July 2012 - December 2012

Well, what can I say about this semester? It is pretty much a BITCH. Mind my french. Not the whole 6 months though but I can honestly say, most of the time it has been a bitch. It's the final semester. Preparations for STPM are all over the place! Exam papers are flying like crazy! ARTS PROJECT DUE DATE. Oh ho ho, not to forget, BORNEON COMPILATION. Ugh.. 'editorial compilation'. Those words scare the snitzel out of me now. Borneon is the Pre University Magazine.

 Throughout July, August and September I was pretty much switching back and forth from studying for my exams and doing my arts project including finishing up my assignments. September came and the due date for my arts project was closing in and damn were my classmates and I started to panic. Our classroom became half exam hall and half arts studio. Newspapers, boxes, acrylic paints, wet brushes, canvases and all those stuff were just laying around the classroom. We didn't even bother to clean it up for the exam. Because we needed to keep our things at its place in order to 'managed' the chaos. The lecturers were pretty much beating our asses to clean our room but how could we? Our due date was just a few days away! It was epic. Right after we finished our exam paper and the examiner left the room, we went from being all mind set in history, writing, numbers, critical thinking to being carpenters, painters, cut and paster. It was honestly, the most stressful situation I've ever been in. I've clearly underestimated arts project. Thought it would be a breeze like during my SPM days but NO.IT.WASN'T. Even my class monitor, Frances who was a former head girl prefect, editor of the school magazine, honor student and a no-stranger to athletic and literary/verbal competitions admitted that this was the most stressful she has ever been in. You could imagine how dead the rest of us felt. BUT all's well ends well! We managed to finish our project right to the very last second! The time when I cellotaped the box where my statue is in, was the time where I could actually feel a MUCH heavy burden lifted from my (not only shoulders but my) body. It took a whole lot of prayers, sweat, tears, splinters, hardwork and dedication but we did it! 

 Pictures that were taken for my portfolio

 My Arts portfolio and statue ready for packaging!

After the rush of exams and the project, now I have to focus on two things. Editorial compilation and STPM. I've been cheating on a lot of compilation work and left Maria in the waters while I was busy with the project and I felt guilty but I jumped in the boat as soon as I'm done with my project and thankfully that boat did not sink (I think). Have you ever heard of CorelDraw? Version 5 to be exact? Well, IT'S A BITCH. Ffing thing crashes like crazy and Maria has to suffer a lot of that. My lagging experience wasn't as worst compared to her's. 1 Corel file could fit only 4 pages in order for it to not crash. I edited a few pages and it lags and crash every 5 mins when I make minor adjustments on the page and if you don't save it before it lags, you'll lose your work. Oh and the amount of time it takes while saving is about 10-15mins and if it takes longer than that, that means it's crashing. So you have estimate when it'll lag and save your page everytime you make a move so your work doesn't disappear like an over-emotional teenager. I edited a few pages but Maria did 32 pages from scratch!! Poor thing... I feel guilty but I know she didn't want to waste time and wanted me to finish my arts project at that time. God bless that woman. So I made it up by helping in any way I can. Oh right, she's the Borneon Editor and I'm the Vice-Editor by the way. We weren't alone though. Serene and a few others came and pitched in. Serene did the cover and I'm so proud of her! Arts and graphics are her thing so I wasn't too worried of the outcome but she blew my expectations! She did an amazing job on the cover! Wish I could post a snap of the it here right now to show you but unfortunately I have to wait for the whole magazine to be publish.

We had this new section in the magazine that has never been done before (and I still can't believe why it hasn't been done). I recalled my seniors back in Convent of their little skit in the school's magazine where they chose a person best at something. I suggested that and we were like, 'sure!'. I made up these 8 categories a few of them being 'The Best Personality, The Person Who Excels in Leadership Skills, The Funniest Person,...' etc. Showed the section to Mdm. Morene our Editorial Advisor and she accepted it (PHEWWW). 

Well, the compilation took around September til the middle of October-ish/start of November-ish? I'm not sure if it's still going on now. The last time I got a phone call from a friend she told me Mdm. Morene wanted a raw file of the cover. So I'm guessing the magazine hasn't been printed yet (great just great). Whatever, as long it gets printed.

Maria Marcell, if you're reading this, sorry for being a psycho but you gotta admit, we were both driven crazy. Love you girl!

On the 19th of October, we had our Pre-U Appreciation Dinner a.k.a pre-graduation dinner. It was held at Sabah Oriental Hotel and was masquerade themed. It was fun and nice. The performances from each classes were entertaining. I had a good time spending with my Pre-U mates before we head forward to STPM in exactly 1 month since the date.

and here it finally is! 19th NOVEMBER 2012. The much dreaded and anticipated date by all Pre-U batch of 2011/2012 students across Malaysia. STPM is finally here. Only a year and 5 months of preparation since we came in in May of 2011 and here we are! I would be lying if I say I was completely calm. 

4 subjects, 8 papers, 24 days. 

 

The trip that had brought me to the land of lions! Not that there were any real lions roaming around. Singapore isn't much of a difference to Malaysia. Sure it's a 'fine' country, the streets are a lot more cleaner(and safer), I can't find any pack of gums on the rack of any convenience store and it only took 2 full days to cover the whole country but in terms of food and culture, it's pretty much the same deal.

The programme was only 4 days long but more than enough to experience Singapore in a decent matter. 9 other students and I were chosen to represent Pre-U of Sabah College to two schools in Singapore. Along with us were our school's Principle, senior assistant of Pre-U, and four other lecturers. 

We arrived on the 10th of March, night time and exhausted. The next day we went to Universal Studios or better known as USS! Gosh that place is heaven on earth! There are so many rides and different places to go it was hard to choose! Never did the phrase 'a kid in a candy store' has ever meant so much to me than it did when I entered the gates of USS. It's practically impossible to cover the place in one day! My group peeps for that day were Maria and Abby. We tried so hard to cover the whole place, we even marked our maps to be organized! However we only managed to cover, Far Far Away, Lost World, Ancient Egypt and Sci-Fi City. We were bummed out that we didn't had enough time to ride anything on Madagascar :( but we're sure this won't be our last! USS is so worth it!

After USS, we went to SkyPark at Marina Bay Sands. I heard so much about this place and I was so psych to heard we were going! Post-roller coasters dizziness won't even stop me from admiring the view at SkyPark! Towering over the city at 50 storeys high, the 360degrees breathtaking view of the city is absoluetly beautiful! I could see the financial district, Merlion Park, Eye of Singapore, Garden by the Bay and of course the vast open sea. Now that I've seen it for myself, I could see what the hype is all about.

The glass barriers didn't really scream 'safety' for me.

 The gang and Sir John!

(January 2012 - June 2012)

Fuuu~ This semester was a hard one to grasp! Since the seniors graduated, we (Pre-U 2) had to handle most of the events one of them being our seniors' graduation ceremony and dinner. Let me start off by summarizing the month of February;

The school held this annual Chinese New Year celebration for the students and lecturers. Serene, I and a few of our school mates were assigned to take pictures for the school magazine, Bornean and Pre-U mag, Borneon Wings. It was fun and nice to be in the midst of the whole celebration. Some dragon dancing were among of them. This marked the start of our photo-taking 'sideline' for the school's year events. I was also chosen to be the Vice Editor of the Borneon Wings magazine with my childhood friend, Eyaan Mobilik as the Editor. Little did we know or rather I, know what was laying ahead (phewww...).

Oh! How could I forget! During the month of March I participated in the Students' Exchange Programme to Singapore. I feel like I should make a post of its own for this trip since it's such a whole lot to cover... Yes, I should! We went to Yishun Junior College and Juying Secondary School. The students there are super friendly! Their warm hospitality just exudes and radiated throughout our whole trip! On the same month, I and others were initiated as a full scout (Pengakap Kelana) in the second batch. Yes, I'm a scout! I've never considered being a scout until Pre-U (we were forced to as an uniformed extra-curricular activity). We had to go through camps, community services and a whole lot of activities to be qualified as a full scout. The ceremony was held in school at night and parents were encouraged to come to witness the ceremony; my mom attended. It was a step-by-step process so we had rehearsals the day before. We also had the chance to make our shield and staff (no joke, we had a shield AND staff) as a representation our past, present and future. Meh~

Yeeeaaah that's me with the pink shield.

 April was a busy month for some of us as it was the month of our seniors' graduation and you know what that means? Bouquets, lists, performances and generally no-time-to-study galore! The new set of Student Body Councils (Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar), had the burdened tasks of setting of the hall for the ceremony in the morning, confirmation of attendees, the banquet hall for the dinner and all those jazz. I had the less burdened task of making the souvenirs for the seniors! It was a teddy bear in graduation attire glued to a candy cane-like stick with the bear holding a sign that said 'Dengan ikhlas daripada Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar' or something like that I don't remember (Should've taken a picture of it damn!) XD. Although I had to take pictures the whole day for the magazine. Even Serene had to bump to my house for awhile after the ceremony and we went to the dinner together. Tiring nonetheless it was fun to spend time with my schoolmates preparing. 

The month of June included the exchange student programme from Juying Secondary School, Singapore to Sabah College. Serene, Frances and I were assigned to (what else?) take picture of their activities throughout their visitation in the school compound. They are around the ages of 13 and 14 (Form 1 and 2) and such an active bunch they were! If I'm not mistaken, I think there were around 30 students representing Juying and equal number of students representing SC. Each of them had a foster family (the host/hostess student's family) assigned to stay in their houses throughout the programme. They did some batik, road trip to Kundasang at the foot of the mount Kinabalu and some other stuff. On the final day of their visitation to SC, the school held a cultural night dinner at the hall as a farewell treat. Serene and I were assigned to yes, take pictures and create a slide presentation of their activities with the SC students. Plus! We had the chance to wore our traditional kadazan outfit! The Singaporeans even did a wonderful performance and tried out some traditional dancing which involved some bamboos and skipping :p

There are more events and activities in this semester but to be frank, I can't recall all of them at this moment. Meh~ and so my second semester ends! Between the packed study schedule, extra classes and exams are these wonderful treats that made my whole Pre-U life a more unforgettable experience and I'll cherish these moments forever and eveeeeeer! AAAAAMEN.

Acceptance of the Pre University (or formerly known as Form 6) intake went out around the month of May. Pre-U is the government’s version of A-level, a shortcut to your degree. Unlike A-level, the syllabuses are mostly in Bahasa Malaysia except for Literature in English and the Science subjects (Physics, Biology, Mathematics S and T, etc...) and based on its reputation, it’s far tougher than A-level because the system hasn’t changed for more than three decades until now but that’s a whole other story. 

Despite not applying for it, I got in to Maktab Sabah (Sabah College). Many students got accepted but many chose not to register for it. I was one of those people. The reputation of Pre-U and to be honest the idea of going through the uniformed, school environment and sharing the walls with Form1 to Form5 students were a sour taste in the mouth by then but since I have no other choices (and my mom’s constant persist), I registered. And so the girl from an All Girls Catholic school since the age of 5 had been thrust into the co-ed world of upper high school. I’m not going to lie, the (dare I say) pro-muslim thing going on in that school kind of shook me up for a few days but I adjusted well and met new friends. A few in particular that I haven’t seen in years! 

July :

OSH Drawing Competition

The girl at the back is Serene and the girl at the far right is Serra! <3>

 July :

MUET Inter-School Colloquium Competition 

 July :

Monkeys galore!

September :

JICA Delegates with the school lecturers and administrations. 

◄BACKWARD

FORWARD►