My Wonderful College BLOCKED the Internet

With the inevitable oncoming wave of globalisation where
the world becomes borderless through Tim Berners-Lee's invention
some extremely wise people have blocked such access without notification.
What a coincidence that all senior houses have no access to Internet!
And this is a time where uni applications come flooding in.
OUR FUTURE IS AT STAKE MY DEAR COLLEGE!

Probably they are making way for english oral exam
which has to fully utilise the wonderful broadband in Malaysia.

Man, it's scary to hear a voice from Australia that conducts my oral test.
Worst still they can see my panicked facial expression while I CANNOT see theirs
What if the wonderful broadband connection distorts my speech?
Deleted my important, marks-scoring points?
Tomorrow is the day 9.20 ante meridiem...
Pray people, for I'm talking to a computer alone in a room.
I'm going to go nuts!
Heard that the voice is fond of saying "Thank You! NEXT!"
aka cut off your conversation when the relevant points are coming in.
What a courteous machine!

Oh yeah, no internet means I won't be posting on my blog any sooner.
All the holidays photos are dying to come out of my hard drive!
Pray that such WISE measures will be taken back.

And I'm super EXCITED for mooncake festival this Saturday!
We can burn CK's house!!!

Cameron Highlands Day 1

When I think about Cameron Highlands
It would be flowers, cool air, mountains, tea, pitcher plants
and RESIDENTIAL BIBLE SCHOOL!
(What a great thing to have RBS reunion last Saturday and today stay in HCC!)
BUT NEVER EVER I THINK OF STRAWBERRIES!!!

Anyway, this time we took another way up to Cameron Highlands.
A shorter way from Benta via Sg Koyan. (it's okay if you don't know this=)
There are currently four routes up to the Camerons.
One which many know is the nostalgically winding nauseating Tapah way.
Some who studied geography more would know the Simpang Pulai way which goes down to Ipoh.
Another one is the Gua Musang way.

The latest to the addition is the Sg Koyan way
made to help Pahang people to get fresher agricultural products
instead of bypassing other states like Perak and Selangor
but directly from Pahang aka Cameron Highlands!
(I'm a proud Pahangite!)
It hasn't really been opened yet, we thought it was.
We were warned of some stretches of road untarred...

And the whole journey does seem peaceful and tranquil.
There are huge tualang trees with big visible wild honey combs
and some baobab-looking trees as if we were in Africa.
Dotted along the way was Pos Betau and some other Orang Asli villages.
There was beautiful morning mist and the zephyr was cooling!

Mana tau reach one stretch there was a guard there saying we can't drive further
after driving about 1 hour plus.
That timid young man said we need a pass from Sg Koyan police station.
Previously we did went to that police station to confirm which was the road to Camerons.
But that policeman said the road is open and ditto.
WHAT PASS?
Now it really feels like a refugee being blocked from fleeing!
Especially when I've just visited some Myanmar Refugee School on Saturday!

The young man said he can let us through
but if anything happens and his supervisors find out
his menial salary will be cut.
So dad "paid" him RM 10 and both cars were allowed to enter.
(My uncle and aunt tagged along too)
Paying highway toll lah we consider it.
Moral dilemma? To bribe or go back to Sg Koyan get pass?
Lord, if we sinned forgive us!

That stretch of uncompleted road was treacherous!
Any moment our car can slide down into the ravines or river.
Just one wrong steer of the wheels, we're dead.
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Thank God that day was raya and it wasn't from 12-5PM
where the blasting of granite is carried out (this is a rock, geography experts! not grenade).
With much praying, we safely got through in one piece
and saw the signs of civilisation!
Bertam Valley vegetable farms!
Cauliflower (white, green and PURPLE!)
Onions, gao choi, kam jing fa, yuen choi (the sweet soup vege)
tomatoes, peppermint and all kinds of other choi (vege)
This is Mr D's canteen!

We went to a bee farm. Nothing interesting.
Overly commercialized tourism and throat-slitting prices.

AND THANK YOU SO MUCH TO PEOPLE WHO FAIL GEOGRAPHY
AND THINKS THAT CAMERON HIGHLANDS
IS ALL ABOUT STRAWBERRIES!!!!
The first thing we see when we enter Tanah Rata is strawberries.
Loads and loads of them.
Be it pillows, magnets, fresh and dried sickening strawberries, jam and even CALCULATORS!!!
Rows and rows of shops invaded by strawberries.
It's like there's a strawberry monster who casted a spell on all Camerons!
Ish, strawberries!

Anyway, we visited my dad's former employer.
My dad before his college years went to Camerons to work.
He did those butterflies and insect frames.
Like those Form 6 biology students stuff.
WHAT A COOL JOB!
Working at shopping malls or
McD or Giant or wherever is never going to be that fun.

My dad's employer was a really wonderful man.
All his three children were educated and are working overseas.
That above 70 years old man knows how to use Photoshop
and the webcam he uses is HD!
My dad and he have very good boss-employee relationship.
Coz my dad was a very hardworking worker.
And I want to be like him.
Dad brought some freshly dropped Kunyit Durians for his boss.
That old man was very happy and even took photographs to keep it in memory.
(Apparently next day, he was liked the durian so much
that he felt guilty not able to treat us dinner that night
and kept asking us to join him for dim sum breakfast next day!)

His wife was very hospitable and serve us red wine and hot milo!
All of my three siblings tasted some red wine.
Not really nice but we smiled. I personally find SAGC's wine better.
(Yeah, Christians have this "sacrament" called drinking the cup,
something Jesus asked Christians to do to remember Him.
And a little bit of wine is healthy.
So I drink a few mL of wine every Sunday to remember what Jesus did on the cross.
Don't get me wrong, Christians are not encouraging excessive drinking!)

Then, about 3PM we checked into HCC.
I saw Kak Tutip and Aunty Kam Fong
Two wonderful people who cooked food for the whole bunch RBS students like me.
HCC now is so nostalgic.
Too bad I didn't get to meet Isaac Tan.

Evening time, we went to Brinchang's night market.
And you know what, it's the CURSE OF STRAWBERRIES again!
EVERYWHERE is flooded with that detestable fruit.
Now I have thoughts it's the fruit that Eve and Adam ate!

All the stalls were selling dried strawberries mixed with honey.
Cameron's must have an oversupply of strawberries!
It's crazy! And as an economics student, I'm going to be rational.
Since it's a perfect competition market, it does no harm comparing prices.
All of them are same packaging and with some "tawar-menawar", one can get a good deal!

Calvin's guide to buy dried strawberries in Camerons:
[1] Don't buy it at tourist attraction centres which have no competitors. Competition keep prices low.
[2] Don't buy stalls that are at the front of the market. Normally they use their location to get you buy at a higher price. You'll regret very much as you continue to walk down the market and see prices lowering down as well. Don't get unnecessary depression and heartache!
[3] At my time the minimum price I checked was 1 kg of dried strawberries for RM20 and get a free packet of 100g dried strawberries.
[4] How to choose good dried strawberries? Choose the ones that are wet ones, it means they are just marinated with honey. They can be kept longer. The dry dry ones are in stock for a long time already.
[5] How to store strawberries? You can keep them at room temperature. (Some say can refrigerate but others say cannot, so dried strawberries: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK TO THE REFRIGERATOR!)

Word of caution: My dad's employer said that many of these dried strawberries are from China, not Camerons. To meet those strawberry demands, firms imported those dried things from China. The night market people will not tell you it's from China, but the packet never says the strawberries are produced in Camerons, only packed in Camerons. And you know China stuff like melamine, it might not be good for health. There's this SODIUM BENZOATE preservative in all the dried strawberries! If you tasted that the dried strawberry is bitter, then best not eat it. It might contain too much preservative.

Again, let's not stereotype all "Made in China" products. All things should be consumed in moderation. Many things you eat has sodium benzoate. So don't consider the strawberries (dried ones) I bought for my friends to eat as propaganda to kill all my beloved friends brain cells so they die in TEE. I simply couldn't find better stuff in Camerons. (There is no reverse psychology here okay, I'm going to dump them if no one eats. As proof, I'll eat it too! Die together and live together as friends.) AIYAH, IT'S SAFE TO EAT ONE LAR=P

Dad's Hometown

Well for people for think Kuantan is in Kelantan or Terengganu or Sarawak
They will have no idea where Benta is. It's near KL - Kuala Lipis!
And the state is Pahang. I REPEAT! PAHANG!
Learn some geography people. Pahang is not that ULU!
Coz I'm not! ;=)

So in this rustic little kampung called Benta,
I was first exposed to kampung life.
I bathe in rivers,
saw bamboo sticks more huge and tall than me
(which I one day aspire to be=)
ate lots of fruits
rambutan, duku, jambu, nangka, chempedak
and DURIAN!!!!

This time around the only durian tree in my grandma's house fuited!
It was RAYA KUNYIT or 毛山王 (my uncles said 猫山王 is wrong!)
It's the PERFECT DURIAN!
Said to be originated from a special durian tree Gua Musang (this one is in Kelantan!)
This durian has lots of flesh and small seeds and GOLDEN YELLOW!
Rarely you'll even find a SANG FAN SHU (a spoilt durian)!
And there was a whole bunch of it still waiting on the tree.
Each day, about three durians fall down for my extended family's consumption.

Coupled to that there the Orang Asli King durian aka barbaric people king durian.
And it tasted great! Another PERFECT durian!
They are as great as Orang Asli, I simply love them.
And they are far from barbaric as proven by the durian!

Indeed a great day to feast with durians and my family members!

IKEA Day

Some people just like going to IKEA! aka the many parents on earth.
Well, me too! (a sign of becoming a parent? hehe=p)
It's one of those stalls where I see a whole family enjoying themselvves.
No crying babies, absolute consumer-friendly!

So today, my parents after releasing me from the Torturing Student House
We went IKEA which was just nearby
and the only place in KL my dad will go by his own car.
My aunts joined along too.

As usual, they bought tonnes of stuff from IKEA
Chairs, racks, that spice container, lights and all the paraphernalia.
I got myself a laptop pillow too!
Now there's a table for my laptop wherever I go!

First day of true holiday!

Blog Resting For A Week

I'll be away in Camerons and my dad's hometown for a few days
where there is no Internet connection!
And yes, I can live without internet connection! =p

So, I won't be able to post anything much
till next Thursday when I'll be back in Kuantan.
There'll be so much to post by then.

Strawberries in Camerons
(wonder why everyone relates strawberries to camerons,
guess all failed geography=p)

Chopping off the lallang growing on my head
at a very cheap cost at dad's hometown.
I was seriously not trying to keep long hair.
I hate it. Just that I can't bear the cost of cutting in KL.

And RBS reunion. the most meaningful hitherto.
A real time of catching up and reliving the memories.
A lot of jokes.
But everyone need lots of prayer!

okay, that's it!
No Internet equals more bonding with family.

Enjoy this raya holiday people!
and SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI to all my Muslim friends!!!

Woohoo! I'm finally going back! Away from the torturous college life!

Porcupine Buns

Disclaimer: This is not a desperate attempt to make my blog cute=)

Remember the porcupine buns I mentioned in the yesterday's post?

HERE THEY ARE IN ALL THEIR CUTENESS!!!

They are

WARM and CUDDLY!

Come porcupine, mum mum!

Awwwww...

I'M GONNA EAT YOU!!!

(It reminds of my hamsters Kilo and Cal=)

The porcupine on the right looks like Sarah, all sulked up =p. Then the middle one is yours truly, trying to be nice little boy. The one on the right is Nicky the weirdo who poked his sesame eyes out XD

Together we STAND

and conquer the world!

Munch Munch MUNCH!!!

In the end eaten also=p

Porcupines playing

STACKS ON!!!

aka Rumble, a rough guys' game.

The porcupines little white stomachs sure hurts with the spikes=)

Thanks for viewing!

It's a nice holiday and I'm going out for VIBE later.

Very Interesting Big Event. I'm sure=)

Great Depression Day THE END!

With Keynesian Economics,
the Great Depression days are over!
(at least for the Arts and Architecture students=p)
Engineering people all the best in Calculus!

The end of mock exams called for a CELEBRATION.
I ate with Leong, Poh Hui, Jinn Jyh, Woei Song,
Nicholas, KCV, Ah Beng in Shogun Japanese Buffet.
About RM32.50 but worth it for the time spent together.
Ate until dinner also no need to eat.
Still can feel the unagi in my stomach!
I love the porcupine style kaya pau.
Shall post the pics once I get it from Nic.
IT'S SO KAWAII!!!

For your enjoyment here are some interesting stuff
I found on Facebook during mock exam:

Ivan Ho: Le Chatelier says "When an equilibrium is disturbed, it tends to work to oppose it"... That is why you work freakin hard but still fail Chemistry!!! Le Chatelier, you are a genius!!! SCREW IT!!!! SCREW CHEMISTRY! its just the same as ur chem teacher, how much you try to work hard to get higher grade, ur teacher will set freakin hard questions to lower ur grades...

Athira: ECONS goreng..rangup lagi sedap

Jinn Jyh: Happy Last Paper Eve! (for those who takes econs, for those who take calculus, happy last paper eve eve!)

Hui Chin: horrible answers....sending men to Mars is worthwhile?? Yes, there is sexy alien. No, there is no beautiful girls on Mars...boring out there. I WANT TO FAINT DOWN!!
(My physics teacher marking exam papers)

This is laughable, but not my mock exam performance. I totally screw up Chemistry and the definition of screw up is NOT losing some marks from the perfect score but one that might be getting about 50% only. I spent a whole week studying Chemistry and it ended up like that, but I guess it'll benefit me anyway. I love Chemistry but was never my strong subject. No chemistry with it eh?

Then comes Physics with Ms Say who changed two mock questions to lower down everyone's mean. Well, she's extremely successful with it=p Ginger for the first time was panicked A BIT. I was like DEAD. Physics was like my second best subject and my dad's a Physics teacher? Hello? I blank so many questions that I doubt I can get an A for it. Plus it's 40% of internal marks. I just screw up in the most important test. Now people can see my physics is not that great, which I knew all along. There's no such thing as Physics gene!!! I emphasize.

Applicable Maths was fun, managed to do quite a lot question though with blanks. Everyone complained how tricky it was, but probably I didn't know I was tricked. Sometimes, ignorance is BLISS=p Then economics, wasn't so good, although I score like very high always, but this is mock exam. I don't expect great marks.

Okay, nobody would want to read my report of how I flunked my exams. WHO CARES? It's Calvin's exam. However, I just want to thank those who prayed for me and to Leong who through his presence and chatter indirectly encouraged me to not give up. Ei, seriously I was wondering what if I can't fly and thought of giving up studies and work. If I can't fly, I will not repeat Form 6. No more studies and information overload!

All said and done, I was glad that I was calm in the exam hall and was not too depressed. God's peace is something I treasure very much and know that I didn't hallucinate it. God sent me friends at times when I felt the down-est. So all praise back to God. I'm leaving the results to Him! Fail then fail lar, fly then fly lar.

P.S. Thinking again, flying and becoming an architect is way too taxing. Study like crazy doing CAD and then come out work like crazy till no life. I'm so not prepared for this, though becoming an architect is my dream. I want my dream to be reloaded=)

Great Depression Day 3

Today I feel very happy=)
TOTALLY NOT DEPRESSING...
Don't know how to do some Applicable Mathematics question
did not make me feel guilty at all.
I even decided to celebrate with McD Sundae Cone=)
I gave my best and managed to do a lot questions.
In fact, I felt it was the easiest paper thus far
and I gave up practicing for it yesterday.
But the marks probably will tell otherwise.

Perhaps another reason I feel happy was
that I'm going to come out of Great Depression soon!
(I purposely typed this to make the Engineering people jealous=p)
T.G.I Friday=)

For now, I just gotta read my Economics
and prepare to die tomorrow.
Thanks Chan, Tony and Jun Kai!
Long time didn't talk with you all.
Miss the times when we five go out together.
After mock sure must have one outing okay?

Great Depression Day 2

It was a great day of joy for Ms Say
who managed to lower the mean of everyone's scores
to meet the needs of the Curriculum Council of mean 65.
And another great day of depression for Calvin
who blanked one full question
with a lot more blanks on other subparts.
No more tall tall marks.
Screw up on the most weighted assessment for Physics.

Today proves that there's no such thing as Physics genes.

Now, I'm preparing to die for two more days...

Great Depression Day 1

The days of MOCK-ing and great depression has finally arrived...
Totally screwed up on Chemistry,
strange thing was that I didn't panic.
Finish everything although knowing many questions wrong
after sitting with three EXTREMELY INTELLIGENT people for lunch.
Find it rather amusing and fun to hear that I did wrongly for this and that.

(Probably, I'm nuts already by now=P)

Great Depression shall only last for four days
and the we CELEBRATE!!!
Keynesian economics will bring us daylight.
Hope so with Economics on the last day...

Physics is tomorrow and I have one night to read it all.
Will miracle happen again like mid-year?
Study one night scored highest in AUSMAT...

Hash Browns with A LITTLE Dog Poo...

DEFINITELY
I would NOT eat that!
I would rather eat a whole bitter gourd fresh with garlic and onions as condiments...
(it's healthy you know!=p)



Thinking again,
I have probably eaten a lot of hash browns with dog poo,
sometimes it is with A LOT of dog poo.

Okay, this post is not an exposé
on the production of hash browns.
IT IS A REAL STORY=)

There were two teenager girls who begged their dad
to watch a movie with their friends.
"IT'S TOTALLY AWESOME," they said
"AND WE JUST GOT TO WATCH IT!
PLEASEeeeeee!"

The dad replied,
"Wait for 30 minutes to get a permission!"

Dad then went into the kitchen and busied himself.
After 30 minutes of desperate anticipation,
Dad came out of the kitchen and something smelled really delicious....

"Okay, children, you know that movie you wanted to watch
has some bad stuff in it..."
Immediately, the teenagers reassuringly replied,
"We two are big enough to handle those stuff,"
and saying with a twinkle in the eye,
"Dad, you taught us the good values, we'll keep it.
Don't WORRY!"

"Okay fine, I understand."
Then, the BUT came in,
"Well, you can go for the movie on one condition.
You have to finish these hash browns."

The girls were overjoyed.
That's like the easiest way of getting a permission!

Just then, before their joy were complete, Dad added,
"But I added some dog poo into the hash brown.
No worries though,
it's so LITTLE 
than you won't even taste it!"

The strange thing is this:
I would be so disgusted by
Hash Browns with A LITTLE Dog Poo...

yet I was so willingly eating movie hash browns
with occasional dog poo of profanity, nudity and vulgarity.

Movies nowadays are so commercialised,
willing to keep on pushing the borders of decency,
making sensations out of these things.

Movies that are supposed to be about cool robotics

tried to be more appealing to the humorous crowd

added jokes like "We are under enemy's scrotum".

In addition to that, focused much of the camera on the

Fox-y sexy body which wouldn't add any incentive for Transformers.

We are like supposed to be more "open" 

by watching some japanese story(ies)

to understand multiculturalism and clash of cultures

via sex scenes under the scorching Pilbara desert sun.

Taught to be more open,

I was like to suppose to watch the underlying nuances of meaning

in sex scenes where the female character wears the male's pants

during the international course?

Produce that during your English exam as well, thank you.

Aroused by curiosity towards

the award-nominated movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,

I watched it thinking it'll be a really good movie of exploring human aging.

FINALLY A GOOD FILM!

Oh, how I regretted watching it!

Okay, at first a visit to the brothel when he's a "teenager".

No big deal. Plus it's a funny sex scene!

Then, affairs with an married woman...

Okay, maybe it's about the issues of 

husbands neglecting wives' sexual and emotional needs?

Then, it turned into a continuous carefree life 

of wonderful, unadulterated sex with a childhood lover 

in the "youth" of their days.

I was hooked all the way through the movie,

refusing to off the laptop.

It was a terrible day when I realised 

Brad was in the Pit of sex.

He even said it, 

"I'm just your sex player."

Yes, there are stuff to learn from Mr Button,

but all I remembered was the sex scenes,

CARBON BURNT onto my brain, indelible.

Just like "I'm under enemy's scrotum"...

totally can't recall the cool robot fights.

Even if there are good lessons to be learnt,

sifting through all the bad chaff,

the bad far outweighs the good stuff.

It's hash browns with  A LITTLE Dog Poo...

All I wanted from movies is good entertainment

and if possibly good messages that benefit my life.

Moviemakers make movies that we demand.

We demanded new stuff, new sensations,

so they sensationalise all this stuff.

Today, I make a stand to demand for good movies.

I want good stuff like Wall-E.

I want robots and not Fox-es or scrotums.

I've eaten enough dog poo

and I believe I can learn good messages

like multiculturalism, sex, human rights

without the dog poo.

I DEMAND FOR GOOD MOVIES

Would you?

Or you won't mind eating

Hash Browns with A LITTLE Dog Poo?

And now, dear brother and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honourable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 

Philippians 4:8

The Not-So-Complicated Giraffe Test

Found this mail from Mun Foong early this morning

and found it to be a greater "motivation" to study more=p

Try yourself and you'll know what I mean...

[Highlight the space instructed to know the answer]

Question 1 
How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Highlight ...[ The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way. ]...Here

Question 2 
How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Highlight...[ Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?

Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions. ]...Here

Question 3 
The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attended ..... EXCEPT one. Which animal does not attend?

Highlight...[ Correct Answer : The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there.  This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities. ]...Here

Question 4 
There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

[Highlight... Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes. ...Here]

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the Professionals they tested got all questions wrong, but many preschoolers got several correct answers.  They say this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals do not have the brains of a 4-year-old.

(No idea this is true or not, but it's one annoying test for sure... The giraffe aka me the panjang feels so stupid taking this test...)

And talking about using your brains how about this story for a change? 

(It's time to give your poor brain a rest, don't you think so?) 

An old man lived in Idaho. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who used to help him was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament. 

Dear Son, 

I'm feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I am just getting too old to be digging up the garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me. 

Love Dad 

A few days later, he received a letter from his son. 

Dear Dad, 

For heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up that garden, 

that's where I buried the BODIES. 

Love Son

At 4 a.m. the next morning, F.B.I. agents and local police showed up and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son. 

Dear Dad, 

Go ahead and plant the potatoes now. 

That's the best I could do under the circumstances. 

Love Son

And the moral of the story is to make full use of your brain to work smarter not harder! 

Anti-Social...

I can't believe that today
I did not even step out into my house's living room where the TV is!
Man, I'm too anti-social!
However, that didn't make me more studious today.
I slept and slept after reading a subtopic of Chemistry.
The more I study the more I eat too
The bread are diminishing at an amazing rate!

Le Chatelier-Calvin's Principle:
The higher the external pressure,
the number of food molecules and ions increase in Calvin's stomach!

Okay more Chemistry now...
No, try going out to the porch and have some fresh air
and get my milk from next door!

Five Things I Love About Facebook

It's so funny that Facebook had somehow been

the THING in my life for these few months.

I created a Facebook-style prayer board in church

CYD now has a Facebook account

My brother has a Facebook account

Now my sister has a Facebook account

Even EALD listening test talks about FACEBOOK!!!

I wonder when's my dad gonna sign up for Facebook...

Beware ye folks in SABS...
Discipline teacher stalking you all...wakakaka

I facebook practically every day, at least once.

I'm totally not surprised that

it's currently the third most visited site in the world

just after two major search engines Google and Yahoo!

Despite that video of 25 Things I Hate About Facebook

I guess many people still love Facebook

So here's my list of

Five Things I Love About Facebook

[1] I like the 'Like' button.

It makes people happy but need you not to comment, or when there's just simply no words better to describe. Simply 'Like' it! I'm glad there's no 'hate' button. Samuel once complained that people 'like' even their not so likable moments such as 'fell down into the drain', but it's just a teaser. No one would 'like' if the status update is 'My son is kidnapped'.

[2] The Live Stream aka Twitter-like feature.

When it came out, many people hated it. Now most of us find it fun and you get to know what your friends are doing without the need to go their forever un-updated blogs. Then there are those funny comments, interesting quotes and quizzes. For people like me who don't read news and a total Youtube noob, it's my source of knowing interesting things. People share knowledge there. Very often it serves as refreshment of the soul after information fatigue syndrome with many people posting complaints about studies. It's a better form of taking a break than KitKat, plus it's free!

[3] The Photo Tags and Comments

There are a lot of interesting photos on Facebook like my Standard Six class photo which I don't have and cute pictures of people when they're 'young' as profile pictures. And it's way easier to upload compared to blogger. Photos nowadays are way much more interactive in Facebook, most notably the most controversial photo of the year of comparing the similarities of Ginger and Siow Fern with 70 and counting comments. It might be irritating for some, but just untag yourself.

[4] The Birthday Reminders and other reminders

Now I have better 'memory' on people's birthday and gifts and greetings are free! Plus you get to know the birthdays of those friends you had a heart chat before but never got to know their birthdays until Facebook appears. Facebook does spam the inbox a lot, but at least each of those spam are at least some comments on your status updates not some spam selling viagra or trying to install viruses. For me, I don't mine cleaning up the Facebook mails. And yeah, I'm an attention deficit guy who welcomes any form of attention... Facebook cured me of ADD=p

[5] Of course, you get to connect with friends!

This is arguably the best reason why I ever go Facebook. Gone are the days when you hear about your friends in like two, three or ten years and know nothing how they spend their lives in overseas. Yeah, people argue that with Facebook there's less real life interaction, but many people simply use it as a means to enhance their real life relationships. One saves time to go over the unimportant "keeping up to date" details in their reunions and can discuss more meaningful stuff. You get to know big events in their life and can congratulate or offer condolences at real times rather than a belated one which has less impact.

So, Facebook is not that bad after all. It might be addictive, it might pry on your privacy, but it all really depends on how you use it for the good of others and yourself.

Going Home

"It was a happy day, till I saw this video..." quoted from [The Great Wall of Text]

Ok, the title "Going Home" is not about Calvin the desperado

delving in escapism of EALD Mock Exam tomorrow

running his way back to Kuantan.

As Blurrie said, it was a happy day.

Calvin was really studying "disciplinely" for Chemistry...

Then time out, and he so happened to stumble across on his [Blogroll]

THE GREAT WALL OF TEXT.

There was this video with a familiar aunty's face.

So I press load and play.

It still takes quite some time to load.

And strangely he had the idea of watching movies.

He deleted many movies in his external hard drive

because many of those Hollywood movies

made him want to gouge his eyes out.

Then there seem to be this strange undeleted teen movie.

So he decided to "succumb into temptation" again...

He prays hard it won't be a teenage romance movie

with hints of premarital sex or passionate kissing.

It was CAMP ROCK.

It turned out to be a nice one

although there were the cliched "High School Musical" stuff

dancing and singing out of nowhere.

He loved the theme of being yourself, albeit cliched

Cliched but still forgotten by many.

Ok, happy movie over.

Time to watch the loaded short film.

So here it is.

The main thing of this post.

It made me think.

I hope it made you think too.

Curious?

Watch it...

A Pot of Holes [Epilogue]

Part 1 here: [Click lar]

Part 2 here: [Click LAR!]

The end of studying?

Is it true that not everyone is made for studying?

I think it's true.

I've no idea why I study well, or at least I think I am. Probably I had good teachers, and teachers at home too. Dad's a Physics teacher who taught Ms Say my physics lecturer now, Mom's a primary school teacher who taught many of my friends from SABS, Brandon and Cho just to mention a few bright ones. However, I rarely asked my dad about Physics. I read and study it myself. Funny eh? You must be thinking I'm wasting such an opportunity that many hope to have. My mum even funnier, I helped her to even mark papers. Brandon and Cho, I marked your papers you know? That's why I knew you two before seeing your faces. I was a 12-years old teacher in training=)

From small, for no reason I loved reading. I finished an encyclopedia and read it a few times. I memorised capitals of countries for fun. I made up my own quiz books on geography and maths. I developed my thinking on books I read. In secondary school I was reading books like "Theology that Divide" and stuff that teenagers wouldn't even touched. I finished reading from Genesis to Revelation, the whole Bible at least four times. I studied Greek and Hebrew and Japanese before focusing on SPM. That sounds like a crazy genius biography...

And now the biggest catch: everyone is not made to study, including me. By "made to study", I mean "born to be genius". I did not inherit study genes or something, although I seemed to score well in Physics and English, a close resemblance to the "teachers at home". The only things were there was too much books in the house and some really caring Christian teachers surrounding me. All I have to do was explore and ask. Humans are designed by God to learn from Him and other people he has given wisdom. At the time birth, the brain is probably empty or at most contained the most basic information only. Brain cells are meant to connect, they are not "clever" in themselves.

Study is not about exams, but so tragically happen there's a need to discriminate the better ones. You might not have the best teachers, best textbooks, best study environment, but we all somehow like studying. The question is are we studying the stuff that's good for us?

The message of a pot of holes is this: There's no such thing as born genius. Every person is born on earth with the capability to study - to explore the world. And with this, humans are meant to help each other in this pursuit, that's why there are teachers and schoolmates.

I might pass or fail my mock examination, but all I know is this: I'm a pot of holes but light shine through. I'm totally inadequate, it was God and many people who brought me this far. Thank you every one!

[By the way, the word "end" in the first question of this post means "purpose or aim"]

Now only it's The End =p

A Pot Of Holes [Part 2]

If you haven't read the first part , read it here...[Click lar]

So here am I dealing with myself with the question why do I study, again...

"Die lar, this time mock exam very hard!" thus says Calvin.

Hardly anyone would believe.

"He every time also die then resurrect one."

"This JPA scholar kind of worry ar is never a worry."

"No need so humble lar. You so smart one."

Who knows the terrible inadequacy deep inside Calvin

(most of you reading this would refer the inadequacy as Calvinistic perfectionism)

but it's the same inadequacy felt by those who brush aside my comments of "DIE lar!"

One can never really put a shoe in Calvin's feelings. Never.

As I reflected upon my study life, I realised why I can study well is so little of talent, rather because of people and God.

Digging up the memories in embedded in dust, I found out that I hated studies in my primary school. (Duh, who doesn't? But not likely for a scholar whom most people project me as) I hated Chinese like no other Chinese boy. To begin with, my Chinese name was hard enough to write. 熊泽豪. Try counting the number of radicals. My BM sucks. There was this exam that has fill-in-the-blanks which I never will forget. It goes like this B_B_. Above it was a picture of strange animal I knew of, but don't know it looked like that. That must be one of the "BABI"-iest moments of my intellect. And yeah, you think my England very powderful? My mum complained my English is so Chinese and Cantonese that I was forced to cut down my Cantonese. And I HATE tenses. Till now I still make that Sarah-Sim-always-point-out-mistake, the double past tense, ex gratia: What did you said just now? (In gramm"e"r, it supposed to be What did you say just now?) And try checking all the tenses grammar in this post!

There were many times I cried over my Chinese homework and essays. Why was everyone's Chinese so good when mine sucked? Why did that detestable language had to ever exists? My dad said I fail terribly being a Chinese. My dad scolded and beat me over my naughtiness of refusing to study Chinese. The world was terrible.

Then things turned upside down: My dad threw in the biggest punishment ever, the sending to MONKEY-HOUSE, a place in Taman Teruntum where some there's a dilapidated shed with some monkeys. He threatened to leave me there if I don't change. I pleaded with him not to throw me to the monkeys and promised I'll be a good boy.

From then, I became a good boy. Seriously. Every single action I do, I behaved, even how I come down from a car. Despite a terrible of case of what people call as "child abuse" and which I still think it's wrong, I somehow changed dramatically. I took study as a good thing to do and tried to do good, but still suck in Chinese. I still get beaten at times at home, but less.

Done with my dad, my next step of change in studies was teachers. Wen Lao Shi, my first ever tuition teacher, which I urinated in her class out of fear, encouraged me much to study. Then Wang Ai Xiang Lao Shi, my form teacher for three years, forced me to learn up tonnes of Chinese with the spelling tests 听写. She taught me to love maths and I represented my little school in maths competition. Zheng Lao Shi made me love Chinese through the epic stories of San Guo Yan Yi, taught me Science in a way that develop a great way of understanding it, not blind memorisation.

This Zheng Lao Shi made the greatest impact in my life. She was the only teacher who truly cared for me and prayed over my UPSR Chinese Paper. Years later, she still remembered me. And I always remember the miracle of UPSR Chinese getting an A because of her. Chinese was stood as a huge obstacle to my complete 7As in UPSR because I never got an A before in Standard Four till Standard Six. I told Zheng Lao Shi my worries one day when I arrived early at her tuition. She said I can do it because God is there with me. Now as I think again, I've come to realise it's her prayer, not merely my efforts.

The day when UPSR Chinese came, I experienced a peace that exceeds all understanding and found that I can do the questions although the passages were tough. And those days teachers came up with their sets of UPSR answers and marked our objective papers and try to guess if their best students can get A or pass for Chinese. And how glad was I to hear Wang Ai Xiang Lao Shi said in a relieved tone that 泽豪 scored get 84 marks for Chinese Paper 1.

From then on, from the most hated subject it turned into my loved subject, not the most loved lar, but surely the most interesting one. Form 1-Form 3, I had another Christian teacher who tuitioned me Chinese, Wang Lao Shi. For God knows what reason, she emphasized so much on Chinese calligraphy which only carry 8 marks in PMR Chinese paper! My handwriting suckedenough and now handling that Chinese brush when I cannot even hold a pencil properly? You know what? I totally blew it up on my Calligraphy. It's total 鬼画符!

She still faithfully emphasized it when I don't see the significance. But being a good boy, I tried following. 逆锋起笔、横、搜笔. My strokes turned out well. Slowly and with much practice, I can't believe I actually entered a Calligraphy competition and won! Now tell me something one cannot change or learn! From smudging the 九宫格with ink to scoring almost 8 marks in PMR trial exam Chinese Calligraphy section. That's a miracle! (And Mr D, if you're reading, I'm still praying for a miracle in my English handwriting...haha. Hope you live to see it.=)

So as I reflect, it was never my intellect that brought me thus far. It was teachers and great Christian teachers that God provided, who teach tuition not to earn money, but with the purpose of teaching and helping students to understand the purpose of studying.

They stand as lights shining into a pot of holes like me...

A Pot Of Holes [Part 1]

"Ever heard the one about how light can only shine through a pot with holes? hee. God chooses imperfect people to do great things, to show how awesome He is. sounds cliche right? but here's the point i think few people think about --> have you ever thought how cool it is that in the process of showing His glory through you, you get to grow in character and skills? awesome right?"

Frankly, I suck in "preaching"... CYD people can testify to that, especially recently. Even my EALD oral skills drop like mad. I suck even in talking these few months. I'm back into the old extremely introverted, don't talk at all, hate talking Calvin. Maybe I never changed in the first place, living in a hallucination of "I'm a intro-extrovert. Not bad lar. At least halfway out of the cocoon...".

Anyway, no point dwelling on that. Today CYD discussed about studies and its importance. Today break record 20 people came!!! For the first time, we had to photocopy extra copies of study material. When you think least people come, almost gave up hope thanks to "my utterly boring 'preaching' skills driving people away" and resorted to a desperate prayer on the night before, God brings people in droves. I think I prayed too much already...=p

More people meant more tension for me. CK didn't come, so I had to worship lead. This time we have the people and volume, but it's still pretty daunting to lead in that big hall. At least the icebreakers relieved me. Then, it came for time of discussion on studies. It was such a big circle of people!!! I prayed for the best and start "crapping".

Studies to me have been "natural". I love studies. Homework and exams are obstacles I dealt with often till I'm quite confident. And yet there, with my 13 A1 reputation, I suddenly lost thought of my purpose of studying. Studying suddenly seemed meaningless.

WHAT'S MY PURPOSE OF STUDYING?

Then other questions came.

"How do you finish so much homework? My teacher gave me NINE English essays to complete in a 9-day holiday..."

"I cannot absorb anything in. Or it comes in and comes out immediately. How?"

I gave some really impractical advice. I just simply couldn't answer. I finish my homework, but sometimes I can't finish in time. I read and I absorb, but at the same time, I can't memorise certain things. And that idea of the ability to study is a talent somehow became real. I've seen enough people who put in so much effort yet still stuck there. Hard work and determination might just be comforting and encouraging words to a unchangeable reality.

Some people don't like to read books. It's hard to change, just like one's preferences for brocolli or bitter gourd. The more one forces them to read, or even themselves, finds reading even more horrible. But I somehow, don't know why, loved reading.

Some people just cannot sit still, study and memorise stuff, even with all the mnemonics and lingo, whereas for me, x = -b plus minus square root of b square minus 4ac, then divide the whole thing by 2a, or the first 20 elements in the periodic table: H, He, Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne, K, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, Cl, Ar, Na, Ca... I've no idea how my mind can key in so many elements today and it's stuck there. Yet at the same time I'm still confuse over what's brass and bronze...

Worst still is the fact that many students do not have good teachers to make them like studying. We have no student right to choose our teachers, it depends on probability to get a good teacher, even tuition teachers. One reason I realise why I studied well and love studying was because of my teachers. Okay, don't get me wrong, don't flock to Kuantan to study just because there's a higher chance of getting great teachers there. But back to the point, what if there's no good teacher to help me develop my intellect?

These are hard questions to answer. Despite what most want to believe, not everyone is made to study. Is this true? I've no idea.

[To be continued...]

Moral: Definisi?

Thus says Ms Say,

"Last time I always fail Moral

because I write what I would do SINCERELY."

"There was this question which asked,

'What would you do

if you see a piece of ten dollar note on the road?'"

"I answered truthfully (and naively),

'I will just walk past it and not pick it up

My mother tell me not to pick up money on the road

because it might be hell money for the lonely spirits.

If I take it, the spirit will follow me...'" =.="

It might be just some Chinese superstition,

but what surprised me was what her dad's reaction was

when she showed the Moral exam paper which labelled FAIL.

"Aiyoh, you must LIE one!!!"

WHAT's the definition of moral man?

Moral Education

just simply defeats it purpose

when it seemed to encourage most people to lie in their exams

to fake their moral reports of doing good deeds

to memorise a whole bunch of definitions and score well in exam

but learn little to be a good citizen.

WHAT's the definition of moral?

Then, in college you take that Moral Knowledge

it's even worse!

They throw a whole bunch of philosophical moral ideas

and let you choose which one.

For most, it leaves one in Confusionism

and repugnant to moral...

WHAT's the definition of moral...

Can't they be a little bit more

"Boleh berfikir berdasarkan alasan dan bukti yang nyata dan dapat mengambil tindakan berasaskan pertimbangan yang wajar."???

(Rasional, if you forget your definitions...)

Procrastination

I'll read Chemistry later.

I'll finished off Physics homework later.

Aiyah, next time only do.

In the name of destressing, facebook first lar.

But next mock already.

Eh, next week got EALD only lar.

Still got one more week.

Oh, there's goes more procrastination.

Calvin, the procrastinator.

Flying Colours and Marks

Disclaimer: Calvin acknowledges self-praise is universal disgrace.

YO PEOPLE!

I GOT 96 FOR APPLICABLE MATHEMATICS!!!!

WOOHOO!!!!

Finally my prayers and wishes come true

I get a nine-digit marks for Maths.

It may seem stupid why a 13A1 SPM student would rejoice over this.

But people, college maths is not as easy as it seems.

I never failed my maths before in my life till college!

Australians sure know how to set extremely challenging questions

on simple mathematics knowledge.

When you look at the question you'll either have these three reactions:

[1] What on earth is this question?

Quote Nasuha: This question is from HELL.

Faef corrected: "No lar, it's question from heaven! Since you all DIED in that question."

[2] Okay, I understand the question. But how to do wei, BRAIN JAMMED!

Cheh, so easy one to do one.

Most say that after seeing the answers, but real examination time answers don't fall from heaven. The questions want us to DIE first...

[3] Yay, finally a question I understand, straightforward and can do.

But it's only ONE mark, and even the one mark one loses because of carelessness.

So in the end, DIE also.

Every one in AUSMAT has a reason to hate Applicable Mathematics.

However, this time I feel I'M LOVING IT!

(there goes a free advertisement for McD)

This time I BELIEVE I CAN FLY

with FLYING COLOURS!

Never thus far, I scored more than 80 for Applicable Mathematics.

Hope is coming for me

and Mock Exam next week please don't mock me!

Most of all I thank people who without complaint and without ceasing

prayed for me throughout the hectic months of exams and assignment.

Thanks Un Dex, Sarah, Nicholas, and all the CYD people and SAGC

and my bro Caleb and family.

(It may seem funny to thank everyone

before I know whether I fail Mock exams or not,

but I appreciate all of their prayers no matter I pass or fail later

for they are all my bro and sis in Christ.

And yes Daddy in heaven, thank you to You the most

although people might not believe that you helped me in exams

You were there

when Ophelia turned up (TEE 2003:18)

when Bruce and Kylie appeared with their twins (TEE 2004:15 and many more)

when I got stuck in augmented matrix

when my probability of understanding the question = 0

when I realised my intellect is NOTHING...

Thank You for your love that is exponentially distributed (growth style),

never ending, goes on for infinity,

and possess the "lack of memory" feature

on all my procrastination to study and lazying around with Facebook

and NEVER FAIL to comfort me

and love me (plus the discipline).

Oh yeah, thanks for the good marks in Physics, Chemistry and Economics.

It's time to dig into Applicable Mathematics past year questions...

It'll will be hard time raking my brain cells, but worth it to bring You glory.

The Day After Merdeka

Since it's my EALD oral exam,

That sounds pretty much like The Day After Tomorrow

aka Lusa...LOL

Okay, enough of merdeka bashing

time for some patriotism.

Check out this link:

http://www.1malaysia-proton.com/

It's alternate stuff to all the 15Malaysia hoohaa

"This year, we got 3 Malaysians to rileks together. Afdlin Shauki, Dato David Aramugam and Ho Yuhang spent a nite at a pasar malam and talked about Malaysia. In the process, we got a few laughs and a lot of meaning."

I still can't believe Proton actually come this out.