school is out

...and has been for five weeks now.

I miss it.

Year 8-10 was a bit of... err... I wouldn't say it was a complete waste, because I did learn things, but it was the last two years of high school that really left an impression :)

You know, getting up every morning after an average of 6.5 hours of sleep was painful. Truly. But I'm glad I stuck with it because it was so much more than just slogging through 8 periods of class each day.

Some classes *coughCHEMcough* were more playin than learning.

Others *coughLITcough* were never fun, but at least the people sharing your pain were pretty cool.

scattered.

In lower school, the TEE feels like it's an age away. In year 11, the workload is suddenly quadrupled from year 10, and you panic a little, but you know you still have time. All the way up till your mocks in year 12, you never really feel like those finals are going to come. When they do, it's surreal and in the middle of each exam, you hope you'll wake up and realise you still have a week to study for the monster in front of you trying to pass off as a testpaper.

So the library became our second home for a while. It was like being at school. You couldn't avoid seeing high school kids there, annoying all the uni students with loud 'discussions' and too much giggling. I hated having to go in my school uniform, because tartan skirts are just oh-so-inconspicuous. I believe group studying reduces stress. At the time. Okay, group studying just postpones stress ><

But there is a point in the midst of all that stress where you realise that it's all pointless. Getting that 99 point something TER isn't important anymore. If you've been studying the whole year for something, you sure as heaven better know it the week before the exam, otherwise you're pretty much screwed anyway.


In the two months leading up to the TEE, I think a lot of us knew that we would finish off the five years with decent results and a WACE (unfortunately, I do realise I don't speak for EVERYONE here ><). We also realised just how far the TEE is from being the most important thing you will ever do in your life.

In the last two months of my time in high school, I became friends with so many people I had hardly spoken to in the last five years of my life. People who were just classmates before suddenly became people I'd miss when it was all over.

llllllll

People I saw a little bit too much became people I wanted to keep seeing, to keep hanging out with, to keep getting angry with, and to keep pissing off.

llllllll


Valedictory was a stunning night not because we officially graduated, looking smart with our white sashes. It was because of the huge amount of support and respect we demonstrated as a year group (I have stories about this, but just believe me without them). It was because we all grew up a little, knowing that it was the last time we'd all be together. It was what happened afterwards, when we all gathered outside to do the hug-and-bye thing. We learnt then, that there are no such things as cliques. We are all one class, together in the knowledge that even though the days of spoon-feeding are over, we are good kids and we will turn out okay.

Yeah, the homework sucked. School hours were carefree, and exam stress made me feel like rotten bananas (my mood smelled like them too). Friendships were strained, mended, ended, forged, strained again, and mended again.

You can look back in ten years and believe high school was a breeze, but right now ask any Year 12 just out of school and they'll tell you it wasn't easy, that it's been the toughest part of their (rather short) existence.

But they'll also tell you that it's been the best time of their lives and, quite frankly, they wouldn't trade it for the world.

Know it's been great,
believe it gets better :)

live it

because it's astonishing and wonderful and surprising.

because it's something so big, and yet so easy.
something so small, but oh so difficult.

it's different and scary and always new
and you'll never understand it because it's beyond reason and control and anything even remotely resembling sense.

but it's terribly addictive.

because it's fantastic and frustrating,
painful and confusing,
beautiful,
comforting,
challenging,
breathtaking,
heartbreaking,
insane,
inspiring,
tough,
awkward,
phenomenal, remarkable, exceptional,
and altogether amazing.

it makes us extraordinary.

so be extraordinary.

I am proud of myself

Because tonight is the first night-before-the-test in my entire life when I am not stressing my heart out doing a bit of last minute cram work. No, no brains leaking out of my nose tonight. Straining my 56Kb memory? Hah! I spit on the idea.

No, tonight I am relaxed.
And I am proud of myself.

Because for the first time since I can remember...

I STUDIED IN ADVANCE.

...by advance, I mean that I finished covering the work at 5.30 this afternoon.
And yes, believe me, that IS a record.


Of course, I should be reading Frankenstein because I have to prepare 5 essays for Lit for Friday. Yeah, this Friday, and I haven't finished the novel. 50 pages of size 6 font to go. Hooray for me.


Highlight of my day: New episode of House.
Close second: Watching Will Smith's face go all funny when he gets food allergies in Hitch.


Yeah, okay. Back to Frankenstein.

so...

it only took one question, a simple "how's life?", to turn it into something much more meaningful.

he told me life's treating him normally; he just has to deal with some stuff.

and that's fair, because it's not about how life treats you at all.
it's what you make of it.

"it's the way you choose to see what's coming at you, and the way you choose to catch it."

life gives everyone crap, and the ones who end up happy are the ones who take it and turn it into something better.

let's not talk about equal opportunity here. don't compare our lives to those living in poverty, or the ones really less fortunate. that's a slightly different story.

just think about what you have. yes, life will throw you some curve balls; it'll flatline at some stage too. but nothing is terminal. what you end up with hangs on what you do with what you're given.

it's not about what happens.

it's all down to you.


urgh, i sound like a self help book.
So Your Life Is Crap. How To Turn It Around In Seven Simple Steps...

time was never money

"The Future is something that everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is."

C.S. Lewis

many people have said that time is the most important thing you can give somebody.
you can't buy it at Myer; time spent cannot be returned.

it's priceless.

so use the time you have wisely. spend it doing things that count, with people who matter.

you don't have to rush.

but you don't have forever.

when 16 year olds meet physics

physics test today was... so hard it was funny.

it's the kind of test where you look at the question, and think...

"what the sh*t?!?!"

let me give you some examples of the questions and some answers. these are based on what people have told me, and what i remember of what i wrote after the test.

Q: movies often use a type of glass known as "sugar glass" in their stunts. "sugar glass" looks and shatters the same way as real glass, but does not cut an actor when he/she smashes through it. how would you determine whether or not a solid is "real" glass, or "sugar" glass. you are not allowed to touch or break the solid.
Nigara wrote: shine a light through it. if it transmits, it is real glass. if not, it is... err... not real glass.
i wrote: you shine a light through, then you measure the angles. then ah, you calculate the refractive index. then you compare. then you see. if good, then real lo. if not, then not lo.
william wrote: lick it.

Q: myopia, or short sightedness, is a condition of the eye. what type of lens would you use to rectify this?
alfred reads the question, then thinks for a while. and then he slowly takes off his spectacles, and stares at them intently for a while. *thinks* how come one side is convex, and the other side is concave?

Q: if the earth had no atmosphere, and you were to look up at the sun, what would you see?
i wrote: if the earth had no atmosphere, and you were to look up at the sun...... you would not be able to see the sun. *pauses and thinks for a while* even if you were able to see the sun, it would blind you and burn you and you would die.
jiayan wrote: you would see red.

Q: complete the ray diagram to determine where the image will be formed.
nigara: HAH, FREE MARK!!
kim: erm... nicole, borrow rubber? x1999
mike: *draws for a while* i think i need more paper.

Q: in order to achieve a more natural colour in underwater photography, what colour filter should be used?
mun tsin: *she's the smartest girl in our year* you need to use either a red, orange, or yellow filter in order to absorb blue and indigo light to achieve a more natural result. *sounds so pro*
sarah: you need a blue or violet filter to suck the bad colours out.
kim: you need to either use a filter that absorbs blue and violet light, or one that doesn't.

Q: calculate blablablablablabla.
nigara: -9.23
kim: 17.1
william: 0.64
-______-. same question, same formula. and william realizes after the test..

"OMG.. MY CALCULATER WAS ON RADIANS. OMG. OMG. OMG."

smart one.

we're all going to do so well in this test. i can feel it.

lesson #4459 on battling stupidity

lesson #4459 on battling stupidity

chapter one:
don't bother bringing your physics book with you when you go out in the hope of finding time to study because in the event that you do find time, you will just go to sleep. this would effectively make your bringing the book in the first place redundant.

chapter two:
avoid getting pissed off with your sister. [this will be explained in later chapters]

chapter three:
3.1 always remember to bring everything you bring with you to work, back home with you from work. be alert, because leaving something there is a pain when you don't go back to work until tuesday.
3.2 this also applies to leaving things in the public toilet.

chapter four:
avoid getting pissed off with your sister, because this invariably leads to long term problems. however, it is the short term problems that will kill you.

chapter five:
applications. let us imagine a scenario.
1) you bring your physics book out with you because you think you'll have time to study, but all you really do is play then sleep.
2) you have work right after this so you are forced to bring your book with you.
3) however, you need to change out of your normal clothes into your work clothes, so you do this in the toilet.
4) you get annoyed with your sister over something very petty.
5) you go to work, and come home. then you realize you've left your physics book at work. this is bad because you have a physics test on monday, and you don't got back to work till tuesday.
6) you have a problem because you do not remember bringing your book with you to work. so where is it?
7) you retrace your steps. yes, you had it when you were eating subway. yes, you had it when you were changing. oh shit, you didn't have it when you go to work. which means...
8) when you were changing you put your book on top of the closed toilet seat cover in the toilet. you did not bring it out.
9) why? you weren't thinking straight. because you were pissed at your sister.


if anyone finds a heinemann physics textbook, please return it to me.
it has a red cover, about 400 pages.
it says "Sean Wong" on the first page in blue pen.
then it says "Kimberley Chieng" underneath in pencil.
it also says "$15" in big numbers.

don't read if you hate gay people

english lit today began with a discussion on the notion of taboo.

the question was: what do we consider taboo, and what makes it so?

the discussion turned to a very, very valid point rama brought up. his example of a taboo was homosexuality.

yes yes, we all know it's becoming increasingly "acceptable" in our society, blablabla. but you still hear of hate crimes against these people. yes, there are those who think homosexuals are the scum of the earth, but western society is slowly tolerating - if not completely embracing - same sex couples.

i am a Christian ,and i do not support homosexuality; and yet do not have a problem with people who are gay. i do not throw rubbish at them, nor do i tell them that they are "****ing faggots who should go **** a tree". and this raises a question of whether tolerating homosexuality, as opposed to opposing it, is in fact endorsement of the idea itself? and this is what rama was trying to argue.

we can say we're opposed to the idea of homosexuality - based on religion, culture, background, whatever - but in our inaction, our passivity, are we indirectly supporting it? it's difficult to address this because by this definition, to be truly against homosexuality would mean condemnation of people involved. and frankly, not many people around me would hate someone just because they were slightly different.

i hope not anyway.

i know that i am not afraid of gay people. it's interesting that today, i sat two meters away from a gay guy. interesting that this should happen right after we had a class discussion on this. and every single person in the classroom knew he was gay. and nobody had a problem with it. it wasn't an issue. it's like someone just said "oh, he likes cheese, dota, and boys." just another thing about him.

i found out he was gay two minutes after meeting him, and i really didn't care. and this is really important.

because although we are not necessarily uncomfortable with someone we know being gay, what do we do when it's close to home? what happens if your best friend [same sex] tells you that he or she is in love with you? how do you deal with that? you say you're not prejudiced, but you can't help feeling that it's just... wrong.

but this doesn't have anything to do with the gay guy. it's got everything to do with yourself. because while all you can do is be accepting of the choices other people make, you actually have a say in your own beliefs. the other party being gay has nothing to do with it, it's the fact that YOU are not gay.

and in the end, your response to it all comes down to proximity to self. it doesn't bother you when it's just "someone you know". it's odd, but not scary when "the gay dudes down the road are getting married". it's when it's too close for comfort, too close to deny how real it is, that it forces you to face up to the perversity the world throws at you. this proximity; this reality...

this taboo.



btw, nobody i know has actually received/made a homo confession. it's just an illustration made in class.

george

lesson #5887 in battling stupidity

chemistry may be the most boring subject on earth taught by the most boring teacher on earth, but DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES SPACE OUT.
because you'll find that when you're cramming the night before for a test on gas preparation [of the non-flatulent kind], that the teacher has actually mentioned that he will only be testing three of them, and has in fact told you which three he will be testing you on. not only that, you've already attempted to save irrelevant information on your 12Kb brain memory which is just a total waste of time, energy, and school fees.

aaron told me about the bravest and most selfless little guy ever.

a jack russell terrier named George saved five children from being attacked by two pitbulls in new zealand yesterday. the little dog jumped in to defend the children [aged between 4 and 7] from being mauled by the two rabid pitbulls.

little George tried to protect the kids by "barking and rushing at them [pitbulls], but they started to bite him - one on the head and the other on the back."

just so you know what it's like.... imagine this...

vs.

two of this

George died.

he had to be put down because he was ripped to shreds.

Darryl Wilson, 4, holds a photo of George the Jack Russell, with the dog's owner, Alan Gay, left, and Richard Rosewarne, 11, Christian Rosewarne, 8, and Kelly Rosewarne, 10, in the background. Photo: Nic Gibson/Taranaki Daily News
i really like this photo. and yes, the owner's name is alan gay. get over it.

george is such a brave little dog. i won't call his death a waste, because it wasn't. his life actually meant something. and yes, i am aware it sounds a little stupid to be writing of an animal in this way.

but if only more dogs, more people, would do what he did for those children. no, not get mauled by two apeshit dogs almost frothing at the mouth. you know what i mean. do something that would make your existence worth something in the end. George probably had a far more intrinsic value to his owner in terms of companionship than anyone could know, but it's really this - his saving these children - that will forever endear him in the hearts of people.

it is thursday

i hate power lines.

moey's gunning for a mention here. his idea for a post was "say my name, then post it". eager beaver.

mm.. we had a discussion in lit on a poem by gwen harwood yesterday. it was actually really really good. ok, it was more a fight than a discussion, with sharon totally blowing everyone away when she said "maybe it's because girls just know how to think better than guys".

profound.that's it in a nutshell. simple, concise, and to the point.

"what happened today, class?"
"we had a discussion"
"i know. that's weird."
"but fun"
"why did we have a discussion?"
"because rama said 'slut'"

bear in mind we're immature 15/16 year olds who are all naturally very confrontational. we all also don't want to do any actual work [i.e. work that requires more apparatus than just a mouth. for example, a brain.]

casper's gonna shave his head to raise money for lukaemia. i have no idea how to spell lukaemia, except that it starts with an L. he's gonna be a bald turtle as of... some time this weekend. go him!!

let's all try to do something for someone else without getting anything in return, yea?

i'll be your crying shoulder
i'll be love's suicide
i'll be better when i'm older
i'll be the greatest fan of your life

siao hai bu ben

chinese is one of the most educational classes that i take at school.

no, i'm being serious.

ok, when i say educational, i don't necessarily mean that in the most conventional sense.

i mean, there's much to be learnt from a bunch of deluded chinese teenagers put together in a room with a fire-breathing dragon for a teacher. literally.

let me just outline the structure of our chinese class to you. first, the room itself. it's room number.. err... 25 or 26. could be 24.. no that's upstairs. i think it's 25... you know what? WHO REALLY CARES? ahem... it's a little room in the LOTE corridor [the one famously rumoured to have chewing gum that wasn't peeled off before the walls were whitewashed].

i don't really know how to define our seating arrangement. it's a mixture of chosen seats, allocated seats, and people who have to sit next to each other cause they've done something bad and have to be punished. in my case, i don't know whether Ms. Yip's trying to punish me, or Joe. whereas in the case of Sarah and Melvin, i can safely say that Melvin's being the one punished.

there's a poster at the back of the room that says "white man, black man, yellow man, red man... GERMAN".

half the people in the class do ESL. that's not a bad thing, mind you. it's actually really interesting, cause the ESL people are usually the ones who can swear in about 300 different languages. or at least, interpret normal things in such twisted ways, there's never a dull moment in class [i won't elaborate on this].

this is a class that sees many new asian kids to our year take. there's between five and ten new people in our class this year. we're a mixed bunch, we are. there's the guys, the girls, and then there's those that cannot be classified, as yet.

the latest addition to our class is Nigara. no, it does not mean 'country', and you can't call her 'nigger' for short. the guys did this, called her nigger, i mean, which is really mean cause her english ain't that great, and she doesn't know what it means.

she does, however, totally belong in our chinese class. a welcome addition to a class already filled with total nutcases, she's already established herself as someone who can take any of us idiots on. made to sit next to Alfred, her reply to a cheeky remark about how she shouldn't go out with him if he asks was "i wouldn't pick him anyway." when asked her hobby, she said "sleeping", whereby the class immediately went "OH LYNDON. SHE SHARES YOUR HOBBY".

Lyndon, of course, put his foot in his mouth when he said "OH COOL. WE CAN SLEEP TOGETH- OHSHITNONONO THAT CAME OUT WRONG. I DIDN'T MEAN IT THAT WAY. ITCAMEOUTWRONG!!!"

good thing he wasn't actually yelling, so only a handful of us heard it. the look on his face was priceless, though.

it's not only the people in class that we can learn from, however. we learn from out textbooks as well [never let it be said that we don't do any work]. in fact, Joe read a very interesting diary entry to the class today. he shared his feelings and thoughts on his boyfriend, Leemoumou. to Joe, Leemoumou is perfect - in looks, talents, and character.

all this, of course, is aimed at teaching us how to describe a person. and since the diary entry that Joe read was was so positive, and we only learnt to use words like handsome, can play guitar, perfect, awesome, great, lovely, bright black eyes, smart, talented, modest, and all other forms of... goodness [this shows i need to brush up on positive vocabulary]... the book also had an entire section devoted to teaching us negative words.

it went something like this:
"...and now, for the mean words...
UGLY, OBSCENE, SMELLY, SNOBBY, SNOTTY, EVIL, SHITS-HIS-PANTS, STUPID, SLEAZY, SILLY, ANNOYING, SHOULDJUSTGODIE..."
this little exercise has made me realize that most negative words begin with 'S'.

what makes this class even better is that most of us are in this class together for the third year in a row. we've gotten so used to each other, we don't blink at anything anyone does. once, Jiadou managed to walk round and round the classroom about 30 times, and the teacher didn't even notice even though we were all laughing our butts off.

most of us do alright in chinese. as in, we're not brilliant in the tests, but we're only... borderline retarded. a large part of this is due to our supreme powers of... innovative initiative. Gordon's the master of this. his best effort yet was the time he came to a roadblock in a test, and he banged his head on the edge of his table, appearing to be bouncing ideas around in his head. what he was actually doing was 'thinking' about the answers that were in the book concealed under his desk, conveniently flipped open to the relevant pages.

see... we do learn stuff in chinese.

happy rainbows

"your creativity is limited only by your imagination"

mr. john nettleton

i heard on the radio the other day that schools are teaching the students a new and improved version of 'baa baa black sheep'. you'll never guess. it is now...

baa baa rainbow sheep
have you any wool?

another point for multiculturalism.
i'll leave you to ponder that on your own.

we finished watching the black and white version of 'lord of the flies' today. let me first say, karina is not the person to go watch an action film with. i swear, she probably cried in fear while watching finding nemo [btw, you know, it was rated PG because "some scenes may frighten you children"].

anyway, 'lord of the flies' is one of those horribly REAL movies. like, it has ISSUES. real ones. i don't know how to say it. hmm... it's a metaphor of society as a whole. and NO, for those of you who have never read the book or seen the film [i.e. a lot of you], it is NOTHING like 'lord of the rings'.

sadly, that's what i used to think it was about.

WARNING: i mean no offence by the following. i hope no one else ever reads this.
so how do we do a character analysis of the movie? jack - liken to hitler/mussolini. sam n' eric - all those people that just do what they say. piggy - the ones that didn't.

ALRIGHT. i'm gonna go to youth now. bye.