im down with flu man...and lost my voice this morning too...now feeling giddy and uncomfortable everywhere, hate this feeling but cant help it...

well just thought i wanna share this quote i learnt during SL selection camp a few days back, just came into my mind and i realized i forget to talk about it...quite meaning quote by abraham lincoln.

" I want to see a man proud of where he live,
I want to see a man whose place he lived is proud of him"

yeap...i think the quote goes something like that. big thanks to my dear Vice President Hong You! for sharing it with me, cos i thought it really touched me and made me relate to my own life.

as much as i could remember, when i first entered xinmin...i did not like the school at all, i think i talked about this before. i didnt know why i wanted to get into xinmin, but i hated the school because i appealed into the school through volleyball, a sport which i had no passion at all. at that time i was too young to think maturely ba...only knew that i am suspose to enter xinmin, reason? not very sure, i didnt know why i left nan chiau in the first place. ok back to the main point, i was not a student proud of my school, i had no feeling for the school at all, just enter the campus to study, then play volleyball, after that go home, i had no life, no passion, no meaning.

i do not think i was a very good student back then, in sec 1 i was a frequent late-comer, always late in handing up assignments and was becoming an "icon" in the staff room, cos i was often made to do my work on the floor in the staff room. thats almost everything i can rmb abt sec 1 life, boring and monotonous, i sucked at volleyball even though i was expected to excel in it, i did nothing at home except play games and study.

enough said abt sec 1, i really cannot rmb much, then i promoted to sec 2 with quite remarkable results, based on psle score i was the bottom in school, but at the end of sec 1 was ranked 80 something amongst the 220 something students...not bad la hor...but sec 2 i dunno what happened to me, my maths started to fail and my science was GC. I couldnt recalll much of the sec 2 happenings cos like sec 1, it was meaningless. but maybe my form teacher see the "light" in me?? my life was totally changed on the day i was nominated for SL interview. this was the most significant thing that happened in sec 2, it changed my life as a xinmin student forever.

haha i can never forget my SL interview, there was more than 7 ppl in the room, 2 teachers plus some sec 2 and 3 SLs and EXCOs. i guess i got lucky, i said something which made me pass the interview quite easily, " frankly...i have broken the school rules many many times...but because of that i believe i know the school rules better than anyone else in school, i can remember all the categories of offenses and different actions to be taken..." and yea bingo! lol i got thru the interview! of cos they did ask many other questions but i thought this response was the crucial one.

fast forward the pace! haha and so i went thru SL trainee camp, became a SLT, made many mistakes...ganna alot of scolding and shits and finally passed! i forgot how happy i was the day i got my tie already haha...too long ago...but it really changed my life as a xinmin student. i became to be proud of my school, by upholding the school's discipline as a member of DB, planning various events and running various school activities, doing all the lame but fun cheers and dances...i began to love xinmin, proud of the school, shouting out loud anywhere, " I LOVE XINMIN AND I JUST CANT DENY IT! SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT! SHAKE IT ALL THE WAY!" the biproduct of my passion was the chance to run for election, and at the end of the day...i passed the election by coming in 3rd for number of votes and was given the position of general secretary, i think is was the final gift from SLB to me ba...even so i knew that this was just a bonus for me, even without anything i will also continue to love xinmin, my second home.

if sec 3 made my love xinmin and SLB, sec 4 life made me love my teachers and friends. i didnt know what was friends about until sec 4, and i didnt know how fantastic our teachers were until sec 4 too. xinmin helped a slacker like me to start studying and applying my energy on the right things, working hand in hand with my teachers and friends, we did xinmin proud! and we are even prouder of xinmin!! our batch's results say everything...100% promoted to JC, 18% with 5 A1s or above, Amaths 90% A1, emaths 98% A1, science 99% A1..etc...

well im quite sure most of us are very proud of xinmin today, cos we will not achieve what we achieved without the help of xinmin and the teachers. whats more important is im sure xinmin is proud of us, class of 2006, too. amongst us emerged scholars, leaders, entreprenuers, sportsmen, officers...etc but ultimately everyone are xinminians, students whom the school can be proud of.

ok thats how the quote touched me about xinmin and my past, now this quote also touched me at the present. im faced with the same situation, now i dun feel proud of SAJC, and im very sure i have nothing which SAJC can be proud of too, i used to feel disheartened, used to feel injust, by wearing a SA uniform and studying in SAJC when my heart lies in NJC. but now i realized how stupid i was, how shallow my thinking was and how unrealistic i am. NJC was my dream, my passion, the force that pushed me when i was feeling weak, this was its purpose, today it has accomplished its purpose, to push me higher, but rejected me out. i realized that without NJC, i might not be able to score my ideal grade for Olvls, so i should thanks NJC, and as a saint now, i should learn to appreciate my place here, all the friends i met, and all the gifts from heaven i received. i shall be proud of being a saint, no one's here by chance! so there must be a purpose for me in SAJC, something special, someone special, which i have to unfold, which i have to seek and cherish, if i can do that, i will be proud of SAJC. and on my part i have fight on, i came in to SAJC as a representative of xinmin, so i must live up to the standard of a xinminian, X=Q, i must produce quality in whatever i do, excel in my studies, play well in table tennis, and use my ability to serve and contribute to the school, hopefully at the end of my 2 years, SAJC will remember my name, and she will be proud that someone called yuchuan once studied in this place.

haha ok that ends off my thoughts about the quote...very long and crappy, also dunno why i suddenly throwing out all my love for xinmin and SLB again. well of cos there's ups and downs in my xinmin life and SLB life, but now i only want to remember the beautiful memories i spent in xinmin. maybe cos i went back to xinmin to play table tennis after such a long time today, so got back the feeling i had for xinmin...its really a very special place, and will always be, for me.

well after reading my long and crappy post, i hope you will think through this quote on your own, im just using my own life as an example. are you proud of where you've lived? is the place you lived proud of you? if yes, great continue doing that wherever u are. if no, its ok! cos its nvr too late to start, trust me, be proud of where you are, and u will enjoy ur life there, and naturally that place u lived will be proud of you! but i believe most of u will be very proud of where u've lived and is living, and im very sure everyone is proud of u!

my giddiness is overwhelming, whole body feel like collapsing, looks like cannot tahan anymore, have to go and rest, hopefully will feel better tmr ba...