First day

I'm now doing my internship at SPH now. My supervisors aren't here, which means I have like loads of time, so I decided to come post a new entry since everyone's like busy.

Ok so.... Was suppose to start work on Monday, but my paperwork wasn't done and was sent home instead. Then the next day, which was a Tuesday, had a match against ZhengHua sec (volleyball). So we played the match, and won etc etc. Even if we won, we still don't stand a chance in getting into the Semi-finals.

And today, I came back to work. Started with induction and all that. Got kinda bored but had to force myself to stay awake. Cause I had to learn to use the system, Coyote 3.

Hmmmm..... There's like no clock....... ok I don't know what's the time now but I should be getting back to work and brainstorming for new themes. Which I can't, cause I've ran outta ideas....... I need inspiration..... Can't think of anything.....

I have to think of something military related and also something primary school kids would be interested in.... So I'm kinda limited to a small "space"....

I best be getting back to my research.... Hopefully after the O's people would start bloging again. Cause this blog is seriosuly lagging........ Hahah.

All the best to you O level people!

B.U.M.M.E.R.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see there's like loads of exclamation marks in my title. Sigh. Let me start from the beginning.

OK, so my volleyball team signed up for a competition.(I think its called Youth cup or something) We played against ShuQun Sec(5th of November), followed by Nanyang Sec (6th of November) and (today) Bukit View Sec. Lost to ShuQun, won Nanyang and lost to Bukit View. Sigh.... If our team doesn't win tomorrow's match the school's financial support would be stripped from us. (You get what I mean, just exaggerating) Well that's not my point, let me state clearly my point-WE LOST! Who wouldn't be disappointed that their team lost? We were winning at first then all hell just broke through later on in the second set. (We usually have 3 sets per match) I had no idea what happened!? The team just collasped! *SPLAT* Just like that. Maybe it was because the reserved were substitutive in and caused a bad combination of players? Whatever the cause was the outcome was not a very pleasant sight. The coach was practically blowing his top off, shouting at any one who made a stupid mistake. Can't blame him though.

The team was giving off a very negative vibe, and I couldn't do anything but cheer them on telling them not to give up yet, even though the score was 22 to 16 (The first to reach 25 wins) Even the reserves on the bench were all giving up hope, really sad to see them just throw away all hope when they haven't really lost yet. This is just my point of view, the players should have a different one cause they were the one's playing and getting yelled at.

So the game ended with us losing 2 to 1 (We won only one set out of 3). And as usual every coach would lecture/yell/criticize the players after every match (Unless they were too pissed off) Our coach was obviously picking at our weak points and mistakes, he basically gave us the whole package, lecture, yell and criticize.

The team captain shed a few tears and others were close to crying just had teary eyes. I didn't cry, I already cried during the last match.

After the match I thought to myself: Why do we even compete in sports? It's not as if we'll go down in history or anything. Well that's what I think..... We're just competing whose skill is better, does it matter that much? I mean to me, I feel that as long as your content with the skills you have then that's fine. You could always play sports for leisure, but sometime competitiveness might go too far. Oh well its just my opinion on this matter. I wanna know what other teens think. So please do comment on it, but don't scold me for giving my opinion on things :)

This is Nicolette signing off! cheers! All the best for the O level peeps out there!

The Big O for a Sec 4. =)

My experience is similar to Amanda, difference is, I am taking all my O Level Papers very soon. It has indeed been a challenging journey, and the next few final weeks would be the baptism of fire of my final secondary school days...seem like time flies so fast!

I have already taken my practical examinations, and thankfully, it was easy. For all those taking their 'O's out there, do take stock to have your silent moment just before the exams. Ain't too good if you stress up over the small details! What I would do is the minutes before the exams, I would whisper a silent prayer to trust everything in God. Even if you are freethinker, try to keep clear thoughts before the exams.

Good luck for all those taking 'O's, and hang in there! It's only 3 more weeks!

Desmond Chew
ACS (Barker Road)

A day in the life of

Hi Amanda, thanks for writing IN. :)

It's so true, you know - which students *want* to study? I think maybe what most of us are frustrated about is that we don't really have much of a say in *what we want* to study.

I remember when I was in Sec sch, I wasn't given much choice at all: Chinese literature, or English literature. I couldn't choose Bio, because frankly, I wasn't good enough.

If given a choice I would want to study only languages! Or hairdressing, or even motorcycle maintenance. OK, scrap the last one - kidding! But my point is - you know, nowadays students have so much more choice than I did in my time - and I can bet you students before me had it worse, and students after you will have even more choices. Choice is an empowering idea. You choose. You decide. You take charge.

But that is such a lofty idea. How many students actually get to choose? Students from poorer family backgrounds don't always get into good schools, some have to work part time, some even full-time. How much choice do we actually, really have?

Another idea: Yes, most of us don't like studying, but maybe - studying now is a way to empower us in the future - to give us more choices when we graduate, when we enter the work force. If you want to decide what to do later, you have to work hard now. It's something EVERYONE tells us, but how many of us really understand the concept of planning ahead? Most of us prefer to live in the present - enjoy the moment! I know I am guilty of that too. :)

So today's been a busy day. Stories to file, students to interview. ACS (I), RGS, TKGS, MGS, VS, here I come!

Yen

What goes on in my life: a sec 3 student

Yo everyone. A teen's life. I'm sure there'll be a lot more posts about this subject but let me just share my take, or more of, my day.

I woke up today thinking, oh my gawd, my "O" Level Chinese Examination is in 7 days. SEVEN. And I've only accomplished several worksheets and stuck my nose in between a book of idioms. I did not know what I was thinking, I decided to take a trip down to the nearest Popular bookstore and buy an Additional Mathematics assessment book. A Maths. Chinese. See any connection? Don't think so.

After settling myself back on my comfortable behind in front of my computer screen at 2.45 p.m., I put my fingers wearily to the keyboard to answer several questions bombarded at me by several of my mainly nocturnal peers about the chinese exam. Funny how they manage to stay awake every day with only 3 hours or so of sleep. Again, I was reminded of my chinese exam. But ingenious me clicked on the Maplestory (an online game, for those who don't know) icon on my desktop and immersed myself in gaming heaven, blissfully ignorant of an exam in 7 days which would probably affect the rest of my life.

Enough about my life, let's face it: Which teen wants to study? I took an online character test once, you know, those tests they put up which are really rubbish, but anyway, I was told that I was a sloth, lazy and oblivious to my surroundings. And strangely enough, that's me. I'm a right slob, and yet I find myself now miraculously in one of the top 3 classes in my level. Thank God, that's all I can say. Somehow, I find that many teens don't wake up, so called, until the wee hours in the morning before the exam. A mad rush against time follows. Yet, there are people our age who can push all distractions firmly aside and bury their noses within dusty piles of books, avoiding sneezing fits, of course. I interrogated one of my friends about this once; She's a typical smarty-pants, topping the class all the time (Sorry, Sally! :D). Her answer was: Er...think about how it's gonna affect you in the future? WOW! What an admirably informative answer!

Haha, ok, enough fooling. I feel that if we can discipline ourselves to just THINK, about what's gonna happen to us if we don't pull our socks, that should be enough to eliminate slobs like me from the face of the earth. This is the impression of a happily deluded girl who has not been exposed to students who fail their E.O.Y.s all the time and get retained so it's your choice whether to rebutt me or not. It may sound ridiculous but I believe that it might work.

I'd better get down to studying chinese now..despite how my brain's refusing point-blank to absorb any chinese characters. I'm Amanda by the way, from St. Nicks. Cheers

Some useful Info

Hi Nicolette, Nur, thanks for posting on here.

Today's been a hectic day, I'm on duty so I was called to follow up on the prepaid SIM card story.

For those of you who don't know - now you have to bring your IC when you want to buy a prepaid sim card. So I had to haul my ass and my notebook/pen to Serangoon Road to interview a bunch of foreign workers to see if they knew what was going on.

Just got back - and now I'm hungry as ell and I need to type. type. type. Today is Sunday! I should be out somewhere with friends, or at home with my dog.

Do encourage your friends to come on here and drop a note - I know, that weird spanish in one of the comments - I didn't get it either. *shrug*

Watch out for tomorrow's issue of IN - I promise the cover will be something of a talking point. :)

Yen

So you wanna know about what goes on in a teen's life

OK...... Not a bad idea... Rather interesting..... Anyway, since you wanna know about a teen's life and more. Let me give you a piece of the puzzle.
OK, it's Friday today, woke up like really late, around 11 plus. Watched a Korean drama series for 2 straight days. So if you see panda eyes, you'll know why. So I planned out my day. Do my literature text for next year. And go to the gym.

Ok so the first thing I wanted to do, was my lit text for next year. I admit I screwed up my lit paper for the E.O.Y. And I really regret it, I should have at least pressed on to see what I could squeeze outta my brain within half an hour. But No.. I had to give up and write total rubbish. But personally, I blame my lit teacher for my downfall........... OK so it was actually the entire lit class' fault. Sigh, can't always keep pushing the blame this way and that. I think my lit teacher is so bias..... Or so that's what the class says. I think she gains happiness from our misery, our failure. She spends half the time insulting people adding loads of sarcasm with it. Well, I may be wrong, but hey, its my opinion. Ultimately I'm my own enemy for giving up.

Went to the gym today to work out, cause I've been slacking ever since the day exams started. But why go to the gym? So one could look good. Why would one want to look good? So you would be popular and because we're letting the media decide for us what is the meaning of beauty. Isn't outer looks just skin deep? When you cut us open we're the same inside. Sigh, teenagers nowadays wanna be in, wanna be popular, wanna be well known in school. The girl who has dated the hottest guys in school, the guy who has dumped the most girls. But what do you benefit from it at the end of the day? Worldwide recognition? Everybody is trying to be different, when one tries to be different they end up being some one their not. Ok, sound contradictive..... I'm digressing....... I'm just typing whatever comes to my mind. Teenagers who wanna be wannabe's but try so hard and end up becoming some one their so totally not. This is just my opinion, you could always rebuke it. As a teen, you couldn't help but follow the latest trends to look cool or hip. Who could blame you, everyone else is doing it too. (Even I think I just made a sweeping statement, but whatever)

So that was what happened in my so called ordinary teenager life. Digressed a lot though.....