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Accounts of an Adolescent |
Saturday, August 21, 2004
As of now, I'm on a two-week mid-semester break.. I guess every holiday is a much needed one.. There's something to be said about familiarity breeding contempt :P As for me, of course I embrace the holidays with open arms.. But the thing is, I can't afford to let go of my responsibilities, the way I did each time there was a holiday..
My normal holiday routine would be as follows :
1) Draw up a sensible study plan
2) Pack up all 100kg of my books
3) As soon as I get home, I sleep
4) Then, I sleep some more
5) Sleep
6) Eat, eat, eat
7) Repack my stuff for college
So what's different this time around? I've set myself realistic goals.. Instead of using the whole two weeks to study ALL 3 of my subjects, I'm only going to focus on ONE.. See? This is a big milestone for me.. Finally, an achievable goal.. I can see myself crossing the finish line already :P
I've got so many things to do.. Physics homework, Computing structured task, General Studies presentation, Maths homework.. Plus, I need to fill up my UCAS and Cambridge application forms.. And I need to settle some Chess Club stuff in KL.. I also have to teach Visual Basic at my former school, apart from a couple of IT tuition classes..
Which brings me to this niggling issue that keeps bugging me.. Do I want to study in London or not? I think I'm somebody who can cope with a hectic lifestyle.. I mean, just look at all the things I'm doing right now.. If this isn't called multi-tasking, then I don't know what is.. But then again, can I cope with the demands of life in London? I'm terrible at budgeting my money and I do think that seeing myself there, going on for weeks without food is highly probable..
And the worse part is, I need to submit my application forms by September 8.. That doesn't leave me with a lot of time.. Anyway, I hope the holidays will be an enjoyable one..
Happy holidays to all :)
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NHA at 9:39 AM ::
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Thursday, August 19, 2004
This must the only time where almost all my Computing classmates actually came to class on time.. T was even smiling.. An actual, cheerful smile.. That's really hard to come by, especially during Computing..
All I can say to describe today's class : miraculous..
Today there was Choir Club practice and I went in 15 minutes late :P Since I'm having this flu, my throat felt very dry.. Every time I tried to hit a high note, it felt as if I had a blade thrust down my throat.. I was coughing and clearing my throat throughout the song.. The torture only ended almost an hour later :P
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NHA at 4:59 PM ::
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Wednesday, August 18, 2004
My first Wednesday morning with the first two Block 4 periods free.. It was bliss.. Well, coupled by the fact that somehow I got myself down with the flu over the night, those extra hours of sleep were priceless..
The unexpected happened today.. During Computing, Mr. J actually showed us a movie.. A movie! After we've lost all hope that he would finally fulfill his promise, he actually borrowed the CDs of I, Robot and using the LCD projector, we watched it full-screen on the whiteboard.. Cool.. We're supposed to continue the last 40 minutes tomorrow.. It was the best Computing class ever..
By lunchtime, my head started to ache so I popped one of the pills I got from the matron.. And I proceeded to sleep through my remaining 3 classes in the afternoon :P
At 6pm, I went for the interhouse chess tournament.. Our house, Sapphire was up against the favourites, Diamond in the second round.. I already told the team that it didn't matter whether we won or lost because I thought that the champs were a forgone conclusion.. But as it turned out, 1 of Diamond's players didn't turn up while another one came when only 5 minutes were left on her clock :P
In the end, our team drew with them.. Sapphire 3 - Diamond 3.. Phew.. What a revelation.. I thought that with us fielding 4 girls and 2 boys instead of the other way around, we would've been dead last by now.. Instead, we've become the favourites to enter the final.. Diamond and Garnet, whom we drew with previously, both have one win and one draw after their first couple of rounds while Topaz has lost both.. Sapphire has got two draws going into the third round against Topaz, so I think we've got a higher shot of entering the finals, provided that we win the next round, of course.. Wish us luck :)
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NHA at 4:59 PM ::
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Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Went to Central Market with J and K to scout for prices for our Chess Club T-shirts.. The highest was RM38 and the lowest was RM28.. Our designs were quite elaborate and the number of orders was small so it was hard to find a cheap price.. But so far we've agreed on taking up the RM28 offer.. All we have to do now is to collect RM30 from each club member, although I honestly think that borders on the impossible considering how close we are towards the mid-semester holidays..
We went to Restoran Jejantas in Sg. Buloh for some dinner.. As I was waiting for my order to be served in KFC, one of the young waiters was actually hitting on me.. He asked if I was alone, which I was at the time.. Usual pick-up lines, and I tried to divert my eyes to the counter from time to time, hoping that my order would emerge miraculously :P He proceeded to ask if I was still studying, and guess what.. As soon as I said I was studying A-Levels and I took my SPM in 2002, he hurriedly walked away.. Hahaha.. I've never felt so old in my entire 19 years of existence :P
Z's ankle got bruised while he was playing badminton.. I'm so tempted to follow him to the clinic in Tanjung Malim.. But then, how am I supposed to weasel my way out of Mr. J's class?
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NHA at 4:32 PM ::
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Monday, August 16, 2004
Today, I joined our college's trip to the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) for students taking Accounting.. It was basically an office at the corner lot of a building in Brickfields, KL.. First, we had a talk by Ms. TM about MIA and its membership.. Since it pertained a lot more towards the accountants, the rest of the students who were taking other courses, i.e. me, T, E, etc. weren't exactly paying attention throughout the talk :P But it was pretty amazing to know that the speaker had a degree in Mass Communication and yet she's working in accountancy.. She reminds me of D, my colleague when I was working as a temporary accounts clerk more than a year ago.. He had a degree in Computer Science but there he was, holding a job as an accounts exec..
After that, there was a talk by Datuk K, who must be one of the most powerful people in Malaysia.. He has overseen various multi-million projects such as developing Bangsar and KL Sentral.. He's met almost all the richest people on the planet, including Donald Trump.. And yet, he's so down-to-earth and unassuming that you wouldn't believe that he handles projects worth billions of ringgit for a living.. He said accountants hold the edge because honesty and the responsibility to disclose facts have been ingrained as the very basics of accountancy.. He even told us this really cool story about how he sold a company for RM500mil although its initial start-up capital was RM1mil! He says only accountants can make the intangible tangible.. But I honestly think that he's blurred the line between accountancy and marketing :P
For lunch, we went to Chili's to repay my debt to R :P Together with M and Z, we really had a good time.. Before we left, all three of them took some free balloons with them.. The balloons even had the phrase "Ask About Kids Eat Free" on them.. Our childish ways were further enhanced when we ran, with the balloons, to catch the bus on the way back to college..
In the afternoon, we went to Bursa Malaysia.. I don't know how me managed to keep ourselves awake throughout his 90-minute speech.. The speaker was so cocky right from the start.. He kept referring to us as "village kids" because we couldn't understand all his terminologies and jargon.. And I kept hearing him pepper his sentences with a word which sounded like 'H. S. Lee', i.e. "This is H. S. Lee a company", etc.. And the thing is, nobody else heard him say that so they're all saying that I made it all up! Grrr..
We came back at around 7pm.. I had bought a sandwich for supper because I didn't plan on eating at the Dining Hall.. It turned out that Sapphire was holding a small celebration party post-IAW, with a huge helping of fried mee to boot :P In the end, I gave my sandwich to my petsis, E because I did owe her Dunkin Donuts for the small stunt I asked her to do during Sapphire's house dinner :)
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NHA at 4:59 PM ::
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Sunday, August 15, 2004
KMYS @ KYUEM "super-duper" seniors (SDS) were at hand this afternoon to give a unique university fair with a distinct alternative feel to it.. Ex-KMYS students from 25 top UK universities plus a few from America were bombarded by us, the current batch of seniors, with questions regarding their current university, such as accomodation, living costs, environment, etc.. Their answers were straight to the point and we listened to lots of insightful advice and first-hand accounts of living in various UK universities.. Watching all these SDS, I can't help but feel at awe.. Studying here, my main priority is to get myself a place in the UK.. And to see all these people actually achieving that goal and having so much fun in the process, I really have the utmost respect for them..
So which universities did I target? Imperial College, Warwick, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Nottingham and Bath.. There was nobody from York and the Manchester table was empty by the time me, E and H got there.. I didn't dare to go to Cambridge's :P So basically, what did the all SDS say about their respective universities?
"It's easy to get supplies of halal food."
"The rent is ### pounds per week, but I'm sure you can survive."
"We've got a strong and active Malaysian Society."
"Our Malaysian Night is very popular and well received."
"You won't regret coming here."
And allow me to make myself clear.. All of the above was said by ALL the SDS, regardless of which university they're from.. Doesn't help much, does it? :P
But all in all, it was pretty informative and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet them in person.. Especially the revered Nik Nazmi, president of the KMYS/KYUEM alumni..
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NHA at 4:59 PM ::
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