Dear Diary (Part 4)

23rd August 2007
Time: 11.01pm
Venue: Living Room

Dear diary,

I found Mum's photo a few hours ago while I was searching for my lecture notes in my drawer. It was a photo of Mum when she was 19 years old. She had long hair and wore a thick spectacle - even thicker than mine.

I always chuckle to myself whenever I reminisce the pleasant moments I had with her before she separated from Dad. When I was three, my hobby was to collect grasshoppers at the field located behind our flat. Dad would craft the net, while Mum accompanied me there.

It was fun. Mum preferred to stay away from the grass. She told me she was allergic to it. She was more of a stay-home Mum who shunned nature. I remembered how she would bring along a huge umbrella down to the field. She hated the sun.

And so do I, now. Colonies of pimples are mushrooming all over my face and body. The doctor told me it is a side effect of taking the drugs. I tend to avoid the sun now. I am fearful that my skin condition will deteriorate due to an overproduction of sebum. It creates a negative externality to my self-esteem.

I look and feel like an alien now. I think I am evolving into an extra-terrestrial creature. I no longer look forward to attending school. I want to go home the second I step into the school foyer.

Perhaps, that was why ET wanted to go home so badly...

Time now: 11.20pm

[To be continued..]

TPJC Guitar Ensemble To Release New CCA T-Shirts Soon

Simple, cool and eye-catching. Those are the three words which I believe perfectly describe the new CCA T-shirts designed for Guitar Ensemble members. The new collar T-shirts, which are slated for release early next month, have a logo and the name of the CCA (and college) printed on the front and back respectively.

I love the logo. It looks like a spider web sticking on the face of the guitar from far. The fonts used for the name of the CCA (and college) are elegant. The bright green design look more eye-catching than the red one. The contrasting hues for the former makes the logo and words stand out, even from a great distance away.

Take a look at their new designs:

Front view























Back view























The red and black design


















Photos taken from SOURCE.

The JC Light Bulb Joke Has Just Turned UGLY

Remember the JC Light Bulb Joke which never fails to amuse us? Well, the most recent adaptation of the joke has been scorned by netizens for improper and insensitive use of language. The writer himself admitted of stereotyping the respective Junior Colleges and even publicly invited anyone to challenge him.

Netizens are unhappy as the new and 'improved' joke contains elitist and supercilious remarks. They claim that it contains insulting comments directed at the college students. The joke has now become an insult. The humour has now turned into contempt. Quoted below is the modified joke. Do share with us your opinions.

If a light bulb in a class overburnt, what each Jc's students will do about it?

'RJC "hold on, i gonna calculate the volume of the bulb, n measure the distance to the nearest shop that sells light bulb n will slowly read d manual of fixing a light bulb" - they are bookworm who always go by the textbook.

'ACJC "OH I WILL HIRE A PROFFESIONALS to fix it but will owe 1st" - they are kids who like to act rich, n borrow money.

'TPJC' " "Oh icic..." - they dont even care, they are cool and have the hackcare attitudes. So what if it is overbunt?. skip class lahh.. many hot guys n gals were from this jc though, 2 ms universe were from here.

'NYJC' "walaoeh, wei shen me zhi yang de? i will ask the china to import the bulb here" - they are the nerds, who likes to speak mandarin in schools, n are not sociable creatures.

'SAJC' "OH GET THE gals to do it, and i will turn on the fan k.." - the school gal skirts are to short that make them look like they are from geylang. n guys in majority wears specs there.

'SRJC' " huh? what is light bulb ah? oh that one ah, okok icic, so how to fix it ah? where to buy?" - simply there are to many above 20 pointers here n many have failed english, acepted base on conditional terms, stupid!!

'MJC' "WAH its ok still got sunlight, dun use light bulb, save electricity, btw its freakin far to buy a new bulb" - they are out of the world, ruled by ex tkss principal, esther, stingy n strict. the location of campus sux to the core

'CJC' n HCJC "its good its good, SO we can make love more hot hot in the dark. hehe, we gona raise the pregnancy rate in spore, n get baby bonus." - simply they are horny students there.

YJC " WAIT wait is there such a jc? i never heard of it!"

Source

The original version of the joke can be found HERE.

3 Golden Tips For A Better Oral Presentation!

My previous post on tips for a good Oral Presentation was well-received and for that, I have decided to share 3 more golden advice that are very useful for your presentation. I would like to state that my group has done well for our Project Work with all of us clinching nothing less than an A. In case you want to know, our supervising tutor was Mdm Mary Lim. I believe she did give a lecture or two on Project Work.

I have included advice submitted by my readers as well. So here it goes:

1) Help! I keep shaking!
I have both good and bad news for you. The good news is you are not the only one shaking when presenting. The bad news is shaking makes you look like a terrified child. Your mind can blank out and you may forget your points suddenly. So what should you do?

- Don't stand too stiffly. Some good presenters actually choreograph their steps. They move to relax their body at the same time making sure they don't fidget. If your legs are shaking, take one small step backward (or forward) and make it a part of the presentation. Examiners will not know. (Moving forward can help examiners hear what you saying better.)

- Start confidently. I remembered I started my presentation with a mild joke. Examiners were laughing. Haha. It actually gave me a boost in confidence for the first few minutes, before I started to shake a bit towards the end. But of course, you do not need to share jokes. All you need to do is to say 'A very good morning to....' as confidently and convincingly as possible. (Make it loud too! But don't shout all right...)

- Look at the other members of the floor besides the examiners; look at your schoolmates! Smile at them. They will smile back at you. Of course, you guys need to socialize among yourselves beforehand. This is probably the most effective method to get rid of the body tremors. Have you noticed that you never really felt nervous when presenting your projects in front of your classmates as compared to in front of some middle-age (or older) examiners? There you go...

- Repeat the questions softly. My group members heeded this advice and it worked! When an examiner poses a question to you during the Q&A section, repeat it to yourself softly. This allows you to fully understand the question better. From there, ideas will start to flow.

2) Keep your slides neat and simple
On your slides, try not to make it wordy. Just keep the bullets and remove the details. Examiners have always said that they can read, which means that they only want to hear stuff which you haven't put up on the slides.

So my advice is, just put the bullets, so that u have points to talk about. A lot of the groups made the mistake of putting too much detail on their slides, and then merely rehashing it. Furthermore, the fact that examiners have to read less is only an added bonus.
-submitted by anonymous

3) Don't rush the Q&A section
Hello JC1s. You will probably experience how scary the Q&A section is firsthand during the dry run. Just a word of advice: no matter how tense you are, NEVER rush into the answer. Take your time, consider the question thoroughly, see what angle you can approach it from and then go into it.

Also, don't think in terms of 'short and sweet'. the examiners want well-elaborated and considered answers (but note: NOT BELABOURED POINTS)- link it to the rationale and purpose behind your project(s) if you can.
-submitted by steph
{p.s: Sorry if this comes across as pretentious but my group did get our A's so its pretty safe advice.}


View complete tips HERE.

JC1 Promotional Results

I received this update from a blogger:

Assembly today was somewhat like a wake up call for some of us. About 40% of the J1 batch in TPJC did not meet the promotional criteria. My class’ average grade is between D and E. It seems pretty bad.

This is pretty poor. I am not sure what happened. Perhaps, some of the JC1 students could share with us the reasons which led to the less-than-average results. Nevertheless, I believe there is a silver lining to this - our juniors have realized their mistakes. Feeling regretful to what you have done for the past ten months or so shows that you have matured and want to take your studies more seriously.

I wonder some of us like to slack, even though we’re in JC. I think we all find it hard to let go of the care-free secondary school life, when we could play soccer everyday after school.

I have to agree with the blogger. We all tend to have this false belief that JC1 is a slack year. I am one of the culprits. Studying seems peripheral to our JC life in year one; socializing and slacking somehow takes priority. Unfortunately, it is all ephemeral pleasure as we often receive our results with disappointment at the end of the year.

As a responsible senior, I strongly encourage you (my juniors) to strive hard starting from today and dismiss any rumours that your first year is not important. Taking the 'A' levels is different from taking the 'O' levels. And that is what I have learnt. We may be able to study three weeks before the 'O' levels and still do well in it, but the same theory does not work for the 'A' levels at all.

Building a solid foundation is key. Failing to do so may cause you to play catching up for the rest of your J2 year.

SPECIAL: How To Do Well In Oral Presentation

I realized it would be nice of me (hehe) to share with my readers some useful tips for Oral Presentation. I am not going to inundate the whole page with a list of suggestions; instead, only key points will be shown here. All the information is gathered from the examiners' comments which was given back to the JC2s early this term.

1) Stress on key words
I noticed that examiners love it when students stress on key words. It is like a must-have for every good presentation. Let me give you two examples:
'Peter has played an instrumental role in establishing the company.'
'Not one or two were injured, but nearly a million civilians were affected.'
I do not have to teach you which words to stress on, do I?

2) Hand gestures
This is another important feature that you must incorporate into your speech to attain high scores. In fact, it would look great if you are able to combine the stress on key words with powerful and convincing hand gestures.
Take a look at this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAz-grHMhTE

3) Maintain eye contact
One mistake students frequently make is that they only tend to maintain eye contact with examiners. Not good enough! Your eyeballs should sweep across the room and you must establish eye contact with the other candidates there.
Bonus tip: Establish a friendship with the other TPJCians there. You will less stressful during the actual day. You can start by exchanging smiles.

4) Don't refer to cue cards
Examiners do not seem to like students who love to refer to their cue cards while presenting their projects. As far as possible, memorize at least 99% of the speech. 3 suggestions on how you can do that are shown below:
- Read to your pet or stuff toys in your bedroom at least four times everyday.
- Play the don't forget the lyrics lines! game yourself. Repeat the whole rehearsal every time you forget a part of the speech, even if you were approaching the end of it.
- Get a license and make a speech in the Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park one day. You will have no choice but to memorize all the lines or suffer humiliation. (I am actually joking regarding this one. But you can try if you wish too. Haha.)

5) Don't repeat!!!!!!!!!!
Never ever and even think of repeating any points (excessively) if an examiner poses a question at you. In other words, do not over emphasize on certain issues. It gives an impression to the examiner that you do not really know about your chosen topic widely enough.

And don't forget to smile. Smiling helps to erase 'stage fright'.
One more month and Project Work is over.

ZAHADA - A Compilation of Hints And Tips

Written by Lim Cheng Chong (08S15) and Seah Wee Lun Alan (08S27).
The blogger is also the owner of Digital Ramblings. Click HERE to visit his blog!

Zahada Riddles!
Our hints and tips are structured in the following order:
1. Vague hint
2. More obvious hint
3. Give-away hint

Question 01
1. The answer is there.
2. Look! It's in the page.
3. Words in bold mean something.

Question 02
1. It sounds like one letter, but is spelt with three - Consider all letters of the alphabet.
2. What can be blue, black or grey?
3. It's part of the anatomy.

Question 03
1. Red herring refers to misleading 'clues' that lead to nowhere
2. Look everywhere. Don't limit yourself to just the web page.
3. Look at the extreme ends of the page.

Question 04
1. Why is 'anything' shorter than 'string'?
2. The answer has nothing to do with "quack".
3. Think about rhyming.

Question 05
1. Look at the title of the page.
2. What word sounds like it's one letter, but is actually spelt with five?
3. Read out the dialogue, and listen to that sound you keep making. If you get it, the last line will make sense.

Question 06
1. Hints can be hidden anywhere. Make sure things that have the same color as the background show up.
2. The answer is two letters - What are the two letters you get out of "Empty"?
3. Read out the word. Do you hear yourself saying the answer?

Question 07
1. Save the picture and zoom right in
2. Don't keep staring at one spot. Move around. If you're zoomed in enough, the answer jumps right out at you.
3. The answer has nothing to do with fish. But look closely at them, and you'll see the answer staring at you.

Question 08
1. Sharp jaws don't necessarily have teeth.
2. What doesn't need claws to cut?
3. I have one of those in my pencil case.

Question 09
1. Don't just look at 'it'. Try to find out more about 'it'.
2. Did you realise that the last line isn't text? It's a graphic.
3. Everything has its *properties*.

Question 10
1. There are five hints available for you. Have you found them all?
2. You need to look at the source of things.
3. "View -> Page Source" in Firefox, or "View -> Source" in Internet Explorer.

Question 11
1. Look at the fish in a different way. The same way you used to last time.
2. You're dealing with binary here. Your windows calculator (in scientific mode!) will help you.
3. Make sure you are in "BIN" mode throughout!

Question 12
1. Remember, text color and background color need not be different.
2. Look in the same old place where they've been hiding things all along.
3. Look in the source.

Question 13
1. You have to look for what you're supposed to find out.
2. See the Google logo? Go on.
3. The answer is NOT Everest. Go look it up.

Question 14
1. Not a day of the week, but closely related.
2. If you need to, retype the hint without the spaces. The spaces will distract you.
3. Unscrambling refers to rearrangement.

Question 15
1. What a searching question!
2. Make sure you're copying the WHOLE quote.
3. The question is WHO.

Question 16
1. See the description? Aren't there some things that we describe in a similar manner at school?
2. Use Google. Nobody is stopping you. (The starfish is a red herring)
3. Bolded letters mean something. Put them together, and see what you get.

_____________________________________________
This post is brought to you by:







_________________________________________

Question 17
1. The letters in a foreign language tell you something
2. Read the title of the page very quickly
3. The name of the country starts with "T", and the answer starts with "B"

Question 18
1. Not using firefox? Skip straight to hint 3. Otherwise, look around the page.
2. Something on the page, which remains the same for past questions, has changed in this question.
3. Identify this flag: http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/illus/flg/T049066A.jpg

Question 19
1. See how each line relates to the previous line
2. See how each line describes the previous line
3. "There is 'x' number of 'y's on the previous line"

Question 20
1. If you can get an answer but it doesn't seem right, remember that your answer should be in LOWERCASE =D
2. Doesn't the guy in the picture look ancient? How do these ancient people count?
3. I get the feeling that the ancient guy is Roman.
Need more help?
(Think of roman numerals)

If FOUR is half of FIVE

and two thirds of SIX is NINE.

What is THIRTY-TWO?

Question 21
1. "2=O" should mean there are two of them.
2. What does G and Y have anything to do with searching?
3. They are just names. The answer is the name of Y.

Question 22
1. What is it that you cannot see?
2. Add up what you cannot see.
3. What you cannot see = Total - What you can see.

Question 23
1. Don't forget what you've been doing so far.
2. There are three words in the final answer, written as one word.
3. The numbers refer to the question numbers that you've done so far.
Need more help?
Recall previous answers and take the first letter of each answers.

Replace all the numbers by a letter, so as to form 3 words. Then put the 3 words tgt to form the answer.

Question 24
1. Just one letter from each.
2. If you see more than one letter, pick the first one.
3. Getting a series of garbled rubbish? I'm guessing you don't take Physics. Go look it up on Google.

Question 25
1. There isn't much english or mathematical formula behind this - It's merely mechanical.
2. Seriously, watch where your fingers are going.
3. Look at your keyboard. Look at the letters.

Question 26
1. Ignore the graphic
2. Google up every character. Which English letter do they look like?
3. If you're getting loads of funny stuff, it may simplify your life by ignoring the first character, and the last five.

Question 27
1. Similarly to the previous one, only the first letter counts.
2. The letters form a sequence we used in primary school to remember some stuff...
3. This sequence has something to do with the stars...

Question 28
1. Every picture represents a letter.
2. The letter is the name of whatever is in the picture. Put the letters together to get numbers, which represent one member in a series of 26 we use frequently.
3. More hints? The drink is called Tango. DiCaprio acted as Romeo before. Lopez acted as Echo. The album is called foxtrot. There are probably some you haven't seen before. Fill them in.

Question 29
1. Homophones sound about the same.
2. The answer is the one in red.
3. In this case, both words are even spelt alike... They both start with "P".

Question 30
1. The third line is very difficult. Figure out the rest, and fill that in.
2. In #4, a falling cloud refers to what falls from them. In #5, what do you call yourself?
3. In #1, being stung by a bee creates a painful swelling. In #2, just find out the second cubic number.

Question 31
1. Go ahead. Add them up. Identify the shape, and find the brightest one.
2. Can't identify the shape? We usually draw it with five 'legs'.
3. The brightest one. No, not the one that shines on us - The second brightest one, then.
Need more help?
Do some research on the brightest star.

Question 32
1. Directions can be misleading. If you hit the wall, be defiant to the instructions.
2. When you move, pick up EVERYTHING along the way.
3. Don't just put in whatever you get. Google it up, and put in the 'broad category' of that thing instead.

Question 33
1. Follow the instructions first.
2. Use a real calculator.
3. You don't always have to look at your display from the same side.

Dear Diary (Part 3)

19th August 2007
Time: 3.45pm
Venue: Bedroom

Dear diary..

I am sorry I didn't talk to you the last few days. I have been struggling to complete my tutorials on time. There is just too much work to do - Maths, Chemistry, Physics and many more. Project Work is like a spell from hell. My face is going through an ugly transformation as eye bags and dry lips begin to appear.

Sometimes I wonder why I chose to further my studies in a Junior College. I am definitely not enjoying life here as a TPJCian. Yes, I love my teachers and friends but homework keeps piling up on my desk. It is giving me a lot of stress. It is a hectic lifestyle. I wonder how long my ailing body can take it.

I need Daddy. Daddy is separated from Mum. They have divorced. Grandma said they had a huge quarrel when I was five years old. At that time, I knew nothing about what was going on. I always remember Daddy as a funny person. He is a good impersonator. Ever since he left, my life has been missing something - humour.

They say laughter is the best medicine. Perhaps Daddy is the only cure to whatever illness I am suffering right now. My condition is deteriorating. My hair is getting bald. Everyday when I wake up in the morning, I will have to collect a few strands of my hair from my pillow before throwing them in a trash bin.

I need a hero to save me. I need Superman. I need Spiderman. Where are they when we need them the most? It is different in the movies...

Very different.

Time now: 3.58pm

[To be continued..]

Internet Explorer Most Used Among TPJCians, Followed By Firefox

We had just received statistics on the browser usage by our readers. The data below is provided by StatCounter. Take a look below:
















[Click image to enlarge]

As you can see, most of our readers are Internet Explorer (6.0 and 7.0 combined) users, followed by Firefox (2.0.0 and 3.0.3 combined). I think what is more important is the difference between the number of users for these two browsers. The number of Internet Explorer (IE) users is almost 30% more than that of Firefox.

This data can be used as a random sampling to find which browser is popular among TPJCians. Most of our traffic is directed from TPJC.net forums with an insignificant percentage from other blogs or websites. I guess this explains the high percentage of IE users since our college student portal is best viewed using the browser.

The relatively huge gap between the number of IE users and its runner-up, Firefox, also proves that our college administrator need not spend time or money to improve TPJC.net compatibility with other browsers within this short period of time.

WikiTP Relaunched, But Will It Be Successful?

I hope so. The GP Department has moved WikiTP to a new free host - from blogger to the brand new pbwiki. This is a good move since the project requires massive participation from TPJCians. A wiki is an effective collaboration tool that allows students to contribute their ideas easily. Furthermore, the supervising tutors are also able to edit the document and ensure that only relevant content is published.

Nevertheless, the success of this project lies largely on the degree of involvement by TPJCians themselves. Consistent updates is vital for WikiTP to stay germane to the students' research and development in General Paper. Hard copy study materials are still useful and more reliable. Moreover, tutors love to refer to notes provided by the department.







I believe the objective or purpose of setting up WikiTP is to construct a library of study materials useful for General Paper. It will be challenging to direct students to the website in the long run as they may prefer hard copy notes prepared by the college GP department. What WikiTP has to do is to be different from what is already available for students.

I strongly suggest the write-ups contributed by students to be short and sweet. Enough of all the long paragraphs printed on our notes; it's about time the college offer bite-sized and quality pieces of information related to GP. Some describe it as 'Teach Less, Learn More'. Transfer all the podcasts or videos produced by TPJCians themselves relating to the GP topics. And if possible, encourage interaction among users. This can broaden their perspective.

All the best to WikiTP.

Ms Choo's Words Clearly Misinterpreted

Written by Chin Wei Hao (08S10).
This is the second blog post by the author.

Ms Choo was giving her speech of the day when it suddenly came to the part on sleeping in lectures. She emphasized on the fact that if we are really tired from all the studying or the lack of sleep and that we are so bored during lectures, it would be perfectly fine for us to sleep during lectures to refresh ourselves.

Many of the J1 students either laughed or applauded on hearing these words and my friend said it was "the most meaningful words" she has ever said to her students. However, I have to comment that most students already do sleep in lectures before she even made the speech.

Moreover, most students misinterpreted her words on sleeping in lectures, thinking that we could simply sleep in ALL lectures and chose not to care about what the lecturer is presenting. This is a very grave mistake my fellow friends are making. Perhaps we could take a short nap if we are really tired, have prepared the lecture notes or even finished the tutorials, but under other circumstances, it would be inappropriate to be so indifferent to the lecturer.

One of my friends even had her teacher copying the notes for her because she was taking a nap during her H1 Maths lecture. I simply hope that fellow TPJCians should have sufficient sleep before coming to school so that they can concentrate during all lessons.

TPJCians Found New Addiction - Zahada Riddles!

I think Alan Seah is probably wondering what he has done to TPJCians lately. It all started when he suggested TPJCians to try the Zahada riddles, which claims to be the most challenging riddles available in the Internet.

There have been more than a hundred forum replies in less than two weeks, thanks to Zahada addicts who refused to give up and sought help from others to get to the next rounds. Students exchange tips and hints in the forum.











The contagious Zahada virus has not only spread among students; teachers are also joining in the fun determined to reach the end. One of them is Mr Ho Shi Shien who also commented that the riddles are tough and challenging.

So far, no one from TPJC has completed the riddles. In fact, a quick check on the Zahada forum reveals that only eleven players have made it through the whole game. I can't wait to know who will create history as the first TPJCian to complete the Zahada riddles.

As for me, I shall be humble and not reveal which stage I am at now. Haha.

You can try it out HERE.

An Honest Feedback To SBS

A few days ago, I was taking the SBS bus service '27'. It was during the off-peak hour and the bus was not congested with commuters. The journey went smoothly until a senior citizen boarded the bus. He was walking wobbly with only a wooden stick to support him.

And then the bus captain did the most unthoughtful act ever - he pressed on the accelerator before the old man could reach his seat. The elderly nearly fell face first, only lucky to be saved by an unintentional hero who happened to be standing right in front of him.

So here is my feedback to SBS:
Please at least educate your bus captains to wait for any senior citizen to sit before continuing the journey. It is very risky and dangerous to do otherwise as the elderly is certainly not strong enough to withstand the sudden oppose in force.

This is an honest feedback by a TPJCian who takes the bus everyday. Thank you. =)

TPJC Isn't That Bad After All

The local blogosphere has not been kind to TPJC over the years. Google 'tpjc sucks' and you will be able to get a list of blogs shown as the search results. Nevertheless, we often overlook the good stuff TPJCians themselves write about their college lives. Here are some of them which we felt are really touching:

12th October 2007
Today is the last day of school. I have finally graduated from Tampines Junior College. I thought this would be the happiest day in my life because I could finally get myself off this crap. But, no.

Farewell assembly today wasn't fantastic, but at least it was awesome.
I used to hate TPJC like hell. I guess, not anymore.
TPJC is actually quite a fun place to be in. I am quite glad I was part of TPJC.
the opportunities I were given, the people I met, the friendships I've forged. I think all these are enough to offset the 'i hate tpjc' mentality.
What took me so long to know that TPJC isn't that bad afterall?


I'm just happy I got to be a part of it.
Thank you TPJC.
Thank you 06S07, Jasmine and Xinyan, the Rock girls, GP 1, Ryan and of course, Jasper (:
School would have been crap without any of you for as long as I was/am in TPJC.
(:

Source

GRADUATION DAY!:)

I've graduated from tpjc!Just be done with A levels and this jc journey of mine in tpjc will end.Lol tpjc gave me lots of memories,forged alot of significant friendships in my 3years here and i really wanna keep in contact with all of them even after graduation.Shall dump away the bad memories and only rmb the good ones.Because life is too short for one to keep looking back:)Lots of photos coming up:)

Source

A02 took alot of class photos today! hahaha.

so fast, two years just flew past like that,

they ask me why am i sad because im always not in school, but im very emotional whatt, i still miss school alot. i wonder how come people can not cry after two years(regardless of whether its horrid or not) in th school!

anws, thanks for all th memories,

my experience in tpjc is one hell of a emotional roller coaster. i had alot of fun and fair share of shit. i would like to thank my bextf for being there for me always, krissy&pompom&umby for making me laugh and lessons during hotweather and boring classes SO MUCH MORE BEARABLE, A02ians for being my classmates of 07A02(i know that didnt make sense but ir eally dontknow what else to say HHA), ALMOST ALL HERONS for coming down to help on th last day(we were th most crowded house because we had most number of ppl coming down for th SIX HUNDRED balloons!), heron cheerleaders for staying till late to do cheerleading AS A WHOLE HOUSE(th spirit is WHOAAA!), my big miscellaneous clique for those short but veryvery sweet times together, friends for remembering me and giving me birthday and valentine's presents!

on th overall, i actually still like th school more than i dont like th school.

Source

Dear Diary (Part 2)

16th August 2007
Time: 11.07pm
Venue: Living Room

Dear Diary..

Today was a very embarrassing day for me. A bad day for me. My civics class had PE today. We played a game of soccer. Soccer is popular in school. Adam can play it. Ahmad can play well too. All my friends can. Except me.

Mr Alex set up the cones. Before it even began, he went toward me and advised to rest (again). I had a medical certificate which excuses from all PE lessons in college. I cannot walk or even jog for more than 3-4 minutes. I am too weak. My legs can't take it. Nevertheless today, I just felt like playing. I ignored Mr Alex's advice and joined my classmates. I really want to play soccer in the field. Really...

For 3 years, this stupid disease in me has caused me a lot of problems and hardships. I hate it. I despise it. It makes me look like a pariah. It makes me look like the lowest class of people in the eyes of God. Mr Alex has to leave for an urgent meeting. Therefore, I seized the opportunity to play soccer and prove to myself that I am not different everyone else.

That was the first time I actually walked on the field. I shouted at Adam, commanding him to pass the ball to me. He was shocked and stared at me. Then, he told me, "You can't do this". He refused to pass the ball to me. I was pissed off. I want to play too. I want to be like the other students here. I want to run. I want to play. I want to be normal.

"Stop telling me what to do!" I suddenly shouted.

Seconds later, I fell. My legs could not take it anymore. I fell hard on the grass.

My friends rushed towards me. Everyone stopped playing.

Siti came and tried to help me up. I shrugged her off and I started to beat myself. I really don't know what came to my mind today, diary. Am i losing my sanity due to this disease that i have. Why me? Why me? WHY ME???!!!!

I was just angry that I failed (again).

I looked into the mirror just now. It was a reflection of a young miserable boy. A boy whose life hangs by the help and aid by his friends. A boy who can't survive on his own. I hate it. It looked like an ugly duckling. I almost felt like smashing the mirror. I hate the reflection. The reflection of me. Of myself.

Why is God so evil towards to me? iWhy does God make his creatures suffer like ths?


Time now: 11.22pm

[To be continued..]

Physics Teacher From TPJC Nominated For HOTTEST Male Teacher In STOMP!

We just received news that Mr Ivan Sum, our very own Physics teacher, has made it into the final nominations for the 'Teach, You're Hot' (male category) contest organized by STOMP. You stand a chance to win a laptop by voting for your choice now.

Click the image below to enter voting website:

TPJC Farewell Assembly: The (Informal) Review

Before I begin, I would like to express my gratitude to one of the 23rd Student Councillors, Melvin Tan, for accepting my appeal regarding the Farewell Montage video. I kind of 'begged' for him to include my class photo in the montage. He was very cooperative and patient while handling my requests. The montage, by the way, was great! Good job guys!

Ok...ready, get set, go!

Firstly, I think the emcees that morning was great. However, I think Miss Dawn Ng took the limelight from her partner, Kim (I can't seem to remember what her full name is). Miss Ng was more spontaneous and articulate. I noticed at some points of her speech, she did try to sprinkle (unrehearsed) humour onto the script. I expected Kim to respond in her own humorous way, but instead she just drew a smile on her face. Kim seemed to be nervous and/or shy standing beside Miss Ng. Perhaps she felt uncomfortable working with her very own Council teacher-in-charge.

Next, the AVA crew kind of 'screwed up' certain parts of the concert. The good news for them is that Tpjcians were in a good mood that day and treated the event as an informal occasion. We all know that the AVA members who were on duty that day were humans and as creatures of God, they do make mistakes. You are forgiven (Haha). (But please, seriously, don't make the same mistakes during next year's Songfest or any other related formal college events. Thank you.)

The performers were great. I thought the 'Bye Bye Bye' song performance by Syazwan was hilarious and at the same time, original. Why do I think so? Firstly, the back-up singers were just TOO cute (and funny). The way they sang 'bye bye bye' simultaneously at the same time with their facial expressions were just awkward. And Syazwan was like in his own world, singing and screaming like there is no tomorrow. I am not sure if this is true, but I think this is the first time ever a singer actually performed complete with three back-up singers on our stage. Amazing!

Ms Angela Quek sang her own rendition of 'When You Believe'. It was a given an Opera cover. She sang sincerely and her emotions clearly accompanied the spectacular performance. Ms Fernandez was great playing the piano. I felt as if Ms Quek was trying to tell us a message or story with her hand gestures as she sang. It's all about believing in yourself and working hard to achieve that dream. Watch the performance below:



And then came Ms Choo's speech. In her 'speech', she shared the audience about the story of Little Red Riding Hood in an improved version (or to be more specific, the SINGLISH version). Many of my friends questioned the message she was trying to convey. In my opinion, the moral of the story was still the same as the original's, that is not to take shortcuts in life but to work hard for something we aim to achieve. The only difference was that she turned the story into a Singaporean version, using Singlish as the main language. In other words, it was the Singaporean Little Red Riding Hood.

The 22nd Student Councillors ended the whole event with a choir performance. They sang "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz. It was a good performance, led by a total of three guitarists - Mark Chan, Choy Wai Wan and Lester. The 22nd Student Council President, Daniel Lim, introduced them after finishing his touching yet meaningful speech.

All in all, it was a great farewell assembly. Thank you everyone.

Tpjc.net Can Still Be Improved, Says Reader

Written by Liew Chun Tze (07S30).

Tpjc.net was programmed by someone who is a good programmer but whose theory needs some brushing up. He forces us to use Internet Explorer by using some tags which retrieves the browser, before formulating the page.














He should have developed the website using certain standards - which he did not. Therefore, unless we fix Tpjc.net then a lot of students would be crippled trying to access the website using other browsers. I recommend that he DOES get it fixed soon.

Others who share the some opinion:

...and please try to make those non-IE pages compatible with the 4 (or coming up 5) most important browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera and maybe Google Chrome[i know it's not out yet, but i heard it's based on Safari again...]) on some of the most important features of TPJC.net (like Achievements!!![very impt coz some people cannot submit for their SGC due to incompatible browser] and ask-a-question [not really since i dun really use it... haha..])

- Gabriel Lim Yan Xu (07S21)

Yeah, I'm pretty proud of the school's website.
It's like a whole ecosystem here.
I do hope that it'll be more firefox friendly in the future, but I know some incompatibility problems just cannot be helped...

- Qashrul Hidafi B Mohamed Noo (07S07)

Students, Rest Your Heads If You're Really Tired...HUH?

Written by Kevin Juandi (08S09).

Honestly, it was one of the biggest surprises we had as a college during morning assembly. Even though she shared that message, there is just no way that all tutors would allow their student to sleep during lectures. My General Paper (GP) tutor would certainly prohibit us from doing so.

What Ms Choo said may be true to a certain extend, but as a college that aims for "every student in university", this measure may blur our vision for success in our academic performance. Overall, I think it largely contradicts our college vision.

Tpjc.net Is My Life Man, Says Blogger

We all know that Tpjc.net is the most popular and used website among Tpjcians. It is very efficient, reliable and user-friendly. Some bloggers had expressed how much Tpjc.net really meant to them in their blogs. Take a look at two of them below:

OH YES, I CAN LOGIN TO TPJC.NET AGAIN.IM SO HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY.Seriously, tpjc.net is like my life man. I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT IT. It creeped into my life without my consent. Hahahahas. I was like so irritiated about it yesterday, especially when I know Iapos;ve got tons of things to do now. *faints*

Source

Familiar with this right?? TPJC.net!! My most visited website in year 2005 and 2006!! Still useful if I wanna send online message to teachers or dig for photos the photography club took during all events... Can even search for the forums which I participated in!

Source

Woah. We should start a Facebook group known as 'TPJC.net Fan Club' soon.

LATEST: Why The '08 Prelim Paper Solutions Went Missing

We have just received confirmation from a reliable source that the administrator for TPJC AsknLearn is working as hard as she can to upload the solutions the '08 Prelim papers. Apparently, the files sent by the respective Junior Colleges were in .pdf format and the administrator is having a tough time converting each and every one of the file into the .doc format for AsknLearn system.

The AsknLearn portal only allow files in the .doc format to be uploaded. The level head of each subject have submitted the solutions way earlier. Nonetheless, it takes some time for the files to be (properly) converted into the .doc format before uploading into the system.

We were also informed that all solutions should be ready and up in the AsknLearn portal by this weekend. You should be able to access it very soon. In the meantime, let's just be patient and wait...

Who Will Be Ami Yousoff's Successor?

TPJC's favourite teddy bear, Ami, is fast losing his steam updating our online forum. He is now busy preparing his 'A' level examination which begins in about 30 days. His virtual charisma is fast depleting into thin air and there seems to be no one who stands out among the cyber crowd now. In short, our forum joker is missing.

Well, not really actually. A few Tpjcians have pointed out to me the potential forum jokers that will entertain us in the future. He needs to be -of course- funny, open and creative. Writing jokes (although sometimes lame) is only part of his job; he must also contribute in our online discussions.

Joshua, Leonard and Chin Wei Hao. These are some names which top our list as the future forum jokers in TPJC. Joshua is very much well-known for intiating new threads which covers almost everything - from Project Work to his famous 'You know you are in TP when...' thread. Leonard, on the other hand, has slowly but certainly shined with his trademark 'TS' comments. And finally Chin Wei Hao, the guy who is the epitome of a useful spammer (although he spams quite a lot, no one can deny the fact that he has contributed a lot in various threads).

If you ask me, I think it is no longer a one-man job for the next forum joker. Leonard and Wei Hao seem to be gelling well with each other. You can view them commenting each other and they are definitely having fun together. They are both very active online. Wherever there is Leonard, there will be Wei Hao. As for Joshua, the recent spate of criticisms has certainly 'quietened' him down. Nonetheless, I am predicting new and creative threads by him soon.

Forum jokers are important. It is just like how class jokers help make class interesting. Without them, lessons are a bore. In fact, I am pretty confident that the forum jokers are the ones responsible to get Tpjcians talking about the forums. From there, Tpjcians themselves may start to participate in the online discussions.

So who will it be? Let the elections begin.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Tpjc.net Way Better Than AsknLearn

Written by Koh Han Jie (07S22).

So what if NUS or NTU or whatever institution is using the AsknLearn portal?

Why do we need to get used to the portal? I am sure our generation will not have a major problem using the AsknLearn system in the future as we are tech-savvy. Therefore, I seriously do not understand why several parties of the college insist we use AsknLearn when we already have our very own tpjc.net! Tpjc.net is way better than AsknLearn. It has a better user interface and is much more user-friendly than AsknLearn. The only bad thing I can think of tpjc.net will be the presence of distractions like the Photoshare and the forums.

If the reason for not posting the '08 papers and solutions is that students are misusing the solutions by referring to the solution before even trying out the question, then I do not think it is such a big problem as only a handful of students are committing that crime. The '07 papers are still available in tpjc.net! Why don't they remove the 07 papers as well?

I think the importance of making the Prelim papers and solutions more accessible outweighs the problem of misusing the solution, as the teachers are can go through only a few college papers. We can still be doing other papers on our own after class ends. Hence, it will be very useful if the papers and solution are easily available in tpjc.net.

Personally I'm not in favour of the idea of collecting papers or solutions from the photocopying shop. I prefer to download the papers during my own free time. This allows me to do the paper and print the solution only after I finsh doing the papers. A trip to the photocopying shop is just another troublesome trip. Also, the photocopying shop only accept group or class orders for exam papers - no individual orders are allowed.

No offence intended to anyone. If any, my sincerest apologies to you.

Why Were The '08 Prelim Papers Retracted?

Written by Chua Wei Qing (07S17).

The 'A' level examination is exactly a month away. In class, our tutors have been constantly persuading us to practise other Junior College (JC) Prelim papers. It is also clear that trying out other JC papers is a mean to prepare us for our upcoming 'A' level examination.

Two days ago, I logged in tpjc.net and was excited (lol) to see the Prelim papers section updated. I browsed through the papers (of various subjects) set by various colleges. Full solutions were posted up for all subjects except for Mathematics. For your info, the solutions for the Maths papers were meant to be posted up only once the tutors have gone through the papers for fear we might copy the solutions instead of practising.

Let's get back to the topic; I'll use Chemistry as an example. I have seen most ( if not, all) 2008 Chemistry papers posted up on tpjc.net some days ago. However to my horror, when I logged in yesterday afternoon, I found out that they were all missing and the page redirected me to the asknlearn website. At that instance, I thought I could most probably find the papers I want there. I searched for hours but still could not locate the papers. That led me to eventually post my doubts at our online forum.

I heard that the Prelim papers were removed from tpjc.net to increase 'usership' of asknlearn. In my opinion, I would urge the school to cancel e-learning duties of asknlearn and stick to tpjc.net. I heard Chemistry solutions for 2008 papers were worked out by Mr Tan Ah Lek. So, credits to him even though we can't really access his solutions.

Asknlearn is totally user-unfriendly. First there are countless number of tabs. Next, there are so many links. Therefore, to post the Prelim papers and solutions at tpjc.net would certainly be a more favourable option.

Teachers argue that students are misusing the solutions online as they only refer to them without trying. Agree?

I would only agree to a small extent. 'A' level examination is approaching already. I am sure as young adults, we JC2s are clear of the direction we are heading in. Sometimes, referring to solutions without trying is a form of learning strategy.

Many a time, I would be more motivated to try out a particular paper if solutions are available. You can't possibly finish a paper and assume all your answers are perfect. That is when solutions are useful as a form of self-learning. And only when you still do not understand the solutions do you consult the teacher.

Nonetheless, I would not exactly support the idea of sending these solutions to the photocopy shop, largely because the environment is at stake. However, if the papers are related to any Arts subjects where the answers are largely in lengthy paragraphs, then I would support the idea since it facilitates learning that way as well.

Dear Diary (Part 1)

14th August 2007
Time: 6.15pm
Venue: My Room

Dear diary..

Why is it that God is so unfair to me?! Why is it that I am born like this?! Why can't I just be like my other friends?! Why can't I look or behave like the rest? Why? Why? I am such a useless person. A hopeless human being. Everywhere I go, people would stare at me. Do you think I like them gazing at me? I hate it when their eyes zoom into me. Some of them even chortled at me.

I feel so wretched. I am a failure to my family. I am a burden to my friends who have to take care of me every time. Why am I born to make them suffer like this? My life is like a heavy load which is tiresome to carry. I am a burden. A huge burden! An enormous burden! A sickening burden!

Every time when I lick a small portion of an ice-cream, I can't feel the sweetness. I feel nothing. Everything is tasteless to me. Two hours ago, I bought an ice-cream from 7 eleven. It looked appetizing. A chocolate ice-cream with almond toppings. I wanted to taste it. I yearned for a bite.

But I was disappointed again. I couldn't taste anything. Not even the cone of the ice-cream. Nothing! My taste buds have failed me. Not once, twice but many times. I envy the other kids. They smile whenever they are enjoying their ice-creams. But me? Everything is the same. Vegetables, rice, chocolates, peanuts, bread, beans, fish, chicken and ice-cream. All plain and bland.

I asked my mum when I reached home. Why am I different from everyone else? Why can't I taste anything? Or maybe why does everything taste the same? Mum said I was special. She said I would be OK soon. She said whatever happens, I am still a gift from God.

She lied to me! She always do! I had this 'thing' since I was 14 years old. I am 17 now. My taste buds have malfunctioned for the past 3 years. I am terrified. What is happening to me? Or why is this happening to me? Why does God choose me? Why not him or her? Or anyone else?! Those questions were bombarding my brain. I am depressed.

I am sorry I made some of your pages wet now, diary. I just couldn't hold back my tears. I am very jealous. Jealous with everyone around me. I can't hold a pen longer than 3 minutes. I am so weak. I am a weakling. Me and only me. And I get tired easily.

Pardon me if I smudge some of the ink on u. This pen I am using was given to me by Adam. He is my classmate. He gave it to me during birthday. I have to rest every 3 minutes of using it. It is a Pilot pen. Adam is really nice. He is my best friend. He is always there to protect me from the bullies.

Oh, you were also bought by Adam as a gift during my birthday. You came with the Pilot pen. He wrapped you in a newspaper. You look great and brand new. I love your green skin. My favourite colour is green.

Our class is 07S06. My form teacher is Mrs Lim. She teaches me Maths. She's a really nice teacher. She always gave me extra time to complete my test papers. So kind of her.

And one more thing - I am studying in Tampines Junior College. It's an old school. I will bring you to my school one day OK, diary?

OK..I have some homework to do now..I will update you tomorrow aites. Sleep tight.

Time now: 6.35pm

[to be continued..]

ICS And Softball Show How Soccer Can Be Used To Save The College Spirit

Written by Muhamad Shahrin Izhar B M S (08S12).
[The blogger also owns his personal blog here.]

The softball team had played a game of soccer with the Indian Cultural Society (ICS) before and it was a pretty close contest then. It was not long before we decided to hold another match in college. But this time, it was more "official" as it was planned beforehand and we were all in proper game attire (boots, long socks and all).

I guess the match served as a form of recreation since it was the end of the Promos and all. The match was played on 26th September at around 5pm. It was almost like a real soccer match; the only difference was that we used half the field. It was 30 minutes a half, with a 10-minute break in between. We were caught in a hilarious situation even before the match kicked off when we realized that we did not have a ball to play with! We had to borrow one in the end. (Haha, talk about poor planning.)

To be honest, I thought that the Softball players had a smaller chance at winning the match. I felt that ICS had more people who were skilful in soccer, but it was just a friendly game after all. We just wanted to have fun.

It was a nail biting match. There were several attempts made at goal by both teams. A lot of the shots came close to reaching the back of the net. Credit went to the goalkeepers for their excellent forms. ICS took the lead at first, but Softball soon equalized. The score line was dramatic – it began with 1 - 0, then 1 - 1, 2 - 1, 2 – 2 and so on.

A piece of the action, unedited:

It was after ICS scored their sixth goal. I had a chance to equalize. I managed to get the ball near the ICS penalty area. I dribbled the ball in, running as fast as I could. I thought of passing, but I didn't know if I could think fast enough. So I decided to go for the shot. I used the outside part of my right foot to try and tap it in, but at the very last moment, an ICS defender, Bharet, came in sliding. It threw me off a little bit, and it caused me to fall forwards. I knew right then that my shot would miss. But it was so close to going in, which made it even more disappointing. I wasn't injured, but after I was helped up by another ICS player, I saw Bharet on the floor. I thought that he was injured, but it turns out, he was fine. I helped him up, and we laughed it off. A scary moment, but after that every single one of us was back into the game, with the Softballers trying to equalize, and the ICS members trying to seal the deal.

Time was running out, but a touch of brilliance by the ICS members allowed them to extend their lead by a goal to make it 6-5. It was demoralizing for the Softball players but we kept on fighting. We never gave up. We hit the post a couple of times and got so close to scoring. Luck was just not on our side. In the dying moments of the match, ICS scored the seventh and final goal. The match ended with an impressive score line of 7 – 5 favouring the ICS team. I was disappointed, but I knew that the Softball team had given it their all.

It was a tough experience for me and the other Muslims who were playing because we were fasting. It really drained me. I felt thirsty after the match but I had fun. I am sure the rest of the players had fun too. Both teams played well. It was a huge demonstration of persistence and teamwork. The players also showed sportsmanship. Members from both teams laughed with each other at our fumbles, smiles were written all over our faces. The point is, we had fun.

As a Softball player, I must say that ICS is a good team. They have very good soccer players in their team, and they made good passes. I definitely feel that more soccer matches should be played among the various CCAs. It could serve as a way to bond us all together as well as a platform for us to make new friends. After all, we're all from the same college right?

I believe that ICS would be playing against the Malay Cultural Society (MCS) next week. I wish both sides all the best, and I hope that no one gets hurt. After all, it is just a friendly game. The word "friendly" should mean something. We're all friends at the end. It doesn't matter who wins or loses. I'm thankful for the experience, and I think that the Softball players and the ICS members would be closer friends now that we've had such a pleasant experience together.