so the hols have officially started for me, after the horror of the chinese Os (again)
the paper this time round was easier, so i hope i get a better grade...

yewjin came to meet up with us to lunch at holland v...
then we bussed over to his place to play PS and ping pong, that's me/merv/ET...

we've been brainstorming ideas for bintan, and i do hope i won't be bored any part of the 4 days there... x)

going for a movie/movies tomorrow, then its squash/tennis at ryan's place on thursday...
might join ET at clarence's place tomorrow...

finished watching the long-overdue desperate housewives 5 - i hate nora so much!!
oh and amazing race 10 was on tonight on axn, go tyler&james!
kentucky are seriously lucky, having been last in TWO non-elimination legs already...

all over the floor,
john.

just watched the season finale of Making the Band 3, and i must say Danity Kane is quite a cool band, though i really can't stand their first single, Showstoppers...
their opening concert was held at the Brooklyn Bridge, same location that U2 chose for their free live show earlier this year...

next week can be considered the real beginning of the Os, coz of the written papers (physics and bio pract not counted as real papers)
mother tongue on monday, chem pract on tuesday, literature on thursday...
so to all those taking the Os, ALL THE BEST YEAH!
i'm sure ya'll do fine, especially since ya'll appear to have studied TONNES more than us IP kids...
to the NJ ppl taking HMT, all the best too, i totally agree that its a waste of time...

chris daughtry's album drops 21st November, and lead single IT'S NOT OVER is so great, go check it out at the sonybmg website...

bintan's coming, exciting exciting!
list of activities as according to the official site:

SEA SPORTS:
Banana Boat
Boat Cruise
Dinghy Sailing
Discover Scuba
Fishing Trips
Jet Ski and Jet Ski Touring
Snorkeling Trip
Surfing / Body Boarding
Wake Board Riding
Water Skiing
Windsurfing
Kayaking

ON LAND:
Adventure Training Center
All-Terrain Vehicle
Amusement Arcade (what's this??)
Archery
Badminton
Beach Volleyball
Billards / Snooker
Cocktail Classes
Cooking Demonstrations
Day Spa
Darts
Futsal
Go-karting
Golf Driving Range
Guided Bike Tour
Gym and Fitness Center
Laser Quest
Mahjong (harlow mahjong kakis!!)
Paintball
Petanque / Boules
PlayStation
Remote Control Cars
Soccer
Star Watching
Street Basketball
Table Tennis
Tandem Biking
Tennis
Walking / Jogging Track
NO SQUASH!!! i read that the only resort on the island with squash courts is CLUB MED...

ECO / LOCAL TOURING:
Elephant Park
Fireflies Evening Tour
Fishing Tour
Heritage Tour
Mangrove Discovery Tour
Shopping Tour (i hope THIS is fun, shopping!!)

the story so far,
john.

first of all, congrats to the METH CUP 2006 TEAMS, it was a gallant fight!

was bored out of my brains yesterday that i was actually glad to get out of the house by 8 this morning...
met paul to watch the team A, then watched team B in the second round...
lunched at swensens holland v with sean before watching team A again...

just finished ONE TREE HILL season 4, episode 5: i love you but i've chosen darkness
ITS SO FREAKY! i hope peyton's fake brother's gone for good...

O LEVELS ON MONDAY!!
that's more excitement than what i really feel, but hey, its a national exam, so it deserves big letters!
can't wait for it to be over, urgh...

if i wrote you a symphony,
john.

after a monumentally painful wait, survivor 13: cook islands came to singapore tonight, and i must say its turning out to be quite the season...
sekou was the first person voted out, and we're only 5 episodes behind the US, so its not too bad...

tried watching "walk the line", but i was so bored i instinctively deleted it form my comp...

the results for the amazing race 10 should be out anytime soon, coz the final 3 were announced last week...

going for meth cup tomorrow, first debate thingy in months...

Justin Timberlake's MY LOVE featuring T.I. is probably the single best song of the year, so so much better than sexyback, with an awesome video to back it up... simply amazing...

sing,
sing a song.
sing out loud,
sing out strong.
oh sing of good times and not bad
sing of happy and not sad
oh sing
sing a song
make it simple
to last your whole life long.

sing,
john.

THE OC SEASON 4 TRAILER IS THE BEST!!!!!
cannot cannot wait for Nov. 2nd!!!!

The O.C. Full Long Extended Trailer Season 4

just came back from the airport...
dinner at fish&co was pretty good, though i could hardly eat anything fried, so just stuck to my salad (2 meals in a row!)
spent most of the time listening to yewjin rant about 77th street...

gave the last day of secondary school a miss!
strangely, only sean me and jit weren't in class today...
even stranger, everyone was in class yesterday, but we forgot to take a class pic...

happy 16th ET!
didn't get your message till noon, so couldn't join you in school...
i DID wake up at 6plus to check k, but you messaged so late...

the first of the CHRISTMAS ALBUMS is OUT!!!!
(don't mind my excitement, the season has that effect on me)
ALY & AJ's ACOUSTIC HEARTS OF WINTER features 11 christmas classics, of which i think the best is "i'll be home for Christmas"
plus i had no idea that JUSTIN GUARINI was such an amazing singer... i never really payed much attention to him coz of the shadow cast by tamyra and kelly...
but his sophomore album features some amazing covers, including "my funny valentine", "night and day", and "sing"

on a more serious tone, its been such a fun 4 years in secondary school, so much different from primary school, and i'm hoping JC/IB will be even more hyped up!

more reflection,
john.

got our report slips back today, and its my worst showing in this school, bar none...
i've never missed that many top grades by 1 mark before, its depressing...
but at least its over, i didn't get any 5 points (thank goodness, i might have collapsed)...
but like i was telling some ppl, i can pinpoint exactly which teachers caused my top mark...
for LA, its that horrible 20 out of 30 for my poetry IOP in term 2, and it pulled down by 100% from my romeo&juliet IOC, and i missed my 7 points by 3 marks... darn it...
and the most unforgivable one is my ISO - the one which got picked for just about every presentation possible, and i got an 84 which was "good", one mark away from 85 and "excellent", costing me 1 bonus point... its like i had 23/24 for my report, the highest possible, how can i get 10/15 for my presentation? everyone was getting 14, and had i gotten my 14, i woulda gotten my 96!! argh...

so i'm left with 37 points before, 39 points after...
if you're wondering, i got 79 for A math and chinese, both 1 mark away from my 7 points, and 78 for IHS, 2 marks away...
my only 7 point is C math, which everyone got 7 points for, and my sciences were all, as expected, the ones which pulled my average down, all hovering in low 70s...
i'll be so glad when i get back to doing humanities next year...
it's no joke being in a 3 science-2 math stream for an entire year, i have no idea how ppl survive...

was just talking to paul just now about how next year's gonna be so much more exciting...
we both have really high hopes for ourselves, and i hope we achieve them...
wonder how different school life will be...
i sure want it to be LOADS different from secondary school, otherwise what's the point of getting older you know?

anyhow, just finished watching project runway, where bradley was eliminated, long due...
he's a bit of an eccentric if you ask me, and not in a good way...
i guess even though i know jeffery won, i still enjoy the suspense after each runway show...
plus i checked and found out danielle won ANTM, which kinda spoils the fun, coz i wanted one of the white girls to win, but that lets me watch cycle 7 now!

i'm gonna drive,
john.

can't seem to fall asleep, so might as well write a post while i'm awake...

spent hari raya watching shows (again)
grey's anatomy season 3 episodes 3 and 4 were really good, gotta get 5 from sean soon...
saw the promo trailer, and it sounds really exciting...

finally got around to watching Thank You For Smoking, and its a really good show, though i'm not sure why its M18...

tomorrow's (or today, since its 133am) the eve of the last day of secondary school, so i guess it warrants some sort of commemoration...
wonder if it'll feel different in any way...

but above all, i wish you love,
john.

was on MC today, so spent the day watching shows...

smallville 6x04: Arrowwas really good, and sets the pace for the introduction of new superheroes on the show...
i heard it through the grapevine that episode 12 will be a justice league episode, so excited!

one tree hill 4x04: can't stop this thing we started began the new storyline of Matt Barr's character Derek being the evil not-brother of peyton, and the trailer for episode 5 is really scary...

Rumor Has It, featuring Mark Rufallo and Jennifer Aniston was really fun, especially grandma katherine... can't wait for jen's next movie, Friends WIth Money...

so you think you can dance top 20 was quite underwhelming, except for martha&travis' broadway item... i totally missed donyelle&benji's hiphop routine. but since i watched it on youtube months ago, i know how good they are...

missed the amazing race 10. but i'm glad peter&sarah are out... and i can't believe kentucky is in first place...

watching ANTM right now...

heard that the prestige was really great, wanna watch it so bad! oh plus the guardian, dreamgirls and happy feet...

rudebox,
john.

HAPPY 16th JAKE!! *grins a really broad grin*

went for jake's lunch at seoul garden taka with the musks after church anniversary service...
dropped by sam's place for a while before heading off to D'Marquee for the church anniversary dinner...
on the way jake left to study at the airport (on your birthday?? so dedicated)
wasn't really into the food coz my throat was burning up...
won't be in school tomorrow because of this...

rewind,
john.

went for lunch at cartel plaza sing at 1100 after getting a call from mervyn at 1030...
shouldn't have rushed my daily morning mail-checking etc to go down by 11, coz they only came about half an hour later...
met up with jit/sean/ronald first to greet before heading into cartel...

lunch was full of photos and videos, of which many are testament of my paparazzi skills x)
yewjin/mervyn/kevin/wesley came with the gifts...

they decided to go to paradiz centre for some arcade/LAN fun, and i tagged along though its not really what i'd thought the day would be like...
xinquan joined us there...
but it turned out pretty fun...
beat MERV at daytona, yay me...
and played CS for the first time in like 3 years with 11 others, while yewjin and some others played dota...
then we switched to Jedi Outcast, which was way more fun...

to keep in touch,
john.

just finished watching Bring It On: All Or Nothing...
though it was very under the radar when it was released, it deserves special mention for its creative cast & crew...
Solange Knowles steps out of Beyonce's shadow to star in her first leading role...
this is alongside Giovannie Samuels of Nickelodeon's All That fame,
and the very familiar and talented Gus Carr, N'Sync's choreographer...
Solange sings one of the tracks on the soundtrack, written by B and their dad...

didn't do much in school again, besides playing hearts/bridge/STAR MUNCHKINS...
though i did get to watch Final Destination 3, and the fact that the FD series is into its 3rd installment shows how there is this huge demand for gore and blood in hollywood...
most of the show was a typical thriller, but i must say that they accomplished squeezing a LOT of horror into 1 and a half hours, though it wasn't emotionally disturbing at all, coz the characters were pretty tacky, so most of the time their deaths came across as humourous, if not with lots of blood and dismembered body parts...
lunched at dover with ryan/ron/sean/mervyn/yewjin...

i remember what you used to say,
john.

results were released today, and unlike paul, i'm not gonna make the anticipation any worse... HAHAS!
right here it goes...

Language Arts Paper 1: Poetry Critique - 15/25: horrible i know, but its a one-mark improvement from midyrs!
Language Arts Paper 2: Set Text - 24/25: this one was kinda funny, coz i got the paper first, then we were like wah so high, then yewjin got his and it was also 24, then we were like yay, then ronald got his back and it was ALSO 24, so it was strange having 3 of us sitting together with our 3 papers lined up with exactly the same mark...
Overall: 78%, 6 points

IB Chinese Standard Level: 86%, 7 points

IHS: 72%, how urgh, 6 points

A Math: 75% plus 5 moderation = 80%, 7 points

C Math: 87%, 7 points

Chem: 66% plus 8 moderation = 74%, 6 points

Bio: 66% plus 10 moderation = 76%, 6 points

Physics: 67% - funny how this is the subject i least understand, yet its the highest raw score of all 3 sciences... but its still my only FIVE points and its such an eyesore...

39 points, 77.6% average

now that i see,
john.

katharine mcphee's album hits stores 28th Nov, not sure about taylor's...
i've discovered the joy of MYSPACE, the phenomenon that hit the states...
its a great place to preview new music from artistes such as those from AMERICAN IDOL...
i LOVE katharine's MY DESTINY, its super nice, probably her best single when compared to Somwhere Over The Rainbow and Think...

project runway's on in a bit, and i just got news that in about 6 hours the winner will be known, but i'm not sure if i wanna go find out first and spoil my joy for the next few weeks of watching...

spent the better part of today playing UNO with yewjin/ronald/clarence/xinquan/mervyn...

results are out tomorrow, so i'm really really anxious, but it's all outta my hands right now...

with you, finally i can break free,
john.

brooke left ANTM last night, long due already...
supporting joanie and sarah now, go girls!

its tuesday, or to be specific, NEW MUSIC TUESDAY...
and what a good one at that...
its been quite some time since new music tuesday has been worth waiting for...
the anticipated album by Sean Combs aka Diddy, PRESS PLAY with 19 tracks debuts...
JoJo's THE HIGH ROAD, featuring smash hit TOO LITTLE TOO LATE is out too...
Frankie J releases his sophomore effort just a year after his self-titled album..
this one's called priceless, and it features the collaboration with Chamillionaire, THAT GIRL...
Tenacious D, the duo with Jack Black, pre-released their soundtrack to their new movie, THE PICK OF DESTINY...
and finally, Robbie Williams gives us a sample of his new album, RUDEBOX, with new single KISS ME...

the 4 apple ppl were out in force today, and there was major file-transfering going on during danielyew's first period of the day...
got some movies from merv/daniel/sean/yewjin that i hope to watch soon...
the rest of the day was pretty useless, though we did go through physics paper 1 and chem paper 2 (paper 1 was done yesterday, along with Cmath paper 2)

hush,
john.

oh my gosh i'm watching AMAZING RACE 10, and Peter form team Peter&Sarah is such a huge biatch!!
when they arrived in india from vietnam, he was like "we go from one polluted city to the next" - like what??!!
but they got bitten back when dustin & kandice were super bitchy and prevented their cab driver from helping P&S' driver...
but THEY got bitten back too when their next cab driver got a flat tyre... x)
kimberly from rob&kimberly was also super what when she was taking the bus to mamalaporam and was telling rob not to let anyone touch her...
what is WITH these americans... even though i can't stand them, Kentucky couple david&mary are such nice folks...
my favs, however, remain lyn&karlyn and models tyler&james, though the former have no chance of winning...

before this i caught SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE 2, and i cannot believe Benji Schwimmer almost didn't make it into the top 20... its amazing how much he changed, as we'll witness in the next 7 weeks, to win the competition over cousin Heidi, Donyelle and my personal fave Travis who can spin like no one's business...

got my DH and GA from sean today, and finished watching DH 2&3...
there's no doubt its one of my 3 fave shows still, and i really love ALL the actors, minus orson hodge...
Andrew's back, John's back, and Edie's nephew Austin's an excellent addition...

ooh and i got Thank You For Smoking from Ronald, can't wait to watch it...

eeyer beauty queens and prostheticlegsarah are the first two in...

drive yourself to the next pitstop,
john.

there's just something about disney channel original movies that's endearing...
to most critics, myself included, it'd be easy to sneer at their unoriginal plots and tacky endings, but sometimes, the great looking actors/actresses and amazing soundtracks make them the confort shows that are so fun to watch!!
last night's "An Endless Ring of Light" with Mischa Barton the guy that plays Louis Stevens (He's matured so so much!!) in Even Stevens, was really cool!
tonight's "Double Teamed" was less impressive, but the guy who played the principal in High School Musical acted as the basketball coach this time round, and he did say "Get-cha head in the game!", so that's pretty cool too...

speaking of disney channel celebs, i was doing my rounds of MTVs last night while talking to javier, and i watched the vid for Hilary Duff's "Play With Fire", and she's grown up so much! she now looks like a cross between older sis Haylie and Sheryl Crow... x) but yeah, still very pretty, albeit with a tad more make-up, larger ear-rings and a new set of whiter teeth...
Vanessa Anne Hudgens has ditched her middle name to take on her music career, and i must say that, despite my reservations, i'm beginning to like "Come Back to Me" more and more with each listen... that's more than i can say for the vid, which was lots of bad dancing and very little relevance... plus the opening line "presenting the indescribable Baby V" was a bit over the top...

Jessica Simpson's vid for "I Belong to Me" showcased how well she can act crying her eyes out, but the part during the bridge with the short short hair was a disaster... stick with the blonde curls i say...

i cannot STAND Lily Allen, that brit newbie, she's just really annoying, nothing compared to Natasha Beddingfield...

5 songs on the top of my playlist now:
"I Don't Need a Man" by PCD
"We Ride" by Rihanna, which is Spanking New this week on MTV Asia (the vid's another of her random ones)
"Tell Her" by Jesse MacCartney - i'm officially convinced that Jesse can sing, he's matured alot since his debut album...Plus he had a really fun performance on All That tonight...
my fav fav right now: "Jump" by Madonna, featured in The Devil Wears Prada, and it is so amazing, i can't believe i skipped in when i first got Confessions... the vid's very jap though, and she's got hideous bleached short hair...
last but certainly not least: from the long-awaited album by Diddy, PRESS PLAY, comes the breakout single "Come to Me", featuring Nicole Sherzinger...
its really really addictive, and Sean Combs has definitely taken some of his own advice he ditched out on Making the Band 3 (speaking of which, i really don't like Danity Kane's single, "Showstopper", not quite sure why it was the top selling album in the States a few months back)

just saw the teaser poster for Iron Man - the motion picture on IMDB, and its due for release in 2008... they've so far only casted Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, and some unknown as War Machine...

i put up a C BOX to replace by TAGBOARD; i've never liked anything besides tagboards, but it seems to be facing some difficulties, so no choice...

oh plus i caught One Tree Hill Season 4, Episode 3: Good News For People Who Like Bad News
it begins the era of no Lucas-Brooke, and troubles for Haylie-Nathan with Rachel in the picture... she's such a ho, but very exciting to watch...

it's gotta be that smile,
john.

UPDATE!!
i've caught the Pilot of AQUAMAN, and its so awesome i have no idea why they had to withdraw it... sigh...

yay i've just spent a few hours catching up on smallville season 6, and i'm already totally captured by it!
i absolutely believe that you don't need to watch previous seasons to appreciate good shows,
just like i'm doing with grey's anatomy...
new to the cast is Justin Hartley, who plays Oliver Queen aka GREEN ARROW next to Tom Welling's Clark Kent aka Superman...
Hartley also happens to be the guy who was picked to play Aquaman in the canned series which premiered on iTunes about half a year back, and i still don't know why...
he will continue to play GREEN ARROW in one of next year's most anticipated shows, the sequal to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight beside Christian Bale...
Aaron Ashmore plays Jimmy Olsen, Chloe's new squeeze, and you might know him in his role as Kitty Pryde/Rouge's bf in the X-Men movies, Bobby/ICEMAN...
(smallville producers seem to like casting other superheroes)

last night i had my fill of my absolute addiction ONE TREE HILL!!!
season 4 opens quite dramatically, as far as i can tell from the first two episodes...
peyton's got a step-brother, Derek, who's a really good addition to the cast i think, though i still haven't been able to find out who's the actor who plays him...
being upgraded from repeated guest stars to mainstays are Danneel Harris, who plays Rachel, and Antwon Tanner, who plays "Skillz" Taylor, joining Lee Norris in the select group of ppl who have their faces shown in the opening sequence...

can't wait to get my fill of DH and GA from sean/yewjin in school next week, then my show-watching spree would have officially started... x)
these four shows will be joined by the OC season 4 (!!!!) which premieres on November SECOND...
along with PROJECT RUNWAY season 3, AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL and the AMAZING RACE 10!
the Amazing Race Asian Edition opens on November 8th with host Allan Wu, though i'm not sure how good it'll be...
a new season of THE APPRENTICE begins soon, though i've only ever watched the finale episodes...

there's another disney channel original movie on tonight, AN ENDLESS RING OF LIGHT starring Mischa Barton...
she also stars in OH in OHIO which comes out on October 26th, the same day as DOA: Dead or Alive, though i'm only inclined to watch the former, but i'm sure mervyn will try to persuade me to catch the latter as well...
her OC co-star, Rachel Bilson, stars in THE LAST KISS beside Scrub's Zac Braff, so that should be funny...

2 more shows to catch if you've got the time: The Departed and The Prestige...
and the trailer for Codename: The Cleaner starring Cedric the Entertainer, Lucy Liu and Nicolette Sheridan... RICOLA!

oh i've removed my tagboard coz its been a bit weird lately, so yeah...

can't stop this thing we started,
john.

how much have the exams kept me away from the real world??
WAY TOO LONG!!!
i've been away for 8 days of papers + 20 days of studying and i come back to find all my favourite shows are well on their way and i'm so far behind!!!

DH is into episode 3, with episode 4 premiering on Sunday
GA is into its fourth episode, help!
SMALLVILLE's SIXTH episode began without me knowing...
and the BIGGEST shocker of all, my favourite favourite
ONE TREE HILL is into its 4th episode and i've just read the synopses!!!
i'm frantically trying to get back into my usual entertainment-chasing self right now, but its so hard...
thank goodness for the return of my iBook and my fav websites...

well A Math ended on a rather sullen note, unlike the C Math paper the day before, which was unusually easy, though i don't like to have my hopes up...

went to watch Scoop at the newly opened EUROPA theatre at Golden Village VivoCity...
*i credit it to your race*
didn't do much but stand around talking, eating BreadTalk bread and drinking Starbucks frappes...

had lunch yesterday with mervyn/yewjin/sean at SushiTei@Paragon after so long...
then pingpong/squash at SICC...
tripped over to ron's place to play CASHFLOW with him and xinquan...
one of the more intellectual board games around, we'll probably play alot of it in class the next few days...

met xinquan/yewjin at PS to watch Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Rickey Bobby today...
saw patrickong/garethlim there watching World Trade Centre...

into the rush,
john.

just finished watching the first of a whole series of disney channel original movies lined up for this fall/winter season, "Read It And Weep", starring kay & danielle panabaker, nick whitaker (who sang the awesome theme song, "I will Be Around", chad broskey and jason dolley...
the next one will be brenda song's "Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior"

oh and i also caught robbie williams in "A Close Encounter" in Leeds, England - the concert was really good, he's such a born performer... the appearance by Jonny from Take That made it even more fun...

was just looking through the practice IB chinese paper in preparation for tomorrow, but its hardly any help... i'd hoped sock hoon would give us paper 1 (written PRODUCTION, not your plain old compo in the eyes of the IBO) to prepare, but nope...

two more maths papers, and i've totally pin-pointed the topics each question is going to cover by means of eliminating what came out in the paper 1s, and i really hope i'm accurate...

worship this morning was really great, and judos to a really young team! (i realised there were musicians from 13 all the way to 19, save for a gap where 14 shoulda been)

infocomm meeting after dunno how long to plan for the next issue of Amplified was also really useful... the committe's seriously hilarious, what with their perennial jokes...

so having covered music yesterday, let's do shows today!
new stuff you've gotta keep up with:
Desperate Housewives Season 3, in its third episode already, though i haven't been able to get the last two... Yew Jin's got It Takes Two already, so unfair...
Grey's Anatomy, my new regular show, is in its third episode, and i'm waiting to get "Sometimes A Fantasy"
The Amazing Race 10 is really exciting, now on Mondays at 9pm on AXN...
Survivor: Cook Islands - banned in singapore, but it sounds really cool from what i've read off the entertainment blogs...
House of Carters: E! Entertainment's answer to The Osbournes/Newlyweds... its super fake, but fun to watch aaron/nick/BJ/leslie/angel living under one roof...

the other day we were out for lunch and mervyn got onto our fav topic of movies, so here's a list of good trailers and shows to catch:
Eragon - a new trilogy premiering in December
The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith - very very touching...
The Departed, with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio...
Dreamgirls with Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson - can't wait can't wait...
and this year's christmas offerings:
Happy Feet, an animated movie
Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick...

i will be around where you think it's over,
john.

a week of exams were just way too taxing on my head to even consider blogging mid-week, let alone after each days' papers..
suffice to say that there have been both disappointments and times of relief, though i can't yet say that i'm suriving this year's finals..

Language Arts 1: chose unseen poetry over unseen prose - "like a terrible fish" vs "he was bitten by a snake", two of the most memorable lines in this year's papers

IHS: had no time, as per usual, though i hope i wrote enough to cover 40 marks and 2 essay questions...

Physics: paper 1 was better than paper 2

Core Math 1: made some silly mistakes, but glad i got half of the weird graph question right...

Language Arts 2: picked Things Fall Apart over Four Continents, if only because i'd just memorised the fictional techniques that i wanted to write about... didn't have time to finish my last paragraph, so totally just axed it when tamara went "stop writing"

Biology: paper 1 was better than paper, as was physics

Chemistry: paper 1 was better than paper 2, as was biology and physics, so that makes 3 strikes for science!

Advance Math 1: i thought i'd seen bad till yesterday morning... what a horror! i had no idea how to do the whole of question 10 and i'm far from confident for 8 and 12, so that makes 30 of 80 marks i'm willing to lose now...

What's left: maths paper 2s and chinese...

went for lunch after thursday and friday's papers, to clementi and holland v respectively...
spent 3 hours at the jcrc lounge yesterday with yewjin/ronald/mervyn/ET/daniel/xinquan/clarence/ryan playing scrabble, fooseball and pool (i didn't play pool, i've never even tried)

the haze is so horrible!
i could hardly see my way back from church last night from worship pract...
why do indonesian trees feel the need to spontaneously combust..

new music tuesday for two weeks have been quite lacklustre, and the good debuts doesn't make it past the 80th spot on the billboard hot 100, except for Clay's "A Thousand Different Ways" that was second only to JT's "FutureSex/LoveSounds"...
of the latter, my fave tracks are "Another Song (All Over Again)" and "Sexy Ladies"
from the former, "A Thousand Days", a cover of celine's "Because You Loved Me" and a duet with rockstar: inxs' Suzie McNiel, "I wanna know what love it", which i can't find yet...
Aly & AJ's "Chemicals React" EP have a cool new track "Shine"
Jesse McCartney's sophomore effort "Right Where You Want Me" has 2 good tracks, the title song and "Tell Her"
Vanessa Anne Hudgens gives us "V", though i can't quite stand the lead single "Come Back to Me", i really like "Drive"
OH AND jennifer hudson's "And i'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls is really really good, can't wait for the soundtrack and the movie!!
and finally, Asia's best offering since Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Philippines' Christian Bautista's "The Way You Look At Me" is just so so good!

yup go catch these great listens!

there's something in the way,
john.

20 days were far from enough to get me back on track, after a year of no academic motivation, the cause of which i know not, though i guess its another of those hormonal phases ppl have to go through once in their lifetime, just that i hope it passes by in 14 hours so i can take the next 10 days of papers with determination and gusto.

alright that was a rant...

its been refreshing not using the computer so much, lots of time to listen to the radio, something i stopped doing since sec 1, and to check out new tracks, both local and international, though i must comment that post-clay aiken's "a thousand different ways", there's been a noticeable dip in the number of credible new outputs in the recent weeks...
i guess fall is well on its way already, and the justintimerblake/beyonce september music release period is over, and all i can do is wait, albeit impatiently, for the winter releases in november...

my exam schedule has quite a steep gradient to it, picking up really really quickly with two papers a day from tomorrow right through to wednesday...
of special mention is tuesday, coz i have c math 1 AND physics 1&2, so that's like 5 hours of exam...
wednesday's less hectic, though i really don't quite like bio, but it comes paired with language arts 2, so that's a good sign...
tomorrow's just essay-writing, with unseen language arts and IHS...
from thursday onwards its just 1 paper a day, starting with chemistry, which rounds up 3 consecutive days of science papers...
friday brings a maths 1,
the following monday chinese,
tuesday c math 2
and finally, just as in every exam, the a math ppl have to stay back one more day to finish up paper 2, but it does end on a happy note coz a math doesn't befuddle me as much as the sciences this year...

the year has gone by exceptionally fast, and i must say being in IP makes it seem a lot faster and insignificant, coz it doesn't mark an end to secondary school life, unlike express ppl who do the o's and then start a new period of life in jc...
hopefully the last 3 months of school will make 2double06 memorable...

i do have to take the oct30 chinese o level paper if i want a nice grade transcript after the may31 horror, and it does seem quite possible what with my 74.25 (darn you 0.75marks to A1) in the prelims two weeks back...

but after that, there's a class chalet in bintan!
really looking forward to that, though right now, it seems really really far away, blocked by a rather large hinderance, aka the EOYs...

if it seems that i'm complaining excessively this year compared to the past 3 about the exams, i guess its part of the above-mentioned phase i was talking about...
many sighs?
nah, it'll just ruin my attitude...

honour's day was on friday, and went to study for the FIRST time this year at guthri house's quintessential venezia with sam/paul/seb...
shoulda done that more, but it seemed harder coz of paul's art and stuff, though i did manage to study with yewjin/ET somewhat at the boarding school some time in that week...

"Strategic Economic Plan: Singapore aims to achieve the per capita income of the US by 2030"
channeling my IHS notes as i type...
(PS: i'll be 40 when that comes!)

if this post sounds more of a personal ramble, i do apologize, but its the result of not blogging for quite some time, and needing to distract myself from the sciences/languages/mathematics/humanties that i 've been surrounded by in the past 3 weeks...

i'll update after each day's papers, if only to reflect on them myself...

so as per my usual ending, a line from a song that's been playing in my head...
(unlike what jitwei thought it was, some poetic lines of wisdom)

i'm walkin' on sunshine,
and it's gonna feel good!

Jlc.