What sound is that? Sounds like a heavy firing between the FBI top secret agent and the world threatening terrorist. Should we hunt for a place to hide ourselves? It’s getting louder and louder.

That’s my experience 1 month ago.

What sound is that? Sounds like as if we are in Iraq battle field. But, Singapore hasn’t declared war with any country so far. They don’t mention anything about war in the media. Is Indonesia army invading Singapore silently? Just like the Japanese raining bombs in the Pearl Harbor half a century ago? Again, should we run for our lives? (What am I asking? I bet you won’t ask the person next to you whether you should run for life or not when you see war planes flying towards you like a hurricane)

That’s my current experience.

Ooh gosh…. Can’t they just stop it!! I am tention-ing having exams right now, and they are training like as if they are going to attack Indonesia tomorrow.

What am I saying? Ooh, sorry. There is a stupid military training base right next to my hostel (of course, it’s a jungle, but imagine, Singapore jungle, lolz); I think it’s for NS. Gun firing sounds is heard pretty often here. But sounds more like pitifully rusty handguns, lolz.

Its so damn f-king noisy… isshhhhh….

University is another stage of life. Some people like it, while most people don’t. It may get worse when you are in one of the top universities in the world. Years ago, I often heard people saying that Malaysia High School Certificate (STPM) would be one of the toughest program in the world, if you managed to get through it, then you are saved. Holy shit, that is a big fat lie! I mean, STPM is tough though, but university is even tougher. Previously, the TEACHERS would cover ONE chapter in more or less one week, now the PROFESSORS cover a FEW chapters in a lesson of one hour or two. Bloody hell, I am now understood why people are saying that you have to rely on your own in when you are in varsity. What are they expecting? Geniuses? Ooh, Singapore would be an ocean of geniuses then.

Besides that, the marking or grading system is also differ. Previously, the minimum score for getting an A was fixed (even though it might be a totally different case during the public exam) and position in class was not written down or officially announced (unless you go and kay boh from the teachers). Thus, life had been so relax and easy. In the uni, it is totally based on the curve (the dumbbell curve), which means, if the mean score is very high, you may even get a B or C even if you score 75.

That system really freaks me up. When the marking system is based on relative score, people will, of course, these kiasu people, will start mugging their books and stick to their lecture notes 24/7. I mean, economically speaking, this is known as rat race or arm race or whatever, can’t really remember, when everyone pays more effort, the relative intelligence would still be roughly be the same while the mean intelligence increases, that is because, our IQ mainly falls on the middle or technically, the mean and also mode region (assuming that people’s IQ obey mathematical law and perfectly distributed, in actually case, it really does). So, the rate of absorption of what you are reading is also the same for everyone. Of course, things would be different if you are at the upper region (so call, geniuses). So, what’s the point? You are not getting any where, if you are moderate, so you are. While the curve is perfectly distributed (already competitive enough), someone who is so itchy handed, go and disturb the equilibrium by importing geniuses from all over the world, making the curve even positively skewed. Now, you have to get EVEN higher score to maintain your position. Sigh, why would we keep buzzing around and making ourselves suffer? Perhaps, this is due to the disturbed equilibrium.

Today is my physics paper and I can do most of the paper. I was quite joyful initially. But this joy doesn’t last long, I though of the curve suddenly: “If I think this paper is easy and could be finish, others should be the same also. Then, I may need to score 100% so that I could earn an A. Ooh no….”

The day before was my material and energy balance exam. I can’t really manage to finish all, almost I mean, but I don’t really know what I am writing. This is what I thought during the paper: “Sigh, damn it, can’t finish. I am going to fail.”

What kinda world is this? Can do, sad. Cannot do, even sadder. Sigh.

University is no more than a restless living hell to torture living poor souls like me. When is this going to end?  

I’m not a wise consumer. I’ll spend all my money once I get them (pity me, that’s why I’m always a poor kid and I am too happy to have economics to be one of my modules now, spend wisely!!). Shopping is MY cup of tea, I love shopping (please, it is not a fault or a sin for a man to shop!!!). However, I’ll end up in frustration most of the time. Why? My pocket is always empty (the Chinese says that if you are always trapped in financial constrains, it is most probably you are having a ‘male’ wallet, coz ‘male’ wallet can’t ‘generate’ money -- girls, please, don’t be overexcited). What happened when I have money then? Ooh, that would be too easy to answer, spend as if there is no tomorrow!!!

            I always believe that cheap things no good; good things not cheap. This LAW will always hold and as long as the world is behaving sanely, it will not be violated. Now, the story begins this way (it may be a silly story and I post it just for the fun of it): I am a very heavy sugar-consuming freak. I have an astonishing daily-sugar-consumption figure in my meal nutrition chart (please, what are you thinking? I don’t EAT sugar).

            So, as I have mentioned earlier, I am always trapped in financial crisis and I was shopping in a shopping complex, shopping carefully before my wallet catches fire to burn a hole in my pocket (seriously speaking, I hate Singapore shopping malls other than the ones in Orchard Road but they would be far too expensive for me, the usual ones are either too small and incomplete or too old and as if it may collapse anytime). I was searching for sugar; checking the prices, brand and feature (ok, I also feel awkward to behave like an old market lady (O.o)! and I found one. The price was, err slightly more expensive than the average. Processed sugar that is filled in small packets is not my favorite because I’ll finish them within days. While I was heading towards the cashier, I saw special offer for sugar hiding pitifully at the corner, namely Fair Pr*ce, twice the amount, half the price. In economics, a rational consumer should chose the cheaper one, so am I. (which I am so regret buying it, sometimes you can’t apply what in the books in reality, sorry Prof Lydia)

            Usually, 3-4 spoonfuls of sugar in my cup of tea will satisfy my taste buds (note* is table spoon, not tea saucer), but now, I have to put 6-7 spoonfuls. Gosh, I am going to die for diabetics (may be I should go for fructose, 6X sweetness, or Aspartames, 50X sweetness, next time). I am totally agree, the brand matched the product perfectly; of course the price is fair, fair for both consumers and producers. They are not selling sugar crystals; they are selling water-cum-sugar crystals!!

Morals of the day: be a smart consumer; cheap things no good.

Alright, that’s all for today, check out for the next sii-lai episode, same time, same place.

Exams have become my new best friends in NTU. They accompany me all the time, never fail to leave me alone even for a single second; when I am lonely, they will pop up and cheer me up, “It’s revision time, dear!”; when I am happy, they will also pop up and SHARE my joy, “Don’t forget our date in the next week ya!!”; when I am sad, they will come and comfort me, “Don’t worry, I wont leave you even if you failed me!”  

It has been the third month since I was enrolled into NTU. And that’s my uni life. So saddening, exams all the time, what they have other than exams? Oh! I know, is exams, exams, and tones of exams!!

GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!

This is written in memorial to the 7-1 group. A group formed formally by 7 enthusiastic young men while they were having their secondary education in a school.

      7 years ago, I put my very first footstep on the ground of St. John’s. A mixture of feelings was playing in my head. St. John’s was totally an alien to me due to the barrier of language.  I was formerly educated in Chinese, written BM wasn’t really a problem to me, but when it comes to spoken BM and English, I was totally screwed. Having difficulty communicating, in addition of my external appearance (sorry to me, it’s the nerdy kind of image, China-looking-nerd). I was often bullied and teased by the Indian and Malay students. Initially, it was really a tough time. Taking dictated notes, instructions, GIVING PUBLIC SPEAKING, especially, etc, I had to put in additional efforts.

      At the midst of mist, I whispered to myself, that I shall shine one day, I shall not be bullied and I shall be the ultimate winner of all.

      In the dark times of mine, there came this little boy (please don’t laugh, he WAS a little boy that time) named Khai Fatt, that lit a dim light to my terrible life. Strictly speaking, he was the first person I talked to from the first day of school. I could still remember clearly. I wasn’t really close to him, that time. Instead, I was close to a son of judge, given the name Thomas of Kuching.

      Time flies, it’s the third year of secondary school. I managed to catch the natives’ conversation, even though I was still not very good at it. There and then, I knew this guy named Meng San. I wasn’t really had a good impression of this fellow. He was in the group of genius kids that time, consisting Yip Hon, Hin Chong, Kevin Chin, MingHao and course, he himself. A giraffe to me, tall guy, ego-looking (due to his group of GENIUS friends). Then, I knew this person better that year, wasn’t really that egoistic, but exactly the opposite, friendly and warm. He IS (note, its present tense) really a big fan of Ma-Jong, he was the one who taught me how to play this evilly-addicting game. That was a exciting year, we were so addicted to this game till the extend that we made our home-made Ma-Jong set and played it in school (to avoid any inconvenience, hard paper board was chosen as the raw material – silent while shuffling, space-friendly and most important, IT IS NOT ILLEGAL to bring card boards to school!!). We played during school formal events, while students were suppose to line up outside and listen to stupid ever lasting speeches under the hot sun, many times. There was one time where we were caught by our school disciplinary teacher, Mr. David Fernandez, known best for his bad temper. Oh no, we were shivering at that moment, whispering to ourselves, ‘oh shit, we are very DEAD now, got caught in action’, but to our surprise, he didn’t scold us for skipping the morning assembly, instead, he HAPPILY JOINED us in the game. Phew, it was really a blessing in disguise.

       It’s the fourth year, the initial state of the formation of the 7-1, the year where the fellowship began. At that year, I knew Anthony Yan, a guy full with humor (if you know him long enough), he was really close to Teck Seng at that time, always talked to him, until the extend that made me suspect, are they GAYs? If you ask me, I have a long list of testimonial for Teck Seng, too much elaboration. If there was a union called ATSS (anti-teck_seng-association), I would most certainly be the president of it. I saw this guy ONCE before I was in the same class with him. It was during my sec two times, in an after-school CS tournament in a cyber café. Suddenly, I saw one giraffe hunting for a seat, oh gosh, WHERE IS HIS NOSE?!! If you are imaginative enough, his nose was at the upper floor of the café, one floor wasn’t spacious enough to occupy his TALL nose. All right, enough description of this poor guy. If it wasn’t Anthony, I wouldn’t bother to speak to him. It took me quite a while to get close to him, really difficult. So, strictly speaking, Anthony, you really played your part in the foundation of this fellowship. Ooh, I almost forget to mention, as I mentioned earlier on, that I suspect whether these two poor things were GAYs or not, they had a really BIG quarrel then, till now, haven’t spoke to each other, yet. Pity, pity…

From Teck Seng, I knew Fong Yoon, the snow white of my class, fair and humble. I wasn’t really known a lot about him until he gave me a BIG astonishing surprise when I went to his BIG BUNG-A-LOW. “WHAT ON EARTH, his mates’ toilet is BIGGER than my room”. Filthy rich, rich, and rich, and yet, so humble, humble, and very humble. Then, I learnt my lesson: The moral of the day is, do not judge other people based on their external appearance!

That was my class stories, back to Meng San’s side. He was in the same class as Khai Fatt. Some how, they just become really close to each other, and mathematically speaking, I and the other two was close to them later, too. Khai Fatt, could be easily identified from the rest of us, projecting himself by his professional skillful way of conversation. You can really talk to him non-stop for a few hours. That’s why my conversation technique was improved tremendously. Playful, trouble-maker, were another typical character of him.

Then, it came to Kevin. Kevin was also a difficult one. He was the best student of our school for continuous 5 years, speaking pure and fluent English (remember the fact that the English for all others are really hopeless, except Fong Yoon). For me, he was at another level at that time, far beyond reach and of course, he and his other group of friends, MingHao, Nigel, Ken, etc, all the elites of our school, rich and smart and also good looking. So, from Meng San, I finally knew him. Surely, he couldn’t hide his tail, he IS indeed ego sometimes.

Together, we played, we laugh and had fun. The formation of the 7-1 began when the school holiday began. We spent almost half a month in Fong Yoon’s house, on and off, of course, like no one’s business. His home was more like a grand but free hotel rather than a friend’s house to us. There, chemical reactions occur and therefore the formation of the stable covalent bonds within the six of us. (Note: chemical reaction means tie of pure and innocent friendship, not the … you-know-what)

Then, one day, Chee Hwee came to stay overnight, too. We (or at least me) were not really close to him at that time. While we were walking back to the LRT station from Yoonie’s house, I really couldn’t stand it and shouted, “JOU MEH GIU HUI LEI GEH?!! (Translation: why would anyone bother to ask him to come?!!). We laughed. (Sorry, Chee Hwee, this is written based on our true encounter).

During one of our out-of-school lunch at Mc Donald’s after CF, we were talking bout our experience in the Fong’s Mansion, suddenly Chee Hwee became the topic of the conversation. While trying our best not to mention his name in front of him, Meng San was writing furiously 7-1 with his finger on his palm, showing me eagerly. I wasn’t really known what he was trying to show, until he told me: “NEH, the extra one LEH” I burst into laughter and this idea stroke my mind: Why don’t we name our group as The 7-1 Group?

That was the birth of The Ultimate Group of 7-1. (Chee Hwee, you really played your role). Future planning was constructed carefully, such as opening of a restaurant named The Slipper-Rice Shop (Tor-Hai-Fan-Dim) The idea was extended to establishment of illegal sexual business (I chose not to elaborate it further). It was the peak of Group.

Good time flies, bad time stays. It was our Form Five graduation. Every one had chosen their future path. Some of us decided to continue the national education, the terrible sixth-form, while others preferred other alternatives. The sixth form was long-known for its toughness, but we had made our choice, to take the ultimate challenge, therefore that’s the beginning of the “hash training from HELL (Dei-Yoke-Sik-Fun-Nin)”.

While fighting our way through the exit from this terrible hell, angles of loves dropped by to give us a break. Will there be any romance?

The story continues after the break...

      Karma law states that there is good only if there is bad; everything is complement with the opposite side of everything. So, don’t be surprised if what goes up falls down. The same applies to our group, good time never lasts.