Thoughts ?

It’s late in the night, and as I sit down and contemplate on the one year and a half that has just gone by, it’s been the most eventful period of my life. And I pray God that I may never go through such a harrowing experience ever again.

I don’t know whether to feel excited or to fear the worst – for now. I beat my drums in solitude yesterday, knowing full well that this could very well be the last time I beat out the rhythm inside me before having to go for my National Service stint.

My Contract law exam is on Thursday morning, and despite having gone through the book like, three or four times, I’m still anxious as to how they might word the questions. Will it be difficult like 2008 ? Or will they relent ?

I’m still thinking about the few memorable events that define this period of one and a half years.

Being in the teachers’ room in the Alliance Française, going through my spoken test, and ultimately doing it well.
Seeing mom seated by my side as I played the drums.
Singing my heart out during the French-speakers’ reunion on Saturday night.
Composing Impromptu Huit Vingt-Sept.
Meeting two new friends.
Classes with Ms Meera, Ms Barclay and Soleil.
The concert with Ms Susan’s students at that concert hall in Kelana Jaya.
Lunches at KL Sentral.
My very first coloured journal.

I’d never want to erase these thoughts from my memory for a long time.

Random thoughts

It's past the 21st of March. Springtime is here. And......... ? Well, that isn't really much of an event over here, as summer is eternal.

On another note, everyone's getting gung-ho over the exams. In class we've already started counting down the number of weeks - or even days - to the exams, which begin in late May. I don't know how I must revise for this : I did balance my studies with Wikitranslating, music and sketches, and I prayed every night for help, and I must say I did my AS pretty okay. But now, I want to do it well. I don't know if there still is time... no, there still is time. But am I..... *gulp* late ?

Oh, par mes moustaches ! J'suis en retard, en retard, en retard !

Seriously, I wonder where and when there will be any form of respite for me.

Question de... heu, questions

Today, someone called the house to conduct a telemarketing survey.

I kinda felt pity for the young girl at the other side of the line (it was mentioned in Business class once that call receptionists get the worst treatment from customers, ever !), and so I took part. Hoping that it would help me bring home some Business Studies tips for my friends and me, I relented.

Believe it or not, I actually had fun. ^_^

I was laughing along with the surveyor, helping her with problems in pronouncing - or spelling - my username (when asked to give my email ID), and...... the questions in the computerised list actually piqued my interest. Perhaps it could've been the way she asked them - but her pronunciation wasn't very accurate. Anyhow. I enjoyed myself. It was a refreshing afternoon. Thank you, Ms Surveyor (if you happen to read this post), for brightening up this mundane, cloudy day.

Necessity is the mother of invention - er, audacity

Note to self : Necessity gives me the audacity to do just about anything.

I arrived at college at about 12:15 and rushed into the computer lab. There was the usual group of big, burly college sophomores reserving the PC with admin capabilities. With my usual timidness I would never be able to confront them and ask them if I might use it.

But today......

I walked right up to them and asked them boldly, "Is that PC over there in use ? Please may I use it ? I've got an assignment to submit today."

I had to. Joanne, Adoravelle, Deepa and Talitha were to meet me in the PC lab to discuss the Business Studies presentation (Talitha's here with me now) and I couldn't possibly tarry around. And believe it or not, those big burly guys graciously left !

Essai impromptu #1

All that was given to me was one picture. It was a living room, with a huge cabinet, some books, a television screen, an exercise bike, a tidy desk, a chair... and it was warmly lit. There was a boy in grey pants and a yellow shirt, lying on the carpet in the centre, with a headset next to him. He was lying down on one arm.

Now, try to visualise this... for based on this picture, I had to come up with a very short story of what was going on, and why it happened. There was an extra question : "if you had one hour, and you were staring at the same scene in the same room, what would you do and why ?" I was required to be as creative as possible. This was for a survey by YouthSays.com.

And this is what I wrote :

The boy is lying down in the centre of the room, plagued with fatigue from his routines. Several weeks of hell in his workplace have given him nothing but burdens, burdens and more burdens. Sleep has eluded him.

Nothing else matters to him - only rest. Rest. Nothing else. He was once told how the best gift one can get as an adult is sleep - he is now counting on those words.

As he watches his favourite anime show on TV, he looks at how the episodes have painted a blissful picture of life. He watches, even if it is a direct contrast to the reality of life. And so he stares fixedly at the TV screen. Just like us, he idealises things. He wishes life can be as brilliant as the events in his favourite show. He, like many of us, looks forward to something beautiful in life.

Had I one hour with him, in that same room, in that same scene, I'd sit by him and keep watch over him, and if he isn't too fatigued to talk to anyone, I will talk to him. After all... we go through the same suffering.

Des joyeuses retrouvailles*

For not updating my blog over the past few days I feel as demented as ever. Yahoo went down on me for three consecutive nights. Oh, and not to mention two days ago - I got stranded in YMCA for thirty-five minutes just because there was a lump of glue at the back of my parking ticket, making it illegible. Oh, you should've seen the joy and relief on my face when I finally left the Y !

Today was a different story. I had Literature class in the morning with Ms Sunbeam. Adoravelle, Kimberly, Nithya and I were seated in the same row, as always. We were asked to write summaries and critical appreciation of Chapter 1 and 2 of R.K. Narayanan's novel The English Teacher - I must say it is a pleasure to read that novel, especially when almost all the events mentioned in the novel have actually taken place in Narayanan's life. The only drawback was that Chapter 1 was a bit draggy. So there I was, seated at my desk, with only a few sheets left in my test pad.

Believe it or not, except for the careless mistake I made in one sentence, I had no grammatical errors (for once !). Ms Sunbeam told me to stick to the present tense while describing any literary work, and that I did. I was quite surprised, though, because despite the fact that I have been so used to speaking in proper English, whenever I used to submit a piece of work, there'd be a few circles - indicating badly structured sentences and inconsistency in tense. I was the kind of person who, despite my good command of the language, thought that "regiment" and "regimen" were the same word...

I remembered yesterday night, I had a ping from Ms Joaan, my friend and ex-choirmistress of Ressonnant - she needed the score for the remix : I Will Follow You and Can't Take My Eyes Off You - the songs Ressonnant sang for the National Finals in 2007. She asked me to give her a copy of the score. But when she sent me that message, it was past midnight. I couldn't possibly give her a copy back there... So as not to forget, I hurriedly packed my tattered manuscript into my usual brown bag.

I was to meet her between 12:30 and 1:00, downstairs outside Public Bank. That isn't too far from college. It's just downstairs. Anyway. When the time came for me to meet her I excused myself from Ms Sunbeam's class and ran down the stairs. I saw her coming from a distance...... and the first thing I did was embrace her. I was overwhelmed. I was just so happy to see her again !

Jojo : My goodness... thanks for the score.
troisnyx* : Eh. Don't mention it. Er... Keep the manuscript. There's no need to give it back to me.
Jojo : Are you sure ? That's your score ! It's--- your hard work---
troisnyx* : Never mind. Keep it. I reproduced a copy right here (and when I said this, I beat my chest - towards the heart).
Jojo : Omigosh... THANKS ! So you'll be honoured, I'll use this rendition for Sri Cempaka - and I WILL tell them who wrote this.
troisnyx* : Heh. Thanks. By the way... Where and what is this gonna be for ?

And so she told me, the choir from Sri Cempaka is using this for the St Patrick's Day celebration on the 17th of March - it's a Tuesday. (If I could miss classes just for that one day......) The venue is currently unknown. I told her, I'd love to be part of it ! I'd love to be there ! If things go well, Ms Joaan and I will go together. Hopefully I don't have to wear green, because I don't have many green items of clothing...... I'm yet to ask dad about it.

We moved to more personal stuff - like how I've been holding up after mom's death. Well... to say the least, I didn't know. Ms Joaan had been busy with classes and she rushed to Brickfields Asia College during her lunch break, in a bid to obtain the score. Well, whatever it was - I was just so happy to see her again.

So during the lunch break, whilst Adoravelle and Kimberly were fasting and couldn't join us, Nithya and I decided to head down to Subway at KL Sentral. I told her everything about our reunion. Wait till I tell Adoravelle and Kimberly ! I'd love it if they could come with me. But first off, I must get permission to go.

And about the part where I said "I reproduced a copy right here (in my heart)" : I was earnest about it. Every part, every note, every beat, every chord is in my heart. I can't possibly part with this work even if I don't have physical presence. That medley is really dear to me as it is to every Ressonnant member, as it is to Ms Joaan herself. I'd be honoured to hear the rendition from Sri Cempaka - methinks the same parts will be used, albeit with a different piano accompaniment. We'll wait and see !

*The title "Des joyeuses retrouvailles" translates to "A happy reunion".

Brokenness makes us stronger ?

Fragmented versions of comments on my first post on a fan-made sequel to the Kingdom Hearts series, KHLegacy :

Xiggie : Wow, is there anyone here who hasn't lost a friend/family member ?

troisnyxetienne : I guess we're all acquainted with loss, to varying degrees. I've already had three losses in my immediate family. On the surface of it, we may appear to be cool and able to maintain our composure, but inside, we're all broken. Suffering is inevitable, of course, but it makes us stronger. When we do write the plot in KHLegacy, somehow or other, this brokenness will surface - and we have to make readers/members aware of it. I want it to be more than just a fan sequel : I want it to be a story that touches hearts.

While some people dismiss Kingdom Hearts as a cartoonish game because of the presence of Disney characters, I look at it from the Square Enix point of view : the emotional viewpoint. I take a stand where I can view and dissect every form of human interaction. My knowledge of English literature (or any form of literature, for that matter) makes me appreciate life more, and it is through this appreciation that I play or visualise each scene, second by second, I replay that scene (or I picture it again), and I ponder upon the emotions of each character, as well as the thoughts that may have crossed their minds.

There was one episode in the Olympus Coliseum where Auron (from Final Fantasy X) had been controlled by Hades, Lord of the Underworld, and his soul was placed in a statuette. Sora, Donald and Goofy set out to find it - and when they did, they actually got to feel Auron's thoughts - oh, the horror they felt ! I played Final Fantasy X so I can imagine what the real Auron would've felt. Picture this : Auron journeyed with two of his best friends, Jecht, and the summoner Braska, in a quest to seek the truth about their homeland, Spira. Jecht and Braska were both killed. Auron had almost lost the drive to live. Those thoughts would've played in Auron's mind in that particular episode in Kingdom Hearts II. One loss is devastating enough ; what about two ?! And Auron tells himself "You must live !" no matter how broken he is inside.

On another note, take one of my previous posts where I wrote about Goofy's apparent death. No matter how cheesy the person may be - ultimately, if that person is kind and has done a great deal, he will be sorely missed. Donald, Sora and Mickey could have, at some point in time, been turned off by Goofy's... er... goofing around. The English version shows a dejected Sora (voiced by Haley Joel Osment) saying "This is not happening. It can't be happening... it can't..." while the French version makes it more emotional : we have Sora (Donald Reignoux) almost crying.

Now, to take this story of losses to a personal level : I've suffered three losses. Many a time I've felt that I was at the end of my rope. I confided in my best friends Kiran, Adoravelle, Kimberly and Nithya - and all of them, no matter how they put it, somehow seemed to tell me the same thing :

Brokenness makes us stronger.

I forgot who it was who wrote the poem "Elegy in a Country Churchyard" (I don't even know if that's the right title even), but he did mention that the sufferings of the poor man and the sufferings of the rich man are all the same. We are born, we lose our celestial light, we are accustomed to the practices of our ancestors, we attempt to survive (out there, it's a survival of the fittest), we build relationships - and they are broken, we lose loved ones, we do not gain enough for our efforts... Some stories end happily, some stories end in despair. All of us want a happy ending, a reason to die for... to make life beautiful.

Xiggie (Sigfried) lost his father. And I know quite a few people who have lost a parent in their teens (or in their childhood). My heart goes out to them - and while writing for KHLegacy (and while writing my songs, in the meantime), I want to spread a message about the suffering of humankind.

A question on education

English-speakers, kindly read this post as it is (do NOT attempt to use Google Translate or even Babel Fish or any translation programme).

Très récemment – au fait, ce matin – j’ai lu les journaux et j’ai trouvé que certains sont contre l’enseignement des sciences et maths en anglais. Ce groupe de parents, et peut-être, professeurs mécontents a soumis un mémo au Parlement ou au Ministre d’Éducation, je sais pas moi……

Ce qui est très bizarre, c’est que l’enseignement des sciences et maths en anglais a commencé en 2003, juste avant que notre dernier Premier Ministre ait quitté son poste. C’était SON idée de changer le système d’éducation ; c’était son idée que les sciences et les maths doivent être enseignées en anglais parce qu’il trouvait que nos élèves ne pouvaient pas répondre aux questions de niveau international. Et puis, la plupart des termes pour ces deux sujets sont en anglais (où peut-être, lié au français, grec ou latin).

C’était – et ça reste – un avantage pour les élèves en ville. Ils fêtaient ce changement en disant que « c’est un véritable avancement ». Pourtant, les élèves à l’extérieur souffrent. Parce que la langue anglaise n’est pas bien enseignée en dehors de la ville, ils souffrent quand les sciences et les maths sont enseignées en anglais – à tel point que des examens bilingues sont conduits : jusque là, les examens de sciences et maths sont conduits en malais et en anglais. Quand et comment est-ce qu’on l’arrêtera ?

J’ai quitté le lycée très récemment (c’est-à-dire en 2007) et j’ai appris les sciences et les maths en anglais depuis 2003. Quand j’étais à l’école primaire, j’ai étudié ces deux sujets en malais. Personnellement je trouve que l’enseignement en anglais est plus facile à comprendre – parce que j’ai toujours lu d’autres informations scientifiques en anglais. Eh ben, voici mon opinion (ne soyez pas offensés, je vous en prie) :

Je n’essaie pas de tuer notre langue maternelle, qui est le malais. Plutôt, j’essaie juste d’avancer. Le véritable défi lancé aux Malaisiens – qu’importe s’ils soient en ville ou à l’extérieur – est apprendre l’anglais et bien le maîtriser. On n’apprend pas l’anglais parce qu’on veut suivre les britanniques qui nous a colonisé il y a des années. Étant donné que l’anglais et l’une des langues principales du monde (tout comme le français), nous devons l’utiliser ! Sachons que si nous devons trouver des informations hors des livres de texte, nous devons utiliser la Toile, et peut-être d’autres livres – et sachons aussi que ces livres ne sont pas en malais ! En revanche, nous savons déjà que la langue anglaise n’est pas bien enseignée en Malaisie. Partout, nous pouvons le remarquer, et cela pose un gros problème.

Mais qui est coupable pour ce problème ? Les parents, parce qu’ils n’ont pas la capacité d’apprendre à leurs enfants les bases de la langue ? Les élèves, parce qu’ils n’étudient pas assez, et parce qu’ils ne lisent pas assez ? Les enseignants et les professeurs, parce qu’ils n’ont pas la capacité de bien parler ? Ou ceux qui sont responsables pour le système d’éducation, parce qu’ils sont si las, à tel point qu’aujourd’hui, on ne trouve pas de professeurs/enseignants qui veulent guider et apprendre aux étudiants, du fond de leurs cœurs ?

Je n’arrive pas à comprendre pourquoi nos autorités sont si lasses, ils ne veulent pas accepter le fait que nous avons besoin des leçons des sciences et maths en anglais. Nous avons besoin de réaliser que le monde ne peut pas changer pour nous. Il y a une centaine de pays ; et presque tout le monde utilise la langue française ou la langue anglaise pour communiquer des données. Même cas pour les sciences et les maths. Nous devons changer, c’est nous qui devons enfin suivre le monde.

Now, tell me – do you understand ?

Ultimately, we have to follow the change the world puts forward. Failure to switch to English (or any universally-accepted language, for that matter) will put you behind – just how behind you must’ve felt when you read this post.

La classe, les mecs !

Today's Business Studies presentation was the best ever presentation I've ever done with a group in my whole life. We scored the highest in today's class.

La classe, les mecs !

This post came with several push messages, temper tantrums, yelling, bickering and crying. To all those whom I have hurt in the past, or during the preparation of this presentation, I'm truly sorry for all I've done. And to all who make up Group 2, I thank you all for a job well done. :-)

A post specially for my Literature classmates

I bet all of you will love this... and start realising that there's a lot more room for improvement where our English is concerned.



Laugh, laugh, laugh all you want - but remember. This message should already be drummed into your head by the time your A2 comes : you are reminded of the need for proper English.

Honestly, I'm just happy that After Three (Part 1) only focuses on the English lesson, and nothing much else.

If all else fails, unity works best !

And if the video in the previous post depicts my Literature/Language class, this video is my ideal of a college performance.

The moral of the story ? If all else fails, why wage war ? Unity works best ! While all the individual works were unsatisfactory, the combined singing act turned out to be the best for the night.

This performance reflects the days where there was no racism, where people understood other cultures and lived peacefully.

This is what I yearn to do.

Just so you'd know...

...our Literature/Language class is something like this.

p.s. Damn, I miss "Mind Your Language" ; they haven't even aired it on TV for years. It's probably the best show I've ever watched. It would drill grammatical exercises and questions of vocabulary right into our heads. From what I heard, it was stopped halfway over here. What, I suppose they think their English is too good for this ? No, it needs a whole lot more improvement. Watching this show would enable us to speak far better than we speak now, with proper subject-verb agreement, without confusion of tenses. And even if my English is good, I'd always set this show as a benchmark. If anyone from national TV is actually reading this, my humble request to you is this : please bring back Mind Your Language. PLEASE !

I'm looking forward...

I'm looking forward...

to Literature class.
to the two-hour break.
to talking to Ms Meera.
to seeing my friends.

Everything.

Except Tort class.

Why I shall not do family law

DK and I met up for C2 preparations, yet again. He's adamant about getting a divorce. His wife didn't want to live with him and the kids anymore - I didn't probe any further into the case. Apparently he had trouble with his previous lawyer, who was good but talked him against divorcing.

That lawyer, like me, is a staunch Catholic Christian.
And this is the reason why I won't take up family law.

In some cases in family law, we unite, no doubt ; but in some, we break up families based on evidence. How sure are we that that evidence is always true ? This is the thing about the adversorial system - like the English legal system. Like ours.

And we Catholic Christians believe and abide by the rule that divorce is a sin.

Just to quote a passage from scripture (Mark 10:2-12) - the heading is "Jesus Teaches about Divorce" :

Some Pharisees came to Jesus and tried to trap him. "Tell us," they asked, "does our Law allow a man to divorce his wife?"

Jesus answered with a question, "What law did Moses give you ?"

Their answer was, "Moses gave permission for a man to write a divorce notice and send his wife away."

Jesus said to them, "Moses write this law for you because you are so hard to teach. But in the beginning, at the time of creation, 'God made them male and female,' as the scripture says. 'And for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one'. So they are no longer two, but one. Man must not separate, then, what God has joined together."

When they went back into the house, the disciples asked Jesus about this matter. He said to them, "A man who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against his wife. In the same way, a woman who divorces her husband and marries another man commits adultery."

Now, let us return to the dissolution of familes through family law.

From the wedding vows taken on the altar - "I, (name), take you (name), to be my husband/wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love and honour you all the days of my life," we can see how sacred marriage is, and how even more sacred the familial institution is.

If a postmarital breakup ensues, what happens to the part where spouses are supposed to be true to each other at all times ? What happens to the part where spouses are supposed to love each other all the days of their lives ?

Simply put, a divorce is a breakage of marital vows taken before God, it is a movement of disunity, it is a lack of forgiveness and patience (as in most cases where breakups end in animosity), it is a loss of trust and prudence, it could be the shirking of a responsibility (as in the case of a spouse leaving the children altogether) - a complicated mixture of sins - and the very fact that vows are broken enhances the sinful nature of divorce.

Even if I'm one of those who don't interpret the Bible literally (I interpret it in a humanitarian way like most Christians do), I believe this statement holds truth - and I've seen with my very own eyes how this actually happens.

I would not want to drive the children to resentment seeing their father and mother living in separate houses, not talking to each other, when both parents know the children need their love.

I would not want to see more animosity in the courtroom because adversorial proceedings are very heated - in fact, more heated than inquisitorial proceedings. Anger gives way to anger and hate gives way to even more hate, creating a scene in the courtroom. And if anger and hate are supreme, it'll lead the two disputing spouses to sin even more. Anger is one of those mortal sins which we are all guilty of ; and if we're angry because we thirst for what is right - that is a different case in itself. Here, we see anger and hate in the dissolution of a familial institution.

I would not want to see some kids bear the hardship of living with bad stepmothers/stepfathers. I know one of my Form 5 classmates lived with divorced parents and well, let's just put it this way : life is hell.

I would not want to be held responsible for a scene where the children have actually grown up and realised that their parents did not honour their vows to be with each other. Oh, I've seen some of these parent-child disputes before. Some of them can be deadly.

See, I just don't get it. That lawyer of his is a Catholic Christian and is doing family law. If she actually decided to take it up and make it her forte, she should know the temptations which come along with it - like divorce proceedings, for example. If we believe that what God has joined, man shall not divide ; if we believe in the sacrament of holy matrimony, if we believe that our mission is to unite and not disunite, then it is best not to even step into the domain of family law ! She has skills of advocacy ; she can always delve into another domain !

Dad advised me against family law. I will heed that advice. And then again, if my musical mission is to unite people around the world, it'll do me no justice if I delve into family law and be responsible for separating people through my rhetoric - and, it'll also put me out of favour with God.

Having said this, I pray God that when the time comes, I'll find the right one - I know there is a right one - and I will love and honour him all the days of my life, just as mom honoured and loved dad all the days of her life.

Trouble in the "courtroom"

Today's scene in Contract class was exciting. What Ms Meera did was this : she gave us an existing case, Williams v Roffey Bros., without the arguments, without the ratio decidendi, without anything the advocates brought forward, not even the defences - just the facts of the case. That was all.

Within just a few minutes, we had to debate it in class like lawyers and even call our dear lecturer "Your Honour !"

Now, for starters who don't understand what's in that Wikipedia page containing the facts of the case, here are the facts in simplified English :

Suppose a landlord, who has this huge plot of land, decides to hire a bunch of contractors (Roffey Bros.) to build a block of flats. They accept the contract and sign it, and start the work. In the contract is a penalty clause : if they fail to complete the work on time, for every day that they are overdue, they have to pay the landlord a sum of money.

Now, Roffey Bros. get to work and they discover that they can't handle too many things at one time - lighting, electrical works, plumbing, tiling, carpentry. So they subcontract the carpentry to another bunch of contractors (Williams). Those subcontractors get to work, albeit at a snail's pace. Roffey Bros. are already panicking. So, to actually persuade Williams to finish the work on time, they promise a sum of money.

Williams, now motivated by the reward, goes to the extra length of recruiting more workers (part-timers, I presume) to finish up the job. And they don't finish it on time. They finish it RATHER EARLY - about like, say, ten days before the deadline. The contractors at Williams approach the contractors at Roffey Bros. and ask for the money. Roffey Bros. refuses to pay Williams because according to them, "they only did what they were contractually bound to do."

The question here is this : were they doing just that, or were they doing more ?

Here, we had to debate from scratch : our own defences/arguments were brought in.

I had to take the role of the "prosecutor"and defend Williams by saying that they were actually doing more than they should've done. While the defence "lawyer" (well, we aren't lawyers yet) spoke with such professionalism, I threw all professionalism aside and with so much emotion, hammered the defence "lawyer" :

troisnyx* : Okay. Guys. Listen up. You contracted my client the job, and you know full well that you had a penalty clause.
Defence : But the penalty clause is out of the contra-----
troisnyx* : Wait. If you would let me finish.

And after this point, my voice mounted with every word.

troisnyx* : You put your trust in Williams hoping that they would get the case done on time, and when they didn't, you didn't just fire them and hire other contractors for fear of the cost. And you even went to the extent of promising my client a five-figure sum of money just to get the work done on time ! For crying out loud, do you know the hassle my client had to go through just to summon the extra workers and to get the job done early ? Regardless of whether the penalty clause is included in the contract between Williams and Roffey Bros., he has suffered a detriment while you creeps are enjoying the benefit by not having to pay any sum of money to your landlord. Where, then, is the benefit we get in return ? Where, then, is the detriment that you suffered ? Tell me, WHERE ?!

I couldn't hold myself back anymore. I was breathing heavily. My side of the class (as well as those on the side of the "defence" who are close to me) clapped and cheered.

Ultimately, we won. And in the real facts of the case, Williams did win the court proceedings and were entitled to the money promised by Roffey Bros. About the part which talks about "benefit" and "detriment", "benefit" refers to something a party gains while "detriment" is something lost by a party. So in a contract, both parties have to have a benefit and a detriment. I knew from the very beginning that it was a lop-sided contract, and the loophole in the law led me to win this case.

The new girl in class, who was sitting next to me - Nithya - she noticed immediately that there were people against me. I felt uncomfortable and I decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with Ms Meera. Alone. I went to the lecturers' room on the second floor to meet her. And there she was. I wept. But gosh, am I glad that she understood me !

Now, I can really bash DK up if he labels me "eccentric" in tomorrow's class.

It is true that I am emotional and temperamental, no doubt, and I have a constant need to express myself. I may be eccentric - but only at home and with the company of friends - just because I want to make myself feel happy. I used to doubt my personality before, but not anymore.

They say a lack of professionalism is the one thing that won't get me far. They're wrong. And if they say I don't have intrinsic qualities, I know they're wrong too.

The thing about me is that behind these emotions, I have a sense of justice. I don't have to tell anyone this. People have remarked about my simplicity, my sincerity in doing things. All these will get me far - because I do not wish to be like quite a large number of advocates, whose main purpose is to earn more, and that's it. For me, I stand for justice, and hard as it may seem, if that person is bound to lose in court due to judicial precedent, I'm going to make that person save his money and deter him from actually going to court. That sense of justice was made clear when I lost my cool in the "courtroom" and bashed the defence "lawyer" for defending an unjust cause.

I personally look up to Robert Badinter - he is the lawyer behind the abolition of the death penalty in France. His struggle and his voice against revenge and unfair condemnation to the gallows really intrigue me. I spoke in the same tone, with the same emotion as he did in his speech celebrating the permanent removal of the death penalty. Only that at the end of it all, he wasn't breathing heavily - I was.

If Badinter can cause such an impact and inspire others when it comes to the defending of human rights, let me tell everyone in the face now that he didn't do it out of professionalism. He didn't do it because he wanted to earn more. Neither did he do it because he had good rhetoric. He had (and still has) an overwhelming sense of justice, and that's what makes all the difference. DK looks up to Badinter as well (what the hell, he is the law icon of France anyway), but he fails to see the similarity between him and me.

If Badinter can move many hearts around the world, especially the hearts of budding lawyers, with this act and this dedication, I believe I can do the same.

I rest my case.

And we disperse for a one-week break

Because hanging out with you... makes me complete.

Today's class (Literature class, not Tort class) was awesome. And the two-hour break was awesome too. After finishing up to Chapter 18 of Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" with Ms Sunbeam, we headed off to Mid Valley (again !) - but this time, we had slightly different company - there were Adoravelle, Kimberly, Talitha, Tharani and I.

Because we were pressed for time, we headed over to only one place : Yo ! Sushi on the Lower Ground floor.

Adoravelle loves sushi. So does Kimberly. Tharani seems okay with it. Talitha... well... after we told her what actually went into her stomach, she seemed kinda grossed out by it, but she said it all tasted good.

The thing about me is that I hardly eat Japanese food. The last time I had sushi was somewhere last January (as in 2008), when Christine offered Johanna, Zazie and me a sushi roll each. And the last time I had Japanese food was on mom's birthday - on the 30th of May - the day before she was admitted to hospital for the last time. That was our last outing together. And I remember I had yaki udon (for the uninitiated, they're Japanese-style fried noodles, and it should be noted that udon is traditionally served with soup) with seafood. That was one really good udon, and my palate got suited to it rather quickly.

So. Back to Yo ! Sushi. No photos were taken, sorry - so those of you who are not native to Mid Valley Megamall, try let your imagination run wild. All tables were near the conveyor belt, and each plate came in different colours to indicate the price (e.g. a meal on a purple plate would cost RM8, while a meal on an orange plate would cost RM10). Adoravelle and Kimberly got their meals first. Adoravelle was scooping up some wasabi while Talitha (who didn't know a thing about Japanese food) asked :

Talitha : What's that ?
Tharani : Ice-cream.
Talitha : Yeah right !
Kimberly : It's wasabi.
Adoravelle : She was right in saying that, wasabi is some sort of mint-flavoured ice-cream thing.
Talitha : If you ask me, I'd rather not eat it.

I ordered chicken yakisoba (it's a Japanese equivalent of our fried yee mee, with chicken chunks this time). My meal was the last to be served ! So while waiting, I groaned and asked Kimberly,

troisnyx* : Good grief, I'm hungry. Any recommendations ?
Kimberly : Take something off the conveyor belt lah...
Adoravelle : Try salmon.

I trusted Adoravelle, because she has Japanese food rather frequently - and so Kimberly picked out a plate of salmon sushi off the conveyor belt. I had it - yum ! Talitha was tempted to take something off the conveyor belt when Kimberly and Tharani had to spoil all the fun :

Tharani : It's raw fish.
Talitha : RAW FISH ???!!?!
troisnyx* : Wei, come on lah, it's not that bad. Honestly. It's nice.
Adoravelle : And it's one of the healthiest meals around.

After much persuasion, Talitha took a sushi roll from Kimberly's plate. I guess she must've enjoyed it.

After half an hour, when most of us had already finished our meals, my yakisoba arrived. I wanted to relish the food and take my time eating it - and I'd have done it, had the food arrived earlier. We were pressed for time - it was 2:10 and we had to leave for college at 2:30 - and so I finished my yakisoba as fast as I could. All of us had green tea, and we didn't realise that we could get as much green tea as we could for RM 5 !

Na, I was full already.

I paid for my meal - we paid for our separate meals - and I thanked everyone for a great outing.

My thoughts shifted to how mom used to go for outings with her best friends, even when she was in college, and she must've really enjoyed them. I enjoyed myself today. I enjoyed myself during the previous outing. Mom would've done this in my place too, I guess.

After class today, we dispersed for break. We'll be having a break for the Chinese New Year holidays and we'll resume classes on the 3rd of February. A blessed New Year to all who celebrate Chinese New Year - and my special wishes to Kimberly M, Kimberly T, Adoravelle, Xiao Xuan, Helena, Joyce and Christine.

___________________________________________

I told Kimberly, Adoravelle and Joanne (I didn't tell Talitha this yet) that we were in trouble. I told them that we had to at least get a demo performance ready by February. Worse came to worst and we resolved to do it a cappella. And also, since Adoravelle and Kimberly have already sworn off French songs (sorry DK, don't blame me on this one, I tried convincing them !), we all decided to do something upbeat and blues-y.

Our sights are set on three possibilities : The Supremes, The Beach Boys, or a song called The Candy Man.

I can arrange voice parts, just like I did for my school choir the last time.

Well, let's train - and at the same time, I have to tell DK the horrifying news.

I've got them, freshly printed and here in hand.

I know I did well.
Consider that this is Cambridge AS. :D

Praise the Lord for guiding me through that examination. Now, for the next five months, apart from updating Twitter, troisnyx* officiel and the French troisnyx* officiel, I'm gonna slog my butt out until I do well. Adoravelle and I both did well for AS. Now, we wanna make it into the college poster ! And I'm making this pact : we're gonna be on the same album covers and on the college poster. We're gonna live our dream together.

P.S. Private message me for the breakdown ; I'm not gonna put it up here until the time is right.

A-Levels students, are you all set and ready for tomorrow ? Or, the horror done by MQA officials

Tomorrow is the day of the results.

Now, I know that'll send shivers down your spines (it did send shivers down mine). The college officials told us that we'll be getting our results in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning, we have a class with Ms Sunbeam. I wonder how it'll ever be possible to read a few chapters from Thomas Hardy's "The Mayor of Casterbridge" when everyone is anxious about tomorrow.

After the break in today's Literature class, we just couldn't concentrate on Thomas Hardy anymore. Everyone was talking and chatting away about the results. There, some students mentioned the thoughts of barely passing, failing and resitting. Some celebrated lines from the second half of Literature class (Ms Sunbeam will be represented in these dialogues as Soleil, the French word for "sun") :

Harvey : How much do we have to pay to resit a subject ?

Soleil : That should make you worried and say, "I should be studying hard." That should deter you from wasting your parents' money !

Harvey : Does U (ungraded) mean a pass ?

Krishna : How much do we have to get to pass ?

Daween : What is the A mark ?

Harvey : Ma'am, I'm scared that my parents will turn me out of the house. If that happens, please may I stay in your house ? (to which everyone laughed)
Soleil : If you think of doing that, I'll force you back to where you came from !
Krishna : You come my house lah...
Soleil : *places hand on forehead and shakes head in disbelief*

And while reading chapter 14 in "The Mayor of Casterbridge", I cried.

Not that I was scared of tomorrow. I just miss mom. She used to be there with me, going shopping with me before the results day ; or maybe having a light moment with me, talking, or sharing with me a passion for music. I wept bitterly. And everytime Kimberly, Preet and Adoravelle (who were sitting next to me) looked at me, I wept even more and told them, "I can't."

____________________________________________________

Meanwhile, I remember posting yesterday that I awaited Eve's response for the album project. She seemed quite interested in it and even asked for more information. She even wanted to contribute. Well. I'll take that as a yes. :D

______________________________________________________

Another thing I wanted to talk about was the trivialism of the Malaysian Quality Association (MQA) officials when they came to do a spot-check on Brickfields Asia College. Not only did this come from the lecturers' mouths, I heard this with my very own ears - and I believe that it should be brought up.

Do you know why they rapped us and bad-mouthed us ? Just because we speak English in class ! And they expect classes to be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia ?! Not that I have anything against the national language, it's just that the MQA officials are educated enough and should have enough horse sense to understand that practically all syllabuses are from the United Kingdom, and they are to be conducted in English. They should also know that by not conducting classes in English, we miss out on a lot !

Then, the MQA officials interrogated our Malaysian Studies/Moral Studies lecturer, Ms Vivien. The thing about our college is that Malaysian Studies are carried out in Malay, while Moral classes are in English. But being the bodoh sombong (stupid and conceited) MQA officials that they are, it's hard to change them anyway. They terrorised her. They made racist remarks, such as...

"You're teaching Malaysian Studies ? Shouldn't a Malay be teaching Malaysian Studies ?"

The MQA officials went on asking Ms Vivien if she could speak in Bahasa Malaysia. Of course she can ! I mean, only a dickhead would believe that a Malaysian Studies teacher is not capable of speaking the national language fluently.

I've already sworn not to use expletives, but here's what I have to say to the MQA : get the asses of those racist officials out of my sight, out of my college, out of my Federal Territory, and out of my country ! Malaysia is not a place for Malays, nor Chinese, nor Indians. Malaysia is the hiding place of Malaysians, and this'll be it for the rest of our lives ! And when Dr Chantheney, our Business Studies lecturer, revealed this to the whole class, I was fuming mad - even more than before, and I said, "Bring those blasted MQA officials to me. I know how to deal with them."

Yes, bring them to me.

They will never want to set foot in Brickfields Asia College or in Kuala Lumpur ever again.

I've been a bit radical today

Guys, if you do see this message, it's a public note to all : I've been rather radical in my answers of late, especially on YouthSays' Questions and Answers section.

Thing is, I had to talk horse sense to a large group of people who believe in nothing but nonsense.

I remember a question which I asked on YouthSays ; it went like this :

Would you forgive anyone who hurt you to a great extent ?
(the explanation went, would you forgive anyone who killed your kith and kin in a fit of rage ?)

There, the majority of respondents said yes. And even the Amish school shooting case was taken into consideration.

So, I looked at a more recent topic : the boycotting of US products.

Some of you may have seen the previous post before. Only thing is that, most people haven't. If they said yes to forgiving, why are they taking sides in this Gaza war then ? See how these thoughts contradict each other.

Where is the show of Malaysian solidarity ?

Where is forgiveness, if you believe in forgiving others' sins ?

If you know bloodbaths are terrible and need to be put to a stop, then just how are you reacting when you find that Hamas is using the nation-building funds (i.e. the funds for the people) to buy weaponry ?

Just something to provoke your thoughts. It should talk enough horse sense into you to make you understand that what is being done right now is wrong.

A real battle of wits

All over Malaysia there's been this movement to boycott products from the United States. And I know the majority of you guys will support this movement.

To you, I say, get real ! And Babel Fish this :

http://troisnyx-officiel.blogspot.com/2009/01/la-guerre-encore-on-sy-fait.html

Maybe that'll talk some sense into your minds.

This war isn't just a battle of blood, it's a battle of wits for the rest of us around the world. End it now, I say, or all hell will break loose.