My first two weeks in Taylor's College

When I was in secondary school, I had decided to study matriculation after I completed secondary school. During August 2012, I applied for matriculation through online. However, the result of matriculation intake will only be out on April 2013, and matriculation will only start at June 2013. My parents did not want me to waste my time after SPM, so they asked me to study A-levels first. I agreed to my parents suggestion because there is no 100% guarantee of getting matriculation successfully. In the previous year, someone in my school who got 11A+ in SPM still could not enter matriculation. I chose to study A-levels in Taylor's College in Subang Jaya. On 8 December 2012, I attended the open day of Taylor's College and I registered for A-levels at that time. The first day of college started on 14 January 2013 (Monday). Here, I am going to share my experience of first week in Taylor's College.

3 weeks before the college started, I stayed in Kulim. Then, on 12 January 2013 (Saturday), my parents came back to Kulim. On the following day 13 January 2013 (Sunday), they took me to Subang Jaya. My parents had bought me a new study table and study lamp in their house. The college would start on the next day. On that night, I made some preparation to attend the first day of college. I logged on to the Taylor's College Student Portal to check out some important information for new students and I also looked through the documents I got when I attended the Taylor's College open day earlier. I was not very excited and worried about attending college. Instead, I was much more worried last time when I attended my first day of secondary school in 2008.

I attend the first day of college on 14 January 2013 (Monday). An orientation programme was held on that day. It started at 9AM and lasted until 2PM. All students were divided into different classes and my class is PM6. I tried to find if any of my secondary school friends were also studying in Taylor's College but there were none. From 9AM to 10AM, all students had to listen to talks in the Multi Purpose Hall. We were given an introduction to the college. Then, at 10:30AM, some seniors took us to our classrooms. The students of class PM6 were taken to the classroom D6.

The classroom D6 looked different from the secondary school classroom. It was air-conditioned and the tables were arranged in a way suitable for group discussions. In the classroom, our mentor (form teacher) gave us more introduction to the college. She told us that different periods would be held in different classrooms so we had to move from classroom to classroom quite often. Most periods would not be held in classroom D6, instead they would be held in classrooms and laboratories in the classroom & lab block. Every period will last for 55 minutes, and between 2 periods there is 5 minutes for us to walk to the classroom for the next period. She also said that all students were required to have a student card, otherwise the security guard would not let us enter the college. Those who did not have a student card must make one at the office. Besides, the mentor told us some of the rules in college.

After that, there was an 'Ice-breaking day' event in my class organised by the seniors. They moved all the tables to a side and arranged all the chairs in a circle. Then, we were asked to introduce ourselves. We had to say our name and our hobby. Then, the seniors let us play a game. The game was similar to musical chairs. They took off one of the chairs and every one of us had to snatch a chair. The person who failed to do so was considered lost. The game lasted for a few rounds. Finally, in the last round, the senior said that the person who lost would be given a punishment determined by all other students. Luckily, I managed to snatch a chair successfully in every round including the last round. The punishment given to the student who lost in the last round was to dance 'Gangnam Style'.

After that, the senior took us around the college. They showed us the library, staffroom, office, lecture teathre and the classroom & lab block. They told us that there the canteen of the college was still under construction so we had to eat our lunch in restaurants outside the college. There were many restaurants near the college, such as McDonalds, PappaRich and Asia Cafe. Then, at 12PM, we were given a one-hour lunch break. I did not go out for lunch on that day because the college would end at 2PM so I could wait until I go home later to eat lunch. During the break time, I went to the office to apply for my student card. I had to take a photograph there and the student card would be ready only on the next day. At 1PM, I went the Multi Purpose Hall again to listen to talks. The orientation programme ended at 2PM and my father took me home.

At home, my mother had bought me chicken rice for lunch. She bought it from a restaurant named Restoran Casablanca. However, the chicken rice tasted a bit strange. I had eaten the chicken rice from that restaurant a few times and it always tasted like that. But, on that day I felt that I disliked the taste and I could not stand it. Still, I had to eat it because my mother only bought me chicken rice. Then, on that night I followed my parents to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Usually, we would order lemon chicken and steamed fish there. However, on that day the waiter at the restaurant introduced us their roasted chicken and my parents decided to try it. Then, the waiter also told us that the fish available on that day could only be served in whole, so we had to order the whole fish. My parents were worried that we might not be able to finish it but the waiter said she was sure that we could finish it, therefore we still ordered it. However, the roasted chicken turned out to taste very bad. It was one of the worst roasted chicken I had ever tasted. Also, the fish was really very big and had a lot of meat. In order to finish it, my parents and I had to eat a lot. We felt very full after eating.

At 12:30AM on that night, I drank a cup of milk before I slept. While drinking the milk, I found out that the milk tasted a bit strange, but I still finished it. Then, when I was lying down on bed, the strange taste of the milk still remained in my mouth and I could feel that my stomach was very full because I ate a lot of fish and chicken during dinner. I also remembered the roasted chicken which tasted so bad. Worst of all, I thought of the strange taste of the chicken rice which I had for lunch. Besides, I was excited of attending college on the next day. All those made me suddenly felt like vomiting. My stomach also did not feel well at that time. However, because the feeling was not too strong, I decided to just sleep and hoped that the feeling would disappear after a while. I slept for 2 hours and nothing happened. However, at 2:00AM, my mother came in to my room and switched off the night light, causing me to wake up. A short while later, I again felt like vomiting. This time, the feeling was even stronger than earlier. I had no choice but to sit up on the bed. Then, I suddenly vomited on my bed.

I had to wake up my mother and tell her about that. She was angry to know that because she had to clean up my bed sheet, blanket and my clothes. In her opinion, I vomited because I ate too much chicken and fish during the dinner and then I still drank milk before I slept. I told her that the milk had a strange taste. She then told me not to drink that packet of milk anymore. My mother had to change the bed sheet and blanket and I had to take a bath and change my clothes. After that, my stomach felt much better and I went back to sleep. However, that night became a very difficult night for me. I could not sleep comfortably because I just vomited. I was so nervous that I woke up almost every hour to look at the time because I had to wake up early in the next morning for college.

On the next day 15 January 2013, college started on 8:00AM. It was still the orientation program of the college. We would be in our classes and the teacher for every subject would give us a brief introduction for each subject. I thought that I had to go to classroom D6. When I reached the classroom, there were a few students in there. I still could not recognise my new classmates well at that time but someone in that class looked like one of my classmate. I thought that it was him so I just entered the classroom. However, one boy kept staring at me and another boy started laughing. I asked him if that class was PM6 but he said that it was not. I realised that I went to the wrong classroom. I felt embarrassed and I quickly walked out of that classroom. I did not know where should I go because according to the schedule we had to go to our classes on that day but classroom D6 was occupied by students of other class. At last, I decided to go to the office to ask about that. According to the staff in the office, I had to go to the classroom for the first period according to the time table and not go to classroom D6. The classroom I should go to was classroom 2.7 . When I was walking to that classroom, I met one of my PM6 classmate and he followed me there.

Unlike classroom D6, classroom 2.7 looked much similar to the classrooms in the secondary school. The tables are arranged in the same way as in schools and there is a whiteboard in front. The only difference is that the classroom is air-conditioned. The first period was Mathematics. A few students entered the class late because they also did not know that they had to go to that classroom. Throughout that day, the teachers for every subject introduced us the syllabus content and examination format of all subjects. For all subjects, the syllabus and exam format are similar. The A-levels course is divided into 2 semesters, AS and A2. There will be an exam at the end of each semester and the overall result will be based on the exams for both semesters. The A2 exam will not test on the AS topics, but the A2 topics will require knowledge from the AS topics. Most of the topics in AS semester are similar to the Form 4 and Form 5 topics, while most topics in A2 semester are entirely new topics. The A-levels exam will have the grades A*, A, B, C, D, E and Ungraded (fail). The standard marks to get A* is 90 and to get A is 80, but the exact grading for the actual A-levels exam will depend on the performance graph of the candidates. However, for the college internal exams, there is no A* grade and the minimum marks to get A is 76.

At 11:00AM, it was the lunch break. I went to McDonalds to eat lunch for the first time. The college ended at 3PM on that day. When I went home, my mother had cleaned up my bed sheet and blanket. My stomach felt much better at that time. However, I had no appetite to eat. When I had my dinner, I ate very slowly and I had to try hard to finish it. When I slept on that night, it was still a difficult night for me. Because I did not sleep properly on the previous night, I had a body ache. My whole body was painful and again I could not sleep comfortably. I woke up many times at night because my body was painful.

On the next day 16 January 2013 (Wednesday), it was still the the orientation program at the college. At first, I thought that the orientation program would start at 8:00AM so I went there early. However, after arriving at college I realised that the orientation would only start at 9:00AM. I also forgot to bring my student card to college. I lied to the security guard that I still had not get my student card so he allowed me to enter the college. Then, I felt very tired because I did not sleep properly on the previous night. I sat down on one of the chairs and slept until 9AM. At 9AM, I went to the Multi-Purpose Hall for the orientation program. There were several talks on that day. However, I still felt very tired. I could not listen to the talks and I had to sleep in the hall. At 11AM, it was not yet the break time but many students walked out of the hall for a while. My mother also came to the college at that time to bring me my student card. At 12PM, it was the break time and I again went to McDonalds for lunch. After lunch, I went back to the Multi Purpose Hall. I was still tired so I continued sleeping. At 2PM, I felt better. I woke up and I could listen to the remaining talks until 4PM. At 4PM the orientation program ended and my father came to fetch me. My grandparents also came to Kuala Lumpur on that day and they followed my father to fetch me. Luckily I was no longer tired at that time, otherwise my grandparents might be worried.

On 17 January 2013 (Thursday), the college lessons started officially. I no longer felt tired while in college. I could understand the first topic of all subjects because they were similar to the topics I had learnt when I was in Form 4 and Form 5. Only Biology was a bit difficult. During the lunch break, I went to PappaRich restaurant to eat lunch for the first time. The college ended at 3PM on that day. On that night, I checked the student portal website of Taylor's College. I realised that the time table of my class was changed and as a result there were only 3 periods on every Friday. This meant that the college would end at 11AM on every Friday. I was very happy to know that. On 18 January 2013 (Friday), I went to college only for 3 hours because there were only 3 periods on that day. After returning home, my mother wanted to buy me lunch. My brother wanted to eat the chicken rice from Restoran Casablanca but I did not want to because I was afraid that it might cause me to vomit again. So, my mother bought me Nandos for lunch.

For the second week, I attended college as usual. I managed to make a few friends. Someone also borrowed my Mathematics exercise book to see my workings. Besides, some of my classmates would say 'Hi!' to me when they saw me. There is a practical session for Chemistry, Physics and Biology every week. We had to do the experiments in pairs so I did the experiments with another classmate. The first Chemistry experiment was the experiment on neutralisation reaction between acid and alkali, which I had done before during Form 4. I could understand the lessons taught by the teachers, except that Biology was a little difficult. On that Friday, it was the first Physics class test and I could answer it quite well.

In conclusion, above is my experience when I attended Taylor's College for the first two weeks. I could adapt to the college life without much problems, except that I vomited on the first night. Due to the vomiting incident, I never ate at that Chinese restaurant and never ate the chicken rice from Restoran Casablanca again. Overall, college life was quite interesting.

Want to know about my life at Taylor's College after the first 2 weeks? Read it here:

https://www.daniellimjj.com/2015/04/my-15-years-of-study-at-taylors-college.html

My 2012 Year-end School Holiday

Here, I am writing about how I spent my year-end school holiday for 2012. Actually, it is not appropriate to call it as my 2012 year-end school holiday, because 2012 was my last year of secondary school and I had to sit for the SPM exam during the beginning part of school holiday. The actual 2012 year-end school holiday was from 9 November 2012 to 1 January 2013. But for me, the holiday started on 28 November 2012 and ended on 17 February 2013.

My last day of SPM was on 27 November 2012 (Tuesday). The subject tested on that day was Biology. After that, I no longer had exam because I did not take the remaining subjects such as Prinsip Perakaunan and Chinese. The last paper was Biology 3 and it ended at 3:30PM. All SPM candidates were required to return their Form 5 textbooks after the exam either on 27 November or 28 November 2012. I chose to return it on 28 November 2012 because I wanted to go to school one more day after the SPM ended and I also wanted to meet my friends who would be taking Prinsip Perakaunan on that day. After the exam ended, I did not go home straight, instead I went to the store room of my school. There, many SPM candidates returned their Form 5 textbooks. I helped them to arrange the textbooks while talking to some of my friends.

Then, I went home at 4:30PM. On the way back home, my grandparents told me that my mother just phoned me while I was still in school. After I arrived home, I phoned my mother. My mother said that my father had booked plane ticket for our family to go to Hong Kong. I was not happy to know that because my parents had made the decision to go to Hong Kong without telling me. I also suspected that it was my brother who wanted to go there. I felt very angry about that. Actually, I did not want to go to Hong Kong because I had went there a few years ago. Instead, I wanted to visit somewhere in Malaysia that I had never visited before such as Kelantan or Terengganu. After that, I slept for a while. Then, at 6PM, I watched my favourite drama series. I missed a few episodes earlier because I did not watch it during the SPM.

After the show ended on 7PM, my father telephoned me. He explained to me that earlier he did not tell me his plan of taking our family to Hong Kong because I was taking my SPM and he did not want to distract me, and he did not wait until the SPM ended because the promotion for air tickets to Kong Kong was only available for a limited time. My father also promised me that in the future he would always tell me all his plans before making decisions. I was not so angry anymore after listening to what he said. Then, my grandparents took me to Loft 67, a newly-opened restaurant in Kulim, for dinner. That restaurant served only burgers, and the burgers were one of the best I have ever tasted. After returning home from dinner, I tidied up my study table first. After that, I relaxed myself by surfing the internet.

On the next day 28 November 2012 (Wednesday), I went to school in the afternoon to return my textbooks. I arrived at school around 4:30PM. The Prinsip Perakaunan exam which was held on that day was just about to end at that time. I waited in front of the school hall for the exam to end. After the exam ended, I met some of my friends taking Prinsip Perakaunan. They told me that the exam was not too difficult. Then, I went to the store room of my school. After returning my textbooks there, I helped other students to arrange the textbooks and talked to my friends. Later, I went home at 5:30PM.

During the week after my SPM, I stayed in Kulim. I spent my time relaxing myself. I often surfed the internet, played computer games, watched television and read story books & comics. I also followed my grandparents out to go eating and shopping. I was very free, but I was not happy. The reason was because I could no longer meet my secondary school friends. I could only keep in touch with them through Facebook, which I considered as less meaningful as face-to-face communication. I wrote about that in my Facebook status on 28 November 2012. The SPM Chinese was on 3 December 2012. Although I did not take Chinese in SPM 2012, I decided to help my friends who took it. I wrote some tips about answering SPM Chinese on this blog.

However, on 29 November 2012 (Thursday), an unhappy incident happened. While I was surfing the internet on that night, my mother phoned me. While talking, she said that she wanted to enrol me in a college in Subang Jaya. She also said that the college will start in January 2013. I did not want to enter college in January, instead I wanted to enter in February, because I wanted to relax longer after the SPM and spend more time in Kulim. I told my mother that there would be an intake every month for most colleges, so I wanted to register for the February intake. However, she said that most students would enter college in January and she insisted that I must also enter in January. I still insisted to enter college in February and she got angry. Then, she said that she wanted me to not return to Kulim after I go to Subang Jaya in December and then enter college in January. I insisted that I wanted to relax after the SPM and as a result she ended the call. After that, I told my grandparents about that. They agreed to help me talk to my mother when she comes back to Kulim a few days later.

On 30 November 2012 (Friday), I followed my grandparents to Penang in the morning. We had lunch at a restaurant in Penang and we also had some desserts after that. We went home in the afternoon. On that night, my mother phoned me again. She was not angry anymore. She told me that a few colleges in Subang Jaya would be organising an open day soon and she asked me to attend it. I agreed to attend the open day but I insisted that I would not change my decision to enter college in February. She did not argue with me but she said that after attending the open day I would understand that I must enter college in January.

On 3 December 2012 (Monday), I went to Penang with my grandparents again. My grandparents wanted to visit one of their friend in Penang. We had lunch in Penang again. On that night, my parents arrived at Kulim. They would take me to Kuala Lumpur on the next day. On 4 December 2012 (Thursday), early in the morning my parents took my grandparents to the Bayan Lepas airport in Penang. My grandparents would take a plane to Kuala Lumpur because earlier my aunt had booked a plane ticket for them. Then, they would fly to Australia on that night to visit my aunt. Later on that day, my parents drove me to Kuala Lumpur.

When I was in Kuala Lumpur, I stayed in my parents house in Subang Jaya. There, I went shopping in many shopping malls and I also went to several restaurants to eat. Because I agreed to go to Hong Kong, I told my mother that in exchange she had to buy me Windows 8. I only wanted to upgrade my Windows 7 laptop to Windows 8 but not buy a new computer. My mother bought me a Windows 8 installation DVD. I originally planned to dual-boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 on my computer but due to some installation problems I had to delete Windows 7 and replace it with Windows 8. At last, the Windows 8 installation was successful. In Kuala Lumpur, I also bought a few STPM revision books to read. Although I did not plan to enter Form 6, the STPM syllabus is similar to other pre-university programmes such as A-levels and Matriculation.

On 8 December 2012 (Saturday), it was the open day of Sunway College and Taylor's College. Since a few months earlier, I told myself that I would surely choose Sunway College instead of Taylor's College because the name 'Sunway' sounded nicer and 'Taylor's' sounded more like 'tailors'. One day before the open day of both colleges, my parents took me to see the location of Sunway College and Taylor's College. However, I preferred the location of Taylor's College much more than Sunway College. In fact, I thought that the location of Taylor's College (SS15) is ideal, moreover there are other colleges such as Inti College there. Also, I really disliked the location of Sunway College. Therefore, I changed my mind and decided to study at Taylor's College instead of Sunway College.

I attended the open day of Taylor's College on 8 December 2012 with my parents. During the open day, the teacher in charge introduced 4 pre-university programs, Cambridge A-levels (CAL), South Australian Matriculation (SAM), Canadian Pre-University (CPU) and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). I was not interested in CPU and IBDP, so I had to choose between A-levels and SAM. At last, I chose A-levels because it is mainly exam-based while SAM involves assignments and projects, therefore A-levels is more suitable for me. The teacher told us that there would be 3 intakes, January intake, April intake and July intake. He adviced me to choose January intake because for the April intake, all lessons would be accelerated and it is only intended for students who would be going for the PLKN (National Service). I chose to register for January intake, but I would skip the first few weeks of lessons because I wanted to enter A-levels only on February 2013.

I registered for A-levels on the spot and my parents also paid a part of the fees. I could get a RM1000 discount because I registered early and my mother formerly studied in Taylor's College. During registration, the teacher in charge obtained my SPM trial examination results through the SAPS website. I chose to take the subjects Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology and Physics in A-levels. I was also interested to take Further Mathematics and Computing but I could not because the maximum number of subjects allowed is 4. According to the teacher in charge, the A-levels course would start on 14 January 2013 and there would be an orientation on the first week. Because of that, I had to change my original plan. I decided that I would attend college on the first week for the orientation, then return to Kulim for 2 weeks until February, then attend college again in February. My parents had no choice but to agree to my plan.

On 11 December 2012 (Tuesday), I went to Hong Kong with my parents for holidays. We stayed there for 5 days and 4 nights. We flew there by Malaysian Airlines aeroplane and we stayed in Nikko Hotel located in Tsim Sha Tsui. On the first day, we justed walked around near the hotel. We had lunch and dinner in restaurants near the hotel. On the next day 12 December 2012 (Wednesday), in the morning we took a ferry to Macao. In Macao, a tour guide took us around Macao. We visited some nice places in Macao such as St Paul's Church. We had lunch in a Portugese Restaurant. At night, we took a ferry back to Hong Kong. However, we ended up in the wrong jetty, and as a result we had to walk for about 2 hours to get back to the hotel. On 13 December 2012 (Thursday), after lunch, we went to the city centre of Hong Kong. We went shopping there. After that, we visited the Victoria Peak. We took a tram up the Victoria Peak. There, we could view the skyline of Hong Kong. On 14 December 2012 (Friday), we went to Mongkok and had lunch there. After that, we visited the Wong Tai Sin temple. There, I asked the fortune teller about by studies and he told me 'No problem!'. Then, we returned to Tsim Sha Tsui. We visited the Gallery of Stars before returning to the hotel. On 15 December 2012 (Friday), we went to the Hong Kong airport early in the morning. We flew back to Malaysia at 9:45AM.

Earlier when I went to Kuala Lumpur on 4 December 2012, my grandparents went to Melbourne, Australia on the same day to visit my aunt's family. My grandparents came back to Malaysia on 15 December 2012, which was the same day my parents and I returned to Malaysia from Hong Kong. Originally, my grandparents planned to return to Kulim on 16 December 2012 and my parents agreed to take them back on that day. I also wanted to go back to Kulim as early as possible because I wanted to have more time in Kulim before I leave Kulim to further my studies. However, my grandparents later changed their mind and decided to stay a few more days in Kuala Lumpur. Therefore, I could not return to Kulim on 16 December 2012. I was unhappy about that but there was nothing I could do. At first, my grandparents decided to return to Kulim on 19 December but later they further delayed to 22 December 2012. So, I stayed in Kuala Lumpur for about a week more.

My grandparents decided to take a train back to Kulim on 22 December 2012 (Saturday). However, train tickets for 22 December had sold out and only train tickets for 23 December 2012 were available. So, my parents bought the 23 December train tickets for my grandparents. On 22 December 2012, my parents drove me back to Kulim at night. My grandparents were not at Kulim at that time because they would come back to Kulim in the morning on the next day. On the next day 23 December 2012 (Sunday), my parents and I went to the train station in Bukit Mertajam to fetch my grandparents back to Kulim. That night, my parents went back to Kuala Lumpur.

On 24 December 2012 (Monday), my grandfather took me to register in Boon Liang driving school. However, because soon I would be going to Kuala Lumpur on 14 January 2012 for my A-levels orientation, the driving school said that I had not enough time to complete the driving course in Kulim. I could only take the Highway code test in Kulim and continue the rest of the course in Kuala Lumpur. Then, they also said that my identification card was the old version so there was a risk that its chip might not function correctly. If the chip cannot function, I could not sit for the Highway code test and I would need to apply for a new identification card, which might require one month. They told me to check the chip of my IC with the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara. My grandfather immediately took me there to check and luckily my IC chip could function properly. Then, we went back to the driving school to complete the registration. The driving school told me that I had to attend a course first before taking the Highway code test.

On 26 December 2012 (Wednesday), I attended the Kursus Kurikulum Pendidikan Pemandu (KPP). Early in the morning, my grandfather took me to the office of Boon Liang driving school. Then, the Boon Liang Driving School took me to Institut Memandu Jimat Canggih, another major driving school in Lunas. A few other people were also involved. Before going there, they gave every one a book for the Highway code exam. There, I had to listen to a talk on the highway code and the theories of driving. I met one of my schoolmate there. The talk lasted for 6 hours. After 3 hours talk, at noon we were given a lunch break. After the break, the talk continued on for another 3 hours. Out of my expectation, the person who gave the talk was not fierce and he liked to joke with us so the talk was quite interesting. The talk ended in the afternoon. Then, Boon Liang Driving School took us back to their office. Then, they gave us some useful tips on the highway code test. After that, I went home.

Between 23 December 2012 and 12 January 2013, I stayed in Kulim. I spent most of my time relaxing myself. I surfed the internet, played computer games, watched television and read story books & comics. I often went out shopping and eating with my grandparents. My grandfather also thought me to drive. I drove around my residential area but I did not drive on the main road. In the beginning I could not drive well but later I could drive better although I often made some mistakes. However, my grandfather's car has automatic transmission which is much easier to drive. I also did some studying. Before taking the Highway code test, every day I would spend some time reading the Highway code book. After I finished taking the Highway code test, every day I read the STPM revision books that I bought in Kuala Lumpur earlier instead.

On 2 January 2013 (Wednesday), I sat for the Highway code test. My grandfather took me to the Boon Liang Driving School. Then, the driving school took me to MySpeed Kulim in Kelang Lama to take the test. There was  another person who also took the test at the same time. In MySpeed Kulim office, I had to wait for a while before I was called for the test. I faced a problem, my thumbprint could not be detected by the reader. After a few failed attempts, they had to issue me a smart card but luckily they did not charge me extra. Then, I took the test. The test was conducted suing computer and I could choose to answer either in English and Malay. I chose Malay because the book I read was in Malay. All questions were multiple-choice questions and they were quite easy. At last, I managed to score 50/50 for the test. I was given a certificate. Then, the Boon Liang Driving School took me back to their office and they gave me a receipt. After that, I went home.

On 12 January 2013 (Saturday), my parents came back to Kulim. On the next day 13 January 2013 (Sunday), they took me to Kuala Lumpur.  The college would start on the next day. On 14 January 2013 (Monday), I attended the first day of college. Then, I continued to attend college for 3 weeks. Although I was attending college, I still considered that 3 weeks to be part of my holiday because I relaxed and did not do any study. Earlier I had planned to return to Kulim after attending the first week of college. However, my mother suggested that I only go back to Kulim on 27 January 2013 because it would be more convenient since we had to go to Penang on that day to attend a wedding. I agreed to her suggestion. Later, my mother wanted to change the plan again. She suggested that I follow them back to Kuala Lumpur on 27 January 2013 after the wedding and go back to Kulim again on 2 February 2013. Then, I could stay in Kulim until after the Chinese New Year. The reason was because she did not want me to miss out 2 weeks of college. At first, I disagreed. But, later I had to agree because there would a program in college on 4 February 2013.

On 26 January 2013 (Saturday), I followed my parents back to Penang. My father's friend's daughter had a wedding in Penang and we attended it. On that night, we stayed at Sunway Hotel in Penang. On the next day 27 January 2013 (Sunday), after lunch we went to Kulim for a few hours. I talked to my grandparents about my experiences in college. Then after dinner, I followed my parents back to Kuala Lumpur. I stayed in Kuala Lumpur and attended college for another week. I had to submit a parents letter to the college office because I would be absent for the following week.

On 2 February 2013 (Saturday), my parents took me back to Kulim. Early morning on 3 February 2013 (Sunday), my parents returned to Kuala Lumpur. On that day, I went shopping with my grandparents in Pacific Hypermarket to buy some Chinese New Year products. For the following week, I spent my time in Kulim. I mostly followed my grandparents to go shopping. I also did some studying in order to compensate for what I missed out in college. I read the STPM revision books that I bought earlier because the STPM syllabus and A-levels syllabus are similar and I did not bring back my A-levels books to Kulim.

The Chinese New Year was on 10 February 2013 (Sunday). The college took a week of holidays for Chinese New Year so I could stay for another week in Kulim. My parents came back to Kulim on 9 February 2013. I celebrated the Chinese New Year in Kulim. On 13 February 2013 (Wednesday), my parents went back to Kuala Lumpur because my father had a meeting and my brother had co-curricular activities on the next day. I did not follow them back to Kuala Lumpur because I wanted to spend a few more days in Kulim. During the next few days, I followed my grandparents to go shopping. We also went to Penang to eat. My parents came back to Kulim again on 16 February 2013 (Saturday). On 17 February 2013 (Sunday), my parents took me back to Kuala Lumpur. The college reopened on the next day 18 February 2013 (Monday).

18 February 2013 marked the end of my 2012 year-end holiday, as well as my 'After SPM life'.

June 2012 and July 2012: The eventful months

Looking back at the year 2012, of all the months, I consider June and July as the 'eventful' months. The reason is because many important incidents happened during that 2 months. Other than June and July 2012, many incidents also happened on August, September, October, November and December 2012. However, most of the incidents on those months happened only in my school, while the incidents on June and July 2012 happened in many places, so here I would write about the incidents happened during June and July 2012.

4 June 2012 (Monday):

It was during the 2012 mid-year school holiday. Earlier in March 2012, I applied for the ASEAN Scholarship through online. On that night, I received an email which told me to sit for the ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test. If I could score well in the test, I would receive an email on August 2012 which would invite me to attend an interview on September 2012. The test would be held at Sunway Carnival Mall, Butterworth on 2 days, 16 June and 17 June 2012. I was happy to be chosen to sit for the test.

Later, I logged in to Facebook. I received a friend request from a Malay girl. Although I did not know her, I just accepted the friend request. Before the school holidays, all Form 5 students were asked do the Additional Mathematics Project Work. A few days earlier, I managed to complete the project work. I decided to upload it to this blog to share it with my friends who might need help. After accepting her friend request, that girl chatted with me. She said that she was the friend of someone who formerly studied in my school during Form 1 to 3. She told me that she downloaded my Additional Mathematics Project Work and asked me if she could edit my project work and re-upload it. I told her that she could, but with the condition that she must not remove me on Facebook after doing that, and she agreed. I was happy over this incident because I knew that my work was appreciated by others.

When I slept on that night, I had a strange dream. I dreamt that after the 2012 mid-year school holidays, the school rearranged the Form 5 classes and I was transferred to another class. Some of my former Form 1 to 3 classmates were also in that class and I talked to them. As I was talking to them, suddenly I noticed that many of my Form 4 and 5 classmates were not in that class. That meant that I would be separated from them. I was very sad about that. I walked throughout the school to find my Form 4 and 5 classmates. At last, I found them in one of the classroom. Most of my Form 4 and 5 classmates were in that class. I wanted to request the school to change my class, but the school was over at that time so I had to wait till the second day. Then, on the way back home, I cried all the way. Suddenly, I woke up from my dream. I was glad that it was just a dream. The dream made I realised that I should treasure every moments with my friends. Moreover, I would be separated with all my friends half a year later. Actually, this incident was one of the factor that lead to my '7-11 Revolution' which happened a month later.

10 June 2012 (Sunday):

It was the first day of school after the 2012 mid-year school holiday. Before the school holidays, it was the Form 5 First Term Examination. So, it was time to get my exam results. After the assembly, it was Moral period. I was quite worried about my Moral results, because I thought that I had written a wrong 'nilai' in one essay question. I was so happy when I knew that I got 97 marks for Moral. I found out that the 'nilai' which I previously thought that it was wrong turned out to be correct. After recess, it was Malay period. My teacher gave back Malay Paper 2 first. My marks was 102/110. It was quite high so I thought that I might be able to get A+. Then, I got Malay Paper 1 and my marks was 113/130. In overall, my marks was 90. I was very happy because I got A+ in Malay for the first time. I was also the only one in my class to get A+ in Malay. Then, it was Sejarah. I was also very worried of Sejarah. At last, I got 92 marks for Sejarah. Although it was A+, I was not very satisfied with the marks. Then, I realised that I could get 2 more marks so I told my teacher about that and he added my marks to 94.

The last period was Additional Mathematics. My teacher gave back Paper 1 first. I was disappointed to get only 78/80 because I thought I could get 80/80. Then, I was even more disappointed when I knew that I only got 84/100 for Paper 2. My overall marks was 90. I checked my answer paper and found out that my teacher did not give full marks for many questions although my final answer was correct and I did show my workings. I also realised that my teacher marked my answers as wrong for a few questions on Index Number, Solutions of Triangles and Progression. Therefore, I asked my teacher about that. After listening to her explanation, I realised that I had made careless mistakes in the questions on Solution of Triangles and Progression. However, for the question on Index Number, she said that my solution seemed to be correct but the marking scheme used a different method and as a result my answer was different from the marking scheme. She said that she would take back my answer paper to recheck and think about that question at home. Another student, Jeevaa also had problem with that question. After school, my mother came to fetch me because my parents were at Kulim on that day. I told her that I was unhappy about the Additional Mathematics paper but she seemed not concerned about it. Worst of all, my grandmother did not greet me as usual when I arrived at home. That made me even more unhappy. After reaching home, I immediately asked my grandfather about that Index Number question. He concluded that I did use the correct method but I must have made some mistakes in the calculation. He said that I could still get marks for the workings. Then, I calmed down.

11 June 2012 (Monday):

On that day, some VIP's visited our school. As a result, the school pricipal told all teachers not to give back any examination papers on that day, instead they should carry out normal lessons. During Physics period, my techer still gave back our exam papers, but he did not discuss them on that day. I got 47/50 for Paper 1, 99/100 for Paper 2 and 40/40 for Paper 3. My overall marks was 97. After that, it was Mathematics period. My teacher did not give back the exam papers but instead just told us everyone's marks. She said that I got 100 marks. It was the 4th time continuously in a row that I got 100 marks for Mathematics. During recess, I went to the staffroom to ask my Additional Mathematics teacher if she had rechecked my exam paper, but she said that she had not yet rechecked it. After recess, it was Chemistry period. My teacher gave back Paper 1 first, then Paper 3 and finally Paper 2. My Paper 1 score was 50/50. Then, I was very disappointed and worried when I got only 40/50 for Paper 3. To get A+, I must get at least 90/100 for Paper 2. At last, I got 93/100 for Paper 2. In overall, my marks for Chemistry was 92. The last period on that day was Information and Communication Technology (ICT). I was very happy to know that I got 100 marks for ICT. It was the 2nd time I got 100 marks.

12 June 2012 (Tuesday):

The subjects that I still did not get my results were Biology, English and Chinese. There was English period on that day. I was very worried of English because I thought that I had written my essay out of topic. Our English teacher did go to school, but she did not give back our English paper. Instead, she took a few good essays written by students of other classes in the examination and read them to us. During recess, I did not look for my Additional Mathematics teacher because I had decided to wait until the Additional Mathematics period on Thursday.

13 June 2012 (Wednesday):

On that day, Jeevaa told me that our Biology teacher had gave him his Biology paper and he got 100/100 for Biology Paper 2. I did not believe that because I thought he was weaker in Biology. However, he showed be his Biology Paper 2 as a proof so I finally believed. There was no Biology period on that day, but I met my Biology teacher. I asked her if she could give me my Biology paper since Jeevaa had got his paper, but she said that she gave Jeevaa because he would be absent on the next day. My teacher said that my marks for Biology Paper 2 was close to 100 but I did not get 100 because I made some careless mistakes. She also said that she would give back the Biology paper on the following day. Later, during the Chinese period, I got my Chinese paper. Originally, my overall marks was 85. However, my teacher made some mistakes while calculating the marks and my actual marks was only 78. I told my teacher about it to change the marks to 78. Although 78 marks was only A-, I still did that because I wanted my actual marks. Also, my marks for Chinese would not be recorded in the SAPS since I did not register for Chinese in SPM.

14 June 2012 (Thursday):

There was Biology period on that day. My Biology teacher gave us back our Biology paper. I got 46/50 for Paper 1, 97/100 for Paper 2 and 50/50 for Paper 3. My overall marks for Biology was 97. Although Jeevaa got 100/100 for Paper 2, his overall marks was only 95. The reason was because he did not score well in Paper 3. My teacher decided to add 5 marks for every students who have completed their notes. However, I rejected the 5 marks offer because I wanted my actual marks.

16 June 2012 (Saturday):

On that day, it was the first day of ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test. There were 3 tests, which were Mathematics, English and General Ability Test. The test was held at the Convention Centre of the Sunway Carnival Mall in Butterworth. On that morning, my parents arrived at Kulim around 8AM. Then, my parents took me to the Sunway Carnival Mall and my grandparents also followed along. On our way there, we stopped at somewhere to eat breakfast. We arrived at Sunway Carnival Mall at 11:00AM. We waited there for the test. One of my friend, MXY also applied for the scholarship and she went there for the test. At 11:45AM, it was the reporting time of the test. After reporting, all candidates had to wait for a long time before we were allowed to enter the examination hall. During the test, my grandparents went shopping in the supermarket inside the mall while my parents went back to Kulim. The first test was the Mathematics Test and it started at 1:00PM. The test lasted for 2 hours and we were allowed to use calculator in the test. The questions were easier than what I expected. I expected the questions would test on the SPM Additional Mathematics topics but in turned out to test mostly on the SPM Mathematics topics. However, the questions were not easy. Many questions were not direct and require thinking and reasoning. In fact, some questions were similar to the Olympiad Mathematics questions. There were also not enough time. At last, I could answer around 19 out of the 26 questions. For the other 7 questions, I did not know how to do them and I had no time to think. The Mathematics test ended on 3:00PM. Then, we were given a 15 minutes break. My grandparents had bought me pizza from the Pizza Hut in Sunway Carnival Mall and they were waiting outside the hall. I had to eat the pizza quickly because I only had 15 minutes.

After that, the next test was English. The English test was divided into Test 1 and Test 2. Test 1 tested on comprehension and summary while Test 2 tested on essay. The English test 1 started on 3:30PM. The comprehension questions were similar to the SPM style questions, but it was much more difficult. The passage given was much longer and most comprehension questions require the use of own words to answer. There were even questions on the meaning of phrases. For the summary, it was very much like the SPM, but it was much more difficult to find the correct points in the passage given. The test lasted for 1 and a half hours and ended at 5:00PM. Then, we were given a 15 minutes break again. After that, the English test 2 started on 5:25PM. I was surprised to know that I had to write a 350 words essay in just 30 minutes. For the SPM, 1 hour was given to write the same length of essay and I already thought that it was too short a time and now the time was shortened to 30 minutes. There were 2 questions to choose from and I chose the question 'Wealth is a Blessing as well as a Curse'. I had to hurry when writing due to insufficient time and as a result I could not write well. I wrote 4 main points, 2 on 'blessing' and 2 on 'curse'. The test ended at 5:55PM. After the test, my parents were already waiting outside the hall. My grandparents were shopping in some shops in the mall. Then, all of us went to a nearby restaurant and had fish curry for dinner.

17 June 2012 (Sunday):

It was the second day of the ASEAN scholarship selection test. Although it was Sunday, there was no school on that day because it was a public holiday in Kedah due to the Israk & Mikraj festival. I woke up early at 7:00AM. My grandmother bought me Nasi Lemak for breakfast. After breakfast, at 7:45AM my parents took me to Sunway Carnival Mall. My grandparents did not follow along on that day. We arrived at Sunway Carnival Mall on 8:30AM. My father parked his car right outside the Convention Centre. I waited in the car until the reporting time at 8:45AM. After reporting, all candidates again had to wait a long time before we were allowed to enter the examination hall. On that day, there was only one test on General Ability. During the test, my parents went to Penang for a while. The General Ability test started on 10:00AM. Earlier I had expected the test to test on general knowledge but it turned out to test on IQ. For every question, 3 pictures were given and I had to determine the 4th one. The questions were multiple-choice questions. There were 46 questions but the time given was only 20 minutes, so I only had enough time to answer about two-third of the questions. For the remaining one-third, I had to simply guess the answers since there was no more time left. The General Ability test ended on 10:20AM.

After the test, there was a briefing session for all candidates and parents. I told my parents to attend the briefing session because parents were encouraged to attend it to get more information about the ASEAN scholarship. The briefing session started at 10:30AM. However, my parents had not yet arrived at the Sunway Carnival Mall Convention Centre so I had to attend it myself. It turned out that the briefing session had nothing much but only introduced about the ASEAN Scholarship and the education system in Singapore. Not many parents attended it. The organiser then told us that if our parents missed it they could attend the 2nd session in the afternoon. The briefing session lasted for 45 minutes and ended at 11:15AM. At that time, my parents were waiting outside the hall. I told them not to attend the 2nd briefing session in the afternoon since there was nothing much during the session. Then, my parents took me home.

18 June 2012 (Monday):

I went to school as usual. The only subject that I still did not know my result was English. I was not very concerned about it because I already got A+ in 9 subjects. There was English period on that day but my teacher did not enter the class. A few classmates and I decided to go to the staffroom to find out our English marks. I was quite happy to know that I got 87 marks for English. Although it was only an A, in the beginning I only hoped to get A- since I thought that my essay was out of topic. It turned out that my teacher did not consider my essay as out of topic and I got 42/50 for it. Many of my marks were deducted from English Paper 2. Then, Jeevaa borrowed my paper and he realised that my essay was out of topic but the teacher still gave me 42/50. He wanted to ask my teacher about that. I quickly snatched back my paper and I tried to give it to my friends in other classes in order to hide it. At last, the girl KYF who sat beside me agreed to help me hide the paper and keep it a secret. Out of my expectation, my English teacher suddenly entered the class and she discussed the exam questions. I was very worried that Jeevaa might ask her about my essay and I regretted showing him my exam paper. Luckily, he did not ask the teacher about that. My overall results for the Form 5 First Term Examination was 9A+ and 1A. My grandparents and parents were a bit disappointed of my English results when they knew about it.

29 June 2012 (Friday):

The Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture Competition would be held on the next day. Earlier, my Chinese teacher told all Form 5 Chinese students about the competition and encouraged all of us to take part in it. Those who registered for the competition were given 3 books, one about Chinese history, one about Chinese geography and one about Chinese culture, all for free. The questions in the competition would be based on the contents of the three books. The competition was organised by the cooperation of China and the Education Department of Malaysia, therefore it would be recognised by the school and we could get 17 co-curriculum marks by taking part in it. Those who managed to pass in the competition would also get a certificate, while those who won the competition would be given prizes and allowed to compete in the next round. Many students and I decided to take part in the competition. Because I was always busy studying for my exams, I never read the 3 books before that. On that day, I spent the whole day reading the 3 books to prepare for the competition on the next day.

30 June 2012 (Saturday):

The Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture Competition was held on that day. The competition was held at SMJK Chio Min. On that morning, I was still reading the 3 books. I managed to finish reading the Chinese History and Chinese Geography books but not the Chinese Culture book. I knew that I should focus more on history and geography because I knew less about culture. At 1:00PM, my grandparents took me to SMJK Chio Min. After I reached there, I met many of my Chinese friends from my school. I registered my name. Then, I also met some of my friends studying in SMJK Chio Min. After that, we were asked to go to the hall to listen to some announcements regarding the competition. Then, the competition started at 2:00PM. The time given was 1 hour and there were 100 questions. All the questions were multiple-choice questions. The questions were divided into 3 sections and questions in different sections carry different marks. The total marks was 260. I was sure to answer only some of the questions correctly. My teacher had previously said that in order to pass the competition and get the certificate, I must answer at least half of the questions correctly. I was not sure if I could pass the competition. The competition ended on 3:00PM. Many other students decided to pass up the answer sheet early after they finished answering all questions but I decided to continue until the time was up because I wanted to recheck my answers. After the competition, my grandparents were waiting outside the gate of SMJK Chio Min and they took me home. After a short while, I had to go for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. Some of my friends in the tuition centre also took part in the same competition.

6 July 2012 (Friday):

The Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competition would be held on the following day. Earlier, my school decided to choose four Form 5 students to take part in the competition. My school chose me for the competition and I was also willing to take part in the competition. It was the 3rd time I took part in that competition, as I had previously taken part in the same competition when I was in Form 2 and Form 4. The participants of the competition were divided into 3 groups, which were Bongsu for Form 1 and 2, Muda for Form 3 and 4 and Sulong for Form 5 and 6. On that day, my grandfather thought me some Form 6 topics and we also went through some of the past-year Olympiad questions in order to prepare me for the competition on the next day.

7 July 2012 (Saturday):

The Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competition was held on that day. The competition was held at MRSM Baling. On that morning, my grandparents took me to school and I arrived school at 7:30AM. I waited in school until 8:00AM. Then, the teacher in charge took me and all other participants to MRSM Baling in her car. We arrived in MRSM Baling at 9:15AM. There, I met some of my friends from SMJK Chio Min. Aftering registering, we were allowed to enter the room where the competition would be held and discuss among ourselves until the competition started. I expected the questions to be very difficult since I was in the Sulong category, and I remembered that on the previous year the Muda category questions were already very difficult and I could answer only 3 out of the 9 questions correctly. The competition started at 10:00AM. Out of my expectation, the questions turned out to be easier than what I expected. In fact, it was even easier than the Muda category questions on the previous year. The questions were divided into 2 sections. Section A consisted of 6 short questions and required only answers without workings, while Section B consisted of 3 long questions that required full workings to be shown. For Section A, I could answer 5 of the 6 questions and I was very confident to get 4 of them correct while for Section B, I could answer 2 of the 3 questions and I was confident to get 1 of them correct. The competition lasted for 2 and an a half hours and ended at 12:30PM. Then, the teacher in charge took us back to our school. On the way back, we were given bread for lunch. After arriving at my school, my grandparents took me back home. After a short while, I had to go for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. Some of my friends in the tuition centre also took part in the same competition.

9 July 2012 (Monday):

The 'First Solar Environment Outreach Program' would be held in school on the next day. A group of 4 Malay girls in my class would be taking part in a competition during the program. Therefore, on that day they wanted to make some preparations for the competition. They wanted to design a model of city that uses solar power entirely. After recess, it was Chemistry period and the Sejarah period would be after the Chemistry period. The 4 Malay girls decided to go to the Multimedia room of my school during the Sejarah period to prepare for the competition. They chose Sejarah period because it was boring. As a result, the Chinese girls and some boys in my class also wanted to follow them there to use that opportunity to skip the Sejarah class. I also wanted to skip Sejarah because most students in my class would not be in class during Sejarah period and the Sejarah class was boring to me.

Immediately after the Chemistry period ended, I walked out of my class. Many other students in my class also did the same. At first, a few boys and I hid somewhere near our class. We waited until our Sejarah teacher entered the class. Then, we went to the multimedia room. The girls were already in the multimedia room and they stayed at the back part of the room. Some of them were doing homework while others were designing the model of the solar-powered city. I tried to help them but I could not give much help. Instead, I spent most of my time talking to my friends there. At the same time, our Biology teacher was teaching another class in the front part of the room. She knew that we must be skipping the Sejarah class although we did not tell her. Still, she allowed us to stay in that room. After the Sejarah period ended, we went back to our class. There were only a few students who went for the Sejarah class. Later, our Sejarah teacher saw us and he asked us why we did not attend his class. We lied to him that the whole class would be taking part in the competition on the next day and the teacher in charge told us to prepare for it on that day. He did not scold us although he did not actually believed what we said.

10 July 2012 (Tuesday) & 11 July 2012 (Wednesday):

On 10 July 2012, the 'First Solar Environment Outreach Program' was held in my school. During the program, I helped the 4 girls in my class who took part in the competition. This event is quite important to me. It led to my '7-11 Revolution' on 11 July 2012, which made me realised that I should treasure my school life and friendship.

I have written in detail about that incident on this blog earlier. You can read it here:

https://www.daniellimjj.com/2013/01/11-july-2012.html

Due to that incident, I became closer to NBL and NBQ who were 2 of the 4 girls that I helped during their competition. Earlier, I was not very close to both of them but closer to another girl NFH.

19 July 2012 (Thursday):

Earlier, a Chemistry teacher in my school had chosen me to take part in the Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan Malaysia (K3M) competition. The reason was because I got the highest mark for Chemistry in my class during the Form 5 1st Term Examination. Another boy in my class, Jeevaa was also chosen. The teacher gave us the past-year K3M questions to practice. I did them and they were not difficult. However, I did not pay much attention to the competition because I wanted to study for the exam. On that day, when I arrived at school Jeevaa asked me if I had studied Chemistry and I was surprised by his question. He then told me that the Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan Malaysia competition would be held on that day. I did not know about that earlier but I was not worried about the competition.

The competition started at 10:00AM. It was held at the Chemistry lab of my school. 2 students from every Form 5 classes took part in the competition. The time given for the competition was 90 minutes but the teacher in charge said that many students in the previous years could finish answering within 60 minutes. So, he would be collecting the answer papers after 60 minutes but we could be given another 30 minutes of we really needed it. The questions were not difficult. Basically, the questions tested only on the SPM topics but some were a little tricky. There were 40 questions and all questions were multiple-choice questions. I could answer most of the questions and I could finish answering within 60 minutes. I was not sure if I could get all the questions correct. After the test, I went to the canteen to eat before I returned to my class. In class, I told my friends about the competition.

21 July 2012 (Saturday):

On that day, it was the Chinese Essay Writing competition. The competition was organised by the Chung Ling High School in Penang and it was held at SRJK (C) Chio Min A. Earlier, my Chinese teacher told me about the competition and encouraged me to take part. Actually, I did not want to take part in it because I knew that I could not possibly win the competition. However, I agreed to take part in the competition because I did not want to disappoint my Chinese teacher. On that morning, my grandparents took me to SRJK (C) Chio Min A. After arriving there, I had to wait because the competition had not yet started. At 9:00AM, all participants were told to register their names. There, I met TWS, a student from my school. Other than the Chinese Essay Writing competition for secondary school students, the was also a Mathematics Competition for primary school students. Then, we were allowed to enter a classroom where the competition would take place.

At 9:30AM, the organiser entered the classroom and gave a speech. During the speech, they announced the essay topic. The topic for upper secondary students was 成长需要幻想 (The process of growing up requires imagination). I was worried because the topic given was too general and I was not sure what to write. After that, we were asked to walk out of the classroom to take photographs together with the organiser outside the classroom. The news reporter of Guang Ming Daily newspaper took the photograph. Then, the competition started at 10:00AM. We were given 2 and a half hours to write the essay but we could pass up early if we wanted to. Although I was not sure how to write, I still tried my best to write it. I decided to write the reasons on why we need imagination when growing up. Then, I began to have more ideas and finally I could finish the essay. My essay was not very good but at least it was average. I decided to pass up early before the time ended since many other students also did the same. When I walked out of the classroom, I was given a participating certificate and some snacks and drinks by the organiser. My grandparents were already waiting outside the school and they took me home.

23 July 2012 (Monday):

On that day, it was the first day of the book fair in my school. My school organised a book fair in the school hall to sell reference books at lower prices. There was Sejarah period on that day. Again, some students in my class, including NBL and her friends decided to skip Sejarah class to go for the book fair. I decided to do the same as well. During the Sejarah period, we went to the school hall where the book fair was held. There, we just spent our time walking around and looking at the reference books. I bought the past-year SBP trial questions for Biology. There, I talked a lot to NBL. Then, when the Sejarah period was about to end, 2 boys Aidil and Tamimi told me that they wanted to go for the Sejarah class because they were afraid that the teacher might scold them. I decided to follow them to the Sejarah class. I wanted to tell NBL about that but I could not find her at that time so I just went for Sejarah class straight away. When we entered the class, the Sejarah teacher asked us where did we go before that. We told him that we went for the book fair because we thought that all classes were involved. Our teacher did not scold us but just told us not to do that again next time. The other students who skipped Sejarah class did not return to class.

After the Sejarah period ended, the teacher wrote down the names of students who did not enter class at all, including NBL. I tried to convince the teacher not to write down NBL's name but I failed. After Sejarah, it was ICT period. NBL told me that she was angry with me because I left the book fair for Sejarah class without first telling her. I explained to her that I could not tell her because she was not around at that time but she was still unhappy. Then, I told her that NFH would not be angry with me over such a small matter. She was even angrier and she refused to talk to me because she did not like to be compared with NFH. When the ICT period ended, I said goodbye to her but she just ignored me left the computer lab. That incident made me feel very sad. I was not sure why NBL was unhappy with me but I knew the reason was either because I left the book fair without telling her, because I did not manage to stop the Sejarah teacher from writing down her name, or because I compared her with NFH. I told myself that no matter how I must get the forgiveness from her. The SPM Trial Examination would start on 14 August 2012. I started revising for the exam on that day. I began with Biology Form 5.

24 July 2012 (Tuesday):

It was the second day of the book fair in my school. After I reached school on that day, I prepared to apologise to NBL. Then, when NBL arrived, I immediately apologised to her and asked her why she was angry with me on the previous day. She said that it was because I left the book fair without telling her. I promised NBL that I would never do the same thing again and I would also not compare her with NFH again. Finally, NBL agreed to forgive me. On the 3rd and 4th period, there was no teacher in class. So, I went to the book fair in the school hall again. NBL also went to the book fair. NBL then told me that on the previous day she was scolded by a worker there because she entered through the wrong door.After recess, it was Bahasa Melayu period. However, my Bahasa Melayu teacher did not go to school on that day so another teacher replaced her. That teacher that took everyone in my class to the school library to read some books.

At the library, NBL invited me to sit beside her and I agreed. NBQ was playing Scrabble at that time and she invited me to play with her but I rejected. Then, NBQ played Scrabble with another boy. I took a STPM Biology book to read and while reading I talked to NBL. Then, I said to NBL that I never disturbed her unlike some other boys in my class who liked to disturb her. However, she suddenly got annoyed with me. She just stood up and went to play Scrabble with NBQ, leaving me alone. I was a little disappointed. Luckily, she was not angry with me again and after we returned to our class she continued to talk to me. Then, during the Mathematics period, the teacher gave us some worksheets. The teacher asked all students to walk to the front of the class to take the worksheets. I took the worksheet for myself and also for NBL, but I did not take for KYF who sat beside me because she did not ask me to do so. As a result, KYF said that I was not a gentleman. That made me feel a little more disappointed.

25 July 2012 (Wednesday):

NBL was did not go to school on that day and I missed her. On that day, the school announced that on the next day there would be a photographing session for all Form 5 students who got top-65 during the previous examination. I was involved in the photographing session. NBL was also involved but since she was absent I thought that she might not know about it. I decided to send a SMS to tell her about the photographing session.

26 July 2012 (Thursday):

The photographing session for all Form 5 students who got top-65 in the previous examination was held on that day. All Form 3 students were also involved in the photographing session. It was held during the school assembly from 7:30AM to 8:00AM at the school hall. Before the session started, some boys including me had to help our teachers to carry the chairs to the school hall for the photographing session. NBL did go to school on that day. I took photograph with all the other 64 students during the photographing session.

27 July 2012 (Friday):

On that morning, I went for my Bahasa Melayu tuition. On the way to the tuition, I used my mobile phone to log into my Facebook account. I saw that someone had posted on Facebook that the list of students selected for the PLKN (National Service) was already out and she even shared the link to check the PLKN result online. I was very surprised and worried about that as I did not want to go for the PLKN because the training is tough and I was not interested in it. I decided not to check the PLKN results first. At the Bahasa Melayu tuition, a girl THY told me that she was chosen for PLKN and asked me if I was chosen. I told her that I had not yet checked it. After I went home from tuition, I did not tell my grandparents about the PLKN because I knew that they would surely ask me to check immediately. Then, I prayed that I would not be chosen for the PLKN. Other than myself, I also prayed for NBL and NFH because they are by good friends and I knew that they also did not want to go for the PLKN. However, I did not pray for NBQ because I considered her as my 'unimportant' friend at that time.

28 July 2012 (Saturday):

The London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony was held at 2:00AM on the previous night. My grandparents and I did not stay up late to watch it. On that morning, we watched the repeated version of the opening ceremony. However, we watched only the beginning part because later we went out for breakfast. We had breakfast in a newly opened restaurant in Bukit Martajam. When I was eating, I suddenly realised that a few months later I would be leaving Kulim to further my studies after secondary school. So, that meant I would soon be separated from my grandparents and I could not go out and have breakfast with them very often anymore. I told myself that I must treasure my every moments in Kulim with my grandparents. Thinking of that made me feel very sad. Actually, earlier I had realised that during my '7-11 Revolution'.

On that afternoon, I went for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. During the tuition, my tuition friends asked me if I was chosen for PLKN. They said that they had checked and they did not get PLKN. I told them that I had not yet checked because I was afraid of being selected for PLKN. Then, they said that many of their friends were also not chosen, so most likely I was also not chosen and they told me not to worry. They tried to trick me to show them my IC because they wanted to use my IC number to help me check if I was chosen for PLKN, but I managed to prevent them from doing so. After that, I told

them not to talk loudly about the PLKN because my grandfather might hear it. If my grandfather knew that the PLKN results was out, he would surely ask me to check it on that day. However, some other students in the tuition class were also talking about the PLKN and I could not stop them. Some of them were chosen for PLKN while some were not. Luckily, at last my grandfather did not know about the PLKN.

29 July 2012 (Sunday):

On that day, after I arrived at school, my classmates asked me if I was chosen for PLKN. I told them that I had not yet checked it because I was afraid to do so. Most of them were not chosen for PLKN. A boy who did not get PLKN also tried to trick me to show him my IC so that he could use my IC number to help me check my PLKN result, but I managed to stop him from doing so. There was an aerobics exercise in my school for all students on that day. The exercise was held at the school field. There, I asked many of my friends from other classes if they were chosen for PLKN. Most of them were also not chosen. Then, I met NBL and NFH. I asked them if they got PLKN and both of them told me that they were not chosen. I was happy to know that. After that, a girl told me that she had helped me to check and I was not chosen for PLKN. She could do that because she was the monitor of my class during Form 3 and therefore she had my IC number. She said that quite seriously so I believed her.

After the aerobics exercise ended, I returned to my class. In the class, I knew that only 4 students, Jeevaa, KYF, AUH and ASM were confirmed to be selected for the PLKN. A girl said that I would definitely be chosen for PLKN because I was not active in co-curriculum activities. I told her that someone had already checked for me and I was not chosen. Then, NBQ told me that she had not yet checked it because she was also afraid. I told her not to worry because most students including me were not chosen for PLKN, so most likely she was also not chosen. After I went home, I told my grandparents that the PLKN results was out because I already knew that I was not chosen for PLKN. I also told them that someone had already checked it for me and she said that I was not chosen. My grandparents were happy to hear that. Then, they asked me to check the PLKN result again by myself for confirmation. I checked the PLKN result by SMS. While waiting for the reply, I was still a little worried that the girl did not tell me the truth. Then, I was very happy when I got the reply 'Maaf, anda tidak terpilih untuk menyertai PLKN Siri 10/2013.' The girl did not lie and really I was not chosen for PLKN.

30 July 2012 (Monday):

In school, I told my friends that I was not chosen for PLKN. Some students said that it was unfair because I was not chosen for PLKN although I was inactive in co-curriculum activities, while Jeevaa was chosen for PLKN even though he had represented my school and won in several badminton competitions. I asked NBQ if she had checked whether she was chosen for PLKN. She said that she still had not yet checked and I again advised her not to worry since many students were also not selected. She also said that her friends tried to trick her to get her IC number.

31 July 2012 (Tuesday):

In school, I again asked NBQ if she was chosen for PLKN. She secretly told me that she was chosen for PLKN because she did not want others to know about that. At first I thought that she was just joking. However, she confirmed that she was really chosen for PLKN. She even told the teacher that she was chosen when the teacher asked her about that. Knowing that made me feel guilty. Earlier, I prayed that NBL, NFH and myself would not be chosen for PLKN, but I did not pray for NBQ. Then I knew that NBQ was afraid to check the PLKN results because she was afraid of being chosen for PLKN, just like me. However, I still did not pray for her and I thought that she would be lucky like me. Unfortunately, at last she was chosen for PLKN. I regretted for not praying for her earlier, and that might be the reason that caused her to be chosen. I also felt pity for her because I knew that the PLKN training is tough and she did not want to go for the PLKN. Earlier I heard that the students who were chosen for PLKN could choose not to go for it, if they could provide a valid reason. I hoped that it was true. That incident was one of the factor which led to my '18 October Revolution' later. (You can read about my '18 October Revolution' here: 

https://www.daniellimjj.com/2013/01/18-october-2012-another-important-day.html )

Results of the competitions/tests that I took part during June and July 2012:

1) ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test:

All candidates who scored well in the test would receive an invitation letter on August 2012 to attend an interview session on September 2012. However, I did not receive any letters or email about that during August and September 2012. At last, I concluded that I was not selected for the interview. Most likely I did not score well in the English test because I could not write a good essay in so short a time (30 minutes).

2) Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture competition:

When I was answering the Chemistry Paper 3 during the SPM Trial Examination, my Chinese teacher told be that I managed to pass the competition and therefore I could receive a certificate, although I did not win. My score for that competition was 197/260. A few other students in my school also passed the competition. She asked me to check my personal details on the name list and sign my name after checking. Then, one day during the SPM examination, she gave me the certificate for the competition.

3) Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competiton:

A few days before the SPM started, one of my friend, Afiq told me that he had checked the OMK's website and I managed to get Sanjungan Kehormat (Merit Award) for that competition. He also took part in the same competition and he got Sagu Hati (Consolation) which was better than me. After the SPM ended, I went to the OMK's website to check about it. I really got Sanjungan Kehormat and my ranking was 26th. I was very happy to know that. However, until now I still had not received any rewards for that.

4) Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan (K3M) competition:

One day on October 2012, Jeevaa told me that both of us could get a certificate for that competition. During recess, we went to the Chemistry lab to get the certificate. I scored 36/40 in the competition and I was the highest among all students in my school who took part in that competition, while Jeevaa scored 33/40. Both of us got the High Distinction grade. We got 2 certificates, 1 was the certificate of participation and the other was the certificate for High Distinction. All other participants in my school except one of them also managed to get 2 certificates. Their grades were either High Distinction, Distinction, Good or Merit.

5) Chinese Essay Writing competition:

After the competition on that day, I was immediately given a certificate of participation by the organiser. However, after that I never heard any news about that competition anymore. So, I concluded that I did not win that competition.

(THE END)

24 January 2008 Tragedy

This tragedy happened just 3 weeks after I entered secondary school. It is also known as the 'bottle cover tragedy'. At that time, the school lessons were in the afternoon.

In the morning on 24 January 2008 (Thursday), there was a cross country competition in my school. At that time, I had the habit of not paying attention to what my teacher said in class. Therefore, I did not know that there would be a cross-country competition until the day before that, when one of my friends told me about it. Still, it was not too late. I went to school on that morning and took part in the cross country competition. I was not good at sports but I still tried to run as fast as I could, hoping that I could win the competition. At last, when I reached the finishing line, the teacher in charge said that I finished the 25th. I heard that the top-50 runners would be taken into consideration.

I was very happy because I thought that I had won the cross country competition, so I told one of my friends about that. However, he said 'This is just a rehearsal. Let's see if you can win the actual cross country competition on Saturday.' I was disappointed to hear that. I did not know that the cross country competition on that day was just a rehearsal because I did not pay attention to what my teacher said. Still, I told myself that if I could get the 25th in the rehearsal I might be able to win the actual competition as well. Although I did not hear my teacher saying that the actual cross country competition would be on that Saturday, my friend had mentioned Saturday so I assumed that it was true.

At that time, I had a few friends in secondary school. However, I had some problems with the girls in my class. For some reason, they liked to tease and disturb me. They often called me 'the steel rod dancing girl'. I did not know what that meant exactly but I knew that they were calling me a girl. They also called me a dog. Sometimes, they would use a broom to hit my leg. They also disturbed me in some other ways. I had told my grandparents about that but they could not do anything. Therefore, I hated those girls very much and I took revenge against them. I often used the sharp end of a set-square to poke the cover of their water bottles. However, that did not cause any damage so the girls just ignored what I did.

On the night before 24 January 2008, my grandfather said that I really behaved like a girl so that's why the girls in my class called me a girl. He claimed that I liked to drag on my words when I spoke and make sounds like 'Eh!', which in his opinion were what girls like to do. My grandmother also said that when I was in primary school, I often sat with girls while eating in the canteen. It was not true so I denied, but my grandmother just ignored and continued saying. Then, my grandparents said that if I wanted the girls in my class to stop teasing me, I should change my behaviour first. I definitely did not agree with them, because it was wrong for the girls to tease me and there was no excuse for that. However, I did not want to argue with my grandparents.

After the cross country competition on 24 January 2008, I went home for a while. I had to go to school again because there would still be school lessons in the afternoon. When I was at home, my grandmother cooked a plate of roasted chicken for my lunch. I told my grandmother that I could finish the whole plate of roasted chicken, but she replied 'Eh!'. So, I asked her "Why did you say 'Eh'?" My grandfather who was sitting beside heard that and immediately he said "There, you are behaving like a girl again, you said 'Eh!' This is why the girls in your class like to tease you." I answered 'Because grandmother said 'Eh!', so I wanted to ask her why she said so.' My grandfather said 'Grandmother did say that, but you should not follow.' I replied 'No, she was the one who said that, I did not.' Then, my grandfather said 'I heard you saying.' I argued 'No, I didn't.' Then, he said 'If you would not listen to my advice, the girls will surely continue to tease you.' I did not answer him back.

Later, when I was in school, I thought of what happened earlier. Actually, I did not say 'Eh!' intentionally, instead I was just asking my grandmother why she said that. However, my grandfather insisted that I said it. He should have tried to find out the truth before making such a conclusion. Also, it was wrong for my grandfather to say it was my fault that the girls in my class teased me. The girls were definitely wrong no matter what. I was unhappy that my grandfather did not support me. On that day, the girls teased me again. This, in addition to what my grandfather said earlier, made me feel very angry with the girls.

I once again used the sharp end of my set-square to poke the cover of one of their bottles and I poked harder this time. Suddenly, that end of my set-square broke off. The girls saw that and laughed at me. I got even angrier. The broken parts of the set-square was very sharp, so I used it to scratch the cover of the bottle. As a result, there were 2 scratches on the bottle cover. Looking at that, the girl who owned the bottle started crying, so I stopped scratching. She told her friends about that and they all blamed me. A girl KYF advised me to apologise to that girl, but I insisted that she should apologise to me first because she teased me first.

Then, I realised that a girl TJW also knew about the incident, and at once I knew that I would be in trouble. TJW was from the same primary school with me. During primary school, she sat in my car to go home after school every day since her house was located near my house. She often used that opportunity to make reports to my grandparents whenever I did something wrong in school, and because of that I often got scolded by my grandparents. On that day, I knew that TJW would definitely report to my grandparents that I damaged the cover of the girl's bottle. In fact, that girl asked TJW to tell my grandparents about that. She promised the girl to do so and she planned to take her bottle to show my grandparents as a proof. I began to feel scared. It was already 5:30PM at that time and the school would be over one hour later at 6:30PM. If TJW saw my grandfather at the school gate later, she would surely tell my grandfather about that straight away.

I told myself that I should walk out of the school and enter the car quickly before TJW reached the school gate. However, even if she did not see my grandfather later, she might telephone my grandparents or come to my house at night to tell them about that. There was a possibility that her mother would stop her from doing so, but I could not be sure about that so I would surely be worried all the time. Then, I thought of turning off the door bell of my house and disconnecting the telephone, but then she could still call my grandparents in front of my house. I realised that I could do nothing to stop her. I decided to ask KYF for help. I asked her to tell the girl that I was willing to apologise to her, as long as TJW would not report to my grandparents about the case. However, KYF said that there was nothing she could do because it was already too late. I tried to think of some other solutions but there were none. Finally, I decided to tell my grandfather about that myself, hoping that he would not scold me.

When the school was over, I quickly walked out of my school. When I walked down the stairs, I saw that TJW was still above the stairs, talking to someone. I thought that she could not catch up with me and I quickly walked to the school gate. At the gate, I waited for a few minutes before my grandfather arrived. I was prepared to tell my grandfather about that and I thought TJW was not there. Out of my expectation, when I walked towards the car, TJW ran towards me. I tried to stop her and I entered my car. However, when I tried to close the car door, she pulled the door and said 'Wait!'. My grandfather saw that and he asked TJW what happened. She told my grandfather everything. Then, my grandfather asked TJW to tell the girl not to cry and promised that he would pay for the bottle cover. My grandmother was not in the car at that time as she stayed at home.

After that, I told my grandfather that I actually wanted to tell him about that myself. At first, he did not scold me. He said that it was just a small matter and asked me to give that girl the money for the bottle cover. He also asked me to apologise to her and I agreed. Then, my grandfather talked about the cross country competition. He said that the students in his tuition centre told him that the actual cross country competition would be held on that Saturday. Since my friend had also said that it would be on Saturday, I was very sure that it was true. However, I lied to my grandfather that I knew about that from my teacher, because I did not want my grandfather to know that I did not pay attention to what my teacher said.

I thought that I had escaped from my grandfather's scolding. However, somewhere on the way back home, my grandfather suddenly said that it was not good for me to do that to the girl. I agreed that he was right. My grandfather added that previously he had always advised me not to find trouble with other students but I would not listen. Then, I said that I knew that I was wrong and I would not do that again. However, my grandfather said that there was no use for me to know that I was wrong since I already did it. He even said that the girl might tell the teacher that I was actually trying to hit her and she used her bottle to block and thus the bottle cover was damaged. Then, my grandfather started scolding me.

When we reached home, my grandmother was already waiting at the door. Immediately my grandfather told my grandmother about that. She was very angry to know that. My grandfather decided to telephone TJW to ask her more about the incident. TJW told my grandparents that I had been scratching the cover of that girl's bottle and another girl's bottle since a few days ago, which made my grandparents even angrier. They scolded me badly for a long time on that night. They said that I had done something wrong just 3 weeks after entering secondary school. In the morning on the next day 25 January 2008, they continued scolding me. At last, they told me not to repeat the same mistake in the future.

After my grandfather came home from his tuition class on that afternoon, he told me that his students said that the actual cross country competition would not be held on that Saturday but on some other day instead. He asked me if I was sure that it would be on that Saturday. Actually, I did not hear my teacher saying about that but I assumed that it was true since my friend and my grandfather's students in his previous class had said that it would be on Saturday. So, I lied to my grandfather that I was sure that my teacher said Saturday. My grandfather then said that if I go to school on Saturday and found out that there was no cross country, I could just go home and it was just a small matter.

At that time, one of my friend TWS telephoned me to ask me something. I used that opportunity to ask her about the cross country competition. She said that the actual cross country competition would be held on the next Saturday, not on that Saturday. When I told my grandparents about that, they asked me why I did not listen properly to what my teacher said. I told them that they should not blame me because my teacher said Saturday but he did not say 'next Saturday'. They said that they were not blaming me, instead they were advising me to listen properly to what my teachers say in the future. I insisted that I did listen properly and my teacher really just said Saturday. I argued that my grandfather's students in the previous class also said that it would be on Saturday.

Then, my grandparents got angry. They said that my teacher definitely said 'next Saturday' and I did not listen properly. I again told my grandparents not to blame me for such a small issue. I did not tell them the truth that I actually heard it from my friend because they might get even angrier. Then, my grandfather said 'Even if we blame you, there is nothing wrong about that, because you are the one who made the mistake'. My grandmother also said 'If you did not damage the girl's bottle cover, if you did listen properly to what your teacher said, nobody is going to blame you.' As I expected, my grandparents mixed up the two issues. They scolded me again, for damaging the girl's bottle cover and for not paying attention to what my teacher said. They also said that it was embarrassing for me to ask my friend about the date of the cross country competition.

On 27 January 2008, I asked that girl about the price of her bottle cover because I wanted to pay her back. However, she said that she still had not bought a new one so I did not have to pay her yet. On the following day 28 January 2008, my school reallocated the students into different classes. I was hoping that I would not be in the same class with those girls again. However, it turned out that I and the girls were in the same class again. I was unhappy about that but there was nothing I could do. A few days later, that girl claimed that I damaged the curtain of our class. She said that I did not have to pay her for the bottle cover anymore, instead I had to pay her RM5 for the curtain, since she was in charge of the decorations of my class. So, I paid her RM5.

Thinking of the incident makes me feel unhappy. All I did was scratching the girl's bottle cover and I feel that it was just a small issue. My grandparents had overreacted by scolding me. I am sure that if my teachers were to know about the case, they would not have scolded me, instead they would just ask me to apologise to the girl. I was also very angry with TJW. Because she reported the case to my grandparents, I got scolded. In fact, she had done that many times back in primary school and I always got scolded by my grandparents. She even blackmailed me by saying that she would report something to my grandparents if I refused to follow her instructions.

Due to this incident, I decided to consider TJW as my enemy and I never talked to her again. I also told some of my friends about the incident. Now, it is already more than 5 years after the incident. I do not hate TJW as much as I did last time, but I will never forget that incident, so I still consider TJW as my enemy.

After the incident, those girls seldom disturbed and teased me. At first, I still hated them. Later, I realised that they were not that bad and the only person that I should hate was TJW. So, I stopped hating them. Towards the end of 2008, I began talking to those girls. By April 2009, I had considered them to be my friends. I also invited them to my birthday party on 4 April 2009. Later, they told me why in the beginning they called me 'the steel rod dancing girl'. It was because on the first day of secondary school, I kept holding onto the steel columns outside the school hall and twisting my body around it, which made me look like a girl who was dancing. They also apologised to me about that. After 2010, I was separated from them because we were no longer in the same class. Therefore, I often missed them.

This tragedy was the greatest tragedy throughout my 5 years in secondary school. It actually involved two incidents, and it did not benefit me at all.

If you liked this story, you may want to read this too:

https://www.daniellimjj.com/2014/09/august-2009-tragedy.html

18 October 2012 Incident

NOTE: This story has implied meaning. However, as of December 2013, it no longer has any significance for me.

On 18 October 2012, I went to school as usual. At that time, many of my friends often skipped school because it was close to SPM. But on that day, most of my friends attended school. I was happy about that. However, starting from the 2nd period onwards, I began to feel very tired. It was most likely because on the night before that, I studied Sejarah until 3:30AM. It was the 1st time I ever studied so late. I was so tired that I could not even talk to my friends. At last, I had to sleep in the class.

I slept throughout the Chemistry period. Then during recess, I felt better and I could go to the canteen to eat. But after recess, I felt very tired again. I again had to sleep in class during the Biology period. After that, it was Additional Mathematics period. At that time, I was not so tired anymore so I woke up. I could do the questions given by my teacher and even teach my friends on the questions. That was the last two periods in school.

After returning home, I thought of what happened in school on that day. Ever since the 11 July 2012 incident (Read about that incident here: http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2013/01/11-july-2012.html ), I had always wanted to treasure every moments with my friends in school before leaving school, so every single day in school was very important for me. However, I realised that I had wasted that day in school. Many of my friends attended school on that day, but I could not talk to them because I was too tired. Thinking of that made me felt unhappy. I regretted studying until so late on the previous night.

Then, I suddenly realised something: That day was not the only day I had wasted in school. Actually, I had also wasted 3 days on the week before that. I recalled what had happened one week earlier.

One week before that, it was the Kem Pelajar Gemilang SPM 2012 organised by JPN Kedah in Alor Star. Most students in my school who got straight A's in the SPM trial were chosen to attend that. However, I was not chosen to attend the program even though I got 9A+ 1A for the SPM trial. The teacher in charge told me that it was because my results were very close to straight A+, so my chance of getting straight A+ in SPM was very high, therefore I did not need to attend the program. I was very unhappy about that because I actually qualify to attend the program.

The program lasted for 3 days. During that 3 days, I attended school as usual, but I was unhappy because I wanted to attend that program. Many of my classmates did not attend school during that 3 days, they were either absent or attended the program. At that time, I still considered some of my friends as 'Important' and others as 'Unimportant'. Most of my classmates who did attend school during that 3 days were my 'Unimportant' friends. Because my 'Important' friends were not in school, I felt boring and that made me feel even more unhappy. I thought that if I could attend the program, it would be much more interesting.

I did not talk much to my classmates in school during that 3 days, instead I was often in bad mood. Because of that, it also affected my productivity. I remembered how I was unable to answer many of the questions in the Terengganu Trial Biology Paper 2 and MRSM Trial Mathematics Paper 2 given by my teachers, even though it reality they were not very difficult. I also wrote a poor essay when my English teacher gave us a Directed Writing question. So, I had wasted that 3 days in school.

When I thought back of all those, I realised that could actually make the most out of that 3 days, rather than just wasting it. I should not have ignored my friends who attended school during that 3 days just because they were my 'Unimportant' friends. Instead, I should have talked more to them and treasured the moments I had with them in school. Then, I would not have felt boring and unhappy in school, therefore the 3 days would not be wasted.

At last, I understood something. It was wrong for me to classify my friends into 'Important' and 'Unimportant'. All my friends are important and I should treasure all of them. I told myself that from that day onwards I should change. The whole incident became my "18 October Revolution". Unfortunately, it was a bit too late. Less than 2 weeks later, it was the SPM and after SPM, I had to separate with my secondary school friends. But I did learn an important lesson from that incident, so I will not repeat the same mistake now.