Ok. Better make this fast....

Two days ago, I looked in the mirror and guess what did I see? A strand of white hair on my head. Argh!!!! I must be getting old... or to stressed up....

Anyway, I think I'll wait for somemore papers to come first before I disclose my results. I think I have 2 A's so far....

Try to write later. I'm going out to Tampines now...

Hmm... I wanted to talk about the Malaysian governments efforts to get more talents and professionals to Malaysia. They were mainly targettting ex-Malaysians living abroad.

Well, needless to say, it was a disaster. Of the 90+ professionals that came back to Malaysia, only 1 is left now. How pathetic is that? Malaysia's government doesn't seem to do its homework well. It's not just about tax reduction, incentives and stuff. From the newspaper articles I read, these people were having problems to fit in the society, especially their spouses and children, who may not know Malay or English etc. Their spouses had problems or long delays to get permission to work, and they had problems looking for suitable International Schools for their children etc...

Why is it that the Malaysian government thinks that when they can get something started, everything will surely work out fine? They seem apathetic to the need of maintenence and long term effects of their projects. In my opinion meritocracy is not upheld although the officials claim that it is. How to explain the huge numbers of non-Bumiputera students scoring many A's but not given a place in University? Don't they even bother about the large amounts of their potential high-quality human resources 'leaking' abroad, especially to Singapore?

Just came back from Malaysia yesterday by the way. Noticed that more and more trees and flowers are planted in Batu Pahat and Johor Bahru. But something struck me. I haven't seen a hibiscus for AGES. And it's supposed to be the National Flower of Malaysia! No one seems to want to plant hibiscus anymore... And in many places in Skudai and also in Batu Pahat they are planting the golf-course type of grass. What for? Not really against it, but, the money used to buy these things should be used for other stuff first like tidying up the road shoulders, improve public amenities etc. Please prioritise! Argh!!!! Don't know what are all the politicians doing... Malaysia is a super unorganised place...

Anyway, while I was waiting for my bus back to BP I did some maths homework. Someone was staring at me but I didn't bother. But when I got on the bus I sat beside him... found out that he was studying his final year at Skudai's Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) . He was from Penang, studied in Perak and Melaka before but never been to Singapore. We were talking in Malay by the way. I had to apologize to him first because my Malay was 'rusty' (Maaf... Bahasa Melayu saya sudah karat!). Anyway, he did most of the talking. As he was studying things like drilling and searching for petroleum, he told me a lot about drills and wanting to work for Petronas and stuff. His first choice was actually Mechatronics but he didn't get it. Anyway, he wanted to meet his friends at Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussien Onn (KUiTTHO), which is incidentally where my parents work and where my brother studies. So I helped him get down at the right time. Finally I could rest! Haha... he talked to me all the way from JB to Parit Raja!

Hmm... this seems to be quite a long post. I'll write about the interesting names of places near Batu Pahat next time.... Concerning my results....well, I guess I'll just wait to get back a few papers before I say anything...

Exams are so tiring, stressful but also profounding in a sense that it bonds people together....
You see, during exams people with the same queries, same thirst for answers come together. That's just how I've really got acquainted with someone yesterday. Darren Neo 'YoMan' of CG18/03. We were discussing Physics 'S' Questions with Visayon and Eric. Haha.... finally get to socialise with him after nearly 19 months in TJ... Well, I try to keep making new friends!

Oh by the way, my last test was just over. If you think I'm jubilant now, well, I'm actually more depressed. Ay... The Maths 'S' Paper was SOOOOOO difficult! I hope I can get 30/100... That's the passing mark last year. There are only 3 grades fro S-paper, Distinction, Merit and Unclassfied. There's a high probability of me getting Merit for Physics but for Maths I need to keep my fingers crossed...

Many things have happened recently... Anwar being released and Indonesian Presidential Elections and stuff... Hopefully the region can become more democratic. Yi Jian made me realise that an strong opposition in parliament may not necessarily be a bad thing. It keeps the democratic engine moving...

This reminds me of something else. Recently 2 major media companies in Singapore have merged. I think this was totally unnecessary. I mean, there was healthy competition, none of the parties were approaching bankrupcy etc. The merging seems to me (and maybe others) a plot by the government to control the media more strictly.

I want to talk about Malaysia's effort in bringing talent into the country but I don't have much time.... I might write about it when I come back from Malaysia.

Ciao!

Well, more than 1/2 of the exams are over now... The next traumatising papers would have to be Further Maths paper 2 and the 2 S-papers (well, I will TRY to do those as well as possible)...

I received a letter recently from a 'St. John's University, New York' recently, inviting me to enrol there and study Actuarial Science, which I think is related to statistics and calculating and assessing the risks involve in a business project etc. Eric was very interested when he read my letter because I think he would like to study that. The letter says graduates from the Actuarial Sciences earn a high pay. Dunno lah... I might just send the reply letter to get more info.

Dear all... I don't have time to post anything much! SORRY!!!!!!

Oh, another reason why is because I haven't been going to school these days (study leave mah), so no computers to use. Hostel computers can't be called computers... they're usually VERY SLOW, and there's something wrong somewhere inside them....

Just wanted to mention a few interesting things...
I locked myself out of my room! Haha... couldn't get the keys from my roommate as he is back in Negeri Sembilan... In the end, I had to climb out from Christian Julian Hariyanto's room and climb in from my window... Quite dangerous actually, could have fallen 1 storey onto hard ground if I was not careful... Quite embarassing also, had to make sure very few people could see what I did... I had to push quite hard on the window pane, which was quite painful (window PANE=PAIN)...haha.... but I succeeded!

Oh, have I mentioned this? D.S.S. moved in about 2 weeks ago... Now he can spend more time with his girlfriend, haha....

Went for the ASEAN briefing the day before Physics Practical test. It was about obtaining the air ticket home (doesn't apply to West Malaysia) and the procedures to get a 'work permit' in Singapore (quite complicated!... but I'm still quite interested)...

Physics Prac was actually quite easily done... however, the results I obtain may not be accurate... many people got different values for some calculations (rather huge margins too!)...

Hmm... I've still been thinking of scholarships, especially those on offer to Germany. Wouldn't it be nice for me to fulfill my dream of studying there? But of course, there's the bond and citizenship thingy... Ay.... How? I think I'll just think of these after the prelims or A-levels.... The probability that I would have to stay in Singapore to study at either NUS or NTU is 90+% I guess....

I've really been trying to focus on doing my revision these few days, but most of the guys are so apathetic... Never have I seen them more zealous to play Bridge and computer games... Urgh... It's just soooooo ironic... And it's not the first time. It has been like this for quite some time.... People just get distracted so easily during exam periods...

Got to go now....