...
Phew, that feels good... Now back to my preparation for Respiratory System exam tomorrow...
)=
Thursday, March 31, 2005
RELEASE
I nv thought I'll say this... But here it is: I'm so sick of studying!!! I desperately need a break!!!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
...
Phew, that feels good... Now back to my preparation for Respiratory System exam tomorrow...
)=
...
Phew, that feels good... Now back to my preparation for Respiratory System exam tomorrow...
)=
Monday, March 28, 2005
TROUBLES' BREWING IN SEC SKOOL
If any of u read the Chinese newspapers lately, u'll probably come across one particular SMJK Kwang Hua which has some internal problem among the... dang wat do u call that in English? Board of Directors? School Committee? U get wat I mean. Well, here's a really brief synopsis of wat has happened lately:
There's 2 Kwang Hua school that share the same piece of land, 1 bigger than the other. The smaller 1 is a private school, while the bigger one is a national type school, u know, owned by the government but still have heavy emphasis on the Chinese language (Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan). For the past few years, SMJK Kwang Hua's principal, Mr. Chua, have brought the school to a totally new heights. In fact, it's on the verge of being given the status of 'quality school' (I dunno wat they call it in English). His contribution to the school since the few years that he's principal, is nothing short of an amazing feat.
The number of students entering SMJK Kwang Hua has increased tremendously year after year: Currently, there are 16 classes of Form 1 student, and each class has about 50 students! The school is facing the problem of classroom shortage, and there are many students whose request to enter the school have to be turned down bcuz of the lack of facilities. The reason why it is such a popular choice among the primary school students is because it is 1 of the only 2 SMJKs in Klang, and the reputation is by far the better one. I'm not boasting here, Kwang Hua IS the most popular SMJK in Klang, and 1 of the best in Selangor. It is one of the few government school where one can learn the Chinese language as part of the normal curriculum (in national school, one has to take extra classes after school hours in order to learn the Chinese Language, & classes will only commence if only there's at least 15 students who are interested in a particular school).
And therefore, the principal suggested to the Board of Directors (I'll juz call it that way la - oh the commitee is consisted of ppl from both SMJK & the private school) to build 4 extra classrooms to fit in more students. A noble idea, rite? Apparently not from the directors from the private school. As the SMJK grows larger year after year, the smaller private school seems stagnant (it's actually the least favoured Chinese private school among the 4 private Chinese schools in Klang). The very idea of building more classrooms seems to them as a threat, bcuz it would have means that the government-owned school will claim more land for their project, and their own school will possibly dwarved even more the mere size of the SMJK. They are worried that 1 day, the government will claim the ENTIRE land, including the private school's, as government property, and therefore causing an extinction of yet another Chinese private school.
Now b4 u guys think that these ppl are paranoid & all, this kind of things do occur from time to time. Many of the ppl involved in the Chinese education do not fully trust the government for securing their interest in the continual education of the Chinese language. There is a long history of struggle behind the development of the chinese education system in Malaysia, and let's juz say that the government isn't very sympathetic with the cause. These ppl believe that given the chance, the government will totally wipe out all sorts of Chinese language classes (not to mention Tamil) from the education system, with the propaganda of racial unity and harmony.
Back to our story. The principal & some of the other commitees/directors from the SMJK were unhappy with the decision. After all, their concern are nobly aimed for the students. After much fruitless arguments, a new committee is formed in the SMJK, where all the members are from the SMJK and in support of the classrooms building project. It was sacrilegeous to some of the ppl from the original commitee (espeacially those from the private school), as the BOD has always consists of members from both schools since its beginning (eventhough the SMJK has always been the majority lately). To create a totally new BOD is something so immoral to them, they express their outrage all over the Chinese newpapers.
The issue has been going on for some time now, and now the education ministry is about to intervene: They're transfering the principal of SMJK Kwang Hua to somewhere else! The very same principal who have did so much in the efforts of improving the quality of the school in the very short years he has served as school principal! Granted, not many ppl enjoy his over-idealistic personality and occasionally wild mood swings, but he has done much for the school and only hopes to improve it further. Yes, he should have deal with this issue more diplomatically and all, but he juz dun deserved to be transfered from the school that he loved so much!
My mum wanted me to call all my friends from secondary school to request their parents to sign a petition in school tomorrow to retain the current principal.. To be honest, I find that an almost impossible task, since many of my friends are either in oversea now, or we have lost contact already.. But I guess I'l have to do wat I can to help out la.. Although I nv liked the principal's attitude, I have to admit that he has been a very efficient and dedicated principal and deserved to enjoy serving the school he loves for the last few years of his career b4 his retirement.
So to all ex-Kwang Hua student, pls help support the cause!
There's 2 Kwang Hua school that share the same piece of land, 1 bigger than the other. The smaller 1 is a private school, while the bigger one is a national type school, u know, owned by the government but still have heavy emphasis on the Chinese language (Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan). For the past few years, SMJK Kwang Hua's principal, Mr. Chua, have brought the school to a totally new heights. In fact, it's on the verge of being given the status of 'quality school' (I dunno wat they call it in English). His contribution to the school since the few years that he's principal, is nothing short of an amazing feat.
The number of students entering SMJK Kwang Hua has increased tremendously year after year: Currently, there are 16 classes of Form 1 student, and each class has about 50 students! The school is facing the problem of classroom shortage, and there are many students whose request to enter the school have to be turned down bcuz of the lack of facilities. The reason why it is such a popular choice among the primary school students is because it is 1 of the only 2 SMJKs in Klang, and the reputation is by far the better one. I'm not boasting here, Kwang Hua IS the most popular SMJK in Klang, and 1 of the best in Selangor. It is one of the few government school where one can learn the Chinese language as part of the normal curriculum (in national school, one has to take extra classes after school hours in order to learn the Chinese Language, & classes will only commence if only there's at least 15 students who are interested in a particular school).
And therefore, the principal suggested to the Board of Directors (I'll juz call it that way la - oh the commitee is consisted of ppl from both SMJK & the private school) to build 4 extra classrooms to fit in more students. A noble idea, rite? Apparently not from the directors from the private school. As the SMJK grows larger year after year, the smaller private school seems stagnant (it's actually the least favoured Chinese private school among the 4 private Chinese schools in Klang). The very idea of building more classrooms seems to them as a threat, bcuz it would have means that the government-owned school will claim more land for their project, and their own school will possibly dwarved even more the mere size of the SMJK. They are worried that 1 day, the government will claim the ENTIRE land, including the private school's, as government property, and therefore causing an extinction of yet another Chinese private school.
Now b4 u guys think that these ppl are paranoid & all, this kind of things do occur from time to time. Many of the ppl involved in the Chinese education do not fully trust the government for securing their interest in the continual education of the Chinese language. There is a long history of struggle behind the development of the chinese education system in Malaysia, and let's juz say that the government isn't very sympathetic with the cause. These ppl believe that given the chance, the government will totally wipe out all sorts of Chinese language classes (not to mention Tamil) from the education system, with the propaganda of racial unity and harmony.
Back to our story. The principal & some of the other commitees/directors from the SMJK were unhappy with the decision. After all, their concern are nobly aimed for the students. After much fruitless arguments, a new committee is formed in the SMJK, where all the members are from the SMJK and in support of the classrooms building project. It was sacrilegeous to some of the ppl from the original commitee (espeacially those from the private school), as the BOD has always consists of members from both schools since its beginning (eventhough the SMJK has always been the majority lately). To create a totally new BOD is something so immoral to them, they express their outrage all over the Chinese newpapers.
The issue has been going on for some time now, and now the education ministry is about to intervene: They're transfering the principal of SMJK Kwang Hua to somewhere else! The very same principal who have did so much in the efforts of improving the quality of the school in the very short years he has served as school principal! Granted, not many ppl enjoy his over-idealistic personality and occasionally wild mood swings, but he has done much for the school and only hopes to improve it further. Yes, he should have deal with this issue more diplomatically and all, but he juz dun deserved to be transfered from the school that he loved so much!
My mum wanted me to call all my friends from secondary school to request their parents to sign a petition in school tomorrow to retain the current principal.. To be honest, I find that an almost impossible task, since many of my friends are either in oversea now, or we have lost contact already.. But I guess I'l have to do wat I can to help out la.. Although I nv liked the principal's attitude, I have to admit that he has been a very efficient and dedicated principal and deserved to enjoy serving the school he loves for the last few years of his career b4 his retirement.
So to all ex-Kwang Hua student, pls help support the cause!
PERSONALITY TEST
| Disorder | Rating |
| Paranoid Disorder: | Low |
| Schizoid Disorder: | Low |
| Schizotypal Disorder: | High |
| Antisocial Disorder: | Low |
| Borderline Disorder: | Low |
| Histrionic Disorder: | Moderate |
| Narcissistic Disorder: | Moderate |
| Avoidant Disorder: | Moderate |
| Dependent Disorder: | High |
| Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: | Low |
-- Personality Disorder Test - Take It! -- -- Personality Disorders -- | |
Saturday, March 26, 2005
KILL BILLs
I've juz watched Kill Bill, both Vol. 1 & 2, in one go, for almost 4 hours... And the 1st word that came to my mind after I finished watching both was a big "WOW...". Ya I know, the movies are a bit old by now, and I've watched Vol. 1 for at least 5 times or so, but I nv get to watch Vol. 2 (excluding once when I gave up watching it halfway due to the horrible quality of the DVD) until now. Many of my friends told me that Vol. 2 is a long bore, which really perplexed me bcuz most of the critics love it more than Vol. 1...
Now that I've finally watched both, here's my verdict: I love Kill Bill Vol. 1 for its relentless energy & cool fight scenes, but I loved Kill Bill Vol. 2 even more for its unpredictable plot development & emotional resonance. After watching Kill Bill Vol. 1, one would have expected Vol. 2 to have more cool, slick fighting scenes and mass killings & all, but it turns out to be the opposite. No, there are still plenty of fight scenes to satisfy hardcore action fans, but there's much more depth to the characters too, espeacially after we know more about their motivation & all.
One thing I really dun expect how the movie turned out is how it actually acquired a tone of melancholy & sadness during the climax of the film. When the audience realize that the whole revenge thing actually originate from a misunderstanding (albeit it's of epic proportion), and each characters' are motivated out of love (with variable consequences), it's hard not to sympathize with Bill & Beatrix (aka The Bride). And it also comes as a surprise that The Bride is not the heroine going after all the villains after all. All of them ARE villains, who are capable of some good sometimes. The Bride is sort of a "good" character only bcuz her newly acquired motherhood motivates her to abandon her dark past behind for the sake of her daughter - and therefore, she's more of a "villain turning a new leaf".
I really love the portrayal of mixed emotions at the climax of Vol. 2; Never have I ever seen love & hatred mingled so perfectly. It is weird, but amazingly, it's thoroughly believable.
So izzit perfect? Well, yes & no. Yes, bcuz the whole of Vol. 1 & 2 is really entertaining, but really, it really can use some trimming. There are parts of the movie that aren't really vital, and there are MANY scenes that could be shortened without harming the overall plot advancement. Quentin Tarantino is juz too obsessed with his masterpiece for any scissors to harm it. I think a little bit of editting (read: trimming) would do this movie a great deal of good!
Still, it's undeniable that Kill Bill is a good movie, and yes, I mean movie, not movies. It should be a single film if not for the overlong length of the film, and I really hope that the "one-film" edition will be sold one day! K, 'nuff said. Kill Bill is now 1 of my fav movie, & I'm officially a Quentin Tarantino fan! >=)
Sunday, March 20, 2005
SEPET
Ah... Finally, a local movie that makes me proud! Man, this is like a movie that I felt as if it should have made a long long time ago! A truly honest movie on cross-cultural romance which avoids many cliches that are rampant in the genre. And wat's more, it has a strong Malaysian flavour!!!
I've heard 5 languages/ dialects spoken throughout the movie (English, Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, Cantonese & Hokkien), and I'm proud to say that I'm the only 1 in our group that understands all of them without any help from the subtitles! Although I think the subs could do a better job (occasionally some of the conversations are not translated), but at least it does help audience who're not familiar with them to comprehend the outline of their conversations.
I really like the way how the characters and events are portrayed realistically, and although there are some minor stereotypes here and there, they're neglectable bcuz they're juz so minimal. Humour were sprinkled here and there, but some may be annoyed by how purposeless the scenes are (I kinda enjoyed them though). The chemistry between the 2 lead characters is believable, and performances are generally above average.
The only few minor gripes I have about the movie is the rather ambiguous ending, and the lack of emotional impact from it. It's really sad to watch a rather disappointing "pfzzzt..." instead of a loud "bang!!!" after the rather touching & emotional climax. The ending is not really bad exactly, and I admire director Yasmin Ahmad's courage for such an unusual ending, but somehow I feel that there's potential for it to end better.
Also, there are moments when the tone of the movie does get a bit preachy. I truly enjoy the political subtexts that are brought up in the movie, but sometimes, as a critic puts it, "the film loses control of its own political subtext and the dreaded message starts to rear its ungainly head" & "sound like she’s spelling out the movie’s manifesto". I think the Singaporean movie "I No Stupid" did a better job in this particular category.
Lastly, although many issues are brought up in the movie, the director seems to take the path of less resistance by pushing them aside when the couples' love for each other blossoms. Come on, isn't it a bit convenient that their parents are liberal minded and all? Surely there should be a more intense parental oppositions and all. And then there's the question of religion and all. I can't help but get the feeling that the movie barely touch the surface of all these rather controversial issues, but I guess perhaps it may not be a bad thing after all, considering how sensitive some of the audience could be...
Nevertheless, this is truly an impressive movie, considering how low budget it is (*cough* Puteri Gunung Ledang *cough*), and the fact that it's a local movie and all. Highly recommended to all fellow Malaysians!!! Oh and to all non-malays, guys, this is not juz another Malay movie k? Somehow I encountered lots of pessimism from my friend about the movie juz bcuz it "appears to be a Malay movie". With all the different languages/ dialects in it, I think "Malaysian movie" will be a better term!
Sunday, March 13, 2005
THIS TOO WILL PASS
"This too will pass.”
I was taught these words by my grandmother as a phrase that is to be used at all times in your life. When things are spectacularly dreadful, when things are absolutely apalling; when everything is superb and wonderful and marvellous and happy-say these four words to yourself.
They will give you a sense of perspective and help you also to make the most of what is good and stoical about what is bad.
I was taught these words by my grandmother as a phrase that is to be used at all times in your life. When things are spectacularly dreadful, when things are absolutely apalling; when everything is superb and wonderful and marvellous and happy-say these four words to yourself.
They will give you a sense of perspective and help you also to make the most of what is good and stoical about what is bad.
Claire Rayner
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
SEM 3
Today
is the 1st day
of my 2nd year
in medical studies.
I am
now officially
a 2nd year
medical student.
Lo and behold
I'm currently
in the legendary
semester 3
which happens to be
the main "filter"
of our medical studies
For it has
the highest failing rate
among the 5 sems
of our medical science phase
For all who fail this
...
let juz say
it won't be fun
at all.
And therefore
starting today
i'll make sure
i'll allocate enough time
every day
for my studies
So that i won't
look back with regret
after this
is all over
is the 1st day
of my 2nd year
in medical studies.
I am
now officially
a 2nd year
medical student.
Lo and behold
I'm currently
in the legendary
semester 3
which happens to be
the main "filter"
of our medical studies
For it has
the highest failing rate
among the 5 sems
of our medical science phase
For all who fail this
...
let juz say
it won't be fun
at all.
And therefore
starting today
i'll make sure
i'll allocate enough time
every day
for my studies
So that i won't
look back with regret
after this
is all over
Friday, March 04, 2005
JUZ... PLAIN WEIRD...
Any of u interested in watching a really realy weird & twisted movie? Try out Being John Malkovich. It's juz SO weird, it gets disturbing after awhile... There is juz nothing I could possibly say to described juz how bizarre the whole thing is... Ideas such as these could only possible came out from an insane man... or perhaps an eccentric genius... I kinda felt sick after watching the movie, for the accumulative strangeness (some may call it originality) of the movie juz overwhelms me.
Right now, I'm actually scared to think too much about it... Who knows, I may become mad!!!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
QUOTES FROM FRIENDS
A couple of quotes from my friends have rather large impact on me lately. I feel like sharing these "wise sayings" with u guys!! ;)
"Let us not be medical students who happens to be Christians, but Christians who happens to be medical students."
- Jonathan -
"You can't expect everyone to share your values, for everyone has their own values and principles."
- Tim -
They may sound pretty simple and straightforward (maybe even common sense) to some of u, but if u really think about it, there are lots of implications behind them...
Hope u guys benefit from them as much as I do! ;)
"Let us not be medical students who happens to be Christians, but Christians who happens to be medical students."
- Jonathan -
"You can't expect everyone to share your values, for everyone has their own values and principles."
- Tim -
They may sound pretty simple and straightforward (maybe even common sense) to some of u, but if u really think about it, there are lots of implications behind them...
Hope u guys benefit from them as much as I do! ;)