2011 in a list

-With 2011 approaching its end, I've decided to make reminiscences of this year. Cliche, I know.-

1. School

I had been a class-sleeper. My chair and desk served as my bed; the teachers and their lessons were my sleeping pills. With those elements, I traveled to vast but sometimes short Slumberland, continuing my exploration in most of my classes.

- Malay Language: this one's a strong sleeping pill. I don't even have to set a false pretense. Even if Cikgu Yahya knows his students are sleeping in his classes, he doesn't care and goes on. I wasn't the only one sleeping in his classes. More than half of the class didn't even pay attention to his lessons which is a badbadbad thing. If I didn't sleep, I'd read a book.

- History: Sometimes I slept. Miss Tan tried to prevent her students from sleeping though. She exhibited the normal, predictable reaction of a teacher towards a sleeping student in her class.

- Mathematics: usually in the morning after Mrs. Wong finished her lesson--which was always short and concise but covered up all that we needed to know.

- Additional Mathematics: even during Mdm. Chai's lessons I doze off!  Good thing I have tuition to back me up. She realized my sleeping habit but didn't make a big deal out of it. Just threw in casual 'What time did you sleep?' questions at me and other sleepers. Then she let us off the hook.

- Biology: Another strong sleeping pill. Mdm. Jane just turned on her laptop and let the machine do all the boring teaching. Her students weren't allowed to bring story books, regardless of what language they're written in, into her class. She'd snatch them away if she saw one. One thing she failed to snatch was my drowsiness. Trivia: Her complete name is Jane Darling, if I'm not mistaken. Wendy Darling from J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan has a daughter named Jane.

Classes I couldn't sleep in:

- Islamic Education: Islamic Education class was one of the non-boring ones anyway and plus, the drowsiness seldom tempted me to sleep in this class. Berkat belajar lam surau.

- Chemistry: In 2010, I could've slept easily, no problemo but it was different this year. Thanks to tuition, I could finally fathom the scientific processes, equations, lingo and whatnot regarding Chemistry. I finally gained chemistry with Chemistry.

- Physics: Same as Chemistry though Cg. Shahizam would always notice sleepers. He also shot questions at his students so we all had to be on our toes, figuratively speaking of course since we sat on stools in the lab.

- English: COULD NEVER SLEEP. Mdm. Teh sometimes sat on my table and she was always close to my seating position which is unfortunately nonstrategic for me but only in English classes. Sometimes I enjoyed English but there were still times where I got sleepy for no apparent reason during English. 

- Literature in English: BEST CLASS EVER. Laughs would undoubtedly blast out of the six Lit students during class which took place in the room next to the Mrs. Micheal's office. I forgot the name of the room. Is it called the Conference Room? Lit classes commenced at 2:00 PM and ended at 3:30 PM. Poems, short stories and novel and Mrs. Micheal's clever wits. Why wouldn't the classes be amusing? :) Could never fall asleep in this class. Didn't want to fall asleep either.

In addition, I seldom passed up my homework for all subjects. Teachers didn't really mind. This is why I tell my juniors NOT to bother with homework but bother themselves with exam papers instead.

2. Debate.

Teamed up with Cheyenne (1st Speaker) and Allison (2nd Speaker). I was originally a 1st Speaker but we didn't have a 3rd Speaker for the senior team so I was just shoved into the then unwanted limelight. Albeit now i feel comfortable being a 3rd Speaker. Together, we formed the one and only senior team from St. Mary's. lol How pathetic. Our school only had two teams comprised of less than ten members. One senior team, one junior team and the remaining dormant members. The glory days of debating at St. Mary's was officially over. Swinburne WSDC 2011 was tough and fun though all the losing clouded the event. We won the last two rounds though, after finally grasping the skills and concepts. Last two rounds were about Jurisdiction (DAMN WE WON THAT ROUND WOW I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THOSE KINDS OF STUFF) and Animal Rights. We even had to go up against St. Thomas and debated something about Nuclear Technology. We gave a good fight, only losing two points from winning. The adjudicators were impressed too :) 

For the Parliament-style Debate competition which happened at SHOAW, we only passed the first round which already surpassed our seniors so that's good. SMK Gapor beat us up. Gapor debate teams were/are known to be good too. I'm just glad we didn't have to face Teresian debaters. They would've crushed us and left us mangled. This year, they went up against SMK Chung Hua (was it? I remember it was a Chinese school) and lost. They, however, had 5 adjudicators on their side while the other 6 adjudicators were on the opposing school's side. This was during WSDC. 

Not to be erased from my memory, the humiliating Marian-Thomian Debate 2011. Damn that debate. It was just horrible. Marians lost. Period. End of story.

After whatever that has happened, I've come to like debating. I like getting all riled up as I try to defend my team's points without being senseless and baseless. The ultimate downside of debate is when debaters have to fight for something they don't believe in. When that happens, it's up to the opponents to get me riled up and high-spirited and fill my winning-drive. I have plans to continue debating in the future. Plans change sometimes but I hope this one stays :)

3. Spelling.

I won the inter-house spelling competition at school. But I didn't win this year's RHB-NST SIR Challenge. Bummed. I placed sixth. If I had placed 5th like I did in 2010, I would've been considered as one of the winners and received a hefty RM 1000 but noooooo, I was in sixth place and received RM 2000 , RM 800 behind. The obstruction that foiled my journey to at least, fifth place was 'trousseau'. French origin. The girl who I was up against was one of the Teresian debaters to whom I felt inferior. But I didn't feel inferior to her when it came to spelling. One of her words when were the only ones on stage was 'parsimonious'. I knew that word and could spell it correctly in my head but she made a mistake while spelling. Then what word did I get? One with freaking French origin that I had never heard of. Life, what did I do to you until you give me something that was so unfair?

Words used this year was generally more difficult than last year's. Something tells me they knew that so they rewarded the 12 finalists that didn't place fifth and above (me) RM 200. Half a loaf of bread is better than none although RM 200 is not half of RM 1000. I really wanted to get another cheque to accompany my old SIR cheque in my room. Plus, it was my last year :(

4. SPM

Three capital letters arranged to form an initial that instills fear and anxiety in Form 5 students. So glad it's over. Now I'm always bored and wasting my post-SPM days away. Well, I signed up for that so I anticipated it and I have to say, I missed being bored because I had nothing to do. SPM was alright I guess. I think. ... ... ... NEXT TOPIC PLEASE

5. Books

I've been interested in reading Sci-fi novels recently all thanks to Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl. I really want to explore the world of steampunk but for now, I need cash. There's a book containing short steampunk stories. I want it. Apart from that, Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series is also in my wanted list. It's been a while since I've read books that make me feel like a girl. By that, I mean girly books; Teen Romance books where it's boy meets girl or vice-versa, then they end up walking together hand-in-hand towards the beautiful sunset. (*cough*MegCabot*coughcough* I'm still a fan of her since she's ONE OF THE GOOD ONES) Or those about girly BFFs. Though I don't think I have ever read girly BFFs books.

Oh those girly books that decorate two or three floor-to-ceiling shelves at MPH. Oh those girly books that make my lips curl downward and my eyes to narrow as I wonder why they don't put more books that contribute more to youths such as YA books there.

I want to read more of Haruki Murakami's books too. They seem interesting. Norwegian Wood is a good book, aside from the explicitness. I'm not a fan of explicit books and that's why I don't read romance novels, the ones with a hunky, elaborately-muscled man holding a fragile-looking woman who seems to be swooning over him. The couples are usually headless. I find those covers sexist.

6. Relationships.

None of those lovey-dovey, cheesy, mushy, gooey, we're-so-in-love-we're-married stuff here. *shivers* Those kinds of things get on my nerves sometimes. Nor is there unrequited love, crushes and whatnot. By 'Relationships', I mean friendships and familyships stuff.

I endured a Cold War with Allison this year but successfully resolved it by confronting her--through a letter. Although not face to face, it was still counted as a confrontation, nonetheless; the fundamental first step in mending our friendship. I had wanted to boldly resolve our problem face to face but I didn't have the courage. Not a Gryffindoor but I am a Ravenclaw so I figured sending a letter to apologise would be a smart move. I was the one who started it anyway. I had talked behind her back. At that time, I didn't mind the fact that she knew, heck, I was hoping so. But after a while, it felt so wrong hence, the confrontation where I cower behind written words. Allison responded by sending me her letter where she basically said she accepted my apology. Her letter was longer than mine, just for the record. Then we hugged and strolled down the pavement coated with sweets.

Nah. We just went back to class. Allison and I were both glad that the Cold War ended before SPM. That was the only fight I had had in a couple of years. I don't get into emotional fights. Definitely not physical either. If I ever get into a physical fight, it would be a case of bullying instead of a fight. I'd most likely be the bullied.

I became friends (not acquaintances like some classmates. By friends, I mean people who I always talk to besides greeting them) to some people throughout the year. Among them are Cheyenne, Judy, Kim, Allison and Felicia. Old friends who were still with me since last year: the usual peeps--Aishah, Tasha, Salfa; Steph who became more perverted along with Aishah. (and me lol)

Not sure if I've included everyone...

I didn't/don't even get involved with fights among my siblings now which is probably because I'm at that age where I'm mature enough not to make a big deal out a small matter such as chores. And perhaps other things that are quote unfair. The alone-in-doing-chores issue doesn't bother me much anymore since nothing will change even if I complain to Mama even though I still think it's unfair I'm the only one doing chores in this household.

Three words, three syllables, ten letters, thirteen characters: Deal with it. However you want. Preferably, the right way and when I say the right way I mean the moral way. Now ain't that a great lesson? :)

-2011; fin-