Often more than not, we were known to be the “ah beng” school, or “that neighborhood school at Hougang”. Nothing to make a strong proud impression or too shabby to refuse acknowledgement, just an average school.

Be it in Poly or when asked which sec school I came from, “Montfort Sec” normally draw blank looks and I would liken the school being distinguished for 3 character:
1. The ah bengs.
2. Our badminton as we are national contenders every year.
3. The botak football field which no matter how many times of restoring it with grass, it will end up empty due to our ever enthusiastic football fanatics.

As time passed and every one of us moved on to their next phrase in life, Montfort still remained relatively unknown except for the cameo in some national science competition which we starred in the first episode and got kicked out.

But now, we can add another item to our distinguished character: We emerged tops in the Gears Of War(GOW) tournament at the Interschool eGaming Challenge organized by Funan DigitiaLife Mall.

And all these were in the approval of the principal, Mr. Simen Lourds who felt that schools are “fighting a losing battle” prohibiting their students from gaming. Instead, he chooses to educate his students to prioritise their time – stressing the importance of their school work while supporting their gaming interests to help them “realize their potential in non-academic areas”

Kudos Monfortians, u lived up to the school motto, Age quod agis and did us proud again.

posted by ikaira @ 11:45 AM, ,


It is one of those days again.

With all the freedom in the world but limited within this basketball sized building,
With a daunting 1 year 2 months left on my contract but time passes like a crawl.
With all the financial limitation within this heartlander.
With the evil of the mind, all this added together is depressing.

The market has been kind thou. thats the only source of anticipation for me to come to work. Fancy being turned on just by seeing little numbers jump in a small black box.

How appealing.....
How achieving....
How useful....

posted by ikaira @ 5:32 PM, ,


and so, after 3 mths of daily (or should i say nightly dota) to keep the stress level under control, the finishing line is finally insight. 1 more mth to the exams and the first quarter is done.

I can fell the examination aura already.

posted by ikaira @ 5:54 PM, ,


was coaching the kids today when this happened:
Me: Malcom, wat class?
Malcom: 2G, next year Jan will be Pri 3, another Jan will be P4, 5, 6, den sec 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and afterwards become an adult.
Me: We dun have sec 6, only until sec 5, wat do u want to do when u grow up?
Malcom: I want to be a soldier.
Me: why a soldier?
Malcom: becos i eat very slow, my mum says when the canteen officer count to 1, they can finish their food le, and if the officer count to 3, they will take out a whip so long(pointing to his child sized shoulder to fingertips) and the back will have cross.
Me: is that why u want to be a soldier?
Malcom: Yes.
Me: Ic.

posted by ikaira @ 12:29 PM, ,


Was browsing tru the daily papers when I came across “The super-rich rarely give their wealth away, as seen by the philanthropic lists, but why do they hang on to so much money”

Mr Warren E. Buffett is the runner-up on Forbes’ Billionaire list. But in terms of philanthropy, he gave more the US$42 billion for charity.

Theses kinds of actions always…. always burns a hole in me. He was born poor just like most of us struggling out of the poverty trap. With little financial support from his family, he became a guru in the financial industry. And well, hes one of very few who made it, and made it in a very big way. Nobody wants to be a Nicholas (the one we saw as a SAF advertisement) everyone wants to do something, be someone, not being constrained by financial means and numbers.

It is even demoralizing to know that even after trying hard, you might not be able to guarantee yourself a place in just mid-class society, not to mention the high life that these ppl are living in.

From the article, Oracle’s founder, Lawrence J. Ellison, who’s net worth last year was around US$16billion. At 10% rate of return, he wound need to spend more than US$30million a week simply to keep from accumulating more money than he already has. Mr Ellison would have to spend US$183000 an hour just to avoid increasing his wealth. Their fortunes are growing so fast that even their offsprings will have problem keeping the figures down and under controlled.

What a problem I would love to have.

Out of the list, only 4% of the richest Americans felt that providing an inheritance for loved ones ranked in their top five reasons for saving. Then why do they need to save so much money for? Maybe they love money, not for wat it can buy, but just for itw own sake. Perhaps they get something from having money – clout, power, the ability to dominate an industry. Or perhaps these are just competitive people who care about their position compared with other ppl on the list.

The other billionaires will probably think he’s crazy, but it may make him the only rational person on the list.

posted by ikaira @ 12:36 PM, ,


was clicking tru yahoo's finance section to check out how did DJIA did overnight when this caught my sight - Forbes' Billionaires List.

The ranking of the world's richest people as estimated by Forbes magazine. Listings include rank, name, home country or state, age where known, wealth in billions of dollars and source of the money.
Forbes says the research that went into compiling the rankings began in early 2006 and ended on Feb. 9, 2007.

out of the 840 ppl who made the list. there were 4 singaporeans, only 4 singaporeans out of the 840 ppl. in percentage, it is only wat.... 0.48%, not even hitting the .5% threshold to be rounded off as 1%.

Theses are the 4 singaporeans who did us pround and placed us on the world map once again.

118. Ng Teng Fong, Singapore, 78, $6.1, real estate

167. Wee Cho Yaw, Singapore, 78, $4.7, banking

194. Kwek Leng Beng and family, Singapore, 66, $4.3, hotels

583. Zhong Shen Jian, Singapore, 48, $1.7, real estate

so, sporeans, if u wanna make it out on the global arena, these industry might just be ur stepping stone for greater achievement.

how come we do not heard of these names in our everyday life? those that we can blab out anytime are like ron sim, kenny yap, creative's boss, hyflux's boss. maybe it shows tt when u made it big, you'll wanna disguise all the wealth and live anonymously.

when all of ur do not hear about me anymore, its either i had already made it, or i had just ........... died.

best of luck heartlanders who are trying it so so hard to make it out.

posted by ikaira @ 9:37 AM, ,


Btw, I just got a pay rise.... woot. after one year of coaching, I finally got a pay rise. the feeling that my work is being appreciated rawks, nar actually passion has to be sustained with financial motivation la. morever it is a 50% pay rise ler, where to find. hopefully this additional 5 bucks per hr will not contribute to the trading companies due to my new found love.

posted by ikaira @ 3:44 PM, ,


The commander once said " Singapore do not accomodate late bloomers " Browsing through the Straits Times's Scholars' Choice further amplifies this concept. It is fucking demoralising to know that things you want are not within your reach, the prizes are reserved for the elites or so they called. Some truly deserved it without a doubt but others just so happened to be guided properly by their constructors. Nevertheless, a few mins of my life to construct a resume seems adequate in earning my chance of winning the coveted throphy.

On the gd side, at least the trading account is finalized and ready. Maybe its the start of a great day or maybe the constuction of a downfall. We shall see in days to come

posted by ikaira @ 1:09 PM, ,