Éclectique

Classes have resumed.  Last two semesters have felt like open season & I was the deer.  Mechanics & Heat  in the short semester, then Multivariate Calculus in the following semester were really a blow to my CGPA. I've probably rambled a lot about this so I'm not going to say anything more.  Let's just hope that hunting season is over & this little deer is not going to face anymore trouble. This semester I'm only taking 3 subjects; Thermodynamics, Electricity & Light, & retaking Multivariate Calculus.  Multivariate Calculus has a new lecturer so hopefully she's good.  Going to work hard at all my papers now.  Have to.  Need to bring up my CGPA so I can apply. Talking about applications, I'm now looking at Canada rather than the States due -- primarily -- to safety issues...  There has been literally a shooting every week.  It's frightening.  Going to apply to McMaster, University of Calgary, & Queen's. ...

So, it's Ramadan now. A month of fasting.  :)  It's fun, actually.  Aside from the spiritual gains, at the end of the day, the food looks very good & one does feel more grateful.  Also, at least I'm on my term break so I won't be running all over school going to my classes.  Now, I just need to find a way to stay in shape.  If not, it'll be a month wasted.  On top of that if I don't keep up, come September -- & the numerous events I'm planning to enter -- I'll be screwed. I'll most likely be doing night rides, night runs, and the TotalGym after breaking fast, just so that I'll have the energy to do so.  If I do it during the day, I'll have difficulty fasting the rest of the day.  Plus, I want to try and maintain my current BMI else I might fall too low.  Gaining BMI during Ramadan with my metabolism is pretty much out of the question. Hehe. Sheesh.  Everything sounds so bland, doesn't it?  Nothing exciting...  ...

That's the name of the performance that I attended at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) yesterday. I know it's spelled Inpendencia and apparently, that's not a typo. It was a lot of fun. The entire performance was awesome. The whole reason behind it was because many South American countries had just celebrated their 200th year of independence. According to the maestro for the evening, those countries are Mexico, Argentina and Columbia. I think that's all. Although there were some music from Cuba and he apologized for that. I didn't mind. They were all very good. It was the first "happy hour" session meaning it wasn't too formal though you still had to dress smartly. Akid and I were very excited for several reasons. Firstly, it would be our first time attending any of the MPO's performances, it would also be the first time we would get to go to take the public transport by ourselves and as it turned out, the first time just the t...

The 1 week semester break has been extended to 2 weeks due to Eid il Fitri. So once school reopens, it's 3 days of school and then on Thursday, TRIALS! Huhu. So for those of us in Form 3 & Form 5, these 2 weeks is not so much a holiday as it is a study-a-thon. I feel our exam-oriented system is stressful on students and actually limiting our opportunities to be all-rounders. Too few are scoring A+'s AND excelling in the co-curricular activities. Our syllabus is heavy and I think getting heavier. History is about to be incorporated into the primary school syllabus. The Standard 1 kids are already learning Science. It is literally back-breaking work. Those little kids in Primary school can't lift all those books without damaging the back posture. And when we consider leaving the heavy textbooks in class. It's not allowed. What the? Anyway, I'm bored and having trouble sleeping. My birthday is in about 2 weeks and my family is asking me what I want for...

Sorry for not blogging lately! A lot has been happening and I just haven't had the time to blog. Last weekend, I participated in a public speaking competition and naturally, blew it. Haha. A friend of mine, Mikhail entered too but he didn't make it to the semi-finals either. Kinda disappointed but I kinda saw it coming. This weekend I have a debate competition at HELP College. Excited and nervous at the same time. Also, there's a downhill event coming up; The Kiara Rage. It's on 25th July. Unfortunately, I cannot participate. Huhu. Mainly because I need more practice, a new helmet & my parents' permission. Hehehe. Um, just a short update for now. Au revoir.

It's been a while since I blogged. Quite a bit has happened. My dad went to Umrah and he is already safely back home. Though a bit under the weather -- mainly due to lack of rest. Other than that, the school holidays were a wee bit dull if not for the rather pricey -- though short -- shopping list. Hehe. I got my first pair of goggles! No, not the swimming goggles. I'm talking bout MX-level goggles. The ones they use for motorcross (MX) & mountain biking. Oakley Proven MX. Hehe. They're really cool! the goggles. Oakley Proven MX Goggles + helmet

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. ...

The one week Chinese New Year holidays have started! That means... -building up to climatic reveal- more studying. Huhuhu. Talk about anti-climatic. I really, really hope I can get a full-face helmet, some padding and go hit the slopes at Putrajaya Challenge Park ! Huhu. -Sigh-. We'll see how that turns out. To all my Chinese friends and/or my fellow bloggers & bloggerettes, regardless of race, age or gender, I wish you a very happy Chinese New Year!!

Yes. I have a studies-related dilemma & school hasn't even freaking reopened! Wow. Looks like its going to be a rough year from here on in. What is my dilemma? My physics tuition is scheduled on Fridays. I know right now you are thinking, "alright, he's lost it. There's nothing wrong with physics tuition on Fridays," True, there shouldn't be. But wait just one moment. I also have rugby practice on Fridays. NOO! My head says drop rugby and focus on physics but my heart says drop physics & play rugby. And given the past evidence, the new physics teacher isn't quite up to the mark. I mean, I managed to scrape 70% with my old teacher but barely passed with the new one. I know, maybe it is me but I'm merely stating my inference and observation, respectively. My dad too is undecided. I am yet to discuss with my mom. We shall see. -Sigh-. Looks like a rough year ahead. -Gulp-.

I know it is already the 2nd of January and I know this should have been written the LATEST by 31st December but I finally got around to writing this -- and thinking about it. Hehe. I've color-coded them by the way. Red means VERY important, Purple means preferable but optional and Green means it's just something I want that isn't important. Hehe. So my New Year's Resolutions -- which are in no particular order of importance are; A full-face MTB helmet. Preferrably -- or rather, hopefully -- from Specialized or SixSixOne but I don't mind any other brand. As long as I like it -- duh. Elbow/forearm + knee/shin guards. This too I would prefer SixSixOne. Or maybe Fox Head but again, I'm just hoping. 10 A's for SPM -- duh. Improve myself so that I study hard AND smart. A lot. Without burning out. That means minimum 1 SOLID hour a day. Then I can play, a bit. Get Abah a bike and hit the trails one fine weekend. Get a scholarship to M.I.T and do en...

31st December 2009. It is the last day of the year. I just got my bike tuned and now I'm -- literally -- waiting for and fearing the day school reopens. Why waiting? Because I want to cycle everyday on my mountain bike and see Liyana again and drag my feet to the bathroom every morning -- OK, maybe not quite -- and I want to see all of my friends again. That's a lot of 'and's... Phew. About fearing the school reopening, I fear it because it means the long yet short countdown -- does that make sense? -- to SPM has begun. Recapping the year, it certainly has been eventful if not rickety. But then again, you're not living as a teenager if the roller-coaster ride that is life doesn't fly off the tracks every now and again. My birthday was certainly a momentous one. I got a new bike which was a big deal for me. My old bike was 6 years old and getting small. I was a bit sad when I knew I wasn't going to be using the old bike anymore because I've bee...

To my readers, I apologise if any of you were under the impression there really was an event. It's just a title -- which happens to have something to do with my post today. I'm sorry but there was no long-distance, endurance cycling competition in BJ during the duration of the school holidays. Nothing official, at least. My apologies. Anyway, back to the reason I'm posting this; I woke up 'early' today -- 9:30 a.m. Haha. So much for early, eh? Anyway, after a shower and breakfast, I went cycling. I went all over BJ alone on my Polygon Collossus AX1.0. Hehehehe. Just me, my bike, a bottle of water & my music. It was a fun -- and tiring -- ride. The Route: View Larger Map Legends: A/E - Home (I'm not going to put my address, duh) B - School (SMK Bkt. Jelutong) C - Lagenda (Jalan Teratak) D - Jalan Adang Checkpoints: This one I think is a bit obvious but just in case I'll clarify it. The checkpoints are; A-B, B-C, C-D and D-E. Time(s): Leg 1 (A-...

It is 26th December 09 here in Malaysia, the day after Christmas, also known as Boxing Day. Typically, this is the day when people go to the stores to get the proper size for clothes they received as Christmas gifts -- if it didn't fit. My family however, went to Signature GSC at the Gardens to watch James Cameron's Avatar! Better still, we watched it in 3D! Before entering the theater, we were given those square 3D glasses. It was cool. Even the advertisements about the upcoming movies were in 3D. It was awesome! With the 3D glasses, everything seemed to come at you. When they were walking through the jungle, I felt like touching the leaves of the ferns as they 'passed by'. Some scenes make you recoil because it feels like the gun is really pointed at you and that the people are actually shooting at you. It was definitely a rush. The movie was very good. Very deep. There is no, absolutely no, clear-cut good guy/bad guy. Everyone is caught up in trying to up...

It's been sort of a while since I blogged. I have a lot I want to write but I on Thursday I forgot and on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, I didn't have a secure internet connection. Why? Because I went back to Taiping. On Thursday, I forgot because I was exhausted. Hehe. That morning, my family and one of my cousins -- he slept over -- went to swimming in Putrajaya. No, not in the lake, but in a/the public swimming pool. I'm not sure how many there are. It was really empty so my family managed to do our laps in peace without people 'berendam' there. I mean, come on, it's a lap pool, not a jacuzzi. You're supposed to SWIM, not soak. Especially to those who REALLY need to lose those pounds. There I go, straying off again. So, back to the story, the pool being empty was a really great thing. But the best part was that it was Olympic sized! Woohoo! I know, there are probbably a lot of Olympic sized pools around but I hardly go to any of them and they...

One of my cousins is over; Aiman. He is as old as Akid and the two of them are very close. It's too bad Alang can't stay over because then we cannot go back to Taiping on Friday. Let me elaborate on that. We are going back to Taiping this Friday & Aiman is coming with us. If one more cousin stayed with us, the car wouldn't fit. Well, it would, it just wouldn't be a comfortable 180km++, 2 hour journey to Taiping, Perak. Hehe. But I'm bringing the rugby ball back to Taiping anyway so it's alright. Hehe. I'm just really bored right now... What to do?

Sounds like the title of a bad spoof but it isn't. Essentially, that's what today has been. A tiring day with 2 kenduris to attend, a brief grocery and a cousin tagging along. It was really good seeing Liyana again. I've missed her so much. She looked gorgeous during Sofea's aunt Yasmin's wedding. Hehe I'm afraid I hurt her a bit just now... I'm sorry you felt you were bothering. You weren't. I swear. I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I'm sorry if you felt that way. You weren't at all... There are no emotes or abbreviations that can fit how much I want to apologise to you right now... Je t'aime sayang...

Life seems to be OK now. Actually, I feel sort of happy. Mama & Abah are not too upset over my results, alhamdulillah. I'm essentially done with my BM folio. Just have the 'Plot' section to wrap up. Should be simple. I think of it as a simplified synopsis -- which on its own its a simplified version of the story. 0_o. Haha. And my cousins are coming this Saturday! Woohoo! Hehe. It's been a while since I met them. Since... August or so. Just before PMR, during Eid il Fitr. Yep. It'll be nice to see them again. This year's Eid il Fitr was a lot of fun because my cousins from Canada came back! Hehe. It was cool being able to hang out with them again. Christmas is around the corner. I'm afraid Akid might be getting it to his head he can get away with ordering another game. Abah is not going to be pleased if he does. Then again, maybe he just likes to browse through Amazon.com like I like to browse through all the sites related to mountai...

Just thought I'd publish a post on sounds that I like. These sounds may or may not necessarily be relaxing. These are just sounds that I like. Waves breaking and crashing against the beach. Cliche, I know. But its so rhythmic and relaxing. Running water. No, not tap water. As in a stream or river. This one is not so rhythmic but still relaxing. Car's engine revving. Haha. Yes, I'm somewhat of a diesel-head. But I'm not into the shrill cry of F1 engines. Something deep. Muscle car sort of deep. Almost roaring if you rev it. That sounds like power to me. Keyboard being typed on. I know this sounds strange but I like it. To me, it sounds like inspiration being transferred and molded into a story. Camera shutters. The 'click' that goes off when you snap a picture. I like that. Especially when you've managed to get a really good angle and create a very interesting snapshot. Golf ball. When you take a nice, relaxed stance, swing that 7-iron and...