I AM FREEEEEEEE.

the feeling of handing in my last A level paper was completely surreal yet oh-so-GOOD.
i actually let out a mini-scream after econs today.
i've come to the end of 3016/3266 at last!

friends, you will all get to experience the sweet taste of freedom really soon. best of luck!!

in the meantime...
the top things on my post-A's to-do list include:
- clearing up the mess in my room which Hurricane A-Level left in its wake,
- hibernating so as to make up for all the past late nights,
- finding a dream holiday job, and
- painting my nails.

after all i probably won't wear my school uniform ever again.
...it's time to go havoc! xD

on a side note, with my sister in Canada and my cousin in Switzerland, being stuck here in Singapore with exams was even more depressing than before. but now that i'm liberated, the world is a better place again. :D

wow. WOW. WOOOOW.
i am THISCLOSE to my last paper...to be specific, it will start 14 hours from now.
surreal or what?

i shall save the gloating for later...

one
Faizal is out, as i personally feel he should have been a long time ago. he has a decent voice but brings no excitement or originality onstage, plus i honestly feel he's not that handsome. the past Idol winners were way more charming. i should know. ^^

oh and let's talk about my virgin vote for this third season of Singapore Idol. i finally picked up the phone to dial the number of...
Sezairi.
his performance was ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL i am gonna credit it to his fan who picked the fantastic song and Sezairi for letting himself shine.
Top 3 material, no doubt.

next week's theme: Song For A Cause where the contestants compose their own song plus pick another song choice. TOUGHHHH. but still something to look forward to, though i have a nagging feeling that Charles may fare better next week...oh dear.

two
MY HUMAN GEOG TUTOR IS A PSYCHIC!
he must have spotted at least half of the topics correctly for our 'A' level paper...i am in total awe.
so glad that i decided to follow his advice :D
now if only i can do something about my disastrous handwriting...hope i don't subject my marker to excessive pain...

three
it's funny how you can end up feeling sympathy for the unlikeliest of all people.
this world is so weird.

one
Duane is at last out of Singapore Idol. though i think it's a long overdue elimination, i couldn't help feeling a twinge of sadness looking at Tabitha crying her heart out for him, but it's quite expected since they grew to be so close.

Faizal got lucky. too bloody lucky. i don't know what to make of it lah...but the weakest link HAS to go. soooooon.

everyone seems to want an all-girl final. that should be the case but i really have a soft spot for Sezairi, hope he at least makes the Top 3!

next week's theme: Viewers' Choice. interesting.

two
i am halfway through my A levels!!

in reality, i'm not as excited as i sound though. previously i was so stressed dealing with paper after paper that i haven't had time to sit down and reflect, but now's my chance.

Physical Geog - i was seriously trembling in my seat from the start. the nervous energy was hard to shake off but surprisingly i stuck to the time allocation pretty well. i've never been able to do it before! but i have a nagging feeling that my essays are not fleshed out enough. ahhh screw it i won't think about it anymore. i still <3 physical geog. :)

Chinese Lit - my first cleared subject. no more papers, no more notes to highlight, no more texts to underline, no more Chinese to write. i honestly felt this funny sense of loss, and also it's very surreal thinking about how the fate of CLL is sealed and i cannot do anything more already. but what made me happy was that despite my half-assed mugging, the three major 20-mark questions tested exactly what i could retain in my head so whoo! ;)

Math - shucks despite everyone saying that it was a manageable paper i still worry about it so much cos my carelessness is really astounding no kidding okay and i didn't have enough time to check through stats and i am just seriously not at peace with myself and damn i better stop the rambling now and move on.

GP - craaaap another panic attack for this cos i'm now very unsure about my essay. it's the longest one i've ever written for GP, but what if i totally misinterpreted the question and simply wrote pages of bullshit? arghhhh bloody hell. the list of questions this year was not to my liking to say the least. as for the compre, i was shocked to see that i had just one hour for both my summary and AQ. in the end both were hastily written in horrible cursive handwriting, but the Cambridge markers will just have to deal with that muahaha.

so that's 5 down, 3 more to go.
CHIONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

i got no time to write something emotional for physical geography right now...
let's just say i have very mixed feelings about the paper.
sigh.

in less than 6.5 hours i'm gonna take my paper 2 for Chinese Lit,
12.5 hours, Math.

double trouble? double happiness? hurhur no idea.

the war continues.

one
my first day of 'A' levels was oh-so-dramatic.

( you can read and perhaps feel sorry for me )

ahem. anyway, please please don't jack yourself this way my friends, ALWAYS check your stuff before leaving the house and ALWAYS reach school early.

two
how could they let Mae go this week? WHYYYYYYYYY?
actually it's obvious that the guys are hogging the votes. dammit dammit dammit.
and *for sure* the judges' save is being reserved for Sylvia because... ( i just felt like cutting this )

BUT I STILL PREFER MAE WAHHHHHHHH. :'(
and she looked so pretty tonight in both her dresses!
sigh. at least she can spend more time with her family now and she has a loyal group of fans as well.

and my goodness what's up with next week's theme? it's called Killing Me Softly With This Song because the contestants are gonna pick songs for each other. damn sadistic or what? ...but i likeee. :P

P.S.  three celebrity sightings within a week! they were namely Nat Ho, Hong Jun Yang and Candice Toh. i hope you know who they are, if not shame on you!

next paper: Physical Geog on monday.
-cue panic attack-

in about 15 hours' time, i will kickstart my 'A' levels.
first up: Chinese Literature and Language, Paper 1

i feel the need to reflect on this subject somehow...
( no don't worry it's not gonna be in chinese )

....because no matter how tough it's been studying my 2nd language so intensively, i wouldn't trade it for any other subject.

SMS convo between me and my ex-math teacher:

Hi teacher, this is Qing Yu. Can i ask whether today is your birthday?
Yes it is. How did u noe?
I think you probably mentioned it in class long ago n i noted it down, but i wanted to make sure first.. So i can wish you Happy Birthday now! :)
Wow. Must give u a prize 4 paying attention in class. Keep it a secret 4 me. Tks!

and the irony is that i was so terrible at his subject T.T nevertheless he was an awesome teacher! i was just not born to appreciate mathematics.

anyway today my cousin kept asking me who my favourite Singapore Idol contestant is. apparently she likes Sylvia and Tabitha.
i said i don't have a favourite yet, just some good vibes about a few contestants.
looks like it's pretty hard to shake off the fangirl impression i used to give...

i have a week left til my first 'A' level paper. shit.

literally held my breath while waiting for the results to be announced.
when it was down to Charles, Mae and Amira, i guess the weakest link was more or less obvious.
but still it's hard to see her go especially when it's a real fact that she can sing pretty well.

so next week is Mambo Madness or something, and i think this spells bad news for...Charles. :S
but he might pull off another surprise just like he did this week!
let's see if Duane gets to shake his booty...

PS: my sister's friends were apparently very interested to know who my favourite contestant is.
because...they said whoever i like tends to become the eventual winner! WAHAHAHA. (Y)

Charles was damn smart to have used the 'serenade-girlfriend-with-acoustic-guitar' move!
i think he just reduced his chances of elimination by close to 50%...his supporters probably only found out tonight that he's attached and just as quickly forgave him for not being single anymore cos he sounded so sweet and sincere. HAH!

and the other smarty-pants tonight was Duane. we're no strangers to his piano skills by now, but he went a step further by picking a not-so-common song that still appealed to the audience (AND the judges) and i totally give him props for that.

i'm surprised Ken Lim was the only judge to comment that Faizal's performance was a COMPLETE IMITATION GOOD. yeah he sounded decent but there was close to zero originality in his rendition of Jason Mraz's song. tsk tsk.

special mention goes out to Sylvia...'s dress!!! tonight was admittedly not one of her best performances but gahhh half my attention was on her dress anyway. BLUUUUE <333

hmm i'm gonna go with my hunch and say that Malaque will end up on the chopping board tonight. such a pity really, she's got a nice tone and those oh-so-mesmerising looks, but she's just not hitting the mark.

Tabitha looked almost as pretty as Sylvia tonight (very hard to achieve okay) but the song completely revealed her weakness - singing falsetto. sigh. still she deserves to stay on for at least a couple more weeks!

as for Mae it's so suay that her voice decided to be angsty and run away before tonight's show. she could have rocked the Mariah song otherwise lah... keeping my fingers crossed for her.

as usual Amira cannot quit her tendency to sound flat despite a promising start. she seriously has THE voice but very soon she's gonna need an SOS helpline lah...

and the one who totally exemplified "save the best for the last", Sezairi! putting aside the fact that he sang a song which also appeared in Hady's album (speaking of whom, GET WELL SOON HADY!), he was probably the only one who got positive comments from Ken Lim tonight. and his decision to ditch those glasses definitely paid off! xD

VOTING RESULTS SOON.

ONE
i'm so terrible at maintaining this journal. but all of a sudden i had an urge to post something so i better do it while it lasts...
here's a reality check:

15 days to my first 'A' level paper
33 days to my last 'A' level paper

i ought to be mugging my ass off right now. soon lah soon...

TWO
i think it should come as no surprise that i'm following the current season of Singapore Idol. and when i attempt to discuss it with other people, i get mainly two kinds of responses: "WHAAAT no i don't watch it, why even bother??" and "OMG so who's out already?"

ah well. i'm still gonna watch it religiously anyway! and here's my take on this batch of Idol hopefuls:

we've heard this a lot already...some of this year's contestants are arguably the most talented ones we've had since Season 1. and yes the females are kicking the guys' asses up down left right and center. so far 2 guys and 2 gals have been eliminated, and...

who i want eliminated next: Charles (比赛中剩下的华人已经不多了，but you're really not delivering the goods yo...)
who i think will be eliminated next: Malaque (i've lost count of how many times she's been in the bottom 3 already.)

unless both of them do SPECTACULARLY well this coming wednesday (theme: For Someone Special), i don't think they will last much longer.

for the past 2 seasons, i didn't have a clear favourite until the Top 6 or 7 emerged. similarly this time round, no contestant has made me feel compelled to pledge allegiance to yet (hahaha). but currently, i have a good feeling about Mae Sta Maria. she's consistent, technically strong and easy on the eyes. for those who are uninformed, she's the one who only got as far as Top 100 for Australian Idol and then decided to come back to Singapore to try for SI. smart woman, this one. and likely to bag the title too :)

what a hell lot of 17-year-olds we have this season. i've always had a bit of a problem accepting young contestants 'cos they can't seem to carry the Idol title well enough. Farhan the good-looking is already out and it was long overdue anyway. Faizal "Mraz" is the smooth one with the grooves but sounds so-so only. Amira has one helluva voice, but what she needs is extra oomph in her stage presence.

and then we come to Tabitha, the one that so many people have their bets on this season. Ken Lim said her looks are a threat to female voters, explaining why more than once she's been in the bottom ranks in terms of votes despite her strong performances. but her talent is seriously undeniable and luckily the audience seems to be warming up to her. with her solid vocals and a surprising sense of maturity way beyond her age, who knows, she could be the Jordin Sparks of Singapore!

and the baby of the bunch, Duane, at the ripe old age of 16 years old, must be winning over a lot of mummies' hearts or something to have lasted until now. or maybe his family has deep deep pockets. -shrugs- i remember this guy as the one who went up during the Pussycat Dolls' concert in June for a dance-off and his booty-shaking triumphed. can he sing? a nice tone no doubt, but little charisma and versatility. Sylvia the sex kitten was damn good at the beginning but slowly lost steam as the weeks passed, so she better regain herself and prove Ken right by making it to the Top 4. lastly, Sezairi the guitar-slinging crooner is the most promising male contestant and i think he'll eventually become the last remaining guy :)

THREE
what is something that never fails to help me destress?
.
.
.
.
.
.
XIAXUE'S GUIDE TO LIFE.

huh you've never heard of it before? then you totally need to see this and have a good laugh:


hahaha such mindless stuff is exactly what you need when you're taking a break from all that mugging. and i confess that i've watched all 57 episodes available on youtube! :D

speaking of which, i better hit the books now lah.
don't expect another update that soon hehheh.

can a teenager ever be expected to place love as his or her first priority?

but, what if one thinks one has already found true love?
would it still be the same?

the pc show killed my heels.
gah okay i was asking for it lah. who wears pumps to jostle with thousands of other people?

and damn, i came *thisclose* to being the proud owner of a new acer gemstone but they were out of current stock blegh.
and i still can't get over how sliiiiim the acer timeline is...

on a totally random note, the black and blue nails on my left hand attracted quite a few extra glances. hehehe.
but i'm a bit irritated that the colour is peeling after just one day...why can't i find good quality nail polish in funky colours??
ah well. gotta think about what to do with my right nails. there are two weeks of holidays left.

...two weeks of holidays left? HOLY SHIT.
need to mug need to mug need to mug...

SHOUTOUT: ADILLAAAA BABE IT WAS SUCH A SURPRISE BUMPING INTO YOU YESTERDAY :D :D

GOLD
WITH
HONOURS
YAY!
:D

thanks to the guys who were such great violent rapists.
thanks to the girls who were fabulous japanese comfort women.
thanks to the helpers for working so hard on our hair, costumes and props.
thanks to mr lyon for teaching us the proper way to express ourselves.
thanks to the chinese dancers for coming down to support us (all the best next week!).
thanks to the seniors who returned to help give feedback on our performance.

and THANKS TO LAOSHI <3<3 FOR HER AWESOME CHOREOGRAPHY, DEDICATION AND FOR TELLING US TO SEX IT UP!

:)

in 12 hours and 32 minutes, the moment we've been working day and night for will finally arrive.

all the blood, sweat and tears will either partially go to waste or be exchanged for our greatest honour.

the emotional trauma, the physical strain, the never-ending practices, skipping of meals, mass dyeing of costumes and cutting of hair...

THIS. IS. IT.

rj modern dance, gambatte! we'll blow the judges away :)

due to internet breakdown i couldn't update yesterday, so i shall lump it up tonight.

GEOG was quite amazing. it was the first time i smiled at a physical geog question :D thank goodness i paid attention to the right topics WHOO! i think i <3 river channels, no need for case studies! much easier to do than say volcanoes or -gulp- karst landscape.

human geog threw me off a teeny bit, the 16-mark question was honestly damn broad, but since i didn't allocate much time for it i just wrote whatever came to mind. not to mention my handwriting became quite atrocious mwahaha. sorry mr kamal!

last and final paper MATH. it felt like a good way to round up common tests with my poorest subject. cos with my mind free of other worries i could focus on trying to actually understand math, like how the night before was spent entirely on bloody complex numbers (though in the end i still couldn't manage that topic during the test hurhur).

but i have to say that it was the easiest math test so far since last year! i mean compared to previous times when i would have half an hour to spare cos i skipped so many questions, this time round i was writing til the very last minute. WHOAAA i don't feel so hopeless now. ^_^

aaand that marks the end of term 2 common tests! i'm majorly slacking now to compensate for lost nights of fun and games. but all too soon we'll be going back to the usual hustle and bustle of school life and that's when time will start zooming past again. 8 months to the Big 'A's dammit.

economics paper. 2 case studies in 2 hours = RUSH RUSH RUSH.

firstly, my venue was the hall and believe it or not, it's my first time doing a paper there. scary when you're used to smaller classrooms.
secondly, it started pouring halfway through the test and i basically froze my ass off in the air-con.
thirdly, I DID NOT BRING MY RULER &#@%! so what did i use to draw my graphs?
...ez-link card.

*cue applause*

anyway i don't feel confident about this econs paper; it's no wonder my tutor said application of knowledge would be vital.
and damn unlucky that they tested market structure which i only mugged in the morning. shitz.

at least it's over. and now i'm almost geared up for geog! though i feel like i'm undergoing headward erosion and my brain is suffering from overcrowding. then again, if bid rent theory were to take place in my head, geog would definitely take the prime grey matter of my cerebrum cos geog is just <3! hahaha ok time to stop my lousy geog references...

thank goodness something happened to turn it into a happy day after all.
let me show off my sister! she's the one in blue.

 

i hate, really really *HATE* people with no manners. even more so when these people are actually grown-ups.

( qing yu is VERY ANGRY. )

life is too full of nonsense.

blood tests. x-ray. physiotherapy. acupuncture. suction cups.
all these medical procedures i've gone through before. but none unleashed as much fear as the word BRONCHOSCOPE.
for the uninformed, it's basically a thin rod with an attached camera stuck up your nose so that the doctor can ogle at your airways.
( click if you dare. )