yoga: link your mind, body and soul

momo and i signed up for yoga lessons! (well, it was more like my enthusiasm led to momo's obligations to join with me. haha:)

so last thursday, we went to selegie house in little india. no, it's not some hotel or what. it's not anywhere sleazy. well.. at first, we did end up in some sleazy and dark shopping mall called selegie centre cuz we got confused with selegie house and selegie centre. all i can remember is that there is a marriage agency in the highest level. and then there was this male shop owner who was giving us a weird look. hmmm... haha..

then we found out that selegie house is actually a few blocks of flats, and the yoga centre is at the bottom level. apparently, the yoga centre is made up of units of flats. the interior was well decorated and the dim orange lightings gave the place a nice ambience. if i'm not wrong, there were candles around too. the first thing we had to do was to take our shoes off and place them on shelves at the door. then we were led upstairs and we were relieved to see ms tay and other AJ students.

breathing exercises. inhale, exhale. some of us nearly fell alseep cuz we got so comfortable!
then we chanted. sort of sang a song in sanskrit. this was the part that i didn't like it. it almost seemed like a religion to me. the instrutor said we thank the sun for giving us light and therefore life to us and we had to press our palms together in a prayer like action. i didn't really follow his chants.

then we got started to do sun salutations (a), surya namaska. we had to move our bodies this way and that and i remember there's this pose called 'downward facing dog'. no kidding. of course it has its name in sanskrit, but there's no way we could remember that.

we felt so relaxed after the session and it sort of made us more aware of our postures, whether our back is straight upright or hunched. and that was only the first lesson. i look forward to the next 7 lessons and hope they will help me to stay fit and improve my postures. :) everyone should try yoga, it's more than just sitting there and trying to hold the note 'ohhmm...' as long as you can. haha.. :)

ps: people fart when they do yoga. it's perfectly normal.

Why is my computer screen so dusty?

Here I am, in my spangly new red, black and white room.

Actually, I'm in school, thinking of what to write, and talking to my increasingly vulgar friend from back in CatHOLIC High. But just pretend that I'm in my room.

The new place is really cool at night, the lighting from the pool, the street lamps that line the pavement, the ball fountain thing, the silhoutte of the trees in the distance, all that really poetic stuff. Maybe I'll write a poem about it when I'm free and have absolutely nothing to do, or when I can't get to sleep at night and need an alternative to watching really crappy late night shows.

The house itself is kinda nice, the lighting fixtures, the TV consoles, the kitchen, and the bedrooms are looking very good. The soft, warm lighting of my brother's and parent's rooms give the place a very homely feel. Not exactly homely, erm, more like the rooms in the Changi Aloha Beach Resort.

And my room.

I like my room a whole lot. It's red, black, and matches my new shoes and bag. Even though it's small, everything that I've bought fits really snugly in it. The walls are pretty sparse at the moment because I have to shelving up yet. After everything is finally settled then I'll probably have to go down to Ikea again to get more stuff.

I have two of the same chairs in my room. Which is extremely stupid and I really don't like it because it's stupid. But because my mum bought three really big, high back chairs for all of us, it can't fit into my parent's room and so it's now stuck in the corner of my room reserved for my bean bag chair.

I hope it's not permanent, or I'll be forced to set it on fire.

Aside from that small hiccough, everything else is pretty okay. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.


My wall-mounted Samsung TV.

This is my TV. It supplants me with all sorts of late night bullshit. Local channels get really stupid at night which is probably the only time I'll watch tv in my room, which really sucks because it makes my television kinda redundant.


My closet and window.

You can see a bit of the black wall there. My closet is really pretty, being white and all, but I'm not going to go to near it again until I air it sufficiently. The last time I opened a drawer, this really putrid stench came out and made my eyes tear. The blinds are black too.


My desk.

This here is my desk, along with my laptop on it. As you can see, it's bare. There's almost nothing on it. People should buy me stuff to decorate it with.


My bed. Yay.

My bed, my glorious red and black bed. You can't make out the head board in the picture because camera resolution sucks bad at night and if you're only using your handphone to take it. In the other corner is my makeshift bedside table (it got replaced by the second chair afterwards). It's where my BEAN BAG CHAIR should be. I wish I had a decent camera to take more photos, but I don't, so this is the last one for now.

Oh, and if you didn't know. I like red and black.

5 reasons why we're not the Yishun couple.

1. Zoe does NOT wear a hair band.

2. Zoe takes 806 or 804, not 800.

3. I haven't been to Yishun this week.

4. Zoe is EXTREMELY cautious in Yishun, because we already bumped into her neighbour once.

5. We're not THAT stupid.


There. Proof. Unless your suggesting some form of infidelity or adultery or whatever, in which case I'll be forced you rip out your intestines and feed them to you.

You are beautiful, Zoe. =]

I will follow you into the Dark.

Promos suck.

The whole examination system here sucks.

Why the fuck is so much emphasis placed on studies? What about people? What about the present? Has anyone tried living in the present before? Without care or concern for what has happened or what's to come? Why can't we just enjoy what we have now?

Why does the education system force us to focus on books rather than on people? People are so much more important (and interesting). Everywhere others are saying to be thankful for what you have, to "live" in the present, to enjoy it. Then they tell us that we have to work hard for a brighter future that might be obliterated by guns, bombs and flying spaghetti monsters.

We put so much hope and promise in the future, but about the present? Isn't the present yesterday's future? When do we really get the chance to sit down, relax and enjoy ourselves? If every future is going to be just another present, what when will the future come? How can you expect to enjoy yourself when all you're really doing is working towards the future?

This world doesn't make any sense at all.

Studies. We're studying for that future. Sure, some people are naturally smart. Not all of us can claim to be prodigies. This education system forces students to study hard enough to become pseudo-prodigies. All you memorise is word after word after word. In between those words you get smatterings of friend's birthdays, family gatherings and all other things that only seem to be taking you further away from your future/present/whatever.

Screw you education system.

In this sense, Death Note is really ironic. You have a note book. And it takes the lives of people.

But I'm prepared to retain. Even if they don't relax on the promotion criteria, I don't mind repeating the year. My mum is just going to have to live with the scar of having a retainee for a son.

I will follow you into the dark, Zoe. No matter what you may want to do. I'll stand by you.

Now i've decided.

i just got back my bio paper.
i only attained an E, and i'm the lowest in class. 48/100, you can hardly call that a pass.

with my horrible results, i think i'm better off if i retain. i mean, there's no point if i promote, and flunk my A Levels. so, i've sort of decided to just retain. i'm actually more afraid of promoting. can anyone understand my fears? if i go on, i will continue to do badly in my subjects. isn't it better if i take one more year to get my facts right first? i'm afraid of flunking A Levels, if that happens, there is nothing i can do anymore, nowhere i can turn to. i'd be stuck. and if i forcibly promote myself this year, there's a high chance that my greatest fear will realise.

i'm stuck.

i'm confused.

i don't want to leave my dearest friends... i feel disconnected with them already. i know definitely that they are going to move on, and i'm happy for them. i was in the canteen with them today. knowing that i could never be with them again made me feel sad, beyond sad. i know it'd be inevitable that we'd drift apart if i were to retain. it's inevitable. i'd miss them... for all the times we spent together (and that's like the whole time i'm in school), and all the jokes we shared, all the times we irritated each other, all the times we simply made each other smile. i'd miss them... i can't bear to be separated from you guys, jaclyn and jolene. you two are the reasons why i'm happy in my class. thank you for everything you've given me this past year. i'm sorry i have to say goodbye so soon... i'm really sorry... i love you, dear friends, all the best okay? just smile and you can do it :)

goodbye guys...

Now let me join you :)

i am just told that i failed my chem, add that to math and econs.
so that's 2 h2s and 1 h1 down. pretty bad eh. so it might mean that i'm retaining.
i'm still trying to accept the fact that i failed my chem despite studying rather hard, it came as a blow to me. lucky it was after my group's presentation at the OP workshop. otherwise i wouldn't be able to speak at all.

there are rumours that they will lower the criteria for promotion to 1 h2 pass, so i may be able to promote if i pass my bio. if i fail my bio, i think i might as well not carry on with JC education. it makes no sense, does it?

sometimes i feel like not studying anmore. i can't take the stress of exams and studying anymore. other times, i just want to hold on. but it's beginning to become kind of pointless to continue. am i giving up? i must be a loser then.

momo's pretty okay with retaining and going through the whole process again, he's determined. i wonder if i have that level of determination. but it's difficult. to be very honest, i am traumatised by the exam stress during the promo period, and i'm not sure if i want to go through that again. once more, and i might be broken.

i just have to admit it, i am weak.

but i love you, you know?

Exhausted.

it's such a depressing day today.
i don't know why, i just feel so down. i think it's because i missed you too much over the weekend. then i saw you for such a short while before assembly, it wasn't enough to compensate for my longing.

or maybe it was because i have exhausted my happiness last week. i remember being so happy on friday, and saturday. cuz we had stAJe and we could be in the ER together with the stAJe family, most importantly, i could be with you.

today, seeing the J2s not in school, made me realise that i would perhaps not see them again. i then realised that friday was, in fact, the last day of school for them. lots of misses, i don't know how to describe.

i'm going crazy, i wish you were here to hold me down. don't ask me to make horrible promises? i can't go on to J2 without you. you are the reason why i worked hard in the first place. you can't ask me to continue on my own now, i can't do it, i don't know how to. you know how it hurts.

i love you so much.

It's scary.

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.

Who is your true self:

You are full of energy and confidence. You are unpredictable, with moods changing as quickly as an ocean. You might occasionally be calm and still, but never for long.

Personality test, so true.

This is a description of me :) tell me whether it's true.

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

You are very serious about relationships and aren't interested in wasting time with people you don't really like. If you meet the right person, you will fall deeply and beautifully in love.

Your views on education:

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Locomotion

Everyone can agree that Project Work takes all the fun out of our post-promo period. Even more so than the result slip I'll be getting come Thursday. That's because you only get to do PW once, but repeating your J1 year is apparently fine.

AJ's Open House was yesterday and the turn-out was a lot better than last years. I wish the cafe had opened, it would have made a lot of money off the people who came to visit. I say people because not all of them were Sec 4s. Some of them were J1s or Poly people trying to pass off as Sec 4s. Which is what I would have done if I didn't have to be at the stall.

Talking to people is fun. Talking to random strangers isn't. Talking to random strangers about your CCA is kinda annoying. Talking to random strangers about your CCA over excruiciatingly loud music, well, sucks.

The thing about it is that you keep having to repeat the same lines over and over again. Don't get me wrong, StAJe is great. I love my CCA and I'm pretty sure everyone else loves it too. But talking about it takes away a bit of the romance. It's not like you hear people repeating every slimy detail of their sex lives to random people on the street. That's harrassment. And can land you in jail.

Fine, wrong analogy.

But you get the picture. Don't you?

Anyhows, the turn out was good. The performances were pretty decent too. But the mass dances were a bit of the let-down. It's not exactly the best way to show off school spirit. Lack of it, maybe.

Enough about Open House. I'm shifting soon. In another week or so, I'll be blogging from my new house in the kid-infested condominium, Edelweiss Park. Luckily, I'll be in my room. And it's more or less soundproofed against little kiddos playing in the pool downstairs.

I really wish I'd bought a MacBook.

Now let me tell you a joke.

Zoe and I found this joke in a book. Can't remember where it was, or what the title was either. All I remember was that it was funny.

So here it is.

A punk rocker, complete with a rainbow mohawk and metal piercings all over his body, boards a public bus. He sits down next to an elderly man who keeps staring at him.

"What's wrong, old man? Never done anything wild in your life?" says the punk rocker.

The old man replies, "I had sex with a parrot once, and I was wondering if you were my son."

You got to admit, it is funny.

Jamie said it's hard. So we'll all pass.

Okay, just finished my Lit paper so I'm absolutely no condition to study. I really wonder what my mum is going to say when I tell her that I might end up retaining.

Just like Zoe's post below, I really don't see what's wrong with retaining. You get another year of StAJe, you make new friends, you get more time to brush up on all the topics that you didn't bother paying attention to this year, and you'll be WAY more prepared when it comes to the A Levels. So who cares if you retain?

It'll be just like poly. Minus the fun of skipping lectures, the cheap and much better food, and the hair.

Damn, JC life sucks.

I really don't see what's wrong with retaining, I kinda hope I do actually. I've really done my best with the Maths paper. I've put in hours of practice, memorised all the formulas that they threw at us, but if the paper was too friggin' hard, then it's really not my fault. It kind of stinks when you think of it. You work so hard, and because the teachers went a little nuts, you end up failing.

I managed to do the first bits of my maths paper quite well, in fact, I breezed through them. But by the time I reached the fifth question, woah. Screw you, exam-setter-person. I wish I could condemn you to the lowest level of Hell, where you'll suffer eternal torment and be forced to do meaningless maths questions that have really simple answers. But I'm not that kind of person.

That whole thing in Cat High when I told the piece of paper to burn in Hell was just a phase.

I have much better things to do than to condemn you. Besides, you were just doing your job. Maybe you do it a little too well then.

Luckily, everyone came out saying that it was difficult. Even I Ting looked glum. And she's I Ting. Jamie said it was hard, Nicholas and Nicholas said that it was hard too. Jaclyn and Jolene were convinced about retaining. And Zoe, well, we kinda worked out everyting about retaining, so we're good.

Lit was same-same. I can't reallly differentiate -- Wait, scrap that term -- I can't really tell the difference between this paper and the paper we sat for during out Mid-Years. I expect to pass, even though I didn't really answer the question.

Hey, I'm just looking to pass.

I hope I'll pass my GP. And My Lit. And with moderation, Maths. Then I'll still have one more big, gaping hole to fill up. History? Or Chinese?

History's tough because there's a lot to cover, and Chinese.. Well.. Let's not forget who I am.

I really hope that Zoe and I don't retain. But if that highly-possible scenario does occur, I hope my mum doesn't die from a heart attack.

ah... math was horrible...

you know, acutually i wouldn't mind retaining.

the reasons being are:

1. i can change econ to lit.

2. there's no point if i force myself to promote, and yet flunk A levels.

3. my basics are seriously not strong at all.

4. i can spend another year in staje! and experience another SYF.

however all being said, i hope i will be able to promote with all my friends and momo. don't want to be left alone.

i wonder how hundreds of other teenagers in singapore manage to take the pressure of studying in a jc. by right i should be able to, i'm not weak.

i have done my best.

i love you momo.

Find the Sum of Price Elasticity of Othello's Ancient.

Oh well. Exams stink.

Real bad.

Like maggots on cheese and green tea shampoos.

Plus, I'm blogging. When I should really be studying for my Maths paper. And underlining all of Ash-the-super-lit-genius-elf-woman-person-thing's Lit quotes for Coleridge and Othello. She has tons of them, I just hope that I can use something.

Just something. Anything.

I'm sure I will be able to. She's the Super-Lit-queen-person-of-the-world.

Oh yes. I don't have anything interesting to blog about. Nothing's happened so far that's really worth mentioning without any visual aids. So I shall simply blog about the reason I'm blogging right now.

It's not because Zoe's blogging. Sorry dear.

It's this other girl.

She's in the library with us. Like the only other person in the library's first floor. She's kinda annoying seeing as Zoe and I have much better things to do.

She's wierd. No wait. I'm not supposed to use wierd, it's informal. Strange, eccentric, whatever. She's wierd.

I doubt she's even from AJ in the first place, which is, come to think of it, not such a bad thing after all. Who in AJ carries around a pink, fluffy, semi-cute Baby Minnie Mouse pouch? And who uses really outdated versions of MSN Messenger in the school library? And who plays wie- strange games that involved plenty of keyboard pressing. Not button mashing. Button mashing is reserved for console games.

Keyboard pressing is plain annoying. Especially when you're trying to underline Ultra-Omega-Transformer-Beta person's Lit quotes.

Plus, she uses wierd software that makes funny noises.

Hence, I conclude, that she is NOT from AJ.

Yup. She's the reason I blogged today. So I guess that kinda makes this post dedicated to her.

I hope you find a better place to use computers, Miss Girl. I hope you'll learn how to turn down the volume too.

Oh wait. Thank you r0xOrZZ-pWn4g3-b4tTl3Ma5t3r.

i hate econs.

it is too late to regret now. i took too long to realise that i have absolutely no idea what econs is about. should have taken lit. but it's too late now, and momo said regret is stupid. so er.. i may.. try to understand it after my promos are over. after all, i will need to do well for econs in A levels. but i wrote crap for the exam today.

"What are the economic policies that the Indonesian govenment might take to deal with the forest fires?"

i wrote: ".... the indonesian government can increase the number of firefighters to kep the situation under control. more firefighters would mean that there is increased probability that the fire can be contained.... "

what crap right! haha.. but it's over anyway so i don't care anymore. terrence toh's going to laugh at my script. but i'm really sorry i have no idea what the indonesian government can do.. it's not as if they can control the temperature of earth so that the forests won't burn right...

ah.. whatever.. haha. forget it.

i'm supposed to have math tomorrow and i'm in the library, feelin so bored. i'm too lazy to do anymore math.. been doing and doing math the past weeks and i'm just sick of it. i just hope i can er.. pass my math. momo's studying his lit, he's having two papers tomorrow. jiayou sweetheart!

i'm also reading this really intersting and exciting psychological thriller i found in the library. i know i shouldn't be reading now in the middle of exams... but it's really captivating. it's 'The Third Twin' by Ken Follet. twins, wonderful creations of nature.

momo doesn't know what to blog about...

continue to jiayou k people! we can do it! 3 more days till freedom! smile and be happy =)