In a blink of an eye, an entire year has gone by. I'm currently in my second year of Secondary School. In a way, I'm duly satisfied with myself , managing to survive the tough transition between Primary School and Secondary School. In this context, toughness refers to constant pressure, overloading homework and never-ending stress. This was because of the introduction of a couple of new subjects and the TfU framework .
Sometimes as I skim through the daily newspapers, I can't help but notice the number of parental complains written in the Forums section. Most of them were about children facing school problems ,typically about stress . Most of them would go about saying that the school had been supposedly flooding children with homework and exercises. The children had not any time to relax or go for some recreational activities. I agree that the Singapore Education System is overly harsh on us sometimes. We know that the government wants to produce scholars of their citizens. But, overloading doesn't help. On the contrary, it might potentially cause depression .
As this uncomfortable thoughts flutter in my mind, I try to look on the bright side. After all, if I were to study hard and do well, the benefits would be limitless. For example, I could go to a prestigious university , get a degree or scholarship , then go on getting a wonderful job equipped with a wonderful salary, and maybe later start a happy living family. I could say that the world would definitely be my oyster.
So as I weigh my options, I can only sigh and tell myself to never give up and chase my goals in spite of all setbacks. As the Victorian Motto goes " Nil Sine Labore" Nothing really can be accomplished without hard work
Monday , a day commonly associated with boredom and as the typical Singaporeans would call it "sian".
was prevalent. Sadly, my poor monitors were selected.
test with flying colors and keeping my dream of going to I.P. alive.
I am going to reminisce about the eventful Saturday i just had.
I woke up reluctantly to the constant wailing of the alarm clock. As I recollected my senses, my father walked into room and said "Get changed". I immediately shot out of bed, and then took a quick therapeutic shower before donning my Scouts Uniform. It was going to be the first meeting of the New Year. The new Secondary 1s were going to join us. I couldn't help but be 
pumped. After a quick hearty breakfast, off I went to school.
The meeting began with the usual fall-in and flag ceremony. Then it was time for the dreadful physical training. The new Secondary ones were dreadfully exhausted after the long run we had at East Coast Park. Luckily, I had already become accustomed to the hectic exercises.
An innovative game of Assassination All-stars followed. The primary objective of the game was to capture your opponents’ staff and bring it back to your base. The secondary objective was to disarm an opponent by pulling scarves out of their pockets. The game was rather violent. “Casualties” finished the game with partially ripped pants, bruises, abrasion and scratches. I was no exception, suffering an abrasion from scraping my knees against the ragged concrete. But all in all, the game was meaningful as it thought about teamwork and co-operation. It tested our mental abilities as well in terms of strategy. Sadly, my patrol only managed to get a measly one win out of the 4 matches we had played.
Right after the game, we proceeded on to our tests. Scouts were tested on different components of the Scouts Standard. Scout Standard is the most basic progress badge for scouts. It requires a certain proficiency in first aid, knots, foot drill, map work, National loyalty and other aspects.
Luckily, I had already completed the tests a week before. I was pretty happy slacking around and playing Sudoku, when I was rudely interrupted by Fabian, a fellow scout mate. Apparently, 
he was a chatterbox and suggested to build a rope ladder to the seniors. He gave us an insane time limit of ten minutes. In the end, we were one minute late and had unnecessarily made some mistakes. Hence, the punishment given was 20 push-ups. The task was indeed useful as we got to apply our recently acquired knowledge of knots in practical settings.
The senior, with a sinister look, then commanded us to play a severely twisted version of soccer whereby we had to get down on all four limbs, chase after a single soccer ball and attempt to put the ball past the goal. All of this had to be done on a incredibly painful surface. We were separated via height which meant I was thrown to the vertically challenged team. I was feeling a little discriminated.
As we patiently waited for the new Secondary ones to finish their lecture, the senior tested, Dominic, another scout mate on his competency in Chinese. It turned into a hilarious affair as he had forgotten to write basic Chinese characters. Although, I felt a little sorry for him because he was being tortured, I could not help curling up on the floor laughing hysterically. Lastly, it was dismissal. All of us with tired looks on their face were glad we could finally return to the comforts of our cosy homes.
I sincerely hope that the new Secondary ones had a great experience. In my opinion, the meeting had allowed them to appreciate the outdoors more, allowed them to interact more and most importantly allowed them to learn more life skills
As soon as we got out of the plane, the cold and at the same time soothing evening air struck my face. On first impressions Macau seemed like a really decent place but I was proven wrong later. We checked in our luxurious hotel for a quick rest before heading off into the night.
DAY 2
This was so much better than the 1st. Loads of sight-seeing to do !" Yay "! We explored some of Macau's famous tourist attractions including Senado Sqaure and Gaia Hill. Also, we got hopelessly lost that day. We were apparently searching for a flea market ( My mother enjoys shopping and I hate shopping ) when the taxi driver misinterpreted us and brought us to a whole different place.
DAY 3
This was undoubtedly the most boring day of the Holiday. We headed to Zhuhai, a little city separating Mainland China from Macau. My mom and sister was full of life, eagerly awaiting to the start their retail rampage. However, my Dad and I , being males with no enthusiasm, literally spent the entire day sitting down at coffee shops and food joints. My mom and sister proceeded to shop till 5. making it a magnificent grand total of 6 hours of retail therapy. How fantastic ! Imagine the plight I was in.
DAY 4
Hong Kong incoming ! We got to experience the exhilarating ferry ride to Kowloon early in the morning. The sad truth was that this day wasn't much different form the previous. We spent the day at the scenic Stanley Market and the night at Mongkok's world famous Ladies Market. Either ways, I think Hong Kong's a little too congested , It is really hard to move around. The street signs are really confusing as well.
DAY 5
Home sweet home. Yes ! I thought to myself. Finally. Back to classic civilised 
Singapore. We woke up reasonably late and after a sumptuous buffet lunch , headed to the airport and flew back over to the Little Red Dot.
Alright basically this is my 1st ever English Journal Post .
And it will be about "speedcubing", my very interesting hobby. Firstly, a simple introduction on it.
Speedcubing is the activity of solving a Rubik's Cube or related puzzle as quickly as possible.
Apart from the regular 3x3x3 cubes,higher order cubes have patented and created such as the 2x2 ,through 7x7 ( As shown in the picture above). The current world record for a single solve of the 3×3×3 is now 7.08 seconds, set by Erik Akkersdijk (Video Below).
