that the last two weeks of my life will not repeat themselves.
Doing poorly at Lit was depressing. Overcoming complacency is a long and hard lesson to learn, and I’ve only just taken the first step. But of course the harder the lesson, the more worth learning it is.
That’s what I tell myself anyway!
:/
On another note, TOMORROW IS CHS SPORTS DAY!
I went back today to see the deco and marching. I saw what every single one of the houses got up to. And I swear everyone is going hardcore. Practicing marching up till 9pm, out on the padang in the dark. Every year they try to outdo each other and the previous years in terms of creativity and dedication.
Sports day was my favorite part of high school for many reasons. CHS is as conformist a school as any other is Malaysia. But Sports Day is the one time everyone makes an obvious, sincere attempt to break out of the mould. Sports Day is a huge event in CHS. They think out of the box to come up with cool marching formations and impressive deco effects. They go as far as staying overnight in school and missing out on sleep just to finish the tents! During this time the teachers only have authorizing power, but even that seems like it’s given a little more freely than at any other time of the year.
I remember there was one year the admins considered revoking the right to stay overnight in school. For the first time ever, everyone was incredibly vocal about this. There was such consternation about missing 7 hours of working time that the Scouts decided that they would boycott Sports Day if the students weren’t allowed to stay overnight in school. And everyone knows that without the Scouts (to tie up the bamboo structures and all), Sports Day cannot go on. I don’t know if they ever had to take it that far, to blackmail the admins, but I’m glad that they actually considered doing that instead of taking it lying down and opening up hate groups on Facebook. *COUGH*
I just realized how typically Chinese that situation sounds. –.- we are workaholics. But I’m proud because that was one time we were actually serious about standing up to the admins!
My question is why this only happens during Sports Day season!! But I suppose once a year is better than not at all.
If there are any Form 5s reading this, enjoy tomorrow. It’s your last Sports Day ever. Make it a good one! Special wishes to those from Rumah Kuning. (; An ex-senior sends her love.
Autobots, roll out!
Labels: High School, Musings
I’ll make this quick.
My thanks to the person who linked this post to the hate group page. I had no idea how I was going to get anyone to read it, and I was feeling utterly pointless. But so now you’ve read it and I hope you do SOMETHING! Paying respects is flattering but as pointless as it would be if you hadn’t read it.
-edit-
Thank you but please stop saying “respect”! It makes me feel like someone died!!
Now for what I really wanted to say:
Congratulations to the CHS Debate teams (BOTH of them!!) for doing spectacularly at the HELP Debate 2010! ESPECIALLY Carmen Chua, Yu Li and Rachel Gan for BREAKING 1ST out of the 96 teams from around the country! There’s no denying you guys deserve the ranking. I’m not even affiliated with you anymore but I feel so giddy and happy for all of you. (: (Dude I was hopping up and down like a rabid rabbit in the one hour before the breakings were announced. –.-) Can you imagine how much like a proud daddy Ian must feel?!
Now go take out the competition and HAVE FUN! :DD
Labels: Friends, High School, Quickies, Random-ia
I don’t think my last very heated post managed to convey what I was really trying to say. Let me try again.
The point is that you (the members and creators of the hate group) had a chance to right a wrong – something that was wrong in your opinion anyway. You had an obvious problem with the Sportsman, and I’m going to assume it was your right to be at odds with him, and not over something silly like the primary school fights we used to have. You know, like… “I don’t friend him because he damn show-off.” And no, I don’t take mere arrogance as an excuse to warrant a hate group. What you could have done is stand up and ask the school authorities, “Oh what basis was he awarded the title?” (instead of assuming and flaming) and then you could have respectfully pointed out that it is a silly basis to grant the Sportsman award. You could have revolutionized the school system and ensured that more deserving students are awarded the title in the future. You could have dealt with it in a mature, reasonable manner that would have set an example to the rest of the school and made anyone affiliated with you proud.
Instead you created a hate group that is a waste of time, energy, emotions and neurons. You got nothing done. The Sportsman was awarded his title and you did nothing about it, even though it was something you could easiliy have spoken up about. I bet you didn’t even try.
The world is already lacking the type of people who can’t walk the talk. We could do with a few hundred less.
Most sickening of all is that you got the kids from the lower forms to join your hate group as well – kids who probably don’t know half a thing about the Sportsman and had only your own emotional, irrational word for disliking him. It is very likely that they’re just blindly following what the seniors say. Do you realize that in the future this is probably how they are going to be dealing with people they don’t like as well? And you don’t care that you’re turning people against him, you don’t care that you’re causing him to be judged. All you want is to see him disgraced.
How dare you say then, that you are proud of being a CHS-ian?
I’m so tired, and I’m probably typing all of this for nothing. It’s probably not even going to be read by those to whom it matters! But what to do, I’m just someone who really is proud of being a CHS-ian. I don’t like to see that phrase being simply thrown around. Because if you’re not acting in a manner that can make CHS proud of you, I don’t think you have a right to say that you are proud of CHS. Hate groups like this are just so juvenile.
I have become very disillusioned.
Labels: High School, Musings, Quickies
[all names in the following post have been removed to protect identities where necessary]
I just came back from the Majlis Anugerah Kecemerlangan at CHS this morning. I’m sick, and I’m missing out on Kai Boon and Edrea’s birthday movie outing to rest. But I made the mistake of logging on to Facebook, and I saw something that has made me incredibly pissed off and disillusioned with the high school that I am so proud of. It is making me so disappointed and vexed that I am here, blogging, instead of resting and recuperating from a rough week at college.
This is what happened: I received an invitation to a hate group, and it was directed at a certain CHS-ian (currently Form 5) who has just been made Sportsman of the year. I do not know the Sportsman personally, although I may have bumped into him/her off the track a few times. I do not know most of the members of this hate group either. I imagine that I received the invitation simply because I am still filed under “SMJK Katholik” in my list of networks. The title of the group was completely capitalized, and it exuded pure hostility. I clicked to check out the group, and was shocked at what I read. To say that the members of this group are unhappy that he was awarded Sportsman of 2010 is an egregious understatement.
The group description accuses the Sportsman of 2010 of bootlicking to achieve his award, among other claims that he is completely under-qualified for the title. I have copy-pasted the entire group description here.
i dno wtf he got to make him as olahragawan. NO ONE KNOWS. what i know is taekwondo WTF is his sport that he's so good in. is taekwondo a sport that require a large amount of strength to kick or punch an opponent to the ground? how come i dont see him having a big and strong quadriceps, hamstring, biceps, deltoids and many other part that are so crucial to this sport. last but not least, after knowing that he was announced as olahragawan, he'll go round showing his "handsome" yet lanc face to everyone, as if he is the best sportsman ever produced in this school, to let the whole school know he is the OLAHRAGAWAN OF CHS 2010. even our dearest olahragawati YX who are so fabulous in squash didnt do that. Won’t you feel embarrassed by doing so? Everyone will, except for him. He is such a pain in the ass as he disgusts the title and glory of CHS Olahragawan with his qualifications and capabilities. Isn’t this honor supposed to be given to an epitome of sportsman? He “got” this “title” by bugging teacher every day (personally, I think teachers were fed up with him so just let him be, as other candidates aren’t DESPERATE like him ), unlike people like YX who is destined to be olahragawati with obvious olahragawati-like achievements. To be succinct, he is detestation, abomination, ABHORRENCE!
The grammar of this torrent is appalling, although I do applaud the writer for getting the word “abhorrence” spelt correctly. But it makes me really sad to see that this immature way of dealing with a disagreeable situation is a product of a CHS-ian.
Firstly, what do you intend to achieve by creating a hate group on a social networking site? You get together a bunch of people who all dislike him as much as you do and bitch about him online. Then what? Rally together and get the principal to reverse this decision? In my opinion that could have been done without the hate group at all. Furthermore I think that Facebook groups are rather unnecessary unless they’re for fun. There are plenty of groups that are created for a supposed cause – 100000 People Against ISA, 1000000 Members Against Whaling. Privately, though, I wonder how many of them got anything done upon reaching the desired number of members. My point is that this Facebook group is redundant if you want his Sportsman title revoked. If you really think that the decision is unfair and that there is some other more deserving boy out there, take it to the school administration – in a calm, collected manner, preferably in the form of a letter.
On the point that he is under-qualified, I find the group’s definition of what makes a sportsman rather shallow. Members of this group, allow me to quote you:
is taekwondo a sport that require a large amount of strength to kick or punch an opponent to the ground? how come i dont see him having a big and strong quadriceps, hamstring, biceps, deltoids and many other part that are so crucial to this sport.
Perhaps you’d like to know that the Sportsman of 2009 (whom you can look up in the 2009 yearbook of CHS) did not have “big and strong quadriceps, hamstring, biceps, deltoids”. He was actually quite short and quite skinny. And most of his achievements were not in a sport that would require one to have any of those characteristics which you seem to associate with being a sportsman. If you think that taekwondo is not a sport that sounds worthy of a Sportsman, then the what the Sportsman of 2009 excelled in will sound ridiculous to you: his sport was ping-pong.
And to answer your question, you are apparently ignorant of the fact that taekwondo is a sport that not only requires strength to “kick or punch” but also a whole lot of skill. I never learned taekwondo, but if you watch anyone perform taekwondo or related martial arts, you’ll know that it takes practice to not only drive an opponent to the ground, but also to do it in a manner that doesn’t hurt yourself! They’re not called martial arts for nothing! I find it amusing that you think that taekwondo is just about “kicking and punching”. That’s not taekwondo at all. That’s cat fighting.
The fact is that the Sportspeople are awarded their titles based on the extent of their achievements in the area of sport that they excel in. This means they don’t look at how impressive or physically exerting the sport you chose is. You could have chosen something as obscure as bob-sledding, but if you have worked hard at it and are a star in the arena of bob-sledding, you are qualified for the award. I asked my friend and apparently the Sportsman of 2010 was awarded the title because he had some achievements not only at national level but also at international level taekwondo competitions. Apparently our school thinks that it’s okay for them to have fewer achievements on a a national level (I also heard the Sportsman has no gold medals from national/state level competitions), as long as they have taken part in an international event, they’re qualified for the sports title. If you think that this reasoning is skewed, then this is the point on which you should take it to the school’s admin, not what you said: lack of muscles. Him not having bulging deltoids simply means that he does not fit the stereotype of a sportsperson that you – we – have all formed. Muscles do not a man maketh, and neither do aggressive words and excessive venom.
I’m not kidding by the way. If you sincerely believe that the Sportsman of 2010 is under-qualified for the title, then I whole-heartedly encourage you to take the matter up with the school authorities. It’s too late now that the Majlis Anugerah Kemerlangan is over and he has already been awarded the title. This is what you should have done in the first place, not waste your time creating stupid Facebook groups that do nuts but generate more friction, heat and noise than necessary and do absolutely nothing to solve your grievances. I still encourage you to complain to the administration, albeit calmly and rationally, not obnoxiously as you have done so far. Even if they don’t listen, they’ll know that you tried to right something that you saw as wrong, and that’s far better than remaining silent and not speaking up at all.
But I suspect that the true heart of the matter lies in these phrases here.
last but not least, after knowing that he was announced as olahragawan, he'll go round showing his "handsome" yet lanc face to everyone…
He “got” this “title” by bugging teacher every day (personally, I think teachers were fed up with him so just let him be, as other candidates aren’t DESPERATE like him )
First of all (and I resist the urge to correct and flame the atrocious grammatical mistakes you have made), I am INSULTED that you think that CHS’s teachers can be swayed by the nagging of a mere student. Clearly you have yet to make any kind of trouble with the disciplinary board or any of those on the school administration team. Otherwise you would have seen that people like Miss Margaret hardly bend an inch to your wheedling to get your events approved. What makes you think that they’d give in to someone who’s pleading to be given the title of Sportsman? CHS teachers have quality in terms of discipline and dedication. Our disciplinary system is not legendary only in name!
Also, no matter how huge anyone’s ego is, or how desperate they are, I can’t believe that anyone would stoop so low as to beg to be made Sportsman in the place of someone more worthy of the title. That’s a complete contradiction to your accusation of him having an oversized head.
But I suspect that the problem with the Sportsman is more personal than the creator of the group lets on. Boy you guys should see the comments on the group wall – they get more and more spiteful and venomous.
(SPORTSMAN 2010) CAN EAT OUR SHIT AND LICK OUR SHOES!
LOL maybe he'll change schools after reading this
They’ve even doodled on his pictures using Paint and uploaded them to the group. It’s childish enough to make you wince.
I have little to say about this matter, because I know neither side personally. But I’d like to ask the creator of the group to at least keep your emotions out of this matter. Rationality is a virtue. Not everything that comes out of the Pendidikan Moral textbook is crap, you know. Besides, I think that the Sportsman’s achievements speak for themselves.
(It is rather interesting to note that the admin of this hate group left soon after creating it, leaving the group with no admins at all. The onslaught of spiteful comments still continues though.)
I can see that you’re proud being a student of CHS – you want your Sportsman to be a good representation of school. But the way in which you are dealing with the matter of the poorly-qualified Sportsman isn’t a shining beacon of moral goodness either. In short I am disgusted, I am dismayed, that students who call themselves proud to be part of Catholic High School should simultaneously degrade and defame a fellow student in a manner that is harsh, childish, hasty and uncalled for.
I expected much better.
There was no denying that the Sportswoman was a deserving recipient of her title, though. She stood out by a mile. Well what can I say, girls always tend to outperform boys in high school. (:
If there’s anything I don’t get, it’s the Pelajar Cemerlang of 2009 – I mean, why Zean Shiung of all people?!!! Was there seriously nobody else?! (I actually made myself laugh by exclaiming, “Why did Zean Shiung get Pelajar Cemerlang? I don’t get it!” and then I realized that it sounded like I was asserting that I should have gotten Pelajar Cemerlang.) The school’s reasoning is terribly skewed. But then again I’m saying this because I know Zean Shiung well and it seems pretty much ridiculous that someone like him should get the Pelajar Cemerlang award. But no, I’m not being serious. It’s not big enough a deal for me to go to the school and complain because his list of achievements was exhaustive. QUITE impressive lahh. And I’m not just saying this because he has to take me home after debate practice! He IS a good friend… when he isn’t trying to be a jerk. [Hi Zhaun! :D]
But just imagine what the school admins would say if they found out that their male Pelajar Cemerlang 2009 gets turned on by hot guys at the gym.
*GRINS*
Labels: Friends, High School, Musings, Very Long Posts
Today is a very special day.
First off I want to tell you about Kimberley. She was our 5S7 classmate, Rumah Kuning captain, Band President, drummer girl and an awesome possum frisbee player. And she has beautiful legs. Her legs are so nice and smooth, it’s not even fair! (i.i)
If you’ve never met Kimberley, dear readers I give you the photo that BEST sums up the person she is. THIS is Kimberley:
No, not the retard on the left. That’s Jian Kai. The crazy lady on the right is Kimberley. A picture says a thousand words.
And for the record, THIS is also Jian Kai.
But that’s an inside joke and a long story which you can read about here.
And today is a very special day! Why? Because…
AS OF TODAY, KIMBERLEY WONG IS ALLOWED TO MARRY LEE JIAN KAI!!!
They’re both 18 now, after all. *grins*
(Did I detect a faint scream of horror? It sounded remarkably like Jian Kai.)
KIMBERLEY! :D
I’ve always wanted to ride on a kangaroo. You think you can run faster than a kangaroo can jump?? Just wondering.
From all of us, we hope you’re having fun in Aussieland! I miss 5S7 but gatherings just aren’t gonna be the same without you (i.i) and we need you here. HOW ELSE ARE WE GONNA KEEP JIAN KAI AWAY?!
HEHEHE :D
HAVE A SMASHING 18TH :D
Labels: Friends, High School, Random-ia
I disagree with most of you. The SPM results do matter to me. Not because I needed scholarships really badly, but because I am a true-blue CHS-ian: I just really really wanted to know how I did! Like any other exam. Yup, kiasu to the core, c’est moi.
The results were much better than I expected, but no where near as good as I hoped. My results aren’t as awesome as SOME OTHER PEOPLE’S *coughSHENWENKOEYEETHOCKEUDAVIDLILYSHENGHOAYZEANSHIUNGcough* – in fact they’re mediocre, by comparison - but I feel satisfied. Especially where Chinese is concerned! My Chinese tuition teacher was awesome. He knew all along that I could never be persuaded to like Chinese. I was just too lazy to work at it. And yet he continued to push me as hard as I could be persuaded to go. Do you remember this? I expected a D for Chinese.
I got a B+.
As of today, I have never been so glad and so proud: for being Chinese; and of myself, for sticking all the way through with a subject I absolutely detested. Honestly, the uncontested best part of my results slip is the tiny little B+ at the end of the list. Looking at it gives me a huge feeling of accomplishment that I never expected I would ever feel. I suppose I have the school board to thank for making Chinese compulsory for all CHS-ians. There’s really no words to describe the feeling of triumphing over something I was forced into doing and detested all the way.
As for the other subjects, I’m so glad that I managed to make my tuition teachers proud – all of whom I love to bits. I doubt they read my blog, but thank you – Sham (Add Maths & Physics), Mr Lee (Chinese!!!), Mumthaz (BM), Mrs Wong & Kalai (Chemistry).
And thank You. No matter what people say about You, thank You.
I now have a new tool to bargain with my parents! >:D
A BIG shoutout to all CHS-ians:
CONGRATULATIONS!
We totally rocked the SPM!
I’m so proud of us. (:
Lily says that to some extent the results reflect the amount of effort you put in for each subject. I agree with regards to Sejarah because I honestly did not work hard enough to deserve a grade I’d be happy with. But I disagree with regards to BM!! I got an A- for my BM paper. I do not think this is at all fair, because I wrote really well. When you write well, you just KNOW IT. I wrote well enough for an A at least. I totally blame ikan agar-agar!!
I will NEVER be able to look at a plate of jelly the same way ever again. T.T
Labels: day-to-day, Friends, High School, Musings
‘Tis the night before the SPM results are released. And the only thing on my mind is this.
WHY GOD WHY.
T.T
Labels: High School, Quickies
If you’ve been following my Twitter for the past week or so, you may have noticed that I was complaining a lot about homework homework homework and never specifying what kind of homework it was.
Well guess what everybody, HOMEWORK was actually a codename for something else I was working on! And that thing was…
KIMBERLEY WONG’S FAREWELL GIFT :D
(ohmygod, failed attempt at being a code-speaking spy –.- I will obviously never make the FBI.)
The farewell was on Tuesday, and on Monday afternoon I was panicking so badly that I asked Hock Eu to come over and help. In about 3.5 hours, we managed to turn a pile of sugar paper, black cardboard, metal, and 74 photos into… THIS:
I give you my favourite two pages of the whole album:
I started laughing every time I looked at this page.
See here for what they did to the album after I gave it over to Hock Eu to complete. (:
I wasn’t able to make it to the farewell itself, but I HOPE I MADE YOU CRY, KIMBERLEY! :D
Have a smashing time in Australia and don’t scare away too many kangaroos. (:
Labels: Friends, High School
