Hey everyone, read this. Don't think that anyone can put it in better than the gifted young man, Alfian Saat. The Racist's Apology - Alfian Saat I walked out of the house this morning and feared I had become a racist. I passed by a newsstand and a magazine tells me about 50% of the world's most beautiful people are from the West, 10% from Singapore, 45% from Hong Kong and Taiwan and 5% from India and Malaysia. A JC Decaux billboard says that a lot of people read their ads and they have faces to prove it: Chinese people of various ages and occupations and genders. There are some which show non-Chinese people but they don't have the dignity of individual names, and they are put under the heading 'The Changing Face of Singapore'. This can mean that perhaps the media is using more non-Chinese people in their ads (which I don't see) or that Singapore's demographic makeup is being altered by the arrival of other races (which I am not aware of, historically). I take a bus and TV Mobile is screening a Taiwanese variety programme. A Singaporean beauty contestant wears a cheongsam as her national costume and asks for an interpreter to translate her replies from Mandarin. The Speak Mandarin campaign informs me of what assets are missing from my life. Tanya Chua's music video comes on and I unconsciously tally the number of Malay people that appear; I have been doing this for some time now, when I was in JC there was a 'My Singapore' music video which showed images of corporate-looking Chinese women walking through the CBD and Malay women in factory uniforms walking through a bus interchange. Tanya Chua's 'Where I Belong' shows three instances of Malay people populating the landcsape: a husband and wife riding a scooter; a father and son on a bicycle, the son carrying a box one presumes is filled with curry puffs or goreng pisang, and a group of Malay youths playing soccer in a housing estate ghetto so run down, it looks like an opposition ward being denied of upgrading, or one of those satellite towns built when Jurong swamps were still being filled. But perhaps this is an improvement over other images: the satay man, the songbird owner, the mee rebus Makcik, the Malay bride and groom getting married in gold-embroidered finery (and situated on a dais, we Malays like to call them 'royalty for a day', playing the illusion of being king and queen in a country where the royal bloodline has been evicted from their home and told that the ruins of their palace will be converted into a museum). I think about what Sang Nila Utama really did when he threw his crown into the sea to calm the raging storm; whether the gales spoke to his inner ear: 'if you want to live on the island you must surrender all memory of having once been a prince'. At the Sentosa Merlion there are signs that say that Sang Nila himself saw the Merlion rising from the waters, a fact that the Sejarah Melayu, the Malay Annals, failed to mention. Evidently there is someone called 'Sang Nila' somewhere in the executive committee of the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board. At the foot of the Raffles statue in Boat Quay there is an inscription that says the man's genius transformed a 'sleepy fishing village' into the modern metropolis it is today, this at the foot of a man who recorded in his journals how he saw the tombs of the Malay kings, and inscriptions on a fortress wall, when he first landed: evidence of an empire, of civilisation. In an interview a doyenne of Singapore theatre laments that all Singaporeans are 'cultural orphans', including the Malays, because they migrated from Malaysia and Indonesia, and that makes them immigrants too, no matter that one can take a sampan from Johor to Singapore. I walk through a park in Tampines and see Chinese boys playing basketball at the court and Malay boys playing soccer on the field; I am comforted that my complete uselessness at ball games has prevented me from taking either side, has by default made me a conscientious objector to such disturbing polarities. In the army a sergeant major never called be by my name; I was called 'Melayu', which I suppose was better than 'Ah-Neh', used to address the Indians in the platoon. I remember a fellow Malay platoon mate who told me to give it my all when I was fasting, this was to prevent anyone from saying that we could use religion as an excuse for our weakness. He was eventually posted to the infantry (not logistics or engineers, much less the Navy or Airforce) and I used to imagine him burning up his pre-fasting morning meal to be the first to charge up the hill, yelling the pain of hunger and the pain of being different. The Malay staff sergeant in Officer Cadet School gave me a lot of **** just to overcompensate, to show everyone that he was not into any form of racial favouritism. I became a victim of the sidelong glances he made as he watched me doing my pushups, those eyes constantly seeking approval from the eyes of the majority. I see a schoolgirl from a madrasah wearing a tudung on the MRT and she is filling in the pictures in her colouring book. There are many choices among her colour pencils which she can use for skin, but she will use orange, and colour lightly, not brown or black. I have seen her schoolmates before, eyeing branded scoolbags at pasar malams, wearing branded sports shoes, like every other kid. I want to go up to her and hug her, and tell her how her tudung is not just a symbol of modesty, but a symbol of inscrutability. That layer of cloth makes her suspicious to others, it can be used to smuggle in a grenade or an agenda, so she will never get a frontline desk job, she will be expected to hang around with other tudung-wearing women in the university. I think about the fathers who sent their daughters to schools in tudung and reflect on how the media has framed them as ****-stirrers rather than citizens who practised their right to civil disobedience, the same way Gandhi fasted, or Rosa Parks refused to sit at her negroes-only seat on the segregated bus. If I can tell the girl one thing, it is 'integration is not assimilation', or 'tolerance is a failure in understanding' even though it is something she will take time to understand. I think also of the men who filmed different locations in Singapore with the heinous intent of planting bombs. Did they not consider the various innocent Singaporean lives that could have been claimed by what they were about to do? And I wonder if they had already chosen another country to live in; a country in which they do not have to face a creeping sense of alienation, of redundancy. And I am not talking about an Islamic country, not Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else, but an afterlife paradise, where everyone is equal in the eyes of God, where wearing a sarong or having a beard does not immediately make you a proto-terrorist. Or perhaps a country that exists in their minds, nurtured by a growing sense of insularity and isolation, where they walk the streets and everyone else is just a ghost, in whose dead eyes they cannot find any light of empathy or understanding. Once someone told me: 'But the government is bending over backwards to accommodate you Malays.' I smiled and wanted to ask him if it wasn't the other way round, that the Malays are made to bend forward to be ****ed senseless. Another time a journalist asked if the statistical evidence of 'progress' shows that Malays are being given the same opportunities as everyone else. I told her that statistics don't do **** for me, as someone who has to live day by day as a Malay person in this country. I told her one Malay Air Force pilot poster boy, and a few bar charts and graphs, don't make me feel more at home. The only thing they do is to convince non-Malays that the country they live in is truly multiracial, that there are no tensions beneath the veneer of newsprint and newscasts and the rosy speeches of Malay MP's. I have always believed in multi-racialism. I can say with utmost confidence that I have more friends who are non-Malay than those who are. And I mean real friends, who I confide in, who I've shared many things with, who I do love dearly. And yet, of late, I have the feeling that a lot of the things I'm saying, a lot of this talk about alienation and marginalisation, only feeds subconsciously into their sense of how fortunate they are to be born into the status quo. I have written a poem before where I say, 'But more than that we prayed for ourselves,/treading the rosary of our blessings,/for what is pity without thanks for/the opportunity for such pity?' And sometimes I feel as if the more my voice is raised on the fast-eclipsing fate of the minority, the more it feeds into the majority's smugness and arrogance about their assured place in the sun. And this only makes me feel more powerless than if I had kept silent. So I say now, forgive me if you think my desire to work with my own people marks me out as a racist. Forgive me if you think that my preferences are actually prejudices. Forgive me for retreating into something one can so easily call 'cultural chauvinism'. And I will forgive you for thinking that this person writing this isn't the Alfian that you know, that he has always been moderate and liberal, and I will forgive you if you look at me differently the next time I meet you. For some time already I have felt that as a Malay writer writing in English I have had to carry the burden of articulating so many unvoiced concerns. And the responsibilities associated with this are frightening. I just think it is time I pass on whatever skills I have to other Malay people, so we may tell our stories to those who want to hear them, even though they are stories of loss and loneliness and accidents of birth. Alfian. : )

songforhariraya

Sepasang kurung biru Tiada bisikan lembut yang dengar, Hanya suara azan sayup bergema. Masih kurasakan hangat tanganmu, Di pagi raya bersalam dengan ku...

slowwllyy lar...

Match: NJC 1-1 RJC Scorers: Aziz (NJC), Fairuz (RJC) Venue: NJC Line-up: 1) Kaixiang, Adzfar, Weifan, Kinyip, Joseph, Soo Tet, Zhihao, Chun Yat (Oliver), Geoffrey, Chang Wen, Peiqian 2) Mark, Wenjuin, Weifan, Kinyip, Joseph, Oliver, Zhihao, Peiqian, Geoffrey (Soo Tet), Chun Yat, Randy (Fairuz) The weather was very scary. Sometimes it was drizzling, so we went out to warm up. Then suddenly, there was lightning so we had to scamper back to shelter. Then when we went out to warm up again, again a lightning struck. Finally, the rain subsided and the match could go on. First half. NJ had more of the ball possession, their defence could cut out our passes quite efficiently and would often spread the play out wide. But they didn't trouble us with aerial balls which they should have, given that both their strikers are head and shoulders talller than all of our defenders. It was very scrappy. We didn't really play to a passing rhythm, which was our target objective of the day. Our play was too cramped in the middle, with our widemen preferring to come inside rather than stretching play out wide. This was probably due to a lack of movement off the ball, which could have seen more dynamic passing play. We also seem to break down too easily in the middle of the park, because we hesitate on the ball, fail to look up to consider our options. We probably should call for the ball more often. We didn't even practise that drill to get the ball out of defence, preferring to pump instead. A lot of foul throws too. Not good. And for some rough challenges, Zhihao and Adzfar were booked. But the tackles were fair. Its alright. Some good passages of play though. A throw in down the right by Adzfar saw good swapping movement between Chang Wen and Geoffrey that left the NJ defenders dumbstruck as to who was getting the ball. We won a corner off that play. Also, Joseph battled hard to win the ball on the half-line, then threaded a through pass in the between their defence. That put Peiqian through but his shot from a tight angle managed to hit the side of the net. Also, Soo Tet and Chang Wen played a nice overlap down the right, off an Adzfar throw in. Second half saw some changes. But I think NJ were having a fatter share of possession. The mud-filled pitch only made our legs even heavier when we run. Balls always got stuck in between a pass. Our passing gameplan seemed to be abandoned altogether, as we got more tired. They became more menacing with their passing as our midfield sat deeper and deeper, giving them more space to exploit. Chun Yat found space on the left and he sent a decent cross into the box, right at the feet of Randy, but the latter couldn't control the slippery ball. It rolled to Oliver on the right, but his attempted layoff to Peiqian who was screaming for the ball fell short when he slipped and fell. They could have gone in front with a free kick just a few minutes after I came on. A deep cross was only cleared off the goal thanks to the alert head of Soo Tet, with 2 or 3 players puffing down his neck. Then, they won a corner. We failed to clear the ball completely and failed to push up. They sent back a right wing cross deep and hard and found the outstretched legs of Aziz (who's their star goalie, but playing upfront for fun) and into the opposite corner of the net. Beautiful! 1-0 to NJ. Only about 10 mins left and we knew we had to pour forward to salvage something from the game. Joseph intercepted their ball on the left channel and threaded a forward pass to Soo Tet, who was in space. He chipped brilliantly over the backpedalling defence. I wanted to volley it but the bounce was too high. Instead, the ball cannonned off their 2 centrebacks and I sneaked in between to smack it to the roof of the net. Phew. 1-1. Soon, we were attacking but both sides seem contented with a draw. And so it ended. 1-1. Penalty shoot out followed, for practice purposes and for fun also. We missed our first 2 as they slotted home their first 2. But we scored all our last 5 while they could only hit 3 in, thus we edged them out on penalties. All in all, a nightmare in terms of passing. But still there's time for improvement. Cheerios~ Things i need improvement on: 1) Looking up when the ball's on my feet. That will allow me to assess my passing options and the free space around me. Ball skills must improve so i will have more confidence on the ball. 2) Linking back with midfield. I tend to only think about going forward, but sometimes, the midfielders are better positioned to either have a crack at goal or to spread play. I must communicate and learn to keep possession better, which means i need strength to shield the ball. Weights! 3) Taking the ball past defenders. Need to work on pace, which means short sprints. First touch must be good too, and must always have off the ball running to create free space for myself.

bigggg

Zipped on a trip to new campus yesterday afternoon. It was pouring i tell you, non-stop for 3 plus plus hours. The new campus looks not so huge from outside, but inside, i think you will get lost very easily. 7 storeys of rooms, rooms and more rooms. The LTs are huge. There will be seminar rooms and discussion rooms (or as matin puts it, quickie rooms! haha). The assembly area is still not sheltered, meaning we will die under the hot sun again. There will be new tennis courts, squash courts, this and that courts, new field with imposing floodlights! And even talks of an indoor basketball court! Ah, wonderful news for bballers. There will be a building dedicated to the science labs. A building for the auditorium! Wah, even more wonderful news for the performing groups. But one big problem i see will be: HUMAN CONGESTION. not just traffic congestion or road congestion. imagine Bishan MRT and Lornie Road in the morning rush hours. Oh god, save us! Hopped on a visit to Geylang Serai Bazaar. Sole purpose, to find Hari Raya costumes! haha, after wearing my father's costumes for like 2 or 3 years, its time for new ones of my own. Found 2 pairs all on one shelf. Not very choosy, just picked those of colours which I haven't had before. Wah, cannot wait to try them on during Hari Raya! Geylang si paku geylang... Its really getting from bad to worse. In recent years, newspapers, especially Malay newspapers, have shown the incredible drop in modesty levels. From teenage girls sporting micro skirts, ultra tight singlets, revealing outfits to teenage boys sporting the flashiest of hair colours, dozens or so piercings and tattoos. And chances are many of them smoke. They mix around as freely as though they have no religion. Yet when you ask them, they will say they are Muslims. Why then do they still behave as such? Don't their parents even say anything? Or do their parents also sport the same attitude towards religion? They behave as though they are rich and cool, but in actual case, they are very poor, both in terms of money and in terms of iman. Why is this happening? Malays are always like that, this time its just getting worse. Its very shameful to even talk about but if people like me and you do not realize about this aspect of society, then who will? We cannot expect others but ourselves to change this attitude. Saying 'nevermind' is never going to work. What will? God pls tell us what will? :(

oohhvvverrrrrrrrrrr

Yikes. Pw OP is finally over. Thought that my group did quite well, given the fact that we only rehearsed once before our real OP today and that HPF was all out to screw our group by taking so super long to clear our project file. Nvm, i'm just happy that we managed to say out our lines clearly and answer our questions during Q&A with aplomb. I thought that since our group had only 4 members, that could be one reason why other groups could expland the contents of their presentation. I liked JiaWen's grp idea of going to a pirated CD shop to observe. Maybe we should have set at the rubbish dump and count the different things that people throw. Haha that would be fun but absolutely disgusting! Anyhoos, HPF was retarded beyond retarded. She took more than 2 hours to settle our PW file. Yes it is think and troublesome. But its like, she had just settled 'Collaboration' form, for e.g., then the next second, she will ask us, where is your collaboration form? She wants the originals, but she kept the originals. We have been faithfully photocopying the originals the moment she gave out those feedback forms so it is she who must have misplaced the forms. E.g: Hong Yong's (who's in my group) article review feedback form was found in Woon Yang's group file that she kept. HPF you better wake up your ideas, we are doing so much to try and make your life easier yet nothing's working bcoz of...well, you. And HY is another fella that gets on me and Steph's and Edwin's nerves time and time again. Why does he keep hovering around without any real purpose? And he's also one year older than us some more! WTH man. He came early, around 9am, yet he sat at the concourse depression fiddling with his laptop without bothering to call us or sms us to find out where we are. Hello! We are supposed to settle our file a.s.a.p so that we can start rehearsing for our OP! Instead, when he came, he was twiddling with his pen and took his own bloody sweet time to get his arse to Rm 2-2 where he just sat there doing nothing particularly useful. Like when HPF asks us about certain missing things, he was clueless and dumbstruck. He clearly has no idea what is in the file, he did not contribute to filing much, if any at all! Argh, you just want to punch him in the face. Then his laptop is so pro that there isnt any Powerpoint inside! I mean, you are a freaking student, why is there no powerpoint?! How are you going to prepare your presentation? You should see him present man. The way he skips around like a gay fagg. And his unkempt hair. And his dropping glasses. And his coughs! Man, his coughs are bloody irritating!! Each time he's stuck, he just coughs, which is so bloody fake! He already talks so softly, his pronounciation is so freaking weird it doesnt sound English at times. Are you feeling my anger? Are you feeling it? At least his Digicam was useful, it captured our video which finally worked! Hahah thanks anyway HY. We love you... ..I.. But at least i liked training today. So much so, i slept in my bus all the way to the interchange. Whee.....And i liked our contents page and our front covers!! Wahahaha... ..I..

wah wah wah cannot wait

You know what? Goodbye lineouts, hello throw-ins. Goodbye penalties, hello free kicks. Goodbye tries, hello goals. Viva la futbal!

i want EE

Goobz! I start entries with monosyllabic sounds. Woohoo. Anyhoos, went to Steph's house this morning to touch up OP. Was surprisingly first there, I thought the rest would be there earlier than me since they all live nearer. I woke up just on time, I juz slept on the prayer mat after the early morning prayers, so nice soft and shiok. Oh wells, we really reorganized our structure. HPF went to see us for another rehearsal again, this time we showed a marked improvement and I am quite happy. But still, need to grab that elusive EE! Wah, Ah Foot's group is impressive, very streamlined and easy to follow so that's why his group gets EE! Aiseyman, wa caya sama lu. Yep, then after the presentation, I siam home in the rain. Paul actually asked me to play pool with him and Daryl at around 5, aiyah no fulus ($) man. :( Oh ok, finally my mother spoke to me about my Hari Raya Baju Kurung. Wah, the most last minute baju kurung in my life. Anyway, she wants me to go wit her to Geylang Serai this friday to have a look. I want a plain set, so I can wear and wear and wear for watever occasions. Oh Mat brothers, this Friday, we shall all go to AlFalah for Qiamullail. Abang and Izzat, u r invited too. And Akrab. Yes. If they even read this... Anw, we shall hitch a camp if they are having one, if not, its midnite movie!! Haha. And Adzfar, protein!! Mine has finished. My father won't allow me to buy until after Hari Raya. And i think i wanna get TwinLab Gainers Fuel 1000 Chocolate flavour 4.31lbs. It costs $57 or 2 for $96.90. Amacam? Want to share lik theother time? :)

bek in biznez

Hoot! Today's arab lesson at madrasah was fun. Ustaz Ali had nothing better to do after telling us which parts are important for the exams. So we all started reading the long list of Hari Raya kuihs and started teasing each other. Quraizah kena the most. haha kurang asam. Anw, feeling empty so followed Shafiee and Muhammad to pool at Lucky Plaza. haha, after like 3 months not playing, not bad lah today, won everything except once. Holy cow, I would love to play again with my own cue, next time lah i bring. Hehe. And then, it was terrible, because there was not a single slipper that looks decent for me. Its all too expensive. In the end, after 1 hour of walking and wandering which one to buy, I got a pair of Reef slip ons that look plain, simple yet slick. Okay, exaggerated. Its just plain and simple. Oh well, the price not too good. But im desperate la, i keep slipping and falling in my current pair. Went back to ArRaudhah today for Tarawih, after quite a long time. Feels good again, i was humming Quranic verses all the way home. Woah, i can't wait to get the Quran in my hands and read them again! Woohoo. I must memorise Al-waqiah soon, in one week. I can do it! yah insyaAllah. :)

how'd u wake up today?

I want to see photos photos photos! yes photos of yesterday's good good fun. anw, guess who woke me up today? HO POH FUN! At around 9 am, she called to confirm whether my group wanted to see her today. Actually i didn't pick up the phone when it rang. I listened to her voice message. It was scary to think that yesterday night at the get-together, we actually thought about prank calling her at around 745pm, but then decided against it coz it's already past her bedtime. Haha, ok bad, don't do this anymore please. I forwarded her msg to Steph then went back to sleep til 12. Woke up and went to Rave, got a little snip and trim. Met Peiqian at Far East, haha he just had a little snip and trim too. He was from soccer training, apparently tired, but still had some energy left to meet his friend, his u-noe-who. And i need to buy a new pair of slippers, because the one i have, the soles have worn out. I keep slipping and sliding everytime i walk on wet surfaces. Not safe, i shan't sacrifice my safety or my shame. Tomorrow, i still have madrasah to go to. I shall go after accidentally oversleeping last week.

Remunerations, they are coming again. I know it this time, I am very sure of it. I cannot let this slip, let this pass by me like it did. This time, I shall not regret my decision. I shall do it next week, yes I will. And no one will stop me. No one.

1S03B's Nite of Fun

Finally, after 1 bloody long year, we managed to get our entire class down for a gathering. Thank goodness it happened. So happy that it did. What a day, the very last day of school.... Ronald was so kind to let us use his house, even though he had to go off for a floorball match at 5pm and got injured and gotta leave halfway and all that. Somemore, this was only planned early this week, like Monday, and very surprisingly, everyone was keen. Except for one (u know who!). Thank you so my much bro. :) For causing so much trouble to him and his family, especially his Mum, she's so kind, she helped us cook all the way and helped negotiate with the security guards and all that. Really owe it to Ronald and his family. Anw, Let's recollect how this whole fun came about. Adzfar and I were damn bored, and as promised, Adz would bake delicious chocorgasmic brownies for today. So during phy lecture, we both siam to Jelita Cold Storage and bought Betty Crocker (is it?). So after Fri prayers, the 2 of us Mats went to my house to rest coz we all were so damn tired from the previous day's training and lack of sleep. Haha, Adz fell asleep and was into dreamy world when he was lying down on my carpet! We left for Ronald's place at 3pm. Reached there at 3plus, then helped him prepare the function room. Started calling the people whether they are coming or not and what they are bringing all that. Then Adz started baking the brownies until his hands crammed. Woon Yang came after Ronald left for Floorball, and Woon Yang started marinating the chickens and making his own sauce. Haha woon yang is very domesticated. Then Matin, Bert, Dex came and brought all the stuff that we told Isky to buy. Haha I guess from there the party started!! Actually, it was meant to be a Halloween Party, with costumes and all. Somehow, noone could find a decent costume, in the end, we just came in cvs. haha, screwed up. Eunice though had a Black Witch ensemble, complete with the witch hat and wand. Haha funkeh.. But poor thing she had to wait for Ronald to come back in his black ghoul robe with devil's fork. Haha, they both look super scary la from afar. Woon Yang, Gimmy, Jensen and Ronald's mum were the main cooks today. The deep-fried chicken was amazing, so sweet and juicy. I loved the crab stick too, and the seeweed wrap dunoo wad, and of coz the brownie with ice cream! I didnt taste the fish but it smelled superb. They said the potato salad was delicious too, and the konyaku jellies was just nice and sweet. At a point, we were quite worried that at the rate the food is being cooked and how hungry we are, we would finish up all the food before Ronald comes back from floorball and Chang Wen could come. Haha, but somehow, there were still a lot of food left. Basically the rule was: cook if u wanna eat. Haha dumb but effective. That's wad Chang Wen did when he came. Oh!! we took loads of photos! I hope somebody with the camera post them real soon! Then we went upstairs to watch the Results show of S'pore Idols! Haha, so drama la, everyone was rooting for Taufik! Anw, he's got some style la, i hope he wins too. Then we all went downstairs again to go for seconds. Some were still hogging the X Box, like Bert and Jensen and Gimmy. Then, at around 9.15 like that, Adz and me went to change and dived into the pool. Haha that was fun. After that, Chnag Wen, Jia Wen, Madan, Jensen and Gimmy also joined in. They just kept splashing water and diving in and out and making loads of noise. Really a nuisance to the public. Then later on, Geri, Aisyah, Shiying and Eunice sat around the edge of the pool, only to be splashed at by our wild divings. haha, then wat the heck they all say, we just kept splashing at each other. Ronald was damn poor thing..in his robe and all, we pushed him in. His HP is now wet, hopefully it still works! Oh no, i feel so bad. :( But we got a plan for him, i discussed with Shiying, Karthick and Jensen already.So hopefully it all goes well. :) Haha, then had to get out of the pool at ten. Changed up and took some last photos in Ronald's living room. Then we took our leave, it was so nice. The group of us walking in the night together, having had a thoroughly excellent time having fun! Hahaha... Went home with Shiying Jensen and Karthick, and the consensus was that we should have more of this! Let's have one in December!

hat trick

Match: RJ Soccer Team vs RJ Mix-n-match (M&M) J1 side (10aside v 10) Venue: school field line up: M&M - Mark (Kaixiang), Joseph, Weifan, Libin, Wenjuin, Paul, Desmond, Boxian, (Mingyong), Ruik, Fairuz score: Soccer Team 5 or 6 - 3 M&M scorers: Chang Wen (x2), Kin Yip, Chun Yat, Geoffrey + 1 more fella.....& Fairuz (x3) Actually, there was supposed to be more people coming, but sadly enough, ppl turned down a real chance to play soccer for...sleep...then when there is so little time after school, they beg to play soccer. Oh well, I'm just grateful for those who turned up today, the non-soccer boys, thank you Ruik, Mingyong, Desmond, Paul and Boxian... Haha, u saved my butt. Clearly we were dominated. It's like around 2 months since i last kick about on the field. And to top that up, its Ramadhan, so i was fasting. So the plan was damage control right from the start. Oh well, since when do I stick to plan? So the Soccer Team were the ones who made the early passes, without any real threat. Soo Tet was always making cunning runs down the right, but i think he needs more support and when a support is there, he should try to release the ball earlier. Zhihao was always commanding in midfield, winning most of the balls, but people around him need to make runs for him to pass to. Chang wen was all alone up front, perhaps plays better with a strike partner, but with all the harrowing, he can perhaps look to layoff to midfielders who surely pack a punch in their shots. Geoffrey penetrates from the left, but I think he just needs a bit of work with the final ball and should not be too afraid to try potshots from the edge of the box. But i think overall, they should not focus on getting high crosses into the box, other JCs definitely have taller defenders. So I think they should look for final balls that can split defences open, for that, they need a strong and speedy striker, maybe in the form of Adzfar, who clearly looks jaded at right back. Pls try him again up front, u really must realise how much pace troubles defences. The full backs made little attacking inroads today, because they were pinned back by our long balls. They surely possess good crosses, so open up space for them to whip in a delicious cross. Chun Yat is strong in midfield, i hear he's playing striker too, he has a sure touch, a good finisher and strong physique too. So clearly a good target man upfront. Kin Yip looks more confident with high balls nowadays, but once u get the ball looping over his head, he needs support from fellow defenders to cut out the long diagonal balls, especially if u have a pacy striker. Enough evaluation, let's talk about the game. Started off alright, our number one instruction was to just apply pressure on the man with the ball. Simply just don't give them space to manouvre. I think they were not used to having so little time on the ball, I think it led to our first goal. An unsure touch from their right hand channel back towards the goalie fell short, so with both last man and keeper stranded in no man's land, i could just toe-poked it into the back of the net. [shoot i can't remember who scored first. was it ur side?] Anyway, with the score tied at 1-1 soon after, a good run down the left by Ruik caught their defence on the back pedal. They failed to clear the diagonal pass and I just placed the ball as far away from Kaixiang as possible, hitting kinyip on the way to goal. But within seconds, they got a series of corners, very well taken by Sootet. This time, Chang wen rose head and shoulders above the rest to plant a firm header to the top left hand corner, a magnificent header. 2-2 at halftime. Clearly they were fired up right after the break, because our pressure play and hitting them on the break really frustrated them. They played better now, with 'triangles' and what not coming into play. Soo Tet again enjoyed freedom on the right with the loose marking from Libin (does he know what's a foul throw?!?!?). A good corner to the middle of the box found Kin Yip whose downward header bounced into the crowded pack and into the goal. It was quite end to end stuff, as our players tire and theirs got hungrier. Still, some confusion at the back saw a floated ball bouncing over Kin Yip for me to blast it past Mark for my hat-trick (my first ever!). Could have passed it to Ruik but was singleminded. Hehe. Then after that, we really became tired. I swithched with Ruik for a while, clearly im not fit enought to play midfield. Desmond then had a stinging shot whacking against the crossbar, it would be a beauty had it gone in. After that, Chang Wen got his second I think, the only goal to have come from outside the box. A long range effort that sailed into the top left hand corner. Chun Yat then added another one from the right edge of the six yard box to seal our misery. I think it ended 5-3 or 6-3 in their favour. Oh well...good game still. Things I need work on: 1) Left Foot Cross: to be able to find a man in the box with an inswinger, or to cut the right back at the byline and deliver a cutback. 2) Headers: to win aerial balls against defenders. to outjump players, to direct headers towards teammate. 3) Beating players: to master more skills to beat players one on one, better ball control, change of pace.

ohana: noone gets left behind or forgotten

OhanaOhanaOhana... For a full week that have seen tremendous work being put in by the students of RJ, especially the crucial planning work by teh councillors, i'm quite happy that it's all over. I dont think our first major batch project got off to a bad start, i think it was quite alright! Yay! Not sure how the many Sec 4s enjoyed themselves here today, in the end, I don't think their choices will have so much to do with open houses as with reality, that is their O level results, their friends, their future prospects, their locales... So it was meant for them to have a lil breather, i suppose, from intensive and extensive revision for their O levels. It was also a good oppurtunity for us the J1s, to let our hair loose after promos. I'm sure we'll have more time for that in the very near future. Did befriender duty today, that is, to bring hordes of Sec 4s around the school to let them have a look and a feel of our software, that is, our people. We're not mechanical, and I really don't think anyone in Singapore even thinks that about us anymore these days. The mats had some fun wearing what we always wear, our mat bands, with a dog tag 'MLDCS..." attached. Simple advertisement, thanks to our ingenious matman, Iylia. Really had to thank the girls today, they stayed and put up really nice touch-ups to our booth at the entrance of the hall. They came real early too, and stayed til the end and put down all the decoration themselves. Most of the mats were doing befriender services, but still really must thank the girls. Cikgu was also always there too, i think she's closer to the girls, cos i heard them talk about some things that the girls were concerned about, something about their cca and future and things like that, but i really like that. U need to have someone who can listen to u and give u quality advice, and I think cikgu is one of them cos she's been here for so long, seen plenty of high-achievers, certainly she has some ideas of what to do. Spent the day shuffling back and forth from Rugby booth at the Specs Gal, where PS2 took centre stage, thanks to Khalrul...then will just wander around canteen and concourse before playing congkak back at out booth. then off to chit chat with iylia at front porch before finding more sec 4s to befriend. Saw some malay hopefuls, more guys than girls actually, but not surprisingly, and they all look keen on coming. So i really think the future malay batch will be more mixed than mine, but i sure hope it's all good. Saw Shaman, a SJI hurdler champ who's also looking forward to soccer, but i think it's best if he sticks to just track. He's sound academically, and I realised that I facilitated his group with Yusrina when he attended Mendaki Camp in sec1. Wahaha, nice guy, i think he'll choose RJ. Saw 3 VS malay guys too, one's a champ tracker, the other 2 are band ppl, and I think they are also academically sound. They're definitely considering RJ, then i think our track team will be quite solid next yr. Retain the title man! Played a lil bit of touch in the afternoon, cos sian la, cos it rained in the mid-afternoon during fri prayers, so it sort of dampened the spirit, then helped pull down the posters and re-arrange the canteen tables. After that, the Ohana comm gave out some real nice drinks and we kop like 14 packets la, for 5 ppl...Woohoo...So we went to shower, prayed asar, and siam to Al-Ameen. Reached there just nice the Azan, so we buka with super duper refreshing drinks. Ordered cheap and good food and ate all we could man... So shiok... then had to quickly take a bus ride to Ar-Raudhah where we did our tarawih too, and then walked the mats to bt batok mrt... Along the way, it was bliss. We saw a group of workers pausing work for a while, sitting at the slope to have their dinner in the dark, with only the street lamps to light the packet food for them. We felt bad looking. I said why not we give them the 3 remainder packets of drinks we have to them, let them share and have the drinks, after all, we took more than we should. Somehow that ties in with Ohana, noone gets left behind or forgotten. Ya, i think it does, God works these miracles, but humans just may not be able to see them. InsyaAllah, God will help these workers for working so hard and being so far away from home and from family. When i reached home finally, i took 1.5 bowls of fried beehoon noodles as i've promised my mother. That felt good, and i'm gonna have a go at the soya bean milk soon. Grow Grow Grow!!! Time to rest, bcoz its gonna be quite a day tomorrow. With a few things in store, let's just have a good night sleep.

beeep!!honk!!

I think Porridge for the Needy Project has plenty of areas to be improved on, especially about the effective utilisation of manpower and time. Shall address that to the Exco at the end of the project. Need to have an Exco meeting because there are some possibilities that can come out from Porridge project, such as the Mass Iftar Day on 9 Nov 2004. Also need to address some expectation on them. Because surely events are flying in fast and furious. Hakeem is so jiwang! Burnt an entire collection onto a CD and called it "Jiwang: Vol 1". Full of sexay sexay evergreen oldies such as Khayalan by BDB, Suci Dalam Debu (Iklim) and so on. Haha, maybe its the secret behind hurdles success! PW! Today must hand in final draft already! So scary, hope for Exceeding Expectation! How?!! Let's pray for the best.. Ohana! Coming up on fri, sure hope to have a blast! Will be doing spraying, dancing, talking, walking, running, smiling, and............ fasting. Gosh :) Just now I drank coffee, and after a while i saw it bubbling! Guess what? There was actually a real lizard inside! It was struggling to crawl out of the cup, before it gets drowned! Gross man, so i threw out the lizard onto the sink. Then tried to smash it dead with a rolled-up newspaper, but it cunningly hid behind the soap which i could not reach with the newspaper...Eeeewww. yucks... can't imagine actually having the lizard in my mouth... :P

white stuff on nails

Have you ever wondered? I take a look at my fingernails and I see white stuff. U know, its those little white opaque stuff that u see on your nails that you can't possibly scratch out. And when i see these white stuff, i remember what my grandma used to tell me. When I was still small, i used to sit on my grandma's bed and ask her many many things. One of them was what is this white stuff i see on my nails. She said that it's a sign. I asked her, "Of what?". "It's a sign that somebody likes you, there's probably a girl out there who likes you. It's a sign that someone is attracted to you!" I thought hard and talked to myself, "In my kindergarten class, there cannot possibly be any girl who likes me, coz I always beat them for every test. And I look ugly. Hmmm..." So I wondered. If only there was a story or fable or legend to accompany this peculiar happening. But u know what? I think it's true. Coz I saw white stuff on Ronald's fingernails too. So that is one case proven. Now i see them white stuff on my nails. Last time when it happened in primary school, I am quite sure that it happened for the same reason which my grandma explained to me. Coz of course I am in people's attention when i do well for certain things. I told Ronald today and he laughed it off, but maybe he will believe me, and my grandma. So now, i see the white stuff on my nails again, and I am going to believe my grandma's explanation. This time, it's not just on one fingernails. It's found on 6 different spots. Does more white spots means that the feeling is stronger? So who is the one? I dunno..... Merindui Kepastian - Art Fazil Andai kau menjadi pelangi biarku jadi awannya agar kita selalu bersama Andai kau menjadi sang duyung biarku jadi karangnya agar kita sentiasa bersua Andai kau menjadi merpati biarku jadi sang bayu agar kita sering bertemu Andai engkau menjadi puisi biarku jadi melodi bersama kita menyanyi Andai ku menjadi rembulan sudikah engkau menjadi gejora hingga pagi nanti Andai esok aku menjadi tanah sudikah engkau menjadi bunga hiasi dadaku

Allahu akbar

Only Allah is great, not u, not me!

aloha ohana

Best cip hours ever...but sshhh its a secret cannot tell. There could be more hours coming in our way, if we are as cunning as ever. Its like so wonderful, you don't feel a thing at all with the hours being clocked in. Woohoo. Today was Ohana Prep. RJ calls its open house "Ohana" (family). Learnt the partner dance with Ron, haha as usual I became the girl. It was damn funny, cos the guy is lighter than the girl by a clear 10kg, so naturally he has a lil bit of trouble trying to support her/his damn heavy weight. Haha. But shoots, I must learn the guy moves quickly if not i'm forever going to be stuck as a girl. This stinks. Haha LT1 had a lil bit of lighting FX today, for the few who were there and noticed something with the lights. Hey its damn fun i tell you, sure will be spectacular when we master the rest of the FX. But the funniest thing that happened today was "The Big Bang". Its actually the fire extinguisher being set off, albeit accidentally. Its so funny, all 3 of us ran out, really didn't know how to react, we were so relaxed and shiok lah, then it happened, so we quickly siam. And sat at the LT seats. Then the people in the LT looked at us, we looked at them back, and they were laughing at us as we were laughing at them back. People thought that it was a toilet flush in the LT. hehe, but its a secret cannot tell you. Haha today was so hot, the temptation to drink was so high. We, of all things to talk about, were discussing which drink we really wanna drink right there and then in the hot afternoon. Bandung, nice with ice, milky and sweetly pink. Air kathirah, which has never been to my tastebuds before, but as sweet as bandung. Matin wanted ice cold mountain dew. Not very nice to me, i'd rather have 5million glasses of ice-cold Coke. Yeah...:) We were all dying man, felt like collapsing in the train to Adzfar's house, I broke fast there with his family. Very thankful to him man, coz my parents aren't home so there's no food at home. Of course I could have journeyed to the mosque to break fast there, but Adz's offer was too good to resist, especially with 'ManUtd-Birmingham match ensuing at 740pm' tag. I had loads of syrup to quench my thirst. Mee bandung was nice and sweet, as sweet as the longans. Then I whacked a 1.5l bottle of Sprite Ice all throughout the match. Great to see Saha back, but playing Fortune and Kleberson certainly spells doom. Banish them to the reserve squad, pls! Let's have Scholes and Heinze back! And Giggs! And Silvestre! Certainly that will make my $13 return trip home more worth it.

Ramadhan Mubarak

1st day of fasting Was surprisingly easy, not distracted by food at all throughout the day, not like in the past. Same for matin, he too had an easy time fasting today. Only Rais had a brush with food, yeah, and he is definitely feeling extremely guilty about it, but i confirm you his was a case of accident. Went to watch Wimbledon, which was a nice movie, real gutsy and inspirational play by that guy paul bettany (aka peter peter colt), but all in all a predictable storyline. Its so easy to relate to, especially for sportsmen who just love playing in front of big crowds. Funny how love can inspire his game. That's really great bcoz he was in the dumps before, being unlucky with his games, knowing nothing about winning or how to win. But love completely changed it all around. The story is not the same for the girl though (sexay kirsten dunst's lizzie bradbury). Hers was the opposite story. Love became the distraction in her game, she couldn't focus. So she couldn't win. Such were the contrasting results how love can either make u or break u. Fri prayers Al-Falah was over in a jiffy. Its irritating this life. When u are home, u feel so bored u say u need to go out. And when u are out, u feel so off, feel so stupid for going out and having nothing to do, u just wanna go back home again. Argh!!! Is this what u call a paradox (i dunno what it means)...? CCAL briefing about Ohana, MLDCS won't have to perform for it anymore, meaning we just have to prepare for next weekend's Busking@Orchard! That'd be great! I thought the comm wouldn't let us not perform for ohana. I didn't even take a look at farewell assembly, bcoz firstly it shouldn't concern us, its meant especially for the j2s, their moment. Also, let it surprise me next year when it comes, unless its really nothing surprising. And, there was not much standing room, so just in case we faint while standing due to our lack of storage fuel (aka food), we wouldn't wanna trouble anyone, so we just vee-ed the whole ceremony by just going to spexgall to relack one corner. That was alright the typical group of mats again. We kopped quite alot of the food package which contained eewwyuckyyucky wedges. So we siam to macs quickly just as the ceremony in the hall was abt to end, and broke our fast there, with Super BIG Gulps, KFC packages et al. Then we went for evening prayers at Almujahideen Mosque, which went much faster than i thought. For a relatively uneventful day, it was well-spent at the end, especially with the prayers to cap it off... So here i am, at around 5:26am in the morning, after just having my early morning food... It was porridge;just one bowl, so it was scant, but it was also tasty and should be enough to last me the day InsyaAllah. Today i've got Ohana Prep. So i think i'll clock in cip hours for attending (isit?)...anw, Hafiz talked about going VJ open house in the afternoon. But knowing tt Ohana lasts til 5pm, i can forget about it. Shall siam to AlFalah of ArRaudhah to break my fast, do tarawih et al. Okiedoks, Results will be out on Monday~! Scary but it's hopefully good InsyaAllah!

Happy Ramadhan & Happy Fasting

Ramadhan is here. God is here today. Satan is not. Tarawih began today. And Fasting begins tomorrow. HPF wanna see our class tmr before farewell assembly for PW. Aiyoh, pw is damn worrying. I hear so many groups from other classes going all out during these past few days to chiong PW. My group, we stopped just before Promos, at our final version of our first draft, which HPF collected oredi. So what else does she want? Just give each and every member in my group EE and we'll be extremely happy. Farewell Assembly would mean that we'll probably still be starving when it's time to break fast. Nvm, shall smuggle some dates for the muslims. And hope we can siam and be on time for Tarawih, yeehaa must try to get to Ar-Raudhah, but i doubt it. So probably will head to AlMujahideen instead. Yup, insyaAllah. I've set some targets for myself next year, it's really all locked in my head. They all keep rolling and rolling in my head, it's like i keep reciting them silently. They're all nice nice targets, yup. InsyaAllah God give me the strength to see to the end of it.

Porridge for the Needy Project

For all the people who have signed up for our MLDCS Porridge for the Needy Project, please be reminded that there will be a very urgent briefing on Monday morning immediately after assembly at the concourse. Attendance is compulsory. Please listen out for an announcement on Monday. Hopetaseeyathere :)

Exorcist: The Beginning

Wednesday, yesterday, was quite weird, but turned out to be quite fun in the end. I promised Adz for a little gym time at 10am, in school coz its free. I only woke up at ten, and so i thought i'd be late, so i just went to school immediately after having my cheese sandwich (is this how u spell it?). Then the econs ppl still havent started their paper, talked to them for a while. Saw the Malay AO paper, quite easy I must say, but after almost 10 months of not touching it, im so rusty la. But im sure we'll all ace it if we were to take the paper seriously. Haha, Saripah power. then, when all the econs ppl had left for the hall, i went to buy nasi goreng ikan bilis, yummy and it induced diarrhoea, so hadtashit. Talked to jieming and alex and sherman and ivan, nice eh, J2s giving u advice on s-papers and things like that. Take s-paper for the sake of taking it, bcoz taking it would give you "something". What's that "something", I guess not many really care unless they don't get the scholarship.. Actually the s-paper talk was abit only, the rest was about how the J2s wanna par-tey! There were stuff about going Bali, needing an Indo native, smoking p*rt, clubbing at night and staying away from coc*****. The J2s sure know their stuff man..talked about trying surrfing!, or how painful parasailing is for your balls! or going at top speed on your jetski and avoiding all the ripples. Then finally Adz came and we were all so stoned, so lethargic when doing weights. A 2-week lay-off coz of promos was enough for me to shed 2kg, but I'm still heavier than izzat. Haha, just heavy and weak and scrawny. Went to Queensway after that with Adz my bro..just for one thing, to find The Nike Mercurial Vapor Gold Edition. I didn't realize how golden it was! Absolute stunner! Adz thinks of getting it right there and then, but thinks it better to buy it sometime later, maybe this week. You guys out there better not touch that boot! Only the mat brothers will wear it, u hear tat? Haha. Then the group of us, ronald adz iylia fahyik jianhong desmond rudy and me went for real scream! Not reverse bungee, thats chicken feed. Went for exorcist:the beginning! Woohoo! Yea, scary shit man. All the suspense was scary, like when Joseph was trembling all of a sudden, or when the pack of hyenas attacked his brother James, or when Sarah was alone in the house, blackout no lights then all of a sudden the lights came on again and the jukebox was at full blast! So many nice scenes. But the ghost was so funny.."So don't you wanna f*ck me anymore, father marion?" haha, waht cheesy line. Oh well, tat scared tashit out of us. We went to glutton square but couldnt find a real Halal stall, so after having to walked quite far, we had to walk quite far back to breeks for a simple dinner, burnt my pocket oredi man. Had a lot of laughs there man, talking cock, about anti-council, and how we are gonna operate in school. That was damn cool. Sure is fun. Then tried pranking HPF, but adz gave ron the wrong number. Then found the right number, but she was prob asleep la, HPF's bedtime is like... what, 7pm? Oh well, then ron met ahem and we all ciao. For a day after promos, i guess it was well-spent. Today? Dunno man...what's gonna happen?

end of promos finally here....yahoooooooo

Chemistry paper was extremely gross today, not just that i didn'tdo some of the questions, but i'm quite sure i won't do well for the paper. But in any case, i'm just hoping for the best. It all lies in the hands of the markers, and God save me..! Oh well, no point crying over spilt milk. So what do we do after that? Good question. For a while, noone knew what to do. We just stoned there at the canteen. Then since none could come up with any solution, we just headed off to macs, to have a bite. Peiqian the storyteller again entertaining us with very humorous jokes..kind of thought we chased the group of them (hadri, janahan and co) who were studying there away. We went back to school and some brilliant soul thought of Floorball at LT 2.5...Not less than 10 mins, we were chased away because ppl were having their mock exam in lt2. Doesn't matter, i wasnt playing anyway. We went back to canteen and stoned and stoned. Its like before the paper, all of us were talking about doing this and doing that once promos end. They all sounded like magnifient plans to me, then when the paper ended, we could all think of nothing to do. Play soccer? Nah, its too hot. Play floorball? Nah, the indoor gym is locked. Weights? Nah, tmr then we do. Watch movie? Nah, some ppl's last paper still havent come. So do what? Stone? set... In the end, we gotta play floorball, and i think i could have injured my left toes. I pray hard that it's not fractured, it sure is pain, but no swelling. I've iced it, but i still feel pain when i walk. I better stay off running these few days. Let it heal completely. So i can tarawih peacefully. And adzfar and i felt quite shiok after showering, we were singing hari raya songs in the shower cubicles. I just love the festive atmosphere when it comes, but i realize i cannot become too expectant of it, otherwise the mood dissipates so quickly even before i manage to capture it thoroughly. The songs! Oh my the hari raya songs, i can't wait for them to be played over the radio. Will definitely humm along with 'em! And let's do this, let's not cut hair till the new year. I wanna see how long my hair can grow to!!! hehe :)

me part 3 :)

Whats does your personality rate from 1-10? by morning_prayer
Your first full name
Your personality rates a	7
your best quality is	your music taste rules
your worst quality is	youre loved and dont know it
this is because	youre true to yourself
Quiz created with MemeGen!

me part 2

Whats does your personality rate from 1-10? by morning_prayer
Your first full name
Your personality rates a	six
your best quality is	youre unique and you rock!
your worst quality is	um...nothing =)
this is because	its genetic
Quiz created with MemeGen!

me

Whats does your personality rate from 1-10? by morning_prayer
Your first full name
Your personality rates a	8
your best quality is	you help friends in need
your worst quality is	nothing bad i can see...
this is because	other people influenced you
Quiz created with MemeGen!

she cracks

The day that the (century) egg shell cracked : 17 Sept 2004 Morning GP period was still alright, controllable by all her means. We had to do a Paper 2 comprehension which i couldn't finish because it is actually quite hard. She was marking papers and showing how flustered she was at the way some students answered their questions, sometimes just ignoring whatever she tells them to do during lessons. We were happily making noise as and whenever we feel like it. Totally. 2 guys in class wore jock straps today, one was a red-stringed one, one was a dark black one given to him as a birthday present. They were more than happy to bare some flesh and show some skin, apparently their white hills make good cleavage. We snapped some photos of them hills, and burst out laughing as usual. She misplaced this person's paper, even though he had written his name and answered the first part of the comprehension. At first we made her believe that she misplaced 2 persons' papers. So we hurried her to find it, then one of the person exclaimed that he found his paper in his file. Haha, great exercise for someone her age. But she really lost the other person's paper. Looking at her desk, its easy to tell why. Then she stirred the irk of the class when she insisted on having extra lessons just so that we can complete the paper, due to us running short of time. Its just nonsensical, how in the world can we skip friday prayers! As though she can make another arrangement with God so we can have our friday prayers at a later time. Not that she believes in God anyway. But the others, they said about having physics remedial. She wanted to personally speak to the physics tutor so she can make arrangement. So the class burst out laughing once more, of course, memories of S-Cube Seminar came flooding in. "Do you know the physics tutor ma'am?" "Is he very talkative?" I think the bell saved her, not that there's any bell nowadays, the end of the period brought this episode to a close. This episode resumes in the form of a PW period, the last period of the day for the class. It was havoc. She took a helluva long time trying to locate the classroom, because we shifted temporarily due to prelim exams. Before that, the 2 guys jock-strapping were having more photoshoots, and the girls in class were trying their darndest best not to steal a glimpse of prime beefcakes. She came in and had a lot of instructions to give. I had slogged for 1 hour for the second draft of my written report (its not very long i know, but it was at 12 plus, when I should be sleeping. Just that I was already accustomed to paperwork), I really thought she was going to collect it that day and punish those who haven't got theirs ready. Instead, she instructed us all to finish up this worksheet as though it was a test. PW does not need a test, it is an assessment in itself. We tried rationalizing with her but it was hard to make her listen. She claimed that we should learn to listen to her instead. We do, all the time, we catch her saying the slightest of things, just so to make fun of her. She says,"I'll issue you..." and we complete the sentence in a chorus "a warning slip!!" She will laugh too, then said what she actually intended to say. Oh everyone was not in the mood to do her test. It was just to try and regurgitate all the things that we wrote down in our project proposal. That certainly is not necessary at this time, even if it is to help her find out about our individual contribution to the project, because personally I think that the file will suffice. Even the quiet and normally reserved people in class were trying to voice out their disagreement at her instructions, like "this is all too much unnecessary paperwork!" Those who normally behaved and would not flinch a bit, were singing and composing their own symphonies, trying to attract an audience by going louder by the octaves. Frequent jokes errupted. She says, "I wonder how this country is going to be like.." and we answer her "1. Ageing population, 2. Low birth rates and 3.Singlehood" to the bursts of laughters. I am sure by now the classes next door and the door after could hear us loud and clear, maybe they are laughing with us too. But the climax of it all, was when one student finished her worksheet and carried a whole stack of physics materials into the classroom. She intended to give it out to everyone because she has finished all her work, but was told off to sit down and listen to her instructions. Somehow She has millions of instructions today. Then one student openly told the class to just take their physics materials on the chair next to the door and leave the room, whatever. So some began to take the materials, but did not leave yet. She was totally flustered right now. She shouted the name of the girl loudly. She said she couldnt take it anymore and she feels like crying. She actually has swells of tears in her eyes. She walked out of the room, leaving her table a mess, just like her desk. This guy actaully opened the door to check whether she is really crying and came back laughing loudly. Everyone felt weird when she cried, not like they feel super guilty about it. Its like there was no 2 way communication at all whatsoever. Oh well, we used that time to finish giving out the physics materials. She came back within 5 mins, must have gone to pee or fart or whatever. Nvm, we really had to go, she cant hold us back any longer, we have friday prayers and when we told her she let us off. She cracked when she cried. Wooooooooshh SSsssswwwwoooossshhh!!

I think an apology card is due. Will see about that.

the boys from RI (in all shapes and ages) at the Anugerah Mendaki last saturday

My Grandfather! He's wearing my shirt! I couldn't fit into it anymore. This is in a tuk-tuk in Thailand. Craziest drivers in the world, please go to Bangkok and apply for a job as a tuk-tuk driver. Who cares about F1?

end of hols: a cap

One week of school holidays has passed. Good stuff, but it just means that there is no more time to prepare for promos. Its too short. Nvm, while the holiday was here, I enjoyed it. Today I spent a few hours at Madrasah, which was truly not a typical day at the Madrasah because the first part was hafalan, and I was 30 mins late. So i entered, memorised the 7-8 lines for the Quran, and the bell went. Had a very sour teh-o lemon ice. Then the history ustaz was absent, so a replacement came in. She's an Islamic Counsellor, who counsels a whole host of people, from the teenage delinquents and pregnant teenage girls to divorcees and prisoners. She was hillarious and I share with you 3 principles that she has lived with since she was a teenager and which have helped mould her life well and truly in the path of Islam. Dahulukan cita-cita daripada cinta. (Choose ambition over love) Gagal untuk bersedia ertinya bersedia untul gagal. (Failing to prepare is preparing to fail) And i forgot this one :( She was good, she said she will only come in for a little motivation session. I thought i didn't need one, but nevertheless, I love hearing people talk like her. Amazing, she just showered us with great tips and I sure would use them as much as i can. A nice good break instead of lessons! Then it was arab lesson, but the ustaz didn't feel like teaching as much as we didn't feel like listening. I was reading chem notes. Bad of me. I slept for 3 hours after i ate lunch. I hope i put on weight. Target was to reach 70kg by June, obviously that has failed. Maybe i should aim to reach 70kg by Hari Raya even though the fasting month is coming. That's because last Ramadhan, i put on around 3-4 kg! and lost them all during hari raya. weird metabolism!! I filed my notes and practicals for 2 hours straight. It was back-breaking labour, worst than doing shoulder presses. And its still not done yet, I've still GP File to complete. Should I just leave GP File? Its already in a mess... I waited for another 1.5 hours for my father to come back with the Fried Kuay Teow, finished it up in less than 5 mins and felt hungry again just seconds after i wash my hands and mouth. Sheesh...time... what do you make out of it? Mendaki Awards was cool. They had it at the NTUC Centre, a building at One, Marina Boulevard. Its chic, the auditorium, i tell u. Because the building had numerous window panels, they lifted the blinds electronically and it gave us a magnificent view of the Singapore waterfront landscape. The RJ Guys all met at 10.15am at Raffles Place MRT where we went round and round the place just to find the correct exit. We had trouble finding the building and figuring out which overhead bridge to cross. We were just so unfamiliar with the place. Figured that by the time we were there, we would be the last ones to arrive. Correct. The entire VJ was there. A lot of unfamiliar faces too. I didn't know most of them. I heard around 15 of them got it, and they have around 30plus Malays in their school. That's so much more than what we have at RJ. I think it's easy why it's such. So many Malays live in the east, where VJ is, so its just a matter of convenience too. We waited for damn long, but it was okay lah, at least Iskhandar was sitting next to me, and Rais moved to sit on my other side, so it was not that lonely. But i must say, i don't have that many friends outside the raffles family. I must work on this. InsyaAllah. They gave us a briefing, we had rehearsals then had really cocked up lunch. We went to Masjid Moulana for Dzuhur and then really had a funny time dressing up. Khalrul was especially hillarious, he looked like a girl, a poodle, and an afro rocker rolled into one. Lol. Then rushed to the auditorium and the show began. The angklung performance was nice, real nice, if only we can replicate that. The reception at the end was not good, but who cares, we were having fun taking photos! so here are the photos: Click this: Photos from the recently held Mendaki Awards!

Mendaki Awards Presentation held last Saturday at the NTUC Centre. RJC had the largest representative, not surprisingly, but VJC was close. Oh well, enjoy the photos!

return.to.skool

today we had a good meeting session in school. it got my mind clear. we have got a lot of work to do. but somehow or other, i feel more switched on today than on other days. i feel motivated, i feel the hunger to do what we will do with quality and panache. and i think we will do it. insyaAllah :) promos are coming. the school canteen looks amazing, full of people studying very very hard for their respective exams. today was the first day that i returned to school during the sept holidays. now what ronald told me the other day was absolutely true, the atmosphere is tremendous. but i somehow cannot put myself in the canteen to study. hrm just cannot. i shall try home instead. if that cannot work, then i guess its the void deck or the toilet. somewhere la, but the canteen? that will be the last resort... hrmm resort? maybe not, more like torture chamber. Holland vs Czech Republic is coming up. will eat m&ms while waiting for that. toodles~

msg

Dear God,
I beg you to make me a smart and intelligent young man, nimble and wise to tackle all the problems that may come towards me, be a filial son. Bestow me with Your Greatness, just a little of it will do. Because God I love you. Amin.

venue: council room session who's present: ronald, jiawen, lynn and me objective: to discuss our plan and lynn, to sing and entertain us. :) council room somehow we ended up in council room again. ronald wanted to play guitar, but couldn't find one with enough strings. so we ended up discussing the limitless possibilities that we can come up with for our plan. oh well, came up with one good idea. i think it's sustainable if we contact the right people and package the whole thing in an enticing way. yup, looking forward to the fruition of that idea. will work hard for it. ronald's house then i think because we were too caught up thinking and all that, we didn't feel like going for lessons anymore. so we ended up leaving, headed for ronald's place. lynn went for pw. i think she sings damn well, great voice, pity she's not in singapore idol. wanted to stop over at ming's arcade to see the shop first but the aunty was apparently busy with her boyfriend when ronald called, so another day then. we went to ronald's house instead. jiawen played 13 and got bored. we played fifa til for quite long. i lost all but 2 matches. i'm a fag, lousy fag. then ronald's mum was damn damn funny. first she asked us whether we wanted to help her wash her neighbour's house for $10 each. easy job eh? i thought it was too easy, tried asking for more. she said $20 after i told her sometimes i get $10 just for washing 2 toilets at home. so she went downstairs to check only to return later saying somebody else had already done it for free. shoots, didn't make money. but didn't break into sweat either. nvm, there's a next time. she bought some fast food for us too. haha then it was quite funny. she started asking me about bomoh! haha yeah bomoh! she asked me whether malays use cats to help cast spells on others, or use a cat which had been casted a spell on to disturb others. how am i supposed to know? but this is very interesting and i am going to find out. she got followed by this furry grey cat the other day at the hawker centre when she was buying tosai. the cat followed her everywhere she went so she got quite scared. the cat belongs to the malay stall owner. this is funny, not scary. but apparently, she thinks otherwise. i see no link between how the cat following her has got to do with any evil. but you can never be too sure can you. just last sunday in the malay newspapers, an article about this living and practising bomoh was published. she lives in the east of singapore. she apparently planted a sachet containing verses of the spell and some stones/bones in her husband's and daughter's graves. this was done to evoke the spirits to be used for her bomoh practises. oh man, this is spooky i tell you. she even has a secret cupboard that stores real exotic materials like tiger bones, skulls, sacred stones, etc. bomohs still live in singapore i tell you, you just don't know. they may look like normal people, but for all you know, there are bomohs living just next door!? my bomoh experience i for one had a bomoh experience once in my life. it was during primary school, in primary one. it had got to do with my maid (since then, we only had 2 more change of maids before my mum became a fulltime housewife). it was really strange. she looked sickly and weird then. she would fetch me from pri sch. then that week, everyday, there would be this huge dog waiting in front of my gate, lying there. what is it doing there? i certainly have never seen it before, it's not my neighbour's. i don't dare touch dogs, you know, muslims... then it was like a different dog each day. somehow, my maid would just shoo it away and it always seemed to obey her. that is weird because she is apparently muslim. how in the world could she be keeping dogs, in singapore some more!? then after that, we see her just behaving weirdly, like praying in the late morning, when that is not a prayer time for muslims. she prays at weird times. i don't remember what else she did, but it was enough to convince my parents to hire a bomoh. he is this old man, in his 50s. he wore a songkok. he would come to my grandma's house, which was just a block away, at 7plus. he would take out this plate and start lighting this special stone (in malay, we call it kemenyan) it smells weird and eery. he probably had special powers. he took out a bowl of water, said some prayers and started to look intently at the bowl of water. he could see images of the maid, who was told to stay at home. i don't know what he saw, i really could not see anything. (maybe he's a hoax?) then he said she's probably disturbed by some spirits. wah i thought that this could be interesting. he showed how he could withstand heat by setting a piece of cloth on fire and then grabbing it with his hand. he even touched the burning flame with the inside of his elbow, quite a most sensitive part of our skin. nothing happened to him. his prescription to us (me my brother and my sister) was this red amulet worn as a band around the wrist. he had muffled some verses into it over the flame and the smoke and it was meant to protect us from evil creatures like the dog. i thought i was superprotected after that. it worked la, dogs would just avoid me. i thought the amulet worked. when i returned home that night, probably whatever that had happened was true, my maid was very suspicious of the red amulet that i wore and she was very uneasy at the sight of it. not long after that, we terminated her contract. and all seem calm and normal after that. but apparently the bomoh was not done yet. he came back. this time with his kids, who were like younger than me. my god he's already in his 50s! they all look weird, their skin had been badly infected, wounds and scratches and pus all over. they look a pitiful sight. but he came back to ask for more money. of course my family did not oblige. he looks more like a bloodsucker than a bomoh now. like a conman. no way jose. we only hired him one-off. so i don't know what we did after that, but he didn't come back anymore. thank god! spooky mrt and they say that buangkok mrt is left out of the nel for a reason. and we all know that that station lies very close to the bidadari muslim cemetary. woo... spooky.... they say while testing was done, the glass doors of the station platform refuse to close, despite having gone through numerous checks. ronald's mum also said that bishan mrt too used to have that kind of spooky stuff. this one, its about how its quite crowded in the cabin, then when this quite unsual person entered, everyone just left the cabin like running for dear life. bishan mrt is also a former burial ground? ohoho, seriously guys, lets explore....

I want to go to Wild Wadi in Dubai, the Emirates. Woosh~* Ilman called about tips for prelims. He has English prelims tmr. What do i know? I know a bit here and there la, but to give tips, i am not too sure about it myself man. Ilman is powerful la, he can make it confirm InsyaAllah. He just needs reassurance that whatever he's doing, he's doing it well. Just gotta pace yourself now boy. The sprint at the last bend is yet to come. :) There's a Malay teacher teaching English in RI and he has a Doctorate to his name... Or so i heard. :) DEATH by the MRT There are too many people dying or having injuries associated with the MRT these days. Especially recently, there are so many cases of people falling onto the MRT track. And yesterday, 2 people died after falling from the platform onto the track, one at Redhill MRT and another at BUKIT BATOK!!! that's where i stop at! What's up with that? How come these things happen more frequently now? Don't the authorities have the 'Yellow Line' and frequent announcements in all 4 languages to remind people time and again to stand behind it? Why does it still happen? Isn't there enough warning to ward off people about the danger of electrocution? Okay, so here are other reasons. Increase in population density. Singapore has an increasing population (okay, maybe not true yet, but the expats population is increasing). So its harder to find jobs becoz our economy is still recovering. So more people are poorer. So they cannot afford private transport. So more people take public transport. So public transport areas like bus stops and MRT stations become more crowded. So less space for people. So some had to find space, so the track was the only available space left, so off they jump. (this is screwed) 7th month of chinese calendar. Apparitions are at their most active, in a state of optimum activity. So these people (i think the 2 yesterday were chinese, but of what religion/belief i dunno) could have seen something paranormal. Its a great way to emulate those cowboy and indian movies where u tie up people onto the railway track waiting for the train to thunder past and crush u like a cockroach. These people must have loved those movies to bits so they wanna try some themselves. There are many Jason Bournes in Singapore. They are in identity crisis and are running away from the police. Why do you think there'll always be policemen at the site after the crash? They tried to run past the track ala Jason Bourne and baffle the police into not finding them after that. Unfortunately, our trains are too fast for them. They havent had good training. So the train got the better of them. These people usually don't even realize that they are on the track. So they must have been those people that magicians use in their disappearing act. They could have been like on a cruise or on stage or something, when the magicians disappeared these poor souls onto our MRT tracks. For the train to smash their sorry bodies. In the spirit of the recently concluded Olympics, these people must have been inspired by all the jumpers. Like the high jumpers, pole vaulters, but most noticeably even in the papers, its China's Liu Xiang, the tiny man with a big heart who matched a world record 12.91s in the 110m hurdles. His inspiring feat transcended into the minds of our aunties and uncles who chose our MRT platforms to try out his dazzling moves. Sorrily, the yellow line is no hurdle. Our MRT too can't hurdle over their bodies on the track. So its another wreck. Secrets have it that the rocks they use to cover our tracks contain traces of expensive stones. Treasure alas! Nope, ask Heaven/Hell find these people and ask them whether its true. I guess its a hoax. (I made it up) With the recent spate of blackouts when our electricity supply was cut temporarily, they thought that it must have got something to do with the huge amounts of electricity that is used up to power our trains. So they decided to tap directly from the tracks, and instead of getting electrocuted, they got a firm lesson in training. Hehe, training. They are just good citizens helping to pick up that stray piece of tissue paper on the track. But probably the same people who threw that tissue paper were the ones who saw the train coming and ran away. I can't come up with No.10. Write it down on my tagg board if u have one.