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Impending D-Day
Saturday, August 30, 2008

Got an excuse to bring my camera on Wednesday afternoon, with phototaking for our class finally gettting underway. Before that however, our GP teacher was leaving. The third one to be exact, so the next will be the whooping fourth. He always wore a long sleeved shirt and taught with an impeccable vocabulary. We had a farewell cake for him, and Cheryl, Shermaine and I made a card for him.

He (Mr. Soh) was genuinely surprised at the cake from our class, it being his first time teaching, and a short one at that. He would've gone back to his University by now, York. Sounds pretty prestigious.

Here's our Gp class, with only a handful of my classmates and the majority from S29, our neighbouring class, after being segregated when my first (read; horrendously shitty) teacher left.



Look closely at the card, lotsa stuff are pop out, like the book, pen, chalk, fonts, among others. P:



After the cake cutting and gorging, we hurried down to the audi for the shoot, with my nearly all of my class guys hogging the mirror making sure every strand had a perfect lusture of wax. Since when did guys get so vain? I ruffled another friend's hair once, only for him to scold the F word and ignore me for the rest of the day. Despite the thick wax layer holding everything in place. Jeez what a bunch of self centered ______.

Sorry, digressed too much. So before the shoot, we donned ties and took some pictures. Some specially for the retainees, some with their own cliques.



I found the photog member in charge really shoddy in her capturing. Shaved off legs, non-centralized, half a curtain half a wall. A tripod coulda done better.



We shot these after that, but with a rushed shooing of our class for the next group, we had to leave soon.



I didn't think the chair was gonna get in the way and mar part of this pic. :/





We headed home shortly after, while I left after dinner for Cheryl's place to mug. I need consultation all the time, so it's become more productive to study with others. Later in the night, she showed me something she made earlier on.



I thought it was really intricate, but her cup was brown, so this is the after, after advising to add a tracing paper for a more realistic look. Just look at the miniature size. The whipped cream with caramel was done with tissure paper and marker.



Then she asked me to make a takeaway bag, so this is the combined frappe takeaway :D She also made a card for her uncle recently, Her improvisation of materials were unique. Flip out cards aren't feasible anymore.



I don't have many works to display, but here's one I did recently for Sabrina, who likes Froot Loops. Not a very sharp picture, but it's 3D.



E learning was on Thursday, nothing much about it, but the waking up late in the morning was good for a change. More to come of it next week.. Teachers day celebrations on friday, and four of our classmates performed. I couldn't get any good pictures, but it was much much better than any of my secondary school's concert. Some of us left for lunch at Changi Village for a change, while others had secondary school outings.

One hearty meal later, with a Hokkien Mee a tad too sweet for my liking, we milled about the shops. How some can make a living in these derelict shophouses with merchandise so vintage piques my curiousity. And not the unique vintage type, but the sort more of hoarded then treasured. I switched to sepia for this shot, the last of this post. This dead town can give me the heebie jeebies. Especially chalet K.



The one week of stress is inevitably closer, a five day work week of papers that won't make, but can break, anyone. One last week for preparations, this hurdle is but one of many, except the prelude to the largest. Here we go..

penned by joel at 11:08 AM

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Audition & birthdays.
Saturday, August 23, 2008

This week has been a road of guilt. To have enjoyed it kinda sends pangs of conscience, as the impending promos draws to a near. Thank goodness I can follow with lectures and tutorials, or not this guilt would be self fulfilling in fears of retaining. The past five days passed with tired attention.

Jun De's birthday was on Wednesday, and I hurriedly prepared a lil something on top of the shared present. A foam cutout of his name, with a key ring so it can double a keychain. When I went to Made With Love on friday, I realized something like that was making money being sold. Gotta do a blogshop after promos. P: My dad's birthday was the following, and we all got a cake. Really chocolately, while I prefered something sour or tangy.. I have yet to try the reputed durian cake from Emi Cakes, it has one with coffee and durian in it. P:

Here's Jun De, birthday tau pok. :D I don't usually join in, but I have gotten my turn before, that left me quite breathless. Literally.



Don't ask me what that huge malay dude is doing. Ahmad was just curious to see where his hands would land up.

Below, a box I made for Jun De's kaychain thing. That green ribbon goes with anything. Just like cheesedale.



Thursdays really suck with the never ending timetable, but thank goodness for fridays. there were posters around our school for auditions for Channel 5/s new upcoming drama by DreamForest Productions, so we gamely took up the challenge, a first for all of us. Except for Brandon, who's acted in theaters before. There weren't vacant seats on the MRT, so we sat at right angles, much to our discomfort. It didn't last long, haha. But it did draw some curious stares. And Hong Xiang found a new pick up line. It was painfully hilarious..



When we arrived at the studio, in some quaint area of Prinsep St near The Cathay, our gamely jab at trying for acting had turned into anxiety and part regret. When we decided to go, we hadn't considered the depth of it. channel 5, real tv. Not like we expected to be chosen, calefares would have done us great also, but acting was like... so out of our scopes.



They could be cut out for acting. :D We waited a darn long time for our turn at the auditions, but it was partly cuz of our delay at rehearsing and the length of each take. We knew one or two actors who turned up at the auditions, but couldn't place their roles or series that they appeared in. The drama was about Singapore in 1968, revolving around a bunch of youths and their small goals.



Here's the quaint corner of the audition studio, among a bunch of cafes and studios..



Heads are shaved cuz the camera was on self timer on a cushion, and drooped a lil while it snapped. It was quite a fun experience, albeit time costly. We aren't really confident on getting any roles, but for me it opened my eyes to this avenue of work. Promos are dawning and I can't be bothered to count the days to it, solely because I'm too afraid to face the music.

Till next week. (:

penned by joel at 11:37 AM

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uh oh, promos
Saturday, August 16, 2008

It's been a really sleepy week, mainly because homework has been stretching past midnight for several days. I'm catching up on the workload, but nowhere near the optimal speed. 30 more days to the impending Promo exams. Fell asleep in two tutorials and a chinese test. I didn't meet promotional criteria for mid years, and the nagging fear of retaining is something I can't shake off.



It may seem too early, seeing as other JCs have roughly a week or two more to prepare, but it means more time after. (to touch up PW and enjoy :D) Just hope that I wouldn't be regretting the joy due to the nagging fear of my performance. It's all over in just one week, seems so trivial compared to the two or three weeks of stress in secondary school, but it's simply cuz it's all crammed innit? Doesn't make it sound any easier.



I invited some classmates over yesterday, intending on finishing some work then watching some tele. Didn't manage to take any pictures, but then again I've already got too many. Gonna get a portable hard disk to store them all, currently taking up close to 10GB, at COMEX.



Went to take a look at the programme for this year's RSAF open house, but it looks like a kidd-ier version of a previous year I went to with Damai schoolmates. They've integrated the F15SG into the new airforce tv-spots, although they're not here in Singapore as yet, and they play it on repeat after every subsequent tv ad from the previous RSAF recruitment video. I have to admit, the narration has more profound meaning than the typical in-you-face weaponry showcase. Still, no point going.



Updates are now like a week a post, so, don't bother checking until the weekend comes.. :( My posts are getting more boring, I imagine.

penned by joel at 10:53 AM

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NDP08
Saturday, August 9, 2008

The events for NDP celebration in TPJC didn't seem quite promising initially, but much was to be seen. A night prior to it, we were busy with preparations for the bazaar. CAPTURE PICTURE! and pay us, we'll do ANYTHING plus a hairspray were the concepts for our stall. Adverts and brainstorming kept us up till 12pm and beyond, only to wake up at 5.40am later.

I wore my sec 3 Mass Signing NDP tee, a red hang ten, geekishly patriotic >:D (disclaimer, the photos are mainly for storage purposes so if I lose em for some reason, can download it back from here. Hence the billion photos, don't complain please)




With it, an un-ironed TPJ long pants, cuz my iron spoiled the night before. When I had a good look at the stall at school, I thought we were surely going to make a loss. Few people milled about and F&B was hogging the revenue. The photo booth however, made a hit shortly after, with too many photos to print in too short a span. The dares for we'll do anything, even saw to some of the class guys stripping half naked for $2.





My class guys, with the backdrop of our photo booth that made not too bad a profit.

Stalls had to be closed barely after an hour and 45mins later, the school packing into the hall. As it turns out I won the first for the Photography contest on uniquely Singapore. My Black Knights picture won, it was on an older post. The prize? Sparkling grape juice :X

The bubbly Kenneth from my class clinched the top for My Space My Voice segment, that happens every few mornings. The mass sing along after that got us really high, or at least myself, when we spontaneously went up the stage with our principal, infront of thousands of students, and sang. Some other classes followed suit, despite having no idea how the new NDP theme song went. I actually youtubed it just now, how come Hady Mirza's so white like a chinese?



This was after the zealous on-stage singing, that on hindsight, seemed a tad too patriotic :X




Hong Xiang with Shermaine's pom pom at Downtown east. Pity she didn't do the cheerleading that morning, woulda been.. interesting. Haha..

We didn't have any solid plans for after the event, and the anti-climatic GP essay test gave us a bit of an air-conditioned rest. Spontaniety left us with lunch at downtown east, intending to watch a movie after, but the tickets were $10 so we headed over to Hong Xiang's place after. A couple of rock band songs and little britain episodes later, we left for Shermaine's NDP condo potluck party.









Her place is tucked in somewhere in the central east, equidistant from Pasir Ris, Changi, and Tampines, kinda convenient. It's far in from the main road, and the quiet serenity is calming.


Sushi packs were our contributions, but the food could've paled in comparison to our puny rolls. Chicken wings were near identical to Old Chang Kee's, satay was tender and they even had bubble tea. Pigged ourselves out with the glorious food, and all the residents seemed so welcoming, despite us not being residents.



Brandon doesn't eat anything that swims. Except fish, and only fried. His favourite here, a chicken nugget aeroplane circling to land.. in his mouth.



Eugh! Tuna and salmon!





Shermaine's shirt enigmatically reads; I am... (a closet mugger? :D) while Hong Xiang's fav tee gives a cute guide on mushrooms. The rest of us donned red as the dress code that day.










En guarde! Darn those satays were good. We fought with Singapore flags too, but those bent too easy. The candy inside the straw pole was like castor sugar, only coloured. I was surprised it hadn't made my eyes pop.



Bottoms up. There were six bottles of wine, three red and three white, from the management committee. They were even friendly enough to let us have several glasses, but it didn't taste fantastic. Can't complain though, they were already so darn nice :)



The pro's among us five. Hong Xiang's angled shots (dunno what's the professional term) are kewl man.. Brandon's line up.. can learn lots from 'em.



Our batch of councillors in Damai loved carrom, like the group game to play. Now in S28, it's pool/snooker/billards. I like the change of times, there's a bit of nostalgia when I saw the carrom board that night.

If you notice, the shots are kinda grainy. Digicams suck when it comes to nighttime, either get a very slow shutter speed or get grainy shots that turn out ugly when printed.









I rushed to get this shot, as I clicked the self timer. This is a much delayed post, and the days to follow too. The guys came over for National Day to see the fireworks and ariel display from the third storey. Nothing too exciting, maybe in a next post.

penned by joel at 11:20 AM

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Black Knights, tennis
Saturday, August 2, 2008

I was beginning to miss the scenery we were treated to everyday at Lagoon View, whether or not we choose to admire the panoramic east coast park and it's russet sunsets. The glows would radiate the granite floors in the evenings, and much more could be said about the sea-salty breezes.

Here, the adjacent block to our then apartment, basking in the amber sunset. This was taken by Joseph some years ago.



But with every change, comes its little rewards. Right now I may not have a breeze in my room, the warm air hangs and I cringe in the uncomfortable warmth. But the rooftop offers a picturesque cityscape as dusk draws closer.

Prior to leaving for dinner, Joseph and I headed upstairs, hearing the droning of helicopters in the distance, and a brief roar of the F16 after burners. The Apaches had gone by for the flypast, but they were a tad too tiny for a good photograph, so Joseph had taken this view. Wasn't shortly after that the smokey trail of the Black Knights streaked the horizon, performing several stunts that the Ixus 75 took stunningly.



It's more like something I'd expect out of a 60 floor rooftop within town.







Looks like a pair of angel wings, look at those symmetrical downward spirals. Wonder what it must've felt like inside the cockpit.



The initial stunts for this at the practice while I saw it in Good News Cafe at TPJC during PAE had an F16 blazing an arrow through the heart, but subsequently when I went for the aerospace thingy, and the ndp rehearsals, the arrow was absent. Maybe it was a safety hazard.



The fan spread, I got a good one this time instead of the matt grey skies at the aerospace show. Though the fan isn't exactly symmetrical..

In all, the scenery trade was better I think. A change though, from the blue waters off Singapore to the urban landscape.. The following was from Wednesday's last tennis training in school, had to cover some photos for the school's newsletter, and took some shots for our coach.



Danny and Su An, the former in my chinese class. I pity him since I always sit next to him during class and distract him from the lesson with jokes :D



Raymond, aka Coachie, for his thcik HK accent. Pee-Pair yo rare-cat uw-ly! (prepare your racket early)





Blog rot will continue till promos, at most once in two weeks then an update I guess.

penned by joel at 5:57 PM

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