Recognition As A Red Crescent Member

Today's the day where we became full-fledged first aiders. The Mass Enrollment held at the Red Crescent Headquarters is to recognise all new members of the Red Crescent Uniform Unit. Full uniform and beret was needed for the event. The beret I have is a 'little' too small... 7/1/4 inch and it still can't fit, how big is my head? 5 schools sent their RC members for this event, St. George (SGGS), Penang Free School (PFS), Tunku Puan Ramsa (I think that's the name...) Seri Mutiara (SMU) and Haji Mat Noor (HMN).

Anyways, reached the HQ by 7.40a.m. by walking... Stood outside to wait for more people to come. Finally when Thina came, we entered the hall and took out all necessities such as our beret, and entered the main function room. We had to wait for VIPs to come, and it was forecasted that they would arrive at 8.00a.m...

VIPs got grand entrance you know?

VIPs will always be VIPs, late as usual... Just the weird thing is that they may be VIPs, but they are officers for RC, also known as an officer of first-aiders, isn't punctuality the 1st thing we could find in their dictionary? Wouldn't wanna leave a casualty waiting in pain, would they?

Grew tired waiting...

8.30 a.m... Finally they arrived... Then it was a speech by the organising committee, also Head Section Leader of Penang Free School Unit 25, Jonathan Liew, foollowed by the officer of RC. Don't know her name though, I'M NEW!

Suprisingly, the attendance for the girls are twice the number for guys...

After speeches, time to dig in. We paid RM4 for food and certificate, and the food served is fried 'bi-hun' and Redbull with sugar... Never heard of any event serving Redbull as a drink...
Well, most of us skipped breakfast, so these food got consumed pretty quickly.
After everyone settled down, its time for some performance. It started of with 2 girls which I do not know which school they originate from... They sang "Pretty Boy" from M2M.
Then, its time for a performance by Penang Free School members. Its a troupe dance, as always... Pretty good though, but Interact Club dancers dance way better :P.
After Free School, another troupe dance...
Game time!

1st game: Train combo

Its basically a rock-paper-scissors game, who ever loses will be behind the 'train' or in front if he/she wins. Soon, all train combined and formed a VERY long train...
Game 2: Numeral game

Pick a multiplier, and each person had to say out their numbers in order. Whoever had to say out a number which coincidentally is a multiply of the original multiplier, will have to clap their hand. Childish game...

Game 3: Untangle

Finally a game I enjoy. We have to hold hands with other members...
...like this, and try to untangle this mess WITHOUT letting go of each others hand.

Game 4: Chase and Run

Lame game... Those without the whistle on their uniform were to chase those with whistles... I was chased, but I just couldn't bother to play more after a minute...

Poor boy got tackled...

Well after the games its the end of Mass Enrollment. No certificate given yet...

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.

Fusion of 'Sports' and 'Recreation'

This post will be about my twisted version of the phrase "sports and recreation". Well, its more like sports, then recreation. Lets not mix these two elements for now shall we? Lets start of with 'sports'.

SPORTS

Yesterday was Merentas Desa, or in English, Cross Country Run, organised by Penang Free School. As I've said in the previous post, this is the only sports event I look forward for, which is suprising, since I'm SUCH a couch potato. Though, I could do without being the driver of the day for 5 'kids'... The run was held in Youth Park. The track was 6 kilometres for male and 5 kilometres for female.

Woke up at 5.50a.m. due to 'someone's' SMS, requesting PA notes (not revealing his name due to his HIGH concern about privacy)... Went to that 'someone's' house to pick him up, only to know his words spoke louder than his actions... Said he would wait at the bus stop, but in the end I was the one with the waiting... Sigh... Then, went to school to pick up Yuen Chiek, for not knowing where Youth Park is...

Reached Youth Park at 6.35a.m., just to know that PFS students are not as enthusiastic about this event as I thought. The parking lot was totally empty! Even if most students of PFS don't drive, the Form 6 students who do are not just countable by our bare fingers... Not to mention the early morning joggers who I usually see in the wee hours, where were they?

Went out at 7.00 a.m., where the crowd starts pouring in. Soon, we were called to the Open Theater for a short briefing, and to listen to an old lady grumble...

Met up with the gang, and some were vain enough to pose for the photo...

Not long later, attendance-taking session for every member of the Sports House. Not to mention that lady is still screaming on the microphone, grabbing attention from the teachers to move forward to help with the attendance. What an annoyance...

The participants were divided into 4 classes, as usual. Class 1,2,3 and P (perempuan, which stands for females). Since I am in Form 6, I was categorised in Class 1 (or more commonly known as L1).

Busy-busy...

As soon as all those were done, the warm-up session begins. Head conductors, Ms. Girlie Teoh and Pn. Molissa. We were to preform aerobics for warm-up... Why can't we just do stretches or jogs?

As embarassing as it may look, we still have to do it...
After warming up, its almost time for the run...

And OFF WE GO! I was still blur when the horn was blown, and got my self a slow start... Ran from the Open Theater to the entrance of Botanical Garden, where I gave up running, and started panthing like a dog... I was totally OUT OF ENERGY, and my fatigue accumulated... I walked and slow jogged all the way around the Botanical Gardens and till a small temple nearby. Still manage to snap photos on the way... Some people call me crazy, while some gave a piece of their mind, for not contributing to the Sports House by trying to earn a high mark...

But look, I'm not the only paparazzi around...

Soon, as I reached the residential areas, a friend of mine told me the idea of Power Walking. As I started to use this method, I gained speed and use less energy... Its also called Star Walking, stated by Melvin. So I started Power/Star Walking all the way to Jesselton Street, where the slopes are steep and I don't really have the energy to continue...

When I was close to the finishing line, I saw an officer from my school and he told me;

Officer: Aiya, hang sudah lewat la, lari buat apa! Dudukla!

I was VERY confused. Is he trying to tell me that the race is over, I scored nothing? Then;

Ms. Lee: OI, run la, the finishing line is over there!

O...kay... I felt more confused, but whatever. I just ran and I saw the finishing line not far from me. It was then I met terms with the previous officer. I was a few seconds late from scoring 2 points... Which is such a regretful thing... I should have thought of Power Walking when I stopped at Botanical Gardens... Instead of scoring just 1 point, I could gain an extra one... 3 points is VERY impossible for me, even for most of my friends... Completing 6KM under 45 minutes... You gotta be a pro athlete to do it...

A form 1 or 2 at the finishing line, scoring 1 point...

Ah well, no point crying over spoilt milk... Its better than nothing... Waited for the race to end...

Ms. Lee also announced that the 2 most disciplined Sports House will walk away with a hamper each... Just how exactly is a hamper would to be shared among a Sports House of more than 200 members?

Next, prize giving ceremony... Given to Top 20 among each classes, and to the best Sports House, who gained the most accumulated points.

Natalie of Class P, 3rd placing.

Ann Gie of Class P, 2nd placing. Don't play play...

Koh Cheang Yew of Class 1, 19th placing, if I'm not mistaken...

Afterwards, the most disciplined Sports House award... Both were won by Tunku Putra (orange) and Hargreaves(brown)...

Sent that 'someone' back home, and 4 other people to my place to refresh...

Driver of the day, muahahahaha!

Thats the end of 'Sports'. Lets move on to 'Recreation'.

RECREATION

My definition of recreation is, well... fun. So the plan is to go to Queensbay Mall to watch a movie. It was planned by ShinYe though, not me. We rushed to bathe because we do not want to get caught in the jam during the dismissal of Chung Ling High School, since I DO live DIRECTLY beside or behind CLHS... Sigh...

Well, reached Queensbay at 1.20p.m. and bought movie tickets to Alice In Wonderland... But we still haven't had lunch yet, so off to Nando's for lunch...

The place was nice, but the waiters/waitresses were not as professional as I thought. But the good point is they were friendly, and sometimes funny. The 5 of us ordered 1/4 chicken with 2 sidelines, while Kerry and I ordered a bottomless Iced Tea as well to share among us, especially me (I can't really consume spicy food)... I was the only one to order mild though, the rest wanted HOT HOT HOT!!!

Soon, the food arrived. The waiter had to hold 3 to 4 plates of our order, while stating what it is because there is no way he would remember who ordered what... His hands were so sore, while he stated our orders till he got tired, causing me to laugh my ass off (bah, evil schmevil, I wasn't the only one laughing)!

Mild 1/4 Chicken with Peri Chips and Peri Potato Salad... Yum...

They looked so high-classed, don't they?

Left to right: AnnGie, Kerry, ShinYe

Soon, Arvind arrived... he had his lunch at home so he just joined us for the movie. Something intrigued YuenChiek to label Arvind with something...

Mr. Hot, or Not?

Same thing he did to me.

Mr. Mild, or Not as well?

As we know us Malaysians we could easily consume our food in the matter of minutes...

Walked around in Queensbay, and ShinYe decided to purchase glasses as she felt wearing contact lenses all the time could hurt her eye. Kerry, once worked at an optic shop in Queensbay as well, brought her there to test her eye.

She tested mine as well. I haven't checked my eye close to 3 years already, and as I thought, it increased... by a whole lot! Plan to make a new pair of glasses after STPM.

After that, we went to see the movie.

Alice In Wonderland, I would recommend the movie, but not to violence-lovers. This is more of a comedy, and it may look serious as there are not exterior laughters in the movie, but its still very hilarious, especially Queen of Hearts, which I like to call Tua Liap Chang (big onion in Hokkien)...

Strolled around Queensbay again, and went into Toys R Us... Met Alvin Choong there. Tried not to be recognised by anyone, and when YuenChiek and lead me to a 'certain' section, I walked straight out of the store...
Arvind bought a bouncing ball though, inserting two 50cents into the machine. Went to Rotiboy as Arvind wants to buy bread, and ShinYe needs a drink.

Again, I was the driver of the day, needing to send the 3 girls back to their respective home...

Kerry-Lip Sin

AnnGie-Near Pisa

ShinYe- Near USM

Gosh, I wonder how much fuel I have used up for this day only?

My legs were tortured by the Cross Country run, and the Queensbay mall trip overkilled it... I had to go to Sim tuition today, located in a 4-story tall building... Imagine the pain walking up 4 stories when your leg is about to fall apart...

Holidays are here, but as I have said, my schedule is fully booked... I only have Tuesday and Thursday to rest! Sigh...

This is again a long, long post, I think...

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.