The past few days, i wanted to write a blog post but i will tend to forget what i wanted to say come night time when i log in. Never mind because i have been very busy, working very hard for prelims and not let anything distract me. I followed my study plan so far and just finished till market structure for economics. I must really do my best in order to get the scholarship and the enrolment in the university i prefer. Yesterday, there was a scholarship fair in my school. Different associations set up booth in the hall and organise talks in the different venues to aid our choice of scholarship. Some of the scholarships really stirred my interest. BCA, Firefly JTC, DSTA, etc. All these scholarships give me an opportunity to seek my future in engineering, particularly civil engineering which involves buildings of stuffs. I heard from BCA that there are 2 choices of the scholarship. One of them is to work with an external industry and be bonded for a shorter period of time. This sounds thrilling because you will be able to get first-hand experience of working in a building and engineering industry while studying. The requirements of all these scholarships? 4As of course. So hard work and a dose of luck is essential.
Anyway, i found a very interesting show on National Geographic Channel, the Mad Labs. Through scientific research, it tells us a lot of crazy stuffs about different findings. Why birds prefer to shit on white cars? What is change blindness? Why people hug? Fish actually fart at night! What is the best cure for spice? The rotation of bread when it falls off the table. Human helicopter in Japan. The new pac man game. Worm can cure asthma. Females have generally thicker ass than males and thus need longer needles for injection.
I'm thinking of changing my study plan a bit. I'll try to finish the first part of my study plan, which is the reading through of my notes as soon as possible. If i finish by the end of next week, when i've time, then i can give my friends some help if needed. :) After which i will start the second part of my study plan, which is the memorising of details in week 9. All the way!

Serious studies starting soon

Yesterday was Speech Day. It was boring. So many people didn't turn up and it was a bit of a waste of time. After the event, i went dinner with my family at a seafood restaurant near Yishun stadium. It was a "farewell dinner" for my sister before she enters her university next week. We spent $139, ate a chilli crab, sambal sotong, fish in claypot and pork ribs. It was so delicious! At night, i went Yong Cheng's house to stay over, together with some of my secondary 4 classmates too. Benjamin, Han Wei, Jing Ren and Zhen Yang. We played card games and watch some movies including Jumper.

In the morning, i went for GP tuition at Orchard Plaza at 9am before returning to Yong Cheng's house. On the way, i packaged lunch for all of them. After lunch, we played a few games of mahjong. Then, Yong Cheng, Benjamin, Jing Ren and Zhen Yang went to the condominium's swimming pool to swim while Han Wei and I brought homework to do. I did some part of the Complex Numbers 4 tutorial. After their swim, we went back to the house and finally started to study. The plan was actually to play and spare some time to study. But in the end, only a small portion of time was used to study. Nevertheless, i spent some time studying Economics too. I read the essay plans which my sister gave me. Not bad but i will start serious, really serious revision tomorrow. I had promised myself. Alright come on ah!

Here's my serious study plan
Reading notes/past-year papers:
28/07 - Economics: Central Problem, Demand/Supply, Elasticity
29/07 - Economics: Applications, Theory of Production and Cost
30/07 - Economics: Market Structure
31/07 - Economics: Market Structure
01/08 - Economics: Market Structure, EOS/Size of Firms, Cost Benefit Analysis
02/08 - Buffer
03/08 - Economics: Market Failure, Income Inequality, Government Failure
04/08 - Chemistry: Chemical Bonding, Periodic Table, Group 2 Metals, Group 7 Elements, Transition Metals
05/08 - Chemistry: Atomic Structure, Atoms/Molecules/Stoichiometry, Gaseous State, Redox Titration, Chemical Equilibrium, Thermochemistry, Chemical Energetics
06/08 - Economics: International Trade, Introduction to Macroeconomics, National Income Accounting
07/08 - Economics: Economic Growth, Recessions/Booms, Money
08/08 - Economics: Inflation/Deflation, Unemployment, BOP/Foreign Exchange
09/08 - Physics: Measurement Techniques, Physical Quantity, Kinematics, Forces, Dynamics, Work/Energy/Power, Thermal Physics, Ideal Gases, Thermodynamics, Oscillations, Wave Motion, Superposition
10/08 - Economics: Macroeconomics Policies, Exchange Rate Policy, Conflicting Goals
11/08 - Chemistry: Ionic Equilibrium 1 & 2, Electrochemistry 1 & 2, Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Alkanes, Alkenes
12/08 - Chemistry: Arenes, Halogen Deriatives, Hydroxy Compounds, Carbonyl Compounds, Carboxylic Acids and Deriatives, Organic Nitrogen Compounds
13/08 - Physics: Circular Motion, Gravitational Field, Electric Field, Electromagnetism, Electromagnetic Induction, Alternating Current
14/08 - Physics: Current Electricity, DC Circuits, Quantum Physics 1-3, Lasers/Semiconductors
15/08 - Physics: Nuclear Physics, Radioactivity, Data Analysis
16/08 - Maths
17/08 - Maths
18/08 - Buffer
19/08 - Buffer
20/08 - Buffer

Memorising details:
21/08 - Physics: Measurement Techniques, Physical Quantity, Kinematics, Forces, Dynamics, Work/Energy/Power, Thermal Physics, Ideal Gases, Thermodynamics, Oscillations, Wave Motion, Superposition
22/08 - Physics: Circular Motion, Gravitational Field, Electric Field, Electromagnetism, Electromagnetic Induction, Alternating Current
23/08 - Chemistry: Atomic Structure, Atoms/Molecules/Stoichiometry, Gaseous State, Redox Titration, Chemical Equilibrium, Thermochemistry, Chemical Energetics
24/08 - GP Revision
25/08 - Chemistry: Chemical Bonding, Periodic Table, Group 2 Metals, Group 7 Elements, Transition Metals
26/08 - Economics: Central Problem, Demand/Supply, Elasticity, Applications, Theory of Production and Cost
27/08 - Economics: Market Structure, EOS/Size of Firms
28/08 - Economics: Market Failure, Cost Benefit Analysis
29/08 - Physics: Current Electricity, DC Circuits, Quantum Physics 1-3, Lasers/Semiconductors
30/08 - Chemistry: Ionic Equilibrium 1 & 2, Electrochemistry 1 & 2, Introduction to Organic Chemistry, Alkanes, Alkenes
31/08 - Chemistry: Arenes, Halogen Deriatives, Hydroxy Compounds, Carbonyl Compounds, Carboxylic Acids and Deriatives, Organic Nitrogen Compounds
01/09 - Economics: Income Inequality, Government Failure
02/09 - Economics: International Trade, Introduction to Macroeconomics, National Income Accounting, Economic Growth
03/09 - Economics: Recessions/Booms, Money, Inflation/Deflation
04/09 - Economics: Unemployment, BOP/Foreign Exchange, Macroeconomics Policies
05/09 - Economics: Exchange Rate Policy, Conflicting Goals
06/09 - Physics: Nuclear Physics, Radioactivity, Data Analysis

Anyway, my impression of someone has changed terribly. This friend of mine won an award for a good cause. But i heard from my other friend that she actually asked her classmates to vote for her so that she will win the award and it will appear good in her testimonial. If what my friend said is true, she will definitely lose my respect. I mean, if you wish to do something nice, it should really come from your heart. Don't be driven just because of the achievement you will get, especially when it concerns a human life like adopting a kid. I'm not saying that everyone is perfect and has excellent moral values. But i strongly loathe such scheming behaviour and believe that this is a crime. I will never commit such a sin.

Prelims!!!

4 more weeks to GP. 6 more weeks to Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Economics. Prelims, how exciting man! Tips for the most important thing to do before any exam: Make a study plan. Do not leave everything to the last minute. No doubt that the thrill of studying last minute will drive you on. But isn't it better to give yourself enough time to cover everything?

I've written down my study plan for this Prelims and it starts next Monday! I've allocated days for each of the subjects.
Alright, here are what should be done:
Maths: Look through the notes and recall all the methods and formulaes
Chemistry/Physics: Read through the notes, go through past-year papers to know how to answer the questions
Economics: Read through all the notes, do a list of definitions, look through past-year papers to see how to answer all the different questions

A good day finally!

Louis is back. Screw all the worries and problems i faced the past week! Sorrow gone. Happiness found. My spirit is back.
Today was a good day. In the afternoon, i went for the US and UK university and scholarship talk at Suntec City, met Justin there. Then, i had dinner with my coach and the rest of the jumpers. The dinner was at Clarke Quay, Riverside Indonesian Restaurant. It was meant to be a treat for Miss Yu but she ended up treating us. We took several photos and had a great time together. A pity that Nic Kang couldn't come because he had to celebrate his dad's birthday. Otherwise we will have a big family together.
We also gave Miss Yu a card and a gift, which i made. The gift consists of several pokemon figurines which are my old childhood toys. Each of them represents each and every one of the jumpers plus Miss Yu. Here are the names of all my fellow jumpers:
Nic Kang, Kenji, Anil, Joseph, Shamin, Vincent, Shamir, Jeolinita, Cheryl, Gracia, Celeste, Eva, Shiang Nee, Li Hwa.
Then i also gave every jumpers a gift. 3 pokemon figurines each, wrapped up, so they can randomly pick. After dinner, we went to take photos at a bridge at the Singapore River. Some of the jumpers left after that, mostly guys. Then it's left with me, Kenji, Jeolinita, Shiang Nee, Gracia, Cheryl, Eva, Celeste and Miss Yu. We went to a Japanese ice cream store and treated Miss Yu this time round. It was a good reunion. Most of us had spent the past 2 years training together. 10 J2s and 5 J1s in total. Thanks for the memory!

A lecture joke

I was a joke today. During the Chemistry lecture in the first 2 periods, Justin and i made a fool of ourselves. In the midst of the lecture, the lecturer suddenly turned to our direction and said, "I have observed you two for a long time. You all have been talking a lot and turning to your friends behind as well. Please get out of the LT now." At that time, i was feeling very tired. I couldn't really sleep the previous night because i kept thinking about how the track dinner went. Then, i took a glance behind and the lecturer instantly said, "Yes you two, don't need to turn around." I can't be bothered to argue with the lecturer or check whether it is us who talked. So i put down my stuffs and left the LT with Justin following behind me. We went to the canteen and planned to stay there till the end of the lecture. The time will be well spent discussing soccer tactics for our matches today. Then, Jared suddenly appeared and told us that it actually wasn't us. It was Benjamin and Eugene. By then, Benjamin and Eugene have also been sent out of the LT. Then, Justin and i walked back into the LT and people were laughing. The lecturer said, "... you two must be guilty conscious." Apparently, when we left the LT, the lecturer continued to scold people for talking. My friends thought that she might be warning the students as a whole. The lecturer then said, "What's the names of the two of you?" People in the LT found it a bit weird because Justin and i had already left the LT. Then, she said, "I don't want to make it so explicit but the guy with the red spectacles and the guy beside you, please get out now!" The people in the LT started to laugh. Poor Subra, he had to sit alone in the LT for a short while as the 2 people on the left and on the right side of him had left the LT. It was definitely a moment of madness and i willingly sent myself out of the LT. Nevertheless, it "brightened" my spirit for the rest of the day from the disaster the previous day.

Congrats to VJC track and field team for exceeding expectations this year. The guys finished 2nd overall, ahead of HCI and only 10 points behind RJC. The girls finished a respectable 3rd after giving a tough fight from start to finish. It was a brilliant day as the VJC track team showed to their competitors what they are made of. For the high jumpers, Nicholas Kang, Kenji and Anil, good job! You all have done yourselves proud on a day of dreams. The relay runners as well as the 100m, 800m girls and 1500m guys also deserve lots of credit for their performances. Everything was tilted towards an excellent celebration dinner at Jumbo restaurant after that.
However, things were not as simple as we think. I feel very sorry that tears were dropped due to unforeseen circumstances. This celebration was meant to be for the team. But i just don't understand why some people chose to stick their ass into our celebration and make it a chaos. It may seem to be a happy and delightful celebration based on the cheerful faces of the fellow track and field members but i disagree. Why can't some people just f*** off! Sorry, i'm a bit lucid now because i'm really angry and in a huge dilemma. Is it our mistake that we didn't stamp our authority and prevent them from attending the dinner or is it their fault. Sometimes i don't understand why some people have to be so thick-skinned and attend a dinner that is not meant for them. If you know that someone may not be fully supportive of you appearing in a celebration, why not disappear? He even used underhand methods to get themselves into our celebration that frustrates me. I'm not talking about my former treasurer in this case. He has been a great man, showing us support and understanding what we feel. Actually, i will like to thank him for playing his part in consoling the person who cried because she thought that she did not do her job well. I strongly believe that no leader is perfect. A leader can only be a leader if people have belief and trust in him or her. We really believe in her so i don't think that she should blame herself for her inability to handle this situation. Those inconsiderate people are just rocks that you will definitely trip over if you do not move them away. At times, these rocks are just too heavy and we cannot do anything to push them off. Also, i'm quite frustrated why some people choose to treat these "rocks" like their true blue friends. I am in huge disbelief! I don't want to explain this to these innocent kids because i don't want to be a bastard. I also don't want to look like an enemy to these unstoppable "rocks". I have chosen to distant myself from these innocent kids so as to allow myself to forgive and forget. I'm sorry that it may sour some relationships in the process but i really have no mood anymore. Now, i just have to concentrate on my studies. Nothing else matters to me anymore...

Today i got back my GP results. C - 60 marks. Yay it's the highest i have gotten for my whole JC life. Well done ah! All the hard work i put into submitting the essay plan Miss Chiam wanted me to do every forthnight and the weekly GP tuition i am put through by my mum. Good job man, keep it up!
I left school today after helping Anil with his high jump training. I don't know what drove my mind upside down. I took 31, thinking that it will reach Paya Lebar mrt station. I had to alight near Boon Keng mrt station where i change bus to 13 and back home. I spent around 1 hour 15 minutes as a result. Along the way, my back was quite painful, considering that i had to stand for most of the journey. A suffering indeed. But it don't really matter now as i have already retired from track except that i am going to play inter-house soccer with my class tomorrow. I will definitely be okay by tomorrow, just a strain i guess. On the bus, i saw this neighbour of mine who stays on the same HDB block. He's in army now. He is doing some kind of office work because there's some problem with his eyes and he can come home from army everyday. I don't talk to him but know some things about him through my mum who knows his mum. This guy is a genius. He studied in the gifted education programme in RI then RJC. Even on the bus, he was reading a book which has a lot of science stuffs on it. No wonder he is a genius.
My class did a lot of crazy stuffs today. Justin managed to find a blog which talk about the relationship of a lesbian in the school. Before this, i have never seen any real lesbians before and the feeling is ...basket. Then, we had a break in between our GP lesson. The guys took photos in the toilet through the mirror.
The track season ends on Wednesday. The latest standings see VJC in 2nd place, 12 points behind RJC. But there is still hope of being champions as the event high jump will earn us a lot more points than RJC and hopefully NicKang, Kenji and Anil perform well. I looked through the results of the Track and Field championship and saw a few familiar names. My cousin, Charlotte from RGS got 7th for Javellin B Girls. Then, one of my former classmate, top scorer in Catholic High School with 10A1s, Chester from SAJC got 2nd last for 800m. I don't know why the hell he join track for. From AJC, Joel (my secondary 1-2 classmate) got 7th for 400m hurdles and 110m hurdles DNQ and Nicholas Leong 400m hurdles and 800m DNQ. Then, some of my former Catholic High track and field team members, who quitted in secondary 4, re-joined this year in their respective JCs. Shawn Lee from SAJC, 100m DNQ. Joshua Chia from RJC is going to take part in high jump on the final day of the competition. I'm not sure how high he can jump but he may be a threat to my school's high jumpers' chances with all his trainings with RJC soccer team as well.

I got back my economics common test 2 paper today. I got a D. So far, my common test results are AACD. It's left with GP next week and hopefully i can pass it. Based on the amount of effort i put into studying in the June holidays, i'm actually quite satisfied with my results. At the start of the June holidays, i went to Thailand for a shopping trip with my family. I came back and had a bit of a hangover and took time to settle down. For the whole of the holidays, i had training 3 times a week. And i also had a one-day track camp and a two-days under-no-roof camp in the middle of the holidays. So, i spent the most of my holidays, resting after exhausting camps and trip, training, studying and slacking at times.
These few days, i have been quite sick. My ears are blocked because of the flu. At times, i can hear and feel the sound of my footsteps. It's quite bad because i feel tired everyday. It's quite difficult to concentrate, hear and sometimes speak properly. Hopefully i can recover soon because my class has qualified into the next round of the inter-house soccer competition next tuesday. Then i can play. Speaking about soccer, i shall go to school tomorrow morning to play soccer with my class during PE, then go for maths lecture and physics tutorial. After that, i'll leave school at 11.35am and go to choa chu kang stadium to support the track and field events. I'm going to skip (pon) lessons again! I have been very lazy the past few days, maybe because the track season is ongoing or because of my flu. The examinations mood is still not in me yet. But i shall start doing work again during the weekends then.

Hair for Hope

Today Joseph and I went for a shave for the "Hair for Hope". It was quite a bad event. There was a stage at Novena Velocity for at least 8 people to shave their heads at the same time. We are totally bald now. I can see the shape of my head very clearly. It's very cooling. It's my first experience of been so bald since i was bornt. I can't stop rubbing my own head. I think the hair should take around 2 months to grow back.

A fairytale, a dream fulfilled

This is a fairytale finish to my track career. Today i made history. I finished 7th in National Inter-School Track and Field Championship Long Jump event. I am delighted. I finally fulfilled my dream of finishing in the top 8. After 6 years of training, i have achieved something. This means so much to me.

A-Boys Long Jump Final
1) Goh Eng Wei RJC 6.66 9pts
2) Chan Wei Hao HCI 6.56 7pts
3) Chew Han Wei RJC 6.40 6pts
4) Aran Atsuo Shanmugaratnam HCI 6.19 5pts
5) Chew Guan Yu HCI 6.18 4pts
6) Chua Wee Chao Jonathan MI 6.14 3pts
7) Louis Chong VJC 6.06 2pts
8) Joseph Ting VJC 6.00 1pt

Previous years, i have been very unlucky but nothing was going to stop me this year. I woke up in the morning feeling good except for a bit of a sore throat. My dad has passed his disease to me again! But i was not to be deterred. After all, i didn't want 6 years of training to go to waste. I slept from 10pm to 9am and was refreshed. I left home at 11am and reach choa chu kang stadium at 12 noon. The girls long jump final was still in progress. However, things didn't exactly go our way as Jeo, who was expected to be the champion, got 4th. It was a wasted opportunity and i feel sad for her. Phy got 5th while Celeste just missed out on top 8, finishing 9th. After that, i went to rest in the badminton court.
At around 2.45pm, Joseph and i went to warm up. Shamin could not jump today as he had pulled his hamstring in the National Juniors before the common test week. I could understand how he felt as i had pulled my hamstring at a similar time last year.
Then, it was time to jump. The weather was bad. The head wind was really strong. It was definitely not favourable to jump. I was the 2nd jumper. My first jump was okay. A distance of 5.99m, which could have been better if not for poor landing. Then my back pain began to set in. I realised that my poor landing was attributed to my back pain. I couldn't really bend my back well. Most of the time, i would force myself down too quickly, minimising the distance i would jump. 2nd jump - Fault, 3rd jump - 5.62m!!!. After the first 3 jumps, i was 8th, meaning for the last 3 jumps, i would jump first. Joseph was 7th with a distance of 6m. 4th jump - 5.72m!!!, 5th jump - 5.91m!!! Finally it was the last jump. Someone was saying that it will be his final year so he will take his own sweet time for his final jump. This gave me the extra drive. These 6 years of training, i have seen my juniors grow. I have also seen my seniors "retire". Now it will be my final jump of my track career in National Inter-School Track and Field Championship. It's time for me to "retire". I stepped forward to the running lane. =========[] I closed my eyes and enjoyed this very last moment. I really wished that i could jump my personal best which was 6.3m or even my target 6.5m. This would have earned my coach and me 4th or even 3rd place, bronze medal position. Then, i started my run-up and landed. It was a poor landing again. The distance was 6.06m but i was satisfied. After the rest finished their jumps, Joseph and i thanked the officials and took photos with the big board which could display our distances. We also took photos with our dear coach Miss Yu at the long jump pit.
I would like to thank everyone who sent messages to encourage me. Anil, Subra, Nazri, Nick, Ben Tay, Yong Cheng, Han Wei. I appreciate the support from those who came all the way from school to choa chu kang stadium to watch my event. Li Hwa. My seniors who graduated last year still showed great interest in the sport. They messaged me and asked about the results. Yuan Hong, Jian Feng. And Shaun Chook who came down to take photos of every moments. Thanks you all. And the rest of the jumps team. Joseph, Shamin, Phy, Celeste, Jeolinita.
Now, i have "retired". But i will continue to show support to the rest of the Track and Field team for the next 2 weeks by going down to watch and cheer them on. All the best to them and may wishes come true. Alright, come on ah!