Hallo.

Sunday, August 27, 2006//

shit. i can't find all my notes(for all subjects) that i received early this year. now i know the importance of filing and why teachers keep stressing everyone to file their work.

arsenal lost. argh. man utd, liverpool won. ARGH! things don't look good. 1 point from a maximum of 6. now, their 8 points adrift of man utd, 3 points adrift of liverpool, and 5 points adrift of chelsea if chelsea do win(they should lah) tonight.

shit.

brandon--
8:03 PM

Monday, August 21, 2006//

it's COL (Colours of Loyang) week. hence, the schedule isn't as tight as usual. played some street soccer at the basketball court today and i've come to realisation that i've deproved at soccer! argh. i'm not being modest here. i'm being a realist. anyway, i still had great fun. soccer is the only thing that is enjoyable in loyang secondary. everything else - miles from enjoyable..

i'm still deciding whether i should go to school tomorrow. school finishes at 11.30am tomorrow. i would only have 2 periods of a math then, because i'm taking clb. however, the 2 periods of a math are very crucial. but i'm lazy and many people aren't going to school. thus, i don't know what decision to make.

the new EPL season has started. an average start by arsenal was overcome by a great start by aston villa. hence, the match ended as a 1-1 draw. liverpool also drew 1-1 with sheffield united. at least that doesn't add any fuel to the fire. chelsea and man utd, in particular, won impressively and comfortably. because of chelsea and man utd winning and arsenal dropping points, it doesn't seem as though it would be a season any easier than the last.

i don't think i shall revise much this week. i'll treat it as a school holiday.

brandon--
9:31 PM

Tuesday, August 15, 2006//

i love tuesdays. the school timetable isn't hectic and there isn't any tutorial in the afternoon. as it is now a tuesday afternoon, i am obviously free. hence, i've come to blog once again. this time, i shall talk about my 'o' level english oral examination i had yesterday.

i myself felt intriguingly surprised at the start of yesterday because i did not even feel a tinge of tension or nerve at all. i was relaxed and calm. therefore, i thought i was being over-confident or complacent, when i was actually being myself. there was a lot of self-criticism in me too. haha.

when i entered the examination room, i still wasn't feeling nervous at all. however, when the 1st pupil went to start her preparation, the nerves gradually set in. i did not know what to do during my wait. i tried reciting some of the passages i found in my bag softly. it only made me feel more nervous.

as the line-up of students became smaller and smaller, my nerves went wilder and wilder. haha. i started pondering,"what would happen if i made a serious blunder? and what would happen if that serious blunder cost me my target of a distinction for english? and what would happen if it affected my o level aggregate and therefore restricted my choices of what i wanted to do when i graduated? and what would be of me if i really COULDN'T qualify for the jc i aimed for or the course i wanted to take in poly because of that blunder? and what would happen if the jc/course i took in the end turned out to be something i did not enjoy myself in? and because of that what would happen if i didn't have the heart to be conscientious enough and therefore didn't do well in my examinations? and with the lousy grades what would happen if i could not qualify for a job i wanted in the future? and what would happen if my my life would be full of regrets in the tens of years to come?"

my hands were already trembling by the time i got up and walked to the desk for my 10 minutes of preparation. things were already not looking to be good.

i took in deep breaths in trying to achieve equanimity as i walked to the 2 examiners. "Good afternoon madam, good afternoon sir," i greeted. they smiled and ask me to produce my identification card. after which, they told me to sit down and start when i was ready.

my voice was croaky as i began with the first few words. i read with a moderately slow pace, which was perhaps too slow. i think i tried too hard to be safe. i didn't express well enough and had a couple of tongue-slips when i was at the middle of the passage, where my concentration level was decreasing. thus, i honestly don't think that i would do well for the reading part of the 'o' level english oral examination.

the picture i had to describe showed 4 primary school students walking on a pavement in a modelling contest. the theme of the modelling contest was probably on racial harmony as i could see that the girl right in front was wearing some chinese ethnic clothing. however, i somehow said that "the theme of this modelling contest is probably on NATIONAL DAY.". dang. i described the picture with quite a lot of hesitations and wrong phrasing of words. therefore, i do not think i would do very well for my picture description either.

the conversation was a little better. i was asked 2 questions - "Have you ever performed on stage in front of an audience before?" and "What do you think of fashion of today?" . i made up a story but i think it sounded convincing enough. i don't think i said good or uncommon points on the fashion question but at the very least, i managed to say my stuff out quite smoothly.

in conclusion, this is my prediction for my english oral. Reading - 8/12. Picture description - 8/12. Conversation - 11/16. Total - 27/40. Damn, this isn't looking good. to cover up from this bad start of the final battle this year, i think i better get started on my revision.

good bye!

brandon--
3:33 PM

Thursday, August 10, 2006//

yay i'm blogging once again. i'm feeling very rejuvenated now as i went for a rare evening jog earlier today! well i didn't run laps or anything today. i decided to run to pasir ris park, all the way along the beach till elias road exit and back home. the run lasted about 30 minutes. i was perspiring profusely when i came back. shows how unfit i am of late.

i had a great 3-day break! decided not to go to school on tuesday as it was a half-day. i also knew i would suffer from boredom if i went to school because what happened was just a national day celebration.

happy 41st national day singapore! i feel happy to be a singaporean. despite the hectic schedule i endure everyday, i must thank the government for making singapore a safe and peaceful nation.

did a short but solid bit of studying this afternoon. hence, i'm free now! tomorrow would be a more relaxed day too because school finishes at 12.30pm and there'll be CD and english periods, where the cracking of brains to solve difficult questions is not needed. therefore, i think i shall sleep late tonight. i'm going to spend the next hour or so playing counter-strike on my bro's comp.

i feel that i benefit from playing games like counter-strike. it makes me more alert and improves my reflexes. it enhances my concentration span too because i can't afford to lose concentration whenever i'm playing counter-strike. haha!

all right, i can no longer resist the urge to play counter-strike already. i shall say good bye for now and oh ya, i wish all the people receiving their 'o' level mother tongue results tomorrow the best of luck!

brandon--
8:58 PM