How 2008 Rocked Us

[I'll try and keep this short.]

2008 has been a memorable year. The world has undoubtedly begun its process of changing itself, for better or for worse.

2 Batai 2008 (Review)
School's been really weird this year. Many unexpected things turned up. People went nuts for no specific reasons.
Complaints
Hysteric

School Oddities:
Consecutive IMperfect Problems
Phantom of the Opera script [Perfection]
Ishwin's hideous art
Silkie!! [Crap Week]
"She displeases me" [Democracy!!]
Missing Month

Okay, there's just too many odd events to list out. July's one is the best.

Leap for Joy
There were countless unique things about this year. Firstly, it was a leap year!! Yay, let's all leap with joy!!! I planned to make this extra day (Feb 29, obviously) memorable by trying to ring the alarm in my house. This would surely make me the most famous kid on the block. I'd be renowned for the authenticity of my idea and the nickname "The Kid Who Cried Wolf" would be bestowed upon me with pride. Nobody would remember it anyway after 3 years. There is no anniversary for this child's play.

Political Catastrophe
You can't call it a political tsunami after all. The effects and even the aftermath is devastating. The victims (BN) have not fully recovered from their losses yet, which is great to country. DEMOCRATS RULE.

Call it THE Political Joke, A Comic Strip.

And.....what could be worse than OPPOSITION NOT TAKING OVER THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT????? I was hoping like mad hours before 916!!!!

Nation's Progress Report

Natural Disasters
We were hit with many staggering truths about our changing world. Blue is the "new green" that we must also conserve. We have been faced with many natural disasters this year, with the rising number of earthquakes and all. The year ended (in my country) with a landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa, killing several people.

Silkie's Lost
Silkie got lost in July and was miraculously found again on September 28. [Pictures of Silkie.] During her "lost period", I think I've came across to everyone as really odd. Muttons[Restaurant Luck]....

Essays
I poked fun at an essay. Very unusual as this was based on "scientific facts".

Meals
Pantai Restaurant
This is probably one of the worst meals this year. Luckily, it was saved by my aunt's great humour.
Too Much
Ice

080808 Beijing Olympics
China managed to obtain a staggering 51 gold medals, the 34th medal being the one won against Malaysia's very own Lee Chong Wei. Chong Wei still made it into Malaysia's records as being the first to earn the country a medal in the Olympics. He was granted Datukship (similar to that of the British knighthood) later. On the same day as China's 34th golden achievement, Michael Phelps, the world's greatest contemporary swimmer, broke the previous record when he obtained his 8th gold medal, beating Mark Spitz, a former swimming champion too. I followed Alexandria to Petrosains on the same day. The Beijing Olympics closing ceremony was just as spectacular as the opening ceremony.

School's Competitive Stand
On the same day as the Olympics closing ceremony, my school went for a choir competition. Not surprisingly, Seafield emerged as the champion. Ever since the Scrabble competition, everything has to get tangled up with Seafield. Sigh.

Scrabble Scabs
Thanks to my mum and Khoo Ghee Ken, my whole mind is completely distorted with thoughts of Scrabble now. The competition on the 19th of April has accelerated the changing of my perspective on the world. I only started looking through my scrabble options after joining 2 back-to-back tournaments (held one week after the other) : the MSA National Youth Scrabble Championship and MSA National Scrabble Tournament (Open). Those weren't even my plans in the beginning. Truth be told, I had no idea my mum signed me up for those.

As for the "Scabs", you ask? Read this. The last few paragraphs suck. Big time.

Epoch-making Moments
Opposing Malaysia's political status is America. Their nation has by large proven that race is not an obstacle to be a leader. President-elect Barack Obama has not only crossed the barrier of race but surpassed all expectations throughout the campaign leading to the election. He has immortalized himself by becoming America's 44th president and the first black president.

ALL HAIL OBAMA.

A Great Trip
I want to go back to Changsha.

Last but not least,

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Read More...

Summary only...

Nation's Progress Report

Hey guys, seeing that the political status in our country is ticking off again, I would like to poke some fun at ourselves. Mind you, no offense intended here. I decided to write this now, especially when trivial [not to mention controversial] issues are appearing on the front cover almost everyday for the past few weeks.

Let's start all the way from the beginning, shall we?

In the threshold of year 2008, the nation has seen many little kids gone missing. Up till now, none of them [or their bodies, say, they're dead....] have been recovered. Even the case is long forgotten. Professional police / bar council? Bah!! It seems that children went missing to welcome the general elections.

March 8 2008
An epoch-making day. This was the day that the power of democracy exceeded the corrupted government's expectations. 5 states were won over by the opposition and the dominating government which stood tall and menacing for the past 50 years lost their 2/3 majority (such was the cowardice of citizens last time). Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Kelantan and Penang were the 5 lucky states whose people stood united against the current government. Unfortunately thought, Barisan National still became the Federal Government due to unfortunate blinded people who failed to link them with corruption. The new state governments for the 5 lucky stars have implicated good measures to revert Malaysia to a more peaceful place without racial tensions.

Thank goodness there wasn't a recurrence of May 13 (1969). This was the day that mass killing was done right here. Malaysians against their own kin (*tsk tsk*).

In the second half of the year, things started going wild. At that time, PKR's (a political party in the Opposition) leader has decided to vacate her seat for her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, who was wrongfully "exiled" from politics exactly 10 years ago.

Apparently, Dr M[ahathir] was alleged to have a conspiracy with his sycophantic minions and framed his then Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Anwar Ibrahim) for sodomy. Of course the court didn't do any proper investigations nor did they do anything to Dr M. Plus, our ACA (supposedly standing for Anti-Corruption Agency) didn't do anything. It was said that Dr M controlled that body AND the judicial council.

And this year, he has made a comeback to politics. At that time, everyone was so excited with his comeback as many promises were made. Because his wife vacated her [Parliamentary] seat, a by-election was done. In that by-election, he won without a doubt, reaching about 17,000 majority (if I'm not wrong). Then, he was made Opposition Leader instead of Lim Kit Siang from DAP (another political party within Opposition).

After that, the public was allowed to view Parliamentary debates casted on the media. Indeed, this was enough entertainment for the public. Now, this is a political joke as funny questions, insults, sleeping leaders and walkouts were part of the show. This is what was displayed on the television screen.

Midway, political leaders again try their luck with the same tactic as was used a decade ago. Anwar Ibrahim was again alleged of sodomy. This was when everyone got annoyed. His DNA sample was tried to be taken from him [according to rumours, it's so that it can be planted on the so-called "victim"]. Man, don't these leaders have better ideas? When you're trying to frame someone, do it creatively!

And let's not forget the day when many (if not all) Malaysians were enraged (12 September). This needs a whole lot of elaboration on behalf of normal citizens. 3 innocent Malaysians were detained under the Internal Security Act due to mentally challenged circumstances. There was a highly-regarded blogger, an award-winning journalist and an influential politician. By right, the ISA was only used to detain TERRORISTS. Apparently, the government thinks they're terrorists. If these respected people are terrorists, that would explain our current ban from certain sophisticated places of the world like England.

The stupidest detention in all history of mankind was the detainment of award-winning journalist Tan Hoon Cheng from Penang. She was the journalist who reported the racial statements made by Ahmad Ismail, who stated that the Chinese didn't belong here in a public statement. Now, instead of the wrongdoer, the one who REPORTED the incident was detained. This was something that occurred long long time ago (Operasi Lalang).

Useful Information:
Operation Lalang (Weeding Operation; also referred to as Ops Lalang) was carried out on October 27, 1987 by the Malaysian police to crack down on opposition leaders and social activists. The operation saw the infamous arrest of 106 persons under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh and two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan. [...read more...]

Luckily, Miss Hoon Cheng was released one day after her detention. The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar, gave an idiotic and irrelevant answer as to why she was detained.

"Her safety was threatened".

This sparked anger among many Malaysians irregardless of race and age. How dumb could this explanation get!!?!?!?!

Teresa Kok, a politician who won a landslide victory in Seputeh, Shah Alam, during the March elections was detained for no apparent reason either. No doubt she is highly respectable since her victory was, by right, the largest in the country with a 31,000 majority. Initially, she was alleged to have taken part in a petition to lower the speakers of 2 mosques during their prayer time. BOTH mosques, however, said that she DIDN'T. It was even stated in the newspaper. However, she was only released a week later and no one could explain why she was detained. It could be to scare off the Opposition party.

Then, there was everyone's favourite : Raja Petra Kamaruddin, a renowned blogger. This was the most controversial case ever. He wrote a post which stated that the current Deputy Prime Minister was involved in the murder of Mongolian Altantuyaa. He even made a statutory declaration, which meant that he was very very sure of this. God bless him for his courage. And now, many citizens know what he wants and why he was detained. According to Malaysian laws, there ARE laws for these "seditious comments" on the net. However, RPK was still detained. Why? If he were to be charged in court, the DPM (Deputy PM) HAS to be there too. And obviously, this is not the option he chooses. That's why RPK was detained. And we have yet to hear a reasonable explanation from our Home Minister. And now, let's hear it from the once Opposition Leader, Lim Kit Siang!!

Ahh, not to forget September the 16th. This is the day Malaysia changed--its expectations. This not-anymore prestigious day WAS supposed to be the day Opposition took over the Federal Government. It was so realistically declared that even the Federal Government itself was so afraid. So, all the Parliament Members were sent of to Taiwan in order to foil the Opposition's plans to take over the government. This added to the nation's anticipation. If the Federal Government was afraid, it's real. Unfortunately, the Malaysian mindset proves us wrong once again. How very disappointing. After that, many dates were set to take over the government. We now believe that there's nothing to hope for after all--until the next general elections!!

And what do you know?!? On his last day as MCA leader, Ong Ka Ting has made history by speaking out against BN, the dominating party. All hail Ong Ka Ting for this, who has also limited the party president's term to 9 years of service. After that, bye-bye and no more Part President for you. That was one of the other memorable things he did against power-driven people who cling on to posts. Read his whole speech here.

"Datuk" is the title awarded to special people in the King's / Sultan's honour. Common sense tells us that if a King were to give this title out, it should be given to their own citizens. Malaysians, in this case. However, lately, the Malaccan King has stated that he wanted to award Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan the Malaysian title. This was very unthoughtful indeed and has sparked off many sarcastic remarks. "Hey, I'm smart and I've contributed to society with my smartness. Why don't you give me that title?". Smart indeed they are.

Malaysia is the only country that includes Fatwa (Edict) in the law, if consensus is achieved in all states. Recently, there has been this long controversy of whether yoga should be banned among Muslims. The body responsible for issuing the edict came to a conclusion just like that. And because of that, almost all the states and citizens were thrown into confusion. All the states have immediately "given full support" by saying that it would be implemented in their system. By then, the only pending answer was from Selangor. And yes, Selangor declined the edict. So, there was no consensus unlike as was stated at first. And there was this Muslim lady who conducted yoga classes and questioned them for saying that Muslims would deviate from their religion when practising yoga, which originated from Hindus. She said something very practical, which I think the leaders should think about : "Did they go around to see us practise yoga (in the modern world) or did they visit the Hindu temple?". That rings true. Implementing the ban, eventhough it is only meant for Muslims is like saying Buddhists or Christians who practice yoga deviate from their religion too. My mum practices yoga, but I've NEVER seen her chanting when practicing it. I mean, the whole world knows that yoga without the chanting doesn't diminish the faith you have in your religion. In fact, it is even recommended by scientists since it is beneficial for health.

Then the year ended with the PKR MP who wants to quit on New Year's Day due to odd reasons.

Through the nation's eyes, there have been many unsolved crimes this year. The highest-profile crime caused the biggest stir, with RPK of Malaysia Today alleging that the DPM was involved in it. Natural Disasters have also hit the nation, ending with the landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa (when we were in Changsha).

Conclusion :
Malaysia is regressing in social terms. In the long run, we might progress again, depending on the next election, or, if God will, the next takeover plan. =D

Aloha 2009!!

Read More...

Summary only...

School Report 2008

This has been, I might say, one of the most progressive years in my life. Although there were some major disappointments, there were also some things that I never would have done if I didn't come to DJ, not to mention some things that would never have happened if I were not placed in 2 Batai.

Since the beginning of the year, I always had the strong perception that my class had the highest level of English prowess in the whole form. Boy, was I right!! When we were asked on who wants to represent the class in debating, more than half the class raised their hands, unlike the other classes, who had to be handpicked. Apart from that, our class's competitiveness was crazy. Everyone's percentage was so close it was hard to fathom what position one might be getting.

Then, there were 3 Bataians out of 4 Scrabblers who were chosen to represent the school for the inter-school competition (State level). Being one of the Scrabblers, the experience has really made me aware of the capabilities of others. And that was just the beginning of the road.

There was another competition I was supposed to join anyway, but it was canceled because the morning session teachers objected the participation due to odd reasons.

And there was the G-Maths competition too. It was a new game only up to form 2s and was just introduced this year. Our team, which lacked practice, surprisingly did quite alright. I was the most shocked though. We didn't even practice and I won in my game, beating Kelana Jaya, DU and Catholic High School. I also met several old school friends from Taman Sea, who did quite well in the competition as well.

Also, not forgetting New South Wales.....I sat for the Science and English papers. Both passed with a Distinction (FREAK, NOOO !!).

Okay, honestly, this whole year wasn't made for competitions only. Some major setbacks included the infamous Scrabble Case and my notoriety for missing a few prefect meetings. This had NOTHING whatsoever to do with leadership. Blast those conservative mindsets!!

Plus, I have broken a loooong record of straight As starting from 2006.

Geography: 78

Ta-da!! One of my favourite subjects stabbed my back!! I can't believe my History actually got higher than my geography!!!!

And so, this year ends withOUT a jackpot position: 2|2|4

Friends : They are those people who sit with you in class and talk non-stop until the teacher accuses you of being "a bad student" and blacklists you. (Right....so it doesn't go THAT far...)

A great example of the definition on top, albeit being exaggerated, is Sha Lynn. She sat with me since the beginning of mid-term and have been a constant entertainment to the likes of my similar mind. Both of us have been constantly laughing about Mr Rosdi's funny accent and fooling around during his lessons (he didn't see, of course).

A more suitable and less exaggerated example would be Chi Han, who loves to criticise the teachers' rash behaviours as much as I do. And of course, there's Cassandra and Ghee Ken, who, when talking about random stuffs, go on to the extent of screaming at each other. Yes, it's a class specialty, especially when nearby prefects like Ishwin and I barge in for fun and control it (this is where shouting goes out of control and prefects become the target), but it also provides solid evidence that librarians, regardless of ranks, are plain nuts.

Then, there are my vertebrae in school. My friends who have helped me through those hard times when I felt like throwing a pie at the teachers' faces. They gave me strength and at the very most, gave me the confidence I needed when things went topsy-turvy (especially during July!).

Among those I'd like to thank personally are Cassandra, Joseph, Chi Han and Caryn.

But don't freak out and think you're not helpful just because your name isn't there in the list. These are just the names of people who got tangled in my web of trouble. And by that, I mean that they are those who shared my troubles and went through a lot to get us out of it. Moral support goes to Chi Han and Caryn, who have definitely had a patient heart to bear with my moping.

Then, I'd have to thank Ghee Ken too since he gave me the competitive drive. That guy is just so kiasu. Explains why he got top 1% in the country for NSW English paper. Drats. Thanks anyway. If I didn't know you, I wouldn't be a Scrabblemanic now! Oh, and not to mention the Scrabble crew. Okay fine...so I don't know all of them that well. But they certainly gave the little competitive boost I needed to get up there.

Ah, not to forget, all those times our class experienced together : The time Encik Rosdi, my BM teacher, came to school with his disco shirt, the time our class monitor was caught for stealing a teacher's handphone, those hardships we faced as one.....Yeap, all those nostalgic times that could only happen in 2 Batai 2008. Refreshing.

Overall, coming through this year has made me a stronger person in terms of mentality and confidence. Maybe it was the new people I have met that opened my eyes and mind to the world. Thank you, everyone whose life crossed paths with mine this year.

Thank you so much.

Read More...

Summary only...

Freedom: Crap Week

To say that many things have happened this week is an understatement. The whole crap started on Monday.

Monday
We had a formal assembly today. Funnily, the teachers didn't know about it. So, roughly 10 minutes waiting for them to turn up, Pn Wong ordered the class monitors to call the teachers to the hall. Smart. When the assembly DID start, it seems that Datin didn't turn up at all. At this point, it seems stupid that we even have a formal assembly without the Datin. After assembly was the usual Bacaan period. This period was especially crucial on that day as there was English literature after the period. Most "Bataians" were clearly rushing to complete the 3rd question on page 34 of Light on Lit: POTO [Phantom of the Opera](yes, I can remember it because I fooled around too much on that page).....But not me. You see, I WAS supposed to concentrate on it too. I already had an idea of what I wanted to write. I sat next to Cassandra and she was doing the same thing. When I was about to start writing out my opinion, Cas drank my brain juice. Almost literally. She started criticising the literature questions and questioning the right to give opinions. And that drove my mind completely out of topic. What Cas wrote:

Q: In your opinion, did Christine Daae kiss Erik on her own free will or did she force herself to do so in order to save Raoul's life?
A: She did both. [Obviously Cassandra's one was more elaborative but this was the overall answer she gave]

Within 10 minutes, this is what I came up with (Some were inspired by Tim's bro, Mr Aaron Sim, working as a temporary teacher too):

Q: In your opinion, did Christine Daae kiss Erik on her own free will or did she force herself to do so in order to save Raoul's life?
A: In my opinion, this question is highly ambiguous. Besides, I find it virtually impossible for any living mortal to shorten a 1000+ paged novel into a teeny book less than 100 pages specially for little kids. Because of this fact, I find that the story lacks details.

But before I give your mind complete peace, I would like to point out that this question is very atrocious and I REFUSE to give full co-operation to answer this question. By the way, shortening this high-classed novel is an INSULT to Sir Gaston Leroux. Bear that in mind before you deduct 10 marks from this section. If you read the question carefully, it is clearly stated that I give MY opinion and not the opinion YOU want to see. Therefore, you do not have the rights to deduct ANYTHING from this section. Let's review the marking scheme. If I get a spelling mistake, no marks should be deducted too because in MY opinion, this is how the spelling should go. Should I spell "susceptible" as "suseptible", the teacher marking my paper should not deduct any marks from my answer as this is MY opinion of the spelling of the word. If this is the scheme, the question for this section would be deemed useless as you automatically gain 10 marks by just writing down a simple sentence like "I will leave this to you to decide as I have no idea myself". Conclusion? We should not have any questions to do with literature. Then, we would save paper. Ultimately, we would end up saving trees. It is also well-knowned that the BM paper 2, Question 4 ALSO includes stupid questions like these. We should not have those sort of questions too. Besides, having those questions would only affect many other things. Imagine the number of pupils sitting for an exam. EVERY PAGE XEROXED COUNTS. Apart from saving paper, we would also be able to save our pen ink. It means we buy less pens. We save more. We save our economy..........blablabla.....I will leave this column blank for you to decide yourself. (I'm sorry, Ghee Ken, I can't continue anymore due to "Too-many-things-to-write"ness).

It was back to a normal day after that.

Tuesday
I woke up with a headache. My head felt heavy--could be caused by the tons of crap gathered in my head the previous day. I couldn't turn up for school because my head was just so heavy. I caught up on news during the afternoon. Couldn't go to school. Politics in M'sia is getting dumber and less convincing. All it takes is a little common sense to see what BN was planning. Planning to frame Anwar and that's for sure. They even stated a new law was to be created after Anwar refused to give his DNA sample in case he was framed up. The new law states that you HAVE to give your DNA sample to aid a criminal case. It's all 1998 once again (if you didn't know what happened back then, go ask your parents). I eventually found out today that Tunku Abdul Rahman was not to be blamed for creating such a racist country. He was actually the one who wanted to create an equal Malaysia. He did not cast Singapore out so harshly but instead, Lee Kuan Yew was the one who wanted to be out of M'sia. It was Tun Abdul Razak who started forming a racist country and extended the meaning of "seditious comment", which, a few decades later, is being used against all of us, namely Raja Petra. In any case, it's a coincidence he's Najib's father.

Wednesday
Hypothesis: Ishwin goes crazy during art period.

Observation:

Liiyung was not present during one of the art periods and so, missed a topic. She asks Ishwin to lend her the holy art book to copy from it. Ishwin gives an excuse which included Saddam Hussein. This is when things go upside down. Liiyung retaliates by stating that Saddam Hussein was hanged and is currently dead. Ishwin says, "Do not insult Saddam Hussein" (obviously using my "insulting" technique she acquired on Monday [look above]). After several attempts of weird excuses, Ishwin asks for a password. Please. Thank you. Ishwin. Prefects suck. Badge. Book. Pen. Liiyung. Art. Copy. (Getting restless now) SADDAM HUSSEIN!!!!. Ishwin starts laughing and say No. She then said, "Say HI to Louis and see what he says".

Liiyung: Hi, Louis.
Louis: What?
Liiyung: I said "HI"!!!!
Ishwin: She's insulting you.

-.-"

A few more attempts to know the password. Then, Ms Ting, the replacement teacher, told us to pass up our books. Ishwin took her book and went to pass it up. Wilson put his book on top of hers. Everyone else was still copying. I went up to tell teacher that I wanted to borrow someone's book and will pass up th------*Cut short by Ms Ting as she slams Wilson's book into my face (not literally)*. Oh, right....but I was thinking more about settling with Ishwin's book. So, I took her's instead and put Wilson's book back onto the pile and went back to my place.

Ishwin knew her book wasn't on the top and asked, "Who's book is that?"
Liiyung answers cheekily: Yours!!! Muahahahahhahahhaha.
Ishwin: I thought Wilson's book was on top of mine!!
Liiyung: I trust the contents of your book more.
Ishwin: You're insulting Wilson's book!!
Liiyung: Excuse me, I didn't say anything. I just said I trust your book more!!
Ishwin: *Walks up to Wilson* Liiyung insulted your book!!!
Liiyung: Hey, don't you have anything better to do?!?!?!?!?
Wilson: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
Liiyung: It's obvious she's lost her mind!!!
Ishwin *not keeping cool*: I'm serious!! She insulted your book!!! You must beat her up!!!
Liiyung: You obviously do not trust her. Remember to beat her up later...or another day.
Wilson: OK *nods head* (As in agree with me)
*Ishwin walks away disappointed that she lost the battle*
*Wilson stands up*: Liiyung, so you're having my book?
Liiyung: NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Don't let Ishwin confuse you!!!

Conclusion: Ishwin goes crazy during Art period. For more evidence, please refer to the previous post about Ishiwn and her hideous drawing. Please be cautious during this period as safety is not guaranteed.

During Moral period, there was a pause whereby Cik Nurhafiza orders silence in the class. Someone says loudly: "Kebebasan bersuara", which I think is one of the moral values. That was smart. Ingenious. You've made student-kind proud. Do it again.

Thursday
As the guardian of the deserted Pavillion, I gave permission to the librarians to have their meeting there. Joseph asked me if I knew the time Joel Leow was getting public caning. Looks like he just got back from his 3-day "rest" from school. He got digantung for 3 days. That was so fun. I was looking forward to it--that is, if it were to happen. Which it won't--ultimately. There was a long lecture from Cik Farah during assembly.....and nobody listened to it. Even Gwen, who was pretending to listen. Everything I asked her was replied with a shrug and a stare into space. There was spotcheck today but I didn't participate in the check because I had other things to attend to. Besides, spotchecking in the hall wasn't any fun. Only 2-3 classes would be left behind.

After recess, I went to the class I was in charge of. There was this guy blocking the class with the grill door and acting like a monkey. Gosh, what could I say? He pointed out that the whole class was going down for KH anyway, which leaves me free--not to mention the monkey-boy free to frolic around too. Science wasn't very encouraging today. Pn Asma rearranged the whole class's sitting position in the lab to avoid us students forming cliques. Those in the very front table (all goody-goodies) were supposed to be separated. I thought I would lose the great place I got right now--right under teacher's nose. Haha. Yes, I know, I know. But I wasn't the only one who didn't want to change. All those on my table were alike. Emily [Chye], Ghee Ken, Ishwin, Timothy, Jhia Yim, Cassandra, Patricia and me myself wanted this holy spot. We all view the world from a different perspective. Being right under the teacher's nose puts you in a situation where the teacher won't suspect you or punish you if you talked too loudly or anything. Whilst if you were in the second row onwards, you would be constantly bugged for being noisy eventhough the noise was coming from the first row, which is true (hahahahahahaha.....losers!!). By being in the first row, you place yourself in the innocent's shoes and nobody blames you for anything, even if you were responsible for 75% of the noise in the class.

When Pn Asma placed the first 4 boys in the table right at the back, I knew I was safe and need not move an inch. At this point, Jhia Yim and I felt good to have names starting with "Y". We DID maintain at the same table. And this is where the complications come in. Cassandra changed with Chi Han because Cas wanted Jhia Yim's company and Chi Han accompanied Angeline. Patricia swapped with Ang Li Li to grab a place next to Cas. Ishwin, along with her crazy-for-learning mind, swapped with Tan Mei Hui (if that's how you spell it). Ghee Ken went a step further and carefully strategized his seat-plotting postion. This ended up with swapping Syn Yee and Jun Jade (I'm not sure if someone else was included). This made him have the liberty of staying in the front row permanently. Delon argued with Pn Asma that Louis, who was on the same table as him, would stalk him. This made him get the front row too.

When the lesson started (officially), all the goody-goodies who previously occupied the front row returned to it again. Emily said it made no difference as they would still come back since they couldn't see clearly form behind.

At the end of the day, no public caning took place. RATS.

I figured out Batai is the tree with the thin leaves and yellow flowers. I can't believe that I've been seeing this plant eversince I was 4 and not know it's name. It look's like a rain tree (pink flowers) except that the flowers of the Batai tree is yellow. I feel so disloyal to my class. I bet other Bataians don't know this either.

Friday
The newspaper shows that the Malaysian government has told the American government off so as not to interfere in the Anwar case, which they found to be politically motivated. Kudos to the US Gvt for standing up for M'sian public. Besides, I believe in suzerainty (right of a country to rule over another country).Our government should know that we, the citizens, are not uneducated and that we know what's going on. This whole joke, including dialogues within UMNO and PAS, the Bala and Anwar's case to divert attention from the Altantuya murder case involving Najib. Common sense, people. Common sense.

I came to school and found out from Ching Xie and Melissa that on Thursday, Wai Kheong recited one of the BM literature poems to Wan Theng, a girl he liked in 2 Belian. He modified a bit of the poem here and there. He even kneeled down to her too!!!! This sent 2 Belian into laughing mode as Chingx said they laughed 4 periods non-stop. Who would ever think Wai Kheong would do this!!!! It is every SKTM alumni's horror movie to think that he would go this far. Come on, it's just infatuation anyway. Even Pn Julie, their BM teacher was laughing....and shocked to see this. Oh, hahaha.

During English period, we did an unusual activity involving dictionaries, word meanings and spelling. At the end of the lesson, Pn Angie said that she hoped she could do this more often as it helps us improve and widen our lexis. Such as "palindrome", which means a word or a phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards. Example: Nurses run. Madam. Hannah.
She said it's OK even if we're not so good at it because she doesn't expect us to be walking, talking dictionaries. At this point, Ghee Ken, the scrabble fanatic pointed out that Scott Chung was an exception. Then all 3 scrabblers from my class bursted out laughing. Maybe Emily wasn't so loud (or long either), but she sure got it. I think no one else understood that statement.

When I got into the car after school, my mother said: "I'm sorry, I have to tell you the bad news".

The first things which raced through my mind in the one second I was given to absorb this new information were these:
1. Papa's car is stolen
2. The house burnt down, which also means our neighbours lost their homes too
3. I got bad results for something (definitely out as all results were out and I didn't sit for violin exam yet)
4. Important documents were stolen from our house
5. There is a thief in the house with a gun
6. A terrible jam happening everywhere in the country

(Poof) Imagination over

SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST SILKIE IS LOST

The minute I heard that, I cried. And that was still within the vicinity of the school. Students stared into the car (actually, I didn't really notice--I just hope not). People were walking here and there and I was in the car crying. My mother explained that she let Silkie out at that time. Then, she wanted to water the plants and opened the gate a bit. Before she knew it, that stupid dog ran out into the wild. She chased the mad, black, fuzzy thing around screaming her head off. Yes, I'm pretty sure neighbours would have heard. That dog barely knows her way around the neighbourhood. Okay, okay, I won't elucidate anymore. Let's just settle with "Silkie is gone". We looked around the housing area and even into the Taman Megah shophouses area. No small shadow was to be seen. Poor little dog. Wish you luck out there, whereever you are. If you want to come home, you're always welcomed.

Here, we learn that we have the freedom to voice out our opinions of things. We also have the rights to earn our freedom by breaking away from the past like my dog. May the future hold better things for us.

The event is tomorrow. Luck is needed. Tensions running high. Composition incomplete. I will survive.

Read More...

Summary only...