I realise I am posting more and more often
Any-way… Another hectic week finally over. This week is one of the worse weeks that I have ever had, physically, but one of the best, mentally.
Sunday night… Only slept for 3 hours (couldn’t sleep, I don’t know why). This leads to a series of chain reactions which makes me more and more and MORE tired as the days pass. Was not even able to sleep early since I reach home late almost every single weekday. That’s the bad part. CCAs, study, VN trip and remedials can really kill!
But, it was a fantastic week for me, emotionally and mentally. The good things begin from Wednesday. CCAs actually rocked me up this time, after my bad experience not too long ago……(*clears throat*). Must be positive looking or else everything you do will suck.
Thursday! Actually successfully studied + did my hw in school without getting distracted by friends! 99% of the time, when i study with friends, nothing good will come up because we’re always chatting away. Not saying we didn’t talk when we studied but at least i managed to get quite a number of stuff stuck in my brain. Studied @ canteen till 6.45, then went home celebrate mum’s b’day! Had pizza and of course, cake! To be honest, it’s quite heart-warming to see how much happiness can be generated even when a celebration like that is that simple and small-scaled.
Friday! Oral exam? Let’s not talk about it. I had VN post-trip briefing, and apparently, some people just can’t control their words. To me, I get the subliminal message that he is trying to say. Technically, it makes sense. BUT, it was an unfortunate selection of words and phrases that makes thing sound so weird and makes no sense. But oh well, it generated quite a bit of laughter. The day was quite okay even though I was interrogated like mad by a lot of people, teachers, friends, even family! I feel like a suspect, with questions being bombarded in my face. It’s fun to answer, but when it gets too far… it’s like a pain in the a**. And yes, I’m referring to you. It’s a common-sensical question. I don’t mind questions, but that qn you asked in the morning was way over the line. Also, NP board change colour!
Today(Saturday)! Fantastic day! I finally got what I got. FINALLY. I’m more than relieved. SSGT. It’s about time. So in other words, I achieved what I wanted to achieve, and I am happy. Very happy. And congrats to Tim and Min for the SI rank! Must call you sir and ma’am from now on… lols. We had a little “celebration” at KFC (again). Saw band ppl when we left. And yes, Tim, Nic, Brehmer and me actually went to the playground. Slacked, “fooled” around, and slacked and slacked and slacked. Went to mac later to get a drink before leaving. Wanted to walk home, but somehow that option slipped out of my mind and went the other way to the bus stop (take the bus + walk, abt 30 mintues, when i can just walk for 20minutes). Once again, we saw band ppl(again, I can’t emphasise the word any further). Bused and walked home. Celebrated by ordering WM 26 on pay-per-view. Woots! Also celebrated Earth Day. Yes, I turned off the lights for an hour
Day 3 of VN trip would be posted soon, I promise. :D
Day 2!
Woke up at about 6.00am in the morning. Super tired. Went to wash up before heading down for breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Once again, it’s an eat-all-you-can-eat-buffet, and of course, i-ate-all-i-can-eat. Had devotion and set off for Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP). I think so, I’m writing this based on memory.
We reached there, had a presentation from the Vietnamese people there, and we spammed questions like mad. They returned the favour, spamming us with qns too. The talk was quite interesting and somehow, no-one fell asleep(I guess so…)! We visited the gallery afterwards, basically it just showed all the companies that was with VSIP and the model of the whole industrial park. Had a tour around the park and stayed for a while at the shopping centre. Bought a necklace for my sister. Apparently, everyone wants to be my sister now.
Eventually, we got our stuff and set off for lunch at this restaurant which i shall not talk about (not that the food is bad, I just feel that there is nothing to talk about). After lunch, we bus-ed our way to Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School. Super enthu students there! Not like our school, so dead one…… Anyways, we presented abt Singapore and PHS and had some time of interaction with the students there. Super enthu, friendly and energetic! Made a couple of friends there… Apparently Qianyu made more than 1 friend *wink wink*. We had a little tour around the school. They have a pool! They have a library which is not at all as noisy as a zoo! They even have a judo hall! Although their facilities in terms of quantity still comes short with Singapore schools, their facilities, in terms of quality is more or less quite good.
Afterwards, we had a early dinner at 5pm before going off to the Water Puppet Show! And they are right. If you have not seen a water puppet show, you have NOT visited Vietnam. The show was quite fascinating and intriguing. I wonder how they control the puppets. Anyway, it was a great show and it was quite entertaining. There were different scenes, each with a different story, easily understood even if you don’t understand Vietnamese.
We returned to the hotel before heading out again for some shopping time! Apparently Gilbert’s pants along the way(shall not talk about it). Bought some stuff before returning back to hotel (again) for debrief and wash up before heading off to sleep at exactly midnight.
I fell in love with a southern girl
I gave her wings
but she don’t wanna fly no more
Slow it down
Slow it down
She wants a ring
and shes slamming the door
but baby don’t cry
whatcha in a hurry for
Slow it down
Slow it down
We are wild and young
we have just begun
so slow it down you move a little too fast
you take a deep breath and make it last
these should be the best days of your life
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
Her free fall came a little out of the blue
what happened to the days of doin what we wanted to do?
slow it down
slow it down
we should kick back
just have a little fun
2 kids gettin high
have a couple beers in the sun
slow it down.
slow it down.
we are wild and young
we have just begun
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
slow it down you move a little too fast
you take a deep breathe and make it last
these should be the best days of your life
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
We are wild and young
4 Days, 96 Hours, 345600 seconds and countless number of lessons missed (actually it’s only 9 hours of lessons).
Where was I? Vietnam.
Vietnam where? Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon
This might be a long post, I think. I have no idea how long it would be because I really have a lot of things to say. I think I shall not drag this on any longer. Let’s start! Take note that not all pictures are uploaded here (they are all on FB) and I didn’t get to do some of the shots cause the I didn’t take out my camera in time! (especially for day 1 and 2)
Day 1!
Woke up at 6am and dragged my near lifeless body off the bed. I only slept at 1 plus the night before because of packing issues and presentation stuff. Reached airport at about 7.15am and chiong-ed the posters. Got it wrapped just in time and checked our luggage in at about 8.00am. Entered departure hall and made our way to the gate. Then, just seconds before we reached the gate, the words that I heard screwed into my mind which might be there for a long long time.
“Paging for passenger Mr Kwek Jiann Qiang taking flight SQ 172 from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Please collect your boarding pass…” Long pause. Breakout of laughter from Qianyu and me while a shocked Jian Qiang gasps
Epic Win! So, JQ had to go with Miss Chong all the way back to the customer service counter (mind you, our gate was at the end of the airport) to get his boarding pass (which he apparently dropped) and made their way back. Got back on time and we are off to Vietnam!
So…. we reached Vietnam after a 2 hour flight and reached at about 11.30am (local time. Vietnam is one hour slower than SG). Grabbed our luggage and waited for the bus till 12.15pm. Met our tour guide Mr Long. And we are off to Cu Chi Tunnels about 60km away from Saigon. But before that, we had a buffet style lunch. (duh)
Reached cu chi tunnels and we had a tour around the area. We watched a documentary about the Vietnam War (the narrator had a GOOD voice). We then went around the exhibits, seeing the traps, the tanks and the trenches etc. Went past this souvenir shop, which was apparently next to a shooting range. And yes, we did hear M-16 bullets go off. So basically what u see in the area is people shuddering to the sudden bangs. And finally, we went down the tunnel. Two words to describe it: “dark” and “squeezy”. Basically the position that you are in when moving around the tunnel is extremely uncomfortable. The darkness is like our night walk in Taman, just that there are lights every now and then. So we got out of the tunnels (alive) and had a little snack – tapioca! Soon after we left and headed for the city and had dinner at a Chinese Restaurant
Eventually, we finished our meal, went to the hotel, checked-in and refreshed ourselves. The hotel is quite simplistic so I didn’t take photos of it(although some people can take millions of photos, but it’s a good thing). And the nice part is, we have a balcony! A rarity in most hotels that I have stayed in. But I would rather not open the door to the balcony. What you hear is sounds of motorcycles honking one another. That is madness.
Made our way down to the ballroom to have our debrief and did part of our booklet. Finished up and did some clearing up before going to sleep.
SUMMARY:
I put this summary for the people who just hates words
It was a long day in Vietnam. After lunch, which was an international buffet, we went to Cu Chi Tunnels, viewed the exhibits, went through the tunnel. We had dinner after that. We checked into the hotel and refreshed ourselves before going to the grand ballroom for debrief. After that, I cleared some stuff (and set some house rules with JQ, just in case he does anything that might compromise my safety in the middle of the night) and went to sleep.
Day 2 would be up soon
As you can see, this is the second post of the month.
Time flies really quickly. It’s March 2010, which means that in 7 months time, it’s O Levels. I seriously need to reschedule my time so that I am geared up by June 2010. (You think I’m kiasu? Ask others, they already started studying)
March 2010 also means that I will be passing out soon. Is it a good thing or bad thing? I really don’t know, it takes time to know the answer. And believe me, time literally flies. Tomorrow will be my last official parade as a squad I/C, since I will not be present for the March Camp. I’m happy and excited, but at the same time, really sad, reluctant and (kind of) disappointed.
I talk as though I am not ever going back, and that should not be the tone. I shall wait till tomorrow and see what I should write here
The rest of the post will not be disclosed until tomorrow or next month or actually, whenever I feel like it
Seriously pissed right now? You bet.
I have to control myself before I go out of control screwing everything (or everyone, if they are human enough) to the point that I am totally screwed, which is not a good thing.
I don’t even know if I should rant about this, I still feel very pissed. I remember one of the posters in our school said “Do not blog when you are feeling angry.” You know what? Screw that and ftw(and I do not mean For the Win, find out the other meaning yourself)
I nvr really had a time where I can sit down and shut up and turn back and see what I have done over these 4 years. Secondary sch education is ending, and i am damn proud of it. I now have a extremely big and sudden urge to study hard and get out of this school. I know it’s not new year’s but I will be once again looking back on what I have done over the years (or over the months and weeks, to be more precise). If you don’t like to see me say some bullsht, then press that little X on the top right hand corner of the window. Thanks
I am a person who has a fear of failure and it is not a good thing to me when I do not meet up to my own expectations. I mean, who loves to fail? It’s difficult when I know that failure has caught up with me, and due to my severe failblog addiction, my head will go “fail, fail, EPIC FAIL!”
It is not easy to pass that first part of the anger, misery, frustration, sadness and heartbrokenness because it kills me emotionally, psychologically, mentally, socially and most of all physiologically. Believe me, I am experiencing this right now. Trust me, I am tempted to use swear words, but I am controlling myself.
I don’t know how to put it, but if I write this down, some people will feel very pissed from what I am about to write. But at this point of time, I don’t really CARE anymore. I apologise if this will offend anybody. I am in no mood to accept comments
Seriously, I have never ranted like this. I even placed them in points form so that you understand how I bloody feel. Yes I am pissed, but they always say “giving up is the only failure”. So, fine, I’ll change, but how? I have already tried my best. What shit do I get? Bullshit. I want to give up, I really do. But I won’t, because there is still one more pillar standing down there, still supporting me, and if that pillar doesn’t disappear, I will not give up. This is my last chance and eventually will be my last straw
