East Coast moments - Take 2

With the statue of '3 lies' (he's not the real Harvard)

In Quincy Market

The 'fam' at Harvard University

Me with the 'tour guide', Roxy (an Econs undergrad)

Cape Cod beach

I'm back again with second take of East Coast moments! So after 2 days in Ohio we flew to Boston, Massachusetts on Delta Air. But the flight was cancelled after all the passengers were seated with the seat belts fastened because, get this, the paperwork to allow the plane to fly wasn't rectified. WTH. That was the 1st time in my whole life that I've been on a plane that didn't have the permit to fly. We were put on another flight and we wasted a day which was supposed to be spent in Boston but instead we were in Washington DC airport while waiting for the next flight.

But we managed to arive in Boston safely. Our first stop in Boston was a flea market, Quincy Market. Whenever my family travel overseas, we, my mum in particular always make a point to visit any universities nearby. This time it was Harvard University, my dream uni. haha. We went on an 'Unofficial Tour' around the uni led by 2 of Harvard undergraduates, Roxy and Megan. Harvard was surrounded with old buildings but it had a nice atmosphere. I definitely don't mind studying here ;)

After the tour we met up with another friend of my mom who was here doing his research, Prof Muhammad Haji Salleh (the sasterawan negara/national laureate). We planned to go shopping in Wrentham, a premier outlet mall where branded stuffs were sold at half price. My eyes almost popped out of its sockets looking at all those shops with dirt cheap prices but too bad we came 2 hours before the shop was closed so couldn't really shop. On the way to the mall, we went to Cape Cod where we had fish as lunch. Very yummy!

After Boston was New York City......again! We went there by bus which took us about 5 hours. But I'll tell you more of NYC on the next post. Later!

East Coast moments - Take 1

Me at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

One of my fave places in the world, Times Square

On our river trail at Evan's wedding reception

I'M BACK!!!!!I'm finally back after 2 weeks missing. US had been great and I would say that it was the most memorable, fun trip I ever been to out of the many trips I went in my life. I went to remarkable places and met up with people from different walks of life. What I experienced was something so precious that no tours or tour guides could offer. Right now you're about to have a taste on my journey so enjoy!

After 36 hours waiting and being on planes, my dad and I finally arrived in Ithaca, New York where my mum had been waiting and boy, were we whipped out with the plane ride. But our jetlagness did not stop us from driving for 4 hours to Niagara Falls in a rental car. And my dad almost went to jail. Wanna know why? He was issued a ticket from the police for speed driving. He was brought directly to see the judge and it was either he pays the fine or he goes to jail.


Of course he paid the fine as he didnt want to be Paris Hilton cell mate. LOL! Niagara Falls was magnificent. If before this I only seen it in movies like Superman II but this time I was there for real, seeing the whole thing and feeling the splashes of the waterfall on my face as we cruised along the river with the Maid of the Mist boat ride. From the boat ride, you could see both sides of US as well as Canada as it was the border between Ontario and New York.


Next up was my favourite city in the world, NEW YORK CITY. We went there with a bus which took us about 5 hours. It was my first time in New York City since my last visit 7 years ago. There was something about the city that made my adrenaline pumped harder than usual. New Yorkers were known as unfriendly people who just didn't bother about the surroundings as they continue their paces in the metropolitan city. At least that was how the New Yorkers were portrayed in movies and books. But there were some friendly people like this 1 guy who helped me with my bags while I was trying to carry it up the steep stairs of the Subway.



We only stayed in NYC for a day as we had to catch a 13 hours train ride to West Virginia. Yeah, 13 hours. We stayed over at Nancy's, my mum's friend. I really like her as she was very well-read and witty. She's a Professor (Chairperson) in 1 of the unis in Parkersburg. I learned a lot of stuff from her from gays to French revolution to the economic growth of West Virginia.



The next day, Nancy drove us to Columbus, Ohio to attend another of my mum's friend wedding reception, Evan. Now, this reception ain't like the typical white wedding you normally see in movies. Instead, the reception was held in a camp called Camp Mary Orton. Very different. We went on a river trail and met up with Evan and his relatives and friends.



After the reception, we walked around Columbus. It was a nice city. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Haiku. We finished dinner at about 9pm and we wanted to see more of Columbus but unfortunately the shops would normally close at 9pm. But there was this one particular shop that was still opened, Torso. They sold 'interesting' stuff that no shops would sell like 'PMS breath mints' and others (I wouldn't name them) and it turned out to be a gay shop! We only realized that after Nancy saw a brochure in the shop promoting gay parade or something that was gonna be held next week. Interesting.



I would continue my post another time as I coudn't possibly fit my 2 weeks trip under 1 post. Stay tuned for more East Coast moments!

hasta la vista!!!

School's gonna start tomorrow....Just like everyone else, I'm dreading to go back to all those chaos in school from tons of homework to facing the books again 'till late night. It was a bliss not to have to face the books for 2 weeks, wasn't it? Anyway, while you guys are back at school studying Sejarah and counting answers for Maths problems, I will take my own leave and be in the States for the next 2 weeks. WEEE HEEE!!!!

I've just finished packing my bags. Had a hard time packing cause I don't know how to pack light though my dad constantly reminded me to pack as less clothes as possible. It's because we're gonna go around the East Coast so it'll be insane if we want to drag 10 luggages around the cities. LOL!

My flight is tomorrow night and it's gonna stretch to more than 30 hours of travelling 'till I reach Ithaca, New York. Imagine that, man! I'm sooo gonna have an extreme jetlag. 'Till then. I'll be back with my posts on my trip if I don't suffer badly from jetlag. Hasta la vista!

A day of hunt and ashraf sinclair

My holidays started with a blast yesterday. I participated in a Treasure Hunt organized by Galaxie in the Curve. Hui Wen, Juinn Chang and Ariff were all in my team. It was a really tiring hunt. We had to go back and forth Ikano, Curve and Cineleisure like maniacs through out the Hunt looking for clues and I felt like I ran a 40km marathon.....maybe more. My legs are now aching like mad that I can't even walk properly. Too bad we didn't get the top 3 spots.


Guess who else participated?? Girls' heartthrob, the hot ASHRAF SINCLAIR!!! He was in the Celebrity Team (Ferhad, Chelsea Ng and some other guy) and gosh, he looked soooo much hotter and cuter in real life. In case you've been leaving in the cave and wondering who is Ashraf Sinclair, he is Malaysia's hottest actor and his most popular with the movie Gol & Gincu. I had a shot with him as well but the 'smart ass' Ariff still hadn't pass me my photos therefore I can't post the picture now.


But the most embarassing thing happened as well when I slidded and fell right IN FRONT of him! It all started when the Celebrity Team was asking questions after the Hunt and whoever answered the quests correctly, you'll get a goodie bag with music CDs in it. Ashraf was asking the question: "What's my character's name in Gol & Gincu?" I raised my hand and he called me to the front. While I was about to step in front, a guy's leg was blocking the way so I jumped over it to avoid bumping into the leg.


My foot stepped on a plastic wrapper and I slidded and fell with Ashraf Sinclair just a few feet away from me. The crowd when "WHOA!". Ashraf said, "Whoa. Cool it". Lucky thing the host made a joke out of the thing by saying, "Ashraf, she's just showing you your actions while playing futsal in Gol & Gincu". I said , "Yeah!" and laughed like it was the most natural thing to happen while inside I was cursing myself for acting like such a klutz.

I answered correctly (luckily!) which was "Eddie". He asked me again, 'What's Eddie's full name?" I went "err....". Ashraf said, "Hahaha. Never mind. I don't even know his full name". So I went back with my mortified face and my goodie bag and Keefe said, "Nice slide, Zaf. Damn keng weyh, how did you know the answer?"


Are you kidding me??Gol & Gincu is practically the only local show that I watch religiously and my only fave. So knowing Ashraf Sinclair's character's name is a must for all G&G addicts. LOL! It had been a fun day what with running all over the Curve, Ikano and Cineleisure and also making a fool out of myself in front of a whole bunch of crowd as well as my fave actor ASHRAF SINCLAIR......

Yesterday couldn't have been better :)

gone are the days....for now

WEE-HEEE!!!The much dreaded mid-term exams are finally OVER. Gone are the days where I have to 'burn the midnight oil' 'till 2 am. Gone are the days where I have to go through stacks of revision books and exercises all in the name of getting As. Gone are all the days where I wake up groggily in the morning having only 4-5 hours of sleep. Gone are those days.....FOR NOW, of course. Those hours and nights that I spent on studying better be worth it if not I'll jump down a block, undoubtedly(HEHE!!JOKING MUM!!!). It'll be in just another 2 more months before these days come by again where that time would be my trials and PMR....huhuhu ;(

But whatever it is, I just want to let my hair loose this holidays and just relax. Unfortunately, my hair would still be tied tightly in a bun (<---whatever that means) since I still have a workload of stuff to do. From my Sejarah project to a whole book of Agama book that needs to be done to a science project that I don't even know what or how to do. Haizz....Seems that this holidays won't be much of a holiday for me.

But look into the bright side, I'm gonna have a holiday of my own after the school reopens for 2 weeks so yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, is anyone interested in joining the INTEL Science and Engineering Competition? I need another person to join my group after one of the team members bailed out of the competition unexpectedly. We're supposed to invent something 'creative and innovative' in the field of science or engineering. Anyone interested just tell me, ok?

HAVE A NICE HOLIDAY!!!

my 15th bday!!!

YAY!!! It's my birthday today!!! To be honest, I wasn't too perked up with my 15th birthday mainly because my mum wasn't around to celebrate with me this time and to me a celebration is not complete when your family members are not around and every birthday means you're getting older whether you like it or not.

My day started with a birthday wish from Anis through SMS at precisely 12.11 am (thx girl! you're the 1st to wish me). My morning was greeted by my mum's birthday card that was lying next to my bed. She sent to me 3 months ago from the States and I promised her I'd only open on 11th of May and I kept my promise ;). I asked my dad what would I be getting for my 15th birthday. And he said, "You want presents some more? The trip to US in June is already part of your birthday gift". WHAT???? I thought that trip was supposed to be a family trip not a gift for my birthday!!

AHHH...well. I guess I should just be thankful 'cause the trip would cost a bomb and by right I should be studying at home for PMR but instead I'll be missing 2 weeks of school. So, thanks papa!!! Thank you for all your warm wishes for me today. Mimi gave me a real cute glass with the picture of cows on it. Thanks Mimi aka Dafi's lover!! Fadzil gave me an ultra cool digital clock which could change to 7 different colours every second. Thanks Fadzil. I lurvee that clock!!!

Out of the blue, Daryl broke into a broken tune of the 'Happy Birthday' song in our class. It was really awkward 'cause everyone's wondering what the hell was he doin'. But Thanks anyway, that was really sweet of you, Daryl. My dad, aunt and uncle brought me out to dinner in Italiannies in the Curve. It was just a simple dinner but I enjoyed it because great things come in small packages, ryte??

When I was on my way to school, I had a reality check of my 15 years of life in the van. I asked myself, "Have I done enough for the last 15 years? Was my life worth it for the last 15 years? Did I do more good than bad or was it vice versa in my 15 years of life?"

The answers: "For my 15 years of life, I think I did enough for my life but of course I want more 'cause life is too short not to experience other things. My life was worth it cause I didn't waste it bein' involved with the wrong clans and the wrong activities and 'bout doin' more good than bad, well, I shouldn't be that bad-la ryte? Of course, I've done a few bad stuff once in awhile (arguing with my parents etc.) but I don't think it ever outweighed my good 'behaviour'.

Does that sound reasonable? I don't know cause I just had a glass of iced mocha and it's making me dizzy and a bit offguard now. ;) Anyway, I better stop crapping now but before that I want to thank my family and friends for their love and care for me on this supposedly special day of mine. I'd been blessed with great family and friends. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Turning 15 today feels pretty much the same with being 14 yesterday :)

P/S Besides being a bit dizzy due to the mocha, my com had just been hacked by POKEMON. Yup, pokemon. Thus it took me more than an hour to write this freakin' post cause POKEMON is now making my com and my life miserable!! Like Adel said, birthday present from Pikachu for me. Well, thanks for nothin' Pokemon!!!

And Sam Low, thanks for that wonderful post of me on your blog. luv ya, girl!!!

champs!!!!!

If you have read my post on the KDU debate, at the last part I mentioned that I was supposed to prepare for a science quiz for district level. It was finally held today in SMK Sri Aman and SMKDJ was represented by me, Luke and Joel. And guess what??? Our beloved SMK Damansara Jaya was the CHAMPION of the Petaling district for the lower secondary science quiz!!!!!WEEEE!!!!

I couldn't believe my luck to be part of this marvellous team. The competition started off with a written objective test. 40 questions were to be answered in an hour and the top 4 teams with the highest tallied marks (there were 3 in a team) will proceed to the finals. DJ scored the highest marks in the written test out of around 30 schools that participated. Thus we went to the finals which was an oral quiz.

The finals was an intense moment for me. The finalists were us, SMK Seafied, SMK Damansara Utama and SMK USJ13. We started off pretty badly but with the help of the hero of the team a.k.a. Joel Tan we managed to climb up the spot to become the champion.

I did a pretty silly mistake at the beginning where I answered a question wrongly which was "what is the virus caused by the birds (or something like that)?" I rougly knew or at least I thought I knew the answer. The answer that was goin' through my mind was 'H5N something' but I wasn't too sure bout that. So I answered something out of the ordinary which will sound stupid and I don't think I want to tell you what I answered.

But for your reading pleasure, I'm obliged to tell you so. I answered SARS. Yea, I know. Silly me, eh?? The real answer was 'Influenza H5N 1'. Luke kept teasing me 'bout it even after the quiz ended. Right.....Influenza H5N1, I'll remember that 'till I die. LOL!

Anyway, after 2 rounds of questions, the results were announced and we were the winners!!!
I always thought myself as more of a language person but I guess today I discovered another part of my plus point.....SCIENCE. Thanks to Luke and Joel who rock the socks of the team!!!HAHAHA!!

Ohhh....and thanks to Michelle and Ying Yan for the choco bar you gave me today. That was really sweet of you girls and yeah, I do lurveeee choccies!!! ;)

3 days of little sleep

These past three days I had only 3-4 hours of sleep each night. It all started when Puan Koh approached 3 Batai's debate team few weeks ago and she wanted us to represent DJ in KDU English debate. The reason why she picked a junior team for this championship it was because she wanted us to get the early exposure to debating for a better preparation for next year.

On Monday we went against Methodist Boys School with the motion "THB that boarding school is beneficial to children" as the opposition. We lost. Our very first time representing school in debate and we started out with losing. Not a good start, eh?

KDU debate went by wins. Meaning, in order to proceed to the semifinals you go by how many wins your team has. There were 3 rounds and the 2nd round was against SMK Tsun Jit with the motion "THB that young people should be subjected to night time curfew as a way to reduce crime" and we were the government. This time we nailed it and won. I also won 'Best Speaker' :) But our first victory was a bit smeared with the fact that the opposing team was questioning our win. The teacher, in particular said that we were referring to text and we shouldn't have won. Oh, for god's sake. Debate is not solely 'bout your style. It's also bout the solidness of your caseline and your matter and I think we went for the meat this time instead of the bones. Oh, well. It's a free world. They can say whatever they want.

And today, we went against Garden International School with the motion "THB that human cloning should be banned" and we were for the motion. After the two debates, I think Daryl, Keefe and I gained the momentum and we did our best today. But it wasn't good enough to seal us the victory. The adjudicator said our matters were sufficient but our styles brought us down. Daryl won 'Best Speaker'. He deserved it. Keefe and Daryl did their very best today and you could really see the syncronization and the unity of the team though we lost.

The 3 of us put in a lot of passion, commitment and hardwork into this debate competition. Someone was asking me how come I don't look sad that we actually lost. Well, crying and feeling sad for what had happened would only make me a sore loser. I'm glad I went through this competition because it really opened up my world to a new environment of debating. FYI, DJ's team is the ONLY team in the whole KDU debate championship that was purely form 3 speakers making us the most junior team in the competition. But I have to tell you this, we put up or at least we tried to put up a good fight to the opposing teams regardless of age and I think we succeeded in doing so.

To me, this whole debating experience is like baking a cake. We have gotten the basic ingredients of the cake (the basic debating skills) and we already mix the ingredients in the cake mixer. Now that are left to do is to perfect the mixture so it'll be all fluffy and nice after baking it meaning we need to perfect our basic skills of debating for the better and hopefully soon we will get to put the icing on the cake which will of course be the ultimate victory for us.

Now I can get back to my normal life and start concentrating for my mid-term exams. Oh, crap! As I'm writing this post, now I remember that I have a science quiz to prepare in a week time. Crap, crap, crap!!!!!

BTW...thanks to Pn Koh who had been very dedicated and helped us with our debates, Michelle, Adeline, John and Pn Farahnaz.

Me, Picasso and Nature

I had been very poetic these days. Hmmm.....I wonder why and how in the world that I developed this interest in just a few days? I guess writing poems was a better way for me to express my feelings on everything. From people that I love and hate to dreams that I had. Two days ago I wrote a biographical poem, ME, PICASSO AND NATURE. Here's how it went:

I am unartistic and curious,
I wonder how Picasso does his arts,
I hear him munching late-night tarts,
I see him sleeping with his head apart.

I want to draw like him too,
I am unartistic and curious,
I pretend I dream of Picasso and his arts,
I feel his brush tickling against my tingling skin,

I touch the paint splashing down,
I worry my hair would get dirty,
I cry at the thought of it being greeny and gritty,

I understand that art imitates nature,
I say, we should imitate it too,
I dream of healing the nature that is in danger,
I try to do a little everyday,
I hope me, Picasso and nature go along someday,
I am unartistic and curious.

What do you think? A bit weird, though. Especially the 1st 2 and 3 lines. But I really dreamt of Picasso with his head apart. Damn eerie, ok. LOL!

stick models+XS clothes=xtreme body conscious people

skinny model

Just the other day I heard yet another story of a teenage girl dying of anorexia. Everytime I hear these kind of stories I thought, "how can anybody be so stupid to starve themselves to death just because they think they're fat?" That's when I thought again why would the girl thinks she's fat in the first place when her body weight is actually fine.



When you have friends who care more 'bout the size of their bums then actually having fun in the outside world. When you have magazines that feature stick figure models and when you have clothing shops that sell XS sizes....the pressure to be part of all these rises and leads a person to be anorexic.



I know I'm a bit curvy (I wouldn't use the word fat cause I hate it) but I never thought of starving myself so I can look like Paris Hilton. In fact I lost around 10 kg when I was in Form 1(I was freaking 'curvy' during my primary school years) but all I did to shed off the 10 kg was to dance around in my room as a form of exercise. Now I slowed down the losing weight thingy but I'll continue again soon if I feel like it...hahaha!



The point here is that if you don't have Jennifer Lopez's bum, Jessica Alba's body figure or Shakira's hip doesn't mean that you're FAT. I have friends who would scream their heads off just because their bums are bigger than their head. I don't see the rational of worrying bout this 'minute' stuff. There are far more important things in life we should worry more like achieving the dreams we had and do something 'bout global warming that's gonna kill us soon.



In the meantime there should'nt be stick figure models in the magazines or the runways because this would make our teens even more insecure of their body sizes. Italian fashion designers are doing the right thing where they banned anorexic models (like the pic above) from appearing on their runways. We wouldn't want to see our friends, family members or even ourselves to die just because they are not happy with their weights. If you think you're 'curvy' then just exercise-lah.



Don't worry, be happy ;)

meaning of friendship

It all started when a personal message on MSN was being misinterpreted and somebody got hurt with the content of it and called me with inappropiate names (wouldnt want to elaborate further on that). Anyway, I got ticked off with this guy's comments and told his girlfriend 'bout this and she was like, 'so what?'

As a friend of course I felt hurt. For god's sake, I've been her friend before they were a couple. And for a friend to say 'so what?' after what the boyfriend said, well, it's just not right. I was just being honest 'bout them but I guess sometimes honesty is NOT the best policy.....I know from my actions it showed that I was being very unsupportive of them but what was I supposed to do? Say the opposite of things?? That's just not me.

But from this incident, I learned that an unsupportive friend is no use in life. I learned from my mistakes. Now, I would support her no matter what she's doing in her life because if that's how she wants to lead her life...so be it. If she's happy then I'm happy too. But everything is cleared up between us already so I guess everything should be forgotten and at the same time should not be repeated.....

Thanks to my friends who stayed by me when I needed them the most and to a really sweet girl who told me not to blow things out of proportion instead put it into its perspectives. You girls know who you are so yeah...thanks again. And to the couple behind this story...I'm sorry too for whatever I've done and said that made you guys uncomfortable.

*names are not to be revealed due to their privacies...

P/S to MSN: when it's a personal message, it's supposed to be personal and not to be seen by your contacts. jeez

bad week

This week, by far, has been the worst week for me since the beginning of the year. I missed my school bus TWICE this week and 'cause I live quite far from school, transportation is a big matter for me and I have to wait all the way to 7pm to make it to the next ride home. And today because of En Phang's retirement day, we all had to be released a bit later from the usual time. A bit later means I will miss my bus and that was exactly what happened today.

I know he's retiring but who's freakin' idea was it to make this assembly at the end of the school day and have all those long, boring speeches when they know perfectly that time was limited. Because of just a teacher who was retiring, I had to stay another extra 5 hours in school when I had a ton of stuff to do at home and tuitonS at night!!! And when I arrive home late I'll be too tired to even think so how do you expect me to concentrate????ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!! And mind you, I wasn't the only one who had been left by our transports for comin' out late from school. A handful of us had to suffer the bloody consequences of it...

And to add another 'sadness' into my week, my RM 5 was stolen by I-dont-know-who during recess. MFB!!!! I know RM 5 is like nothing but I hate it when I lose my stuff unnecessarily. I don't know why but I sweat about all these minute issues. Then again, I'm a kinda person who has to have everything work out perfectly everyday.

I guess you can't have everything to be smooth sailing all the time, huh?? That should be a lesson to me (not to expect everything to work out perfectly all the time) BTW....here's a shout out to ASHIQIN ROSSELLY.....

HAPPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

May you have more great, fab years to come!!! ;)

'the posers' during merentas desa(haha)

winning isn't everything

(missing you)


It's a sad thing that Batai debate english team didn't even make it to the finals this time. Well, there's still next time. Lucky thing the perbahasan team did go into the finals and guess what....WE WON!!!! The perbincangan was "Ibu bapa yang menyebabkan anak-anak terjebak dalam kancah penagihan dadah" and we were the opposition.



All 3 of us (me,daryl,keefe) had a strategy which was to POI or in this case 'izin laluan' the balau speakers to the max. We tried to tackle Wai Meng through POIs since he was like the backbone of the team and he only took a few and he just said "sila duduk" to the rest of the POIs. We really thought that Balau would win since they're speeches were full of peribahasa,pantuns etc. and ours as usual.....were filled with words you hear in everyday lives.



But we still won and congrats to Wai Meng for bein' best speaker. And today Pn Arbayah told us that we need to prepare for another perbahasan (again!) but this time it's actually for an audition for the school team.


Honest to goodness, I'm not too keen in joining the school perbahasan team this year what more with PMR comin' in October. Same as the other 2 boys. But we'll see how it goes....

CREDITS: daryl, keefe, hazwani hashim (thx for ur messages!), cik aznishah, 3 batai......


P/S to mum: howz life in US??missing you to the max rite now...

3 Batai debate/perbahasan teams rock!!!

3 Batai debate team rox!!! I wouldn't utter these words a few months ago but this week the 3 Batai debate/perbahasan teams really did rock! The English debate motion was "Attending tuition classes is a necessity to one's success" and we were on the oppo team. Our opponent was nonetheless our biggest threat, 3 Belian aka my old debate team.

It wasn't an easy argument but we won and Jo-Yi got best speaker(congrats!). But the real joke was the perbahasan team, actually. We went against 3 Belian...again! The topic was 'Belajar dalam kumpulan adalah lebih baik daripada belajar bersendirian' .(pembangkang) And our team consisted of me, Daryl and Keefe. We prepared for the 'old style' debate when it was actually ala parliment and the belianians were fully prepared.

Man, were we crapping at that time! The propo had all the fancy names and facts (Dr Fadzila Kamsah, Albert Einstein etc.) and WE? All we had was a few vague points and a 'survey' by Murdoch Uni. But at the end of day, our class......WON!!! We knew how to 'putar belit' according to Pn. Nordian. 'cause debate wasn't all 'bout having facts but also manipulating the opponents as well as your debating style which was what we did.

It was really cute to hear Daryl and Keefe spoke in BM. In fact it was funny to hear ALL of us to berbahas dalam BM when we always debated in English especially Keefe's phrase of : 'Sebelum saya melabuhkan punggung......" set the crowd to uproar laughters. And the opponent team also prepared 'pantuns' for their speeches. Not wanting to set an obvious differences on which team was more prepared and which wasn't at all, I came up with one myself during the perbahasan:

Anak Abu datang menyusul,
Dari kedai membeli petai,
Pihak pembangkang membangkang usul,
Kami sokong pendirian kami.

It didn't really rhyme especially at the last bit but hey!....it was better than nothing. So, next we're up against 3 Balau for both debate and perbahasan which's gonna be next week.

And to those people wo call me a traitor/betrayal to Belian and whatever crap......I'm sorry but it's not like I can do anything 'bout it. But trust me, none of the arguments we came across was an easy one for us.

3 batai debate/perbahasan teams rock!!!

blush-O-meter: 9.9

This week had been a crazy week and it's only Jan!!! Netball tournament is starting next week and I finally made it into the Nostalgia editorial board after I failed to join last year. But what I'm about to tell is something rather embarassing for me. I would say that this incident, by far, one of the most 'blushed cheeks' experiences I had encountered.

It was on Thursday when I went to Atria to buy my mum's late bday gift. I always buy presents a week or two after anyone's bdays. Anyway, while I was about to get off the escalator with my friends, my shoelace got stuck in it!! Which escalator was it??? Oh, yeah...the one in front of KFC where almost the whole of KFC was full with DJians having their lunch. Yup, that's the one.

Of all the escalators it had to be the one where there were a lot of eye witnesses that I know. Everyone was looking at me and wondering what happened. You know what they say: 'the fewer witnesses, the better'. So then there was this kind lady who called the security guard to help me while I was stuck there with my super blushed cheeks. Finally the guard came and he had to call another guard 'cause the 1st one couldn't pull my shoe off the thing.

Lucky thing my shoe lace came out after a strong tug from the 2nd guard. After that, I dare not show my face and went scurrying to find the present for my mum.

Good thing was that mum actually liked the present. I bought her a pearl bracelet (don't ask 'bout the price) so I guess the whole I'm-so-freakin'-embarassed incident was worth it.

Moral of the story: Tie your shoelaces once you start walking.

a birthday dinner

Mum's birthday fell on 11th of Jan (Thurs) but since the whole family was crazy busy this week, with me busy with school homework, dad busy with his work and the birthday girl itself was busy with her uni's theatre week, we didn't celebrate on the exact day.

Instead we celebrated my mum's birthday today at a Swiss cuisine restaurant, Chalet in Equatorial Hotel. I ordered beef tenderloin (a total yummy!) while my parents ordered Swiss cod or something like that. While we had our desserts, (mine: apple tart) the string quartets played a b'day song for my mum and serenaded our table with a Beatle's song, Yesterday. The staff even gave a free birthday cake!

I could see that her face glowed with happiness with all the treats and celebrations she had gotten. It warmed my heart to see her so happy on her special day after a whole week of stress and hardwork due to her job.


HAPPY BELATED B'DAY, MUM!!!

an autograph

Have you ppl ever watched the series 'REALITI' which was once aired on 8TV last year? You know the one where Ashraf Sinclair played as the wannabe rapper? Well, have you seen the guy who played Melody's(played by Chelsea Ng) dad, the guy who pushed his daughter to the limits so that she will become what he wants her to be.

Guess what?? My mum scored an autograph of his while he attended one of my mum's seminars. For those of you who still have no freakin' idea who is Kee Thuan Chye, this is him:


And this is the autograph he signed especially for me. LOL!

Oh..yeah, I AM having a wonderful life now.

school's here..again!

After 7 weeks of full rest at home, I'm ready for another year of schooling and this year I started in a whole new environment which is my 3 Batai class. To be honest I expected negative outcomes by being in this class. You know by being the only one from Belian and not knowing ALMOST more than half of the class, I thought I would be singled out on the first few months.

I was wrong. Batai people are very friendly and I don't regret being in this class. For starters, some of them gave me welcoming gestures for being in their class. I appreciate that, thank you.

I was elected as AJK Kebersihan. From a prefect to AJK Kebersihan. Not bad. Seriously. The reason why I quit being a prefect was that I'M BORED of it. After ALMOST my whole schooling years (so far) had been devoted to my school prefectorial board, I think it's time to take a time out of it.

I'm enjoying every bit of my life now. YIPPEE!!!

'the dead tree belongs to me'

All I did for holidays so far was eat, sleep, watch TV, internet (you get the picture). My parents were kinda pissed off with me for being such a lazy bum these holidays. I mean, how many of you people actually open up a 'real' book and study it during holidays??? How many???

So they nagged me a few days ago and asked me to start preparing for next year, start doin' my art work since I suck badly in art and also to pick up my violin and to start playing back after I had put it to 'rest' for more than a month.

I started doin' my drawing yesterday. I ran out of art blocks so I had to do it on A4 paper and colour pencils. Whatever, my job was to do a drawing and get it done no matter what material I used. I noticed that when I listened to Jessica Simpson's 'I Belong To Me' while doin' my art work, it got me really inspired to do it and finish up the piece (which most of the time I have problem to even get started).

So, by listening to the song plus the frustration of being nagged 'bout.... and WALLAH!! This is my master piece:


I know it sounds lame to make such a big deal out of a drawing that looked like it belong to some kindergarten kid but I'm actually kinda proud of myself of having to draw something that didn't look that weird without the help of ANYBODY. After like 3 months of not doin' anything artistic, I thought I'd lost my touches (not that I have any magical touches).

I don't know why I drew a dead tree, actually.

having a hard time getting surveys done

I had an assignment which I was supposed to complete from the Young Reporter's Workshop I attended in the early Dec. I was supposed to do a survey on 5 people on global climate and water conservation and hand it on 15th of Dec.

But being the forgetful me, I totally forgot 'bout it after having a blast at my cousin's house for a week and missed the deadline until the NST people rang up my DAD and reminded him 'bout me not submitting the bloody assignment. They actually rang up my dad!!! WOW! This is more serious than not completing my schoolwork. They gave me 'till 20th Dec to finish it up. I feel a bit abused here (I have to photocopy survey forms, find respondents, etc etc.And what do I get? Nada!

But I went to Ikano, anyway, to do the survey. I know I could interview the same people (mum, dad, grandma, grandpa, etc...) but I opted for something different. Journalists don't interview the same old people over and over again, do they? So, in I went to the post office with my mum.The PO seemed like a perfect spot to do a survey since the service was slow and people would wait a long time.

Boy, was I wrong! The people there were really in-cooperative. They gave me all sorts of reason to avoid answering the survey. For god's sake, it's just a survey! One man said he could not speak English, (well,ok, that I can respect since he was an old man) and others when they said they could, after looking at it, they refused to fill in anything. One even complained it was time consuming and said she was in a hurry. Oh,yeah? Then why did I see her sitting at the same spot for another 20 minutes just staring at her nails when she could have actually answered a survey which would only take 5 to 7 minutes???

Haizz....so my mum and I just approached any one we spotted and asked them 'bout global warming and water conservation (including two young men trying to sell us something!)

I found out that Malaysians can be so unconcerned about their surroundings.What's wrong with answering a bloody survey??? Maybe it was a bit tough. Here are some of the questions:

1. What is global warming

2. Who is responsible for keeping water clean and how?

3. How will you save water from now on?

I noticed that when they were asked these questions, they hesitated before answering. Which just shows that we still don't get enough exposure on how to save the earth and make it a better place to live in.

Hey, government and NGOs, your campaigns on water conservation, save the rivers, yadda, yadda, ain't working!!



A copy of the survey that so many refused to answer....

reporter in the making

On 2nd & 3rd of dec (last week), I went to an NST workshop called the 'Young Reporter's Workshop'. Yeah, I'm on my way to be a journalist...NOT!! Actually my parents sent me to this workshop to kill off some of my boredom due to the school holidays.

So I did learn some of the basic reporting skills needed to be a reporter. On the 2nd day of the workshop, my team (Bombastic Reporters!!) were supposed to interview a restaurant operator 'bout their water supply and they sent us to a 'mamak' restaurant. I don't mind being sent to a 'mamak' restaurant since I myself sometimes favour their food.

But the problem was that, the workers there didn't speak English and spoke a minimal of Malay. So I had to speak to them in very slow and simple Malay. I asked one worker, "Air paip dekat sini, belanja untuk sebulan berapa?" Loosely translated, the question meant: How much is the water usage here for a month?".

The guy answered me, "Ada banyak. Itu satu teh tarik RM 1.20. Milo ais, semua ada." Translation: There's a lot. One 'teh tarik' is RM 1.20. There's also Milo ice, there's everything,"
He thought I was asking him 'bout the drinks in the restaurant!!! Oh, well, I can't actually blame them, can I?

So then, we still had to go back and write up a story on water usage and water conservation in a restaurant. With practically nothing in hand, I still had to write the news and make the best out of it.

But it was rather interesting to be able to join this workshop. I did meet new friends and friends that I'd known before. But one thing for sure, I don't want to be a journalist 'cause writing is not really my 'cup of tea'.

the poet in me

I'm suddenly inspired to write poems now. I guess I felt inspired when I went to my mum's poetry reading the other day. Before this I only knew how to READ not write poems. I guess it's time to unleash the poet in me now....if there's any. LOL! Here's a piece of poem I just wrote:

I Was A Fool

Oh yes, I was a fool,

To think that our friendship was like a love pool,

Filled with kindness and honesty.

We started great,

'Friends forever', you said,

Then came the time,

When you put me aside

for another friend.

Was it a girl friend or a guy,

I wonder why.

As the days and nights passed,

It finally came to me,

You were just a friend living in another shadow,

Putting up a terrific show,

Making others believe you're the innocent one,

And yet I was a fool,

To believe you as the person you're not.

So there, you go. It's based on something I experienced before. What do you think. Is it any good....for a first-timer?

a night in a pub

Holidays are damn freaking bo-ring...I don't know 'bout you people but I rather be in school with my friends rather than just sitting at home doing nothing. Anyway, yesterday I went to a pub in KL. Yes, a pub, baby! I think I was the only under-18 teen who was there.

Unfortunately, I wasn't there with a boyfriend neither was it with my best friends. I was there with my....parents! Actually my mum was there for a poetry reading session in the pub called 'No Black Tie' so my dad and I just tagged along to give her a moral boost.

She was supposed to read 3 of her poems to the audience and I think they actually enjoyed it. My fave was the last piece which was "On the death of a great man". A very touching and inspiring piece of poem. It was 'bout my late grandfather who died way before I was born. Which was a sad thing because judging from the poem, he sounded like a really nice husband, father and grandfather which I'm sure he was.

I did learn new ways of reading poems either in english and malay after attending this poetry slam and hopefully can put it to good use sooner or later.

heading for the future

The schooling year of 2006 has finally come to an end yesterday. It has been a great year....in the beginning. But as the days nearing it's end, I think the excitement of the year started to decline. The great thing about 2 Belian is that it's full of classmates that are willing to help you through your hardtimes and to cheer you on during your happy times.

But I have to say that some of them do hate each other sometimes and giving them that evil looks and stares and I think I'm in that group of being ignored by this people.

Anyway,I think it's a good thing to move up to Batai next year. I was sad about it earlier but now...hey, it should be fun to get to know new people closer. I already have a my seatmate in Batai next year. Thanks to Valerie who was really generous to offer me to sit beside her in class.

Forgetting the past and heading for the future. But of course I won't forget all those sweet memories I had in 2 Belian. Just going to forget those bitter memories I had these past few weeks.

life without maid

I was cleaning up the fish pond in my house or let's just call it a fish-pond-without-any-fish-in-it the other day when SPLASH! I went into the pond. Anyway, a night before my open house, mum decided to buy a pair of guppy fish for the pond so that the next day people won't ask why isn't there any fish in the pond.

Unfortunately, 2 days later, one of the fish died and the other one had gone missing without any trace. We even tried putting droplets of aromatherapy oil inside the water to give energy to the fish, minutes before it died but I guess the time had come for the thing to go.

And now, with my maid gone back to Indonesia for a month, I had to do everything on my own. From ironing my own clothes to cooking my own food or rather heating up all the leftovers. Now I know life without a maid and it ain't easy, you know? I guess I was too dependent on maids.

I better be going now as I have a sink full of dirty dishes that need to be washed.

3 BATAI.......OH, NO!!!!

Pn Julie called me aside yesterday to tell me a news that really cluttered my brain right now. In a relaxed tone she told me,"Zafirah, awak akan ke 3 Batai tahun hadapan. Awak seorang je yang pergi yang lain in Belian akan stay". WHAT!!!!! I'll be in Batai where as all my friends are in Belian????

How could this happen to me? Some of my friends and teachers told me it's a good thing to go there 'cause it means I'm making a 'lil progress. Mum said I will get a new set of friends with a new environment.

Heck! I don't have time for a new environment next year. Fitting in a new environment takes time and I rather be using my time to prepare for my PMR next year. But whatever, I can't do anything 'bout it now. I thought of staying in Belian class 'til Form 5 but wth......

Well, I guess Batai shouldn't be that bad. For one thing, they have a great debate team there (if the members of their team this year remains in Batai next year) and for another, this maybe for the best of everything........hopefully.

goodbye, pn nancy!

One of my favourite teacher, Pn Nancy has left SMKDJ for good. We had a retirement celebration for her and I played the violin while Nunu and Jac sang the 'Getaran Jiwa' song. Though some criticised the song being too boring and what not, I don't care a bit 'bout it. We chosed this song especially for her and we were there to entertain Pn Nancy not those people and as long as she was happy with that song, I'm more than glad 'bout it.

She was a marvellous and dedicated teacher. Never in my 8 years of schooling in 3 different schools (excluding my kindergarten's times) have I seen such a dedicated teacher who was willing to come to school on holidays to train her students, to pick up a student who lives 20 km away from her house just so that the student can attend choir practices (that's me!) and she had gave in a lot to the society as well as the school.

She reminded me of one thing yesterday. She told me not to forget to invite her to my wedding one day. OOOKKK.......I think I'm too early to think 'bout inviting whoever to my 'wedding' right now but ok, I will not forget to invite her.

Pn Nancy Lee......a one in a gazillion.

a day of unity

Me, Nunu, Syamir and Jay minutes before the concert (gawd I look weird!!!)

Yesterday's Konsert Perpaduan was a....success. We had 2 sessions of concert and I'm happy to say that both sessions were full house! The first session which was at 3pm, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting came and the second session which was at 8pm, some guy from the Ministry of Education came.

The objective of this concert is for unity. Well, the title says it all. The day was filled with students and teachers of various races working hard together to put up a great concert. You could really see the teamwork from each participants.

As for SMKDJ, I think we did pretty well. Our choir group sang 3 songs which was in BM, Indian and Cantonese. All of us planned this performance way back in June. So, you know how hard we worked for this thing.

Even though there were some bumps and hitches along the way, i.e. some choir members pulled out from the group, not coming for practices (I did that quite often..) but we still manage to put up quite a spectacular show and I have it all to thank for to Pn Nancy for always pushing us to do the right thing and of course, the choir members who were loyal enough to stick with the group 'till the end.

But the weird thing was that Diong actually got interviewed by 8TV newsteam. Out of almost 500 participants who were there, they chosed him. Unbeliavable! But I couldn't understand what the interview was all about 'cause it was in chinese but still...he wasn't the ONLY chinese around.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!!

My famiy and I on the morning of Raya


Hari Raya has come again. A day that is waited by Muslims around the world after a full month of going through pain and sacrifices of fasting. I just came back from Raub, Pahang (my maternal grandma's kampung). Usually we will celebrate the morning of Raya at KL first than only we go back to Pahang but this year, my mum decided that she wants to spend more time before Raya with my grandma.

With all the ever-tasty food, (lemang, rendang, ketupat and the list goes on) my stomach is bloated 'cause I ate too much of everything. But I guess it's Raya, so I should be able to compromise once in awhile. During Hari Raya, we will get 'duit raya' or at least kids will get it. Sadly, as each year comes by, the amount of 'duit raya' I receive are declining. Why? 'Cause I'm getting older! The day will come when I will have to give the kids money instead of receiving it.

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends and Happy Deepavali to all my Indian friends.

the (ok, ok) exam marks

My dad has finally got back from his London trip after more than 2 weeks of being away. He bought me a really nice brown sling bag, shirts and jeans and the NEXT perfume. My mom is freaking jealous with me since he bought me more stuff than her. LOL.

Anyway, I got back by end-year-exams marks. Here they are:

BM: 87 (dropped a lot)
ENG: 90 (a suprising rise)
SC: 88 (ok, ok jer)
GEO: 87 (same as ever)
SEJ: 96 (whoo...but not good enough compared to Jia Yi)
KH: 86 (dropped as well)
SENI: 88 (an amazing marks for a subject that I hate the most)
MATH: an A (better)

And with that I got no. 7 in class.
Sathiya said that if he doesn't get top 10 in this term, than he will be transfered to a Kelana Jaya school. He didn't...so like what Zhan Wen said, "Happy Kelana Jaya, Sathiya!!!"

home-baked cookies

Yesterday, when everyone else was probably occupied by watching tv and chatting online, I spent the day baking chocolate chips cookies for Hari Raya. This year I decided to bake instead of buying the cookies.

I got the recipe from the Internet. It was supposedly a Famous Amos recipe. How did I get it? A woman wanted to buy a Famous Amos recipe since she loved the cookies so much. She asked the worker there, "How much is a recipe if I want to buy one?" The worker said, "Two fifty". Well, then she gave her credit card to pay for it. When she got her bills, she realized it was RM 250!! That woman thought it was RM 2.50.

She threatened to give the recipe to whole Malaysia if the worker won't return back her money and they didn't. So, the woman wrote the recipe and gave it to as many people as possible through the Net. So, that's how I got the "Famous Amos" recipe. To be honest, she was kind of dumb to think that a recipe can cost RM 2.50. How can the recipe be cheaper than the cookies?

How true is it, I don't know. We can't really trust the Internet, can we? But I still went ahead with the recipe and the result: heck, it didn't look like Famous Amos at all!!! But it did taste ok but not as good as the 'real' Famous Amos cookies.

So much for trying to bake but trust me, you won't die of food poisoning if you eat my home-baked cookies. LOL!

thank god

Finally......the craziest month of this year has finally ended. End-year-exams are over!!!! I can now eat, sleep and breathe properly. Don't ask me how my exams were. I wasn't really in top form due to some ailments.

My friends asked me, "You're fasting while having exams?" I nodded. They said, "Huh, pity you. I must drink and eat a lot during exams. If not, I cannot think properly."

Well, don't pity me for I have nothing to be pitied for. Pity those who are in the war zones. The kids and teens who are in Iraq, Lebanon, Kosovo and the list goes on. Sometimes we are too comfortable and pampered that we never stop from what we're doing to thank GOD for what we have.

Instead we keep asking for more and more. Those people in the warzones don't even have a place to shelter them for the heat and cold, no food to keep them alive and sometimes they don't even have parents to comfort them when bombs blast off on their own land.

But we have more than that. We have parents that give us ALMOST everything we need, a house equipped of whatever things we can think of and definitely we have enough food on our dining table in fact too much food that we're being labelled a 'FAT NATION'!

Yet we never appreciate all this. For once in our lives, stop complaining and thank God for what we have for we don't know what is waiting for us in the future. Maybe one day we might turn into a bloody nation from a nation which is peaceful before that. But of course, I wouldn't want to bet on that. But still......

feed the monster you've created

This week, NST carried out on the issue of teachers gained a lot of money from giving tuitions to student. Since then parents started complaining 'bout the teachers should be more serious in doing their job. If they taught well in school then we, the students might not need tuition.

The parents also complained that because of all these tuition classes, they had to pay a lot on it including my mum. Well, what do you expect? Nothing's free in this world and certainly NOT education. What I'm trying to say is that parents shouldn't complain that they're paying too much for our education and they have nothing to save for their golden age and what not.

Well, who actually send us to all these tuition classes if not the parents? Who asked us to join the music classes, take up art classes and learn to pick up French if not the parents? The children didn't ask for all these. It's because of the pressure from the family members especially our parents that wants us to score with flying colours in our academics that we have to go for all these classes.

I know that they meant well but the least they could do is stop complaining 'bout the high expenses of all these tuitions and classes. You created the monster and now you have to feed it. You don't expect to just let go of what you asked for.

Let us enjoy our childhood and teen years in an unburdenful environment.

frog incident

Those from SMKDJ afternoon session, did u hear a loud scream at around 5 pm? Well, if you did it was because of a bunch of girls who were terrified of a frog which appeared in front of the 'surau'. To make matters worse, Safwan took it and shoved it to the girls that made them screamed even louder.

He even put the frog in my shoe. Well, not directly put it but he put it on the floor which was inches away from my shoes. I was praying inside 'surau' so I didn't know what happened. The frog then hopped into my shoe! ERRK!!!! Disgusting. Luckily someone took it out. When I came out to see what really happened, Pn Betty was already at the scene scolding the students for shouting.

Then she called Safwan and all the prefects who was there (Syazwan, Saiful, Alia) including ME! WTH! She asked Safwan did he play with the frog? I thought he would say no and make up some lame excuses but coolly he answered, "Ya". She also asked the prefects why didn't we do something 'bout the screaming.

I said I was praying with Alia so what do you expect me to do? Luckily she understood and let Alia and I go. She even said, "Kenapa perlu menjerit? It's just a frog. You're bigger than the frog. Why do you have to be afraid of it?"

'Kenapa perlu menjerit?' Yeah, right! Try and put a frog in front of her and see whether will she sit down and just look at the frog or will she screamed like the girls.

That was the yuckiest thing ever. A frog went into my shoe. Of all shoes, it chosed mine. I'm the lucky one...NOT! Felt like throwing away the shoe but decided not to since I have only 2 pairs of the black shoes.

The last time I saw the frog was when it was swimming in the drain in front of the 'surau' which was then full of water due to the rain.

Semangat DJians *bluek*

Yee-Haa!!!!! I went for a 'sajak' district level competiton and I won the 3rd placing. Though not the best, it was better than nothing. My 'sajak' was called "Secangkir Kesedaran" which I wrote myself. The competition was held in SMK Damansara Damai 1.

But what really made me utterly disappointed despite the fact that I won something was that, it seemed like the school wasn't supporting me in this competition. The reason I'm saying this is that: NOT a single teacher was willing to accompany me to the school as a 'guru pengiring'. I saw that every single contestants today was accompanied by their teacher but me....I was left alone sitting like an idiot.

I had to go there on my own and I was forced to find my own transport back to school. How the hell am I supposed to do that since both my parents are working? Didn't they think of that? I guess NOT! Lucky Pn Yip from morning session was kind enough to allow me to go back with her and the rest of the Geo quiz team.

What happened to the so-called "SEMANGAT DJians"??? Rubbish shit. Never in life I went for a competition outside of the school without 'guru pengiring'. I know the 'sajak' competition is just a small competition but hey, at least give the support-lah. I entered this competition for the sake of the school. If it's not for the school,I won't even think of reading any 'sajaks'.

What's the point of giving a good name to the school if they don't even support us?

HAPPY MERDEKA!!!!

MERDEKA! MERDEKA! MERDEKA!
Merdeka Day started for me today by going to Ikano (12am) to watch the fireworks. It was brilliant with the colourful fireworks bursting for 10 mins. There was a concert put up by the local artists (Pop Shuvit, Anuar Zain etc.)

Then at 8 am I had a netball competition in my neighbourhood in conjuction with the Merdeka Day. Unfortunately, my team lost by 2 points (the score was 9-11). Well, my team did not even practice at all and we have inexperience players on the team so yeah.....that's partly the reason why we lost.

MERDEKA? What does that word mean to you? Well, mostly people would answer: freedom. Actually it's more than just freedom. Merdeka means the act of being free and standing on our own 2 feet after being colonized by the foreign power for so many years.

Our task at hand right now as Malaysians is to preserve our dignity and freedom by not letting any other problems or power break us apart.

As we move forward, let us not lose sight of the past that brought so much pain to the generation before us in order for them to get the independence that we are enjoying right now.

HAPPY MERDEKA!!!!!

happy hols n happy studying!!!!

KGT, Sivik project and kerja kayu all sent in today. Seems like a lot of work, huh? Well, it was a hell lot of work. Especially KGT. But the good thing was that I got 18/20 for my 'kerja kayu' which was kinda good.

Well, even if the holidays season are starting, it doesn't make it more exciting, at least for me. There are approximately 4 weeks until the beginning of our nightmares, end-of- the-year exams. Well, worst for me since it's the fasting month during the exams weeks and I just can't imagine how to survive without food the whole freaking day.

I'm not saying that it's bad to fast. It's actually good since I get to diet. LOL. But I need energy so I can answer exams excellently!! Haiiz....praying hard that I'll pass with flying colours.

To all, HAPPY HOLIDAYS and of course, HAPPY STUDYING!!!!!!!

How shallow can you be?

I was doing my prefect's duty yesterday when I came across this boy prefect. He's quite into the Malaysian entertainment industry. We always talk 'bout the up and down's of the industry together. I watched Puteri Gunung Ledang the musical already and I told him it was so freaking nice that he should go and watch it if he has time.

And he's reply was, "I don't want-lah since it's a Malay production." I was shocked by his answer. I didn't know that a boy from a top class can think in such a shallow way. Fine, if you don't want to see it 'cause it's a Malay production, think in a way that is a Malaysian production since there were various races involved in the making of it.

I came across this person once who thought as shallow as the boy did. I was showing her a picture of a Chinese actor on a newspaper. I asked her, "Hey, he's cute. Don't you think so?" She replied, "Eewww! A Chinese with a squinted eyes??? Of course not!!!"

I didn't know that there were so many people out there who are still shallow in their thinking. I thought that since we live in a multi- racial country we tend to respect each other more and think with an open mind.

But I was wrong.

Only Originals Allowed!

I received a call from Pn Norhayati yesterday when I was sleeping soundly at around 8 am. She called to ask me to jot down the 'sajak' which I was supposed to recite today. WTH. Memorise a 2 page long 'sajak' in just a day????

But luckily my 'sajak' reading went well today during the 'Pelancaran Kempen Mengibarkan Jalur Gemilang'. Whew! Later on we had Sivik. We were supposed to write a 'sajak' (again 'sajak'!) on a manila card and decorate it. Apparently, it was part of the Aug monthly test so we can't 'cincai' doing it.

Pn Norhayati gave us pointers on what to write. Then she said, "Kamu tidak boleh meniru sajak. Semuanya mesti asli. Saya boleh tahu mana tiru mana tidak." Zhan Wen and Sathiya who was sitting behind me said to me, "Err-hmm.....no 'ciplak-ing allowed'. Yes, thank you very much you guys.

You didn't have to remind me of the past incident when during Sivik period also, the teacher (at that time was Cik Julia) asked us to write our OWN 'sajak' in a group. My group was real lazy to even think of anything. So, I as the team leader with the approval of others decided to take a patriotic song, "Bersatu" and turnt it into a 'sajak' hoping that no one would notice.

I guess if I read it to my friends ONLY, they would believe that it's an original piece. But things were otherwise when I read it with Cik Julia listening. She instantly knew that the so-called 'sajak' I was reading was actually a song. So, yeah, I learnt a lesson from that incident which was never to copy 'sajak' anymore when I was supposed to write my own. You guys need not worry 'bout that.

Hanya Ori saja dibenarkan!

from mph to puteri gunung ledang

the book cover

Hang Tuah and the Princess of Mount Ledang

I was at Midvalley MPH today for my mum's reading session on her self-published book titled The Art of Naming: A Muslim Woman's Journey. It's a really interesting book. It's a selection of poems written by her 'bout her journey of life. I'm not saying it's interesting 'cause the author is my mum or what. But seriously, it's very fun to read since it's written in an easy way so that everyone can relate to it. Only RM 20.

Then, later on my family and I went to Istana Budaya to watch the very much critically acclaimed Puteri Gunung Ledang (PGL) the Musical. Gosh, it was freaking nice! Such a wonderful piece of story. The musical theater was far better than the movie.

It's 'bout the princess of Mount Ledang who was madly in love with the Melaka warrior, Hang Tuah. But then, at the same time the King of Melaka wanted to marry the Princess so Hang Tuah had to choose to be loyal to the King by leaving the Princess or follow the love of his life.

Majestic kings, dazzling damsels, heroic warriors. See the glory of 15th Century Melaka unfold before your very eyes. Breathtaking sets, resounding chorus lines, pulsating rhythms and spirited contemporary choreography combine in a fury of staggering imagination to bring you a night to remember.

Since it's a musical theater, so there was a lot of singing and dancing and I really loved the songs. And 1 more thing that I really like 'bout this theater was that the guy who played Hang Tuah ( Stephens Rahman Hughes) was fregging cute!!!!!! He's a West End actor so he's like a pro in theaters and acting.

You guys should go and watch it. It's hard to produce a production as high class as this in Malaysia so grab this chance while you still can. They're still viewing it till 21 aug. If you can't really understand BM especially when it's spoken faster than you can catch it, there's subtitle available so, yeah no worries.

Whew!

Whew! What a rather tiring day today! It all started when I had to go to school at 7.30 am 'cause the pm session choir has the 'raptai' for the upcoming Konsert Perpaduan which is in Nov. Anyway, we were late. When it was supposed to be our turn to perform, HALF of the whole choir haven't even arrived since there's only 1 van and it's not enough to fit all of us in.

So the driver had to make 2 trips and that was what made us late. It was rather embarassing 'cause it just show how indiscipline we were. But it wasn't entirely our fault (choir members) since pn nancy rented a van. She should've asked for a bus instead.

Anyway, despite all of this, I think we did pretty good. We sang 3 songs:
Malay song (Bersatu)
Indian song ( ermmm......ask jayshendra)
Chinese song (Phang Yau)

So you could say that we're a multi-language choir. After that went back to school at around 12.30 pm. Nunu and I decided to go to Missy's (nickname for my friend) house and change our clothes there since we were wearing our precious baju kurung and you know how filthy was the toilet so we don't want to get our clothes dirty. It was a really hot day and it took us 'bout 10 mins to walk to her house.

However, when we arrived, she and the other 2 girls were ready to go to school. WTH. Why suddenly they wanted to go to school early???? And Missy, instead of waiting for us to AT LEAST change our clothes since we walked quite a long way to come here.

But NO..... she just went to school without even considering slightly 'bout us. So then Nunu and I stayed at her house for 10 mins to change our clothes. We actually wanted to stay longer 'cause we were too tired to walk back to school but with the Missy not being at home, it felt unusual to do that. We had to WALK BACK to school under the hot sun again.

I guess to some people going to Atria is more important than waiting for your best friends to change their clothes after walking for 10 mins to go to her house.

4EVER AND EVER

During Seni period yesterday, Pn Lee was so kind hearted to let us do whatever we want. So, Jia Yi and I decided to compose our own songs. With only 30 mins, we produced our own song together, complete with the lyrics and the rhythm. Here's how it goes:

4ever and ever

She's the one,
He's the one,
We're all together
on a golden thread,
That is friends.

Wrecking ship,
Rocking ship,
It doesn't matter anymore,
'Cause I have your friendship.

#CHORUS
You're there for me,
Whenever I needed you,
I'm always beside you,
For as long as you want me too.

Forever and ever,
We're together.

What do you think? Good enough to compose songs for Mariah Carey or perhaps Shakira? LOL!

I know the lyrics are a bit funny but hey, it was better than doing nothing.

choir pm session, u rock!!!!!

Just came back from Hari Penghargaan Ko-kurikulum. I was supposed to wake up late today but instead I had to reach school by 7 am. Anyway, I went there to collect my 2 prizes (choir and netball) and also to perform on behalf of choir.

The afternoon session sang 2 songs which was "Untukmu Malaysia" and "I Bought Me A Cat". Well, the english song was really stupid and lame but I guessed the audiences found it rather entertaining and hilarious. Here's some of the list of the winners for this year:

Persatuan Akademik Terbaik (sesi pagi) : English Language Society
Persatuan Akademik Terbaik (sesi petang) : Persatuan Sains dan Matematik

Persatuan Bukan Akademik Terbaik (sesi pagi) : DJnet Club
Persatuan Bukan Akademik Terbaik (sesi petang) : KELAB MUZIK DAN KOIR (unbeliavable!)

Persatuan Pakaian Seragam Terbaik : Kadet Remaja Sekolah (suprisingly scouts did not win this year)

Sukan dan Permainan Terbaik : Cheer Team (knew it)

I can't believe my beloved choir won "Persatuan Bukan Akademik Terbaik" for afternoon session. But we did work hard for it and all the credits should be given to the ever dedicated Pn Nancy Lee who's been really strict with us nowadays so that we'll be more discipline. And also to the other committed choir members who had worked really hard by practising everyday for the past few weeks.

Determination and commitment are the keys to success.........

YAY!

Wooo hooo!!!!! Miracle does happen. Believe or not, HEBAT got 1st place for overall as well as cheerleading during sports day! Also, 3rd placing for marching.

The marching team was obviously doing better this year than last year. I guess if you are under a good leadership, victory is not a question anymore but in fact an answer. So, this year under the wings of the seniors, (Daniel, Aiman, Wei Kit, Aaron and others) we finally got a position in the marching competition. Kudos to all of them!

I actually regretted for not joining marching this year since it was so fun to see all of them doing their formations. Maybe next year. Anyway, I'm freaking proud of HEBAT for being the champion this year when they are only the underdogs before this.

We are definitely moving to a greater level of victory next year!

tell me what to do!!!!

Aargh!!!! Just 'cause of this one harmless boy, 3 friends are having 2 different arguments. Here's what happened:

Girl A likes Boy B secretly. Then, girl A's friend, girl C went and told B that girl A likes him. B's response was, "But I dun't like her". It was meant to be a secret but C just went on to tell him. I knew 'bout it and told girl A 'bout that.

The reason I told A that the boy knows she likes him 'cause C told him was that she was upset these days 'cause B was like avoiding her. I don't wanna see my friend being miserable with her not knowing the real cause of it. When she knew 'bout it she was upset with girl C for spilling the beans to boy B.

Now, girl A is upset with girl C and girl C might be upset with me. I seriously don't know what I should do now. But I still think what I did was right 'cause I don't wanna see girl A still waiting for Boy B when he doesn't like her. Waiting for him is like waiting for rain in this drought.

Please tell me what to do 'bout this IF there is something I should be doing. (SIGH)

GO, HEBAT!!!!!

A school day spend in the MPPJ stadium. Fun......not! It was 'saringan' day and I entered short putt. Unfortunately, I did not brag the top 3 positions. What do u expect when my competitors are people like Maxine who is good enough to be in MSSD (according to one of the seniors).

Anyway, my hope is that Hebat will be first this year after years of not becoming champion. Anis Sofia had a good chance of winning the 1.5 km race but at the last round, she can't take it anymore and fell flatly on the track.

I thought she passed out 'cause she wasn't moving at all for 'bout 15 mins. But actually she had muscle cramps. That didn't stop her from winning the 400m race later on. That's the spirit, gurl!!!

GO, HEBAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

eng oral test

These few days, I was swamped with piles of works to do so no time to blog. Anyway, on Friday, we had oral test with Ms. Sathya. My topic was 'sleeping in class'. What a lame topic! I created some stupid story 'bout a boy who slept in class during a really boring sub and was punished by the teacher later on for sleeping in class by making him sleep on the floor without anything covering it.

Apparently, my classmates liked it, so, that's a relief. After that we had 30 mins before the end of the period so Ms, Sathya suggested games that we would like to play. We started off with the lame 'hangman' game. I never liked hangman. After that, we proceeded with the 'continue the sentence' game.

Giri started the game by saying "Mei Ching is an opera singer". Everything went well until it was Kelvin's turn to continue the story. His one was "Giri kidnapped her and brought her to his house ". That was still a bit ok but the climax was when it came to Sathiya's turn. He had no idea what to say then Wei Chern said to him "then she opened her clothes".

I said to Sathiya don't say it if you don't want Ms. Sathya to explode with anger 'cause it is something that should be censored. But then, Sathiya chosed wrong over right and said Wei Chern's sentence and the whole class erupted with laughter when he said it.

Not Ms. Sathya who, like I said exploded with anger. She started blabbing 'bout sanity and how corrupted our class is and started scolding Sathiya and Wei Chern for embarassing Mei Ching with those sentences. Mei Ching even cried.

Actually, I quite agree with Ms. Sathya (for the first time) bout how wrong the 2 boys were and they shouldn't be saying those sentences before that. I can totally feel what Mei Ching felt. She must be really embarassed by it.

This teach us a lesson not to care about our feelings only 'cause ours is not the only one that matters.

'3 things'

These past few days had been a really boring one so nothing much to blog 'bout. Anyway, to those of you who wanted to know what '3 things' Chee Fai owed me, (especially Sam) here they are:

1. My precious pink debate rebuttal cards that he borrowed from me
(it was one of my first debates so it's like a treasure to me)

2. He promised to link me on his blog (it was a promise he made MONTHS AGO)

3. He promised to comment on my blog (something he promised MONTHS AGO TOO)

So, so far he already fulfilled 2 things which are no 2 and no 3. But the most important thing is the rebuttal cards which he still haven't return it back and for all I know, he might have lost it.

The '3 things' were really nothing but I don't know why both of us became really secretive 'bout it. Just wanting to feel like we have a big secret together once in awhile. LOL!

p/s hey, sam! sorry if u'r angry if we didn't wanna tell you 'bout wat happened this evening
'cause that one is a real secret.....

guess who

Guess who cried his eyes out yesterday in 2 Belian? Sathiya G. Reason: He forgot to bring a cut out article of Star which was supposed to be paste on his NIE project. The dateline was yesterday and if you don't have a relevant article, your whole team is disqualified.

He was really mad and was crying real hard but at the same time tried to hide it. Then, came along Chee Ming who obviously came at the wrong time and asked him to pay money for the class fund or something like it. Sathiya grabbed Chee Ming's hand tightly and shouted at him, "I said I don't want to pay means I don't want to!" CM who was at utter shock moved away.

I was too, actually. Even Zhan Wen, Mr-I'll-Always-Answer -U kept quiet. I can't stand seeing people cry so I offered giving him my extra article of the Star to him. Though it's not really relevant to his theme, but it's better than nothing, right? So, he took it and case closed.

My advise to all is that: Think of an alternative first if you're in trouble rather than crying your
eyeballs off. Crying won't solve any of your troubles.

Tired of the word boy

BOYS, BOYS and BOYS.....That's what I hear 'bout these days. In the class, in the prefect's room, on the bus......everywhere. It seems that when you reach a certain age, boy's topic is like a must topic in your daily life, for girls that is.

What I don't understand is why must it be that topic all the time??? There are thousands of other interesting topics that can really be talked about but NO......!!!! Boys are still the main thing of all. I mean, it's totally fine to talk 'bout them once in awhile. I also talk 'bout how cute that boy and this boy is but there are limits, ok. In whatever we do, there are limitations.

When the girls are group together, the normal script would be:

1. "U know &?!!. sms-ed me last night. I was like.....aww.....how nice"
2. "My boyfriend said I'm sweet yesterday!!!"
3. " Ah, he is sooooo cute!!!"

and so on. Pleazzz.....do u have to repeat the same kind of script everytime????? It's not that I hate boys or what. It's just that I get tired hearing the same topic and the same thing over and over again.

BOYS..........can live with them.
Can live without them.

SMKDJ as the debate champion

Guess who won the HELP Debate Championship 2006? You got it, baby! The awesome SMK Damansara Jaya! It was a really splendid debate. They went against SMK Convent Bukit Nenas for the semi-finals and their motion was "This house believes that a sovereignty of a country depends on a strong economy rather than a strong military (opposition)" They won , of course.

Next was against SMK St. Michael's with the motion "This house would make HIV screening a pre-requisite for a marriage (proposition). It was a neck to neck competition and I did not stay back for the results 'cause it was kinda late and I had to shoot of back to Pahang soon.

So, my mum sort of knew the chief adjudicator, Mr Latif since they work in the same place so she asked him through sms and ta-da! Our school emerged as the champion with the 3rd speaker of the team, Adeline won Best Speaker title! What a glorious day for our school.

I wished I could be as good as them.

History repeats itself

After 3 days of only 5 hours of sleep each night, finally the DJ Open Debate organized by the English Society has ended.....for my team consisting of me, Samantha, Jun Wen and Jayshendra. To be in a debate team, your willingness to commit fully to the team is very important. That's what I learned from this debate comp.

Anyway, our first motion was "This house believes that Internet inhibits human's nature as a social being" and we were the opposition team. We went against the form 3s. I was kinda spooked by that time earlier on because they don't seem nervous at all especially Neal who seems really hyperactive. The 2nd speaker, Rabin even binded his speech!

But thank god we won against them! Next up the semifinal against the 2 Batai's team consisting of Keeth, Daryl and Jo-Yi. Uh-huh, we lost to this team before during the inter-class debate way back in Feb. The motion was "This house believes that the sovereignty of a country depends on a strong economy rather than a strong military" and we were the Government team. Tough motion? Oh, yeah it was a tough one for us.

To make things worse. During the semifinal, it was raining heavily so I had to shout out my speech on top of my voice and still then, they really couldn't hear it. So, just imagine how loud was the sound.

Unfortunately, history repeats itself. The 2 Batai's team won.......again! And Samantha won the "Best Speaker". (congrats!) I wish Daryl and his teammates good luck in the finals which I'm sure will be much tougher.

But one thing for sure, that won't be my last debate as a debater 'cause I'm starting to love debating. It's my passion now!

Exam Results

After 2 weeks of holidays, I've gotten back all my marks. Sadly, my position might drop to don't know what number 'cause of the bloody Math results!!! Here is a list of my exam results:

BM: 91 (Yay! Improved by a few marks)
ENG: 87 (Not bad)
SEJ: 90 (If I have gotten full marks for my project, I'll at least get to draw with Wei Chern)
GEO: 87 (Wo-hoo!! The sub I hate the most and I get an A)
SCIENCE: 89 (Dropped a few marks....)
AG: 95 (YES!!! One of the highest in the class. He he he.)
SENI: 81 (Finally an A in seni)
KH: 91 (Not bad)
Math: (UH-huh, i'm not telling you this one)

So, basically my marks dropped like hell 'cause of Math. And Wei Chern is bloody happy now since he got to beat me in exams which he seldom did. Just watch out, man!

Hilarious Cartoonival

I had an NIE meeting at Hana's house with my Fab Five team except for Samantha who was in Singapore. We managed to finish a poster and another 2 to go. I can't reveal the details of the poster yet since the dateline isn't over.

Anyway, at around 12.30 pm, my mum called and said that she got 5 extra tickets to go to the Cartoonival show in KL Convention Centre. I know what you're thinking right now. OK, fine. Cartoonival might be too childish for 14 year old teen but hey, they were free and worth RM 250 each.

So, since they were 4 people at the meeting, (Me, Hana, Grace and Amanda) I invited them to go with me plus my mum since she's the one who brought us there.

Oh, god! At first I regretted the idea of coming to the show since all I could see were kids aged around 2-10 years old. But no point turning back since we were in the Plenary Hall already. It was something like a broadway show with the famous cartoon network characters dancing and singing onstage. From Powerpuff Girls to Dexter the Laboratory to the Ayu and Yumi,(whatever they're called)... they were all there.

For a moment, it was kinda good to go back and enjoy the moments of your childhood like watching again these cute characters of your used-to-be fave tv show. But not for long! Suprisingly, the characters also rapped their songs! Hilariously cute.

My friends and I even my mum enjoyed the show although it was too childish for us. My mum even said that one of the characters who was apparently a human was cute. Well, I quite agree with her. LOL!!!