Saturday, February 28, 2004
"XXXism" (Part 2)
The second of the "XXXism" articles. Today's article will have some reference to yesterday's Mardi Gras.
===============================================================
Pessimism or Optimism?
History S paper students would be familiar with the assignment question which was "Does a study of history brings about pessimism or optimism?". However, this question is not the issue here. Well the reason why I feel like talking about these two words is because I feel these two words influence our thinking, our intuition and may even influence the way we do things!
Yesterday was our college's Mardi Gras. I should say that I was filled with the "optimism" that was bring spread around everyone. The true arty and musical spirit was extremely overwhelming that in my opinion, Mardi Gras would be my most etched memory in my two years in TJ. It is where everyone would let their hair down and enjoy the music of the rock bands, symphonic, dramas etc... I brought my mother along to let her feel the Temasek spirit and she felt it was okay. I did managed to introduce her to a few of my tutors including Mr Hasim. Now, this is where the pessimism comes in, cos it's 3 weeks to the MCT and the teachers whom my mum met would remind her of my handwriting.... Well another wake-up call...
The issue of the MCT was indeed, according to Joey, one of the most "evil" of all the tests you can have in Temasek. A few ex-students I spoke to during Mardi Gras however refuted the view. Well, I do not know what's going to happen, but I do have alot of pessimism over the MCT unlike the Promos where I actually had a pinch of optimism. For some people, it's the second Promo. For some people, it's the deciding factor as to whether you can keep 4 subjects and your S papers. (that's me) Also, according to Joey, the teachers force you to drop subjects cos' it's the A level registration right after this. Well I would rather not dwell on this and try to push away the pessimism with the brief optimism I got during the Mardi Gras.
To watch the love story portrayed by the CCC was quite emotional and to hear the consoling and light pieces played by the symphonic band was destressing. The rock band was the best of all and was the best ever finale you can have for any arts festival. This is where everyone let their hair down and forget about everything except fun. As for the teachers, Mr Rajesh was a very good example. He was screaming after every performance, and the "Umbrella Gang" didn't look like teachers at all! To sum up, I guess optimism did win over pessimism for one beautiful night...
So, with Mardi Gras being over, perhaps it's time we all settle down to exam preparation. Perhaps what we all need now is confidence and optimism if you want to do well in something.. however it is so hard to be optimistic because of the realities of life being unpredictable.. so see ya.....
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
12:51
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
"XXXism" (Part 1)
My first of the series of the "XXXism" articles. Perhaps it will be in two to four parts given my busy schedule over tests, MCT, etc....
============================================================
(1) Reformism (monointake vs duointake)
With the new changes in the JC system in 2006 where the current duointake system will be replaced by a monointake one, this would have a great impact on prospective students making choices over JC and Poly, and even more so, their courses of study. This means no more honeymoons, uniform-swapping, trial periods and so on.... 2006 will be a watershed year because these students will also be the first batch for the revised JC academic curriculum with KI, H1/2/3, etc...
This means that our SPP group who are pushing for reforms such as trial lectures, revised PW schedule will be even more vital as we combat stress; and Joey has sort of have interesting information from the HODs... so this means.....we sort of have to rethink what we have so far....
On a personal basis I feel more used to the duointake system because of one word:
CHANCE. If you miss out in the prelims, you can get another chance in the O levels. If you feel undecided between JC and the Poly, why not buy some time during the 1st 3 months. Gatecrashing, subjects..... it helps you realise what kind of academic lifestyle and fields is your cheese and what isn't. The presence of the foundational topics would have gave you the idea of what you can expect...
No doubt some of you will say the duointake system is a administrative nightmare and also due to the discrepancies of standards in school prelims (ex-CCHS JC1s would start pointing the finger at someone) but you have to think of the product, which is no doubt the students! Do you benefit (don't talk about the PAE/JAE) as a student? Does the duointake system make you learn something?
With the monointake system coming in, our juniors have to learn how to make decisive and firm choices. There is no turning back, just like choosing a university or a job; where you can say it's a bit helpful. However, with the extended terms, can you handle 12-14 weeks and shortened term breaks? If 10 weeks is already a burden then it might be a nightmare for you as the pressure slowly increases. So.... what is an informed choice? Is it merely through one afternoon of open house? Is it merely through the hearsay of seniors and tutors?
With this new monointake system, it is not the academic curriculum that matters in this case. It is whether you choose wisely and not regret it till the A levels. If you realise that what you're doing is not to your liking then you're in big trouble, hence the possiblity of drinking coffee with your principal as well as not doing so fantastically for your academics rises sharply! You can say it is fairer given the prelim discrepancies but it comes with a very heavy price in the heart. With more subjects to study (at least 3 Main + 1 Contrasting + GP/KI + PW + L2) vs the present(3 Main + GP + L2 + PW); the Snake batch of students are in for a ride. With the PAE being scrapped off, the luxury 2 loyalty points that 1st intakers enjoy will be gone, hence creating a level playing field on the JAE....
Both system are equally interesting but the monointake system will be defintely more challenging compared to the duointake system. Decisiveness, Choices will be called into question and as my SPP group reflects on this, we've to make sure no junior makes their wrong choice......
=============================================================
That was the first of my XXXism series. Life is okay but I need to revise for the MCT. the XXXism series will defintely be affected by the events that I'll go through for the next few days, so do be patient and you're welcome to say anything on the tag.
P/S: Congratulations to Alpha House for being the unsung champions of the Road Run. This is the most shocking upset in Alpha's History and it destroys my inital thinking that we Alpha Warriors can only do well in the non-sporting front. Now I notice we Alpha Warriors can be the true all-rounder, overshadowing the other houses. Way to go Alpha!
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
22:15
Sunday, February 22, 2004
A month to MCT...
Again too busy to update and so..... here's it!
============================================================
(1) The NUS History Seminar
The History Seminar is over with lots of interesting stuff being presented.... Mr Thompson got his prediction right over ACJC bagging the top prize though I felt their presentation wasn't comprehensive compared to VJ's balanced content and RJ's (as usual) intellect stuff... The Seminar was quite interesting though we keep on hearing stuff like WWI, Hitler, Stalin, and most especially the a quotation by Orwell which is
"Who controls the past controls the present. Who controls the present controls the future." FYI, it's also an S Paper question and if you ask me, I think I don't have concrete arguments to this question and hence would give it a skip.
AJC highlighted Che Guevera, and YJC was rather 'class' with their black folders. Mr Thompson suspected that a teacher wrote their slides for them. They won the best written report, and perhaps you can start wondering who wrote it. MJC was quite hilarious with Eugene (a former Chung Cheng student) shouting out Robespierre's idealistic comments about his Supreme Being. Really, Meridian actually put themshelves on fire with an insightful presentation yet created tough questions from the audience....
Our presentation was okay though we had very general questions compared to other colleges where they were presented with specific questions. Fong Yee and Huey Woon answered them well (Personally if Huey Woon had expanded her answer she could have an impact).
It was a great experience and I now feel a burden being lifted from me.... Mardi Gras is coming soon though I'm currently planning my MCT revision schedule...
=============================================================
(2) Other stuff including my life
Well we're forever stressed as ever... and I was surprised to hear that Alpha House did quite well for the Road Run... great improvement indeed as the Alpha Warriors slowly rise up among the rankings... in my two years in TJ I've never attended a single Road Run due to firstly, a robotics course last year and now the History Seminar. Before you start throwing eggs at me, i should remind you that if I was running I'd probably cause Alpha's rankings to drop (well our house's rankings can't drop since the boys were last among the four houses!)...
Mardi Gras is coming.... one last time to have fun before the dreaded A level results and the MCT.... I really have to do well for the MCT to prove myself worthy of taking 4 subjects and 2 S papers or else.... my recent econs and chem class tests has not been very encouraging... sort of slacked or being bogged down.... unlike some people in my class who are now posing a threat to reach the level of the most academically powerful people in the class. (ie. Jonathan, Salmah, Jeremy, Myself).. so this means stress is coming in endlessly...
I feel I got the worst timetable in the college... well so stressed that I myself end up being in the SPP group entitled "Dealing with Stress"... unlike other groups which have already presented to their advisors, our advisor has gave us time after the MCT... which means we need to improve the quality and feasilbilty of any radical changes that we have in mind...
People from my class would've noticed I have been more crappy and less quiet during tutorials.... stress is the reason.... need to rebuild my energy levels now...
=============================================================
If I have the time and inspiration, perhaps I may write an article here..... the recent discussions during AO Chinese regarding the pornographic VCD outburst in a secondary school is currently a possble one so stay tuned...
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
13:55
Sunday, February 15, 2004
What's banging?
Sorry for the 1 week hiatus because the schoolwork has been overwhelming me badly. And to make up with this, I got an
extremely long post up for you to read.....
(1) The strikes of 33/03
Last friday which was also friendship day, our class, for the first and last time organised a strike for the year 2004. It was the Economics Lecture Test on Keynesian Theory. Well we all thought it was okay since it was friendship day and hence a nice joke; but to have Mrs Lee as the Economics Head will be a harsh warning to later generations that organising any strike under her nose will bring about serious implications for us, despite having a forgiving and understanding Mrs Ivy Lim. The rumours of Mrs Lee reducing Mrs Lim to tears turned out to be untrue. I quote from Jonathan's blog, that she has been very
magnanimous that we all should appreciate. In fact, we're a very united class, even to the extent of calling an emergency meeting during lunch as well as standing and apologising in unison to her. This also explains why we're so united in being strikers.
In the history of 33/03, according to Salmah, 33/03 organised its first strike during the 1st three months, which was unfortunately Mrs Lokman's tutorial. According to her, it was nearing the end of the three months and Mrs Lokman just 'gave up on marking attendance.'
The second strike, if I can recall very clearly, was Mr Chin's GP tutorial before the study break of the promotional exams, and he simply didn't do anything in response. He just returned our essays with no one-to-one advice.
The third strike also occured before the promotional exams, when the chemistry students (to my disgust and reluctance I decided not to be the lone ranger attending the lecture) boycotted Mrs Lokman's first lecture on Alcohols, which was not tested in the promos. Little did we know that the tutors had chose to give everyone a copy of the promo revision questions to those who were present. We had no choice but to admit the act to Mrs Chua. Mrs Chua always make it a point to turn her head around to check which one of us was missing during the lecture. No punishment, but we had to "beg and borrow" the revision questions from someone cos' Mrs Chua won't give us, neither would the Zap shop has a copy.
The fourth semi-strike was the day SH (without the E) came to TJC, and though Mrs Ivy Lim cancelled her tutorial, the tutorial before her was Mr Quek's one. And Mr Quek had to deal with a half-full class cos' some 33/03 ppl were camping outside the auditourium from the 1st period...
The fifth strike occured this year by the AO chinese students and I just tagged along. Mr Gan was angry and Ms Tan (our previous tutor) got to know about it. Rachel gave a rather lame excuse, but looks like Mr Gan didn't really believe it.
It is the policy of Zenon to avoid getting involved in strikes unless the circumstances such as informal celebrations occur, that he decided to join in the latest strike with the whole class.
No one knew that this strike will bring about serious consequences. We hope that Mr Hasim not know about it, though it has been hot gossip in the staff room according to the Mrs Ivy Lim (and she said that when there's a talk about 33/03, there's a talk about Zenon as well). We now have to write two apology letters with our parent's signatures, and I've not done it as now. I think my mother will get angry with me, and perhaps have a bad impression of my class that she might give me a lecture and tell me to "avoid your classmates as far as possible in the interest of your studies."
Well we're sorry, but it's defintely the first and last time we had a strike. It's time for seriousness, no matter how lenient and benevolent our tutors are... We're sorry......
============================================================
(2) Friendship Day and Alpha House function
On a lighter note, it is a day in which all of us would enjoy. Rachel and Jing Ying brought their cute doggies along and they were so adorable! Jing Ying's dog even ran loose during flag-raising that I almost envisioned that her dog would disturb her raising the flag and the college flag sliding down the flagpole which is of total disrespect to the college. Luckily, a few girls from our class controlled him from performing any damage. According to Jing Ying, her dog was quite reluctant to get out and I saw her locking her dog inside the council room.... so sad... As for Rachel, everyone found her dog adorable that Mr Hasim did went near to it (a stark shock given the fact that Muslims tend to avoid dogs...perhaps he's an open-minded Muslim). Even Mrs Ivy Lim suggested that Joanna and Jonathan bring Rachel's dog along as a gesture of goodwill when speaking to Mrs Lee regarding our strike.
Mr Quek's lesson got disrupted three times while I was secretly messaging Sarah (Jeremy's dearie) regarding her surprise gift to him. When the guitar group came in with Sarah's gift, you know what? I saw a red-faced, embarrased, shocked but beaming Jeremy next to me, that I revealed to him that I actually messaged her secretly to get the gift through. Oh.... what an emotional and shocking way of getting your Valentine's gift through... it was bloody brillant!! (to quote Ron Weasley from Harry Potter)
33/04 turned up in pyjamas and was even featured on the New Paper. Wow so great and Min Dan described our junior class as even more enthusiastic compared to us when we were in year one. Also, during the House function, they lighted up fireworks to welcome their paegent representative, Walter and Janice. You know, they used my name to my surprise and well it was okay.... As for Xue Ling and Justin it was quite "Kua Zhang" and we thought they would become Mr and Ms Alpha but it wasn't to be...
In addition, 33/04 won the "find the objects" game three times in a row... awesome indeed. 33/04 have really emulated the traits of 33/03 greatly. We shall see how they fare on the academic side soon.....
Also, Justin and Su Hui was the best perfomer, much to the disgust of everyone (who supported Charles) except our class. In my opinion, every performing group deserves to win and to be the champion. They were the champions in themself, just like William Hung. Everyone bangs. Charles was great and he did his best despite claiming that he did not rehearse. He is another August Lum in the making and I believe he'll blaze Temasek's fame just like August (to quote Mrs Hoo's school song-singing on top of her car that day).
To sum up, it was a great house function, not to forget my ex-seniors Shiwei and Kenneth who came to visit.... they were the ones who helped me integrate into the TJ culture and also it was partly because of them that I became a high-profile person here.
Go Alpha!!
=============================================================
(3) What's next
I got to study for the Halogenoalkanes test as well as the Keynesian Theory Test since we got a concession by Mrs Lim and hence we'll be doing it tomorrow.... and got to do something about the history seminar... well as for debates the juniors have to do research on the United Nations and I got to allocate tasks for them quickly...
Just ever wonder, do we have the William Hung in us? My mum said that William Hung deserved not to pass through the auditions and was aghast about his surge in popularity. She quoted Michael Jackson where he has to even change his face just to achieve his fame... Perhaps we must always remember to try our best.... (Perhaps I should read my Big 5 analysis which is about 70% reflective of myself)...
See ya everyone! I hope to update more regularly provided I've the time!!! Happy belated Valentine's Day to all!!!!
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
19:11
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Coming soon...
Sorry for not updating so long due to the fact that I was busy over research for history seminar, debate, etc that i was totally bogged down, and was too tired to do anything at this moment...... Zzzzzz....
It'll be one of my shortest posts today, but just this morning we had the junior debate on "This house believes that the media is irresponsible" The seniors and the coaches wasn't very happy.....very pissed indeed gfiven the fact that the juniors had poor struture, failure to seize the opportunities to rebut, as well as poor POIs, etc... Well it's just the first debate and I believe the juniors will do better over time, just as the saying goes that you
throw someone into the deep end and they'll learn how to swim. I hope the damage control was ok but such heavy condemnations are part of a novice debator's life and we sort of have to learn from it and try... The two first speakers were too quite and didn't push their case well, the two second speakers were of a contrast to them and were too explosive, excited that they either shoot themshelves in the foot or fail to seize opportunities to crush their opponents. There was too many problems left for the two third speakers to cover up, but it is unfortunate that everyone got demoralised... well our batch would have remembered the humiliating "Ocean's Eleven" incident last year...
With the pressure right on me, my SAT performance has suffered terribly as I checked my score online (finally!). I'l not divulge my actual score but to compare with my CG, I'm an average performer that it is ridiculously humilating for myself as many of my peers expected me to do better. Looks like I'm going to retake the SAT in May and salvage my rather disappointing performance. If you want to know how I fare, come to me in private... perhaps it was bad luck or careless mistakes. Couldn't understand how I could do badly for both Math and Verbal.... compare me to another peer in my class. she has at least 700 for math and an O for maths promo versus this silly fellow here who got less than 700 for math but a high B for his maths promo..... looks like this Silly American Test is not to my favour.... when i get the score report by snail mail I've to read the fine print in detail and spot out the weaknesses... it can easily jeopardize my standing for PSC scholarships though my a levels and cca record is more important...
In two hours time, Jonathan, Houston, Cliff and myself are going to the slaughterhouse run by NTU. Wonder whether I can answer their questions, cos' the NTU current affairs questions are much harder compared to the NUS ones and we cannot afford to be eliminated in the preliminary round... it'll be disastrous for the college....
Anyway, I accepted an offer by a close friend of mine for a supporting role in a play. I've never tried drama before so maybe I'll give it a try, but personally I was surprised and I wonder on what grounds did they choose me. wanna know who's the one? nah. perhaps I should keep mum about it until May. Another gamble here by zenon, when the opportunity cost is precious time use for revising for my academic and SATs.....
Adios. Screw the SAT....
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
12:21
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Flags and Flims
Yesterday's Flag Day would not be a very happy day for many TJCians, given the fact that if your can is less than half-full, you either get 1 hour deducted or you continue selling flags until you make the mark. Well for my case my can was half full but it got through without any hassles anyway... This was the first time I saw people angry over raising of funds. A very good example was Sabrina. She is someone who shows great passion towards community service (unlike many others) despite not being in LEO club and now she's saying that she's prepared to quarrel with the student officials (which were obviously from LEO).
Well, I guess that the cause of this problem of the LEO-student misunderstanding can be attributed to these factors:
1) Poor definition of "near-empty" tins.
When Ms Joyce Teo said "near-empty", she didn't clearly state that her defintion of "near-empty" tins was less than half-full. Well this led to heated arguments between students and the LEOs. I could hear soneone saying that the LEO Club has sadly been condemned by the JC2s. JC1s, if you're reading this, I wonder how you can turn the tables. I asked a LEO a question whether their definition standards are consistent for the different benches. They didn't answer my question, saying that it the consitstency doesn't matter. Poor Ms Teo was explaining endlessly with the students of 19/03. Such things never happen when Ms Rita Wong is around. Perhaps Ms Teo doesn't understand. If they want our tins to be half-full, tell us straight in the face. Otherwise, in debating terms, everyone can demolish your case.
(2) Too many fund-raisers.
Everywhere you go, you see students from other schools raising funds as well. When I read the permit, the Red Cross had authorised 8000 students to help them. In my opinion, 8000 is way too many. Chai Chee, Ping Yi, TKSS Red Cross, CJC, NJC, TKGS, so many. We haven't even counted the west, northern and north-eastern schools. So when you pass by Marine Parade you'll realise that everyone was fighting (under perfect competition) for their coins to be put inside their tin. So, how are we going to raise so much money when there're too many fundraisers around? The LEOs should go out and find out themshelves.
That was why I deserted my class and went solo. When you go as a group of 2-3, you end up getting less funds per tin. Going solo was better, like what Justin had said. Justin had made the right choice deserting the class and going with Ivan. Jeremy also deserted the class to go to Tampines (though he could have gone to Simei to monopolise his estate). By going solo or as a duo, this is the only way you can get a satisfactory amount. Three is too much.
Well if you wonder where I went, I was a nomad, and given the time constraints I couldn't raise as much funds as I could. Perhaps too much time was wasted on travelling. As I passed by Bedok Central (a saturated place), I collected a few cents, then travelled to Katong. To my disgust, I saw the TKSS Red Cross dominating the place. Perhaps I went there too early cos' the crowd usually only turn up in the afternoon for their favourtite Katong fare.
Then, I passed by Marine Parade. Met a few 18/03 and 24/03 ppl. Well Marine Parade is way too saturated. So, I took a bus to Tanjong Rhu estate. I could've gone to Kallang Airport or Haig Road but given TKGS and TKSS Red Cross' presence, it's pointless. I had a small monopoly of Tanjong Rhu, but didn't really collect much. The estate was quite a sleepy town, and once I combed the estate (one resident told me
zhe4 li3 mei2 you3 ren2..., I left for Boon Keng. Met a friend from 31/03 and saw CJC hogging up the pathway from Kallang MRT station to the estate. So I walked even further to the sleepy Upper Boon Keng estate where no other fund-raiser could be seen. Given the time constraints, I took a train back to the college where I started to hear the rumours over rejected tins.
Personally, I prefered fund-raising to newspaper collection. Perhaps the admin should extend it to 4 hours to let us have heavier tins OR preferably, liaison with the charity organisation to make that not too many organizations or schools are raising funds at the same time and location. Otherwise, all schools are going to have a problem over raising sufficient and satisfactory funds. Those who have not done their fund-raising, you gonna take this in mind. Case closed.
============================================================
After the fund-raising, I had a history seminar briefing with Mr Thompson, Fong Yee, Huey Woon and Kaishi. We decided to do our thesis based on flims, which means I've to research intensively on issues like Westerners using history to portray Asian events, as well as Asian flims. Movies like Anna and the King, Dr Strangelove, Opium War, the Soong Sisters, etc... i dunno whether I've time to do research on other things like current affairs, democratic governments..... life is so bad... the report is due the following week.
Anyone has opinions on historical flims? If so, you can leave some comments there... our group actually asked Mr Thompson to let us watch the movies in his house but he declined.....
Luckily there's a holiday, otherwise i won't be able to handle anything.....
|
zeligdhilee breaking the MUSIC.
12:13
