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
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!
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!
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
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
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:
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.
I know it's been a week but it's the thought that counts, right? :)
Friday, 18 June 2010 - Right. So Joshua Lee, Ju Ann, my other half and I were supposed to be slicing grass out on a golf course, but we swerved away at the last minute.
Alternately, we decided badminton would prove appropriate for our separate golf experiences. Ju Ann was the only one with a handicap among us, and she would totally whup our asses.
We played doubles for most of our time at the courts.
Joshua would take point, and I'd cover him from the rear. A perfect team we were, trashing the girls right and left. The only problem was Joshua never really bent down, 'costing us a few shuttles. I was waiting for the chance to give an uppercut to his rear; but no such luck.
There was one time I sent a shuttle rocketing for the other side, only to be knocked back by the flip-end of Joshua's racket. Real smooth, I know.
The courts were shockingly huge. There were about 16 courts stretching out into the oven-like warehouse. That wasn't it; there were about 5 more futsal courts to the side.
At about 1:35PM when our court reservation ended, we decided to pop over to Leisure Mall for a good movie and lunch. See, the lot of us were only heading home at 6:00PM.
As the courts were at the foot of this cliff, we had to climb a hefty and winding flight of stairs to get back up. Ellya tried calling a cab company while Joshua and I sneaked our clothes on in one of the neighbouring courts.
They gave the incredibly annoying Pokémon-like music and left us sitting on the curb for about 10 minutes.
When they did pick up, they said, "No cab" and hung up right after.
It was about then, we decided to walk to Leisure Mall; or hail a cab somewhere in between. Walking to Leisure Mall was no leisurely task. It was quite daunting.
Taking several turns and running after three cabs, we eventually got one. Plus, being the hero that I am, I saved Joshua's bags from being owned by someone else twice.
My second time at Leisure Mall. It's no Pavilion, but you've got anything you need right here. Parts of the place were obviously renovated; Joshua confirmed this.
After deciding Subway would make a better meal than A&W, that's exactly where we went off to. Not entirely sure what the others had, but I had myself one 6inch Parmesan Oregano with Tuna and a whole lot of sauces.
"Mustard, Mayo, Ketchup, Barbecue Sauce, Oils. Mmmm." "Eugh." "What? I like my sauces."
It was about 2:45PM when we left Subway, and about 2:50PM when we stopped by the cinema.
We tried to decide on a movie, I mean with so many choices which would be able to please all of us and the time? We had to leave by 6:00PM, all of us, and we had to find something that would start showing about then.
In 10 minutes, Pixar's Toy Story 3 would light up a cinema hall and we chose to be in there 5 minutes before.
As usual before any film flares up the screens, we were to bear witness to number of commercials; be they for films or beer.
Most were for new animated films from both renowned and local digital studios, but there was one that really caught my attention.
The Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga'Hoole. The trailer used 30 Seconds to Mar's single Kings and Queens to brilliant effect. It had this sort of epic feel to its presentation, and when I found out Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) was directing, I just went "Of course." I also totally recognised Hugo Weaving's (Lord of the Rings, Matrix) voice in the beginning.
The Legend of the Guardians is based on the first three installments of the book series: The Capture, The Journey, and The Rescue.
Then Toy Story 3's short began.
Pixar's been long known as the "can't miss" studio of our era. Even their short before the main film was something of a breath of fresh air. Totally new, mixing CGI with classic animation it's just something you have to see in action.
"Awh. She's just like you, Joshua." "I never really played with toys when I was little." "What? I'm talking about the skirt."
As with everything Pixar does, the attention to detail here is incredible. The split-imagery within the daycare/Alcatraz is great. How the slide in the playground becomes a watchtower at night. How the bead mazes double as razor wire. How marker smudges become prison tats. The level of detail, in things like Woody's rounded-down hairline, is astounding. And yes, that's the voice of John Morris, now 23, playing Andy once again. Why get the same actor when only a few might notice? Because everything is everything here.
Three movies have now shown us that the story of a toy is, overall, a sad one. But not one without pride. And not one without joy.
About 45 minutes before the film ended, my mum started SMS-ing me that she was already arriving. When we left after the show ended, she was already on the way. She said wait outside under the bridge.
So we waited there and when we did see her, she couldn't stop. Therefore, Ellya and I had to run after her. Eventually though she slowed down at the corner and we hopped on.
We sat down on steel chairs, surrounded by Japanese food and more, but what did we do? We were calculating the maximum volume of coke a oddly shaped glass could contain.
This is what happens when you put Year 11 Terrans together in a single restaurant.
Even after IGCSE, we still wanted to see our skillset put to good use rather than let them wander or used in academic ventures.
Still, it did help keep my mind off my ear infection. Yeah, that's right: ear infection. Waking up with it on the last day of the production (more on this in the next post) was definitely not part of my plans. Now I'm rendered partially deaf and have resorted to unintentional whispering to avoid yelling.
Forced to drop a terrible smelling liquid into both ears three times a day, I'll hopefully be rid of the pain and discombobulation tomorrow when I get the treatment done.
Honestly, I miss burping/yawning/coughing without feeling any pain and actually hearing sounds from my right. Strangely, my left year (which is apparently more clogged) seems to be able to take in sounds from the world reasonably well. Huh.
Anyway, we found ourselves in Sunway Pyramid to celebrate a little late freedom by ice-skating. Though we never touched the ice in the end; too crowded, you see.
After a first lunch with Ellya and Hana, I went for a second lunch with Pearl Lynn, Amy Woo, Momoko Uchi., Melanee Low, Ooi Zhao Feng, Derrick Tan, Tim Foo, Lim Wei Jie and Yeoh Yi Shuen. *yes, i used our seating positions to remember
Hana slept over last night and as usual, the twins and her spent their night talking.
After consumption, we met up with Joey Mok, Chai Ai Di, Caezun Yee, Jac Lim and Zhan Hao at the skating rink. This was about the time when we realised the rink was way too crowded for us to crowd.
While the girls spent thirty years in the bathroom, the men (minus the gentleman, Caezun) formulated a plan. We would hold a competition to determine the most manliest man here.
The prospect of winning such a competition inspired a bit of unexpected vertigo.
First: archery. Second: pool. Third: bowling.
With the time we had, we only made it through the second portion. Zhan Hao and Wei Jie were the obvious winners for archery, but pool brought about an unforeseen circumstance.
Zhan Hao, Wei Jie and I were challenged to our limits. We played game after game, studied angle after angle, and in the end forgot how many games we'd played.
Most of us left after 5:00PM, but we left with plans for our next shenanigan: paintball.
E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo 14.06.2010 - 17.06.2010
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (or IGCSE as the cool kids call it) is happening right now, in classrooms all over the world.
Things for me unofficially kicked off May 10th, with the morning Driving Examination. Then things go crazy all the way until Friday, June 11th, when we start air-guitaring like it's gone out of style at 1:45PM.
As we get nearer and nearer to the last paper, I'll be compiling all the subjects a Science Stream students takes (I don't take the Commerce or Arts papers, I'm afraid) as well as my personal thoughts on the papers at hand.
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.
*note: my thoughts may differ from yours, so share your thoughts in the comment box below beginning with the day followed by the subject.
LAST UPDATE: June 11, 2010 9:30PM
Subjects: • Biology • Physics • Chemistry • Mathematics (Extended) • Business Studies • Economics • English Language • Malay
• Week 1: - Day 1 (Monday): Driving Exam 01 - Failed parking so there's really nothing much else to say. Looks like I've got to return to the soddy place on the 31st. But at least I passed the road test. (+5) - Day 2 (Tuesday): Physics Practicals Paper 5 - Kept me on my toes all the time. Never made me feel good about myself at any given time. (+8) - Day 3 (Wednesday): Mathematics (Extended) Paper 2 - This paper wasn't too difficult but put up enough of a challenge for your noggin'. (+9) - Day 4 (Friday): English Language Paper 2 - Gorillas, chimpanzees, primates, beasts, creatures, monkeys, apes. Please don't let the next paper make us repeat these words again and again. (+7.5)
• Week 2: - Day 5 (Monday): Business Studies Paper 1 - For lack of a more elegant way of saying it, I think the paper today was particularly brain-scratching & long. I'm gonna just hope my answers were approvable. (+7.5) - Day 6 (Tuesday): Malay Paper 2 & Chemistry Practicals Paper 5 - Malay was Malay but Chemistry was Chemistry. Not confident about my answers for the latter, let's hope it's not a bad sign. (+10, +6.5) - Day 7 (Wednesday): Mathematics (Extended) Paper 4 - Finally finished our first subject of the exam fest. The paper was easier than expected but there were questions that pushed our brainpower to the limit. Lost 4 marks for leaving a question I was about to answer, just didn't make it before "Put down your pens now!" (+7.5) - Day 8 (Thursday): Malay Paper 4 & Biology Paper 5 - Malay was again Malay but I may have misread the last question entirely; hope not. Biology was quite alright. We've just finished another subject and all our science practicals. (+7, +8) - Day 9 (Friday): English Language Paper 3 - For the second question chose the first descriptive essay. Great paper, but my hand was aching; rushed rewriting an entire page in 10 minutes because there were just too many scratches. & Another one bites the dust. Shazam. (+8.5)
• Week 3: - Day 10 (Monday): Biology Paper 3 - Overall, I think the paper was just fine. Though to be quite honest, most of what I studied for didn't turn up in the paper (won't spoil, don't worry). I think it was the little questions that got me (those 1 mark buggers) rather than the big ones. We'll see come Sept. (+8) - Day 11 (Tuesday): Chemistry Paper 1 - Our first MCQ Paper of the IGCSE. To start it off, I thought it was actually pretty good. Didn't expect that coming from a Chemistry Paper. (+8) - Day 12 (Wednesday): Physics Paper 1 - Deja Vu only happens during the event. If only it happened before, but then I don't think it would be called Deja Vu then. Helps a little bit though. (+8.5) - Day 13 (Thursday): Physics Paper 3 - Super challenging. I've lost at least 2 marks already (at least = greater than or equal to, mind you), and that's not including 9/10 of the paper. Really, no comment. Just hoping for the next 2 exams to give us more time in writing everything out. Tomorrow's gonna be the climax. (+7) - Day 14 (Friday): Business Studies Paper 1 & Economics Paper 3 - The first paper was just crazy long. Hand couldn't stop shivering. Then after the paper, walked with Joshua Lee for about 10 minutes, rushed on back and the next paper started. The Economics paper wasn't as long as I thought it would be but they left so much space for the writing, they left all of us feeling guilty with our answers. All-in-all, I think both papers were actually really great. Now it's onto, the Driving Examination 02. (+8, +9)
• Week 4: - Day 15 (Monday): Driving Exam 02 - PASSED. The place eventually sort of grew on me, but I don't think I'm ever going back to that place. Let's hope irony doesn't hit. (+10)
• Week 5: - Day 16 (Monday): Chemistry Paper 3 - I thought today's paper was going to be hardest ever or yet. But to be quite honest, it wasn't actually that bad. It put up enough of a challenge but was generally do-able. Another subject down.(+8.5) - Day 17 (Tuesday): Biology Paper 1 - Had it's fair share of challenging questions but was overall okay. (+8) - Day 18 (Wednesday): Economics Paper 2 - Long, but okay. ONE MORE PAPER. (+8) - Day 19 (Friday): Economics Paper 1 - IGCSE ends on the right note. VICTORY. (+8.5)
IGCSE 2010 International General Certificate of Secondary Education 11.05.2010 - 11.06.2010
