2011'12

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

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Hello folks - no I'm not dead yet, definitely not.
Close to that though, I have been a sloth curled up in bed reading shallow books that I've been analysing a little too deeply since I came back from Guides November Camp two days ago.

From when I last posted (8 November) till now (a good twelve days), many interesting things have happened and I'm going to recap the events that have occurred (much to my amusement but possibly to your boredom, whoever 'your' is going to be). It's going to be an insanely long post, apologies for that but click away if you'd wish.

10 November 2012 

If you haven't noticed, I really like Gardens by the Bay - going there shows me a side of Singapore that most Singaporeans don't appreciate that much and even though most of the plants are probably imported from other parts of the world, this nature part of Marina Bay brings out a great "Garden City" feel which I absolutely adore.

So on the 10th, a day after Emily's birthday I decided to do a little something for her and plan an outing for her with her kept in the dark of where we will be heading to/ doing. Me, being extremely dedicated in my self-assumed job of surprise planner, woke up early on the day itself to bake ham and cheese croissants for our outdoor picnic. As usual though, Emily is an extremely deep sleeper and from past experiences, I know that I should never leave my house before I make sure that she is awake and preparing. (I swear, her future boyfriend is going to be driven crazy by her extreme habit of being late) We were supposed to meet at 11am but we ended up meeting at 3pm. Oh well, it's her birthday anyway.

We made our way to Bayfront and I think she liked the balloon I got her (;

Who can resist helium and AA Milne's creations? 

We made our way to the Gardens where the view was absolutely stunning and the air was amazingly fresh. We enjoyed a perfect weather as well, with cool breezes accompanied by sunshine. It was surprisingly empty for a Saturday perhaps because it had rained in other parts of Singapore earlier on and people were probably afraid to have their moods ruined by a possibly wet Garden.  I'm actually really glad that Singapore didn't install air conditioning in the Gardens or made it completely sheltered because that would really kill the essence of the place and be insanely environmentally unfriendly.

Us with the signature Gardens by the Bay architecture structures in the background

Then we settled in a sheltered pavilion and had a mini picnic with the ham and cheese croissants which I baked earlier that day (which would have been much fresher if we had met as planned at 11AM) and iced strawberry tea which was literally iced because I left the bottle in the freezer overnight. By the time we got to the Gardens, the strawberry tea flavoured ice has melted and left us with a cool icy drink. 


And then, as what tourists do, we started camwhoring (I do not enjoy using this word but it's possibly the most suitable word for describing what we did then). 




And finally, a last one celebrating Obama's recent win in the election! (okay, it was a "recent win" at that point in time when we took the photo)

Then we headed to TWG at Marina Bay Sands where I treated her to macarons and something called "Chocolate fondant" which looked a little something like this: 

It looked really good, but if you love chocolate, eat this and you'd definitely be sick of chocolate. The two of us couldn't handle the richness of it. It was too decadent for my liking. 

Now, here's a fake smile after that chocolate concoction got into my tummy. But alright, the company was good so maybe my smile was real (-: 

Afterwards we just went to a couch at MBS and talked about everything under the sun. It felt amazing to have such a warm heart to heart talk with this girl, my best friend. The plus point was that although we came from different schools, we could relate to each other so much and sometimes it's good to view things from an outsider's point of view, as the Chinese saying goes, "当局者迷,旁观者清". Thank you Emily for six years of wonderful friendship and here's to another six strong years and more (': 

That Saturday was one to remember. 

Moving on, 
12 November 2012

We had Guides Company Initiatives in school where the 2nd Coy Sec Two Guides did a pretty great job in planning. I really enjoyed myself at the pseudo Running Man game which was a new concept for me and the picnic had junk food... who wouldn't enjoy that? 

Sharmaine, Chris and me taking an apparently camera worthy break from running around school. 

Anyhow, that's besides the point. After initiatives, we had a 13atch  lunch + meeting although only a few of us could make it because the PGA kids had to go for training for their Pioneering test that was going to take place that same week (which all of them eventually passed, congrats friends :D). Nevertheless, I thought that the meeting and lunch was really productive and fun. I would go into more details of the meeting except that I'm acting on the possibility that there could be Guides juniors reading this and seniors should have mysterious super-secret plans after super-secret meetings (-;  

In our super-secret hideout at Plaza Singapura with all of us doing work and being productive. Okay maybe not all.

I became so much more excited about next year after the meeting. The prospect of being the most senior ... intrigues me a whole lot and it's funny but I really can't wait although I'm quite afraid of the pressure that I'm possibly going to face. I have new found faith in 13atch and the speed of which we are growing and assuming our new positions is scary, in a good way if that makes any sense at all.

The last ones left at the meeting (; 

15 November 2012

It was the day of House Comm Camp 2012! /shrieks/ It was what has been bothering Channel 5 for a few days and has caused us a lot of rage and frustration but it's over and it went pretty well overall (:

In the morning, I headed to Melissa Tang's house to help with all the bags of junk food which Huiying, Mel and myself purchased the day before together! (If you were wondering why it was only three of us, it's because Minglu and Vanessa were always tied down by ICYL preparation) It was hilarious how much food we bought and how much we had to lug into my dad's car.

We were getting increasingly worried because we have not done any rehearsing for our presentation to the House Commers and a lot of the programme was not exactly firmed up yet. But I think for our first presentation together as Channel 5 was pretty good when we realized that our audience was really just House Comm and there was nothing to be worried about in actual fact. 

I particularly enjoyed Intra House Time where Waddle had our own bonding and working time (': I'm really happy with our new lot of yellow people - they were already so productive and they show so much promise in terms of their new ideas because that was exactly what I was aiming for - something different for Waddle.  I'm already feeling really glad with the choices JELLO made in terms of subcomm allocations and leaders - yet another thing that is probably going to make 2013 an amazing year.  

Four of the sec threes in Waddle House Comm (':

Finally, there was Guides November Training Camp on 16 November (yes, my schedule was really packed last week) but I'm going to save that post for another day (possibly tomorrow)! 



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0811'12

Thursday, November 8, 2012

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So much love for my sec one and two class (the amazing 204'11)! (':

That's right, so school holidays have officially started and it started amazingly on Monday by spending my time with the people I love - PB Formal Farewell in the morning (thank you Fiam, you've been dear!) and of course, 204'11 chalet thereafter!

To be honest, Formal Farewell went by sort of in a blur - it was too early in the morning and I was in a daze. The speeches were really good and extremely entertaining though, courtesy of Gen and Chloe. It's going to be rather weird thinking that Fidu is (kind of) officially the most senior batch of prefects now and again, I've probably touched on this topic for countless times and for countless reasons but it is indeed going to be... nerve wrecking and overwhelming. 

That aside, Jie Lin and I made our way to Pasir Ris immediately after Formal Farewell to meet our dear ex-classmates for lunch before we checked into the Arandas chalet! It felt so good to see my 204'11 classmates again - I love them so very much and Year 2 is probably going to be the best year I've ever experienced in RGS, even though I'm not done with my four years yet. 


After checking in, we split up into different activities and I went cycling with Angelia and Dawn - my favourite class chairpersons in the entire universe. I absent mindedly forgot to bring my student pass along with me, which resulted in us only being allowed to rent two bicycles - a single bicycle and a tandem bicycle to accommodate the three of us. Riding a tandem bicycle was more difficult than we had expected and we ended up struggling a lot but once we got the hang of it, it was extremely fun having to work together to control and power the bicycle. 

Cycling with them just made me feel so happy, feeling the breeze in my hair and thinking about nothing at all. I haven't experienced such a feeling in a long, long time and being with my sec two classmates just brings back the carefree memories and emotions that I've felt. 

After cycling, we went to E!Hub to shop for groceries for our class that will last us for the night. It's amazing to do something as 204 chairs again - I absolutely love doing things with Angelia and Dawn! It was so funny how we bought so much nonsense that appealed mostly just to the three of us like snow peas and green bean pastries. 

For dinner, we ordered pizza into the chalet (the pizza guy was pretty cute kekeke don't tell anyone this) and devoured the food as a class which was a little weird because all of us were just standing and chewing around the boxes of pizza and there was this weird silence but someone commented that it was a "comfortable silence" (': Ahh I love 204!

Then, we watched Saw II (which wasn't even scary at all and to be honest, it was a horrible movie with no plot, not a lot of character exploration and if the gory parts were supposed to be the most interesting parts, I don't think it was successful in doing so) and I was introduced to Doctor Who which is an amazing show. I can't believe that I never dared to watch this show for fear of disappointment but boy, for the episodes that I watched at the chalet, the plot is so witty and well-developed and the Eleventh Doctor is so amazingly talented and charming! 

Halfway through the night, because of presumably an allergic reaction, my upper left lip started swelling up a lot - something which I have never experienced in my life so I didn't know how to react to it. I must have looked quite a sight with Angelina Jolie- sized lips and they got really red too. I iced it and I was so glad they subsided after around eight ice cubes. Thank goodness the reaction I got was just the swelling of my lips and not what I usually get which is asthma which could have been pretty severe. 

At around midnight, some of us became bored, so we decided to go out and walk around Downtown East - more specificially, E!Hub - but we realized that all the stores were closed and there was practically nothing except the bowling alley. So, we headed to a nearby Macs (because trusty Ronald stays open 24/7)! 

Well, well, some typical toilet camwhoring 

(Also, I sincerely apologize for the horrible quality of photos in this blog post but no one brought a camera to the chalet and we end up having to use our phone cameras which ends up being a little grainy)

Midnight gang consisting of Samantha, Najla, Clare, Tabitha, Dawn and myself! 

We reached the chalet at a little later than 1AM accomplishing nothing except that feeling of feeling like a rebel and the adrenaline rush of scaring ourselves while walking through the dark and narrow pathways of Downtown East (not so dark and not so narrow but well, you get what I mean).

Plonked at the side of the bed and dozed off while some of them continued to play cards. Did I mention that I do not know how to play any form of  games relating to poker cards? I don't particularly enjoy card games or board games or any form of social gathering games which is why I have never bothered to learn them (Is that a "loser!" I hear? Well I've gotten quite used to it).

Woke up the next day (pretty early, in fact) and headed out for breakfast with Angelia and Dawn (': Lovely time once again.

Soon after, the class checked out of the chalet and we parted ways. I really love this bunch of people, we should meet up at least once per year! 


(please pardon me if my blogging style seems a little different in this post, I'm just feeling rather high and "fluffy" for no known reason!)
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0411'12

Sunday, November 4, 2012

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Tomorrow officially marks the first day of the year end school holidays which means that the school term has also officially come to a close (well, it technically has closed already two days ago but well, for the purposes of making the opening of my post more dramatic -).

Not sure if many of you can tell, but the last week of school for 2012 has been... a roller coaster ride.

On Monday, we had our Year 3 Fun Fair where my class organized a Haunted House!

Me with fellow clown buddy, Phionna! 

The cast of 306's freakshow

Insanely proud of our class - we raised the most money out of all the classes in our batch, with an amount that totalled more than $400! 

On Tuesday, I was down with a horrible horrible inflamed throat and fever and flu and all the viruses that came together in the package I always get when I fall sick. 

On Wednesday, it was the Year 4's Graduation and Farewell Assembly.

I realized that I have yet to blog about this graduating batch of Year 4s yet and to be honest, it still hasn't really sunk it that these big lovely seniors of mine will no longer be around or are already not around. 12affles batch is definitely the batch of seniors that I'm closest with, for we are only one year apart and there's so many special and lovely people in that batch that means so much to me. 

Thank you, batch'12 for always being there, for showing the path and for being the most amazing mentors any junior can ever imagine to have. There are so many of you who are so dedicated to everything you do and trust me, even if I don't know every one of you personally, the entire school is witness to the amazing passion your entire batch emits everywhere y'all go. Your batch has left a legacy as being one with a crazy amount of energy - infectious energy. 

Thank you so much, seniors. 

On Wednesday, it was also Dramafest. 


Waddle did a pretty amazing job, I must say (': 
We definitely improved leaps and bounds during the actual performance as compared to the previous few rehearsals we had. 


Thank you Valerie, Lei Zuo, Jing En, Jiaying, Karyn, Lijia, Kelsie, Krisi, Qi Shuen, Wen Wen, Na Yeon, Rhe Anne, Lei Rong, Tricia, Vicki & Yun Ting for spending your time working on Dramafest and making it such a wonderful success. You guys are amazing!

After Wednesday, the week took a turn for the worst, for reasons I shall not mention. But life is fine now, and I'm really excited for the holidays - it's going to be a time to relax, recharge and revise. Wow, how pairing! 



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0311'12

Saturday, November 3, 2012

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Pressure, an absolute horror when put in place in a manner far less than healthy. Pressure, is what leads to an insane number of adverse consequences. Possibly everyone living in this world has experienced some form of pressure, good or bad. The pressure of feeding a family for one more day, the pressure of finding a job, there are countless pressures everywhere. In a school under Singapore's education system, an education system that supposedly "works", immense amounts of pressure are placed upon students. 

Pressure takes the form of anything you can imagine and comes in every way possible - expectations of oneself, peer influence, overprotective parental control, society's mindsets and social norms, amongst others. Expectations to excel in every single branch of one's life are most evident in Asian countries like ours. In a meritocratic society, success takes the form of academic achievement most of the time while every other aspect is most likely overlooked. The competitive spirit creates unhealthy pressure, with students cramming and studying instead of the ideal learning and growing. Such pressure isn't something every single student is able to handle and sometimes, the easiest path chosen could possibly be escapism.

Escaping from reality, escaping from pressure and finally, escaping from life in itself by ending it. In my opinion, that is an extremely dumb and the worst choice anyone could ever make, but sometimes, desperate times call for desperate measures. To some, there is no point in continuing life judging from the route it is taking and death seems like a quick and easy way out. But no, don't ever ever ever attempt to take your life. Anyone, out there. 

It causes pain, fear, regret, guilt, amongst the many emotions, not just in yourself, but the people around you, the people who love you and the people who care for you. 

Sometimes, pressure can be a horrible thing. But it's up to you to make the pressure you get into good pressure. 


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