One for the hardcore.

Though I had expected the University of New South Wales (UNSW) English test to be a mental test of epic proportion, never had I expected THAT particular test to be a pure evisceration of one's sanity, comparable to having gamma rays bombarded into your brain with inexorably long half-lives, ripping into every little brain cell there is in that brain, and rendering it brain-dead.








An exaggeration, sure. But mind, exaggeration come aplenty in this test.
Not really, actually.





60 questions. 60 minutes. roughly 80% of it comprehension. The rest grammar. Sounds simple?












Hell no.










With words like abate, vacillate, prevaricate and quite a handful more which I couldn't really bring myself to remember, along with sonnets, literature interpretation, deciphering hidden meanings, ironies, and plain beyond godlike bombastic language spattered at every corner which will push even the most hardened veteran beyond breaking point.

Some of the more well-read may think "Thats normal, dude"





Reminder: Its 60 questions. 60 minutes. Mostly comprehension. Time factor, peeps.





Y'know, some of the passage/articles were actually very interesting and some pretty educational. From Picaso, to Iowa wind farms, Ozymandias, to some busker (can't remember the name. ah well) Alas, no time for leisurely reading, as its a rush against time to answer as well as possible, oh well. Perhaps after I get back my question paper after a month or 2....









Probability of achieving:
Medal (highest award) : 5%
High Distinction : 10%
Distinction : 25%
Credit : 55%






Thats my rough estimation of my shit chances.










p.s. Gabs, you SHOULD try this when I get back the question paper one day. You WILL thank me for that.

Serene, yet distant.

31/7/2008

Historic, in a sense.



Firstly, its my 1st non-picture post for quite a while.

Secondly, I'm officially retired from ALL prefect duties.
Not to mention, pension too.





After approximately 15 months (including holidays), I can finally return to the sort of life I had left behind me all those months ago, which is essentially, the "normal" (for lack of better term) student's life.





Gone are the days of patrolling the perimeters, flashing the pink book, venting fury, slave driving, stubborn chumps, death threats and what not.







And hello (again) to eating-in-class, handphone flashing, classroom brawls, and of course, out-maneuvering and out-smarting what used to be MY little kids. (and one particular Squirtle)
oh yes, it was THAT endearing









Though, it is rather odd, being on duty for a bit more than a year, and THEN being the average dude, having to undergo body checks, boring assemblies and limited mobility. Its a sledgehammer on my neurones. Discomfort and unease dominated my day. (at least, during the morning checks and recess) And no more taking my sweet time entering class after recess now. mhmm.












Time to make the most of it. 3 months. And then, there is no more. The end of a phase. The end, of my lifestyle of 11 years.

A tale of rotten luck, a rotten number 1, and revenge served cold

Its been a rather bittersweet day the recent Saturday (26/7/2008). Computer Assembling Competition in conjunction with the opening of the "NEW" library near Convent or something like that.
Don't ask me where. I screwed Geography since PMR ended.


6.50 am
Arrived in school, and I brought my handphone to school on a normal school day for the 1st time (albeit one where I won't be in school the whole day). And there was assembly. Unexpected. And student turnout (attendance) is.... great, as expected. At least 2 form 4 classes had only one (yes, ONE) student each.
Cluster school mah, what to expect?


8.00 am
Made my last brief appearance in class before flashing my designer ID permit to leave class, school etc. The gang of me, Samuel, Yogaraja, Faadzilah (or something like that) and a form 4 girl (I was too caught up with the whole thing until I forgot the essentials) went to the computer cabin, and found out from En.Zamri that some smart alec decided to roast the fibre optic cable outside the cabin with a matchstick. And heres the best part, the reason?






"Good for health"






-.-






So yeah, a detour to the computer lab.

Y'know, is this thing safe....?

Really smart people. Playing pinball's part of the preparation, eh?

9.30 am.
Went for a quick bite in the canteen while waiting for ol' Mr.Zamri to emerge, somehow.

Happier days.

Took him long enough though. Only really appeared at approximately 10.20am and headed straight for the ...urghh book filled warehouse library, somewhere near Convent, so I was told.

I just had to take this en' route

Took just 5 minutes to get to the library. yay. And thats from SSI.




Okay, well fact is...




Premise 1 : Libraries are (usually) all about books.
Premise 2 : I don't do books









Conclusion : I don't do libraries.







I like (modern) maths.
Sometimes.






But at least the library has a few computers to jam on. Not that I'd care, I have my own blazing fast 500 mbps broadband connection at home.

Mr. Zamri demonstrates how to use the Internet -.-





I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do this. I doubt I'll ever get the chance to do this again.



Group pic. Pre-competition.

Double pic of the briefing

And then it came to drawing lots to determine who goes into the 1st, 2nd or 3rd batch. Theres 5 computers, 15 people. So yeah, 3 batches, you work the math. And guess what I got when I drew (the last, remaining number)

1

Foul number, that. From the moment I saw that, I effectively gave up hope on gunning for top 5 and decided to adopt a "surveying" strategy.

This ain't as easy as it looks.

The "computer assembling comptetition" (for lack of better name, its a direct translation) consists of 5 sections.
1) Inserting the parts
-RAM
-Floppy
-CD drive
-Hard disk
-Connectors.

2) Installing drivers
3) Change the resolution to 800x600
4) Create new username, log off, and log in again with the newly created username
5) I can't remember, I didn't get anywhere near here. Hmm.. maybe its the log in again part.




The catch? 15 minutes.



Ok, well being the one of the 1st few to set the ball rolling, surveying and relaying info to the team was all I could realistically do. Only did the 1st section, and a bit of the 2nd section. 2 marks for each computer part assembled properly, and 1/2 for the "lil bit of the 2nd". So 10 1/2 marks. Which was one of the lowest. Heck, nobody from the 1st batch got into the top 5. Predictable, really.

Samuel struts his stuff

But sadly, because of the rather well hidden "power" button, he wasted 6-7 minutes wondering why his computer didn't start, with the sponsoring staff telling him its the RAM, and then the hard disk, when in fact..


He didn't press the power button. Wasted, really. Sam could've been in contention for top 3, even, if not for that unfortunate incident. One dude from SAB finished the whole thing with a matter of seconds remaining. Hmm...







...and SSI's hopes rest squarely on the shoulder of one man, from a place called India...

Yogaraja. And his magic fingers.

He finished the whole thing. with 1/2 a minute to spare.










But he missed the floppy drive.







Or he could've gotten 1st place. Hands down. Such rotten luck, you have to agree.

Group pic post-competition.
Note the 2 fingers of mine above Mr. Zamri's head. el classico

Receiving the award

2nd place chum.

Mr Zamri's honours.



2nd post-competition group pic

Me and the 1st placed dude.



The certificate.
read:sedunia (worldwide) *beams*

Rare glimpse of Mr Zamri chomping on his food.
I ate more than him. 2 plates of chicken rice to his one.

So, it was a little disappointing that things didn't go our way, but Yoga exacted revenge on the tuesday (yesterday, at time of posting) when the top 3 placed participants re-do the same computer, in front of the MB (mentri besar, to those who don't know) and he came out THE fastest at approximately 2 1/2 minutes, while the 3rd placed guy gave up, and the 1st placed guy just chugged through the whole thing.




All in front of reporters, photographers, and what not.





Revenge served cold







And Yoga received a new SIM card, and 2 RM100 reload cards from DiGi on that day!!!!!! WTFFFF!!!!!















WHERES MINE?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!???!?!?!!?!??!

High lows.

A "special" Co-curricular day, which is essentially a parade of marching, showcases (or lack thereof) and potential business(wo)men advertising their goods (again, in some cases, lack of it) with various stalls from societies, clubs and even uniform units.

Try spotting me in this video.
If you're a girl, I'll hug you if you get it right. If you're a guy, you get a pat on the back. -.-

Opposing fronts.
and gabs damn finger is getting in the way, for the umpteenth time

The best paradox of the year.
Probably.




Oh, did I forget the introduction? Its Li Suan Ong Rachel Ong Suan Li's sister, Kimberley.





Dusting off dandruff. And shes pointing at the lil' speck of dandruff in mid-flight. -.-










Sharpshooting. a.l.a Counter-strike. Minus the "living" targets.




A black chicken. I did kick the chicky's arse (or...tail, more like) but couldn't get a pic of that. sigh.




Arveen's peace "V" sign went missing. But. ah well.







Well, the day didn't actually go too well, overall. Was not as free as I'd hope to be. But, its over, and nothing more can be done about it.

Proverbial lameness

Gab made a (not-so) surprise visit to my home (though he was ONLY suppose to drop by RAE'S bunch of sweets, which he already has). And....we took pics. Have fun. (viewing)

Gab the Antimage. Sort of.

Well, few could imagine Gab was THAT afraid of the cam.
(either that, or he's just too aversive to the Neon flash)




A (very) candid shot of my "WTFFF" look.
thanks a lot, gab




More like Kung-fu monkey and wonder woman.





No shaolin monks here. Only Po wannabes


It appears as though Gab is coming from underneath someone else, though...its his own arse.





Gabriel. wants. you.




THE battle of the ages.

Name: The Ninja. (a dying breed)
Weapon: Bamboo sword. (steel blades are outlawed, guh. Except a chopping knife)
Special ability: Backstabbing (with no success, whatsoever). Nothing else other than that

Name: "L" Reloaded (a resurrected, empowered L)
Weapon: A mop stick split in 2 minus the mopping part
Special ability: Reflex dodge ala Bullet dodge.

Ninja Master Dog VS "L" Reloaded

The, uh...."formal" beginning sequence



No no..he's got a mirror in the book.



One and only chance to backstab while he's thinking....



...fails. As L manages to switch position, and uses his...book to repel.
In a split second.




L instantly draws out his mop stick to further parry the ninja's increasingly futile effort to "assassinate" L


...an opening exploited! But L does his....dodge, Matrix style.
Sort of.





L decides to take the battle to the ninja





....and like some stories, it ends in a cliffhanger....













not.





Ninja Dog becomes L's sweeper man. The dying breed finally dies off. In the most glamorous way possible






next up is...







JUMPING pics
MEshell, eat your heart out.


Guitar hero showing off his grooves.
Or lack thereof.


...in mid air with a "shockwave" effect.


The spiral spin at its "climax"


Mid air star jump. Kinda.
Gabs finger became a lil too excited

A tiring day, with all the jumpings. But a good one too, having been a while since we last had a good chat. Cheerio. I'm not feeling very wordy of late.