magical stardust ☺
J.
"an attempt to make sense of and articulate the thoughts running through my head."
♥ bold italic strikeout underline♡
TAGBOARD.
PEEKTURES.
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history.
 After watching X-Men, I have a sudden urge to dig out my History Lecture Books and revisit the subject I love so much.
Honestly, I think the reason many people detest this subject so much is because they don’t understand and appreciate its true value and significance.
I liked it initially only cause it was interesting. The past 2 years of studying History made me see History in a totally different light as I began to see the subject as one that allows us to capture the different aspects of human nature so as to better understand why people do what they do now. Not like I didn’t do that in Secondary School but now I realize the main reason for America’s dominance in the world. And its not just because they’re the largest country. I remember reading a comprehension passage back in J2; I think it was the Prelims or a Timed Practice. It was smth about America and their promotion of the Singer sewing machine or something. I read it and realized that this was in line with their imposition of the open-door world policy on everyone. Its contextual knowledge like these that enables you to see the passage from another point of view. Now, I start to realize that some of the US’ actions are nothing near being altruistic, they love doing things to benefit themselves.
One thing I still don’t get is the reason why they invaded Iraq. Yes it was because of Saddam Husien but honestly, its more selfish in nature. They just wanted to use their dominance to their own advantage, no?
Anyway, while watching the movie I started replaying the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis in my head. And okay, I kinda got confused a little at the sence when the ship was crossing the mark. Even though everything else sounded familiar: the embargo and the submarine, etc.
Shall read up a little since I have time to kill this week; and clearing my room bores me after 2 hours each time.
If not for the fact that studying History in Uni has little career prospects, I'd jump at the opportunity. Yes you can be a teacher, but honestly, students like me are the reason why I'd NOT want to be a teacher. Honestly, I take my hat off and salute Mr Ong for tolerating people like me.
To all the teachers who've taught me History, thank you for presenting History in such a fascinating manner. All except Ms Tan Ghim Hua of course, you made History freaking detestable. Bleah. I'm still amazed I swore after my O Level paper that I'd never touch History again.
History, I miss you.
Labels: we scare because we care.
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dream a little dream.
not all the time though.
I had a dream that some History kids monster-ed me and told me I didn't have to go for the History Supplementary lecture. Halfway through, I kinda realized it was a scam and I started trying to avoid the LT area, to prevent being caught.
After a while, I went to some KFC to study. Weirdly enough, the lecture moved there. Y'know how some KFC's have this segment in the middle and all? Somehow, I was with this big-sized guy and he helped to block me when I went in. Plus Mr Ong was facing the counter and lecturing. But I didn't expect him to head over to the counter to buy food, and walk around the whole place afterwards. He walked around, and saw the two of us. The guy turned out to be Sadiq btw. Got caught, and we were supposed to see him separately afterwards, and I have no idea why Mr Ong told me to come with (insert name).
AND MY DREAM GOT WEIRDER.
We supposedly had some paragraph test. I started bewilderingly at Mr Ong when he said that and I kinda got told off for not knowing. Before that, he gave out a stack of handouts, including lecture slides and the Work Plan. And we were gonna study about Great Britain and Queen Elizabeth in January 2011. Omg, seriously. And there was smth in the slides about 'What Japan and Singapore did in China that's not trash.' (Okay, I suddenly recalled Mr Ong's facebook Quiz and how he's supposed to go live in Beijing haha)
Plus, there were some outsiders attending the lecture too. Weird max.
Oh did I mention that initially, Mr Ong was wearing his Candy-Cane shirt, but somehow he was in his bright pink shirt, and a black tie afterwards o.o
HERE'S THE BEST PART: THE LECTURE WAS IN KFC CAUSE MR YEW CAME OVER TO SR YST AND SOLD THE COLLEGE.
Hahahahahaha.
Honestly, I got damn freaked out, to the extent that I woke up. And realized that it was almost noon.
Texted Gillian and she started laughing at me. Seriously, thank goodness I was at home.
My dream just didn't make sense, period. Esp the part whereby the lecture moved to KFC cause the College got sold. And the syllabus for next year. Boring max, I still think Southeast Asian History's the best. :D
Which reminds me, I'm not gonna be in JC next year already. Right?Labels: nonsensical., we scare because we care.
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fear and trepidation.
Arrange all the essay outlines and tick off the soccer plan. Tell yourself you have them all and everything will be alright.
And it really is going to be alright.
-email sent to the History kiddos.
I really really wanna hope that everything's gonna be alright.
Cause all the fear's coming back to me. I think it was just the email. Shucks.Labels: we scare because we care.
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hope in the distance.
 Honestly, I really regret putting off Pre-War Nationalism until the 11th hour. Cause I have no choice but to merely memorize the outlines, which negates the idea of understanding. This totally sucks, seeing as how I'm someone who'd rather take time to uds the points rather than regurgitate the outlines. Seeing as how its so near to the paper, I'm getting constant reminders from people like Jermaine and Mr Ong to study from the outlines only.
But then again, its my fault I guess.
Yst's History consult was seriously a morale booster. It made me realize that at the end of the day, I actually know my content bits and pieces. Just that I need to consolidate them to form an essay. (Y)
My only worry now is that I misread the question. That happened during the Prelims, bleah.
Or that I can't absorb all the examples in time.
I'm hoping and praying that the Promos incident won't repeat itself, whereby I saw the question and my mind went totally blank.
Alright, back to getting to know my new friend more! (:
JESSICA ♥ AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. says:
what was i doing during pre-war huh?
but i realized that when i read the outlines, i actually find the stuff familiar.
so pre-war's not exactly my new friend anymore. we fell out i think
mocha.infusion says:
no u walked away
JESSICA ♥ AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. says:
cause we fell out! i won't wu yuan wu gu walk away right.
mocha.infusion says:
hahahahahahaha maybe u left without a word
pre-war was hurt, but didnt say a thing retarded max, hahahaha.Labels: msn conversations., school (:, we scare because we care.
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hiwa.
Today, I met a new friend. His name is Pre-War Nationalism, the brother of Japanese Occupation and Decolonization. The threesome are affectionately known as How Independence Was Achieved.
Right now, my impression of Pre-War Nationalism's starting to change a little. I hope I can like him as much as I like his brothers. Pre-War Nationalism's really complicated.
Honestly, I wanted to pretend that Pre-War Nationalism never existed. But then I received a dressing down when I expressed my intentions to do so. Afterall, he's intertwined with his brothers.
Oh well.
Pre-War Nationalism, please be a good boy alright? I really need you.
Stop hiding to yourself. Tell me more about yourself, I promise I won't judge. In spite of all your flaws, I'm willing to accept you for who you are. I know you're complicated, but I'm willing to set aside time to bridge the existing gap between us so that we can reach a level-playing field.
I'll do what it takes to understand you.
I'm not lying. Trust me this once, please?
I'll be eternally grateful.
xoxo, jessica.Labels: we scare because we care.
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syonan-to.
It's seriously not funny when you find out 2 days before your History paper that your organization of points for a particular topic is wrong. Plus, you find out that horrible truth unknowingly.
In other words, that mistake has never been pointed out. And you've been studying from that organization all along.
Just when you thought you could move on to other more demanding topics, this happens.
And now your tutor tells you that perhaps you don't really uds the points.
Can my life get any better than this?Labels: freak; but thats life, we scare because we care.
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historical objectivity.
Today was the last day of formal lessons at SRJC.
History lecture made me feel nostalgic all at once, and seriously, I think Mr Ong has the potential to become a motivational speaker hahaha. Gillian, Jermaine and me were predicting that he'll off the lights when he told us to close our eyes. True enough; and the three of us burst into laughter, with Mr Ong staring bewilderedly at us. Hahaha.
I realised how much I've grown these 2 years here in SRJC. Mr Ong's words made me remember how resistent I was to taking History in JC, and how I wanted to appeal out of SR just because I had to take History.
Blame my Sec 4 History teacher, she somehow managed to make me hate a subject I LOVED for the past three years, and I even swore after my O Level History paper that I'd never ever touch History again.
Twist of events huh?
Somehow, Mr Wong and Mrs Teng made me love History all over again, and 2 years after embarking on this journey, I can boldly say that History has been a blessing in disguise.
Never have I questioned why I took History, never did I wish I wasn't a History student.
As Mr Ong spoke, I remembered the first History lectures and tutorials back in 2009. Yes, I was apprehensive, and although the content was somewhat similar to what I studied a year ago except that it was more detailed, I did struggle.
Looking back, I can safely say that yes, I have come a long way. History can indeed be the bedrock of my faith, and it can act as a testimony of how I persisted against the odds, of how I gave this subject and the tutors a second chance before judging the subject. Till date, taking H2 History has been one of the best choices I've ever made in my JC education.
Like what Mr Ong said in his magazine interview, History allows us to capture and convey the facets of human nature.
Somehow, when I remember my J1 History days, I can't help but smile to myself. Sitting with Sandra during lectures and poking her incessantly to wake her up, helping her to flip her lecture book whenever she dozed off and looking out for the other tutor who would be walking around.
I also remember how there would be a frantic rush before every lecture to annotate the assigned pages, and if it wasn't annotated by the time lesson started, we'd cross our fingers and hope that our seat number would not be called.
IF we were caught, we'd pray hard that the lecturer wouldn't speak so fast, so that we'd have less pages of the lecture book to copy out. During tutorials, if we didn't do our preparation, we'd pray hard that the tutorial outline would be in point form so we wouldn't have to copy so much.
Mr Wong never failed to make History tutorials something I always looked forward to. (:
All these moments brought a smile to my face, and I remembered the fateful day when I realized Mrs Teng was looking out for the seat number of either Sandra/Louisa/myself to call up for book checking during the next lecture. Sandra didn't believe me, but in the end I won a cup of drink.
Somehow, the History department made the studying of History fun and enjoyable.
My J2 year was more awesome, when Mr Ong became my subject tutor. Somehow or rather, I realized I didn't know much of History in J1. Ironical, huh. And honestly, I think I'm blessed to have such a patient tutor who'd explain to me all my WEIRD queries, despite them being taught in J1. I should have kept a track record of the countless times he asked in Mandarin, "did you even pay attention in class last year?!?"
Seriously.
But he made me love History more, and as I became motivated to understand the subject, I fell deeper in love with History. Seriously, I think he's a super patient teacher. Just look at the excessive amount of questions I texted him to ask a day before History P1 during the Prelims, some of which were kinda basic, and how he even resorted to calling me to clarify cause I was totally confused.
Honestly, my journey with History has been a long and ardous one. But yes, I'm proud to say that I did improve along the way, and I graduated from SSS. Although I didn't meet my aim of moving up to the green zone after the Prelims, I'm actually glad because being a midfielder gives me more motivation to strive for excellence.
To the SRJC History Department; thanks for being a super duper ultra mega awesome department, thanks for always believing that we'll outrun the tiger, thanks for always saying 'we scare because we care'.
 History has got to be one of the most beautiful subjects, actually. To understand what people thought, did, why certain ideologies failed, and simply understanding human nature. It makes you an objective person, instead of the ordinary man on the street with his own biased little view. It made me re-look my previous impression of the US; no more great big altruistic nation, but one with its own interests and policy screw-ups. - Constance
Regina; I seriously miss being in the same class as you and being able to spend my entire duration of school time with you. During the lecture I suddenly remembered all the retarded things we did together, esp the time when we went to the toilet on the 2nd floor of the A block and started jumping around when the lights didn't turn on cause we thought it was motion censored. HAHAHA.
And I miss driving you mad whenever I bought the mint chocolate from the SSC, after which I'd start being super duper ultra mega retarded, heh.
The list can go on, but the bottom line is that I miss you a hell lot. ):
I took quite a long time getting used to not having you with me during lessons, both during the Nov Supplementary lessons in 2009 and the beginning of 2010.
Don't worry dear, I'll still be able to meet up with you and all next year alright? You can text me whenever you're bored during lessons, just like what we did this year, etc etc.
Nothing much will change, just that I won't be able to see you everyday in school. I promise ((:
Y'know, I wonder how I'd feel on 22nd October 2010.
These 2 years in SRJC has really transformed me into a different person, somehow I doubt I'd ever have the chance to feel like this in another place.
The friendships forged, the awesomely caring teachers (who sometimes double up as a friend), the consultations, ODAC moments, etc.
I guess I'll just have to wait till 22nd October 2010 to feel the entire impact of the truth dawning upon me that yes Jessica; you're going to graduate from SRJC.Labels: SR memories., we scare because we care.
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Hi Origins of the Cold War,
I think you suck. Why on earth are you so super duper ultra mega confusing?!?Labels: we scare because we care.
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