To all my dear friends who are taking A levels soon, here are some wise words from Gandalf the Grey.

"You... shall...not... PASS!!"

Credit to my sister who has time to think of such intelligent things.

Mixed feelings.

Come to think about it, maybe NS is not that bad after all. I have been studying all my life (ok, since 5 years old) and there is hardly anytime to stop. Life has been moving so rapidly in this city. Study 2 months, 1 week break, study 2 months, 1 month break, study 2 months, 1 week break, study 2 months, 2 months break. In between mugging like mad, doing exams and having little holidays, hanging out with friends. But we always go back to studying. And it's always like this every single year for the past 12 years. There has to be something more exciting than this! Can it be one day that studying is my 'break' instead?

Somehow this is a great opportunity to break that cycle, even if only for 2 years, and after that I'm going to continue that cycle again in university (I hope) Maybe it is time to add some adventure to my life. Maybe it is time to grow up. Maybe it is time to observe the world we live in. Maybe it is time to change our thinking. Maybe it is time to become men instead of boys. Put down my books for a small fraction of my life, and observe this wonderful world, not having to think about meeting academic expectations anymore.

That's a relief. And welcome to a world of irony. A world where we learn the art of killing only to pray that we will never have to use it. A world where bravery is shown through human weakness. A chance to experience how soldiers really feel, or at least our closest experience yet apart from watching 'Saving Private Ryan'. A world where academic qualifications and petty philosophies fade in comparison to the vastness of things set upon us, and pretty much nothing else matters except those which are really important to you. To carry that rifle and feel your adrenaline pumping like no flipping of millions of pages of books can give. This is where you realise it. We need to be in unfamiliar territory to realise the familiar things. I hope this does not sound like the Gahmen's National Service propaganda :)

So NS, I hope for good memories. Now, it's back to my mugging for A levels.

I'm enlisting for NS on 5 Jan 2006.

Going to turn from a boy to a man. At least that's what they say.

Haiz. Was going to plan some elaborate celebration, now we only have like 1 month to play?

Haiz.

Recruit Tay.

Commitment makes you tick.

Maybe you are not good at letting go.

Or you are afraid of failing.

What's the point of moderation except to make you feel a bit better about yourselves? Moderation at O levels to get that 20 points to go into college, yes. But moderation in a school examination that does not affect your A level grades? We love to be deluded.

Just to make your 'O' an 'E' or a 'D' become a 'C'.

For what?

You know that any RJCian can score A if he sits for the same test, so why deceive yourselves? You are competing against them at A levels. And the VJCians, the HCJCians, the AJCians and the NJCians, all 17 JCs. Yes, you shouldn't be just in your little TPJC world.

Isn't the point to just do your best? If getting 'E' in place of an 'O' is going to make you put less effort just because you 'passed' after moderation...what is the point? Grades are just alphabets. You know you didn't do well.

Let us fail hard now, but work even harder...

P/S: Wan Jun, you are not welcome here! :)

[14] Ko Zaw [ since the minute i met you. ] says:
YOU can't play guitar.!
[14] Ko Zaw [ since the minute i met you. ] says:
hahahah
[14] Ko Zaw [ since the minute i met you. ] says:
Ball N Biscuit : Don't...tell me what I can't do! This is my destiny! says:
Don't....tell me what I can't do!


Hey Locke has become my favourite character in Lost.
Anyway a little trivial from wikipedia:

John Locke, after whom the character John Locke is named, was a famous social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. Locke believed that, in the state of nature, all men had equal rights to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administrate the laws. This philosophy is paralleled by the character of Locke, who embraces both nature and the need for organization among the survivors.

How cool is that?

Also, the French woman, Danielle Rousseau, is actually a parellel of this philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Both Locke and Rousseau seem to deal with nature and society. But I too lazy to read up what they represent.