June 2012 and July 2012: The eventful months

Looking back at the year 2012, of all the months, I consider June and July as the 'eventful' months. The reason is because many important incidents happened during that 2 months. Other than June and July 2012, many incidents also happened on August, September, October, November and December 2012. However, most of the incidents on those months happened only in my school, while the incidents on June and July 2012 happened in many places, so here I would write about the incidents happened during June and July 2012.

4 June 2012 (Monday):

It was during the 2012 mid-year school holiday. Earlier in March 2012, I applied for the ASEAN Scholarship through online. On that night, I received an email which told me to sit for the ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test. If I could score well in the test, I would receive an email on August 2012 which would invite me to attend an interview on September 2012. The test would be held at Sunway Carnival Mall, Butterworth on 2 days, 16 June and 17 June 2012. I was happy to be chosen to sit for the test.

Later, I logged in to Facebook. I received a friend request from a Malay girl. Although I did not know her, I just accepted the friend request. Before the school holidays, all Form 5 students were asked do the Additional Mathematics Project Work. A few days earlier, I managed to complete the project work. I decided to upload it to this blog to share it with my friends who might need help. After accepting her friend request, that girl chatted with me. She said that she was the friend of someone who formerly studied in my school during Form 1 to 3. She told me that she downloaded my Additional Mathematics Project Work and asked me if she could edit my project work and re-upload it. I told her that she could, but with the condition that she must not remove me on Facebook after doing that, and she agreed. I was happy over this incident because I knew that my work was appreciated by others.

When I slept on that night, I had a strange dream. I dreamt that after the 2012 mid-year school holidays, the school rearranged the Form 5 classes and I was transferred to another class. Some of my former Form 1 to 3 classmates were also in that class and I talked to them. As I was talking to them, suddenly I noticed that many of my Form 4 and 5 classmates were not in that class. That meant that I would be separated from them. I was very sad about that. I walked throughout the school to find my Form 4 and 5 classmates. At last, I found them in one of the classroom. Most of my Form 4 and 5 classmates were in that class. I wanted to request the school to change my class, but the school was over at that time so I had to wait till the second day. Then, on the way back home, I cried all the way. Suddenly, I woke up from my dream. I was glad that it was just a dream. The dream made I realised that I should treasure every moments with my friends. Moreover, I would be separated with all my friends half a year later. Actually, this incident was one of the factor that lead to my '7-11 Revolution' which happened a month later.

10 June 2012 (Sunday):

It was the first day of school after the 2012 mid-year school holiday. Before the school holidays, it was the Form 5 First Term Examination. So, it was time to get my exam results. After the assembly, it was Moral period. I was quite worried about my Moral results, because I thought that I had written a wrong 'nilai' in one essay question. I was so happy when I knew that I got 97 marks for Moral. I found out that the 'nilai' which I previously thought that it was wrong turned out to be correct. After recess, it was Malay period. My teacher gave back Malay Paper 2 first. My marks was 102/110. It was quite high so I thought that I might be able to get A+. Then, I got Malay Paper 1 and my marks was 113/130. In overall, my marks was 90. I was very happy because I got A+ in Malay for the first time. I was also the only one in my class to get A+ in Malay. Then, it was Sejarah. I was also very worried of Sejarah. At last, I got 92 marks for Sejarah. Although it was A+, I was not very satisfied with the marks. Then, I realised that I could get 2 more marks so I told my teacher about that and he added my marks to 94.

The last period was Additional Mathematics. My teacher gave back Paper 1 first. I was disappointed to get only 78/80 because I thought I could get 80/80. Then, I was even more disappointed when I knew that I only got 84/100 for Paper 2. My overall marks was 90. I checked my answer paper and found out that my teacher did not give full marks for many questions although my final answer was correct and I did show my workings. I also realised that my teacher marked my answers as wrong for a few questions on Index Number, Solutions of Triangles and Progression. Therefore, I asked my teacher about that. After listening to her explanation, I realised that I had made careless mistakes in the questions on Solution of Triangles and Progression. However, for the question on Index Number, she said that my solution seemed to be correct but the marking scheme used a different method and as a result my answer was different from the marking scheme. She said that she would take back my answer paper to recheck and think about that question at home. Another student, Jeevaa also had problem with that question. After school, my mother came to fetch me because my parents were at Kulim on that day. I told her that I was unhappy about the Additional Mathematics paper but she seemed not concerned about it. Worst of all, my grandmother did not greet me as usual when I arrived at home. That made me even more unhappy. After reaching home, I immediately asked my grandfather about that Index Number question. He concluded that I did use the correct method but I must have made some mistakes in the calculation. He said that I could still get marks for the workings. Then, I calmed down.

11 June 2012 (Monday):

On that day, some VIP's visited our school. As a result, the school pricipal told all teachers not to give back any examination papers on that day, instead they should carry out normal lessons. During Physics period, my techer still gave back our exam papers, but he did not discuss them on that day. I got 47/50 for Paper 1, 99/100 for Paper 2 and 40/40 for Paper 3. My overall marks was 97. After that, it was Mathematics period. My teacher did not give back the exam papers but instead just told us everyone's marks. She said that I got 100 marks. It was the 4th time continuously in a row that I got 100 marks for Mathematics. During recess, I went to the staffroom to ask my Additional Mathematics teacher if she had rechecked my exam paper, but she said that she had not yet rechecked it. After recess, it was Chemistry period. My teacher gave back Paper 1 first, then Paper 3 and finally Paper 2. My Paper 1 score was 50/50. Then, I was very disappointed and worried when I got only 40/50 for Paper 3. To get A+, I must get at least 90/100 for Paper 2. At last, I got 93/100 for Paper 2. In overall, my marks for Chemistry was 92. The last period on that day was Information and Communication Technology (ICT). I was very happy to know that I got 100 marks for ICT. It was the 2nd time I got 100 marks.

12 June 2012 (Tuesday):

The subjects that I still did not get my results were Biology, English and Chinese. There was English period on that day. I was very worried of English because I thought that I had written my essay out of topic. Our English teacher did go to school, but she did not give back our English paper. Instead, she took a few good essays written by students of other classes in the examination and read them to us. During recess, I did not look for my Additional Mathematics teacher because I had decided to wait until the Additional Mathematics period on Thursday.

13 June 2012 (Wednesday):

On that day, Jeevaa told me that our Biology teacher had gave him his Biology paper and he got 100/100 for Biology Paper 2. I did not believe that because I thought he was weaker in Biology. However, he showed be his Biology Paper 2 as a proof so I finally believed. There was no Biology period on that day, but I met my Biology teacher. I asked her if she could give me my Biology paper since Jeevaa had got his paper, but she said that she gave Jeevaa because he would be absent on the next day. My teacher said that my marks for Biology Paper 2 was close to 100 but I did not get 100 because I made some careless mistakes. She also said that she would give back the Biology paper on the following day. Later, during the Chinese period, I got my Chinese paper. Originally, my overall marks was 85. However, my teacher made some mistakes while calculating the marks and my actual marks was only 78. I told my teacher about it to change the marks to 78. Although 78 marks was only A-, I still did that because I wanted my actual marks. Also, my marks for Chinese would not be recorded in the SAPS since I did not register for Chinese in SPM.

14 June 2012 (Thursday):

There was Biology period on that day. My Biology teacher gave us back our Biology paper. I got 46/50 for Paper 1, 97/100 for Paper 2 and 50/50 for Paper 3. My overall marks for Biology was 97. Although Jeevaa got 100/100 for Paper 2, his overall marks was only 95. The reason was because he did not score well in Paper 3. My teacher decided to add 5 marks for every students who have completed their notes. However, I rejected the 5 marks offer because I wanted my actual marks.

16 June 2012 (Saturday):

On that day, it was the first day of ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test. There were 3 tests, which were Mathematics, English and General Ability Test. The test was held at the Convention Centre of the Sunway Carnival Mall in Butterworth. On that morning, my parents arrived at Kulim around 8AM. Then, my parents took me to the Sunway Carnival Mall and my grandparents also followed along. On our way there, we stopped at somewhere to eat breakfast. We arrived at Sunway Carnival Mall at 11:00AM. We waited there for the test. One of my friend, MXY also applied for the scholarship and she went there for the test. At 11:45AM, it was the reporting time of the test. After reporting, all candidates had to wait for a long time before we were allowed to enter the examination hall. During the test, my grandparents went shopping in the supermarket inside the mall while my parents went back to Kulim. The first test was the Mathematics Test and it started at 1:00PM. The test lasted for 2 hours and we were allowed to use calculator in the test. The questions were easier than what I expected. I expected the questions would test on the SPM Additional Mathematics topics but in turned out to test mostly on the SPM Mathematics topics. However, the questions were not easy. Many questions were not direct and require thinking and reasoning. In fact, some questions were similar to the Olympiad Mathematics questions. There were also not enough time. At last, I could answer around 19 out of the 26 questions. For the other 7 questions, I did not know how to do them and I had no time to think. The Mathematics test ended on 3:00PM. Then, we were given a 15 minutes break. My grandparents had bought me pizza from the Pizza Hut in Sunway Carnival Mall and they were waiting outside the hall. I had to eat the pizza quickly because I only had 15 minutes.

After that, the next test was English. The English test was divided into Test 1 and Test 2. Test 1 tested on comprehension and summary while Test 2 tested on essay. The English test 1 started on 3:30PM. The comprehension questions were similar to the SPM style questions, but it was much more difficult. The passage given was much longer and most comprehension questions require the use of own words to answer. There were even questions on the meaning of phrases. For the summary, it was very much like the SPM, but it was much more difficult to find the correct points in the passage given. The test lasted for 1 and a half hours and ended at 5:00PM. Then, we were given a 15 minutes break again. After that, the English test 2 started on 5:25PM. I was surprised to know that I had to write a 350 words essay in just 30 minutes. For the SPM, 1 hour was given to write the same length of essay and I already thought that it was too short a time and now the time was shortened to 30 minutes. There were 2 questions to choose from and I chose the question 'Wealth is a Blessing as well as a Curse'. I had to hurry when writing due to insufficient time and as a result I could not write well. I wrote 4 main points, 2 on 'blessing' and 2 on 'curse'. The test ended at 5:55PM. After the test, my parents were already waiting outside the hall. My grandparents were shopping in some shops in the mall. Then, all of us went to a nearby restaurant and had fish curry for dinner.

17 June 2012 (Sunday):

It was the second day of the ASEAN scholarship selection test. Although it was Sunday, there was no school on that day because it was a public holiday in Kedah due to the Israk & Mikraj festival. I woke up early at 7:00AM. My grandmother bought me Nasi Lemak for breakfast. After breakfast, at 7:45AM my parents took me to Sunway Carnival Mall. My grandparents did not follow along on that day. We arrived at Sunway Carnival Mall on 8:30AM. My father parked his car right outside the Convention Centre. I waited in the car until the reporting time at 8:45AM. After reporting, all candidates again had to wait a long time before we were allowed to enter the examination hall. On that day, there was only one test on General Ability. During the test, my parents went to Penang for a while. The General Ability test started on 10:00AM. Earlier I had expected the test to test on general knowledge but it turned out to test on IQ. For every question, 3 pictures were given and I had to determine the 4th one. The questions were multiple-choice questions. There were 46 questions but the time given was only 20 minutes, so I only had enough time to answer about two-third of the questions. For the remaining one-third, I had to simply guess the answers since there was no more time left. The General Ability test ended on 10:20AM.

After the test, there was a briefing session for all candidates and parents. I told my parents to attend the briefing session because parents were encouraged to attend it to get more information about the ASEAN scholarship. The briefing session started at 10:30AM. However, my parents had not yet arrived at the Sunway Carnival Mall Convention Centre so I had to attend it myself. It turned out that the briefing session had nothing much but only introduced about the ASEAN Scholarship and the education system in Singapore. Not many parents attended it. The organiser then told us that if our parents missed it they could attend the 2nd session in the afternoon. The briefing session lasted for 45 minutes and ended at 11:15AM. At that time, my parents were waiting outside the hall. I told them not to attend the 2nd briefing session in the afternoon since there was nothing much during the session. Then, my parents took me home.

18 June 2012 (Monday):

I went to school as usual. The only subject that I still did not know my result was English. I was not very concerned about it because I already got A+ in 9 subjects. There was English period on that day but my teacher did not enter the class. A few classmates and I decided to go to the staffroom to find out our English marks. I was quite happy to know that I got 87 marks for English. Although it was only an A, in the beginning I only hoped to get A- since I thought that my essay was out of topic. It turned out that my teacher did not consider my essay as out of topic and I got 42/50 for it. Many of my marks were deducted from English Paper 2. Then, Jeevaa borrowed my paper and he realised that my essay was out of topic but the teacher still gave me 42/50. He wanted to ask my teacher about that. I quickly snatched back my paper and I tried to give it to my friends in other classes in order to hide it. At last, the girl KYF who sat beside me agreed to help me hide the paper and keep it a secret. Out of my expectation, my English teacher suddenly entered the class and she discussed the exam questions. I was very worried that Jeevaa might ask her about my essay and I regretted showing him my exam paper. Luckily, he did not ask the teacher about that. My overall results for the Form 5 First Term Examination was 9A+ and 1A. My grandparents and parents were a bit disappointed of my English results when they knew about it.

29 June 2012 (Friday):

The Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture Competition would be held on the next day. Earlier, my Chinese teacher told all Form 5 Chinese students about the competition and encouraged all of us to take part in it. Those who registered for the competition were given 3 books, one about Chinese history, one about Chinese geography and one about Chinese culture, all for free. The questions in the competition would be based on the contents of the three books. The competition was organised by the cooperation of China and the Education Department of Malaysia, therefore it would be recognised by the school and we could get 17 co-curriculum marks by taking part in it. Those who managed to pass in the competition would also get a certificate, while those who won the competition would be given prizes and allowed to compete in the next round. Many students and I decided to take part in the competition. Because I was always busy studying for my exams, I never read the 3 books before that. On that day, I spent the whole day reading the 3 books to prepare for the competition on the next day.

30 June 2012 (Saturday):

The Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture Competition was held on that day. The competition was held at SMJK Chio Min. On that morning, I was still reading the 3 books. I managed to finish reading the Chinese History and Chinese Geography books but not the Chinese Culture book. I knew that I should focus more on history and geography because I knew less about culture. At 1:00PM, my grandparents took me to SMJK Chio Min. After I reached there, I met many of my Chinese friends from my school. I registered my name. Then, I also met some of my friends studying in SMJK Chio Min. After that, we were asked to go to the hall to listen to some announcements regarding the competition. Then, the competition started at 2:00PM. The time given was 1 hour and there were 100 questions. All the questions were multiple-choice questions. The questions were divided into 3 sections and questions in different sections carry different marks. The total marks was 260. I was sure to answer only some of the questions correctly. My teacher had previously said that in order to pass the competition and get the certificate, I must answer at least half of the questions correctly. I was not sure if I could pass the competition. The competition ended on 3:00PM. Many other students decided to pass up the answer sheet early after they finished answering all questions but I decided to continue until the time was up because I wanted to recheck my answers. After the competition, my grandparents were waiting outside the gate of SMJK Chio Min and they took me home. After a short while, I had to go for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. Some of my friends in the tuition centre also took part in the same competition.

6 July 2012 (Friday):

The Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competition would be held on the following day. Earlier, my school decided to choose four Form 5 students to take part in the competition. My school chose me for the competition and I was also willing to take part in the competition. It was the 3rd time I took part in that competition, as I had previously taken part in the same competition when I was in Form 2 and Form 4. The participants of the competition were divided into 3 groups, which were Bongsu for Form 1 and 2, Muda for Form 3 and 4 and Sulong for Form 5 and 6. On that day, my grandfather thought me some Form 6 topics and we also went through some of the past-year Olympiad questions in order to prepare me for the competition on the next day.

7 July 2012 (Saturday):

The Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competition was held on that day. The competition was held at MRSM Baling. On that morning, my grandparents took me to school and I arrived school at 7:30AM. I waited in school until 8:00AM. Then, the teacher in charge took me and all other participants to MRSM Baling in her car. We arrived in MRSM Baling at 9:15AM. There, I met some of my friends from SMJK Chio Min. Aftering registering, we were allowed to enter the room where the competition would be held and discuss among ourselves until the competition started. I expected the questions to be very difficult since I was in the Sulong category, and I remembered that on the previous year the Muda category questions were already very difficult and I could answer only 3 out of the 9 questions correctly. The competition started at 10:00AM. Out of my expectation, the questions turned out to be easier than what I expected. In fact, it was even easier than the Muda category questions on the previous year. The questions were divided into 2 sections. Section A consisted of 6 short questions and required only answers without workings, while Section B consisted of 3 long questions that required full workings to be shown. For Section A, I could answer 5 of the 6 questions and I was very confident to get 4 of them correct while for Section B, I could answer 2 of the 3 questions and I was confident to get 1 of them correct. The competition lasted for 2 and an a half hours and ended at 12:30PM. Then, the teacher in charge took us back to our school. On the way back, we were given bread for lunch. After arriving at my school, my grandparents took me back home. After a short while, I had to go for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. Some of my friends in the tuition centre also took part in the same competition.

9 July 2012 (Monday):

The 'First Solar Environment Outreach Program' would be held in school on the next day. A group of 4 Malay girls in my class would be taking part in a competition during the program. Therefore, on that day they wanted to make some preparations for the competition. They wanted to design a model of city that uses solar power entirely. After recess, it was Chemistry period and the Sejarah period would be after the Chemistry period. The 4 Malay girls decided to go to the Multimedia room of my school during the Sejarah period to prepare for the competition. They chose Sejarah period because it was boring. As a result, the Chinese girls and some boys in my class also wanted to follow them there to use that opportunity to skip the Sejarah class. I also wanted to skip Sejarah because most students in my class would not be in class during Sejarah period and the Sejarah class was boring to me.

Immediately after the Chemistry period ended, I walked out of my class. Many other students in my class also did the same. At first, a few boys and I hid somewhere near our class. We waited until our Sejarah teacher entered the class. Then, we went to the multimedia room. The girls were already in the multimedia room and they stayed at the back part of the room. Some of them were doing homework while others were designing the model of the solar-powered city. I tried to help them but I could not give much help. Instead, I spent most of my time talking to my friends there. At the same time, our Biology teacher was teaching another class in the front part of the room. She knew that we must be skipping the Sejarah class although we did not tell her. Still, she allowed us to stay in that room. After the Sejarah period ended, we went back to our class. There were only a few students who went for the Sejarah class. Later, our Sejarah teacher saw us and he asked us why we did not attend his class. We lied to him that the whole class would be taking part in the competition on the next day and the teacher in charge told us to prepare for it on that day. He did not scold us although he did not actually believed what we said.

10 July 2012 (Tuesday) & 11 July 2012 (Wednesday):

On 10 July 2012, the 'First Solar Environment Outreach Program' was held in my school. During the program, I helped the 4 girls in my class who took part in the competition. This event is quite important to me. It led to my '7-11 Revolution' on 11 July 2012, which made me realised that I should treasure my school life and friendship.
I have written in detail about that incident on this blog earlier. You can read it here: http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2013/01/11-july-2012.html
Due to that incident, I became closer to NBL and NBQ who were 2 of the 4 girls that I helped during their competition. Earlier, I was not very close to both of them but closer to another girl NFH.

19 July 2012 (Thursday):

Earlier, a Chemistry teacher in my school had chosen me to take part in the Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan Malaysia (K3M) competition. The reason was because I got the highest mark for Chemistry in my class during the Form 5 1st Term Examination. Another boy in my class, Jeevaa was also chosen. The teacher gave us the past-year K3M questions to practice. I did them and they were not difficult. However, I did not pay much attention to the competition because I wanted to study for the exam. On that day, when I arrived at school Jeevaa asked me if I had studied Chemistry and I was surprised by his question. He then told me that the Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan Malaysia competition would be held on that day. I did not know about that earlier but I was not worried about the competition.

The competition started at 10:00AM. It was held at the Chemistry lab of my school. 2 students from every Form 5 classes took part in the competition. The time given for the competition was 90 minutes but the teacher in charge said that many students in the previous years could finish answering within 60 minutes. So, he would be collecting the answer papers after 60 minutes but we could be given another 30 minutes of we really needed it. The questions were not difficult. Basically, the questions tested only on the SPM topics but some were a little tricky. There were 40 questions and all questions were multiple-choice questions. I could answer most of the questions and I could finish answering within 60 minutes. I was not sure if I could get all the questions correct. After the test, I went to the canteen to eat before I returned to my class. In class, I told my friends about the competition.

21 July 2012 (Saturday):

On that day, it was the Chinese Essay Writing competition. The competition was organised by the Chung Ling High School in Penang and it was held at SRJK (C) Chio Min A. Earlier, my Chinese teacher told me about the competition and encouraged me to take part. Actually, I did not want to take part in it because I knew that I could not possibly win the competition. However, I agreed to take part in the competition because I did not want to disappoint my Chinese teacher. On that morning, my grandparents took me to SRJK (C) Chio Min A. After arriving there, I had to wait because the competition had not yet started. At 9:00AM, all participants were told to register their names. There, I met TWS, a student from my school. Other than the Chinese Essay Writing competition for secondary school students, the was also a Mathematics Competition for primary school students. Then, we were allowed to enter a classroom where the competition would take place.

At 9:30AM, the organiser entered the classroom and gave a speech. During the speech, they announced the essay topic. The topic for upper secondary students was 成长需要幻想 (The process of growing up requires imagination). I was worried because the topic given was too general and I was not sure what to write. After that, we were asked to walk out of the classroom to take photographs together with the organiser outside the classroom. The news reporter of Guang Ming Daily newspaper took the photograph. Then, the competition started at 10:00AM. We were given 2 and a half hours to write the essay but we could pass up early if we wanted to. Although I was not sure how to write, I still tried my best to write it. I decided to write the reasons on why we need imagination when growing up. Then, I began to have more ideas and finally I could finish the essay. My essay was not very good but at least it was average. I decided to pass up early before the time ended since many other students also did the same. When I walked out of the classroom, I was given a participating certificate and some snacks and drinks by the organiser. My grandparents were already waiting outside the school and they took me home.

23 July 2012 (Monday):

On that day, it was the first day of the book fair in my school. My school organised a book fair in the school hall to sell reference books at lower prices. There was Sejarah period on that day. Again, some students in my class, including NBL and her friends decided to skip Sejarah class to go for the book fair. I decided to do the same as well. During the Sejarah period, we went to the school hall where the book fair was held. There, we just spent our time walking around and looking at the reference books. I bought the past-year SBP trial questions for Biology. There, I talked a lot to NBL. Then, when the Sejarah period was about to end, 2 boys Aidil and Tamimi told me that they wanted to go for the Sejarah class because they were afraid that the teacher might scold them. I decided to follow them to the Sejarah class. I wanted to tell NBL about that but I could not find her at that time so I just went for Sejarah class straight away. When we entered the class, the Sejarah teacher asked us where did we go before that. We told him that we went for the book fair because we thought that all classes were involved. Our teacher did not scold us but just told us not to do that again next time. The other students who skipped Sejarah class did not return to class.

After the Sejarah period ended, the teacher wrote down the names of students who did not enter class at all, including NBL. I tried to convince the teacher not to write down NBL's name but I failed. After Sejarah, it was ICT period. NBL told me that she was angry with me because I left the book fair for Sejarah class without first telling her. I explained to her that I could not tell her because she was not around at that time but she was still unhappy. Then, I told her that NFH would not be angry with me over such a small matter. She was even angrier and she refused to talk to me because she did not like to be compared with NFH. When the ICT period ended, I said goodbye to her but she just ignored me left the computer lab. That incident made me feel very sad. I was not sure why NBL was unhappy with me but I knew the reason was either because I left the book fair without telling her, because I did not manage to stop the Sejarah teacher from writing down her name, or because I compared her with NFH. I told myself that no matter how I must get the forgiveness from her. The SPM Trial Examination would start on 14 August 2012. I started revising for the exam on that day. I began with Biology Form 5.

24 July 2012 (Tuesday):

It was the second day of the book fair in my school. After I reached school on that day, I prepared to apologise to NBL. Then, when NBL arrived, I immediately apologised to her and asked her why she was angry with me on the previous day. She said that it was because I left the book fair without telling her. I promised NBL that I would never do the same thing again and I would also not compare her with NFH again. Finally, NBL agreed to forgive me. On the 3rd and 4th period, there was no teacher in class. So, I went to the book fair in the school hall again. NBL also went to the book fair. NBL then told me that on the previous day she was scolded by a worker there because she entered through the wrong door.After recess, it was Bahasa Melayu period. However, my Bahasa Melayu teacher did not go to school on that day so another teacher replaced her. That teacher that took everyone in my class to the school library to read some books.

At the library, NBL invited me to sit beside her and I agreed. NBQ was playing Scrabble at that time and she invited me to play with her but I rejected. Then, NBQ played Scrabble with another boy. I took a STPM Biology book to read and while reading I talked to NBL. Then, I said to NBL that I never disturbed her unlike some other boys in my class who liked to disturb her. However, she suddenly got annoyed with me. She just stood up and went to play Scrabble with NBQ, leaving me alone. I was a little disappointed. Luckily, she was not angry with me again and after we returned to our class she continued to talk to me. Then, during the Mathematics period, the teacher gave us some worksheets. The teacher asked all students to walk to the front of the class to take the worksheets. I took the worksheet for myself and also for NBL, but I did not take for KYF who sat beside me because she did not ask me to do so. As a result, KYF said that I was not a gentleman. That made me feel a little more disappointed.

25 July 2012 (Wednesday):

NBL was did not go to school on that day and I missed her. On that day, the school announced that on the next day there would be a photographing session for all Form 5 students who got top-65 during the previous examination. I was involved in the photographing session. NBL was also involved but since she was absent I thought that she might not know about it. I decided to send a SMS to tell her about the photographing session.

26 July 2012 (Thursday):

The photographing session for all Form 5 students who got top-65 in the previous examination was held on that day. All Form 3 students were also involved in the photographing session. It was held during the school assembly from 7:30AM to 8:00AM at the school hall. Before the session started, some boys including me had to help our teachers to carry the chairs to the school hall for the photographing session. NBL did go to school on that day. I took photograph with all the other 64 students during the photographing session.

27 July 2012 (Friday):

On that morning, I went for my Bahasa Melayu tuition. On the way to the tuition, I used my mobile phone to log into my Facebook account. I saw that someone had posted on Facebook that the list of students selected for the PLKN (National Service) was already out and she even shared the link to check the PLKN result online. I was very surprised and worried about that as I did not want to go for the PLKN because the training is tough and I was not interested in it. I decided not to check the PLKN results first. At the Bahasa Melayu tuition, a girl THY told me that she was chosen for PLKN and asked me if I was chosen. I told her that I had not yet checked it. After I went home from tuition, I did not tell my grandparents about the PLKN because I knew that they would surely ask me to check immediately. Then, I prayed that I would not be chosen for the PLKN. Other than myself, I also prayed for NBL and NFH because they are by good friends and I knew that they also did not want to go for the PLKN. However, I did not pray for NBQ because I considered her as my 'unimportant' friend at that time.

28 July 2012 (Saturday):

The London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony was held at 2:00AM on the previous night. My grandparents and I did not stay up late to watch it. On that morning, we watched the repeated version of the opening ceremony. However, we watched only the beginning part because later we went out for breakfast. We had breakfast in a newly opened restaurant in Bukit Martajam. When I was eating, I suddenly realised that a few months later I would be leaving Kulim to further my studies after secondary school. So, that meant I would soon be separated from my grandparents and I could not go out and have breakfast with them very often anymore. I told myself that I must treasure my every moments in Kulim with my grandparents. Thinking of that made me feel very sad. Actually, earlier I had realised that during my '7-11 Revolution'.

On that afternoon, I went for the Additional Mathematics and Mathematics tuition. During the tuition, my tuition friends asked me if I was chosen for PLKN. They said that they had checked and they did not get PLKN. I told them that I had not yet checked because I was afraid of being selected for PLKN. Then, they said that many of their friends were also not chosen, so most likely I was also not chosen and they told me not to worry. They tried to trick me to show them my IC because they wanted to use my IC number to help me check if I was chosen for PLKN, but I managed to prevent them from doing so. After that, I told
them not to talk loudly about the PLKN because my grandfather might hear it. If my grandfather knew that the PLKN results was out, he would surely ask me to check it on that day. However, some other students in the tuition class were also talking about the PLKN and I could not stop them. Some of them were chosen for PLKN while some were not. Luckily, at last my grandfather did not know about the PLKN.

29 July 2012 (Sunday):

On that day, after I arrived at school, my classmates asked me if I was chosen for PLKN. I told them that I had not yet checked it because I was afraid to do so. Most of them were not chosen for PLKN. A boy who did not get PLKN also tried to trick me to show him my IC so that he could use my IC number to help me check my PLKN result, but I managed to stop him from doing so. There was an aerobics exercise in my school for all students on that day. The exercise was held at the school field. There, I asked many of my friends from other classes if they were chosen for PLKN. Most of them were also not chosen. Then, I met NBL and NFH. I asked them if they got PLKN and both of them told me that they were not chosen. I was happy to know that. After that, a girl told me that she had helped me to check and I was not chosen for PLKN. She could do that because she was the monitor of my class during Form 3 and therefore she had my IC number. She said that quite seriously so I believed her.

After the aerobics exercise ended, I returned to my class. In the class, I knew that only 4 students, Jeevaa, KYF, AUH and ASM were confirmed to be selected for the PLKN. A girl said that I would definitely be chosen for PLKN because I was not active in co-curriculum activities. I told her that someone had already checked for me and I was not chosen. Then, NBQ told me that she had not yet checked it because she was also afraid. I told her not to worry because most students including me were not chosen for PLKN, so most likely she was also not chosen. After I went home, I told my grandparents that the PLKN results was out because I already knew that I was not chosen for PLKN. I also told them that someone had already checked it for me and she said that I was not chosen. My grandparents were happy to hear that. Then, they asked me to check the PLKN result again by myself for confirmation. I checked the PLKN result by SMS. While waiting for the reply, I was still a little worried that the girl did not tell me the truth. Then, I was very happy when I got the reply 'Maaf, anda tidak terpilih untuk menyertai PLKN Siri 10/2013.' The girl did not lie and really I was not chosen for PLKN.

30 July 2012 (Monday):

In school, I told my friends that I was not chosen for PLKN. Some students said that it was unfair because I was not chosen for PLKN although I was inactive in co-curriculum activities, while Jeevaa was chosen for PLKN even though he had represented my school and won in several badminton competitions. I asked NBQ if she had checked whether she was chosen for PLKN. She said that she still had not yet checked and I again advised her not to worry since many students were also not selected. She also said that her friends tried to trick her to get her IC number.

31 July 2012 (Tuesday):

In school, I again asked NBQ if she was chosen for PLKN. She secretly told me that she was chosen for PLKN because she did not want others to know about that. At first I thought that she was just joking. However, she confirmed that she was really chosen for PLKN. She even told the teacher that she was chosen when the teacher asked her about that. Knowing that made me feel guilty. Earlier, I prayed that NBL, NFH and myself would not be chosen for PLKN, but I did not pray for NBQ. Then I knew that NBQ was afraid to check the PLKN results because she was afraid of being chosen for PLKN, just like me. However, I still did not pray for her and I thought that she would be lucky like me. Unfortunately, at last she was chosen for PLKN. I regretted for not praying for her earlier, and that might be the reason that caused her to be chosen. I also felt pity for her because I knew that the PLKN training is tough and she did not want to go for the PLKN. Earlier I heard that the students who were chosen for PLKN could choose not to go for it, if they could provide a valid reason. I hoped that it was true. That incident was one of the factor which led to my '18 October Revolution' later. (You can read about my '18 October Revolution' here: http://daniellimjj.blogspot.com/2013/01/18-october-2012-another-important-day.html )

Results of the competitions/tests that I took part during June and July 2012:

1) ASEAN Scholarship Selection Test:
All candidates who scored well in the test would receive an invitation letter on August 2012 to attend an interview session on September 2012. However, I did not receive any letters or email about that during August and September 2012. At last, I concluded that I was not selected for the interview. Most likely I did not score well in the English test because I could not write a good essay in so short a time (30 minutes).
2) Common Knowledge on Chinese Culture competition:
When I was answering the Chemistry Paper 3 during the SPM Trial Examination, my Chinese teacher told be that I managed to pass the competition and therefore I could receive a certificate, although I did not win. My score for that competition was 197/260. A few other students in my school also passed the competition. She asked me to check my personal details on the name list and sign my name after checking. Then, one day during the SPM examination, she gave me the certificate for the competition.
3) Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan (OMK) competiton:
A few days before the SPM started, one of my friend, Afiq told me that he had checked the OMK's website and I managed to get Sanjungan Kehormat (Merit Award) for that competition. He also took part in the same competition and he got Sagu Hati (Consolation) which was better than me. After the SPM ended, I went to the OMK's website to check about it. I really got Sanjungan Kehormat and my ranking was 26th. I was very happy to know that. However, until now I still had not received any rewards for that.
4) Kuiz Kimia Kebangsaan (K3M) competition:
One day on October 2012, Jeevaa told me that both of us could get a certificate for that competition. During recess, we went to the Chemistry lab to get the certificate. I scored 36/40 in the competition and I was the highest among all students in my school who took part in that competition, while Jeevaa scored 33/40. Both of us got the High Distinction grade. We got 2 certificates, 1 was the certificate of participation and the other was the certificate for High Distinction. All other participants in my school except one of them also managed to get 2 certificates. Their grades were either High Distinction, Distinction, Good or Merit.
5) Chinese Essay Writing competition:
After the competition on that day, I was immediately given a certificate of participation by the organiser. However, after that I never heard any news about that competition anymore. So, I concluded that I did not win that competition.

(THE END)