My High School Life

The main entrance

This school is under the state government's management

How’s your high school like?

üA big mess

ü Meeting a bunch of morons

ü Learning all stupid stuff

ü The place I got bullied at all times

Do all these describe well your high school life? Oh God, I see…just like you never enjoyed your school before. All I can say “What a pity!” At least, you got strong reasons for hating school in your whole life. Sorry, couldn’t help.

The term ‘high school’ is widely used in the US whilst the UK prefer ‘secondary school’ instead. In many Commonwealth countries like Malaysia, British English has been widely spoken and taught in local national schools.

Do you want to know how my high school life was all like?

ü Lots of fun, pleasure & trouble

ü Making friendship with lots of real mischievous kampung boys

ü Learning foreign languages, religious, factual & general knowledge

ü The place where I wish I could be a student all over again

Quite incredible I can still recall what mostly happened on my first day in high school. In class, I got surrounded by a bunch of morons who eventually become my good fellas. Most of them, I’ve been slightly out of touch with for ages and some others, I’ve still kept in touch with up till now. Friends forever, YO!

Overall, the best classes ever were all in 2001 & 2004. All just because of the very strategic class location. Both classes were facing the blue South China Sea. How could that be? Both were truly located on the fourth floor – the highest floor. GAYAT tak? Justin Bieber says “I never say never”.

Hold on! I realise I overlooked on one important thing I should have told earlier, SCHOOL ICE-BREAKING. My high school was named Sultan Zainal Abidin Religious Secondary School. Anyhow, Terengganuvians would rather call it with a wide range of names. Popularly called SMASZA Ladang.  This is the only MALE school  in this state. This school location is right within the city center of K. Terengganu. Real strategic, eh? No wonder hotels and apartments are its ‘neighbors’. Gotta tell you the beach is only approx. 700m away which is where the South China Sea is. J

Can you imagine of this spring-like cafe in a male school?

The school bus

Every morning, I turned up to school quite early, normally by seven-ten A.M. School began at 7:40 but today a half past seven. The morning phenomenon was a whole lot fresher and more restful, of course! During my era, we could clearly see the ocean, the big waves, fishermen’s boats and the shining sun! Indescribably lovely! Not to mention the blowing wind got me real calm as if I felt like spending every whole morning outside the class, might I?

One more thing that kept my strong remembrance about high school, Akhil Hai’s nasyeed songs. In case you forgot, I was studying at a religious high school where all are Malay Muslims. So nice when I had been able to listen to all zikr songs in the mornings. In a way, it made me a lot closer to the Almighty and be more grateful for all I had enjoyed.

JIPANG is derived from the words ‘Gila’ and ‘Pangkat’. I’m OK if you label me that way for having been holding too many positions in school. Just because, by doing so, I didn’t seem such a bum at all! After high school graduation, I don’t think I had been accountable enough for each post I held. How evil I was! HEH HEH.. J

I used to hold high-class positions such as President of the English Language Society, President of the Red Crescent Society, President of the School Librarian, Vice President of the School Cooperative Shop, Vice President of the School Musalla, Secretary of the Qur’an Club, Committee of the Islamic Studies & Arabic Society, class monitor etc. I told you, SO JIPANGing. There’re randomly another thirty positions I refuse to list here. It’s not nice to boast myself. Tuhan marah!

What’s more exciting about my high school life, that’s where I learned English. I mean I REALLY was learning the second language as seriously as I could. I got aware that English is fun since then! Form 3 life must be the very witness of my improvement in the English language mastery. If you ask me, English is such a hard language just like Arabic, it’s however not impossible to learn and master it. That’s what I’ve been doing. J

A five-star hotel-like male student lavatory!

The fountain

Can’t deny that I hated high school so much during my school days and either did you, right? Ironically, was I to be given the second chance to be a high school student back, that’s the school I wanna study all over again. Yeah, I know this sounds completely impossible.

I didn’t really take co-curricular activities for granted so you can say I was a little active in school participating in a few competitions! I used to represent my school in some English Competitions in upper form, either in essay writing or even quizzes. Not only for the zone level, I’m so proud of myself in that I competed for the STATE level competition too! All my big thank goes to my English teacher, Pn Hjh Sabariah Abd. Mubin who picked me on her own. Lucky me!

The religious high school student is to learn Arabic as early as thirteen years old till seventeen. I got lucky cos I studied both Communication Arabic in lower form and Advanced Arabic in upper form. Arabic grammar is slightly more complicated than English. Yet, doesn’t mean I couldn’t cope with the Middle East language.

One of the dining-room-like student recess spots at the cafe

The hostel banquet - we've been winning the best school hostel management award in a row!

We got other additional subjects taught in Arabic as well named I’dadi like Feqah, Tawheed, Sirah (Prophethood History), Hadith and Hafazan (Quranic Memorization). Of all these five subjects, I was super good at Tawheed and you know what? I once scored 100%!!! Fuyoo! FYI, I never flunked Arabic, ever! I OFTEN scored the subject in all monthly tests and yearly exams. Hey, I was pretty brainy! KWANG…KWANG... J

Now that you have known all this stuff, my advice to you, get appreciating your school life like your sweetheart and enjoying your school days very much like playing a video game before you graduate especially if you’re currently an SPM candidate this year. Wish you luck!

The Most Terrifying Word Worldwide

Generally, tons of people cannot deny that ghosts are most likely to be an OK reason for being terrified sometimes. There’s sure so many other things out there you can kind of name here in fifteen seconds’ time. Yet, can you precisely name the most terrifying WORD ever? Hmm…uh uh L

Of millions of words which have existed worldwide – regardless of language distinctions – based on my viewpoint, it is believed a bunch of morons are TOO scared of this kind of word. More hilariously, so many school children feel UNEASY too if this word is ever mentioned. Whereas it’s only an abstract noun after all, not even a monster!  

By this second, you must have been all for my hypothesis stating that school children are MOSTLY a coward these days! Alright. Hoped you could still bear to this extent guessing this most terrifying word – though  I ain’t in the mood to keep looking at your innocent face expression identifying of this silly word that TERRIFIES many of us the most!

Hey, I think you're a little nerd! SCREAM!!!

********

Reading is one of my pastimes. Besides, I adore going sightseeing, watching films/movies, listening to music and going online. To label me as a bookworm, I feel I’m a mere wannabe. Plus, I don’t think I’ve fulfilled each of the criteria of a bookworm that makes me eligible to be labeled so, at least, not yet. Frankly, I pretty much hesitate to make it. Mind helping me with THIS?

BOOK + WORM = BOOKWORM

I don't get it! Help me solve this following question:

What is the connection between a book and a worm? 

The worm'll have never read a book, will they? It's never happened in the worldly history either. But the mad do!

I have no idea when exactly I have been in love with reading. What’s so much convincing at the moment is that that’s my current HOBBY. Upon looking the word ‘hobby’ up in my Oxford dictionary, it is well defined as ‘an activity that you do for pleasure when you are not working.’ Since then, I’m very SO confident my reading habit suits the definition pretty well. Yea I usually read for pleasure over my leisure time (when I’m NOT working).

Whatsoever, I don’t wanna talk about this yet. A statistic shown in a paper has got me SHAKEN UP while I read it previously insisting that in average, Malaysians are said to read only 2 BOOKS annually which is real GROSS! At least, Malaysia’s lacking of reading habit thing has yet to reach the critical state. Believe it or not, something far LOUSIER has happened in the continent of Africa and you got to believe this!

The illness of poor reading habit has been such a hot, critical issue in South Africa lately, reported by a Malaysian everyday paper. Things are getting even WORSE when a top-notch bookstore in the region was to be CLOSED eventually due to the big loss the book company has to bear as there’s a pretty small percentage of the whole community who’re so into reading. The main cause they highlighted was ILLITERATE cases – no question! Who to blame? I feel real sorry for them since then. L

Were I a language teacher, this is what I’d care to implement in class. First of all, select convenient newspapers as teaching aids, second of all, distribute the newspapers to all students and probably, splitting them up into a few smaller groups would be great! Then have them read a short article on their own, and the last thing to do is test their memory or knowledge based on the article they just barely read. The output can be extremely tremendous!

For the betterment of all and sundry, lemme ‘demonstrate’ myself in case you might get the wrong idea. This is a must! Compare the students’ pre-reading and post-reading sessions. Be sure to analyze the result because this matters. Does the reading activity make ANY difference? Ask your students for the answer, don’t ask yourself! That way doesn’t work out. After a while, have them tell you how reading has BENEFITED them. This can be the most effective means of motivating your students to love reading. Try this out now!

By the way, this is a so-called theory I have ever created. Wow, I really can be a philosopher. I can tell. After giving that a shot later, the next thing you’re required to do is fill me in about its EFFECTIVENESS once you’ve already procured your awesome post-reading result and just in case you don’t know, I shan’t be in the mood of hearing any ineffectiveness from yours, understood?!

I wish my book would be increasing this many in the next four years! Will that be possible?

This reading thing does widen my thinking in addition to getting me MORE educated, knowledgeable. I look smarter too! Tell you what? You won’t seem like an asshole, fool or something like that after all. Doing a whole of reading makes my world better! It has pretty much changed the way I perceive my life and the world, for sure. Not to mention reading enhances my vocab and keeps my writing improved from time to time.

Speaking of reading, I’ve owned a quite number of books as yet. My Bahasa novel collections include an autobiographical novel entitled “Selamat Pagi Cikgu!” by Zainal Haji Bujang (a retired teacher) and the romance novel “Kasih Yang Suci” by Meen Zulaikha. Both novels used to get me sleepless for several days back. Furthermore, they respectively convey some VITAL messages to the readers and one of them was ME. Thus, you’d have read these novels too. How does that sound? Later on, you’ll see I’m not boasting myself but fostering.

Betty Schrampfer Azar’s Understanding and Using English Grammar and Hyacinth Gaudart et all’s Towards Better English Grammar are a couple of my English favorite reference books. Not forgetting the best-selling series Great Britain novel entitled “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” written by Jeff Kinney which gradually helps improve my INFORMAL English mastery. HAR HAR HAR…

Just a kind reminder if you forget, magazines as well come under the book family. Hope this is the truth because I don’t like saying something VAGUE or UNRELIABLE, or otherwise people label me a ‘smart-aleck’. Obviously it’s not me! Reading mags such as MIDI and Harmoni for instance makes me have a second thought of life. In addition, I’m too getting mumayyis (matured) more quickly! HEH HEH. If you disagree, kindly SHUT your mouth UP. That’ll be good.

Should you be among the wealthy (If not, shut up!), why CAN’T you ever spend more cash for books? Are you stingy? Well… maybe you figure this might physically get you broke at the end but a GOOD thing is that, it sure makes you a much better person and I have to say. You’re gonna be someone with lots and lots of must-listen info, trust me! Isn’t that cool? If you’re with me, go pick a book up and start reading, then!

Pampering yourself with bookstores is pretty good!

Back to the main topic, have you forgotten we’re still in the search of the most terrifying word? Aha! Wanna know what the word is? Close your eyes.

Urm…cak! Urm…cak! 

Enough of that! I know you're not a kid any more, are you? Actually, the word I mean is READING! HEH HEH…

Before I pen this entry off, guess what I have just found out? I AM a bookworm. HEH HEH. OK. Till we meet again next time. Adios.

By the way, thanks a bundle for your stopping by. Have a nice day! J

P/s: Please accept this bouquet of red roses as my deep recognition for your time & patience. My huge apology as I can't afford to get you a real one...to be honest, I'm broke! HUHU.

  

My Campus Life @ International Islamic University Malaysia (2007-2008)

If you’re gonna enroll at this International Islamic University, WELL DONE! If you intend to pursue your studies here, PLEASE DO! If you wanna find out more about UIA or IIUM, do visit http://www.iium.edu.my/ anytime you like. From the bottom of my heart, WELCOME TO THE GARDEN OF KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUE!

The main campus in Kuala Lumpur

ONE’S WISHFUL THINKING

Getting admission at a higher educational institution like university and becoming one of the luckiest varsity students I’m convinced is everybody’s wishful thinking. At least, it’s MINE! Alhamdulillah. Thank you Allah, I got to feel and experience it all myself while some people out there didn’t. J

LIFE CAMPUS WAS FUN!

To tell you the truth, my life campus was sure a whole lot of FUN! All I can do is to share a quarter of the entire description, however experiencing all this on your own will be even MORE indescribable. So, hope you know what you’re gonna do right after reading this entry up. Read on.

IT’S FREEDOM

Living on campus made me feel like a flying bird, so full of FREEDOM. No 24-hour parents’ supervision! Nor wardens around like you had at school hostel!  – nobody except your very UNPREDICTABLE fellas and foreigners (More politely, international students). Seemed as if another world I was living in, strangely, I was still on THIS planet! L

AWESOME FACILITIES

Speaking of my campus, Gombak Campus in Kuala Lumpur, the facilities were pretty awesome and I must say! Whatever I wanted, I could get them ALL on campus without having to go outing.

The facilities such as 4-floor hostels, kiosks, 18-hour cafes, ATM machines, stationery shop, bookstore, mosque, male and female sport complexes, musallas, stadium, volleyball and badminton courts, football and rugby fields, Olympic-sized swimming pool, gymnasium, post office, banks, library, cyber cafes, labs, photocopy centers, resource rooms, 24-hour free Internet wireless, public transports like buses and taxis etc. are all available on campus! The Gombak Light Rail Train (LRT) terminal is reachable in LESS than 5 MINS by vehicle. Tell me what else you think insufficient?

The post office available on campus

'Touch-and-Go card' RapidKL bus

LRT that takes us to the capital city

University bus

No need to worry about my mobile credit which I could top up at the kiosk the latest by three A.M. and for international students, they could keep in touch with their folks a little more often by enjoying certain cards – also AVAILABLE on campus. More choose to use YM with the camera on at CC. It happened ONCE in my lifetime, I thought he WAS talking to me, after all he WAS actually talking to somebody online. What a shame!

Azman Hashim Complex housing all the bank branches & ATMs

There’re a few branches of banks available like Islamic Bank, CIMB and Muamalat Bank, not to mention lots of ATM machines. Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah mosque within the campus was where a Muslim like me performed Jummat prayers congregationally on Fridays. Both khutbahs are delivered in either English or Arabic, sometimes in Bahasa and once in Japanese I guess. Was I starving around 2 to 3 a.m., TAKE IT EASY! The café at Mahallah Faruq is opened till three A.M.

Don’t question about the food service, they do have all, from local food to international food. Asian, Indian, Mediterranean and Western food – you name it, all are AVAILABLE on campus. Every hostel (called ‘mahallah’) is equipped with one café but most of them are just located real close to each other. If I disliked the menu at this café, I just stepped out to the next café nearby. No problem! Each of the cafes serves different menus. Decision is YOURS! J

Every time I was in need of a BETTER service of the Internet wireless (They named it ‘iium community’), I would spend the whole morning in the cafeteria. To kill two birds with one stone, besides going online and downloading Youtube videos I adored most, I could as well take my breakfast having fried noodle, half-cooked eggs or roti canai with a cup of hot teh tarik. What a perfect breakfast! Most of the time, facebooking. HEH HEH. The kiosk is just next to the café, so when I felt like drinking a carbonated drink, fresh milk, yogurt blah…blah…blah… I just stopped by, anytime as long as it wasn’t yet closed.

Around the male hostel area, there’re badminton and basketball courts too. SELDOM did I utilize the facilities just because I wasn’t kind of a sporty man. I played badminton ONCE at the court with my blockmate, by the way. Most typically, I grabbed the ground floor room since I was too LAZY to go up and go down. That’s why I loved registering my room ON TIME before somebody else had them occupied.

THE UNEXPECTED VISITORS

During the fasting month, I would rather go online after performing Fajr prayer. By seven-forty A.M., I got accustomed to receiving a guest but the thing is it’s NOT a human being. In fact, it’s a CUTE dog! These dogs I figured took turn on every other day to show up in front of my block. Wanna know what most regularly I did whenever the dogs turned up? I kicked them out! Shoo! Shoo! You silly dog! LOL.

Not only the dogs, my afternoon turned out to be pretty much lovelier with a number of wild monkeys hanging around up on the roof. These monkeys were freaking naughty! They stole and picked a pack of crackers out of my block and then ate them in front of me! I was so freaking pissed! Even worse, it’s a mother monkey and wasn’t even sharing some to her baby. You meanie! I wished I could teach her that stealing is haram in Islam, that was she able to understand a human’s language.

MY PRIORITY: THE LIBRARY OR SHOPPING MALLS?

In case you’re wondering about my priority between the library and shopping malls… my response went to the second one – shopping malls! OMG.

On the weekends, the 4-floor Darul Hikmah library is only open till four P.M. Since I was such a bum, the library was never my favorite destination which was supposed to be mine. I sure knew that because I’d rather go shopping or hook up somewhere at shopping malls, having Japanese food at Alpha Angle Jaya Jusco in Wangsa Maju, catching a movie at KLCC or going bowling at Wangsa Walk Mall and Mid Valley – all made my day. You can tell, I was a pretty wild student – but nevertheless, all that wasn’t my daily routine. Oh come on guys! Just once a month to see the world outside. Hello ladies! HEH HEH…

At least, I didn’t seem as pathetic as my buddies who rarely entered the library. Was I in the mood, I stopped by at the library for some time. There’s where I frequently read papers and watched the BBC news on the large screen. By doing all this, it kept myself updated with all current issues. I wasn’t as nerdy as those who make the library their second home. I used to study at the library once in 2008 for the subject ‘Grammatical Analysis’ – and I tell you what, the effort was paid eventually when I passed with flying colors with grade A for that subject. I realize I’m pretty smart since then. HEH HEH.

The 4-floor Darul Hikmah library

My lecturer teaching this killer subject that time was Dr Adrian Ernest Hare, a Londoner who comes from England far in the United Kingdom. I’m not kind of snobbish, but it’s a reality I was the only one who got grade A for the subject. I’m not pulling your leg and am actually being honest. J HUHU.

THE BOOKWORM WANNABE

I AM into short stories so no big deal if I tell you I ever borrowed a short story book from the library. I did borrow other subject-based books as well, but most of the time, they ended up being my hopeless collections that I kept in mind to always extend once each was about to get due. Who wants to have their butt kicked, right? I had learnt enough from my past mistake because of the overdue case and sure enough, I had had it! Once bitten twice shy, isn’t it?

ONE OF MY BAD HABITS

After lectures on weekdays, the Information Technology Division Lab was where I mostly headed to. As I walked past the lab on my way back to hostel on the daily basis, stopping by there would be great! There, I went online for a couple hours, never for 5-6 hours straight. I AM a Muslim so I didn’t forget Allah and my obligation to perform solah when the time came. Oh yeah, the mosque is just next to the lab. No wonder hanging out in the lab got me more istiqamah (consistent) to keep praying congregationally with the Imam and makmums at the mosque, which was such a good thing!

The Information Technology Division computer laboratory

Sultan Ahmad Shah four-floor mosque

Inside the mosque on level 2

Seeing that IIUM is the first Malaysian international university, so you can state 90% of the lab users were non-Malays. I mean foreigners – Arabs, Africans, Europeans etc. Can’t believe more or less 4 years at Uni, they thought I was a Thai and could be an Indonesian. Whatever! Sawadikap! J

DURING THE PEAK HOUR

Luncheon is the weekdays’ peak hour for both students and staff. All the cafes in the centre complex turn completely crowded. I grinned if my lecture got dismissed 20 mins earlier before one P.M. so I was able to enjoy my lunch in prosperity. No need to grab a chair to sit on and a table to put my plate down. The point is I didn’t hafta listen to females’ hot gossips and all oooh-aaah noise they made all the time.

Was I damn starving during the peak hour, that meant I gotta go to the Mamamia Mediterranean café for lunch. Imagine the situation in which all customers are foreigners and you must speak English to make an order. Anyway, the meals were sometimes not all that bad either, to be honest. At least, my tummy was fully tucked in. For dessert, a piece of Black Forest cake was surely perfect. Yummy! Want some? NO WAY!

WHEN I WAS BROKE

Speaking of food, I loved lasagna and it had been my routine every Friday to have it right after the afternoon congregational prayer. At hostel café, my favorite Western food was Chicken Chop and, Fish and Chips. To save my budget when I was broke, I had only roti telur every night instead. Rice was only at lunch in that it probably cost me more than RM5 at times! In conclusion, Western food is a much better choice to be thrifty. Will my face be like ‘bread’ and ‘egg’ for eating so many roti telur? You think? HA HA… J

CASH WITHDRAWAL

The nearest ATM machine to male hostels is at the Kulliyyah (Faculty) of Economics and Management Science. Whenever I knew I was running out of my cash, that’s where I headed to before 12 midnight. FYI, it turns out of service after twelve. Maybe Cinderella shuts the service down! OH REALLY? And, that’s when I cursed to the stupid machine just because I was allegedly 1-second late. SHOOT!

ARE YOU QUEUING OR SKIPPING, DUDE?

Mahallah Faruq's Cyber Café (or CC) was where I most regularly printed my assignments out just because I didn’t like to own a printer. Possessing a printer of my own was a mess! Plus, there’re many CCs on campus. What else is the CC for if it’s not for me to go print out? I didn’t really surf the Net there ‘cause like I said, we got free wireless on campus. Why should I waste my money, then? Penny wise pound foolish! I pretty much loathed when somebody skipped my queue for printing. Guess who skipped my queue most of the time? The international student. Sigh. Is this also called ‘the diversity of cultures’? HWAAAARRGHH…

Maybe I wasn’t chubby enough so they didn’t notice I was there or maybe the administration had better  provide queuing numbers so nobody would ever skip somebody else’s turn, especially my turn! Fair and square. Things are getting worse when all that didn’t happen at all! L

THE ‘FOREIGN’STADIUM

Sayyidina Hamzah stadium is real huge! It looks like the many stadiums on TV as people constantly play soccer on the field. When I saw there’s no Malay around but me, I took off shortly. Don’t get misunderstood. I’m not a racist. I left the stadium when I was getting fed up. Got it?

Sayyidina Hamzah stadium

THEY LABELLED ME ‘NERD’?

What type of student was I like? Hmm…I’m called to answer this question. My classmates used to label me ‘nerd’ and ‘geek’ even though I’ve never approved that, ever! Maybe, they thought so as I had been a class rep many times or what people call ‘Anak lecturer’. Doing revision was out of my pastime list, I was pretty informative nonetheless.

THE LAZY CLASS REP

Appointed to be a class rep didn’t really put me in the comfort zone and please take note! Every time my intention to skip lectures was to be called off right after getting a phone call from my lecturer. What got me so speechless when the lecturer pretty much cared about his student and unluckily I was the VICTIM. They bothered inquiring this, “It’s about eight-thirty now and you’ve yet to show up. Urm…are you still in bed, sweetie?”

Oh dear! How the hell does s/he find it out?! Deep in my heart, “Hang on, are you spying on me?” I knew I must be pretending cool since I never wanted my lecturer to find out my bad habit. Don’t forget they’re the ones who gave me extra marks for good conduct. I got this super idea to reply, “I’m on my way, Sir!” HEH HEH. What a trick! Don’t you ever give your lecturer a shot!

“I’m deeply sorry, Prof. I OVERSLEPT.” To be honest with you, this is the most popular excuse for not attending lectures that so many undergraduate students adore. I just knew I was way BETTER than they since then. At least, I didn’t make such a lame excuse! Well…this is like a student-student secret and don’t start filling your lecturers in all about this or else you’re gonna be in a big trouble, man! 

THE UIVERSITY DRESS CODE?

I can still recall, because I didn’t obey the university dress code that much, I ever wore a pair of Japanese slippers (The Malays call ‘selipar Jepun’) to lectures that my lecturer, Dr. Z finally noticed me having a screw loose! “Hey, what the hell are you putting on, dork?!” (This wasn’t the way he in fact asked. “Uh-ho… I’m really getting into hot water!” Never did I put shoes on to lectures, FYI. I love informality and dressed in casual clothes all the time although formal attire is highly recommended.  

This no-no controversial stuff I was talking about

INDEED, TIME FLIES

Four years possibly sounds a very long time for a freshman. Ironically, four years studying at Uni is pretty short for me primarily when I was already in the final year of study and my current status turned ‘senior’. I was too depressed to say ‘goodbye’ to the world-class university. Just then, I started whining, “4 years is a really short term and I want more!” or “How come time flies this fast?!”Were I to be offered to extend another 1 sem, for sure I would firmly object! Look who’s talking! HAR HAR… J

The rectory building at night

AFTER GRADUATION, this Garden of Knowledge and Virtue is one of the places I wanna visit again and again. 

Gonna Burn The Midnight Oil

Looks imperfect if I kept silent and didn’t keep this blog updated on the monthly basis. At least, hope to see the flow when there’re non-stop updates from me from time to time. So I made my mind up spending some time to make sure I do have something to share here with you guys. “Sharing is caring, man!”

Of my random calculation, after all, we ISMP graduates have had a ‘fever’ for the last few weeks. First, to make things crystal clear, ISMP stands for “Ijazah Sarjana Muda Pendidikan” and becomes “Bachelor of Education” when you translate it into Malaysia’s second language. Right. Second, I don’t mean fever per se. This kind of fever sounds pretty weird. It’s best called ‘interview fever’. Exactly, that’s what I’m talking about!

Got two yes-no questions for you:

1. Are you a hardcore reader to Malaysian daily papers? YES/NO
2.  Are you an audience to Malaysian TV news at every 8 o’clock sharp every night? YES/NO

Should you fulfill both criteria, it’s hoped you most probably never overlooked the hot-and-spicy issue regarding the delay of ISMP graduates’ posting which wasn’t even finger lickin’ good like KFC. The good news is that this ISMP graduates’ riddle, and is so mine, has been answered at last. Approx. ½ candidates’ names have been listed via the SPP website ever since the past few weeks and a quite number of ‘em have been/are being/are gonna be/will be interviewed pretty soon. How damn anxious!

Hold on a sec., I forgot to tell you that SPP is the very abbreviation for “Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pelajaran” and they deal with all appointments, interviews and so forth for “Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan Siswazah (PPPS)” or what Mat Salleh call “Graduate Education Services Officer”. Oh, what the hell is that? PPPS is a technical term for ‘teacher’ in English or what the Malays call ‘guru’ in Bahasa. That’s it! Hence, don’t feel cheated with that stupid term, please. Hopefully not yet.

Now that MY NAME has just been listed by today [deep in my heart, HOW COME THIS EARLY?] and the next thing I knew, it’s time to burn the midnight oil. But, not gonna burn my house, I promise. Lalala.  

Stolen from Google

Well…I know it’s merely an interview, however, if you ask me, this is what I’d say, “It’s not just an interview!” After looking a bunch of so many former interviewees’ comments over, I can tell, it’s gonna be a really tough one. Even worse, this competition seems too high!

This kind of interview expects interviewees like me should’ve known every single thing on this educational stuff, teaching-based info blah…blah…blah including all the government’s on-going super programs, the National Educational Philosophy, Rukun Negara, the transformation programs, National Key Result Area (NKRA), SBT, Gagasan 1 Malaysia, KSSR and even much more. This is excluded with all state, government departments-based info and all that yet. Obviously, all this is so factual! It’s not all about KBKK or something like giving as many viewpoints as you can.  

Honesty is the best policy. To be honest with you, I’m not all into FACTS!

Not only do I need to really memorise pretty dumb terms, I must as well understand each and be able to elaborate very well using my own words. Needless to say understanding does matter but then when it comes to something factual, I turn a bit slow like a walking tortoise. I should find all the stuff out on my own especially when teaching profession would’ve been officially mine soon and yes I know that! Additionally things aren’t getting as easy as ABC for me to figure something out without proper knowledge.  

Sounds cool as I’ve already realized the need for early preparation, not to mention studying extra hard. I’ve been putting myself into study mood for the past few weeks. Hope to keep this up for the next two weeks till I’m truly free from this silly thing. I know ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’. Can’t deny this has got me worked up and a little more depressed lately. Yup, I’m a bookworm who adores reading. I read because of boredom and typically do it every time I want to. Reading factual notes is boring to my mind, whereas I’d rather pick a novel like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney or a grammatical reference book like Betty Azar’s Understanding and Using English Grammar to read up. Things would give me a knock out instead, really. 

I’m not a perfectionist. Yet, I wanna ensure everything will turn out just fine on the big day. I’ve gotten myself pretty much prepared for the upcoming interview session. Also, seems I’ve managed a whole lot of things up till now such as copying all required certificates, getting new clear holders at a shopping mall, having my hair cut, taking passport-sized photos, booking a black and white nametag and having all the copies of the docs confirmed by ‘Group A’ Officer. I got a Senior Assistant to assist me in this confirmation thing. Hope it’ll be fine with the interviewers soon. Good job my dear!

None the less this isn’t the end yet! Besides never taking any everyday current issues for granted, there’s much more info out there I should’ve been finding out and gaining like from the Net…even though I’m pretty sure all the info is never listed in my favorite reading list stuff. Me poor thing!

This is all for the sake of the SPP interview. Self-confidence is more than significant! For 4 years I did my bachelor’s degree at Uni and am gonna make sure the very momentous date FEB 23, 2012 (Thursday) WILL NEVER let me down! It never will! I’m real convinced the spirit of ‘Malaysia Boleh!’ is just inside me right now! I’ll do it, I’ll do it, I’ll do it….it’ll be the very day I’ll prove all my impressive credibility and strength that I’ve learned and instilled all this while.

PS: Guys out there, do wish me the best of luck! =)