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hola everybody!

new blog is at http://www.pungshalene.blogspot.com
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cheers,
sha-lene.

Prom Night - Photos

DJ Gala Prom Night

Hey everyone! :D

Before I launch on to a detailed narration of prom night (last night), please take note that the tagboard, links, etc have all magically been shifted to the bottom of this page. So just drag the bar at the side all the way to the bottom whenever you want to check out a link or tag on the board ok!

With that part over and done with --

Wasn't prom night an absolute blast? I laughed so much all night that my jaws were aching afterward, and I totally forgot about actually eating the food that the waiters were serving us... which was a pity, because the food at J.W.Marriott was pretty good!

All righty, first things first! My version of prom night was really divided into 3 main parts; pre-prom, prom night & what I like to call... the "afterprom".

#1: Pre-Prom

This part was, annoyingly, fairly amusing.

The day before prom, I went for the Nostalgia gathering (which was attended by less than TEN people) and bored me to tears. It wasn't a complete failure because people still showed up, but I was pretty peeved with the Nostalgians who came to 1-Utama but did not come to TGIF's. Either way, I know better than to ever suggest having a Nostalgia gathering ever again... throughout the year, the Nostalgians have been constantly asking me to try and arrange something -- but when I finally give Soraya the instructions, they don't even come. Hahahha... all right, I know a major factor for this -- we had to pay for ourselves. And, the Editorial Board isn't a "cool" society. And, some of them are afraid of Pn.Wong, who couldn't make it either. *laughs helplessly*

Oh... BUT two fantastic things came out of such a lousy gathering -- firstly, I went shopping with Soraya and I bought my first denim jacket! It actually fit well, and that pretty much made my day. Secondly, Tse Mun & Nadia came and I went shopping + watched the movie "Chicken Little" with them. It was like a picnic with two of my best friends. It was wonderful, I guess everything happens for a reason; and when something bad happens, something good will happen! :)

Then when I got back from 1-Utama (at about 11.30pm), I returned Carmen's call about hairstyling -- it turned out that I had completely forgotten about hairstyle, and began panicking as I hadn't planned anything -- didn't book any appointments with the hairstylist, didn't have any curlers, didn't have glitter... *ROTFL* basically, I felt completely unprepared.. but armed with a hair-straightener, I felt it was enough to look oh-kay.

Hmm.. but I must admit, the night before prom really created a substantial amount of pressure... quite a number of my classmates even dropped out of prom & sold their tickets. But I was so burned out from a whole day out, that I just threw some stuff into my overnight bag and went to sleep.

The next morning, I threw on a black t-shirt & a pair of jeans; and we all met up at Denise's place. We reached Dorsett Regency about 2pm, and checked into 2 rooms. Carmen, Denise & Cheryl's hair looked great; for they had just had them done that morning -- all curly and fancy~ Hehe I felt so plain; but since me and curls don't go together, I was okay with straight hair. I mean, everyone who knows me knows that I've somewhat of a weakness for curly hair (i.e: Josh Groban) ... but I can't have curly hair! My embarassingly large quantity of hair will look like a lion's mane if I ever curl it!

I believe I would have been the new face for the lion in Narnia.... *laughs helplessly*...

Upon reaching our extremely comfy hotel rooms (I thought it was 5-star, but it turned out Denise was right -- it was only 4-star..). But in comparison to the 5-stars in most European countries, the Dorsett was a hotel paradise! Air-conditioning was great, beds were wonderfully bouncy, bathroom was bright and CLEAN... carpets were great... no complaints! A very special thank you to Denise's mum who set all this up for us as a treat!! :D

Azrina arrived on her own, and joined Denise, Carmen, Cheryl & I in our room. I was really looking forward to our mega-sleepover; I haven't bunked with big groups of friends since prefects' camp way back in 2003! Haha. Mmm.. then everyone went off to hunt for a saloon (Azrina to do her hair, Cheryl to redo it (!!))... only me & Denise hung back to watch TV... LOL I know... we're such couch potatoes... Scooby Doo 2 actually served as a form of fantastic entertainment for us.............

By the time, 5pm came, we decided it was time to get ready....

#2: Prom Night

To be continued another day... will upload photos and all when I have the time! Hahaha I want to wait for Sue-Mae to upload our KL Tour & Posing pictures. Hehehe!!

Things To Do When Bored

Ok, I'm not actually bored - I like answering quizzes and questionnaires during my spare time. Now that the exams are over, I'm planning to spend this week wasting my time. :D Friday after EST was very productive, though, because I gave away all my SPM stuff. Then I started cleaning out my cupboards and drawers. My room literally looked like it'd been hit by a tornado. After I got too tired to continue cleaning and organising my books and all, I had a nice long sleep from about 2am to 8am.

I woke up the next morning and continued organising! It's like after the exams end, I become extra-hardworking. I cleaned and cleaned out my cupboards until they were nearly empty, and started drawing out charts to simulate my cupboards and drawers. I even planned what category of things to put inside which shelf. Do you know I actually label each shelf?

If I were to ever pick a character from F.R.I.E.N.D.S that I was most similar to, it'd probably be Monica! I lack the strength of her competitive trait though (which isn't a very good thing when students are supposed to be 'kiasu', I can be very couldn't-care-less like Rachel, and I always come up with ridiculous theories like Phoebe. Hahah! Nobody knows this better than my mum and Denise! ;)

Anyway, I've temporarily stopped cleaning. I took a break today, ended up waking up at 3pm. Seriously, THREE o'clock in the afternoon! Amazing.. I think it was because I was reading Wei June's copy of "Memoirs of a Geisha" until almost 6am. Hahaha... the book is really good! I'm planning to continue reading it once I crawl back into bed (should be about 3am today by the time I do that). Thank you, Junie!! It's a fantastic book!~

Oh yeah, and all I did today was lie on the carpet and watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S! I watched the whole Season 9, and was halfway through Season 10 when Daddy called and asked me to get Hui Yee's number. I forgot to write it down when she gave it to me, so I had to go switch on the computer, log on and hunt through MSN's Message History. Managed to retrieve the number... *phew* what can I say? Thank you, Message History! Haha. I intend to continue watching Season 10 tomorrow morning. I think I was up to the episode where Ross went a bit nutsy... F.R.I.E.N.D.S is a brilliant comedy, it makes me laugh so hard that my voice grows hoarse. Hahah...

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Oh YEAH, this entry is supposed to be me answering quizzes and questionnaires. Ok, this first one I found in Chien Hui's blog, and I thought it was interesting:

IF you could choose one thing to bring home from Harry Potter's magical world, what would it be and why?

Say no more -- I would bring back my own magic wand! I wonder what it would be made of? Holly and unicorn tail-hair? Maybe! I'd use it to do magic, obviously.. Haha, I would actually prefer to bring back Ron Weasley, but he's not a "thing" so I can't do that... if I wasn't able to actually use a wand because I am, as we all know it, a Muggle (*sigh*), then I would bring back a bottle of Felix instead... oh yeahhh... yeah I'd definitely do that... except maybe it wouldn't be just a bottle, I'd 'tapau' the whole cauldron and sell it on E-Bay. Muahahaha!

IF you could change yourself into something/someone else, who/what would it be and why?

Oh, I answered this question in SPM! The English paper.. hmm anyway, I guess I would change myself into Karpal Singh. LOL just kidding! I don't know what or who I would change myself into, I don't think I would exchange my life for anything in the world.. :)

IF you were to die today, what would be things you would do?

Wow. Good question. What would I do? I suppose I wouldn't sit here and blog about it, of course. I'd write as many poems and stories as I can. I'd do everything I can do to immortalise my identity on this earth... like in the poem "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare.

So long as men can breathe and eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

I'm not so sure about the "and eyes can see" part, whether I've accidentally made that up or it was actually in the poem, since my Eng lit has gone to rust... but you get the gist! ;)

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And these questions I found in Chia Wen's blog.. wanted to answer them a long time ago, but decided to wait until after SPM.. hehe...

Seven things I wanna do before I die :
1. Write a novel about my ancestors -- got the mind maps ready, just haven't started proper story haha
2. Sing a song for my family and friends
3. Learn to play at least one song properly on my trumpet (which is just collecting dust, really!)
4. Learn to speak & write in Mandarin
5. Tutor younger students for English and Mathematics
6. Read the 7th and final Harry Potter book
7. Get married and have children! Hehe..

Seven things I could do now :
1. Organise all my belongings (I understand that you are now scared of me.)
2. Watch F.R.I.E.N.D.S
3. Read every novel in the house I haven't read yet (haha there are a LOT! my parents read a lot!)
4. Go to sleep
5. Watch TV
6. Play on the piano
7. Play with Troy

*Note: Sorry, didn't put "shopping with friends" up there because I interpreted the question as what I could do now, at 2.30am.

Seven celebrity crushes :
1. Josh Groban
2. Josh Hartnett
3. Nicholas Cage
4. David Schwimmer
5. Keanu Reeves
6. Rupert Grint
7. Orlando Bloom

*Note: I cannot believe Brad Pitt could not fit on that list!

Seven often repeated words/phrases/sounds :
1. Ouch!
2. Aiya...
3. Aiyoh~
4. Ok lah
5. Sure sure no problem
6. Umm...
7. What!

Seven physical traits I look for in the opposite sex :
1. At least 5' 8"
2. Still has lots of hair on head (Wei June will understand this one, haha!)
3. Sparkly eyes, not the dull & sullen kind
4. Healthy
5. Nice smile that reaches eyes
6. Pink nails (LOL it says a lot about health ok!)
7. Clean & neat *cleanliness is next to godliness* haha!

Seven people to tag :
1. Wei June (u did say u'd start a blog! ;D)
2. Denise (yah u gotta start a blog~)
3. Sue-Mae
4. Tysern
5. Vanessa
6. William Kemp
7. Jacklyn Oh!! ;)

Getting tagged means having a cyber-obligation to answer the same questions I just did. Hehe if you want to lah, if you don't want to then that's perfectly okay. Some people just don't like spending their time doing these kinda things~

All right, going to see if there are any more random personality tests, etc on the Internet! If I don't return to continue, it means I gave up halfway and decided to curl up under the warm comforters in my room to read Memoirs of a Geisha. Seriously, it's an amazing story; so far I'm still at the funny parts -- haven't reached any parts that'll make me cry. Chiko's only just turned twelve. I'm still hating Hatsumomo. And I still can't believe what Satsu went all the way back to do! I wonder what will happen between Tanaka and Chiko? Or was it Chiro? Oh my goodness, I can't remember the MAIN character's name but I can remember every other name in between. *rolls eyes* Typical me. I know that she later becomes Satsuri, though... I think... why do I find Japanese names difficult to remember? Actually, I find Chinese names a bit hard to remember too. Unless they're really catchy, like Ching Ling or Lee Ting or Yi Ping. Heheee.... ;D

Am picking up Wei June at a quarter to three tomorrow to go shopping, then 4.30pm will be the Nostalgia gathering. I doubt even ten people will show up; it seems like everyone has other plans or don't want to come. Yeah, that's the spirit people! It really doesn't even bother me any more than most people just aren't very enthusiastic about things, it's the way they are. If everyone were as hyper as me, I think the world would be overpopulated with people bouncing randomly off each other like in Gerakan Brown. Aih, but all the same, it would still be a lot better if the Nostalgians could all just stop and appreciate what we're doing for them, organising the gathering and all.

It makes me so mad when Nostalgians ask me, "We did so much for the school, why do we still have to pay for ourselves? What do we actually get in return?" I know the school doesn't exactly appreciate all the hard work that we've done for the magazine, but every Nostalgian should have joined the board knowing fully that it would require a lot of sacrifice on our part. The school is a business (inspired by an episode from "House"), and they will neither give us the money nor the gratitude that we deserve. But is that really the important part? I think the school has given us more than we ever gave it, by giving us the chance to be part of the Editorial Board. I have learnt so much from Nostalgia, I've made so many friends. That knowledge and those friendships would not have come any other way. And now, we were supposed to have a little reunion. A gathering to toast the success we've tasted by producing a magazine. Every page, every line, every word, every picture. We did it together.

Just ask yourself -- doesn't that count for something?

The Adventures of Bubble Tea

Hey all!~

If there ever was a comic strip dedicated to the chronicles of my seventeenth year of life, the first issue should be called "The Adventures of Bubble Tea and Golden Fashion". I know I should give myself a better nickname, say, Pork Chops or Fatty-Bom-Bom; but since I was knighted Bubble Tea by Wei June (Cherry Pie) and Laura (Choco Muffin) -- I shall stick to the nickname like elephant glue and not let it escape my clumsy clutches!

You know I've only ever had two favourite comics in my entire life? The first was definitely Sailormoon, wow I think everyone who knew me back in primary school knew that I was semi-obsessed with Sailormoon. I would invent Sailormoon pretend games, and my best friends (Xuyen & Tse Mun) would play them with me. Tse Mun would be Sailor Jupiter (long hair in ponytail), Xuyen would be Sailor Mercury (short hair) and I, nine-year-old Sha-Lene, would bear the burdens of.. you guessed it - Sailormoon. Or was I Sailor Venus? Okay, I can't really remember. I used to draw really ugly versions of Sailormoon in my spare time, and invent my own storylines and plots, adding characters. I also used to draw them for my friends who wanted me to draw pictures for them (although I drew really badly!). Hahaha, those were the days!

Oh, and my other favourite comic was definitely Crayon Shin Chan! I only ever read one issue of it, the Bahasa Melayu version belonging to my mum's youngest brother. It was hilarious! I read it over and over so it felt like I had the whole series. The story introduced the most twisted sense of humour I had ever encountered! HAHAHA it makes me laugh just to think about it.. for those who don't know what Crayon Shin Chan is all about.. it uses words like "Seluar dalam tidak tercuci selama 2 minggu berputar-putar!" and "menyamar sebagai tahi". It's just so darn funny!

Sometimes when I'm cleaning a drawer or cupboard, I stumble across old comics and stories I used to create when I was in primary school - it looks like I really had a thing for drama! Could have transformed the whole series into a soap opera man.. and it turns out I used to love writing vampire stories! My characters would be flying here and there (with blood-red capes and all), hopping around (influenced by the Chinese mythical zombies, keong see) and drinking orange juice instead of blood. Yup, sure sounds like me all right.

Wah I'm playing MSN game after MSN game with Denise at the moment. I'm so lousy at all of them except Hexic, ahaha. And that's only because she leaves the room sometimes! ;)

Well, as indicated in today's blog title -- Golden Fashion is Daphne btw! 'Cos she's got golden hair and is going to be a fashion designer next time -- I went on the most adventurous shopping spree in my entire life!

We originally went to 1-Utama (I call it 1-u, but Wei June calls it O-U.. hahah just a fun fact), and we headed straight for GSC. Bought tickets for "Just Like Heaven", where they weren't taking student cards (weekends cannot) and Daphne mistook the row facing the screen as the back row -- hahaha. Then we went shopping! Movie was at 11.40am, and it was already 11am.. so we just went to the supermarket-ish place and got bubbleteas (bubbles weren't too great, not like me, the actually Bubble Tea)... then bought earrings (3 for RM10) at random shops. It was fun, because ever since I pierced my ears I've become highly engrossed in earring-shopping. Plus it's interesting because the earrings Daphne picked out for me (I have a reputably bad taste in fashion) were very different from the ones Tse Mun ordinarily picks for me. Both kinds are really nice, of course! Tse Mun picks out soft pinks and blues with butterflies and flowers, while Daphne picks out unconventional, earthly, natural-looking earrings that are slightly more elaborate. Very interesting indeedy.

Then, while buying popcorn & soft drinks to wolf down during the movie, we met a Form 4 (next year Form 5) prefect named Min Li. She's a very pretty girl! Daphne started teasing her about her boyfriend, ahahah, and I started checking out the different types of popcorn they offered. We each got a caramel popcorn (small, because I reasoned with Daphne : "How much popcorn can we possibly eat in 2 hours?" Yeah.. this was a stupid move, as you'll later come to read about! ;D) and coke. Then we were off to Hall 13 and Daphne bounded confidently down the aisle while I crept down, terrified that things were going to fly out of the dark and grab me. Also, the cinema was very loud! The surround sound makes you feel like you're actually part of what ever is going on on the screen. Haha! Then... we settled down into the extra-roomy GSC seats and started to watch... the adverts. The adverts went on for about TWENTY minutes, by which time half of our popcorn had been eaten! Upon realizing we were literally WOLFING down the tiny caramel popcorn bits, Daphne leaned over and said, really innocently.. "I think we should have gotten the Regular." Hahahah!!

Then "Just Like Heaven" finally started, and it was hilarious! Mark Ruffalo & Reese Witherspoon are a dream team, and they really brought their characters to life! The entire audience was shaking with laughter every few minutes. I, naturally, was laughing like a turkey (according to mum) and a horse (according to Sahira).. but someone else in the audience was laughing like a hippo in labour, so I felt rather at home. :D

I love public places! There's nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing is weird! Except when after the movie, when I nearly collided headfirst into the heavy swing doors we go through to enter the main shopping complex part again.. and also when I was laughing so hard at the escalator that people stopped to stare. I grinned broadly at them.. c'mon folks, people shouldn't walk around looking so gloomy all the time! Oh, and Daphne was telling me about some clubbers getting arrested for PDA (Public Display of Affection) ... and in a somewhat relevant acronym, I refuse to conform in the matter of my PDH (Public Display of Happiness)!

Oh yeah, after the movie, the original plan was to try this restaurant... umm I can't remember the name... but anyway, it serves Hong Kong food, and Daphne said it's great.. but then, Daphne suggested we go to the flea market in The Curve! AHAHHAHA so you can imagine what a new thing it is for me to change shopping complexes, but I was all for it! SPM does things to you, mann, it makes you a better person... you'll learn to appreciate how much freedom you have to do things, and that you gotta do what you want to do, and not say "Later, another time". Before SPM, I would not have been likely to try a new restaurant, or do anything more adventurous than switching tissue paper brands.

Then the first time I did tried a new unfamiliar restaurant without my parents forcing me to, was with Denise at Sunway Pyramid. We went to a Japanese restaurant! It really opened the gates for me. But I was still more comfortable with old personal favourites like TGIF's, or Barn Thai (which I think is now closed! *mourns* It was only really good on Sundays anyway..). However, going out with Daphne just makes me braver -- she's very independent and matured, plus she's also extremely well-mannered and considerate! Daphne is someone I can actually trust, who won't suddenly turn on me and drive a spear through my back. Loyalty is difficult to find in this era of modernization and technology... therefore, when found, we shouldn't take it for granted! Hehe ... there is no wonder at all that ex-Head Prefect Craig Lee is head over heels in love with her! Which guy wouldn't be? ;D Lucky Craigy!!

Back to the point - now I'm all for trying new places, new food, new things!

I think I'm finally growing up!

Anyway, back to the story, we took a TAXI to The Curve! A taxi! At that point, I felt like such a grown-up. We were fortunate enough to have a very nice taxi driver too! He used the meter and did NOT try to con us. Maybe it's because I come in such a dinosaur-sized package that he was afraid he wouldn't survive if I took a swing at him... or sat on him. Heheee!! Daphne said that a taxi driver tried to con her once, because she looked like a foreigner (again, refer to: golden hair). Before this, I did not realise that I should always check if the taxi driver switches on the meter. Now I know!

We went to the flea market at The Curve (opens from 10am to 6pm every Saturday and Sunday! Cool huh, I never knew until today... I know, I know, I should get out more, ahahah). There were so many cool things! Accessories, clothes, cloth, whoaa.... I definitely want to go back there!

Then we marched around IKANO checking out restaurants, and we finally settled down at Big Ben for chicken stuffed with rice. AHAHHA! I packed all the bones back for Troy (Daphne packed her chicken bones up for him too!) -- the waiter was looking at me one kind man! HAHAHA... I think it was because I asked for a plastic bag to take away what was left of my dish. Then I had to explain "Untuk anjing.." Grown-ups can be SO humourless sometimes! Hahaha...

And then, it was time to go home. Mummy gave Daphne a ride to her condo (good thing too, now mum knows where Daphne lives, because Daphne wants me to go over soon so that she can style my hair! HAhahha I think it is because I have so much hair on my head that people can practice hairstyling/fashion with it. HAHAHA!!

F-R-E-E-D-O-M

Hello hello hello!

Me chatting to Su Lynn at the moment on MSN, I have removed my personal ban from messenger! :D

My EST paper was a big stinker, because I don't know crap about science.. and the essay was all about ACID RAIN. A Year 4 student could have written a better essay than me. My Chemistry is my weakest subject, and yet I found CHEM easier than EST. *groans* Objective EST was ok, other than the fact I made a stupid little mistake on the owl question (I can't believe I thought big eyes was going to help in the dark.. but I still kinda think that's correct, although it's prolly not) -- but subjective EST was a bit of a bad thing. The part on alternative-powered cars was pretty difficult, and the essay was so scientific. There they were, giving us words like nitrogen oxide and sulphur something... not only did I make my report look more like an essay on economy, I also forgot how to translate "pelabur" into English, so instead of saying "investors", I blardy hell go and write "shareholders". I hope it's still considered correct! My friends were having a good laugh about my answers after the exam! Hahah.... haaaa...

I also did NOT write any chemical equations and said nuffink about asid-alkali reactions... *shakes head laughing* oh well it's over now HAHAHAHA too bad! Just relax and hope for the best that the examiner will really like my handwriting or something!!

Yi Ping's party is NEXT saturday not this saturday (whoopsie, hehe) --- anyway, I moved forward my plan to go out with Daphne (at first I thought next week only can, because this week packed full right) so I'm going out with Daphne tomorrow! I love going out with her, she's very funny! :) Denise & Tse Munnie still have accounts, Sahira & Zaty has Tasawwur Islam. Good luck to all the candidates taking those two remaining subjects!

Nostalgia's gathering is on Mondayy, going to TGIF's! Then I'm gonna watch Harry Potter with Tse Mun & who ever else wants to come along~

Wei June's just lent me Memoirs of a Geisha -- can't wait to get started on the book! Then I think I'll borrow Mr Lim's (my now ex-Add Math tutor) Lim Goh Tong biography. It sounds really good! Mr Lim says Lim Goh Tong is like this really powerful figure, and the book has these old photos of his family in China and lots of other pics with Malaysia's top politicians. He's definitely a really successful man -- his bio will be worth reading!

Allright-y.. I'm gonna go yakk with my friends now! Have fun everyone!! I love y'all!! ;)

How was your exam?

*Note: This post was originally part of my "Seventeen Going on Eighteen" one, but I decided to split it so that it's easier to read. Less is more! Hahaha. I hope I didn't bore anyone! ;)

Does anyone want to know how my exams went? Oh, and it's not over yet (although most people are celebrating like it really is over), because I still have a subject to sit for .. namely EST (English for Science & Tech) on December 2nd. And that's the end of the exam for me! ;) Some of my friends, like Denise and Tse Mun, still have Accounts to sit for on Decemeber 5th... but anyway, Yi Ping's throwing a party on December 3rd (I was thrilled when she told me, Yi Ping throws great parties!).. celebraaaaaaaateeeeee...Oh yeah, I was going to tell you how SPM went for me (I really enjoyed reading Tysern's version of the exam -- check out his blog entries! ahah!)... ok so we start off with BM on November 14th (that was Lee Ting's birthday, and I forgot! See, that's why I said, I didn't expect anyone to remember mine, haha.. I usually make the effort to remember my friends' birthdays and stuff, because I realised how happy people will be when someone wishes them happy birthday... cos that means they really care enough to remember..) anyway, BM was, for me, a strange paper.. Mostly because the karangan I chose to write was almost exactly the same as the one I chose for my SPM trials (i.e: sahsiah), but I was relieved because I felt that I was under a lot of pressure to do my best in BM .. I also was very, very scared about the possibility of not passing the paper -- which is an unbearable thought because you have to pass BM to pass the whole SPM exam. It's a compulsory paper to pass! I was extremely relieved after the Paper 1 was over.

BM Paper 2 was really, really difficult. Denise pointed out to me that the black line on the left-hand side of the exam booklet's cover indicates how difficult/easy a paper is predicted to be by the government. The higher, the easier. The lower, the more difficult.. it's pretty accurate, I was amazed. Anyway, the BM Paper 2 was much harder than I thought it would be. But strangely enough, I like doing the Paper 2. I like having to write and write mechanically without having to put too much thought into the answer. BM is a lot easier for me than say, Biology, Chemistry or Physics. Hahaha, thank you Mr Goey! Five years of tuition with you have, I believe, not gone completely to waste.Sejarah 1 (objective) was ok, although I made more mistakes than I would've preferred (but less than 10 is good enough for me, haha!).. the next day (November 15th) splashed us with both English papers and Sejarah 2 (subjective).

It was an absolute NIGHTMARE for me! First of all, I didn't know all my facts (I have a tendency to neglect History, thinking "Aiya, it can't be that bad riiight.. how hard can they make it?").. and second of all, I have a tendency to confuse my facts when under pressure. So you can imagine how I felt when I opened the exam booklet and realised that I didn't know how to answer any of the structure questions? I thought that when the exam came, I would be able to look at a question and have the answers at my fingertips, but nooo... it wasn't that way for me! I had to flip here and there, answering questions randomly; picking all the easier ones to answer... and before long, it wasn't looking so bad; I didn't immediately know any answers but after some thinking (this is what I hate about thinking subjects!), I managed to scrawl out some plausible answers.. the Mat Salleh question was hilarious, I was just writing stuff like "SBBU bakar kampung Mat Salleh" and "SBBU menjanjikan Tambunan, tetapi memungkiri janji dan ambil semula Tambunan".. hahah!!

When I read Tysern's blog, he said he wrote like 10 stuff for that Mat Salleh question, and I started laughing, because I had to spend like 10 minutes wracking my brain to just fill in those FOUR blanks that they provided us with! I didn't write any extra answers for anything, was too lazy to .. ahah.. I just vomitted out answers that I was sure about, and didn't touch them any more. Fortunately, I managed to hold firm to my "Leave nothing blank" principle and crapped answers for all the blanks they gave.. and I didn't have to resort to crazy stuff like one midterm question I answered .. "Senaraikan kesan Kesultanan Melayu Melaka ke atas sistem pentadbiran Negeri-negeri Melayu" or some rash like that, and I just had to fill in the last blank with "Gula Melaka" because I couldn't think of anything else. *shakes head laughing*

But Sejarah came up with a slight change in questioning, they didn't ask straightforward questions this time.. the new style of questions reminded me painfully of... *drumroll*... MORAL! There were questions like "Apakah yang anda telah belajar tentang kepentingan sejarah?"... something along those lines, can't really remember... The essay part was like a series of bad headaches for me.. I couldn't say anything for sure and had to write everything I knew about anything having to do with the words in the questions. I thought I had done the paper horribly (so badly that I wasn't sure if I could even pass History), but when I got home and checked out some of the facts in my textbooks, it turns out that I had crapped pretty accurately! But seriously, it was just luck. So much of exams depends on luck! And also, the day before History, me and Tse Mun were on the phone for hours discussing the Islam chapters. And because of that, I could remember the facts. :)

After that, we had Modern Mathematics.. it has really become my favourite subject next to toughies like The Sciences (with a capital T) and Add Math. I made one really annoying mistake where I somehow didn't get around to reading the important part of an instruction (stupid panjang lengkung clue -- that's the one I missed) so I couldn't answer one of the objective questions.. my Add Math tutor checked my Mod Math objective paper, and that was my single mistake! Hahah, frustrated as I am about it being a careless mistake, I'm still really happy about making only one mistake.. because I'm not all that great in my Paper 2! In the usual school exams, I normally struggle with a couple of questions in Paper 2, and "a couple" is already a lot because there are not that many questions in one paper to start with. But this time, it was great! My hand was shaking throughout the entire exam because I was so nervous, but thankfully it was my left hand and I could still do all the questions .. so I really hope that I can get an A for Mod Math!

Of course, Mod Math wasn't the killer paper of the week... it was the following day's paper... PHYSICS. Me and Physics are complete strangers. We don't have anything in common. If Physics were a real person, we'd just say hello and then an awkward silence would fall. Physics wouldn't even return my smile. But heyhey, Physics was not at all like I expected! The limited information I knew about Physics was all tested! My favourite parts - inersia, impuls, gravity.. and there was only ONE chapter that I studied for Physics, which was Form 4 Chapter 3: Sifat Jirim... and guess what... that came out too... Prinsip Bernoulli. Suddenly I realised that me and Physics weren't enemies after all, we were just kinda shy. It took Physics a really long time (about 23 months) to warm up to me.. and it did right on time for the exam day. I found myself falling madly in love with Physics, Physics and all its worldly charms. For the first time in the two years that I have taken Physics in an exam, I could answer at least half of each paper (3 papers altogether). That's good enough for me! ;)

After Physics we had a nice four-day break before Moral & Add Math. Moral kinda stinked, because when I was checking my answers, I changed the first one .. to a wrong answer. This always happens when I check my answers, I end up doubting what I first wrote and end up changing it to a wrong one. Add Math 1 was okay, not so bad but I wasn't sure about a few sums.. and I had so much time left over that I copied out all the questions and (my) answers on to a spare piece of paper... I'm handing it to my Add Math tutor, he said he'll check it for me. I've given him my Mod Math paper too. Add Math 2, now that was a real pain in the arse! I couldn't answer the last bit of almost EVERY question (they have long questions, like number 1 (a)(b)(c)(d))... so I was really panicking during the final hour of the exam. I didn't have a minute to spare, and I would have found more time useful, but I just did all I could .. on the dot... haha I know some people still continute writing after the invigilator says "Pens down" but I've never been able to bring myself to do it -- what if she grabbed my paper and tore it to a million tiny pieces? *the horror* When I got home, I couldn't resist checking how many marks worth of questions I was actually able to do... and *phew* it wasn't so bad! I could answer for questions than I ever managed to for any school exam. Sure, maybe not an A, but at least not a failing grade..*grins* I have no idea how everyone else in the country did, so nobody can ever be totally sure about what kind of grade they could get. It's all weighted, right? If that's the word for it.. weighed, weighted, scaled? Hah! Help me out here, Jacklyn Oh! ;)

Then... another long break (five days actually) before this week.. we had Chemistry yesterday and Biology today. Chemistry really planted a lot of fear in me before the exam. I was very, very scared that I didn't know enough to even pass (I've honestly never gotten more than 41% in a school exam before), and extremely nervous about getting at least a credit like my parents wanted me to.. (they don't want to put too much pressure on me, so they just asked for at least credits ... ;)) ... but the Chem paper wasn't as difficult as in past year papers.. maybe they made it a bit easier because the number of students failing Chem in SPM has been increasing? Well I don't know if it's increasing all over M'sia, but my school's never had anyone fail Chem in SPM until last year (2004).. so it must mean that the paper was getting too difficult... maybe. Anyway, I only studied the first four chapters of Chemistry Form 4, and the first two chapters of Form 5. Luckily, most of the questions were from those chapters! I was so relieved about being able to answer the essay questions. I dunno how I did for the objective, but I'm planning to call Alyaa after SPM to get the answers (she has them already, my Chem schoolteacher is her aunt so she's checked them for her).

Biology was so bad that I could cry. But being me, I did the contrary and laughed about how incredibly stupid I can be. I think most people thought Bio was pretty hard.. Jon texted me and said something about "jackshit" -- hahaha!! That made me laugh so hard. Oh, and the weirdest thing happened right before the exam -- I was about to read the Kasturi seminar answer sheet when I put the paper on the rest of my papers on the balcony (was discussing Bio before the exam with Sahira there) -- and the paper just flipping FLEW down to the badminton courts below. Me and Sahira (or is it Sahira and I? Goodness, someone has to teach me this stuff! I honestly cannot tell the difference) watched, open-mouthed, as it fluttered divinely to the floor. Great. Just great. The invigilator was calling us all to get into the classroom for the exam, and my last-minute reference literally flew out the window. Not a window. A balcony. I was going to read the gizi seimbang wanita mengandung before the exam so that it'd still be fresh in my head, but I couldn't very well run all the way downstairs to get the paper, read it and then get back on time for the exam, could I? So me and Sahira laughed and got into the classroom. And guess what? Gizi seimbang wanita mengandung was NOT tested. *rolls around laughing*

Okay, okay this entry is now so long that nobody's going to read up to this point. Hahah, well, good luck for EST and Accounts, y'all!

Seventeen Going On Eighteen!

Hey all!

Wow -- it feels great to be seventeen at last.. but it doesn't feel any different, other than the fact it wouldn't be right for me to sing Sound of Music's "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" song anymore! :D Hahah.. I know, I haven't changed have I! Heheee..

Today was great! The morning started off with me waking up at 4am to study Bio (talk about last-minute!) but I only managed to study the Utusan Portal Papers for less than half an hour.. the next thing I knew, I was waking up again and the clock said 6.50am. Hahhh!! I fell asleep! So, after a lot of panicking, helpless laughing, and half-shrieking to my mum about how I didn't know anything about Biology and that I had nothing in my head ("Nothing! Nothing! I don't know anything! Honestly, mum, I don't know anything! So how, mummy, howww?").... then I was cheered up by my first birthday wish of the day -- from good ol' Jon! :) Thank you Jonny, you have no idea how that text message calmed my fairly-shattered nerves.

Hahaha! All in all, Bio was just as bad as I expected it to be (*snort* Did you expect a "it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be"?) -- but all the yelled-out "Happy Birthday!"s from my schoolmates definitely helped a lot. I honestly didn't expect anyone to remember (other than my family and my bestest friends -- Tse Mun called me yesterday to have a chitchat already!).. particularly since it was Bio exam day.. hahh... I think anyone who takes Bio in DJ will agree that Bio is by far the most difficult of subjects? But to my surprise, there were still people who remembered - William even sent me a birthday card like two weeks ago!! So sweet yeah! :D

And a very big thank you to all my friends who remembered that today is my birthday -- you're the best!! Hehe, and a special thank-you to Kat who got me an extra-special something (hehe, yeah, Wei June & Ee-Lynn, y'all know it too huh huh ahaha). To all my friends, I LOVE YOU ALL!!! ;D I'll never forget my DJ friends... and there's also a strong bond of camaraderie with my friends in my SPM classroom, especially Yi Ping, Sin Yee and Sahira -- we'll get through this darn exam together! Being in the same classroom with some of my friends is fantastic, because we laugh about everything (we're a very noisy bunch!) and we try not to let anything wipe those big smiles off our faces (even not being able to answer exam questions)... so it's a really positive environment we've got going, and I'll always be grateful for that! These are the people who have taught me anything I didn't understand in my studies, so no matter how I fare in my exams -- these are the some of the people I thank! ;)

Jacklyn's been asking me why I haven't been updating my blog ... ahhahah I'm so happy someone actually reads this blog! Thanks for the support Jackie! ;) ... but if anyone else is wondering why, it's because I've been having an exam... it's called SPM.... hahha..

P.S: Brief calendar update for my 1st week of freedom.. so if I don't update my blog for a while, I'm sorry!
Friday, 2nd December - EST. End of SPM. Soraya comes over to collect all my SPM stuff. Isn't it so sweet of her to help me with my packing instead of me having to do it all by myself? By the way, Soraya Kee is next year's Editor-in-Chief of Nostalgia! *grins broadly*
Saturday, 3rd Dec - Yi Ping's party.
Monday, 5th Dec - Nostalgia Dinner. Thanks again to Soraya for organising this!
Tuesday, 6th Dec - Prom Night at J.W.Marriott. Yesh, me going stag like Josh Groban did -- but sincere apologies to the person who actually asked me, but my table was full since months ago!

Pei Lee's asked me & Tse Mun to go on her class trip to Pangkor, but the dates clashed with both mine and Tse Mun's vacations (me to London, Tse Munnie to Sabah) so we can't go. And basically that's it, because my trip's about a week -- then comes Christmas when Alison Wong comes back to M'sia, and then college starts in January. Haha, this is the shortest holiday I've ever had!

Cheers to everyone! Thanks again for birthday wishes! :D