Novy

November is my second favourite month of the year, following December. As my school days come to an end, it might not be true anymore after this year. Everyday would be so similar =(

What a rare week! Alternate holidays, so cool: break, work, break, work, break, work then break for 2 days again. Of course for us students there is no diff but when we grow up and start to work, we'll begin to realise how precious such public holidays are.

It seems like almost every 2 days I'm receiving Navy related stuff, be it magazines, pamphlets or invitations, but no enlistment letter!!! Maybe they are waiting for the Navy to give out all its freebies before finally throwing in The Letter. Sadly, I've been ignoring most of the Navy stuff. I've no interest in Navy but yet they insist in sending their handouts to me >_< When my father suggested that my name has already been noted down in the Navy recruits list, I suddenly remember what I've done a few months ago...writing my name and address in the "Interested in Navy Scholarship" list during Scholarship day. Gosh! >_< Felt very compelled to write at that time. Imagine when the Navy personnel took so much effort to intro Navy to you, you can't possibly say "sry I no interested in navy, sry to waste your breath" right? Noooo...I dun want to go into Navy!!! Gimme my enlistment letter!!!

You know who's responsible for this lah.

Talking abt Navy, it has been a long long time ever since I took a ship/boat. IIRC the last time I've been on the seas was during my adventure to Thailand, in Primary 6. (The sentosa restaurant ship not counted -___-)

My mum wanted to buy me a GP guidebook to improve my GP. As if such books will help lar... If that's the case everyone would have gotten A1 for GP liao.

After much consultation, I've more or less decided what to wear for prom already. Ok, can finally get on with my studies. <_<

夜曲

Just as I tot I could finish up the games/comics that I've been indulging in for the past few weeks (so that I can start my revision proper), there are more to come...>_< Yesterday my bro just intro me a new game titled Shadow of the Colossus. The whole game only comprises a series of boss fights with gigantic creatures but they can be very exciting! Also, few days ago I started to watch the anime 'Bleach'. (my first anime ever!) Watched a few episodes only but hopefully it will get more interesting later. (currently downloading...) With so many "hindrances" how to study?! Nvm...one more week to settle all my stuff.

Ya ya...actually everything boils down to my self-discipline. Even my mum is nagging at me like crazy already. But the problem is, if I dun complete all the things I'm enjoying right now, I'll be very distracted during the A lvl period and unable to concentrate...then that's even worse right? (Wah, very good excuse hor?)

Dota ah? Uh...interest died alr. May revive in the future though.

I realised this year HC J1 FM students so poor thing. Block test and Promos so difficult. (saw their papers just now) Maybe I shld scan some qns here next time.

Was thinking abt how I'm going to spend my post A lvl holidays (ya, at this time -__-) when prom suddenly came to my mind. Absolutely no idea what to wear for that night. Dun want to be too formal (weird) nor too casual (inappropriate). I know the girls would usually go shopping and spend a lot of $$$ for their dresses/accessories. But guys leh? Nvm...shall go consult ppl.

Anyway did anyone notice that my blog layout appears to be a bit screwed up? Ya, it happened after I put in my scanned pics. Sry my html knowledge you3xian4gong1si1 paiseh hor...have to make my readers' eyes suffer. Lazy to correct it also...hehe.

Sry no pics in this entry...too lazy liao...

...

...But after much thought I think I shld put at least one:

Ye Qu MTV. IMO only the chorus sounds nice.

All you Jay fans thank me... (as if I did anything great liddat...)

What if...

Imagine one late morning you are sitting peacefully at your computer surfing websites. Then out the blue your handphone rings, you pick it up and hear your classmate in a concerned tone, "Hello, why didn't you come to school to sit for the paper today? We can't get through your phone this morning and all of us thought something has happened..." You quickly look at the clock, which shows 11.10am, just after the end of a 3-hour paper. You open the msn window, true enough, none of your friends who are taking A levels this year are online at all. You had thought that it is still early and hence few people would be online. You then dig out the entry proof from your dusty bag and realise that the first day of exam is indeed...today...

Maybe some of you have been enjoying the "study break" so much that you lost track of time, not knowing which day is which. For your info, today is Monday 24th October 2005 (I typed the date directly from my memory, with no reference to anything. If you can do the same that means you're still aware of time, despite not going to sch) As long as October may seem, no it's not November yet. No, the first paper does not start next week, it starts on the week after. Both Hari Raya and Deepavali fall before A lvls. It seems like there is still a long long way to go right?

*Sry to those non-A lvl ppl...I seem to have neglected all of you...hehe*

For the Ou De Yang thingy I heard his identity has already been revealed in the chinese newspapers some days ago. Sry for being so swakoo. If you want to see how he looks like, here:
http://click.sg/archives/ocean-ou-de-yang-identity-revealed/

After looking at his pic, I can fully understand why he wants to hide his face. -__- (Maybe his face shld be hidden forever so ppl will always think he's as cute as the cartoon figure.)

*That means the pic I gave in the prev entry is indeed him lor, isn't it?* Sry me not very good in identifying faces.

Hmm, what if the photo in the newspaper is fake?...Nvm that's another matter.

Anyway here is sth old, but still quite amusing:

Get your hands on the "peanut series" NOW!!!

Taken from: http://www.talkingcock.com/html/article.php?sid=1768&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

disappointed...

Just read finish the whole Qi Ling Wang comic. Haiz, what a letdown. I expected the ending to be much better than that. Too abrupt already, it seems like there are still lots of things not taken care of. Come to think of it, planning an ending for such a long story is very very difficult, esp when most of the characters and events have already been developed to the maximum and there are still much room for further plots. It's like those 100-episode sg dramas whose endings mostly suck. In fact most long dramas often have unsatisfactory endings IMO. Probably cos the viewers' expections are higher after watching so many episodes of storyline and twists, and they want the ending to conclude the whole drama as perfectly as possible (which is hard to achieve). It's easy to start and continue a story but it's hard to give it a good ending. As for Qi Ling Wang, I felt very upset after reading the ending. But I think the ending is quite practical since we can't expect the protagonist to be godlike and always be successful in every way.

*However this is just a story created by someone, why can't the author give it a happier ending instead...>_<*

Didn't know the cancer charity show was today (by right shld be yesterday since it's past midnight now) after my mum turned on the TV just now. Continued to watch the show ever since, even though it was rather boring at some parts. (can't help it mah...too bored liao) Tot Ocean Ou De Yang will show his face when performing on stage...actually got translucent screen cover the face -__-. Nvm his face will be revealed sooner or later, after his concert maybe.

Btw there is a rumoured photo of Ocean spreading thru the net, dunno whether it's true or fake one. (most likely fake I think) Anyway here it is:

Do you think he looks like a particular mediacorp actor?

That's...a bit the...erm...nvm...

If he's good looking he wun need to hide his face in the first place.

Scan!

Yay today my bro just bought a new printer cum scanner! Haven't got to scan anything since my old lousy scanner become dysfunctional more than 4 years ago. Scanner is such a useful tool...so I shall keep scanning and scanning from now, even when there is no reason to do so...hehe.

These are just some of the stuff I've scanned: (starting with black and white words/diagrams first...shall put up more coloured pictures soon)

Think that organic synthesis and transformation very easy eh? Take a look at this...(taken from HCI Chem S-paper)

Some might require a lot of steps though.

Integration and reduction and can quite difficult at times. Took me very long to solve these 2 qns.

So kiam...only 3 marks for so much effort.

Doing this qn might make you think "trigo sucks".

You all might think how come I only scan academic stuff. Be patient, I'll try to scan more interesting pictures next time. Still trying to decide what I shld scan...

Few days ago my bro (again) bought the full set of Infernal Affairs (Wu Jian Dao) trilogy DVD. Watched the 3 movies at one go. Some parts so emotional...watch until very sad. A lot of surprising twists. Jumped upon hearing the loud and piercing sound of several unexpected gunshots...>_< Anyway I think the story is quite good. =) Very touching also.

Awakened...

I'm not supposed to wake up that early today, esp when I slept at 3am yesterday. Expected myself to wake up at ard 3pm...hehe. Very lazy rite.

Was awakened by the Zhenghua Sec Sch opposite my flat. Screams, shouts and the loud booming microphone...hard to slp leh. Sometimes I feel so unfortunate living near a sch, can't enjoy peace and tranquility in the morning. Dunno wat is going on in the sch...can only hear noises from the outside...sigh. Heard the teacher said sth like 'scores', 'sticks', 'team', 'balls', I think they are playing either hockey, ice hockey, fire hockey, floorball or watever you call that... Can't think of any more sports with balls and sticks.

Hmm, I tot today is O lvl Bio prac, how come they are still making so much noise... Maybe the sch nobody take bio...muhahaha. (so mean of me)

Eh, weird, I still haven't receive my enlistment notice yet. Dun say they are waiting for me to sign up for some scholarships... Anyway whenever I think of NS life, it will remind me of the ppl in CMPB. Some ppl there are really detestable, esp the fair mushroom-head guy usually at the EYE dept(those who went there shld know).

Also realised that from next year onwards I'll not be able to follow drama serials anymore. I think since there are already good dramas this year like Jing Zhong Ren, Yin Cha Yang Cuo and Fa Yi X Dang An II, next year there might not be such nice shows anymore (the scriptwriters shld have run out of ideas alr). From the magazines, the coming shows are all abt love and family (boring).

Some websites

Quite bored recently so went to search for some interesting sites from the net. Got most of them from forums and other ppl so I think I shall share some of them here.

Firstly, a puzzle game like Grow. Might be old but anyway here it is:
http://www.foon.co.uk/farcade/hapland/

Looks familiar? Played before alr? Nvm, there is still a second puzzle to this which is more difficult. Click on that obvious link on the site to get to Hapland 2. Even if you've completed both before, why not try again?

Next, a reflex game: (In fact there are two but they are similar except that the first one is harder than the second.)
http://www.eddiezone.net/flashgame/Restaurant.swf
http://www.funnyflash.com/games/dai_pai_dong/

Cute cooking game...read the instructions...very impt!

Thirdly, a rather interesting game that is neither a puzzle nor reflex game, just depends a lot on luck:
http://www.addictinggames.com/reactioneffect.html
My record is 1800+, try to break that! Hehe...can be very easy or very hard, you really need a lot of luck.

If you notice the domain, it says "addicting games". Yup, you can find a lot of online/flash games there. Good for those who are bored (like me). Anyway I found another interesting game there:
http://www.addictinggames.com/planarity.html

Of course there are more fun and addicting games than those above, so take some time and go check it out! With that, I think you can find the rest of the games yourself...

Last but not least, I just want to say that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie is coming up soon, at 17 Nov. (exactly one month from today) Thanks to Jeff's msn nick which reminded me abt this...hehe. The trailer looks pretty cool:
http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/gobletof....html?id=teaser

Compared to the prev 3 movies, this one shld have more action and exciting scenes. Really looking forward to that! Esp since this is the first HP movie I'm going to watch after reading the books this year, the characters and story are still fresh in my mind! ^_^

17 Nov...isn't that in the middle of our A lvls? Nvm, watching the movie shall be the first thing I'll do (probably what most ppl would do too) after the last paper (not including spaper) as a 'celebration'.

Sianistically sian

Out of nowhere boredom just struck me. It's the first day of the study break and I'm already feeling so bored. No more sch and lessons to look forward to.=( The next time I'm wearing the sch uniform again would be 3 weeks later. I seriously hope that I dun get locked up at home for the next 3 weeks (like what happened before prelims). Sigh...can we have another mahjong session? Hehe...or just go to town and gai gai chit chat I dun mind. Also havent watched movies for a long time alr. Are there any good movies coming up soon? Ya I know it's the study break and we're supposed to stay at home and study, but we still need to go out and relax instead of cooping ourselves at home for the next 3 weeks right?

Many have received their enlistment letter alr but I havent... Hmm...most shld enlist ard the beginning of jan but I hope for me it would be slightly later cos I still want to have more time to play...hehe.

Last day of sch

Finally abt 3 weeks after the prelims, lessons and lectures have come to an end. This morning shld be the last hc assembly I attended, 2nd last time sitting in the audi (might visit there again next year), last time listening (or not listening) to lectures in the LT. No feelings abt the canteen cos I haven't been buying food there for quite some time. But what I surely miss is, sitting together with my classmates and chatting with them during lessons/lectures/CT sessions. The next few times I see them we would just be sitting at our isolated seats working on our qns.

Got back Maths S and Chem S papers today. Got 71/100 for Maths. Not so bad but also not so good, considering the fact that those qns are rather simple (upon enlightenment by Zhaoyang) and I cannot do most of them, even those with only showing required. Lost marks at giveaway qns...>_< Dun think that my score can guarantee a distinction, esp since amrks are so easy to score in Maths S. Must think harder next time!!

Chem S is worse...not marked -__- Only one of my qn was marked but it was the most poorly done qn out of all. (why must mark that one >_<) Anyway I kinda expected the scripts to be unmarked, even before attempting the paper. Firstly if the teachers really want to mark the papers, then this mock assessment shld be placed during the prelim period with the rest of the s papers, so that they can have time to mark. (heard that phy s paper was unmarked too...but it's ok cos the phy teachers are slack) Secondly just before the paper started Mdm Ching said, "Anyway we're not marking the papers...haha." Then Mr Teo cut in, "No, we will mark the papers, so do it properly and treat it like the actual exam." Those with common sense can clearly tell who is obviously telling the truth and who's lying.

Yesterday was pretty bad, totally forgot that I was supposed to attend the last chem tutorial since it was not written in the timetable that I'm always referring to these past few weeks. (forgot to include it down also) Was rudely awakened by a msg yesterday morning, which suddenly reminded me abt this chem tutorial. Actually it was supposed to start at 9.30 but by the time I woke up it was already 10.20. The msg said that the tutorial will be postponed to 10.40 instead. What the...how to make it in time? It would take at least 50 min for me to get to sch from my bed. (unlike half the ppl in my class I dun live in the hostel where I can simply walk to sch in a matter of 10-15 min) Msged others and realised that they forgot the tutorial too (phew im not alone...) and some not even in sch like me. Anyway the lesson was not really a tutorial but a final get-along session for Mrs Lee with the class. Unfortunately she was very very upset with the poor attendance. (We dun mean to pon at all...we really forgot...>_<) But I didn't expect her to break down in front of the class...the class must be quite shocked to see that. The first time I saw a teacher cry was during sec 2. It was my form teacher who broke down after scolding my class of our misbehaviours. Both cried for the same reason: being too emotionally attached to their classes. Luckily I wasn't present yesterday cos I really hate to witness ppl cry. Just an advice for those who wants to become a teacher in the future: It's not worth it to shed tears for your students. They are neither your family nor kin, so dun expect them not to let you down or disappoint you. Must still thank Mrs Lee for all her care and concern throughout the year...she won the most caring teacher award somemore...

Saw the A lvl timetable in detail for the first time yesterday. Then realised that the first paper Maths is scheduled to be in the afternoon! Wah sian...maths in the afternoon...really hate it, esp when that period is my most sleepiest time of the day. If I'm not wrong, I've never taken a maths exam in the afternoon before, from pri sch till now.(oh no...) Also for the last day of exams (for those non s paper students) FM paper is also scheduled in the afternoon. In fact almost half the papers I sit for are held in the afternoon. -__- (compare that to my all-morning prelims...)

Star Awards 2005

For those who are interested/curious:

Star Awards 2005 List of Nominees

Best Actor
Adrian Pang (Portrait of Home)
Chen Hanwei (A Life of Hope)
Christopher Lee (A New Life)
Huang Wenyong (Destiny)
Tay Ping Hui (A Life of Hope)

Best Actress
Cynthia Koh (Portrait of Home I)
Fann Wong (Beautiful Illusions)
Huang Biren (My Lucky Charm)
Jacelyn Tay (You Are The One)
Yvonne Lim (A New Life)

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Tern (Double Happiness II)
Andrew Seow (A New Life)
Cavin Soh (Portrait of Home I)
Darren Lim (A New Life)
Yao Wenlong (My Mighty In-Laws)

Best Supporting Actress Artiste
Carole Lin (Zero To Hero)
Hong Hui Fang (Double Happiness II)
Jesseca Liu (Portrait of Home I)
Vivian Lai (Double Happiness II)
Yvonne Lim (Portrait of Home I)

Best Comedy Performer
Bryan Wong (KP Club)
Marcus Chin (King of Variety III)
Mark Lee (KP Club)
Patricia Mok (KP Club)
Zhang Wen Xiang (Family Combo II)

Best Variety Show Host
Bryan Wong (101 Shopping Guide)
Jeff Wang (Project SuperStar Grand Final)
Kym Ng (Love Bites)
Mark Lee (Say It If You Dare)
Quan Yi Feng (Love Bites)

Best News/CA Presenter
Chun Guek Lay
Lin Chi Yuan
Ng Siew Leng
Serene Loo
Tung Soo Hua

Best Drama Serial
A New Life
Beyond The Axis of Truth II
Portrait of Home I
The Champion
The Dragon Heroes

Best Variety Program
101 Shopping Guide
Love Bites
Rail Adventure
Say It If You Dare
Shoot!

Best Variety Special Program
Lunar New Year’s Eve Special 2005
NKF Charity Show 1
Project SuperStar (Grand Final)
Ren Ci Charity Show 2005
2005 Star Awards 2004

Best Theme Song
明天的幸福 by Ocean (A New Life)
路 by Fish Leong (Baby Blues)
镜中人 by Fann Wong (Beautiful Illusions)
梦在手里 by Joi Chua (Destiny)
阴差阳错 by JJ Lin (Zero To Hero)

Young Talent Award
Fraser Tiong Kah Kee (Zero To Hero)
Joavan Brandan Bosco Pereira (Portrait of Home I)
Liang Shi Jie (Double Happiness II)
Rachell Ng Ting Yi (Baby Blues)
Xiao Li Yuan (Zero To Hero)

ROFL!

Today's combined morning assembly at chinese high is probably the most screwed up one. Not the band standing on the field, but the music played thru the speakers.

Commander: Baris Sedia!

*drum roll...*
*National Anthem plays thru speakers*

It went on fine at first, sing sing sing then take pledge, but rudely interrupted by some cranky noise coming from the speakers, probably someone rewinding or fast forwarding the tape. Still not so bad.

However just as we were abt to sing the school song...

Commander: Baris Sedia! (end of pledge) *commander turns to face the flagpole*

*drum roll...* (eh?!...I dun remember sch song got drum roll one)

*National Anthem intro plays* (-_________-"")

Woman's voice: Mari Kita Rakyat Singapura... *sings sweetly* (same song, but with vocals...-__-)

*giggle giggle*...*music stops* (I think they realised the mistake)

*music plays again* (this time is the piano version of the national anthem...-____-")

*piano plays soothingly*...*music stops* (yet another blunder)

Deputy principal went up to the commander and said sth.

Commander: Baris Senang Diri!

*silence...some gigglings and chattings heard* (issit over? can we go back to class now?)

After a while: *intro music plays*

Commander: Baris Sedia! (Good timing)

*Grand Orchestrated version of school song plays* (so they finally dug it out eh?)

*music suddenly stops* (OMG!)

*music continues* (without anyone singing, the music doesn't sound like it's for the sch song)

Sing sing sing...murmur murmur murmur...when the song is abt to end...

"Wan shi qi wu jiang"....*music suddenly cuts off* (what the?! that ending is one of the most interesting part of the sch song you know?)

Commander: Baris Senang Diri!

What a blunder! If there weren't so many ppl ard me, I would have already rolled on the floor laughing away...

Yay

Yay...got back all my results alr! From my tone and use of words, I think you shld have guessed what I got for both maths papers. In fact both my maths subject scored better than phy! Leaving chem as my poorest subject now =S Nothing much to say for C Maths since quite a few ppl scored 90+. Few marks deducted for careless mistakes only. Anyway whole class got an A except one. On the other hand, I'm quite proud of F Maths, esp for paper 2 cos I left a 10 marks qn blank (I seem to have the habit of leaving heavy qns blank -__- Must make sure I cannot do that during the As...) and yet still scored quite well. Overall, I'm very very satisfied with my prelim results =) Hope I can reproduce this for the As. (qu qi jing hua, qi qi zao po...did I get it right?)

Woke up 1 hour later than intended today. Time seems to pass very fast while you're sleeping. I tot I slept for 15 mins only after my alarm went off the first time. Fortunately the first lesson was GP and being late is totally fine. I can pon that lesson also. Last year I pon a GP lesson once after arriving to sch late due to traffic jam.

Yawn...wished that I could go home after receiving my maths papers but still had to sit for a chem s mock assessment for 2h 30min. Didn't really prepare for it, but even if I did the end result will still be the same. Realised that my chem isn't very good after all...dunno how to do a lot of qns. (either left blank or wrote crap) For one qn I mentioned abt magnetic field and voltage =S (so physics and unchemistry...) But most likely wrong since where got phy answers for chem qns one? My mind is getting swarmed by phy alr... I felt that I did better for phy chem section than the inorganic and organic sections. This further shows that my phy is improving and chem deteriorating :(

Dun feel like getting back any of my s paper assessment at all. Did rather poorly for them.

Yay tmr is all remedial, that means I can stay at home. ^_^

Ketchup

Got back phy papers today. Wah, so shocked that overall my phy is better than chem! In BT1 my phy marks are slightly lower that of chem, then in BT2 they are of the same marks and now my phy has finally overtaken chem. So has my phy improved or chem deteriorated? Haha, maybe both I dunno. Particularly for paper 3 I realise that doing the all the qns fast (and careless/wrong) is better than doing slowly with some qns blank (but rest mostly correct). I think for the As I'll adopt the former approach for both my sciences paper 3. Paper 1 is full of tyco-ness. Despite the qns being difficult I still managed to get 2 mistakes only. (not trying to show-off but to show how tyco I am)

Stayed in the audi listening to the phy teachers talk till the very end. Usually for phy lect I would rather pon than listen. But last min changed my mind. Maybe I'm grateful for the phy teachers for giving me so many marks...haha. Basically all the phy teachers are just making noise except one whom I learnt alot from. I think he makes a good phy teacher.

Sry if some of you think that my blog is so boring to read. But I'm not a philosophical person and I dun usually ponder so much abt things in life. Maybe cos I've always led a smooth and carefree life. There is nothing much abt my life and daily activities to analyse abt. Furthermore my language ability is insufficient to produce a good philosophical entry. I attempted that once but I felt it wasn't pulled off very well. Spent a long time writing that entry too. Maybe I'll write if I've the time and idea. Idea is the most impt factor here but I dun have it >_< and my views are rather superficial and shallow too. (That explains why my GP is so poor) Actually I can make use of this blog to rant abt things that made me unhappy. But given the recent strict laws on blogs, I dun want to end up getting sued >_< (though it's highly improbable since I'm not an extreme person) But then I also dun want a blog full of negative rantings. Go visit http://rockson.blogspot.com if you want to see those plus many laughters.

Maybe ppl like me shldn't start a blog in the first place since I've nothing unique to talk abt. Then again, what we write in our blogs are what we want others to see and not what others expect to see. (Btw this is not from me, someone else wrote that before) Different ppl have different preference of what they would like to read in blogs. But what I can say is, philosophical stuff is definitely not my style. Frankly I like to read sth like rockson's blog, but maybe it can do without those frequent swear words and vulgarities. Singlish/broken English is fine with me. Humour is good too. I enjoy reading comments abt things around us, criticising or analysing in a humorous or exaggerated manner. I like to talk abt nitty gritty stuff that we seem to notice in our daily lives but usually not discussed openly, such as why female cleaners are given the right to enter the male toilet but not the other way round, and how money can be the dirtiest thing we keep ard us. Well I can have an entry on these matters but I guess nobody will care abt my reasoning and evaluation.

Last year I managed to write a one-page long analysis abt the audi seats in an angel-mortal letter. I think it was a bad move since that would smear other ppl's impression on me =S Nvm what is done is done.

*prays

Today's the 2nd session with 'my student'. Spent most of the time doing the teaching and sharing some of my tips and tricks in attempting maths qns. After so many years of doing so many maths qns, I've more or less developed some tricks of dealing with certain types of qns. Hopefully he understood what I'm trying to share. My worst fear is when he uses my method against another type of qn, which is wrong. *Prays that those pointers I mentioned before will come out for his Maths paper tmr and that the paper wun be too difficult. Sigh...never felt so worried before for papers that I need not take...

Got back chem results today...overall not bad! My paper 3 was a disaster (kinda expected) with one 10 marks qn blank and a screwed up food chem section with only 7/20. First time doing so badly for a chem topic. I think I might be better off doing biochem option instead. I rather analyse structures and explain their properties than regurgitate methods of food preservation and identify food components. Luckily my paper 1 and 2 saved the day. Wah I think my paper 2 very well done! So proud of myself...hehe.

However I'm quite frustrated at 1 mcq qn. I'm getting sick of the KMnO4 with benzene side chain thingy. It seems like watever that is attached to the benzene ring, no matter how gigantic or how many different functional groups it contains, is considered a 'side chain' and will be broken when KMnO4 is added. Does that mean you shld never add KMnO4 to any benzene containing a watever side chain just in case the side chain might be broken? No it doesn't. Some qns seem to imply that "No it doesnt matter cos side chain cleavage wun occur" whereas some qns emphasize the fact it will occur. SO when WILL side chain oxidation OCCUR and when WILL it NOT OCCUR? Depending on how the qn is set? Yeah...so scientific that is. And why can aq bromine react with phenol and phenylamine? Cos the lone pairs of oxygen or nitrogen atom are delocalised into the pi-cloud of benzene ring and activate the ring towards electrophilic substitution? WRONG! When one oxygen atom is attached to two benzene rings, NONE of the two benzene rings are activated to any extent. Apparently when two benzene rings are vying for the same lone pairs, the oxygen atom rather keep them to itself than sharing. Hence there might be some other underlying reasons for the reactivity of phenols and phenylamines.

Thinking abt what I just wrote, I see that there might be several exceptions to many situations, esp in chemistry. But the problem is: when shld we consider such exceptions and when shld we not (since it's not significant)? MCQs really test you on this ability to rule out exceptions or accept them whenever you see fit. I shall post some thinking chem qns (next time) and see if what i said is really true.

Happy birthday to myself

My parents have bought a small cake plus some ice cream...going to eat them later. Used to buy ice cream cakes but I think they realise that buying the cake and ice cream separately is cheaper. Ice cream cakes are really ex! Also received a small model of a rabbit made of pure gold at certain parts. :D

Actually I suddenly remembered my birthday a few days ago. Maybe becos I was too busy with prelims and playing after that, din realise that the month of sep was ending soon. However I had quickly forgotten again until yesterday, when my mortal Huifang (ya we're still exchanging letters) gave me a small card and told me to open it today. The blur me even asked why...-__- Thanks Huifang for the very first birthday present!

Then I momentarily forgot for the rest of the day until past midnight when I heard from the radio DJs talking abt children's day. Quickly msged Zhaoyang (just in case I get too obsessed with my birthday and forget to wish him) and received a similar reply too. On the same night, a friend from JJC (we met thru band) sent me a birthday wish. Din expect her to remember this day...touched.

The next day I received more wishing msgs from various friends. Thanks a lot to all of them ^_^, they really brightened up my day. This year the no. of msgs were significantly more than last year...maybe cos we weren't busy studying for chem promos today >_>

I did not stay at home for the whole day today, but neither I went out to celebrate. Went to Mr Sam Lee's (aka gummibar) house to tutor his student on maths...weird hor. When did I start tutoring? Haha, just today...my first time also. The student really needs help in maths. Coincidentally, the student I taught was actually someone I knew from the net before. We even added each other in msn. Now I know how tough teaching is, esp when facing weaker students and I've to go back to the basics. I prefer to teach techniques rather than the basics. I find it hard to explain the basics also since they are already taken for granted in my mind. It's sometimes difficult to explain my flow of thought in words esp when dealing with tougher qns. In the end I took abt 5 hours tutoring on only a few topics, mainly integration and trigo. Integration really needs a lot of technique lor! Very tired also...hopefully he understands what I'm trying to say. I did my best already...

Quite an enjoyable birthday this year! Much better compared to tackling with chem promos last year...