A sneak peek of the future? A prophecy?

“This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper" - T.S Eliot


Hey, it's been more than a week since I've last posted, and my excuse will probably forever be the same. Busy. With what? The stressful life of studying in a Junior College. It's taking quite some time to come up with something to talk about. A topic which I have not touched on yet. Also, I'll need both the mood and the time to type it down and post it in here, so it may take a while for me to do so in my current hectic lifestyle.

Strange things have been happening this few days. When I say 'strange', I don't just mean weird stuff going on... I mean bizarre and almost unnatural things occur. No doubt that those living in somewhere along the equator will have already figured it out that the climate is changing for the first time since perhaps in the last 3 centuries. It's raining almost everyday in the supposedly summer period. No, before anyone launch an argument telling me that the countries near the equator do not experience the four seasons, I absolutely agree. Sure we don't have snow falling down and have freezing cold temperature in the winter period, or have scorching hot sun in the summer that will melt most of us (actually we do, but oh well). But we do have rain seasons. The last time I checked, rain normally falls most heavily during the June and December period. What month is it now? April. Before that? March. We still got May until we finally reach June and our deserved long holiday period. But it's been raining cats and dogs in recent weeks. The rains were sure heavy. I'm sure the roofs got one hell of a beating by the ferocious rain. 

It didn't happen just this year. The weather has been pretty unpredictable and unstable since probably 2010. In 2011, it became rather obvious that the climate is definitely changing. Rainy seasons are arriving either later or earlier, and rain falls are either lighter and heavier. Not to mention the length of each period. The monsoon climate is changing pretty dramatically as well. I'm not so sure about the countries out of the tropical and monsoon climate but I got a feeling that things ain't going to be the same again. Not since punching a giant hole in the Earth's atmosphere. 

The weather and climate is still probably something not considered bizarre yet but there's more to come. For the past week, I've witnessed something more extraordinary. Thunderstorms are so common right now that I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's one tomorrow as well. But this time, I am never closer to the streaks of lightning then I am now. The streaks of lightning are so close that I can clearly spot the intense blue energy sparking in the lightning itself. The bright, burning blue energy. Yes, I'm not joking. I just saw it like more than 3 hours ago. And last Friday, after my college's concert, I'm seeing orangey-yellow lightning flashes towards my house's direction from my college. Hey, we are not in Kanto, Johto or Hoenn region. There's no Pikachu or Raikou or Zapdos that is gonna use "Thunder' and send yellow electric flashes in the sky. I've just said the lightning flashes are bright blue. No way they're gonna be orange or yellow.

Just this evening, there was some sort of a overlap between a sunset and a dark brewing thunderstorm that the sky was totally orange and misty. Since light shines upon Earth, almost everywhere is painted orange. Nope there's nothing wrong with my eyes, and I'm certainly not talking about the kind of mild orange-yellow you normally observe in a sunset. It's pure orange. And after the sun totally disappeared, the lightning began to strike  more frequently.

You might think that it is just something new and I shouldn't make a big fuss about this. Maybe I really shouldn't. But I just can't shake off the feeling that something is gonna happen. Something BIG is gonna happen. Not I'm not referring to Chelsea possibly upsetting Barcelona in the Champions League, nor am I promoting the current NBA slogan. I'm more convinced each day that something is gonna happen. Ya, you might think that I am referring to the "Apocalypse, Armageddon, the Judgement Day, the End of the World" whatever you call it, that's rumoured to occur in December 2012. Maybe I am. Not directly though. Somehow, I'm expecting something to happen. Something that might bring about a huge change in the world. Frankly, I've been waiting for that 'something' to happen since the beginning of my huge imagination in Primary School. Who knows? Maybe it really might happen...

The Association: Boston Celtics

"What hurts more, the pain of hard work or the pain of regret?" - Celtics motto


I've finished watching the documentary series "The Association: Boston Celtics", as I happened to chance upon it while looking through Boston Celtics videos on YouTube. No surprise, by now you should have realised that I'm a Celtics fan. I first saw the Celtics in action when I was invited over to my friend's house in the morning here in Singapore to catch the live action of the 2010 NBA Finals Game 7 between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics, some 8774 miles away. I don't really like the Lakers led by the talented but cocky and often considered a "ball hog" by fans, Kobe Bryant, so I soon found myself cheering for the Green and Whites, the long arch-rivals of the Lakers.


If you know anything about rivalry in sports, especially the most popular football rivalries between Manchester United and Liverpool, and the one between Barcelona and Real Madrid, you'll find this rivalry of the two basketball franchises very similar. In fact, Manchester United have won 19 Premier League trophies while Liverpool won 18, and the LA Lakers actually won 16 NBA Championships while the Boston Celtics won 17. Just too darn similar, isn't it?


In a best of seven games series of the NBA Finals that I was watching, Game 7 was to be the tiebreaker and to determine the new NBA Champion. Being held at the Staples Center in LA, the game attracted Hollywood stars and past legends such as Earvin "Magic" Johnson and so on, and I was really lucky to be able to watch the live telecast. It was an exciting battle between the Kings of the East and West, and as I watched on, the Celtics initially had a solid lead. In the last quarter, things began to break down for the Celtics and Kobe Bryant, along with team-mates Ron Artest and Derek Fisher, led the charge to eventually lead the Celtics by a small margin late in the final minutes of the game. Eventually the Lakers won by a seemingly miraculous comeback in the Finals. Upon witnessing the tough and heartbreaking loss for the C's, I was stunned and felt really sad for them.


No one wants to lose at Game 7 of the NBA Finals. They were so close to the NBA title yet it fell to someone else's hands, and to add into the wounds, they lost to their long-time arch rivals. The historical rivalry between the two teams started way back in the 1960's, when the Celtics led by Bill Russell and Sam Jones competed against the Lakers led by Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. Man, the three-point line had not even been in place yet. The Celtics won all 6 times against the Lakers in the 1960's era when they went head to head in the NBA Finals. Following up in the 1980's era, the emergence of the Showtime LA Lakers led by Magic Johnson and the Celtics led by Larry Bird reignited the deep rivalry between these two teams again, dominating much of the action in the 1980's. The rivalry turned into everlasting friendship between the two greatest NBA icons Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, whose rivalry saved the failing NBA at the point in time, and marked the best rivalry of all time. Not even Michael Jordan came close in beating that rivalry (since he didn't really have a near equal arch-rival in his era but no doubt he's the GOAT). I remember even writing an essay about the rivalry for my English prelims last year, and scoring 27/30!! 


That was in the past, let's look into the recent match-ups. In the 2007-08 season, the Big Three assembled in Boston: Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. They will then go on to meet the Lakers led by Kobe Bryant in the NBA Finals once again since 1987, in which they will clinch the NBA championship again, hanging yet another championship banner in the TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics. They then met again in 2010, in a deciding Game 7 and Celtics eventually gave up a solid lead and lost to the Lakers.


I'm in love with the Boston Celtics because of the brotherly love the team had for one another, From Delonte West, Glen Davis, Kendrick Perkins to Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtics had always been a family. The Brotherhood, I'd call it, really. With head coach Doc Rivers as the father of the family, the Celtics had great team chemistry feared by many others in the league, and a unbroken bond between one another. Although business and trades separated some of them, but they will always be a family. 


"The Association: Boston Celtics" starts off after the terrible loss of the Lakers in the 2010 NBA Finals and how the Celtics began to push themselves back into form again and to redeem themselves from their mistakes in the Finals. It also shows the ups and downs of the Celtics during the season, including Garnett's, West's and Shaq's injuries, and also the worst thing that ever happened to them: Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson's trade to Oklahoma City. To them, it's like a loss of a family member. A stab in the heart. My eyes went all wet and tears began to drop as I listened and actually felt the hurt it did to the Celtics players. 


I feel that this team deserves my utmost respect as they displayed unmoving determination, amazing talents, an unbreakable bond and the brotherly love and care for one another. A true family. If anything, I would recommend you to watch the videos, as it really is meaningful and you can definitely feel the struggles and triumphs the Celtics faced day in day out. Till today, I remained a Celtics fan and will always be. In my heart, the Boston Celtics were, are and will always be the NBA Champions. Let's go Celtics, capture Banner 18!! #IAmACeltic


P.S I really need to get a Boston Celtics jersey/T-Shirt soon!!


"Once I found out it was done, I broke down in tears. It’s just the love. It is a genuine love for each other. I don’t consider these guys as teammates; I consider them as brothers. I don’t consider the coaches as coaches; I consider them as fathers to me. I am just happy to have had the chance to play with Hall of Famers and been a part of the Celtics history.” - Kendrick Perkins

Thirteen Days

If the sun comes up tomorrow, it is only because of men of good will. And that's - that's all there is between us and the devil. - Kenny O'Donnell in the movie 'Thirteen Days'


There was a movie screening of the film 'Thirteen Days' for History students last Thursday in a lecture theatre. I am (of course) one of those lucky people who actually got to watch this film. Just for the movie, me and my class chose the best seats in the lecture theatre so that we could actually enjoy watching it. It was really a good movie but I ain't one to give a full movie review so let's just drop the idea.


In case you have exactly no idea what the movie is about, I shall give a brief introduction on the plot. The movie is based on the Cuban Missile Crisis, apparently all thirteen days of the crisis from the beginning when the Soviet missiles were secretly shipped and placed in Cuba, all the way till the USSR's agreement to remove the missiles and the end of the Naval Blockade in the perimeters of Cuba. 


Apparently, History is one of the subjects I have chosen to take in the A-Levels, and Cold War is one of the very few themes there are in the subject. Having took History Elective (and scoring pretty well in it) in Secondary School, History remains one of my favourite subjects that I trust myself in obtaining high scores. And Cold War is one of the topics that I was taught by my Mr Sem, my History teacher, who had probably made us master the art of "smoking". Besides being taught the reasons and impacts of this and that in the Cold War, I had my very own knowledge of the topic, so I generally had the whole idea of what actually occurred in the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis.


You might wonder, why would I choose to watch the film till the very end if I understood almost everything that had happened, here's my answer: I have been told by my History tutor that it is a great movie. No joke, it really is. The tutors have reminded us that the film is made from the US perspective, and since we are trying to be as unbiased as possible in our essays, we shouldn't really judge from the movie itself and just enjoy the film as it is. Not that we care anyway. 


The film is circled around President Kennedy and his advisors, the dire situation they were facing in the events of the crisis, and the difficult decisions President Kennedy had to make in order to save the world from Mutually Assured Destruction(MAD) when both superpowers would fire their nukes at each other, killing millions upon millions of people. Well, had that actually happened, we probably won't be here right now. Heck, humanity would probably cease to exist.


It was the men of goodwill that saved the world from plunging into an all-out nuclear war. Thankfully, men of goodwill existed in that period of time. Both sides actually negotiated to bring the crisis to an end. That was good enough. After watching the movie, I had a clear picture of what President Kennedy faced during the crisis: the military heads who strongly opposed his decision of a blockade and to bring about a peaceful end to this crisis, the media who was pouncing on him, the unseen enemy in both Cuba and the Soviet Union, and the precious time which was ticking away.


In the end, the crisis was brought to an end without taking away many lives, then I could say it is because of men(or women) of goodwill who saved humanity. I could see such great leadership and moral qualities within the US leaders. I aspire to be like them someday, really. In times of crisis and strife, heroes rise to the occasion. Let's hope that there are men of goodwill in their midst.

House Captaincy

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

There are a lot of stuff I wanted to post about including the 4E class reunion I had three weeks back(Yes, I know it's old news but the previous post gave me a massive delay), and certain stuff that I feel that I should actually post on here. Though I have the intention, I simply can't find the time and mood to sit down on my computer and start typing a blog post. Not that I'm a very moody guy, but I gotta actually have the 'mood' to write a blog post, when I'm truly capable of expressing my thoughts. Anyways, JC life is hectic and it's gonna get at least ten times worse when we dive into the next section of Project Work, which is probably gonna make life more difficult. Not that I'm saying that I regretted going to JC but it's just that, I have to manage my time better than ever in order to keep up with the speedy pace of JC life.

Anyways, I mentioned before that I'm pretty interested to join the House-Exco after the spectacular orientation camp we had, and especially after kicking the other Houses' backside(No offence, seriously. Part of the beneficial and healthy competitiveness amongst the 4 Houses) in the Campfire performance we put up. I wasn't selected to be one of the ten potential leaders who would become House-Exco members(I'm probably the eleventh guy T.T), so I had to wait for the current House-Exco to call for willing applicants who desires to join the House-Exco. Finally, last Friday they asked us to submit our names and class in our House Master if we are interested. I did exactly that on that very day.

We were informed that the interview to select the candidates for the House-Exco will be held soon but we did not know exactly when. Today morning, when I was in my Economics tutorial lesson, my mobile vibrated and I took a look at the message received. Yup, it is easy to guess what happened, right? The interview was to be held today. I'm like "Seriously? This sure is a last minute call."

Subsequently I went to collect the application form, which was to be handed in during the interview at 5pm, and have to fill it up. Yes, my name, my class, my House and... What position(s) I am vying for. For your info, there's the Captain, two Vice-Captains, Secretary, Logistics Head, Cheers Head, Welfare Head, and two Treasurers within the list of House-Exco roles. I'm not gonna be the Welfare Head anymore(I've been the welfare head in Sec 3 and 4...), so I suppose I'm gonna choose another position. A position that I had expressed interest in. So for the blank, I wrote down just one word. If you actually spot the title of this post, you'll know which position I've chosen. Besides that, I've also written down Vice-Captain and Welfare Head(I guess "habits die hard'...).

So the interview started and finally it's my turn to enter the rifle range for the interview. To sidetrack a little, my House Master is the Teacher-In-Charge for the Shooting CCA,and hence placed one corner of the rifle range to be the interview zone. By the way, there's still training going on, and candidates were supposed to be interviewed by the entire House-Exco members plus the House Master himself, when the people were shooting air rifles and the place just kept going 'pop' and 'pop', distracting me in my answers to the questions raised by the House-Exco.

The very first question was from the House Master(besides the question which they confirmed my name) was "Out of the few positions you have chosen, which position is your first priority?" I answered "Captain", while grinning at the current House Captain which he returned the favour by smiling back and giving me a thumbs-up.

It wasn't actually a bombardment of questions upon me from the House-Exco, since they only asked a few questions to determine my worth and ability to be able to serve the House as a Captain. Another significant question from the House Master would be whether I am comfortable with my studies currently as he explained to me that a prerequisite for membership of the House-Exco is to be able to balance ourselves between our academics, our CCA, and our House stuff, there were incidents in the past where House-Exco members get ousted out because of failure to do well in academics and it could be considered embarrassing to some. I don't know why but I gave the confident look and answered "VERY comfortable". I was trying to liven the mood by making a small joke but it seemed as though they believed what I said...

Another question that was asked by the Logistics Head was that there will be unpleasant people whom I might not want to work with and sometimes even to the extent of hating these people within the House-Exco, and how will I deal with this matter. A pretty popular question, no doubt. However, it was the final question, also asked by the House Master, that left me intrigued. "What if we decide to place you in the Sub-Committee?" I did not ponder much about the question since I've already have the answer at the back of my mind. "I don't mind."

I left afterwards, thinking about what that question really meant. Are they really gonna put me in the Sub-Committee? Am I not suitable to become the House Captain or part of the House-Exco? Or are they just trying to find out my 'love' and 'commitment' to the House? Will I really accept just being in the Sub-Committee? 

The interview with the other candidates(the potential leaders who already got selected) will occur tomorrow afternoon if I'm not wrong, so they will make the decision soon enough. Soon there will be a verdict and let's see if the underdog will 'win' this time round.