Sean Lim
Seventeen,
Virgo,
27 August 1992.
sean_lim92@hotmail.com

Hello,stranger number

I've been expecting you.

2:55 AM I'll be frank with you.

Most of my friends are still trapped within an academic timetable, and I only get to see them once a week at maximum. I take what I get though.

This crazy 1/2 year long holiday (O levels ended Mid Nov '09, Poly only starts Late Apr '10) has opened a huge window of time for me to do some thinking. Real serious, high level deep thinking.

I ask myself the same question every now and then. A question everybody has to answer, not to anybody, but to himself/herself.


Well, I sat back, looked up at the ceiling, shook my legs and racked my brains.

I took my O levels 2 years back, which I failed.
I took it again last year, which I didn't do exceptionally well for.
I got into the forbidden poly, if you will.
3 years in poly + 2 years serving NS. What next?

Wasn't that question really simple?


Funny how a single question can break you down into pieces instantly. This act of answering such a simple question to yourself has it's devastating effects, especially if you had no clue on what you were doing with your life.

Which brings me to my next point, a quote which is shockingly true.


Usain Bolt didn't become the world's fastest man by sitting around at home. He had a goal, which was to score Gold in the Olympics. And he did, after years and months of grueling training.

LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton didn't become one of the world's largest fashion conglomerates overnight. They wouldn't be where they are today if Antonio Vuitton didn't have the vision of wanting to build the company into a worldwide corporation.

Barack Obama didn't become President of the United States just like that. He ran one heck of a campaign, with only one sole purpose - which was to gain the trust of the American people that an African-American can run a country as well as a White person could, or even superseding the Whites.


What do the three abovementioned examples have in common?

1. There was a goal in sight.
2. There was a game plan charted out.
3. There was a fire sparking towards the goal.

Now you may ask me, what has this got to do with you? You're certainly not a sprinter, not a luxury goods chaser nor are you planning to become President of the United States.

For someone like me, 17 going on 18 and still schooling, comparing my studies with a few of the world's greatest achievers has nothing wrong. Where do I see myself in 20 years' time? Unmarried, living with my parents, 9 to 5? Married, living in a 4 room HDB flat, driving a Japanese car? I shudder at these thoughts.

Trust me, I've thought as far as the names of my children. Hahahahah.


But today, I'm a student. And I'll do what's expected of a student - excelling in my studies. The past 11 years were dark, and I have no desire of going back there again.




2:45 PM
Singapore is seriously becoming a F.T. Island. No, not little girls running around screaming "Ahhhhh Five Treasure Island!!"

We have become a Foreign Talent Island!

I was purchasing clothes the other day for CNY. And it so happened that both the cashiers serving me were non-Singaporeans.

"Good evening Sir, we are........promotion. If you buy........10% discount. But you must.........before next month."


What are the "........." you might ask. I don't know either. Two things to take note of:
One is that they speak too softly.
The other is that they have zero articulation skills.

Well I absolutely do not blame them as English is not their native tongue. Of course, thumbs up to them for at least making an effort at it. Some people still can't hold a proper conversation in English after 40 odd years of their life (a.k.a. my mother)

To end the conversation, I took out my ATM card and answered with a rhetorical question:

"NETS?"

4:25 PM
We were stealing chocolates from dispensers like this scattered throughout Nick's school, 12am in the morning. (The slot's mechanism is loose. A little tug is all that's needed to get free chocolates)

Maybe Nick's school wasn't as "dead" as everybody thought it was. It's damn fun at night when nobody is around as the security guards can't do anything to chase you out. All you have to do is claim that you're rushing a project. Hahahah.

By the way, you know what's awesome?



A Diesel Time Zone watch, that's awesome.

6:08 PM This year's CNY falls on February right? I love how the lunar calendar likes to differentiate itself from others by changing the date of when a year starts/ends. I mean, who gets to determine these dates anyway? That guy must have the best job in the world. HE GETS TO DETERMINE WHEN THE YEAR STARTS! Is he lucky or is he lucky.


Like what my Dad always emphasises on every CNY, everything has to be NEW.

Hoorah, I've gotten a pair of new shoes.
Hoorah x2, I've gotten a new wallet.
Boo, I haven't gotten any clothes.
Boo x2, I'm delaying so much time in buying clothes that I don't wish to end up rushing to the usual labels for refuge (Topman/River Island)


On a final note, the highlight of every CNY is visiting my Dad's NS buddies. They're all financially independent (which translates to fat ang baos), have really cute kids and they are all bloody hilarious. I swear to you, my command of the Hokkien language improves by leaps and bounds every year I visit them.


P.S. - Posting results are on Wednesday...hello Repu.... poly

2:32 PM I was hopping around various Polytechnics this past week as it was time to make our JAE application.

So my score is actually...neither good nor bad, it is somewhere in between. You guys do know by now that I am dying to enter a Mass Communications course. But the cut off point is like, within the range of 10 to 12 la (which I didn't score)

Thank the genius that started JPSAE. So for the first few Polytechnics which Jian Hao and I went to, they were immediately turned off when I told them my score. One even told me to apply into Republic Poly instead.

So...I kinda had enough of the uncaring treatment that the lecturers were giving to me (okay fine, I deserve it since I didn't score well enough, but CAN'T A MAN HAVE DREAMS?), so Jian Hao decided to go to Nick's poly and tell the lecturer there that he scored 13 points. We'd like to see how differently she would respond to us.

Jian Hao: I scored 13 points
Lecturer: Oh that's very good what, and you got an A2 for English right? I'll see you when term starts!
(Nick and I were sniggering away)

So it was time to leave. The lady was very impressed with Jian Hao and was looking forward to see him in school during April.

Lecturer: May I get your name?
Jian Hao: Err, Sean.
Lecturer: *looks to Nick* You?
Nick: Nicholas.
Lecturer: *looks to me* You?
Me: Jian Hao.
Lecturer: Oh, Zhi Hao!
Me: No, Jian Hao
Lecturer: Oh, Jian Rong!

The funniest thing about it all was that we were only less than 30 cm apart from each other, and I was telling her my "name" point blank. She still couldn't pronounce it right.


Lesson learnt: Reality is cruel.

12:27 AM

9:51 PM
But anyway. I've already learnt that you reap what you sow. So in order to enter that course which I want...

I'll work for it.