Simply put, these mistakes, they've learnt from it, and have led to shape the person they are. It has been my observation that these people who have been shaped, they're bound to be nice.

So, what are these mistakes? The stories can range from how that person might have lost thier virginity, how thier families have been torn apart, and perhaps, for me, how I flung my academics in just one crucial year.

but crap, i'm not talking about myself here. I'm talking about all those humble people who've become stronger individuals through thier own life's stories. These people are really as genuine as they appear to be: they're just very nice. I think these people are just damn underappreciated, and other fags get all the respect. That's how humble these people are.

Behind many of the people in my class, they've got stories. Curiously, compared to secondary school, there are many more people here that I can look up to, relate to, and learn. For that, i'm glad. Yes, ITE isn't somewhere one would actually want to go to, but if anything, it's one hell of a second chance, waiting, dying to be seized.

On another note, i'm having serious last-minute repercussions on the five College West campuses combining into the new mega campus at Chua Chu Kang next year. I'm going to miss Clementi. Sure, it may be small, even possibly smaller than my Secondary School. It may be old, 20 years old. However, there's cozy about things around here in Clementi. It's a school solely for Business, and that's the nice part. It's small community, and our small size, I believe, is our strength (deja vu Singapore's own size versus other bigger countries). You can recognize familiar faces around you here. I'm going to miss that when we become a mega huge community at Chua Chu Kang. The students here, compared to other ITE campuses, have been told that they're better well-behaved, too. There's actually discipline here, something which may not even be evident in other ITE colleges. What will happen to the nice bunch here? This was my biggest fear when I stepped into this school: people who scare me. It's gone, but it may come back when we join a bigger community at Chua Chu Kang. My biggest fear might return: fear of scary people, all over again. I hope for the best when we move. Because discipline-wise, Clementi's got it down. It would be a shame to see it all ruined just because they combined all the 5 colleges in the west in favour of a bigger and cooler campus.

Damn it.

after school today:

Queensway shopping center has got all of these jerseys that you can customize an' sht. The girls FINALLLYY got thier jerseys. (girls + clothing = you do the math, guys.)

But anyway, Queensway Shopping Centre is a really good place to get good clothing/shoes/whatever at a really, REALLY good price. It's cheeeaaapp!

We needed to wait for the jerseys' order to arrive, so we had to wait for some 3 hours. Shafiqah's dad picked us up, and we went over to Shafiqah's house, at Pasir Ris, which was really far. Gosh, how early do these people have to wake up to get to school.

Shafiqah's dad came across as a nice guy, but Shafiqah told us...stories about him. Her mum and dad are divorced. She said that her stepdad was the one who's always there, and is the one who buys her stuff. Which is funny, because her biological dad (the one who drove us to the mum's house; they don't live together) really came across as a nice guy. Maybe he was just playing a figurehead, because i'm pretty sure Shafiqah wouldn't actually want to lie about why he and her mum divorced.

Anyway, Shafiqah's stepdad was at home, but not her mum. Shafiqah had MIO tv, and there was this movie-on-demand service on it, so we watched "Scary Movie" on-demand. It's supposedly a funny, cocky, and cheeky movie, but fuck it, it was just overall plain cheap humor. It's a laugh, but not a very good one. It was just so frickin' cheap. Yeah, so what if i LOL'd during the movie? It was kinda...dumb, and disgusting, if you ask me. It was like as if the script for that movie was written by a 8-year old.

But ah well, it was a laugh.

@ 5.30PM+, shafiqah's (biological)dad came to pick us up, and dropped us off at queensway, again. He really does come across as a nice guy.

we were at queensway, when it was nearing 6.00+PM. They STILL didn't have the jerseys ready, and Siti was getting a little...less than relaxed. Just was we were distancing for the store, the lady came out to us, and said that the jerseys had come. We got them, and it was at this point of time where we would say a happy farewell to a not-so-composed Siti.

Dinner was at Mac, Shafiqah's dad's treat. Or Shafiqah's. heh. Ancherle's friend came over, and we would part ways from here onwards also. Shafiqah had some class she was supposed to attent, but she decided to skip it. Shafiqah just wanted to hang out, and asked me along. So, Shafiqah and Me part ways with Ancherle and her friend, and Shafiqah's suggestion: we head into town. It was 7.00PM+ at that time, I believe. It was pretty late, and I was afraid if or not i'd be able to make the last bus home (which is at 11.00PM). But heck, we just went.

We exited Queensway Shopping Center, walked past IKEA alexandera, and through Anchorpoint. From the bus stop there, we took a bus into town. Transferred buses at Dohby Ghaut.

Shafiqah really knows her locales really well, and I only knew half of which. She was pretty much the street-smart tour guide. We shared stories on the way, and it will be on this fateful day, where I was finally able to understand why her relationship with her boyfriend was so. It's hard to put into words, but she did it. Hopefully, I got what she meant correctly. I can't remember what else we talked about, but she surprised me when she said she missed school. I thought she didn't like school, which was probably why she was gone for so many lessons. But no, that wasn't the reason. She actually likes school. Finally, someone who sees school the way I do.

a brainwave struck me: today was the 27 of July, 2009.

So, we walked the entire crowded stretch of Orchard road (i was still in school uniform, lol), and reached ION. The mall looks normal on the outside, but heck, at the point when we entered the mall, we had NO idea what we were diving into.

Shafiqah's "plan" was to go right up first, and then look around the place. I thought ION Orchard would be another dissapointing mall with cramped spaces, but how wrong I was. ION was full of open space, with even open areas with benches/couches for you to sit down and small talk. The stores were all mostly expensive retail outlets. You know, brands which are expensive, premier, and never heard of. However, there were 2 stores which caught major attention from Shafiqah and me. The first store was Prints, a store selling distinctly-colored notebooks and folders. And damn, those notebooks were really pretty. the Con side of it? You wouldn't want to look at the pricetag of those notebooks. Yep, notebooks are now expensive also. But hell, they make good gifts. I'd pay for one, to give it to someone special. ^_^

The next store was actually a Faber-Castell store. yeah, wtf. Faber-Castell actually has a store now, and it was selling (or showcasing?) really expensive pens. They go well with the expensive notebooks, I guess. But daaamn, Faber-Castell is king when it comes engineering stationery.

ION had escalators all over the place, seriously. And for some weird reason, some of the escalators skip floors. But if you were to look around, you'll notice that ION has seriously a ton of escalators. They're all over the (spacious and open) place. At one point of time, while we were going up a seriously long escalator which skipped an entire floor, I counted that there were nearly 10 other escalators within my sight. Wtf?!

no, really. If you're going to ION anytime soon, do make it a point to lookout for the escalators. They have them installed all over the mall. Escalators are all over the frickin' place.

at Level 3, there was the much talked about art gallery, and ION art (oh, jeez). I heard about ION art in the news, so we went in to check it out, only to find that it was largely an empty gallery. CRAP.

However, there was a video being screened, showing the features of the mall. When the screen showed "4 floors, 4 basements", Shafiqah stood up, and her eyes widened. My eyes were transfixed to the screen, too.

seriously, 4 basements? no kidding?

Shafiqah and I then quicky took one of the many empty escalators available, and brisk walked on them down, down, down, down, and downnnn.

Sure it was, and the basement was HUUGE. ION's basement was basically an area dedicated to food, and oh, the smell. Here at the basement, the stores were less of the brands, and more of the practical stuff (heh. I like) There was this Japanese store, which seriously reminded me of Daiso, except that this one wasn't $2 everywhere. But still, it was good stuff. Burger King was at the basement too, and wtf. You should go look at it. Walked past other unheard-of brand stores, some of which, sold really nice clothing/shoes/whatever at decent prices. I'd still choose to get my clothes at queensway rather than here, though. Heh, i'm such a cheap guy.

We also checked out some Sony Ericson's handphones, and damn it. The new models are pretty. There a Apple shop opposite, and that's when Shafiqah told me that she used to have the ipod nano, but lost them.

Shafiqah checked out other stuff, while I just walked about, and trailing behind, checking other stuff on my own. Crap, ION is such a huge place. We couldn't complete seeing the entire mall in the 2 hours we had. As the time approached 9.00PM+, I said we had to leave. We took an even longer escalator up, which, this time, skipped 2 floors. Bam, we were at Orchard MRT station. The Mall and the station are linked.

Didn't talk on the train much, because we were both rather shagged. We took the train from orchard, and transferred at Raffles Place, where we parted ways. Man, what a run we had. I can't believe it was actually a schoolday today. But who cares? I didn't regret a single bit.

Managed to get on the bus home, without having to fear for the last bus. Reached home at 11.00PM+. My mum didn't ask me why returned home so late. Heh, if she did ask, my answer would probably keep her jaws hanging.