Epilogue

I'm moving on to another blog. I'm still using Blogger, but I guess I just need a change. So behold:

amandasoo17.blogspot.com

Hope you guys don't hate the change.

And thanks in advance for changing your link to my new URL. =)

Of Farewell, Shopping and Singing

I'm back from camp!

Well, that was four days ago. I came back on Tuesday and have been sleeping so much and going out so often ever since then that I haven't had the time to blog about camp. I'm not blogging about it today either. With so many pictures to post, I'll leave it till a later date. =)

Instead, I'm going to post pictures from my outings with my classmates, some of my closest friends and my family.

Wednesday was the day my class had its farewell/graduation feast. After changing the date back and forth from the 16th to the 18th in order to suit everybody's busy schedule, Wafi, my class monitor, finally came to conclusion that 16th was to be the day. Even then, only half the class made it. Fifteen other classmates probably went back to their respective hometown or were already halfway across the globe. Barely a few days after the last SPM paper, and already it was so hard to get everyone together. I'm scared to even think about the attendance to our class reunion five years down the road.

We had our lunch at Kenny Roger's in Aeon. Everybody got the same dish of quarter chicken, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad and mashed potato which, thankfully, was what I usually would order (minus the fruit salad. Two servings of macaroni and cheese is the way to go!).

Chocolate muffins with yucky raisins

Our main course
Chocolate milkshake. Hah! Haven't drunk this for a long time.

Yin Hui and I

Amutha, Thevaki, Khairunisa and Shaera.

Puan Nursyuhada on the far right. She's my class teacher. Oh well, used to.

After our meal, we headed for the cinema. I was hoping we would be watching Jump or Zombieland, but majority wanted to watch The Princess and the Frog, which was okay too I guess. When timing was not right and the seats were filled, Wafi had no other choice but to buy tickets for Storm Warriors.

Seriously, Storm Warriors has got to be the most boring movie I have ever seen. The movie was a whole lot of special effects (cool for guys, not for me), slow-motion actions which I assumed was to accentuate the characters' kung-fu moves and had very little dialogues. I wonder how much the cast earned from memorizing so little lines. The lack of engaging dialogues made the movie very hard to be enjoyed. And I had difficulty keeping myself awake. In fact, I almost fell asleep twice during one of the draggy fight scenes. Yin Hui and I kept laughing at the wrong parts. The fact that you would laugh at all is inappropriate because there is almost no humour in the movie. I remember exactly one (yes, just one) scene that was meant to be laughed at. No kidding. Conclusion is, life would have been easier if the almost two-hour movie was condensed into a 45-minute show.

Upon walking out of the theater, Bindhu said, "I don't understand what just happened". I'm sure she wasn't alone.

Kasturi, Bindhu and Premala.

For some reason, my legs look extremely short in this picture.

Premala and Halimatul

Wafi and Kasturi S.

Premala, Halimatul, Kasturi M., Wafi, Yin Hui and Kasturi S.

The Christmas trees are actually made of plastic bottles. How cool is that? =D

~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday came. This time, I was headed to Times Square with Dashy, Yvonne and Yin Hui. My dad dropped me at the train station at nine and after a lot of waiting at stations and a light snack at McDonald's, we finally reached the mall just before noon.

Immediately, us girls (especially Dashy and Yvonne) switched into our shopping mode and picked out hats, dresses, belts and pretty tops. We couldn't afford everything we set our eyes on, but we still bought a lot at the end of the day. Especially Dashy and Yvonne.

I don't know why I've never been aware of this, but shopping with them made me realized that stuff sold in Times Square are pretty darn cheap, if you look into the little boutiques. The downside is that we can't try on the clothes. All I bought was a dress and a pair of earrings. I probably would have bought many more clothes if the boutiques were to provide fitting rooms. Yin Hui bought two dresses. Dashy and Yvonne bought a lot. Period. Dashy kept asking us to control her because she needed to save what little money she had left, but we ended up playing the devil's advocate by encouraging her to buy more. We are such caring friends. LOL.

Yin Hui, Dashy and Yvonne.

Christmas decor! The place definitely set the Christmas mood in me.

Aren't the snowmen just downright adorable? =D

These are most of our purchases. I said most because Dashy has smuggled some of them in her bag to avoid future confrontation with her mom.

~~~~~~~~~~

On Friday, Mom's side of the family went Neway at Centro to sing our hearts out. My eldest sister wanted this gathering to be an early Christmas family reunion because she would not be in Malaysia during Christmas. We celebrated her birthday too, which is on the 23rd of December.

My family

Birthday girl with the See sisters

The Soo sisters

Both of my uncles and my second uncle's wife on the left. First uncle's wife is currently residing in China.

Jeremy and Big Sis

A toast! With sparkling juice! They are not what you thought they were.

I'm really appreciating this stretch of free time that I have right now to do whatever I want before embarking on a brand new journey in life i.e. college life. Wouldn't it be great if life stays carefree with no assignments or exams to worry about?

Tick-tock

I'm few more hours from being on the bus to Rawang for Grace Youth Camp 2009 and I'm so excited because I missed last year's camp for reasons not remembered. I think I was in Singapore...or something close to that. Actually, I think I didn't go because I didn't feel like going. But this year is different. I'm so excited about going. I get even more excited when I think of the fifth formers who are still stuck with SPM while I'll be having fun. I'm so selfish...hahaha.

To be precise, I'm supposed to be on my way to church in seven hours' time, yet I have not packed my bag. Guess I'm not going to be getting enough sleep tonight. More cells in my body to be killed. Hah. I'm such a sadist...hahaha.

See ya after camp!

Mwah!

Sw-eeeet!

New found freedom never tasted so sweet. I feel so liberated right now I think I can shoot past the stratosphere like a cannonball.

As promised, here I am today at my blog on the beautiful 8th of December 2009, officially set free from all ties of Sijil Pelajaran Menengah, the major exam taken by most Malaysian high school students before they 'begin the next chapter of their life'. That's how most people put it anyway.

The moment the clock struck 3.30 p.m. today, indicating the end of my very last chemistry paper (and SPM!), I could instantly feel so much weight being lifted off my shoulders. Walking out of the examination hall for the last time felt so good. Returning the text books to school felt so good. Receiving my 'sijil berhenti sekolah' felt so good. Everything just felt good. And that feels good.

Most part of me is so glad to be finally over and done with high school life. There's so much to dread about it, and I think I'm ready for a change of surrounding. Yet, I know I'm going to miss my five years at RZ dearly. Five years! I've never studied at a school for such a long period of time. As much as I long for my earlier years of homeschooling and the freedom it had given me, these five years at RZ have provided me a stable environment to grow in my self-esteem and to develop really meaningful friendships that I'll (hopefully) treasure for life.

There were multiple catty dramas along the way among my best friends, but these were the things that would ultimately make us more compromising and understanding of each other...in most cases. In other cases, friends decided to go their separate ways. Of course, these were the fall-backs that I wished had never happened, but I guess putting me on a bumpy road to travel on is God's way of moulding me into someone more mature. As disappointing and hurtful as failures are, I have learnt to accept them better as they come my way.

High school has made me just that little bit less shy, to be able to strike up random conversations with people. I used to have so much difficulty with that that I ended up confining myself in a world of my own. Then there were the self-discoveries. I have learnt to love myself more and stop being so critical of myself at all times. Teachers and friends have pointed out the good qualities in me, which I have to admit means a huge deal to me. I have learnt to appreciate other people's gifts too.

While these all are a whole lot of mostly sweet memories that I'm quite reluctant to leave behind, and the thoughts of being exposed to a new world in the months to come can be pretty intimidating, I'm excited about the future. And I'm loving life.

This marks the end of my high school chapter.

Off the path

Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, SPM is not really that big a thing in life, but big enough to cause me perspiration and petrification. As worried as I am though, I still can't help but pay more attention on the wrongs things at the moment. Post-SPM period.

Right now, while I'm supposed to be doing last-minute revisions for Sejarah and BM, I can't stop myself from getting really excited just thinking about the things I want to do after this major exam. At last, I will be able to devour the novels that have been sitting on the bookshelves for months, catch up on Taiwanese dramas I always find ridiculous but still love to watch, have my very own movie-on-DVD marathon and also watch season 3 of Kyle XY on DVD since stupid TV3 has stopped showing them halfway. Then there will be GY Camp to look forward to. Then there will be going out with friends. Then there will be Christmas. Okay, I'm going too far. Like what my sis said yesterday, I'm becoming too excited about the time after SPM before my exam has even started.

The point here is, I'm supposed to be busy studying during this crucial period, so I will see you again on the 8th of December - yup, my last day of exam! =D

Oh, I so totally dig this new song by One Republic. It's called "All the Right Moves".

Awesome song.

Awesome video.

Awesome band.

Watch it! Watch it!

>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNgsBEpd7B0

Wish me the very best for SPM!