Last post before graduation...

As the saying goes, "in retrospect, all is beautiful", with a blink of the eye and 4 years just whizzed past us like a Formula One race car. Looking back at all the fun moments along the IP corridor (and not getting caught); the crazy moments when we stayed up till the wee hours to rush out our assignments; the triumphant moments as we admired the star-studded GPA (discount the higher chinese grade); the fiery moments as we tore down our classrooms with our heated debates; the stressful moments when we stayed up till 9pm in the artic-freezing library to mug for promos; the joyful moments as we saw the beauty of human body, mind and soul in attaining the holy grail's of our various CCAs; the blissful moments as we see our "closer" friends becoming a LITTLE BIT more closer while trying really hard to persuade that they are universe(s) apart, I guess nothing beats the kaleidoscopic experience that I've got in this school.

Do not be mistaken! I am not singing praises of the C****'s administration for making my 4 short years here in NJ such a wonderful one. It was the people whom I met for the past four years that made the originally prosaic life of mine to be painted with the most vibrant and majestic colours. It was also the experiences that this place has given to me which will remind me of this place wherever I go.

Before I applied into NJ, it was already notoriously and mockingly labelled as a mugger school. With nothing else except for the library that is always filled up after school, blazing red-hot shorts (with tiny pockets that cannot even hold a handphone) that makes guys look like sissies, girls with long skirts stretching from the torso to the knees and students carrying a books heavier than bricks [I shall drop all the commentaries about the hair, the glasses and other what-nots]. I still applied to this school as many SJI seniors came back and told us about their experiences in NJ. I remembered that it was Justin (the undisputed champ of 202 when it comes to studies back then) who told me about this programme and I thought he was joking with me.

So I printed out the forms and shamelessly tried to squeeze in as much "achievements" when there was a freakin-big blank space left out for us to write our achievements. Somehow, by hook or by crook, I got past the GAT and the AAT. I thought I was going to die for my English section as I guessed 90% of the vocab questions (and I'm very sure that there are still some words which I do not know right now). I could still remember Jessica coming out of the test saying that the she had "no hope" already. Then came the interview. I remembered vividly that it was Mr Whitby who interviewed me and I thought: freak! My English is so bloody lousy and now I keena the English HOD for interview. Worst still, Mr Whitby asked 90% of the questions with the other four occassionally nodding their heads and laughing at my response. I could still remember that I told him that I saw this programme as something new and daring and we are all going to be like guinea pigs when he asked me why I applied for this programme. It sounded really silly, but I think that might be one of the most honest response I will make in my entire life. I really meant it and I really became the guinea pig. LOL.

05IP03 was one of the greatest gift that God can ever give me. Unlike the rowdy class of 202, this was a place where competition really heats up, but also a place of never-ending laughters. We were the sportiest class (and still is, even when Cat and co. idles around during PE classes XD), the most creative class (street-fighter style to present properties of two elements on the periodic table and using materials such as LED light bulbs, hair gel for river model project), the best humanities class under Mr Ho. We were so good that we get 1 mark deduction for a typo error in writing Cl as CL. That aside, we were also notorious for being the gambling den, girls with drawstrings and safety pins and an honest guy whose shirt was tucked out because of FRICTION with the chair! (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I wonder who) Even as we moved up, we tried as hard as we can to remain close and go crazy together once in a while, for example, watching "Love actually" 20 hours before the Bio MCQ paper during prelims!

But it was place is MORE than that. It gave me opportunities to see the beautiful world out there with an immersion trip to China that showed me how China developed from its dilapidated state back in the 1960s to a cosmopolitan one (HanDong, thanks for the two weeks being my room mate and all those lame jokes we shared), a CSR trip to Bangkok that showed me what poverty is really all about and the simplicity of life and the greatest one of all, the trip to London that showed me what being a global citizen is all about. It was a trip that really showed me how big this world is and the unlimited opportunities which we can seek when we are willing to do so. In terms of character, I think I had learnt a lot through intereactions with other people who were perfect embodiments of virtuous qualities such as humility, courage and leadership. I will always remember the glorious year of Solaris under Sasha and the 40th HAT. She is an epitome of what leadership is all about. Even though she was quite competitive at times and even demanding in the quest for perfection (we practiced A LOT for the walk-in), she was always there to do it with us and not just leave us with all the work. [Monetary contributions were immense too, thanks to Jo HAHAHAHAHAHA] Then there was Faisal, the pizza-man! SUPER down-to-earth and try-to-be-funny council pres. And now, he became the no. 1 bachelor-on-demand with those dangerous curves he got from Tekong. HAHAHAHAHAHA! But life was not always about the good things. There were bad ones too. The disappointments when we did not get our Golds at SYF; the U's we've got that demoralised us; the heated arguments that nearly ended our friendships; the bacstabbings which will remains hidden; or realising such backstabbings during our daily gossips and trying very hard to hide our emotions; to learn that you were betrayed by people whom you believed to be righteous and honest; but the worst of all, the excruciating emotional pain as we realise that all our love has been misplaced.

But then, it is only when we have tasted bitter then we know what is sweet.

The last reason which made this place so unique is its resemblance to the island which many call it home (or they did not have a choice but to call it so). In NJ, we have lots of "cheena" people who think they are very good in chinese, but uses a mix of hokkien, teochew, cantonese and mandarin to string a sentence; just like the current working class which spoke Chinese at home while educated in English in school. We have a super repressed minority group, but an extremely smart one, that adopted the semi-exotic name of "Arts FACULTY" (WOW) and resorted to producing T-shirts and pullovers to joke about their science-streamed counterparts (unless they can convince me that it isn't an intentional pun); just like the local arts community that constantly criticises the government's emphasis on sciences. We have a pretty strong-willed administration that vows to ameliorate the prosaic lives of NJCians through countless Feedback sessions with people raising issues such as "toilet cubicle locks not working", "clocks not working", "why canteen so packed" and the uglier and more controversial ones such as "feeling sorry to see two pillars in our dance studio"; just like the current government that tries to improve our lives with Meet-the-people session when some of the people attend such sessions with the motive of getting a waiver for their parking fines. We also have an admin that tries to spice up our lives with programmes such as SISC; just like how the government is trying to spice up the lives of Singaporeans with events such as World Gourmet Summit and Formula One. I shall not go on to debate about the criticisms these events had received.

There are so many memories that are tied with this school, from the library to the canteen, from teachers to friends. I guess a pretty big chunk of my life for the past 4 years was filled up by school-related stuff (yes.. even the holidays was spent in research labs doing research). I think it is the time to savour on all these past experiences and harness some motivational force from these wonderful memories to power us in this final lap and end the journey on a high note.

Can't imagine how would farewell assembly be like on friday... don't think I will cry lah... but oh wells....