It was a lazy Monday morning, and I had nothing better to do. So I went back to RJ again, to meet Huihui, among other things. But if you think this is a lot, ask Andrew Gan how many times *he* went back in his brief stay here. It's rather interesting, actually - when I was in RI, I visited Nanyang rather much. In RJ, I went back to RI somewhat often. And now I tread on RJ ground every now and then. I must make it a point to visit RI again one day. Nanyang can wait forever :)

At the start of my visit, I was telling myself that I would try to refrain from making disparaging comments, and instead would make not-so-disparaging comments, but I believe I have failed utterly.

Some attempts seem to have been made to improve the atmosphere of the school, even though it is dying and has a projected 1 1/2 years left to live (before it is reincarnated beside the Columbarium Peck San Theng). Among the improvements - a cleaning up of the toilets near LT2.5, which are now finally usable, serial numbers for the toilets - maybe to report on dirty toilets to the school admin which can then take suitable action and the painting of some classroom walls in non-white colours.

They've also made some modifications to the timetable - most lectures are 1 hour long now, and there are 1 1/2 period tutorials (ie 1 hour long too).

Going down to the canteen, I saw nothing new except that the Ching Teng queue has been moved from inside the stall to the store front. Oh, and Stall 2 has joined the bevy of outlets nationwide trying to imitate BreadTalk's "Flosssss", and now has wholemeal sandwiches (I'm sure Mr Sowden'd drink to that! Oh but I don't think he drink. Nvm.)

Sitting in the canteen was this girl whom I was told had sore eyes. That brought to mind the article, not so long back, on how GPs were seeing more and more patients with sore eyes. All these kiasu people don't want to miss school, then end up infecting others.

Mr Lim came up to talk to me in the canteen, and he asked me if I ever took down my own Bad English quotes. I was rather aghast, because I don't see how anyone could have the temerity to correct people's English if he didn't acknowledge his own faults, so. :)

A rash of acne seems to have struck RJC. Among the afflicted - Culottes Girl (Serbee doesn't wear culottes anymore, but old habits die hard), Sin Tong (who has also gotten a more trendy hairstyle) and Seng Tat, in order of increasing severity. Must be the hormones. On the flip side, Vampire looks less pale now. Exposure to the sun has done her good.

Standing beside Seng Tat was this small, dimunitive boy whom I was told is in the Chinese Orchestra. He had a lilting, exquisite and cultured voice. So cute!

More and more people are dyeing their hair - even those without the A03 look are getting into the swing of things, and males have learnt the wonders of having coloured hair. Seems "moral" laxity is prevalent nowadays.

A question which perplexes me - why do the people in RJ look the same every year? Year in, year out, they all bear certain distinctive characteristics and features (which are impossible to describe, but must be intuited). Well actually I must add three qualifications. The first is that, as many have observed, the people in RJ get uglier every year. The J4s best the J3s, who similarly beat the J2s. And the J1s are the worst of the lot (c'mon, Screwed Up Girl's rather above average. What does that tell you?). The middle point is that there seem to be many fat people this year. And the last point to make is that I can roughly generalise about RJ girls what I did about ACJC girls:

ACJC girls all wear Hot Socks, the lowest skirt in ACJC's 3 cm above the knee, they're either lian or cute and are very small.

Now for RJ, reduce the number of Hot Socks wearers, raise the hemlines a little and substitute "ugly" for "cute". I'm so nice today. Of course, the sample I had to work with might've been biased. Geraldine said that I "came at the wrong time".

Today was phototaking day, so all the classes were lining up to get their shots taken. I wonder why the "coy vixen smile" is so popular among girls taking class photos.

I'm told the short, fat Indian servant who locks the school up at night died Saturday night after a heart attack, after receiving a 10 year Long Service Award earlier that day at College Day. Even though she shouted at us a lot, and made us carry chairs and tables for her, we all mourn her passing.

I still am enamoured of my uniform fetish. I saw a youngish looking guy with the uniform I used to wear and asked if he was J1 or J2. He was J1, and apparently he got his uniform from his brother.

On my rounds around the school, waiting for Huihui, I was rather disconcerted to see one girl who hadn't mastered the proper technique of squatting in a skirt - don't squat, kneel or half kneel. You'd think that JC'd knock some sense into them, but noooo! In the same vein, I was also rather distressed to see that some girls still dried their hands on their skirts. Of course some guys dry theirs on their pants, but with the waterproof uniform, we won't really know, will we?

The girl with lacerations on her legs has healed - mostly. I am very happy for her. Really. Though I still don't know how she got the lacerations.

I have come to the conclusion that black shoes and a long skirt make one appear stout.

*removed by request*

The school might be selling RJ bears soon! Over-excited at the prospect, I uttered a very bad pun unwittingly - "Can I bear one?" The prototypes don't look too good, but it's the sentimental value. Besides, they paid meitculous attention to detail - the uniforms are purple.

Now they sell Stuff in the RJC bookshop. FHM is nowhere to be seen. Guess the buyers grew more hardcore.

I was looking at the Judo board, and apparently some people have been retained. Listed in the 2002 committee were "Cheng Zairu 1S06A" and "Sim Wenshan 1S03H". Oh dear.

I saw Johannes walking around and he looked and sounded very stressed and tired. Must be the Commons.


At about 1pm, I finally met Huijun, who was standing around in an uncharacteristic red sleeveless top (with all its attendent implications about personal grooming), which was considerably more trendy than what she usually wears. The first order of business was to return the 1995 and 1996 RGS Yearbooks - so now I've only 1998 and 2000 with me.

We dallied a while while waiting for Huimei, who was somewhere in the staffroom. Meanwhile, Huijun enlightened me on another way that people can be "big" - their butts. So that's 4 dimensions.

After a while, HM came, and around then the Commander strode by, whereupon I went to hide for fear of her wrath.

One thing I don't understand about the two of them is why they always smell so strongly of low quality soap. When I pointed this out, they claimed they showered with Dove. Gah.

After dallying awhile, we wandered off in an indetermindate direction, finally landing up in Suntec's Country Manna. After I'd eaten and they'd nibbled, we gallivanted a while more, and they checked out exercise equipment for Huixuan to maintain her SCGS figure before they went to their Canada pre-departure trip at IBM Towers.

They tell me that our school smart cards can't be used as EZ-link cards anymore. Damn. And apparently we're cheated everytime we attend performances where the singers move around, or use mics, as 30% of the sound is pre-recorded. Or something. Which was why I heard 2 people singing for the first few songs of RGS's Cinderella the Musical this year - the girl playing Cinderella (Xuanming), came in 4 bars early.

Canadian education seems cheap - they'll pay C$10,500 for a year's tuition. Wah. And it appears that the University of Toronto doesn't offer non-Honours degrees anymore. Kind of beats the point, doesn't it.


I visited the barber before I went home, and there was a cat sleeping on one couch, which didn't stop me plonking myself on it (the couch, not the cat).

And when I got home I tried the mangosteens that were left behind Saturday by the Soka people. They are indeed very good.


Read and written: "scgs figure, my foot. it's a big fairytale."

Heard:

"I think I get uglier when I come to RJ" (got) - Geraldine

"That's what I want to know. Why do girls like to shriek so much." - Huijun

"What happened to your palmtop?" - Ibid

"[On my opinions on ACJC girls. The utterer claims she was thinking in Cantonese] He was saying they have small balls" - Anon

"Koh Tsin Zhen is ugly? I am uglier than Koh Tsin Zhen."

"Zhengjun is very ugly"

"I would like to learn how to hack, to crack"


I found at least 3 familiar names in the article below. And it appears there are more among the expedition!

THE Y SCENE
Students heading to East Timor

BY KOH TSIN ZHEN
Feb 14, 2002

EAST TIMOR and school field trip may not sound like they belong together in the same sentence.

Yet that's where 20 students, aged between 16 and 19, are heading for their March holidays.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Cai Xu Sheng, 18, said: "I want to see for myself what East Timor is like. I hope to bring some joy to the children there."

The East Timor Humanitarian Programme is organised by Youth Challenge, a charitable, non-governmental organisation.

BUILDING A LIBRARY

The Singaporean team aims to collect 25,000 English and Malay language storybooks to set up a library for the orphans there.

The original library was burned down during the conflict in 1999.

The team also plans to collect school shoes, uniforms and bags for the East Timorese.

It's a programme with many dimensions, and that's why preparations began as far back as last September.

Valerie Woo, 19, a recent graduate from Raffles Junior College, has been in the thick of the planning.

She is presently volunteering as a full-time co-ordinator of the Timor project.

That means she arranges for sponsors, transport, the collection and packing of donated toys and books, and co-ordinates the requirements between schools and companies.

"It's a busy schedule," she said. "I'm enjoying it and it's valuable experience."

"After all, as Mr (Vincent) Lam (executive president of Youth Challenge) often tells us, 'How much you get out of it is how much you put into it'."

Team members are putting in night-time dance practice as well, in preparation for a concert to entertain 400 orphans in East Timor.

But Johaness Chen Yihan, 17, a second-year Raffles JC student and co-team leader of the East Timor contingent, is not complaining.

"It's physically tiring, but I want to help the orphans," he said.

Team members pay a one-off participation fee of $1,500 although, with actual costs reaching twice that per head, members are encouraged to approach private companies for funds.

Present sponsors include the Lee Foundation, Pilot Pens, Rhema Movers and Tat Seng Company.

SAFETY FIRST

Above all, the Singaporean team's safety remains a concern.

The parents of Lim Tse Yin - the 16-year-old co-team leader and a Hwa Chong JC student - initially baulked, she said.

"But it's actually very safe now in East Timor, and with the added security offered by the presence of the UN peacekeeping force and SPF officers, I've no worries."

Parents The Y Scene spoke with were comforted by that.

Mrs Rita Woo, 45, has consented to her daughter Valerie going.

She said: "I trust that the best effort has been taken towards ensuring the team's safety."

The Singaporean team can't speak the East Timorese dialect of Tetun, but that isn't seen as a barrier.

Tse Yin summed it up: "The language of love and compassion is universal."

MOTIVATING SINGAPORE YOUTHS TO VOLUNTEER

THE East Timor Humanitarian Programme will take place from March 9 to 17 this year.

It aims to bring cheer to East Timorese children who lost their parents during the riots after the 1999 referendum vote for independence.

The organiser, Youth Challenge, also hopes to use the trip to cultivate the spirit of volunteerism among Singaporean youths and to motivate them to reach out and make a difference.

This is in line with its motto of youth empowerment and in grooming young Singaporeans to become responsible global citizens.