maniAC: An ACJC site

My two greatest enemies

By Obsession

My two greatest enemies, I have realised, are myself and time. I will start with an explanation of the latter.

There are 24 hours in a day, and most of this time is spent either in school or asleep and admittedly these two categories aren’t always separate. But with upcoming tests and terms almost upon us, it seems that the 24 hours allocated are hardly enough to get through everything we are supposed to do within the day. I for one have planned to start my revision for terms, but by the time I’m done with the tutorials, studying for tests and other pieces of homework, the only “revision” I’ve done is listing the topics that will be tested.

Making all this worse is the pressure some teachers put on us to understand and finish our tutorials even before the lectures for that topic have concluded. Working systematically though my never-ending to-do list has been the plan for some time now but knowing that the only end in sight will come at the very end of the year is rather discouraging.

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ACS Oldham Hall Orientation Games 2010

by Phuoc Minh 2SD1

Photographs by Tuan Anh 2SA1

It was a humid Saturday afternoon, the 6th of February. Dressed uniformly in black tees, the boarders of ACS Oldham Hall were buzzing around in excitement. The clock ticked, its hands moving impatiently to the moment that everyone was anticipating. With bandannas donned and faces painted, members of the eight houses (Yellow, Beige, Green, Red, Grey, Light Blue, Navy Blue, Purple) braced themselves for the upcoming war. Drum beats accelerated. Colourful flags gracefully flew up in the air. The time had come.

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Old and New – My Class 1AA1

by Ong Hong Zhang

This week’s post did not come easily. No matter how hard I stared at the bowl of soup I had for dinner, I still did not know what to write about for maniAC. Still, as I reflected on the past week, I was suddenly sure of what to write for this week’s post.

I am in the class 1AA1, and I’m proud to be in it, not just because ‘1AA1′ is symmetrical. My first reaction towards my class however, was very different. In fact, I was horrified to be in 1AA1. In 1AA1, there is a very good mix of boys and girls, which is 3 boys and 20 girls. Some boys might be excited by the idea of that due to their raging hormones, but I was crushed. Crushed by the idea of having no one to discuss soccer with, crushed by the idea of having to spend time with a big bunch of the most complex creatures on Earth, and crushed by the idea of having to endure endless photo taking sessions.

I rest my case.

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Cross-Country 2010: a maniAC special

Students with long memories may remember my last post on this subject, in which I dubbed the 2009 race The Deluge. Well, Cross-Country 2010 was pretty perfect. Give me hot weather over water-logged graphic calculators any day. Anyway, here is the maniAC Cross-Country 2010 Special, which focuses on Runners, Manpower and Other Strange Sights.

Cross-Country 2010: Runners

One minute they are being menaced by small children on bikes…

…standing there like a herd of polite sheep:

Next thing you know, they are off like a pack of V-sign-flashing greyhounds:

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Cross-Country 2010: Manpower

You think running in the hot sun is difficult? Try standing under the hot sun for hours in a fluorescent yellow polyester vest:

Another indispensable bunch (carrying a stretcher that looked rather enticing to some misguided people):

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Cross-Country 2010: Other Strange Sights

Our living, breathing version of Stonehenge: Soccerhenge!

Well, THEY look happy:

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When the Singapore Slingers came for a visit

By Dee

At about 4.30 pm one Thursday afternoon, the concrete floors of the basketball courts echoed with the characteristic sound of basketballs being dribbled. It appeared to be any other basketball training session but it wasn’t. As though trying to contain their excitement, the basketballers were heard asking each other in hushed tones, ‘Are they here yet?’ ManiAC was there to witness the Singapore Slingers descending upon ACJC.

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Introducing: Our Future…

By Obsession

While some of the other CCAs were still announcing welcome tea dates and advertising their CCAs, the fresh batch of J1s here at maniAC, fresh from their orientation experiences, were being put to the test. They were asked to write a short article based on the topic Old/New and, with the help of their creative juices, they produced some brilliant articles for us. There’re also a few who have chosen their own topics. Our juniors’ articles have already been uploaded on the site for your reading pleasure so do take the time to read through the work done by the future of maniAC.

We hereby debut our fantastic juniors, side by side with our established writers Daphne, Pepper, Soapy, Christy, lala and Rach.

Old and New – First Foray

By Elizabeth

Coming to ACJC was (honestly speaking) one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made in my lifetime. It definitely is a huge leap from secondary school and is so different, so diverse, and so much more vibrant.

Upon receiving my O level results, I was torn between the JC and Poly routes because, in a way, I was spoilt for choice, like many others. I had pictured ACJC as an unattainable target for the whole of secondary four, but here I was, together with the 950 students of our current cohort, putting ACJC as my first choice.

Two weeks later, on the first day of school, I really didn’t know what to expect. Upon arriving at the school gates, crowds of ACSians stood by in rows and welcomed us warmly with applause and shouts of cheer. The school hall was filled with an array of colours, contributed by the students of the 74 schools that were posted to ACJC.

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The English Premier League and a Bowl of Chicken Soup.

By Ong Hong Zhang

For the past few days, I have been racking my brains, desperately searching for a source of inspiration for my very first entry in ManiAC. Luckily for me, inspiration struck today. Over a bowl of chicken soup.

To me, the EPL is just like a bowl of chicken soup. It’s loved by people all over the world, of all ages, and most importantly of all it brings out a warm feeling in anyone who partakes in it. A bowl of chicken soup must contain a few key ingredients for it to taste decent. Similarly, a few key teams in the EPL make the league so very special.

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AC Celebrations 2010 – CNY and Valentine’s Day

By Christy

“We’re symbols, and proud of it.”

The day was 12 January, 2010. This writer was experiencing dread and excitement simultaneously at the prospect of going to school. Dread because of having to endure a full session of mass PE (otherwise known as “torture sessions”) even though it was Friday and supposed to be a “day of celebration” of Chinese New Year – we would have been able to miss PE if it had been just one period later!!!! But excitement at the same time because it meant I could skip 3 hours of lectures, which would be replaced by a concert that would last longer than any other school concert I had ever attended.

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AC Celebrations 2010: more pics

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Old and New – The Voice In My Head

By Annabelle

2010 has certainly been a “new” year in many respects. I’m in a new school with new friends and I’m wearing a new uniform. But the thing that has most definitely changed the most is the voice in my head, and no I am not a maniac (pun intended). It is not a voice which asks me to do sinister things but is instead a voice which allows me to have monologues within my head.

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