Today is the Lunar New Year Reunion cum Homecoming Day. Today, ex-students of Nan Hua returned to the school to visit. Yan Chen and I were the emcees. It wasn't too difficult, except for the fact that we were speaking under the hot sun.
After the emcee job, I rushed off to the Hall, where my station was. Jenny and I were supposed to explain the Hall to ex-students who came past in the groups led by our Councillors. There weren’t a lot, and we cleared up our station at around 11am.
Arriving in the canteen, I went forward to the Big Bear Mascot. They were promoting the Nan Hua Bears to the canteen stall vendors. The sale was managed by the "Bao Ga Liao" Company (Everything-Also-Got), made up of a few of our Councillors and led by Mr. Chia. It seemed that the person under the Bear Mascot (which was supposed to be a female) was Shao Ming. :P
After a few photo-taking sessions, we went home.
Right after school, there was a trial run for tomorrow's Homecoming event. Some Councillors were involved as ushers and 'tour guides' for the ex-students. It was a bit of rush for Crystal and I, because both of us were involved in the mock debates coming right up during ELDDS today. (Yes, from this year on, ELDDS is scheduled on Wednesdays and Fridays.)
Rushing to the Drama Studio, I took no time in going to my seat behind the Proposition's table (my debate was first). So the debate went on. My team lost, but I was praised for my reply speech. The second debate was also quite good, even with a few new faces in debating.
At the end of the session, the school debating team (which I am a member of) received the motions for the first preliminary round of the Singapore Secondary Schools Debating Championship (SSSDC). Our motion was "This House believes that sportsmen caught taking performance enhancing drugs should be banned for life", and we are on the Opposition. We planned for a mock debate next Thursday, where Crystal, Cheng Rong and Abraham – the three people who will be speaking – will be Opposition and Xiao Thong, Xian Yin (who's not a member of the team) and I will be Proposition. Well, that's it for today.
This afternoon, my debate team for tomorrow's debate (Tammie, Orrin and I) was supposed to meet to finish up our debate case. Unfortunately, Orrin did not turn up. We were so displeased with him, but Tammie and I settled the points for our case. Later in the night, I called Orrin, and he said that he thought the debate was today, but Mrs. Howard told him it was tomorrow, so he went home. Well, at least he was repentant.
Today’s ELDDS session is the first session held with Mrs. Tan and the new Sec 1 members. It started a bit late (again), but we were quick in getting the atmosphere up through the games. I was happy to see that most Sec 1s are rather enthusiastic. After the games, Mrs. Tan spoke to the ELDDS about the mission, the vision and the ELDDS Programme for the year. We are involved in quite a number of activities, indicating a higher level of participation in school activities. Today, the ELDDS spirit rises again and will stay for a long time. Glory ELDDS!
Today afternoon, I met up with a few committee members of ELDDS to plan orientation activities to be done tomorrow during ELDDS. The new Sec 1s members will be attending, so we need to start building the bonds. We quickly finished the meeting because the others were quick in thinking up the games.
Today’s wind is especially big. Temperatures definitely went down. I meant literally, of course.
Abraham asked me out for bowling. We met at 1.30pm at Bukit Batok MRT Station. Abraham went to Popular in Westmall to buy a CD first. We then took a taxi to The Chevrons (Abraham paid for the ride).
We went up to Cathay Bowl. There was a promotion where each game cost $3. Each of us bought 2 games and went to get our shoes. We played through the two rounds and I won both. Later, Abraham said he wanted a third game and will treat me to one too, taking it as a late birthday present for me. Abraham won the third round. My scores for the three games were 67-84-71.
When we were about to go home, it started to rain heavily. We waited till the rain became smaller before crossing the road and taking the bus. Abraham went to Westmall to buy his sister a birthday present. I went home.
Chinese New Year Day 2. The rain came today.
It’s Chinese New Year.
I woke up in my bed (but my mum said I dozed off on the sofa towards the end of the CNY Countdown show). Not expecting much hongbao money as usual, I went about with my usual daily routines.
Last year, it rained heavily on Chinese New Year’s eve. This year, there’s no rain, but there’s a lot of wind. Will this wind blow away the bad luck or the good luck? Will this wind blow the money or the destruction here?
It's Chinese New Year's eve. Today is quite a happy day for all students, because there weren't any big lessons. Come to think of it, there weren't any lessons; the first two periods were spent with the form teachers. I was out from class to help out in the concert. When the classes started to come in, I directed the traffic.
During the concert, I had two separate roles. During a quiz on Chinese customs, I was the 'God of Fortune dressed in Nan Hua uniform', i.e. giving out the prizes to students who got the questions correct. During the prize-presentation ceremony, I announced the prize-winners. Originally I thought I had no duties, but in the end I helped out, and I'm not unhappy.
After the concert, I went down to the canteen. Hoards of ex-students were present and making a lot of noise. The EXCO spotted a few members of the previous EXCO. We were having a meeting regarding the attitudes of a few Councillors, and at the end of the meeting, not only have we achieved what we wanted to discuss, we also came up with some more lame EXCO actions to add to the ones we already had.
I went back home. Our family had our reunion dinner, then I played computer till the CNY Countdown Show began. I watched past midnight...
Today’s Chemistry practical lesson wasn’t too good for me, because while my classmates are doing the procedures for the second time, I was doing it for the first. I needed my partner Ming Hwee’s help to get oriented.
After school, I helped the emcees for tomorrow’s concert in preparing for their job. We went home at 6pm.
I was surprised I still had energy today. Today was another normal school day. After school, I met up with Tammie, a Sec 3 gal, to discuss the mock debate that we're having. It is part of the selection process for the members of the school debate team. The motion we got was "This House would ban the advertising of alcoholic drinks", and we were the Proposition. We felt that this was a good motion and good side to be on, but we had to work well with Orrin, another member of the team whom I do not know well. According to Tammie, Orrin is full of crap.
I went to Kegan's house in the morning to complete (well, try to) our Geography Holiday Project. Yan Chen came a little bit later. We originally planned to start at 9.30am, but Kegan's parents and relative were sleeping, and the room where the computer was placed was occupied. So we spent the whole morning watching TV.
We went down for lunch at 1pm, after which we went on a walk around Kegan's neighbourhood, our main purpose being looking for a bookshop. None of them were open. During that mini-tour, we passed by Kegan's primary school. Yan Chen and I were pleasantly surprised. In my opinion, the school reminded me of the 60s. Well, actually, the school was built in the 60s. The canteen only had 3 rows of tables, and the stage was at one end of the canteen, making it a hall as well. A zinc-roofed walkway led from the canteen to the classrooms. According to Kegan, this former school campus of Alexandra Hill Primary School is now used by the MOE. During the tour, Kegan also related some of his childhood memories. It reminded me of my own primary school life.
When we went back to Kegan's house, the adults were awake and we can finally start work on the project. A few minutes after we started working, the usual music came on again, and Kegan fell asleep on the bed in the room. He’s not to be blamed. After all, yesterday was a tiring day, and the weather at that time was perfect for sleeping. He did wake up later, and we worked till 6.30pm. I only reached home at 7.45pm. From there, I worked on the Geography project till 2am.
Every year, the Orientation Camp seems to get better and better in terms of spirits.
We reported in the Parade Square early in the morning. The attendance was taken and we were briefed again on the events happening in the day. We then proceeded to the 2/1 classroom to put our belongings. I got the key to the room, so that I can lock later. I slowly watched the councillors entering the room to put their things and proceed to the Parade Square (for class councillors) and the game stations (for the Station Masters). I locked the room and proceeded to the Parade Square, where the Sec 1s were already assembled, most in their Orientation Camp T-shirts. I had to open the room again for Shaun when he came late. Then I went back to the Parade Square.
After the students had placed their valuables in the blue bags provided, they were dismissed to their own classrooms where they had to place their bags, line up outside their classrooms and proceed to their starting stations by 8am. When I was halfway through checking the classrooms to get the classes to hurry, someone told me she was looking for the key to the 2/1 classroom. I said I gave it to Sui Pheng (since she’s in charge of all the keys), but Sui Pheng said I didn't give it to her after I had opened the door for Shaun to place his bag.
Suddenly my mind went into a blank. If it's lost, we'll never be able to get back into the room. I spent a full two hours searching the campus for the key. I retraced my steps, checked the drains and grass patches, tried to rack my brains about where I might have dropped it and even got the other councillors to help when the key still wasn't found by break time.
During break time, I totally decided to slack. I went to the Parade Square, where the Captain's Ball station was, and bounced the ball as hard as I can to vent my frustration. After break, I went to look for the key again. This time, Ms Wassan had been informed about the missing key. I spent no more than 10 minutes after break time before the key was finally found.
It was in Sui Pheng's pocket all along.
I howled towards the whole school campus.
After that one, I really began to enjoy the camp. I went to the Fitness Corner to get myself sunburnt. Well, not intentionally, anyway. The previous President of the Student Council, Bernice, came back to help. She hung out mostly at the swing at the Fitness Corner.
The period before lunch wasn't very good. A lot of time was wasted in getting the Sec 1s to settle down and quieten down. In the end, the Sec 1s only had half the time they were allocated for lunch. I only had my lunch after the Sec 1s went off for their last 4 stations.
A few minutes before the Mass Game, I went to the 2/1 classroom to get myself changed into my non-EXCO Council T-shirt and PE shorts. The Councillors came into the room group by group to get their clothes. As the Mass Game crept closer, the people hurried a little, such that a guy changed his shorts in the room itself. (The only people in the room at that time were the person himself and I.)
The Mass Game was planned by other CCA groups like the NCC, SJAB and Band. Each of these CCA groups has their own station in the obstacle course. Originally the Council had a station in the course, but it was scraped, so partly for revenge (well, for me anyway), we became "wandering souls" specialising in pouring water and flour on everybody, even the members of the CCA groups.
This year the Mass Game was held in the Parade Square because the Field was not ready. Luckily the Parade Square was long enough. Throughout the game, I was pouring water on the Sec 1s with the half-plastic bottle (which I stole from the last station in the course). The water came from the last three stations.
At the end of the game, I was wet (of course) with a bit of flour on my neck, face and arm. As most of you may also know, flour and water make a deadly combination, especially when it’s on your cotton clothes.
The Sec 1s flocked to their respective washing-up areas (boys at the Basketball Court, girls at the area behind Computer Lab block). After the pupils were done there, they were allowed to wash up more properly at the Level 1 toilets before heading back to their classrooms to change into clean clothes. I went to and fro the two toilets around the Canteen to check on the Sec 1 boys and occasionally hurry them. I washed myself up when the toilet at the back of the Canteen had almost cleared.
We returned to the Hall at around 4.50pm. There, the Councillors were taught the dance moves for "Kungfu Fighting", the official camp song this year, by Sharlene, Bernice, Wei Zhe and another ex-Nan Hua student. I picked it up pretty quickly. While these were going on, some NPCC members were teaching the Sec 1s cheers to bring up the atmosphere (the Happy Clap, 'Everywhere We Go', etc.). The Sec 1s then learnt the "Kungfu Fighting" dance from the Councillors. The climax of the day was the Prize-Presentation Ceremony, where 1/5 got overall Champion for the day and the Most United Class award. Under the leadership of Yew Seng, their class councillor, 1/5 proved to everybody that they were worthy of the awards. The EXCO were so impressed with Yew Seng that at the end of everything, we presented a 'Best Class Councillor' certificate to him.
After the debrief, the Councillors went crazy in a Mass Dance to 'That Thing You Do' (courtesy of the PA crew). The Councillors slowly picked up their bags and went home, but a big group decided to have dinner at JEC. I went home, spirits still high. Looks like I’m gonna be back next year.
After the flag-raising ceremony, I went to the Conference Room, as instructed by a clerk yesterday. It seemed (only then) that Mr. Foo had wanted to see the victims of the food poisoning case. Mr. Foo was away from Singapore and came back only last night. He heard of the news from a reporter who called his hand phone while he was in Beijing on business. After making sure we were all fine, we were sent back to class.
Today, I had my first look of the new Physics Laboratory. Before our Physics practical lesson, Mr. Pandian gave us a short introduction of the new lab. The blue tables with plastic tabletops were arranged with 3 tables in one group, like an asterisk. They were on castors for easy rearranging of tables for practical examinations. The gas taps were all on the sides of the room instead of on the tables. The lab was definitely more modern looking than our old ones.
After school, there was a short meeting for all Councillors on tomorrow’s Orientation Camp. The Sec 2 Councillors also received their Council T-shirts today. I headed home after that meeting.
Things were back to normal today.
I returned to school today. My friends were asking me if I was feeling all right and what not. Honestly, I was still feeling a bit nauseous at times, but all I had to do was cough it off.
I missed quite a number of lessons yesterday, including an important practical lesson on titration. Oh well, I'll have to catch up then.
After recess, I had to go to the Conference Room, where Ministry of Environment officials were interviewing the victims of the mass food poisoning case. I had my interview and returned to class quickly.
After school, I returned home quickly to have lunch.
I woke up once past midnight to take my medicine again. I lied back down on my bed, but after a while I vomited on the floor. I went to sleep after I finished vomiting.
For the rest of the day, I only woke up to either take my medicine or have my meal. I was sleeping the rest of the time. Towards evening, I felt a lot better, and I ate rice. By night, I was well enough to come online. I packed my bag and slept at 10pm.
I had beef spaghetti for recess.
Is that important? Oh it is, yes it is very important.
Towards the end of Chinese lesson (which is just before lunch period), I started to have a stomach ache and I felt nauseous. When I went down for lunch, I drank Vitagen, thinking it was probably indigestion. I joked to Kegan that I felt pregnant.
Towards the end of lunch period, it got worse. I went to the toilet, trying to vomit. I went back to class, only to leave at the start of the CME period to try to vomit again. I heard the news that a few girls from my class were also vomiting.
Clarence came to the gents and stayed with me. A few minutes later, I vomited a bit. After another few minutes, I came out to breathe some fresh air. Chairs were lined up outside our classroom, and a few of my female classmates were sitting there, obviously unwell. I was conscious enough to hear that these classmates also had spaghetti for recess. Towards the end of the 1st CME period, Miss Ng (teacher-in-charge of SJAB) came and decided that we were too unwell to continue lessons. Our parents will be called and we will be brought home.
As I started to walk towards the lift with Clarence and Abraham carrying my belongings, I bent down to the side and puked.
I started walking when I felt a little better. We took the lift down and walked to the General Office, where I flopped out on the sofa. It seemed that there were other victims, and all had spaghetti during recess. I just laid there until my father came. He took me by my arm and pulled me to the waiting cab. Just before entering the taxi, I vomited again, this time into the drain.
We went to the Children’s Department of NUH. My stomach ache was getting worse, and I was feeling nauseous all the time. After a bit of a wait, my blood pressure was taken and I was asked a series of questions, one of them being what I had eaten. After another bit of a wait, I was given an injection to stop the vomiting. I felt a lasting pain at the site of the injection, and I started to feel drowsy. It was another long wait before I was brought into the room. I lied on the bed and soon fell asleep. I woke up again, and I fell asleep again.
I opened my eyes again at around 5.30pm. I felt a bit better. I drank a white medicine, after which I went out and sat on the sofa. I was still feeling quite drowsy. When it was time to leave, I stood up shakily. My eyes opened and I saw blackness, nothingness. I heard voices here and there. I lost my sense of direction. When I could see again, I was back on the sofa. It was a scary moment. I thought I was fainting, or worse, dying.
I was wheeled out of the hospital to the taxi stand. On the taxi ride back home, I accidentally vomited in the taxi. I had wanted my father to just give the driver a $10 bill and leave the change, but my stingy father gave him the exact value and went out of the taxi, muttering about why he should be compensating the taxi driver.
When I reached home, I had a bit of porridge, bathed quickly, had a bit more porridge and went to bed. I woke up again at 10pm to eat some more and have my medicine. I slept through.
Went out to Popular today to buy a ring file for my worksheets and notes and printing paper, since it's running out.
Today is CCA Extravaganza Day. I arrived at school early in the morning to do a final briefing with the class councillors. Once that was done, I checked the stations in the school to see that the CCAs are getting ready. I was a bit shocked to see that the Harp Ensemble wasn't at their station.
The ELDDS was also preparing their own stuff. During the Mobile Display, some of our members went out to watch the show. Halfway through the Mobile Display, news came that the Harp Ensemble were coming down to their station from level 6 as they initially thought their station was on Level 6. That's quite brilliant, coming from a club that involved a lot of music score reading; it was clearly stated on the handout to the CCA leaders that the highest level any station will go is Level 4.
After the Mobile Display, the Static Display began. We acted our way through all the 12 classes, but it wasn't very easy to get the actors to make themselves quick. Some skits were long enough, some were too long and some had the phrase "Join ELDDS" in them, which was not allowed.
By 1pm all the classes had gone through all the stations, and were going back to the Hall. Once we were dismissed from ELDDS, I went to the Hall to join the Councillors. The students were filling up a feedback form. After the Sec 1s were dismissed, the Councillors gathered for a debrief and were dismissed at 2pm.
It's Friday. Felt quite relaxed today. TGIF.
Still another normal day. Looks like things are going back to normal - without all the busy days. But they are coming.
Still rather normal lessons. Had ELDDS in the afternoon, where we received our ELDDS T-shirts, but a missing T-shirt fiasco occured. After that, we hanged up our ELDDS banner. Looks like things are looking well for ELDDS in 2004.
Today is back to normal. This means lessons.
Afternoon, the CCA Extravaganza planning committee met all CCA Leaders to brief them about the event. After that was done, I stayed to rehearse a bit of ELDDS stuff before heading home.
It's Monday, Orientation Day 2.
A new class arrangement and routes in the parade square had been devised, so today we put that plan to work. After the morning assembly, we gathered in the Canteen for last reminders of the day's events. We went off to our positions once the briefing was over.
I was instructed to "tag" 1/7 to 1/12, so before recess I was in the Hall supervising the students playing rapport building games. After recess, I went around the school patrolling for the familiarisation tour.
After those orientation activities, we went back to our classes to resume lessons.
Went to Westmall in the afternoon to buy some blank line books. My resolution this year is to write down everything taught during lessons instead of relying on notes from teachers. Then I went to check out the price of the Nokia 3100 handphone at this shop on the third floor. I gasped when I saw the price of the phone without suscribing to any line.
S$328.
I fled.
Sigh...my dream to get a new handphone won't come easy and cheap...
Went to school this morning for the planning committee meeting for the CCA Extravaganza. (What a mouthful. The next planning committee should consider changing the name.) What we didn't anticipate was that the uniformed groups were having their CCAs today. Coincidentally, most of the planning committee is made up of people from the uniformed groups. In the end, only three people (including me) turned up for the meeting.
Today's meeting was fast. We ended 2 hours earlier than scheduled. We had a bite before heading to level 5 of the Science Block, where Wei Loong taught Joyce and me drills he had learnt from Jane. We went back down at 12pm.
At 1pm, Councillors gathered for the briefing for the Sec 1 Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC). We will be ushering parents into the Hall and to the classrooms when Mr. Foo's speech is over. My duty was Hall I/C, meaning I was in charge of the councillors in the hall. I also had to think (on my feet) the route out of the hall to the classrooms.
Mr. Foo's speech started 15 minutes behind time. He spoke and spoke and spoke (with lots of toilets in between). Suddenly, somewhere during the Q&A session, he springs out the statement, "All girls will be allowed long hair, as long as they're plaited." It took me 5 seconds to respond, and my response was, "Huh?" Then Mr. Foo told a councillor to spread the news to her friends quickly, and I was like, "HUH?!" Mr. Foo didn't seem like the sort who would crack jokes, but this just came unexpectedly.
After he made that sweeping statement (which drew lots of applause from the parents), a teacher told me that they have, in fact, discussed this issue for a long time and had come to a conclusion. Okay, I thought, but my thinking was suddenly thrown off-course by the statement. Sure, it doesn't concern me (since boys will never be allowed long hair), but as Xian Yin pointed out, the long hair proposal our ELDDS sent in might have contributed.
After the talk, the parents went to the classrooms. While the travelling might have been a little chaotic, the rest was okay. A lot of things to settle later; I went home only at 6pm.
The first day of school is usually not a happy day, because of lessons. Today, it's a little different. For one, this was a Friday, and it seems stupid to start lessons for the year on a Friday. Also, the first day can be dedicated to familiarising the students with the new campus.
I reached school at around 7am in the morning to mark out the locations of the classes. I sweated a lot, running here and there. The morning assembly was a tight squeeze as I sat behind 4/8's row (I'm class councillor of 4/8, marking the first time I'm not taking a Sec 1 class).
After the morning assembly, all but Sec 1s proceeded to the Hall for the new principal's speech. Mr. Foo was an entirely different person from Mr. Loh. Firstly, his English is better than Mr. Loh's, and his Chinese is equally good, if not better. Secondly, he seems to be obsessed with the quality of the toilet more than anything else. Somewhere in the speech, he'll suddenly spring out the word "toilet". I can predict that Mr. Foo will become a popular person among the students.
After Mr. Foo's speech, Kegan said a few words as President of the 11th Student Council. After that, Mr. Lim, the Operations Manager, perhaps the most popular person in the school right now, said some words as well. None of us could have imagined Mr. Lim giving a speech...
After taking 4/8 to their classroom, I returned to my own classroom on level 6, the highest level possible in the school (except the roof). Our new form teacher, Mdm Ameline Sia, was speaking to the class. I got my seat in the second row, in front of Wee Cheng and to the sides of Ai Pheng and Aileen. Mdm Sia got me, as last year's class cleanliness leader, to "unravel" the new whiteboard (which simply involved pulling the plastic covering off the whiteboard surface). After that, she got into her usual boring words with some fun stuff in between. I knew her since I was taught by her in Sec 1. History lessons meant boredom to me then; now, in Sec 4, she's going to teach us English and Social Studies. A bit of administrative stuff later, I went off early to prepare for the familiarisation tour.
During the 3 hours of familiarisation tour (1 hour for each level except Sec 1s), I was walking around the campus. After a few day's work on the traffic flow of classes around the place, I've known the campus inside out. (Okay, that's exaggerating. But I basically know where the main places are.)
There were still quite a lot of things to do after school. I only went home at 4.30pm.
The beginning is here.
...
"When you're happy and you know it clap your hair..."
Okay, maybe not that, but, hey, entering 2004, it's definitely happy. Not the events that are coming up this year though. Inter-school debate competition, bigger responsibilities as an EXCO member, the O Levels, and the prospect of separating with our friends...
But for now, be happy. Because the beginning is here.
---
Sidetrack for a while, thought I might be happy that 2004's here, my coffin (the same one I brought out last year) is back again. Homework not done, more than last year; projects not completed; so many things still undone (or seem to be). Quick, I'm waiting for 31st December 2004.
