I remembered Mighty Minds F123 in 2009 as a failed attempt to prove our mettle in the nerdy world of general knowledge, science and maths. This year, entering Mighty Minds F45 as puny Form 4s who have not (and never attempted to) cover even half the syllabus, it was only natural that we only expected to break into the hands-on activity and die there (or maybe not even break at all). In a nutshell, it was all supposed to be a learning experience for us so that we can (theoretically) terrorize everyone else next year. We came in green; we had virtually no coverage of physics beyond chapter 4 F4, no experience of chemistry knowledge starting from chapter 7 F4, and had the holy mindset of "Who cares? Screw Biology!". Only a miracle could get us through Round 1 at this point. Now, aren't you extremely curious about how we fared throughout the competition?
(Pauses to eat McDonald's Sausage McMuffin)
Well, in case you were wondering...or maybe not... YES, we DID survive Round 1. In fact, we had the 2nd highest score on the scoreboard (heck, 2 other teams had the same score too). Technically, we came in 5th for the entire round, losing out on time no thanks to our remote control, which "hanged" halfway. We didn't realize it either, until we saw our team's number on the screen, which prompted us to start flailing our hands in the air. So how did we do it, given that we came in with empty heads? Hey, the questions were all based on general knowledge and IQ questions, y'know. Seeing how walking talking encyclopedias existed in my group, we did pretty much alright. So, yes, we survived the ordeal with 130 points. Highest was 140 points. Don't laugh, general knowledge would be your killer if you're a textbook person.
After that, we had a quick brainstorming session with the Form 5s (who ALSO broke through) and Pn Loo. Feeling satisfied, we walked into the arena to face the gargantuan task of creating an unknown object using maths and science principles. Everyone has heard of making a volcano, carrying out electrolysis, creating a fan, and other stereotypical stuff. Call us shallow, but we've just never heard of making a birdcage which depends on "an electromagnetic system to trap the bird and a buzzer system". It took me some time to actually come to terms with what we were making. One of the major setbacks during this stage was the mindset that kept screaming "You can't do this! How on earth can you come up with something as big as that?".
Like it or not, I had to face it. The fact that I was team leader and my teammates depended heavily on my barking instructions was not of any help - it just increased the pressure on me. There was this egging feeling behind my head which kept telling me that I was wrong in whatever I did, making matters worse. The first thing I did was set Melanie to start building the cage, with Shu Wen's temporary help - WITHOUT ANY ELABORATE INSTRUCTIONS. That was, by far, my stupidest mistake.
Meanwhile, when the mistake was still unnoticeable, I took it upon myself to think up of the science concepts and how to incorporate them into the cage. Electromagnetism was something everyone learnt back then in Form 3. Even then, it took some time to figure out how to "detect" the imaginary bird and sound the buzzer, while simultaneously trying to reason with myself if creating a binary circuit was better than a separate circuit. If you must know, time management was such a pain in the neck. Due to my tendency to think more than take action, I wasted a whopping bulk of 45 minutes perfecting the concepts, while Melanie built the model, which turned out to be horribly unstable.
I spent at least 10 minutes "sightseeing" and realised that we were losing out on stability. Being highly fickle-minded, but knowing that something needed to be done, I was extremely disappointed that I did not try to change the model from there. Instead, I spent the next 15 minutes helping Shu Wen test the concepts and perfect the circuit structure. With 20 minutes left to go, we were satisfied with our separate circuits, which were considered very reliable, foolproof and idiotproof. All that was left now was to incorporate the systems into the model. But there was one problem....
We had no model.
See the direness of the situation? No? Take a look around you and you'll see cages standing strong and steady in every direction.
...I once read about this team that came in champions somewhere in the beginning of the year (or was it last year?). Apparently, their model was a failure too, until their leader decided to turn fate around within the last 7 minutes. Here, I had 20 minutes with my group. That was when I decided it was time to make a turning point. It was an idiot's job. I spent another 10 minutes twisting and turning our existing model and viewing it from different angles. In case you didn't know, our model was not even half done, with missing walls and an invisible roof. It finally led to me turning the cage upside down as it was, surprisingly, more stable that way. Then, I dabbled with theoretical concepts...
Our model did not use the extremely easy criss-cross concept like what other teams had done. Thanks to the fact that our base (now the roof) was square, I got Mel to criss-cross 4 ice-cream sticks and just place one set of it on the supporting sides of the square. We were lazy (and most importantly, running out of time), so I told them not to bother sticking the roof on - it was just placed lightly. Another criss-cross ice-cream stick set was used as the extraordinarily unconvincing door. Last but not least, where the hell do we get our base from?!?!
One obvious fact was that it was extremely risky to bother making a base at this time of crisis (it was now less than 6 minutes to the end of the world). So, what I did was humourously place our model on the aluminium foil provided. And stuck it to the sides of our failed model. And poked the jutting wooden chopsticks through the foil to "strengthen" it. With less than 4 minutes left, I told Shu Wen and Melanie to beautify our very ugly model while I cleared the table (it was part of the rules - points were also allotted for this).
We were forced to abandon our dear model by leaving the arena. It was really heartbreaking to see other teams' cages standing strongly on the way out. Of course, on the plus side, we were really happy to see our Form 5 counterparts' model looking good. I was moping, so Shu Wen became my eyes and noticed that many teams did not use the electromagnetic concept. Pn Loo then stated her disappointment with our team, saying that we should have concentrated on the model first, concept second. Then, there was the issue on time management, which I listened to guiltily. Our Form 5 team was used as a great example of teamwork. Convinced that we had lost in this round, I resorted to "forgetting everything" and just enjoying the chicken burger McDonald's provided. Talk about amateur depression.
Shu Wen's mother, Pn Loo, however, suggested that we try to come up with a draft for the oral presentation so that we can get to know our model better (or see how horrible it really is). It was no wonder that we were laughing our heads off when the judges took a look at our model. They were messing around with the buzzer and had a good time opening and closing the door, which was pathetically attached loosely to a rubber band acting as the trip device to close the door. No doubt, they DID look amused, but we interpreted it as them being tickled by our model, which was too funny and comical to exist in a serious competition like this. I met Yew Leung and we caught up a bit on old times while joking that our model was meant to catch clumsy penguins before playing hangman. There were a lot of really amazing hangman-solvers, as seen amidst us.
Soon, it was time to announce the final 5 teams, according to ranking.
The first team to qualify was (if I'm not mistaken), Blue 15, or B15, from SMK Taman Melawati.
The second team to qualify was R24, a.k.a. Red 24. I looked around to see which team would be bathed in glory as they made their way into the arena once more.
None did.
Then, Shu Wen screamed directly in my ear before I realised that our lame, aluminium-foil-wrapped, removable roof and unattached door model beat 28 other teams to clench 2nd place in the hands-on round. Turns out that it was the concept that was more important than the average aesthetic model. Suddenly, I was washed with enthusiasm and was so glad that I concentrated on the concept rather than the model (though it was risky job). Glad that our electromagnet was working well =D
What followed next was a blur. All I know was that R23, our other DJ team also made it, along with Yew Leung's team from Taman Sea and the USJ 12 team. Each team had to pick a ping pong ball to determine the order of presentation.
A = USJ 12
B = DJ (Team 1)
C = DJ (Team 2) - Us!! =D
D = Taman Sea
E = Taman Melawati
We had to line up somewhere nearby the stage, next to a very distracting dress shop *cough*Mel*cough*. Oral presentation was a letdown. Once again, I talked really fast and stumbled many times to catch up with my running thoughts. Yes, I talk fast, but it's considered VERY slow compared to my thoughts. Dumb, huh. Mel ended up talking for only a few seconds. Time management fail. On the other side, Shu Wen shone out as a debater. Oh yes, Team B (our F5s) did really well - you don't call 3 of them debaters for nothing.
Either way, we didn't die yet. We still had the buzzer round to go. It was during this stage that us Team C people really stood out. I managed to get a streak of correct answers towards the end, which cushioned us from falling back. The final question was the bonus, worth 6 points. Of course, if you get it wrong, you only lose 1 point. This, to me, was really really worth it. Mel saw some freaky sudoku concept in the question as she worked the question out based on a diagram. Shu Wen and I remained baffled since we worked out everything by statement form. When Mel said she was done, I quickly risked tapping the buzzer. After all, if we get something correct, we might get between 1-6 points. If we get something wrong though, we have an extra 6 points to cushion a tiny 1 point. Awesomeness.
Taman Sea presented their diagram after us, which was an obvious sign that we had gotten something wrong. They only presented halfway when the judges told them that they were "satisfied" in the second diagram. After them was our counterparts' team, which also got stopped during the second diagram. Teams D and B didn't get any points, though. Instead, 2 points were awarded to our Team C for getting the first 2 diagrams correct. We lost out on the 3rd diagram due to ignorance of detail...but it was still worth it, was it not? Better than nothing, definitely.
Fancy stuff and redundance aside....
5th = USJ 12
4th = SMK Taman Sea
3rd = SMK Damansara Jaya (T1)
2nd = SMK Damansara Jaya (T2) =D
1st = SMK Taman Melawati
The feeling of winning something like this was dizzying for us all. I just couldn't believe that a Form 4 team would be able to dash the dreams of all the Form 5s taking part in the competition. We came as preparation for next year and ended up winning 2nd place by accident. The fact that we beat our own fellow Form 5s came as a shock. Oh well, miracles, miracles.
Well, thank you, Shu Wen and Melanie!!!!!!!!! You guys rock!! Without you, none of this would have happened. We've come a long way since suffering from the Birdcage Syndrome of fickle-mindedness. Forgive me for my shortcomings, I'll promise to do better next year. =)
Meanwhile, on the other side of Subang, Harmonix Youth Choir rocked the stage at Subang Parade to win first place (finally)! Well, I can't be in 2 places at the same time, so yeah. Congratulations to HYC too!
Good job, DJ. 1st, 2nd AND 3rd places achieved at state level. What more could our admins want to brag about? Y'know the answer =D
Oh yes...on a lighter note, I think someone from SMK Taman Melawati took my mechanical pencil. If any of you are reading this, I'm just going to point out that that's my favourite pencil and I want it back =P
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