sweetness of victory

I guess my poetic part in me has finally paid of today. Wanna know why? I was announced as JOHAN for a 'Pertandingan Menulis dan Mendeklamasikan Sajak Geografi' peringkat Daerah Petaling!!!! Few weeks ago I was approached by Puan Chia to write a 'sajak Fenomena Alam' for Hari Apresiasi Geografi and the best 5 sajaks in Petaling district would be picked to be read out in front of the judges.

I joined the same competition last year and won 3rd place. I truly didn't expect to even qualify for the top 5 because I was writing the poem in a rush. Guess where I wrote the poem? On a plane! Yes, on a plane. Or to be precise on the plane ride from Narita, Japan to Detroit, US. So, guys...wanna get some inspirations to write poems or to be poetic? Do it on a plane! I know I did.

I even prepared a slideshow for the presentation of my sajak. Puan Chia informed I was in the top 5 just 2 days before the competition and I wanted to get first this time so I thought the only way to stand out from all the other contestants was to have a slideshow depicting images that was relevant to my sajak. But I came very close to not get to view the slideshow because the host SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong (1) didn't prepare projector and laptop for the competition. Swt!

Lucky thing we requested for one and just minutes before my turn, the projector wasn't working and they took time to make it work. I heard someone from the crowd said, "Pakai muzik jelah kalau tak boleh buka." Heck, NO WAY am I not gonna show my slideshow after a whole night preparing for it.

But nasib baik boleh....I thought the recital of my sajak was not too bad considering I only had like 2 days to memorise it. The other contestants were equally good. Though a few did forget their lines in the middle of their recitals but that was forgivable I guess cause they also had less time to prepare.

And so they announced the winners and I won!!! DJ also won 4th prize for 'Pertandingan Membina Model 3D' represented by Michelle, Ying Yan and Jo-Yi. The model was very natural (bentuk muka bumi) and judging from the rest of the models, I thought our school should had at least gotten the top 3 placings but......

We had another hour to go before the school bell rang and all 5 of us (the girls also came along to take their certs) were reluctant to go back to school so Puan Chia decided to take us out to Tropicana Golf Club to celebrate our sweet victory and we had choco brownies.

So I can now add another plague to my already full cupboard but never mind, it was worth it. But now it was time to focus back on my studies. My mum has given me a 'warning' for me not to join any other competition until PMR's over. Hmmm......

East Coast moments - Final Take

In Cornell, with the founder (Ezra Cornell)

In Changi Airport

With Dr. Andrew and family (Im not in the pic ;()

I'm here again for my last bit of the trip. After travelling to almost the whole part of the East Coast, we were ready to head back where we started, Ithaca to start packing up for our flight home. But before that we had a lil sight seeing in Ithaca cause we didn't get the chance to do it the last 2 weeks. We did some last minute shopping in Waterloo Premier Outlet and also visited another university, Cornell University.



I'd visited 4 out of 8 Ivy League unis already, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and MIT (though I only passed through MIT cause didn't have enough time) but I would say Cornell was the nicest of all. Cornell was so huge I think it was easy to get lost there and the surrounding was so stunning and calming. But my mum said don't go here during winter, it's bloody cold you probably could get frostbite ;)



We had dinner at my mum's Fulbright host house, Dr. Andrew, a lecturer in Cornell. He married a Malaysian and the wife cooked fish curry and rice and apple pie and ate it with ice cream. Yum! After dinner we had to go back to the motel and started packing up. We had 6 luggages that had to be checked in plus another 6 carry-ons. Imagine what our trolley bags looked like.



So then I had to be on the 36 hours plane ride.....again! I'd had enough of plane rides for awhile now. In fact, I'd enough of all means of transportations. Planes, buses, trains, taxis even trishaws! They had trishaws in NYC. I been on all those transports for far too long during my trip that my whole body are so sored by now.



But the East Coast trip had been entertaining and some of the visits inspired me to be better ineverything like the Ivy League unis visits so that hopefully, I could be there again but as a student. Amin. :)



So now it was time to get back to reality back home in home sweet home, Malaysia and focus on studies and PMR. Oh god, PMR. My knees shaked just by typing the name.