Dough.

My goodness.

According to Fool.com, with the amount of money I'm possibly going to have to pay for an overseas education (and by "money I'm paying" what I really mean is "money my parents are paying"), I'd break even only at the age of - get this - 39!

When I start getting wrinkles!

My guesstimated input of annual earnings upon graduation --> minimum wage.

So. Moral of the story is, don't study overseas. Or, don't get paid minimum wage.





I feel kind of guilty now.

What kind of overseas education is worth depriving your parents of a post-retirement life that involves shopping sprees at KL Pavilion and expensive high-tech gadgets?


Universities, grant me scholarships! (Pretty please!)










So much for wanting to leave the blog idle.

A rather useful Word (and other stuff)

This blog-thing is going to be left idle for the next 2.5 weeks (you know, till the finals are over).

Didn't think it's anything decent to have the first line of the first post being "TOEFL today was shite".


So, just to get a post in before the do-past-year-papers marathon begins.




I have but one word -





























Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!



(Eventhough the sound of it is something quite atrocious.)




















I regret choosing to sit for the SAT Subject Tests two days before the finals.
(Cannot remember a single thing from SPM) x (Not taught in SAM)
= must study extra
= panicpanicpanic finals TWO DAYS away!














I gave up RM200 that was supposed to be returned to me, and now only I feel the pinch.
RM200!











My parents are going to the My Chem Romance concert.
My mother, who should be going to watch Whitney Houston Live in KL instead.


















I am excited x 999999 (translates to supersuper excited).

What lies beyond that wretched hurdle that is the SAM finals?

What will be our compensation for soldiering on through 11 gruelling months?

What desert do we get for eating our Broccoli-the-Most-Disgusting-Vegetable?

Excitement, loud-livin' and hours of idling at home, of course!


I cannot wait.







Goodluckeveryone.



Till then,

Thankyouandgoodbye!

Let me complain, okay?

TOEFL today was shite.

No wait. TOEFL test location today was shite.


So there we were, all of us in one smallish computer room.

Somehow this girl and me managed to finish the reading and listening sections earlier than the rest. So we were allowed to have a 10-minute break.

Ten minutes over, we started on our speaking test.

Then, the rest of the room went on their breaks.

So what it meant was that while the girl and me recorded our answers, about 20 odd people were sitting around, observing us, looking at our screens and listening to our answers.

My thoughts -

1. I had 15 seconds to prepare my speech reply. They, having observed the both of us and read off our screens, had the entire break to prepare!

2. I was feeling damn self-conscious okay! Imagine, 20 people listening in on you and your reply! Kind of like giving a public speech, or something!

3. The invigilator came, stood next to me and listened in as well! I would have shoo-ed her off, if only I weren't already recording my reply.


It was slightly pretty damn well unfair, but I didn't mind it as much as the fact that by the time I went on to the latter parts of the test in which reading was required, the entire room started recording their answers!

How to concentrate?!

I remind you, it was a small room. You could hear someone talk from the other end of the room, even with your headphones on.

With 20 people simultaneously speaking extra loudly (having been told to do so by the invigilator), it was havoc.

How in the world can you read and comprehend that paragraph in front of you amidst all that chaos?

Plus, that countdown timer counting down the 45 seconds wasn't helping either. I got very panicky.

When it got to the really long passage in the writing section, I figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I just read out as loud as I could to myself to cover all the extra noise. Was practically shouting, I'd say.




So anyway. Naturally the girl and me finished our test earlier. At the room where we kept our belongings, she asked me how it was. I asked her back.

The first thing she said was, "I couldn't concentrate!"

And I knew exactly what she meant.

She told me she had the TOEFL in Singapore before this, and they had their own private cubicles.

Compare that to today's test location, where we were seated so close I could actually read the answers off the girl's screen. Of course I didn't la.


Oh man, RM857 in total paid, I hope I did well enough.


So, moral of the story is (and you really should remember this if you're taking the TOEFL in the future), if you have a testing station that isn't as isolated as you'd hoped, then never ever finish and have your break earlier than others.

Otherwise, while you're recording, you'd have the entire room listening to you.
And while you're reading, you'd have the entire room talking at the same time.


I'd whine about the mouse that doesn't seem to register clicks until you've clicked for the gazillionth time, but I'm too lazy.
But yeah, the mouse doesn't register clicks until I've clicked for the gazillionth time.

I remember trying to drag the answers into boxes, and the mouse was acting up again, and the timer was counting down the last 15 seconds!

I panicked like siao.

I tell you, that countdown timer managed to give me adrenalin rushes like no other roller coaster had.


Okay, enough whining. Choose your test location wisely. Bye!

Rush

So.

Last week of school next week!

I hadn't properly noticed, until Adeline SMS-ed me just now to remind me to go to school tomorrow 'cause it'd be our last lab session.

Last lab session!

Which would also be my last chance ever to carry out a lab experiment.




I guess I would miss science, but not enough to take it up again in university!




TOEFL this Saturday.

Don't even know the format.

How?




One year went by so fast, it feels like high school graduation happened just last month.

Futures.

Uhhh, a very frank friend (ahem ahem) told me I got it all wrong - I should be telling people I hadn't studied, then get good grades, not write in my very public blog that I studied my ass off and then go and get crap grades.

But that is so high school lah!

So yeah, I got crap grades.

No matter. Still got Finals to salvage whatever I can.


Did the SAT today, finally, no more 4 hour practice sessions and memorizing words between lectures!

I met this girl today, who had come all the way from China to take the SAT. Apparently, they had no testing centres in China.
Imagine that! She was a bundle of nerves, but I guess I would be too if I had to fly a few thousand miles for an exam.


Three more tests / exams to go.

Everyone I know sitting for language tests have been paying several hundred ringgit for preparation courses. Now TOEFL is just two weeks away and I have no idea what the format is!

I am exhausted.

I feel like I'm just kind of going through the motions of studying for exams I eventually do miserably in, and I'm exhausted.

At least during SPM I had enough sense to enjoy myself a bit a lot. (I was watching DVDs and P. Ramlee movies!)

Anyway, I know you A-Levels (Cambridge board?) people are having your AS very soon, so good luck! (Like any of you will be reading this now.)

* * * * *

For everyone who's in the midst of the very confusing college application process,
or who's confused about the future,
or sitting for exams (virtually everyone I know),
or who's venturing into something completely new (Kwai Yee!),
or for anyone who just likes rhymes.

My favourite Dr. Seuss work.






Oh, the Places You'll Go!

by Dr. Seuss


Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!















* * * * *

I know I posted that up last year in my high school graduation post, but I love it too much to not post it again.

I actually printed this out and hung it in my room. I'm gonna get the book from Kinokuniya soon.

You can bet it'll be up again when I graduate from SAM.

(I realize I'm really pushing myself now because I'm actually pretty excited about the future. The university, the meeting new people, the internships, the actual jobs with actual paychecks!)

Uncanny coincidence - Something Corporate's 'Watch The Sky' is playing on iTunes.




"I think I could use a little break, but today was a good day.
Still I sink to think that I must craaaaaaawl!
There's things that aren't worth giving up, I know.
You live the life you're given with the storms outside, somedays all I do is watch the sky."




Yeah, no point slacking now and letting go of a potentially uber-exciting future.


So. Good luck finding your niche in life!