Night Before Results

T'was the night before results,
And all through Penang,
PMR students
Lie in their beds.
While results were sent to schools by JPN,
Or at least I think so, I really don't care.

The students were nestled,
All snug in their beds,
While visions of straight As,
Danced in their heads.
Dreams and nightmares
Attacked our heads,
One after another woke up drenched in cold sweat.

All over Penang, even teacher's weren't spared,
Dreams of 'Purata 2.0' gave them quite a scare,
Away to the kitchen, for some strong herbal tea,
Given on Christmas by Aunt McBee.
Fine, I'm kidding, I tend to exaggerate,
Please don't hit me, I tend to bruise real quick.
The syllables in this song are getting really wild,
It's not sounding like The Night Before Christmas anymore.

Right I better get right back on the track,
10 am tomorrow, we will gather.
Some will shout and squeal in delight,
While others will moan all through the night.
How was BM, and English and also Science and Maths?
How bout KH, and Geo and Sejarah and Islam?
From 300 word essays to 60 objective questions,
Now hurry up, hurry up, we can't wait no more.

3 am past, and an hour more,
We still lie awake, partly cos' our sisters snore.
Where did the blissful month go,
When we 'holidayed' our life away, it seemed barely a mo',
Now one week remains, and back into school,
That is if we're still alive,
Once our parents are done with us.

This is turning to be one really long song,
And I have to get going for a haircut now,
So I'll cut this short just like my hair,
And wish everyone all the luck I can spare.
See you tomorrow, early and bright,
May we all hopefully be screaming to our hearts delight.
Merry Christmas,
And good night.

*Ahem*
Yeah, someone had nothing better to do... =p
Good luck and best wishes to all, anyway. :-)

Happy Holidays

Am I not spending enough time on TV or are they not showing this on Astro?

Watch out for Carmine's snort... -falls over laughing-

Travel Ramblings of a Mentos Addict, Part 5

Ok, I better just post this up quick before Jessica gives me the silent treatment. Heh, which is the latest fad nowadays when you think about it. (Like I said, 'Teacher, we can't help you with the SPBT books anymore. We're not talking to each other due to Kitaro and casinos and wineries...')

Final day in Australia. The week flew by. This last day is going to be spent on Great Ocean Road, which has the greatest collection of natural rock formations I've ever seen. I'll even say that even if they weren't the only rock formations I've ever seen...

Once again, we rise early in the morning and climbed onboard the bus for another long journey across the great lands of Australia. Remember our Form 2 Geography book that says Australia is a country that is 'kurang penduduk'? Darn right. Maybe the sheep and cows actually outnumber the humans...

After a long while, we arrived for a fish and chip lunch (western food! Finally!) and a shop in a small town. The lady in charge sure got up on the wrong side of bed that day... :-p.

Then, Great Ocean Road, where each formation is more amazing than the next.

As you stand there, at the top of the cliffs, and look down at the furious waves, slamming against the rocks, and feel the cold ocean breeze... (and swat at a bunch of flies) then you realize how the little things seem just that. Little.
And forgive me for saying but I'd like to give a few grumbling people onboard the bus a big telling off for thinking all this scenery isn't worth their time climbing down from the bus to see. (Shopping, I ask you! Why buy pleasures when you can witness all these beauty for free??) But hey, that's just me.

First stop was the 12 Apostles (the way our tour leader pronounced it... I could've choked... 'apotions'). These '12' limestone rocks were previously known as the Sow and Piglets. Apparently the name wasn't glamorous enough so they changed the name to the 12 Apostles. Now, don't bother counting. These are limestone rocks, and as we learn in Geography, hakisan ombak is at work. There are only 7 or so left.
The Twelve Apostles

One of the lookout points

Next, was the Loch Ard Gorge. This one was named after a ship, Loch Ard, (Duh... :-P) carrying 54 people aboard on a journey from England to Melbourne. But the ship capsized and 52 of the passengers died. Only two 18-year-olds survived and found shelter in a cave. Very Robinson Crusoe...

Lastly, was the London Arc. Previously known as the London Bridge, looking like it's namesake in London, one of the arcs broke off and collapsed back in 1990, (leaving a couple of tourists stuck on the remaining arc... they had to be saved by helicoptor later... XD) and so it was renamed London Arc.London Arc... imagine being stuck on that remaining piece for hours...

Our tour leader told us to keep the pictures safe, as word is this remaining arc might be falling apart soon, so we could get a lot of money from the original picture. Heh.

Long drive back to town to a souvenier shop where everyone spent a small fortune. And then to dinner, at the Crown Casino. Another buffet meal where more than one stomach (and filled wallet) was needed. The place was packed. Again, very Vegas-like, filled with slot machines for lucky people to win money, only to spend it all away on the designer brand shops lined up on the ground floor.

After that, time to bid Melbourne farewell and off we go to the airport for the late night flight back to Singapore, then home sweet home, where I slept most of the weekend away. :-)

Gotta love the holidays.

Note: Thanks Jess, for helping me upload the photos... bwahahahahahahahahah!

Travel Ramblings of a Mentos Addict, Part 4

Day Four

Whoops... took me a long while to get this up... heh. But hey, it’s up now.

So, first day in Melbourne, where the weather was thankfully tons cooler, but that does not deter the flies... obviously...

Our first stop was Victoria Market, where they sold everything from fruits to T-shirts. Just when you thought there were plenty of nice souvenirs to take home, you flip that key chain over and lo and behold, Made in China. But still, there were plenty of fascinating things to see.

After an hour there, which sadly wasn’t enough for many, (that’s the Malaysian shopping spirit!) we headed for the Melbourne Aquarium, which wasn’t really all that cool. Kind of over rated. The Penang one had tons more fish. But, yes, Jess... plenty of sharks in captivity. J

Then, onwards in the City Tour to the likes of the Parliament House, St Patrick Cathedral, Art Museums and a really nice park (Melbourne is called the Garden City as there are really a lot of gardens and parks...) where Captain Cook’s parent’s cottage was located.

Toilet break for all as we’ll be journeying on yet another long road trip towards Phillip Island. By now, highways are fairly predictable... cows... fields... horses... fields... more cows... more fields... and bundles upon bundles of rolled up hay.

After plenty of snoozing and developing stiff necks, we stopped at a winery for a wine tasting session. I can’t say ‘yum’ cos’ it wasn’t to me. I think Phaik Chern would have enjoyed it though... heheh.

Everyone climbed back onto the bus a short while later, some more tipsy than others, and after an hour or so, we stopped for dinner at a restaurant just outside the bridge towards Phillip Island. Lobster baybeh! Ok, fine... half-a-lobster-each baybeh!

Finally, we arrived at our destination. Just in time to watch the Penguin Parade. In fact, more than in time. We were a good hour ahead of them. A good freezing cold hour.

The penguins here are the tiny types. No more than a foot high. What happens is mummy and daddy take turns going out at day break, hunting for fish. They return at sundown (hence, Penguin Parade) to the sight of hundreds of excited tourists staring and pointing at them, and return to their burrows.

One wonders, as one stands with jacket fully zipped up and hands stuck in pockets in the make-shift stadium-like area where everyone sits to watch the penguins come home, just how much money these people were making off these innocent penguins.

One wonders, why so many people would come all the way from Melbourne (3 and a half hours away) and wait out in the cold for hours just to watch 5 minutes of tiny creatures waddling up the beach.

One wonders whether ones hands have frozen in ones pockets yet.

And then, when the penguins come up, and one gets so close to them that one could touch them, ones heart simply melts into pure mush. And it’s all worth it. It’s really all one can do to restrain from catching one and stuffing it under ones jacket and take it all the way home to Malaysia. Heh.

Promo pic I found online... but nothing beats seeing them in person... uh... penguin... whatever...

Sadly, I couldn’t take any pictures. Cameras and hand phones weren’t allowed as the people in charge are afraid the fame and glory of getting their pictures taken so often will make the penguins conceited and demand a share of profits.

Ok, just kidding, it’s because of the flash from the camera that could frighten or blind the penguins.

Good ol' Tony... "Heheh... better check, Nick, or else... Vroom... Creaaakkkeeee!!!"

Ok.. hands up, who winced?? I did.

Another long journey back home in the dark of the night, where we placed all our faith in our bus driver, (Nick) to get us back to our warm hotel beds safe and sound.

Next: Last day, mounds of rocks.

Travel Ramblings of the Mentos Addict, Part 3

Day Three

Sydney city tour. First stop was the Sydney Fish Market. It smells of… duh… fish. But there are plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables as well, along with every kind of cheese in the world, (including a kind called Edith… hehe… tell your sister, Esther.) lobsters, crabs, oysters… seafood haven.

It’s summer time, and it’s hot. Even hotter than in Malaysia… seriously. And of course, flies, flies, and more flies. A walk along Darling Harbour came next. Hot. Nuff’ said.

Next was the building everyone knows, Sydney Opera House. No entry. We just snapped quick pictures outside and quickly hunted down any place there was shade (Umbrellas and a large sign board were among such places…). A little boy from our tour group went missing for awhile and panic ensued. Not sure whether the boy’s parents or our tour leader, Tony, felt more panicked. Hehe.

After that, all aboard on Captain Cook’s cruise ship around the harbour. Captain Cook, by the way, was the guy who brought the first ‘Aussies’ into Australia. Mind you, they were convicts.

Not the best part of the holiday, as I was hit with another round of nausea. So, lesson learnt… rocking ships and A380s… not for me.

Ah… Bondi Beach. Some of you might know what this place is famous for, and for those who don’t, you can guess. It’s to do with a beach, and PG18 material.

Unfortunately, (or should I say fortunately??) it was near evening and the weather cooled down, perhaps a little too cold for any in-the-buff beachwear, so don’t worry, nobody saw anything they shouldn’t. Bwahaha.

Of course, that didn’t stop the males on our tour group, (especially Tony…) from spouting all kinds of PG13 jokes…

Ok, ok… on the right! Ladies, no need to look…

Nah! Nah! On the left! Men, no need to look…

Yeesh…

Dinner was at Star City Hotel. The huge buffet dinner makes you wish you had four more stomachs to sample everything. And after finding out the price for the dinner, you damn well wish you did have four more stomachs to eat its worth.

There was also a casino. Very Vegas. (grins) Although the rules clearly state under-18s were not allowed, I got in anyway, after a quick passport ID with those big, burly, bald headed, bouncer type guards.

That’s all for Sydney. We head for the airport for our local flight to Melbourne. The flight was delayed for quite awhile thanks to incoming storms. But thankfully, we arrived safe and sound in Melbourne. And, in contrast to that afternoon, it was freezing. A good 10 degrees. On to the hotel and off to bed. The next two days in Melbourne made me wonder whether it really was summer in Australia or not.

Next: Penguins! Squeeeeeeee!

Sorry... not pics again. Bad connection...

Travel Ramblings of the Mentos Addict , Part 2

Parliment House, the most expensive building in Australia.

Day Two

I started ambitiously writing what happened during the day every night in the hotel. It worked for Day One. By Day Two, I gave up. Tiredness! Not lack of discipline, Jessica.

Woke up bright and early for the hotel buffet breakfast. Sure beats bread and peanut butter at home. Onwards to the Koala Park Sanctuary. Koalas are even lazier than us 15 year olds. They sleep pretty much three quarters of their day away. They don’t need water, and if they’re not sleeping, they’re munching away on the eucalyptus leaves. What a nice life… XD

Also got to see tiny penguins, (but I’ll talk more about that when I talk about Phillip Island) kangaroos, a very angry peacock and cuddled a humongous wombat. Also, there was a sheep sheering demonstration but no one could really understand what the guy was saying, as his accent was so darn thick. More like, “So ya mrghh-hrggh-furgh-tha-grggh…”

Then of course we clambered back on the bus, smelling of ammonia and dung.

Oh, and one thing I have to mention. The flies. Those bloody creatures are everywhere. Regardless whether you bathed or otherwise, they’ll still come to you, buzzing in your ear and in front of your face. Waving one’s arms furiously in front of one’s face soon became a sort of secret greeting gesture…

The angry peacock, hissing and picking on the poor ... whatever that creature is...

Next stop, ah… the Blue Mountains. We got to sit the world’s steepest railway, the Scenic Railway as it plunges us down to the bottom level of the mountains with a 52° incline down 545 meters. Huzzah.
If you look closely, the darker area there... that's the railway.

And no sooner do you get off the train-thingy… railway thingy… whatever… you get treated to the one of the most spectacular sights, the Three Sisters Rock.

Now listen up, story-telling time, with help from Tony the tour leader and wikipedia… ahem.

The Three Sisters is a formation of sandstone rocks, caused by erosion over the ages. (Geography…) But naturally, there is a legend behind the Three Sisters just to make things more interesting…

There were once three very beautiful Aborigine sisters. They each fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe. Of course, marriage was forbidden by tribal law, so a fight broke out. To protect the three sisters, a witch doctor turned them into stone. But he was killed in battle and no one else knew how to turn them back. So here they are, still stuck as stone today.

And Tony added that the tiny little rock beside the three was the youngest, fourth sister. She was the naughty one, who always went out when she shouldn’t, til’ late hours of the night, so the witch doctor turned her to stone too… Heh. Don’t believe him.

The Three Sisters. (And the fourth baby one on the far right... :-) )

After that, we walked through the forest and took a cable car back up to the top.

Next stop was Echo Point, for the best view of the Blue Mountains. Heights do not deter flies, as we were once again attacked by them.

And for the record Jess, the Blue Mountains were blue when I was there:

Why are the Blue Mountains blue? The blue haze is of a different hue and deeper than anywhere else in the world. It is caused by the Eucalyptus trees emitting oil vapour into the atmosphere along with fine dust particles and droplets of water vapour. They scatter the blue light more than any other colour in the spectrum.

What an expert I am, eh?

Ok… fine… that came word for word from a Blue Mountain guide book mum took from the hotel…

Back to town, with a quick stop at the Olympic Stadium, for toilets and photographs.

Then, back to the hotel. Some went out walking around town, but good ol’ Mentos Addict and Tangerine & Ginger flavoured Hacks Lover stayed in our room, watching NCIS and Numb3rs… Heh.

Tomorrow: City Tour in Sydney. Where the weather is hot and flies aplenty.

Travel Ramblings of the Mentos Addict, Part 1

After a week in lovely Australia, I'm back. Well... technically, it's more like five days, four nights, seeing that two more nights were spent on the plane... nasty advertising tactics...

Neways, I'm back in one piece.... although all slush on the inside from exhaustion. But slept the whole afternoon so I'm 'almost' back to normal.

I'm Mentos-Addict, due to the 3 tubes of Mentos brought along on the trip, which me and my mum, Tangerine-and-Ginger-flavoured-Hacks-Sweets-Lover (called that for obvious reasons...), chomped down unmercifully throughout the trip. Heh. I'm serving these posts in bite sizes, or else I'll be typing all day...

Day One (Or should I say, night one?)

Met up with our 21 other tour group members at the airport at 4 pm, as well as our tour leader. 24 in total. First, off to Singapore's Changi airport. Then, aboard the, can you believe it, Airbus A380, only on it's 3rd voyage to Sydney.

But honestly, other than the fact that it is of course, HUGE, there's not really anything else that is special. Ok, I'm saying that cos' I was attacked by nausea throughout the flight and I'm grumpy cos' I was in no condition to enjoy any of the hundreds of music albums and shows they have (including CSI and CSI NY.. ish...)

So, after about 8 hours of sitting uncomfortably in a glazed trance, trying not to gag everytime meals were served, as well as enduring the woman who was blowing her nose in regular intervals behind me, the guy who was coughing consistently in the seat somewhere in front, an the baby who cried all night long, we finally arrived in Sydney, 7 am local time (3 hours ahead of Malaysian time).

No rest for the weary. Off we go through 2 hours of getting through customs, and an hour of waiting for our bus driver, Bill. Finally, we're on our way on a 3 and a half hour journey to Canberra.

Canberra, is the capital of Australia. Stop thinking it's Sydney. Turns out, Sydney and Melbourne were fighting over who gets to be the capital, so they decided to pick somewhere else to develope into the capital instead.

Bill is one jolly guy with quite a thick accent. One hilarious thing was Tony, our guide (whose English ain't too hot), had a hard time understanding him, and vice versa. So one would ask the other a question, and the other will either not reply or answer something completely different.
But they bonded anyway, referring to each other as 'my boy' and 'my man' everytime. XD

Everyone pretty much zonked throughout the journey to Canberra, waking up with stiff necks.
First stop, was the Cockington Green Gardens, filled with minatures of people, buildings and what not. Amazing detail. There were tiny golf courses, villages, football stadiums, castles... you name it. Outside the Cockington Green Gardens

Next stop is the Parliment Building, the most expensive building in Australia. We got to go inside and take a look around. Saw the potrait of ex-Prime Minister, William McMahon, as in Julian McMahon's (of Charmed and Nip/Tuck) dad. Cool or what? Also, we went to the War Memorial, what can I say? It's cooler than the Penang one. Hehe... But as we were 2 hours behind schedule, there wasn't much time to look around. Onwards to Embassy Road, where we got to see all the different embassies, including Malaysia, of course. :-)

Finally, we head back to Sydney, another long bus journey. The hotel bed never looked so good. Zonked out immediately.

Day 2: Blue Mountains.

Will upload more photos later. Connection is nuts right now...

Gila-gila Mentos signing off!

On Hiatus

'I'm leaving on a jet plane... dunno when I'll be back again...'

This darn tune won't stay out of my head.

So you won't see me anywhere around here for the rest of the week, cos' I'm off to Jesse Spencer's hometown. Doubt he's there of course...

Ok, let me clear things up with you guys...

Jo wants me to smuggle a joey home, in reference to what some people call her, "Joey"..

Phaik Chern also wants kangaroos, preferably a pair, so she can breed them and start a kangaroo farm that will be featured in the Star Metro section.

Jess, of course, wants me to smuggle back a cute Aussie guy for her.

Tricia, I'll scout Trinity College for you and warn them all of your arrival in December.

Hope that's everything...

Happy Holidays!!

Got tagged...

Heh. For the first time, I've been tagged. Thanks, Maria... :-p

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4.
- In seconds he bounded back up wearing a satchel of tools. Reader's Digest August 1999

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch?
- The mirror...

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
- House. On Monday night. And it's Saturday today... YOIKS! One hour of TV a week..
who knew?

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
- 8.50 am.

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
- 9.00 am... not bad... :-p

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
- Rain drops outside. And the whirring fan...

7. When did you last step outside?
- Yesterday. To Tesco...

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
- Was at You Tube, watching the latest DL developements on CSI NY... Hence the updated quotes>>>>>>>>>

9. What are you wearing?
- 3 quarter pants and shirt. Geez... what kinda question is this?

10. Did you dream last night?
-Oh geez... I don't remember...

11. When did you last laugh?
- This morning, watching Danny and Lindsay bantering about catapults on You Tube...

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
- CSI Season 4 poster, CSI Season 5 poster, CSI NY Season 3 poster. *cackle* Waiting for Carmine Giovinazzo poster...

13. Seen anything weird lately?
- Danny and Lindsay bantering about catapults on You Tube... -somebody stop me... lol-

14. What do you think of this quiz?
- Like Maria said, it's not a quiz... more of a questionaire... and it's fine.

15. What is the last film you saw?
- I think it was the Seeker... on October 5th... yoiks.. where have I been???

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
- CSI merchandise, completely-up-to-date. Ooh, and a nice Gibson acoustic guitar...

17. Tell me something about you that I don’t know:
- Who's 'I'? Different people don't know different things... muahaha.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
- Make them cancel all post-PMR programs and let us play UNO all day long instead. Ohhh... the world? No wars, less garbage and more CSI NY merchandise to reach Pulau Pinang. :D

19. Do you like to dance?
- Depends on the dance...

20. George Bush:
- I know Phaik Chern's weird plans concerning him, but other than that, I got nothing...

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
- Always liked the name 'Haylie'... but I would go for Aiden too!

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
- Uh.... DUH..... Danny!!!

23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
- Yes.

24. 4 people who must also do this in THEIR blog/journal:

- I don't know all that many people... um... Esther. Jo. Phaik Chern (tho' you said you didn't want to already, rite? but nvm.. heh.) And Mr. Stranded-on-an-Island. You know who you are. :-)I can't believe you won't let me shoot!
We'll be here all day...

Of Forts and Fish

And I call myself a Penangite. After 15 years of my life on this tiny island, I never knew there was such thing as a War Museum and Aquarium in Penang til' today.

Finally, a post-PMR school activity that doesn't involve sitting on the hall floor until one's legs go into full rigor mortis, and eyes don't glaze over at staring at some slide from the computer.

'Lawatan Sambil Belajar's are always fun. There's something nice about sitting in a bus with your classmates off to visit someplace. Today was no exception. 39 students and 2 teachers were packed off to the War Museum in Batu Maung.

Now, this is the best way to learn History. Rather than cramming pages upon pages of text into our heads, we get great exercise and a fun experience. And yeah, we learn a little something-something as well.

The War Museum was once a fort built by the British from 1930 to 1939. No wonder it took nine years to build... this place is a fair size. We walked for a couple of hours, providing breakfast for the tropical rain forest mosquitos. We got to see tunnels that were 100 feet underground, places where cannons once were, ammunation the size of a medium-sized dog, torture chambers, soldier barracks and offices.

Equipped with torchlights, we got to go through two tiny tunnels that had walls 4 feet thick, which were used for hiding during attacks.

Definitely not for the claustrophobic.

And I learnt a valuable lesson to keep my torch light aimed in front, so that I don't ram into a wall before I actually see it. Also, I learnt not to be possessed by fear so deep that I want to race out of the tunnel ASAP, leaving my poor torchlight-less classmates screaming in the pitch dark.

Heh. Ok... I'm exaggerating. But I'm not kidding when I say the dialogue while in the tunnel went like this:

A (with torchlight): Woah...
B, C, D (holding on to each other's waists for guidance, like a human train): Woah!
B: AHHHHH!!!! Don't WALK SO FAST!!!!
C & D: WAIT!!!!!!!!!
A: OK! OK! (slows down) Turn coming! Watch out!
C (Head hits the low ceiling for the 5th time): Ow...
(seconds past)
B, C, D: AHHHHHH!!!!!!!! DON'T WALK SO FAST!!!!!
A: OK! OK! Solly!

Yeah... something like that.

On the whole, a really great trip. A few things were a little disturbing, like the sex crimes, torture chambers, Yamashita Tomoyuki's boots at the spot he was hung... things that make you think how darn lucky you are to be born a good forty years later.

Now that we've had enough of guns, we head towards the Aquarium, to feast our eyes on fish and corals. God's beautiful creations. Blue, yellow, blue with yellow stripes, etc. Also, we see the impact of Pixar on everyone. Every surgeon fish and clown fish we see is affectionately referred to as Nemo and Dory.

And along with Ms Koay, we mixed and matched the fishes in the aquariums with the ones displayed on the directory. (Some were mysteriously missing though...)

A: Ok, see if you can find the black ribbon eel!
B, C, D stares for a while: THERE! THERE! THERE! (points frantically)

Aren't we an enthusiastic bunch?

What a day. Tomorrow will be another field trip. This time, to the USM museum and gallery. Wheeee!

Holiday Time

Time flies. It's already Thursday, school resumes on Monday. Which means, the 'fun-filled' events they have set for us post PMR students will resume. Starting off with the Prefect Speech. For anyone who wants to ask me (again), no... I haven't finished my 3-minute speech, and no... I haven't even started. Yoiks... it's Thursday... uh-oh...

What's up with this speech-making session anyway? Everyone has already made up their minds on who they're voting for... and I'm sure they're quite aware they are voting for the next generation of prefects who are gonna hunt down their wrong-doings... but that's besides the point. And I kinda pity all of us... having to sit through 48 3-minute speeches... that's like 144 minutes... that's more than 2 hours!

But this is of course training us to speak in front of huge crowds (Just in case one day we plan to lead a rebellion one day and we need to convince others to join us...). But I don't care what the BM proverb says about 'alah bisa tegal biasa'... no matter how many times one does it, it's still one heck of a scary experience anyway.

And if we make it through all that, we still have to face the discipline teachers as they bombard us with questions on who-knows-what. Which is scarier? A hoard of Form 3 students, or sitting across Mr. Oung and Pn Latha, completely unarmed? I'll let you decide.

My point is... actually no, I don't really have a point to this.

This Prefect elections have been a part of CGL um... tradition since, well, as far as anyone can remember. Every year we see the colourful 'Vote for Me' posters being hung up on the bulletin board, and it's quite a nice feeling to be able to finally be part of it. (no matter how scary...)

So, I'll just wish all the best to all the other 47 candidates (whose speeches are in much better condition than mine, I'm sure... :-P), come Monday, let us impress everyone with our speech making skills. Or die trying...

Nah... I'm kidding.
------------------------------

Hmm... letters that end with NY... any, many, uncanny, nanny, zany... ooh! Danny! XD

Another 'Milestone'

PMR has been over for a week. Form 1 to 3 textbooks can officially be thrown into the furnace or burned in a bonfire celebration... or be environmental friendly... recycle! Heh. In a way, when we handed up our Geography papers on Friday morning, we had actually finished another 'milestone' (so to speak) of student life. Next stop? SPM.

And it seems not so long ago we were just stepping into SMK CGL in new bright blue pinafores, unsure of where Secondary School life is going to lead us. And I'm sure it wasn't that long ago where we were still clinging onto our mothers as the as the teachers' taught us how to recite the Rukun Negara.

I still remember I was among the handful that had no idea what was going on, and when the prefect asked us to 'angkat tangan kanan', I raised my hand high up amidst laughter from parents... Now you know.........

And yet, here we are, halfway into Secondary School life with a mere two years left.

When revision floods us up to our necks, or when we are receiving a hard whallop from teachers, or when fights among the best of friends are occuring, school sure doesn't feel the least bit fun. But I've been told many times by the people who had already left school that school life is the best of all.

Darn right. Who can forget the days when PMR was drawing closer, where lessons were no longer held, and everyone sat anywhere they wanted, pencils and workbooks in hand... though whether more revision or more talking about pointless things were done, is anyone's guess.
We laugh over anything and everything until we double over in pain and tears flowing down our cheeks. Effective stress reliever, no?

Entering Form Four has never loomed so clearly over us. This past week, teachers had explained to us the new subjects, explained about then Arts and Science streams, personality tests and so on. And of course, prefect election campaigns are also going on.

In short, it's going to be a whole new, different world. But at the same time, a lot of things remain the same. Friends... exam stress... competition stress... and, well, love for CSI NY. ;-P

I'm gonna love each moment,
Of every day and night,
I'll look back to the past,
With the sweetest smile.
-The Journey, 911-

Oh, and Selamat Hari Raya!

Bless Us All...

So our PMR trials have just finished, and now it is time for the final stretch... the homerun... the final battle... the.... ok, I'll stop.

So, study hard, this final month, and don't forget to take healthy breaks in between, or else, you'll start producing work like these:


*sigh* good luck to us all.

Oh, and if I ever muster enough courage, I'll do one of those sums above to show Pn Chang... or even Ms Lee... lolz...

And um.... eh-heh-heh... just for advertisement's sake....



Next Monday! That's the 10th of September, at 10 o'clock, on AXN. ;-)
High School Musical 2, the TV event of the year?? BAH! Make way, Troy! Mac Taylor coming through!

Heh... but's that purely a matter of opinion, of course...

Anyway, Martina McBride

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothing
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway...

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway...

God is great but sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This worlds gone crazy
And it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway...

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
love 'em anyway...

God is great but sometimes life aint good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yeah I do it anyway...

You can pour your soul out singin'
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yeah sing it anyway...

I sing
I dream

I love anyway, yeah.

The Great 5-0

Merdeka month is here. We're 50 this year, and for some reason, this number is super special and Merdeka celebrations are threated with extra hype. I don't know why... I mean, isn't every year special in it's own way, whether it's 49, 33, 76, 12? Each year is a great blessing that our country's getting older in a good way. Why is 50 apparently more special than the other years? Cos' the number is more 'sui'? More rounded, more easily divided??

Ah well... that's just me. :-p

'Neways, a competition between schools is going on to see which school can decorate their schools nicest. Ex-headmistress, Pn Sharifah's words have never ever left us. "Whatever we do, we do it well." And heck, yeah, we did it darn well.

Anyone who had passed our school these past few days will do double-take in surprise. I'm telling ya', if a guy's parachute failed him, and he fell into our school, he won't hit the hard solid ground. No, he will get tangled up in the strings and strings of flags we have strung across the buildings. We even got featured in the newspapers! A short article on 'Student's Show Love for the School'. When we read it, especially certain parts on how patriotic we were, we went, "Really meh?" Such is the 'dedication' of us warga CGL.

But nothing says 'dedication' (or stupidity?) more than spending the whole day in school decorating our classroom.

Every class was given a Jalur Gemilang to photostate, colour, and hang all over our class. At least those were the orders given. We, being 3 Biru, could only bring ourselves to obey 2 out of 3. We photostated the flags (we... ok... fine, I went overboard with the number of copies and now I dunno what to do with the spares...), coloured them beautifully like all Malaysian youngsters should, but we didn't hang them all over the place with rafia string. Nope. Instead, we snipped off their edges, and made a bee-yoo-ti-ful border for our notice board.

This is either called 'inovative', or 'order-defying'.

But it came out nice anyway. Articles of sorts were posted up. You know, our 5 Prime Ministers, monumental buildings and what not. Then, Nadzira came up with this smart idea of using colour paper to cut out the words 'Happy 50th Birthday Malaysia'.

Notice how these things are so much easier said than done? We diligently drew the letters onto the colour paper. Or should I say, Jo and I attempted to draw them diligently while Jessica fixed all our 'wonkey' curves and lines, shaking her head tiredly.

Then, Jessica did some funky patterns on the letters. We started off with the first letter fine, 'H'. The red colour went really nicely with the black sugar paper.

Then, 'A' went up nicely as well.

And, as most things do, it went wrong.

'P' was next. After I snipped out the many funky patterns, leaving a abstractly classy 'P', I got out of my seat and took a step foward, looking down at the yellow 'P'.

My thoughts: Waitaminute... this ain't right...

I flipped it over a few times, suddenly realizing that it was laterally inverted.

Nadzira: Oh... no....
Jo: Oh-oh......
Jess:*long pause* NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! *thumps head on the table*

So all our symmetrical letters were fine, but the 'S', 'Y', '5' and all the other non-symmetrical letters were facing the wrong way.

Can you believe it, 7 brains were working on this for more than two hours, and not a single one of us noticed the error.

So by the end of today, only the word 'HAPPY' went up. Wonder what the afternoon girls will make of it... heh.

That's the way the cookie crumbles. Tomorrow will be another day where we attempt to finish our 'masterpiece'.

Oh, and I commited an offence that could lose me my citizenship. For the dots of the 'I's, we used the stars of the Jalur Gemilang. Guess who had the honour of snipping our national flag into pieces?

I wouldn't be surprised if I get sent to Thailand to live with Chin Peng soon.


Gotta go now. Hope that little piece up there brightened your day. ;-D

Essay Writing Competition

Waaaaaaaay back in February, eight of us in class answered Ms Leong's call to take part in the Royal Commonwealth Essay Writing Competition. Three of us got through to send in our entries, me being one of them.

Sports not entirely being my forte, I was extremely elated when I got this chance to compete in a competition on writing skills. Commonwealth level somemore leh... imagine the ko-kurikulum marks... muahaha.

For the past month, I've been checking the website for the results, to no avail, despite them stating that the results will be posted in July. (Which I intepreted as '1st of July' not '31st'... wouldn't you?)

Since sending in the essay, half the time I was so sure that I could win something, and the other half I kept wondering how the heck did I manage to write such a rubbish essay. But no doubt, wouldn't it be so great if I could actually win something, for the first time in my life, on my work alone, and not a team effort? (Not to mention the prize money, which is in pounds... *ka-ching* and the glory... *rolls eyes*) I mean, didn't I spend an entire weekend working on the essay? Friday was gone planning the essay, Saturday was spent writing it (Never before have I spent so long in front of the computer screen), and Sunday rechecking it again and again.

Today, I checked the website again, more out of habit than anything else.

I swear I nearly went into cardiac arrest when I saw the title '2007 results'. Fingers shaking so badly and heart thumping with excitement, I checked the winners list.

Nothing...

Turned to the Runner-ups list. Nothing...

Opened the individual country lists. Nothing...

Soo Li Ying from Form Five got a 'Commended' though, Congrats. ;-D

But she was the only CGL there.

I immediately relayed the news to Jolene and Jonie, the other two who took part. As I was sms-ing, I could feel my excitement dying down, only to be replaced by a deep sense of sadness and disappointment.

Sure, I realise that this is an 'antarabangsa' thing, and I'll be competing against the very best. Writers that far out-... well... -writes me. But all the same, I can't help but feel this gut-wrenching disappointment inside.

But of course, wise words that I've heard from various sources through the years immediately fill my head.

Win some, lose some... somebody's got to be in 1st place, somebody's got to be in last... try, try again...

And Jonie's really cute metaphore message that she just sent to me:

'We are like a pinch of sand from a long stretch of the beach. Other pinches may be better than us. Maybe we are from Batu Ferringhi and others are from Port Dickson... can menapis petroleum whereas Batu Ferringhi is just for picnics.'

You know, I can totally see the logic in that... lol.

There's still next year, and the next. And many, many more competitions to come. So, Jo, and Jo... (Geez... I keep forgetting you two have the same first syllable...) and the other thousand over people out there who didn't make the cut... we did out best. Time to wave the white flag and retreat. Time to go home and reload our gun ammunation and sharpen our swords.

We'll be back. *ka-shink!* (Arnold Swarze-however-you-spell-it style)

Oh, and to the winners, congratulations.

Anyone wanna read my essay? :-)

'It's not if you win or lose... it's how you play the game'

The Cute Doggy

Tricia! I finally uploaded the video!

This video that I took during the SPCA camp ought to be sent in to America's (or should I say, Malaysia's) funniest animal videos.

Note: Holly was not harmed in the making of this video.. Irritated maybe, but certainly not harmed. (Heck, who wouldn't be irritated with being disturbed while trying to sleep? I admire Holly's persistance though...)

My Daemon

Psyched Out

I have been avoiding the computer for quite a while now due to the fact that rumours were circulating that the PMR trials were very soon. But now, it's been cleared up to be after the holidays, so, naturally... I have shoved my thick KH book aside and made my way here!

There is a new TV show I'm hooked on:
Not that there will ever be a show that can overtake my loyalty to CSI NY, but this comes mighty close.

Psych is a show that's a mix between House, CSI and well... Madam Zora. Two episodes into the show, and I'm hopelessly addicted. This series revolves around Shawn Spencer, who comes from a family of detectives, but thanks to his over-playful attitude, had never had the aptitude to become one himself. Shawn has a totally cool gift of observation, and he uses his talent to pretend he is a psychic. Though sceptical at times (some more than others), the Santa Barbara Police Department hires Shawn and his reluctant best friend, Gus as a psychic consultant to solve crimes.

Psych completely contradicts the CSI mentality. CSI solves crimes by placing evidence before everything else, while Shawn goes around based on hunches. (Gil Grissom would cringe...) However, the crimes are just as interesting and the quotes are hilarious. Shawn is like a young version of Dr. Gregory House.

It's only been two episodes so far but watch one, and if you don't wish you had Shawn's observation skills by the end of it, you aren't normal. It airs on Wednesday nights on Star World at 9 (replacing Heroes). Catch it for mind-boggling cases, and a really good laugh.

And you gotta admit, a show whose name doesn't have any vowels in it is really cool! Psych... (It's fun to type!) Psych.. psych... psych.... *chortles*


At a big-deal spelling competition...

Man: Is everything ok up there?

Shawn: It's fine....Uh, Banana.

Contestant 118: Can you repeat that?

Shawn: Yes....Banana.

[mutterings of audience]

Gus: [whispering] Banana, Shawn? It's the third round!

Shawn: [whispering] You could have helped me!

Gus: [whispering] This is a debt Shawn. We're walking.

[They start to pack up the tripod]

Contestant 118: Definition please.

Shawn: [whispering] What?...[into microphone] A yellow fruit. Also, a kind of pudding. A delicious pudding.

[Gus & Shawn try to rush out the door]

Contestant 118: Sentence please.

[Shawn gestures to the contestant, then returns to chair]

Shawn: Anna Banana, would like to hear, Venus by Bananarama...Banana.

[laughter in audience]

Contestant 118: B-A-N-A-N-A, banana.

[next contestant steps up]

Shawn: ........ Onion.

[Gus peers over Shawn's shoulder and spots a pink paper on the table]

Gus: WHAT? You're using his GROCERY LIST!!!????

---------------------

Gus: You named your fake detective agency Psych? Why didn't you just call it 'hey we're fooling you and the police department; hope we don't make a mistake and somebody dies because of it.

Shawn: First of all, Gus, that name is entirely too long; it would never fit on the window. And secondly the best way you convince people you're not lying to them is to tell them you are!

For more hilarious quotes, check out the link on the side>>>>>>>>>>

Vivid Crimson signing off!
James Roday aka Shawn Spencer

It's a doggy-dog day

10 hours in the Youth Park open theatre taking care of 7 dogs has left me completely exhausted, as well as has given me a permanant dog scent. I'm telling ya... after a long bath, I still smell dogs...

What a day! It was absolutely tiring, but absolutely fun at the same time.

Sadly, I didn't get to see much of the activities of this one-day camp. The only things I saw were Aunty Rosy's dog demonstration and the PAA (Penang Dog Agility somethin' or other...) dog show. I didn't even get to see the other booths! For 90% of the time, I was confined at the back field, taking care of the dogs. I never had a pet dog in my life, and today, I have spent more time with dogs than I ever did for the past 15 years of my life. Needless to say, I got to know them all pretty well.

Jessica and I car-pooled there and we were the first to arrive. Within the next few minutes, we were joined by Huey Tien (another volunteer same age as us) and her dog, Bridget. We played our part in the food chain by being the mosquitoes' early breakfast feast. Tricia came soon after that and we had to set up the tables and hang the signs, banners and all that what nots. (Climbing again... as if Ms Koay's curtain torture yesterday wasn't enough...)

Tricia and I paired up on the Std Six Registration while Jess took Std Four. Not much to say here, just the usual 'banyak udang, banyak garam, banyak orang, banyak ragam' kinda thing with the parents and their kids. Quite a scare though, it rained for quite awhile. But thank goodness it was sunny for the rest of the day.

Then, onwards to the canine station. The dogs from the SPCA hadn't arrived yet, so we just played with Bridget, and fed the mosquitoes even more. Later, we got to watch Aunty Rosy and her dog tricks, but had to leave halfway. The dogs had arrived.

Throughout the day, Tricia, Jess, Huey Tien, Eunice (Carmen's sister) and me were baby-sitting the dogs as group after group of kids came to see, pet, and feed them. It was fun at first, but by the 4th group, the dogs and us were kind of tired out... Jess got to go to the reptile station, where she got to hold a boa 15 times... which was, in her words, 'The happiest moment of my life!' Which I rolled my eyes at... but then, I don't have her affinity for reptiles, so I can't talk... :-P

It was super fun in some ways. We got to go into the enclosements and control the dogs... and get licked all over. And we introduced them to the kids as if we had known them all our lives when it was just a few hours... :-P We also had to keep them hydrated (not easy, I tell you, seeing they're always playing around and upsetting their water bowls...) . But the least glamorous of all, is of course scooping up their poop with a cangkul and dustpan. Hahaha... but hey, that's an all rounded package if you have a pet to be responsible for, right?

At the end of the day, when we were all smelly and fur invested, we had to pack the dogs off back to the SPCA and take down the enclosements. After cleaning up everything we were supposed to, it was homeward bound... to my Tree painting... and here I am. I'm going to bed directly after this... yes... I'm aware that would be around 9pm. And I don't care. Why, oh why, is there school tomorrow...

So, before I sign off, let me introduce you to the seven fellows that made today such a great joy.


-Bridget- (Huey Tien's dog)

The friendly fellow who bounces up to greet you, but barks alot at the other dogs.






















-Limou and Ivory- Two of the more active ones that loves to pick a fight with the others.






-Mocha-
Another hyper one. Loves sticks and grass... But hey, what else did he have to play with anyway...





















-Skylar-
Jessica's baby. Quiet fellow. But she wasn't feeling well for awhile. Kept coughing. The coolest thing about her is that one eye's brown while the other's blue.

And my FAVORITE!!!














Meet Holly. The baby of the lot. So sweet and cuddly. And Tricia and I were absolute beasts to it, making it wake up when it wanted to sleep... and videotaping it! (I'll find a way to post it here. It's hilarious!) Well, Tricia more than me... Hehe...

Not to mention, it reminds me alot about Danny's dog on CSI NY... *grins* You know me...



















And check out how photogenic Tricia and Holly are together!




























Getting seriously sleepy now. Til next year, at SPCA children's educational camp 2008!
WUFF!

Saturday? I think not...

Throughout today, it hardly occured to me it was Saturday. This is of course contributed to the fact that there was school today, the second of three replacement Saturdays for the Hari Raya break.

On the whole, it was a tiring day in school, but thankfully we didn't need to study. Instead, it was, once again, gotong-royong. Geez... this school is never clean enough, is it? It was a repeat event of February's gotong-royong as the first half of our class was once again assigned to the SPBT store room under Ms Koay. Group B had Ms Cheah in the bengkel kayu.

You'd think I was training up to be Spiderman's apprentice from the way I was so 'gung-ho' about climbing up the less than stable, but unfortunately high book shelves to wipe the windows. But I went for it anyway, since I did the exact same thing during the first gotong-royong. Also, me and Chen Ni had the 'honour' of hanging up the freshly laudered curtains, (that we sent for washing during the first gotong-royong four months ago... and just only got it back... wonder why it took so long... they washed them thread by thread??) Maybe we didn't do too much of a good job cleaning up as the clean curtains became dirty all over again almost immediately after we hung it up... whoops.

The others meanwhile, hustled and bustled around, wiping the shelves and helping Ms Koay organize the new text books into their respective shelves. But as we all know, those fresh, new, clean books will soon be filled with one thick film of dust within a month... Hermione Granger would cry.

After over 2 hours of cleaning, we left. The SPBT room is now considerably cleaner. Well, it should, seeing that all the dust, dirt and grime from the room transfered onto our bodies instead. Thank goodness for teachers like Pn Kang who let us off her double BM period... who would be in the mood to study after becoming human dust magnets?

Two Saturday school days down, one to go.

Tricia, thanks for coming to the Youth Park 10 minutes late, resulting in me standing around looking like a lost, lonely fool... but things picked up quickly enough. The older volunteers were quickly divided into pairs. They are to be the group leaders, chaperones, care takers, baby sitters, (I'm not sure what the exact term is) for the 9 groups of 10 kids each tomorrow, otherwise called Foster Parents aka Foster Mummy & Foster Daddy. (Cute, eh?)

Then, it was us younger volunteers' turn to be sorted. We won't be leading the kids but we will be covering all other nesessary aspects of running the camp smoothly, like being stationed in the various animal booths.

Ok... they don't trust us teens with 10 to 12 year old kids, but they trust us with tiny, vulnerable puppies????

Tricia and I, along with Jess will be at the registration booth, signing the kids and their parents in. I better get a good night's sleep tonight... my P.R skills will not be at their best at 7.30 am on a Sunday morning... after that, because there aren't many volunteers, we have to dash over to the Canine Station, where all the puppies are. (YAY!) What we have to do is, as the woman in charge, Aunty Lily, puts it, "Make sure the kids don't get out of control and *mimics wringing gesture around a tiny puppies' neck*"

Sure, the three of us will guard the dogs, but who will guard us? I for one, cannot resist a cute little puppy... hahahah... Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I'm kidding! I'm kidding!

All in all, I really looking foward to tomorrow, despite the fact that I'll be exhausted by the end of the day... and a whole week of school to follow after that. *sigh...*

I took a few pics of the hardly-ready Youth Park Open Theatre... and I'll try to snap some pics tomorrow. Kinda like a before/after shoot to share with you all.

Where's everything? Believe it or not... behind the stage. (That white wall over there) We have our work cut out for us.
And that woman in red? She's not a volunteer. She's my mum... *chortles*

One of the many canopies set up for the booths tomorrow. Empty now... filled with reptiles of all sorts tomorrow.

Some volunteers setting up a tent. The one I'll be in tomorrow greeting kids and parents with sleepy eyes.

Who knew volunteer work could make me so excited?

Until next time, Fern signing off!

Welcome to Vivid Crimson

After nearly two years using Friendster blogs, I have now decided to upgrade.
Blogger gives me a whole lot more freedom for customizing, and not to mention, now my friends who don't have Friendster accounts can leave comments for me too.

Vivid Crimson is a name that just felt right to me for this blog. It's not much to do with the colour itself (seeing that my blog is currently green... and not crimson...) but rather a double meaning behind it. Some of you might know what I mean. ;-p And it's just a cool name, or at least it is to me.

And the sub-heading, 'Live. Learn. Grow.', some of you, especially from the editorial board, might recognize it as this year's theme for the school magazine. Weeeelll, I came up with it, (cheh, perasan...) so I reserve the right to use it here. (Hmm... I should think of copywriting it somehow) Only, it's 'We Live, We Learn, We Grow' in the school magazine... so I cut it short... harhar. How original.........

I'm still exploring around. Soon enough I'll fiddle my way into using my own adobe photoshop designs for this blog rather than the templates they already have... but now is not the time seeing that I'm due in the Youth Park Open Theater in 45 minutes. Tricia, please be there early or else I'll be completely lost...

I'll check back in later. Once I get my 'tree painting' out of the way, which is gonna be awhile, seeing what a 3rd rate artist I am...

Thanks for dropping by!