New Year's Eve

The day started rainy. I had originally planned to go swimming with some of my classmates this afternoon, but the weather looked so downcast that we scrapped it. Maybe it was a way of telling us the kind of mood 2004 should end in, but then there were happy moments and they are of a mention.

Instead of scrapping our meeting altogether, we met up for a bowling and pool session at West Coast Recreation Centre. Kegan was caught in a jam, so Sam and I played bowling first (each buying 3 games) while Fang You, who claimed he didn't know how to bowl, watched. Kegan arrived in the middle of our first game, so he himself bought another 3 games. Clarence and Shiling showed up later but didn't join in the bowling. After Sam and I finished our games both of us persuaded Fang You to try a game, the three of us buying one game each. In the end, Fang You didn't do too bad, even beating Sam.

After that we headed up to the billard room to play pool. We had to wait a while for an available table as all were fully booked, but a short wait later table number 56 opened. The only experience I had in playing pool was online, so I was a bit clumsy at times. I can probably relieve myself with the fact that I had shot the 8-ball into the pocket to win the first game with Clarence. While Kegan went home earlier, the rest of us played for a little over an hour and left after that.

The night was spent watching TV, mainly Channel U and Channel i. For Channel i, today was the last day of transmission (it will cease transmission at 1.30am tomorrow), while a few 'last episodes' were aired on Channel U, which will have a slightly new identity with MediaWorks' merger with MediaCorp. The shows were so tear-jerking that I almost wanted to cry myself.

355 days ago I mentioned I looked forward to 31 December 2004 in my diary entry (you can rewind to that entry and check; it should still be there). While this wasn't really the mood I expected 31 December 2004 to be in, I have to comment that it had been such a wonderful year, full of memories, happiness and friendship. Even as I type out this entry, I feel like crying.

Thank you, 2004.

As a sign of respect to tsunami victims, quite a number of changes have been made to countdown events in the region, if not all over the world. Channel 5 has cancelled the live telecast of The Nation's Countdown 2005, while other countdown events all over Singapore are adding in a minute of silence into their programmes.

Check this out: SYLVESTER SIM LOOK-ALIKE!

Veronica had originally planned a 4o1 outing, the last outing of the year, to Sentosa scheduled for today, but it was cancelled due to bad weather. Well, the weather wasn't that bad; if only the temperature was that cool and the rain went away.

At night, I was reading a guide to Ngee Ann Polytechnic's courses in 2005 and thinking about how much Singapore Idol and American Idol has made me love set designing and lighting. Isn't it interesting how different light combinations can give different results? *chuckle* ACSianTheatre probably has their own productions where the people doing lighting and stuff also come from the CCA, so I may want to try it out. Ah, I've got a new love...:p

Parents went fishing yesterday, so they came back and we had clams for dinner.

Sylvester and Taufik made an appearance on tonight's charity show, Affairs of the Heart, on Channel 8. Besides the performances they made at the beginning of the show, they sang the choruses of the songs the other person sung on Asian Pop night on Singapore Idol, i.e. Taufik sang 安静 while Sylvester sang Belaian Jiwa. I must say, Taufik's Chinese isn't that bad after all.

Merry Christmas!

I met up with some of the 11th Exco this morning to go watch a musical at Church of our Saviour, Mrs Lim's church. I arrived at Queenstown MRT Station a tad too early (9.35am) but waited anyway for the rest to arrive. Jane came first, followed by Kegan and then Wei Loong. We walked to the church at around 10.15am and met up with Xin Jie near the church.

I spotted Mrs Lim (strangely, by her hairstyle) dressed in pink, and all of us went up to her to send our wishes. She also introduced us to her son (forgot his name). We talked a bit about school stuff while waiting for the doors to be open for people to go in. We went in later and got seats at the back of the church for the 11am show. The musical, "From Heaven's Throne", was about the events leading to the birth of Jesus and how Christmas began in God's heart. Out of 5 stars I would give a 3.5.

After the Christmas services, we took a few photos in the church before going out to the hawker centre a stone's throw away and having chicken rice, Mrs Lim's treat. After the meal she went off early, and Xin Jie also left the group for she had to go somewhere. The remaining 4 of us explored an old block containing an arcade, billard room, a closed-down fast-food restaurant and a closed cinema; basically, a perfect setting for a horror movie.

Then 3 of us went to The Chevrons (Jane went home) for bowling. After that we went down to the arcade where I got addicted to the ParaParaParadise. We went home at around 5pm.

To me, this was the best Christmas Day I have spent in my life. Merry Christmas to all!

Spent the day and night at home watching TV and playing on the computer.

The Sec 1 Registration was on today. I arrived in school at around 6.50am. In the canteen, councillors were sorting out stuff to be given to the parents, so I helped out to increase the productivity. After that and some last-minute briefing, the student leaders got into position at around 7.20am. As an ex-student coming to help, I could walk around the school during the event or station myself at one spot, so I hung out mainly outside the Design Studio where parents and students use the corridor along the room when they come in from the back gate.

The break came at about 9am; a few Careforce members went around the school distributing muffins to the student leaders on duty. The duty switchover was at 9.15am. While all of us waited for Mr. Foo to finish his speech and the actual registration to begin, I sat down at the benches at the back of the canteen and chatted with Shao Ming, Kegan and Clarence, whose brother (I think) was posted to our school.

The bookshop and uniform stalls began sales at around 10am, though the Q & A session in the Hall had not finished. As usual (it happens every year), a few parents sneaked out from the Hall to come to the canteen to buy their stuff earlier and beat the crowd. After some time more parents started to show up in the canteen and that meant it was time to make ourselves busier. Except for a few problems here and there, the event was mostly successful and the student leaders did a great job.

Once the crowds thinned out, we went for our debrief in the Hall at 1 plus, after which we had lunch together. While the other Councillors had some stuff to settle (I think it was about Sec 1 Orientation Camp 2005, which would be an overnight camp), I went to get my bag and helped some of the student leaders to clear some stuff. Some photo-taking later, I went home with Kegan to get ready for the next programme of the day for me, that is, a 4o1 BBQ.

I arrived at Yew Tee MRT Station at around 6pm, almost immediately spotting Abraham. The BBQ was at Delia's condominium and all costs, including the food, were sponsored by Delia (or rather, her family). Abraham and I then walked a bit in the pasar malam behind the MRT station, trying to find Delia, Aileen and Michelle, only to find out later that they had went to Delia's condo first. So we walked a short distance to the place and called Delia out to open the gate for us.

Juliet, Zhi Yuan and James came shortly after we did and together we walked towards the BBQ pit beside the pool carrying the BBQ stuff. Zhi Yuan wasted no time in starting the fire while the rest of us ... watched and helped out wherever we could. The majority of 4o1 arrived a few minutes after 6.30pm, and I went out after that to fetch Benny who came a little later. By the time I came back people were already beginning to eat the bee hoon and the food was starting to be cooked.

I helped out at the pit (started out with cutting sausages) and also had some ketupat (okay...quite a lot of ketupat) at the same time. I helped out till 8 plus and sat down to eat: cocktail chicken, fishballs, sausages, otah-otah, satay, a chicken wing and orange juice. After that I sat back and watched as the girls push and throw unwilling victims into the pool (girls first, then they started aiming the guys).

Most people went home at around 10pm when their clothes were dry enough. I was one of the last few to go home with Kegan.

PS: Haha, I'm dry, I'm dry! :p

8.45am. What the...?! I've overslept! I quickly downed my breakfast and rushed to school. I was supposed to be in school by 9am for the Sec 1 Registration trial run, which I'll be helping out in. Eventually I only reached school at 9.30am. The briefing by Mrs Siew, the new teacher-in-charge for the Sec 1 Registration (past registrations' in-charge had been Mdm Yong, from the earliest registration I knew), was still going on.

The Councillors and Careforce members finally get down to our hands a few minutes past 10, moving the tables and benches in the canteen to form the queues and counters for the sale of uniform and books. All the furniture were arranged by 12nn and Puay Bing, Exco-in-charge of the registration (coincidentally one of the Heads of Discipline in the 12th Exco), gave us a little break.

After the break Mrs Siew and the teachers came back and we did a little review of what we had done today. After quite a long time where the Councillors and Careforce members learn how to tie their ties, we were sort of dismissed at 3pm.

Went swimming with Desmond and Jackson today at 1.30pm at Clementi Swimming Complex. We got out at around 3pm and I went home while the other two went to Ginza Plaza to eat some things.

Nothing much happened.

Watched Shrek on Channel 5 tonight. The funniest part for me was when the blue bird burst from singing too high. :p

Finally, after so many days of laziness, I decided to go swimming this morning at Bukit Batok Swimming Complex. I was getting so into the rhythm of swimming that I swam my last 20 laps continuously (in total I swam 40 laps, or a distance of 2km; usually I rest after every 10 laps).

I checked the PAE posting results on the PAE website at 10am, hoping for a belated birthday present. I was momentarily stunned when I saw 'ANGLO-CHINESE JUNIOR COLLEGE' written under my name. I had 7 points with bonus and NJC doesn't want me, eh?

I later went to NJC to try to appeal, only to find out appeals into NJC are only through CCA. (Maybe it's the same for all the JCs; I don't really know.) This means that if an appeal student is good in his/her CCA and the school has a demand for the CCA or if the CCA is a niche in the school, he/she may have a better chance to get into the school. The guy in the General Office told me that with my drama skills, I don't stand a very good chance of having a successful appeal.

As I walked out of the school, I changed my view about going into ACJC. The last time I went to the ACJC Open House, though I didn't find out as much as I could about the school, I really liked their Drama Club. The ACSianTheatre seems to have lots of plays and projects and all that stuff. Maybe it won't be bad after all. Besides, it's only for the first three months; I can always switch to NJC if my O Level results are much better.

That is, if I don't fall in love with ACJC.

It's my birthday today. ;)

Hmm...let's try that again:

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY


TODAY!

That's better. :p

One of the things I did today was to check into Habbo Hotel Singapore. It's in its Beta version now, but it's pretty good. Even though I end up walking around for nothing most of the time. Had KFC for dinner later.

Heh, this feels better than previous years' birthdays.

There's an Exco outing with Bernice to KBox @ Cathay Cineleisure today. I met Wei Loong at Somerset MRT Station and both of us walked to Cineleisure, where Xin Jie is already waiting. Bernice joined us just as we were exiting the station. After meeting Xin Jie at Cineleisure we walked around the ground floor while waiting for Kegan and Edwin. We went up to Level 4 later after the duo said they would be arriving soon. Both of them showed up just as Bernice had paid for the room, and together we walked towards Room 31.

Once we were in the room we wasted no time in singing. There were also some gifts going around; I got a box of chocolates from Kegan as a birthday gift (in the shape of those kind of balls you hang on Christmas trees), two Dove Amicelli from Kegan too (common for everyone; sorry, don't know what exactly it's called) and some more chocolates from Xin Jie (also birthday gift). Wee Cheng came in later too, but eventually he didn't sing.

Halfway through a KBox staff walked into our room with a birthday cake and a candle lit. Uh huh, that wasn't exactly on the programme was it? Wasn't expecting this at all. We sang the birthday song, cut the cake (somewhat clumsily; the knife wasn't sharp) and enjoyed the cake.

Edwin and Wee Cheng went off a few minutes past 5. The rest of us continued singing till 7pm, the end of the session. So Wei Loong, Xin Jie, Kegan and I (Bernice went off a few minutes to 7) went to take some neoprints and then down to the food court to have dinner. Later we just walked along Orchard Road and sat down on the steps in Takashimaya and chatted. By the time I reached home The Amazing Race was long over, but I enjoyed every minute of the time with the Exco, so much that The Amazing Race seemed inferior to The Amazing Buddies.

Habbo Hotel Singapore opens today! It looks interesting, but I'm waiting till Thursday to check in because of a note on the front page saying teenagers under 16 need to get their parents' permissions before using the Habbo Hotel. *I don't really care whether you got the hint or not*

TV Marathon today began at 6pm where I watched the encore telecast of the Group 1 piano show and results of American Idol Sr. 3. Then from 7.30pm to 9.30pm and 11.30pm to 12.30am I watched the finale of Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire.

Star Awards 2004 on tonight. I loved the stage design (10 times better than previous ones). Was crappy at some points of the show, but overall it was fine. I was a bit surprised Moses Lim got into the Top 10 Most Favourite Male Artistes.

Pretty strong breezes today. Reminds me of December every year. I love breezes.

2o4o2 Chalet (Day 2)

I woke up a few minutes past 7 after a very good night's sleep. Jackson was still sleeping, so I was careful not to make too much noise. Outside, Delia and Velvry were also awake. According to them, the other guys played till 6 and then went to bed. I went into Hut A to find most of them awake, so I went in to take my toothbrush and toothpaste and then to the toilet to brush my teeth. By the time I was done the guys (except Jackson) were awake. Then, I just hung around until Jackson woke up last. Once all of us were freshened up we proceeded to check-out.

On the way to the Palawan Beach Monorail Station, Jackson was the liveliest, also trying to talk us into going to watch the movie National Treasure. We reached the station with 50 minutes to spare (the first train would arrive at around 9.20am), so we sat down on the benches and waited while staring at a bunch of people playing with the frisbee on the beach. When the train finally came, we took it to the Visitor Arrival Centre and then the Sentosa bus back to mainland Singapore.

We had breakfast at the Seah Im Food Centre (looked like brunch for Jackson, who had chicken rice and fishball noodles). Since nobody else was interested in watching National Treasure, we decided to head home on the MRT.

2o4o2 Chalet (Day 1)

The 2o4o2 Chalet is on from today to tomorrow (2D1N). When I chose the date for the chalet, I wanted a bit of significance to the date. So I chose December 9, because two years ago our first chalet (at the then NTUC Downtown East Resort) was also held on December 9.

I arrived at the HarbourFront Bus Terminal (meeting place) a few minutes before 10am. Ting Ting, Hong Yue, Xin Hui and Velvry were already waiting at the Sentosa Bus berth. Moments later 5 more guys came along: Sihui, Heng Wei, Jackson, Desmond and Ming Hwee, who curiously turned up in jeans when we would be going to the beach. Following that Wei Jie came and finally, at 10.30am, Chen An showed up. He's the VIP of the group because he will have to help us check into the chalet. With all of us here, we set off for Sentosa.

Once we had paid our admission fees, we took the Blue Line to the Underwater World stop. Since the clock had just struck 11am, it probably meant we had missed the free shuttle service from the bus stop to the resort, so we walked along Imbiah Walk up a slope to the resort. Strangely, the reception only allowed check-in after 2.30pm. Eventually we left the resort via the back gate and came onto Siloso Beach.

We 'hovered' around the area of Siloso Beach nearest to the resort before deciding to walk the long way to Palawan Beach. While the rest walked clear away from the water, I took off my shoes and let the water wash my feet. After a long while we arrived at Palawan Beach's 7-Eleven (under Palawan Beach Monorail Station) where some of them bought drinks. I headed to a nearby store to buy a silver plastic ball to play beach volleyball with as the volleyball was too expensive.

We left our bags on a mat someone brought (forgot who) on the beach and some of us went to an open space out on the beach to play beach volleyball. The weather was pretty cool; the sun only came out at some times, though the dark clouds did look dangerous. After quite a long time playing the game and Wei Jie began to chase Jackson around the court with her shoes in her hands, we went back to where our belongings were. While some of them played cards on benches outside a fast-food restaurant, Ming Hwee, Jackson, Desmond and I went to the Southernmost Continental Point of Continental Asia to take some photos together.

By the time we went back to the fast-food restaurant, Yi Jun, Wen Bing and Delia had arrived. Since it was past 2.30pm, the rest went back to check-in while Jackson and I walked slowly eating packet lunch from 7-Eleven. Strangely, by the time we got back (which was a pretty long time), they had just checked in.

We had booked two kampong huts and requested them to be side by side. The resort has three kampong villages (that's not the only thing at the resort; they also have decent chalet rooms) and we were in Kampong Bugis, between Kampong Siglap and Kampong Tuas. Each kampong village's 5 huts were distributed in a circle around a 'village centre' with stools arranged in a circle too. The guys went into Hut A, while the girls went into Hut B. A few moments later we all came out. Sihui and gang went to Sakae Sushi for lunch while Jackson, Ming Hwee, the three girls who came later and I returned to Palawan Beach to play volleyball. This time all of us took the Sentosa Beach Line, an air-conditioned mini bus, which made the journey more bearable.

While we were playing, some guys came to a spot near us and set up a volleyball court right next to us. We eventually moved onto the court to play after they were done and were joined by a group of adults who claimed they were Sec 1s (yeah, right). We played till 5 plus when I almost screamed for a water break. By the Yijun and Wen Bing also had to go home, so they went back to the huts while the rest of us waited at 7-Eleven for them while drinking the stuff we bought. A long roundabout journey later we returned to the chalet and discovered the sushi-eating people were not done eating (it was an eat-all-you-can buffet from 3pm to 6pm). So we hung out in Hut B (since Delia had the key) playing Worm on Ming Hwee's handphone till they came back.

Soon after we came out of our chalets again. This time Delia, Jackson, Ming Hwee and I were going for dinner at Sentosa Food Centre while Sihui, Heng Wei, Velvry, Chen An and Desmond stayed on Siloso Beach to play volleyball as the sun set. (Actually it had already set.) It was a very long wait for the mini bus as we missed the last one, so we chatted about lots of stuff during the wait.

Once the mini bus finally came we boarded it and alighted at the Visitor Departure Centre. From there we walked to the food centre (my recommendation) where I had fried rice and drank sugar cane juice. After the meal Ming Hwee went home and the remaining three of us went to watch the Magical Sentosa show at the Musical Fountain. Believe it or not, I had never watched a performance at the Musical Fountain in my whole life. We managed to catch the 8.40pm show with a few minutes to spare, and it was indeed a magical and spectacular show, albeit only 25 minutes long, of water, lights, sound, fire (we can practically feel the heat from our seats) and a cheeky monkey.

We returned to the chalet to find the others playing cards. Jackson, Desmond and me wanted to go swimming at the pool, but at the last minute I discovered I needed to use the toilet badly. When I came out they weren't at the swimming pool; they had went bathing instead as they saw nobody in the pool. I went to bathe too and had a little headache afterwards. A few minutes in the open enjoying the breeze later, I went onto the top bed in Hut A (where everybody were) to rest a while as the people below played cards. I joined in when they began playing mahjong with Chen An's mahjong cards, but stopped after 1 round.

By then it was already midnight. Jackson and I decided to go off to bed, so we went into Hut B, where the beds were already prepared by the girls and ready for any tired soul to lie down and sleep. He took the pullout bed while I took the lower bed. And so we slept...

To be continued

Nothing much.

My elder brother came back yesterday, so I let him use the Internet while I played Solitaire.

Woke up at about 10am this morning. Then went to Singapore Post (Bukit Batok Central Branch) in the afternoon to return my NKF card and the donations I've collected. The queue was exceptionally long, perhaps because it's lunch hour for the staff.

Woke up at around 7am (again) and had breakfast. After that I sat down in the living room to read the Lime magazine (Malaysia) which I bought yesterday at Bintang Shopping Centre while the adults chatted.

We went back to grandpa's house later ('cause all our stuff are there) and stayed there till 4pm. We then rode in my second uncle's car back to Johor Bahru, where he lived. We had dinner at a local restaurant (in Malaysia, all food-eating places are called restaurants) before he drove us to the customs and we got off. From there, we returned to Singapore.

We arrived at home to face a house which didn't seem to have been populated since we left for Malaysia on Friday. My elder brother was supposed to have come back on Friday on leave from NS to take care of his plants and fishes. We thought the fishes were dying of hunger, but they returned to their hyperactive modes later. Went to bed after scrubbing myself clean.

I went to the kitchen to eat supper a few minutes past midnight. By then the adults had put out a few mattresses on the floor in the living room to make a very big bed. I slept at around 2am and woke up at about 7am.

We'll be celebrating grandpa's birthday tonight. During the day I went out with my parents, two other relatives and grandpa to a few places to get the stuff and food for the buffet tonight. We went to a wet market for chicken, a sundry shop that was almost like a hole dug in the ground beside a road for some other stuff, Super Cowboy for some utensils and Bintang Shopping Centre for the rest. It beats sitting on the sofa and watching the same VCDs over and over again, even when the show isn't too bad. But eventually that was the programme for the rest of the afternoon when we're not out and the adults are busy cooking in the kitchen.

Eventually the tables were set up in the living room and the food were ready by 7pm. There were fried beehoon, fried noodles, sausages, cuttlefish balls, prawn balls, agar agar, French fries and more. Our neighbour cum relative also contributed fried chicken wings. I started eating after more relatives started to show up (some of whom I've never seen before). I had two big servings and a drink and then just walked around the courtyard outside.

After having one more serving of food, my parents and I went to my second aunt's house in Tampin in her car with her children. We slept at midnight in the couple's air-conditioned room while they slept in another room.

To be continued

I'm going to Malacca (that's in Malaysia if you don't already know) with my parents for the next three days to celebrate my grandpa's birthday. From the time I was born till now, I remember the times at my grandpa's (maternal side) better than that on my paternal side (my dad's dad lives in Muar).

We were supposed to wake up at 6am to leave for Malaysia, but I overslept and we only went out at around 8am. We managed to catch the 9.30am bus to Malacca from the Larkin Bus Terminal in Johor Bahru. A 4-hour non-stop ride later (in the past it used to stop over in resthouses like in Yong Peng) we got off at the bus stop outside Kotamas Shopping Centre in Malacca. My mum called my 4th aunt. A few minutes later she came along with her husband and two children in her car and all 7 of us squeezed into the car to grandpa's house, stopping halfway along the road for her husband to collect his van from the repair shop.

My grandpa still lives in a zinc-roofed house in a kampong. When I was younger I used to hate the house, especially the kitchen where the floor had lots of 'holes' and walking over them gave me the creeps. Well, they still do now. Anyway, once we arrived at grandpa's house, we had lunch there before we sat down on the sofa and watched a Hong Kong serial on VCD.

Dinner was about the same, after which it became quite boring. I have more than 10 cousins on my maternal side alone, most of whom are probably less than 10 years old. And it can get pretty lame when all you can do is watch them play all those stupid games. Then I thought back and remembered that I used to be their age and played such games with my other cousins.

Life got a little bearable when I chanced upon the latest episode of Survivor: Vanuatu on ntv7 at around the same time as Singapore airs it. I watched the show that ended at 11pm at my grandpa's neighbour's house (also a relative) before coming back to grandpa's house.

To be continued

Nothing much today. Leaving for Malaysia tomorrow.

On Mrs. Siew's 'request' yesterday before I went home, I came back to school today to help her check data for the School Excellence Model (also pretty confidential stuff) with Kegan and Clovis. We originally set the starting time to be 10am, but Mrs. Siew had something in the morning, so she came in much later. At the start we were a bit clueless about what we were supposed to do, but after a while we got a bit of the hang of it.

Clovis had to go for badminton sometime in the afternoon, so Kegan and I continued until we were done, the time being around 2pm. I had lunch - fried beehoon Mrs. Siew bought for us - while Kegan waited for Mrs. Lim and Ms. Wassan who went out to buy lunch and desserts. When they returned we went up to the Staff Lounge to meet them. I took a bowl of grass jelly topped with shaved ice while the teachers and two other ex-students (who came to help another teacher) ate. Towards the end Mr. Foo came in and talked a huge bunch of stuff with us. Kegan and I went home at 4.30pm.

Tonight was the night: the crowning of the first Singapore Idol. Everybody, remember this name: TAUFIK BATISAH.