US presidential elections, and more...

Its victory to obama then. The news came in around 12pm today as i was watching the bbc while eating my lunch ( alternated with mythbusters ). Followed the elections only sporadically but more so in the run up to the elections. I wanted obama to win and so the results were reasonably pleasing. Mccain's concession speech was graceful, he took it on the chin, and pledged to work together and offer his support for obama while obama acknowledged mccain's efforts as well. I envy this 2 men. To have the shoulders and the want to carry the burden of responsibility for a country such as america and by extension the world is a very commendable quality. Not many ( including some elected to positions of power ) have the ability to pull this off successfully. I believe obama is the right man for america in current times. he has the steely nerve required to do what is right to deliver america from this economic gloom eventually. His speech was stirring, crossing race, age and sexual status ( yes he mentioned gays, just a word in his victpry speech ), reminding me of lee kuan yew perhaps. The conviction that he knows what he is doing and also the conviction of knowing the outcome that he will get. Best wishes to the next president of the united states from an 18 year old in singapore.

That dreaded date of the A levels has finally descended upon us. I am unprepared as ever. It seems less scary and headache inducing that i thought it will be. As with many of you, my mind is already drifting to the post exam activities that we will be doing. By the way, i have only got a month plus to spare. I am enlisting on the 7th of janurary, BMTC school 2 ( Anyone reading this the same date and school? ). So book me now!

3 papers over so far, GP, i wrote the longest and in my opinion best essay in JC life on monday. Among the questions there were very little that i could have done. Initially abit apprehensive but the points just flowed as i wrote. Hope it turns out good. Compre was forgettable. The passage seems easy enough to understand when you read it, but the questions really were difficult in that it can be interpreted in more than one way, without a hint as to what the markers want, and obviously you cannot write everything down or it will look just like garbage. I never got the hang of AQ in these 2 years, summary was done very roughly, i forgot to bring my highlighters ( because i did not bring a pencilcase ) which i normally use to highlight points, but summaries do have a habit of throwing surprises at me when i think i am doing badly for it.

Yesterday was physics 1st in the morning. Doable paper, but the lack of practice made the difference for me. Lost a couple of marks with the electric field question in section B although i knew how to do it, just that i wasnt familiar with it and so did not think of solving it that way. All eyes towards paper 2 now. Maths in the afternoon. For the 1st time in my life ( yes including O levels, but excluding primary school ). I managed to complete a maths paper with every question mostly done ( compared to prelims with 5 full questions blank? ). Whether i will a result out of this depends on paper 2 and my carelessness level, as well as whether my answers are correct. I know how to do mainly everything but i am not sure whether i did it the right way, again from the lack of practice. I thought last year's paper was harder ( no offence to those who thinks otherwise ), but by that i dont mean that this year's was easy.

Break today, chemistry tomorrow. Up till have of all the organic chem reactions and stuff seems to have left my mind already. Need to rememorise them.

Time for all of us to look forward now. Not back =)

Cheers and good luck to all

It will find a way

NS checkup today, got PES A, certified fit for everything, and they didnt find any irregularities with me so shall continue to go and do all those crazy stuff that me and my classmates have signed up for. It was quite efficient really, but maybe some people could have been friendlier? ( mentioning this because they asked us to fill in a survey form at practically every station ). Oh and my hair will look horrid in my NS identification card. Been busy lately so pardon the tardy updates. Surprisingly jc was found to have some heart condition, so he is given PES D status pending further checks, scary. A couple of us went to vivo after that to watch 'the dark knight'. Nice show ( although i still prefer red cliff ) where the characters try to play around with people's psychology, interesting, but in terms of pure action cant beat the 1st movie. So 2 great movies in which the characters are intellectually stimulating in 1 week.

As for the joker, yea masterful performance but i think all the accolates that the critiques have been pouring into him are abit over-exaggerated, but bless heath ledger, somewhere in heaven now, managed to really bring out the maniac from the villian.

Saw real madrids 08-09 jersey at the vivo adidas store, retailing for $99. Looks great, finally they got rid of those purple stripes from last season and replaced them with black ones. Added a collar too. If i get a sudden winfall, that is one of the 1st on my agenda, haha although i currently need like 2 pair of shorts.. and a NEW crumpler. Shall test out the adizeros tomorrow.

please, let hope ring true

He stopped, for saying the truth aloud was unendurable. He knew now why this tranquil life seemed like an after-life or a dream unreal. It was because that he knew in his heart that reality was empty: without life or warmth or colour sound: without meaning. There were no heights or depths. All this lovely play of form and light and colour on the sea and in the eyes of men, was no more than that: a playing of illusions on the shallow void - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Farthest Shore

Napfa test, getting house exco logistics

Had my napfa test this morning, got Gold, surprised myself with the 8 chin ups that i did ( yes i am proud of it ). Never did so much before in my entire life, although i know compared to some of you out there, 8 is a piece of cake. Got 50 for my sit ups, with a little help from Jo, initially got a D for my sit and reach but asked CK to help me stretch ( thanks ), and manage to scrap a D. shuttle run, drifted as usual, eroding the sole of my adizer and got 9.5. Standing board jump, managed a C. After that, we had our last item, the 2.4 run. The sun was like blazing down at 10am when we ran, probably contributed a couple of seconds to my timing. Got 9.03 AGAIN! cant seem to break the 9 minute barrier. used Chirstopher as a pacer for the 1st 5 rounds, ut when he sprinted for the last 100 m, i was flat already, so lagged behind. When i heard his timing of 8.59 being called out, i knew that 9 was beyond me haha. Nevermind shall train harder for next year in NS.

After that me and Benjamin went to get logistics stuff from the army market at beach road for the upcoming house com camp ( its on friday ). managed a wee bit of bargaining such as going around the shops until we manage to reduce the initial price of the lightsticks per piece form $1 to 50 cents. Job well done. Was seriously exhausted from all the walking when i was going home, was semi concious slipping in and out of sleep on the bus ride home, and by then (3pm) i havent had anything since dinner the previous day. No joke with Napfa in the morning.

Filled in the NS pre-registeration thingy a couple of hours ago, booked on 17th of July with the rest of the 0713 guys, so any of my friends if you are reading this and wanna follow, this is the date. seriously long. My helmet size is Large, lol, big head ( does it = big brain= big intellegence? lol ). The sizes are pretty erratic, e.g. my pants size are a 31 but my swimming trunks are a Large. Hope the attire fits when the time comes to put them on next year. Think i am gonna start on alcohols and whatever is the other chapter tutorials today. Damn, itsbeen a long time since i touched homework on a sunday.

It was lost,
back from the dead it came,
yet do i still want it?
I am not sure

I learned the lesson that great men cultivate love, and that only little men cherish a spirit of hatred. I learned that assistance given to the weak makes the one who gives it strong; and that oppression of the unfortunate makes one weak. - Brooker T. Washington