Ceased Procrastination

The sun rose from the east, and is waiting to set in the west. It doesn't procrastinate on when to rise and set. Well, maybe its the duty of the Earth revolving anyway. Some things aren't exactly what they seem.

Those sophisicated stuffs aside, I spent 2 hours on the PTM last Friday and I'm starting to feel that meeting the teacher seems to be like waiting for your Queue Number to be called in a clinic. Only thing is that no one wants to visit the doctor in my classroom that he's marking other class' assignments. My L1B4 is at a peak of 31, quite disheartening but also a blessing in disguise as I've found a long-term motivation to study from it as well.

Spent last evening in the city, it has been quite awhile since I've spent some time in these crowded places. Had a steamboat dinner at Golden Mile Complex, has been 10 years since I've went there and surprisingly its still there with the good ol' taste. Went to Bugis Junction to do some shopping, nothing much to buy anyway. Drop by King Albert Park to have some supper at McDonalds before heading home. Only if this could be done in a daily basis.

For today, I'm going to spend a great deal of time on my Mother Tongue. Its the big day tomorrow. I'm going to need some luck. =)

Are You Sure They're Motivational Philanthropist(s)?

(photo courtesy of www.akltg.com)


At a young age of 26, Mr Adam Khoo made his first million dollars. Today, at the age of 37, he's a multi-millionaire continually giving "motivational" talks to people all over South-east Asia. Many will regard him as a philanthropist as he wants to "help" others to find their source of motivation and his secrets on earning his first million dollars.

This will just be a food for thought and there's no intention to scar his reputation. Adam owns a company know as the Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group (AKLTG) that provides workshops and talks targeting working adults, professionals, youths etc. I'll not beat around the bush any further by proclaiming that that he charges extremely high rate for a talk. I've experienced it myself. My school, engaged his 'apprentices' to talk for a whole day at an audience of about 100 students and each has to pay $200 odd for this talk.

This contradicts the fact that they're concerned about our well-being and tries to motivate us right? Apparently, their targeted customers are those who are rich, because if you send your child to his workshop with only has 5 people in it, it easily cost about $4000. I've done my researches on this. Adam trains about 20-odd of his staff on how to give talks and of course professional and dynamic speeches. Technically speaking, if you're running 3 hotels and earning big-time, will you want to give talks to people to work as him and not wanting to care about your hotels and earn yourself maybe around a $1000 for a talk?

Now into what goes into the talk. The workshop splits into 2 groups with about a 100 students in it. I happened to be in a group that starts at a later date. The trainers were talking about his life story for all we care, and astonishingly, their 'special' stories like they told us that they ordered McDonalds the day before, and this was repeated at the second talk. It was all staged and rehearsed! It goes to show that the whole group consists of what I call actors, I wouldn't call them con-artists because they did what they wanted to do, to motivate.

Group of actors indeed, I'm extremely disgusted at the fact that we already paid a hefty amount of money for this talk and the trainers were attacking their audience emotionally. How ridiculous! I guess those whom really needs motivation like those from poor family background can't even attend this course with such high rates.

Back to Adam, where he supposedly earned his million dollar from giving speeches at a rate of $1000/hour. Who gives talk and earns so much? Its like asking yourself if a beggar can even a thousand dollar a month by begging near a graveyard. Did he do something else to earn so much like investments?

He was said to be an 'under-achiever' when in primary school but after attending a camp, he was motivated and has all the accolades imaginable. Is this a make-up as well that he's born smart and the "under-achiever" thing was just another way to make people motivated?

I feel an air of hypocrisy around him, there'a chain email some time back when he was asked why he was taking an economy class flight and not business one since he's a millionaire. Then he starts to tell the person that that's how he became a millionaire by saving and scrimping, taking economy flights, drive a normal 'car'. Ok, I'll end it here. Adam owns a private apartment in East Coast. On top of that, he has 2 maids and drives a red Chevrolet convertible. You call that normal car and scrimping?

Of course he may manage to motivate a few and is a good person, but I feel he's so focused on earning money . Not that I'm jealous of his wealth,  butI don't think he's the kind philanthropist that many made him out to be.

PTM: Time Wasting Tactic?

(photo courtesy of DSS Photography Club Archives: Sec 2 Mass-PTM 2011)

I'll admit that I find the Parent-Teacher Meeting (PTM) one of the most paradoxical event started by an apparent dullard. I personally find PTM totally unnecessary and a complete waste of time. Perhaps that was why I rather not strike this lottery of getting PTM for 4 years. But my number was called.

I really feel a sense of unjust for those who frequent the meeting. What can the form teacher possibly say during the meet?

"Fail English, work harder on it, if not difficult enter Poly/JC"
"Fail so many subjects, L1R4 aggregate so high, can't enter most courses"
"You might want to consider dropping the subjects that you have been failing"
"How do you want to improve on the subjects you fared badly?"
"*Miscellaneous complaints on students' behaviour in class*"

How predictable this event works. All this questions had already been asked by my parents the day the light had shed on my examinations. And its already answered at the couch where I had a small talk with my parents. The ludicrous part was to have the questions asked again, by our teacher this time in the presence of our parents. First of all, I do agree that the teachers has the right to know why we achieve such poor grades but is it necessary for them to ask us with our parents around. Some parents have to take leave because of this and to listen the same tune being played by them days ago.

I also understand that my school is one of the really few school which only require the attendance of the pupil's parents should they fare badly for their grades. Its compulsory for most secondary schools to have the parents to turn up for a meeting with them.

Why can't the teachers arrange a time to have a conversation over the phone with the parents? Its not as if the meeting will take up to an hour or even 30 minutes. A few questions and cautions to let the parents know and that's it! I wonder how a simple thing can't even be brought to the mind of those people who are much educated than most of us.

And of course, I empathise with the teachers because I believe they also have the same ideology as me but its the school that insists on it. I bet they also feel dolt asking the those questions that parents would normally ask first. If you're a parent and your child gets such low grades, the first thing that you will do is to ask why right? The next probable question is how you're going to improve right? And the teachers are going to ask that. Horrendous.

There's some parents who will also like to meet their child's teachers perhaps as a form of formality and to understand the mentors behind their child's education. They also want to know how competent is the teacher, hence the meet. All this can be arranged at a date after the examinations or any time during curriculum hours so parents can have ample time to request for a leave from their work. I think its too impromptu to issue the form only 2 days before the meeting.

In this way, the objective is equally achieved as the teachers get to communicate with the parents and extract results to talk about via the phone. And for those parents who were so desperately to meet the teachers, they can arrange a time to meet and have sufficient time to request for a leave. Its a shame some people can't think of this brilliant idea.

You Can't Teach An Old Dog New Tricks

(Photo courtesy of www.daylife.com)

Raddy Avramovic named his list of "new" squad of National players a few hours ago. And I've got to say this is one of the most absurd decision. That inexperienced new FAS President Mayor Zainuddin axing the whole team. Guess what? 16 out of 33 players are "Old Guards" aka players that has been in the team before it was axed.

No doubt it is a very good experience for the other 17 players comprising both of youth players and those who earned the spot to represent Singapore. Question is, in the 33-player squad, who really shouldn't be there and should have been there.

Noticeable fault in the squad would have to be Aleksandar Duric. This 41 year old can even pass a Beep Test, but when it comes to the pitch, it seems as though age has caught up with him and he had a bye through the Beep Test. Shahdan Sulaiman, Jumaat Jantan and Shukor Zailan are another part of this category. Both didn't have a very good records in their caps for Singapore, inconsistent. Lionel Lewis, another really inconsistent goalie that would be a gamble for Raddy to field as the result will either be him at his top or lowest form.

Noticeable additions would include Hamqaamal Shah and Ruzaini Zainal. Great platform for them to develop further out of their clubs. And the miss will be Precious, Baihakki and Ridhuan Muhammad. Can't agree further with this, Precious' a little too aggressive, Ridhuan is plain dribbling up and down the flanks and Baihakki is rather rash when deciding for an offense or defense.

Noticeable misses would be Ahmad Latiff, Shahril Jantan, Eugene Luo and Jeremy Chiang. Raddy still can't f'n put away his prejudicialness of Ahmad Latiff, he's a great winger and can feed ball dangerously into the box. Shahril Jantan is very consistent as a goalkeeper and he has proven this from time to time. Eugene can dart and shake off players easily in the centre of the field. Jeremy on the other hand is a great full-back, can run back to defend after providing assist for an attack.

Raddy still can't tabulate his stuff properly, its the National Team we're talking about. Apparently, the fans can think and analyze things better than this 'veteran' does. Problem is whether they're hearing us and working on it.

Goalkeepers

Lionel Lewis (Home United)

Hassan Sunny (Tampines Rovers)

Izwan Mahbud (Courts Young Lions)

Defenders

Juma'at Jantan (Home United)

Shaiful Esah (SAFFC)

Daniel Bennett (SAFFC)

Ismail Yunos (Gombak United)

Hamqaamal Shah (Gombak United)

Afiq Yunos (Courts Young Lions)

Safuwan B Baharudin (Courts Young Lions)

Irwan Shah (Courts Young Lions)

Shakir Hamzah (Courts Young Lions)

Delwinder Singh (Tanjong Pagar United)

Midfielders

Shi Jia Yi (Home United)

Isa Halim (Home United)

Shahdan Sulaiman (Tampines Rovers)

Shukor Bin Zailan (Tampines Rovers)

Hariss Harun (Courts Young Lions)

Raihan Rahman (Courts Young Lions)

Faris Ramli (Courts Young Lions)

Zulfahmi Arifin (Courts Young Lions)

Nazrul Nazari (Courts Young Lions)

Fazly Ayob (Courts Young Lions)

Mustafic Fahrudin (Persela Lamongan)

Shahril Ishak (Medan Chiefs)

Ruzaini Zainal (SAFFC)

Andrew Tan Wee Tat (Balestier Khalsa)

Forwards

Qiu Li (Home United)

Sufian Bin Anwar (Home United)

Fazrul Nawaz (SAFFC)

Khairul Amri (Persiba Balikpapan)

Aleksandar Duric (Tampines Rovers)

Khairul Nizam (Courts Young Lions)

Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining

(photo courtesy of Dunearn ICC; happen to land myself in their camp's photo album.)

Finally received my Corre shirt, darn it was undelivered last Thursday because of the Preliminary Orals. That guy there couldn't believe I memorise the Article No. and started to have a conversation with me. The small little place they call Post Office contains a lot of mail but its located on the 5th floor of West Mall. What a hassle to transport all the mail up/down right? Still looks like a bank to me.

Anyway, I didn't fare as badly for my Chemistry paper than I initially thought. Its also disappointing that I scored 12 for Biology MCQ and 13 for Chemistry MCQ. Re-test for Additional Math tomorrow after today's Elementary was done, I'm honestly too lethargic for any more drilling. And guess what?

1)  I've this little test on my worst subject
2) 11 consecutive periods of Mother Tongue on both Wednesday and Thursday
3)  Friday's the day of reckoning
4) Next Monday is the Mother Tongue O Levels
5) Tuesday to Friday of next week is just hardcore mugging on core subjects

Suddenly have the urge to get into Polytechnic as quickly as possible, I don't have to sit for 8< papers for examinations anymore! Most importantly, the word "Mother Tongue" will cease to exist in the vocabulary book of Polytechnic!

Wish me luck for now... because I'm going to need it badly.

The Beginning of the End

For any sane Secondary 4 Express student, the supposedly last week of school isn't really their last. On the contrary, its just the mere beginning... the beginning of more tedious revisions. Look at the watch, its just 14 short days to the Mother Tongue O Levels. And we're fed with Mother Tongue periods from 8am to 1pm.

I use to have a mindset that Chinese is my weakest subject and I see no point in getting good results/excelling it. Guess what? Chinese is by far, my highest scoring subject, with Paper 1 and 2. (If I add 3 and 4, its another disappointing fail)

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting the kind of results I had. Disappointing but we must learn to pick up from where we fall. Intensive study on Wednesday and Thursday, D&D aka prison camp next Tuesday to Friday. Wish me luck. =)

When the tough gets going, the going gets tough.

The past can't be re-written, the future is not for us to see, the present is for us to live.

Here we are still living and breathing under the clear blue skies, doesn't look like the world will end today or anytime soon. I personally think that those preachers predicting May 21st as Judgement Day has badly failed buying Lotto/Toto. Cry wolf aptitude or undigested food in their rectum and can't pass it out?

The 2012 'phenomenon' won't even happen, trust me. Instead of worrying over Armageddon, why don't we continue with life? Why dwell on the past when it can't be changed? Why ponder on the limitless future? Why don't we live for the present, create more values right now? Earth don't function in a way where it is so fragile by the way.

Anyway, my grades for examinations were so atrocious I think its about time to pull up my socks. After an incident I've witnessed on Friday night, I'm motivated to get into that particular course. I'm going to pull people away from the gates of hell back into a paradise named Earth. =)