Introduction

Hi! My name is Daniel Lim Jhao Jian. Here is where I share my experience, knowledge and ideas. You are welcome to leave comments and follow my blog. You are free to copy anything from this blog. Please recommend this blog to your friends.


Tuesday 20 December 2011

Virtual Computer

The computer that we usually use is also called a physical computer or real computer, because besides using it, we can touch and feel it, and it had its own hardware. Then, have you heard of a virtual computer? A virtual computer, also called a virtual machine, it a 'computer' running inside a physical computer. It is actually a program that has the similar functions as a real computer. A virtual computer is usually referred to as a 'guest', while a physical computer is referred to as a 'host'. Virtual computer and physical computer share the same hardware, where the virtual computer uses the hardware of the physical computer. However, virtual computer and physical computer use different software.

Then, why is virtual computer used? There are 3 main reasons. First, virtual computer can be used to install other operating systems. Examples of operating systems are Windows 7, Windows Vista and Linux Ubuntu. Every computer usually has 1 operating system only. If you install another operating system, usually the current one is either upgraded to the new one, or the current one as well as all files in the hard disk are deleted and replaced by the new one. It is also possible to have 2 operating systems installed, but this requires dual-boot to be set-up. The process of setting-up dual boot is complicated, and may destroy all data if done incorrectly. Virtual computers can solve this problem. Second, virtual computer can be used to test new programs. If you are installing a new program in your computer, you may not be sure whether it is safe or not. In this case, you can install the program in a virtual computer first. If it is safe, you can install it in your real computer. If it is unsafe, only the virtual computer is affected, not the real computer. Third, virtual computer is used to run older programs that are not compatible with newer operating system. For example, some old programs are compatible with Windows XP but not Windows 7. However, if you are using Windows 7, you run them in a virtual computer with Windows XP installed.

In order to run a virtual computer, there are a few requirements. First, you must have a virtual machine software. VMWare Player is a free virtual machine software that can be downloaded at http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ . You also need an operating system for the virtual computer. You must have either an installation CD or an ISO file for the operating system. VMWare Player can run many operating systems like Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu. However, VMWare Player does not run Mac OS X since it can be installed on Mac computers only. VMWare Player can run Google Chromium OS but not Google Chrome OS because it is for Chromebooks only. Besides, your computer hardware such as RAM and hard disk should have high capacity because they are used by both the real computer and virtual computer at the same time. If your computer meet all the requirements, you can go ahead and install a virtual computer. You can have more than 1 virtual computers but you are advised use only 1 virtual computer at a time to prevent your computer's performance from being affected.

Of all the operating systems, the operating systems that are most suitable for virtual computers are Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu. Windows XP does not need high hardware requirements, and it is the version of Windows that is compatible with most softwares. Many older and newer programs are compatible with Windows XP, so Windows XP can be used to test new softwares and run older softwares. Linux Ubuntu should be your choice because it is the most widely used version of Linux. It is also the easiest to use and has the most features. Windows Vista and Windows 7 are not suitable to be installed in virtual computers because they need very high requirements and this may cause memory-swapping. In this article, I will tell you how to install Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu in VMWare Player.

To Use Windows XP in Virtual Computer:
(In order to do so, you must have a Windows XP installation CD.)

1. Download VMWare Player from http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ then install it.
2. Open VMWare Player.
3. Click 'Create a New Virtual Machine'.
4. Insert the Windows XP installation CD into the CD drive of your computer.
5. Click 'Installer disc' and select your CD drive.
6. When VMWare Player says that it will install Windows XP using Easy Install, click 'Next'.
7. Key in the Windows XP product key and your name. Then click 'Next'.
8. Click 'Next'.
9. Ensure that the 'Maximum disk size' is 40GB and 'store virtual disk as a single file' is selected. Then click 'Next'.
10. Click 'Finish'.
11. VMWare will automatically install Windows XP. Follow the on-screen instructions on continue. About 30 minutes is needed to install Windows XP.
12. After Windows XP has finished installing, it will automatically turn on.
13. On the bottom, there should be a bar about VMWare Tools. Connect to the internet and click 'Download Tools' or 'Update Tools'.
14. Wait for the download of VMWare Tools to complete.
15. In the virtual computer, open 'My Computer' and double-click the CD drive with the name of 'VMWare Tools'.
16. Install VMWare Tools in the virtual computer.
17. You have successfully installed Windows XP in VMWare Player.

To use Linux Ubuntu in VMWare Player:
(You do not need a Linux Ubuntu installation CD. Just follow the instructions below.)

1. Download VMWare Player from http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ then install it.
2. Download an ISO image of Linux Ubuntu from http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download and save it to the desktop.
3. Open VMWare Player.
4. Click 'Create a New Virtual Machine'.
5. Click 'Installer disc image file'. Click 'Browse', select 'Desktop' and select the Linux Ubuntu ISO Image file (that you just downloaded).
6. When VMWare Player says that it will install Linux Ubuntu using Easy Install, click 'Next'.
7. Key in your username and password for Linux Ubuntu, then click 'Next'.
8. Click 'Next' again.
9. Ensure that the 'Maximum disk size' is 20GB and 'store virtual disk as a single file' is selected. Then click 'Next'.
10. Click 'Finish'.
11. VMWare will automatically install Linux Ubuntu. Follow the on-screen instructions on continue. About 30 minutes is needed to install Linux Ubuntu.
12. After Linux Ubuntu has finished installing, it will automatically turn on.
13. You have successfully installed Linux Ubuntu in VMWare Player.
(If you see a bar on the bottom about VMWare Tools, just click 'Never Remind Me'. You do not need to install VMWare Tools for Linux Ubuntu. Also, the installation procedure is very complicating.)


To use the virtual computer, open VMWare Player, select 'Windows XP' or 'Linux Ubuntu' in the left panel then click 'Play Virtual Machine'. Some hardware can be used by both the virtual computer and physical computer at the same time. Other hardwares, like USB devices, can only be used on either one of the virtual computer or physical computer at a time. To connect it to the virtual computer, in the virtual machine window, click 'Virtual Machine' then 'Removable Devices', select the device and click 'Connect'. To connect it to the physical computer, in the virtual machine window, click 'Virtual Machine' then 'Removable Devices', select the device and click 'Disconnect'. Some hardware are automatically connected to the virtual computer when it is switched on. To connect the virtual computer to the internet, just connect the physical computer to the internet and the virtual computer will be automatically connected. To transfer files between the virtual computer and physical computer, use a pendrive.

Tuesday 6 December 2011

The Disadvantages of Taking Part in Uniformed Units / Keburukan Menyertai Aktiviti Unit Beruniform

Currently, all secondary school students in Malaysia are required to take part in co-curriculum activities. Marks will be given for co-curriculum activities and 10% of the marks will be taken into consideration for the application of local universities and colleges. There are 3 categories of co-curriculum activities, that is Uniform Units, Clubs & Societies, and Sports & Games. Students are told that it is compulsory for them to take part in all the three categories, because the co-curriculum marks includes all the 3 categories. However, the truth is that many students do not know is that only the marks of 2 of the 3 categories will be counted. The marks will be counted from the 2 categories that has the highest marks, while the category with the lowest marks will be ignored. So, in other words, we only need to take part in 2 categories.

Among the 3 categories, I think that every one should take part in Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games, but not Uniform Units. The reason is that there are many benefits to take part in Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games. However, taking part in Uniform Units brings more disadvantages than advantages. The advantages of taking part in Clubs & Societies is that it improves your skills in the particular subject or hobby, gives you valuable experiences, helps develop leadership, trains you to be a responsible person and encourages cooperation. The advantages of taking part in Sports & Games is that it makes you healthy, improves your skills in the particular sports, gives you valuable experiences, helps develop leadership and encourages cooperation. However, for Uniform Units, there are many disadvantages. These are the disadvantages of taking part in Uniform Units.

First of all, it is a waste of time to take part in Uniform Units. For Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games, the minimum number of activities is 12 per year. But for Uniform Units, the minimum number of activities is 18 per year. Also, the duration of each activity is 2 hours for Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games. But, the duration of each activity is 4 hours 30 minutes for Uniform Units. So, you need to attend more activities if you take part in Uniform Units. Taking part in too much co-curriculum activities is no good. The reason is you tend to neglect your studies. Studying is very important for students, especially those who are sitting for PMR or SPM. You will also have less time to carry out leisure activities and less time to spend with families. You may also feel tired, especially if you have many tuition classes and homework. Many students also do not know how to plan their time wisely.

Besides, you will also feel stressed. There are many activities to do when you take part in Uniform Units. For example, marching. You may have to march for several hours non-stop. Usually, you cannot rest unless the leader allows everyone to to so. There are also very strict rules. When you march, you must follow the instructions exactly. If you make a mistake, even a very small mistake, you can be scolded and punished. Some punishments are very harsh and in my opinion it should not be carried out. Also, you will be controlled by the head of the Uniform Unit. Worse is that, the leaders of many Uniform Units are students and not teachers. You will need to follow the instructions of the leader, or you you be punished. You cannot refuse to do what you are asked to do by the leader, even if it is something that you need not do or a very difficult task. So, you tend to be unhappy with the leader but unable to do anything against it. Some leaders also misuse their power and rights when they instruct or punish members. Actually, since the leaders are students, they are considered equal-standing with other members. So, they do not have the right to instruct or punish members.

In addition, taking part in Uniform Units affects your studies. Other than weekly activities during weekends, there are also additional activities which takes place during school hours, especially meetings. You will need to miss some classes to take part in it. Missing classes can bring negative effects. Even if you can borrow notes from other friends, it won't be as good as attending the lessons in class. For excellent students, missing a little bit of lessons can mean serious effects. You may not fully understand the particular topic you missed. There are also outside-school activities which can take place for days. In that case, you need to skip school and tuition for days. During that few days, you will miss out a lot. And, surely you will not be doing revision during those few days. These can affect your exam. Remember, academics make up 90% and co-curriculum make up 10%, so you should be quite sure about what is more important.

Moreover, you will burden your parents. When you attend activities, your parents you need to send you to the school or other locations. Most parents at work are quite busy. It will be difficult for them to spare their time. Even if you go yourself without being sent by your parents, you will be taking buses or other public transport. These will cost money. When you register for a Uniform Unit, you have to pay some money such as membership fee and uniforms. When you take part in certain activities like camping, you may need to pay. These fees can be quite expensive. This will bring problems to poor families. If you take part in outside-school activities, your parents can be worried too. I am sure you have seen news such as school bus accidents and student drown in river. The school may not have taken all the safety measures.

Furthermore, sometimes Uniform Units may be misused by naughty students to group among themselves. In some schools where the students are not disciplined, 'geng' activities are common. Some students may take a Uniform Unit as a 'geng'. Each 'geng' will take part in a particular Uniform Unit. As a result, many members of the Uniform Unit  are members of a particular 'geng'. When other students take part in that Uniform Unit, they may be asked to join that 'geng'. If they join the 'geng', they will be negatively affected. They may follow that 'geng' to carry out immoral activities. This will affect their studies and even destroy their future. If they do not join the 'geng', they may be bullied. The 'geng' members may give them unreasonable instructions and punishments. Some naughty students may have good achievements in that Uniform Unit such as winning competitions. Therefore, they may be given high positions or even become leaders of the Uniform Unit. They may look low on other members. They may also bully other members.

Many say that taking part in Uniform Units can develop discipline, but I disagree with that. In Uniform Units, discipline is often seen as 'following rules and instructions'. Uniform Units introduce many rules for their members and punish members who disobey rules and instructions. The members obeyed the rules and instructions just because they are afraid of the punishments, and therefore they are considered as 'disciplined'. Well, is that really what discipline is? No. Take an example. A student often smokes and plays truant (ponteng sekolah), but he obeys all the rules while taking part in Uniform Units because he doesn't want to be punished. Can he be considered a disciplined student? So, obviously taking part in Uniform Units cannot develop true discipline. A truly disciplined person is someone who always does the right thing and is true from his/her heart. True discipline can only be developed by parents, and they have to begin when their children is still small. Moral and religious education (didikan moral dan agama) are also needed to develop true discipline. Uniform Units are not required to develop discipline.

Many people also say that we can learn new skills by taking part in Uniform Unit. In my opinion, we cannot really learn something by taking part in Uniform Units. Although the members may be learning a skill practically when they take part in Uniform Units, but the learning method is not effective. Usually, the leader will demonstrate in front of everyone, while every member watches the leader. A few members may be given the chance to do it, while others can only watch without doing it. Can we really learn something by just watching and not doing anything? Also, you must have interest in something before you can learn and understand it. Surely not all members of the Uniform Unit are interested in it. So, there is no use to learn it. If you are interested in learning something, there are other better ways to learn it. You can learn it first theoretically by reading or searching on the Internet, and then practically by doing it yourself. This is surely more effective than learning it in Uniform Units. The skills that you can learn in Uniform Units is also limited. You can learn only learn a few skills in a year. So, Uniform Units is not a good way to learn new skills.

In conclusion, there are many disadvantages to take part in Uniform Units. I never took part in Uniform Units. I only took part in Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games. If you are taking part in Uniform Units but you are not interested or unhappy with it, then you should not hesitate to stop taking part. As long as you take part in Clubs & Societies and Sports & Games, your co-curriculum marks won't be affected. If you are really interested in taking part in Uniform Units, I am not saying you cannot do so. You can take part in Uniform Units. But, you must know how to plan your time wisely. You must never neglect your studies. Also, if you are given unreasonable instructions or punishments by the leader, you should not accept it. Don't be afraid to go against the leader, since the leader is just a student like you. Do not join any 'geng' if there is any in the Uniform Unit. If you are a leader, you should not misuse your rights and always give only instructions and punishments that are reasonable. At last, I wish to apologize if I have insulted anyone in this article.

Monday 21 November 2011

2012 is Not the End of the World

Since a few years ago, people have been saying that year 2012 is the end of the world. At 2009, the movie '2012' was released. As a result, many people all the world know about that. I am sure that you know about it too. Then, is 2012 really the end of the world? No, it is not. The scientist have made explanations that are sufficient to prove that 2012 is not the end of the world. Basically, there are 5 theories which says that 2012 is the end of the world. However, scientists have proved that all these theories are not true.

Theory 1: The Mayan Calendar Ends on Year 2012

The Mayan is a civilization in the South America. However, after 600 years, the people of Mayan have disappeared completely. However, they left behind many things. One of the things left behind is a complete calendar that is full of pictures and symbol. Based on the study by the historians, this complete calendar only shows the date until year 2012. As a result, many think that the Mayans have predicted that the world will end on year 2012. However, the scientist Aveni disagrees with this opinion. He thinks that based on the calculation method of the Mayans, 5125 years is the time required for the solar system to complete one revolution. The Mayans calculated the calendar beginning year 3114 B.C. So, instead of being the end of the  world, 2012 should be seen as a new year.

Theory 2: The Solar System Falls into the Center of the Milky Way Galaxy

On the year 2012, the whole solar system will be in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. This will happen only every 26000 years. 26000 years ago,  humans have not yet fully developed, in fact they do not know what is Earth. Some people think that if the Sun falls into the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, it will cause serious and unpredictable effects on the Earth. It may cause the poles of Earth to shift, or even cause the Earth to be attracted into the Black hole. However, the scientist Morrison advice us not to worry. In his opinion, such thing will not happen on 2012. In fact, a similar phenomenon can be observed during the Winter Solstice of every year. During that time, the Sun appears to be in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, it does not cause any negative effects on Earth. The Earth's gravity, the Sun's radiation, the planet's orbit and other things are all not affected.

Theory 3: The Collision with other Planet

All the while, people are always worried of the collision between the Earth and other planet. Although at all times, there are a lot of meteoroids from other space colliding on Earth, but luckily, they are all very small. Therefore, before the meteoroids reach the earth's surface, they are burnt in the Earth's atmosphere, so when they land on Earth, they are too small to cause any damage. Thanks to the atmosphere! Some people predict, a very large planet known as Nibiru will collide on Earth on year 2012. Even if it only goes near the Earth, it can cause very great damage, causing the Earth to move out of its orbit. Actually, people are worried all because a woman in USA claimed that she had received an e-mail from aliens which gives warning to humans. Based on the opinion of the scientist Morrison, he is sure that nothing will collide on Earth on year 2012. This is because if any planet goes near the Solar System, we will be able to see it 3 years earlier, but nothing have been observed until now. In addition, if there is a planet large enough to destroy the Earth, we can see it long before it collides on Earth.

Theory 4: The Predictions by the Mayans

The question is, if the Mayans have known that the world will end on year 2012, why there are no pictures which clearly says what will happen? Many historians said that after researching for many years, they have not yet found any clear predictions regarding year 2012. On the last page of the book left behind by the Mayans, there are statements that the Earth will suffer damage from heavy floods. Similar statements are also found in the legends of other races. The scientist Aveni believe, based on the Mayan's culture, this statement is not a prediction, instead, it is actually symbolizing the punishment for the human's actions . The human's actions have caused pollution and many other environmental problems. Since 2012 is a new year for the Mayans (as stated earlier), the Mayans want humans to learn from their mistakes and have a new beginning.

Theory 5: The shifting of the Earth's poles

The Earth's poles is the two ends of the Earth axis. They are located in the North Pole and South Pole. If the  Earth's poles shift position, there will be many great problems. The Earth's crust may move violently and the land of the seven continents may crack, just like an earthquake with magnitude 10. If an earthquake with magnitude 10 occurs, the whole Malaysia can be destroyed in just 10 minutes. If the crust of the whole Earth shifts at the same time, it can cause earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and other natural disasters. The damages caused will be unpredictable. But we should not worry. Based on the opinion of the scientist Adam Maloof, even though the Earth's crust is currently shifting, but the process is so slow that it takes several million years before it can cause any damage.

After reading this, you should know that year 2012 is not the end of the world. So, don't worry about it. Instead, we should protect the environment so that the Earth can live longer.

Friday 11 November 2011

Computer Learning

Now, using the computer and surfing the internet is one of my hobby. I am also very good in computers. But do you know when and how I started to learn how to use a computer?

I started using computer when I was 3 years old. At that time, I went to my father's house in Subang Jaya, Selangor. There is a computer in his house. That is a HP Desktop computer with Windows 3.1 . It was actually an old computer. I liked to play with it very much. Therefore, my father brought it back to Kulim for me.

At first, I don't know how to use a computer correctly. I played a few games but I just simply play because I don't even know how to play it so I always lost. Later, my parents tought me how to play the games, then I began to know how to play. Besides playing games, I didn't know anything else about computers. The games were only very simple games.

Then when my brother knew how to play computer, he always play with my computer when he came back to Kulim. This is because there were no computer at his house. Several times I fought with him just because of the computer. At the year 2002, he wants to bring my computer to his house. I tried to stop him. My father told him to give that computer to my brother and promised to buy me a new one. The new computer I have is installed with Windows XP and I used it until now. Now it is already 8 years but still working!

When I started using this computer, I only use it to play games. The games were much newer and more advanced that the old computer. My father also installed TM Net internet service at my house for me. I knew very little about computer at that time. I only used the internet to download games. However, the internet was very slow and most downloaded games have a trial. At that time I never knew how to crack and my mother only purchased one game for me. Sometimes my mother downloaded the games using Streamyx and wrote them into a CD for me to install.

However, later I moved house. In the new house it is very troublesome to use the internet because I had to connect the wire over the living room floor. At the year 2006, I read a comic. Behind the comic are computer teachings. On that year also, my computer got infected by virus. I tried many antiviruses to remove the virus but at last I failed. I had to send my computer for repair. But, I began to know more about computers. I began to be less-interested in computer games. I prefer to download and use different types of softwares.

In Form 1 and 2, I had the chance to use the computer and internet in school every week during the ICT class. I began to use the internet widely. I also signed up for Friendster, Tagged, Facebook and much more. But it is difficult for me to use the internet at home. The TM Net is very slow and I had to connect the long cable over the floor. Once somebody fell down because of the wire. My father had a Maxis Broadband but I could use it only when he comes back to Kulim. My phone could surf the internet but it is very expensive.

Finally, at the end of year 2009, my father signed up another Maxis Broadband for me so that I can use the internet easily. In order for the Maxis Broadband to function properly, I moved my computer upstairs and reformatted it. I could use the internet whenever I want. I also know a lot about computer now. I also upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7. But because of my PMR examination, I don't use the computer or go online too often.

After my PMR examination, I played computer very often for more then 2 months until the 2010 year-end school holiday is over. I went to Kuala Lumpur for holidays on December 2010. My parents bought me a new Acer laptop on 9 December 2010. It has Windows 7 Home Premium, Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB RAM and ATI 512MB Graphics Card. It is very fast and good. However, the Maxis Broadband internet was very slow when I used it on the Acer Laptop. On 14 December 2010, my father took me to the Maxis store and replaced my Maxis Broadband modem. After that, the internet could work very fast. I concluded that the old Maxis Broadband modem was not compatible with Windows 7. Since then, I usually used the new Acer Laptop rather than my old Packard Bell desktop. I only used the Packard Bell desktop for testing purposes. On January 2011, the Acer laptop had a problem. The problem started after I attempted to install Microsoft Office. I tried to repair it but I failed. My mother took it back to Kuala Lumpur for repair. It was successfully repaired and I used it until now.

When I entered Form 4, I took the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) subject. The reason is it is easy and interesting. After I took ICT, I could learn more about computers. I was interested in ICT and could score well in it. In the 1st, 2nd and 3rd school exams, I got 96 marks for ICT. In the 4th school exam, I successfully got 100 marks for ICT. I could also complete most of the coursework for ICT. At the end of Form 4, all students are asked to choose the subjects for SPM. Some students decided to drop ICT because no one got A+ in ICT for SPM 2010. But, I took ICT because I was confident that I could score A+ as long as I worked hard for it. After entering Form 5, I continued to take ICT and I registered it as a SPM subject. In the 1st exam, I got 97 marks. In the 2nd exam, I got 100 marks. For the SPM Trial exam, I got 99 marks. For the actual SPM exam, I got grade A+.

After my SPM examination, I played computer and surfed the internet almost every day. I upgraded my Acer laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Initially, I planned to dual-boot Windows 7 and Windows 8 on my computer. The upgrade was successful and I liked Windows 8 because it was fast. However, due to some mistakes while partitioning the hard disk during the installation, I had to delete Windows 7 and all the files stored in the hard disk. I had to recover all the files and programs on my computer manually. Although Windows 8 is good, I still missed Windows 7 so later I installed Windows 7 on VMWare Player on my Acer laptop.

Thursday 1 September 2011

PMR Examination Tips

NOTE: These tips are outdated. Please do not use these tips for the new Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) examination because PMR and PT3 are very different in many aspects. I am unable to give tips for PT3 examination because I do not know the format and style of questions.

I got 8A's in my PMR 2010. Some people have been asking me for tips on how to score in the PMR. So, I am sharing a few tips about PMR here. The tips depend on the subject. These tips are intended for Form 3, Form 2 and Form 1 students.

Bahasa Melayu (Difficulty: High)

Bahasa Melayu PMR is rather difficult. Basically, Kertas 1 is more difficult than Kertas 2. Kertas 1 consists of Tatabahasa and Pemahaman Komsas. Tatabahasa is the most difficult part. You will need to do a lot of exercises. You should pay attention when your teacher discuss about these questions. Try to take note on what your teacher says, especially regarding how words are used. Do revision regularly on this kind of questions and remember them. Some of the questions are often asked, so take note on them. Pemahaman KOMSAS is not very difficult but can be tricky. Make sure you understand everything in the Antologi from Form 1 to Form 3. A KOMSAS revision book is very helpful, so you should have one. Make sure you read and understand the Tema, Persoalan, Watak & Perwatakan, Latar, Nilai and Pengajaran for all stories. When answering this kind of questions, read the passage given and all the questions carefully before answering. Kertas 2 consists of Ringkasan, Pemahaman Umum, Karanagan Bahan Rangsangan, Karangan Respons Terbuka and Novel. Ringkasan is quite simple. Make sure you have at least 5 correct isi and make sure your tatabahasa is correct. Just copy if you cannot use your own words. Don't simply change the words until it is different from the original meaning. Do not add your own ideas. You can write more than 5 isi but make sure the 80 word limit is not exceeded by 5 or more. For Pemahaman Umum, there are 3 questions. For question 1, you will be asked the meaning of a phase. To answer, just replace every words in the phase with a word with same meaning. After that, insert your answer into the passage to see if it is suitable. For question 2, read the passage to find the answer. Copy the answer from the passage. You must give at least 2 answers. For question 3, you have to give your own opinion. You can write as many answers as you can, and only the correct ones will be marked. You should give at least 3 answers. Do not look for the answer from the passage. For Karangan Bahan Rangsangan, look at the question and the material given. If the material given is relevant to the question asked, then you must use it. If it is not relevant to the question, then you need to give your own opinion. You need to write 1 Pendahuluan, 3 isi and 1 penutup. Provide elaboration for each isi. Make sure that the 120 word limit is not exceeded by 5 or more. To score, you need to read and write more. For Karangan Bahan Rangsangan, there are 5 choices. Choose the question that you are most confident to answer. Read the question carefully and answer. You can write down the important isi first but this is not necessary. You need to provide at least 1 Pendahuluan, 4 isi and 1 Penutup. Elaborate in each isi as much as you can but do pay attention to the time to ensure that you have enough time to answer. Make sure that it is at least 180 words long. To score, you need to read and write more. For novel, it can test you on any novel, either Form 1, Form 2 or Form 3 novel. Sometimes, you may be asked to compare 2 novels. Therefore, you must understand all three novels very well. A KOMSAS revision book can help you a lot. Make sure you read and understand the Tema, Persoalan, Latar, Watak & Perwatakan, Nilai and Pengajaran for all novels. Answer in paragraph form and not point form.

English (Difficulty: Moderate)

English PMR is not very difficult but not simple as well. Both Paper 1 and Paper 2 have equal difficulties. For Paper 1, there are 5 parts. The first part is about Information Transfer, second part about Grammar, third part about idioms and phasal verbs, fourth part about comprehension and fifth part about literature. To score in all parts, you should read more and do more exercises. Pay attention to grammar usage. For Literature in Paper 1, you also need to understand all the poems, short stories and drama (if any) in the Collection of Poems and Short Stories. A literature revision book can help as well. For Paper 2, there are 3 parts, Directed Writing, Summary and Novel. For Directed Writing, materials would be given. Read the question, instructions and materials given carefully. In your essay, you must have an introduction and a closing. If it is formatted writing, the format must be correct. Elaborate on each point given. You may need to at other relevant ideas if you are asked to do so. Make sure your essay is longer than 120 words. Pay attention to the time so that you have enough time to answer. To score, you need to read and write more. For summary, read the passage and instructions carefully. Begin your summary with the 10 words given. Give at least 5 points. You can give more than 5 points but don't add in your own ideas. Do not exceed the 60 word limit at all. For novel, you can choose between the novels you have studied. Make sure that you understand every novel fully. A literature revision book is very helpful. Make sure you read and understand the Theme, Setting, Characters, Lessons and Moral Values for each novel. When answering, choose the novel that you are most confident. Give your answer with elaborations and examples from the novel. Give your answer in paragraph form and not in point form. Make sure your answer is more than 50 words long.

Mathematics (Difficulty: Low)

Mathematics PMR is one of the easiest subject in PMR. It consists of Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 has 40 objective questions while Paper 2 has 20 subjective questions. Paper 1 is easier than Paper 2. For Mathematics, you need to understand every topic from Form 1 to Form 3. You must know how to answer the questions as well. You should pay attention in class and do a lot of Mathematics exercise to improve your skills in answering Mathematics. Do not memorise the definitions and explanations in the book. Most questions tested involve calculation but some involve drawing and sketching. For drawing and sketching, use pencil. For others, you need to use pen. You need to know how to use scientific calculator as well. If you don't have one, you should buy one. Scientific calculator is very helpful in Paper 1 but cannot be used in Paper 2. During PMR of my year (2010), both 350MS and 570MS are allowed. 350ES and 570ES (Natural display) is also allowed. Before the Mathematics paoer starts, make sure to bring pen, ruler, pencil, eraser, sharpener, scientific calculator and geometrical sets. For Paper 2, you need to show the workings. Make sure to write all important steps. Ask your teacher to find out which steps are necessary to show and which steps are not. If an important step is wrong or missing, the answer and other workings may be considered wrong, even if they are correct. Do pay attention to the time so that you have enough time to answer. After you have finished answering, check all your answers to make sure they are correct.

Science (Difficulty: Moderate)

Science PMR is not difficult but not easy as well. It has Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 has 40 objective questions while Paper 2 has 2 sections and 8 subjective questions. Paper 1 is generally easier than Paper 2. All topics from Form 1 to Form 3 will be tested. Form 3 topics are the most difficult while Form 1 topics are the easiest. You must understand all topics fully and do not memorise, except for facts that require memorising, such as examples of animals and plants. You need to pay attention when the teacher is teaching so that you understand all topics. Do more exercises to increase your skill in answering. Revise all topics regularly so that you don't forget. The science textbook doesn't contain all the facts, so you will need a revision book. Buy a revision book that is thick and contains all the facts. Scientific calculator can help you to answer some questions involving calculation in both papers, so don't forget to bring it for your exam. When answering Paper 2, read the questions carefully and write your answers as clearly as possible. Make sure the spelling for scientific terms is correct. If you are asked to explain or give a reason, explain it fully. You may need to explain in more than one sentences, depending on the marks allocated for that question. Certain formulas are provided in front of the examination paper, so refer to it if you forgot or unsure. For calculation questions in Paper 2, write the formula if it is not given and write down all important workings because some marks are given for workings.

Sejarah (Difficulty: Moderate)

Sejarah is easy to answer and easy to understand but difficult to memorise. It contains one paper only, which has 60 objective questions. All topics from Form 1 to Form 3 will be tested. Form 3 topics are the easiest and Form 1 topics are the most difficult. Unlike science, Sejarah requires both memorising and understanding. Certain topics in Sejarah requires understanding, especially those related to events. You need to understand before you can remember it easily. If you try to memorise everything, it will be more difficult to remember. Some topics, requires memorising, especially those related to names. For these topics, you can only remember them by memorising. To study Sejarah, you should not wait until the last moment before exam. This is because there are quite a lot to memorise. If you study only at the last moment, you will have problems memorising. To make memorising more effective, do your revision. You can also try using the imagination method (Refer to here: http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2010/10/tips-to-remember-names.html ) . The Sejarah textbook for all forms are good and complete, so you should read them. You should also do more exercises to familiar yourself with the questions. A few Sejarah questions are questions about Nilai murni, so you may need to think to get the answer.

Geografi (Difficulty: Moderate)

Similar to Sejarah, Geografi is easy to answer and easy to understand but difficult to memorise. It contains one paper with 60 objective questions. All topics from Form 1 to Form 3 will be tested. Form 2 topics are the easiest while Form 3 topics are the most difficult. Geografi has 2 parts, Kemahiran Geografi and Geografi Fizikal dan Manusia. Kemahiran Geografi is much easier than Geografi Fizikal dan Manusia but it only makes up 10% (6 questions)of the Geografi paper. Geografi requires both memorising and understanding. Some topics such as explainations requires understanding. It will be difficult to remember if you try to memorise them without understanding. So, you need to understand them. Other topics, like name of places, require memorising. Therefore, you should not wait till the last moment before exam to study Geografi. If you study at the last moment, you can't memorise well. To make memorising more effective, do your revision regularly. You can also try using the imagination method (refer to http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2010/10/tips-to-remember-names.html ). The Geografi textbook contains most of the facts but not all. You need a complete revision book to get all the facts. You should also do more exercises so that you are familiar with the questions. You also need a protractor and scientific calculator for the exam, as you may be asked to measure bearings and do some calculations.

Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu (Difficulty: Easy)

Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu has 4 types, Kemahiran Teknikal (KT), Ekonomi Rumah Tangga (ERT), Pertanian (PT) and Perdagangan & Keusahawanan (PK). Every student has to choose one of them. However, in SMK Sultan Badlishah, only KT, ERT and PK are offered. The Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu has 2 parts, Teras and Elektif. Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu has Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 has 60 objective questions, while Paper 2 is a project. As Paper 2 carries 40 marks for the PMR, it is very important to complete the project. There are 4 projects. Make sure you do all of them properly. Ask your teacher for help if you have problems doing the project. The projects are not difficult to do, and as long as you do it properly you already have 40 marks for PMR. Therefore, Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu is considered as an easy subject. For Paper 1, all Teras and Elektif topics from Form 1 to Form 3 will be tested. Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu mainly requires understanding and some memorising. It is difficult to remember the facts if you don't understand and just memorise. Some facts, like names of tools, requires memorising. It is not difficult to memorise facts in Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu as long as you understand it. The Kemahiran Hidup Bersepadu textbook for all forms are almost complete. A complete revision book can help you. You should also do more exercises to familiarise yourself with the questions. Pay attention when your teacher is teaching so that you can understand all topics. You should do revision regularly. A scientific calculator can help you in your exam as there may be some questions on calculation, so don't forget to bring it.

Chinese / 华文 (Difficulty: High)

Chinese PMR is difficult. It consists of Paper 1 and Paper 2. Paper 1 and Paper 2 are equally difficult. Paper 1 has 40 objective questions and is made up of 3 parts. The first part is Modern Text Comprehension. In this part, there are questions about information transfer, grammar and comprehension. For information transfer, read the questions and material given carefully and answer the question. For grammar, you need to understand the topics in grammar. Grammar for PMR Chinese is quite simple except for Hanyu Pinyin. For comprehension, you need to read the questions and passage given carefully then answer the questions. Although modern text comprehension is easier to understand, the questions asked are often more difficult. The second part is Classical Text Comprehension. It includes comprehension and translation. You need to read the passage, meaning of words and the questions carefully. It is quite difficult to understand Classical Text, so you may need to read it several times and refer to the questions. For translation questions, try to translate word by word into Modern Text, then put it into the passage to see if it is suitable. The third section is idioms. You may be asked the meaning, author and source of idioms. You may also be asked to fill in the blanks with idiom or choose the sentence that used idiom correctly. You must know the meaning, usage, author and source of all the 150 idioms studied from Remove Class until Form 3. For the meanings, you must understand and not memorise. For the author and source, you must memorise. You can use the imagination method to memorise (refer to http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2010/10/tips-to-remember-names.html ). To score in Paper 1, you need to understand all grammar topics and all idioms from Remove class to Form 3. To do so, you need a PMR Chinese revision book. A number of PMR Chinese revision books are available at many bookshops. You also need to do more exercises to increase your skills in answering. For Paper 2, there are four parts. The first part is Caligraphy writing. You must know how to write medium sized caligraphy. Your writing must be nice in order to get high marks. It is easy to get 3/6 marks as long as all the words are correct and tidy. Try not to write wrongly and never use liquid paper or 'cut-and-paste', otherwise that word is considered wrong. You need to practice a lot to write caligraphy well. Remember to bring a writing brush and ink for the exam. The second part is summary. You need to summarise the important points in the passage into a few sentences, usually 2, 3 or 4 sentences. Do not write it in a paragraph and do not add in your own ideas. You do not need to use your own words but you can replace words with shorter words of same meaning. Do not exceed the word limit by 5 or more. You need a lot of exercise to score in this. The third section is Directed Writing. You are given a material and you need to write about the material given. You must include everything given and elaborate more. An introduction and closing is also required. Be sure to write more than 100 words. To score, you need to read and write more. The fourth part is continuous writing. There are 5 questions and you need to choose one. Choose the one that you are most confident of. Read the question carefully. You can write down the important points at a side but this is not necessary. Your essay should have at least 1 introduction, 1 closing and 4 points. If it is a formatted writing, make sure that the format is correct. Your essay must also be longer than 220 words. To score, you need to read and write more.

Pendidikan Islam
Bahasa Arab
Bahasa Tamil

I do not take these subjects, so I cannot give tips on these subjects. If you take these subjects, ask your teacher or someone good at these subjects for their tips.

NOTE: These tips are outdated. Please do not use these tips for the new Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) examination because PMR and PT3 are very different in many aspects. I am unable to give tips for PT3 examination because I do not know the format and style of questions.

Wednesday 31 August 2011

My Best and Worst Dreams in 2005

Sometimes, we dream when we sleep. The dream may either be a good dream or a nightmare. Usually, it is difficult to remember what happened in our dream after we wake up. However, I can still remember the best dream and worst dream I had in 2005.


My best dream in 2005:

The dream was about a maze and a house surrounded by nature. I had this dream during my year end school holidays in 2005. At that time, I didn't like a girl in my school, TT. She was previously my friend, but I hated her after an incident where she broke my ruler and pencil but refused to be responsible. I had the habit of trying to find out the address of the person I hate, so I tried to find out TT's address. As a result, I had this dream.

In this dream, one of my friend told me that TT was having a birthday party at her house and she invited everyone in my school. My friend also told me that TT's house was surrounded by nature and there was a big maze in front of her house. My friend said that TT's house was actually just behind our school but we could not directly get to her house from behind the school because her house was separated from our school by a small private building. The owner of that building strictly prohibited anyone from entering the compound of the building and the guards would shoot anyone who does that.

I was interested to go to TT's house. My friend told me that to get to her house, we had to make a big detour through Kulim town, and we also needed to find the correct way through the maze in front of her house. I then followed my friend to TT's house. When we arrived at her house, there was really a big maze and there were a lot of people there, including my friends. I tried to get through the maze by myself. However, after an hour, I still could not find the correct way through the maze. At last, I asked one of my friends for help. She led me through the maze easily and I finally reached the entrance of TT's house. The entrance was small, allowing only one person to pass through at a time. After going through the entrance, I saw her house. There were two swimming pools and many people were swimming in there. I was interested to go swimming as well. I swam in the shallower pool at first, then in the deeper pool. The water in the swimming pool was warm, it was like a hot spring.

After swimming for some time, I got out of the swimming pool. TT's house was just beside the pool. Around her house, there were many trees. The walls of the maze were made of stones. There were birds flying around. I really liked her house as it was surrounded by nature. My friends asked me to enter her house but I refused due to my poor relationship with TT. Then, I decided to leave her house and return to school. I had to pass through the maze again. This time, I somehow decided to keep to the right all the time, thinking that this could be the way out of the maze. It turned out that this really worked! It took me less than a minute to get out of the maze. I then walked back to my school, while trying to remember the way to her house. It was already around 5pm when I reached my school. I went to the top floor of my school and tried to look behind my school. There, I could see TT's house and a small building between her house and the school.

I thought that I could get to TT's house easily by just going through that building. My friend had told me that anyone who enters the compound of the building would be shot by the guards. However, I wanted to take the challenge by secretly sneaking though that building. Then, one of my friend told me that he was having the same thoughts as me. So, we decided to sneak through the building together. Another friend warned us not to do so but we did not listen to him. We climbed over the fence of the building. We could not go through the external compound of the building as there were guards. Instead, we had to enter the building through one end and then exit through the other end. The doors of the building were made of transparent glass. After we entered the door, a guard knew about that and he walked towards us, carrying a gun. We began to feel scared and we tried to hide behind a door. Unfortunately, the guard still saw us and he prepared to shoot us with the gun. I were so frightened and I woke up from my dream because of this.

I consider this dream as my best dream because it was really nice to be in a house surrounded by nature with a big maze in front of it, although the ending was very scary. I never had any other dreams as wonderful as this. Not long after I had this dream, I reconciled with TT and she was my friend once again.


My worst dream in 2005:

The dream was about myself being attacked by ghosts. I had this dream sometime in the 2nd half of 2005. At that time, I often went to the Pacific hypermarket in Butterworth with my family. I had always felt that the upper floors of Pacific hypermarket were quite creepy because those floors were always quite dark and usually there were not many people there. As a result, I occasionally had bad dreams about Pacific hypermarket.

In this dream, I went to Pacific hypermarket with one of my teacher. My teacher brought me there as a reward for winning a Mathematics competition. We were in the upper floors of Pacific hypermarket when we came across an escalator to the lower floor. I tried to look below and the lower floor was very dark. Further in front, there was another escalator from the lower floor. I was curious about the lower floor so I wanted to go down using this escalator, and I thought I could just come back up using the escalator in front.

My teacher warned me not to go down because he had somehow heard stories about ghosts there. I did not believe him and I insisted on going down as I was really curious. My teacher refused to go down with me so I had to go down myself. The escalator was not working so I had to walk down by foot. After walking down, strangely, I could not see any escalator in front. I walked forward trying to see clearer, but there really was no escalator. I was a bit frightened so I turned back. At that time, I could no longer see the escalator that I just went down. In fact, I could not see anything at all as I was in complete darkness. I was very scared and I screamed. Suddenly, a few ghosts appeared and they attacked me. I tried fighting them but I lost. My body was destroyed by the ghosts and I fainted.

When I regained consciousness, I was still in my dream. I found myself inside an aquarium in a nice house and I realised that I had turned into a fish. Then, a fairy came and told me she had saved me from the ghosts. She said that she would recover my damaged body but she needed some time for that, therefore she had to place my soul in a fish temporarily. According to the fairy, the place below that escalator was controlled by ghosts and anyone who went down that escalator would be killed, while I was really lucky that she was near that place at that time so she could save me. Later, when my body was completely recovered, the fairy transferred my soul back to my body and I was brought back to my house. Then, I suddenly woke up from my dream.

I was definitely very frightened by this dream and for quite some time after that, I refused to go to Pacific hypermarket. This dream is the worst and scariest nightmare I ever had. I rarely had nightmares involving ghosts.

Monday 29 August 2011

Tuition Classes I Have Attended

Do you go for tuition? Nowadays, most people go for tuition because they think that going for tuition can help in their studies and help them get good results in examinations. If you are close to me, you may know that I had not went for any tuition before Form 4. The reason is that in the past I always think that I can score in my examinations by myself without the need of any tuition. However, starting from Form 4, I begin to think that I really need tuition, so I started going for tuition classes. Actually, I have went for tuition before Form 4.

I went for my first tuition when I was in Standard 3. I went tuition for Arts subject. You may be surprised of why I went for Arts tuition, as Arts is not a UPSR subject and I was never interested in Arts. I went for Arts tuition because all the while my drawing is very bad, and I could not draw at all during Arts lesson in school. The Arts tuition center was located near the old Nola supermarket in Kulim. I went there every Saturday from 10:30am to 12:30pm. However, the teacher was not good at teaching arts. Instead of teaching everyone together on the board, he lets everyone draw their own. He would go from one table to another and teach each person for a while. He was also a fierce teacher. Once, someone accidentally spilled the water in her bottle, and she got a terrible scolding from the teacher. Whenever someone couldn't draw properly, the teacher would scold. I went there for a few months, but it did not improve my drawing. The only thing I learnt from the Arts tuition was how to colour using poster colour. I stopped going for Arts tuition after a few months, and I never went for any other Arts tuition. Until now, I am still very bad at arts.

My grandfather is a Mathematics teacher and he is giving tuition for Mathematics and Additional Mathematics at his tuition center. He gave tuition for Form 3, Form 4 and Form 5. My grandfather's tuition center is located at upstairs of the old Cosway in Kulim. When I was in Standard 5 and Standard 6, sometimes during the holidays I would follow him to the tuition center for Form 3 Mathematics and sometimes even Form 4 and Form 5 Mathematics and Additional Mathematics. He would ask me to go if he felt that I was able to understand the topic he was teaching. I usually had no problems understanding what he thought. However, I would go there only sometimes during school holidays.

At Standard 6, I had my UPSR. The school made it compulsory for all students to attend school tuition for every subject. Instead, we did not need to take part in Clubs & Societies for cocurriculum. The tuition was held daily from 1:30pm to 3:00pm, one day for one subject. I was not happy to attend the school tuition at first because I thought that I only need to attend tuition for Malay and Chinese but not the other subjects. However, I had no choice but do attend it. Everyday, I had to eat lunch in school. The school tuition was also held during the school holidays. During the school holidays, it was held daily from 8:00am to 12:00pm. Later, I began to get use to attending the school tuition but I was still unhappy to do so. If I had the choice, I would have attended the tuition for Malay and Chinese only. We did not need to pay for the tuition.

At Form 3, for the later half for the year, the school organised night classes for the PMR. All Form 3 students could choose whether to attend the night class or not to. Those who wanted to attend the night class had to pay RM50. Since I was given the choice, I decided to attend the night class for all subjects except Mathematics which was my best subject. The night class was held daily from 8:15pm to 10:15pm, one day for one subject. One night, I mistaken the time table and attended the night class for Mathematics. Then, I felt that it was fun to attend night class for Mathematics so I decided to do so for every night class of Mathematics. During the night class, the teacher would let us do exercises then discuss the answers. The night class was held for 2 months, from June until one week before PMR. However, there was no night class during the Ramadhan month.

At the end of Form 3, November 2010, my grandfather started his tuition class for Form 4 Mathematics and Additional Mathematics. Some of my friends and former primary school classmates went for his tuition. The tuition was on every Monday and Wednesday. In the beginning, I did not want to go for his tuition because I wanted to watch my favourite drama series 'My Family My Love' from 6:00pm to 7:00pm, while his tuition was until 7:00pm. I did not want to miss the drama, moreover it was after my PMR. Later, my grandfather changed his tuition to Wednesday and Saturday. I could attend his tuition and only need to miss one episode of the drama per week. Starting from the beginning of Form 4 until the end of Form 5, I go for my grandfather's tuition for Additional Mathematics and Mathematics every Wednesday from 3:15pm to 6:45pm and every Saturday from 2:30pm to 6:00pm.

In Form 4 and Form 5, I also attended tuition for Malay language. Although it is slightly easier to score A in SPM Malay than PMR Malay, I still think that I need tuition for Malay as it is quite difficult and very important. I asked my friends for recommendations, and they recommended me to go for Malay tuition in Pusat Tuisyen Inisiatif Utama, where Cikgu Yazid is the teacher. My father registered my name at that tuition center. I started going for Malay tuition after the 2011 Chinese New Year. I felt that Cikgu Yazid is really good at teaching Malay. He helped me in writing my Malay essay. In Form 4, the tuition was held every Friday from 8:30am to 10:15am, while in Form 5, the tuition was held every Friday from 8:00am to 9:45am. Pusat Tuisyen Inisiatif Utama is located near my school. I go for that tuition until I completed Form 5.

I also planned to go for tuition for Chinese language because it is a very difficult subject. I was recommended by my friend to go for a tuition center at Keladi, Kulim. However, the tuition was held at Wednesday night after my grandfather's tuition. I felt too tired to attend that tuition after studying for the whole day. So, I decided not to go. There are no other Chinese tuition centers I know in Kulim so I could not attend tuition for Chinese. Later, at June 2011, I decided to drop Chinese in SPM because I am not confident to get A+, not even A, as Chinese Paper 2 is very difficult. Therefore, I am not attending tuition for Chinese anymore. My friends also suggested me to take tuition for Chemistry in Puan Yeap's tuition center but I did not want to. The reason is that I think that my Chemistry teacher is good enough and I want to depend on myself for Chemistry. I do not attend tuition for any other subject except Malay, Mathematics and Additional Mathematics.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

2011 Chinese New Year Diary

The 2011 Chinese New Year fell on 2nd February (Thursday). The school provided 10 days holiday for Chinese New Year, that is from 28 January to 6 February. This is the my dairy during the Chinese New Year.

28 January 2011 (Friday) - 31 January 2011 (Monday): Pre-CNY
These few days were school holidays. My parents and my uncle's family were not back from Kuala Lumpur yet. I just did some revisions.

1 February 2011 (Tuesday): Day before CNY eve
I went to my grandfather's tuition centre in the afternoon. The tuition ended on 6:30PM. My parents had arrived in Kulim in the afternoon. They picked me up after my tuition. After going home to take my bath, they took me for dinner in a Japanese restaurant. That night on 12AM, my uncle's family arrived in Kulim. I played with my cousins for a while before going to sleep.

2 February 2011 (Wednesday): CNY eve
Today was Chinese New Year's eve. I woke up early on 5AM to follow my grandparents to the market in Bukit Mertajam to buy the ingredients needed for the reunion dinner at night. My father followed along. We bought breakfast as well. After returning home at 6:30AM, I slept until 8:30AM before waking up and had breakfast. After that, we went to a temple to pray. Then, we went to the Kulim market to buy some fireworks. Next, my parents went to RHB bank to do some work. We returned home next. For lunch, I had noodle soup cooked by my grandmother. Then, I played with my brother and cousins. My parents, uncle and aunt went for shopping in the afternoon, leaving me, my brother and my cousins playing at home. At 7PM, we had steamboat for reunion dinner at home. After dinner, we enjoyed lychee and longan. Later, we played fireworks. At 12AM, my grandparents, my uncle and my father went to another temple to pray but I did not follow along.

3 February 2011 (Thursday): CNY 1st day
I woke up at 8:30AM. I greeted my family members Happy Chinese New Year. I also received ang-pows from them. I let my mother keep all my ang-pows. We had a Chinese New Year meal for breakfast at home. At 11:30AM, we went to McDonald's Kulim for lunch. Then, we went to visit one of our relative's house for a few hours. We returned home at 4PM. I played with my brother and cousins. At 7PM, we had dinner together at home. Then, we again enjoyed lychee and longan. Later, we played fireworks again. Then, we went to a nasi-kandar restaurant to eat roti-canai.

4 February 2011 (Friday): CNY 2nd day
In the morning, we had breakfast at a Chinese restaurant. Then in the afternoon, we went to Penang. We had lunch at a roadside stall. However, most of the stalls were close because of Chinese New Year. Therefore, after that we went to Gurney Drive to eat more. Then, at 4PM, my parents and I went to my mother-side grandmother's house in Penang. I wished my relatives staying in her house Happy Chinese New Year and got ang-pows from them. Next, at 6PM, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Penang. My mother-side grandfather held a dinner there. After dinner, we went back to Kulim. I played fireworks before sleeping.

5 February 2011 (Saturday): CNY 3rd day
In the morning, we went to a Chinese restaurant in Bukit Mertajam for breakfast. After that, my uncle's family went back to Kuala Lumpur. I stayed at home in the afternoon. My grandfather's students visited my house. At night, we went to a Western food restaurant in Penang for dinner. After that, we went home. I played fireworks again before sleeping.

6 February 2011 (Sunday): CNY 4th day
I had breakfast at home in the morning. After that, I went to Penang. My mother-side grandfather held a lunch in a Chinese restaurant in Penang. Then, on the way home, my father visited a tuition centre to register Malay tuition for me. My parents also took me to a bookshop to buy me some revision books. In the evening, my parents returned to Kuala Lumpur after dinner. This was the end of the 2011 Chinese New Year. The school reopened on the next day.

I really enjoyed the 2011 Chinese New Year very much. Every year, I would be very happy to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Sunday 5 June 2011

From Best Friend to Enemy

Just imagine, is it possible for someone who was once your best friend to turn to become your enemy? Well, this is definitely possible, although it may be uncommon. The fact is that, this had happened to me once.

When I was in Form 2, I was a close friend of someone, and we were together most of time in school. However, starting from the latter half of Form 3, we were no longer friends, instead we became enemies. So, what caused us, once very good friends, to become enemies? I am telling the whole case here.

I won't mention his name in this post, instead I will refer to him as Mr X, since the letter 'X' is used to represent unknowns in Mathematics and he was a great fan of Mac OS X. I will also use abbreviations to refer to other persons. There were several incidents that eventually caused me to stop being friends with him. Before I talk about why we stopped being friends, I will first mention how we knew each other and became good friends.

When I entered Form 1 in January 2008, I was initially allocated to class 1A13. Mr X wasn't in class 1A13. Three weeks later, all Form 1 students were asked to select the elective option for the Living Skills subject, either KT, ERT or PK. I chose KT, but PK was the only option for class 1A13. Therefore, I had to switch to another class which was 1A11, on 28 January 2008. Many other students had to switch classes as well. Mr X was in class 1A11, and I soon began to know him. He started the first conversation with me by asking me about my family. Then, we started becoming friends and I often talked to him. However, he was not my best friend at that time, instead my best friends were MA and AF. I sat beside MA instead of Mr X in class.

In January 2009, we entered Form 2. Everyone remained in the same class. This time, I chose to sit beside MA again, while Mr X sat in front of me. Because of that, I could talk to Mr X more often and we became closer. In February 2009, one day before the Chinese New Year holidays, I followed Mr X to take part in a chess competition. During the competition, I had the opportunity to talk to him a lot and I gave him my mobile phone number. Then, one night during Chinese New Year, he telephoned me and talked to me for a while. After that, we became very good friends.

At that time, I was facing a problem. One of my friend often sat with me in the canteen during break time. However, he usually ate slowly. Most of the time, I would finish my meal first and he would ask me to wait for him. As a result, I was often late for class. I really disliked that, but it would not be nice for me to refuse to wait for him. When Mr X knew about the problem, he invited me to eat with him behind the school's bookshop during break time. With that, I would not have to face the problem I just mentioned. Later, our teacher rearranged the tables in my class. Previously, only 2 tables were joined together, but after the rearrangement, 3 tables were joined together. Mr X chose to sit on my left, while MA sat on my right. Since then, we became even closer.

As time went on, Mr X would phone me almost everyday just to ask about some simple things. He liked to talk to me and we shared our problems together. During break time, we would eat together. During ICT class, we would share the same computer. We were often together anywhere in school. Mr X often told me that I was his best friend. Starting from May 2009, I started considering Mr X as my best friend, replacing MA and AF, and that lasted until 10 August 2009. During that period, it was the peak of our friendship.

Now, I will talk about why I stopped being friends with Mr X. As I stated earlier, there were several incidents that contributed to this. The 1st incident happened in August 2009, the 2nd was in February 2010, the 3rd was in May 2010 and the 4th was in August 2010. Problems in our relationship began after the 1st incident and our friendship completely ended one year later after the 4th incident.

1st incident:

In August 2009, a tragedy happened. The H1N1 influenza lasted from May 2009 until September 2009. Among that period, the most serious was in August 2009, because it was widely spreading in Malaysia and it spread into my town, Kulim. On 10 August 2009 (Monday), Mr X did not go to school. Then in the morning on the second day, 11 August 2009 (Tuesday), he phoned me. He told me that he did not go to school on the previous day because he was sick. I hoped that he wouldn't be going to school on that day but Mr X told me that he would be going to school. My grandparents asked me what he said to me. Usually, if I refused to tell them, they won't force me to say. However, on that day I was being silly and I told them everything. After hearing what I said, they were worried that Mr X might spread his sickness to me. They told me to keep away from him, but I lied to them saying that he wouldn't be going to school. I regretted telling them about it. As soon as I arrived school on that afternoon, one of my friend told me that someone in our school had been diagnosed with H1N1. During the assembly, the teacher announced about that and gave every student a mask. Then, I saw Mr X. In class, Mr X stayed quite close to me. I did not stay away from him because I was afraid that he might get insulted. Then, a teacher came to my class and asked all those who were sick to go home. A few students went home but Mr X did not. I then said to every student "If you are sick better go home and don't pretend that you are not sick, otherwise you repay is you will get H1N1 !" Mr X suddenly showed me his Panadol and said to me "I never knew you would curse me. I thought you are my friend." I was unhappy about that but I just apologized. In my opinion, he should have gone back home, as this was the instruction from the teacher.

Throughout that day, I stayed quite close to him and I did not wear the mask all the time as it was uncomfortable. I was not worried of getting infected, but I had to make sure that my grandparents would not see me being together with him. When the school was over, I quickly walked in front of Mr X. As I walked out of the school gate, I saw him stopping at the gate to talk to one of his friend. I was relieved and I just walked to my grandfather's car. Out of my expectation, Mr X just stopped at the gate for a few seconds and continued walking. He called me a few times from the back. I ignored him, quickly reached the car and opened the door. At that time, Mr X was already beside me. He touched my back and said goodbye before he walked away. As a result, my grandfather saw Mr X and felt worried that he might spread his sickness to me. I was unhappy with what Mr X just did. On that night, I used my newly-bought electronic dictionary. I had stored the email address of my friends in it earlier. When I browsed through them at that time, I came across Mr X's email. I suddenly felt annoyed looking at his email address and I thought of hacking his email. The reason I had this feeling was that I was unhappy with his actions on that day. On the next day, 12 August 2009 (Wednesday), Mr X did not go to school again. MA also did not go to school. As I was sitting alone, I asked my friends AFZ and AF to come and sit beside me. I then asked AFZ to hack Mr X's email and told him Mr X's password. However, AF heard that and he reported to Mr X. Mr X was unhappy with me because of that.

On 13 August 2009 (Thursday), I felt a bit tired and drowsy in school. After returning home, I took a long bath because I could not 'concentrate' on taking bath. I tried my very best to finish my dinner so that my grandparents wouldn't know that I was feeling unwell. After dinner, I lied down on the bed. My grandmother saw that and felt my forehead. Then, she walked out of the room to tell my grandfather that my forehead was warm. Immediately they took me to see a doctor. I expected my fever to be around 37.5 C as my forehead was not very warm according to my grandmother, and my vision was not blurred. Usually when I had a high fever I could not see things very clearly. However, the doctor said my fever was 39 C. He said that it was unlikely that I had H1N1 because my breathing was normal, but he gave many precautions. My grandfather still suspected that I had H1N1 because of the precautions given and the high fever. On the following week (16 August - 20 August), there would be a school exam, but I could not study for it as I was sick. I remembered that Mr X told me that his fever was also around 39 C. My grandfather then telephoned him to ask him about that but he said that his fever was only around 37.4 C. I suspected that Mr X was lying. On the next day, 14 August 2009, my grandparents took me to see another doctor. This doctor use a more accurate device and said that my fever was only 37.5 C. My grandparents and I were relieved. I fully recovered on 19 August 2009. However, as I did not prepare well for the exam, I performed poorly in it. When the results came out, I was disappointed that I only got 6A and 2B. The subjects which I got B were Chinese and Geography. I had no time to study Geography and I could not write my Chinese essay well due to my sickness. My position was 64th in form and 10th in class. In the previous exam, I got 2nd in form and 1st in class, so this was really a great fall for me. I blamed this on Mr X, because if he did not go to school when he was sick, I wouldn't have fell sick and scored badly in my exam. Worse still, Mr X managed to get 8A in this exam. After this incident, I no longer considered Mr X as my best friend. MA became my best friend once again.

2nd incident:

In February 2010, our English teacher gave an oral test. That was the only oral test in 2010 and it was held in groups. The teacher divided us into 6 groups. The teacher did not allow us to choose our group members. She asked Mr X to divide the students into 6 groups and ensure that each group had a mixture of boys and girls from different race. She also asked Mr X to choose the leader for each group. At that time, there were 5 top students in our class, who were me, Mr X, OJK, JV and NVP. Mr X chose himself, OJK, JV and NVP to be the group leaders for 4 out of the 6 groups. However, he did not make me a leader for any group. Instead, he placed me in his group where he was the leader. I really wanted to be a group leader as well and I strongly believed that I deserved to be one. For the 2 remaining groups, Mr X chose two other students, MTG and RB to be the leader. MTG was quite well disciplined but RB was not well disciplined. Therefore, I felt that Mr X could have let me be the leader for RB's group. I knew that he wanted me to be in the same group with him, but he could have let me be the leader for his group. He was already a prefect and the leader of several clubs and societies, while I was just the treasurer of our class, so he should have given me the opportunity instead. I felt that he was selfish because he wanted to be the leader and at the same time wanted me to be with him. I was really upset about that. Worse still, Mr X failed to carry out his responsibilities as a group leader. I then boycotted the group during preparation and I joined the group only during the oral test. Eventually, I got a score of 28/30 in the oral test. After this incident, I no longer considered Mr X to be my close friend.

3rd incident:

One night in May 2010, my mother telephoned me. She told me that KPP, my primary school friend who was studying in SMJK Chio Min, posted a photo of all my primary school classmates on Facebook and tagged me in it. I logged into Facebook on the next day to see the photo. There were some comments for the photo. The first comment, written by a Chio Min student, stated "I really missed that. How I wish we could be together again!" Another Chio Min student commented "We could meet last year during Daniel's birthday party. I don't know why he did not have a party this year." DG, a student in my secondary school (SMKSB) replied "It's because Mr X is Daniel's best friend now. He has forgotten you all." Then, MXY, another girl in SMKSB replied "Daniel is so close to Mr X. They always hold hands everywhere they walked." Not wanting the Chio Min students to misunderstand, I replied "Mr X is just my friend, not my gay partner, MXY likes him instead." TWS, a SMKSB student replied "I support Daniel. What he said was right." Then, a Chio Min student replied to TWS in Chinese "How did you know? Is it because you and Mr X know each other's feelings?" This comment was written in Chinese except for the word 'Mr X'. I didn't continue replying to the comments and I turned off my computer. After a while, Mr X telephoned me and kept asking me "What is happening on Facebook? Is it true that MXY likes me? They said that we are gay?" It turned out that when I commented on the photo, it appeared on Mr X's home page and as a result he saw the comments. I said to Mr X that I was just joking about MXY liking him and I told him to ask DG and MXY if he wanted to know more, since I was no longer online and I had limited internet access at that time.

In school on the next day, Mr X was still not satisfied and he asked me the same questions again. He said that DG refused to tell him anything. I told him that I was not sure what happened later because I only logged into Facebook for a short while. However, he would not believe me and he kept on asking me. Eventually, I could not bear with him any longer and I said to him "You should be banned from Facebook!" He replied "Go ahead and ban me!" Then, we had a minor quarrel. In my opinion, he should not have bothered about the photo since it had nothing to do with him. On that evening, Mr X telephoned me to ask about the same things again. He wanted to know the meaning of the comment written in Chinese, as he could not read Chinese. Since the comment contained the word 'Mr X', he knew it was about him. Although I did see the comment, I had forgotten what it was about, but he would not believe that. On the following day, he continued asking me the same things in school, threatening to end his friendship with me if I refused to answer his questions. I decided to just ignore him. He told his friend that it was his father who wanted to know everything. Then, I also told my friends that I would not mind losing Mr X as a friend. Later, he tried apologising to me, saying that he wanted to be friends with me again. I continued to ignore him. On that evening, he phoned me and apologised once again. He said that TWS had explained to him about the whole incident and he had understood everything so he would not continue asking me about that. I then agreed to forgive him. After this incident, we talked to each other again like before, but I no longer considered Mr X to be a real friend. I think that in this incident, every one including me did something wrong. However, the reason I said MXY liked Mr X was because I wanted to divert the Chio Min students from the thought that he was my gay partner. It would be better for them to think that a girl liked Mr X than to think that he was gay. However, Mr X blamed me for doing that instead. The fact that he kept asking me so many questions clearly showed that he was blaming me.

4th incident:

One day in August 2010, we went to the Science lab during Science class. At that time, the teacher gave us back our Science paper for the PMR trial examination. Due to some errors in the marking, all students could receive extra marks. Many students including me got only 1 extra mark while a few students got 2 extra marks. However, Mr X got 3 extra marks instead. I wanted to know the reason for that so I took his paper to have a look. He then said to me "Why are you looking at my paper without my permission? If you are so impolite I will not want to let you see it." I still managed to find out why he got the 3 extra marks. I was unhappy with his reaction. Although it was indeed my mistake, Mr X had done the same thing to me many times in the past. Back when we were sitting together in 2009, he often did not bring his textbook to class and whenever that happened, he would simply take mine and place it on his table without even asking me, resulting in me having no textbook in class. I never scolded him for that. This time, I did it to him just once and he scolded me. On the next day, we had class in the Science lab again. Our teacher asked us to finish an exercise within 30 minutes. Mr X said "There are so many questions. It is impossible to finish it in 30 minutes." In my opinion, he should have said "I will try" instead, so I answered him back 'Everything is possible in this world!" He replied "The ability of humans is limited. Only God has unlimited ability!" He said it so loudly that everybody in the lab could hear it. After we completed the exercise, our teacher discussed the answers with us. One of the question was "Name the object in the picture above" and the answer was 'satellite'. Almost everyone in the class answered 'satellite', but Mr X answered 'solar-powered satellite'. He had always liked to give his answers as long as possible, which made me feel that he was just trying to show off. I said to him "The answer is satellite. There is no need to write solar-powered." He replied "The picture shows a solar panel on the satellite. Are you blind? Don't you see it?" I was very annoyed with that. Later, someone asked the teacher "Is the space shuttle a spacecraft?' The teacher answered 'Yes'. Then, I asked the teacher "A rocket is also a spacecraft right?" Mr X immediately said 'No' while the teacher said 'Yes'. Mr X insisted that a rocket isn't a spacecraft and as a result even the teacher was unhappy with him. I said to Mr X "Teacher said that it is and I believe her." Mr X replied "If you take a rocket, you would be bombed to death!" I got even more annoyed with him. After these incidents in the Science lab, I completely ended my friendship with Mr X. I never talked to him again and I considered him to be my enemy. This is the case until now.

Apart from the 4 incidents, there were also several other reasons that contributed to the worsening relationship between me and Mr X.

1. Mr X was very concerned about his hairstyle. He often told me that many of his friends and teachers disliked his hairstyle but he felt that there was nothing wrong with his hairstyle. As a result, he hated his hairstyle but yet he refused to change it. He would also bring his comb with him all the time. In my opinion, boys should not be too obsessed with their hairstyle.

2. Mr X was not confident with himself. He kept thinking that he was not smart, that no one likes him, that he was ugly and so on. Therefore, he was often unhappy and depressed. I felt that he had way too much negative thoughts.

3. Mr X often shared his problems with me, especially problems with his relationship. Initially, I was happy to listen to him. However, as time went on, I felt burdened. He also would not accept the advice I gave him.

4. Mr X would phone me almost everyday. Most of the time, he just asked about simple things like the homework, the timetable and so on, which was really annoying. Worse still, most of the time he would call my house's landline phone instead of my mobile phone. Therefore, I could not know that it was him calling until I picked up the phone, so I could not ignore the phone call. I really regretted giving him the number of the landline phone.

5. Mr X always wanted to take part in every competition in school and he would do anything to enter the competitions. Besides, he always wanted to be the leader. Actually, he had taken part in many competitions and he was holding positions in several clubs and societies. In my opinion, he should give others the chance at times.

6. On 4 August 2009, Mr X came across a blog owned by some girls in our school. He felt that the name of their blog was inappropriate. Therefore, he created another blog to tell them the mistake. However, he was really worried of the consequences that he would face for doing that, so he used my Blogger account to create that blog instead. Worse still, he let me know about that only after he had done that. I was alright with that in the beginning, but I later realised that my popularity among those girls could be adversely affected because of that.

7. Mr X was a very sensitive person. Once, my friend MA was practising his oral test with me. Suddenly, Mr X came to say something to me. When he realised that MA was practising his oral test, Mr X apologised for interrupting. However, after apologising Mr X continued to talk, so I ignored Mr X. Just because of that, Mr X thought that I no longer wanted to be friends with him.

8. Mr X would always share the computer with me during ICT classes. However, most of the time he was the one using the computer and I had little opportunity to use the computer. This became worse after he had a Tagged account. He kept using the computer to browse his Tagged account. It was me who signed him up for the Tagged account after he received an invitation to join Tagged and I really regretted doing that.

9. Every year before 2010, my secondary school (SMK Sultan Badlishah) required every student to donate a minimum of RM25 to the Parent-Teacher Association. Many students including me felt that it was too much and that it burdened our family. In 2010, the school suggested increasing the minimum donation to RM50 per year. Many students including me were strongly against that. However, Mr X agreed with that by saying we should 'follow the river' instead of 'going against the river'. In reality, he supported that because his father held a position in the Parent-Teacher Association and would benefit from the donations.

10. Whenever a classmate or a teacher asked Mr X a question, he would answer as long as possible, but most people could not actually understand what he answered. He also liked giving strange answers.

11. In May 2008 when I was in Form 1, we had an oral test for the Malay subject. There were 36 students in our class. Our Malay teacher wrote the numbers 1 to 36 on pieces of paper and put them into a container. All students were asked to pick one of the papers randomly. The number written on the paper picked would determine the order which the students would take the oral test. For example, the student who picked number 12 would be the 12th person to take the oral test. Unfortunately, I picked number 5, so I would be the 5th student to take the oral test. In the previous oral test, I was the 3rd person to take it. I felt that it was unfair because I was always unlucky enough to be among the first few students to take the oral test. So, I cheated by adding 2 in front to change the number to 25. It turned out that the student who actually picked number 25 was Mr X. I told Mr X that the teacher made a mistake so there were two number 25's. Although he did not see me cheating, he was very sure that I cheated. Later, the teacher distributed a name list and asked all of us to write down the number we picked. I wrote number 25 in the name list. The teacher said that on the first day of the oral test, the first 8 students would be doing the test. I did not make any preparations for the first day because I thought I had written number 25. However, on the first day of the oral test, I noticed that on the name list, my number had been changed from 25 to 5, obviously by Mr X. I told the teacher that my number was actually 25 but Mr X told the teacher that I cheated by changing 5 to 25. The teacher believed Mr X and she forced me to do the oral test on that day without any preparation. I could not speak well and I scored only 16/30 for the oral test. Although I cheated in this case, it was because I still could not speak Malay well so I needed more preparation time. Mr X was a prefect and he always spoke very well, even without preparation. In addition, during the previous oral test he was the last few students to do the test while I was the 3rd person. So, he should have agreed to exchange with me. The marks for that oral test was carried forward to Form 3. Luckily, for my year it was not included in the PMR examination, otherwise I probably would not be able to get A in Malay which would result in me not getting 8A's for PMR.

12. On 14 October 2010 after my PMR examination, the school organised several activities for the Form 3 students. One of the activities was the Treasure Hunt competition and I wanted to take part in it. My friend AF was in charge of the name list, so I asked him to write down my name for the Treasure Hunt competition. Each class could send 5 students for the Treasure Hunt competition. There were already 4 girls taking part in the Treasure Hunt competition, so I wanted to be the 5th participant. However, they did not want me to take part because I had already joined 2 other competitions. They felt it was unfair if I were to take part in so many competitions. Therefore, AF wanted to remove my name. However, I noticed that Mr X was taking part in 3 competitions as well. So, I argued "Why does Mr X get to take part in 3 competitions while I don't?" I insisted that if AF were to remove my name, he must also remove Mr X's name from one of the competitions. Mr X angrily asked me "What proof do you have for that?" Another boy, AFZ got angry too because he thought I was intentionally looking for trouble with Mr X. The girls were also angry that I insisted to take part in the Treasure Hunt competition. However, I refused to give up. A week later, AFZ told me that the 4 girls had chosen AF instead for me to be the 5th participant for the Treasure Hunt competiton. When I asked the girls about that, they said that Mr X complained to our teacher that he felt they were unsuitable to take part in the Treasure Hunt competition. They were really angry with Mr X so they went to meet our teacher, and the teacher supported the 4 girls. When the teacher asked about the 5th participant, the girls called me but I ignored them because I was busy playing chess with someone. Therefore, they decided to choose AF instead of me. I then met the teacher and explained to her that I had given my name for the Treasure Hunt competition before AF. The teacher, the 4 girls as well as AF agreed to let me take part. Eventually, I took part in the Treasure Hunt competition with the 4 girls. In this incident, my statement that Mr X was taking part in 3 competitions was a truth so he should not be angry about that. It was also wrong for Mr X to judge the 4 girls as being unsuitable to take part in the competition.



So, that's why I was no longer friends with Mr X. We won't be friends again, not now, not in the near future and probably never will at all. Lastly, thanks for reading this!

Thursday 17 March 2011

My 2010 Year-end School Holiday

I am sure that most people will like school holiday, especially the year end school holiday which is very long. However, for the year 2010, I do not like the year end school holiday. The main reason is that I could not play with my friends in school. After my PMR examination and before the year end school holiday starts, I enjoy going to school very much. In school, I can play games like chess with my friends and I don't have to study. At home, I could only go online and play computer games. Also, starting from the next year, I and my classmates will no longer be in the same class and will be seperated. Therefore, I did not want the school holiday to start.

The 2010 year-end school holiday started on 16 November 2010. In should start at 17 November 2010 but the school made the school holiday start one day earlier. On 17 November 2010, I went to Kulim Landmark Central for a gathering with my classmates. There, we ate at Pizza Hut. After that, we went to play Bumper Car and bowling. Some other classmates went to watch a movie in the cinema. The purpose of the gathering is to give the classmates of my class a chance to be together before we are separated next year.

For the following days, I stayed at home in Kulim until 5 December 2010. I played computer games, surfed the internet, watched television, studied Form 4 topics and attended my grandfather's Maths tuition class. My holiday life is basically the same as before the school holiday and after my PMR examination, except that I do not go to school. It is quite fun, but I preferred going to school.

On 4 December 2010, my parents came back from Kuala Lumpur. On the next day, 5 December 2010, I followed them back to Kuala Lumpur for holidays. There, I stayed at my parents' house in Subang Jaya. My mother bought me a new Acer laptop. I occasionally visit my parents' new house at Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam.

On 19 December 2010, I went to Singapore with my parents for 4 days and 3 nights for holidays. We went there by my father's car. We stayed at Marina Mandarin Hotel. I went to a few places such as the Singapore Flyer, the cable car of Sentosa Island and the Singapore Zoo. I had been to Singapore a year earlier but I did not go to these places.

On 22 December 2010 afternoon, my father drove us back to Kuala Lumpur. We rested for a few hours. At night on the same day, my father drove us to Kulim because I had to take my PMR results on the following day. I expected earlier that the PMR results will come out on 28 December 2010 but it turns out to be on 23 December 2010. That is why we had to rush back to Kulim from Singapore. We arrived at Kulim on 1:00AM.

On 23 December 2010, I went to school in the morning to take my PMR results. My father took me to school. My grandparents did not go because at that time they were in Kuala Lumpur for holidays. My mother stayed at home with my brother. I was very worried of my PMR result. I was so happy to see that I got 8A's for my PMR. Many of my friends also got 8A. For the whole school, more than 200 students got 8A and the percentage of passing the PMR examination is 100%. This year's PMR results is the best among the previous years. After taking my PMR result, I telephoned my mother and my grandparents to tell them about this.

That afternoon, we went to Penang to visit my mother-side grandparents. We had dinner with them in Penang. After dinner, my father drove us back to Kuala Lumpur. I will stay a few more days in Kuala Lumpur since the school had not reopened yet. We arrived at Kuala Lumpur at 12:30AM.

For the following days, I stayed at Kuala Lumpur for a few more days. My grandparents were also at Kuala Lumpur. They went there a few days before we went to Singapore. On 28 December 2010, my father took me back to Kulim with his car. My grandparents followed us back to Kulim. On 29 December 2010, my father went back to Kuala Lumpur. I had a few more days of holiday before the school reopened on 3 January 2011. The school should reopen on 2 January 2010 but the government announced that 2 January 2011 to be a public holiday because Malaysia won the football match against Indonesia.

3 January 2010 marks the end of my 2010 year-end holiday, as well as my after PMR life.