*The future awaits us~*

Monday, October 30, 2006

today went back to school for drama rehearsal. woke up at like 6.30am... so tired as last night some neighbour was having a party and someone in the house was snoring >_< reached school around 7.55am. met mei xuan at the gate, so i walked in with her. hectic day... the practise on stage was a mess! props on wrong side, mask wrong side, slow movement, scatter of props on the floor. and it was like, weird... i even forgot to take the props back in... we were lack of 2 people, and its very difficult to move things like that. oh well, i pray tomorrow all the crew members will come. after our practise, we were sitting around, with nothing to do. help was needed to prepare the programme booklet so we went to help. job done in about 45mins. all 3 nights' programme booklet done. work is completed faster with more hands. ^^ my finger was tired from folding so many booklets. the finale part, need to be alert sia. and i also need to make sure joel is not day dreaming as he is always doing so x_X let hope tomorrow will be a good day. the actors for my class will be using hair spray to make their hair colourful! so fun!!! ya but i dont want that on my hair... -_-" left by the main gate with dillian and alicia. alicia drank all my water but i was not thirsty la. better than pouring it away the next day. i was walking and decided to look back, and i saw this guy, wearing a white shirt and carrying a big luggage. i was pointing the guy to alicia and she was like,
"its a dog"
and i went,
"when did dogs walk on 2 legs and carry a big bag with the other 2 legs?"
"they advanced over centuries..."
"so we are centuries old! cool..."
"alright, they advanced over the minutes!"
"so we are minutes older!"
"right..."
man i must have been super lame when i was saying that... ^^ i so love to do that.
we walked further and i looked back at the last turning to see who that white guy was. and i was like "eh! tian qing!" *hmph* and so he was the "dog" we were joking about... like sorry la, we green tea addicts lack of green tea =P and so some other thought came to my mind when i said hi to him... and we talked for a few minutes. and i am happily suspecting things again. he came to school for some maths thing... i was sweating then la, such a hot day i wearing long sleeve... haiz...
reached the overhead bridge that time, tian qing was quite infront le. we waved at each other before i climbed the overhead bridge and he went to the bus stop. haha... i at the bus stop saw the table tennis people.
ok this is LONG again...
Apologies~

<|2:16 PM|>

Sunday, October 29, 2006

yesterday went to st theresa church to pray (no i m not a catholic) for my father's mother who past away erm... around the time i was born.
then we went to red star restuarant for dinner. there was a wedding dinner going to be held when we came. 6.30pm, still early but it was best to leave before they start mah, if not need to clap (LOL).
very sumptuous meal indeed... sharkfin, roast pig, yam basket, sea cucumber, fish, prawns, bittergourd soup, and egg tarts! (gosh, eating egg tarts for dessert) heh... $400-$450 for this dinner that fed 13 people. my aunt was counting the fifty-dollars notes before paying. my grandfather was drinking stout (its bitter), and my uncle started saying real man drinks beer. i dont really understand... then they poured the red wine. my uncle mis-counted, he said 6 when only 5 people were able to drink. my cousin was thinking who could drink it and then he pointed it in my direction and then the adults were like: "underage, cannot drink." xD wonder if i would be able to drink it any sooner. hehe...

today, i went for art class, it was raining lor... then i placed the wet umbrella on the floor. happily did my work and left at 3pm without taking the umbrella. ITS BRAND NEW!!! awww... i hope mr chng keeps it for me, he very nice de. although crap a lot... well, he regconises me and know where i always sit. i hope hope hope he keeps it for me...

<|11:13 AM|>

Friday, October 27, 2006

YEA! just came back ^_^ and i spent like $270! gosh... thats loads... >_<
the ball costed $230, the pair of shoes costed $40...
and NOPE! its not a triple X! its a...
.
..
...
....
.....
......
JINX!
lol... and its very new! like i meant newly created type of ball. can i jinx anyone that touches my ball? *hehe* look! i know its not clear, but the top of the 'j' is a clown hat! cool... and i love it! plus its 11.1 pounds, exactly 1 pound heavier than my old one.

the bowling shoe is white and blue. some japanese brand called ABS. its a bit interesting la, the bottom got 2 holes which allow the air inside the shoe to move out. high-tech lor... what you expect, japanese brand mah...
now i got to use my wrist guard every practise, my wrist too weak... lalala, training on wednesday wont be very nice...
now i got to relax and enjoy before the drama night...

<|5:08 PM|>

Thursday, October 26, 2006

i got back my report book today... first we had a long and boring talk by the principal. *yawn* my class went to concourse to collect our report books.
English: C5
Higher Chinese: B4
Maths: A1
Science: A2
Geography: A2
History: B4
Literature: C6
D & T: A1
Home Econs: A1
Art: B3
ACC: A1
pretty eh? i think it sucks... all because on the stupid meet-the-parents form, my mom put going, mr khoo wanted to see... so lalala... my mom came when i was still moving props from classroom to exhibition hall at innosphere and writing a lot of 'Property of 1HM, Do not remove!'

mr khoo had arranged the time so weirdly... and he said he told beeleng but how come i dont know? oh well, cant point fingers...
mr khoo said:
- i am gifted in maths and science
- i can balance my time well as i am highly active in my CCA
- i am freaking weak in my language
- i should work harder to get into triple science since i like bio (but how to get my language average at 70?!) {tian qing agreed to me taking triple science as he say got a flashing future in JC-- understand? i dont}
- i should watch more television programmes, speak more, read and write, to improve my language.
- its rare i like maths and science (gee i wonder)
- use msn language less often (well i do that when i am blogging =D)
- i should never be involved in BGR at this age, if not will dont want to study... (right...)
what a boring talk... i was just there nodding or pretending i understood them.

oh well, my student life of 2006 has ended... sec 2 next year, a whole lot of work and stress... i still remember my different emotions this year. happy, sad, embarrassed, shy, angry, jealous... blah blah... pratically anything you can think of. chucking that aside, easy. the friends i made in a year, close ones, lost ones... how i misunderstood things, get overboard, EMO! how i wish to apologise to those i scolded anyhow... without a proper reason. how i wish i can patch the torn friendship back together... you know...
i wonder what is installed for us next year. we shall wait and see =)
hehe. tomorrow i going to buy a new bowling ball and a new pair of bowling shoes as i outgrew them. since p4 leh. triple X? errr... dont remind me le. i hear the word triple i feel sian... as you know... will blog abt the ball tmr. i am so bored...

<|8:04 PM|>

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

weeee... the blog is now pass-free... and so what i post have a bit more restrictions =X
today's ACM trip was fun! well, joseline was imagining about MKR and then the 3 different schools, uniform got red, blue and green. so... cchms represented red, GMSS represented blue, ponggol sec represented green. right... so perfect... enough of that... walked around for a long time till my leg and back was aching... i should not have taken joseline's bottle and umbrella and put it in my bag. the doors were... HEAVY! there were some things i heard before but i could not really remember. bleah, so lazy finish the worksheet. being with mr soon is not that bad actually. didnt even bother to clean the classroom when we got back.
i went to the canteen to buy a bottle of drink with joseline. then we went to sit by the lake to drink. we resembled, 2 people, sitting by the river, drinking beer. ^_^ sian la... nothing to do since my sec 1 life is coming to an end. i still remember a lot of things that happened. like my birthday, outings, conflicts...
haiz... sweet memories that i will forget very soon... at least i got this blog to keep my memories alive!
oh ya, about the links, i will do it another time =)

<|9:08 PM|>

Monday, October 23, 2006

ahhh... been playing a lot lately that i cannot be bothered to post. ^^ now got time to post cause i downloading some things. computer will lag a lot if i play.
today morning, went grand audi for this 'too tuff to puff' talk about smoking is bad for your health. boring... when people went to play soccer, the english drama people had to go for rehearsal. sigh... so bored la. had to carry chairs from the classroom. joel so pathetic, carry 2 chairs also cannot, i carry 3 also never complain heavy. he really no strength, 1 table also cannot carry. inside so cold, outside so hot... then we had a lot of spare time before our turn to rehearse on the stage. so we walk in and out... i went to buy food but ended up only buying a bottle of water for myself... >_< damn hungry... never eat breakfast. yuhan did not want to rehearse. then in the end mr jow made han ren act as beast. (imagine... a plump boy being handsome. hard?) so we had a lot of mess. props was fine and one thing to remember: No running on the stage as it is slippery and you will look unprofessional... never managed to rehearse the whole thing. so depressing. had lunch before we stayed all the way to 2pm. rehearsed here and there and acted as the audience.
came home hungry... lucky got some yam cake at home to eat! pity only one small piece though. was talking to my mother about bowling and she asked me when i want to buy a new ball. hehe... i got a ball in mind and where to buy, she agreed katong shopping centre was a good place to go. then we talked about meet-the-parents session. mr khoo dont seem to see those whose overall is 55+% and so my mother dont have to see him! COOL~
so bored... some kind soul talk to me?

<|4:43 PM|>

Thursday, October 19, 2006

heh... very bad for english and lit... both DEPROVED!!!
... i failed my comprehension with 9/30... but somehow i got 2 vocab words correct... even though i anyhow thought the perjorative one... rude... weird sia. 20/30 for compo. 19.5/30 for the other component. lit i got 38.5 >_< deprove 0.5 marks... wth!

PW= project work (for next year de)
zzz... i blardy freaking want the science!!! T_T dunno what happened so i go robot de... but then... what the heck am i doing working with boys!!! #%*#&%# ALL BOYS! what de... i am going mad soon... but whatever, i dont regret choosing it... or maybe just yet. i love hands-on things... i know how such things work, as i played with the real robots thing. =) i still have it, though i cant seem to work it. something wrong with it... oh well, bless me then... to work with total strangers unless edwin will be kind enough to let me team with him... holy... =_="

<|7:52 PM|>

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

weeee.... moments of sadness and happiness... somehow when i am happy, i can forget what sad things happened.
history: 30/50 (same as jose=D)
HCL: compo- 53/90
paper 2- 57/110
total- 110/200 (55/100)
maths: paper 1- 41.5/50
paper 2- 47/50 (all careless de... like 3 i write 8, do correct then cancel redo become wrong, want to working in the end never do, read the keyword wrongly...)
total- 88.5/100 (highest in "No Evil Gang" xD)
science: 82.5/100
geography: 52 or 53 or 54 or 55 or 56/70 (grrr... i should have asked ms han when i saw her looking at 1ly's scripts)
english: ??? i still waiting
literature: ??? also still waiting
ACC: 86/100 ( 70 and 100 the same de, still a A)
suppposedly i got 3/4As? cool...
yea! bowling interclass rocked! errr... only got 5 classes lol... then 1HM got 3rd... >_< so lame... i did not agree to 1 vs 2 over a $5 thing... how unfair! how can put 2 people's score together and i must beat? i dont care cause i did not agree to $5! it was $2 at first! ZzZzZz... i WONT pay!

<|6:29 PM|>

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

weird dreams lately... like carrying the classroom door -_-"... maths remedial then teacher said some 2 boys got potential then one of the boy got up, said "give up!" then ran out of the class.... weird... how did i even think of such things???
anyway... today fold cranes till so happy la. i fold talk, dont look at the paper and finished the 30 that person from south-east cdc say each must make. =D bored la...
tomorrow: get back history, HCL paper 2 and maths paper 2... i worried lo... expect me to cry when i get back the hcl paper? doubt so, must ren even if bad...
bowling inter-class... most of the people are school team bowlers... sigh, tough competition. and i havent bowled in ages... bless me to get good scores. i wonder, how am i supposed to carry my bowling bag everywhere for debrief??? i dont want leh....

<|6:19 PM|>

Monday, October 16, 2006

today get back geography and science. haix... i did well yet, i still dont feel happy over what happened today. i got 53/54/55/56 upon 70 for geography. the reason why i am not sure what i got is because ms han didnt give my class our oms. how to check if we plus or minus marks for the stupid shed leaves question? then there was some calculation error in one of the pages.
i was pretty much distracted the whole day. ~~nothing turned out right...~~
i got 82/100 for science. good right? whatever la... my score too good le, you dont want tell me then i dont care. kill me if you want. its something i have interest in and i NEED to score for this! link back to my pathetic mid-year marks. i get laughed at for it!

hey, ms han teaches less than other teachers what, no reason to laugh at my marks. you want laugh go laugh at another person. unfair! someone gets lower and does not get laughed at! I IMPROVED!

I HATE THAT PERSON DONT YOU KNOW!

<|8:24 PM|>

Saturday, October 14, 2006

yesterday was friday the 13th! lol... but i dont believe in such black friday la...
i wanted to post this yesterday but i still havent solved the double-posting on one day problem... so this will be about what happened yesterday in school and after school...
left home at 10.10am and headed for school. drama rehearsal and i felt so lazy to go... i didnt go in proper uniform xD. i wore pe shirt, school skirt, sports shoe and my own socks... mismatch? maybe... but its nicer to go school like that...
first when reaching school, saw a lot of boys playing soccer. i was wondering why they were in school. went up to class with yu le to help pack the props. there was some major delay in the whole schedule for the rehearsal. oh well, so we went around and somehow rehearsed the whole thing... without the acting... halfway through their practice, a soccer ball was rolling into the chung cheng lake at high speed. not long later, a boy ran and jumped into the lake!!! its like WOAH! and everyone were making noise >_< yule took her handphone and recorded it. that boy that went in swam to fetch the ball. when he got out of the lake, he threw the ball back in and 3 more jumped in. errr... they did it on purpose! there was a video camera there recorded it lor! not long later we were outside the chinese language room waiting for our turn to rehearse inside. we watched the boys and somehow they did not dare to go back in because of us. i continued watching them. they came up and was scolding us as they saw a handphone. they did not want us to record their actions. we lied about the fact that there was no handphone around. they had goggles with them. everything was planned i believe.
from there i saw across the lake that the chinese drama people of the second half were waiting for their turn around the innosphere... the buffet at the concourse was being prepared by a teacher. the teacher saw the boys sitting near the lake. but never did anything. it was soon time for us to go inside. i wonder if they tried to swim again cause there was an announcement made by mr soon for one of the boys to meet him in his office... crazy sec 4s...
after drama, the whole lot of people were walking out of school together. the original plan was for yun fan and i to go bowling and then go lan... at first some of the girls wanted to follow but then they didnt want in the end... say next time. and the next time will be next tuesday, care to join anyone? so yun fan went with me... bowling ally flooded with people... haix. so could not bowl. instead go lan.
i still feel weird going there to play as everyone there were boys! there were 2 1GR there... oh well. the computer kept hanging on me... what bad luck...

<|11:47 AM|>

Friday, October 13, 2006

joseline made me do this and since i was bored i did it...
Quiz About Yours Truly, ME!
1. Full name: Ng Pin Yuan Joan
2. Name backwards: naoj nauy nip gn
3. Meaning of name: God is gracious... (errr... came from Joan of Arc mah)
4. Nickname: Joanie, Joanne, Magi (maple nick)
5. Screen Name: Hikaru (grr i want to change this some day sooner)
6. Date of Birth: 18th Febuary 1993
7. Place of Birth: Singapore, Thomson Medical Centre (theres plenty i know that was born there too)
8. Nationality: Singaporean
9. Current Location: Singapore
10. Star Sign: Aquarius
11. Religion: Buddhist
12. Height: 160cm (i am so short compared to my friends T_T)
13. Weight: 43kg (most dont believe...)
14. Shoe Size: 5 (small feet x_X)
15. Hair Colour: Black- dark brown? (somewhere in between)
16. Eye Colour: dark brown la (unless u count it as black)
17. Who do you like: Friends and someone?
18. Innie or Outie: Innie
19. Lefty or Righty: Righty
20. Gay, Straight, Bi or Others: Straight!
21. Best Friends: Christy, Andrea, Joseline, Yu Le, Han Wei =x (the others i not sure if i m even their friend...)
22. Best Friends you trust the most: Christy
23. Favourite Pals: Joseline and Yu Le (spent so much time with me wad)
24. Best Friends of the opposite sex: Han Wei
25. Best Buddies: Andrea
26. Like to talk on the phone: I hate talking on the phone, disturbs what i am doing!
27. Want to get married: To someone i like and like me?
28. Live to dive: Dive? NO WAY!
29. Motion Sickness: Never
30. Stem of brocolli: Hard?
31. Eat chicken with fork: Then what?
32. Dream in colour: Red or green...
33. Type your fingers in wiv home role: HUH?
34. Sleep with stuff animals: Bear bear? xD
35. Next to you: I dunno...
36. On your walls of your room: A lot of my artworks and posters... and some pieces of paper...
37. On your mouse pad: Man-made waterfall? huh?
38. Dream car: Sports car (though if i get a car, anything is fine)
39. Dream date: A walk in the park at night, basically anywhere also can.
40. Dream Honeymoon: On a plane (lol, i am so lame... thats cause i barely travel...)
41. Bedtime: Around 10.30pm
42. Under my bed: dust xD
43. Single most important question: Will it be over soon?
44. Bad time of the day: Getting scolded
45. Your worst fear: Being embarrassed (gee...)
46. The weather is: Sunny
47. Time: 8.52am
48. Date: 13 Oct 2006
49. Best Trick did on someone: I never seem to remember...
50. Theme Song: like music? chinese or... i dunno...
51. Hardest thing about growing up: Emotional pain? (heh you know what...)
52. Funniest Experience: Being given up by the swimming instructor cause i was a hopeless case?
53. Scariest Experience: Falling from the top of the flight of high steps at my primary school canteen there... (the last step was like 30+cm to the ground floor...
54. Silliest Thing I ever said: A confess not even done personally...
55. Most desperate and funniest thing i've done to the opposite sex: Err... talking crap and when scolded i go "fine!" and stop talking to him? -_-"
56. Scariest thing you've ever done wiv your friends: Sitting on my balcony railing...
57. Worst Feeling: Being treated like i dont exist
58. Best feeling in the world: Sense of satisfaction? man i'm weird...
59. 3 people you tag: i'm not tagging. if you that bored then do lor!

<|8:33 AM|>

Thursday, October 12, 2006

ACC: a breeze... wooo hooo... its like so easy? at least 1 mistake i think. like if i did badly i will get scolded for sleeping while my father was damn enthu about it? grrr... spent 3 hours learning it with my dad when i wanted to sleep early! *yawn*
i come to school never panic lor, only wished someone test me... but i was like huh? i could only do it with multiple choice.
*warning! a boring and long post ahead*
Debrief: HCL paper 1 and maths paper 1
during the hcl debrief i was talking to myself... xD what things most people write that are off-topic, i never found what i wrote under it... and so i was panicking. my si han got 15.5/20 at first, but my 1.5marks of wrong words made it 14/20. so dumb la... my compo got 45/70 but minus off became 40/70! i got like 13 wrong words!!! the teacher must have minus it from the language part... i wrote too fast, never realised i wrote so many weird words. like my kai shi (start) became kan shi! ahhhhhhh!!!!! oh well, 54/90. not too bad, but hopefully my class tests can pull the marks up. =)
during the maths debrief, we went to LT2. and i was not calm when i was walking there. walked in and was pretty much relaxed. found a seat near my yule, next to joseline. as joseline knew ryan wore spectacles to school, she was looking high and low for him. just nice, my seat is feng shui wei lor. from my seat, i can see ryan without obstruction... what la... got back my paper and i saw a 41 on top. i was like !!!!! joseline got 41.5 and yule did badly? i pity her, i heard bryan also did not do well... we're just too careless... i lost 7 marks to carelessness... pro? lol... got one i even do correct de lor, then suddenly i add an extra step to make it wrong. -_-" stupid me. i was happily talking and i decided to count my marks. i could not count properly and i counted 40.5... then i was like huh??! i looked at the half marks and there was 5 half marks... so there was a mistake in counting... had to use the calculator... my brain dead without it. 41.5 indeed... asked joseline to double check and she said nothing wrong. but then i insist to go claim marks.
my eyes got something wrong... i see yellow as pink... wth? maybe cause my eyes tired? ryan is a panda! lol jkjk... his spectacles the front part black mah. so panda lor! =D
had post-exams activities briefing then i went to eat lunch.
discussed a bit before deciding what to eat. dont kill me cause i get good marks leh... the chinese drama group were going to have their rehearsal. joseline came to buy food and i was waiting for my carrot cake. she was at the western food stall and here came ryan and his friends. hmm... he saw joseline and took a step back. then he dont wan look there so he turn and look my way. i think he didnt want to look my way so he look at the wall? soon after he just gave the wall a hard punch with his fist. ouch! thats pain leh... he looked at his hand and it was red! i feel the pain x_X but i wonder why. but then... how come he vent anger like me? weird... let just make sure he doesnt know about this. my left hand had some small scar left behind from my anger venting session some time ago. and then the anger management thing would come in good use? i doubt so. i primary school got such a course before, never worked for me.
oh well, drank green tea and went "green tea high~" walked out with alicia- my fellow green tea addict.

<|2:40 PM|>

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

maths paper 2 -----> a breeze!
WOOHOOO!!! i found it very easy lor... other than me making stupid errors like 3 i see as 8... is it just cause i still not awake or is my eyesight deproving? and forgetting to label the question parts >_<
heh... i glad i remembered to check the instructions to make sure my answer is in the correct value blah blah... finished in 1 hour and i checked for 30 mins. i redid about 5 questions... -_-" no wonder they did not make sense to me... i do the first 2 questions were wrong at first lor, cause i copy wrong number, see wrong number... oh well, there is this question i hope i did correctly:
its the one on the can, remove both ends, flatten it and it has a length and breadth of 110, 160. this was the only question i am not sure of. =)
acc... lalala... i was blog hopping again and i found 1ly's class blog with 9 of the questions that would come out. how kind is their acc teacher... sadly, some people wan play with dice. i shall use my common sense and luck to do it! LET ME ACE ACC! =D

<|4:18 PM|>

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

ok i am going to flunk my higher chinese le... T_T so many mistakes le and i dont wish to talk about those mistakes. for the suo duan thing, it makes me laugh... at first i cancel till it reached 50+ words only. limit 80 words so i added some parts back and it became 79! i hope i can score for this or else i am dead...

you can say i am just emo or thinking too much.
but i feel that i am being left out in most conversations.
lonely must i be.
can i leave?
do i have to watch you all laugh happily, yet i walk alone?
must you make it seem like i am so stupid and dumb?
tell me what i want not what i don't wish to hear.
you may think all those were funny but you don't seem to know i am feeling hurt by what you tell me.
i shall change this fate myself.

<|11:05 AM|>

Monday, October 09, 2006

i was like confused and angry during the comprehension paper... this was the passage:

*warning its very long, please don't read*
Batou! Batou! Come and get it!' shouts Yusuf, urging his pack of wild hyenas to feed.
He holds up a strip of raw camel hide, dangling from the end of a twig. It is for Mr Big, a giant spotted hyena that could take a man's head off with a single bite of his bear-trap jaws. A metre high at the shoulder, long-necked, powerful, muscular, Mr Big creeps forward, his heavy head slightly lowered. His eyes are like twin lumps of the blackest coal from hell. They are somehow blank, empty apart from a meat-hungry stare trained on the end of Yusuf's baited stick.
Mr Big is struggling with his animal instincts. He wants the camel scrap, but hates to cross the boundary separating his kind from humanity. I can see the wheels of his hyena brain turning. Suddenly Mr Big's jaws swing open like a factory gate and slam shut around the hors d'oeuvre dangling in front of his face. For a scary split second I look into his barrel-shaped throat, wide enough to swallow a baby goat whole, and down the elevator shaft running to his engine room.
As soon as Mr Big has secured his prize, he bolts from centre stage, out of my torch beam and into the darkened edges surrounding this spectacle. Two other hyenas, members of a pack that is 14 strong tonight, take Mr Big's place. Yusuf sits on a flat stone, cross-legged like some kind of freaky Buddha, in front of a petrol tank filled with scraps of raw meat. 'Batou! Batou!' cries Yusuf, inviting his super predators to continue their nocturnal feeding.
Caltu, a smallish hyena whose name means 'winner', trots straight for the bait, his bulbous, shoe-leather nose defiantly raised. He snatches the meat, black paws kicking fine dust up on his retreat. Hyena number three, Tuken Del, whose name means 'no excuse', nervously paces back and forth for at least a minute before mustering enough courage to seize his snack.
Whatever their names, all the hyenas are here for Yusuf Muma Sale, a middle-aged, negro Muslim farmer who has been feeding these cat-dogs of the Chercher Mountains every night at his house outside the walled city of Harar for the past 25 years. Nowhere else on earth can you see a spectacle like this. Nowhere else on earth do wild hyenas show this kind of trust for a human. Only in Harar, an ancient Muslim stronghold located in the vast, empty desert of Ethiopia's eastern highlands, is this possible.
From the 16th century onwards, Harar was an important trading centre connecting Africa with the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. Its medina is one of the best anywhere in the Arab world - a labyrinth of narrow, twisty streets that are virtually impossible to negotiate without a guide. A brisk trade in African slaves, coffee and chat - a mild stimulant still popular in these parts - fuelled the city's economy for centuries. However, when Emperor Menelik II built the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway in the 1890s, he bypassed Harar because the cost of reaching the city, located on a high plateau at 1,870 metres, would have been prohibitive.
The city never recovered from this blow. On the plus side, however, isolation has helped preserve Harar's original character. It is trapped in a time warp, a living reminder of a bygone Muslim era when emirs rode forth from Harar's Shoa Gate at the head of great armies to conquer Christian Ethiopia. Today Harar's medina, and even the dress of its inhabitants, would look largely unchanged to Sir Richard Burton who, in 1854, became the first European to visit the city and live to talk about it. Burton disguised himself as a Muslim trader because the Europeans who preceded him had been imprisoned and killed for being infidels.
Back at the feeding, the Hyena Man of Harar does something really crazy. He puts the baited stick between his teeth, grimacing at Mr Big like Ozzy Osbourne on his Diary of a Madman album. Mr Big creeps forward, sniffing and slightly nervous. When his pointy, bald snout comes to within an inch of the raw camel hide, Yusuf turns away with the flare of a showman.
Mr Big stretches around Yusuf. He looks like some kind of hellish accordion, an instrument of bristly orange hide and black spots, craning his upper body and neck to the far side of Yusuf's face. They are cheek by jowl, but the bait is just out of reach. Mr Big is getting frustrated. Has Yusuf forgotten Mr Big could eat him for dinner? Finally, as Mr Big's conical teeth make contact with the kebab, Yusuf reaches under his neck and pats his massive shoulder.
Because Harar is off the beaten path, only the most adventurous travellers visit. I rarely bump into foreigners exploring the city's medina and its Christian and Muslim markets. But while Westerners may be scarce, locals still view them as an easy mark. 'Faranji! Faranji!' is the refrain that meets me in the streets. This Ethiopian word for foreigner, with a mildly pejorative connotation, is derived from français, or Frenchman. Some call it out because they want me to buy a ceramic coffee pot or a supposedly rare family heirloom. Some want payment for photos taken.
The biggest grift going in Harar, however, is guiding. I am lucky enough to find Hailu, a university student who is not in the business of shaking down tourists. Following one of our morning excursions into the medina, we escape the midday heat by retreating to the Wesen-Segen Hotel, conveniently located in the main square opposite Medhane Alem, the Ethiopian Orthodox cathedral.
In the cool shade of the hotel terrace, over ice-cold Hakim Stout - a superb beverage similar to Guinness that is brewed in Harar - we plan a hyena feeding of our own. The reason it is possible is because these strange carnivores, distant relatives of the cat family, pour into Harar every night in search of food. They navigate the medina's opens sewers, scavenging and running pitched battles with packs of vicious dogs. I want to see some of this nocturnal action up close, maybe feed a hyena or two. 'No problem,' says Hailu. 'The secret is to arrive late, when everything is quiet.' I give Hailu money to buy a bag of scraps.
That night we arrive at the Muslim market after 10pm. The place is eerily deserted. We squat against the wall of an arcade that houses a butcher's shop and wait. Hyenas pass through here all the time, drawn by the sight of gnawed bones and the lingering odour of raw meat, Hailu assures me. Overhead Venus and Mars stand out in a bright and beautiful starry sky.
A few dogs trot across the moonlit market square, heads raised high. I can feel their nervous energy. They are ready to rumble, but where is the rival gang? Finally, a solitary hunch-backed hyena scampers across the square and quickly disappears into the shadows. It is looking for others of its kind because there is safety in numbers. On this night, however, the dogs hold their turf with grim determination. We can hear them routing the hyenas in different parts of the medina. Unfortunately, there is no action in the Muslim market. It is as quiet as a graveyard.
On my last night in Harar, I decide to pay Yusuf a farewell visit. I pass through Erer Gate, the same one Burton used to enter Harar, turn right at the leper colony and walk alongside the city wall until I reach Yusuf's family compound. As the sun sets over farmers' fields in the low country surrounding Harar, we drink tea and chew chat leaves, which have a sour flavour. Soon the hyenas announce their arrival with high-pitched squeals. On our way to meet them, I stare slack-jawed at Yusuf's three year-old daughter as she peeks around the gate of her yard and comes face to face with a grown hyena. The killer just sniffs her, recognises the scent, and turns away. Anywhere else in Africa the poor child would have been dead.
Like Yusuf's hyenas, I have been mustering bravado over the past few days in anticipation of this moment. Just as it is not easy for hyenas to break the invisible barrier that exists between them and humans, it is equally difficult for me. Still, when the feeding starts I crouch down beside Yusuf.
The hyenas are now close enough to touch. They brush up against me as they close in on one piece of camel flesh after another. Then it is my turn to do some feeding. The sensation of bone-crushing jaws ripping bait away from my hand is awesome.
Then the unexpected happens. Insanely I decide to put myself to the ultimate test. I will feed Mr Big with my mouth. I should have my head examined, but instead I am biting down on the dry end of a baited stick. I am inviting death to within inches of my face. A sobering thought crosses my mind: in Africa hyenas have a reputation for biting off the faces of their sleeping victims.
I block the thought and focus on the protein hit dangling from my mouth. I see Mr Big, then I do not. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he sidles up next to me to claim his prize. His fur brushes against my forearm. I feel a huge jolt of energy rush through my body at the moment of contact with his lethal jaws. Then, in a flash, it is over.
It all happens so fast I do not even catch a whiff of hyena breath.

context taken from : http://www.cnntraveller.com/2006/jul_aug/harar/

Tell you don't read le... zzz... it was so long!!!
questions 1-15 were okay but the vocab section... i die le!!! these are the answers when i checked it up on the online dictionary. maybe some of my answers are correct but... it seems wrong...
a) hors d'oeuvre--- appetizer (i put bait)
b) brisk--- active (i put popular)
c) spectacle--- unusual sight (i put sighting)
d) pejorative--- belittling (i put rude)
e) sobering--- serious (i put scary)

oh well no point dwelling over this piece of shit crap... i got to study for my higher chinese paper 2 somehow. if only i could... -_-" my memory for chinese words are in my muscle memory somehow, so i forget them easily. haiz...

<|1:15 PM|>

Friday, October 06, 2006

ah yes. finally i am putting pictures...
today's maths paper 1 and science was quite okay. i went to talk to clara after the maths and she asked about it. i gave her:

hehe... i found it okay what. x_X and then both of us went to find jilyn at her class. chaos was everywhere... running, pushing, throwing of things... my impression of chen rui change le. it was like clara asked how to spell homogeneous and he suddenly stepped between us and spelled it. heh... what was he doing... jilyn still remembers chen rui chasing me out of 1ly. ahh... those days... oh and when we were learning, chee kong's pencil case was being thrown around? and huh? throw out of the window! omg! it did not fall off the ledge. the thrower sure had good aiming. soon i went back to class lo.
science, i was trying to write slowly and not to rush. the mcq was okay and i am confident of getting good marks for it. the section b was a mess!!! the first question makes me laugh. ice lemon tea made of water+ ice+tea leaves+sugar+lemon juice= yucky mixure! i say that was a stupid way of making. i hope my weird reasons are correct. i was relaxed after the paper ended. felt like sleeping but i was happy. handed in my boat and went to the canteen. hmmm... some people never waited for me! fine, i waited for xue ying, sylvia and the rest.
we happily walked out to the bus stop to take 10! grrrrr... at east coast there, around joo chait road, there was a major traffic jam. waited for a long time. a bus broke down at the junction and the vehicles cannot pass... we could not wait and decided to get off the bus. went to 7-11, and sylvia bought a slurpee. weird mixture where i felt it was disgusting... dark blue, purple... yuck! it tasted yucky too!!! like some alchohol drink, it made my throat feel very warm. we walked across to marine parade and i guided them as i knew the place very well (i grew up there, what you expect). took 31 home. reached home at 2.30pm... ZzZzZzZzZz... wasted so much of my precious playing time. haix... but i had fun.
i checked my mcq answers with my sister and parents. my sister say all seem correct. i hope...
haze is bad and i got no air con to save me. argh... so smelly =X
i played and played auditionsea today. these are the screenshots i took of the funny and happy moments:

a close one, at the last part i got a bad and lost my x4 dens big game. T_T

my first 120bpm finish move, pity it was a bad...

after one game this RyAn left and RyanLee entered... errr -_-"

how coincidental...

note the name... how nice?
anyway tommorow i posting the rest of the pictures which includes the mid-autumn festival thing that i took part and was the lousiest. -_-"

<|9:50 PM|>

Thursday, October 05, 2006

woooo!!! i hope i did well for history. i felt so lucky when i did the paper. =D i failed to study last night... xD i kept reading yet nothing sank into my brain. and so i gave up studying in the end. only chapter 7 was what i could do well for.
today, i did the paper and i was smiling as i wished the structured question i can choose is on the golden age. and it was! YEA! success to me! -_-" the mcq was easy, only question 5.
it was something to do with who supported the portuguese to defeat melaka?
a) chinese traders
b) non-muslim traders
c) indian traders
d) all of the above
and i chose b) as i thought chinese and indian traders are non-muslim traders right? most chose all of the above... i hope i am correct... 3/5 of the definitions i could remember. the other two i could not decide what to put as i have no idea what it is...
source-based questions. it was flooded with words, especially my question a) was 3/4 page long. considering my handwriting, thats alot... i just kept writing non-stop. the question they asked for 'how similar', i remembered it has to have similarities and differences. for the reliability question... errrrr.... i not so sure if correct la. wrote like 1/3 of the page ending at the second last line of the paper. =p then next page is structured questions. hehehe... =D chapter 7! rejoice!!! i wrote and wrote and at the last 5 minutes, i was at the second point of the part c... errr... i stared at the clock and i forgot what i wanted to write... in the end i wrote crap so 2 marks gone for that...
i hope i will pass!

science and maths tomorrow, something i can slack from studying. but now, i need to start learning chinese as its the last subject i will study. chinese my worst and i hope i can pull up my overall marks.

<|10:42 AM|>

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

e lit~ i found it quite okay. easier than expected... =D hope i did well, i wrote a lot.
tomorrow is history and i am starting to panic... i dedicated 6 hours today to study. more than enough right?
i finally decided to relink people so if your links are wrong do tell me. =)

<|12:38 PM|>

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

i am glad i did not screw my geography paper that badly today. it was way easier than expected. like o_O what i never study properly were all in one question! other than my last minute change of answer for the minimum and maximum temperature thing which cost me 1 mark, i should lose some marks for the advantages and disadvantages thing, and maybe the rock cycle where i could not remember what came first. x_X around 10marks lost already! thats like quite a lot. the paper is only 70 marks... oh damn, i studied 3 days for this and *poof* this happens...
i dont wish i screw any subjects...
haha... i love the audition songs and decided to download them. my current playlist is old and i have no interest in most of them already. welcome to the world of gaming my dear friends! xD

<|5:23 PM|>