Flashback of 2010

Well, within minutes 2010 will budge allowing 2011 to appear.

Its been a LOOOOOOOONG 365 days and I think I'm tougher than who I used to be back in SPM days. 2010 might or might not be a good year, but it did change me. Not to mention all the things that happened, brings me closer to the ugly reality of life.

Lets have a bit of a flashback, starting with the bad memories.

1) Most of you might have known, I've lost a friend due to a very powerful object, money. I know I've stressed this thing many times, but some grudges take longer than you would expect to let it go. I still can't though. Knowing a friend's true face with money ain't exactly sweet memories for me. But this did toughen me up, knowing I can't trust people so easily.

2) Anya passed away.

A good girl at heart, and a cheerful, loud, innocent girl in the outside. Its sad to see her go so quickly. May you rest in peace.

3) Dragon boat incident. One of my campmate's brother was a victim. I don't really know about the sport, but as I can see, its pretty dangerous. Eventhough some disasters rarely happen, one should not forget safety precautions. Its a sad thing to have deaths in this case, but this just shows that life is uncertain, and please be careful of everything we do. May they rest in peace.

Enough of these bad memories, I need to think of some positive ones to make my mood better...

1) I'm recognised as a Red Crescent member.

Its a must to attend this event in order to be recognised. Once this event is done, you're officially a first aider. I expected a very formal ceremony, but it turned out to be a pretty fun... outing.

2) Attended Flag Day.
Its the day most people feared. Practically some people who knew about this day would hide in homes to prevent being asked for donation. Its a pretty good experience though, I get to see a lot of different personalities. Some were very kind, some were snobbish, some were ignorants, some purposely avoid at the sight of us, and 1 particular person whom I met... I think he is crazy... A real eye-opener, that day.

3) Attended PFS Cross Country Run.
I still don't get why its called Cross Country. Its just 15KM, barely even Cross State... It is kinda hard for me to accomplish the top 50 positions, since I am physically-deteriorated... Gotta train my stamina a lot now...

4) Attended PFS Sports Day.
B-O-R-I-N-G! If I wasn't in charge first aid, I wouldn't even attend.

5) Attended the Khoo Family Reunion.
It was a dinner for the entire Khoo family. I've met people I never seen before, and not knowing I'm actually related to them. I even saw foreigners, since I see a white guy wearing kilt. Must be Swedish...

6) Attended the PFS Librarian Trip to Peng Hwa.

I gotta say, its probably the best trip I've ever taken in 7 years of studying in PFS. We get to see how advanced Peng Hwa is, and how... ancient PFS is... We even went to Sri Peranakan after than to see the Nyonya culture.

7) Took part in the PFS 6th Form Orientation Games.
In 2009, we got served. 2010, its the lower form's turn to get served. Paints, check. Sparkles, check. Water balloons, check. Flour, check. Now lets go torture these little kids!!! Maybe I should have said these back then....

8) Had my 1st blood donation.
My 1st time donating blood. I'm not really afraid of needles, but I'm not a big fan of the pain either. Good thing I was mature enough not to scream in pain. It wasn't that bad when they suck your blood out using the tube, it was the time they poke into your vein that had a very painful pinch-like pain. After that, it became boring... Too bad the girl I donate blood to passed away. Seeing how she fought her way through leukemia, I admire her strength. Never saw anyone as optimistic as her, and she had this disease on top of it. May she rest in peace.

9) Straightened my hair.
No, I did not do this by myself. I kinda wish I knew how. My aunt helped me with it when she came back from Singapore. Like it, love it, livin' it. Too bad its gone now, since my hair grew, and its curly... Waiting for Jun next year... Time to keep my hair long, so don't be startled to see my lion-like hair when you meet me. Its kinda like a cauliflower now when I don't comb it.

10) Bought contacts.

Glasses began to bug me. Every time I run, they shake, ruining my vision. Every time I sweat, it drips and flows into my eyes. Every time I rub my eyes, the glasses got blurred. Every time I eat hot food, the steam blurred my vision... So I decided to get contacts. Took me 30 minutes to put it on the 1st time, now I only need less than 5 minutes.

11) Helped and attended the King And I PFS play.

The play was pretty good, very unexpected of the actors/actresses to act so well, considering what I saw during training time. The one thing I regret is helping them. The suitcase I borrowed, was slightly damaged, and its a very ancient suitcase that cannot be found in stores anymore. I wasted my time finding stuffs for the play, and ending up having my cert with my name misspelled... I sent it back for correction and never got it back since. This is the appreciation I get for wasting my time.

12) Attended prom night for PFS.
I still remember freaking out not having a mask to wear. I still remember the hairdo I had, thanks to Melvin for helping me. It turned out great. I still remember making my way to my uncles house in Batu Feringghi to borrow a suit. I still remember the sucky food they served. I still remember the awesome people who attended. It was a wonderful night.

13) Had a birthday bash in school.
It was 2 days earlier but since I'm busy on the real day, my friends decided to throw a suprise party in class. And as you can see, I got cake-smacked... My 1st time ever getting smacked in the face with a cake... It was probably the best and worst birthday ever... I had lots of friends celebrating it with me and it was fun, but on the real day I had 2 consecutive tuitions... And Mr. Sim put me in shame by pointing out my mistakes out loud to about 100 students JUST because its my birthday =.=

14) Last but not least, attended my 1st paintball match.
Already explained it in the previous post, go take a look.

15) I've sat for STPM, and completed it. Probably the best memory I had in 2010, but it might be the worst when I take my results near March. I may regret taking Form 6, But one thing for sure, I never regret meeting everyone I know on the way. I may have some clashes with some though, but that just made me stronger.

Ahhhh, its been a while since I've ever written a post this long, my hands must've been rusty... Lots of things has happened in 2010, and it made me a better person, I hope... Life is unpredictable, whatever happens in 2011 I might or might not wanted it to, but I have no control of it. All I can do now, is pray that 2011 is a better year compared to 2010, and same to 2012, 2013 and henceforth. Theres nothing wrong with wishing for a better year, isn't it?

2010 is past now. Happy New Year people, welcome 2011 with big hands, and I wish everyone the best in whatever they do, and accomplished more than what we already did in 2010.

Signed off,

Teng Aun.

Duty of A Red Crescent Member

I joined the Taekwondo-GTF of Penang Free School during my Form 1 moments, and remained till Form 5. Its not like I wanted to learn martial arts, its just because the time slot for the activities fit my schedule perfectly... However, last year after entering Form 6, I've decided to switch to Red Crescent instead. I guess I made the right choice... Being a member of the Red Crescent Uniform Body means my attendance for Flag Day is compulsory...

Woke up at 5.50 a.m., prepare, and head to the headquarters of Red Crescent. Reached at 6.35 a.m. The notice board of the Red Crescent states that all members must arrive by 6.30 a.m., but my Section Leader, Thina, states 7.00 a.m. Boy I should have listened to him... At a glimpse, not a single soul I knew were there... All were complete strangers! Waited in my car for about 10 minutes, and finally I saw 2 person whom I knew.

Waited till 7, and more of my friends started coming. Went to collect our cans for donation. Each can was labelled with a certain code number to prevent switch of cans, since rumour has it that those with donations of RM10 above gets an allowance of RM5. No matter its RM1000 or RM10, your allowance would still be RM5...

The original plan was to go places with Gahjen and Linges, but Linges went home after collecting the cans, and Jonathan agreed to follow us. Now its time to hunt for $$$!

My can...

1st stop, Terengganu Road Morning Market.

Even though I drove there, some Red Crescent members who walk beat me! How could they walk so fast! Most of the place were conquered by other members, could only collect RM2 here... Took about 15 minutes and we were off to another place.

2nd stop, Pulau Tikus Morning Market.

Again, those two-feet beat my four-wheels... Pulau Tikus Market is again conquered by other people, mostly Convent Datuk Kramat girls... collected about RM4 here, but Gahjen was lucky to find a single RM5 donor... walked to the Burmese Temple hoping for tourists to arrive, but there weren't any at this early hour... walked to Gurney Drive, and again, it was conquered by other people...

Though, there is one person who is a must-mention. I met a guy, Arabian-American lookalike, sitting on the cemented fence, reading newspaper. When I was discussing about other locations to find donation, he kept staring at us... Well, desperate for more donations, I approached him. After asking, he spoke in a manner I couldn't understand at all... Afterwards, I finally grasp what he says.

Me : Care for donation for Flag Day?

Him : *mumble* *mumble* *mumble* Nowadays the country politics are all corrupted! The air is so polluted and there are so many misleadings about your country! This place is terrible and I won't donate unless you fix this country for me! This place is so terrible compared to China, China is so much better than this place! Do you wanna know more, I can tell you, sit over here.

Me : *already 4~5 meters away from him*

Gahjen: No thank you, sir...

........ Conclusion? CRAZY! Dear readers, if you ever stumble upon that person, AVOID HIM! He also looked like a permanent resident judging by his possession and clothing on the side note.

I had enough of this nonsense, decided to go Botanical Gardens for more donation.

3rd stop, Youth Park.

I drove to Botanical Gardens, but there were no parking slots, and the car park near the entrance seems to have an MPPP worker giving tickets already, so I'm guessing its a paid car park now. U-turn back, decided to go to Youth Park.

Youth Park is the place I finally get more donations. But Arvind and ChuanWay joined us there. Its not such a good idea to go in groups of 5, since most people will only insert money to 1 can... I got about up to RM15 there... The people in Youth Park were seriously friendly. Some of them even approached us to donate. The amount might not be big, but its the thought that counts, seriously. Why can't there be more people like that in this world? Later, 2 people among our group got bored and decided to take a walk, ended up in a 'romantic' scene...

Aww....

They would sooooo kill me if they see this picture...

Theres a skating competition going on, but it hasn't started yet, so we move on to our next stop.

4th stop, Jelutong Morning Market.

Boy, this place is crowded... Not to mention most people there don't even bother our existence, simply ignoring us when we ask donations... I would even say thank you and accept it if you decline the need for donation, or saying no money left, but to snub us is just plain idiotic. Linges joined us here, and theres 6 of us now. Yippie, not! More people = less $ in my can! Too crowded, so we went to Sunshine Farlim now.

5th stop, Sunshine Farlim New Wing.

When we went there, there were 3 or 4 groups of Red Crescent members, one at each entrance, and the rest in the mall. The weird thing is, we are not suppose to enter the mall to seek for donations, but it is okay if its only for our leisure. Some of them still went in and ask for donation, and worse, some offered to take care of carts or carry items FOR donation... This is actually going too far...

Went to have our lunch at Xiao Er Kopitiam, which is also in Sunshine Farlim. Had my 'battle' with the spicy food, since my drink came in very LATE!

After lunch, we decided to go to Penang Hill.

6th stop, Penang Hill.

After about 15 minutes drive, we reached, only to know its closed... I do know there is a renovation on the cable car going on (which they seriously need it), but I didn't expect them to close everything completely... Rested below a tree for a while, and went to have a drink in Lye Lye coffee shop.

About 3.00 p.m., we turned in our cans. I think I only made RM20 grand total, since most people gave 10 cents to 50 cents. Ah well, its the gesture that counts, so no complaints. Not to mention I go in a group of 6 and of course, people tend to make donation to one person only, economy is not so good now...

I gotta admit, Flag Day really opened my eyes. It was considered an adventure for me. I met so many different people on my journey. Some were pure innocent, some were humble and generous, some were straight-forward, some were snobs (hate them), some were really committed to their family, some were even helpful, and some were... well... CRAZY!

Signed off,

Teng Aun.

The Joy of FOOD!!

Ahhh, one of the biggest wonders of the world... FOOD!! Though I like to refer myself as an individual who eat to live, indulging myself into delicious food is not a bad idea. It does wonders to those who are in stress...

Went for a BBQ Steamboat in Nagore Road with YuenChiek, ShinYe and Kerry. Didn't take a picture of their front view, sorry... The price per head is RM20 for adults, and RM10 for children, which I assume, below 12 of age. Its an all-you-can-eat steamboat, with 2 soups, chicken soup(didn't really used it though...) and tomyam soup. The sides are wrapped with aluminium foil for BBQ purposes.

I love the flame though.

Ladies first as usual. ShinYe and Kerry went to grab the raw ingredients while us boys waited for them. Almost a-third of the stuffs prepared were pre-cooked, so dipping it into boiling soup for a few seconds should be good enough. ShinYe took more of the squids though...

Camera-shy...

ShinYe and I were basically the chef of the day, but she did cook more than I do, 'cause I tend to overcook some of the food... I just didn't realise how fast the meat was ready...

Cooking in process...

I took a little too much meat, ya think?

ShinYe and I were also the big-eaters among us 4, Kerry gave up too quickly and YuenChiek went on the passive mode from the start till the end...

Even though I said that...

look at the portion of food he ate... with an ice-cream on his hand...

Well of course he couldn't finish all of that... Its the portion all 4 of us took...

Hard time cleaning?

The girls and YuenChiek had an ice-cream eating competition, to see who ate the most ice-cream amongst them. Both ShinYe and Kerry took 3, while YuenChiek took 2, same as me. ShinYe actually could eat another one...

RM20 for all these, its actually quite reasonable. The food is at the range of mediocre to amazing, but the squids and the meat was delicious. Other people might think otherwise, though.

Oh yeah, I've made a change in the fonts of my posts, as I started having problems with the fonts and its size... Is this font better, or shall I change to another one?

Anyways thats it for today, shall update again of Flag Day, which is held tomorrow...

Kudos...

Signed off,

Teng Aun.

Blah!

2 weeks has passed since Chinese New Year, and 3rd degree writer's block has struck, as usual. My English is deteriorating as well, scored only a Band 4 for MUET, minimum score required to enter Malaysian universities... Quite close to Band 3... Ah well, I'm not retaking as the scores does not matter...

Couple of days before CNY ends, my cousin came back to Penang with his family. His children tag along as well. A photo of his son was blogcasted in the previous post, his daughter, which is my niece, is as below.

She is more photogenic in photos her dad took. After all, he is a full-fledged photographer... I'm just a newbie using a cellphone as a picture-taking toy...

A few days ago, Uncle Johnson came back to Penang with my god-aunt. He invited us over to my uncle's house for his homemade pizza. The irony is my mom and I planned to go to Pizza Hut on the very same day... Ah well, I don't usually pass on free food, so... on to my uncle's house!

Ah... this swing looks like one I use to play when I was young...

Uncle Johnson came from UK, so we might not be able to adapt to his rules or regulations immediately. For example, no guest is allowed in the kitchen when the chef is on duty! Not even me (=.=)

Waited for a few minutes, the salad arrived.

Salad with honey mustard

Soon, the pizza was done, and served one piece per plate. Two different types of pizza was made, seafood, and meat.

Seafood pizza

Meat pizza

The seafood pizza was nice, because the cheese mix well with the ingredients, but the meat pizza had less cheese, and the anchovies tasted like salt! I kinda guessed though, that the crust would be crispy since homemade pizza's crust are usually bought in the mart... I was right... I prefer them chewy and more... well... 'bread-y'...

Next, Ujian Prestasi 1. The good thing about being a Form 6 is that UP1 only last for a day and a half. the bad news is, most Form 6 teachers don't teach the lower forms, or they gave their priority to the Form 6 the most, so our paper will be marked completely the day after...

Physics----> Killer, as usual...

Chemistry-> Not so of a killer, but confusing...

Math------> Suprisingly, I could answer 90% of them!

P.A.-------> Too many mistakes on the graph part, confusing us students...

MUET----> Been easy all while, but its suprisingly a killer this time...

I was very afraid to get my P.A. marks, since I was kinda rushing to complete my graph, as the question was corrected the very last minute, and the extra time given was not enough... Not to mention I did the 1st graph wrongly, and rushed to make a 2nd one. However, my marks were totally unexpected. Gave a big sigh of relief...

Maths was kinda distracting. The marks for Math in the Bio class made me worried, as most of them got less than half, even the very Math genius at their class... Things were different in my class however... Quite satisfied with my marks, but still lose to Eu Teong who scored a friggin' 76/80. Thats 95%! How the hell does he acquire such calculative brain cells?!

Physics and Chemistry, low as usual... Just glad I didn't fail nor flunk...

MUET... thank goodness I got an A... It would be very embarassing to Mr. Tan and Pn. Suriya if I were to score a B in MUET, eventhough the paper is friggin' tough for the 1st two sections...

Ah well, UP1's over, but not my studies... Aiming for STPM, not no.1 in UP1 or mid-term. March holidays are coming, but I reckon I have time to rest. Holidays are the time where teachers and tuition tutors unleash their mighty wrath of extra class on us students. I was right... Chemistry tuition has extended from 3 hours to a freaking 4+1/2 hours! Not to mention she will be doing it twice that week! Physics will have extra classes for 2 hours as well, but 3 times! No news on Math yet, hopefully the same thing for P.A... AHHHH! I need my rest!

Coming Friday is the Kejohanan Merentas Desa a.k.a Cross Country Run organised by Penang Free School. Its an annual event where all students participate and compete to get either top 20, or to push their Sports House to No.1. This is the only sports event I felt the urge to participate. I've joined this event since Form 3, and its been fun since then... Even rejected a duty as a first aider on that day itself...

Also, plan to watch Alice In Wonderland ... or whateveritscalled... after the cross country. Not to mention the steamboat with a few classmates next Thursday, so tune in for updates, will try to finish off all recent updates before the holiday ends!

Signed off,

Teng Aun.

The Soft Roar...

Well, its Chinese New Year again, and this year, its the year of the Tiger! ROAR!!! Spirits high, curiosity peeks, cheers everywhere, fireworks beyond eardrum's limit, eh? WRONG! This year has got to be one of the least spirited years among all Chinese New Years I have ever celebrated. No, its not because we don't have the mood to celebrate, we still are our usual selves during Chinese New Year. Just... something's missing...

The thing is... crowd. Every year, my family and a few uncles/aunties will compete with another family of our relatives to see who will 'pai chia' the earliest. I still remember I was called to wake up at 7 to get ready. This year however, we started to 'pai chia' a little later, which is 9.00a.m... Also, the amount of relatives we were to visit has decreased drastically over time. I still remember I could complete downloading a 1GB+ size file of Maple Story Installer if I were to initiate the download before I depart to 'pai chia' as soon as I came home... Now, hah! I bet I couldn't even finish downloading full albums... We could only go to 4 houses this year...

1st house, a tall apartment at Paya Terubong. Short visit, but I love visiting that place... Their house is located at the 23rd floor, so the breeze is very strong at any time... Its a nice place to just relax...

2nd house, directly behind a 4D Toto, opposite of the Air Itam Police Station. Another short visit... Had a drink and watched the Race Skating among countries. VERY VERY amazed at how South Korea representative could win when came in last at the beginning of the race, and won the race by just an inch, pointing out her toes... Oh yeah, not to mention the red packets. Love them... (Muahahaha)

3rd house, a few metres away from the 2nd. This house is an ancient house, but boy, I love it. The structure is really amazing, really symbolizes the heritage of Penang. Its comfortable, seriously, even without soft cushions and sofas. The kitchen is superb. Not the designs and stuff, but the space... just... wow. Stopped at this house the longest, since the previous generation spoke a lot more here. Then I realised, did I took picture of the previous houses? NO! *Snatches camera from sis*

They offered us Nasi Lemak, which I find difficulty eating, since I took a heavy breakfast, which is also curry! My stomach...

But if you were to slowly enjoy it, its pretty good.

Act cute...

Went and took a few more pictures...

... and on to the next house after chatting a little while longer.

4th house, near Chung Nam Hawker Store.

Somehow, I felt that the environment is a little gloomy. I guess perhaps its because most of the conversation is serious, not jokes and stuff... Things have seriously changed compared to the previous years... There used to be 1, 2 or more families in one home, making the surrounding more noisy and compact, but the... OMPH! is there... Not to mention I guess the red packets have decreased too... But whatever it is the money will still go to my father's hand since I asked for an advance in my allowance for a new cellphone... *sigh* this is not a good sign to start of the year...

Went home, switched on the computer... OUCH, STOMACH ACHE!!! Must be from all the curry consumption... Even after a long struggle in the lavatory, my stomach continues to ache... Things just don't get better, do they?

Tomorrow, I will depart to Sungai Petani and visit my grandma. Maybe things will change, or maybe not?

Signed off,
Teng Aun.

Chinese New Year Eve at Hardwicke

Ahhh.... Its that time of the year again, where every single member of a family will form a re-union to celebrate this grand occasion, the festival that most Chinese look forward for... The older generations hope to see the faces of all family members while most of the younger generations want are the most powerful item in the entire world, all wrapped up in red packets, handed upon by married couples...

Most families in the previous era would cook up a steamboat, enough to feed 20 hungry humans, on the eve of Chinese New Year. However, time changes everything. Families prefer to dine out on this day. Not only it might be cheaper considering the location, it save tons of energy in cooking and cleaning. Image, the amount of food your beloved mother/father/grandmother/grandfather had to cook to gain enough food for the entire family, and how many plates to be cleaned. Same thing happened to my family this year.

Instead of the traditional steamboat on the front yard of my house, we've decided to have our CNY dinner at Hardwicke, a bungalow style buffet restaurant, located at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah.

Most of you might be familiar with the place. It serves a great variety of food, ranging from Chinese to Western cuisine, for affordable prices. Lunch buffet is at RM18++ while Dinner buffet is at RM38++. Wanna know whats behind the building?

Heh, a famous trademark of Penang Island...

Northam Tower, of course...

The place was fully booked as usual, so we had to dine outdoors. Not a bad place, though.

Then, comes a special dish every family will order on the eve of Chinese New Year...

'yi sang'... Sorry, not familiar with the spelling...

Its a traditional dish for prosperity, rumor has it. All family members were to pick up their chopsticks...

...raise it...

...as high as possible...

...and let go... Voila! Time to dig in!

The food there was amazing, had a BIG plate of the main course, 2 bowls of mushroom soup with papadam and prawn crackers dipped into it, 1 plate of salad and 3 scoops of ice-cream. Did I miss anything? Sorry, no photos were taken, mouth was VERY occupied...

Well, in between dishes, I managed to capture a few photos as I was strolling around trying to get a hold of myself before I move to the next dish...

Well, I did manage to capture a picture of...

...this ice-cream...

...and this gluttonous lady...

After the chow, we stayed for a 'little' while longer to chat. Went and get myself a drink and this is what I get...

...mind guessing what this is?

At about 10.10p.m., reached home and... well... blogged about it.

Cheers!

Signed off,
Teng Aun.