My Driving Course

Yesterday, I turn full 17 and it is time for me to start learning driving today.

    I waited in front of the Cathay Driving School at 9:20 and a man with a red shirt parked his Perodua car behind of a big black car. I thought he was just parking his car there, then I realised he was the person that will drive me and another three students to the driving school. They were 2 Chinese and a Malay, who rode the car with me to a carpark in Georgetown, Bayan Lepas. Then he switched his shift with a lady. The lady drove us to a JPJ building, somewhat like a local school entrance. We entered the building, scanned our ICs and got our materials for the course. The class was meant to start at 9:30, since the driving course teacher had not arrived yet, so we waited till 10 am. The driving course teacher was an entertaining Malay teacher, (who wore a striped, white long sleeve collar shirt, with a striped light blue tie) but it was all Greek to me, because I stopped learning Malay since last year.

   I took the theory test after returning from my journey. I was surprised to meet one of my former school friends there. Before entering the exam room, the invigilator took a photo of each of us through her webcam camera. I entered the exam room and took the test. The test had three sections and I double-checked all my answers from each section. Soon after I finished my exam, I was given the report, showing that I passed the test.

    I was taught to drive by an instructor and I took the practical driving test 10 sessions later. I failed the first practical test when I failed to park correctly. The examiners were correcting me, but sadly, it was all Greek to me and I did not understand what I did wrong. I retook the test on Thursday (it does not matter if I skipped the whole day of school, since the day is mostly study periods) and finally passed the test. 3 days later, I went back to Cathay Driving School to collect my license. Alas! I could finally drive a car on the road! Of course, my mother had to supervise me while I drive, since I am just a beginner.

A Great Residential Trip to Indonesia

Experience learning trip

    It is my first time traveling in a plane with my friends to a country with a different time zone. The time zone in Indonesia is 1 hour behind. I spent my first meal on McDonald's, which only costed RM11.50. The filet o'fish meal was tasty as usual. A set meal I bought; with Hash browns and a bottled water. I decided to pass my time on the one-hour flight by start writing a travel diary for leisure. I hope this diary could be useful in my future schoolwork, if any.

    Anyway, I realized I messed up my intention by buying my first bottled water before entering the waiting lounge. Before entering the waiting lounge, I had to pass through the security check, which made me finish the bottle of water immediately. During the flight, I bought another bottled water, which costed RM3 for very small bottle. I wondered whether they allowed a refill.

    On the way to the hostel in the hazy day, the bus passed through the suburban road, and I saw motorcyclists not wearing helmets, most roadside sellers not wearing mask as well as railroad tracks beside the road. There were huge satellite dishes connected to small village homes. Some satellite dishes had antennas that were supported by one or two drinking bottles filled with dark sand. What a brilliant piece of architecture! We checked into the hostel in the evening. In the hostel, insects such as cockroaches and moths invaded, constantly sparking the shouts from my friends. We met a playful dog in the haze of 400 API. One of the dog's eyes had turned blue and I suspected it could only see with the other eye. I wonder whether the dog was lucky that the eye turned blue. On the other hand, I felt pity for the dog that it could only use one eye.

    In the next morning, the haze worsen to about 600 API, and curious monkeys sneaked into rooms and surprised some of my friends. I saw a man with a stick in his hand that looked like a baton. He was protecting the rooms against the sneaky monkeys from pinching travelers' possessions. Next, we settled into a nice hotel. I had a stroke of luck–– I was given a room all for myself. Unfortunately, I could only stay for a night. My friends and I visited the Japanese tunnel. Its architecture was simply astonishing that the cave had not collapsed after being preserved for ages. The tunnel felt like the trench in the Vietnamese Trench Warfare during Vietnam Civil War between democratic and communist parties.
    We settled into a comfortable hotel at Bukit Tinggi. During dinner, Mr. North announced that with the haze growing worse to about 800 API, we had to shorten our trip duration and return to Padang the next day, to catch the next available flight back to Penang. At night, I shuddered at sight of the number of moths attracted to a large head lamp from the high wall of the hotel. They seemed like bees swarming around a bee-hive. I attempted to capture the sight with my phone, but was warned by Mr. North.

    The next day, the haze was still bad. I stood in front of the window and I could not see the view 50 meters away. One of my friends pointed out that there was a large moth about the size of my hand hanging from a red table cloth. It was the biggest moth I had ever seen compared to the swarm I saw the previous night. The swarm of moth previous night had disappeared. They were dead either stuck on the window or on the floor. The lives of moths were so short, that they died overnight. I saw no point of fighting over the need of light. After breakfast, my friends and I had to wait for some time because a few friends overslept and we dragged on. We had to leave this place as soon as possible to Padang before we suffer from the haze. On the way, I was astonished by the old railway tracks beside the road. Several years, railway must have been an important transportation for the people here. An hour later, we arrived at a three star Ibis Hotel, which I considered it as five-star. In there, we would be spending our last two days of the trip.
    The small bathroom in the guest room had a curved and unique door, which could not be locked. The lock and the gap was incongruous which the staffs were probably unaware of and had not fixed it. However, the toilet had two huge and beautiful grey flush buttons. The hand shower was a long, thick grey stick with a tail connected to the wall. The floor of the shower room was not elevated enough to prevent the leaking of water. It felt like having leisure in Star Cruise. The dining hall was huge with a keyboard-piano at one corner. The dinner at Ibis Hotel was delicious. I had chicken drumstick and rice for dinner. It was the best meal I had so far. Settling in this hotel on Tuesday was not part of our trip plan; we were meant to stay in this hotel on Wednesday, but because of the haze, all of the outdoor activities we planned to perform at the stay in Echo Hotel, such as water rafting, was cancelled, and the duration of the trip would be shortened by a day.

    My friends and I went to the basement to await for the arrival of the doctor. I had two huge glass of delicious strawberry milkshake. I bought a big bag of bread, mistakenly thought it as a bag with separate packets, and two bottles of pop; a coke and Sprite soda at a shop nearby.
  The doctor checked by measuring blood pressure and gave suitable medication to those who suffered from the haze. During my friends' check-up with the doctor, I joked with one of them that if I gave the patient a shock, his blood pressure would increase.

    I was given the permission to play the keyboard-piano, encouraged by my Dutch friend Felipe to play louder. I played on behalf of my classmates, hoping to impress other hotel guests. Although there was not many activities to perform, I wanted this trip with the stay at this perfect hotel to last forever. It was the best hotel I had stayed among all the residences in the trip.

    Whether the haze was getting better or worse, I felt the urge to fly away from this country as soon as possible to return to my blue-skied county-town. However, there was a delay when the bus fell sick, and we had to be exposed to the haze for a few more minutes. The bus might have caught a cold during the night. Thankfully, the haze was not as bad as before, so being exposed to the haze was not all to say dangerous.
   The restaurant must be having a good business, that one of my friends reported because he ordered the food first but late incoming customers got their food first.

A funny misunderstanding

    One day, my mom and I went to Gurney Plaza to watch a movie. No sooner after we entered the mall when she noticed that she forgot to take her jacket from the car, and asked me to retrieve it for her. So I headed back towards the car and a driver pulled up, thinking that I was leaving the parking spot since I was heading towards the right side of my car. In here, the driving position is on the right. When I returned to the mall, after obtaining the jacket from the car, the driver must be thinking, "Ceh, he is only taking a jacket from the car, not intending to leave the parking spot." It was a funny misunderstanding that I could not forget, because she mistaken me as an adult. 

When Everything Turns Lucky

When Everything Turns Lucky

Monday, 30th March

It was near school holiday and it was the second last assembly before school holiday. Everything was normal until during assembly. During assembly, I heard my name being called through the booming speaker when Jasmin the class president, announced the winner for best short story for Valentine's Day. I leaped into the air and approach the prize in a beaming smile, for I received first prize for that competition. From that point, my whole day was altered...

After the assembly, my friends were eager to ask about whom I wrote about. I humbly told them that I wrote through my feelings. For the whole day, teachers congratulated me and I received no scoldings or any punishment.

During music class, when my classmates discussed about the girl, Zachary, one of my classmates, who is also one of the members in the Student Council, assumed that I wrote about the class president, which I denied. Then I asked him about my essay, and he remarked that it was like so detailed.

During Malay class, my Malay teacher stated that she was surprised that I could write a love story. Everyone asked about the girl except my English teacher, who only said, "Oh! Congratulations on winning the competition."

This was how my essay was written:

"Her ink-black hair is as smooth as silk, which reaches over her shoulders and up to her waist. She always ties her hair into a ponytail. Her eyes are dark, chocolate brown. I love her eyes, for they sparkle whenever she looks at me. The eyes make her beautiful. However, she is always shy and seldom looks into my eyes. Therefore, they sparkle whenever our eyes meet. Her cheeks are rosy pink, and they feel smooth and cold.

She is chubby, but that does not stop her from being one of the fastest runner in class. She constantly wins runner’s-ups in 400 and 800 meter runs. She is a fast sprinter as well. She runs like speed of the lightning and always become the champion in the 100 and 200 meter sprints. I am proud of her, that she is a running champion. Although she is chubby, she has a pair of smooth and strong arms and legs.

My negative feelings wear away whenever she cuddles me, brushing her smooth arms and legs against mine. Her skin always turns cold whenever she cuddles me. Her ponytail tickles my skin whenever she brushes herself against me, while I brush my face against her cheeks. Whenever she puts her arm around me, she squeezes me tightly, to express that she likes me and she will never let go of me, which I am touched, that I am needed by her. I also need her, so that we feel complete with each other’s accompany.

Her fingers dance lively on the piano. She plays melodious songs and her fingers can stretch with an extreme limit. Therefore, she can play better piano than most of our classmates. As a result, she is one of the fastest typer as well as one of the best pianist in class, which enables her to win in typing and piano competitions. We always partner up whenever we are asked to play a duet, and I am constantly speechless on the way she plays the piano. Whenever she plays it (the piano), for a moment, I thought I saw a female version of Mozart was playing the piano beside me. She always plays her parts on the piano with ease.

Her hands are soft as cotton, and her spongy fingers constantly curled up against mine. We always hold hands whenever we are walking together to our destinations. Whenever she holds my hand, I always fall into a dream of white christmas. My heart always skips a beat whenever she touched my lips and my cheeks tingles whenever she traces them with her fingers. Her skin is extremely tender and smooth. I am her shield and my arm is the handle. Therefore, whoever tries to hurt her must go through me first.

Unlike most of our classmates, she likes the colour blue. She likes it because she feels a sense of connection with me. As a result, she has blue sport shoes, blue skirts, blue blouse and blue hairbands. She even specifically picks blue flowers for her flower collections. To my surprise, she never wears fashion high heels, which most girls like to wear. She likes to be natural—she never wears makeup or apply any nail polish. She always have a high EQ whenever I am around, because when some girls declare her as a tomboy, she calmly persuaded them that beauty comes from the heart, and not from artificial makeup and nail polish, and I was happened to be there, silently waiting for teachers.

My negative feelings also wears away whenever I see her smile. She is a cheerful and lively character who does not easily get hurt emotionally. In fact, Her smile is powerful—her smile is so charming that even bullies do not dare to hurt her feelings. Her smile could even turn disastrous days into party days. She is a cheerful character, and she constantly laughs, which makes always make me happy.

Whenever I do poorly on a test, she will immediately help me to pull my grades back up again, so that I will not feel sad. She never likes the feeling when I feel sad, she said. When she helps me, she patiently teaches me so that I understand thoroughly how to solve those questions that I got wrong. When my grades got better, she brought me to a mall and bought me a gift immediately. She just knew the types of gifts that I like, although I never told her, which shows her excellent observations skills.

She has many friends although most they think of her as a tomboy. We always hang out with them at the mall every Saturday. She shops for blue clothes and then watches movies in the cinema sometimes, or plays games at the arcade. We are always exhausted after we return back to our homes from the mall. She is beautiful, cheerful, lively and she knows how to defend herself as well as having many friends. Therefore, I am very protective over her, and I promise myself that I will never lose her. She is a valuable girl to me, for no other girls could match up with her. She treats me with the best kind of attitude she can give.

After all, I like her. She is charming and beautiful, as well as a defender of happiness. She is knowledgable as well as many friends who think her as a tomboy. She is a kind and friendly character whom everyone wants to be around with. She does not mind to be thought and even declared as a tomboy, since I am there. She knew that I would step up for her whenever she feels uncomfortable. She is a beautiful and friendly girl who speaks which such innocence and always smiles, and turns my sorrow into happiness. I am constantly  fascinated with her skills of playing melodious songs on the piano as well as her other unique interests those different from average girls."

Myself

I am a Malaysian pianist, but I play piano for leisure. I have composed two variations by Mozart's inspiration of Ah vous dirai-je, Maman: "Are You Sleeping" and "Spring". I have performed Kaveriiskaya, Für Elise, TongHua, Mozart Sonata in C K. 545 1st movement, Rondo Alla Turca and Rondo Alla Turca Octaves.

I was persuaded by my parents to play piano. I was too young to realise that I was able to play my piano pieces from memory. I was asked once by my piano teacher on how he was able to do so. I thought that it was just plainly through multiple practises.

At age 6, I was then only taught how to compose. Later on, I was then taught on how to compose short piano pieces from lyrics. The final year with my music teacher, I learned Mozart Sonata in C, and have been playing it for close to 2 years, that I could perform two short tricks.

I can play a long piece, Mozart's Ah vous dirai-je, Maman, from memory which I enjoy it very much, but I need to move on. Although it is an interesting piece, it is starting to be a bore.