Roller Coaster Ride: Part 1

OK, the title suggests that I will make this a four-series thing, about my life in university and what not. Probably. Well, almost one year has passed ever since university intake, back in September 2012. Way before the so-called Apocalypse and the hoax of impeding doom. One year in university has thought me things to view reality and life in different ways. Things that teachers don't chant to you like a mantra from holy books or grimoire but things that you have to discern with your five senses, at times, using your sixth sense or seventh sense or your n-th sense (in terms of mathematics). While some of the experience I have had here are good ones, there are things that happened that are less-than-what-Marilyn-Monroe-would-ask-for-when-her-skirt-got-blown-upwards.

I'm about to share my experience in university (about only a year's worth) and hopefully it will be a guide for you to use in your life in your future later on. Most of these tips are applied for local, public tertiary institutions.

GETTING A UNIVERSITY OFFER:
When I got my university offer back in late July 2012, I did not feel very excited, now was I disappointed. I took it with an open heart and probably it was part of His plans that I am placed in the current university I am at. So, I was satisfied. To you guys who get you you applied for, then happiness be unto you! :) But to those who did not receive offers that you applied for in the first place, don't be upset. If you are offered courses other than your interest, try to look at the positive side. Things will not always dance to your tune, but you can always dance to theirs. If you find that you have two left feet, try another course. Always keep an open mind and you'll see things in a different light.

PREPARING FOR UNIVERSITY:
Okay, this is fun. When it came to packing stuffs for university, I almost (ALMOST) moved everything from my lovely home to my hostel room. Everyone wants a piece of home to be with them, be it their pets, guitar, a pair of lucky socks, laundry basket or even Santa's gnome. Truth is, you may not find the time to mess with these things in university because you might be swamped with tonnes upon tonnes of assignments. No harm having these stuffs around though. Pack light and you make things much easier for yourself. As of now, my hostel room is almost like my own home (I have too many things here :D )

O(MG)RIENTATION WEEK
Personally, orientation week in my university was HELL. The seniors made us stay up to almost 1 to 2 in the morning almost everyday. Sick people. But nevertheless, enjoy your orientation week. Take this opportunity to make friends and see who you can gel with effortlessly. This will be very important and I will stress about this in a later paragraph. ;) Anything other than friends-making will be nothing but a bore. Happens EVERYWHERE.

LECTURES COMMENCE!
Contrary to the Asian-style teaching in schools, university lecturers expect you to work for yourself and survive on yourself. Lecturers are not like school teachers that feed you everything. If teaching was akin to breastfeeding, school teachers are like mothers shoving their breasts at you. Lecturers expect you to walk up to them and then (AHEM) and you know the rest. No more things like "Do you understand?" and the like. No time for such childishness. >:(

TEST! WHAT?!
Many universities in Malaysia have tests and these tests contribute towards your final marks at the end of your semester. Do very well for each of these tests. Sure, they make look like cheap dresses at a flea market. But when it comes to your finals, you'll be stripped skin-naked and you'll need everything you can, even cheap dresses, to keep you covered. Don't underestimate tests. Study in groups when necessary. COMPLETE YOUR TUTORIALS. Ask your lecturers immediately if you have any doubts in classes. Friendly lecturers tend to drop tips in classes so keep your ears its toes (pinna, if you're wanting a more physiological term). During a test, if you're really in need for help, smile at the lecturer and say you need help. :D YOU NEED TEH SKILLZ THO.

"NOOOOO, I SCREWED MY TEST! MY LIFE IS OVER!"
No. You'll still be alive to read this post again. And also to read it to your grandchildren and your grandchildren's friends and your grandchildren's friends' cat and (....). Basically, you're not going to die. Lecturers are not trained assassins (I cannot say for certain that this is true, if he or she is, then... I don't know). Talk to them and see what you can do to improve your grades. Alter your schedule so you can improve your studies. Cut down on play when necessary. Mix with the right group of students to inculcate good study habits. A trick here is to adjust to university quickly, don't take too long. DON'T RESORT TO CHEATING IN EXAMS AND TESTS.

LOVE LIFE IN UNIVERSITY, IS IT OKAY?
Come back next year and see if there's any updates for this section.

ACTIVITIES GALORE!
There'll be so many activities in university that you might not have enough bodies to join them all. That very moment, you'll wish that you can multiply like bacteria but the fact remains that you are homo sapiens, incapable or binary fission or vegetative reproduction and must resort to reproduction via sexual means. With  that bullshit aside, choose activities that you can handle WITHOUT JEOPARDISING YOUR STUDIES. Yes, the stress is on your studies. The whole point of entering university is to graduate with a degree and at the same time, learning things about life, NOT the other way around. Learn to prioritise. At the end of the day, you can be the most active person in the university, but if are not what the industry wants in terms of educational standards, you're not better than people without a degree.

FINALS ZOMG.
This is just the same as the section regarding you tests. The only difference is that if you fail this, you are in deep shit. DEEP. I can't help you, get help from a plumber or from the local waterworks department.

With all the babbling about academics explained, now come the things of the heart and mind.

HAVE DISCERNMENT BETWEEN GROUPMATES AND FRIENDS
Groupmates are people that cooperate and liaise with each other in order to achieve a common goal or vision (usually a group work or assignment). Friends are people that you can rely on, people who respect you even though you have differing ideals, someone you can count on to hold you when you fall. If your groupmates are your friends, then it's a thing to be happy for! When you have people in your group that cannot get along with  you, especially if they have no respect for your principals and ideals, it's best to just keep them in your circle of groupmates, not friends. After all, the definition of "friends" isn't fulfilled.

AN EXTENSION FROM THE TOP, CHOOSE THE RIGHT FRIENDS
Throughout my one year staying in the university hostel, I have learned how to choose the right people to be my friends. Now, I'm not choosy when it comes to making friends but there are people out there that are like greedy moguls, ready to squeeze everything out of you like a juiced lemon and then throwing you aside. What I'm saying is, people who make use of others in university is more than the word "common" can describe. More accurately, universities are infested with these of people. The kiasu types, the kiasi types and many more types of people. Maybe one day, they can be classes into a separate species, Homo kiasiuens and Homo kiasiens. Avoid these people at ALL costs. You can smile at them, have small chats with them but NEVER become close to them. This is my personal opinion, because I have been made use by several people before. Some of these primitive organisms (Homo kiasuens and Homo kiasiens) show no guilt in making use of others for their own personal gains. CAREFUL, I SAY TO YOU.

YOU'RE NOT HERE TO IMPRESS ANYONE, BUT YOURSELF
University is a place for you to express yourself in the course that you chose. Express yourself freely but rationally. Never let haters pull you down just because they can't keep up with your awesomeness. There will be haters that can't see others progress. Let them wade in their pool of hate and envy while you enjoy the fruits of your hard work. Always be enthusiastic with your studies, even when others make you look stupid. Chances are, they'll be licking faeces out of your (AHEM) at the end of the day. Be yourself at all costs and never give in to the pressure of friends or normalcy.

ALWAYS AVOID LALANGs AND HYPOCRITES
This is a serious matter. Lalangs (people without a firm standing on their words and tend to get easily swayed by rumours, word-of-mouths, crowd-inclination and coolness factors) are creatures without backbones and do not stick to their guns because they are afraid to bear the consequences (much alike Homo kiasiens). Be careful of these breed of people because they may hurt you very badly. Likewise, hypocrites are to be avoided. It's for your own emotional health. Sometimes, university life can be very stressful, so you need to surround yourself with positive vibes all the time. At some crucial moments, if you meet with these bunch of losers, they say something stupid and it can ruin your mood for the whole (insert time frame). Associate yourself with people who care for you and people that you are willing to invest time for.


This is my advice to you juniors. I hope the following year will be better to me. :) And may the best be with you guys. Love you guys lots.

CHIcken WINGs

Posting this from the little gazebo in my college. Huhuhuhu.

Well, it has been a very long time since I last posted anything in my blog. Heck, I'm sure it has collected enough dust to drown Ursula and her royal fatness. Google who she is.

University life has been really, really hectic. During the first month of my stay in university, I had no time to just relief my rectum of its poopoo. Yes, all the running-around did make me fall sick. Thankfully I haven't fell sick as badly as my other friends. Some of them were so ill that they really need medical attention. Certainly, God has been with me all the way. All my illness were gone in less than two days. Most of the time, I'm just ill because of exhaustion. Oh yes, exhaustion is a word that you'll encounter a lot in university or probably just UPM.

Right now, literally, I'm sitting down at the gazebo in my college (yes, colleges are actually nicer names in replacement for the oh-so-boring term "hostel"). Doing a little revision with my friends around me, some seniors are doing their Business Ed revision at the table behind me. Life has been a little better ever since last week. :)

Made lots of friends (who doesn't?). Sadly, in my block, no one has a level of insanity that can rival mine. This is rather pathetic... Thankfully, there are girls that are as mad as I am. Mad Hatters for the win. Posting this to remove the dust from my long-dead blog.

P.S: I do miss lots of you who read my blog but I have no time to chat or catch up with you guys. Probably do some catching-up when I'm back home for semester break WHEE. Miss me? Let me know please. <3 p="p">
Loves,

CHIcken WINGs

SAYA MAU KOMPLEN.

Okay, so I am here to rant and complain about all my frustrations. Well, this is the whole point of having a blog. It exists partly because of its purpose as a form of media that allows people to vent all their TENSIONNNNN and FRUSTRATIONSSSSS, just to stay sane. Well, most people still remain sane, while most don't after a long time.


This time, my complaints come from my work! I mean, who doesn't complain about their work, much? The only people who don't complain about their work are probably only social workers. Well, this unhappiness that is welled-up inside me came from today's incident.


Let me start off with the marking session of the test papers. 19th May 2012, I fell sick, down with a fever and terrible sore throat. Yes, FML much, a start to the weekend with illness. Perfect date. That did not really stop me from marking the test papers. Honestly, it was a struggle.


20th May 2012, continued to mark them papers. Such a drag, for a sickly nut to mark and be sick. The pain in my throat, driving me nuts. Head throbbing from the headache. ZzZzZzZZ


21st May 2012. I returned them tests papers to the class. As I've expected, there are some who come around complaining about the papers, why aren't their answers accepted, etc. I thought I told them to just follow what I have advised them in class. Students, as you know, don't listen the first time. So, I told them a few times. Unfortunately, some of them decide not to listen even after you nagged your jaws out. For the record, listening is a voluntary action that is primarily detected by the auditory system. So, it was their choice NOT to listen. If you don't listen, you do mistakes and that is just what they have done. They said: "Teacher, if Madam X marks the papers for us, she would have given us marks!". I said: "Who is marking your papers now?". 


What's more upsetting is, I can hear some students saying "I was afraid that HE will mark our papers,". That doesn't sound offensive in English, but it does sound a little insulting when you actually hear them say it in Mandarin instead.


Before returning their papers, I have already prepared my minds to such events, should they ever happen. I would have never expected this from any "good" class, but this was what happened in my class, a so-called "elite" class. Disappointing much.


All these was not a really sour thing to me. Among these students, there are some who are actually happy and appreciative of what I've done. Thanks to these few students, I did not feel that sad after all that has happened.


This Friday is my last day in SMK Raja Abdullah. Certainly, such events inspire me to be a better person in life and has definitely taught me a thing or two about life. Am I sad, really? No. I'm not God and I don't get paid to make anyone happy, I am a teacher.

Yes, a sudden update after a long hiatus.




MIAO.


Things have been pretty busy with school lately. Well, with all the exams going on, you just can't walk around and teach like you used to. You enter the class, the students talk, you tell them to keep quiet, you sit down, they start talking again. Invigilating exams is way more tiring than normal classes, GOSH much.

School politics are so much more real when you're really incorporated into the organisation. Today's issue is about the polco-polco dance. Apparently, Muslims can't dance to it because the dance steps resemble a cross. OKAAAAAAAY... So what say you about kuda kepang, another traditional dance that "summons" the spirit of horses and causes them to possess the bodies of dancers. Syirik, no? Confusing much. Some teachers are planning to do the polco-polco as a farewell treat for the school's principal, until some "pious" teachers went about saying that it is "haram" to Muslims. You can go dance your kuda kepang, nobody will stop you. Pity those teachers who planned everything, only to get their plans scrapped.

I don't know what to say. I'm... SLEEPY.

OKTHXBAI.

=CHIcken WINGs=

DAPARK?

Okay, so it has been almost a month since I last posted anything on this already-rusting blog. Probably need to send this to remove the rust and get it sprayed with anti-rusting agent. Or I should just go ahead and change to a more plastic blog. Barbie dolls, anyone?


Before I go all oo-la-la and crappy over my recent goings-on, this blog does not necessarily reflect fully on what I truly am. Sleepy people talk like as if they are drunk. Symptoms of aging as some may say.


It has almost been one full month working in SMK Raja Abdullah as a replacement teacher. So far, I've learnt quite a number of things that I can't really recall. But one thing that I've learned is time management and punctuality is something that I have in me. Which is pretty much useful to me. I'm so punctual to the point that the students complain to me that they do not like me to be too punctual. Gee, and I thought being punctual was a total virtue in the working world... Paradox, paradox.


While teaching one of the classes last month, I realised that I needed a tablet (not the ones you take when you're ill and when your body's homeostasis fails you. YES, AVIN, NOT THOSE. XD) to teach properly. Pictures paint a thousand words. I can keep telling them how beautiful the Great Barrier Reef can be, but without pictures, words don't really mean much. As such, words are so cheap nowadays. You can literally say "I love you" without having to pay a single cent. Probably you'd have to pay with your face a little (in Asian context), but other than that, words are indeed cheap things you can find on the stale, wet, old streets of Chinatown. So, to those reading this blog post, if you have a sudden urge or a divine intervention, do give me your tablet or there's always something called GADGET MARKETS. :)


So far, teaching has been a really nice job. Way better than my job as a salesman in the first month. My pay for the first month was BULLSHIT. Did I say that? Yeah, BULLSHIT. Clear enough. :) The perks of working as a teacher is that the teacher is always right. (Yes, for 3 months teaching there, I AM ALWAYS RIGHT.) Of course, the greatest satisfaction is seeing your students grow not only academically, but also as an individual, holistically, from all aspects. 


There are a few classes that really made me happy and they still do, when I teach them. 4A, the first class in Form 4, does their homework at lightning-fast speeds, without a lot of hoohahs and boohoos. 4E, one of the not-as-good-as-average class, jokes and makes noise all the time, but they respect me and try to follow the lesson as much as possible. Recently, they changed and have become a little better in class. HAPPY. 5I is a bunch of playful nuts. Honestly, I feel sad for them. They could change their present but if they had took a stride to strive for the best in the past. Fortunately, they are trying their best to change their future now. That leaves only one class that I don't feel much happiness when I teach them. I can't really explain why, but probably it's the aura they exert when I enter their class. PFFT. Aura, right. Sorry 5B. It's not that teacher doesn't care, it's probably 'cause teacher cares too much and you guys just disappointed me. Teachers are humans and they have emotions. Bear that in mind.


Looking forward to more things to learn from my stint there as a substitute teacher. So far, I'm not kicked around like a ball. Good~! :) Hopefully this year's birthday will be a blast. A few things on my wishlist that I do wish I'd get. Come to think of it, it'd be impossible to get even one item on my wishlist. Only God knows. Oh well. *shrugs shoulders*


Loves


=CHIcken WINGs=

-Insert suitable title here-

So, yes. I haven't been blogging or posting anything since I-don't-know-when. It is also about time I posted something random, though not many drop by here anyway. My blog is just like a tiny corner in a shopping complex where many don't drop by. Only those who are interested know where to find me. :) Just the kind of attention I need. Hey, who needs millions of followers when none is really actually close to you?


So, I'll backtrack all the way to the day I received my STPM results. For those who do now know what STPM is, it is a government-based examination which is equivalent to A-Levels, if not more difficult (that is to my opinion). The initial feeling of scoring a CGPA of 3.58 out of the total of 4.00 was a little blur and dumbfounded. Subjects that I have expected to do well, did not turn out great. Whereas subjects that I did not anticipate good results out of them, for them I did well. Pretty odd I must say. Alas, emotions aside, life has to go on as well.


Wishing all my friends all the best with university placements. May you achieve what you guys want in life. In the end, don't forget where you come from, your roots and what people around you shape you to who you are.


This time, I'm back to school, not as a student but a teacher. So far, it has been good and really much an eye-opener. Not to be mistaken with a can-opener. 


Need private tuition? Contact me at chickenwing_kl@yahoo.com.my. ;)


=CHIcken WINGs=

Waddapark.

Okay, so I just started working as a temporary teacher quite recently, working at SMK Raja Abdullah. Well, first impression was that the school reminds me a lot of SMK Sinar Bintang, is that right if I call that school my alma mater? Whatever. Still, the level of discipline and courtesy of the students are not up to par with students from SMK Jinjang, my Form 6 school, so to say.

2nd day at work and I am already feeling the lethargy dominating my body. Still, this pressure is way better than my previous shitty job.

Praying for good STPM results, which is due to be announced in a very short time. Damn it.

=CHIcken WINGs=