...the dream I call my life...

The End?

2010-09-28T01:02:00.000+08:00

I thought about this long and hard.

I have a post in my drafts. Just sitting there with not even 75% of ALL the things I've done this summer kind of just roughly listed there, to be expanded on so it can be posted up on this blog. Looking at it, I thought to myself, why do I feel the need to post this up? If I'm already living it, that's what it really is all about right?

So yeah. I'm going to stop... kind of. I'm moving to another location but that will be mainly pictures (heh heh, fast internet = easier uploads!) and maybe some random stuff that happen to me along the way. I'm quite sad to leave this blog behind after 570+ posts but I think I need some symbolic kind of thing to represent change. I know, it's lame but hey, my life, haha.

I'm not saying everything that happened before was any less important than what will soon, I just need to compartmentalize my life in a way that I can understand so I don't go insane. Sometimes I view my own blog and read previous entries and it can really get me down! Quite a bit of depressing stuff in there that I don't EVER want to remember so leaving this segment behind seems like a good plan.

There will be one more post up soon. And that post will constantly be updated just so this blog is not wiped out by blogger one day. I'm calling it the memories post. Every time I'm reminded of a funny or happy memory, and it will happen because I'm sentimental like that, I will update that post. If it lasts that long, one day when I'm old and gray and I read through that list, I'll be reminded of all the good times I've had throughout high school. I'll probably cry too but that's a different matter.

So yes, it's an end but also a beginning. I'll post the new blog URL soon, still thinking of a name. I'm thinking something extremely creative like y'know sheelaratnam.blogspot.com but I think it's too unique for people to remember =P See how la, just watch this space, if you are actually interested in my life, lol!

Once again, CHEERS! to new beginnings and a treasure of memories that lasts a life time.

Perfect Prefect Prank

2010-09-24T22:50:00.004+08:00

This was supposed to be in this post but I decided not to post it then for several reasons. But here it is *grins*

***Then we proceeded to warn them that they will get we tonight and to be prepared to have to either sleep in wet clothes or borrow clothes off juniors for the night....and remind them that we faced this last year too =/ After collecting their phones and wallets, off we went to carry out the so-call "tradition" Jinho claimed it to be.

We brought them to the edge of the football field that lead to the back of a forest like place and instructed them to walk one by one to the end where Wei Jie, Nini, Syadhisy, and my team (Peng Yong, Zaza, Emily, Deera and Yasmin) were waiting. They would them high 5 Wei Jie and err well, they didn't know this initially but would be sprayed with water from a pipe.

They thought this was it. I played along.

"After this, we'll go for a proper rounding, alright? Remember, this is serious business so keep cool, and as silent as possible when rounding."

*grins* I took the first 18 people off. But I panicked for awhile. The first 18 took one hour to complete...there was another 18 left! How was I gonna drag rounding for one whole hour?? O.o We can try.... I called Edvin to tell him to make things a bit faster and led the team to do rounding. The only was I could think of was to split, which we actually never do on a normal day. I instructed each of the seniors to take about 3-4 juniors to a different corner of the school and we planned to meet at the medical center in about 15 minutes. At the medical center, I sent a small group to go around to check the place out as well which took a good 15 mins or so too.

Still had some time left according to Edvin so I brought them to chill out at the foyer and talk about OBS experiences with the excuse that we were waiting for Jinho's team to catch up with us after their rounding. Hehe. Can't feel bad for lying about that one.

Given the green light by Edvin and Wei Jie, I sent a message to Izzudean to get into position and we were off again apparently to the hall. As planned, Deera stopped us all in our tracks requesting to make a de-tour back to the forest like place reminding us about "what happened last year". NOTHING happened last year xD But oh well, then I started this whole drama...

Me: Oh yeah!! Guys, guys, last year right, when we were rounding, one of the teams manage to spot some random students chilling out here at this hour, it's probably best that we check it out.

Aaron: (somehow helping me out, hehe) Oh yeah, a lot of people like to use that place as a hide out...

Me: Alright then let's go. Eh wait, I don't know, should we bring everyone (pretending to debate it out as different people gave different answers). Okay lah, everyone goes but remember to keep close and extremely quiet alright?

I made a "phone call" saying we'll be 15 minutes late as we took a detour. This is when the fun started, haha. Mannn, I was spooked! I didn't expect the route to be so dark!!! Clinging on to Peng Yong's tee, I led them down the grassy plains to the muddy area then I spotted the tractor which was my landmark. Right about now.....

Yes! Two people dashed out of the bushes and into the darkness...

"Guys! Go, go, go, chase them!! Don't let them get away! Get them before they reach the houses!!!"

That was all they needed *grins*

They ran for their lives after the "culprits". I pretended to fall over just so I could make sure everyone ran, telling them that I broke my slipper and to just run for the perpetrators. Hehe, that was really funny la...

What was supposed to happen was that they get attacked with water as they ran but then the people behind the hoses weren't ready as it all happened so fast. Nevermind....Peng Yong went to get them back. I figured they might or might already know that it was a false alarm so I stood at the exact spot where the water would attack and waited for them to come my way, when they were in front of me...X marks the spot, baby ;) Open fire =P

Best part? They couldn't go the other way as we were going back to the foyer. They had to pass the battle zone to get back to the foyer. Open fired a few times until Jinho called for us to meet him and so we went back. The few I checked with had a fun time, said it was worth the wet clothes =D That's all that really mattered ;)

It seems the other team also had their plan backfire a bit. Theirs was a bit different...meant to go up to the rugby pavilion. The false alarm was supposed to be Voon and Ucok. Then he would send two seniors to investigate while gather the juniors in front of the stairs to block the exit...only to have them sprayed from the top. But...they spotted Voon way too early and instead of listening to instruction from Jinho, got excited and ran up the stairs and everywhere. Haha, oh well. I saw that everyone was pretty drenched so I'm guessing they had a blast nonetheless.

Ahhh, good times, good times =P Worth every square inch of sweat, mud and water xD

Why I Love Google

2010-09-24T21:52:00.000+08:00

1: Type in "[your first name] needs" in the Google search:
...Sheela needs a break O.o

2: Type in "[your first name] looks like" in Google search:
The figure directly under the Sheela looks like it has been hacked off.

3: Type in "[your first name] hates" in Google search:
Teams Sheela Hates.

4: Type in "[your first name] goes" in Google search:
Sheela goes to call tushar but doesnt get ...

5: Type in "[your first name] loves" in Google search:
Sheela loves Jerry.

6: Type in "[your first name] eats" in Google search:
If Sheela eats a lot of candy, she must buy a lot of candy... LOL!

7: Type in "[your first name] has" in Google search:
The sexy Sheela has everything to make a mark in films, a good figure, beautiful face and a passion to make it big. (ooh la la, hahaha)

8: Type in "[your first name] works" in Google search:
What the hell.......Sheela works at PIzza Hut?!!!? (ahahahahaha so random!)

9: Type in"[your first name] lives" in Google search:
Sheela lives with her patients and her two black Labradors, Lalla and Rajab, at her "commune" in Maisprach, a village near Basel renowned for its fine pinot ...

10: Type in "[your first name] died" in Google search:
on this day a girl named sheela died!! (omg, I think this was part of a chain letter, freaaakkyyy)

11.Type in "[your first name] does" in Google search:
She's Sheela, does a Shakira. (uhm...)

12: Type in "[your first name] will" in Google search:
Sheela will highlight any blockages and problems in your life caused by your karmic planets.

ahahahahahaha, this has got to be the weirdest activity ever but quite cool! I thought the first one was the awesomest =P

cheers!

Longest Day of the Year

2010-09-22T20:09:00.000+08:00

So.... Betty came over to stay for 2 nights, Sunday being the busiest.

It started at 8am when we finally dragged ourselves out from bed coz of our plan to have breakfast. After showering and getting dressed, off we were to Devi's Corner for your typical KL breakfast (how unhealthy! but I had already written off today as a bad food day =/). As I was parking the car, I grazed the curb x| But a nice Indian man in the opposite restaurant helped me out jokingly claiming to "collect payment later" =P

After Devi's we headed down to the Curve, where of course, I took a wrong move and had to find a new way to get there. The last two days I've discovered how prone I am to getting lost x| But it's okay, more time on the road is more fun, haha. Anyway, we reached The Curve about an hour earlier than the movie so kinda just walked around till 11am.

Step Up 3 was awesome! I think they should come up with one Step Up movie every summer =D It's an awesome chilled movie to watch and hey, they'll always have support of the dancers around. Now, just to get my hands on Streetdance since no one wanted to watch it with me in the cinema =(

Walking around a bit discussing the movie among other things, eating ice cream and shopping for clothes (guess who did, haha), at about 2pm we decided to get going to Desa Park City for our meeting with Chien Yee at 3pm. Sent a message to CY saying "Hey, we're gonna leave now coz I will get lost. So we might reach early". Note the confidence in getting lost but lack of in reaching early, haha.

Well, guess what happened eh. I soon found myself on a one way road to Kepong O.o At the end of the road, I was headed for Pusat Bandar then suddenly I was on the NKVE heading to Ipoh. Hmm. At least there's no jam. Started to head towards Shah Alam and found signage towards Kota Damansara. Honestly, I don't know where that is but the word Damansara gives me more comfort than Shah Alam. True enough, it led me to Mutiara Damansara, back to the Curve =D This time I knew to go left not right and from there it was easy. We reached Chien Yee's place at 3pm sharp. Not bad eh ;)

Went for some light food at the Mediterranean restaurant in Desa Park City then just chilled at Chien Yee's place till 6.30pm. Iskandar and Nishyo confirmed for dinner! Which meant that Chien Yee considered coming again =) More time before leaving always a plus in my books. Had to shift it to 7pm though coz Iskandar needed to order food earlier... erh, my cash was low O.o can't replenish at home. Grr. Nvm, shall order something cheap.

Met up with the other 2 at WIP in BSC. Thank god going home was a straight forward route! Who knows where we would have ended up at.

"Welcome to the Singapore borders, please present your passport."

Haha. That... would be quite funny if it happened =P

Dinner was fun, as it always is when you have these guys as company =)

After dinner, we walked around and ended up being educated about coffee and tea by this awesome and knowledgeable worker at O Gourmet. She explained about all the different kinds of coffee and tea they have, letting us sniff the different aromas of them as well. Hmm, you learn something new everywhere you go, even the mall =D

At 10pm, BSC was closing so we left... headed to The Curve (after much discussion) to just chill. As it seems, we couldn't find a place to CHILL at coz everywhere was either freaking hot, super loud or closed =/ So after walking around a bit, I sent Chien Yee home, thinking finally I could collapse on the bed. Hmm, was I wrong.

Arriving at CY's place, they decided to have some water and rest first before leaving. Sigh. Okay, here we go... and so we chatted, ate keropok and drank water. Well, I drank what I hoped was strong enough coffee to drive betty and myself back later. Finally, convincing Iskandar that we should go back (parents were calling) and then chill at my place if he wanted to, we headed home.

Reached home at about 1am I think and Izzy left at about 1.45am. Honestly, latest ever out with friends, haha. I mean not counting New Years Eve and Jills place, it's new year eve, you can't end a new years eve party at 11pm can you -.-"

Well, the day had officially ended for me but I only slept at about 3.30am after telling my parents all about the day and its adventures, chatting with dhisy a bit online and then singing happy b'day to Dani who was surprisingly awake, haha.

hmm. The next day, we got up late of course. Just in time to have brunch in BV before Betty had to catch her flight. All in all, quite an exciting weekend, hope he had fun... I won't be doing that again in a while though, haha. I guess I'm not as exciting as I'd like to think I am =P

cheers!

I feel like a Bee

2010-09-12T23:24:00.001+08:00

I've been so caught up in things! I don't know when I'll ever find the time to blog again =/ Well, again, it means I'm spending more time living a real life, eh?

I've been meeting up with a lot of different people including entertaining 2 friends who came down from Sarawak at two different times in the same week =S Then past few days I've been out shopping or trying to shop at least. I mean there isn't like a boatload of things to buy but you know how it is - when you want to buy something it's never there.

Anyway, this is just to let people know I'm alive =) Oh oh and again, I updated the links to the video for the Online Dance Battle between M&M Cru and ACDC Crew so go check it out! xD It's super duper awesome. Especially when you're still on a Step Up 3D Dance HIGH. Which reminds me Step Up 3 = BEST DANCE MOVIE EVER. Hands down. I hope they keep filming sequels xD It really doesn't matter that the storyline is always corny, I mean who goes to watch STEP UP for a good masterpiece storyline? It's all about the dance ;) And an awesome soundtrack to match is always a plus!

Definitely a must watch for anyone who enjoys dance and music =)

Cheers!

MIA

2010-08-21T14:43:00.002+08:00

Okay...okay...okay...sorry for being missing for so long!

I'd like to think it's because I'm actually living more haha. But actually it's true. So much has been going on! But I'll update another time coz I'm going out soon but I can say life has been pretty exciting, tiring yet somewhat fulfilling of late.

And I've got some pretty awesome news to share but that's definitely a story for another day, be prepared for more very detailed posts, haha...if I can find the time at least.

Sorry, not that I want to bore you to death you know, but recording details is my thing, I hate to forget =/

Cioz! Have a pleasant week ahead! =D

Bop, Bop Baby updated with pics

2010-07-28T21:43:00.008+08:00

This is officially the coolest game in my world now. If I had it, I doubt I'll ever be bored again. That and the Giggle Ball =P

It's basically like DDR just that it says Bop It (press the button), Pull It (pull the blue knob), Twist It (twist the yellow knob) and Say It (shift the green slider) in random orders and you just follow. Damn funnn! Birthday present, please xP It's rather expensive though -.-"

The Giggle Ball kind of... just... well... giggles =S It's a fluffy ball that when you switch it on, it giggles every time you shake it xD so cute!

You can tell, I had a productive day =P Basically, I met up with Ben who is in KL for a night, Allia and small Ben at Devi's Corner. Hung out there for an hour just talking, laughing, being approached by some random Indian dude selling spa coupons worth RM1000 for RM30 but which we'll never attend so we didn't buy, drinking tea, taking pictures etc etc. We saw this damn cute tiny little cat sleeping in a pot near us O.o

Anyway, then decided to move somewhere air conditioned because small Ben was melting. Not before taking a group pic =P Like tourists, hahaha. The final one kind of failed =S But it's okay.

In BV, we headed to Toys R Us and (can you believe it) spent an HOUR looking at ALL of the toys there xDDD at one point, all four of us were just standing/sitting playing the Bop It game =P

*grins*

The next hour, was just spent walking around until we reached Starbucks where we chilled till 6pm and small Ben's driver sent us all home. Had tons of fun though we didn't really do much but then again, that's always the case right? =)

Tomorrow, Betty's gonna turn KL upside down, inside out ;)

cheers!

On the Road to Freedom

2010-07-26T20:08:00.002+08:00

Guess who just got her license ;)

KL watchout! Sheela's gonna paint the town RED........

.......with her mum in the passengers seat ._."

=P

Footprints

2010-07-25T00:14:00.002+08:00

Good friends come and they always go. Always. Anyone who tells you they're gonna hang around is lying, it's as simple as that. Even those with pure intentions, eventually go away.

I've had one too many experiences with people who say they'll always stick around but who just move on before I realize they're gone =/ Maybe I'm just slow. Or I've been too much of a "good friend" to notice. Seriously, I can think of a few people I would still go out of my way to help but who wouldn't give a rat's ass about me anymore. But that's just how I am I guess because at some point they probably would have gone out of their way for me and I'll always remember that.

But from now on with whoever I meet in the future, I'm not falling into that trap or believing any of that nonsense because yes, they always go.

Convince me otherwise. I dare you too. Because I really wish someone would.

Meet Ups

2010-07-23T11:07:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was a nice but tiring day =)

Met up with Chien Yee, Peng Yong...and Chien Yee's cousin, Kit. As usual it's always fun hanging out with them. We watched Despicable Me and it is the cutest show ever. Seriously, and when I say cute, you know I'm not referring to some pink cutesy fluffy revolting thing but just plain amusingly entertaining cute. Like watching a baby look around in awe or a kitten chasing a ball of wool. And the villain has got to be the worst villain in the world coz he has a heart -.-" And he wears smiley face boxers. Geez. Haha. But really good for a nice laugh =D

After that we walked around and went for dessert at this Taiwanese dessert place called Honeymoon - it's actually really good! Will definitely go back there with my mum or with friends =) The cousin went off shopping so it was just 3 of us... it felt like KTJ breakfasts once again coz sometimes I join them for breakfast (I'm never sure whether they mind =S) and it's just the three of us. Really loved those times... 2 of them are like my little support couple. Every time if I have something on during the day like some competition or exam or interview etc etc I'll go to their table in the morning (they're always there for breakfast) for moral support =)

Then began the torturous trip home. Waited at the bust stop for about half an hour for the bus, sat on the bus as it went all around TTDI and Damansara before heading to KL Sentral. Took the train to Bangsar and well, my bro had the car so I had no transport =/ Fern said they were already at Nirwana's so I didn't want to call her... and so I walked there. Hmm. I was quite paranoid having never walked alone on the roads before but other than that it was a nice walk - not too far. C'mon, I'm gonna be walking practically EVERYWHERE in UK so really this is just a start.

Dinner was nice, catching up with them, listening to random stories. It's nice to have bubbly people around coz I'm so bad at creating conversation that if I were to hang out with someone similar we'd be pretty silent =/

Today.... I had lunch with Pui Ee and Jasmine in Gardens. Haven't seen Pui Ee for 3.5 years and Jas for about 7.5 years. How about that. One in Australia, the other in LSE. Managed to catchup on each other so that was all very nice...

Well, that's it for now...will write more later when I'm not so tired *yawns* tata!

Holiday's Are Over

2010-07-19T02:25:00.003+08:00

It's been exactly two weeks since school ended and well, I haven't really accomplished much =( But it's okay, today the party stops and I'm gonna completely finish clearing my room, start my exercise program, begin eating properly and start reading a book.

Then we'll see what happens from there.

This week I'm also gonna start meeting up with some people =D That's something to look forward to.

My Cool Junior

2010-07-17T00:27:00.004+08:00

On the last day of school, I came back to my room to see a paper bag sitting on my show rack. One of my juniors, Syaza, had left me a gift! A very cute bear (which is now watching TV in the living room until my room is cleared) and a nice scrap book of my time in KTJ using pictures which I think she got from facebook =D Absolutely loved it...check out the pages of the scrapbook down below. Good stuff eh? It was really sweet of her, thanks Syaza.

What's New With You

2010-07-15T12:38:00.007+08:00

Phew, now that's over and done with time to update on what's been cooking.

Well, nothing much has been happening...

1. Well, since we renovated the house (and I redid my room xD) I haven't had the time to take everything out of the boxes. You can imagine how much I have to do now then =( My life is literally all packed up in boxes and bags so yeah, when I say I'm having trouble clearing my room, you'd know what I mean I guess =/ So far progress is that I've unpacked my KTJ suitcase and organized a few of the drawers, establishing each one's purpose. BUT, still have 3 shelves, 6 boxes and one small cupboard to go x| Sigh. Worse part? When I'm finally done, it'll probably be time to pack up for university -.-"

I don't know if I've put it up before but yeah this is my new and improved room...when it was...well... new =) Very green, I had a green phase and it hasn't gone yet, haha. The floor is wooden! 360 degrees starting from when you enter the door and you see the table. You can tell these are old pictures coz there are SAT books on the table and my old phone was still functioning =/ and my hair was still short, haha.

2. I've finally finished off Grey's Anatomy Season 6 and I'm anxiously waiting for season 7 to start. It's gonna be a long wait =( The season finale was superb - best yet. Got my heart racing from about the middle of the first part until the end and I've never cried so much for Grey's before until the last two episodes. Seriously, if you've been following, you do not want to miss out on that.

True, it did. Best season by far.

3. Also been following Big Bang Theory - a nice light break from the intense Grey's Anatomy. I showed my dad some clips and told him that that was gonna be my life in 5 years time, just wait. Haha, in a way I don't really want to end up being that extreme but on the other hand, I do find them really cool in their own way so yeah, I wouldn't mind that life.

Indeed smart IS the new sexy =P

*knock, knock, knock* Penny,
*knock, knock, knock* Penny,
*knock, knock, knock* Penny.

Classic xD Got about 6 more episodes till the end of Season 3 and then I've to find a new series to watch, hmm. I've taken a liking to Kaley Cuoco, the actress who plays Penny. Find her kind of cool, and I like that she keeps clean from the tabloids =) Also love her because she acts in another favorite comedy of mine - 8 Simple Rules =)

4. Well, I've started driving lessons. Maybe a better word would be continued driving lessons since I had started before but just didn't have enough time to complete the course. Wish me luck for driving exam which is...soon =/

5. Also started swimming lessons! Can you imagine that - Sheela swimming. My, my what has the world come to. Well, I've always wanted to learn but never had the time so when better than now right? I wanna be able to do all those cool water sports without having to worry that I'm going to drown if something malfunctions =( Plus, Imperial has a free swimming pool for all students so might as well make use of it right? From what I hear about the weather, swimming would probably be a more reliable form of cardio than jogging =/

Imperial's swimming pool

It's been two lessons and so far so good =)

First class, when we reached the deep end, I was literally clinging to the walls! Damn scared to let go, felt like a barnacle. Then he made me do something really weird: jump in, touch the ground with my feet and push myself up O.o I thought he was mad but he is the coach... so I tried and didn't even reach the ground -.-" Again and again I tried until finally I did it perfectly and true enough I felt more confident after that =D

I still cannot bring myself to like being in the water though. I hate that feeling of having water constantly in your face, occasionally entering your nose and mouth x| I prefer the land, thank you very much, haha.

I find it cool that at the same time, I'm trying to master the land (driving) and water (swimming) =D

6. I've been helping my mum cook! Sometimes I watch the cooking channel with her and we try out stuff we see, or I just help to make the usual stuff she does or occasionally I try to be smart and create new things (she doesn't really like it when I do that but oh well =P). It's quite fun! Then we get to talk and stuff so it's nice in that sense as well. Haven't been baking as much as I want to coz well... uh, cakes and all are unhealthy and not really that great if you wanna not put on weight, haha. But I'm planning to bake maybe just once a week to try out new things =D

7. Err, miscellaneous things like downloading music, watching movies, sleeping, etc etc. hmm.

Things to do:

1. Start Chinese lessons ;) Gotta get more connected with my roots, yo! *grins*
2. Gonna try getting my mum to teach me some basic piano just for fun.
3. Learn some new songs on the guitar.
4. Buy some new books and read. KTJ also gave me like RM150 worth of MPH vouchers for the All Rounder award... as nerdy as it sounds, I was quite ecstatic when I saw it xD
5. Start meeting up with people.

Speaking of meeting up, bumped in Pui Ee yesterday at Midvalley. It's been aaaagggeeesss since I met her. I haven't come to conclusion yet about how I felt about that encounter =/ Save it for another post then.

That's enough updates for now! Ciaoz.

One Long Final Day (Part 3)

2010-07-12T21:28:00.006+08:00

Ran off to the foyer to find Jinho, Stanley and Danielle already there. Had a bit of a ruffle with Pn Suria about me being too lenient but oh well, last day of duty right? Can't have a perfect record, gotta get things wrong too =P Jokes aside, it was just a bit of a misunderstanding and I admit I was being a bit lenient because of the fact I was leaving, it was end of term, people were stressed about Speech Day performances etc etc, so yeah, my fault =( Anyway, moving on, we waited for Tunku Naquiyuddin and the guest of honor to arrive to greet them then rushed off to the hall to prepare for the presentation of the program. Yeah, Speech Day protocols are a bit weird for me and make me very, very nervous.

After the nerve-wrecking presentation of the program booklet (yay), we could chill out at the back of the hall until the next task: presentation of the gifts of appreciation (double yay). /i honestly really do get freaked out by protocol. I need to work on that =/ Tried my best to listen to all the speeches - might I remind you, I was functioning on no sleep so cut me some slack here x| It was all very interesting.... the principal gave the annual report about the school in terms of academic, co-curricular actvities and recent developments. Then came the prize giving portion of which I was number 56 on the list, receiving a gift for Outstanding AS Level Results or something to that extent, basically meaning that I got straight A's for my AS exams. It was a book called "User's Guide to the Universe"...PHYSICS. haha. I excitedly went to show it to Mr Hughes only to have him reveal to me that he was the one who chose it. Ooh, explains a lot.

KTJ has this special award they present every year for the student who they feel is an all rounder and a good role model I guess =/ As far as I know, teachers nominate names but I don't know the selection process...it's called the Tunku Naquiyuddin All Rounder Award. And...well...I got it this year =D What made me happy wasn't even the fact that I got the award, it was the cheers that followed after my name was announced =) For all you know, it could just be that my friends are really really loud but doesn't matter, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside x) Honestly, all I saw as I was walking towards the stage was Peng Yong's smiley face -.-"

Pretty cool, eh? The male recipient of course was none other than my partner in crime, Jinho =)

Ben left! Ben had to go at 11.30am =(((((( It's funny how we're so different yet so close but he really has been a huge part of my KTJ life. And when I say huge part, I mean see-him-every-day-somehow-remained-close-since-very-first-day kind of huge part. Whoaa, life without him around is gonna be pretty weird =/

The guest of honor was from Monach University. His speech was extremely entertaining and I loved his voice and accent. For the first time, the alumni came over and the chairman gave a speech then presented awards to the teachers who have been teaching in KTJ since the school was built 19 years ago. Quite a lot of them actually...about 7 I think. I almost didn't recognize the guy giving the speech but I had met him before...just that I didn't know he was the chairman and back then he was dressed very casually =S Did manage to meet him after for a little chat...very nice guy.

I really didn't think I would cry. Although I knew there was a possibility. I told myself, I believe I would really only know how much I would truly miss KTJ on the very last day as we were about to leave and true enough I realized alright =(

After the whole event, a group of humans in grey blazers were seen in the middle of the hall hugging and crying (some more than others =/ and some not at all). I...stood for awhile watching it all happen then went to hug some people. And I was okay...until I hugged Jean who said some things to me that made me tear up...followed by Janani who didn't have to say anything and two of us were sobbing uncontrollably ='( It all lasted for about an hour...the crying and the hugging and the goodbyes. Sigh. You never really know until it's gone. It surprised me to see some juniors crying...lower sixers, form 3's and 4's =S I didn't think they'd be so attached to the seniors but apparently so, hmm. I wouldn't have cried last year but then again, it's not the same.

When I left CBN, I didn't shed a single tear. Even on the last day of SKBB, I cried a bit. But CBN? No way. There was literally nothing to be missed there but bad, bad, horrible memories I wish to forget. The feeling was so different the last day of CBN and the last day of KTJ.

I managed to calm myself down...only to see Ms Sarah in the dining hall and start crying again ='( I really will miss her, she took good care of me in school. She sent me soup once when I had fever! How awesome is that.

Lunch on the grass was pleasant...I was thinking we should have done that more often =P All he while I was tracking people down to give them postcards...hope they liked them. After returning Mr Hughes his DVD's, I watched as the Lower 6'ers went off for their session of OBS. Gosh, it seems not so long ago that it was us in those buses wondering what Lumut had in store for us. There she was, dear little Danielle...moment I waved at her she started crying again O.o Of all the lower 6'ers, she definitely cried the most...I don't know if that's just her natural self - very emotional-sad-to-see-sad-thing-happen kinf of character or if she's really gonna miss all the upper 6'ers that much =S It was really sad to see her crying so much though...made me even more sad x|

Well, after they had gone there wasn't much else to do but pack up and talk to whoever was in the house. Talked to the teachers, some friends...

By the time I left it was almost 4pm and I think only Sam and Ishmam were in the house. Said my goodbyes, and it was sayonara to KTJ for the last time as a student. Imagine that...best two years of my life so far and it all happened in this little school in Mantin. I'm going to miss this place but as I said before, new things will come to fill that void so the feeling of longing for it will be replaced by just memories of the amazing, unique, insane yet priceless time I had in KTJ.

One Long Final Day (Part 2)

2010-07-11T21:59:00.006+08:00

9.30pm. A meeting in the 6th Form Center was called for all senior prefects in the school. Final day of school can only mean one thing: Lower 6 Prefects Induction Night. Heh heh.

Throughout the day, I had tried to play it cool, informing L6 prefects that yes there was rounding tonight, yes everyone is involved, no we won't be doing much to them since we had no time to plan, don't worry they'll be fine. =P

It took one hour to properly brief everyone about the plan and it was a pretty good one in fact, though a lot of acting was involved but nothing we couldn't handle. Props to Jinho, Edvin, Iskandar, Izzuddin and Wei Jie I believe who spent at least 3 hours planning that evening. I was supposed to join them but was stuck in KL =(

Anyway, moving on....at 10.45pm we called a meeting with the Lower 6'ers to remind them of all their duties on Speech Day etc etc. ***Then....

[read here for the story!]

I think we got a bit into trouble because it lasted until quite late =( Can't say we didn't end with a blast though...still, I do feel a bit guilty x| After taking a picture (and informing them with a laugh that the tradition wasn't a tradition at all =P) and collecting all valuables, they headed back to the houses. I stayed back a bit to exchange stories with Jinho, Edvin, and a few guys before heading home.

Sam wasn't feeling too good as she, Zoe and I chilled at the pantry for awhile so they both went up to sleep. I on the other hand had my own plans for the night, and sleeping was last on the list...

Leaving Zoe's room, she said to me...

"This is the last time ever, you'll be saying good night like this, Sheela"

That struck a chord. I couldn't focus; just had to sit down.... Looking around, I realized this was the last time for everything. Every single thing I did was a last. I closed my eyes and let myself absorb that little detail. Then, my eyes panned the surrounding slowly. Sipping on water from my bottle, memories came flooding back of events that took place in this house. All the beginning of terms when everyone runs and hugs each other like we hadn't met for years...all the end of terms when we'll hug again like we're parting for years. Only that this time it was really for good. Thinking of all the different rooms I had stayed in and where everyone else had stayed. Of the random things that go on in the corridors...the crazy people residing in the house =( I'm gonna miss all of it a lot more than I thought.

A few people walked in and out of their room, saw me, looked at me funny then pretended I wasn't there. Hmm, oh well. After about 15 mins, decided I should go back down. Went to Iffa's room for awhile to just be sad then took a shower at....yep, it was about 3.30am, haha. After that I meant to do one thing but was a bit down so wanted to watch some random stuff on my computer...ended up watching scenes from Transformers 2 =S I know, really random but that's what I did until about 4.30am when I decided I should get started, probably should have decided that earlier -.-"

Basically I bough a bunch of postcards from redang and was writing these little notes to certain people who...well, I guess I never really got to tell them what big a part they played in my life =) I didn't get t finish writing all due to my major procrastination but I think I got all the main ones through so I'm happy.

Before I knew it, it was 6.45am and the wake up bell rang. Hmmmmm. *raises eyebrow*

Grabbing the weapon, I opened Voon's door.

"Don't even think about it!"

Damn. How do these people always know.

"Do you want to do it?" I asked.

3 seconds later, she jumped up, grabbed a towel and off we were to the balcony. If you're in Irinah, wondering what the loud blow horn sound was ....xD

Next stop: Betty's room where Ishmam, Iffa, Mie and Betty were sleeping soundly. Crawling on the floor so we wouldn't be seen, I sounded the horn again.

Ishmam: What the #$%@ is that????

*pause*

Betty: *sleepily and knowing it's me* Breakfast -.-"

haha. Chien Yee came to join our madness for a while then we finally decided to stop. Samantha did manage to wake up, much to my surprise coz she sent me a text checking if I was awake...well, seeing as I didn't sleep....

7.20am Sam and I were off to breakfast, to be joined by Betty, Voon, Yao Shun and Ben later on. Sigh. The dining hall for the very last time. It was kind of empty...rearranged for the afternoon lunch and an air of sadness hung about the atmosphere somehow.

Or maybe that was just my imagination.

Anyhoo, my plans to talk to Sam kind of failed with so many people there...who knew so many of them would go for breakfast so early -.-" I wanted to get my prank down and Ben needed to return his books so we went to the computer lab. Sam decided to follow..... Well, my prank never got to be done coz it couldn't compile but nevermind la, quite pointless anyway by now =) It would have been an awesome one though ;)

Walked back together, then Ben went off.... Sam well, said what she wanted to say. I don't know how well that went; could've gone better I guess. Don't you sometimes come out of a conversation, and for days later you keep replaying all the different things you could have said, all the different ways it could have gone in you head only that it just can't be changed anymore? Yeah, this was one of those. One side of me just wanted to forget about things, it doesn't matter anymore, let's move on but the other wanted to explode with all the feelings I had for weeks. You can guess which side won: the one that always does - the one that says "just get over it and move on, it doesn't matter anymore." So yeah, I know what happened now and I feel better and I should just let it go. She's an awesome friend, that's all that matters. That's all that will always matter =')

Ahh, speech day, speech day, speech day....I was running a little late....

One Long Final Day

2010-07-10T14:45:00.007+08:00

Having slept at 4.30am the night before, I couldn't wake up for breakfast for fear my sickness would get worse =(

Got up at about 9.20am to prepare for the photoshoot I believed was at 11.40am. But then I received message from Zoe that it was brought forward to 10am O.O Damn. Rushed to shower and dry my hair -.-" What photoshoot you may ask? Just a random one we wanted to have since we're leaving, haha.

At break, I had sort of organized a little cake session for the upper 6'ers and teachers in the common room so after a short photo session, I ran off with Nini, Raya, Chien Yee and Farah to collect the cakes from Ms Marcel, cut them into about 100 pieces and brought them to the common room. Her cakes were as usual, fantastic.

My two best friends in KTJ...and they ended up together, how cliche, haha =P
Photos continued to be taken until the end of break when Stan the Man came with his awesome camera.

Jump shot that sort of worked out? =)

Together we stand, Hand in hand...

It's been a good year as heads of schools =) And no we're not together -.-"

We went all around the school taking photos only finishing at lunch time when Jinho, Izzudean, Ishmam, Stanley, Danny, Daryl, Sara and I headed off the Ms Sarah's place for lunch. She cooked lunch for us I guess for the old and new heads to have some time together, as a thank you to us, and a welcome to them too I guess =S Either way, lunch again, was great. Pasta, garlic bread with rambutans and peaches for dessert.

Once again, the conversation led on to the philosophical debate of whether Happiness or Love is what life is all about, haha. Never fails to kill time, that topic =P

Out going headboy, incoming headboy...

Incoming head girl, outgoing head girl =)

Jinho and I both noted that both incoming heads were taller than us...hopefully signifying the prefects reaching even greater heights than us, haha =P

Mr Lai requested Jinho and my presence for the final CF meeting and so we left lunch at 1.15 so we could catch the last 15 minutes of it. Funnily enough we made it in time to hear him talk about marriage! I can't remember which book or which chapter but it basically said that the wives duty is to submit and the husband's is to love. Fair enough. If a husband does not show enough love, that is why the wife finds it hard to submit. Ahh. Explains alot eh?

Sat down with Mr Lai as he ate lunch to chat a bit before rushing off to meet up with Erick to go get Mr Venga's racket. We took the KTM to KL Sentral and the LRT to Ampang Park where there's a good racket shop with reasonably priced rackets. Hung around for the guy to string the racket then made our way back to school. The KTM was jammed pack!!! O.o We couldn't make it in! I had to be back by 7pm for Irinah's house meeting and Ms Angie offered to take a few of us out for dinner =/ Last resort, Erick offered to pay for a cab back, sigh...bless him. He made a few phone calls and soon we were on our way back. I was so very tired, that I knocked out on in the car =S Back in KTJ, I couldn't make it for dinner but Voon bought back some food for me...

During the house meeting, they announced the new House Capt, Deputies and house prefects. House Capt - Jovi and Deputies (we started a new tradition!) were Hidayah and Sarah Elena. Interesting mix, I wish them all the best.

Voon Hui was asked to give a short speech after the announcement. The moment she stepped up, there was a quiver in her voice and I just knew it was all gonna go badly wrong. True enough many of us were left teary eyed. I always thought I'd be stronger but apparently not. It wasn't even what she said that mattered (I honestly can't remember most of it, I was too busy focusing on not crying, sorry boss! Haha) I guess it was just the reality sinking in since her speech actually really meant that we were going...until then it just seemed like a dream. She hugged Ms Angie and I thought the worst was over but no, our friend decided to continue...

"Two years of being here in KTJ...."

Oh no....That was all it took for Betty, Ishmam, Chien Yee, Jaclyn and I to begin to be more than teary-eyed. Some of us worse than others (I admit, for me it was quite bad =/). Sigh. Someone threw Voon a towel and she threw it to me saying I probably needed it, haha.

After that we adjourned to the pantry to eat a cake that Ms Pathma bought for us =)

Later on I had some time to pack. Spent some of it packing and the rest of it walking up and down the house exclaiming that this wasn't it and that we weren't really leaving, that this was all not happening and just basically feeling sad =(((

The night was far from ending though. Actually it had just begun....

The Last Days

2010-07-09T15:03:00.005+08:00

Tuesday

12pm: After a total of 10 hours of sleep from Friday to Monday, waking up at this hour seemed the positive way forward. Today was just a day of taking care of business. Dropping by Ms Sarah's place, my welcome back form Redang, unsurprisingly of course, was a cry of help due to a malfunctioning printer. Ah, it's nice when things are back to normal =)

Followed by a long chat with Ms Sarah who had great news for me. After returning some books to the Kolej Shop, I figured that it was quite a good time to start packing. (thank god I did, for the days to come were insanely busy). I'm quite unsure about what I did after, probably walking around aimlessly enjoying the sudden freedom xD

Wednesday

Final Assembly! Woke up err, just in time to grab breakfast and make our way (for the last time!) to the principal's office with my partner in crime Jinho. Deciding that he would do the flag this time as I'm very sure the flag hates me, we walked the principal down the aisle again, for the very last time =( Assembly was business-like as usual only with many awards to be presented. Irinah lost the Ungku Aziz cup this time after 3 consecutive terms of winning it to none other than Alia. While I'm sad we lost it, I was glad that Alia won it as I think it would give them a great confidence boost as the new house. Then came Kelvin's video =( The video about Upper 6'ers that made quite a few people burst into tears and me well...my eyes were definitely watery ='(

The moment everyone had been waiting for, who will replace Jinho, Me, Izzudean and Ishmam? Well, I honestly couldn't have asked for a better team: Stanley, Danielle, Daryl and Sara Ruzanna. Here's wishing them all the best for their term and I hope they receive all the support they need for an awesome year ahead! The rest of the day was spent with them actually. I guess you could call in passing the candle on....as we tried to answer any questions they had and pass on the lessons we had learnt through mistakes in out term in hopes that they wouldn't have to make the same ones again. I believe that went well, and I guess the rest is up to them, we did what we could =)

Thursday

Managed to wake up for breakfast this time xD Only that I can't really remember what happened after =/ I think I fell asleep coz I actually woke up sick -.-" Yes! That's it, I fell asleep. Then Shareen came in asking me to write in her book and Jaclyn too. Yes, yes, it's coming back now. And for lunch, I ate with Voon because we were so frustrated about some unresolved orange issues -.-" Together with Mehul and Alex who told us about unresolved yellow issues, haha. Made me and Voon feel better knowing we weren't alone in this. After lunch, I had another one of those many meetings** with Jinho.

**As Jinho and I talked to the incoming 4 the other day, one of the things we told them was that 90% of the job is just mainly thinking. And it is so true. Though I may sometimes say otherwise, thinking about it now, the most exciting part of the job was really the brainstorming sessions I had with Jinho and sometimes with Ishmam and Izzudean as well. Gosh, we would think and debate and talk and discuss for hours on end sometimes even days to make sure everything we do is as perfect as it can get. And it never stops there, during these times I'd find that almost every waking moment I'll be thinking about what to do, how to do it, what could go wrong...it was all so insane and intense. That was definitely the part of the job that I enjoyed, loved, cherished the most and am also the most grateful for.

The meeting ended after school when we had rehearsals for speech day. Nah, I didn't perform this time but still had duty to do and that's what we were rehearsing for. Ended at about 5.10pm. Wanted to go for a walk with Sam, but I was late so just hung out with Nini and Dhisy for a bit until 6pm...had to get ready for my uh, first dinner, haha.

They had invite invited me twice before to go on their um,..."pork trips", Chien Yee and gang. Especially Chien Yee =/ But I was always too busy! Imagine giving that excuse this time, after exams and saying I was too busy, haha. And I actually did want to go la. So for the first and last time ever, I followed them to Shenghee Chinese restaurant. The food was great! Better than expected =D And the company was even greater, haha. Had tons of fun just chilling out and talking....

Later in the evening, Peng Yong poured sauce into a kickapoo can, gave it to Smile and told him that the drink was amazing! *grins* You can imagine the event that followed, haha.

I said first dinner because actually that night, Ms Sarah invite Jinho and I (and a guest each) to dinner at 9pm. Haha, oh well, school is ending, why not eat as much eh? Hmm. Dinner was really pleasant. I invited Sam (in an attempt to salvage our dying friendship x|) and Jinho invited Wei Jie (as I had expected!). Menu was roast chicken, boiled potatoes and mixed vegetable and an apple crumble like dessert. Food was just...amazing! Thankfully, conversation was not about school, but about random things like universities, life in the UK, education system in the UK and then the philosophical debate about Love and Happiness xD Came back from dinner feel uh...full, of course...and very happy. Things were turning out great...school seemed to be ending in the best way possible.

Spent the night in the Irinah common room as the lower 6'ers did a round of hot seating (Irinah tradition). I thought that went very well, decent and civilized. No tears, thankfully and no vicious attacks...the future looks bright =D

The day that followed deserves a post of it's own because it started Friday morning but ended Saturday evening........

The Redang Trip (part 3)

2010-07-08T13:56:00.014+08:00

5am my alarm rang only to wake Betty up and not me =/ She tapped my shoulder until I got up, switched it off and went back to sleep.

5.40am, I jumped up and out of bed determined to go for the sunrise as I'd never seen a proper one before. Surveyed the room and saw everyone still asleep, smsed Edvin and Sam to get no reply, I decided to just go alone anyway. Got dressed, stole Betty's hoody, and headed of to catch the sunrise!

It was so dark and spooky along our beach, I was really very very very scared. Walking fast and steady, pretending I was fine, I made my was to the other beach where the sunrise is clearer. Over there, thankfully there were a few others who were there for the same reason as I, made me feel much better. Sunrise only happened at about 7ish am though so it was quite a wait, but a nice wait.

It was amazing! And I think I got quite carried away with the pictures =P Took more than 150 photos just of the sky that morning, haha. Oh well. Was also using the opportunity to discover ll the feature of my new Lumix digital camera. It would have been cooler if I had a DSLR with me but oh well, the digital camera was more than enough =)

After the sunrise, I hung out at the hammocks drifting in and out of a light sleep. It felt so peaceful =) Took many more pictures at the hammock...until about 8.30 when I figured it was best to go back to the room =(

After a nice long enjoyable breakfast (random food counter served pancakes!), 4 of us and Kelvin decided to hang around and camwhore by the beach! Haha, that was lots of fun =)

11am was checkout time so we went up to get our stuff and headed back to the lobby with the whole gang. Took more group photos for memories =) Mann, when I look at the group photos, I feel happy yet sad, kind of nostalgic, a little wistful...I dunno, a whole mix of feelings...it's crazy.

This photo is really cool. Gotta admit, we've got style, haha. We grabbed a few tables and sat around them, it looks like an actual photo shoot if we actually smiled properly =P

I knocked out on the boat, haha. C'mon 3 days 10 hours of sleep, gotta be tired! O.o The bus took us to Payang Seri restaurant, this amazing Thai food place owned by Daryl's aunt I think. Daryl is basiacally the guy who got us all discounts to stay at Laguna Resort because the place is pretty much owned by his family. We went to Payang Seri to have lunch with his parents. They're really nice people =) Can see where Daryl developed his amiable nature. They also arranged for the bus to take us on a city tour so that was pretty cool as well. We visited the museum, but uh, didn't go it coz we were just too tired, haha. Took some pictures out side and moved on.

Next was Tamadun Islam. Again, we went there and straight to the cafe to have some nice cold refreshments! It was blazing hot and we were thirsty. A few of them went it to check it out but the rest of us were just too tired. The atmosphere was nice to just relax and that's what we did. Back on the bus, we decided to drop by a stall to buy keropok lekor before heading straight to the airport. By the time we reached it was about 6.30pm (I think). Flight was at 9.20pm O.o

Killed time by playing cards, walking around and just plain talking, joking, laughing as we always do. Soon it was time to board the plane and head back to KTJ =)

It was an amazing 3 days. I am so glad I talked myself into going because it was really what I needed badly. I wanna kick myself for ever feeling like not going, it was probably the stress levels talking =/ It was a great trip, with even greater people...I'll definitely remember this trip, the things we did and cherish the memories always =)

The Redang Trip (part 2)

2010-07-07T13:43:00.008+08:00

The day was supposed to begin at 5am. But well...began at 8.30am *hangs head in shame*

Betty and I planned to go for a morning jog then catch the sunset but seeing what time we slept the night before....=/ Moving on, breakfast was nice but very rushed since we had to be at the jetty by 9.30am to leave for our next snorkeling trip at Marine Park. Was quite excited about that, as I imagined the corals and fishes to be nicer! Plus we had our cool underwater camera which just turned out to be a normal digital camera with underwater casing -.-"

This time I didn't enjoy it as much though =/ I don't know why. There was either something wrong with my snorkel gear or the water pressure was just really high but water kept entering my goggles...and my mouth -.-" NOT PLEASANT to have extremely salty water in your mouth even if you like salt like I do O.o But the fishes were really pretty =D And it so cute how they all gather around when you drop bread in the sea =D I admit to getting worried they'd enter my pants ._."

As we drifted around there were ugly, disgusting pieces of algae floating around the place that got me even more uncomfortable than I already was =/ Nearby was a wrecked ship which was cool for awhile until I realized that there was probably where all the random floating algae originated from =/ Edvin, the camera man who was very patient was taking pictured of each and every one of us so we'd have memories on top of taking pics of the corals, fish etc. Gosh, taking off the life jacket made me panic like no one's business so he had to take my photo about 6-7 times before he got a presentable shot =/ I did say that he didn't need to but he's nice like that x|

Well, were there until 11.30am when the boat headed back to the resort. We planned not to go for the 3rd snorkeling trip but to go to Shark's Bay which was near the resort to see the vegetarian sharks =P However I just couldn't stand the salt in my hair to had to take a shower despite the limited time to lunch =/ The one thing I hate most about swimming is the condition of your hair once you're out of the water =( Anyway, lunch was as usual...random food counter served sandwiches, roast chicken and rojak this time. The rojak was alright only that there were too many cucumbers =S After lunch, we all split again...Shareen, Betty, Voon and I went off to check out the gift shop while the rest either went to the other beach to chill or back to the hotel rooms. Edvin, Alysha, Shih Yu and uh, someone else who I can't remember now went on the snorkeling trip... make full use of the camera, haha.

The gift shop was interesting. Nothing much there though...sold a few souvenirs and some essentials (toiletries etc). Upstairs they sold tons of beachwear...o-kay priced but very weird cuttings. We each tried something on but none really fit us properly =/ Oh well. Bought ice creams in an attempt to battle the scorching sun...

"Let's go up, put on sun block, grab our shades then come back here to chill out?"

Yeah sure. The moment we went up to that air-conditioned room, 3 of them knocked out within half an hour -.-" I didn't want to be sleeping on such a nice day so after Slumdog Millionaire (on TV) finished, I grabbed a notebook and took a stroll down the beach to do some thinking. I was actually supposed to have a "date" with Sam that afternoon but.... she fell asleep at the hammocks, haha. Hmm. Didn't do as much thinking as I did just spacing out =/ Felt very calm being alone at the beach....

About half an hour later, I met the hammock gang on their way back to the hotel. Said that we're going to Shark's Bay at 5.30pm since Edvin and all were back. Alrighty....had to wake the 3 sleeping beauties then =P At Shark's Bay, I figured that I really didn't want to be in the water again, shark or no shark so I took a long walk down the other beach.

The part of the beach I love most is at that shallow part of the water, where the water is about 5 inches below the knee and waves are crashing into your leg. Nothing beats the blissful feeling of just standing or walking along that area enjoying the breeze, eyes closed, feeling and hearing the waves. Sigh...

They were all still in the water when I got back so I found myself a huge rock to conquer and just sat there observing them swim around. Snapped tons of candid shots of them too though I shall not post them up here, haha, some are uh...too candid xD I called Kelvin to join me up there after awhile coz he was sitting alone by the bags. We could watch the bags from up there anyway. Betty joined after awhile as well.

Betty, being Betty, spotted a hot tattooed dude who was diving next to her in the sea. We managed to spot him from where we were so she and Kelvin went down to get a closer look, pretending that they were just a random couple strolling down the beach -.-" My friends...haha.

After the usual group photo, we all went back to shower etc and get ready for dinner.

4 of us decided to dress up a bit for dinner just for fun and since we brought the outfits, haha. But those pics are with Shareen =/ Random food counter served....lamb this time so I didn't eat that. Green beans soup wasn't as good as the previous days red bean but good enough =) Us girls and Kelvin hung out after that to play card games. The last game we played was Bluff or as Betty prefers...Bullshit. We moved from the dining hall to the lounge area for a better atmosphere then a funny incident happened.

The waiter dropped off the menu with us to choose our drinks and about 15 minutes later he came back. At the moment, Kelvin put down 2 cards which he claimed was a double 9 but Ye Ru was skeptical. As all our attention was towards the waiter, she was focused on the cards, thinking very hard about whether to call it a bluff or not...

Waiter: Can I take your order...
Ye Ru: BULLSHIT!!!!!!

=P The look on the waiter's face was just priceless. And the look on Ye Ru's face when she realized the waiter was there was just as priceless. Hehe, that was really funny *grins*

Shareen and Kelvin went to ask again for us if we could perform and they said alright so we moved to the lower ground to get ready. Waited about half and hour before they called us up again =) This time, we were prepared for the possibility of an encore! We played Poker Face (Glee Version) first followed by Hey, Soul Sister by Train. This time I was a bit more comfortable, though still nervous. By the end of it, again, I was sweating like I'd been in a sauna. Unfortunately no one had a camera to record us this time =( Ah well, in our memories! I still feel that that was the coolest thing I did in Redang. I mean who does that?? =)

Following that we all walked across the bridge to see the famous "blue sand" by the shore. We saw a few of it, it was so cool! They just glow in the dark but disappear after awhile. I checked it out online, and as it turns out, they aren't sand at all but microscopic creatures!

"Bioluminescent Ostracods (also know as Firefleas/Sea firefly) Found at front beach of Redang Reef Resort, The guide call as blue sand. Ostracods are microscopic crustaceans, typically 0.2mm to 2mm long but are readily fossilised and can occur in enormous numbers in some sediments. Ostracods inhabit in aquatic environment use bioluminescence during mating where the males will attract females to them. Males ostracods flash in a sequence as they swim to attract females. Bioluminescence is blue colour because all colors of light do not transmit equally through ocean water, so if the purpose of bioluminescence is to provide a signal that is detected by other organisms, then it is important that the light be transmitted through seawater. Blue light transmits best through seawater."

Pretty cool, eh?

We managed to catch the final 10 minutes of the England-Germany match at a nearby coffee shop. It seems my friends are quite anti-England =/ I was quite amazed at the score, but then again, England hadn't been playing very well anyway.

We walked down to the other beach, but the moment we came, the music kind of died down so yeah. That kind of ruined our plans of partying =/ But it's alright, we just chilled, talked then at about 1am, headed back to the hotel coz everything was closed. They have no night life there, it's so sad!! I was exhausted by the time I reached the hotel room but I was determined to wake up for the sun rise......

The Redang Trip (part 1)

2010-07-06T21:16:00.002+08:00

Well, the plane ride was very...short =/

I sat next to a Malaysian born Canadian who was going to Terengganu to cover a story (journalist I guess?). I couldn't sleep as I was quite uncomfortable so thankfully it was short. After a smooth touchdown, we were in Kuala Terenganu airport.

The airport was recently renovated and looked very nice and new. There was a bus waiting for us organized by the hotel to take us and other passengers to the jetty.

Reached the jetty at about 8.30am....the boat was scheduled to arrive at 9.30am. *sigh* So what do we do? Cam whore la, of course =P Oh and some of the gang, feeling left out, went to get some shades at the stalls nearby so we could all look cool together *grins*

Chien Yee: Ehh, where did the ball come from?

Me: You guys stole it from Imran is it?

Elstan: weihh, where got steal? Just take xD

-.-" We had a volleyball come to Redang with us.

The boat ride was longer than the plane ride. Azril offered his shoulder so I could sleep in a more comfortable position.

Upon arrival, we were all ushered into a briefing hall to be briefed about the 3 days itinerary by the lamest guy in the world. Seriously.

"Okay, when you turn your room doorknob, turn to the right okay? Don't think of beyonce's song to the left, to the left...turn to the right.."

"Don't worry, the sharks here are vegetarian, they are allergic to human meat"

Made us laugh a lot though =P

Welcome drink was a weird sour drink of which I forgot the name =/ The scenery from the hotel was amazing, but then again, you can't go wrong with a beach eh? Room 539, I believe was ours (betty, shareen, voon and I)...dumped our stuff, went for lunch. Meals there were all buffet style...they had a variety of asian and western food, random deserts, soup, fruits and what I'd like to call "random food" corner. This time random food served laksa. The chef thought I was Nicol David, what isn't new? Maybe I should have agreed, might have given us special treatment xD

3pm. Snorkeling O.o Me, the one who does not swim going snorkeling x| I was scared out of my life but decided to do it anyway. Armed with a life jacket and snorkeling gear (cost us RM30 rental) we made our way to the hotel jetty where the boat was gonna take us open sea snorkeling. The 15 minute boat ride was very calming, like being in a baby's cot, coz the boat was rocking slowly from left to right. Got us all sleepy. The boat was rather full so a few of us sat at the front and were able to see the clear view of the way there. I love beaches =)

Snorkeling wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Shareen helped me quite a bit at the beginning to get used to it and I did crash into more than people than I wanted (thankfully KTJ people mostly O.o) but other than that, I had tons of fun =D Corals at this part of the sea weren't too great though but did see some cool fishes. Actually just being there was cool =) About 20 minutes later, we figured there was nothing much else to be seen so most of us went back onto the boat to take pictures =D And they were nice pictures too, haha.

Reached back at about 4.45pm. Edvin and I planned to check out the rental for an underwater camera for the next day's snorkeling trip. Cost RM100 + RM200 deposit. Not bad considering there's 21 of us so each would just pay RM5. Worth the money, I would think =) The rest of them went to the pool...I guess he felt like some quiet time first so we took a long stroll down the beach, sat at the end and chatted for awhile about...random stuff. School, relationships, family etc. It was nice talking to him...we rarely ever manage to talk like that.

For me, I find it's always nice to have these random chats with people individually. I tried to do that as much as I could towards the end of school. I find it more fulfilling than just having endless amounts of group gatherings, although those are important too. It's about balance =)

We made our way to the pool after, splashed around, tried the jacuzzi then went back to the beach because of course it's better there xD Chien Yee needed her phone and I still had to dump my life jacket back in the room so we headed back together. As we went back to the beach, I asked her a question which led on to an entire conversation. One that I probably needed to have with someone else but I'm glad I had with Chien Yee first. Less emotions involved when you're talking to a third party I guess. Less emotional roller coaster, same case being presented...it's win-win for all of us. And so we talked and she explained everything as did I. I think we both came out of the conversation feeling satisfied and I had a feeling she would go on to the person involve and present my case in the best way possible as well so all will be fine. Of course a confrontation is bound to happen later on but everything would be more calm and the problem would have probably already been resolved. It's the beach that does wonders I tell you.

Err, boys got a bit excited after playing volleyball xD

Dinner was BBQ night! Nice mix grill of food, random food counter served amazing freshly fried keropok lekor (mouth waters just thinking about it) and desert was my all time favorite red bean soup xD You can tell I really enjoyed the food that night =) After dinner it got a bit boring at the couples went off dating and us singles left to take care of ourselves, haha. The sand was nice and cooling so we walking around for a bit. At the hotel lounge this chinese band was playing random chinese music so we went further down where there was supposed to be a beach party.

The DJ was horrible.

"I need more, more people. More, more people. C'mon everybody and buy some drinks. Preferably alcohol so we all get drunk and high!"

-.-" Stupid DJ. And he kept playing really weird songs like The Twist and YMCA =/ Not that I don't like them but come on, it's a beach party! O.o We didn't join them though, we sat outside on the sand enjoying the breeze and taking some photos under the full moon =)

Emo-ing on the sand...

Cool camera effects...=)

After awhile, about 11.45pm, we made our way back to the hotel just to see what's up. After checking out the so called "hotel disco" where only two people were hitting the dance floor as four others looked from the side, we decided to hit the lounge where the chinese band was still playing they played english songs too. All the while we joked that Betty and I should just run and crash the stage and take over the mike. Well, seeking entertainment, Shareen and Kelvin took us seriously, asked the band permission and got us a slot to perform O.O Omg, who does that on their holiday, hahaha, so random but also so damn cool =D We decided to perform When You Say Nothing At All by Ronan Keating since it's the easiest to remember the lyrics of (and chords of course). Mann, was I nervous!

The scariest part? The band asked for an encore O.o Panicking a bit, I asked Betty to sing Don't Speak by No Doubt as it was a song we were both familiar with having just performed it at prom a week ago. By the end of it, I was sweating buckets due to the very bright spotlight coupled with my nervousness. But it was fun and extremely cool. Felt like a guest star, hahahahaha. Oh well, let me have my moment of joy xD

The night pretty much ended here. Chilled out for a bit, talked on the phone with Shal till about 1.30am, headed back to the room and crashed till the next morning.

The Day Off

2010-07-05T21:50:00.000+08:00

The day I finished A Levels (it just feels so good even to say it!) I went home to retrieve some stuff I needed to bring to Redang - like my IC -.-" How stupid I felt to have left that behind after prom. And I also needed some time away from school as you could tell from my depressing blog posts =/

The next day, went to Midvalley to buy some stuff and then straight back to school. By the time I reached school it was raining cats and dogs. I knew that Mr Hughes little makan was gonna be held up for awhile =( Oh well, unpacked a little and just chilled till I got the O-K from Kelvin. Then off we were to Mr Hughes cosy home for dinner which he initially planned for Double Math students as a celebration for the end of exams but which he then later extended to the entire upper 6 since there were so few of us around. It was really simple, mamak food catered from Mantin. Had fun just chilling, knowing for the first time in two years, I had no worries in my mind.

One night way was really all I had needed. My mind was clearer, my head was straight, I had come to my senses about things. Reminding myself to see the bigger picture, I decided that I had to be big about things. There are more important things in life, ore crucial things than to waste my quota of grief and anger on petty redundant problems. I'm more than that, I'd like to think. And since it began with me, the problem had to end with me initiating the solution. And the solution was really very simple, it was just a matter of wanting to do it. Hmm.

I put off packing till later in the night since Betty said she wasn't going to sleep and I was gonna not sleep with her =/ Oh well. After packing I just kind of chilled for a bit, cleared my room a little and I came across my OBS letter. Writted to me by....me =/

Gosh. Memories man...it's still so vivid in my head the scene when I was writing that letter! Where I was sitting, what was around me, what I was thinking as I was writting it...scary stuff man. In the letter,I reminded myself of the things we did there telling me what I was capable of doing, advising me to remember the lessons I learnt. Asking myself how things were, and that it's always the bigger picture that matters. Reminding me of who will always matter. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach and I felt so upset with myself. I knew there was some damage to be undone in Redang. A visit from Zoe confirmed that for me *sniff*

Snuggling in Betty's bed at 2pm, she, Jaclyn, Iffa and I watched....LOL...Brokeback Mountain xD Borrowed from Mr Hughes that very evening, hehe. It was a very interesting show...I could not bring myself to accept the ending though but other than that, very touching and quite thought-provoking, even at 3.30am when the show ended x| Lazed around for a bit until 4am when I took a shower and got ready to go. Cab came at 4.30am and we were off at 5am. Boarded the plane at 7am.....

Redang here we come =)

Prom Photos

2010-07-04T16:38:00.016+08:00

Saturday, school ended.

KTJ ended.

This is it, high school is actually finally officially over.

It was a good 7 years but the last 2 were the best.

Anyway, for the next few days I'll be posting stuff that happened since my exams were over...it has been eventful not to mention an emotional roller coaster so well...enjoy then =)

First I'll start with...prom photos ;)

Psych

2010-06-25T20:28:00.002+08:00

My posts lately have been rather depressing =/

Hmm.

But I feel tons better now. Nothing a little lone time can't solve.

I realized that my life is mine to live no matter who are around me. Why should I let anyone affect me in any way? As long as I'm alright, it's all cool. I am who I am and that's not gonna change and as long as I know that, it's okay. Because it doesn't matter to me what anyone else decides to do with their life and principles.

Moving on...

OMG EXAMS ARE OVER!

2 years and it has come down to this. I can't even begin to describe how I feel now, it's so weird. I feel so....light. Different from post-SPM definitely. I think I worked way harder for this (of course la, it's A Levels =/) and for subjects I loved so much more (c'mon history and biology really did drive me crazy) making it a much sweeter end =)))

The night before the math paper, I was literally going bonkers with all the crazy math. Seriously. In the 6th form, I was getting a bit hungry, so I asked Ms Sarah for eggs to boil for as a snack. Later on as I was about to leave for the night...

Ms Sarah: Did you find eggs?

Me: .....did I find X? =S

Ms Sarah: X? .....eggs! Did you find the eggs?

Jean: Omg, Sheela, is this what it's come down to?

hahaha. I honestly thought ms Sarah was mocking me and my math. Did you manage to find the value of X because that's what math is all about, alphabets and numbers -.-" She always says that to tease us math people, lol.

Well, tomorrow, I'm off to redang. To be honest, a couple of days ago, I was dreading this. I really didn't want to go and wanted to be home and no where else. But, after a lot of talking to myself and thinking, I've managed to get myself excited again to go so quite looking forward to it now. Hmm.

Beach, here I come! No beach body to show off though, tons of junk food needed to survive the math paper, O.o To top it off, we had a party at Mr Hughes (my math teacher) house today =D

Oh well.

Gotta pack now. Planning not to sleep tonight...taxi is coming at 4.30am tomorrow O.o flight is at 7ish. Grr.

Surprises Come in Little Packages

2010-06-23T23:13:00.002+08:00

Life always hits you with surprises.

Unfortunately, not all are that happy ones.

Right now....I just want to leave. Leave the people, leave the place and start a new life in university. I'm getting too many unpleasant surprises for me to handle.

Tomorrow, HAH! A levels is going to be @#$%^&* history, baby!

;)

Prom 2010 - Senior Year

2010-06-20T03:38:00.002+08:00

Well, this post will probably be updated in the *very* near future but for now....

Prom i finally over and done with with all the headache of getting a dress (which everyone complimented btw =D Love my mummy for finding it!), rushing around this morning from school to home to midvalley to hilton for rehearsals to home to shower, visit the hair dresser, get dressed, put make up and rush back to hilton for the actual night.

Then I got extremely anxious coz Betty hadn't arrived yet and things were starting...we were performing pretty early O.o but she made it before the drama began so phew!

All in all, in terms of how it went, the prom committee did an excellent job. Of course to say it was perfect would be lying but it was definitely good. Comparing to last year...hmm, that's tough. It was a totally different theme (fairytale vs murder mystery), atmosphere (sophisticated and classy vs laid back and chilled), people (perfectionist Ishmam vs more cool and relaxed Jun Jie - or so I gather from observation, haha, forgive me if I'm wrong)....so it's really hard to compare them. But both had pros and cons. I liked this year's chilled out setting but that's probably coz I'm not a fairytale, castle classy, uptight, prim and proper setting sort of person. Also I loved the concept of the live drama although maybe if the acoustics were better, it would have been more successful? But that's just me nitpicking, I really enjoyed following the sketch. However, I would have to admit, last year's prom was done very professionally - much more than what would be expected of a school prom I think. Hmm, doesn't matter anyway what I think, bottom line is they were both great in their own way.

As for how I felt....well, honestly, it was enjoyable and all but this year somehow, it didn't feel like PROM NIGHT OMG. It was just....oh, prom is today. Hmm. I expected to feel a bit more excited maybe but it felt like just another day to get by with a formal dinner in the evening that I had to dress up for. Even now it feels like oh, prom was just a few hours ago, hmm. It could be because my exams are not over or maybe I'm just so tired that I want time to speed up so summer will come but it sure felt different this time around.

I don't know. I think I'm gonna have to sort out my thoughts soon. But exams first.

Then a proper post with pictures, haha.

Then sorting out of life...in Redang.

To bikini or not to bikini that is the question, hahaha =P

The Missing Laundry

2010-06-18T09:44:00.002+08:00

Our boarding house of 75 students has only 3 washing machines and 1 dryer. It can be a bit of a wait sometimes when all are in use. So anyway, after my washing cycle was done, someone needed to use the machine so she put all my laundry in my laundry bag.

Coming back from lunch, I went to check on the laundry, located the bag but saw the dryer was in use. Darn. Gonna have to wait an hour now. So I put my wet laundry on top of the dryer to rest until I came down next......which was much later to find that a new person had started a cycle =(

When I came down i nthe evening, the laundry has disappeared! O.o Going into panic mode, I hunted the whole room for it.....only to realize that the person who used the dryer before, saw my stuff on top and put it in for me =D

Whoever that is, it is VERY unlikely that you are reading this but thank you so much and you really made my day.

Random acts of kindness are good for the soul I tell you. The giver and the receiver =)

Have you done something kind to a fellow human today?

To Eat or not to Eat

2010-06-17T08:52:00.003+08:00

7.40am.

In a rushed, hasty manner, I open Jac's door to see her lying partially awake on the bed.

"It's 7.40" I say. "Do you think we can make it?"

"I don't know....what do you think?" she replied.

After a moment of thought....

"I say we go for it."

Everything that happend after was kind of a blur but I know that 15 minutes and a quick shower later, we sped out of the house.

It was 7.55am.

Breakfast ends at 8am xD

Trust me, when you're on study break, going to breakfast becomes a daily challenge! One of which I seem to have failed to do of late =/

Today was just hilarious though the way we talked about it was like some sort of secret mission. Ah well, jac jac, my breakfast buddy =D

* * *

It's getting really tiring...this whole studying thing. It's been almost a month since exams started. A MONTH. Can you imagine exams lasting a month -.-" With long torturous breaks in between. But I guess in a way it's good coz of the time we get to study, but it just really is dragging too long.

This Saturday is prom....and weird as it may be, my excitement has completely dwindled down. I'm just about as excited for prom now as I am about making it to breakfast every morning. Maybe even less. Going to breakfast is actually quite exciting =/

And then Redang next weekend. Needless to say my excitement for that has decreased substantially as well. But then again, maybe when I'm there it'll feel different. But yeah. Kinda sucks now. But well, plane tickets bought, and hotel has been booked...a good hotel at that. So why not make the most of it. I'll just use it as a nice getaway time where I can sit on the beach and do some light reading with as little human communication as possible. I think I need a break from humans. Seriously =/

I can tell you what I'm excited about.....going home for the summer!! At least I hope it turns out well. If my summer goes as I planned it, it's going to be awesome xD

Anyway, gotta run off to the library now where Thiru, my study buddy is waiting to study Statistics. How exciting, haha ;)

Secret Santa and More

2010-06-10T08:47:00.002+08:00

Well, we're at it again! And I thought we wouldn't...

The white board is filled with messages from mortal to angels and vice versa, it's such a sweet sight!

Since there's a small scale house night this Saturday, Irinah is doing the whole Guardian Angel program again where each person has an anonymous "Guardian Angel". It's all really funky =D

I've been trying hard to guess mine! She's left me quite a few notes and food items including 2 energy bars and an apple. I know it has to be someone who knows me well so it's probably a Form 5, L6 or U6er....she knows I like peanut butter coz I eat it everyday at breakfast, haha. And based on some stuff she has written, it seems like we've had quite a few conversations before...it's fun guessing though =D

I too have been sending messages to my mortal and food too. I think I need to start giving more things =S But she's always in her room -.-"

It'll be fun this Saturday when it's all revealed =DDD

* * *

Well, it's good bye to Physics and Computing....or rather all CIE papers!

And hello to M3, S3 and FP2...all the Math papers x|

Oh, and prom next Saturday!

* * *

Seriously, I can't really look at you the same way anymore. I never expected you to know me that well I guess, but the thing is I thought I knew you better. I guess I didn't....at all. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed but what can I do about it, it is your life and I chose not to say anything about it. I'm not sure what you wanted me to say though, I thought that was really weird. I used to see you and think of good things, happy things....now I see you and I'm filled with confusion, sadness and dare I say sometimes even anger and that's not good coz being angry is not a good thing. So I'm letting this all pass but I'm just saying, I can never look at you the same way anymore.

Twitch and the World Twitches With You

2010-06-02T14:00:00.003+08:00

Okay, it probably is the exam stress but I've been feeling very twitchy lately.

And I think it's everyone's exam stress that's making everyone say things they're not meant to say, do things they're not meant to do and just plain not think. Me included.

Seriously, it's pretty unnerving...

Lately I even tend to notice the slightest sound outside my room. And it could be the lack of privacy we get, but I get so paranoid that someone is going to open my door any second O.o I feel like a lab rat on high dosage of caffeine only that I'm not =/

I'm trying to control myself though I can feel myself getting agitated at people and things. I decided that it should be Mechanics who should take the beating instead (although I'm not sure who is beating who up in that case, I seem to not be doing terribly well)

But it's okay, it'll all pass. And then we're all gonna be happy bunnies soon.

I think I'll do something nice for someone today, that always makes me feel better.

Cheers guys!

Missing You

2010-06-01T19:47:00.004+08:00

Quote of the term:

"Raya, catch the ball!"

"No, don't throw it at me!! *flinches*"

"Just catch it, damnit, it can't hurt you, you just have to catch it! I'm gonna throw it now...."

"NO DON'T - THROW IT AFTER PHYSICS PAPER!!"

*stunned silence*

* * *

Words of extreme emotions are way overused nowadays. And not in the right context either.

I love you.

I miss you.

I hate you.

[insert cuss word] you.

You're such a [insert extreme adjective eg female dog].

Maybe I'm being my usual emotionless self but I learnt - the hard way as usual - that unless you mean whatever it is you're saying, don't say it because then you can never take it back.

You know this and I know this because we're taught to think before you say something when you're angry because whatever you say won't do you any good. But why just when we're angry? In my humble opinion, it applies to any situation that involves extreme emotions.

Don't say you love someone if you don't mean it. Don't say you're gonna miss someone if you don't mean it. And especially don't say these things regularly coz then when you realize it's not true, you can't turn back, you can't stop and then you're just a hypocrite.

Find out the meaning of what you're saying before you say it and make sure it really is what you want to mean.

* * *

So, am I gonna miss KTJ?

Miss (verb)
2. Notice the loss or absence of; feel regret or sadness at no longer being able to enjoy the presence of; feel regret or sadness at no longer being able to go to, do

Well, I'm gonna "notice the absence of" the lifestyle and the environment - as in, the many fields we have, the super tight security that we take for granted, the amount of greens we have that makes strolling around the school a pleasant experience, the family-like boarding system, the house spirit during sports, being able to just go into random people's rooms and say hi, having meals with different people everyday, getting to know people a little bit more as the days pass, teachers who actually care about your well-being and the random whacky things that happen daily.

But when one chapter ends, another one begins. So yeah, I will notice the change and the absence of an old lifestyle but that only means that there's a new one waiting to be lived so something will always be there to fill in the void created. Whether the something is better or worse is besides the point isn't it?

As for feeling regret or sadness...I don't know. I've always believed that life goes on so why would I let myself feel regret or sadness when a new (exciting, perhaps?) chapter is about to happen. Surely, occasionally, when some memories flood back to my mind as I'm just about to fall asleep or when I meet up with old friends or visit KTJ or sit at a cafe sipping on tea I might feel a whiff of nostalgia but that's it. It's a moment, and as all moments do, they pass.

BUT all that being said, I know I will truly miss certain things, certain people. And that's saying a lot for someone like me. Or maybe it isn't, that's just saying that for some cases and for some people I will truly "feel regret or sadness for no longer being able to enjoy the presence or/go to/do". Even then, it's not a constant variable, who has the time to ponder about what they miss or don't miss?

I think if you're missing something too much and on a regular basis, you need to get on with it and fill your life with other things to live for than memories of what once was.

So yeah...

"Are you gonna miss KTJ after you leave?"

While the answer I would love to give is:

"Please refer to my blog post dated 1st June for a comprehensive answer"

I would probably just say...

"Well, if you knew the actual definition of missing something, and you stop and you think about it for awhile, you'd realize what you actually would and wouldn't miss and just how much. And your own answer may surprise you. Now let's go for dinner =)"

The Smile on Your Face...

2010-05-28T17:57:00.002+08:00

Computing down...

Physics half down...

Just left 3 Math Papers and Physics Paper 5 =)

Physics just over today...gosh, my brain is just O.o Melted, mush, dust particle sized...

My nervousness was at it's peak yesterday, I could have sworn I was shaking out of being nervous! Couldn't even sleep properly and woke up earlier than I needed to today -.-"

But it's freaking over and that's all that matters =)

* * *

"You're such a slave driver to yourself you know. And yet you're so accepting of others who aren't..."

"When the results come, see for yourself, you'll be laughing..."

* * *

I'm so nervous for uni! I'm especially scared about the whole friend making bit again O.o

Why do we have to go through this over and over again x|

But I plan to make it work...

New image, new style, new schedules, new life. I think it's going to be great.

Well, it can only be as great as we make it, no?

Just like KTJ.

* * *

I've found comfort in the randomest of people.

Why is it only towards the end when everything starts to fall into place?

Damn I'm gonna miss everyone and everything =(

* * *

Things to look forward to!

PROM - 19th June

LAST DAY OF EXAMS - 24th June

REDANG TRIP - 26th June

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL - 28th June

SUMMER BREAK!! - 3rd July

=)

Of royalty and exams...

2010-05-12T10:32:00.004+08:00

Last term I had 2 encounters with royalty, one from a distance and one from up close.

Well, they are the children of the late Tuanku Ja'afar after whom my college was name from and who was the previous ruler of Negeri Sembilan.

First, was the annual etiquette talk by Tunku Dara Naquiah to all the upper sixers where we learnt do's and don'ts at social gatherings. How to introduce people to one another if it's a guy and a girl, a person of higher status an elderly...all the works. Then of course, dining etiquette at buffets, formal dinners and cocktail receptions...it was all very interesting to say the least and I guess I speak for everyone if I say we all came out from the talk learning at least one or two things from the 1.5 hours talk be it to always introduce the guy to the girl first or that you may actually cut the queue in a buffet if the person in front of you is choosing his/her chicken piece slowly or that you must not move your side plate to the middle while eating the bread before the meal....=/

AFTER the talk, it is also the tradition that the headboy and headgirl goes along with Tunku Dara to the principal's house with the principal, deputy principal and head of sixth form for tea. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous! I mean after the etiqutte talk, we'd probably be expected to be perfect at the tea table...and what do we talk about? How do we talk about things? =S It went alright I guess, we didn't really have to bring up new topics which was cool because most of the discussions revolved around school and sports...phew. And damn, the cake and cookies served were awesome. However....looking back, I guess we could have done a better job in participating in the conversation and not feel so awkward but I guess there's something to learn in every experience.

The next encounter was for the opening of the new boarding house, Alia. 4 of us were expected to be there to welcome Tunku Naquiyuddin, Chairman of the KTJ board of governers and also Tuanku Ja'afar's eldest son and father of Alia, the person the boarding house is named after. Sadly she couldn't make it as she was overseas. We were dressed in full uniform...blazer, tie etc and gosh, I thought I was gonna melt! I could seriously feel the sweat rolling from my forehead, down my back...everywhere as we waiting in the heat of the 2pm sun for the arrival of the guest. Luckily the speeches and all didn't last too long so we adjourned to the airconditioned common room for some light refreshments. The fruit tarts...again, to die for!! =D Haha...then was the opening of the medical center which took about 3 minutes and it was all over.

It's all very interesting actually. Last year we also had to present some stuff to Tuanku Ja'afar's wife during speech day which was a bit nerve wrecking as well because of protocols and all. We had about 10 run throughs just to make sure we were doing it right before the actual day. I wonder if she's coming again this Speech Day. Hmmm....

* * *

Well, in other news.......

Computing exam is OVER, baby! No more for the rest of my life...the books can be given away! =D My biggest nightmare over! Uhm, partially over coz the next nightmare is the results but can't do anything about it anymore now...I tried my best =(

Next up is Physics theory on Friday then Physics written practical followed by all the math papers with prom in the middle somewhere.

Study break starts next week which means no more classes....great thing actually so we can follow our own plans and schedules...or try to x|

Wish me luck!

Random Birthdays...

2010-05-09T12:29:00.004+08:00

Well, it surely is a birthday filled term...

Starting with Jac's...I was put in charge of stalling her...TWICE! Yeah, I'm a great actor right, haha. First was the party at the tuck shop. Iffa, Betty and I had a grand plan on how to stop her which involved Iffa borrowing her slippers, not returning them then "hunting" for them in the room while Jac waits . Then while Jac was waiting, Betty decided to tell her a story. Well....we managed to stall her alright, until the candle almost melted =P

Then, Ishmam ran to my room 5 minutes before the 10.30pm bell and asked me to stall Jac for yet another IRINAH only party O.o I didn't know what to do! So I grabbed my books and went to her room telling her that I can't concentrate in my room and need to study somewhere else. Well, that worked, then at 10.30, I dragged her to go take water with downstairs xD

She was a happy kid that day, haha.

Then, was Mr Hughes b'day and I really wanted to do something for him since he's an awesome teacher so the night before, I spread the word for the form 6'ers to go to the common room at break. Ms Sarah prepared extra cupcakes (36 of them since he's 36 =P) and called him for a "meeting" in her office. At break, we lighted the candles and waited for him to come....some candles burnt off coz we waited quite long O.o There were so many people that when he finally came, we didn't see him and he walked right by -.-" Eventually Ms Sarah brought him and we sang =D

There were just tons of random parties here and there. Nini's one was arranged by Syadhisy, but I couldn't go coz it was out of school...

Recently was Ben's. That was quite funny...we planned it in the 6th Form but he decided to study there -.-" We then moved to the Art Centre but he came down before the cake arrived O.o So then we ran off to the 6th form again to set up the stuff there and the cake started sweating (I kid you not) as we waited O.o Then finally he came =D It was a really small one this time coz it's exams and all but it was fun anyway =D Hadn't had a black forest cake in ages!
n
* * *

I can't even put into words how helpless and stressed out I feel. At least I'm not giving in this time by eating or sleeping or what not =/

I really just want to be over. OVER DAMNIT.

Bring it On

2010-04-28T19:47:00.004+08:00

So one fine day last term as I was taking an afternoon nap on an extremely bad, stressful day, someone busts open my room door with a bang....

"Sheela, are you 18 this year?"

*still lying down, eyes closed, answering in the most grouchy voice possible hoping she'll get the hint that I want to be left alone to sleep*

"Yeah..."

"Are you taller that 162cm?"

"Um, yeah..."

"Are you free on March 27th?"

"...no, interact installation.."

"Don't worry this is in the morning"

"What is it?"

"Youth convention"

*I sat up finally, feeling really pissed, like seriously, what stupid youth convention couldn't wait for later?*

"What youth convention?"

*I saw she had a friend standing with her who, seeing my expression, got a little worried for the friend's safety*

"Um, Voon, we better go before she gets really angry..."

"Miss Malaysia audition!" *runs away*

I seriously, wanted to kill her. Really. KILL. With my hands and see blood O.o And the fella (you know who you are!!) kept teasing me about it after probably not realizing how angry I was =S So one day, after she was teasing me I figured it was getting a bit too much so I decided to get even....heh heh....

This term.....all planned out. Dear unsuspecting Voon Hui went for a night time relaxing time playing some tunes on the piano. With this knowledge in mind, I asked a friend to ensure she keeps playing for a while as I sneaked into her room and planted the item under her bed at the corner behind the bed leg.

Sent an sms to my friend saying mission accomplished. Hah.

Next morning, I got up at 5.30am to watch my plan unfold. True enough, when the clock stuck 5.30am, an alarm clock sitting under Voon Hui's bed erupted into mad ringing.

Of course, I was there outside her room waiting with a video camera ;)

*grins*

Well, you can't say I didn't get even xD

And so it goes on......

Life is Just =/

2010-03-11T22:43:00.002+08:00

Omg, things are just....*lost for words*

The heat is really on now that trials are just around the corner and A Levels is less than 80 days away! x|

It really is very heavy to think that everything now depends on those last stupid 6 papers in May/June.

Bleh.

I hate the way things are but it's nice that we're all in this together. It's comforting.

*sigh*

2010-03-02T21:50:00.003+08:00

Whoaa, someone who goes by the name of Raisa just told me I remind her of Keira Knightley. I'm quite...well, flattered and speechless =/

Seriously?! -.-"

Been feeling a bit under the weather lately =( Hope I get better soon.

Athletics coming up! Hope I can make it for 100m or relay again! =P Haven't timed myself since.....last athletics =/

Feeling very anxious about things. You know how when you're waiting and anticipating something, it's alright when you're not thinking about it but ever so often it pops into your head making your heart beat faster, sends a shiver throughout your body and just drives you insane.

Yeah. Sums up how I'm feeling on a regular basis now.

How Cool? ICE Cool, Baby

2010-02-28T11:38:00.004+08:00

It all started last term when the L6'ers came up with the idea of a new kind of music competition....

Battle of the Composers.

So basically, you write your own lyrics, compose your own music, get a band together, get your performance together and rock the stage out. The only main rule being it has to be 100% ORIGINAL. Oh yeah, the theme was Rock/Love.

Well, needless to say Betty and I jumped right into the idea of it and planned to participate. During the hols, Betty did write a few songs....but quite emo lah.

Then, one fine day, we went to the 6th Form Center armed with a guitar and notebook ready to compose! Only that I initially thought we were going to work on one of the emo songs =P She looked blankly at me and asked what we're going to sing about and I had no clue whatsoever. There we were, staring blankly into space when I started playing a random tune on the guitar.

She liked it, she sang along, I continued building the song and *poof* a draft was born =D

Exams and stuff happened so we continued working on the song slowly. Asked Nawaz and Ben to join for an extra singer + guitarist and of course Elstan on the drums ;) Everything sort of fell into place after that....I was EXTREMELY nervous on how it was going to turn out. I mean, it's not quite the winning as it is putting up a kickass show - we really wanted to entertain the crowd and make it good.

Rehearsals were good. Then....during one rehearsal, Ucok grabbed the bass and started playing along....he's this amazing musician friend of ours and I guess he was just having some fun but it sounded really good hence we asked him to join us. He willingly accepted and I think that was the missing link xD He changed some parts of our song, redid the intro...and the ending so it sounded a lot better =D *bows down in awe*

Omg, on the day of the event, my heartbeat was like a sinusoidal graph. Faham-faham je lah, this is pretty much my first ever time like performing in an actual band on stage in front of so many people O.o Especially for a song that we composed ourselves and arranged on our own. It's a whole different feeling when you're arranging things on your own....when you work wth everyone to make sure the drum beats match the song and the singers have good interaction with the audience and themselves and everything mashes well with each other....it's pretty cool =)

But yeah. Whenever I thought about the night, my heart would race. At night, gosh, I thought I was going to have some sort of organ failure somewhere inside since everything was spinning in circles inside me. I was also playing for another band....composed by none other than Zoe who was on the piano and sung by Janani and Ishmam. Elstan also played for them so both of us were quite exhausted by the night, haha. He was my band buddy....I depended on him for the beat and him on me for the transitions of the songs...especially Zoe's coz we didn't manage enough drum practice time and there were more segments to the song.....

But we did it. And we rocked the stage, haha....I mean we had fun and we did manage to entertain with Nawaz's rap and Betty's singing/dancing =D So all in all, it was a great experience, we all had a blast and it's gonna be something we'll look back on our time in KTJ and remember for life =D

Oh yeah, did I mention the song name was Cool Like Ice and we were called the Bunkers =P

Cheers!

[Sheela].[Expression] = "sigh"

2010-02-20T15:50:00.005+08:00

Private Sub Sheela_Load()

Sheela.Activity = Computing Project

Sheela.Feelings > Frustrated

Sheela.Wants = Bang Head on Wall and Die

If Sheela.Feelings > Max Frustration Then
Sheela.Activity = Sheela.Wants
End If

End Sub

Angry Call

2010-02-18T13:59:00.002+08:00

I think. I just received a call from an crazy, angry girlfriend (CAG) demanding whether I knew her boyfriend =/

CAG: ello? Siape ni?

Me: Uh, who is this? [seriously, call me and ask who I am]

CAG: awak kenal tak nombor ini 01_______?

Me: Huh? uh...Kamu nak cari siapa? [crazy lady]

CAG: Kenal tak?!

Me: ....tak...

CAG: Kalau tak kenal, macam mana kamu boleh sms dia?

Me: What? Mungkin saya dapat miss call so nak balas.....*click*

I got a miss call the other day when I was busy from an unknown number so I smsed to ask who it was but I don't think the person replied. Either that or the person replied asking me who I am so I figured it was an accidental call la.

Whoa, imagine that. I don't think I made matters worse by hesitating to answer if I knew the number. She probably got even more suspicious, hmm. He's better off without her anyway if she thinks he's cheating on her......with me -.-"

Crazy woman.

Math, Induction and War

2010-02-15T02:31:00.003+08:00

Hmm, I haven't quite updated about life since...Mechanics.

The weekend exeat I spent in school to study FP1 was nothing short of insane intense Math. Seriously, I'm talking 10am in the morning to 10.30pm at night in the 6th Form Center with Jac, Kinn Weng and TJ doing math and only leaving for meals.

Although...on Saturday, we decided we were going a bit mad so we brought TWO pairs of speakers, plugged them to Jac's laptop, connected the laptop to the projector in the careers library, shut the curtains, turned on the air-con, brought out the cushions, called Jean, Ucok, Erick and Alysha and watched Madagascar 2 xD To quote Ms Sarah,

"Ah, so these are my bright intelligent, hardworking Upper Sixers. I was just checking to see that you are all hard at work." (followed by a laugh xD)

Oh well, gotta have some fun =P The studying continued on Sunday (full on, no movie this time *sniff*) and Monday until 4pm when we decided enough was enough. Paper went relatively alright that night (yeah, night paper, pretty cool eh) and I'm glad IT'S FREAKING OVER!

The Math I mean. Well, the Math exams for this term to be more specific. We've officially started S3, M3 and FP2 now in Math classes....whoop de doo....... x|

6th form induction was very cool, just what I needed. The performances were awesome as expected...the L6'ers put up a good show but really all I wanted was to chill out, sit back and relax after the extremely hectic few weeks back and that's what I got.

Didn't get to rest much though since mini-tests were coming up in Physics and Computing not to mention my computing project to work on....which is what I'm preeeettyyy much gonna spend my CNY HOLIDAYS doing *sigh* It's okay, for the greater good. Hmm.

What else?

Ooh, Battle of the Composers, babyyy!! Gonna be playing in two bands - [Janani, Elstan, Zoe, Ishmam, Sung Hwan] and [Betty, Nawaz, Ben, Elstan]. For the first, Zoe wrote the lyrics + music while for the second...well, Betty and I sat down one day, I played a tune, she sang along and ta daa ;) Of course we fine tuned it later but that's pretty much how it started. According to Alex the prize is gonna be great so fingers crossed! =)

Chinese New Year cookies are evil. Evil I say, evilllll!!! They're all out to make me eat them =/

Speaking of which, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all my readers, if I still have any given the frequency (or lack of) of my updates =(

Tomorrow, no more fooling around, it's time to get back down to work - in everything, from studies to fitness and whatever lies in between. I hope =/

Why?

2010-02-04T08:48:00.002+08:00

Feeling a bit off lately. Scratch that. A lot off.

I haven't been quite myself and I don't know why. I'm finding that quite disturbing...I don't really know who I am right now as cliche a sentence as that maybe.

It's quite disturbing, this feeling. I don't know what to do...I literally want to shut myself in a box until I figure myself out but...well...I have classes to attend =/

..........moving on,

Reunion this Saturday @ Souled Out....maybe chilling out at Souled Out away from KTJ for a day might be just what I need. I hope it's really that simple x|

Anyway, gotta go back to studying now, hmm.

MIA - Of Math Exams and X-Country

2010-01-30T09:09:00.004+08:00

I know, I know, I've been Missing in Action for a very long time but hey, it means I've got a life to live aight?

Well, the first few weeks have been pretty insane with all the Math exams I've been having. I should be studying FP1 now (test on Monday, LAST FREAKING ONE for the term) but it's okay, just 5 minutes to blog.

The new people in KTJ seem pretty interesting...but I've yet to draw any conclusions. A few promising ones have popped up here and there so looking forward to getting to them all better. Can't wait for induction night this Friday to just chill and unwind after the hectic intense math filled month.

Alia House, as I expected, turned out to be amazing. Very tastefully designed and well thought of by who else but Ms Marcel. I think she didn't leave anything out, taking into consideration every little detail before making decisions. Can't say I'm not a wee bit jealous of the luxury but I still love IRINAH to bits and can't see myself leaving the house =) Plus, it's hard to have any resentment towards the house when the people there include Janani, Raya and Ms Marcel =P

Speaking of houses, I now remember why the term was even more hectic! Freaking CROSS COUNTRY COMPETITION which was last Wednesday/Thursday. It was crazyyyyyyy! For Irinah, Sam and I were put in charge of it so over the hols we came up with a 2.5 weeks training program to get the girls going which began on the first day back =/

The hardest part? Being in charge means having to go on even when you feel like dying and collapsing because you have to be the one to motivate others. You have to be the one saying "C'mon, it's just a bit more, don't walk, keep jogging" and you have to say it with energy and fire and zest with a smile on your face. Especially when dealing with juniors who would rather be ANYWHERE but there on the track. It kinda did suck to be honest. But it had to be done.

Then my worst nightmare came true - I sprained my ankle! I really did want to run this year and make it to the top 15 after the horrible experience last year running with a fever and getting 60 =/ So I took it slow, hoping to heal my ankle. Wearing a black ankle guard that looked like a fashion disaster mismatched sock, eventually I felt my ankle getting stronger. One week later, I was ready to run the route again and I did it! Not with the time I hope for which was upsetting but it was something I guess. Couldn't run for the next 3 days though due to exhaustion and I was losing motivation fast....

Wednesday - Juniors X Country. We assigned the seniors to stations around the school to give as much motivation as possible. All of them armed with bottles to splash our runners who were running under the scorching 5pm Sun. Sam and myself...we were everywhere! From the end of the forest, we cheered and chased them on, cut across the school to meet them before the fields. Gosh...I felt like I was running the route as I jogged together with one of my juniors across the fields until the roundabout. Getting a sip of water, I then ran back to the main field to run with our girls to the finish line. A bit of commotion arised as I found out about 2 of my house girls who pretty much collapsed halfway...the poor souls =( But they're fine now so that's good. The juniors came in 3rd which is awesome.

That night, I had a meeting with them, telling them how much the seniors needed them badly to do exactly what we did for them for us. Honestly, I was surprised at the enthusiasm! They were so grateful to us for cheering them on the they were excited to help us =D

"Omg, Sheela, you were EVERYWHERE on the track! When I look up, I'd see you then then 5 minutes later I'd see you again!! How'd you do that?"

xD

Of course it might have to do with the fact that they get to splash us with water but that's besides the point xD I, for one, was glad that they were going to be around coz I knew I wouldn't let myself walk in front of them. It's an ego thing =/ And I couldn't let them down. They wanted to help and I wanted to make them proud!

Thursday came and I had butterflies in my stomach the entire day. I couldn't do any work, I couldn't focus, I was just so nervous! It was so cute though how the juniors kept coming up and saying good luck etc =) Took an afternoon nap then had to get up to prepare stuff for the runners. At about 4.30pm, I called all the seniors down and had a little motivational moment there with them which ended with the IRINAH cheer and everyone in high spirits heading towards the field. After a functional warm up, we were ready.

At the blow of the horn, I just gave it my all. It was torture! The heat, the running, the mental debate, the breathing...the everything!! But I kept running and running and running.....honestly, seeing others stop around me and overtaking them was a bit of motivation but the biggest of them all was passing the juniors. Despite wanting to stop so badly, I just couldn't stop in front of them and they were everywhere which was good, haha. Of course they had a field time drenching me with water but that's besides the point =/ At the field, Mr Wong was counting out the placing and he shouted 20th at me...I was shocked but fired up to maintain that spot. I seriously thought I was probably around 30++ by that point.

Hah! I did manage to keep that place till then end. I know it's not what I aimed for but it's good enough for me. 20th out of 150 ++ is not too shabby I would think =) What's more, after I completed, I saw more and more orange t-shirts coming in, I knew we stood a damn good chance of winning.

There was some drama after the event as someone from my house went missing (she thought she had to report her placing back at the house =S) and people were collapsing here and there...I myself almost couldn't breathe after passing the line x| But it was all short lived...soon we were *ahem* taking photos, hanging around chit chatting and just basically basking in the glory of just finishing the damn route! I felt like I could have run the route again, haha. But what I feel and what I am capable of are two different things =/

The feeling I had when I got the text that night that said we won is indescribable! Sam and I ran out of my room shouting it to the whole house (during prep time, haha) and we did a cheer (disrupting JAW and IMR's prep time, oops! xD).

It was awesome, from the training to the house spirit shown to the strengthened bonds between the seniors and juniors....all through a simple event of running till you can't run no more. I think that's pretty amazing.

IRINAH DYNAMITES!
WE ARE DRAGONS, HEAR US ROAR!

Hmmm..

2009-12-18T06:14:00.002+08:00

Well, it's all over now can just hope for the best =)

I think I'm going a bit mad, seriously. It's not even funny anymore. Okay fine, maybe it is but really I don't know what to do anymore, this feeling is just so foreign. Sigh =)

I'm actually quite excited about what's gonna happen in Copenhagen tomorrow, the final day.

A New Year is coming....time for resolutions. Or not?

YikeBike - The future

2009-12-09T13:32:00.002+08:00

RM20 000

I want a YikeBike =(

COP15

2009-12-09T11:52:00.002+08:00

Taken from Time.com:

5 Things to Watch for at the Copenhagen Climate-Change Conference
By Bryan Walsh

Tens of thousands of diplomats, activists, journalists, businesspeople, celebrities and assorted green hangers-on have descended on the Danish capital of Copenhagen for the U.N.'s annual climate-change summit starting on Monday. Officially, the meeting is known as the 15th Conference of the Parties — in reference to the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — but it might be more accurately called the Last Chance.

To advocates of action on global warming, the Copenhagen summit represents the last, best chance to slow and eventually reverse the growth in greenhouse-gas emissions before climate change begins to spin out of control. To skeptics of climate change, many of whom will attend the conference, Copenhagen is the last defense of another kind — against the growing global momentum to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, an undertaking they think could cripple the international economy. Either way, it is likely to be the most important international environmental conference in history, its importance bolstered by President Barack Obama's decision to appear at the end of the summit (initially he had planned to arrive at the start), when the most significant discussions occur and a deal might actually be made.

Although the early and most optimistic expectations for the conference have been blunted, negotiators still have an extraordinary job ahead. They will pore over the endless footnotes and parentheticals of U.N. documents in order to work toward a new global treaty, for which they are expected to generate a framework. "Copenhagen is already a turning point in the international response to climate change," said UNFCCC chair Yvo de Boer on Dec. 6. Over the next 12 days of negotiations, here are the top five matters to watch for:

1. Will the U.S. lead? The U.S. delegation to climate summits under former President George W. Bush played the spoiler. Not only were American diplomats generally opposed to building a global consensus on reducing carbon emissions, they actively seemed to enjoy gumming up the works, walking out in the middle of negotiations during the Montreal summit in 2005, for instance, and nearly torpedoing the entire process two years ago in Bali.

Under Obama, however, we can expect the U.S. delegation, led by top climate envoy Todd Stern, to play a positive role in the talks. That's key — the fact that the U.S. wouldn't play in the past meant that negotiations could rarely move forward, and that there was little leverage for putting pressure on major developing nations like China and India to cut emissions. This year, Obama himself will attend the Copenhagen talks on Dec. 18, the final day of the summit, and he will bring tentative emissions-reduction targets for the U.S. — about a 17% cut in 2005-level emissions by 2020. "What's significant from our perspective is, after eight years of [the U.S.] not doing anything, President Obama in a year has really tried to move things in the opposite direction," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, who heads the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.

Nevertheless, Obama's negotiating team will be somewhat hamstrung, because the Senate still has to approve any climate treaty, whether it is signed at the summit or afterward. The range of emissions cuts that Obama will bring to Copenhagen is based on the cap-and-trade bills that have been approved by the House of Representatives, but the Senate may not vote on the bill until the spring. That means any progress made in Copenhagen will be provisional — if the Senate votes down carbon caps next year, things could fall apart.

Even so, the emissions cuts the U.S. is willing to agree to are still far short of what the European Union is promising, and far less than what developing nations are demanding. "Overall the level of ambition is too low," says Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "That leaves us with low expectations for the summit."

2. Will China and India follow? Historically, the U.S. may be the world's biggest carbon emitter — responsible for more than a quarter of the man-made CO2 in the atmosphere — but developing nations led by China and India will be responsible for the majority of future emissions. At the same time, those nations still have low per capita emissions, and under the Kyoto Protocol, they haven't been required to take any verifiable actions to control emissions. Until recently, they haven't shown much interest in doing so, but that may now be changing.

China recently announced that Premier Wen Jiabao would attend the Copenhagen summit, and that he would bring a Chinese promise to reduce carbon intensity — essentially a measure of energy efficiency — at least 40% by 2020. Shortly afterward, India followed up with its own pledge to cut carbon intensity 20% to 25% by 2020. "If India wants to lead the developing nations, we have to offer something," said Jairam Ramesh, India's Environment Minister, in a speech to lawmakers on Dec. 3. "India stands for a comprehensive, equitable agreement."

Sounds pretty good. But as Michael Levi, a climate-change expert for the Council on Foreign Relations, was quick to point out, both China and India will almost certainly improve their carbon intensity as they continue to develop, so their new pledges may hardly be better than business as usual. More worrying, both countries are resisting making their domestic pledges measurable and verifiable under an international treaty — unless they receive more climate aid. In other words, the rest of the world would need to take Beijing and New Delhi's word for it — something Washington is dead set against. Expect sharp negotiation on this point.

3. The two-step tango. Back in 2007 on the sunny Indonesian island of Bali, negotiators worked out the "Bali road map," a series of steps toward a successor to the Kyoto Protocol that would guarantee a new global climate treaty by the 2009 conference in Copenhagen. Well, road map or not, the international community got a bit delayed — in part due to the fact that Obama has had less than a year to turn around U.S. climate policy — and no one expects an actual treaty to be negotiated and signed in Copenhagen.

Instead we may have what Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen has called the "two-step approach." In the first step, world leaders would converge on a "political agreement" in Copenhagen that would emphasize the importance of fighting climate change and perhaps set out global temperature targets for the future. Work would also be done to form as much of the legal architecture of a deal as possible — such as agreements on deforestation, on financial aid for adaptation, perhaps on target levels. Afterward, major countries like the U.S., Australia and Canada would have time to pass domestic carbon caps at home. In the second step, at a later meeting — either a special summit or next year's COP in Mexico City in December — the numbers could be dropped into a treaty and quickly signed. In this way, "Copenhagen can be a resounding success," said de Boer before the conference began.

But if Copenhagen really only produces another dry political statement about the need to deal with climate change, well, that's already been done. And a lot can go wrong between the first step and the second step. The U.S. Senate could refuse to support domestic carbon caps, which might scuttle the entire treaty process; or other skeptical countries, such as Russia or Saudi Arabia, could likewise throw a wrench in the process. But most importantly, after the summit, momentum could dissipate. The Copenhagen meeting represents a rare, fleeting moment when the entire world will be focused on climate change. "Will you lose the potential will to negotiate a legally binding treaty after the spotlight is off Copenhagen and the ministers and heads of state go home?" asks Meyer.

4. Seeing REDD on deforestation. The loss of tropical forests plays a major role in climate change, contributing about 15% of global greenhouse gases, according to the most recent estimate. But deforestation has an environmental impact that goes beyond climate change — tropical forests are home to a wealth of diverse species, and when the trees are lost, wildlife follows.

Slowing the rate of deforestation has a double benefit, but currently there's no mechanism for developing countries to earn carbon funding by keeping their trees. That could change in Copenhagen with the inclusion of REDD — Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation. The plan would allow tropical nations like Brazil and Indonesia to earn carbon credits by pledging to keep their forests standing — just as developing nations can already earn carbon money by switching to renewable power or cleaning up a polluting factory. "There is an enormous opportunity to be seized here," says Duncan Marsh, director of international climate policy at the Nature Conservancy.

What makes forestry proponents so optimistic is that REDD, much more so than any other part of a potential climate deal, has broad support from both developed and developing countries. Major developing powers, including Brazil and Indonesia, once suspicious that REDD would require them to surrender sovereignty over their forests, are now eager to be involved. At the same time, developed countries see avoided deforestation as a cheap and easy way to offset their own emissions — the cap-and-trade bill approved by the U.S. House in June includes specific provisions for REDD offsets. "REDD really could be one of the success stories out of Copenhagen," says Marsh.

5. Financing adaptation. Combating climate change isn't just about reducing carbon emissions. Global warming is coming even if we do act fast, and developing nations will bear the brunt of the impact. That's why another leg in the global treaty will address funding to help developing nations adapt to climate change — whether that means the building of seawalls, aid for agriculture during increasing droughts or the ability to better respond to natural disasters. "We need clarity on long-term finance for developing countries," says de Boer.

For a long time, no one could agree on how much money would need to be spent. The White House has said that the Copenhagen accord should be able to mobilize at least $10 billion a year to support adaptation and mitigation in developing nations, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he expects developed countries to ultimately spend up to $100 billion a year for adaptation. The White House is now saying there is an "emerging consensus" on the $10 billion–per-year figure, at least by 2012, but it isn't clear how or who would distribute the money. Developed countries generally prefer the World Bank or another existing institution to handle it, while many developing countries want an entirely new body. "Will aid for developing countries be part of overall development aid, or in a legally binding treaty or some other basket?" says Meyer. No one knows yet.

As the talks begin in Copenhagen, there's reason for climate-change advocates to feel optimistic — for the first time world leaders will be sitting down to focus solely on global warming — and reasons to worry that everything will collapse. The one thing we know is that this summit will help decide whether the world takes on climate change, or continues risking business as usual. "This is our last chance to avoid a dangerous 2°C of warming," says Dan Lashof, the director of the Natural Resource Defense Council's Climate Center. One way or another, now is the time to act.

Reflection

2009-12-05T00:39:00.018+08:00

Well, that's it.

The term has ended. My first and longest term in Upper 6. It's been a pretty eventful one I must say!

It seemed to have passed me by while I was too busy to notice the time passing. Where do I begin?

First week in upper 6 and it was pretty exciting to see all the 'fresh blood'. I can imagine how they felt I guess...being new to the whole boarding school concept, feeling excited and raring to go (or so I think). It's pretty cool how suddenly everyone in the school looks up to you just because you're an upper 6. Not so cool the fact that you're suddenly supposed to be able to answer every question they throw at you =(

But it's okay! Because they wouldn't know if we didn't know to begin with =D *ahem* I mean because we are so experienced and wise we can tackle anything thrown at us! C'mon man, we survived OBS! *grins*

Outward Bound...oh my gosh, that has been the hot topic this term! Almost every meal conversation seems to relate back to those 10 bittersweet days in the isolated land called Lumut. It was quite an experience...one that none of us will forget although some events stand out more than others *grins* But seriously, it's so weird how every conversation goes there. I think we really somehow did get to know each other better there despite everything...and when we think of a certain characteristic about a person it's like "Yeah man! Remember at OBS when ________ did _________ and we all _______". Yep, good old days.

I surprised myself again on how many things I managed to do in a term =/ It all started with the nightmare that is UCAS. Writing, editing and reediting my PS until it was as perfect as I could make it was more draining than I had expected it to be. Honestly, I have never felt so emotionally stressed out in my entire life bar nothing. It's different, the kind of stress that stems from dealing with something that will affect your future and just some random activity or performance. I genuinely felt like I came out of that a stronger person emotionally. It might seem like a small thing to some - "Writing a Personal Statement made her stronger? Pffft, what pure BS" - but it's true for me under my circumstances and what I had to go through. Well it was worth it then since I've gotten offers from UCL and Warwick.

In the middle of all applications was the biggest, toughest, meanest event of every year: House Singing! Although I wasn't as involved in it as Voon, Jac, Ishmam and Betty, I tried my very best to help in what I could. Played the guitar, as usual...I mean do you seriously expect me to sing?? 14 days, about 12 practices and lots of fun moments later, we had the cup with us once again =)

Then, came the horrors of organizing IU week. We being us, decided to do things differently this time and choose an era instead of a country: The Medieval Era. Think knights, robin hood and witches. With the theme "A Journey through the Medieval, A Reflection of Our Millennium" we set out to take the school by storm. I wouldn't consider it a big success...in fact I think this was actually one of the only events where things happened that were below a standard that I would have liked. I mean it was really good but somethings just didn't go as I'd imagined and I was pretty upset about that but it's okay...you learn and move on and that's what I did. Given the conditions we were under though, I don't think anything much could have been done. I know I admit that I made quite a few mistakes while heading the project but hey, I'm not perfect right? I'll just remember not to repeat them. The night turned out awesome though...and so did the House of Terror so for that I am grateful. Also grateful to have an amazing team to work with that had to put up with my unstable emotions at that time (in the midst of applications when we had meetings) but we managed it together and that's all that matters. Like I said, I came out of the whole experience a more emotionally stable person.

Anywayyy........then was the prefect's first project! The Anti-bullying campaign by Group 3 (Zoe, Azril, Peng Yong, TJ, Jaclyn and Sam Starlight) started with a bang when we got the school talking with our memorable assembly presentation on statistics about the level of bullying in each house. Some were horrified and some were relieved as Zoe revealed the house with the highest levels of bullying as rated by the students. I honestly didn't expect such a big reaction from the school and although I do admit I was very pleased with the fact that the presentation got the ENTIRE school talking about it for days and weeks after, I did sympathize with the students in the affected houses. As my own house was included in the list of critical houses, I really could relate to them but as an insider in the project, I knew that the main aim of the stats was just to raise awareness and that was one objective down. The activities that followed weren't as drastic - a pledge wall for students to pledge against bullying, essay writing competitions and the "hero among us" award where the juniors voted for the person who they felt is the hero among them and stands up against bullying. Overall, I believe the project was a success and set an extremely high benchmark for the projects to follow. The quality of work done was good and the message was driven home. I think we did manage to get the students to realize the different types of bullying that are out there and to be more vocal about it which is always good. Hopefully this isn't short-lived and goes on though the campaign ended.

After that came the next of the prefect's projects: Appreciation Week (by Group 2 - Shareen, Voon Hui, Azim, Syadhisy, Thiru, Yasmin). A week in our lives to appreciate the amount of work done by our school's support staff - not too much of time I would think...maybe even not enough. Again, it started with an assembly presentation where 2 members of the floor, a guy and a girl, were welcomed to the stage where two beds were set up (or should I say messed up). Basically they had to compete to clean up the mess. This was followed by an excellent, touching speech by Syadhisy about how we don't realize the amount of work done by these people to clean up after the mess we have made. Good start to the week I would think. The hard work of group 2 resulted in charts of the entire ground staff (including the painters which some of us didn't know exist!) being put up around the school as well as notes reading "Have you said Thank You today?" put up in the dining hall. A morning tea was also organized specially for the support staff during the week where prefects helped to serve them food and took pictures with them. "Never in the 18 years I have been here, has anyone done something like this for us," said one of them to the agreement of his colleagues and that made everything worth the effort.

Then, I sat for my SAT subject tests. Gosh, I almost died trying to study for it amidst all the action in school. I remember when I actually got down to studying the physics, I seriously wanted to bang my head against the wall when I realized I had to self study about 75% as I either haven't learnt it yet in A Levels or it's not in the syllabus O.O But it's okay, I said to myself...I'm gonna major in physics, a little bit of SAT won't kill me and so I got down to it. Chapter by chapter and eventually I had most of it nailed down. The parts I didn't understand, I took to my teacher to help out and soon I was sitting in the exam room attempting questions. I'm not gonna say it was easier than expected because it wasn't. Both the Math and Physics were as tough as I had expected them to be but I managed it and hey presto....3 weeks later I received a 750/800 for Physics and 760/800 for Math II. Not to shabby a result I would think for something almost entirely self studied =)

Didn't have much time to rest after that as the GP exam followed soon after. The paper was alright, although I'm very sure I wrote too much for my essay so now I'm a bit worried about that...but what's done is done and I can only hope for the best. Results in coming out at the end of the year, wish me luck!

The period that followed was one of the more relaxing times of the term when about 90% of the U6 were on study break for AS exams (which I didn't have to resit, thank god!). Most of my classes were off except for a few. It wasn't all nap and relaxation time for me as I had to prepare for my Oxford Physics test and SAT Reasoning Test; both of which seriously drove me over the edge. The Oxford Physics test was this 2 hour paper of Math and Physics that makes you doubt your ability to do Math and Physics and the SAT Reasoning Test is a 4 hour marathon of English and Math which makes you wonder how good your English really is =/ Well, I survived both, thankfully, with a 2170/2400 score for SAT and an upcoming Oxford interview which means I scored higher than average on the test =)

I'm now at 7th November and I'm struggling to remember what happened next. Ah, yes, the next weekend was the IELTS exam in the middle of which I went partying at the school's social event, haha. Social this time was alright I guess but given the lack of people who were in school that weekend, pretty understandable why the atmosphere wasn't that great. IELTS was....interesting =/ For the speaking test I had to talk about the weather =S Your typical British conversation, hahaha. I also had to talk about food, food habits, grocery shopping and my most significant meal. Hmm. I talked about the first meal we cooked at OBS =D *awww moment*. That all went pretty well! Scored an 8.5/9 for it which is will definitely get me into uni and proves that I can speak, write, listen and read English =P It also means I don't have to resit the RM500 test O.O

The week that followed was the week of THIMUN which meant quite a lot of my friends left for Singapore. A Samantha-less week led to the week being extremely quiet. Hmm. It started with a bang though as our Anti-Housism campaign took off after about a month of planning. The assembly is one the school will remember for quite awhile as Jinho took the stage and initiated what we call the "1KTJ Assembly". After a touching video (done by Stanley and Wei Jie) on being a united school with no barriers between students, Jinho gave a speech and then ran an activity where the students rearranged themselves to line up not by house as they usually are lined up but by form. It might be a small step but it's symbolic in nature that we don't need to always associate ourselves with our houses to show our patriotism to our houses. If we're proud of our own houses, mixing around and being nice to everyone else won't change anything.

The week ended with the filming of the trailer for Prefect's Night. Quite hilarious actually =P I'll try to put it up when I have time. Initially, we wanted to play it during the next assembly but the assembly was canceled due to exam =( It's okay though, coz we played it on the night itself, hehe. In the midst of all this madness, I was working on my USA applications, writing draft after draft of essays as I was dissatisfied =( But it's okay, they're almost done now, almost as perfect as I can possibly make them.

The days that were to come can only be defined by two words: Hectic and Insane. In 5 days, we were going to come up with a plan, practice and rehearse our Prefect's Night performance that Saturday. Can you imagine that? And you know we would never settle for less than the best we can manage. So it began...each day we were either practising a scene or filming them. Everyday, I'd be out from after school until dinner with only enough energy to finish my Math prep before going to bed at night. I thought it was pretty cool, our idea of meshing live performances and prerecorded ones as not only is it more interesting to watch, it's less stress during rehearsals =D But I remember feeling so happy that week coz every day went perfect. Everything went according to plan - each day's objective was achieved. Seriously, nothing has ever went that well planned for me! Well, prefect's night, as I had detailed in my previous entry was a blast.

I admit there were some weak moments of mine when I snapped and I feel horrible for that. Times when I just couldn't take it and instances when stress got the better of me. But I've learnt and moved on, and hopefully in the future, I'll be better at this. I know I'll try my very best.

"The teachers are talking about it y'know. Some are saying that in the last 15-16 years here in KTJ, they have never seen any prefect batch put in even 10% as much effort as you guys did"

I was over the moon when I heard that from him. Jinho, Me, Izzuddin and Ishmam rewarded them with brownies the next prefect meeting, haha. Well deserved I would say!

Didn't get to rest much that night, as the day after Prefect's Night was Naquiah Day - prefects time with the junior house! It went well, I think all the Naquiah kids enjoyed themselves and so did we =D Got to know quite a few of them and hopefully will get to know more next term =) Spent the rest of the day sleeping my life away O.O

Things began to cool down as we moved into the last few days of school. I fell sick that week which was to be expected given the week I had previously. Took time out to catch up on sleep, work on my US apps. I admit to not doing much work this week as I really just wanted to rest. Wednesday was the much anticipated caroling! Played the guitar again this time and what ever was left of my voice from prefect's night was gone by Thursday morning, haha. But seriously, it was damn fun and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. It was really funny how animated everyone would get when we sang "Feliz Navidad/I wanna wish you a Merry Xmas" when compared to something like "O Holy Night" or "We Three Kings". Hilarious xD

Well, this term is also the last term of Ms Marcel being an Irinah house tutor as she's gonna be the house mistress of Alia house. *starts crying buckets and buckets* She's almost like my best friend in school only that she's a teacher, haha. Really cool, really geeky in her own way. I feel like I can relate to her a lot, and we always seem to be thinking along the same wavelength =) Everytime she's on duty in Irinah, I'll put off whatever work I have just to talk to her for awhile...to update her on my life and to hear what going on in hers...it's really fun =) There was this one time when she, Zoe and I sat across the hallway to witness the potential fight between a praying mantis and a lizard. She and I were all for the praying mantis and Zoe for the lizard. We kept calling Zoe's lizard a loser lizard since it kept chickening out xD That was really funny...we'd like stop everyone from crossing the area in case they scared the lizard or mantis away *grins* I'm really gonna miss her...but it's okay, I'll visit her often and see how Alia is =')

Phew! Term 3 2009. The term ended on a positive note with much to look forward to. It's been a great year, things can only get better.

"Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful."
~ Mark Victor Hansen

sniff

2009-11-29T20:21:00.005+08:00

I......

....did nothing today and it felt so damn freaking good O.O

Yesterday was prefects' night which translates into the last entire week being extremely hectic filled with rehearsals and practices etc etc etc. BUT it was worth it =)

The theme this time was about unity of the school so we did Harry Potter KTJ Style, haha. Well, HP life is pretty close to what we have here with the houses and housism attitude so we focused on that aspect then ended it with all the houses uniting to fight Voldemort xD It was all very cool. I really felt like we were living in HP world for a week with all the weird conversations I was having:

"When's potions class later?" "Oh, it's at 4pm"

"When are we gonna practice Quiddich?" "Probably 6pm..."

"So when are we gonna learn the dance for the Yule Ball?" "Uh, today right after school"

LOL, anyone listening into our conversations would have thought we were mad. So basically we took the whole TriWizard tournament and made it inter-house so each house had one champion. Then, we added 3 new houses to make it the 7 colors that KTJ houses have. The scene starts with 4 new students being sorted into houses and Dumbledore announcing the TriWizard Tournament and the Goblet of Fire spitting out names of the "chosen ones" from each house (I was a champion from the purple house xD). This was followed by a pre-recorded Potions Class with Professor Snape aka the Proctor in our school, Mr Suresh =P Then of course was the Yule Ball where we danced to Sway by PCD which was sung live by Jean =)

THEN was the final maze scene where we all have to touch the cup to win. So there we are running around the maze, fighting obstacles when Malfoy (the Slytherin champ) sees the cup...runs to it...and *thud* falls to the ground. The rest of us spot the cup, rush over...stop short of Malfoy, look at him....decided that he's not worth helping and all rush for the cup but bang into...an invisible wall. Sigh.

Malfoy tries to solve it by casting a spell but the spell (heh heh) gets thrown back at him. Cedric casts a revealing spell that reveals the secret behind the wall which goes...

"Thy must use Relashio which is magic bound,
To finally vanquish the evil of the wall,
To win the TriWizard Cup waiting safe and sound,
Together thy must be united once and for all."

What? Potter tries to save the day after that but fails. Hah. He then realizes that we all must cast the spell together and so we try....without Malfoy of course who refuses to work with "Mudbloods and Half Bloods". All of us get thrown back by the spell...one of our male champs even gets hit back in a certain area between the legs. Ouch.

Malfoy then agrees, and we all agree to touch the cup together only that when we do......it is a portkey! O.O The next scene (pre-recorded) is when we get up in a foreign place...and witness the birth of Voldemort! We fight in an extremely corny Power Rangers stance before running away....running...running...the video is showing running back...into the hall? The screen goes blank and 7 of us bust through the hall doors and are back on stage, ready to finish him off! Some more corny conversation takes place and we reflect the killing spell back to Voldemort and he dies xD

Then we sand a song written by Jinho called This is Our Home (I think) before going out to watch the awesome firepot demonstration where all the house captains burnt the words "Housism" down with torches to mark the end of it and the beginning of a united school. Aww. =')

Haha. Well, it was a pretty awesome day but I'm glad it's all over now and life can back to normal-ish =)

I am so proud of all them (also for putting up with us in charge =/) and am glad to be leading an amazing board of prefects =)

Breaking Free

2009-11-15T09:30:00.003+08:00

Well, can't say social night wasn't a blast. Felt good to just dance the night away (and stop at 11pm but that's not the point x|). Of course I know I probably look horrible dancing but that's not the point either =/

Some of tracks the DJ spinned were pretty good, not so new songs that I almost forgot about and some really old good stuff as well =) Good night....but somehow I'm not that content yet. Still feel like doing something crazy. I don't know what. I really feel the need to just break free from life for awhile. *shrugs*

Freedom!

2009-11-07T15:00:00.002+08:00

In a twisted way, yeah.

I'm *sort of* free-ish now that the freaking mind-blowing-so-hard-that-you-just-want-to-give-up-instantly oxford physics/math paper and marathon of a SAT paper is over.

phew.

Talk about hectic week. Hectic month.

.....hectic year -.-"

Now, my time is finally cleared to.......

1. Complete US Apps
2. Prepare for the interview
3. Complete homework (heh heh)
4. Read the newspapers (finally!)
5. Plan and implement THE Prefect Project of the Year xD

I know my life sounds like the life to die for what with all the tons of free time I have for myself but well you know...not everyone is so lucky *sense the sarcasm*...=(

But it's okay...it all fits into the big picture...the greater good...the future of mankind...or rather the future of Sheela Ratnam. Which is equally important...to me of course, not to anyone else x|

On a lighter note, I'm pretty content with things right now...well, socially. I'm not quite content with things intelectually but that's a different story. I feel like my brain will deteriorate to dust soon if I don't start reading something other than textbooks and SAT material! Hmm. We'll see.

Countdown to holidays: 27 days! =)
Countdown to Kuching trip: 50 days! ;)

Yup, I'll be crashing Kuching soon to visit Sam and other Kuching-ites. Can't wait till then =)

Latest sort of favourite song: Fallin for You, Colbie Caillat. Could this be an indication of something? Hmm, I wonder, haha.

Till next time! =)

Jughead 2.0

2009-10-17T23:45:00.000+08:00

Yesterday.....

I paid a visit to Bentley @ Mutiara Damansara to buy a new acoustic guitar..sponsored by my brother =D He left behind some money for me to get a guitar.

Ahh...a sleek Fender Classic Design 140-SCE. Love everything about it...makes me wanna keep playing all day long.

.....this was the guitar Ben used in the previous video. He loves it btw xP

=)

Mad World by EYF

2009-10-17T19:08:00.004+08:00

So....Ben, Nawaz and Smile came over to my house for a visit on Deepavali and what did we end up doing? Recording songs of course xD

This is EYF singing their version of Mad World. Beats any other version out there flat ;) Enjoy!

Zoom Zoom

2009-10-13T07:17:00.005+08:00

My psychotic day in Singapore was pretty awesome although I had to be awake for exactly 24hours which drained me prety badly O.o

It started at 4.30am when I woke up to shower etc and wait to be picked up at 5ish to go to LCCT to board a flight that was at 7.45am!

Couldn't sleep on the plane as much as I tried =( When we arrived, gosh it didn't feel like we left anywhere -.-" Had breakfast number 2 at starbucks in Changi Airport before grabbing a cab to Suntec City where we were supposed to meet Dave from F1 in Schools, UK.

Well....we arrived early so where's the harm in visiting the nearest shopping mall right? Passed a cinema there though so Admen was like...

"Hey, lets see whats on..."

"Omg, yeah man, I've been wanting to watch G-Force for ages...."

"Okay! Let's see what time it's on"

The time then was 11am. The show started at 10.50am xD

He bought us tickets and we ended up watching G-Force =P Very random, I know but what to do =)

The rest of the day pretty much fell into place....meeting Dave, lunch etc followed by the visit to the Paddock Club. The Paddock Club!! The passes are supposed to be worth a few thousand pounds! Whoaa....

We went to one of the rooms to set up a small little F1 in Schools booth. At about 5pm...the man himself, Tony Fernandes came to the room. He was the reason we were invited there as he is very keen on the competition and how it is directly related to F1 since he is the team principal of 1Malaysia F1 Team. He's such a cool guy, I can tell you that....very down to earth and friendly. Didn't get to talk much to him though as he mainly was talking to the press but he said he wanted us to work for him in the future xD

We had to leave juuusssttt before the qualifying round because the flight was at 10.15pm. Left at about 8pm.............only to find that the flight had been delayed to 12.30am O.O Daammmnnnn. Spent our time at a foot massage booth after that, haha. Changi Airport has these Osim foot massage machines at every waiting area so that was a nice compromise for the delay xD

By the time we reached KL, I was exhausted. 'Twas about 2am so by the time I reached home it was about 3.30am. Talked to my parents for awhile then went to bed at 4.30am, Sunday.

Hmm....went back to school on sunday feeling very woozy but was glad and excited to see everyone again =)

So that...was my very random and spontaneous trip to Singapore Island, a place I haven't been to in at least 10 years =S

Deepavali is comming! *imagine very Indian accent*....

Aiyoyo, I have no clothes to wear! O.o

Accio Sheela!

2009-09-25T18:06:00.000+08:00

I'm being summoned again! By F1 in Schools to go to Singapore for some event. Whoa just when I thought my holidays was gonna be deemed most dull and uneventful one in the history of holidays.

It's just a day trip though...out at 7.45am (I know right..I have to be ready to be picked up at 5am =/) and back by 11.45pm. short and sweet. The event is actually at 3pm but the next available flight out is at...3pm -.-" So we have to take the early flight out leaving us with about 5 hours to jalan-jalan cari makan which suits me coz I think I can get some books there which I can't get here. I think =/

Sunday, it's back to school again!

I honestly can't believe it's been 5 weeks (6 including the hols) since school reopened. It just whizzed by like it's been 5 hours...minutes =S I guess it's probably coz of all the Saturday Night events =S It seems to be that life in KTJ revolves around Saturday Night events! It's like the weeks are planned around preparing for THE event that week which is pretty cool in it's own way I guess. Gives us something to look forward to, to be proud of and to make it seem like no time has passed. Lol.

Ahh, can't waiiittt till this term is over! Then all the uni apps and SAT and what not will be over and done with! =(

House Singing Vid =)

2009-09-22T21:43:00.002+08:00

Today Has Been Okay...

2009-09-17T18:51:00.005+08:00

It's been a good day =D

Last night I fell asleep while studying Stats...thus forgetting to set my alarm O.o This morning when I woke up, I think my heart stopped as I had a 30 sec moment of panic wondering what time it was; pretty sure I was gonna be in trouble for missing my first class (that's never happened before!)....then I found out it was 6.50am =P Guess my internal clock is pretty reliable xD

Well, then GP teacher made us do an essay (bleh, I hate essays) after which I had free period to study for my Stats test after break which went better than I expected I think =/ Had a quick lunch so I could have enough time to study for the Physics test on MRI scans that I honestly had no clue about! Seriously, I was totally lost in class that day...BUT I'm extremely happy that I FINALLY get it after forcing myself to read the text properly =) Got full marks for that test ;)

Teh tarik was served for tea time =D Happy food. Interact was cool, had a good meeting with the BOD's + teacher and then watched the juniors play some ice breaking games while waiting for badminton training at 5pm. I say, I haven't sweat as much as I did for today's training in a long, long time. He made us do smashes continuously for half an hour...by the end of it my friend's hand was shaking all the way till dinner O.o But it felt good! Won't be able to play for another week or so due to the raya break =( Love the game.

Even the dinning hall dinner today was awesome, haha. Tandoori chicken, squid balls and chilli prawns with some sort of rice that just tasted really good =D

Later, gonna get some work done then watch Ishmam's drama performance for A Levels...hope that goes well. Then, tomorrow.....

tomorrow..........

I'm going home =)

I honestly don't know what this post is for...I think I just had a really good day and wanted to write about it. Take care everyone! I'm gonna be back to rock Bangsar in less than 24 hours ;)

xD

Say What?

2009-09-15T19:28:00.003+08:00

My friend and I managed to have about a 10 minute long conversation where she thought the conversation was about one thing and I thought it was about something else. How we kept it up, I really don't know =/

Life is definitely back to normal.

I sat for a horrible horrible mechanics test just now and I feel like crap now. I can't wait for the next test to prove to myself that I can do well.

Mooncake festival is coming up and there's mooncakes going around the school...=) I didn't used to be a fan but now I quite like it although too much can make me sick =/

Going home in 3 days time, can't wait to knock out on my bed for 24 hours O.o

Victorious Evening!

2009-09-14T08:32:00.004+08:00

Scene in the morning. Venue: Shower rooms.

When I have something going on at night I sing I've Gotta Feeling by BEP just to psyche myself up a bit that things will go well. So there I was happily walking in to the shower, hung my shower basket and towel while singing...

"I've gotta feeling...."

Suddenly, a voice replied "Woo hooo..."

O.O

(I found out who it was later in the day when I related the incident to a friend and she said it was this other junior in the house, lol =P)

* * *

"That's how you show her you love her..."

House Singing!! Victory is ours once again =D After three years of winning, last year we lost but this time, we've got it back. I was soooo nervous for the house before the event although of course we can't show our nervousness because we have to look strong for the house and all that...=/ However, although I wasn't sure of the fact that we will win, I was confident that everyone would have a good time up there coz the song is just fun like that.

"That's how she knows that you love her..."

The thing I'm really happy about is that we managed to carry out relatively few but effective practices (which works for us too since we're U6 and loaded with work =S) at the same time ensuring that having fun was the number 1 priority...winning is merely the icing on the cake we said to them. This year was all about having a good time. And we did. And I think that's maybe what helped us win...I don't know. But I know that everyone just generally looked like they were enjoying themselves up there which rocks =)

"You've got to show her you need her..."

My housemistress recorded our performance and so that night Betty, Iffa, Jaclyn, Voon and I...heh heh, stayed up till 2am talking....and just watching the video over and over again, hahaha. I know, psychotic much but you can't blame us la, we're happy. 'Twas pretty funny though. We noticed a few things that we had never noticed before but looked really good when they did it and actually we realized that one of the coolest parts of the performance wasn't actually intended to look that way but turned out looking good when they did it. I don't know how we missed it during rehearsals =S Watching the video just makes me really proud of the girls and I'm glad that they're happy.

"Don't treat her like a mind reader..."

I really loved all the house performances this year! I think this time everyone just generally upped the level of house singing O.o Each house had something unique to show...and they were all really good. In fact, I think the marks were all really close. If I heard right, it's just a mark difference between the 3rd and 5th so that's very whoaaa.

"How do you know that you love her?"

I will definitely miss house singing next year though =( I'll try my best to come give support to the juniors if I'm still in Malaysia that is....

"That's how you know that you love her..."

BUT I'm extremely glad that the whole thing is over and life can go back to normal now.Well, as normal as it can get =/ Now, time to focus on SAT and stuff. Ah, these darn uni apps =(

"It's not enough to take the one you love for granted!"

Irinah House <3>

When I Found Time...

2009-09-08T12:12:00.002+08:00

Another cover that Betty and I did last time but I never had time to export to mp3 and upload so here it is =D Kiss Me (cover) by Betty and Sheela.

I've Got A Feeling...

2009-09-05T08:35:00.003+08:00

The night of nights...tonight!

Omg, IU Day! It's IU Day!

The day we all have toiled, sweat and suffered over!

O.O

Tell me it's gonna go just fine......

I've got a feeling.... tonight's gonna be a good night.... tonight's gonna be a good good night...

To be a President, Physics is Crucial

2009-09-01T11:23:00.003+08:00

I'm reading this book now....Physics for Future Presidents by Richard A Muller who is a professor at Berkeley. Really cool book...basically he touches on hot topics and talks about the physics facts behind these topics that is essential for presidents to know in order to make decisions. Good stuff.

One fact that I found very shocking is that everyone has a 20% chance of getting cancer. How scary is that. Meaning in a group of 100 randomly selected people, statistics show that 20 with get cancer. Now that is disturbing.

The book is talks about terrorism, energy, nuclear power, space and global warming. Then under each topic is are many smaller subtopics. So far I've read about energy and nuclear....I wouldn't say that the average person would need to know these things but well...it's good to know lah =)

Hmm, last day of exeat today, gonna miss the 5 days. Preparing for my presentation about green cars of the future which is due tomorrow and I haven't quite really done x|

Also and essay about death penalty...ahh. I don't like writing GP essays. But it's okay, good for the soul.

Finally managed to drag myself up for breakfast this morning. Felt good.

I like the new song from BEP - I Got a Feeling.

Watched a really funny movie last night with Sam, Zoe and Betty. Because I Said So about this mom who is so desperate to get her daughter a life partner and wants to be so involved in the process and insists the daughter does as she's told "because she said so"....the show is pretty extreme but I can think of moms who are like that, haha. But I can see where they're coming from la, they just want the best for their kids =)

Hmm, gotta get back to work now. Grr.

Merdeka Exeat

2009-08-31T09:22:00.003+08:00

Well, decided to stay in this 5-day exeat which hmm, normal people don't normally do.

But I'm finding it really fun actually having just a few of us here =D Sam, Zoe, Betty, Iffa and Mie stayed too so it's pretty cool. Lilian and BK from Lower 6 as well so meals are pretty much just us.

I've missed breakfast again today =( I'm wondering what to eat now.....but it's okay, catching up on sleep is more important right?

52 years since independence, are we where we should be?

Things are back to normal-ish sort of. Or at least as normal as my life can get. I've still got tons of work to finish but it's okay, the worst is sort of over I think. It's also yet to come, but in the not so near future. It can wait for awhile.

Currently downloading merdeka songs to blast in the house during wake up call later with Betty....who is still sleeping -.-".

Tons of Math homework!

I think I'll make Milo and steal some biscuits from Betty.

I honestly am gonna miss these people so much when I leave KTJ. I think there's this bond between all of us that is just so comfortable. Feels good.

I think I'll work like a dog today so at night we can watch a movie =D

They say staying in during exeat sucks but I actually like it. I think I'll stay in for more exeats to come.

Can't wait till renovations are done at my house! Looks good though =)

Happy Independence Day!

Fighter

2009-08-28T22:23:00.001+08:00

It hasn't been a good week. It's been pretty psychotic.

But the worst part about it wasn't that it was a crazy week but rather that I didn't handle it as good as I should. I've never felt so pressured before in my entire life....not when I had problems in F1, not during SPM, not during Global Debates, not even during AS exams.

You see, all the while I've always been doing something I was pretty good at and had refined overtime. Then suddenly I had to do something that was totally out of what I'm used to and I admit, I drowned. It was so far the worst time of my life and I'm so ashamed to think about it.

I literally felt like I was suffocating; like my brain was being compressed from every direction and here I was helpless to everything unable to control anything that was going on. I honestly sometimes felt like I would rather just die than go on because it seemed like I was just going through things like a ghost anyway. Not knowing what to feel, not knowing what to do, not knowing how to deal.

I think I had a taste of what it's like to go into depression...a rather mild one at least and I can tell you it's not pleasant. But I can also tell you that when people say that support helps, they're right. Honestly, I never thought I'd hear myself say this because I always try to detach myself from people (I hate having an emotional connection with anyone - I feel it's bad for me in the long run) but if it wasn't for some of my friends who I talked to, I would have probably been in a much worse state. For that I am grateful. Thanks to those, you probably know who you are...

I'm not saying I'm completely okay because I'm not. I am saying however that I'm almost there. I feel better now and am ready to get back up on my feet. I'm glad for this experience as I know there will be similar ones to come and now I know how to get through them.

There will be no more chaos, no more weak moments, no more tears. I'm ready to rock this place upside down inside out in my red striped outfit.

I'm finally back and it feels good.

Silent Scream

2009-08-26T17:27:00.003+08:00

I have never felt like this before.

It's horrifying and frustrating and pathetic.

I want out but I can't.

I'm must not give up. I can't give up and give in to this. I have to stick to the plan.

But I honestly feel like I'd rather just......I really want it all to end.

Now...

Time Extended

2009-08-23T09:26:00.002+08:00

It's been a long, long week and I'm exhausted already =/

I don't know how long yet I can keep this up BUT I think it'll get better in a few weeks time. Coz by then, my UK apps will be done, IU Day will be over and House Singing will be over....

House Singing! KTJ tradition for those of you who don't know....it's the only competition that involves the ENTIRE school and is not split into boys and girls/seniors and juniors categories. So it's literally every house as a team competing against each other. It's quite amazing.

But of course things can get ugly if houses start to fight and stuff....reminds me of being in Xavier last time and continuously arguing with my friends about it. I tend to be very patriotic xD Not overly patriotic that I'll beat someone up though =S

Anyway, I'm glad to say there'll be no floods come house singing as I won't be singing xD I'll be rocking the guitar =D Was damn happy man when Voon Hui asked me to play coz I don't really fancy singing (despite it being VERY fun!) and because I love playing the guitar. AND it's less stress since it only took a day to learn the song. So now all I have to do is just attend the practices to play...nothing new to learn which suits me perfectly seeing that I'm really busy.

What else is new? Nothing much I guess...IU Day is driving me up the wall but that's not new.

House Night yesterday! We couldnt' go out this time coz of the whole ramadhan month so we stayed in. Some of the U6 planned games and stuff then there was Irinah's own Project Runway! The house was divided into 10 groups and each group had to produce 3 models for the Hollywood, Clubbing and Outrageous categories. a LOT of fun that was xD So cool that everyone was just so into it and were having a good time. I think staying it really does more to strengthen the bonds than going out somewhere...we should stay in more often =)

Hmm, it seems that's all I have to say.....take care everyone, see y'all around *waves*

iNew

2009-08-19T09:10:00.006+08:00

I'm back in red stripes again to take over the world muahahahahaha..ha...ha...ha...

*ahem*

I mean I'm back in KTJ.

I wanted to do my usual nostalgic reflection of L6, goals for U6 but decided against it. Actually no, I'm lying I really did want to do it but I had no time ='(

BUUUUTTT my class got canceled this morning so you have to deal with my sappiness anyway xD

Well, L6 has so far been the best year of my life in every aspect. I'm doing well in my studies, I've started exercising and playing sports *finally!*, I've been doing all sorts of activities that I think makes me a better person as a whole, I've been playing a whole lot more guitar than I did in the previous 16 years of my life and I've definitely improved my social skills, haha (still needs improvement though =S).

I've met many really awesome people who I look up to and respect. I've made friends with the randomest species of human beings and the least expected people I thought I'd be friends with. And most importantly I've made life long friends who I know I can trust and fall back on when I'm down and out. But I also know sometimes these things don't last but for the moment it feels good.

I've learnt many lessons in the year it's pretty amazing. From the people I met, from the things I do, from OBS! and from basically just living here in boarding school. And I still am learning things every day!

Upper 6...

I'm head girl now, it's so weird! Really. I'm still getting used to things like this and it's quite stressful being squeaky clean (which I am! but it's stressful to know people are watching out for me to be). But honestly, I think I've got an excellent group of supportive prefects to back me and the head boy up so things should run pretty smooth in that sense. Can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead...

My goals for the term...which are quite the usual stuff:

1. IU Day must and will be a success
2. All prefect run activities should go smoothly
3. I stick to my exercise/sports plan
4. Go for badminton training every time even if it kills me x|
5. Study hard get A's for my tests
6. A for GP? Hopefully
7. Go all out for uni applications (though I think I'm already failing this one =( I'm on the brink of going mad with it!)
8. Get to know all the new Irinians and go all out for house singing

Well, I hope things go well this term and it turns out to be an awesome term. House night is coming up again but we have to stay in coz of the fasting month. BUT it should be fun anyway...some of the U6'ers have already planned it all out nicely =)

And house singing! Man oh man, it's going to be a hectic month ahead what with IU Day, house singing and oxbridge apps O.O

So here's to a brand spanking new term and academic year to look forward to! *clinks glass*

Selamat Berpuasa!

Betty the Awesome =)

2009-08-13T19:19:00.006+08:00

Betty and I were fooling around with my Garageband and tadaa =)

When You Say Nothing At All (Cover) - Betty and Sheela

Click the white box to hear >>>>>

Stand Up!

2009-08-09T11:44:00.005+08:00

This is my new favourite song! I know, I know...it's quite old but I just happen to download it the other day and really loved it. It's by all these famous female artists and the song is for a cancer campaign. But....I think the lyrics are pretty meaningful and can be applied to pretty much everything we do =) I find it very inspiring.

* * *

Everything will be alright, yeah

The heart is stronger than you think
It's like it can go through anything
And even when you think it can't
It finds a way to still push on though

Sometime you wanna run away
Ain't got the patience for the pain
And if you don't believe it, look in to your heart
The beat goes on

I'm tellin' you that
Things get better
Through whatever
If you fall, dust it off
Don't let up
Don't you know you can go
Be your own miracle
You need to know

If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you "Don't give up"
Who are we to be questioning
Wondering what is what
Don't give up
through is all, just stand up!

It's like we've all had better days
Problems getting all up in your face
Just because you go through it
Don't mean it gotta take control, no

You ain't gotta find a hiding place
Because the heart can beat the hate
Don't wanna let your mind keep playin' you
And saying you can't go on

I'm tellin' you that
Things get better
Through whatever
If you fall, dust it off
Don't let up
Don't you know you can go
Be your own miracle
You need to know

If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you "Don't give up"
Who are we to be questioning
Wondering what is what
Don't give up
through is all, just stand up!

You don't gotta be a prisoner in your mind
If you fall dust it off, you can live your life (yeah)
Let your heart be your guide (yeah, yeah yeah)
And you will know that you're good if you trust in good
Everything will be alright, yeah
Light up the dark if you follow your heart
And it will get better
Through whatever

If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you "Don't give up"
Who are we to be questioning
Wondering what is what
Don't give up
through is all, just stand up!

If the mind keeps thinking you've had enough
But the heart keeps telling you "Don't give up"
Who are we to be questioning
Wondering what is what
Don't give up
through is all, just stand up!

You got it in you, find it within
You got in now, find it within now
You got it in you, find it within
You got in now, find it within now
You got in you, find it within
Find it within you
Find it within

Through it all
Just stand up!

The End is Near...

2009-08-08T21:00:00.010+08:00

The next few days were....

TIRING! As we were constantly traveling. We'd arrive at the hotel only at around 10pm and have to check the next morning at 7am to go to some other place. Never did we stay at a single hotel for more than 10 hours O.O

BUUUTTT this was the best part of the trip of course! We went to Washington first and visited the wax museum, Air and Space Museum, Capitol Hill, White House, Thomas Jefferson Memorial and ended with the Abraham Lincoln Memorial (which is so cool to see up front!). The Jefforson, Lincoln and George Washington Memorial form a triangle in the same area which I find pretty cool =)

The next day it was off to Niagara Falls! But along the way we stopped at the Hershey's Chocolate Factory (=D) and Corning glass Museum (very glassy!...ahem, I mean classy). Got to see the process of making Hershey's chocs and saw a glass blowing presentation which was quite interesting.

But seriously, nothing beats Niagara Falls. It was...I dunno, words can't describe. If you ever go to the States, that is the one place you must go. We went on the Maid of the Mist ride which takes us really close to the Falls (got totally drenched!). Then we watched the iMax show on myths, legends and true stories about the falls. Apparently, there was this case where a boy fell over the falls by accident (coz the motor on the motorboat stopped working) and he was alive! All sorts of amazing stories were played on screen....another guy walking on a tight rope above the falls O.o

Every night the falls are lit with rainbow colors...red, blue, green, yellow...it was all so pretty =)

The next day, we went back there to go to the Cave of the Winds which is a stairway that goes more than halfway up the waterfall, right in front of it. Gosh, when I was standing at the top, standing to take a picture, I could feel the water from the falls hitting my back with so much force! It was scary and cool at the same time xD

Going to the falls just makes you feel so excited, and alive and fresh! It's hard to explain =S

Then it was off to New York =) A long the way we stopped at this lake called Seneca Lake. In NY we went to Wall Street, saw the bull, then went to Ground Zero where they're building 7 new buildings, one being a memorial to the WTC. After that we went on a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty, checked out the warship Intrepid and ended of at Top of the Rock.

I really enjoyed the tour although it was really tiring. Any longer and I probably wouldn't be able to take it =S The next few days I spent mainly at Times Square on Broadway...shopping a bit, getting souvenirs...oh, I watched Chicago as well.

Oh and did I mention I went for tap classes and Broadway Dance Center? xD

Before we knew it, it was time to go home. Time to board the 13+6 hours flights x|. Oh well, I had fun...the trip was good but it really felt good to be going home =)

(oh oh, watched Bolt on the plane! Awesome showwww!!!)

I'm glad to have gone and I'm glad to be back.

Nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww.....it's time for applications and homework!

Wistful...

2009-08-08T19:58:00.000+08:00

The bus arrived at 4.30am O.o

What do we do now?? x|

Go to the toilet of course! (which was squeaky clean by the way).

And then have breakfast!....At McD's =S

Ooh, the McD's in USA has this super awesome yogurt thing which is 7th heaven.

Anywayy, yeah breakfast and chilled till about 6ish then we got a cab to the hotel to dump our bags coz we can't check in yet. We didn't really know where we were so we just walked......

and walked....

and walked....

till we reached a big home furnishing store, Home Depot =S My mum being my mum wanted to go in so we checked it out for awhile. And then kept walking..........

While walking, we decided to go to straight to check out Harvard instead of waiting for the check in time (3pm). So off we went walking..........to the subway station. (Only later we found out there's a shuttle from the hotel to the station every hour -.-").

So there we were in Harvard Square. HARVARD Square. Ahem. Sorry. Moving on....

Walked around for a bit then got lost looking for Harvard and found it then attended the information session/campus tour. Honestly I can't really see myself studying there (that is even if they wanted me -.-"). I don't know why....or maybe I rather not say but I just really feel like I won't quite fit there. Hmm. But it was good to be there to see it for myself and to decide whether to apply. All very interesting.

By the time we were done it was time for lunch....Pizza! Lol, not KTJ style yeah. Walked around for a bit then went back to the hotel and pretty much died on the bed till the next morning x|

Well, woke up pretty early the next morning, had a Sunny Side Up Breakfast! (*shrugs* they call it that) and found out about the shuttle service to the station....10 minutes too late =( So we cleared up a bit etc till the next hour and got to the train. We were supposed to go to Kendall Square where MIT is buttttt detoured and Downtown Central: Shopping District!! xD

Went to Macy's and there was a sale. Heh heh. Ended up buy a pair of jeans and a pair of 3-quarters. You know what's the best part about shopping in the States? I was almost always slightly smaller than the smallest size. Talk about feel good spirit, LOL.

THEN, we hopped back on the Subway to MIT. Bought some super awesome vegetarian sandwich to have on the go while we were walking because *ahem* we were scared we're gonna be late....but we were just on time =D

I love everything about MIT! The people, the buildings, the culture....it's so...awesome. You know there's a chapel that's built without windows but with a moat around it so light can be reflected into the chapel and light it up during the day? And MIT students carry out random practical jokes called Hacks where they use what they learn in the classroom (and more) to do random stuff around the school like placing a police car on the dome, turning the dome into R2D2 from Star Wars, shinning the Batman logo on the school building etc etc.

And the girl who was bringing us around just kept cracking all these lame physicky jokes that I'm not sure people will get if they're not into science. And they have this Olympic size pool and an awesome fitness center. It was all just so cool x| They have such a down to earth, work hard play hard culture that makes it hard for you not to enjoy life there while learning everything you need.

Sigh.

Oh, oh you know, swimming is a requirement at MIT - you can't graduate without passing the swimming test! So it seems some students appear at the office, all wet, holding their swim test cert asking if they can graduate now xD

The whole campus tour ended at about 5pm I think (it was really long compared to Harvard. They really showed us a lot =S). We headed back to Downtown Central to explore and found nothing else -.-" Then it started to rain O.o So we took refuge in McD's!

After we got back to the hotel, we realized we had nothing planned for the next day (we were supposed to check out then). Since my mum has been going on and on about Washington and Niagara Falls, I looked up a short tour and asked her if she wanted to go. She said yes, we signed up, paid online, printed the ticket and we were set for the next 4 days. All this done at 10.30pm the night before. Do not try this ever, haha.

Eeeeeaaaaarrrrlllllyyyyy the next morning we left for the meeting point while it was raining cat and dogs. When we reached the bus, the lady was like...

"Eh? When did you sign up?"

...Last night, we told her and showed the e-ticket.

"Oh okay, take a seat here".

Alright! Washington, here we come!

A Good Kind of Cliche

2009-08-07T21:21:00.008+08:00

Watched GI Joe with Nabila, Sabrina and Qays yesterday.

The show was cool to watch. The CGI was good except that some parts looked very fake. For instance the desert didn't look like it had any sand grains but was rather very smooth land. The show was jam packed with action! It's like action scene after action scene so there's no chance of getting bored or falling asleep, heh (admit it! You've done that as least once). The script was VERY typical. There were some scenes where you just know what the person is gonna say next. Either that or I watch too many movies which can't be the case =S

But I really enjoyed the movie =) It was a pleasant show to watch....easy to follow, *ahem* hot actors *ahem*, really futuristic which made it quite cool though unrealistic and really awesome action scenes. I didn't know Channing Tatum was the main actor =/ Suddenly he popped out on the screen and I was like "ehhhhh, Channing Tatum!" x|

There was a nice remix of Boom Boom Pow at the end too so that made it even better, haha.

The Begining of Chaos

2009-08-05T19:25:00.005+08:00

The next day, as I said, my mum and I went to Ithaca....

And this is where everything goes badly wrong, haha.

You know how people usually plan their holidays before they go so that things don't go wrong? Well, we didn't xD Which actually turned out pretty fun and worked out for me at least *grins*

But I Ithaca, I can say was part of the big picture coz I was gonna stay with my dad's friend over there for 2 nights. However, when we departed for Ithaca, we weren't even sure yet what we were gonna do after the 2 nights - whether to go back to NY or go straight to Boston.

So anyway, by the time we arrived at the uncle's place it was evening and we were tired so after dinner we went to bed. The next day, uncle took me to Ithaca College (he's an associate professor for PE there) where I was to meet a Math professor and Physics professor to talk to them about the courses and clear some stuff out. I really liked the Physics professor...he was super cool =D And he showed me the labs in the college...there's this new optics lab that has a table that can float in mid air O.O

After a Mexican lunch and chilling around Ithaca Commons, we went to this random waterfall in the middle of nowhere! The wife and kids kept talking about taking us to the Falls but I didn't know it was a humongous waterfall O.o Was really nice....mainly coz there wasn't anyone (but a fisherman) there so it was peaceful and quiet.

Back in the house, my mum and I sat down to plan the next day's events and we decided to head off to Boston! Great....just that we had no bus tickets or hotel to stay in yet. Heh. Thank God for the internet eh?

Boston is a whole 10 hours away so being the time and cost effective person that I am (hahaha), I suggested taking the night bus which goes straight through the night and we arrive in Boston at about 5am......which meant we saved a day of traveling AND we saved one night of accommodation xD But wait! It seems those tickets can't be booked online, darn. So we had to get them the next day....which was fine as long as they weren't sold out......(I loved the uncertainty in not planning the trip, haha).

Then I managed to get us a nice inn to stay in (heads up! La Quinta Inn is awesome! And they're all over USA) that was near the Cambridge area. Tadaa! So hotel? Check! Ride? Sort of check! Next two nights, settled =D

In the evening I watched as uncle BBQ'ed chicken for us in his backyard. Yum =) Talked a bit about this and that then after dinner we went for a drive to Cornell.

Random: His son has a pet ferret!!

The next day I had an appointment with a professor from Cornell to talk about....cars hmm. It's for this school project. Very interesting meeting. Cornell in HUGE! O.O Ate at a cafe that used to be a cottage house for horses =S Got our bus tickets! And some bites for the ride =)

Had some time before leaving after packing so I helped uncle's son to build the empire state building xD

*sings* it's off to Boston we go!

RIP Yasmin Ahmad

2009-07-28T14:08:00.001+08:00

I just read.

I'm at lost for words.

Random Stuff from America's Got Talent

2009-07-27T09:57:00.004+08:00

Hehehe....xD

They are dancing on skates O.o

And When I'm Just Over It

2009-07-23T07:15:00.002+08:00

So we wake up, get ready, go down, hop on the bus, get lost for a bit, reach the park and have breakfast after which we go into groups where we are split into smaller groups and mine is asked to rake leaves, weed and re-mush the area x|

Seriously, I think I'm over the whole being in nature, around trees and leaves no matter how much I love them =/ I could even recognize the smell of the mosquito repellent that some of them used (I don't know for what reason =/). And there were worms x|

BUT, it was still fun in it's own way =) Ishmam and I spoke to two very interesting people while raking, one guy is going to Yale next fall O.o and the other did grad school in Columbia for a year before dropping out because he lacked the money to continue O.O Amazing.

Lunch was a sandwich, chips and soda, heh. Sounds so typical, haha.

After that, we went back to the hotel and chilled before getting ready for the dinner at night which was a cruise thing. Super windy, alright food, Statue of Liberty pretty much sums up the night. Oh, and a nice chat with Moldovians about their country, lol. They're all over our Malaysian education system now, coz they prefer it over theirs =S

I loved the wind that night, was really liberating =D Did cause my hair to go all over the place but still...felt like heaven. Probably not for Ishmam though with the 4 inch high heels =S

Day after? Off to Ithaca!

Back to my Mundane Life...

2009-07-18T11:42:00.003+08:00

Well, where did I end and where do I begin?

Yesterday after I shut the computer we basically just walked....and walked...and walked.....

......and walked =/

First with my mum then later Jinho joined us. Had dinner at Goodburger and well, the burgers were.........good xD Then, Jinho and I looked at the map and decided to walk all the way to Broadway, past Times Square and come back.

I think I burnt off most of the burger I ate -.-"

It was a pretty loooong walk filled with pretty colourful lights, tons of visits to gift shops and random......trishaws! Seriously, there were trishaws everywhere! I remember when we saw the first one it was like whoaaa, Melacca came to NYC xD But of course they call it a fancier name here: BIKE TAXI. Oh then the were the upgraded ones (or downgraded?) which were horse carts =P It was all very, very weird.

Saw lot's of random things at broadway and then we walked right across times square without realizing it and ended up at 49th street where we planned to turn back from =S On Broadway, the streets are mostly "No Car Zones" which I find really cool - there are random chairs all along the road so people can just sit and chill in the middle of the road =S

Anywayy, fast forward to today!

We had a day long workshop with the guys from 350.org which are basically this group of youths who came together with the objective of spreading the word that 350 parts per million of CO2 in the air is the cut off point and not 450 ppm as what everyone seems to think. The Kyoto Protocol and all the countries are of the opinion that 450 ppm is safe but apparently latest research shows that 350 ppm is the way to go. You can read all about it at 350.org anyway, it's really cool youth movement.

So anyway, the workshop today was basically to give us the knowledge and the tools to spread the word about 350.org, their mission and their action day which is on the 24th October (yes, Jilly your bday) back in our countries. So we were taught how to convince people to join our cause, steps on running campaigns, how to get started spreading the message and ideas of what we can do to get to our leaders. All really cool stuff, hopefully we can work something out by the 24th in Malaysia...I know we're gonna try ;)

That was pretty much it today...after the workshop which ended at 5pm, went to the Museum of Modern Arts which was extreeeemmeeelyyyy weird =S Thank god it was free today, it wouldn't have been worth for me to go there coz I don't think I know how to appreciate these things much =/

After that, just bought dinner, came home, slept, woke up and blogged =)

I honestly think these posts bore the hell out of everyone but I wanna get it all down so, sorry!

Gotta go sleep now, gonna clean up NYC tomorrow, haha...as part of a service project!

Take care, missing all of you, missing home, can't wait to get back =)

Greetings from NYC!

2009-07-17T05:17:00.006+08:00

I have survived OBS! xD

It was a really one of a kind experience.....that I don't want to repeat but am glad to have had. It really teaches you things although you only realize it after. One of the main things was of course pushing your limits. I learnt a whole lot about the power of mental strength over there man. I mean hiking for 10 hours and kayaking for 3.5 hours does not equal fun and neither does sleeping in tents when it rains or carrying gallon bottles while hiking. But the point is that we all managed to do it which makes me wonder.....what exactly are my limits? How much further could I have gone? I now realize that I myself don't know my limits anymore because I've never reached them which means that there is so much more I can do, so much more I can push for...it's quite amazing to think of.

I will blog about OBS...soon in more detailed (not that you're very interested anyway, just for my records because this blog is my memory box anyway =/).

From the jungle to the concrete jungle within the span of two weeks! How bizarre can life get? I'm now, after braving forests, seas, rain and 19++ hours in a plane, in NEW YORK baby!

It was pretty tiring though coz my flight was at 2am the day I came back from OBS but it's okay, all is well now. Didn't do much yesterday coz of jet lag (it's a complete 12 hour reverse here =S) so we arrived, waited (for hours!) for our rooms, took a nap, had dinner and slept.

By the way, for those who didn't know, I'm here to attend the Youth Leadership Summit by The People Speak, UN Foundation coz we were top 6 in the world for the Global Debates competition....

Today was the first day of the conference - we went to the UN building and listen to two speeches. The first was by Gillian Sorenson (read her bio, really cool) who talked a lot about the UN and what they do then the 2nd was by the Director of the Environment Management Group Secretariat who talked about climate change, efforts done by the UN to combat it and problems that arise when trying to solve the problem. Both really interesting although the 2nd one appealed more to me because I was more interested in the topic.

After that each school displayed the stuff they had done for the competition and whilst this was going on, schools were being this Spanish lady who was really informative and friendly...learnt quite a bit about the UN through that. Pictures will come up....another day =S

cool structure outside the UN building

During the tour she explained about how the UN Millennium Goals and what are being done to achieve those goals and for the 1st which to end poverty and hunger she showed us this special packet of liquid peanut butter sort of substance that has essential nutrients in it and is specially formulated so that it is safe to eat even by those will severe malnutrition. It was really cool coz she said that while people who have malnutrition tend to reject food after a long time of not eating, this substance will not be rejected by the body, is absorbed quickly and can cure malnutrition if taken twice a day for 6 weeks. The cost of one packet? USD$0.17.

She also showed us this special mosquito net that if put around a person will repel mosquitoes and kill the mosquitoes if they touch it (I think it's covered in insecticide). It was made for countries prone to malaria to stop the spread of the disease. Cost? USD$10.00.

After the tour, the events for the day were officially over and well, I'm in the lobby now surfing. Later I'm probably gonna walk around the area and have dinner then sleep =) Tomorrow should be more fun...there'll be workshops and stuff so looking forward to it! I'll update again tomorrow.

Before I end just wanna spread the word about these two webs www.freerice.com and www.nothingbutnets.net/. The first is to donate rice by answering questions and the other is to buy those mosquito nets for those who need it. Check it out ;)

Well, I should end now, get ready for dinner etc. Take care everyone, can't wait to get back home.

UN Head Quarters New York

Okay, okay....

2009-07-02T14:46:00.002+08:00

Alright, sorry for the extremely lame way of informing that I'm going to be head girl in U6 xD

I just couldn't think of a way to say it that wouldn't seem so.......cocky? In a way =(

But anyway yeah, with great power comes great responsibility, haha. looking forward to the new term. I must admit though, I am feeling insecure and incompetent and I do have my doubts about myself but then I'll try to stay as positive as I can and I know that there'll always be people there to back me up when I'm at a valley so I think....I'll be okay. I'll get over this insecurity eventually.

But for now, yes I have a head, yes I am a girl =P

drumroll

2009-07-01T19:22:00.001+08:00

It's official....

I now know that I will have a HEAD and will definitely be a GIRL when I'm U6 xD

Go figure =)

Of nights and days....

2009-06-30T17:29:00.003+08:00

Installation Night went well...*ahem ahem who organized it ahem* =P

No lah, it was because of everyone involved so a big spank you to everyone in the committee!

It was outdoors and it was all so prettyyyyy! Only glitch was the PA system that sucked coz it kept cutting of power of the mic whenever the singers sang loud -.-" which pretty much ruined all my performances coz they're good singers who have powerful voices =S

Oh well. It's okay.

I feel light.....and happy mainly because there's nothing to be unhappy or worried about. I mean there are but it's all usual stuff you know... it feels like things are going good. It can only get better. Generally I mean...there will be downs but I have my support and that's all I'll ever need.

=) Life.

Ho Hum

2009-06-24T15:40:00.003+08:00

Life is alright...

I had a hair cut, it's short, lol.

Going to OBS, quite excited, a bit nervous, very scared of leeches etc O.O

Installation dinner this Sunday, going to perform...guitar I mean. Really cool performances: Breakeven (we added a rap part to it! Super awesome xD), Everywhere (Michelle Branch) and Say it Again (Marie Digby). All not sung by me so don't worry skies will be clear....they better be since the function is outdoor =/

Speech day next Saturday, gonna do a tap dance, pretty nervous =/

New York very soon, looking forward to it...minus the H1N1 bit.

There, just thought I'd update =D

Felt like placing a random photo =P
I was very tempted to put this up on the prefects board but decided against it coz people might not recognize me so I settled for a more normal one *grins*

A Knight For A Princess

2009-06-19T23:42:00.019+08:00

Good times....

Shereen, Zoe, Sam, Nadhirah

Voon Hui, Anisa

Allia =D

Chien Yee, Sam

Zoe - Ms "Organized" indeed =P

Jinho

On the dance floor after prom =)

Nicholas who I'm going to miss ='(

Chien Yee

Sarah Amalina who surprised me by attending =D

Jian Ming who hit the dance floor xD

Tian Huey the Ass kicking head girl and Ms Sarah the Head of Sixth Form that makes my life happy =)

Ishmam - the one who made prom happen!

Nishyo - Ishmam's little puppy..ahem..I mean secretary =P

Melissa the awesome random one who will be going to NYC with me xD

Wei Jie

Ye Ru

Betty who sang like an angel xD

*ahem* The Three Blind Mice!

Jaclyn the sexy-phonist!

Elstan who rocked the dance floor! Woo hoo!

Aaron the apparent punk -.-"

Rubin who rocks! xD

Edwin

Edward the drama king =D

Hyo Thaek the stylish

Iskandar....who looks good in white =D

Azril....loving the hat!

Kelvin with a pink tie =)

Shih Yu who I'm proud of =')

Mr Hughes my Pure Maths teacher! Love the bow tie xD

Shareen

THE Tai! =D

Emily Tay

Jean!

Erick from Indonesia =D

Samuel Starlight (no seriously, that's his name =P)

Sya with the fake batik xD....<3 hehe

Look! Our tables! xD

Syadhisy...aww =)

Iffa <3

Sarina the drama queen!

Janani the best friend =)

* * *

I liked prom, it was really fun. Food was good, the company was awesome, the atmosphere was pleasant and the music was great. Can it get better than that...ever? =) Maybe if I had a date, haha but oh well, minor detail *grins* Wonder how the L6'ers next year will do it for us, hmmmm......

AAHHHHHHHHH!!!

2009-06-11T17:15:00.001+08:00

MEERRDDEEKKAAA!!!!!

xD

Things to do now......

1. Plan NY trip
2. UCAS Personal Statement
3. Plan I.U. Day (I'm IU Director for interact btw =])
4. Read up on the environment so don't look like a doofus in the youth summit, lol
5. Play badminton again O.O
6. Jog, jog, jog!
7. Tap Tap Tap xD
8. Reeeaaaddddd O.o
9. Finish Season 5 Grey's Anatomy =P
10. Chiiiillllllll like a chihuahua!

Wheeeee!!!!!

(this is a scheduled post by the way, hahaha. My exams ended at 5.15pm today...which is the time of the post xD)

"Religion is flawed because man is flawed"

2009-05-24T20:10:00.008+08:00

Actually right....life is pretty alright for me now. Except for the exams; some of which kinda sucked but other than that....I guess it's all okay.

I mean it could be worse =/

Anyway, I just realized that in the next two weeks I only have one paper which is this Tuesday -.-"

OMG I watched Angels and Demons yesterday and O.O IT WAS SUPER AWESOME!!!

I mean it didn't quite follow the book in certain parts but I think those parts were...well parts that were okay to leave out. And they did change certain things but it was in an okay way y'know. The main idea was there.

The computer graphics were mind blowing at the start when they were showing the formation of anti-matter O.O So so so so coooool!!!! xD

The Camerlango was exactly as how I pictured him: Very creepy kind of calm way of talking. And his eyes were gorgeous, lol. Oh oh, and how they murdered the Preferities was exactly how they described in the books. Everything was pretty much like it came out straight from the book. The urgency of getting from one place to another within the time and even the archive scene when they run out of oxygen. Tom Hanks is brilliant as usual...loving the dry humour xD

And not forgetting the fitting soundtrack that makes the whole experience even better! Really, I think half the excitement of watching is due to the soundtrack.

Definitely a must watch!

Goodbye for now!

Big Apple

2009-05-22T07:55:00.005+08:00

Whee, which means we're going to New York in July. How cool is that? I've never been there =)

Anyway, I smell cupcakes being baked in my head of 6th form's kitchen *sniff sniff sniff*

Most of my heavy papers are gone so it's quite chilled now but still a bit of exam fever which will end on the 11th of June.

What else.....nothing else I guess.

New York!

We'll be staying at the Millenium UN Plaza Hotel which has an amazing view! Check out their website xD

Okayy, I shall leave you with a video of Earth Day! xD

iFlu

2009-05-20T10:40:00.002+08:00

Ahhhh, Paper 2 Physics AS later in the afternoon and Statistics at night!!

I had fever over the weekend =(

I found and brought ALL of my old songs that I downloaded during my manic song downloading phase in form 2 =D

We're gonna be upper 6 next term! O.O

Exams end on 11th June xD

Prom is on 13th June =/

So many movies to watch!!

I can't download episode 22 and 23 grey's anatomy while I'm here!!! ='(

Gotta continue studying x|