First things first: i sat for my chinese A levels. it went ok-ish i guess, dont think i'll die horribly, but didnt feel like it was a spectacular success either. i guess we'll see about it next year. one thing i do want to comment on was the sub-par admin handling of standard procedure after the exam. they were not supposed to collect the question paper after the exam, but for some reason they did. when they realised their mistake, they decided to start giving the papers back, but gave up halfway and just released the cohort. now, about half of the people have their question papers and the other half doesnt. i didnt get back my question paper, and to some extent i guess that's a good thing, cos i dont rly want a reminder of that horrible 11-year experience anyway. or do i?
most of my H1 chinese brethren seem quite relieved that they dont have to take chinese anymore, but personally i'm having mixed feelings abt it (i even surprise myself by saying this). on the one hand, it does feel like a weight lifted from my shoulders. after all, it has been sort of a liability all these years. this was even more painfully obvious starting from 2009, when i couldnt get into RJC cos i didnt have higher chinese bonus points, and all the chinese people had to sacrifice potential 1.5h breaks for chinese lessons. well, no hard feelings there, cos i dont regret coming into NJC; i think my life would definitely have been more dull and boring if i were to go to RJC instead of NJC. on the other hand, being bilingual has always been sort of a small source of personal pride and achievement for me, and it really disturbs me to imagine that there is quite a real possibility that i will completely forget how to use chinese in 10-20 years time, when i dont have to use it in daily life anymore. i guess all that "Hua Yu Cool" propaganda is finally having an effect on me.
anyway, after A levels, i played a bit basketball with some of the 25s and 27s. afterwards, a group of us (bryan, you'en, joshua, lionel, edmund, rayson, gabriel, nigel seng and myself) were at the bus stop deciding where to go. through seemingly random selection, we were suddenly on a bus headed towards Plaza Singapura. anyway, we ate at carl's juniors, all except rayson cos he already ate lunch at NJC. dam funny how everyone was trying to tempt him with their food, but ended up epic-failing cos they themselves were getting bloated from the food. things went from "look rayson, doesnt this look delicious?" to "please rayson, eat some of the fries, im damn full already..." carl's junior portions are FREAKING HUGE!
after lunch, we were contemplating whether or not to watch a movie. decided not to in the end, but we met wei jian at the cinema, going out with friends. that guy is really everywhere at once whenever school ends, i think his social life must be a few times more packed than mine :o
so we didnt watch a movie. instead, we decided to go LAN. edmund and you'en had to leave at this point; you'en was feeling a little bit sick, and edmund was looking kind of emo throughout the entire thing anyway. to you'en: get well soon, preferably by OP! to edmund: cheer up man, wadeva it is that's troubling you, dont let it get you down too much :).
on the way to LAN, saw luke, nikolas and jia yong; bryan and i acted like retards waving towards them. singapore is such a small place, you keep meeting people you know on the streets. bryan already met some of his cat high friends beforehand, now i also had the chance to say hi.
we paid for 2h of LAN. the first hour was spent playing L4D No Mercy on versus mode. it was SJIs vs non-SJIs, and frankly my side got pwned. the SJI team really had very good team coordination, the boss infected always teamed up and attacked at the same time such that my group had to decide which crisis to attend to first, resulting in precious time lost and painful damage taken. oh well, still had loads of fun screaming "Shit! Someone get the Tank!" until my voice went hoarse. the second hour was spent playing a WoW custom map called Battleship. i quite like this game, cos it's sort of like a simplified version of dota where it's quite easy to get the hang of the game. speaking of which, im wondering if i should maybe start learning how to play dota. i only barely know some of the basic controls, but i know nothing about what skills to learn first with each hero, what items to buy and craft, how to deny/last hit etc etc. kinda embarrasing i guess, given that i did come from a boys' school where just about everyone knows how to play dota, and even some of the girls in my class like Brenda and Tzumi know how to play while im a complete noob. oh well, i guess i'll just see my mood and schedule during the holidays.
after LAN, lionel saw a certain two people walking together across the road from us (like i said before, singapore is seriously such a small place). i respect their privacy so i wont go into names and details, but lets just say chin proved that light bulbs can be transmitted through handphones. to the people involved, just know that it wasnt my idea, and i hope that we didnt cause too much of a disturbance (sorry!)
after that, the group split up. the SJIs went for their sec school class gathering, rayson decided to be a super light bulb and walk towards the afore-mentioned two people, and bryan and i decided to walk a bit more and take the underpass to the mrt station. briefly talked a bit abt the possibility of a 4A gathering while on the mrt, really hope it takes shape. bryan had to get off at toa payoh to settle floorball court bookings, but he later smsed me to say that the office was closed, and that he would have to make the trip again tmr morning. well, the duties of a captain never end, do they?
cake cutting back home with the family. it was chocolate-peppermint cake. sounds weird, but it really tastes ok. no long narration or long-winded reflection here, all i have to say is this: yum :)
change takes time. i know you have been waiting for a very long time already, and you definitely have the right to abandon the entire situation after such a long delay without any progress. you had once tried taking baby steps to ameliorate the situation, but nobody was there to catch you and you fell flat on your face. i know that it must have been painful and you must have been put off with the whole idea of trying again and again to no avail, so now that someone else is taking baby steps towards you you might have the sudden temptation to look away and let that person fall; or maybe you have fallen down so many times that you are numb to whatever pain either of you might be feeling. however, i urge you to see how this situation is different from those before: in the past, you were trying, but that person was still hesitating to cooperate. now, that person is willing and trying to change things, and you could very well potentially be the one cooperating, if only you give it another shot. change takes time, and you might be put off by the slow progress of things, but slow progress nonetheless is progress, and progress will eventaully lead to completion. im not trying to pressure you into doing things you dont want to do, cos that's the last thing a friend should do. im just trying to remind you that even if your eyes have been seeing nothing but darkness for far too long, keep a look out for that one bright spark that's bound to surface from the inky depths.
im starting to get more and more frequent bouts of nostalgia. so what better song to post this time than Afterlife? it was my very first song that could be considered "metal", but i actually think it's quite similar to hard rock and suitable for mainstream music fans. i first heard this song... was it may or june? somewhere during the mid-year period, and it was bryan who introed me to it. it's the song that started me listening to Avenged Sevenfold, and the metal genre in general. listening to it still brings back memories of the mid-year period, fresh out of orientation days and just about to be plunged into the common tests. so here it is, Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold:
