gosh i'm stressed, and its only the beginning of the 3rd academic week!
wonder how i'm gonna survive two years here...

this week's been pretty ok, just going about my business studying and whatever...
debate training and competition's coming up...
any highlights?
err the first english A1 assignment of the year which most of us had to pass up on friday, so we all stayed up pretty late, though only steph and i were left online after 3plus in the morning still slogging away...
was so looking forward to friday and the weekend...
talked to clarence while walking to the shop opposite school to get ice-cream before he left for home and me for training...
worship practice punctuated the otherwise monotous nights...
didn't go for the ncs briefing yesterday, but we're up against SA in the first round...
can't wait to see who's gonna be debating for the various schools... x)

went home from church with sam/rachh who were travelling west...

the cheetah girls 3 movie premiere was quite a large event on disney channel, though it wasn't the phenomenon that high school musical was last year... and it was kindaof a throwback to the lizzy macguire movie in terms of setting...

love LOVE corbin bleu's (the afro guy in high school musical) single PUSH IT TO THE LIMIT, its really high up on the iTunes chart...

oh and many of us took the council nom forms already, quite exciting...

what is it you expect of me,
jlc.

for the first time since sec 2, i greenform-ed my way out of school...
not by choice, but by sheer necessity...
i was having gastric cramps that would make labour contractions seem minor...
was dying all throughout the 100min econs practical...
was hoping it would go away, but by the time TOK came around there was no way i could muster the mental faculty to concentrate on any other lessons...
so yeap...

if i should stay,
jlc.

had my first social event of the new academic year after slogging it out during the first week of school..
its been doubly stressful coz i hardly get to talk to anyone unless i have free periods and stuff, so was really looking forward to friday...

first off, had training after dunno how long, and i'm glad i haven't forgotten how to debate completely...
ncs in a few weeks, so i'm really nervous...
rushed home to get ready for yewjin's belated birthday outing...
met elendrus at PS to get our gifts, then cabbed to the american club for dinner with kevin/jitwei/xinquan/ronald/jml/stuart/sean/mervyn...
then it was back to PS to watch Pan's Labyrinth, which is probably the single most arthouse film i've seen, bar none...
like it was just so bizarre to the point that it was an artform...
5 stars indeed...

had tonnes of fun with the 4/11 gang again, really relieved some of the tension of the week...

back to work tomorrow, not looking forward to it, but that's how it goes down...

push it to the limit,
jlc.

inwz/fate: what goes around... comes around.

to whoever that is who tagged my blog, if you're referring to the justin timberlake track from FutureSex/LoveSounds, than good on you! its kinda growing on me too, didn't quite like it before...

if its just a random advert tag (though i dun think any advertiser would wanna advertise like that), then its ignored, and if its one of those random tags, then yeah, ignored again...

however, if its someone who i might possibly know or possibly knows me, and is in reference to any of my current/past blog posts, or anything that i've done/said/thought, here's my response:

(i kinda need an outlet due to all the stress about work and my class, so need an outlet to vent, and this is the ideal opportunity, and i know i normally couldn't care less about such things, but since i'm lulling some time away post-AMI and pre-dinner, let me happily vent... *insert large smiley*)

what in the world is wrong with you??!!
posting ominous messages on ppl's blogs under a silly name?
that's juvenile to say the least...
not to mention stupid, redundant and downright digusting (alliteration, did i mention i love my strand 2 english A1 teacher? she's awesome!)

so yup, i so hope that if you're out there and you read this, here are some tips to improve yourself:
1) don't be so stupid, its not an attractive quality
2) don't try to be a biatch, it makes your face look fat
3) don't try being sarcastic/cynical, no one likes a wannabe...

hokay, american idol time...
AMI 6 has NOT started out well, i honestly think the first 5 seasons drained america of all it's talent already, and its starting to run seriously low...
in the midst of the thousands of horrendous auditions, 2 stood out for me so far, and both are from seattle:
the indian native who's 17, and the guy that tried out twice before with the big afro, love them both!

besides that, being in 5/9 isn't doing much for my first week in school...
talked to a few more ppl, but you know...
i'm ultra stressed out my history, there's SO MUCH stuff to learn and we haven't started on the skills needed in writing essays and what not, so i hope we start soon...
and i've forgotten ALL my chem from last year, and to revise so much before being able to finish the first assignment we got...
besides that, we had a really tough PE lesson today, much worse than the wednesday batch...

big football weekend coming up, and the australian open has been fairly exciting...

what goes around comes back around,
jlc.

just finished my OC marathon, from 4x08 to 4x10...
its not ethical since lessons started, but i'm depressed...

damn it what must it be me in this class

screwed up start,
jlc.

FUSION 2007 was amazing!

jake/glenn smsed me on friday night about the plans to meet, so i dutifully was at cityhall by 736, where only daphne was there... dan joined us, but he had already registered at suntec...
waited till 8plus before sophie/adriel/amandaB came, and found out that jake was gonna be super late, so decided to go to suntec first...
note to self: never go early, ever...
debng was smart and came when the worshops started at 1030...
glenn/amanda/adriel and i gave the morning worship a miss to have breakfast...

glenn and i attended the worship leading one, and though it wasn't what i expected, like a masterclass or whatever, it was pretty useful, and the speakers were very animated...
lunch at kenny rogers, then the second part of the workshop which ended with carly leading an acoustic worship...
jake left for eric clapton, adriel/daphne went home, so sophie/debng/amandaB and i went over to coffee club at marina for fondue, mud pie and calamari...
the food was really good, and we laughed like MAD the whole time...
chocolate has that effect on some ppl..
poor sophie's mango tango was contaminated... x)

we headed back for the night rally, which began with some church YM bands and performances, the Youth Alive came up and did a set before the sermon...
i thought the last 2 songs they did after were the best, and i can't get the planetshaker's Majesty out of my head now..
talked to alan/jit and said hi to ryan and rachel ong...

was in church ultra early this morning for worship pract, then went for lunch at marche with sam/jake/sher/rachh...
happy 17th sam!
had a tonne of laughs over lunch before heading to marina to play pool...
went to chocz where sam was ambushed with tiramisu...

tomorrow we're getting our classes, which means that the real academic year will start, with the ppl i'll be together with for the next 2 years...
i only hope that they're nice and as fun as the classes i've had over the past two years...
ip04 was fun in that crazy kinda way, but i only made a few very good friends, so leaving wasn't too painful...
in 2006 however, even from the very start, i got to know some ppl really well, and alot more after term 3...
plus even after school stopped, we went out like countless times...
was talking to clarence/xinquan about having one last class gathering before we get attached to our new classes, coz that's inevitable, and once that happens, it won't be the same going out with that group again...
yewjin and i were saying that it was really sad how there'd be no more OGs, no more 4/11, just new faces...

so this post is mainly dedicated to the classmates i've known for the past year:
four.eleven

All Majesty we sing,
jlc.

went with sam/jake to send josh off to NS today, and personally i found it rather sobering..
maybe its just me and my way of handling such things, but yeah...
so to Josh - hang in there k, you've excelled in everything so far, this shouldn't be any different...
will be prayin' for ya... =)

headed back to school for the first meeting with nabil, our new coach..

i'm quadruple booked tomorrow, have Fusion, SRJCs, lunch with sean/javier and OG14 movie, so gotta prioritize and stuff...
i'll probably just go for Fusion coz rushing around is too chaotic...
really looking forward to it, though registration, according to glenn, is at 8am, which is uber early...

everyone around can see, just how good you've been to me..
and all my friends who don't know you,
i pray that You will save them too...

All Day,
jlc.

the bridging course week is almost at an end, and i'm really REALLY thankful for that...
one more boring lecture and i think i'd go nuts...
the worst WORST was today's last lecture, chinese...
after 2 lectures of doing practice papers we ALREADY DID in practice for last year's EOYs, they wanted us to prepare for oral today...
the last LAST straw was when they said that each OG had to have one person do the oral thing before we could go home, and i very nearly flipped...
didn't even have the energy to chat with elendrus/yewjin like we were doing during the first hour of the lecture, just stoned, waiting for it to end...
in a morbidly fortunate turn of events, my group was let off really quickly after that, but the 2 of them had to stay back there, and i kinda wasn't thinking when i upped and left without a word, i just needed to preserve what was left of my sanity...
so i'm REALLY SORRY for leaving so abruptly k, in normal circumstances i'd very willingly wait for you guys, but this was totally berserk...
and ET, i didn't sit in during bio with you coz A) it woulda been boring and useless as hell coz i ain't taking it, and B) you had a tonne of company lah...
i woulda stayed if no one else was there k...
you kinda got even already with your hat trick... x)

yeap, so that's the most memorable part of the lectures, how sad right...
there were only 2 useful ones in all, the english one today and the history one yesterday...
and i think chem tomorrow as well...

on a happier note, there're so many cool events to look forward to!
first off is FUSION 2007 at suntec on sunday with YOUTH ALIVE!
then on sunday DELIRIOUS? will be at expo hall 8, hope i can rush there after playing for worship...
FOP is in august, and i hope hillsong will be there.. miss them when they skipped us last year...
and UNITED LIVE's new album, ALL OF THE ABOVE drops some time soon, so SO excited...
just not sure about planetshakers now...

and in bigger BIGGER news, apple will launch the iPhone, the most gorgeous product in history, in June at the retail price of 499USD for 4gig and 599USD for 8gig...

to run for council,
jlc.

orientation ended yesterday on a rather anti-climatic note, no rally, no dance, no campfire...
just a reception and a pseudo-nostalgic video...
was playing cards with the bingo gang minus jillian most of the time...
stood around talking to ron/daniel/sean before sean and i headed off to essential brew for some refreshments and chat about the whole orientation and the larger picture of things in acib...
kinda looking forward to what's to come, coz it couldn't possibly get any worse...
sean left and javier came after that, and over food and drinks at essentials and breko's, we caught up on things/people over the past month and the year that just passed...
i totally needed all that laughing to rid myself of that post-orientation low...
such a contrast to what other JC ppl are feeling, like debng who was still on a high today at church...

thanks tiff/deblam for the belated gifts! x)
oh and sher's new hair is super chic, very don't-mess-with-me-or-my-hair-or-else kinda kickass look...

just watched episode 4 of HOUSE season 3, and i'm so hooked...
can't believe the OC is being canned in 7 episodes time...
jan 17: OTH 4x11!!

no matter what we both do,
jlc.

wrote this post over 2 days, so don't mind the weird time references...

i'm being oriented in a school which i've been in for 4 (minus 1) years! x)
kinda funny, considering 75% of the ppl in orientation have been in the school longer than half the OGLs...
but hey, i was an OGL to ppl 2 years older than me in NJ, so nothing's really weird anymore...

i remember thinking 2 years back that induction and orientation were unconstructive and that my time would be better spent getting to know the scheme of work and whatever...
but then i met my OG, which would turn out to be my beloved 04, and that made orientation and all the post-orientation outings immensely fun...

so when ppl started talking to me in the hols about how they were totally not looking forward to going for orientation coz they'd heard from who and whoever that the games and what not were gonna be lame xq and adriel leong to name 2), i told them that i was once a skeptic, though completely converted...
that aside, i too had my doubts, which till today are still somewhat founded, that the acib student council didn't have the expertise of JCs to organize a whambam orientation 1, nor did the school have any traditions (JC ones mind you) to offer as starting inspiration, and that it wouldn't be as wild as i hoped it would be...
it only occurred to me recently that ppl like april cheah and some others had attended JC orientation1s of their own before going to acib, so they brought along with them experiences of their own which they could translate into a good orientation when they organized this one...

i met up with the class ppl for breakfast in the sac on wednesday morning, then went for assembley where i got to see who the new ppl coming in from other schools were...
prior to this, i met with my first disappointment when i looked up my name on the list of OGs and found myself to be in 14 with no one i knew besides winghing(whom i hardly know) and han an (thank goodness we're in the same group)
i really wanted to try for a transfer to 9 or 16, but yup...
we then went to the old audi where we sat on the floor (great first impression) for an hour or so hearing ppl speak...
then it was ice breakers, which were fairly normal and sadly uninteresting...
which is the perfect way to describe day 1 - uninteresting...
unlike changing my impression of orientation for the better, i was left feeling more bored than ever...
the uber long speech after that was particularly uplifting, and many ppl were sleeping throughout...
we were so bored in fact that han an and i took a little detour from the games to talk to darius who came to visit, then going for some refreshments before he went to choir...
i went to find the OG again, and we did some painting and trust walk and dog&bone game...

with a rather depressed countenance i decided to not go for saturday's activities (citizen's privilege to a 5 day work week, no?), and just slug it out for today and friday...

today (thursday) started off with a 2hr40min lecture, and none of which were any more informative then the first 27451639026 times i heard it...
we had mass dance next, which once again wasn't great, but the choice of samantha jade's Step Up was wise...
the first part of the dance was just irrelevant, should have spent more time on the second...
lunch, then some talk cock with ancestors (seniors) session, followed by the games...
this time they were way more enjoyable, with lots of mud and water...
screamed alot while cheering for OG14 coz only a few of us knew the dynamite cheer...
went home with clarence...

yesterday (friday) was really short, coz in the morning was just some talk by the school's very own volunteer policeman...
waited around for over an hour talking to wes/sean/joel while waiting for dp2 to finish her decorum talk...
telematch wasn't particularly fun, and since i was the last person and didn't want us to be like in the last 5 OGs, i just cheated across the whole course, finishing in less than half the time the others took, and we came in 11th out of 20...
mass dance and some silly dance off thingy came after...
sam/paul/sean and i did up the booth for debate at the cca fair after that...
we had quite a number of ppl signing up though we didn't do a single bit of promotion... spent most of the 40mins there talking to yewjin/elendrus/xinquan/daniel and some other class ppl...

met OG14 at holland v's BK for some food before the uber long subject combi talk...
was sitting with hanan/jillian/stephanie, and we played bingo and some word game to pass time...

took a rain check on the ACSiting race in orchard today (saturday) to catch up on some sleep, and considering how weekends are so precious now, i need as much of them to myself as i can possibly get...
probably going to school to meet them later for the end of orientation...

next week's all bridging lectures..

proposed subject combi, for now:
HL 1: English A1
HL 2: History
HL 3: Econs/Geog
SL 1: Chinese B
SL 2: Maths
SL 3: Physics/Bio/Chem

you step up i'll step up too,
jlc.

i ushered in the new year in church during watchnight service, something i did in '04 but not in '05 (was at a coffeeshop in bedok that year, hahas)
played for worship in the morning, then went home while trying to arrange lunch...
in the end only ron/xq came, so we went to marina's food loft and back to ron's place, not before trying to find a lan centre in thomson plaza...
jit joined us, so we played some mahjong, played with ron's dog sprite and watched jit play dota on bnet, which is totally confusing but highly educational...
went to church while trying to arrange another outing for ET...
so on new year's, met him at marina for some bowling (couldn't play pool coz we didn't bring ic), then ron came and we bowled some more before having tea at anderson's of denmark...
yewjin met us for School of Scoundrels (my first movie of '07), where ben stiller totally stole the show with his cameo...
ron left, while the three of us went shopping for yewjin's new messenger bag at projectshop and had dinner at the loft again...

school begins tomorrow...

first i have to know,
jlc.