Monday, December 31, 2007
For one thing, the computer lab is - once again, full to the brim. I am now using what is known as the print station. Today, we had a orientation day where we spent our day walking around Singapore's places of interests. Of course, those places of interests held no particular interest to us. Both April (my new room mate, in case you didn't know) and I were kind of nervous about the requirements for one to actually stay in the scholarship. I would, after all; be a complete embarrassment if was kicked out from the scholarship when I barely had it for a mere year. Not to mention the fact that we had to repeat Form 4 if we were. Anyway, April and I were more keen on poring over our books. Yeah, that's how scared I was. (You can tell from how out of character it might seem, but my father might say it's just my kiasu-ness)
So.... We took a bus around Singapore. Although I noticed a few interesting places here and there, I did NOT recognise roads; so do not expect me to be your free tour guide should you decide to visit Singapore. If you decide to pay, however; I might reconsider and start studying the map. (Of course, that would be after I receive an advance on my payment. And in Sing dollars, please.) As I was saying, the first place we landed was some weird shopping complex of which we managed to infiltrate, although that would be much later. We walked quite a distance, across some colourful many-storied old fashioned houses and it was quite a while later when we reached the Singapore river. While complaining about the many photos us poor newbies were forced to take, (poses here and there, really.) it rained. It wasn't the sort of pitter patter drizzle, but a full downpour. We took cover but our plans (well, not ours; actually) continued just as normal and we took the boat around anyway.
I forgot to mention, we got really large t-shirts as well. They were out of stock so my whole team got XXL, which reached to my knees and well past my elbows. Imagine how it looked on April, who is actually quite petite. You can compare her to Michelle's size I guess, but a bit taller. But there really is a girl who looks like Michelle, Camille, my roommate. And she even acts a little like her. It's a little scary. Other than Michelle and a guy who resembles my brother there isn't anyone else whom reminds me of home though. Everyone seems to be rather... unique. Even the annoying, hyperactive psycho ADHD+ADD twelve year olds.
My team consists of three China students, Grace, Jia Wei and Li something (we call him Chu - not the pig though) and then Zheng Dong, Jun Lin, April, Henry, Yau, Yee Ching and lastly, me.
We played really fun games, that I would normally call childish. By normal, I would mean Malaysia. It was like those hand games we played back in primary, but more interactive; I guess. But in this boarding school - it just seemed normal. I used to expect snobby girls with their teeny shorts and their larger than life attitudes strutting about the school. How wrong I was. All of them are friendly. Really, they truly are friends I haven't met. They tolerate my giberish in Chinese while we listen to their butchered English. You can really tell how hard they try. And even though their English wasn't that good, they took the effort to use it to speak to me; the one truly mandarin illiterate in the entire group. Yeah, well.
Anyway, this was written two days ago until I was interrupted by Bong, (a Xinmin senior, whom I infer must be a Malaysian as well) and asked to call all the students down to have a surprise birthday party for Yau - not that it was much of a surprise. His friends' definitely ruined it quite a lot for him. And then, I also met a few Indonesian students and a Cambodian that were going to Xinmin. The only difference that they were in class 301 along with Zheng Dong and Jun Lin. So meeting a lot of people is really refreshing. All totally different personalities.. I hope the feeling doesn't get old. It was quite fun. We got to communicate and stuff...
The next day began with the second day of my orientation, the games day. We were brought to the Hwa Chong basketball court, and I bet Wei Ann would really appreciate the view. You know what I mean... We played five games in a telematch sort of way and our team won two. All three games won were against the same team though. As both my team (team 7) and Joy (April's sister who looks like her twin)'s team (team 8) were the only ones with quite a few Secondary Ones and the shorter members (the shorter members include me, you better believe it.) so we were pitted together.
And later on, we had a water balloon fight. It was somewhat of a battalion area, converted from a small section of Hwa Chong's en-unbelivably-normous field. Each team had to crawl under two sets of benches about 50 cm high before we can aim at the t-shirts pasted to chairs on the other end. The ensuing water would then drip into pails put directly under the t-shirts. Our goal, was of course, getting the least water possible. I helped by passing water balloons through the section after the second bench. I got the wettest out of all my team members, though. I seem to always be unfortunately close to the targets of water guns and water balloons. Although there were also a few who played smart and poured an entire pail full of water over others. Of course, that included me as well. So I dripped all my way back... In the water balloon fight as well, our seniors asked us to gather so we could take a photo. Directly after we were organised, they poured bucket fulls of water on our heads. I missed that part. Later on, when I went to wash my feet (with shoes off, so as not to get mud on them - it was raining earlier, you see, and still drizzling as we played) and someone poured another bucket of water on me. The water wasn't the purest though. Jun Lin got a rash.
Even later on, we had a dance session that had practically exhausted every single one of my muscles. (the ones that still existed after the intense game of Captain Ball, which we lost, 2-4) It was a really cool dance, led by someone who reminded me remarkably of Jeshua (he's in JC) and Lakshimi, a student representative that took us around on our first day. Of course, our attempts were anything but cool. Next was our group practice session, in which we were supposed to practice out five minute performance. And guess what was next? Dancing! We were paired up to the boys... I felt sorry for one of the Indian nationals, (since quite a few of them were from Chinese schools, they were naturally quite prejudiced) and volunteered to partner up with him. He was a full head and shoulders taller than me. Then again, he was a full head, shoulders and arms taller than some of the girls. It was a bit awkward and all. And we have a semi-army member who was there to instruct us. Huh.
7:55 AM
Friday, December 28, 2007
There's orientation today in my school...
Will write about it when we get back...
Roommates' name: April, Joy and Camille
And yeah, Omar; they're all really pretty.
7:55 AM
Thursday, December 27, 2007
It's the second day of my stay in HCIBS. And I'm the only one in the entire computer room. I guess it isn't that bad, as I finally get the privacy that I value so much. Anyway, April and her sister had went off to meet their parents. They're going out somewhere for the whole day.. My parents, on the other hand, is coming by a little later in the morning. I'm terribly spoiled, I know; but grateful nonetheless.
The worst part about yesterday was after dinner. I managed to read April's History textbook (I was supposed to take up History as well, it seems; but it wasn't marked in the book list)
Oh great, I'm not alone anymore. Some guys just joined the computer room.
--textbook until about page 90+. It took me about one and a half hour. It was about World War I, the t-something treaty in which Germany was pissed off about, Russia becoming U.S.S.R., and finally what brought upon World War II. It's quite interesting, really; if only I don't have to memorise everything for the exams... I hope I really will be able to take History for 'O levels' otherwise it'd be a huge waste.
There really isn't much to do here... Especially when I forgot to bring my laptop... (A mistake that shall never, never, happen again)
I have also decided to take up Chinese. So should anyone say any bad things about me behind my back, it would help to actually understand it. (Not that anyone has)
However, this boarding school is quite empty of girls. I knew that the ratio from boys to girls would be about 5:2 but I didn't expect it to be that bad. So far, I have seen about ten girls and about fifty guys. Of course, this excludes the ones that prefer to stay in their dorms and do God knows what.
About the Wireless as well, it seems that we need an account to actually access it. According to April, we need an username and a password as the wireless connection seems to be secure. I had no oppurtunity to put that to the test just yet since I FORGOT to bring my laptop.
Actually, we were supposed to go buy our uniform and stuff today but someone postponed it to tomorrow - which also leaves me with virtually nothing to do.. In future, if by chance I won't be able to go online as often (which is actually very possible) I probably will write all my entries in my laptop, transfer them to the internet computer (if I get a chance) and post. If I had really followed the instructions and had NOT brought my laptop I would die of boredom. Being as it is, with my laptop, I can actually play GBA games, read books and write my stories. Right now, I can only read my textbooks and force myself to read the five story books that I brought. Those five story books seem to only help me fall asleep.
In fact, I slept at 10 yesterday. 10! Of course, I woke up at 6 so it makes up for it; at least a little. Sleeping at 10 was also after reading history one 1 and 1/2 hours, reading the bible for about a few minutes and simply lounging about doing nothing.
Okay, after writing this entry, I must also remember to delete this website from 'History'. You can never know what might happen... Signing off doesn't seem secure enough.
I feel really lucky that I'm rooming with the Voons. I actually thought that I would start off with nothing - no friends, no acquaintances, no experience. But with someone I actually know to be my roommate.. Well, I'm thankful. I think it's actually because there are no other new female boarders who are coming to stay in HCIBS. Though, who am I to look at a gift horse's mouth.
I do miss my friends back in KL, though.. If only they would come online already...!
About church, it seems that one of the Sec 1 girls will be getting a church member to bring her to church every Saturday. I'd like to ask whether I could follow but I find asking somehow I don't even know for favors as such very, very rude. I can only hope that perhaps I might find someone else who could just introduce me to church, or even better; fetch me...
Siggghhhh...
8:02 AM
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The first thing I have to do is pray hard that the wifi extends to my room.
The second, pray for a proper church to go to.
I really can't say much until I get proper privacy, somewhere where it isn't like an internet cafe. Otherwise, all is fine and its a little better than I expected. My list of subjects I have to revise though.... And I'm rooming with April and her sis.
7:07 PM
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
So its the 25th of December, Christmas day and I've spent almost the whole day sleeping. So much for the spirit of Christmas. Anyway, today I managed to meet both Wei Ann and Shuk Huay before I left for Johor.... I guess it's kinda our last meeting.. for a month. It shouldn't be too bad, though; I mean - sometimes we don't see each other for a month during the holidays but we haven't felt the gap.
I now have to convince Mrs. Lim to permit me to take History instead of Geography for my exams. I think she's more than a little annoyed at me now. I called her handphone this morning, forgetting about the convinient reverse charges and I've been bugging her with questions for quite a while, even before this. I hope she doesn't hate me already. The thing about History replacing Geography is, (according to her) each subject have different sets of subjects to take.. So it might not be possible. Aside that, I have already bought the text book so I have to convince someone to buy it from me...
SO.
Tomorrow's the day.
I'll be leaving for Singapore tomorrow. (I'm in Johor now, my cousin's computer)
I'll be meeting the people I'll call my friends, my roommates...
I'll be seeing the place where I'll be sleeping in...
And ultimately, tomorrow, at this time; I won't be sleeping in my own bed anymore. In fact, I'll be sleeping so rarely in my own bed in KL that it'd probably revert into the guest room or something. The house is practically emptied of most of my things, so as to make it easier for my parents to clean the place up. And when I come back, I'm sure lots of things will have changed.
I really must stop angsting... But what's the use of a blog if not to angst???!
I'll probably write what I think about everything tomorrow, if I get the chance to use the computer lab. Kudos to me!
And yeah....
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
10:38 PM
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Long time no update....
I've been quite.. preoccupied the past few days, non-stop reading and all... (Though I've yet to touch most of the fifteen books that I bought from PayLess.) My new favourite author is Diana Gabaldon. At first, I didn't really want to read any of her books. I bought two from Atria (just like my luck to buy the last two) and it seemed to feature a woman quite close to her fifties. I guess it might seem superficial of me, but I prefer heroines with ages from 17-30.
Mid thirties are my limit.
In the first book the main character was in her mid twenties, so that helped. Somewhat. But that wasn't what changed my mind. The book was interesting, compelling and real with gorgeous elements of fantasy. I sat in front of the computer from the beginning to the end. (Quite a task, considering the book spans an impressive 1500 pages.) Eventhough the second book began with her with a 24 (?) year old daughter, it no longer seemed to matter to me that Claire (the protagonist) was past her prime. It helped that the story had some historical elements, something I enjoyed reading.
It really was an emotionally mature book. And I am completely in love with it. Well, at least; for now.
And Jamie is someone any girl could fall in love with...! He isn't dark, tall and handsome and powerfully masculine like any of the heroes in typical romance novels. Granted, he does have a somewhat dark past; but he doesn't angst about it and stuff. And the things he says, not eloquent, not flowery, just sincere.
And yeah, there's the fantasy-ish element there, as well.
*loves*
Of course, I read quite a few other novels as well, mostly historical romances. It's all so delightfully cliche and mind numbing that I can't stop reading them. They're just fun to read to fill up empty hours. Some of them are even surprisingly deep..
On a side note I just noticed that quite a few authors have their blogs on blogger. Or at least, there are quite a huge number of people posing as prominent authors when composing in their blogs on blogger.
8:21 PM
Monday, December 31, 2007
For one thing, the computer lab is - once again, full to the brim. I am now using what is known as the print station. Today, we had a orientation day where we spent our day walking around Singapore's places of interests. Of course, those places of interests held no particular interest to us. Both April (my new room mate, in case you didn't know) and I were kind of nervous about the requirements for one to actually stay in the scholarship. I would, after all; be a complete embarrassment if was kicked out from the scholarship when I barely had it for a mere year. Not to mention the fact that we had to repeat Form 4 if we were. Anyway, April and I were more keen on poring over our books. Yeah, that's how scared I was. (You can tell from how out of character it might seem, but my father might say it's just my kiasu-ness)
So.... We took a bus around Singapore. Although I noticed a few interesting places here and there, I did NOT recognise roads; so do not expect me to be your free tour guide should you decide to visit Singapore. If you decide to pay, however; I might reconsider and start studying the map. (Of course, that would be after I receive an advance on my payment. And in Sing dollars, please.) As I was saying, the first place we landed was some weird shopping complex of which we managed to infiltrate, although that would be much later. We walked quite a distance, across some colourful many-storied old fashioned houses and it was quite a while later when we reached the Singapore river. While complaining about the many photos us poor newbies were forced to take, (poses here and there, really.) it rained. It wasn't the sort of pitter patter drizzle, but a full downpour. We took cover but our plans (well, not ours; actually) continued just as normal and we took the boat around anyway.
I forgot to mention, we got really large t-shirts as well. They were out of stock so my whole team got XXL, which reached to my knees and well past my elbows. Imagine how it looked on April, who is actually quite petite. You can compare her to Michelle's size I guess, but a bit taller. But there really is a girl who looks like Michelle, Camille, my roommate. And she even acts a little like her. It's a little scary. Other than Michelle and a guy who resembles my brother there isn't anyone else whom reminds me of home though. Everyone seems to be rather... unique. Even the annoying, hyperactive psycho ADHD+ADD twelve year olds.
My team consists of three China students, Grace, Jia Wei and Li something (we call him Chu - not the pig though) and then Zheng Dong, Jun Lin, April, Henry, Yau, Yee Ching and lastly, me.
We played really fun games, that I would normally call childish. By normal, I would mean Malaysia. It was like those hand games we played back in primary, but more interactive; I guess. But in this boarding school - it just seemed normal. I used to expect snobby girls with their teeny shorts and their larger than life attitudes strutting about the school. How wrong I was. All of them are friendly. Really, they truly are friends I haven't met. They tolerate my giberish in Chinese while we listen to their butchered English. You can really tell how hard they try. And even though their English wasn't that good, they took the effort to use it to speak to me; the one truly mandarin illiterate in the entire group. Yeah, well.
Anyway, this was written two days ago until I was interrupted by Bong, (a Xinmin senior, whom I infer must be a Malaysian as well) and asked to call all the students down to have a surprise birthday party for Yau - not that it was much of a surprise. His friends' definitely ruined it quite a lot for him. And then, I also met a few Indonesian students and a Cambodian that were going to Xinmin. The only difference that they were in class 301 along with Zheng Dong and Jun Lin. So meeting a lot of people is really refreshing. All totally different personalities.. I hope the feeling doesn't get old. It was quite fun. We got to communicate and stuff...
The next day began with the second day of my orientation, the games day. We were brought to the Hwa Chong basketball court, and I bet Wei Ann would really appreciate the view. You know what I mean... We played five games in a telematch sort of way and our team won two. All three games won were against the same team though. As both my team (team 7) and Joy (April's sister who looks like her twin)'s team (team 8) were the only ones with quite a few Secondary Ones and the shorter members (the shorter members include me, you better believe it.) so we were pitted together.
And later on, we had a water balloon fight. It was somewhat of a battalion area, converted from a small section of Hwa Chong's en-unbelivably-normous field. Each team had to crawl under two sets of benches about 50 cm high before we can aim at the t-shirts pasted to chairs on the other end. The ensuing water would then drip into pails put directly under the t-shirts. Our goal, was of course, getting the least water possible. I helped by passing water balloons through the section after the second bench. I got the wettest out of all my team members, though. I seem to always be unfortunately close to the targets of water guns and water balloons. Although there were also a few who played smart and poured an entire pail full of water over others. Of course, that included me as well. So I dripped all my way back... In the water balloon fight as well, our seniors asked us to gather so we could take a photo. Directly after we were organised, they poured bucket fulls of water on our heads. I missed that part. Later on, when I went to wash my feet (with shoes off, so as not to get mud on them - it was raining earlier, you see, and still drizzling as we played) and someone poured another bucket of water on me. The water wasn't the purest though. Jun Lin got a rash.
Even later on, we had a dance session that had practically exhausted every single one of my muscles. (the ones that still existed after the intense game of Captain Ball, which we lost, 2-4) It was a really cool dance, led by someone who reminded me remarkably of Jeshua (he's in JC) and Lakshimi, a student representative that took us around on our first day. Of course, our attempts were anything but cool. Next was our group practice session, in which we were supposed to practice out five minute performance. And guess what was next? Dancing! We were paired up to the boys... I felt sorry for one of the Indian nationals, (since quite a few of them were from Chinese schools, they were naturally quite prejudiced) and volunteered to partner up with him. He was a full head and shoulders taller than me. Then again, he was a full head, shoulders and arms taller than some of the girls. It was a bit awkward and all. And we have a semi-army member who was there to instruct us. Huh.
7:55 AM
Friday, December 28, 2007
There's orientation today in my school...
Will write about it when we get back...
Roommates' name: April, Joy and Camille
And yeah, Omar; they're all really pretty.
7:55 AM
Thursday, December 27, 2007
It's the second day of my stay in HCIBS. And I'm the only one in the entire computer room. I guess it isn't that bad, as I finally get the privacy that I value so much. Anyway, April and her sister had went off to meet their parents. They're going out somewhere for the whole day.. My parents, on the other hand, is coming by a little later in the morning. I'm terribly spoiled, I know; but grateful nonetheless.
The worst part about yesterday was after dinner. I managed to read April's History textbook (I was supposed to take up History as well, it seems; but it wasn't marked in the book list)
Oh great, I'm not alone anymore. Some guys just joined the computer room.
--textbook until about page 90+. It took me about one and a half hour. It was about World War I, the t-something treaty in which Germany was pissed off about, Russia becoming U.S.S.R., and finally what brought upon World War II. It's quite interesting, really; if only I don't have to memorise everything for the exams... I hope I really will be able to take History for 'O levels' otherwise it'd be a huge waste.
There really isn't much to do here... Especially when I forgot to bring my laptop... (A mistake that shall never, never, happen again)
I have also decided to take up Chinese. So should anyone say any bad things about me behind my back, it would help to actually understand it. (Not that anyone has)
However, this boarding school is quite empty of girls. I knew that the ratio from boys to girls would be about 5:2 but I didn't expect it to be that bad. So far, I have seen about ten girls and about fifty guys. Of course, this excludes the ones that prefer to stay in their dorms and do God knows what.
About the Wireless as well, it seems that we need an account to actually access it. According to April, we need an username and a password as the wireless connection seems to be secure. I had no oppurtunity to put that to the test just yet since I FORGOT to bring my laptop.
Actually, we were supposed to go buy our uniform and stuff today but someone postponed it to tomorrow - which also leaves me with virtually nothing to do.. In future, if by chance I won't be able to go online as often (which is actually very possible) I probably will write all my entries in my laptop, transfer them to the internet computer (if I get a chance) and post. If I had really followed the instructions and had NOT brought my laptop I would die of boredom. Being as it is, with my laptop, I can actually play GBA games, read books and write my stories. Right now, I can only read my textbooks and force myself to read the five story books that I brought. Those five story books seem to only help me fall asleep.
In fact, I slept at 10 yesterday. 10! Of course, I woke up at 6 so it makes up for it; at least a little. Sleeping at 10 was also after reading history one 1 and 1/2 hours, reading the bible for about a few minutes and simply lounging about doing nothing.
Okay, after writing this entry, I must also remember to delete this website from 'History'. You can never know what might happen... Signing off doesn't seem secure enough.
I feel really lucky that I'm rooming with the Voons. I actually thought that I would start off with nothing - no friends, no acquaintances, no experience. But with someone I actually know to be my roommate.. Well, I'm thankful. I think it's actually because there are no other new female boarders who are coming to stay in HCIBS. Though, who am I to look at a gift horse's mouth.
I do miss my friends back in KL, though.. If only they would come online already...!
About church, it seems that one of the Sec 1 girls will be getting a church member to bring her to church every Saturday. I'd like to ask whether I could follow but I find asking somehow I don't even know for favors as such very, very rude. I can only hope that perhaps I might find someone else who could just introduce me to church, or even better; fetch me...
Siggghhhh...
8:02 AM
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The first thing I have to do is pray hard that the wifi extends to my room.
The second, pray for a proper church to go to.
I really can't say much until I get proper privacy, somewhere where it isn't like an internet cafe. Otherwise, all is fine and its a little better than I expected. My list of subjects I have to revise though.... And I'm rooming with April and her sis.
7:07 PM
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
So its the 25th of December, Christmas day and I've spent almost the whole day sleeping. So much for the spirit of Christmas. Anyway, today I managed to meet both Wei Ann and Shuk Huay before I left for Johor.... I guess it's kinda our last meeting.. for a month. It shouldn't be too bad, though; I mean - sometimes we don't see each other for a month during the holidays but we haven't felt the gap.
I now have to convince Mrs. Lim to permit me to take History instead of Geography for my exams. I think she's more than a little annoyed at me now. I called her handphone this morning, forgetting about the convinient reverse charges and I've been bugging her with questions for quite a while, even before this. I hope she doesn't hate me already. The thing about History replacing Geography is, (according to her) each subject have different sets of subjects to take.. So it might not be possible. Aside that, I have already bought the text book so I have to convince someone to buy it from me...
SO.
Tomorrow's the day.
I'll be leaving for Singapore tomorrow. (I'm in Johor now, my cousin's computer)
I'll be meeting the people I'll call my friends, my roommates...
I'll be seeing the place where I'll be sleeping in...
And ultimately, tomorrow, at this time; I won't be sleeping in my own bed anymore. In fact, I'll be sleeping so rarely in my own bed in KL that it'd probably revert into the guest room or something. The house is practically emptied of most of my things, so as to make it easier for my parents to clean the place up. And when I come back, I'm sure lots of things will have changed.
I really must stop angsting... But what's the use of a blog if not to angst???!
I'll probably write what I think about everything tomorrow, if I get the chance to use the computer lab. Kudos to me!
And yeah....
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
10:38 PM
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Long time no update....
I've been quite.. preoccupied the past few days, non-stop reading and all... (Though I've yet to touch most of the fifteen books that I bought from PayLess.) My new favourite author is Diana Gabaldon. At first, I didn't really want to read any of her books. I bought two from Atria (just like my luck to buy the last two) and it seemed to feature a woman quite close to her fifties. I guess it might seem superficial of me, but I prefer heroines with ages from 17-30.
Mid thirties are my limit.
In the first book the main character was in her mid twenties, so that helped. Somewhat. But that wasn't what changed my mind. The book was interesting, compelling and real with gorgeous elements of fantasy. I sat in front of the computer from the beginning to the end. (Quite a task, considering the book spans an impressive 1500 pages.) Eventhough the second book began with her with a 24 (?) year old daughter, it no longer seemed to matter to me that Claire (the protagonist) was past her prime. It helped that the story had some historical elements, something I enjoyed reading.
It really was an emotionally mature book. And I am completely in love with it. Well, at least; for now.
And Jamie is someone any girl could fall in love with...! He isn't dark, tall and handsome and powerfully masculine like any of the heroes in typical romance novels. Granted, he does have a somewhat dark past; but he doesn't angst about it and stuff. And the things he says, not eloquent, not flowery, just sincere.
And yeah, there's the fantasy-ish element there, as well.
*loves*
Of course, I read quite a few other novels as well, mostly historical romances. It's all so delightfully cliche and mind numbing that I can't stop reading them. They're just fun to read to fill up empty hours. Some of them are even surprisingly deep..
On a side note I just noticed that quite a few authors have their blogs on blogger. Or at least, there are quite a huge number of people posing as prominent authors when composing in their blogs on blogger.
8:21 PM
