A Transition Period

What a year it had been. I can proudly say that 2011 was one of the most eventful years in my life. So many important things happened to me this year. I had my own share of ups and downs.

2011 was a weird year. I had so many mixed reactions and feelings throughout the year. I'll start off with the positive notes. Unexpected victories in the Physics and Chemistry explorace were one of my high notes last year. Besides that, I finally got to settle in my class last year.

One of the best parts of 2011 was my friends. We had a splendid time together in school. We did many many things-played around, played futsal, wrestling, movie outings, jumped walls....there's too many to list.

However, I think the negative vibes played it's part in the significant things in my life last year. I started the year really badly. With injuries plaguing me on one side, I came to a realisation that 2011 was going to be my last year in school. The thought of it made me feel very sad all the time. Eventually , I got over it.

Then came the disappointment in athletics. I think I've mentioned it quite a number of times in my blog. So, I'm just taking it as a lesson to learn from which can spur me further ahead to greater heights.

Then, towards the end of the year, everything crumbled. Despite the pressure of SPM, all that was on my mind was how I was going to miss my friends after this. And then, the "incident" which I mentioned about recently did take it's toll on me as well.

However, I'm determined to bring out a positive outcome this year. I've got a few things up and going already. I'll be starting work in the motorcycle repair shop near my house on Tuesday. I can't wait to start digging motorbikes. And I just had my first motorcycle-riding lesson from my friend yesterday.

Another important thing this year is my SPM results will be out pretty soon. To be honest, I'm not that worried about it. I know that there's no point worrying about things that can't be changed. So, I'll just wait and see what I get.

Then, I'll have to choose my path as well. Most probably, I'll be doing my Form 6 next year. I've got my path pretty much planned. I'm still looking for more info on it.

One thing I realised this year is that I was blessed with extremely happy and sad moments. I think everyone would have had their own share own laughter and spoils last year. I'm looking forward towards an excitingly undecided 2012. Happy New Year readers........................

Christmas Holiday Outing III

Today, it was an outing with friends. It was my first time watching a movie in MBO. I don't usually go there because it is far from my house. Fortunately for me, my sister was going to her friend's house that day and I took this opportunity to ask my parents to let me go.

I drove there that day. I think I've been pretty lucky all this while for not getting caught by a policeman for driving without a licence. I sent my sister to her friend's house and then drove to Harbour Place. Once I reached there, my father took the car back home.

I was walking around when I met one of my friends who might have also just arrived. We went to the ticket counter to buy our tickets. We were going to watch the latest Sherlock Holmes movie-The Game Of Shadows. A few minutes later, 3 other friends joined us.

The movie was really great. I loved the detective storyline like I did for the previous movie. The way Sherlock Holmes solves problems with his special abilities to think really made the movie a great one to watch. The ending was epic. I'm not telling the story just in case you have not watched it yet.

After lunch, we had our lunch at a restaurant nearby and then departed on our own ways. It was a nice reunion for us friends although many couldn't make it. I think that will be our last outing for some time because some of us are starting college or work in January. Busy days ahead.......

Christmas Holiday Outing II

It was Boxing Day but I just didn't have any boxes to open. I unwrapped all my presents the previous day itself. I really prefer not to keep it a suspense for too long. However, I did have something interesting to do that day.

A few of my friends have relatives staying there. One of them even invited me to follow him on a fishing trip to that small island. I refused at that time and then regretted it. When the chance to visit that island presented itself to me again, I was up for it.

My family and I left our house right after breakfast. I, in particular, was really excited as it's been quite sometime since I've been on a ferry. The fact that I didn't know what to expect at the island made my adrenaline pumping.

After buying the tickets in the jetty, we boarded one of the ferries that was waiting there. The ferry was  little weird as I'd never seen a ferry like that before. It was very low and long and had an air-conditioner inside. It look more like a floating submarine. In about half an hour's time, I was climbing the staircase of the jetty in the island.

We were greeted by hundreds of crabs resting under the almost afternoon sun along  the muddy swampy beaches-hence giving the island it's name, Pulau Ketam or Crab Island. I've been in beaches with crabs before but not to this exponential extent. It was pretty crazy as the were crabs everywhere in the beach.

As I started making my way across the bridge from the jetty to the island, I was amazed by the way the houses were built. They were basically made to balance on wooden or concrete piling cylinders that are usually piled into the ground. There, it hadn't been piled inside and it seemed that it was just left half way. Then, it hit me that that was most probably done to accommodate during high tides.

 So, we made our way by foot along a road into the island. Another thing that startled me was that there were no motorised vehicles nor the roads to accommodate them on the island. Everyone travelled on foot or cycled their way around as that was the only possible way to travel along the narrow roads.

The main town in the island was bustling with activities mainly due to the high number of tourists visiting that time. There were so many different types of sea-based products sold there ranging from fresh fish to dried and salted squid. And it was dirt cheap. Those items were sold for double their price back at the mainland.

At one point, we reached a Chinese Temple. To my right, there was the main the main temple. It was mostly covered in red paint and there were 2 dragons (like the ones I've seen in Feng Shui books) guarding the entrances to the temple. There were an additional 2 dragon at the corners of the roof.

On my left, there was a statue of a deity (I think) right at the top of sculptures of flowers and plants. And there was a traditional Chinese arch in front of it. At the centre of the temple complex, there was a huge bowl with carvings around it.

We walked in further to get a insight in the people's lives in this small island. After some time, we got hungry and headed back the the main town for lunch. I made use of the trip to the fishing village to try out a very large prawn and I can tell  you that it was really delicious. The style of cooking wasn't that appetizing but the flesh of the prawn was the thing that amazed me.

I met one of my classmates, Harprem, while I was having my lunch. He was there with his family for a holiday too.I asked him if there was any beach for swimming on that island. To my disappointment he said no. I was longing for a nice swim in the salty water.

One thing I like about the island is the people there. They are kinda nice and very humble. Since their island is small, it seems like every one there is united. I really liked the place because it had a small community and it was something like the village holidays I've dreamt off. The only down side of the island was the cleanliness-the empty spaces below the houses were filled with rubbish.

The way back to the mainland took more than an hour as we opted to try out one of the "fresh-air" ferries. The kind gestures of the ferry driver made me realise that the very kind people usually live in places where hardships are taken in their strides with great satisfaction. A peaceful place with a great community-doesn't it sound like the perfect holiday???

Christmas Holiday Outing I

First of all, Merry Christmas to you. I've been very busy during this festive period, as usual. It's just that this time, I had a whole new schedule to follow on Christmas and the days following it. I'll start off with Christmas day.

Every year, I usually go to some of my relatives' house to visit them during Christmas. However, that wasn't really the case this year. One of my second-uncles passed away recently. So, many relatives were not celebrating or were just having a small celebration.

I had to go to my aunt's house in the morning. I actually wanted to go to my friend's house that morning. My mother said no and insisted that I follow my family to my aunt's house so that there will be a Christmas 'feel' and joy in her house. Well, sometimes we just have to sacrifice certain things.

Well, there wasn't anything that fun to do there. I just had a sumptuous lunch and played around with my small cousin. Besides that, I spent the rest of my time listening to the adults' conversations and making my own interpretation of each of it.

At night, I went to one of my friends' house. I was expecting to meet up with quite a number of my classmates but was left with a slight disappointment when only 3 classmates turned up. And the only other boy there left about 10 minutes after I arrived. So there you get it, I was practically stuck with the girls.

The four of us-me,2 other girls and the host-succumbed to our hunger and headed for the food table. We got our food and settled down at the dinner table. And the chit-chatting took off from that point.

Half the time, I couldn't understand what they were saying because they were speaking in Mandarin. I didn't want to interrupt as I know that the same way I'm comfortable with conversing in English, they might be comfortable conversing in their mother tongue. At times-based on intonation and facial expression-I felt like they were hiding something from me. Well, maybe somethings are meant to be kept as secrets.

The other half time I could make out what they were saying, I can say that I had a great opportunity to sneak into a "girl-gossip" conversation. They went on and on talking about guys-how some guys disturbed them, how to overcome it and the names of the boys who had asked them out.

I didn't interrupt much either just because I didn't have much comments on their topics of conversation. At times, I just said something and at other times just laughed to myself. To be honest, it was kinda interesting to hear but at that time, I wasn't really in the mood to talk about relationships.

Christmas this year had been a very different and unexpected affair for me. From disturbing small kids to listening to "girl-gossip" stories, I think that day was a nice change to my usual celebration of Christmas every year....

Grown Up Stuff 2

Is there anything wrong just relaxing (lepaking) at home just reading books, watching television or playing FIFA 11 on my Play Station 2 for a few months? My parents just think I'm wasting too much time at home and want me to look for a job.

So, my hunt for a job began. I seriously had no idea on what kind of job I wanted to do. Actually, I had a very long list of jobs that I didn't want to do. I never wanted to work in a shopping complex. Let's look at the job opportunities there and I why I hated even the thought of working there.

Let's say I worked in the clothes section, I'll have to be folding back clothes that people just wanted to see but never had the thought of buying. I rarely fold my clothes at home, and now in shopping complexes, forget it.

I also don't want to become a promoter because I always see and feel pity for promoters who work so hard to sell their products but some people just walk straight like nothing had happened. Then, I don't want to go sit in a office doing paperwork because I think I'll just sleep there after a few days.

Working as a cashier doesn't sound that interesting either. I sound very choosy but I seriously don't want to waste my time doing boring stuff. I finally gave up on looking for a job but I knew that my parents were not going to let that happen.

So, I tried asking my friends for suggestion. Well, quite a number of my friends are planning to continue studying in colleges in January. That was the last idea on my mind. For all the studying I did for the last one year, I deserve a long break away from educational books.

Then, my father came up with two brilliant ideas. The first one was to work in a  gym as a promoter. That's when I realised that if a I worked in the gym, I would be trained to use the gym equipment and I can build up my body as well. Eventually, I had to scrap my plan as the doctor said I must not do any weight bearing exercise for my legs for a couple of months.

His second idea was and still is the best one. He suggested that I work in a motorcycle repair shop. I liked the idea instantly. It was surely an interesting job as I would be able to do some hands-on work on a motorbike. I could learn how to repair motorbikes and can use that skill to get some side income when I'm studying overseas.

The best part is that I can finally get the chance to ride on a motorbike. My mother was totally against me riding motorbikes last time but she can't stop me now. Yeah! I know the pay wouldn't be that much but I think I'll learn a lot during my time working in the repair shop. I'll be starting on the 2nd of January and I'm really looking forward to it......... 

Grown Up Stuff

School is pretty much over for me now. Like it or not, I have to start growing up (I hate that fact by the way). So, this long break after the SPM examination is quite perfect for me to start growing up step by step.

The first grown up stuff I did was to learn to drive (like finally). I was kinda jealous to see my friends driving to school and so on. I had the chance but didn't want to learn earlier because I wanted to get through my exams first.

I still remember the first day I started driving. It was drizzling as I exchanged seats with my father in the car. My father wanted to teach me using an automatic car first as he wanted me to learn the maneuvering of car first. So, I started off with the easy automatic car, ignoring my friends suggestions of learning using a manual car first because it is more difficult.

My father said that I was making great progress. I was quick to learn to control the break and accelerator while turning. and on straight roads of course. Believe or not (even I can't believe it when I look back), in just 2 weeks of driving, my father asked me to drive on the KESAS Highway.

It was 11.30 at night and my family and I were returning home form a function in Selayang. When we reached Subang Jaya on the highway, my father stopped the car and asked me to drive. I was a little scared. There were too many cars and there was a toll booth up ahead. I asked  my father to give me the car after the toll booth.

About 100 metres form the toll booth, my father stopped the car and asked me to drive. I don't know if it was because of the air-conditioner or my fear but my teeth was shaking all the way back home. It wasn't that hard but you know, the fear was still there. I managed to make it back home safely.

Now, I pretty much love driving. My confidence level has increased tremendously. I'm taking to the road much more confidently now. The only thing is that I still don't have a licence. I hope the police won't catch me!

Actually, I'm kinda lazy to go for driving class and listen to the super long Undang lecture. I'm planning to become really good in driving a manual car before I go for classes so that I won't have a problem when I'm driving during the driving class. Till then, its time to continue driving.......

A Day Out With Friends

My alarm rang irritatingly in my ears that morning. I'm so used to the snooze button that I immediately launched my finger on it. Just then, I woke up immediately after I realized something.

I don't know how, but I caught a glimpse on my handphone that the time was 6.45. I was late. I was supposed to get up at 6.05 and do my morning stretching for my right adductor and then go out with friends later that day.

I couldn't hear the initial alarm rings because my phone was under my bolster. I quickly brushed my teeth and then rushed to the exercise room to continue my daily routine. Surprisingly, my stretching session which usually takes one and a half hours finished in one hour. By 8.50, I was on my way to Aeon Bukit Tinggi.

I'm sure you must be wondering what was I up to at 9.00 in the morning in a place which opens only at 10. Well, my mum has to go to work early and she dropped me there on the way to her workplace. I fiddled with my phone for about 40 minutes and then headed into the shopping mall. I was just simply walking around, waiting for Jusco to be opened as I had to buy  a few things.

One of them was a new stamp album. However, I didn't manage to get one. I found nothing inside Jusco and found 2 albums in Popular bookstore. Unfortunately, they were not the kind that I wanted. Haizz, it's so difficult to get stamp albums these days.

As I paid for the Christmas cards my mum wanted, one of my friends called and said that he arrived. We had nothing much to do and were just walking around. Then, another friend called and asked us to buy the tickets first.

We headed off to the ticket counter and purchased 10 Mission Impossible tickets. Then again, we were left with nothing much to do. We walked off again and were so bored that we went to the vegetable market in Jusco. As we were making our way back to the cinema where some of our friends were waiting, we spotted two other friends just in front of Jusco.

We ambushed them from behind. We didn't scare them but I think one of my friends must have been taken by surprise the moment he saw us following behind quietly. He was there to pay some bill. Once he was done, we headed off to the cinema together.

There, all 10 of us met and it was an almost perfect reunion. There were supposed to be 15 of us but only 10 could make it. We chit chatted until we forgot that the movie was about to start. I think we were a few seconds late when we went into the cinema.

The movie was quite nice. It was action packed and the way the secret agents worked as a team was great. I loved the part when they were in Dubai. The sandstorm, climbing the Burj Khalifa and the fighting scenes there were awesome.

After the movie, we had our lunch in McDonalds. When we were done with lunch, the trio-Tim, EongWei and I-were left in the mall as one of them had gone back and the others went to a cyber cafe. So there we were, as always, the last ones to go back.

I don't know why, but it seems like it's sheer coincidence that we are always the last ones to go back. We always enjoy our time together. We do crazy stuff like walking the opposite way on the escalator, commenting on people passing by (especially the girls and their degree of hotness) and walking through the shops buying nothing.

At around 5.00, we departed on our own ways, me first and then them. I had  a wonderful day with my friends that I miss and still miss so much. That day, I came to a realisation that I have no choice but to cherish the small moments of laughter and joy that has become and will still be short lived after this......  

A Lengthy Wait

As I mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, I was supposed to see a doctor for the injury in my leg. After surfing the net for some time, I found a sports specialist clinic in Subang Jaya. I immediately made an appointment for that day.

Honestly, I was very worried about what the doctor was going to say about that one-year-old injury. So many thoughts hit my head, including ruling out running for the rest of my life.

The appointment was supposed to be at 3 but I reached 10 minutes later because of traffic jam. So, I quickly got into the clinic when I reached there, registered myself and was on my way into the consultation room.

The doctor was surprised about how long my injury has been there. He asked me "What took you so long to see a doctor?". Then, I had to explain my whole history of very strange events that led to me consulting him only after a year.

I first got my injury when I was sprinting on the small road beside my house. That time, when I just took off from the starting position, I felt a strong pull in the groin area on my right leg. I stopped my training for that day immediately.

After a few days, I continued running as my leg was feeling fine. Just occasionally, I felt a small strain in that area. After returning from my holiday in India, I consulted a sports specialist in Pantai Medical Centre. The doctor said that I had a pull in my upper hamstring.

The doctor told me to rest completely for 3 weeks. With my MSSD (district level athletics championship) just around the corner, I thought that was a suicide mission.That was my biggest mistake. My father was reluctant to send me for physiotherapy because of the high cost. Anyway, I thought it was ok because my pain was reducing.

In January, I suffered a pull on my left quadriceps (on week 1) and right quadriceps (on week 2). Due to the injuries, my coach reduced my training citing fatigue and overstrain as the cause. As the training reduced, the injury in the groin area wasn't nagging me that much. And surprisingly, when I got back to normal training and was approaching the competition, the pain in the upper hamstring reduced.

After MSSD, I realised that the pain was still there and decided to take the 3 week rest. After 2 weeks, I became frustrated at the fact that the pain did not reduce and at time was getting worse. I thought that I should run so that the muscles become stronger (thinking that that's what happened prior to my MSSD). And I continued running like normal.

It was considered off season for me and I just had to do conditioning workouts till SPM was over. Conditioning workouts just cover endurance and speed endurance workouts. The thing was, whenever I did the workouts, I didn't feel the pain in my leg. However, after a few hours the pain would come back.

So, that continued until about 2 weeks before SPM. I decided that I had to try and rest completely as I was hoping to continue full swing training after SPM. I rested for 6 weeks. The pain reduced but it was still there. That's when I decided to consult a doctor again.

After a few X-Rays and scans, the doctor confirmed that I had adductor tendinitis- an inflammation to the adductor muscles due to fast twitching movements (when I sprinted last year). He also added that because the point of origin of the adductor was the pelvic girdle, one of the bones on the right side of my pelvic bone was slightly dislocated.

He told me that it was a huge mistake to not have taken complete rest and visited a physiotherapist immediately when I had the injury. Due to my carelessness (you can call it stupidity), the recovery time which was supposed to take 6 weeks has now prolonged to 3-4 months minimum.

I didn't know what was the problem then. Now, I've learned from another mistake of mine. More importantly, I've learned not to take sports injuries lightly as they could wreck my hopes. Now, I'll just have to wait patiently for 3 months while spending hours on physiotherapy, ice pack, anti-inflammatory gel and stretching and hope for a fast recovery.......

A Review On SPM

Well, I don't know why, but there is always an important sports competition going on just before my major exams. Last year, the athletics events in the Commonwealth Games ended just a day before my end year exam. I still remember reading my history and biology books in front of the television.

This year, just before my trials, the World Athletics Championship was going on. And so was the case for SPM. This time around, it was the SEA Games. However, unlike the previous two occasions, this time I had to sacrifice watching the events just for my exams.

The Bahasa Melayu paper was quite ok. Paper 1, the essay paper, was much easier than expected. Paper 2 was slightly difficult in some parts but I was still satisfied with it. The paper was certainly much easier than expected and it was a great relief for me.

The English paper was great. I had been anticipating the titles for section B of the first paper. Instead of choosing the one-word essay that I usually choose, I decided to do an essay with the title "The best things in life are free" because I had more things to write about than the one word essay-"Peace".

Next up was the Mathematics paper. There's nothing much to say about it. It was just like the normal paper and all the questions were similar and answerable.

The day after that was the nightmare paper for almost everyone-History. Somehow, I kinda loved this subject and held no grudges against it, unlike many of my friends. The paper took everyone by surprise. Instead of testing on how well students knew the historical facts, we were given many question that just required some common sense.

Then came the Moral paper on week 2. To me, this subject is a pure waste of time as we have to memorise 36 moral values with their respective definitions. At the end of the day, we don't really learn or improve much. The paper was ok and I had a great time doing it.

After a day's break, it was Additional Mathematics. This subject is one of my favourite subjects. The questions are much more difficult than the Mathematics paper but somehow, I've always enjoyed doing it. Paper 1 & 2 were great except for one part where I could not answer a logarithm question.

The next day was the day for my most favourite subject in school-Physics. I just love this subject but many of my friends prefer Biology or Chemistry. There were 3 papers and I have to say that Paper 2 was the trickiest. A lot of choices to make and I'm keeping my fingers crossed so that my choices were right.

Week 3 started off with the Chemistry paper. Again, 3 papers to answer and all of them were great. The experiment question in Paper 3 was a little tricky but I'm more concerned on the structure question for that paper as that was the part that cost me my A+ during my trial examinations.

The next day, it was Biology. This subject has been quoted as the most difficult science subject to score in SPM. Paper 1 was great for me. The tricky part was in Paper 2 & 3. In Paper 2, the essay questions were a little tough. I still managed to crap something though. In Paper 3, it took me some time to even understand the structure question. When it made sense, it became easy.

The last and final paper, after a torturous one week break (it was like you were free but still stuck in the cage), was English for Science and Technology. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the essay question for Paper 1-it was on robots and I knew quite a few examples to fit in. However, Paper 2 was slightly more difficult than Paper 1.

After that subject, my SPM journey was finally over. I was feeling very happy. I vowed not to touch any educational books for more than a month. Now, finally, it's time to take my foot of the pedal for some time..............

Incredible Ending

So yeah...it was the REAL last day of school and I was having the English for Science and Technology exam. My friends and I planned to go out for a Tamil movie that night. After the first paper, when we called our friend who was supposed to book our tickets to ask about the tickets, he dropped a bombshell on us.

He said that he had not bought the tickets yet. We, who were in school, were worried that we would not be able to watch the movie that day as the tickets might be sold out quickly (it was only the second day of release).

My friend then suggested that we call and book the tickets. I immediately rang up my sister to ask her for the number. She said that the movie wasn't even showing in Aeon. Then, after another few calls, one of my friends found out that the movie was showing in Aeon but it wasn't advertised in the paper. That friend decided to drive to the cinema after school.

After school, One of my friends and I hung out at our friends house until another friend came to pick us up. When we reached Aeon, 3 of them went to pierce their ears (post-SPM expression of freedom) while I (with my huge appetite), headed of to McDonalds to grab a burger. The timing was just nice for me to finish having my burger and to get into the cinema.

The movie was OK. The story wasn't that nice but the jokes and the hero's dialogue were funny. Honestly, we friends just went there for the fun of being together. It wasn't about the movie or the hero but just a way to spend the final day of school life. It was a tiring day.

Just barely six hours of sleep and I was awakened by a very disturbing dream. I tried to sleep again but all I could do was roll around in bed. After a torturing one and a half hours in bed, my alarm rang at 7 and I went to take my shower.

That day, I went to Mid Valley for the MPH Carnival. It was a brother-sister outing as my sister wanted to go as well. So, we took the train to the place. It was a difficult and adventurous journey as everyone seemed to be using the train to go somewhere. A long weekend was about to start and I think many people were returning home.

After lunch at McDonalds (again), we headed of to the Exhibition Hall where the carnival was being held. The books there were OK. I bought the remaining Twilight book missing from my collection, Eclipse, for just RM7.50 (that clearly shows what a flop the book was). Nevertheless, I just bought it to complete my collection. I picked up another 2 books and left the place.

My sister and I were supposed to go to our aunt's house in KL after that. None of us knew the way but luckily after some asking around, we managed to find our way. Then, around 6, I was back home with my aunt and cousin, just in in time to watch The Challenger Muay Thai Finale repeat.

What a tiring 24 hours or I should say what an adventurous 48 hours. I just feel like relaxing now. The 2 days of enjoyment was a great way to forget the burdening SPM exam. What's next? I really don't know. Let's see how things go on during the next few crucial days.......

Deepavali At My House

Every year, when it's Deepavali, also known as the Festival of Lights for the Hindus, I'll call my friends over to my house, either for lunch or dinner. This year, just like last year, I called them for dinner.

There were two main groups of friends who came. The first group consisted of my classmates and one other friend whom I've known for  a long time. Since all of them in that group came first, I asked them to have dinner first as it was 8.00 p.m., which was way past the dinner time of some of them.

There was briyani, chicken curry, mix vegetable, mutton and salad. It was a nice change for them as they don't usually eat Indian food. Some of them found the food spicy. Well,Indian food can't be called Indian food without a little bit of spiciness.

After dinner, they went to chill out upstairs. They were surprised to see how much my house had changed after the renovation this year. Then, they were hanging out in my study room. After about half an hour, they left for another place.

As soon as they left, my second group of friends, the Prodigy members, came in to have dinner. It was an epic reunion except for a few who couldn't make it. All of us squeezed in one table and filled our  hungry tummies. We were laughing all the way with jokes and stuff like that.

After dinner, we headed upstairs to my room. We started off with chilling out and then havoc started (as usual). We started off a pillow fight. My room has a lot of pillows for no real reason. So, everyone grabbed one pillow or bolster and started hitting each other.

After that, some of my friends had a small wrestling session. This is when bad luck struck. One of my friends accidentally banged my clothes cupboard. When he did that, one of the 3 crystal balls on my cupboard (kept for Feng Hsui reasons) fell on the ground. It made a perfect circle hole on one of the tiles and there was not a single scratch on the crystal ball. I knew it was an accident and just laughed away with them. After some time, all of them went back home.

Oh ya....I forgot to mention something. When my first group of friends were upstairs, one of the Prodigy members accidentally destroyed the kolam in front of my house. A kolam is a pattern, usually a flower pattern, which is formed by using coloured rice. He was very disappointed but I told that it was ok since my family was going to remove it the next day.

Deepavali is the only time of the year I call my friends to my house because my house it quite far from where they stay. I'm thinking of doing something different next year. I getting bored with the same routine. Let's see how things are during Deepavali next year.......  

Unexpected Assistance

Is there a saying that goes like this-"If you really need help, help finds you"? If there isn't, I really think it's time to have one.

The recent string of events had reduced my confidence to shambles. I was in dire need of help and motivation after the lost of an inspirational source. It all happened that evening after I had finished blogging.

It took just about 15 minutes to finish reading the important part of Thursday's newspaper. Then, all of sudden, I remembered that I had not finished reading Wednesday's newspaper. I went to the old newspaper pile and got the previous day's newspaper. Then, I quickly turned to the r.Age section.

The r.Age section in the newspaper every Wednesday is a section that discusses about the latest issues about teenagers. In that pullout, there's one section called Ask Anything. In this section, teenagers can write in their personal problems and two people, Rusyan and Su Ann will try to give a few suggestions to solve them.So, when I was reading that section that day, I was taken by surprise.

The person who wrote in was also 17. And his problem was something very similar to mine, except for a few things. I took interest and read through his problem and the suggestions by the Rusyan and Su Ann. It did give me few hints on what I should do to face the emotional turmoil I'm facing now.

The best part was, I didn't have to write in my problem but I got answers from the "advisers". It was just a super coincidence and I think I should give a shot at the suggestions. Things like engaging more with friends and spending time doing your hobby were some of the suggestions.

That's exactly what I'm going to do. As I've mentioned before, I'll be going out with friends. Then, I'm planning to buy a new stamp album. I want to transfer the stamps from two of my old albums to a new album as many columns in the old album are torn. I'm also planning to get a new currency note album as space has run out in my first album.

One of the suggestions was also going overseas. The boy who wrote in said that he will be going overseas in 2 years. Well, my parents have also promised to send me overseas to do my Masters, so in about 6 years time. And, I just told my coach about the problem in my leg. I'll have to wait for her decision first before planning anything else. ( I decided to consult my coach first before the doctor)

Haizz, I'll just take thing one step at a time. My parents are urging me to get a job once my exams are over. I'm not in the mood to go to work and earn money. I have been waiting for SPM to be over to start back training. Now, I have to try and think of a kind of job which I'll have time for training and working. Don't even mention about studying for the next few months.

That newspaper article did help a little bit in lighting up my day. But, the important part was the suggestions. I'm still feeling quite surprised with the timing of the article. Anyway, since it's there, I'll just make use of it without much fuss.............

Form 5 Farewell Function

Hmm....sounds like there has been a lot of farewell functions recently. This was certainly one of them. It was held in the Puteri Garden Hotel. Although my close friends and I found the price slightly unreasonable, we still decided to attend it because we knew that would be our first and last school function together (at least while we're still in school).

The committee members had to sacrifice a lot  to make this event a success as they had to organize this event and at the same time battle the ticking clock of the SPM deadline. To me, they were very brave to have gone to school to discuss about the event when I was damn busy trying to finish up my workbooks.

I wanted to wear something different for the function. Since I've not bought any formal clothes for sometime, I asked my parents to take me to Sunway Pyramid for shopping. It took a relatively short time for me to buy everything compared to when girls go for shopping. I bought every single piece of my clothing in a different store and it cost a whopping RM450++. I think my parents didn't mind because I rarely ask them to buy clothes for me.

So, on that day, as usual, a situation of Malaysian timing occurred again. I thought I was late but I was only the third person in my close group of friends to arrive. I registered myself at the entrance and received a nice key chain as a memory.

When the event started, I was freaking hungry and all I thought of was food. When it was time to eat, I got my food quickly. I didn't enjoy it that much because the food wasn't that nice. Anyway, it's always good to look for the positives when your struck by negative after negative.

The function was awesome. To add a bit of spice to the performances, the organizers had a Talent Time contest. It was a two-in-one thing as we were entertained and the performers a chance to showcase their talent to win the Talent Time.

There were also a few slide shows played during the function. I was very surprised when the video of me jumping form the Form 4 block was played. The slide shows were very heart-warming as well. Hats off to the ones who made the slide shows.

However, the best part of the day for me was the all-day-long joke session by my friend, Eong Wei. He just loves to speak out and act on stage and he did a pretty awesome job that day. I was entertained the whole day listening to his jokes, whether it made sense or not.

That day, as I spent more than an hour in the hotel waiting for my parents, I took out my phone and checked the number of weeks I had to spend with my friends. It served as a wake up call that our days together in school were numbered. Anyway, that was a long time ago but now things have  already changed...............

My Journey As A Prefect Ends Here

Since I've not been blogging for some time due to the SPM examinations, it's time for me to update the events that had happened during the last two months. I started off with the Tamil Society's Farewell Function. Now, I'll continue with the Prefect Board's Farewell Function.

This function, like the previous one, was held as a send off for the Form 5 and Form 6 prefects. I have to say that the juniors did put in a lot of effort to make this event a wonderful one given all the obstacles they faced. The event wasn't that moving but the story behind it was the main point.

This event was long overdue due to the countless exams and Sports Day held in my school. At one part, they actually wanted to have the event two days before my trial examinations. A few of my my friends and I were pretty cool with it. But most were not.

Some even went to the extent of  asking us to sign petitions to protest the event being held just before the trials. I, knowing the suffering the juniors were facing decided not to sign. I even told the Head Prefect about it as we had a good understanding in the Prefect Board (In case some of you prefects reading this were wondering how Yang Yang found out, this is my confession).

Eventually, the event was postponed again. On that day, there were performances and games. The food was not bad. The event wasn't that moving but it was a simple and heart-warming send off. Honestly, I loved it. At the end of the day, I could see the relief on the face on the project manager. As I was waiting for my dad to pick my sister and I up, my mind flew back to the past.

I still remember how excited I was to wield my axe of power on the unsuspecting Form 1 students at the beginning of Form 2. My friend, Tim, and I choose one of the worst classes-1 Usaha. The thing was, at the beginning, the class seemed like a very quiet class but we actually fell for the first day blues. There was one particular person whom I used to always ask to tuck in his shirt. He used to be so irritated with me. Ironically, today whenever he sees me, he conjures up a smile  for me to smile back.

Form 3  was a year waiting to be explored. At first, the sight of asking the older students to follow instructions did give me some nightmares. After a gruelling probationary period running around asking signatures ( I'll never forget that one senior who made me run the most), I was put in charge of one of the worst classes in Form 5 -5s2- for 3 months. They were very funny and troublesome at the same time.

The next term, I was awarded with the post "Penolong Ketua Blok". I loved this post and the job scope. Every morning, I would go to each class and ask them to go for assembly and at recess, I would ask them to go to the canteen. At this time, I was awarded with an extra post which was the "Pemantau" or Observer post. Two of my seniors had a serious discussion with me before giving me that post. They wanted to save the prefect board from becoming worse.

At first, I wasn't sure if I should accept the post because I was worried if the others would become jealous. I had never gave importance to post and had always thought about working with others. I eventually accepted it. My friends were OK with it (I think) as my my job was going on smoothly.

I was awarded the "Penolong Ketua Disilpin" post for the next term. This post was quite a challenge for me. I made the demerit system with the advice and instructions form the Head Prefect. Many prefects didn't like it but I was happy as the system did curb a few things that were plaguing the prefect board. This term, we made great strides to improve the performance of the prefect board.

That isn't all about being a prefect (as many people think). One of the best parts of being a prefect was that I had the chance to meet many new people along that wonderful journey as a prefect. Now, I'm quite proud to say that I know or would have at least spoken once to almost every 17-year-old in school. Forming good relationships with other students was an essential part in ensuring that my job went on smoothly.

Besides that, I loved the times when we prefects could relax for a while under the shade when the other students were under the hot sun during assembly. Skipping duty (maybe for a little while) is part and parcel of life as a prefect. Usually, when the weather gets too hot or it gets too boring during assembly, some of the prefects will meet up in one of the blocks to relax for a while. However when a teacher walks by (this is the funny part), we would rush back to our duty points.

Life as a prefect isn't all about discipline and duty. Sometimes, it's how people perceive things that determines how much they enjoy something. I had a great time during my stint as a prefect but I'll never become a prefect again even if I have to go back for Form 6. I've had great memories with the prefect board and I wish it stays that way........

Tamil Society Farewell

A few months ago, the Tamil Society in my school organized a Tamil Society Farewell Function. It was basically a farewell for all the Form 5 and Form 6 Indian students in my school. Other students were allowed to join the function as well.

I had to go early because my sister wanted to do a final rehearsal for her piano performance. As I was feeling hungry, I went to a shop nearby to have something. After filling my stomach with a nice meal, I headed back to the hall to meet up with my friends.

The function started with a prayer and classical performances. Then, it was my sister's performance. She was really nervous and made a few mistakes which were not that detectable. She asked me to take a video of her playing it while another guy sang a song alongside the music.

There were also modern dance performances. I was quite amazed by the amount of effort those performers put in to make this event a wonderful one. Then, there was the fashion show. That was really funny. All the female participants were asked the question, "Do girls need freedom and why?". My friends and I had a good laugh listening to their answers and hearing me and a few others jokingly condemning their answers.

While all this was going on, my friends and I were causing havoc at our table. We made a mess of all the decorations on our table. At the middle of the table, there was a glass bowl filled with water, a lighted candle and there were dried scented flower petals floating on them. Whenever the lights went off for the performances, we took some wet flower petals and threw it on the table behind us. I wonder if they were wondering where the "Flowers of Blessings" were coming from.

To top it all of, there was an open dance floor at the end of the day. At first my friends hesitated. Then I started off by joining the dance floor with 2 friends. Then, all my other friends followed by. My other friends were very surprised to see me on the dance floor because they think that I only read books and run. So yeah, I had a splendid night and I was fully soaked in sweat ant the end of the day.

It was a great experience attending that function. The food was the best food I've had among the 3 school functions I attended this year. And I really loved the open dance floor session. Overall, it was a night spent worthily.........................

A Memorable Chapter in Life

It all started with smiles. Never once had I thought that it would end up like this. I still remember the first time I met her and it was during Form 3. She was new to the prefect board and her senior asked her to look for me to tell her what to do if she was put in charge of the block.That was almost 3 years ago.

Our friendship grew unexpectedly. It all continued with smiles whenever me met each other. We rarely spoke but we were just friends. Then, I felt like I had a crush on her. It just happened like that. I don't know how or why. I was pretty cool with it because I knew it would go off after some time.

I don't know how but Tim found out about it. So, when he asked me, I told him that it was just a crush and it was long over. However, that wasn't the true story. I still had a crush on her that time. As time flew by, things weren't changing much.

I still remember how the coincidence of the both of us being put in the same class in Form 4 when I got separated from all my other friends made me think that fate brought us together. At that time, I was still thinking that the feelings were going to go off very soon. I still remember telling myself "It's just an attraction, not love" whenever I thought about her.

At the same time, one of my friends started a rumour about me liking her. I was totally taken by surprise because on one side it was true but on the other side, I've not told anyone except Tim. And I had already denied it when Tim asked me. I was sure Tim wouldn't have done such a thing. My friend who started it just did it out of boredom I guess.

Again, I was under the perception that fate was doing this to bring us together. She didn't like all the teasing we got. I was kinda used to it because my friends had always loved picking on me. After some time, I finally gave up denying and told myself that I was in love with her.

She was a very good friend to me. She helped me a lot in reminding me about stuff and advising me on certain things. I did advise her on certain things as well. It was going on pretty great for us as friends.

The most significant role that she has played in my life so far is that she was the reason I shaped so many principles in my life. I can't explain what they are because they are very personal to me. You can call them the principles of my life. She taught me a few -maybe a lot- of good values in life.She also made me realise the mistakes I was doing.

Over time, I was pretty much into her. When I asked her, she said its better if we be best friends. I respected and still do respect her decision. I was, let's say, heartbroken. I was kinda  lost. That night, I couldn't sleep well. It took me an hour to finally give up thinking and let my tiredness take over.

Today morning, I woke up with one question in my mind-What's next? For a moment, I couldn't think of anything. I lied down thinking of how will my life be after this. First thing, I'm going to go for outings with my friends. Then, I need to see a doctor to check out on my injury which has been nagging me for about a year. I'm not sure if I'm going to need a surgery.

If  my injury heals fast, I'm going to get back into full swing training. I've also decided to look for options to leave the country for some time,maybe through a student exchange programme. I have to find out info and tell my parents- and that will only happen if I really really can't continue training for some time.

Today, when I look back at everything that has happened, I realised that I've misinterpreted many things. I regret doing so because it has brought me into such a state that I find it very hard to move on. It's because I'm the loyal kind of guy who would never change his love like changing clothes.

My advice to you, be careful on how you interpret something in life, especially in relationships. I'm still learning from my mistake. It'll take time for my feelings to go away. And it'll be really difficult for me to fall for another girl because I don't know when to believe and trust and when to not.

And to that special person, I have to thank her a lot for everything that she has done for me. I really appreciated it. I'll still treat her like my good friend (as I've always done) but I'll have to stop asking her for advice and inspiration because that would just bring back memories of my past. Now, I'll just have to find back the meaning of my life.....................

P.S. To my friends who are reading this, I hope you will just keep any comments to yourself and not discuss this with others. I wrote this post to store my memories and to advise others not to take the wrong path like me

When The Very Happy Meets The Very Sad

I turned and turned around in bed but sleep just didn't want to visit me. I picked up the phone to check the time. 4.26 a.m. I still had a hour to go before I should start getting ready for school. I tried to close my eyes tightly to induce sleep but my efforts came to no avail.

 My nightmare was haunting me-the nightmare I had been dreaming of since I saw for the first time a batch of Form 5 students leaving the school.And I knew that this day was going to be that dreadful day.

I took a quick shower, gulped down my breakfast, and continued reading my Biology notes. Somehow, I just didn't have a  good feeling about that subject's exam that day as I had not completely read my intensive notes. I ran across each page and managed to read them completely. However, that feeling was still there.

I reached school and greeted my wonderful friends with my smile. Everyone was so focused on Biology but my mind was running elsewhere. I told them that this day would be the saddest day of my life up to date. They smiled back, with signs of sadness in their eyes as well.

So, things proceeded and we sat for the Biology Paper 1. It was good. After that, my friends and I rushed to return our textbooks to school. We had a great laugh. I caught a glance of endless clouds and asked myself, "Did this day really have to come this fast?"

Next up was paper 2. The essay was a bit of a problem but I managed to crap something especially for the question that asked about thalassaemia. After that, as usual, it was lunch time. We decided to eat quickly and return to read up on some Biology experiments. But when we returned to school, that dream just didn't materialise.

Everyone knew what we were facing. It was practically the last day of our schooling life. Although I still have one more exam to take, less than half of my close group of friends will be taking that exam. We ended up making jokes and laughing around that it caught the attention of many. One of my friends said this jokingly, "Everyone studying for bio but there's one f***er up there (i was upstairs) who is so relaxed". If only he had realised the mixed emotions creating havoc in my heart.

Paper 3 was much better than paper 2. As the clock ticked by, everyone was thinking about enjoying and freedom. It was like we were getting our own Independence. It was a great feeling. I couldn't stay in my chair for long. I went to the toilet twice in ten minutes just to take a look of all those people who had left their exam rooms earlier to enjoy.

As the teacher said "time's up" and started collecting the paper, everyone was already smiling. As she took my paper, I stood up and snapped a photo of my exam class with most of my classmates still in their seats. Then, I quickly rushed out to get my extra school shirt form my bag. I asked my classmates to sign on the front as I had dedicated the back portion to my Prodigy members.

I waved loud goodbyes to my friends. I might never meet them after this. I folded my shirt neatly into my bag and rushed to meet up with my close friends. Firecrackers burst as we left the school compound. The teachers were angry but no one had any proof of who lit up the firecrackers.

Then, as the students went back home one by one, sometimes in droves, my friends and I had our last bonding session. We took funny videos first. I think all of us were indeed trying to hide our feelings. Then, as we were about to go back, we made our first and last sad video in school uniforms.

You can check out the video when I post it on facebook. Honestly, I felt like crying. I tried holding back my tears as much as I could by conjuring up simple smiles and short laughter. Once the video was done, we hugged each other for one last time and set off on our way back home at around 5 p.m.

I sat at the the overhead bridge reminiscing about the 5 great years I had had in school. I took out the autographed shirt to see what my friends had written. Many wrote "good luck" and "love you" with smileys. I just don't know how to put my feelings that day into words. It was like there was something empty in my heart.

I wonder how my future is going to be. I'm 100% confident that I'll never get friends like the ones I have know in the future. Everyone is acting so matured these days. We were a total opposite and we enjoyed living that way. We made the silliest jokes and did the most outrageous things that students could have done in school.

School life is school life. It's a part of life that most people go through. I use to wonder how the Form 5s before me could walk out so happily on their last day of school. Now, I know the answers. Their joy of finishing the burdening  SPM examination overshadowed their bonding with their friends. In my case, my bonding with my friends just overpowered everything else.......

Who Do We Consider Our Hero?

The question looks quite simple, doesn't it? Yet, I think it's one the questions that I find very difficult to answer. There are just too many options. If we pick one person, we might be considered biased as they are others who have been pretty impressive to our eyes.

Some people consider one of their parents as a hero. In broken families, this is very often the case. For the children, their single parent might have provided them with the basic needs and comforts as much as possible. And their only love comes from their single parent. There's no surprise that they will look up to their parent as their role model and hero.

However, in a normal family, a child who has been showered by love by his/her parents would rarely choose one of their parents as their hero. One main reason is that they are afraid if they would be considered biased if they were to favour one parent over the other. So, they just decide to sit on the fence and prefer to choose someone else as their hero.

Many people, especially girls consider a certain movie actor as their hero. I know that those actors are indeed heroes in movies. But, is it right to consider them as our hero and role model in life? I prefer to leave that argument aside as I feel that different people think in a different way. To me, just as we a players in the stages of our life, actors are just players on their own stage.

Many boys, on the other hand, like to make people that make the world moving as their hero. I'm not talking about all those politicians who wield their axe of power and change the course of the world. I'm talking about those guys who make the place a very entertaining place to live in.

For example, some boys are really fond and amazed by guys who do stunts. They can range from amateur skateboarders to professional wrestlers. The reason is these guys do things that are really out of the box. Wrestlers in particular really do become the heroes of many wrestling fans because they are strong and have great showmanship. Their charisma is just to attractive to some.

International figures who were or are involved in humanitarian efforts are another group who can proudly call themselves the heroes of others although they would certainly not do that. Quite a number of people consider people like Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa as their hero because of their efforts in giving other people a better life. To be frank, the majority of people who consider this group of people as their hero are adults who have come out of the materialistic shells to realise what life really is.

Now on behalf of children. Ever wondered why children can't seem to let go off the fact that cartoon superheroes are really the superheroes of their life? Well, children are so pure in their thoughts and feelings that even they know that people who save lives and do good to others are great people. I always use to think of the reason I used to be so hooked up on superheroes when I was young. Well, at least now I'm big enough to think of the answer myself.

I'm sure you must be wondering who my hero is. I gave so many options but I have to admit that I've not really chosen anyone as my hero so far. I do have role models as an example and a motivational figure to propel my goals. But, I think I still have a lot to find out about life before deciding on my true hero......

A Great End To My Special Day Of The Year

Well, just to let you guys know, today is my birthday. I'm turning 17 today. Life moves on fast right?

My day started off with a few birthday wishes at 12 from my sisters and friends. This year, there were 4 friends who wished me at 12. Then, I got back to sleep and woke up at 6 to go to the park for a good morning workout.

The day progressed with birthday wishes from my friends and family members. My birthday this year was a little different as my mum was overseas. That meant that I won't be able to taste my mum's delicious cooking and cake that she does for me every year on my special day.

In the evening, I went to aeon to get some new clothes for my birthday. I walked the whole shopping mall and finally decided to buy the 3 for RM50 T-shirts from Padini. I kinda liked the captions on the T-shirts.

After that, I returned home for the cake-cutting ceremony. As usual, I always celebrate my birthday at home with my family. It was going on as usual until my sister presented me with my birthday gift.

It was in a big red box. At first, I thought it was going to be a few things together in the box. Stuck at the front of the box was a nice birthday card my brother had made for me. In my eyes, it looked artistic and I'm really thankful as my brother actually took the trouble to make it for me. When I opened the box, I was taken by surprise.

To make it simple, it was amazing. My sister had presented me a photo frame, not just the frame but with a wonderfully edited picture in it. It was actually a picture of me, or I should say pictures of me since I was young until now. My sister spent her time to look for my picture for every age and arranged it in 17 boxes to show how I've changed throughout the years.

I would love to post the picture in this blog post but I don't know how to do it. It's quite heart warming and touching to see that my siblings have put in so much effort to ensure that I had a wonderful birthday.

After those touching moments, I logged on to facebook to check out the birthday wishes on my 'wall'. I was surprised to see that there was a staggering 170 birthday wishes on my facebook 'wall'. I took my time to return their kind wishes with words of appreciation, one by one.

As I looked through every picture in that collage of pictures, I realised that I have indeed grown up by quite a lot. To be honest, I don't think I would want to change my past as I've enjoyed most of it. Being a 17-year-old now, I know that I have to grow up away from immaturity but my great childish memories are just too amazing to let go off......

Another First Time

Yeah, the title says it all. I had another first time experience. This time, I was representing my school in an Info Hunt competition held in Bukit Cahaya, Shah Alam. I wasn't alone though-I had 11 team mates who were also representing my school.

The Info Hunt wasn't like my previous experiences of being separated into groups. This time, we raced as one team. I was actually a last minute inclusion in the team. It was because a few members from the original team pulled out as they were taking part in an accounting quiz in Taylor's University. Lucky me!

I've been there twice before, most recently during a trip there for Skytrex. The weather was cool as usual. We reached there quite early. And, it was a case of the famous Malaysian timing again as most of the teams arrived pretty late. One of the teams even arrived after one of the teams had started their race.

Basically, each team comprised of 12 students. We were then told to divide ourselves into two groups as we had 2 different paths to take. It was actually using your IQ skills to solve questions at checkpoints combined with great stamina and endurance for running. We really had to run as the time was very essential in determining the winner.

Each team left every 10 minutes. After the draw, we found out that we were the second last team to leave. So, we just sat there relaxing and sulking at the long long wait. I even managed a good nap and still had about an hour to wait after waking up.

Finally, race time! I was so delighted just to get off my seat and do some light warm up before starting. As soon as we got our first clue, the two groups in my team set off in different directions.

There was one huge problem in my team-not many were athletes and barely a few actually exercise. So, I knew before the race that tiredness would play a major part in that race. But, my spirits were not going to be brought down so easily as I was determined to ensure that my friends had a wonderful time that day.

As expected, fatigue caught up on my group members even before we reached the first checkpoint. The route was really long I have to say. I mean for non-athletes who were racing and to be given such a long a hilly route is quite a challenge. One of my friends had donated her blood the day before. So, she was low on haemoglobin and obviously-her body lacked oxygen.

I was determined to help her through the race. Whenever I go for such competitions, I always feel that happiness is more important than winning. One thing I was amazed about was her determination to continue. She looked so damn tired and her pulse was extremely high but she just wanted to continue. I didn't want to demotivate her by asking her to stop.

At the first checkpoint, after a long climb up a hill, we were given some mind-boggling mathematics questions. This Info Hunt was a real test for every one. One moment we had to run our hearts off, another moment we had to dig our brains for answers. The time limit just made it even more exciting.

At the third checkpoint, both the groups which separated at the beginning met each other. We had to race as one team from that checkpoint onwards. Again, I was amazed at how my team members were so reluctant to give up.

Then at the final challenge, they gave their reluctance a second thought. It was just pure running to the finish. It sounds easy except for the fact that it was uphill most of the way. I knew I was going to be ok with it as hill running is part of my training. But I had to do some thing to help my friends.

Some of them fared well, pushing themselves through the challenging path. The others were clearly having a big barrier to overcome. So, I tried my best to do the right thing every group leader would have done. I ran back and forth, up and down the hill to motivate my friends at the front and especially at the back.

After a gruelling 58 minutes of running and solving questions, we finally completed our race. We were pretty delighted to have completed the course. After lunch, we sat back at our original places and patiently awaited the outcome of the Info Hunt. There were many awards at stake but unfortunately, we didn't win anything. After everything was over, me managed to hang around at the animal sanctuary in the park and we had a good laugh there.

We didn't go back empty handed that day. We gained a lot of experience and had a good workout in the hills. I had one great time there. Besides enjoying my so called hill workout, I learned a lot about not giving up and pushing yourself harder even at the most gruesome of times. All in all, hats off to my wonderful team mates for making sure we had an amazing experience throughout the race........

P.S. We finished sixth. A surprising result for us too!

A Different Exposure

I don't know what's up with this year, but I've been getting unexpected experiences ever since the beginning of the year. Well, this time, it was the Physics Explorace which was organised by the District Education Department.

If you have been following my blog and was expecting this explorace to be similar to the Chemistry Explorace a few weeks ago, I can assure you that you're only 5% right. You're 5% right because there were one or two checkpoints that were similar to the checkpoints in the chemistry explorace. You're also (only) 5% right because it was a whole lot different.

On my way to the Management & Science University which was the venue, I was trying to recall what my teacher had said during the briefing in school a week ago. So, it was supposed to be more challenging than the chemistry explorace as this time, we were supposed to really race each other to complete the challenges in the shortest amount of time possible.

As soon as my 3 other friends and I confirmed our registrations for the explorace, we were divided into random groups. This is the part I loved the most during the chemistry explorace because I got a chance to know new people. This time, I met a whole new bunch of people too (actually just 4).

Well, this time, it was a little different. As soon as I found my group members, we kinda like clicked together pretty fast. It was all thanks to the girl from Methodist Girls School. She was quite the talkative type and to be frank, she initiated all the conversations at the beginning of our unofficial ice-breaking session.

Ok, let's get to the real deal. We started off from the lecture hall after a short briefing. It's been a few weeks ago since the competition so I can't really remember exactly what happened. The first experiment was to test the relationship between the length of the ohmic conductor and the resistance of the circuit. This experiment is one of the most uncertain experiments because malfunctioning ammeters and voltmeters are very common. Fortunately for my team, all the equipments were working well.

Other than that, in one of the checkpoints, there were 2 experiments to complete on properties of light. The first one was to test that light moved in a straight line. That was simple. The next one was to make a smaller beaker look invisible in a bigger beaker. It took us some time to interpret the instructions carefully before managing to complete the experiment. Basically, we had to place the small beaker inside the big beaker and pour oil into the small beaker until it appeared invisible.

In one other checkpoint, there were also 2 experiments to complete. Well, this checkpoint was the most challenging one as we faced a hard time to provide an explanation to the experiment we conducted. The worst part was the application question based on the experiment. (For every experiment, we had to provide an explanation and application in daily life except for the ohmic conductor experiment).

The first experiment was to trap a boiled egg in a conical flask. Basically, we were supposed to put the egg into the conical flask which had an opening which was too small for the egg to pass through. One of my group members then came up with a wonderful idea. He burned a piece of paper and chucked it into the conical flask while it was burning. Then, immediately he placed the egg at the mouth of the conical flask. After a few tries, we managed to slot the egg through the opening due to the reduced pressure inside the conical flask as a result of decreased volume of oxygen from combustion.

For the second part, we had to bend 5 matchsticks and place them in such a way that the bent parts of all the matchsticks were touching each other to form a star. Then, we were instructed to drop a few drops of water at the centre and observe. As the water droplet hit the centre, the matchsticks first came close together and then moved further away. We were staring blankly at each other for an explanation to the beautiful phenomena we just experienced. After the time was up, we found out that it had something to do with capillary action that we learnt in Biology (We could not figure it out because we were thinking too deep on Physics).

Well, that was all the experiments we did. In other checkpoints we had a quiz, a crossword puzzle (actually a few), a memory test ( we failed badly at remembering the names of Filipino scientist that we had to memorise in 5 minutes) and a spontaneous quiz. In the spontaneous quiz, we had to answer 10 questions, one by one, and we got a chance to throw 2 ping pong balls into a beaker from a distance for each correct answer. We managed to answer 9 out of 10 but never got a ball into the beaker.

We finally completed the race and settled down in the lecture hall to wait for the others and to know the results of the race. Again, the unexpected struck the team which had a whole lot of fun and never really mentioned anything about winning-my team!

Yeah, my team won the explorace...and it was my second explorace victory after winning the chemistry explorace. I was quite surprised to have won. Then, it was deja vu again when my school was announced the overall winner for the explorace after marks were accumulated based on the performance of the 4 of us representing my school.

It was another amazing day I have to say. A wonderful experience with different types of experiments, mind boggling quizzes and memory tests, various situations that required analytical thinking and to top it all off.....2 winners medals. A great day indeed......but more importantly, the experience was extraordinary........

Extraordinary Time

It all happened too quickly. At one point,I was wondering if I was actually dreaming. It just seemed so unbelievable-what a change of fortune in a matter of hours.

Well, it all started when my friends and I had to stay back for co-curricular activities that Wednesday. We had just returned from La Salle after buying our lunch. We were enjoying our food when one of my friends got a call from his dad. After a small conversation, my friend enthusiastically told us that his father had 3 free VIP passes for the Arsenal vs Malaysia match, which was taking place that night. And, he was asking if any of us wanted to join him for the match.

I immediately agreed and told him that I wanted to go. Then, it hit me that I was supposed to get my father's permission. I called him and surprisingly, he agreed. Another friend of mine also agreed to join us. My other friends were a little disappointed for not getting a chance. Their parents were a little strict about going out to far places and there were only 3 tickets.

Around 3.30, I followed my friend back to his house. I couldn't go back to my house because there was no one to send me to his house so that the father could take us to the train station (we planned to go there by train). At his house, I did my biology homework for about half an hour. After that, my friend and I went for a walk around his housing area to get something for tea.When we returned, my other friend who was supposed to join us arrived. We quickly had our tea and muffins and got ready to go for the match.

We had to take 2 trains to the stadium. This was a first time experience on the train to Kl with friends for my friend whose father got the free tickets. So, on the way, I was explaining my experiences on the train for the past 2 years. In the second train, it was getting very crowded as many football fans were travelling to stadium by train as well.

After some hassle, we managed to get to the stadium. It was amazing-the atmosphere. The footballing feel started from the train station itself as many different football items were sold from the station all the way to the stadium. The best one for me was the vuvuzela-like horn. It was so loud and was the perfect tool to create the joy and spirit of football. We got one each and made our way into the stadium.

The matched had already started for 2 minutes when we finally took our seats in the VIP section in the stadium. The moment we sat, Arsenal were awarded a penalty. Aaron Ramsey converted the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way. By half time, Arsenal were 2-0 up, Theo Walcott got his name on the score sheet.

During the break at halftime, my friends and I decided to get something to eat as we had not had our dinner (we were hungry on the way to the stadium but the excitement just kept us going). Then, we got another surprise when we found out that food was provided for VIP ticket holders. We were delighted and gulped in as much as possible before returning to our seats.

The second half was what the Arsenal fans had been waiting for. Arsene Wenger, the Arsenal manager substituted the young players who played in the first half with the stars of Arsenal-Van Persie, Arshavin, Vela, Song and a few others. It was really like a dream. Never once had I imagined I would be seeing these players playing football in reality. It was quite unbelievable. The match ended with Arsenal outclassing the local team by score of 4-0.

The best part of the day was right after the match. The players were walking up the staircase ( it was right next to the VIP seat that I was sitting in) to receive their winners medal. And, I actually got a chance to get a handshake from most of the Arsenal players. Again, it was like a dream to have shook hands with Arshavin (he is my most favourite Arsenal player), Walcott, Van Persie and Carlos Vela. I actually slapped myself to check I wasn't dreaming.

After that, we immediately left the stadium to get our tickets to get back home. It was quite a struggle to get my tickets for the train from Bukit Jalil to Bandaraya but I managed to get with the help of a kind man. We boarded the train and walked to Bank Negara station to get our train back home. Bad luck struck us there.

We discovered that the last train had left and the train station was closed. We had no choice but to call my friend's father to come all the way to KL city at 12 midnight. We walked back to Bandaraya station as it would be easier for his father to pick us up. I finally reached home at 1.30-the latest I've come back home after an outing with friends.

What an experience. It was truly amazing to have had the chance to meet Arsenal players face-to-face although I'm a Manchester United fan. Within a few hours, it turned from feeling bored to attend the co-curricular activities in school to feeling excited after shaking hands with world-class footballers. And, the reason I gave this blog post the title Extraordinary Time was because I experienced great football, great food and great girls (of course) !

P.S. I was just joking about the great girls. They were quite average :P

Life In The Middle Of Adjustments

Every year, sports day would be the day I will always look forward to the most. And this year, after my loss during the district level athletics competition, I was really looking forward to clocking a good time for the 400m. However, I soon found out that I wouldn't be able to make amends for my loss this year.

The sports day in my school was supposed to be held on the 28th of July. Then, a major problem occurred. The district education department had planned a test for us where the dates would clash with the date for sports day. Due to this, the school had decided to not allow the Form 5 students to take part in sports day.

Many students and teachers were disappointed with this. So, one of the main teachers in school who was in charge of sports had another discussion with the headmistress to change the dates for sports day. He managed to persuade them to change the dates but that decisions came with a cost. The Form 5 students could take part but 200m and 400m events were scrapped from the sports day program. The only running event for the sports day would be the 100m as sports day was going to be held in my school field which was a little too small for longer events.

Well,I didn't have a choice but to keep my aspirations to clock better times for the 400m for another occasion. So, for this year, I decided to try out some new events-high jump and shot put. I decided to take part in the high jump out of my own will but the decision for shot put was made by my teacher. I couldn't believe when she told me that I would be taking part in the shot put. I'm guessing she chose me based on my performance when I was showing the girls the right technique for shot put using a lighter metal ball.

Anyway, lets get to sports day now. The day started off with the opening ceremony. This year, I was given the chance to say the sports day oath which would be recited every year by the top athlete in school. Since sports day was held in school, the opening ceremony was held in the students assembly point. Well, honestly but sadly, the opening ceremony was my only highlight for this year's sports day.

After the opening ceremony, the honourable guests were asked to check on the tent decorations of all the sports houses. By one look, even you would have agreed with me that the blue house was the clear winner. They had spent a lot of time and energy to prepare all the decorations to decorate their tent. Their theme was pirates and they made ships and sea creatures from polystyrene and made them to stand upright using sticks.

My first event was the shot put. I was pretty excited to participate as it was my first time and I knew that I was surely going to be the thinnest participant. My first throw was disqualified as the metal ball was touching my palm before I threw it. I corrected my technique and managed to throw for another 2 times. After the first three throws, my participation in the competition ended as I didn't make it to the second round. On the positive side, I didn't finish last as I threw further that some of the big sized boys. Yeah! :P

Next up was the high jump. I joined this event just for the experience and fun. I stuttered during my first jumped and my legs hit the bar. It was the same story throughout the competition. I did clear 2 different heights but both of them were not on my first try. The problem was, I hadn't mastered the technique to jump. I could project my body high but I always jumped too early or my leg would hit the bar on the way down. Eventually, I bowed out a happy man knowing I had gained some good experience.

I was quite disappointed at first when I found out that I wouldn't be able to run the 200m and 400m in possibly my last year in secondary school. But, I managed to put that aside and take up new challenges. In life, everything just doesn't go our way every time. We just have to learn to adjust. I had a great time adjusting and this year's sports day will be one that will always be in my memory.........

A Day Of Mischief

OK,I'll tell you this. I was expecting to have some fun that day but little did I suspect that it would turn out to be very fine day. Well,I can say that it was the best day of the year for me so far.

This year,due to the increasing cases of diabetes and other health-related problems among school students, the Malaysian government had decided to implement a sports program that would last throughout the year. The 1Student 1Sport 1Malaysia run was one of the events on the sports calender this year. Basically, it was a a 2.7 kilometre run that every school student had to take part in.

Since no prizes were awarded for the students (it wasn't supposed to be a race, it was just a health program), my friends and I decided that we run together throughout the course. The problem was,not all of us were athletes and it was sure that not everyone could have run continuously for the whole 2.7 km. However, we didn't really have a solution to that until the day itself.

That day,when everyone started running, my friends and I decided to become the last ones to start running. However, we found that most people were actually walking right from the start. So, as soon as we got out from the school compound, we started jogging. Then, all of a sudden, my friend got a idea to make our day fun.

He suggested that we sit down in front of La Salle school by the road in a group. See, our plan for the day was to have loads of fun and attract as much attention as possible. So,we sat down and started chanting some words which were attracting a lot of attention from the students. Then, we started singing our school song. It was the weirdest thing to do at that moment because our school song was the most boring and longest song ever and wasn't suitable for a happy event like that. But, we loved the fact that people were laughing at us the whole time.

After that, we decided to continue running to continue our fun in another place. The next stop was in front of some one's house. We did the same thing. We sat down and started chanting some names. I'm sorry to disappoint you but I can't reveal what we chanted because I think it would be inappropriate to be written on this blog post. Again, we were attracting loads of attention. Some La Salle boys were quite jealous of our bravery but they couldn't do anything about it. We took a group picture here.

Now, it was time to add some spice and flavour to our day. As we continued running, I started ringing the doorbells of the houses we passed by. My friends were shocked at what I did first but they then found it fun and followed what I did. The thing was,being a prefect in school, I never had a chance to do naughty things in school. So, I wasn't going to waste my opportunity this time.

Next up, we stopped a some one's house again. This time,I suggested we do planking and one of my friends suggested we do snow angels on the ground. We started off with snow angels. One of my friends decided to take a video. Then, it was time for my planking. I was so amazed by how crazy planking sounded that I really wanted to do it. So,I asked my friend to take a video of me planking. However, after I lied face down on the floor, my friends decided to jump on me. I hurt my chin and we had a good laugh about it. And.......the video turned out to be "Planking Gone Wrong"!

As we neared the primary school that most of us studied in, we decided to sit together on the compound walls of the school. We climbed up one by one and posed for a picture. Moments after that, two of my Form 4 friends took my shoes and ran off. I couldn't chase them as I knew that I would hurt my feet if I ran barefoot on the road. One of the teachers became angry at our naughtiness and scolded us. Then, I explained to her that this was our last year year in school and we wanted to enjoy our day. Surprisingly, she somehow accepted our reason.

We were almost reaching the end when we saw a signboard that reminded motorists to slow down as students would usually cross that road after school. Then, one of my friends suggested that we follow the instruction and walk in slow motion. It sounds pretty dumb and stupid but we kinda had fun trying to walk in slow motion in the middle of the road while everyone else was staring at us. After that, another crazy idea cropped up and we decided to army crawl on the ground. It was painful but very fun to act crazy.

When we finally reached our school, we were quite tired although the course was only 2.7 kilometres. We spent all our energy chanting words and doing crazy stuff along the way. It may sound stupid and crazy for some of you readers, but with my bunch of friends, the craziest things are always the best things we can ever do together.......

First Time, Fine Time

Since I was young,I've always liked meeting new people and making friends with them.I always love to learn about how different people take command of their daily lives and participate in their cultural activities.I really want to discover what life has to offer for others who live a very different life from me.And,recently I got another chance to meet new people when my teacher selected me to represent my school in the chemistry explorace that was held by the district education department.

It was my first time taking part in an explorace outside school.It was actually a co-academic event for chemistry.They had the explorace and the chemistry quiz. From the four of us that represented my school that day,two of us(including me) were taking part in the explorace and the other two were taking part in the quiz.

We reached the venue for the event,SMK Taman Klang Utama pretty early as there weren't many participants there at the time we arrived.After registration,we were made to wait a little while before given a short briefing on the rules and regulations of the competition. Then,the teacher in charge instructed the participants for the quiz to move to the science labs for the quiz.

For the explorace,all the participants were randomly placed into groups. I was placed in group 3.Surprisingly and luckily,one of my friends from another school was placed in the same group as me.So,it turned out to be easy to start making friends with my group members as I already had one whom I could talk with.

The explorace wasn't like a race at all.The winner wasn't decided by who finished the fastest but the group which accumulated the most amount of points from the 10 checkpoints. I wasn't surprised at all about the slightly different rules as I knew that participants that usually took part in such activities were usually the bookworms.

The explorace was really fun.We were wow-ed by the uniqueness of the explorace at the first checkpoint itself.At that checkpoint, we had to build models of the structure of carbon compounds using plasticine and toothpicks.This is when our teamwork kicked off.It was very easy to work together with my group members because all of us were pretty much the cool type and were there just to have some fun.

Besides that,we had to solve crossword puzzles,write down chemical formula of various substances,draw carbon compounds,draw experiment set ups and even fill in the blanks.Don't be deceived by the names,especially fill in the blanks,as that was one of the trickiest challenges we had to go through.We had to fill in the blanks for the experiment to identify certain salts.Again,we managed to work as a team to group together all our knowledge and complete the challenge.

Then,at one of the checkpoints,we were penalised for bad handwriting.It was a very easy task to complete.The thing was,if we could complete the task in less than half the amount of time allocated for the task,we would be given bonus marks.So,one of my friends filled up the blanks quickly.However,the teacher at the checkpoint said that his writing was not clear and cut almost half the marks for the the task.Luckily,the bonus marks we got for the quick finish helped cover up a little for the marks lost.

After we had completed all the tasks,we were quite satisfied with our performance as a team.We were all quite happy and knew that we had given our best to enjoy that day.My group leader felt a little responsible for not propelling the team even further.But,I told her that it was OK since we had a lot of fun.However,none of us knew of the surprise that was awaiting us about 2 hours in the future.

It was the prize giving ceremony.They started off with the prizes for the explorace winners. I was expecting a 3rd or 2nd place finish.Somehow,I was feeling that 1st place was a little too far for my group.Then,when they announced the 3rd and 2nd place winners,I felt my hopes going up in ashes as my group was not called out to receive prizes.Then,as they were about to announce the winner,I was filled with anxiety as my eyes and ears were totally focused on the emcee.

When they announced my group as the winner for the explorace,I got up so quickly from my chair due to excitement and joy and shook the hand of my group member who was the nearest to me.We went up after our leader to receive our trophies.In addition to that,my school became the overall winners for the day as my other 3 schoolmates won prizes as well.

I had to admit that it was a great day in the end. One of the main reasons it turned out to be great was because I wanted to have fun and forget about the hectic school life.I won a lot of things that day.The prizes were at the bottom of the list based on importance.I learned to make new friends in a short time and I learned how nice people can be when we all do something for the reason of having fun.So next time,when you think of doing something,remember that life is short and try to make use of every opportunity you get to have fun to the max........

A Day Of Ups And Downs

Ok,before I start with the day itself,I think I should just tell you guys about the experience a few friends and I have gone through prior to this day.Usually after a major exam,every student would be thinking " Ah,finally I have a break". But in my case,as soon as I finished my last paper,the only thing on my mind was "It's time to build that car".

Midway through my mid-year examination,a physics teacher in my school asked me and one of my classmates to join the carbon dioxide car competition which was organised by Taylor's University. When that teacher came to see me,I seriously had no idea on how to build a car or to make it move with gas pressure.

The first obstacle my group faced was when my classmate pulled out of the competition.She said that she was a little busy to work on the car with us during the mid-year holidays.So,we had to look for a replacement.After some asking around,one of my friends from another class agreed to join my group.

So,the holidays came and it signalled the start of work on building the car.It had to be built with dimensions of 30cm x 40cm x 18cm or less.Basically,we were only allowed to use 40ml of acetic acid and 10g of sodium bicarbonate to power the car.We were given a bottle to put in our chemicals and we had to open a valve to release the pressure and move the car.

We came up with so many ideas to build the car but nothing seemed to be working.Then, we just simply tried building a structure and moving it with a forward backward reaction using the pressure. We faced so many problems-finding a straight axle,positioning our tyres,finding the right material for the turbine and most importantly,making our car move.The first week just went by with little progress-the only things we found out were methods not to build a car. Well,it wasn't that bad.

During the second week,we finally started off on our structure.We decided to use wood. We tried plastic,cardboard and aluminium,but nothing seemed to be moving.Our previous knowledge in woodwork came in handy as we had to do a lot cutting and drilling.We came up with a structure, but it moved very little.So,that's how the second week went by.

During the third week (3 days before competition),my friend said that we should rebuild our car to make it narrower as we didn't have to use the maximum width. So,we started off with rebuilding a new car.This was our third car.We decided to use a triangle front.Then,we faced another problem,all the tyres were not on the ground.

One day before competition.One of my group members said that he was going to rebuild the car. He did the rebuilding and the other group members were trying to work on the turbine.Somehow,the car was just not moving. An hour before school was over that day,we sat staring at each other,thinking about pulling out.

Then just as I was about to go back,we managed to make the car move. One of my friends used the elastic potential energy idea that I proposed in the second week. It was basically winding up a rubber band around the turbine,stopping the turbine from rewinding using a stick,and then pushing the stick using the pressure from the chemicals and allowing the turbine to unwind, which would make the car move.I was delighted and ready for competition day.

( Oops,I forgot to tell you guys something.There were two groups taking part from my school)

Competition day was a little exciting and nervous. We were quite worried if our car would actually move a good distance.Well,the other team was more nervous than us because their car wasn't moving at all.We registered at the counter,got our free T-shirts and went into one of the lecture halls for a small briefing about the day's schedule.

The first part of our competition was a poster presentation. We had to go in a room and present the poster of our car and give some explanations about it to the judges.The judges that judged my group was quite friendly.They seemed very impressed by our design and gave us some pretty satisfying comments.After that presentation,we were confident that we had a chance of winning the competition.

After lunch,my group was testing out our car.That's when our first big letdown came that day. Our turbine wasn't sticking strongly enough to the axle. We realised that we had tested our car too many times until the turbine became loose.Our minds were racing for solutions.We tried cellophane tape,super glue,epoxy glue and polytetrafluoroethene tape. It still wasn't working. Then,we tried using double the amount of sticky material.Finally,our turbine stuck strongly but it still could move without moving the axle.

Each team had 2 chances two make their car move for 5 meters.My group was one of the first groups to showcase our car's ability. We were getting a little worried as our turbine was having a slight problem. When we were about to showcase our creative design,the biggest letdown of the day came.Our car got disqualified for the first round.

The judge told us that our car's movement was propelled by a mechanical movement which was triggered my a chemical reaction.He said that our car had to be propelled by chemical reaction, not triggered. I was very disappointed and clueless on what to do next.

I went straight to the toilet after that letdown.My group had one more chance but I had no idea at all on what to do. I stared at myself in the mirror in the bathroom clueless.When I rejoined my group members,they suggested that we just try the forward backward reaction. It worked and the distance wasn't that bad.

It was our second chance.The judge okay-ed our car and we started to fill the chemicals inside our bottle.Then,there was another setback-our bottle started leaking.Our car actually had a blocked tube at the front which functioned to stop the pressure from being released although the valve was opened. But this time,even before enough pressure had accumulated in the tube,I had to cut it off and release the pressure that had formed to prevent all the pressure from leaking out gradually.

It moved 2.7m.As soon as they marked the distance and recorded it down,my friend took back the car and I walked back to my friends disappointed.My friends said that they were grateful that the car move although we had not tested the forward backward reaction many times.

Hmm,it sure seemed like a disappointing day but I went back home telling myself that I had learned a lot that day.I had learned that we must always follow instructions,how to build a car,how to make changes in the most critical moments and methods of recovering form setbacks.

It was a great experience having so many mixed reactions in one day-being so happy after the presentation and then very disappointed when our car was disqualified.I guess that's just the cycle of life,isn't it? We face difficult and happy times on many occasions. And we just have to learn to cope with it and move on with our lives............