Phew... Bioly is finally over... Wah, the selection test was really bad... I think i underestimated answering 200 Biology questions... Totally exhausted now, think I'll make this post a short one!

Let's see... My thoughts when I first opened the exams script was "Omg, wtf is this question talking about" , and this train of thought continued for pretty much the entire of the first half (100 questions), so you can guess pretty much how it was like...

On second thought, I'm not sure whether the second half was any better.. At least I wasn't thinking "Omg omg omg I am so dead" anymore. In fact, I'm not too sure I was even thinking after the 180th+ question... =P

Haha, well God, I've done my part now, whether I get into the practical round or not is all up to You... Whether I get in or not, I don't regret joining the Bio Olympiad, the knowledge gained and the friendships made it all worth it! Right guys? Haha, dunno if they'll even read this entry...

Hmmm... Looking back this post isn't exactly very short, is it? Ah well, I think I'll go sleep now... Signing off! =)

Joseph danced on 8:19 AM

The day of reckoning has finally come!!! Haha in 14 hour's time I will be going for the Bio Olympiad liao... Feeling very nervous sia... Still, I simply can't wait to be free from studying Bio...

Well, even after the Bioly still got work to do... Got TOK, EE, IA...(sigh) Oh well, at least I have one less thing to do on my list...

Well, I'm gonna go turn in now, wish me luck for Bioly! Haha..

Joseph danced on 7:07 AM

Beyond the Mozart effect

Haha. Found this joke while surfing around. Found it so funny, I just had to post it. I think BZ had part of it on his old blog before...

You’ve heard of the Mozart Effect, i.e., listening to Mozart increases one's spatial IQ. BUT, have you heard of the ...

LISZT EFFECT: Child speaks rapidly and extravagantly, but never really says anything important.

BRUCKNER EFFECT: Child speaks very slowly and repeats himself frequently. Gains reputation for profundity.

WAGNER EFFECT: Child becomes a megalomaniac. May eventually marry his sister.

MAHLER EFFECT: Child continually screams — at great length and volume — that he's dying.

SCHOENBERG EFFECT: Child never repeats a word until he’s used all the other words in his vocabulary. Sometimes talks backwards. Eventually, people stop listening to him. Child blames them for their inability to understand him.

BABBITT EFFECT: Child gibbers nonsense all the time. Eventually, people stop listening to him. Child doesn't care because all his playmates think he’s cool.

IVES EFFECT: the child develops a remarkable ability to carry on several separate conversations at once.

GLASS EFFECT: the child tends to repeat himself over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

STRAVINSKY EFFECT: the child is prone to savage, guttural and profane outbursts that often lead to fighting and pandemonium in the preschool.

BRAHMS EFFECT: the child is able to speak beautifully as long as his sentences contain a multiple of three words (3, 6, 9, 12, etc). However, his sentences containing 4 or 8 words are strangely uninspired.

And then, of course, the Cage Effect — child says nothing for 4 minutes, 33 seconds. Preferred by 9 out of 10 classroom teachers.

A few extras from Mangan’s Miscellany:

Schumann Effect: Child develops bipolar disorder.

Lutoslawski Effect: Child becomes expert craps player.

Berwald Effect: Child develops a huge passion, works at it his whole life, then falls into complete obscurity.

And a few more from The Llama Butchers:

Hovhaness Effect: Child grows to be very spiritual, attracted to Eastern religions. Also has pyromaniac tendencies.

Gluck Effect: Child will be brilliant but inconsistent. Probably will be a fortune-hunting party reptile.

Rossini Effect: Child will be lazy as hell but a lot of fun.

Bach Effect: Child will overawe you with the the depth of his self-expression and do a bang-up job balancing your checkbook. Stand by for a lot of grandchildren.

Lully Effect: Please keep child away from sharp objects.

And, finally, from The Muse at Sunset:

Meyerbeer effect: Child says wildly popular things which no one can remember later.

Chopin effect: Child coughs constantly.

Schumann effect: Child speaks in poetry, then tries to drown himself

Gesualdo effect: Child speaks cryptically, dresses in black, carries a bloody axe

Gershwin effect: Child tries to speak Ebonics, is never quite convincing

Hugo Wolff effect: Child speaks about the meaninglessness of life and the futility of love, then goes mad

Prokofiev Effect: Child speaks wildly and brilliantly, with a huge vocabulary. But... was he being serious?

Berlioz effect: Child takes opium and speaks REALLY LOUDLY

Debussy effect: Child can’t talk, but loves pictures

Faure effect: Child’s speech is too refined and elegant to be heard by coarse and insensitive persons

Henry Cowell effect: child speaks in clusters of words.

Harry Partch effect: child makes up all his own words.

Fred Himebaugh effect: All the child’s vowels have umlauts.

Joseph danced on 3:13 AM

Today, I finally have a chance to attend band prac, and guess what I find?

The band room was totally devoid of any form of discipline whatsoever. The entire middle section consisted of 1 saxophone and 1 horn. Only the lower brasses had sufficient numbers to be even called a section. Band, I am sorely disappointed with you.

Even though I only got the score for "The Incredibles" today and was sight-reading, I can't say I heard any difference between my clumsy playing and the rest of the band. Fancy calling yourselves the ACS(I) IB Wind Ensemble. I don't think any of you guys deserve to be called part of any band/ensemble/music group. Incidentally, in case you guys haven't realised, concert is in 1 month's time, and so far I haven't even heard a single note that I can not cringe at. And how many members of the exco were around to take attendance for the meagre number of people present?

No wonder Dr Lee would choose to take another job. If I were him, I would have done so a long time ago already. This is just ridiculous. I'm betting even the Junior Band plays better than us now. I hope you guys are satisfied with being mediocre, or are you guys just hoping to have the whole world laugh at us on our 40th anniversary?

I know I haven't been able to attend practice as of late due to my other commitments, but seeing the state the Band is currently in, I think you guys should spend a moment to think about your attitudes. Was this is the attitude that got us our Gold with Honours? Is this the attitude that will get us our Gold with Honours next year? I doubt it. WAKE UP.

Argh. Ranting again. I gotta stop this habit. =(

Joseph danced on 4:41 AM

Today, I sat down to plan out my schedule for the rest of the holidays. Bad call. =S

Now, I'm more stressed than ever before. Seems I underestimated the amount of time I have to devote to 'academic' pursuits. (ie. Bio Oly) Now I have to (somehow) figure out how I'm going to go for Band camp, Bio Oly training and finish my EE before the end of the month.

In fact, I'm actually seriously considering not going for Band camp and simply not play for the concert. Which brings my to the point about my standard of playing. (see post below)

I'm gonna go bury my head in my pillow now. Excuse me.

Joseph danced on 6:41 AM

It's been a really long time since i've posted... (Has it been a month? Haha.) Partially 'coz of exams, but mostly 'coz of laziness. =P This post is gonna be reeeaally long...

First and foremost, exams! Quite disappointed with my results, thought I could have scored better... =( Total of 34 points, and I didn't even make it onto any Dean's List... ='( Oh well, I just heard today that I might be able to crash the lectures, maybe I'll go... Ah well, at least I did well for TOK (of all things. Haha again), mostly because of my TOK presentation...

In other news, Bio Oly! Haha, got into the school team! Yay! I was so nervous when I sat for the selection test, I had nightmares the night before.. Haha. An ex-Olympiad participant old boy came to talk to us about his experiences in the Chem Olympiad. You know, he said as long as we can get into the Singapore team, we'll most likely be able to get in one of the Ivy League universities. I want! =) So I promised myself that I'll work really hard, and get into the Singapore team! Hmmm, is it a little too ambitious? Ah wells.

Holidays! Today is the 1st day of holidays! Haha looking at my schedule I won't be having much of one(as usual)... What with juggling Band practices, Bioly trainings, EE lab sessions (which I have yet to plan), IBDP Chinese exams and my nonexistent social life (If I had one in the first place), this holiday promises to be even more tiring than the school term. =( Oops, and I forgot to mention homework, too. TOK essays, Business IA, World Lit preparations... I hope you ACS(IB) pple are having fun, coz I definitely am not.. =P

The most worrying thing has got to be the impending Chinese exams... I didn't do too good on the final exams (I think I'm the only one in class without a 7 points), so I better be working extra hard to get my 7 points in the final exam..

Concert! ACS(I) and ACJC and frens are organising a concert on 30th Nov and 1st Dec! Have to practise real hard, and I've been missing practices coz of school events! I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to catch my with my juniors, especially since I haven't touched my flute for soooo long. This has definitely been the longest I've been without playing my flute, almost 2 months!!! I'm going to have to change my profile on the blog if this keeps up. =( My standard, last I checked, has probably dropped back to Sec2 or 3 level already! My conductor is seriously going to skewer me the next time I meet him. =P I need to go practise, but there's almost no time in my schedule, and I haven't even got the scores that we will be playing!! I hate the schedule. =(

OCS! Couple of days back, they sent the entire Year 5 cohort to OCS for open house. TOTAL waste of time, if you ask me... The only fun part about it was when we managed to get a chance to talk to the OCT guides and ask them about their life in OCS... Especially since I want to go to SAF band after BMT... (see above paragraph)

Slacking! Hmmm, this point may seem a little contradictory to the above paragraph, but I have to admit I've been spending quite a lot of time slacking after the exams... Well, what choice do I have, when the teacher don't even turn up for lessons?! Went to the movies a couple times, still haven't got a chance to watch Death Note (Anyone wanna go watch with me?) My fave has got to be the Prestige. That was one deep show. Ended up thinking about it for like a hour after the show. =P Thumbs up for anyone planning to watch it, it's really good! (A little dark and gruesome though, just a warning!)

Weeelll, I don't think I can come up with any more points to talk about. Better get back to doing things more useful (like practising.) Post another time!

Joseph danced on 5:36 AM

Well, I've got to say, we had it coming. Last week's class attendance was horrible. Like half the class (literally) didn't show up for class last week, because they were 'unwell' (more likely mugging at home), and this week, the teachers took their revenge.

Of my 6 subjects in IB, 4 subject had absent teachers this week. Math, Chem, English, Chinese. Tuesday was the worst. 4 hours of no teachers in class. 4 WHOLE hours. You know, I like the occasional free period or so, but don't you think 4 hours is a little extreme? Especially so close to our exams. =P

Well, tomorrow is Honours Day, the day where we sit in the audi for hours stoning as random people who don't want to be there receive prizes they don't really care about. I'm quite interested to see the attendence count then.

Well, later!

Joseph danced on 6:00 AM