You know you're a teenager when...

You know you're a teenager when you greet your high school teacher with... "Wassup?"

Well, I really wasn't expecting Mr Strack to ring me on my mobile while I was on the bus to uni, so I was caught completely off-guard and the greeting unwittingly tumbled out of my mouth. Maybe he didn't find it as hilariously ridiculous as I did, since he simply went on to ask me what he wanted to ask about the Titration Stakes.

Good ol' Mr Strack... ^_^ I liked his chemistry classes. He wasn't one of the popular "cool" teachers who knew how to engage with even the toughest of rebels, but rather he was the more soft-spoken and serious type who always seems to know what he was teaching. He was also willing to take extra time to come in early in the mornings to train students in the art of titration. (That used to be the role of Mr Hammond -- the other great chem teacher of mine -- but Mr Strack took over one year and decided not to give the job back)

Anyway, Carine SHS is sending 2 teams to the nationals this time. Good work, guys! =)

Alas, not all titrations go well. This morning's lab was the most horrendous one in my entire life. Somehow, I wasn't upset though. I remember feeling highly restless last semester when I my demonstrator snatched my lab notebook out of my slow hands. Have I learnt to stop caring...?

For Good

Video size: 2.9 MB

The final parts of the final song for our Year 12 Presentation Night on 1 Nov 2006, presented by (left to right) Lyndsey, Beth and Kim, with piano accompanist Ben.

Farewell, CSHS Class of 2006.

Transcendence

Now that I've been labled a mungkirer of janjis (which I guess is true... *hides from Sam*), I bring you this Update* (judging by the way I'm being hounded for them, I'm sure "update" will make it as a certain somebody's Word of the Year):

I am no longer a high school student.

Slightly stale news actually, as we got ceremoniously kicked out of school on the First of November via an elaborate procedure code-named the "Year 12 Presentation Night", which is often mistakenly dubbed the "Graduation Ceremony". What I still don't fully understand is why we leave school before taking our Tertiary Entrance Exams (TEE)**, which for unfortunate blokes like me, just ended last week when others have already embarked on their Leavers*** trip. Perhaps I never will understand it... I don't quite feel like expending brainpower to ponder its significance at the moment (this feeling might be due to my brain's shutdown after a few consecutive late nights though).

Presentation Night went smoothly, although I found out first hand that sprinting around the hall in formal attire knocks the breath out of you. The Year 12 group had an abundance of money left in their school account, so we donated almost $3000 to the school to get 2 new jarrah table-benches. Also, according to Sze En and Jiye, I am now a Duck****.

Wooden.

Now that the dreaded TEEs** have passed, many are wondering what to do with the 2-month holidays which are now at hand. Some have already spent a small portion of this time at Leavers***... I headed off to Rottnest Island for a day trip and got attacked by cute little quokkas, but that is another story. Other personal plans of mine include getting a job, learning to drive (Yes, I'm almost 19 and without a licence. So sue me.), and learning to cook my mother's famous fried rice. Yum. ^_^

Vicious quokka. Approach at your own risk.

I suppose, however, one of the most significant aspects of completing TEE** is the fact that I'll never again have to write an essay, talking about how and why I respond to texts the way I do. Is celebration premature though? I've performed quite crappily in English this semester, and I felt far from satisfied with my TEE** essays. If I fail again, I'm gonna be in Deep Poo*****. =/

Thing is, I've always been the type to shun debates and argument presentation. I happen to have have this overly-complexified way of thinking that makes me want to consider every possible aspect of a topic, even if it means thinking until the cows come home but still not reaching any conclusion. I hate it when I'm forced to take sides in presenting an argument. Hate it hate it hate it. It feels worse than a kid who's being forced to eat his broccoli. All the arguments I had to present in English, then, felt like lies to me. I'm also driven to fine-tune everything to death (possibly a case of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), which is very deadly for exams. Take this entry for example... It commenced on 1 Dec 2006, was finished on 5 Dec 2006. At least I took breaks in between. =P

Nonetheless, English class seems to have done something to me. My opinions have been changing over the past year or so... Debating/arguing skills are survival skills. People make judgements about you based on your ability to express yourself, whether you like it or not (I still don't). I also seem to have become more annoyingly opinionated, hmm... Congratulations, Curriculum Council, you have successfully created a monster.

Moving on. With all this talk about language, here's a quote regarding my blog, copied verbatim:

"why/ does every single BLOG IN EXISTENCE/ have a title/ that was derived from long names/ most likely from a thesaurus" ~ MRod to the ARod, 9 July 2006

Intelligent conversation.

I also have a vague memory of someone else being plagued by perplexity over the title, but I can't seem to find the quote. Never mind.

Yes, I did look up the thesaurus while thinking of a title a title, but there's more to it than an attempt to sound impressive. Let's see who can work out the meaning behind my title, shall we? Hints:

1. Read this blog entry again.
2. Read the top and top-right sections of my blog's front page.
3. Read the dictionary. (The relevent entries, I mean... not the whole book =P)
4. Disregard all stereotypes and generalizations about my linguistic abilities.

P.S. First person to give me the correct answer gets a postcard from me. ^_^

*Update n, v - The (act of) detailing of events which have occured in one's life, for the consumption of Samanthas and Debbies in the blogosphere.
**TEE n - A high school competition, employed to determine which students can proceed as planned to university, and which students will need to find alternative pathways.
***Leavers n - A rite of passage for many Australian students who have completed high school. It is characterised by a mass exodus to popular holiday locations, alcohol consumption, energetic dancing, loss of virginity (if it still existed at the commencement of Leavers), and increased levels of worry among parents as they watch troublemakers get led away by the police in the news. (Note that this definition is true but constructed to position readers to respond negatively.)
****Duck n - An almost-common misinterpretation of the word Dux. Also a common name for a variety of aquatic birds which have wide flat beaks and webbed feet, and emit characteristic calls which are represented in English as "quack"s.
*****Deep Poo n - A term borrowed from Mr Epanomitis' vocabulary, referring to a very very bad situation which is comparable to being submerged in a filled septic tank.

4th of July - Celebrations and Bright Colours

Nope, there was no brilliant multi-coloured displays in the sky for us. The only colours we dealt with are red, yellow and pink (plus colourless). Those colours are from two acid-base indicators: Methyl red and phenolphtalein (don't ask me how I remembered that spelling...). 4 July 2006 was the night of the Titration Stakes, state level.

A leaky burette

It is also the birthday of Joel, Mrs Foo, and Nathan (thank you Kim for the reminder).

After school, I sorted out yearbook committee first (in other words, leaving them behind in the IT lab), then joined the other titrators for a photo shoot. Those photos are with Mr Hammond, so I can't post them here... I have a number of my own though! (Sam, read my lips: Sony DSC-T33 *evil laugh*)

A burette on my shoulder

Carine SHS, Team 3!

The apprehensive teachers, comparing the data/calculations of the 3 teams

Waiting for the announcement of results. Clockwise, from the bottom:
Team 1: Neil, Thomas, David
Team 3: Philippa, Neeli (behind the camera - Sze Howe)
Team 2: Clare, Bronwyn (hiding off-screen - Kathryn)

Kathryn's watch (For some reason, I don't have any good photos of her that night... Sorry Kath!)

Final pic before getting out of the car. G'night, people!

I haven't actually mentioned anything about the titrations themselves, have I? Well, we've been practicing over the past few week. Pip is our PIPetter (yes, I'm making fun of your name again), I am our buretter, and Neeli is our everything-elser.

I can't say we're the most organized titrators ever... There was one practice session where I've already emptied the burette into the flask, yet was left wondering why the indicator didn't change colour. Well duh... adding acid to acid doesn't yield much of a result...

We arrived at our final practice session to find out that our sodium hydroxide had been totally used up. Jeng jeng jeng! Oh well, we can always improvise... So, for purposes of going through the routine, we had tap water in our burette. Tap water didn't cause any indicator colour changes either, but I think the session was worth it.

When we arrived at Curtin University's labs for the competition, we were told that we needed to split up, with different teams in different rooms. Mr Strack randomly assigned teams to the rooms, sending Team 3 up the stairs. I believe he forgot the fact that Philippa had two sprained ankles. Whoops? =P

Being the doofuses we were, more mistakes had to occur, of course. What competition would be complete without mistakes? It's no big deal, really... Neeli just forgot to add indicator to one of the solutions, and I made the funnel overflow and spilt sodium hydroxide all over the bench. Twice.

Something else which dampened the mood that night was the fact that Mr Strack's son was rushed into hospital that night with unexplained shooting pains in his abdomen. We found this out while being driven home in Mr Strack's car. Mr Strack kept himself outdated via wireless technology which might not be approved for use in moving vehicles. We had a good laugh at the measures taken to avoid attention from the patrol car near the freeway though... =D

T'was a fun experience, the Titration Stakes. We didn't go for the purpose of winning alone... there's more important things to do, like eating sausage rolls and meeting new people! It's essential to make sure that we have fun even during the biggest of competitions. That way, losing doesn't feel as disappointing, and we'd still gain something out of non-victory.

Besides, doofuses who forget important procedures and spill corrosive substances have no chance of winning a contest of accuracy, right?

End notes: All 3 Carine SHS teams finished in the top 15 (out of 80++ teams) and will advance to the nationals. Great work, everyone! =)

Mr Strack's son came out fine. Turned out that he over-ate.

Being the doofus I am, I even made mistakes after the competition was over. My poor trophy was left behind in the car. Whoops.

Fantasy On A Theme...

...by Samuel Barber.

That was my first performance, ever, with an ensemble. It's slightly sad, if you consider the fact that I've been a music apprentice for 9 years. It's slightly insane, if you consider the fact that I was given 3 days' notice and no full rehearsals.

Let's rewind a bit. The Carine SHS mid-year concert was held last Friday and Saturday, as part of the school music programme and also to raise some funds. And raise some funds it did!

The dough from Friday night

The people who collected the dough and did odd jobs on Friday night (Person #5 was behind the camera)

Friday was the Juniors' night and I went to watch my brother play. Was gonna get some good photos too, but... I was still collecting dough when the Junior Band started. There, hard proof that money has detrimental effects. Another Proof Of Detrimentalness is the Black Fingers Syndrome after long periods of handling money at a cashier. I haven't contracted the disease myself, but it was a topic of discussion earlier this morning and I take my friends' word for it.

The rest of the night passed quite unincidentally... there were some rather awesome performances, but that's expected. ;-) The Seniors' Night (Saturday), on the other hand, was plagued with falling objects. During the Senior Band's first appearance, a loud crash from the back of the stage marked an accident from the percussionists. As the Orchestra came on, a certain Double Bassist signalled his presence by sending his (rather large) bow to the floor. Back in the rehearsal room, a wall was banged rather hard.

What happens when shock waves are sent along a wall which bears a framed photo

Back to the performance I was talking about. The Senior Band was up first, oh joy... Blind panic ensuds! It was like... like reliving all the memories of going to lessons after a without practice! Aah! My teacher's gonna kill me! The audience is gonna think I suck! They...... hold on, they have no idea what the song sounds like. I can play wrong notes and they wouldn't know. Mwahahaha!

Well, ok, the above scenario didn't actually happen. Sure, I was nervous, but it was more of a "Meh, whatever..." feeling. The years of making a fool out of myself in school and at BB, the Si Kebayan* trip, and all the ngenjenning** practice must have done something to me: I'm not that badly affected by stagefright anymore, even when I was about to perform, for the first time, for a song I had never even heard before! =P

So, all panic aside, I proceeded to enjoy my first view from within the collection of band players and instruments. Sitting next to a French horn was an... ear-catching... experience. ^_^ The following photos aren't of the best quality, but I rushed because I didn't know how much time I had left before the curtains opened. The audience probably wouldn't be too impressed by a flashy light show by a camera-wielding monkey on stage.

The conductor in front

The percussionists behind me

The brass section to my left

The saxophonists to my right
EDIT 29/6/06: The 2nd person from the right is Kimmi, our beloved MC who did a vocal solo with the Jazz Band and was ticked off because I did not mention her in my post.

There you have it, a view of the band through the eyes of a sakai***. PRET-ty amazing huh? This sakai sat there for the first song, Tempest Rising, then made his way to the piano for his debut appearance in Fantasy on a Theme by Samuel Barber. The introduction went well (except mybe it was a tad bit soft), and then there was a long resting period for the piano. Thus, the problem was revealed: I tried counting my way through the silent bars but the speed changes threw me off. Uh-oh.

What happens when a performer doesn't know when to enter? Well... one thing he can do is to pretend to know what he's doing. My part was only simple accompaniment in repetitive style, so I dared to play what I THOUGHT was the correct part for the ending 'solo'. Turned out that it WASN'T the correct part and I added an extra bar when we were supposed to stop, but meh. It sounded suitable enough. ^_^ I have learnt something new, however: Performance without prior full rehearsal or prior experience in improvisation will result in grey hairs and possible heart failure.

After that fiasco though, I was free to enjoy the rest of the performances. Here are a few more photos...

Guitar ensemble

Orchestra

Clarinet ensemble

Musical theatre. Oh wait, this wasn't one of the items. Whoopsie!

I'll upload more photos to http://spaces.msn.com/axfangli/ ...soon. ^_^

* Si Kebayan - The title of the drama in which Sze Howe was transformed into a girl.
** ngenjen v. Talking crap in a believable and authoritative manner.
*** sakai n. An easily-awed person with no knowledge of the world around him.

The Fourth Dimension

Time is a fickle thing. The changes it brings can be utterly unexpected and unpredictable... within as little as a year, I've seen both dramatic and subtle changes in people and relationships. I'm know that this phenomenon isn't all that uncommon, but it's still interesting (and sometimes disturbing) to watch. Don't you just wish you knew what makes people tick? I sure do.

Anyway, it's that time of the half-year again when people breathe a sigh of relief to mark the end of exams. Well, that was last week. This week, some are breathing sighs of relief knowing that their academic lives are not doomed, while some others are less... delighted. I'm just grateful to be able to place myself in the former category.

Strangely enough, my physics paper fared better than either of my maths papers (gasp! =P) English on the other hand, is a totally different story. To think that I had made a firm resolution to NOT take up the subject upon coming to Australia... Thank you, Mr Young, for sending me into Panic Mode during our interview. If you hadn't suggested that I do History, I would never had abandoned my well-constructed plan and taken your next offer (which was Physics). Hmm, I'm even considering the possibility of doing something engineering-related in university. Yet another example of changes in time... (Too bad I had to abandon my childhood plans of becoming a private eye too! ;-D)

Speaking of which, I have only 3 months left before having to fill out a uni application form. And I still have no idea on what specific course to do. Help! ...I suppose we can always resort to good old coin-flipping... =P

Gee, university. That's a scary thought: I'll be ejected from high school for good in less than half a year. I sure will miss these days...

...but the fourth dimension only flows in one direction. Or does it...?