Saturday, June 28, 2008

2 Projects Done, 1 Add Maths Project Comes Bugging Me

Just when I thought my project days have come to an end, right after polishing off my long overdue moral project and rushing to complete my PJ project, here comes yet another project - The SPM Form 5 Additional Mathematics Project 2008.

This year, it's more of a physics project than a add maths one. The topic is about the pendulum, which is basically what was taught in our Form 4 physics chapter 1. I still have fond memories of how one single project was basically shared throughout the entier Form 4 students of Chung Ling High School, and later scattered around all of Penang amongst different schools. Pretty cool huh? One single project, thousands of variations all over the island. (Yes, I know I'm exaggerating)

We've got a week to complete this darn project, and yes, even with a group of I think 6, it's still a daunting task. But fear not, informers tell me that there are in fact sample answers on the net! And no, I won't be providing the link here (to avoid looking as if I'm condoning cheating and copying), but you know, Big Brother Google is a powerful tool and you all do know how to use it, right?

I suppose this shows just how 'resourceful' we Chung Ling Kias are eh? Before this we had the infamous JPN Exam Paper leak, and now we probably have quite a number of people copying their way for this project. (Ok, maybe not, it's bad to make accusations, but oh well, takes a Chung Ling Kia to know a Chung Ling Kia, not that I'm suggesting anything...xD) Oh well, have fun this weekend completing your projects guys. For me, I'll see if I can even get my readings (teacher gave it to our group leader - whoever that is when I wasn't in class) Till then, do subscribe to the Chung Ling Feed.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dead Ends & Frustrations Pre-Debate Competition

Man! English debate is driving me up the walls. After over a week of research and sifting through tons of information, I just realised how distorted the truth has become regarding EQ. Meeting so many dead ends, I doubt we can pull this off and this gets me really frustrated.

And what maddens me even more is the utterly illoigcal Bumiputra Rule that is crippling our team (I have no offence against you, Ebby). I shall not elaborate more as it gets more frustrating each time I try to say it out, but you can check out my previous post to see it. All I can say is, this messes up the very logic of selecting the best to speak as you're instead forced to select speakers based on their 'bumiputra' status.

Tomorrow a few people from Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri will be visiting us to supposedly train us and probably check in on our progress. We'll see how it goes. I'm praying it's going to be able to pull us out of this brink, but maybe I'm just hoping too much. Time will tell though.

I seriously wish to have a good experience as this is after all my first time participating in the national level English Debate competition. Is it so much to ask that we be given the fair chance of fielding our best, instead of handicapped team? I suppose not, but let me not forget that this is Malaysia, less I immerse myself in a far-fetched dream that I live in a place with equality.

Friday, June 20, 2008

The Bumiputra Rule in Malaysia's English Debate Competition

In my last post, I said we were finally allowed to represent Penang for the National Level English Debate. Noticed the word 'allowed'? Ya. The truth is, the reason why we were never allowed to represent in the first place back in 1999 and 2000, and nearly in 2008 was because there is this rule stipulating that there must be a bumiputra as the main speaker in the team. And for the last 2 times we have won the state competition, we've had no bumiputra in our team, let alone one as a bumiputra. So on both ocassions, the runner-ups were instead selected to represent.

Now here's the part where some would say gets funny. Runner's up representing? Who has ever heard of that happening? It's only logical that the best represent the state, and naturally the best has to be the team which won the state competition. But I suppose rules are rules. And unfortunately, for the sake of representing the state this time, we resorted on a 'bumiputra hunt'. I know it sounds a bit racist, but hey, our team this time around doesn't have a bumiputra either and we had no choice but to go searching for one. And as you all know, Chung Ling being a chinese school, there weren't many to select and we had to pick the best out of the 'worst'. But I must say that our new recruit is performing quite well above my expectations.

This rule is a sensitive rule, and as such, I don't want to be commenting too much on it, less I provoke the wrath of ISA or the Sedition Act and be sent to Malaysia's greatest five-star resort with bottomless teh tariks and nasi lemak. But I do have this to say: A rule like this is akin to the Olympics banning the participation of athletics of a certain race, because either way, it's still a race-related rule and no matter how tries to paint it in whatever tone or light one wants, it's still racial discrimination. But of course, I do understand what nation I live in and the reason behind such a rule. And I must respect such a rule because it's after all a competition and as a participant one is supposed to respect the rules of a competition. But that of course doesn't really justify accepting such a rule.

Still, the sensitivity of this issue unforunately has made me hold silent my trail of thoughts, and therefore I shall say no more. I believe the most important thing now is to be able to enjoy the whole process and look it at a more positive light. I shall take it as challenge, that even with a handicap, we shall be able to win it, and win it good. That's what I think, should be the spirit and no rule, no matter how unfair it may seem should ever dampen that.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Motions for English Debate National Level

Just back from the 2-day gruelling ASEAN Scholarship Selections Test and not even a few days to rest, our motions for the English National Debate just came in. Yes, we're now officially representing Penang, something which was impossible in 1999 and 2000 when we were State Champions for the Piala Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Abdul Rahman Arshad back to back. I'm proud to say, our English Debate team finally made history. For the first time, Chung Ling is representing the state in the nationals for English Debate. But of course, that's not really the full story, something which I'll ramble on in my next post. Suffice to say, there were things that were changed, because if not, surely back then in 1999 or 2000, we would have been able to represent.

Anyways, here are the 4 motions.

First Round: This house believes that EQ, not IQ determines how successful a person will become.

Quarter-Finals: This house would let the information superhighway runs free

Semi-Finals: This house believes that well done is better than well said.

Finals: This house believes that good things come to those who wait

It's going to be held on the 7-10 of Julai in Kelantan, so that leves only a mere 3 weeks for preparation. 4 motions, 8 sides, 3 weeks. Sounds like herculean task to me, not to mention a certain handicap we have now (more on that in my next post). But no matter how, I'm sure we'll put our hearts into it and I'm sure something we'd be proud off will be achieved.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test - Review & Thoughts

Just came back from the ASEAN Scholarship's 2 day Selection Test, or should I say, 2-day thorough 'screwing'. Tired and exhausted, not to mention feeling pissed at myself for not performing in the Maths paper. Ah well, life's like that, we all have our off days.

From what I observed, there were about 200 over students taking the test, about 70% of those taking the pre-u test. All of us were tested on the very same subjects, which are English, Maths and a general ability test which I'll elaborate later. Maths was pretty tough and I totally underestimated the standards of the Singaporean Maths. And now, it has come back with vengence and totally bit off my a**. For starters, I couldn't finish the 25 questions on time, and with 2 freaking chapters not yet taught but tested, I guess my scores for this test would surely absymal.

English was, as expected, a level above ours. Vocabulary was not madly difficult, though the summary was not what I was accustomed to doing. Essay on the other hand was a rush against time. Why? You know how long they gave us to write the 350-word essay? Half an hour. There was totally no time for any planning, let alone and draft work. It was full speed ahead from the very moment we got our papers. And the topic? Let's see, there was something about 'Elders have their role to play in society' and the other was 'Computers have benefited mankind in every aspect. Do you agree?' Yes, factual essays and only HALF-AN-HOUR to write. Practically broke my hand trying to finish the darn essay.

That was yesterday. Today we had what was known as the general ability test. In actual fact, it was more like an IQ test or some sort of logical test. But the truth is, it's actually almost the same, if not the exact paper given by MENSA for their admission test, or at least one of the question sets available. I suppose those who recently took the MENSA test and passed would have found it strangely familiar and probably managed to ace through the questions without much hiccups. Then again, I couldn't really see from the faces of those who walked out of the room today whether or not they were confident of their two-day performance. Then again, this being a highly competitive scholarship, I suppose most had their poker face on.

Ah well, I suppose in life all we can do is work hard and pray that god takes care of the rest. May the best get the scholarship.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Why Chung Ling's English Teachers Are The Best

Now I know why Chung Ling's English Teachers are the best in Penang. Here's why. Just take a look at the quetions give out by my class's English Teacher on the spot one find day in class.

1. Do you know the size of her _________? She likes to wear Wacoal and Triumph.

(The instructions was to fill in the blanks with words beginning with the letter 'b', in case you're wondering)

And the answer? Bust or brassiere. xD!

Seriously, who else can come up with such a sentence except our very own Chung Ling English teachers?

And let me not forget also the time when he came in to invigilate our class during the infamous leaked JPN Bahasa Malaysia paper. Knowing that we'd all already knew the questions before even seeing the paper, I suppose he thought it was a joke when he gave away the answer to one of the questions. It was a question on building a sentence on the word "comel-comel" and this is what he came up with "Gadis-gadis dari China comel-comel belaka."

Yeap. That's the kind of geng English Teacher we have here in Chung Ling. I mean, where else can you find such teachers eh?

Friday, June 6, 2008

ANC Prelude - Mysterious Couple Revealed

So, anyone managed to guess the identity of the couple? I suppose nobody really cares, as they aren't really famous people, unless of course you're one of the few people who have the misfortune of having your girls tainted with this dudes fingers, then you wouldn't really know him.

Anyways, let me first reveal the identity of the the male in the picture (I'm sure you can see that). He's the 3-time champion of hornylympics, perhaps the horniest man alive to date in history, and if there's such thing as a scale for measuring how horny one is, his goes way off the scale. He's also the only person to have somehow been involved with a gangster's girl, nearly beaten up by a group of people (won't say how many coz later he's gonna brag), brave enough to get another gangster to save his butt and his list of accomplishment goes on and on. He is...

...
...
...
drum rolls*
...
...
...

Mr. Horny himself Chien Ming!!!

Here's his picture of the day.


Wohoo! Take it easy!  There's no need to rush things....

No, he's not trying to take advantage of her or anything, just the two of them doing a dance during a training course conducted by, guess what, the person in the picture herself - Ms. Shereen. And no, it's not the other way around with her trying to take advantage of him. I am unfortunately obliged to tell the truth. Even blogging has it's own set of unwritten rules, ok?

The actual story was that during this training course titled "How Intelligent Are You?" which was conducted by the female in the picture, Ms. Shereen herself. So during the course, there was this section where everyone had to pair up for a short session of dancing. And him, somehow, managed to get himself without a partner and found some nerve to actually ask the instructor to dance with him, which she gladly did. Don't worry, nothing wishy washy happened during that day, which was Junior Jaycees Annual National Convention (ANC) on 1st June. Just some straightfoward dancing between the two of them. xD

More updates coming soon, or should I say more pictures. Stay tune and remember to subscribe to the Chung Ling Feed.
Please note the above introduction of Mr. Horny is to be taken as a joke
and all 'horny' words replaced with 'friendly with the opposite sex'. xD!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Who's The Couple? - Prelude to ANC Post

I know I am supposed to update about the recent Junior Jaycees ANC that just took place in CLHS last Sunday, but as you know, been really really busy with Chinese Orchestra , so no chance to update. Here's a sneak peak before my main post comes.

Who's the couple?

Guess who's the couple. 2 bucks goes to the person who guesses correctly. xD! (ANC attendees not counted!) And no, it's not Dancing with the Stars Chung Ling Edition, nor is it some shocking OMFG scandal in Chung Ling's school hall.

Till then, subscribe to the Chung Ling Feed.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Annual Scout Campfire - More 'Eye Fun' For Chung Ling Kias?

Chung Ling High School's Annual Scout Campfire is today, and as per norm, it's open to other Chung Ling Kias. Naturally, one would assume that only scouts would want to be involved in this campfire as of course, you wouldn't expect a Chinese Orchestra member to be in a band's training camp. However, that's not the case as lots of non-scouts are attending tonight's campfire. But of course, you should already have realised it by now. Here's one clue: There are other participants from other schools.

Ok, I didn't mean to be stereotyping, but hey, it's a norm ok? Hmmm, maybe I should have just said that they were there to have some 'fun', or maybe some 'eye fun'? Wait a minute, scrap that, that's going way overboard. Anyways, you do catch my drift, right?

Very sorry I didn't bring my camera this morning. Most of them were already there in the morning as I suppose it was more of a whole day activity involving lots of competitions (besides the climax of the night - the campfire). I'll see if I can steal some pictures, till then, subscribe to the Chung Ling Feed, and stay tune for more updates on the Annual National Convention.