Malaysian University English Test 2008

This would be my second time.

Yes, I got Band 5 last year.
And since this is the last time they're gonna be using the old format, why not?


Well if I don't get Band 6 again, I won't bother retaking again.
Cause the new format is tougher, hahaa.
So, waste my 60 bucks again I shan't anymore.

Lemme tell you what happened for the test this time.


SPEAKING - 6 May

The topic I received this time was,
"what is the most effective way to make school or colleges more interesting?".
Being Candidate A, I had to talk about 'less emphasis on examinations'.
And yes, I had to start first - compared to last year when I was Candidate D.

So in 2 minutes, I had to think of every point possible to impress the examiners.
And these were some of the points I talked about:


In task A, I quoted our Minister of Education, YB Dato' Sri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein where he mentioned that our examination-oriented system is impractical and burdensome to students and teachers alike in the Star newspapers. Whereas, he'd like to change it to a new system. The standards and qualities of education would also be raised according to Rancangan Malaysia Ke-9. Honestly, a student's maximum potential cannot be evaluate out of few pieces of paper. Moreover, Professor Mohd Ali Hassan also admits that a schools rely 100% on the year-end examinations to evaluate a student. On top of that, students are getting even more stressed and pressured... bla-blah. So, the MOE shouldn't stay on hiatus but "strike while the iron is still hot"... bla-blah, lol.

In task B, I started like this:
Since "time and tide waits for no man", I shall begin first...
Bla-bla-blarrh!

When I told my teacher what happened, he told me that they were expecting me to cut the vegetables with a knife, but I brought an axe.
LOL.

I hope I did very well, lol.


READING, WRITING & LISTENING - 10 May

Everyone was pretty nervous and tensed.
"It's the last year their gonna be using the old format, will it be tougher??"
That was their greatest concern.

Reading
- it was easier than last year, that's all I have to say.

Writing
- Summary was on a research about babies, a lil' tricky cause it wasn't very specific.
- The essay was, "Academic excellence guarantees a successful life", do you agree with the statement? LOL, I was so happy! I wrote pretty much similiar to my speaking.
But I only used about half-an-hour to write that entire essay :(
Sighs, I hope I did okay... I didn't do very well in my writing last year.

Listening
- In Part 1, I wasn't really sure whether Q3 was "It was 6.8 on the Ritcher scale".
But that was my answer anyways. The radio went haywire towards the ending of Part 3, so we got to listen to only Part 3 one more time, fair enough.

Before that the examiner, G.P. Tan, said "So would you like us to play Part 3 again?"
And I just calmly replied, "Well, it'll be better if we replayed everything again, lol". All my friends in the same classroom laughed approvingly, but oh well, tough luck.
LOL.



OVERALL, I really hope that I get Band 6.
Please Lord, 60 bucks not easy for me to earn k..?
Thank You Lord, Amen.


xD


* * * * * *
After a very long time, finally N6 cell group came together once more.
It was on a Friday, one day before my MUET papers.
Thank God I came for cell group, I didn't feel as disappointed as I did last year :D

Well, they got a forfeit.
HAHA.

Just having fun :)

Baba and me :)

* * * * * *
ON the very same day I was taking my MUET papers,
I rushed to Tropical Inn to come for City Harvest Church's Mother's Day celebration!
Moses and Sue forced me to.
LOL.

That's Daniel Ong talking in front :)
Managed to see all the old faces once more and caught up.
They also did a very short and simple drama but it was touching :)
Leo [rare] as the rebellious kid, Sue as the mother and Moses as the gangsta-friend.

And I met new friends too!
But guess whom I was most happy to see there?
Take a wild guess.

That's my babe, Mitch :)
We give you our besos!
Ciao.

Happy Bird-Day Mr. Yau!

First thing in the morning, we sat for our Maths [1] paper.
Yeah, we're in the midst of our SETARAs.

Well, due to my diligence from the recent days, it kinda paid off in a way that I could answer more questions than I expected.


But nevertheless, I'm pretty sure I'll be flunking this paper AGAIN [LOL]
after I looked at the 2nd page that consisted the functions and ecllipes.
Big sighs.

However, we got to move on.
Our Pengajian Am paper 2 is due next Thursday.

AND the things Steven does in class....

Can you guess what he wrote on the greenboard?
Well, it's about himself - keep guessing.

... ... ... ... ... -.-" right.

Accident :(

* * * * * *
Right after school today, we gathered in the canteen cause we were gonna celebrate Shaun's birthday!
There were about 25 of us - consisting of the physics, biology and arts[1] class.
Well, we were actually planning to kena Shaun, since it's his birthday.
After running away, hiding in the staff room, hanging around the foyer.. he finally gave in and came to the canteen.





Shaun: Alright guys, let's just stop this childishness and let's go to Holiday Plaza now.



Haha.
I don't think anyone's listening.
Shaun's pretty childish himself, LOL.

Now.
Anyone ever heard of getting an "alluba"?
Well you see, in the canteen we've got those tiled-up pillars and it's large enough for Shaun.
LOL.

P.S: Shaun, I had no idea this was going to happen at all.
I was kinda shocked watching the action, LOL.

The aftermath.
We had 6 men to grab him, carry him up and rammed him against the pillar... countless times.
He was teary-eyed man... OUCH.
I feel your pain Shaun.

Shaun: Did I really treat y'all that bad...? Ahh, I don't think I can drive...
He even found it hard to walk at first, but he stood strong being the man he was, hahaa.

We made it to Pizza Hut in Holiday Plaza anyways!
Thank you Shaun :D

This is my sister's favourite okay.
Look Kah May, nice?? :D

Xian Jian :)
We practiced almost everyday as the school athletes 2 months ago.

Guess who's who? :D

The Arts girls and one Bio student, lol.

Yes, the obviously odd one out of the rest, hahaa.

AND THEN the birthday cake came in and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mr. Yau.

Su Peng: Here, take your cake and make your wish.
Shaun: Ermm, okay. *suspicious*

Shaun: *doubtful* errm, you sure you're not gonna do anything right?
Su Peng: of course not! we bought this cake for k! you don't trust us??
In Shaun's heart: NO.. but he kept silent.

Shaun: Alright I'll make my wish... *wishes*
Su Peng: Ahh, guai... guai....

Shaun: *after a long time, open eyes* *nothing happened*
Everyone: walau... praying ar?
Su Peng: see? told you that nothing would happen wert, so scared for what? Pray until so long...
Everyone: LOL, praying for what huh?? For Su Peng right??? *commotion*

Shaun & Su Peng: *perasaan segan dan malu*
Shaun: no, no... okay seriously... *wishes again*

Everyone: .... waah, wish so long. candle melting lar!
Su Peng thinking: walao so long, really wishing for me is it..? paiseh...

*after blowing candle*
*sinks candle deep into the cake*
Everyone: okay Shaun, you know the drill. use only your mouth.
*after a quite a while of hesitating his predictable fate*
Shaun: Y'all not going to do anything right??!
Everyone: NO, no, no, no.... *grinning ear to ear*

And before Shaun's mouth could reach the candle...

SPLAT!!!!!!!
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone: ROFLMAO, ROFLMAO, ROFLMAO!!!!

Shaun: Wuwuwuuu....
Evil people laughing in background.
LOL.

CHECK OUT HIS SPECTACLES! ROFLMAO??!
So thick, waaahaaaahaaaa.

SSI-ians: Huh? Why everyone running that way??

SDJ-ians running to one corner.
Look at Shaun!

P.S: Janice Pua, the evil mastermind of today's event, LOL.

Clean and grinning.
I guess, that's NOT a good sign.
LOL.
*shaun reaches for the splatted cake remainings*
RUN!

Su Peng who was the prankster of the day, so must kena lor.
Lol, poor girl...

Oyy Shaun, enough larr!
LOL, he's making it worse.. xD

AND RIGHT AFTER that, we came in with another cake.
A bigger one.
Once more, "Happy birthday to you.. Happy birthday to--- "
*Shaun runs away*

ROFLMAO.

Happy Birthday to Panda Pendek, ROFLMAO.
Cause for his basketball group he named it "Orang Pendek" which consisted all the tall people.
LOL.

The entire school laughed when this was announced.
"And the basketball championship goes to... ORANG PENDEK [short people]!"

xD

I guess everyone's pretty de-stressed after today's horrid Maths[1] paper, hahaa.
And oh yeah, Kelvin received an "alluba" right outside Pizza Hut where one pillar was available.
Lol.
Aftermath: Torn pants.
Ouch.

Nevertheless.
It was a great day :)

Pertandingan Puisi & Lagu MSSD.

Well, this happened last Wednesday this week.

I was called by Puan Hezrin when I was at home on Monday, pleading with me to join this competition. It was also because I could save the school's face ESPECIALLY when WE are the school hosting the event.

Alright fine, simply participating is easy.
What must I do then?
How does this competition work?

We're supposed to write a puisi of our own, it's gotta be original.
And THEN, out of that puisi, compose a song.
In Malay literature.
OH, GREAT.

Look.
If I were told earlier, I wouldn't mind... so much.
But when I met with Syafiq who was chosen to recite the poem, I only got to compose the entire song in friggin 10 MINUTES and had to memorize the whole thing that lasted for 8 MINUTES.
Can't you guess how long it is?? LOL.
We left school at 7PM on Tuesday just to get things finalized.

* * * * *

Wednesday morning, competition starts at 8AM.
SEVEN schools were competing.
Suddenly it turned out that 2 schools backed out, so there were 5 left.
While drawing lots, guess what we got.
SECOND to perform, ain't that great? :/

So, I sat there with my sister's blue Kapok guitar.
Yes, why Kapok huh? My fingers were hurting the crap outta me!
Cause no matter what, Kapok or useless brands, I had to make music that sounded beautiful.
I had no other guitar, Benson took my guitar to NS :(
And I didn't even have the guitar bag with me.

Since Tuesday - I had to walk to bus stop, carry it on the public bus and then walk home carrying my guitar, school bag and plastic bag of files with my two bare hands.
Damn tiring? YES :(
NOW, do you know why I'm so short?? ROFL.

So, as I was saying.
I sat there with my sister's blue Kapok guitar.
And as I watched various schools that entered my school hall bringing all kinds of fancy instruments - chimes, famous branded guitars, tablas, percussions, tambourines, and even a big-assed indian sitar!

I stared at my blue Kapok guitar, terrified, it was the only instrument I had, and somehow...
I felt small, despite my size.
I was having an unwanted sore throat, it always came at important events such as this.
What a bummer :/

So, it wasn't too long before the first school was done.
It was our turn. Dang.
I got up there, set myself and my guitar ready accompanied with microphones with stands.
I plucked the guitar strings as Syafiq recited his poem.
[ WRITTEN BY HAIKAL AND SHARIFF BTW! :D ]




And then it was about time my que came in to sing....
"Tanah Melayu pusaka ibunda... Kegem-uhh...." - murmurs a lil softly.



*in Mel's head : OH $#!T! What's the lyric, what's the lyric...??!*


So, I tried again.... trying to redeem myself.
"Tanah Melayu pusaka ibunda... Kegemm---murmuring mengukir lagenda..." and I managed to sing it till the first verse is over.

Okay.
That sucked.

So, Syafiq recited his second paragraph.
And it was my que again to sing that very same verse.
"Tanah Melayu pusaka ibunda... Kegem-uhh...." - murmurs a lil softly.

OH CRAP.
AGAIN??!

I even saw Haikal smacking his forehead in the audience.
I JUST HAD TO CATCH THAT :(
So discouraging man.


This time I sang that first line only and left it as it is and urged Syafiq to continue his last long paragraph.
While he was doing so, I was panicking for the NEXT NEW long paragraph of song that I composed just yesterday, trying to remember every detail.
Before I knew it, it was my turn.

PANIC PANIC PANIC PANIC.
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

But this time I decided to FULLY redeem myself on the first verse and I wanted to redo it again to prove to the judges that it was kinda planned. Trying to cover up. Lol.

"Tanah Melayu pusaka ibunda
Kegemilangan Melaka mengukir lagenda
Peradapannya melangit menggoncang cakerawala
Ketamadunan insan merintis integrasi"

PHEW.
Yes, I redeemed myself on such a short paragraph that consisted 4 lines.
And I could still forget my lyrics :/

NOW for the hard part.
It consisted about 20 lines of Malay literature.
ROFLMAO.

To my surprise, I sang everything smoothly and I remembered EVERY single lyric!
AND AND I hit every high note that I composed, it was so blardy awesome! :D
I thought about it again, I could memorize such a friggin' long paragraph and I couldn't even memorize such a short paragraph.
I'm so weird, LOL.
I actually amused myself... xD

So, I came down... feeling embarassed yet a lil satisfied that I hit the high notes despite my sore throat. I sat down and hugged my blue kapok guitar, the only thing I had :(
I sighed to myself, it was done. Now, I only had to wait for the results.

Then it was time for the judges to give their comments before announcing the results.
They said, "Ada persembahan yang sangat mantap! Tetapi ada partner dia yang tidak menyanyi secara bersesuaian, tetapi nak juga masuk keluar macam itu... tak sepatutnya berlaku begitu ye."

LOL, I knew she was talking about us.
Syafiq didn't exactly sang in tune, and he was coming in and out of the song as he pleased. I didn't have another mouth to tell him to stop mar, so nothing could've been done, hahaa.

Waited for the results.

Janice and Shaun was in charge of taking pictures for Photography Club but didn't want to miss class, so I accepted their request to help them instead.
I was so confident that we weren't gonna win after I watched the other schools perform.
So I went up the stage to take pictures of the winners, the Top Three.

"And the 2nd-runner up for Pertandingan Lagu & Puisi is.... "

SMK DATO' JAAFAR!

I LITERALLY DROPPED MY JAW ON STAGE FACING THE AUDIENCES.
Imagine how dumb I looked holding the camera dumbfounded, lol.
I looked at the judges as they smiled back at me applauding.
I couldn't help but felt their warmth and composed myself together.
A kind student from another school offered to take pictures for me instead, lol.
Syafiq and I shook hands with our pricipal and received our 3rd place trophy from PPD.
Receiving the audience's cheer.

1st-runner up went to SMK Seri Perling.
And the obvious Champion was Sekolah Seni.
They were the ones who brought the tablas, chimes, tambourine and 2 guitars.
I was surprised that SIGS didn't win, they brought the indian sitar.

Then I approached the judges to get their personal comments.
Actually we won 3rd mainly because of the song.
Syafiq's poem recital was not as good as it should've been.
But they commented that my suara sangat mantap.
And and they loved the way I composed the song!
They said the melody and arrangement was beautiful! :D


HONESTLY.
Before the competition I was praying.
And I told God...
"Lord, I would like to win based on my efforts and the way I composed that song..."

And then I thought of my upcoming exams.
If I won, advanced to State level, that would mean that I CANNOT study already man.
Smiling to myself, I continued...
"... but of course Lord, let Your will be done, and not mine. In Jesus' name, Amen".

AND I GOT 3RD!
I won, but I don't have to go to State level, lol.
YAY.

Hahaa, and Kelvin Pang from SMK Seri Perling asked me this question,
"Hey, are you a Christian..?"
"Yes I am! Why..?"
"Hahaa, cause the way you composed the song and the way you sang it, I could tell".

AWWW :D
Mel was happy.

* * * * * *

AND GUESS WHO'S BACK!
It's Danarold Swazechbaba :D

It's Dan the Man!
All the way from Berak, I mean Perak!
:D

We hung till it was almost 9PM, lol.
Chillin' under the stars :)

Sue, Brad, Dan and I met up in CS.
I rushed after school, lol.
WE WATCHED IRON MAN!
That was some reunion after such a long time being apart.
BFFS FOREVER!

* * * * * *

So, people.
Just letting you guys know that it's gonna be exams for me starting next week!

MUET:

Speaking - 6 May
Writing, Reading and Listening - 10 May

SETARA PRE-U STPM:
9 May - 23 May

So, Mel may be on hiatus from now on.
Maybe, just maybe.