Deck-ING the halls...

I thank God once again for bringing me here safely...

I should get this started. First of all, thanks darlz(you know who you are) for taking time out to spend with me during my free time. It was good being able to meet up with u and just catch up on lost time. You didn't have to but I'm glad you did. There'll be more of such moments I'm sure, as long as we can liase properly and you don't have to send your phone to the Nokia Care Centre to ge it repaired and use a different number in the meantime...that sure speeded things up, didn't it? Lol. I appreciate the effort and the time you put into preserving what we have built up over the years and I hope that will continue. You are treasured.

This time was no exception to lots more hard work.

Thanks to Mr Kevin Field for taking the time to believe in us and guide us.
Big thanks to my section tutor, who came and was a great help along with great fun. Not intimidating, not threatening, and able to explain things to us in ways we would understand. eg, the KTM situation.
Thanks to my section colleagues for being patient with me and so encouraging. Carmen, for the books(I've started on them already!).
Many thanks to my roommates, you know who you are, for putting up with me.
Thanks to my buddy who at times just sat in silence with me.
Thanks to our concertmaster and I wish you all the best wherever you go and in whatever you do...
Thanks to everyone else for another great camp and concert.

Up to now, there's this indescribable feeling of having performed in that prestiged hall and a sense of loss...where I don't want the camp to have ended. Time seems to fly by when you're having a good time.

Then again, August isn't too far away. The in-house chamber recital will (hopefully, without any complications) take place then. All we can do now is to focus on our studies, and for some, work, until then.

All the best to my colleagues who will be taking music exams between now and then, to colleagues who will be having competitions, to those who will be having trial exams in preparation for public exams. Give it your all! God bless all of you and see you guys next camp!

Deck the hols with streams of music...

I thank God that exams are over...

Yes, no more worrying and stressing over juggling daily practice with studying and sitting for exams in school(at least for now...).

Tonight, I will be spending time with Ed, working on and polishing some stuff to avoid disappointment. This time, it will be more of a challenge, which is a good thing, of course.

The whole cycle starts up again of Saturday, and this time, we will be treated to seeing some of our colleagues(this is a term I picked up during the last camp) perform on the 2nd, little groups of our colleagues performing on the 5th and the senior team perform on the 6th. The lot of us will be doing the 7th June. Tickets are sold out, so to those of you who haven't got your tickets, sorry la. There's nothing I can do. Maybe you guys could book ahead for the August performance. I will let y'all know once I get the dates.

I'm excited...I'm jittery...will I be able to satisfy myself this time? I can never reach a limit to learning and I have such a long way to go. With help, guidance and correction, I am pretty sure that I will learn so much more this camp and it will benefit me in ways I can never imagine. All I have to do is be faithful, as God's Word says, and God will notice my faithfulness and reward me accordingly.

To all you guys who will be with me beginning Saturday...my 'colleagues'...I'm looking forward to it. Guys, let's give it all we've got!

Mata pelajaran Pendidikan Moral sebagai mata pelajaran wajib dalam peperiksaan SPM...

Saya berterima kasih kepada Tuhan kerana memberi saya peluang untuk mempelajari kesabaran melalui membuat ulangkaji bagi mata pelajaran ini.

Pada hari Jumaat yang lalu, saya telah menduduki kertas Pendidikan Moral untuk peperiksaan semester saya. Sehubungan dengan itu, saya dekehendaki menghafal 36 nilai berserta dengan definisi nilai-nilai tersebut. Nilai-nilai ini merangkumi 7 bidang, iaitu
a, Perkembangan diri (12 nilai)
b, Kekeluargaan (4 nilai)
c, Alam sekitar (4 nilai)
d, Hak asasi manusia (5 nilai)
e, Demokrasi (5 nilai)
f, Keamanan dan keharmonian (3 nilai)

Nilai-nilai berserta dengan definisi nilai bukan sahaja berguna untuk menghadapi peperiksaan saya, tetapi juga dalam aspek lain. Saya akan merekodkan sebuah pengalaman saya di mana nilai dan definisi yang telah dihafal oleh saya membuktikan kegunaannya dalam kehidupan seharian saya.

Pada waktu malam hari Jumaat yang sama, saya menghadiri kelas tuisyen bagi mata pelajaran Matematik Tambahan. Saya duduk bersama dengan Raisin. Kami telah 'mengamalkan' nilai kerajinan (kelas tuisyen kami selama 3 jam), iaitu usaha yang berterusan yang penuh dengan semangat ketekunan, kecekalan, kegigihan, dedikasi dan berdaya maju dalam melakukan sesuatu perkara. Sepanjang 3 jam itu, kami juga mengamalkan nilai rasional, iaitu kebolehan berfikir berdasarkan alasan dan bukti yang nyata dan dapat mengambil tindakan berasaskan pertimbangan yang wajar. Nilai ini diaplikasi apablia Raisin dan saya mencari jalan penyelesaian untuk soalan-soalan dalam latihan matematik tambahan yang sedang dibuat oleh kami.

Raisin telah mengambil kesempatan untuk membuli saya semata-mata kerana saya lebih muda daripada dia. Saya membela diri saya dengan menggunakan nilai melindungi hak kanak-kanak, iaitu membela, memberi naungan dan memelihara hak kanak-kanak bagi menjamin kehidupan mereka yang sempurna. Raisin pula mempertikaikan isu menghormati hak wanita yang bermaksud melindungi dan mengiktiraf wanita sebagai induvidu yang boleh memberi sumbangan dalam pembangunan keluarga, masyarakat dan negara.

Masalahnya, Raisin terlupa untuk mempertimbangkan sebuah kenyataan - sebagai seorang wanita, dia dikehendaki melindungi hak kanak-kanak! KKK (Ketawa Keluar Kuat...lol...).

Melalui situasi yang baru sahaja saya berkongsi dengan semua pembaca saya ini, aplikasi mata pelajaran Pendidikan Moral dalam kehidupan seharian seorang pelajar di negara kita ini jelas kelihatan. Dengan itu, kita dapat membuat kesimpulan bahawa mata pelajaran Pendidikan Moral berguna dalam kehidupan kita semua. Kkk...

This house believes that debate is a rewarding experience for high school kids!

Group picture during Cedric's farewell potluck...it's truly great knowing you guys!

This post is long overdue...

I thank God for today...

The pressure of building 70 cases and preparing 210 points(at the very least) PLUS 22 policies...that can only mean one thing...IT's back. "What's back?" you ask. Well...SAY HELLO TO THE SWINBURNE WSDC 2009, PEOPLE!

Just a little background for those of you who are reading this and have no idea whatsoever what i'm crapping about...

The Swinburne WSDC(World Schools Debating Championship) is an annual event and this is the fourth year they're holding it. The tournament is hosted by the Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus and is organized by the Swinburne Debaters' Club.

The tournament is run as such:
Each participating team gets to debate in 5 preliminary rounds, in which no one gets knocked out. Instead, points are accumulated and based on the number of wins, each team gets ranked. The top 8 teams 'make the break' and go into the quarter finals where the knockout starts. Oh, the tournament is divided into 2 categories:
a, Junior category (teams in lower sec)
b, Senior category (teams in upper sec)

We had a practice round this year (which we didn't have last year due to lack of time) which basically is so the debaters can familiarize with the style and all seeing as the style is a little different from the style we use in the Inter-school Debate Competitions. In the prelims, the first round is a random match. This means...ya la...clear what. Random matches la. After the first prelim, they do what we term 'power matching', meaning they pitch winning teams against winning teams, based on the each team's margin of win. A close margin then goes up against a close margin, a clear margin against another clear margin and a thrashing against another thrashing. In the prelims, the will be instances where a junior team gets pitched against a senior team. They will only be split into two categories when the 'break' is announced. Then it goes on into quarter finals, semis, and finals.

My school's team(we only sent one team) broke into the quarter finals second from the top in the senior category. Individual speaker ranking-wise I ranked 7th. Not too bad, as I think debate is not exactly my niche. In fact, I spent quite some time in between the matches and waiting for verdicts talking to other music-crazed debaters!

I will not upload any photos on the Swin WSDC. There have been too many picture-posts on it already. If you still want to see some, go to http://purpledoi.blogspot.com.

I will just put the next part in here too instead of doing a separate post, since it's debate-related.

We had a farewell for our trainer, Cedric, since he's leaving(or has he left??) for KL. Initially it was supposed to be at Pizza Hut or something, but we ended up having a farewell potluck(which I think was a better concept...economic recession...save cost! Haha) which was hosted by Aldrin and Felicia(thanks guys for opening up your home to us!).

Since we're all debaters right...it was a nutty night. We even got to see Cedric play the piano! Then again, I left early, so I missed the fun debate they had...all in all I think it was good that at least we got together to appreciate Cedric. After all, what's one night to compare to all the time and effort he's put into training us, listening to and adjudicating our practice debates.

Cedric, I can't think of anything else to say but thank you for your counsel and guidance throughout my high-school debate life.

Paul, thanks for your guidance and advice. It was really neat having you to help out despite your busy schedule.

Sam, thanks for being the captain. And for the drive to go further. All the best in the upcoming inter-school debate!

Alex, thanks for just being on the team with me and for the little conversations that we had along the way. PMR this year, gal. I know you can do it. Continue to be faithful in all you do.

Teresa, Sasha and Felicia, thanks for tagging along to Swin with us. I hope that all you've seen will help you guys to prepare for next year's Swin WSDC.

McDougall brothers(and sister), thanks for the nuttiness and the spice you guys added to the experience. You guys turned out to be such great sports! Thanks for the the briefs y'all shared when we broke, thanks for the tubes of Mentos you guys unselfishly gave of, and thanks for all the support you gave us.

Garrick, thanks for the photos and for putting up with us. LOL.

Thanks also to the music-crazed debaters I mentioned earlier in my post, it was nice having met you guys, who are all as nuts about music as I am, and maybe even more! All the best to you guys in your music lives...and debate lives, I guess. Lol.

Last but not least, a big thank you to the Swinburne Debaters' Club for organizing the event which brought us all together.

Csardas - Monti...enjoy...

I thank God for youtube!

This is by far one of my favourites. I love how the guy on the flute is so precise with the articualtion and all. Let's not undermine the guy on the harp, shall we? He did good too...and so did his page-turner. Credits to all mentioned!



Do watch and then leave a comment...

As for peer pressure...

I thank God for peer pressure.

Peer pressure can be a good thing. A VERY good thing. Like now. Peer pressure left me feeling small. Like really, reeeally small. All you have to do is step into the hall and this MASSIVE wave hits you. The room is already almost full HALF AN HOUR BEFORE the session starts! And people are not just sitting there yakking around...they're warming up, practicing, whatever you want to call it. It made me work harder than I probably ever have and mark my words, this is just the beginning. Seriously inspiring and seriously awesome.

It's like this scary awesomeness just overwhelms you and there's this feeling i can't put into words. All the confidence you've built up all this while just *deflates*. No wait. Not deflates. The term 'deflate' is putting it MILDLY. It goes *POP!* Literally. Boom. No more. At least that was how it was for me.

So here I am, yes, no doubt proud to be here and a part of this program, God blessing me with this opportunity to expand my horizons, enabling to get in this time round. It's been a real trying time and I just KNOW that the next time round, I'll have more fun, coz I intend very much to come really prepared. For starters, armed with Bonjela...(I didn't bring it this time round coz I wasn't expecting such severe consequences) and the pieces of paper with stuff printed on them(VERY ink-consuming, and thankfully not my printer ink) ready and worked on, just to add punctuation and to refine, and a boost of confidence(?? I hope...anyone know where I can get a bottle for consumption?)...

To be awarded this opportunity with people like those around me is really a great learning experience IF you are willing to change bad habits and learn the right way to do things. However, for those who are just here to hitch an easy ride(not that I can even if I wanted to) then I'm sorry, you're wasting your time AND our time. Go somewhere else where you can take it easy, coz this is ALL about work.

Having said that, I think the best thing would be to click the little Publish Post button and get down to real work.

This next part is added much later in the day. I wrote everything up there this morning and this is night.

So here's reality. I've been here for a week. Throughout this week, I get ulcer after ulcer and work every possible moment I can, even through breaks. Then all of a sudden, after the BIG event, this tsunami of realization hits and WHAM! you realize it's over. So soon. Too soon. You're still in a daze and people start leaving for home...wait, what? It's over already? Yes, it's time to accept that fact and move on. All we can do is to wait for our paths to cross again...
Sayonara people...see you guys again...soon...yes, very soon, I hope...

Pieces of me...

Today, I thank God for Mozart writing what I would classify among the most beautiful concertos (this does NOT mean that they're not lethal).

Hmm...I just found out that Rachel tagged me almost a month ago. This tag is a lil different, so I'll just do it really quick. What I have to do is list out 16 random things about me, so here goes.

1. I miss Chelz...

2. I love music. Simply simply love music. Music is...well, it's just what I do.

3. I'm actually doing research for debate now (yes, extra homework thanks to my WONDERFUL debate captain. Yeah, commitment is your top criteria. I know...).

4. I don't do tags...but this is an exception...coz...it's different from the tags where you have to answer this whole list of questions...and also the person who tagged me has been there despite the whole distance issue.

5. I miss my bro...

6. I miss Ed...

7. I miss West M'sia...

8. Someone told me I'm weird today. Lol...

9. I happen to think Chelz is a really REALLY good artist. Paintings, lettering, drawings, sketches...amazing what she can do...

10. Somehow or other, I end up tying most of my conversations back to music. I don't know how, but I just do and it's NOT done on purpose!

11. There's ALWAYS music playing in my head. I do mean ALL the time. Lol.

12. I CANNOT stand heavy metal. Not at all.

13. I think Trevor Wye is user-friendly. Lol...

14. Many times, I find myself singing a song containing a phrase just mentioned. For example, someone could just say 'You could see the hills from my bedroom window' and I'd go 'The hills are alive with the sound of music...' or go 'The raindrops were pelting the windscreen' and I'd go 'Raindrops are falling on my head...' . Hmm...yeah, I'm weird.

15. I miss the good old childhood days climbing trees with you and going to the library with you and going to the market with you when we used to tag along with my mum. I miss our sleepovers and I wanna sleepover at your house now...the last time wasn't really counted coz most of the time was spent out and we didn't get to bake.

16. This is probably the first and the last tag I'll do.

*With reference to number 15, haha yeah thanks for the last sleepover anyway. It was cool being able to go around with you, walking around aimlessly to badly given directions. Lol...you know who you are.

I tag...um...Anders, um...Bell, um...Donkai, um...Joshua (if you're reading this), um...Sher...okay. Five people. That's it.