27/1/09 - 2nd Day of CNY!!!!

Wow. Today was argubly the BEST CNY ever, in all that i have experienced before. Let's start at the begining....

A later start to the morning, even later than yesterday, preceded the start of my rounds. As usual, it was time to rush off to somewhere at 11+ in the morning. This time however, we were going to mamas house. Don't laugh; I myself don't understand this side of the family-i never had the guts to ask about it anyway. I think she is the best friend of my father's mother, his godmother. She is the next best thing that i will ever have for a grandmother since mine passed away before i was born.

We were headed for the old HDB flats of Hougang where they have just been awarded upgrades after the public discovered the decrepit state that they were in.. These are those places that you have only heard about, where the lifts only stop on 4 levels for the WHOLE BLOCK!

Look at my brother, seemingly amazed that there are so little floors to this huge flat! As my mama stayed at the 8th floor, we had to advance to the 9th and walk all the way across the building to the other side before descending. I wonder how she can stand all this excersize!

Inside, we were treated to some sumptious dishes for lunch, Teochew style. I always say that on Chinese New Year, I eat the best lunch and dinner of the year. Well, this would be the best lunch.....It might not look much, but it was delicious....Now for the socializing. I watched young little Cai Xin and Michael interact and Cai Jin roll about in my mother's arms. It was her 1st month birthday not long ago and she has all that baby fat. I must emphasize a point and that these people-mama and my aunts- are not related to me at all, only by the fact that she is my father's godmother. Still, they are like the aunts and grandmother that i never will have, so 1 must be grateful for

God's blessings.

- Cai Xin

Soon it was time to go, after staying there from 11am - 2pm. I really enjoyed coming here as its only twice a year that i ever get to come here to Hougang. Next up, we were going to my 3rd Uncle's house for what was a " Lion Dance Performance". Truth be told, I was expecting to see a professional Lion Dance troupe to show up anymoment that i got here, but lo and behold, I learned that the actually Dancers would be My cousin's cousins! They were around Primary school age I think as I could never be bothered to ask but they put up a really nice show. When i find that video that i took, i will really put it up. It was so cute the way they made that small lion costume dance and dance, albeit without any acrobatics that we normally see.

After that, we had all the small kids play around with the lion and of course, my brother Michael was the first to join. However, he seemed abit lost at what to do with the tremedous responsibility of being at the head and thus proceeded to walk around the house in circles. After that, he headed out into the garden through the front porch and then made a big loop but into the house via the front door. It was kind of amusing but being Michael, anything can happen.

After this, well the cycle of CNY breaks down. I have absolutely no idea what to do after the Lion Dance as i supposed that we normally go home and rest. After all, all our visits were done for the new year.

Since all my cousins on my father's side were here for the already, i opted to stay and have some fun with them. Going back to sleep could hardly beat having a fun time hanging out with Cleo, Xiao Yu and Jun yi. Lucky for me, i live quite nearby-Cleo's house was hardly more than 2 streets away from my street- and my parents allowed me to stay. What with Michael to look after, i imagine they would be glad to be rid of a one nuisance for a couple of hours.

My cousins and I settled down into some sushi and were introduced to Cleo's new birds - 3 songbirds and an African Grey parrot! They were all quaking with fear when we held them in our palms. Who would'nt be scared of an unknown giant suddenly holding you up are and stroking your feathers...

All of a sudden, a meeting was called. Cleo's mum suggested that we get out of the house and do something together..Then some brilliant voice brought up the subject of going ice-skating. I was already feeling apprehensive with my fears being alleviated when i found out that we were ACTUALLy going. Memories of my previous misadventures popped out of nowhere. I was terrified of the though of breaking my arm again.

We were all transported, the 5 cousins together and Cleo's aunt, to Kallang Ice Rink near the Indoor Stadium. When i stepped inside, i could feel how cold it was; the warmth was being ebbed out of my body. Still, I was together with friends and family, what could go wrong. After all, ice-skating was just like roller-blading which i have done a countless number of times before. Or so said Cleo's Aunt. Cleo was very enthusiastic about going there; apparently she had not come for a long time. Xiao Yu had nothing to be afraid of; he had taken lessons when he was younger. That left me, Mark and Junyi who did not know how to skate..

After being baffled by how to tye those troublesome skates, i gingerly stepped onto the ice. It was like nothing i had ever experienced befoore. Imagine being able to move on your own without twitching a single muscle. That was the beauty of ice-skating as i later discovered. You could basically just slide down the sides if you are not careful of stopping. I tried some roller-blading techniques and amazingly, i didnt fall at all. The first few rounds i went around the rink were like magic, abeit uneasy magic. Eventually I grew to love the feeling of just going round and round the rink, abit wobbly and unsteady at my feet. Cleo and Xiaoyu were alrdy going round and round like they were running and Mark was doing quite well too. Only Junyi could hardly stand on his 2 feet while skating and for the first 30 or so minutes, Cleo's aunt was giving him a crash-course lesson on how to skate.

After skating from 430 -7, we went back to Cleo's house for dinner. Imagine my surprise that everone was worried about my safety after my reputation for being reckless was known. Just like how i broke my arm! Anyway, i got to spend the rest of the evening having fun with my cousins and playing like small kids at the playground. If i could relive my childhood, I'll definitely do it again. It just goes to show how time flies. Next time i read this post, I might be in VJC already....

It was a beautiful thing, skating. After today's chance encounter with skating i feel like going back there to skate everyday. Its just such an out-of-world experience that it left me desiring for more. Today was maybe the best CNY ever, I did something new, went out of the normal schedule for CNY and relived some of my past. Fantasic......Wonder what we would do for next year?

PS: Wrote this on the actual day itself, only could not find the time to type it out.

26/1/09) - Chinese New Year. =) For Grading

Hi all. Days sure go by like a breeze. One moment I was there receiving hong baos from relatives, next I'm here, blogging.Sigh. Now, i need to recount this really far far back, like a week ago, so don't blame me if i sound kind of withdrawn. Here goes.........to 26th of January.

I was woken up not by an alarm clock, not by an irratating maid, but to the shining face of my little brother. It was quite a shock really, so i did not realise that he was saying something. Then he bit me. On the arm. Quite hardly. Shaken out of my reverie by raw pain, i awoke."Matthew, wake up, we are going off already you know."he exclaimed. I wandered downstairs to a state of bustling. Ahhh, it was that time of year again. Time for the ever exclusive Chinese New Year.

Before we left, it was customary that we bai nian to my father for a hong bao. This would most likely be the biggest one of that i would ever get, although others come abit close. My brother would try this humble approach where other people cannot even hear what he is saying.However, my youngest brother takes the show. He would walk towards my father and in his sweetest voice, wish him a happy new year. Ever since he could talk, me and my other bro were not alone anymore in our ackward greetings..
Next up, we were going to our grandmother's house next to Bedok MRT station. My grandmother is a lively person, very talkative. I must express my inapitude at speaking enough Chinese, let alone Hokkien. Whenever i try to talk to her, it always comes into a bad fix. She nomally converses in Hokkien, but would say some smatterings of her also not that good Chinese for me. But then my Chinese would fail me and I can sometimes never understand what she says.
We arrived around 12pm and it was time for the mandatory greetings for Chinese New Year to begin. Greeted by the smiling faces of relatives and their uttered greetings of " xin nian quai le", I thus entered the familiar house of my grandmother. Many a time have i spent nights visiting and having dinner with my grandparents that it is not an ackward thing to step into her house like many other unfamiliar places of relatives that I hardly ever visit.
We gathered around for a delicious hokkien meal, though i feel that maybe it is not as appetizing as before. Still, it is a rare occasion that i ever get to taste the food prepared by my grandmother, so one must not be choosy.
Next up, time to mix around and catch up with my relatives. After all, I can honestly say that i hardly see my cousins in this side of the family and so, it is imperative that I get to know them better. I now realise that i never really know these people that are my kin. Mostly what i hear is what my mother knows; after all, it is her side of the family. The main activity that we would spend doing now would be to watch TV. That's it. The famous activity that we all do is just to watch Chinese Dramas. Now the dumb thing is that while the adults mix around in the living room and watched tv, all the kids were watching the same stuff in the 2nd bedroom that is now a guest room i suppose, after my aunt got married and moved away. We were just watching tv on a screen no bigger than this computer screen now(14 inch), me, Mark and my cousins Kian Leong, Justin and little Jaryl. It was just our hanging out place of the day. Of course I got bored and changed the show to the Brit Choice Awards, but soon found out that it was pretty meaningless, as i hardly know what these people were saying anyway. -.-
Well, I stayed there from 12 to 2, just checking out what people were doing with their lives and generally having fun. It was interesting to talk to Kian Leong about IP life; after all, he went to TPJC integrated programme and his views might influence my desicion too....
Anyway, soon it was time to go, after collecting 6 hongbaos. We would usually get together and visit my grand-aunt's house, but she passed away 2 years ago and the cycle was broken. SO, all of my kin on my mother's side would be coming this saturday, including her cousins, our my distant uncles and uncles, to my house. Thats going to be SOME cleaning that I need to do around the house..............I can't wait.

The bus..

Hey, the sun was shining in the sky and some kind of birds were chirping. I felt outworldly jubilant, or was just because NP parade was finished for the week? Anyway, at what was 6.00+ in the evening, I boarded that belligerant bus No. 155 and headed home, with the company of an old friend and without the presence of a new one. This could have been like any other day in the past week, heck the past year where i boarded some bus to take me away from that day of sheer pressure that stems from being Sec 2. However, it was not meant to be....
I've been taking buses ever since the start of Sec 1 but they are still kind of a new experience to me. Singapore's transport system may be one that is very efficient, but I finally met its efficiency to the max today. This person was none that i had ever seen in my life. You've seen a taxi-driver, those people that take note of your parking coupons, but how many of you have ever seen a bus ticket collecter? This monstrousity of a bespectacled woman suddenly burst into my eye view while i was chatting to my friend, as though i never noticed her before. Speaking to my friend, she shouted:" Wher you tickea??" I was severly shocked. I immediately thought of that blank ez-link card that said [-30cents]. My friend put up a galland fight, but he wavered in the depths of her glance. Turning to me, she squinted through her thick glasses at me and stuck out her hand as though i owe her money. " Yer tickeat pleese?"
I must confess at this point i was at a loss for words, i didnt know that i needed to take a ticket when paying cash. The ridiculous machine always was as blank as a sheet when i approached it, I think it must be doing it on purpose. "Giv me yer tickeat lah, noat theat hard wad..." she bellowed. I must have been going red at that point, the other passengers were all staring at me. I hurriedly tried to explain to her that i didnt take any ticket but she just stared at me with those puny eyes. " Wher can no tickeat? must hav a tickeat."
I went on trying to explain my way out of this situation, but nothing got into her head. She simply refused to listen to me and continued to point that card reading thingy at me like a weopon. Suddenly, something got through. " Ahh u student ah?" she said, pointing to my school badge. "U student then say so lah. dun be so scared. can giv me your card?" At that point i almost passed out. So she had mistaken me for a grown man, after all, one can hardly see with eyesight like that. She checked my card and smiled to me to say that it "bo qian liao" and that i had to stop at the next stop. She continued to say stuff about me to the auntie next to me; " theat guy so funny, meaybe he dun understand enouughh english arh?" I was absolutely mortified. Never could the red cross of EAST SHORE hospital been so welcome, i was positively glad to get off that damned bus. My friend surely had a laugh about it; he was laughing so much he was red in the face and nearly got rammed over by a car....

Science Buskers...

=) I just cannot contain the joy inside of me! WE won the science buskers! Now this is really something for making me get up at 7am on a Saturday morning...
Really, I dont know why i just wanted to get up and support the buskers that day. Something about class support and spirit. Well, low and behold, there were only 5 "2A-ians" who actually came. There we were, Tomus, Yong Xiang, DL, Jonathon and I, eating Mac that Mr Liang was so kind enough to provide. I mean seriously, where were the rest of us??? Surprisingly enough, there were a host of other ppl that i never knew: PRC scholars, Sec 1s from 1B, PSLs, old boys, generally ppl who didnt even know who these ppl - ok so some of them might have known certain buskers from ccas and other commitments but i'm talking generally ok? - we were supporting. Yet here they were, sacrificing their saturday mornings and sleeping time to support us, even though i know that some would probably not have used it any better.
Good point to note though: I got to know Keith, my senior from NPCC who was also a PSL Man, these PSLs, i really envy them. They were really bonded together and were like the living embodiment of the VS spirit. It is really our leaders that inspire us - or me - to strive to be more like them. The PSLs lead us through all the VS cheers for our buskers and were real gentlemen - every time a Buskers performance ended, they were like 3 cheers for _____ so and so! After a while, so RVH students started copying us, but their cheers was distinctly different. They went 3 cheers for ______! clap clap clap-clap-clap,3 cheers for ______! clap clap clap-clap-clap, 3cheers for _______! clapx11 !

The atmosphere surronding the performance was awesome! There were these Primary School kids that somehow cheered the loudest! Louder than us! Amazing. They were supporting the Runaway Air Molecules i guess. I love all the performances, every one put so much effort. Really, they should have given more than 5mins, it was not enough for some ppl. I cant really describe the performances, it would be too hard. I feel that, like the judges, The 3 buskerteers were really the best. They were calm and composed, and never once did they look like slipping. Other than that, Pyro-Cyro was good too, although their nervousness showed through, specially Tristen..(dont mean to be rude and all.) Joseph was a natural really. You would never expected it. Such a pity many great tricks failed to work. I guess its stage-fright that most of the performances werent that spectacular. The audition round would have been much better. SO, heres some vids to show you our great teams!
The 3 buskateers !
Pyro-Cyro


Congrats to all the winners, specially The 3 buskateers! They won a $1000 prize and a free yearly contract to Science Center. Next time you might just catch them on busking at science center! Tristan's group also won best costumes! GO VS! OK thats all from here, dont forget to ask for FULL DAY tmr! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

We Are The Champions - Crazy Frog

First NP Training.... :-)

Now, I can't say what makes me dread NP parades on Fridays but its just kinda weird that throughout the week i would worry about what would happen that Friday afternoon. But then. last friday was just surprisingly different. Maybe because we all just came back from UTC (Unit Training Camp) that the spirit was so high and also the fact that we were now no longer at the very bottom of the food chain that made us so enthusiastic.

For the first time, we got 20 squad mates to come for NP and thats so good. No wonder that there were no drills. Amazing is that we got absolutely no drills at all for a change. It was just campcraft, PT, and Games! What did i say? Best Training ever... Derek on the other hand said: " No, not best training. The first training that we had. All the others were nothing!!"

So, this was the best training that i had ever experienced in the whole of my NPCC life. If this was ever a sign of things to come, then maybe I will enjoy after all what would be a great CCA for my Secondary School Life. Imagine when i started out as a NP cadet I wanted to quit NPCC. Now im almost glad i didnt as this squad radiates a certain bonding shared by all the UGs. I can very well say that some of the sports CCAs might not have this kind of bond shared by being part of VS NPCC. Thus, those Sec 1s are really lucky to join us.. I can't wait to see them come in...=)

- Us at the end of UTC looking very exhausted after a sleepless night for some, including me.

Sup Ppl. Jelo World.... 1st Post!

So, first of all. Hi World! ok now that that beastly piece of formalities is done, lets go on to some more... For all of u who dont know, this is my el blog for english. Yeah, i know, y create a blog for eng? OK, heres the cool part. We have to create a blog for HOMEWORK and write 5 posts about anything for HOMEWORK. Cool huh.
Dam. Dunno y but i feel so sleepy.. Shit its 11+ and i feel so sleeeeepy alrdy. Dam the early sleep curfew. Sorry bout the language, well i dont feel alright. Well objective done. Byeeeeeeee and dun forget to check this blog out for more posts that i (hopefully) will be posted regularly.


PS : I hate this stupid pen-mouse or whatever. Ever since my father got this chinese pen software to write chinese characters easier, the mouse has been replaced by this pennnn. And let me tell you, it is not fun to use. Try holding a pen all the time u play a game and see what i mean.... WHERE"S My lovely mouse??? COME Backkkk....
PPS: Try checking youtube for Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean) short skits. They are dam funny. Ms Raksha let us watch 3 shows and we laugh like crazy.. Shes a very cool tchr...




Stupid Pen-Mouse,Pencil. Whatever..........