Much Anticipated Turbulence

I've no idea why my posts now are more-or-less band-related. I'm guessing it's because Hawaii's getting nearer. Hawaii - this musical festival brings along so much excitement, yet so much more stress.

Now, I'm not going to complain like what I used to.
I'll have to admit that the band majors have no choice but to increase practices to Saturdays as well; that was done quite long ago. To add on, I have AEP lessons on Tuesdays, whilst Mr Chong gets back to school every Tuesday, so I'll be missing his tutoring.

Speaking of my section tutor, I really hope he has calmed down.
I know that some day I'm still going to have to meet him again, so there's no way in my hating him forever. And note that I don't call him 'Adrian Chong' now, I'm trying 'Mr Chong'. I'm doing all these so as to make up for the trouble and loss I've caused in Sec1.

I hope that by the time the Sec1s this year get their instruments, somehow, someday, when someone thinks just like how I did in Sec1, I would be there to help, just like how the band majors and section leader did to me.

Anyways, Hawaii.
I'll be away for 4 lessons + 1 founders' day. This means a lot of catching up. This is why I'll be doing the catching up now. I want HCIBand to be proud of the achievement we'll be getting in Hawaii.

To Hawaii.
And to the band.

Yihan

Multiple Intelligence Results

Long time no post. xD
Last year, Mr Spelmer did get us to do a similar multiple intelligence test.
My top 3 results were (descending order):

1. Intrapersonal
2. Interpersonal
3. Logical


After one fine year of tuning in Hwa Chong, it does seem that these results have been replaced by:

1. Interpersonal
2. Intrapersonal
3. Musical

The 'logical' segment is now slightly lower than the 'musical' segment. You could say that I've become less logical after one year (: When I was taking the quiz, I knew for sure that my musical intelligence had grown. How so? One word.

Band.

Yes. That EP3 that I hated so much. That I wished was somehow disbanded. That I wanted to quit right up till the start of this year. I'm thankful for the band majors'09 (Jiasheng) and majors'10 efforts to talk me through and got me to stay in band. I now know how great it feels to play a musical instrument that is recognised by the public. Not just piano. Not just the recorder. But the saxophone.

Through band, I've come to realise that music is art. Everything is art. Music is everything. This is why I've become more musical in this test.

Note that there is also a swap in the positions of interpersonal and intrapersonal.
Intrapersonal means 'myself smart', to know yourself well.
Interpersonal means 'people smart', to know others well.

I guess the swap just suggests that I've beome less self-centered, and through my helping friends who have family troubles, I've definitely got to know more on how to say something when in an uneasy situation, and how to say it better.

The remaining five results are (in descending order):
4. Visual/Spatial (results equal to musical)
5. Logical
6. Linguistic (results equal to logical)
7. Naturalistic
8. Kinaesthetic

Alma Mater Update

I heard that Tao Nan School changed principals earlier this year.
I went back to catch up. All I knew was that his name was 'Dr Chin'.

Woo xD... A doctorate.

"Who's that guy in the army attire?"
The Taoananite Graduate Class of 2008 wondered who that was. Some military personnel perhaps.

He walked past us.
I managed to take a glance at his nametag sewn on the uniform.
"Chin K.W."

That guy was the principal. What's the ocassion? It was their commemoration of Total Defence Day. Ah. No wonder. Tao Nan's CNY Celebration's on the 17th. >< Wonder what he'll turn up in.

So I asked on Dr Chin, from my teachers. They all agreed that his leading styles are indeed very different. Unique. He would tell stories with moral values behind them to the lower primary students, on a daily basis. He attends flag raising ceremonies promptly and consistently. He would give advice to the graduating classes. After having known all this, it is apparent that he is a devoted principal.

And so this was the guy who turned up in the military attire. I heard that he told everyone present at flag raising ceremony that day, to salute to the national flag. (*communist xD*) I can see how he envisions Taonanites to be.

I know that his actions may seem weird. I'd prefer call it unique. To think of a principal who can go to such extents of instilling moral values, and showing the importance of Total Defence Day and patriotism through his actions (his army uniform), these show his passion as a principal. He has only been in office for 2 months in Tao Nan.


And above all, he's an alumni of Hwa Chong Junior College.

Today at Band

It was around 11.05am.

Our conductor walked into the SALT Main Hall. He was in a trifle lil' bad mood.

I heard that he threw a chair at the JC Band on Friday.

He told us about Catholic High Band, whose conductor, Mr David Gloss, refused to conduct band practices until they were fully ready. And soon they were. Now they are ahead of us. He will not allow them to stay behind Hwa Chong. And he achieved that.

For now.

So Mr Leng asked us if we had all our scores. We had to take them out and show it to him, including the warm-up pieces. Most people could do so, but our oboist, did not have. When questioned, he said 'Shang Yang (oboe senior) has the score'.

Mr Leng has said before that he hated excuses. Who likes them anyway.

"Say that again."
"Huh?"

"I want you. To say that again."

"Er."

"Everyone, hear what Chen Yang has to say."

"Er..."

"SAY IT!"

"Shang Yang has the score."

With that, he threw his conducting baton on the carpet, and walked out of the room.

---

Seriously, it's not entirely Chen Yang's fault, not to mention my Adrian Chong case, for those who heard about it last year. I got much worse than he did xD According to Joseph, it's because Shang Yang was instructed by Joseph to bring back Chen Yang's scores for photocopying, and that happened on Friday. It turned out that on Saturday, Shang Yang had some CIP Activity and could not come for band. Shang Yang had the scores, and despite them knowing that Mr Leng wanted all the have scores, it ended up with Chen Yang not having any.

We have to prove that HCIBand is a class of elites. We did that last year with Gold-With-Honours in SYF. I just can't seem to get my skills right. But, there's a way to get them right.

Sadly, the only way I can, is through Adrian Chong.

Oh gawde. How am I supposed to even talk to him. x.x

And so I'm stuck in this loop. I don't want to but I need to have Adrian Chong. For HCIBand's sake?

Sure.

By all means I could.

By Dartebiota

My hours in HCI

A fruitful 3-and-a-half hour band practice. Half hour lunch. 4 hours of ACE work, 1-and-a-half hour CIT Camp Meeting, 3 hours of concert. And safely half hour worth of travelling time in between.

So here is the breakdown of my very great Saturday in HCI. Now no need to add up the hours: it's 13-half.

Today is a day where I could witness both sunrise, sunset, and nightfall, and still go home to sleep. How much more can I ask?

Today is a day where I found out that my mouthpiece had been the culprit, for 1 year, of my salivary-sound on the saxophone.

Today is a day where I spent half-hour trying to connect to the Wireless@HCI.

Today is a day where I could miss the LRT, MRT and bus on the way to school.

Today is a day where I could listen with full attention to a forty-eight-minute-long concert piece.

And today's a day where I could come home just in time to go on MSN, read Trevor's blog and get someone to immediately ask me why I always come online so late. xD Thanks Matt. Now what's so special about all these nonsense.

According to Trevor's blog post, people do not maximise their 24 hours, but only complain about how tiring and redundant homework is. We all usually take for granted what we have, and the sad raw fact is that we only cherish something when we do not have it.

And yes, this is the truth.

There is, however, at least one moment in our lives where we hoped that people would spend their time more wisely.

This moment arrives when someone who you love passes away. At the wake, we all find ourselves saying that 'this person has led a fulfilled and happy life'. We all hope that this loved one has made fullest use of his/her time before departing this life. And as we say the prayers, we see the body in the coffin, we see the Crematorium; then the columbarium, we see the urn - we then hope for ourselves that we would use time wisely.

For today, I have made good use of my time. We all want fulfilling lives. We all want to be happy. And I find that if we all make full use of all our time, and we achieve something big, we would then have lead fulfilled lives.

If you were to live every day as if it were your last, some day you would most certainly be right. A fruitful 3-and-a-half hour band practice. Half hour lunch. 4 hours of ACE work, 1-and-a-half hour CIT Camp Meeting, 3 hours of concert. And safely half hour worth of travelling time in between. Here is the breakdown of my very great Saturday in HCI.

NEW YEAR

I walked into 2A1 with Cong Yang and Jarrett.

Band was tiring.

The march-in took up a lot of time and energy. Just as exhausted as I was, my heart sank when I saw the three seats left in the corner of the classroom. Great. I sat down, knowing that the back seat was my fate for the rest of Year 2. Then I saw those familiar faces of the Acerians.

Sean. Baboon. Kevin. Wei Jie. Hua Ying. And from the other end, The car lover, The british officer, Leoj, and Yue Jun. So this was life at the back of the classroom, reflected by a mirror at the back wall. From the back, I could see the whole class, know what everyone else is doing but not the other way round. From this, I could tell the colourful life of 2A1, without much interference from the world-famous E10.

============================================================

Hi all. I'm Khoo Yihan, also known as Hanky Hooi and Rihanna Montannah, but preferably Dartebiota, creative editor of The Distillation Melayu. Here are some snippets about me.

1. The title of this post took me 5 minutes to come up with. I can't say I think fast, but I'm someone who tends to observe and analyse things. Besides the bug that I accidentally crushed today at the Science Lab, I normally see and recognise situations and people real quick.

2. I'm born on the 7th July 1996, 20:47. It just happens that:

- that day's Sabbath Day, or Sunday.

- normally my birthday falls around or on Youth Day.

- fortunately this year it falls on our Projects' Day Semi-finals. *screams*

(falls down)

- my Primary 6 brother celebrates on the same day that I do. His birthday is on 7th July 1998. Celebrating birthdays together save a lot of money.

3. I enjoy music, arts (fine, media and design), sleeping, problem solving questions, sleeping, table tennis, dining at cafes, sleeping; and a newfound interest in Chemistry. On the other hand, I hate misunderstandings and pointless, trivial and baseless arguments.

4. Currently, I'm aiming for the Science and Math Talent Programme in Year 3, and academics are the essentials to get me there. I'm still coping with the new assessment systems, but really hope that I'll get through. I'm in the Science Olympiad Programme, which focuses on advanced triple sciences. Full commitment to everything.

5. I'm from Hwa Chong Institution High School Concert and Military Band. I play the Saxophone (Alto), and am currently preparing for the Pacific Basin Music Festival, held in Hawaii in March. I'll experience Hawaii first-hand and miss lessons.

6. I'm also from the Art Elective Programme. Whenever people assume that AEP is just an extra CCA-like activity that isn't important and can be ignored, then they're wrong. Very very wrong. In fact, AEP, besides all the expected art-related experiences and knowledge, also provides a very flexible A1. This is because art work is versatile. I'll also be attending a film festival in Tokyo, together with my AEP-mates in November this year.

7. I'm in Aphelion Council, and this year I'm involved in planning the CIT Camp (Acerians who want to join the council can look forward to this camp), the mid-year review camp, and Aphelion Nite.

8. So you see, there is a whole long load of commitments I've got.

9. But yes, I'm also from 2A1, and a loyal member of IRA (1A1'09).

NEW YEAR. New hopes. That's me.

Lastly, here's one of the comedians whom I've always laughed about.

Russell Peters.

Preparation for LA EOYs

Language Arts Revision Guide Strand 1 Paper 1 - Writing

For this section, it'll be a whole lot of reading for the Free Essay and practising on the format for Situational Writing. There will be intensive revision to re-establish a strong structure for both components, as well as thorough reviewing of completed work over the year and 2008 papers. Afterwhich, I will sit myself for a full simulation of this paper - by timing myself and writing the full course and then executing peer-editing.

Also, I will begin reading the newspapers daily (inclusive of weekends), as I would need the content to write for Free Essays. I will also prepare handwritten notes - with all the tips and pointers to note regarding Paper 1. These notes will be read a couple of days before the examination. Considering the weightage of this paper, most attention will be given to it.

Language Arts Revision Guide Strand 1 Paper 2 - Comprehension

I would be reading short stories and revise previously-completed work. To widen repertoire of vocabulary and to increase my strength of expressing myself in answers, for every foreign word/phrase I encounter during such readings will be looked up in both the dictionary and thesaurus.

As for summary writing, I will practise re-writing both the short stories and the comprehension pieces done previously this year very tightly. There would also be the handwritten notes, and the practice-test.

Language Arts Revision Guide Strand 1 Paper 3 - Literature Strand 1

Definitely a reread of Animal Farm, and thorough reviewing of all the analysis we've done over the year. There will be a lot of analysing for Animal Farm, Poems and Prose pieces. Practising would be essential in the preparation for this final section of the LA Papers.

Of course, there will be handwritten notes and pointers, together with a practice test.

Footnotes

There will be at least 2 hours devoted to the preparation of Language Arts on weekdays, and at least 3 hours on weekends. I'll ensure that I get through the 3 papers with a sweet A1. To the other Acerians: All THE BEST! (:

Yihan