The Death of 2011

Hello. It's been more than fourteen months since I last published an entry up here. The reason I came back is because I don't think it's morally justified to force a suicide on my blog, halting all its nostalgic history and grace. This post might put a permanent fullstop to my blogging years (seven, whole, memorable ones) for good, or it might also mark a new beginning of something special. If and only if I had the time. Call it laziness, I call it indefinite hiatus. No, wait, let me rephrase that. I call it the living dead. What am I ranting about?

Life has been treating me really well. 2011 was phenomenal, despite the great setback in the ICCHSPJ back in June that led to other downfalls in my life. I had to be brave. I had to be strong. I survived.

Other than that, the level of anticipation that I used to have over my work back in April 2010 seem to die down progressively every month. I just don't have the drive and motivation to do things anymore. I'm burning out. I am a victim to my own mess, and I'd prefer a giant dose of bullsh*t any other day than to face this folly.
Without further ado, here is a series of photographs, depicting the highlights of the year 2011. The happier moments. Just a little insight on what I have been up to for the past 12 months (sometimes I just wonder why do I still care).

CHSPJ's Gerko Day

Jaclyn's 16th birthday bash

Snatching weaves with Diyana and Nathanael Hew when Willow Smith's 'Whip My Hair' came on. Chinese New Year party at Zi Xuan's.

Selangor State Sports Assembly (MSS) Squash Tournament

Post-Selangor State Sports Assembly (MSS) Squash Tournament Victory Party

Fooling around with Mun Shin at the '9th National English Debate Competition'.

Exhausted after a day of debating at the '9th National English Debate Competition'.

Performing onstage as modern dance crew The Time during the 12th Annual Interact Charity Concert, themed 'Spectrum : Colouring Outside The Lines'.

Interact Club of Catholic High School (ICCHSPJ) Student Exchange Trip to Singapore

Short sketch for ICCHSPJ's International Understanding Event, themed 'M.A.D., Ending Hunger'.

Fondue with Ashlee Lim, Tet Sean and Zi Xuan (not in photograph).

ICCPJ Supercamp.

CHSPJ Annual Sports Day

"ICCPJ Carnival : Around The World" Cha-cha performance

On set for my directorial debut for my mini-movie, "Each Day's A Gift, Not A Given Right" in conjunction with ICCHSPJ's 38th Annual Installation with the same theme.

Ying Chuan and I holding handmade polystyrene boards reading 'Tian Chee' at Cheer 2011.

2nd National Inter-High School British Parliamentary Debate Challenge 2011. Lost due to biased adjudication.

At the YAM Surprise Party.

ICCHSPJ's Pre-BOD Dinner

Fooling around with Tet Sean on set for Ashlee's media coursework photo shoot.

Kar Kei's 17th surprise birthday bash

Navini Harindran's Deepavali Open House.

Halloweiner Party. Something Gaga herself would wear. The decay of the pop personality. The many fails of the pop superstar with the over-empowering media slowly leads to his, or her death. I'm actually wearing what appears to be a Sacred Heart of Jesus. The symbolism of the crucifix is that I choose to take in the Holy, and die in my religion.

Sze Teng and I having a light moment at Greyson Chance's Kuala Lumpur showcase.

Outing with Yin Jun and Zechariah.

Backstage with Ashlee at her drama production, 'The Trial'.

Reunion with Denise Cheong.

Holiday season at Pavilion, downtown Kuala Lumpur.

Camwhoring on Orchard Road. Bumped into Yung Ming earlier that day.

G

Challenging The Feasibility Of Status Quo

It's been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. Just so you know, I've recovered from my sickness, which seemed like it took forever. I figured I'd write today because I felt like today was an unproductive day. So I guess I'll be picking up from where I left my blog, which will be the continuation of my previous entry, "One Of The Nines".

On the day after Tet Sean's 15th surprise birthday bash at Dominos, which was Wednesday, the 10th of November, it was Becca Chong's birthday. Yes, Becca, one of my very good friends.

I can't really recall what happened on that day, because it was almost a month ago, but I do recall that it was a schooling day. If I'm not mistaken, I spent the entire morning with Tet Sean, Ashlee Lim, Joohijit Kaur, and Zi Xuan, the usual.

We actually planned Becca's birthday bash for months. Planning and enquiries began quite some time ago. Knowing Becca's childish behavior, we actually wanted to celebrate her birthday in a interactive playzone, famously known as Megakidz. But things didn't work out because of the age limit. Can't be letting 15-year-olds into a 7-year-old playzone, right? They would look like humongous giants crushing ants, and the kids would probably run away, in fear. You get the idea.

So in the end, we were just happy enough to fulfill our aim, which was to throw a decent surprise birthday celebration. As we all know, there has to be a lot of detailed and serious procedures in planning a surprise party. If anything goes wrong, then you're fried. So this was ours.

Becca is told by Aileen that we all had to stay back after dismissal for debate training with our debate trainer, Ahmed, until 4 in the evening. Her other friends give her last birthday wishes and hugs, and they head for home, but instead they were actually headed for Tony Romas in MidValley to gather and settle the final preparations. The 3 of us await for our debate trainer and the other debaters to arrive, but none of them would be in sight, because there wasn't going to be any official trainings in the first place. We would wait for an hour, until Aileen is ready to disclose to Becca that the training was canceled, after receiving a phone call from Ahmed.

Since it was her birthday, we will take her to MidValley and celebrate, telling her that it would just be the 3 of us.

Plans worked our pretty fine. Becca was quite pissed after knowing that Ahmed wasn't able to make it, but her anger seemed to die down, because she didn't feel like debating on that day anyways.

We couldn't help it but to just add a "God, I hate Ahmed because he's always canceling our trainings without informing us" to kill all her suspicion of the surprise party. We took her to MidValley with the help of the bus and bumped into Yong Wailee along the way. Also, we bumped into Chia Zheng & Tat Shing and Chee Hong & Yi Wei along the way, but they refused to join us because they already had plans. So it was just the 4 of us.

Becca the birthday girl, Aileen Loo, and I, camwhoring while waiting for Ahmed's arrival.

Little did we know that the people at Tony Romas weren't quite done with their preparations yet. That's when we started to get nervous.

When we got there, we were told by Becca that she couldn't eat much for she was watching her figure. So we decided to take her down to the food court on the ground floor.

When we were nearly approaching Tony Romas, which so happened to be on the ground floor, Aileen quickly asked Becca whether she wanted to change into something more comfortable or not. She agreed. We wanted to deviate her from Tony Romas.

So we took her to the washroom on the highest floor, which was 4 floors above. We were desperate to kill time. When she came out, I told her that I had to get movie tickets for my parents, since they wanted to watch 'Hachiko' that weekend, which was 3 days later, but scrapped the idea because we told Becca that it was "getting late" to further kill her suspicion. It was 3 in the afternoon.

So we took the escalator to the level below, and told her that our feet hurt badly from all the walking. We tried to persuade her to use the elevator. We ended up waiting for the elevator for about 10 minutes, and headed to Tony Romas. There, she was surprised.

At around half past four, we decided to go for a bowl. I was leading throughout the game, until Wailee left and Audrey came along towards the end. She won.

As the day got late, everyone left. I was told by my dad that he couldn't pick me up from the mall due to the heavy rush hour traffic jam, and told me that he could only be able to make it until 7. It was 6 then.

I told him to scrap that idea and come for me later in the night. I headed for the movies.

Well, I ended up watching 'Adele : The Rise Of The Mummy' since there weren't any shows left for 'Burried' and 'Altitude' on that day, which I so badly wanted to watch. The movie was surprisingly good, even though it had illogical elements to it. They really did a great job in combining comedy with heavy adventure, especially the mummies, something which you don't normally see everyday.

The high points of that day ended there, and finally arrived home at 10.

The next morning, I played this drawing board game called the 'Pictionary' for the very first time with the usual friends. I teamed up with Joohijit on this one, and was very far behind the game, until towards the end when we finally shot up.

Our school was screening movies prior to its Form 3 students, in conjunction with the end of the major examinations.

We missed out on the first show of the day, which was 'Eclipse', something which I wanted to watch for ages but didn't had the chance to do so.

So, we only managed to catch the second show, which was 'The Cave'.

The title of the movie sounded really boring, but the movie was surprisingly wonderful, compared to 'The Last Song' and 'Aliens In The Attic' which we watched the day after.

I was seated in the same row with Joohijit, Tet Sean, Ashlee, Zi Xuan and Li Wen, and Jin Hooi with Jasmine Tan in the row in front. I would say that I was laughing throughout the time when I was in the theatre, even though it was a horror movie, not because of the movie, but because of the way Jasmine watched it.

This was her reaction when the movie was halfway through.

She was basically tilting her head sidewards, with one eye locked onto the screen, and the other, beneath the table with the rest of her body. Jin Hooi who was sitting next to her didn't give a shit because he was asleep.

The funniest part is when I tried to frighten her by laying my hands on her shoulders from behind during the gory scenes, for about 5 times. At every attempt, she would jump and scream in complete shock, and the whole theatre would send her with "Shh"s, and I would be laughing my ass off.

It was the last day for classes on the 16th of November, Tuesday, and it was also Ashlee's last day at Catholic High School. We spent our last moments with her, and sang Katy Perry's 'Firework' together in the end. Everything was perfect until fucking gay face crashed in. Big hint there.

Anyway, Ashlee, you will be missed. I will surely appreciate, and recall the times we had together, on the countless outings, Editorial Board projects and graphic designing assignments, 'The Ashlgabr' and songwriting. You will dearly be missed. Why is it that every single year, at least someone whom I'm close to leaves? Oh well, enjoy your life in Alice Smith! May the odds be with you.

On the morning of 20th of November, Saturday, I was at SMK (P) Sri Aman setting up stalls for the ICC Carnival. Yes, the one which banner I was supposed to design.

I went there even though I was sick, like I've mentioned in my previous entry, I was dying to go.

Our stall was called the 'Comp-Eat', a food eating competition, known as 'The Food Showdown'.

The preparation work involved were mad, I tell you, mad. We prepared hundreds of hotdogs, including those with mustard and wasabi paste, jellies, ice cream potongs and bananas, prior to the event.

It wasn't really of a success, for the carnival was already dead by 1 in the afternoon, but I've definitely bonded with my debate juniors, who are also Interactors of the Interact Club of Catholic High School.

Later in the night, I attended Lance's party. A party which I have been dying to go for ages.

Things really didn't turn out well when you totally don't know anyone from the party, at all. I felt really isolated and left out. Well, I tried doing what the others were doing, which was what I claimed, dirty dancing, but it was just, it was just wrong.

The others were basically fucking each other with their clothes on.

I can't do that on a stranger.

Everyone there knew each other, and I was like the odd one out. If it were my friends, or any of my friends were there, I would definitely be fifty times more comfortable.

The party ended at 3 in the morning, and I left at 10 in the evening. That was how left out I was. Hopefully the next time Lance tries another party, I'm definitely going to bring at least 10 people I know. You'll have my word for it.

2 days later, a Monday morning, I was back at school training my debate juniors, Chelsea Ho and Lydia Gan, with Kuok Ren, my teammate. We were training for the UiTM Inter Varsity Debate Tournament 2010, which ran from the 26th to the 28th of November, last Sunday. In my next blog entry, I will be writing about the experience.

We spent the entire morning discussing about issues relating about nuclear proliferators, Detroit, Aung San Suu Kyi and the Love Canal tragedy.

Later in the noon, we went over to Nicholas Choo's to celebrate his 15th birthday. The surprise started at 10 in the morning, but we could only be there at 1. The others, mainly Sue Ann, Yan Hui, Melissa Pok and Jaclyn Wong were there early to wake him up from bed.

When we got there, 'The Orphan' was playing on his DVD player.

It's about this psycho 9-year-old named Esther who gets adopted by this unfortunate family and wants to seduce the father. Turns out that she's actually a 33-year-old woman who has hypopituitarism, a condition that stunted her physical growth. After knowing that the dad doesn't love her, as a woman, not a child, she tries to kill every single member of the family, including the father.

5 stars for this thriller film. The first half was crap, but the second half of the movie sprung to life. Jaclyn insisted on keeping the spoilers to herself until the very end. Memorable lines include this one, "When grownups love each other, very, very much, they want to show each other that love. They want to express it." "I know, they fuck."

I really liked it, even though Esther was being such a bitch.

We spent the rest of the day playing Twister and meddling with his musical instruments. I wonder why Jaclyn hasn't uploaded any of the photographs shot during Twister.

Nicholas Choo's surprise birthday crash.

Last Thursday, which was the 25th of November, I attended Deanna's themed birthday bash at her family mansion, which was her second home. The theme was 'Blue & Pink', and I think I was the only few who really lived by that dress code.

Her mansion was pretty huge, with 4 levels above ground, and another 4 below. That's 8 stories. I wouldn't mind taking up an entire floor, all by myself, since no one even lives there. We spent about an hour touring every storey of the mansion. Deanna claims the reason why nobody lives there anymore is because she thinks that the place is haunted. It has been around since the 1950s. The basement looked really like a torture chamber and a slaughter house, mashed into one. The place used to be a factory. Yes, but manufacturing what? Thinking about it sends shivers down my spine. Wonder what history lurks behind that evil mansion?

I'm starting to make this all sound so wrong. Back to the celebration.

The most memorable part of the day was the water fight we had. It was like the Burmese Water Festival, but better. Everyone was drenched, except for Rachel Ng, who had a DSLR in her hands. Before I could even know it, the night went by really quick, and ended with a traditional, birthday cake slicing ceremony.

The past month of my life has begun to roar back to life. I'm just looking forward to living my holidays, as if the world would end tomorrow. Peace, part two's coming soon, badass extensions.

Deanna Song's birthday bash.

It's the end of November, but it looks like mid-April, the month of birthdays and surprises.

G

One Of The Nines

3 weeks, I tell you, flew by just like that. I'm starting to return to my busy schedule. The holidays have begun, and there are bound to be tons of gatherings, parties and plans hyped up for the next few months. It would suck if I fell sick right now, which I am. Sucks to be me.

I am down with a mild fever, I was told on Sunday evening, and was supposed to recover by Tuesday, which was 2 days ago. But the situation got worse, and I just went to the doctors again this morning. This time around, I was told that I have just developed an acute tonsillitis.

I mean, what the fuck?

My throat hurts like hell, and I have difficulty in sleeping.

All the good things, I have to miss. Was supposed to get up as early as 8 this morning and head over to SMK (P) Sri Aman to set up the booths and stalls with Sze Teng and a few other friends for the ICC Blink Carnival this Saturday. I guess I'm going to have to skip that event too, if I don't get better. Also, I am supposed to be watching Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows now with Ashlee Lim, Joohijit, Li Wen and Kaitlyn. I had to cross that out of my calender for the week too.

There's a happening party this Saturday at Lance's place. More than 30 people are expected to turn up at that party, and there will be drinks, food, alcohol, blasting club, heavy beat music, shots, and an open dance floor.

Now, that's one event I do not want to miss.

It's just too bad, that things fall at the wrong time. I'm due to recover by next Tuesday. Which also means that I'll be skipping debate training on Monday.

3 times in a row, what else can go this bad?

I shall now go on with the awesome things that happened in the past 3 weeks.

I'll start off on the day which I have left it. I am now officially the Maintenance Chief of the Editorial Board of Catholic High School. I am also a slash, Webmaster. Am I happy?

Hell yes I am. But the worst part is, I already have a list of assignments awaiting me to work on.

It can't be that bad, can it?

Oh yes, it can.

Not to forget, I am also the secretary for 2 other clubs. I'm supposed to work on a few reports during the holidays too. For the Editorial Board, we'll be launching a website, an online school magazine, which will be updated fortnightly, early next year, and works to make it a success are beginning already.

So long for my break.

We're currently working our asses off to make this project a success. Believe me, it will be phenomenal. It will feature full coverage of events, interviews, and many more. But everything is confidential. That's all I can say, for the time being. So just stay tuned to find out, 2011 is going to be massive.

On the 3rd of November, a Wednesday, I was at Pavilion KL attending the Malaysian International Fashion Week, also known as the M-IFW, 'Who's Next Designer and Model Search 2010'. For those of you who don't catch up with local fashion, the 'Who's Next Designer and Model Search' is a fashion designing reality show, somewhat like the famous 'Project Runway', and will be aired on local television in 2011. The Malaysian International Fashion Alliance, or MIFA, for short, gave them an opportunity to showcase their designs in the grand finals, during M-IFW.

I was totally shocked and amazed at the talents that the local designers have. I expected typical batik-printed outfits and long sleeved blouses, but no. Instead, every single piece that walked down the runway was world class, had a high fashion and marketing value.

Though I have been to so many fashion shows in the past, it was a great experience being at M-IFW. I was very inspired with all the designs that were shown.

No kidding, this profile picture got me 42 'likes', in a week after it was uploaded.

Later on in the evening, I rushed over to One Utama for a dinner party, organized by Suet Teng, Melannie Too, and Leandra. The dinner party, the 'After Finals Dinner', was meant for us to chill out, to get our minds of school and exams, since they were over. I made a lot of new friends, and learned a few things.

For an instance, I didn't know Shih Hei had a sister.

I didn't know I looked 19 to other people.

I didn't know Tortillas smelled like rubber.

Yes, I learnt a lot. Shawn, Oscar and I played pool afterwards and the girls went on doing what they do best. Camwhoring. We cracked a lot of sick jokes along the way, and the most memorable one is about hearts skipping a beat.

It all started when Leandra's crush, let's name him J, who was invited to the dinner, but turned down the invitation because he had something on, dropped by in the restaurant just to greet us.

You could've guessed, Leandra's heart skipped a beat. We have been using that phrase for more than a hundred times ever since J left.

Our dinner totaled up to $335. It was insane. Thank goodness we had enough cash to pay for everything, if not I think we'd be doing dishes for that night.

3 days later, a Saturday, I spent my entire morning at an orphanage in Old Town with a few other Interactors from the Interact Club of Catholic High School. I'm starting to like this board because they have tons of projects and activities lined up for us.

The trip to the orphanage? It was great, seeing the children again. Definitely, there were some familiar faces.

It was my second time there, Juara Homes. My first was back in April, 2009, hours just before the Interact Club of Bukit Bintang Boys' School had their International Understanding Day about the Maori tribes of New Zealand.

I really felt pitiful for these kids. It feels good when you give them a hug, when you wrap your arms around them, because they don't have a single parent to give them that, and all you can do is give it to them, love. I was touched at how emotionally strong they were. They seemed to happy, so enthusiastic, so full of life. I was amazed.

Oh, they don't play carom anymore. They play DotA and Plants VS Zombies. They also had Justin Bieber and Sean Kingston playing through their speakers.

They've changed, and evolved through times. For this, I am happy for them.

It was Tet Sean's birthday last Tuesday, the 9th of Novmeber, and the night before, I was thinking of what to give him the next day. I thought, "Ashlee and Joohi are sure to outdo me", so I immediately took my pencil, and do what I did best. I wrote down a long poem, more than 50 lines, of idiotic lame things that rhyme.

It wasn't my style. Normally, I would sit down for hours, and come up with philosophical and metaphorical lines to express my feelings.

But no, I didn't do that. I wanted to write something that people understood, especially Tet Sean, and would make him laugh. Well, he got me rolling on the floor laughing my ass off in tears for the past 3 years since I met him, I would be happy enough to make him smile.

I suck at making people laugh. Even a smile would satisfy me.

So I wrote this poem. Then I was thinking of what material do I write it on? Suddenly, I was thinking of the '3R' motto, about going green. Immediately, an idea sparked.

I split the poem into about 20 pieces, and wrote them on strips of used, coloured papers. I put them together with cellophane, which took me about an hour and a half, and I was done. It looked really 'ghetto', but I liked it.

The next morning, I was with Ashlee, Joohijit, Zi Xuan, Jasmine Tan and Li Wen. They all had wonderful gifts. At least 3 other people wrote him a poem.

I was doomed. Ashlee, Joohijit and Zi Xuan came up with a silly rap song, not as cheesy as mine, but they also designed 2 T-shirts for him, with T-shirt markers.

Li Wen gave Tet Sean a letter, which had a lot of flash cards inside, placed in order. It was like a birthday letter, but split up in 10 pieces, written on decorated papers.

They kept insisting that I outdid them, but I didn't think so.

After his futsal game in the morning, he come over to our table as usual. He wasn't down, and looked cheerful, even though he lost the game. We chatted for a while, and soon I handed my gift to him. Thankfully, thankfully, he laughed, and gave me a hug. I was relieved. He liked it.

Despite my warnings, he showed his mother my poem, and it contained more than 2 foul words. But his mother didn't mind. That's cool.

That wasn't all we had in store. We even had a surprise party for him!

In the morning, Tet Sean told us all that he didn't have any transportation home until 6 in the evening. So we all decided that we'd give him company until then.

That's when the act began.

Ashlee told Joohijit, in front of Tet Sean of course, that she didn't have any transportation home, and had to follow Joohijit's mother. Joohijit agreed, and took her to call her mother to ask for permission.

Unfortunately, Joohijit's mother can only come and pick them up at half past one in the afternoon, which means the both of them wouldn't be able to stay back and accompany Tet Sean.

He looked glum, that's when Joohijit said, "At least you have Gabe, Sze Teng, Jasmine and a few other people to keep you company.". He smiled.

We spent the entire morning with him. Not long, half past one came. The both of them gave hugs to Tet Sean, telling him that they'll see him tomorrow, and hoped that he had a great day.

They walked away, and the remaining 3 of us sat down with him and chatted for the next one hour. He kept insisting that he should it, because he was very hungry. We stopped him to do so, because we had to stick to our original plan.

Now, here's the plan.

Ashlee and Joohijit were supposed to play a prank on Tet Sean, telling him that they had to leave early. But actually, they were on their way to the nearest mall, across the park, to get him a birthday cake. When they were done with the cake, they had to run all the way, back to the nearby, Domino's to celebrate his birthday in the noon.

We told him that we were going to have our lunch in Domino's. He kept asking us why we wouldn't let him leave school, and wanted him to wait and kill more time, since he was already famished.

At the meantime, Jasmine has been calling Ashlee, checking whether that the cake and preparations were done, and confirming the time that they should come out. It would really suck if the both of them bumped into us while we're on our way to Domino's. So we waited.

To kill more time, Jasmine purposely ordered something from school to eat, claiming that she was too hungry. Well, obviously Tet Sean had to wait until Jasmine was done with her food.

At about half past 2, Tet Sean couldn't wait any longer. The timing was right. We took him to Domino's, and we sang him 'Happy Birthday' as soon as he set foot into the pizzeria. No words can describe the expression on his face at that time.

By then, Jin Hooi, Wei Sheung and Qi Le had joined us. We had a very good time together, and was surprised that he didn't suspect a single thing. It was a success.

Camwhore, got problem?

Yes, he wore Jasmine's pinafore later in the evening. Oh my.

Speaking of Tet Sean, his blog, famously known as 'Laughter Is The Best Drug', which ran from January 2009 to November 2010, has finally come to an end. Even though this blog had a really short life, it definitely served its purpose as an outlet to make its readers laugh.

It started off with comic strips and 'FAIL' photographs. Later on, he wrote about his amusing everyday life, which included polls on the colour of his next braces, which he doesn't wear anymore.

It was such a joy, awaiting for updates and entries, that would put smiles across people's faces.

Like what the title says, you only die once, so laugh into the face of death, because laughter is always the best drug.

More to come soon.

How long is this ignorance going to last? Is it my fault for making you people happy? Will you only care when I'm on my deathbed?

G

Justifying Bullsh*t

Hello. So maybe it's true that I hadn't kept to my word on updating more frequently. But you should be thankful and glad that I'm struggling to write, at least.

During the past week, I would say that things have been shaping up to be pretty great. There were ups and downs. But not to worry, all will be spilt.

Ever since my last entry, I have been debating for almost everyday. Memories of my old self debating kept flashing before my eyes. Even though I realised that my passion was still there, I'm just feeling very down and sick about it. Maybe it's because of all the bullshit. Maybe I need a timeout, even though I had done so for the past 3 months of my life.

What really motivated me was when my newly paired teammate, Teh Kuok Ren, and I, were awarded the best speakers for numerous times throughout the entire debate, even though we only shared a win. We seem to start communicating and connecting with each other better now, and he seems to act as a torchlight when dealing about issues with politics. He's a smart person, and I really respect him for that.

When we got our first ever win in the 'British Parliamentary (BP)' style debate, I was overjoyed.

The last time I took first in the BP style debate was when I was teamed up with Mun Shin back in July and August, deliberating on one of my strongest points, pop culture. That was the only win I had for the BP style debate. I see Aaron Leong in Kuok Ren. All he needs now is to have more structure in his speech, and he'll be perfect.

Can't wait to see the juniors next Monday. It will be the first time we'll ever meet, and first impressions are very important. Something tells me that it's all going to go fine. We're supposed to train them until after we graduate from high school. Cocky.

I heard there's one who is totally obsessed over Taylor Lautner. Yu Pyn's the name, I think. She would describe every single pack and ab that is on his body in full detail, even colour wise and the nipples. Freaky, I know right.

Last Sunday after confirmation class, I hanged out with Alicia Nicholle, Samantha Koh, Jerome Heng, Nicholas Choo and Aaron Koh at The Curve. We had a great time there, catching up with one another, after months of hiatus, minus all the drama.

I wanted to watch 3 movies really badly then, and they were 'Burried', 'Altitude', and 'Red', but I crossed the last one out of the list because I heard that the movie sucked, real badly. The girls didn't want to watch the other 2, even though I was dying to watch them, because they were too scary. Seriously?

They kept insisting on watching 'Life As We Know It', after Josh Duhamel allured their hearts with his briefs, all because of that stupid promotional poster. Chick flicks, one after another, again. As if I hadn't had enough. I'd rather watch 'You Again' though, which we ended up watching, but I didn't mind any at all.

So the girls went with 'Life As We Know It', without me knowing it. But it didn't matter to me for I didn't mind anything at all.

When we entered the theatre and settled down with the popcorn in my hand, and a drink in another, the movie was about to begin. Moments later, the screen read, 'You Again'.

So I thought, "They must've been pulling my leg," because they kept insisting that they bought tickets for 'Life As We Know It', but yes. They couldn't remember what tickets they bought.

But anyway, it was definitely one of the best chick flicks that I've ever watched, compared to the one I watched with Becca Chong and Amanda Pasaoa Lee 2 weeks ago.

Other than that, we spent most of the time in the arcade, and snapping photographs in those typical Japanese photo booths, with our own cameras, and not the ones programmed. We were low on tokens, due to too much shooting with plastic guns and air hockey.

All in all, I had loads of fun. We should do this more often.

The badass churchgoing six, Nicholas Choo, Jerome Heng, me, Samantha Koh and Aaron.

Just last Friday, as I was about to leave for home after attending a few meetings at school, Sean Beh stopped me and told me that the school's Editorial Board was running interviews for members in search of an upcoming committee, or board, for the year 2011. I was torn between commitments, but I went ahead anyway, for I was interested. I was cool throughout the entire process, which was not the usual me, because I would normally stumble over my words. Maybe it's because the people who conducted the interview were mainly my friends, like Pei She and Nicholas Lim. Even so, I had low hopes for getting anything for I was running against the more competitive, Form 4 students.

I was originally in the run for being the next Sub-Editor for the Arts & Graphics Department.

A few days later, little did I know that I was told that I got through. I was overjoyed.

I was given the lowest post, which was the Maintenance Chief. But no, I didn't mind at all. I nearly missed the boat, I know.

I'm pleased at the new committee, and would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the old committee for believing in me and my works.

I will continue to miss my seniors, especially those in the Editorial Board, and those in Interact Club, except for you-know-who. They were like a family to me, and I really appreciate all the care, attention and affection that they have shown to us all. That's all for now, adios!

You walk on streets of gold.

G

Two In A Row

I'm finally back. Back from studying. Back from the stress. Back from the pressure and the major examinations. Now what?

Expect to see more of me for the next few days. I'm bored, rotting, and have nothing to do.

Surprised to see an always busy guy like me without anything, better to do? I'll tell you why.

Months ago, before my major examinations, the school board has organized a few post-examination programs, lined up prior for the students of my age only. They had a lot of great, fun and interesting activities, such as paintball, outback, and of course, various sporting activities.

Knowing an outdoor and outgoing person like me, I was actually very tempted to join my other friends for the activities. But of everything, I put my foot down. I regretted ever since.

I reserved all of the post-examination activities, that I was offered to, just for partying, outings, gatherings, and most importantly, debate practices, thinking that I will have more fun if I did so, especially the partying scene. Actually, they were, but it really sucks that everyone is seperated on their own ways, occupied by the activities that they signed up for, and in return, leaving you behind, alone, to suck up your time, all by yourself. This isn't as fun as I thought it would be anymore.

No one turns up for debate practices anymore, either, and I feel that I am starting to lose my passion and interest for debating. Suddenly, I'm just, feeling all empty and maybe, pointless.

Yes, there are a few parties which I have been invited to, but they always seem to either clash with something more important, or happen on days when I am out of town, to unsuccessful planning.

The MESS! isn't going well either. The people involved keep delaying and pushing back the dates of the photo shoot, and when the day of the shooting comes, it is yet, again, further postponed. This has to come to end, and I see an urgency to the problem. This is my life. I have a life on my own, too, but I'm struggling, and trying so hard to keep it alive.

But not everything is on the downside. When our Mandarin paper ended last Tuesday, I told myself, I needed to go out to let it all out. Thinking that all went as planned, I was told that I will be going out with Becca Chong, Karen Chia, Chee Hong, Ying Chuan, Zong Xuan and Yee Ern.

Little did I know that the outing was misunderstood, and was thought to be canceled. Ouch, backfires. Becca was obviously, very pissed too, so the two of us went out, all alone. Just the two of us. Now you see the urgency and how desperate we were to chill out.

So we boarded a bus and headed to MidValley, thinking that we would have a decent lunch, and a movie marathon to go with it.

Minutes after we arrived, we bumped into a few of our friends, namely Jaclyn Wong, Amanda Pasaoa Lee, Yee Aung, Wei Jian, Kuok Ren and Rachel Foo.

They didn't mind us joining them for lunch and movies, so we went ahead with them.

We watched 'The Switch', starring Jennifer Anniston and Jason Bateman. It was one of those chick flicks like 'Love Happens', and it received an overwhelming response from us. Let's see what the 'overwhelming response' was.

Amanda was really touched by the movie, and moments before the movie ended, she was already in tears. Seriously, Amanda?

Yee Aung slept throughout the show, and the Becca, yes, 'the' Becca, next to me was being herself, complaining about how chick flick movies like so were boring.

After the movie, we basically just walked around the mall. We, too, bumped into a lot of people, and joined them sooner, too, or I would say, ended up, like Sarah Ngai, Dickson Tan, Deanna, Zecharaiah, Nathanael, Arvind, and Jerome. At the end of the day, without me realising it, I was having my dinner at Carl's Junior with Becca and Sarah, and headed home at 8 in the evening. I saw Sean Wong too.

It was certainly one of the better days after the exams, but it felt really long and draggy.

On the next day, I went back to school to return all my books, and settled my streaming for the year 2011. I stayed back and joined Nicholas Choo, Jerome and a few others for squash. It has been months since I last held my racquet in my hand, and it felt good as I did so.

Let's just say that at the end of the day, I was really worked out and beat. It sure reminded me of those years when I was under training and MSSS. Great old times, ain't they?

For the following few days after that, I didn't go anywhere at all, and I was starting to get really annoyed and bored. I kept asking myself, "Is this all that there is?", but the answer I get back every, single time was "Yes". So I didn't had anything to do.

Just last week, I nearly lost my green notebook, the one which meant almost everything to me in my life in 2010.

It had all my important scripts, speeches, debate information, deadlines, and a couple of songs which I have been working on for months.

My class was spot-checked twice, ransacked, just because of that 'somebody' I used to hate. Big fat hint there. That should explain almost everything.

Anyway, I wasn't in class at that time. I was out on a duty. I only managed to get back by dismissal, and by then, the class was in a mess. That was last Friday.

I didn't have peace, and had trouble sleeping throughout the entire weekend. Apparently, it was said that it was mistaken as a 'game book', but it certainly didn't look that way.

I tried extremely hard to get contacts, people, whom might be able to help get back that little green of mine, and when I got back to school on Monday, I succeeded. You can tell how relieved I was when I found that every single piece of paper and post-it notes in the notebook remained untouched, and was in place.

That was the little suspense of my week.

The most interesting part? Two nights ago, I was at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil, for Paramore's 'Brand New Eyes World Tour', since I missed Adam Lambert's 'Glam Nataion Tour' just last week, looking at it as a 'compensation'. I just realised that it was my third rock concert that I've attended this year. I rocked and screamed my heart out throughout the entire evening with Becca Chong and Chee Hong. Nevermind Panic! At The Disco, Kelly Clarkson, or Tokio Hotel, hands down, Paramore's was definitely the best rock show that I've ever been to, and I'm serious about that.

I knew almost every single song that they performed that night by heart. Everyone was up and jumping, even for the concertgoers like us who bought the tickets for the seats. Everyone stood on their seats before they could even perform their first track of the night, 'Ignorance'.

The crowd was really wild and jam packed. The front woman, Hayley Williams, kept insisting that she regretted not coming to Malaysia for a concert earlier, and having us to wait for 6, full years to come, due to the overwhelming number in the crowd.

Paramore really killed this one. They closed the night with their hit from their previous album, 'Riot!', entitled 'Misery Business'.

A combo shot of happy people after the concert.

Before the concert ended, Hayley called upon a lucky person from the crowd to go onstage and sing with her. The crowd went bonkers.

Chee Hong was jealous throughout the whole night, and Becca finally lost her virginity, but we had a rocking great time.

Currently looking forward to 'The Monster Ball Tour' to hit Malaysia, but that'll never happen, because the government will surely, not approve her skin-revealing outfits and costumes. Moreover, the stage technicals and props are not compatible to those here. But that'll never change my mindset of not minding to pay more than 300 bucks, and wait for 6 hours, just to get to the front to see her, live. That's how crazy I am for Lady GaGa.

Also next on my list, in no particular order, are 3OH!3 for 'Streets Of Gold', Ne-Yo for 'Libra Scale', Katy Perry for an independent show, Cobra Starship, and M.I.A. for 'Maya'.

If it's true, you can see it in the dark.

G

The Hots Are Hot

Seems like I have been gone for more than a month now. Expect this hiatus to come by even often, now that the students have stepped into the examination state.
I have been doing a lot of paperwork for the past few weeks, mainly model test papers and trial examination papers, until I'm down and out. No words can describe how tired and lifeless I feel right now. Have a strong feeling that I am going to start slacking, again. Happens to me every time, don't you agree?
The major examinations are just in 2 weeks' time, and I can't say that I'm fully ready for it, yet. It's sooner than I thought it was. My confidence level ain't really high either. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Onward.

G

Together, We'll Kill The Dance

Sometimes, I would just close my eyes, and let everything go.
I'll think about all the wrong turns that I have made, the ones that I'm about to make, and tell myself to not repeat them, thinking that everything will get better. Thinking that everything will be alright again. Thinking that there's still a spark of hope within me.
But at the end of the day, those are just thoughts, and the feeling of guilt won't go anywhere, the feeling that the entire world is against me. Before things could get any worse, I often tell myself to take my time, and start taking a different path, a new beginning, leaving all my troubles behind, till I'm on track.
How selfish of me.
As I shut my eyes, I feel the flames of misery, burning greedily with full of hatred and jealousy within me, wanting to let go. But sadly, I can't.
I'm held back, because there are just so many tragic turns that cannot be forgotten. Even though it is for the good of one, sometimes our conscience empowers and takes control over us, leaving behind limited choices.
All a contradiction? Think again.

Gotten back most of my results for the trial examinations, which was held nationwide last week, and believe me, they aren't really pleasing to look at. The results were pretty much the same for the rest either, often leaving them in a state of shock. Lifeless nerds.
I didn't do really well for my History, Geography and Science papers this time around, and Mandarin is definitely, not an exception too. I was actually deeply disappointed with myself.

Funny, how we strive so hard to achieve something, but in the end, not getting the way we want it in return. Well, this is reality, a world where dreams are broken and unjust, where money comes first for almost everything, and where justice is not served. You foolish heartless robots.
It's a harsh life out there, and as I close my eyes, with all these flashbacks blinding me inside, I take a deep breath, and say that I'm alright.

During the past weekend, I was at the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre, or KLPAC, at Sentul, downtown, for a play entitled, 'The Reluctant Saint'.
It was my first time at KLPAC, but I have definitely seen this place before, somewhere. When I first got there, it's as if I've been to the place before. Then I recalled, I've seen this place in my sleep, weeks ago. Call it déjà vu, it always happens to me.
Now, back to the play. What can I say? The cast really nailed this one. You could see the amount of effort they put into the show, and get an overwhelming response after that. It really hit me hard, and it sure reminded me of the days when I had the flashing lights in my face. Some great memories we have there, don't we?
'The Reluctant Saint' traces the life of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, a Roman Catholic Bishop. Told in the form of a sung-through musical, it dealt about the corruption in today's world, and the way to priesthood, to inspire others.
A highly talented bunch, this one.

KLPAC. Jags, anyone?

There are 2 main songs in my playlist this week, and they are Katy Perry's 'Firework', and Trey Songz's 'Bottoms Up', featuring Nicki Minaj.
I'll start off with Katy Perry's 'Firework'.

'Firework' will be the upcoming single off Katy Perry's third studio album, 'Teenage Dream', which was released last week, set for release in mid-October, and is definitely one of the better songs in 'Teenage Dream'. It was co-written by British artist, Taio Cruz.
It's a good pop record, and definitely is in the same league with 'California Gurls' and 'Teenage Dream', her second single after 'California Gurls', which features rapper Snoop Dogg.
The melody is undeniably catchy, but certainly far behind than those in GaGa's.

'Bottoms Up', a song performed by American recording artist, Trey Songz, which features Nicki Minaj, is the lead single of his fourth studio album, 'Passion, Pain & Pleasure'.
The lyrics and lines for the bass-heavy song are actually quite disturbing, but when I heard it for the first time, I fell in love with it, instantly.
Nicki Minaj's appearance in the song saved the cake. She played an important role in bringing the song back to light, and she killed it on this one. If you haven't checked out the song yet, I strongly suggest that you do.

Lady GaGa's 'Dance In The Dark' is the fourth and final single off her second studio album, 'The Fame Monster'. However, the song is serviced prior to Australian radio only. Whether it may be more than just a radio release in Australia is still up in the air.
Originally, 'Dance In The Dark' was planned to follow the previous single, 'Telephone', which features Beyoncé, as a preference of GaGa's record label. GaGa had chosen 'Alejandro' to be the third single on her own without consulting the label. An argument then arose between GaGa and her label where 'Alejandro' was ultimately chosen to be released.
The song was inspired by the intimate experience between two people alone in a bedroom. According to GaGa, the record is about a girl who likes to have sex with the lights off because she is embarrassed about her body. All about low self confidence, it represents her 'Fear of Self Monster'.
A brilliant song, this one. Totally love the heavy synth beats.
Could say that it's one of the most meaningful songs I've ever heard of.

Should I watch this one too? Darn you, majors.

"Care for a lunch date?"

"I know it's without the 'lunch'! You're using the word 'lunch' in front of the word 'date' as a smokescreen!"

G

The Empty Glass

Not expecting me? Seems like I have been away for quite some time now. Hiatus much?
I have been very busy lately. I seem to say that everytime. I had a few entries scheduled for release last week, but they all didn't seem to work out. There are just so many things to write about, but I do not know where to begin.

I'll start off with the first thing. First things first, right?
I have been nominated and elected with posts in various clubs and societies in our school, mainly being the secretaries. I had to rush with my reports and minutes to meet my deadlines. I was racing against time, and always am. That should explain why I have been away all this while.
But that's not entirely true, and with that, I'm going to move on to my next point. Wow, I'm starting to sound like a typical debater. Onwards.

Trials. Yes, you got that word. We're all having our trial examinations this week to prepare us for the PMR examinations in the early October, and I have been reading up and studying my ass off for this, because it holds my future, sort of. It's like a key, well, partially, to two doors. One leading to the future, successes and life, the other leading to the end of time.
So currently, I'm giving my one and only shot to pick the right key to open the trapdoors, before time runs out and I'll be crushed forever, which also means that my fate hangs just by a thread.
Seems like I'm over exaggerating again, but you get the point.

I can't wait for my major examinations to end. It seems so far away, but one day, I know that I'll be able to conquer and get over it, real soon. By then, I'll be partying my heart out, all through the nights.
It has been ages since I last went all out with my peers. Well, it's coming alright, it's coming!

There are 6 main songs in my music playlist this week, and they are 'So Happy I Could Die' by none other than Lady GaGa, 'Champagne Life' by Ne-Yo, Ashlee Lim's 'Six Strings', Sean Kingston's 'Letting Go (Dutty Love)', featuring Nicki Minaj, M.I.A.'s 'XXXO', featuring rapper Jay-Z off her new studio album, Maya, and Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream', great ol' tracks.
But in this entry, I'm only going to talk about a few of them.

I'll start off with Ne-Yo. Well, generally Ne-Yo's the man. He's a man filled with class and attitude. He came to town somewhere in January. He is bound to release fourth studio album this fall, titled 'Libra Scale'. It deals with the choice, and darker side of fame, power and money.
Now, what I discovered was, it had the same meaning and concept as Lady GaGa's 'The Fame Monster', which was released last fall. A coincidence? Read on.

In one of my entries last year, I mentioned that the album expressed GaGa's fears in a metaphors of 'monsters'. In fact, she has a track from that album with the title of 'Monster', a #1 hit for 4 consecutive months in the 'Charting At 100'.
Ne-Yo on the other hand, has a track titled 'Beautiful Monster', which was released a few months ago, as the debut single off his upcoming album 'Libra Scale'. The lyrics for 'Beautiful Monster' and very similar to those in 'Monster'. Coincidence much? There's more.

'The Fame Monster' also has a track titled, 'So Happy I Could Die', which dealt about GaGa's fears of alcohol and addiction, a #1 hit this week in the 'Charting At 100'.
But 'coincidentally', Ne-Yo released his second single from his upcoming album in late July, titled 'Champagne Life'. Both the meanings and the concepts for the songs relate deeply with one another, describing about the lines drawn between dreams and reality.
The main question here today, is Ne-Yo trying to steal ideas from Lady GaGa now? We have no clue, but I've pointed a big one there. Guess we'll just have to wait until 'Libra Scale' is officially released.

On the other hand, my great friend, Ashlee Lim, recorded a track with her producer recently, titled 'Six Strings'. It was intentionally written for her friend, who is currently settling in New Zealand, prior for her fifteenth birthday.
It's a great pop record, I must say. I loved the lyrics and the musical composition.
I played the song over dinner the other day, and it has generated mainly mixed to positive reviews.
I'm happy for you, Ashlee. You should consider recording more tracks and releasing them as mainstream singles. I can see #1 hits in those tracks. You get my vote!

Recently, I was inspired to start working on my tenth song, yes, finally. But I will spill the themes and details about it, bit by bit. I want to keep the anticipation coming. But it's scheduled for release until after my majors. Expect more to come then.
But for now, it's best to focus and concentrate on my studies.
Going to sit for Mandarin and Maths papers tomorrow. Wish me luck, and adios.

Tat Shing? Look again.

I won't hesitate to woohoo if you letting go, your love, you dutty, dutty love, 2012.

G

One Of The Aggressions

Miss me? Seems like I haven't been posting much since July. That's because I have been very busy throughout the past month. I had an entry scheduled for last week, but I just didn't had the time to publish it.
So here I am now. Let's get things started in here, shall we?

Just last week, I took part in my second debating competition for the year, which was the '1st National Inter-High School British Parliamentary Debate Challenge 2010'. There were 80 teams that took part in this competition. It was definitely better than the previous one I've been too, which was the 'International Committee of The Red Cross (ICRC) Humanitarian Law Debate' in June.
I was paired up with my classmate, Mun Shin, throughout the entire journey. It was her debut season in the debating scene, but it was our first time debating in a 'British Parliamentary' (BP) style debate. One word, exhilarating.

Even though most of the motions that we were given were all pretty easy to understand, it was the knowledge on the matters that were the main problems.

On the first round, we went up against St. George's of Taiping, and the teams from Sri Gardens, with the motion of 'This House Believes That UPSR & PMR Examinations Should Be Abolished'. We took second in that deliberation. Actually, we were tied with the top seed, St. George's, who was a finalist of the competition. We were placed second because we failed to give more response towards the Closing Government. We were the Closing Opposition. According to the adjudicators, we kept hammering the Opening Government's case and lacked attention towards the closing bench.

On our next round, we weren't that lucky either, for we took the third placing, with the motion of 'This House Believes That Prisoners On Death Row Should Be Allowed To Choose Any Matter, Way, Manner Or Mode For Them To Die'. We were the Opening Opposition. The adjudicators had a tough time, deciding who should deserve the top spot. We were quite close, but yet so far away.

On our third round, the odds were totally against us. The motion given was 'This House Believes That Turkey Should Sever All Ties With Israel'. Guess which side were we on? The Opening Government, our weakest point! We lacked knowledge on the topic, and we got the last spot, the fourth placing. It was quite rough, and we were demotivated.
But on the fourth round, it was an entirely different story. We took the first placing, for the first time, with the motion of 'This House Believes That Parents Should Be Allowed To Manage The Careers Of Their Child Stars'. It was our first win together, as a team, and we were really proud of ourselves. When we got to know the motion when it was first released, I screamed and jumped for joy, because it had to do with the pop. Well, what can you expect? Pop is my house, and I dominated it.

I love them mad fools.

On the final preliminary round, we dropped for we didn't do that well. The motion given was 'This House Believes That Malaysia Should Ban Party Hopping'. We took third, and in the end, we failed to break into the top 24.
We were ranked number 46, with a total score of 7, and speaker points of 689. Strange, the team from Damansara Jaya which was ranked 25th had the same amount of speaker points as us. Well I guess that's too bad.
Sean Beh and Aaron Leong broke 8th, whereas Aileen Loo and Becca Chong broke at number 11. They were supposed to be ranked at number 43 at first, but then they were misplaced, and somehow made it to the top 12. Surprisingly, their team made it into the semi-finals, whereas Sean and Aaron's team couldn't even bypass the quarters. Even so, I felt really happy for them all.

Although we didn't do that well this time around, we will never give up and will try to rule the charts next year. Together, we will push boundaries and soar, like no other.

Mun Shin and I, preparing for Round 3.

All of us.

Tweeting me like Tweety Bird on your iPhone.

G