meet the parents

woke up at sunny 12pm today! but it was actually raining. today's rain lasted the entire day. went to jia en's house with beejuan, siuchu and yiyan. we played mahjong! yay it's so fun but so tiring as well. i didn't win at all =(

the only person who sends me an email everyday is dictionary.com.

higher-order derivative

i'm so tired now! for the past week i've been travelling back and forth between home, school and hospital, sleeping late, and waking up early, feeling sleepy for the promotional examinations. well, mum's discharged now and examinations are over, so that's better. but i'll still have to do lots of housework and wash clothes and iron clothes! there's oral presentation to do for project work, and i've got programme notes to write for my violin examination. i'm going to die of stress again, just spent the past two hours writing a draft of the programme notes.

permittivity of space

i dreamt of fireworks in the house, then there were cockroaches hiding behind my shoe rack =( i was feeling so tired this morning that i didn't feel like running to catch the two-minute train.

i have two mistakes in the mcq section of the physics paper. shanghui said it was pissing to have one, and it was consoling to hear that i have two =( but his error was a very funny one! the physics paper wasn't very easy, but it wasn't very difficult also. so happy that all the examinations are over!

some of us went out to plaza singapura for lunch, then movie. hmm we ate at pizza hut and it was nice! i like the cheesy crust! then we watched 'john tucker must die', which was super funny. it's much better than 'silent hill', but it's another of those shallow movies.

something funny happened today. we were walking past 'toast box', that had a picture of the 'milo dinosaur'. then amanda pointed at it and said, 'do you know how fat that is?!' haha everyone, and the people sitting in the shop were looking at her!

fixtures

i so don't think that i'll get an A for chemistry =( i remembered the cis-trans isomerism concept wrongly! and i converted cubic decimetre to cubic metre wrongly, causing the gas to weigh ultralight! i couldn't find another physical property to write for the zwitterion. that question was so mean, it exhausted the list of physical properties that i could think of, so i wrote on electrical conductivity. guess what? i don't think that that's a physical property.

it's such a hot, hot day today! yesterday i was walking at old tiong bahru with my grandmother. she has many in-the-past-there-used-to-be-... stories. i really haven't seen you in a long time. dictionary.com says that 'newspaper' is pronounced as 'nooz-pey-per'. the 'nooz' part is weird!

flake

don't know why, but i couldn't sleep well. bloody hell, i was in bed by 11pm, by i was staring at my clock till 12.49am. and then i woke up for no apparent reason at 3.55am. shit, i was sleepy in the morning. bad for maths paper! the bougainvilleas along bishan road were blooming again!

oh my goodness the maths examination was quite, quite easy! i rushed through the first part, and thank goodness i did, otherwise i would run out of time to do the integration questions! those were a bit difficult, but i managed to do all of them. i checked and checked, and i'm pretty sure that the answers are all correct, although now i have doubts whether i did question 13b correctly =( i do hope i did it right, and if i didn't overlook any careless mistake, then i'll be getting a very high A i guess! i used the graphic calculator to check all my binomial expansions, and they looked correct. i erased and redrew my graphs a couple of times to make sure they looked perfect! gonna be so disappointed if i hit below 90 marks.

i found the butterfly effect in my stomach after the maths paper, because it was geography next.

and oh my goodness what was wrong with the air-conditioning in the hall! omg it was so bloody cold! luckily i had jia en's sweater, which was too small, but still worked. the geography paper was quite, quite crappy. i felt like i was writing gp essays in the population essay questions. on the essay i wrote on singapore's birth and death rates was almost like the one i wrote for the gp essay paper. cool, i used a french term in my paper. it's 'vis-à-vis'. i'm sure ms ooi would be proud haha! wow i used eleven sheets of paper, but i think i used about twenty sides only, and my handwriting simply got bigger and bigger over time. aminah pointed out that our fingernails were blue after we came out of the hall!

imma re-do the maths paper and check my answers again. i miss you, i miss you, and i miss you. let's play the game of mathematical induction!

o.O

hospitals are intimidating. the last time i went to one was when jeremy had dengue fever. this time it was mummy's operation. the thing with a big hospital is, you end up finding all the other blocks but the one that you need to find.

they've got these intriguing things moving overhead. there were too few, didn't manage to take a photo of it. mummy was still under observation. i saw the nursery. the babies were so small and cute.

mummy looked very tired when the nurses pushed her out. i think she must have been in a lot of pain, so much pain that i wouldn't be able to bear myself. at least now it's done. roughly read through the population geography stuff. i'm ready for maths tomorrow.

i miss you. the swing at the new playground downstairs is too low =(

muses

i really like prokofieff's violin concerto no.2! and kabalevsky's cello sonata! i did my laundry and the ironing. wow i think i won't do well for geography tomorrow, not the human geography part at least.

pasty

when you go for tuition, does it train your intuition? shan't do the notes for economic and population geography, they're too damn long. practise integration! beejuan likes to ask physics questions which are either not do-able, or have wrong solutions given.

after this week there are three things to do. chemistry spa, oral presentation and violin examination!

plus, i'm going to ask high-order physics questions! looking forward to end of this week! sheesh, hady mirza won.

666th post

this morning i received an sms from kenneth. i was quite stone for a while, because i couldn't remember who kenneth was. there was a baby cockroach on the train! eeks! the weather was cool today. there was a very indecisive rain that looked like it wanted to fall but didn't for a long time. i could smell the rain coming! and i've realised that if you were still in your old class, then your locker would be near mine.

omg the gp promotional examination was easier than the common test one. i hope i can do better this time. i picked the essay question on population, so i hope that my population geography information worked to my advantage, although i think my essay organization was haphazard. don't know why there was a question on population. don't remember seeing it anywhere in the information packages, maybe because i don't read them. but hey, that was a bonus today! the comprehension passages were easier to understand compared to the common test ones, but the application question was so weird.

haha zhichao said that for gp common test, the passages were un-understandable. for gp promotional examinations, the questions were un-understandable.

oh yes now i can relax a bit more. gp gives me the jitters. now the only really problematic one i have is geography. i don't suppose the sciences are going to be very hard, since the teachers said they are designed to let us pass (if we studied).

i bought ben and jerry's 'fossil fuel' yay!

part-time cinderella again. milk in the morning gives me the runs.

short fart

woke up in time to watch 'zatchbell'. it's the cartoon which used the word 'nincompoop' once. deep. patronizing kfc is always such a pain in the ass. but i do it for the nice food. fatty? i couldn't care less. singapore idol finals is on now, and i've read through the hydrology 1 notes. revise!

hydrology 1

basin hydrological system includes these:
1. precipitation
2. interception storage
3. stem flow, leaf drip, throughfall
4. surface storage
5. overland flow
6. infiltration
7. soil moisture storage
8. throughflow
9. percolation
10. groundwater storage
11. baseflow
12. channel storage
13. channel flow
14. evapotranspiration

precipitation comes in the form of rain, snow, sleet and hail. there are three types of rain: convectional, frontal, relief. interception storage is carried out by plants. it is affected by rainfall intensity and vegetation density.

there are two types of overland flow: horton and saturation. horton overland flow occurs when rate of rainfall exceeds infiltration capacity of soil. saturation overland flow occurs when ground is saturated, such that no rain can enter. there are two types of overland flow: unconcentrated sheet flow and concentrated rilling/gullying.

infiltration refers to the downward movement of water from soil surface into the soil. it is affected seven factors:
1. vegetation
2. rainfall intensity
3. urbanisation
4. compaction
5. terracing
6. soil texture
7. antecedent soil moisture

soil moisture storage involves the concept of capillary water. soil saturation is achieved when pore spaces are completely filled by water. as gravitational water drains away, the soil reaches field capacity. soil moisture withdrawal starts when precipitation is exceeded by potential evapotranspiration. wilting point is reached when plants can no longer exert enough force to absorb soil moisture. this water that the soil retains is known as 'hygroscopic water'.

throughflow refers to the lateral downslope movement of water in the soil. this occurs when vertical downward movement is restricted, which can be due to a clay pan, or more compacted soil below.

groundwater storage involves the concepts of porosity and permeability. soil porosity refers to the presence of voids in the soil particles. soil permeability refers to the allowance of water to move through the soil. the water table is the boundary between unsaturated soil and saturated soil. the zone of aeration is the unsaturated soil. the zone of saturation lies below the water table, and represents groundwater storage.

there are three types of channel flows: perennial, intermittent and ephemeral. these occur depending on whether the stream is under influent or effluent conditions. evapotranspiration is dependent on temperature and relative humidity.

features of a storm hydrograph:
1. lag time
2. rising limb
3. stormflow
4. peak discharge
5. recession limb
6. baseflow

lag time is the time difference between the peak of the rainfall and the peak of the river discharge. it occurs because time is needed for overland flow and throughflow to be generated. lag time is increased if the gauging station is far from the location of the rainstorm. lag time is also increased by intensive rainfall and dense vegetation, since they cause more infiltration to take place. urbanization, basin shape, size and relief also affect lag time.

the height of the peak discharge is affected by the rate of generation of overland flow and throughflow. because if these flows were generated quickly, lag time would be short, and for the same amount of discharge, the peak must be pushed up. as such, urbanization causes high peak discharge because water is not allowed to infiltrate, and overland flow is generated very quickly.

the water table rises as more groundwater is being stored. the water table fluctuates depending on the inputs and outputs into the groundwater storage. the inputs are precipitation recharge, which depends on precipitation and evapotranspiration. the outputs are baseflow, channel flow and spring flow.

the water balance equation: p = q + r +/- s
p is precipitation, q is evapotranspiration, r is runoff, s is storage.

storage can be positive or negative depending on whether evapotranspiration and runoff exceed precipitation. storage affects directly the height of the water table from the soil surface. when describing spatial variations of water balance, compare the water balance of singapore with that of sudan. when describing temporal variations of water balance, use the water balance of britain.

floods occur when river discharge exceed bankfull discharge. they can be caused by excessive rainfall, rapid snowmelt, volcanic action, landslides or dam failures. they are intensified by factors such as basin shape and area, density of vegetation, presence of human construction, and type of soil.

recurrence interval = (n+1)/r

rational runoff method:
peak runoff rate = 0.278 c*i*a
c is the coefficient of rational runoff, i is the rainfall intensity, a is the drainage area.

case studies to use for flood management: singapore, bangladesh, mississippi and china.

primary effects of flood refer to the direct effects caused by the flood, including property damage and loss of lives. secondary effects refer to the disruption of services (gas, water, electricity). tertiary effects refer to the long-term effects such as corruption when dealing with relief supplies and raised insurance rates.

flood effects can be mitigated. levees can be built artificially, as is the case with mississippi. dams can be built, like the three gorges dam. hazard mapping, channelisation, floodways, and controlled floodplain development are other ways to mitigate flood effects.

the management of rivers can lead to conflicts. usually, this is because the river is trans-border. sometimes, it is because the river is a scarce resource. also, different interest groups can produce conflicts too. case studies:
1. three gorges dam
2. aral sea
3. jordan river
4. river nile
5. colorado river

-fin

doucement

made another mistake, it's just messing up again. time for some narratives. paul's distinguishing test for carboxylic acids and alcohols: drink them. carboxylic acids: you die. alcohols: you get high. i would rather believe that you just get sour when you drink carboxylic acids. try butanoic acid especially.

copper(II) sulphate tastes like there's-no-word-for-it.

stint

i walked out of my house without knowing that i wasn't wearing the right pair of spectacles. besides, someone thinks that the black one looks better. syo ended early today. then there was this crazy guy at the mrt who kept saying 'hi' to yuze and me.

just came back from dinner. there was salmon sashimi, chicken curry rice, californian maki, gyoza and tofu. now that's a hearty farty meal! tiong bahru plaza was bustling with people. omg too many people around, it was so noisy!

i'll revise lithology 2 now!

lithology 2

weathering is the in situ breakdown of rocks. there are five geometries of rock breakup. they are block disintegration, granular disintegration, shattering, exfoliation and spheroidal. rocks break up in these ways due to three main types of weathering: physical, chemical and biological.

four processes of physical weathering:
1. pressure release
2. freeze-thaw action
3. insolation weathering
4. salt weathering

five processes of chemical weathering:
1. solution
2. hydration
3. hydrolysis
4. oxidation
5. carbonation

biological weathering involves both physical and chemical processes, but are termed 'biological' because they are caused by living organisms. these processes include root prising and chelation.

the humid tropics are characterised by dominant chemical weathering. this is because of the high temperatures near the equator, and the high annual rainfall. dense vegetation also contributes to biochemical weathering. the result is a thick layer of regolith over rock layers. this then contributes to the lack of physical weathering processes, since physical weathering processes are superficial. the masking effect of the thick regolith prevents fresh rock from being exposed to physical weathering processes.

the seasonally humid tropics are characterised by dominant chemical weathering. however, unlike the humid tropics, there is less buildup of regolith. the vegetation is less dense, and hence surface wash is greater. fresh rock exposed after surface wash is then ready for chemical weathering processes to take place again, and repeated cycles result in the characteristic inselbergs.

hot deserts are dominated by physical weathering. the large diurnal temperature ranges favour insolation weathering. the process is superficial, and thus weathering is very slow. studies by blackwelder and griggs have shown that water, even in minute amounts, play a role in such insolation weathering processes.

temperate regions have very strong freeze-thaw action during winter months. compared to glacial regions, the freeze-thaw processes may be more active at temperate regions. this is because glacial regions are consistently cold, while temperatures at temperate regions fluctuate above and below freezing point. there is high chemical weathering potential at glacial regions, but cold temperatures inhibit the processes.

mass movement is defined by the downward movement of weathered rock materials in response to gravity.

two things govern the rate of mass movement: shear stress and shear strength.

shear stress involves factors which cause movement. these include, gravity, slope angle, and water. shear strength involves factors which resist movement. these include friction, cohesion of particles, solidification and crystallization, structure, and water. water plays a role in shear stress and strength. in small amounts, it can act as an adhesive, via surface tension, to bind particles together. as such, a dry slope may be more prone to movement compared to a moist slope. however, saturation of water would add weight to the materials, and lubrication would cause movements to start.

triggering mechanisms can be due to natural processes like earthquakes and undercutting by rivers, and human processes like uncontrolled hillside developments.

seven types of mass movement processes:
1. soil creep - gravity creep and soil heave
2. solifluction
3. rockfall
4. land/rock-slide
5. earth/mud-flow
6. slump
7. avalanche

humans and nature play a role in causing mass movements. use these case studies as examples: holbeck hall hotel in scarborough (slump - 1993), favelados in rio de janeiro (landslide - 1966-7), himalayan roads in india (rockslide - 1995). tiltmeters and extensometers can be used to gather information about ground tilting. computer modelling can be used to map hazard areas, and governmental policies can restrict development at these areas. vegetation should be kept, as plant roots have binding properties. human structures like ripraps, rock gabions, retaining walls, nails and sandbags can be used to prevent slope failures. debris catches and dams can be built to protect property, while drainage systems can be enhanced to prevent saturation of soils.

limestone is a sedimentary rock formed under the sea millions of years ago. it contains calcerous remains of organisms, as well as fossils. it contains the mineral calcium carbonate, which is very susceptible to carbonation processes. limestone is a rock of low primary permeability and high secondary permeability. large proportions of limestone are carried away after weathering, and this leaves behind only the insoluble fossils.

at temperate regions, dolines and uvalas dominate karst landscapes. dolines form over limestone rocks which are highly fractured. once a sinkhole develops, throughflow guides water towards the centre of the sinkhole, which causes weathering to speed up, forming dolines. if dolines grew and merged over time, with new dolines developing in the old ones, uvalas are formed.

collapsed dolines can occur in the humid tropics. they usually develop over water-filled caves, aided by upwards erosion by the water. however, the dominant karst lanscapes in the tropics are cockpit karsts. formation still begins with selective weathering at concentrated joints. however, the nature of rainfall in the tropics dictate that water will flow over the surface of the limestone rock for brief periods of time. surface gullying takes place to intensify weathering along the joints, which cause elongated depressions. as these depressions join together, they form interconnected cockpits, isolating conical residual hills. tower karsts develop after sufficiently long periods of time have passed. as downward weathering is prohibited, lateral weathering takes place and leads to formation of steep towers.

karren features refer to micro-solutional features of limestone rock. these include limestone pavements (clints and grikes) and spitzkarren (pinnacles).

drainage features of karst landscapes include karst gorges, which exist only in early limestone development. swallow holes, dry valleys and blind valleys come together. this happens when a river flows over limestone, selectively erodes a swallow hole, and disappears underground. downstream of the swallow hole is the dry valley, and upstream is the blind valley. a series of swallow holes, dry valleys and blind valleys can develop towards the river source, until the river reaches the boundary between limestone and non-limestone rock.

caves form in temperate zones. groundwater moving through joints and bedding planes will develop fissures into large cavities. localized solution of the rock forms cave conduits. stalactites and stalagmites will form due to deposition of calcite.

granite is an instrusive igneous rock formed from rhyolitic magma. solidification underground is slow, and thus leads to growth of large crystal minerals for granite. it usually forms batholiths, which are exposed after denudation. exposure of granite to pressure and temperatures at the surface of the earth often leads to development of cracks, as pressure release occurs. as such, granite is high in secondary permeability. interlocking crystals of granite result in low primary permeability. the main mineral in granite is feldspar, which is susceptible to hydrolysis and forms kaolinite clay. the result of weathering granite is thick regolith.

in the humid tropics, only a thick layer of regolith can be created. ruxton and berry proposed the model of a deep weathered layer. there are four zones:
zone 4: partially weathered rock
zone 3: corestones with residual debris
zone 2: residual debris with corestones
zone 1: residual debris

in the seasonally humid tropics, regolith is now allowed to build up as much, since surface wash, aided by lack of vegetation, ensures that weathered materials are removed. this forms inselbergs. inselbergs develop over geological time, through pluvial and interpluvial periods. during pluvial periods, precipitation results in a build up of weathered material, which are deeper at areas that are highly fractured. during the interpluvial periods, the weathered materials are removed to expose the basal surface of weathering. over time, the basal surface of weathering becomes more and more undulating. ruwares forms first, followed by bornhardts.

-fin

sleepyhead

hi i just woke up! i had this funny dream where shanghui and went for the normal chinese class. we didn't know it was the normal chinese class, until mdm yang cai mei came in. she was laughing when we told her we got more than 40% for our 'O' levels. 'don't need to come!' she said!

i think 'justirisers' is a lousy show. it looks so mindless, and the voice dubbing is terrible. kids have nothing to do on saturdays. i made another memory. tsk. it was the first time i had seen the word 'ignore'. that was in primary school. i couldn't pronounce it, and i didn't know what it meant. so, i asked my classmate sitting next to me. 'what is this?' i asked, pointing to the word. and he did just that!

syo later!

tabernacle

i was on the train today and i noticed the girl standing in front of me had a sketchpad and a pencil. she was, in fact, drawing the people on the train. that's so cool! i wonder how she could do that. i mean, the train's moving, the train's noisy, people are moving, people are getting off, people are getting on. everything around her keeps changing. maybe she was drawing a video clip.

there was a hysterical lady at the city hall mrt station. she was scary! she was carrying a baby and her husband (i think) was trying to pacify her or something. she kept wailing/screaming/crying. the baby was sleeping soundly despite all the sound around him/her.

i saw the artwork display at the esplanade jendela today. omg, i recognise some of them! i've seen them in the rjc art room before, when the artists were still working on them. i think it's so cool to watch the making of an artwork, and then finally see it at an exhibition. wow it must be even better to be the one who was painting the picture, and submitting it for the competition, and having it showcased! today's so arty farty!

i was at tiong bahru market and i had the dessert yay. mr tham emailed us some examination tips and it's amazing how he's always so cheery.

remember how easy it can be to construct a memory? it's so scary. nowadays, when i 'recall' something, i have to try very hard to determine whether it is a real memory or something that i've constructed out of nothing. maybe in the exact same way, i could de-construct certain memories.

can't finish lithology 2 today. lithology 1 is too heavy. i'll revise now (and here)!

lithology 1

the theory of continental drift has five supporting evidences:
1. palaeomagnetic evidence
2. palaeoclimatic evidence
3. palaeontological evidence
4. continental refits
5. stratigraphy matches

the theory of plate tectonics is supported by two main ideas: the sea floor spreading and subduction hypotheses. the sea floor spreading hypothesis has five supporting evidences:
1. pattern of magnetism
2. pattern of sedimentation
3. flow of geothermal heat
4. distribution of seismic activity
5. dating of volcanic activity

assuming that the earth is not expanding, by principle of conservation, land must be destroyed somewhere, since land is being created at mid-ocean ridges. thus, trenches are theorised to be sites of land destruction. the subduction hypothesis has three supporting evidences:
1. distribution of earthquake foci
2. flow of geothermal heat
3. distribution of seismic activity

plate movements give rise to three different kinds of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent and transform.

at divergent plate boundaries, rifting is common. features of rift valleys include horsts and grabens, mountain ranges and basins, scarp faults and step faults, freshwater and soda lakes, and volcanoes. examples include the east african rift valley and rhine rift valley. after extremely long periods of time, rift valleys will develop into mid-ocean ridges.

at continental-oceanic convergent plate boundaries, continental volcanic arcs can be formed if magma from the subducting oceanic plate makes its way to the surface of the earth. otherwise, they solidify underground and become exposed after weathering. these are called batholiths. such features can be found at the andes mountains.

at oceanic-oceanic convergent plate boundaries, volcanic island arcs will form. this occurs as one oceanic plate subducts under the other. the lava that results has unsually higher amounts of potassium oxide, which is attributed to the partial melting of the upper mantle under cool and moist conditions. examples of volcanic island arcs include the aleutians.

at continental-continental convergent plate boundaries, fold mountains will result. since neither plate can subduct, they force material, in between them, upwards. the himalayas was formed when the indo-australian plate collided into the eurasian plate.

at transform plate boundaries, land is conserved. these plate boundaries result in the strongest earthquakes, especially when elastic energy between adjacent plates is not released periodically, but accumulated over time. the san andreas fault is an example. features found here include offset drainage systems and elongated ponds.

extrusive volcanism occurs when magma emerges onto earth's surface, becoming lava. three types of magma: basaltic (fluid), andesitic, and rhyolitic (viscous). three types of lava flow: pahoehoe, aa, and pillow lava. different features result from different kinds of lava, due to difference in locations. these include shield volcanoes (mauna loa), stratovolcanoes (mount st helens), cinder cones (paricutin), calderas (wizard island) and basalt plateaus (deccan traps).

during volcanic eruptions, several things happen. these include ash flow/fall, bombs and blocks, lava flows, nuee ardentes, and lahars. those that kill are usually nuee ardentes and lahars. case study for nuee ardente: 1902 mount pelee. case study for lahar: 1985 armero.

volcanic hazard management. the behaviour of a volcano can be monitored (example: sakurajima). french geologist bernard chouet developed a method, involving studying seismic waves from the volcano, to predict eruptions. 1995-7's montserrat eruptions showed a failure at volcanic prediction. 1991's pinatubo eruption showed a success at predicting and mitigating the volcanic hazards. tiltmeters can be used to detect change of slope angle, which indicate the possibility of magma building up inside a volcano and thus causing bulging.

evacuation is always a problem. if it's not the infrastructure (example: indonesia), it's the people (example: 2006 merapi eruptions). 1985 armero can be used to illustrate this as well. citizen confidence in planners and economic effects play a part in evacuation planning (and implementing).

earthquakes result from earth movements. they are measured by the mercalli scale for intensity and the richter scale for magnitude. factors which affect the effects of earthquakes include magnitude, depth and location, geology (soil structure and condition), distance, time of day, construction quality and human preparedness.

effects include tsunamis (2004 indian ocean), sloshing, liquefaction (1985 mexico), fires (1923 tokyo, 1906 san francisco), property damage and fluctuation in underground hydrology.

earthquakes can be predicted by using tiltmeters, monitoring seismic activity, observing recurrence intervals and foreshocks. change in animal behaviour can be an indicator, as exemplified by the 1975 haicheng example.

existing buildings can be retrofitted to withstand earthquake shocks, like what is being done to the golden gate bridge. new buildings could be built according to strict guidelines. human preparedness can be trained via drills, as is the case in japanese schools. inducing minor quakes by lubricating faults with water can help reduce storage of elastic energy, and hence stresses. warning systems can be built, like the hawaiian tsunami warning centre. however, indonesia's warning system is inadequate, as shown by the tsunami in java in 2006.

delivery of aid for earthquake victims can be difficult especially in remote areas such as kashmir. the poor infrastructure coupled by cold weather made it difficult for rescue workers to deliver aid after the 2005 kashmir earthquake. other problems like corruption and uneven distribution can be seen in cases like the 2006 indian ocean tsunami.

-fin

tarantella

if i were a primary school kid now, i would wake up at 10am to watch jamie oliver on channel 5 at 11am and 'finger tips' on kids central at 11.30am. then i would go to school. yay! today marks the start of geography-mugging. i'll finish my lithology 1 and 2 today.

orange-coloured

i'll ask mr sze to teach me everything about einstein's theory of special and general relativity, and the spacetime continuum concept after the examinations! nothing to do at home now. there's no syo tonight =( i'll finish my chemistry revision today, and then i'll be left with five days for the five chapters of geography yay!

just finished power series!

whacko promo

omg i just remembered that in primary school we used to learn how to use an abacus. and the most ridiculous thing was that there was actually an abacus test! we were given addition problems to do on the abacus. i got everything right, until i compared my answers with the person beside me, and changed my own answer for the last question. damn! i could have even done it by manual addition!

xinyang's blog is beyond me. you should try reading it too!

adagio

the construct of memory is weird. 'child of our time' says that memory isn't exactly 'what we remember'. an experiment carried out on adults showed that if the adults tried hard enough to recall an incident that never happened to them, convinced that it did occur, they may be able to construct the 'memory' and remember actually experiencing it!

i spent my morning on the idiot box. mr hodge told us to make good use of the study break. well, we rarely get to watch the television in the morning on a weekday, so you could consider that i made good use of the morning. i was watching jamie oliver cook on channel 5, 'finger tips' on kids central, and whoopi goldberg sing on 'sesame street'. this should serve to increase my media (il)literacy.

butterfly chapter

any queries? any problem? anything you want to clarify?

i can't understand the concept of a space-time continuum. i just don't comprehend when someone says that we are 'all part of a space-time continuum'. it's like telling me about the state of my existing, but with some abstract what's-another-word-for-concept. how does time become the fourth dimension?! my world doesn't go beyond three dimensions, yet i've just read that the universe is theorized to have ten.

i don't understand the concept of death. how exactly does a person die? i mean, he could die if his oxygen supply to the brain is cut for long enough, but so what? if you pumped oxygen in again, he should then wake up once more, right? there's this thing about the soul. i've had dreams when i would be watching myself looking at my body. it's like i'm in the third person view, looking at myself standing there looking at myself lying there. i think that must be when i'm dead. i need a near-death experience to teach me.

i know what the 'point of no return' is. it's called a 'black hole'.

implicit differentiation

chemistry and physics lessons were fun. i rushed to complete the mindmaps on organic chemistry that mr tham gave out. it was so fun! i think i could do very well in the promotional examinations (and win shanghui)! somehow, i've started to like physics a lot. i don't know, is this too late to start loving physics? or do people think that no one can ever love physics?

lunch was at food junction. weiyang didn't appear for lessons today, and we also don't know where he was. so only beejuan, siuchu, yiyan, jia en and i were at food junction. we were all sitting there until quite late, making stupid jokes. must tell toffa about the karate dog!

did you run past my classroom today? i happened to fall backwards and knock into someone when i was looking at you in the canteen. i miss you, hope you do well in the examinations. i miss you a lot, actually.

you've been noobified by 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. it can distinguish an aldehyde from a carboxylic acid, but you can only do so by tasting/smelling it.

before and after

we received the chemistry test back. i'm so happy i almost aced the first question. no comments on the second, but i attempted it again. completed the third question as well, all within one period. so i think that should be fine.

i managed to complete section C of the 2004 chemistry paper (29 marks) within one period too! although there were some mistakes, now i know that i can do fast enough to complete the paper. physics lesson was so fun. we did some no-brainer questions, which i found really quite fun. james was mean, though. written report for project work is finally submitted. we spent such a long time photocopying and arranging everything!

it's been raining again. it must be global warming! i haven't washed a car in a long time. i remember last time it was really fun. first was the honda, then after a few years it was something else. but we always took buckets of water down to wash the car. i miss it.

brainless

it's a sleazy morning! i read my 'time' and 'newsweek' magazines, and i have to do a chemistry paper later. how i wish money just fell from the sky. then i would be swimming in pools of gold coins. haha this reminds me of a cartoon i used to keep watching a long time ago. it's called 'duck tales'!

it's a rainy afternoon too! i've already memorised the tollens' and fehling's test equations. if i can do it, you can do it too!

wondrous worlds (apart)

it was a rainy day. when syo ended early, i couldn't go home because the rain was too heavy. i thought i could grab a lift from shanghui or something, then i realised that driving parents wouldn't come until the time that syo was supposed to end. waiting for the rain to stop took quite long.

i didn't want to use my umbrella.

test tickles

but death is only the beginning.

i'm glad it's the weekend again. this means that the promotional examinations are closer and closer. i don't really think i'll ace it all, but i hope i'll do just enough to get promoted. and top it off with an A for maths, i think that's possible.

'yearning' is like wanting something so much, till the point that it actually hurts. yes, it has to hurt to be worthy of the word. otherwise, it's just 'wanting'.

spread-eagle harmonisation

pe was random today. i went to the gym with weiyang. then, when i came out later and saw so many people at the track, i thought that was what pe should be like. everyone can do what they like. there were soccer, touch rugby, badminton, and tennis games going on all around.

clara likes the fried chicken from stall 6.

it was a gloomy day. there was a big storm during chemistry tutorial, and there was scary lightning and thunder a few times. got back the chemistry quiz. the results were quite encouraging. i've found out that stephanie doesn't like james when he's stinky. physics lesson was fun! mr sze brought us some polaroids to play with. yes, physics lessons should always be this fun.

the rain was a slight drizzle by the time school ended. there were three kittens and a mother cat trapped in the gutter. i didn't know how to/couldn't do anything. the kittens looked so scared and were shivering, although beejuan said that was because i was scaring it by standing around =( siuchu opened one of the railings so that they could come out later if they wanted to.

it's always nice to walk in the rain (with someone).

pesky little poop

i don't like the chemistry test. it was so difficult. ok, it wasn't difficult. i simply couldn't recall that aqueous KCN in ethanol was for nucleophilic substitution of halogenoalkanes, so i was completely clueless for the elucidation question.

physics spa! omg i can't believe how shameless swapnil can get. you should go ask him what he did. the physics spa wasn't too difficult, i rushed through it so quickly and ended up with too much time. maybe it was the fear that i would run out of time eventually. it works every time. i converted g correctly, calculated uncertainty for theta, listed eight sources of error and eleven suggestions for improvement. what could go wrong?

was at coffee bean with weiyang and beejuan. omg the blueberry cheesecake was so nice. weiyang the pig kept wanting to eat more and more, but the feeling went aside after a while. we were gossiping about $#&*&%!)&*^!!

oh i'm so happy today. shanghui said that my ruler was cool. he said it was kiddy haha. i like my castle ruler. i've had it since i could remember. it came from england, i think. auntie bought it. i like castell coch because it looks like a cinderella castle hidden on a hill. i also like caerphilly castle's broken tower.

shanghui's birthday! the present was successfully delivered yay! i like it's wrapping so much =) syo today was fun. we did ibert at the end and it's cool! tiapyang ponned again. stupid pig. everyone found it funny when i did the 'peace' sign. yay it feels nice to spread some laughter during such trying times. and it's the first time i've received a 'haha' in an sms from shanghui.

i used 'pesky little poop' on jonathan. tgif tomorrow!

(natural) magnetism

i'm so dead beat now, but there's still physics spa tomorrow. i don't like it!

i was watching your back in the canteen today. i didn't really feel anything, so that's good. and now i understand what it's like to 'watch a retreating back'. it's such a cold, cold thing. you should watch your back, too.

mr tham did an extra chemistry lesson today. omg he spent so much time and ended so late, but i still had to go do project work with yiyan and siuchu. it wasn't much, just reformatting the line spacings. anyway, left school at like 6pm.

i was so tired that, while walking to the mrt, i pointed at this bright yellow bird and told yiyan, 'wah, look at that blue bird!'

i really can't believe that there's physics spa tomorrow. then there would be promotional examintions in just under two weeks, and after that would be project work again! plus chemistry spa for skill A =(

you know you like him when you feel something if he stares at you, even though it's because he's angry with you. and that 'something' is not guilt or anything bad. it's a secret blush!

the pure-seduction ester

i'm so sad that civics wasn't at the seminar room today. instead it was some stupid money talk somewhere far away from the seminar room. we got back our geography essays. i failed. mr seah asked me when children's day was.

jonathan was in the gym (illegally, i think). he suggested that i did ten pull-ups. hmph, i can do enough to pass pull-ups this year ok? i couldn't run on the treadmill for a long time, just felt too tired too quickly.

omg i was spending one hour before the test deriving my own equations for principle of inclusion and exclusion, stirling number of the second kind, and partitions of a positive integer. the test turned out quite manageable. i could do most of the questions, but i didn't have time to complete the pigeonhole principle question. aww it was such a cute topic to do. i'm surprised that james who wasn't seen the whole day actually turned up to do the h3 maths test.

i'm so glad messenger is back. there was a glitch the whole of last night.

she looked at him from far away. he looked so adorable with the straw sticking out of his mouth. she waved at him, and he waved back. it appeared that he was smiling, and it was so cute. but could it be due to the fact that he had the straw in his mouth, so that made him look like he was smiling? but it really was adorable, that smile (if there was one).

mushrooms

i dreamt of you last night. at first you were standing over me, as though it was a glass ceiling above me. and the next moment you were walking beside me. i could barely wake up today. my alarm clocked rang from 6am to 6.20am.

sonya told me what moobs were a few days ago. i shan't tell you, but if you know what moobs are, here's a little something! toffa told us that there are two kinds of moobs: the square ones and the nasi lemak moobs.

eew gp essay test today. i did the question on science, and i think the exact same question came out for common test 2 at ri last year. i did that question last year. couldn't remember the name of the hurricane (other than katrina) that hit america last year.

yishi's perfume is supposed to be seductive. i like the smell, it's like something i've smelled somewhere before. hmm i shall try to go get back that memory. i'm just afraid it wouldn't come back.

i unwittingly walked past your classroom after school. that would mean that i've found one more time-slot and location where i can hide at one corner to look at you. then again, it's already term 4, and there's no monday timetable next week. and then i don't know if you'll ever be there again.

there were two electric-shock contacts today.

(per)suasion

it's just another heat-of-the-moment things. i was scared of things happening, as though i would never get to see you again. i think it's simply media influence. people don't die so easily right? i mean, i love you.

rose petals

i woke up with a runny nose. i'm down with flu =( and i'm still so sleepy.

oh wow i was slightly late for my violin lesson because the bloody bus didn't want to come. i thought non-air-conditioned buses were obsolete, but there i was sitting in one eventually. it was such a noisy ride because the windows just kept rattling. the bus jerked and jerked, so that it felt like my handphone would soon fly out of my hand and out of the window. i have very smooth (and frictionless) hands, you see.

omg i did everything wrongly for my violin lesson.

was waiting for the bus home, and the sky was super sunny. but somehow, and quite suddenly, rainclouds just came from nowhere. the downpour started while i was on the bus. looked out of the window and observed the horton overland flow.

i remembered the downpour when i was in venice. the group of us were looking out at the sea, and it was all a blur. the rain was so heavy, and i went to buy a gelato (fat-free ice creams). then we were all running around seeking shelter. there was this shopkeeper who didn't want to let us stand outside her shop to seek shelter. so mean right? anyway, there was this old man who had a super big rainbow-coloured umbrella. mrs chan said, '他的雨伞大.他赢.'

the bus drove past the kfc and mcdonald's at kallang.

then i remembered that time when a group of us were running back and forth in the stupid rain trying to find the mcdonald's. we were playing at the presbyterian church's 125th anniversary service. then we got the $150 (ka ching!), and we were trying to walk out of that god-forsaken kallang stadium area when it bloody rained on us.

the rain stopped as quickly as it had started. by the time i reached aljunied mrt station, it had reduced to a mere drizzle.

i went to coffee bean and saw that 'oreo fantasy'. omg! sorry, it was too tempting. and then the 'banana chocolate ice blended'. $10.70 all gone. sigh, but the cake was super nice. it's made with philadelphia cheese, so it tastes a 'little like heaven'.

i remember being at coffee bean at bishan once with joel. he had the 'eggs ben' breakfast set. and he didn't finish his fruits, i think it might have been apricots.

i'll quote neil gaiman (because i koped it from boonping's blog):

Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.

vade mecum

i had a really weird dream. i was walking down the pavement to go to tanjong katong complex, then i saw shanghui in a car. i simply chased after the car, and somehow the road i was running on became bukit timah road, and i ended up at ccab. it turned out that shanghui was a brass player.

i forgot that syo starts at 2.30pm. and so i reached before 2pm. decided to go to the meeting room to try doing that horrible chemistry tutorial 14a. i got stuck on a 6-mark synthesis question. i couldn't do it and i gave up. so i asked shanghui later. it turned out that my steps were correct, and from where i left off, there were only a few more steps to the final product. and it's things that i've actually learnt before, i just didn't remember. shanghui says, 'don't need to remember what... just think a bit more.'

i guess i'm just a bit more dumb.

dry ether

i remembered writing numbers on my door frame when i was very young. it's so fun to drag a pencil across a wall. there was a cat that kept meowing at me downstairs. i took a photo of it. it must have been hungry, and the weather's lousy again.

i'm sitting here with a tissue bud stuck in my nose because i can't clear it.

tasmania

i simply have no recollection of whether my alarm clock rang this morning. it was chemistry revision test today. i reached school uber early and sat in the canteen to study nitro compounds. i didn't know you were going to be there. there was something i would have loved to do, and that was to just sit and look at you all day. but i couldn't, and i hated it.

walked away from the canteen and bumped into annong at the amphitheatre. oh yay i learnt how to say 'stupid pig, so fat and so dumb' in cantonese! and shanghui came so late i couldn't get to ask him how to do physics. it seemed that chemistry was quite popular, judging by the number of people who turned up for the revision test.

i just loved the way everything happened today - seeing you everywhere. i saw you sitting along the aisle when i walked up the lecture theatre. and then when you came down you were bending over your friend just one row below me. and finally you decided to sit two rows in front of me. i just loved the way you were so close today. it was just like chemistry lectures in term 1 again, when i would sit at the sixth row while you were at the second.

i did the test confidently. but it turned out that my arrows for the nitration mechanism were pointed in the wrong way. i had labelled the mechanism 'electrophilic addition' instead of 'electrophilic aromatic substitution'. then i kept losing marks everywhere, and scored 61%, to which shanghui commented, 'that's too bad.' i think i can always depend on shanghui for some cold and objective views. i also thought that 61% was terrible. there was a really grumpy teacher trying to do the debrief for the test. he gave up and dismissed everyone (because no one would keep quiet).

i saw you again in a classroom, with someone. she's taller than you!

rushed for mcdonald's breakfast with yiyan, jia en, beejuan and siuchu. omg i had the hotcakes with ice cream, and everyone (who tried it) said it was nice! we went to the bishan library later. oh my goodness there were so many cool things around, and i liked the physics gadget that involved lenz's law. and the 3-dimensional tictactoe game, although i think that the game has a fundamental flaw.

i've only just realised how funny and young-at-heart mr sze can be. siuchu was sms-ing to ask him if he needed lunch. (we had physics consultation later.) it was hilarious the way mr sze was ordering the food, and then the funniest was when he smsed 'are you coming soon? i'm starving.' oh yes, beejuan has acquired black magic!

mr sze spent like half his day going through our many many many questions on every single topic for physics. oh wow i think being a teacher isn't easy. unless of course if you are a gp teacher, because who in the world bothers to stay back to ask gp teachers questions? i shall consider today's physics consultation as another revision session for promotional examinations yay!

mr sze says, 'what can be so hard about gp?'

latest gossips on boyle! $&**&^#&`~;^!()*&^#$＊＊!

you dumbdumb

there was a passing shower over newton. i thought i would have to walk in the rain for the stretch from the bus stop to ccab. but thank goodness it stopped! i like the after-rain mist. today's syo rehearsal was on weber and ravel only. oh, i managed to get some answers for physics from shanghui. consider physics revision completed. and, everyone should look at lenard when we play 'bolero' at figure 16. it's just so funny somehow.

it's blood on the moon tonight. the sky's red, and it's the fifteenth of the seventh month again.

verisimilitude

i had a dream that woke me up in the middle of the night at like 6am. and then that dream made me think that i had to go to school, but i kept telling myself that it's still the holidays. it was awful, i couldn't fall asleep again for some time. and then i woke up at 12pm.

i'm so glad i've finished the maths revision worksheets. now i can rest in peace and go do the chemistry revision work.

disulphide bridges

i had a dream in which i kept trying to recall the formula for summation of r^3 from r=1 to n. i'm going to memorise that soon. i finished reading 'harry potter and the half-blood prince' last morning at 4am. it's such a terrible ending, i don't want it to end like that =( i woke up at 1pm.

now that i've finished reading harry potter, i can finally rest in peace and go do more important things like reading 'newsweek' and 'time' magazines, and improving my gp. i've done as much as binomial expansion for maths revision. so imma start on my carbonyl compounds revision.

i don't want to study for h3 maths test. and then there's gp essay test on monday when school reopens.

inferi are scary!!!

singular

there was a mega-big storm last night and the thunder woke me up. however, it seemed that thunder preceded lightning in this storm. maybe i was just too sleepy.

boonping dragged me out of my house super early to go shopping. we were at food republic first. omg the curry rice i had was so nice, but i think it was extremely fattening. boonping weighs 54kg with heavy bags, while i've passed the 55kg mark without anything.

we were at kinokuniya looking around. boonping found this book 'blankets' by craig thompson that was super expensive. the need for instant gratification was too powerful, he had to buy it. but first, we went to marks and spencer at wheelock. omg i can't believe that viennese swirls went out of stock.

we tried walking to heeren, but got a bit lost and took the train, only to realise that the place where we got lost was a few buildings away from heeren only. the marks and spencer at paragon had no more viennese swirls too. it's so pissing! we went back to kinokuniya so that boonping could buy 'blankets'.

then we found this book 'the book of answers' by carol bolt. it's such a cute book! just ask a yes-or-no question and open the book for an answer! anyway, here's a conversation between boonping and the book:

boonping: should i buy 'blankets'?
book: it will be a waste of money. (i thought this was really apt and funny!)
boonping: let's try again. should i buy 'blankets'?
book: no.
after several negative replies,
boonping: i know. you just want me to buy you right?
book: that will be a pleasure.

but he still bought 'blankets' despite the book's warnings. the book's answer to my question (which i shan't tell you!) is 'you will not be disappointed.' i do hope it works.

my afternoon nap was ended by a bad dream, in which there was crying and pain. wonder what will happen if i told my parents.

i haven't actually started on revision for chemistry, physics and geography, although i don't really intend to try for physics. these few days have been devoted to practising maths and reading 'harry potter and the half-blood prince'.

i like to dangle my foot when going down the escalator. (tu)

blood in the sky

woke up early again to go jia en's house to do homework. beejuan was late, but didn't owe us ben and jerry's. i was struggling through the gp homework, and gave up. went on to do maths revision exercise. oh siuchu found many songs from the net to play on jia en's computer. i like joey yung's songs.

we went to jack's place for lunch. the food is not bad. and i finished the peas. omg i had one anderson's ice cream after that. beejuan bought this really expensive pair of shoes for $12. so unfair! went back, and i continued to complete the gp exercise.

on my way home, i walked through the alley that i used to walk every early morning during primary school years. that alley always had a lard smell that made me want to puke. but it wasn't there anymore. then i remembered that certain gate, where a (chained) dog would rush out and bark whenever i walked past. so, when i neared that gate, i covered my ears and ran past. but, the dog wasn't there anymore. i must have looked quite dumb, covering my ears and running for nothing.

then i could smell satay. sure enough, the satay man was just around the corner.

i've just heard that steve irwin died. it's so sad, an environmentalist just died. don't answer, just reflect.

matrices

it's such a hot, hot day today.

i woke up early to go church, and then there wasn't service. so i went to visit my sister at her exhibition at mita building with auntie. then we went for the long service at 11.30. i've decided that i should close this chapter in my story.

it's such a hot, hot day today.

went back and forth between meridien and plaza singapura, waiting for music essentials to open. i bought my wieniawski scores, but i refused to pay so much for the beethoven, so i went all the way to synwin. and yes i got my beethoven and vivaldi. i'm starting to see synwin everywhere. first, frank brothers was using synwin's string catalogue. now, music essentials uses the same plastic bag as synwin.

it's such a hot, hot day today.

my feet are aching from all the walking, and i'll mar your pen.

blizzards

i dreamt of shooting stars that were touchable. somehow, i was able to reach up and catch them. they became powdery dust after i touched them.

woke up at bloody 7 to do the sso open house thing. alan the pig overslept and came late! it seems that people instinctively avoid the viola. and when some kids do play on the viola they think that the bow is connected to the viola. so, they simply let go of the bow when they finish playing. i met an ex-fairfield teacher that never taught me, and i couldn't recognise her.

my big discovery today is that sihan is chan yoonghan's brother! and it never occurred to me that they looked alike too. went to mr prata after that with alan, benjamin and sihan. there was like so much bloody time to waste before syo started. anyway, we recommended the milo godzilla to alan, who exclaimed that it was '几 expensive'. and i tried the french ice cream prata. it was omg nice! oh haha sihan told us about how eighty people managed to rob a 7-eleven store without being caught.

i hope i die by thirty. i just cannot imagine what it'll be like to grow older than thirty, and then i'll be older and older and rotting away. are you supportive of euthanasia (truly asia~)?

syo today was on 'lord of the rings'. the malaysian youth orchestra came to visit. but they don't have any violists. the band played some film music for us. and then there was free reception! zhu en is currently 78kg. i bet he'll be 90kg by next week. someone was nice to me today. and three other people were mean.

tell me why! why i cannot touch lenard's cello case.

today is free food galore day. breakfast and lunch was provided by sso at the open house. and the syo reception was as good as dinner. yay, i'm a free-loader!

you know you like him when you want to talk to him so much. and when you have to look down and mumble when you try to talk to him, because you don't know if you're blushing. you don't want to let him see it if you are indeed blushing.

acquiesce

my copper(II) sulphate and chrome alum is starting to saturate. i tried very hard to do the carboxylic acids and nitrogen compounds tutorials. amazingly, while i couldn't do the tutorial on amines and amides, i could do the one on proteins. i think h1 biology has helped me a lot.

should go and do some physics holiday homework. and binomial expansion tutorial. and gp. i've got sso open house tomorrow.

faerie

happened to find a doodle on my gp essay test paper. and i copied a quote by michelle ooi. she said, 'humans are bloody imperfect.' adrian said that choices have consequences.
siuchu said that the two will never be together, because they can never hold hands. it's an action-reaction pair.

happy teachers' day, to all teachers in the world.