though teachers' day was meant to be the focus of today, we were distracted by many other things going on such as the round-the-estate walk (during which i chatted with Paul while observing the antics of the English Department), moving our desks in preparation for the Prelims, meeting our Year 7 seniors (josh hoe and collin ho in my case), celebrating birthdays (matthew and shao xiong's) and studying in school (with patrick, gerald and melodie). 

after finishing a grand total of one Statistics question (mind you, it was long), i left for Darius' place, where i spent my time with the 05ip04 ppl watching I Am Legend and The Covenant, playing pool and mahjong. 

we then left for dinner at Far East Plaza, and in the end, only 5 of us (WeiLiang, Joanna and Maricelle apart from Darius and I) were left walking and chatting around the mall, and we soon parted, and it'll probably be some time before we meet again. 

it's brilliant how some of us may have long left the school, but the class is still absolutely welcoming in every aspect. 

now the one week break is upon us, and the studying shifts into 5th gear. 

while walking around Raffles City looking for possible Teachers' Day merchandise, i spotted two characters i thought i recognized. 

so with a little skillful stealth, i managed to surprise Elendrus and Clarence who were there shopping for the exact same occasion. 

since i was still some time away from meeting Darius, i followed them to The Cocoa Tree for a little look-see, and helped ET decide on his final 3 gifts.

Darius and i walked to Centrestage at Marina Square, and after Weige arrived, we decided on Spageddies, the place i ate at on my 18th Birthday earlier this year. Food and conversation were thoroughly enjoyable, and it was good to catch up with an old friend (who will be in Oxford for PPE later this year) and one who i see every 8 months. 

we took a little jaunt around the mall, ending up at Muji for more chat and looking at merchandise of questionable usefulness before parting. 

as it stands, i may not be able to give stuff to all the tutors i had planned, but we'll see how it goes. i'm sure they know that i do appreciate their efforts, and i hope my efforts in the past 2 years have been reciprocal at the very least.

the thursday of my last week, and it was fun indeed, and as each lesson drew to an end, i felt increasingly uplifted at knowing i've more or less learnt all that i can, and it really and truly is all about revision and finding new perspectives from now onwards.

spent the second break talking to paul about universities and scholarships, only bringing home the fact that our education as we know it is fast coming to a close.

the class photo session for the yearbook went well, and we had a chance to take a class photo before leaving, discussing what to get our class tutors for teachers' day tomorrow.

i left on a 74 with gerald/elliot/chunwui/songyeong, and am now going through my regular end-of-school-day routine slightly earlier 'cos i'll be meeting darius and weige in about an hour or so for dinner. 

that should cap off a very pleasant day, and leave me with just enough energy to anticipate my last day in school tomorrow.

the pervading feeling of the final week of school has been tangibly wafting around the level. 

today after my last english strand 1 lesson, while having breakfast in the SAC, patrick, daryl, joash and i were identifying who were the ppl who were from our primary schools and still saw around the corridors of the IB block. 

by a mile, i have a feeling my classmates from the first 6.9 in js probably have the highest concentration of members still in IB now. 

in the second 6.9 here in IB, there are already me, chunwui, nic and matthew. 

the rest of wednesday went by quickly, much of it spent laughing at the hilarious stuff written on the yearbook comments.

academically, the last few history, math and econs lessons passed by seamlessly, though the pace of my studying really took off after the PSC talk and lunch with mel/gen in the SAC. 

the three of us, plus gerald and patrick, stayed back at the pond benches till the lights dimmed and mel left, and then we went for dinner at Broadway.

the rest of the night until 10-ish, we studied in the Debate Room, and i more or less exhausted all of my Calculus capacity, and am glad to report that i'm a few questions away from ending this rather unnervingly difficult set of 10 worksheets. 

added to that, i was shocked to find that, in my math stupor, i couldn't think of any novel reasons for the recent upward trend in the prices of commodities and metals. 

surprisingly, though, i felt oddly energized by the stuff i didn't know, or at least couldn't figure out offhand, because it alerted me to the challenge for ever further learning, which is all too applicable in the IB course. 

leaving school when the lights were all out, i met lucy still hard at work, and it really occurred to me that the exam season is without a doubt upon us, enveloping all in my level in its all too familiar embrace. 

my post this evening may not be entirely coherent, and this is largely because i'm listening to Hillary Clinton's Democratic National Convention speech as i type. 

"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits" indeed. 

a long tuesday has ended well, and i've been going about my work apace, and i look forward (in the sense of discussions and stuff and not the actual mugging, 'cos no one is mad enough to look forward to that) to more study sessions both this week and next.

the long break was spent equal parts in the SAC and in class, where we were reminded once more of the need to think of something clever to write for our yearbook photos by tomorrow. 

4th last day of school, and we wanna  make this week last. 

cameras are aplenty, and so are blog posts about the years in school. 

more than in any other JC or equivalent school, the overwhelming majority of ACI's IB kids have been in the school for a really long time. 

not even when ac ppl went over to acjc can they say they spent 6 years in the same system. 

for many of the ppl i know, it's been 12 years in the same system of education, seeing the same ppl, going through the same paces. 

for me, the secondary school years were hectic beyond imagination, but i wouldn't have had it any other way. i look back and am thankful to have thrown myself into such a variety of activities that i would never have had the time to do in my later years.

then it was IP, the first year spent in a totally different environment that both renewed a competitive edge and made me open to a whole new circle of characters that have broadened my otherwise narrower horizon. there, i made great friends and debated just for the passion of it, and it payed off like no other.

returning to ac for my second IP year, 2006 was without a doubt the most relaxed year i have on record.

i had time to just waste away, no important exams to take, and the content i had to learn was, unlike nj, relatively little. 

i didn't even come close to studying as hard as i'd done the years before and after that, and yet i left with a pretty decent score, but more importantly, a whole new group of ppl i knew. 

then came IB, and i quite literally dropped all that i had ever learnt in my secondary school years and picked up from scratch. 

and it paid off in ways i would never have expected. there is little doubt that i'm enjoying the subjects i take now immensely more than ever. 

and then there're the classes i've been in. 

the early years in ac don't quite count, though i still retain a very very small handful of friends whom i keep in contact with. 

it was my jaunt in nj that opened my eyes to the importance of class spirit, especially in 05ip04.

there really is something to be said about bonding over such seminal events as orientation. 

4.11 was immensely fun too, and i settled easily into a clique of friends whom are still some of the ppl i feel most comfortable around. 

but then came Point Nine, and especially after WOW, all my displacement i had felt were hurled far and away, leaving only the sense that this is the one and only class i could ever enjoy my IB years in. 

and as my time with these ppl whom i've spent a considerable share of my last 20 months with comes to an official school-time close, i cannot help but feel at ease at who i've spent all that time with. 

i don't know if i will feel strongly about my school, or my entire level, when my time here ends. 

i do know, however, that whatever i lack in ac nostalgia will be sufficiently augmented by the memories i've spent with point.nine.

just like my blog's tried to reflect ever since i started writing 6 years ago - 

and i said to myself - the experience was enough.

picking up from what i said about making this week of school memorable, at least to a larger extent than all the other generic school weeks, i think this line in John King Fairbank's The United States and China aptly sums up what it is that i'm looking for: 

"Consider how, in our own lives, every day is brand new to us, yet we live it as creatures of habit"

that is truly the last thing i want out of this week. 

as i was thinking about PE this morning, it occurred to me that, just as with everything this week, it was the last PE lesson we'd ever be having. 

and what, at least in retrospect, was memorable to me was the fact that my whole class was there, doing the same thing, exchanging courts, partners, opponents with a fluidity that only comes with cohesive familiarity. 

i don't think any other class can boast of anything like that =)

it's the last week of school, and we're trying to make each and every day last =)

monday back and it was all work as can be expected. 

PE was badminton, again with Jim, then with a few other ppl before we left for lunch to brace ourselves for econs and history. 

we finished the syllabus in the latter, so that marks the end of my learning of new material. 

revision in school was with GenHuong, Mel, Patrick and Gerald. 

we didn't stay long, but in those 90 minutes or so i managed to finish reading the Korean and Vietnam War notes we were given, and now i'm wondering if i should get any additional material. i think i'll use the Prelims as a Litmus Test, and if i don't know enough i still have 2 months to read other books and such. 

Mel and I payed a visit to the Yoghurt stand before we headed out of school. 

a pleasant Monday it's been, just the way to start the final week of school =)

i met Paul and Darius this afternoon at Shaw Centre for lunch at the Ship Restaurant, a cosy, if not slightly dark, eatery tucked into a corner of the mall. 

there, we had the only local dish on the menu, Sliced Fish Bee Hoon, which turned out to be rather pleasant, and came with accompanying ice cream and coffee, tea or soda. 

after the regular photo opportunities, we took a jaunt around orchard road, stopping at Tangs to get some Bubble Tea at Sweet Talk. 

quite unfortunately, it was raining like nothing, so we were confined to the crowded malls for most of the day. 

we ended our afternoon with drinks at Starbucks, Wisma Atria, where i had my second cup of coffee (the first was at the Ship place). 

my last week of school begins tomorrow, and in all probability it will be the last academic week ever, since after the prelims school doesn't really count any more. 

i'll be in school till the early evening hours for most days, going through more of my syllabus in preparation for those prelim examinations. 

the second last push of sorts.

though i only hit the sheets early this morning, i forced myself awake at the unearthly weekend hour of 7ish to get to school in time for the Oxbridge talks. 

the personal statement thingy that sarah and i had decided to go for since some time back wasn't entirely engaging, though the list of colleges was somewhat useful. 

the Cambridge Law talk was far more informative, and for some reason i'm quite drawn to that course now. this feeling might fade soon though, as i think more about the other unis i'm applying for. 

GenHuong and i then met Mel at KAP to study for about 4 hours. 

on the way back, i indulged myself in what must be the most superfluous store i know, Daiso. 

the amount of money you can spend on deceptively cheap $2 trinkets is amazing. still, japanese ware is bizarrely kawaii, and i felt compelled to buy stuff. 

i'm quite pleased with the pace of studying so far, which is quite a novel feeling since i normally feel under-prepared at any point in my study journey. 

nonetheless, i've got to do a lot of history next week, and i'm planning to concentrate on that mostly, complementing it with math and chemistry. 

i met Mong, Mel, Chun Wui and Cielo this afternoon for lunch at Suki Sushi, Cineleisure. 

the buffet wasn't too bad, and i must say i preferred it to Sakae tremendously. 

towards the end of our meal, there were a number of blackouts in the restaurant. 

the first two or three times everyone was kinda shocked and stuff, but after that it got so regular ppl just continued talking as if nothing had happened. 

we left very soon after, making stops at 7/11, Lucky Plaza, the alcohol counter at Isetan, Shaw Plaza, and That CD Shop, Pacific Plaza before heading to Mong's place. 

Song Yeong and Gabriel joined us for a few hours of studying, and as evening drew near, the party part of our class gathering got going, especially after Elliot came with his Wii, along with Jim, Lex, Nic, Cheryl and Patricks Leow and Ong. 

we played a number of rounds of Rayman's Raving Rabbids, and i came in second to Cheryl the enthusiast. 

we took a break for dinner, played some Word Challenge, Mario Kart, and called it a night. 

it was a welcome break which was meant to celebrate the end of our oral examinations, and take a deep breath before the next 2 weeks of intense studying begins. 

and so my formal academic week has ended prematurely 'cos tomorrow's a holiday. 

i did get quite some stuff done today, beginning with handing in my second DRQ in the morning. 

then i attended the smallest class i ever did, with just Joash and I with our math tutor. 

following which, the large break wasn't as active 'cos the majority of the class went off for SL3. 

so instead, i finished the third of my DRQs i had planned to do, and promptly passed that to my tutor as, by a stroke of luck, i bumped into him outside the admin office. 

so with econs out of my hair, i headed to english, where we went through last year's prelim paper 1, and some of the better scripts. i was particularly impressed by the second prose script, which was structured to a T. 

PC was an hour that could have been better spent. 

the drone was punctuated by a rude shock i got when i realized my tutor in charge of keying in my SGC stuff was technologically illiterate. so i volunteered to key the stuff in myself, thank goodness.

after a brief visit to the SAC, GenHuong, TedKin, Mel, Gerald, Elliot and I spent a little over an hour studying in one of the B3 classrooms. 

a long weekend to savour, and we're trying to get a class gathering together tomorrow. 

i've got UK uni talks in school on saturday, and perhaps i'll study a little more after that. 

with all this work being put in, the prelims no longer seem as daunting as they did when my week began =)

Tempting isn't it.

SingTel has launched new mobile plans just for

the iPhone - basically data usage factored in.

Prices, as expected, are higher than in the 

US, based on current exchange rates.

attendance today was significantly higher, which made for a pretty active mid-week school day.

i spent the first hour of free period in B3-02 with Gerald, where i finished the history essay outline which i handed in. 

that was after handing in the first of 3 DRQs i handed in to my econs tutor. 

i met Daryl/Gerald/Gen/Tedkin outside school, and they were going to watch the Dark Knight again, as well as Mel who was off to Holland V. 

friday's a holiday, so i think i'll try to squeeze in as much studying as i can over the next few days, beginning with post-school tomorrow. 

on Founder's Day this year, as i was standing in the friggin' rain wondering why on earth i woke up for that dribble, i promised myself that i would never again attend a useless activity in school, simply because the ppl present did not even fill half my class. 

well, it's unfortunate that today, there were LESS ppl than on that fateful Saturday morning. 

a grand total of 12 out of 27 ppl graced the desks of six.nine this morning, and that was not the most absurd bit. 

i went about my usual morning econs/chem lessons, and then had a break before going for history pract. 

instead of the lesson i had been hoping for, i was greeted with a tutor bearing the news that he would not be in class today, and left us with some tasks. 

added to that, i found out i would not be having an english lesson either. 

i shall not be entirely explicit about what i did next; suffice to say, there were 4 of us who would be "in the library" for the rest of the school day. 

on the way, we met elliot whose IOC was in a matter of minutes and wished him all the best, and lex was there too preparing for his exam tomorrow.

on the way to the "library", we met one of the DPs, and with little more than an indifferent nod, we were on our way.

even if we had been asked, the overused excuse of IOC would have been sufficient. 

and i'm sure that trump card will be played with great aplomb tomorrow when the majority of the 15 missing members of my class return. 

Notes To Self (since my head will be in my books and i have no time to make myself reminders anywhere else): 

1) Register for October 4th SATs. 

2) Book Ferry for Bintan trip

3) Collect Nike Human Race stuff. 

the first day of school after my IOC, and i was kinda shocked into the realization that i've got quite a bit of content to cover over the next 3 weeks. 

it might surprise you, but i've never had a revision schedule or anything of that sort; i just studied everything that i needed to know. 

additionally, i take lessons as part of study time, which was the case during econs, math and chem today, though i do need to pay special attention to certain areas like any normal student. 

so i think i'll be doing a little of that this evening, though i haven't decided what. 

all i know is that i've just got to get into the momentum. 

PE was badminton, and there was this funny part when our tutor (PE tutor?) decided to play on my court, positively shaming us for those 5 minutes. it was funny for me only 'cos he was playing on my side, heh. 

i stayed around in school with Mel/Daryl/Elliot/Jim to discuss a poem. 

right, that's Monday, though the day hasn't quite ended yet 'cos i've got some stuff to do (normally the major part of my day ends with school, but i doubt that'll be the case for the next 2 weeks).

IT'S FINALLY HERE. AUGUST 22.

the month of August 2008 will forever be remembered in terms of days prior and after my IOC. like today is the IOC +1, THATS how significant the exam has been. 

paul's postulated that he might take a week's break, partly to clean up his geog IA, but i don' quite think i can afford myself that luxury. 

already today looking through the past 3 weeks' work which has been in my peripheral vision, i finally appreciate the sheer amount that i have to cover for my Prelims. 

this time round, i have 3 weeks, less than in June, and the content is significantly heavier, because in essence, whatever i study now is whatever i will need to know for my IB papers. 

that said, i've already started on the whole question-spotting game, only because i want to focus on those newer topics since i've had less time to familiarize myself with them. 

walking past a SingTel store this evening, i was stopped by a poster advertising the iPhone. 

it's finally making its appearance in Singapore, and about damn time. 

whether i get it is obviously another question. 

so how much did i work for this IOC? 

i can't even begin to count the hours i've spent in school or the days when i've not thought about anything else but the extracts. 

each and everyone was annotated, then annotated again, annotated on a secondary copy, then read over, cross-referenced, structured and thesis-ed. 

and when wednesday/thursday came, i stressed, found confidence, felt uneasy, summoned up the resolve to put my books down, and then collapsed and read through everything for the 73481098276469304726th time. 

then i woke up this morning, felt sick to my stomach, forced all negative thoughts out of my head, watched the Olympics, and went to school with nothing but anticipation. 

i headed to class 'cos i needed to be around the familiar, pumped myself up more and went to the boardroom. 

i chose the second extract closest to me, saw it was Frost's Mending Wall, and started writing. 

those 20 minutes were the clearest, most unfrazzled i've had in a long time. 

everything came together, and i went to meet Mrs. Goh, my conduit. 

we spoke about some stuff, i collected my thoughts, we said a prayer, did a sound check, and then i started. 

"English A1 Higher Level IOC Examination 2008. My Name is John Leo Caines. My Candidate Session Number is 002329-198. My extract is a poem written by Robert Frost entitled Mending Wall."

I took a deep breath, and the next 15 minutes were a blur. 

"Robert Frost's contemporary American philosophy was very much an existential one, exploring the interactions between man and nature......."

12 minutes of uninterrupted commentary, 4 questions, and at 15.04, i said my last word. 

as i heard the recording playback, i smiled at how it turned out. 

Mrs. Goh and I talked a little more about the poem and my commentary, she wished me on my way, and I said thanks, which was all that i was feeling at that moment, for the poem, for the lessons, for those 15 minutes. 

and as i went out, i wished Patrick and Sarah good luck, laughed with Paul who had his during the same time as i did, reveled in the post-speech high in the SAC with some of my classmates, and took a lift home. 

i'm done, and 50% of my English A1 grade, the subject for which a 7 is worth more than any other, is accounted for. 

and now the Prelims. 

3 weeks of study, then the penultimate test. 

i've got lots of thoughts to pen down, but just over 14 hours to my IOC. 

worked, shared, stressed, found my high, Committed. 

it's been an altogether pleasant and productive day. 

my lessons started at 1140 since my timetable (which i share with Joash, the only other person in class who's in all my classes, and which explains partially his choice to stay away from school today), but i did get through 3 Maya extracts during the first english periods. then it was break, followed by a lot of facebook rubbish, namely Playfish's Brain and Word Challenges, then more Maya before i had math and econs. 

the surprise of the day was history, in which my tutor did not rely on any powerpoint slides or other media, and just taught straight off his head, and it was arguably the best lesson i've had in a long time. it was informative, engaging, and short, since he had to leave early. 

that left us some time to start on IOC prep earlier, and Gerald, Mel, Daryl, Lex, Elliot, Song Yeong, Lex, Mong and Patrick went downstairs to go through King Lear 19 and 20, the latter proving rather unsatisfying. after an extended but necessary break, we finished up the woody poem. 

i think i'll just read a little more IOC stuff this evening before resting, and tomorrow is all about getting myself in the right frame of mind. 

my tutor was spot-on - the prep phase lasts only so long, and it is the nervous energy that i bring with me to the actual exam that will propel my commentary above and beyond. 

this really is the one and final time i will need to gather all my years of oratory experience together and give it all i've got, 'cos there really isn't gonna be another presentation or whatever, as far as my pre-university schooling is concerned. 

my first full day back in school and it had to be a Week B Tuesday, and i had all my lessons, with a few interesting things sandwiched in between. 

i arrived in school later than normal, so instead of going to class to drop my stuff, i spent the first few minutes of my day chatting with yewjin. 

after the suffocating econs lessons (nothing's changed since i've been away it appears), we had a history practical, in which our tutor found that it behooved him to play a YouTube video about a Vietnam War rap/song/whatever TWICE. 

the lesson was however salvaged because he played an interview with Robert McNamara, and it was far and wide the best DVD he's shown, and i was actually left wanting to see more. 

i went for a break during the 20minute break instead of the long 80minute one, and headed for more chem dreariness with ms. primary (pronounced prembree) halogenoalkane. 

we were released slightly earlier, so i had slightly more time than expected to go though IOC stuff, but i spent the first half of that free time chatting to Ron about many an important issue, most pertinent of which being the proposed trip back to Bintan as a class for one last hurrah immediately following the IB exams. 

english strand 1 was an admin whirlwind, and we finally saw off our World Lit assignments for the final time, and i quite enjoyed the last pep talk before the IOCs this friday, if only because it got me in the right frame of mind again. studying too long without a perk-me-up can be really fatiguing. 

strand 2 was with a substitute who returns to the school after years away working on her PhD, and i'm quite looking forward to the next lesson on thursday (otherwise known as the Day before the IOC)

math was slightly delayed as my tutor was late coming to class, which meant i had some time to chat with daryl/genhuong before going back in to slog away at the rest of my calculus worksheets. 

post-school, the group that stayed back to do IOC was larger than usual, with daryl/patrick/gerald/mel/songyeong/mong, and we had a rather animated session about that poem about a wall, and left right after 'cos few of us could stay longer. 

the agenda for tomorrow is Lear 19/20, and The Wood Pile. 

i have a large chunk of free-ness in the morning all the way up to math, so i think i'll do a little Angelou or something. 

i'm probably one of the few ppl who've had the luxury of time to watch the majority of the Olympic action that ha taken place so far, and i must say it's been quite exciting. 

after watching the paper thin win Phelps & Co. carved out this morning, i headed to school, where i met Gerald when we alighted from the same bus, and later Patrick, Chun Wui and Mong, and all in all i managed to get through 4 Lear extracts and 1 poem, leaving the rest of Lear and some poems for tomorrow, and Angelou for Wednesday, and then everything again for Thursday. 

just 4 more days until i put all that i've prepared for on the line. 

Though today is a day off from school, i will be going back for the purposes of IOC.

that, however, means that i have not been to school in 6 days ever since last Monday. 

due to a rather unfortunate case of Tonsillitis, i had been quarantined rather abruptly to my room for the longest time in recent memory, leaving the house on only two occasions, the first to get Yoghurt 'cos i had a craving, and the second to attend Service this evening. 

only because it's the IOC season and i wouldn't have been paying much attention in class even if i did go to school, my long absence has been somewhat of a blessing in disguise, giving me long stretches of time to mull over the 22 possible passages from which i pick my IOC extract this coming Friday (it's that close!), and figure out what details out of the universe of literary comment i should include in my 12 minutes (+3 minutes of engaged question responses). 

i will be ever so glad when i no longer have to think about Frost, Soyinka, Owen, Angelou and Shakespeare once this friday rolls around. 

the stuff i missed this week was made significantly insignificant by the fact that friday was spent celebrating National Day in school. if the rehearsal on Monday and the photos of Facebook, the quintessential social network, are anything to go by, it was probably time better spent elsewhere. there's this one particular photo with Gen Huong waving a flag with the enthusiasm one would exhibit at watching one's own fingernails grow. 

but speaking of that, Friday and Saturday were significant days, not so much because the 8th of August this year was the most auspicious date by Chinese standards (because of the numerous '8's in the date) and starting the Opening Ceremony at 8minutes past 8pm would result in gold raining down from heaven, all the earth's rivers turning into champagne, melting ice-caps would reform instantly and dinosaurs would magically reappear, but more so because the 29th Olympiad and Singapore's 43rd National Day fell on those days. 

of all the razzle-dazzle of both ceremonies, i was most impressed by one segment in particular - during the early parts of the Opening Ceremony (before the show sections that involved what looked like a thousand Confucius lookalikes using their scrolls as percussion instruments), there was a subtle fireworks display that spanned a sizable stretch of Beijing, showing 28 footprints making their way towards the Olympic Stadium. 

i liked it for its subtlety (there really wasn't much of that) and its visual reminder of time. 

so we're off to a new week, and for me that just means 4 more days to prepare for the all-important IOC. 

These were the instructions that our class was greeted with when we entered the new MPH earlier this year for an indoor lesson on the High Elements. There aren't any written directions, so allow me to interpret the elaborate sketches that are oddly reminiscent of when i was 4 and bored in a pre-school class - 

1) You, as represented by the vertical Stick-Man, climb up the left rope ladder

2) You move across the net

3) If you aren't lucky, you fall with great speed and lie in a pool of your own blood, as represented by the horizontal Stick-Man. 

4) You get a Tick of Approval.

quite unfortunately, none of my 5 seniors from ACIB from the pool of PSC scholars were awarded the President's Scholarship, so that means there's no precedent of IB kids ascending that far up yet, despite having 2 perfect scorers from the pool to choose from, and one of them was probably the definition of overachiever, student council and all that. i wonder if my year will fare any better.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
perhaps the most anticipated movie of 2008 after The Dark Knight and The Quantum of Solace

Christian Bale, no longer Batman, but John Connor, Terminator

. . .

"see you at the debates bitches"

Monday was incredibly long, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. 

after the rather painful song-singing thingy that concluded the rehearsal for friday, we had a quick and intense english lesson since chem had been overrun. 

PE was playing badminton with Chun Wui, though initally with joash and justin, but the latter suffered a bit of a mishap when he got smacked in the face, resulting in some serious bleeding. 

had math, which means tomorrow is an early day again, and if i don't have english (if my strand 2 teacher decides not to come in during strand 1), i effetively end school at 1220, otherwise i end at 2. 

(and to gerald, in reply to your comment at the end of math: i'm glad you're in my class too =) i don't think i'll be putting "positive motivational force" in my PQ like i mused though.)

econs felt brief, though i've just received (and forwarded) an email regarding some DRQ for tomorrow, which i don't quite plan to do since i've got my IOC to prepare for. 

following that, i joined Sarah and Lucy at the Harvard talk, which was quite well done, apart from the fact that we three were more or less half of the singaporeans in the room, which was filled with foreigners, which felt kinda weird. 

i never fail to be slightly taken aback when ppl talk about pulling all-nighters - in this context, the speaker said that he had never pulled one in his time at Harvard, and Lucy and i turned to each other with this what-world-did-you-come-from look, commenting that not sleeping was as regular an occurrence in the life of an ACIB kid as the event of a weekend. 

prior to the talk's commencement, Mrs. Sim, whom i helped at MOE's ExcelFest 2007, asked if i was intending to apply for any scholarships, and told me that the Perm Sec of PMO would be coming on the 27th, despite the fact that we've listened to PSC speeches a number of times already. 

that might just be the turning point in my decision to apply for it or not. 

and i've finished my CCA and PQ for the SGC. 

Today, i went to town with Snow White. 

or rather, Colleen in a very realistic getup, in celebration of her 19th Birthday tomorrow. 

that was after lunch at Central Hong Kong Cafe, a less cushy alternative to Xin Wang. 

i left with Zhao Ming when the rest went off for dinner. 

we didn't get to visit the Istana as the grounds were closed when we got there. 

but paying the Head of State a diplomatic call from the land of Far Far Away may have made what was certainly a hilariously interesting day tip over the precipice into the bizarre. 

My IOC's in 2 weeks, and the Prelims 3 weeks after that. 

it probably comes as no surprise that i didn't make it to the cross country run in the end. 

as it turns out, only 14 ppl went, just barely making that more than half the class. 

instead, i stayed in, watched Project Runway, and met Mel and Gerald to do more IOC work. 

after Gerald left, Mel and i had ice cream at Island Creamery, and took a jaunt around the Botanic Gardens chatting, though we weren't able to enter the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden (i remember it was under construction when i passed by it many times during the SMU Hammers in '05 at the old SMU) since we were above the age of 12.