Another Exeat in KTJ

"Exeat", I always wonder what other people thinks of exeat, particularly all my awesome friends in my college, or what we invariably call as "ktjians".

Some of my friends will be cheering for the coming of exeat as it means shorter lessons on that particular friday, when we'll all probably be day-dreaming in the class though we can still pretend that we are listening attentively without having to be caught by our teachers. Well, teachers aren't that stupid as we might think(i mean in this very context, no offence!) as they are students before. Ergo, I think they are also pretending that we are listening even though we're not! Aren't we all talented actor and actress? Aside from that, some of my friends who are still having homesick will have their "sickness" cured without having to take any medicine. Why? because they are going home, of which I don't. Not that I don't miss my lovely family members, just that it's so irrational to do so as the air fare is not cheap, which contradicts with AirAsia's slogan- "Now everyone can fly!".

Nevertheless, exeat is special for me as well. It's the only time where you can really see the tranquility that exists within the college. I feel so fortunate to be sent to this college by my sponsor by the virtue of the fact that this college has a particular aspect of which is not possessed by many of the other colleges in Malaysia. What's that? The peacefulness that you will get, away from the hustle and bustle of the city despite the fact that there're not much access to the so-called entertainment sites like shopping malls, cinema, lagoons, etc. Well, we can still have a day trip out to the city or just dropped by mamak with friends, so not much of isolation from the outside world. Otherwise, I'll just sneak into the squash court with my friends as we are not supposed to use the facilities without the staff's supervision. ( I personally think that this particular school policy does not work, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who share the same view!)

However, when exams are around the corner, the former case will be different. There'll be more people staying back for self-study and revision. But still, it's not as busy as normal days when there'll be people walking along the main paths of the college. Instead, you'll see people loitering around at the certain corners of the college, like a plate of green beans scattered all over the places, but too insignificant to be noticed.

Here I'm in ktj again for another exeat. Not much exeats left for me if I were to count it as I'll be leaving this college soon to further my study. Perhaps I should cherish the moment that I have during exeat together with my friends before the time tie a knot to it.

p/s: To all ktj-ians, if you were to stay back during exeat, try walk along the path, which divides the academic blocks and the dining hall. You'll have a grasp of the peacefullness that I mean. If you were lucky enough, you might even see a few squirrels jumping here and there on the trees, or just pass by you, but that's not the main point. If not, you can also go to one of the many fields in ktj, overlooking the beautiful scenery of sunset or even sunrise, which I bet you'll probably oversleep and have the sun shining on you to wake you up instead.

Retrospection

It is really great that somehow, I get to settle down and have a moment of retrospection.
Time has elapsed so swiftly, or perhaps I should say that time has always been in the same pace.
It's me who have been ignoring "it" as there are invariably so much to be done for the past few months...last whole year.

Late enrollment into the college, around the end of January was not an easy start for me.
What's more when I just came out from the National Service camp, where I had been disconnected from the outside world for almost a month.

At first, there was actually a sense of insecure within me as everyone else had been together for almost a month and for the case of august intakes, more than half a year. I felt like they were not ready to meet new comers like me.
However, as days passed, I started meeting new friends and I guaranteed that they are nice and friendly people. I got to built up a strong friendship with them, especially after the 10 days of Outward Bound course in Lumut, getting to know more about them. I would say it was my pleasure to have met all these awesome people.

Last year, or to be exact, past few months, I was still scratching my head, figuring out how to write a personal statement and university application stuffs. Now, I should really be grateful to get all my offers, though another dilemma popped out of to which university should I opt for my 3 years course. LSE? Queen mary? or outside london campus university like Bristol? Guess the puzzle would be a complete picture as soon as the deadline is approaching.

Aside from that, I could still recall the time when I struggled with my subjects' combination, namely Economics, Geography, History and Maths. My teachers told me that it's a very heavy combination and it's not advisable to continue with it. I couldn't agree more with them, but I persisted. I was really in amidst of doubts and uncertainties, and definitely worried about the outcome. Nevertheless,I was really over the moon the moment I got my AS results and I almost cried. I scored straight As in the subjects taken and even got 100s for both history and geography. To be frank, I was prepared to just pass or even fail in the history paper! Ergo, I was dumbfounded by the grades and marks I achieved. What's more unexpected would be the fact that I was awarded high achievement award from Cambridge Examination Board for scoring highest marks in Malaysia for Geography. It was nothing that I longed for and it was indeed a blessing. Now, it serves as motivation for me to do even better in A2 papers, which are just around the corner.

I'm sure there are more interesting things to come in the next half a year time in my college where I will be getting nearer to the edge of teenage life. Credits to all my family members, my friends, my seniors and everyone else for being there to make up the part and parcel of my life. I'm ready to continue my A level journey and will do my best so that no regrets for me when I "looked back" again next time!

Christmas Eve

It has been some time since I last updated my blog...
guess what, I have nothing really interesting to post.
Or perhaps, I'm just lazy to express them in words.

Tonight's christmas eve, which not only reminds me of how fast time has elapsed,
but also the purpose of celebrating christmas.
Thinking about christmas, what are the things that come across your mind?
chrismas tree? santa? turkey? presents?
How many of us today actually remember that it's the birthday of someone special,
someone who not only brings peace to the christmas eve-"silent night",
but also peace to everyone of us in our daily lives?

Yes, you are right! It's Jesus!
He has come to the Earth to be our savior
to save us from the devils and the sins.
We ought to remember that he's the main character of this joyous festival.

Happy birthday, Jesus!
We love you just as much as you love us!

Your son,
David

This second, next moment..

This second, I'm still in kuching, screwing my brain to complete my prep..
(after enjoying my holiday until I did nth on prep)
next moment, I'll be in the plane back to KTJ..and continue my college life..
though the next time I'm back in Kuching, my beloved hometown, it will be 3 months later..
but I still look forward to KTJ's life...hope that I can finished my prep before the class start..

Pail of water

"There is a pail of water beside the water tap,
a father wants to move that pail from the water tap to the other corner of the bathroom.
Apparently, the father himself is strong enough to lift the pail of water, but he, however, asks his 5 years old son to lift it...
this sounds a bit ridiculous because how can a 5 years old son be able to lift a pail of water which may weigh about 1.5 kg.
the son is too young to think rationally and he do believe that he can lift the pail of water,
so eventually he does lift the water, with the help of his father, who lift the water at the same time...
the father praises his son and the son is very happy and he thinks that he has really helped his father lifts the pail of water, but in actual fact, the father has lifted the water all by himself, and he is just letting his son to take part and give him encouragement... because he loves his son.."

This story reminds me of God Father's plans in my life.
Our mighty god can do everything on His own,
He don't need our help at all.
But he invariably let us participate in His mighty plan, to spread his word,
and he has actuallly prepared his word, bible for us to do so..
though we may face challenges, but he'll always be with us...
and even reward us for our hard work when the time comes..
thus, it's really time for us to think of what we hve done for God all these while...
And even if we have done anything which we think is big, always be humble and thanks God..
because He is the one doing it and we are just participating...

inspiration,
david

Housetrip to midvalley

Snapshot of me and my roommate, Afiq outside Midvalley Megamall

Really had a great time here, though we didn't manage to watch Alice In the Wonderland because it's full!!!!

God's Blessing

I couldn't really remember when was the last time I blogged,
3 months ago?
Within these few months, I felt like having a long dream...
as far as I could still remember, I'm heading to National Service camp at Camp Puncak Permai, Bau.
I really had a great time there.
People normally spent 3 months to complete NS, I, however, spent only 3 weeks there..
In NS, I was really glad to have met so many new friends from all over the Malaysia..
We had great time together and we had indeed built up a strong friendship...
I also thanked god that I was selected as Ketua Platun, which enabled me to learn how to work with a group of teenagers from different ethnics and background..and I really missed them a lot..
In the camp, I had a lot of first time..
First time of playing football (it was actually a match against other companies)
First time of canoeing, etc

Just when I was about to have more first time,
I received a call from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM),
I was offered a scholarship to further my study in UK (not Ulu Kapit, apparently)
However, I had to leave the camp and report myself to the college the following week..
It was such a rush and sudden as I intended to finished my whole NS training..
Indeed, it was hard and i was in a dilemma as to whether accept or reject the scholarship..
But I eventually decided to accept it and start my new journey...though I was quite reluctant to do so..
the reason made such a decision was because of my promise to God for that..
Why do I say so?

For most of my friends from west malaysia, BNM scholarship is something very popular among them and they considered it as a prestigous scholarship.
For me, on the other hand, had never heard of this scholarship before..
What I knew were scholarships from JPA, Petronas, Shell and so on...
So, to be offered this scholarship was definitely a blessing from god...
Among all the six BNM scholars, i was the only one who did not apply for the scholarship..
I actually got a call from BNM during my SPM examination, asking me for an interview, as well as assessments in KL Bank Negara..
Initially, I did not feel like going because the interview was on 14 of Dec, and i was going to have my last paper, which was chinese for SPM...
but the BNM conveniently postponed it to 15 Dec..so I decided to give it a try...

The interview actually started at 8am, but I arrived there at about 9.30am, solely because of flight delay.
As soon as I arrived the BN in KL, I was brought into a small room where I met 4 other candidates.
I was quite shocked when I saw them writing pieces and pieces of essays...
Of course, I had to do the same..one English essay and one Malay essay..
I felt quite uncomfortable at that very moment because I expected only interview and didn't expect to have assessments..but I still managed to complete my essays..(obviously I didn't have enough time and the essays are thus a straight thought of mine...not well constructed because I only have about an hour to complete them but others have more than that..)

After that, I was called for the interview..
during the interview, I actually told the interviewers that the course that I wanted was dentistry, which I later found out that it was not offered..so I ultimately came out with my second choice...Law..
After the interview, I thought I could call it a day and i was actually preparing to go to airport after having my lunch since my flight was like 3.40pm..
But, just then I received a "heart attack" when I was told that there were two more assessments to go...group presentation and individual presentation....
Initially, I felt like giving up because I won't be able to make it since I had alraedy booked my flight..
but the dedicated staffs and interviewers were really considerate and tolerant in a way that they actually started the assessment session earlier...I finished my assessments earlier before the others and I had actually lesser time to prepare myself for the presentation (others have more than half an hour..I can only afford to have 10 minutes of preparation)...
After that, I straight away took a taxi and rushed to the airport...
I was actually late for the check in and was about to miss the plane..
In the taxi, I prayed for god's mercy so that the plane will actually delay and I will not miss the flight..
thanked god, who listened to prayers...the plane was indeed delayed for 20 minutes and I managed to negotiate with the staff at the counter to let me through though I'm late...

When I reached home, I was totally exhausted..
that night, I really spent my time with God..
I prayed for the whole night before I eventually went into my world of dream...
I realised that it was quite impossible that I'll be offered the scholarship since I had caused so much troubles and inconveniences to the staffs of BN and did not have enough time to prepare well for my presentation..
But, I prayed to God...
I knew there must be a reason behind..why He blessed me by giving me a chance to be called for the interview..
I told God that if it was really His plan for me to become a lawyer and worked in BN in the future to serve him, give me the scholarships..
If not, I 'll just wait for JPA and apply for dentistry..
And I got His answer when I received the call from BN.....
and that's why I here now in college Tuanku Jaafar, taking my A level...

I know that there will sheer be more challenges coming up..
but I'm now more confident to face them with God by my side..
I thanked God for blessing me with so many good friends here in KTJ..
though A level is not easy..especially history and geography, which are totally different from SPM..and economics is a very new subject for me either..
I'm actually changing from science stream to art stream..based on my subjects taken..
I do hope that my life can once again be enlighted ny God and I really thanked God for the blessings because I assumed myself as someone too ordinary and do not really deserve all these...but God still love me..

I really wanna share His love and blessings with all of you..
do hope that you will see God's plan in your life as well...

God bless,
David