Adobe Illustrator.

Okay have not posted anything picture-wise for a long time, again. Haha. =X I need a camera la, still saving away incessantly.

Tried out Adobe Illustrator some time ago, messed about with it for an hour or so, and came up with this.

Haha, okay I know it looks horrible and everything. But for a first time it's not bad okay? Spent such a long time figuring out extremely basic things like how to fill the lines I drew with colour, and it looks much better than my first attempt at using Gimp. =X

The program itself is really simple and easy to use though, once you experiment around with it for a while. Like, much more control over vector paths and gradient meshes. And Photoshop filters can be used too, if you have Photoshop, which I unfortunately don't. Gimp is good enough. =)

Worship Central Conference 2008.

Okay woke up at around 7:15am at Macrina Mdm's house, then went off soon after that cause I was going to be late. Went home, bathed, brushed teeth again (haha), then ate a slice of apple pie for breakfast whilst going on MSN for 15 minutes before leaving again.

Took an MRT down to Commonweath Station and then went to Faith Methodist Church for the Worship Central Conference.

It's actually a 3 day kind of thing with a concert by Planetshakers at the Max Pavilion, but I didn't go on Friday cause I was stepping down.

Anyways, the conference was quite okay. Got a wristband thing, a notepad and a dvd, but no Nike voucher like at iHope. Haha okay nvm.

Worship was great, about 850 people went for the conference. Tim Hughes and Al Gordon were great at speaking in front of a crowd. Attended the theology of worship which was not as boring as I expected, and the band dynamics workshop which was cool. Like the different styles a song can use and other practical aspects of being in a band.

The live lounge part was really cool too. Like, there was the songwriter of 'Count On Me Singapore', the worship director of FCBC, and a pastor from Hong Kong. Haha, unscripted session where they just talked about songwriting and the process it goes through. A lot of funny parts to it too.

Felt like dead tired in some parts because of ton-ing, and didn't attend the night worship. Went home and slept early instead. =)

Stepping Down.

Woke up early, went to school. Assembly program was on the Tana River Life Foundation. It's probably the last time I'm listening to the guy talk after hearing him give a talk every year since Sec 1.

Had to do a compare and contrast question for Social Studies. Had to do a PowerPoint Presentation on reasons for the growth of tourism for Geography. Watched a documentary on the Cold War for History, and did Vectors for Maths. LCE was on Parenting too. Bleah. Isn't it like kind of weird that as Sec 4s we are being taught about parenting. It's as though they expect us to be parents at this age already. Maybe we should live up to their expectations. Or maybe they feel that giving us advice on studying, studying techniques like association, or anything else related to O levels is not as relevant as parenting. Yup.

Last NPCC training. Kind of nostalgic and sad. Like, 4 years have simply gone by just like that? Ephermeral. Hope the Sec 3 squad will persevere and stay together. =) Kind of remember the first time I took them as a squad leader? Heck, can look back to the time when I was a sec 1 myself. Weird kind of feeling to be in the position you once thought about vaguely. And it's even weirder to think that I am one of the 18 people whom have stuck with NPCC throughout the 4 years, out of the initial 60+ people from when we had just joined, and those whom quit even before the first training. Shocking. =O

Sec 4 Mata 08 Forever. =) From Sec 1 camp, Sec 1 NRC, Sec 2 NCO Camp, Sec 2 ATC, Sec 2 NRC, Sec 3 NCO Camp, Sec 3 ATC, Sec 3 NRC, to Sec 1 Combined UG Camp, we have pulled through to become what we are. =D

Sadly, stepping down also means O levels are approaching. Okay, O levels have been approaching ever since I was born I guess. But it's just another stupid milestone in life that I don't want to go through but will have to go through eventually.

Training was okay, PT time was kind of fun too with water-bombs thrown around. Haha. Hope everyone enjoyed. Being splashed by us. =P

Some incident happened where people threw a can of deodorant at us. Didn't expect that person to do it really. But you can't distinguish hatred I guess.

Had a final debriefing session with the instructors. Then went to Macdonald's for dinner.

Went home, bathed, changed, brushed teeth, then went out again to stay over at Macrina Mdm's house. Mac Mama. Haha.

Was supposed to be about 12 or 13 people? In the end only Hao Xiang, Chee Sheng, Joshua, Eugene, Wei Kit, Wei Ting and me could make it. Reached her house at around 10.30 pm, and Hao Xiang was super high along the way la. Like flying around as an airplane, or singing words said by anyone randomly to the tune of Beyonce's Irreplacable (To the left, to the left).

Played this simply amazing game on Mac Mdm's computer. Stunning graphics, amazing content, and awesome interface/controls. The Typing Of The Dead.

The graphics are stunning cause they remind me of my childhood back when I used to go the Darren and Jacob's house with my sister after school ended, and we would play The House Of The Dead and complete the entire game single player as the second player did not have unlimited lives and would die after the first level or so.
Amazing content cause the characters have computers worn as backpacks with this huge battery on top and use keyboards instead of guns to defeat the monsters in the game.
Awesome interface cause you type words on your keyboard to defeat them, and the word combinations are kind of weird.

Haha. Okay, people are probably going to say the game is nothing compared to Crysis or COD4, and the game really is lousy. But for a game released in 1999, and with such an awesome control system, it's not bad man. And you don't have to spend $2k buying a top end computer to play either.

Lost to Hao Xiang in Winning Eleven in PS2, laughed at countless pictures of ourselves in the past, then laughing at videos on Youtube, then fell asleep on the sofa watching Wei Kit play Resident Evil.

I didn't have any sensation of sleeping, or dreaming, or anything. Just closing my eyes for one moment, and opening them again realising it was Morning already. =X Went off quite early after that, and that's all. =)

Rock Climbing.

Last Wednesday was View Meng's birthday! Happy 16th Birthday! OLD!


Lessons were horrid. Chemistry was okay, but we had Chemistry extra lessons after school which led to about 2 and 1/2 hours of Chemistry for that day alone. And Chinese, Maths lessons were uber boring. Blee.Whose stupid idea was it to place 2 maths lessons back to back and then expect us to pay full attention in class during such lessons? =/

Got back our Chemistry mock exam results too. 38/70. That means I passed by 3 marks. =\ Shall start studying from this day week month onwards. =D

Had about half an hour for lunch before rock climbing started, so went for a rushed lunch with Lenson at Macdonald's, then went back to school.

Last lesson for rock-climbing. Tried out most of the walls, but you get tired after climbing/belaying for a while. Haha, hopefully I passed the course la. If not I've just wasted $30 and 4 Wednesday afternoons.

Went back to school after that, reached at around 7pm. Took 119 down to View Meng's house to celebrate his birthday. =D Played a bit of Halo, and I totally got thrashed cause I've not touched Halo (or an X-Box controller) for about 7 or 8 months? Last game I ever played was probably the Gears Of War Competition during the Inter UG Camp.

Went home at around 9pm after cutting the cake. Walked home with Anson from Sec 1. Haha. He told me about the stupidest and lamest situation he was in; him and his cousin being arrested for trying to break into his cousin's home as his cousin forgot to bring his house key. =D


Thursday was 2.4km run for PE. Bleh. My timing was like 12:49minutes? Horrible. I shall start jogging from this day week month onwards. =)

Wasn't really that tired after running, don't know why people were like going to die and complaining of muscle cramps everywhere and such.

Got back our Geography paper too. I scored 19/20 even though I didn't study, and didn't really complete writing on my points. But everyone's going to say I'm showing off. I honestly do not know how I score so high for Geography. It's just like how I don't know how I score so low for Maths.

Chemistry practical. I started heating this solid, then testing the gas given off for carbon dioxide using the limewater thing. But when I placed the delivery tube into the limewater, the limewater started rising, like it was being sucked up or something. And me being the stupid person watched it rise without doing anything. Then the limewater actually went into the test tube with the solid and there was this weird sound and everything in that test tube with the solid kind of exploded around inside and the limewater in the other test tube started smoking and I simply stood there with an O.o expression.

Naturally, I answered most of the questions for the practical wrongly. And the test tube broke too. =(

Presented for our English project too. Haha. We're the last group to present okay? Grand Finale you know? Anyways, Lenson's blog has the video if you're that interested in stalking me. =D

English extra lessons after school, ended at around 4pm. Went to View Meng's house again to help him finish his leftover food from the day before. (See I'm so helpful)

Word of advice: Don't drink Coca Cola with Coffee Ice Cream float at View Meng's house with Ivan and Chee Hock. Sure to suffer from mild insanity and hysteria. We laughed almost non-stop la. Starting from how Chee Hock and me had our Ice Cream Floats in nice glass cups, whilst Ivan had his float served in an Anlene cup. (The formulated Milk brand)

Then we started laughing about other things, like how Ivan looked at me whilst eating and such. Random man. Walked home whilst Chee Hock did stupid things on his bicycle with Ivan. Haha, and we laughed a lot even whilst walking home too.

Went home, started preparing for NPCC the next day, then slept at around midnight cause I spent an unhealthy amount of time in front of the computer..

Ulcer.

Woke up early in the Morning to go to Church.

But went for breakfast at Macdonald's first with my family. Haha. Sunday is like a Church/family day for me la. As in the only day I spend with my family. =)

Ate the new McGriddles thing. Haha. Quite nice la. It's different from the regular Mcmuffin. Can just imagine the workers stamping the M logo on each and every pancake before serving. Haha. But halfway through eating the burger my wisdom teeth accidentally bit the right side of my mouth. Felt pain for a while but I still continued eating.

Haha. Then I wondered why the milo I was drinking tasted so salty and realised my the side of my mouth was bleeding. Horrible la. Got those like, bits of gum hanging from the inside of my mouth after being lacerated by my teeth. Stupid wisdom. =X

That's why I now have this huge ulcer. Currently eating fries too. Since it is said that salt helps to cure a mouth ulcer quickly and effectively, and that fries are high in salt content, we can therefore safely deduce that eating fries will help the ulcer to heal faster. Detractors this statement may say that fries are unhealthy and oily, but I for one don't really bother otherwise.
(English + Science = Useful applications in real life)

Anyways, went for Church after that horrid accident. Okay I'm overreacting la. Haha. Sermon was quite okay. And we got to see Major Andrew and Thomas from UK again. It's been about a year since the Church changed pastors?

Went for lunch at a coffeeshop near Junction 8. Then went home.

Went out again to a dinner at this restaurant opposite my Church. It's at a seafood restaurant. Haha. I sat next to Thomas and Zhong Han. Haha. I realised I have not talked to a Lower Primary kid for about half a year already. Weirdness. They started eating and comparing Satay sticks which is like Thomas's favourite food cause he can't eat it in UK. Then they ate fried rice and started running around to look at people fishing prawns.

Went back home quite early cause my sister had homework to do.


School lessons on Monday were all forgettable. Okay we started learning on Tourism for Geography but I think that's forgettable too. Went for lunch at Pepper Lunch, then went to Lenson's house to finish up English project voice overs. But we didn't record anything in the end cause I think hearing my own voice makes me feel like laughing for some strange reason.

Today was all forgettable things too. Feature article writing for English, Physics was on practical uses of electricity, and we had Chinese letter writing too. Although Chinese was kind of ominous cause it's the last letter we're going to be writing for Chinese lessons. Went for lunch at Pepper Lunch again, then went back to school for Chinese extra lessons. Blee.

Turns out our teacher was busy invigilating for Oral examinations and we had a relief teacher and only needed to do a mock exam paper which I completed already so I simply spent the rest of the time waiting for others to finish before going home.

I think the new Macdonald's delivery is horrible. Cause now I'm like ordering Macdonald's online using my father's credit card when both my parent's can't buy back dinner for us. About 3 times a week too. Haha. Unhealthy. No wonder I gained 1kg lately. But I think I'm still under the acceptable category. =D

Anyways, that's why I'm eating fries now. Heh.

High Ropes Challenge.

Woke up bright and early at 6am for High Ropes Challenge. Haha. It's sort of like the last 'field trip' as an NPCC cadet, so it's kind of nostalgic/sad in that sense. I remember the first trip we went to was the K9 dog unit in Sec 1. =D

Went to school, ate a Milo Energy Bar for breakfast, then boarded the bus to Pulau Ubin.

Almost all the Sec 4 squad went. Although so many people have quit and a lot of them couldn't make it so there were only 12 people. Compared to Sec 1 when there was 40+? =\

Haha, had about 20 minutes 'free time' before the boat left, so we went to Changi village hawker center for a while. Ate roti prata for breakfast with Joshua, and played with Eugene's 4 times 4 cube which is so unlubricated.

Took the boat to Pulau Ubin, then instead of walking for about 30 minutes to Camp Resilience, we got to take vans there. =)

Started with Pamper Pole first. It's like the same as the Sec 2 camp's one la. Where you have to climb up the pole then jump to catch this bar. And I've never tried it before cause it was raining during my Sec 2 camp and we didn't do it in OBS. But I tried it and caught the bar okay. =P

And I don't have any fear of heights for some reason. Like, if you put me on some thin piece of string 30 levels high with no safety line then I'll be scared la. But if there's a belay device supporting or something beneath my feet then I don't mind at all. =) Actually I don't know what I fear you know? Haha. =X That's scary cause if one day I meet something that I realised I'm afraid of all along I'll be super scared.

Then we were asked to go wait for the Double Flying Fox. It's the only double flying fox in the World, double as in two zip lines side by side. And it's the tallest in Singapore. =D Tallest in the World is somewhere in New Zealand though.

Anyways, had to wait for a long time cause lots of other schools were waiting too. Supposed to pair up and I paired with Chee Sheng, but the school before us was odd numbered and I ended up doing the flying fox with this guy from Gan Eng Seng Secondary. Haha. Was quite fun. Very shiok at the beginning cause you get that free falling feeling, but then it's no longer as fun, only windy towards the end.

Then was lunch time. Like all the lunches are the same for all trips because it's the same caterer. Same as SANA course, Civil Defence, etc.

Then we waited for a long time again for our turn. In the end we went to do the Dangle Duo. It's the ladder thing la. Like all the poles stacked vertically and you have to try and climb them with a friend.

Climbed with Eugene. We would have gotten to the top if there was time la. But it was tiring though. Dunno how the sec 2s did it at their camp. Maybe their poles was spaced closer together?

Then was asked by an instructor to go up and do the Advance Ropes Challenge Course. I did the West loop of the thing. And it is super hard la. Like, doing pull ups and balancing at the same time. Haha but I didn't give up okay. I couldn't give up actually. Cause we were using self-belay devices. So can't lower ourselves down as and when we like.

Rest of the guys went for tunneling which I feel was more fun than the ARC. =(

Returned our harnesses and helmets after that. Then wasted time taking photos with my squad. Haha. Took vans back to the jetty. Then took boat back to the mainland. Took bus back to school.

Went for dinner at Macdonald's with Joshua, Chee Sheng, Wei Kit and Hao Xiang.

That ends the last field trip as an NPCC cadet. Mixed feelings I guess. But we've come this far already. =)

Endeavour To Perservere.

Okay one week since I last blogged. Again. Maybe it's becoming a weekly thing now. Okay I know I'm just lazy to type la. =)


First Class test and Campcraft Girls Competition last Saturday. Our own competition was like a month back, because the girls competition was postponed repeatedly due to wet weather. But Chee Sheng, Eugene, Hao Xiang and me didn't go to support them cause we had First Class test.

Eugene went first then left for maths lesson. Hao Xiang went next and left to do his English project. So it was left with Chee Sheng and me.

Did badly for First Class test la. Kind of disappointed la. Woke up at 3am to prepare and spent the entire Morning to Afternoon waiting. =X But anyways, it's not exactly very crucial to my survival or anything.

Went for 'lunch' at LJS with Chee Sheng after that. It's 'lunch' cause it was around 3pm in the Afternoon by then. Both of us were kind of emo then cause we both failed.

Went to Lenson's house after that to do English project. Didn't really film the interview part cause Ivan left soon after. But we recorded voice overs and filmed remote controlled cars. Haha. So fun playing with cars that can be customized to your liking. But such cars are expensive la. =(

Ate dinner at Lenson's house too. I couldn't finish cause I just ate 'lunch' 2 hours ago.

Went home at around 9pm with Jun Han.


Overslept for Church on Sunday. =\ But went to Ikea with my family. It's like I don't see that much of my family except on Sundays. Went to the store at Tampines for lunch, but there was a power failure and only cold food was served. Then we went walking around looking at random things in Ikea. =D


Monday, went to Lenson's house after school to do our English project. Haha. Laughed around at stupid bloopers and mistakes whilst View Meng and Chee Hock watched us film. Went home at around 5pm.


Tuesday, got back our Physics mock exam paper. Haha I scored 41.5 which is like (O.o) cause I didn't exactly study at all. =D My acceleration answers were all wrong however. =\

Chinese Oral exam after school. Horrible. Spent such a long time waiting for the other classes that my fingers were tired from constant pen spinning. =X

And I didn't understand the question given by the teacher at all. Something about athletes, but I thought it was something about Physical exercise areas and gave some really stupid answers. =X Ah wells.


Wednesday, Maths in the morning, followed by Napfa test for PE. Super depressing la. I failed Standing Broad Jump by about 6cm. And I did only 1 pull up. =\ Rest of the stations were As and Bs. Gah.

No extra lessons after school because our Chinese teacher was not free. Yay!!

Although I still had to stay back for Rock Climbing. =X

Went for lunch after school with Jude, Lenson, Hui Joo and Jun Han at Hougang mall food court, then went back to class to wait around with Jun Han and Lenson.

Went with Lenson to Macdonald's cause he owed some girls ice cream. ;) Haha. Ate ice cream for a while, then walked back to school for Rock Climbing.

Rock climbing was tiring la, after doing Napfa and everything. But at least we filmed for English Project. =)


Thursday. Chemistry Practical test. Haha. I think Chemistry practical is so much fun now. You get to do whatever you want with the chemicals. =D Although to pass the test you have to follow those standard steps la.

Maths extra lessons after school. =X There was supposed to be a test but it was postponed to the week after next. =D


Geography test on Friday. Didn't study cause I forgot about the test and left my Geography book in class. Don't think I wrote enough la. Left out quite a few important points I guess. But should be able to pass. =)

NPCC training after school. Didn't take the First Class Retest cause I didn't have time to prepare the entire week, and the badge is not really important to me. Taught sec 3s MOI though. It's like second last training before we step down? =|

Went for dinner after NPCC at LJS. Then went home.