Alas, the weekend nears it end.

The weekend was supposed to be a long one. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The guardsmen are on block leave you see. But as usual, it all flew by too quickly. Hmmm, perhaps it was ended up really packed.

Well, I spent most of Friday watching ER (gosh, it is such an awesome series), and preparing for the SAT Chem which was on the following morning. I also managed to meet up with Kyle, Brian, Nic and Roshen for dinner then. Saturday morning was spent testing at acjc. I also happened to chance upon the ultimate team training, and said hi to Alex. After a much need nap (I’d been in sleep debt for the last two weeks or so), I went to Sentosa to play beach ultimate, before heading to Kyle’s place for dinner with the KKK. Haha. As Kyle has posted on FB, I turned his shower ‘Saharan’ with all the sand I’d brought from the beach. SORRY! Sunday was church, then Korean lunch, and then field ultimate at Tanah Merah. Zhao and I crashed at Li Anne and May Anne’s place for awhile. Following that, I enjoyed a very satisfying dinner at Botak Jones.

After all that, today is cut-your-hair-so-you-don’t-get-extras day, and stay at home day.

 

Dear world wide web,

It’s been awhile. In fact nearly 10 months have passed since we last spoke. To pick up from where I left off, the IB’s went well (Glory to God!),  I enlisted into the army, and found out why everyone else hated it so much. But recently,  I’ve found some sort of definitive purpose here, that extends to beyond these two years. I’m applying to medical college, and praying that everything goes well. I’ve also happened to make some very good friends, and seen the importance of keeping up with the old ones.

A couple of weddings are coming up soon, I’m very happy for the soon-to-be weds. God bless.

Until next time,

JP

 

The Nightmare After Christmas.

Results day. I walked into the auditorium. A certain member of the senior administration was droning on and on, and going through slides of statistics for each subject. I managed to snatchat a few  phrases: “not as good as the last”, “slightly disappointed”… To start with I was unable to make head or tale of the statistics; this compounded my anxiety. But he persisted in going through the unending lists, and I couldn’t tell how the last 2 years of hard work had borne or not borne fruit or what kind of fruit was borne. The sky grew dark, and we had to come back the next day to continue the debriefing and collect our exam results. I vaguely remember some sort of hostage/ terrorist situation too. Then I woke up, realizing that in my sleep I had somehow rotated myself 90 degrees, so that my body lay almost parallel to the bed’s headboard.

What a dream. The first time I dream about the IBDP in as-long-as-I-can-remember it turns into a nightmare. Well, at least its great to know that my subconscious hasn’t lost its imagination.

 

So, much has happened…

So, much has happened since the last time that I updated this page, most notably the final exams and the prom. By God’s grace both went well, and I am now officially unemployed! I also have got a new bike, it is great! Look out for photos! I also went for church camp.

And I fell ill with the Chikungunya fever. Yes, seriously! For those of you who are going “Chicken-what?”, please read this. Essentially its a mosquito borne virus not unlike Dengue. I’m still not sure how/where/when I got bitten by that cursed Aedes mosquito, but I have a suspicion that it was while I was climbing Mt. Faber on the new bike. The good thing is that I recovered really quickly. By Day 3 the fever had gone down! It was really by God’s grace that I recovered so soon, and that I’ve not been too affected by it.

Yesterday night, a few of us went to watch The Day The Earth Stood Still. Everything was aligned perfectly. The surviving members of the KKK (the rest are on vacation), streamed into one of Singapore’s best digital theaters, late enough to skip over the advertisements but just in time to catch the opening titles. This itself was a rare occurrence, as we normally walk in five to fifteen minutes late. The seats were great, I found myself neither craning my neck nor squinting at the screen. The screen itself was huge. I had half expected to be relegated to watch the movie on a puny one as I did on previous occasions  at this particular cineplex. So the movie started, and it was getting really intriguing (at this stage they were operating on an alien), and then, it stopped. It stopped! It just froze on one particular frame.

Someone in the audience shouted: “Eh! Why pause?”. After a series of failed attempts to resume the movie, someone turned on the breakdown sign. The management would like to apologize for the breakdown… Please remain seated. The movie will resume shortly. It didn’t. We ended up leaving and exchanging the tickets to watch the same movie in another theatre at a later time. Well, at least we got to watch the whole movie.

The movie itself? Well I thought it was pretty awesome. It’s a pity that most would disagree. O well.

 

The final days.

The 10th of October was the my last official day of school as a student at ACS (Independent). Needless to say, there were no lessons. In an effort to capture, encapsulate and preserve the countless friendships, memories and beautiful moments that we found in ACS, most took the opportunity to engage in a massive photo taking spree that lasted most of the day. (And somewhere in America, it was noticed by the people who ran Facebook, that there was sudden spike it photo uploads. No doubt, it posed a threat to the stability of the system.)

I know that some couldn’t quite wait for this year to be over and that some (ok, all of us) had at one point in time or the other wished that they had taken anything else other than IB. But, even with all the problems that I’d run into, the disruptions that the IB made to my sleep cycle, the discouraging moments that I want to erase from living memory; in retrospect, I realize that I really do love the school. Chronologically, ACS has made up 1/3 of my life, but such quantitative descriptions do not do justice to the unique experience.

God places us in all situations for reasons. Similarly, I believe that He blessed me through ACS. I found God here. I grew up here. I found friends who I hope to never ever forget. I was educated here, by some of the darnest, best teachers. I found theatre here. I learned to sing here. I learned leadership, how to deal with people. I found racing here. I found ac ultimate… I had 6 amazing years here.

At this departure, I can hope that the saying remains true: Once an ACS boy, always an ACS boy. Because, honestly, ACS has found such a comfortable part in me, and I in it, that sometimes, I don’t really want to grow up. Of course, I know that there is a future ahead for me, which God has planned out, and inevitably, I will be part of that future, but I suppose for a moment it is worth reflecting on the last 6 years.

 

A long weekend.

Given that I have no paper today, I am trying to make the best use of my long weekend. By God’s grace, I finished up the first draft for my theatre portfolio yesterday night, and essentially finalized my theatre research commission on friday night. Only problem is, now I have to get to revising for Math and Chem.

My plans to wake up early to start revising were foiled by me sleeping in. I got up at approximately 0930. Well, at least I am well rested. I give thanks for that!

On another note, I’ve thinking about a few of individuals lately. I think its because of the distance that they preoccupy my mind. They’re not too alien that I don’t even know their last names and not too close so that I can just pick up the phone and have a chat about nothing in particular. Perhaps its because of this that they keep popping up in my consciousness, often when I least expect.

Finally, I woke up this morning having actually dreamt of myself looking up the definition of an aliphatic compound. The dream definition (something about calculating solubility of a compound based on the percentage by mass of certain atoms in the molecule) astonished me even as I got out of bed. It astonished me until I checked out the definition in real life, and realized that it is best not to do exams in semi-conscious, sleep-walking state. (The true definition of aliphatic is: referring to an organic compound without aromatic rings.)

 

I’ve been…

1. Trying to revising and revising for exams. It seems that some sort of dynamic equilibrium has been established between the two. Almost every time I try to rev up the latter, the equilibrium shifts to oppose the change. Curse you Le Chatelier! (Frenchy!)
    
2. Following the to-and-fro of the legalization of gay marriages in the USA, and what the presidential candidates have to say on the issue. I remain unsure on what stance the church, individual Christians and Governments should be. Consequentially, I’ve also been watching Ellen Degeneres’s stand up comedy. And have been absolutely wowed by her talent.
    
3. Working on my theatre arts portfolio, which is essentially a 3000 word reflection on the past 2 years. As a result, I started reliving some truly beautiful memories especially those from Love/Retreat.
    
4. Wanting to properly update this blog, but failing at most times.

    

 

Break of dawn

I woke up this morning from a rather pleasant dream, and as consciousness treaded the fine line between imagination and reality, Shakespeare’s verse came to mind:

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun…

 

In the spirit of IOC, I offer some poetry.

Verses of comic proportions.

 

Often on a dark dark night, such as this,

Lovers, and villains, steal more than a kiss.

To ensure that things don’t get too darn far,

A silhouette of a man and his friend

Jump into a pimped up, tank-like, super car.

Breaking the sound barrier, they chase evil fiends.

In bulletproof tights- that make women blush,

They bully the bad guys into a hush.

 

While packing the thief for deportation,

Using ears adept at echolocation,

One of the two detect a cry for help.

“Dids’t thou hear that yelp?” , he said. “Yes, sirrah,

The miscreant must have farted in thy car.”

“O, thy folly is so great! Why dear gods,

Did thou curse, with a sidekick, like this?”

 

Handing him an intelligence boosting belt,

They mounted the car, and rushed to help

The damsel who cried out in great distress.

 

Here lies the legend, of Gotham’s Dark Knights,

Brave saviors who adorned Shakespearean tights:

Nocturnal-Echolocating-flying-

Mammal- man and his silly feathered friend.

 

It has occurred to me…

Last night, as I wrestled the suffocating humidity, half-scratched-to-death my own body, and fought off unseen and innumerable mosquitoes, all for the sake of finding a few hours of sleep, it occurred to me, that the Olympics in Beijing was missing one other endurance sport. 

Yet staying up alone at night is a strangely rewarding experience. The tranquility of the night and the stillness of the dark is lovely even if it is a bit clammy. Last night’s prolonged consciousness also gave me some time to talk to God, properly, unhurried and in earnest.

Tonight, I find myself at Kyle’s place, hopefully, my eyes will find rest and sleep.