Update

I figured i had left this blog in the cold for a long time, so now i am updating it since i have some spare time in hand.

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A term with my class, and i think that i finally found a class which could really share some interesting knowledge with everyone. The seniors are pretty nice too, except for some of them (like MY ANGEL…). Most of them would respond when you walk past them, but some would not…particularly cos some of them are constantly thinking of mathematical questions to solve.

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Some pictures from SSEF 2009 (though it was not exactly exciting in the end…read last post to find out why)

The Poster

 

The Fairground

Judging...tense isn't it?

Another Judging scene

Food queue for lunch...but the food wasn't very nice...

All the participants from 09S6K (that's my class )

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A few more photos.

Extreme Makeover! This is Artemis' CIP. About all of the people (except a few) are in this photo. Nice bunch of guys...

Taking a little rest outside the bathroom while Peng Hui scrapes the paint.

I was very high when i took this photo on Campfire at the end of Rev It Up. Now i look at it, and still feel like laughing.

 More updates another time.

March Hols…finally

March Hols, and my blog is back from being rather dead. I figured if i did not continue writing, no one will come and see it again.

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Things are starting to get a lot more chaotic. I found that now i start to suck at math…just passed the last lecture test. Then, SSEF 2009 came and went, with me wasting 2 days of my studies taking nothing away from it. Econs have also seen me entering a difficult part. Physics olympiad has nothing to offer me most of the time, cos this is rather tough and taxing to understand. Chemistry…hmm, i don’t know much to comment on it.

never mind lah…just push through and see how. Now i wish i don’t screw up my next math test.

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STJ was extremely fun, when everyone had steamboat and sat together. My side had less talking and more eating, so it was a little more dull, but things brighten up when we look at how Willie could not understand who his angel is (even when he was passed a note with very obvious hints…lol).

On the day of revelation, i lost my angel. My mortal was Zhihui, whom turned out to be rather nice.

All in all, i am glad. More so when I saw Tze Han’s expression when Mr Sam Lee told him he was his angel…

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A physics puzzle for you to chew on:

- A ball is dropped from height h down. Simultaneously, another ball is fired from the bottom with an initial velocity = to the final velocity of the dropping ball. Ignoring air resistance, calculate at what height will the ball meet each other at the same position.

When you are done , check if your answer is: 0.25h from the top OR 0.75h from the bottom.

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Shall work harder now…to close the gap between the others.

My life as of now

Well, it’s busy.

My 1 hour break on Tuesdays are gone, cos i have some Math Quiz Training. My Wednesdays might soon be going too. On Thursdays i have Physics Olympiad Training.

Soon there is SRP, then CCA. Sigh, can i juggle them all?

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NRP Symposium was over. It all started with this room:

Venue for NRP Symposium (Nanyang Executive Centre)

My Project Code is SCBE 4, so that classes me into the Category 1. Here are some of the projects in my category:

Quite grand huh? However, the booths are really so poor, the dimension provided previously have not been adhered to. That leaves me with no choice but to think of something with my partner at the next booth…

It was only after some adjustments did the booth finally looked correct.

Beside me, the scenes were pretty tensed.

However, there was still some funny posters to attract some people’s attention.

Finally, the first signs of Judgement Day appears.

The next few hours are somewhat gruelling. However, when my assessors came, there were all so friendly, and they left my booth looking rather satisfied with what i have provided them with. So i hope i get some good grades.

Finally, 1 last photo before i wrap this topic up.

That’s me with my baby.

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SSEF results are out. One in one out.

Looks like the whole thing have been rather stringent this time round. My chiller project did not pass; but that might be a blessing in disguise as i work to get the other one up.

But there is still lots of red tape to handle…the posters are regulated to have all photos requiring acknowledgements, and demands on presentations are stressed on this time round.

The judges are said (some of them) to tend to make students cry after the judging, as a test to see how firm one can be in the research world. It’s a tough road ahead.

Now you see how SSEF can be the Fair of a science student’s lifetime?

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University Physics looks goddamn thick and shocking. To think that is going to be my textbook!

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Signing off now.

Hey…don’t forget me!!!!

My God, this week and the one before has been so fast, i hardly have time to update. I promise i will try and update something here ASAP (usually it might be on a Sunday).

09S6K’s Class blog is now on as a link in my blogroll. Damn, now i have to post on 2 blogs…

Check back on Sunday. Meanwhile, for people who actually cared to respond to my posts, i am replying to them right after i finish this piece of crap…

3 down for New Year Resolution: Got into SMTP, SSEF (VS02 one only though…) and Physics Olympiad Training.

Signing off…have a nice day .

The First Week of School

Wow…what a fast week! Orientation with my OG has been so fun. Yufan have proven to everyone that he is a really competent OG-Rep. Made a number of new friends, both from Nanyang, and the others who came in via all sorts of methods. Although they each were rather shy, once the High School guys showed their wild and madly side, all of them opened up at once to join in the madness (maybe something they never got to experience?)

On the 1st day when i was splitted into my OG, i am not so sure of what to do when there are so many stranger faces. Now 5 days after orientation, i realised that all the people whom i mixed with have been so nice, that it might be ideal if all of us are in the same CT class…

There was lots of singing and dancing. I totally enjoyed the dance, especially when there are duet parts (…now don’t think of anything funny…). Really, me and my partner have enjoyed the dancesteps to the max. Even when we were at a loss at sometimes, we will still try to smile, and since laughter is contagious, most of the time your partner will laugh with you too. How fun!

There is a sense of pride when it came to the cheers. Not that they are unique in any sense, but the power of the students can be felt when they shout out their cheers, and do actions like in Rock You. Though it’s not practical to make the secondary school in Bishan hear us (“Selffar” JC), I bet it will rock their pants off.

The lectures were interesting as well. The Physics lecturers left a great impression on me actually. They are not very eloquent in language, nor is their spelling much better on average with the Biology teachers, but they can be wildly funny by speaking of very random stuff. Most of all they are easy going and (perhaps) fun to speak to. That is very different from the Biology department, who happens to have teachers looking very fierce everywhere they turn.

OG Games was fun, though we ended up on a losing streak. One day’s scores are worse then the previous one. Maybe it’s due to some bungling up along the way…but nonetheless we showed a lot of care and concern to each other. That is what make us OG6. Lots of cheering has been done to cheer everyone on, and you can be surprised how these boosted our morale to a new high.

Along the days, food has also made a significant contribution to our enjoyments. We ate at both canteens, SIM, Golden Rooster, Island Creamery and Newton FC in a short span of 5 days. While the girls were bursting at their seams (i mean they are like 150% full), the guys are still going strong for another 45 minutes, leaving the girls so shocked (but delighted at the same time) that they shoved us their portion as well. Having a voracious appetite pays off in the end, as no food is wasted. Recalling the meal at Newton FC, how the girls were looking at the 30 odd plates of oyster omelette, Hokkien mee, kangkong, black and white carrot cake, chicken and pork satay and sambal stingray, and eating till they were so full, when Yufan asked if anyone wanted ice kachang still, all of them shouted “NO!”

That pretty much sums up my orientation.

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SMTP results out! Looks like my first New Year Resolution of getting into SMTP has been fufilled. I have been offered PCME, hence i end up in class 09S6K, together with Daniel Wong, Julian, Zhaoxing and Willie. Boyan, Gary, Derek (together with his brother) and Xianbin all ended up in the BCME SMTP class (i think it’s 09S7B). None of them attempting triple science i think.

Well, hope all goes well in my new year, and the orientations to come.

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Went for auditions under 黄城 to see if i am good as an actor. Well, take it as a challenge for myself who has no previous experience. I think i did pretty well, except i have to go for more auditions in the future.

Looked at fencing and bowling as well. Am expanding my choice to all these so as to increase my chance of being in all these action. Hope that i wouldn’t have to end up with something i don’t really like.

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And maybe a nice song for the people who love a bit of pop action:让你妈妈NEW一下
够呛吧 音乐那么辣
气氛忍不住一触即发
怕了吧 脑袋不听话
有人的关节想要说话
疯狂的欲望 滑过脑海
不要忍耐 随时要爆炸
秀不分对象 士农工商
一家大小 连妈妈都想跳
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
跳舞的人会发光 头脑不缺养
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
让热力传染全场 一起大声唱
够呛吧 音乐那么辣
气氛忍不住一触即发
怕了吧 脑袋不听话
有人的关节想要说话
疯狂的欲望 滑过脑海
不要忍耐 随时要爆炸
秀不分对象 士农工商
一家大小 连妈妈都想跳
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
跳舞的人会发光 头脑不缺养
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
让热力传染全场 一起大声唱
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
跳舞的人会发光 头脑不缺养
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
让热力传染全场 一起大声唱
这么简单 想不到吧 跳舞永远不嫌晚
这么好玩 想不到吧 只要音乐挑得棒棒棒
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
跳舞的人会发光 头脑不缺养
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
让热力传染全场 一起大声唱
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
跳舞的人会发光 头脑不缺养
让你妈妈NEW一下 爸爸一起恰恰
让热力传染全场 一起大声唱

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More another day…

Post CNY leading till today…

Back from the hols, to writing again.

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This year’s CNY is the shortest one i ever had. Adding all the times of celebrations:

• Reunion Dinner: 2 hours
• Visiting of relatives: 5 hours
• At River Hongbao: 2 hours
• In school (range + jc celebrations): 1+5 = 6 hours
• Total: 16 hours of celebration

To compress it, it is equivalent of waking up at 0700, and celebrating till 2200hrs, and that’s all. In one day. How sad.

The rest of the day? As per normal (implies work). Nothing out of the mill. Maybe i should start to get use to it.

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Weijing’s b’day was on the 27th, while qi en’s was on the 29th. Sent them an E-card, while prepared another radio broadcast for WJ. For those who missed, this was what i sent to DJ Ivy:

首先，想在此共祝大家新年快乐。

其次，我也想祝贺今天生日的伟靖（译音）生日快乐。

当了这么多年的朋友，跟你是最谈得来的。在情绪低落的时候，虽然说的话不多，但那几句已足够让我感受到你的友情。尽管小学时我们沟通的机会少，但很令我意外的是，我们最终还能成为最要好的朋友。

感谢你这么努力在我的部落格上载你的回馈，因为有了你的回馈，我便有了推动力，继续写下去。每当阅读到你的回馈，我心中的快乐其实是非笔墨可形容的。

很可惜的是，我们在这新的一年便要分班了。尽管如此，但愿我们之间的友谊能长存。祝你在新的一年心想事成，龙马精神，并不要在课堂上打瞌睡了。

Called her to play the Chinese Song “My Friend”; wonder if WJ heard it. Thought it was nice, and relavant anyways. WJ said that his name was pronouced wrongly: perhaps that’s because i didn’t exactly typed his name correctly i supposed.

Hallmark’s a very good website actually. Sometimes the free E-cards beat the real cards, cos it’s interactive. Sai Meng first introduced it to me when he sent me one on my last b’day, and it was nice ok? Tappy birthday (with the b’dae cake tap dancing); that was the card.

For people who don’t know my birthday, let me drop 2 hints to you: if you express my b’day as ddm (so 15th of Feb is 152) , it is equal to m³; if you take away the first number (15th of Feb take away first number is 52), you get m². And, I am a Taurus.

Let’s see how many of my readers can get it when the day comes.

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Oh no, antivirus runs out today…luckily the stores are back open.

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Cursh time weighs in now…about to feel the impact of having 2 projects. Am rushing out the ppt and the poster for the NRP symposium on the 21st Febuary.

From the symposium:

• Around 11-12th of March, SSEF Big Day.
• A*TS (if i made it though) Preliminary and Final Judging.
• Singapore Junior Water Prize prelim (or maybe the finals)rounds.
• Shell Science Fair
• (If all projects are winning ones…but i think 99% fat hope) flying to either Stockholm or US for further presentations.+ start earning an income on prize money…

Now, have to take things properly, and make sure no fundemantal mistakes are made.

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Went to the zoo today. I have to admit, i find myself more appreciative of the exhibits now than 5 years back. The trip was short, but fruitful.

Of course, made a major faux pas this morning: snapped my fingers at her. My bad habit strikes again, spoiling my impression of being a rather polite guy in front of Mrs Sim. Can’t forgive myself till now.

Most of them didin’t bother, but heartless Boyan kept teasing me after that. Don’t worry, 我会忍的…don’t let me catch your Achillies heel…

The white tigers were majestic. Observes a slight herd mentality as they move together. But soon, the male starts to walk on the center stone, as if it is showing off, while the females are always hiding and roaming around the enclosure. Maybe males really do place their pride as number one after all.

5 minutes into observations, one female tiger pooped into the moat, as another walked around the area shortly after. The male marked its territory by spraying a fine mist of something (think it’s pee). One of the females went into the water, but didn’t swim; it waded instead. Now, i think i understand why parents tell their kids not to touch the waters.

The otters were hopelessly lazy. At around 0900, we saw them sleeping; at 1200, they are still cuddled up and all they do is yawn at us. We gave up after 30 minutes.

And, Boyan’s right after all: the pygmy hippos stink like shit.

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After Ah Meng passed away, there was sort of an Ah Meng craze in the zoo to commomorate him. Ah Meng Cafe and Restaurant srang up. Stuffed toys now include a life sized cute Ah Meng. Glad to be able to take that all in.

When Ah Meng unfortunately passed away, i guessed it created a sensation throughout not only the Singapore Zoo, but also the whole nation. I admit, i did feels rather sad when the news broke on the Straits Times headline. First time i felt so affected over an animal. Probably because i cannot forget the moments when i took photos with her.

The most regretful is that i did not go to her grave (or was it her memorial) to take a look. Maybe let’s hope that the zoo make Ah Meng’s 1st death anniversary, 8th Febuary 2009 (that’s next Saturday…)a special occasion.

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Special visit to the animal’s hospital in the zoo. It is not usually opened to the public, hence i guess it’s a great opportunity to take a look at the work of a vet.

Let’s sum the facts up in point form:

• It’s state of the art.
• The smaller animals are brought here, large one needs outpatient treatment.
• Unfortunately, that means that large animals have less sterile environments for surgery.
• Yes, they X-ray the animals sometimes.
• Animals are warded in Class A wards…just because it does not make sense to put them in other classes anyways.
• The pharmacy dispenses medicine that on first looks seems to be human medication.
• Animal medication have to undergo 100x dilution.
• One primate was warded permenantly for not being able to mix with his own kind. Mental case maybe?
• The post mortem rooms is the best room i think i saw.
• 2 animals passed away on the date of visit. Poor Crane broke her neck in a crash land, while Otter died for another reason while i don’t know.

After all, go to the zoo for those who have not visited it long time ago. It would be very nice.

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Rushed over to Ngee Ann Polytechnic for a briefing on SJWP issues. Hope that our group can make it there…

Rather great insights on research paper writing skills. Was recommended An outline of scientific writing : For researchers with English as a foreign language by Jen Tsi Yang. Maybe when i hunt down that book i will make it the 4th book that i am going to read.

If anyone has it, share with me can?

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Oh and a great video on capacitors. No explanations needed for the layman.

http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/1698-dissectible-capacitor

Take a look!

And continue smiling as i finish this post for the day.

Short break

This blog is taking a well deserved break during the period of CNY. More exciting updates coming up soon, so stay tuned!

Weijing please do not forget to look into your hotmail on the 27th of January, before 9pm! Message is important and will expire by 9pm on that day. All the best in the new year and hope that you enjoy what i have sent to you.

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Baifeng and His New Year Cards

In December last year, Baifeng have asked me for my address, so that he can send his new year cards to me. However, it has been 21 days since the 1st of Jan, and it have not reached me yet.

Now before i elaborate more, let me clarify that i am not going to be so petty as to tell him off over here…instead this have lead me to think of a method to share some ideas of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity on this web…I hope Baifeng doesn’t mind me using his name in my examples…

If you heard any rumors about me reading up on college physics…it’s true. And if you heard that i have read up on the subject, that’s an even bigger truth.

If you enjoyed the previous blog post on how E = mc² is proven, i am sure you will like this one as well.
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Some theories that governs the world in terms of relativity are as follows:

• Laws of physics are applicable in all inertial frame of references. (Inertial frame of reference: in a motion that does not contain any ficticious forces; read Wikipedia for more info…). In other words, if we dropped a ball in a fast moving train, we will observe the same reaction as when we dropped the ball by standing still on the ground.
• However, in different frames of references, one’s observation may differ. (E.g. if one sees the ball dropped in the moving train by another person while standing outside of the bus, he will not observe the same reaction as that of the observer looking at the ball from inside the train).
• Nothing other than light can travel at or faster than the speed of light.
• The speed of light is always c, whether if it is fired from a craft moving away, or moving towards an observer.

There are a lot more, but we will just stop here for the moment.

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What we will be particularly talking about today will be the effect of time dilation. People who have a slight inkling of relativity would know that time will undergo dilation when an observer is moving at relativistic speed, in which the clock on the observer will always run slower than that of an observer who is on the platform. In short, moving clocks run slow.

But how much slower are they moving? Then we have to start imagining a scenario…

Let’s say somewhere in Singapore, engineers have rolled out a rail system that can travel at speeds a sizeable proportion of the speed of light (c). Baifeng sets up for the experiment by placing a light on the floor of the train, while pasting a mirror on the ceiling directly above our lamp to reflect the light back. We each grab a simillar stopwatch and Baifeng boards the train one stop before me. The plan is for me and Baifeng to hit the start button of the stopwatch when we see each other through the windows of the train, turn on the switch of the lamp at the same time, and time the time taken for light to travel from the lamp to the mirror and back to the lamp (Let’s assume we can detect the movement of light rays).

What Baifeng will see will be the light moving a straight path up and down, but i will see the light moving up then down diagonally. By letting the time observed by Baifeng be t₀, and my time be t, we can find out how much time dilation has occured by measuring the distance light moved in Baifeng’s view, and then in my view, just with the help of a simple concept: Pythagoras Theorem.

Well Baifeng is person 1, while i will be the person 2.

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Hence now with this understanding, let’s go on with the story…

Baifeng have not sent me the cards. Should i not be able to see Baifeng at all during this period of time, and only see him appearing with the cards tomorrow, i would be asking him for a good reason why the cards have been so late.

Let’s say he tries to use this reason: he have been travelling at a relativistic speed on a spaceship, and hence when he came back on 1st of Jan (according to his clock), he immediately rushed over and found me fuming cos my clock states that it is 22nd of Jan. Because he wasn’t aware that time could dilate so much, i should forgive him as it is me who have aged 22 days more than him, and he was innocently following his clock.

Hence by using the formula, i can calculate the speed of his train, and determine whether he is lying. The calculation is as follows:

I gave to so many significant figures as the speed of light is a rather enormous value, so the accuracy is needed somehow.

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However, some of you might be wondering: since moving clocks run slow, and there is no such thing as absolute motion (i.e. everything’s motion is measured relative to another), wouldn’t Baifeng find my clock slow, and wouldn’t i find his clock slow too? If that’s the case, we will not be able to detect problems with each other’s clock.

However, we know distinctly that i have aged and he remains young. The above calculation is hence WRONG, as it assume that Baifeng’s frame of reference is inertial. In fact, when he turns around, centrifugal force, a ficticious force, is acting on his spaceship. He is hence in a non-inertial frame of reference.

Let’s say his spaceship fires back a flash of light at intervals of 6 minutes while it is flying away at a speed in which my time dilates twice as much. I will be receiving signals at a frequency of 1 every 12 minutes. Assuming he fires 10 flashes. On his ship, 1 hour would have passed, but when i finish receiving the signals, it would be 2 hours. When he turns back instantaneously after the 10 flashes, he flies back to Earth, firing another 10 flashes from his ship. This time round, as the distance is shortening, i will receive them all by 30 minutes, while he sends them all out in 1 hour still.

The total time lapse for him is 2 hours, but my time lapse is 2 hours 30 minutes. So this proves that I have indeed aged.

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Using this understanding, i predicted that the calculation should be modified as follows.

I am still pretty much new to the topic, so if any one sees this and know what is going on much better than i do, please give your comments if this method of calcultation is correct. T_t is the time taken for Baifeng to fly out of Earth; T_h is the time taken for him to fly back, T_T is the total time taken for him to fly there and back, and T₀ is the time that elapsed on Earth.

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Before i close these blog post, I will now know that unless he travels at a speed of 0.998999c (which is impossible at present), i cannot accept his excuse. Truth is, Baifeng will now have to think of another better reason…

And i am still waiting for his cards…till today…

Start to an exciting 2 years

Before i launch straight into what i would be talking about today, i would like to first thank a number of people who have actually made the effort to comment (even though i didn’t comment often enough on your blogs). Benjy, Weijing and Derek have been 3 of the many very persistant ones in posting up rather exciting comments to spur me on. Thanks lots guys, cos you give me the strength to write on, much longer than the previous 2 blogs i used to own.

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The 1st day was really done in a rather exciting manner. ISYF opening ceremony was rather cool, except for some situations which i think is rather awkward. Who would actually set the choir to perform on such a ceremony? And the idea of exchanging couplets is not that appropriate too. Haiz, HC still cannot shake off it’s humanities biased side…

The first lecture kicked off at 1130hrs. It was so heartening to see so many people back in action. The briefing for the 1st day of school, however was a little short of my expectations. It’s too short!

The lectures were fine…till the reactivity series which i apparently made a big screw-up. The rest were pretty fine. Math was most enjoyable, cos it’s the only thing so far that i am very comfortable with.

Breaks were really long, but they are certainly rather enriching. Looking at the various activities that can be done in such an extended break, we can’t help but sneak out of school for lunch. After all, though it’s against the school rule, we get food of better quality at a reasonable price.

And of course, there is the SMTP selection test. Until now, i am still rather delighted with my performance in the tests. Physics was by far the easiest paper, though the article on the coefficient of friction can be rather confounding on first look. Biology was next, probably due to good training in High School. Chemistry was tough, but going at the rate of 7 questions left untouched, i feel rather ok actually. Physics was the only subject in which i finished all the questions.

However, i am not expecting to be selected so quickly…sometimes things can happen out of expectations. To prevent disappointment, i think i better keep them low first.

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The college council certainly looks like a bunch of clowns. But i have to admit, it must have taken them lots of guts to act like that, and i believe they are normally not like that, so (by giving the benefit of doubt) i applaud them for all the effort to make everyone laugh.

Yes it looks nice on the portfolio, but i think i will not try to go for it. That wasn’t part of my goal anyway.

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Wrote rubbish for the EL essay during 1st diagnostic test; now feeling a little guilty.

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CNY’s coming! Here’s a great wishing to you guys all the best in everything you do.

The way i have spent my CNY have changed, bit by bit, over a number of years, but the thrill still never gets any lesser. This year this is how the flow will go:

22nd January (that’s 2 days away!): CNY celebrations @ the rifle range. I decided i would be going to pay a visit to the shooting team, a group of people who have played another major role in making my 4 years in HCI so fun and exciting. The spirit of HCIARC had never weakened. I will have to bring oranges on that day (or else i will not get my yearly hongbao from 张老师。), and some tidbits (or my club members will throw me out of the range immediately).

23rs January: CNY Celebrations in HCI. Going to spend some time with the college section (hope we really go and lohei in the end; it will be so much fun…到时候4O的人一定要全到哦！) Then it will be going back to the high school side to thank teachers and wish them the best of health.

In the evening, our family will hold our own reunion dinner.

25th January: Since there is no longer a reunion dinner on the paternal side of my relatives, we will be going over to the dinner on the maternal side. There i would receive my first red packet (hopefully, cos they are only given based on merit; i had to submit my results and comparisions is made with my cousins before it would be awarded). Will then stay for a while before leaving for Chinatown.

It has always been a tradition to pay a visit to Chinatown on New Year’s Eve, just to see all the decorations and the sales and the people, and buy some more tidbits. Many vendors cheat their customers by placing a plastic cone into the container before filling in the tidbits, then conceal them to trick people into believing that they have got a great buy. However, despite the fact that we know that, this is the only day which our mouths yearn for such cookies, hence we gladly get fooled by them.

Then it’s a rush back home to catch the broadcast of the CNY program. We chose not to stay out at Chinatown cos we think it might be rather pack. We look intently at the zodiac and do last minute spring cleanings every year (Things just never seems to have an end does it?)

Then we will countdown with everyone on the TV, then start a small ritual by greeting our parents and listening to my dad’s “new year speech”. Stay up till about 0100hrs, then we retreat for the night.

26th January: Big Day! At 1000hrs, we head for 1st Aunt’s house to lohei, meet and chat. Then at around noon, everyone sets out for 3rd Aunt’s house for another round of gathering. All is well, everyone is happy and wishes for the best can be felt most intensely at this time.

At around 1700hrs, we leave for the River Hongbao fair. Dinner is handled by buying some of the fine cuisine offered there. Some games are played as well as everyone waits for the Fortune God to drop Toto numbers, so that they can strike it big.

27th January: Watch TV, eat sleep and play till 12 noon; after 12 noon, life is back to normal with full of work to clear…:(

9th Febuary: A few bowls of tangyuan/yuanxiao (depending if you are speaking in Southern or Northern China i think) to mark the official end of CNY. Playing with some sparklers before going to bed.

This is how Chinese New Year have made an impact on me 17 years down the road.

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So much for now.

Bored again.

My life is reduced to only a few things recently:

• Surfing the Web, writing and maintaining this blog, reading my emails.
• Doing college physics.
• Eat, sleep and exercising.

Nothing else. And it’s considered really boring cos i don’t get any more emails at this time of the year, i run into a lot of problems when i self study physics, and i can’t just keep burning my time on workouts and stuff.

How i wish start of school will come a little faster, and get me busy.

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Looking around the newly remade room now, i feel much better. More airy and cooling. Except now there is a stupid electric wire dangling in mid air in front of my desk, spoiling the aesthetics of the design. What can i do?

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Higher Chinese: Sweet A1

The class average was 2.70 (MSG), which i can’t believe it’s 4O’s best. I was expecting something close to 2.1.

Lady Luck must be smiling on me…to be honest i was thinking i screwed the composition paper by writing f**ks**t on my 应用文 within 30 mins.

Wonder if the HC guys still remember one compre passage about the musician who showed great mastery of music only when he have played the wrong notes, and had to depend on his skills to turn the tables around? That’s the only situation that i can think of (though i doubt it’s true).

Wouldn’t try to elaborate more, lest i might hurt some feelings. After all, there are still a number of people who expected but did not get what they want.

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But despite the good grades, my family members’ reaction were just lukewarm, and that is pretty sad.

After wallowing in it for a while, i guess maybe they are too used to me bringing good results, that they think this is my standard. In that case, maybe i should be happy, cos they placed me in such high regards.

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Nope, no more CLL for me, cos the education sucks.

Received an email from the SMTP coordinator in JC. Said that with CLL, they cannot grant me SMTP entrance.

Furthermore the exams are about 6 hours long for CLL, but only 4.5 hrs for Econs. Why tax myself?

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I would like to enter a great CCA, after backing out from the Shooting club.

Maybe bowling or fencing? Or maybe some club and society? I wanna move around, not sit around even after lessons.

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Some news from the club though…A Division Air Pistol Boys team have collapsed.

The current batch of JC2 are not commited at all, there is a number of batch mates who have practically been missing in action. For 2 years, i have been the only one persevering, together with another PRC shooter.

Now, the PRC shooter have changed his attitude once he did not obtain the captaincy. I have left the club, which practically left a huge vacuum for people to fill up. No one is commited, and hence this could be the first time HCI is going without an A division Pistol Boys medal.

I do regret that this happens. But training out of pity demands lots of love and effort for the sport, and it will never be fufilling. So, i am still stivking firm to my decision.

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Compare RInspire and Panorama…and i seem to find a few things that eaxh magazines differ from each other.

1. (the most obvious…) Panorama has Chinese articles, but not RInspire.
2. Focus for Panorama: Major events that happened in the school. (i.e. competititons organised by HCI, SLC, A level scores, BSC, opening of SALT Centre and SRC e.t.c). Focus for RInspire: The Rafflesian identity (reports centering more on how they beat other schools in competitions, people sharing their feelings as an old boy of the school, community bonding events e.t.c)
3. As such, people who likes the Straits Times might like RInspire, while people who like Lianhe Zaobao would like Panorama (that’s my guess…)
4. RInspire’s design has more dark colors; Panorama contains more bright colors.
5. If you tell me to guess which magazine would have underwent more censorship, and has a larger bias in terms of content, i would say it’s Panorama. (making me think that HCI tends to have an iron grip on medias going in and out of the school as compared to RI).
6. However, in terms of language use and professionality, Panorama beats RInspire.

For the curious, you may read either magazines on their respective school websites.

That’s enough for now i suppose…