Attention 6A'07 QPS friends

There is a gathering on 3rd June (Tuesday) at Queens Condo, BBQ Pit No. 2.

Please bring food as it is a pot luck. If you are going to play in the pool (even if you are not swimming), you must bring swimming attire! I have booked the badminton court from 5 - 6 pm.

I heard some of us are going for a movie first. Check with Yenyi for the details.

Please help to pass the message to our friends. See you all there!

Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO)

I spent a total of 5 hours doing the SMO, both Junior and Open categories, on different days. The questions in the Junior category were apparently much easier than those in the Open category. I could do all the 35 questions in the SMO (Junior), however, after checking the answers with my sister, I think I made 4 careless mistakes so I might get the same marks as last year (31/35). For the SMO (Open), I did 19 questions but after checking with another NUS High student and someone's answers, I think I probably got about 15/25. Some of the answers were quite interesting, like 66666, 99999 and 2008.

I still have one more year to take the SMO (Junior), two more years to take the SMO (Senior) and five more years to take the SMO (Open).

First Week of 1-Month School Holiday

My school holiday started last Friday, immediately after the Year 1 Camp. The first week of holiday is a busy week for me.

27/5 - Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO) Junior 9.30 am - 12.00 noon
28/5 - SMO Open 9.30 am - 12.00 noon
29/5 - Physics Enrichment Camp Day 1 at NUS Physics Dept 8.30 am - 5.30 pm
30/5 - Physics Enrichment Camp Day 2 8.30 am - 5.30 pm

I think there may be a gathering with my primary school friends too.

I don't think we are going overseas during the holidays as my sister is going to Shen Zhen from 12 - 20 Jun for Advanced Maths training (for RGS and RI students). Maybe we will just go to Escape Theme Park.

3D2N Year 1 Camp at Pasir Ris

Day 1

At 7.40 am, we went to our mentor classrooms first. Our instructor Eugene (Krabs) sounded really like Mr Ang, our discipline master, looked like Mr Ang and spoke like Mr Ang. His "cliche" is "See, it wasn't that difficult right?" From 8-9 am, we waited for the bus under the hot, scorching sun with our extremely heavy and bulky bags. When we reached the campsite under the burning sun with our loads, we... waited, again. For? I forgot. I even forgot whether we waited or not. I left my bags under the scorching sun for 5 minutes and touched the zip. You know what I meant. Later we went to a chalet and played silly games like MRT and The Lost Shepherd. In the MRT we had "tracks" to build a path for the ball to move to a bucket. The lost shepherd was a game where you had to give directions to a blindfolded guy to look for something. Later we play "kidnapped". The game organiser randomly chose someone from each class to be kidnapped, unfortunately it was me. They took 10 minutes to tie me up and I took only 10 secs to be freed. However, I spent 1.5 hours waiting, and I had no idea what had happened before my group finally found me. Later we went to sleep with 13 boys in a small room with only 2 twin beds. I slept on the bed, while some of my friends slept on sleeping bags.

Day 2

We played sillier games. One of them was multi-level captain's ball. Every round we added one new object. There were 5 objects on the 5th round. The basketball was worth 10 points, the smaller blue ball was worth 20 points, the even smaller red ball was worth 30 points, the even even smaller ping pong ball was worth not 40 points but 50 points and the chicken (real but raw and dead) was worth 100 points. Someone tore the chicken meat into pieces (as each piece was worth 100 points) and it was gross. One of my schoolmates got slashed by the chicken beak. As expected, we got the least points. Later we played the not-so-amusing amusing race. I was too lazy to write the details. Then we had the campfire at night. Every class had to perform and our performance was apparently the worst. One of the year two classes performed a skit "How to be ****". I couldn't even hear what they were saying, all I knew was that the "How to be ninja", "How to be gangster", "How to be emo" and "How to be nerd" from Youtube were way better. Later we... ZZZZZZZZ...

Day 3
Home sweet home at 1.30 pm.

Btw, we had not sat on a chair (seat) ever since we arrived at the campsite, other than on the bus. So you know how wobbly my legs were. I slept till dinner time.

My Final Mid Year Results!

Today I got my semestral progress report.

BL1101 Basics of Cell Biology: A- (4.5)
BL1103 Nutrition and the Human Alimentary Canal: B+ (4.0)
CL1101 Chinese 1A: B (3.5)
CM1101 Properties of Matter: A- (4.5)
EL1103 Developing Language Skills: C (2.0)
GE1101 People, Place & Nation: B- (3.0)
MA2108 Geometry: A+ (5.0)
MA3210V Combinatorial Game Theory: A (5.0)
MA4202V Advanced Mathematical Olympiad Training IV: A (5.0)
MU1101 Basic Musicianship: A (5.0)
PC1110 Foundational Physics I: A+ (5.0)

I think I am satisfied with my Grade Point Average CAP/GPA of 4.11 (maximum is 5.0) . Next semester, I aim to get 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751...

+ 0.00000000001
x 100000000000

x 1.1

My MYE Results!

I got back all my mid year exam (SA) results.

BL1101 - A-
BL1103 - A-
CL1101 - C+
CM1101 - B+
EL1103 - D+
GE1101 - C+
MA2108 - A+
MA3210V - A+
MA4202V - A
MU1101 - A+
PC1110 - A+

A+ is >=85, A is >=80, A- is >=75, B+ is >=70 and so on. I do not know my final results yet (after adding CA). Hope that after adding the CA marks, my B will become A, C will become B and D will become C. All the As should remain As.

Hilarious Tetris Games

Funny Tetris Levels. Quite out of your expectation.


Human Tetris. Some of the participants are so "dumb". I think I would be able to clear most of the obstacles.

Finally! (do you notice that I used this title before?)

The exams are finally over! I am so happy I fell like repeating it again. The exams are finally over! I am still so happy, how about repeating it again 3 more times? The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! Let's do it again! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over! The exams are finally over...

Er... Actually, there is still one more paper... that is the Advanced Maths Olympiad IV, next Wed. At least this Year 4 module is definitely easier than the Year 1 Geography!

Attention to all maths nerds, I have something for you. Want to know what is pi to 10,000,000 digits? Click... ATTENTION, THIS WEBSITE MAY CAUSE YOUR SYSTEM TO CRASH. GO AT YOUR OWN RISK... here. If it is still not enough, click... AGAIN, THE RISK OF YOUR SYSTEM TO CRASH IS HIGHER FOR THIS IS 70,000,000,000 digits of pi. CLICK AT YOUR OWN RISK, AGAIN... here. Seriously, I clicked before, but my system did not crash.

I am just promoting my friend's blog youareextremelycrazydonotviewthis.blogspot.com.

Exam

I hate exams ... I have finished most of my exams except Biology, Music and Physics. The easiest so far is Geometry, and the hardest is English. Both are harder than ABC :-)


Just for fun
_/TAXI\_
l_@_@_ l

Mid Year Exam Coming

Today and tomorrow are Reading Days - it means I don't have to go school. They are for us to study for the mid year exam next week. Just to list the days and exams:

28/4 (Mon) - English Paper 1 & 2, Chinese Paper 1 & 2 (long day from 8 am to 4 pm .. sian)
29/4 (Tue) - Maths & Geography (8 - 12.30 pm, I only need to study for Geography)
30/4 (Wed) - Chemistry (8 - 9 am, yay only 1 paper)
1/5 (Thu) - No exam as it is a hoilday
2/5 (Fri) - Biology, Physics and Music (8 am to 3.30 pm, I only have to study for Bio)

As I will be busy from now till next week, I think I will not update my blog till after my exam.

Funny videos

Here are some really funny videos. It may not be funny at first, but just watch till the end.

How to be ninja


How to be gangster


How to be emo


You can also watch 'How to be nerd' and 'Human iPod'.

The Pi Challenge

Try this π (Pi) Challenge. What is the missing digit? Hint: pay attention to the singing in the video.

I can only memorise 40 digits of π.

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197

My friend Kendrick said that he could memorise 222 digits!!! It is up to you to believe it or not. How about you - how many can you memorise??

Late for School Again!

Last Tuesday, I went to school like normal, by bus 33. I waited for like an eternity (usually I wait for 2 to 15 minutes), but the bus had not arrived. Five bus 195 went past, but not a single 33 came! It finally came after a long half an hour wait. However, it was so packed like sardines that I could not board it. My heart sank. I had no choice but to wait for the next one.

Luckily, the next bus was just behind it (obviously, bus bunching). The good news was that the bus came a minute after the previous one. The bad news was that I was going to be late. To make things worse, the bus was crawling like a tortoise and there was a traffic jam. My mind was in a whirl and my stomach was churning. Later, the bus unfortunately broke down, and the only bus I could take from that bus stop was still 33 since there's no 196. Several minutes later, the bus 33 came and I quickly hopped into the bus. I reached school at 8.07 am.

I had already made an effort to wake up early ever since Ms Lau (my mentor) warned me not to be late again, but I felt that it was not my fault that I was late this time.

AIME 2

A few days ago I took the AIME II (American Invitational Maths Exam) paper at the Maths Oasis' office. I had taken the AIME I two weeks earlier at NUS High. As expected, Jonathan was there too. Since NUS High only allows us to take AMC10A/12A but not AMC10B/12B, we participated under Maths Oasis. Of those who took part in AMC10B/12B under Maths Oasis Open Category, only 3 of us were invited to take the AIME 2. The other one was a girl from RJC, which means she took AMC12B just like me, whereas Jonathan took AMC10B. The questions were harder than those in AIME I, which were hard enough. I could only answer 7 or 8 questions (out of 15). I heaved a sign of relief when it was over, 3 hrs later.

After AMC and AIME, there are still the Australian Maths Contest and the SMO (Singapore Mathematical Olympiad). The toughest one that I have taken so far is still the AIME, but I think it might be the second hardest, after the SMO(Open). I have signed up for both SMO (Junior) and SMO(Open), which will be held in end May.

An Endless Life Cycle

Yesterday's Bio Practical

It was the third bio practical I had. We tested several food substances to find out if it contained starch, reducing sugar, protein and lipids. For the starch, you should know, just add iodine. For the reducing sugar, we added Benedict's solution and for lipids, we had to add 5ml of sodium hydroxide and 5 drops of ClHO4. Warning!!! The 10% sodium hydroxide will dissolve you!!! For proteins, we added distilled water and something else.

I remembered we had to insert the test-tube into a 80 degree celcius water bath. There was once my friend's hand accidentally touched the sodium hydroxide. He said it was scorching hot. That was just 10%, imagine pure 100% sodium hydroxide. We sometimes inadvertently add too much chemicals and cause a huge explosion. Just kidding, nothing actually happened.

Practicals are always fun and enjoyable. I am looking forward to the next practical.

Interesting Facts that You May Not Know

An Ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".? (Are you doubting this?)

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
(Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?)

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
(You're not doubting this, are you?)

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
(Yes, admit it, you are going to say, a e i o u)

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
(All typists are going to test this out)

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Almonds are a member of the peach.

Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. (Good thing he did that.)

The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

Illusion - Dancing Girl

If you see this lady turning in clockwise direction, you are using your right brain.

If you see it the anti-clockwise direction, you are using left brain.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE. BOTH DIRECTIONS CAN BE SEEN.

Chess Competition

I participated in the 60th Nationals Individual Chess Championship held at Teck Ghee C C two days ago. I won on the first round, lost in the second, won in the third, lost in the forth and fifth, and won the rest. There were a total of 8 games. I won 5 of them . Too bad I still could not get any prize. One of my friends (my classmate, Jia Hong) took part in the girls category. She also got 5 points, but I think she was one of the top 20. This is so unfair, they should mix the girls and boys category. The girls category has less competitors (42, compared to the boys with 179), and is easier to win.

Can you spot where I am? (hint: I am near the standing person whose back is facing you)

Showing off my Megaminx.

Photos - QPS 6A'07 Gathering on 10 Mar