Can't believe that my team actually got 2nd in Raffles Science Network (RSN) amazing race, in which we have to complete tasks at stations, get clues (anagrams) for the next station, and go to the next station to complete yet another set of tasks and so on. Joel Kek was with me as well as Nancy and Amy who are in J2. You could really tell that the race was fun because Nancy and Amy (apparently good friends and themselves voluble and loud in a huiyaoish way) were complaining incessantly amongst themselves before it started... by the time we finished the 1st station, lo and behold, they were enthusiastic about completing the next station already.
The tasks were surprisingly but thankfully relatively simple to complete. Maths Soc station was about 1. stringing a given set of numbers to obtain a specific objective number, and 2. finding the inherent flaws of the false mathematical paradoxes. Very interesting; we actually scored quite well for the first section. Medical Soc was a traditional pen-and-paper test... tikamed a lot. We had to collect items for astro's scavenger hunt, which was rather interesting. Bio Soc was a race against time as we had to answer questions to guess a word, with a letter of a secret word revealed every 3 consecutive questions answered correctly (screwed if you answer 3 wrongly). Sadly, the word "cerebellum" did not cross our minds. Nevertheless, we completed elements-stringing-into-words for Alchem fairly well, and proceeded on to the electronics station, where we racked our brains to determine the exact placing of resistors in an unrevealed box with 4 points where crocodile wires can be placed. To no avail. In the end, only the great Amyas (who set the question) could do; none of the participants actually completed the task.
BB eventually won 2nd, and BW 1st.
Math Olympiad Training on Monday was random, with IMO questions given to solve. I sat there stunned as Mr Lu kept saying "obvious", "naturally" (Huiyao: sir, not that natural leh) while explaining solutions, while some nodded their heads in enlightenment, while I didn't understand much. Intend to carry on though... hopefully next week would not be a repeat of today.
Met a few tutors for the past few days. All are of high standard. The GP tutor is particularly impressive: she is highly articulate, slightly wry, good at suanning, worked as a journalist in the Straits Times, and naturally has connections with the people in this field. Sounds good. I really need to progress full speed for GP since my starting point's so low.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
1st week of rj
10S06p- chem, math ra class, with a dash of art and geog people... everyone's good in their own right. All are friendly; we played orientation games, and there was much participation coming from everyone.
shocks encountered throughout the week:
abrasion from scraping my face on the field during saturday's rugby training. very very worried... fortunately the wound healed well.
physics lectures: surprisingly funny with a very fun "McGonagallish" teacher.
Maths RA: very very good teachers; we had an excellent lecture about using the combinatorics/ "reasoning" way of thinking instead of the usual teaching of notations. Have to read ahead though... I have a nagging feeling that Maths RA'll be a flagrant violation of the sacred sanctified codified institutionalised "no child left behind" policy.
Piano: Hanjie's fingers are actually independent of one another, nimble enough to be controlled, finger by finger, by the great bao bao. feel very inspired to practice a lot to be just like him. 路漫漫其修远兮ah! Oh yes, Evan Ma is imba at piano too, with his amazing handwork in rigoletto paraphrase (another piece I gave up on)
fri: cultural shock during eve of valentine's day (i.e. a school day nearest to valentine's day). All the girls came with gifts etc for og and class... and the boys had nothing to give in return for such a kind gesture. Kartik and I were so paiseh that we actually rushed to Thomson Plaza in the middle of school to buy stuff for the girls. The rest succeeded in keeping the girls hanging about, so when we came back, we could present the gifts to them. The guys of 10S06P felt pleased with themselves.
signups: bb ppl called for interhouse debates. No more debates for me, I say... I've got too much commitments. But I'm going to sign up for a lot of stuff. I'm not going to sit back and wait for things to happen, circumstances to go my way, opportunities to come knocking at the door, everything presented in a platter. I'm heading out, I'm venturing out of my comfort zone, into unchartered territories, and try and try and try. Not holding back anymore.
To end off: (lumpy's fixation)
Mendelssohn's violin concerto!!!
Disclaimer: Can't say the following recording's the best, but it's decent. For comparison, please go on to youtube and search for more recordings.
To debunk the claim that I'm a boring pure classical person, I'm telling you that I'm not! I don't analyse classical stuff; I just happen to listen to them slightly more often. I like pop too, especially british pop, namely MIKA.
His live performance's not that good... but this song's great!
shocks encountered throughout the week:
abrasion from scraping my face on the field during saturday's rugby training. very very worried... fortunately the wound healed well.
physics lectures: surprisingly funny with a very fun "McGonagallish" teacher.
Maths RA: very very good teachers; we had an excellent lecture about using the combinatorics/ "reasoning" way of thinking instead of the usual teaching of notations. Have to read ahead though... I have a nagging feeling that Maths RA'll be a flagrant violation of the sacred sanctified codified institutionalised "no child left behind" policy.
Piano: Hanjie's fingers are actually independent of one another, nimble enough to be controlled, finger by finger, by the great bao bao. feel very inspired to practice a lot to be just like him. 路漫漫其修远兮ah! Oh yes, Evan Ma is imba at piano too, with his amazing handwork in rigoletto paraphrase (another piece I gave up on)
fri: cultural shock during eve of valentine's day (i.e. a school day nearest to valentine's day). All the girls came with gifts etc for og and class... and the boys had nothing to give in return for such a kind gesture. Kartik and I were so paiseh that we actually rushed to Thomson Plaza in the middle of school to buy stuff for the girls. The rest succeeded in keeping the girls hanging about, so when we came back, we could present the gifts to them. The guys of 10S06P felt pleased with themselves.
signups: bb ppl called for interhouse debates. No more debates for me, I say... I've got too much commitments. But I'm going to sign up for a lot of stuff. I'm not going to sit back and wait for things to happen, circumstances to go my way, opportunities to come knocking at the door, everything presented in a platter. I'm heading out, I'm venturing out of my comfort zone, into unchartered territories, and try and try and try. Not holding back anymore.
To end off: (lumpy's fixation)
Mendelssohn's violin concerto!!!
Disclaimer: Can't say the following recording's the best, but it's decent. For comparison, please go on to youtube and search for more recordings.
To debunk the claim that I'm a boring pure classical person, I'm telling you that I'm not! I don't analyse classical stuff; I just happen to listen to them slightly more often. I like pop too, especially british pop, namely MIKA.
His live performance's not that good... but this song's great!
Monday, February 9, 2009
O’tiero: rj orientation 2009
Well-planned, well-executed, well done! Ogls were fun. Bb10 aka O'rhh-horrrrr was responsive, un-cliquey, friendly. Result: we got a successful orientation.
Had a few familiar faces: Han Sheng, Fayang, Shing Bo, Kevin, Long Chuan, Gerald, Alison, Cherie. Seen Lincoln and Tianyang in RI. No trouble getting to know the rest: Amanda, Chloe, Evan, Fiona, Zibing, Xinjia, Stella, Michelle, Zaf.
1st day was good; the usual icebreakers, running around, OG games, free ice-cream, OG dinner. Games were weirdly entertaining, especially the standing-on-chairs-answering-questions-add/minus-yr/opponent’s-chair-if-you-answer-correctly/wrongly. Following an offensive from the opponent, we decided to sabo them by always asking for their chairs to be removed instead of our chairs being added on when we answered the questions correctly (we peeped at the answers beforehand).
Joke: who are you? Fayang: Fayang. Which “Fa”? Fayang 的 “Fa”. Which “yang”? Fayang的“yang”. (So it is 发扬光大的“发扬”)。
2nd day was the best; we went around Toa-Payoh and Bugis for an amazing race, “200 dollars worth of Swenson’s voucher awarded to the top-five groups”. The passing-bottle game was difficult as we had to pass a bottle only with our chins and shoulders, but everybody was laughing and laughing, making it the game of the day. We adjourned to Manhattan Fish Market in Central for dinner and talked at the banks of Singapore River, with Zheng Xuan talking about JC and life—I realized then that we have a lot in common about our directions, ambitions. Oh yes, no prizes for guessing who ate “pol-lock” (pollock), played games and trespassed a bar at the roof-top while the rest (we) were at Central.
3rd day was IHC—rough and mentally tiring. For the first game, pairs of gals holding hands tear off pegs from individual running guys. I found it ok, didn’t really try dodging… but it’s said that Marcus Koe tried to sidestep the girls and got a sprained ankle. Fine during training, but injured in this game! 2nd game was chaotic, placing chopsticks in other’s bases, trying hard not to get caught. 3rd game was about running through lines of defence without getting touched by newspapers. As usual, the scale of these events was great, and the ogls handled them well.
4th day: dance and cheers and dance and lunch and home. Uneventful.
5th day: take 5. Played Frisbee with OG; “cepat” call was great as my team made short passes while outrunning opponents to score. O nite was only alright, the response being lukewarm as everyone’s tired.
Storyline: started out good, ended very abruptly, but already better than RI.
Batch dance: It’s a pity that we’ve practised for 5 straight days only to perform with a bad soundtrack…
But thanks guys for all the fun. Special mention goes to Zheng Xuan, Readon, and Ying Jing, especially Zheng Xuan who has been with us for meals and hosted OG outing at his house.
Had a few familiar faces: Han Sheng, Fayang, Shing Bo, Kevin, Long Chuan, Gerald, Alison, Cherie. Seen Lincoln and Tianyang in RI. No trouble getting to know the rest: Amanda, Chloe, Evan, Fiona, Zibing, Xinjia, Stella, Michelle, Zaf.
1st day was good; the usual icebreakers, running around, OG games, free ice-cream, OG dinner. Games were weirdly entertaining, especially the standing-on-chairs-answering-questions-add/minus-yr/opponent’s-chair-if-you-answer-correctly/wrongly. Following an offensive from the opponent, we decided to sabo them by always asking for their chairs to be removed instead of our chairs being added on when we answered the questions correctly (we peeped at the answers beforehand).
Joke: who are you? Fayang: Fayang. Which “Fa”? Fayang 的 “Fa”. Which “yang”? Fayang的“yang”. (So it is 发扬光大的“发扬”)。
2nd day was the best; we went around Toa-Payoh and Bugis for an amazing race, “200 dollars worth of Swenson’s voucher awarded to the top-five groups”. The passing-bottle game was difficult as we had to pass a bottle only with our chins and shoulders, but everybody was laughing and laughing, making it the game of the day. We adjourned to Manhattan Fish Market in Central for dinner and talked at the banks of Singapore River, with Zheng Xuan talking about JC and life—I realized then that we have a lot in common about our directions, ambitions. Oh yes, no prizes for guessing who ate “pol-lock” (pollock), played games and trespassed a bar at the roof-top while the rest (we) were at Central.
3rd day was IHC—rough and mentally tiring. For the first game, pairs of gals holding hands tear off pegs from individual running guys. I found it ok, didn’t really try dodging… but it’s said that Marcus Koe tried to sidestep the girls and got a sprained ankle. Fine during training, but injured in this game! 2nd game was chaotic, placing chopsticks in other’s bases, trying hard not to get caught. 3rd game was about running through lines of defence without getting touched by newspapers. As usual, the scale of these events was great, and the ogls handled them well.
4th day: dance and cheers and dance and lunch and home. Uneventful.
5th day: take 5. Played Frisbee with OG; “cepat” call was great as my team made short passes while outrunning opponents to score. O nite was only alright, the response being lukewarm as everyone’s tired.
Storyline: started out good, ended very abruptly, but already better than RI.
Batch dance: It’s a pity that we’ve practised for 5 straight days only to perform with a bad soundtrack…
But thanks guys for all the fun. Special mention goes to Zheng Xuan, Readon, and Ying Jing, especially Zheng Xuan who has been with us for meals and hosted OG outing at his house.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
chinese new year
This morning, I tried to call the shop in science centre which sells the eclipse glasses... no one picked up the call.
Yesterday, or the day before, or 2 days before, etc, I didn't buy it as I wasn't in the know of the solar eclipse.
Science centre was open, but I wasn't there.
So I missed the partial solar eclipse.
And I'm not sad, because the sky was overcast at the time of the eclipse... a consolation that I mightn't have seen the eclipse even if I had the glasses.
But CNY was great, though the money was less. It was the same routine of visiting paternal->maternal->paternal, eating vegetarian at both sides, preparing for the influx of relatives which fill the house at the maternal side, catching up with relatives who would always ask for our names year after year, and collectively paying respects to our ancestors by bowing at their tablets (maternal side).
I find myself wishing only for happiness and health amongst my relatives... "Prosperity" and "getting what you want" (xiong go yong dak go yong) just don't seem important anymore.
And we played blackjack at the paternal side after a steamboat dinner. Lots of laughter when I did something very stupid and lost the "finals", but it was all in good spirit.
This is the most different chinese new year I've ever experienced.
Yesterday, or the day before, or 2 days before, etc, I didn't buy it as I wasn't in the know of the solar eclipse.
Science centre was open, but I wasn't there.
So I missed the partial solar eclipse.
And I'm not sad, because the sky was overcast at the time of the eclipse... a consolation that I mightn't have seen the eclipse even if I had the glasses.
But CNY was great, though the money was less. It was the same routine of visiting paternal->maternal->paternal, eating vegetarian at both sides, preparing for the influx of relatives which fill the house at the maternal side, catching up with relatives who would always ask for our names year after year, and collectively paying respects to our ancestors by bowing at their tablets (maternal side).
I find myself wishing only for happiness and health amongst my relatives... "Prosperity" and "getting what you want" (xiong go yong dak go yong) just don't seem important anymore.
And we played blackjack at the paternal side after a steamboat dinner. Lots of laughter when I did something very stupid and lost the "finals", but it was all in good spirit.
This is the most different chinese new year I've ever experienced.
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
The year of the ox, the cow, and the bull. In these auspicious times ahead, the bull will chase away the bear, and hopefully all will be well and good.
Wishing you a happy chinese new year!!
Wishing you a happy chinese new year!!
Saturday, January 24, 2009
quickie before I sleep
Went stargazing in bishan park for the first time with sis tagging along; stayed for around 45 minutes. The stellarium software predicted the exact coordinates of the stars in altitude/ azimuth; I set it at 12am so that when I reach there, I can measure and identify the stars.
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn and we find ourselves staring at clouds. Managed to find sirius and orion (the easy ones), but by the time the sky cleared, the coordinates were a tad off, giving me an excuse to say, hey, I couldn't identify because it wasn't accurate anymore :)
Still, we tried (in vain) to identify more constellations; I had drawn out orion, monoceros, gemini, Taurus, Auriga, Lepus, Canis minor, cancer and a small not-drawn-to-scale star map. Thought we saw Canis minor and lepus. In the end we gave up and remembered all the stars we actually saw. When we reached home, lo and behold, we have (probably) mistaken the two heads of gemini for the two stars of canis minor, and the rectangle in canis major for the one in lepus. And we discovered that we actually saw auriga, as the curve of stars we memorised turned out to be.
So, new constellations today (drumroll):
1. Orion (ok not so new)
2. (most likely) Gemini
3. Auriga
4. Canis major (with Serius so also not new)
Two downsides: 1. I had to crane my neck to stargaze, and came later to realise that I could lie down, so I now possess an aching neck and dirty clothing. I should find something to lie down on in the future. 2. I had to copy the constellations and their altitude/ azimuth, spending lots of time preparing... I now know that a laptop/notebook could be useful as I can bring it along into the secluded venue. Tsk.
Nevertheless, I experienced myself tremendously, and hope to do this again sometime soon.
Unfortunately, the weather took a turn and we find ourselves staring at clouds. Managed to find sirius and orion (the easy ones), but by the time the sky cleared, the coordinates were a tad off, giving me an excuse to say, hey, I couldn't identify because it wasn't accurate anymore :)
Still, we tried (in vain) to identify more constellations; I had drawn out orion, monoceros, gemini, Taurus, Auriga, Lepus, Canis minor, cancer and a small not-drawn-to-scale star map. Thought we saw Canis minor and lepus. In the end we gave up and remembered all the stars we actually saw. When we reached home, lo and behold, we have (probably) mistaken the two heads of gemini for the two stars of canis minor, and the rectangle in canis major for the one in lepus. And we discovered that we actually saw auriga, as the curve of stars we memorised turned out to be.
So, new constellations today (drumroll):
1. Orion (ok not so new)
2. (most likely) Gemini
3. Auriga
4. Canis major (with Serius so also not new)
Two downsides: 1. I had to crane my neck to stargaze, and came later to realise that I could lie down, so I now possess an aching neck and dirty clothing. I should find something to lie down on in the future. 2. I had to copy the constellations and their altitude/ azimuth, spending lots of time preparing... I now know that a laptop/notebook could be useful as I can bring it along into the secluded venue. Tsk.
Nevertheless, I experienced myself tremendously, and hope to do this again sometime soon.
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