Student Council’s Election

Aaron Lo’s usually mundane life gets jazzed up a little today.

Today was Student Council’s Election, and like last semester, the spotlight is on students running for positions in the Student Council. The speech that was required by all participants in the election was a great chance to hear about the student’s credentials and past experiences, as well as to discern how diverse our student body is. Or so I thought.

I ran for Publicity Officer, which is primarily like a PR person, although I’ve always interpret it as an advertising job. At some point of time before deciding on the PR job, I thought of running for President, but upon much deliberation, I decided that I do not want to repeat my mistake in Grade 11 of holding too much leadership positions and do just little (that have always made me feel like a jerk). Much to my surprise, I won uncontested, which grants me a little ambivalence. For one, it feels darn good to win uncontested. On the other side of the coin however, no competition exists, which took away all the fun, excitement and risk.

So my speech basically covers my past experiences in the field, rather that trying hard in desperation to beg people out there to vote for me. My speech went like this:

-Introduction, greetings, etc
-Illustrate the role of Publicity Officer (just a little bit)
-Why Student Council needs an advertising or publicity person to do the job
-Explain why I am in a unique position to take on the job
-My winning of that competition organized by Ogilvy & Mather
-Ads appearing in national newspaper recently as case study of a good ad
-Was in Student Council last semester, did posters last semester
-Did copywriting work and issue press statements for NGOs (publicity related stuffs)
-Made an ad presentation in front of the Education Minister of Malaysia, posters available in all secondary school in KL, coz’ that’s where sex is rampant..
-My advertising club (did some advertising too, asking people who are interested to join)

After I gave mine, there were a few other speeches from those running for Vice President and President. Some speeches were really short and succint, while some were as lame as that of Hao-Wei. Some goes extra miles to stress how many presidential positions they hold in high school.

Pardon my expression, but I personally have cynical views about people who boast how many presidential positions they hold. I mean, it doesn’t really show anything about you, apart from manifesting your audacity to stalk the teacher in charge to grant you a presidential position. I believe the most important thing to share, is what have you done and what impact and legacy have you left behind during your tenure as the president, not how many presidents you have in your resume. It is a typical quality over quantity notion.

Those who did not ask people to vote for them but insist that people only vote for them only if the people have confidence in them, have total reverence from me. I believe the most noble thing is to leverage on strengths, credentials, and experiences to win something, not through campaigning and asking friends to vote for you. Here, I can’t help comparing this situation with our government. Why do the Member of Parliament even want to appear to campaign for the election? Do a good job and people will judge for themselves, not appearing only when the general election is coming. The roads near my house were recently resurfaced, perhaps an indication an upcoming general election?

During the voting session, everyone is free to move around, so I was walking around with these lecturers telling me that I made a good speech, which sounded a little superficial to me. I mean, I know what I did. I screwed up the first part of my speech. I was totally tired after playing the piano till 1am the night before for some competition. Some lecturers were asking me about the Education Minister. First it was Miss Woi, then Miss Najjar and another new male teacher, Mr La Voie I think. Mr Welch too came to talk to me about it. So did Puan Dzura. And all of a sudden my otherwise mundane life turns wow.

The most memorable thing, however, is when the Program Director aka Principal Mr Terry Butcher (Bu-Shey) came to tell me that he hoped I can contribute in a profound manner to the Student Council. Ok, that was fairly expected. But what was not expected, was when he told me that he’d heard a lot about me, good things. I must admit that I am a little flattered, but hey, HOW? I mean the program director had just arrive a month ago and today was my first contact with him (Insert random enigmatic theme). He also opined that I am an “articulate young man”, much to my surprise.

Enigma and mysteries aside, today is a fun day for me, but probably not-so-fun for Hao-Wei. He claimed he screwed up his speech, which I thought he kind of did too. As a person who values remarkable friendship a lot and whose purpose of existence is to bring joy and alleviate sufferings of the people around (that’s me), I decided to use my new-found philosophical problem solving technique to help him. This week’s reading materials are all about Philosophy.

I told him that he screwed things up because God wants to teach him a lesson on the importance of preparation (he did not prepare his speech before hand), so that he will get it right the next time, where the stakes could possibily be higher, like running for a position in Donald Trump’s company. He called me in return to tell me he felt better, albeit he did it in a subtle manner (he’s too afraid and shy to admit that I am the nicest friend he ever had..)

[ I might have interpret his words wrongly though]

I shall call this a day. A great day.

Me on the News, Again

This time, it is for a noble cause. And the novel thing is that I am on a Chinese daily.

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China Press National Edition

June 29, 2007 17:55

登記成選民勿遲疑
動力青年隆雪華堂辦活動

(吉隆坡29日訊) 你已登記成為選民嗎？

凡滿21歲的大馬公民，即可登記成為選民，但根據大馬選舉委員會統計，目前還有490萬人尚未登記為選民，其中70%的年齡介于21歲至35歲之間。

國內非政府組織動力青年（Y4C），已與隆雪華堂民權動委員會，聯辦“青年選民登記與教育運動”，宗旨是透過各項運動，呼吁年輕選民參與登記，並喚起年輕選民對于選舉，以及公共生活課題的關注。

青年是社會改變的發動機，因此這項運動的目標，主要是鎖定這群尚未登記的青年，希望通過集體力量，讓年輕人的聲音變得更具意義。

“青年選民登記與教育運動”工委會今日拜訪《中國報》，在交流會發表談話。

首炮活動反應躍踴

出席者包括動力青年召集人李凱倫、協調員蔡依霖、隆雪華堂民權委員會主席謝春榮律師、動力青年義工羅之成、林翠妤和黃瓔琪，他們獲得《中國報》助理新聞編輯張金權接待。

李凱倫說，首炮活動已于本月24日，在吉隆坡蒂蒂旺沙花園成功舉行，反應鼓舞，兩小時內吸引106名新選民登記，這不包括更換地址者。

他指出，“青年選民登記與教育運動”將于本週日（7月1日），在蒂蒂旺沙花園（網球場對面）掀開序幕，選委會兩名官員將到場助陣。

李氏補充，這項運動閉幕禮訂于7月15日，在隆雪華堂盛大舉行，邀請各朝野政黨到場設立櫃台介紹各自的政見，為選民提供諮詢服務。

他說，目前已答應出席的團體，包括巫統女青團、馬華女青年工作坊、尚在接洽者包括民政黨青年團和3個反對黨青年團。

“這項運動設定目標是召集1000人參與，設有表演，現場將派發小冊子（備有中、巫和印三種語文），同時義賣T恤，每件為20令吉。”

動力青年選民與教育運動行程表
日期	時間	地點
7月1日（星期日）	上午9時至下午2時	帝帝旺沙花園（運動序幕）
7月1日（星期日）	中午12時至下午3時	蒂沙文良港
7月5日（星期四）	上午11時至下午2時	英迪學院
7月8日（星期日）	上午9時至下午2時	蕉賴
7月15日（星期日）	上午9時至下午2時	隆雪華堂禮堂（運動閉幕）

選民登記教育運動
將走進校園招義工

由動力青年（Y4C）和隆雪華堂民權動委員會發動的“青年選民登記與教育運動”，計劃走進校園，號召更多義工參與，成為一項長遠性的播種運動。

動力青年協調員蔡依霖說，續上週在學院舉辦活動后，目前工委會正與與拉曼學院及馬大，接洽合作選民登記與教育活動。

這名理大畢業生表示，除了登記運動，希望召集一批年輕人，帶動更多的年輕學院生加入這項有意義的工作。

“雖然過程難免會碰釘，但我們會勇敢出第一步，向年輕人講解選舉的重要性，並說服他們成為選民。 ”

關注國家政治

隆雪華堂民權委員會主席謝春榮說，通過這項運動激發在象牙塔中的大專生，更關注國家政治，至少不會覺得政治是骯髒的，而是貼近我們的生活，並將相關訊息帶回同學和同鄉好友。

動力青年召集人李凱倫指出，工委會將以新穎有趣的方式，推廣選民登記與教育工作，譬如以小博士形象、戴上帶有玩具款式的眼睛，接觸選民。

他說，工委會總動員，以年輕人接觸年輕人方式，號召同齡的青年朋友，踴躍登記為選民，以履行公民義務和責任。

工委會成員主要由動力青年和民權動委員會組成，另加上部份志願工作者，聯同友族團體加入，組成跨族群的隊伍。

李凱倫說，目前整個組織約有20名活躍成員，義工約30至40人，並通過這項運動，號召100至200人建立起網絡，設定永久網或定期舉動活動，針對各項課題交流和討論 。

任何查詢，可致電或傳真至：動力青年（03-7783 1164）蔡依霖（012-7355 025），或電郵：vling1983@gmail.com

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And yes, the Chinese character in blue is indeed my Chinese name. (Phew, haven’t been seeing it for quite some time)

Is it OxBridge, or is it Camford?

My college has gotten a little cooler recently (that’s Sunway University College).

Just last Saturday, we have an Oxbridge (or Camford) event going on in college. And I was showered with serendipity to discover some volunteer jobs for this event. Students from high schools across Malaysia congregated in college once again, like how merchants from all corners of the globe converged in Malacca in the 15th century.

The OxBridge event, as you would have known from the word “OxBridge”, is all about the two most proverbial elite universities in the United Kingdom - Oxford University and Cambridge University, albeit you would want to call it CamFord if you are from Cambridge and/or uses the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

The event is organized by the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Malaysia, and as its name suggested, it is an alumni association of sort, for ex-graduates of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Intriguingly, the president of the OxBridge Society of Malaysia is Ms Elizabeth Lee, who is also the Executive Director of Sunway University College, which explains why SyUC has the privilege to host this event.

The event comprises 4 sections, with the first one being an Essay Writing Competition for high school kids, and then there are two workshops: writing and speaking skills, and of course, a campus tour, and finally there is an OXBRIDGE ADMISSION TALK! (in fact this is the only reason I volunteered).

So for the first two events, I was in charge of bringing these group of 30 odd students from SMK Seri Bintang Selatan around the campus. I really enjoyed bringing high school kids around my campus, especially bringing them to the library and the School of Hospitality,Tourism and Leisure Management (SHTLM) floor. You see, our library is *arguably* the biggest among all private colleges in Klang Valley, and in the SHTLM, there is a hotel room, a cafe, and a fine dining restaurant, which I thought was really cool. So, there are actually quite a lot to brag about.

I enjoyed the speaking workshop and the writing workshops. The first was conducted by a famous thespian who actually starred in “Entrapment” (famously known as the movie filmed in the Petronas Twin Towers) along with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones. He started his speaking skills workshop with a “song” from My Fair Lady or Pygmalion, and throughout his workshop, I can see that he is indeed a proficient speaker by virtue of being able to secure the interest of the students seated in front of him.

What turned me on, was the writing skills workshop. It was conducted by Mr Mark Disney, an Oxford grad and a British national who now lives in KL and has a Malaysian PR. He founded and owns the Education Quarterly magazine, and he writes extensively on freedom of press, and education system in Malaysia. Not to mention he is extremely vocal about the conduct of western media organizations like the BBC and the CNN.

The writing tips was fairly uninteresting to me, because it was not meant for me after all. And Mr Disney, as a person of burning passion in media and education (just like me!!) constantly digressed to talk about these issues in the midst of his presentation, which I thought was so darn cool. He aptly illustrates the difference and discrepancy of editorial directions of the NST and the Sun, on the human trafficking issue. NST, which is government owned, ran articles on the Malaysian government criticizing the US for ranking her unfavorably in the rankings, while on the very same day, the Sun (which is not owned by government) ran an article about the Malaysia’s unfavorable position in that ranking. In short, the former was a little more of a subjective account of the issue, while the latter was an objective account of the very same issue.

So why the discrepancy in a same issue? Blame it on government’s ownership.

Some issues pertaining to education system raise by Mr Disney resonated so powerfully with me. He touched on several key issues in education, like how the entire flawed system suppresses creativity and innovation, among others.

And being a person who wants to connect with others who think alike, I immediately knew I have to talk to this person. Alas, he left the hall immediately, and my effort was in vain.

Anyhow, no big deal. I managed to find his email address (the world is shrinking, don’t you think so), and emailed him.

The final part was the admission talk. There are two surprises here. First, OxBridge Society of Malaysia managed to get Mr Tony Pua to the hall. And I was like, wow. I longed to meet Mr Tony ever since I came to know the Education Malaysia blog, which he co-authored.

He represented Oxford University and touched on a variety of topics. As underwhelmed the topic might sound (because I’ve heard things like this many times), the very thing that caught me was a sentence out of his own mouth, ” You don’t judge whether you’re good enough or not; you apply and let the university judge you. “, referring to Malaysian students’ reluctance to even submit the application due to the lack of confidence. This is one phrase that I will always remember.

Other than that, he showed quite a lot of pictures. And wow, the campus is really beautiful. Like what I told Hao-Wei, these buildings resemble the castles in fairy tales we read when we were younger, and that I will cry if I am physically there.

Next it is a Cambridge University representative, Mr Alen. It is indeed unfortunate that he did not have the time to complete his presentation due to time constraint. The agenda has to cease to make way for the arrival of a Queen Elizabeth like British lady, whose identity still remain a mystery.

Surprise number two came when I found out that the admission rate for both OxBridge is rather high, as high as 20%, that’s 1 out of 5, compared to an admission rate of only 10% for most elite US schools.

As trite as it might be, it is an exciting and fulfilling day, and I managed to make contact with Mr Mark Disney and Mr Tony Pua.

A Week of Valedictory Encounters (PART 1)

First, it is Physics teacher Mr Anton Gillich.

Then it is a close friend from Iran, Armin.

Now, it is program director/principal a.k.a First Lady Dr. Rosemary Gannon.

And these valedictory encounters happened all within this week.

To begin with, Mr Gillich is leaving for Canada, for he misses home. Jeez, I hate to admit this, but I think I had teary eyes when he made his valedictory speech in class during the last day of the semester.

Thankfully, I did not shed any tears, for I found comfort by telling him how I felt throughout the semester in his Physics class by penning a thank-you letter to him, just before the class ended.

Mr Gillich is a really capricious person. He could be affable today, and could be aloof and obstinate on another day. Also, he could act like a normal layperson today, and turn unorthodox the next day.

Throughout the semester, I thoroughly enjoyed his presence in school. He is witty, funny, and makes Physics less boring, really. Despite swearing occasionally in class (which tends to invite gales of laughter from my classmates and I), his humour is arguably what I will miss most throughout his absence for the next few months. Some of his words that I still remembered vividly was: “For fun and profit, let’s do some problems” (still wondering what “fun and profit” means), and he even used the word “duh” in class.

What I liked about him, however, is that he never failed to explain a topic more explicitly when I (and we) needed explanations. He believes that we all should understand things, not memorize them, which is so freakin‘ felicitously in-line with my article of faith. He even went on to encourage us to ask questions. He firmly believes that learners learn best by asking questions. So, the Physics class will constantly digressed into something else, even something that is not from the text book, which only makes our learning experience more colourful and vibrant.

The explanation part was even more engaging. He actually took the initiative to draw pictures and diagrams on the whiteboard to aid our comprehension (though I must say there is definitely room for improvement in the drawing part). And in the event someone else does not understand, he will not hesitate to explain for the second time, or even the third. Ergo, I think he is being really dedicated to his profession by virtue of such academic experience that he has given me.

(and the dedication showed by Malaysian teachers pales in comparison, I shall add)

Besides hard-core Physics, I also learnt my lesson of respecting other’s intellectual property (albeit the very very hard way) through Mr Gillich. The thing is, I had a big round zero for my very first lab report, for committing the crime called plagiarism.

Pardon my expression, but I must say I despised him for this at one time. Now, thank God I was caught plagiarising in high school, and not in university. I will never cite sources the same way again.

I met him for the very last time today.

“Aaron, thanks for your lovely letter,” was all he said.

At the end of the graduation ceremony, we shook, for one very last time.

That, reignited the divine connection between me and a teacher, a feeling I longed for in the past few years.

And that poignancy will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Milestone #2

Milestone #1

A Date of Significance

14th of February 2007 – a date of significance.

Not because I had a hot date on Valentine’s Day sipping classic wine in a French restaurant in the highest floor of Hotel Maya overlooking the Petronas Twin Towers. Neither because I receive a love letter by Anonymous via a pudgy little white pigeon when I was contemplating and looking out of the window staring at blank white walls of my neighbour’s house.

It was actually the day where my very first real-life marketing campaign saw its effectiveness, at least in the eyes of Mr. Aaron Lo.

To enlighten those who flash the big question mark at the thinking bubble/cloud behind them, 14^th of February 2007 was actually a theme day at my college, or in other words, a day where people dress up in accordance with a designated theme.

It was Pink and Red day on Valentine’s Day (still wondering how and why love is associated with pink and red).

The idea is to have everyone to dress up in either a pink or a red shirt. As a member of the Student’s Council, I volunteered myself to do a poster marketing campaign for this event, since I felt utterly uncomfortable not being busy.

And viola! This is the advertisement that I created. (And was pasted around college; See the two pictures below)

In brief (I could explain this in a two pages Microsoft Word document bearing the font size of “6” couple with the mundane font of “Times New Roman”), the idea is to show that there are indeed many ways of showing love (as shown in the top of the ad with the words “ways of showing love # 465; “465” is just a arbitrarily generated number to depict the sheer amount of ways to show love), but some can be expensive (that is what the platinum diamond ring and its price tag are for).

Thereafter, I conveyed the intended message, telling my targeted audience that a less expensive way of showing love is to wear a pink and/or red shirt, which I presume many already had at least one and that there is absolutely no necessity for them to fork out that extra money to get one. Hence, the “inexpensive exhibition of love” concept aimed at appealing to and in line with the reasoning and emotional side of my targeted audience.

Apart from that, one thing that I created without any “hidden agenda” was a logo for CIMP Theme Days at the bottom right of the ad. I am contemplating using the same logo for any future theme day’s advertisement. Indirectly, I’ve created a logo or a sense of identity for the student’s council that is bound to be pass on from generations to generations, and I am the one receiving all the credits and a ticket to the Hall of Fame. Wahahahaha – Not!

Initially, the plan was to have other expensive ways of showing love appearing on another ad, to bring out a few different but still integrated advertisements. Example: Ways of showing love #263, with a bouquet of roses with the price tag of US$ 99; or Ways of showing love # 784, with a Malaysia Airlines ticket for two to Maldives costing US$ 699 each. You know what I mean?

Alas and alack, time is scarce (I have said this plenty of times).

Nevertheless, I was quite please about the favourable response received when I first unveil the advertisement (I try to be as oblivious to unfavourable response as possible, though I have yet to receive any). Miss Ford, the Student’s Council teacher advisor gave me a thumbs up with an utterance of two words, “Very nice!” while my close friend Jeremy Gan said it sucks when I send it to him via MSN Messenger. A while later I notice the violation of my intellectual property rights when I see my ad on his blog with all that florid words depicting a favourable response to my ad. (The word is hypocrisy.)

On Valentine’s Day, many dressed up in pink or red, and that alone brought me much satisfaction and eagerness to come up with greater and more effective marketing campaigns and advertisements.

Anyway, the A Level’s Committee (some organization bearing some functional resemblance to Student’s Council) came up with a similar “wear pink/red” message few days later. You have to guess who is the copycat. Take a look:

I think I prefer mine…

Sunways vs Taylors

I have endured (and still enduring for precisely four weeks) doing the mundane job of typing the words “Sunway University College”, “Canadian International Matriculation Programme”, and “Ontario Secondary School Diploma”, whenever curious people out there nudged me and asked me where am I studying, what course / academic programme am I doing, and whether it is A level or not. (Probably because of my personal message at the not-so-accessible-lately MSN Messenger that went like “College is cool!”)

For the first question and answer:

The usual response in return was “Huh? So far…”

But mostly, people find themselves questioning my judgement and wisdom (if they are necessary in selecting college), uttering phrases like “Why don’t you choose xxx? Xxx is better”.

It seemed like SyUC’s fan base is not as large as that of other private learning institutions in Malaysia.

For the very few days before 4^th of January (the beginning of the college’s academic term in Malaysia), I’ve been totally indecisive, and was uncertain over which college to head to.

You see, I have Canadian Pre-U in mind, way before I took my SPM examination. And fortunately, only two private colleges in Malaysia are offering such programme. You have to guess which the two are.

The Sunway-Taylors battle slowly illustrated itself in my mind, and my conscience was literally fooling around.

Sometimes, I felt that Sunway is better, and other times, I tried to downplay what Sunway has to offer and tell myself that Taylors is way better; and vice versa.

But my aim remained the same. My educational goals remained vivid and firm. All I wanted are quality education, good facilities, and anything else that could ensure the US$ 70 application fee that I am bound to pay to an Ivy League university will not go straight down to the drain. J

Essentially, the indecisive and tentative thinking I had will never bring me anywhere.

And this is not good. The orientation day was approaching real soon. I began to embark on a series of Campus trips and open days, and began to interrogate my acquaintances to find out how and what they think, too.

Let me start off with the interrogation part.

Can you believe it, of all whom I interrogated, EVERYONE said, “Get your ______ (fill in whatever body parts) to Taylors!”

The only non-bias (read: neutral) view that I obtained is from Tan Shiow Chin, a reporter from The Star Education. She opined that Taylors is well known for Pre-U programme, while SyUC has excellent facilities. Her colleague advised to compare the price.

I must admit that I trusted the journalist from The Star Education, as she has been dealing with private colleges hand in hand for several years already. My interpretation of Shiow Chin’s opinion is that both colleges have their equal amount of pros and cons, and this adds up to a same level of playing field for both college. And so, the price became the solitary determinant.

Sunway won the first round hands down. Taylors’ fee is much more expensive. Plus, the quality of facilities is not commensurate with the hefty sum. (Reason #1). This is totally in contrast with the common oh-so-wrong fallacy that Sunway is only exclusive to elite group and rich kids, and that its tuition fee is extortionately priced.

Everyone seems to like Taylors. My cousin is there, and several other friends are there too. I would attribute this phenomenon to the differing branding capabilities of both colleges.

Taylors itself is a brand, a strong brand. It represented young teenagers who are rich enough to flaunt the latest sports car from Lexus and the latest jeans from Tough. And as [somebody whom I know] puts it, “if you can’t beat them, join them!”

I guess this is it: everyone wants to be part of the perceived “coolness”. I must admit that I, too, had once dream of being part of the Taylors family.

But things changed. For the past few years, I have embarked on several “distinctive branding exercises”. From then on, I do stuffs that people don’t usually do; I’ve learnt not to follow the crowd. I want to take on “the road not taken”! (Literature education in Malaysian schools not wasted)

Everyone seems to be going to Taylors. And yes, another reason to choose SyUC (Reason #2).

Also, since everyone is there, I’ll most likely hang out with somebody I already knew if I were to enrol there. The urge to make new friends and build up my network will never be as great as being in a whole new environment, where I know virtually no one. If I were to enrol in Taylors, I will be talking about music with Elizabeth Chua (who is currently doing Australian Pre-U over there) all the time, and by the end of my academic semester, I will hardly get more than a handful of new friends. (Reason #3)

SyUC is different. Nobody from SMKTBM went there… (…as far as I know at that time, until I bumped into seniors Gurrubren and Ong Sheau Theng on two separate fateful days after I enrolled)

And now, I believe I have more new friends than what I might get if I were to be called a Taylorian (as Eli puts it).

And the icing of the cake is, of course, getting to know people from not just Malaysia, but from all over the world.

My close friend Jeremy Gan has been home-schooling since he was young (I didn’t know home-schooling existed in Malaysia!)

There are also several “connections”.

For instance, there is a guy named Ng Hao Wei, who in turn knows Joanne Tan from SMKTBM, and it turns out that they were studying in the same school at the primary level.

Then, there is this girl. Simone Phong is her name, and I certainly felt that the world is so darn tiny when I was enlightened that she is actually an acquaintance of the “fabulous four” (ex-) Convent Bukit Nanas girls : (Ahem) Li Nar a.k.a Danielle a.k.a. Danny, Nuraini a.k.a Demon Llama, Sasha a.k.a. Bubu (?? wonder what that means…), and of course Nisha.

As for international students, I have a guy from Yemen sitting behind me in Maths class. I have several Indonesian friends from the same maths class. Nearby, there is a girl from Bangladesh. And there are several familiar faces that I don’t know their name and nationality, but a simple salutation has always surfaced whenever we meet each other.

In physics class, there is this outspoken guy from Sudan. And believe it or not, his name is Aladdin! There are also several Indonesians whom I grew quite close with. There is this guy with the name Erwin whose name sounded darn similar to that of mine. He was often mistaken for being Aaron whenever the hilarious Mr Gillich (Physics teacher) marks the attendance.

In English class, there is a Negro whom Ashvin (the girl who parties till 5am) called Akon. There are two guys from Iran across the table, and there is even a girl from Canada.

Outside the classroom, a Mongolian girl is always seen walking around. And some guys think she is terrifically hot. And Chan Vee Nee has been accusing me of trying to pick her up, and this is arguably the most baseless notion in the entire freaking world.

Speaking about my social relationship with her, I was reminded about the incident at the CIMP office during the Orientation Day. I was lining up amid the long queue as everybody wanted to get their timetable for the preceding semester. She suddenly walked in and queue in front of me. I was utterly shocked, but I think she already booked her spot in front of me because she was sitting on the bench way before I arrived.

And then, she spoke to me. And was speaking, speaking, and speaking. At the end of her, err, sentence(s), I said, “Huh?”

I don’t mean to be rude, but I can’t comprehend a single word at all. I said, I am sorry, and she repeated herself. Again, I don’t get it!

And I guess she is fed up with the duck-talking-with-chicken situation. And I was really feeling sorry for her. Anyway, I managed to ask if she was from Japan, because she looked and spoke like one. She said, “Mongolia”

That, I understand.

And since then, our relationship has been limited to the universal “hi” and “bye”, and I think I will never be seen talking to her about other stuffs other than hi and bye, as I don’t want to repeat the embarrassing moment.

That’s all about selecting college. Regrets? None.

College Life - Day 1

Sometimes, things do not go as planned.

Initially, the plan was to have another “more interesting” topic as the “premiere” post in this blog, but things didn’t work out. Blame it on procrastination. This “premiere” post will be centered on the first day of my college life – today (9^th of January 2007).

But first of all, it seems rather surreal that I am now studying in college. And yes, college is really cool!

So here goes my typical college day. 6.30 am – that was the time I rummage around trying to reach my cell phone to click the “Snooze” button. After about half an hour of procrastination, I am all set for the jogging track. Well, maybe not jogging track, just around the neighbourhood. Sweating out in the morning is something I’ve always love to do. Just that the previous schooling period started way too early.

At about 8am, the journey to campus has to begin, or else I will be late for my first lecture, which is at 10am SHARP. The lecturer will be mad at you if you interrupt the class by being late! And I was rather exasperated by the state of traffic. Every single day, I have to face massive traffic congestion. But thank god, on the first day, the traffic fared just fine.

With that, I reached the campus at about 8.45am, way too early for my first lecture. Oh, by the way, I am now studying at Sunway University College doing Ontario Secondary School Diploma. I headed to the Computer Lab Center (CLC) without much delay. Each incoming student is given an internet username and password. This is to enable students to gain access to all computers at the campus. Besides that, having the username and password means having the privilege to access the internet from anywhere in the campus (the campus is wi-fi enabled).

Upon completion of the registration at CLC, I went to the library. Tun Hussein Onn Library (THOL), as it is fondly known, has a vast collection of books. I’ve been hanging out at the library since the orientation day on the 4^th and 5^th of January 2007.

And here comes the alarm from my very own watch. It was 9.45 am. I packed and left the library. Room 318 is where the Geometry and Discrete Mathematics lecture was held. It was my very first lecture. I was pretty nervous, and here comes my mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder again. Will I be sitting alone? Or will I sit at the back of the class?

I took my seat at the front spot. And sat alone. Minutes later, I saw a familiar face. He was a new-found-friend whom I met during the orientation day. Jeremy Gan is his name. We became course partner as he is doing the exact same course as mine, and we have the very same timetable. Basically, we will meet each other most of the time for the first semester.

Mr. Leon Varga is my Geometry and Discrete Mathematics teacher, oh, lecturer (Still sinking the fact that I am now in college). Hailing all the way from Canada, he greeted us with a riddle about himself. He claimed that he had fly 49 times, but never landed in any airport. Only on the 50^th time he landed in KLIA in Malaysia. So his question was, how that is possible.

It turns out that the 49 times of flying and not landing are actually from his skydiving adventure.

Then, there is an ice breaking session. All students are required to share some information about themselves. Here is something noteworthy. 80% of my classmates at the Geometry and Discrete Mathematics are foreigners, of which a large number of them are Indonesian Chinese. Gosh, only 3 (including myself) are locals, if I am not wrong.

Mr. Varga gave us two mathematical puzzles, and I am so darn proud that I am the only one who got the answer for one of them, and I was so excited for the whole day. Anyway, I’ll tell more about it in the next post.

But another mathematical puzzle remained out of my hands. It was way too intellectually demanding, that I needed more time to think about it. It is great that Mathematics class is so fun right here. Unlike what was done in high school, doing all sorts of questions and stuffs like that.

Next is the Physics class. Jeremy and I have to run all the way to the highest floor at Monash University block in less than 10 minutes. And yes, we were late as we had a hard time searching for the lecture room.

Thank God, the Physics teacher Mr. Anton Gillich did not get mad. He taught stuffs like significant digits, etc.

And after that, it was a free period for me. Jeremy and I had our lunch in the canteen, and then head straight to the library to complete a math assignment given by Mr. Varga, as it is to be hand up tomorrow at 10 am.

At 2.30am, we went to the Ground Floor for English class. Oh, there’s this guy from Bangladesh asking me where to hang out in that area. I told him to hang out at Sunway Pyramid…

English lecture ends at 4pm. Met Justin, Grace, and another Korean guy (forget his name) at the canteen. All are new found friends.

Went home shortly, and do my assignment for the rest of the day before retiring to bed.

-Aaron-

completed in a mad rush. (wish I had more time)