Today is chinese new year, but obviously the school has no sense of the importance of these few days of rejoicing and celebration. why would i then have a midterm tomorrow and a midterm on fri the week of CNY? Someone obviously should get sacked for such schedule imbalance!!!! shit lah ... and u would think ... physics midterm this week, so at least give chance and be nice lah ah ... so the lecturer hopefully wouldn't assign any problem set this week. But screw him lah ... midterm liao, still give the same number of questions in the problem set as non-midterm weeks. wat is he thinking. after learning of this disastrous truth moments ago, i thot ok, why dun i do the homework on thurs nite then, since it's due on friday. but shit ... i jusst realized i have a math midterm on fri ... which makes doing the problem set throughout the nite stupidly ridiculous. oh well, i will figure that out ah.
enough of such kao pei. let's talk about chinese new year instead. so on fri, i decided to jio xuda and lau out for a nice dinner ... after all, since there was no soccer training, might as well take the opportunity to leave hyde park and go downtown while the weather's still fall-like. so we made our way to berghoff (i can't be bothered to link them here). knowing that they do not accept reservations, we left home at 530 so that hopefully we could avoid the dinner crowd and get a seat at the place. but obviously americans are more kiasu than sporeans lah ... reach there ar 6pm, and the line was so long it could stretch from acs(i) to singapore poly lah. is it just because this 100-year plus restuarant is closing doors in a months time that everyone is scrambling to get a taste of what is it that has allowed this resturant to survive more than a century. oh well, i hate queues ... more than that, i hate the people in front of me in the queue ... which made many ppl enemies of mine on fri nite. so after reading andy's blog, we decided to try russian teatime instead. i am not those sort who take photos of their food ... i just eat the food before photos can be taken ... so let's move on, shall we? the 3 of us, after dinner, then made our way to Ghiradelli's for ice-cream dessert. long walk but heng the weather was good, so no one complained. on the way there, we stopped over at crate & barrel. the leather seats felt real comfy ... but after looking at the prices and deciding they were beyond our economic range span, we decided to seat a while longer before leaving. after dessert supper, we still felt hungry ... we are after all men, u know. so we had instant noodles mee goreng for proper supper. that felt good!
on to saturday. wat better way to kick off new yr's eve by having beauty world rehearsals at 10am in the morning. no i am not being sarcastic ... i really enjoy the exhuberance of rehearsals ... working with those bunch of ppl is real fun. after lunch of course we had our IM soccer match. after recce last week, we expected this team to be our toughest challenge yet. after all, their players were so big size. even their girls looked like pseudo-men ... one of those girls even resembled a german tank. die ... or so we thought. surprisingly we steamrolled our way through this team 11-1 ... need i say rather effortlessly. I even managed to break my 2-game goal drought with a well-taken goal off a splendid Brian through-ball. Wanyun scored too ... need i elaborate?
For dinner, we decided to have our annual CNY steamboat at Lao Sze Chuan. Reservation was for 7pm, but we only managed to get seated at 9pm. but dinner was great ... and the company was even better. our tables had the usual cocksters instead ... with me lau and yikley on the same table of course the rest of the people will get much entertainment. having the feeling that other tables were trying to be louder than us, yikley and i proceeded to offer much entertainment to those at our table ... but it was a really nice reunion dinner that nite.
sunday we had brunch at andy's place. (thanx andy jess and andrea for the nice party). food was really good ... and beer bong was really entertaining. oh well, i guess it's time for me to return to my physics textbook. i think i had a picture taken at andy's place ... shall put that up when i get the photo from andy. oh well, i am not the take-many-photo guy ... i am more like got-food-here-i-come guy ... so apologies for the lack of photos here. but yea, happy CNY to everyone
Here is our SAMSU IM soccer team in all its glory. After 13-0 and 9-1 victories, who is to say we will not create history by romping our way to the title this year? Stay tuned to find out more, as we crush our hapless opponents and dump them by the wayside.
Jan 22, 2006 ACSians Controlling Sports By Alvin Foo
RI boys may run the country, but ACS boys own it.
Anglo-Chinese School students have been saying this for years.
Now, ACS old boys are helping the country run - as key sports officials.
From the very top, no less: Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.
The day-to-day running of Singapore sports is also in the hands of two former ACSians - Singapore Sports Council chairman Alex Chan and chief executive Oon Jin Teik.
Both represented Singapore in swimming and were South-east Asia Games gold medallists.
There is no lack of ACS representation in the National Sports Associations (NSAs) too; three major sports bodies are run by them.
Football Association of Singapore president Ho Peng Kee is also of ACS pedigree, as is S-League CEO How Seen Yong, FAS head of administration, finance and corporate affairs Samuel Panthradil and national teams committee chief P. Sivakumar.
The biggest group of ACSians are in the Singapore Athletic Association - Tang Weng Fei (president), Loh Lin Kok (senior adviser), Maurice Nicholas (international relations adviser), Chan Chee Wei (vice-president, training and selection), Tang Ngai Kin (committee member), Eric Song (director-general) and Lim Jit Kee (events director).
The ACS flag is kept flying in the Singapore Swimming Association by vice-presidents Oon Jin Gee (swimming, brother of Jin Teik), Desmond Koh (finance) and Tay Chin Joo (special projects). All three, incidentally, were Olympians.
The ACS presence can even be found in a women's sport: Netball Singapore president Tan Wee Khim and executive director Cyrus Medora.
What is it about ACS boys and sport?
'It's driven by individuals who have a passion for sports and are willing to volunteer their time,' said SSC chairman Chan.
'But we don't want to monopolise the sports scene. We want all schools to be passionate about it.' SAA president Tang, a former national 110 metres hurdler, agrees, saying: 'We've always had a holistic education, with strong emphasis on academics, sports and leadership.'
How do sports officials who were educated in other schools feel about the ACS presence?
Quipped SingaporeSailing president Low Teo Ping, a Raffles Institution alumni: 'Do they even receive an education over there?'
On a serious note, Low, whose brother Wee Ping was from ACS, said: 'But let's give credit where credit is due. Other schools should emulate the fine balance they strike between sports and academics.'
Tampines Rovers chairman and former St Joseph's Institution student Teo Hock Seng said: 'When it comes to supporting sports, the more the merrier.
'It doesn't matter which school they come from - whether it's ACS, RI, SJI, Victoria, St Andrews or St Patrick's.'
Most believe ACSians are involved in sports because of the school's strong sports culture and service mission.
Retired ACS principal Lee Hah Ing noted in the 1968-69 school magazine that the S in ACS 'stands for Sports, Sportsmanship and Service'.
He wrote: 'Through our multifarious extra-curricular activities, we hope to produce a new generation of youths, rugged and robust, who are imbued with the spirit of true sportsmanship and service to the community.'
Former students echo those sentiments.
Assoc Prof Ho said that many ACSians were sportsmen and active in clubs, societies or the prefectorial board as students, and that sports forms a key component in the school's overall philosophy to shape character.
'These two attributes coalesce in ACS boys who take up leadership and management positions in NSAs - they express their leadership through the medium of sports,' said Assoc Prof Ho, who represented ACS in soccer and was second to SAA president Tang in the 110m hurdles in 1969.
Added Medora: 'Even students who were not fit or athletic were made to play sports.
'We were taught to do different things, be adventurous, and do things with a big passion.'
Medora certainly practises what he was taught. He went from ACS rugby captain to president of the Boardsailing Association of Singapore to Netball Singapore executive director.
Some suggested that the ACS trend is a natural progression. For example, their presence in the SAA could be due to the many top runners that the school produced from the 1950s to 1970s: M. Jegathesan, Ong Beng Seng, Loh Lin Kok, Tang Weng Fei and Tang Ngai Kin, among others. Some others put it down to the old-boy network.
Former netball chief Ivy Singh-Lim, who was from St Anthony's Convent, said: 'It's probably easier for them, as they have the same background, values and speak the same lingo.'
What about the ACS connection in netball?
Singh-Lim, who holds the view that NSAs are made up of exclusive old-boys' networks, said: 'I'm okay with that, as long as they are motivated by the right values in life.'
The ACS involvement in sports looks set to continue.
The school still produces impressive sports results. ACS (Independent) has claimed the overall boys' title in secondary school sports nine times in the last 10 years.
And principal Ong Teck Chin is hopeful that the school will continue to produce both top athletes and officials.
He said: 'Our current students have these examples as role models they can emulate.'
To many, the acronym ACS stands for All Can Swim - a reference to its historic prowess in the pool.
Maybe it should be changed to ACSians Controlling Sports?
It's been a stressful week: 1) Monday: Beauty World rehearsals from 10am-7pm
2) Tuesday: Class from 1030-12pm, followed by labs from 130-5pm
3) Wednesday: Classes from 1030-130pm, followed by hospital work from 2-530pm, after which we had Beauty World rehearsals from 7-930pm. Then because of my inertia to buy my civ book, ended up having to read 350 pages on Wednesday in order to write my paper due next day. Was done with 50 pages at 230am, before realizing that another 300 pages was crazy for the nite, so resorted to doing online searching for a plot synopsis and content referencing. Slept at 530am and woke up at 930am on Thursday
4) Class from 1030-12pm, followed by work from 12-3pm. Then had soccer training from 5-7am, before enjoying 3 dinners tonite. 1st one at Bartlett (thanks to Lip Jin), 2nd one at KSO Study Break (I wanna thank all the korean gals serving the dishes, but I shall simply thank KSO), 3rd one at Chinatown (thanks to Brian and Jiahui, and congrats too!!!)
Life in Chicago is tough, but I simply love it and would not trade it for anything else. What is going through college without going thru so many hardships and tortures. The pain is there, but there are the frenz, the things we do together and the memories which make college life the best there is. I simply love my life here!!!!!!
Just read this in the New York Times and found it really interesting: the use of dogs to identify cancer patients, specifically lung and breast cancer. In short, cancer patients secrete certain chemicals in their breath not normally found in the scent of normal individuals, and dogs are able to pick up this difference. The paper can be found here. In other news, I am really exhausted right now. Beauty World rehearsals from 10am to 6pm. That was really terrible. But I guess when we do put up a good show eventually, it will all be worth it. I set high standards for myself, so I dun really wanna disappoint. Talking about rehearsals, next one is on Wednesday. Damn!
Today was the photoshoot for our SAMSU musical: Return to Beauty World, part of this year's Citylights. Well, the photoshoot turned out to be really fun ... Xuda, Andrew, Hanxue and Wincy were really professional and cool to work with, and the rest of the cast ... ehrm or more specifically, the girls ... were really nice and exhilerating. So let me see who else was there? Serene, Luoren, Germaine, Hannah, Huiying, Mingzhu, Adela .... yeah, they're all girls. Keith's a guy, but I didn't take any photos with him ... so he's not counted. I must say these are some of the most scandalous pics taken, but I am really looking forward to seeing them ... not cos they're scandalous, but because I am just curious. Honestly, even when I try to look chee ko, I still look young and innocent ... some say young and dangerous, but I prefer the former description lah. The only terrible thing, besides having to dress up in a suit the entire afternoon, was the make up I had to have on. Shit lah ... first time kena make up and it's not a good experience lor. The what you call them ... ehr eyeliners ... were terribly painful. Imagine using a pencil to draw around a guy's eyes .... I seriously don't get why some girls resort to such self-torture whenever they go out. Worse still, after using wet tissue and some apparent make-up remover stuff, the eyeliner still is obvious around my eyes lah. When I go in front of the mirror, I see some guy kena whacked in the eye, and 2 black rings surround the eyes. This looks terrible. Some other people might even interpret it as dark rings. Considering I already am lacking sleep, imagine how I look as I am typing this. I am really traumatized man ... serious ... no joke ... and to think Megan said it would be much more make up on the actual show day. Shit lah! Coupled with wrinkles and white hair to make me look old .... I will literally be an ageing panda flirting around on stage.
Aiya, so I thought I might as well upload some Argentina pics lah ah ...
So, knowing that today was gonna be our first IM soccer game, the few of us decided to go clubbing at Transit yesterday to rev ourselves up ..... But the music that night was Latino music lor ... tango and salsa ... dance what dance. So Yik Ley and I left earlier to go out and source for food at 3am in the morning. We managed to find some hot dog roadside stall ... seriously why is the Chicago Hotdog so special ... it almost compares to my previously-often-eaten cold sausages ... (just for the record, I have now gotten used to the procedure of microwaving the sausage to make it hot ... 15sec more of work). So yeah back to our game, we won 13-0 againt Dewey House. Can you dig that? Well, there's a catch to that score, but I'm not gonna talk about it here ... enjoy the glory while we can.
Taken from the Jan 4 edition of the Straits Times:
ANGLO-CHINESE School (Independent) has gone co-ed.
From this year, girls who have finished Secondary 4 will be admitted at Year 5 of the school's six-year programme leading to an International Baccalaureate (IB).
About half of the new intake of 140, comprising only Year 5-ers, were girls. Principal Ong Teck Chin said this was a pleasant surprise. He was all praise for the girls' 'deterrent effect' on bad behaviour and their ability to 'enrich student life'.
Ian Cheong, 16, one of the boys in the programme, said girls would teach the boys to grow up. 'Usually I just spout my mouth off. I think they'll make me more gentlemanly,' he said.
Dance studios, more female toilets and netball courts are in the midst of being completed.
Even the school motto has been adapted for Year 5 and Year 6 students - from 'A scholar, officer and gentleman' to 'A scholar, leader and global citizen'.
Still, on the first day of school yesterday, many girls were intimidated that they were a minority of 70 in the Year 5 cohort of about 360. Groups of boys and girls sat at separate tables during recess.
But the girls believe everyone will warm up in time. Bethel Chan, 16, said: 'Hopefully, we'll all surprise the boys a bit.'
DAWN LIM
Well, I guess everyone is just dying to get into ACS(I). What to do? After all, we are truly the best there is isn't it? Well, it's good to share the goodies of ACS(I) with girls .... an all-rounded education for a larger sector of the population can only be good for Singapore as a whole ...
