cHristine amanda siOk sarah mElissa pEi Qi Sr
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
my gosh. this must be a record or something. blogging two days in a row as compared to previous times where a 6 month hiatus between posts is nothing extraordinary. but here i am again trying to pen down some fragment of thought i have in my head. can't say im not surprised at all.
watched v for vendetta yesterday. have to say i was pretty excited about watching it as with all other futuristic films which portray a dystopic totalitarian society coughaeonfluxcough. this is what two years of utopian literature does to its hapless students i guess. the inability to look at a movie for purely the action but unknowingly having to analyse it beyond its exterior. in a nutshell, the movie's basically about a masked vigilante blowing up buildings and killing countless people for what he believes will lead the oppressive society to become a better place. along the way, he rescues evey hammond and they fight the world together!! yeah something like that i guess.
while watching the movie, i could not help but be reminded of several themes presented to me over the course of my utopian lit days. how fear can be used as a mechanism of control over a country's citizens. imagine a time of war and bloodshed or another instance whereby a diabolic plague is sweeping the earth. how much of your personal freedom would you be willing to give up if the government promises that they would eradicate whatever bothers the nation as long as you submit to their will and control? similarly, through channels such as the media as seen in the show, this constant propaganda of fear can be incalcated into the citizens ensuring that the iron fisted rule of the government can continue without any opposition. "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people." isnt this particularly true? a certain quote from 1984 says "If there was hope, it must lie in the proles, because only there, in those swarming disregarded masses, eighty-five percent of the population of Oceania, could the force to destroy the Party ever be generated." people make up the nation and as such, the power of the people can oppose whatever oppression that they face in their countries. pity that "Until they become conscious they will never rebel". woops. shall stop reciting lines from 1984.
anyway, a particularly scary thought struck me while watching the show. lets take a look at the casting of v for vendetta.
Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from The Matrix, Elrond from the LOTR Trilogy) - V
Natalie Portman (Padme Amidala from Star Wars Episode I, II, III) - Evey Hammond
at the end of the show, evey falls for v and if we put that into real life perspective,
natalie portman
+
hugo weaving
=
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
the thought of hugo weaving saying "Natalie Portman! Welcome back, I missed you." in the tone in which he says "Mr. Anderson! Welcome back, we missed you." before breaking into slo-mo kungfu fighting just can't get out of my head. save me.
ps: i, tan jie ming, i/c no.S8728790d solemnly and sincerely pledge that i believe staunchly in the merits of democracy and that any line in this post that depicts anarchist or radical ideals are purely in reference to the movie "v for vendetta" and is not in anyway related to how i feel towards the administration of singapore. i will always uphold the law and do my best in serving my nation.
logged by [J]m at 2:42 PM
Tuesday, March 28, 2006in recent days, an unknown phenomena has overcome me. its inexplicable but somehow whenever i sit in front of my computer, i feel a raging compulsion to archive my daily routines on my blog before i enlist. call it a final countdown of sorts i guess. then again, my unhappening life has led me to clicking the "x" button at the top right corner of my screen almost as soon as i finish typing my first line of words. lack of perseverance i guess, but for now i shall keep in mind the words of mdm helen keller "We can do anything we want if we stick to it long enough." maybe if i sit in front of my computer long enough, i'll just finish this entry.
11 days. thats how long more before ns beckons. suddenly feel like going out on a major shopping spree to splurge all the money i have in my bank before enlisting but somehow the voice of reason is stopping me from doing so. after all, what do i need in ns? green camo uniforms and light grey physical training tee shirts which turn a obnoxious shade of dark grey when thoroughly soaked with perspiration are well provided in the army. bah. life stinks.
been playing a rugby computer game and tossing a miniature sized rugby ball around at home. have this urge to play rugby again these few days. kinda miss the trainings after a long day at school and the camaraderie forged between the team and the dinners we have after training. ahh well. enlisting at the same time as my vice captain sengsiong and jiang. hope i might be in the same platoon as them then.
aight. gonna go bathe and go out soon. probably try to update more next time.
oh. the failure of leaving my house to run still haunts me. 2x10=20. shall keep that in mind.
logged by [J]m at 1:35 PM
Friday, March 24, 2006well its 2 weeks, or 15 days if we want to go into such detail, before my enlistment date. 8th april 2005. 1 year and 10 months of exclusion from domestic events await. sigh. somehow for the past 6 months i've always had the impression that i was posted to basic military training school 1 (bmtc sch 1) and that gave me tremendous amount of relief for many less fortunate friends had lamented endlessly about the differing standards and increased amount of welfare trainees in bmtc sch 1 receive in comparison to that of sch 2.
instead, a recent double check of my enlistment letter gave me the shock of my life when i saw the words
"Good afternoon Mr TAN JIE MING.
Your enlistment date is on 08-Apr-2006. Your reporting unit is TRAINING LIST BASIC MILITARY TRAINING CENTRE SCHOOL 2."
i scantly remember my first words after this discovery to be "holy s***". god bless my soul.
kinda freaked out about the thought of going bald for the first time in my life. if natalie portman can do it, im sure i can too. ='(
recently finalised my application for uni after a long time of deliberating. arts students are really getting the shorter end of the stick considering after looking through all the available courses i could only fill in 3 out of the 8 options nus offers. really do hope i get to enter nus law with such intense competition from people from all other jcs who fare so much better.
over the past week i've been trying hard to regain my fitness before enlistment, my previous oath to myself about running 4km twice everyday has gone unfulfiled and should i have swore death upon myself had i not ran, i would have been dead 2x6 = 12 times so far. gotta stop procrastinating soon for my own good.
oh. i need caps or beanies.
logged by [J]m at 1:21 PM
Tuesday, March 07, 2006hey its been almost a week since the release of the a level results.
History : A (shock of my life. straight f history student for mid years and prelims)
Econs : B
Lit : B
GP : A2
disbelief is an understatement should it be used to describe my thoughts towards my results. honestly to me, its ludicrous that i would ever in my wildest dreams do as such as i was just hoping for a BCC or something close to it. so i really am thanking the heavens and though it hasnt really sunk it yet even though its been a week, i hope the day comes when in 2 years time i set foot into a uni of my choice.
speaking of that, i haven't really decided on what course im gonna do.. help!! =(
logged by [J]m at 10:49 PM
Tuesday, February 14, 2006happy valentine's day 2006. hope everyone's enjoying it with exception to the few who are currently stuck in tekong living through hell at field camp.
today's self-given holiday was a priceless reprieve from work which is getting rather repetitive and drab as day after day is spent serving western food at my dad's cafe. i swear i'll die soon if i hear one more utterance of "i'll have roastchicken/beefspaghetti/seafoodbakedrice" or the endless need to go "may i take your order sir/mdm?" in exuberant tones whenever a customer approaches the stall. can't wait till i finally get to leave the job and start slacking at home all over again. one thing bad about working for your own dad is that i can't just quit when i want to =( sure feels good when i received my first ever pay check though =)
finally got a chance to wake up late today. climbed out of bed at 9am instead of the 7am routine that has stuck for the past month or so. spent most of the morning preparing for the day and went down to ps at around 1pm to meet dee. walked around for awhile and she got a manicure. popped by to visit fanghao (tako boy) to check out his 1st day of work and then going down to pasir ris park to walk around and have dinner.
dinner was homemade chicken spaghetti candlelit with candles bought from plaza sing's spotlight. haha how unorthodox. :X but it was very special nonetheless. the moon was a splendid hue of orange tonight and it was so perfectly round and huge. it seemed to be mere metres away from the sealine as compared to being high up above the sky. chang er and the rabbit ate too much bah kwa during chinese new year? hurhur. -_-"
something really really special happened as we were eating dinner. its kinda hard to describe in words so i shall try to post pictures of it with images taken with my crapalified phone.
we were eating our dinner when suddenly we heard a gentle purring coming from behind us. so we turned back and saw this:
wah goodness! it was so damn cute la (so lets just name it cute). it was a tiny kitten which looked so lost and hungry. so we started feeding cute spaghetti and it gobbled all up in no time. after multiple servings (forkfuls) of spaghetti, the kitten suddenly walked away as our backs were turned and was soon nowhere to be found.
after a few minutes, meowing was heard from a distance and we saw a larger cat carrying something in its mouth and the kitten soon reappeared and ran towards the larger cat. to our amazement, the larger cat was actually the kitten's mum and caught fish for cute.
isnt that so damn touching? she just gave the whole fish to her kitten even though it was obvious that she was also very hungry (she later finished up the remainder when the kitten went away).
half eaten fish:
then another larger cat appeared and it actually kissed the mother cat and then went to sit further away when the kitten started eating the fish. looked as though he was trying to act stoic and regal. like the head of the household.
we soon started pouring our spaghetti on the floor for the cats and they all came towards us and started eating like a family. so touching la!! haha absolutely amazing. maybe cats celebrate valentine's day too..
haha this photo-blogging's kinda fun. though my camera sucks (not to mention my paint skills). shall try to do it more next time..
my vday present:
a tee i wanted for quite sometime hoho! :)
ok off to bathe now. byebye.
logged by [J]m at 9:56 PM
Saturday, January 28, 2006happy chinese new year..
been reading pablo neruda poems again. meaningful pieces of work they are..
logged by [J]m at 10:57 PM
Wednesday, January 04, 2006hey been a really long time since i blogged.. for one, the exams has already been over and gone and its already 2006. happy new year everyone..
i need a damn job!
jobs dont exactly fall from the sky ah..
desolate man. sitting on sofa. slams phone down onto sofa. buries his head in his hands. sighs in anguish.
paint this in grey and brown tones.
heh. depressing potrait.
anyone who has a job vacancy? /begs
logged by [J]m at 4:15 PM
Tuesday, October 04, 2005ok i think i hafta blog b4 getting back my final results in case anything bad suddenly happens and dashes my super high spirits today..
several things has made my day -omg-.
-getting A1 for gp essay for the 1st time in my life and the teacher not having anything to correct in it.
-passing econs and not having to do econs essay correction.
-getting a d for the lit drama question i thought i had screwed up so badly and everyone who did it was supposed to have failed.
ahh great day of results. hopefully the other papers i'll be getting back tomorrow will be as err pleasant :) time to study!!
logged by [J]m at 6:26 PM
Sunday, September 25, 2005eh dammit man!! i need jessica alba posters!! ahhhh!!
into the blue
sin city
logged by [J]m at 8:48 PM
surprise!!!
haha i almost forgot i even owned a blog.
prelims has come and gone.. and i must say.. i did study quite a bit for it -hooray!!- and err spent an like 100 bucks per week at the cafe i study at.
any cafes reading this wanna give me some vip card so i can go study at ur cafe and pay u lots of money for getting myself fat?
prelims was rather ok i guess.. pretty happy abt my lit, econs and gp. papers you don't really have to study much for and is dependent on ur writing ability. but for my history.. heh. definite F. so im hoping i can get sth like C C F gp b3? ill be damn happy.. kinda worried about getting back to reality and having my expectations dashed though. -prays-
school opens again tomorrow for 3 weeks. till 13th october. some final revision and going through of papers.. think its quite a waste of time.. at least we end early on most days.. 2.30pm -well thats not really early- hope the study break will come soon.. i don't exactly study well in school..
anyway.. im 18! haha finally. felt quite good when i was helping aaron to buy margarita from 7-11 yesterday. old and mellow :)
think the next time ill blog is after i get my results back.. wish me luck cos i need it :X
It's October again
Leaves are coming down
One more year's come and gone
And nothing's changed at all
logged by [J]m at 8:27 PM
Wednesday, August 03, 200503-08-2005
final testimonial rugby match
1st official try in last match
pretty nice i guess..
gonna miss this sport.
interhouse netball champs.
interhouse fun touch champs.
nice. if only i could transfer sporting achievements into academic excellence.
time to pray to god, mug like a dog.
logged by [J]m at 10:28 PM
Tuesday, July 19, 2005If you call me today
I'll say that I'm fine
But I bet you can tell by the tone of my voice
It's just a lie
deep and meaningless
on a brighter note, cetus won interhouse netball with an unbeatable record of err.. six games? hooray! huge props to the team.
time to dominate interhouse touch rugby on 30th july.
sigh. give me a sign everything's right.
logged by [J]m at 10:41 PM
Monday, July 18, 2005hey. realised i have yet again neglecting my blog.
school's a bore as usual but wow its definitely scary seeing almost everyone in my class (ok make that school) mugging while i'm spending my weekends sleeping and finishing harry potter and the half blood prince (which is a terribly good book if u like harry potter *duh*). can someone kill me before my mum kills me when i get my prelims and A lvls result please?
one more week to my dreaded wisdom tooth operation. edit. teeth.
everyone's been saying i'm mad for wanting to pluck out all four wisdom teeth at one shot. no wonder you always hear ppl say wisdom tooth operation and not teeth huh. heard many stories about even commandos crying when they pluck their wisdom tooth and stuff like its the worse pain ever next to child birth. i shall stand unfazed. god bless me. sure hope i live to tell the tale.
anyway, anyone wanna sponsor me to a week's meal at porridge king?
cetus netball interhouse's gonna end tomorrow. woot netball. though i suck terribly badly at it. i'm hopeful we're gonna go all the way to win the finals. definitely not due to me though :S can't wait for touch rug interhouse to come.
shall try to update more consistently from now on. but we all know that would be empty promises eh :)
logged by [J]m at 10:49 PM
Thursday, May 26, 2005midyear results!!!
lit : D
econs : AO
history : E
gp : b3
ao maths : e8 or f9 -bah no diff anyway. a failure's a failure. gosh i've taken this sub for 4 yrs and i still cant pass. i suck.-
to anyone who's in a top jc and is probably thinking "WOW what dismal results" considering how close the prelims and a levels are.. i'd say.. sorry if this displeases your wonderful academic performances but i'm happy with my results as it is. thank you.
yeap.. it's not the best of results but i'm definitely not complaining, though there might be a certain sense of injustice as i don't think i truly deserve my passing grades due to the fact that 1) i sleep all day in class. 2) i don't do my work. 3) i totally didnt study for my exams and mentally prepared for the worst. to other classmates who i can say really studied much harder than i did and yet didn't achieve their desired grades, may this midyears be the starting point for all of us to start studying hard for prelims and to identify the mistakes we've made, don't be discouraged as there is still many more months to catch up -conversely, i hope this doesnt sound like there is still many more months- i'm quite motivated to study for my exams now and i hope it lasts through the june holidays..
tomorrow's the dreaded parents-teacher meeting that has always posed a problem in my 12 years of academic life. why why why do they have to implement such things? to torment the weak hearts of us "hopeless" students and to elevate the ones who are certified "exemplary" in the eyes of the teacher? maybe. in a change of tradition where my mum is normally sent to the forefront to take the brunt of the teacher's complaints, she has decided she has had enough of all this -"jieming seriously needs to study harder" or "jieming has lousy attitude towards his studies" or the more aptly put "what is jieming in school for?"- and has asked my dad to go in her place instead. rather relieved considering the fact that the last time my dad had anything to do with meeting teachers i got a new handphone and the fact that he doesn't scold. just hoping to get it over and done with fast. dreading the one on one review of the midyears with my econs teacher more. gonna get annilihated there. she loves picking on me so much so that even the small act of twirling my pen has brought nasty comments from her. ouch.
i'm just so happy that you're staying :)
logged by [J]m at 11:35 PM
Sunday, May 22, 2005srjc's midyears have come and gone..
feedback from the teacher's have not been so good overall, but im still hoping to be "the guy who passes without studying" which is simply based on the hope that maybe.. just maybe.. my bunch of crap might be able to once again deceive the teachers who might actually think i'm talking sense.
other than that, gosh! its almost june and yes guys.. its barely five months to the a lvls.. which means.. time to study!
hmm.. on a sadder note..
my rugby life has drawn to a close.
though i definitely must say it was terribly fun to take up a new sport.. one that's filled with misconceptions by anyone who doesn't understand it i guess. disappointing end. but you have to lose before you can taste the joy of winning i guess. having won too many friendly matches before anything important really surfaces sorta gives you a sense of complacency and the lack of hunger to win. its irksome seeing so many schools you have once thrashed having a higher standing than you now but thats that and maybe one day, ill put on my boots and return to the field again.
however, i also have to say that im really happy for aaron that he has won 2005 a divs bball champs with tjc after a gruelling final with hci. its been 6 years of misery before finally having all the pieces come together and winning the championship that really matters in your final year is probably something to be happy about. something that i might not have a chance to experience though..
anyway.. now that rugby is done with.. i'll probably return to playing bball with an added motivation. i must say having gone through the rough and tough physical contact in rugby, my bball skills during casual games have improved now that i'm more willing to take on larger opponents and go for the ball with all my heart. intensive fitness and jumping training starts tml. might probably join a club or something after the a lvls.. heh heh.. maybe.. ill grow more considering the fact that i barely grew in secondary school, and in a few months, i might be hovering at 180+ cm and thats a definite bonus for me if i wanna play ball.
19052005
the end of an era.
star wars episode iii : revenge of the sith.
a terribly huge star wars fan i was
diminished it may have become
watched the show before release date i still have
though slightly disappointed was i at how quickly anakin joined the dark side
a good show it was nonetheless
watch it everyone must
talking like yoda i am
stop and return to reality i must
ahhh...
now that the football and nba season is almost over..
and the fact that the second season of the o.c has drawn to a close..
anyone has any good shows to recommend me to watch other than desperate housewives?
logged by [J]m at 10:50 PM
Saturday, May 07, 2005well the last time i blogged was before study week.
now its over.
bye bye mid years.
jm's a goner
logged by [J]m at 11:46 PM
Tuesday, May 03, 2005ok today officially marks the start of study week
the week which determines how bad a scolding i get on parents night.
-not like i wont get bad grades anyway-
but this week at least gives me some chance to salvage it
anyone who sees me online in the afternoons.
pls scold me
and get me off the com
thanks.
my neatly stacked pile of books beckon.
and its 6.50am.
shall go take a nap 1st :)
logged by [J]m at 6:46 AM
Sunday, May 01, 2005Maybe I'm amazed at the way you love me all the time
Maybe I'm afraid of the way I love you
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you pulled me out of time
and hung me on a line
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you
Maybe I'm a girl and maybe I'm a lonely girl
who's in the middle of something
that she doesn't really understand
Maybe I'm a girl and maybe you're the only man
who could ever help me
Baby, won't you help me understand
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you're with me all the time
Maybe I'm afraid of the way I leave you
Maybe I'm amazed at the way you help me sing my song
Right me when I'm wrong
Maybe I'm amazed at the way I really need you
maybe im amazed : jem
iunderstandwhyyouhavetodothis,butiwishyoudidn'thaveto..
sighh.
logged by [J]m at 5:43 PM
Monday, April 25, 2005we lost.
two words that sums up everything that matters.
a divs is taking a turn for the worse.
and i cant take this.
no one wins all the time.
but i hate losing.
the physical pain endured,
is nothing compared to the hurt inside.
cuts, bruises, wounds.
they can heal with time.
the last year of inter-school competitions,
irreplacable.
maybe its the lack of squad depth.
maybe its the fact that our best, is simply aint enough at all.
maybe its the lack of heart.
im sorry for not playing to the best of my ability today.
haven't ran as much as i did before
haven't gone into as many tackles
nor did any really good penetrating runs
maybe its due to the injury i sustained in the first half that sapped quite a bit of my energy
but thats not an excuse
the team has to improve more.
pray there will still be a chance for sr to come back...
desolate
inconsolable
could u take it all away?
logged by [J]m at 11:42 PM
Sunday, April 24, 2005gosh i looked like a monkey when i was young.
logged by [J]m at 8:30 PM