真实的虚伪

如果我很诚实地坦诚自己虚伪，你是否能够继续信任我？

Life As A Student

It is just not my character to dwell on the fact that 25% of the JC life is gone. I mean, yeah, it may be gone, so the more we ought to treasure the remaining times we have together instead of mulling over the loss of some of the best times in our lives.

I love being a student. Seriously. That dreadful Math test and the idea of mugging for the Physics promotional exam aside, school life is fantastic. It's a time to widen up your social circle, and you get to acquire not just academic knowledge, but also pick up a skill or two through your CCAs or other enrichment courses.

It is colourful. Much better than to sit in an air-conditioned office and do accounting work day in, day out.

Even the acts of forming extremely exclusive cliques with your very best friends, uniting all those in your friend list to ostracise someone you detest, gossiping about each other's work attitude and the rivalry between you and the person seated next to you who threatens to take away the throne of being "Best in Math" are what that spice up and add zest school life.

Imagine school life without all these, where people just 各家自扫门前雪 and 明哲保身. No spreading of scandals, no competition between top students (or sometimes between the bottom students to avoid finish last) and no "mass-ostracism".

Sorry, I can't.

In retrospect, these components are already part and parcel of our school life to give it the distinctive flavour that distinguishes itself from the rest of our lives, albeit sometimes they can be considered as undesirable in name of the so-called "traditional morality", in which students of my age are assumed to do nothing more than studying and obtaining good grades. Politics and relationships should not even appear in our vocabulary list.

To me, what I loved most are the stereotypes of the different schools (usually the "branded" ones) and the immense rivalry between these schools, in fields such as academics, sports, and the arts. Seriously, I think that all the stereotypes and the rivalry could be featured by the Tourism Baord as "Uniquely Singapore".

No schools in anywhere else outside Singapore would give you the same intensity of rivalry like you would find between the Hwa Chong, Raffles, Victorian and the Anglo-Chinese families respectively, just to list down the more prominent competitions. There are certainly more schools involved in this feud.

And no schools on this planet, besides those situated on this tiny island nation, would get stereotypes, often negative ones, being associated to them.

Chinese High guys have hairy legs, Nanyang girls have long armpit hair (I wonder who would notice this!), SCGS' girls are flamboyant and "tai-tai"s and speak bad Mandarin, RGS' girls and RI boys are snobbish and uppity, ACS' boys are squanderers and they speak worse Mandarin than SCGS' girls, River Valley's and Dunman High's students are "cheena"... etc.

The above-mentioned "traits" are certainly not "laws", that is, they are not always true; but they definitely can qualify as a "theory", that is, true only at times.

Despite the somewhat limited applicability, these streotypes are what that inject the fun in our school life. It is with intense rivalry and immense competition do we get the entire school to go through thick and thin together. And it is through going through the hard time together do we forge strongs bonds and a sense of belonging to our respective alma mater.

And this is precisely how we obtain a marvellous, exciting and colourful school life.

But everything is just skin-deep and myopic.

To many adults, all these rivalry and competitions, inter-school or intra-school, are unhealthy, unnecessary, and sometimes even uncalled for. However, I think that such competitions, with a tinge of politics and back-stabbing peppered here and there, is an important transition phase for teenagers of my age to move from the old, usual "flowery" pacific world of theirs filled with only helium balloons and adorable cartoon characters to what I call a "real" world, where it is filthy, polluted and corrupted with politics, back-stabbing and throat-slashing; where the people are no longer cheery, bubbly and would sing lovely nursery rhymes, but forever power-hungry and blood-thirsty; where you would soon be abandoned by the society if you don't assimilate yourself into the mainstream culture, albeit not one which you appreciate, and embrace it fast enough.

This is the real need for competitions within and amongst schools in Singapore. To gear us for the future and not exactly to make school life more lively.

It's an essential learning stage, and sad to say, it is when we get ourselves equipped so that we can survive in the "real" world.

It's the survival of the fittest. Since "time and tide wait for no man", we ought to learn how to keep up with the pace that the society sets lest being eliminated and ejected from this "game of life", in which the eventual winner would win himself power, wealth, status and perhaps, happiness.

What we do in student life is no transgession. Without them, our future would be doomed. Although we are proud to say that all these acts that we performed in school adds vibrance to our normal, boring school life, this "incentive" is only short-sighted. The long term benefits of our school life may be hard to swallow at first glance, but sad to say, these are the hard facts of life.

P.S What is meant to be a short and simple writing on how much I love my life as a student has evolved itself subconsciously into a (well-balanced?) one that resembles an expositary essay. My apologies.

遇见老同学

从巴士下车时，赫然发现多年不见的小学同学竟然与我搭乘同一趟巴士。

算一算，也有7年了。俊俏的脸孔还在。脸颊上的婴儿肥依旧没变。健壮的身躯也完好无损地保留着。

我跟他往两个不同的方向走去。他没看见我，即使看见了想必他也早已把有关于我的记忆给抛到九霄云外去了吧；但我不断回头看着他，微笑，傻笑。

不，这不是“断背山裕权版”，而是遇到多年不见的同学的滋味，真得很甜蜜。

我跟他不是很熟。犹记当时小学时，还经常与他起纠纷，闹不和，彼此从来没有把对方当成真正的朋友看待。

7年后的今天当我在巴士总站不停地回头望着他时，儿时的回忆一幕一幕地闪过脑海。

我微笑了。

在五光十色的初院校园生活里，偶尔在这喧嚣的世界里停下原本匆忙的脚步，重新地去体验小学的生涯，回归简朴，何尝不是件乐事？

阳光男孩！！

哈哈，好不真实的标题。

自从当上了啦啦队的“队长”(Cheer I/C)，长期（也不是很长啦，2个星期而已）在外头奔波为我校各种体育竞赛的选手们加油打气喊口号，而且多数的比赛都是在室外大太阳底下进行的，已经使我的皮肤被晒得黝黑，要我鱼目混珠地充当一名“阳光男孩”说不定还真的会成功！

只不过黝黑的地方仅仅是头部和手部而已。在冲凉前脱掉上衣和裤子然后照照镜子，又得回到白白嫩嫩白斩鸡的残酷现实（也不至于到“白斩鸡”那么苍白的恐怖夸张地步啦，因为我皮肤的黄色素还蛮多的。）。

还有那可怕的tan line在我的手臂上，把我的手肘和三头肌划分为阴阳两地似的。

当啦啦队队长的好处便是让我有机会去接触不同的体育项目。虽然我没份参与，但是能够在一傍观赛，了解比赛规则也是一大收获，至少对于一个很少运动，“四肢简单”的人来说，这份工作真的使我获益匪浅。

目前，我观看了足球，篮球，英式女篮，网球，垒球以及排球的比赛，对于这些比赛的规则也有了大致上的了解，也让我开始喜欢上了运动。

:P

给我多几个月的时间！让我朝向成为“阳光男孩”的目标迈进！！

怎么办？

已经好久好久没有用中文来写日记了。

对于中文的热忱，似乎没有从前那么的狂热了，但还不至于，也永远不会到歧视排挤中文的地步去。

开始热爱化学了。尽管化学成绩也不是顶好很“牛”，但比上不足，比下还绰绰有余。

就连日常的对话，使用英文的频率也越来越频繁，说起中文来感觉有些憋扭与不自在。

开始思考将来到了大学要修读什么科系。化学？中文？

中三中四时我已体验了当一名终日泡在实验室的科学家的滋味，并确定自己不适合走这条路线。

但若要我修读中文系，我将来只有两条路走：

其一：从事媒体工作，如：记者，新闻主播，电台广播员

但对于政治敏感与反感的我，不希望做与我国大选相关的报导，尽管大选也不过是5年一届。而且，这行业竞争激烈，佼佼者众多，我也未必是出类拔萃的那一位。正如我常说：“人才济济，何时会轮到你？”

其二：当一名华文老师

说实话，要我教化学，我可是比较有信心能够教好学生。至于中文嘛。。。很难说。生活环境的限制使得中文不再是一门你能够死记硬背便可以考好的科目，不像其他的数理科。甚至连文学都能够用这种填鸭式的方法以保证学生们能够考取他们心目中理想的成绩。因为考试的范围十几二十年来来来去去都是那几道问题。

然而，中文可不同。考试所出的题目变幻莫测，难以揣测，难以让人捉摸。所以，中文是一门“你会就会，你不会就是不会”的科目。基本上一位中文老师能做的很有限，也只有启发学生，鼓励他们不要放弃这个属于他们的母语罢了。

而我可没有这个耐性。

说到耐性，我也不想被派到一所“烂学校”去教那些成绩很不理想的学生，因为我是个急性子，没办法安下心来，慢慢地反复地去强化他们的基础。

绝对没有任何歧视鄙视的意图，只不过是真心地觉得让我去教成绩较差的同学只会误人子弟。

但要我当化学老师，这就意味着我得在大学里修读化学，得重回实验室的“怀抱”，得再度过着no life的科学家生活。

非人生活。

矛盾。举棋不定。

现在的步步为营，是为了我届时不会后悔。

但眼看做出决定的期限一日日逼近，我真的不知所措。

Investiture

I am now officially a member of the 33rd Hwa Chong Students' Council.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!!

I gave my mum a hug and a kiss.

First Week as a Cheer I/C

In case you didn't already know, my voice is hoarse now.

With my sexy and husky voice, I can mimick A-Do so well now that I could easily substitute him during his concert when he's sick or something.

And no, it didn't help much when I caught the flu bug that's going around in town these few days.

I should have avoided those mud pies at NYDC on last Saturday. I think that's what you call karma when you insist on getting someone to give you a treat.

*********************************

Monday (8/5/2006)

My first day as the 33rd Cheer I/C for Hwa Chong. First event was the girls' basketball match against RJC. The councillors were very supportive and cheered loudly when I ask them to cheer for the playing team. Being a greenhorn, I thought we could cheer at anytime we wanted to. But alas! I was told that we ain't suppose to do a cheer when the coach is speaking to the team about strategies during "breaks" (what do you exactly call them? I am not sure if you call those "breaks").

During the boys' match against TJC, the challenge came when "normal students" (who are usually cynical about cheering) arrive at the venue to watch the match. More than half of them refused to cheer, despite the fact that some of the seniors personally asked them to cheer for the playing team.

Lesson learnt: Cheering is not just about being able to cheer damn loudly and enthusiastic at all times. You have to engage the audience, lead them to cheer, and must, most importantly, know when to and when not to cheer.

*******************************

Tuesday (9/5/06)

Girls' volleyball match against SAJC. The venue (CCAB Volleyball Court) was stuffy. Fans do not exist in that place at all. Neither do windows. And I wonder did the management ever know of this thing called "ventilation".

Anyways, during the match, my senior Cheer I/C, Kailing, came up with a few cheers on the spot. Some proved to be effectively, which is determined by whether our team scored after we did the cheer. Lame way of determining the cheer's effectiveness, but sometimes things just cannot be explained using science.

Yes, at seventeen, we still believe in "superstitions".

And oh, I brought along my train whistle (that will produced the "choo-choo" sound when you blow into it), much to the amusement of everybody. Unfortunately, it wasn't loud enough to stun everyone that is present at the venue.

The funny thing was that at the last set, both of the playing teams have to switch sides, but some of the SAJC students either refuse to switch sides to stand next to their own team to support team, or they are just simply unaware of the change (which I don't think is the case. I mean, who doesn't have eyes to see the teams changing sides?)

So, those pathetic souls who are still standing on our team's side were surrounded and trapped by our councillros and we started cheering behind them. Cheering for Hwa Chong, that is.

Mark went in and thanked them for supporting Hwa Chong.

They rolled their eyes.

Lesson learnt: You need a lot of stamina to cheer. I was pretty much out of breath during the fourth set of the game. And oh, enclosing the students from the rival school is a effective method in lowering their morale. They would feel intimidated and hence not cheer, or cheer less loudly for their own team.

*********************************

Thursday (11/5/06)

Combined Sports Meet with Chinese High and Nanyang Girls' today.

Cheered like crazy for my own faculty. I carried the drums and hit it and moved into the crowd asking them to cheer. It's physically exhausting, in case you didn't know.

Cheering makes you sweat a lot. Even if it's only a simple one of asking people to cheer for the team, without carrying the drums or moving about aksing people to cheer. I guess it's the adrenaline rush that makes you perspire.

For the past two cheering events, my shirt was literally soaked. It was as good as playing the game itself.

After the Sports Meet, it's another cheering session for hte boys' softball match against VJC.

I tell you, softball is a darn complicated game. Basically I just cheered when I see the softball team cheering.

Too bad, taunting wasn't allowed as the coach for our team wanted to play the game "gracefully". Sigh, I did a perfect job in taunting those RJC players the other time... :P

Lesson learnt: Know how every game is played so that you can cheer appropriately.

*****************************

Next week would be another hectic week for the Cheer I/Cs. There are matches on everyday except for Thursday.

Wish me good luck and good health.

Random Network Check

Instructions:

Name 20 ppl u can think of at the top of your head. Dun read the below questions before you write and tag 5 ppl to do this survey.

1. Yun Zhou
2. Kia Mian
3. Kia Hui
4. Kay Siong
5. Lan Fang
6. Yan Zhi
7. Jia Wei
8. Jun Quan
9. Ying Cheng
10. Liu Lu
11. Wang Wan
12. Yu-Yin
13. Chee Yang
14. Genesis
15. Hong Yi
16. Tay Wen Xuan
17. Yan Min
18. Yue Kai
19. Yan Yin
20. Allison (my other Cheer I/C!)

How did you meet 14?

(Genesis) Our first interaction was during Council's orientation.

What would you do if you never met 1?

(Yun Zhou) Erm, like I would weep?

What would you do if 20 and 9 dated?

(Allison and Ying Cheng respectively) OH MY GOD!!! MY JAWS WOULD FALL.

Did you ever like 19?

(Yan Yin) HOLY CRAP! NO! She's so NOT MY TYPE. I don't like "weak" girls like her who requires so much attention all the time. Besides, she's attached...

Would 6 and 17 make a good couple?

(Yan Zhi and Yan Min respectively) Unless you are not homophobic... but even if they are indeed homosexuals and they do become a couple, I don't think they look suitable. At least on the outside.

Describe 3.

(Kia Hui) A Maths freak. While Maths in my school is the "universally" despised subject, she still embraces it no matter what. We'll see if her passion for Maths is still there after the release of the recent alternative assessment.

Oh, she loves singing too... Haven't really had a chance to sit down and listen to her sing in great detail though. But jia you in any case!

Do you think 8 is attractive?

(Jun Quan)He's the most manly person in my class. Serious. The rest are either effeminate or are still "boys" in character. An ex-NCC Corps Sergeant Major (which is the highest post in that particular unit), he is physically VERY FIT, so I am pretty confident that he can satisfy your sexual needs without much difficulty. :p Oops, that's a little too explicit. Whatever.

Just that I think I am 100X better-looking than him.. :p

Tell me something about 7.

(Jia Wei) My latest boyfriend. =)

Do you know any of 12's family?

(Yu-Yin) No.

What's 8's favourite?

(Jun Quan, again) This is tough. I have no idea! Pornography, perhaps?

What would you do if 11 confesses that he/she likes you?

(Wang Wan) OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What language does 15 speak?

(Hong Yi) English, Mandarin, Hokkien, perhaps a little bit of Malay?

Who is 9 going out with?

(Ying Cheng) I am not sure. But I dont think he is attached at this point of time. Maybe 5 minutes later.

How old is 16 now?

(Tay Wen Xuan) Somewhere between 16 and 17 exclusive.

When was the last time you talked to 13?

(Chee Yang) First day of school this year. He was spotted with some Mediacorp posters of "Campus Superstar" and those posters (autographed by Chee Yang, each and every one of them) were to be pasted all over the school to publicise the show, and of course, his participation in the programme. Believe it or not, I actually went to ask him if I could have one of the posters, and without any hesistation, he promptly gave me one.

Nice fella!

Who's 2 favourite band/singer?

(Kia Mian) I don't know!!! :p

Would you date 4?

(Kay Siong) Over my dead body!

Would you date 7?

(Jia wei, again) Aren't we already dating?

Is 15 single?

(Hong Yi) He should be.

What's 10's last name?

(Liu Lu) See for yourself.

Would you ever be in a serious relationship with 11?

(Wang Wan, again) Refer to the answer for the question "Would you date 4?"

What school does 3 go to?

(Kia Hui, again) Same as me.

Where does 6 live?

(Yan Zhi) Galaxy Milky Way, Planet Earth, Continent Asia, Country Singapore.

Whats your favourite thing about 5?

(Lan Fang) Lots! She's enthusiastic, responsible, kind-hearted, mature in thinking, spontaneous and witty in responding to my (caustic and sarcastic) words... etc.

Have you seen no.1 naked?

(Yun Zhou) WHAT THE FUCK?!?! Of course NO!

Tagged victims:

1. Miao
2. Tiang Peng
3. Jia Wei
4. Min Yu
5. Kia Hui

Cheer I/C Part IV

Thank Goodness... I've got the post that I wanted

Cheer I/C Part III

I really want to be the Cheer I/C so badly.....

Happy Labour Day

HAPPY LABOUR DAY, AKA "MAYDAY"!!!