Empty Street

Quantum of Solace

2008-11-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

a cooler title that most people do not understand.

a whole lot more of action that most people cannot even grasp.

a continued plot that most people barely knew what was happening.

Well that is Quantum of Solace for you.

So basically caught this movie during Artemis Faculty Outing to the movies on Friday night and was left rather unsatisfied and disappointed at all the hype about it.

I think as the cliche critics always put it; sequels truly are a difficult mix to deal with. See it this way, if you have a successful 1st attempt, people would definitely expect it to be better. Or if it was a chaotic 1st attempt that was rather diastrous, well, first of all a sequel would not exist at all or even so people won't even be bothered or expected to catch it. Well it all goes down to expectations really.

So that aside, as a whole I would say that Quantum of Solace may well be classified yet as another typical classy kind of James Bond movie. Much of the plot here is a continuation from the impressive Casino Royale, where 007 is seeking revenge for the murder of Vesper Lynd. The main, lets call it "problem that sets the climax" of the plot is a men named Dominic Greene from the Quantum organisation, who intends to take control and domination over the water supply in Bolivia.

In terms of plot wise, well lets just say that the action and thrills of the film more or less completely overshadow the plot direction and most of the audience are lost or trying to get glimpse of what the film is really saying within the 1st half hour of the film. But then again, its a James Bond movie- what do you expect?

Many pertinent provoking issues lies within premises of the plot that can definitely be highlighted if this is a dramatic piece gunned for oscars. The whole issue of dominance and military lords in South America, issues of corruption and poor governance, concept of environmental and basic needs control. Lots of meaty social issues with lots of room for thought and thinking. However, as mentioned earlier, this is a James Bond movie, so lets just move on.

Daniel Craig puts in yet another well partly charming, partly composed performance as 007 and as with all the critics comments and reports, he is fast becoming one of the most popular bond since Sean Connery.

That aside, Quantum of Solace really is just another James Bond film.

It is a definite fact that most people, like me, will tend to compare this with Casino Royale, holding rather high hopes of a new reinvigorated bond series. But that is not the case. Casino Roayle is like the occassional joy you get when we see a wonderful attacking linkup and play in football. But others like Quantum of Solace, is just that average, usual plays, goals and scores that we see in the sport of football.

afterall, at the end of the day, as much as plays and stuff matters, its all about the final score in football as with anything else. People pay to just see the overall thing- that action and thrill that moves faster than your eye.

so similarly, Quantum of Solace- yet another James Bond film that most people will see and say,
"oh so thats it."

For the last time.

2008-11-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

It began on an April afternoon, right after PE lesson. In the classroom we waited and listened. And then by fate and chance we were casted together. One will recall the signing of "a contract" and the thoughts of various plans. But most notably, silence was the motif.

We all will remember that day when Ms Ng announced the groupings, and silence fall upon us when she announced ours. And I don't think much have changed too since then, I guess you can call it our trademark.

That style continued to evolve subsequently where online meetings were frequent, coupled with occasional 15 minute sessions right before break ends or at times that 1 hour we have together during PW lesson. But other than that, as much as we said "thursdays afternoons will be for PW", we never really got down to that at all.

Words were rarely spoken, but somehow they always get written down or typed out. At first, it was seemingly an endless rush to meet deadlines after deadlines. Nights and nights of MSN and online convos, yahoo e groups, compilation and then the calling of a "certain gay partner" for printing.

Time progressed on with online surveys and comical revealing of our survey password online, or funny trips down to the pharmacy where you have 3 guys asking for slimming pills or a fine day where we coped 100+ postcards from the library and school alike for a class trial.

And then pieces fall together nicely, fitting together as one final piece of work. But that is not before endless struggles of writing, then inserting diagrams, and then summarising and of course the ugly, tiresome job of beautification- formating.

that was not all though as the final court trial awaits. and so we gathered our evidence, we rehearsed our plead and then the time came

where, we then took that piece into the "courtroom" for that final trial and pushed our case across to that familiar yet large prescence.

and then its done.

all that remains is the final piece along with the recordings of that fateful November Monday afternoon.

yes, it concluded exactly a week ago where hearts and souls were set free with joyous smiles and cheers as we finally wave goodbye to a long, ardous and yet "fulfilling" modernising journey of Project Work.

with that, once again, for the last time,
silence was the motif.

blue.

2008-10-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

blue [bloo]
noun, adjective, blu·er, blu·est, verb, blued, blu·ing or blue·ing.
–noun

1. the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nm.

***********************************************************************

yap. i am going blue.

have been looking around over the past week and finally got what I needed- new shoes and boots.

and yea, ended up with a blue-ish theme for both.

So first up rugby boots!

Nice cool adidas predator blue- rekindle thoughts of daniel carter...

its good bye to my old boots, or rather Li Xiang's boots as I bought it from him second hand.

Next say hello to stone shield.

Blue blue nike shoe.

Putting them together...

Nike and Adidas... a Blue Match.

*******************************************

blue is the sky,

reflecting in my eye,

making me go aye.

aye- yea, i love my blue shoes. :)

waiting.

2008-10-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

a week has passed since promos.

and what a week its has been, totally replete and packed with Festival of Sports, Sabbaticals, Graduation Night and then Open House.

interesting enough these are just transition "itenaries" as one awaits the returning of promo papers and perhaps pw amongst others.

as much as it has been a week, it has seemed like a long time. i barely recall the last time i stepped in the examination hall, head cramped with facts, figures, definitions and diagrams; all that seem so fragile as if i was going to lose any of them with any movement of my head... oh boy actually I do remember...

the bell rang.

it was 7.30am. flag rising was just over. students all flooding over to their respective classrooms. on any other day they will have stoned around chatting at their benches, but it was different today. it was their examination day.

A310, A207, Hall Row 7. Some had memorised the exact venues. A couple others, well... lets just say that they know that someone will always know where to go.

7.40am. around 15 to 20 mins more of last minute cramming, as all frantically flip through notes. some had their personalised summarised notes, others still browsed through the thick and elaborated lecture notes. a few others crowd around the brains of the class, pouring them with questions, all in a last minute bid to clarify concepts and certain questions. some are calm, composed, others are feeling increasingly tensed and nervous.

the bell rang again. it was 8.00am. with the sound of footsteps leading into the class, stillness followed. some visited the washroom for the last time. others prepared the tools they needed. Identification cards, stationeries, calculators. some panicked when they realise their calculators are running low on batter. others just keep reflipping all the knowledge in their head.

paper is given out. hands shaking as one writes their name and quickly flip through to see what they are in for. and then all eyes were on the clock as they wait. a wait for the bell to ring again.

and so it begins. everyone around starts scribbling furiously. and then you realise you are on your own. this is your personal battle. you have to do it yourself.

before you knew it, 5 minutes remains. some have completed and sit waiting, constantly picking their pieces up, flip through, change a bit and yea satisfied with their work. others still struggle furiously as they juggle between those blanks that they have. repeatedly thinking... well I know i have seen that somewhere before...

the bell rang for the last time.

pens are dropped, papers collected... it is over. discussions followed amidst certain disappointments sometimes filled with cursing and dejection.

and then the wait begins again...

waiting, waiting, waiting...

for the bell to ring yet again.

Rain Man.

2008-09-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

the holidays are here and in the midst of frenzy mugging and preparation for promos, i decided to dig sth out to watch.

and out comes "Rain Man". best picture from 1989's academy awards. can't rmb when I bought it but surprising that the disc is still wrapped in transparent plastic and yea pretty much I have not touched it at all.

The film's premise is rather straightforward- after Charlie Babbit father had just passed away, Charlie realised that his father only left him an old convertible and some prized rose bushes. He then found out that another undisclosed trustee is receiving $3 million dollars- and that trustee is none other than an older brother that he have never known- Raymond. However, there is something different about Raymond- he is an autistic savant, with a superb memory and mathematical deduction skills- but little intelligence in terms of basic understanding and logical reasoning, let alone handling human emotions and relationships.

So Charlie "abducted" Raymond to Los Angeles to meet his attorneys in an attempt to get back his fair share of the Babbit assets. What began as a selfish motivation is soon changed into a caring and loving brother.

The film holds certain funny moments, like when Raymond was crossing the road halfway and then the Green Man turned to Red Man- he just stopped completely in the middle of the road. Car horns, people shout but no- he won't move unless the sign says Green Man.

On top of such comical moments are certain scenes that develops Charlie and Raymond's relationship- like when Charlie discovers why Raymond was sent away. That was one striking scene that just hits me deep:

Charlie: When did you leave?
Raymond: January 12, 1965. Very snowy that day. 7.2 inches of snow that day.
Charlie: Just after Mom died.
Raymond: Yeah Mom died January 5, 1965.
Charlie: You remember that day. Was I there? Where was I?
Raymond: You were in the window. You waved to me, "Bye bye Rain Man", "Bye bye."

Realisation. That because of you- your brother was sent away all this years, suffering in silence.

Dustin Hoffman puts in a delicate performance as autistic brother Raymond in this heartening and deep film that just makes my heart feel a certain sense of depth and sympathy.

I am not sure how to put it, but somehow when you view visuals depicting the at times childish and silly acts, hear the words and thought of a simple mind and often watch them suffer in silence. Worst still- most perhaps do not even know or understand that bit of bitterness.

That it brings both laughter and tears watching those comical and yet heartfelt incidents portrayed in the film.

Sigh.

A tinge of sadness filled with empathy, at a lost for words.

Just rain on me, Rain Man.

WALL-E.

2008-09-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

So it is the afternoon after Teachers Day celebrations last Friday, and a few of us went off for a movie- Wall E.

I guess it is amazing that within the month of August, I have been to the cinema 4 times. when compared to the months presiding like even June Holidays itself, it has been proportionately much less.

But nonetheless, I think it has been sometime since I watched an animation on the big screen. And Wall.E did not disappoint at all.

Set 700 hundred years into the future, this is an earth far too polluted for the existence of any lifeform. All humans have moved away into a spaceship far away in the galaxy years before.

All thats left is little robot- WALL.E, who has been dutifully tidying up our earth, compacting trash and stacking and piling them all over our city. This is until he met EVE, a female robot sent from the human's spaceship to evualate if there is any growth or signs of lifeform on earth. What soon happens is a subtle but yet warmly magnetic bond between the pair. It all began when WALL.E followed EVE all around, showing her his place/special items etc. And all goes well until EVE somehow broke down.

And then, WALL.E just faithfully protect EVE, from rain, wind etc. Before a spaceship returns and takes EVE away. Unwilling to "let her go", WALL.E thus hops on to the spaceship and follows EVE back to where humans have been all this while. This leads us into the 2nd act of the film and goodness what humans have become- little plum bodies that can't even stand on their own. Yes, our human race that has degraded to the extent that they rely on machines to get around, communicate with each other and so on. In some sense, their lives are highly run by machines that when the time calls for them to return to an earth capable of sustaining life once again, they are held back and prevented from returning by these machines.

This is where the magnetic pair of WALL.E and EVE comes in as they ignite a revival on board the spaceship, ultimately taking everyone back to earth.

Though one of the key themes this film highlights is that of our increased pollution and reliance on technology, but the star of the show is the relationship between Wall.E and EVE. This is a minimal dialogue show.(well what do you expect? robots talking?) And it is this point that makes this film such a charm. It is just delightful how PIXAR has given so much feeling into WALL.E, that you too share his love and warmth and sadness. All seen through those lens or eyes if you will like of his. Coupled this with the romance between WALL.E and EVE, from their little dates on earth to the amazing journey they have in space. There is this lovely memorable scene where both of them dance around in space behind a backdrop of the galaxy. Simply beautiful.

Indeed, WALL.E is a tale of love and heart- and these are things so beautiful and yet simple, that even robots share it amongst them. A simple touch of love- and that may well be all it takes to save our planet.

20.08.2008- the wonders of our life

2008-08-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

how often is it do you get such a good date?

20.08.2008

pretty nice and balanced.

somehow 2008 as a set piece has offered so much beauty and symmetry in its dates and timing.

and it is pretty provoking to think how men are the ones who created all this symmetry and structure- dates and naming etc... mathematical wonders of our life.

so much that it just leaves us standing there... with a "woah, that is nice."

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my name is "Dave Ming Chang."

yes yes. Meet Dave.

He is not a person. he is a spaceship.

Watched "meet dave" last week and yea pretty much a really silly but hilarious show.

I can''t rmb when i laughed so much in a theatre. Eddie Murphy puts up a really comical and retarded performance that just puts the smile and laughter on the whole audiences.

A group of aliens coming from a more intellectual and advance earth, they still require "water" from our planet for their planet's survival. and as they are all tiny little people, they come in a spaceship that looks just like a human- and uses that to get around.

so what you have is really funny moments where "Dave" first learns to walk around, express the various tones of emotions like smiling, frowning etc.

but i think whats most interesting is the concept of emotions. It goes back to the "meta-IQ" discussions, that both are truly independent of each other. Here, we see a bunch of "aliens" who are smart intellectually but no nothing about emotions. People are named simply based on their system... like "3", that guy is "5", that guy is "2"... you get the idea...

they talk formally, directly, objectively. everything is straight to the point. and of course, they don't seem to have any sort of emotions whatsoever. So here comes the interesting thing. they come to earth, experience the range of feelings such as love. 1 particular scene is when they find a spot for the "spaceship/ aka dave" to rest over the night, they found an empty spot in times square. another beggar was there and they shared the spot. whats amazing is that the beggar, who he himself have so little, acctually offered his only blanket- his only source of warmth to dave. and this simple act of kindness just left dave stunned. for so far everything he has seen in earth, from their magazines and news are all about problems and global crisis liek global warming.

another really fuzzy moment is when "3" and "captain" watch "its a wonderful life" another beautiful film there but yea to them its like a lecture and tutorial on love.

[they finish watching "It's a Wonderful Life."]
Captain: [crying] "Lasso the moon". Physically impossible!
No. 3 - Cultural Officer: [crying] Absurd.

and it is just so heartening to watch a group of people who know nothing about emotions, to slowly learning how to interact in our world and eventually enjoying all the warm bits on earth that makes us who we are- that of caring and concern for each other, having fun with family and friends and of course to be able to love and be loved- the very things that makes us human.

and in our complicated and often confusing world, it is this simple things that keep us going on inspite of all struggles and problems.

yes.

afterall, it's a wonderful life.

oh algernon, algernon...

2008-08-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

had been reading "Flowers for Algernon" over the past week.

Personally, had been trying to find this book for a long time; except that I always didn't know its title other than the fact that it is a book about someone increasing his IQ.

I must say it has been an enriching read and yea the book raises very provocative questions of intelligence and emotions, coupled with scientific advancements and morals and have set me into rather reflective mood.

I think i always have a feel for stories concerning the less intellectual, or to put it bluntly, the retarded. It is like seeing that childhood innocence in a certain individual, the simplistic and direct approach of the mind, when there is no complications. Things are put forth very objectively and there are no futher subtle implications or hidden messages etc.

And so often, we regard ourselves as much more intellectual, yet we have wrapped ourselves up within a more complex layer of interpersonal relations and entrapment that we miss the most basic fundaments; that of being truthful in your thoughts and feelings.

Oh charlie, what a ride it must have been from not knowing, being ignorant, all the way to an arrogant genius that becomes impatient with man and then bouncing back to where he began.

In the end we ask: is ignorant truly a bliss?

The book also brings back memories of "I am Sam", 1 of my favourite films. When so often i really sympathise with how they want to do sth, or want to understand sth so much but they can't. Or worst still, they are blamed when they have done nothing wrong or even nothing at all.

But most ironically, if they do not know about their impediment, life to them is as it is. It is normal to them. But on our terms, their lives rest in our hands; how we care and treat them, how we put them away or even mock at them, rejecting their prescence.

I don't think i will ever forget how Norma treats her brother. and how his brother is often oppressed in a typical family. where parents refuse to accept that fact of truth. why is it so hard to understand?

Now comes the question; if I was the parent who had such a child? what will i feel?

think about that. for that is sth that only we can do.

LX Testimonial Match

2008-06-07T08:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday finally came.

In view of Coach Li Xi's upcoming departure to the states for Uni in July, a testimonial match of 7s was played between HC Legends(seniors) and the current J1 Team.

Well first off we had light training session(1 of our last session with Li Xi) in the morning. I then went off for PW/GP consultation.

And then at 2.00pm. it was time.

Here are the Line-Ups

HC Legends
Started:
Li Xi(C)
Chang J
Li Hao
Zhen Yang
Jun Zhe
Cai Shuai
J's Cousin

Subs:
Jian Fei

HC J1s
Started:
Sheng Kun(C)
Alex
YiEr
Ee Chu
Elson
Jia Chen
Terence

Subs:
Jasper
Dao Yuan

Well quite unevenly matched and due to a lack of experience well HC Legends dominated. Testimony Player Li Xi played a good match with several tries and 2 successful drop-kick conversions amongst 5 attempts. Overall, HC Legends won by 5 tries, 2 converted.

Here are the highlights; courtesy of Li Xi, videoed/commentated by Li Xiang/Ivan/JX.

Yap great match, and here are some pictures of the morning training/match:

"Hands" Passing Drill

Offloading Drill in session

Scrum down; uncontested one though

Nice Offload pass from Li Xi.

And the teams group picture.

The Last Supper: Last meal with coach.

Yap. Time flies doesn't it.

Its seems like just a while back that we were talking about a new "regime" under coach abscuture. and now it is ending.

Little time remains before the year ends and yea a new season starts next year. But beyond that lies all the memories we have on that pitch of ours, of constant basic passing drills like recylcing, hard and cold hits and tackles, the comfort of sitting on the crash pads when waiting and hearing the post training lecture by dear abscuture.

And as the cliche saying always goes: once a coach, always a coach" Yap, you will always be that coach that we will remember.

And yea hopefully there will be yet another HC Legends VS HC match again next year when we will play our hearts out again.

But till then, thank you once more for giving us this game.

(3 + 1) Rs X R

2008-06-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Was talking to Li Xiang yesterday and yea realised how my life is full of "R"s

nope not ronaldo or rooney here...

I recall since secondary school quite some part of my life revolves around the "3Rs"... not exactly the literal definition of reduce, reuse and recycle but that of environment stuff in general. I remembered i first picked up interest in this area from a sec 2 cca related CIP with Singapore Environmental Council. That was also when I first find out more, met great and inspiring ppl like Grant and Joe who are deeply involved in the environment and yea took a change of heart for this cause. Sec 3 followed when I did a environment project with few of my best canoe buddies and stuff and similarly I am doing yet another one this year. Pretty much this had became a pivotal part of my life since secondary days, further coupled with the fact that I am in JC green club now... thereby giving the 3Rs in my life...

but yesterday i realise my life has rapidly changed over this past year and a new R has come.

My life used to be just 3Rs.

Now it is just 1.

Rugby.

Yap... the sport that I have loved since sec 1 but cannot join as coincidentally the very year I came in this school, it shut down this sport due to a myriad of reasons. so after 4 years, I finally have this R.

Now I am not saying I am forgetting the other 3Rs completely.

thats why life for me is now (3 + 1) Rs...

oh there is still one more R that completes this whole equation.

- Really Good Friends(ok i know this is not exactly a word that starts with R, but come on...)

yap. was talking to Li Xi about how time flies and how he has finished his J2 and is now leaving for Uni soon.

I think for me as with everything I do... is the friends around me that matters most and yea I look set to treasure all this R in the remaining 1.5 years!

So there...

if any philosopher or crapper asks me:

What is life?

The answer is simple. Life is (3 + 1) Rs multiply by R.

H20 Rugby, Obama Nomination, Friday 7 June.

2008-06-04T07:20:00.000-07:00

Yet another full day session of R...

Began with normal field training, some ball handling and passing drills. Then we progressed to some bits of individual skills such as changing/varying speed runs, fending off, side stepping. And then came the funny part.. sliding for ground balls... haha we did horribly? oh and yu teng manage to get his shoulder injured by sliding wrongly:(... and once that happened, coach goes "well, thats enough of sliding for today..."

Then we moved on to a team "hands" drill... which we progressively improved upon I guessed. Followed by a semi-contact game again.

Watched Wales vs Fiji match after that and yea enjoyed that game... very close fight.

After lunch, we practised some plays together before heading to the swimming pool for a game of well.. yea H20/Water Rugby. Brought the ball down to the baby pool with us and yea we tried playing a cool game of rugby in water, some passing around before eventually turning into a game of monkey really... A fun team bonding session for us and some really gay "tree climbing" in water by SK on Ee Chu and Yier.

**************************************************************

Obama finally won the long fought duel for the democratic nomination today! Yea way to go manz... first black man ever to reach this far... just a bit more for the presidential seat. I know many people say he is all talk no do... oh but wells lets see it this way... even if he is really all talk no do, at least he talk bloody well with a twinge of charisma and charm... you just need to look at the current predessor in that seat and yea... you can tell the importance of talking well. Morever all talk no do is better than no talk no do isn't it? But yap, I am a great admirer of him for his youthfulness, belief and his ability to address true pertinent issues such as that of race throughout his campaign. That speech he gave on issue of race was indeed brilliant and something that I will always remember. It has been a long overdue campaign between him and clinton and both have really worked hard and done well over this whole time. But sadly, eventually only one can truimph and be nominated and thats how things are in the world isn't it. And yea Obama is the one who have done it, overcoming all the odds and criticisms by others. In addition breaking various records such as that of fund raising... Indeed, change we can believe in...

********************************************************

6th June 2008.

Li Xi testimonial Match.

Main Field, Afternoon.

Yeap, you heard it. The HC rugby team will be hosting a testimonial match for the legendary hwa chong fly half who have come through our ranks. A breathtaking potentiallly sevens match(maybe fives or sixes depending on ppl) filled with exciting knockons, mistimed/missed tackles, powerful off-target kicking awaits.

Jokes aside, this would be one of the farewell for our respected senior and coach. He has been with us since this journey begun for us. He was there when we were down, was there when we were injured and stuff. He blogs about our progress, motivates and question our commitment. He spends late nights coming up with drills, experimenting weird online training softwares to help us. He comes down even earlier than us and put that passion and heart in our game.

He was the one who kicked-off our game for us, cleared that challenging and obstacle-filled ruck for us when we needed, gave us that sweet hands-offload for us to finish and "try" it someday.

He did all this... that someday we will enjoy the game as much as he do and play the game the way he does.

yes he is so much to us. Li Xi, if you are reading this, thank you so much and i really appreciate all that you have done for us. You were the first one who thought me how to even hold and pass the ball and watch all of us very slowly picking up the basics stuff. I still remembered the first time you took time off during your A Levels exam period to spark off the game for me and terence, on that sidefield... where we were real noobs and just did horribly then. But you kept patience and your heartfilled commitment has really impressed and helped us progress on. So thank you so much... if there is a "remember the titans" within us, its just that there won't be a coach boon or titans, it will be a coach Abscuture and a hwa chong.

if this game between us is a language, you have taught us how to speak and write. You have taught us to let our game do the talking.

and yes, we will do exactly that come Friday, 7 June.

the game awaits.

all those who have eyes, let them come and see...

For we will make our final speech.

PIP, Lost.

2008-06-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Had a really useful physics session again this morning. Lots of information loading but yea really appreciate Mr Tan's efforts despite him not feeling well to give us a lesson.

Worked stuff for PIP today and yea the long awaited web portals are up. Kudos to XT for coming up with them:
http://planetinperil.iqueststudios.com/
http://planetinperil.info/comportal/index.php
Lots of PIP work coming up for us and yea July will be way hectic as we try to churn up our main bulk of stuff.

I had been looking through all the past envir stuff I have done and much have been remarkably similar- always discussion of global solutions or more knowledge of the issue. But where is the actual pertinent solutions for students like us? That is what I hope PIP can actually achieve...

Oh I think I am starting to get real addicted back to Lost again. Been watching season 4 episodes over the past week and yea as I have always loved about the show- the cool and brilliant insights of flashbacks used as device instiling backstories for characters. A modern masterpiece that I truly enjoy. A lot of twists and turns coupled with revealments/answers to questions posed since season 1. Lost used to be something I always awaited for every Monday/Thursday. I recall when I first watched it when it debuted back in 2005. Since then it had been a hell of a ride through the different seasons. Well 3 more seasons to go after this though. But I think at the current rate I am going I will be finished with season 4 by end of holidays...

Monday, 2 June 2008

2008-06-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Morning.

Had physics lesson... essentially a stimulation of BLK test. Mr Tan had kindly taken time out to piece together a paper with various questions he had chosen. I really appreciate his effort though less than 10 ppl form 3 classes combined turned up. But I heard that the Recap Lesson he gave last week only had 3 ppl turning up. It is quite sad that given his effort so few of us can make it. I skipped a lot of questions in the paper and yea pretty much was ill prepared. Reminded me of my Sec 4 EOYs when I almost mugged everything last minute, same situation yesterday night when I tried to mug in 7 topics worth of stuff. So yea lots of mugging await me before my blk test.

******************************************************

Had a full day session of Rug training today after physics. Some videos watching, followed by weights and cardio and then another field session. During cardio, I decided to try the canoeing/kayaking machine; really reminded me of those old days. I just realised it must have been ages since I took a boat out and paddle. But those 5 minutes on that machine was enough for me to relive the past 4 years I have in canoeing, filled with fun/hard memories at the same time.

Field training in afternoon was mainly focused on rucking then we had a semi-contact game. For one of the first time ever, we trained on the Main Field! It was just damn nice and cool and I really want to play a full match on this home ground before I leave the school. The main field is really very cool and feels like a professional training field. It just makes one wonder why can;t the school let us train there more often?

Contact game was rather fun but we all still lack the skill, decision making and the extreme tendency to run sideways. Somehow there is this common mentality amongst us that- if I offload a pass, end up the ball goes further backward and most likely nothing will happen. Thats why we keep running sideways, trying to find a gap that will never come. I think we really need more and more playing experience and of course much more building on our basics. It really pains me to see the level of lack of proficiency in our game and on comparison with other schools.

When 154(my bus home) passes by SA everyday, those 2-3 minutes of watching their team sweat and play their hearts out on their grand artificial pitch, with long range sweet passes and very fast plays, how I envy them. I really treasure yet hate those few minutes. Treasure to watch and get inspired to improve my game. yet hate and really jealous that we start playing so late. The thoughts that we will most propabably never make it into the top 4 is sad. Being from a top/elite CCA that never fails to get Top-3 spot, it is quite a change I guess.

But that fact will not stop us from playing this game that we love... I guess what matters most to us is having fun with each other, enjoying this game as a team... and yea that is all that matters.

Return...

2008-06-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

after a week spent out of a normal typical hectic life...

its time to return to the usual days.

Days of time spent on the field, days of time mugging your minds off, days spent working on a whole lot of other things.

I really can't wait to get back on the pitch again and play my hearts out. A sport that I have loved since Secondary 1 but only got the chance to play sometime back last year. It doesn't matter to me if we are not that good yet; cause its the heart and the team around me that matters. I love this team and this game... so yea here I return again...

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Euro 2008 is starting soon and its funny how for once England is not inside(not that they deserve to be in at all). But look around you, all those typical free gifts/merchandises by different products such as Potato Chips/Drinks... all of those merchandises all still have England. You will notice the words "17 Designs in Total, Collect them all!" when quite obviously there are only 16 teams in the tournament. Seems people still miss this underachieving team. Again, it will be a long time before they return to the glory of 1966...

till then... i will return and wait again.

Beginnings.

2008-05-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

Woosh...

I have decided to start blogging again after a brilliant week at CAP.

For those who don't know, CAP stands for Creative Arts Programme... a "gathering" of some of the best writers in Sec 2/3/Jc1 from our batch; essentially a residential camp/workshops/discussions/forums for young writers.

And yap pretty much I had a great week. The event was just awesome, I made fantastic friends and yea got totally inspired... for instance starting blogging again.

The whole thing was held in NUS and the theme this year is "Silence". So here are some of the highlights of my CAP experience:

1. Drama Workshop and Final Performance
Sir Corbidge was just very smart and masterful with his direction and gelling of our dispersed cast. Starting by just random allocation of us into groups and then getting each group to come up with a mini performance, before he singledhandedly crafted and meshed all this dispersed pieces into a compiled montage of silence. Simply fantastic!

2. Jil Dawson's Writing Workshop
Yet another wonderful author that redefined how I thought about character development. Very character focused and within 2 hours everyone has created delightful and elaborated "people" under her guidance.

3. Dr R.Loon's Playwriting Workshop
Key takeaways here is just let your creativity flow. Given a weird context in beginning(like 2 random objects/words) we just let our juices flow and craft them into nice pieces.

4. Of Night games of cards, Bottle game, "unlockable" room doors, cap dinner and... silence?
Yes... all the traditional CAP stuff here and there... things that we will all remember from our shared experiences and above all... the intended and unintended silences throughout that portrays the vital theme of this year's CAP.

5. The memories, people and reflections...
Yes above all... People. Made fantastic and close friends like Kar Liang, Yao Guang........(so much more, sorry people can't name all here)

And the memories that I will never forget.

CAP was a great time for me and I really don't regret going at all.

see you all again next year!