*Warning : Really LONG entry!

Today's marks the start of my Promos - the exam which will determine my fate in Srjc. Had my GP paper today. I think I screwed up real bad. Didn't manage my time well. Argh!~ This is the first time I really thought I could do well in GP, or at least better than mid year. Yet, I screwed up. I'm really disappointed in myself.

Since I was in primary school, all the way till secondary school, I've always prided myself for my above-average standard of English. In fact, I've never gotten below an A when I was in primary school or a B3 when I was in a secondary school, for my English. Not once! English was a subject I enjoyed most, a subject which I'm most passionate about. My creative juices never ran out, and I could just write on and on.

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At this juncture, let me digress a little. Here's one of the many essays I wrote last year, when my English teacher, our dearest Mr Richard Chia, made us write 'versatile' essays on all the past years composition titles.

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COMPOSITION TITLES:

14(b) Write a story suggested by one of the following newspaper headlines: MINISTER PRAISES LOCAL HERO
15(b) Write a story entitled: The Triumphant Return
24(a) "The situation became more tense as the crowd gathered......"
31(a) The test
36(a) A race against time
38. Continue a story which starts like this: "She sat alone in the tiny room listening to the rain pounding on the roof and thinking over the events of the last few weeks......"
39. Write a story which has its central theme the idea of 'Greed'.
44(b) "You have just one more chance to prove you can do it."
55. 'The love of money is the root of all evil.' Use this saying as the basis of a story.

COMPOSITION:

She sat alone in the tiny room listening to the rain pounding on the roof and thinking over the events of the last few weeks. Sarah had become a hero, a figure whom people look up to, overnight. And all she wanted before was to live each day to the fullest. Never did she expect a mere act of courage to change her life forever.

Shark Lee loved money a lot. He loved to be rich. He was never contented with what he had. He was extravagant and loved the feeling of being pampered and the ability to have anything he wanted. His greediness overwhelmed him. He was willing to sacrifice anything for money. Even if it meant ruining his entire life.

"You have just one more chance to prove you can do it", his boss warned him sternly. Shark Lee was part of the Dragon Gang. His dream was to be a "Da Ge", or 'Big Brother', in the gang. This way, he could extort more protection money from the hawkers. However, in order for anyone in the gang to be "Da Ge", he had to take a test to prove his capability. A test was done by doing something big. After many failed attempts at smuggling drugs into Singapore, he decided to rob the UOB bank at Raffles Place instead. By robbing a bank in the Central Business District, he was sure to make his mark should he succeed.

It was a hot and humid Monday afternoon at Raffles Place. As usual, well-dressed working professionals walked about briskly as the lunch hour came to an end. Sarah, a finance manager with a multinational company, was at the UOB bank at Raffles Place to make some transactions for her company.

A man wearing a suit and a pair of sunglasses entered the bank. His dressing immediately caught the eyes of Sarah. He looked just like the character in Men In Black with a black and white outfit. Being an avid fan of Men In Black, she thought, "This guy is cute!"

That thought did not last long though. Within minutes, the bank was in total chaos. The guy whom Sarah once thought was cute was holding everyone at gunpoint. Shark fiercely demanded the bank manager to pack all the cash from the counters into a canvas bag. While doing so, the manager discreetly activated the security alarm.

On hearing the alarm, Shark went into an immediate frenzy. In blind panic, he grabbed a pregnant woman by the neck and held her hostage.

" Le...Let me go pl...please", the pregnant lady pleaded. The lady was clearly experiencing labour pains. Despite her repeated pleas, Shark refused to let go. Instead, his hold on her tightened further.

The situation became more tense as the crowd gathered outside the bank. The pregnant lady was in extreme pain and Shark was getting agitated by the second. This put the lives of many, especially the life of the pregnant lady, at risk.

It was a race against time. Sarah had to do something. Fast! She could not bear to see the pregnant lady suffer under the inhumane robber any longer.

"You just try to hurt the lady, and I promise, you'll regret it!" Sarah threatened in a low growl. She knew what she was doing... sort of. Looking at Shark's muscular physique, she began to doubt if she did the right thing. This man was huge. However, when Shark simply refused to bulge, she could take it no more. Now was the time to see if those judo lessons had been worth her money. Sarah stayed focused and......

BAM! She did it! One moment he was standing up, the next, he lay flat on his back. Shark could do nothing but blink at her in disbelief. She swallowed and pretended that she was perfectly calm and cool.

"I warned you."

Just then, the police arrived. They took over and Shark was arrested while the pregnant lady was sent to the hospital. Reporters who had gathered outside the bank were eager to interview the heroine - Sarah.

The following day, she made headlines when the Prime Minister praised her for her courage. She was given a triumphant return when the Prime Minister actually gave her a lift home. Her neighbours even prepared a feast in the void deck to celebrate.

Shark was sentenced to life imprisonment. As the saying goes, "The love of money is the root of all evil". His love of money had led him to greed, which caused him to embark on a road of no return.

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Good huh? This essay's gotta be the best one I've ever written. The plot is 100% original! Plus, I'm the hero! So it's definitely very well done! Oh my, I'm praising myself again. When will I ever stop that?

Anyway, the 'versatile essays' took me a great deal of sweat and time (Does 1 weekend count as 'a great deal of time'?) to do them. Up till now, they still remain my most prided work. Alas, not forgetting those who kept me company (Obviously, they were also doing last-minute work, just like me!) throughout the weekend. You guys made the weekend less of a torture. Especially you SQ, you never fail to crack me up with your really imaginative essays!

Okay, I shall end here.

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Back to the topic. Well, coming to a JC has really changed my view about English. GP, commonly known as English in primary and secondary school, has now become one of my most dreaded subject. It is no longer about being creative, but to argue your case, evaluate arguments, things which I dislike. I've failed all my essays so far except for 2, mainly because of my content. If not for my language, I bet I'd have failed miserably. So thanks Mr Chia for your frequent emphasis on tight grammar. I really appreciate it now. Now, doing a GP essay is like killing all my brain cells I've left. It's that bad. At least compres are still ok though I've started to do better in them only recently. A pass in GP is all I wish for now. This is really bad!

However, in my list of dreaded subjects, Physics still take top spot, with Math closely behind. Then comes GP. Surprisingly, Chinese has become my favourite subject, even though I really feared Chinese back then. Chinese has become the most fun subject, cos there's no syllabus to follow, hence no restrictions as to what is being taught in class. Lessons are never boring! It seems that there's always something new to learn. I never fail to brighten up whenever there's Chinese lessons, which is of cos a total contrast from what I would have felt last time. Of cos, not forgetting my Chinese teacher, who always make lessons enjoyable with her sense of humour. She always engage us in friendly banters during class, and is ever so open to our opinions. In fact, it has become more like a 'friend-friend' relationship that we have with her.

As for Chemistry, it's become a subject that I enjoy, maybe because it's the only subject I can score. I put my greatest hopes on Chemistry. Lessons, though not always fun, never fail to keep me awake cos of my teacher. She has a very irritating voice, which I somehow think it's good cos it never fails to keep me from dozing off. Oddly, she has noticed me since the beginning of the school term, so I can't sleep in class anyway. Furthermore, I feel that she really does care about us. Many times when I didn't do my tutorials or perform below expectations during test, she'll come up to me to "talk". Though I hope I don't have to "talk" to her so often, it always leaves me reflecting on my actions. Personally, I like her approach more than the "scream and shout to make you so afraid you'll do my work" approach. I've experienced both approaches first hand (Read my earlier entry if you guys wanna know what it is like) and I'll definitely give thumbs up to the soft approach. Yea, that's probably why I like Chemistry.

I'm gonna stop here. Really long entry.