7 November 2012:
Today was a happy day.
Except for Higher Chinese O Level in the start. Well, at least paper one wasn't bad in my opinion. I was actually more afraid of paper one than two, but at the end of the whole thing paper two was actually more fearful.For paper one, I was really afraid that the essay topics would all be distant to me. The 報章讀後感 would be some unfamiliar issue, the 議論文 would be the traditional kind and the 記敘文 would be those totally vague and unclear topic. Thankfully only the first came true: the 報章讀後感 was about some committees being set up by South West CDC ... I never knew of such things.
The 議論文 and 記敘文 were alright lah but somehow I suddenly couldn't think of anything for 議論文. I couldn't think of any points at all besides the cliched 'results are important but so is character'. In the end, I wrote 記敘文, although I was telling CW that it's risky cos you need the full structure so you would not do well if you couldn't complete. But I was rather confident this time cos I finished 實用文 10 minutes earlier so I had extra 10 minutes for 作文!
As for 實用文 ... I did 私函, despite practising all day yesterday for 公函. Before the exam I asked WY the format for 私函, I'm so thankful for that. I actually still hesitated whether or not to leave a line after the 稱呼, but I remembered from lower Sec that 私函空三行，公函空五行 so I just went without it.
Compared to 公函, I really think 私函 was easier. Cos 公函 was 建議類 which I did not do much ever. 私函 was more of a discursive on females doing NS, which I happened to read about in the papers recently. Thankfully I remembered both parties' arguments as well.
As for 作文 ... What a ride. I wrote that I liked singing from young and dreamt to perform in front of my school. But my school always picked people from choir (I called them 金嗓子) to perform and never allowed others. So I 毛遂自薦-ed to the teacher-in-charge. The choir TI/C wanted to reject me but the overall TI/C let me sing a verse and agreed.
(In the essay, I wrote that my friend persuaded me by saying '做一次毛遂吧'. I hope the teacher appreciates my humour as well HAHAH.)
So I went to perform for the school, thereby fulfilling the dream I've always had. The choir TI/C apologised to me after that for looking down on me at the start. The crowd also gave me a thunderous applause (響徹雲霄 one okay!) and I was so touched I 熱淚盈眶-ed. Pro right hahah I was enjoying myself cos it's really the first time writing an essay that I do not dread.
Previously I always shunned writing 記敘文s cos I always have no story ideas. Every time I could only think of Wushu-related stuff. But frankly speaking I'm not good in Wushu so I don't have much fabulous stories to mention unlike people like WX or RZ. In the end I always write about some lame stuff like winning the competition after much preparation or despite my coach not supporting me. The first such essay was good but after that it all sucked cos I myself was so sian by the same old content.
Anyway ... this essay I really enjoyed. I simply wrote and wrote and wrote. Normally I would try to slack in between paragraphs. But this one I didn't. I simply wrote from start to end, stopping only to check my plot. But actually I was so firm of the plot that it was almost real, so I didn't need to check much.
The funny thing that happens when I write 記敘文s is that I picture it in the form of a movie. I think it's because of early years where I did drama. I feel like I'm writing a script instead. So my 記敘文s always tend to add in small details that aren't needed. I had the same feeling this time and had to control myself. If I were writing a script, I would add lots of stuff in making it rich.
(By the way, maybe I should write a script during the holidays and fulfil my goal.)
Also, the song I 'sang' during the 'performance' was 隱形的翅膀. Cos the chorus had a line saying '我終於看到所有夢想都開花'. I just suddenly thought of that and scribbled it down on my question paper during planning. And cos I wasn't sure of the lyrics, I was afraid that I would get it wrong. Thankfully it isn't, cos I just checked Mojim. Such a fitting song eh ... :') hahah if this happens in real life, wow.
I wrote the essay in a very personal manner. '打從我小時候，我便喜歡上歌唱' was how I started it. Only the ending was a bit fake cos y'know you have to add in your 啓發 after this incident, so it started sounding like propaganda. But I hope the rest of the essay was life-like enough, especially with my humour. By right the teacher should be laughing with me (or maybe crying) at the end.
~
Paper two was horrible. 綜合填充 was not that bad, I think I got 16 / 20. (Okay actually to me that's horrible too but I know it's considered high.) I'm still a little sore that I changed one correct answer to a wrong one. 閱讀理解一 was so boring that I kept yawning. I really felt like sleeping for five minutes but what if I sleep till 1245?
I yawned till I had tears in my eyes. I hope the examiners don't think I'm crying cos it's so hard. Anyway for 閱讀理解一 I think I did alright, lah. I was able to find the vocab in the passage, although two of them were difficult to find at first.
It was 閱讀理解二 that made me freak out. I really didn't expect such hard passages. They were nice to read lah but not nice to answer. It felt like literature prose. All that description and 比喻 ... authors, Y U NO write simple simple!
I really had the feeling of 'oh no what is this!' after doing it. I was so distraught that I went to do summary first. That calmed me down and assured me that I would not lose 20 marks at least. But actually summary wasn't good as well; it's the first time I exceeded 80 words at first count. I normally get around 75 words and I get to touch-up. This time I got 91 words and freaked out deciding which to delete.
Eventually I deleted too much and got 60+. So I had to caret all over the place and add sentences here and there. Haiz I hope it is all right in the end.
After doing summary then I went back to the free-response questions for both passages. I left around 10 marks blank at first, you could say. For one question, I wrote that an actor couldn't succeed without 服裝, 道具 and backstage crew. Others like KL who are in drama also wrote the same example. I wrote '如果一名出色的演員拒絕導演、服裝組、道具組、音樂人，他只好自編自導自演，最後只能自欺欺人，不能成功'.
~
Once the paper ended I went out with KL and EP boys and LJ and JK. Along the way CW and I (oh yes he went too) met I, B and T; R; and other Wushu guys. (S told CW to tell me my blue water bottle looked sucky. I thought it was cute ...!) So the both of us were like socialites walking here and there talking with people.
I really like talking to R, somehow. Maybe I am in love with him HAHAH. He isn't very alright with his girlfriend now so I hope they would sort things out eventually! He had till 5 to roam around and he didn't feel like going home so he chose to take the train till Buona Vista and head home.
We went to subway to eat, for the nth time. I really don't know how many times I've ate there. Recently I asked to add green chilli; it's quite nice! We combined the tables together and sat at the corner.
There, almost everyone went to 重慶 or 復旦, some even going for both. So there was a lot of common topics to discuss. W was grilled for his popularity with girls, in Singapore and China. He blushes easily so that's quite funny.
Along the way I was the target and G recounted how I [...]. Everyone laughed as usual, LJ especially cos he never heard it before. G and I were saying about how we seldom talked to girls from St Nicholas anymore, especially D. So we agreed to somehow talk again hahah although I don't know how that would be.
We exposed lots of embarrassing stuff about each other in the approximately 1.5 hours there. Along the way this woman approached us for donations. She really seemed fake cos the whole thing was so unconvincing. We paid $2 each so it was around $18 for her. If she really is cheating us, she would get bad karma. I lose $2 today but maybe she gets something worse next time. So not to fret.
At around 3 we left and went back. All took MRT except LJ and I. He went to buy eye-drops at Guardian cos he said his eyes were too dry after looking at C Lit stuff. When I entered Guardian there was a newspaper stand by the door. I took 早報 to have a look and the whole thing started moving towards me!
原來 the newspaper stand was holding the door. And somehow I actually disrupted the equilibrium there so the door wanted to close, thereby pushing the stand forward. I freaked out and placed the newspaper back but it was still moving. Then I pushed the stand back but it wouldn't stay.
In the end I just held the stand with my foot while pretending to look at the papers. I just hoped LJ would buy the eye drop quick and I'd leave. He came over pretty soon ... and pulled me over to see the eye drops. I 驚, told him 不可以等一下…… but got pulled. He then saw the situation and laughed hysterically.
The auntie at the counter saw it and came over to help. Just nice the thing became okay again and I wasted her time. Oh so paiseh. LJ spent around 10 minutes just choosing an eye drop ... Eventually the final two differed in one being medicated and not the other. If my future wife like that then how ...
He paid and we left. Along the way I tried the newspaper stand again; it moved again. Woe woe woe. We quickly left the shop. I felt bad for the auntie though cos she had to fix it. Maybe she would think we're pranksters or what.
Oh what a tiring day this is today.
TTFN.
Chances are, you would hate me next time.