Sunday, November 27, 2005


to start off , one of the most inspiring and best teachers in the history of assumption english school passed away on the 24th of nov . i happened to be at ACJC during the band's tune in session . (so happens that i already felt like crap having forgotten how to play many things that day) . anyways , brendon was helping me with the chinese spring overture timpani part when i felt my phone vibrate several times . when Dr lee stopped conducting to teach certain stuff , i took out my hand phone to check my messages . i was half expecting to see a report from shi ying about the planning or one of my friends asking me to go out . but , of all the messages i recieved , they carried the message :

Miss Tan just passed away this morning . Please check the newspapers for details of her wake .Please pass this message around .

i was ... speechless .i didn't know wad to reply.i sat there on the timpani chair momentarily stunned . so i put on a mask , masking my saddness through out the whole tune in and even the barbeque that night laughing along with everyone pretending nothing's wrong . it was only on the bus on the way back that i felt the impact . i really didn't expect it so soon . and i was hoping to pass her my gift some time next week after the ACJC band camp . but ..
it was too late ..
i didn't attend her wake . for that i regretted it . the school has suffered a great lost . miss tan is a VERY dedicated teacher . one that i respect and look up to . i always listened to all her nagging during her lessons . although they were nagging , it was for our own good . as a result i passed all my science papers in sec 2 with flying colours . YES even the physics part that i suck badly at . i took down every note she flashed on the ohp and remembered all her classroon demonstrations vivdly . about the time she used the scent of perfume spreading around the class as a demonstration of diffusion and using me to selectively allow students into the class to demonstrate osmosis and all the stories regarding interesting science facts . in fact . i will burn these demonstrations into my memory forever .
then came sec three when i found out she had cancer . was stunned . what stunned me even more was that when she taught all the sec 2 classes she was already diagnosed with cancer of the first stage . but .. she just carried on teaching us . then came the stories of how the other classes would anger her until she walked out on them during lessons . all that while she was suffering from cervical cancer . that enraged me , always did when i recall these accounts .
but what is done is done ...
then during my sec three year as band major , on teacher's day , miss tan came back to visit her friends . many students went to see her whilst i was being debriefed for a VERY long time . by the time i finished , i ran back to the band room from vincent hall to dump my stuff before seeing miss tan . but i was greeted by teary eyed juniors . i ran to the office only to meet more downcast students telling me that she have already left the school to rest . i was very disappointted that day .
then this year i went to see her on the day i got back my last prelim result . she was in so much pain . we sang hymns with her , prayed for her . i felt helpless but i prayed for her asking the lord to ease her pain.the next day mrs koor told us that miss tan went for almost a whole day without morphine . i rejoiced . god has heard my prayer .
then came the news

sorry miss tan i did not pay my last respects . i am so sorry may you rest in piece in paradise with the lord

well the tune in was .. errr... loads to say la . all i have to say is that looking at ACJC made me feel like crap that i still have loads to learn . that AES needs to very hard for our dream of gold and even anything beyond that . the section was fun . they were a nice bunch . very united . brendon made life there always entertaining with his jokes . Arthur ,Crystal ,both eunice(s) and brendon never cease to amaze me with their skills . i'm looking forward to working under them learning from them to improve on myself and maybe helping my section in AES improve . ( for whoever ho wanna learn, so if certain ppl dun wanna learn anything when i go back should piss off when i'm teaching . you should know who you are ).
the practices were no doubt grueling yet so professional with everyone becoming serious during combines like for example fidi (hope i spelt it correctly) turning super serious . becoming very different from the person i know outside band . the musical theory lessons amazes me for back at AES we never had lessons like these and of course Dr Lee's unique conducting style and er you know the plural and singular words mix up which is different from what Mr Goh and Mr Yiong do in band . all which i need getting used to . i really need to improve my self , my sticking , my sight reading . plenty of catching up to do . but for now let's just hope i dun have to appeal .
and yes i'm still feeling the drain from the demands of the practices . no doubt that ex major from our school(forgot the name) who came back to visit the band when i was in sec one said ACJC band will be an eye opener was right .it is . i also have to catch up on my musical standards .
well anyways after church yesterday , i went off with kelvin and on the way back i was sharing my experience with shi ying . preparing her for grueling sessions if AES is to improve . after which while changing buses , i met jason , a J2 oboeist from ACJC band and we had a nice chat and judging from what he tells me , mike still has chance in it .
mike , if your reading this , dun give up!!! there is still a chance , call me when you're back . i'll fill you in !

alrite i think i sorta lamented or nagged too much

take care everyone

GOD BLESS !

` slamdunk-ed at 11:48 AM Monday, November 21, 2005


hmmm . nothing much today . lazed around the whole day la .. sorry melinda never reply your sms . lolz , i forgot all about it . pai seh .

well sam yap ( my ever friendly neighbour and buddy ) came over and helped me install dota while we watched harry potter .. wahahah

sigh , i realised how much i suck on the basketball court now ever since o levels . i can't even shoot properly . my jump shots are like CRAP , my two point is worse . i can't even score three in a row let alone my eight shot record , my three point shots . hiaz . nothing much to say , just disappointed . i must get my skills back and improve

okie , gtg , sayo

take care everyone

God Bless

` slamdunk-ed at 9:43 PM Sunday, November 20, 2005


hello all . it' s good to be back . after all , o levels is over . haha well anyway the papers were ok . hope to get a single digit . only paper that i was pissed about was SS la i studied the whole damn theme from growth of nations . nothing came out in the end . well fortunately , mdm koh made a huge error in her notes saying that conflicts amongst countries never came out before . So ? i studied . it came out , i did the ques , after the paper after hearing damien complaining did i realise that it's a theme repeated from last year ... SO GLORY BE TO GOD FOR THAT !!

on an overall , i must really thank god for helping me through my olevels . it was great for a few hints to pop out before papers from him
like for example , english , i saw one of the essay questions the night before . it was actually a rephrased essay question from last time . in the end i actually brain stormed for my three arguement points already . so i wrote the essay with ease
another incident is during e math paper god prompted me to look at the question before for a hint in the number pattern answer . well i got the formula in the end
for chem , i suffered a major headache during the paper . fortunately was able to complete the paper on time . thank god for that

well there are still many more incidents

well i went for the 31st pop . made me feel damn nostalgic la . the performance was not fantastic but a good job on an overall by the 31st batch . haha but , the 30th batch is still the best . after that did the usual photo taking then all the NCOs of last year , about 28 of us went to orchard to eat . almost all wearing NCO shirt wating
i mean it was weird . we're supposed to be the most organised people in band .. but .. it was chaoatic while eating , laughing , shouting and jestering was the theme of the night . well , it was great fun ! ha i enjoyed myself throughly . the right energy booster for the second week of exams

time skip till yesterday

it was evan's wedding . well . it was good , of us boys finally have a spiritual mother haha. during the ceremony , evan sang a song for mabel . awwww . haha she cried after that .after the wedding all of us went to play dota at cyber dome
damn , now i understand why the game is so damn fun la . haha all thanks to daniel khong la arh , he taught me how to use my abilities properly and wad weapons to buy and stuff .
i killed 6 ppl :)
HAHA MIKE TAN , FRM ONE NOOB TO ANOTHER , I KILLED YOU MORE TIMES THEN U DID ME !!!!!!
after that , went to joel ong's (br) house before the wedding , slackked off there and like when i was using the net , joel was trying to find some interesting detail about me .. hahaha
see , this is wad happens when you're in a single sex school . lolz , end up me and joel wore the exact same thing to the wedding ....... i became his "twin"

after that david fetched us to church . when we told him we were going to perform eternal flame for evan's wedding , he sorta freaked .
so....
we made up a song for evan on the car while STUCK in a traffic jam .after which at the dinner , we took turns to go to the staircase to rehearse
only to be told we do not have a slot to perform for him
well , we performed after dinner when everyone left .
lolz , in between the course , we crapped alot at he table , at the same time hand copying the lyrics of the song . haha me mike and joel were like copying the lyrics
yes , i misbehaved cause i ordered red wine to drink .. hahah when all of us started drinking , while sober , we were still talking logically . till it came to the refill . eugene's face was FLUSHED, daniel was going to the toilet like once every dunno when . he left the table the most , blaming it on his weak bladder . when i did something stupid , they would all say , "sam , you have had too much to drink." -.-''' hahah
anyway in between we were poking fun at our food , of which daniel used the lobster head as a nose cap and posing for a photograph with it .
after that we performed for evan ... awwww .. he cried ... sniffles . anyway after that we went on home . david fetched joel to furama and then fetched me home . well , he was driving . a word of advice , try not to drive in two different countries . all the way back , david went driving in circles countless times .. simply hilarious .
i went home tipsy headed slept and woke up still feeling slightly dizzy lolz...
oh well , sorry for boring ALL of you (if you were ) if you enjoyed yourself , thank you .. hahah

take care all

PLAY HARD

god bless

` slamdunk-ed at 12:02 PM