Bye bye, Kampar...

It is raining rather heavily right now. And I can hear the wind rudely slamming doors shut, making girls shriek. Hahah, what a way to mark the ending of my final weekend here in Kampar . . .

JPA has offered me a local scholarship to study at Universiti Teknologi Petronas. Please, don't call me 'petrol girl', because I'll beat you up for that. I promise =P Unless something really unexpected comes up, it is more than likely that I'll be leaving UTAR soon. And 'soon' is too soon. I'll have to be at UTP for registration this WEDNESDAY! Can you imagine that?? Such short notice . . . Right now I'm feeling a kind of big, psychological rock which I have to balance on my head. So much to do, and much too little time.

I tried calling JPA on Friday after I found out about the offer, but nobody was there to answer. ZzZzZz . . . Too many uncertainties to leave my questions unanswered!! Furthermore, I have no idea if I'll be receiving my offer letter in time for the registration. It's not like we don't know how efficient (or otherwise) the government is. Shhh, not too loud. Or they'll hear it and change their minds about giving me the scholarship! *clears throat* So I'll try to call JPA again tomorrow, and hopefully the line won't be too busy with people bombarding them with questions. Because I'll be doing that, and we just can't have too many people doing the same thing xP

Sigh. Such a sudden piece of news. I haven't even written a single post about my life here in UTAR, and right now I'm already talking about leaving it. Thinking about it that way really makes me feel depressed. Anyways, there'll be 3 posts on my life here, but I'll only write them after I've settled in at UTP.

Although I haven't known this place for very long . . . but one thing's for sure. I'll miss my room here!! Everybody who's seen it says it's really big and nice. And I won't be having 'big and nice' at UTP. *emo* What I'll have is a roommate. Which means:

1) I can't sleep without pants anymore.

2) I can't . . . simply do a lot of other things anymore!!

T.T

And for my first year it is compulsory for us to stay in the 'foundation hostel', and people who have lived there generally don't say very pleasant things about it. Oh!! How very depressing. I love my room here. I love my balcony (though I've never gone outside to lie down under the stars, because I haven't swept the floor yet). I love my ATTACHED BATHROOM!!! Seriously, how do people live without attached bathrooms!?

I'll miss my Maths lecturer. Who's very adorable. I'll miss my Critical Thinking lecturer. Who's really cool and very witty. I'll miss the food delivery service!! Every night I just call . . . and food arrives at my doorstep. Extremely convenient for lazy bums like me! Lalala~ And above all, I'll miss seeing certain people here.

Well, better leave now than in a year, before I get too attached to the place and its people. Praise the Lord for this blessing in disguise. God bless, and goodnight =)

This post is longer than I expected it to be.

I was back in Penang last weekend, to take the ASEAN Scholarship selection test. If you know somebody else who took it too, please let me know!! Thank youuu =D

Anyway . . . the test was held at the Sunway Carnival Convention Centre at Seberang Perai. After they managed to have us assembled properly (Oh, what a feat!) they led us into a vast hall with rows and rows of tables and chairs. There were basically three groups of people there; those who were taking the selection test for Sec 1, Sec 3 and Pre-U (like me!) respectively.

The first paper was Mathematics. People who have taken the test in previous years have warned over and over again through forums that the test will be extremely difficult. After a first glance at the paper, I had a conclusion in mind; these people were NOT joking!! After we were allowed to begin, I frantically flipped through the paper, looking for a single question that I could answer *faints*. I found a few which were easy, but there were a total of 22 questions - and I didn't have to be a maths genius to know that I had to answer more than 2 or 3?!

So as the clock ticked away, I tried to squeeze out every single drop of brain juice (though I doubt there was much left, especially after 6 months of rotting) in order to come up with solutions. Really, the stuff they learn is pretty much the same, but what differs is that they have a much deeper understanding of the concepts than we do. The disparity in the standard of Malaysian maths and Singaporean maths has never been more obvious to me!! Most of the questions were really, really 'chim', and were much less straightfoward than the questions we are so used to answering!

Let me give you an example:

Given that a + b = c. Evaluate abc.

I was like, 'O.o Excuse me??' Okay la, obviously that was not the whole question, but it is essentially the same. They give you unknowns all over the place, some of the tiniest bits of information, and make you work your brain as if you've taken a drug that doubles your IQ. I must've left approximately half of the whole paper blank!!! Salute to all Singaporeans for their non-human cognitive abilities. I surrender *waves white flag* =.=

Apart from having neurons that can send information at the speed of light, Singaporeans have something else most of us don't - the ability to write at machine-like speed. Let me explain. We had to write a 350-word essay within half an hour, for the English paper. Let me repeat. Half an hour!! Gosh. The moment I had my points I began to start writing at top speed, but clearly 'top speed' still wasn't enough. I'm pretty sure I managed to pass the 350-word mark, but I still had to omit one point, because there really wasn't sufficient time at all. A friend told me he saw a girl who managed to fill ALL 3 PAGES of the answer sheet!! That's just . . . really crazy. My essay was only one and a half pages long. To be able to fill 3 pages, I'd have to be really high on candy or something!

Singaporeans clearly also have a much higher standard of English!! I had no trouble with the general meaning of the passage given (based on which we had to answer questions), but when they picked out specific words or phrases and made me explain them . . . it's pretty much, 'Hey, let's play a game of stand-still-and-shoot. I'll stand still, and you'll shoot.' Awful!! Just awful! *shakes head*

Something else I realized is that Malaysian students are far more pampered than Singaporean students are. We are given ample time to answer our SPM English papers - so much that I had taken for granted the amount of time that we were given to answer the English paper during the selection test. I wasted too much time on the comprehension section . . . and almost couldn't finish my summary!

Throughout the whole duration of the test, there was something I really couldn't help noticing - that the hall was getting colder . . . and colder . . . and colder!! Really, what is their problem?? Why do they seem to expect potential ASEAN scholars to be able to withstand extreme cold!? Remind me, when was the last time Singapore was covered in snow??? =.= Couldn't they have turned it down? Sure, we were told that the place would be 'rather cold', and thus it would have been advisable to bring a jacket or something of the sort. Nonsense! They should've said the place would be FREEZING US TO OUR BONES! I would've brought an electric blanket and a polar bear!!

I was out of practice in writing AND thinking, and it REALLY didn't help that it was so extremely cold in there. So not only were my brain juices frozen, but so was my hand. It took an incredible amount of effort to write as quickly as I could. Even after I had stopped writing for awhile, I could still feel my arm screaming out in pain, saying 'WHAT IN THE WORLD are you doing to me??'

There were only 3 papers, and the last one was the General Abilities test. It was basically an IQ test, and although it wasn't half as difficult as the maths paper was, I still didn't manage to complete it, having left 10 questions out of 48 undone.

Seriously speaking, if I do want the scholarship, I would've cried. And would still be crying, considering how it turned out to be. But . . . I don't want it. My father wanted me to apply for it. He really, REALLY likes Singapore. IMO, even if I had flunked the whole test . . . no biggie. The sky is still blue and I'm still happy! Anyways the results will be out sometime in August or September, and until then I will no longer think of this catastrophe!!

Chilli is not my thing.

Let me tell you. I have a very low ‘spice tolerance level’, or whatever you’d like to call it. I can’t take chilli to save my life. Every time I order curry mee, it’s without chilli. Not even the slightest bit. I call it santan mee. Because without the chilli, the soup is basically only santan. And the colour is a pale orange, pretty much like beige. A lot of people may think it’s really weird o.O but that’s the just way I like it XP

Anyway, what happened was . . . I was eating something at home that day, when I suddenly had a very strong urge to try the chilli from McDonald’s. You know, in those little packets. I thought it would be very jinak. I thought it was chilli for, um, beginners like me la. I tried a little, and I loved it!! You know why? Because it’s sweet. I love anything that’s sweet! (Well, as long as it isn’t made from insects or spiders.) So I finished the first packet, and opened a next one, and yet another one. Then I began to realize . . . that it was getting spicier and spicier by the packet. Either that, or it was just my body’s way of saying, ‘No more, no more!!’

I kind of got addicted to it. Within two days, I must have consumed a total of about 10 packets. Which probably isn’t A LOT for most people, but proved to be nearly fatal for me. Why do I say that?? Because now I’ve lost my voice! Almost completely, really. I can’t sing; my pitch range is now all of two tones. But what’s worse is that I have an ulcer on my tongue! I’m having a hard time enjoying anything I eat, and even DRINKING hurts! Terrible, just terrible *shakes head*

Lesson learnt. Take it easy, take it slow. Never ever go on a chilli binge again!! Now I feel a little less than enthusiastic when it comes to answering phone calls. The caller may think they dialed the number to an Egyptian pyramid, and a thousand-year-old mummy picked up =.= THAT's what I sound like, no kidding. But don't give me prank calls just to check! I'm serious!!

I'M BACK.

It's BACK.

It's BIGGER.

And it's BADDER.

Cower and shudder under your bedsheets, peasant,

for I am back once again to scare the living daylights

(and nightlights, too)

out of every cell in your body!!!

Ah, who am I kidding?

Bigger? I'm just glad I haven't gotten any smaller.

Badder? Well . . . you tell me.

*winks*

The one thing that's for sure is that I'm back! *applause* Yes, for good! How I miss being part of the blogging community!! I've just finished reading all the posts I haven't read since I stopped. But there are so many, and it would be ridiculous to comment on each and every one of them. So I . . . didn't xP

Anyway, here are a few of my own announcements.

1) My blog is going to have a new header! And a new name, of course.

2) The next post (I PROMISE it will be a real post =x) will be only AFTER my G8 theory exam, which is next Saturday! @@

3) I will be having a WELCOME BACK celebration. For ME. *grins*

If you have been faithfully awaiting my return . . . well, this is it!!! Brace yourselves!

Until we meet again, dear readers!

*Waves at crowd dramatically*

I love my brother.

His real name is Zhi Yong. But at home we used to call him Lester (just like my real name is Xing Yii but I am also called Leanne). And note, USED to. Because approximately a year ago he decided for himself that he wants to be called Leo. He didn’t like his name very much, apparently. Because he used to get teased very often – really, there are SO many ways to mutate that name.

So now I call him Mr. Ng. Because I simply don’t know what to call him anymore =o

To me, he has always been Lester. I’ll never call him Leo or Zhi Yong because it’s just really weird to call somebody with another name after so many years of calling them with . . . their old name.

Nevertheless, one thing’s for sure. He’s still my brother. Nothing about THAT has changed. And you know what?

I love him.

And I love him because:

1) He feeds me potato chips when I am at the computer and don’t want my hands to get dirty.

2) He pokes my arm and tells me to ‘walk further in’ when we’re on a sidewalk and a car is passing by.

3) He cuts my steak into smaller pieces for me, even when we’ve had a big argument and I’m not talking to him. (It’s his silent plea to have our relationship fixed. Almost charming, really.)

These are just several instances. There are so many more than I can possibly list. Of course, we have fights, shouting sessions and differences too, but what is a relationship between siblings if it is without the occasional conflicts? One word: IMPOSSIBLE. We see each other every day; we must both be crazy if we never fought!

As little children, we argued very often. Over A LOT of things. But now, he’s grown up. He has matured. And that’s the best part. We don’t argue over stupid, petty things anymore. In fact, we argue SO MUCH LESS nowadays. That makes me happy, really. =)

There have been many times when I tell people that I am at my father’s house during the weekdays and go back to my mother’s house during the weekend . . . and they ask me, “So when you go to your father’s house, your brother goes back to your mother’s house?” Or the other way around. Well, the answer is a big NO. Why should we be living separately like that?? It makes no sense, really. We go everywhere together. (ALMOST everywhere – because he can’t go to a girls’ school. =.=) So yeah, he’s the person I’ve spent the MOST time with over the years. He’s the one person I see absolutely every day. We’ve been through thick and thin together. Through our parents’ divorce and everything else that came after that.

So . . . who said that siblings are a nuisance? Oops. I've said it myself many, many times before! =x

Hehe. But be assured that has changed. I’m a much better and more loving sister now. I’m a lot nicer to him now. And I love having him around the house. He talks – A LOT. And he makes me laugh. (Well, a lot of people make me laugh but he is the only one at home who does it! xD)

He’s my house-bestfriend. He’s my laughing gas. He’s my brother. And I love him. =)

P/S: And NO, I don’t say that to his face because he might think that I’ve lost my mind or something. I doubt he’ll ever come across this post, but I’m sure deep down in his heart he’ll always know that I do love him, regardless of what I say or don’t say or do or don’t do.