Flight KUL-DXB and DXB-LHR

Note: For those of you who has read this yesterday, read it AGAIN. I was not done!!!

Apa khabar? Semoga anda semua di Malaysia sihat walafiat dan senantiasa gembira. Senyumlah sikit LOL. Saya di sini baik tapi sejuk sehingga menggigil-gigil. Pakai shorts dalam rumah lagi!

Before I post pictures of my flights to America, just wanna share with ya what I did for the past few days. Actually nothing much lah.

Yesterday yesterday’s dinner. Burger made of leftover beef, pickles, cheese, salad with Thousand Island dressing.

Omgggg it tastes sooooo good especially when I put it into the microwave and the cheese melts. Yup, that’s my dinner! In America, you can make your own burger however you want it to be! You can even oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh… THE CAT JUST PUKED ON THE CARPET!!!

Oh my gosh. Mom went out to work and dad’s out for a coffee break. So I am all alone in the house with ALL the cats and Tasha, the dog. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Should I clean up the vomit? After they think it was ME who puked. I just checked out the vomit and it’s gross!!!!!

Yucks! Anyways, yes, as I was saying… you can even eat beef with Tortilla chips… well at least that was what dad did. You can do anything with whatever that is on the dinner table, it’s really up to you. And another thing about America is that — you get to waste food! Lol. Not really waste lah. But it’s totally okay for you to not finish your food if you’re full.

In Malaysia, my parents will force me to finish up my food, die die also must finish! Sheesh. Anyhow, it was just salsa that I threw away.

Yesterday I helped my dad transfer woods to the shack with a wheelbarrow.

My host dad, Dan Murray likes woodworking so yeah. Basically he makes wooden tables, chairs, furniture, you name it!

When he first told me that I was going to carry wood I was like “Omg are you serious?! I am just petite 5 foot 5 Asian!” LOL! The other day when Bill came over to our house, I told him that it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Malaysia all year around. He looked at mom and dad and said “No wonder he’s so skinny!” Hahahahahaha. I am considered skinny here lah padahal in Malaysia I am like one of the fattest in class.

Gosh, it was so tiring dowh! I sweated for the first time here. Yes, you can sweat in below 5 degrees weather. Certainly gained a muscle or two. I mean… I have never carried woods and logs in Malaysia… ever in my life! And those woods weigh 100 times heavier than Pn. Lim Bee Lan’s bags. Being a school prefect and carrying all those bags in the morning was no doubt a training ground for me for this. Lol. Well, I guess this is rural life.

Had Mexican rice… with cheese for dinner. First rice in America

Was watching NCSI with the family. Not really my type of TV show but oh well…

Can’t wait for the new season of The Amazing Race and Survivor to start! The Amazing Race and Survivor are some of their favorites too so it’s good.

One of my happiest moment here in Wisconsin is when I finally figured out how to use the radio! Mom gave me this alarm clock slash radio gizmo thingamajig but I had been too lazy to fiddle with it. FINALLY, yesterday before I went to bed, when I was saje-saje tuning the radio… I heard JASON DERULO AND LADY GAGA on air. Omg… *tears of joy*

My host family is a Christian family so it is only fitting that they listen to Christian songs and all the slow slow instrumental stuff. And oh, I am not allowed to download any music or videos here at all for they are illegal. The police have their own ways of finding out who’s downloading what so yeah. Unless I get it from I-tunes though… but I am sooo not wasting my money on music.

Okay! Time for flight photos. Will introduce the YESers of 2010 as well alright?

Btw. I arrived at KLIA at 9:30PM. Had the briefing, sorting out, checking in of luggage and yadda yadda till 12:00AM. Flight was at 2AM. We flew on Emirates. And just so you know, EMIRATES ROCKS!

That’s me with my bags

Najmuddin (Selangor – SMKDJ), myself and Chandini (Penang)

Briefing and all.

myself, Soon (Sabah),  Khaled, Amalina (Pahang), Jocelyn (Selangor – SMKSJ), Merryn (Perak)

Raxief (Pahang), myself, Navee (Selangor), Ikmal (KL), Eva (Negeri Sembilan), Kee Boon (Pahang)

Khaled, Soon, Azhan (volunteer – YES returnee ‘07), me!

myself, Lu Quan and Alvin!! They came for Einul lah. Pfft. Lol.

My hand carry

I stuck all those country and state badges on it. Looks awesome right? But Adrian was like the first person who will ring the buzzer at the customs and immigration would be me! Hahahaha. But everything was cool. The only time the buzzer rang when I walked through was at KLIA. I think it was from the metal strip of my shoes. When I took them off, everything was fine tho.

When it was time for us to check in our luggage, I saw Zac and Chandini unpacking their stuffs in front the check-in counter. My guess is that their luggage bags were overweight. Prior to this, we were warned that our luggage must not exceed 20kg. Mine was like 22 or something. So I started to freak out and hurriedly unpack mine as well before it was my turn to weigh and check in my luggage. Took out my Polo Haus shoes and blue jacket hoping that it would be enough to push it below the maximum weight.

AND IT DID!!!!!!!

I am so happy.

But ↓ luggage weight = ↑ carry-on weight = not good. Le sigh.

Group 4 or Fantastic Four as I always call my group.

That was when we were about to head to our terminal. Notice some of the parents up there?

Lekha (KL) and I on the Aerotrain to our terminal.

Mohana (Sabah), Ikmal (KL), myself, Johann (Perak), Raxief (Pahang)

That’s us fooling around in the airport.

Emirates. There were stars on the dinding of the aeroplane. So cool right? *jakun moment*

Sat beside I-Vonne (KL)

Supper

The only thing I dislike about Emirates is their water bottles/containers whatever you wanna call it. Omg. They were so darrrrrrrrn small even 10 of them also not enough to drink!

That was the number of water bottles I-Vonne and I ordered altogether but it was still not enough!

We kept hitting on the call button ’cause we were sooo dehydrated till the air-stewardesses literally ignored us for a moment. Lol. And ohh ohh ohhhhhh, not just that! They don’t provide straw one you know. So when I pulled the plastic sheet off, HALF OF THE WATER SPILLED OUT. Habis basah kuyup my jeans. So inconsiderate! I should find some time to write to Emirates so they have regular-sized mineral water bottles the next time I fly on Emirates

In the lavatory. Lol. Giler no life, I know.

Promised myself to sleep on the plane because I know how tiring it can be if I don’t. BUT’ I CAN’T!!! Watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs but it was sooooo boring so I stopped watching halfway. Talked to I-Vonne for a bit. Shared stories about our life. Was kinda nice actually.

And then Raxief called me using Emirates’ inter-seat telephone service (it’s free of charge!). And I eventually learned how to use it and started calling people. In the end, EVERYONE started calling EVERYBODY. Lol. Thank God for destructive interference of sound waves

More food Emirates fed us well.

I-Vonne and I

Dubai, babe, we’re reaching Dubai.

In a blink of an eye, that 7 hours to Dubai passed and before we know it, we’re in Dubai! One thing that I never knew about Dubai is that it’s COLD. Not as cold as Wisconsin lah but for a start, it was cold.  I was wearing shorts thinking that I’ll be so hot till I melt Well… I was sorely mistaken. It was a bad idea to wear shorts. Baaaaaad idea.

Hi Dubai!

Sara (Sarawak), myself, Najmuddin, Shohael (Terengganu)

At some terminal. We were waiting for the other YES ‘10-ers on shuttle bus #2 to arrive.

Khaled and I

YES ‘10 in Dubai y’all!

Sonia (Sarawak) and I.

Everyone was assigned with a partner among the group. Sonia was my partner so I gotta take good care of her. No, wait. More like she took good care of me ’cause I was jumping everywhere… snapping photos and all. Hahahaha.

Amalina (Pahang) and I.

While waiting for our connecting flight to Heathrow.

Omg. Tasha just shamelessly climbed on me and is sitting down comfortably on my lap as I am typing this. Aduhai, how lah to type like this.

Everyone just loves to watch me blog. So flattering. Hahahaha.

Me! Haha. I look so pale, I know. Blame Emirates for being stingy on water.

And then everyone decided to go walk-walk around the airport. I volunteered to bagsit the bags for everyone. How kind of me! Haha.

Still can pose! LOL.

Nadia (Selangor) and I

I got so bored so someone took over the bagsitting role while I had my chance to explore the Dubai Int. Airport.

Ikmal, Mohana, myself and Johann

Team Fantastic Four waiting for the next flight to Heathrow.

Our group faced some minor issues with one of the officers at the terminal. Some hand-carries were apparently too heavy and had to be checked in or something (surprisingly mine isn’t one of them ) Bla bla bla. Everything turned out fine. Got a free Emirates carrier bag for my shoes summore! But the zipper broke while I was on the plane! Lol.

Sat with Kee Boon this time with I-Vonne next to her.

Before the plane even start to take off, as usual, I hit my favorite button on the console — the call button Nope, not for water. This time, I wanted another carrier bag and… poker cards! LOL. Since I am traveling, might as well start a deck collection right? Took her ages to return back to me. Apparently, carrier bags are only given at the terminals to those whose bags are overweight. Hahaha. It was only me, the muka tembok-ed one, went and ask for one. Haha. But she managed to find me those poker cards though. Yayyyyy!

Raxief, I-Vonne, Kee Boon and I

In photos, Kee Boon looks like some totally innocent chic right? DON’T be fooled yo! Haha. This girl from Pahang is so corrupted even more so than me! SOMEHOW, she was talking about something provocative and it got elaborated into a long conversation… I-Vonne and I were like… stunned. Haha.  Are they all so horny in Pahang?

Breakfast? Lunch? Tea time? Dinner? Supper? We were traveling for so long I lost track of time.

Greedy for more Emirates freebies, I pressed the call button. Again. Well I asked one of the air-stewardesses if they had any more free stuffs to give away other than poker cards and that super nice air-stewardess came in with pens, color books and color pencils. LOLLLLL.

Might as well not waste it right?! Hahahahahaha. I spent like 30 minutes coloring the book man.

YES ‘10 in the house! Look at Fizi. Lol.

London babe!

Another thing great about Emirates is that there is a wide range of movies to choose from. But for some odd reasons, I find it even more interesting to look at the map for 7 hours rather than watching movies. I would take photos of the map every now and then because somehow, I find it very fascinating

However, I did play Pong with Soon (sort of like Ping Pong only on the little LCD screen) Out of 3 games, he swooped my butt twice and I hate it!

Soon, Kim and I

More food

Those Emirates air-stewardesses were so friendly that they even helped take a photo of us using their Polaroid camera… you know those cameras where you can print the photos right on the spot? They thought that it was just like the 5 of us young ambassadors from Malaysia… tiba-tiba a whole congregation of YES ‘10 participants started to squeeze right in. You should see the look on their faces. Haha.

Thank God we were all standing in equilibrium or else the plane might just tilt to one side. Lol. An almost complete group photo on the plane. Now isn’t that cool or what?!

Kee Boon, myself, Fizi and Raxief before we got of the plane.

YES ‘10 say cheese

That’s me with the Emirates air-stewardess.

To be continued…

 

My life in Wisconsin

Hey y’all!

I have arrived in Wisconsin. It has been three days. It’s now 7:35AM, January 18, as I am writing this. Nazrin and I took the United flight to Wisconsin and had landed at the Wausau Airport at 3:15PM. Nazrin’s a fellow YES scholar and he is living around the same area as I am but we’ll be going to different schools though. I’ll be going to Athens and he’ll be going to Marathon. Had a short orientation with umm… some AFS lady whom I forgot her name. I think Nancy’s her name. I am not sure.

I know MANY of you back at home do not know where the hell Wisconsin is. I’ll just post the map up and you find it yourself.

To be even more precise, I am being hosted in a town called Poniatowski. It’s a really really really really small town with a population less than a 100 or something. And I am staying in a 100-year old house. So yeah. I am so worried that I might break the stairs while walking or the roof top might just come crashing down my head. LOL.

I am living with the Murray family. So technically, I am Matthew Murray — not Moo, not Ming, not Monroe, not Perizkova

When I arrived at the Murrays, dinner was already served on the table. So the first thing I did in the house was… EAT No wait, I placed my luggage and bags down in my room first, then eat.

My first dinner/first meal ever in Wisconsin. Had potatoes and beef.

There was this Thai girl called Gigi (pronounced as G-G) who was with us. My host mom, Peggy was hosting her for a couple of days ’cause Gigi’s parents were out on a vacation in Nevada. My host mom happens to be Gigi’s liaison. Gigi’s on the year program under AFS as well. She has been around since August last year. So yeah, it helps a lot to be able meet another exchange student from a neighboring country on my first day ’cause at least there’s someone who can understand me.

On the dinner table, I felt kinda lost and dizzy. Have been on 5 flights in less than a week — stopping in three different continents. KUL – Dubai, Dubai – Heathrow, Heathrow – D.C., D.C. – Chicago and finally Chicago – Wisconsin. It might sound fun and all but it is downright tiring. To get to America itself takes over 30 hours plus the hours in the airport.

Host mom showed me around the house. And she was telling me about her experience in Malaysia… and then… I STARTED CRYING. I wasn’t home sick or anything like that but I was just so dizzy, tired, mentally and physically exhausted and the thought of being all alone without my friends made me a little emotional that night.

Unpacked most of my clothes and went to bed IMMEDIATELY. Yeah, that’s pretty much it for Day 1. No wait, I forgot to mention about the cats and dog in the house omg it’s almost like a zoo in here. My host family has 1 dog named Tasha and 3 cats. I forgot what are their names but omg… they are super annoying. Shhhhh… don’t tell my host mom

They are like almost EVERYWHERE in the house and sometimes I doubt whether it’s just 3 cats ’cause they keep appearing everywhere I go. Sometimes the cat will be up on the computer table or sleeping next to my shoes or down in the basement and when I was taking a poop just now, the cat was INSIDE the toilet. Omg. There is this one cat who will run up to the toilet bowl whenever I flush the toilet and will just stare at the water as it goes down into the hole. On my first day, I was so scared that it was going to jump inside the toilet bowl and have itself flushed away so I kicked it out of the toilet. Lol.

Cat!

Cat!!!

Catttttttttttttt!!! Aduhai.

Day 2

I had a great sleep the night before. Slept from 8PM to 7 the next morning. Had breakfast with my host mom and dad and Gigi. After breakfast, I went out for a walk outside the house with Gigi.

As you can see, I am literally in the middle of nowhere.

My host mom told me that some deer or bear or cow or horse might just run across the street at anytime and that’s completely normal! 

Mom picked Gigi and I up to church. It’s called the Highland Community Church. My host family are Protestants so there is not a problem about religion issues and stuff. While in the car, I found out that I had lost my camera casing!!! Must have dropped it somewhere on the snow while I was walking with Gigi or something. Luckily the camera is with me. Thank God! Hallelujah!

Anyways, one thing I notice different about the church in America and the church in Malaysia is that American church sings more and preaches less whereas Malaysian church sings less and preaches more. And oh, church services in America are relatively shorter than in Malaysia, at least the one I went to is.

After that, we went grocery shopping at Walmart and Aldi.

Host mom and I at Aldi. First grocery shopping in America so must take picture. LOL.

And I know my hair is like super flattened now. Most of the time I wear a cap or those winter beanies. Hence, the hair turns out kinda weird.

Oh my god. GRANOLA BARS!!! You guys know how much I love granola bars right? Omg. I am in heaven man!

I bought the blueberry one.

Went back home after our grocery shopping. My host mom let me try on some of those winter boots and skis lying in the attic. And guess what? THEY FIT ME PERFECTLY. Omg. *Cinderella moment*

So yay! No need to go out and buy!

After that Gigi and I went out for a walk (further away from the house ’cause now we have our boots on) and skied! Whoo hoo. It was so fun… and cold as well. Oh yeah, the temperature here is like 0 degrees Celsius or less. To know how cold I am talking about, try sticking your head into the freezer for a day. But they have heaters in the house so I am good.

Btw, I managed to find my camera casing back. It was on the road. So yay! It was a great day. I hope it’ll always be that way throughout my six months here in America.

Gigi and I

Snowwwww…

The neighbors’ cows. I didn’t want to go too near to them ’cause I didn’t want to be trampled on and die. It’s only my 2nd day here.

Me!

Making a snow angel! Haha.

Taa dah! I know it looks like crap but what the hell, it was my first time okay!!!

Look at my back!

Tee hee…

My host mom and I

Skiing.

Umm… there are two types of skiing. The one I am doing in the picture is cross country skiing. I can’t wait to do the downhill one!

Gigi and I attempted to build a snowman but it was an epic failure ’cause the snow would not pack. The snow is like too fluffy to make a snowman so… yeah. No snowman yesterday. But I WILL make one. You guys just wait!

Host mom served us hot apple juice. It’s not the apple juice you buy from the stores but FRESH apple juice. They used the apples that they grew in their garden place thingy outside their house. BEST apple juice ever. Hands down.

After that, we sent Gigi home. She lives like 15 minutes away from us. She literally lives on top of a shoe shop. Her family owns a shoe shop so yeah. I can get free shoes. In my dreams, yeah! Haha.

Her town is like super cool ’cause there’s a cinema and a gym a few blocks away from her house. Not fair! The only thing I have here is deers, cattles, etc. And oh, there are TWO cemeteries nearby my house. One’s a Polish cemetery and another is a German cemetery. And apparently, the two descents cannot be burried in the same place so that explains why there are two cemeteries.

I took this photo because I wanted to show you how dark 5:30PM is in Wisconsin. Yes, 5:30PM. So weird right?

Once we got back, my bro, Bill (he’s like 29 years old) and his fiancee dropped by our house and we all played this game called Farkle. I found this interesting because in Malaysia, you don’t usually see families playing board games or any other games with each other at the dinner table so this is something new to learn. I guess activities like this bind the families together in America.

Mom, Becky and Bill

Family photo

The score sheet.

The person who reaches 10,000 first wins. As you can see in the photo above, I was in the lead. WAS. Mom overtook me and she won in the end. I was sooooooo close into beating her. Darn it! Ha ha. I know I am very kiasu.

That’s Bill with Tasha, the family dog.

That’s about my first two days in Wisconsin. Will try to update as often as I can. I just came back from school this morning and Principal Micke said that I’ll be starting school next week when the 2nd semester begins.  So in the meantime, I have a lot of time to blog I got my school sweatshirt today. It looks cool.

I have yet to experience any culture shock in America. As in those oh-my-gosh ones. But the things here are different. Like the switch. In Malaysia, you press the switch down to turn on whatever you wanna turn on (like the fan maybe?) In America, you gotta push the switch up in order to turn the heater on. Btw, I don’t see a single fan in the house but they have heaters instead.

And oh, the cars are different too. In Malaysia, the front passenger seat is on the left whereas in America the front passenger seat is on the right. I am soooo used to sitting on the left… almost ALL the time I would open the door on the left  and say “OOPS. WRONG SIDE!” Lol.

And did you know that over here in my town Poniatowski, the water is so clean that you can actually just drink water of the tap itself? On the second day when I wanted to refill my water bottle with water, I asked my host mom, “Mom, where can I get water to refill my water bottle?” And she was like “oh you can get it from the tap upstairs ’cause the dishwasher is running” And in my mind, I was like “I think she heard me wrongly. I need water to drink, not wash my bottle!” Lol. Apparently the water here is from the well so it’s really clean and so far, I have not experienced any tummy ache or diarrhea… so I am good.

But for some strange reasons, I have been drinking more milk than water here. The milk in America tastes 1000000 times better than in Malaysia. I might have drank so much milk that I may have actually grown an inch taller or something.

And yeah, the weather is so cold out here that I blush 24-7. And umm… I am not sure about Malaysia but they seem to be talking a lot about Haiti in the news in America.

So far so good though. Do you think I should go out and ski now? But Gigi’s not with me and it will be weird to ski alone.

//

 

America, America, America

Hey y’all,

America has been awesome.

I am still at the National 4-H Conference Centre, Washington D.C. It’s my last day here though. Will not be meeting my fellow YES ‘10 mates till in July.

I am so tired right now. We toured around Washington D.C. for almost the entire day. So yeah. It was really cool, nonetheless.

The facilitators encourage us to keep a journal. They give us this journal thing but I prefer to blog. To summarize my experience so far right… despite it being just 3 days, it is really really really an amazing one. Really amazing.

Today, we had a short orientation in the 4-H centre and then we left for the Embassy of Malaysia. We met Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis there. He isMr. Ambassador of Malaysia and also a member of parliament in Malaysia. It’s cool.

Chandini, I-Vonne, Syuhada, Rasyiqah are all watching me blog. Omg. So no life

Matt seriously GET OFF THE COMPUTER LA OMG YOU ANNOYING PERSON AHHHH EVERYBODY IS LINING UP TO USE THE COMPUTER

Rasyiqah typed that. Cis! It’s so like America’s Next Top Model here. The girls fighting to use the phone… get it?

Yea. Soooo.. anywaysssss… after that we had a budgeting activity at the Union Station. It’s like The Amazing Race. We were given $10 to spend and we must get toiletries, calling card and souvenir under a 50 minutes time limit. So yeah, you can imagine.

Andddd… ummm… next, we went to the Capitol Hill, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Thomas Jefferson Memorial and yeah. I think that’s about it. If I am wrong blame Syuhada and Rasyiqah ’cause they are the ones who feed me with the info

We took a whole lot of pictures. I can’t wait to post it up on my blog and on facebook. I took like 575 pictures already! Trust me, it’s… REALLY NICE.

The best part of is when we were at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. The monument was really…. cool and I think I sort of teared. It was quite an emotional moment for me, personally, because I have been waiting for this opportunity for all my life. I am here in America y’all. My wait has ended. I am living my childhood dream.

My YES ‘10 friends are treating me really well so you guys back home don’t have to worry about me. And I have been browsing through facebook a lot to get updates about your college life for some of you. Sheng Ling, something that I found out recently was… you are in Taylors with SO MANY of my primary schoolmates. They are all really cool people. I am so sure that you’ll be having so much fun with them.

To the rest, I hope that you are fine. Please contact me. I miss you guys. Kai Yee I hope you are reading this. Where are you?? Ryan, Yongming, Eng Khim, Lu Quan, etc. Please write to me.

There is no MSN Messenger on the computers over here so yeah. I NEED TO CHAT WITH SOME OF YOU ASAP.

Hopefully there are better computers at my host family’s house or even better… laptops for myself

Okay, I won’t expect much after Faisal, Yah Tyng, Azhan, Kak Azreen, Kak Siti will ALL kill me.

Tee hee.

Gotta go now. The bus will depart at 4:45AM, local time. And it’s almost 11PM now.

Will be flying on United Airlines to Chicago for a transit and finally to Wausau, Wisconsin. I think my host family will be picking me up from the airport. I am not sure.

Einul and Raxief are on different flights despite them being hosted in Wisconsin as well. Nazrin’s on the same flight with me though. There are some others who are on the same flight to Chicago as well. I forgot who.

Gotta sleep now and PACK. So see you guys later. Bye.

 

Washington D.C.

Hey y’all. Again, I gotta keep this really short. It’s pass our curfew time and I am out at the recreation room when I am not supposed to. There’s computer, foosball, arcade, snooker, etc. here. It’s awesome.

Arrived in Washington D.C. at 8:30AM Malaysian, 9:30PM local. Ikmal and Chandini are right beside me as I am typing this. Pfft. Annoying kids.

Had orientation the entire day today. Going to the Malaysian embassy tomorrow. Will be meeting Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis.

And and and… we played snow just now!!! Tee heeeeeeeee. But D.C. is not snowing lahhhh. Just played with the left over snow that is on the road side but fun, nonetheless. Sorry I can’t upload ANY photos right now ’cause there is no place to cucuk my cable and all. So yeah.

In the meantime, get updates from my facebook

Rasyiqah is going crazy beside me. Omg.

It was snowing in Heathrow though.

We didn’t get detained and interrogated much at the customs and immigration… except for a few guys at the Washington D.C. airport.

Omg. Rasyiqah is such a busy body. And so is Hafidzi. No no, he is using his stupid nokia thing.

Anyways, another thing… Dubai is colder that I expected it to be.

Umm… in America, it smells different here… to me lah. Quote my journal

I asked Fizi whether he thinks it smells different here but he said no. He thinks it’s just me. Pfft. I am still smelling it now. It’s like a sweet, woody smell. Ahh….

Lol.

We were given this journal book thingy and we’re supposed to like write on it so yea.

Lekha is taking my photo of me… blogging. Yayness. Haha.

Rasyiqah just said:

When is my novel going to launch soon?

Lol.

She wants to cry ’cause I am taking such a long time on the computer.

And and and and and and… for breakfast, we had scrambled eggs, muffins, bread, sausages.

Fizi said:

I am betting that I will kiss at least one girl in the States if not I’ll belanja you fries

Ugh. Yeah right *rolls eyes*

Continue… there was this majestic-looking cereal bar thing. Omg. I am in haven.

And btw, I am staying at the National 4-H Conference Centre. When the bus first stopped in front of the 4-H Conference Centre, I was like “Omg! Am I at the White House?”

Seriously, it’s so cool!

And omg. Khaled, Rasyiqah, Fizi and Soon are ALLLLLL looking at me blogging. “Ohhh myyy gaawd” — it’s a YES ‘10 thing. LOL.

Annnnndddd, the apples in America are bigger and shinier. Haha. Sorry I am like mixing every experience of mine up. But whatever.

Rasyiqah is like seriously dying to reply her father, mother, grandmother, grandfather,sister, brother, boyfriend, niece, nephew, god knows. Pfft. Annoying brat from Johor Bahru. She just whacked me.

Her dad is panicking, she says. Little does she know, the more she talks, the longer I’ll stay in front of the computer.

Oh yeah, I was taking a poop in the toilet when I arrived but I couldn’t FLUSH. Omg. And I had to fill water up into the dustbin and pour it into the toilet bowl. LOL.

Rasyiqah is giving me the stare. She said I am not a gentleman.

Loving D.C.

Can’t wait for Wisconsin.

That’s about it.

Rasyiqah will be happy to know that I am ending this post. Bye.

YOU GOTTA SEE THE PICTURES.

 

AFS-YES

Hi.

I got to make this really really really quick.

Last year, I applied for this program called the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program. It’s a six-months student exchange program to the United States fully sponsored by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

And I made it till the very end.

A total of 46 students all over Malaysia were chosen. 3 students from SMK. Subang Utama made the cut — Einul, Khaled and I… which I think is the first in the history of the YES Program because there is not one year with 3 participants from the same school. Even 2 from the same school is a rare thing!

Last year, a senior, Arif Azizan was on the program as well. You know… the athlete guy. One of the Gemala books — go check.

I am going to leave really really really soon. I have to be at the airport at 9PM. Flight’s at 2AM. Will be heading to Dubai and then Heathrow, London and finally Washington D.C. Will be staying at D.C. for a few days for an orientation. The 46 of us will be separated in D.C. after the orientation as we are all placed in different parts of the US. I’ll depart to Chicago, Illinois and if I am not mistaken, someone will be picking me up to Wisconsin.

Yeah, I am placed in Edgar, Wisconsin. My host mom has hosted a Malaysian before last year. I am not going to lie. I am a bit bummed. I wanted to be the first Malaysian she has ever hosted. But that’s okay. And oh, 5/6 others are going to be hosted in Wisconsin as well. Einul is one of them. She will be in Madison, the capital of Wisconsin. That lucky girl!

The nearest to me would have to be Nazrin. He will be hosted in Rib Mountain, Wisconsin… a few miles away from Edgar. And by the way, 5/6 people going to Wisconsin is A LOT. The most is Wisconsin. By the way, Khaled got Virginia.

I am not really really really excited about it, somehow. I am feeling rather… emotionless. Like… everything is happening so quickly. To me, I feel like the Chemistry paper just ended an hour ago. And in an hour later, I am going to the United States of America… living my dreams. Living my teenage life to the maximum. For those of you who had grown up with me, you would know that this is everything I ever wanted. Everything that I have worked so hard for.

But, it feels so soon to me. I had always felt that time flies. But… this is just… way too soon. I need to stop. I need to BREATHE.

I still have a lot of blog posts to complete. I have yet to blog about prom and 2009 as a whole. But in short, 2009 is truly an awesome year for me. I have always said “I want to end high school happy”… I certainly did.

I gotta go now. Thank you for the texts and calls. Annie, Ryan, Kai Yee, Sheng Ling and Elaine and everyone else back in Subang Utama. Thank you all… for… everything. I can never ask for anything more.

My friends from YES 2010.

I wish I can post more photos. But I really have to go. Not sure whether I’ll be able to blog as often as I usually do but I’ll do my best.

 

Prefects’ Appreciation Night

Omg. I am so busy lately and I still have so many things to blog about. From now onwards, I think I am going to blog in point form.

• 19^th December 2009 (3 weeks ago *gasp*)
• Restaurant D’ Fortune
• Dinner with the form 3, form 4 and form 5 prefects
• It’s free!
• Good food
• The mushroom soup sucks though. I dunno why Joanna likes it so much.
• Disappointed at the prefects who did not come *shakes head*
• Happy to see those who came *tear. haha*
• Yongming and Michelle were nominated for best dress (guys and girls category respectively) and won *clap clap*
• Elaine’s impersonation of ‘Valentine’s Day’ was very disturbing. LOL.
• The prizes for the games are so… Bilik Pengawas-ish. Ok lah! At least something better than nothing so I am not complaining. Haha.
• Nice speech, Joanna!
• It was a fun night overall.

Seniors

Sheng Ling and I

Sheng Ling, Joanna, Zhui Mun and I

We multiply

While Revathi was singing Paparazzi, Joanna suggested that I go up on stage and give her a flower. I didn’t know I could pluck the flower out from the basket, so I gave her the whole basket Damn retarded. Haha.

Singing the Prefects’ Song for the last time for the year.

Joanna giving her speech.

Fuhhh, awesome photographer in action! haha.

Elaine and I

Joanna and I

Thanks juniors for organizing the appreciation night! It was nice working with you guys
♥

 

Mexico 2006

I know it has been 3 years ago but I don’t think I have posted a proper blog post on my trip to Mexico before. I have been wanting to blog about this for the longest time ever. It was the best experience of my life and I want to make sure that I remember it and have it fully recapped in this blog. You don’t have to read it. Let me warn you that this will be a very long post.

3 years ago — late August, 2006 to be even more precise, Wei Lian, Nadzlin, Farhana, Muzaffar, Yongming, Alya, Annie, Hanisah and I were chosen to represent our country, Malaysia to the 9^th International Theory of Constraints for Education (TOCFE) Conference held in the city of Leon, Mexico. There was this assignment my classmates (2 Gamma) and I had to complete, namely The 100 Clouds Project. We were given a booklet and we had to mencatatkan (no time for making this post perfect. lol.) our dilemmas and problems in it and solve them using the thinking tools that we were taught. The nine of us were obviously the awesomest of the bunch so we got chosen Just kidding!

We were told that we were selected just two weeks before we were supposed to leave. Can you imagine getting our travel documents and all done in that super short amount of time? I begged and begged and begged my parents to allow me to go (initially they said ‘cannot’ ) Cut long story short, I managed to convince them with a lot of crying and wailing at home hahaha and yayyyyy, finally, Mexico babe!

Oh, Farhana and Yongming denied the offer (their parents didn’t allow them to go ) Muzzafar backed out at the very last minute for reasons only God knows… we were going the next week already! For whatever reason, Muzzafar, if you’re reading this, you made the WRONG decision.

Two days before we left, there was this press conference thing with The Star in school which was super cool. Pn. Norhaliza, our penyelia petang back then, asked us all to wear the prefect’s blazers so that the school emblem will appear big big in the newspaper

I remembered I was damn pissed off with Alya that day. I forgot why. I think it was because I wanted to sit next to the interviewer but Alya was there and she insisted to move. So I merajuk-ed until we were at the airport. Hahahahahahahaha. And then at the airport I asked her if she brought the push pops and she replied “opps! I forgot”… Pfft. Lagi I was pissed.

But we berbaik-baik in the end (everybody say aww…) We were going on an adventure of a lifetime! No point not talking to each other. It would be sucha waste!

The airplane I was on.

I was such a jakun then… imagine me being on the plane itself.

Alya and I (friends again. haha)

Eating some chicken or something. It was an exciting experience! My first airplane food that I can remember eating!

We arrived at the Chiang Kai Shek airport, Taipei, Taiwan 4 hours later. We were walking around the airport with Hanisah hunting for tea/coffee while Mrs. Saras, Wei Lian’s mom who was also our chaperon was looking for medicine for Nadzlin who was experiencing major jetlag. Nadzlin looked really sick.

Hanisah and I — sexy in pink

Alya and I posing like Nadzlin. She’s the super jetlag one.

Before boarding the plane to the United States.

Alya — I took this for her! We were like “I take for you, you take for me” kinda thing.

I commented that she looked like a slut in that photo and she was like totally fine about it! LOL.

Some random granny Alya and I saw in the airport. LOL. Can you believe we took this without her noticing?

I was damn enthusiastic about getting a secret shot with her. After many failed attempts thanks to my lousy photographer, Alya, we finally did it! There.

Yay!

I don’t think she had a clue that she’s actually in the photo! Alya and I were laughing like mad by ourselves till everyone else were giving us the glare.

And then off we go to the United States.

I was so tired but I couldn’t sleep. How to sleep in an upward position you tell me?! In the meantime, I cam-ho a bit lah! Time is Gold yo! And oh, we didn’t get the window seats this time.

Alya and I

Mrs. Saras and Wei Lian. Hehehehe.

And beside Alya was Hanisah who was… DRAWING her clothing line thingy. Wtf. People all trying to sleep, she, on the other hand, was drawing. Just when I felt like I was finally able to sleep, the stupid big TV in the airplane was blasting noise like nobody’s business and to make matters worst, some idiot opened the window and thus blinding my eyes. For 17 hours, I sat in the plane like a stone. Omg.

At about 10PM, we finally reached the Los Angeles International Airport, California, The United States. When we were at the immigration center, there was this suuuuuuuuuper loooooong line. So I invented this game — “So You Think You Know Their Nationality?” Hahahahahahaha. We were all like guessing the nationality of the people who were there and “checked our answers” by looking at their passports. Like for the Filipinos, their passports are blue and has the word “FILIPINAS” on it I remembered there were quite a number of Filipinos around while we were there.

In front of the gift shop.

Me with my passport

At the immigration. LOL.

Once we passed the immigration, we RAN to the ticket counter which was like very far away. Mrs. Saras was frantic. I thought can slowly slowly walk and take my own sweet time and take photos all… but no — “RUN”, said Mrs. Saras. And so we ran. Apparently, we are late for our connecting flight to Leon and we must hurry. It was just like a scene in The Amazing Race. Fuhhh. Exciting. Hehehe.

And once at the ticket counter, the ticket lady behind the counter said we couldn’t board the flight ’cause we were too late. *Gasp* Mrs. Saras did the talking and pleading while the six of us stood behind and gave support by giving the ticket lady our kesian look *pouts* Hahahahahaha. But deep down inside me, I was quite ecstatic ’cause missing that flight meant we could hang around L.A. for a bit

There were also some issues with our luggage being wrongly sent to God-knows-where. Cut long story short, we managed to board the Aeromexico flight to Leon and everything else was fine.

Eating the hamburger

Lying on Alya’s lap. Hahahahahahahahaha.

After an entire day of not sleeping, I was finally able to sleep throughout the flight from California to Leon, Mexico… thanks to Alya’s super comfortable lap. LOL. Yes, I literally slept on her lap for 2-3 hours. I slept throughout the flight till I forgot to fill in the custom form. When the plane was landing only I started filling it up.

And oh, I forgot to tell you that it was SO DAMN COLD inside I almost froze to death on that plane

And once the immigration center in Leon, I still had not completed my custom form yet plus I had a very bad running nose at that time. After writing one two words… I had to blow my nose. LOL. Everyone was done with theirs already except me and I was soooo scared I would be left behind. But Alya waited for me lah. I LOVEEEE YOU ALYA. Thanks for being super awesome and super patient with me. Haha.

I experienced my first culture shock at the airport. At the entrance of the airport, a line of Mexicans greeted us. As I walked towards the first person of the line, she embraced me with a hug. And so we hugged and I thought that was it. I wondered when would she let go of me ’cause it had been like around 7 seconds already. So long one the hug? Hahahahahaha. And then the lady cynically said “Are you gonna kiss me or not?” giving me a hint that I should kiss her! So I kissed her on the cheeks and repeated this with the other women. Kesian me… I was just an innocent 14 year old kid! Hahaha.

5:00AM, Mexico.

We stayed in a suite in Mexico Plaza. I went to bathe IMMEDIATELY.

The bed.

The lounge.

I turned on the TV and some news was on air and they were talking about Vicente Fox, the then President of Mexico. My first news other than Buletin Utama TV3, Berita NTV7, etc. Exciting!

Tee hee.

After that, I fell asleep on my bed. Was supposed to meet up with the rest at the lobby at 8AM but I overslept! I was sleeping so soundly even Mrs. Saras, Wei Lian, Hanisah, Annie, Alya and Nadzlin banging outside my door also I cannot hear. LOL. They must have thought I had died inside or something. So what they did was… they sent Alya to climb through the window and into my suite to wake me up. Hahahahaha.

I was finally awakened and to my absolute horror, I saw Alya in front of my face. In my suite. What the hell?! Hahahaha. Luckily I didn’t sleep naked or anything like that. And everybody was laughing about it TILL TODAY.

ANYHOW, we went to the Plaza Mayor mall with our new Colombian friend, Ana Maria and her mom, Mdm. Francis. I forgot who fetched us there. Not sure if we took the cab. I think we did.

At the mall

Annie, Wei Lian, Hanisah, Nadzlin, Alya and I

That’s me again. I pose at every angle at anytime

Mrs. Saras and Mdm. Francis

And then we walked to Walmart which was a few blocks away from our hotel.

Hehehe. As you can see, I was a total jakun snapping photos away like there is no tomorrow.

And in the evening, we went out for a walk around downtown Leon. And oh, in Mexico, I learnt that the correct pronunciation of ‘Mexico’ is Meh-hee-co.

Some theater

Alya and I

Us

Some cathedral

In front of Plaza Mayor at night…

Hanisah was dying to shop but I was dying NOT to shop. See the disadvantage of being the only guy in the bunch? We all split up. Hanisah, Annie and Nadzlin went to shop for clothes. Wei Lian and Mrs. Saras went… somewhere else with Mrs. Khaw and Pn. Zamani. Alya and I jalan-jalan around… but weren’t shopping!!! In the end, we stalked Hanisah at the ladies department. LOL. Gile no life.

One thing I noticed while walking around Plaza Mayor was couples publicly holding hands and hugging everywhere. I said to Alya “come! lets all pretend to be the Mexican couples!” and so I placed my hands on her shoulders and walk. Hahahahahahaha. She totally didn’t mind at all. LOL. So sporting. It was quite a romantic moment come to think of it again. But we weren’t in a relationship, I swear.

At 10PM, we took a cab back to Plaza Mexico. But before that, we stopped at McDonalds. Hanisah bought a large cup of coke and it was abnormally HUGEEEE… not like the large coke we get in Malaysia.

This photo does not give the size of the cup its justice! Trust me, it’s freaking huge!

Love this picture. We were all really really really very tired.

Once I was back in my suite, I terus fell asleep… in my jeans! Haha.

Next morning…

I managed to wake up early by myself! Thank God! haha.

Eating cereal

Koko krunch… I think

I know this looks like I just puked on my plate and taa-dah but it’s actually some potato salad thingy which tastes super good.

And then we left for Colegio Greenwich, one of the local schools in Leon.

Jealous much?

Oh, I forgot to let you know that we played soccer! It was super fun. And the funny thing was that one of the guys (the one who looks like Harry Potter) kicked the ball and it hit Hanisah’s face. LOL. Her reaction was so funny I laughed like a mad cow. Any drama that revolves around Hanisah is funny

Next, we toured around the city of Guanajuato with Mr. Pradeep of India and his wife whom were both TOCFE people. We chartered a van but too bad there were not enough seats for all of us so I excitedly volunteered myself to sit in the boot/trunk. LOL. Alya sat with me too!

Posing in the boot. Lol.

Alya and I!

Conference: Day 1

Yup. As mentioned, it was the first day of our conference. It was held in Technologico De Monterrey, a university in the city. On this day, we met familiar faces such as Mariana, Luis, Honorio, Melissa and Michelle from Colegio Greenwich as well as Emma from the United Kingdom and some other local kids from other schools like Celso, Andres and etc. There were 23 of us in total under the AGOAL Academy… it’s a youth thing.

Alya and I

Malaysia

Me giving a speech… it was very lousy one indeed. I was beating around the bush.

In front of Technologico De Monterrey. Was wearing Annie’s vest. Hahahaha.

Basically we learned more about the thinking tools on Day 1. Nothing much. But we got to know our AGOAL friends a lot better on this day though.

Conference: Day 2

We went to several schools in Leon to teach the thinking tools that we have learned the day before.

Antonio Sanchez Herrera Primary School.

Fuyoh. Ganas betul that girl behind me.

Alya, Honorio and I

The kids at Antonio Sanchez Herrera were super cute lah. At one time, where ever I went, they followed. They as in a swarm of primary school kids. And then we ended up playing catching. I had to run around the school like some 6-year-old. LOL.

Reina Maria Pre-School.

Humane School. It’s a private school I think.

After our off-campus activity, we returned back to Mexico Plaza. Nadzlin, Alya and I walked to Walmart and we bought snacks and a tub of ice-cream.

The bestest moment of this trip for me would be when I was lazing around in Alya+Nadzlin’s lounge with Alya and Nadzlin, sharing the tub of ice-cream that we bought while watching Spongebob in Spanish! We were sharing a good laugh over stupid stuffs and… Hanisah It was just a modest moment but I felt true happiness and contentment… that happiness I cannot really describe in words. It was a feeling I only felt once and never again ever since then.

It might not sound significant to you but to me, to be able to chill out with some of the most amazing people in my life… 100 miles away from home and to have nothing else to worry about made me feel like the luckiest 14 year old guy in the world

Conference: Day 3

We spent almost the entire day in the lecture room. We worked on the AGOAL presentation which was to be shown to adults the next day. I was in charged on the powerpoint presentation. Chey wah!

Me… looking pissed. LOL. But I was actually having a lot of fun!

Gabby (the puppet) and I

Team Malaysia

In the evening, Honorio invited us to his barn. His mom picked us all up from Technologico De Monterrey. When we were at his farm house, Honorio’s younger brother was watching Harry Potter. Lol.

Honorio’s mom driving

Honorio’s mom served us sushi for tea time. I know I had many “first times” but legitimately, that was my first sushi in my life. So Kai Yee, the one I ate with you the other day wasn’t first Hahahahaha.

The donkey. Haha.

And Honorio’s mom gave us an exclusive tour around the house. The interior of the house was super nice man. Just like a hotel, I would say! While then, Luis, Honorio and I played the toy gun thing. The gun could tell you if you shot the person or not. Ran around the compound of the house until I sweated like a pig man.

Luis and I with the gun… toy one yea!!!

The crib.

And then we played soccer!!! It was the best soccer game I’ve ever played in my life. It was just the 9 of us, Ana, Honorio, Luis, Annie, Alya, Hanisah, Nadzlin, Wei Lian and I plus the awesome autumn weather which made it all the more amazing.

LOL.

We had to stop at around 6PM ’cause we had to rush back for the banquet. I really didn’t wanna stop playing I was having the time of my life in Mexico. And the best part was during our ride home when sang Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie and Daddy Yankee’s Gasolina in the car. It was just so… Mexican and I loved every single second of it.

Arrived at the hotel. Bathed. And got ready for the banquet.

During the banquet…

Nadzlin and I

Wei Lian and I

Ana and I

Alya and I

myself, Honorio’s mom and Honorio

AGOAL

We ate. We mingled. We took photos. We danced.  It was an awesome night though it was our very last night in Mexico.

After the banquet, I continued with the powerpoint presentation in my suite till 2AM. I was sooooooo tired man.

Conference: Day 4

Last dayyyy I remembered we were all hanging out in Hanisah + Annie’s suite in the morning. Annie was bathing at that time kot. I was having fun jumping on their bed and starting a pillow fight until Hanisah got pissed. LOL. Hanisah was one grumpy 14-year-old girl, I tell ya. The stupid fur from the pillows stuck onto my jeans. Ugh.

And then we departed to Technologico De Monterrey for the last time. Did the final touch ups and preparations for our presentation to be presented later in the afternoon.

Ana, Andres, Luis and I

Honorio, myself, Alya, Luis, Montse

During our presentation…

Fiona, Alan and I (clockwise)

Daniel, my roommate and I

After our presentation, we waited in the lecture room. If I am not mistaken, we were waiting for the other presentations to end or for Madam Rosa, the principal of Colegio Greenwich, to pick us up from Technologico De Monterrey to the airport. I remembered Alya was chasing me around in the lecture room ’cause I took her keris (one of the souvenirs she brought) and I threatened to break it into half. LOL. And I really broke it into half in the end! Hahahahaha. Alya was so angry with me… she even cried. I kept apologizing but she didn’t want to talk to me anymore And one lady came in (I presume she works at the university) and she must have thought “what are these shameless Malaysians doing here?!” Hahahahaha. But Alya and I berbaik-baik-ed later… again. LOL.

And then it was time for us to say goodbye. Honorio brought his family along too who brought their camcorder. LOL. And he also gave us all Nutritas. Hehe. So sweet of him and his family lah.

Madam Rosa arrived shortly after and so we all left for the airport. Wei Lian, Mrs. Saras, Alya and I followed Madam Rosa while Nadzlin and Hanisah followed Madam Rosa’s son who drove a sports car!

In front of the Guanajuato airport.

And then back to the United States.

Fuyoh, my eyes were super red man. Was obviously very tired.

Outside the Los Angeles Airport.

While walking to the Tom Bradley International Terminal, there was this journalist and cameraman with his huge pro-looking camera directed at her outside the airport. While the journalist was doing her reporting thing, I purposely walked behind her and turned my head to face the camera. LOL! I might be in the local news that day yo!

Tom Bradley International Terminal

Wei Lian, Alya and I

Literally sitting down in the middle of the road/floor/wtvr.

And oh, I forgot to mention that throughout our transits and all, Nadzlin and Hanisah were ALWAYS sick. Jetlag lah. Headache lah. Vomit lah.

Hanisah and Nadzlin. Lol. They are so gonna kill me for posting this picture up.

So Alya and I posed with them. They did not even budge! Don’t think they noticed also.

LOL.

Hahahaha. Alya.. doing her yoga thing.

Acting all crazy in the airport while waiting for Mrs. Saras to settle our flight stuffs.

In the plane, we were all scattered at different corners of the plane. I sat with this Asian American lady who lives in Chinatown, LA. She was on her way to visit her brother who lives in Ipoh, Perak. So yeah. And being so narrow-minded, one of the first questions I asked her was.. “so… have you met Angelina Jolie or George Clooney?” LOL. She’s from LA mah. And then she was like “I’ve never heard of them before” LOL.

But I was sleeping for most of the time so I didn’t really talk to her much.

In a foetal position. The seat next to me was empty so… I take also lah! Quite torturous to sleep in that position for 16/17 hours.

And then 1 hour before we landed in Taipei, I woke up and complained to Alya about how uncomfortable I was sleeping on two seats. And she tergamak told me “MATTT!! The entire row I was sitting at was vacant throughout the flight” Pfft. I was so mad at her ’cause she could have invited me to sit next to her EARLIER so I can conquer the whole row of seats to sleep! I think because of this, it affected my growth! No wonder I haven’t been growing any taller since Form 2!

Taipei

Was actually pointing at Kuala Lumpur. But if you look at it closely, KL is further up on the board. I was too short. LOL.

Taipei, Taiwan

Had a debate with Alya on Taipei being a part of China. I said Taipei is in China and they share the same currency. But she, on the other hand, believed that Taipei isn’t in China and Taipei and China have individual currencies. I was wrong, obviously. LOL. We were talking/debating so loudly (probably it was just me. haha) until we/I woke a lady who was sleeping at the airport up. With a groggy and hoarse voice, the lady said: “TAIPEI ISN’T IN CHINA!”. Oops. Lol.

Annie, Alya and I chatted with the lady whom we soon found out was from Singapore. She explained to us about Beijing, Taiwan, etc. which was really cool. I love history! I think Alya was bored. LOL. So I teman-ed her for a walk around the Chiang Kai Shek airport leaving Annie to chat with the lady alone. LOL.

I begged Alya to buy me Starbucks which she did in the end! I hardly spent on anything during this trip ’cause well… I have a personal ATM machine. Hahaha.

Starbucks courtesy of Alya

Me!

I remembered I was pissed off by something Alya said/did and so I merajuk-ed (I was like some small kid lah. I merajuk very easily especially with Alya. Hahaha) and decided to walk back to the waiting place myself. And I ended up being LOST. Hahahahahaha. I was like running from one end of the airport to another… worried that the plane would take off without me. Omg.

But I managed to find the place eventually and was super glad to see Annie waiting there. The Singaporean lady had left already. Yay! Annie, I was never so happy to see you! Hahahahahahaha. I was sweating under my t-shirt man! And Alya was like “Padan muke!” LOL.

There were a lot of empty seats during our flight from Taipei to KL. It was so empty that most of us had a row of seats for ourselves. Slept on Alya’s lap like a baby throughout the 4 hours from Taipei to KL. Didn’t wake up at all… not even a second! The only time I woke up was when the plane was about to land and the air-stewardess was menggesa-ing the passengers to buckle up! LOL. Her lap is so soft and was so good to sleep on…what to do?

Arrived KLIA at noon. But we couldn’t leave the immigration place just yet ’cause Nadzlin lost her passport. *gasp* We all waited while one of the air-stewardess took her back to the plane to look for her passport. Thank God she found it man! Apparently, it was found in the bag compartment of the plane. It must have fell out from her bag or something.

Slept as soon as I arrived home. Went to school the next day. Am I awesome or what?

The end

In retrospect, apart from good thinking skills and solving my personal problems better, I think this trip has also changed my perspective on life — that life isn’t all about being book smarts. There are so much more to see, to feel and to experience out there and I am just so fortunate to be on this trip. And the best part of it is that I was with my classmates, my close friends throughout this journey and knowing that there are people who are able share and relate to my excitement is just surreal. Not many people get to do this and travel so far at the age of 14 and I am always and forever so grateful and thankful for this. Truly an experience of a lifetime. Reading and just looking at the pictures does not really show you how awesome and how amazing this trip is. You have to experience it yourself to really understand and feel what I am feeling.

Thank you Annie, Alya, Wei Lian, Hanisah and Wei Lian for making me comfortable despite me being the only guy from Malaysia and for making this trip a trip of a lifetime for me. I’ll always cherish these moments with you guys and will carry them in me for as long as I live! Keep in touch.

Love,
Matt

(P.S. It took me nearly 3 weeks to complete this)

 

Final days before SPM

The following are my very last bunch of photos of school and so I guess this would be the very last time you’ll see me in school uniform.

During recess on a Friday…

Kai Yee, Adrianne, Elaine, Yongming, Yongming and I at the canteen

Yes, I know I look awfully fat. That was what stress did to me. I was already a fat calf in 2008 but 2009 turned me into a hippo.

Trying to open that damn packet of keropok — wanted the fish one but they were out of stock.

My face is so round like a fishball! I can’t even see my cheekbones anymore omg. I want to commit suicide lah I look disgusting. Still can eat the keropok summore.

Haha still cannot open!

My Science and Math club noticeboard.

Kai Yee and I with our respective club’s noticeboard.

Her basketball, my ping-pong.

The hippo’s jumpin’

After that we went back to class and did our work which we were supposed to do from the start! The most crucial moment of our secondary school lifes and we’re jumping

Being nerds. Hehe.

Not long after, we turned bored and were all tired of doing whatever we were doing at that time. Ok lah… it was only Kai Yee and I who were bored of doing Bio. We managed to convince everyone in the class including Shuhada and Azliza to go down to the staffroom and take pictures with the teachers

So much for being hardworking students and scoring straight A+. Haha!

BELUM!!!

It was supposed to be 12 days left till SPM but we self-consoled ourselves by rearranging the numbers to make it 231 And then Pn. Kamachi, the school clerk passed by and she gave us the tsk-tsk look. Hehehehehe.

Anyways, for most science stream students, SPM’s over and it has been 6 days now. Time flies right?

Pn. Akmaliza
(my class teacher of year ‘05 and ‘06)

Pn. Kausar
(my English teacher of year ‘05 & ‘06)

Pn. Azilah
(my BM teacher of year ‘09)

Mr. Jacob
(my EST teacher of year ‘09)

Pn. Loo
(my Civics teacher year ‘09)

When no teacher layan-ed us anymore, we returned back to class and spent the last 30 minutes or so in class… taking MORE pictures amongst ourselves. Hahahaha. Oh, basically we could roam around the school like anywhere and anytime we want too. It was fun! Which teacher would wanna stop a bunch of obedient and innocent lil graduating kids like us?

In class…

Wheeeee…

LOL. Like what Nadzlin said, we were jumping like as though SPM’s over! Haha.

But anyhow I am glad I lived my last days in school to the fullest.

At the overhead bridge

Graduation Day

We sang the school song for the very last time. I was emo the whole way through. And Ameet was like, “Can you not be so emo anot?!”

I don’t think he understood nor he’ll ever understand what I felt that day. I don’t blame him though. He has only been in our school for one year and in this one year, he was only in school for a couple of days.

He was not in Subang Utama on the first day of school in January 2005. He never had that opportunity to see how the school has transformed in so many ways like WE, the true students of SMK. Subang Utama did. He has never been through what WE, the true students of SMK. Subang Utama did. He has never loved this school like how WE, the true students of SMK. Subang Utama did and will continue to love forever so dearly.

Sheng Ling, Michelle, myself and Ismail

On stage receiving my graduating certificate

Posing with our certs

It was a proud moment for all. We finished high school yo!

Classmates for 2 years… some 5.

With the awesome BM teacher

The senior prefects

5 Zeta, graduating class of 2009.

Kai Yee and I

So fat still eat nuggets! LOL. They are one of my best canteen food ever. This will sound weird but I think I am gonna miss canteen food!!! I must ta pau (take-out) all the keropok, nasi lemak, nuggets there is available in the canteen so I can eat them everyday

And for the last time, presenting you 5 Zeta…

Don’t bother finding me in this picture, I am not in it. I was in the staffroom getting teachers to sign my autograph book. Heh. Yup! I have an autograph book.

My Math teacher, Pn. Jeeva was like “I didn’t know people still keep autograph books these days” to which I replied “I am keeping the tradition alive!” Lol. I also have one in primary school so yeah.

I will probably share with you some of the nicest and sweetest notes my teachers left for me in my autograph book in my next blog post or something.

Mr. Sim!!! My physics tuition teacher… with Nadzlin and Einul.

Hehe. He’s one super awesome teacher lah. We both share this one common word: “HABIS”. Whenever I answered a physics question wrongly he would go like “HABIS!!!” and when I spot a typo or something on his paper I would, in turn, be telling him “HABIS!!!” Lol.

And I stole one of his ginseng sweets on the last day and kept it till the SPM Physics day and ate it when I freaked out on one of the Physics questions — hoping it would stimulate my brain cells better. LOL.

Miss Esther, my Modern Math, Add Math and Accounts private tutor.

She’ll kill me if she finds this posted on my blog or on facebook ’cause she said she hasn’t put on her make-up yet

Anyway, I’ve been under her since I was in Form 3. She was more like an elder sister to me than a teacher. She was always there to lend a listening ear to all my grumbles and problems I face in school. Sometimes I have so many things to say till I’ll spend the whole 1 and a half hours talking about it. Hahahahahahaha.

I think of all person… she knows me best. So if I do get famous next time, you know who to interview

My books! Tiga tingkat tingginya can you believe it?! But I only used a couple of them and did one or two workbooks only

P.S. To the juniors out there, please do not get those ‘whizz thru’ books. They are USELESS. I speak from experience.

Ok, I am ending this post here. Byeeee.

 

SPM

Whoooooh. SPM’s over!!! Thank God I am still alive. In the beginning, I thought I would commit suicide half way through or something. Seriously, the past few weeks had been so hard for me, mentally and emotionally. All the tears I’ve cried out. The sleepless nights. The hysteria moments in school. So glad it is over.

For some, straight As or not, it doesn’t really matter. But for me, it’s life and death. For all my life I have big dreams, high ambitions and great aspirations. I always wanted to be an all rounder, a high achiever… an inspiration. And to know that my entire future lies on the result slip which I am about to receive in March 2010 worries me to no end. All the scholarship offers and the admission to the top colleges and universities are at stake. Basically, I don’t want my options to be constricted. I want doors of opportunity to open wide for me.

At my aunt’s place after my last Physics tuition class, she asked me why was I still reading my Physics book instead of resting (’cause I’ll usually rest after tuition); and I told her that SPM’s next week and that I can’t do it. Before I know it, I was sobbing like a kid. And on graduation day, while I was merely asking Pn. Susela some History questions in the staffroom, tears rolled down my cheeks and I unintentionally started crying. And I told her that if I do not score an A for History, I can never be a lawyer and my life will be over.

Perhaps it’s my obsessive perfectionism. But whatever it is, SPM brought the worst out of me. I have fought so hard throughout the year, especially the last three months. Day and night practicing Math. Day and night reading. Day and night thinking about SPM and where destiny will take me to after SPM. Towards the final days until SPM, I was so tired till I felt like giving up. I had totally no confidence in myself and started thinking negatively — pissed at myself for not being smart and consistent enough.

So the day before SPM, as you can imagine, I was frantic. Read up all the puisi-puisi, cerpen-cerpen, prosa-prosa tradisional and all that jazz. I wanted to go to the bookstore to check out what komsas questions have came out in the past years (so last minute I know *gasp*). And when I was there, there was this paper pasted on its door that said—

CLOSED FOR ANNUAL STOCK COUNTING.

WTF?! OF ALL DAYS MUST COUNT ON THAT DAY MEH?! Okay lah, probably their tempoh perakaunan tamat already so must count I wanted to cry at that very moment lah. I was scared.

So I went back home and continued reading. I didn’t really have time to prepare anything for essay. But then again, for PMR I composed and memorized a few essays the day before but ALL did not come out. For SPM, had I followed the tips that were circulating via text message and all, it would not have made any difference but instead made me panic because most of them did not come out.

I forced myself to bed at 12AM… and probably dosed off at 12.30AM because I know sleeping late for an exam so important as SPM would be detrimental more so history was on the first and second day consecutively. It was the EARLIEST I have slept on the eve of any national examination. For UPSR, I remembered reading BM till 2AM and for PMR, I didn’t couldn’t even sleep at all!

And on the big day itself, I literally went berserk in school. All I could ever say was “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!”. Yongming was most certainly annoyed. Haha. My adrenaline hormones were being secreted by my adrenal gland like nobody’s business and the sympathetic division of my nervous system was on the verge of going haywire *dub dub dub dub*

Before I stepped into the classroom, I took a last look at my ‘note-to-self’ which I had scribbled on the front page of my SPM timetable the night before.

LOL. This is like my manuscrip suci lah. Every time before I enter the classroom I must read this out aloud one.

About point number 3, I tend to write the digit ‘1′ like the digit ‘2′ sometimes most of my teachers and friends tend to mistaken my ‘1′ as ‘2′. You know, most people just write ‘one’ as a single vertical line right? I like to “meng-fabulous-kan” my vertical line by giving it a base and a hat… just like the ‘1′ you see on your computer screen. So yeah. It’s just one of my bad habits lah and it can be costly especially in math.

So for BM paper 1, it wasn’t that bad lah. At first when I saw the choices of essays that were given, I was scared ’cause they were all not in my element kinda thing… get what I mean? Like for BM and also for English, I like to write essays about society/social issues, unity and essay topics that demand my point of view and my vision and which I can relate to my life.

I think it is quite obvious that I chose choice number 5 right? At that very second, it was either choice number 3 or 5 for me. But seeing the question paper again, I would have taken choice number 1 into consideration as well. Actually, 1 and 3 are more Matthew-typed essays as compared to 5. But I have no regrets lah. I wrote about Konserto Terakhir. I wrote it like as if it was an essay for the novel question for paper 2 but gave a super duper extended version of it filled with many many many peribahasas

I clearly remembered finishing my 5^th point at 10.00AM — 15 minutes before the time was up. I was contemplating whether or not to squeeze in another point before I conclude my essay. But I chose not to in the end to be on the safe side ’cause I’ll be damn gelabah and freak out to complete the essay. For the first time in my LIFE, I had time to check and reread my essays. Hopefully it’s good.

Yee Mae and I after BM paper 2.

History paper 1 was okay I guess. Some questions were quite tricky actually. Not many KBKK questions. In fact, there were no KBKK questions at all… unlike in PMR.

Day 2…

English!!! Despite English being my mother-tongue language, I was nervous for it! Early in the morning, I straight away ran to the staffroom to ask Pn. Subbu to go through the ‘The Road Not Taken’ poem with me for the last time. Personally, I love that poem best among the other poems in the SPM English syllabus because it is exactly what I am going through everyday in my life. I understand what Robert Frost is trying to convey in his poem overall but somehow, I tend to make mistakes for ‘The Road Not Taken’ if ever it comes out in poem section of the English paper 2.

Anyhow, paper 1 (essay) was the first paper of the day. The poem one is later.

Elaine and I before English paper 1

When I opened the question paper, I had my eyes set on Section B — eager to know what choices of essay that I have. I love 2008’s paper 1 ’cause I love all the essay topics which came out, i.e. write about a person who has worked hard to succeed in life (you know who I am going to write about right? ), examinations — good or bad? (came out in the ASEAN selection test) and friends.

When I read the first four titles in Section B, I was nervous ’cause once again, they weren’t Matthew-typed essay topics… until I came across the final one. Take a good look at my school trial paper yea?

School trial.

Now look at the SPM paper.

SPM.

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG

BEAUTY CAME OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which I did for my trials!!!!!! OMGGGGGGGGG. WHAT ARE THE ODDS MAN?! Like what Yongming said, there are thousand of words in the dictionary. OF ALL WORDS — BEAUTY — twice! This is just as good as striking a lottery. Of course I chose to write on Beauty, duh!

Kai Yee, Yee Mae and I before English paper 2.

For paper 2, ‘The Road Not Taken’ did not come out. ‘Monsoon History’ did though. Oh well…

It was not bad lah. I am confident for English but cautiously confident. Anything might happen. God might see this and say “hmm.. this is one over-confident little kid. I shall grant him a D in English”. Terus my dream as a lawyer/politician is shattered.

History paper 2’s next!

Before the History paper. LOL.

The above picture is super classic lah. Look at how everyone is reading History at the corridor. Haha! History was okay. I am so glad that three Form 5 topics came out for the essay. I love the Form 5 history syllabus so much more than Form 4. Pakatan Murni, dasar-dasar Malaysia and all came out. So my thing ’cause it’s about politics! Haha. But when I returned home, I found out that for one essay (the Malayan Union one), I got some of my points mixed up. But that’s okay lah. I did my very very very very very very best and that’s all that matters right?

Day 3…

EST!!! One of my best subjects!!! You can say that all the subjects on the first week are my favorites! The night before EST I wrote down all the topics my school teachers spotted for EST on a piece of paper and gave a quick read on those topics.

My actual master plan

I was so confident that the essay would be related to Biology or Chemistry… so much so I only brought my Bio and Chem book to read in school and boldly left my Physics SUCCESS at home.

Amelia and I before EST paper 1
(I look really bad in here but this is the only picture I have of Day 3 so…)

As I flipped the question paper open, I was horror-stricken to discover the word…

FRICTION

Omg. Heart-attack man! Mr. Jacob, my EST teacher was coincidentally walking pass the exam hall. He could instantly spot where I was ’cause I was sitting quite at the front. All I did was just shake my head — giving a sign to him that I am SCARED TO DEATH. I wanted to run to him and cry. Hahaha.

This was the first paper I found difficult. I panicked from the start of the paper till the very end. The information transfer wasn’t any easier. It was tricky. Like for the ‘benefits of tea’ question — I wasn’t sure if I should specify the name of the tea along with its benefit or just state the benefits alone. Stupid green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea!!

And for the friction essay, it was tough not only because I did not expect it to be from Physics but also because there was no comparison. Most of the EST essays I did requires some comparison to be made (i.e. which method is more effective — A, B or C?) and giving a suggestion at the end. As you can see in my “master plan”, I even made a time allocation for each point — 3 points assuming that there were 3 alternatives. But I totally can’t follow it because there was no comparison AT ALL and there were like 6 points or something. But nonetheless, I wrote and wrote and wrote like as if my life was on the line. 4 pages ok my essay!

When it was times up, I was still at my conclusion. I was toooo nervous to think of anything. I blanked out. I rollered my entire conclusion out because I didn’t wanna give the impression to the examiner that I struggled to end my essay (2-3 lines only don’t omg me) But still OMG!!!!!! I was so heartbroken. One gargantuan patch of correction tape on it. My essay would have been perfect with the conclusion!!!!!!

I immediately went to the staffroom with Amelia right after the paper and declared to all the teachers that I was getting a heart-attack. LOL. And then Pn. Subbu was like “You every time also get heart-attack one!” Hahahahahaha. I told them about the paper and how I didn’t have enough time to conclude my essay.

And throughout the first 30 minutes of paper 2, I couldn’t concentrate as I kept thinking about my friction essay. Paper 2 wasn’t very easy either. So I prayed. It worked lah. And I told myself to focus and not let this A slip away just like that.

In a nutshell, EST was much much much much much much tougher than my trials. I was so pissed.

And during my Accounts tuition the next day (yes, I still had Accounts tuition), my teacher asked me how was SPM so far… and then I immediately CRIED. EST ruined my what could have been perfect week.

Day 4…

Modern Math. It was not bad. I sort of forget what happened for this paper. Forget means there should be no problem right? I think I did a few mistakes here and there for both paper 1 and 2 but overall, it’s fine. Ooooh, I am starting to remember. I think I did a mistake on the transformation question.

Ryan, Sheng Ling, Yongming and I before Modern Math paper 1

Elaine and I before Modern Math paper 2.

Day 5…

Goodness! The night before the Moral paper, for the first time, I DID NOT sleep at all. Ok ok. I admit! I watched The Amazing Race at 8:00PM. Heeeeeeee. Almost finale k.

Anyways, after I did the questions from the kertas-kertas model for Moral, I got nervous ’cause I got a lot of my nilais (moral value) wrong. I did questions from two books you see. And both the books which contain similar questions give nilais that contradict each other. The more I did, the more wrongs I got and the more confused I became. And it was so late at night already! At 4:00AM I was still trying out the Moral questions. Throughout the year, my Moral teacher had been reminding my class that Moral is a tough subject to score and even smart students do get a B for Moral. That statement of hers haunted me all the night long. How to sleep in peace you tell me?

So before I left for school, I ended up having a very very long list of questions to ask and was all set to bombard Pn. Subbu with them. Lol. Even at 7:45AM, I was still reluctant to leave Dewan Perdana and continued asking Pn. Subbu questions after questions that I was uncertain of. And in the end, she just brushed me off by saying “Just put Pn. Subbu in your heart…” hahahahahahahahaha.

I was really really really scared ’cause I was not done asking… not even close!

All in all, the paper was easier than I expected it to be. The questions seem to be direct. Hopefully it’s an A+. Pleeeeeeease let it be an A+.

Sheng Ling and I after Moral

I think I slept early the night before Day 6. I forgot. I should sleep early anyway. Killer paper ahead.

Day 6…

Add Math *gasp* I had been working super duper hard for this subject. For the whole of September, I had been running Add Math ultra marathons from day to night. On the first 5 days, I was nervous. But day 6 was just tension to the maximum!!! I super hate Math and I hated it since primary school. I hate hate hate hate hate Math.

The very first thing I did when I was at school was expressed my fear and hatred towards Add Math to Yongming. Kesian him lah. He was busy reading his Add Math book and there I was jabbering away about how terrified am I for Add Math. And basically, everyday, after a paper ends, I am the one who makes the most noise. Whenever I found out I did a mistake, I’ll moan. Hahahaha. Heartbroken ok! For every 1 mistake is 1 step closer to the roadside — sweeping or cutting lalang.

Yikes!

Note-to-self #2

“You know how to do. Do not doubt yourself. Stay confident”
Self motivation. Kekekeke.

Anyway, paper 1 was surprisingly easy! I mean… there were very minimal omg-I-am-stuck-I-am-going-to-die-’cause-I-can’t-move-on moments. And I was like, omg, an A+ for Add Math, yay! Lol. Talk about being overconfident.

There was a 4-hour break between paper 1 and paper 2 so I went back home and… SLEPT. Hahaha. But couldn’t really sleep lah so I got out from bed and practiced Motion Along A Straight Line instead and went back to school thereafter.

Paper 1 boosted my confidence and ego that I asked everyone to close their Add Math book! Hahahahahahaha.

Zhui Mun and I before Add Math paper 2

Everything was going fine until I hit the trigonometry question (I loathe that damn chapter) and another speed bump on the progression question. Anyhow, I still kept a positive mindset and moved on to section B. After completing the area & volume under the graph question (question 7), I mused over the linear law question (question 8 ) — should I or should I not do it? Omg. Linear law is like a damn freaking easy chapter lah and I don’t know what demon possessed me that made me FREAKING ignore the question. I half-heartedly flipped the page over (I had a strong feeling that it was not a wise move) and carried on with question 9, 10 and finally *gasp* 11 — probability.

I love probability. It’s one of my favorite chapters in Add Math but that probability question was just not the typical question I had been doing in my workbook. After all the rocks and boulders I had to overcome in the first two sections of the paper, I prayed to God to be with me and guide me for Section C. With the clock ticking away, I apprehensively completed Section C. I have gone so so so so far — way to far to lose it for this paper. I remembered telling myself “DON’T DO THIS TO YOURSELF MATT. DON’T SCREW THIS UP” with a teardrop rolling down my cheeks.

And when I was done with Section C, I backtracked to that stupid probability question and mati-mati want to solve it. WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH ME?!!! I SHOULD HAVE DONE THE LINEAR LAW QUESTION. At that time, I probably couldn’t accept the fact that I can’t solve the question on my favorite chapter.  I must be in total denial lah. I seemed to have chosen the toughest questions.

And then it was times up. UGH.

Moral of the story — never be too over-confident.

Day 7…

Biology. The night before the Biology paper, I analyzed the past year questions and drafted out my own ramalan (forecast) for the essay question and also for the design experiment question for paper 3.

Question 6 was on Inheritance, question 7 Dynamic Ecosystem, question 8 Respiration and lastly question 9 Nutrition (which I did not spot but that’s okay) Bak kata pepatah Andrew Choo, “KENA TEPAT!!!!!!!!!!!!” Hahahahaha. My advice to all the future candidates out there, do not fall into whatever that stupid guy says.  I’ve heard of people who follow his tips blindly and kicking themselves in the end because most of the tips that he apparently gave did not come out.  He ain’t god ya know?

Spotting the topics by yourself is so much better (but before that, please pray ) Best is to read and focus on every single detail of your revision book.

Paper 2 was okay although I kinda struggled at Section A on the fetus question.

Ryan and I before Biology paper 1

And for paper 3…

I did my anaysis thang.

If you view the page of my exercise book closely, I circled the 2006 experiments. Before paper 3 began, I confidently told all my friends that rate of enzymatic reaction (either pH or temperature… but I was betting on pH lah) would be coming out. And it REALLY did but it was temperature, not pH. Nonetheless, I was so darn close.

Next year should be rate of photosynthesis or some respiration question or BOD or DCPIP or urine… kesimpulannya, it can be anything Sorry juniors. Can’t help much. Hehehehehe.

Day 8…

Accounts. Oh my god. Accounts was another paper I was really really afraid of and I had been dreading to sit for accounts since the start of the year. SPM was the very first time and also the only time I sat for the accounts paper in school. I don’t take accounts in school. Accounts was my extra subject so yeah.

The accounts paper was on a Tuesday. So this means that the night before accounts was Amazing Race night But I didn’t watch ok! For the first time ever I missed an episode. I watched the repeat on Saturday though. Like how some of you are football, Greys Anatomy and Gossip Girl addicts — I like Amazing Race! And I am a huuuuge fan of the show.

Anyway, paper 1 of Accounts was not bad. Thank God.

Elaine, Yongming and I before Accounts paper 2.

The three of us were frantic before paper 2 — fittingly so, because paper 2 was like a VERY VERY VERY BAD NIGHTMARE. It was as bad as — or worst than Add Math paper 2. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t balance anything except for the penyata penyesuaian bank. Someone please shoot me dead already!

That was when I truly felt my straight As was in jeopardy. *^*^$*)%#)#)(^*^#*)@)*(@!)%^)#^ I should have taken Economics or Commerce instead. SPM candidates of 2010, start practicing your accounts now! The standard has been ever rising.

But somehow I wasn’t so depressed about it as compared to EST and Add Math. I guess I was tired of being depressed.

Day 9…

The day before Physics I was bordering on insanity lah. I was so worried that after sitting for BM, English, History, EST, Modern Math, Moral, Add Math, Biology and Accounts,  I would end up forgetting all my Physics facts so I cramped in the entire SUCCESS book again the day before Physics and had absolutely no sleep at all. It’s very bad I know.

I really really really want to score straight As so badly you cannot even imagine.

And in the morning, when all of us were at Dewan Perdana, I went totally hysterical. I was laughing with Kairunissa and Shuhada like mad. I think I had like sakit nanar for a moment… like Mahyun from Meniti Kaca and Limah from Bukit Kepong

Ryan, Sheng Ling, Bianca and I before Physics paper 2

People said paper 2 was like damn easy but to me, it was just so-so. I don’t dare to be confident for Physics ’cause my supersmart cousin got a B for Physics (and yet she got JPA. Pfft. Yen Wei I still love you tho )

I found out that I made a mistake for the suitability question (Section C). I did the bulb one and freaking chose the wrong bulb. I chose bulb T which was the one with nitrogen gas at low pressure, tungsten wire, thick and not coiled. I thought that the wire was supposed to be thick and not coiled to reduce resistance so that more current can flow through the filament and hence, more electric energy to be converted to light energy.

When I went back home, I checked the Sasbadi reference book (very stupid of me. I should’ve just let it go) and that damn bulb question was there. According to Sasbadi (I use SUCCESS – Oxford Fajar so I didn’t know the bulb thing existed), the resistance must be high to heat up the filament to make it brighter. This means that the wire should be thin and coiled!

UGHHHHHH.

For Paper 3, the strength of an electromagnet experiment came out. That was a relief. Aih, I couldn’t care less anymore ’cause it was towards the end and I was sick and tired of whining and complaining.

Day 10 (final)…

Chemistry. I was so much more prepared for Chemistry than Physics ’cause of the 4-days break. More time to study means got time to work my spotting superpower. Hahahaha.

On Sunday night, Kai Yee asked me which experiment I think would come out for Chemistry paper 3. So I did my analysis thingy and told her that rate of reaction might come out for question 1 (Kai Yee, I texted you right before you slept — Sunday night 11PM!!!) She, on the other hand, believed that rate of reaction would be coming out for question 3 (design experiment).

And then I checked her own analysis (which was much accurate… or so I thought ’cause she compiled the trial papers of every state) and found out why she was so confident that a rate of reaction experiment would come out for question 3.

As you can see in the table above, 7 out of 10 state trial papers had rate of reaction (chapter 1, form 5) for its design experiment question (question 3) so it was very convincing to me that it would come out for question 3.

And looking at the table, I was confident that chemical bonds (chapter 5, form 4), manufactured substances in industry (chapter 9, form 4) and thermochemistry (chapter 4, form 5) would definitely come out for essay. I was also so sure that salts (chapter 7, form 4) and redox reaction (chapter 3, form 5) would NEVER come out for essay that I placed a biiiiiiiig cross for the two.

The chapters which I thought important for paper 2 (the ones with the column highlighted) were spot on — only that… THEY WERE ALL TERBALIK!!!!!!!!!!! Wtf. Chemical bonds, manufactured substances in industry and thermochemistry ALL came out for structure. Salts and redox came out for essay. And to top it all, salts and redox are my worst two chapters in chemistry and the both of them came out in Section C.

Ugh. Last complain lah… just bear with me.

Deva, Amelia, Yongming, Nicole and I before Chemistry paper 3.

The canteen. For the last time all of us fifth formers gather.

Not surprising, rate of reaction (chapter 1, form 5) DID NOT come out for the design experiment question but instead landed itself as question 2 — AGAIN, terbalik.

WHAT IS THIS?!

Luckily the question 3 on pH value of nitric acid was quite simple. Just gotta dump in the pH meter into the acid right? At first glance, I freaked out ’cause I thought must use titration to prepare the different concentrations of nitric acid. No need right? Right? Right? If need also don’t tell me ok… I’ll jump off the building.

Quite close the first time… before I saw that evil thing Kai Yee sent to me.

Anyhow, Kai Yee you’re still awesome. And I am sticking to my words, if it didn’t come out I’ll forgive and forget. *cough*

Overall, Chemistry was easy lah. Just that section C of paper 2 I found tough. But who knows, because of that stupid section C I might get a C! Lol.

IT’S OVER AND I DON’T GIVE A DAMN RIGHT NOW — TELL ME ABOUT IT AGAIN IN MARCH.

Straight As? It’s tough but not impossible. I’ve done it in UPSR and again in PMR and I believe this time it can happen once more. Third time’s a charm. Must believe!!! It’s okay lah. No scholarship also never mind. I’ll just have to work thrice even harder in college that’s all. I have total faith in God that my future is a-okay.

Right after Chemistry paper 3/SPM was over

Annie and I

Kairunissa, Azliza and I

My final walk out of school as a student of SMK. Subang Utama

 

Driving lesson #1

As you can see in the above, I am currently working on several blog posts. I’ve uploaded all the photos that I needed for each and every post. All I have to do now is write about it. If in Biology we learned that anaerobic respiration causes oxygen debt in the body and in Accounts, we learned that should you pay your expenses late, it’ll be a “belanja terakru” , then I think this blog is undergoing a blog debt and my blog posts are fit to be called “karya-karya terakru” heheheheheeeeee

So I was thinking about starting on the SPM article first… until I went for my first driving lesson a few hours ago.

It was fun, yes but omg, IT WAS FREAKING SCARY. I assumed it to be as easy as driving the go-kart in Genting but.. pfft… no such thing!

And I thought that being a first timer, my driving instructor will only teach me how to drive around the neighborhood but once again, NO SUCH THING. I FREAKING DROVE ALL THE WAY TO CYBERJAYA OMG CAN YOU FREAKING BELIEVE THIS?!!!!!!

LUCKILY I STEPPED OUT OF THAT STUPID KANCIL ALIVE. I still have so many things that I want to do in my life. Can you imagine if someone died RIGHT after SPM? *Choi! Chap chi! Touch wood!* I learned this phrase from Nurul (who is a Malay. fuyoh multilingual ) after I told her that I won’t get straight As for SPM. Hahahahahahaha.

Anyways, whenever I look at the speedometer, I would be thinking about the velocity I am going. And when a vehicle overtakes me (STUPID MOTHAFUCKERS *ahem*) I would be estimating the impulsive force that would be produced if a collision occurs. I wonder if the kancil has an airbag It can increase the time of impact, and thus reduce the impulsive force yo. Don’t play play. Heh.

And then, when I was at some highway… some huge ass petrol tanker was near me. I was like “omg!!! I am going to die.. I am going to die. Hmm… petrol has single bond or double bond ah?” *counts heat of combustion* LOL.

The worst part for me was that stupid stick shift. I hate changing the gear. I cannot multitask on the road one okay! If you want me to change the gear, I need at least 2 minutes to do it and then… I’ll completely forget to pay attention on the road. And ooo, I tend to stare out of the window and get carried away. What?! I have never been to Cyberjaya okay.

And oh, I ran the red light FOR THE FIRST TIME ON MY FIRST TIME. Blame my driving instructor. At every traffic light, my driving instructor would go like “GO FASTER! GO FASTER!” Cis! First time must drive slow slow what. And yeah, at one traffic light which was clearly red, he was like “KEEP GOING! KAMPUNG… NEVER MIND ONE”

Pfft.

All in all, I hate driving.