S.I.M.P.L.I.C.I.T.Y

My younger brother just got his Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) results, and it turned out have have as many A’s as mine. Specifically speaking, a total of 6 A’s. Of course, it is already considered a very good achievement, if you ask me and other people. However, things do not look so smoothly when it comes to my father and mother.

They were not satisfied at all. Really. I know, while 6 A’s are already considered excellent, I do not think PMR results do make a difference at all. My parents were scolding the whole day about the results he got. As from his previous school grades, he is proven to be an excellent student, really. From what I saw in his school reports, exam grades, as well as teachers’ remarks, my brother usually get all A’s, except for one or two, especially Mandarin. This is not unexpected though, since every brother in my family is known to have only satisfactory or moderate for Mandarin tests. Of course, he is constantly the top few, according to his school grade reports.

And because that one subject that got a B, his results for PMR was indeed a major mindblow to my mother. All of us were not that unhappy about it, since all we could do is just praise him for all his A’s. As usual, everything that my mother and father expect is perfect results, yeah, literally perfect. In other words, all A’s, not even a single B or below. I do not even think that he deserves being scolded for it. In addition, all of us got scolded too! My father, the elder brother and me! Hmm, my mother always relate everyone to the person in question.

That is one of the reasons I always get really upset with that demand in my parents. They never ever give other factors to consider, or even to think about. Sometimes an examination can be real tough, however all they could say is things like, “You never study!” and “As long as you study and do revision, you can score!”. The fact is, my parents fail to look at other factors, for one’s failure or whatsoever. While I have to admit that studying and doing consistent revisions are important, you cannot always blame them for having low grades, right? In certain times, exams are often tougher or some questions are completely out of what you study; and for that, you cannot blame the people who take exams. That is only one factor, and I still have tons of other factors relating to this issue.

Abolishment of PMR

Relating to this issue, I do strongly think that Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) should be abolished. Why? In my personal point of view, PMR does more bad than good.

Try to picture this. People who get straight or many A’s will obviously be very proud of their excellent grades in PMR. Of course, parents will be very happy about their achievements, obviously. Except for a very small fraction of special case, like mine here. Anyway, with their high grades, many will obviously have that sense of pride and ‘cleverness’ in them. Due to that attitude they carry, some of them will eventually lose their focus on studying, because they would think that they had scored exceptionally well in the PMR, so they thought they won’t need to study so much (or relax more) as they know that they are already smart enough or whatsoever. As a result of such negative attitude, many cannot score in Form 4 and 5 examinations. This is clear when you compare the number of achievers in both PMR and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia). Not to mention that SPM is a much tougher examination.

If one can score PMR, it does not ultimately mean that one can excel in SPM as well. Don’t you think so?

While I think that there may be some advantages of PMR, still do you think Malaysians nowadays can learn from this? PMR is a stepping stone to achieving better results in future. Of course, morally speaking, students who get good results are encouraged to work harder to get even better results next time. In other words, PMR is just a major stepping stone for students with good results to even work harder to get higher score next time. Same to the weaker students, people always give them a friendly pat on the back, and advise them to study harder to achieve good results as well. That is the positive intention of the Education Ministry, I believe. However, one cannot always think of the better, more moral side. Instead they should put much more consideration about the reality behind PMR. Do you think you can just ask a good student to study even harder next time? Or even a weak student to put additional effort to score good grades? No, today’s students and people are not like that, anymore. The mentality and mindset of people today are no longer that noble, morallistic, virtuous and ethical anymore, not only in Malaysia, but also in all parts of the world. Their passion and interest for study constantly changes with their behaviours and some other factors as well, regardless whether these students are academically strong or weak.

As for the students achieving low grades in PMR, it would in turn, trigger a negative mindset in those students. Let’s say, a person got his PMR results. And after checking out his grades in the PMR examination slip, he found out that he had weak results. Indirectly, he would start to adopt the infamous Malaysian attitude of “I cannot wan lar…”. That way, that person has completely lost his passion for studying, and do not want to put additional effort for future examinations anymore.

These are some of the reasons why I think PMR should be abolished, in terms of reality, people’s behavior and attitudes nowadays, and so on.

Found this minimalistic theme somewhere, decided to give it a try. As usual, as I have previously mentioned, most themes do have errors. With a little knowledge about CSS editing and experience, I managed to fix all these issues myself. That took me more than an hour. Oh well.

Back to the title.

While I still have the genuine interest for blogging, once again, I am beginning to see that all these effort to blog is all for a big waste. I realized that posting all these posts online is more or less, like you write countless essays, but without anyone to even take a look or read it. Perhaps this is my case, I largely believe.

To date, only three friends have added this blog into the blogroll of their blogs. While I do not go around and say things like “Hey, add my blog!” or whatsoever, I am beginning to feel that it may be not worth it to even blog about miscellaneous things.

In my case, I do blog very often nowadays. But what do I blog? All about my life, things I did in house, points of view regarding certain things or issues,  sharing pictures, school, computers and Internet, (a bit of) life facts according to myself, and more. Still, I am beginning to feel like I am wasting too much of my time to actually blog. Not to mention that I do always blog nonsense too, just for the sake of blogging everyday and to increase the post count.

Regardless of the statements above, I am not referring them to all other bloggers. Many friends of mine have blogs, as seen from the “My Friends” on the sidebar. Some, from my observations, do compose miscellaneous stuff too. Despite that, I am not too sure about the fact whether others read it or not.

Besides, do you actually think that people would even care about anything you post (about life, depression, feelings, etc) if they actually did read? I believe it is a no.

There is way too much for me to express about my style of blogging, if you ever consider it as a ’style’. How uninteresting it has become, no visitors to the blog, and all sorts of other issues. Honestly speaking, I am tired of everything already. Not in any intention to talk about it anymore.

I am now, seriously reconsidering my purpose for blogging.

Using an Apple MacBook with the operating system, Mac OSX right now, and I have got to admit that certain things do feel better in a Mac. For instance, try surfing the Internet using a Mac, and visit this blog. The font looks so much better here in a Mac. Really.

I am particularly bored now, oh well. Currently blogging this current post with the Apple MacBook, and at the same time, listening to “Cleanin’ Out My Closet” by Eminem through an Apple iPod Classic of the 6th generation. Also, without a doubt, iPod does have fantastic sound quality too, through the originally-supplied headphones, of course. As you would not have realized, the tech big boss, Apple does not produce or manufacture their own parts. Not to mention that Samsung is the real manufacturer that supplies most parts in an iPod.

The default browser in Mac OSX, called Safari, has a far more minimalistic look than any other browser, except for Google Chrome. As for the better looking blog part, this blog does look better. Reason? Not because that it is an Apple Mac. It is just because of the font used in Mac OSX. In most computers, non-Macs particularly, the font named “Palatino” is not available, whereas a Mac has it already by default. Nevertheless, the font does look good. That sort of explains why this blog looks better with the font, “Palatino”. Also, the dashboard for this WordPress blog, where I gain access to all the features and tools (similar to Blogspot), does run more smoothly too, unlike Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. Of course, Google Chrome does that magic as well.

No, I am not an Apple fan. I do not always favour an Apple iPod, iPhone, MacBook, etc. Instead, I would prefer something out of other users’ reviews and comments. As always, customers’ satisfaction comes first.

Bored. Signing off.

Yeah, one  more to year to live in Bandar Baru Seri Petaling. More likely to be. My parents had been constantly seeking new houses in the past years. primarily due to dissatisfaction over the current house I am still living in, and the (considerably) small size of the house too. At the particular moment, I am living in Taman Sri Endah, which is a gargantuan portion of Bandar Baru Seri Petaling (commonly just known as “Sri Petaling”). In a corner-lot, double-storey terrace house just next to the (quite new) playground which is just in front of the old Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK), Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Baru Seri Petaling (1).

Don’t you dare to hunt for me upon hearing this, please.
(Laughing out loud)

I do have to admit that I have certain dissatisfactions over the current house as well. One, it is particularly too small for all growing three brothers, including me, of course. And the other thing is, I would love a bigger house as well.

My parents did go for a crazy hunt for new houses, collecting advertisements and brouchures of new houses in the printed form, newspapers and the Internet through some Malaysia’s local housing websites. And yes, my parents do go to visit all the sample houses, developers’ offices, construction sites of new housing projects, mainly to collect more information about these new houses. Speaking of these, I was real tired (back then) for constantly following them to all sorts of housing sites.

At the same time, my parents always insist on buying a freehold property. What is freehold property? In property law, freehold (or fee simple) is often defined as the complete ownership of land and the buildings on such land (as opposed to leasehold where property reverts back to the owner when the lease expires).

Most houses in Kuala Lumpur are leasehold, where the lease of the houses are only valid for only 99 years, like my current house. In a different explanation, you pay to buy a leasehold house, and you may not notice that you only own the house for 99 years. Erm, not really, such statements are always stated in the contract which you have to sign beofre owning or buying a house. And due to that, all your parents (if you are a son or daughter) sjpuld know about all these. Anyway, as for a leasehold property, you can only live in the house you bought for 99 years, only about two generations, I believe. If the lease of the property expires, the government will either reclaim the land (which will legally make you move out of the property), or pay a premium to stay in the property for another set durations (which is usually very costly, around several hundred thousands of Malaysian Ringgit). So, the disadvantage of a leasehold property is that, you do not completely own the land, which the governing government leases the property to you for a set duration (e.g. 99 years). And if that expires, the government has all the rights to reclaim the land without needing a trial, as this has been stated in the contract. Because of this, a leasehold property rapidly goes down in market price and demand as the duration for the lease decreases.

However, my parents did manage to find some freehold houses in Kuala Lumpur. I am particularly lazy to name them all. Oh well. The one that my parents bought is in Mutiara Bukit Jalil, along the Bukit Jalil highway along Taman Bukit Jalil. The specific location of the housing estate is hidden behind the factories further down the road. My mother have always insisted for a larger house, specifically at least a semi-detached (semi-D) house, or in an easier term, half a bungalow. After much property hunting, my mother seemed to have failed to find a proper, comfortable semi-D houses. So, when my parents found the three-storey houses in Mutiara Bukit Jalil, they were happy with it, and eventually bought it without all the three brothers’ discussion and agreement.

There are several reasons I greatly objected to the newly-bought house, it is visually smaller. In scale drawings and the proper documentation, the house is actually much bigger than my current house. I actually agree with that too, because I know we could sue them if they cheat on the size. But from the visual, the house looks so much smaller than the house I am living in. The other thing is, it is at the back of the factories, which I ultimately object too. While the distance between the houses and factories is not that near, I hate it so much when these small-industry factories are just around the household area. Also, the houses are allocated in an area where there are only these similar houses all around; no shopping centre and no shops at every corner. The current house is so much more convenient, all the shops and Endah Parade (or the Sri Petaling Carrefour) are just a 5-minute walk away.

Last time, my parents did find a semi-D house at Bukit Jelutong, which some of us and I deem to be too far. Then, there comes the Setia Eco Park by the developer, SP Setia. Indeed it is an internationally award-winning housing project. I tell you, the Setia Eco Park semi-D house are so fantastically awesome that I would love to have it, seriously. No house fence, greenery all around,  great landscape, beautiful arrangements of the houses, etc. Modern lifestyle, I would have to say. My parents did love it too, honestly speaking. The only main issue is, still way too far from Kuala Lumpur. And speaking of that, I never like living outside of Kuala Lumpur, since all the shopping and entertainment are in KL itself. Things are so much convenient here.

(Crying out loud)

Looks like I have to learn to adapt to the new house, which will only happen after new year, I believe. According to my mother, we will be moving into the new house after its extensive renovation and before the 2010 Chinese New Year. This is so depressing. Moving out of the house I love so much (for the sake of convenience), into the new house which I dislike so much.

Hmm… (sobbing)

I am really, down-to-earth now, all tired and exhausted. All the insane cleaning up. Thank god for this year, the spring cleaning for the 2009 Chinese New Year seems to be much less through compared to any previous year. Cannot really blame my parents though, next year is more likely to be the final year I will be living in the house. (Ask no more questions about this.) Regardless of what, the cleaning up is not complete as yet, there are still the kitchen, living room, and the outside to do.

Gosh, I am so dead now.

Plus, no more time to relax anymore. Holidays are ending already, for me. One more week and then, I have got to say hello to Victoria Institutions already. And that is the real depressing part, I dislike my studying life as soon as I step into VI. (Sigh) Just a couple of days for me to stay in house and do whatever I like. Gosh, this is so sad. Arghhh, I hate it so much when holidays are ending!

That time has come, for all family members to unite and share a happy moment every year, which is to do spring cleaning. Gosh, how much I hate it! My father just made an announcement just now, during dinner time, “Okay, tomorrow everyone has to wake up early to clean up the house.”

(sobbing)

I seriously hate this, all the Chinese New Year preparations and spring cleaning. Not because I hate cleaning or tidying the house, it is just all the “WJ, move quickly!”, “How many times do you want me to tell you?!” and all the scoldings and yellings. Really.

My father and mother will get real impatient over many things, like us moving slowly, etc. I cannot blame them too, oh well. My parents are always like that, every single year. Of course, every year there must be endless streams of naggings, scoldings and shoutings when we are doing the spring cleaning for Chinese New Year. Thank god it is always only for a day or two.

This is one of the reasons why I dislike Chinese New Year. Well, as for the annual Ang Pow (red packets) collection, I do not really fancy it too much, either. Most friends that I know keep the CNY money with themselves. For me, these Ang Pow money is strictly controlled by my mother. Without a doubt, she is the Ministry of Finance in the house. Oh well. Most financial matters are handled by my mother.

Hmm, I hope the spring cleaning will end real soon. Don’t you?

This is something I learned in the latest episode of Bleach, episode number 200. Happy 200th anniversary, Bleach! And as the title says, the meaningful lesson is regarding perfection.

In the anime episode, it is explained that perfection is not a good thing. While acheving real perfection is impossible, even having a mindset of achieving perfection is negative, too. In the episode, it begins with, “There is no such thing as perfect in this world.” People often say that they want to be perfect in certain things. While this may sound good, it does more bad than good.

The dialogue goes as the following.

Mayuri:
There is no such thing as perfect in this world.
This may sound cliche, but it’s the truth.
The average person admires perfection and seeks to obtain it.
But, what’s the point of achieving perfection?
There is none. Nothing. Not a single thing.
I loathe perfection!
If something is perfect, then there is nothing left.
There is no room for imagination.
No place left for a person to gain additional knowledge or abilities.
Do you know what that means?
For scientists such as ourselves, perfection only brings despair.
It is our job to create things more wonderful than anything before them, but never to obtain perfection.
A scientist must be a person who finds ecstasy while suffering from that antimony.

There goes the conversation. It is more like a person speaking to a disabled enemy who has lost the battle. And if you are wondering, the dialogue was conversed by Mayuri Kurotsuchi (涅 マユリ,, Kurotsuchi Mayuri), the captain of the 12th Division in the Bleach anime series. And his opponent was of course, Szayel Aporro Granz (ザエルアポロ・グランツ,, Zaeruaporo Gurantsu), who had been immobilized.

Regardless of what, you should be able to interprete it yourself. The dialogue is meaningful enough to draw many other values in it.

Credit goes to the Bleach production team.

Just hours ago, I was back from Pavillion with my parents, for a little bit of Christmas shopping, for the coming Chinese New Year, obviously.

Initially that outing was more of less, due to excessive boredom staying in the house. I woke up pretty early today, only to note that my elder brother was playing the game, Spore. Oh well. My parents were still at that time, so I was pathetically bored. After my mum and dad did wake up, they had no plans for Christmas as well. Haha, my parents do not really celebrate Christmas, not that I remember of. Immediately my dad thought of going to Pavillion for window shopping, so that was why I followed. Usually I do not have the choice of choosing whether to go or not, because I always follow them out anywhere. Even if I do not wish to follow, they will be a little unsatisfied and start showing a pinch of anger or frustration, e.g. “Our son doesn’t want to follow us anymore.” Indirectly you know they are unhappy. Oh well.

My father drove all the way to a long street along the highway somewhere very near to Times Square. They always do that, and we had to walk a little bit to the Pavillion. Of course, the minute I was going to Pavillion, all I could think of at the moment was about seeing Amelia Justina Ng-Hao in her work. Haha, I thought that would be fun. At the same time, my parents and I did not do much there, except for some seasonal shopping.

I was on the other side, tring so hard to recall the name of the renowned boutique Amelia is working in. And then, I was walking along the pavement, and immediately saw the shop named, Materiél in front of me. Without a doubt, that name sorta’ struck my head in a very interesting way, I dunno’ how. At least I know where Amelia Justina Ng-Hao is working now. Haha. Hey, initially I thought the shop was much larger and more exclusive. Also, I thought there would be more people inside. (Sigh) Surely a quiet shop. Oh well. That was the first time I saw her, not too clearly though. She was facing the other direction against the entrance of the shop, and all I saw was just her back. Well, I know it is obviously Amelia, because she is undeniably as tall of a giraffe, and has that signature long hair. I never made any attempt to call out for her, as I admittedly have to say that I feel very uncomfortable meeting with my friends with my parents tagging along. Well, this is Woei Jiann, and I cannot deny the fact. I am always like that, always trying to avoid meeting friends with my parents around. Hmm. I did SMS-ed her I was there, and she replied me to stay till 6 pm if I could since she will be having a break at that time. I just replied her that I was having my parents around, and not sure about the timing. Well, I did stay till 6 pm, honestly speaking. Also, I did make second appearance in front of her shop (just passing by, again). This time, I saw her facing the front, doing something with the display in front, I believe. That was about 5 minutes before 6. She couldn’t see me, again. I cannot see her face very clearly, again. Haha.

Most of my time there were ‘consumed’ by my father and mother shopping in the Parkson, particularly my mum. She first bought a Sisley V-cut blouse, then some bras and cosmetics. I tell you, she used more than half an hour just to tryout 1 or 2 bras! I was feeling very uncomfortable about this, obviously. Tired and bored to the maximum! Then my father proceeded to the male department to get a formal, short-sleeve Smalto shirt. Finally, my mother went to the SK-II corner of the cosmetics department, very indecisive about whether to buying it or not. My mother has been a daily SK-II user for many, many years now. And she buys them every year. My mum uses them everytime she works or goes for an outing. Gosh, those SK-II products are real pain in the wallet. Usually she would go for free gifts. And this time, there is a free gift with purchase above RM 599, a set of some SK-II products in smaller sizes. My mother deemed it as ‘affordable’, and immediately bought a Facial Treatment Cleanser, and two more SK-II products, which I have forgotten. Together with the free gifts, the staff brought these 3 items to the counter, and the price really kills me. All these three SK-II products cost nearly RM 700; one is RM 380, other is RM 200+, and one more I did not really take note of. Well, it is not that surprising to me, as I know my mother spends really a lot for cosmetics.

Gosh, how it would be like if I have a wife next time? Disastrous.

Interestingly, when I was outer side of the SK-II corner while my mother was throwing all sorts of enquires to the staff, I just got a little itchy-handed. I noticed the SK-II products on display have been opened and used. I was bored. So, I saw that SK-II Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil there, pressed it a little, and some of the oil did come out. Applied it to my lower face below the mouth. Gosh, it was really oily, almost as oily as cooking oil. It does smell good too, those cosmetics smell. Haha. Itchy hands. Minutes later, it does have a little good feeling on the applied portion of my face, cool and rejuvenated.

Perhaps I should start using all the SK-II products on my mother’s cosmetics table in secrecy.

One phrase to sum it all.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

Selamat Hari Natal dan Selamat Tahun Baru!

圣诞节快乐, 和 新年快乐!

(And it comes with three different languages too.)

Regardless of what, may this glorious Christmas and the following new year bring you much desired luck, prosperity, peace and whatsoever you’re wishing for.

(Giggling)

For me, I hope next year ends as early as possible, STPM has to end first, before I get to enjoy the holidays. I will have a much better Christmas celebrations with my friends next year, all of you, watch out!