Dearest loyal readers,

I have finally moved!! I know I have left this blog untouched for a long time... well it's because I was busy preparing for this move...... So from now on, just check out

1995 would be the last year of Primary School. It was a fun year....

Again, I was not put back into the 'smart class'. No big deal. By that time I had realised I wasn't fit enough to be with the smart kids. The good thing was, I was always either top 1 or 2 in my class. The logic behind it, you figure it out. Last in the smart class, top in the dumb class. Get it?

This year, I continued joining the English Speech contests. I even represented my school. I won champion for my district, beating the other schools. The sad thing was I couldn't represent my district because on the day of the next round of competition, it was the day for the Entrance Exam for Tshung Tsin Secondary School. I wanted to be in the school badly, so I gave up the competition to go for the exam - no regrets.

This was also the year where I first entered a recording studio. Memorable, not sure why, but it was. The school used my voice for some drama they did, and I was the voice of the narrator.

I was also the Class Monitor. A proud achievement. I was a good Class Monitor - because I did whatever the teacher told me to do. I was obedient. I asked no questions.

It was a fun year. Lots of great adventures. I trained with the school basketball team. Heavy training. I remember nearly fainting sometimes from running like 900000 rounds of the whole field. Eventually I stopped going for the training, because I was sick for a week, then after that lazy to go back. Rather sleep in class.... err I mean study in class.

I did well in my studies this year. I continued writing good English and Malay essays. Even weirder, my Chinese essays were being taken as examples too. Well, I was good at memorising... so I'd memorise whole essays from books, and when a similar topic came out, I knew what to do. I was smart.

UPSR, I did well. Not too bad. Can't remember my results, but I did OK. I think. Ya I did. Anyway, not important. they made it sound so important. Actually you just get money if you score all A's that's all, no big deal. It's not like you get any scholarship to study in UK or something like that. Liars.

It was also around this time that I became the CEO of Rainbow Pictures. Haha. Wondering what on this little blue earth is that? It was this 'company' that me and some friends started. We made movies. Actually we made ONE movie. No, we made TWO movies, but the same script and same story, just changed the cast the second time around. Well, it goes like this. My father bought this video camera. I played around with it, and then BAM! Ideas started coming into my mind. WHY NOT MAKE A MOVIE? So me and my friends started writing a script for a movie called 'The Unexpected Gift'. If I tell you the story now, you'd laugh. So I won't tell you! We made the movie, a full length movie, that lasted for half an hour. Yeah back then, that was a movie in my company's standards. Hehe. Later on, we made the same movie, with different actors, and 'added effects'. Actually, Rainbow Pictures was originally called Moonlight Pictures. But my 'company partners' and I felt Moonlight was limited to boring colours - Rainbow would depict bright colours.

So you see, it was a fun year for me.

I started primary school in 1990. Standard 1 - at SRJK ST. James. I spent 6 years studying there.

It was also around this time I moved from Kinamount and we got our own house on the hilltop of Jalan Fung Yei Ting. It was a beautiful house, lots of funny memories there.

I remember starting primary school - it was all so messed up and blur. I had no idea what I was doing there..who all those people were..why was I here..that kind of feeling.

Then after a while, I got the hang of it. Wake up early, go to school, play with friends, listen to the teachers, finish school, wait at the same spot for mum's car, jump into the car, go home, and then wait for the next day to start all over again.

The first three years of primary school were OK. Not much memories though, expect for a few very significant things....

My class came up with this interesting concept. Funny thing to do. We would write our names on all our pencils, earsers, sharpeners, pencil boxes, pens, rulers etc. Why? Because we didn't want other people to use them. If you wanted to use them, you had to pay a 20cent deposit and get back your money when you return it to the owner. Heh, we were only little kids in Standard 1, and we were already doing business in class.

I also remember the lining up, a lot of that, to go anywhere. We'd all go out of the classroom, line up, and walk in a straight line to the hall, or to anywhere we had to go as a class.

The scariest place on earth during these years: the school toilet.

Out of all these 3 years, my year in Standard 3 was most memorable. I can still remember our desk positions, who I sat with, what teachers I had etc. It was a fun year. Oh, that was the year that I was promoted to the 'smart class'. That means, I got the top 55 in Standard 2 and managed to be one of the 'smart kids' in the 'smart class'. It made me proud. I guess it was because I had this good teacher in Standard 2. Ms Chong I think was her name. She liked me. I was her pet student. She would use me as a role model to all the students. It was nice. I guess that built up my confidence. It made me want to study harder. I also remember her asking me in front of the class to name one of my strengths... and I said "I study every day". Actually, what I wanted to say was "I like to study" but the panic made me blurt out nonsense! And then she was proud of my answer and asked the whole class to learn from me. And because of that, I had to improve my results or I would look like a fool. So I did that. Ironic, or whatever you call it. Ego also had to do with it. Or something like that!

Standard 3 was fun because I had a lot of friends in that class. I remember this competetition in school... OK warning, don't laugh, because it really did happen. There was this 'speed math competition', where they would ask 100 math questions over the PA system, and were given 3 seconds per question. 100 QUESTIONS! And I got 98 of them correct. I got 3rd place. Yes it did happen! I won an award for that. There was another competition.. we had to complete a few math questions as fast as possible, then run to the submission booth which was in the middle of the field, and whoever was the quickest with most correct answers would win. Yeah, I won that too. This just proves that people do change ;-)

Because of this, I was made head of the math class. All math homework had to be submitted to me, and then I'd pass it up to the math teacher on behalf of my classmates. I was so proud of that. Well, that was a long time ago. The good thing is, I can still do the same math questions now, maybe quicker even! (get that smile off your face)

I also started learning Judo around this time. There was a Judo school near my house. So me and my sister went there for training. My sister made it to yellow belt. I remained at white belt for as long as I was there, which was I don't know how long.. a year? 4 months? Can't remember at all. I just remember the big fat trainer and his little short skinny assistant.

Well, it was also in these years that I had lots of fun with the childhood kids I used to hang out with. Justin, Joshua, Kevin, Kerry, Christopher, and who else? Can't remember. We would hang out a lot at Justin's house.. but we would hang out even more at the Sabah Golf and Country Club. That's where I learnt to swim, play tennis, and ate a lot of fried rice.  It was never boring there. It was a huge playground for us.

Life was good.

1994, Standard 5.....

It was another year of being pet student to a few teachers. Yeah, those were proud moments, being a teacher's favourite student, making the other students jealous. Actually no one was really jealous of me as far as I knew. Because I was never proud. Haha!

My class teacher liked me a lot, and it was in this year that I was named 'Model Student' and won an award and a trophy at the end of the year in school. I didn't even know about it until the early morning when we were lining up to go into the hall. My class teacher came up to me and said in Chinese - "you'll be receiving the Model Student Award later" and smiled at me, then walked away. And I had no idea what she said because her Chinese was so fast and too 'deep' for me to catch. So I just said "OK". And later on, I found out what she meant - after going up on stage to collect the trophy. Silly incident it was...

However, for Standard 5, I got kicked out of the 'smart class'. This whole year, I was in the 'normal class', and the 'stupid' students became my friends. I still remember how I found out that I was going to this class. I was chit chatting with a teacher in the staff room, and when she went to the toilet, I saw the list on her desk. And then.... WHAT????? I saw my name on the 'normal class' list. And straight away, I felt like crying. 'EGO DROP'..
HOW CAN????? Yeah, well, I didn't study hard enough. So I deserved it.

But the funny thing is - not being in the 'smart class' was probably the best thing for me. I didn't have the pressure of studying too hard, and I had enough time to do so many other things that year in school. I became a legend in the English Speech competitions - I joined the school choir - I became a librarian - I helped English teachers take over their classes for the Standard 1 English classes when the teachers were busy - I got selected to join the Leadership Camp in my school that was only open to 'selected' students - I acted in school dramas - I started being serious as a prefect (oh, did I not mention, I was selected to be a prefect in Standard 3) - I joined the Karate Club - and here is what else that happened:

I had this teacher, Ms Lo, who errmm, sorry to say but I was her pet student too. Why? She was my BM teacher. And she helped me realise that I could write very well in Malay too. She would read out my compositions in class, and she would also help me improve my writing. She formed this little group of students who were good in writing in Malay, and she put me in charge of it. So every week, we were given a title to write on, and our essays would be displayed on a special board for everyone to read. She was also my music teacher, and encouraged me to join the school's singing competition. She made me rehearse the song 'Doe, a Deer, a Female Deer .... ... ....." but for some reason which I really cannot remember, I backed out of the competition (not last minute) but after 2 days of practising. I decided to let other people join because they were selected way before me, and I felt it was unfair of me to just kick myself into their game. You se, I was famous for English speeches, they were famous for singing. So sometimes you just had to let it be. However, Ms. Lo inspired me. She gave me the opportunities to act in the school dramas and gave me big roles. So you see, I started acting long ago :)

What else is there to remember? Not much. It was a quiet year I guess. Apart from all the excitement I just wrote about!

1993 - year four at St. James Primary School.

I was able to maintain my grades and stay in the 'smart class' in Standard 4. It was a tough year. It was a class full of smart bright intelligent kids who went to school for the sole purpose of studying. Most of these kids (I've kept in touch with them) are now in big universities and have gotten scholarships. Some of them even went to the same secondary school as I did, and they continued to excel, getting top places in physics or bio or math in the whole of Malaysia, beating many other bright students. So you see, it wsn't my fault I didn't do so well in school in 1993 - these kids were just too hardworking to enjoy life the way I did.

I enjoyed being in this class. It was the year I learnt that the Malay word for cheese, is 'keju' and not 'cis'. (embarassing story)

Me and my friends formed a club, where we met once a week during recess. What did we do? Err, crossword puzzles, do extra English questions, you know, I was trying to fit in with the smart kids. But hey, no one could beat me in English, so I was confident in joining this club. Maybe they were trying to fit in?

I also started joining speech competitions. The school had English speech competitions every year. I was famous in school for that. What do you expect - how many people in a Chinese school can speak fluent English? I went very far in these English Speech contests. Very far. But that happened later on, so it'll be on later blogs.

It was also this year that my house got broken in to. There were 2 armed robbers that went into our house, trying to steal a lot of stuff, but ran away empty, thanks to Michael my cousin who had this huge fight with them. Michael would come home late almost all the time, and he one night, he saw our door open. Next thing he knew, two men were pointing guns at him, they shot his car, but Michael fought them, and they ran away. The police came, but as usual, made a big scene and did nothing about it. But as a result, we had a guard that came to guard our house every night. Evenually, one of the guards became a close friend, Mahmud was his name. I still remember him. He would help with gardening, and keep us safe at night. It was a scary house to live in. I wouldn't dare to walk at night along the dark corridors. Looking out of the windows at night was like looking into Stephen King's mind. It was spooky.

Life was good, and it continued to be good.

I was born in 1983, 13 March to be exact. It was a great day for me, so great that I can't remember anything I did on that day. But I am sure it was a great day for my parents and other family members. It was the first day I saw the big wide world. I guess memories of that day only belong to my parents now, and maybe my sister.

However, for those who were already a bit older on the day I was born, they might remember other more significant events:
The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition party, Joshua Nkomo, flew into London as his country appeared to be teetering on the brink of civil war.

Well, apart from that, many other things happened in the year of 1983:
Nicol Ann David, the squash player, was also born.
The movie, Tears of Endearment, won best picture at the Academy Awards.

That's about it. 1983.

What happened after that until 1989 when I was around 7 years old?

Let's see... I lived in this area called Kinamount, in Luyang. It was a nice housing area, with fun neighbours. I am not sure why, but I can remember so many things that happened during those years. Justin Yong was my neighbour, and around the area was also Joshua Choo, and Bernard Chiu (Kevin Chiu's cousin), and a huge playground (well, it was huge when I was that small). We used to cycle around the area, we were the street kids who would enjoy the afternoon just chasing each other on our bicycles, then bringing snacks to the playground and just relax. Then we'd go to Justin's house to watch cartoons. Then it was home for dinner. We used to climb over each other's fences.

I went to Tadika Nasional. I still remember I spent three years in that kindergarten. I still remember certain events, like PLAYWEEK, where my mum used to organise games and activities for us. That was also the place where I touched a computer for the first time. We had to learn LOGO. Haha. LOGO. Haven't seen that program in a long time. Wonder who still uses it! It was also where I met my teacher, Lisa Au, who is still in touch with my family. Turned out after all these years, we learnt that she was a distant relative of ours, I think. In Tadika Nasional, we also used to have lots of bazaars. I remember I was always helping out at the hot dog stall, 'cause that's the stall my mum would always be in charge of. I used to make hot dogs for people. There was also always a 'Guess The Weight of the Cake' game that I would help out with. Why do I remember these little things? No idea. Oh, there was this see-saw that I would always play on. Usually Chui Lin would play with me. There was also sports day, where I remember doing some dance under the hot sun. I can still remember the song to that dance.

It was around this time that I was very good at LEGO. Justin and I, together with whoever was in his house, would play it all the time. Then we had a lot of Cops & Robbers episodes, with toy guns, where we'd chase each other and have our own version of 'catch'.

Oh, remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or Thundercats, or He-Man, or Care Bears? Yeah, we had no Teletubbies or some fruits in pyjamas back then. Thank goodness! We did have a big huge yellow bird that could count up to 10, sometimes higher, or this blue thing that would so rudely eat his cookies on TV as though no one was watching... Now, the singing dinosaur took over them.

I used to have birthday parties.. I remember one birthday party where only 2 or 3 people turned up - because there were riots due to the Sabah elections. No one dared to leave their houses. I actually have no visual image of that day, but I remember that happened.

That's all pre-7-years-old.....

In less than a week, it shall be the day I celebrate life, 24 complete years of life on Earth. So I started thinking, what should I blog about in regards to this 'celebration'? Then it came to me in a dream...... I'll blog about the highlights of my life - amazing happenings from the past 24 years of life. Thi smight be a long blog, might be uninteresting, but I don't really care anyway, since it is my blog...

By the way... stay tuned to this blog. I shall be announcing something fun and exciting (for me at least). It will be a new direction for this (and the other) blog, and a new steady address for my home on cyberspace. Yeah I've made it obvious. But anyway I will gve the details later on in future blog posts.

So about this 'celebrating life' thing, I will be putting in blog entries according to years in my life, and tell the world what I can remember best from those years. It'll be good for me too, to think back on how beautiful life has been. Indeed, life is beautiful, don't you think?

Start enjoying my celebration on life!

From The Star Newspaper.. I appear on around the 3rd or 4th episode of this show. Check it out....

Mystery 6, or M6, is Kuala Lumpur’s very own group of intrepid youngsters living out our childhood fantasy of playing detectives and solving crimes in a local television series. 

AS A child, you would have probably fantasised about belonging to a group of superheroes, crime-fighters, do-gooders who had special skills and talents, and went on exciting adventures all the time. Long before Heroes, our imagination was fed by the likes of Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven and Famous Five, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators. 

Perhaps you’d imagined doing spectacular things that caught everyone’s attention, but no one would know your identity.  

Somewhat reliving this very childhood dream are six youths in a new television series called Mystery 6 (think Enid Blyton’s Famous Five plus one, all human) who find themselves caught up in exciting adventures every time they come together.  

An abandoned mansion in a fictitious dwelling called CyberTown (no prizes for guessing where it was filmed) is where the six accidental friends gather to hang out. 

Non-caped crusaders: The cast of Mystery 6(from left): Razif Hashim, Inessa Irdawaty, Lisa Surihani, Branavan Aruljothi and Ryan Lee Bhaskaran with director Na’a Murad and guest star Joanna Bessey. Usamah Rõhner is not in the picture.

A science geek, his sister (also a science geek), a rich kid, an actor, a Zen martial-artist and a hip skateboarder form the motley crew, who stumble upon adventure after adventure throughout the 13 episodes of the show.  

After several adventures, a blog about their experiences appears on the Internet; only no one in the township knows who is behind the entries. 

Typically, every episode involves our heroes stumbling upon an adventure that throws them into playing detectives.  

In one episode, a lecturer at their college starts receiving threatening letters and the team take it upon themselves to find out who is behind it. 

In another, some very sought after satellite technology needs to be recovered. The six, aided by guest star Joanna Bessey or Marina X, set out to locate the all-important microchips. 

The show’s creator, actor/writer/director Na’a Murad, thinks this is a show that everyone will enjoy, from teenagers to adults.  

“Almost every episode has a lesson, and all the kids are outcasts with something special about them. At the end of the day, the friendship allows them to become more than they thought they could, as a group. Together they find companionship,” says Na’a. Mystery 6 (or M6 for short) is set in modern day Malaysia, and incorporates many everyday elements into the lives of the six characters – there are video games, blogs, computers, and all the other bits and pieces that make up regular urban living.  

M6 is “very KL”, according to Na’a, and what will appeal to the public are the diverse characters in the show. 

Getting into the act 

Playing the six adolescent outcasts are young actors not unknown to the stage, silver screen and television. 

Razif Hashim, Inessa Irdawaty, Ryan Lee Bhaskaran, Lisa Surihani, Usamah Rõhner and Branavan Aruljothi make up the main cast. 

For nine months last year, these now best of friends spent almost every weekend and public holiday together doing script readings, rehearsals and filming. 

It was hardest for Inessa Irdawaty, who is 17 and still in school. 

“It was hectic – I’d come home on Friday, do my laundry and I’d have to iron my clothes for school on Monday as well as the ones I’d wear during filming,” says Irdawaty, who says she has no regrets about doing the show, but adds half-jokingly that she might not do it again.  

Getting into character wasn’t particularly difficult, except for the scientific terms she has to memorise.  

“I play a science geek with an eccentric older brother who’s an even bigger science geek. Being an arts student, I wasn’t used to the terms Zai (her character) uses in her everyday conversations,” she says. 

Playing her older brother is Razif Hashim, a rising star who has acted in Goodbye Boys, Gol & Gincu the TV series and most recently Jeff’s Place.  

“He’s a super robo-nerd who wears baggy clothes (because they’ll fit forever), thick glasses and has gelled hair,” says the 23-year-old, adding that the biggest challenge was maintaining Omar’s squeaky, high-pitched voice. 

Like Irdawaty, he had to memorise scientific terms and sound convincing when he said his lines. 

“I made it my homework to watch science-based shows like C.S.I.,” he says.  

Branavan Aruljothi, who plays the actor Ganesan (or affectionately Gan), talks about the storyline and writing. 

‘‘It’s a deep story with many layers – the writing is just so ... smart. It’s not something that’s been done much before on Malaysian television,” says the 19-year-old Mass Communications student. 

Coursemate Ryan Lee Bhaskaran who is a skater dude on the show, nods in agreement. 

“It’s witty. Something that isn’t just for kids and the jokes are very ... interesting,” he says. Bhaskaran’s character skateboards, something he himself didn’t do much of, until he was on the show.  

“I had basic skateboard knowledge, so that helped.  

“One exciting thing about the show is there’s a cool chase scene on skateboards in the pilot,” says Bhaskaran. 

Would they watch the show if they weren’t in it?  

Law student by day Lisa Surihani, who plays Zen girl Suraya, wants people to give the show a chance and form their own opinion on it. 

“I think it’s different from all the rest of the shows on television, something that people will find refreshing and new,” says the 20-year-old. 

Currently shooting on location in Indonesia is model/actor/host Usamah Rõhner, 28, who plays the sixth character, Fred. 

Rõhner is not unfamiliar to Malaysian stage and television, having most recently performed in M! The Opera. 

On M6, he plays a rich kid who tries too hard to fit in; his head in the clouds most of the time. 

Appearing regularly as a “freelance agent” is Joanna Bessey, who describes the show as having a “fun feel” to it. 

“The character development is interesting. I think it will appeal to young adults, as the main cast are all young people,” she comments. 

Adventure, mystery, fun and games – ask any kid (or kid at heart) and they’ll tell you these are things that make life worth living for.  

Mystery 6 airs over RTM2 on Sundays at 4.30pm.  

Monday February 26, 2007

Highland warming

PETALING JAYA: Temperatures in Malaysia's highland areas including the three major hill resorts – Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands and Fraser's Hill – are rising and over-development has been blamed for this.  

Global Environment Centre (GEC) director Faizal Parish said the maximum temperature in the highlands had climbed between 2°C and 3°C in the last 25 years due to the clearing of forests and over-development. 

A check with the Meteorological Services Department confirmed this.  

(GEC is a non-profit organisation which was established in 1998 to work on environmental issues of global importance, undertaking strategic projects particularly in developing countries.) 

In 1984, the annual maximum temperature in Cameron Highlands was 24.6°C and over the years, it has gradually increased, hitting 27.9°C in 1998. 

In 2005, it registered 26.7°C and last year 25.9°C.  

Even the annual minimum temperature has gone up – in 1984, it was 12°C, 1989 (10°C), 1995 (13.2°C) and last year 12.9°C.  

Faizal said: "If you clear trees, it results in what we call a microclimate change, which means a change of the climate within that area.  

"While 1°C or 2°C does not sound like much, these small changes can cause major changes in the rainfall and weather patterns, which in turn, can affect crops. 

"So far, the ones which have been more badly affected are Genting and Cameron Highlands." 

In Cameron Highlands, residents and visitors are saying that it is no longer as cold as before. 

Now, lowland birds are being seen there while highlands species are "moving out" – an indication of a warmer climate.  

Genting Highlands is not faring any better. Residents there remember having to start up a coal stove in their rooms before leaving for work in the morning to keep the room warm when they get home. There is no need to do that now. 

In Fraser's Hill, back in the 1970s, one only needed to immerse a bottle of soft drink in the water at the waterfall to chill it.  

Faizal explained that trees cooled the air around them, adding: "One big tree is the equivalent to 10 air conditioners".  

He said the climbing temperature in the highlands could also cause chaos to the ecosystem. 

"As the lowland species of insects, plants and birds start to move to the highlands, it can lead to the extinction of certain highland species as they have nowhere to go," he said. 

I've got this huge assignment to do for Music Pedagogy.

It's got to do with creativity. It's actually two assignments, connected to each other.

I need to find out about creativity, from the psychological aspect. What happens in our brains when we are being put in a creative situation.. is genius really for some people or for all? And what is the creative process that happens when we are doing things related to music. What encourages children to be creative, and is tehre a limit to creatvity? The whole issue just could lead on to another and another.....

Then, after figuring all that out, I need to formulate a class that lasts 20 minutes for a bunch of 5-year-olds, a creative music class, that will support the research I've found about the psychological aspect of being creative.

I've found this class to be very demanding. But the challenges are worth the suffering I have to go through. That's what college life is all about isn't it?

So, if you can contribute any ideas on how to teach 5 year old kids music in the most creative way, let me know? ;-)