So many know who i am..but do they know me?

2005-10-04T08:18:00.000+10:00

Just got back from my term break holidays in the city yesterday...been flooded by work and organizational stuff so it'll be a while before i find the time to write about how it went and the current weird thoughts in my brain...

Things i intend/are doing

Convince my dad to let me visit China
Book tickets and arrange for my logistics after graduation.
Well, before that i've got to prepare for my exams ^.^
Look up Mindef on how to prepare for my medical exams

My main worries and reasons for concern lie in point no. 1. I really hope i can go to China as an individual and sort of take a look at the country, culture and lifestyle of the modern chinese via the chinese themselves and not as a businessman doing business or a family out for some relaxation holiday. No, i want a unique experience i can only experience now, as a young adult and an individual. I'll really have to find ways to work it out with my dad, convince him to let me go and more importantly, i'm not that young a punk that it'll be detrimental for me to go to China for 2 weeks...

2005-09-23T10:57:00.000+10:00

Well, i wonder how my old friends in JC are doing....probably with their pre-lims and the sort, cos i've just finished my pre-lims!

I'll be off to the city for 8 nights for my term break stayin in a lil apartment just for me...Most probably won't be online but nonetheless, i wish all the best to my friends back home and a "cheers" to all those in TKIS who have just finished their mocks as well...

Persevere guys...less than 2 months to graduation already man!

Oh shit...that means there's only about a month more till the exams.. =.=

2005-09-16T09:09:00.000+10:00

Its been 3 weeks since my last post. Sort of back from a hiatus of non-blogging because of my Mock Exams...So far i've only finished my Maths and Chinese papers and have another 4 more subjects to go, but nonetheless i'm just trudging through the notes and stuff, trying to make the best of the last week in school...

Been thinking a lot these days as well, particularly about university courses and future career prospects. I was looking at the London School of Economics, Cornell Uni, Uni of San Francisco and the two local unis NUS and SMU in particular detail, exploring the prospects of social sciences or business courses. I've thus reached a sort of tentative conclusion, that what will benefit me most in the future and yet is a course i will be interested in is a Double Major in Sociology and Marketing or stuff like DM in International Law and International Relations etc...Seems like a pretty nasty combination thats definitely gonna require a high entry requirements eh? Oh wells, guess i'll just have to dig deeper into my notes for my last 50 odd days.

My father really wants me to study in SMU after my NS, but i seriously am reluctant... Therefore, complimentary to studying hard enough and getting good grades to get into a good international (means good spread of international students) university, i decided to do some research on SMU to see if there's any truth to all that publicity accredited to it. Based on 2hr spent on surfing the NUS and SMU website,

Little acknowledgement with the IB, directly assuming that they are mostly of non-English background directly asking for SAT 1 or Toefl without reference to Eng A HL, IB students.
Entry prerequisites are low in comparison with overseas uni, requiring just passes in "Year 12 studies" for required subjects for almost all courses, including most subjects in the arts and business courses.
SMU does not provide accredited exchange programmes with excellent schools
IMO, the lecturers and modules are directed largely to Singapore's atmosphere of business or politics, especially in the Social Sciences courses.
Is it really necessary to learn "work & family", history, biology or physics modules for social science courses? my opinion is that i would desire a more focused educational course and specialise in a field i desire rather than to have to digress in areas and thread towards the analogy of "Jack of all trades Master of none".
SMU business course in Bachalor in Business Management only offers Marketing and Finance, and the social sciences focuses mainly on Economics as their forte.
In the SMU and NUS catagory for International students (i apply because i study the IB instead of the polytechnic or Junior College), there are special links for prospective students from India and China, whilst skimming through the other nationalities. This in fact really strikes me as familiar, just as before i came to TKIS, it was deemed as a school with a healthy international community, yet i came here to find out that 80% are from China. I really do not wish to make the same mistake twice again.

With regards to publicity, i have learnt a valuable lesson; the company or school can paint a really beautiful and desirable picture of itself, but to make sure you make the right choice, you have to really do extensive research as to which environment suits you best. If i could learn what i wanna learn, i think going to a very established school with plenty of experience and concurrent undertaking of new research will provide me with the best value-added education possible rather than one that just boosts facilities and contemporary education without much results to show for itself.

Till next time...

2005-08-23T08:24:00.000+10:00

Melvin, what do you want to do? What are your ambitions, dreams or ideals? Your future lies in your hands, what you make of it depend on what you do with the present.

Do you want to be a politician or an ambassador/diplomat? Do you want to study courses in university for business or for interest? Find a job you love and you’ll never have to work another day. If I enter a university, should its importance be based on the course it allows me or the contacts it brings? I guess both are equally important but hard to obtained collectively, especially now, but why? Is it because I haven’t been studying since young? 15 was obviously not the best I could obtain in the O’ levels. How about now? At 27, it feels increasingly difficult to achieve a good score of 38 or above. Why am I letting my complacency get the better of me?

But regret is not enough, it just won’t do. I have to change, and change I must. So what if I have the bet now? I doubt it will suffice as a reasonable or sufficient incentive to push myself hard enough. What do I need to do, to find my driving force and motivation? Like Enson said, you need to find a strong ambition and you will naturally be self-motivated.

Melvin, if you don’t achieve 38 or all 6s in your HL subjects, don’t take Political Science or International Relations etc because you sure for hell won't be able to do it in LSE or any other good uni. If you do, congratulations. On the other hand, if you do not have 38 or more, its business and the likes for you in SMU or even hospitality in Switzerland? Nonetheless, you will have to fucking stay in Singapore if you don’t do well and that’s the bottom-line.

In order of incompetence,
Maths HL
English HL
Physics SL
Environmental Systems SL
Economics HL
Chinese SL

The effort required? Enormous

So what’s the plan?

Do my fucking English HW FFS
Relearn my Maths Options for starters
Basically it’s a bit obvious I lack revision and completion of exercises dude.

Stop procrastinating and being complacent; you’re not smart enough for that yet.

2005-08-22T15:54:00.000+10:00

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a bucket of water,
God knows what they did up there,
but they came back with a Daughter.

2005-08-19T14:06:00.000+10:00

btw, i wish i could sleep as easily as i do when i'm ~~studying~~ studied my physics/maths/envi/eng/chi/econs TBs and notes etc. Today Mr McBurney (Deputy Principal) came into class, chided Britt (aussie taking same chi standard as me) for being lethargic, very sleepy in class. But the thing was, he said things like "you've (britt) been affected by Melvin because you sit together in envi", "this perpetual sleepiness must be contagious, or is it infectious?"

I beg to differ thank you very much yes sire!

Back to the insomia thingy, i still have a slight problem sleeping, but i think the perpetual waking up late and having insufficient sleep is actually helping me sleep at the end of that day, albeit still a bit too late!

2005-08-19T12:28:00.000+10:00

Well, had a little sort of SG gathering in Gaya's place, thats just 3 of us and a bottle of vodka. I even bought shot glasses to complement okay! =.=''

It was a great tok cock session la, all 3 of us able to relieve some stress and problems thats been building up in us. Its like those kinda Sisters sessions and I’ll join in the whining, bitching and the gossiping!For those who don't know my two fellow Singaporeans in this school, they are Tsay Xiu Hui (Selena) and Gayathri Nadarajan (GaYa).

Xh is from Crescent Gers la, and honestly some CG gers i know besides my big sis (gotta be really diplomatic here now..), are very "chor lor" at least until they reach some kinda stage where they suddenly try to become more feminine. And for the record, a lot of CGS gers tend to be very feminine also hor. The deal is, from there I've come to the conclusion that All-gers school tend to produce gers with a greater distinction between these two types. But then I’ve digressed.

The point is, these two gals are atypical from your typical Singaporeans, yet distinctly Singaporeans. So it’s been interesting getting to know these two gers more, friends I wouldn’t have under normal circumstances I reckon; two very outspoken, but distinctively femininely emotional as well. I don’t know if that makes sense to you but its all in diplomatic language.

Anyways, I’ve got a few more thoughts and entries that I’ll like to add and write about, but its all still in pieces in my head, waiting for me to arrive at a conclusion as to my feelings, rather than making them random rants. So till then, this post is a tribute to my two uniquely wonderful Singaporean compatriots in this School.

(‘Cos they keep pestering me to update!)

2005-08-09T08:19:00.000+10:00

Been really busy these few weeks... I reckon theres an evil plot in school, trying to kill us Year 12s right after we come back from our holidays with tons of work, trying to squash us under the weight! Hardly get any free time now, not even the bloody weekends.

Anyways, I've been having trouble sleeping at night. I used to because my roommate would be talking to his gf from 11 to 11.30. But now, he's a swinging bachelor again but i'm still having this mild insomia..

Its like, throughout the day i'm so caught up with work and all, when i actually lie down on my bed, all kinds of thoughts come rushing through and i keep pondering on it, unable to fall into the deep slumber i desire...I start to think of heart issues, work i've yet done, problems unsolved amongst my peers and even plain day dreaming at night...Then i start to think of stupid stuff like what i'm gonna do this weekend, what i'm gonna do on grad night, what i'm .....

Bah..i just wanna sleep! Any ideas on how to blank ur mind and be a light sleeper? Even my workaholic dad starts snoring the moment his head touches the pillow!

And last of all,

Happy Birthday Singapore!!!
i <3 you

2005-07-30T18:58:00.000+10:00

First weekend back here, and the god damn cold is seriously awful. Here's my list of top 5 things i hate about winter.

The cold fingers i ALWAYS get
The constant shivering/chattering of teeths i get
Coming out of a hot shower into a really cold place
The bundles of clothes i have to wear just to TRY and keep warm
And the epitome of cold-suffering is......................... Putting my warm ass on a bloody freezing toilet bowl and trying not to jump up instinctively.

Anyways, my week back has been really hectic. Had ta rush down to town to pay a fine (didnt buy tram ticket) and my school fees, deposit some cash. Oh and my Extended Essay, aka thesis to those who don't know what its really about, i've finally ALMOST completed it. I have finally got a whole Section I - IV thats good enough for a good score, but still have my appendix, referencing, abstract and content page to complete.

Alright then, gotta get on to my EE again and get it down by mond (deadline).

2005-07-26T13:25:00.000+10:00

Well, i'm back in melbourne, back in ulu kampong. Touched down at 8.50, and got to school by 10.40am. Just finished lunch and only now does the true impact of having left home settle in, not during the intolerably long taxi ride to Changi Airport, or the apprehension i felt when i touched down in Tullamarine airport, but when i ate lunch here.

I had a great welcome, everyone i knew welcomed me back heartily, and immediately indicated the wish to lan tonight. Not a very nice association actually (-.-) . But as i sat down with my plate in front of me, hungry but not enticed, i ate. The scrambled egg with tomatoes was repulsive and i promptly set it aside in my plate. I ate somberly the remainder of my rice and meat.

Thats when i missed home, and the food i have back home, as i crunched on crispy (otherwise dry or not enough water during the steaming) rice and overly salty meat. Coming from me, that means a lot. Its great to be with friends, back in the conducive and quiet environment of the country side, with the fresh cold air (albeit strong wind).

There are a few things i would love to ponder upon, the feelings i have as i left singapore again. I will discuss this in furthur entries.

However before i forget, today in the plane, i was sitting beside this pretty sweet-looking singaporean (stole a glance at her passport). I felt a bit intimidated because she was all alone but very quiet, almost cold independence. Well, this did not count in the fact that she had numerous high-tech gizmos in her big LV bag, and was reading studiously from the newspaper and her novel.

I wanted to chat her up naturally, find out why she's going to melbourne, how old is she, why is she alone, how long has she been there, and *least* importantly if she was attached. (-.-) Just kidding la... Then i started rambling questions that i might ask her and intelligent replies to reciprocal questioning if i was. Thats when i realized: So what if i get on well with her and wanna ask her out? What are the chances US, especially me will have the time and availability to meet up, especially since i reside in Kampong Ulu, "free" only on weekends and takes an hr to get there.

I wont even be able to get online usually because of sch works etc. Even then, if we get a nice platonic relationship going, it can only be that superficial when in 4 months time, i will have to return for NS. My options don't look very optimistic do they?

Conclusion? I don't have the time nor ample chance to dive into any viable and realistic relationship now, that will have a fair chance at developing in the future.

2005-07-13T14:46:00.000+10:00

Reputation is what people think you are

Personality is what you seemto be

Character is who you really are

Dont know why i'm in such a philosphical mood right now, recently actually.

If there's something called the middle-aged crisis, i reckon i'm going through the one before that? I'm starting to ponder, at a tender age of 18: What is love? How do you tell the difference between love and like? Especially when "like", is something that can grow on you? I'm starting to wander who i really am as well. I believe we should all have the same reputation to personality to character, given that the above definition stands...But i come to think of myself as having different Reputation to my personality to my character!

I am at a lost as to what to think, what to say..i guess these are questions that can only be answered in its own time....

Shall ponder over it once again, under the covers of my bed.

2005-07-10T20:01:00.000+10:00

found out something i wish i didnt...

Also realized I am selfish...i should be happy when the person i like is happy..but why am i not? why do i feel sad? Why does my heart ache? because she's not mine, she's happiest not with me but some other guy. I am selfish.

2005-07-03T15:03:00.000+10:00

been busy lately...busy playing computer.. =.=

Gotta get down to work man..even my parents are complaining i'm reverting to my old self...game addict.

Anyways, last night..went to chinablack to club...supposedly free entry cos of anniversary...
few things i dont like bout Chinablack,
1. Too crowded
2. Bad service
3. Full of NSmen (I DO MEAN FULL)
4. Girls to Guys ratio 1:5
5. Drinks are lagi expensive..
6. They are a mixture of RnB and Trance, by time.. Which personally i prefer just RnB, or just Trance.

Good Things about Chinablack,
1. Location =.=
2. the girls although number only a few, are very much happening
3. Nice drinking/chat area upstairs of the dancefloor.
4. Considerably big even though packed with ppl.

On the overall, i dont think i'll go back to Chinablack anymore unless there's some drastic change...

2005-06-27T22:00:00.000+10:00

guess who's back in sg ladies and gentlemen?

bah...basically i'm back in sg....finally...

And first thing i did when i stepped out of the airport was.... PERSPIRE dammit it was hot at 6.30am =X
i'm happy in my bed now..i've cut/highlighted my hair actually...just this afternoon and now my sis calls me an ah beng! =X

Anyways...just wish i could meet up with as many ppl as possible..but ironically...the day i reach sg is the day sch starts here... =X

very sad

2005-06-22T11:25:00.000+10:00

Today ish wednesday!!!! Very very happy actually...finished my physics and envi papers already...and i'm only left with English (in the afternoon) and chinese tmr...

on one hand my english is beyond hope and it all depends on my 临时发挥 skills..on the other hand, my chinese tmr will be a wheeze through (99/100 last time i had such a paper..)

oh wells..a few days more and i'll be home...but tmr onwards i can relax and enjoy for a few days lo!!!

Melv

2005-06-20T12:30:00.000+10:00

Its monday now...so far exams... i've finished my Chinese P1 (essay), Maths, Economics and in 1hr's time, English P1...i guess the exams have been better than expected, but nonetheless the results will be far from ideal and precariously close to failures...

I know i should be concentrating fully on the coming papers.. Physics tmr! but i just can't stop thinking about of what it'll be like AFTER the exams!!!! Thursday night onwards will be plenty of erh.... "stress-relieving" activities with my friends..and finally by mon morning i'll be home sweet home..get to see my family and dexter...enjoy my fav coffee and bed..My friends who'll sadly be back in sch...i'm so sick of this boarding sch..i just wanna go home...

But something reminds me...i have to finish my Extended Essay during the hols and seriously, AS IN SERIOUSLY revise my maths..

7 days till home..

2005-06-15T08:06:00.000+10:00

Food for thought:
If 2 mere weeks after buying your new laptop, you return to the same shop and see 10% off that laptop, should you feel "ripped off"?
If after looking at the huge discounts in the clothes here, and know the GSS will end JUST when you get back, should you shop here?

I'm not sure actually...but i guess spending less money is better...
That saturday i went to the city and saw the "Great Stock-taking sale" shorter equivalent of our GSS...happening EVERYWHERE...felt that shopping instinct in me.. hehe! Anyways that day was really shitty, other then buying a couple of necessities for myself, i ended up carrying back 15 boxes of dinners (we're shitlessly sick of instant noodles and sch food) and helped another guy collect his air ticket...Felt so used, carrying 15 boxes, yet i've asked others to help me buy dinner back as well...if thats the case..who of the 15 should i have rejected?

There's something on my head that i wanna dwell upon and discuss...something really frustrating has been happening in school recently, just days before our exams and most of us are feeling disraught and extremely volatile regarding the School Owner's (thats a pos. higher than the principal so Mr. Principal has to just quietly submit) draconian and authoritative attitude towards the school; Recently aggravated by his clamp-down on school image days before exams and our hols, his inflexible and overly stringent enforcement and worst of all, the punitive measures he is implementing... All very immature and irrational..

PISSING ME OFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-06-08T15:14:00.000+10:00

I was surfing Friendster the other day, checking up on some of my friends, of which most of them i've lost contact with. Its sad that we dont keep in contact with now, and i've lost almost all connection with my teenagehood, ctss and all that wonderful memories... I just don't understand why, but i don't make an effort to keep in contact with them as well, unlike my china buddies here who constantly call back to China...

Anyways, one think i can boost about here, are the cool places we get to go for our science practicals! i present to u, Cape Schank where did an Environmental Systems prac investigating rock pools:

a rare view of my bum! =P

bet none of you can remember an instance of serious deliberation from my face! Btw my foot fell in and shoes got all wet....

Spot the Melv, the cadet specialist!

My envi class...we couldn't go any nearer to the water cos the waves were becoming really thunderous and high....we got a bit wet actually!

2005-06-06T16:49:00.000+10:00

Yes, to liven up me blog a bit, i'm gonna post somemore photoes of me life in Kampong Ulu!

Theres a couple of pictures from my China trip i got courtesy of the School's website:

Spot the melv!
And somemore photos of typical life:

These were my dorm mates in the 2nd half of last year. I had a room to myself!!!life was good then but the dorm was 15mins away from sch!(and uphill too) and boost an international population of 1 singaporean, 1 japenese and 13 chinese!

and of a recent sports carnival. Yes i know i look ghey in it... =X Guess how many are from China? No prizes though =P
2 sgs there

2005-06-06T15:59:00.000+10:00

After one oral is over, another important one comes. When Thursday comes, i will have to do an oral commentary on "Virgin and the Gypsy" by D.H. Lawrence. Considering that the other options were R&J, Macbeth and other assorted poems, i decided on V+G cos its actually in proper engrish!

Of this, there are 4 passages (approx 40 lines each) to choose one from that we'll be basing our commentary on. For a literature goon, this oral really takes the cake man. Writing 2000 words (roughly 13mins) of which i have only a vague idea of how to do is already one thing, but having to memorize it (not easy memorizing eh? at best a rough idea of what to say but definitely dont have a photographic memory) and then having to orate the contents, whilst being taped (which will reach some IBO organization to be proof-marked) and make sense of it all to score decently!

Thats on top of saying the right things (scoring properly that is), and of course, which of the 4 passages (or 2 after the teacher's subtle indication) will come out?

I better get on to it, all i have on me draft document now is my name and candidate no! =X

On a side note, a COLES supermarked recently opened nearby (10mins walk). Almost forgotten what a supermarked looks and feels like, cos the IGA and FoodWorks grocery stores are pretty much smaller than the small district NTUC back home... I spent a shitload on food/coffee/drinks/etc there, a real shitload of moonah....but it was worth it i think, it'll last me a while. But more importantly, i'm really happy with coles not just because of the increase variety, but because arses like the IGA manager is gonna get a good awakening when he realizes he's lost most of TKIS students. (He sells indo mee goreng at a dollar a packet when we can buy a box of 30 for 7.60 in a grocery store in the city Chinatown! And it used to be 60cents 2 months back!) That rascal! Well, he can jolly well suffer now!

Mel

2005-06-02T08:39:00.000+10:00

The 15mins worth of sht i did
Basically, my topic for this oral presentation is "What are the possible and most viable options that could be undertaken to solve the Palestinian-Israel conflict?" This may seem like a very analytical topic, perhaps even a history essay that might bore you to death. But why did I choose this topic and how does this oral relate to TOK?
I believe the long history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is a good case study of how our different WOKs can cause conflict and subsequently how it can be analyzed using these WOKs.
Obviously, history is the key element of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, originating over 2000 years ago. However, today’s irreconcilable differences and deep-rooted emotions have prevented most attempts at peaceful co-existence. (and i believe) This is no less due to recent historical events in the 20th century, but more so how this history is told today.Since B.C. the Jews have had foreign occupiers in their "promised land" and especially during the Roman Empire, the Jews of the promised land were highly surpressed and discriminated against with many massacres and revolts. These long periods of constant occupation from foreign countries and cultures led to the "Diaspora" of most Jews in the middle east, inevitably causing modern Zionism.
If we try to analyse the justifications for the right to return to their "promised land" indefinitely, it can only seem a flawed ideology by today's ethical standards. If we were to metaphorize, Zionism would mean a person still has the rights to his home even after he has been evicted thousands of years ago and after generations of other people have lived in that home. Ethically speaking, this would be unjustifiable simply because this "right to return" would be based on his self-interest of desire to return. However, i am justifying this from an observers point of view and should also take into account the Jews themselves. As much as reason tells me Zionism is an ideologically flawed concept, emotions are essentially an overpowering tool to reason. The Judaism passoever blessing mentions "See you in juresalem next year" and subsequently their religion causes them to be indoctrined with that ideology of returning to their promised land, that they call home. Needless to say, their emotional attachment to home and the promised land to them, is justification enough for the Jews in general that Israel today is rightly their homeland and what appears "rightful" to them will depend on their perception.
But why has modern Zionism, an ideology, become a reality? Simply because the Jews were and still are influential in the politics of the superpowers of the world. Definitely we cannot discredit their determination and perseverence, but i believe the true reason why they have an Israel today and the entire conflict in retrospect is because of the Balfour declaration in 1917, and the USA's continued support now. There is the Zionist Organization, now the Lobbyists to ensure a continued political support from these countries. Through these organizations, the Jews used a lot of language and emotive propaganda to influence decisions relating to them This I believe, is where the real origin of today's on-going conflict is.
With the emminent disintergration of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, the Zionist Organization pushed hard for a Jewish homeland in Palestine (among other proposed location) through Great Britain. An example of this influence came from the Zionist Leaders in 1914, quoted from Dr. Chaim Weizmann, head of the ZO then:
"... should Palestine fall within the British sphere of influence, and should Britain encourage a Jewish settlement there, as a British dependency, we could have in 20 to 30 years a million Jews out there - perhaps more; they would ... form a very effective guard for the Suez Canal."
Clearly, this "reason" is a matter of indulging in self-interest of the colonial power which inevitably led to the Balfour Declaration in 1917
The Balfour Declaration:
"Foreign Office,2 November 1917"Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you on behalf of His Majesty's Government the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations, which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet: 'His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.'I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation. Yours sincerely,Arthur James Balfour".

This declaration was made on top of a promise to the Sherif Husain, then regarded as the representative of the Arab people from both sides whom had "unequivocally demanded "independence of the Arab countries", specifying in detail the boundaries of the territories in question, which clearly included Palestine." McMahon (British High Commissioner in Egypt) confirmed that "Great Britain is prepared to recognize and support the independence of the Arabs in all the regions within the limits demanded by the Sherif of Mecca" and to the Arabs after the Declaration that the "Entente Powers are determined that the Arab race shall be given full opportunity of once again forming a nation in the world ... So far as Palestine is concerned, we are determined that no people shall be subject to another"
It is through this meticulously statement with its ambuigities that sowed the seeds for conflict because of the conflicts of interest in the promises Great Britain made and the safeguards to these promises.
First of all, let us establish the perceptions of the future of the Middle East/Israel of the Arabs and the Jews.
Arabs: Nationalism, independence for their states including Palestine
Jews: "Return to the promised land, a Jewish nation in Palestine"
Based on this perception, this is where the Declaration becomes a contradiction. Using elaborate language, they "promise a national home", clearly avoiding statehood and on the other hand, "nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine...", avoiding independence. Again, the use of open-ended, abiguous language in promises is displayed when "Arab race shall be given full oppurtunity of once again forming a nation in the world" and with regard to Palestine, "no people shall be subject to another". It may seem like a connotation that "forming a nation in the world" applies to Palestine as well, but "no people shall be subject to another" has little to do with assuring independence.
Conclusively, i have shown the reasons for Zionism and the debate against it, i have demonstrated the different perceptions of the Arabs and the Jews with regards to Palestine as their respective homeland and how Great Britain has used language in its abiguity and contradictions to bring all these factors together, aggravating into what is known today as the Palestinian-Israelis conflict.
What has happened subsequently to this date is but a matter of politics, and in that, neither can be chastised as being the victim of this conflict because firstly, it takes two hands to clap and secondly, both sides have the responsibility of solving this by means of diplomacy and accomodation. Because of the propagandistic nature of how alot of mainstream history and media is regarding the Israel-Palestinian conflict, we as observers should not base our perceptions and reason on this conflict solely on the media we hear today, but of the deeds that can be proven to have happened.
We know for sure that,
a. The establishment of a Jewish homeland did not take into account the Arab's inherent right of national self-determination because the Colonial Powers generally disregarded the Arabs in a manner we would today label as racial discrimination
b. Zionists have used the philosphy of Israel as "A land without people for a people without land" to justify their rightful place in Israel, even though evidence clearly suggests Palestine then and now is still held by a majority of Arabs native to Palestine
c. The refugee problem known as the "Nachba" after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war has primary evidence to support that those Arabs were forcefully expelled from what is known today as Israel and did not leave willingly as claimed by the Israeli government then.
d. The Arabs denied Israel's right to exist in Palestine and are still reluctant because of the means in which it was established, and had aggressively tried to eradicate Israel albeit unsuccessful peace attempts.
e. Retrospectively, the Israelis are equally determined to stay and fight for their survival.
f. The UN is a paper tiger in terms of solving this conflict because of the influence of the US on this conflict and subsequently the lack of power of the UN without the backing of the US.
This can be seen when 26% of all SC meetings between 1948 and 1991 dealt with the Arab-Israeli conflict, out of 175 resolutions, 3 were against Arab actions, 97 against the Israelis and the rest neutral. In perspective, there were a total of 7938 votes FOR Israel, and 55642 votes AGAINST through these years. Many resolutions (both binding and non-binding) have been ignored or incompletely carried out. However it must be clear to point out that this disregard for the UN is not just by the Israelis, but by the Arabs as well.
g. The US's support and external aid to Israel amounts for 50% of its total foreign aid budget, supplies arms, machinery and military expertise to Israel and has often veteod resolutions regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict (kudos to the Lobbyist in the US whom have a strong political influence in the Senate etc. Likewise, Israel has a high budget deficit that is supplemented mostly by foreign aid from the US.
Therefore, i have a very strong opinion that the state of the conflict now is beyond simple diplomacy. Also, the UN's ability to handle a conflict like this (where the US is a supporter of the involved rather than involved on an impartial basis) has been greatly undermined and cannot be highly looked upon to solve this conflict. Israel's current military and economic superiority in Middle East is actually highly dependent on the US, and consequently the ability to influence Israel's policies lies with the US more than anyone else.
I believe the deep-rooted emotions in this conflict including its mutual hatred and discrimination from both parties will not be easily extinguished, at least for many more generations to come. Likewise, the continued use of bias language in advertisements and propaganda has entrenched and aggravated the many negative perceptions of both sides. Therefore the US now has the perogative to solve this conflict as they have the biggest influence on Israel and the Middle East as THE superpower of the world.
The conflict now is clearly in a stalemate because firstly, the Israelis have the military/economical superiority in the Middle East, subject to no threat whilst the Arabs have a strong sense of Oppresion that will not be vanquished but instead intensified based on the current actions of the Israelis. Therefore, till the day both sides, especially the Israelis decide to compromise substantially towards peace, this conflict will forever be a stain on humanity. And in my opinion, this compromise will only come when the Israelis lose the support of the US, and the Israelis then realizing the threat and reality of how fragile their presence in the Middle East is.

2005-06-02T08:29:00.000+10:00

Well, the oral went well i guess.. with little hiccups or "lost for words" moments...carried myself pretty well..

Fortunately as well, i didnt have the anxiety of trying to find out my marks...cos someone a few orals down saw the result sheets and my marks along with two others before and after me! =.=
Seems i got 18/20 whilst the other two got 17/20...mighty high cos its an A for TOK orals..but still wanted better considering i was English A and had done a fairly sound argument...

But it was sad cos my topic was regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict and coincidentally, one was a very knowledgeable teacher whom provided 4 books on the conflict for my research (he knows more than me) and the other? A history teacher. I'm not saying i spoke irrelevant stuff or cooked up some history, but the history teacher said "i guess u fell into the pithole like many history students, narrating on the story..." Sad to say, i did this oral on the assumption that the marker has no or little knowledge of this!

Also, the time limit was 10mins, with 2mins grace... even after slashing and cutting parts of my presentation. In the end, the other teacher whom has seen my drafts said "i think you lost a bit of TOK in there, but generally still well done, i believe Ms Larin heard more TOK than me"

TOK might be over, but the skills learnt from this long episode will not be forgotten.

2005-06-01T13:16:00.000+10:00

Half an hour's time, i'll be going into no.51 white st where my orals will be.. (coincidentally the location is right outside my dorm room.

I AM VERY NERVOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

trying to calm down now man..surfing the net, blogging cos this oral is just so important to me and my IB marks in general!

dammit my heart is beating so fast...i'm so scared not because i'm not prepared, but more so because i really want to get like 19/20 or 20/20..its possible..cept for the fact that my oral would very probably cross the max time limit of 12 mins..which = minus marksssss....

After this it'll all be over...wish me luck..

2005-05-31T16:15:00.000+10:00

Well guys, at a snails pace, i've finally managed to borrow a MMC-USB converter to transfer photos from my N6630 into me laptop.. and from that, have also finally learnt how to tag pictures... (yes i know i'm a bit technologically retarded)

So as an introduction, this are a few photos of my room!

and one of the sneak photos of our lil lan-party during some weekends when we're bored!

There's 7 of us btw!~ but now we've upgraded to wireless so its not so messy -.- notice it's my old laptop as well.. =P

2005-05-31T08:24:00.000+10:00

Study Hard i must...
Are coming, TOK orals...
Running out, is time...
not prepared, i am...
are coming, the exams...
Star Wars Episode III, i have watched...
Sad is, the story...
but lovely, the visual effects were...
Is Cool!yoda really...

(-.-)

Anyways, i've watched the last of the Star Wars Episodes trilogy...sad though...but impels me to watch the rest of it! albeit the really old graphics i would expect...

And yes, my TOK final orals are tomorrow...1-3 extra point out of 45 depends on tomorrow.. =(
And i haven't memorized it yet even though the write-up is over.

Oh wells, more lessons again..gtg cya~

P.S: Love my new laptop!!! no lag watsoever!

Mel

2005-05-28T18:41:00.000+10:00

Oh wells, i managed to get a day leave on friday to "fix" my laptop problem....

left in the morning even before rowcall, had vietnamese rice noodles in the city at 10am before i left for the repair centre..

There, the technician gave me a quote amounting to close to $1200, replacing my ram, hard disk and lcd screen..and told me it'll take them at least a week also... =(

Well called my mum and got a decent lecture on why i didn't take good care of my laptop etc...and considering the costs of the repair, reluctantly but inevitably agreed to let me get a new laptop.

so here i am now, in Gaya's house, using my Compaq Presario B3800 really light and powerful laptop.

It has:
a. 15inch lcd monitor brightscreen display
b. 1gb ram
c. 1.8m processor
d. internal wireless & bluetooth
e. a decent dvd-rw drive
f. 80gb hard disk
g. ATI 9700 mobility radeon

for a cost of AUD$2999. (i bought my old acer laptop for this price as well but had half the ram, 60gb ram, lousy vid card, no wireless, 12inc screen and 1.4m though very light)

Thanks mum, even though the means in which i got my new laptop was pretty disappointing. I'll definitely take care of this one.

2005-05-26T08:21:00.000+10:00

Laptop out-of-service.

Well, apparently the model i'm using, acer 370i (i think), has had many defects..there are three people here with this model, and all three of us have encountered this problem.
a. speaker problems...we only have one outboard speaker
b. lcd problems (causes screen to flash incoherently increasingly...root of my current problem)

Well anyways..my 1yr warranty ended april this year, and its may now.. (feel so lucky~~)

I thought i was the lucky one cos i didnt get the lcd problem...felt i've been keeping it in good care..but recently it started flashing, and became increasingly annoying with frequency and duration of these flashes. Started out with patience, then minor taps on the com, then more violent "taps" at the sides and all...

But i lost my patience two days ago when the thing kept flashing for the good part of the hour (with lots of work to be done yet)... I smacked the laptop really hard in the middle (e.g. where the keyboard is) and the screen froze, colours funky. Proceeded to restart the laptop but this time i couldn't log into windows. Everytime it went to the login screen area, it said there was an error... debug or discontinue..if debug, com hangs. if discontinue, system reboots. So basically i couldn't log into windows at all. Decided to do the standard scanning and formatting (the one when ur com did not shut down properly)

It ended up replacing almost all my files, 65% of my hard disk after 4hours.. thats when i realized something was VERYyyyy wrong..

Subsequently i managed to retrieve my written documents and some pictures...but alot of other stuff were just unusable/inaccessible/unable-to-copy now..Ask my school's in-house technician and he said the display msg for error to log-in indicated RAM problems. And that after that scanning, it means most of my hard disk is now "corrupted".

In all, because of my lost of patience with a shit-ass computer, i
a. lost my lcd, ram and hard disk
b. lots of data and games and programmes i need in the near future
c. the priveledge of being able to do most of my work on a laptop (makes my work 10x easier with a laptop actually)
d. the convenience of a lot of research and downloading needed for my work.

I need to get a day leave to send my laptop for repair in the city.. =X but i've got the school production going on this week so i can't go!! at least until friday tomorrow..(i'll talk bout my school production next entry).

p.s: Sony computers are one of the few brands who use first-hand original parts Acer uses second hand cha-pa-lan assorted working parts to form their laptops. (Thats why my hard disk is a 60gb FUJITSU hard disk in my ACER computer). Guess which one i'm trusting for reliability now?

Anyways, now i have to log-off from the school's com lab computers..

2005-05-22T10:05:00.000+10:00

10am...

I haven't slept yet since 9am yesterday...Why?
1. Cos me is bad at command of engrish, so writing literature type essays are very the difficult.
2. After so many drafts, i am barely able to comprehend the requirements of such essays
3. Basically its due tmr and its worth a full 20% of my English A HL IB marks..

So...Basically the three of us English A students worked over night for this darn world lit 1 & 2 (thats right, not 1, but 2 freaking essays) so that we could let our English teacher check it one last time before tomorrow.

/me would like to thank her for making her time to correct our essays one last time on a sunday morning albeit to watch her son play soccer in the nearby soccer oval.. =.=

Thats it..need sleep much..

Good err..morning

2005-05-16T08:32:00.000+10:00

Well a bit too busy to post this week...

Just completed a Maths Portfolio through the weekend...It was to design a roller-coaster ride for some park...using 3 different kinds of functions of any type, added to the basic 3.. therefore had to find 3 functions in addition to the three given to form one smooth roller coaster ride that could not exceed 40m in height, gradients or rate of change of gradients of 2.5 etc... blahblah..

Thats maths Higher level for us man...Plus had to do some world Literatures as well...Tell me if anyone of you has read "The Metamorphosis" or "Kiss of the Spider Woman"...next up that i have to write up on is "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "Macbeth"...Zzzzz

Well busy busy so i'll post later if i find another dog or something..meanwhile its all work!

2005-05-14T15:58:00.000+10:00

I found a dog in my dorm!

This post is meant in all ways to degrade something that most if not all of us in our dorm feel disgusted about. I have managed to keep my distance from it most of the time, but recently had a very disgusting encounter with it.

Thursday After school,

I proceeded to my room after row call to change and just relax a bit. Had to go teach some peers TOK who've signed up for the Peer-Support-Group and requested me as their tutor. Felt really sleepy from double physics and (coincidentally) had a scolding from the physics teacher for not paying attention in class so made myself a biggg cup of coffee and left it to cool on the kitchen table. (my room is right beside the kitchen).

Changed into some other clothes and was sitting on my bed organizing what i had to bring for the tutoring session when a voice echoed calling for "James", a friend in the room beside mine. They were discussing about the soccer match to happen and were talking briefly about soccer shoes.. They were just about to leave for the field when IT saw the cup of coffee on the table.

All in chinese, translated for simplicity purposes:

IT: "Who'se coffee is this?" and proceeded to hold it in his hands and took a sip

James: It's Melvin's (i was observing the events from my room, sitting on my bed)

IT: Looked into my room and saw me there, gave a "surprised" look all too familiar on that face and put the cup back on the kitchen table, said "Sorry" and hurriedly walked away.

Melvin: "Wei, why are you walking away?!"

IT: Walked back into my room and said "sorry, i was wrong, didn't know it was yours"

Melvin: "Off course you're wrong! So what? Its not yours right? So what if its not mine? you shouldn't drink it still!"

IT: I know i'm wrong, sorry then, anything else?

Melvin: Nothing, go away

at this point melvin slaps himself on the head, wishes he had a better command of chinese to completely and utterly teach that dog a lesson verbally (it wouldn't understand hokkien profanities cos its a shanghainese dog)

Btw, just to release more steam, this dog does not study much in this school, has a few demerits to boot and after my lamentations, everyone was telling me MORE examples of its dispicable behaviour. Worst of all, Its name is Brian but for a while now, can't even spell its name and writes it down as "Brain"

Mel

2005-05-01T13:19:00.000+10:00

Friday morning, i received notice of my first demeritin this school. Naturally, i was surprised as to why i got a demerit for something that i don't know of. Not to mention that warnings have to be given first before detentions before demerits. (which i didn't get any of them)

So how did this demerit come about? On a thursday night, my boarding staff tells me that i have to see our Head of boarding and Vice principal in the blue room along with 49 others. I asked him why and he said he honestly didn't know. Naturally i had to wait till that friday morning along with a few other of my yr12 friends who have also received that notice.

In the blue room, friday morning 8.50am.
Mr Wood (HOB) lectures all of us for having really untidy and atrociously messy rooms that do not adhere to the sch rules (most of us for not making our beds). He then goes on to lecture us for not being sighted by staff who need to take our attendence (row call) and that one if not more of us are leaving the sch for the city on sundays without the school's knowledge. (which is a serious offense i agree with). As such, we have to go to school at row call on weekends at 1pm for compulsory row call. Summarized, the 50 of us received 1-3 demerits for either a. untidy rooms or b. not doing row call or c. both.

a. I made my bed and anyone who came to my room can vouch for it
b. I was sighted in the green room from 12-2pm surfing the net but the boarding staff did not take my attendence, only taking those of the girls plus i did sign out from my dormitory specifying where i was.

Naturally i was pissed when i was told i've got a demerit. Furthurmore, for any breach in minor sch rules like the rooms, we are supposed to be given warning, then weekend detention, then demerits after more repeated offenses. To this date i have received no warning notes, no detention but 1 demerit. WTF?

After our HOB finished his lecture, our VP went on to emphasize what he said, saying our performance in boarding is a reflection of our results, and that instances like this are wasting class time etc. At the end of it, he said thanks for attending this "forum" and to apologize to our teachers when we return to class.

Forum? wtf? two teachers lectured us for 20 full mins and told us to go.. RIIiGgght. Forum...

I tryed reasoning with them AFTER the FORUM (so as not to waste time and drag on the "forum") and was told that it's okay, it won't appear on my reports in the end etc... you were just unlucky.. blah blah...)

PISS off.

oh wellz, enough on my school rules.. everyone agrees we have really stupid rules even if for the right reasons.

/me just had to get it off my chest..

Mel

2005-04-27T18:09:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was Sports day...as usual for the third time, i'm played tennis again...But its diff this time. I've got pros in the arena now..more competitive...(basically i lost more games la okay? -.-)

Two days ago:
Well, i don't know why but i'm freaking frustrated now...had only 2plus hours of sleep because i wanted to really concentrate on accomplishing an acceptable TOK essay (slept at 5am) and have been surviving only on really strong coffee since then.. Considering how cranky i'll be then, i still had to attend the school production's rehearsal today. Worst of all? I sang TWICE for the first half hour of practise and released at 4.30, was told to come back at 5.00 for another song session (my personal song this time). In that half hour, i had to teach someone else TOK orals. Went back at 5.00 as told and was again told to wait awhile...

5.30 came and what happened? "I'm sorry melvin, you can go now". so basically i waited for nothing for that 1hr when what i had most wanted to do was to go for economics tutorial to consult Mr. Chin on my EE empirical analysis. Thank goodness Mr. Chin was kind enough to stay longer behind after his dinner and tutorial (didnt have mine), helping me with the EE from 6-7pm. In the end, i was a hungry, tired, cranky and cheated boy by study time.. (WHICH MEANT ANOTHER TWO HOURS OF STUDY) on top of my current mood.

Not a good day i would say

Today, well i hope its better but i have to pia really hard again for more TOK drafts... cos the real one (that has to be sent somewhere overseas to be marked) is still not good enough...

Mel

2005-04-22T20:23:00.000+10:00

This weekend is supposed to be a "long weekend" with Monday being ANZAC day...but coming to think of it, its actually gonna past really fast man!

I've got a sheetload of work to email on saturday to two different teachers, Extended Essay stuff and Envi pracs due on Mond..

I would like to comment on myself:

I MUST BE A F**king Retard for Choosing Economics as my subject for EXTENDED ESSAY, and that particular TOPIC (Keynesian Multiplier for Australia) to be exact! --->Simply put, melvin is stupid

and that i cant use microsoft excel for nuts.

How do you know work is piling up? I had to forego Tennis after lunch today to discuss how i'm gonna do the envi pracs...now that speaks alot considering i've been playing tennis almost always after breakfast, lunch and dinner.. Not even sure i can play much tennis this weekend.

To Melvin,

Calm down punk, after this term the worst will be over...and good on ya with priorities.. WORK > Tennis!

Okie..rant mode off, gonna continue my net surf le..(for more TOK research excuse me..)

Mel

2005-04-19T11:19:00.000+10:00

Well, the camp has ended and so has the holidays in the city after that...

After 2weeks of relaxation and leisure, i'm finally back in my kampong making up for lost time!

But what i really want to write down this entry is not about how much more work i've got to do now, but what i've learnt and gone through the past 9 days staying in the city...

-Background
Stayed in a serviced apartment with 5 other peeps, and many others staying in apartments above our floor (which meant we would often bunk in each other's rooms playing cards and drinking...

Met 2 sg friends i knew and consequently got to know alot more sg peeps through clubbing. which my gre8 friend wyn brought me to... I learnt more about how conservative/open some chinese and singaporeans can be..

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
But what is it in this holidays that has changed my perception and thoughts of city life so much?

Kilmore. My family felt that it would be the best for me, being really conducive in kilmore and that i would have the best environment and friends to study amongst. Today, i beg to differ. I realized that in the city, you can choose your clique of friends. You can choose to hang out with the chinese, locals, vietnamese or singaporeans/malaysians and then again, you can choose which kind of ppl to hang out with...the clubbing shag-all-u-can buffet goers, the guai ppl who like to study and have pot luck dinners at each other house, and the clubbing-at-night- study-in-the-day type..

But at kilmore? We have 90+ year12s. 10 of which are locals and roughly 15 are day students..
The rest are chinese/koreans and us 3 singaporeans here...me being chinese speaking as well, i hang out and socialize more with the chinese here.. thats when i realized that because of how small this place is, you cannot choose your clique for there are only so much chinese and we would all "belong" to the same clique..

Despite coming from kilmore, and meeting those singaporeans in the city, i realized i've been drinking alot more than them when i do drink. We play more outrageous "games" and alot of my peers indulge in smoking and promiscous activities..

In the end, has it really been better off studying in kilmore or would i have had a better selection of friends and peer in the city? Needless to say, the city has its vices and temptations.. but those are only choices, unlike in kilmore where its do or be undone by others.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just so you guys have an idea what i've done during the holidays,
-Slept at 5am everyday, wake up at 12 and den go out till 5am again
-Met two friends, of which one is my pri sch sch mate and the other a lesbian friend i met in MI of which i got to know her gf as well, which personally is pretty hot.. (btw u two make a really cute couple from what i've seen in the time spent with ya two) And i've also gotten to know more closely about 8 other clubbing sgs, of which 3 which i spoke to, 2 were lesbians again and got me to think "are we sg guys on the whole that pathetic that so many of our female compatriots choose females as better lovers to us? No offense to ya'll les out there yeah, its your choice and i respect that esp u wyn, great friend of mine..
-Ate alot of nice food that can be found in the city and visited st kilda's beach (full of druggies and drug litters)
-Drank more beers/spirits/shots than i've drank water IMHO. and have managed to remain sober at all times!
-Have accidentally kissed two peeps because of a game, kissed another ger in the bum and said "hao xiang ah" and have revealed my "sexy" body twice le and etc... all this from the "games" we played
-Subsequently at night slept amongst gers (but nothing honestly happened hor!)

I think this post has been way too long le...but there's like so much i've experienced and want to put down to words..anyways..till next time!

P.S: Wish i was /at my big sis's THIRD wedding in boulder, usa / back home with my family and friends./

2005-04-03T14:06:00.000+10:00

supz peeps.. very bonked out today...so just a minor post before i leave for camp tmr..

Just got back from 2 nights in the city...Played pool, cards, chatted, drinking games and a fug load of clubbing... both days clubbed from 11pm to 5am lo...62hrs only 11 hrs of sleep...and thats counting cos this is the 3rd day..

One things for sure, from what i see in the city here, the clubbing scene (i.e the crowd consisting of the chio bus and guys with their moves) are wayyyyyyYyyyYyyYyY cooler than sg..

Freaking liberal, even more outrageous (but off course very very sexyattractiveattentionseekingfreakinghotbabewithafabulousbod) way of dressing...God knows how much i've drank...and i think the amount of 2nd-hand smoke i've been exposed to is about the same as the full-blown bush fires recently in sg...

Overall a really really enlightening and unique experience..went to 3 clubs..one techno and the other 2 r&b...r&b was full-blown raunchy and techno...it costs $35 for a chill pill..(but off course good guai kia sg boy like me, will stay away from these kinda things that our moral/civics educ has so wisely thought us..)

Hell yeah this won't be my last time...

Mel

2005-04-01T12:15:00.000+10:00

31st March

Yeahz I know, its been so many days since my update.. You peeps might have already started to wonder: Is that Melvin up to his nonsense again? Post a few times den suddenly disappears until 3 months later right?

Sorry la..busy busy busy…but I actually can’t remember why...too forgetful. What I do remember was we had a 4 day weekend here with Good Fri and Easter Monday.. so since thurs after sch, I kept slacking till Sunday where I had to pia through Environmental Systems hw, physics hw and Chinese orals.. (CHINESE ORALS)

During that weekend, I actually spent most of my Saturday and Sunday in the city slacking/eating/playing man…One of my chinese dude friend here by the name of Peter, celebrated his 18th birthday in the city, inviting a lot of us... (17/23) turned up….so he treated us to BOTH breakfast (dimsum at a popular chi restaurant) and lunch (shanghainese-sichuan cuisine)

Guess how much the total bill racked up? Seriously guess it…now do I realize how filthy rich some of them are (and its mostly filthy money too). These rich peeps, not snobs but just rich kids…the guys constantly buy Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger etc tops, Levis jeans and Gucci/burberry wallets etc.. Mind you they all know that this stuff costs bout $500RMB for a fake, but would rather flaunt the real one now… (Now that’s classy taste~, at 18). Answer at bottom of entry. DON’T PEEP!

Enough of HW and that long weekend, it’s almost all over now cos TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR TERM 1!!!! Man don’t you guys just have the feeling when the holidays are reaching and you’re like “END IT ALREADY~~!” Yeah…that’s how I’ve been feeling…for 2 weeks already! =P

Oh, got my mum to send a fax to the sch, allowing me to stay overnight in the city starting tmr night! I’ll be going off together with a few of my pals here and have some fun that night!! wooT! My mum might actually be reading it so yeah… Mum: I’ll take care of myself though I’ll be having fun okay? Don’t worry!”

Though tmr’s the last day of sch, next Monday us Year 12s will be setting off for “Ace High” or something like that…a camp a few hours away with very conducive environment and good on-camp activities “Flying fox, orienteering, archery, horse riding etc) But guess what’s the purpose of going there? It’s an annual Year 12 STUDY CAMP. During the day, we’ll have some sight-seeing and camp activities…but fret not, at Year 12, we’ll also have hours of study time dedicated to our essays, orals, assignments and worst off, experiments. In fact, we’ll be spending 2/5 days almost entirely on a beach doing environmental systems experiments (transect sampling for short) Off course, during the night in such a quiet and conducive place, we’ll have more study time!

DIAOooooo

Well, after the camp, I’ll then have 10 days of REAL holiday that I’ll spend in the city, bunking with 5 other guys… As much as I haven’t lived in the city before and would be very tempted to waste the days away with constant playing, there would expectedly be my:
1. Extended Essay draft including all Empirical Calculations
2. TOK essay draft
3. TOK oral draft
4. Envi Prac Reports (3 in total)
5. World Literature 1 & 2 Drafts
Those are gonna take me 20/10 of those days I tell ya..

Oh wells, back to study time…and coming up with a topic for my WL 2

The answer is $1000 freaking aussie dollars.. ($1300 SGD or $6000RMB)

Mel

2005-03-21T08:01:00.000+11:00

Its 10.15pm and I’m in my room, thinking of what to do next? I really wanna slap myself really hard on my head…I have an important essay due tomorrow (World Lit Draft 1) and the novellas I’m using in the essay ARE IN MY LOCKER!!!!! =( and I cant borrow it of anyone else cos they either don’t have it with them as well or are not taking English A (first language)..thats what you get for having 4/38 guys taking English A…

Anyways, today it suddenly dawned on me that our school is having the Lonely-I-Need-A-Companion syndrome… basically, in the course of the past 1 ½ months since sch reopened, there has been a sudden sprout in couples, especially in Year 12..Its like..5 couples and 3 in-the-process with many in other year levels, not to mention the couples that have been together since last year and the many other rumors and “attempts”….Not to mention that this is a really small school of <100 year 12s etc? =X (you do the maths, there are 10-15 couples, X 2 gives you 20-30..so about 20-30% of the 100 of us are attached! (while another 10-15% have a gf/bf back in mainland china)

I must admit…I ain’t no monk and I’m just as well affected by this syndrome…but yes, I’m still hanging on to my senses here!!!!! Really messy stuff here..BrrrrRrrRRr..

But how can I blame them? Kilmore…I can never stress how much we get sick of this stupid ulu kampong…we’re even sick of ordering pizza cos that’s all we get to order!!!!(Not to mention the sick boarding food)…no entertainment except with each other, and the trusty computer games (which I’m really bored and sick off now) , but who could forget the reason we come here, and the reason that should keep us occupied? STUDY!!! Bullshit…yes we can study really hard and achieve our best for November’s exams but yeah…its really really really really impossible to just study and study and study and study….because, simply put, our environment is JUST TOO CONDUCIVE!!!! We get so bored, that people who don’t smoke pick up smoking, people who don’t drink learn how to..and people who do? We end up drinking whenever we feel like it…even in like the afternoons for lunch and mess up the rest of the day in a drunken stupor.. Hell..as much as I don’t like beer cos of its gas, I’ve had my fair share of Victorian Bitter, Hoegarden and Lagers already..

God help me I don’t lose it….another 8 months is all I need to endure!

Mel

2005-03-19T14:46:00.000+11:00

to Michelle and ade:
hmm...kk..must not make it too obvious..when i wear it, i think alot of my secondary sch life.. there u go!

AND yes i have updated my blog pretty often nowadays hor! but hoping more pple would drop by and see it..den i can keep in contact with ya'll back home..its like i've lost contact with so many of you man..oh!!!

to baoyue (if she reads it or someone tells her) : Congrats! just found out u haf a bf arh? how long le? see how outdated i am? only when i checked ur profile in friendster den i know man..

Btw, International day was pretty cool la..took alot of photos with the people here, had to show lots of parents around but the best part of it was the fOOOOooooooOoodddDDdddd. There was shanghainese dumplings..sichuan spicy (as in SPICY SPICY not Teasing spicy) beef, guangzhou tea and congee..thai fish cakes and fried tofu, indian ASSORTED curries hong kong cant remember what..and some other chinese meat sticks..fried squids..sushi and soup..korean pancakes..

But what bout singapore? we did our very own version of bobo cha cha..and almond jelly with lychee..not longan..lychee.. (yeah everything largely improvised and done to our own estimates) and surprisingly, it tasted really great and was quickly snatched up by everyone there..within 20mins! Well, i wasn't involved in the cooking la..**Wanna take this oppurtunity to thank Gayathri Nadarajan and Tsay Xiu Hui aka Selena for time well spent making such delicious desserts** while another guy and i were the ones serving it out as fast as our hands could move..

Overall, it was a pretty eventful day la..hope i can get all the pictures and post them here!!! Btw can someone pls pls pls tell me how to enable or post pictures online in my blog? I'll be really grateful..

Mel

2005-03-18T08:21:00.000+11:00

Its the morning of 18th here...like 8.30 and rowcall will be soon..(assembly that is) But today's difference from all the blardie boring days in this kampong is: INTERNATIONAL DAY! So i get to boast about singapore and fight for our attention against the gazillion chinese and the koreans, japs, (2 non-french french speakers) and the other minority groups..

The two other singaporeans here..which happen to be very louddddd gals..are making bobo cha cha and almond jelly as part of our "sg" food whilst me and another dude (singaporean PR indo citizenship) are gonna decorate part of the room allocated to us with a sari, cheongsam and many many photos of singapore... But what i am really interested in is the mrbrown (Singapore National Education) feature i'm doing..courtesy of his works in www.mrbrown.com . I just luv him and his satrical but true features on the ironies of the singapore gov.

Just hope they dont revoke my student visa though.. i think one of the damn clauses is about not taking part in activities or demonstrations that are against the best interests of singapore (with its many reputations and super-artificial images) =P

Ah...one more thing..i'm wearing a costume for Singapore as well...if anyone can guess out what it is (not available for those whom i've already told hor!) , then i'll treat u to a nice meal when i get back in july! =P

Gotta go..

Mel

2005-03-16T08:03:00.000+11:00

Remember the bunch of tasks I had to do in the long weekend? Its been such a relief handing in my TOK essay (1600 words) and my 2nd economics commentary which upon inspection by my econs teacher today, is a certified work of art! Just kiddin..she made me changed all my “she” into “it” cos I was saying “She has increased government spending in…” when I was referring to China…Shouldn’t a country be a “she”?!?!?!?! Oh wells…i have to make my commentary more “formal”

And yeah…this morning I went on my usual tennis routine with my friend, but guess what? IN THE AFTERNOON THE WHOLE DAMN NET BROKE!!!! Like wtf man…just when I got my restrung tennis racquet back…cheat my feelings lo…

Its actually study time now… but I just felt like ranting a lil…cos after this I’ll have to mug like crazy for tmr’s Vectors test…ZzzzZzzzz…and to top it all, I’m freaking sleepy!! Why? Not cos I stay up late to do my work u noe..i finished everything 1 hr before bed time (11pm) but hor…in the span of 2 days (Sunday + Monday), a grand total of 12 people (11 chinese and 1 singaporean) approached me for help in their TOK..

We have like 10 selected questions to choose from for this essay, and I chose topic 5 for your info... it goes:
“Do questions like “Why should I be moral?” or “Why shouldn’t I be selfish?” have a definitive answer as do some questions in other Areas of Knowledge? Does having a definitive answer make a question more or less important?”

But by the end of the whole fiasco, I’ve helped 15 people (3 who had the diligence to ask me long ago via the “Peer support study group”) and I can answer 4/10 questions…Big deal? But there’s one thing I can’t answer myself though… Does it really pay to always be the good guy? Cos it sure as hell isn’t easy being one!

Anyways..enough ranting for today la..time for more Vectors revision! (you know thats not me.)

P.S: I’m trying to learn driving here in kilmore..hope I’ll have my license by early next year!

Mel

2005-03-11T18:21:00.000+11:00

"Mel:my brudder's blog. altho apparently it's died a sudden death"
Yeapz, that was quoted from my sis's website/blog www.graceandwen.com and honestly it is true....its been like months and i haven't updated it once.. -.-

But the thing is..am i really a blogger type that likes to share my feelings? I mean..its like there's definitely alot of things i know, has happened and can talk about..but am i the kind of person that likes to go on telling everyone about it? I sorta realized i'm actually very introvert in terms of taking the initiative to share my life..There has been so many things thats happened in the few months passed that i could write about:
1. China Trip
2. My 1st year in melbourne
3. my SisterS weddingS (3 in all for 2 sisters)
4. How my hols went in december with almost everyone schooling (sobz)
5. Back to Kampong Ulu
6. S.R.C the prefects thingy of our sch..guess what it stands for?
7. Year 12 in kilmore..what has changed and how ***king busy i am
8. The shittest, most unhygenic food ever(my sch food of course) and sg's FHA and health inspectors would just straight away give an (E) grade.. Its got good facilities..but not good cleaning and definitely too many worms/maggots/flies in our food for our comfort..
Worst of all, unlike our hawker stalls with (E) (which would normally mean they taste good), our sch food tastes like !@$#%$@^%#$^#%$&^#$#%@#$!@#$!%^$
9. Most enjoyable and interesting event ever in my life: Party bus! the first time i got REALLY drunk..and i do mean drunk (which means puking)

yeahz..when will i ever start writing them (if i do anymore) i don't know..but i'm getting really bored here that i just might!

Oh btw, dunno if u guys know how crazy i am over tennis now..theres like 2 new kids here that are pretty good at tennis (1 used to be sch tennis captain of maris stella sec while the other made it to semi-finals of INDONESIAN National under-15 Tennis Competition) like he is freaking pro man..and 4 years younger than me at that.. (so ashamed)... Well the thing is...having improved so much lately..in terms of complexion(Tanned!!), as well, i finally got the sick satisfaction of what makes tennis so shiok..and that is smacking really really hard (and in court) that my string breaks.. (fhuaking shiok feeling) But sadly..i have to miss tennis for a few days till it gets restrung.. hee

NOwadays i play tennis 2-3 times a day..morning after breakfast, lunch time and after sch..even my friends are like "that tennis racket seems attached to your hand these days) =P i lurveee tennis!

Anyways..its a long weekend cos monday's Labour Day..tmr i'll be off to the city and have my share of fun..but when i'm back..i have something(s) called the
a. World Literature Draft (1500 words in total involving the literary comparitive essay on two novellas)
b. Economics Commentary (750 words including graphs and tables) . 4 needs to be done in total and this is my 2nd one..due next weekend
c. Extended Essay: Economics (heard of the keynesian multiplier effect?) yeah...i'll be discussing and calculating the multiplier of Australia and Singapore's economy.. makes sense to u? no right? that makes the two of us.. -.-
d. Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Essay draft (lets just say...it asks us "how do you know, what you know") Dont..i know what you're thinking..shhhh dont say anithing..dont start!
e. Maths HL Vectors test [sorry guys but my maths is no longer as good as u might have thought it was. As such, i'm having serious difficulties understanding scalar resolute, vector resolute, scalar product, planes intersecting another plane etc..] i'd rather learn greek now..

yeahz.. Sounds like farn hor? But what to do? guess my compatriots back in singapore are experiencing something like that with the A' Levels? If you hadn't known better u would be wondering..with so much work, WTH am i still doing here in front of the laptop online when i should be completing those tasks!?!

Its cause i'm suddenly missing home..family..my eldest sis thats gonna migrate to San Francisco in a few days and my friends..most of whom i've regrettably lost contact with..i miss u guys..

Shld end my ultra long post now..adios and gd nite! (its 8 plus here shld eat my dinner of more instant noodles le..)

Mel

2004-12-04T15:27:00.000+11:00

Okay...last update was 7th Oct..now like dec liaoz hor? =X

I'll update thoroughly soon la..exams start next week den i'll be home!

Let me remind myself wat i gotta update as well..failing memory like a goldfish here..

1. China trip
2. Letter to..
3. Graduation night for yr 12

Btw...Qh!! I've read ur blog finally and i'm so sorry i didnt read any of the comments on my blog!

In fact, spastic me didnt even know i had comments! didnt even noe U guys could post comments on my blog! Yeah..guess thats how idiot-proof i am to blogspot! =X

2004-09-01T18:35:00.000+10:00

Oops..haven't updated for so long...

Well, today..i wanna tok abt the ski camp i went to just a few weeks ago! man that was the greatest time of my life, swerving left right breaking and of course, falling down countless times.

Btw, i snowboarded, not skiied...oh my gosh its really really energizing and gives u the best adrenaline rush eVER! Imagine...white all around you..some slow punk in front of you..or maybe a really hot babe... and you go SWOOSHH VROOM right pass them! SWEEEEEEETTTT shiiiittt..

Off course, i myself am pretty much a beginner, taking the blue runs.. (black is the super steep one...blue is average) and you have no idea how blardie pain my whole body was at the end of each day! but god noes why, its so damn bloody fun and addictive that i'll just get up all "fresh" and haul myself to the sloops and well, try to fall down lesser this time...and then the next...and then... =P

At the end of my first time snowboarding, i've become pretty good i must say.. at first i could onli board with my board perpendicular to the snow, breaking all the time..by the 3rd day, hell yeah! i was going parrallel lo! but off course the falls became harder and more painful.. =X

Btw...there's like two types of snow there, and the "snowing" we've been exposed to on tv or cartoons are bULLSHIT! the damn snow, when brought by strong winds, are like bloody crushed ice smacking u in the face...thank god for the jacket i could pull over to cover me face.

As for the snow on the ground, there are basically the hard and the soft snow. The damn hard ones..will make u lose all ur breath, gasping for air when you land hard on them..and is pretty hard to board on...However, the soft snow is realllllllllly wonderful man...sorta landing on cushion, and easy for the board to cut through as well. =)

Well, overall, it was really the time of my life...nv before level of trill and adrenaline rush. I really hope i could go again when i'm still in me younger age, active and energetic with me frens...a few years time i hope....

Right now...two more weeks to the hols for me, and the CHINA trip! off to Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou-Xi'an-Beijing manz!

2004-08-09T08:23:00.000+10:00

OHhhhhhh bOiiii... i feel quite weird now...NO HOLIDAYS!!!!! not really la..its just..first time overseas for National Day, Singapore's proudest moment.. haiz..

Well, feel quite left out now that i dont get to take part in all the excitement of today..can't go out and enjoy this one public holiday..

Anyways, i talked about my Bangkok trip the last time yar?Well, today i'll tok bout my hols on the whole la..

So...basically, i stayed at home and played computer 24/7.. thats it the end bubye.. =)

No la.. i went out alot with some friends as well, I met erhz...vivian suling etc..in school when i collected my O's cert..Prawit in Bangkok and then when he came to S'pore..My old friend Seesong quite a few times.. Some of the bballers for a movie and lil hanging out..too bad didnt get to meet most of them for bball, especially when my thumb was injured and most peeps didnt come.. And yes..met yingshi quite alot of times considering she's sOooo busy~~ =)

Man it was great to be back in the heat, I Love The Temperature Back Home! and there's the easy access to everywhere..unlike here where Bus 11 is all that's available.. Yeapz..Movies!! Spider man II, some Korean Lamo show, Australian lamo "Undead" show and some other movies.. (failing memory)

Ohhhhhhh boi did i fill myself up with NYDC almost weekly..lolz..and i had greATTTTT chocolote at Max Brenner's in the Esplanade.. yummy! Not just those, the food i had with my family at all the restaurants i missed.... ooooooo MAma Meee ya! =X ahhh i miss the food already man!

Oh wells, time for lessons now.. adios peeps

Mel

2004-08-02T08:20:00.000+10:00

My Holiday...2004...
Finally man, after missing Bangkok in sec3, then Sydney in 2003, all cos of the darn examination periods, i finally get to go Bangkok in the 2nd week of june tis year!!!!Its been quite a while since i had a family holiday la...so tis hols was a good one...

Well, considering that there were a total of 8 of us including sisters' fiance and my Grandma...guess who i had to share a room with? -duh-

Shopping! when u say Bangkok u say Shopping and Massage! Lolz, not to mention the greatttt food. Well, basically i bought quite a lot of MADE IN THAILAND addidas and Nike products man! not to mention i made my first suit, my first own formal suit! yay...well, can wear them soon for my sisterSsss weddingsssss!!! hohoho.....

Massages....Oooooo YEAhhhhhhhhh..... i went for a total of two foot massages and one full thai traditional massage! lolz...tell u the interesting things later..trad thai massage arh.....was at this super popular place in a hotel after we had a really full and delectable dinner..Wah shoikkkk man...whole body in relaxation as the ladies made sure every single joint and muscle in my body was at ease...Not to mention it was for 2hrs...massage while u sleeping...hohohohoho!!!

Den there was the foot massage...it was called "Chang's Massage" at Siam Centre..wootttt..costs 250 baht onli and it was 1hr of footie massagey followed by a lil bit of back massage...well.. we went there for like two times in 3 days la....the 2nd time was just the two fiances and me...let the char bors go shopping mah rite? so we 3 do the massage la...and the ger that happened to be massaging me was the same as the other day!! and she kept giggling when i was squigling around in a bit of pain...hehe..maybe not a bit? well..yeah..giggles...shy looks... =X Den at the end of the massage, her friend passed Derek, my 2nd sis's fiance a name card..with yeah...the name of the massage ger that did me... asked him to pass the card to me if i wanted to contact her....and went on about when were we leaving and such... HEHEHEHEHEHHEHEHE

WEll...good thing also la..we were leaving on that day 5pm so i can zhao without difficulty in excuses la.. Not my type u could say... =)

So overall, massages and shopping, i'd gif thailand a 4.5/5 stars!

Mel

2004-08-01T17:21:00.000+10:00

Aiyoh...i think i too many days..no weeks nv update my blog man..wells..i've thought abt it le.. some new stuff to fill up me blog...probably update it tmr onwards okie?... gonna tok abt..My HOlidays back in singapore for that one month! and yeah.. i'll talk abt the trip to bangkok on my wonderful trip! all that thai massages and yeah..that thai massage ger that hit on me!

Too bad la..now that the hols are over...I'm...should i say Back here.?? or away from home again?dunno...feel so funnie at home...yet sorta missed home..

Oh yeah!! hafta say it again! i've got a new room in a new dorm!!!!! well this dorm is called "Link" cos its in link st but but but but but!!! it is 20 freaking mins away from sch lo...uphill... so every blardie morning... we haf to walk 20 mins to sch..and after sch....another 20...den for dinner...20...after dinner...20... =) sounds like fun hor?

wEll besides that..the room i haf is now a Single bedroom! i haf it all to myself lo!!!! greatest thing abt it is its away from the staircase..giving me plenty of warning before the boarding staff comes up, plus it is the biggest room in the entire dorm! =)

Oh wellz..time for dinner le....den another 20 mins...i'll update soon okie?!

Adios!

Mel

2004-06-15T22:24:00.000+10:00

Oh..Tuesday laioz..haiz..the long weekend is over man..monday was a public holiday lo..it was the Queen's Birthday..haha..i guess onli this kinda times den i will say long live the queen man..

Aniways...exams are starting this thursday liaoz! but i have papers onli this fri, next mon,tues and thurs..piang eh scary man...i have like two biggy subjects on maths which is gonna take quite a big strain..

As for social life..all good la...i sorta like went out with this sichuan ger la..just go out for a cup of hot choc onli lo...but the whole sch now think we together liaoz...all rumor-mongers...blardie hell man...so fast the whole year 11 and 12 know liaoz..

Aniways..she's like 19 and i'm 17 lo... seems quite old hor? scary man...two more years and i'll be just like her..starting to feel old? NS probably...another phase of life i guess...

Regarding my hand..just sad man! today i went to do a final check-up with the hand therapist and plastic surgeon...sounds serious hor? well, they both agreed that my little join, you know the one where the thumb meets the palm? yeah..that ligament is torn!!!!so come back must consult somemore specialist...most probably might haf to do minor surgery siahz...aniways..nothing much i can do abt it...and to think it all started with me trying to nipple my roommate.... =P

Gotta go to bed now!

Gd nite..

mel

2004-06-07T17:13:00.000+10:00

monday evening....damn right today has been a really long and tiring day...practically died in work by stress....

Today was the due date for my Theory Of Knowledge Semester Final Essay..a biggy essay in a topic considered dreadful by many! this time my qn was: All the ways of knowing is controlled by language: Perception Emotion Language and Reasoning...damn sad man writing so much philosophical stuff...

Yeapz..i wrote that last night...den i gort this physics portfolio (project) that was supposedly due tml..which ended up being today after i re-read the qn paper...very silly i guess, but i had hardly touched it! so...between 11-2.30, i was soooo sooo damn damn stressed doing the entire portfolio lo...amazingly, it was completed and i was quite proud of it! hahaha...yeah....pretty much a project work that will affect my grades even in my IB cert that i've done in 3 hours...hope it turns out okie man... =P

And after doing all those work, i had environmental systems lesson... DINK DINK DINK!!!! i havent done my practical report yet..jia lat...chiong again...lolz..sch ended at 3.30, i handed my report at 3.50! hahaha..heng heng man...if not teacher will down grade my marks..

临时抱佛脚 man! understand me chim chinese now?hehehee

Work aside...sorry hor..take so long to write back...wellz...u noe bout my that play production thingy rite? yeapz..over last week wednesday!!! 4 bloody performance man...by the 3rd performance we all shag out liaoz lo...haha..but it was all good la...we all ended up very happy and gratified...photos are not all out yet..but i got some lo...mostly with me in stage make up!!! =P disgusting i tell u...look so damn "pretty" as many peeps said..haiz...

Performance wise, off course i choked up here and there la..say the wrong things or do the wrong things..at one point i even forgot my line lo!!! so paiseh..

quite alot of praises also la..especially with the singing parts..like..the song lyrics went "he stands for truth...and Liberty..." den i will down there like damn enthu lidat shout LIBERTY!!!!!!...lolz..yar la..llama me...hehe..damn farnie la..appealed to the crowds..especially since this play was supposed to be a comedy...

Feel so happy bout this play...used to dread it..but amazingly, it has let me expose myself to another side of me..drama mama mel..lolz..actor mel...and all the sadness and joy in a play production...behind the stage issues!!!haha...

So yeah..wonder what comes next in this amazing life i have now...new and amazing new things that i learn with no qualms..love it..i honestly dont think i will really go and act in a play lidat in a JC in singapore lo..haha..

Yeapz... Life..

checking out!
MEl

2004-05-31T18:40:00.000+10:00

tonite..i had my last official rehearsal for me school's play production! tommorrow is the first performance! for the primary school ard here... Scary shit man! i'm so nervous!!!!! Btw, those who dont know, i'm a lieutenant of the united states army coming to a lil town called vineger bottle to apprehend a bandit known as the Snake!!!!

Corny hor..yeah...friday was like full dress rehearsal for the whole day man! and i tried on me uniform arh..its actually an official uniform of some australian military stuff...coolz! but..sadly, its like 2 sizes too small so i look a bit more sexy den smart.. =P

Besides the play, haiz..hw hw hw hw hw hw hw exams hw exams hw hw exams.. yeapz...

I've got like 2 portfolios due in consecutive days and other hw to do..an oral presentation for english! you know, i'm beginning to see a lil diff in our education system with TKIS's IB education system! like...those assignments or projects that you get? thats portfolio for us! yeah...those stuff.. the IB doesnt like tell u almost totally wat to do..like they dont tell u step A,B,C..... instead..they just gif u a qn and ask u to investigate it! e.g.: Investigation of a steel nail. Thats it lo...the single qn...den u haf to design an experiment...plan what u need how it will be used in what quantity etc...den haf to draw all the graphs, tables diagrams..hypothesis on results and conclusion...all these, from one single qn.. The uniqueness of this i would say is that i get to choose what about the steel nail i wanna investigate! cool hor..

Yeah...so..3 plays in 3 days, with 2 portfolios due in soon and a whole lot of mins whining abt all these on bloggy..

Oh yar! me thumb is mucha betta man! can move alot more liaoz...but if someone like hits it or something arh..den damn pain liaoz lo..yeah...

So! i'll try to fill in a bit more soon okie? but studies is priority!! hor!!??!! =P

2004-05-24T08:29:00.000+10:00

Yawnzzz....i still want my sleep man! its monday morning just bfore sch and i WANT TO GO BACK TO BEDDDDD.... =(

Yeah...past few days have been really disappointing man...i didnt study like i had planned to...ended up playing again! dots...well, saturday was quite accomplishing though, i helped the salvation army in a district called northcote...went up house to house to ask for donations....i would honestly say the peeps in aust are definitely more generous, approachable and kind-hearted than the peeps back home man...

Then again, there'll be those cases that are really stingy! like this couple...wife was wearing 3 gold rings on each hand and gold bracelets....so damn chio jewellery..but hor, only donated 50 cents.... *PenGZ*

After that, i went to watch Troy! it was really cool man! the fighting scenes and stuff....wootZ! i guess if i were a chick, i'd be like " AND BRAD PITT TOOO!!! OMG HE's SO HOTTTTTT"

Lolz..yeah....thats how ALMOST ALL the gers in the cinema was going right after the show. They stood up, some clap and some went... " HOW HOT WAS BRAD PITT"!!!!!!!!! den another bimbo will reply ... " I KNOW!!!!!!"

Gosh...lolz...maybe u guys might say i'm jealous? but i'd say those chicks are the ugly toads lusting for swan's meat la.. =P

well, time for lessons! adios peeps...

2004-05-21T13:32:00.000+10:00

today...now...having chinese lesson...lolz..But i can come online cos teacher is sick plus we have a portfolio to do..

basically, our portfolios are wat u guys would call assignments la....e.g. la...like for physics.. our portfolio is to plan and organize to every detail how to conduct an investigation to investigate a steel nail.

Den chi, we're now supposed to choose a topic abt china..be it its history or songs etc...research on it and then explain in oral presentations to the teacher...sheesh...its just a shitload of project work la...

Oh yaR!!!! today is FRIDAY!!!! remember the song that perfect 10 likes to play on friday mornings? Sunday monday happy day...tuesday wednesday happy day!Thursday FRIDAY happy day!!!!!! weeeeee... =P

After this i can go havoc a bit and relac liaoz...but but but..sadly...still got a shitload of hw to do....

Worst task i have to do this weekend hor...is to learn the lines for me play liaoz....haiz... i got sch play in june 2,3 lor...limpei is leuitenent plus somemore must shout loud loud...hold some fake pistol...march a bit...salute non-stop and WORST OF ALL, S I N G! dots...have to remember so many lines.........!!!!

Yeah well...gotta log of now since double period maths is starting soon...catch me on frenster after june 2,3 okie? i'll post me photos in the play uniform! =P

Mel

2004-05-19T16:27:00.000+10:00

Sorry dudes..

Its been so many many days since my last post man...sorry... its this darn firewall in my sch la..it blocks out words like "sh/t" and stuff lo! how stupid is that? yeah..thats why i havent been able to log on and put new entries..cos now blog change a bit such that i do not see all my post the moment i log in..

Aniways...studies have been good...and i've got a shitload of hw to do on me laptop man! but hor...u noe wat's the biggest prob? my thumb! i injured it badly...

My roommate, li...he disturbed me while i was doing me hw....pinching me nipples... so i got up with the intention of getting back at him! but god noes why i so suai, i ended up crushing my thumb into his chest! the damn ligament and tendons got so swollen siahz..thank goodness no bones broken... yeah...now put on me buttons also jialat...and now cant write for nuts! open doors also got problem siahz..

yeah...guess what he said then? he's got Chest Of Steel! BLEH! bullshit!...stupid crap...yeah...study time liaoz..must go slowly type out more hw... =X

cya guys!
mel

2004-05-04T21:45:00.000+10:00

Life has been good these two days..not much hw! haha...been slacking..but sorta doing a lil studying for my econs test this thurs... Cant believe it hor? Melvin..starts studying...even for tests...

Today...felt a bit home sick man...over here..loneliness hits you once in a while and you really really wish you had company..like a close family member or something...Guess thats why there's so many BGR over here...a way to find emotional comfort...even me..i've sorta succumbed to it....and i feel really guilty cos of this ger i still think of....feel like an ass...

Man i miss the food in singapore.. like today for chinese the teacher gave us an article on mooncakes..IMMEDIATELY we started talking bout what we liked...then we went on to durians...lychees and some other asian fruits...those nice seafood...ahhhhhh tau sar pau...blah blah blah... sooooo soooo soooooo missing it!!!!

Haiz...toopid Li keeps bugging me for the laptop..he wants to check his mail and stuff...Zzzz..well..i'm off to eating noodles now! adios peeps and have fun studying watever!

2004-05-03T18:57:00.000+10:00

Yoz...well...today's been a good day...no hw! haha..can just slack around..and try to play NBA2004 on me laptop secretly..

Do you know wtf i'm doing here? like...what the hell am i studying? Well..its called the International Baccalaurette (IB for short). Its like this international diploma, equivalent to the A levels some of you peeps are studying..

Over here, i take 6 choice subjects and 2 core components that are complusory..
Subjects:
1. English A HL
2. Chinese B SL
3. Maths HL
4. Economics HL
5. Physics SL
6. Environmental Systems SL

Core components: Theory Of Knowledge and CAS (creativity, action and service)

So HL means Higher Level > difficult than A Lvl and SL < difficult than A lvl.
Theory of knowledge is this stupid class that goes... " how do you know...what you know" (bullshit rite?) well..gotta write a 3000 word essay on crap like this next year! and CAS..its like....you have to do service like CIP..den Action like sports or gym..and creativity is like joining the play or knitting..

Yeapz..thats me life now..bet u guys can't believe it..but i'm in the school play acting as a lieutanent in some wild west shitz..anddddddddddddddd.... AND! i'm doing knitting!!! lolz..the two stick criss cross sew a scarf or sweater thing..yeah...thats actually what me..melvin tan is doing now every wednesday for an hour...

Results..what can i say? sorta quit high above average for now...but the chinese peeps are really catching up!All this cheena kias who study study study....competitive like shit...lose one point think the whole world is against them etc.. Zzzz

Yeapz...thats all for now bout what i'm doing..Stay tuned!

mel.

2004-05-02T22:09:00.000+10:00

Cailum Cherry- 17/m Australian who used to be in one of the top melbourne high schools(all boys). He's on scolarship in this top IB sch in Australia...well...

He's a very lame guy...i cant think of anione here in melbourne who's as lame as him..he's very sporty and candid...

Well, as u might know, i'm now in boarding..meaning i stay in a big big place with many many boys..so..naturally..our jokes here revolve around you being ghey..or me being ghey..or we being ghey..yar..u get the picture..he's jokes on gheying around are really stupid at times...oh shit! gtg liaoz! they gonna off the internet then i wouldnt even be able to post this...

Yeah..HE, Li and me are the closest buddy in this small stupid school....joke around..lame around...and ya..confide in each other with our problems.. =P

Hmm...wat could i say for the next post? i'll probably tell you guys bout the education standards here and my grades for this term!!! =P

mel.

2004-05-01T20:22:00.000+10:00

And now..for my 2nd post!!! yeapz....

today..i woke up at 6.50am today just so i could go to the city ( i stay in a blardie boring suburb thats full of shit and no fun..like a blardie kampong lidat). At the city, i ate vietnamese noodles! yummmmmmy...den..nothing to do la..go play in a cybercafe.. (rediculous rite? go all the way to the city just to play cs) stayed there for too long i think..and had lunch at two..

well getting to the point..i met my roommate(he's a melbournian that stays on weekdays only) at a pool place..BLARDY SMOKEY..shit loads of ah bengs..and definitely crappy tables... Yeapz..i basically played 3 games of pool..winning the first two! and it took half an hour to finish my last game cos they have some really stupid rules in this place..

Yeapz..tell u guys bout Li.. he's shanghainese! but have been living here since 5..speaks good english and shanghainese and most of u guys can see him on friendster.. Anyways...he's like this big shot ah beng in the city where almost every ah beng ah seng ah lian ah watever all know him..so i play with him also no peace cos every 5 min gort one bugger come and go "hey man" etc.. good thing is, he's changed for the better cos he wants to study properly for the IB! Reformed ah beng leh!

Yeah..now that u have a lil insight into my roommate..i'll leave the next post to tell u bout the other buddy i have here..his name is.... Cailum Cherry! the only australian boarder with the gheyest surname! =P

Oh yar..today quite hot..fell so good not freezing my fingers off

mel

2004-04-30T21:32:00.000+10:00

Yay...yet another blogger joins the scene, follows the crowd and diligently feels in his post so the world can see what he thinks...

Kilmore= fugging coolllllldddddddd!!!! buay tahan!!! ta bolek Tahan!!! bu neng ren le!!! untolerable!!!

hELP!!!
So today...Friday! sch ends as usual at 3.30pm and i can finally slack around without having to go through study time..for those who don't know, i have study time..compulsory..every weekday from 4.30-5.30 and 7-9, with 7-9 on sunday too..sucks rite?

There are many things on my mind...but i'm not ready to tell it on blog yet...too...complicated..i wished i had more self control over myself...

Its still cold here..writing my first blog entry..stay tuned!