

Thank you for your enquiry and information on the teams with regards to Fun on Foot : The Heritage Marathon held on Saturday 19th July.

I gather from your email that you sent in two student teams. You also stated that you assisted both student teams in their answers before submission. It would imply that you had helped the two teams in their race as they would not have known what the questions were at each of the 24 sites until the team (and by assocation, yourself), had visited the sites physically.

Our Registration Form clearly states that teams under the 'Educational Catergory' can only consist of 'Full-time students of secondary schools, JCs, ITEs, Polytechnics and tertiary institutions.' This clearly rules out any assistance of any sort from adults, teachers or non-full time students.

By stating that you have physically checked the answer scripts of both teams, this constitutes a breach of the rules and regulations as stated. We have no choice but to disqualify both teams on grounds of flouting the rules and the composition of the team under the educational catergory.
This will make both teams liable to disqualification. We will therefore require you to surrender your prizes for MEZZ in this instance.

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further clarifications and for information on how you can return the prize money.

Regards
S*** H***

enquiry letter part 3

Hi S*** H***,

No, both are under the education category and both are students.

One team name is MEZZ, members are: Pek Zhi Kai, Matthew Liu, Eugene Yeo and Zhi Jie

The other team is ACS(I) Ventures, members are: Louis Leong, Alvin Lin, Zhen Yi and Kyne Wong

Sincerely,

Desmond

enquiry letter part 2

Hi Desmond,

We are having some difficulty retreiving your starter kits. You say that both teams are in the education catergory? One's yours (ie. teachers) and the other is your students?

Cheers
S*** H***

enquiry letter part 1

Dear Sir,

With regard to my query on the results (education institute category), I am wondering what is the outcome of your investigation.

Just a short detail regarding my query:

I sent in 2 teams (MEZZ and ACS(I) Ventures) in the education institute category. Just before the two teams submitted the score card at the check point, I checked and made sure that the two teams have similar answers to the questions. Thereafter, the two teams submitted the score card one after the other, with no other teams standing in between them. Upon the announcement of the results, one team was awarded first while the other team was unplaced. My query is: how is this possible that, when the two sets of answers are similar, no other teams standing in between the two teams and the winning margin was so big, yet one team came in first and the other team was unplaced?

Thank you for your investigation and would anticipate a thorough investigation into this matter on your part.

Mr. Desmond Yap

it's okay to fail exams now...

good news for all students out there! cancel all your tuition class, throw your revision books, notes, ten years' series out of the window NOW! i am here to bring you good news, according to taiwan newspaper:

"It is possible that students who score a zero on their college entrance examination will be accepted by universities this year, an official at the College Entrance Examination Center said on Saturday"

hurray, play hard and sleep! you can stop studying, throw your CAS files away, stop submitting EE and TOK, get below 24 points for IBDP. there's always TAIWAN waiting for you...

hong kong vs singapore

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VpjNgIwyrbE

watch only if you hate hong kong and LOVE singapore...

fun on foot 2008 - heritage festival

gruelling journey, 24 checkpoints, 6 hours... it was sheer hardwork and proper planning with a little bit of strategy that allows us to defend our title for fun on foot 2008. thus, the team is now $1000 richer and happier for the weekend.

however, the win is not without controversy as our second team left empty handed, even though we submitted similar answers, at the same time. how is it possible that one team came in 1st while the other team ended up empty handed is anyone's guess. lodge an official complain with the organiser but i am not having high expectations that i will get a satisfactory answer. this is organised by heritage board, part of the government sector/stat board. they will give me some stupid excuses which is expected of all government sector/stat board. shall wait for a reply from them.

clementi champion - once again!!

had an enjoyable saturday with the scouts and venture scouts at mount faber safra. initially, don't really feel like waking up that early on a saturday morning, after sleeping at 2.30am, losing in mahjong the night before.




*sick* just feel like pretending to take mc, which many of the students will understand what it means. just tell doctor you have cough, stomachache, headache... which doctor can really tell these illnesses right? (maybe there are more varieties of undetectable illnesses, anyone has more suggestions? should look through my class list and see who are the ones who are always absent, i mean PRETEND TO BE ABSENT! they can be my consultant...)



it was fun bowling with the venture scouts. with the competition being very very intense, thought we'll be fighting for 2nd place after the first game. guess we stepped up our game and our opponents just simply gave up the fight. i must say that we are really strong in our mental strength, never giving up even until the end. the venture scouts won by a really really thin margin and feeling of being victorious is *shiok*! so here we are... retaining the crown of being CLEMENTI CHAMPION! my autograph, anyone?

the difference between a man and a woman

need i say more? "she" left a mark on me... :)

flash flood at carlisle road

straight from the horse's udder!!

was told by stanford that some people in medan drink horse milk and we are out to try it the minute we see one shop selling horse milk. never did we expect that we were led to a horse when we told the shop keeper that we want to buy horse milk! immediately, the farmer went to the horse, squeeze 600 ml of horse milk from the udder, place it in a mineral water bottle and sold us for about $10. yes, you got it right... no cooking required, no boiling of the milk, no pasteurize needed! the most expensive milk i have ever drank! but it was good, tasty, sweet...

anyone game for it?

TERRORIST!

living the impossible dream

the leader of a certain nation across the causeway has vowed to eradicate poverty by 2010 - this being his election slogan.

which is harder?

1) singapore getting to world cup 2010

OR

2) malaysia to eradicate poverty by 2010

in order for singapore to get to world cup 2010, we need to START bribing opponents (remember, we have billion of dollars to invest in UBS, Merill Lynch etc)

1) 1 billion to Saudi Arabia

2) 5 billion to Uzbekistan

3) 5 billion to Lebanon

in order for malaysia to eradicate poverty by 2010, they need to STOP bribing the ministers.

new movie - sleepers (starring malaysia's prime minister badawi)

new movie out in the market, starring badawi

sypnosis:

a 90 minutes movie showcasing badawi's different sleeping positions in parliament. a must to watch for those suffering from insomnia. a potential nomination for the best foreign movie in the 2009 oscar, a first for malaysia.

wise man says...

'why fart and waste it, when you can burp and taste it'

extract of sms from LL

miserable love story of modern era, worst than romeo and juliet.

ME: Mr tan also no picking up phone...
LL: Oh No... Send me his number lah... Please.

ME: How?
LL: Don't know. I ask Zephy to go collect. I think he gtting punish cause not back yet.

ME: Eh... Then you go la. Pple doing u a favour n u let her wait?? That's how you treat A????
LL: Lol? You stop making lies! Later lightning strike you then you know.

ME: Wat lies? She's waiting....
LL: Got the key already. :) help me kiss her thanks.

ME: If u thinking of kissing A, do it outside sch. I know you despo....
LL: Sorry. But I am gay

ME: That's cool... Turned gay cos u can't get A? U vowed never to like girl other than A? Nice...
LL: ... You very free right?

ME: Quite... My only short day of the week... U so sweet, so young (already) so devoted... Must put ur story on my blog

cam whoring...

hmm... a weird term used on me... cam whoring... but i don't mind!! do i get paid at the end of the day for erm... whoring??

corporal punishment - caught red handed...

need i say more? vote yes for corporal punisment!!! :)

rich tai-tais in the news

incident one:


rich tai tai on aeroplane.
air stewardess served her husband and talked to him.
*SLAP*
rich tai tai slapped stewardess.
rich tai tai questioned why air stewardess is talking to her husband.



incident two:


two rich tai tais running for committee position in a prestigious club (very prestigious!)
one rich tai tai send e-mail to prestigious country club along thomson road area, questioning the other rich tai tai's marital status.
rich tai tai with supposedly dubious marital status got suspended.
mistreated rich tai tai sued and won.
rich tai tai who sent e-mail denied any wrong doing - she was just "capitalise" on rumours.

wonder which rich tai tai is more "poisonous"? what's wrong with these people?? the amount of money and prestige has gone to their head and emptied their brains? couldn't they spend more time, doing charity work with the amount of money they have? instead, they rather spend the money in the court-room, offering money to the leeching lawyers.

Lunar New Year at Kluang

made a 4 hours trip back to kluang for the lunar new year. although the bus ride is only about 1.5 hours long, worried (kiasu, according to some singaporeans) that there may be a jam at the darn causeway, so had to leave an hour and a half earlier to cross that 1km bridge.


what i experienced when trying to clear the custom is exactly why i will never never return back to malaysia as a citizen... those custom officers are so lazy and so slow in clearing the tourists. they flip each page of the passport as if it weighs 100 tonnes. their eyes half closed, what were they checking really?? (read today's 15/2/2008 news paper if you have time, the custom officer actually tried to hit on a cheo bu while checking her passport, asking her for her telephone number! DESPERATE!) these people are lazy and almost to the brink of being useless. malaysia boleh!


the bus ride was rather pleasant, because i slept throughout the journey. haha... you won't want to watch the video they show on the bus. the voice is so soft, ride is jerky, and reading the english subtitle won't help either, unless you understand things like "joseph, i ask the pot fill mary", "was enemy michael fight" - DUH?!

bus station at kluang (below) - unchanged, untouched since 1980s! you wonder where their development money go to, into the pocket of the ministers/mayors, where else....






granmother's neighbour back in the 'kampong' of kluang and her mini garden.

Class 4C 2001 gathering at Carlyx Green

had a class gathering with 4C from the batch of 2001, my very first batch of graduating class. they are 22 years old already!! hmm... think i am really old. for some, it's the first time i am seeing them since 2001.

Used to joked that some of them will eventually end up selling pirated vcd or be the gang leader of changi prison. none of my prophecy actually came true (better stick to bluff my way thru' teaching instead of becoming a palm reader), yet felt so happy for them. lawyer-to-be, businessman-to-be, chemical engineer-to-be... wah... all going to be so successful, unlike myself!

shame to alter pre-u admission exercise??

a joel tng was complaining (note that the word complaining is being used, not feedback!) that the pre-u admission exercise will be scraped from next year onwards, meaning there is only one intake in jc, rather than the two now. (straits time 10th january 2008)

he is asking for time to experiment with different cca and find forte, gauge subject combinations, familiarise with campus, take time to adjust changes in education system... can the young please stop complaining about all these small changes?

experimenting with cca - after knowing yourself for 17 years, you still don't know what interests you? after 17 years, you still need 3 months to find your forte?! i won't be surprised if he don't even know what his favourite food is, what is his favourite movie, what is his favourite drink. he'll ask for 3 months to explore before giving his answer!

familiarise with campus - how big can a campus be that you need 3 months to explore? trying to find dark corners so that one can bring the opposite sex and erm...?? or find the shortest route out of the school to catch the first bus home? ridiculous!

take time to adjust changes - 3 months to adjust changes? only singapore students are requesting for 3 months to adjust changes! such practise is not carried out in other nations. are the young spoilt or what??

Thank you, Class of '07

7th jan is a big day for the class of '07 - the release of IBDP results. even though i knew the full results on 5th jan, it's great to see the happy faces of everyone in the auditorium. some came back with crew cut, some taller (some still as short *daniel*), some fatter - but everyone came back with a huge smile on their face. it's been a memorable 2 years, lots of anxiety (while waiting for the ib results), anger (when ben and jin en skipped pc lesson), depression (horrible mid-year results), fun (writing poor when auggie scored 48/50 for tests), laughter (tying up jeremy in leather suits with whip), love/hate relationship (feng ze's look at my face, do i give a damn comment), "mood swings" (throwing CAS files into the dustbin) and many more...

it's not easy to be the pioneer batch of ib students. there are lots of expectations and demands. but i think everyone (almost everyone) did their part. thanks for all the memories...

augustin, khing, han, phang, su, yunyi, byron, kia hua, hammie, michelle, tim seow, rayan, marcus, daniel, darren, reuben 'cannot-make-it' ong, justin 'baker' lin, jit, keat, ashvin, jeremy 'tie-him-up' ee, keith, kenneth, shahir, gerald, hansheng, luke, felicia, jason, milton, jonathan, greg, bloke, matthias, yar tun, regine, daryl, jin en, timothy, kang di, cheryl, beth, dml, gn, amelia, jemma, hannah, brendan, sam chan, ian, TP, sher shern, mel yeo, dilys, daniel tay, yeo '45 pointer' yao wen, lee may, ben chia, chris cheong, josh loke, bryan chung, pong, pern yi, juin shiong, nat wong, shyna-rongxin-huimin 'where to shop and where to go high tea', anna, tim chang, kevin 'cannot read his handwriting' tan, kenneth tay, van, collin 'when-is-he-going-to-jump' ho....

backlane of the buzzing shenzhen

had the honor of visiting the sleepy, dirty, almost god forsaken backlane of shenzhen. the atmosphere is really contrasting. one end, you see all the skyscrapers, men in suits, louis vutton boutique etc. at the other end, you see picking up unfinished food from the rubbish bin, stuffing them into their mouth.

a cinema at the backlane of gang xia train station:

it reminded me of the cinema i went to when i was a kid. rats running around, people eating sunflower seeds and throwing the shells on the floor. movie of the day: the miserable life of a factory girl (loosely translated). i shall not go into detail how miserable the girl's life is... erm... haha... just let your imagination run while, all you dirty fellows! pay $0.80 and you can watch all the 4 shows showing on that day. for couples watching the show, this particular cinema offers "couple seat" as well.

Relaxing end to 2007...

a bit late but it was a good break during the december holiday. not much travelling, out of money... so had to settle for hong kong and shenzhen where i have FREE LODGING! yes, that's how cheapo i am, i go for anything that is free...

flight from singapore to hong kong was at 6.40am but i reached the airport really really early, could not sleep la... too excited? maybe...

arranged to meet a colleague and her friend in hong kong to go shopping and eating. was also there to look at some of the christmas deco. some of the deco are really nice but mostly quite old fashioned ones, like those you will find in the old old old plaza singapura kind.

christmas deco at times square: