Dictionary Day/Boss's Day/Rose Festival (Texas)/Oatmeal Day
2003-10-16 @ 11:50 p.m.

Today was really a day of ups and downs. It actually started with a down, because I had to rewrite all the sections in my Humanities Scholarship application form, as I neglected to read the part where it states everything is to be in black ink. Anyway, I completed most of it, but ended up sleeping at 2 am, because I was trying to sort through all my certificates and see what was actually worth including! So I was feeling very stoned on the MRT today. Then I still had to do a rehearsal for the graduation ceremony songs. After that, the lessons were basically quite forgettable, except for Biology, because Mrs Low gave me files for being the class representative for the subject. She also gave everyone this cute key-chain. It's two immiscible liquids, one coloured and one clear. We all ended up trying to emulsify the coloured liquid, irritating Mr Ong during Chemistry. The dampener of the whole day would have been when Mrs Smith announced she wanted us to bring our mindmaps to the holiday lesson. I suppose I really should put in some effort on them this time, it's less than a month to my Literature papers after all...

Fast-forwarding to after our Higher Chinese remedial, which was not very effective as usual, though I did manage to write a relatively decent French conversation during that time. I was on my way out of school with some guys from class when we bumped into Mr Ong outside the staffroom. It was damn funny, Mr Ong was like, "Are you going for lunch? Wait for me." So we waited, and we ended up eating pasta, thanks to Brian. Mr Ong treated the four of us to tiramisu, and he was saying that to tell the quality of an Italian restaurant, you must sample the tiramisu. How interesting, the tiramisu contains cognac I think, and some other alcoholic substance. I should have recognised it sooner, but it was mixed with the coffee taste. I still haven't drunk any coffee, in case you're all wondering. I'm resigned to not getting any, though I swear if I don't get to hitch a ride from our dear Yi-Xun tomorrow, I'll scheme to get a blended coffee somehow. I sense I'll fail anyway, so no harm trying right? We're going to thrash Yi-Xun's house upside down...

Moving swiftly along, there was French. Wonderful, the first time I got an essay back that had mistakes that were almost totally grammatical, meaning they could have been avoided and the essay could have been perfect. That's what Mme Faussat said at least, which I think was meant as some form of praise. Considering that the essay was done during Tuesday's lesson, without the aid of the dictionary, I think it's safe to say that my French is significantly better than my Higher Chinese! I was born in the wrong country man! Anyway, she spent quite a fair bit of time discussing Benjamin. She's read his diary entry about her. She said that she actually laughed when she read it, but that was from a personal perspective. As a teacher, however, her stand was quite clear. Freedom of expression is all well and good, but from what we've told her of the whole big mess, she views what he did as being cruel, which I'm inclined to agree with. She also remarked that he'd get into trouble one day, which wouldn't be a very good thing considering the size of Singapore. As things are right now, it's quite hard to tell what exactly Benjamin gained out of this whole fiasco. Granted, he may have made his point, but at what cost to himself? Ultimately, when you go against authority, you're on the losing end, especially when it's teacher versus student...