My WAREhouse

"Hey! Can I deposit my insect repellent in your room?"

"Hi! I forgot to pack up my two dictionaries... you know, I put them under my pillow...can you help me keep them?"

"Hello! I have a chipao and a long dress for formal dinner, but I am not going to bring them back, can I put them in your wardrobe?"

"Oh, I am sorry but here I've got a pile of books for my juniors, can you...help me store them?"

"Ah, my mosquito net~~"

"Hmm, my tennis and badminton kits...."

"Err, can you keep my mozhi(Chinese painting ink, not Mozhi) for me..."

" And mine also..."

"Here you see...this tortoise pillow is really big...too big...can I put it here...I mean...you can put it on your bed...."

"Hah, this~~~this reading-book-child makes use of solar energy....See! It can nod....when there is sunshine, of course...can it stand on your table....my luggage is really full~~~

Wow! I am so surprised that in a single day my room can change into a warehouse! Since the news of moving house was let out, everyone was in a frenzy mood of getting rid of those bulky, lumpy, heavy and unnecessary objects. And of course, my cosy room becomes their best place to temporarily deposit their "derelects" because I am not moving anywhere. For the hoarding purpose, in the early morning today I began to clean up my place and make room for those "upcoming products".

I cleansed my wardrobe for Mia's chipao and dressing gown.

I swept the floor for Fiona and April to thump their piles of books on.

I groomed my corner for Fiona's rackets.

I tidied my table for Maggie and Mia's mozhi...

My bed for the tortoise pillow...

And my desk for the solar-energy-powered nodding-head-reading-boy~~~

...

It is such a nice feeling of being surrounded by unfamiliar things. It is still my good, old room, but my new WAREhouse certainly makes me feel like camping. Now, my room has become a little crowded, oh it is too crowded, but what does that matter? Those Bible-thick dictionaries, rusted rackets, inspirational books, steel grooves of mosquito nets as well as the two bottles of mozhi giving out faint, delicate smells can definitely drive away my homesickness. They make your friends so near, and soooo palpable.

"Can I....two boxes?"

"Of course can, come come, I open the door for you--

--see, this is our warehouse0302!"

First Day as a Volunteer

Today is the first day for us volunteers of the Singapore Youth Olympic Games to gather and plan and it made a very memorable experience. I signed up for the programme not long ago and was extremely happy to be in the first batch of New Media volunteers. Today was a busy day with a lot of highlights, everything I came through was so smooth and everyone was so endearing.

The whole day began with a cosy morning when I got up early to get some reading. Recently I have taken special interest in short stories, from Jack London's to Alan Paton's to Muriel Spark's, and I would like to read some fictions before embarking on Paul Jennings'. Breakfast was nice enough, and when I came to school, I was glad to find out that after three days of closure, library was finally opened with the friendly uncle sitting at the counter. Thus I could get some fictions I have always been hankering after. Today was really a lucky day!

In the afternoon, we set off for No.1 Kay Siang Road, the new Singapore Youth Olympic building which I have never heard of. Fortunately, we have got a driver's directory and planned our route before going on the adventure, so we actualy arrived half an hour too soon which greatly impressed those staffs working there. In the deepest of my heart I always regard Singapore as a super safe place, though my dear Papaya always tells me that girls should always be aware and never leave doors open at night. I obey his instructions with alacrity but in my mind I hold a strong confidence in Singapore's security, so even today we had to go to a totally unfamiliar place without provided tranportation, we were not scared at all. After all, we would get ost in a little red dot?

Before the programme began, we were surprised to see some familiar faces which my sister got to know in SPH, we exchanged greetings and everyone seemed to be anticipating for the upcoming activities. We were divided into different groups during the brainstorming session. I am very happy to get to know Sharif and Yu Qing, Year 2 students from Public Poly and Temasek Poly. They made you feel at home with their easygoing disposition and outstanding social skills, something really remarkable. One group was like a package of "wits" and I was glad to meet "big brains" from JJC, Ngee Ann Poly and Nanyang Girls'. We had a quite pleasant discussion on the website address of YOG for teens. One of our brainchild won the applause of the whole room though we all knew that the name was too unrealistic to qualify. Have you ever thought of a website address as higherfasterandstrongerwhileweareyoung.com.sg? Something really unconventional.

There were other brilliant ones though, like YOG-ING, plaYouth, Lionroars, YOUGoGo, YOUTHenasia and WHY-OH-GEE. Through voting, we decided our most popular one, and that one will soon be put in use, which is YOUTHphoria!(adapted from euphoria:)

When we came home, it was already nine plus, fortunate that we have applied for late return and were witty enough to order dinner. Now it is quite late, and with sweet memories of such a wonderful day, I shall sit back and read my wonderful fiction book, until the night bell rings...

Birthday Party

How time flies! Three more days I will become 17! It is my first birthday in Singapore, in the wake of the whole year of hardwork and struggling. I am very glad that my mummy is willing to organise a party for me:)

Organising seems to become a hard job right at the beginning. November is the O Level month, so Sec4 seniors are unable to attend, Sec3 are having their Chinese O Level soon, everyone is concerning about the imminent test and seems to have a full schedule, so it is impossible to drag them out of their tuition classes. So I have to focus on adult participants and there has a problem, too. We have to cater to some "classy" dinners while make the gathering an informal one, quite challenging. Merely the menu cost the managing committee almost an hour. Here I want to thank all those who are concerned about the management and who devote their time and money($) to make the party a joyful one.

Thank you mummy for providing the venue and spending your precious time shopping and planning with us. Thank you my godmother for research work and consummate management. Thank you Papaya for coming, I hope you are recovering. Thank you godfather for making an effort to come, though you have a meeting and cannot show up. Thank you my mum and dad for the research work and "hatch" the birthday idea, and for your wishes and concerns. Finally, thank you all of those who will turn up and celebrate the special day with me and my sister, I am sure we will have a great time.

Ho. Here are the preparations our committee have come out:

Menu:

1.Chicken Bolognaisse Spaghetti (home made by Ms Wassan, mua!)

2.Chicken wings

3.Hotdogs

4.Otah-Otah(with coconut leaves peeled off)

5.Fish balls

6.Watermelon

7.Fruit salad(Grape+Green apple covered with Anleen Plain yoghurt, dotted with sliced roasted Almonds)--jointly made by mummy and godmather:)

8.Garlic bread(imitate Pizzahut one, needs heating)

Other things to buy:

1.Charcoal+mesh

2.Paper cups, plates, forks & spoons(here environmentalists and non-environmentalists had a debate----non-environmentalists won)

3.Drinks+container+ice

4.Agar agar(what's this?)

Other information:

Pax: 25

Time:4:30 onwards

Date: 31 Oct

Venue: Bukit Batok(assemble place outside West Mall)

Games: surprise...

It is not my first time to attend a birthday party, but it is my first time to organise one. I am sure that with so many kind people as support, we are in "safe hands".

Thank you again for all those who will come and those who have made an effort to come. We appreciate your concerns.

Determination

It is always easy to promise but hard to carry out promises. What is the worst about it is that when nobody has enough determination to get the promise kept, the whole preamble seems so empty, desolate and futile. That was exactly what I learnt from my Chinese group which I had put so much efforts in but eventually seemed to go wrong.

If we regard attention(one of 6As) as the basic requirement for the studying purpose, I must admit that somebody even fail at the stage of attendance. One lighted match can cause the whole wood to burn, which is known as "chain reaction", so is it applied to teamwork. Last night, I devoted my whole after-dinner time to prepare Chinese comprehension and free-writing composition, only to find out that someone cannot appear in today's group-meeting session. Group leader informed me about the cancellation of the meeting, which was to some extent, extremely disheartening. With O Level examination in ten days, there seems no enough sense of urgency at all.

With《华初文丛》still in my hands, I seemed to lapse into the old state, reading in one-man's world. I cannot understand why some people are still so numb about their impending test, a test that actually counts. I do not know when is the exact time for them to wake up. I only know that my promise to my Chinese teacher seems to be thwarted, if not doomed. To my genuine grievance, there is no determination strong enough to get the whole system working properly. As for my part, I must admit that my own condition was one of the wrongdoings. Not being adamant enough, I cannot ensure a full attendance, which ultimately evolved into a disillutioning cancellation.

Indeed, my post-exam life is not regular enough, which is something for me to take note. One whole week of diving into the wizarding world gave an escape from reality, but led it away too far. Washing clothes, checking e-mails, compiling plans, tidying up rooms as well as updating whiteboard were blown out of my mind. This posed a threat to my commitment to the proposed job, which now triggers great remorse. Thank goodness, today I sorted out some of the entangled knots in my life and was able to go ahead again.

I should always believe that it is never too late to begin. After all, there are still ten days ahead, though I am sure that I have to attend too many things in these ten days. However, I must try to make group activity a priority or the potential regrets will be tremendous. To my great relief, I know that there are so many people working so hard, paying so much efforts to leave no regrets, and to win the first, crucial battle.

It is your first and foremost battle. It is our first, foremost battle, let's all keep the promise and get it running.

What we need is just determination, and that bit of wit.

About Severus...

"Do you like Snape? Severus Snape?" I asked Komal as she came to refill her water bottle. Surely, he has been one of the most mysterious character in Harry Potter series until his memories revealled all his secrets in "Deathly Hallows".

"Nope...he is so mean!" Komal replied without a second thought.

"No?" I was stunned because I like him very much, more than any other character including the heroic Harry.

"No!" Komal was adamant in her stance, I insist no more. But I cannot understand. He indeed is a real man, "a basket full of Dumbledore's secrets but spent so much time dangling on the arm of Lord Voldemort."

Spending the whole week immersing in the wizarding world with Harry , Ron, Hermione and others, I finally flipped to the last page of the whole Harry Potter series. Since I touched the "Phoenix Order" in Primary 6 for the last time, I seldom laid hands on them again, simply because they are so intriguing to put down, and it is a temptation I show shield from at athat time. Three years later, I reread the first five books of them all over again after graduation and watched all Harry Potter movies all over again except "The Chamber of Secret". But there are still two more books which I never touched, never subjugated to their dazzling appeal.

Not until last week, when I determined to finish the journey after so many years of anticipation. I am not a fan of HP, but it is hard to deny that those are the books that grab and twist your heart.

Here comes Severus Snape, perhaps my favourite person in the book. He is not a blank sheet of paper, nor is he an innocent flower with a flawless history. Being entwined with Dark Arts in his student life and unabling to get rid of the shadow of You Know Who, his life is marred, stained, and cladded in a dirty past. But all those just made his bravery more applaudable. Long, long ago, I regarded him as an evil, ugly, bat-like, cold-hearted Potions teacher who always got in the way of Harry. Unexpectedly, he was in the Order and Dumbledore entrusted him with the task to teach Harry Occlumency. That specific memory of his which Harry accidentally saw in the Pensieve revealed his soft-spot. He to a great extent lived in the past and possibly lived for the past. Without a doubt, I regarded his calling Lily "mudblood" a half-hearted action which revealed nothing but his affection towards her. I was heartened to know that I was right, right about him right at the beginning.

He is Sydney Carton in "A Tale of two Cities" all over again, perhaps more valliant, graver, and tougher. "He looked like a man who had lived a hundred years of misery since L.E's death" and I like him for that.

It is just great that one of Harry's son was named as Albus Severus. In my heart Severus Snape is no worse than Albus Dumbledore in any way. The controversial chracter may never win credits from young readers, but he definitely have won mine. I respect him for the silver doe, for all he had done for the son of his "love foe".

Admittedly, without him, Sirius Black may have been my favorite...Padfoot...a fabulous nickname for this fabulous godfather.

"Snape is so mean...even in his way to protect Harry and to love Lily Evans..." mumbled Komal.

"Nope, he just refused to show the best of him, and after all, he is so lovely..."I enjoyed seeing Komal's face turning green and livid as I strode away from the water cooler.

"Nuts..."she must be thinking that...

Move "House"

"Card boxes! $2.50 each!"

"Five, please."

"Room number?"

"RB 03-02."

"Ok, pack up as soon as possible."

One's fate can be such a quick flip-flop. Beforehand, I can grip the chance to sleep late due to the short distance from our dormitory to school, saving a considerable amount of tranportation fees at the same time. Then, I was informed to move to the so-called Pasir Panjang Labrador Park, a more-than-thirty-year-old dormitory catering to overseas students. The location is awesome: near the sea beach, one street away from the famous shopping mall VivoCity, one-stop distance to Shaw Centre. However, that means I have to say "goodbye" to my long sleeps and on-foot transportation. Any attempts to visit school library or teachers will be thwarted, no need to mention the possibility of living like a recluse, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, new diet lists, no on-line services...

This morning, being so panicky about packing up, I jumped up and down my chair to toss all my books on the floor for "examination". "Undesirable ones" were immediately thrown away. That was the exact time when I realised that I had so many books, in use and not in use, will be used and will never be used at all. Japanese books for the disheartening Jap Lodge, High school textbooks for Chemistry and Physics, five-line notes for my electronic piano course, as well as the old-to-core Oxford dictionary and the "cobwebbed" Family Album U.S.A...I wondered how many dustmites I may have encountered in that hectic hour.

"Move house...You think it is a piece of cake...you have to rack your head out." I swore everytime I digged a hole in floor and discovered another pile of Lian He Zaobao, stripping off the popcorn part and pile the rest beside the rubbish bin.

"Two boxes! Remember...we can only afford to give you a place for two boxes..."Boarding manager repeatedly reminded us the restriction.

The biggest dilemma lies here...You can neither bring all necessary things out or leaving all unnecessary things here. What you can do is, throwing things right away or like my godfather suggested, having a jumble sale, which made least sense to me.

Sleep away the problem, let the problem get solved by itself.

It is sometimes a really nice strategy, considering that everything is not sealed to its fate. As it turned out, my sister's and my own appication for staying during holiday period were successfully granted and no more move-out panic will strick us! That is really unexpected. Now, while others are in a panic in trying to get enough room to store their goods, I can say with relief,"you want card boxes? I have. $2.50 each. Great deal."

Labrador Park.Hmm...maybe it is a good place to dream about, but for a really nice place to settle down, I prefer my good, old, nice, fabulous, 5-Star NUS Boarding School.

"Hey you want scouch tape to seal the box edges? I can lend you some, you know, my mother have moved house for four times...now I am quite an expert in packing up, you see, I can......"knowing that you are actually not moving, it may be just nice to lend a helping hand. Any way, it is just such a good luck.

A really good luck for me! Thank you boarding manager, Mr Lam, Mr Ng and Sandra for making all these achievable!

An exciting October

18th Oct is one of the historical moment in my boarding life because on that special night, all members of my boarding school attended the annual formal dinner in the NUS High School hall. A few days before the actual event, the festive mood began to brew as we took helm of the decoration of the school hall. It took several days to cut out the curtain from the silk cloth and it was no easy stroke to hang them on the hooks, but we made it. Special credits went to Leon and Chi, who had gone through a long way to make the handicrafts. Those beads from Vietnam are dazzingly beautiful! What amazed me most was that they were willing to spend one whole night cutting out the giant masks with hardboard, regardless of their tiredness. We should all appreciate them for raising up our celebrating mood.

The actual dinner was like a grand fashion show. I surmise that is one of special Singapore cultures. During formal dinner, everyone looked so special. We all went out of our way to look different and that worked for all of us. Tomboys ended up bearing amazing resemblance to Robinhood, muggers like Daniel and me ended up looking like working people:( "Ladies" all looked pristine and pretty, gentlemen like Robby and Richard all put up their very best suits and ties to please those "ladies' and they indeed did a very nice job. We took a lot of pictures together with Sec4s because in two days they would sit for their O Levels. Mdm Lim, Mrs Lee and Mr Cheng also came to accompany us. It was really a grand night--the grandest night ever!

Performances were really wonderful and awe-inspiring. The China violinist has consummate skills to win our tears through his performing. We went for his rehearsal and those beautiful pieces were really instilled with rich emotions. The actual performing was just as nice, I reckon the whole cohort was shocked by it. According to a Vietnamese boy sitting beside me, the violinist is well famed in his school in many areas, indeed, he later shown us that his dancing skills are just as breathtaking.

Here comes the mask! To suit my dress,I chose a red mask for a good match but unfortunately the rubber band refuse to cooperate at the last minute. Thank goodness there was a considerate receptionist at the party offering us brand-new, shiny, brilliant masks. That allowed me to get a silvery purple one.

Those shots captured by my Canon will become my everlasting memory. Those beautiful, handsome faces will live with me for the rest of my life. I believe, whatever we become in the future, CR17 will always be a family for every one of us to draw energy, support, and love from.

One year before we are apart, so, cherish it, as we are growing out of childhood.

Smell the Flowers

With the last marked paper falling into our hands, the End of Year was over. Everything. Anxiety and hope, excitedness and sleepless nights. It is always easy to exaggerate the difficulties that are in store for you but hard to remain composed when you are supposed to. This time, I can only say that I am glad to gain both joy and regrets, which gave me a blow while kept me going on without losing my heart.

I still appreciate that the first two papers I got were a huge blow. It struck an alarm within me that kept my following holidays unsettled. Chinese Literature and Higher Chinese, which are my strengths, maded me feel like Napoleon Bonaparte after the Battle of Waterloo. Most people are bewitched by the marks, but I learnt an important lesson in these two papers: never be complacent, always practice and communicate with fellow learners. The lack of information on ancient mythology was a big strike basically because I failed to interact with others on some topics, which resulted in lossing marks on a massive scale. Locking oneself in an empty room and trying to ruminate the essence of Chinese Literature is impossible, pair-work and group discussion are the ways. Likewise, being too confident in dealing with Chinese paper is not at all wise. My summary hit its historical low due to my misconception, which was partially caused by lack of practice. One cannot use "no time" as the reason all the time, one cannot seek salvage in self-illusion, one must not depend upon "being wise on the spot" because once you fail to pracitise, the possibility of making stupid mistakes "on the spot" will greatly increase.

This also applys for my History and Social Studies. Preoccupied by the structured-essay questions, I did not even allot a single afternoon for my source-based questions, not even a last-minute revision. This proved to be a serious misstep. However I greatly appreciate it. I appreciate my loss in marks. If teachers let me get away with flying colours without paying sufficient efforts, I would develop the illusion that SBQ was absolutely de-texted, thus would continue on the wrong track and pave way for the ultimate fiasco.

I need to feel the pain...when I am still young enough to afford to feel it.

One subject I have to serious blame myself is Maths. Both Maths I did not do up to my expectation partly because of complacency. E-Maths paper one should be a reminder all the time. It is a paper in which carelessness can be fatal. There is no exaggeration here. In a simple paper when every concept is obvious, it is always hardest to illustrate or show the concept to the fullest. "Details determine a person." I should not be contented when paying attention to details is still my plaguing weakness. A-Maths became my laughing stock because though I had almost 30 minutes to check for errors, I slip into my old mindset and fail to detect a single error when I had plenty of them. What revealled here was that I need to reconsider my attitude towards maths. It looks for details. Always and forever. Facing with questions that make you sratch your head, you should not give in.

I need to learn from my mistakes, that is why an examination can make the best lesson ever. I appreciate it for letting me know my weaknesses, bit by bit, once for a time, until ultimately i can grow out of them. That is what learning is all about.

However, though it is necessary to learn from mistakes, it is not at all wise to fall in the same banana skin over and over again.

And beyond studying, I have a lot to learn, which I have the confidence to handle it well with so many responsible and assiduous role models by my side.

Let's leave all the marks to yesterday and strive for tomorrow.

That is what really counts.

"Sleeping on your old fetes can only make those fetes to stale, decompose, and be devaluated, so be awake, and be a good forerunner. Do not disappoint yourself."

I shall keep that as my mental note.