just some grouses

am i really quiet in class?

i can easily list at least 20 of my classmates now who do not speak AT ALL during lessons. im sure i speak up more frequently than many other people as i make it a point to speak or ask a question at least once for every subject everyday. if i am quiet, why do i have a comment in my Elective report that i "actively participated in class discussions and contributed opinions actively", "displayed much enthusiasm in learning and contributed much to the learning of the class" and "ready to ask questions whenever she had any queries". my Imagineering report also states that i was "active during group discussions and consultations".

ironically, the next paragraph in my helsman report states that i took initiative to involve the quieter members of my group. if i am quiet, i would have joined the rest in my group and kept my mouth shut.

so i dont see the reason why i have the awful comment in my report.

i feel that the reports should be standardised and written with a certain criteria. it is too short to include everything the student has done but by selecting what to include and what not to in a report is very unfair.
for example, why is it that marjorie has "most involved in her learning, not only at the class level, but also in being selected to go for the Silicon Valley trip with the JC students" in her report and i dont have it? if the report were fair, all 5 of the IP students should have this in their report too.

i feel that the choice of words in a report is extremely important and it isnt fair that the reports are written by different teachers even when all the teachers hold meetings to discuss the students. i feel that some teachers are beginning to make generalisations about students. like how a certain student is "bright", others "loved by everybody" and for me- "quiet". this is unfair as the outcome of the report would be dependent on who the form teacher of the class is. if the teacher has a positive fixed image on the student, then it would be good for him/her, but what if its negative? using a stronger word, the student would be wronged.


furthermore, different teachers have different styles of writting resulting in reports which are not standardised and unfair to some classes. my report is just 5 independent paragraphs. each paragraph states what quality i possess at the start and proves it with an example of what i did. this is repeated 5 times, making up my report. i have read other student's report and i find that the use of quotes make the report convincing. language teachers would also have a better command of language compared to a maths teacher for example and the report would be extremely different.

lastly, the reports across the classes are of different lengths. V11's report all seem to be a consistent 5 paragraphs. in this case, the choice of what to write in each paragraph is very important. im not sure if the teachers have a list of what the student has done for the year, and other teachers' comments on a list as a reference on what to write. it seems to me that what the teacher writes is based on memory and stereotyping. if it is positive, then very well. but as mentioned, if otherwise, it would be unfair for the student if the event stated is not a key one and maybe just a small event when there are major activities, that the student participated in, to mention.

Perhaps i should start being noisy in class by making unnecessary comments about the teacher or the subject, like how many more slides there are to go or how the teacher has changed a certain acessory for example so that i have something more to say during lessons. otherwise i could be extremely crappy and gossipy so that i do not appear to be quiet. in any case, the above suggestions might not contribute to the learning of the class but then, one would appear to be active and not the hated word- quiet.

player 1 says write in diary NOW

thanks to leon who lent me sims 2.

the purchasing of furniture and arrangement of them in the game would (ok. might) help me in deSpace. so cheers to my effort =DDDDDDDDDDDDD

its creepy how much i can control my character. in the previous version of sims, my characters really had a mind of their own and they never listened to me. my commands were suggestions to them. maybe that was because i was over ambitious and played with 4 characters at the same time. but my sim this time was really co-operative, the only time he didnt respond to me immediately was when i accidentally deleted the door to his room and he had no way out. ha

i always have fun getting my sim to fall in love with another =D i also make sure my sim gets a good job. my sim is a politician and has 8 out of 10 possible charisma points. he has high logic, creativity, cooking and cleaning points. muahahha.

other similar games i play include zoo tycoon and roller coaster tycoon but its been ages since i last played those 2 games.

i remember that my panda gave birth to many little pandas and my zoo was so popular that it swarmed with people such that the pathways jammed and my computer hanged, possibly because it was overworked.

my theme park was so big that people got tired walking and i came up with a free monorail system. pity the people were too stupid to utilise the free transport and treated it like a ride. boooo

when im tired of the game, i program the rides to crazy speeds and the train flies out of the rail. i also catch people who are about to vomit and place them on a specially constructed 'vomit path'. great fun i tell you. =D

one last thing, i created a safari with lots of lions, giraffes, monkeys and an occasional zoo visitor kept together in a huge cage. there was chaos of course and eventually the population was greatly reduced.

i always feel bad when animals or people die in a game especially when killing them isnt the objective of the game. (games where you kill your opponents are different, because thats the only way to win and they would kill you if you dont kill them.) however, i only feel guilty on hindsight. i either am in a killing frenzy when setting the stage for the slaughter or just being curious to see if they would die.

i failed my chemistry. 45.5. surprisingly i didnt feel really sad. i guess i saw it coming right after the exam and since chemistry was on the last exam day, i kind of forgot about grieving. unlike, lit unseen where i cried for a day. in case you are wondering, i failed lit unseen too. completely misread the poem. booo to me

my maths score was low too-60. however, right after the paper, i counted my marks and i remember telling my mum the maximum mark i could score was 57. so i really shouldnt be complaining.

notes for the year

i sorted out my notes and filed them after all the exams. the total weight of all the notes is 5kg. i expected more.

i am normally extremely lazy.
my table is cluttered with newspapers, opened red packets, random pieces of paper, brochures from sv and tokyo trip, receipts, clothes hangers, pen caps...
as you can see, i do not use my table for studying or homework. i prefer the floor as there is more space. i remember covering my table top with a towel just so that it isnt an eyesore and i dont have to tidy up my table =D. problem solved in 3 seconds =DDDDDDD

recently, my mom bought me a low table (like those in the 1st jap hotel in june). i only used it for the first few days. when i am excited, which i normally get when i realise the solution for a maths problem for example. i would push the table aside and solve the problem on the floor, because theres more space and its closer to me. hah

my files are all piled on the cupboard beside my bed. there was a landslide once when i was sleeping and the files slid down, burying me. hilarious.

one good thing however, i seldom lose any notes. ORGANISED CHAOS. =D

i dont like tt anymore, seriously. used to like it for the competition, the joy of facing another school, winning them, getting trophies and of course missing lessons. now im not even a reserve and the coach doesnt even bother about me. i feel that im wasting my time and energy everytime i go for training. the coach even asked me to serve balls for M1 to smack, im not a ball machine ok.

its open house tmr and i dont feel like helping out for tt. i dont fancy playing tt just so that there would be activity at our station and possibly attract more potential team mates. im not a zoo animal.

and im spending 6 days in thailand during the dec holidays with tt members for an exchange programme. im hoping i would grow to like tt more about that. if not, the 6 days would be simply unbearable.

on a happier note, i think the 6 wizards are meeting up. whee, i really want to meet pq, b and jessss.

just finished reading da vinci code for the second time andi realised robert boyle was a grand master. not sure of how true that is, but still pretty amazing isnt it?

woohoo gadgets

http://www.gadgeit.com/

its over!!!

im so happy! 24 hours of exams ranging over 6 days is finally over.
but it has taken a toll on my health

firstly, due to the extensive hours of writing, my neck seems to be fixed to my left. after every paper, i experience excruciating pain trying to twist my neck back to its orginal position. if the duration of the paper increases in the future, my neck might just crack.

secondly, i have been constantly worried and under the pressure of time. it is no joke trying to complete 10 topics of chemistry in 5 hours and still trying to get to sleep at least 4 hours. 2 minutes before the chemistry paper, i got rui qi to tell me everything i need to know for the gas laws and atomic structure. furthermore, i seemed to be short of time for every paper. flipping through the paper frantically searching for the more worthy questions through dozen of blanks is scary. squeezing in the last few sentences when the clock indicates the time is up but the teacher hasnt instructed us to stop is even scarier.

what is worst is that i found it extremely hard to fall alseep at night everyday before a paper. i would lie on my bed at around 1am every night and then stay awake with my eyes closed for more than an hour. the longer i stayed awake, the more worried i would get as i wouldnt be getting enough sleep. not that if i fell alseep immediately i would have a full 8 hours but 2 hours more out of a daily 4 hours is certainly helpful.

however, i have nobody to blame except myself and i really shouldnt be complaining. i remember m1 was nagging at me to study around 1 month before the exam and i only revised 3 subjects out of 8 before the papers. i studied the rest of the 5 subjects the day before if not during the 2 hours break. i should really have started earlier and managed my time properly. i already know i am going to do quite badly for this eoy. =(

but for now, its over! and hopefully i will start earlier next year. =D