Saturday, September 18, 2010

Things fall into Place

My life is so typical.Thinking back, it was OK and pretty much interesting. I do have a life..

My schools
-SRK Raja Muda Seksyen 4, Shah Alam.Kononnya Elite school.Not much memory. had to take the dusty bus, the teachers were garang coz the school is very elite so homework piles up quickly. But I schooled there for only ayear before I was hurled into the other side of the world for a year.
-Sunyside School. Followed my mom to Nottingham,UK at the end of Darjah 1 where she did her 1 year of Masters in English Literature. All I can remember are greay sky, cold weather, wiping my snot on my jacket's sleeve and morning assembly in the school gym singing to the piano and ducking my head as a teacher heaped praises on Jesus and the Lord. But there were good things like snow and new friends(mosltly Pakistani and jamaicans,yes, I went to school with lots of immigrants) and lots of UK school drama like the principal went beserk and threw his jacket onto the floor and parents having shouting matches in the school corridors, very First World, Hail Brittania. My mom was an education freak then and was very stern.I had lots of reading lessons so that I can keep up at the school and she likes to take me to museum as they loads of them there for loads of crap. The best ones were a Paleantology Museum where we huge black dinosaur bones and since them I became quite infatuated with dinosaurs and was convicted that they still exist!! Another favourite museum is the train museum I went on a school trip...it was really2 awesome and we got a free ride on a steam engine!!!! Haha..we travelled quite alot too..I still remember the rolling green meadows whenbtravelling interstate, the calm lakes and the lots and lots of gardens. We also went to London to see the Queen on her birthday, it was really criowded and hot and I didn't like it.We even went as far as Scotland where it is damn cold and empty with great green meadows strecthing for miles so I was pretty lucky for an overseas experience at such a young age.
-SRK Section 18 Shah Alam. Returned to Shah Alam. SRK Raja Muda is so elite that I can't enter again so had to do with the nearest school which was OK. Nothing much.Adapted easily and had the best years of my childhood during my schooling there until Standard 6 and the worse when my parents divorved,also at Standard 6. I had so much fun, cycling to sekolah agama with friends, eating ice cream after schools, wading through the rain and puddles after school, playing with tadpoles, buying snacks and dadih at the Section 18 Saturday pasar, playing mercun and bunga api during puasa. Shah Alam is probbaly the best pace for children because they have alot of empty fields so we played lots of field based games, so I was pretty healthy.There I learned how to play baseball(called rounders), kejar2, konda kondi and baling selipar and seasonal games like guli, getah, tutup botol and best of all gasing and I was pretty good at it..pangkah!!!!!. Things that my sister don't get to enjoy at our condo..too bad. It was sad that I left Shah Alam at Standard 6. I never had the same fun friends at KL where they were more interested in Game Boys and eating at KFC after school..so LAME!!!!
-SMK Section 5 Wangsa Maju. When I arrived I hated it. It was so dense and we had no field and my mom was so protective that I rarely ventured beyond the guard house. The school was OK, smallish and not well known. The rich urbanite Malays at Section 5/6 prefer to send their children to elite schools and VI and St John although I know those papmpeerd boys do very badlybut get to go overseas anyway because they're rich.So my school consist of students from areas like Setapak, Air Panas, and Section 2 where the public schools there are already full so I had classmates and friends from different backgrounds. Some of them insanely rich and some quite poor. In 5 years at that school I have met many students of various talents and backgrounds and of various races which I am proud of as I still keep in touch with former Chinese and Indian classmates. Going to school together is very good for different races!!! I was quite a low profile student. My parents divorce was emotionally challenging for me and I stayed at home alot and gained weight but I was very tall and big so no one bulied me. I retreated to books. i started reading heavy novels quite late, at Form 2, the first one is 'The Hobbit' by JRR Tolkien.It was an amazing book, from there I ventured into Lord of The Rings, Agatha Christie novels which my mom loves and of course Harry Potter and lots of Isaac Asimov novels from my dad's collection. My house is kinda like a library!! So books saved from going nuts I guess and fueled my ambition to become an engineer and be somebody!! PMR was a breeze and I thought it stupid, could have gone to MCKK as my dad was an old boy but I didn't want to to his disappointment. So waded 2 years through school, as usal, low profile until I got my SPM and became one of the 6 students at my school to get straight As...haha..to the bewilderment of my classmates and even teacher..seriously. 2003 was a good year for my school as after two years of drought, some students actually scored some straigh As.My school gained alot of attention and considered an elite school in the coming years with a student in 2004 became the best SPM scorer(12As) in KL and more rich people send their children to my school. The school I heard, has changed alot.

To be continued

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Raya and updates

Work

OJT as usual. The 2week before Raya, there were less problems until Wednesday when the plant lost power at 4.30pm. It was so surreal. Our plant is very noisy and then out of the blue it went pitch black and totally silent. Curses were thrown at TNB but the following day it was discovered that a machine at CNI tripped. The CNI section(where the silicons conductivity is customiyed using chemicals and electromagmetic treatment) uses alot of power and since the stupid greedy americans want to double production, I guess the tired machines cant handle it. Despite having a shutdown for maintenancre on Friday night they still resumed production that night. It was so stupid.They should just commence shutdown and give the workers a break. Yes, production resumes onSaturday night during Raya, so some people will have to work but I heard the workers plan MCs, so in the end, the production time is wasted due to shortage of manpower.

Raya

As a new kuli, no early raya break for me. No annual leave till next Ausgust. So after I got back from work on Thursday, went home and showered and scampered to Ipoh. Oh....forgot to mention that my Swiss relatives came. Uncle Yan(my moms bro), Aunt Nitchie, Aileed,Kevin and his baby daughter came to Malaysia the week before.My other Swiss cusins Keziah,Kavita qand Alana are in Switzerland schooling and working so they cant come this year.So meriah sikit la instad of just my mom,bro,sis and nenek. Uncle Yan went to Ipoh earlier to kemas rumah while his children went to Terengganu trill Wednesday. Aunt Nitchie arrived on Wednesday Night. We departed in two cars to Ipoh after I got home from work...joining the solemn procession of vehicles..heading home to our respective kampungs.Alhamdulillah we arrived safely. Al Fatihah to the 100 plus poeople who did not make it. Raya could be a dangeroius affair.

Hotel were booked full so my cousins have to stay at neneks dusty place but they coped well. Raya was pretty chaotic but it went well. We stuffed cookies after we arrived at Ipoh and arrange the plates and punch bowl. The next day, as usual, our house was the first target. At least 4 families came. When I say four it include several generation. So by midday all our rendang stock habis. I guess since we were the first house they eat more. We didnt go Rayaing at other house since they all came to our house anyway..haha.

ALl in all, it was a nice Raya. The first proper Raya in 5 years. The last one in Malaysia was before the SSABSA exam and we celebrated in KL as I had to study for the exams. The following years were in Adelaide, although the Rayas there were fun but they were quite pointless without family.Syukur dapat Raya kat Malaysia. The higlight of Raya when some kids played with my DSLR and they were very interested.Had a tough timĂȘ giving them turns taking pictures and preventing them from destroying my camera..but they were so damn cute....that I really hope Ill have boys of my own...maybe it is a sign from Allah..hahhaha..tgkla.