Exams Woes

Ah, finally! After 3 or so weeks of slaving for the dreaded SPM, I am back to update! I've got about 3-4 days of studying for my final exam which is *ching ching chin* CHEMISTRY!


To quote Lou, I've got chemistry with Chemistry. Oh yeah!

Bimbo moment over. Allow me that brief, fleeting second of insanity. In case you didn't know, SPM is a killer. Not that it's hard or anything (really, I find it easier compared to trials where I butchered my Add Maths) but it's the stress of the whole thing, how SPM is the one that determines your future and all that.

So, first paper: BM1, Sejarah 1 and BM2. I was frantic for BM1. I used my memory palace the day before to memorise 20 plus peribahasa (which I can still recite, I think, if you give me some time--such is the wonder of the memory palace). In the end, I didn't manage to use much of them, so, crossed fingers, hopefully I can get an A. Sejarah was relatively fine, BM 2, I managed to answer all the peribahasa questions! They mayn't be right but at least I (think) know what they were! Hurrah!

Second day was English 1, English 2 and Sejarah 2. English 1 - the essay - was a bit disappointing. I expected something better. The one word title - Beauty - and the story - End with "And we said goodbye and went our separate ways" - irked me. Firstly, the story's ending was shite, to put it politely. It was bound to be some soppy tale about two people meeting up, then realising they weren't meant for each other, and then end with the sentence above. It was so cliched, there wasn't much you could do with it. What else could you say? Then the one word title: Beauty. Melinda did something about feminine beauty, something of the sort, while Erina, being her usual despressing self, had to start with some character's death, who turned out to be her mum, and started talking about the mum's beauty.

I took a leaf out of my sister's book (she did something similar with the same title, just less adjectives and fancy words) and I wrote about this sorceress, Belle, who ruled a country as Queen. It was never said, but implied that at that time the country was weak and tidak maju. So I made her character strong and tough. Modelled her after Katie McGrath as Morgana in Merlin, who, if you haven't seen her picture (check my header), looks eeriely like the black-haired version of Keira Knightley. Really, when I saw her in Merlin my first reaction was, She looks so familiar. She reminds me of...OMG, don't tell me Keira dyed her hair for the show!!!

But no, it was Katie McGrath instead. And don't laugh, but I described Belle as "the product of an encounter with a vampire and Keira Knightley". I kid you not, I actually wrote that in my English SPM essay. The examiner's gonna laugh his ass off. So Belle's rumoured to be some wicked sorceress who rules with an iron fist. And her people call her Bellamorte (loosely translated as Killer of Beauty -- I made that up. Bella, Morte.) because they think that she killed virgins to steal their beauty and thus, forever remain mortal, because, according to them, how could someone with the face of an angel have a heart so black like she does?

"And that is incorrect, ladies and gentlemen!"

See, Belle's misunderstood. She's dark, but she realises that to memajukan her country, she has to establish it as a proud land who will not bow to defeat. Unfortunately, that meant being as evil as possible. It's kind of tough-love-ish, and as I'm tying this, I'm waiting for Miss Louise to call. Oi, what time you calling?

Anyway, the story starts with Ascarth, this tavern keeper who falsely accuses this peasant of stealing wine meant for the Sorceress Belle, and he gets her to throw the poor peasant in jail, even after the peasant begged for mercy, to which our girl replied, 'I value justice more than I value mercy.' But Belle means every word she said, and in the night she kills Ascarth for his wrongdoings, quoting her previous statement as she watched him die.

Up to here it takes up 3 pages, so I continued by saying she gave (anonymously) the tavern's money to the peasant's wife, and continues to rule her country as Iron Lady by day, avenging angel by night. Of course, no one knows about this, so it was only until after her death that people found her journal where she'd dictated everything she did. And people saw her in a new light, and erected statues, and every year there'd be a festival of Beauty, and her tale became the Legend of Beauty....

If it sounds cliched, yeah I know. Lack of inspiration. At least I wrote an out-of-the-box story, instead of people who write facts and what not. Could never stand them. Anyway, Sejarah 2 was a killer, especially in the essay bit where they asked about ciri-ciri Kerajaan Turki Uthmaniyah. I mean, I know a bit but not much and i'd rather not risk it lah. Third day was EST, went well, nothing much. What's there to talk about EST?

Then both Maths papers were relatively OK, same goes for Moral which I could do lah. Add Maths was the one that really got me worried. In case you didn't know, my Add Maths track record isn't exactly straight As. But it turned out relatively fine (note I'm using RELATIVELY).

Then the sciences came about. I needed to do well in Bio if I was going to take Biochemistry, and I found out that Zhuo Liang was planning to take that as well on he was taking his in Form 6 and me in college. Bio was tricky at points but again, relatively good. Physics, even though I wasn't a big fan of it even though I can do well if I study my arse off, was easy compared to Bio. I liked it very much. Now there's one last stop before we hit home free: Chemistry.

Now that academics are over, let's go to the laughs. For started, you wouldn't think that something so serious as SPM could garner laughs, could it? According to my sources from inside Bilik 2 (you know who you are!), things are boring and people pretend to study even though they actually aren't. Dunno if it applies to you but...Mine is Bilik 5 and we're freaking hilarious. I can't quite remember which paper was it, Maths or Add Maths, but everyone came back after the lunch break only to realise that someone was missing.

'Eh,' Examiner checked the name on the slip stuck on the table, 'Mana...Gerald Lim?' Yes, people have trouble pronouncing his name. Then everyone turned around, and the class started buzzing.

'Eh, where's Gerald? Why no one call him? Where he go?'

Class was buzzing like mad. Then the examiner suggested we call his house to check. 'Who is Gerald Lim's best friend?'

The class as one voice shouted, 'Darrel!' Gerald and Darrel sit together in class and everyone knows they're really good friends. Then, Nick Leong decided to start teasing. 'Eh, Darrel. Don't like that lah, dump Gerald like that. He's waiting for you at home you know.' And the whole class erupted into insinuations that Gerald and Darrel were together. Naturally we started laughing like crap, and the laughter increased when Gerald finally showed up. Even the examiner was laughing.

Moment 2. Happened only yesterday. See, I'm really grateful for my pals, and today I decided to tell Chiau Hui how grateful I am to be her friend and all that. I don't usually say stuff like that so it was a bit awkward - always felt like I was confessing my love ala BFG relationships. So in the canteen, I took a deep breath, looked at CH and said, 'Thank you very much for being my friend. I'm sorry for always losing my temper, and I thank you for being so understanding.'

She stared at me, and cried out, 'Are you migrating?' I had this really solemn voice on so I guess that's where she got her ideas. And at this point, I really couldn't resist so I nodded solemnly, and answered: Yes.

'What?' She genuinely looked shocked. 'When are you leaving?'

'Right after SPM in December,' I replied soberly. I was trying hard not to laugh, but it didn't work, so I settled for a I'm-Sorry-it-had-to-be-like-this, understanding sort of smile. That worked like a charm.

'Ha! And you tell me this now! Why can't you tell me after SPM? Now I can't concentrate.' And if you were there, you would've noticed how sad she looked. Really. I felt it. Felt almost guilty. Repeat, almost guilty.

Well, not really. I've got a lack of remorse. So, no, I felt no guilt at all.

We sat down, and she continued bombarding questions. 'Where are you migrating to?' she demanded. I didn't expect that so I fumbled a little bit (she didn't notice though), and crapped out: New Zealand. My relatives just returned from holiday there. Wanted to say Canada or something but my brain got ahead of me.

CH didn't relent. 'When you leaving?'

'On my birthday.' I even managed to inject some reluctance in my voice, like how much I didn't want to leave. Then her brow furrowed. 'I thought you were working for your mum on that day.' Yeah, helping out my mum for some sale thingy.

'Yeah I am,' I said deliberately. I could almost see the cogs in her head, piecing it together, and then... 'You're not migrating, are you?'

Smiling at her, 'Nope.' And got a whack on my arm for that. I was laughing though. She honestly thought I was migrating, and she was scolding me about that, but hey, at least it brought a bit of levity. Then I decided to do the same to Miss Erina, so I walked up to her, and used my solemn, someone-has-died voice and repeated what I told CH. Being the depressing girl she is (like I mentioned earlier), Erina gripped me by the shoulders (really!) and asked, 'Are you dying? You're not dying are you? You sound like you're dying. Don't die!' she wailed. OKlah, not wailed, but you get the point.

Then I was like, 'No I'm migrating.' That took her by genuine surprise. Her eyes widened. 'Seriously?' I nodded. 'Where to?' 'New Zealand.' She broke into a smile. 'Hey, when I migrate over I can see you.' Yes, she's most likely migrating to NZ after college or SPM. I nodded and smiled. Forgot what happened next, but then she turned at me and said. 'You're not migrating, are you?'

'No.' I replied cheekily. Don't mean to brag, but felt proud, really, taking them in. Erina gave a noise that was half-laugh, half-exasperated and she clutched her book. 'I should whack you lah.'

OK, number three. As you know, Physics paper 3, for the experiment bit, one was about the number of weights and the spring, which I looked at and was like, okay, can do, but let's see the other one first. Then I flipped the page, and KABOOM! It was solenoid! It was about, when the current increases the strength of magnetic field increases and the experiment was something about using a solenoid and a soft iron core to create a temp. magnet to attract pins.

Well, I didn't focus much on this experiment, only flipped through, because it already came out for my trials (for which I got full marks on that bit) and I thought to myself, Can lightning strike twice? Apparently it can. So I was smiling all the way when I did the question. Afterwards, Erina confided that she had a feeling that the solenoid would come out again. In case you didn't know, for trials Erina randomly flipped a page in her Physics book and studied the experiment on the page moments before the exam. That particular experiment was the solenoid experiment. So Erina told Candice that if solenoid came out again for SPM, she would kiss the floor.

Naturally after that announcement, Candice and I immediately pestered her to kiss the floor. Erina protested by saying too dirty, must use Dettol to clean first. I pulled out my Dettol sanitiser. She looked shocked. 'Ha, serious ah?' Well, duh! Then we compromised by having her kiss the table, and she agreed, but she took one look at the name on the slip, recoiled in something between dislike and disgust (Yerr, it's Montri's table!) and moved onto the next one. In the end she kissed the back of Melinda's chair, but Candice and I weren't really satisfied.

Now the best for last. Jo and I were staying back during the 4-hour break between Add Maths 1 and 2. Stupidly enough, I checked my schedule not realising that we have 4 hours break, and I didn't want to go to my cousin's place so I stayed in school. Then turns out the canteen didn't provide lunch, so after worrying a while, I called Dad and he turned up with our orders for McDs! Jo came down with me to get the food, and everyone was looking envious. JY even got someone to send him Burger King!

So after lunch, Jo and I retreated to the outside of my Bilik 5, where it was quiet since no one was around. We chatted, and then he took a nap while I went through my Add maths. Then we got bored and started walking back to the badminton court. We met Xin Wei and Candice at the Co-op and sat down on the chairs, me next to Jo, Xin Wei next to Candice. Afterwards, XY and C stood up trying to balance themselves on the step, and Montri came over and plonked down on the bench, head in Jo's lap! We were laughing so hard when Giselle, Alicia and Phei Fang saw us and came over. We started talking with Montri closing his eyes while Jo motioned silently for a pair of scissors.

Which was rather appropriate as at this moment, Alicia was talking about chopping off her long hair for a shorter do. Fang had scissors ready and passed them to XW, who passed them (exaggerated) silently to me to pass to Jo. Jo motioned to me to cut Montri's hair which I refused. Then there was a silent, motion-only argument between us until Jo took the scissors. And all these time we were actually keeping up the conversation as if nothing was happening.

Alicia buried her face and said, 'I can't bear to watch.'

'Watch what?' Montri piped up. 'Cutting her hair off,' Jo replied smoothly, slicing off a bit of his hair. He did it quite a bit, only tiny snips that don't really make a difference, and Montri never knew. In between we cracked quips about how Jo could be a barber next time, and the Thai boy never knew a thing!

Then XW wanted in on the fun, and she took the scissors. Believe me, it was quite a feat keeping up talking while we watched the proceedings.

Then Montri started to wonder why everyone wasn't talking as much (too busy watching the hair-snipping with bated breath) and he swept a hand through his hair the same moment XW snipped a lock of hair. Naturally, his hands touched the scissors and he sprang up and everyone was laughing like shit.

He started spewing expletives while Jo brushed the hair from his pants. It was all cool though; you couldn't really tell if his hair was cut or not.

Well, laughs all around. But I need to sleep. Got revision tuition tomorrow for the whole day so I'll catch you guys around yeah. Thank you Ben for helping me calm down before BM by saying, "What's the point of studying so hard if you're too stressed to pick up the pencil?" and "Not studying a while won't kill you." Thanks very much.

Alright, then.

Cheers.