Mars

Convince me!

2012-02-05T19:55:00.000+08:00

I started to wonder why I want to take KI so badly...

I guess that I should have expected that not everything would turn out my way...

I can't say what is holding me back from wanting to take GP instead...

yeah, you can call me strange, I wanted to take KI since like... before this. Partly because it sounded so interesting, and I also wanted to learn to construct 'fool-proof' arguments. I want to be 'more aware' of how I speak and to be more open-minded and learn to doubt what I hear, while not trying to fault it. All this wanting to take KI only increased after I went to VJ open house. Yeah, I know, trust me, I KNOW that I am in TJ and that things will be different blah blah... But how much different can a syllabus be?

I was worried and muddled up for the past few days, to the extent that I was confused and did not know how to do what and when to do what. Perhaps all these stemmed from me being uncertain and insecure being in a new environment and all. Don't mistake me. TJ is GREAT and FABULOUS the whole time I've been here, it is just that ... my socialising skills... are not very good.

KI was a subject my sister took. It is also a subject that is not as internationally-recognised as GP. If I didn't know this, I wouldn't have been able to write this here right? KI requires writers to be concise (technically, nearly all the subjects would require students to be like this as well).

The reason why I want to take KI...
is not because I want to use it as a contrasting subject and use it to avoid taking science or math.
is not because I want to be different or stick out like a sore thumb.
is because I want to learn to be more critical.
is because the content of the subject is fascinating.

What more can I say? What more do I have to say?

Tomorrow. Tomorrow is my very last chance to see if I am able to take KI. If I can't, I really need to put this load down. Tomorrow is the last time I am going to express my persistance of wanting to take KI (if I don't get in, which there is a very high chance.)

I am fully aware that the subject combination I want to take is very 'mind-boggling' and kinda causes people to go, "what? That is the weirdest thing ever, why do anyone want to take that?". I KNOW. And I also know that wanting to take music and German simultaneously is a very big burden. Even if I told the teachers that I am willing to work hard, there is no guarantee that I really will. If I wish to take KI upon all these subjects, it could very well be the 'last straw to break the camel's back'. ... ... Do you get it? Oh well, I know that my expression and uses of expressions are strange... but you get it right? Whoever who doesn't, you can just ignore it. :P

I need to prepare myself... for the time where I have to take GP instead of KI. I need to settle my heart and soul.

Look, perhaps I sound overly-dramatic here, but the people who know me personally, some of you would know that how much I want to take KI. About the circumstances that led me to this post... I'll be sketchy? I was very confused and muddled and felt rushed and missed most of the dates that I was supposed to know. If I feel like it and I remember about this, I may elaborate... but wait long long.

I shall wait and see then. See how tomorrow goes. Technically speaking, the teacher did NOT say anything about interviewing or anything. All he said was," See me on Monday." so... What's that supposed to mean?

Cheerios!
MaRs.

Second day.

2012-02-01T18:39:00.000+08:00

I've been in TJ for two days already, as in today was my second day. So many mixed feelings. There isn't anyone I'm particularly familiar with, and though my P6 friend is here, I doubt that i can meet her very often! :(

Oh well.
C'est la vie! (This is life).
Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, the future's not ours to see, que sera sera.

I ought to clarify something first: it's not that I'll die literally if there is no one I know next to me. It's just that although I'm able to go where i want to go, talk to anyone I want, I'll get lonely sometimes...either way. :D

The teachers went through the subject combination yesterday... I wanted to be greedy and look for both the one on music and foreign language. :D however... I went to the music one and there wasn't enough time for me to go to the foreign language one. ( but then again, I think they may not encourage students to take two electives... D: ) Looks like I'll need to see the teacher again for this... and it is also for this reason that I haven't submitted my course registration yet, though registration closes this coming Friday... I went to the website... and I was like... WAAAHH!!!! WHY CAN'T I SUB TWO SUBJECTS!!! and yeah, but ... yeah... I'll be honest. The reason why I came to TJ was purely because I wanted to take MEP and German simultaneously. RJ is out (cos my results can't make it in, I mean, like duh!). As for ACJ, it is too far... :( and I think I would feel even more out of place there. So?? How?? I came TJ. MEP!!! I really want to take it... and German...

I know that the school told us to consider our subject combination based on what we want to study in university. What if I don't wish to go to a local U? (Seriously, this is what I'm saying NOW. Capital N-O-W! this may change five years umm... I mean, five months (I hope not) later.) I am seriously considering if I could go to Germany to study music. For a few reasons: Germany is very strong in Classical Music( at least, way stronger than Asian countries), the tuition there is cheaper (though not the cost of living), I think that German as a language and culture is interesting and would like to learn more about it (like... really feeling what it is like). Ist es sehr sonderbar? (translate: Is it very weird?)

I know that I sound stupid ranting like this and that I sound like a spoiled brat who wants my way in this. Let me share with you this: subject combi in JC will ultimately affect what I'll study in uni and which uni and course I can get into. OF COURSE I'LL BE FREAKING WORRIED!!!

Another subject that I want to take: KI. Prob is that though I got an A2 for English, I got 10 for raw score. To take KI, TJ requires raw of 9. So I shall appeal. Do you think they will let me take this? It's not that I have anything against GP, it is just that KI sounds more fun (of course by fun, I also happen to mean challenging). I don't mind challenges (academically, just don't dump a whole pile of somethings I can't decipher on me.). Granted, KI is not that popular cos it is a new subject and it is not as internationally recognised as GP. I know that, trust me, I KNOW. But I still want to take it, or at least, try out for it. You can say that I am a person fond of imitating my sister's footsteps in the areas that I can and find suitable. (Doesn't mean that I'll be going into film, though I picked up camera cos of her.)

History is another subject that I am rather keen on taking. Reason: I want to learn history itself, as it is what helped shaped the world to the place it is today. In fact, one thing blows up to form another, to walk the path it would have, could say that it is natural evolution. It is also what shaped music to what it is today, as well as visual arts, architecture, politics, society, philosophy, literature, etc. Music is deeply tied in with history and is affected by it in many many ways. Beethoven wrote the third symphony 'eroica' aka hero meant for Napoleon (before he proved himself a dictator). Another thing, World War Two greatly cut down demand for music, I mean, people are fighting for their lives, who is going to risk their lives and walk to the concert hall? :P ( mind you, I'm being über generic here.)

So there, you have the reasons for me taking the subjects I want to. I am not anyhow choose one, okay! :P

stressed out now!!! WHAT IF I CAN'T TAKE THE SUBJECT COMBI I WANT??? *sobs!! I really need to rush to find the teacher tmr... hopefully they will be able to make an exception...

Cheerios!
MaRs.

The End before the Start

2012-01-30T20:54:00.000+08:00

So... posting results were out this morning. I was... happy, sad, relieved, worried and etc. Happy that I was able to get into TJ. Sad that it 'finalised' the fact that the friends I have had during the four years at school and I were all stepping through different doors. Relieved that I would be able to get at least one subject that I would be most certain to treasure. Worried that I would be unable to socialise.

I am quite wistful of the days I spent in class, of the memories I created together with all my classmates and friends. What is this uneasy feeling settling at the pit of my stomach? Perhaps it is because tomorrow would disrupt the routine I have been so used to these four years. Then again, tomorrow would be the first step to building a new routine.

I'm kinda nervous for tomorrow. Setting foot in a new environment is no joke! And for the next two years. I want to be well-prepared. Things I am worried about: Getting lost in the compound and being late... Accidentally following the wrong group. Erm... Having no clue as to what the destination is and doing the wrong thing... Erm... I think those are the main things. So... Yeah, they are actually kinda stupid. Oh well, what can I say? This is me and mine truly. :D

This is the end before the start. Tomorrow, my routine will change, my environment will change... I wonder if I would change as well... If I do... well, I'm hoping not really, I just want to be able to talk more... yeah.

I'll see if I'm in the mood to post tmr. Hopefully yes.

Cheerios!
MaRs

PS: Any friends of mine who know me personally and are reading this page, just wanna let you know that you guys are awesome people! People who made me laugh, heard me complain, were with me when I started going on and on and on about rubbish and nonsense! :D

Fundamental DSLR last four lessons. :D

2012-01-30T19:04:00.000+08:00

heehee, actually, the third lesson was on last Thursday, the fourth lesson was on last Friday and the last two lessons (fifth and sixth) were yesterday. I just lazy to type. :D

During the third lesson, we went through the Manual mode and the shuttle speed (and its relation to the ISO) as well as the Tv mode. I found it interesting, despite it being kinda straightforward. The slower the shuttle speed, the more light gets in and the brighter the picture becomes. Vice versa, the quicker the shuttle speed, the less light gets in and the darker the picture becomes. Tv mode = Shuttle speed priority. After that, he briefly mentioned about tripods. If the shuttle becomes too slow, the picture may become blurred due to unintended hand motion. That's where the tripod comes in. :D

During the fourth lesson, we went to the... (what's that place??) ... the merlion that side, the side facing MBS. Main purpose was to practice shooting with slow shuttle (and to use the tripod as well). It's real fun. I don't go out very often, including to the CBD area, especially during night time. There, we also watched the laser show. It was quite... interesting, I found it quite pretty, but it seems more than tough to get a reasonably good picture of the laser show. Oh well... :( When the show was over, we tried the flash thing... Use of flash brightens up the subject while b/g remains the same, slowing down shuttle speed (or decreasing aperture, I can't seem to remember which. *cries) would brighten up the b/g as well. :D

For the fifth lesson, we went to Sentosa! :D It is kinda a rounding up of what we have learnt over the few days and well... just yeah. We had five 'assignments'... First, to adjust the depth of field while the subject stays. Second, to adjust the shuttle speed (subject is the mini waterfall thingy). Third, compression, basically your subject doesn't move, you take two pictures with the subject remaining the same size but background different (go figure, >P muhahaha. No lah, it's just that my explanation would confuse you further.) Fourth, take picture with the subject against back light. Fifth, to take pictures of someone from ... erm... differing perspective (just top down, parallel and bottom up, not literal...)

LUNCHTIME!!!!!! We had one hour lunch before meeting back in the classroom (Lesson Six). So... we went lunching together. :P The others were really friendly but I kinda felt... odd one out. Lemme elaborate: Most of them are parents with kids, the only ones (excluding me, I mean, duh) without kids are the couple. So... they were talking about kindergarten and MindChamps and tuition and Chinese. It was quite interesting listening to them. They also discussed about sending their child to private Kindergarten or government Kindergarten. here and there, it was really fun to listen.

LAST LESSON!!! The instructor mentioned some photo-editing tools that could be used, including Lightroom, and I can't remember the rest for some reason. :P Oh well. All in all, I felt that the lessons were very fulfilling and informative. :D

One of the only things I have to conclude: Dang, it made me want to attend the course for Intermediate. :P

Hmmm... Let's see, I think I might just do another post today. :D

Cheerios!
MaRs

Cycling and walking @ Tampines

2012-01-26T01:05:00.001+08:00

The three of us met up today to cycle and spend some time together. It was epic. I brought my DSLR along with me, so I would be able to take photos of my dear dear friends.

We ate breakfast at Tampines One. It is a shopping centre, one of the three main ones in Tampines. As the escalators were not on, we climbed up four flights of escalators to Koitiam for breakfast. Heehee, I started taking snapshots of them, using them as models while I tested out the different modes of white balances. After a quick walk around, we went to Sunplaza park to cycle.

Luckily one of the three of us is more experienced with cycling. Whew! We rented three bicycles, one of them a slightly taller one, that I offered my friend ( I am very bad at cycling, as in I can't seem to brake well...). The rental was surprisingly not very expensive, it was six dollars for two hours. :O!! We cycled around a bit and stopped to play at the playground ( hey, we will always be kids at heart!). Haha, I took this opportunity to use them as my models again. Using continuous shots, I managed to catch the movement of the dual swing. It is like this big basket-like thing suspended by ropes that people sit inside like a swing. Honestly, the three of us were dumbfounded as to how to sit on that swing, so we just did as we saw fit. Taking pictures of then were so fun!! ( especially when it comes to candid shots and they are not prepared for the camera) :P we went around, to find a toilet. Later, we went to a shade to cool ourselves down. And for me, to continue taking pictures of them! Haha, being bored, we went to the fitness corner and had them pose!! ;D sorry guys, I know it wasn't so easy to sit on top of the ladder thing. :( trying to be funny, I attempted the sit up. Big fail!! It was so hard (like, duh!! It was a plank of wood) and I was like 'ouch!' after one try... Took more pictures of our shadows. Little cute dear friend of mine tried to be funny and posed such that her shadow was kicking our other friend's shadow... It was simply hilarious how we lost track of time and had to rush back to return the bikes. Oh, I seem to have forgotten... I was totally terrible at riding the bike. I crashed into the bush of spider lily( I think that is what it was) once and scratched my legs... :( not from the branches, from the pedal. The other time, I veered off course and went into the grass patch and had a mini roller coaster over the semi-protruding tree roots.

After returning our bikes, we bought ice cream and went to find a 'haven' from the sun to enjoy the cold dessert. It was strange that we were digging into our ice cream while finding interest in some bugs devouring a dead lizard. ( I found that gross... ) my cartoon friends tried to imitate the qian shou guan yin, when there was only the two of them. So cute!! I had a good laugh over that! Our next stop was the Tampines Regional Library... Because of the air con. It was the best thing ever and made us so sleepy... We (or at least I know I did) wandered among the shelves with slightly sluggish footsteps.

After that, we walked to Tampines One (again) for lunch, this time we ate at Kim Gary. I like the food there quite a lot. The rest of what we did... We didn't really do that much after thatc except wander around a little more and have another drink while we reviewed today's photos amidst much laughter, that was poorly stifled.

I was actually kind of sad when we had to part, or at least them going back home. When is the next time we will meet? Will we even contact one another after this? It was so different from last year, last year was the start of the end. This year... is like the end of the end, nearing the start of a brand new journey. Everything seems so uncertain... I really do not wish to lose tough with the friends I have made... Especially those two, because they were with me from sec 1 through to sec 4. We sat together in MEP, we would sometimes recess together or lunch together before MEP and get rushed by our over-anxious friend to hurry up because we are going to be 'late', even though we still have like... 20 minutes and it takes less than 5 minutes to stroll to school. Ahhh... How I miss those days. Will they ever return? ... ... Now I am starting to rant... How strange I am.

I do not wish to make empty promises. And I am unable to predict the future. As a result, I really cannot tell if I would ultimately lose touch with them, although I would be very unhappy with that ending.

Oh well, perhaps I should just let nature take its course.

Cheerios!
MaRs

Ps: it is damn late already!! I am still here only because today's photos are taking damn long to load on fb. Sobs. It is expected, I have 550 photos brin uploaded simultaneously. To my two dear friends, you know who you re. I'd you happen to read this post, I would like to thank you for turning up for this mini outing and letting us have a wheel of a time, even though I am more than rattling my teeth out with all my talking incessantly and not really letting you guys get the words out of your mouths more than half the time... :D I really wish that we would not lose contact. :P even when we are like... 50.

CNY Eve!

2012-01-22T22:07:00.000+08:00

Yosh! I'm back!! This time, it's from my paternal grandmother's house. :D It was just the six of us for dinner, my grandma, my aunt, my cousin, my dad, my mum and me. :D

There's not really that much things to share, because it was relatively uneventful. Erm... I took my DSLR there to take more photos. My cousin has many many anime stuff in his room, right, perhaps that is an exaggeration. He has... three or four shelves (the display type) that has a few models on each level. Turning around gave me a shock. There were anime posters plastered together... very neatly.

I wasn't able to talk to him again, my cousin... It feels so... cold, in a way. Oh well, each year I say that I want to talk more with my cousins, be it maternal or paternal side, but every year, that is the first resolution to go down the drain. Now, I'm only able to talk better with a particular cousin, the one mentioned in the previous post, on my maternal side.

Oh well, let's just take things easy, no? Need to get back to sorting out my images. :D

Cheerios!
MaRs

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!

CNY Eve!!

2012-01-22T16:58:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year's Eve!!

This is still a bit early to post... although it is already 4 plus pm here, nearing 5 pm. Anyways, did I mention that I have some China relatives (my maternal side, more like my mother's mother's mother's side...) visiting here? They are a family of three. :D A father, a mother and a little girl who is only 3 odd years old going on to 4 this year. So, they are joining us for Chinese New Year this year.

We went to my maternal grandmother's house for lunch. There were steamboat and noodles. I met my cousins again, though I didn't really have much exchange with them (if any at all). It appears that the little girl is much adored by most of my aunts, and of course, by my elder cousin (one of them and a girl) and myself. :D Having brought my DSLR along and being in need of much practice, I started shooting the little girl (with the camera). That cousin totally adored her and the little girl, being shy of strangers, avoided her initially. However, she warmed up to my cousin pretty fast.

Most of the time I spent at my grandmother's house (maternal), was just taking pictures of the little girl and some of my cousin and myself. Right now, I'm charging my Canon battery pack... wait, I didn't mean to say 'my' but ... yeah, it'll be 'mine' till my sister gets back. :P I've finished downloading the pictures from the SD card to my mac and wiped them clean. :P Without my knowledge, I snapped more than 700 photos today. Scary, I wasn't even aware of it...

Oh well, that's all I have to say... at least until I'm back from dinner at my paternal grandmother's house.

Cheers!
MaRs

Camera Day 1 & 2

2012-01-21T23:22:00.001+08:00

So... I went for this camera course. It's a six lesson (each being 2 hours).

Reasons why I went for this course:
(1) To learn more
(2) To better understand what my sister told me... :P
(3) It sounds like fun!
(4) To better know how to use my camera (not really mine, it's my sister's, but since she left it here... :D )

It's quite obvious which one is the main one, eh? So, it is really enriching. The first lesson was yesterday and the second lesson was today morning (it was a practical work).

The instructor (I think he said he was the assistant, but still an instructor...) mentioned about the depth of feel, aperture, ISO (formerly known as ASA), framing (in brief), photography vs painting (also in brief, well, kinda), erm... ... Yeah. The aperture numbers: 1.0, 1.4, 2.0, 2.8, 4.0, 5.6, 8.0, 11.0, 16.0, 22.0... ( One or two of them may be wrong but yeah). My sister also mentioned this, a few weeks prior to this session's. See the pattern? Alternate numbers are doubled at each turn. There is actually something else, each number is multiplied by a square root 2. ASA is the speed of the film and cannot be changed on film cameras, unless, of course, you change the whole roll of film. ISO is the sensitivity of the digital imaging system. But well, they are the same thing. The Rules of Threes were also mentioned. As to why we prefer things in the 1/3 or the 2/3 of the picture instead of smack-centre, we were told that on our faces, our eyes is on the 1/3 line from our forehead to our chin. :D ( I know that I didn't explain it clearly here, but if you google it, there will be clearer explanations. :P) For White Balance, there are several modes: Auto WB, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light. For Daylight, Shade and Cloudy, the pictures will look more yellowish. For Tungsten and Fluorescent, the pictures will look more blu-ish. My sister once mentioned that if one takes a piece of white paper, and hold it under Sunlight or outdoors, the paper will appear slightly blue. If it is held under Tungsten or Fluorescent, the paper will appear slightly yellow. That is why when the mode is changed to Daylight, Shade or Cloudy, the pictures will add a more yellow (warmer) tone to it. When the mode is at Tungsten or Fluorescent, the pictures will be added a more blue (colder) tone.

Today's practical was at Clarke Quay. There's so many things I didn't know and that I have learnt! The instructor told us to set the mode to Aperture-Priority. We took several photos of the Clarke Quay sign using the different White Balances. We also learnt the ... square square thing. Bascially it is just aligning the picture so the buildings in it will not appear slanted. After that, we paired up and took pictures of each other, keeping the aperture and subject and subject-to-background distance constant, just moving ourselves and the lens. With the subject kept at a constant "size" in the picture, it was interesting. After that, we did the back lighting. Again, we kept the aperture constant and but changed only the exposure value. The pictures turned out pretty interesting. The faces were brighter and more pronounced while the background became over-exposed, too bright. The next exercise was to keep constant the exposure level and change the aperture. Purpose is to see how the aperture affects the depth of feel. The clearer the picture is from the point of focus, the greater the depth of feel. The blurrer the picture is from the point of focus, the shallower the depth of feel. Being the strange person I am, I used another person's waterbottle (in a plastic bag), and later my watch and my own water bottle, as my subjects. :D Later, we learnt to use the asterik thing on the canon (sorry, I can't seem to remember what it is called.) It enables you to take pictures of a person in a shade in broad daylight without the person becoming chao-da. (Well, something like that, you get the gist of it... ) Through many failed attempts, I finally got it!!! (By cheating...)... Say, if there's a person standing in a shade, the 'proper' way to take the picture would be to zoom or walk in, get the person's face through the eyehole, press the star button and hold it, zoom out or walk back out and take the picture. :D Sounds fun right? What I did... point to a random shadow, press star and hold, point at target and shoot, I mean shoot as in take the photo... :D

All in all, today was a really fun day! i have learnt a lot and gained even more! This enabled me to better understand how to take pictures and how to better control this camera (while it is still under my care... MUHAHAHA!!!)

MaRs

PS: I posted it on Flickr, under... contrast ( I think).

Faust by Goethe...

2012-01-13T22:40:00.000+08:00

Yeah, I read Faust, the version that was translated into English by Philip Wayne. It took me quite some time to be done with it and even then, I'd say that I understood about 20 - 30 % of it. Some parts are actually quite understandable, while others... I have zero ideas what were happening.

I am really quite grateful that I read the book on Romanticism first before Faust. :D That was a good choice. That book on Romanticism mentioned some things like 'Church and State', the roles of females. At least I was able to note those social roles that I would have, otherwise not noticed at all. :P

Faust sold his soul to the devil (Mephistopheles) in exchange for more knowledge (although I'm still quite clueless if he did get any knowledge, or what kind of knowledge it was that he sought.) And then lalala, a few things happened, and he died... Mephistopheles wanted to take his soul away, as stated in the deal, but the angels came and redeemed him. So, Mephistopheles wasn't very happy. Some sentences here and there in Faust is taken from the bible. Call me biased or anything, the devil actually quoted from the bible!!! I think it was only one line, but still!!! Did he read the bible or something?? O.o *shocked.

There were some awesome quotes...

"All his words task my hearing sore,

but I seem no wiser than I was before." - Emperor.

(He said this after the astrologer rattled on a whole list of stuff that I didn't understand either, but I am pretty sure that he mentioned quite a few constellations. The meaning in short: I don't understand what you just said.)

"Nature and Mind! - Terms the Christian ears resist!

For talk like this, we burn the atheist.

Such words are full of danger and despite:

Nature means Sin, and Mind the Devil!" - Lord Chancellor to Mephistopheles.

( I thought that that was kind of harsh. Burning the atheist?? Just because someone's view differ from yours?? Wow... Additionally, it appears that thinking for yourself is 'against the books' and that natural course of events should be prevented. That's so... stiff.)

This two quotes kind of stuck in my mind, perhaps it was because I actually managed to understand it. Oh, to state the roles of females, I'll type another quote down.

"Saw you in my hopes a bride,

Rich in wedded rank and pride." - Mother to daughter.

( kind of speaks for itself. Marriage is more of duty and ranks matter more than feelings would, in a way. This also shows that females tend to be more dependant on males than in our current society.)

Faust is indeed a good read, but alas, the pretty words and alliterations and metaphors were all lost to me. Sigh, perhaps I'll try to read this again five or ten years later. :D

Cheerios!

MaRs

Myer-Briggs Test

2012-01-12T19:16:00.001+08:00

INFJ - Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging
(Introverted Intuition with Extraverted Feeling)

The Protector

As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it.

Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized.

Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people's opinions. They believe that they're right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there's always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don't often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don't believe in compromising their ideals.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture.

An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

Hmm... This is interesting. I would say that it is somehow scarily accurate, though I'm not so sure of some parts... Oh well. :D The website I took it from is: http://www.personalitypage.com/INFJ.html. I took the test online. So... it's interesting...

Cheerios!
MaRs

Open houses

2012-01-11T23:03:00.002+08:00

Open Houses today... A LOT!!!!!!!!!

A friend and I went to several JC open houses today. By several, we mean three. It was interesting, especially the rushing around from Yio Chu Kang to Dover to Marine Parade... Long mrt rides... Guess what, we even got lost trying to locate ACJC. Epic fail trying to follow other people to our destination... It's not that we followed the wrong people (who were going to a different place), it's just that we followed people who ALSO didn't know the way... :P In the end, we were saved by GPS!!! :DDD

I actually have my eyes set on a particular JC (can't seem to recall if I have mentioned this already or not). It's actually a little ironical that I went to three JC open houses when I know there's a high probability that I would NOT end up there. AJC and ACJC simply because THEY ARE TOO FAR!! As for VJ, hehe, erm... I'm not really confident of getting in... and also because they do not offer the subject I want. >< Lame? Still, that particular subject means A LOT to me... And that particular JC I want to get into? Their open house was BEFORE THE RELEASE OF THE RESULT!!!! *cries!! I kinda wanted to go, but didn't want to change my guitar timing THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!! ESPECIALLY NOT FOR THE FIRST LESSON OF THE YEAR (and after many many many months!!)

Learnt a bit more about KI (Knowledge and Inquiry). In actual fact, though we said we knew near zero things about that subject, we kinda... looked it up beforehand (not that it was as informative). The teacher at VJ started talking about KI. It's really an eye-opener, makes me want to take it even more!! (Only if I can...) I have NO IDEA how long he talked about it for, because it was SO ENGAGING, that I completely lost sense of time. Certainly, KI is NOT a subject to be underestimated and I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to cope with it. However, I really want to know more about it. :D Counts as a reason? As he said, it is not an easy subject, in fact, it is quite challenging. There seem to be no O-Level subject similar to KI. I felt a bit sad that I wasn't planning to go VJ... :'( Oh well. :D At least I learnt a bit more about it. :D Yay!!

I know what subject combination I want to take. I know it won't be an easy road, but I'm more than prepared to face it head-on. After all, this is something I'm going to choose, it's my choice. :D I'm prepared to put in like... ten times the effort I put in for O-Levels!! (Does this show how serious I am?)

Rushing from open houses to open houses was ... interesting... ... Just remind me to NOT DO THIS AGAIN!!! :P Yeah.

This is it for Open houses, I guess.

Cheerios!

MaRs

PS: Met so many people I know today... (kay, not that many but still... Wasn't expecting to meet ANYONE I knew... wondering why I even thought that way). Some MEP classmates, some classmates, more classmates and schoolmates, one P6 classmate, one ex-classmate who transferred to IP at VJ. :D

9 Jan tomorrow...

2012-01-08T22:33:00.002+08:00

It's 9 Jan tomorrow. 9 Jan, 9 Jan, 9 JAN, 9 FRICKIN JAN!!!

What's the deal? O's result is coming out. Yeah, I know, and trust me, I DO know, that it is not a life-threatening issue, I wouldn't have my lifespan chopped in half just because of this. But you know what? That doesn't really help. Yeah, I know as well, that it is not the "end" of my life.

BUT IT STILL MEANS A LOT!!!

Right, anyway... I'm trying my UTMOST to be "laid-back" about this and push this out of my mind and MAKE MYSELF DETACHED FROM REALITY!!!! If you read my previous post... Wait, I think it's two post back, the one that's the first post of the year, yeah, I like to try to keep my disappointment level to the minimum and that's the reason WHY I keep my expectations as low as possible. However, there is still a limit as to how low the expectations are.

Let me really, really simplify the scoring system, since I'm quite a bad "explain-er". Our grading system is A1, A2, B3, B4, C5, C6, D7, E8, F9. The greater the number is, the lower your actual percentage is. D,E,F, or 7,8,9 (in our case) = fail. A1 is the best (75% generally). Why generally? Because when it comes to O-Level, there is the bell-curve system to keep the students from ALL scoring too well or ALL scoring down-in-the-dumps grades. In short, the lower you score, the better. If you get above 20, you won't stand a chance to get into Junior College, and in fact, you won't really have that much to choose from the polytechnic courses either. From what I know, the.... what's that called??? erm... Psychology in Poly needs 9 to get in. And no, there's no such thing as Psychology in JCs.

I know what I want. I know where I want to go. I know how I am SUPPOSED to do. But it doesn't mean that I will be able to do well... No, definitely not necessarily. :D haha. I'm not asking for a 6. I'm not asking for like... what 9 or 10 A1s. That's crazy for me! I'm just asking for a reasonably okay score that will be able to 'guarantee' my place in that JC I want to go, without having to appeal. I'm just asking for a score that will let me continue take my German this year.

My mind is still quite a blank. :P Oh well... *heaves a sigh... At least, I'm hoping that I would be able to get this load off my chest and have a good sleep tonight. Oh, isa, if you're EVER reading this, YES, I NEED TO SLEEP COS ME AM NOT YOU!!! >< haha.

Cheerios!
MaRs.

New Year Resolution.

2012-01-04T19:21:00.001+08:00

So... I'm going back on my words in my previous post... Well, more or less anyway. What changed my mind? isa's blogpost. >< *sweatdrop. Yeah, I know right? Anyway, so this is my second post this year... Really can't believe and CAN'T GET USED TO 2012 instead of 2011... Not like this is new anyway. :D

NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS:

1) Be more active pro-active. Speak up more... (Get to know more people...?)

2) Do revision regularly... (So I won't have to feel so anxious as I did during my secondary school years)

3) Do more reading. As in, read more non-fiction, not just fiction...

4) Practice piano harder. Same for guitar. I don't care how, I shall just try to find time... Maybe in school? I hope that works...

5) Do every single one of my homework and assignments seriously. (Not that the hw I've done has not been serious or what... just... heehee btw, this is called "Quick to defend".)

6) KEEP MY ROOM TIDY!!!! I have a weird habit... Everytime I pack my room neatly... a few weeks or months later... it upgraded itself to a pigsty... Sigh.

7) Same as isa for this: File more regularly. Another thing: WRITE DATES ON MY WORKSHEETS!!! It'll make filing so much easier.

8) Clean my own room once a week!!! I shall vacuum and mop and tidy my room once a week!

9) Cut down on tuition! Because it is really costly and since most of them were on math and science... If I am able to take KI (just hopeful) and humanities, I won't need so much tuition right? Another reason is because I want more time for myself WITHOUT having to worry about tuition homework and stuff.

10) Keep in touch with my secondary school friends. I won't be very specific on this, like even just through fb is good enough for me. I don't want to forget my friends be it just a classmate I seldom speak to...

THAT'S ALL for my new year resolutions...

I borrowed a whole PILE of books (nah, I exaggerated. It's only like... 6?) from the library... I don't think I can finish in time... Let's just say I kinda over-estimated my reading capability. >< (how embarrassing). But I'm getting through. Faust is really interesting! Maybe I'll do a blog post on it and pick out some quotes.

DINNER TIME!!
MaRs

PS: I got back my kindle!! Woohoo! And first thing? Download Faust in German!

First post of the year!!!

2012-01-01T13:40:00.004+08:00

2012 is here! See ya, 2011! oh, and 2011, thank you SO MUCH for all the fun times!

2012, a new year, a new start. For once, I'm not thinking about new year resolutions. *sigh in relief*. My new year resolutions are always more or less the same... the boring old same old thing. So, none of that this year!! Muhahaha!!! Furthermore, since school won't be starting till end of January, I won't need my 'New Year Resolution' because there won't be any teachers asking that. So yeah. :D

In my 16 years of life so far, I would think that 2011 is the most amazing experience. Studying and mugging for common tests and examinations and O-LEVELS made life seem dull, but my energetic and hilarious classmates made school life shine brighter than the sun! Laughing with crazy at my silly classmates' strange antics and laughing together with my friends, made all that stress so worth it! Definitely worth it! Whether this year is gonna add on to my list of AMAZING!! will have to see first.

2011 is the year that I bought the most CD albums. :D I bought 13 from Xiamen!!! Woohoo!! Then went to Gramophone and bought more. :DD Hey, I mean, it was on offer! happy happy.

Looking forward to 2012, full of worries and aniticipation. (is this even possible?) Main worry of 2011 and 2012? 9 January. That's the day we collect our O's result. I wish that day would never come. I wish that day was over. How conflicting. I wish I know yet don't know. What I usually do, only when this concerns me and myself, DEFINITELY not for group work: Work hard, aim high, expect low. Reason? To reduce disappointment. The feeling of being disappointed sucks. It's so horrible.

AARGH!!! That does it! I'm not going to think about it until 8 January at night!! I would leave it till 9 Jan, but that might be a tad too late and I might forget to go to school. Oh well.

First post of the year is drawing to an end! Wait, has it already ended? Haha.

Cheerios!

MaRs

The end of a year and the start of another: To cherish the memories created and to create more cherished memories.

A book on Romanticism

2011-12-30T22:23:00.003+08:00

I was reading this book... and realised that it is WAY past my standard. The main thing: It is non-fiction and is very, very dry. Take a textbook for secondary students out of the shelf and multiply that by many many times. Yeah, it was THAT dry. However, I must say that it was plenty interesting.

That book is on Romanticism. It was quite queer, because the only aspects of Romanticism I was aware of, were on music and art. Perhaps I knew about Literature as well, somewhere at the back of my mind. That book covered the many aspects that contributed to the romantic culture. There was the political movement, namely the French Revolution, there was the literary movement as well and the scientific movement (in some ways).

The French Revolution played a BIG part in this. With the nobles and aristocrats out of their 'fixed' status in the society, and the society themselves willing to accommodate better to their own citizens,it is not hard to see how it changed. Being more familiar with the changes in music than anything else (see? This is what studying does to you. :P Only knowing the contents needed for examination. Wait, but leave my third language and music out of this, I love them!)... I'll approach this from the music POV first. >< During the Baroque and Classical eras, music were written mainly either for the church or the royal families. After the French Revolution, the aristocrats and nobles were removed from their positions. Who else were the composers going to write for? Sure, there was the church, but do not forget that during the revolution... going to church would seem to be quite a problem. ~~I mean, during a war on your homeground, would you go out with a high probability that you would be killed?~~ Or let's put it this way, during a revolution of that scale, everyone would be busy doing something. Furthermore, as an effect of the 'Industrial Revolution' that started before this (some would say that the 'Industrial Revolution' kickstarted the 'French Revolution'), people were able to afford more things, like the piano or education. :D That was one of the reasons why there were more pieces composed for the piano than just the usual orchestra.

As I mentioned earlier, the literary movement also played a role in this. But people were not that educated in the past right? Yeah, they were not, however, due to industrial revolution (yet again), where people (once farmers), had to go work in factories, they were required a certain level of literacy (or they would keep crashing the machines). This would mean an increase in the number or people who could at least read a little. Additionally, it was during that time that people travelled more. To North, to South, to East, to West, even to America (then known as the New World). Cool right? Anyway, this led to an increase in travel books, where people were exposed to the more 'primitive' cultures.

Furthermore, before that era, people didn't believe in a thing called 'childhood'. To them, as long as a child is able to survive without his/her mother next to them, the child is an 'adult' or something like that... How to say? As in, they do not see growth as phases. Either you are a kid or an adult. Something like that. As a result, when something like 'childhood' came up, there were many different types of sayings:

"The traditional Christian saying, popular amongst the Evangelicals, was that a child was born with original sins and needs to be subjected to harsh punishment. The Environmentalist says that a child is a blank slate that is inscribed on by education and experiences. The biologist says that a child is astrologically influenced and has pre-destined personalities. The Rousseauesque says that a child is born innocent until they are corrupted by society."

Yeah, I put the quotation mark though it is not really lifted. I tried to memorise that passage word for word, but ... failing miserably.

Yeah... oh right, some people were saying that the Industrial movement was more of an EVOLUTION than a REVOLUTION. It's so interesting. :D

That's about all I can understand without the book next to me. :P But seriously! It's so interesting and mind-boggling. (the latter because I'm unable to understand such a dry book). There are so many things that I understand yet do not understand!!!! Either way, it was a great read that was constraint due to my own flaws... Maybe I'll try to read this five years down the road. :D

Oh, the book is:"The Romantic Period, the Intellectual and Cultural Context of English Literature (1789 - 1930)." written by Robin Jarvis.

Cheerios!
MaRs

On short-sightedness

2011-12-27T00:14:00.000+08:00

I was listening to the Radio one day and heard something quite interesting.

The DJs were on the topic of short-sightedness amongst young children and invited some person who is quite familiar in this area. There, it was mentioned that one cause of increasing myopia (especially for the young kids) is perhaps the architecture. This is quite new to me as the only reasons I hear very often is that "aiyoh, kids always play iphone, of cause need to wear specs one lah".

Being in Singapore, and we all hear about limited land plenty times. Because of limited land AND increasing population size, there are many high-rise buildings in residential and commercial area. This causes some sort of "pressure" on the kids from a young age, not physically but rather mentally. This is a new concept to me, but I guess it actually makes sense. This kind of "pressure" may cause some "false" symptoms, like crossed eye, lazy eye, short-sightedness... The thing to take note of is that the kids may not be myopic.

In other countries where there are less or none high-rise buildings, people are able to see further. In a way, this will let them be able to relax more. On the other hand, in a country where high-rise buildings are dominant, people may feel restricted and thus cause unnecessary pressure on our eyes.

They also mentioned that some parents do not bring their child to test for their eyes as they do not wish their kids to become accustomed to wearing specs. However, it appears that it is the wrong concept as like everything in the early stages, the false symptoms may be able to be corrected. In a way, this boils down to public education and these kind of thing is not such a common topic so... yeah.

That was really interesting and an eye-opener for me. Who knew that architecture would have connections with a person's myopic symptoms. Perhaps, just perhaps, that is the reason why we are told to look at greenery more often. Not only because the colour green is "beneficial" for the eye, but also because where there is greenery, there will be space, no matter how big or small.

Cheerios!
MaRs

PS: PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM WRITING THIS SOLELY BASED ON WHAT I HEARD FROM THE RADIO!! I'M ASSUMING THE SOURCE IS RELIABLE (WHICH IT SHOULD BE). :D HAVE A NICE DAY!!

Leaving once again...

2011-12-24T20:43:00.001+08:00

Hi, this is my second story here. It has zero connections to the first. I just felt like writing (typing) this because ... just because. There may be some problems with my language and grammar... please pardon those errors.

_________________________________________________________________

The boy halted in his tracks and stared. The breath he held in gushed out silently, his eyes widened, his jaw dropped. So many things were running through his mind that he was unable to pick out a coherent thought. His initial aniticipation and joy of returning to his village... vanished. It evaporated into wisps of thin smoke winding and twirling their way up to nothingness.

What stood before him... were tall skyscrapers reaching for the sky. The many skyscrapers gleamed at him arrogantly, with no sign of humility. They fought to be the most outstanding and seemed to scoff at any shophouses that were left out in the renovation.

What stood before him... were people who hurried and frowned. Well-dressed people stooped and hunched, all wearied. Their brows drew into a worried look. And in their hurried pace, they forget to look left and right, to smile. All they were doing is adding onto the dark and heavy atmosphere.

What stood before him... were kids shuffling along with the crowd, their head buried into their latest gaming gadget. Where on earth did the kids who met with their friends to play marble and five stone and hopscotch? Where did that life move to?

What stood before him... was a place he couldn't call 'home' anymore...

His heart ached, ached for the kampong days where chickens and cows moved freely, ached for the older days where he would run to school along the dirt tracks, ached for the days where he, along with his friends, played marbles.

It has only been ten years... the boy wanted to return to the old days... He wanted a time machine and wind the time back. He yearned to be able to run to his grandma's house and collapse on her legs and wail to his heart's content. However, that was in the past. It is no longer possible... His granny's house would be to his right... but all there was... is just a barricaded area that states," Construction work".

The hurt, the pain were unbearable. If he had been stabbed a hundred through his heart, it would not even be able to match up to half the pain he was experiencing. He could no longer feel the wind running through his hair. All there were, were the hot air from the cars whizzing past him and the cold air from the opening and closing of the shopping center doors. There was no more warmth, no more kindness, no more humility, no more home...

Ever so slowly, he turned back... and stumbled his way back...

When he first left the village, he left as a cheeky young boy that everyone doted on...

When he left the village once again, he left as an orphan...

_________________________________________________________________

Perhaps the readers may find this not so... fitting... I was wondering how sad it would be if someone left their hometown and return to find it a 180 degrees different... Perhaps the readers would say the emotions were captured 'incorrectly'. If so, kindly pardon me, I haven't been through that kind of situation, but there may be a day where I may... My country is ever changing... Has changed plenty and still is...

Either way, I hope that you had enjoyed it...

Cheerios!

MaRs

Walking day!

2011-12-22T20:19:00.000+08:00

I hung out with my sister today, after her breakfast with her friend and before her dinner with her other friend. It was quite fun. We took mrt to city hall and walked. Being relatively unfamiliar with that area, I just followed behind my sister nearly all the way. Although I have walked through there once, I still am unfamiliar. :P Yeah, I am kind of slow, not that I was expecting some miracle to boost my sense of direction.

We had lunch in a Thai restaurant (no, it is not thai express). The pineapple fried rice is sooooo yummy but... I couldn't finish the portion... Sigh... ... Let's try going without breakfast next time before heading there. After our hour-long lunch, we went to Funan, Adelphi, Peninsula Plaza. There were so many cameras and lenses (sadly, they appeared the same to me... ) nevertheless, I still found them really cool. :D!!

Talking to my sister is really fun. Perhaps it is because I don't get to converse with her as often as I do with my mum or my friends. Or perhaps it is because she is so knowledgeable. As usual, this clueless me has no idea. Either way, whether or not this counts as a 'bonding time' is irrelevant to me. All that matters is that I get to talk to her. I do admit that there may be many times where I fail to catch on what she tries to teach me, but that does not make the topic less boring. I mean, she is well-read and really enjoys what she is doing right now so, of course I will be happy for her. :D

Right now, I am at home... My feet hurts!! (walking was alright, but taking a half-hour bus ride while standing and trying to balance is kinda tough.)

Shall create a new label! :P

Cheerios,
MaRs

2011-12-20T21:23:00.001+08:00

I am listening to 'The War is Not Over', sung by MLTR (Michael Learns to Rock). This is the 9th song in their album 'Eternity'. It is a truly beautiful song and it is so touching. To me, it is something I can seek solace and comfort in. The weirdest thing? I have no idea why I like it so much, but I do know that it sparked off some thoughts in me.

"The War is not over, everyone knows it,
it's just a reason to make us believe,
That someone's the loser, someone's the winner
to make us believe that's the way it should be,
but I don't wanna believe."

This is the chorus of the song.

You know how some people are just so insistent on sorting out things into 'Black' and 'White'? Why does it have to be that way? There are just sometimes where an item is grey. However, they will still try their hardest to sort it into Black and White.

Asides from that fact, I also think that it (the wanting to sort things into 'Black and White') is quite prevalent in today's society, not just in terms of organising items. How so? When we deal with problems, or try to solve them, to a certain extent, we try to have someone to foot the mistakes. We want to be able to say," This is your mistake, I play no part in it." But is this the truth? Alike the saying," it takes two hands to clap", problems and mistakes take two or more parties to create. Furthermore, I feel that aside from that, the more important thing is to solve it, not push the blame around, no?

"I slowly walk on down into the night,
To see how the dreams of people die."

This is the first two lines of this song. I have no idea what the original context is supposed to be. However, it seems to reflect a portion of society. How many people are willing to be go after what they really want? There are many constraints, be it financial, parental, peer pressure... that prevent one from doing so. I would think that financial problem is one of the more well known ones. As a chinese saying goes,"钱不是万能，但没有钱万万不能。" (In English: Money is unable to buy you everything but without money, nothing can be done) Please pardon the translation. Some people work their ass off doing some work they are not entirely content with, just to earn money and have a better life when they retire. Some throw their dreams away to secure their future. I think that is sad, to live an unfulfilled life is sad, to the extent that it is tragic. (Depends on situation, though.)

Either way, the lyrics is truly beautiful, if any blogwalkers happen to read till here, you may consider looking for the music or lyrics. :D it isn't very long, the music is about 3 minutes.

Cheerios!
MaRs

Confusion

2011-12-12T21:38:00.001+08:00

You know, I am actually quite confused about myself. What kind of person am I really? I thought and thought and drew ZERO conclusions. Maybe this is what they call 'self-discovery'.

I really envy those people who know themselves inside-out. When they are able to say," I cannot study -somewhere- because -of something-." I just feel ... inferior? I have no idea either. Maybe it's respect or awe that they know themselves so well. You know how some people take a glance at someone else and says, "I don't like her/him." or "That person is so snobbish." I can't do that. I don't even know what type of people I prefer to be with. Maybe that is just me and my lack of preference. Either that or I am just too good at misjudging people and so I refrain from doing so.

Another thing about me. I get confused about how I see things. The negative happenings, I seem to forget about them more easily than some other people. Additionally, it seems that my emotions are reflective of what happens around me... Or maybe I am wrong about this... dunno. Maybe I am a stubborn girl who thinks of myself a certain way but am in fact someone else. *cries* I wish I have a straight answer. Then it would be easier for me to deal with problems. (Matte ne, does it make it easier or makes no diff...??)

I have NO CLUE as to what type of person I WISH I am. I know. I know that I care about other's comments on myself, whether they think I am irritating, annoying, a chatterbox... etc. You name it all. Lack of self-confidence, I think so too. I am a type of person who is reliant on others. (sometimes). If I feel that I am alone. If I know that I am not alone, then whatever. Because all I know now is that the person I am inside is different from the one I portray myself to be. With strangers, I am quiet, but with familiar people, I am ... ... the type of person who can burst their eardrums due to the eardrums being worked overtime.

One of the few things I know about myself is that I am unable to read people's expressions. Sad. However, I can tell when school teachers were going to get irritated or angry. When it comes to other people... tough luck. Sometimes, I would take a stand on something but it is not really what I believe. Something like 'easily swayed'?

Another thing I know is that I do not like having poor relationship with others, be it my family members or my friends. Wait, I don't even like others having poor relations with their friends. I mean, it is so saddening. We are all people, humans or same species within the animal kingdom if you want to think it that way. Why do we get into arguments. I understand that more often than not, we have our own views but why can't we just accept that most of the times there are not clear 'right' or 'wrong'.

Something I was thinking about and figured out: In some ways, I am prideful. As in... if it is with my own family, I wouldn't touch seafood (fish is an exception). However, if I were with other people like... distant relatives, and seafood was offered to me... I would eat it. Because I do not want them to think that I am a choosy eater (even though I am one in actual fact). I am also the type of person who does not like apologising, even if it is my fault. Wait... let me correct that. If I was in a quarrel with a friend for something that is entirely my fault, I would apologise. If I was in a quarrel with a friend for something that is a SHARED fault and she doesn't want to apologise, I would apologise...(halfheartedly). If I was in a quarrel that is her fault, I would apologise... over a note or sms, because like I mentioned earlier, I do not like being on bad terms.

This is me, confused about me. Who I am as a person. What type of person I am. Listing this down doesn't really clear my confusion though. :(

MaRs.

PS: I forgot to mention that I am damn random and will always jump topics...

Back from Xiamen!!!

2011-12-05T15:26:00.001+08:00

Yeah, I am back!!! I went with my mum for a 5-day tour of Xiamen, Shantou and Chaozhou (Guangzhou). After that, we stayed for another 5 more days to visit my relatives in Xiamen.

I went overseas before, there were some where we followed tour groups, some where we walked ourselves (of course doing some simple homework beforehand) and some where I followed school. However, this was the first time that I felt so... emotional about leaving that country. It is not like I made a big deal out of it, just thought a lot about it.

During the five-day tour, I learnt a lot, a lot of information. The tour guide was really friendly and she knew soooo much things!!

In Xiamen, we went to the 南普陀 Temple, the 白鹭公园 Egret Park, 环岛路 Island Ring Road, 茶博士, 虎溪. The park is so pretty. The reason why it is called Egret park is because last time, there were many many egrets on the island but when people moved there, the egrets became lesser and lesser, the statue of a lady and an egret perched on her shoulders is to remember the egrets.

After that, we went to 汕头. The bus trip took about 4 hours. Although the road was not really well-built, but I saw many things that I could never see in Singapore. There were farmers with straw hats farming, there were chickens, hens and roosters roaming about freely, there were cows amongst the grass swinging their tails about. Such a countryside view, it is the first time I ever saw anything like that. Just looking at that view, it is as though all the worries and stress vanished. There, we went to the 步行街. There were so many shops selling clothes and shoes. Honestly, it is nice to be there, but I didn't really like the shopping part. :P

The next day, we went to 潮州. This time, the bus ride was shorter. We went to 龙泉岩寺, 中山公园, 韩文公祠, 北阁佛灯, 开元寺，外观湘子桥，at night, we went to a shopping mall. I was soo relieved that I could buy a micro SD card for my camera. If I couldn't take any more photos, I would be more than disappointed. That bridge is really interesting. It consists of 24 pavilions and about 18 boats. In the morning, the boats will be joined together, so the fishing boats who wants to go out has to be out before then. In the evening, the boats will be separated, to enable the fishing boats to return. I bought playing cards!!! You know, the type that has the pictures of the sceneries? Yeah, I like to buy those types to keep as a memory.

The following day, we returned back to Xiamen. We stopped by the Hakka 土楼. We went up by the mountain road. The 土楼 has been around for about 200 years and is circular shaped. Majority of the people living there are either the elderly or the young kids, as most of the young people moved out. There are no windows on the first storey to prevent robbery. There was a yangqin there. They said that only one person there knows how to play that instrument or something. It is so cool! It has the same shape as the yangqin we normally see, but it seems that the tuning is slightly different. Whatever the difference or similarity, it is so oriental it made me want to stay there and listen to it all day long. Pity I couldn't. When we went back to Xiamen, we visited SM mall, the pearl whatsoever and the massage parlour?? I am not sure, not that I care a lot anyway. I don't enjoy going to those places where it is compulsory to go to. :P They keep talking to you, wanting you to buy their products even if you clearly do not need or want it.

For the next five days, where we were free to go where we want to go. We went to walk along the 步行街 at 中山路. That road is not very short, but it is really fun to walk there. I bought two CDs from a CD shop. It is so hard to find the older albums in Singapore, but they actually have stock of them over at Xiamen!!!! I am soooooooo happy! More than happy, elated. We also went to some shopping centers at the 火车站. There was another CD shop and I bought ten at one go. :P So fun!!! We also went to 鼓浪屿. I love that place! There is a piano museum there and there were sooo many pianos! Clementi, as written there, was the only pianist who manufactured pianos. That island does not allow cars to go on and everyone has to walk there, with an exception for the police.

I saw my relatives. There were four younger kids, one boy and three girls. So happy. In Singapore, most of my cousins are older than me, the only ones who are younger, is a pair of twins. The oldest there is 8 years old and the youngest is 3. So cute! Being with them is very fun and I want to go back to visit them! The boy is 8 and he is really awesome at computer games. He also takes care of his younger cousins well! At the dinner table, some of them weren't there yet, he helped me pluck out the meat from the 田螺. So memorable. The other night, we went to one of my yibo's house for dinner. They have a piano there! The grandfather there plays erhu. And he played it so well I was getting jealous, not that I even touched that instrument before. :D It is so nice that they are friendly with each other.

Ten days of journey, I can't really describe how I felt. However, I do have to say that it is very different from my previous trips overseas. Perhaps it is because Xiamen is not too different from Singapore in their greenery and skyscrapers. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and the places I went to are still fresh in my mind. I am not sure that these memories would remain as clear, but whatever it is, at least I would remember how much fun I have had there.

Cheers
MaRs :D

PS: I know that this is an über long post, but hey, I haven't been here for so long and it is not as though I get to travel overseas every other day. Oh, I still haven't sorted the wall paper thing, so... let's just leave it at this. Oh, I also can't really figure how to enable comments, so... if there are any, just leave them at the cbox, I will look through it, though it appears a bit spammed. :P

Silence

2011-11-21T19:06:00.001+08:00

I would like to post a title, but apparently, it doesn't show up with this blogskin. I shall just wait till I a)change a blogskin and hopes the title appears, or b)I manage to figure how to fix the html...

Anyway, the title shall go here: Silence
_________________________________________________________________________________

I once saw a beautiful girl in my dreams. She was right there beside me on a swing. Her hair was so long as it fluttered in the night sky when she pushed herself off the ground. Her mouth opened and she started laughing, except that it was muted, cut-off. Getting up, she smiled at me and left, as quietly and as suddenly as she had appeared.

It was only after I woke up that I realised, that girl was Silence.

Snapping back to see the screen done loading, I thought for a brief second how the atmosphere in the room resembled the one in my dream. There were three of us, but we were all quiet. Three of us were at three different sides of the table and the three of us were all minding our own businesses. I shifted ever so slightly in my seat. Feeling compelled to break the stifling silence, I looked up and was halfway through opening my mouth when I decided against it. What if they do not want to hear me speak? What if they decided that they hate me? What if... The questions poured out like a waterfall, harsh and heavy.

Strange... I thought to myself. Whenever I am with my friends, I would be part of the incessant chatter. The noise that surrounded my ears were comforting. Now that I am in this silent room, my ears began to buzz... It was too quiet... and my mind was too noisy. It is strange to see how incredibly busy my mind was once my surroundings had lapsed into such unearthly sounds.

Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes and bent my head down again... to mind my own business. The other two just carried on with their own business like nothing happened. I started to wonder if they would even respond had I started to speak. For a moment, I thought I felt a light touch on my arm, I thought I saw that familiar long hair dancing in the air, I thought I felt her presence. Silence was with us, in this room.

Only with her could I actually sift through my thoughts and sort them out. Had it been a normal day with my friends, I would not have bothered doing so. Now, having heard my thoughts, I realised what I should be doing. Not all silences are bad, not all silences have to be broken, after all, there are such things as 'comfortable silence'. Words are important, but they do not make up our whole lives. There are other things like our actions and even simple things like our posture and our facial expression.

In short, as long as we have no need of talking 24/7, we will discover that we will have Silence next to us. Looking up, I met Silence's gaze and smiled my appreciation.
_________________________________________________________________________________

That was the short story. I know I know that I may have slipped or that the text sounds weird and stuff, but hey, it's not like I write this all the time. :P umm... just so you know, the story is fictional, I did not dream of Silence, maybe I would tonight, but not anytime before this. Anyway, the thoughts I have had on Silence (near the back) are real.

Maybe I would write something better next time? I hope so...

Cheers,
MaRs

After o's!

2011-11-18T19:47:00.001+08:00

Finally, it is the end of O's. Haha, it actually ended like... the beginning of this week? I dunno, now that it is over, I don't really want to try to recall any memories concerning it. But wow, time really flew! I kept thinking of posting, but being the procrastinator I am... haha.

My friends and I went chalet!! Woohoo! Thanks guys for the FUN time and the most hilarious moments! It was really fun! Let's do that again! We had lunch at BK, did our own stuffs etc etc. But undeniably, we are NERDY! There were five of us. Try to picture this. One was reading, another was knitting, the third was croquetting (is this how you spell it?) the last two?? I can't really remember, but it was along the lines of taking pictures of the chalet like the light, the table. How awesome can we get? Either ways, we went to the beach to take pictures of the sunset and sunrise the next morning. It was really enjoyable because I don't really go to the beach very often. We saw a dead fish... Kay, that was random. We went cycling the next day for 2 hours straight. I fell down... Haha, it was really a careless moment on my part, because I accidentally changed one of the gears and was oblivious to it. What did I end up with? A shallow scratch and 5 blue blacks on my legs. How annoying. Technically, it wasn't so bad. This was only the second time I fell off the bike. The last time was when I was... 5,6 or 7 and was riding a four-wheeled bike. Cycling is fun!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, we had to go back to school, cos they wanted to give us a briefing on Grad Nite. After that, I went to MOELC to meet Herr Spindler. :P I got my new books!!!! So happy, I like books! Ich liebe gern Buecher! haha. Then the rest of yesterday and today was cleaning up my room. Though it is still messy... But hey, it is sooo much better as compared to the O's period. The best part of it all is that I can FINALLY dump my old old stuff away!!!! MUHAHAHA! Namely four years' worth of stuff. I can finally say 'sayonara!' *sniff sniff* so touched. jkjk. It was tough trying to get the things out... the dust sent me dashing for the toilet to sneeze. The mere prospect of emptying my room of the books and notes and stuff is so worth looking forward to!

Oh, I created a tumblr. It is... ??? Wait, what was it again?? Ooh, it is... marsmusik.tumblr.com .

This is a note to isa: I KNOW I HAVEN'T CHANGED MY BLOGSKIN YET!!! But I really really am terrible and horrible at HTML and this sort of stuff... so... I shall wait till you come over or I go over before I change it. And you'll like my next one. It shall be black, but I dunno what is yet. :D

Cheers!
Mars.

Aniticipation

2011-11-08T14:50:00.001+08:00

Anticipating for this to be over...
Anticipating for the prelude to a new chapter...
Anticipating for the reaping of what I sowed...
Not really.

I can't wait for o levels to be over. By this time, more than half of the subjects and papers are done. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea how the outcome of this would be... I have always been terrible at guessing... Which was why I couldn't stand the guess and check method in primary school maths. Kay, went out of point here... kinda??

There is sooo many things I am looking forward to... The end of tuitions especially. I have always enjoyed tuitions... Pretty much. It is the only time I actually get in touch with other people from other schools. From here... All my tuitions have ended. I am actually kinda sad for one particular one... I have been attending it for eleven years... The teachers there would have noticed my drastic transformation from an energetic and loud girl to a quiet one who is quite inactive in class. Haha. Oh, music lessons do NOT classify under the list of tuitions in my definition. Haha.

Anticipation... I have a JC in mind... But I am not particularly confident in getting in. It is not so much that I am scared of aiming high or what, I am really scared of the disappointment I will face if I fail... Yeah, call me a coward. Perhaps I really am one... How sad... But I won't change my aim just because I lack believe in myself. (that just sounded really weird) this chapter is nowhere near closing yet, but I am already looking for the next one... Sigh... How hopeless. :P

Anticipation because next year I will be having a 'fresh' start in a new school and perhaps, just perhaps I will be able to revert back to the old me and be able to speak with others and make more friends.

Anticipation... For the days after this half-demonic monster called 'O-levels'.

Mars love ya!!

O levels...

2011-10-13T14:37:00.001+08:00

Yeah, I have not been here for a looooong time!!!

There is the O's looming right ahead, and all I can think of is how much fun I will be having after that... Sigh... Repacking my room is the one main thing I am soo looking forward to. Finally, I can really clean out everything and rearrange everything.

But seriously, I am kinda disturbed by a thought... Why the hell am I not so nervous that the major exam is two weeks (actually one and a half weeks later) is nearing??

Not just that, I am having a German listening compre this Friday and German compo next Wednesday. This is soo weird, or perhaps I am the weird one...??

Counting the papers that are already over: normal Chinese was last year, mep composing was a few months ago, mep practical was over like... Two weeks ago, German oral was last week... Hmm... I actually like this layout... As in the papers are quite... spread out and that I have time to 'prepare' myself and get into the mood...

I am still thinking of after o-levels!!! I can make this room mine again!!! But I still have to do well for my O's or else I will be very sad next year...

Sigh... Jyjy then...

Mars

holiday... sigh

2011-06-18T23:09:00.002+08:00

Holiday!!! It's week 3... Next week will be the last week of this 'June holiday'. Like real it's a holiday. How much homework did we have? We're literally neck-high in this whole junk. Yeah, I get it: O-Levels is round the corner. I KNOW that this is important. I KNOW that it will 'determine our future'. Trust me, I heard enough to KNOW it.

Then why do I feel like I'm not working for myself? This will be the results that will be a part of me when I get a job in the future (wow... maybe that's a little far...).

Seriously, what is life? What is the meaning of life? What am I doing here? Here just for the test, for exams? I don't get it? And I 'don't have the time' for this 'crap'. Thinking too much and straying away from what I'm 'supposed' to be doing. I mean, from what I have so far, life is just a pile of homework waiting for me to complete. Life is just a pile of tests and examinations that you HAVE to get good grades for. Yes, grades.

But how far do grades determine our lives? I mean, hell yeah, it's important. It is a proof of our 'intellect' and perhaps hardworking and determination. But for sincerity? For honesty? Not cheating? Yeah, that works, but for how much? I mean, just because we don't cheat doesn't mean that we are honest. And then again, people always say that if you get good grades, you will be able to get stable jobs and blah blah... I don't get why most people would link bad grades with crime or something like that. I mean, the really dangerous crimes are done by damn smart people. See? So what if you're smart? If you don't uphold the right values, you'll still get in trouble. I don't think that the level of intelligence matter as much as the values we are expected to uphold.

Whatever, I'm rambling. Gonna go!!! Tomorrow will be taken up by physics. Wish me luck!

Mars!

I passed!!!

2011-05-15T21:22:00.003+08:00

I managed to pass NAPFA on Thursday. After numerous tries at the Standing Broad Jump (SBJ). The school made it so that silver (D) is the passing mark. I passed at 163 cm, just 3cm past the passing mark. My two friends whom I went with on Thursday weren't so lucky. They didn't pass and will have to retake on the coming Wednesday.

"Jia you guys! You can do it! I mean, when we kept failing, it was only be 1 or 2 cm max. Furthermore, you already passed your 2.4. Just do it! :P"

Therefore, as a result of repeated jumps, I landed with a muscle ache, till today, though it was much more mild. But climbing up and down stairs, sitting down and getting up, was just plain torture. Ouch! I must have said that like a million times already. Either way, I had it better than those two friends. They redid sit and reach like so many times and SBJ more than me. Sorry you have a selfish friend (me), but I'm quite glad that that wasn't me. Though that WAS me last year. :D

Gonna have an early night. Gute Nacht!

MaRs.

History: Communism just some thoughts

2011-04-25T21:07:00.003+08:00

Anyway, I had history lesson today. We're doing about the Cold War now. It is so interesting. She mentioned something about it being like a girls' fight, while the usual wars was more like guys fighting. Nice analogy.

A while back, she mentioned that it will be very hard for the Middle Eastern countries to go communist. Why? Simply because their lives are literally built on religion. For a country to be communist, it is not likely for religion to exist. In their communist days, USSR went about burning churches and stuff. Thinking about it... I really can't imagine what it's like to live in those days. Imagine being religious and being banned from going to church. Imagine having a faith and being forced to worship your leader as 'god'. I really wonder how those people dealt with that. But I'm still wondering... is it ABSOLUTELY necessary for the 'oblivion' of religion?

Whatever, and I ended up thinking, why did communism fail? I mean... it is like a perfect state of the world (if it was carried out properly). It is a little like 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry. It is an ordered state, everyone lives peacefully and there's never any distress. But then, it may be TOO idealistic. People ruling with an iron hand. That generation of people had gone through war. They know how the outside world is like. Flipping through my history textbook, I really dunno, but it kinda makes Stalin sound like a barbarian. (Fine, maybe he IS one). He friggin' SETS QUOTA for the soldiers to kill. He rules through fear. After him was a few other people. Then the last one: (what's his name?) Gorsbachev or something like that. ( IF you're reading this, go look up the name yourself, this source is kinda unreliable), comes along and tries to make some positive amendments. However, some of the people who benefits WANT that system. They are just so fixated on what they HAVE.

Here's my thought: IF the government was NOT corrupt, IF the people's opinions WERE heard, perhaps, just perhaps, communism might have worked better than before.

But then again, those are just my thoughts. I wouldn't want to live in such a state. Too perfect, no pain, no gain. Always being safe, always being secure. There's no fun in life. And I? I prefer my own current life.

MaRs. :D

Studying... is boring

2011-04-04T21:32:00.002+08:00

My day was quite fine. I thought she would be quite insistent on calling on me, but she hasn't for the last few days. That'll be awesome news for me. :D I don't like to be called on during class time. Don't ask me why, I just don't.

Sometimes I hear teachers saying things like, " you wouldn't want to see a FAIL grade on your paper right?" The answer is yes, I wouldn't want to. Well, most of the time. But for me, it doesn't really matter that much to me. They should have seen how much I flunked sec 2 work. I didn't see the point in studying, so I didn't. Besides Math, Chinese, German and MEP, I basically failed ALL the other subjects.

It's not like I'm a total slacker, it's just that I don't want to study JUST for results. If I want to do it, I will. It's just so hard to do that with grades and tests and exams and expectations looming over your head. Everything makes it so hard to let me find interest and liking for the subject and for me to study them. Sigh ~~

shall try to post more often. Oh, I'm merely completing this post. :D It was typed on ... ... whatever, over the weekend, I think. :P

MaRs. :D

March Holidays!!!!!

2011-03-13T22:03:00.002+08:00

Yay!!!! It's the March hols!

But it doesn't feel like holiday. In fact, none of the 'holidays' this year is gonna feel like one... sigh... no thanks to O Levels! But at the very least, I feel that I'm able to gather my thoughts better. Because it is not just school school and more school with a whole lot of homework as dessert and sleep as digestion. (If that even makes any sense).

But a holiday will be one no matter what. At least by name.

I watched the news. Japan is facing a huge disaster now... The tsunami really did them in. But I thought that they are quite efficient. If it were other countries, would they be as ready as them? Like the hurricane Katrina that hit the States back in 2004. The response was not only not immediate, but delayed. That time, the hurricane was expected. This time, the tsunami was more or less a total surprise. So I thought that they dealt with it really well. Anyway, I heard that something happened to one of the nuclear plants in Japan. Something about it exploding. It sounds so scary. Radiation is one creepy thing. You don't really know when it's near you, but the effects are horrible. I seriously hope that it will not cause a major radiation ... ... but what to do? Just wait for the report.

The news was reporting about this disaster. After this news, came the one about worry of increase of prices ... ... I mean... HELLO!!!!!! people's lives are lost, and here are people worrying about the prices due to limited stock. How lame can they get???

Back to the 'topic'. March holidays, but with homework staring at my face... sigh. Better stay off for this week. :P

Cheers!!!

MaRs

Why does time seem to fly...

2011-02-26T21:33:00.003+08:00

Hi!

As I said, it's been a super long time since I last posted here. Sigh... It's so weird. I don't even REMEMBER typing that last post there.

So many things happened. I changed my piano teacher... Yep, AGAIN. I've changed at least 6, and this is the first time I even realised how much I've learnt from EACH teacher. I don't think that it is such a bad thing to change piano teachers. I mean... there is just THAT much you can learn from one, just THAT much information and opinion you can get. Yeah, perhaps some of those things that I've learnt are quite the common sense type, but... ... (dies off).

Don't mind, the following below are just going to some prattles...

But SERIOUSLY!!! What's with that lunchtime concert thing? I mean... my piano playing isn't good. And I can't adjust to other pianos so easily. That time I played Debussy prelude (Footsteps in the snow), they told me that the tempo should be hearable. But my piano teacher told me to keep it free-flowing and the way I played for them was the same way I played for my teacher. WTH??? It doesn't matter that the basic structure should be there. My teacher told me from the start to NOT count the bar... Sigh...

Gotta run.

MaRs. :P

my december holiday aim

2010-10-23T23:15:00.002+08:00

I'm not dead... and neither am I intent on having this blog dead.

This is my list of december holiday aim:

1) revise the WHOLE of this year's work. (so I have less to do next year)

2) read more books!!!! (and write my own reviews)

3) do more rojak stuff (like play, write, draw... sew???)

4) exercise more (so next year NAPFA won't feel so tedious, hopefully)

5) make more necklaces, bracelets...

6) go shopping (????? but still come back empty-handed...)

I'll add more if I can think of more. Anyway... I quite doubt that I WILL follow up on ANY of them. I mean... that's just how I'm like. A very good example is how I would start a diary, write continuously for a few days, and the next time I see that book, I kinda chuck it one side... Not a very good habit. I know... but... what to do about it?

That MEP stuff is kinda giving me a nonexistent headache... and if I'm going to sprout any more white hair... I'll blame it on them, and oh, that english paper as well. Don't ask me why I'm so specific. I just feel like it. :D Do you NEED a reason for every single thing? If you ask me, I'll say NO! quite vehemently. So???

I won't say I'll post soon, because for all I know, the next time I visit this blog may be end of next year? Or whenever far far away.

But this is for sure:

See ya again!

Mars.

Long time no see

2010-08-10T21:28:00.002+08:00

I got a feeling that this is gonna be my title for many many posts to come. Haha. I know that I haven't been here for a long time. Many things have come to be (what do I mean? I'm not asking you, i'm asking myself)... There was many tests, and more tests. Quite tiring, honestly.

One important thing, that's one day late here, but not on my fb. Happy 45th B'dae Singapore!!!!! I like that new song, but still prefer "Home" to it. Haha.

There was the choir trip (competition) to Russia during the Junes, the MEP camp during the Junes as well, my birthday earlier this year (it's not really big, but i like it enough). There is just so many happenings. Another thing: Why does Term 1 and 2 seem so s-l-o-w... but term 3 so fast??? It was like this last year, and this year too. I am always "relatively" hardworking during the first term, second term: slack off a bit or maybe more, term 3: a-la-mak! Have to buck up a lot. Term 4... study hard and there's EOY. Starting to think that I'm weird.

Can't post too long. so, i'll go off...

Fer

P.S. One more thing. I love my third lang (german) and MEP!!!

More than half a term gone...

2010-02-07T21:11:00.002+08:00

Waa!!! More than half a term gone. Tomorrow is W6. Boo hoo！Sigh~~

Anyway, am getting used to this class. 3 Unity is fairly fun to be with. People are friendly. I don't fall asleep in any lessons, from SS to Math to the Sciences. Haha. But I find myself looking forward to recess. Can see my friend from 3J. Correction: not just my friend, but xj's friend as well. School life has been somewhat mundane. PE is not as bad as last year, I guess. School is somewhat okay. Not too boring, but not exactly that exciting either. I kinda only manage to pull through becuase of recess and lunch. In simpler words, being with my friends. Haha.

I love history. Fine, honestly speaking, we aren't doing much yet. Our history teacher said that Chapter 1 is somewhat dry, though Chapter 2 is even more dry. I vehemently disagree. Chapter 2 is quite fun the way it is right now. And xj agreed with me as well. SS is still so-so, credits to the teacher for being fun. Chinese ... I like Chinese in the first place. Though I do not look forward to the tests. I like my seat in the corner of the class, furthest away from the door and not in front of the teacher's prying eyes. It makes me feel as though I'm half-concealed. I like that feeling. Of not being noticed. Feels like I can do what I want. Haha.

I like Westlife music, and 五月天 and a German band "Wir sind Helden". Well, the German cause that is like, the only band I know. The music for all the songs by these three bands are different, but it is really nice. Maybe I'll ask either one or maybe both of the “小瓜”to listen to it. Haha. Don't be insulted, I meant it in the nice way if the two of you even read my blog.

Gotta go sleep. Will try to post more next week. Chinese New Year is just a mere week away. Can't imagine. Quite looking forward to it, I'll say.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Mars

Merry Christmas

2009-12-27T09:45:00.002+08:00

Yo! Merry Christmas to you, though it's one day late. Anyways, happyhappyhappy. Haha. That's a bit （quite lame) haha. Nevermind about that. Went to chalet 3D2N. Went to cycle. Yay!!! I can cycle!!! So happy. If you think that I've gone bonkers... I'll just tell you first. I did not know how to cycle and was desperately (not really, cause I only tried once a year) to learn but repeatedly failed (slow-learner probably) and then once I finally managed to ride. Yay! I was over the moon. (kinda) anyway, the second time I tried, it was a year ( can't remember) or a few months (about the same anyway) I was riding (trying to) around for half an hour before I got the hang of it (yeah, again). Yesterday was my third time (in my life) riding a bicycle. I was so happy (call me crazy). And anyway, Merry Christmas to everyone. See ya!

Fer (MaRs)

Yay!

2009-11-16T21:51:00.002+08:00

Yay! I got the subject combination I want! :D
C2 with elective history. :)mep and L3 Yay yay yay!!!!! I think that most people got their first choice. But I'm still happyhappyhappy!
Cheers!
MaRs.

These few days...

2009-10-28T21:18:00.002+08:00

These few days ... quite some time after the exams... feeling so empty. And during exams how I was so looking forward after exams just to find that I am wishing fervently that lessons would carry on...

Anyway, that is not my point.

There was a class outing at West Coast like... two days ago, on Monday. That was sooooooooooooo fun. Played a bit of captain's ball, eating ice cream at Mcdonalds with some of my friends, taking some jump shots (many which failed miserably), playing around. It was so fun!!! My friend and I happened to go there together, and guess what... we dropped two stops early nearby the Keppel Harbour or sth and walked all the way there... So tiring, but still fun. There was a lot of sand and I kinda made of mistake of wearing shoes and because of that, the sand got stuck in my shoes... I should have worn slippers... ...(maybe not) But the main idea is that: It was FUN!!!

Hope that we get something like that again soon. Like next year as the MEP class or something...

CHEERS!!!!!
MaRs

Post-exam emptiness

2009-10-20T14:29:00.002+08:00

I know that this is late as well ... but still yipee that exams are over!!!!!!!!!!
Last Thursday was Day of Reflection... we sat all day long at the Drama Studio. *Tiring* And last Friday was Games Carnival... I was under the sun for most of the time, so I got sunburned. Yucks. Playing frisbee is fun, though I can neither catch nor throw... I'm kind of dreading tomorrow and the day after. We'll know our results. :P Now that exams are over, I feel so empty, though I know that my room needs a big repacking. *Sigh* There are so many stuff that I only have a neat path sufficient for myself to travel across. Lalala... Good luck for tomorrow. (Everyone and myself) oh and for the day after as well.

Cheers!
MaRs

I'm Back... ...

2009-10-11T20:42:00.002+08:00

Hey. I know that I haven't been up to post for a very long long time. Sorry bout that, it's just that I was ... ... too lazy to log in and type. Haha. I'm not very fast with the com and I always press the wrong letter. Bleh. Examination period. Good luck guys. Though it's a little late cos probably there won't be anyone to read this post. Actually, on second thougths, it is very late, cos there's only three papers left. Oh well. I;m still gonna have to try my best for E-Lit ... ... ??? Cos I am just totally, utterly, horribly, terribly, ... ... (ran out of words - yeah, my vocab library is small) well, you get the idea. I like to read, but I don't like the idea of close-analysis of the passage, cos it'll make me lose interest in it. Haha. If I lose interest in a book, I kinda refuse to pick it up at all, though the only one who is not benefiting is me myself... but that's just me. :) Oh, another thing that I don't like is to get all stressed up over the exam. I try my best not to, cause I just get an uncanny feeling that I would just blow. Seriously blow. You know the type that goes BOOM in your face? Yeah, just like that. I can't really handle stress well. And if I get too stressed, I'll sleep-talk. That I'm totally unaware, but my mum told me, and she's wearing headphones! For her to have heard me... gosh, I really wonder how loud I was... Haha. That's also another reason I don't want to have to get too stressed about, I don't know what goes out of my mouth. Haha. Guess it's about time to log off. Bye. Oh, and sorry for lumping everything into a huge chunk of paragraph, I tend to split them at weird places, so I'm happier leaving them in a huge wordy chunk. Haha. Good luck!!!

Cheers!
Me :)

School Term... ...

2009-07-01T20:23:00.002+08:00

I know that GENERALLY I should have more time to post... during the holidays, that is. Anyway, here I am. School term, the third day, the END of the third day. Tomorrow's the fourth day... Once the school term starts, it feels as though there NEVER even was a single day of holiday, not even one. That's how I feel, and to think that I was relunctant to return to school... Sad. Somehow, I enjoy my tuition more than my school. Haha. *Sigh* Can't be on for too long.

Cheers
ME!

I'm Back... again

2009-03-05T21:08:00.003+08:00

Hey!
Sorry for being "off" for so long. Was trying to read the ge yan (motto). My gosh! There was sooooo many words. Was on the verge of giving up. Finally managed to read through the whole of the page before realising that I didn't understand half of it... Wow!!! SYF is on 20 april... Monday... jia you everyone! We can do it! Anyway, just realised that I haven't been on this blog for about 2 months... I didn't go to German Day afterall... Sigh. Yeah... Tomorrow have ACC test. Appreciation of Chinese Culture. In other words, Chinese Lit. So yeah. I'll see how often I can post up here. That is if I'm not too lazy. See ya!
MaRs (Fer)/(Fel) Call me whatever you want ;)

I'm back!

2008-12-12T21:35:00.003+08:00

Hi!

I went on a trip with sn choir to vienna and bratislava. it's so cool. The mcdonald there sells hot chocolate and it was really yummy. They were having this Christmas market thing that they do every year.

We played the angel-mortal game. So it goes that there's a game master. And then everyone has a mortal and an angel. yeah. The angels are supposed to give their mortals notes of encouragement and gifts without the mortals knowing who they are. it's dead fun. My angel's Jeanette and my mortal's Celeste. Haha.

oh yeah! I know that it's the hols and stuff, but I may be too lazy to post sometimes. see ya!

Cheers!
MaRs.

School hols!

2008-11-08T16:44:00.002+08:00

Hey everyone!
How's school and everything else? I got tuition and choir. All the same. For every choir practice in school, I've got to take around 1 and a 1/2 hour to 2 hour to reach the school. Which leaves me hardly anymore time to do anything in the morning. Wake up, eat breakfast, do homework, play piano..., pack everything, go out. It's kinda tiring. Starting to wish I picked a different school, but the surrounding schools are not very excellent... This is so horrible!!!!!
MaRs...

It's me again!!!

2008-10-25T22:34:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone! How are you guys (whoever is reading my blog) doing?

Today, I'll just mention a few things:

EDVOX'S ORCHESTRA!!!!!

Today was my second time with the orchestra and it was... ... ummm... ... I can't say terrific, but I can't say that it was horrible. Anyway, it was fun. Yup. Fun and interesting. yeah. Last fortnight, I was so utterly stumped by the songs. yup. Stumped. The songs: Fantasia 2000, Grease, some funny slow song and the HALO THEME. So cool right? Yeah, but I'll MUSTMUSTMUSTMUSTMUSTMUST practice.

Sorry, but limited time on the computer. See ya!

Cheers!
MaRs

The Concert

2008-10-18T22:10:00.004+08:00

Hey folks!
I watched this concert at the Esplanade yesterday: 17th October 2008. It was SO Amazing. There was this superb Korean soprano: Sumi Jo. She sang without the microphone! And the notes were like so HIGH!!!!! Gosh! And she sang 3 songs out of the programme. So cool! She speaks English which kind of came as a shock. It is very hard for them to learn English. WOW!

Went to the Malay Village at Eunos. It was so enriching. Nothing much to add. See you!

MaRs!

Hi hi hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-27T22:10:00.002+08:00

Hi to all!!!
I know that I did not post for like... ... ages! But still... Ta-Da! I'm here today. Finished theory, finished Learning Lab. Yipee Hooray! The exam period is undoubtedly still on. So sad! No freedom yet. not that soon. After exams is the results. After results is the holidays. After holidays is the school. See the cycle. That unescapable cycle. That's called PLAIN CRUEL! We, as students, spend more time in school than being ourselves. Our parents, as adults, spend more time in the office working than being with us children, not that my family is like, 24hours working and no rest kind of thing. Get my meaning, but still... ... school is fun, with our friends. But that means that we had to sacrifice our precious time with our family members. Remind me to talk about dreams the next time I come in here to blog. Auf Wiedersehen. (That's see you in German) Bye!

Cheers!

Mars

Tests time!!!!!

2008-09-23T21:11:00.003+08:00

Now is the test time!!!!!

Dead. Maths paper, found 3 errors. I'm only grateful that I managed to find it in time.Whew!!! Taxation is a horrible topic. Got stuck at that question and anyhow do. Thank goodness that there is only one question on it. But still... it's FOUR marks!!!!!

My stupid foot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so irritating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Left foot itchy. Right foot also. At the SAME SPOT, or around the same. Left foot: 2 spots very itchy.Near my heel and near the bone that juts out a bit. Right foot: 1 spot, but more itchy than my left foot overall. Near the bone jutting out a bit. This is so HORRIBLE!!!!!!! Must be my socks... But I wear different socks everyday, but it's still ITCHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that I use a lot of exclamation marks, but anyway. It's real irritating. Two cubes of ice, hoping to "numb" it, but still itchy.

Hope that tomorrow, my foot will be better. I'll see if I can put a CBox up here...

MaRs

Hi, I'm back!

2008-09-13T23:19:00.002+08:00

Hi, I'm back, after a long long time of NOT being online. I know that this is VERY LATE, but anyway...how's everyone doing? My school is as kind as to NOT give us any exams, for our year ONLY, but in return, we'll be sitting for review tests. They'll be shorter, time, question and everything. Coughing pretty badly now. This is utterly horrible. That's all for now, see you!
MaRs

I'm busy... too lazy...

2008-09-06T23:00:00.003+08:00

Hi! I'm back!!!
I've had a VERY VERY VERY busy week!!! Sigh! (Exaggerating) It's not THAT bad. I just had my piano exam and violin. Pratical. Violin is not as bad... my piano aural is HORRIBLE!!! I didn't really practice... Serve me right... hahaha.

Attended a talk organised by Adam Khoo Learning Technologies... ... Covered two whole days of my precious 7-day long September Holiday. But I learnt soooooooo much from it. Like how important it is to study hard NOW!!! And like, the techique to memorise stuff. Ummm... mind-map. It's so fun! (But also very expensive) The speaker was so hilarious. We kept laughing non-stop. Anyway, I was doing mind-map for my studies, and I completed History and Geography, up-to-date. My music exam was so... ... whatever.

I went for the piano exam first, then it was lunch, then it was violin. I still can't belive that the examiner is the SAME!!!!! Haha! And to think that she didn't know. At least it made me feel better, especially when she smiled, but I don't know if it is good or bad. I've typed so long...

At least my school doesn't have exams, as in end-of-year, but we're still sitting for the review tests. This is so HORRIBLE! But I'm more prepared, even my mum thinks so. Yipee!!!!! See you!!! I know that I'm very Random, it's just your luck that you passed by this blog. Muhahahahaha!!!!!
MaRs.

Apologies: Too lazy and BUSY to update...

2008-08-02T21:01:00.002+08:00

Sorry! Too busy to update. Going to watch a concert tomorrow... Why is there so little sec.1s going! (Or at least from whom I have asked). Sigh! Anyway, concert tomorrow, MAT next week! So looking forward to it! That's one of the only times where I get to meet C.G. And then the day after, I'm in chalet, my mum agreed to let me invite Shootin'Starz over to "Escape"! Shootin'Starz! Hoping fervently that you are reading this if not the others! Yipee hooray!!!!! So excited! MEP is fun, if not easy. Yeah I'm seriously too busy. For those who do not know what on Earth I mean, I get home just in time to eat dinner, shower, pack my bag, and head off to bed! Sigh! Evil world!

Youth day!

2008-07-07T17:07:00.002+08:00

Yup! Today's Youth Day. And anyway, I was simply too busy to actually be bothered to post here. Sooooooo... I did my filing yesterday and today. I changed my homework file... ...again. It's like, the third fourth time that I have changed it since the start of this year. Went to Big Bookshop to buy some things today. Yesterday, my parents brought me to ... ... Make a guess (Haha. I know that I am super lame.) Not China town, not Orchard (dream on) not... ummm...City Hall. But... the esplanade. Haha! Told you that I was super lame! From Esplanade to the Singapore River. Where on Earth IS the Statue of the Rickshaw Puller????? If XY don't know where it is after all, I am so going to murder her with my bare hands!!!!! Hmph! There's a Cantabile concert by JuzMusic soon... Next Sunday in fact, 13 July. Wahhhhhhhhh!!!!! I have to play the violin ! And I play so horribly! I have to play the piano and I'll be playing "Willie Wagglestick Walkabout" It's in the present exam book. C... ...2. I like Dumia better. But anyway... Sigh... I keep thinking that tomorrow is Monday, in other words, I keep thinking that tomorrow is today. How I wish that everyday was Youth Day, or Christmas, or CNY, or my Birthday! How great would that be??? I feel that my Chinese is actually improving!!!:))) So delighted! Yay! I can sing out loud! (Kidding) I would NEVER do THAT in one million years' time. Yeah! Nothing to write. I'm THAT boring. See ya!
MaRs

Choir Gathering

2008-06-17T19:44:00.003+08:00

We had a choir sop.2 , short for soprano 2, gathering at Valerie's condo last Sunday. Perhaps you may think that I'm a little , or even, very "outdated" because this is Tuesday... NIGHT! and it like took place 2 days ago. Anyway... it was real cool! We took pictures and everything. We ate. That's, as in me. I am so lame. There was bee hoon, satay, fishball, kit-kat, time-out (or was it something else?),marshmallows(that we had to "self-roast", but ended up un-roasted, because we could not take the heat, or at least, me) ... Yeah, I'm not sure if there is anything else. But it was way cool! XJ took the pictures, because I think that she was the only one who was "sensible" enough to bring a camera, but (no offence to you!) she did not know how to set the self-timer... haha...choir rocks man! Anyway, we met at 4 pm, and we all left at different time... For me: it was 9pm, or at least, that's because it's the time I told my mum. Had a great, excellent and fun time there... sigh... pity everyday couldn't be "party day". Imagine how great that would be...
MaRs

Back again...

2008-06-14T21:23:00.003+08:00

Hey! I'm back again!!!
I managed to find my seniors' blogs... Ultimately through 1) google!!! 2) their class blogs... hahaha...Why did I even say"hahaha"? I'm just so plainly eccentric at times... Anyway, Yay!!! I managed to find my seniors' (more than one, like, obvioiusly)blog!!! Gotta turn in to bed... bye
MaRs, friend of shootin'starz!

First time going out with friend...

2008-06-14T19:47:00.003+08:00

Hey! This is my first time going out with a friend shopping and talking and it is ... anyway... 14 June is certainly a day which I should always keep in mind forever...Went out with shootin'Starz... Fabulous! I tell you...nothing else to write... gotta go...
MaRs

Lalaland

2008-06-11T18:10:00.004+08:00

Hey! Daydreams...
... Here I am! If there is something that I am deprived of in my so ever busy life, it is daydreaming... I am most relaxed and happy when I daydream... reason being: There's no one to disturb me... all my worries and problems vanishes...

Anyway....I'm so looking forward to a day... It's gonna be fabulous... At least half-day with Shootin'Starz! Yeah man! That rocks! Shopping and lunch together... It's get-together time.

Anyway, Shootin'Starz, if you happen to look at my blog, you're my bestie!

MaRs(Music addict ,reading s)

What a show!!!

2008-06-10T21:05:00.002+08:00

What a TV show that was...
compeitition to see how many students can fit in a lorry... It was so horrible... as in the conditions in which they had to do this in. 1st factor: the heat... 2nd factor: squashed... anyway... the Primary school broke the initial record set by the Secondary school... Ringing S.S. up... bye.
MaRs

To: Shootin'Starz

2008-06-09T18:06:00.001+08:00

Shootin' Starz,
long time no hear! thanks for the blogskin, as in helping me change it. bestie for life! i love you to death! remember ... 14/6... i'm so looking forward to it... haven't finished my hw yet... so... aufwiedersehen (see you later).
MaRs

Hey Hey!

2008-06-08T16:48:00.000+08:00

The music-addict and bookaholic is back here again!
So, how's everything going on so far? Hope it's good. Just packed my pig's sty ( my bedroom, rather) it's so atrociously messy, haha! I did not even realise that my textbooks are so... ummm... plentiful, that my small shelf was just too tiny to fit everything in... Haha... Hahalalaland is here! Just Kidding, if it's not obvious enough! Generally, on the whole, I can accept any kind of music, from one-lined folk tune down to rock music! "Bam bam bam" goes the electric guitar! so... loud, and noisy, but not disorientated. haha yet again. anyway, gotta go! see ya!My motto: simple is the best! (Simplicity rocks!)

Long time no see!

2008-06-03T21:20:00.001+08:00

Long time no see...
Well! Am I that busy? Unfortunately, yes. Sigh! Monday, Wednesday: dritten Sprache. Tuesday, Thursday: CCA. And I got tuition on Fridays.(English) How bad can it get? Don't get me mistaken... I adore deutsch, and I'm in love with my CCA, I enjoy all my tuitions. But I'm just wondering if I have too many things going on at the same time... Whatever. Anyway, it's the junes, but I have holiday tuition : Chinese, and it so rocks. I've been there since K2 and for one main reason: The teachers are so absolutely fun, enjoyable, lovable, you name it! I am sane thanks. You might think think that I'm bonkers loving tuitions, but it's excellent! Great! FANTASTIC! (sorry for using Block letters, but I meant it.)

How crazy can I get. I just wrote that chunk of rubbish that meant the same thing. Gotta dash, bye.

My First Entry

2008-03-13T18:00:00.001+08:00

This may be my first entry here, but it certainly isn't my VERY first one on Earth... Haha... I am lame at times... My age: private. My location: private... MY B'dae: private... Haha! And of course, I will not let out my name if that is even obvious. I can't write much because I am busy... Very busy. So there. I'll continue to write if I have the time to...

Cheerios,

Music_freak