Éclectique

So... Blogger has changed their layout for their dashboard. The blogs themselves look pretty intact so those of you who just read blogs won't notice.  I feel so... sterilized.  Really.  It looks like some kind of sterilized menu.  Barely any color -- though I do like the orange accents.  But, it is neater.  So that's a plus.  Here's a picture attached. So... It has been literally months since I last updated.  Good lord.  Anyway, in brief I climbed up Kinabalu in the middle of my semester, failed Mechanics & Heat -- climbing Kinabalu had nothing to do with it, honest --, finished my semester break & started my 4th semester.  Oh, & I'm going to be doing a triathlon in July. Mount Kinabalu was an amazing adventure.  Outdoorsman/woman or not, you MUST try it.  The second morning as you make the ascent to the summit at 0200 hours is one of the most magical parts.  It's so punishing because you're exhausted bu...

I saw this status on Facebook once; "You're 10 & you have a laptop, iPod & Blackberry. Dude, when I was 10 all I had was a Tamaguchi". When those things came out I practically begged for a Tamaguchi. Didn't get one. Instead, I had already been given something better. I just didn't know it at the time. When I was 6 or 7, my parents enrolled me into swimming class. The coaches said I was like a fish in water. Kept going & I almost made it to the State team. By this time I was still young, 12 at most, and didn't want to continue. Kept swimming for fun, though. In between 6/7 and 12, I had gotten a bicycle and I loved to cycle around on it. It was basic & had to use training wheels at first. One day, I realized that I didn't need the training wheels and convinced my dad that I didn't need them. That feeling when I first rode without training wheels, I felt like I was going really fast! Then at around 14, I picked up golf. Wasn...

Today was full of ups & downs. The morning started innocently enough; I woke up on time, by 8:15 I was seated in class, waiting for the Precalculus class to start at 8:30. Graphs of Sine & Cosine was quite fun! Hehe! Then, Ms. Tan gave us the results for our Mid-Terms; I got 15/15! Booyah! Then we helped her rearrange the tables for her Calculus I class. At Sunway Pyramid, Ajit & I browsed through the Focus Point promotion/exhibition thingy. Some nice glasses. It'll be cool to get some. Hehe! After some browsing, with Ajit enquiring about some of the prices, we headed for our cars. Before I climbed in, I took out my Season Parking Pass card. In the car, I noticed that it was gone! Huhu! I looked high & low for it before I spent the next 2 hours either running back & forth between Sunway Campus & Pyramid getting things sorted out or waiting around. -sigh-. Bummer. I ended up praying at the mosque in front of Sunway Pyramid, across NPE. Go...

Finally the weekend is over. Time for me to recover and recuperate. On Friday, I had my Bronze Medal examinations. I passed so now I'm a qualified life guard! Hehe! It was actually a lot of fun! There were only 2 timed events. The first was to swim 50m (any stroke), rescue the victim and tow him back 50m with the assistance of an aid (a short rope). The time to beat was 00:03:00 minutes. I clocked in 00:02:48. Hehe! The other timed event was the rope toss. You have to gather the rope, roll it so that you can toss it well to the victim who is about 10-20m out in 'open' water. Time to beat; 00:01:00. My time: 00:0043. Muahahaha! I also did very good for the other events. My 'victim' -- a fellow exam taker -- said that my chin tow was very comfortable. Muahahaha! Luckily for me, the guy was a floater, despite being on the heavier side. Me? I sink. Heh heh. Sorry. He had a bit of trouble with me. Hehe! Saturday was my SAT. Huh. Go figure, the ...

Recently, there's been some commotion from the States about the whole pat-down thing being performed by TSA (Transport Security Administration) staff. Many people feel that this move is very violating as the person being searched is groped and touched in very private areas. Man, this is actually quite hard to write about. I'm trying to be as objective as I can and I don't want to sound like some tabloid reporter. Yuck. Back to the story, a family travelling back home from a vacation in New Orleans was selected from the line to go through the screening process. Now, there are 2 steps, you get scanned, then you get physically searched. Though it appears to be fairly random as to why you get searched. Selection from the crowd is also random, I think. I'm not following to closely. Anyway, this family was chosen and after everyone was scanned, their 6-year old daughter was chosen for the physical search. Imagine, you've been telling your daughter that it is wro...

Does the name 'Bunsen' sound familiar? No it's not the F1 driver. That one is J ensen B utton . Ah, the good old days in the high school science lab where we have to heat something up or set something on fire -- remember that peanut during Bio? The one where we measure the calories? Those were the good days. And we were able to do all that thanks to our school syllabus, our school funds and a guy named Robert Bunsen, the inventor of the Bunsen burner. 8D. One of the most fun things to play with in the lab. Oh, I remember all those burnt pencil tips & ends, the lighted mechanical pencil leads, the pieces of paper, the occasional fireball from leaving the gas on for too long -- speaking of which, one such fireball almost took out a friend of mine, Faris Iylia & myself. Some of the girls left it on too long, finally got the electric lighter and while they were pointing it away from themselves -- and accidentally at us -- out of fear of it going BOOM in their f...

I've said it before; once I'm bored, I start doing lists. So for today, I decided to make a list of cool things I found that would be neat to own. Hehe! GoPro HD Hero. It's a camera for action sports. With an assortment of mounts, you can mount it anywhere to get that awesome footage. The HD Hero model shoots in 1080p videos and 5mp pictures. Impressive considering it's just this small little thing. P/S; the camera is mounted on the helmet. You don't get a free helmet (nor goggles) with the purchase of the camera. Hehe! A cyclocross bike. Cyclocross is sometimes written/typed as CX. They look identical to road bikes with the drops bars and all but they're actually built to go off-road. Pretty neat concept. Hehe. If you notice the bike in the picture below has drop bars and rather thin tires, reminiscent of a road bike. Some ring I found on this website called Novica and it looks like a Jaguar. The animal, not the car. It's a really nifty loo...

Looking back, mountain biking, particularly XC, is sadism at it's finest. During the race you feel your spirit breaking, you want to cry and give up yet you keep motivating yourself, "I want to finish this, I want to finish this," and you do. You don't win, but you did finish where many others pulled out. You're body is aching, and you feel like collapsing. At the same time, once you cross that finish line, you're like, "I actually did it," and you look at the expressions of those who didn't finish it and you feel a mix of joy and pain. Days after that, after you've recovered and gotten back in the saddle, you think, "I can't wait for the next race." It's borderline stupid but it's addictive. That feeling when you're atop the hill and you know you pedalled and struggled your way up. You didn't take some big 4x4 and wreck the environment to get the view. You broke a sweat, you swore, you struggled, and whe...

I would have done this one my 250th post but I didn't notice that it was the 250th. Heh heh. My bad. Anyway, I recently bought a book. Finally, a book. Hehe. I'm an avid reader & as I was browsing through MPH Subang Parade last weekend, I realized it's been a while since I read a book that I wanted to. The latter part of last year many of us had our noses buried in reference books, text books, notes we took down during class, etc, gearing up for SPM. Now it was time I got something I wanted to read. I've always been intrigued by mystery novels; the Hardy Boys, Famous Five, etc. So I got one. Want to guess what book I got? I'll give you a hint. Look familiar? I'm sure it pretty is. Yep, I got myself a copy of 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Somehow, despite being a fan of mystery books, I had never read any of Sherlock Holmes' Adventures. Sure, I've heard of some of his stories but never actually re...

I passed my Computerized Test in one go! I'm glad I was able to. But you know what was weird? My score. Before I elaborate, the test is split into 2 'papers' with the first being a vision test and the 2nd the actual Law or Undang test. The 2nd part is split into 3 sections; the first 15 questions -- Part I --, the next 25 -- Part II --, and the final 10 -- Part III. The parts difficulty transition from easy, hard to medium. I scored 15/15 for Part I, 25/25 for Part II but 5/10 for Part III. Heh. Go figure, eh? Well, I was still able to get the passing mark so I'm happy. I got 45/50 which is 90%. Woohoo!! After that, I decided to go straight for the 3-hour Theory course. Unfortunately, the classes were full for the 3-hour Practical course so I'm taking that one next week. A week after that, I'll get my 'L' license or Learning Driver's License -- LDL. Hmm. What to do in that week before I get my LDL? Hehe. Hopefully I can hit PCP by mys...

Lue has left back for Canada. :( This past Saturday, we went to watch Gulliver's Travels. It was a fun movie. Jack Black really likes his rock and roll. Hehehe! Of course, I'm not complaining, the guy can actually sing. Before the movie, Akid was kind of hunting around for a camera. We had bought a Sony Cybershot TX-9 sometime back but about two weeks ago, it got stolen. :(. I won't delve into the details. Quite disheartened by that incident. So he was seriously considering a DSLR which is kind of unfair because I've always wanted one but I never pushed for it because it cost so much. I guess I can be a bit more careful with money than my little brother. We woke up early the next day because we needed to send Lue to the airport. :(. It was fun having her around. Everyone was sad at the airport. Heh. We had so much fun and 3 weeks went by so quickly. Huhu. After she left, we had breakfast at McDonald's then we went hunting for cameras around KLIA bec...

I have been so busy!! I haven't had time to post anything for the new year. This has happened to me, what 2 years in a row? Huh. Go figure. Well, a lot has come and passed in 2010. Debates, public speaking, having fun with friends -- QM, Lina, Alliya, Sharanya, Divya, and Letticia who make up the debate team! --, lots of laughter, lots of heartache -- Add Math, I'm looking at you --, did my first downhill mountain biking run, did my SPM/O-Levels, just to name a few. Looking back, many of my friends were kinda sad on the last day(s) of SPM but somehow I wasn't too bothered. Yeah, I knew I was going to miss all of them but I didn't feel sad. Call me a heartless creep but yeah, kinda. Huh. Anyway, I certainly hope that everyone keeps in touch! Another year, another new year's resolution. Before that, however, I want to look back at this year's resolution and see what I've accomplished As I've said in the post Custom Order New Year's Resolutio...

Right off the bat I'm sure you guys are wondering either; (A) What on Earth do those acronyms mean? (B) Aqil mentioned them before... But I can't remember... Either way, I'll let you know. SAT stands for Scholastic Assessment Test -- formerly Scholastic Aptitude Test. TOEFL stands for Test Of English as A Foreign Language. Right now, these two are my top priority. Preparing for and taking the tests. For the TOEFL, I'll be taking TOEFL iBT which means internet-based test. I recently bought a couple of books to help with preparations. The titles are; Cracking the SAT 2011 Edition and Cracking the TOEFL iBT 2011 Edition . Both are published by The Princeton Review. Cracking the SAT 2011 Edition by The Princeton Review Cracking the TOEFL iBT 2011 Edition by The Princeton Review Insyaallah I'll be able to do it. SAT so far seems quite doable. Hehe! That's all for now. Au revoir!

Last Sunday, my family & I went for a ride at the Rubber Research Institute (RRI) is Sungai Buloh. It's a really cool XC trail. A lot of loops. The week leading up to our trip was kind of stressful because information regarding RRI was hard to obtain. Getting there is simple enough. Starting from Skypark Terminal, Subang Airport, keep going straight until you reach a Caltex gas station. From there, turn right and keep going, following the signs. The signs will lead you to the actual institute itself which is on your left. The entrance to the trail however, is right across the street, on your right. So turn right -- it's between two nurseries -- and park. There's a small plot of land perfect for parking and unloading the bikes. After that, start off. Map from Subang Airport to Entrance of RRI View Larger Map The road going into the plantation is red soil road and it's a nice ride. You can do some pretty cool sprints there but I'd advise against that. ...

It's a slow Saturday afternoon but at least it's not stressful. I always feel stressed out when I have to study for extended periods of time in my room. Maybe it's because I'm really REALLY studying. Hehehe. I can hear some jazz music coming from one of the neighbours. Sets a nice ambiance. I was hoping to go out with my family today but my mom decided not to. Huhu. She said we would go out tomorrow. So for the time being, I'm alternating between 'studying' and looking up places to ride. Provided I can get another mountain bike for my dad. And a car rack. Haha. Oh well. Guess that's it for now. Au revoir.

As I had published in one of my previous posts, I had gone to the Putrajaya Challenge Park on Monday and it was a blast! I got a small cut on my knee and some parts of the track I did were risky so my parents decided that I needed knee and elbow guards. I expected to get them next weekend or maybe even next month. What I didn't expect is I would be getting them the following day! I was overjoyed! I found an open store in Shah Alam. Due Roda Extreme is the name of the store. It is a really cool store. The store itself is divided into two; one for mountain bikes and mountain bike related products, the other is for motorcycles. It was an interesting combination. Another surprise when I bought the guards was that I also got a full face helmet. I was a bit taken aback when my parents subtly agreed to my gawking. Hehe. I got a pair of FOX Racing Launch knee/shin guards and a Mongoose elbow + knee guard set. My full face helmet is a limited edition matte bronze FOX Rampage DH Helmet. D...

I finally managed to go to the Putrajaya Challenge Park today! WOOHOO! It is a nice place but it takes a teensy bit to get there. Just follow the signboards till you get there. The best place to start is in front of the Putrajaya International Convention Center with all the flags waving. From there, turn left, follow the directions and you'll get there. By the way, you'll pass by a cemetery which is a tad bit creepy, especially considering that you're going to do some extreme sports. I had a blast. Crashed once and got a slight cut on my knee. I had to bail out on a few parts coz I didn't have enough momentum. Man. Those tracks are tricky. Especially the jumps. My feet keep lifting off the pedals. Phew. Haha. But it was wicked! the cut on my knee And the cut looks worse than it is. It's just one small cut but it bled out a bit, thus the gruesome effect. Sorry to any of my readers who find this image graphical and hard to digest. Alright, now time for a quick wal...

Friday night, my parents had decided that this weekend, we would not be going out of the house except for necessities like groceries, Akid's swim class, family meetings, etc. So, naturally, I was prepared -- sort of -- for a weekend full of studying. I sort of guessed as much because next week is Akid's birthday. I'll put up a post when the time comes. Anyway, as I had said earlier, I was sort of ready to face a weekend of studying and then another week of the same activity -- huhu. Then today, while having snack after Akid's swimming lesson, my mom decided that on Monday morning, we were going to swim in Putrajaya. A series of things came to mind in this order; Putrajaya-mountain bike-Putrajaya Challenge Park-IDEA! Inevitably, my dad caught the look on my face -- or he was thinking about it too -- and said we would check out the park since it was close by AND that we would bring my mountain bike along. WOOHOO!! I only face two dilemmas; one of which is easily solved. ...

That is the title of the seminar I went to this weekend. It's part of the 5-session thing organized by NST & sponsored by Sime Darby. Yesterday, the activities were a tad bit boring because the activities were just the group carrying it out and then pasting it up on the wall. No presenting. It was fun, don't get me wrong. It just wasn't the most involving or challenging, that's all. Today, the activities were less group-based and much more individual participation. We did some personality profiling on ourselves. There were 4 categories; Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholy and Phlegmatic. I know some of the names are not so pleasant but that aside, the activity was quite fun. Everyone will get a combination of two personality groups except the following combinations; Sanguine-Melancholy or Melancholy-Sanguine and Choleric-Phlegmatic or Phlegmatic-Choleric My combination was Sanguine-Choleric. Sanguines are very talkative, cannot sit still, hyper-active and ver...

Tomorrow & today there was supposed to be a seminar on leadership. It is part of the Creative Writing course. But there was an emergency cancellation so instead of cancelling the seminar itself, they went on with it but only for today. That means no seminar tomorrow. Replacement will be on the 30th & 31st of January. I should be free. I don't want to enter anything for the school Sports Day & I don't want to go for Co-Curricular activities on a Saturday. Quite frankly, I'm not in the mood to participate in any of the Co-Curricular activities at the moment. Save maybe for debate through the English Literature Society & rugby but not really fond of going for Kadet Bomba. I guess maybe I feel that I have fulfilled my -- ah what the heck. Just say it. I feel lazy to go and that I have done my time with Bomba. There I said it. -Sigh-. Why did they have to do it on a Saturday. So lazy... I really want a full-face helmet and then to try out the course ...