Silly, Stupid, Foolish Me.

... The official time is 2:02 am. (Standard Singapore Time)

Normal sane people would be asleep, except for those late owls and those who hate the sun.

My class starts at 9 am, and I have to get up by 7 am.

Rockin'... and why do I hear my laptop's hard disk cranking up again? *Looks like another trip down to MeL's A&E Department again...*

Well.. Been very "busy" recently.. staying out until late into the evening/night... And during these late trips, along with some other... "sources" which i have came upon recently.. I realised how much trouble we have adapting to this cold harsh world..

It seems to me, that once people move on from their Secondary education, things... change. Better for some, worse for most. For me personally, it seems that I am able to concentrate better (in terms of school work and projects). Mulling over this for some time, I realised that it was due to the fact that the "usual" stringent rules (as applied in most government schools) does not apply. *Could be due to the fact that I'm a rebel at heart, and I tend to rebel against everything and anything.. =D*

So what's worse? Seems to be the same for everybody I know: People. (And the relationship that you build with them.)

In Secondary School, at least you were "spoon-fed" and kept under a big roof and held together as a "happy, big family".

Quite the contrary in Polytechnics.

In there, you're treated like a "real" adult. And they meant what they said. W00t!! That means freedom for us!! Yay!!

Well wake up, teenagers. (Do I sound old? o.O) You're right about the "freedom" part. But what about the cost that comes with it?

Remember that there is no free lunch in this world.

You guys watch "Survivor"? To me, it's basically the same, but without all the fanciful "alliances", "tribal councils" and the oh-so-damn-great "immunity". There is no "immunity". There is only the fight for survival.

Yes. I make it sound bad. But others than this, I have absolutely no idea how to describe what I'm seeing/feeling. 'Tis sad. Young people, behaving in such a way..

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Ok. I'm sure that up to this part you guys are either confused and wondering what the heck I'm talking about, or you understand what I mean. So I'll explain, to the best of my ability (and for those who don't understand) :

It is the way we humans give in to our natural instincts (as the same way animals do). Which instinct? The instinct for self-survival.

Self-survival, in our current society, is very different from the "self-survival" you guys see in "Survivor". We do not go around killing rodents, gathering coconuts/dirty water, fish, build shelters, etc, to survive. That is survival in its definitive sense.

I'm talking about surviving in a place where competition drives everyone crazy, where to survive you have to "outwit, outplay and outlast" your competition. *In stuff like school work, projects, CCAs, etc*

I'm talking about the famous "Rat Race" here.

You may say: "What the heck?! You're stupid! Why the heck do you make competiting with one another in academic performance sound so bad?"

True. It sounds silly even to me, but in post-Secondary School, things are just THAT silly. And besides, it isn't just the competition in academic matters that's causing this. It's also because of the power that's granted to all these "young adults". That's right. The power we call "freedom".

Definition of freedom (as taken from www.dictionary.com):

1. The condition of being free from restraints.
2. Liberty of the person from slavery, detention or oppression.
3. a) Political independence.
b) Civil liberty.
4. Exemption from an unpleasant or onerous condition.
5. The capacity to exercise choice; free will.
6. Ease or facility of movement.
7. Frankness or boldness; lack of modesty or reserve.
8. a) Right to unrestricted use.
b) Right to privileges.
9. A right or the power to engage in certain actions without control or interference.

For young teenagers, Point 5, the capacity to exercise choice, is indeed very tempting. However, along with that comes Points 8 and 9, the right/ability to have unrestricted access, privilege and power.

Are teenagers truly capable of handling that?

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In a way, you could say that these Polytechnics would serve as a great training ground for young people to "get used" to the society that they are living in today. Which is why Poly-graduates/Diploma holders are able to adapt and integrate into society easily.. Because there isn't a very big environmental change for them.

I dare not speak for JC students. I am not one and thus I shall not comment on their lives. Best of luck to them when they move on to their University studies and then out into the world.

For those yet to leave Secondary education: Be prepared. =P You have no "true" allies, even if they are your "best friends".

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Yep. Sounds all negative.... The Horror!!! Ack! *Chokes to death on negativity*

Some of the stuff..

My head's messed up!

Can't really think straight right now.. Information in my brain's cluttered and flying all over the place in bits and pieces...

OMG!!!!

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First and foremost.. Like to address some issues..

I received feedback from some of my blog readers... Thanks for taking the effort to remind me of what went wrong...

1) The music. Realised it could be annoying to some people. And I finally took it off. Enjoy your own music people!

2) The length. Yeah. I tend to drag on and write essays at a time. so.. instead I'll try a different approach. Let's see how things work out.

3) The content. Opps. A tad bit sensitive. So.. would like to take this opportunity to rectify the problem.. It's all in humor! (Yes, of course its "dark humor", but you guys might not realise it.. so..) I'll tone down on that part ok? =)

4) The skin. Yeah. Unoriginal and boring. Hope you all don't mind cause I'm just. Damn. Lazy. =)

And finally.. Anything i blog is open for public views (if you guys read newspaper.. I'm guessing you all know that there is no privacy in blogging, right?). So, if anything I blog becomes offensive to you guys.. Just know that I am most likely making a joke, or that I'm just writing out my personal opinions for you guys to see. What's wrong with being open and honest? =D

P.S.: Please don't misinterpret this section as my flaming you guys for your comments. I appreciate the comments, and i hope to receive more feedback. =P

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Ok. First up. Let's see what else I have to blog about May...

.....

Oh. It's mid-June already? What?! 2 weeks more to Common test?! (Well basically.. I think the remainder of May went by uneventfully.. or that I just plain forgot. X.x)

Oh yeah. My laptop "broke down". Again. There's already 4 hardware failures and over 10 times of reformatting done to my laptop. Hey Toshiba. If you guys are gonna keep this up, It's no wonder why you guys failed to get Ngee Ann's tender for this year's laptop sales.

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Alright. Will update my blog again. Gonna try and keep things short and sweet.

Hey.

Took out the background music. Realised how irritating it could be when someone wishes to surf other people's blogs in silence (or while listening to THEIR own music). Although Chrono Cross's music sounds good..

Anyways just got back from AF camp (Astro Fiesta). Should be blogging about it sometime this week..

P.S.: Sorry! I forgot about this post and left it under "Draft". Bleh.

MayDay~! MayDay~!

Here we go. The post of May.

Time is a funny thing. (Can time even be considered a "thing"?) It goes fast when we least wishes it to be, and slows to a crawl when we hope for it to speed up. Why?

May certainly went past like a snail.. And I have most certainly been infected by the lethargy.. I was surprised when I asked myself on multiple occasions, "Am I supposed to blog again?" (Like, I'm making this a monthly thing, lolz =D). And yet when June came to replace May, swoosh! Opps! It's already the 3rd of June! (OK, 3 days into the month. What's with the fuss?)

The problem is: 2 weeks of the new semester has yet to pass us by, but I'm already feeling the exhaustion I experience whenever a semester nears its end.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Heh.

May was pretty hectic.

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So. Let us review my "May's itinerary" first. =D

1) Astro training camp. Ah. Being a Logistic is SO much fun.

2) The Return of Teh dudes! Oh well.. nothing much to say there. And yeah, like I predicted.. apparently there were some.. conflicts that arose when they were overseas.. though it's over now.. =X

3) Ah. The ever-pretty presentation. I'm scheduled for a "rehearsal" later today. *Sleep time, pals!*

4) Ah-ha! My good ol' sista's exams. *Sigh* I hate being right. Sometimes. Her results? 2 "Just-passed" and 5 "Ungraded" (A.K.A Fail).Oh well.

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Alright. Let's do this the "right" way.. From the beginning of May, we shall begin.

First up, the AF training camp. Being a logistic (or "log" for short), I was there being a "log". Literally. Staring at the computer screen, workingon my presentation during the day and practising the use of telescopes at night. (Not much to practise, given that the skies were filled with clouds)The first night had barely went by when I already felt the full impact of being a "log".

The other following days were better.

It rained on the second day. What better weather to have for a camp? =D We ended up doing indoor stuff (the logs at the computers. the GL's painting banners) until evening time. That's when the games started. (You know, camp games.)

At least they helped to pass the time. (And generate fun and laughter in the process)

The third day was.. really slack. Everyone was.. lethargic. It was as thoughno one wanted to do anything. I remembered having spent the day watching documentaries, touching up on my presentation and playing games.(Hey, it IS a computer.. =D)

The third night was.. nice. We were finally granted a "clear sky", and for the first time in my life (18 years!!!), I finally saw Scorpio (along with some other constellations) with my own eyes.

*A meteor shower was scheduled for that night. Alas, everyone was too tired to wait for the meteor shower, so we had to give that a miss. A pity.*

18 years. Astronomers, stay away from Singapore. It's a nightmare. (OK, I admit that I was never interested in Astronomy before this =X)

And on the fourth day, "It was a bright and sunny day. My friends and I ... " Opps. Primary school composition writing habits. =D Sorry. that's redo that, shall we?

And on the fourth day, I awoke to find zombies waking up and walking around.

It was ghastly.

We attempted to do solar observation (looking at the sun through the telescopes, with the aid of a solar filter, of course), given that it was late afternoon and the sky looked real bright and sunny.

As usual, if things worked out perfectly, either you were having a good day, or something's terribly wrong.

Good ol' Grandpa Sunny decided to be shy on that day. Don't need to say more.

We breakfast-ed, packed up, slacked around, lunch-ed and finally, camp was over.

Went home and slept like a log for 24 hours.

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Life continued as usual.. And 10th of May approaches.

Why 10th of May? Because that's the day my classmates went to school to fold paper cranes, shurikens, etc. (Origami!)

For 6 hours. During which they were supposed to complete and submit 6 theory papers of different subjects (Ok, all engineering subjects, so maybe you could consider them to be "the same").

6 hours. Thankfully I decided to give the exams a pass.

The class, as usual, with their "spirit of unity" decided to something "united". So, we held a chalet on the day after the exams. I was told that we were to go to the chalet at our "own time own target". And so I did, late in the evening, alone, carrying 2 sacks of charcoal weighing 8 kg each. Not the mention the backpack on my back. (OK, the bag was light)

*I'm beginning to notice a trend here. Seems to me like I'm the one carrying the charcoal whenever I attend a chalet. o.O*

The first night was boring. What I did then was, play cards, watch TV, until midnight. Some of us were feeling hungry then, so we decided to go out looking for food. First stop, we went to Downtown East, as there's a 24-hours Cheers convenience store there.

We found it dark and locked up tight.

*For you guys' info, Cheers at Downtown East is open for 24-hours during Public Holidays, School Holidays and the weekends.*

High in spirits and letting nothing deter us, we moved on, for someone mentioned that White Sands (a shopping mall, 15-minutes walk away) would have a convenience store open.

We were fooled. There was never a convenience store at White Sands.

In the end, we went to a nearby fishing farm and bought instant noodles and bread to satiate our hunger. With a belly full of warm food, we were preparing to head back to our unit, when a roar of thunder annnounced Nature's wrath. A gush of wind tore at us, and the looming clouds overhead threatened to leave us soaked to the bones.

We "ran". However, we had to stop and wait under a shelter as the rain unleashed its fury. We played some lame games while waiting for the rain to let up, and when it finally did, it was dawn. Some of the guys were tired, so they decided to catch some sleep, taking up the beds. The rest of us "energetic" guys went back to playing card games. And so time went by until it was the morning of the second day..

The second day. Having not slept a wink (I never get to sleep during chalets), I gathered those who shared my fate (and those who were hungry) for a trip down to Downtown East for a MacDonald breakfast. When it was noon, we went to Wild Wild Wet (A water theme park).Watching my classmates play, I felt like I was watching primary school kids at a playground. =D

That activity took up most of the day, and at evening time we went back to our unit to prepare the BBQ. When it was officially night-time, our "Guests-of-Honour" arrived.

They were:

Mr Leung Nan Bun - AEL lecturer, Class Advisor, WSS co-ordinator.

Mrs Peh Lian Huay - ACCA lecturer.

Mr Tan Khee Peng - PDP lecturer, TSO, WSS practical trainer.

*Mr Tan came with his entire family (His wife, two daughters and a baby. I forgot the baby's gender.)*

Time flew. Soon it was after mid-night and everyone was tired. Others than an incident with cockroaches, the night went by uneventfully, and soon, everyone fell asleep (Not enough beds, so some slept on the floor, on chairs, etc..)

The next day, we packed, and left. End of chalet.

*Kinda boring, now that I think of it. Hmm..*

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Alright.. that about wraps up the first half of May.. I'll continue that another day when I'm free.. it's 2 am and I'm supposed to wake up at 7..

ZZzzzZzz And why the hell is my blog interface in Chinese?!?!?!?!