Friday, December 10, 2010

56.5.95





This past Wednesday, we moved to an alternative temporary room that was absolutely stunning. Get a load at that ^ , and that's just the corridor outside.

Though, thinking about it, most of the RMIT buildings are quite brilliant. There's a floor in Building 51 that looks like you're walking into a downhill converging tunnel, but it's really just an illusion. Pretty sweet stuff.

Now, updates.

This weekend's going to be a doozie. Finished all my assignments and handed them in, so that opens up much desired free time. Tomorrow, there's Ary's Disney Birthday and I'll be going as Jake Long from American Dragon (or Ron Stoppable, whatever comes first)!

We have a few quests staying over (a whopping four!) for theweek. Looks like I'm in for a deathmatch to dominate the only two bathrooms in the house.

Plus the annual Spike Video Game Awards airs this Saturday in America! Sure the show's being hosted by Neil Patrick Harris and awards the best of the best in interactive entertainment, but the main highlights, in my opinion, are the world premiers. I'm looking forward to seeing Resistance 3 in action, the next game from the acclaimed studio Bioware and Sony's Exclusive Announcement Special the very next day.

It's going to be crazy and to release the steam, I've been blowing the brains out of Evil Nazi Zombies like it's gone out of style.



Ary's Disney 21st
DRAGON UP
11.12.2010



Spike VGA 2010
Video Game Awards 2010
11.12.2010





Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Yearbook.




Top Row: James, Zane, Kevin, Zero, Peter, Darma, Sallem
Middle Row: Hirusha, Apple, Naomi, Nattaly, Enswaran, Bernard
Bottom Row: Ali, Ridhwan, Abdullah, Than Doe


The RMIT Foundation Studies Year End Party last Friday was a blast. Didn't exactly meet a whole lot of new people, but with the ones I already know, we got closer. If you haven't noticed, there's a entire slew of photos uploaded on Facebook already! There are even videos on YouTube.

One thing that did surprise me was how many Foundation Studies students there are in RMIT. The entire floor of the restaurant was taken up by us.

But that was last week. This week I've got three assignments to finish, the sooner the better. Chemistry's the toughest and newest idea: designing and conducting an experiment without the assistance of laboratory equipment.

I've already designed one on the surface tension strength of bubbles at different temperatures. Finding an alcohol thermometer is no easy task in a world now using electronic thermometers. As a substitute, I'm using a "cake thermometer" -- a rod with a gauge on top. Unorthodox, but it'll do.

More recently, about 2 hours ago, I bumped into Erika Hana Putri on Lygon Street!



World AIDS Day 2010
Get the facts
01.12.2010





Friday, November 26, 2010

Phenolphthalein.



Chemistry Teacher, Mary Fay: "...and class, that is why phenolphthalein is used in Volumetric Analysis for Acid-base titration."
Me, Bernard Sam: "Phenolphthalein. Ma'am, is that Elvish?"


It's quite clear it's a common indicator given the topic we were covering, but I'm just like you.

And by that, I mean that like your Internet, I'm freaking crazy.

College has been mighty fine. The assignments are flooding in at this time, and they are an entirely new beast to handle. But with 2 weeks left, I'm sure I'll be able to finish them off in a before the due date even comes close.

Been singing oldies with the classmates everyday in class, to break the occasional awkward silence during those work periods. We've sung lyrics along the line of: "I wanna be your hero, babeh!" and "Raindrops keep falling on my head."

Oh, and a random thought: before I go any further, if you're attending the International Cempaka Prom tomorrow night, I wish you a great time there! I've been to two of the International Proms already (three if not for the distance) and they certainly won't disappoint.

Right and speaking of college, tomorrow's the Year End Party for all Foundation Studies students. Haven't been very involved with the RMIT social gatherings what with the recent exam and all, so I'm looking forward to it.

Since our English Period Teacher has to be there, our attendance has to be mandatory if we want to check our attendance above 80%.

Never has there been a greater cause to attend English Periods.



RMIT Foundation Studies Year End Party
Actually it's more of a lunch-thing
26.11.2010





Saturday, November 20, 2010

Stupefy!





This is how my day began (don't worry, I'll get to the movie asap): I woke up to the sound ringing bells, the doorbell kind. I was supposed to be up by 10:30AM, but I naturally silenced it.

Uncle Po Chuan was around our neighbourhood and decided to pop by. If he hadn't I'd probably be late; for today at 2:00PM, I'd be watching the seventh Harry Potter film with some old ex-Cempakan buddies.

A couple of hours later, I'd be at Melbourne Central (the shopping centre that's exactly where you'd think it is) looking for Sharon Chen. Remember her from Year 8 2007? Well, I instantly recognised her sitting on a bench. Just for the fun of it, I called her, told her to look the right as I moved, like the ninja I am, to her left. "Now look to the left. How've you been?"

Minutes later, Ellya walked through one of the many entrances with Chin Khong Fwu (KFC/KUNG FU PANDA) and he looked like he was doing great!

After meeting up, we went straight to the cinema while at the same time, catching up with the last few months of our lives.

We entered a very large cinema room, labeled Hall 3. I was honestly quite surprised it was opened early. I haven't watched a film in the cinemas in Australia for a good 2 years now and they're quite different from Malaysia. The most important difference is that they don't serve caramel coated popcorn; how they survive zombie apocalypses and romantic endeavors without it is anyone's guess. The seats were decent and large for a boy of my size. Soon the trailers popped on but there was nothing new to pique my interest. I'm fairly updated with the comings and goings of the movie realm so I simply satisfied myself with guessing correctly what each trailer entailed.

And now, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. Be warned: minor spoilers lie ahead.

Right off the bat, I'm a Harry Potter film fan. I've never read the books, not sure if I'll begin, but I'll always continue to watch the films -- including the last one next year. David Yates (director of the films since Order of the Phoenix) has very clearly crafted a masterpiece. From the more mature tones to the engaging cinematography (my favourite being the chase sequence through the woods), you have a film that has been growing up since the beginning.

Gone are the days where we expect new actors to play new teachers in each film, and gone are the days our heroes are, for the most part, trapped within the confines of Hogwarts. This is a film that very brilliantly strides in a new direction.

Also I have to say: the three lead roles have never carried their roles this well in any of the previous films.

Though the film somewhat skips ahead on particular explanations or events that transpired in the books, if you've seen the past films you should have no problem in working it out.

I found a hefty portion of the adventure akin to Lord of the Rings; just with taller, shoed hobbits and without the muttering of "my precious". You'll understand when you're in front of the screen.

The best part about this film is that it is not unlike the finales of the TV Series Lost. This is a film that brings everything back from the past, from actors to props to those "hey, that was in the first film!" articles, for the final stretch to answer questions, build new ones and set the film on it's inevitable course to the end.

Now, after the film, we walked to Albert Park on the south end of Melbourne. There was more catching up to be had, definitely. There were loads of events in the city, with popular places being packed with people wearing all sorts of bright colours.


Me: "Say, did anyone here find your name wicked when they first heard it?"
Khong Fwu: "Yeah. They told me, 'Your name's Kung Fu? Bullsh*t."


At around 5:00PM, we started to walk back towards the city to go our separate ways. I used a bathroom on Collins Street which was exactly like a dungeon. It was beneath the ground carved into the side of aging building, with grills and a smell that certainly smells like a dungeon (overexaggeration).

Ended up having a Subway dinner with the family, and that was my entire Saturday.

*image taken from IGN.com




Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Don't Get Me Wrong.

People think examinations are horrible. They're right. But I know of an even more sinister evil: the results.

The pressure is undeniable, the anticipation more so. Personally, I think no matter what grade you get, you'll be surprised. So why am I suddenly talking about this? That's right, I've gotten my marks back from the teachers for the Mid-Semester's and I'd like to share them with you (and keep a personal log for future me!).

What follows is only the results of the paper which sums up to 30% of this semester's mark.

RMIT Foundation Mid-Semester Results Information
*the following are the results over a 100

General Mathematics: 72
Biology: 91
Chemistry: 89
Physics: 81

On a separate note, take a look at what arrived in the mail today:




It's my long-awaited Physics for the IB Diploma textbook by Tsokos. Before you start pointing a finger at a picture of mine and yell "NERD", this is entirely for my work in class. Finally, no longer will I feel lost in class and wonder which chapter we're on!




The only downside is this particular book is significantly heavy. In fact, I could say this is the heaviest book I've ever owned. This isn't so great when I've got to walk and travel long distances between home and the buildings around the city. Maybe it'll help me beef up.

It's also incredibly dry, but hey, when's school work ever drenched?




Monday, November 8, 2010

I Can Relate to That.



There has never been anything to see in the sky. At night it is usually blank. During the day there is the sun, but you can't directly at that so they don't.

- Adams, D. 1979, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Pan Books, United Kingdom



Call of Duty: Black Ops
"Unbelievably gorgeous"
- OXM

09.11.2010




Friday, November 5, 2010

Oh, Poo.





Yep, that's right. I'm still using my Cempaka Schools exercise books for writing down those pesky college materials.

Currently, I'm in the middle of my Foundation Studies first Mid-Semester Exam. This is slightly different from the exams I sat in for High School, mostly due to the fact that I have classes in between exam dates. Plus rather reach school at the exact same time each day, I've got to leave the house at different times each morning to arrive on time.

It's different, no doubt, but nothing I can't handle.

If you missed my first exam review, here's how it's going to go down:

Papers will be reviewed from my own account from 0 (WTF?) to 10 (Masterful) for you to get a better understanding of how well I thought the papers were (based mostly on length, time allocation, question variation, experience), not how simply by how easy it was.

LAST UPDATE: November 5, 2010 10:40PM

Subjects:
Biology
Physics
Chemistry
General Mathematics

• Week 1:
- Day 1 (Monday): Chemistry A & General Mathematics A - Chemistry turned out to be a pretty good paper with few surprises and difficulties; I was expecting something much more challenging. The Math paper, on the other hand, served me my backside. Despite the "basic" topics it covered, it managed to bring out tricky questions and weird numbers for solutions. Although I managed to scribble equations into every space before the time ran out, I'm not so sure if I did well. Being one of the few who thought the paper was a head-scratcher was also unfortunate. (+8.5, +4.5)
- Day 2 (Wednesday): English Language Classes - Went to the library today to learn researching, paraphrasing and referencing skills. I still find the idea of having classes in between exam dates to be weird but the information I got from this class will probably be very valuable especially when I get into university.
Day 3 (Thursday): Biology A - Beautiful paper. The kind of paper where if you study hard, you've got it under wraps. Nothing too surprising, varied and the topics that were used have been covered. (+9)
Day 4 (Friday): Physics A & English Class - This paper was by far the hardest paper in this exam. Everyone's getting different answers (except the one where we all got 1km), toss a few strange numbers in and you've got this paper. Managed to fill in all the blanks (even used an unorthodox method for that tension question), so the past is in the past. English class was normal, filled with singing and communication. Oh, and HAPPY DEEPAVALI all! (+6.5)

For my thoughts on the IGCSE Papers (& Driving Exam) this year, simply click here
(http://alwayssecondfromtheright.blogspot.com/2010/05/ere-sun-rises.html)




RMIT Mid-Semester Examinations Sept-Intake 2010
Foundation Studies Science, Engineering & Technology
01.11.2010 - 05.11.2010



Call of Duty: Black Ops
"Breathless & amazing"
- Yahoo!

09.11.2010




Thursday, November 4, 2010

Should've Used Specificity.



Us: Any advice for the examinations?

Teacher: Remember your name, your student number, the date and my name. There, I just gave you page one.


If only page one carried more than 0% of the total marks to be given.



RMIT Mid-Semester Examinations Sept-Intake 2010
Foundation Studies Science, Engineering & Technology
01.11.2010 - 05.11.2010



Call of Duty: Black Ops
"Breathless & amazing"
- Yahoo!

09.11.2010




Friday, September 10, 2010

Sunday, September 5, 2010

First Day.



Sweaty palms. Insides freezing. Trying to remember how to breathe, I'm totally stunned. Speechless as a dozen thoughts swirl around the inside of my head.

It's the first day of school -- and all my life, I've only felt like this thrice.




Where it began, Primary School. A day before the first, by fate, I made a friend underwater in a club swimming pool. Later he'd tell me we were going to the same school the very next day and even later, he turned out to be my first best friend. The first day was painless as it was quick. Unlike most of the other kids, my parents weren't there but I didn't mind. Knowing where was where was tricky, but eventually it stuck.

Secondary School. Before UPSR (the major exam in Std. 6), right outside our window and beyond the road, was where we knew we'd end up. The opposite block was always a mystery to us, as we never ventured beyond the ground floor or the bathrooms. All we knew was our seniors occupied the space, and we'd be meeting them soon. What was it like? We've only ever heard stories. The first day turned out eventful. So many new friends made, an amazing class teacher. This turned out even better than Primary School.




Finally, the third. Cempaka International School. An entirely new school. I only knew of the people there, never themselves. But Ellya was there and had built a name for herself. As I walked beside the building I would later know as the North Hall, I received plenty of stares. I knew where to go, I knew some of the friends through Friendster (didn't use Facebook then). When a prefect asked me to go to 8 Aqua, I was strucked shocked. I panicked. My future classmates saved me. That first day was all it took to make me friends that I still Skype now.




RMIT. It's a blank at the moment. No expectations, because I don't know what to expect.

Nervousness as I anticipate what is to come. That's how I feel. The first time I'll get out of the house in the morning to catch 2 trams into the city. I've only been there four times. I'm really spontaneous and improvisational (Joshua, Muhaimin and Kevin taught me to be), but this time I'm flying without any knowledge, friends and plans. If history repeats itself -- which I really hope it does -- thing's will work out on their own.

I might be overexaggerating, but forget getting me to next year. Just get me to Day 2.

*pictures courtesy of respective school websites



PAX Prime 2010
Penny Arcade Expo
3.09.2010 - 05.09.2010



RMIT Commencement
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
06.09.2010





Friday, September 3, 2010

Well Played.







PAX Prime 2010
Penny Arcade Expo
3.09.2010 - 05.09.2010



RMIT Commencement
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
06.09.2010





Thursday, September 2, 2010

You Probably Missed It.

So I was clicking on the "8 new tweets." the other night and came across this peculiar thing:




I made all my windows zoom out into neat segments and clicked on Skype™. Popped open a chat with Zenna and went:




After a couple of minutes or so, out came:




Frustrated (time does pass by slowly in Melbourne), I complained:






Then as she lost her train of thought with that OMG, we went on to argue about the humidity of our humour:




On Twitter, she tweet a tweet:




And by "The tweet below", she meant this:




Of course, I had to tweet back something:




But it didn't end there:






Anyway, back on Skype we were catching up (school, all that jazz). Then quite suddenly, Zenna drops the Random Bomb (like the atomic only random-er):




What else could I say? I went:
NOTE: I wasn't really laughing




Now fastforward into the future, just as I was about to pull away:




Analysing the message as deeply as I could, a million thoughts, irrelevant to the subject, swirled in my head but in the end I said:




After 3 minutes:




Most displeased at the thought that she busied herself with other far more important things, I began:
WARNING: Following may contain content inappropriate for children




After much processed thought, Zenna claimed:




Yes, this was her idea. Yes, she was quite rushy. What's with the capitals? She was shouting it to the screen. No, I couldn't hear her.

After minutes into our work, I had to break the silence:




I also had to ask:




That's when I got:




Like Gollum not wanting to feel Frodo and Sam's wrath, quickly I typed:
NOTE: Yep, you're right -- still got the wrath.




THE END


UPDATE: Zenna's jealous my post did turn out cooler (but her post goes back to the dinosaur age; honestly worth a read -- link's below):




For Zenna's not forgotten side to the story, click here
(http://zenna.onsugar.com/Epic-moments-Cyberworld-10726708)

For Zenna's reblog of this, as well as her thoughts, click here
(http://zenna.onsugar.com/Look-whole-blog-post-my-name-10727797)

This conversation took 2 hours.
This post took 1 hour.
Yes, they overlapped.




PAX Prime 2010
Penny Arcade Expo
3.09.2010 - 05.09.2010



RMIT Commencement
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
06.09.2010





Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Melbourne.

Hi guys. That's right, I'm there.

Managed to catch a glimpse of the sunrise on the plane and even though I was bummed I never sat beside the window facing the East, I was happy not to have UV rays radiating my face.

Touched down a little more than a week ago and looks like I brought the weather with me. The sun's out shinning most of the time now, but it's still freezing down here. The wind is killer strong and burns your face like ice. Still, I have to say the flight was much colder and it definitely beats sweating like a sponge.

Personally I'm the kind of guy who's never up for change; opposite of my sister. So I think I'll need a bit of getting used to this place, but I'm getting there.

Spent the past week preparing -- you know, assembling the last of the furniture (including stabbing holes in the mattresses for the screws), helping Dad with the tech, visiting the relations.

I went to the RMIT's International Services over on Swanston and La Trobe the other day, and I was little ahead of schedule.

Seems that the Commencement/Orientation is on the 6th of September. That's when everything would be settled and on the next day, classes would begin. That's next Monday.

That's when College begins.



RMIT Commencement
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
06.09.2010





Wednesday, August 18, 2010

We've Taken the Lead.

Perhaps you’re like me. You knew the IGCSE's Result Day was coming, and it seemed like a good time to be several miles away on an desert island.

Unfortunately, there were no desert islands within affordable reach; maybe a sign?

21 months to prepare, 1 month to actually sit for all our papers, and 2 months before they came back from the UK with all the red. You could say the journey took 2 years, but I'm not the only one who'd say it felt more like 10.

Most of us came back for the results, but all of us came back for each other.

Walking around you would see the Year 11's walking around the hallways; the noise we made probably gave us away. Personally, with everyone's busy schedules after the IGCSE's (college, visiting, holidays, etc), it's been hard to spend time with each other. There's Skype sure, but nothing beats being able to give each other a whack on the back.

Possibly the best place for Year 11 spotting before the event was at the canteen. As you all know, Cempaka Cheras' chicken rice is almost impossible to avoid.

I'm practically on Twitter all the time. Around this time as I scrolling through new tweets, Datin Freida (Founder of Cempaka Schools) tweet a tweet saying our results were "superlative". In an instant, there was more hope than there was before.

Unlike the SPM or PMR result announcement ceremonies, ours was private. Held in the open space below the library, you could only see teachers, Year 11's (of course), friends and family. I can't say if it's better to share these moments with or without the rest of the student body, but it certainly sounded like the whole school was in here.

I gave my hand at LIVE Twitter Updates, but I have no idea how journalists keep up with the speed of the speaker; it just blew my mind. Laptops maybe? A few minutes later? Probably.

Anyway, Datin Freida (hostess of today's event) started right off the bat with the good stuff: the brilliants.

The students who scored 10 straight A's deserved the special mention, but I think one truly deserves specificity: Lim Wei Jie; 10 A*'s.

Then she gave the percentages, the percentage of students who scored A's and A*'s. We roared with delight.

As the final results information sheets were presented, Datin announced that these results earned here today were the best in Cempaka International thus far.

My greatest congratulations to the CIS Class of 2010!



Flight to Melbourne
10:30PM
20.08.2010




Thursday, August 12, 2010

Sensing a Pattern Here.

Provisional Results Information

0450 Business Studies: A*(a*)
0455 Economics: A(a)
0500 First Language English: B(b)
0546 Foreign Language Malay: A*(a*)
0580 Mathematics (w/out Coursework: A(a)
0610 Biology: A*(a*)
0620 Chemistry: A(a)
0625 Physics: A*(a*)

Result: Distinction

I'm actually really satisfied with my results.

Though I didn't expect to get a B for my English Language. Maybe not an A* (that's way ambitious, Bernard; possible but way ambitious) but I did feel a possible A coming. Teachers went: "Whoa!" Friends went: "WTH (not in alphabet form)!"

There is the option of remarking, which was advised by the English Teachers (and Zenna), but English is really quite subjective. Never really thought highly of the remarking system, but I am finding out the procedures of it all before considering the option.

Whatever the case, I've accepted my marks for what they are and I think I've done great.

So in short: 4 A*'s, 3 A's, 1 B

Also a big CONGRATULATIONS to all Year 11's. Best marks for Cempaka International? We've taken the lead.

Note: Post on the announcement "ceremony" today will appear above this one soon!



Flight to Melbourne
10:30PM
20.08.2010




Friday, August 6, 2010

ETA 6:10:30:59

IGCSE ended about 2 months ago?

I honesty can't believe it's been that long/short. I don't even know which word to use. Take your pick.

In a little less than a week, most of us (us being the Class of 2010 Year 11's) will be back in the Cheras campus for our results. Our results. I haven't seen the lot of them for a couple of months so seeing them all again where we first met is gonna be great.

Not sure if I can say the same for the results. Haha!

Nearly everyone's getting spooked at the thought of getting bad results, and I can't blame them. In essence this is about the only major exam in the International Stream, and are the results you're gonna need for applications.

To tell you the truth, I'm hardly intimidated at all. There is undoubtedly a bit of nervousness in there, and I want those A*'s, but what's done is done. If I do badly: well sometimes you've got to take a few steps back before you can leap further.

But if I do get high marks: well I guess if you can leap far, leap far.

For all of my personal thoughts and ratings for the Cempaka Science Stream papers, click here *i even left ratings for each paper



IGCSE Results @ Cempaka Cheras
International General Certificate of Secondary Education
12.08.2010




Flight to Melbourne
10:30PM
20.08.2010




Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Camping Out.

It's been a real busy month.

Between the 9th and the 26th, I've been surviving on my own at home. Mum's with the twin down South while Dad was out West with the Microsoft team.

During this time I've done all sorts of shenanigans.

Mostly I spent my days with the Teoh's (Jessie, Jason, Jayme). Known them all since I was 7 and they've been just swell to me. Oh, and if you've spotted me out during this time it's thanks to their drivers.

Yes, I'm a P-certified driver in this country but I'm faced with a predicament that most newly made drivers face: the no car problem.

Dad's car went intimate with a rock at 110km/h, so it's got a scar like John Locke on the windscreen. Mum's car is the only one left but being a Volvo XC90, it's a monster to drive -- tank-like. In the event that I do wreck the Volvo (though doubting that I would, heh) Dad's gonna come home to the no car problem.

The very next day after my dad left, it was the Damansara IU Day. I've already blogged about this here.

Two days later on the 12th, I participated in the Inter-House Debate Competition. I've lead the team for Seladang for two years running both for golds. This year I left Shanker Vasu the responsibility of the team, while I rode shotgun; the de facto Obi Wan role. We racked in another gold for Seladang.

Tomorrow after that I went over to the Curve to watch Eclipse and hold a Farewell Dinner for Cherise, courtesy of Kevin (organiser) and the Wingmen (Kev, Muhaimin & Joshua). We even filmed a video in a No Photography area. More on that right here.

Up next was the CIS/CILC Commencements 2009/2010 over at the new CILC Campus on the 16th. I thought this year's was brilliant, despite not getting any awards, and it ended off on the perfect note. For the details, pop on over here.

Sometime after that I fell into a pretty bad sickness.

One week later, Joshua Lee and Ryan Wong came over to stay for two nights. Ryan's been staying in Dubai for the past two years now, and the last time I saw him was way last year. Ryan came over in the morning and we began training up on Modern Warfare 2 before Joshua came. He sorta looks like Austin Powers at the moment. He used to brag about being a super pwner on the battlefield, but never seemed to prove it. Until now, he's become pretty good. Introduced him to the ModNation Racers creation tool and he just went crazy -- he is doing a graphic design course. Josh arrived much later, then we walked over to McDonald's for dinner; a whopping 2km away. Later (after much fragging), we went over to the badminton courts for some challenge. Much to our surprise, all of us were evenly match (and this was when I was sick, mind you; HAH). I gave up near the end -- the sickness was kicking in again and I had the urge to get rid of the McD's; something I did not want to do. So to ease my suffering we walked 3km to the nearest 7 Eleven to buy carbonated drinks. Joshua wanted the bike, so he cycled there and I cycled back -- at the same pace as we walked, of course.

Few hours later, one of the highlights of the month: Lasertag. It's sort of like paintball, only with different weapons and none of the pain. Lasertag's a little different from paintball where you don't go to a place to play, they come to you. Josh and I rented out Central Park just for the occasion. We needed people in the short time we had leading up to the Saturday so we did all sorts of advertising; phone calls, Facebook, Twitter, you name it. Most of all we just wanted to spend time with all our buddies or make a few new ones before college. Turned out to be super fun. Just before we all left, I proposed we all eat lunch together and that we did at Carl's Junior. It was my first time there, but pity my illness jacked my appetite.

Throughout the month, Andrew Sachdev's got me invested into Online Multiplayer. I've always been a single-player geek, never really thought much about the online universe. With so much time on my hands, and no way to get to all my friends, Andrew opened the door to all that. So far other than Andrew my only "friends" are Jun Vinh, Samuel Aw and Bernard Keo. Great experiences, all-in-all.

Last but not least, the day after lasertagging and a day before my Dad returned home from the states, I participated in a Emergency First Response Course lead by my old buddy, Jason Teoh. He's been recently promoted to diving instructor and held the course along with his much older friend Jean Luc. from France. As of that afternoon, I'm a fully realised Emergency First Respondent.

It's been a really busy month, and I've still got 16 days before I fly off to the South. I'd be crazy to think something wouldn't come up to make it busier, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh, and have you played Starcraft II? It's mind-blowingly crazy.



IGCSE Results @ Cempaka Cheras
International General Certificate of Secondary Education
12.08.2010




Flight to Melbourne
10:30PM
20.08.2010




Monday, July 26, 2010

Case in Point:





CIS/CILC Commencements 2009/2010 @ CILC Campus
09:00AM - 9:20PM, 16 July 2010

Make no mistake, every year's Commencements is a thing of honour and commemoration.

But this year's was just amazing, and I mean that to the very limits of the word; the best there is.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't quite looking forward to the evening's festivities. You see, I was tasked to carry the CIS Flag during the first procession and the Book of Excellence during the second.

I wasn't receiving any prize or award tonight, and if you've been for any Commencements in this sort of situation, you'll know the evening is about to get pretty dull.

I've been for every Commencements since 2006, in almost entirely different roles for each year. From the backstage crew, to emcee, to a member of the procession, to scroll runner, I've even participated in the Damansaran Commencements.

Before I go further, I just want to say: the Book of Excellence is one hefty tome, and the tray it sits on is unnecessarily thick too.

In experience and participation, I think it's safe to say this year's tops every one before.

Basically the procedure was the Procession, the Prize Giving, Tea, the Arrival of the Books of Excellence, the Commencements (Special Achievers), a Cocktail Reception and Performances in the Auditorium.




The hall layout was simple. Imagine the confines of a long rectangular box, sliced into half down the middle. The stage is right in the middle of these two and while on one end you have the multi-purpose hall, on the other you have the coned-ish auditorium.

The beginning preparations hardly presented any highlights, so I'll skip on right ahead to the Cocktail Reception.

Now by this time, I had already implanted in everyone's head that when they listen to Justin Bieber's Baby, they think of this particular Commencements and this 13 second dance routine I cheorographed in 13 seconds. Well, at least I hope it's sunk in.

The food was your typical buffet variant. The lamb was tasty, but the fried fish should be passed.

The violinists, Andrew, Emma, Kevin and another, soon emerged from their auditorium hiding places and began improvising. Such a grand vibe it gave that Jin Hern and Gabriel took a cup, placed it in from of them and proceeded to lob money into it. They weren't the only ones in the end.

Soon, it was 7:30PM and we were invited into auditorium. Though the Year 11's and I rushed in a few minutes later due to a very extended life lesson class by Miss Michelle by the pool.

The performances by the Cheras Cempakans, CILC Cempakans and CPAC Teachers were absolutely brilliant. A wide variety from music to drama to dance, all perfectly arranged and presented. Bravo CPAC, bravo.

Going back the same way, via the Cempaka bus, I had to leave almost straightaway.

Swerving round the bend, I saw Julez walking a walk and took a detour to give her a nice warm see you soon. I wasn't sure if this was to be the last time we'd meet in a long time, but I wanted to say farewell for old time's sake.

Then suddenly, I hear my name and hey before that. I turned and was almost immediately engaged in a hug. It was Joanne Ng, a friend I wasn't expecting to see tonight. We talked for a bit, but the bus was already departing. Promising each other lunch, I ran off round the corner and into the bus' cavern.

I think I'm going to actually miss that cliché piano welcome; something I'd never thought was going to happen.



Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
"Hell, it's about time."
27.07.2010





Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Veiled Sun.





Spontaneous, totally improvised. Unplanned. Adaptive.

That's how us Wingmen roll. Kevin, Joshua, Muhaimin and I just don't think that far ahead. Whenever we try, we just disappoint ourselves and succumb to our inner nature of escaping the inside of the box.

Kevin organised this outing yesterday for Cherise; mostly for Cherise.

She's flying South this Saturday, if you don't know already, and if you're reading this Octopus: "Safe travels. :)"

Popped through one of the Curve's many entrances, and almost instinctively went straight into BORDERS.

Being there early and knowing no one would be here until 45 minutes later, I needed something to do. Something to occupy myself with.

After finding BORDERS selection of books typically unnew, I decided I'd walk over to Popular on the other end of the road to see if there was anything of particular interest.

On my trotting way, I was hoping I'd see at least one familiar face down the halls -- was disappointed in the end though.

Another big thought that was rolling in my head was whether I should buy this game, ModNation Racers, at the store right opposite the Popular bookstore.




It's this game that's sort of like the classical Mario Kart Racers, but with a whole new idea tossed in. You essentially "Play, Create & Share", exactly how Sony Entertainment puts it. You really design and build your character, kart and track. Complete creative freedom.

See, none of the video-game outlets in KL (at least the ones I've visited) seemed to receive a stock for it. Plus here's a little tip from me: When a shopkeeper says, "Oh, it's out of stock already" they actually mean, "Oh, I've never heard of what you said of before and probably will not again until a couple of week later."

Giving it some thought, I popped into Popular, grabbed the latest issue of EMPIRE and began reading about Inception; a film I think will just not raise the bar but run it through a wood chipper, douse the remaining sawdust in nitroglycerin and set it on fire.

Before I could decide on whether I should spend RM215 on a video-game, Keevin called. "Check if there are still tickets for Eclipse," he told me. So checked I did.

There was barely anyone there at Cineleisure, didn't expect anyone to be there actually. It was a school day, and it was just after 6:00PM.

Long story short, we got the tickets and everyone was here except Joshua.

We still had his ticket but no way to get it to him. We decided, we'll pop out through the film to get him in. You can tell our anticipation for the film wasn't die hard; thus mostly for Cherise.

Probably the only initial motivator for Muhaimin and I was seeing Alice again. Oh, yeah. *deepsigh

So Eclipse.


"Doesn't he own a shirt?"
- Edward to Bella, when seeing Jacob


Well it's definitely much better than the two previous films -- but the previous two didn't really pose much of a challenge to top. The action scenes were definitely better, I mean they got Muhaimin throwing jabs in his seat.

I thought the songs they chose to compliment the scenes were pretty good, but when I got the soundtrack I only really stuck to two of them.

Joshua got in the later part of the film, but I have no idea how. Didn't even see Kevin leave his seat. About sometime after he got in, he fell asleep. That said, you probably might wanna choose him to recap the film for you.

When the credits started rolling, all of us were standing up giving standing ovations. No idea whether that was for "Great improvement!" or "WTF? It ended? YES!"

Min and I went straight for the bathroom, and it was to be the first time we were in the Premiere Class Bathrooms.

They have a mirror that's a television screen that's motion sensored. Guess it's a marketing scam.

They even played soothing acoustic music. Min asked me to guess who was playing the music. I replied naturally with, "Who?" "Me," he said. I turned to him and he was facing the standingpeeplace smiling.

Strangely, all of us were wearing really formal shirts. Heh.

We went to Marche's afterwards and this really fancy place didn't allow you take photographs.

Being the model citizens we were, we took a video instead:




Link on YouTube: here

You can blame Joshua's stubby fingers for blocking part of the camera and the microphone.

We left with a picture that Muhaimin has yet to upload.

Then, the Teoh's picked me up.

I've known this family for about a decade, more than half of my life, and it wasn't who you expected it to be. In the driver's seat was Jason Teoh, riding shotgun was Jamie and Jiah Sze (Jessie) on the passenger.

A history lesson: Jiah Sze was my second best friend, ever. Jason, the third.

We went back to my place, and I introduced them to Rayne. Rayne absolutely loves Jamie for some reason, but he wasn't as hyper as I thought he'd be.

We went for a nice hour walk under the stars, and returned to the television to watch (500) Days of Summer. But before it could end, they had to leave.

It was nice to catch up with them.

Now onto Friday for CIS Commencements 2009/2010!



Inception
The dream is real.
15.07.2010





Saturday, July 10, 2010

Damansara's IU Day '10





SAVE THE TIGERS, Cempaka Damansara's IU Day
International Understanding Day 2010

Came, saw, sat down.

The crowd hadn't flooded the hall just yet. The deco whispered simple, but gave off that sort of kindergarten vibe; the really welcoming and pleasing sort.

Not many familiar faces in the crowd. Unsurprising as most of the familiar faces were tasked as ushers, pianists, preparers or speakers.

In my row sat Gabriel, Ivan Wing (his surname's way cool, I know), Li Jin, Melanie, Kah Long and Mithrra. Ivan just got back from the UK a few days back and it was just really great to meet everyone from everywhere.

It started a little off the clock, but I figured there was more than enough time to spare until 5:00PM. Soon Aminah passed Shezmeen, the IU Day Director, the mike and things kicked off.

Next up, Brandon Liu (who seriously screams a little David Kam) went up to introduce the campaign and talk a bit about what the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) has been doing with their efforts. He's the Young Executive External Spokesperson of the foundation?

Then the newly installed el'presidenté of the Rotarian Society took the stage.

The lights dimmed a little, and voilĂ ! Performances from Cempakans. Totally expected nothing less.

The showcases were very pleasing, but I have to point out Gao Jye's solo performance. With his guitar, he performed Hallelujah and it was breathtaking. Handsdown; awesome.

Dr. Rizal as per normal gave the closing address.




Brought a bag with me just in case I bought anything. I went with the Diesel Deep Blue to hold on to the remaining shreds of my masculinity. The bag has a pretty good construction, and it’s been great for me so far. Found it in the drawer yesterday still attached to the price tag.




But inside my bag, was also something completely new: my Moleskine Sketchbook. I haven't exactly been pouring things into it -- I must admit I still prefer A4's -- but if you refer to the sketch at the tippy top, I think I was made for on hand sketches into this baby.

Right. So the following events on the field are details neither chronologically nor alphanumerically organised, but rather locationally.

So when you enter the field a nice column of tents meet you. Right underneath them, closest to the entrance, is the T-Shirt booth. Right beside it is the coupon booth. Only the transaction of coupons is allow in this part of town.



Front-side



Flip-Side


Still underneath the tents are the foods and beverages. Super varied, you got things like pizzas, coke, orange juice and cupcakes which were awesome (they even had tigers on them)!

At the corner of the closed field you had coconut bowling. Now you use actual coconuts to whack these groups of water bottles. My best record was a spare in two hits out of the five given. Total ownage. This is also where I started a challenge with Nicholas Yap to pwn in the most number of games. I won this round.

Right beside it you had the classic Pin the Tail on the Tiger.

Next to that, the carnival-esque Throwing Balls at Standing Cans. Tyen and Daniel were in charge of this booth and I played twice. Conveniently, they place a guy of your choice right behind to hands to give you a little extra motivation to speed a ball right in the middle with all your might. The aim was spot on for some real pain.

On the other corner, you had the Human Foosball booth. They place 10 players on chairs that dominate that area and without leaving the touch of your chair, you had to score in purposely very small goals. Tried this out once and it's not as easy as it seems; very fun though.

Rolling down the east side was Erich's Human Header. Here you need 2 players. There are two ways to play this game. First way is simple enough: one person tosses a ball into a basket that's strapped to the other players back. The last way is exactly why it's called Human Header; or what I'd like to call Header Ball. One player is strapped to the basket but this time on the front. He throws the ball toward the other player who then has to "head" the ball into the basket. I played this with Karyna and we should totally sign up if this game goes into Inter-School level.

Then you've got Malayandi's Lucky Draw. Using the ticket which you'll already have, you can have a go at digging into a box for the winning paper. There are three prizes here: an iPod Shuffle, a 4GB Thumbdrive and a sweet. Only the last is won more than once. You can have a second go but you need to cough up RM5. In my first try I got a back that read: "TRY AGAIN, but you get a sweet!" Gao Jye won the Shuffle in the end; mint condish.

Lastly you had the sponge throwing booth. Choose a victim, toss a wet, grass covered sponge at them. Awesome! I got elected by Kim and before I could get the poncho on, I was pelted by 5 sponges. The girl's got aim.

At the last corner you've got a blow-up castle! Pay RM3 and you can go in and out as much as you like. This was where I spent most of time after most of the crowd left and where I drew the sketch at the top.

The super highlight stands in the middle of it all: the Sumo Tent.

This is the tent in the middle of the sketch, but I didn't end up drawing the wrestlers. By that time they were just suits slumped over each other.

Farah Alia and Sheun Wern were in charge here, but Jude would occasionally pop on by to give his props as announcer and host.

Protocol: Stand, Bow, Engage, Body Slam.

Dr. Rizal had a go with the guest, Brandon Liu. There were some really epic battle scenes but I think the one I'll remember the most would be the match I participated in.




The match with Najiha "Carrot" Zahiera.






I also got to meet loads of friends who weren't on the job but just supervising the various booths and the overall performance. Some were just there to have some good fun.

Kaylyn, Karin, Audrey, Shi Fen, Gao Jye and Judah!

There were Interactors from schools all around KL, like the Victorian Institute and Damansara's sister campus in Cheras.

It was a wholly amazing event but I think if given a little more time it would've been more amazing. In the short time for preparations, they really went all out to give only the best to their guests.

In lieu of the TX2 campaign, I'm currently sketching a Tiger on the very next page. Have never attempted to draw an animal on this detail before, but it looks more like a bear or lion I think.

I'll post it up when it's done.

So remember kids, there are only 500 tigers left in Malaysia and you should do your part to help out WWF's campagin TX2. The doubling of the tiger population in the next few years.

Do your part, make a difference.

Peace out & reinvent love.



Inception
The dream is real.
15.07.2010





Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Alpha. Mike. Foxtrot.





The A-Team captures the spirit of the original series and the cast does a really good job of mirroring those characters. Overall it amps up the action, and tones down some of the campy elements of the show. It delivers a straightforward, solid action film.

The action is incredibly overthetop, throughtheroof. There's one scene where a tank gets blown out of a plane, and the whole team just ends up flying it to ground-level. There are some really wild action sequences that are just absurd, and they are scattered quite nicely throughout the film. A set-piece almost every 10 minutes? Superb.

The entire film really relays the origins of the team, and how they go about to clear their name for a crime they didn't commit.

The characters for this venture maintain their respective personalities but they still evoke a sense of realism while doing that. Their position in the military is very believable.

Hannibal is a tougher and gruffer than the original, but still captures that wit and glint in the eye I assume the original Hannibal would deliver. Face is just all charms. The name says it all, and it totally met my expectations for him. Then Copley proves that his acting debut in District 9 was no fluke, playing Murdock as comic relief and I find most of his antics pretty hilarious. Nuclear hamburger patties, anyone? B.A. is the tank of the team, but he's never the steel you'd make him up to be. The team seem more amused than intimidated in angering him. Even the badguys weren't actually afraid of him.

An incredibly fun and crazy ride, if you find yourselves at the cinemas, this is something you have to see for yourselves.



Inception
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
15.07.2010





Sunday, July 4, 2010

Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.

The truth is: I never left you.
& so on, so forth.

First, I was going all out for Germany in last night's match, and then since I don't really support any country (and all my buds were cheering for the other team), I went for Argentina.

Unfortunately, they got pwned; pretty badly too.

I hope you've got the time for it because this is another long post coming right at you. Now that I've got that established, let me recap this memory of mine.

Friday, 2 July 2010 - A Night Under the Stars Fundraiser.




More than this year's prom fundraiser; a battle of the bands it was also.

Seeing as how they changed the venue three times due to external affairs, I was a little unmoved as to the success of the attendance.

Nothing too magnificent, it was simple, but I think they managed to rack up more than enough to start preparations for the National Class of 2010 Prom.

Although it started off on quite an awkward note (Tasha, Ellya and I were the only Cheras Cempakans attending), I made off with a slew of new friends. I've actually met most of these friendlies before in intercampus events, but never actually took time to socialise.

It was also a blast to meet the ones I already knew here, but was honestly a little disappointed when a few didn't come.

I spent most of the beginning period showing off this magic trick Johan Shah taught me. The Levitating Styrofoam Cup. Pretty mystical stuff.

Wouldn't you know it, I turned out to be one of the surprise judges. I guess that's why they call them surprise judges; I was totally caught off guard.

For the night, we were blasted away with 7 amazing bands. But only 1 would walk away a winner with RM300 and 3 would turn up performing at the actual prom.

Atlas (Winner), was unsurprisingly damn good. They've had experience in this business, and they expressed it brilliantly in their presentation. They even played two of their own compositions!

Konnection (2nd runner up), chose excellent songs to bring up this night. Move Along and World Behind My Wall had every one finishing the lyrics.

Ticket to the Moon (3rd runner up), played an excellent array of indie songs. Unfortunately I couldn't pick up (or remember for that matter) any of the words.

Walking away slightly deaf, I managed to spend some more time around the place.

Before I left, I even got to say: "Even with all these Christmas lights I'm carrying, I still think you're far brighter than me. *wink"

After another late night's sleep, I woke up into Saturday morning.

Saturday, 3 July 2010 - Cherise's Farewell Dinner & (Not)Sleep Over.




I've only ever been to Marise's/Cherise's/Janice's/Denise's house twice; once before this dinner jamboree.

It seemed a little smaller than I remembered, but still had the warm welcome swirling about it.

What a pleasure it was to see some really old friends (one of the firsts in Cempaka) here. Kah Yan, Azlin and Veronica were back and seemed great! There were some buddies here who were still in Cempaka; a satisfying sight.




After a nice catching up with the oldest of us (Momoko, Joshua, Muhaimin, Denise & Janice), we went over to watch the match.

During half-time, the house was sent back to the dark ages; total blackout. But the TV was working so all the guys were practically on their knees shouting hurrah or something.

Not wanting to see the tears, Min, Josh and I took a walk out when the score was 2 - 0. We figured Amanda Khoo (jelloforbrains) lived around here somewhere and decided to trek off into the unknown to find her residence.

It was about 20 minutes on the walk when I realised whenever the three of us were put together we always ended up going on a shenanigan of an adventure -- almost always involving walking long distances.

Amanda wasn't very instructive over the phone and we ended up walking the right way, then the wrong way and back on the right way. Her house was much further than what we were expecting.

We decided to make our way back.

Two houses from Cherise's, there sits an impressive mansion with stained glass and a strange resemblance to something shipped straight from Spain. Very cool.

When we got back, the house was still super dark.

Joshua and Min had to leave at 5:00AM so I ended up sleeping at 6:00AM. This is what happens when you've got a job and no car.

We ate at the Golf & Country Club the next day. Thanks for the great lunch, Tan's!

Denise drove us over and we all walked back.

I left at about 2:45PM with Johnathan and Melanie to the Curve. Burning time with the pool table, a couple of sticks and balls, we caught the A-Team at 3:40PM.

This isn't the entire story, but you get the pinch.

What do they say? Memories are kept in your mind, not your blogs? Nyeh, something like that. *smirk



Inception
Your mind is the scene of the crime.
15.07.2010