Jon's Book of Days

2007-05-07T04:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, its been a LONG time since I last put up a post. Well, been waay to busy to blog. I don't know how some of my classmates are able to blog and juggle their homework at the same time though, but hey, what the hell. Anyway.... I don't have much to say, except bitch about how much homework I have.

OH!

I got an A for my Literature essay on The Wasp Factory. That means, 70/100 for you man.. =)
AARGH!! 12 more newspaper reviews by Wednesday.

MUST DO MUST DO MUST DO.

Rawr! Poly people get the BEST!!

2007-04-13T04:07:00.000-07:00

Dammit. After reading Aidil's blog, I feel jealous. Damn! I wanna go poly too. At least they're not yapping about the A Levels in the first day at school. Am I stressed? Hmm.. You could say so. UPSET!! Poly people come home late because they go out and jalan jalan after class and whatnot. JC people come home late because we have freaking extra stuff after school to do.

At least on the bright side, I get to go down to SunTec or City Hall every wednesday after wet training. Oh! I forgot to mention, I decided to join canoeing as a CCA.

Hahahaha.. Gonna get all tan and muscly! Finally! I can work out AND have fun at the same time! Hummph.. apparently, poly people get to do French Electives. Hmm.. there's this German kid in IJ. Wonder if I should get him to teach me German?

Hahaha, anyway, wishing you all the best Aidil. Btw, got your laptop yet? Raz's gotten his already I think.

JC Camp

2007-04-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Its been sometime since I last updated my blog. Getting lazy and all.. Oh well. Anyway, got back from camp on Friday. Hahaha. Boy, was it fun. Really got to know my classmates and we emerged as THE CHAMPION CLASS!! Whoo! GO 43A!!!

Anyway, some of our (mis)adventures at the Changi camp, were during the dragon boating activity.

We capsized.

OK. It was supposed to capsize apparently, as we were supposed to have a capsize drill, but I was expecting the drill to be something around the lines of: "OK guys, we're gonna capsize the boat now. So if you feel any tipping and the water's coming in over the side, don't panic."

Didn't happen.

What really went on was: "AARGH!!! The boat's tipping!!! WATCH OUT!!! AARGH!!! ...blub... HELP!! ...blub...Where's he/she?! ..blub.. Still under water!! ..blub.." So anyway, it was really fun though, floating around the sea while we waited AND we began to sing Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On to kill time while we waited for the rescue boat. Hahaha.. It was damn fun though..

Then, sleeping at night was a pain for everyone apparently. Because of the location of the camp, planes that were landing at Changi airport, would fly directly over our heads. Thus, I had the recurring nightmare of waking up every time the plane flew over my head that it was going to crash into our bunk and everyone was going to die.

Speaking of nightmares, one of my friends had a nightmare too of the capsized dragon boat, where everyone in the class drowned. I thought it was freaking funny at that moment in time.

Anyway, so nice to hear from you again DiLo.. Thought you died when you didn't reply to my message. Listen, we HAVE to keep in touch alright? CLOSE friends do NOT drift apart like that. Got it? Good.

Here's to seeing you soon.

Cheers,
Jon

JC life...

2007-03-22T04:10:00.000-07:00

Hi people. Sorry about not posting for ages... Was tied down with projects from JC and other whatnot.

Well, judging from what Aidil was saying about JC P.E, he really is quite right. The teachers are abit on the siao side. Of course, they're not as bad as the really wacky N.S instructors in the army, but still...

Anyway, after a really and I mean REALLY long period of inactivity, I was finally made to run about 1.2 KM. Well, for those who know me, you should know that I'm not one of the type who will pull on my shoes and go for a jog.

Nope. Running just isn't my cuppa tea.

Anyway, ran until the very act of sitting on the floor was causing my butt muscles to seize up. Yes, it was that bad and I am THAT unfit. Happy?

Anyway, I can already imagine where my muscles want to ache tomorrow already. Bah.

Oh by the way, ran 1.2 KM in 7 minutes. Not bad la I think. Considering that I haven't moved at all for about 10 months.

Ran until I barfed lor.. As one of my classmates put so succinctly. And if you were wondering, I threw up after the run. Twice.

By the way, barfing chrysanthemum tea is disgusting. Don't drink it before you barf. Its naturally bitter and that mixed with the sourness of vomit just makes you want to puke more. And its not the Yeoh's or Pokka chrysanthemum tea either. I'm talking about REAL brewed chrysanthemum tea.

Ok. Gonna stop here before YOU barf all over YOUR computer screen listening to this disgusting post.

Ta.

Its been a long time, Baby.

2007-02-23T08:56:00.000-08:00

Whoo! Its been awhile since I last blogged. Anyway, just wanted to say that I love my teachers all very very much!!

You would too if they helped you score 5 Distinctions!

Well, went to school yesterday morning with Aidil at 10 A.M, to present my dear valued and highly esteemed teachers with some small tokens of my appreciation. They came in the form of chocolate truffles.

Finest Belgian ones too.

From Belgium. NOT China, as all things are these days. Bought them at the Candy Empire in VivoCity.

Anyway, I like presenting people with stuff. Makes me feel good about myself. By doing so, I re-affirm with myself that I'm not selfish nor self centered. (I'd like to think anyway.)

But I digress. Yesterday was fun, met a coupla juniors, but the best part was meeting my teachers and their expressions of surprise when presented with the gift.

I guess I really made their day. I mean, its not everyday some ex-student re-appears to present you a box of chocolate truffles as a gift right? It makes you feel good, it makes you feel appreciated.

Just FYI, but according to my mom, in all her years of teaching, she has never once got a box of chocolates from her students.

So there.

I think I'm prejudiced.

2007-02-13T12:17:00.000-08:00

Much as I hate to admit it, I am.

Yep, you heard me. I. Am. Prejudiced.

Now, prejudiced to whom and what in particular? Well, I'm biased against Ah Bengs. I always viewed them as ne'er-do-wells who didn't have any future at all.

Chatting with Daryl, changed my perception of things as well.

If you read his blog, the link's over on the left, under Interesting Places mind, you realize that he has a tattoo. He is also extremely dedicated to God and is a decent and caring person who actually speaks perfect English (I've read his essays. They're good. Believe me.)

At any rate, having tattoos, like his, immediately classifies him as Ah Beng in my books. However, the fact that he speaks accurate English, comes from a good family and is dedicated to God, does not stereotype him as an Ah Beng.

Did you know, that he is a pretty caring person? He cares about those tsunami orphans. Many people here either simply don't care about the tragedy. Why should we? We didn't get hit by it. Or even others when the donation drive was organized, under the pretext of donating clothes, used it as an excuse to get rid of old unwanted clothes so that they had more space in their closets and wardrobes for new clothes.

I suppose at the end of the day, the point I'm driving at is, to always keep an open mind. It galls me to even admit that I'm prejudiced, but as I hate bigots, I would rather not act like the very thing which I despise.

If you ever find me acting or behaving in a hypocritical way, tell me. I'll appreciate it. I despise hypocrites and don't want to behave like one.

But anyway, I'm getting off-topic here.

So boys and girls, do not judge a book by its cover. Who knows? That book might just be different from the others under its cover.

Rude Singaporeans.

2007-02-12T05:48:00.000-08:00

Hmmph.. I'm actually pretty disgusted by this woman I saw on the MRT just now, while I was on the way back from Orchard.

Here I was, sitting on the MRT seat. She had a large backpack and was carrying a large John Little plastic bag of which contained a pillow (I think). At any rate, she tried to make eye contact with me and succeeded.

She eyeballed me with a "Aren't you supposed to get up and give me the seat?" kind of look. I looked her over and saw that she wasn't old, wasn't pregnant and was fit and in the prime of health.

Anyway, I ignored her glare and proceeded to give up my seat for a pregnant lady. If you say that I could have showed some gallantry and should have given up my seat for her, please be reminded that she glared at me to try and get me to give up my seat. And anyway, the pregnant lady needed it more.

If you honestly want to know, glaring at me to make me capitulate just ain't gonna cut it. If you're an able strong limbed person, I see absolutely no reason to give up my seat on the train for you.

Ahem.. Your result slip is showing...

2007-02-11T00:36:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not updating my blog as soon as I received my O Level results. Reason being, I simply didn't have the chance to.

Anyway, onwards to the results. Most of you guys probably already know, but I'll state it again as it looks and sounds nice. =)

I scored a total of 5 Distinctions out of 6 subjects, with 2 A1's (Bio and Combined Humanities) and 3 A2's (English, Pure Chem & Pure Physics). The only subject I didn't score a Distinction in was E Math with a score of B3.

So people. You can see for yourself that my results aren't too bad, with an aggregate score of 11 points.

At any rate, I honestly did NOT expect such a stellar result, so imagine my reaction when I found out that I was one of my school's top students.

While officially my name is third on the list, I'm actually 2nd truth to tell, because the girl above me has a total aggregate score of 14 I think. She made it because she has the same number of Distinctions as me. 5. So the reason why she was second, was, because the name list was sorted alphabetically. Her name started with an A while mine's a J.

Thus, in actuality, this means that I am second only to Fang Fang. A worthy accomplishment indeed. =)p Ishwar unfortunately did not make it. Must be crushing I think. To have wored so hard only not to make it in the end.

I know I know.. Hao lian si right?

I think I have the right to be anyway.

So there.

Ok. I'm really not jealous. Honestly.

2007-02-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Alright, in my previous post, I did mention that I was somewhat jealous that William had gotten to go back to Jakarta and must have been holidaying, which made me ENVIOUS - or not... After that came my list of why I wasn't jealous, which was because of the flooding.

Well, I now have confirmation from no other than William himself, that his house in Jakarta is now officially underwater.

William: My house is flooded.

Which sucks. Big time.

Me: Good luck on cleaning your house out then.

But, ever the optimist, William adds:

Him: Anyway getting flooded is sometimes quite fun.. (I have trouble imagining that. Since when was your house being under water fun?!) It's like Venice you know? We have to ride boats to get around. (well, at least you're having fun I suppose. If imagining that you're in Venice to deal with the water helps, then no harm I guess.)

Whatever floats your boat I always say. (pun very much intended. It's corny. I know.)

Anyway, I am very much NOT jealous nor am I envious about him anymore.

P.S Did I mention this somewhere? He's going to Trinity College in Australia to study. Good luck dude! Make loads of new friends and don't forget us back in Singapore!

Jealous? I'm not~ Not jealous at all...

2007-02-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Just recalled a conversation I had with William the other day on MSN, on when he's going to come back to Singapore:

William: I'm not coming back to Singapore so soon, cuz I'm enjoying my days in Jakarta.

Me: I see...

Here I was thinking: That's not fair... He's enjoying his days... I'm just bored... He must be HOLIDAYING!!! I'm JEALOUS!! I wanna go see sights too!!

Then recently, if you've been keeping up with the news, you'd have heard that Jakarta has been flooded...

That makes me less than jealous.

Here are some excerpts from the news:

More than two-thirds of the 340,000 people forced from their homes by the floods remain in temporary shelters.
(Hotels crammed chock full of wealthy people escaping the flood)
Power supplies are still cut off, disrupting telecommunications.
(No phones, no air-con, no nothing..)
Where the waters have receded, a thick layer of smelly mud and debris has been left behind.
(Horrid, gelid, smelly sticky mud... Think the lotus pond dug up and splattered all over the place.. The smell..@_@)
Coupled with typhoid, dengue, cholera and other respiratory and skin problems.
(Wonderful. Fall sick at the same time...)

So, after that, I have decided that I am currently less than envious of William's position atthe moment. Sure, he might have made it to the Hilton or The Ritz, but I'll bet that he couldn't carry ALL his stuff over, so they'll all be wet and covered by a layer of sticky smelly disease ridden mud.

Call that sour grapes if you will, but this is how I see it and, well, who said having sour grapes was bad for you?

At the very least, you won't be crammed in a hotel with hundreds of flood displacees, flooded roads filled with sticky smelly disease ridden mud.

Do I want to see and meet all that? Nosirree.

Birthday! Mine too!

2007-02-03T23:39:00.000-08:00

Hey, its been sometime since I last updated my blog, as I've been down with the cold and other stuff.

But, anyway, wanted to put up a post on what I did yesterday, my birthday.

To start it off, my bro had to go for tuition with my ex-tuition teacher Miss Lin (she tutored me and William), so I decided to tag along. Then, her boyfriend, my ex-ex-tuition teacher (Miss Lin's predecessor) came to join us, and he decided to treat me and her to a lunch buffet at the Thai restaurant at Causeway Point. (Thanks so much for the lunch Mr Lo!)

Whoo! We really stuffed ourselves silly and then Mr Lo sadly had to leave to give tuition to some of his other students. By the way, I forgot to mention that both of them, Miss Lin and Mr Lo (missed you guys so... especially right before the O's!!) just came back from the US not too long ago. So we had quite alot to chat about. Hehe..

Anyway, I digress. After Mr Lo left, Miss Lin's turn to treat me to an ice-cream waffle at Gelare. It was REALLY good. Must go back there more often. =)

Miss Lin decided to go to City Hall to buy some New Year clothes, so she asked me if I'd like to tag along. I agreed as I had nothing planned out for that day, so off we went. Lalalalala~

Yeah yeah, but before that, over lunch, I casually mentioned that the Clinique perfume smelt good, as we were on the topic of cologne... (I wonder how we got on to that topic in the first place?)

Anyway, I didn't really expect her to actually BUY the cologne for me, cuz, well, perfume ain't cheap. I actually said that anything will do, even something cheap, as I appreciate the gesture of giving me a gift, not the amount of $$$ spent on me. Still, not complaining.. hahaha! (really really thanks Miss Lin!! I appreciate the gift extremely.. Will treasure it! Btw, it really does smell good.. =)

At City Hall, after going to boutique after boutique, Mango, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Lin still couldn't find anything that looked fantastic.. Oh well, suffice to say, that when we went home, she still hadn't bought anything.

So at any rate, yesterday was a fun day, where I got to spend time with my ex-tuition teachers... Just a pity that William couldn't join us... He's in Indonesia enjoying his days =( I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous, I will not be jealous!!!

Oh, but before I forget, I want to thank Jie and JP too, for the ear phones you bought me. You have not been forgotten.. hahaha...

I PROMISE that when you're birthday comes, Miss Lin, Mr Lo (I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!), I'll get you guys something.. you too Jie... and JP... I'm not a person who just takes and takes. I like to give too hahaha..

Well, will get something for you guys la.. Just not too sure yet... =) Until the next post.

About being sick...

2007-01-27T20:12:00.000-08:00

Ok people.

I'm sick and I really don't feel well. You know, I really can't remember when I've felt this bad. Sure sure, I've feigned 'I'm sick and can't go to school to study' excuse before but this time, it's the Real McCoy. Its real to the extent, that I'm leaving tissues strewn all over the place.

Not pleasant at all. Really.

Did you know, that I blew my nose so hard just now that now I'm temporarily hearing impaired? I can't hear properly out of one ear as I'm typing this. It's like the pressure in your ear, during a plane's lift off. Not particularly sure if lift off is the correct terminology neither do I particularly care. Oh well, so long as the message gets across.

Well, will post more when I feel better. Don't wanna get snot all over my screen in an ill timed sneeze.

Yay!

2007-01-27T04:23:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, guess what?

I finally managed to get my hands on that BritishIndia jacket I've been eyeing for some time. If you guys have ever shopped before in BritishIndia, you will realize, that the prices are STEEP!! How steep? Somewhere in the range of 140 SGD for a scarf. And that's a small scarf at that. Why is it steep though? Well, I had a conversation with one of the staff there and found out that BritishIndia clothes are ALL hand-sewn and hand-made. This means, that only a few pieces are produced for any one particular design and so, in actual fact, you are not only paying for the quality, you're also paying for the exclusivity. So boys and girls, if you do want to buy anything from BritishIndia, you'd better get it quick, because if you tarry too long, you might end up not getting the shirt or blouse you fancy.

By the way, if you have walked into any BritishIndia outlet, you realize that the ambiance in there is POSH!! If I have to describe it, I'd say the decor is very colonial British Indian. Yeah yeah... so sue me... But you will find that it's posh.. And also, I think BritishIndia has their own deejays to mix their music and play... I mean, the music they play is not your run of the mill Power 98 FM kind... it's the quote: 'Welcome to BritishIndia' unquote and then the ambient music starts playing.

Well, I've had enough of staring at the screen like a nutter typing this down. I think its time to take a break before I really damage my eyes... Then I'll have to wear specs as to which my sister is insanely jealous as she had always taken care of her eyes, while I haven't and I still don't need to wear anything while she has had LASIK done to correct her vision... But I digress...

Until next time then...

OK...Another rant...

2007-01-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

Ok ok.. Here's another rant. I know.. although the name of my blog says rumination and rants, all you've seen so far are rants. Alright alright, I'll post a rumination soon, right after I finish this rant/whine/posting/thing/ok better stop it. Ahahaha...

Alright. I think I MAY just have blown up a hundred and nine bucks. Yep..a $109... How? Well... It all started with a scratched iPod...and to put it a nutshell, I bought the extended warranty in the vain hope that the iPod would somehow die.. *coughbreakcoughitcoughdeliberatelycough* and well, entitle me to a new, free and scratchless iPod under Apple's warranty scheme! Not so I guess...once I found out that Apple's policy is that dented iPod's have voided warranty!! So that little dent in the casing, translates roughly to: small little almost invisible dent=voided warranty for me. Wonderful.

There is also the fact that I would dearly love to HACK my iPod, so it becomes a hell lot cooler. HUGE problem though... Doing so voids my warranty too.. So what now? I'm currently at an impasse.. There might be a solution though.
A) I bring my iPod back to the Apple Store and ask if the warranty is voided for sure with that teeny tiny dent.
B) I go back to the Apple Store and ask if hacking my iPod will void the warranty, but so long as I remove the hack, the warranty is NOT void.
C)I wait till the warranty expires before I try anything...

I can't HACK my iPod without voiding it, but I have a dent in it POSSIBLY voiding it..

But then, it's just a SMALL SMALL dent on top right? Will Apple see it? Please dear God no... If they do and the warranty is now voided, I've just blown up $109, leaving me with a scratched and dented iPod, but relatively freer to HACK my voided iPod..

Damnation..

Ruminations....

2007-01-24T04:35:00.000-08:00

OK... Before I begin, I just realized, that my first post, was not about why I wanted to make a blog in the first place (Thank you, Daniel for reminding me). So, to make things right, I decided t o post again. Ta Dah!!(<---- Name of the Scissor Sister's latest album, by the way.) Here it is!!

I made this blog to talk about some stuff... any kind of stuff actually, that well, I feel should be made public... Hmm... That didn't quite come out right... Bleah.. Whatever, in summary: I. Talk. You. Listen...or read... whatever floats your boat I suppose..

Anyway, I decided that I will blog only when I feel like it, so I won't blog unless its important... i.e. Anything other than a rant.

Bleah.... Apple.....

2007-01-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

Hi all, just wanted to share some of my pretty distasteful encounters and experiences with some of Apple's service officers.

To date, I'm aware that there are 2 Apple stores in Singapore that offer servicing of the iPod and Macs. One is in Wheelock and one is in the Cineleisure Mall. Of the 2, I'd have to say that the one at Wheelock just SUCKS BIG TIME. Think I'm being too harsh? Well, try talking to the service personnel there then. They are SNOBBY and just plain UNPLEASANT to deal with. They talk to me like I'm some lower life form beyond their notice and that I should be honored that those Higher Beings deign to speak to a Lowly One such as lil' ol' me. The one at Cineleisure however was nice enough. They were polite, understanding and were just helpful. Now that's what I call service.

I suppose what started the rant is this: The problem with Apple is that although their technology is good and award winning, their policies and service just plainly leaves much to be desired. So, although Apple might have left a lousy impression on me, there is no doubt in my mind, that if Apple does release another iPod, I WILL get it.

I guess that's what's meant by a cult following.