Friends

Living in a small town makes you take certain things for granted and I think one of the things I never really appreciated as much as I should've is my friends.  I've known most of my friends for at least 5 years and my long time friend has been with me for 11 years now. We've all spent our days in secondary school, sometimes playing around but occasionally lending a shoulder to cry on. It's probably because I've spent practically everyday with them that I had come to take my time with them for granted by the time SPM ended. After that, I probably met up with my friends once or twice a week.

At the same time, my 62 year old father had been reuniting with old friends from days long past. As they talk about the good ol' days, I see his eyes light up. Seeing him look so nostalgic and sentimental seeing them again, I wondered to myself will I too one day come to miss these idiotic friends of mine as much as he does? Every time I thought about it, I kinda teared up. Who will I talk bout the latest anime or manga with? Who should I test my lame jokes on? Who will I have heated debates with? Will we inevitably grow apart? Will we forget all about each other and all these memories? Will there come a day when we will lose the chance to ever meet them again in this lifetime?

I met up with them as much as I could, outing after outing went by until it finally came to the last one before I had to leave for university in the US. As time raced past and the end of the outing came closer, I thought to myself, "Oh my god, I'm actually gonna miss these idiots".

Now, me and my friends aren't very sentimental kind of people, so we just threw around a bunch of jokes and on the plane I went. There was no send off or anything but I liked it that way. It meant that this wouldn't be the last time they would see me.

After getting to the US, I made new friends but whenever friends from home tagged me in posts on Facebook it still made me feel happy. It gave me the satisfaction in knowing that no matter how far apart we were, we would always be friends.

The moral of the story is appreciate the time you have to spend with your friends cause you're going to miss them. To any of my friends that might read this, I know I may get on your nerves sometimes, do things that you don't like or said something insensitive and for that I apologise. I really love hanging out with you guys and I'm really glad we met.

The Melancholy of Add. Maths

During the year-end holidays in 2014, I kinda accidentally let it slip that I had been failing my Add Maths all through Form 4 to my aunt who is a Form 6 Add. Maths teacher in Singapore. *dramatic music plays

She then offered to give me intensive Add. Maths tuition while I was there(on holiday). Obviously, I was less than excited for this but it's not like I could refuse with my parents staring daggers into my back and all.

Thus, began my 3-day long, morning to night Add. Maths tuition. My schedule(and I kid you not) was basically:

Breakfast --> Add. Maths --> Lunch --> Add. Maths --> Dinner --> Add. Maths --> Sleep

Rinse and repeat.

It was pure torture.

The Frustrations of An SPM Candidate

Hey guys. Sorry I haven't been able to post much lately. I've been pretty busy with my SPM(Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) exams and I actually still have one paper left.

I wasn't planning on posting until my exams were over with but recently a serious incident came to my attention which is the death of an SPM candidate from SMK Raja Abdullah. He had committed suicide immediately after Paper 1 of Additional Mathematics because he was frustrated about being unable to answer the questions. He came from a single parent home and was upset that he would not be able to receive a scholarship and that he would be putting a financial burden on his mother to send him to university.

I heard about this suicide case through Twitter when I was scrolling through the #spm2015 tweets which is basically where the SPM students go to vent their frustrations after every exam. I have heard of many suicide cases like this when I was younger but to be really honest, most of the time, the news just passed through one ear and left out the other. I would think to myself about how sad it was but I was not personally emotionally affected by them.

This time, it was different. I could relate to him. I felt completely hopeless and dejected after that very same paper that he had killed himself over. Right after the Additional Mathematics paper, all the students in my school left the examination hall in a very uncharacteristic silence. Dejected, depressed, frustrated and suicidal. I felt all those emotions during every single one of my exams for SPM but the stress really came to its height after the Add. Maths paper. The questions were so hard and completely different from the years before. I felt like all that hard work doing past year questions were for naught. Questions that had consistently come out every year for SPM suddenly disappeared(Circular Measures).

Googling like a Boss

We use Google for almost everything but do we really know how to use google? Go through this list of Google Search hacks to find out.

• site:search only within a specific sitesite:www.stanford.edu
• filetype:find a type of file: PDF, DOC, TXTfiletype:PDF
• define:find definitions for a worddefine audacity
• intitle:find words in the title of the webpageintitle:inspirational
• ..get ranges of numbers, dates, or pricespresidents 1800..1900
• word * wordfind other combinations of words between wordscreative * writing
• - wordsearch for homer, but NOT simpsonshomer - simpsons
• "word"find exact words - no synonyms or plurals"peace" "freedom"
• "set of words"search for exact set of words, quotes or phrases"I have a dream"

• +-*/add, subtract, multiply, divide12+68
• % ofpercentage of a number12% of 68
• cos() sin()trigonometry: cos, sin, tan, arcsin…cos(68)
• km to milesconvert units: temp (C to F), weight (kg to lbs)100 km to miles

• weatherget weather for a regionweather honolulu
• moviesfind movies & theaters nearby (zip or city)movies 94043
• flight statusget flight status with the airline & flight numberHA 124

So, how was it? If you didn't know most of them don't worry, I only knew about... 4. Anyway, I hope this post helps all you Googles Googlers out there to well, google stuff.

ExamTime changes to GoConqr

This is the e-mail I received on the 31st of March, informing me of ExamTime's move to GoConqr.

This is what appears if you click on the login button on the ExamTime website which is still online.

Did You Miss Me?

You did? Aww shucks, you're making me blush.

Exams are over and I aced it! 

Okay... Not aced but I did great by my own standards and that's what's important. 

I'm placed 6th in my class and 46th in my entire form and I feel GREAT.

Look below to see the improvements I made:

Subject: (Previous Exam)--->(Latest Exam)

 Add Maths: 42%(E) ---> 78%(A-)

Chemistry: 55%(C) ---> 80%(A)

T^T

Hello, people of the internet! (￣▽￣)ノ

It's with a very heavy heart that I reluctantly announce that I will really busy because I'm having a major examination this year (/ .□.)\ ︵╰(゜Д゜)╯︵ /(.□. \)

BUT WORRY NOT GENTLE READERS! 

For the show must go on! I will still be posting! ＼(＾O＾)／ Only not often as I usually do. Probably once a a month or so. (╥﹏╥)


Also, I'd like to give a shout-out to my followers on Google Plus, shukran TQ and Purvanshi Singh.
Thanks for following me and to show my appreciation, I'll be giving you guys a big warm hug.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT! 

Dear Parents...

STOP COMPARING YOUR CHILDREN!

Ok, just give me a moment to convince you now.

Think back on your childhood.
Remember that time you were compared to that know-it-all sibling/cousin who seemed to be able to do everything and anything well?
Remember how much you hated it?

Well, chances are, your children feel the same way too when you compare them to their overachieving brother/sister/cousin.

I implore you, put a stop the madness.
Your children are themselves and that's all awesome cause they're awesome, just the way they are.

If this hasn't convinced you, well, your're a damned tough nut to crack.

Tuition, Yay or Nay?

This topic has been greatly debated over the decades.  

Before I tell you my opinion on this, let me first explain...

What Is Tuition?

Google defines it as "teaching or instruction, especially of individual pupils or small groups." 

Tuition is basically like extra class but not at school. It's meant for students to improve in subjects they're weak in but nowadays even those doing exceptionally well go for multiple tuition classses. In my country, Malaysia, almost all students from national(government) schools go for tuition while in private & international schools almost none do. Generally, there are four classes a month with each class lasting about 2 hours. On average, tuition costs about RM60(16.63 USD) a month.

Why Is It So Popular?

The main reason is probably because the belief is that tuition = good exam results = schoarships especially in Malaysia where scholarships are literally given by the number of As you get.  I believe it is also because we Asians tend be fiercely competitive(the 3 Ks; kiasu, kiasi, kiabo) and result oriented especially when it comes to academics. Asian parents place a lot of importance on excelling academically which is not a bad thing considering the fact that academic excellence is needed for basically everything but sometimes they may go overboard. It's the thought that counts, right?