profile

The name is Gary. I'm a person who likes to be who I am. A 16 year old who just graduated from Montfort Secondary School. I'm now in Ngee Ann Poly studying Mass Communication. My interests? Making music, watching dramas, blogging, shopping, and the occasional reading.

MSN. garylim802@gmail.com
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affiliates

FRIENDS

Adam
Alif
Andre
Angeline
Cassandra Ong
Cheng Fu
Daren
Ernest
Elizabeth
Esther
Fikri
Freida
Gavilan
Grace
Gladys Lie
Gladys Goh
Ignatius
Ivan
James
Kai Jun
Louis
Matthew
Nick
Nicole
Poh Shen
Qiu Ling
Rainald
Riyaas
Rytha
Shawn
Shirly
Timothy
Xiao Ting
Yi Huan
Yuko

OTHERS

Montfort Band
Sembawang Symphonic Winds
SG Band Fusion




wishlist

Be a better person
Travel to US and Europe
GPA of 3.5
My own horn
More clothes, bags, and shoes

Archives
2005.09 2005.11 2005.12 2006.01 2006.02 2006.03 2006.04 2006.05 2006.06 2006.07 2006.08 2006.09 2006.10 2006.11 2006.12 2007.01 2007.02 2007.03 2007.04 2007.05 2007.06 2007.07 2007.08 2007.09 2007.10 2007.11 2007.12 2008.05 2008.06 2008.11 2008.12 2009.01 2009.02 2009.04 2009.05 2010.03




acknowledgements

layout: lyricaltragedy
icon: deviantart

Monday, April 30, 2007
MYEs update

(Monday, 30/4) : English Paper 1 ; Social Studies

English paper was ok. Spent like 45 minutes on letter writing, so had 45 minutes left for compo. Wasn't much of a problem though. For the first 5 minutes, I couldn't make up my mind on which question to choose, was thinking which one can write the most. And since I was sitting right in front, the chinese teacher quite near me. She like keep wondering why i staring into blank space, with my paper empty, zzz. In the end, i chose question 3. It went something like 'What do you think a school should do to help a student in his future.' 357 words of crap.

During the 15 minute break, was at the foyer with Shawn going through the SS points, haha. Like nobody dare to eat, all was cramping information into their head.

Social Studies, was acceptable. Thanks to pure history, can do the SBQs easily. But had problems with the fourth SBQ. It was asking on reliability, which I didn't know how to do. Essay... not bad la. Chose the first question, about principles of good governance and traffic policies. I think i'm gonna do badly for the traffic policy one, cause I had only a few points for a 13 mark question.

(Wednesday, 2/5) : CLB Paper 1; Geography Elective

CLB. Very easy la, since only have to do 1 question, either compo or letter writing. Compo have pictures some more, like those in primary school.

The geog paper was damn hard. Had difficulty remembering all the facts.

(Thursday, 3/5) : CLB Paper 2 ; Mathematics Paper 1

This paper was so omg. At first I thought the rest of the class know how to do. After the exam, everyone started complaining, so i guess I'm not that bad of. Yay -.-'

(Friday, 4/5) : English Paper 2

I was damn sleepy, but I somehow managed to finish the paper in the end.

(Monday, 7/5) : History (Modern World) ; Physics

Physics paper was damn arduous! Section A & C 30 marks. Section B 40 marks. If I counted correctly, I skipped 31 marks worth of questions. Chances of passing, I dunno. Maybe 5-10%?

History (Modern World) SBQs were quite easy. But I spent 1 hour doing them (in between questions I would doze off a little -_-), leaving me only 30 minutes left for SEQs. This section was the difficult one. Last night, I thought only Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations would be coming out for the exam. Thinking TOV was easier, I went to look for my notes, but couldn't find them. So, resorted to the internet. Thanks to Fikri for introducing me to some history sites. But that's out of the point. The point is, that I didn't know the topic about USA's involvement in worldly affairs would be tested. In the end, I only wrote one sentence; "I agree that USA was not largely involved in the inter-war affairs.". Like that got 1 mark or not?

(Tuesday, 8/5) : Science (Chemistry)

This one was't so bad. Section C was a little hard though

(Wednesday, 9/5) : Mathematics Paper 2 ; Science (Biology)

(Friday, 11/5) : History (South East Asia)

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Posted at 9:15 PM





Saturday, April 28, 2007

Yo.

Yesterday was the last chance we had to ask the teachers anything before the exams, or simply, the last day. Since it was leader's day at the school, all UG units had to wear our uniforms. In the end, only Alif, Jeremy, Gerald, and I wore it, bleah.

We did a revision worksheet for the E Math remedial in the morning. My algebra is damn pathetic la, need serious help. And during morning assembly, we got a cap as a Founder's Day souvenir.

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Posted at 12:22 PM





Thursday, April 26, 2007

Wah lau, I just got back the bio test paper. I failed, 5/30. All the band members in my class failed, cause we missed a lot of bio lessons due to SYF. But I guess we should have tried to catch up on our own though. Nutrition in Animals, blah.

We got back chem test yesterday. Got 19 1/2 upon 30 marks. Not that bad la, around average. And tomorrow getting back the physics test paper. Checked PTS liao, I got 5/16. That's the mean score, lol. Gotta buck up, and fast.

2.4km run yesterday. Position not so good la, 43 out of 3 or 4 classes, so i think 120? My timing was just under 13 minutes. And during P.E. today, we completed shuttle run and sit-and-reach. 9 seconds flat, and 41 cm respectively. Didn't manage to get an A for sit-and-reach this year, geez.

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Posted at 7:05 PM





Tuesday, April 24, 2007

I just completed an IQ test which I took from Fikri's blog.

IQ Test Score


127. I suppose thats good right?

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Posted at 10:20 PM






This morning, I was reading the Digital Life supplement in the Straits Times. Just as I was about to close the newspaper, I saw one very familiar face on the last page. The face belonged to someone I see nearly everyday. It was none other than Mr. Simen Lourds, MSS's very own principal, and the self proclaimed 'Montfort Giant Boss'.

See the handsome bugger! xD


This is the article;

----------

Mr Simen Lourds is no geek. The principal of Montfort Secondary confesses to being "not very good at computers". Indeed, he ended up shooting his team-mates while trying his hand at Counterstrike recently.

But the high-energy man, who picked up his guitar halfway during the interview to sing, is a student gamer's dream educator. He recently organised a DoTA All-Stars competition within the school and even paid for the prizes, worth $1,100 in all, out of his own pocket.

The 49-year-old has also fought for a gaming centre to be build on-campus, and has recently got the green light from MOE. The $80,000 gaming centre, located near the general office, will be where student can play the latest games. It is expected to be ready by next month.

given these efforts, the school won the Gears of War tournament at the Interschool eGaming Challenge 2007, beating 16 teams from 14 schools.

No doubt, his openness towards gaming has endeared the principal, a former national athlete, to his students in his all-boys school. Among the many SMS messages received from them is this one : "You are THE best principal!"

So far, there have been none of the adverse effects such as falling grades that is often linked to video games. The school has obtained value-added academic results for the past three years, something Mr Lourds expects will continue even after the gaming centre is well underway.

Why are you bringing computer games into the school, when other schools are doing exactly the opposite - banning them?

You can't stop students from gaming. It's the interest of the new generation, and the schools are fighting a losing battle trying to stop it.

I won't fight it, I will manage it instead. Furthermore, we want many peaks of excellence - our students should also have talents in other areas rather than just academic (ones).

What are the benefits that the gaming centre will bring to the students?

Firstly, by making gaming services available in the school, my students don't have to go to outside gaming centres and be exposed to negative influences or health hazards there, such as smoking.

Secondly, we can also manage them better. For example, before they can even play, they must first buy a coupon and get the teachers who have taught them on that day to sign it, certifying that they have completed their homework and have no CCAs to attend. once the coupon is signed, the students can then use it to start playing their games.

We will also control their play time. After playing for two hours, they will have to stop and report to a waiting bay, where there will be plants to provide fresh air and a board displaying some eye and hand exercises for them to follow. They can only return to their games after 15 minutes or so.

Currently, we are looking at ways to make gaming more healthy. for example, most gaming centres use neon lights, which are harmful to health. Our gaming centre will be illuminated by natural sunlight instead.

I will also be setting up a club for students, who will play a part in managing the gaming centre. This will help foster entrepreneurship in them.

Did your plans to set up a gaming centre in school meet with any resistance from parents?

They loved it! Some of them did raise their concerns, but once I explained the concept to them, they realised they preferred to have their children here, where their gameplay is monitored and their health taken into account, instead of gaming centres outside which many not have any social responsibility.

As the principal of a Catholic school, doesn't it disturb you that most computer games involve violence?

Life itself is violent, with all the tsunamis, earthquakes, and wars. We have to get our students ready for real life and not try to shelter them.

However, there are some games that do go overboard. When a game is deemed unsuitable by them, students and teachers, who act as consultants, will come to me. I will personally test out (the game). If I find that it is indeed too graphic or too violent, I will band it.

But the recent Virginia Tech shootings by the south Korean student...

We have to understand that violence is not just from computer games alone, but from many sources like movies and television.

Education is the key to managing violence. The Virginia Tech shooting serves to raise awareness; it is an incident that teachers can highlight to students for them to understand the reality of violence.

----------

Whew, i have just spend a good 17 minutes typing this out.

Recently, MSS has been getting a lot of limelight. People used to know us as a gangster school, or just your average neighbourhood, unheard of school. But we have proved otherwise. Now, when I tell people I'm from MSS, they will say things like "Orh! That school with the supercool principal/gaming centre/pro badminton team ah?". (:

Exams are on the way, crap.


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Posted at 8:01 PM





Monday, April 23, 2007

It's Monday again. We had Listening Comprehension exam for CLB today. So sudden la, don't even have time to study. Sorry, that was a lame attempt at being funny, -.-''.

We did mind-maps as a revision for Geography. Since Terence was so noisy, he was kicked out of our group and had to do his work individually, ha!

E Math was actually ok today. Mdm Lee was surprisingly nice, so no one got scolded. Then at 11.30am, those classes going to support our badminton team went down for an early recess. At 12pm, we gathered at the foyer, waiting to get up the bus. Like almost all the upper sec bands members were going lor.

I think we reached Jurong East Sports Centre at 12.45pm, then we went up to the stands to watch. We sat there to like 5.30pm, and it was damn boring. But in the end, Montfort Secondary are the champions again.


The courts

This is the Montfort Badminton team

Joshua & Aaron

Tada! The dragon Joseph made

Puff the magic dragon~, who lives by the sea~
(only MSS students will understand this)

My first try at a panorama shot

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Posted at 7:30 PM





Saturday, April 21, 2007

I wonder if this is what an insect sees


Today is the 21st of April, which marks the 91st Founder's Day of Montfort Secondary.

The band falled-in at 7.30am, then we went down to our corner of the parade square. All the UGs were involved in the outdoor parade by the way. Let me give you a brief description of the parade first, though its not really accurate la. The markers would march in, followed by the representatives of each UG. Then we would play March Ala Mode for some march in/past. Then when the GOH come, we would play Fanfare. And the NCC would exhibit a routine to MCR's Welcome to the Black Parade, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, and one more unknown song. Then we would play Spania! for dunno what. Followed by the inspection, and the march out.

We went up to the band room to wait for the hall thing to end, then we would play the Song of the Brave. Everything ended at around 1pm+. And there was packed food for us, but it was like inedible. Went to play soccer at the basketball court with Hong Zheng, Jeremy, Gerald, Jia Wei, and Ethan. Then later we were joined by Kelvin, Kelvin's little brother, Kamal, Joshua, and Nawas(I think it's spelled like this), so we moved to the soccer field.

We played with some seemingly Pri. 6 or Sec 1 kids. But I left after awhile cause it was damn hot, haha.

I have just watched Laputa : Castle in the Sky. Like almost all of Studio Ghibli's films, it was great. The character design is damn similar to Hayao Miyazaki's Conan, The Boy in Future. The music is also nice, reminds me of the time we played Animation Medley during Symphonie II.


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Posted at 4:13 PM





Thursday, April 19, 2007

NAPFA test today during PE! We did only two of the 6 stations though, Sit-up and Standing Broad Jump. I'm happy to say that I got A for both, so currently 10 points. By the way, I did 49 (though Alif told Mr. Toh I did 50, lol) sit-ups. And for SBJ, got 235cm. Still lost to Ignatius though, haha.

After PE was Chemistry. The chem test was easy peasy. Then during Social Studies, got surprise test on source-based questions. Next lesson, was Biology. The test damn hard la, like the whole class think they will fail. Then got one essay question, "Describe the digestion of carbohydrates through the human alimentary canal.". I didn't know the Sec 3 version, so I wrote the Sec 2 one, zzz. The last lesson for the day was Physics SPA. We did the plumbline experiment, where we were required to find the C.G. of the triangular lamina. And finally, we managed to finish an experiment in time. But that was because this was the easiest task to date.

Anyway, I changed the blogskin again. The picture is nice huh? Took it myself at the carpark next to Kovan Heartland Mall.

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Posted at 7:57 PM





Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Yo, I'm back to post as promised.

There was full-dress rehearsal for Founder's Day today. But let's go back to the start of the day first. During assembly, some shocking news were announced. Montfort's badminton team lost! We had been winning every match since like 7 years ago la. And the adversary was Boon Lay, which was coincidentally Mr. Simens ex-school before Montfort, and one of the only two schools he would serve in his life. The badminton team was pretty down. Then the memories of SYF came flooding back to me, how come no one announce the results ah.

E Math was ok. Halfway through the lesson, CCA teachers had to leave for a meeting, so Mdm Lee gave us work to do. But we were making a lot of noise throughout, haha. UG members were dismissed at 2pm. Then we went for our break before going up to get ready for the rehearsal. In all, I think we played better than yesterday. Can't wait for Founder's Day.

Have to go study now. Bio and Chem test tomorrow. This week quite stressful man, got 5 tests.

Bye.






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Posted at 7:44 PM





Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Hello.

Recently, theres a lot of commotion in my tagboard about David Glosz's connection with the judges. Unless you think the judges are being bias, I don't think it really matters. Oh, and please identify yourselves leh. I feel uncomfortable when total strangers are arguing in my tagboard, lol.

SYF '07 for sec school bands is over. In all, there are only 3 GWH bands(St. Patricks, Ang Mo Kio, and ACS (I)), which is pretty convenient, as there will be 3 top bands. Congrats to those three. It's a pity that some bands which got GWH for the past years were reduced to a silver. Anyway, SYF'07 is over, so work hard and train your juniors for the next one.

I know this was supposed to be a long post, but I can't think of anything more to blog about. And I know my blog is getting super boring and dead.

Sorry, and I'll try to update much more often. Cya.

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Posted at 6:51 PM





Thursday, April 12, 2007
Band 97. Montfort Secondary School, _______

MSSMB's SYF is over. I know you all are very eager to know how we did, but must read to the end of the post first, lol.

The band memebers were excused from lessons at 11.30am. We went down to the canteen to eat first, before going up to change and into the school hall for our final run-through. The band falled in at the foyer, then we went up the bus.

We reached SCH at around 3.30pm, and proceeded to the tuning room. We were given 10 minutes to tune and warm-up. The two VPs, Mr. Wu and Mr. Leow came to support us too. Finally, we sat somewhere near the stairs, waiting to go on stage. Some people were nervous, and I talked to some of them.

At 4.15pm, we went up. There was quite an audience. Some members from Hai Sing Catholic band were sitting in the front row. Then we played. Could tell that we played a little different from rehersal. Stage fright maybe.

After we got down the stage, Fikri sent me a SMS saying that he predicted we would get a Bronze. I thought so too. I was feeling a mix of emotions at that time, haha. We laid down instruments under the stairs and went out to fall in. Mr. Tan asked us whether we wanted to listen to the results or go back to school. Unsurprisingly, there was a loud cry of "yes!".

Only 30 people from each band could enter, so the Sec 1 and Sec 2s didn't come in. We waited damn long la, cause the doorman just wouldn't let us in. Then we irritated him some more, so he said we would be the last to go in, zzz. Saw at least 8 people I knew there. At last we went in, just before they announced the results. Some of us were talking about what we would get. Most of us said Bronze, and true enough, we got a Bronze. It didn't really surprise me. But I was quite disheartened by the sight of others bands, cheering so loudly, hugging each other. Our members didn't react much. It was just like "Oh, ok...". Getting out of SCH was the worst, seeing so many happy faces, lol. Anyway, thanks a lot to all those who consoled me yesterday.

The trip back to school was fun. Throughout the bus ride, we were playing songs all the way. Even though the sound sucks, it was still great. Back at school, the teachers requested that we playing The Flight of the Falcon one last time for them. We blasted all the way, but they were still smiling and clapping after that.

To MSSMB members, congratulations! We did our best, and it doesn't matter how they judge us. I'm sure you all had fun playing up there, I know I did.

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Posted at 9:52 PM





Monday, April 9, 2007

I'm back from band, which lasted all the way to 9pm.

Today is the first day of the SYF for secondary school bands. 24 bands went today. The results, 5 gold, 6 silver, 12 bronze, and 1 c.o.p. 12 Bronze leh, that's like half of them. The judges this year must be quite strict.

But after today's super tiring practice, can tell there's a mark improvement in our playing. With 2 more days to SYF, a gold is possible, though super duper unlikely. Now that Mr. Sukit focus a lot of the percussion section, they can finally make it.

There's intensive band practice tomorrow and Wednesday, until 9pm+ again. Zzz, how to do homework!

Cya, I'm off to sleep

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Posted at 10:14 PM





Friday, April 6, 2007

I know it's late, but this is the Hanstone HT-206.




Pretty, isn't it?

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Posted at 9:06 PM





Thursday, April 5, 2007

It's 6 minutes pass 4pm now. The race against time to complete the grueling e-learning assignments is over. Yes, I made it in time!

Wondering what I'm talking about? There wasn't school today because Montfort had this e-learning thing. In case of bomb threats, pandemic outbreak or tsunamis, there would be this system set up so we can learn without going to school. Today was a test.

Beats going to school. Can wake up later, and drink coffee while doing the work online. Bad thing is that theres a dateline. Just completed the Physics, Pure History, and SS assignments which was due at 4pm.

Now all is well. The rest of the day is free. No school tomorrow because it's Good Friday. Band exchange on Saturday. Now there's a few more schools participating.

The updated list;

Chung Cheng High School (Main) (G)
Marsiling Secondary School (GWH)
Bedok North Secondary School (G)
Montfort Secondary School (S)
Unity Secondary School (S)
First Toa Payoh Secondary School (S)
Regent Secondary School (S)
Whitley Secondary School (S)
St Joseph Instituition (S)
St Gabriel Secondary School (S)
Maris Stella High School (G)
Anglican High (GWH)
Hougang Secondary School (B)

After that it's just 4 days to SYF.

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Posted at 4:06 PM





Tuesday, April 3, 2007

During free period today, Mr. Leow made an announcement calling all Sec 2, 3, 4, and 5s band members to the band room. There, Ms. Ong said we had to play for the assembly half hour later, apparently to commemorate the late Brother Andrew. He was called the bandmaster, and used to conduct our band like 40 years ago.

Anyway, this thing is so short notice beyond all short notices. Without warming up or having our recess, Gavilan conducted us through Flight of the Falcon, Rich Girl, and the School Song. We sounded quite bad, but we went up the stage anyway. The performance was ok, even though the percussion messed up on some parts.

We had a 20 minutes break before continuing the band practice. After some sectionals, we went down for the founder's day rehearsal. The band played Fanfare and March ala mode. At 6pm, we were released. Melvin, Shawn, and Daren came to my house to do the Chemistry Project. In the end, we couldn't finish, lol.

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Posted at 9:56 AM





Sunday, April 1, 2007


It's April Fool's day. Nothing interesting happened though. -.-'

Had an exchange with Whitley Sec yesterday. Reached school at 7.30am. The school seems quite old, lol. When we reached there, we went up to the hall first. Then we set up our instruments and went to separate classrooms for warm ups and sectionals. Did some long tones and played parts of our choice pieces for fun. At 10.30, we went back to the hall. Did two run-throughs of the SYF pieces. Whitley band played Safari and The Seventh Night of July. They sound so much better than us.

We left for school at 12.30pm. After the debrief, some of us went to McDonald's for lunch. Later, we went to the caged soccer field near my block for soccer.

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Posted at 7:39 PM