Solo Concerto

Admission

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:18:29 GMT

I didn't work out that "periferi" meant "peripheral" until I was 2 years out of high school. After that? I understood a whole lot more about the nervous system.

What's After SPM?

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:10:25 GMT

Am empty classroom: what's outside? (photo by Max Kilngensmith)

Project What's After SPM: A Hundred Different Journeys

One book. One hundred stories.
For you. For hundreds of thousands of Malaysian youths.

(Yes you heard that right - hundreds of thousands of readers!)

For most of us, the end of secondary school education (or the lack of it) marked a turning point in our lives where we moved from studying together under an umbrella education system (SPM) to embarking upon vastly different pathways.

The transition process for the more fortunate among us would no doubt have been aided by the various resources made available to us: school counselors, advice from worried parents and knowledgeable seniors, counsel from helpful relatives, visits to campus open day sessions, mountainous stacks of college brochures, education sections in local newspapers, education resource websites etc.

The same, however, cannot be said of hundreds of thousands of kids all over Malaysia who have no regular access to the internet, are not blessed with well-informed family and friends, and who complete secondary school with little or almost no awareness of the opportunities that abound for them, as well as kids who are simply ignorant of the opportunities that surround them or just do not possess the faith and self-confidence to pursue their passions.

Therefore, we have decided to spearhead this project in hopes of reaching those kids and sending them this message: "Look, kids, now that you have completed secondary school, there are a million opportunities out there for you, a million pathways that you can undertake, a million places to visit, and you should explore those choices as much as you can. You can do anything you set your mind to. All it takes is keyakinan, a little bit of strategi, a little bit of tuah, and lots and lots of semangat dan usaha."

We are now looking for a plethoric collection of stories of young Malaysians who have pursued different pathways after SPM. The stories will be published in a book to be distributed to as many students and secondary schools as possible (tentative target: to distribute at least 2 books to each of the 5000 secondary schools in Malaysia). And we would like to invite you to participate in this project by submitting your story, or persuading your friends to submit their stories.

It does not matter whether you are a scholar with stellar results and a 3-inch thick resume, a typical student who went to a local university after finishing Form 6, or a youth who has to work in the pasar malam at night to foot your technical college fees in the day. It does not matter whether you have chosen the oft-beaten path or the road less travelled. We believe that there every education background offers its own boons and banes. And we believe that there are merits in telling any story.

Topics

Participants may touch on all or concentrate on a few of the following topics:

(a) What socioeconomic/education background did you come from and how did it contribute towards making you the person that you are today?

(b) What obstacles did you face in pursuing tertiary education and how did you overcome those obstacles?

(d) How did you find out about the pathway that you have undertaken/ are currently undertaking?

(e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the pathway that you have taken/are currently undertaking?

(f) If you have had had a unique education background, please elaborate on your unusual circumstances (Examples: kampung boy who ended up in Yale University/home-schooled girl who faced difficulty persuading university admissions officers to admit her/student who pursued cosmological astrophysics at Cambridge under the prestigious Gates Scholarship/teenager who dropped out of school and pursued full-time modelling/youth who took a gap year after SPM to participate in humanitarian missions in Tibet/boy who has worked as a professional computer hacker since age 14/youth who entered a seminary to pursue priesthood/student who designed a new degree course at Smith College).

(g) If you have succeeded in securing a rare/prestigious scholarship/ undergone a rigorous university application process (Examples: Kofi Annan International Scholarship), please elaborate on the application process.

(h) What advice would you give to someone who hopes to pursue the same pathway that you have undertaken/are currently undertaking?

(i) How was the experience at your previous/current place of study and how has it changed your life? If you have had a non-academic pursuit (s) (establishing your own restaurant/working full-time as a social worker etc), how has your pursuit impacted other people?

(j) Is there any other issue regarding post-SPM education that you wish to discuss? What other pertinent advice would you give to someone who is about to complete SPM/secondary school?

Reminder: Remember that the purpose of submitting your story is not to flaunt your achievements, but to share your unque experiences with your readers. As you write, try to retain the relevancy between your experiences and the reader's interest.

Malaysian children: dreams come in all packages (image from pro.corbis.com)

Participation rules

1. Participants must be Malaysian citizens.

2. Participants must be of age 30 or below as of 2009.

3. Each entry will consist of a photo (to be printed in black & white), an introduction blurb written in 3rd person perspective and a main article written in 1st person perspective.

4. The introduction blurb is to be between 30-50 words, and must mention the participant's age and place(s) of study/pursuit (see below for examples).

5. The main article is to be between 600-800 words.

6. All articles are to be written in English. Participants who struggle with English may write in Malay/Chinese and have their articles translated by the committee members.

7. Articles may be edited for clarity, brevity and/or intelligibility, though the committee will strive not to tamper them.

8. All participants must use their real names. Pseudonyms will not be allowed.

9. About 100 entries will be selected for publishing. The committee's decisions will be final.

10. Photos may be of any style as long as it shows the participant's face, though black & white photos will be preferred as the book will be published in black & white.

11. All participants will retain the copyright of their articles and photos.

12. All entires are to be sent to whatsafterspm@gmail.com.

Deadline

March 31 2009

Diversity

We encourage young Malaysians from all walks of life to participate in this project. We strive for inclusivity and diversity in terms of:

(a) Socioeconomic, ethnic and geographical background of participants

(b) Secondary school background of participants (national schools, vernacular schools, international schools, private schools, religious schools, boarding schools, home-schooling, apprenticeship, dropouts etc)

(c) Pre-university education background of participants (STPM, matriculation, A Level, IB, SAM, ICPU, AUSMAT, ADP, foundation program, diploma, home-schooling etc)

(d) How did you find out about the pathway that you have undertaken/ are currently undertaking?

(e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the pathway that you have taken/are currently undertaking?

(f) If you have had had a unique education background, please elaborate on your unusual circumstances (Examples: kampung boy who ended up in Yale University/home-schooled girl who faced difficulty persuading university admissions officers to admit her/student who pursued cosmological astrophysics at Cambridge under the prestigious Gates Scholarship/teenager who dropped out of school and pursued full-time modelling/youth who took a gap year after SPM to participate in humanitarian missions in Tibet/boy who has worked as a professional computer hacker since age 14/youth who entered a seminary to pursue priesthood/student who designed a new degree course at Smith College).

(g) Fields of interest of participants (pure sciences, arts & humanities, social sciences, medicine, law, engineering, entertainment, culinary arts, business, entrepreneurship etc)

Samples of introductory blurbs

(a) Mohammad Ghazali, 18, is currently setting up his own football memorabilia business at Berjaya Times Square with his ex-classmates after completing SPM at SMK USJ14. He spends his free time coaching orphans in football for free. He also owns a personal collection of jerseys autographed by over 50 Manchester United players, and wants the Devils to reclaim the English Premier League

(b) Tee Le Yin, 26, a former national swimmer and philately enthusiast, studied A Level at Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore under the ASEAN scholarship prior to pursuing War Studies in King's College, UK. The former national swimmer is currently pursuing her MBA at INSEAD, France under the Maxis scholarship.

Book specifications

1. The book will be printed in black & white to minimise production cost and market price.
2. The book will be between 200-300 pages thick.
3. The book will be published by end of 2009.

Royalty/payment

1. As this is a community service project, none of the participants, project committee members and project advisors will receive any form of royalty or payment.

2. A fund raising campaign will be held later to raise money for the project. However, all excess funds will go towards distributing the books to students and secondary schools for free.

Contribute

1. We would greatly appreciate anyone who wishes to contribute towards our publishing fees.

2. We also welcome anyone who wishes to help in translating the book into Chinese and Malay after the first edition of the book goes into print.

Enquiries/contact

The organising committee members, Chen Chow Yeoh, Chong Yong Wei Gabrielle, Goh Jing Pei, Kimberley Mei Kay, Tara Thean, and Charis Loke are not committed to any organisation. They were simply brought together for this project and are bound by their sincere enthusiasm for community service.

Participants, parents, interested sponsors and translators, as well as general inquirers may contact committee at whatsafterspm@gmail.com.

Their website is here.Go have a look!

If there's anyone out there who still reads this mostly dead blog, please consider participating here. We've all got our own stories to tell. I'd participate if I could, but I can't, so oh well.

Go on. Tell your story to the other students of Malaysia. Let them know that there's more than one way to reach your dreams, and that the SPM isn't the be all and end all of life. If anything, it's just the start.

40 smart mantras to live by

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:38:56 GMT

40 smart mantras to live by

Life is full of challenges from money issues to family relationships and all the other stresses in between. Here are some great mantras to master in life. Stay happy, stay well.

Mantra For Good Health:
1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
4. Live with the 3 E�s � Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
5. Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2008.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Mantra For A Great Personality:
11. Don�t compare your life to others� lives. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don�t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don�t over do. Keep your limits.
14. Don�t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don�t waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
18. Forget issues of the past. Don�t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don�t hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won�t spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don�t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Social Mantra:
25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything.
28. Spend more time with people over the age of 70 and those under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won�t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Mantra For Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn�t useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come.
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Share these mantra to live by with everyone you care about.

Long time no update. Just a brief one: Still alive, having survived medic year 1 (20% of a doctor now, hehe). Looks to be a busy year this year. I'm competing with my band over Easter, in the street march, band competition and solo drumming. Go me. Still playing badminton, although my racquet has finally died. Boo. Not sure about netball this year.

So much to do, so little time.

This is how I learn

Fri, 30 May 2008 03:27:56 GMT

If only it were actually this easy

I Go

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:54:32 GMT

This song is beautiful, both the lyrics and the melody

.

These are the lyrics:
I Go, by Pete Teo

So long, fare thee well
The dancer and the dancing days have taken leave and fell
So turn down this bed of stone
Quench me with the deadly nightshade from the rose that you belong
The long December rain is falling now
Running down on streets to nowhere
Music is my life - you're my sweetest nightingale
But I can't hear it here no more
And I go...
Hush now, don't shake or break
Words have fallen silent like soldiers to the grave
No matter what they do or say
Lay me on the sleepy meadows by the tracks upon your face"

[Words & Music by Pete Teo. All rights reserved 2007]

So I was away for a few days.

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:38:18 GMT

It was almost like home there. Nice and cold.

Come see what I see

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:46:36 GMT

Happy Easter everyone

Where I am now...

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:22:47 GMT

... is too hot. Way too hot. But then, today was around 18 degrees and I was grumpy. Heh.

... there are too many insects. I do not like insects.

... the people are really nice.

I kinda like it here. =^^=

Fate

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:40:11 GMT

When everything goes wrong, it goes right as well.

All I can do is be patient.

Merry Christmas~!

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:35:25 GMT