Operation Overlord

2010-05-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Before I begin this long-overdue post, let me first wish you happy German surrender day, happy VE day, and all the various other things I've had to wish you for the past three months.
I shall first account for my absence. My life has been understandably hectic ever since I came to VJC. It's been tests and assignments galore. If you wanted to stress yourself out you can't find a better place to go to. I've had harrowing times and none the better to show for it - my results were a joke.
But now that that's over we can rejoice. The June holidays are here!
...and the review tests right after that.
But let's not think about that. We're going to Bali this June. Originally we were going to go to Bangkok, but we didn't want to get shot/burnt/blinded by too many colored shirts to count (Red, White/Pink, Yellow, Green (the Army)...what next?) so we're going somewhere relatively safer. (2002, 2005 do not count.)
Recently I participated in this iGlobe competition where they tested current affairs. I came in individual champion, beating JC1s and 2s. Goes to show that the IP students do have something in them after all.
I failed my very first major test. Physics, by a measly 2.5 marks. Hate physics now. Never liked it in the first place really, but it sucks.
The ranks of the Army are really useful in coming up with dumb things. For example, using them as names. Imagine if your last name was 'Mistake' and you were a Major. What would that make you?
Yessir, Major Mistake.
Another one is Corporal Punishment, a third would be General Knowledge/Paper/Practitioner.
Right, this settles it. I'm mad.
Cheerio.

2010-02-25T02:41:00.001-08:00

Well.....
Happy belated Invasion of Iwo Jima day and raising of flag on Mt Suribachi day!
For your information, Iwo Jima means Sulfur Island. Although I daresay you'd have known that by now if you've known me for a while.
I know that nowadays if you hear from me via this blog, it's like once in a blue moon (which actually does exist, by the way. It's what they call the second full moon in one month.) but I'm quite busy with school. On Monday we end at ten minutes to five, on Tuesday at three o five, on Wednesday it's...weird, on Thursday it's 1615, and on Friday it's...I don't remember what it is. But, basically, to sum up, I never have time to come online anymore, let alone blog.
What about the weekends, you ask? I would, but I'm much too lazy. SO you can take all my reasoning in the previous paragraph and throw it out of the window and just use this much easier excuse. And this excuse, by the way, does not help when you're explaining your undone homework.
Well, in case I didn't tell you, I did manage to get War and Peace for my IH option, and I'm very glad I managed to get it. It. Is. The. Best. Lesson. Ever. Just yesterday we stimulated a war, where Singapore is divided into three parts, Westland, Middleland and Eastland. W invaded M, and M asked for our help, and so we had to justify our cause of action and think of what the enemy would do. The situation escalated when W captured 30 of our people, including the Prime Minister's Son (however did they manage to do that?) and were dropping one off every ten minutes from the top capsule of the Flyer.
Our group's proposal was very simple: Go to War. Why? Because W invaded a sovereign country who was at peace, and that country asked us for help, and in addition they provoked us, who have absolutely nothing to do with the war (yet), by taking thirty of our citizens and dropping them off. Which is quite stupid, if you ask me. Our course of action was going to be 'wait for the US to come and help', or 'wait for the UN to sanction the war', but then we realised we had superior air power (Changi airport, Paya lebar air base) and superior naval power (Changi Naval Base). So we came up with a whole plan of invasion (advance into the CBD area because that's where the port is, at the same time distract with an attempt on Sembawang air base which is in M to distract W's troops while a commando team can be sent in to rescue hostages, build a defence line somewhere in the middle of middleland that should not be run over by enemy forces, bomb Tengah air base, send our destroyers in a flanking attack against the industrial estates in Woodlands and Jurong so that they will not be able to sustain a full scale ten year war, say, etc.) but that, sadly, wasn't needed.
Tomorrow is cross-country. It's compulsory for everybody, girls and guys and staff (although I can't see certain members of the staff running...) and the girls have to run 3.3. Yes, I want it to be meters as well, but it's kilometers. The good news is that I'm not going for it. The bad news is that it's because I have my Grade 7 piano exam tomorrow, which sucks, which I'm going to fail.
Heh, it's funny I'm writing this down because I'm currently also doing a Chinese compo now which is probably graded and I also have my bio project, which is definitely graded, and our group is not getting anywhere on that front. It's a four front war I'm fighting here, people. God knows how many more are going to be added.
So if a few months from now you see me - or actually, you see my brains all over the wall - you'll know how that happened.

~Today in History~
1945: Turkey declares war on Germany. Yup, for three long, hard months they were at war with Germany, sitting on their bums and suffering. Way to go, gobble gobble gobble.

~Quote of the Day~
BZZZZZ and that's all we have time for. Next time...there might not be a next time.

2010-02-10T01:27:00.000-08:00

Lessons have started. Finally, I can hear you say. You've waited ages for them to begin. How come you've had three hundred tests and I just began lessons?
Our literature teacher is like a three year old on a sugar rush. For those of you who know su lao shi, it's like when he's all fired up about wenshi, just ten times worse. For those of you who know Le Yan, it's like when she's on sugar, just ten times worse. For those of you who know nothing, it's just pretty bad.
Our Geog teacher is also a psycho. It seems that the only requirement for an IH teacher is that you must be weird. She describes herself as anal and acts like she should have been teaching drama instead.
For Language Arts, all we did was watch the Matrix so I can't really say how that lesson is going to be like. I can say, however, that I do not like the Matrix.
For the three sciences we have nice, engaging teachers. Mr Boy is the kind of person my dad would like, serious and subtly passionate about his subject. Showed us a very interesting double-slit experiment, in which he explained using machine guns. The picture he used, though, was not of a machine gun but of an M16. I know that nobody cares.
We're all broken up for Chinese. Our teacher is bloody stern. And weird. She wants us to find out the meaning of our Chinese names. Mine is 'rich victorious beautiful piece of jade'. That's obviously literally translated or it would actually make sense. She also says we're going to write a lot of zuo wens. DIE.
That's about all the teachers I have. (Math is so normal and boring I won't even bother mentioning her. Except that I got a chance to recite pi during her class.)

~Today in History~
Today in 1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. In 1906 the HMS Dreadnought was launched. In 1954 Eisenhower warned against US intervention in Vietnam. Fools, not to have listened.

~Quote of the Day~
I said, to the people of the Philippines whence I came, I shall return. Tonight, I repeat those words: I shall return!
Blah blah blah, Doug McArthur. Big words for a big ego.

~Useless fact of the Day~
A rock fan who paid one thousand pounds for a guitar signed by Queen's Brian May rubbed off the signature with his sleeve when he played it.

2010-02-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

Right, I can't believe it was December thirtieth since I last posted.
School has been quite a blast, I can tell you that. Others have already had what, three tests? And we're still having JC Orientation.
IP Orientation was held first three days (11-13 Jan). We were split up into groups (within class) and made to go around the school to play games. A lot more fun than JC Orientation, which is what we just finished.
This is because JC Orientation is mainly for - you guessed it - JC1s. Give yourselves a clap. So us IP1s were left out, dazed, disoriented (Excuse the pun) and pretty much left to ourselves. For example Carmen's group was asking why she needed to be here at all.
And the names of the big groups are just whacko. Mine was called "Creudor". There was also Alphaeus, Ryphon, Valora, Pyxis, Eorix, and there's one that starts with a "shen" and another that starts with a "Ark". I don't know how to spell them.
Right off all the participating people were the 'freshmen', the JC1s. So one five (My class, 10V15) gathered at the back of the hall and ignored everything going on, except for the mass dance (Seven of them. SEVEN OF THEM.) which we all did as a group. You could say that we 'bonded in the face of adversity'. And the best part was that a lot of the Orientation Group Leaders, mostly IP2s I think, went through the exact left-out feeling as we were going through, just that they did theirs last year, and absolutely understood.
So for the third day of JCO one of our OGLs, Samara, helped us scram from the Cluedo game they were playing. We pretty much just had a 15 group and went to sit in the Treehouse, the unofficial hangout of our class. We sat there till four and then went back to learn another dance.
And today was wet games. Unfortunately I lost my group, then had a terrible headache and went back to class to get Panadol. Azelle, Carmen and Gordy came with me. Charlie was already in class, because he's the keyholder. Then Bryan, Billy and Harish came back, because Bryan had a neck injury, Billy was there to see him back and Harish said he injured his...bicep?
Yeah. 15 is the best at coming up with excuses. (Although my head really, really hurt.)
Stayed there slacking till four thirty before going back down to listen to the results. Apparently the wet games had an amazing amount of points because before the games they announced the standings: Valora was first, and Creudor, unfortunately, was Eighth. Last. So after that Creudor became overly enthusiastic.
Anyway, the final result was quite a shock. Valora dropped to sixth place and Creudor jumped to third. Just as well.
And now it's over. We're going to Ikea tomorrow to look at furniture to buy for our class. Not all might be going though. Caunt have twenty five of us looking at things can we old chap?

~Today in History~
1943: The last German forces surrender to the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad. (As in, not the last German Forces in the whole of Europe. Just Russia.)

~Quote of the Day~
If it moves, salute it; if it doesn't move, pick it up; and if you can't pick it up, paint it.
-This is called 'Typical Army'.

~Useless Fact of the Day~
A misomaniac is someone who hates everything.

2009-12-30T00:15:00.000-08:00

Today, I saw a guy walk across the road - no traffic lights involved. Jaywalker. And you know what his shirt said? "Safety concerns me."

2009-12-29T02:02:00.000-08:00

Two/three days to the New Year, depending on who you ask. There are the people who consider 12 AM part of the next day and people who consider 12 AM part of the day before, so I'm not sure which one whoever is actually bothering to read this is.
Me? I'm neither. I just believe that 12 AM the time where everything's pitch black outside and most people are either asleep or in a nightclub somewhere. But nobody asked me that question anyway, so I shall just shut up.
Ros, Eme, Pearl, Vera, Le Yan and I went out yesterday. They made me a cake. You may be thinking "oh, that's so sweet of them! I would love to have friends with yours." Yes, it was nice of them, but be careful what you wish for. Preferably friends with better cake-decorating skills. I would show you pictures but unfortunately the only ones I've got are ones taken after they've been half eaten and it looks even worse.
We then went to watch Sherlock Holmes. I thought it was hilarious, especially the part about the pigs being sliced in half and the blood and guts spraying everywhere. Or the part where there was this frog with its legs stuck on four sharp pins and the skin on its stomach gone.
By the way, if you really want to know, the cake looked absolutely pure and clean and white as snow at first. After my friends were done...decorating it, and I say that with italics and particular emphasis which implies heavy use of sarcasm, it looked like one of Jackson Pollock's random abstract paintings. The difference being art critics can look at Pollock's paintings and see something, but when they see the cake......
It was very nice of them, though. I'll give them credit for that. And the presents were...amusing.
Because both Vera and Eme knew very well I don't like pink they went out of their way just to get me something of that color.
Ros gave me National Geographic photo annuals that were very nice (excluding the advertisement for eco-friendly underwear attached) and Pearl gave me a wooden plane painted by Eme. It's all rather confusing, but I did like the plane.
I don't think I have anything else to say right now. I feel like I've taken a dose of "instant sarcasm". Do you feel like that too?

2009-12-18T23:46:00.001-08:00

Right, you blokes, I realised I haven't posted a single post since the eighth of December, and I completely missed Battle of the Bulge day.
The Battle of the Bulge was actually the name given by the popular public to Operation Wacht Am Rhein, German for Watch on the Rhine. It was Hitler's last, biggest gamble (perhaps influenced by the 20th July plot to assassinate him) and many of the Generals recognized that he wouldn't achieve his goal (blitzkrieg all the way to Antwerp, get supplies and win the war!). Nobody stopped him though, and on the sixteenth of December 1944 Colonel Jochen Peiper and his Panzers attacked in full force across the mountainous area of the Ardennes forest. The Krauts achieved complete surprised (helped by poor Allied intelligence and Allied overconfidence) and inflicted a lot of casualties on the Americans, making it one of the worst and most costly battles the US have ever fought.
This is the part where one of the shortest speeches (but one of the well-remembered ones) comes in: General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne defending Bastogne replied to a request by the Germans to surrender, "NUTS!"
Now, you're probably wondering what this has got to do with anything. The answer is it doesn't have anything to do with anything and everything to do with nothing. While you figure out that sentence I'll leave you and only post again two weeks later. Merry Christmas, everybody. If you see a fat, red figure sliding down your chimney or climbing through your window, get a big shotgun and blast away. Santa Claus may very well be Santa Money-or-your-life, and it's best not to take chances.

2009-12-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, happy belated anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and happy 68th anniversary of the declaration of war against Japan by the United States of America. I won't keep you any longer and I've got other things to do anyway, so I'll just let you read through Roosevelt's famous speech.

Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.

Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

2009-12-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

Well, folks, in case you haven't noticed today is the 2nd of December, which means I finally turn 14. That took ages, didn't it? Especially since I seem a lot older than someone born on the 22nd of January (i.e. Mr President).
Happy anniversary of the Battle of Austerlitz and happy anniversary of the first sustained nuclear chain reaction (which happened to occur on a squash court)!
And the reason why this blog is so dead is because I nowadays have nothing good to say and I'm pretty much caught up in some random online game that is just meaningless mouse clicking.
Well, I have to go now - LT's over. Not polite to keep your guests waiting.

2009-11-11T23:13:00.000-08:00

Happy belated anniversary of the end of WWI, Patton's birthday and Veteran's day. And, of course, happy birthday to me mom.
Skatezone went to watch This Is It on Sunday. Basically it's like the last big concert or something, not a movie, but a documentary, so if you really want to watch it you might as well buy the DVD. Then we went to Borders (wonderful place, this) and some Apple place. Not to buy the red edible apples mind you.
11th November 1918. WWI ended after almost four years and four months. The Germans overthrew their Kaiser and negotiated a peace treaty that was signed in a railway carriage by representatives of the main belligerents. Incidentally, the surrender of France in 1940 was later carried out in the same railway carriage which Hitler had ordered to be brought from a museum to the same spot. The carriage was later destroyed (so that the Germans wouldn't be able to surrender there again, I bet).
George Patton. Commander, famously, of the Third Army in WWII, swept through Europe and might've been in Berlin in 1944, if not for Operation Market Garden. Carried two ivory handled pistols, came up with his own uniform...a real maverick, our Georgie Patton. Loved to swear to kingdom come.
Tomorrow I'm heading to VJC for some matriculation thinggum. Gordy's in my class so that's good news.
Awful sad news about Fort Hood, but that's how things happen in this world. Meaningless murders. Not even a bloody assassination. Just mindless killing (rather like Jason's computer games). The world is going to the dogs. (It already has, actually.)

Michael Pearson (22)
Aaron Thomas Nemelka (19)
Jason Dean Hunt (22)
Amy Krueger (29)
Francheska Velez (21)
Michael Grant Cahill (62)
Kham Xiong (23)
John Gaffaney (56)
Justin DeCrow (32)
Frederick Greene (29)
Juanita Warman (55)
Libardo Eduardo Caraveo (52)
Russell Seager (51)

2009-11-04T20:35:00.001-08:00

It's raining something awful outside. In fact, yesterday and today have been terrible for the meteorologists. Rain, shine, rain, shine, rain, shine...and the rain and the shine are extremes, not just a little drizzle or a little sun.
Been playing tennis, lately. Not the real game, of course, but the computer version of tennis that my dad originally bought for himself but hasn't been using it. So, naturally, it now belongs to me.
Sometimes I think that since nobody ever bothers to visit this blog I might as well not bother to blog in the first place. But seeing as I've nothing else to do, I might as well say something.
11 November is coming. Me mom's birthday, Patton's birthday, end of WWI day, and Veterans' day is coming. I can't wait, because that's the first historical event in a very long time (October is quite a dry month). And when it does come I'll be looking forward to bombard you with needless information. Speaking of which, I've crossed out quite a few of my holiday resolutions. I've memorised the later part of the I Have A Dream speech, Ich Bin Ein Berliner, and all me Winston Churchill speeches. And I've finished writing one story. Not a lot, perhaps.
It's good, though, it's good. Now I suppose I should just cut short my rambling and go and stare out of the window for a while or go back to my absolute boredom.
Cheerio.

~Today in History~
1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a third term as President of the United States.
1942:The Second Battle of El Alamein is won by the British in El Alamein, Egypt.

~Quote of the Day~
Here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. I have ordered that all plans and instructions dealing with further withdrawal are to be burnt, and at once. We will stand and fight here. If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead.
-Monty in Cairo. Optimistic chap.

~Useless fact of the Day~
Keith Relf, musician in the Yardbirds, was electrocuted while playing guitar in the bathtub.
What a way to go.

2009-11-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

It's the second day of a new month. Happy second-day-of-a-new-month, everybody.
It was also the last day of school on the 30th of October. Last time I'll probably see my St. Nicks friends because, as much as we say 'keep in touch' and all that, we'll probably just drift apart since we don't see each other on a daily basis.
So, since I won't be around next year to say it:

22 January: Happy battle of Rorke's Drift in advance!
14 February: Happy bombing of Dresden day in advance!
15 February: Happy fall of Singapore day in advance!
19 February: Happy invasion of Iwo Jima day in advance!
23 February: Happy Flag Raising on Mt Suribachi day in advance!
12 April: Sad anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt's death in advance!
20 April: Sad Adolf Hitler's birthday in advance!
30 April: Happy death of Adolf Hitler day in advance!
7 May: Happy German Armies Surrender day in advance!
8 May: Happy VE Day in advance!
5 June: Happy Fall of Rome in advance!
6 JUNE: HAPPY D-DAY IN ADVANCE!!
22 June: Happy Hitler invades Russia in advance!
4 July: Happy American Independence day in advance!
9 July: Happy 82nd Airborne jumps into Sicily (Operation Husky) day in advance!
10 July: Happy proper start of Operation Husky day in advance!
20 July: Happy bomb plot against Hitler and man on the moon day in advance!
6 August: Happy Enola Gay drops Little Boy on Hiroshima day in advance!
9 August: Happy Bockscar drops Fat Man on Nagasaki day in advance! Happy national day in advance!
15 August: Happy unofficial surrender of Japanese in advance!
1 September: Happy Hitler invades Poland day in advance!
2 September: Happy end of WWII day in advance!
3 September: Happy start of WWII day in advance!
11 September: Happy US troops over the Rhine into Germany and Sad anniversary of 9/11 in advance!
17 September: Happy Operation Market Garden day in advance!
11 November: Happy Veteran's day, George Patton's Birthday, Anniversary of WWI ends day in advance!
2 December: Happy anniversary of the first controlled, sustained nuclear chain reaction and the Battle of Austerlitz in advance!
7 December: Happy bombing of Pearl Harbor day in advance!
8 December: Happy America declares war on Japan day in advance!
11 December: Happy Germans and Italians declare war on Americans in advance!

Yeah...I've got more, but I daresay you're already bored to death and your head's fallen onto the keyboard and making weird lines on your word document like aewsi43i8u9re d. So I shan't keep you any longer.

Keep doing your best, guys. Never give up, never surrender, never say die, never. As long as you want to do it you will be able to. Unless you want to live forever or something like that.

I realise that this sounds rather awkward. So I shan't keep you any longer. Farewell. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Inspirational Quote:
If you're going through hell, keep going!
-Winston Churchill

2nd Inspirational Quote:
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.

-Winston Churchill again.

3rd Inspirational Quote:

If you think you're beaten, you are;
If you think you dare not, you don't;
If you'd like to win, but think, you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you will lose, you're lost;
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will,
It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are;
You've got to think high to rise.
You've got to hustle before
You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins
Is the one who thinks he can.

-Walter D. Wintle

2009-10-24T23:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had dinner at the Ancient Taste restaurant, and we were served by a six year old kid.
She cleared the dishes on the table, brought the drinks and even got the bill to us. She didn't seem very keen on talking, though - just wanted to work and work and work.
At five o'clock yesterday my dad made us watch Aliens, but we didn't want to. Jason went, "Can't we watch some family bonding movie instead?"
"Such as...?"
"James Bond, of course!"
So we ended up watching Die Another Day. Which isn't a bad movie for a James Bond movie.
Things that make Bond movies Bond movies and not Evans movies:
1) The dry, witty comments. Typical Brit humor. One liners that make you laugh like there's no tomorrow.
2) The gadgets. Jet packs and invisible cars - a must have in the movies.
3) The two most classic lines of all: "Martini, shaken not stirred" and "My name is Bond. James Bond."
4) The impossibility of it all. Bond movies are pretty much something you won't see in real life.
5) The girls. He's got as many gadgets as he has girls.
That list was very random.

~Today in History~
1944: The USS Tang (SS-306) under Richard O'Kane (the top submarine captain of World War II) is sunk by the ship's own torpedo.

~Quote of the Day~
In Germany they came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Reverend Martin Niemoller. True, true.

~Uesless fact of the Day~
A Russian telecoms company offers free phone calls to the White House for anyone who wants to rant at George Bush. I bet they're now offering free phone calls for anyone who wants to rant at Obama.

2009-10-22T00:21:00.001-07:00

I hate science and literature and chinese. In fact, everything I got back today was disastrous.
First of all was the very-bad-but-expected, Science. I got a miserable 69 while everybody else was talking about how their 80+s were not good enough for them.
The bad-but-expected one was Literature where I got 64. Good news is that everybody seemed to be getting the same mark so I should be average.
The expected one was, obviously, Chinese, where I got a delightful fifty three. At least I didn't fail.
Doesn't matter, I guess. What's done is done. You know, on Tuesday they want us to do some Rangoli design. Thing is, it's more of Recyclegoli. Because we're not going to use sand, we're going to use 'recycled materials'. I tell you, these teachers are crazy.
My printer is still broken. It can't scan anything into the computer. Gurnh.
Well, see you then. I'm off to wallow in my little corner of despair and self-pity.

~Today in History~
1944: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.

~Quote of the Day~
Books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can take from the world the books that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny. In this war, we know, books are weapons.
-FDR. And thus, I love books. Books are the best presents a person could give another. Not chocolates. (Hint, hint.)

~Useless fact of the Day~
Genitofemoral neuropathy means 'jeans are too tight'.
Bamboozle your mom with that sentence next time.

2009-10-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

I didn't do very well for English today. In fact, I didn't do well at all.
I'm not going to dwell on it. But believe me, it was terrible.
Got A1s for Geog, History and Math. All above 80, none above 90 and that's all you need to know.
Yesterday we went ice skating. Haven't done that for a long time, but I'm glad to say that I haven't lost much skill. I can still skate quite fast and I haven't broken my record of 'longest time without falling' yet. Vera hadn't skated before and I spent quite a bit of time cajoling her into skating without touching the edge of the rink. At least she went two rounds like that at the end of the two hours (which cost a whopping $100+ for the six of us.)
After that we ate lunch at Pastamania then went to Bugis and they took that pink picture thing. I enjoyed the stop at my favourite bookshop that begins with a 'K' because I managed to read The Lost Symbol until page 316.
Then it was off to the Iluma and all sorts of anime stuff. Which, quite obviously, I didn't enjoy. We were thinking of buying Pearl a Christmas/birthday present, but she declined because it would mean buying me a present and out of all 73 books on my list, most of them are thirty dollars or more.
On the way back home, on the train, Nicole and I had a very nice chat about a)Whether Barack Obama should have/should not have won the Peace Prize, b)Whether China will take over the U.S.'s position as a global world power soon, c) How the U.S. got from such a superpower fifty, sixty years ago to this state, d) Something about WWII.
A very enlightening conversation with someone actually proficient in General knowledge, and a conversation I could certainly never have held with some people from my class. ~~(LIKE BRYNA)~~
You know, for my Geography paper, I put funny answers (crossing them out later, of course, but they're still legible) for the last two questions. Strangely, I got half a mark deducted for both of them even though all the points in the answers were in there.
Do you think that China will soon be more powerful than the U.S. of A.? I personally do not think so. China's still very far back. It's got too many problems that a developed country shouldn't have. Besides, the last time the U.S. had a recession this bad it was called "The Great Depression". Guess what happened after that? The Americans re-emerged more powerful than ever and took over from Europe. Who's to say that this isn't going to happen again?
By the way, I hate the teacher who marked my composition. It was "Unsung Heroes" and all I had to do was add a line in. She gave me 21/30 because there was "Too Much Dialogue!"
GOD. They told us to write a bloody STORY. You want too much dialogue, you go and read Oscar Wilde or something. THAT's dialogue for you. What's a story without a lot of dialogue? She also underlined all the "'s" and the "'nt"s. What's wrong with that? Have you ever read a story where there isn't a single "'s" or "'nt" and everything's written as "it is" or "was not" or "can not"?
I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Her.
Or. Him.

~Today in History~
1944: HMAS Australia is hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island, as the Battle of Leyte Gulf began.

~Quote of the Day~
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill. I'll keep that in mind.

~Useless fact of the Day~
An Austrian woman who hid behind her boyfriend's articulated lorry so that she could jump out and surprise him was taken to hospital after he reversed over her.

2009-10-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know when the last time I came on was and I don't really care.
Now that the exams are over, I'm actually quite busy.
First up: The Smile story, written by Le Yan and I. We've come up with a little blog for it and I'm trying to fix everything. In case you're interested, it's about an unbelievably stupid policeman called James Evans and a
Next would be the Truth About Lies, which is in progress. It's about two types of humans: the normal homo sapiens and the telepathic homo sapiens. War, mystery, action, BUT thankfully no romance.
And of course, I've got my own bloody stories to finish, like That Which Cannot Be Changed and Soldier Boy.
I just watched a silent movie yesterday. Guess what it's called? "Silent Movie". It was actually quite funny and the ironic thing that throughout the film only one line was spoken - by the most famous mime in history, Marcel Marceau. In case you don't get it, a mime is someone who never speaks but instead mimes doing things.
I'm off to take care of the sites now. Goodbye.
Sometimes it occurs to me that I just don't have anything worthwhile to say.

~Today in History~
1944: United States forces land in the Philippines.

~Quote of the Day~
The Germans should have thought of some of these things before they began the war, particularly before attacking the Russians.
'My good friend Montgomery', as Rommel would have called him. What can I say? Hitler was a dummkopf.

~Useless fact of the Day~
The working wives of most married millionaires tend to be teachers. Does this mean what I think it does...?

2009-10-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

EXAMS ARE OVER.

Today was the last paper, Chinese, which was unbelievably easy. I say easy as in easier than I expected. I finished with half an hour to spare, and spent the time reciting a) 50 states, b) pi, c) periodic table, d) Macbeth, e) san zi jing, f) Gettysburg Address, g) Winston Churchill speeches, h) capitals of the world, and i) WWII. It doesn't sound very fun, does it?
But anyway, enough about exams. They're over and we can't do anything except go and celebrate. Just now, my mom and I were at NTUC and we saw Kim Ng filming that programme about cooking in seven steps or summat like that that my mom watches. They were blocking the way and we had to stand there and wait for ages before they moved.
ANYWAY...you know all this furor about Ris Low and her lousy English? I don't think it's her fault. I just think she's a Singaporean.
I mean, plenty of people speak like that. It just so happens that they're not beautiful enough to win a beauty contest. You can't fault a Singaporean for speaking like a Singaporean. And no one's English is one hundred percent perfect, anyway. As you're reading this you'll probably find a few grammatical errors or punctuation errors here and there. (But nut speling erors! My speling is gret!) Some people may be 99% perfect. Ris Low is perhaps 30%...? Maybe less. But a lot of people speak worse than that. Wouldn't it be funny to see somebody commenting:

Ris Low cant speak. I better than her way more. BOOMZ!

Sorry, I'm not very good at imitating lousy English.
So...I don't think I have anything else to say. Have a happy holiday.

~Today in History~
1943: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
Moral: Italians always change sides, so don't be happy if they join you first.

~Quote of the Day~
America can always be counted on to do the right thing – after it has exhausted all other possibilities.
Winston Churchill. Go America!

~Useless fact of the Day~
The Paramount logo contains 22 stars.

2009-10-12T00:27:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.

For one thing, he hasn't done anything remotely peaceful that makes him deserving of the prize. He hasn't done anything that sets him apart from others. He hasn't closed Guantanamo bay. He hasn't brought North Korea back into the six party nuclear talks. He hasn't solved the problem in Iraq, or the problem in Afghanistan, or the going-to-be-problem in Pakistan.

And so, the million dollar question is, What has Obama done to deserve this prize?

I believe that the warming ties between North Korea and the rest of the world was not a result of Obama's fantastic negotiating skills and peaceful wotchamacallits. Perhaps it's just because Kim Jung Il saw the Bush era ending, and decided, whoever the next president will be, oh heck, I'll just give 'im a ring and tell 'im to get our talks fixed up again. Maybe I'll even kidnap two journalists and release them as a sign of goodwill. I'll pop over to the border now.

Of course, he didn't really think like that. But anyway, the point is that I don't think Obama had anything to do with warming ties. He just happened to be at the right place at the right time.

And his healthcare reform stuff has brought more violence to the world than it has peace. Violence in America, anyway. All your marched protests and stuff are things of the 1960-70 Vietnam war area. It hasn't been seen for ages.

Guantanamo bay? Despite all his big promises, he hasn't done anything. Because after he made his promises, Obama realised that once he closed it, he had nowhere to put the convicts. Is that dumb, or is that dumb?

Perhaps the only things he's done are allowing Cuban relatives in the States and in Cuba to see each other again, and talk with Myanmar. Or maybe Myanmar's just following North Korea's lead. Oh swell, look, another reclusive country's talking with the US. Maybe we should do that too. Yeah, that's wot. Sentence Aung San Suu Kyi to a nice long house arrest ('cause of an American, ain't that ironic?) and wait for some high level bloke to come talk to us, just like Billy Clinton did with NK.

Whatever it is, I'm not convinced that Barack Obama has done enough to deserve the prize.

It should have gone to me.

~Today in history~
1942: Japanese ships retreat after their defeat in the Battle of Cape Esperance with the Japanese commander, Aritomo Gotō dying from wounds suffered in the battle and two Japanese destroyers sunk by Allied air attack.

~Quote of the day~
The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.
Benjamin Disraeli. Bet you don't know 'im.

~Useless fact of the day~

Over 2500 left-handed people are killed each year because they used products made for right-handed people.

2009-09-27T04:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the official end of Market Garden.
It had been planned to last for about three days. It ended up with 9 days spent and still the XXX Corps didn't reach Arnhem or even the rest of the 1st Airborne Division. At Arnhem, John Frost had surrendered on the 21st, I think. They were just supposed to hold out for 2 days against weak, undertrained or overexhausted German Battalions. Against two well-armed Panzer Divisions, they held out for 4.
A note on casualties: Amongst the Arnhem Force (Urquhart's 1st Brit Airborne, 2st Polish Parachute brigade, and the glider pilots) which numbered 10005 at first, 7758 were casualties. RAF pilot and crew losses: 294. XXX Corps: 1480. Brit 8th and 12th Corps: 3874.
Americans: Gavin's 82nd Airborne: 1432. Taylor's 101st Airborne: 2118. Air crew: 424.
Germans: Unknown, but estimated casualties in Arnhem and Oosterbeek are about 3300.
At Nijmegen, Eindhoven and the rest, casualties estimated at 7500-10000.

Total: (taking 7500 as 'the rest') 28180.
All this for a (roughly) 30 mile road leading to nowhere.

~Today in History~
1940: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.

~Quote of the Day~
out of ammo, God save the King
The last radio message from Arnhem, only heard by German radio interceptors, before John Frost surrendered at the bridge.

~Useless Fact of the Day~
Student Robert Ricketts, 19, had his head bloodied when a train struck him. He told police he was trying to see how close to the moving train he could place his head without getting hit.

2009-09-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

Part two of Operation Market Garden.
Today is the 20th of September, which means that 65 years ago the American Paratroopers were launching an assault on Nijmegen bridge.
So what? You say. Paratroopers assaulting things is normal behaviour.
Yes, but this time they did it in boats.
The assault was nicknamed "The second Omaha Landing" and that isn't a nickname you'd want an assault to have. Everyone knows that Omaha beach was pretty much a killing field for the Americans. I mean the Americans got axed. This time they got axed again. General James 'Jumpin' Jim' Gavin devised the most audacious and unheard of plan in the war thus far - get one battalion of paratroopers - the 3rd of the 82nd Airborne Division - to sail across the Rhine and attack Nijmegen from the other side while their side attacked simultaneously. The plan was stupid and a lot of men would get killed. But it would work, apparently.
The boats took ages to come and then Maj. Julian Cook, commander of the 3rd battalion, was told that his boys would have to cross the river in broad daylight. Yes, crazy people.
But in the end, through sheer grit and determination, even though Cook had half of his battalion down in the initial river crossing even before they attacked the bridge itself, it worked. Nijmegen bridge was taken before the day was out.
Cool, huh? Time for a little self advertisement. My story "The Greatest Division in the World" is based on this assault. Go read it if you've got time. I'm sure you don't have time now that the EOYs are coming, though.

~Quote of the Day~
No, they're getting on-the-job training.
-Col. Tucker, commander of the 504th Regiment (From which the 3rd Battalion was from) when asked if his men had done this river assault crossing before. Most of them had never been in a small boat.

~Useless fact of the Day~
During Bill Clinton's eight year presidency, he only sent two emails. One was to John Glenn when he was aboard the space shuttle, and the other was a test of the email system.

2009-09-18T02:51:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I wasn't online yesterday to celebrate (or not) the 65th anniversary of Operation Market Garden.
But I'm online today!
Operation Market Garden began on the 17th of September 1944, a brainchild of our friend Bernard Montgomery. Now, Monty and George Patton (not Clooney, Mr President, but PATTON) were having a fight. A rather immature fight. They each wanted to get to Germany first and snatch the glory. Patton was in a much better position to get there first, but Monty, being British, stubbornly refused to give up and persuaded Ike to give him the green light on his pet project.
The Operation called for three Airborne Divisions plus ground troops. The three chosen Airborne Divisions: the 1st British Airborne, the 82nd American Airborne and the 101st American Airborne. The Ground troops were the XXX Corps.
And that's all time I have for today. I've got to go now, but I'll be back with more facts to bore you tomorrow.

2009-09-16T03:24:00.001-07:00

Somehow my blog-habits have been deteriorating.
The last time I posted was the fourth of September, which is nearly 12 days ago. Correction: 12 days ago. And bloody hell, I missed the anniversary of 9/11 and the other anniversary of 9/11.
I don't suppose you have any idea what I'm talking about.
Right. On the 11th of September in 1944, the first U.S. troops crossed the Rhine and set foot into Germany. That's a good thing. Which is a vast difference from what happened 57 years later.
I'm sure you've all heard that story.
You know, about this 9/11 thing. Every time you mention that you get a "oh, Osama Bin Laden" did it or "The US government did it. It was a conspiracy". But aren't people focusing on the wrong thing? I mean, sure, we all want to know who did it. But I think it's more important to remember who died in the attacks. Like George Bush said, "The victims were in airplanes, or in their offices; secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers; moms and dads, friends and neighbours." They were just normal people. Not politicians or anybody that important. But the fact that they were normal, just like you and me, makes it all the worse.
Josef Stalin knew what he was talking about when he said "the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." J.F. Kennedy. A great man cut down too early. Everybody mourns him. At the same time the Vietnam War was just getting started and already a lot more people were getting killed than just one man. But no one remembers them. Anne Frank. Just because she wrote a bloody diary means everybody thinks about her when they think about the Holocaust. But how about the other 6 million people who died? We have to try our best to remember these people.
On that September 11, 2001 'a great people were moved to defend a great nation'. The New Yorkers justified that statement about 'a great people'. Firefighters, policemen rushed in to the building when others were rushing out, to save strangers. Bus drivers forgot about the fee and brought people wherever they needed to go. Inside the buildings themselves, workers helping people they don't know to get out, at the risk of their own lives. When the buildings collapsed there were ambulances driving into the smoke, not knowing what awaited them. But they did it. Because they knew that inside that smoke, people needed saving.
In a hitherto unknown place called Shanksville, Pennsylvania, United Airlines Flight 93 had crashed as well. Its target had been the White House, but thank God for those passengers on the plane because they revolted and brought the plane down. I'm sure the passengers knew that they would die earlier if they brought the plane down earlier, but heck, they must have said, we're going to buy it anyway. We should save the President and as many people as we can. And they did.
The name of the youngest person who died in the attacks is Christine Lee Hanson. She was 2 years old.
The oldest person to die was Robert Grant Norton. He was eighty five years old.
So why don't you pause in your busy life for a while and close your eyes. Think of all those people who died. The policemen. The firefighters. The workers. The people on the planes. Forget Osama. Forget Bush. These were the real heroes of Nine One One.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/lists/by-name/ (list of names of people who died)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Dg2eEhB30 (video of 911)

2009-09-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

HAPPY (or sad) BELATED 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRITAIN AND FRANCE DECLARING WAR ON GERMANY!

Yesterday's assembly was plain crap.
It was given by these two Mediacorp Green Ambassadors who won this challenge.
Or rather, just one of them.
First off: her English is worse than some of the coffee-shop uncles I overhear. "Now girls, this may seem very serious but I assure you this is very, very serious" is just one of the things she said. I can't remember the rest.
Next: Her Ego is bigger than the Sears Tower+Empire State Building+Taipei 101+Freedom Tower, and we all know how big that would be. Throughout the entire talk, although they won it together, the talk was all about her. She was ordering her partner about like a lackey: "Go back! Forward! One more slide! Click!"
In the middle of the slides was a big picture of her and a little bit about herself. If that has something to do with Global Warming, then my English is lousy and my Chinese is great.
At the end was her email and - get this - a quote: by her.
I mean, QUOTING YOURSELF IS THE MOST EGOISTIC THING ANYBODY COULD DO. AND SHE'S NOT EVEN BLOODY FAMOUS.
God.
I got into VJC.
And then a few hours later that I got a letter from NJC saying, "Congratulations!"
Go figure.

~Today in History~
1944: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.

~Quote of the Day~
Gaia was not built in a year, but it can be destroyed in a day.
-HER quote. HER very egoistic quote and it's not even bloody nice.

~REAL Quote of the Day~
I am sure that the mistakes of that time [the first world war] will not be repeated; we shall probably make another set of mistakes.
-My good friend Churchill in 1944 when asked not to repeat the mistakes of the first world war. Now that's what you call a quote.

~Useless fact of the Day~
A deliveryman from Ealing, England, crashed his van two hours after his bosses gave him a safe driving award. Talk about Irony.

2009-09-01T03:15:00.000-07:00

G'MORNING!
While the printer takes its time to load that stupid home econs document and while I frantically rush to prepare for damn ting xie tomorrow which I am going to fail, let me just say:
HAPPY (or sad) 70th ANNIVERSARY OF THE INVASION OF POLAND BY GERMANY DAY!
See, it rhymes.
Big whoop.

~Today in History~
Something happened. I can't remember what. Oh, wait a minute: I JUST TOLD YOU.

~Quote of the Day~
There is never a good time for a vacation, so take one anyway.
-My good friend Churchill. How does a vacation, oh, I don't know, tomorrow sound?

2009-08-21T19:33:00.001-07:00

Hello everybody. I haven't been around for the past week I realised.
On Friday last week I had a great hacking cough. On Saturday I caught a fever. On Sunday I copped a stomachache. And on Monday?
I'M FINE.
I have the most abysmal bad luck.
On Monday night I had leg cramps. On Tuesday night was a long drawn out asthma attack.
On Thursday for CCA we ended up looking up our birthdates on Wikipedia. The first thing on my birthdate is "University of Leipzig opens". And then it's peppered with Prime Ministers, Presidents and scores of Politicians. It means I'm going to become one one day.
Gen's was AWESOME. Wars, battles, massacres, serial murderers, you name it. I like her birthday.
Trini will henceforth be known as the Pope Killer. Two Popes died on her birthday. Other than that she had a lot of firsts. Like "First man on the moon", although that wasn't one of them. She also had a couple of porn stars here and there.
Our combined birthdays (October 7 and April 20 - Hitler's b'day) had two popes dying and a lot of Nobel Laureates.
Anyway. Yesterday's History test's source based inferential question was hilarious. It went something like "United in a band, together we stand, equality for citizens all, wealth and riches for all". So for my second inference I put "I can infer that they have a terrible sense of rhyme. This can be seen from the last word in every line." I cancelled it out, but only drew a stroke across so they can still read it.
If my marks return bad (which they probably will) I think it's worth it.
I spent four dollars yesterday on five books and three Time magazines. $0.50 each. I've finished four out of five books already.
Yesterday's Lit was stupid. There's this story in "Stories from Asia" called The Assignment. The Sikhs are fighting some other race and this family is the only one of that race left. Ages ago the father of that family helped out some Sikh guy who was in trouble and ever since that guy has been giving them a gift every year. One day some other Sikh guy comes along and gives them a gift. The old guy died and that's his son. He says it's a pack of noodles. After he walks off he meets this gang with torches and weapons. "Have you completed your assignment?" They ask. He says yes. "Shall we continue with ours?" "If you must." Then he walks away.
What do you make of it?
Our Lit Teacher said the pack of noodles was in actual fact a bomb.
I raised my hand and said, if the pack of noodles was in actual fact a bomb, there wouldn't be any need for the 'your assignment my assignment' part. And why would they need to torch the house when it's already going to be blown sky high by the bomb? Overkill.
I can't remember her answer.
I also asked, why would they need to disguise the bomb in a pack of noodles if the rest are so forthright and going to use weapons and torches?
She said, "Because it's fun?"
Someone suggested those with weapons and torches were going to burn another house.
But then, I said, it reinforces the fact that there's not supposed to be the last part there! Why would rioters who have nothing to do with each other ask about their assignments? They can do that at debriefing later. (Ha ha.)
The teacher said I believed in the good of man. I said loudly that I did not.
At night we went to the Cat High school musical. We waited for ages outside and I was reduced to watching a girl play Bratz on her Nintendo DS. It was a while before I realised it was in German (Just for you, Ros!).
The musical was pretty funny and very well done. The dancing segment must've been based on Michael Jackson. Although they could've chosen better stars. Two of them I think were straining to reach the high notes. And the bully was rib tickling.
But Jason's part was just at the end. THe finale. There wasn't even a point for the choir.
There was one song that was very nice, that went like "nobody understands me, sometimes I feel like I am alone in this world, da da da da da da nobody understands me". It sounds very familiar but I can't remember. During that part you could hear that a few of the violins hadn't tuned their instruments.
There was this part where the teachers who were acting as parents started to sing. The mom (Jason's science teacher) began and I was wondering who was singing, because I sure as hell didn't realise. Then I saw it was here and said, "I wasn't expecting that."
Then the dad began to sing and I said, "This was what I was expecting."
He was like Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia.
And as if they'd heard me, the music they played at the finale when they were cutting the cake was - guess what? Mamma Mia.
I am now stuck on my home econs research. I have no idea what to do.

~Today in History~
1941: German troops reach Leningrad, leading to the siege of Leningrad.
ALSO: 1932: The BBC first experiments with television broadcasting. YAY!

~Quote of the Day~
In war there is no prize for the runner-up.
-Omar Bradley. How true.

~Useless Fact of the Day~
This is just for fun. I'll start with the eternal crowd pleaser.
DID YOU KNOW: Banging your head on the wall for an hour can burn 150 calories?

2009-08-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

Whatchamacallit
I had a very suitable title for this post but I've forgotten what it was.
I do not want to talk about the interview, so I'll go back to National Day celebrations in school.
The National Day celebration was, to put it nicely, crap. We did that stupid Sing Singapore at St Nicks thing, and afterwards while the weeny, cute, oh-I'm-so-young-so-you'll-have-to-give-me-special-privileges Primary school kids got to go home, we had to stay back while the teachers went down the line to pick out all those not properly attired "Red".

This is not red.
This is not red.
This is red.
This is not red.
This is not red.
This is not red.

You get the point.
About half the class was caught, and when Le Yan came back she was seriously pissed.
Needless to say, it wasn't really fun to be listening to somebody grousing about the school, but I'm pretty sure everybody felt that way at that moment.
Although none of them went to break the school magnet in half and throw it away.
Then for the party after school, Priscilla went somewhere else and Vera dropped out so it was just Le Yan and I. And her primary school friend Jeannie.
We watched the Old Pink Panther and the New Pink Panther (coincidentally, it's Steve Martin's birthday today.) and played Pet Society.
The National Day Parade was okay. But the flypast was less than satisfactory. Just three F16s? And just one simple formation and that's all?????
And one of the MPs dropped his bayonet during the segment! Poor guy. He's bound to be rapped.
I got 22.5/25 for my Land Supply/Water Resources Geog test. I would like to thank Genevieve and Trini for their half an hour crash course before CCA. It helped a lot.
I have too many things to do and too many things to say. SO I'll end off with my dream.

One night I had a dream about this dog walker who's kinda like Rob in Life's Get Fuzzy. He has an assistant dog walker (I thin his name is Jackson. No relation to Michael) who has to quit for some reason. So Rob goes to this forum like the one in our school and there're a lot of dog walking enthusiasts there. Two guys get into a fight and are whisked away. They end up in this hut with this old Jap guy who takes out a sleek Motorola phone and says, "Honey, I got the kids, we'll be home in Nagasaki in one hour." I groan, "Oh crap, what's the date?"
August 9, 1945.
Looking out of the window, I see two bombers. One big bomb falls and the entire thing goes boom. "DUCK!" everybody jumps under the bed. I walk out and look at the red cloud then take out my digital camera. CLICK.

~Today in History~
1941: Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.

~Quote of the Day~
In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers.
Neville Chamberlain. One of the only sensible things he said.

2009-08-12T00:31:00.000-07:00

It's two more hours to my interview with NJC.
I'm not scared.
I'm just not prepared.
In the event that I do come back, I'll tell you more about my week.
In the event that I don't, just forget about me.

----

Motivational Quote #1
If you think you're beaten, you are
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
It's almost a cinch you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you're lost
For out in the world we find
Success begins with a fellow's will
It's all in a state of mind.

(Forgot who wrote this. Sorry!)

---

Motivational Quote #2

(Advice given to soldiers in WWI)
When you are a soldier you can be in one of two places:
A dangerous place or a safe place.
If you're in a safe place...don't worry.
If you're in a dangerous place, you can be one of two things:
one is wounded and the other is not.
If you're not wounded...don't worry.
If you are wounded it can be dangerous or slight:
If it's slight...don't worry.
If it's dangerous then one of two things will happen:
You'll die or you'll recover.
If you recover...don't worry.
If you die...you can't worry.
Under this circumstances a soldier never worries.

Me? Being a natural pessimist I prefer the second quote.

2009-08-05T23:15:00.000-07:00

Happy 64th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima by the B-29 Bomber Enola Gay!!

I'm in the com lab now so I don't really have time to say anything else.

~Today in History~
See above.

~Quote of the Day~
My God, what have we done?
The co-pilot of the Enola Gay. I think that's what he said, what I read in a book. I'm not quite sure.

2009-08-03T00:43:00.000-07:00

Stuff and Nonsense

Well, my mom wrote to Mr. Boy today and Mr. Boy accepted me for the VJ interview. So I got it. Which is great news!
Not so great news: On Saturday, my brother got stomach flu.
On Saturday, we went to PUBRC for dinner. There were two boys and their dad in one corner playing PSP and the boys were bloody noisy. And all the father said was "There're people eating, shut up." It was saying it out of necessity, not because he really wanted them to shut up. After one such 'lecture' the older boy went, "So? It's their problem."
It really makes you want to scream, doesn't it?
Amanda Loh told me about a particularly rude Primary school kid. She was in a hurry and there were two primary school kids in her way, so she said something along the lines of "excuse me". And the girl turned around and shrieked, "Can't you see we're WALKING?"
I would have shouted back, "And can't you see I'm HURRYING?" before shoving her out of the way. If you think that's drastic, you should see what other people would have done or did.
Amanda Loh waited till the girl turned around before doing some things that are not suitable for children of young ages to read or see or hear.
Le Yan approved, but said she would rather do it straight to the girl's face. (Point the middle finger and shout "**** *** *******!" It's up for your sick mind to figure out what those asterisks are.)
Yeah. My mom is home and I ought to get cracking on my nonexistent homework.

~Today in History~
1934: Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into Führer.

~Quote of the Day~
How fortunate for leaders that men do not think.
-Adolf Hitler. How fortunate for the Allies that Germany's Leader did not think either.

2009-08-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

Three Things
1. I GOT THE NJC INTERVIEW
2. I haven't posted in a while, I realise
3. All my recent posts are very, very short.

2009-07-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't get into the VJC interview.

2009-07-20T01:39:00.001-07:00

Half blood, half marks
Firstly, to address the queries of my curious friends, I shall tell you what the Half Blood Prince was like.
Spoilers ahead, so I would look away if I didn't like spoilers. (I do like spoilers, anyway, so I won't look away.)
NOTE: This is not in chronological order. I can't remember the order. I just remember what happened.
1. Harry doesn't get collected by Dumbledore from Uncle Vernon's house, he gets collected by a train station. Already there's a hint (in the form of Harry asking a girl out) of the romance to come.
2. They go to Slughorn's village. Charming little place. Good effects, the way the place was demolished. Nice bit of blood here and there.
3. When they go the Burrow, Dumbledore doesn't draw Harry into a broomshed for a bit of a talk. He's simply not there anymore and Harry lands in a particularly watery swamp like thinggum (that will be important later).
4. They visit Fred and George's WWW. They follow Malfoy to Borgin and Burke, and they see the Vanishing Cabinet ALREADY (which kinda spoils everything). But they don't know what it's for.
5. Back to school, some random Quidditch stuff, they win their first match, Won-Won and Lav-Lav share their first kiss. Bleh. Harry finds his potions book, 'sectumsempra's Malfoy. But Snape doesn't come after him and the book.
6. From here on in there's a dreadful lot of kissing. Ginny and Harry share their one second kiss in the Room of Requirement while trying to hide the Half Blood Prince's book. Right next to the other vanishing cabinet.
7. My memory's a bit fuzzy but I'll try to remember. There's a bit of Dumbledore's memories, blah blah blah. Tom Riddle as a kid is really creepy. Harry drinks Felix and goes really crazy and gets Slughorn's memory. (Slughorn reminds me of a little kid who knows he's done wrong.)
8. An attack on Katie Bell! Touches the opal necklace. Plenty of screaming. Scream. Scream. Edvard Munch would have been proud.
9. An attack on Ron! Ron eats the lovey dovey potion and blah blah blah. Then he drinks the poisoned mead. Not a good day for Ron.
10. An attack on the Burrow! Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback run around in circles around Harry, Ginny, Lupin and Tonks. And then, suddenly, very strangely, they turn around and set the Burrow on fire. VOOM. Burrow gone.
11. Back to school. Lav-Lav's dumped Ron at this point, methinks. Anyway, Harry goes with Dumbledore to the Cave. Dumbledore dies. Yay! The Astronomy tower scene (aka Dumbledore death scene) is quite different from the book.
12. The end.

Yeah, my order's a bit confused, but that's basically the gist. I think they overdid the love part but that's just my opinion. Overall it was okay. I guess.

Anyway. Happy 40th Anniversary of the First Men on the Moon! Happy 65th anniversary of the Claus von Stauffenberg attempt to blow Hitler to hell! Happy birthday, dad!

~Today in History~
You've got to be kidding. I've just told you.

~Quote(s) of the Day~
"That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
-The most famous thing ever said on the moon, spoken by Neil Armstrong. Then again, not a lot of things were said on the moon, were they?
"Contact light! OK; engine stop."
-The lesser known, first words on the moon, spoken by Buzz Aldrin. I personally find it's quite obvious why nobody wants to quote this.
"Long live our Glorious Germany!"
What Claus von Stauffenberg shouted before he was shot for his part in Hitler's assassination attempt. It could have been a Glorious Germany. Pity Hitler made sure it couldn't.

2009-07-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

POSTDAM
Two days ago, the Postdam Conference began.
It lasted from the 16th of July to the 2nd of August. The main participants were Josef Stalin, Harry Truman and Winston Churchill, but Churchill lost the General election of 1945 in late July and was replaced by Clement Attlee. (But Churchill was still better!)
Anyway. I shall bore you with the results of the Conference.
* Germany:

o Issuance of a statement of aims of the occupation of Germany by the Allies: demilitarization, denazification, democratization, decentralization and decartelization.
o Division of Germany and Austria respectively into four occupation zones (earlier agreed in principle at Yalta), and the similar division of each's capital, Berlin and Vienna, into four zones.
o Agreement on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
o Reversion of all German annexations in Europe, including Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine, Austria and the westernmost parts of Poland
o Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, effectively reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to its 1937 borders. The territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of Pomerania. These areas were mainly agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia which was the second largest centre of German heavy industry.
o Expulsion of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern borders of Germany.
o Agreement on war reparations to the Soviet Union from their zone of occupation in Germany. It was also agreed that 10% of the industrial capacity of the western zones unnecessary for the German peace economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within 2 years. Stalin proposed and it was accepted that Poland was to be excluded from division of German compensation to be later granted 15% of compensation given to Soviet Union.
o Ensuring that German standards of living did not exceed the European average. The types and amounts of industry to dismantle to achieve this was to be determined later.
o Destruction of German industrial war-potential through the destruction or control of all industry with military potential. To this end, all civilian shipyards and aircraft factories were to be dismantled or otherwise destroyed. All production capacity associated with war-potential, such as metals, chemical, machinery etc were to be reduced to a minimum level which was later determined by the Allied Control Commission. Manufacturing capacity thus made "surplus" was to be dismantled as reparations or otherwise destroyed. All research and international trade was to be controlled. The economy was to be decentralized (decartelization). The economy was also to be reorganized with primary emphasis on agriculture and peaceful domestic industries. In early 1946 agreement was reached on the details of the latter: Germany was to be converted into an agricultural and light industry economy. German exports were to be coal, beer, toys, textiles, etc — to take the place of the heavy industrial products which formed most of Germany's pre-war exports.

* Poland:

o A Provisional Government of National Unity recognized by all three powers should be created (known as the Lublin Poles). Recognition of the Soviet controlled government by the Western Powers effectively meant end of recognition for the existing Polish government in Exile (known as the London Poles).
o Poles who were serving in the British Army should be free to return to Poland, with no security upon their return to the communist country guaranteed.
o The provisional western border should be the Oder-Neisse line, defined by the Oder and Neisse rivers. Parts of East Prussia and the former Free City of Danzig should be under Polish administration. However the final delimitation of the western frontier of Poland should await the peace settlement (which would take place at the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany in 1990)
o The Soviet Union declared it will settle the reparation claims of Poland from its own share of reparations.

Bored yet?
We're going to watch Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince at 1600hrs. To prepare for it I began reading the book this morning and finished it the same morning. Impressive, eh? I was supposed to be studying ting xie then. Whoops.
Our cousins from Beijing have come back and they're due to leave on Monday. We're watching the movie with one of my cousins. Monday is the day Col. von Stauffenberg tried to blow Hitler up and failed (in 1944), when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon (in 1969) and when a guy called Eng Wee Hua was born in 1955.
I love my family's birthdays.

~Today in History~
1925: Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle).

~Quote of the Day~
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
-FDR (won't tell you what the initials stand for because if you know me you ought to know what they stand for). Of course, he doesn't mean that you should tie a knot around your neck.

2009-07-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Belated Operation Husky Day!
I haven't come online for a long time, I realise.
I also realise that this is my 200th post. Aren't you guys proud of me? Let's give a whoop and a cheer! Clap clap clap. Now that celebrations are over, let's get on with it.
The 10th of July 1944 was D-Day for the Invasion of Sicily. It was something like a miniature D-Day, really - before the invasion, the body of a man dressed as a Major - identity Major Martin - was found floating off the coast of Spain and the Spanish took it to the Germans. Inside the briefcase was plans for the invasion of Greece. And so the Germans went and rushed all their troops there.
But Major Martin was actually a thirty four year old man who had died of chemically induced pneumonia, a civilian who never was in the Army. The whole thing was a fake, under the name of Operation Mincemeat, to make sure the German defences were not where they were supposed to be. Rather like Operation Fortitude, don't you think?
The man's name has remained a mystery to this day - he's known as "the man who never was".
First came the Airborne landings - the 505th PIR, 82nd Airborne making their first combat jump. There were winds of up to 72km/h and they blew the planes all over the place, so much so that Jumpin' Jim Gavin, commander of the 505th, thought he'd landed on mainland Italy instead. The next day the 504th PIR plus the seaborne armada came in - and the 504th lost more men to friendly fire - their own ships shooting at them - than to the Germans. Idiots.
Rather like D-Day, don't you think? Anyway. Today Science was bloody hilarious. We were starting on reflection, and our science teacher tried to cross-breed X-Men with Star Trek - a picture of Cyclops and a caption "beam me up, Scotty". Barack Obama was going on and on about how this was a sin and a culture shock. And then there was the killing of Medusa, and the defeat of Cyclops - Cyclops zaps this beam at this (in Cap'n Obvious's words) "guy in a nun costume" and the "guy in a nun costume" holds up this oval labeled "mirror". The beam bounces off and kills Cyclops. And the "guy in a nun costume" goes, "Ha ha ha! The day is saved, thanks to the mirror!" If that's not corny I don't know what is.
Guess who the 'guy in a nun costume' was?
Our Science Teacher.
I think we didn't stop laughing for two minutes.
And I've mastered pretty much everybody on the list. Obama, Joe Biden, Bill and Hillary, George W. and H.W. Bush, Al Gore, Dick Cheney. I daren't tell you what exactly I've mastered because the Feds could come and arrest me. And God knows we don't want that to happen.

~Today in History~
1941: Montenegrins start popular uprising against the Axis Powers.

~Quote of the Day~
Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.
-Winston Churchill. Of course, when you do get shot, that's a different story.

2009-07-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

A little orange note and a wedding
Well, I don't want to talk much about the orange note. Let's just say that Clarissa thought that she needed to spice the lesson up a bit and wrote me a rather amusing note, signed as somebody else. Firstly, she signed it in an alias that only four people know. Secondly, out of that four people, her writing (Found from the class mobile phone contact list thinggum) was most similar to that of the note. Thirdly, Ros was pointing at her mouthing "She did it". Extremely subtle. It was a miracle I understood the message.

On Saturday I attended the wedding of my ex-neighbour and math tuition teacher, dressed in the exact same thing as the last wedding I went to - a shirt, a tie, and pants. The food was...well, I was never a fan of wedding food unless they include fish and chips or, you know, things I would like to eat. The only thing I enjoyed was the pan-fried cod.

On Sunday Le Yan came over and we spent a nerve-wracking three hours doing the front and back page of the history book. GEESH (my new favourite expression, a combination of "geez" and "sheesh"). We complained quite a bit, I can tell you that. Unfortunately what I can't tell you was what we complained about, or what we actually said.

Have to go now. My parents are dying to get us to exercise. And I haven't even read the papers today.

~Today in History~
1942: Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the "Secret Annexe" above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.

~Quote of the Day~
What hurts me the most, personally, is that I still promoted him to field marshal. I wanted to give him this final satisfaction ... a man like that besmirches the heroism of so many others at the last moment. He could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow.
-Adolf Hitler. Private joke, really.

2009-06-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm back
On the flight I watched the Pink Panther two which was hilarious, I guess. I also watched the original Pink Panther but only managed to finish one hour of it before the flight ended.
The airport was...to put it nicely, not what we expected. I think my parents were expecting something Changi Airport standard, and let me tell you now I know why Changi Airport is the best in the world. I would give more details, but it wouldn't be polite.
When we began to drive to Tooyay, our first stop, we got lost and went around in circles until we stopped at Caltex and asked for directions. The directions we downloaded from Google were apparently bogus - for the first day, at least. We drove down the wrong bloody road for at least ten bloody minutes before asking some locals who set us on the right road. By the time we got to the Black Wattle Retreat, it was pitch dark and you could already see the stars. Mind you, it's winter there so five o'clock looks like eight. It was only six.
The owner (called Lynda) prepared a beautiful dinner for us. Carbonara with bacon and mushroom. Then we went to the absolutely delightful log cabin and watched Epic Movie.
Second day - great breakfast, set out for York, which is a delightful small historical town (great for me) and stayed in this quaint cottage called Robin's Welcome and watched Laurel and Hardy. Had a microwave dinner - lasagna for me, fried rice for mom and dad, fish for Jason.
Third day - the longest drive with four and a half odd hours to Albany. Albany rocks. We went to visit the gap and the natural bridge, but you should have seen the wind! It nearly blew Jason off his feet. And water was everywhere. Not rain water, but the wind was so strong it was blowing seawater into our faces. And the guy who had come up with us was sitting in his car chortling away.
So we went to Whale World and saw a real whaler ship, harpoons, a funny hologram video thinggum, whale skeletons, but no real whales, of course.
We found the motel after that in roughly one minute - turns out we were already at the correct place. Not as nice as those cottages, but okay.
Bought Spiderman 3 wii game for Jason and this WWII DVD Trivia for me at Toyworld. It was only fourteen dollars - mine, I mean. The poor salesgirl was kinda confused because she misread WWII as "wii" and thought there was a problem.
Fourth day - went to the Princess Royal Fortress! Bloody awesome. Artillery, AA guns, displays, they have everything there. And the caretaker was really nice to us, apparently because he saw that we were really interested and knew how to appreciate these things. He showed us a picture of one of the antique cannons firing not too long ago. They don't seal their guns, they just put a stopper on them. So they can still use it if war comes. And us? We seal them.
After that we drove to Denmark for pies (great pies) and then to Walpole, a really small town with one street and all the shops along that street. Stayed at a place called Bayside Villas - one sort of terrace house with everything there. I played my DVD trivia game (got most of it correct) while Jason played with the toy soldiers that come with it while my parents went shopping for another microwave dinner.
Fifth Day - From Walpole to Pemberton. Pemberton is the place of giant trees. Really, really big. We went to treetop walk and walked forty metres above the ground. And we found out the name of that blue bird seen all over the place - the Splendid Fairy Wren. Yay. Jason fell sick on the way and vomited when we reached Pemberton. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but the police have a suspicion it could be the Nachos. We went tree climbing at the Gloucester Tree and the Bicentennial Tree, visited the cascades (where sheep supposedly go to commit suicide - don't ask me how that happened. We were talking about it and suddenly this came up and everybody started to go baaaaaa...thud.) and went back to the Gloucester Motel where Jason vomited all over his shoes. We watched Doctor Dolittle - the original one - which my dad has been searching for for ages.
Sixth day - Margaret River. Beautiful place. We went to the Glass Pot Melting Studio where you get to watch real glass get blown and shaped, but there weren't any demonstrations on Sunday. Come back on Tuesday. Okay. SO we went to Xanadu Vineyard but there wasn't much there, just a heckuva lot of grapes. So we checked in.
Margaret River Hideaway is a fantastic place. Farmstay. Huge cottage, funny animals, your own backyard (though it's covered in poo). The owner even set up a mini football field for us complete with the small goals and the football. We fed the animals and I got pecked by the hens, bitten by the geese, and slobbered by the cows. Watched Trading Places, which is a funny comedy. Then again, comedies are meant to be funny.
Seventh day - went to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. One of the most dangerous capes in the world because this is where the Southern and Indian oceans meet and their currents clash together. We went on a tour of the lighthouse and let me tell you a story. One day the lighthouse keeper went outside to the balcony, but left the door leading back into the lighthouse open. What happens? His cat jumps out, perches itself onto the railing, and gets blown off by the wind which can reach up to 150mph or something like that. Lucky for it it landed in some trees and survived.
Eighth day - Back to the Melting Pot Glass Studio. We watched the glass melt, how it was shaped, and bought a paperweight worth $75 for $50. The owner let us have a discount 'cause we were the lucky first sale. We stopped at Busselton and walked the Busselton Jetty which is roughly 2.5? km long, but we only walked 500m because the wind was bloody strong and disturbing Jason. We visited the Big Swamp Wildlife Park next, and it was great. Got to feed the animals. The ducks were so bloody greedy. And the emus were bloody greedy too. My dad was a distance away from the emu, carrying the white bag where the food is, and suddenly the emu reaches its long neck out and rips the white bag in half. There goes half the food.
We also went into the aviary where I had a parrot sit on my shoulder for the first time. No, I didn't start singing Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. I moved the white bag into my other hand and the parrot crawled over me to get to the other shoulder. Intelligent chaps. We also met a parrot who says, "Hello", "Who's there" and "Bye bye". And I hand-fed a kangaroo. What was not so amusing was that it gripped my hand with both claws and scratched me. Then we went to Bunbury and stayed in the Austrian Chalet which is a nice place. One night in Bunbury, nothing much to do there I think. We bought Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and tried to watch it but the DVD player was wonky.
Ninth Day - On to Perth and we visited Kings Park - beautiful place, plenty of memorials, especially this big State Memorial which has the First World War and Second World War's battles inscribed on it. Gallipoli, Somme, El Alamein, Tobruk. Then we went to visit my dad's old university - The University of Western Australia - which hasn't changed much since he was there what, thirty years ago. Except for the parking which used to be free and now costs two dollars.
Then we went to Cottesloe, and couldn't find it, and we drove straight through it down all the way to Fremantle. So we backtracked, looking for stupid Eric Street, and found it. Ironically there was a big ERIC STREET on a signpost nearby. Stayed near the beach, went down and built a fortress while our parents went to take a walk. Had Fish and Chips for dinner and boy, you should have seen it. And eaten it. Mind you, I wouldn't have given you any. It was the best fish and chips I've ever tasted.
Tenth day - 11th of June now. (You won't believe how many times I've counted the days just to see whether I'm correct.)Today was the worst day. We went on a vintage train ride - that was okay, the conductor even had one of those machines that printed out your tickets - but then I dropped the camera. In the toilet. Then I switched it on while it was dripping wet. SHORT CIRCUIT! Thankfully all the pictures were saved, although I didn't know it at the time. Bloody upsetting. Then we went to Perth. I didn't like Perth. After all the beautiful big houses in the countryside, we get these cramped hotel rooms. Finally returned the car - bit sad to see it go after ten days with us - and walked to the mint museum. Nice place, lots of gold. Couldn't steal any, though. Went out for dinner and ended up eating KFC.
Eleventh day - Bought a new camera especially for the Fremantle trip. Rode a train down to Fremantle and visited the Maritime Museum which is pretty cool. And then the Army Museum - the best place we visited during this trip save the Fort. I loved it and I bet Jason did too. Outside were the mandatory artillery pieces, tanks, big guns, and Jason impressed everyone by identifying an M3 Grant from 500m away without looking at the sign, before doing that with the M3 Stuart next to it. Scary boy. Then we went in and all the caretakers (volunteers, probably) were very eager looking. I don't think they got a lot of visitors. We were the wrong type of visitors, though. They probably want interested but ignorant visitors so that they can give all sorts of information. We were interested and informed, so they couldn't tell us anything we didn't already know. Poor them.
Had lunch then went to the markets. Didn't buy anything there.
And then we went to Fremantle Prison. Boy, that place is cool. It would be pretty creepy by night. It's like a haunted house. You should've seen the defences put up to keep the prisoners in - walls studded with glass, barbed wire, gun towers. Only six people have ever escaped. It was used all the way until 1991 - can you imagine that? The prisoners were still using rusty buckets as toilets in 1991. The guide was very funny, but I can't exactly remember what he said.
We went home and ate dinner while our parents went shopping.
Twelfth day - Last day. Didn't do much. Just went and shopped, and bought Jason a new Tiger I for his birthday which was yesterday 15 June. Ate KFC for dinner again and squeezed in two hours of sleep because the flight was at 0000. At the airport, the flight got delayed and we sat at a bookshop reading books. I finished Raven's Gate in around half an hour. The plane still hadn't arrived yet. When it did it was around 1am.
On the flight back I slept for one hour, played who wants to be a millionaire for half an hour, watched this movie called Paper Moon which is an old (1973) movie but it's a really nice one, and finished up the Pink Panther.
Got back to Singapore at around six, ate breakfast, got home at around eight.
It was a fantastic holiday. And the first thing I did when I got home? Stubbed my toe on the chair. The nail broke off.
A great welcome home.

~Today in History~
1940: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.

~Quote of the Day~
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
-Winston Churchill. Eight 'never's in all. This guy loves them.

2009-05-31T02:54:00.000-07:00

D-Day is coming
In approximately 6 days (not counting today), one of the most important days in history - arguably the defining day in the 20th century - is COMING.
Unfortunately I won't be there to witness the historical event.
You HAVE to tell me what the newspapers say.
Did anyone notice yesterday's article on the Queen getting snubbed for the D-Day anniversary celebrations?

~Today in History~
1942: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.

~Quote of the Day~
Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway.
-John Wayne. Don't tell me you don't know who he is.

2009-05-27T00:31:00.001-07:00

Collateral Damage
Today the benevolent, kind and generous school issued fifty dollar pledge cards, asking nicely (demanding) that we get fifty dollars by the start of term 3.
Last year it was fiesta, this year it's this sing singapore thing. And then they still have to resort to one dollar tickets for friday fever. Honestly this school should be called the "Come to us if you don't want your money anymore" school.
An amusing picture I thought of (and Le Yan refined, although because this was drawn by me doesn't look very refined) -

Not funny. It isn't easy drawing on the computer.
But anyway, this school is crazy. They want us to pay so much when they already have sufficient funds.
I think that's about all I have to complain today, except that today's fun and enriching program left me with a mild headache that was as mild as the 2004 tsunami. Not too bad really.
By the way, you know the other day we were coming up with stupid similes. Children coming out of school: like the charge of the light brigade, like what would have happened if Guy Fawkes hadn't been caught, like people running away from the twin towers on Sept. 11 2001. Waves on the seashore: like Fat Man crashing on Nagasaki or the two test missiles North Korea fired. A full moon: as round as the circle on Palau's flag. Dark clouds before a thunderstorm: like what happened in Pompeii after Mt. Vesuvius erupted.
That was...kinda random, wasn't it?

~Today in History~
1942: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is assassinated in Prague.

~Quote of the Day~
If the opposition disarms, well and good. If it refuses to disarm, we shall disarm it ourselves.
-Josef Stalin. That's why he's called a dictator.

2009-05-24T21:37:00.000-07:00

E learning sucks
You're probably wondering why I'm using the computer and not hard at work at school. Frankly, I'd rather be at school than have to deal with all this e-learning.
I'm sitting at home now, logged on to asknlearn, doing geography crosswords. My history is taking 69 minutes before the results can be processed. My Science needs 3300 odd seconds. My Math isn't even working at all and I've already tried for seven times and yet the results still haven't uploaded (To think we're only supposed to have one attempt! I don't even have to read the questions anymore.) I've only finished geog, home ec, art, and uh...that's about it.
Last year I had equally bad luck with e learning, mainly because I was distracted by other things. This year I'm focused and yet I still get these sort of things happening to me. The irony of it all.
In the morning my dad had to take a blood test, so we went to Thompson Plaza for breakfast and I brought my laptop along. Needless to say precious little was accomplished there.
(And now my PE will take 4000 seconds to load. I'm really enjoying myself here.)
(By the way, happy b'day LT. You share the same b'day with Ian McKellen (Magneto in the X-Men films).)
And thus I have been reduced to watching youtube videos instead of doing anything else.
I think I'll go and try math again now. Eighth time lucky?

~Today in History~
1940: Battle of Dunkirk begins.

~Quote of the Day~
We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuation.
-Winston Churchill talking about "The miracle of Dunkirk".

2009-05-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

The foot trap cat trapped foot
Yesterday night, my watch of four years broke. Not a good sign you would think.
And last night we had air con. So? So when I was closing the door, I stepped on the cat trap. (The cat trap is this spiky thing that keeps the cats out 'cause when they step on them they yowl and don't dare to come back. Hopefully.) And there was this raw skin patch and I had to have two plasters on it so that it wouldn't hurt during today's 2.4 km run.
Yes, I know, of all days to step on the cat trap this had to be it. But guess what? I managed to run 16.08 minutes for napfa 2.4 which is pretty much my best timing ever. And that means that I have a gold for napfa.
Other good news? I passed my high explosives despite the failure in the first common test. If the weighting is equal, that is. If not I'm done for.
However Geog was kind of a letdown. 73.8% which is an A2 which means mom won't be happy and neither will dad for that matter. But never mind.
I have a clinometer to construct and I still haven't done it. But it's not due tomorrow...right?

~Today in History~
1944: Battle of Monte Cassino – Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers ("Fallschirmjäger") evacuate Monte Cassino.

~Quote of the Day~
In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.
-Erwin Rommel. And if that something just so happens to be your boss...

2009-05-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

It's OVER
Finally! The hellish week of week 8 is over. Bye bye to most of the tests (except 2.4, ting xie and all that on week 9). My napfa improved by leaps and bounds! 2As, 2Bs, 1C. Although I usually get A for inclined pull ups, my first three were not counted and I exhausted quite a bit of strength on those. Now my arm muscles are aching.
My history, though, was a failure. For the comparison question instead of writing source B and C I put source A and B. So I got terribly lousy marks. Sucks doesn't it.
I think I'm addicted. On Friday I was bored so I went to youtube, then I found X-Men Evolution and I've been watching it ever since. Up to episode 10 now. Kinda weird if you ask me.
And I hate home econs, I think I am going to fail. Incidentally, Home Econ's initials are H.E. which also stands for High Explosives. I think I'd prefer High Explosives to Home Econs any time.
D-Day is coming. Just 21 more days to the 65th anniversary of the greatest day in the entire history of WWII. I'll be in Perth by then, so before I go I shall commemorate it as best as I can. But D-Day's coming! I can't wait for it to come.
I realise I have nothing good to say anymore these days.

~Today in History~
1943: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.

~Quote of the Day~
No one can guarantee success in war, but only deserve it.
-Winston Churchill.

2009-05-11T02:40:00.000-07:00

>Insert Title Here<
Last night we finally got to watch X-Men 3. Jason didn't want to watch at first but then he was the most absorbed during the last part.
Today we went to the doctor. The doctor said that I had a blocked nose, conjunctivitis (both eyes), a cough (lots of phlegm), and I was wheezing everywhere. She also said something about bronchitis, and that if this didn't stop I'd get tuberculosis, and something about pneumonia was mentioned too.
WHOA. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. Bronchitis, tuberculosis, asthma, pneumonia (they rhyme! The first two and the last two) are all fancy words for diseases that you've probably never caught in your lifetime. I don't know about you but I think it's cool.
Tomorrow I won't be jogging. I might not be coming to school (got an M.C. just in case, might as well use it).

~Today in History~
1944:The Allies start a major offensive against the Axis Powers on the Gustav Line.

~Quote of the Day~
An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individuality stuff is a bunch of bullshit.
-George Patton. You tell 'em, George.

2009-05-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

We are here purely out of necessity, not because we want to
You know that house practice thing? Because it was compulsory to go for two events I went for javelin and shot put.
And you know they didn't even take down my bloody name for javelin? So I think I've been cheated.
Anyway when Ros and I went down I kept muttering to myself that 'we are here purely out of necessity, not because we want to'. Which I think is quite an accurate statement if I do say so myself.
You know what day it is today?
It's WINSTON-CHURCHILL-ELECTED-AS-PRIME-MINISTER day!
Yes, I know it's also mother's day, but today in 1940 he was elected prime minister! Celebration! It was also somewhere around today that he made that "Blood, sweat, tears and toil" speech. If you're interested go look it up. Churchill Speeches always rock.
Speaking of history quite a few things happened today.
# 1940 – The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
# 1940 – Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
# 1940 – Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
# 1940 – Invasion of Iceland by the United Kingdom.
# 1941 – The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
# 1941 – Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Germany.
# 1942 – The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
Interesting, isn't it? And today just happened to be mother's day.
I am going to the doctor tomorrow because I have a fever, a cough and a runny nose. And before you all go screaming "SWINE FLU! GET AWAY FROM ME!" I can assure you that my temperature is a mere 37.7C and it is not about to go any higher.
Right. I'll have to be off now. I've got stuff to do. After all, I'm doing this purely out of necessity, not because I want to.

(It is bloody difficult to find Winston Churchill with his bowler hat, cigar and v for victory sign all together. If he's not missing one thing, it's the other.)

~Today in History~
1940: Winston Churchill becomes PRIME MINISTER.

~Quote of the Day~
I don't know whether war is an interlude during peace, or peace is an interlude during war.
-Georges Clemenceau. I know the answer! It's both.

2009-05-08T00:03:00.001-07:00

CELEBRATION
You know what day it is today?
That's right!
It's VE DAY!!!
Victory In Europe, for those who are clueless. On the 7th-8th May 1945 the surrender documents were signed and Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces and thus ended the war in Europe. (Sadly the war in Asia was still going on. The good news is that it ended (officially) on the 2nd of September 1945, so it isn't too great a difference.)
Coincidentally it was also the day for our History test on none other than (guess what?) World War Two.
Unfortunately they didn't say anything about the war in Europe and they tested the map that I only studied last minute. And my English has let me down.
The first question was a map work one. They showed a picture of the Johor Straits and put, "The ________________ separates the island of Singapore from Malaysia".
At first I put Johor Straits. Which is correct. Then I don't know why but I saw separates and thought that "wait a minute, Johor Straits is plural!" and canceled the 's'. So now I've lost one mark just because of that. Which sucks.
And I realise that my blog could be used for history lessons, because every single post is peppered with bits and pieces of useless historical information.
For example: the skipper of the Repulse which sunk on the 10th of December 1941 was only saved because his officers pushed him off the bridge.

~Today in History~
1945: VICTORY IN EUROPE DAY! War ends in Europe ONCE AND FOR ALL.

~Quote of the Day~
This is your victory!
-Winston Churchill to the cheering crowd. To which they replied, "No, it's yours!" Which is kinda strange when you think about how they kicked Churchill out of parliament two months later.

2009-05-06T04:44:00.000-07:00

A letter
The following letter will probably be insulting to a good many people. However I did not and do not intend to insult anyone of these people - it's just a complaint letter. I'll try not to mention ANY names. I find that there are quite a few things wrong with this school and it's time to say something about it. So once again, if anyone finds this letter offensive, I offer my sincerest apologies and will take this down immediately.

***

To whomever this may concern,
I am writing this because I am concerned about a few things going on in our school.
Firstly, regarding the Morning Jog, I would like to point out something. During this H1N1 Virus pandemic, you are right to say that we should avoid crowds. Now, a morning jog is also known as a mass jog, correct? What does the term 'mass jog' mean? Many, many people. At least 300 people, if not more. And what is another word for 'many, many people'? A crowd. Didn't I just hear someone telling us to avoid crowds during this pandemic? Wait a minute...aren't they the same people who tell us to go down for assembly and morning jog?

ANother thing - the Student Forums that you have are quite frankly an absolute, utter and complete waste of time. During the first student forum in Term 1, you got us to talk about school uniforms and that sort of thing, adding that we would not be scolded for our suggestions. Fine. But I'd rather get scolded and get the question answered than let you evade it like you did. Every suggestion made and you would come up with some stupid reason that is, I might add, poppycock. When we pressed on for a proper answer you evaded it completely and changed the subject. And those that were 'sensible' enough to not get an evasion from you got a "we'll look into it" which in your language translates into "We'll take your suggestion, shelve it and not look at it until ten years later, thanks". And not only that. If the student council had no idea what to say they would look at a certain teacher sitting besides them who would nod or shake her head. This is a student's forum, if I recall correctly. It's power to the STUDENTS; the teachers shouldn't even be in there in the first place. And when one of the netballers asked a question the netball teacher blew his top. I thought someone said something about "not getting scolded"? Or is that just my hearing?

The second student forum held you chose to do something much safer - school spirit. No more pesky, annoying questions. Smart. But it was totally and utterly useless as well.

The next topic is a sore spot for many secondary school students. Every Monday morning we have to stand in the field while the cute, dainty, innocent little primary school girls saunter down to their seats, carrying their funny little books. And whenever we do the family dance (Which is actually an unnecessary thing. It does increase bonding, but we're bonding against the school. And it's stereotypical too. Not all girls can/like to dance, you know.) the primary girls sit there and stare at us blankly or bury their adorable little noses in the books.

One: Why is it the Primary School Girls get to sit down? Every day we are the ones that stand. There is barely any day when we sit down. And if you give us that stupid "Oh, we have to take care of our mei mei men" excuse, PLEASE. You're insulting us. We're older and that's why we have to sit down, because we got arthritis and rheumatism. In any case, it's unfair. (And don't give me that "life is unfair" thing either. Some parts of life are unfair, but this one doesn't have to be.)

Two: Why is it the Primary School Girls get to stay in lass every day except for Monday? You know how we long to just stay in class. We have more tests than the Primary school girls could ever dream of, we need the time to study. Last minute mugging is very effective. If you argue that there's not enough space, think again. Ever heard of this huge place called the "Hall"?

Three: Why don't the primary school girls have to do the family dance? Surely they have learnt it. The Primary Twos have been in this school longer than the Sec 1s have, and yet it is the Secondary One girls who have to dance. And maybe the P1s and P2s are too young, fine. How about the upper Primary? Can't they dance? They've been watching the Secondary Section dance for three years at the very least. They know how to do it. Why can't the secondary section sit down one day while the Primary school girls dance and see how nice it is to be forced to do something against your will while being stared at by other people?

And now I shall move on to another subject. Our principal talks far too long at assembly, when she does. She has never talked for less than two minutes and her personal best is twenty one minutes and forty two seconds, which is roughly equivalent of Barack Obama's inauguration speech. Our principal may be the principal of this school, but she is not the president of the United States. She does not have to talk that long, in any case. If you cut out all the repetitions and unnecessary comments, her 21 minute speech would be less than ten minutes.

Now there is something else I would like to say. House Practice. You might say some are longing for Sports Day. But there are others who can't wait till it's over. Me, for instance. I don't see the point in making it compulsory for someone to sign up for two events. Not everyone is born an athlete. Some just can't run or jump or throw, and some just hate it. You can't force people to do something they don't want to do. And there's no point in saying that "If we don't then no one will join" because no one really joined. Everyone went for the 100m dash, and not a lot went for the high jumps. So basically all that this compulsory thing is doing is making a long queue and a headache for the teachers in charge of the 100m.

The last thing I shall talk about is something that would probably get me sued. Freedom of speech. You don’t know what freedom is until you lose it. I've never known freedom. Singapore may not have a reputation for having no freedom of speech, but it doesn't. Fine, it's not like in Thailand where one bad word about the King and you get jailed. But in Singapore isn't it turning towards that? The ruling party has been the PAP for a very, very long time. The other parties, the opposition never get to say anything and when they make the news, they do it because they're going to get sued for 'defaming' someone high up in the PAP (like I promised, I won't mention names). Don't know about you, but it doesn't sound like a lot of freedom to me.

Take America. Mr. Barack Obama called Mrs. Sarah Palin something along the lines of a pig with lipstick. There was a bit of an uproar but did Palin sue Obama? No.

Take England. A person - I forget his name - called Mr. Gordon Brown a "one eyed Scottish idiot". He was forced to apologise, but did Brown sue the chap? No.

You see how we lack freedom of speech? Our student forum is a very good example.

I suppose the moment you read this sarcastic and controversial letter you will a)"look into it" (i.e. shelve it), b) tear it up and throw it into the shredder before anyone can see it, c) sit and stare at it in shock and the sheer audacity of it all, d) Find the person who wrote this. But that will just prove what I've been trying to say - that you have no idea what freedom of speech means.

Yours sincerely
A friend
(or 2)
(or 3)
(or many more)
(a crowd?)

~Today in History~
1945: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.

~Quote of the Day~
Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
-George Orwell

2009-05-03T00:54:00.000-07:00

Three more weeks
Lately I've realised that my titles seem to be getting more and more boring. Or perhaps that's just because nowadays there's nothing to talk about.
Three more weeks to the END OF SCHOOL. It's impossible to wait for it. And you know that VE (Victory in Europe, for all those people I have not been in contact with before, because if you've talked to me you should know what VE means) Day is on Friday, don't you? Anyway, Friday is Common Test Day and you know what test we have?
HISTORY!
More specifically, the entire chapter on World War Two.
Now, I'd like to clarify something. I know a lot of people are going to expect me to get really high marks for this and top the class, but I can assure you that that isn't going to happen. For one, I specialise in the ETO, not the PTO. I do SHAEF, not CinCPac. Number two: I don't know ANYTHING about Singapore history, so it can be assumed that I don't know anything about Singapore's involvement in World War Two either. Sure, I know all that about Percival and Yamashita and Fort Canning and the Ford Motor Factory, but I don't know the events that led up to it. Who cares about battles at Ipoh and Johor when you can have things like Cherbourg and Arnhem?
So, basically, I'm going to die for history just like I will die for Wen Shi (which is tomorrow and I don't even know what we're supposed to learn).
On a happier note, I went on a shopping spree today. Harris was having a clearance sale and we bought $221 worth of books. Now you know where all that money I save goes to. I got roughly seven or eight new WWII books, plus one on Land Warfare and one on Sea Warfare (though those are more for my brother). I wanted to get one on Vietnam (Yes, branching out at last) but that one cost $40.
But maybe I've been rambling for too long. I did want to say something about AC Milan, though. Jason got this AC Milan thing stuck on a piece of cardboard, and I asked what it was. He said he didn't know. "That's AC Milan, isn't it?" I asked. He said (very surely) that it was. I pointed out that he didn't know a moment ago. He said, "Oh, a friend of mine told me."
By the way, I've got a new haircut. The hairdresser unfortunately cut it too short so now I look like a boy. So no laughing tomorrow.

~Today in History~
1942: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.

~Quote of the Day~
Go forward until the last round is fired and the last drop of gas is expended...then go forward on foot!
-George Patton. Sort of like a suicide march, then. Pity the soldiers in the Third Army. And wait...what happens after your feet are gone?

2009-04-29T01:10:00.000-07:00

April
Just in case I can't come online tomorrow, let me be the first to wish Adolf Hitler a very happy Death Day.
Hitler died on the 30th of April 1945 after marrying his longtime girlfriend, Eva Braun (poor girl). He then poisoned his dog, Blondi, and let his wife poison herself (like I said - poor girl). Then the Fuhrer of Germany bit a cyanide capsule and shot himself in the mouth. Hitler's body and that of Eva Braun were put in a bomb crater, doused in gasoline by Otto Günsche and other Führerbunker aides, and set alight as the Red Army advanced and shelling continued.
Interesting, huh? But we're not learning about Hitler this year (sad) so I won't go on about it.
Mrs Sushilla finally finished our recommendation letters, and not a moment too soon - it's bloody due tomorrow (for NJC anyway). Jeez. I hate all this paperwork. It's terrible. Why must the Ministry of Education make things so complicated for us? And why can't NJC have a later deadline like VJC (who should have an earlier deadline, seeing as they have many, many more application forms to go through)?
We had bao zhang du hou gan on Monday. I think I am going to fail. FAIL. FAIL. And if I fail my parents are not going to be too pleased.
Oh, no, they'll be extremely pleased! They'll hold a party for me, commemorating my very first failure in a major test (tingxie not counted, neither is home econs) and they'll pour wine and champagne just for me! And we'll party way into the night and they'll buy me a Macbook and give me two days off so that I can rest and relax for a job well done.

~Today in History~
1945: The German Army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies. (That took...a very long time. Italy switched sides to the Allies way back in '43.)

~Quote of the Day~
I will build aeroplanes, build aeroplanes, aeroplanes, aeroplanes, and I shall annihilate my enemies.
-Adolf Hitler. So much for annihilating your enemies, Adolf. Happy deathday!

2009-04-24T02:08:00.000-07:00

So you think you're smart? Well, actually, yes, I do.
Today during recess there was this "so you think you are smart thing". I didn't participate but I went down because we were supposed to write a report on it.
It was basically like "Are you smarter than a fifth grader" with a few categories to choose from. The first category chosen was sports.
The first question was easy. "Who won the 2009 Golf Masters?"
Angel Cabrera, of course.
Next: "How many gold medals did Michael Phelps win at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games?"
Eight, of course.
As you can see, I didn't participate because the questions were so obviously below my standard of intellectual questions.
The only one I had trouble with: "How many GB can a 4th Generation iPod store?"
You may not laugh.
Anyway, what really infuriates me is this one question: "Which two groups fought in WWII?"
The question isn't infuriating. It was the player that was.
See, the correct answer is obviously the Axis and Allies. But one group argued that Central and Allied Powers also worked out "because the Central had Germany and Italy, and the Axis had Germany and Italy!" BLAH BLAH BLAH. In case you've forgotten, the Axis had one very important member that was in WWII - JAPAN. And you know what? Italy did join the war in 1915 for WWI - but AGAINST the Central Powers, not with them! It was in the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, sure, but it still fought against them and therefore should be considered on the Allied side. And if you want to get technical, in WWII two more countries, Romania and Yugoslavia, joined the Axis, while in WWI it was the Ottoman Empire which doesn't include Romania or Yugoslavia.
Sorry for the boring stuff. But it was still really insulting to us history buffs.
Anyway, I was playing Google Earth Flight Stimulator just now. I took off from Nebraska and made a perfect landing before flying over the cliff and taking off without even pressing the down arrow.
And then I traveled to Nepal with the intention of taking off from Mt. Everest. Didn't quite make it, but at least I took off from the fifth highest mountain in the world - Makalu. Not bad, methinks.

~Today in History~
1945: 19th Indian Division reaches Toungoo in Burma.

~Quote of the Day~
Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.
-Bertrand Russell. You realise that this is very true.

2009-04-23T04:49:00.000-07:00

Week five is (almost) over!
YES. THE HELLISH WEEK FIVE IS DRAWING TO A CLOSE.
What did we have this week? Science, Lit, English, Chinese, etc etc etc. And then next week it's LABOR DAY on Friday. NO COMMON TEST. Yay.
Today for assembly we had this sociopat-I mean, social worker called Samuel something came to talk to us wearing a pink-and-gray t shirt one size too small for him and punctuating his speech (full of rather fake stories, in my opinion) with, er, gestures that, er, were on the, er, you know. Don't want to offend anyone here.
Anyway. Then we were given some Math briefing. BORING. And their design was hilariously stupid. A sphere (It's pronounced s-fear, not spear, Mr Lin) on top of a pyramid. And the funniest thing? Mr Lin asked us not to copy the design. Who would be stupid or desperate enough to copy that?!
But in between that Mrs Sushilla demande- I mean, asked Le Yan and I, if we weren't too busy whether we could kindly run along and photocopy our report books' results for her as soon as our schedule would permit us to do. (Translation: NOW NOW NOW!!!)
So we spent twenty cents each on the photocopied things and ran like hell all the way back. At least I did. Le Yan had to change. So I gave it to her, and she seems to have gotten the idea that she has to post it for me. I'll have to correct her tomorrow.
Tomorrow's just science common test and lit test. Hooray(YUCK). I think I'll do very well (NOT); in fact I've already studied (AND FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT WWII WHILE I WAS AT IT). I'm going to ace tomorrow (RIGHT...).

~Today in History~
1942: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.

~Quote of the Day~
Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.
-Josef Stalin. That's dictator for you.

2009-04-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to you
Tomorrow, two things will be happening.
One, tomorrow is Adolf Hitler's birthday. He was born 20 April 1889 in Austria-Germany.
Two, tomorrow is the beginning of the dreaded WEEK 5, and we have roughly 5? 6? tests on that week. Plus our chinese and science files are due and I haven't filed either.
Yesterday we were supposed to have this amazing race thing, unfortunately Ms. Law (if I may use an impolite term) SCREWED UP and we were put on the waiting list. So we went around the booths. The American booth was nice. It had the "I want you for the U.S. Army" poster on it and the Rosie the Riveter one. My friends were rather impressed with my knowledge. (By the way I've memorised the first paragraph of Abe Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, something I've been trying really hard to do. Congratulate me, please.)
There was the Belgian booth, where we played a Belgian game. I didn't know Herge was from Belgium. Is that true?
Then the Finnish booth where we learnt how to speak Finnish. The only thing I remember is "kiitos" which means thank you.
The Swiss booth was giving out cheese, but the queue was so bloody long.
Then we went to the Cathay thingum and stood there for a good hour or so, before they went to watch 17 again (PUKE). I want to watch Angels and Demons. Can't wait.
Ok, that's about all I wanted to say.
I hate week 5.

~Today in History~
1943:In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

~Quote of the Day~
Nice chap, no General.
-Montgomery on Eisenhower. It sounds more of Eisenhower on Montgomery.

2009-04-15T02:17:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what to say
What the title says.
Anyway, got my geog paper back! I got 17.5 out of twenty, which is a very good score, in fact the best score I've had in a long, long time. Because my results this term suck, which greatly damage my chance of getting into VIP.
Speaking of which, I've been trying to find Mrs Sushilla to get my testimonial done. This is a pretty obvious choice, because 1. she likes me more than the other teachers do and 2. I would not want to ask Mr. Tan, because he might just jump up (his fat belly wobbling, and I don't want to risk that either) and point an accusing finger at me and shout, "YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE THAT RUINED EVERYTHING LAST YEAR! NOW EVERYTHING IS RUINED! RUINED!!!!" and slump down onto his desk, banging his (fat) fist on the table and sobbing his (fat) heart out and then the whole staff room would be staring at me and that is not exactly something nice. You know what I mean?
Unfortunately whenever I go to the staff room to look for Mrs Sushilla I don't see her. Either she's at recess or somewhere else. So I decided to write her an email. Unfortunately it just says "adjunct teacher" or something like that and there is no email on the list. Which is bad for me. So my mom suggested I write her a handwritten note and that is what I suppose I'll do, although I'm afraid she'll return it to me with a "good try, Rachel, but I see you've forgotten the format of formal letter writing" and a lot of red markings of how the proper format should be. Which would mean she isn't taking me seriously and thinks that I'm just trying to submit a letter so that she can edit it.
But who gives a damn about anything anymore?

~Today in History~
1941: In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attack Belfast, Northern Ireland killing one thousand people.
(And guess what else happened today? The RMS Titanic sank!)

~Quote of the Day~
War is a series of catastrophes which result in victory.
-Georges Clemenceau. So...disaster + catastrophe + calamity + devastation + tragedy = victory?

2009-04-11T01:53:00.001-07:00

New blogskin!
I'm so proud of myself. I finally learnt how to do these sort of things.
Anyway, what was I going to say?
Because I might not be coming online tomorrow, I would like to remember President Franklin D. Roosevelt today.
As all of you history buffs know (so I don't imagine anyone knows) President Roosevelt died on Thursday, 12th of April 1945, eighteen days before Adolf Hitler shot himself, twenty six before the war in Europe ended, a hundred and forty three before the Second World War finally ended.
He died at Warm Springs, Georgia, at the age of sixty three.
Most of the countries paid their respects to Roosevelt: the British adjourned the meeting at the House of Commons after a sitting which lasted eight minutes, the Russians hung black-bordered flags in Moscow and the Supreme Soviet, when it met, stood in silence. The Japanese Primer expressed "profound sympathy" to the Americans in the loss of their leader, to whom he assigned the responsibility for "the Americans' advantageous position today". Only the Germans said that "Roosevelt will go down in history as the man at whose instigation the present war spread into a Second World War, and as the President who finally succeeded in bringing his greatest opponent, the Bolshevik Soviet Union, to power." (Which is very wrong. Roosevelt didn't declare war on anyone besides Japan - it was the Germans who declared war on the Americans, making it a world war.)
Winston Churchill said of his friend and ally: "In war he had raised the strength, might and glory of the great Republic to a height never attained by any nation in history."
Franklin D. Roosevelt was indeed a great man. He did many things - pulling America out of the recession, signing the New Deal, taking revenge on Pearl Harbor, signing the Lend Lease, making memorable speeches like "There is nothing to fear but fear itself", eventually winning the war and creating a new world peace. It was he who essentially won the war because had the Americans not come in, the British would have lost. It is he to whom we owe this gratitude, this thankfulness for the peace and calm of the world we know today (excluding places like Iraq - that was Bush) and it is he we should thank. Franklin D. Roosevelt did many things for us. He never lived to see what he had done because he was overworking himself (thus his sudden death) but remember that he overworked himself for peace, for mankind, for the end of all wars. Wars haven't ended yet. They are still going on. But hopefully one day the world will realise Roosevelt's ambition and no more wars will happen.
So I'll end off with the words of Winston Churchill, his great friend and staunch ally during the entire war:

"For us it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known, and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the New World to the Old."

~Today In History~
1945: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.

~Quote of the Day~
Tonight, I am appealing to the heart and to the mind of every man and every woman within our borders who loves liberty. I ask you to consider the needs of our nation and this hour, to put aside all personal differences until the victory is won. The light of democracy must be kept burning. To the perpetuation of this light, each of us must do his own share. The single effort of one individual may seem very small. But there are 130 million individuals over here. And there are many more millions in Britain and elsewhere bravely shielding the great flame of democracy from the blackout of barbarism. It is not enough for us merely to trim the wick, or polish the glass. The time has come when we must provide the fuel in ever-increasing amounts to keep that flame alight.
-FDR.

2009-04-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

I love Good Friday
It's a HOLIDAY!
Finally, a break from all that terrible work.
Yeah, I still got Chinese ting xie, Math homework, Science reflections and filing to do. But still!
I think St. Nicks has more homework than RGS. It's not fair.
Plus I'm applying for VJC and NJC and have to write some absolutely screwed personal statement, in which everything is going to be a lie and/or an exaggeration.
But still!
Nowadays there is rarely anything to blog about. There was this International Friendship Day "Amazing Race" for assembly on Thursday. More like Asean Friendship Day. They just went around Asean. And to think I was looking forward to see more famous landmarks. (i.e. something in Washington D.C., or Paris, or you know what I mean.) Le Yan and I were just being really sarcastic for the entire thing.
And...that's about it, I guess.
And congratulate me! I have established the fact that Operation Barbossa was on the 22nd of June and not the 22nd of April. And I finished Otto Skorzeny's book. Which was good.

~Today in History~
1941: The Axis Powers in Europe establish the Independent State of Croatia from occupied Yugoslavia with Ante Pavelić's Ustase fascist insurgents in power.

~Quote of the Day~
Better to fight for something than live for nothing.
-George Patton

2009-04-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

I hate mondays

Today for PE
We ran four rounds
In ten minutes
Then
Thirty situps
Then
Jumped up the eight steps of the forum which come up to about thigh height
Three times
Before doing thirty push up like things
And then shuttle run
In one hour.
I'm still alive.
I think.
Then we had home ec and I nearly fell asleep.
Then we had recess which was spent practicing my speech because I didn't practice over the weekend.
Then we had Chinese discussing my beautiful 28/50 test. ( I was still practicing my speech.)
Then we had...SPEECH TIME!
I think I screwed up.
Badly.
I also have come to the conclusion that I hate mondays.

~Today in History~
1941: Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).

~Quote of the Day~
(just found a bumper load of quotes so I won't be running dry anytime soon!)
If you are going through hell...keep going.
-Winston Churchill.

2009-04-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

U-110

Jason and I had a rather big argument the other day over the submarine U110.
You're probably wondering what that is so I'll tell you. U110 was this German U-boat with the Enigma machine in it. The skipper tried to scuttle it but it failed and that's how the Allies found the Enigma machine, decoded all the Germans' messages and won the war.
I said, "If they hadn't found U110 and the Enigma, the Germans could have won the war."
Jason said, "Sad."
Sad? SAD?! Do I hear something rather neo-Nazi here? Why would the Germans having a better chance at winning the war be GOOD?!
"You sound like you're supporting the Germans."
"No I'm not!"
"Then why should the Germans losing be sad?"
"I don't know! It's just evening the chances out, I guess?"
Much as I support fair play, I'd rather have the Allies have a better shot at winning the war than the Germans.
"So you would rather the Germans won?"
I think he was getting tired of me asking him because he said very angrily, "YES!" and shut up.
My brother is a NEO NAZI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeez.

~Today in History~
1944: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.

~Quote of the Day~
Maybe there are 5,000, maybe 10,000 Nazi bastards in their concrete foxholes before the Third Army. Now if Ike stops holding Monty's hand and gives me some supplies, I'll go through the Siegfried Line like shit through a goose.
-George Patton. He's his usual happy vulgar self, I see.

2009-04-03T00:36:00.000-07:00

Absolutely random blog post
I should not be doing this because I have a tonne of homework to do.
1. Lit Macbeth Essay
2. Practice English Speech
3. Chinese Newspaper reflections
4. Science report polishing
5. Switzerland Project Work
6. History coffee-table book
7. Two Math worksheets

And they're all due around Monday or Tuesday. Or Wednesday.
And during the weekend I've got a)piano lesson, b)math tuition, c)seeing my uncle off at the airport, d) Having dinner with grandma and uncle.
ARGH.
I'm currently stuck on my Macbeth essay. I think I'm going to fail Lit this term.
On the other hand I PASSED MY CHINESE! 28/50!!! Poor Le Yan though. But never mind. Two B4s for term 3 and term 4 and you'll pass HCL.
I got wenshi back too. 36/50. Not bad for one and a half hours worth of studying.
Since I can't think of anything else to say I'll end off with my favorite song.

My Favorite Things

Eyeballs and noses and red guts that glisten
Fingers and tonsils and ears that won’t listen
Gullets and brains that are splayed out in rings
These are a few of my favorite things

Guns that backfire and turn you to ashes
Tanks that roll over men, bloody car crashes
Stomachs and colons and bones of the kings
These are a few of my favorite things

Nuclear bombs, neutron bombs, much radiation
Machine gun bullets and crucification
Skulls used as cups and brain nerves used as strings
These are a few of my favorite things

When the guns roar
When the rounds hit
When you’re feeling mad
Just think about all of my favorite things
And then you won’t feel
So bad!

~Today in History~
1942: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.

~Quote of the Day~
The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it.
-George Orwell, of Animal Farm and 1984 fame.

2009-04-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

The Berlin Wall

There was one day Jason and I were sitting in the back of the car and we were discussing the Berlin Wall.
I hope you all know what the Berlin Wall is. Basically it was to separate East and West Germany after the end of WWII and the beginning of the cold war.
So Jason was commenting on how the Berlin Wall is just a piece of concrete and could be easily blown up by dynamite. I asked, then how come it took roughly forty four years to be torn down?
He said, "Because the Allies took such a long time to get to Berlin?"
LAUGH! LAUGH! LAUGH!
I told him afterwards that the Berlin wall was built after the war. Then I explained a bit about what I knew of its history before asking him, why do you think the Berlin wall was torn down after forty four years?
He hesitated then said, "Because that was when Germany became independent?"
GERMANY HAS ALWAYS been independent!
Almost always, anyway. But the fact remains...
JASON IS AN IGNORMAGUS.
Although he's a much more well read ignormagus than some people I know, some people three years older than him...

~Today in History~
1917: Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany! (Yes, I know this is WWI, but it's an important date in WWI!)

~Quote of the Day~
I’m very sorry to hear the 1st Army lost some of its gas. But I know none of my officers would masquerade as 1st Army officers. They wouldn’t stoop to that, not even to get gas SHAEF stole from us.
-George Patton. Geddit?

2009-03-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate siblings?

I don't know about you, but I sure do. The only problem is I can't remember what made me so infuriated in the first place that I'm grousing about my little brother.
First thing - he thinks he knows everything. Honestly. I'll use this as an example. Say that I say "The moon is square". He'll say, "Yeah, I knew that. The moon is square."
You think that's bad? Wait for it. Then my mom'll say something like "No, the moon is round". And then he, not wanting to admit that he's wrong, will say "NO! YOU'RE WRONG! I'M RIGHT! THE MOON IS SQUARE! HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW THAT?"
You see what I mean? Terribly annoying.
Alright. Now that I'm done talking about how annoying my brother is I shall talk about something else. Problem is I'm not sure what else there is to talk about.
Went to the library today. Got an earworm of "Barack Obama, can we do it? Barack Obama, yes we can!" it's sung to the tune of Bob the Builder in case you haven't realised.
And then we're drawing whacky soldiers and little cartoon characters all over Jason's book, which includes a particularly entertaining drawing of Roe screaming over "sizzuhs". (Inside joke. Don't bother.)
Merry Christmas.

~Today in History~
1941: Battle of Cape Matapan - in the Mediterranean Sea, British Admiral Andrew Browne Cunningham leads the Royal Navy in the destruction of three major Italian heavy cruisers and two destroyers.

~Quote of the Day~
Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.
-Erwin Rommel.

2009-03-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to you
You know who's birthday it was two days ago? Yes, it' s some guy from the 1940s whom you probably never heard of. He was the commander of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (not to be mixed up with the 506th PIR, which is in the 101st Airborne) during the Sicily operation and became the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division afterwards. You're probably really bamboozled by the Regiments and Divisions and all right now so I'll just tell you who he is. His nickname was the Jumping General.
His name was James M. Gavin, born James Nally Ryan.

Now, do you see these three people on my left? One of them is the real James Gavin. The other one is the Gavin in the Longest Day and the third is the Gavin in a Bridge Too Far. You want to take a stab at guessing who's who or just let me tell you?
From left to write, sorry, right, they are A Bridge Too Far's Gavin (Ryan O'Neal), the Longest Day's Gavin (Robert Ryan) and the real one.
You realize both the actors' names are really similar. And what was Gavin's original name? That's right. Ryan.
And the man who wrote the books The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far. What was his name?
Cornelius Ryan.

~Today in History~
1944: 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III in an event later dramatized by the movie "The Great Escape".

~Quote of the Day~
Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane and I'll show you a man who will fight.
-James Gavin. But of course that man will be slightly crazy too. Only crazy people volunteer to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

2009-03-19T03:52:00.000-07:00

Right. My title bar's still wonky so I won't bother with those sort of things from now on.

Jaw dropping revelations

Now, yesterday I was watching a WWII movie. Guns of Naverone. Good piece about seven odd men blowing up big guns that can blow ships out of the sea sort of thing. Now, in the first part of the movie there was a part where Gregory Peck (the hero) interviews this squadron who lost eighteen men trying to blow up the guns. And we've watched it twice and both times I find that the squadron leader's lines are probably the funniest in the entire movie.
Things like:
Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby: I'll be specific! As you can plainly see, it was ruddy awful. But we'd love to go back. Wouldn't we, boys?
[His boys give several loud cheers]
Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby: Just as soon as we can! BUT - we've got one condition. We want the joker who thought this one up to come with us. And when we get there, we're gonna shove him out at ten thousand feet - without a parachute.
((LAUGH!!))
Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby: BAD? It can't be done, not from the air, anyway!
Commodore Jensen: You're quite sure of that, Squadron Leader? This is important.
Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby: So's my life! To me, anyway.
((LAUGH!))
And my all time favourite: Squadron Leader Howard Barnsby: First, you've got that bloody old fortress on top of that bloody cliff. Then you've got the bloody cliff overhang. You can't even see the bloody cave, let alone the bloody guns. And anyway, we haven't got a bloody bomb big enough to smash that bloody rock. And that's the bloody truth, sir.
((HOWL WITH LAUGHTER!))
That's eight 'bloodies' by the way. Nine if you include the one he said earlier.
Guess who this hilariously funny Squadron Leader is?
The actor's name is Richard Harris. Ring a bell?
Maybe this picture will help -

YESSS! That's right, he's Dumbledore! Of the first and second movies! Until he died, anyway, in 2002. Sad. I prefer him to the new one. But anyway. Know what he looked like in the movie?
You sure you want to know?

That's him, to my left, in Nineteen sixty bloody one, as I'm sure he'd like me to say.
Drastic difference? You bet. My own dad who's great at recognizing faces couldn't even place where he'd seen him when the credits rolled and "Richard Harris" came out.
Interesting. All very bloody interesting.
Oh, and by the way I got a LAPTOP! I'm not exactly sure what model it is yet. Not that I really give a bloody damn. Because what matters is that it's a laptop and it's mine.

~Today in History~
1944: The Nazi Forces occupy Hungary.

~Quote of the Day~
Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.
-Erwin Rommel. Always remember that. What's the point of fighting if there's nothing in it for you?

2009-03-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

What the hell happened to my title box?
It has totally disappeared. Does that mean I'm not gonna be able to have a title to my posts anymore? Because if it does, then that sucks.
On Thursday we had a major disaster. It was the farewell of some 60 odd year old teacher who's been with St. Nicks for 39 years or something. Fun. Whatever. Singing songs (they sang more than words, which I don't expect any of you to know 'cause it's an old song, but it's an OLD song!) dancing, whatever. We were s'posed to cover it. Pubs. Bernice, Nicole, Jia Yi, Gen and I were s'posed to take pictures of the event. And what happened?
12.50: Got released from class. Picked up Jia Yi and went to the AVA room to get the camera.
12.55: Went to the hall to get the key to open the locker where the camera was, but the teacher was like "i have no time to help you" so we rushed off to the seniors to get the keys.
13.00: Went back to the hall with the camera but unfortunately the camera's battery was dead. So we had to use Bernice's and Jia Yi's cameras, but then Bernice's went out halfway as well.
And then we met Mrs. Tian who thought I was in charge of charging the camera simply because the (useless) camera was hanging around my neck. So we got our heads chewed off and I don't think that's the end of this.
School ended 50 minutes late because of assembly. Doesn't make a difference for me, but CCA started at 4. I almost broke my Geo challenge high score! I was around 500 points shy. not fair.
For CCA we have to make a blog. Interesting. If anyone's interested in visiting it's www.101airbornealltheway.blogspot.com. Very WWII themed. Don't tag, whatever you do. My mom's seen the url, so I'm gonna make it a happy blog and post all the good news on it, while I rant and rave to you on this blog instead.

~Today in History~
1943: The Kraków Ghetto is 'liquidated'.

~Quote of the Day~
The national rifle association says that guns don’t kill, people do. But I think the gun helps. Just standing there, going ‘bang!’ – that’s not going to kill too many people.
-Eddie Izzard. BANG! Did I kill you?

This'll be the day that I die

2009-03-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't do too badly as I thought I would. I got second in class for English (NOOOOOO) with an 80% A1, my Maths came in 4th (WHACKS HEAD ON TABLE) with a friggin 88%. Got a stupid, stupid, STUPID B3 for Lit and probably an A2 for History. But the result I'm happiest with is my Chinese, 'cause I passed.
There's really nothing much for me to say now. It's been a really harrowing week because we had wen shi on friday and I only started studying on thursday. Heck, as long as I pass I'll be shocked.
And now there's science, and I don't understand a single thing about Acids, Bases and Salts, except Acids is something that produces H ions.
Yuck.
I'm not gonna be doing my today in history and quote of the day today because I'm too depressed to do anything.

The Clinton assassination?

2009-02-28T23:39:00.001-08:00

Don't get me wrong - nothing's gone wrong, and no, you haven't missed anything in the newspapers. Neither Bill nor Hillary Clinton have been assassinated (Not yet, anyway). It's just that last night I happened to have a really strange dream. I know I've had lots of weird dreams before, but I think this one takes the cake.

So, it starts out with a normal school day, and for some reason or other Bill and Hillary are about to visit our school. Yay. But then we go for recess and bang, bang, loud shots easily identifiable as gunshots, although no one but me can guess.
We rush back to class to find lots of policemen and CID people standing around looking very serious. Somehow we manage to get in - I don't know how but we do. And then someone starts to scream. I don't know who did but it's definitely not me. Anyway we take our seats and wait for our teacher. Everyone but me. Because there's a nice pool of red blood at my seat.
We seek out the police and they tell us that Hillary has been shot (Horror of horrors!) and is in a coma, and Bill has been wounded and is missing forty two fingers. (I'm not sure why he had more than forty two fingers in the first place, but anyway.)
Then someone knocks on the door. Two policemen, carrying something that looks like a body bag. Now, I've never seen a dead body before and hopefully I'll never see one, so I couldn't imagine what the body looks like except that its face was all blue and stiff. And it wasn't Hillary, just so you know.
And now a number of famous celebs come into the room and start lining the walkway. Don't ask me why. I moved my seat to the middle of the walkway 'cause if I keep on sitting at my place, I'll keep on staring at the blood. But the table has blood on it too anyway.
Then the two cops who brought in the body, called Harrelson and Lysandra (don't ask me why) go to this row of houses. 41a, 41b, 41c. I don't know why they go there, but somehow the murder scene shifts from 2 Faith to number 41c.
In 41a lives a nervous looking man (if you've watched the Ocean's series, he reminds me of Livingston) and he can't stop stammering. Then he piles necklace upon necklace on Lysandra, all engraved with her name. Says something about her great grandmother. Don't know where that came from. Then he closes the door.
The next house is full of the Clintons' relatives, although somehow they kinda turned into Kennedys. (You know, JFK, those Kennedys.) There're a lot of them - the Kennedys have always been a pretty big family. Around twenty eight in one generation. Harrelson makes some snide remark about the latest generation only having eight.
They ask one of the sisters about the incident. She says she was up at night last night, and saw the assault on the balcony of 41c. Gunshots, followed by two elephants (Why elephants? I don't bloody know, it's just a bloody dream) and two limp bodies. She screamed but didn't go and check it out. Bloody idiot, honestly.
Then suddenly Harrelson and Lysandra are gone, and Frank and Joe Hardy arrive (I think Jason's been reading too many Hardy boys books and left them lying around). They do some snooping around and find this group of men in black (no pun intended. They aren't dealing with aliens here, after all) carrying some sort of body covered in sand to a spot where two other sand covered body like things are already resting in mid air, supported by something or other. (Very specific, I feel like I know exactly what the bodies look like!)
So Frank and Joe gather the Kennedy gang, but then the MIB spot them and Joe and one of the young Kennedys get caught. Yay Frank, who volunteers to take Joe's place. Yay one of the older Kennedys, who volunteers to take the younger one's place.
And...the dream kinda ends there. I don't know what happened to Frank, or Joe, or the two elephants, or whether Bill ever got his forty two fingers back, or whether Hillary woke up from her coma. Sad, huh? I'd give anything to find out. Or maybe it'd be better not to know.

~Today in History~
1943: The Battle of Bismarck Sea Begins.

~Quote of the Day~
We have to go easy on the 30000 Jews who work in the armaments production; we need them-who would have thought this could ever become possible?
-Josef Goebbels. You want us to reply to that, Josef?

Happy Flag Raising on Mt. Suribachi Day!

2009-02-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

Well, today is the 64th anniversary of the famous flag raising incident on Mt. Suribachi, on the small little island of Iwo Jima that took the US Marines thirty six days to conquer.
You know, that famous little incident on the poster of Flags of our Fathers, for those of you who have watched the movie.
Six flagraisers in total. John Bradley, Rene Gangon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, Michael Strank. The first three made it. The others did not. Rene and Ira drank themselves to death around twenty years afterwards.
Poor chaps.

Conducted our science experiment today. At least it wasn't a bloody failure like we expected it to be. Took a whole one and a half hours to complete, unfortunately. What with blocking out the light from the torch, adjusting the metal, redoing the entire thing because of a change in set up...still we ended at three thirty. And we got the job done. Amazing. I'm now writing the report.
Le Yan went made because the copper sheet cost a whopping fourteen dollars. She was treating it like her baby or something. "My precious..."I forgot which movie that line came from. Lord of the Rings? Don't know. Never watched that movie. Not my type.
And for your information, Joy, a blog that hasn't been touched for a week is not a dead blog. You want an example of a dead blog? Go look at our class blog. (Hint hint.)

~Today in History~
1945: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines and a commonly forgotten U.S. Navy Corpsman reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize and become the model for the national USMC War Memorial.

~Quote of the Day~
This means a Marine Corps for another five hundred years.
-James Forrestal, some hotshot in the Navy, to Holland Smith, commander of the US Marine troops on the Island. Or something like that. I'm sorry, my pacific war history isn't very good.

My grades are going down the drain

2009-02-18T01:47:00.000-08:00

Seriously, what do I have to do to pull my grades up? Study? Scratch that, I can't study. Because nothing gets into my head. I'm supposed to be studying ting xie now but I can't get it. The moment I stop writing that word I forget it all over again.
Who gives a damn about writing chinese words you'll forget five minutes afterwords anyway?
I am practically drowning in homework. First I had to polish up a geog poster, then search for incentives and make up my own, then write the write up (Which I have no idea what I'm supposed to be writing about) then study ting xie and read my history textbook which I haven't even touched yet, and I also need to study chinese for the common test this week, and science 'cause I'm lagging behind and haven't a notion what the hell the teach is going on about acids and salts and some other damn thing.
And my grades are flops. 16/20 for Geog. 15/22 for History. ARGH. I thought History was supposed to be one of my better subjects! I am never going to be able to tell my parents this.
And I hate Chinese remedial. Not only does it take up a precious 1 hour when I could be slacking in the computer lab beating Gen at Geo Challenge, it is dead BORING. I kept looking out of the window because the girls passing were even more interesting than the powerpoint. And then she started picking on me because I was so disinterested.
And then we've got to start on the science project. The whole thing's a failure because it's all my fault, I argued my case too convincingly and convinced them to pick a totally undoable subject that involves shiny magpie stuff and parabolic surfaces.
And then there's this reader digest thing that I didn't know about. On one of the days where I was stuck at home with my bleeding toes (they've started bleeding again, by the way, and the bottom of the nail's cracking up slightly) the teach asked if anyone subscribed to reader's digest. Now I do, but I couldn't very well tell her could I? So she marked me as "NO". So now I've got a copy of readers digest and may be forced to pay thirty bucks just because I wasn't in school.
You see? I'm so bloody angry that I can't even type at my usual speed and I'm making more typos than I have ever made in my entire life. I even made a grammatical error in Today in History today. Yuck.

~Today In History~
1943: U.S. Navy Bombards Japs at Attu in the Aleutians.

~Quote of the Day~
The war has to be over, there is nothing left to bomb.
-Random Allied Pilot flying over Germany. Poor chap. He must be hungering for German blood.

Happy Bombing of Dresden!

2009-02-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

My HPPS junior just asked me "You know about the bombing of Dresden?"
I replied, "Of course. I am THE original WWII buff."
Of course I know about Dresden! How could any WWII fan not know about the infamous bombing? RAF planes at night, USAF planes in the day. Happy Valentines Day, Dresden. Fire storms, big bombs, flares, massive bonfires. 1400 RAF planes flew over Dresden that night. Only 6 didn't make it back. The Luftwaffe was grounded. Planes machine gunning children's choirs. It was a carnival day, see. No one knows how many died - too many to count. Estimates range from 100000 to 135000. Amazing, huh?
I hate my grades. My Lit grades are inexcusable. My Maths sucks (I lost a chance at full marks!), my science graded sucks, my history sucks, even my English is not going well.
Don't you just hate school?
We're going to run around the track screaming like idiots this evening. My mom's forcing me to go. I'll probably die of exhaustion and a heart attack before we're done. The last time I ran (not including my first morning jog this year) was the last morning jog last year. Amazing, huh?
My geo challenge is not improving. I keep getting around 36000-38000 which is not a good score when you're aiming to beat 42000. Plus my com lags but the time doesn't stop ticking, which sucks. And I can't play during Infocomm because I need to install Adobe flash, which requires administrative thingummies, which I don't have. Besides, I'll have to waste my lunch period at Chinese remedial every tuesday so I won't have time to find another computer and play on that.
Argh.

~Today in History~
1945: Dresden bombed.

~Quote of the Day~
The first waves of a large enemy bomber formation have changed course and are now approaching the city boundaries. There is going to be an attack. The population is instructed to proceed at once to the basements and cellars. The police have instructions to arrest all those who remain in the open.
-The air raid warning over Dresden way after the pathfinder planes came. Talk about Delayed Action. And besides, if the police arrest someone in the open and the next second get blown to bits, that isn't going to help a lot, is it?

BORED...and pretty much dead

2009-02-06T04:22:00.000-08:00

If I told everyone I hated Wednesday, I hate today more.
Bloody hell. First period - Common Test. I estimate I lost 15 out of 35 marks already, so there goes my A1 for maths. Bloody awful.
Next period - Chinese. Got ting xie back. 73/100. Not bad for a person who lost her ting xie list two days before and studied only on that day, I guess. But it's bloody embarrassing when the rest of the class got above 90.
Then Maths and I kinda fell asleep during standard form. Teacher gave us a lot of homework but I left in school so I guess I'll be rekindling my don't-do-maths-homework attitude again.
Recess was next and I kinda stood around and did nothing (ate nothing, either) till eleven then we went back to class and drew Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill (I made a mistake and added hair) all over the board. You'll be glad to know that Hitler died, anyway. He choked on pie or something like that. Or maybe he just got erased.
Then Literature, the worst period ever. I got my worst ever score when our tests got returned. Obviously not going to tell you but it sucks. Like a C5 or something. Bleh.
Then History. Normally History would have been fun. Relatively. But not today. Today we had another test. Open book, but there was source based. Nobody bloody told me there would be source based! I positively died then. So there's twelve marks gone. (By the way there was an error in the test paper. It's supposed to be upon twenty but when you add up the marks at the end of each question you kinda get twenty two. I guess maths isn't our history teacher's forte either.)

I hate today (more than Wednesday).

~Today in History~
1941: Hitler appoints Gen. Erwin Rommel to take command over German forces in Libya!

~Quote of the Day~
On your way! Attacks don't succeed by standing still!
-Erwin Rommel. Yeah, Rommel, I'm sure we've figured that out by now.

Must. Hate. Chemistry.

2009-02-04T00:57:00.000-08:00

I hate chemistry.
But I think you've probably realized that by now.
Honestly, you can take your covalent and ionic bondings and magnesium nitride and God knows what else and shove it down your throat. Who gives a damn about these things anyway? The only use that Chemistry is going to be if you're going to be a chemist next time and blow yourself up, and I think that's bloody unlikely, especially if they're drilling us to be gentle ladies and whatever crap that they're spewing out now.
Speaking of spewing crap, we had another stupid talk on integrity again. The teacher rambled on and on and on and on and on and on and we had a jolly good nap and a jolly good time cursing and making fun of her. Bloody hell, who comes up with these things?
Speaking of things, we had our geog test today. Don't ask me how Joy managed to write three sides of foolscap in half an hour. I only managed one and a half. (On second thoughts, my writing's really tiny...) I broke my pen - the nib came out and everything - halfway through, used a second pen but that one ran out of ink. The third one's ink went through the foolscap. Only the fourth one was satisfactory. And my handwriting is illegible so they probably won't be able to decipher it and I'll fail anyway.
Speaking of failures, I'm sure I'll fail my English compre. Honestly, that one was a nightmare. And I'm sure I'll fail literature because I haven't done my poetry reflection yet, because I don't even know the poems, because I'm locked out of edulearn because either I got my password wrong or someone or something hacked into my account and switched the password, because as far as I know a few days ago I could still log in with the old one.

I hate today.

~Today in History~
1945: U.S. I Corps take San Jose.

~Quote of the Day~
If you see a white plane, it's American, if you see a black plane it's RAF. If you see no plane at all it's the Luftwaffe.
- Funny. At least some German soldier still keeps his morale up with self-criticising jokes like this. Unlike me.

What a reunion

2009-01-24T22:30:00.000-08:00

The CNY reunion this year was one of the weirdest reunions I've ever been to.
We arrived at Jurong point in three groups - one at Subway, one at GV and one who was late. Spent one hour eating lunch and yelling at each other because no one wanted to watch a movie and no one wanted to go to the arcade. We had three choices - stay at Jurong and waste time, go somewhere else and waste time, go to NTU and thrash HF's house.
By that time, our big group broke into two groups - one group went to play at Naman's house and the rest went to NTU.
And then we got broken up even further - Al, HK and Mitra missed the bus, so we gave them the bus number. Then Eugene Lim called them and told them the wrong bus number, so they were fuming, so Eugene called them back and said that HF had lied (ahem) and that they were on board the correct bus. Then he told them to get off at Hall 6 when it was actually Hall 14. So HF "lied" again and they were told to get off at Hall 14.
Once there we decided to walk to the soccer field. HF said it would be a five minute walk, so that was fine. THen she remembered it was a five minute run.
So one group got tired of the sun and went back to Jurong Point where they watched a movie. The others went and played soccer and baseball while some played cards nearby.
In the end? The most screwed up, weird, not-thought-through reunion ever.

~Today in History~
1945: The End of the Battle of the Bulge!

~Quote of the Day~
"I am certain that Field Marshal Montgomery, in the light of later events, would agree that this (operation) was a mistaken one."
-Eisenhower trying to explain away the big question mark left by Operation Market Garden.

A twist, a yank and -

2009-01-22T02:03:00.000-08:00

Today I went to KK hospital for the I-don't-know-what time this month. The fourth? Fifth? Maybe sixth.
Anyway. It was quick, fast and relatively painless - the visit. I went to take the blue stitches in my toes out.
I didn't even know the first one was out until the nurse showed me the thread. The second one was much more painful - perhaps because this time I knew she was doing it. The third and fourth were ok, although it started throbbing after that.
Four, neat little holes in each corner of the nail.
One of them was bleeding slightly. Two of them looked like the stitches were still in them.
Finally, I've uploaded pictures! Feel free to scream and squeal in disgust.

(I apologise for the quality of the pictures - bit blur, I wasn't supposed to be taking them.)

~Today in History~
1941: The Brits capture Tobruk from the Nazis.
(PLUS Le Yan's B'day)

~Quote of the Day~
You can't say civilization isn't advancing; in every war they kill you in a new way.
-Will Rogers. You have to admit he's right - from swords to muskets to chlorine to atom bombs to RPGs - what next?

Here we go again

2009-01-17T03:34:00.000-08:00

You know what? On Monday I'm going to miss school again.
Mind you, I'd rather go to school than miss it, mainly because I'm missing it to get the stitches in my big toes removed.
Without anesthetic.
Wouldn't that be painful. (For those who are scratching your heads wondering if it would be, the answer is, YES.)
Today they took off my dressing again. And this time it was five times worse, because this time she trimmed the nail (while pressing on the stitches, owww) and prodded and poked and tore my blood clot off.
Owch.
Honestly, it's not funny. It hurts like hell. And I hate the stitches. They give me a lot of pain.
Pain. I'm slowly getting accustomed to that thing.
Anyway.
School is dead boring. And I'm back to my usual habits. I'm still doing other stuff in Chinese class and not listening to the teacher (although he's ten times better than Dujia).
And during Maths? The teacher went into labor (heavily pregnant) yesterday so we didn't have any maths.
English? English and Literature are the only subjects keeping me sane.
PE? Doesn't apply to me...helloo, remember my toes?
Home ec? Four words: YAM CAKE EPIC FAILURE
music? Don't ask.
Art? Even worse.
As you can see, my year is just about to get a whole lot worse.
Just as well I didn't make any new year resolutions. They never work out anyway.

~Today in History~
1945: Soviet forces take Warsaw.

~Quote of the Day~
Before Alamein, we had no victories. After Alamein, we had no defeats.
-Winston Churchill. Ooh, modest.

Back and Better than ever

2009-01-10T01:44:00.000-08:00

I got to see my toes today, buhahahaha.
The nails are covered in blood, and flecks of blood surround the wound. There're even stitches, although I don't know where that came from. The nail's much thinner now, and the skin is raw. I think it looks like I got shot through both toes and it's into its third week of recovery.

Other than that, nothing else to report. I'll be back to school on Monday (sad, I've been enjoying the holiday) - back to Chinese, Home Econs and general rubbish. Fantastic. It also means more opportunities to write stories. Speaking of which, I need to go and research on the battle of Midway now.

~Today in History~
1941: The Greek army captures Kleisoura (nope, no idea where that is).

~Quote of the Day~
Hitler will never ask me how big our bombers are, but only how many we have.
Aw, poor Hermann Goering. Pity your big bombers didn't do much to stop the RAF though.

Bloody hell (no pun intended)

2009-01-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

I hate operations. Especially if they're on my toes.
My dad forced me to go for LA instead. Which means a couple of jabs (in my case, a few) in both of the toes. And the toe part has lots of nerves so it's even more bloody painful.
The right toe was alright, after the jabs I couldn't feel anything. But the left toe...I think they didn't jab it properly the first time because I could still feel it when he started to dig into the toe. And that hurt like hell too. So I told 'em and they jabbed me again. Which was even more painful.
They were playing oldies (instrumental) when I first went in. Things you haven't heard of. Things like "tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" or "let it be". Nice music. But then I think they thought I didn't like the music, seeing as they were oldies and youngsters these days hate oldies. So they changed the CD. And I didn't like it one bit.
Now I've got monster toes and they aren't pretty. For my right toe, there's lots of blood on the bandages. Makes me look like I got shot in the foot. Other than that, it's alright.
I didn't have the operation until about 3, two hours after it was supposed to be conducted. It was 4 when they finished. And because they thought I might want GA, I had to fast from 7. That's 9 hours without food. Thankfully I had a double cheeseburger, four nuggets and one packet of twister fries after that. Delicious. And the best thing about this op? I don't have to go to school for the rest of the week. Including today and yesterday.
My left toe's starting to hurt. Where are those painkillers?

~Today in History~
1940: Britain introduces food rationing! Coincidence or what?

~Quote of the Day~
We have a new experience. We have victory - a remarkable and definite victory.
-Winston Churchill. Wow, victory must've been very hard to come by, then.

Let's hope for Operation Overlord

2009-01-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

and not Operation Market Garden.
Why?
Namely because I am going for an operation today, and Overlord succeeded but Market Garden didn't. Now, of course I want my operation to succeed, or I'll have to keep going back and getting jabs and a helluva lot of pain when I stub my toe on something. Now that wouldn't be very nice.
Time's running out. I've got one more hour to go and I'm bloody starving. Thing is, when you use GA you've got to fast before 'cause GA makes you nauseous. So today what I had for breakfast was a slice of bread - plain, white bread, without margarine or jam or anything. And a cup of milk.
I've got two choices - GA or local. If I do Local, it's gonna be real painful when they inject the stuff, but if I go for GA then I'll wake up feeling terrible. Honestly? I've woken up feeling really terrible before, so that isn't gonna be a problem, but my parents want me to go for Local.
It's not gonna make a difference 'cause by the time you answer I'll already have completed it, but what do you think?

~Today in History~
1945: General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. Why of all the lying cheats! Thankfully everyone knows it was Patton and the Americans who did it.

~Quote of the Day~
Are you going to lie there and get killed, or get up and do something about it?
-Unknown soldier. If I were him, I'd just lie there, frankly. Especially if it's way behind the front line.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2008-12-31T23:56:00.000-08:00

Good luck everyone, for the long and turbulent year ahead of us. What with the financial crisis, global warming, the war in the Gaza Strip...it's going to be a bad year. Ah well...at least Bush is gone!
I'm so happy I finally got Joy interested in something WWII-ish, although not really related to WWII proper. It goes like this - the men of E Company were in Hitler's Eagle's Nest first, also the home of many other German big shots. So all their lovely big cars were just waiting there to be driven. The men took 'em, of course, and had loads of fun.
But then the top brass began to move in, and ordered the cars to be given to them.
Soon strange things started happening to the cars. One Sergeant reported that the windows were bulletproof, but not if you used armor piercing bullets. A few emptied the radiators of their cars and tried to drive them, but the engine soon overheated. Another burnt out the engine trying to climb the long, steep road to the Eagle's Nest. And my personal favourite - to see if it would survive a thirty metre drop, the men drove it off the cliff. (Of course they jumped out before it went over. They're not stupid, you know.)
It was just perfect for Joy, trying to find out what to do to Emmett (go read her fan fic). Although I still say it's too bad that they destroyed such a beautiful jeep...it would be nicer if she had sold it to me.

~Today in History~
1945: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre (that's when the Germans slaughtered 72 odd US POWS) , U.S. troops massacre 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne. Don't blame 'em, really.

~Quote of the Day~
In war there is no substitute for victory.
-Douglas MacArthur...remember this one, LT?

Back from the dead

2008-12-30T01:14:00.000-08:00

Not the dead, actually, maybe the half dead.
It was extremely cold in Beijing. The day we got back from Pingyao (More on that later) it was a friggin -11 degrees celcius. Not a very nice temperature.
But I liked it. Cold is good. Not too cold. But it's nice. When we got back at the airport, we thought they had turned off the air con. It was that hot to us.
Let me start from the beginning.
On the first day we reached Beijing at around eleven. It was cold, pretty cold, and we practically ran into the house when we reached it.
The second day we went...somewhere, I can't remember. But basically we went skiing (first time), laser tag in the forest (prone position, leopard crawling, everything. I was on the winning team all the time except one and I was a first timer), foot reflexology (my feet were killing me, first time), the great wall of China, the Bird Nest, go karting (third place!), went to the ancient city of Pingyao on an overnight sleeper train which stank of smoke 'cause the Chinese really don't care where they do it, flew back on our first domestic flight, experienced sub zero temperatures, created name stamps and bought a wii, a sword, a gun, and the best thing of all -
Bejing was absolutely crawling with military stuff. All along the roads you'd see people selling army shirts, German helmets, American helmets, guns, and assorted stuff. It was a WWII buff's heaven. I tried on a German helmet and an American one, but I didn't buy it.
What I did buy...
A WWII era (though probably not authentic) U.S. 101st Airborne shirt, complete with the U.S. Army sign on the front, the Screaming Eagle patch and the American flag.
Beautiful! An even better purchase than the wii.
We bought a Marines cap for Jason and the 101st Airborne's black cap, worn by the training Sergeants known as Black Hats because of the headgear.
Also two Army themed wallets, a miniature .50 Cal and a toy MP40.
This has been the best holiday (until we go to America, anyway) ever.

~Today in History~
1944: Germans launch Operation Nordwind in an attempt to destroy the allied troops in Alsace.

~Quote of the Day~
When I said that British fighter-bombers had shot up my tanks with 40mm shells, the Reichsmarschall who felt himself touched by this, said: 'That's completely impossible. The Americans only know how to make razor blades.' I replied: 'We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall.'
-Erwin Rommel, showing the rare funny side of him. I may have used this quote before, but what the hell.

Farewell, cruel Singapore

2008-12-12T23:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm off to Beijing in two days. It'll be my first time in a temperate country (Is Hong Kong temperate? I don't know) during the winter time, so I can bet my Black Knights poster that it's gonna be bloody awfully cold. Ah well. I guess some cold'll do me good.
Our first day is gonna be the 16th of December, which coincidentally is when the Battle of the Bulge began. On the 17th, the day the 101st moved to Bastogne, we'll be playing laser tag, so maybe we can reenact Bastogne or something. Heh.
How nice. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is looking like a sausage whenever I go out.
Since I won't be around for the rest of the month, I shall say all the "happy" stuff that I'd like to wish everyone now. And by the way, Happy 67th anniversary of one of the biggest mistakes by Hitler - declaring war on the USA. That was two days ago, on the eleventh.

1. Happy 64th anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge! (16th December)
2. Happy 64th anniversary of the 101st Airborne moving to Bastogne! (17th December)
3. Happy 64th anniversary of Nuts day! (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go wikipedia, search battle of the bulge, and find "nuts". 21st December)
4. Merry Christmas!

That's about it, I think.
I'm going back to writing my short story. Yes, a new one. Yes, it's about war. No, it's not about WWII. Amazed? It's about WWI. I'm writing about the Christmas truce in 1914, just for the heck of it, seeing as it's so near Christmas.
Whoopee. Have a good holiday.

~Today in History~
1941: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.

~Quote of the Day~

What’s merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting – its cold we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroy- er Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Paratrooper Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stop the advance. How effect- ively this was done will be written in History; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World History. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom. Their commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance:
December 22nd 1944

“To the U. S. A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U. S. A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U. S. A. Troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted begin- ning with the presentation of this note.
If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U. S. A. Troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hour’s term.
All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.
The German Commander.”

The German Commander received the following reply:
22 December 1944
“To the German Commander:
N U T S !
The American Commander.”

Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well Done!”
We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.

-Gen. Anthony MacAuliffe. What can I say? I'm feeling long winded today.

"Happy" 67th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor!

2008-12-07T01:00:00.001-08:00

Happy Pearl Harbor bombing, everyone!
Today, sixty seven years and nine hours and twenty five minutes ago, at 07 55, the first wave of Japanese dive bombers would be attacking.
Ten minutes later, the most famous ship on Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona, sank, hit in her forward magazine by a bomb.
The attack sank four U.S. Navy Battleships (two of which were raised and returned to service late in the war) and damaged four more. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, and one minelayer, destroyed 188 aircraft, and caused personnel losses of 2,402 killed and 1,282 wounded. The power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not hit. Japanese losses were minimal, at 29 aircraft and five midget submarines, with 65 servicemen killed or wounded.
The Japs were a bit stupid (no offense to anyone) you know. They should've proceeded to bomb the shipyards and headquarters and everything. That would've made it a worse defeat for the US. And they were also unlucky. The aircraft carriers, important in any fleet, were out on an exercise. They never got the chance to bomb them.
So if they did destroy the carriers and the buildings, would the US Navy have recovered? Probably not in time if they still wanted to end the war by 1945.
But that isn't the most interesting thing about Pearl Harbor. The most debated thing is, Did the U.S. know about Pearl Harbor?
After reading a book on the subject, I have to say I think the US did. They deliberately ignored the warning bells - the silk ad, the coded message and the radar - and let the attack go on. Problem was, FDR was all for joining the war (or so I think) but the public was against it. So what they needed was a tragedy to spur them on. Pearl Harbor was the perfect tragedy.

Ah well. Enough with my rambling, as they say. Good night, good bye, and God Bless America. Although I'm not an American speechmaker or anything.

~Today in History~
1941: PEARL HARBOR BOMBED...need I say more?

~Quote of the day~
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives:
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph -- so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

- Obviously, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Don't blame me if I posted this before, because it's significant.

Happy birthday to me...

2008-12-02T01:12:00.001-08:00

Today is a very special day.
It's the day I finally turn thirteen.
Yes, it took a long time coming, but it finally came. Whoopee.
What does it feel like, to be one year older? Nothing, really, seeing as I was already 12 years and 365 days old yesterday.
The great thing about having a birthday is you get to get everything you want. I woke up at seven odd, we went cycling at ten, had a whopping Billy Bombers lunch after that (Usually I finish all my pasta, but this time it was just too much.) and a big, seven bucks odd worth of cookie and cream milkshake. Then we got to watch two episodes of BoB (Day of Days and Carentan, if anyone's interested) and now we get to use the com.
Whoopee. Mind blowing birthday. By the way, just for the heck of it, Arunima was the first one to wish me happy birthday; congratulations, and no, you don't win a prize. Eugene was the second one, and the third's still taking their time.
If you think I'm complaining, however, think again. I'm fine with people not wishing me happy birthday (even though it's a once a year experience). Doesn't really matter anyway, I'm not complaining (even though I very obviously am). I myself forgot all about it until two days ago (and started wondering why no one remembered).
My parents are getting a cake now. I hope it's an oreo cheesecake, haven't eaten that for ages. And now, off to work. If you thought I was going to waste time moaning to you blokes, think again.

~Today in History~
1942: First splitting of the atom! (I think I've advertised this a whole lot now.)

~Quote of the Day~
There are no great men, only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet.
-Bill Halsey, the George Patton of the Navy, sounding uncannily similar to BoB's "There once was a time when the world asked ordinary men to do extraordinary things" motto.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

2008-11-29T22:30:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't read the series, just one book, but it does seem an apt enough title.

Bangkok airport being stormed.

Mumbai terrorist attacks.

Infocomm CCA camp.

Maybe not the last one, but you get the idea.

Bangkok airport - lots of tourists stuck there, some now resorting to other means like train or another airports to go home. Not very good for the economy if you ask me. These protesters are supposed to be protesting the government, but they aren't exactly helping their country either.

But I'd rather be stuck in Bangkok than be in Mumbai now. Terrorists launching a dastardly attack on five star hotels, targeting foreigners? Death toll's now about 155. It's like the Pearl Harbor of the Twentieth Century, or India's September 11. It went all too well for the terrorists - they were too well coordinated to be stopped until sixty odd hours later.
Perhaps the saddest story of all for Singaporeans would be the killing of Lo Hwei Yen, the first and only Singaporean fatality from a terrorist attack. The cruel irony of it all was that she was only supposed to be there for one night, which just happened to be when the terrorists attacked.

And finally, CCA camp. it was from the 28th-29th November, so I just came back.
What a letdown.
I couldn't participate in loads of stuff like human table soccer 'cause of my toes. Although my toes were useful in the sense that everyone asked about 'em and I got plenty of opportunity to discuss blood and gore.
Anyway. First we had human table soccer, then human minesweeper. I was wondering if we'd have human counterstrike next, then we'd have guns and get to shoot each other.
After that it was wash up then barbeque. I volunteered to go and buy ice (Air con!) but when I came back, quite a bit of food had disappeared, including my sausages.
So for dinner I had one and a half sticks of satay, one glass of ice lemon tea and one of coke, a few ice cubes and biscuits.

The Night Trail was made all the worse since people started to tell ghost stories before the trail.
Honestly, you shouldn't be telling ghost stories before a night trail. It just makes people feel all the more worried. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "There is nothing to fear but fear itself." You're just making it worse and making people's imagination go wild.
People were screaming all over the place 'cause Exco dressed up as ghosts to scare us. But they were wearing the wrong outfit. Cinderella shirt thing? Obviously not a ghost. Media Club? Since when have ghosts been so up to date?
I think the worst part of the trail was the screams.
The worst was yet to come, however. When it was near twelve and I was trying to sleep, they were watching a movie.
And not just any movie.
High School Musical Three.
My worst nightmare.
I couldn't bloody sleep, all the way until about two. Then at three odd, the seniors woke me up with stories of pink clouds and pieces of bread eating themselves.
Slept again, and woke up around four with talk of Egg mufins and god knows what else from MacDonalds.
The last time I woke up was six thirty, and I stayed awake. Ate two ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast.
Captain's ball was one of the last things we did. With my toes I couldn't do much but be the Captain, which was sad because I think I'm much better playing on the ground than standing in a chair. I was wearing black sandals and my feet were burning. Our team didn't do too well in the first round, getting thrashed around 12 -2. All I did was stand there with my burning feet, occasionally playing with my phone.
The second round we fared better, drawing 4-4. That was good news. Problem was that three of our team, Nicole, Eunice and Trini, weren't doing much besides slacking with me. Nicole did get pretty active towards the end, Eunice somewhat, but Trini has a ridiculous phobia of balls and pretty much didn't touch it for both games.
Gen played so hard she almost had one of her hyperventilation things.
The sec 2s and our biscuit sec 4 senior also did their best, and it was because of them we didn't lose by a wider margin in the first game or lose in the second.
I guess CCA camp wasn't so bad.
Compared to being in Mumbai right now.

~Today in History~
1943: The famed Tehran confrence, in which Frankling D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin agree to the Invasion of Europe scheduled for June 1944 and code named - guess what? - Operation Overlord.

~Quote of the Day~
You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass.
-Isoroku Yamamoto, mastermind behind the Pearl Harbor attacks. He may have well been right had they invaded.

Saving Primate Lemon

2008-11-26T02:26:00.000-08:00

You know, one day we were walking around Thompson (or Thomson, I've never figured out which) Plaza, I saw this weird looking man in a tight gray shirt holding a baby.
I say weird looking because his face was not only fat, ugly, but unshaven. He looked like a neanderthal.
I soon realised that saying he looked like a neanderthal was actually paying him a compliment.
As you probably realised now, this man I was looking at was the famous - or infamous - big yellow object that contributes to the making of Ice Lemon Tea.
Yes, this was Mr. Infamous C.T.C.K. (I can't name him for the sake of naming him over here, he might sue me. Go figure.)
Jeez, he looked like he hadn't shaved for weeks. I'm sure right after school finished he stopped shaving. And that shirt - ! Makes me think of those days we used to see tight shirt after tight shirt.
I wanted to get a picture, but he went into a baby shop. Now, I couldn't go in there. What excuse would I have? Besides, he was coming straight at me now. I wanted to pass the phone to my brother, who could've taken the shot, but he was already inside following Neanderthal.
I got a blurry picture as he went down the escalator, but it could've been any fat, ugly person wearing a gray shirt and carrying a baby so I deleted that. (Speaking of which, we saw many fat ugly people wearing gray shirts and carrying babies. Were they all a bid to disguise the true Neanderthal?)

Today I watched Saving Private Ryan. (Thus the title, which incorporates both events into one. Clever, eh?) Two words:
BLOODY AWESOME.
Behind Band of Brothers (Which can be considered a movie, albeit a nine hour long one) this is probably my favourite war movie. Beats even A Bridge Too Far, which is good in its own right. The Omaha beach scene is absolutely amazing, blood and gore everywhere, although it isn't as bloody as I hoped it would be. Some of the scenes which I supposedly "got" from SPR, although I hadn't watched it at that time, for my Bloody Omaha story weren't exactly featured. But it was still awesome.
Then came the pushing inland and finding Private Ryan part. That part really gives us the feel of war - all the stupid stupidity of it. As one reviewer put it, it's a "Perfect portrayal of the insane stupidity of war and the anguish of all who enter this most foolish of enterprises." It shows why people fight, and how futile it is.
One character that I like was that of Corporal Upham. He's a clerk but got dragged along because he's also a translator. Caused the death of two of his friends because he wasn't brave enough to shoot his gun. But in the end he matured and shot the German straight in the noggin. Typical American Bravado.
But it's a brilliant show and a must see for anyone (like me) who either loves war, hates war, or both loves and hates war.
Does that make sense?

~Today in History~
1944: Germany begins V1 and V2 attacks on Antwerp in Belgium.

~Quote of the Day~
You can manufacture weapons, and you can buy ammunition. But you can't buy valor, and you can't pull heroes off an assembly line.
- John Ellery. And damn right he was.

The Great Batman Toes

2008-11-21T23:09:00.000-08:00

I went to IMH on Wednesday.
No, it wasn't to dump my brother there, although I think we should have, but it was to visit the polyclinic that had been set up there.
They told us to go to KK hospital. So we've gone from normal GP to polyclinic to podiatrist to polyclinic and now to hospital.
On Thursday we had another get together, my P6 friends and my juniors. (Juniors. I love that word. Makes me feel smarter.) We went to Game Haven, which actually hadn't opened yet, so I think we got in 'cause of LT's Dad. Went up to level 5 or summat where there was some private room.
Inside was a Wii, ten computers, and a couch. Whoopee. The guys immediately started hogging the Wii, playing guitar hero and singing in those horrible voices of theirs, while the rest of us used the computers and battled each other at Company of Heroes.
Really, Arunima should've played the tutorial first. As it turned out, she was on my side and had completely no idea what to do. Which was bad news for me because Jason and LT were on the opposing team.
I guess she did help me 'cause she sent a squad of Engineers to distract Jason's troops. But they all got killed anyway.
After about three hours in the room the juniors went off and we went to Arunima's house.
On the way there, in the car, I told them about the IMH visit and Arunima went brightly, "Oh, you did? You might see me there!"
Of course you can see the problem now, but it took us a few miliseconds before we burst out laughing.
Bloody hell, Aru! That was hilarious, but I think next time you'd be better off thinking about what you wanted to say before actually saying it.
DC was fun but of course the security guards had to spoil it. When we played it in HPPS we got caught by the teachers and the librarian. And now the security guards.
This one was a Italian looking rabbit man - as in buck teeth. First time he caught us, told us not to run, we said ok. That was the only time I was caught. Later I saw Rav and Deep in front of me, being scolded, so I just ducked into the stairwell conveniently beside me.
The third time was the stupidest. All of the gang 'cept me and Deep were caught by the rabbit man, and he made them promise that they wouldn't run. Then Deep, the catcher, comes along and they all bolt. Right in front of rabbit man.

On Friday we went to KK, where I got my great batman toes.
See, the doctor honestly wasn't a very good one. He kept insisting my toes should be wrapped and bandaged, but my mom kept saying that it wasn't bandaged only because we thought the doctor needed to see it. And now he wants to make me wear bandages around my entire toe (I should show you the pictures) for six weeks, and then they'll see if I need the operation.
Bloody hell.

On Saturday, today, we went to Novena. I saw this guy wearing a BoB shirt, like mine, just that his is light green and mine is black.
Light green? Honestly, this guy either bought it for fun and doesn't watch it properly, or has no sense at all.
To top of this lousy day, it's gonna rain and I've got one helluva headache.
Bloody hell.

~Today in History~
1943: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek meet in Cairo to discuss ways to defeat Japan. AKA the Cairo Confrence.

~Quote of the Day~
"No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer."
-Hermann Goering. And now, we will all know Goering as Meyer.

2008-11-17T01:22:00.000-08:00

You know, on the tenth of november we finally went to the National museum. It was rather fun, especially the History section; I listened to the companion's narration of Singapore's 1941-1945 years twice.
Brad Pitt was overrated - all he does is squirt a water gun at you. Although I guess that's a tiny bit funny.
What else was there? Not much, I think. Definitely nothing that piqued my interest.
Went to the foot doctor again today. Looks like I'll have to be going for an operation. At IMH, no less. I think that's just the polyclinic, though, the temporary Hougang one. Since they put it at Woodbridge I don't think a lot of people go there, so that's where the queue will be the smallest.
Wait till we go there and find out the doctors are in fact mental patients masquerading as doctors.
Went on a book buying spree two days ago, bought about three hundred bucks of novels, factual books and assessment books. Unfortunately for me most of it was spent on assessment books.
Had our flu jab three days ago, which explains why I'm having a flu now. Spent the last two days with my nose clogged up like a forgotten sewer drain.
Nothing else happened this week, I think. We're going cycling tomorrow. Whooppee. That is going to be such a relief for my toes.

QUIZ BY GENEVIEVE (Why must you torture me so?)
You know, I almost lost all my answers 'cause I copied my quote of the day, overriding the quiz copy...thank god I did it on word document and could recover all the answers, or else I'd be banging my head on the keyboard and uttering profanities.

SCHOOL LIFE CONFESSIONS

[x]Talked back to a teacher
[x] Been kicked out of class.
[ ] Worn pyjamas to school.
[] Had your tooth fall out at school.
[x] Gotten lost in your school.
[] Broken the dress code in school.
[] Completely failed a test.
[ ] Left class without asking
[x] Missed a whole week of school.
[] Thrown up in school
[ ] Been beat up at school. (By the way it should be "beaten" up.)

HOME LIFE CONFESSIONS
[ ] Argue with your parents a lot.
[x]Argue with your brother(s) a lot.
[]Argue with our sister(s) a lot.
[x]Have your own room
[]Do your own laundry.
[]cook dinner once in a while (If I did, everyone would die of food poisoning)
[ ] Are loud and obnoxious at home.
[ ] Wear pajamas when you are not going anywhere.
[] You sleep in very long. (Not at all…I woke up at six fifty today.)
[] All you do is watch television.
[ ] Your parents are divorced
[ ] Your family makes you cry a lot
[] One or both of your grandparents live with you.
[] You can’t stand being with your parents. (No, I love my parents…especially since they just bought me three more WWII books.)

FRIEND CONFESSIONS
[]You currently dislike one or more of your friends.
[ ] You are jealous of one or more of your friends.
[] You have known a friend your whole life.
[ ]Your friends are all taller than you
[ ] You have been ditched by a friend.
[x] You have memorized a friend's phone number.
[] You have lost/forgotten a friends phone number
[x] You have been to all of your friends houses.
[] You love most of your friends (Love? Too strong for me…maybe really like?)

HABIT CONFESSIONS
[ ] You bite your nails.
[ ] You have an odd obsession with knives.
[] You cannot sleep with the door closed. (Only if the air con is on.)
[ ]You cannot sleep with the door open.
[x] There is at least one sound you cannot stand. (Nails on board? Never heard ‘em…)
[x] You write stories about mad cannibalistic serial killers (How interesting that I just started writing it again. Now victim count has gone on to number three.)
[x] You are good at telling lies

LOVE CONFESSIONS (ABSOLUTELY NOT NEEDED FOR A PERSON LIKE ME)
[ ] You currently like someone.
[ ] You want to kill one of your ex's.
[ ] You can stay committed for an unusually long time.
[ ] You get bored of your crush/bf/gf easily.
[ ] A crush/bf/gf has called you a bitch before.
[ ] A crush/bf/gf has called you self- centered before.

HAVE YOU EVER CONFESSIONS
[x] Fallen down the stairs.
[ ] Someone has tied your shoelaces together. (If I do that to others does that count?)
[ ] Had a nail fall off
[ ] Had surgery (Almost…)
[] Slapped someone across the face.
[ ] Killed someone. (I’d like to, though.)
[ ] Someone has called you a tease.
[ ] You have been to Europe. (I wish I could cross this box one day.)
[ ] You have worn something inside out for a whole day.

1. What's your name spelt backwards?
Lehcar, which for some reason always reminds me of Lemur.

2. Favorite cities to visit:
Let’s see…BASTOGNE, NEW YORK, WASHINGTON D.C., LONDON, (towns included right?) STE. MERE EGLISE, STE. MARIE DU MONT, PHILADELPHIA, PARIS, NIJMEGEN, ARNHEM, EINDHOVEN, SON, BRUSSELS, ANYWHERE IN EUROPE/AMERICA.

3.Famous people you've met:
Let’s see…there was this mister N.O.One, and another guy called Mr. Somebody…

4. Secret indulgence:
If I tell you it wouldn’t be secret anymore, would it?

5. When you are all alone, you like to:
write my stories or draw my world war two stuff.

6. You are famous for:
World War II, being "The Lone Ranger", reciting pi (I wanted to work on that but I can’t find the paper), not studying yet being able to get a few A1s, being okay in maths.

7. Two words your friends would describe you with:
Let’s see. Everyone seems to think of me as "Friendly" and "Smart", two characteristics I wouldn’t attribute to myself.

8. Favorite book:
Stephen E. Ambrose’s BAND OF BROTHERS. No contest. (Although A Bridge Too Far could come quite close…)

9. Favorite restaurant/s:
Anyplace that sells western food.

10. Famous people you'd like to meet:
Lots of dead guys. Patton, Gavin, Taylor, Ridgway, Roosevelt (both of ‘em, I guess) Churchill, maybe even Hitler, although I’d buy a gun before I meet him.

11. Alcoholic beverage:
Don’t drink?

12. Non-alcoholic beverage:
Water.

13. Dream vacation:
A World War Two trail that takes you from New York all the way to Berlin.

14. Bad habit:
Not studying?

15. Family member you get along the best with:
I guess I get along with all of them pretty well.

16. Do you believe you have a guardian angel?
If I had, I wouldn’t have this amazing run of bad luck since P3.

17. What did you do last night?
Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep…did I miss anything out?

18. The last thing you downloaded onto your computer?
the Medal of Honor soundtrack (Which is very nice, especially the Allied Assault one.)

20. Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?
If I did, my parents would kill me…if I wasn’t dead already.

21. Last time you swam in a pool?
The last time I went to a swimming pool in a swimming costume, of course.

22. What are you wearing
?t-shirt and shorts.

23. How many cars have you owned?
0. How sad. I’d like a Ferrari or something next time. If I get rich.

24. Type of music you dislike most?
Strangely enough, most of the modern songs aren’t very nice. Oldies are always the best.

25. Are you registered to vote?
Seeing as I’m not of age yet, and seeing as even if I am it would be a walkover (I live in the Marine Parade GRC), no.

26. Do you have cable?
I’ve got long cables, short cables, computer cables, TV cables, but if you’re talking about the Discovery Channel, History channel, that kind of cable…no.

27. What kind of computer do you use?
A desktop computer thingummy?

28. Ever made a prank phone call?
Yep, and it was very fun.

29. Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
Sky diving, as that’s the most similar to parachuting.

30. Furthest place you ever traveled?
Hong Kong. How sad.

31. Do you know/remember all the words to the national anthem?
Yes, and now I’m trying to memorize the American one too.

32. Shower- morning or night?
Try Afternoon.

33. Best movie you've seen in the past month?
Seeing as Quantum of Solace is the only movie I’ve watched in the past month…

34. Favorite pizza toppings?
Cheese. Lots and lots of it.

35. Chips or popcorn?
Chips.

36. What cell phone provider do you have?
Singtel.

37. Have you ever smoked peanut shells?
You can smoke peanut shells?I swear, the questions are getting weirder and weirder.

38. Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?
Are you INSANE?!

39. Orange Juice or apple?
Orange juice.

40. Who were the last people you sat at lunch with?
No one, seeing as my lunch was an on-the-go, egg tart and carrot cake kind of lunch.

42. Favorite chocolate bar?
Hershey’s cookie and cream, though I haven’t eaten it for a year, too bloody expensive.

43. Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?
I’ve never even grown a homegrown tomato.

45. Have you ever won a trophy?
Sure. NSW English, P3, full marks, if you can consider that a trophy.

46. Favorite arcade game?
Time Crisis, though you spend a whole load of money on it.

47. Ever ordered from an infomercial?
What’s that?

48. Sprite or 7-UP?
Neither.

49. Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?
This is as obvious as Hitler’s moustache.

50. Last thing you bought at Walgreens?
Walgreens?

51. Ever thrown up in public?
In the car, yes.

52. Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?
Of course I’d want to be a millionaire.

53. Do you believe in love at first sight?
Absolutely not. Don’t ever believe the things you see on TV, unless it’s a documentary.

54. SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON?
How about History channel?

55. Did you have long hair as a young kid?
No.

56. What message is on your voicemail machine?I don’t have a voicemail machine, but if I did it would probably be something so sarcastic and ridiculous they wouldn’t even want to call back.

57. Where would you like to go right now?
Europe or America.

58. Whats the name of your pet?The only pet I’ve had is a fighter fish called Fighter.

59. What kind of back pack do you have, and what's in it?
a very heavy one, and you wouldn’t want to know what I cram inside.

60.What do you think about most?
WWII. Duh.

HAVE YOU EVER

Stayed up all night long?
Nope. Latest I’ve ever stayed up was twelve, and that was in Malacca with no adult supervision, turning on the tv to find the man u match I wanted to watch was over.

Slept all day?
Nope.

Played a trick on someone?
April fools!

Told a joke that NO ONE thought was funny?
I think so…

Hurt someone's feelings?
Not sure, but I probably hurt my brother.

Been told that you are pretty more than 10 times?
No, but if it was "cute", then probably a yes. And I’m glad to say I extracted due revenge.

Been in love?
Nope.

Told someone that you love them?
Sure. On birthdays and that sort of thing you have to, or your parents will kill you.

Told someone that you miss them?
I don’t think so.

Been told that someone loves/misses you?
Yep.

Broken someone's heart?
Nope.

Had someone break your heart?
Nope.

Broken up with someone for no reason?
Since when was I even going out with someone?

Told someone that you hated them?
Yes, my brother. Many times.

Ate everything in the house?
Nope. You want me to get indigestion?

Stayed in bed all day because you didnt wanna get up?
Nope.

Lost a friend over something stupid?
Nope.

Gone shopping in the middle of the night?
Seeing as I don’t even go shopping in the middle of the day, nope.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ ] Gotten detention.
[ ] Gotten your phone taken away.
[ ] Gotten suspended.
[ ] Chewed gum during class.
Total: 0

[ ] Been late to a class(s)more then 10times.
[x] Didn’t do homework over 5 times. (Think of all my maths homework waiting for me…)
[ ] turned at least 3 projects in late.
[] Missed school cause you felt like it.
[ ] Skipped class at least 3 times.
[ ] laughed so hard you got kicked out of class.
Total: 1

[x] Got your mom/dad etc. to pick you up from school.
[x] Text people during school.
[x] Passed notes.
[x] Threw stuff across the room.
[x] Laughed at the teacher
Total: 5

[x] Went on myspace, friendster, xanga,etc. on the computer at school,chatrooms
[x] Took pictures during school hours. (A total of at least twenty pictures of Lemon.)
[x] Called someone during school hours.
[ ] Listened to an ipod/cd player/mp3 during school.
Total: 3

[x] Threw something at the teacher (little rubber bands count?)
[x] Went outside the classroom without permission. (retrieving Patch.)
[] Broke the dress code.
[x] Failed a class test. (DAMN CHINESE TING XIE.)
[x] Ate food during class. (9'o clock. LOL!)
Total: 4

[ ] Gotten detention.
[ ] Gotten your phone taken away.
[ ] Gotten suspended.
[ ] Chewed gum during class.
Total: 0

[ ] Been late to a class(s)more then 10times.
[x] Didn’t do homework over 5 times. (Think of all my maths homework waiting for me…)
[ ] turned at least 3 projects in late.
[] Missed school cause you felt like it.
[ ] Skipped class at least 3 times.
[ ] laughed so hard you got kicked out of class.
Total: 1

[x] Got your mom/dad etc. to pick you up from school.
[x] Text people during school.
[x] Passed notes.
[x] Threw stuff across the room.
[x] Laughed at the teacher
Total: 5

[x] Went on myspace, friendster, xanga,etc. on the computer at school,chatrooms
[x] Took pictures during school hours. (A total of at least twenty pictures of Lemon.)
[x] Called someone during school hours.
[ ] Listened to an ipod/cd player/mp3 during school.
Total: 3

[x] Threw something at the teacher (little rubber bands count?)
[x] Went outside the classroom without permission. (retrieving Patch.)
[] Broke the dress code.
[x] Failed a class test. (DAMN CHINESE TING XIE.)
[x] Ate food during class. (9'o clock. LOL!)
Total: 4

[ ] Gotten a call home.
[ ] Couldn’t go on a field trip cause you behaved badly. (almost.)
[] Didn’t take your stuff to school.
[ ] Gotten a detention and didn’t go.
[] stuck your middle finger at a teacher.
[] cursed during class loud enough that the teacher heard it.
Total: 0

[x] slept in class
[x] threw paper at the teacher.
[x] copied homework.
[ x] felt hungry during class and left to eat. (I didn’t leave to eat…I ate under the table.
[ ] snored in class.
[x] talked back to a teacher
Total: 5
Grand Total: 18.
How sad.

7 things that scare you:
No WWII No books No computers No paper No pencils No weapons No money

7 things that you like the most:
World War Two Second World War WWII World War 2 2nd World War Writing Sketching

7 important things in my room:
my books My computer My stories My paper My chair My desk My bed

7 random facts about me:
I love the Second World War. I’ve never stayed up past twelve midnight. I’ve never been out of Asia. I’ve read at least a hundred books this year. I’ve got at least twenty books on WWII. I’ve written about an estimated total of fifteen stories this year (one of them being about eleven thousand words). I’ve got a lousy headache.
7 things I plan to do before i die:
Go to Europe. Go to America. Accumulate over a hundred WWII books. Finish all the stories I’ve ever started. Publish a book. Write a will. Die.

7 things i cant do:
Wear pink stuff.
Do bimbotic stuff.
Play bimbotic games.
Watch anime and manga or whatever it is they do.
Write a love story.
Act.
Stay up late.

7 things you are attracted to in the opposite sex :
(IGNORE QUESTION)

7 things i always say:
Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. >sarcasm<
>sarcasm< 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582…

*** 1.) Where would you go if someone sponsers you an air ticket.
Bloody spelling. "SPONSORS"! Won’t you ever learn? Anyway. Europe or America, I’m not fussy.

2.) What is your fav. things to do ?
Read. Write. Draw. That’s all. (Hey, I just made a poem. Wow.)

3.) Do you think money can buy happiness ?
If you’re a person like me, yes.

4.) If you're given a chance to recieve something, what would it be ?
Boy, I’d like to read an essay you wrote one day and correct all the errors. Mind you, it’d probably take me a couple of years. "RECEIVE". Uh, it would be all the WWII books in the world.

5.) THINGS you can't live without ?
Books. Computer. Paper. Pencil. Sarcasm.

6.) WHAT are you afraid to lose ?
my mind.

7.) If you've 1 million dollars, what would you do ?
Buy lots and lots of books. And maybe a new computer.
8.) What do you dream of doing in the future ?
Become a historian? I don’t know.

9.) List down 3 good points about the person who gave you this survey.
Genevieve – fun, happy, loves quizzes (I don’t think the last thing is a good point.)

10.) What makes you happy ?
WWII.

11.) What kind of person you hate the most ?
Bimbos.

12.) If you've super-powers, what would it be ?
Time travel, maybe. Or shape shifting. Or teleporting. Or all three.
13.) Would you go for money or happiness ?
Happiness, since money makes me happy.

14.) Who do you think is the most important people in your life ?
My family and friends, and maybe some of those historical figures I’m always going on about. And it’s "are the most important people" or "is the most important person", not "is the most important people".

15.) If you've a boyfriend/ girlfriend, would you die for him/her ?
No. Decidedly not. Because they’ll want to sacrifice their life for you too, and you should only sacrifice one life.

16.) Who's the last person who hugged you ?
Mom, I think, or was it my dad?
17.) What is the one thing that you want to do badly right now ?
Complete the quiz and go on to my own stuff.

18.) Who are you close to ?
Family.

19.) Are you courage to tell the person that you like him ?
"ARE YOU COURAGE"?!?!?!?! WHAT KIND OF DAMN ENGLISH IS THAT?! EVEN MY DAMN BROTHER COULD WRITE BETTER THAN YOU, AND HE GOT TEN OUT OF TWENTY FOR HIS BLOODY COMPOSITIONS! BY GOD, HOW DO YOU EVEN LIVE WITH YOURSELF, HAVING THAT SORT OF ATROCIOUS ENGLISH? I SUGGEST THAT YOU GO AND LOCK YOURSELF UP IN SOME HOLE AND JUST SUFFER A QUICK PAINFUL DEATH INSTEAD OF TRYING TO LIVE WITH THIS HORRIBLE ENGLISH! IT MAKES ME SICK JUST TO THINK OF THE ESSAYS YOU’LL BE WRITING ONE DAY! No.

20.) If you could do one thing all over again, what would it be ?
Live out my P6 year again.

21.) 7 things that scares you ?
Did you just steal from the quiz before this?

22.) 7 things that you like/ love the most ?
See Question 21.

23.) 7 things that are important in your room?
See Question 21.

God! I just spent half an hour doing the quiz, and another half pressing the enter button, 'cause I did it on word document and when I pasted it here it came out as one big jumble, with no proper spacing. I feel like dying now. Don't disturb me again.

~Today in History~
1939: Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti- demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal; in addition, Czech universities are shut down and over a thousand Czech students sent to concentration camps. Fun, loving guy, our Adolf.

~Quote of the Day~
We are not retreating -- we are advancing in another direction.

-MacArthur. Good excuses he comes up with, doesn't he? All that "I came from Bataan and I shall return" stuff.

The Big Four

2008-11-11T01:39:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day.
It is one of my favourite days of the year. (Besides JUNE 6, SEPTEMBER 17, DECEMBER 16, MAY 8, SEPTEMBER 1, SEPTEMBER 2, SEPTEMBER 3...etc.)
Because today, four big events happen.

ATTENTION!
TODAY IS THE 11th OF NOVEMBER!
FOUR MAIN EVENTS WILL TAKE PLACE ON THIS SPECIAL DAY!

1. My mother's birthday!
2. Veterans' Day!
3. End of World War One Day!
4. George Patton's Birthday!

My mother is so lucky.
I mean, sharing the same birthday as Patton, plus having Veterans Day and the end of World War One?
I wish my birthday was like that.

Today, I rode a bike.
This might sound stupid, but, well, I RODE A BIKE.
BY MYSELF.
I bet you're gasping with realisation.
Yes, it may sound unbelievable, but the only time I rode a bike without training wheels was this year, and that was a tandem bike.
But today, I did it. In one and a half hours. With lots of grease on my legs (One is a Nike sign). With lots of scratches and a couple of falls.
But the main point is I did it.
Hooray.
Pretty anticlimatic, isn't it?

By the way, for all those poor people that pressed the button, you aren't gonna get any sympathy from me, nor any compensation. I fell for the same thing.

~Today in History~
1885: George Smith Patton is born in California.
1918: Germany signs an armistice agreement with in a railroad car outside of Compiègne in France. The war officially stops at 11:00 (The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month).
1942:Germany completes their occupation of France.
Every year: Veterans' Day.

~Quote of the Day~
We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit.
-George Patton (Just to humor him - c'mon, it's his birthday!) displaying what can be classified as TAB: Typical American Bravado.

The name's Solace...Quantum of Solace

2008-11-08T00:38:00.001-08:00

Today, we went to watch the new Bond movie.
It was good fun (to anyone who likes plenty of action, anyway) and a couple of good wisecracks but the best part of it was...
it was free.
So that's good news. But the movies we go to see are either free or subsidized, so it doesn't really matter anyway.
And before you start berating me about being such a lucky, obnoxious brat, I should remind you that we don't go for movies very often. Perhaps three times a year?
Right, on to the movie. There was a helluva lot of action, right from the first part, so if you don't like fighting or little, itsy bitsy pieces of blood here and there, don't watch.
The rooftop chase was a lot like the Bourne Ultimatum, although I supposed that has to be expected as the stunt director (not to be confused with stunt co-ordinator) was the same chap that did the Bourne series.
There was a bit of an unnecessary part with this Brit lady (Who got slathered in oil in the end, so too bad for Bond) but it's quite alright, I guess. Good sub plot involving Bond trying to get over his romantic interest killed in the first movie. Whatever.
As long as it's got fast cars, fantastic technology, guns, blood, and plenty of action, it's still a Bond movie, and it's still fun.

~Today in History~
1942: Operation Torch! The Allies land their armies in North Africa. So long forever, Desert Fox Erwin Rommel!

~Quote of the Day~
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
-Bertrand Russell - and you have to agree he's kind of right.

The Great Un-Patriot

2008-11-05T00:36:00.000-08:00

Well, the American elections are over.
And I have to say this election is the only election I've actually studied in minute detail.
I didn't for the Singapore elections (mainly because they were so boring). Guess that makes me the great Un-Patriot.
But, well, in the end the results were pretty much as expected. Barack Obama, with the landslide victory.
It really isn't John McCain's fault. It's just that he appears to be a short old man with a Vietnam war record from the same party as George Bush.
And of course, everyone hates George Bush.
In the end, McCain made a pretty good speech about how they should now unite and save America from the ecenomic crisis. Not spiteful to Obama or anything, in fact pretty happy for him.
On his part, Obama made a great, charismatic speech about how they could, in his words, "put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can. "
Well, Obama quoted Winston Churchill in the "This is your Victory" part, and Lincoln twice. Which is fun but just a side note. And McCain kind of paraphrased Eisenhower's note in case D-Day failed when he said "the fault is mine, not yours".
Another side note: Everyone seems to love ending their speeches with "Thank you, Good night, God bless you all, and God bless America" or something like that. Bush did it, Obama did it, McCain did it. Pretty funny.

Today I got up at 7 AM and went down for breakfast. At 0900 I went down at switched on the TV and watched the news (Channel News Asia's continuous coverage of the elections) for the longest time in my life, all the way until 1235. I even brought down a piece of paper, wrote down all the fifty states, and when either Obama or McCain won that state I'd draw either a donkey or an elephant respectively besides it. But at 1235 my mom dragged us off to go to Novena square, just fifteen odd minutes before Obama's speech. In the car I got my mom to switch on the radio and turned it to BBC (It's not funny) where I got snatches of the speech as well as lots of noise and partying in the background where the reporters were reporting.
Then I went for guitar class, and on the way home got to listen to more of Obama's speech.
Heh. "Seized by American Political fervour" might not be the exact term to describe it, but it sort of comes pretty close.

This has been a historical event, the first black president ever in the history of the United States of America. And it took a long time coming, but it finally came. I congratulate Mr. Obama for that. He has done his family, his supporters, his country, his people, and non-racism proud.

Another thing I wanted to mention. At the end of Mr. Obama's speech, there is a scene in which Joe Biden, senator of Delaware and now Vice President of the United States, comes on stage and exchanges a hug with Obama. That to me is a perfect picture of non-racism. A black man and a white man, arm in arm, waving to the crowd - the symbol of non-racism, of a new hope, of a new era and a new life for all Americans.

(http://images.chron.com/blogs/cragghines/obamadebate.jpg)

~Today in History~
1942: The British win the Second Battle of El Alamein.

~Quote of the Day~
"This is your Victory!"
-Winston Churchill speaking to the crowd on VE Day, just like Obama would do 63 and a half years later to his supporters.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: PLEASE LAY OFF MY BRAIN

2008-11-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

I don't get what's with all this brain stuff. I already said, Einstein's is still around, you can go get hold of his, just as long as it's not mine.

I forgot to mention that I had my toenails cut. By a podiatrist. Which is a foot doctor. And now I'm supposed to put antibacterial gauze into the cuts, between the nail and the flesh, to prevent it from swelling up again. It may be working or it may not be working. There's still pus coming out, but I think that's just from the cut.

My birthday's coming in two months...problem is I already got my present so there's nothing to look forward to. I did get what I wanted, but I came across this other great book so I want that too. Ah well, I don't think I got my Christmas present yet.

Saw Pheodora and Rosalinda at Junction 8 yesterday, when we were there to borrow books. (Got quite a good haul this round, Letters from Iwo Jima, Midway, a historical fiction novel, and a book on the battle of Tralfagar.) Not much of a coincidence once you think about it really, seeing as everyone goes there anyway.

Today I had to write a chinese composition about "an unforgettable exam" (Sorry, I don't want this blog to have even one word of chinese on it) and it sucked. Big time. I don't even know what I was writing.

At least I had fun doing Maths yesterday. Finished two maths papers before Jason finished his maths paper and got to slack for the rest of the day.

~Today in History~
1942: Second Battle of El Alamein - Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat. (I have to say Hitler was pretty stupid to expect Rommel to continue holding out of El Alamein when he - as in Hitler - refused to give Rommel any food, ammunition, or tanks. But of course, Hitler was already pretty stupid anyway.)

~Quote of the Day~
He who lights the torch in Europe can hope for nothing but chaos.

-Adolf Hitler. But remember, Adolf, you were the one that ended up lighting the torch in Europe, weren't you? Just another example of how stupid Hitler really is.

The impossible quiz is no longer impossible

2008-10-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

I completed the Impossible Quiz just a couple of hours ago.
BWAHAHAHAHA...ha?
Problem is somebody already beat me to it.

By the way,
When it's Halloween don't ever try to spook any normal girl (especially those from St. Nicholas) out.
Unless you brought earplugs.
See, It has been very obvious to everyone who comes across St. Nicholas girls that they love to scream. And when I say scream, I mean SCREAAMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sort of scream. Ear piercing stuff that just might burst your eardrums.
That's why I've gone half deaf ever since stepping into this school. From ants to lizards to cockroach exoskeletons to happy events, they've always found a reason to scream like hell.
And so, this halloween, I'm not planning on going anywhere near 'em.

Oh, and by the way, happy halloween. Today is halloween, right? I thought that I may have gotten it wrong.
Yesterday we finally, finally finished our stupid stop motion. No more CCA! Except for the "compulsory" one on Thursday. So if you think about it, we only got Tuesday off. Which is not much of a "no more CCA" holiday. Which is sad.

Congratulate me, I've just started on another story I'm never gonna finish. So far I'm juggling about 4 stories. Sure, I finish short stories, but these are long. Like, 23 pages long kind of thing.

And one more thing: MY BRAIN IS NOT FOR SALE. So unless you can pay me about £9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 or so, or you can get me a high flying job in which I don't have to do anything but still get paid a modest salary of about a million a year, and throw in a nice big pension as well, you can't have it.
Besides, a lot more people have bigger, smarter brains than me. Why not try Einstein's? I think part of his brain is still being displayed somewhere.

~Today in History~
1941: The destroyer USS Reuben James is torpedoed by a German U-Boat near Iceland, killing more than 100 United States Navy sailors. It is the first U.S. Navy vessel sunk by enemy action in WWII.
(Special mention)
1941: Battle of Britian Ends.

~Quote of the Day~
When I warned [the French] that Britain would fight on alone, whatever they did, their Generals told their Prime Minister and his divided cabinet: 'In three weeks, England will have her neck wrung like a chicken. Some chicken....Some neck!

- Winston Churchill, speaking about the courageous fight England put up. Just to coincide with the ending of the Battle of Britain.

The Instructor strikes back?

2008-10-28T03:53:00.000-07:00

You know for infocomm, we've always been playing around when it's the day we have the course.
So I think stop motion is the instructor's notion of taking revenge.
Today we had to go back for CCA (First time ever, going back for CCA in the holidays) and it was boring. I forgot to bring my book, but I thought we'd be able to use the computer, so it was fine.
Boy was I wrong.
First and foremost: they changed the computers in lab 3. They're now sleeker and faster, but unfortunately there's neither icy tower nor internet connection.
And then stupid teacher came and called us to the next room where we were supposed to do stop motion (Which is the "art" of taking pictures. Take a photo, move the characters a bit, take the next one, etc.)
At first there were only two people from our group there, then there were three. But the other two never showed up.
I don't know what happened to Joey, but Gen forgot there was CCA, overslept till 10 30 (CCA started at 10 00 and ended at 12 00) and decided by the time she got there she'd be real late anyway so she skipped it.
GAH.
I started using the computer. But stupid teacher saw me and told me to shut it down.
I should've brought my book.
It's bloody unfair, we didn't even have a tripod, had to use a chair and a box as a makeshift one. We finished taking all the damn photos but stupid teacher made us REDO it because some of the pictures were blurry.
I mean, if we don't have a tripod of COURSE you expect some photos to be blurry! C'mon, give us a break already!
3 words:
WHAT THE HELL.

~Today in History~
1940: Italy invades Greece through Albania, marking Greece's entry into World War II.

~Quote of the Day~
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
-Bertrand Russell. And in a kind of roundabout way, he's right.

Addictive Insane Games (not to be confused with American International Group)

2008-10-24T03:28:00.000-07:00

Right.
Well, AIG number 1 would be, uh, The Impossible Quiz, of course. It's insane, it's addictive, and it's a game, so it fits the criteria. It's also true to it's name - it's impossible. Well, almost. For me and a couple of others, anyway; I've only gotten to question 108, which is quite a bit already.
Second would be 50 States game. I've been playing it for a week or so and I'm glad to say I've gotten full marks in 127 seconds. Which is really difficult since they don't give you border lines and if you're about 50 odd miles off [not a lot on the map] you don't get it right.
But that's kinda missing the point.

Yesterday was the last day of school (Not including our CCA and the 14th of November). No teary farewells, no big hugs (kind of), no mushy stuff - thank God.
But I supposed we all have to say something like "1 C was great, I'll miss all of you" blah blah blah. Yeah, that sort of thing. Ok, anyway, one Charity was one of the best classes, and I hope that most of us will still be (stuck) in the same class next year. Happy? Can I stop now?

~Today In History~
1944: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku, and the battleship Musashi are sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

~Quote of the Day~
All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us... they can't get away this time.
- Lewis Puller, after being surrounded by 8 enemy divisions. I wonder if that's bravery or just plain idiocy?

If that's self defence, the only thing we'll be defending ourselves from is fluffy teddy bears.

2008-10-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well, on tuesday we had our Sports for Life program thingummy. In the first half of the morning we had archery (Yes, archery! Real arrows, not the suction cup tipped ones! Yeah, we were so excited! Wow, you must be really envious, aren't you?) and after that we had self defence.

Firstly, archery was overrated. I mean, we only got to shoot three arrows at a miserable target that was a few feet away. And I only got the blue part of the target. God knows where the other two went.

But at least our class had at least eight expert archers so we won the "competition" since we shot all the four balloons first. With only ten arrows. (Not to be ungrateful or anything but it figures, a rare competition we win and we don't get anything.) They gave all of us (including the other classes) these pencil-arrows that from afar looked so much like arrows I thought they were giving out small little darts. At least I got the only blue one.

And then we had self defence, which to me was something of a joke. I mean, all they thought us was common sense, stand with your feet apart, bring your hands up just like you're going to box but open them so that it looks like you want to surrender, and that sort of thing. Pretty boring, if you ask me.

For Infocomm we drew up a banner that "made no sense", played hangman and watched half of "Cars". And that was the fantastic Tuesday. Tomorrow we'll be getting our PPRs back. I hope I still maintained my Over 70% record and got into stretch class, or there goes my "good results" present.

~Today in History~
1944: The city of Aachen falls to American forces after three weeks of fighting, making it the first German city to fall to the Allies.

~Quote of the Day~
"All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain."

- One of my favourite speech makers, Georgie Patton. Though this time it's not that funny, but still.

Ha ha ha...

2008-10-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

We are not amused.
On Friday, yesterday, for the first half of the day, there was this sec 1 drama presentation thing on a picture based on WWII. (Ok, so it's just rationing, but still...)
Sec 1 Purity, Diligence and one other class whom I forgot presented their plays. The first class's play, the "Portraits of War" stuff, wasn't too bad, and I don't think I could pick out any historical errors...(although you don't use those sort of automatic handguns that look too futuristic for their own good during WWII).
Oh, yeah, there was this good one where she forgot her lines. "In early August 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima..." think think think, can't remember "nagasaki"...continues, "In Japan".
TWO atomic bombs dropped on HIROSHIMA alone?!

The second one, Diligence I think, involved an Oprah show and lots of drama. The first couple, "Brandon Pitt" and "Melody Lohan", were so lovey dovey that they were really really overdoing it. And there were quite a few BIG problems.
For instance, (this one I may have gotten mixed up with Diligence's one, I can't remember anything anymore) during one scene the husband and wife are relaxing in their house during the war (about 1939-1940 maybe) and the TV sits in front of them. They switch it on or something and the news reporter starts saying, "THE GERMANS ARE MARCHING ONTO LONDON" or something like that.
Number one: TV service was cut off during the war, from 1939 all the way to 1946. So they can't even watch TV.
Number two: The Germans never reached London. Hell, they never touched any part of England except for some grotty little islands off its coast. (Of course it may've been "Poland" and I might've heard wrongly, but anyway...)
And then there was the ultimate logical loophole.
After that TV incident the husband goes off to fight in Africa or something. The wife becomes a nurse in England, helping the victims of the Blitz. And one day another nurse comes in and tells her "there's a very fatal injury in ward 43" or something like that.
No. 1: NO WARDS.
No. 2: Fatal's already like, definitely going to die, what's the point of saying "very fatal"?
So she goes to ward 43 and see's it's her husband, with his war wounds and all and he died.
No. 3: I thought he was fighting in AFRICA?
(Now, if you were to argue that he was evacuated, it wouldn't work. 'Cause they wouldn't have evacuated him if he had a "very fatal" injury - he'd just die in Africa.)

The last one was the one with a few logical errors.
Then, in another scene, a grandmother with her kid opens the door to her past and the boy's like "There was a war in Singapore?"
He must've been supposedly at least ten years old...How can ten year olds not know there was a war in Singapore?! (And just for the record, the British do NOT wear brownie scarves around their necks.)

And then we had the Malay heritage centre visit.
I passed my house along the way!
Sorry, that's digressing.
Anyway.
Pretty fun and everything, I guess. Although during five stones the stones kept dropping out so I couldn't play properly.
But Silat was very funny, and we were all going "hahaha" (To those who were there, no pun intended).
You see, there was this chap that was drilling us, i.e. shouting commands and in one we were supposed to go "ha!" everytime we brought our hands down.
Now, we weren't very enthusiastic and just went "ha..." in a very soft tone whenever he asked us to do it.
And when the girl on the stage demonstrated, we all went "huh?" (Which, in case you don't get it, sounds a lot like "ha!")
And we went "ha, ha, ha" when he shook his head and muttered something about us being the "haha" class.
Ok, all very confusing, I know.
But that's not the point, really.
THe point is that they only let us off at 13 30 when they told us on the timetable we would be realeased at 12 30.
And after that I had to stay for some stupid survey which took up ten more minutes.
And we didn't have recess, just some break with bee hoon and very, very sugary donuts, and I only ate half a donut and half the bee hoon, although I did eat the whole squishy jelly thingy.
So I was pretty hungry after that.
But at least I got to eat KFC after that.
Ha.

~Today in History~
1944: Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia.

~Quote of the Day~

"This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note, stating that, unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received and that consequently this country is at war with Germany."

-Neville Chamberlain, eating his infamous "Peace in our Time" speech almost a year ago.

A complete bunch of loonies

2008-10-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a day of reflections. When I saw that on the enrichment week's timetable, I thought that it'd just be us sitting in the Multi Purpose Room 1 the whole day writing our reflections for the entire year.
In a way, I wasn't wrong.
We did sit in the MPR1 for the entire day, but it wasn't writing reflections. Hell, it didn't involve any writing at all. They brought in this team that did school missions and whatchamacallit stuff, and they talked about love and friendship, and they shared two sappy love stories, including the one involving one of our teachers, and told ghost stories, and played Abba music which we were all expected to sing and dance to.
I gotta say, they really like Abba, don't they?
Pity they didn't play Waterloo, though.
But that's getting off track.
Reminds me of the good old days where I used to digress so often...
but I'm digressing again.
So, back to the subject. Anyway, they got the teachers to go up on stage and we had to go and thank them for what they had done, and they got a pretty enthusiastic response (although I didn't see a lot of people clustering around Lemon). Then the teachers came on and talked about how what they were doing was all for us and all that. Then it ended with another, non-Abba song, and we all went home.

And then came today.
We went to the Chinese Heritage Centre and almost fell asleep. The irony of it all is that for our school newsletter thingum me and Gen have got to write an article about this. But photos weren't allowed, and there was no guide, so I'm at a loss of what to write about.
But the Creative Thinking thing was fun. The chap was absolutely hilarious, a laughing stock in a good way. He showed us plenty of creative stuff and brilliant pictures of hallowe'en watermelons and suicidal oranges.
I've got a feeling that the theme for enrichment week this year is "Be a loony!" 'cause everyone we've had so far has proved themselves to be loonies, albeit in different ways.

~Today in History~
1945: The former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is shot by a firing squad for treason.

~Quote of the Day~
We are out to win the war in the quickest and most economical way.
-Gen. George C. Marshall...I don't think they really accomplished that, did they?

One and a half BLOODY hours

2008-10-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

You know, yesterday we had a games carnival.
It was anything BUT fun.
First - we won everything BUT the last four games of Captain's Ball. Which is only one game. At least we won 7-1, though.
Next - Boy, was it hot. Everyone was sunburned. Still hurts.
Third - the stupid school people thought that stupid school ends at bloody two o clock, when it stated on the damn letter that it ends at one. So they kept us back, back, back, back, back until one thirty five before ending the games carnival. But, wait for it, suddenly a stupid CIP briefing comes out of nowhere and we have to proceed to the hall, where they say the briefing will be "short and sweet". Ok, fine. But of course, knowing them it's anything but short and sweet and we're detained for another hour. And still the teachers don't know we're one and a half hours late. And when Mrs Goh says "apologies to your parents, we're a couple of minutes late" she's drowned out by protests. A couple of minutes? More like one and a half bloody hours!
And when she hears that she goes, "Your parents are gonna murder us." Damn right they are. And if they don't we'll murder them first.

QUIZ from Gen

1) What is your name ?
Is this a trick question?

2)Do you have a crush on anyone ?
Yeah…sure. And currently Adolf Hitler’s taking over the world with fluffy bunnies.

3)Does anyone have a crush on you ?
Logically thinking, if the person has a crush on you he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, ESPECIALLY not you. So how would you know something like that?

4)Are you feeling bored ?
Oh, no! Not when I’ve got this LOVELY quiz to do! [Gaak.]

5)How about now ?
Oh, how smart you are! Just one question you were asking whether we were bored, and now you’re asking whether we’re bored?! WHAT DO YOU THINK?!

6)Describe the person you have a crush on
His name is “N.O.Thing”, his face is inexistent, and so is the rest of his body.

7)Describe the person who have a crush on you
HA! Bad English again! Describe the person who has a crush on you. Refer to the answer of question 3.

8)What is your favourite song ?
Theme song of Band of Brothers.

9)What is your favourite subject ?
Well, it used to be English, but I gotta say with Mr Tan teaching it becomes MATHS.

Name 10 People you can think of right now , including the person who tag you
1. FDR
2. Winston Churchill
3. George Patton
4. Richard Winters
5. Bernard Law Montgomery
6. Douglas MacArthur
7. Arthur Percival
8. Genevieve
9. Adolf Hitler
10. Anthony McAuliffe

[By the way, this should be “the person who tagged you”, not “tag you”.]

10) Is no. 5 a male / female . ( Bernard Law Montgomery)
Female…but so is Adolf Hitler.

11) Do you like no. 6 ? ( Douglas MacArthur )
Well, sure I do. Put aside the facts that he’s a incompetent, lousy, lazy, stupid, egoistic, ignorant, clumsy idiot and I do, very much.
12) What is the hobby of no.2 ? ( Winston Churchill )
Giving speeches, rallying nations, switching parties, smoking cigars, doing that famous V shaped hand sign, wearing bowler hats, being heroic.

13) Is no.9 smart ? ( Adolf Hitler )
If he was, the Allies would have lost the battle and Nazis would have taken over the world.

14) Will you woo no.10 ? ( Anthony McAuliffe )
First. How do you woo a guy who’s been dead 33 years? Second, NO WAY.

15) When is no.3's birthday ? ( George Patton )
November 11, 1885…coincidentally my mom was born 80 years later, and WWI ended 33 years later. Notice a familiar number over here?

16) What will you do if you did not meet no.1 ? ( FDR )
Seeing as I’ve never met him in the first place…nothing.

17) What will happen if no.5 falls in love with you ? ( Bernard Law Montgomery )
Well, firstly I wouldn’t want a corpse falling in love with me, secondly I wouldn’t want a corpse who sent 8000 British Paratroopers to their deaths in Operation Market Garden to fall in love with me, thirdly I wouldn’t want a meticulous, immaculate, NEAT corpse falling in love with me. So maybe I’ll kill myself.

18) How about no. 1 (FDR) ?
Wonder what it would be like as First Lady of the United States of America…anyway, Highly impossible. Unless someone invents a time machine. But even then it’s still impossible. Refer to the first point of Question seventeen for more details.

19) How are you feeling now ?
What do you think?

Tag 5 person to do this quiz
It should be “people”.
And for this, refer to the first five people on the list that I just made before this. [That’s why I didn’t put you as the first person, Gen]

QUIZ by Pearl
Name five things people don't know about you.

1. I've no idea when Winston Churchill was born.
Can I skip the next four? I'm too shallow a character. Everyone knows everything about me.

~Today in History~
1942: Battle of Cape Esperance

~Quote of the Day~
I don't drink, I do not smoke, I sleep a great deal. That is why I am in one-hundred percent form.
-Montgomery to Churchill, showing what a fat liar he is. And witty Churchill replies, "I drink a great deal, I sleep little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred percent form."

13 year olds driving cars

2008-10-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's happened, and it's very possible.
You see, I've got this 'friend', (Can't say the person's name or the police might go and arrest the person) that moved to India.
And one day the person asked the person's grandmother whether the person could drive an old Subaru (I think) with a clutch gear and all that.
And she said yes.
And so the person with two cousins and a sister oohing and aahing in the back seat drove the car around the grandmother's school's field.
Sounds impossible?
Well, the person did accomplish it. Later said it was great while it lasted.

Anyway, enough about teens driving cars. More pressing matters. EOYS ARE OVER! AND WE GOT OUR RESULTS BACK!
And with all results, there are the good, the bad, and the ugly.

GOOD: CHINESE! I pulled my socks up and got an overall B4. Nintendo Wii, here I come.
ENGLISH! I topped the class for both Term four and Overall! Which is good news.
MATHS! I maintained my all A1 record for the whole year, one that I was not able to accomplish with any other subject.
D&T! I got my DnT up from my lousy A2 to an A1.

BAD: history. I got an A1, but I don't think it was a very good A1.
geography. I got a goddamn A2.
art: guess it was expected, but it's gonna pull down my average with a lousy b4.
science: A2. Need I say more?

UGLY (undecided): Literature. On one hand, I got a lousy A2. On the other hand, I'm 3rd in class.

So there you have it; my lousy overall results. Which is bad. Looks like I'm not gonna get into stretch class next year.

Celebrating the end of exams with marshmallow man.

2008-10-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the last of my exams.
Contrary to what you think, though, it wasn't chinese.
More or Drama.
You see, in the morning we had Chinese, which was surprisingly, amazingly, relatively okay. I should be able to pass.
Then after maths (which is starting to get a bit boring 'cause I'm outta ideas) we had drama, and I was fretting 'cause our group had no idea what we were going to do.
At least we sorta improvised, though the combat scene was an absolute nightmare.
The other groups' presentations were so much better, although I guess for some impromptu stuff it wasn't too bad.
And then I'm going to die on Monday, 'cause I didn't do my vocab book. Hell, it's been months since my last entry. I didn't even bring it home. So I'm dead.
And my story still exceeds word limit. 402 GODDAMN WORDS! It's just 2 WORDS more...is that acceptable? I hope so, 'cause I can't be bothered to cut down anymore.
And yesterday I watched Ghostbusters. Which was quite funny, actually, considering the CGI twenty years ago was so amateurish that it was so laughable. And some of the lines were brilliant. Like when the giant "stay puft" marshmallow man walks down the street destroying everything in its path, Peter whatsisname delivers his line with a great deadpan, "There's something you don't see everyday."
The Marshmallow man looked like one of those tire brand's mascots. I think its michelin tyres. But that's out of point.
So, I've got to go and find a way to cut down on those two words now. Or else sushilla will kill me. As if I'm not dead enough already.

~Today in History~
1943: U.S. capture the Solomon Islands over in the Pacific.

~Quote of the Day~
"I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma: but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."
-Winston Churchill, talking in his usual weird ways.

What is it with people and quizzes?

2008-10-01T02:13:00.000-07:00

TOP 10 Favourite Songs Right Now:
1. Band of Brothers
2. Requiem of a Soldier
3. The theme from “A Bridge too Far”
4. Music of the Night
5. Some weird song playing in my head right now
6. The theme of “The Longest Day”
7. Phantom of the Opera
8. The song called “Nothing”
9. The song called “Nothing 2”
10. The sequel to “Nothing 2” and “Nothing”, namely “Nothing 3”

1. Closest Friends in your current school [Gals]:

Current school? Do I have to answer this question? My nickname isn’t for nothing, y’know.

Closest Friends in your current school [Guys]:

Ahem. It is a GIRL’S SCHOOL, so unless you think there’re some boys in girls’ clothes, I declare this question null and void.

People you miss from your Primary School:

Most of the people of 6K and 6L, Skatezone in particular.

TOP 10 Hobbies:

writing stories
Writing poems
Writing war stories
Writing war poems
Writing
Reading war books
Playing war games
Watching war movies
Reading more war books
Researching on war

TOP 10 Persons/Objects/Animals/Things you have pretended to be:

I have pretended to be nothing save me, myself, so I don’t really see the point of this question. I mean seriously, my acting skills are either too top notch or too suckish, so I’ve never acted in my life before. Except as a soldier, maybe. Or a paratrooper.

TOP 10 Career choices:Something really fantastic so that I don’t have to do anything but still get paid millions of dollars. Something like being the Queen of England. Yes, they pay her for being the Queen. Isn’t that fun?

TOP 10 Things you want NOW:GET A B4 OR HIGHER FOR MY HIGHER CHINESE
Get into one of the stretch classes next year
Get a scholarship to Harvard (Yes, I know I’m too young to go in, but once they discover my exceptional talent for a person my age, they’ll immediately waive the age qualifications. Right?)
Top the class for English, Literature, Maths, Science, Geography and History.
Buy all the books in the world
Build a time machine
Get some authentic WWII memorabilia (For example, Eisenhower’s order of the day on the fifth of June)
Get an unlimited number of wishes that will definitely come true (although this one probably won’t come true anyway)
Get an awesome, photographic memory so that my first four wishes will come true
Get this quiz over and done with because this quiz's questions are so un-funny and so gramatically correct that I can't a) give funny answers or b) correct its gramatical errors.

NOW to passing the tag. Only 5 people can be tagged.I tag:

1. Adolf Hitler
2. Winston L. S. Churchill
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. George S. Patton
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower

So, anyway. I hated that quiz. It was the most un-funniest, most gramatically correct quiz I've ever done before. Dang it, Pheo. Next time give me one of the funnier ones like Gen's.

Anyway. What's a kid gotta do to have a nice holiday? Today I woke up with a temp. of 38C (sorry but I've no idea how to put the degree sign in, unless I doctor a chinese full stop) and a blasted cold. I've used up god knows how many pieces of tissue and cut down god knows how many trees. It's only by a miracle my mom actually allowed me to use the com. And even then it's for half the time we usually use it.

Jeez. Talk about a bad children's day.

~Today in History~

1943: Allies take over Naples.

~Quote of the day~

A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.

-George Patton...was he talking about Monty's descision to make a meticulous plan to take back Caen instead of attack directly? We'll never know.

There's a cat in the...what?!

2008-09-30T01:39:00.001-07:00

Today, a pregnant cat was discovered in the house.
In the kitchen, to be precise.
There was a hullabaloo when my mom went down to the kitchen and a brown streak flashed past her.
It is now confirmed that there are no sign of newborn kittens around the house.
There have been numerous cases of creatures crawling around the landed property situated in the middle of nowhere.
First, there was a huge bird that flew in through the window one day.
Then, there was the neighbour's toy dog that escaped through the gate and found its way into the living room.
Of course, there was also the infamous case of the kitten in the engine. (Note to all animal lovers: nothing to worry about, the kitten was uninjured and managed to escape. However, a few years ago a rat wasn't as lucky. It found itself inside my dad's car's engine and it was ripped apart. A man was later paid to take the rat out.)

Do I sound like a newscaster?
Anyway.
Tomorrow is children's day. Coincidentally it is also my parent's 16th wedding anniversary. And there's no further elaboration, so we shall just proceed to the next topic:
GROUSING ABOUT THE 400 WORD LIMIT ON THE STORY WE'RE SUPPOSED TO WRITE.

How the hell do you expect me to write a story when there is a four hundred word limit? I mean, the poem itself (The one we're supposed to write a story on, Mid Term Break by Seamus Heaney) is already just a bit less than 200 words!
Jeez. How I hate word limits. I bet for this story, like so many commonwealth essays before it, I will be spending more time cutting down on words than writing the damn thing.
There is really no need for word limits. How are people expected to write good stories if you have a word limit? There is usually no limit for proper stories, so they can't really put a limit on these sort of stories.
Therefore I've decided to type the story out. Because, as I told Joy, if I write it out, it will be several hours and many, millions of cancellations before I finally get it done. It will look much messier than my usual work is...and that's saying something.
But of course, so that we don't get on "dear" Mrs Sushilla's nerves, I shall have to write it out on foolscap paper later.
Well, I'd best be getting off to write my essay...or I won't have any time to cut down the word number to the stupid limit.

Oh yeah, and the F1 race that everyone's been talking about. How could I have forgotten that? I watched it until lap 29...I was lucky enough to see Nelson Piquet's crash. And of course, Massa's pit stop accident.
Poor Ferrari...Maybe they should ditch the green light operating system. I mean, with technology like this you can't be sure whether the guy just pressed the button accidentally.
And after that, when Raikkonen (Jing Yi is seriously weird. First she goes repeating Raikkonen's name over and over again, and when she remember's Massa's first name (Felipe) she repeats that over and over again.) crashed out with 4 laps to go Ferrari's hopes were extinguished.
According to Raikkonen he crashed 'cause he was tryin'a overtake Timo Glock. Bit stupid really. He just shoulda stayed at fifth place, then at least he could've gotten some points.
There goes Ferrari's hopes.

~Today in History~
1944: Calais liberated!

~Quote of the Day~
We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuation.
-Winston Churchill, talking about the miraculous evacuation of the British troops from Dunkirk, a feat I'm sure everyone will know. You don't? Never mind, then.

Damn It All.

2008-09-26T03:26:00.000-07:00

What is the friggin' problem with writing a story during Chinese?
I mean, it isn't my fault that the goddamn lesson is boring, right?
I bet if it was a Chinese story I was writing, she'd just walk past without commenting. But No, the moment she sees me she goes and bloody confiscates the story.
I HATE HER.
Anyway, sorry for my ranting.
Nothing happened today. Nothing interesting, anyway. (Hey, I just composed a rhyme.) So, my parents are back. Bye.

~Today in History~
1944: OPERATION MARKET GARDEN ENDS. Out of the 10000 British paratroopers of Urquhart's 1st Airborne Divison, only 2000 make it back alive. :)

~Quote of the Day~
If Hitler invaded hell I would at least make a favorable reference to the devil in the house of commons.
-Winston Churchill (but of course)

You call that SOFTBALL?!

2008-09-24T04:08:00.001-07:00

Today, was a particularly boring day.
Not that boring, really, compared to normal days.
But still.
1st lesson: Literature. We were herded to the library and made to do a timeline of Romeo and Juliet.
Yep, folks, we're doing that crappy love story for lit. (By the way, they define "comedy" as a play with "a thread of joy" running through it and a happy ending for "most of the characters". Therefore, we can classify Romeo and Juliet as a comedy as it has a "thread of joy" (the lovely dovey stuff) and a happy ending (for everyone except all the dead guys).)
And then we had Chinese. Which, thankfully, was rather boring. Which is good.
Then there was P.E. And we played...uh..."softball". Technically not softball, since we didn't even have a field to play in. It was raining like hell and the wind blew two goalposts down. So we pitched (UNDERARM, not overarm!) at some cone while the people with the (SPONGE) bats "bunded" it back.
I couldn't even really whack the ball properly. Bunding is decidedly not fun.
Then we were taken up and made to stand right in front of a goalpost, sideways. We were to face Mr Yeo [aka Super ultra papaya head] and when he threw us the ball, we were to whack it into the net. Geez, are you sure this is SOFTBALL?
Ah well. 100% batting rate, though. Though it was pretty easy. Still.
Then came recess. Fried food Wednesday! We went to play volleyball. My arms are still red.
Maths was next, and with it, plain, pure, FUN. I introduced Mr Tan to his new buddy, Patch the one eyed smiley, rubber, super-destructive ball.
Let's see. First it was just bouncing the ball and catching it, then it was throwing it into the air where everyone could see it (everyone except Mr Tan, anyway.)
AMAZING! IT'S A MIRACLE! He actually scolded me! (Ok, so he didn't confiscate it, but still, it's a start!) He said something along the lines of "it's distracting me". Although I've edited it so that normal people like you and I can understand his English.
After that I threw it into the cardboard box next to the dustbin twice. He didn't even bat an eyelid at the racket I was causing. Then I tried the dustbin, but missed and it flew out. I ran out and got it and he didn't say anything as usual. Another experiment, another success!
Then it was physics, and with it boredom. I HATE PHYSICS. There isn't much to say.
For English we had a report writing test. The scenario was some classmate getting caught in the bus and being dragged for several metres. The details were absolutely unclear. I shan't even try to explain.
(That reminds me, if you're looking for some explanation to why my tagbox is being spammed, here it is. During English yesterday Sushi penalized me for reading a bit of the wrong question and asked us to come up with a volunteer to sing. So I didn't want to sing. Besides there were two choir members in our group! So poor Pheo went up instead. Sorry...)

~Today in History~
1944: (Operation Market Garden) British ask for 3 hour ceasefire to evacuate their wounded.

~Quote of the Day~
Any commander who fails to obtain his objective, and who is not dead or seriously wounded, has not done his full duty.
-George Patton, showing that he would've made a brilliant discipline master.