18/01/10 ~ 24/01/10 : Football and Me

Time has passed fairly quickly and before I knew it, it is the start of Term 1 Week 4 already. In this post, I shall share with you happenings of the previous week. Before that, I am sad to announce that Liverpool draw 1-1 with Stoke City, further dampening their hopes of reaching the fourth place. Both sides played scrappily but Liverpool managed to take the lead through Kygriakos. However, Stoke levelled in the 90th minute and cause Liverpool to let another valuable 2 points slipped. Visit this link for further information.

During PE lesson on Wednesday, we were required to run 2.4km or 6 rounds on the school tracks as practice for the NAPFA test. It was very tiring but I managed to run continuously without stopping and finished the run under 12 minutes. It was my first time to be able to maintain running throughout. According to the PE teacher, I am able to get an A/Gold for that timing. I came in 3^rd in my class, but that was because several of my classmates who were in track and field were not taking this seriously, else they would be sure to finish before me. This Wednesday, we were going to run 3km, and the next, 4km to train us for our jogathon race. I am not too sure about looking forward to PE lessons which I have always anticipated. Besides that, I have acquired a pain in my calves and was unable to play football for a few days. The pain subsided soon and I resume playing football after that.

On Thursday, there was a fire drill during study time. On other days, I would be glad of it as the study time would be cut down . However, my workload was high on that day with many deadlines to be meet on Friday and 30 precious minutes of my time was wasted. As a result, it was half past one when I finally went to sleep and woke up quite late in the morning. I had a hurried breakfast and fortunately managed to reach school on time (I raced all the way to the terraces). I decided not to leave things undone until the last minute but get them done as soon as possible to avoid this kind of scenario from happening again.

CCA orientation continues on Friday. I played with some secondary 1s who were interested in joining the CCA (Chinese Chess) to find our their standard. Although those who went for orientation that day was unsatisfactory, this batch of sec 1s were promising. We have 2 former champions in their primary school days and whose standard are even higher that mine. We were also happy to include a PRC scholar who is quite a good match for our Team A. This boosted our strength significantly and raise the competitiveness of the club. I will be facing tougher competition and have to work harder to keep my place in the school team.

On Saturday, I went out with my friend to buy the materials needed for the lantern-making competition. I have decided to make one just like this. We walked a few hundred metres to Coronation Plaza and managed to buy everything except the 2 litres mineral water bottle. After that, we took bus to Bukit Timah Plaza and bought files needed for school at the Popular bookstore there. We went back at around 5pm and I went for football.

The next day, I went out again to buy some type of colour paper required for decorating our cluster, take passport-sized photos of myself (I had completely forgotten about it on Saturday), and to have another attempt at buying the mineral water bottle. My roommate accompanied me this time; his only objective was to buy the colour paper. We went to Coronation again, by bus this time, and located the bottle after a thorough search at the NTUC supermarket there, and took the photos, and have bubble tea while waiting for the photos to process. After collecting my photos, we went to Bukit Timah Plaza (again) and walked around and around the mall searching for the colour paper, but we were unsuccessful. I estimated the distance we walked in the mall is equivalent to the distance from the boarding school to BTP. We took a bus back and was tired out. Although so, I went for football (again) after receiving a sms of invitation from my friend. I felt that we must cherish every second on the football court as there will be lesser opportunities for us to play as the exam neared.

On 20^thJan (Wed), Liverpool got their challenge for a Champions League spot back on track with a 2-0 victory over Tottenham. Although without stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, Liverpool outplayed their rivals and deserved the win. Dirk Kuyt scored both goals in the 6^th and 90^th(pen) respectively. Hence, he was awarded "Man of the Match" deservedly. I shall not elaborate more on the match but here's the link for the live commentary.

The 4th round of FA Cup has taken place over the weekends. You can visit this website for the scores.

That's all for today. Bye and wait for my next post!

Secondary 1 Camp (day 2&3)

continued from day 1

All of us in the same hut woke up at around 5:30 in the morning and went for breakfast at 7. After 45 minutes of breakfast, we had area cleaning. Our group was allotted to clean up (or in other words, pick up the rubbish) the path which led from the huts to the white tentage where we had our meals. We finished our task at half past 8.

We took part in Sarimbun Challenge where we competed with other groups in 4 station games. In the first station, nine of us had to walk on six wooden planks or three on two, while others threw as many balls as they could into the basket of the last person of each two wooden planks. This demanded teamwork spirit of each group member. In the end, we managed to get about 289 balls into the basket within 3 minutes, which seems quite a feat to achieve.

In the next station, we were supposed to build a catapult with unlimited wooden planks and ropes. There were disagreements again on the structure of the catapult. Eventually, after some discussion, we settled with a decision. Although the catapult failed many times, we were not discouraged and insisted on not giving up and finally managed to launch a water bomb only eight paces away. However, we were in high spirits and cheered all the way to the next station. Later, we found out that the record was 29 paces while many other catapults were failures.

The third challenge was quite a disaster. We had to walk through parts of Sarimbun that were remote and where the trees are dense. Unfortunately, we misinterpreted the map and went the longer way. Along the way, we were stung many times by mosquitoes and I had an ant bite. Finally, we reached the place where the fourth challenge was held. We were supposed to boil water. This was elementary! We completed the task and went to the place where we should go after finishing the challenge. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were the first group to complete the challenge! We thought that we had wasted a lot of time in the second and third task, and for sure there were few groups ahead of us. Till now, I am still pondering about it and please tell me if you had any idea of what had happened.

We had lunch and after that, cooking, fun fitness games and campfire preparation. The fun fitness games were fun, just like its name. The first two games required teamwork from all team members. The third one was where we had the chance to get wet, dirty, muddy and smelly. We slided down and splashed into a pool of muddy water. It was quite fun actually, but many missed the opportunity as rain came pouring down and the activity was called off. During the camp preparation, we practised old cheers and learnt new ones. We showered and ate dinner, probably the best meal we ever had during the 3 days camp. I even took a second serving. It was the campfire afterwards, which was supposed to be the climax of the camp, but I do not think so. It was quite monotony actually. After supper, we went to sleep nearly midnight, terribly exhausted.

We woke up at 6 and embraced the final day of the camp and packed our things. Breakfast that day was the worst meal we had during the camp in my opinion, and was endorsed by many. Personally, I felt that better food was served at the start to give us a good impression and the last meal, you should know. Then, we helped to carried the floorboards of the tents set up for those who were not sleeping in huts. We had area cleaning again, and our group cleaned up the campfire site.

At eleven, it was prize presentation with only two prizes to be given -the best group and the best improved group. Group 17 and 2 won the awards respectively. The journey back to start at 1145 hours and last 45 minutes and thus marked the end of the camp. Back in the boarding school, I repacked my luggage into the going-home mode and boarded the bus at 4:30 in the afternoon. I am back in Malaysia now for the school holidays!

The camp left me a good impression and I have gained much, especially experience, through it. I hope that I am able to take part in future camps and shall grab any opportunities, unless it clashes with more important events.

As we have been temporarily cut off from the outside world with mobile phones and other electrical devices disallowed, I just found out that Liverpool triumphed 4-0 against Real Madrid and advanced into the quarter-finals. Great display. They will be facing (or is it taking place now?) Man Utd and the result shall decide the fate of Liverpool's title hopes. The best of luck, Liverpool!

Secondary 1 Camp (day 1)

It has been a long time since I have blogged. This was because I was busy preparing for the Sec 1 camp and afterwards, school holidays. I spent days packing and buying the necessary things. Before the camp, I felt excited as I have never participated in any camps before. However, I also thought that the camp would be boring and unsuccessful as this is what we heard from our seniors.

The night before the camp which was held at Sarimbun, I tried to sleep early as we were told that we would not be getting much sleep during the 3 days 2 nights camp, but to no avail. I was simply too excited and keep thinking about the camp. The next morning, I woke up quite late and after having a hurried breakfast, rushed to the school. After flag raising, we were being grouped into groups of 20 and I was in group 4, with 7 from my class (1A2) and 13 from 1A3. We assembled at the clock tower and boarded the buses after the ice-breaking session. For reasons I did not know, our group was named Lyche² (Lychee) as the majority agreed.

The trainer in charge of our group was known as JK. He refused to reveal his real name and was never seen without his cap. He was humorous and joked with us throughout the camp.

The journey took approximately 1 hour and we arrived at our destination at 11. We went to our respective huts which can house 10 people and where we would be living in the next 2 days. The huts were quite small and dirty, especially the floorboards and we had to clean them. We had lunch at the white tentage after that. The meals were actually quite good, at least better than I had expected. Then we had team building games, which was a little boring as I had played the same game for many times already. We also went rafting which was fun. We were required to build a raft with 3 tyres, 3 planks and as many ropes as you need. There were disagreements on how to build the raft but it was eventually settled. We launched our raft with 3 brave volunteers on board. Our raft was the fastest among 3 groups. After that, we also had fun fitness games.

At 1830 hours, we had dinner and went to shower after that. We were supposed to have open shower but few abide by that. We went into the cubicles instead. After song session and supper, we went to sleep. Everyone was tired out and wished to sleep soundly, but we were constantly woken up by chatters and giggles of those who had or did not sleep.

To be continued -(day 2&3)

What happened today?

Today, the fifth of March, is quite a good day, for me, at least. I found that the questions in the Maths test were quite easy except for the bonus questions which was not so important. I managed to solve 2 out of 3 questions anyway, so it is actually quite okay.

Few hours later, we had Literature Arts. I was dreading it because we would receive our test papers which I did not think I had done well. The teacher started giving out the test papers and you would have feel the tension if you are there. This is our last paper we would receive for this term. Some of them smiled in sastification while dismay was written all over some faces. Many people were also comparing results. Finally, the teacher called my name and I rushed forward to receive my paper, folding it so that I would not see the marks yet.

When I got back to my seat, I slowly unfold my test paper and a digit 2 was revealed (the total mark is 30). I was almost ecstatic. However, I would still get a B3 if the next digit is 0. According to our teacher, there were no one who score A1 and for A2, a miserable 1. I took a deep breath and the second digit was 1! I was even more ecstatic as I thought that I was the lucky one. Later, I learnt that there were at least 3 people who got an A2. Still, it was a commendable result for me.

Besides that, I was finally chosen by the teacher for the Current Affairs dicussion. Everytime the activity was carried out, I was never chosen although I had raised my hand every time, either Chinese or English.

During this afternoon, I went to play street soccer with my friends and some seniors at the futsal court. I managed to score a goal unexpectedly. This was my first goal in over a month. This was not strange actually, as I did not touch a football at all during the past three weeks of tests.

On the other hand, there were some less fortunate incidents which happened today. Together with my friend from another class, we were supposed to consult a teacher regarding a Chinese competition which clashed with the Sec 1 Annual Camp. The office was closed when we got there after school at 2:30 pm. We were unable to find the teacher earlier because our recess time are different.

Furthermore, while we were playing soccer, one of my friend accidentally hurt himself quite severely. We took him to the general office to receive treatment. After that, he would be sent to a clinic. We promised to be more careful when we play next time to avoid this kind of incidents to happen again.

Manchester United win Newcastle 2-1 today. That does not concern me too much but I think this might be the end of Liverpool's title dream. Sad. More (in a new window)

That's all for today. So, do you think I have a good day today? Or just the opposite? You can share your views in the comment box. Wait for my next post!

End of class test! Let's celebrate!

Today is the end of our first class test, except for Maths test 2 which is on next Tuesday. We have Science and LEP (something like Language Elective Programme) for Chinese. For Science, it is quite easy but I do not know how to answer a sub-question of Part C (free response questions).

The level of Chinese LEP is even higher than the Higher Chinese which is compulsory for all students while the LEP is not. The questions were rather unexpected (for me) and I had forgotten some answers to the questions in the test. Oh no...

Well, let's take a look at my test results that were released:

Maths : A1 (Comprehensible)

History : A1

Geography : A2 (Unsatisfactory)

InfoComm Studies : A1 ( that's really unexpected!)

Malay : A1

What do you think of my test results? I think that I should put more effort on Geography as I have only score an A2. Overall, I am quite satisfied in my results, at least up till now.

Oh and by the way, Liverpool draw 1-1 with Man City yesterday. I was too busy revising for today's class tests. Bye and wait patiently for my next post!

Today - 17th of February

We had our Literature Arts test today. It was not as hard as I expected but I think I did not do very well. We were required to write a formal letter in reference to The Taximan's Story, Little Ironies which is a book that consists of several short stories written by Catherine Lim. I was just in time to finish it and therefore, I was unable to check my composition. I am sure there may be several grammatical or spelling errors.

After that, we sat for our InfoComm Studies test. I were startled by the tough questions. As a result, the test was a disaster for me. There were many questions which I did not even know how to do, as we have not learn them yet. This requires us to have a broad knowledge about computer.

A fire drill was carried out during the study session tonight. Most of us just ambled out of the dining hall while chatting as we had known about it beforehand. We were also surprised that we have achieved the goal of the boarding school that everyone had evacuated the building in 7 minutes. It seems that the goal set was too low; we should have accomplish the elementary feat under 5 minutes.

Tomorrow will be our Geography test. According to my friends in the class next door, the test was extremely difficult. Thus, I have to revise hard. This shall be the last test for this week, and we will be having Science, Chinese, Higher Chinese, etc. next week if there are no changes.

That's all for today. See ya!

Untitled - but worth reading

Spain 2 England 0. Well, that's an unexpected result. Please move your mouse and left-click (obviously) the following links :

• http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/football/international-friendlies/2008-2009/spain-england-272270.html ,
• http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AuKKpnDppfYEDf8U2yez2.Umw7YF?slug=ap-internationalrdp&prov=ap&type=lgns , or
• http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news;_ylt=AqGLhI9.5DGJL4uaQMQZSeomw7YF?slug=ap-spain-england&prov=ap&type=lgns .

whichever you prefer, to view the finer details (are there any on this post?) of this match.

Today might be counted as one of my less fortunate days. I did not bring my calculator to school and it was Maths test today! As a result, I am unable to answer some questions that requires a calculator, and it is harder for me to check. Thus, I panicked and messed up everything. Now, even the subject which I have always been confident has become a headache for me.

However, I know that everyone will met setbacks and difficulties in his or her life. So, I should not pondered too much on this. Anyway, this is a good punishment for me as I have only myself to blame. I vow to be more careful in the future. Let's not dwell in the past but set our eyes towards the future!

I shall stop here. See you in a brighter future for all of us!

Today's happenings

Today was meant to be the start of our class test, but it was not to be. Both our English test and InfoComm Studies was postponed (Cheers!). Besides that, today was Singapore Total Defense day, and we went to Singapore Discovery Centre. It was great fun there and we have an enjoyable and meaningful time as we learn heaps of useful stuff and invaluable information.

Tomorrow will be our history test. I do not think that it will be postponed (but I hope so, who won't?) so I will have to study hard.

On another side of the world, Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari was sacked sensationally despite being in charge just a little over half a season. The 59-year-old Brazilian arrived in West London last July, but the club's poor form and rumours of discontent in the dressing room have cause his position undermined.

Chelsea's results, especially at home have been particularly disappointing, winning just 6 of 13 games at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. Saturday's goalless draw at home to Hull City saw them slip to fourth in the table, 7 points behind leaders Manchester United, and therefore the chances of regaining the title seem slim.

Nevertheless, the dismissal of Scolari, who lead Brazil to win the 2002 World Cup and reached the Euro 2004 final with Portugal, comes as a major shock. Chelsea have reached the last 16 of the Champions League where they face a Juventus side managed by former Stamford Bridge boss Claudio Ranieri, and they still able to compete in the FA Cup.

Scolari started brightly with six wins and two draws from his first eight league games, including masterpieces like 5-0 over Sunderland and Middlesbrough, 4-0 over Portsmouth and they led the table most of the time until the mid-November.

However, the 0-1 lose to Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on October 26 to end Chelsea's 86-match unbeaten home league run and their home form started to dip alarmingly with another loss to Arsenal at the end of November and a series of poor draws with middle-or-bottom-placed teams. Scolari's substitutions were also questioned by fans, who taunted him on Saturday with cries of "you don't know what you're doing".

The club, who won back-to-back titles under Jose Mourinho in 2005 and 2006 and were beaten on penalties in last season's Champions League final by Manchester United, slipped further back in the title race when they were beaten 3-0 by Man Utd and 2-0 again by Liverpool recently.

Scolari's assistant Ray Wilkins takes temporary charge of the first-team, but one of the favourites to take over permanently is West Ham manager and former Blues legend Gianfranco Zola, who has been voted the greatest player the club's history. Russia manager Guus Hiddink and Avram Grant who was sacked by Chelsea last May after reaching the Champions League final - are also believed to be on the shortlist.

Meanwhile, Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking has left Alex Ferguson with a sense of shock that the Brazilian's time at Chelsea has been so short. He believes the sudden end of Scolari's tenure is a "sign of the times" - in which one of his colleagues can lose his job so easily.

When asked about the situation, Ferguson said: "I am really surprised. It is a shock so soon - he only took the job seven months ago. He is a man of great experience; he took Brazil to World Cup winners - and was the obvious choice to replace Avram Grant. It is a sign of the times. There is absolutely no patience in the world now."

Chelsea will face rivals Aston Villa in a crucial match; whichever team that lose is very likely to be kicked out of the title challenge, or even the third place. Villa sets to win in order to break the monopoly of the "Big Four".

That's all for today. See you!