It doesn't matter what you think!

As the inaugural Youth Olympic Games end, it's time that we see the successes and failures of this event. Olympic Games always interests me, so I have been following the games and matches for the past 2 weeks. It's special when an event on such a large scale is held in your own home country, so that's partially the reason why I watched it. So here goes....

Torch Relay:

It was quite sad that there wasn't a world relay, but i guess that's because its YOG, it's a smaller scale event, so the torch relay is more small scale too. And since this is the last time there will be worldwide torch relay, the following relays will only take place in the home country. Being a torchbearer, I got a first hand experience of the atmosphere of the relay and it was fantastic. The support from the public was definitely there although there were some streets that were literally empty, but it's nice to see the support.

Opening Ceremony:

It was quite good and it started the games with a bang. Can never get enough of fireworks. Although the parade of nations section was kind of a screwup (the flagbearers didn't know where to go and ended up making a fool of themselves in front of the camera). Other than that, the ceremony was short and sweet. The lighting of the cauldron was cool too

The events and competitions:

Didn't go down to watch any of the events (too lazy) but once again, just like the Asian Youth Games, the YOG suffered from attendance problems. Most of the venues were half-full while some are nearly empty. Only events that featured Singapore athletes had a jam packed site. Events like football and swimming had arenas that were filled to the max. Popular sports like basketball also had a good attendance. But most of the time, I only see the athletes, and empty seats. Lots of empty seats.

Also, infrastructure is not very good. We saw a collapse of the roof in the basketball venue and we have no national stadium, unless you consider the floating platform as a stadium. Other than that, the infrastructure needs to have more planning beforehand.

The Athletes:

Young, yet able to deliver like an adult olympian. Great sportsmanship and teamwork by all the athletes. Good to see that athletes from different countries are actually becoming friends. Furthermore, it was a good idea to have mixed teams competition, it kinda strengthen bonds

Closing Ceremony:

It had the atmosphere of a party, but also a feeling of emptiness and sadness. The closing ceremony was much like the opening ceremony, just that it's much shorter. The people who were gave the speech became Steve Jobs for a day: they say one sentence, and the 27000-strong crowd goes crazy. The way they put out the flame was unique and much better than i thought.

Overall, it is encouraging to see that the YOG was met with quite a big success and went on smoothly. However, the disappointing part lies on the budget and of course, the attendance issue. But this being the first YOG, there is no doubt that there will be hiccups here and there, so as a whole, the event was considered to be a job well done. Out of ten, I will give it a 6.75 out of 10

11:39:00 pm

Have a look at this little thingy:

torch

Know what it is? If not, you must have been living under the rock for years.

Yes, that is the torch for the Singapore 2010 YOG for the Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame, smth like that. (Picture taken from the YOG website fyi)

And yes, i will be holding that in 7 days time. 7 days time! Never felt so lucky ever before. Everytime lucky draw always CMI then this. Ballot also can ballot until me.... Not saying that it's a bad thing but when lady luck come knocking on your door, you better answer it.

To be honest, I can't wait to be part of the journey of the youth olympic flame. I can't wait for the games to start. It's going to be a great and I'm sure of that.

Anyways, i'll be running next saturday at 5.45pm @ ang mo kio ave 4. My YOG profile will be up on the Singapore2010 website(soon). ~~Must~~ come!

5:51:00 pm

It’s been quite a while isn’t it? Indeed, time flies when you’re having fun. But please don't misunderstand, I wasn’t having any fun during the holidays…… Wait a minute, “What Holidays?” To be honest, this June holidays is one of the worst ever. Couldn’t they have extended holidays just like last year? But I do know that things would be much worse in September.

Let’s do a countdown, shall we? As of today (7th July 2010), we only have a little 100 hundred days before the big Os start. Still a long way to go isn’t it?

Yeah right

It’s not, and we can see how time literally flew right past us in 2010. Don’t you agree that things have been happening in an instant this year? So anyway, not much time left for me and you guys. If we don’t start revising now, we’re not going to make it. I do know I sound like a teacher, but it is indeed the truth. If you don’t analyse how many chapters you have to cover for every single topic, you won’t realise you don’t have much time left. Let’s take it that I revise a chapter a day. Physics and chem combined would have over 40 chapters, SS 8 examinable chapters (and let’s not forget those dreadful essay outlines), 3 LONG history chapters and literature (2 novels). Let’s also assume that revision for e and a math would be revision papers. That adds up to 50 over days gone if we just study one chapter a day! Thus, I believe that we should start studying now and start procrastinating later. When I mean later, I mean after Os

So why am I posting this post in the first place?

Well, because I want to! In case you don’t know this is a blog! A blog is not just about a read-all-i-can-about-this-person’s-boring-life-story issue, sometimes it’s just different. Shall not elaborate any further on this

But I gotta say, the holidays had a fair share of good and bad news popping out in my life. It works like pop ups, just that you can’t close it. A lot of things happened (and it’s not just about homework). Not only have I completed all my homework (except chinese, duh!). So this is what happened:

SOURCE A
~~It was a dark and stormy night~~ I was clearing my emails, thanks to facebook, and the prata fans out there who commented on the great “food” that I posted on my food trip album. A little background: I applied to be torchbearer for YOG 2010, my application was sent out a months ago, and i forgot about it till now. So, I was clearing my mails and I got this email from some weirdo (i assumed that it was a weirdo, since that person never sent me an email before). Thinking that it was spam, I wanted to clear it away, until I saw that the title said something about JYOF (Journey of Youth Olympic Flame). So i opened it, and ta-da, realised that they chose me a long time ago. So now I am an ‘ambassador’(sort of) for the YOG huh?

You must be thinking “that’s it?”, well no.

SOURCE B
I am now officially an uncle!(Sound so old right?). Sis gave birth to baby gal Chin Yee 静怡 on 27th June 2010 at night. What a day! Super cute! I like the way she reacts to different people. If you are not gentle, she will give you the “what-the-heck-are-you-doing” face. Also, she loves to eat and sleep (well, that’s the most a hardly one month old baby would actually do)

Question 1) Study Sources A and B. How similar are the sources in their relevance?
ANS: Both sources are similar in a way that it does not concern the reader and does not give a big impact. Similarly, both sources are similar in showing that the author’s purpose is to inform readers about what is happening in his life (if the reader even cares).
However, both sources are different in terms of content. Source A mentions about being a YOG torchbearer and source B mentions about the author being an uncle.

Sorry, was practicing SBQ skills. Haha :D

Fun fact: The following sentence is gramatically correct: Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo

10:41:00 pm

My 25th post!

And i can't believe it's about holiday homework.

If @toktalktalked's Mount Homework is 3742m above sea level, mine would be at least thrice the height. I meant what do you expect? I have 10 higher chinese holiday assignments!

UPDATE 25 JUNE 2010

English - ~~Oral Assignment~~

E.Maths - ~~ZHSS Prelim Paper 2; FFMS(S) Prelim Paper 2~~ (I think the answer keys for ZHSS and FFMS(S) are wrong. Some answers just doesn't make sense!)
A.Maths - ~~BPGHS Paper 1~~; ~~BPGHS Paper 2~~

Chemistry - ~~PHS Prelim 2 09 Paper 1; PHS Prelim 1 09 Paper 2~~
Physics - ~~Revision Worksheet~~

S.S - ~~MYE Corrections; Chapter 3 Essay Outlines; Chapter 4 Essay Outlines; ESC Worksheet~~
History - None!
Literature - Unseen prose passage

And the dreaded.....
HIGHER CHINESE
~~3 X 演讲辞 (Speech)~~
~~2 X 作文 (Compo)~~
4 3 X 校外考卷 (Other schools' paper)
1 X 往年考卷 (Past year O Level Paper)

I feel so achieved doing so many chinese hw!

Which means:
HW Completed: 18 out of 23
Percentage: 78.26086% --> Approx 78.3% (3sf)

5:10:00 pm

I think it’s about time i posted again.

It’s been quite a while, about a month or so. It’s funny how things change so much in just one month and it just turns my world upside down, in a good way.

Today is June 5th, which means I only have FOUR MONTHS before the Os. Which means I have 7 months before I decide on a school of my choice. Which means I have 8 or 9 months before I enter JC/Poly. It seems to be a long time from now, but don’t you agree that 2010 is passing really fast? (Everybody say YES!)

In other words…. It’s time I start thinking about my choices.

Results received about a week ago. Not very good, but minor improvement. L1R5 stands at 13. To be honest, it’s not “not very good”, it’s actually “quite pathetic”. I am still far away of my target from 9 points (raw score). Maybe there were one or two reasons for this unexpected results.

1. I sucked at humanities big time, especially for SBQ
2. I was sick for three days, which means I missed my Chemistry, A.Maths, Literature and Physics Paper, meaning that my SA1 results for these results are only projected

I have thought of my choices, and I feel that AJC would be my first choice with NJC (Nanyang) as my second. Planning to apply through DSA, but many of my family members say that it’s not good, because one might not be able to cope since entry to the school is not determined by only your L1R5/R4. But nonetheless, I’m still applying for DSA. I think I can do it….

Or maybe I’m just thinking too far… Many would feel I’m like a douchebag with big dreams that can hardly be fulfilled. Maybe they’re right. But at least I have to try! Don’t just give me that eff-ed up face when I talk to you guys about me planning to go to ajc. It’s my goal and it’s none of your incompetent business!

CHILL TIME!

Okay… Taken my chill pill… let’s move on.
Anyway I have realised that I am beginning to take control of my life much better now. I always thought that doing your own timetable would be bogus because you end up procrastinating, but I’ve found out that if you put your heart to it and think about the goals you want to achieve, you CAN sit down for two and a half hours studying and doing holiday homework. I’ve never felt so motivated to actually study in my whole life. Times have changed and……times have really changed.

10:46:00 pm