those General Ledger Accounts from POA are driving me crazy. I'm pretty sure my mind will clear up after some time of layin' off the subject for a while. I've got homework for it (Ledger Accounts galore, my dear) but since I intend to only touch the computer every alternate day, I'd rather blog today, when I get to use the computer, and do my homework tommorrow, along with anything else that requires settling.

Hopefully, the whole thing doesn't turn into a procastination of some sort.

This shall be a test for myself, I really don't want to attend classes without finishing up previously given homework (just like what I did most of the time in secondary school)-it just isn't fair to everyone else who have done it before coming into class.

COB has got to be the most enjoyable lesson -and today's lesson represents our second presentation. We're supposed to talk for an entire minute in front of the entire class. It sure sounds simple, but it isn't easy. Simple and easy are both just not the same thing.

Mr. Chin (our COB lecturer) tipped the class off on how to make that one minute easy: talk about something close to your heart. It did make sense; anything that's close to your heart, you can talk about it for hours. Mr. Chin "started the ball rolling" by giving a one minute presentation himself. He talked about his visit to theme parks around the world.

The one minute presentation some of my classmates did talked about various stuff, but all of them had one thing in common: they had depth. The topics they talked about for just one minute had depth in them, and not some lame shallow experience they had in the span of two days, or something. Charmaine talked about how she pursued a diploma, gave up on it, worked for her dad's company, and was awarded with a car. (CURSES! SHE DRIVES TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY) Still, I don't really get how she ended up in ITE, but yeh.

Shafiqah (is that how you spel?) talked about age, and linked it to an incident where when she was overseas, an 80-year old man took the most thrilling seats on a theme park ride. Adding on, she also said the woman sitting beside her was 79.

All these aside, the presentation by Jacintha was perhaps the one with the most heart in it. She talked about how she lost her father a few years back, and why life appears to be unfair to her all the time because of even such as these. She shared how the hospital never managed to detect what her dad as suffering from, until the blood vessels in the body exploded. It was then the hospital discovered he had hypertension, but it was too late. Jacintha couldn't concentrate on her 'O' levels after what had happened, and repeated the 'O' level exams twice. She said she felt sad all around, because she felt as if she let her deceased dad down by not being able to study. It's been three years since, and for what's it worth, I'm not going to care about other people's objective take on this might be. Going through such a though phase at such a young age is really lightingstrike. Moving on, becoming a stronger person at heart after all these, is important. Sure, it took 3 years. So what? It's a move on, and that is what counts.

She was smiling throughout the entire presentation, although it was obvious her voice was becoming fragmented as her voice's pitch kept dropping lower, and the presentation which she started out with a bang, just slowed down, and continued to do so, until she ended her story with a "that's all lor", followed by a warm applause by the entire class.

It's amazing to see people like this. What Jacintha did by sharing what she said with the class was to not only let go of her pride, but to also embrace the loss she had sufferred few years back. On the first day of school, Jacintha was really almost the most bubbly girl in the entire class. I worked with her on my previous presentation, and she really comes across as an almost overjoyed person. She's happy, not because life has given her lemons, but because she made lemonade. It's people like her who go around saying "treasure your loved ones, and the people around you". Thing is, not many people understand this saying, until they've been through it. Which is a tad too late.

which leads me to another thing, because as each day passes, what I've been hearing becomes validated over and over again:

The happiest people on earth are not people who are actually happy, but are people who chose to be happy. People, who make life happy for themselves.

It really just depends on the individual. We have a choice.

...

Well, it looks like I certainly have something to say during my one minute of presentation, doesn't it? Why couldn't I see all this a year back in secondary school? What a fool i've been all this time.

I have a choice: and that is, i'm going to bring upon a change. I failed, but i'm not a failiure. I can do this! I've been given a second chance.

still, it's worrying to think if or not I would be able to get a GPA of 3.8 (apparently that's what we need to get into good polys like NP or SP).

K, t00delz.

It's already beginning to feel as if we were halfway through the term, although really, it's just the second week of school...lessons, have started. In full swing, for some modules. That's why it feels this way.

the people I hang out with, just like in secondary school, jump around all over the place. There's no one in particular, but actually, I realize that i'm happy this way. Maybe this is what my social life is destined to be afterall. Nothing has changed, and maybe that's the way I am. Random here and there, it's plain light-spirited-harmless.

Still, it would be nice to have someone special. OKAY MOVING ON

My class advisor was on course for the past week or so, and as such, we didn't get to meet and know him during the orientation. I thought it was kinda sad, that even after the class has gotten used to each other, our class advisor was still a mystery. In the meantime, he was replaced by lovely Ms. Mahani, our lecturer for OFA. Ms Mahani is really a lovely lecturer, and most certainly a person who people from our school can lookup to and inspire, because Ms. Mahani studied in the very same campus we are at right now, and is going to pursure her Degree soon. Need I say more?

Well, this week, the mystery that was our Class Advisor was unraveled. The entire class has been hearing stories about him here and there (ie from our class orientation usherers, other teachers, and Ms Mahani) and even I went around to ask. The general impression of what we had of Mr Sunny Chow, our class advisor, was that, he was going to be strict.

Oh boy, he IS strict.

He came into the class, and spent the entire lesson introducing himself, and trying to get to know us. Thing is, it was our quietest lesson yet. Our class is chatty, but this lesson we had was uncomfortably pindrop silent. He settled some admin matters (hey, he's our class advisor), and rolled out a set of rules. Blah blah blah. He said that anyone can engange him during the lesson to talk about what we're learning, but at this rate, no one is going to do so. No one. It's just a lesson -way too quiet.

As the lesson ended, we left the computer lab, all of us, half dead in the mind.

Every other lecturer who are teaching us right now, have been generally open and basically, less stringent. Mr. Chin, who is our lecturer for COB, is fantastic. There were even 2 instances I passed by Mr. Chin, and he stopped by for a chat. I mean, wow. Get this: we've already done our first presentation. That's how good Mr. Chin is.

Ms Cynthia is our POA lecturer. She isn't bad at all either, but the nature of her lessons are dry. Unbelievably, I dozed off in some of her lessons (OSHIT). Thankfully, I didn't miss much. That aside, Ms Cynthia is a good lecturer also. 2 weeks into POA, and we have covered 6 pages of assignments, and have started on the next topic already. I've actually learnt quite some! Along with that, 4 whole pages of notes which i've copied down, complete with my illegible handwriting. But heck, they're dead useful.

So, what's up with Mr. Sunny Chow? He's our BSE lecturer, and not to be negative, but I didn't really know what he wanted to do on his first lesson. At the end of the lesson, all I had is the definition of "Business" and a puny concept map.

Here's my worry: if he isn't going to teach us everything, then this is one module i'm going to have to actually venture out on my own to see for myself. I've understood what POA, COB, and OFA is, but as of now, I still don't know what heck BSE is. If Mr Sunny Chow isn't going to help, we're going to help ourselves. That, sucks. And it's worrying. If there's one thing I want a teacher help me to do, it's to understand what i'm taking. Once that is settled, the textbook and notes can do the rest.

This course, to me, is literally a 2 year race. Over and over, again and again the point has re-emphasized in my school: set goals for yourself. Now, I do. I'm aiming to keep things simple and clutter-free. Socially and Academically, I don't wish to fail. Not this time. Sorting of my priorities will help me know which is what in my life, and indirectly, I will know what shouldn't distract me. Nothing should, because i've set standards for myself this time round -and these standards, are high. I promised to myself to live up to my own hype, and I will. Sorry if i'm scaring you guys, but I just want to take every single steop possible to make sure I don't fail.

I have been given a second chance. This is how it begins, it picks up slowly, and before you know it, whoosh.

Socially, I don't wish to fail either. The people i've met in my class....are wonderful. They really are. And Jojo, if you're reading this, this one's for you! :D

Another side note: some of the people in my class have already gone for thier CCA's "training sessions". I should go find out more about what the Entreprenuer's Club I signed up for have in store for me, or even if or not i've managed to secure a place in the club in the first place(!?)

OHNO

before I leave,

I love you guys from SC. And you too, if you're reading this. <3

As of now, the first week of school has officially ended. How was it like? To tell the truth, it's a mixed bag of beans.

I was my largest fear that ITE would be bad, so bad, that I wouldn't be able to study. On the first day of school, it felt like it all happened exactly as I feared, and nearly cried on the way home, wondering how I was supposed to progress academically in that school. However, things improved quickly right from the second day. More than anything, I'm glad that I met new people. I'm just glad that, school, isn't going to be all hell. And that is all I need to pull through the next 2 years or so.

While the campus is shit, while the canteen's food isn't much of a big deal, while my fellow classmates scared the sh-- out of me on the first day because they were so much older than me, i've noticed that there's just something different in ITE. You can exactly put into words, but hopefully, people reading this will get the idea at the end of this post. Somehow.

here's my class:

People who have moved on to polytechnic or JC, so far, i've heard that they all, one way or another, are okay with their class. How their class is like though, I've got no idea. I thought it would be a good idea to post this picture -just to show, how my class is like. To all of you people who think it's freaky at first sight, you are right.

That is, -until you discover every single one of these people in my class. In that picture:

-Most of the guys are smokers

-Most of the people overall are older than me, and around 5 people are of the same age as me

-There's a girl who's parents are divorced, and has been abused by her boyfriend

-All of them are O level certificate holders (but didn't do very well I guess)

-A guy who is gay, or at least, he claims to be

-A serious handful of non-virgins. Not kiddin'

-Literally, the shortest person in the class is 21 years of age.

-cliques, are almost non-existent.

-There's this girl who lives in Pasir Ris, works at Changi Airport, and travels all the way to this ITE clementi everyday-just to study. And I was talking about the long journey to school in my previous post.

-Quite a handful of people who are attatched (it's rare to find someone who hasn't been attached before actually, I think i'm virtually the only one)

-No one's a gangster (even if they appeared to seem like one. Actually, i've never seen a real gangter in my life. Yet.)

-No one's stupid. This class may not have scored in our O's, but that doesn't make anyone stupid. I think i'm going to face some seeeerious competition ohshitohshitohshitohshit

-And somehow, the people here click (as of the second day onwards, that is.)

The first day of school was pretty much loney throughout -with some of the guys coming over to say hi. I had a quick lunch, and was the first to sit at the MPH. 2 guys joined me later on. Apparently, they went out of the campus for a "puff". In class, the girls kept to themselves, and the guys did the same. There wasn't much that helped these 2 distinct groups of people in the class to gel together, and as such, it stayed the same till the end of the first day of school.

After the horrible amount of negativity on the first day, I really wanted to make tomorrow a better day. As much as possible, I chose to stay positive about things, despite the hurt I feel all the time. It was helped by an incredible motivational talk first thing in the morning, the motivational speaker said, "we failed, but we're not failures". That, among other things, which really helped to set the right gear for day 2. Boy, what a day it turned out to be.

The second day called our class to come together, because we had to come up with a class cheer. It was rather quick, but more than anything, it was clear people were getting along very well. Yes, both the guys and the girls. Yeh!

It was what happened after we were dismissed which sparked my interest. I love spending time, and especially since going home wasn't going to be much (no homework, nothing), I stayed back with 3 other people. I'm going to keep their identities secret though. 2 guys, including me, and 2 girls.

At the canteen, we simply had a long chat, about all sorts of stuff. It included what we thought about our new class/school, how the teachers are like, and other new people they've met. The two girls thought our class was kinda cute, and blah blah blah. One girl said she was disappointed that she didn't find any cute guy at all in ITE. It was then I realized, the guys here, they all weren't much of a big deal in terms of looks.

The girl who said that came across as a very cheerful person all the time. That is, until her boyfriend called her. She was annoyed, and the smile she wore all the time immediately dissapeared. A frown came up, and her eyes started to tear. After the conversation she had with her boyfriend, she put down the phone, kept quiet for a while, and said "can you guys keep a secret?"

It was then she would unravel a long and shocking portion of her life, which I'm guessing, rarely managed to get out, until this fine day. I could relate to some of her incidents, especially the problems she had with her family. The entire conversation's mood became remarkably composed, and with a fairly softened voice, the other girl said, looking into both of our faces:

"you have my sympathy"

She couldn't get home until 9PM, for reasons I don't want to state here. We chose to stick by her for as long as we could, which lasted until 8PM. She said she's never hanged out with her friends so late into the night.

Our temporary class advisor, is a young malay lady who just got engaged. She said she was from the express stream, didn't do well for her O's, and ended up in ITE clementi. Right now, she's going to pursue a Degree. Now that i've seen her, i'm more than convinced it is possible to pick up from where I left off from secondary school. It's the first time i've felt like this: I really now know what it's like to believe in myself, and to just believe. To do well, and someone someday.

I asked her why she was teaching in ITE clementi. She told the class that she wanted to give back what that very campus has given to her. It may be as hell old, but it sure is gold to people like her, and it means alot. It's a no wonder why ITE has both good and bad rep. It's because of stories like these, and hopefully, i'll be one of these stories too.

I've noticed, more than anything -there's heart here. No one's arrogant, the teachers are like our friends, ready to stop by just for a chat, and the likes. I didn't see any of these in CCKSS, and that's the difference I noted. In CCKSS, no matter how much the teacher helped us, they always left us with the impression that they have thier foot on our heads. That lack of freedom, is'nt here.

As for the bad rep, while the students here looks daunting/scary/unapproachable at times, they're all still human. Be nice to them, and they're nice back. Don't hold grudges of any form, and they would have no reason to do the same. Put on a smile, be nice, and be willing to go the extra mile in anything no matter how long it take, and no matter how hard it is. This, is what it means to be human. Every single person I know who went to a JC don't have time for things like this, or anything else at all. That's just sad.

It's just the first week of school, and i've discovered so much. I feel that more people should take some time of to do just this: Discover the things around you. Not just to know, but to discover. It will take you places far beyond what you would expect to be at.

Pity bout' the JC students though. They're stretched like crazy, with no time for anything else.

On Thursday, it was a sleepover at CS's house. We played quite alot of NFS most wanted on fake LAN. We played with CS's friend from malaysia too, and it was hell lotta fun. I'm not sure if the malaysian dude enjoyed it, but at some times, I and CS were ROFLing over something stupid we might have did during a race. It was really nice. Time just past, and we just spent it as it went.

As it got late, I got hooked unto CS chatting with his bunch of friends, what he refers to as the "pforters". It was kinda of a high-brown discussion going on, and I got to hear about a little few interesting insights too. One thing led to another, CS told me about how Yu Haw stood up to ask if a boy was being bullied when they were at india. It was interesting, more than anything.

CS's MacBook issues were still not sorted out yet, and after some disscussion over what to really do, we decided to just bootcamp the mac he had anyway. While waiting for him to find stuff neede to bootcamp, I watched whose line is it anyway? on youtube on his mac. Man, it was hilarious. That show always manages to make me laugh without fail. Love it, love it, love it.

By now, it was getting pretty late. Not sure how so much time had flew, but it was around 3AM, and CS said he wanted to sleep. He went to sleep at 3.30AM, I slept at 4AM, after watching more Whose Line It It Anyway? on youtube. We would have just stayed up the entire night, but Alger earlier during the day invited us for a movie. We were going to meet them at 10AM, but CS suggested that we wake a little earlier, so that we could eat breakfast out.

Sleeping at 4AM and waking up at 8AM was a miracle, but I did it. No idea how, but I did. I woke up, and greeted myself in the mirror with almost completely bloodshot eyes. Took a shower while giving instructions on how to carry on installing windows XP on the mac (LOL). Went downstairs, had some coffee (too bad it was 3-in-1), and right after XP was done installing, we left the house.

Was still a sleepyhead, even after the coffee and the bath. Unbelievably, I walked with CS to a nearby mall with no "hiccups" on the way. We ate the Subway outlet there, and it was my first time trying out Subway (no, srssly). God, it was good. Really, really good. Till now, as I write this, my appetite for Subway still is screaming for more. That's how good it was. After we finished our meal at Subway, and laughing at the morning crowd which we managed to avoid, we took a bus to CCK MRT, to meet the people who were going to the movie. Actually, we were going bowling first. Then, we would go for the movie.

Well, at CCK MRT, the only person we met was Eric Xiao. So, the three of us took the MRT, and went to CSC at Bukit Batok. Alger and Benedict were already there. According to what Alger said, the turnout would be Eric, Ziloon, Dominic, Benedict, Alger, Me, Chen Sing, Tun Li, and Wei Ling. Ziloon and Dominic eventually turned up, but get this: Tun Li and Wei Ling overslept. Overslept. I'm guessing they slept later than 4AM? LOL

During the time Benedict and Alger bowled, it was just more time spent. Random chats about random things. Eric Xiao was supposed to buy Alger and Benedict's breakfast on the way to CSC, but Eric said the MacDonald's was too crowded and that "aiyah just let them starve to death la!". CS had brought a cookie from subway over, and he gave it to Alger. Benedict saw it, and, well, what happened was kinda predictable.

We watched the Fast and the Furious4 at West Mall. It wasn't bad at all, actually. I liked it, and Vin Diesel's antics did send the people watching burst into laughter at times.

"Pussy."

Get this: the film actually stopped while the movie was playing. Twice. LOL@Eng Wah cinemas.

After the movie, we went to McDonald's. Dominic, Eric, and Ziloon went off. So, at McDonald's, Alger, Benedict, CS, and Me yaked about a whole lot of stuff. It's hard to say what exactly we talked about, but this is just one of those usual conversations, where the topic just jumps. One thing leads to another. Because it was all guys, we happened to talk about an awful lot about girls, and even how Alger dared Benedict to ask for a girl's number who worked at that very same Mcdonald's outlet. Cool, I wish I could do that too. lol.

Benedict left at 5PM for church (it was good friday). The rest of us eventually moved tables at Mcdonald's, and we played a little game of cards. It felt weird, playing cards at mac. But then again, 2 girls at a table to our top-right corner were doing the same too. I suck at any poker card game, but ah well. We played.

Alger left, and I went back to CS's place with CS. As we walked across the overhead bridge, I pointed out how our day started, all morning-ish lazy, walking towards the nearby mall down below the overhead bridge in the opposite direction, and now, walking back, all tired. It was a good day.

Didn't do much after reaching back. Completed setting up bootcamp on his mac, and that is all I can remember. After that, his parents came home, I took my stuff, and went back home.

Saturday afternoon was pretty much spent on the computer, playing games. I played with CS and that malaysian dude again. It was fun, actually. I found myself laughing in front of my screen till my stomach started to cramp. It was enjoyable, while it lasted. After that, I went to play Team Fortress 2. It was kickass, playing the spy, backstabbing the other team, it's fun as hell.

Saturday was the day CS and I were going to meet Siripen. I called Jonathan to come along, and he agreed. However, Siripen's flight got delayed the day prior, and Jonathan couldn't make it. So, we pushed it back to Sunday. Today was the day also I saw and SMS from Ling Jie: it stated he wanted to go to Sim Lim to buy a new computer. I called him up, and he pushed it back to Sunday also, because his friend couldn't make it (i think). After that phone call from Ling Jie, I knew Sunday had quite alot in store for me.

And so, Sunday came. I left my house in the afternoon, and met Ling Jie at a bus stop near his house. Took the bus to Sim Lim Square at Rochor Canal road, and since I was already too familiar with that place, I suggested we skip the first 3-4 floors. We didn't have to search much from there, actually. I remember a good shop at from where LJ could buy good parts from, but problem was, they didn't deal with AMD processors. They only had Intel, and INTEL WAS FUK EXPENSIVE, and Ling Jie was on a $1000 budget.

One floor higher, we spotted a shop, at where we ended up getting a nice deal. As Ling Jie intended, we ended up with a AMD+ATI system. And, a high end one too. He got a QuadCore (AMD's Phenom II is pro), and a pretty high end ATI 4850. Throw in 4Gigs of DDR2 RAM, 500Gigs of SATAII hard disk space, a decent CPU casing, and a motherboard which ensures that his machine will be upgradeable, yup, he got a good deal. SCREW YOU DOOD

The guy at the shop said it was gonna take an hour to build the PC (ours, among so many other people's), so we went to the food court to have a drink or something. I got ice kachang (LOL, it i'll never forget the ice kachang I had with CS at funan). After finishing our deserts at the food court, we went to lookup some games. Time flew, we collected the newly-built PC, and brought it home. The guy at the shop showed us some of the BIOS settings he had adjusted for us, and with that, our new PC was complete.

And LJ's house, we set up windows XP on the new PC. Which took forever. I had to leave while the setup was formatting the disk halfway, which was a pity. I said bye to Ling jie, and took a bus to meet Jonathan, Siripen, and CS for dinner at CCK MRT. Jonathan had invited Jason along. Hahaha.

We decided to go to Jurong point, since Jason was there already. So, we did. Siripen had her hair dyed blonde with a new hairstyle. She looked different. And better. The best part is that, she doesn't have to dye it black anymore. Poly.

We spent some time waiting at Jurong Point for Jason. Outside of Jurong Point, there was a Dance-off competition going on. Yeah, it was noisy.

Jason finally came, and greeted with a over-the-top happy expression, which was really hilarious. Walked around, and made up our minds to eat at Pizza Hut. We got a Large Pizza, and we each got something else for ourselves. I got baked rice. ^__^

Jason talked mostly about poly stuff. He said the camps were retarded here and there, and expressed himself about some of the people in his course. Jonathan cracked jokes all the way. LOL.

It got interesting -I saw CS taking a 3rd piece of Pizza, and asked him if he was taking the 3rd piece. It quickly led to Jason asking us to solve riddle for the last piece of pizza. It was a pretty lame riddle to me, so lame which I didn't get =(. However, the funniest part of the riddle was Jonathan's answer to his first question:

Jason: "what do you bring a Rihanna concert?"

Jonathan: "uh...Umbrella!"

LOL

Jason and Jonathan wanted to leave early, to watch a show premiering on channel5, harper's island. It was getting late, and shops were closing. It's going to be someone special to me's birthday to me, and I didn't want it to pass without anything to mark it, so I bought a gift for her. The saleswoman asked me if I was buying it for my girlfriend. Like that's ever going to happen. I told her I was buying it for a friend, and got it nicely wrapped.

After buying it, we walked to the MRT station, and took it back home. Jason constantly kept saying that it was nice to see Jonathan in such a long time. Really, it was.

They alighted at bukit gombak to take a taxi, so that they could reach home in time for harper's island. CS and Siripen made a quick decision to alight too, and take the cab with them. It was a quick bye, and they rushed out of the MRT.

And that was it. These faces, i'm not going to see -in a very, very long time. It was a nice day, and I would love to do it all over again in a heartbeat, but too bad, backspace just doesn't work in real life.

School is tomorrow. It's been 5 months since I was last in school, 5 months of holidays. It is this chapter of my life that is coming to a close as I type these words, and those of you who have been a part of these 5 months, it has been phenomenal.

Things have happened, both good and bad. I felt emo half the time, but all of these -have mysteriously vanished. I'm going to school, i'm through.

(WCS = Worse Case Scenario)

I guess, this is how reality bites. What i'm about to observe on the 14th, may actually determine what i'm going to face everyday for the next 2 years of my life. If it is anything short of decent, it may take some getting used to, and god bless, I don't turn into an idiot over this time just trying to get used to. On a brighter note, at least the uniform is better than the campus. And I really get to enjoy music on my creative ZEN. Yup, music is loveeeeeeee.

I'm going back to CCKSS, IT club, tomorrow (although i've done it countless of times), just for one last time, to make sure I remember all the familiar faces that I don't wish to forget. Actually, I didn't want to go back tomorrow. Last week, when I went back, I told myself queitly to make it the last. Anyway, just to make tomorrow special, a request from Ameir, go back for one last time. He says he just wants to "talk and catch up on things". So yeah.

Also going to CS's house once more, we're going to chiong some games we intended, and perhaps have a hearty time. I'm meeting Siripen on friday to follow her collect her SGC, the same day she's landing back here in Singapore again. Jonathan has agreed to join us on Saturday for a dinner or some sort. Not sure about how everything is going to be, but it's going to be good.

Just one last stretch of fun, one last stretch -before school starts.

1) "Warner Bros. acquires The Pirate Bay."

you guys should try out the download wizard they have there. It's hilarious.

6) Photobucket

the damn homepage is covered with gnomes!

7) "Internet explorer 8.1 supports firefox plugins"

well, this, I didn't find so funny. So, I put it last. jaja.