To harbour a thought... or a couple, or a few... thoughts of you.

Yes you, Fernando. Fernando Torres.


A relatively better day today, with more positive interactions with my fellow human beings.

Happy be-earlied birthday and belated birthday respectively, Hui2lan(31st Jan) and flavalava(7th Jan)! Experienced a whole spectrum of emotions today,

from when I was feeling really, really ill as ease in the canteen (as Koo+ and [[JiaWei]] can testify)

to opening a pack of Match Attax to reveal my first ever foil (limited edition Joe Cole too),

to thinking (and still thinking) if I was perhaps rude to someone,

to thinking about someone,

to being pleasantly surprised by a text from Ngiam,

to witnessing an epic 5 setter between two psycho Spaniards (still slugging it out),

to having to shift my focus on another aspect of Singapore education (and still re-focusing my lenses),

to ponning Econs tuition,

to cuddling my rabbit Sharpi.







And there's still the night to go (which will be spent seeking inspiration)!


This is life,

hopefully not at its fullest... yet.

Yawn

Fell asleep quite a bit in lessons today! Ah! PE was rather tiring. School's catching up with me (if I was ever ahead), and Liverpool slide down the premier league table. Now my nose runs.

Things can only get worse... but will they?

Unease

Been finding it hard to talk at times these days, am much more comfortable wording my thoughts out. I've come to like this smiley in the past 15mins by the way:
^^

Not quite considered a smiley technically, but it's nice and implicit so perhaps I may use it in future posts/online convos.

When junkfood takes its toll...

...llot sti sekat doofkunj nehW


All is a blur after exercise, all around a whir... this the product of green tea cookies, chocolate almond cookies, chocolate cream cookies, tim tams, gummies, loveletters (at least 3 assortments), bahkwa, ferrero rocher, fanta orange, donuts, kentucky fried chicken...


Not a very productive day, not at all, but at least I have a clearer idea on what to do for my history research - education policies in the 1970s! Not terribly interesting, but noteworthy and of sufficient controversy I hope. Awaiting the weekend already, as the last day of CNY hols slips away. Wish I'd spent more time with my relatives, for I see them ever so rarely. (I absolutely HAVE to bring my cousin Keefe to church, and SOON too. Anything else can wait.)

Kwotable kwotes

Nuggets I've been chewing on recently.


"Always preach... and if necessary, by mouth."
-Someone

"Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."
-Martin Luther

Our lot in life

This is my lot in life... a lot.



What's your lot?

Have you got the lot,

or is your life left to chance, a ballot?


I have a lot of love, assurance and peace, and am glad and content...


and yet I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers!


Lots to learn, lots to repent, lots to share and lots to be thankful for too.

Then you yield

Should be less foolish, because I can't get smart! Or at least tread with caution... or heed the guidance... or, or, or... get to sleep (it's already 12.25am) and dream up a solution. I wonder if its in our nature to be tormented such, or maybe it is precisely our nature that leaves us to be tormented such.

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

(WHOOPS EMO POST!!)

"Hey show some love, you ain't so tough!"

"Oops wrong move!"

Set A Day.

Was a good Saturday today, post-SATs that is. Headed to TRBC first to do some singing practice with Joel Lam and co. Was quite okay, just that I'm kinda regretting not developing my musical side (if there is one??) while I was still young. Gave up playing the piano at what, Primary 3, 4? That's me for you, not quite the persevering, nationalist-struggle kinda person who would go all out to achieve my goals (not that I really have them anyway haha). Got a nCode racket during my tennis days... but didn't quite unlock my potential (well... the nCode slogan is "Unlock Your Potential"). Not quite naturally as driven as others. Would prefer to use the excuse that I'd rather let others have the chance... but perhaps I'm just plain lazy.

Oh anyway, after music prac at my church I headed over to Bethesda Hall Depot Walk at Tiong Bahru for YP. We did 2 Corinthians, and I learnt more on forgiveness. Thereafter we had games on the rooftop court. Played a little soccer, where the goal was the basketball post. The basketball post itself! Which is crazily hard to hit, but still goals were scored, and I got one myself which was quite a stroke of luck and we still lost 1-2 to a last-gasp goal. Then we played captain's ball and I fear that I might be getting to be too much of a flashy player for my own good which is quite gross to even think about. Anyway this is getting to be such a mundane post I think I should just post some pictures worth posting.

(Click on to see pics in full glory... or not)

Kartik and me on the cruise along... a waterway in Vietnam.


I think this is quite a pro shot!

Ah... my ultimate act cute shot hahaha.

Wah sweet young things.

Well google "dufus" on google images haha...

Think this was taken when I was sec 1 or something... have really looked different through my 18 years, I think I might have had a good 5 or 6 different faces haha. (?)

National day cycling with 1A!

Titus the commie at HLB haha...

One of the better class pics we've had... perhaps due to SR13 in all its sunlit splendour

Camwhoring with my sister early last year, pretty retarded.

EMO!!!!!

It's quite disgusting the way I've worded some of my latest posts... and it disturbs me as much as it probably disturbs you. You... especially you! Ah, anyway, SATs today was a real mental marathon and I must say that I died by the 9th section (equivalent to the 30km mark on a full marathon perhaps). How should I train my mental endurance... spoon/fork bending?

Anyway, about time I got the lilt in cornroll back eh

Big events.

"You've done your preparation, you've slept well the night before... and once you're in it the most daunting thing is the space, the blank, the void that you face. For with the vacuum comes thoughts and speculations that only do your head in. So start quick, think and fill it up. "

-Gnow Kered, a day before the Silly American Tests.



lol... this is quite retarded. that's not to take away the happiness i feel straight after the completion of an examination paper though. a paper well-filled that is

Wish I

Spent the day at home... it's great that I now wake up early even on days off school! The day goes by pretty much slower. Wish I could be at Catholic High with my sec 4 friends now... but gotta prepare for SATs, and I am inflexible that way. Not too cool, but that's me. Looking forward to the CNY weekend, meeting up with my relatives and all. Have also got quite a bit of work to catch up with, so we'll see how things pan out. Not looking forward to post CNY school schedule though, for school so far has been quite alright and stress-free, it can only get worse!

Edgy

Well I've been acting queer the past week... just not quite in the mood to talk and care and be proactive... growing up, maybe.

If you'd known it to be dangerous all this while...

Why do it?



Because I didn't know...? Now if only I'd known it to be dangerous all this while. But all is not lost- nothing is, in fact.

A Revisit

To better times or not... I really don't know now...!

Yikes

Oooooh this thing, "Wasting Time"... you're quite a fan of it aren't you, Derek?!

Then you take notice of the people around you...

I have been, am and will be a selfish boy...

Tired...

a little. Shouldn't be, by right. I don't have the right to be tired, because I'm super free compared to my classmates... I know I haven't been pushing my limits in every area, maybe its about time I tried. About time...

Then you go all snippety...

Today, I haven't kept my focus on things that matter. Instead I do things like this!

Night breezes seem to whisper...

Only night breeze now is that from my Panasonic electrical fan, not very romantic.

Recently my sister reminded me that I shouldn't be making active efforts to shun anyone. Perhaps she's right, and I have been plain foolish. I am afterall, a young and impressionable mind, and a heart yet to be broken...

Why does my life have to revolve around school?

OR Why does my life revolve around school?

Well, perhaps it is because I spend 3/4 of my waking moments (hmm... not necessarily awake actually...) in RI. You see, a very valid parallel is the earth and the sun. The sun is so much bigger than the earth, so the earth has to revolve around the sun. The same goes for the moon and the earth, and Gerrard and LFC. I am waiting for the A LEVELS to swarm me and tide me over, and woosh i will be flung back let's hope i cling on tight to this tree...

Sekolah

First week of school was okay and relaxed enough (for me)... which perhaps means a hellish-er term ahead. Week ahead seems manageable enough (as it always is come the end of the week), Friday is a holiday and then following that are the CNY holidays. Bliss come Friday, but now to get through these four days of sekolah.

NS

Squandered the past couple of hours registering for NS online. It is rather frustrating because I want to edit something I've filled, but I just can't find that part of the register.


!!!!!!!!!!!

Affirmed.

Left open house slightly earlier to meet up with Tim Lim today before he leaves on Friday for Manchester. Had a good edifying chat. He wanted to meet up with me to pass me a couple of books he found extremely useful in his life, I've read a little of one of them and the first few pages are promising. Talking about things that mattered helped me to drill down certain floaty thoughts and queries, and now I know better what to do with regards to leading in Christ, girls and dating, untruths, and quiet time. Am encouraged, heartened, joyful and raring to go again! Take care and stay firmly along the narrow path, Tim!

And then I go and spoil it all, by saying something stupid... not

So far, I've been wise... for most of the time. I think, I hope and I pray. What's first? Priorities, priorities, priorities. Perhaps I've got too much time on my hands... for now. The night is young... or is it?

Lol wah so subtle and mysterious this post, heh. I think I'll cringe when I read it, I mean what I've typed, but you don't see what I mean. Haha.

Into the 2009

(photo courtesy of Celine....'s iPhone! click to enlarge!)

this time it was better, there were still many unfamiliar faces, but the comfort from the ones i knew from yesteryear outweighed it all. it was a good start to '09, lots of laughter, relief in knowing that my pals remembered me, delight in mrs toh not loosening her warm cuddle she's had over 1a, a rather cranky geoff in place for mac, keeping my eyelids apart for most of the day. yes, it was indeed a goot start to the academic year. now to turn on mugger mode.

SPA Skill 3

TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2007

SPA Skill 3

funny things happened today. stupid things happened today.


Aim: To investigate how the angle of swing affects the oscillation of a pendulum.


blah blah blah blah blah.


INDEPENDENT VARIABLES:
angle of swing

DEPENDENT VARIABLES:
period of oscillation

CONSTANT VARIABLES:
the pendulum bob



*peers over at edwin's work


CONSTANT VARIABLES:
weight of the pendulum bob
size of pendulum bob











derek: eh just put use the same pendulum bob la. keep the bob used constant?
edwin: eh diameter of bob??
derek: er gender of bob??
edwin: *puzzled
derek: gender of bob??
edwin: Oh. haha.
derek: sexual orientation of bob?? family background of bob?? BMI of bob??
edwin: IQ of bob??



so lame. played real life battleship in the theatrette too.



derek: D5! hit or miss?
edwin: D5?? *pauses. works mind.* oh huaqun??? ok hit hit!

:-S










been high recently. at mediacorp carpark.

derek (in very excited tone): eh eh eh!!! you know who's BMW is that or not?!?!
edwin/niankiat (in equally excited tone): who who??! don't know!
derek: i also don't know!

derek: eh edwin. have you seen my abs??
edwin: NO.
derek: neither have i

edwin: eh have u seen my abs??
derek: NO.
edwin: haha i have.
derek: no you haven't! *goes berserk.

05

Secondary 2, few years back now. Spot me?

Dug up.

My room in 2007.

When I call Edwin retarded... I'm not exactly kidding. haha

Too Phast.

Therein the centre of the picture stands the woman responsible for me being in RJ, the ultimate juicer who managed to squeezed A's out of me for Math (and that's not quite easy mind you!). Will remember her shrieking, her pleas... more importantly her treats (MacDonald's breakfast for the whole class on a Saturday morning remedial?!?!), and most importantly her character of gold. Should drop by to visit, talk, and perhaps even share.

The Sec 4 year still lingers in my head, albeit instances of it. Mostly the crazy instances, my oh mine, what a major examination can do with your head. The crazy chair-smashing (of which I played no part of course heh), the wu2 ma3 fen1 si1, absurd Geography lessons with Mrs Pang, my semi-retarded seating partner, English lessons at 7am!, chin-up sessions from which I shunned from (and for which I now pay the price heh), experimenting with some fringe-cutting, last minute science tuition with a then-bound-for Cambridge tutor, a semi-crazy form teacher, lunch breaks at Bishan North, MAGGOTS IN CLASS (perhaps linked to previous instance), steven quay who surprisingly didn't burst a vein, lit classes in which I only had 2 other classmates, sliding out glass window panels to get into the locked classroom (breaking a few in the process and cuts too), a garbage dump behind the lockers at the back of the classroom (which bred the maggots?), smashed-in lockers, doorless lockers, a broken teacher's table from which suah almost fell into when leaning against it, softball in class...

2009 will probably not be so crazy, but I somehow think that stress needs to be vented. Heh. We will see!

Ashamed,

I hear my mocking voice, call out among the scoffers.


Had a nice long edifying chat with Joel Boon two days back for a couple of hours at a place familiar to me, Bishan. Specifically, the fitness park opposite Cat High ("Bishan Active", it's called). We talked and shared about many things, it was just wonderful opening to a brother in Christ, and I'm really thankful for Joel whom I only met in 2008 (I almost put down this year) at YP Depot Walk. He was one of the people who helped me grow last year, well along with everyone elese I guess, everyone around you plays a part in helping you mature haha. Well but I think he's really set a fine example for me with his burning fervour to establish fellowship amongst the BS group he's heading, and I want to be like him. I've perhaps put it subtly across in posts before, but caring is indeed a time-consuming, and at times tiring thing to do. But it is never a chore. 2009 will pass fast enough, I will definitely be preoccupied with well, hitting the books, so time will be short. There are so many people I want to talk to, to ask about, to share with, to laugh with. Will try. There will be pockets!

will be there

How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure...

Nit

My room is incredibly, fantastically, marvellously, unbelievably neat now. Spent most of the time at home the past week fussing over my room... am spastically perfectionistic in things that don't really matter. It irks me a little, but hey, I really love my room right now. Don't quite have inspiration to blog these days, a sign of things to come through 2009 perhaps. Off I go now to catch an episode of the Simpsons!

As the new school term looms...

What's first?

What springs to my mind when I open my eyes to a new morning; what influences each decision I make; what gives to each thought, each word, each action?

In 2007, it was the O Levels. Come 2009, it wouldn't be the A Levels... I hope, and pray.