The start of the new chapter

As everyone knows, today is the release of the posting results, and you'll find out if you got into the school or course you want. Some people feel nervous days before the posting results were out, but I didn't really had any feelings about it. It was only until the morning itself when I felt something about the results.

I was lying on my dad's mattress, and complainting to my mum and my aunt (who doesn't live with us) on the master bed. I was bascially screaming about how the stupid MOE posted me to Jurong JC (my 6th choice) instead of Anderson JC (my 1st choice). Then the frustration in me made me more violent and I started to roll around the mattress like a kid who's request for toys was rejected, then when I was about to fall off the mattress and experience the pain for rolling off the mattress, I woke up.

Yes, it's a dream. And so I got a little excited about the results, and since MOE didn't inform me of the results by sending a sms to me, I went online and checked the results, and found out I got posted to Anderson JC (Arts).

It's good that I got posted to my first choice, but I'm not exactly feeling excited about school reopening, going to a new school and making new friends. But I guess there's no way to escape from it, we just have to keep moving on, isn't it?

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

It's going to be Chinese New Year in less than a day, so I wish everyone an early Happy Chinese New Year!!! Gong Xi Fa Cai!!! Wan Shi Ru Yi!!! And receive lots of Ang Baos!!! Enjoy yourself in the new year!!!

Plethora Farewell Match

I had the football match of my life this thursday as it was the last match that Plethora was going to have together. The team captain, Chin Seng, decided to disband the team after this match, so of course I have to do my best for this match. So I tried getting myself fitter by training my stamina with running. Well, the training for two days was tiring but it wouldn't train me up to my best form because it's just only two trainings which is definitely not enough.

So after two days of training, We celebrated Chien Yi's birthday by treating him to Seoul Garden at Marina Square (Happy Birthday, Chien Yi!), then on the day after Chien Yi's birthday, it was the matchday. We were playing against PromiseLand, another team made up of Kranjians. As we are preparing for the match at Fico Sports Hub, we got news that our striker, Timothy is not coming for the match, and we had no substitutes for the match! So Chin Seng called his brother down to help us out.

Before I move on to the match, here's the line ups for the two teams, I believe some of you will find the names familiar, because they are all Kranjians.

Plethora: Chin Seng + his brother, Gabriel, Chien Yi, Dylan and Me

That's me at the Goalpost!

PromiseLand: Han Yang, Alex, Eugene, Jenson and Zhi Quan

So I started as the Defender in the team, but I wasn't playing at my best for the whole game, my performance was unstable, playing well at times, but making mistakes at the next moment. And so I switched roles with Chien Yi, and I played as the Goalkeeper. Well, I would say luck was on my side as I made a couple of saves. And so the match continued with Chien Yi and me taking turns to be the Goalkeeper and Defender.

And the match ended with us winning 10 - 9! Chin Seng and Gabriel each scored 4 goals, Dylan scored 1 goal and Chin Seng's brother scored 1 goal. It was the fact that our team had better morale, maybe because we were going to be disbanded, so we wanted a win more than the other team. We were actually losing 7-9 during the last 20 minutes, but we got 3 goals back!

However, it was also the fact that I'm not putting up a match-winning performance as a Defender, I find this fact rather disturbing, but what to do with it? I guess I just have to learn from it and continue improving myself. It's not everyday we can put up our best performance, isn't it?

Here's some pictures that we took on the matchday!

I know this photo is extremely blur, but it seems that all the photos that had me in action were all blur, and this was the best one, so I had to pick this one to upload to my blog. Sorry!

This is Chin Seng's brother, Zhen Jun.

I'm sure this will not be the last time we play together and I promise the next time we play football as a team, I will be a better player.

P/S: As usual, I'm keeping our group photos to people related to Plethora only!

2A Barbeque At Pasir Ris Park

I know I should have blogged about it a long time ago, because it took place two weeks ago, but I don't know why I just don't feel like blogging recently, and I just woke up this morning and this thought came to my mind: It time to blog, you lazy idiot. And so here I am, and I will blog about the event that I enjoyed the most at recent times, which is the 2A'06 gathering at Pasir Ris Park.

The Beginning

This idea of organising a 2A barbeque came to my mind on the 3rd day after our Graduation Night, because I was having some difficulty sleeping at night when I think of my friends, so I came up with this idea to meet up with the class that I missed the most.

The Planning

The first date and location that I have chosen is on the 20th of December 2008 at East Coast Park, but it wasn't successful because before I got replies from everyone, the barbeque pits available at East Coast Park for that day was already fully booked. And So I decided to change the date to the 3rd of January 2009.

Then Elaine suggested to me on MSN that we should have the barbeque at Pasir Ris Park because the transport to East Coast Park is not very convenient, which also reminded me that I actually didn't know how to get to East Coast Park, and so I decided to change the location to Pasir Ris Park.

Then I had to contact everyone, with Simon helping me contact the boys, some confirmed with me that they are going while some cannot give me a definite answer but there was about 20 people who are most likely to be going, so I went ahead with planning the barbeque. But as I had to work on the few days before the barbeque, my mum had to help me buy the food and marinate the chicken wings and clean and prepare the food for barbeque , so Thank You to my Mother!!!

The Morning

Soon, it was the day of the barbeque itself, and we packed the stuff into plastic bags and I prepared the 2A Membership Card, I was ready to set off to meet the 2A-ians at Choa Chu Kang MRT control station. On the way there I met into Yu Xuan on the LRT on her way to work, then it was during this time that my handphone started to ring furiously.

I reached Choa Chu Kang and as I left the barbeque stuff with Min Yan, Yu Xuan, Wan Lin, Rebecca and Wei Chang who are already there, I took out my handphone and saw that my sister had just sent close to 20 smses to me to tell me that I have left out the Otah! As my handphone was out of credit, my sister cannot call me, hence she sent so many smses to make sure I get the message. So I had no choice but to go back home and take the Otah. Then when I got back to Choa Chu Kang, Hui Sian, Chin Seng and Shun Yu was there. So we set off for Pasir Ris where we will have our barbeque.

The Transport And The Fire

But it was never a good sight to see that a class barbeque has only 8 people who set off together to the barbeque site, there was 4 girls and 4 boys but it wasn't awkward because when 2A'06 people get together, we can find things to talk about rather naturally, and that is exactly the reason why it's the class that I missed the most after leaving Kranji. Then I got a phonecall from Sandy telling me that random uncles were sitting at our barbeque. But they went away later, which was really random. Anyway, we reached Pasir ris and bought Charcoal and the other nesscessary stuff before we took bus 403 to the park.

The barbeque pit I booked was Pit number 1 at Area 1, I know, I know it's sounds very good, but in actual fact, the pit wasn't the best because you would have completed a marathon after walking to the pit, and your feet might rot like how they do when you are working. So we decided to take another pit, which is pit number 28 at area 2 because it was still empty at around 4-5 pm and as I called the AXS service hotline and they said the pit is available for that day.

And so we began to start the fire as the frozen food cannot last long and not turn bad without being kept in the fridge. But I guess it was never easy to start a fire at Pasir Ris Park, because the wind there was strong enough to turn a flying frisbee into a bullet, Simon's hair into Astro Boy's hair and fire into nothing in a blink of an eye.

So we had to ask the uncles at the pit beside us how to set up a fire because they have already started their barbeque. And one of the uncles came to help us and taught us to make use the corners of the pit to start a fire first, then move the fire to the middle, so Simon, Shun Yu and me hold the picnic mat and cover the sides so that the uncle can start a fire. He succeed and so we got our fire for barbeque!

Later so we took some chicken wings and hotdogs and gave it to the uncles as a way of thanking them, and they gave us some of their food too. I remember it was something like satay or just random meat poked onto the satay sticks. It was rather tasteless and the meat was tough enough to be used as rubber bands, and I suspect this is why they were so quick in pushing the plate into our hands like it's something they cannot wait to get off their hands. But well, they still helped us start the fire.

The Night

Soon the sky became dark and a few more of 2A-ians arrived, but while we were happily eating and cooking our food, something unexpected happened. A group of teenagers showed up and they had booked the pit we were using! And so after a small argument, of course we had to move because it was their pit, we were rather lucky because pit number 26 was available, and so we use the aluminium containers to move the burning charcoal to the new pit and continued our barbeque.It was soon after that when I got a call from the AXS server who sort of scolded me for not using the pit we booked, but I gave her my word that I will move from pit number 26 if anyone comes, and so she cooled down a little and agreed to let me use the pit and even advised me to be careful not to be found out by the person who conducts spot-check on barbeque pit users.

And soon it was time for us to go home because it was already pass 10 pm, and we had to travel from the east to the west side of the country.

The MRT

Of course the fun didn't exactly end here, as it was late and we are at the last stop of the mrt stations, there was a lot of seat and space, so some of us sat on the floor and played card games. I know we are behaving like typical inconsiderate teenagers here, but you can't blame us, the wide space we had in front of us was too tempting. Then we even played Truth Or Dare, letting whoever chooses Dare to get phone numbers from people or tell some random people that they had nice hairstyles. But of course we got back to our seat we the MRT became more crowded.

The Sequel

Of course, like every other movies, you have to pave the way for your next movie sequel, just like how I have to pave the way if I want another 2A gathering, hence I came up with the idea of a 2A Membership Card! People who went to the barbeque would have gotten it, the others still have yours with me, so if you want it, come for the next gathering! Unless you want to meet me just to get the card, so for those who haven't got your card, here's how it looks like.

Well, the gathering ends here, but it doesn't mean there will not be anymore 2A gatherings next time, some people suggested having one ten years later, some say once every two years, and some say once every year, well, I say it will depend on my mood, which is always good for a 2A barbeque, and also when will someone use the 2A Membership Card.

The Credits

Some of you say I deserved all the credits for organising the barbeque, but I say not. Here are the people who I want to thank for helping me make this gathering possible.

My Mother. How can I get my chicken wings and other food stuff (buy + prepare) without my mother?! And also the constant reminders of what I need for the barbeque, I must say Thank You, Mum.

Simon. For helping me inform the boys about the barbeque.

My Sister. Somehow she just plays a role in helping me make my decisions.

Shun Yu. For helping to get the barbeque started and for helping even when he got his hands burnt.

Everyone else who answered my SMSes, and made my job easier, unlike some others. You know who you are.

P/S: Not all the photos I took are put up, call me selfish but I want to keep it for 2A people and myself only, so if you want all the photos and also the class photo that we took together, leave a tag on my tagboard, and I'll send the photos to you by email or from MSN, but you also have to wait till I got the class photo from Jia Ying first...sorry~

First Job At Popular Expo Fest

So as I promised, here's the summary of my six days job at the Singapore Expo. The first days was random because I don't know anyone there and I spoke less than ten sentences for that day, but there was a highlight for the day, which is my legs. Because they are close to rotting after I stood for 11 hours. Well that's a new experience but I believe none of you would say it's a nice one.

So as I went to work the next day, I met with a new problem. As I took MRT to the Singapore Expo, and as you know it's almost impossible to get a seat in the morning, and so you'll be so grateful as the person sitting in front of you got up and no one else seems to be desperate for a seat, which means the seat is all yours. As I took a seat and screamed "yes!!!" within myself and refrained myself from punching my hands into the air and celebrate, I looked up and saw a uncle of age around 50-60 plus with a mixture of white, grey and black hair. And he looks like he needs a seat.

And as he looks into my eyes, and sent me a message that he wants the seat, this struggle within me began.

Myself 1: He needs the seat I think I should let him have the seat.

Myself 2: But my leg's rotting!

Myself 3: Ok, let's see, he still have some black hair, I guess he can still stand in this damn shaky MRT.

Myself 4: You bloody Monster! Let the elderly have the seat!

Myself 5: But...but...I want to sit down!!! And why are his hands holding the handle shivering?

Myself 6: Is that tears in his eyes?! Why is he looking at me with sparking hope in his eyes?!

And so the struggle took place for close to three minutes and by the next stop after I took the seat, I decided to do the right thing. He looks happy and said something like, "Thank you, kind youngster", it made me feel good and even better is that after two more stops, there are more than enough seats available.

Well, but at times you'll meet into people who refuses to take the seat when you offer them one, there's this uncle who refuses to take my seat, and as I insist, he took the seat without even a sign of gratefulness, but I guess meeting into people like this is just part and parcel of life.

Then there's the terrible food at the Singapore Expo food court. For example, for paying $3.80, you can get rice with unknown sauce, unusually salty hotdogs with french fries, completely tasteless potato, and vegetable that tastes like onions. Well, there's many other choice, like Duck rice with tasteless yam rice, but among all the stalls I would recommend the chicken rice, because even though their $4 chicken rice isn't as nice as those you get at coffee shops for $2.50, at least their soya sauce tastes normal.

Well, you don't get much choice for food when you work at the Expo, because the food from Popular doesn't taste any better than those sold at the food court, which I suspect is the reason behind the neverending crowd having burgers outside the Burger King outlet. But in the last two days of work, I see hope because a auntie came asking all the Popular workers if they would like to order food from her for $2.50, and being the first time I ate food with taste for 4 days, I would say the food's good.

Besides working as a Sorter and sort out things that kids throw around or things that they brought from their home and threw it in the hall, I worked at several different departments too, but the one that left the strongest impression on me is the guard duty, whereby you stand by the doors and bring trolleys to customers and answer their questions. I remember there was once I sabo-ed a lady with two kids, because there was no trolleys left, but the kids, a boy and a girl was bothering their mother to get a trolley, so as I asked the lady if she needs a trolley and pointed her to the direction to get a trolley she hinted to me that she don't want a trolley.

But before she can hold on to the kids they were rushing to the direction I pointed to and were back with a trolley within ten seconds. Then they started to fight over who sits on the trolley, but the mother successfully cheat them into believing that it's painful to sit on the trolley and they can only push the trolley, but she was a understanding person and didn't blame me for the trouble.

Then there was the security guard, Uncle Kang, who stand guard at the other door, and would scold vulgarities if people came into the hall when we are closing in less than 15 mintues and would complaint to me, "they think here 7-11 meh, open till daylight ah?".

And there was this Ang Moh of age around 50-60 plus who is always at the Popular Expo Fest, and I heard from my superviser that he is the author of Mr.Midnight. He would pop by the Sorting department and collect back copies of Mr.Midnight back to his display table outside. And he always appear very happy when kids asked him about Mr.Midnight. Then there was this day when I had a conversation with him. I was eating on the floor at the sorting department as I was too lazy to walk to the Office to have my dinner and then he was there to collect his books.

Ang Moh: Does the food taste better when you sit on the floor?

Me: Haha not really, I'm just too lazy to walk to the Office.

Ang Moh: Fair enough...next time I'll tell Popular to not provide any tables for their workers (laughs)

Me: (reply him with a short laughter) Sir, are you the author of Mr.Midnight?

Ang Moh: No I'm not, I just work for the supplier, many kids mistaken me as the author too when I visit schools to promote the books.

After that he said something else and laughed but his British (or Australian) accent was too strong that I wouldn't tell what he was saying. Then my sister checked up on the author of Mr.Midnight and found out that even though it shows on the book covers that the author goes by the name of James Lee, he is actually an Australian by the name of Jim Aitchison, so whether or not I've met into the author of Mr.Midnight, I'll never know for now.

And within the last two days of work, this part-timer by the name of Vivian became a frequent visitor at the Sorting Department, because it's the best place for slacking and without letting supervisors find out. And this hyper-active girl (not in work though) seems to find the fact that I have never gotten a girlfriend very amusing and tortured me for the remaining days by calling me a Little Boy regardless of where I am and who is around.

Working always seems to be a fun thing compared to studying, but most importantly is that you do your best in everything you do, and I'm glad I've met into mostly nice people in this job. And so, So long! My first job at Popular!

P/S: Look out for my post on the 2A barbeque at Pasir Ris Park last saturday!