Effort

Damn I really can’t believe that two weeks have passed since I last blogged. ((More than that actually, seventeen days have passed leh.)) I’m really sorry that I can’t blog quite frequently because I really have a lot of stuff to do((or sometimes, I’m just plain lazy to do so.:P)) And are these days even actual holidays? More like “hell-i-days” There’s just so much to do and you can never be done with anything. Ever. And the thing is, I don’t even want to relax. I just don’t feel like pushing aside al the work and maybe come back to it, a little bit later. I just don’t want procrastinate. I’m sure that the work and all the expectations will just come back to haunt me in the future if I don’t commit myself to them. But the sad part is, I don’t think I can ever go on outings with 01 anymore doing these holidays. One reason for that is that my parents probably won’t allow me to go for them and the other is just because of stuff that I have to do. I’m really sorry 01 but I’ll try to come on outings during these holidays. If not, its next year for me then, I guess. Maybe, next year I’ll be able to go with y'all. But for now, I don’t think so. I’m really sorry.

The work has already been cut out for me for these holidays. Firstly, the academic stuff. Damn, I really felt really clueless she the teachers went through the stuff that we were going to learn. There was really a lot of homework given out for subjects like Science. They gave around three module outlines, two worksheets((kinda thick ones.)) and one huge, thick, booklet for Physics that contained 50+ pages. That   was really scary and daunting. And the best part is, I haven’t even looked through it yet. And the better part is that, there’s going to be a test about what’s in the book on the first Science lesson. Guess, I’m really going to be screwed if I carry on like this and I should start really at least flipping through the book and try memorizing and learning as much as I can. And there’s still revision to do. I’ll be honest here. I’ve really forgotten most of the stuff that we learnt in JH1 and JH2 and whenever I look through the stuff on LMS, some of the stuff look actually quite alien to me. Like the structure of the molecules? What’s that? And for the Math, they sent over the topics that we’re going to learn next year. Great, just great. Guess I’m going to cram learning all the topics over the holidays then. There this pretty much sums up..Wait..not yet! And on top of that I still have to do stuff for the other subjects that didn’t assign e-learning homework. There’s still IH research to do. Partly of why I’m so concerned about my academics is because of the rumors that getting a high GPA is tough. Your GPA may even be −1 your JH2 GPA, supposedly. And my JH2 GPA isn’t even good. And its not only for the GPA, its for the whole learning experience and the development of the student so that he has adequate knowledge of his school’s syllabus. (Damn, do I sound like and Education Minister? haha)

Secondly, physically I have a lot of work to do. I’m not fit enough. Not strong enough. Not fast enough. Not enduring enough. ((Does that even make sense?XD)) I really have a lot of training to do. The tournament for my age group is next year and I have exactly around 11 months to train for it. 11 MONTHS. Its really a short period of time and by then I have to become better. MUCH BETTER that what I currently. I can’t even imagine how huge my opponents will be. And I’ll be going against much huger opponents, opponents that all be much more skillful than me. Opponents that will only rest after they are assured of a win. Opponents that can’t wait to get the better of you. Opponents that will look for your weak points and take advantage of them. I’ve got to really have the fire, the passion, and match up with them in every area, or be even better, to beat them. The fire has to burn on, on and on, even when the competition is over, it still ha sot burn. Because, the passion for the sport is not something that lasts only for a competition, months, weeks or even days. It’s something that lasts for an entire lifetime. Something that last up till your last breath. You have to live and breathe the sport. That’s when you know you have the passion. I’m really proud of my passion for soccer and I hope that I will develop the same passion as well for Cricket. I’ve got to. I simply can’t afford to not have it at all.

I’ve been playing cricket and training at least a few times a week now and the coach is really helping me out. But another part of the training is the fitness part. Haha I really don’t want to elaborate on this and show off or anything so yeah. But the hardest part, is really getting the motivation to move my butt to go and exercise haha. But I’ve got to say that I see frequent visitors at the weights room and one of them is actually Mr Perel. To me, he’s really a great fitness motivator((or is it motivation leh?) Btw, I saw this picture.

Source:http://teamfamilyfitness.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2013/05/effort.jpg

Well I really hope that my effort will pay off in the end sia. However, generally having just the effort sometimes isn’t simply enough, we have to have a positive mindset and be happy with what we’re doing and do it for ourselves. Do it our own personal gain, and not do it just because someone else told us to do so or because of any other external reason. It’s gonna be because of what you want and not what others want, although sometimes, other’s expectations are really good and can help motivate you. But in the end, remember, do it for yourself, your own sake, cos’ what you do is not going to help other people in the end, its for your own growth and development. 

Source: http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-give-100-effort-2.png

And if you ever think that the effort that you’re putting in isn’t enough and isn’t helping achieve what you want, look at this.

Source: http://rlv.zcache.com/inspirational_effort_poster-r723a18dd1685475283219d1349a50cf0_w2u_8byvr_512.jpg

So why not squeeze out whatever that’s left in you. And sometimes, putting in 100% of your effort isn’t enough, 101% is what is needed. The 100% is your pure effort and the remaining 1% is your effort from experience. This is the defining factor in whatever you do. It really shapes whatever you’re doing and so on. Depending on the situation, working hard may be suitable, and working smartly instead may be a better thing to do.

And one last pic. to sum it all off.

Source: http://www.bubblews.com/assets/images/news/1946147070_1366437872.jpg

Sorry if this turned into a motivational post or something haha. I really hope it does achieve its purpose of being one though!:)

Btw, good luck to all the guitarists taking part in the Trinity examination. We have around 48 hours to prove our worth, lets go and show them what we’ve got!:)

One-derland

Today was the last official school day with the rest of the one-ders. It was a great day and I really felt that the love for one another really showed and came out. I don’t know how to say this but I’ll really miss each and every one of them next year. Its even hard to imagine the fact that next year, we won’t be together in the same class anymore and would be in separate classes and wouldn’t get the opportunity to talk to each other as freely as before. We also won’t be able to enjoy each others’ company during classes next year anymore. We also can’t have all those random talk sessions at the end of school and the random stay-back sessions where we went down to play frisbee and just enjoy ourselves and have the time of our lives or even the days where we stayed back just to go out and bond together as a class. I’ll certainly miss this class. Can I just time-travel back to where we started out on the last day of orientation as people who never knew that they would eventually become really bonded with each other and share a special relationship that can never be expressed in words? The time where we just sianly walked over to the 101 classroom because we had to, never even have the mere thought of creating many precious memories with the rest in the class? Argh, I simply adore this class and its just going to be so hard to leave them after this year.:’(

And the last day of school, just made us realize how close we’ve become to one bother and how much we were going to miss each other next year, when we weren’t going to be in the same class and stay together as one big one-der family in the same class. It also made us realize how hard it would be to stay close to one another next year, when we were going to be split up. At first, the videos of the things that we did for the Cultural Mapping thing and the Drama production were shown and we relived the memories of these few things that we did in the earlier part of this year. I actually found some of the parts still funny although I had watched it before and I felt that a these memories could never, ever grow old and would stay alive in our hearts forever.

Then, Megan played the video that she had created for us. A video that encapsulated almost all the memories that we had created as a class. A video that contained photos of days spent in the class, those random photos that had been taken with or without people’s knowledge and the things and the memories that we had created with each other in these two years as one-ders. Things and memories that we may have taken for granted in these two years that we spent together. There were countless photos and some of them really brought out the laughs but in the end, they made us start tearing. These memories that we had created just made us so emotional and the realization that these memories could never be made again made it worse. These photos just showed how we had enjoyed the days that we had spent in the same class together, how we simply loved each other’s company, and all the various emotions that we had experienced. This video really brought us through an emotional roller-coaster and everyone started crying around me. Although I had been trying to hold back my tears and actually comfort the rest to stop crying and start smiling and enjoying this last day of school that we had, in the end, the tears just flowed out. This was the first time that I had cried in many years and made in my whole lifetime. (My mum had actually said that I didn’t even cry when I had been born.) I didn’t even feel like stopping the tears. There was no use in doing so. I didn’t even think that I could stop them from flowing out. It was really tough. The principal’s contact session where she talked about how quite badly we had done in comparison to the other cohorts didn’t even affect the impact that the video had on us and the second part still brought out the same emotions in us. I actually loved the “ testimonials” part and they showed how we felt and loved each other as a class. I’m actually quite proud and happy that one of them was from my blog haha. We soon got into a circle and talked about how we loved the times that we spent in 01 and how we felt. Mr Teo had said that we were still going to see each other next year but I felt that that wasn’t the point. The separation and the realization that we were going to be together anymore was already bad enough. 

Next, after school, we had the class outing and went to Vivo, the place that we had most of our class outings. I think it sort of also helped me relive some of the memories that we had created during the class outings that we had had over there in the past. We played in the water and just started splashing each other about and playing “Old Grandmother”. (And did I mention that I got kicked in the ass four times haha?) I guess people found a way to stop me from showing my ass to them whenever they wanted to splash some water.XD We also played this Chinese game and I think I sort of epic failed when I wanted to catch Ian as I fell into the water at one time. I guess the time spent in the water just allowed to relax a bit and enjoy each other’s company in the remanning that we had left as a class before we had to split up. Next, we took some photos and I left because my mum wanted me back hime as the next day was Deepavali.

Mr Lee is also leaving us next year. He had actually told some of us about it much earlier but I guess he didn’t want anyone else t be affected by his leave from the school. To be honest, there will always be a place in my heart for all the one-ders and Mr Lee. They have really impacted my life in the short time that I have spent with them.

The awesome one-ders(when we got our class hoodie.)

The still awesome one-ders(on homeroom day.)

There’s actually a song that I would like to dedicate to all the one-ders and Mr Lee at this point in time when we’re going to split up.

“Hold your head up high

 And don’t be afraid of the dark

 At the end of a storm

 There's a golden sky

 And the sweet silver song of a lark”

"Walk on, walk on,

 With hope in your heart,

 And You’ll Never Walk Alone”

These lyrics are actually from the song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” I know it was originally created for Liverpool but I guess its also also applicable to us in this period of time. We shouldn’t be “afraid of the dark” now, when we are going to split up at the end of the the year, and think that that there would be a “golden sky” when we will definitely meet up with one another again, and create many memories again as one-ders. I also think that by walking on, “with hope in our hearts that we will meet again”(which we will do, in the next few years, definitely) and when we meet each other, 

we will “Never Walk Alone” and always be there for another.

All of us will forever be one-ders and always be in one-derland. 

And remember YNWA. (You’ll Never Walk Alone.)

And this is the song.

                                                                        You’ll Never Walk Alone(By Gerry and The Pacemakers)

Teachers’ Day+Leaving the one-ders

 Yesterday was Teachers’ Day and it was really fun. School started later than usual as it was a Thursday and we had some celebrations in school. They were held in the hall and to be honest, they were quite entertaining. There were some solo performances and if I’m not wrong, there was one by Soh. (sorry if I spelt the name wrongly.) I thought that she sang quite well and the crowd really cheered her as she sang. There was also Kaushik who sang. I thought that he sang quite well, but the background music was just too loud at times, so it was hard to hear him singing. There were other performances by Indian Dance, the Choir and the Student Council. There was also one segment where they asked the students to identify the teacher that had a certain item. I guess that didn’t appeal to me much.:( Towards the end of the celebrations, there was also this segment where they handed out awards to certain teachers. The whole thing ended at around 11.30 am. 11.30 AM. And I had asked Joshua(or Jang:P) to wait for me at the bus stop at 11. Damn, I was really late.

But he was still there at the bus stop. We went to SJIJ together and along the way, we talked about our lives and so on. There were actually a few interesting topics that we talked about.:P Our opinions on certain things and so on. We finally reached SJIJ at about 12.15pm, I think. We toured the school and we went to go and see the teachers. Unfortunately, most of them already left the school for some tea break that they were supposed to have and we couldn’t see them . However, Mrs Ng and our science teacher were still there. I actually forgot my science teacher’s name sia. So it was like really weird and we just said hi. And Jang actually forgot a lot of stuff sia. Even the fact that we were from the same class haha.

We met the other people from our class there. Only a few people came and we only managed to see Jarrett, Marc Lim, Nicholas and Kok F’ng over there. We had a mini soccer session with some of the older former students that had come over and the Patrick students. Kaushik and Nathan had also come there. After a while, we went to United Square and waled around before we decided to finally go over to Novena Square for lunch. We actually spent a lot of time thinking about where we should go over to eat and in the end, Jang and I decided to just run off to Subway to eat and leave the rest. We had some fun over at Subway and talked about football and topics like the top-four chances for each team, Bayern Munich’s potential and whether Jose Mourinho’s moves and choices were justified. So our prediction of the top four is as follows. Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham. I guess this could end up being the result at the end of the season.

After eating, we went over to the Kopitiam where the other were eating and chatted with them before we made our way home. Jang, Nicholas and I took the same train and we bade our goodbyes to the rest. After we had reached our destinations, we also said bye to each other.

I guess I should spend more time with my primary school friends. After all, I went through a lot with them. Maybe we should meet up more often or just randomly chat with one another when we’re free or something. I wouldn’t mind a soccer outing anyway.

However, that doesn't mean that my current class is any less important. I’ve been with this bunch of one-ders for around 1 and three quarters of a year already and leaving them would be hard. I’be got to know each and every one of them better as time went by and I feel that we are really bonded. I’m really grateful to be in a class like this. We’re really bonded and I hope that we can always be like this. Hope that we can actually be in the same class next year too.(Not that its going to happen, sadly.:() Like each and every one of us makes this class special, unique. Every singe person is important. I hope that maybe even after this year, we will still go out on outings if possible or stay in touch with one another.

And the sad thing is, we have only around a term left with each other. It its actually a full term as Term 4 is actually quite short as compared to the other terms. I hope we will be able to make more memories in the time we have left and treasure them. I’ll really miss this bunch of people when we have to go our separate ways..

And Mr Lee is also changing our seating arrangement next term. I actually quite like my table. I’ve been sitting with them for half a year already and we’ve made some memories together. I’ll miss them too. But I guess Mr Lee also wants us to socialize more with others in the class, so I guess that changing tables is kind of inevitable. So I decided that I should describe my table mates (as requested by Jia Xin) but I don’t think I’ll do it today. The time is..damn. I think I’d better got to sleep. I’ll edit the post soon and put in the descriptions

Here are the descriptions:
(From my right to left)

Xuan Rong: I guess she’s really a mature person and stuff but she still has those times when she becomes hyper and starts meowing in class or “nyahaha-ing”. She’s fun to be with and has been a really great table mate. She’s also really good at all the subjects and she’s really determined and focussed in class. I guess she’s a smartie-pants or something haha. She’s also helpful and helps me out in lessons when I may be lost or may not understand something. I also have all those little arguments with her and I guess that these ones actually help me improve my debating skills and all. She’s really good at debating too btw and I guess by sitting next to her, I’ve improved in my studies quite a bit, and learnt how to write extremely fast. Sitting with her has been a great experience and I’ve got to know her better.

Praveen: That’s me! I guess if I do a description of me, I’ll be probably describing myself as the best person alive so yeah haha.

Jia Xin: She’s a great person to be sitting beside and great friend to talk to. Haha I guess that I would be sleeping in class, if I didn’t talk to her in class or something. I guess I feel guilty about making her angry whenever I don’t sit properly in class. She’s really helpful(except for the times that she refuses to lend anyone her correction tape) and is really smart! She’s also great in studies although she doesn’t seem like she mugs much. She also kinda sucks(just kidding) and doesn’t realize sometimes that she’s insulting the most awesome person alive by calling that him or her a thick skull. Hmph.(haha JKJK). She’s also another one of the fangirls that love my singing. (haha JKJK again.) I also ship her and someone from 06! JiaCardo just looks so cute together! Sitting with her has been a great experience for me.

Xinyi: She’s really a great friend to talk to and she really understands you most of the time and helps you out when you’re down or something by presenting another viewpoint or something. She’s also a great friend to confide in and talking to her is really fun and I’ve learnt a lot of stuff.(P.S. I like reading her essays too.:P) She also offers great advice and I like the random topics that we talk about.  She also can be quite funny at times and lifts the mood of the table when all of us feel bored. She’s also is quite helpful when it comes to doing work or just everyday stuff. She’s also really enthusiastic especially when it comes to playing games haha. She’s really smart too and really raises interesting and valid points during LA. I’m also grateful to have a friend like her and sitting with her has been a great experience.

I guess I’m really gonna miss my table mates after we split up next week or something. Hope that we will go on some outings or something and stay bonded as a table group. (I’ll come for the outings this time for sure!:))

Change yourself if you can.(For the better.)

This week sucked. I’m serious, I just felt so bad, this week. I’m really doing crap for most of the things. I’ve really go to improve. I’ve got to push on. I’ve got to go back to all those that I missed out on, and tend to those things. No matter how insignificant and unimportant things might have appeared then, I’ve realized that its my job now to go back and change everything.

Looking back on my life, I realize that I haven’t accomplished much. I’m just a normal student, just like everyone else, studying, playing and enjoying myself. This is what practically everyone does. What have I done that is special? I’m just a normal person, just like everyone in society, getting judged by everything that is a part of me. There are 7 billion people in this world, trying to fit in.(All Around The World reference) And I’m just one of them, trying to survive through the thing that’s called, life. And I live in Singapore, a country that is so successful, in so many areas. And I make up one of the 5 million people residing here. I haven’t done anything extraordinary, I haven’t even done anything. i haven’t even contributed in any way. I’m just ANOTHER student. Or maybe, just another resident, in the bigger picture. I’m just a resident of the world, and I’m already struggling. Struggling with so much work. Struggling with so much commitments. Maybe, then, it wasn’t that important a thing, but now, I realized that I’m going nowhere. I’ve to become a better person.

So what spurred this change? There were a lot of things that happened this week, but I what I really want to talk about, is, what happened today. The Cricket season started today. It was a new season and I really wanted to do my best. Do my best and improve the coach. The coaches were a new this time around, and I felt that this was my chance to show them what I was made of. I started training with my brother before the training itself and we started off by throwing some balls to each other. The coaches were watching us and they didn’t say anything. Maybe they were impressed, maybe they weren't. They seemed really encouraging though, throwing back the ball whenever, my ball spun too much or simply put, just went off-target. After that we did some batting drills by ourselves. After a while, the training session begun.

We started off with some throwing drills, unusually and what was the most interesting part was that the drill was the same thing as the one that my brother and I were doing. We got into pairs and I partnered my brother as usual. We were throwing the balls to each other and one of the coaches, came over to me and corrected me. He told me that my technique was a little off and taught me how to do it better. He encouraged me and told me that I could do it. That left a lasting impression on me.

Next, we had some goalkeeper practice. There were two cones, on either side of a designated area and we had to move and dive to prevent the balls from crossing the line.The coach split us into four groups at first, but later, before we had even begun, he told me, that I had potential and transferred me to another group with better people. I dived and twisted and turned and did my best to stop the balls from passing by me. He commended my effort and told me that I could have just jumped to my side to stop some of the balls.

There was some throwing practice after, and one of the coaches and the main coach corrected my technique and encouraged me on to hit the middle stump. The balls went really close according to them, and they told me not to give up hope. In the end, I didn’t even hit it at all.

Then, the last part of the training session. The guys came along and asked me whether I would want to pair with them but I rejected them politely. My brothers was much more important. I fielded a few balls and was left to rue a few missed chances where we could have got the batsmen out. Then it was my brother’s and my turn to bowl and bat. I played as the wicketkeeper for a while, and the coach cheered me on though I evidently had lost touch with the position and let a few balls go past me.

Then I had to bowl. The coach told me that my balls were going a little off and told me to pitch it a little to the right side. He even told me that changing my side would be a better option. I did so and got a wide in six balls. Not bad eh? haha:)

It was my turn to bat with my brother soon after. I was batting feel at first and didn’t hit a few wides. I attempted to hit the last ball though and almost got out. Phew, that was close. I was quite disappointed that I hadn’t hit that many balls at first but later after hearing my team’s score, was quite contented with myself.

And then, I had to field again. This was the frustrating part. There were just so many chances for me to get the coach out, and I didn't. It was really painful for me. I wanted to do better. I wanted to just become a better player and prove myself and I didn't. I wanted to do some extra work and back-up the keeper and in the end, didn’t do that well. The first few balls didn’t reach me and for the others, I was just plain slow. I walked away, dejected after the training. I could have done much better. I had already had a year of cricket training and I still couldn’t do this? Disappointing. Really, disappointing.

I’m not trying to brag or anything. This is honestly how I feel.

And the incident that happened last week is still fresh in my mind. It was really demoralizing. Maybe, it was interpreted all wrongly. But…but..couldn’t it have been the other?

Why? Just why? Why did it have to turn out this way?

No, even thinking about doing that is stupid. Thank You for helping me realize my mistake. Thank You.

I have only one thing to say about this-

People change.

Haters

This post is really long so if you read every single part of it, I’ll be really happy and here’s a big thank-you!

Hi people! I’m back again! Really sorry for not blogging earlier. I remembered that I said that I would blog on Tuesday or something but I fell asleep before I even started using the computer again. You see, on Tuesday, I ended at around 5.30pm and only came home at around 6pm and had not slept in between. I had to start doing my work immediately and there was almost no time for me to blog. I did some of my IH and went to lie down in my bed and before I knew, I fell fast asleep. Great, just great. And there went a few precious hours of my life. I don’t usually sleep at around 11pm but that day, I was really very tired and in need of a rest after cricket.

Last week’s cricket training was actually that organized and Ganesh and me just stayed back at school and went for training at 3.30pm We got the equipment out and started bowling and batting a few balls. Then, Courier came over and he corrected our techniques and all. We sweated and all in our uniforms. We weren’t even planning to go down on that day initially and we had not brought our PE attires along. However, not wearing the PE attire didn’t actually make much of a difference and did not affect our playing style or anything. Courier said that my bowling technique wasn’t good and that I had to perfect it before I could start and so, I went off. It was quite demoralizing at first but after a while, I realized that it was for my own good that Courier had asked me to learn the basics. The basics have to be really learnt thoroughly before you approach cricket. I think its the same for every other sport too, isn't it?

On Tuesday, we had the second training session and I felt that this was a little more ‘low-key’ in a way. We didn’t actually play that much and we ended earlier than usual due to our parents. For this training session, Ganesh, Nishanth and I came along. I really appreciated Nishanth coming along to play the sport with us rather than going off to play somewhere else. Siyang also came to throw a few balls and it was actually a more fun training session in a way as the seniors called along their friends to just bat our balls. Courier said that my technique was improving but that I could still do better. Guess who’s training more now? I’m really thankful for Courier’s and the other seniors’ advice. It really helps me to grow as a person and those little bits of criticism really help me to improve. Thank You.

Speaking about criticism, I have been actually thinking people having haters and all in the society. The word hater, is defined in the dictionary as someone who greatly dislikes a specified thing or object. He is also perceived to be a negative or critical person.

Haters are everywhere. In society, don’t you see them? Don't you see people criticizing certain people who produce music for instance. Most of these people have no specific reason to hate or despise this certain person or object but mainly do it just because the people around them are doing so. Only a handful have a reason, which may in some instances be, the certain person’s products being unreasonably popular. Even their reasons are not justified. These reasons mainly stem from jealousy. Is this good enough a reason to hate someone? In my opinion, its a big, fat NO. If someone’s better than you, shouldn’t you strive to be like him? You shouldn't despise him, should you?

However, some of these haters actually do more harm than good. They are like a double-edged sword(Yes, I know, the effects of LA). Sometimes, they demoralize that person or the person behind the object by displaying their hate, but most of the time, by making their hate known, they actually make the people more popular and help publicize the person. As people learn about this person, they will more often than not, decide for themselves, whether they would like to support him. Sometimes, the hate also makes them do better things and become a better person. However, in some instances, the person has to take this negative feedback, review it and decide for himself if he would like to change himself. Sometimes, changing yourself for other isn’t good.

So stop hating and start loving.

Bye!

The first week of school.

 So school started again. At first, I really wasn’t looking forward to it. I mean like who would? As a student, you had to wake-up early, and for that matter, I had to wake up at around 6 every week day except for Thursday when school started an hour later. After waking up, I had to do my stuff, and go down by 6.25am, and then start my 600-700m walk to the MRT. Guess this is part of my daily exercise.XD I actually time myself whenever I walk along that route and I have actually somehow improved my timing. Last year, I needed around 15 minutes to completely cover the distance and so I had to wake up a little earlier. Wait, actually not a little. 5 minutes is really a LOT. I could have used those precious minutes laying down in bed, actually having some deserved rest. Argh, but now I cover the same distance in about 10 minutes. So I reach the MRT at about 6.35am. Most of the time, when I reach the MRT station at about this time, the signboard would say that the train was either a minute away or had arrived. I would then join all the other commuters ‘chionging’* to the train, trying to get onto it before it departs. And most of the time I make it just in time. The SMRT staff who control the train’s movement really deserve credit for this. If not for them, I would have had to wait for the next train. But sometimes, I don’t make it in time, and just as I am about to reach the last flight of steps, the train abandons me and I start scolding myself. I mean like the train was only a few seconds away and couldn’t my legs have carried me down the steps just a little faster? And then after about ten minutes on the train, I would have to catch a bus to school and walk up a few flights of steps to finally reach my class. Tiring, isn’t it? And I even would have to skip my breakfast in the morning, just for school. At first, on Tuesday, I really missed the holidays, those days when I could wake up at around 9am and not have to start getting ready for school. Those days, where, I could just lay in bed whenever I wanted and be transported to the plea of my dreams.JKJK But Tuesday on the whole, wasn’t that bad, we had two one-hour breaks and we ended quite early at 2pm.

 After school were the exco interviews. They were daunting at first as we had to play a selected piece with just ten minutes of preparation time, and considering the fact that some of us weren’t actually that skillful when it came to playing the guitar, ten minutes was actually quite short. However, miraculously, I managed to practice the whole song before the interviews and familiarized myself a little with it. The senior that was supervising kept telling me that I looked nervous and that I should just relax. After a while, the teachers started arriving at the Music Room, where the interview was supposed to be held and I really felt scared. Honestly, I thought that my guitar playing wouldn’t be good enough for the teachers’ liking and I started practicing harder. Why had I come there? To get the exco position. And I wasn’t going to back out there, at that moment.

 After a while, I entered the room for my interview. To be honest, I was really afraid that I would not be able to give the interviewers satisfactory answers. But in the end, I just did my best and was satisfied with myself. The interviewers really cared about the CCA as a whole and their dedication to the CCA really impressed me. I wanted to be like one of them. Outside, I saw Glynis practicing and wished her well.(It was her turn after mine.) I hope she did well in her interview. Then we would be the only JH2s in the exco!! Maybe, we’ll get the positions of the IDO and the FAC. We’ll see what happens!:)

*’chionging’ refers to rushing.

See you in the next blog post!!:) Maybe I should do two next week with one being about life and the other about Liverpool Football Club.

Decisions

Have you ever wondered about all those actions that you did? Or the ones that you planned to do but pulled out all of a sudden? What about those things that you plan to do in the future? Can you classify them to be either right or wrong? Is there anyway that this can be done? Like can a morally wrong thing be justified to be actually acceptable as human nature? For example, you do something that is frowned upon by the society, but, if it was to give you enjoyment or pleasure for that matter or even some benefits, could it be accepted? The act did benefit you in the end and maybe saved you from going into depression. Then again, it may be something that is against the law or illegal, so does it make it wrong instead? Over here, I feel that we have to consider the certain consequences or after-effects of the action. For example, it may please you, only for a short period of time. but would that be a black mark that would haunt you throughout your entire life? Decisions are really important over here and a single wrong move could lead to disastrous effects. But if the act does not have any positive nor any negative effects, the choice is clear. Don’t do it.

Your actions can have really a huge impact on your future. Suppose you treat you friend rudely and ignore him for a day completely, it’ll be ought to get back together with him. Even if you apologize, its definitely not going to be easy. Well, after having going through life for a couple of years already, we should be able to recognize what will be acceptable and not in certain situations. For example, a joke may not be tolerated by someone who is strict while your parents may just laugh it off. Its all about acting in the context of the situation you are in. However, sometimes, there’s the need to experiment with things to find out more about what is right or not to say or do in a certain place. Decisions can change your life for the worst or the better. So the choice lays in your hands. Choose wisely.

‘’When nothing goes right, go left’’-A quote from some random person haha:)

Stuck in the moment(Part Two)

Hi there! Woow..blogging can quite addicting haha. My third post in the third week I started this blog. I shall clap for myself now.:P Many things have happened over the last week and these few days. We had our first class outing of the holidays and I just went swimming today.

The class outing was quite fun and we went to the Nex for it. Joel and I reached there quite early and we saw Megan and Aden over there. We kept walking around the place where they were finally, caught sight of us. Finally haha.:P I guess we were there for around 5 minutes until they noticed. Then, we were feeling kind of bored and we decided to like walk around and go shopping. We didn’t actually shop and just walked around anddd..we almost got lost! Did I forget to mention that I have got lost there before? Oh yah, when I went there sometime ago, I went to the library there and saw a couple PDA-ing. They were so cute! And all those smooching noises could be heard! Awww! I even turned around to have glimpse of what they were doing.:P Guess I was just being curious. Plain curious. But oh well, that’s another story. Then, we saw this NERF tournament of some sort that was taking place over there. I bet I can play better than them.JKJK. But, they kind of good, and, boy, some of them really took it quite seriously. Then, we wanted to go down as it was time for us to meet the rest at the MRT. And we forgot how to go down..argh…we took a considerable amount of time finding the escalator. Well, I think around ten people came for the outing, including myself, and excluding Mr Lee which is actually quite a big number considering the worsening haze condition in Singapore now. We had lunch at Fish n Co aaaaannnddd I was made to sit..well, somewhere. After that, we went to Joel’s KTV and spent quite a bit of time over there. It was really chilly in there and I really should have brought along my sweater. I was close to shivering. Brr.. Well, first I tried playing pool and failed miserably and after that we started singing. I decided to sing along too eh. Well, I guess I was too loud and a few actually heard my horrible voice.XD But oh well, I knew most of the songs and I was bored with nothing else to do, so that seemed like my only option to keep me entertained. After that, we played Truth or Dare-Karaoke Style where if you had the mike when the song was paused, you had to either choose truth or volunteer to do a dare. Well, being adventurous(nah, JK), I chose a dare and I had to sing some ‘’Show you the world’’ song to someone, which I actually didn’t do that well, but hey, I did my best.:) Well, after that I played around and my mum wanted me back home as it was time and I left haha. And I left my earphones there. Great. Well, at least it was found haha. The class outing was really fun overall and maybe it could have been better but the haze situation was there so not that much could be done about it.

And swimming today. I went to the Bishan Swimming Complex with my my parents and my brother and we swam a few laps. Well, I did swim a few, but I had to stop halfway. I really don’t know why, but I can’t swim after swimming for 100m. Well, I luckily dent bang into anyone while I was swimming and I had a really close shave today haha. Did I forget to mention that I saw an old man relieving himself there?XD

Aaaand I shall continue with the the story. Maybe I should stop using the aaands after all.

I found NJC in the Selections’ Book and that’s when everything changed. I immediately notified my parents of my decision of appalling to the school for a place there. They were quite unsure at first, since it was a mixed school and all but I somehow managed to convince them. The next day, we went to NJC and applied for a place with all the relevant documents. The general office then was actually quite deserted and I actually thought that I was the only one going to appeal in to the school. After that, i walked around the campus with my mum and I was really amazed at the size of it. It was really huge! Much, much, much bigger than my SJIJ campus and there was even a cafe there! To tell the truth, NJ really impressed me. After that, we went to the canteen and I found it to be quite big too and it had ten stalls, up from the six that I was used to having at SJIJ. Only the Muslim food stall was open and I had to buy for from there. The food was not that bad actually. When I was returning the plate, I saw the contact number of the basketball captain on a poster posted near there and I saved his number. i really wanted to get into the Basketball CCA in NJ. It was only after I reached home that I started thinking about things. Firstly, NJ was a really competitive school and would I be able to cope with the pressure? Secondly, there was going to be a lot of assignments and projects of that sort. Could I handle those? And a couple more were also raised inside my mind. But isn’t life full of challenges? Well, this was also one and I decided to go for it and prove myself. And aww yeah, my appall was successful and I got into NJ. I was really happy and we immediately went to ACS(I) to withdraw my name from their school so that could allocate my place to another person. We actually met a parent outside whose son was hoping to appeal into the school. Well, maybe I helped him get a place? haha. We gave some form that they gave us to NJ and at last, I could call myself a student of NJC, the first ever Junior College in Singapore! Aww Yeah!XD

And in the next episode, haha, I shall talk about the orientation that I had. Till then, bye!:)

Stuck in the moment

Now, I actually have been thinking about how things were last year. For example, like how school was, what my thoughts were, how I viewed myself, my opinion on things and well, basically everything. Many things, if not all have changed from that time. I have changed too as a person, maybe for the better or the worse. My outlook on life maybe changed, the things that kept me going and the things that I used to cherish. Everything. Except, for some, that can never, ever be changed. Last year was a totally new year for me as I came into secondary school for the first time. Let me rewind back to last year.:)

Well, to be honest, I never ever thought that I would come to NJ in P6, even after my PSLE results were released. The first few schools that were being considered by me, or my parents for that matter, were RI, ACS(I), Victoria, SJI and Anderson. There those schools were my options. Well, more schools were actually added on to that list by me after a while, but NJC was never considered by me. I didn’t even know that NJC ever existed then. I actually had flipped through the Secondary Schools selections book many times, but, no, I had never seen NJC there. My posting results came, and I was posted to ACS(I). I reported there on the first day with my parents, and, we were apparently late After that, I visited the school four more times. The day after the posting results, my parents came again with me to sign something and a few days later, I went there, alone. They were selling the uniforms that day and I just wanted to walk around the school to familiarize myself with it. I remember that I didn’t wander off too far and just got my uniform sizes without buying anything. The next day, I went to the school again with my parents and we really toured the school compound this time. We didn’t actually go everywhere but we went to the areas like the canteen and the main school building. Did I forget to mention that ACS(I) was huge?:P To me, then, ACS(I) looked like a dream school with its facilities and all but, it was only after I reached home, that I really started to think about which school I should go to. I looked at the orientation package(or smth, I can’t remember><) that they had given me on the day after the posting. The school fees and the list of the subjects taught were there, including some other stuff like booklets, if I’m not wrong. Suddenly, I felt the urge to look through the selections book one more time. I flipped through and looked for any school that looked appealing. Well, that was when, I first found NJC.

Now, I feel like putting in some To Be Continued thing haha.

Well, first, here, I shall put in a self-intro of myself. I’m Praveen Viji, 14 years of age from Singapore. I’m from this really awesome school called National Junior College (NJC) and from this awesome class, JH201. Liverpool blood runs in my veins and YOLO.

So well, here it goes,

To Be Continued.

Back to square one.

Hieeee!! Haha maybe I sound too enthu about creating my third blog and posting in it for the first time.
This blog is synced with my e-mail but not with the one that I use mainly for communication purposes etc. This will make it even harder for people to find this blog.:P

The June holidays just started, and sadly, to say, I haven’t started on any of my homework yet. I guess none of the days so far have been productive actually and I really got to be kore focussed over the next few days. Reading Julius Cesar is another thing that I have to tackle. I have actually heard some people saying that the book is boring and all, but honestly, to me, its quite interesting. I mean like, although the English used may be really dry, the plot is quite captivating(?). Like, at the end of the book, can you find an actual hero? Or an actual villain?

The last week has been boring and I haven’t actually had that much entertainment. Like apart from the football gossip and the random things on twitter? Nah, not much. I gamed quite a lot actually but I studied a lot too. It never feels like I studied even though I put in all those hours of hard work everyday. It doesn’t fell like the holidays but more like…, the hellidays.

Now, to the competition I had on last Saturday. My team was named the ‘Elephants’ and we had to bowl for 14 overs first against the Raq’s. We did quite well and limited the hard-hitting team to 51 runs which was a huge feat. We also got four of them out. Well, I hope we bat well next week and beat them in the end. We batted against the Sixers and scored 49 runs in 14 overs with all the batsmen out. I contributed 23 runs out of that and scored two boundaries which were five runs each. I got out though as my ball just dropped before the boundary during the last over. It was a good match actually, and I’m not actually that pleased with my performance. I’m sure that I can do much better.:)

Liverpool seems to be doing great in the transfer window so far and we have been linked to quite a number of players actually, and we seem to be close to completing the deals for most of them. I hope no one leaves though, as we had a brilliant team last season with many players improving. Aspas is reported to be heading to Anfield today to undergo a medical before signing for us. Yay! The Ajax duo of Christian Erikson and haha idk the other guy’s name are also close to signing for us. Or at least that’s what the newspapers say. I hope that the rumors are true though.:) Henrik Mhyktarian, I think and the Sporting defender and Papa have been heavily linked with us. Hope they can become done deals by the end of the summer!:)

Some things just go back to square one. Some things don’t last. Some things are lost. Some things are broken. Some things hurt. Some things just can’t wait to happen again. Some people have feelings. Some people don't. Some people just fall, unknowingly. Some people use this. Some people use this for gain. Some people’s love just ain’t that strong. Some people may just let go. Some people may just get angry at the slightest of things. Some people overreact. Some people never want to lose it. Some people may disappoint, but they never want to lose it. Some people just are unaware of how they make others feel as result of their actions. Some people, just, heartlessly, leave.

But these are the things that make up Life. So cherish all these moments. Peace.