Outing - Pacific

Never had I imagined today would be such an interesting day. Though only two people, today was wonderful with lots of surprise and unexpected, unprecedented events transpiring. First, me and my friend watched the Thai horror Voices From The Grave, I'll post the review of the movie later. Then after that, we had lunch at a restaurant, and I learnt something new, or secrets, about my friend and others. The cat is already out of the bag, but it can still be hidden and remained unseen.

After lunch, we played bowling! I never once dared to dream I would play bowling today, because my father forbid me from playing (he finds bowling exorbitant and waste of time). But bowling was fun, and I got a hang of it pretty quickly.

As a beginner, one must remember to use only light bowling ball - those weighed below 10kg. I got tired of using 8kg ball so I tried 15kg. The first throw was successful, but when I decided to give it a second throw, I kind of hurt my hand and the ball fell on the ground, thumping loudly.

It hurt a lot, actually.

Well, the gist was: bowling's fun. I'm kind of lazy to elaborate.

After bowling, we went to watch a second movie - Priest, the review, again, I'll post later. Apparently we've frequent the theatre enough for the workers to recognise us. The movie was great too, but watching a second movie shortly after the first was a bit tiring.

Possibly because I'm not used to watching televisions, therefore watching long hours movie got a bit tiring. But the movie was exceptionally engaging and mesmerising.

Well, we had dinner after the movie and we dined at Pizza Hut. I ordered a plate of spaghetti while my friend (not disclosing his name, afraid he might not like it) took a plate of rice. The plate of rice was not at all edible for him. He found it extremely difficult to swallow, or even masticate, due to some terrible ordeal he went through.

Okay, maybe I'd exaggerated a bit.

After dinner, we went strolling around. I found an extremely nice T-shirt I longed to buy but I should not buy. I've more than enough resplendent shirts and I need not buy another one.

Well, in short, today was fun. I never had this kind of fun for months already, and I enjoyed it, albeit a bit tiring.

The Beginning of the Holiday

Holidays can never look much warming and inviting, particularly after weeks of unrelenting stress and unceasing examinations. While most of my friends were whooping with joy, poised to run around and play computer games, I find holidays a little bit boring.

The chief reason would be my resistance to play computer games. Addictive games are to be repelled as they bring no benefit.

Anyway, I'll begin my driving lesson on 1st of Jun and sit for driving test on 9 of Jun. Fast huh? If you're wondering how can a person achieve what it requires to drive a car in 9 days time, I'll answer you this: Malaysia Boleh!

Mid-Year Examination, Day 9

Today was the last day of the exam, and thanks to the thought most of us were already not in the mood of studying. First paper for the day: Physics paper 3. I struggled really hard trying to plough through all the experiments in the SUCCESS book, and I found them to be filled with piles of rubbish. All nonsense were added into the book and they made the experiments looked so difficult to write. The truth is: 95% of the procedure were rubbish and you didn't have to write them. They were verbose. Therefore, I resort to Physics Practical book. It had the shortest procedure and the best reference because the book's under Government. Anyway, the paper was shit. The first question was weird. The question seemed to imply the resistance was the manipulated variable, but then the diagram showed the other. Weird. Though they affect each other, the question was still weird. Question 2 was also weird - to me, at least. I couldn't find the volume. But Section B was easy. Thank God. Second paper for the day: Physics paper 1. Easy. Finally,the last paper for the day: Sivik, the most useless subject in the universe, loosely behind Pendidikan Moral. Well, the exam is now officially over, and everybody is free to schlep around! Yes!!

Mid-Year Examination, Day 8

First paper for the day: Biology paper 3. If you thought the paper was easy and the questions predictable, you were wrong. The question on Section A came out in First Monthly Test, but thank God it wasn't difficult as hell. The experiment part was the section everybody was terrified of. The question asked the relationship between humidity and rate of transpiration and we were required to write a report to validate our hypothesis. Many people chose to follow SUCCESS pedantically, while I chose to construct mine. Many people do not know writing a report need not follow the modal experiments. As long as the experiment works, you get your marks. It doesn't matter if you used patometer or whatever means you use. Second paper for the day: Chemistry paper 1. Negligible paper. Third paper for the day: Biology paper 1. I should have known the paper would be exceptionally difficult. CSB set the paper! The paper was indeed tough! So far, this was the most difficult biology objective paper we've done.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 8

Despite two days of rest, none of us were fully prepared for the upcoming papers. The reason was obvious: holidays are days where students find pleasure and games irresistable. Well, first paper for the day was Additional Mathematics paper 1. After paper 2 the entire form was shaken with shock and fear, and everybody was trembling with fear, pressing on the calculators like cows hurtling towards a red flag. But, luck was on our side: paper 1 was much easier than paper 2. Obtaining full mark wasn't impossible. Second paper for the day: Chemistry paper 3. The paper was fine. Many of my friends did not read the question carefully. Some wrote five different metal solution while some wrote only four metal pieces. After missing 'isomers' in paper 2, I've learnt to peruse the questions carefully. I did not if what I wrote as correct, but i've tried my best. Third paper for the day: Sejarah paper 2. The paper was fine too, 30% of students were transported away to a new era where only sleepness existed within 20 minutes. When the bell rang on 1.15pm, everybody came back and life went on.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 7

The assembly began the day. Thank goodness, the assembly was unusually short, but we were grateful. This is because the first paper of the day was Sejarah paper 2. Everybody was woebegone because Sejarah needs memorisation, and most of us were either poor at it or lazy to do it. Rumours were spreading like wildfire. Some said bab 2, 6 and 10 would come out in essay questions while some said otherwise. Scores of rumours arose but I blocked all of them out. I had no interest in knowing which questions would come out in subjective or essay. Anyway, the paper was fine. Second paper for the day: Mathematics paper 1. We all thought it would be easy, but it wasn't. It was quite challenging and it required extreme patience to solve some of the questions, and some of my friends really mucked up the paper. Overall, the paper was fine, though I've made one careless mistake.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 6

This was the day where our nightmare came true. Additional Mathematics paper 2 was the first paper for the day. Everybody was scared out of their wits, including me, of course, as the paper was infamous due to its difficulty. The paper, as expected, was awfully difficult. To tell the truth, the questions weren't jolly difficult, we just needed more time to solve them. Well, everybody did badly in the exam. Second paper for the day: Chemistry paper 2. The first three questions were exceedingly easy. You shouldn't have problem doing them. But every questions after that became harder. The essay was torturing us, and most of us had something in similar: we did not know what happened, but our eyes saw nothing that had relation to 'isomers'! So, many of us did not know the question existed, ergo, we did not draw any isomers for whatever chemical there is. In short, today's papers were torturing....

Mid-Year Examination, Day 5

It was thought to be a horrible day with unrelenting stress. Mathematics, though easy, is made difficult for us by our teachers who regard SPM standard as being substandard. But luckily the paper was fine, with every question labelled as 'intermediate' and the very last question as 'seemingly impossible to be done'. At least this paper is 100% easier than previous year's. Second paper of the day: Physics paper 2. Before the teacher distributed the papers, I took a peek - yeah, I know it's wrong, but can you blame me? It's right in front of me and nobody was guarding it! It's so tempting! Besides, the peeping was less than one second - and saw the first question was something pertaining to ticker timer or stroboscope. So what if I peeped? I still couldn't answer the paper. Others were classified as 'moderate', with the essay questions labelled as 'slightly above average standard'. Overall, today's papers were quite a cinch.

Gerund

It's very funny, I actually quarelled - well, not really quarrelled, sort of like arguing, or having a debate - with a British about Grammar.

It happened on a forum. Somebody asked a very simple question - Which one is correct: "I'm looking forward to your coming' or 'I'm looking forward to you coming'?

I said it was the former one, while she insisted it was the latter. She said the formal one didn't make any sense and said 'I'm looking forward to you coming' is the shorter version of 'I'm looking forward to you coming to my house'.

I was taken aback by her answer. Because she's a British, I considered that possibility for a moment.

But then I thought, no, it was wrong!

I asked my father, and he agreed with me. I've searched a few websites, and I even asked a native speaker.

The answer is : "I'm looking forward to your coming".

First of all, this sentence is not a shorter version of any sentence. It tells you everything it wants to tell you; it's a sentence on its own.

"Coming" in the sentence is a gerund, functioning as a noun. It needs to be followed by a possessive.

In "I'm looking forward to your coming', the word 'coming' is a gerund. You need a possessive to complete the sentence. In 'I'm looking forward to you coming to my house', the word 'coming' is actually a verb.

I never thought a British would get this wrong. The native speaker, whom I asked this question to, told me he was sure I would find more 'you coming' then 'your coming' because many people are not aware of this grammar rule, and he's 100% sure, positive, it's 'your coming'.

Apparently, native speakers have problems with this kind of grammar.

But I don't blame them. We are chinese, but how many people know the difference between 需要 and 须要? It's a very commonly used phrase and I highly doubt anyone in my class knows.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 4

As usual, my friends came to school with black eyes. Apparently they would rather punch themselves squarely in the eyes that drifting off while revising Biology. A bad choice my friends. Forcing yourself to stay awake to revise is never, never a good idea. Anyway, Biology paper, again, did not sit well with me. I paid attention to form 5 syllabus, and only two questions came out, with the remaining from form 4. The questions about microorganisms came out, and because CSB told us it's an unimportant topic, I never read anything about it. Goodbye to 10 marks. The others were moderate. Anyway, this is Paper 2. If we did badly, we must do well in Paper 1 and Paper 3.

Moral paper was fine. While 5S1 went overdrive because they had done the questions before, I remain unshaken by their ebullience as I believe doing exercises that were identical to the exam papers before the exam does not reflect your true ability in answering the paper. I don't care if I flunk my Moral, as least I answered the questions with my true ability. Likewise, I don't care if I flunk my Biology because I believe we need to know the concept with our hearts and not memorise them. Memorising Biology makes the subject so boring. I never memorise the facts deadly. I don't care if I fail, at least I learn Biology in an interesting way.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 3

While the two languages were shit, today's papers were the remains of the shit - much better, but still terrible. Paper 1 was okay, at least the questions weren't tough and we could write with our infinite imagination. Paper 2 was moderate. The jargons pertaining to industry flummox all of us. Luckily, the questions are on grammar, so we could answer them if we could block all the jargons out. Information Transfer - as the name suggested - is the part where we transfer the informations from the passage to the questions. There was one question that had me dumbfounded, but it only cost me 1 mark, so I'm fine about that. Comprehension was fine, with a few vocabulary I did not recognise, but the summary was weird. "The description of the event of the jump"?? What description? All there was was the writer's feeling about the jump. Anyway, the answers will be given after the exam, so we'll have to wait. Literature was fine. Overall, the paper did not sit well with me. And I swear to God if I fail my English, I'll lock myself in my room.

Mid-Year Examination, Day 2

If yesterday papers were death, then today papers were tickets that bring you straight to hell, bypassing any deaths or obstacles on the way. Paper 1 was considered moderate. At least the teacher showed some mercy by being a little benevolent - at least we could die with less pain. Paper 2 was analogous to hell. The comprehension itself is enough to bring you down to hell and suffer. The classical part was Tagalog to me - a different language altogether. The last part, or mingju, was the bus terminal, where you'll be sent straight to hell. Overall, the paper was shit and I did very badly.

Lady Gaga - Judas

Nice song! If you're under pressure, give yourself a break and listen to this song!

Mid-year exam, Day 1

While the Malay papers went swimmingly for most of the people, it was quite a problem to me. Paper 1 was fine. I finished the paper pretty quickly because I had a problem regarding my bladders. They were near to explosion but I endeavoured not to pee in the class. It's extremely embarassing if you decided to release the pressure in the class instead of politely asking to go to the loo. Paper 2 was the killer paper. Novel was fine, but I wouldn't be confident to get anymore than 11 marks. Rumusan was....outlandish. KOMSAS was terrible. I never read Hikayat Siak, and hence my result will be abominable. Tatabahasa was another problem. Overall, the percentage of passing Malay is 30%, while the percentage to get an A is zero.

Tomorrow papers: Bahasa Cina. Where the hell is my coffin???

Random

1. Mr. Tor will be transfered to SMKTP. He is going to be the principal of the school and he'll be seating on a chair that is highly revered but strongly hated. Anyone sitting on the chair in question is deemed annoying, troublesome, and sickening. Whatever. He's going to transfer to another school, so the position he's holding in our school will be replaced by another teacher, and if the new PK T6 is Pn. Kok, I'll not study F6. Oh, did I mention my father works at SMKTP?

2. Everybody has been lamenting about the incompetence of Mr. Lee, the plump guy (to sound polite) who sits in his office everyday and a person who has piles of work to deal with until he doesn't even have spare time to give us the time table for the mid-year examination. All he does is sitting on his chair and posting the time table on the website and ignoring all the complaints thrown furiously at him. I hate to say this, but he's a lousy PK. He defends his dignity when he's challenged, and does everything he's capable of to make sure school gets the sum of money he aims.

3. My terrible biology teacher has come after her labour and she does nothing except asking us to do exercises while she slowly walks from the basin to her seat to check the PEKA and then slowly and lazily takes the files and open them and then place them aside with a speed almost impossible to be calculated using any apparatus available in the lab owing to its extreme slow movement.

4. Being a monitor is horrible, you basically have to put out with all your classmates. Sometimes they simply do not cooperate and this further exacerbates your already terrible work. And when they don't cooperate and you ignore them, they later put the blame on you. WTF monitors are not people who serve you, they are representative of the classes in any occassions.

5. Mid-year examination is around the corner and I'm not ready yet. Five caskets are ready: three for three sciences and two for Additional Mathematics and Sejarah. First aid kits are already prepared - thanks to my friend who sponsored me, and if you want to use them, help yourself - for the rest of the subjects which have 95% chances of failing.

6. I thought Malaysians are bad at English, but turns out Taiwanese are worse. The way they learn English is totally wrong! I don't know what principal they based on and what grammar rules they use, they 'sophistically' analyse the sentence and end up having a conclusion like "what to do = how to do it", they say both phrase are the same in meaning. Huh?

7. Camping in school, but no overnight staying - what's the point?

8. Realise I've been aggressive and easily annoyed recently. Probably because of a person I've tried to tolerate for months and still continue to do so. Anyway, learning to be patient and calm are also teachings we simply have to learn and apply in our daily lives for a better life.

Inactive

I'll be quite busy for the next few days, but as usual I'll update my daily status during the Mid-year Examination. I'll regale you with my stories about the mid-year examination, whether I survive the heavy piles of questions or suffocate under the heavy loads of it. Future cannot be predicted accurately, but I sense something ominous lurking ahead and beckoning me to it.

Whatever transpires later, and no matter how horrible your results are, remember: our aim is SPM, not mid-year exam. The result of our SPM is the pivotal turning point of our lives. If we get good results, good future awaits us; If we get bad results, our future ends with 2012.

Anyway, I'll update my blog as usual beginning May 13, if nothing untowards occur.