Thirteeners'10
1. Ang Jia Yun
2. Arielle Ng Rae
3. Aw Hui Ge
4. Beverly Goh Hui Ying
5. Chai Ming Sei
6. Charmaine Ching Shi Min
7. Clarissa Harijanto
8. Co Chuoying Cindy
9. Fennie Wong Choi Chin
10. Foo En Ning
11. Hilary Ho Xiaoqi
12. Iffera Ng Luhui
13. Joey Tan Jiao Jie
14. Lai Wan Lin Angeline
15. Liew Rui Teng
16. Me!
17. Leong Yuan Mei
18. Leow Yujun
19. Ducky!
20. Ngiam Li Yi
21. Nicole Yiu Tjing Tung
22. Nyssa Low Pui Cheng
23. Oon Kai Li Ulanda
24. Rachel Tan Yen Ping
25. Shen Lin
26. Sim Yanying
27. Tan Xin-ya Stella
28. Tang Jia Lei
29. Wan Jingsi Michelle
30. Wu Sining

This is the official class list of 313'10.
Unless Ducky has made a blunder somewhere, albeit that is rather unlikely I'd say. I koped this from Ducky, and thanks for the compilation

Some Ex-Classmates
Cindy, Rachel Tan, Iffera, Beverly and Jiayun (NYPS)
Charmaine and Ducky (207'09)

Some New Classmates I Know
Yanying, Mingsei, Yujun, Nicole and Nyssa



Gee, that's a pretty miserable list.
Haha well, I guess we'll all get to know each other during the Sec Three orientation!
I'm betting Ducky will sit with Mingsei or something, and I'll ensure Cindy, Bev and I are located somewhere close to Ducky, seats preferably second row-ish. And I can't believe my index number is 16. I've grown so accustomed to being 9 then 13.

Sec Three's gonna be exciting and enthralling.
I can hardly wait you know. Let's just get the damned holidays over and done with quick!

I realised, truly and deeply today, that this world would be miserable if it were without the presence of books. And to me, reading is very much akin to breathing, so if I were to reside in a book-less world, as I shudder to think, I doubt my chances of survival are very high.

I went out with Tshirt and Ashley to dinner at HDB Hub very just, and we purchased three of those delectable KFC set meals - well, we could hardly avoid the brightly lit shop buzzing with the crowd inside, with chicken (grilled, fried, steamed, whatever) being our guilty pleasure. Thank goodness we haven't been born with pathological contempt for food or anything. And KFC was as usual, finger-licking good. I think I shouldn't make excuses or whatnot if I'm serious about cutting down on the weight, but I did shed off the irritating 2kg I put on since Malacca trip (or perhaps before that) and I think I deserve a reward.
:D

Okay, now I see how dismal I'll turn out in endeavouring to stick to strict diets. But I was never on a diet anyway.

I haven't felt this thrilled since forever, just strolling around arm-in-arm with the closest of friends and window shopping. We planned to catch a movie actually, but because it was getting late, and that I'd be going over for a sleepover soon, I guess we'll save the brilliant chick flicks/thrillers/romances till then. I hope we're not watching Titanic again, unless of course an extra bucket is prepared and on stand-by to contain the tears. Titanic makes me cry bucketfuls.

Anyway, we made a detour and headed for the Library instead, me scouting for books necessary for my LMP project and at the same time, enjoying the aircon while I could. The coming December is indubitably chilly, as seen from the recent flash floods along Bukit Timah, and my Mom has prohibited me to switch the aircon on. But I have no incentive to anyway, since I tend to, without fail, end up huddling under my blanket and still feel extremely cold with my teeth chattering away. Year-end nights are always freezing.

I dropped off four books, and to my delight, found a great deal of Agatha Christie works on the shelves for my pick. On the down side though, most of the Poirot books were materials I've read before, and I can't be bothered to touch the Miss Marple series, because Miss Marple is awfully oblivious to the most obvious clues and often, I end up commenting on her foolishness after every book. Evidently, Poirot is the more shrewd person out of the two, and the little Belgian detective's "little grey cells" are comparable to Sherlock Holmes' wit. Which reminds me, I need to get tickets for the movie "Sherlock Holmes".

I borrowed "The Colour Purple" by Alice Walker (for LMP project), "Their Eyes Were Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston (also for LMP project), "Hercule Poirot's Christmas" by Agatha Christie and "Mrs. Lirriper" by Charles Dickens. It's too bad I couldn't find "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens. And it's too bad the Library couldn't establish a separate section containing all the literature materials (well, that'd be really contradictary I guess, since all books are literary materials) but I have to frequent the Adult Fiction section often in order to hunt down these books and honestly, most of the books on the shelves of that section are related to something sexual. Especially the images on the front cover, gods. It's rather ignominous having to stumble upon these books every five seconds or so.

The worst thing is, everytime I pass by a trolley containing books fresh from the Return counter, and I'll automatically scan through the titles to see if I find something interesting. But I end up discovering more than three quarters of the trolley contains very "adult" books, and well, this causes me to harbour the notion that certain people are really sick in the minds.

Suffice it to say, I borrowed the books I mentioned earlier and spent a long time waiting for Ashley and Tshirt. It seems the Library is an ideal haunt for people after dinner on Saturday evenings. And we returned home soon after.

On a side note, I reckon I must be mad. Dreadfully insane or mental or something. Because I'm actually looking forward to Sec Three, to getting to know new people, new classmates, and a new lease of life (well, it would be predictably hectic) and sitting with Cindy and near Ducky. Cos I'm a Thirteener'10!

The bed looks awfully inviting. I think I should get some sleep while I can, then spend the entire of tomorrow and Monday as well to rehearse my exam pieces on the guzheng. It doesn't help that the Grade 9 exams on Tuesday is drawing near, and a fine layer of dust has collected on the cover of my instrument. Just goes to show how I should cease spending time excessively on the computer and how much more practice I require if I truly wished to pass, and pass with flying colours. I hate hate hate playing 《小河淌水》and the beginning portion of《将军令》for that matter.

And I realised, undoubtedly with a pang of guilt, that I've spent the whole day listening to cheerful Christmas carols, no I mean carol, by Mariah Carey (All I Want For Christmas Is You). I need to get Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel soon or it'd just simply drive me insane.

Here's the Forbes List of 20 Cash Queens of Music.
Dated 2009 including total property value and earnings from records sales.

1. Madonna – 72 Million
2. Barbara Streisand – 60 Million
3. Mariah Carey– 45 million
4. Beyonce – 38 Million
5. Shakira – 27 Million
6. Britney Spears – 26 Million
7. Christina Aguillera – 20 Million
8. Faith Hill – 19 Million
9. Dixie Chicks – 18 Million
10. Celine Dion – 13 Million
11. Hillary Duff – 12 Million
12. Carrie Underwood – 12 Million
13. Leona Lewis – 12 Million
14. Gwen Stefani – 8 Million
15. Avril Lavigne – 7 million
16. Nelly Furtado - 7 Million
17. Fergie – 6 Million
18. Jennifer Lopez – 6 Million
19. Sheryl Crow – 6 Million
20. Norah Jones – 5.5 Million

I'm thrilled Mariah Carey is ranked third currently, but evidently, with the reputation of the best-selling artiste in the music industry with the highest number of tracks hitting Billboard Hot 100, she would obviously earn heaps of money.

Whoa, I never knew Britney Spears was that rich? And I'm really perplexed as to why Madonna managed to garner so much wealth and well, sit on top of this list. Because somehow, I'm not that fond of her. But then again, you can never be fond of a primma dona who is near fifty can't keep at least two pieces of clothes on during live performances. So repugnant.

MC all the way!
Lift your hand to the sky, cos we will never say bye bye...

For safe listening in your car, follow these simple tips:

Stick to mid-paced music if you want to keep calm in stressful driving situations - there's a reason why many taxi drivers choose it!
[I think mst of Mariah Carey's tracks fit this one.]

To ensure a calm and positive frame of mind, choose music which evokes pleasant memories. You probably have favourite summer tunes, for example.
[Haha Without You, My All and Vision Of Love would be impeccable options. So will I Want To Know What Love Is and perhaps Bye Bye.]

Avoid songs with overly aggressive lyrics. For many, tracks like Prodigy's 'Firestarter' are less than ideal.

Avoid music which is overly complex (eg. songs with little repetition or, say, unusual remixes of well-known tracks) as they can be highly distracting.
[Well, then 98.7 FM should not play remix tracks at peak hours on Saturdays.]

If going on a long journey, select music which varies in volume, tempo and style - it will stop you getting bored and help increase awareness.
[Haha Obsessed, It's Like That, Don't Forget About Us, Time Of Your Life and Touch My Body!]

Listen at a comfortable volume level. Loud music will distract you - and, if really loud, annoy other drivers too.

Never wear earphones or headphones whilst driving. If you want to listen to your MP3 player, plug it into your car stereo if you can.

Do not attempt to change a CD whilst driving at speed. If you need to change volume or radio station, don't take your eyes off the road.

Sing along to the music you choose if you know it well enough, but don't pretend you're on stage.
[Haha this point is totally for Alyssa and Tshirt man.]

Resist the urge to play air guitar - or, indeed, any other 'air' instrument - whilst driving. 'Playing' the car door, with your arm out of the window, isn't recommended either.

H.A.T.E.U - Mariah Carey


I'm a Mariah Carey fan.
And for an obvious reason why.
MC ♥

I got into Advanced Literature.
Which essentially is predictable, since it's what I've chosen, but not what I desire to have so I emailed Mrs. Chek telling her I wish to make a switch from that into Advanced History (which hopefully will be possible). And well, I doubt even with Jasmine's 真知灼见 I will able to eventually fathom why I got something else instead of BSP, particularly if my H.Chinese score is not far from an A1 (I shouldn't be proud of this, but 叶老师 being a strict marker is a fact that everyone's aware of). Nevertheless, I'll be entering BSP next year too, though the two phone calls were really mortifying.

In essence, the most desirable outcome is of course, Advanced History together with the options I got allocated to. And I'll be having Debate, two Dances, Malay, Spanish/French, MPP, HSSRP, LMP, YFC, Guzheng and CAP (some portions of it on a hypothetical basis) next year. Which you know, the workload is nonetheless tantamount to murder, but I wouldn't give two hoots about that.

Another thing that is completely irrelevant and unrelated to the subject of this entry, but I found a recent live performance of Mariah Carey on The X Factor, dated 11th November this year. I'm completely astounded and awestruck by the quality of her performance - it seems those vocal folds nodules are not acting up as frequently as before, and hopefully MC has truly recovered! Symptoms of nodules include hoarseness of speech, frequent vocal breaks and reduced vocal range, and I guess over one decade of MC's singing career is indubitably the cause. But given her extensive usage of the whistle register and amazing vocal range of 6-7 octaves, she definintely would have to live up to standard.

I Want To Know What Love Is - MC


Will you just listen to that heavenly falsetto - simply exquisite!
This makes the purchase of Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel even more mandatory in my opinion. Haha I just realised the insane amount of MC videos and promotion I have on my blog causes it to resemble some MC fansite.

Well, I am an ardent Mariah Carey fan.
:D

I like competition seasons.
It is indubitably exhausting, but nevertheless, the frenetic hunt for articles, frequent conferring through instant messaging, encouraging each other, chasing each other for points, hasty submissions before the last dot...

And it makes me feel like a debater, and perhaps more like a person as a whole. Less rusty, more work. Which is why I do like school life, even with all the competitiveness around us and all that, it's pretty fun to be able to stand up and get with work. And honestly, holidays cultivate this "natural instinct" to skive off whenever possible and it's really hard to get the desire for work to die off, and when I finally manage to kill that with unbelievably lengthy holidays the school reopens and I can't seem to hunt down that queer, unconventional craving for work and reactivate it. Like how it was arduous to reignite Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle after the cold water episode.

Besides, competition seasons are effective means of bonding.
We train, we laugh (at lame jokes Yongwei the pillow makes) and eat and confer and contemplate all at the same time, and to not develop some sense of belonging to the NYDC Sec Two'09 batch is perpetually impossible, I'd say.

The only thing that's irking me is ASEAN, which is the theme for VJCs, but you know, for every side we take on it sounds like we're viewing ASEAN from a very critical point of view that haha, somehow it even provokes Dinnie to declare in an excited manner that "ASEAN sucks". And damn, for the whole of today, I haven't begun to record the minutes but simply immersing myself within research and rebuttal sheet construction with Dot and Mina. What an exhilarating experience, really.

I've been really desperate to check the Sec 3 Subject Combination results. And yes, I'm still helplessly wedged in the quandary of whether to opt for Advanced Literature or Advanced History, both which seem to make fine choices seeing as how my Humanities, on the outlook, appears all right, but many people seem to think Advanced Literature surpasses Advanced History because it's comparatively easier (and that I seem to be really good in English which is totally untrue). In which, contrary to that, I guess I'm more inclined to Advanced History, especially if I desire to make my career out of the field of Law or Politics or both, if applicable. Besides, it's not like I won't be able to acquire opportunities in Literature, I've got LMP and Language Arts still, albeit not excellent choices, but I guess it'll work in one way or another. I'm fairly disgusted at how the school system operates too. I'm well-aware there are advantages and disadvantages to every issue and every aspect of in essence, everything, but I really wish to juggle both subjects, and there's only one single avenue to turn to if one wished to do so - Humanities Programme, where too bad, rejection of applicants is aplenty. And I did break down drastically, if I might add.

Well, whatever. The night gathering in Rachel and Changs' room did aid me to sort out my thoughts and you know, ponder about certain things. And contemplationg actually directly benefits one, if not progressively, and it's simply marvellous what a little bit of thinking her and there will do. For instance, I'm still pretty irritated and perhaps infuriated as well about the MPP issue, and I did mean to play the guilt game at the expense of friendship, but I got over it. And somehow, did mentally vow to prove what they opinionate of me erroneous. I suppose I did. I won't proclaim myself as an assiduous or meticulous person, and neither am I an accomplished researcher or whatnot, but at least, my conscience tells me I take workload seriously, and it's not like I've got marginal ability of anything (sorry, there's an ego wound here too).

On a side note, I found out that time differences are cool.
Mina and I were conversing with Mish, who told us she needed to ge to class, and my first reaction was like - "What? At this ungodly hour you're going to go to class?"
And the next thing I realised was that she was in NYU and all, so it must have been morning there for her while it's 1.57 AM for us. Kinda brilliant actually, it's like Mish is on the other side of the globe! Yeah but aside from that, the conversation wasn't much helpful to the frustrating circumstances Mina (and I too) was facing, and well honestly, it wasn't helpful at all. Though the well-mannered Mina replied that it was polite to thank people, which I did promptly.

Crap, I guess we've got to hunt down Jamie and Yina and probably hound Yongwei (he looks like a pillow, seriously) to help preempt certain things the other side might say.
And I think Anne's close to defining ASEAN - "gay". I can't really put my finger on a particularly descriptive adjective, but with all the inaction and passivity, I'd say ASEAN's sound asleep.

I'm adjective, I verb noun!
That's what Mdm O's shirt read today. Had fun guffawing about how nonsensical it sounded.

Oh and I drew this super large version of "MC" on my debate notebook today, beside all the illegible scrawling. Guess what it stands for? Mariah Carey.
Keep the MC love going!

When You Believe - MC and WH


When You Believe (Oscars)


The entire song is simply astounding.
I cannot believe this song was sung by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, not even after I've watched the entire show in Music Lessons and returned to Youtube to verify that again, but zomg I really am able to comprehend why MC was named one of the Top 15 vocalists now. And how she's taken over Elvis Presley as the artiste with the most number of hit singles and garnered the reputation "Queen of Pop" together with MJ (since the World Music Awards at Monaco). Haha the 'M's. M is an MC perfume btw(:

I don't really like Whitney Houston, though I must say the comparison issue just gets on my nerves. Haha well, at least MC didn't resort to drugs and cigarettes despite the MTV TRL breakdown. And MC was awesome on the VH1 Divas!

How I Met Your Mother (Britney)


"Sir please don't yell at me! Because when people yell at me, I have a tendency to start crying!"
Haha epic quote.

I couldn't resist it and I just had to upload this video, because it's extremely hilarious.
Britney can really act (and indubitably a good job done)! I hope with her comeback, she still hits the Billboard 100 as frequently as she did previously for her future albums. Like MC (haha she did state that Mariah did inspire her as a singer)!

I'm watching 我的特务女友 (My Girlfriend Is An Agent) now. The context of the movie is quite similar to Mr. And Mrs. Smith; regardless, the film's pretty enthralling. Aargh crap there's training tomorrow for VJCs and I haven't read up on stuff yet. Which obviously means I need to get off Blogger soon - now, in fact.
Love MC loads, ciao!

MTV Collection


I realised she likes to do commercials on MTV with pups. Haha I like it when Mariah gets frustrated, cos then her New York accent emerges and it's so cute!

Dog and Jeans


I find Mariah's dog really adorable.
She has a cat too, but it's kinda too bad it doesn't appear in commercials. Haha quoting her from Letterman, her life consists of her kitchen, her cat and her dog (Jack).

Macy's


Haha I see Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and Satana.
Will you look at those shoes!

AT & T


Wow. Jack's really fortunate isn't he.
And he's just a dog.

American Idol with Archuleta


I'd be mortified if I ever get the opportunity to be taught how to sing by Mariah Carey.
I guess it's because I can't sing.
Gosh I like her smile very much.

Intel Advertisement


E=MC² Promotion


Well. I never knew Mariah Carey failed Remedial Math.
Haha I guess her ability to sing (brilliantly so if I might add), produce and compose exceptionally compensates for stuff and you know, accentuate her capability. After all, she's making big bucks and has survived in the music industry for more than ten years.

I am going to blackmail someone into buying Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel for me!
Haha perhaps I'll save up money and buy it myself. Or maybe not, cos I can always chant Mariah's name (or the album's name for that matter) into Tshirt's ear like a mantra and she'll eventually relent and I'll get it for free. Just joking.
I love Mariah Carey!

Mariah Carey's Reaction to "Ken Lee"

Without You - Mariah Carey

This is so sweet.
I found the first video rather hilarious at the point when Mariah applauded Valentina Hasan and no one else in the room clapped. Cultural dissimilarity, I'd presume, cos the entire thing appeared really awkward to me when none of the Bulgarians there did anything, and she went "yay" instead.

Go Mariah Carey!
Listening to her songs helps to lift some load from the heart, and maybe regain a small portion of my ebullience I guess, since I've been pretty morose these days. Music like "Hero" is really inspiring and in some sense, a form of solace to me, and you know, catchy tunes like "Obsessed" and "Touch My Body" makes me wanna sing along and go insane and "We Belong Together"and "Bye Bye" would be two songs I can really relate to.

Life's been really down on the edges these few days and well, I'll say for myself.
Somehow, screwing up stuff nowadays seem to have a tremendous impact on me. But you'll pull through this, Phoebe! I owe gratitude to several people: Chia, Ducky, Steff, Sara, Elaine and Alyssa. Thank you for simply being there and conversing with me, because it helps when I release those bottled-up misery and whatnot.

On a side note, I'm going Malacca tomorrow.
I'm rooming with Charlene, and perhaps it could be fun since she's pretty easy to get along with, just that I hope she doesn't sneak off to Charmaine's room at night and like leave me all alone. I loathe sleeping alone, and in the dark. I'm bringing cards, and I'm so kiasu I attached those rubber spring things (you see those primary school kids hook it on their wallet and fastens it to the waistband of their shorts or something) to both my handphone and wallet, for fear I would misplace them and you know, get murdered.

Another thing - I'm no longer going Korea! This is a little late to break the news, but well, Swine Flew alert in Korea was pretty much the influencing factor for my parents' decision, so we're going KL's Sunway Lagoon for a change. I hope it'll be fun. It's funny how I've been to Genting and Austin Hills and Cameron Islands but just not KL. Well, let this be a memorable first. That'll be the first trip, and subsequent to that, in December I guess, we're going on board a cruise for approximately five days, and I'll be so hyper about it because I've never been on a cruise before. I wonder if there are bowling regions inside or anything. I heard some of USA's cruises do have that!

I'm a Mariah Carey fan.
Jiayous Phoebe.

A quirk of fate brought me to this point.
It all started with the phone call, conversations I shared with friends and well, reflection. To be honest, the epiphany I experienced did help a lot in influencing me, and it actually gave me interesting revelations I ought to ponder about. Sometimes, it's not all about desire, it's also about capability, and truthfully, meritocracy does seem like an awfully mortifying word. But it's a society where elites are prioritised and leveled aboved others, so perhaps that's the unpalatable reality we all got to learn to accept.

However, this doesn't mean my passion for Humanities and Literature abruptly vanished. It's more like taking a step back to examine the circumstances, then finally arriving at a consensus with myself amidst contradictory thoughts I harbour.

So essentially, no more HP for me. I know I'm still one of the people on the waiting lists, and that I'll still be elated if I do get the chance of being enrolled, but somehow, I don't deem HP that necessary anymore. I'm not fickle, though undoubtedly I must sound like I am, it's just that all these... clamouring to enter the class hasn't worn me out. And I question myself, why would I really yearn to get into the class? I would prefer not to reveal my response, but I'm certain it's pretty apparent to those who know me well enough. And I eventually realised the fact that "not mutually exclusive" is a phrase applicable to this current situation. Obviously there's room for more rethinking, more organisation of thoughts and whatnot.

On a side note, I love my diary. It's my faithful ally, and this leather bound book regulates my emotions pretty well, even at the worst of times when my closest friends are nowhere near me.

Think our local roads are horrendous and terrible? Think again. From Bolivia to China and beyond, the world's 10 worst routes are named. These roads will have you driving among the clouds, along fast-eroding cliff tops with 3,500m drops, across deadly streams, through bandit territory and more. Suddenly, our local drive looks a whole lot less stressful...

10) Grand Trunk Road (India)
'GT', as it's often called, was built about 500 years ago to connect the east and western regions of the Indian subcontinent. The 2,500km road is full of trucks and rattling buses manned by drivers without much respect for their lives - or yours. And then there's the cyclists, the pedestrians, the salesmen, the ox carts, the cows, the buffalos....

9) Patiopoulo-Perdikaki Road (Greece)
This dirt track leads from Patiopoulo down to Perdikaki in the Agrafa region of Greece. It's steep, busy, full of huge potholes and extremely slippery (due to the gravel surface). It's also very narrow in places, with no lines or guard rails on the edges. That's less than ideal given the sheer drop... on both sides.

8) A44 (United Kingdom)
Much of the A44, a major road which runs from Oxford in southern England to Aberystwyth in west Wales, is fairly innocuous, but a 40km section between Leominster and Worcester has several blind corners. A quarter of accidents here involve vehicles leaving the road, and even more are head-on collisions. Nevertheless, the route is popular with thrill-seeking bikers.

7) Luxor-al Hurghada Road (Egypt)
Egypt's most dangerous road links two tourist locations - the ancient city of Luxor in the south, and Hurghada, a hub for diving schools on the coast of the Red Sea. The route is well-known bandit territory, with travellers facing a high risk of ambush and hijack. To avoid detection at night, the vast majority of drivers opt not to use their headlights. And that has a rather predicable side-effect...

6) Cotopaxi Volcan (Ecuador)
This 40km-long dirt track, one of countless dangerous roads in Ecuador, connects the Pan American Highway with the Cotopaxi Volcan National Park, which boasts one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. The treacherous route is peppered with holes, but the 'highlight' of the journey comes when you need to cross a bridge-less stream. It's particularly dangerous during flash floods... and flash floods seem to occur here even in the lightest of rains. You won't find that mentioned in any travel brochure.

5) Coastal roads (Croatia)
The Croatian coast makes the list due to the narrow and twisty nature of the roads, and a general lack of markings, lay-bys and side rails. The scenery on the jagged coast is absolutely stunning, but if you're driving, it's probably best to watch where you're going - and keep your fingers crossed that others do too.

4) Pan American Highway (Costa Rica)
The Pan-American Highway system, the longest drivable road in the world, runs an incredible 48,270km from Alaska to the lower reaches of South America. Several stretches can be considered 'tricky', but the most infamous section is a high mountain pass called 'Cerro de la Muerte' in Costa Rica. It's steep, narrow, twisty, full of holes and susceptible to flash floods and landslides. The name translates as 'Hill of Death'.

3) Sichuan-Tibet Highway (China)
At least 100,000 people are said to die on Chinese roads each year - or one person every 5 minutes. You'll want to avoid the 2,000km-long (but not very wide) Sichuan-Tibet Highway, which traverses at least a dozen different mountains with an average height of 4,000-5,000m. The high altitude means you'll be driving among clouds, and there's a high risk of landslides and avalanches to boot.

2) BR-116 (Brazil)
Brazil's second longest road runs 1,550km from Porto Alegre to Rio de Janeiro. The middle section, which covers around 400km from Curitiba to São Paulo, has steep cliffs, poor conditions and unstable weather. Officially it's named Rodovia Régis Bittencourt, but it's known locally as 'Rodovia da Morte'. That's 'Highway of Death'.

1) The North Yungas Road (Bolivia)
Some of the choices here may seem a little quirky, but few will deny that Bolivia's 'Death Road' is the most dangerous in the world. North Yungas Road snakes across roughly 70km of the Andes, from La Paz to Coroico, with drops of up to 3,500m... and dozens of wrecked vehicles at the bottom. Drivers need to contend with crazy hairpins, oncoming traffic (often rushing to beat you into bends), an almost constant layer of fog and, during tropical downpours, high risk of landslides too. Tourist companies now cash in on the road's notoriety by offering extreme bike tours down it. We'll give that a miss, thanks.

Source: Yahoo!
-

Funny, I've always thought the Toa Payoh bend region that 157 has to travel through is horrible, because well it sends passengers aboard flying everywhere if they're not holding on to anything stable, particularly if the bus is travelling at about 80 km/h as it drives through the entire route.
I guess I'd like to venture along one of these roads someday, haha yes an indubitably suicidal thought, but who knows, I might end up surviving and coming back in one piece...

Three MV


Initially I did think she was really back, you know, with her risqué Piece Of Me MV and the well, really unconventional Womanizer video. I'd very much prefer the Britney before than the sleazy Britney after.

I can't believe they made people wait for this MV like it was all big business and it turns out to be this. All she's doing is just writhing around, and there's not a single set of proper dancing, which is ultimately the kind of thing that appeals to people. Besides, she's not Mariah Carey, so pulling off this kind of thing isn't just... for her. I won't condemn her for this, since I still like her songs, but I think this ought to change - it's destroying her reputation bit by bit. And for celebrities, I thought reputations would be rather imperative.

So essentially, I haven't been updating much, probably since I was feeling pretty on the down side. Joker² is overseas, and Ducky is still recuperating from surgery.

Life feels rather bland without the presence of my closest friends around. It makes me disoriented, and I can't seem to deal with issues, people and whatnot as well as I did before, because it's not very arduous to arouse my ire, and when that happens, I'll just lose it on people. Which reminds me, I owe people an apology, and I don't think I'll be able to go into the specifics, since I do that unconscientiously but regardless, I'm truly sorry.

Honestly, the reason why I'm posting an entry at this hour, sporting a fever too, is because the bottle I've been craming misery in is about to explode, and I can't seem to compose a journal entry without scrawling irately or I don't know, some way or another, end up huddling in a corner with a box of tissues. And I haven't been able to complete a single blog entry either, so I have really no idea what's going on with me.

I didn't exactly get shortlisted for interviews. We were hastily ushered out of the room, met with tactful, diplomatic apologies from the teacher, and the moment I stepped out of the briefing area I knew my hopes were dashed, I knew instantly 314 was a class I might not be able to enter, and for now, it's a zero chance. I won't attempt to deny it fervently something, I did screw stuff this year, but it's getting on my nerves how impeccably well I manage to mess up everything I engage it. First it was the PSL EXCO thing, which took everything of me to not think of, and yes I still haven't gotten over it, and then it's the Humanities Programme and seriously, it's the blatant rejection that makes the hardest blows, and it's just too bad I've got nothing to cushion the impact. For a person like me who wishes to step into the field of either Politics or Law, I thought this was pretty much a failure.

How long can I keep the excruciating agony away? Every second I don't think about it, the pain I'll experience when it surfaces in my mind once again is doubled. It's scarcely endurable, and this reminds me - frankly speaking, if you got an interview slot, stop complaining to me on hotmail how you think you can't get selected, then grieve all over that possibility when there are cases out there like mine. I'm being horrendously direct and tactless, but you know, everyone's got grievances, so keep it for someone who's willing to hear you out.

I got myself a slot on Monday. After everyone else if I'm not wrong. You'd better not screw it up, Phoebe. If you do, why don't you just go die or something. Seriously. You knew it meant the world to you, whether you got selected or not, an issue more crucial than anything else and you had to go screw up all the opportunities you had. You'd better not screw up this time.
Or else there'll be repercussions that cannot be remedied.


Where are you when I need you most?

We visited Sentosa today as part of our Level Outing.
Honestly, I would've liked better to spend my day at home. Or somewhere indoors. I'm a really indoorsy person and the remotest idea of dipping hands in the sand and, I don't know, walking around barefooted on muddy grounds or whatnot fails to appeal to me.


I slept on the way there, to recharge energy and just enjoy We Belong Together - Mariah Carey all the while. It's the most replayed song, and in fact, for the past few weeks since I've returned from the PSL Camp and managed to get a nice junior send the song to my phone, I've been listening to nothing but that. Best thing is, it's the song the contemporary dance is choreographed to, and we'll be learning that. Awesome.

So we reached there soon enough, and essentially, it was just the sparkling water and large stretch of sand-covered land that prevailed at Palawan Beach. It's very much akin to the "sun sand sea" notion of Hawaii and in some sense, Palawan was like Hawaii. Well, at least images of Hawaii, since I've never been there before. Afterwhich we laid our picnic mats and frolicked under the sun, enjoying delectable chocolate brownies under the scorching sun. It was kinda too bad we didn't get staple food, and I can't believe our class didn't think of bringing bread.


The food was gone in less than forty minutes, and we headed down to the shores to build sandcastles. You know, practice for the real competition thing later on. It's kinda like a first to me to see all the ready made models of real sandcastles, because frankly speaking, from my experiences of building sandcastles, the equipment utilised consisted of merely buckets and spades. Xinyi, Xiaojing and I found a deceased crab, decided to bury it, so we asked Chia along and I composed an epitaph on the sand while Xinyi found a leaf as a tombstone, and performed the "mourning ceremony" and made crappy speeches about how great Mr. Ole' Crab was. Funny thing is, the crab was buried under the heart shape of the phrase "KT heart Chia" so it's pretty laughable you know. I only realised it like five thousand years later. According to Xiaojing, Chia was really freaked out and she twisted the story by accident or something, telling the others we found a frog haha.

Anyway, I met Sara soon after, and she was reading under the shade at one of those shelters, so I pulled her along to the washroom with me and I realised she was barefooted. I couldn't comprehend the directions printed on the sign, because it told me that toilets were to the left side, and you know, there were three possible paths to take on. In which I gave up guessing and entered 7Eleven to ask for directions. The guy at the counter was really affable. I came back from the toilets soon after, found Sara and we decided to go skive off at 7Eleven so we bought Milo ice-cream and I bought green tea. We took our seats at the steel counter and had some casual conversation.

Activities by 202 and 204 later, we only got to try 202's game. Basically three feedbacks: (a) you guys need to centralise the circle and (b) call a more diverse variety of numbers and (c) balance the pairs and numbers! But in a nutshell, it was a great job, and I did thoroughly enjoy watching people fall on the sand, roll onto their backs and shriek in laughter.

We had this sandcastle building competition soon after, and well I helped to construct the number 7 of 207. Haha it was cool seeing how deep I actually dug. I headed for the toilets again to clean my hands of the sand and caught sight of this couple frolicking under the sun. I thought it was quite unnecessary since they were both quite dark, and the point of suntanning is to get darker, so I am totally clueless about why the couple decided to get chao ta under the scorching sun but whatever. It was really ignominous having to stroll pass them (my shoes had sand and I couldn't walk properly), because the guy just you know, from lying like a dead man on the floor, suddenly sit up and roll on top of the female. And he flung her towel covering her face on some corner on the mat and kissed her full on the lips. And I was all - What the hell, are they making out in front of four hundred students?
A queer couple indeed.

To cut things short, I was back at 7Eleven soon after, this time with Xinyi and Chia and we purchased instant noodles to feast on while we were seated again behind the steel counter. Watching Xinyi bully Chia is really exciting, partly because I always viewed Xinyi as an excessively demure person and well, not the bully type but looks like I was erroneous in my presumptions, albeit I agree that Chia should eat faster! Mrs. Phua and 叶老师 treated us to ice-cream, jolly good, but due to the fact that I was sporting a "full-house tummy" (stares pointedly at someone for strange quote) I ended up throwing my ice-cream away after a few bites D:

And we returned home after stalling in front of another suntanning couple for quite some time, the guy acting all unconventional again as he knelt to snap pictures of his girlfriend lying on the mat. Super hilarious, I couldn't stop guffawing (well, I can't stifle my laughter) and even Puijeng was smirking. Shared a bus with 213, waved our farewell to Mr. Gigantic Merlion and the roller coaster, vowing that we'd all be back next year as 207'09 again except to try the rides, reminisce about memorable moments and simply chill at Sentosa as a class revisited.

I sound like I'm drafting a composition.
Shall end with the conventional stuff - we had a happy day, the end. And we lived happily ever after. Not.

I suppose it is time for me to stop avoiding the mention of this topic and pretending that all was well when very obviously, all was not. My results fit fine into a category of descriptions, consisting of words like "dismal", "lousy", "dissatisfactory", "abysmal", "miserable" and so on. So I guess you get the idea.


My Results
I shall promptly list down the 'A' grades since whatever I've achieved is not the remotest adequate.

H.Chinese: A
Math: A
Science: -
Language Arts: -
Malay: A
Humanities: A

The fact that I flunked Language Arts and Science is absolutely correct. Ultimately, I might not be able to make it into Humanities Programme.


Of course I've been attempting to tell myself to get over it, but I simply cannot do that. And I find it almost impossible for me to not chastise myself inwardly each and every day for these less-than-stellar results. The A1s I've obtained are all borderline grades, which is so not a good thing. Based on my calculations, the best MSG I can acquire is 1.5 and the worst would be 2.14, which is essentially similar to last year's (the latter), but seeing as I progressed (hopefully significant enough to stay away from a 2) I'll probably get something higher than that. And the point is I'm rather uncertain about my previous scores from the earlier terms. And everything's pretty demoralising. And I'm feeling pretty morose these few days.


Guzheng practical exams are nearing soon. I'm mortified of the sight reading segment, but I guess I'll flunk it like I always do for other stuff and I don't know, screw the entire grade, which is pretty imperative seeing as how it affects the Diploma exam as a whole. I hate the second set piece to play. And SYCO is not helping to sooth or ease the tension pertaining to guzheng, it sent me this weird dotted notes score (which is the first time that I've encountered such utter rubbish). The standard scores are recorded using the number notations, which is what I'm perfectly used to, and this time it caught me off guard. So I had to seek the help of Cheryl, Keye Cheng, Shijia and Baoyi before I finally had all the notes all deciphered.



A Few Days Later...
And my final MSG turns out to be 1.71 and face it, this is one hell of a bullshit score.
Should have worked harder. So many 'should haves' to incorporate into my thoughts, and it's driving me crazy how I can easily notice my errors, when then I could not. I missed one mark to an 'A' for Math, damn it.

Math: B3
H.Chinese: A2
Language Arts: A1
Science: A2
Humanities: A2
Malay: A1