juz finished bloodrayne. damn, who'd hv thought i wud hv played thru a mindless hack-n-slash game like that...but i think the thrill of dodging bullets n hacking off limbs kept me hooked (there's also the factor of playing a super-sexy female character wif 2-feet-long forearm-mounted silver blades). tho it did take me quite a while (1+ week) to finish compared 2 other games....neway, this is gonna b d last (or at least 2nd last :P) game i'm gonna play b4 starting serious study....had been relly slacking the past 2 weeks n i SWORE to myself to 'finish it off for good so i can concentrate on studies'
hmm...wat else interesting lately....i got 4th in form for midyear exams, which is way beyond my expectations since i was quite sure i messed up several papers.....but anyhow muet pulled me up a lot...its not gonna b in trial exam tho, which means my average will prob go down quite a bit :(
n besides dat, my bio is WAAAAAY behind cuz i din hv 2 take it for d midyears...so i practically din touch it till d midyear holidays...n even then i only covered bout 25% of wat is required cuz i only read thru d a-level books my mom borrowed...n those were quite basic-level too...(example: production of urea - "The ammonia is converted to urea in a process known as the ornithine cycle, the details of which you do not need to know about at this stage.")
so man, i'm relly fearing for my stpm now. esp since i keep making excuses not to study. hope i get the jap scholarship. local Us suck, even if i dun mess up stpm.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Sunday, June 26, 2005
"Mixed" feelings
well...the much-afeared district tourney is finally over. normally i wudnt feel so pressured becuz of a district-level tourney cuz most of d participants were from my center anyway....but this time, i participated in 2 'special' events....mixed pattern n creative pattern. both events r for pairs of one girl one boy, n require at least one black belt, so i teamed up wif joyce. n for the last 2 weeks we've been working on the pattern, the music (the creative pattern is performed to music), n training....lucky its rite after sch hols so sch lessons havent picked up pace yet...
anyway, for those interested in knowing the results (n i noe a lot of u do ;p) we got gold for the creative pattern, n a big fat nothing for mixed pattern. i guess i messed up a lot this tourney, prob due to a lethal combination of lack of sleep n nervousness. the 1st event up was mixed pattern n we were happily doing Gae Baek when i suddenly made a horrendous mistake n threw our rhythm into disorder...then it was all downhill from there...dominoes, holding kicks, everything juz flew out the window. n to think dat gae baek is d pattern dat i've been doing the most since god knows when....
luckily, we sorta 'redeemed' ourselves wif d creative pattern. anxiety kicked in again n i messed up the opening move of all things, but due to a stroke of luck joyce made the same mistake (we were doing a sequence based on gae baek n we both bypassed the 'modification') so i guess d judges din notice the blunder. then fortunately, the rest of d pattern fell into place n we sailed thru d 'danger areas' without much trouble. so we got..lets see...7, 7, 7, 7, 8 or something liddat...it was the 1st 8 i've seen in a tournament btw :P :P
after dat, it was team pattern, where teacher somehow got me placed into a girls' team in the girls' category. now dun laugh, i'll knock ur heads off if u do. anyway prior to dat, i was told dat i had to be in dat team so dat we can join the GUYS' category....but somehow SOMEBODY MESSED UP N I BECAME A GIRL >( anyway, we hardly practiced for that, so we got...3rd place out of 3 teams....
following dat, the individual pattern event came n i got a gold, which is nothing remarkable since i was in the open category n there were only 3 participants including me, 2 of which were yellow belt adults....
the final event of the day (for us color belts) was free sparring, but i tarik diri at the last minute. i din wan 2 sia sui by getting kicked out in d 1st round after getting 2 golds for patterns. makes me wonder, wats the point of doing patterns well if ur (my) sparring is so teruk? haih....guess i started tkd too late n cant develop the 'sparring reflexes' anymore....
ah, 4got 2 mention dat ej n xinch stopped by 2 watch n 'cheer' (in xinch's case, it was a smirk, but i'll overlook it for ej's sake) ej FAILED TO TAKE A VIDEO OF THE CREATIVE PATTERN! (shoots daggers at ej) wats a digicam for if not to take videos of the most important events in a guy's life?
in a nutshell, i'm having "mixed" feelings about this tourney cuz:
positive:-
1. we got gold for creative pattern!
2. a reporter came n took our pic n names after the creative event
3. (minor) got another gold for individual pattern
negative:-
1. i messed up the mixed pattern
2. i had to join a GIRLS' TEAM for team pattern *grumbles*
3. i din join sparring. in a way, i 'ran from a problem instead of confronting it', which always makes me feel bad
4. tired. very. tired.
5. din do any hw or study the whole day
p.s. a letter came from the jap embassy a few days ago, informing me dat i've been shortlisted for the final selection for the monbukagakusho scholarship. the ppl making the final decisions r jap government officials so the results will take a while to come out. as in, next year. so guys, pray for me! :P
p.s.s. (added on 27/6)
1. 4got to add dat for the opening ceremony, joyce n i performed our rma competition mixed pattern as a 'demo'....also we were the MCs but i kinda messed up on that one too....din noe wat i was supposed 2 say until the last minute n i had 2 speak in malay which i'm terrible at (spoken, at least) so my 'spontaneous' announcements were awkward at best....ugh..
2. setting up the stage backdrop was a horror! we spent over an hr on it the day b4, then on the tournament day itself, the whole thing juz fell apart...as in the letters which we hv 2 put on the stage wall to say 'kejohanan taekwondo blablabla'....n we spent the whole morning trying to put it back n keep it up there...in the end had to use thumb-tacks to pin the whole setup on the wall. n doing stuff like this when u'r wearing a long sleeved shirt with tie, 2 or 3 sizes too small, is not a pleasant experience. as annas commented: "u mandi atau peluh?". my reply:"mandi peluh"
anyway, for those interested in knowing the results (n i noe a lot of u do ;p) we got gold for the creative pattern, n a big fat nothing for mixed pattern. i guess i messed up a lot this tourney, prob due to a lethal combination of lack of sleep n nervousness. the 1st event up was mixed pattern n we were happily doing Gae Baek when i suddenly made a horrendous mistake n threw our rhythm into disorder...then it was all downhill from there...dominoes, holding kicks, everything juz flew out the window. n to think dat gae baek is d pattern dat i've been doing the most since god knows when....
luckily, we sorta 'redeemed' ourselves wif d creative pattern. anxiety kicked in again n i messed up the opening move of all things, but due to a stroke of luck joyce made the same mistake (we were doing a sequence based on gae baek n we both bypassed the 'modification') so i guess d judges din notice the blunder. then fortunately, the rest of d pattern fell into place n we sailed thru d 'danger areas' without much trouble. so we got..lets see...7, 7, 7, 7, 8 or something liddat...it was the 1st 8 i've seen in a tournament btw :P :P
after dat, it was team pattern, where teacher somehow got me placed into a girls' team in the girls' category. now dun laugh, i'll knock ur heads off if u do. anyway prior to dat, i was told dat i had to be in dat team so dat we can join the GUYS' category....but somehow SOMEBODY MESSED UP N I BECAME A GIRL >( anyway, we hardly practiced for that, so we got...3rd place out of 3 teams....
following dat, the individual pattern event came n i got a gold, which is nothing remarkable since i was in the open category n there were only 3 participants including me, 2 of which were yellow belt adults....
the final event of the day (for us color belts) was free sparring, but i tarik diri at the last minute. i din wan 2 sia sui by getting kicked out in d 1st round after getting 2 golds for patterns. makes me wonder, wats the point of doing patterns well if ur (my) sparring is so teruk? haih....guess i started tkd too late n cant develop the 'sparring reflexes' anymore....
ah, 4got 2 mention dat ej n xinch stopped by 2 watch n 'cheer' (in xinch's case, it was a smirk, but i'll overlook it for ej's sake) ej FAILED TO TAKE A VIDEO OF THE CREATIVE PATTERN! (shoots daggers at ej) wats a digicam for if not to take videos of the most important events in a guy's life?
in a nutshell, i'm having "mixed" feelings about this tourney cuz:
positive:-
1. we got gold for creative pattern!
2. a reporter came n took our pic n names after the creative event
3. (minor) got another gold for individual pattern
negative:-
1. i messed up the mixed pattern
2. i had to join a GIRLS' TEAM for team pattern *grumbles*
3. i din join sparring. in a way, i 'ran from a problem instead of confronting it', which always makes me feel bad
4. tired. very. tired.
5. din do any hw or study the whole day
p.s. a letter came from the jap embassy a few days ago, informing me dat i've been shortlisted for the final selection for the monbukagakusho scholarship. the ppl making the final decisions r jap government officials so the results will take a while to come out. as in, next year. so guys, pray for me! :P
p.s.s. (added on 27/6)
1. 4got to add dat for the opening ceremony, joyce n i performed our rma competition mixed pattern as a 'demo'....also we were the MCs but i kinda messed up on that one too....din noe wat i was supposed 2 say until the last minute n i had 2 speak in malay which i'm terrible at (spoken, at least) so my 'spontaneous' announcements were awkward at best....ugh..
2. setting up the stage backdrop was a horror! we spent over an hr on it the day b4, then on the tournament day itself, the whole thing juz fell apart...as in the letters which we hv 2 put on the stage wall to say 'kejohanan taekwondo blablabla'....n we spent the whole morning trying to put it back n keep it up there...in the end had to use thumb-tacks to pin the whole setup on the wall. n doing stuff like this when u'r wearing a long sleeved shirt with tie, 2 or 3 sizes too small, is not a pleasant experience. as annas commented: "u mandi atau peluh?". my reply:"mandi peluh"
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Home Alone 5 - Vigil In Penang
Day 1: Sunday (19/6)
Around 11am, my family left for KL to 'install' my sis at her new sch at INTEC in UTM....she got the jpa scholarship n will b leaving for US after doing a year's foundation. My bro went wif them, which meant dat i was left alone to defend the house from robbers, zombies n alien invaders for 1 nite....
shortly after they left, i gave up trying 2 read the newspapers n installed star wars: battlefront. bout 2 hrs of rolling around various star wars locales as a droideka ("destroyer droid"), i got bored n deleted d game, then decided to take a nap b4 going for tkd class. then it started drizzling outside n i tot, wat the heck, time to skip tkd again :P so i went back on9, chatted abit wif tansri, then had my lunch (sausage bun + maggi mee...not an ideal combo)
3pm found me in front of d comp again, trying to edit the music for the creative pattern event in the upcoming district tourney, n chatting wif tansri (again), who seems perpetually rooted in front of HIS pc....
around 5pm i took a brief 2.5-hr nap (anyone notice the irony?), then plonked down in front of the comp, noticing to my dismay that the dvd burning i started b4 going to sleep had failed - RM2 worth of dvd+r down the drain....tried again, wif similiar (lack of) results...i wonder if d problem was my burner or software or discs? either way my chainsaw's ready....
around 8.30 i popped out to the hawker centre near my hse 2 buy dinner. inspired by the words of a certain self-proclaimed teenage moron (who warned me against it), i brought home a package of 'chicken cordon bleu', chicken fillet stuff wif cheese n ham. yummy, no? no. it was so greasy the cardboard box was soaked thru when i got home. still my stomach's rumbling n i wasnt complaining. dunnit 2 menjaga my berat badan like certain gals i noe :P so i ate it all up.
9-10pm: backing up files in preparation for a full system format, only to discover dat my only remaining winxp cd is corrupted (note to self: do NOT use a G1 pen to write on cdrs in the future)
10pm: i installed warhammer 40k: dawn of war, n played it till 1am, imperium rox, yeah. space marines rox, yeah.
after dat, i spent the next 2 or so hrs editing the creative pattern music again....its basically a rearranged version of the main theme from the game deus ex, wif some trimmings, croppings n an aircraft take-off sound spliced in at d end (taken from jay chou's kai bu liao kou :P). finally managed to put together something dat satisfied joyce (my partner for creative pattern, poor ol' me...) n at 3am i took a bath n masuk tidur.
Day 2: Monday (20/6)
woke at 6.45am, 'decided' i felt sick, n went back to bed. i'm a baaaad boy, oh yes i am ;)
woke again at 10.30am, went out to buy hokkien mee for my aunt who came over for the morning (n for myself lah..i'm not THAT nice) then spent the morning playing planescape: torment which juz finished downloading. pretty cool rpg too, considering its age. hehe.
around 1m finally managed to pull myself together for a bit of studying, then went out to buy ducky rice for lunch, studied a BIT more - finally covered that damned photosynthesis chapter - wif the help of wiki (incidentally reading up more than a few articles on various eldar gods of warhammer 40k in the process) then pigged out at 4pm - 6.30pm. after revitalising myself wif IPOH WHITE COFFEE MUAHAHAHAHA..uh, sorry got a little carried away - simultaneously played the piano, read wiki n studied. my piano's downstairs while my comp's upstairs, so dun ask me how i did it.
around 8pm my family got back n there endeth my Vigil In Penang, Home Alone 5. n the aliens were so scared, they din even send a scout fighter to recon the area.
Around 11am, my family left for KL to 'install' my sis at her new sch at INTEC in UTM....she got the jpa scholarship n will b leaving for US after doing a year's foundation. My bro went wif them, which meant dat i was left alone to defend the house from robbers, zombies n alien invaders for 1 nite....
shortly after they left, i gave up trying 2 read the newspapers n installed star wars: battlefront. bout 2 hrs of rolling around various star wars locales as a droideka ("destroyer droid"), i got bored n deleted d game, then decided to take a nap b4 going for tkd class. then it started drizzling outside n i tot, wat the heck, time to skip tkd again :P so i went back on9, chatted abit wif tansri, then had my lunch (sausage bun + maggi mee...not an ideal combo)
3pm found me in front of d comp again, trying to edit the music for the creative pattern event in the upcoming district tourney, n chatting wif tansri (again), who seems perpetually rooted in front of HIS pc....
around 5pm i took a brief 2.5-hr nap (anyone notice the irony?), then plonked down in front of the comp, noticing to my dismay that the dvd burning i started b4 going to sleep had failed - RM2 worth of dvd+r down the drain....tried again, wif similiar (lack of) results...i wonder if d problem was my burner or software or discs? either way my chainsaw's ready....
around 8.30 i popped out to the hawker centre near my hse 2 buy dinner. inspired by the words of a certain self-proclaimed teenage moron (who warned me against it), i brought home a package of 'chicken cordon bleu', chicken fillet stuff wif cheese n ham. yummy, no? no. it was so greasy the cardboard box was soaked thru when i got home. still my stomach's rumbling n i wasnt complaining. dunnit 2 menjaga my berat badan like certain gals i noe :P so i ate it all up.
9-10pm: backing up files in preparation for a full system format, only to discover dat my only remaining winxp cd is corrupted (note to self: do NOT use a G1 pen to write on cdrs in the future)
10pm: i installed warhammer 40k: dawn of war, n played it till 1am, imperium rox, yeah. space marines rox, yeah.
after dat, i spent the next 2 or so hrs editing the creative pattern music again....its basically a rearranged version of the main theme from the game deus ex, wif some trimmings, croppings n an aircraft take-off sound spliced in at d end (taken from jay chou's kai bu liao kou :P). finally managed to put together something dat satisfied joyce (my partner for creative pattern, poor ol' me...) n at 3am i took a bath n masuk tidur.
Day 2: Monday (20/6)
woke at 6.45am, 'decided' i felt sick, n went back to bed. i'm a baaaad boy, oh yes i am ;)
woke again at 10.30am, went out to buy hokkien mee for my aunt who came over for the morning (n for myself lah..i'm not THAT nice) then spent the morning playing planescape: torment which juz finished downloading. pretty cool rpg too, considering its age. hehe.
around 1m finally managed to pull myself together for a bit of studying, then went out to buy ducky rice for lunch, studied a BIT more - finally covered that damned photosynthesis chapter - wif the help of wiki (incidentally reading up more than a few articles on various eldar gods of warhammer 40k in the process) then pigged out at 4pm - 6.30pm. after revitalising myself wif IPOH WHITE COFFEE MUAHAHAHAHA..uh, sorry got a little carried away - simultaneously played the piano, read wiki n studied. my piano's downstairs while my comp's upstairs, so dun ask me how i did it.
around 8pm my family got back n there endeth my Vigil In Penang, Home Alone 5. n the aliens were so scared, they din even send a scout fighter to recon the area.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
back by popular demand
due to the overwhelming demand for good online literature, i'm back, complete wif witty sarcasm n flamboyant humour! ;)
anyway....i noe its been a long time since i updated....but wat to do...sch's reopened n its back to d old boring routine....
to go a bit further back, here's a heavily slashed version of my holiday journal:
week 1:
wed - went hiking with wei liang
sat - went pc fair where i bought my mp3 player
week 2:
tue - went hiking wif wei liang again, n no i'm not gay
thu - went redbox wif.... a buncha ppl
fri - (skipped bio tuition)
sat - went to my dad's office n wasted d whole morning, then went out for episode 3 at nite
sounds boring rite? well, it isnt that boring relly...its juz about 3 times worse....
for those interested in an account of my recent kl trip (n if u dun, i'm not ur fren):
arrived at the bus station at 3.15pm sharp...yst HAD to call to hurry me even tho i wasnt late by half a minute, a feat unsurpassed in all my outings n appointments so far....we boarded d bus n 15 mins later we were off!
d bus stopped at another station prior to leaving penang, where a few more passengers were picked up...a crazy malay guy wearing a super sexy skin-tight t-shirt (u noe those made of stocking material where u can see rite thru?)...sat next to poor han yee *snickers* prompting a quick change of seat.....
anyway...d journey passed uneventfully, tho i had to comment it was unusually cold in d bus for a day trip..cuz it was raining outside n d air cond was going on full blast inside...none of us tot of turning off d air cond until we were shivering in our jackets...
once in kl, we made a beeline for the nearest KFC. after doctoring our poor rumbling stomachs, we wandered around for a while, debating how best 2 get 2 our hotel (crown princess, whoohoo), finally deciding on taking the LRT there since its way cheaper than taxi...so after some further deliberation on the route (aided by directions from a guard at d LRT station since han yee's map was printed like 10 years ago n thus hopelessly obselete) we took the LRT to masjid jamek, then switched trains n got off at ampang park...asked for directions from a girl flirting wif a bunch of bellhops outside a hotel (yst's idea hehe)...then after bout 15 mins of lugging our half-ton baggage, arrived at crown princess. it was quite a relief to sink into the sofa in d lobby while yst n han yee went to check in....my legs were still aching from tkd on sun....then we went up to the room separately as not to arouse any suspicions (the room was booked for 2 only, so there mite b some objection to us cramming 5 ppl in...)
anyway....after dumping our stuff in d room, yst, yong shen n me decided to embark on a recon trip (mission: locate the japanese embassy). so we headed out again. reached d embassy after a 20-minute walk, then retraced our steps, stopping by a petrol station minimart to load up on cup noodles n a bottle of 100 plus (which the 3 of us managed to finish during the remainder of the walk back), n pepsi twist for the sissies back at the base. later, we showered (me wif great reluctance since i was having a taste of power at being able to repel yst at will wif my unholy fragrance) then sat down to fill in our interview forms....took the better part of 2 hrs to finish dat, n then it was lights out at 2.30am
day two began wif some idiot's alarm clock ringing at 6.30, but we got up at 7.15. han yee and i left for buffet breakfast *muahaha* while d other 3 (yst, yong shen n chee siang) had cup noodles....there was quite a good spread (for a breakfast) at the hotel restaurant but i darent eat too much....*reminds self to go for a buffet meal next holidays* then went back, we all cleaned up n got ready for action
the 20 minutes walk to the embassy turned out to be an absolute horror for 5 idiots clad in long sleeved shirts n slacks thanx to the sun which left us drenched wif sweat by the time we arrived at our destination...han yee in particular had sweat stains on his back cuz of d particular fabric of his shirt...not good since he was d 1st on d interview list. fortunately after going in (we had to give up our ICs n hps to get entrace passes..!!) the air conditioned interior quickly cooled us while we were given a brief briefing n told to fill in the annex forms which we left blank. at this point i almost literally kicked myself. we had to paste in our photos n i left my extras back at the hotel room! so in d end me n chee siang handed up the forms without photos. d secretary told us dat IF we were selected for the scholarship we wud b given a chance to paste in the photos at a later time but still...cant help feeling some slight apprehension bout it. n another thing was dat we all went into the trouble of photocopying our various cocurriculum activities certs etc n getting them certified, only to be told in d end dat we dun hv 2 hand them in....
after dat...we got intro'd to d other interviewees....imho they were much more...how do u say it...extroverted than we penangites were....prob oso becuz they were english educated...they were the get-up-to-shake-your-hands-as-soon-as-u-entered-the-room type...
all too soon, it was my turn for the interview. d interviewers consisted of 2 japs n 2 malays. n i did horribly! my voice was too low, one of the symptoms of not enuf sleep. oso i messed up a few of d questions n overall did not project the image of confidence i had hoped to display. but haih, wats done is done. but i AM going into the jap embassy wif a chainsaw if i dun get the scholarhip! haha kiddin...
anyway...later we met up back at d hotel, checked out, then lugged our stuff around ampang plaza for a while b4 lunching at mcd...here i hv 2 comment on the french-fry-eating habits of kl ppl...almost everyone in d mcd outlet dumped their fries onto the tray instead of eating it out of d cardboard box....rather weird since it wud get cold so much faster AND it leaves d fries vulnerable to incidents such as yong shen spilling his soft drink over d pile dat he, chee siang n han yee created.....
later, we yakked away one whole hr in mcd, wif topics ranging from comp games to sch teachers, then we took the LRT back to pudu. did i mention yst n i were singing old disney song throughout d day? presumably an unconscious attempt to let out some stress.....anyway we reached pudu about half n hr b4 d bus arrived, so we headed for a nearby hotel n uh...made use of its foc facilities, namely the aircond n d lobby couches :P
at 3.15pm we boarded the bus n 5 hrs later pulled into penang bus station. end of journey.
final thoughts: where HAVE all d kl chicks gone....
addendum at 2.46AM:
1. ever experienced sleeping for hours on a bus ride then reaching ur destination worn out n exhausted? i wonder y izit dat i get so tired after supposedly resting for the whole trip everytime i hv 2 take d bus to kl n back
2. 'interview syndrome' - after an interview (or similiarly stressful encounter) i end up with little or no memory of the questions asked etc.....its like my mind temporarily suspends storage to increase 'real-time processing power' to handle the situation...n i only start recalling bits n pieces of the interview days after it happened....
3. yst and i were singing old disney songs at the top of our voices (well, not relly) on the way back to pudu from the hotel....including on the LRT....
4. y m i typing meaningless stuff here when i shud b asleep.....
anyway....i noe its been a long time since i updated....but wat to do...sch's reopened n its back to d old boring routine....
to go a bit further back, here's a heavily slashed version of my holiday journal:
week 1:
wed - went hiking with wei liang
sat - went pc fair where i bought my mp3 player
week 2:
tue - went hiking wif wei liang again, n no i'm not gay
thu - went redbox wif.... a buncha ppl
fri - (skipped bio tuition)
sat - went to my dad's office n wasted d whole morning, then went out for episode 3 at nite
sounds boring rite? well, it isnt that boring relly...its juz about 3 times worse....
for those interested in an account of my recent kl trip (n if u dun, i'm not ur fren):
arrived at the bus station at 3.15pm sharp...yst HAD to call to hurry me even tho i wasnt late by half a minute, a feat unsurpassed in all my outings n appointments so far....we boarded d bus n 15 mins later we were off!
d bus stopped at another station prior to leaving penang, where a few more passengers were picked up...a crazy malay guy wearing a super sexy skin-tight t-shirt (u noe those made of stocking material where u can see rite thru?)...sat next to poor han yee *snickers* prompting a quick change of seat.....
anyway...d journey passed uneventfully, tho i had to comment it was unusually cold in d bus for a day trip..cuz it was raining outside n d air cond was going on full blast inside...none of us tot of turning off d air cond until we were shivering in our jackets...
once in kl, we made a beeline for the nearest KFC. after doctoring our poor rumbling stomachs, we wandered around for a while, debating how best 2 get 2 our hotel (crown princess, whoohoo), finally deciding on taking the LRT there since its way cheaper than taxi...so after some further deliberation on the route (aided by directions from a guard at d LRT station since han yee's map was printed like 10 years ago n thus hopelessly obselete) we took the LRT to masjid jamek, then switched trains n got off at ampang park...asked for directions from a girl flirting wif a bunch of bellhops outside a hotel (yst's idea hehe)...then after bout 15 mins of lugging our half-ton baggage, arrived at crown princess. it was quite a relief to sink into the sofa in d lobby while yst n han yee went to check in....my legs were still aching from tkd on sun....then we went up to the room separately as not to arouse any suspicions (the room was booked for 2 only, so there mite b some objection to us cramming 5 ppl in...)
anyway....after dumping our stuff in d room, yst, yong shen n me decided to embark on a recon trip (mission: locate the japanese embassy). so we headed out again. reached d embassy after a 20-minute walk, then retraced our steps, stopping by a petrol station minimart to load up on cup noodles n a bottle of 100 plus (which the 3 of us managed to finish during the remainder of the walk back), n pepsi twist for the sissies back at the base. later, we showered (me wif great reluctance since i was having a taste of power at being able to repel yst at will wif my unholy fragrance) then sat down to fill in our interview forms....took the better part of 2 hrs to finish dat, n then it was lights out at 2.30am
day two began wif some idiot's alarm clock ringing at 6.30, but we got up at 7.15. han yee and i left for buffet breakfast *muahaha* while d other 3 (yst, yong shen n chee siang) had cup noodles....there was quite a good spread (for a breakfast) at the hotel restaurant but i darent eat too much....*reminds self to go for a buffet meal next holidays* then went back, we all cleaned up n got ready for action
the 20 minutes walk to the embassy turned out to be an absolute horror for 5 idiots clad in long sleeved shirts n slacks thanx to the sun which left us drenched wif sweat by the time we arrived at our destination...han yee in particular had sweat stains on his back cuz of d particular fabric of his shirt...not good since he was d 1st on d interview list. fortunately after going in (we had to give up our ICs n hps to get entrace passes..!!) the air conditioned interior quickly cooled us while we were given a brief briefing n told to fill in the annex forms which we left blank. at this point i almost literally kicked myself. we had to paste in our photos n i left my extras back at the hotel room! so in d end me n chee siang handed up the forms without photos. d secretary told us dat IF we were selected for the scholarship we wud b given a chance to paste in the photos at a later time but still...cant help feeling some slight apprehension bout it. n another thing was dat we all went into the trouble of photocopying our various cocurriculum activities certs etc n getting them certified, only to be told in d end dat we dun hv 2 hand them in....
after dat...we got intro'd to d other interviewees....imho they were much more...how do u say it...extroverted than we penangites were....prob oso becuz they were english educated...they were the get-up-to-shake-your-hands-as-soon-as-u-entered-the-room type...
all too soon, it was my turn for the interview. d interviewers consisted of 2 japs n 2 malays. n i did horribly! my voice was too low, one of the symptoms of not enuf sleep. oso i messed up a few of d questions n overall did not project the image of confidence i had hoped to display. but haih, wats done is done. but i AM going into the jap embassy wif a chainsaw if i dun get the scholarhip! haha kiddin...
anyway...later we met up back at d hotel, checked out, then lugged our stuff around ampang plaza for a while b4 lunching at mcd...here i hv 2 comment on the french-fry-eating habits of kl ppl...almost everyone in d mcd outlet dumped their fries onto the tray instead of eating it out of d cardboard box....rather weird since it wud get cold so much faster AND it leaves d fries vulnerable to incidents such as yong shen spilling his soft drink over d pile dat he, chee siang n han yee created.....
later, we yakked away one whole hr in mcd, wif topics ranging from comp games to sch teachers, then we took the LRT back to pudu. did i mention yst n i were singing old disney song throughout d day? presumably an unconscious attempt to let out some stress.....anyway we reached pudu about half n hr b4 d bus arrived, so we headed for a nearby hotel n uh...made use of its foc facilities, namely the aircond n d lobby couches :P
at 3.15pm we boarded the bus n 5 hrs later pulled into penang bus station. end of journey.
final thoughts: where HAVE all d kl chicks gone....
addendum at 2.46AM:
1. ever experienced sleeping for hours on a bus ride then reaching ur destination worn out n exhausted? i wonder y izit dat i get so tired after supposedly resting for the whole trip everytime i hv 2 take d bus to kl n back
2. 'interview syndrome' - after an interview (or similiarly stressful encounter) i end up with little or no memory of the questions asked etc.....its like my mind temporarily suspends storage to increase 'real-time processing power' to handle the situation...n i only start recalling bits n pieces of the interview days after it happened....
3. yst and i were singing old disney songs at the top of our voices (well, not relly) on the way back to pudu from the hotel....including on the LRT....
4. y m i typing meaningless stuff here when i shud b asleep.....
Sunday, June 12, 2005
To answer the Call of Duty, or to turn to the Dark Side?
finished playing Call of Duty yesterday (Fri)....n watched Episode 3 today (Sat).....
Call of Duty
well wat can i say...this has to be one of the best WWII games ever. u play as 3 separate ppl, an american paratrooper, a british soldier n a russian conscript...n u get to man gun turrets, ride vehicles (n shoot from them of cuz...shooting from a moving vehicle takes a fair amount of skill...n luck...if i may say so myself...), n even command a tank! the american n british campaigns r both great, but pales in comparison to the russian campaign....ppl who watched enemy at the gates b4....remember the opening scene in which the russian army sailed across the god-knows-wat channel n landed n rushed en masse up a hill to their deaths at the hands of german machinegunners? the 1st russian mission recreated it in all its gory glory....boats blasted out of the water all around u by dive bombers, soldiers gunned down by german fighters, bombs exploding all around u...n comrades falling by the dozen as bullets whiz past u (complete wif ricochet sounds n smoke trails)......i was more than a little stunned to learn that during WWII the russians actually supplied their soldiers wif 1 rifle per 2 persons n expected them to pick up their guns on the battlefield from dead comrades.....it was a bit weird crawling about that mission holding on to a useless clip of rifle rounds...but it all added to the realistic, historic 'feel' of the game....
n the russian tank missions....superb! mowing down trees in ur path, feeling the recoil of the big gun as u fire at enemy tanks....n blasting holes in buildings (the building models were all destructible n u can blow their walls apart to show the storeys inside)......the most memorable however (besides the 1st mission) was the retaking of uh...some very important building....u hv 2 fight till the top n plant the flag there....n it aint easy wif german machineguns blasting all around u i can assure u.....
one little point about the game dat i found both amusing n impressive was the detail on the models...u can see the expressions on the faces of the soldiers quite clearly n it was rather funny to see how the game developers made the british look like a bunch of retards, wif sloppy, lop-sided faces n uh 'spastic' movements while the russian conscripts shown in the boat during the 1st russian mission were accurately depicted as being scared to death....u noe...'fingers to the mouth full of chattery teeth' dat sort of thing.....
ok...so thats it for call of duty.....better stio b4 i get hired as a game reviewer. heh.
Episode 3
i'm quite sure i dunnit 2 write out the full name of this movie...anyone who doesnt noe wat i'm talking about has been living in the swamps of dagobah for the last 3 months or longer....
anyway....the movie was quite impressive, both visually n in terms of plot (tho most of the story we already knew ages b4 the movie was released, rite)...the audio part i dunno tho, cuz gsc as usual had a messed-up sound system n we kept hearing sound cuts n sudden changes in volume
throughout d movie....
the action sequences were damn cool to watch, esp the final battles (i.e. yoda/sidious n obiwan/vader).....the romantic scenes were as soppy n corny as ever, making me cringe n shudder, which is a great feat by any standards......the scenes dat relly evoked emotion was the jedi purge tho....cant help feeling great pity for anakin who turned to the dark side for the wrong reasons....n for the jedi who were slaughterd by their own soldiers.....*pinches self* hey, its juz a movie!
one part i did NOT like tho. mace windu's death. i agree wif jackle, it totally sucked....i mean, at least give him the credit of being slain in battle lah! shot down by lighting liddat....oso, i found it weird that 3 jedi masters were killed almost without resistance....how the heck do they select their council anyway
anyway dats it for today. juz felt i had to blog bout SOMETHING....but apart from these nothing interesting's happened in my life lately...hehe
Call of Duty
well wat can i say...this has to be one of the best WWII games ever. u play as 3 separate ppl, an american paratrooper, a british soldier n a russian conscript...n u get to man gun turrets, ride vehicles (n shoot from them of cuz...shooting from a moving vehicle takes a fair amount of skill...n luck...if i may say so myself...), n even command a tank! the american n british campaigns r both great, but pales in comparison to the russian campaign....ppl who watched enemy at the gates b4....remember the opening scene in which the russian army sailed across the god-knows-wat channel n landed n rushed en masse up a hill to their deaths at the hands of german machinegunners? the 1st russian mission recreated it in all its gory glory....boats blasted out of the water all around u by dive bombers, soldiers gunned down by german fighters, bombs exploding all around u...n comrades falling by the dozen as bullets whiz past u (complete wif ricochet sounds n smoke trails)......i was more than a little stunned to learn that during WWII the russians actually supplied their soldiers wif 1 rifle per 2 persons n expected them to pick up their guns on the battlefield from dead comrades.....it was a bit weird crawling about that mission holding on to a useless clip of rifle rounds...but it all added to the realistic, historic 'feel' of the game....
n the russian tank missions....superb! mowing down trees in ur path, feeling the recoil of the big gun as u fire at enemy tanks....n blasting holes in buildings (the building models were all destructible n u can blow their walls apart to show the storeys inside)......the most memorable however (besides the 1st mission) was the retaking of uh...some very important building....u hv 2 fight till the top n plant the flag there....n it aint easy wif german machineguns blasting all around u i can assure u.....
one little point about the game dat i found both amusing n impressive was the detail on the models...u can see the expressions on the faces of the soldiers quite clearly n it was rather funny to see how the game developers made the british look like a bunch of retards, wif sloppy, lop-sided faces n uh 'spastic' movements while the russian conscripts shown in the boat during the 1st russian mission were accurately depicted as being scared to death....u noe...'fingers to the mouth full of chattery teeth' dat sort of thing.....
ok...so thats it for call of duty.....better stio b4 i get hired as a game reviewer. heh.
Episode 3
i'm quite sure i dunnit 2 write out the full name of this movie...anyone who doesnt noe wat i'm talking about has been living in the swamps of dagobah for the last 3 months or longer....
anyway....the movie was quite impressive, both visually n in terms of plot (tho most of the story we already knew ages b4 the movie was released, rite)...the audio part i dunno tho, cuz gsc as usual had a messed-up sound system n we kept hearing sound cuts n sudden changes in volume
throughout d movie....
the action sequences were damn cool to watch, esp the final battles (i.e. yoda/sidious n obiwan/vader).....the romantic scenes were as soppy n corny as ever, making me cringe n shudder, which is a great feat by any standards......the scenes dat relly evoked emotion was the jedi purge tho....cant help feeling great pity for anakin who turned to the dark side for the wrong reasons....n for the jedi who were slaughterd by their own soldiers.....*pinches self* hey, its juz a movie!
one part i did NOT like tho. mace windu's death. i agree wif jackle, it totally sucked....i mean, at least give him the credit of being slain in battle lah! shot down by lighting liddat....oso, i found it weird that 3 jedi masters were killed almost without resistance....how the heck do they select their council anyway
anyway dats it for today. juz felt i had to blog bout SOMETHING....but apart from these nothing interesting's happened in my life lately...hehe
Friday, June 10, 2005
Need Help Guys!
ok...according to the monbuka-letter i need to produce a 'letter of recommendation from the principal' for the interview.....so this morning we went to sch 2 find mr cheah (cuz penguin sim wud not be in sch for the whole holidays) n asked him 2 write for us....n mr cheah told us to get our form teachers to write then baru he'll sign it cuz he sez he doesnt noe us personally *rolls eyes* so we asked hong sian ean to write for us (cuz coincidentally we r all taught by her) n she told us to write ourselves n then hv her look thru n sign
so in conclusion, i need to write a 'letter of recommendation' - which is something like the graduation testimonial - for myself. so uh..since i'm not particularly given to self-praise *blushes from false modesty* i'd greatly appreciate it if u guys can each uh...draft out a testi for me (but from a teacher's perspective lah)...can either post it here (!) or send to me thru msn or smth :P or if u'r too bz can juz give some tips n advice on how to write oso can :D
thanx guys!...in advance - dun make me delete this later >:(
so in conclusion, i need to write a 'letter of recommendation' - which is something like the graduation testimonial - for myself. so uh..since i'm not particularly given to self-praise *blushes from false modesty* i'd greatly appreciate it if u guys can each uh...draft out a testi for me (but from a teacher's perspective lah)...can either post it here (!) or send to me thru msn or smth :P or if u'r too bz can juz give some tips n advice on how to write oso can :D
thanx guys!...in advance - dun make me delete this later >:(
Redbox
my voice sux!!
2day went 2 redbox wif...lets see...there was me, ghee, tansri, xinch, ariel n her 2 frens hannee (pronounced 'honey' :P), siow yng (hope i got the spelling right this time)
due to lack of sleep (no really! my voice goes all wavery when i dun sleep enuf...one of the many side effects) i 'performed' quite badly today...aih....
i did however manage to sing 'i want a fat babe' to the accompaniment of the original backstreet boys song 'i want it that way' :P n it turned out quite well, if i may say so myself
halfway thru the session (around 1.30) lydia, n ariel's heartthrob bear bear aka tcy (he's oso lydia n siow yng's godbro, wow) dropped by...they stupidly came after lunch so they wasted 8 bux each for a glass of lemon tea cuz they refused to eat
y m i typing in such short paragraphs...damnit..havent been blogging enuf lately...writing skills all gone d...
anyway...notable performances included 5 consecutive singings of 爱屏才会赢 (hokkien song) by tansri, 水查卜 (oso hokkien song) by ghee, a relly cool rendition of fish leong's 勇气 by ariel n her frens (they did this choir-style multiple-voices thingy) n er...hmm...i want a fat babe by me. hehe
after redbox, ariel went 2 'pat-toh' wif her two 'lovers', while the rest of us (minus tcy n lydia who left early cuz lydia had college) visited the arcade...played 3 rounds of racing, all of which i took 1st place...hehe...then we went down to cold storage where poor ol' xinch was led thru aisle after aisle while she cud only drool n moan n gaze longingly at the rows of mouth-watering snacks on display - cuz she's on a diet...hehe too much blubber...to quote someone: "oh my god, wat flabby thighs" - then me n ghee got wat we wanted....potato snacks.....after which we went home d
phew
2day went 2 redbox wif...lets see...there was me, ghee, tansri, xinch, ariel n her 2 frens hannee (pronounced 'honey' :P), siow yng (hope i got the spelling right this time)
due to lack of sleep (no really! my voice goes all wavery when i dun sleep enuf...one of the many side effects) i 'performed' quite badly today...aih....
i did however manage to sing 'i want a fat babe' to the accompaniment of the original backstreet boys song 'i want it that way' :P n it turned out quite well, if i may say so myself
halfway thru the session (around 1.30) lydia, n ariel's heartthrob bear bear aka tcy (he's oso lydia n siow yng's godbro, wow) dropped by...they stupidly came after lunch so they wasted 8 bux each for a glass of lemon tea cuz they refused to eat
y m i typing in such short paragraphs...damnit..havent been blogging enuf lately...writing skills all gone d...
anyway...notable performances included 5 consecutive singings of 爱屏才会赢 (hokkien song) by tansri, 水查卜 (oso hokkien song) by ghee, a relly cool rendition of fish leong's 勇气 by ariel n her frens (they did this choir-style multiple-voices thingy) n er...hmm...i want a fat babe by me. hehe
after redbox, ariel went 2 'pat-toh' wif her two 'lovers', while the rest of us (minus tcy n lydia who left early cuz lydia had college) visited the arcade...played 3 rounds of racing, all of which i took 1st place...hehe...then we went down to cold storage where poor ol' xinch was led thru aisle after aisle while she cud only drool n moan n gaze longingly at the rows of mouth-watering snacks on display - cuz she's on a diet...hehe too much blubber...to quote someone: "oh my god, wat flabby thighs" - then me n ghee got wat we wanted....potato snacks.....after which we went home d
phew
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Monbuka Interview
well....i got it..the interview, that is, not the actual scholarship...but still it exceeds my expectations as i relly felt i did poorly on dat written test dat day. anyway i started getting my hopes up last wed when i got a foncall from the japanese embassy asking to confirm my address...i mean, surely they wudnt go confirming the addresses of every person who attended the test rite...so i thought shud be good news...n wat d'ya noe...today the letter came!
so now i hv 2 brush up on my interview skills, dig up some basic info on japanese culture etc n basically prepare for the interview..which is...NEXT TUESDAY...!! aggghh.....
"wats there to prepare anyway? its juz an interview!" one mite ask....well...i daresay i'm making a big fuss over it lah...but when ur 'future is on the line' u dun go 'play-play' wif it....
checklist of things to do:
- read up on japanese culture, mannerisms, social customs, history, n general affairs etc
(side-note: better start learning bout jap anime :P)
- read up on basic biotech-related topics..juz in case they ask
- assuming the interview is in eng, better grab hold of xinch n start doing wat SHE does best....crapping :P
- arrange transport, accomodation etc since d interview is in kl
- FIND OUT WHERE THE JAPANESE EMBASSY IS
- practice taekwondo in case i'm required to pit it against their karate or jiujutsu...
oh...n i better make sure i memorise the term 'Monbukagakusho'...it'll b a catastrophe of cosmic proportions if i go 'monbuka..monbuka...uh...' during the interview....
P.S. for fans eagerly awaiting the 1st instalment of my holiday journal, i can only offer my profuse apologies for being too engaged wif crimsonland and call of duty to er...do my duty to u all (no pun intended)
so now i hv 2 brush up on my interview skills, dig up some basic info on japanese culture etc n basically prepare for the interview..which is...NEXT TUESDAY...!! aggghh.....
"wats there to prepare anyway? its juz an interview!" one mite ask....well...i daresay i'm making a big fuss over it lah...but when ur 'future is on the line' u dun go 'play-play' wif it....
checklist of things to do:
- read up on japanese culture, mannerisms, social customs, history, n general affairs etc
(side-note: better start learning bout jap anime :P)
- read up on basic biotech-related topics..juz in case they ask
- assuming the interview is in eng, better grab hold of xinch n start doing wat SHE does best....crapping :P
- arrange transport, accomodation etc since d interview is in kl
- FIND OUT WHERE THE JAPANESE EMBASSY IS
- practice taekwondo in case i'm required to pit it against their karate or jiujutsu...
oh...n i better make sure i memorise the term 'Monbukagakusho'...it'll b a catastrophe of cosmic proportions if i go 'monbuka..monbuka...uh...' during the interview....
P.S. for fans eagerly awaiting the 1st instalment of my holiday journal, i can only offer my profuse apologies for being too engaged wif crimsonland and call of duty to er...do my duty to u all (no pun intended)
Sunday, June 05, 2005
mp3 player at last! :P
well...yesterday (sat) i went 2 the pc fair at komtar...the Canon IT Fair actually, cuz it was so small it cud hardly be called a pc fair...it was in the dome n there were extremely few ppl when i got there...prob due to bad publicity lah - they din even give out flyers or anything so i wudnt hv known bout it if i din notice one of my msn contacts 'advertising' it....
anyway...bought an mp3 player there for RM350....kinda hefty price but its 512MB n has built in voice recorder n FM radio so i guess its ok lah....plus a few other little features such as equalizer presets n 7 backlight colors :P
thinking back, i juz realised i spent a lot of money on computer n electronic stuff this year...1stly there was the dvd writer, RM400 n an optical mouse, RM50...then at the previous pc fair i bought a 200GB hdd for RM385....then yesterday bought this mp3 player...RM350...AND a stack of DVD+Rs, 20 for RM40.....aiks..i think i better start scrimping on other expenses liao
anyway...dats it lah...tonite gonna write d 1st half of my holiday journal...for my devoted readers, here's a draft of wat it will contain:
- games i played
- places i went (none!)
- ppl i met (none!)
- other stuff i did
- my study progress so far
- my plans for next week
anyway...bought an mp3 player there for RM350....kinda hefty price but its 512MB n has built in voice recorder n FM radio so i guess its ok lah....plus a few other little features such as equalizer presets n 7 backlight colors :P
thinking back, i juz realised i spent a lot of money on computer n electronic stuff this year...1stly there was the dvd writer, RM400 n an optical mouse, RM50...then at the previous pc fair i bought a 200GB hdd for RM385....then yesterday bought this mp3 player...RM350...AND a stack of DVD+Rs, 20 for RM40.....aiks..i think i better start scrimping on other expenses liao
anyway...dats it lah...tonite gonna write d 1st half of my holiday journal...for my devoted readers, here's a draft of wat it will contain:
- games i played
- places i went (none!)
- ppl i met (none!)
- other stuff i did
- my study progress so far
- my plans for next week
Saturday, June 04, 2005
dunno y i'm doing this but....
| Global Personality Test Results |
| Stability (28%) low which suggests you are very worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious. Orderliness (53%) medium which suggests you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun. Extraversion (49%) medium which suggests you average somewhere in between being assertive and social and being withdrawn and solitary. |
personality tests by similarminds.com
Friday, June 03, 2005
Side Kicks...yeeaahh!!
 |  |  |
| Xiang Ying, *someone*'s heart-throb | Capt. Dan, leader of the fluggen gang | yours truly :P watch my hands! |
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
class photos for grad mag
product of a whole nite's work wif danny...those guys back in class better thank us well...!
Memoirs of a Republic Commando
well..there i have it....finally completed Star Wars: Republic Commando, one of d best fps games i ever played (n definitely the best star wars game)...in record time too, since i only startd last friday midnight/sat morning :P
as usual tho, games like that leave me with questions...for example, y are the weapons n armor n equipment etc of the clone commandos so advanced when its supposed 2 b set during the episode 2/3 period? like..they were using personal shielding n bacta charges dat can 'revive' a squadmate who's been 'killed'...n how did the clones develop such distinct personalities when they were supposedly 'created equal'?
but wat d heck..d game's damn great! i particularly liked d fact dat apart from ur main rifle n pistol u can only pick up one other weapon...but u can attach sniper or anti-armor (read: heavy mortar grenades) to ur blaster so u actually hv '5' guns to use....it sure makes a lot more sense than most fps games in which one little guy can load up to 10 freakin' guns n still jump around the battlefield....oso, ammo loadouts for weapons r oso quite realistic..for example u can carry a ton of rounds for ur blasters cuz they're basically energy cells..but only 4 anti-armor charges at once..dat makes for quite a bit of strategic planning too...as for squad AI, u hv 2 play it to believe it...damn advanced
ok....b4 i start to sound too much like a game reviewer, i think i'd better quit...anyway...poor ol' dan, wun get 2 play till end of d year :P
as usual tho, games like that leave me with questions...for example, y are the weapons n armor n equipment etc of the clone commandos so advanced when its supposed 2 b set during the episode 2/3 period? like..they were using personal shielding n bacta charges dat can 'revive' a squadmate who's been 'killed'...n how did the clones develop such distinct personalities when they were supposedly 'created equal'?
but wat d heck..d game's damn great! i particularly liked d fact dat apart from ur main rifle n pistol u can only pick up one other weapon...but u can attach sniper or anti-armor (read: heavy mortar grenades) to ur blaster so u actually hv '5' guns to use....it sure makes a lot more sense than most fps games in which one little guy can load up to 10 freakin' guns n still jump around the battlefield....oso, ammo loadouts for weapons r oso quite realistic..for example u can carry a ton of rounds for ur blasters cuz they're basically energy cells..but only 4 anti-armor charges at once..dat makes for quite a bit of strategic planning too...as for squad AI, u hv 2 play it to believe it...damn advanced
ok....b4 i start to sound too much like a game reviewer, i think i'd better quit...anyway...poor ol' dan, wun get 2 play till end of d year :P
Monday, May 30, 2005
State Tourney n Piano Concert
state tourney was yesterday...came back so dead tired dat i 'only' managed 2 play 2 hrs of republic commando b4 hitting d bed...even tho i pledged not 2 put off blogging til the next time....anyway, in summary:
won 2 medals...1 silver 1 bronze....NO GOLD
silver was for individual pattern, n i cant believe i lost to this little blue belt from my centre (who did the same pattern as me) cuz he was always like so stim stim n blur blur 1....n his kicks werent even dat good! haha not saying dat i'm good lah. tho i DID manage 2 hold my side kicks :D n dat was after ONE day of training (we had a final training on friday..the only one i attended for the last..3? 4? weeks)
bronze was for team pattern. believe it or not, my team was assembled 5 minutes b4 the competition started n we had all of 3 minutes' training to shape things up. hehe. n damn 'colourful' team it was...black (yong min), red (some malay adult guy), blue (firdaus...the guy who beat me in individual pattern), blue-tip - which is basically green (:D), n yellow (danny, oso an adult). but b4 u guys start thinking 'walao wat a great team', honesty compels me 2 add dat there were only 4 teams competing n one other team was also from LMTC..n they forgot their pattern. hehe. 'nuff sed.
anyway...despite those minor 'wins', the tourney left me feeling less than satisfied...as usual, cuz of d sparring. y? i waited from bout 2.30 till **7.30** for 1 minute of 'glory' then was eliminated in the 1st round. n i was seriously doubting the judges' decision. cuz i THOUGHT i hit dat guy in d head once (well, someone else saw it too) while all he did was front kick all the way. but his 1st kick was a solid hit lah. so mebbe i'm juz having too high an opinion of myself.
yesterday i oso ate the least meals in a day ever....had no breakfast, not even a cup of milo...then at lunch only got one measly package of rice...well, cud hv got seconds but dat was b4 my pattern competition n i din wan 2 throw up in d middle of d ring...then had dinner at 10 cuz we went home late n i only reached home around dat time...
republic commando rocks.
the next day:
the butterflies hatched n began mutating into monsterflies in my stomach as i realised i havent practiced my concert piece for....4 days...wed till sat...cuz of exams, then having tuition n training on friday, then whole of yesterday was at state tourney...n of all blasted luck, my 'jelly-fingers' syndrome came in the morning...(there r time when my fingers juz feel limp n boh-lat liddat...dunno if it was something i ate or not enuf sleep or wat lah...they juz happen at times n i cant control my playing cuz the fingers feel 'not there')...so after going thru d piece a few times i went to play...guess wat...republic commando while my sis practiced...fortunately later after a short nap i played better liao...then it was time for the final countdown....
arrived at komtar around 2...we reached the auditorium n i plonked down n started practicing..man, the grand piano there had keys like stone! halfway thru the piece my left hand was starting to feel the strain liao...but that was the least of my problems...i messed up somewhere n cudnt continue...cuz the piece is kinda like 'in my fingers' not 'in my head', so i cudnt recall the notes without d score if i juz stopped liddat...so in the end i decided to use the score while playing after all lah..
at around 3pm the concert startd....mine was in the 2nd half, after an intermission..so i tried 2 relax n enjoy d others' playing...din relly succeed tho. as usual, yun xuan wowed the crowd wif his superb performance n left me green wif envy...he played movements 1 n 2 from yellow river n was sipek keng....there were a few 'rising stars' oso....younger ones who played well for their age....n a few interesting combinations like singing n strings ensembles n piano duets...
the intermission was painfully short, juz enuf for me 2 do my 'inspection'...u guys shud noe wat DAT means eh? :P then it was d 2nd half liao...a few short pieces by younger students later, it was my turn....i guess i din do THAT badly lah cuz i din freeze up...n there was the reassurance of having d score in front of me tho i only looked at it in the last page....but i was so jittery i rushed thru d piece n made quite a few mistakes...luckily they (hopefully) werent obvious to anyone who hasnt played dat piece b4....
anyway the concert ended bout 6, yun xuan's mom dropped me n my sis home (oh ya, i 4got 2 mention my sis played too...maiden's prayer) n i drove 2 psc while my sis stayed home, the piggie...
end of log.
won 2 medals...1 silver 1 bronze....NO GOLD
silver was for individual pattern, n i cant believe i lost to this little blue belt from my centre (who did the same pattern as me) cuz he was always like so stim stim n blur blur 1....n his kicks werent even dat good! haha not saying dat i'm good lah. tho i DID manage 2 hold my side kicks :D n dat was after ONE day of training (we had a final training on friday..the only one i attended for the last..3? 4? weeks)
bronze was for team pattern. believe it or not, my team was assembled 5 minutes b4 the competition started n we had all of 3 minutes' training to shape things up. hehe. n damn 'colourful' team it was...black (yong min), red (some malay adult guy), blue (firdaus...the guy who beat me in individual pattern), blue-tip - which is basically green (:D), n yellow (danny, oso an adult). but b4 u guys start thinking 'walao wat a great team', honesty compels me 2 add dat there were only 4 teams competing n one other team was also from LMTC..n they forgot their pattern. hehe. 'nuff sed.
anyway...despite those minor 'wins', the tourney left me feeling less than satisfied...as usual, cuz of d sparring. y? i waited from bout 2.30 till **7.30** for 1 minute of 'glory' then was eliminated in the 1st round. n i was seriously doubting the judges' decision. cuz i THOUGHT i hit dat guy in d head once (well, someone else saw it too) while all he did was front kick all the way. but his 1st kick was a solid hit lah. so mebbe i'm juz having too high an opinion of myself.
yesterday i oso ate the least meals in a day ever....had no breakfast, not even a cup of milo...then at lunch only got one measly package of rice...well, cud hv got seconds but dat was b4 my pattern competition n i din wan 2 throw up in d middle of d ring...then had dinner at 10 cuz we went home late n i only reached home around dat time...
republic commando rocks.
the next day:
the butterflies hatched n began mutating into monsterflies in my stomach as i realised i havent practiced my concert piece for....4 days...wed till sat...cuz of exams, then having tuition n training on friday, then whole of yesterday was at state tourney...n of all blasted luck, my 'jelly-fingers' syndrome came in the morning...(there r time when my fingers juz feel limp n boh-lat liddat...dunno if it was something i ate or not enuf sleep or wat lah...they juz happen at times n i cant control my playing cuz the fingers feel 'not there')...so after going thru d piece a few times i went to play...guess wat...republic commando while my sis practiced...fortunately later after a short nap i played better liao...then it was time for the final countdown....
arrived at komtar around 2...we reached the auditorium n i plonked down n started practicing..man, the grand piano there had keys like stone! halfway thru the piece my left hand was starting to feel the strain liao...but that was the least of my problems...i messed up somewhere n cudnt continue...cuz the piece is kinda like 'in my fingers' not 'in my head', so i cudnt recall the notes without d score if i juz stopped liddat...so in the end i decided to use the score while playing after all lah..
at around 3pm the concert startd....mine was in the 2nd half, after an intermission..so i tried 2 relax n enjoy d others' playing...din relly succeed tho. as usual, yun xuan wowed the crowd wif his superb performance n left me green wif envy...he played movements 1 n 2 from yellow river n was sipek keng....there were a few 'rising stars' oso....younger ones who played well for their age....n a few interesting combinations like singing n strings ensembles n piano duets...
the intermission was painfully short, juz enuf for me 2 do my 'inspection'...u guys shud noe wat DAT means eh? :P then it was d 2nd half liao...a few short pieces by younger students later, it was my turn....i guess i din do THAT badly lah cuz i din freeze up...n there was the reassurance of having d score in front of me tho i only looked at it in the last page....but i was so jittery i rushed thru d piece n made quite a few mistakes...luckily they (hopefully) werent obvious to anyone who hasnt played dat piece b4....
anyway the concert ended bout 6, yun xuan's mom dropped me n my sis home (oh ya, i 4got 2 mention my sis played too...maiden's prayer) n i drove 2 psc while my sis stayed home, the piggie...
end of log.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Return of the Ravenlord
"At long last. I am free!" - raptor_ravenlord, 2005.
Hehe i'm sure many of u had missed my witty, informative n humorous posts during the last few days (or was it weeks...) :D anyway, the ravenlord is back with a vengeance!
lets start off wif a brief summary of my last 2 weeks. n i mean brief, cuz there relly isnt much to write bout neway...basically, i had been tied down wif studying becuz of d stupid midyear exam. i said it b4 n i'll say it again...if i can ever go back in time to find the one who invented exams, i'll...do some bad things to him - juz wat exactly, i'll leave to ur imagination....
anyway...besides studying "24/7", i managed to squeeze in some time to:
1) practice the piano
2) play cs
3) play magic II, a nifty little game on my hp dats surprisingly addictive
4) listen to all jay chou's albums at least 10 times each
5) exercise to get marginally in shape for the tournament
for the last few weeks i had been following a fairly regular pattern during my week days...after sch i wud get home, hv lunch n bath n wat-not, then go on9 (or more recently, cs) to check mail n blogs, then its nap time...when i wake up around 6 or 7 i'll hv my daily dose of the Good Stuff (i.e. coffee), do a bit of studying then hv dinner...followed by bout half n hr of piano practice - until the stupid cantonese serial my parents had been avidly following starts at 9pm - then start studying till midnite...then usually i'll on9 a bit more b4 getting chased off d comp by my mom, then exercise n go to bed around 3. heh. talk bout concise n precise summary eh?
anyway...the last week or so had been different in that i virtually (but not completely lah) eliminated my on9 hrs...tho i DID spend an inordinate time playing cs last friday nite (hey, it was the start of 4 days' holidays...who can blame me?)...from 12 midnight till bout 3.30am hehe...n bout 3 days ago i 'discovered' the joys of simple games like magic II...played so much dat i pretty much filled up the high scores in fact..hehe..ming tatt was like so boh kam buan cuz i beat his prev hi-score....
about the exam papers: (in chronological order)
maths 2 - well it wasnt as hard as it 'traditionally' was...still i pretty much screwed it up wif stupid carelessness...plus i think i hv this problem in dat i work at a slug's pace (slug as in snail, not bullet) during exams...but hey...its a 3-hr paper...cant blame a normal guy for lack of stamina...stupid Examination Council shud relly revise their syllabus...they can remove d whole paper for all i care :P anyway wat i was most hung up over was a mistake i made in copying (1 + x) as (1 - x) resulting in me getting the last part of a question (worth 3 or 4 marks) wrong...if i'm not mistaken d answer was supposed to be d length of a chord n it was an imaginary number. lol.
P.A. - paper 2 was surprisingly not as bad as i tot..probably becuz it was d only time i ever mananaged 2 complete it wif time 2 spare..got nearly 15 mins to check thru n correct a few spelling mistakes...however, paper 1 more than made up for p2's lack of 'killer-bility'...to put in in kai lin's words, "有读跟没有读一样". or mebbe i juz din study enuf lah haih..
physics - not too bad...i like physics n had been keeping up wif d lessons so it was mostly ok barring stupid incidents like in maths 2. din relly hv time to check thru tho...so i'm keeping my fingers crossed...
maths 1 - well, the slug-syndrome strikes again...believe it or not, i slept at 4 the nite b4...playing magic II from 2.30 to 4...shit lah...screwed myself from lack of sleep...which was the main cause for me 'blanking out' several times during d paper...but luckily it wasnt too hard lah...managed to do all without any major problems although like many of d other papers i din hv time to check thru
chem - ah. the major shit...besides having an intrinsic dislike for chem n a sucky chem teacher, i banyak last-minute-work this one...luckily the paper wasnt too hard...had a huge scare doing paper 1 (the last paper) cuz i slug-ed so much dat when the teacher announced "7 minutes left" i havent even begun filling in d answer sheet...luckily managed 2 settled everything in time...in the nick of time i shud say..n needless to say, din check.
(reminder to self: format computer so i can install half-life, n write something for the grad mag)
exam-period gripes:
- time waste
as mentioned above, spent much more time playing cs n magic II than i shud hv...mebbe chem cud hv done better if i din spend those hrs blasting ppl wif SMGs or stacking up magic balls....
- noisy sister
man i got one hell of a sister...n i mean it literally...imagine playing the same f*cking song 20 times in a row...back to back...n dat song isnt even nice...n at a volume so high i cudnt block it out by holing up in my room...n my parents din so much as raise a finger (until my mom wanted to 'read newspapers in quiet')
- parental pressure
basically its my mom...basically she thinks studies r more important than my well-being...n basically she thinks dat maths outweighs every other subject in importance. 'nuff said...cuz if ur mom is like dat u'll understand..n if she isnt, u wun no matter how much i say.
random thoughts:
- notice how often these 'random thoughts' parts come into my posts? (i notice they appear a lot in lydia's blog oso) well it juz shows how disorganised my mind is...i cant seem to gather everything i need/want to write bout when i'm actually sitting in front of d comp...or else i wud only think of them near the end of my post...so here it is...
- notice how u always cook up lots of plans for the holidays during d exam period, then when d hols roll around n dunno where to start n end up wasting most of it? well...mebbe u dun...but i do...i keep getting ideas like 'practice sparring wif chia ling' n 'go canoeing at psc'...then i'd tell myself "make plans for it after exams" but until now i still havent gotten round to thinking bout my holiday schedule yet...
- the lower 6 are in! the boys - nothing much to comment on, cuz they're mostly familiar faces....but the girls....ah..the girls... :D well to quote a few ppl: "今年的素质好象比较好得多"...."刚才驾过罢了就转头不知道几次了"...."为什么我们的Form没有美女像Lower Six的?"
- under-rated, under-listened-to jay chou song: 分裂 (from album 八度空间)
- tomolo's tkd tourney, i'm competing in individual pattern n free sparring. amen...
- sunday's piano concert, my playing still sux. god save the ravenlord...
- got lotsa more things to write bout actually...but as i sed...i'm damn disorganised..cant think of them at d moment...ah yes...(reminder to self: start bittorrent downloads again!)
raptor signing off....
30/5:
- forgot to complain bout something: d sch is damn kiam siap...1stly, they only turned on the aircond about mid-morning even if there's a paper earlier...n the fans were off oso...so basically we're sweating like pigs inside the hall lah...i was like.."HUH? they let us take the exam like that?" com'on lah...n besides that i found it ridiculous dat they expected us to do our calculations n stuff on our objective question papers for phys n chem..cuz they did NOT provide rough paper...
Hehe i'm sure many of u had missed my witty, informative n humorous posts during the last few days (or was it weeks...) :D anyway, the ravenlord is back with a vengeance!
lets start off wif a brief summary of my last 2 weeks. n i mean brief, cuz there relly isnt much to write bout neway...basically, i had been tied down wif studying becuz of d stupid midyear exam. i said it b4 n i'll say it again...if i can ever go back in time to find the one who invented exams, i'll...do some bad things to him - juz wat exactly, i'll leave to ur imagination....
anyway...besides studying "24/7", i managed to squeeze in some time to:
1) practice the piano
2) play cs
3) play magic II, a nifty little game on my hp dats surprisingly addictive
4) listen to all jay chou's albums at least 10 times each
5) exercise to get marginally in shape for the tournament
for the last few weeks i had been following a fairly regular pattern during my week days...after sch i wud get home, hv lunch n bath n wat-not, then go on9 (or more recently, cs) to check mail n blogs, then its nap time...when i wake up around 6 or 7 i'll hv my daily dose of the Good Stuff (i.e. coffee), do a bit of studying then hv dinner...followed by bout half n hr of piano practice - until the stupid cantonese serial my parents had been avidly following starts at 9pm - then start studying till midnite...then usually i'll on9 a bit more b4 getting chased off d comp by my mom, then exercise n go to bed around 3. heh. talk bout concise n precise summary eh?
anyway...the last week or so had been different in that i virtually (but not completely lah) eliminated my on9 hrs...tho i DID spend an inordinate time playing cs last friday nite (hey, it was the start of 4 days' holidays...who can blame me?)...from 12 midnight till bout 3.30am hehe...n bout 3 days ago i 'discovered' the joys of simple games like magic II...played so much dat i pretty much filled up the high scores in fact..hehe..ming tatt was like so boh kam buan cuz i beat his prev hi-score....
about the exam papers: (in chronological order)
maths 2 - well it wasnt as hard as it 'traditionally' was...still i pretty much screwed it up wif stupid carelessness...plus i think i hv this problem in dat i work at a slug's pace (slug as in snail, not bullet) during exams...but hey...its a 3-hr paper...cant blame a normal guy for lack of stamina...stupid Examination Council shud relly revise their syllabus...they can remove d whole paper for all i care :P anyway wat i was most hung up over was a mistake i made in copying (1 + x) as (1 - x) resulting in me getting the last part of a question (worth 3 or 4 marks) wrong...if i'm not mistaken d answer was supposed to be d length of a chord n it was an imaginary number. lol.
P.A. - paper 2 was surprisingly not as bad as i tot..probably becuz it was d only time i ever mananaged 2 complete it wif time 2 spare..got nearly 15 mins to check thru n correct a few spelling mistakes...however, paper 1 more than made up for p2's lack of 'killer-bility'...to put in in kai lin's words, "有读跟没有读一样". or mebbe i juz din study enuf lah haih..
physics - not too bad...i like physics n had been keeping up wif d lessons so it was mostly ok barring stupid incidents like in maths 2. din relly hv time to check thru tho...so i'm keeping my fingers crossed...
maths 1 - well, the slug-syndrome strikes again...believe it or not, i slept at 4 the nite b4...playing magic II from 2.30 to 4...shit lah...screwed myself from lack of sleep...which was the main cause for me 'blanking out' several times during d paper...but luckily it wasnt too hard lah...managed to do all without any major problems although like many of d other papers i din hv time to check thru
chem - ah. the major shit...besides having an intrinsic dislike for chem n a sucky chem teacher, i banyak last-minute-work this one...luckily the paper wasnt too hard...had a huge scare doing paper 1 (the last paper) cuz i slug-ed so much dat when the teacher announced "7 minutes left" i havent even begun filling in d answer sheet...luckily managed 2 settled everything in time...in the nick of time i shud say..n needless to say, din check.
(reminder to self: format computer so i can install half-life, n write something for the grad mag)
exam-period gripes:
- time waste
as mentioned above, spent much more time playing cs n magic II than i shud hv...mebbe chem cud hv done better if i din spend those hrs blasting ppl wif SMGs or stacking up magic balls....
- noisy sister
man i got one hell of a sister...n i mean it literally...imagine playing the same f*cking song 20 times in a row...back to back...n dat song isnt even nice...n at a volume so high i cudnt block it out by holing up in my room...n my parents din so much as raise a finger (until my mom wanted to 'read newspapers in quiet')
- parental pressure
basically its my mom...basically she thinks studies r more important than my well-being...n basically she thinks dat maths outweighs every other subject in importance. 'nuff said...cuz if ur mom is like dat u'll understand..n if she isnt, u wun no matter how much i say.
random thoughts:
- notice how often these 'random thoughts' parts come into my posts? (i notice they appear a lot in lydia's blog oso) well it juz shows how disorganised my mind is...i cant seem to gather everything i need/want to write bout when i'm actually sitting in front of d comp...or else i wud only think of them near the end of my post...so here it is...
- notice how u always cook up lots of plans for the holidays during d exam period, then when d hols roll around n dunno where to start n end up wasting most of it? well...mebbe u dun...but i do...i keep getting ideas like 'practice sparring wif chia ling' n 'go canoeing at psc'...then i'd tell myself "make plans for it after exams" but until now i still havent gotten round to thinking bout my holiday schedule yet...
- the lower 6 are in! the boys - nothing much to comment on, cuz they're mostly familiar faces....but the girls....ah..the girls... :D well to quote a few ppl: "今年的素质好象比较好得多"...."刚才驾过罢了就转头不知道几次了"...."为什么我们的Form没有美女像Lower Six的?"
- under-rated, under-listened-to jay chou song: 分裂 (from album 八度空间)
- tomolo's tkd tourney, i'm competing in individual pattern n free sparring. amen...
- sunday's piano concert, my playing still sux. god save the ravenlord...
- got lotsa more things to write bout actually...but as i sed...i'm damn disorganised..cant think of them at d moment...ah yes...(reminder to self: start bittorrent downloads again!)
raptor signing off....
30/5:
- forgot to complain bout something: d sch is damn kiam siap...1stly, they only turned on the aircond about mid-morning even if there's a paper earlier...n the fans were off oso...so basically we're sweating like pigs inside the hall lah...i was like.."HUH? they let us take the exam like that?" com'on lah...n besides that i found it ridiculous dat they expected us to do our calculations n stuff on our objective question papers for phys n chem..cuz they did NOT provide rough paper...
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
What Type of Killer Are You?
well....seems like quite a number of bloggers on my list hv tried this quiz...n it seemed kinda fun...so i tot wat the heck....
n wat do u noe? the quiz's damn accurate too...hehe...minus the pic lah of course
What Type of Killer Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
n wat do u noe? the quiz's damn accurate too...hehe...minus the pic lah of course
You are a Ninja.
You are like a samurai gone bad. The good side
is no longer interesting you and feel that
darkness is where you belong. Though you may
think you are the evil one, you're not. Because
deep inside there is still that little glimpse
of who you once were. You don't like to
associate with people that much and keep away.
In your mind they are ignorant and not so
interesting anyway. That means you are a lonely
person who don't trust people, and you have
really no desire to do so either. Life is a big
pain and annoyance for you and you aren't quite
sure on how to handle it. Other people see you
as mysterious and secretive, and that is
probably right.
Main weapon: Daggers and throwing
stars
Quote: "I hate people. People make
me pro-nuclear" - Margaret Smith
Facial expression: Frown
What Type of Killer Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)