my school life (or rather, lack of it)

my schooling history in brief (or at least i try to).
well, i started off my elementary education at 6 years of age in a private school. was there for two years then the school got closed down. transferred to my sister's primary school. for some ridiculous reasons the education department didn't approve nor recognize my prior education and my dad tried hard to convince them that the syllabus should be by their standards cuz after all, how else would it get taught in one of their approved schools. duh!! after some convincing, they relented but still refused to allow me onto primary 3. why? cuz i was only turning eight years old in their following intake and thus, not eligible for primary 3. siao!! yeah, i repeated my primary 2 to make them happy (and get my education restarted). there i was for five years. graduated class of 1997. damn. maybe i should have went to the chinese primary school my dad was keen on sending me. then i wouldn't have to repeat anything.

as for high school, it was the one and only throughout which i love to love, love to hate, love to criticize, love to adore, love to miss, love to reminesce. it probably had one of the longest name for schools ever - sekolah menengah kebangsaan bandar baru seri petaling. best time ever spent here. ups and downs of friendships, relationships, managing and working together with fellow seniors and committee members in library matters, dealing with headaches of problems coming in with responsibilities, thanking god for teachers who are great to work under, sharing the irritation and burden of dealing with fussy teachers who love to stop at nothing to make your life a living hell on earth. nevertheless, the five years in this school were among the best years in my life. without a doubt.

in 2003, i attended the school of acts (tsoa) for six months. rest assured it's not a school for acting. if you know me, i'm pretty much not an actress although some may beg to differ. it is a Christian ministry school. each week we deal with different topics, e.g. praise & worship, inner healing, leadership, children's ministry, power of prayer, gifts of the spirit and so on. and each week also, we had cleaning duties.. guess what's my favourite? washing toilet! hahaa. so much fun, seriously! was truly blessed throughout this six months cuz it helped me deal with some issues i knew and did not know about myself. the exposure itself was tremendous and experiences were simply amazing. i recall running around kl with pohlin, shan and david at one in the morning to buy starbucks coffee and mcd's for our guest speakers who were starving. i reached home at my all-time late record, past 2 in the morning. hehe. you would look forward to everyday. this was also the place where i started learning and playing the keyboard for praise and worship.

i attended sunway college for a year, studying mufy (monash university foundation year). got to know many new friends, mostly from outside kl and malaysia. my intake happened be popular for o-level and international students. initially took physics but dropped physics in favour of advanced math (think mr pklee won't be too happy if he knew about this). no regrets. the physics teacher had big problems with his "l" and "r" that when he declares that "glass is transparent", it comes across as "grass is transparent". chemistry class is where we have this big friendly-love-hate-relationship between students who were manchester united and liverpool fans (the teacher was a big fan of manu). guess who i support? hahaa. advanced math teacher was the best. last class of the day but nevertheless, the best. there were only four girls in class and we were always yakking. the teacher labeled us as the kaypoh group and sometimes, spice girls (of all the groups in the world). he loved to disturb and kutuk us (in a teasing way lah). so did we. we still drop by at the end of his classes every now and then, just for fun.

as of now, i'm pursuing a double degree in biotechnology and biomedical Science in monash university malaysia. met and made even more new friends. currently in the final half of my sophomore year with two more years left. exciting isn't it?!?!?! *vomits blood*

was i the studious nerd, or the last minute hero?
i think i was the last minute hero most of the time (at least according to my mom-lah). but i couldn't really help it cuz i was always missing from class half of the time and busy with co-curricular activities... running around the school doing stuff, having meetings, promoting newsletters and things, organizing club meetings (occasionally), stuff like that. the only time i really studied was few months before spm. some people from school have the impression that i was one pure-blooded geek who studied 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. sorry to disappoint you guys but i don't. i have toilet breaks you know. i eat, i sleep and i dream. they should know better.. trying to brand me from afar as though they knew me at all. but hey, if getting good grades means i am a geek then so be it. i loooveeee being a geek. got a problem with that?

was i the class ‘taiko’ or the teacher’s pet?
hahhh... how about somewhere in the middle? "taiko" as in troublemaker har? i never liked to create troubles. i don't suck up to teachers either cuz i think that is lame, big time. but i do always make it a point to get along with teachers. however sometimes when i'm not in class, this certain teacher would come to the library (where i always was when i'm not in class) to yell at me and my fellow librarian classmates, accusing us of ponteng kelas when we actually had permission. she was one of the most difficult teachers i'd ever encountered. always scolding us before asking us for explanation. and she's teaching us "jangan bertindak dengan membuta tuli". i guess she really hates me. but i often managed to avoid disciplinary action with the help of other teachers. tough luck for her. as for other teachers, i got along with them pretty well.

what was the biggest rule i broke in school?
hahahaa. even better, i would name all the rules i've broken in school. now you get to know all my dirty litle secrets. skipping half of my classes during the whole year of Form 5 (not kidding), bringing liquid paper to school everyday - never got confiscated thanks to my partner-in-crime Trnjit, ponteng sekolah (but i stay at homeleh, not go lepak, sometimes i even asked my teacher permission first, haha), eating in canteen outside recess time (and we always got away with it, wanna know our secret?), reaching school late (only during afternoon sessions), conteng meja, folding up my sleeves and even when i don't fold them up, i don't button them, never turned up for my house practices... these are probably just half of my resume. what a model student i was.

me and my partners-in-crime

three subjects I enjoyed.
additional mathematics, cuz i am sooooo into the mystery of numbers and it was, if not, one of my best subjects. chemistry, i find it interesting and easy to understand although the teacher was a tad too long-winded. modern math, like I said numbers and me are great pals. hahaa. runs in the family. dad's an engineering graduate. mom was a math teacher. anything lower than an 85 in math was considered a sin. no kidding.

three teachers that inspired me.
1) auntie mary in sunday school. hahahahahaa... ok seriously, teacher esther, my piano teacher. hehehe. before i became her student, i just hated playing and hearing classical music. while learning under her, i was lead back to the love and heart of music. passed my grade 8 with good marks and said goodbye to classical pieces forever! hahaa. not really. i still play them every once in a while but not as good cuz after a while, you get frozen fingers.. difficult to play running notes and coordinate both hands. it's much easier playing keyboard.

2) miss lee, my high school pk hem. often times, you see her walking around carrying a big fat rotan whacking everybody who shouldn't be outside for any reason. most misunderstood her for being inconsiderate, irrational and outrageously garang. along with many others, i was privileged to have known her better when i was in form 5. she was one who led by example. irregardless of anything, she was a hardworker who would give 120% when everyone else was giving 110%. she was dedicated, concern of our welfare, giving advice and helping whenever and wherever she could, being able to manage a large impossible crowd. it was a great loss to the school when she retired. and even a greater loss when we lost her to cancer.

3) pastor raymond, my tsoa pengetua. he tells funny stories of his and others that makes you laugh so hard that you'd be out of breath within minutes. he tells stories of his life and others that pierces right through you and touches you that you wouldn't even realize the tears streaming down your face. he preaches the word of god so powerfully that it just penetrates right into your soul and stays right there. he walks the talk. his life is sincere, no pretense. ooohhh, and did I forget to mention that he cooks the best porridge in town???

One of those days

OK. So I filled up my car's petrol tank yesterday. And it was not over a hundred and ten ringgit. But it was a hundred and eight.. I was close enough. It still cost a bomb.

Anyway, I only had one afternoon lecture for the day. The other got cancelled. Dunno why I went for it. Not that I love bunking lectures. Not that I mind bunking lectures either. Haha. As long as it's not becoming a habit. It's just that it's a miserable lecture for one hour in the middle of the day.

During that one hour, nothing went into my head. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. No-lah, not implying the lecturer was bad or boring. In fact, she's one of the better lecturers I've had. It's just one of those days when you are not in a mood for anything. Not moody either. My head feeling light. Eyes wandering from here to there. My hands and legs feeling numb.

Must be the medication I've been taking for my cough (again) and cold (again). Or maybe it's just plain PMS.

I went out of obligation as a student and a child to her parents (who sweated and forked out money for me to study). Can we not study? Einstein (the mad scientist) was a dropout. Bill Gates (Windows inventor) was a dropout. Mendel (father of modern genetics) was a dropout. All never graduated from school. Yet they are remembered and recognized as high intellects for their discoveries and inventions. So why study? Why waste thousands of dollars per semester to study (and despite that, you still have to pay for every apparatus you break)? Quit school-lar!!! Easier said than done (as always). That will never work on our parents. Hahaa.

Whatever you do, it mirrors how you handle day-to-day problems as they come. It wouldn't be the smartest thing to do to quit your studies, especially when you're halfway through. Maybe some say that better quit now than later if you really don't FEEL like doing it. On the other hand, quitting something halfway may bring across an image of you being a hangat-hangat tahi ayam kind of person. If you don't know Malay, the proverb describes a cingchai attitude.. not serious, not determined, not visionary. The kind who would quit and give up halfway in everything they do.

Ladies and gentlemen. This is a dog-eat-dog world. Everybody is seeking to outdo everybody else in everything by doing ANYTHING they can think of. Some strong enough to keep their faith and head guarded. The weaker ones get trampled on. Some morph into manipulative two-bull-headed beasts, forgetting where they came from. Just to get everything they want. Getting a promotion that comes with an office with a great view. Earning six-figure salaries. Getting the biggest mansion with the biggest swimming pool in the neighbourhood. Owning five cars, when the most you need is two. Getting the MOST attention. To the extent of competing even their children with others...

"Eh, see. My Ah Beng get 10A's in his exam ahh."
"My Ah Lian ahhh.. not smart one lah.. Only 9A's."

So typical, hor?

We study 2 years of kindergarten's ABCs and 123s, 6 years of primary education, 5 years of secondary education, 1-2 years of pre-university education and then 4 years of university education. After all the hard work, you get this piece of paper stating your Bachelor's degree qualification then getting kicked into working. A world full of wolves. How else will you get money to support yourself? And also, to pay back your parents?

Do we learn enough in college to survive and succeed in the working realm? I recall my soon-to-be-brother-in-law saying once that learning really starts once you start working and all of life is a learning process. We are faced with situations every minute of the day. This is where we have to LEARN how to apply what we've learned into actions.

In simple terms, study and get graduated. It's a security blanket. When you're at this young age in the 21st century and especially living in Asia where conservative thinking still exists, people tend to evaluate you based on your family background, academic area and achievements - typical-lah. Watudu? Human nature.

(03 + 03 + 06) = 12 events for this week

(1) I am back to school!!! After fourteen weeks of hibernating throughout the summer (first of a kind), I am back to lectures, long labs.. don't you just love to hate them?? My body and brains have been asleep for the longest time. And I feel like a zombie. Walking around, not knowing where exactly I am or what exactly am I doing. Gotta change.

(2) For the fourth time in two years, the petrol price increased yet again. Years ago, it only costed about RM60 to fill up my Perdana's tank full. Then when they hiked up the price, it was RM70 and then RM80. Now, it's an extra thirty cents on top of the previous pricing. My guess is, the next time I go fill up my tank, it would be over a hundred and ten ringgit. That so sucks. Big time. Some more this is Proton Perdana FIRST edition, not even V6.

(3) My dad's coming home! Haven't seen him since the last time he sent us off in Hong Kong international airport about a month back.

(4) One of our cars mati tengah jalan. Now it's in the "hospital". Don't know when it'll return. It's, I think, the thousandth time it's broken down in the past year. What to do? The car's old. Have to adjust to convenience of two cars instead of three at the mean time.

(5) Nice meeting good old familiar faces back in university. Seeing each other, sharing about what we did during summer, yakking away about anything under the sun (it's called networking not gossipping). Some changed hairstyle. Some lost weight. Some looking more matured. Some more confident. Some radiant. Some looking good. Some still the same. But all in all, they're still a cool bunch of people.

(6) Got to know some new faces this week. Mostly juniors and seniors.

(7) Caught up with Keren, one of my childhood friends. We haven't talked since forever! OK, maybe just a little over six months. But who cares? Had a great time chatting with her, just catching up on old times. We were literally interrogating each other right to the very core. Being proud of what great blessings we are, as sisters, to our brothers. Hahahaa.

(8) Making a resolution starting this week. Due to my "inCCCCredible" results last semester, I have decided forgo other activities (lesser priority), concentrating on the one thing important. That is getting back on track for better results = D's (my grade D is for distinction). I was just plain lazy, I knew it and I got what I deserved. Now, it's time for a change. I know I can do it dammit. I know I can. Can I?

(9) Everytime when I hit the road, I get reminded on the eighth wonder of the world. Malaysian drivers. They never ceased to amaze me. Some don't bother using their signal lights when they want to change lane or turn at a junction. C'mon! Signal lights are there for you to use!! Not as accessories!!! One other thing that really irritates me are drivers who LOVE to tail your car ridiculously close that you can even see the pores on their faces through the rearview mirror. That's so not cool.

(10) I got mistakened as a Malay by a Malay guy. Now this is definitely a first for me. I've always been confused for other races (maybe one too many times for my taste). Japanese... Korean... Chinese living abroad... Baba Nyonya. But NEVER a Malay. Until yesterday. Weird, but amusing. I wonder what else are anybody gonna come up with.. Red Indian??

(11) I don't know whether I've already mentioned this before, but I chopped off my long hair.. now it's shoulder length and dyed red-brown. Decided that it was time for a new hairstyle anyway. Getting sick of the hard-to-maintain long hair. Besides, I need to hide my grey hair Malaysia's been ridiculously hot and having longer days these days. Good thing it's short. More air circulation. Hahaha.

(12) There's no event for number twelve actually. Saje put it here for fun :P Why twelve? Today's date is 03-03-06.. add them up makes 12. So there. Math class in a nutshell.

Signing out!