We share the same birthday

"What's contraction and relaxation?"
"Er, when you bend your elbow, your biceps contract and triceps -"
I see that he gave me a dumb look.

"You know what I'm talking about?"
"Maybe?"
"Why not go read up first then come."
He stomped out of the study and went into his room.

"You see? Even he can't help."

As I have mentioned in my other blog's post: http://dartebiota.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html, my brother has been getting into quite a bit of trouble lately. You see, when I was still in P6, I got 'sabotaged into becoming the head prefect, and that really ruined any fun in P6.

And now its back. The adults in my brother's life (i.e. his teachers) tend to benchmark him against me. That's also why my mother always blames him for things he really didn't do wrong. They are not aware that what I did in P6 was really just a puppet show: I didn't mix much with my classmates, I didn't have time for a lot of things, and I hated how I was bench-marked against the previous year's head prefects.

When I went back to my primary school during CNY'10 this year, I still could not find my name carved on the model pupil board in the school hall. Yeah, I did well in PSLE, I was the head prefect and model pupil of the year, I gave all sorts of speeches; I was famous. It's all a put-up show, and I had to put up with it.

My father has begun to take on more responsibilities in the household, and that's a good thing.
After the SHHK Sports Meet on 30th April, I think they had to clean up the mess they made at the stadium.

My brother seemed to be getting into every single troublesome issue that arises in his class.

"Why did she want to punish you?"
"Because of David. (his classmate) He thought I didn't clean up."
"Have your teachers been picking on you?"
"Ya."

"Why?"
"Haiyah.. tell you, you also call the teacher. Don't tell you, you also call the teacher. Might as well not tell you right."
"But you must tell me why what."

"It's because of this guy lah."
He pointed at me.
"What all the... head prefect thing."

"Tell me more about it."
"Never mind lah."
"You must tell me. I need to know, then I can decide on whether or not to talk to your teacher."
"Never mind!"
"But you must say."
"Never mind."
"Just tell me."
"Mind your own business lah! I need to study."

With that, my father left his room. Not long after, I see him lying on the bed and reading a comic book.

Most probably, his teachers think that 'if your brother can, then why can't you?' And I hate the way they think. He deserves a better childhood, yet he does not want to tell us anything. His teachers ought not to, ever so blindly, stereotype him with me.


I was born on the 7th July, 1996.
My brother was born on the 7th July, 1998.
We aren't the same. But my brother should be voicing out his troubles to the family.

After all, for more than a decade already, we share the same birthday.

Singapore Tourism Board Tagline

Did you know that besides the usual 'Uniquely Singapore' tagline that we're so familiar with, there are other taglines that our Tourism Board would consider changing to?

Uniquely Singapore.
Live it up in Singapore!
Surprising Singapore

These are stored in the database of slogans.

On the other hand, Singapore Tourism Board is organising Your Singapore2010. Here it is:

http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/experience.html Do visit the website. It's really cool (:

According to CNA, this is organised to promote Singapore as an exciting destination for travel. The star of the Visa Travel Happy campaign Matt Harding was there to give a helping hand at the event which was held at Times Square.

What is Your Singapore?

Singapore is a city of the future for me. Just take a look at places like ION Orchard, our top-standard Changi Airport, Singapore Flyer, iluma, Integrated and World Resorts and all the upcoming excitement in Marina Bay, the YOG; within just these few years we've got so many things to look forward to - things that other countries do not always get.

Sometimes when you go overseas and you get back, the flight back can make you miss your holiday destination. We can enjoy the flight, but when you're back home you'll realise that you look up into the skies with satisfaction, and look into the Singaporean horizon with awe.

Hawaii

It was great.

There was a series of performances from bands, choirs, and orchestras from all over the Pacific Basin, which involved Japan, Singapore, USA Mainland, Hawaii, Australia, and Tonga. There was a formal dinner and a great dancing session. There were visits to the Pearl Harbour and factory outlets where prices are real low. For instance, Converse shoes cost USD$20, Levi jeans cost USD$25, Godiva Chocolate cost as low as USD$4 per pack.

There were USA friends from an exchange we had there and a workshop. And there was the free time, in which we spent our time doing shopping, sleeping, going to Hawaiian Beaches, and eating out with band mates. And there was the gold award after all these fun.

The weather was very cooling, but not dry, and when it rained the raindrops were so fine that you couldn't feel a thing. You had to see the raindrops to know that it rained. The hotel was very comfortable, and our daily breakfast buffets at Perry Smorgy's Restaurant was rewarding. The main thing to all this fun is that we had to be together - times spent alone are...lonely. When someone wanted to go to the beach, friends accompanied. When we shopped, ate, played - it was all done together.

The 4 flights I had:

- Singapore to Narita

- Narita to Honolulu

- Honolulu to Narita

- Narita back to Singapore

These 4 flights were all United Airlines flights. Their service was professional, friendly and remarkable.

Put aside the jet lag, and put aside the instant noodles some of us had to declare at the Honolulu airport: the 25th Pacific Basin Music Festival, together with the raw cost of S$3740, was worth every cent. Mahalo (Thank you) Hawaii! For the great travel experience I got.

"Best Picture Award"Competition: HCI AEP Winning Entry

Cornerstone!

Cornerstone Community Church. That's a great place.

An acquaintance of mine, Celine, invited me to this church for a service called 'Love is'.

The congregation is about 600 people high, with humorous talks by pastors and engaging performances, as well as free candy floss and popcorn. The pastor emphasised that if you say 'Yes' to God, if you allow God into your life, you will be set free from your sins. You will lead a free and fruitful life, fearless and safe. It is the trust in the spirit of the Lord that we get rid of our phobias.

I'm certain that you, right now, as a reader, has some fear in your life. You could have fear of failure, fear of acads, fear of stress, fear of a broken family - everyone has fear. I'm also certain that everyone has sinned before. Why is it so that biblical quotes are so commonly used?

The bible is the best piece of literature anyone could ever get.

And so I attended the full service, mainly consisting of youths. The large screen projected a 3-minutes countdown to worship. The worship team came out, and I really had a great time. There were church members acting out what 'love' is. It was really humorous.

A pastor then came out and spoke to the congregation on what love is. Things like, two powerful words to sustain a marriage: "Yes, dear". There are over 1000 types of phobias people have. Just Google these few and see how out-of-the-planet they are, that our society is so messed up:

- Levophobia

- Namatophobia

- Arachibutyrophobia (really ridiculous)

- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (most ridiculous type of phobia mentioned by him, so long that I can't even type it out)

The pastor then called those people who want to accept God into their lives to come down to the front of the stage. Although I'm already a Christian, I know that I don't have a church, so I just went.

In the end, after a few prayers, for most people who went up to the front of the stage were non-believers, I left the area and noticed that along the way, there were a few people crying. They cried after the prayer.

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