Kiwanis

Yes, I've been a horrible blogger. Lately no mood to blog at all lah.

But still, I want to. =D

Still working on my SPM post, far from done so will post it up.. sometime in the future. If I ever complete it.

What have I been doing?

Well, taken up Chinese class.. not that I really want to, but if I'm gonna work with special ed kids its best I pick up all the languages I can, so that I can communicate in a language that suits them best. However, English is still the most important, cause the materials that these kids will receive is quite likely to be in English as special needs is a topic that is researched in Western countries.

I've been volunteering in Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation(KDSF). The kids there actually need one on one attention, but sadly, it's lacking in teachers. So volunteers are pretty much welcomed. =) Those kids are ADORABLE.

These Down Syndrome(DS) kids face difficulties in learning simple stuff.. what a 'normal' kid can do easily, DS kids struggle with it. If you've seen rebellious kids, believe it or not, be HAPPY for them. At least they can rebel. Seriously. One guy, when a teacher tried to get him to go down a slide, he said, "No!" We were like, "Whoa!" and laughed. hahaha. Such simple things for us, yet such enormous steps for them.

Drawing lines, circles, colouring... simple things, right? The teachers spend hours everyday trying to teach them to do it. After helping with so many kids, I've yet to see one that can understand how to draw a complete O. You know, circle and STOP. Most of them draw circles without stopping, creating more and more circles without ever closing it up.

Colouring, to get them to colour within the lines is, well, so far a rather futile task. All have different responses to colouring. 1 lil' guy screams with delight as he colours. Another guy refuse to hold his crayon. Another girl keeps throwing her crayon. And yet another girl patiently colours.

Break time. Kids are suppose to take their own food from their own bags. This has proved to be a rather daunting task for some. They are expected to wash their hands, take their 'food mats'(to put on the table, not sure what it's called) and eat. All easy tasks, no? Maybe, for you and I. After that, they are expected to clear their things, return the food mats to its original place and keep their bags.

When I volunteered there for the 1st time, I noticed something.. most of the kids seem to have tears running down their faces nearly all the time. Just a few drops, teary eyes, in other words. My heart went out for these kids.. while normal kids can express themselves, these kids have no way of voicing out anything.. besides crying and wailing(rarely happens, only with the very young ones).

2 days ago, I helped one of the girls that the teachers label 'naughty' and is known for pinching people. Oh my, she's a sprinter all right. I let her out of my sight for a moment and next thing I know she's opened the door and was running away! Hahaha. She's fast, but unfortunately for her, her tiny strides couldn't compare to mine. =P Then during break time I was sitting next to her. She pinched me. Not painful lah, I've got tough skin. Lol. Anyway, when she did that, I looked at her, and to my surprise, she had put a keropok(her food) on the table in front of me! Hahaha. Didn't I mention that they are adorable? It made me wonder.. perhaps she pinches people to get their attention, not knowing that it's 'wrong'.

Now that I've got some experience with DS kids, I want to volunteer in Kairos.. it's a place for autistic kids. Will need to wait for my driving license though, as it is I'm facing enough transport hassle to reach KDSF. *sigh*

Whatever disabilities these kids face, they are still amazing kids. As they struggle to pick up new skills, every tiny pebble for us a looming obstacle for them, I salute their parents, teachers and kids alike. Parents for their love, teachers for their patience, and kids for their never ceasing persistance to go on with life, however much they may struggle.

So.. has my resolve for working with kids like these wavered? Far from it. Strengthened, if anything. I want to work to make life for these kids easier. To give them the independence, the freedom of not having to cling to others for everything. Of course, there is little money involved.. Idealistic? Maybe. Impossible? Maybe. Still gonna do it? YES.

However, my future is still uncertain. How do I help kids like these? As a teacher? As I see it, anyone can help these kids, all they need is love and patience. But I've been blessed with a pretty good brain.. I'm sure God intends for me to use it for these kids. How? As a therapist? I don't know. I'm still questioning.

There is a slight problem though.. the only scholarship I know of is a teaching scholarship by the MOE. I can choose to major in Special Education. That means I'll become a teacher.. in a school system?? With a normal syllabus? I wince at the thought of these kids forced to go through a normal academic route. As far as I can see, these kids have excellent motor skills(I've had to run after a few of them before), perhaps music, perhaps art. Why focus them on their weak point, academically?

I would love to study special ed. in the US, I've been reading about how much their special kids strive with all they have to provide. To see how they do it. But funds.. is a major problem. Well, I've been asking God to lead the way. I don't mind going wherever He leads me. Even if it has nothing to do with special ed... all my life I know I've always wanted to have a future that can help others.. so for all I know, He may have an altogether different plan for me.

He gave me brains. So I'm rather puzzled about that. Why? Social workers don't need strings of As to help others. But He gave me the heart to work with the outcasts of society(yes, you can't deny that fact even if you want to).

The thought of entering the business world, accounting world, etc and making big bucks doesn't seem all that appealing to me. Argue as you might, money does not necessarily make you a happier and contented person.

Ok, so maybe I'm too idealistic. I've just been pondering a lot lately.. cause most of my friends have an idea of what they are gonna do(or parents decided for them).. most have started colleges.. even those that haven't already know what they want to do...

Anyway, Jeremiah 29:11 is a reminder not to worry =D : "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Amen!

Prom

Just looked at some of SMK Taman Sea's prom pictures.. that I didn't go for. Was I supposed to feel some pang of regret that I missed something big??

Cause I don't. Honestly, I find myself gagging at the thought of me being there. Am I that weird??? Why? I really feel sick at the thought of going to a prom.. *sigh*

If this has something to do with lacking female hormones or something then I must be greatly lacking in them.

Oh well. A life as a spinster isn't exactly such a dim future. =P

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

SPM, Badminton, Driving

SPM was over last Monday.. been too lazy to log on and blog =P. Actually, more like hardly any time. Would you believe that I've barely had 8 hours of sleep a day since SPM ended??

Lets see.. Bible Knowledge was the last paper. 4.30pm. Went to Atria after that. Then at night went to 1 Utama.

Tuesday, 8am had training. At 11am went to Digital Mall. 1pm went to play badminton with friends till 3pm. 5pm was Bible Knowledge class party till 8pm. Was exhausted by then. Lol.

Wed morning went to Low Yat with bro. Came back afternoon. Later on went to 1 Utama yet again. Came back at night exhausted again. Slept early cause tournament next day.

Thursday woke up at 8am, rushed to LRT station to get a cab with friends to go for the MBA tournament. Spent nearly the whole day in the hall, reached home about 7pm. Had to call my dad to fetch me because one of my friends wanted to drive me home, but he lacked something vital... a DRIVING LICENSE. So I declined.. no insurance for me..

Anyway, I won all my singles matches that day, was into semis for Friday. Doubles was round robin due to the lack of pairs, but we lost 2 matches out of 3... so no prize.

Friday morning got up again at 8am, went to the MBA hall. Match was scheduled to be at 10.20am, but opponent gave me a walkover. So I was into the finals, a free ride into finals. Haha.

3pm was the finals, my opponent was a girl that erm... of a bigger built than I. Haha. Lets just say I had practically no answers to her smashes. None. Nil. Zero. Easy to say move her around, but with her power I struggled just to keep up with her shooting lobs and smashes, what more move her around?? So I lost.. 11-21, 14-21 I think. Forgot the score.. she was from Kelantan.

Anyway then prize presentation.. only 1st place for U18 singles girls get a racquet.. but I don't really mind the prize I got.. cause from experience the racquets that tournaments give are only worth about Rm100+, not your higher end racquets. The last Yonex Carb 5 I think racquet that I won is useless... collecting dust in my cupboard. I much prefer bags that is worth less but way more useful than a racquet I don't like.

I received a t shirt, a cap, an Apacs pencil box, grip, Milo, and a cert. Oh, and a silver medal of course. My favourite gift is the cap! So cute! Hahaha! Got MBA and a guy holding a racquet on it. =D LOL! Hahahaha. But of course the one I treasure the most is the cert.. can be shown in interviews. Cash, medals, prizes etc etc may seem nicer than a cert but in actual fact, for those who apply for academic scholarships, certs are the most important. Sports scholarships different case lah.

At night went to a friend's party.

So Friday was another super packed day.

Saturday(today), got up at 8.20am, went for training at 8.40am. Halfway through training CP calls me up and asks me to go for the KPP talk.. 1st part of driving lah with her. At 11.45am.

After 2 days of tournament, I had some slight injuries, my left leg.. don't know which muscle lah, but my overhead movement hurt when I used that muscle to push my body at that angle. Gah. Don't know if it's my footwork problem or just too much badminton. Haha.

My coach today was especially 'semangated' too, nearly every mistake we made had to do push ups.. after a while I gave up lah, easier to do push ups than forcing myself to move on court. haha! I know I know, I lack drive. But it is easier to do push ups than moving faster on court.. seriously. But I better buck up during training soon, been using SPM as an excuse so far, now first week after SPM over.. not much time left to improve..

I was asked why I wasn't going back for Sunday's training 3-5pm anymore. When I changed to Saturday morning class my original plan was to switch back to Sunday after SPM. Main reason was because Saturday morning training and I just don't go well together. Friday night is the night to stay up late.. 1st night of weekend.. but after so many weeks of morning training I'm used to it now.. can still put up a pretty good show with 6 hours of sleep sometimes.. haha.. and the other reason is because there's no one left for me on Sunday.. my whole group flew away from MBA already.. stopped, other training, you name it lah.. besides, the group is way smaller, and I've no problem with the coach. Some of MBA old coaches used to enjoy giving me a hard time.. all in the name of fun. *Okay, so maybe I DID annoy them just a 'little' bit.* 1 incident I remember the best is that my coach asked us to do shadow.. and she stupidly stood on my side of the court, at the left side too, trying to get me to move faster or something. Thats exactly what I did. =D I ran towards her, jumped forward a bit, and swung as if I was going to tap right into her. Never heard a coach scream so loud before. HAHAHAHAHA!

The new bunch of MBA coaches don't talk as much as the old ones, so our training has sorta quieted down. Not many stupid comments or me arguing with them anymore. The unintelligent things they used to ask us to do last time.. I'm the kind to 'stand up for my rights' kinda person. hahaha. Unfortunately, coach always wins.

Anyway, training was over at 11am, but I forgot about the KPP talk, so I played until 11.15am.. suddenly remembered about meeting CP at 11.45am! Hahaha. Rush gila! Rushed home, ate lunch in car, reached the driving place at 12noon. Signed up, then some fella brought both of us to Puchong Prima... new driving place. Quite nice lah, can tell the facilities are still new, as compared to some really run down driving schools I've seen.

So we went for the talk.. supposed to be 5 hours, but hardly even 3.5 hours I think.. 1.30pm talk started, then 3pm break till 3.25pm, then 4.10pm break yet again, this time till 5pm, then 6pm break again till 6.15pm, it was over at 6.30pm. Hahaha. You count lah I'm sick of Math.

Then some Kancil sent us back to our branch in SS2.. but since passing by the KJ LRT station Cp and I got off there..

So.. thats my week... been absolutely packed... honestly I think I had more time during SPM. Hahaha!

Wanna blog about SPM later. Not now. Lazy. =P

Joanne

SPM

Just realised that I was about to allow a whole month to fly pass without posting anything.

Am in the midst of SPM now. To date, 7 subjects done, 5 more to go. The 5 more are Geography, Econs, Accounts, Commerce and Bible Knowledge.

Time really flew. I was waiting for SPM to come, yes, but when it finally arrived.. it's like.. *STOP!!! TOTALLY UNPREPARED!!*

Then I realised something.. give me another year to study also I'll still end up last minute. So.. better now than later. Halfway through SPM, and I'm really really really glad I'm facing this now, and not next year. If I had not skipped year 4, I would be stuck in form 4 now.. no no no, I prefer SPM now. Better now than later. =P

For once, I was dreading training on the 10 Nov. Because I kept telling myself.. if training comes, SPM also comes! 12 Nov mah 1st day of SPM. Lol. But I survived the 1st week, and 2nd week... now 3rd week.. yes, today(yesterday rather, it's 1.15am) I was dreading training again.. because it also meant that I've not much time left to study. But well, time and tide wait for no man, right?

On the way to training this morning, I passed by a field with a volleyball court, and saw my schoolmates(form 5s, Science stream pupils) playing volleyball there. Without thinking, I exclaimed, "Wah! They play volleyball, act like no SPM like that..." Then my mum pointed at me and said, "You leh???" And I went *oops*. Hahaha! I was going for training, not much diff with them playing volleyball I supposed. =P Actually, they only have 1 paper left, Bio, and I've got 5 papers. So... think before you talk. Lol!

The next time I blog it'll be either next weekend, or after my final paper, Bible Knowledge on the 3rd Dec. =)

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Inter-MBA Tournament

Hehehe, had a tournament today.. between all MBA students.

Was in group A(er.. highest-level??). Bus left Megah at 11.30am to got to MBA Puchong.

To qualify for QF we had to play round robin. 15 points, new system, 1 set. Cacat right? Not yet even play properly then 15 points gone. hahaha. I had to play pretty aggressively from the beginning already because I usually get slow starts.. with 15 points 1 set you cannot afford slow starts.

So I won.. enter QF(knock-out, 21 points 1 set). By Quarters I'm the sole girl in my category left. Lol! All were guys.. who were taller than me too. =( Won.. enter semis(this time best of 3 games, 21 points).. won.. straight sets.. 21-13, 21-12 if I recall correctly.

Then it was finals.. to the opponent, KX that I've been dreading.. hahaha. He stopped training under MBA for a few months now, but somehow managed to enter this tournament. He has been training 3 times a week, personal coaching too. And I? I've been training only once a week. Hahaha. So I really expected to lose.. seriously. Thats why I was glad I only had to meet him in finals, and not before that.

But unbelievably, I won the first set.. 21-13? 14? Not sure. But nevertheless I won the 1st set. Hahaha. Was very very surprised, I wasn't sure whether he was fooling around with me or not. Then 2nd set.. he seemed afraid to smash, although that was what got all his points. Lol. Maybe because I started anticipating his smashes and driving them cross-court in defense.

So I just took the lead after just a few points.. there was a particular rally, where it lasted quite long, it was really tiring. Lol! At the end of it I dropped my racquet(how embarrassing). All for 1 wretched miserable point. 6-2. The coaches on my left were extremely.. irritating? They kept talking so much, "ooh, ahh, wahhh".

Anyway, led 18-9 towards the end, and final score was... dunno? 21-12? 11? Somewhere there lah.

Reason I blogged this(I don't usually blog about my tournaments besides MSSD I know, lol) was because.. well, today was really a surprise. I really did not expect to beat KX, considerably easy too. The last in-house MBA tournament(within Megah, not combined with Puchong), I lost to KX in semis. Rubber set. That was when he just started his 3 times a week training too.. thats why I was so under-confident today.

Honestly, I was expecting to lose to him, and so did everyone else I suppose.

When I stepped up the podium, the 1st place part, the highest block.. one of the coaches immediately commented, "Joanne, finally you're not the shortest anymore!" Hmmph! I could tell he was just waiting for me to step up to say that.

Well, it was true. I was the tallest(for once) although off it I'm the shortest among everyone else. Hahahaha! Oh well..

Then final photo.. all winners(from category A, B and C) take group photo with coaches. They so kindly invited the *ahem* shortest to stand on the 1st place part. So I was up there.. taller than everyone else.. than suddenly coaches left and right decide to stand on it too. Gah. Even some of those who stood on third placing were taller than me. All of the sudden I'm dwarfed, reduce to the size of a mere... Joanne. HAHAHA!

Good day in all. Reached Megah by bus again at 5.30pm, after that accompanied dad to buy some groceries, had dinner.

7.56pm. Now have to study. My studying for the day has just begun. SPM.. ah.. SPM... faster come and be over...

Dec. 3rd 4.31pm. =) Yep, thats when FREEEEEDOMMMMM comes.

Ok ok, so maybe I'm still enjoying life quite a bit. But after SPM I'll be playing more badminton than ever, perhaps everyday. Depending on how my body responses.

Edit: I just remembered the real reason I blogged! Hehehe. Well, it's because the management in MBA has this impression that Taman Megah MBA students aren't doing well at all, that Puchong is much better. Well, they had that impression until lately as far as I know anyway.

But for level A category in QF there were only 2 Puchong students, in semis there was 1 left, and by finals it was between 2 'Megahan' students. =)


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

FLOOOD!

No no, I'm not THAT capable of creating disasters. =P

Anyway, just talking about some stuff with my family.. they concluded that its no wonder I'm in the Arts stream. Lol. Wanna know why? Don't want also I tell you anyway. =P

It's because I seem to defy all the 'scientific laws'. Hahaha! I mean, whoever heard of burning asbestos and melting Pyrex test tubes??? Oki lah setting fire to the kitchen isn't that uncommon.. I think.

Anyway, been online too much lah lately.. I think I need to shove the laptop into the cupboard again.. hahaha. Otherwise I open my book all ready to study and then the laptop looks at me with pathetic puppy looking eyes... =P

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

"Don't burn the house down!"

And to imagine that I used to laugh that line off.. its sort of a joke between most of us, to warn each other not to burn the house down. I mean, helloooo who would burn their house down??

Well, until this morning it used to be a joke.

I got up this morning, boiled the ham I wanted to put in my sandwich(lunch). But boiled ham doesn't taste all the fantastic.. so I decided to fry it. But I couldn't find the wok, so I decided to use the pot(done that before).

I poured some oil into the pot, turned on the fire at minimum level. Turned around to get the ham, and when I turned around, guess what? FIRE WAS COMING OUT OF THE POT! As in, maybe a 2 feet high fire. The oil was burning!!! First thing I did was turn off the fire. But the oil was still burning, the bright orange fire was mocking me..

What could I do?? I knew if I poured water on it, it would make a really LOUD sound, and I really did not want to invite the neighbours over to investigate the sound. But I couldn't just leave the pot to burn!

First thing I did was blow. HAHAHAHA. Yeah, I was hoping it'll be like a birthday cake lit with candles, just blow and the flames go out. Unfortunately.. blowing did not help at all, if anything, it became slightly bigger.

Hence, I risked it all. I filled a pot with water, braced myself for whatever would happen, and poured water on the burning oil. As expected, the 'explosion' of sound was superbly loud. *Crackling and sizzling*

However, my problem had not yet been solved.. quite the opposite, in fact. The fire now reached the CEILING. From the pot, to the CEILING. It was about 5-6 feet high now! Ohhhh noooooo! I couldn't think of anything but to pour more water!

Fortunately, the 2nd batch of water brought the fire under control.. by the 3rd batch of water the fire was totally doused out.

Unfortunately, I was left with this:


Gee, what will my parents think when they see their once white ceiling like that???

Great, just great. I managed to blacken my kitchen's ceiling.



The 2nd picture shows the horrid pot that caused all the havoc. Yes, the fire came out from that pot to reach the ceiling. Bright orange fire. And the 1st picture proves that I'm not kidding you..

So who still wants me as their wife? Hahaha! Come on.. it's only a little fire.. that blackened the ceiling.. LOL.

To Hippo: You mentioned about finding me a good husband.. well, let's hope he never sees this post.. otherwise I think I'll be stuck with being a spinster for the rest of my life..

Thats it. From now onwards I'll stick to going out to buy lunch. I got over the trauma pretty quickly though, and made this:

Egg + Ham + Alfalfa + Salad = Wonderful sandwich!

So yes, I still ate my lunch after the fire. =P Fooooood!

Lol.

Anyway, so yesterday my life was at risk of being carried out of the house asleep.. today I nearly burnt the house down.. I wonder what tomorrow has in store for me.. a flood?

I'm thinking of finding myself a library and not going anywhere else for the rest of my holidays.. I've had quite enough adventures to last.. for a few days. =D

Thank God I'm alive and well! =)

Till the next adventure,
Joanne

6.48pm: My parents have seen the blackened ceiling and surprisingly, had nothing much to say. Lol! All they said was, "Thank God you're still alive!" when they saw the marks on the ceiling..

Lesson to be learned: Well, honestly, what lesson is there for me to learn?? Never cooking my own lunch again seems to be a slightly insensible suggestion..

Hmm... any ideas?

But I do know one thing.. if the school hadn't given the form 5s holidays this never would have happened.. LOL!

Feeling slightly agitated..

Need to get out of my house..

Woke up this morning, went downstairs.. and found my house door wide open. Thankfully, not the main gate. But I was alone in the house.. or so I really hoped so. Went to check every room(though its kinda stupid, if there really was someone I'll be in deep trouble). But if I didn't check every room I wouldn't feel comfortable just wondering..

After checking every room downstairs I went to make a phone call.. asked my mum if she remembered locking the door before she left this morning. She said she may have forgotten.. which is better than remembering to lock it anyhow, I really would have freaked and ran out then.

Then I went upstairs, checked every room again, all the toilets.. under the beds.. seriously. Assured myself that there was no one(my instincts tell me no, but just to be sure), went downstairs and locked the door(didn't lock earlier, wanted the quickest route to escape should anything happen).

And locked myself in my room with the laptop. Still, I don't feel like being alone in this house for now.. thankfully there's a badminton session later, can leave this house for a bit. Unless it rains.. then I'll really be stuck here..

Why can't I drive yet?? My bus 11 serves me pretty well, but its usefulness is subjected to the weather..

There's been a spat of break ins along my road of houses too..

Nooo.. I just wanna get out....

But anyway, I'm alive and well, and I've got that to thank God for. =)

Take care,
Joanne

PRAYER NEEDED

I went to McD's this morning. Met my CF president 2006/2007 there. He told me that SMK Taman SEA's PK Kokorikulum is not giving us National Bible Knowledge(BK) Participants our 17% in our kokorikulum marks.

For years now we've not faced any such problem. All of a sudden when he(the PK Koko) takes over, more and more and MORE problems seem to pop up, all regarding koko. Some people just CANNOT handle power.

Anyway, yes, so this BK quiz is a national level quiz. People fly in from Sabah and Sarawak to take part in this quiz. Suddenly he says that this quiz is not recognised by our government. Which is totally untrue, we hold it in a government school, and teachers are the ones running it! It even appears in the newspapers!

Fact 1: Government servants(teachers) run the quiz.
Fact 2: It is under the Malayan Christian School Council (MCSC), which is a spokesman for many 'Christian events' (for lack of a better word, sorry).
Fact 3: He himself signed all the permission slips that allowed us to go for the quiz!
Fact 4: There has been no dispute that this quiz is recognised as a legitimate, national level event until he suddenly brings it up after so many years.
Fact 5: Bible Knowledge is a recognised SPM subject.

So instead of the 17% we're supposed to get, and about 6%-9% for getting a top 3 placing at various levels, we're only getting 7%. Which means we were just involved at SCHOOL level, not even DISTRICT level.

I'm so frustrated man. No, not so much over the marks. It's over HIM. Every single time he causes so much trouble and stress! He thinks he owns the world!

I've talked to my BK teacher today(incidentally, she's the founder of the National Bible Knowledge quiz). She already knew about it, it's a big issue. She'll be speaking to certain people, and try to get the 'higher people' to change his stand.

Meanwhile, all of us CF'ers gotta pray. Seriously. Maybe most have not realised how oppressive our school has been getting towards our CF lately, only committee members/very active members know. If you do not know, our school nearly disallowed us from even going for this National BK quiz. We could not attend the MBSKL KL/PJ SCF Convention this year. There was so much trouble trying to get the school to allow us to use the hall for Good Friday.

So the point of this post was to tell everyone to PRAY. Persistently, without ceasing. With all of us praying, God will work. In mysterious ways maybe, but he will work. Pray for our CF. Pray for our CF teacher adviser, most of all. She's done so much for us, she does not deserve further stress.

Psalm 12:5
“For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the LORD;
“I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.”

I was feeling really frustrated and angry before this, but as I started posting I seemed to have calmed down. :-)

During BK today one of the girls said that he sounds like the judge in Luke 18:

Luke 18

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Hence, persistence in prayer. =)

Take care,
God bless,
Joanne

All 9 subjects are in..

Seeing this may be the last school exam I take(unless I enter form 6).. I'll list down everything.. in descending order =P

English 94% A1
Economics 94% A1
Science 87% A1
Geography 83% A1
Moral 82% A1
History 80% A1
Accounts 78% A1
Malay 77% A1
Math 71% A2

Yeah.. Math so potong steam right. Hahaha. What to do.. I was slightly overconfident, panicked last min, slept 2am, made so many stupid careless mistakes. *Nvm, won't happen in SPM.. I hope..*

Hahaha. Let's start from English.. English 94% okay lah, a 2 mark drop from last term though, from 96% -> 94%. Still, quite okay.. quite satisfied.

Econs.. 94%.. from 85%... Beh Beh grinned his face off man. LOL. He'd better! I sacrificed History and Accounts for him! That's what you get for being an excellent teacher.. =P Edit:Just in case some people think I cheated in this paper(it was a JPS paper), NO, I DID NOT. I got the 94% through pure hard work and studying till 2am.

Science.. 87%... increased from 79%. The reason why I studied so hard for this subject was because my teacher nagged a bit about me getting 79% 3 terms in a row.. no increase at all.. so okay, I decided, this term I'll show her.. make her happy.. =P Edit:Again, I did not cheat in this paper. The paper 2 was set by JPS, I got a 56/69 for it, and paper 1 was set by school, I got a 47/50 for it.

Geography.. haiz.. just got back today.. 10 marks drop.. from 93% -> 83%. Quite disappointed. Although my teacher did set it a lot harder this term. I complained about it to her so many times... Haiz... who asked her set so hard. What made me geram was I made this totally STUPID mistake that cost me SIX marks! To put it simply, I mixed up 'ciri iklim X' and 'ciri iklim y', somehow I read X as Y, and Y as X... so all 6 points were wrong! My teacher even had the cheek to draw the arrows between both questions for me! SHEEEEEESH. If that's not rubbing salt unto my already deep wound. After that in class commented, "Some people mixed up their alphabets.." and smiled at me. Ish. I felt like going to her and saying, "Teacher you KNOW I was right, I just mixed the alphabets up!" All 6 points were right too... wrong place. =( But I knew she wouldn't budge and my ego would not allow me to beg for it. Hahaha.

Moral.. 82%. Quite a huge leap, from 65% last term. Not altogether surprised though, was hoping for better, first time I actually read the text book. Well, only form 5 text book, too lazy to read form 4. Lol. Still, 82% has me... well, oki lah.

History 80%. Now this I gotta really tell. Last term I got 83%, but that was different.. last term I had tips on what to study, there was less to study, and I actually studied properly for it. Last term. This term... History paper 1 was the same day with Econs 1 & Econs 2. So naturally I let go of History. So for History the next day I just tembak my way through. Seriously. Never done a test so blindly in my whole life before. Ended up with a 22/40 for it. Never done so badly for any objective paper before too.. well, except for Math. hahaha.

Then for History 2, I had a whole weekend.. I really crammed in maximum that weekend. Well, not really, I had time for a couple of badminton sessions and some shopping time, but hey, I still studied more than usual. I really studied and studied and studied and studied. In my whole life I've never actually studied 2-3 hours in a row without eating, sleeping, onlining etc. Hahaha. But I did. I think. Anyway, Monday sat for History 2.. was quite okay, but was not confident of an A, much less an A1 at all. Kinda gave up hope for an A...

Then today a classmate of mine went to see our History teacher. And told me I got 88% for History. WOW. I would have been overjoyed. But I did not believe her. Seriously. Cause I know if I'm fortunate I'll get a 25/40 for objective, that would mean I would have gotten a 98/100 for paper 2. Which was IMPOSSIBLE. Trust me. So I went to check.. cause suddenly it occurred the possibility that our teacher may have shown us the marks over 140.. not 100... 88/14o sounded a lot more believable, but sadder truth to me. That would have been a 63%. Anyway, went to check.. he checked his record book, yes, 88%.. I told him point blank: "IMPOSSIBLE, teacher". So he said he'll give me my test paper.. I was dreading it, but took anyway. First thing I saw was 22/40 for objective. Immediately my heart dropped.. I knew the 88% was false, with a 22/40, it meant I had scored 101/100. Now this was really IMPOSSIBLE. What would my real marks be now?? My teacher too was confused, immediately checked his record book again. And said, "Sorry!" That one wrong marks... turned out I got 80%. Which still had me OVERJOYED! I got perfect marks for 2 essays, and 15/20 for one more essay. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Now at least I knew it was real... Hahaha. Now if only I had studied for History 1.. who knows, I could have gotten a 90% for History? Nah, no time for regrets. 80% was beyond my expectations.. Seriously. After the test I even vowed to study History everyday. Which of course I've not started. =P

Accounts 78%.. from 88% last time.. this paper I really kena from my Accounts teacher. Haiz. She scolded and scolded me. Which teacher scolds their student for an A1???! I was the only A1.. A, for that matter, in my class too.. She kept going on and on and on about how I dropped. Well, again, I was overconfident.. started preparing only the day before, slept at 2am, made many stupid errors, even ADDED figures up wrongly. =( Okay, okay, I'll admit, it's my bad, I shouldn't have been overconfident. Next time I won't prepare so last minute and won't sleep at 2am. Esp. for Math and Accounts where you actually need to think properly. Lol.

BM 77%... okay, very happy, a mere 2 mark increase from last term though, but my esssay improved a lot.. 102/120. One of the Novel questions asked for the 'peranan watak utama'... got 0/7 for that. Most students too. Even teachers don't know how to answer that ques(JPS set one). So normally I get full marks there.. so even without the 7 marks I got a 77%.. =) Teacher even photostated my whole paper.. he especially wanted my essay. Dunno for what though.

Now.. comes... the horrible... A1 spoiler... MATH. Blogged about it in the beginning.. tis the very reason why I chose to enter arts stream, and after looking at it's horrid presence in my results slip, I feel justified.. people who struggle with maths, trust me, you wanna join me in the arts stream. Lol.

Anyway, average percentage this term is 82.8%. A 0.7% increase from last term.. okay lah.

My class teacher is gonna scold me for the A2 though. :-( She already did for Moral(65%) last term..

Hahaha. Well, overall superbly satisfied with results. Aside from Math.. but hey, I can always work on that. Plus SPM Math standard is very low. Hopefully. =P

Honestly, I can say I've never studied so hard in my whole life before. Most of the subjects were last minute, aside from Econs and Science. Even that I started studying it 2 days before, most subjects only had the honour of being studied 1 day before the paper. Lol. Of course, I studied until 4am for some papers. That just required vomiting out info, not thinking.

Still, it helps to do your homework. Hehe. I think that's what makes the difference in marks between us all last minute studying kinda students..

Of course, I always had badminton as my stress reliever... my sprained ankle is much better now, still slightly swollen, ever so slightly, but no more pain during training.

After 5 days of exam, you have no idea how wonderful badminton is. Lol. Each weekend brought something to look forward to. Although I don't have enough sleep.. cause the whole week I'll be sleeping between 2am-4am at night.. no time to recover. But I broke record this term.. Usually I'll study until I sick in the middle of exams, then I'll spend my time sleeping, hence less studying. Didn't happen this time though. Hehe. Praise God!

First time in 3 exam terms I had my parents around though. They went to US last year during my 2nd term, and Europe last term. So this term it's such a relief not to have to worry about your food, transport etc. Just had to study. Hehehe. It's such a hassle to have to worry about food and transport to places when you've gotta study. Wastes so much time.

Yay God is good! =)

Although I know trials doesn't matter at all.. since I'm not applying for early intakes. Lol.

Will blog about HELP's SASA scholarship interview another time. And no, I did not apply for Principal Awards by Taylors College, I know I do not want January intake, for SASA I do not intend to study in HELP at all.. but I may consider Taylors. Hence, I don't want to be rejecting them IF I get the scholarship, they may not consider me again when I reapply after SPM. =P

All the best to those who are attending the interview in Taylors this weekend though!

Eeks. Such a looooooong post.

Take care,
God bless,
Joanne

Edited my post a bit, don't want people to even suspect that I cheated. Yes, some people are capable of that.

Hmm.. Form 5s seem offline...

Most of the form 5s on my MSN list aren't online.. kinda unusual...

Eeks. Think everyone's cramming for trials. What am I doing here??????

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

SPM Trials...

The final test before the real exam...

SPM TRIALS!

Started on Monday with the MALAYSIAN Language paper. Sorry, had to type that, the change of title from 'Bahasa Melayu' to 'Bahasa Malaysia' really strikes me as.. I don't know. A good move? A bad one? I speak Malaysian sounds better than I speak Malay anyway, gives you the more 'muhibah' feeling. LOL.

Anyway, wasn't too bad, wrote about the advantages of knowing many languages.. for one who only has a strong command of English and Malay(oops, Malaysian I mean) I felt highly inadequate to write such an essay, but the other choices were even worse.. thus what I wrote was truly not from my heart. Lol. Hey, all I want is the marks. =P

Tuesday was English.. the essay I wrote on was titled 'Beauty'. Yep, one word. So I wrote everything I could think about.. Beauty everywhere, Helen Keller's famous quote:

"The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart”, people who emphasise on exterior appearance.. etc lah. But I didn't write that long because I know my English teacher's preferences... she prefers short and sweet. So I wrote only 3 pages. =)

Wednesday was History paper 1 and Economics 1 & 2. Wow... I tembak the Sejarah paper all the way man.. hahaha. No time to study for it, cause I knew was multiple choice questions so no need to worry that much. Nevertheless, the paper required minute details, so even in tembaking I had a lot of trouble. Lol. Was too busy cramming for Econs.

Encik Beh(affectionately known as Beh Beh) is my Econs teacher.. we took the paper on Wednesday, by Thursday he had marked everything.. wow. Efficient eh? And I got my aim... since the beginning of form 4 I have been targetting to get 90% above for Econs... I failed the past 3 terms... Then I found out I got a 94%!!! for Econs! I was overjoyed.

So overjoyed I even decided to at least try for Moral. Haha. Moral was today, it's a really dreaded subject, and usually destroys my straight A1 streak with not just a A2, but sometimes a B3 or even a B4. For monthly tests I've barely been passing! Hahaha. Hopefully I get an A1 this time lah..

Anyway. Yeah, that's all.. won't be blogging for a while, till trials are over.. 19th September. Haiz. The torture... oh the torture...

Btw, I'll be applying for a teaching scholarship.. =) after SPM results of course. With an aim, I've gotta study for real now.

Take care,
Joanne

You ditch me, I ditch others...

Hahaha.. yeah my title seems slightly odd. Well, it's true.

In MBA training I used to really enjoy it.. not because I can improve(haha.. if anything 'unimprove' is the word, too many coaches to actually settle down and get used to one fella's style) but because of the friends I had there..

Yes, you read it right. 'had' was the word. Now.. the clowns and guys who can actually hit the shuttle pretty well abandoned me... 4 of them I think. For reasons I cannot disclose for the sake of others... the reason most commonly given was, "studies". Which of course had me thinking, "You're THAT uncreative??" At least say lah bomb blew up your house, or better yet you've been called to join the national badminton team, or I don't know.. anything but that pretty lame excuse. Lol.

Today some bluff about the reason until the bluff also went wrong.. haha. Ok ok I probably lost you there.

Anyway, yeah so they ditched me. With not much life in MBA training Sunday 3-5pm anymore.. I'm changing to Saturday 9-11am. My reason? HAHAHA. Studies. Lol. Well at least mine has some semblance of truth to it. I find that I can't study for the rest of the day after Sunday's training, probably too much adrenaline rush. And Saturday morning's class will force me to wake up earlier, otherwise I'll be sleeping till noon. Of course, it also means that I'll be half dead, sometimes even a zombie on court. Come on, who sleeps early on Friday night?? After a whole week of school we students just gotta let it out, go out late/online/tv/toilet bowl/whatever.

So then I ditched the extremely few friends left on Sunday. Haha. Hey, it's not my fault oki.

Anyway, with the flurry of new coaches lately.. we 'advance'(so called) group have been stuck with doing nearly the same routine for weeks now. Sometimes it gets a bit frustrating, and I won't even mind joining the younger kids(at least they do more).

Oh well. At this point of time badminton is just to release exam stress. Hehe.

After SPM I'll be looking for some groups to play with and some extra training.. till then I'll live through training at 9am on a Saturday morning.

So illogical man training 9am on a Saturday morning! Sheesh. But I can't make it for any of the other sessions.. Youth, Church.

Haiz. Say, someone on MSN just asked me if I'm attending state training. LOL. My reply: Estate got lah. State ah...

Oki then that's all for now.

Take care all,
Joanne

Sprained Ankle..

During training last Sunday I sprained my ankle... doing an overhead tap lah... haiz... that was the first time I wore an ankle guard in a long time too! I went to buy one because I felt the ankle to be slightly 'loose' lately.. next thing I know I've sprained my ankle. I continued training though, because I know that these kind of injuries can only get worse later on.. so I trained for another 1 hour and 15 minutes.. towards the end I started to really feel the pain though. Thankfully, after some shuttle drills we just had to do lobbing.. hardly any leg movements, so didn't kill my ankle so much.

By the time I took off my shoe after training it was swollen.. a bit. But I could still walk around. By night time though.. I was crawling around the house. Literally. Lol! Monday.. Monday was one sad day.. I had to spend the whole day SITTING DOWN! Good thing about it was I didn't use up much energy, so I wasn't hungry at all! An amazing feat, if you ask me. =P In the evening my butt started to ache though, sat around too much. But I couldn't walk!

At around 10pm though I started experimenting-gingerly put some weight on my right foot.. after a while I could limp a bit. Well, it was an improvement. By this morning I could actually limp around, and now I can move with considerable speed as compared to few hours back.

Yep yep yep I should be back on court in no time at all! =)

As I said, it's an experience to have a sprained ankle.. such a common injury, yet it has eluded me all these years. It happened just right too, beginning of holidays, so I won't have to miss school. =)

Only thing is my right ankle looks pregnant.. it's so bloated up! Looks like I've got elephantitis...

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

P/S In an earlier post I wrote that I would be taking part in 4 events for sports day. Well, I changed the 400m event for 3000m. And won gold for 3000m, silver for 1500m and 800m, and bronze for 4 X 400m. =)

National Bible Knowledge Quiz 2007

Yes, today... the 4th of August 2007.. was the day... the National BK Quiz 2007!

Well. It was 'the day' for many, but for me I never dreamed of winning the quiz... so not that big a deal for me. Seriously. Cause I started kinda last minute k.. like last Saturday.. then in between certain days didn't study... completed 1 round of Acts on Friday, skimmed through Luke the rest of Friday. Yesterday, in other words. Till 1.30am. Jeremy Lim(my partner) concentrated on Luke, I took Acts.

So first off.. 50 multiple-choice questions. Wasn't too bad, but couldn't hope to score full marks for it, a couple of careless mistakes.

Before the marks were out all of us had to start the oral part of the quiz. In other parts, Part II, the fun part. =) Question is read out, partners confer with each other, get an answer, write it down, and flash it up to be judged. Was quite okay, someone the two of us made an awesome pair, each making up for each other's weakness. And guess what? We scored a total of 37/40!

1 mark was lost for the answer 'men from cyprus and cyrene' instead of 'believers from cyprus and cyrene', and 2 marks for telling the book, chapter and verse of Isaiah 6:9. We put Isaiah 46:9.. hahaha I said we can just cancel the '4'. =P

Then while we waited for the organisers to announce the top 30 teams to enter semi finals... Studied. We had faith =) Found out we got a combined score of 88/100 for Part I, and 37/40 for Part II= 125 marks. 3rd highest so far at that point of time, highest was 127, 2nd highest was 126(2 teams), and we were 3rd. In a tie with 1 other school I believe. This was when I started to believe that Jeremy and I had a very very very good shot in entering Finals.

Part III-Semis(no discussion, 1 partner does Luke, 1 partner does Acts). I took the Acts part, 4 questions, 20 marks. Scored 19/20, lost 1 mark in the last question, answered 'church leaders' instead of 'elders'. Still, I was totally amazed. Wow. 19/20! My fingers were cold, freezing in fact through out the whole part. I was complaining the whole time to Wern Ming, he was also in semis, beside me. Said this was no good for the heart etc etc. My heart was beating and beating nonstop. If alone I'm not so pressured, but when I've got a partner that depends on me and vice versa, I knew I HAD to perform my best. Thank God for being such a wonderful God, for granting me the ability to think and remember and write all that I read.

Then it was Jeremy's turn. Luke had only 3 questions. He scored 14/15!!! =) Lost the 1 mark in last question too, misspelled 'Zacchaeus". Altogether an awesome job done.

So now our Part III was 33/35, and our total score was 158. That placed us 2nd among the 30 teams! Top team was 161, we were 158, 3rd was 155, 4th was 151, 5th was 149. Yes, it was all very close.

But the fact that we got into finals was a totally alien fact to me. I could hardly believe it. Everyone was congratulating us, and so many people hugged me! Seaparkians of course. Other schools politely shook my hand. Hehe. I was. WOW! FINALS!!!! ME???! JOANNE???

Why was I so doubtful about myself?? Well, because I recently represented my school in 2 quizzes- Econs and Accounts. It was only district level, and even then with only 65 teams I couldn't make it into finals. For both quizzes. So well, you know, hope.. when it has been crushed not once... but twice... well, I kinda dared not to hope.

But there it was.. I was in FINALS!!!

Oki... thats when I panicked. I hadn't really memorised quotes because it only comes out in finals... and I did not expect to enter finals. Seriously. Cause I know there are so many good students out there.

Anyway, they gave us 3 rounds of parables.. which we failed pretty miserably. Lol. Only got 1 right, 5/15. Sorry lah, but when you're up there, time ticking... sometimes brains freezes over. After that, context questions.. about Paul's defense before Festus. I managed to answer 4/4, and left poor Jeremy to get the remaining 6 marks. Lol. He scored 2/6, so we had a total of 6/10 for that.

Our total marks added up were 169. 4th place. Taman Sea had 2 teams in finals though, and the other team ended up 3rd. =)

So in other words

Jeremy and I bested 146 other teams today. 4/150 is a pretty amazing achievement, and one that does NOT reflect how hard I studied. A few days of studying, and Friday's studying studying studying(after CF recess meeting, which meant I started studying at 5pm).

And SMK Taman SEA swept 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in Selangor Central area. Jeremy and I were 2nd. =) Janice and Wern Ming were 3rd, and Tze-En And Su Faye first. Hehe.

Yep yep yep. God is good. All the time. =)

Thank you all CFers of Taman SEA who cheered ever so loudly for us all! Your cute TAMAN SEA 'banner', 'flash cards' or whatsoever it's called was a really cute idea, and made me have a good laugh in the midst of stress.

And so.. yes, I did not follow my brother's footsteps... He was champ.. but hey, he was also better prepared. You reap what you sow. =)

In the end though, all had fun, all learnt more about God's Word, made new friends.

So it's a good day.

=)

Now to cram for TRIALS. Haiz.

God bless ya all!

Have a wonderful day ahead of you!

4 X 400m, 800m, 400m, 1500m

Yesterday I ran 800m for Yellow house...

Surprisingly enough, I won the silver! Amazing, isn't it??? I mean, sure yeah I was hoping for a medal.. but wow, when you actually get it... Hahaha! I was pretty close to winning 1st place too.. the champ and I were like just fighting to cross the finishing line.. unfortunately I lacked the 'good finishing' thing.. whatever it's called. Nevertheless, getting a silver was enough an achievement by itself. =)

Then about 2 hours later I was to take part in the 4 X 400m event.. mind you, my category lacks girl athletes.. so my team consisted of 4 non-athletes. The other 3 kept fighting to be the 2nd runner(for some super odd reason) and I just settled for what no one wanted.. the 4th runner. Why? Because 4th runners are supposed to be the best. In this case, it meant that I was up against the athletes from other houses. Hahaha. Mind you, these athletes can leave me eating dust in 2 secs.. which was basically what they did anyway.

But I noticed that only 2 other houses had athletes.. so I told my team to aim for 3rd. Most importantly, don't push yourself too hard, and NEVER give up. In my school one round around the field is 200m.. so we had to run 2 rounds. Of course, this way we can't really judge how fast to go, most people start really fast because we can't really judge(unlike a real stadium) how far more we have to go. Nonetheless, I'm super proud of my team! All ran, all gave it their all! We were in 2nd place by my turn, with Green house(1 of the houses with an athlete in it) behind by a few metres. Needless to say, the athlete made me look like I was just going for a jog around the park when she left me behind. Hahaha. So as expected, I aimed for 3rd place, the last medal place! I kept looking back to see how far behind the blue house person was, expecting her to shoot past me any moment. You can say that I felt really pressured. I heard people cheering me on, and someone even shouted, "Yellow house DON'T LOOK BACK JUST KEEP RUNNING!" Now by identifying me as 'Yellow house' shows that the person doesn't know who I was.. so that gave me something to chuckle about.. someone I don't know supporting my house! It was a moral booster all right.

Anyway, I crossed the finish line.. 3rd place! YAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! What I'm really proud of is each of our team's attitude.. no one pressured each other, nor scolded each other, everyone gave it their all and cheered each other on. That's what I call team spirit! Thanks to my wonderful team!

Initially I was worried about my upcoming events because of my aching legs.. have a new coach that well, basically tortured my legs. I mean, normally I'll inform my coach that I've got 4 running events coming up.. but new coach ler.. felt a bit awkward to inform him. So I ran on aching legs.. makes me wonder if I could have gotten the gold in 800m... lol!

And after yesterday's events, it really confirmed one thing: I am no sprinter. Hahaha. At the end of 400m I was hardly tired, I didn't feel the need to collapse or anything.. although I still had energy in me I didn't have the power in my legs to sprint.. or rather I've no idea how to utilise the muscles. Lol.

Anyway, tomorrow 400m(2nd heat.. *ahem* against Rina, ONLY a Selangor athlete who wins medals in national competitions) and 1500m. Hahaha. Hopefully I'll win something in 1500m.. and 400m hopefully my timing will qualify for finals on sports day.. cause if I do then no need to do prefect duty! Yay! =P But will be embarrassing myself in front of everyone also.. it's okay, beats having prefect duty.. =P

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Results..

Well, exams were over loooong ago... got all but English marks back...

Hahaha... did quite badly IMO, but considering the last minute effort I put it... not too bad. Especially for History + Geography. The rest.. nothing to shout about.

Ekons-85%
Accounts-88%
Geography-93%
History-83%
BM-74%
Science-79%
Math-75%
Moral-65%

Yep. Moral did it again. It pulled my average down... a miserable 65%! Just when I thought I got it down pat... haiz. Hoping for a 95% for English.. around there lah. It'll pull my average up... and it's my remaining hope.

And why I'm so happy with History? Cause I only studied 3 chapters... out of the 8 or 9 chapters that were supposed to be out. I was so sure I'd do super badly cause I created history... instead I really created history by getting 83... Hahaha.

Anyway, been thinking of my life.. when I talk to others I realised that my unhealthy habit of constantly skipping tuition seems to affect only me... hahaha! I take 3 tuition classes... 2 of them are extra subjects, not offered in school so it's doesn't really count lah. English Lit, Bible Knowledge and B. Malaysia. The one I skip the most is BK... hahaha because my teacher is so nice and I hand in some work once in a while.

English Lit... I won't actually say I skip it often... oh fine maybe I do. Lol. Anyway, today I went at 4pm for it... and left at 5.40pm. Hahaha! It's no wonder Pn. Harminder constantly nags us... always running off when she's too busy to stop us. Lol. Today she was on the phone when I jumped up, packed my stuff, passed up some work and flewwwwww! Lol! The last few times I usually ran off when she went upstairs/buy stuff/cooking/somewhere where she's can't stop me.

Pn. Harminder has this habit of naming those who don't pass up work, are lazy, constantly absent etc. And yet she has not mentioned my name for any of these... I think it's because I always show up for tests, and give her considerably okay results. She can't comment about any of my work because I think she doesn't ever recall reading them... and yet she thinks I always pass up my work. Lol... misconception. Well once she did mention the 'good' ones and I was one of them.. HAHAHAHA. Sorry, too funny to NOT laugh.

Unfortunately she sees me quite often in tuition because she teaches in my school... if I skip tuition she'll come looking for me the next day in school... not a very pleasant thought. As it is I avoid her as much as possible, she's beginning to realise I owe her quite a lot of work...

BM tuition... have to be around quite often.. cause it's held in my house. :-( Lol. But okay lah, it's one of the most relaxed classes around...

Badminton training-there all the time(arrive earliest, leave latest)! Hahaha cause it's so fun.

Yay... SPM coming.. so fun...


So fun my foot lah.

Till later,
God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Thrashed...

Never been so effectively thrashed in a looooong time until today. In badminton. Hahaha. Seriously. I played against a guy from BU4.. it was agreed that I'd win if I reach 11 points and he'd have to play till 21 to win.

Hahahaha. By the first 3 points I realised, uh oh. The guy could take all my shots, and sent me scrambling for his. He was leading about 18-3 when he started making all these unforced errors(purposely, I strongly suspect) and let me reach until about 9 points. Then he decided to finish the game off.

Anyway, it's been really ages since anyone thrashed me so soundly in the game of badminton. It's not so much the score(9-21 sounds bad, but not awfully bad), but the way he pushed me around. Without a single smash. Lol. But oki lah.. just made me realise how terrible I really am in the game. Hahaha.

Anyway, 164 days to SPM... time to start stressing...

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Pirates of the Caribbean..

Was good! =) Although I did not watch 1 and 2... but hey, a good movie is a good movie.

Went for the 9.55pm show in TGV, 1 Utama yesterday. The show was over at 12.45am! We(my brother and I) stayed past the credits to watch the short scene after the credits that has seemed to become the trend for many movies.

Then went home.. reached home about 1.15am. Read a bit, then entered dreamland(a dreamless one, as usual) at about 2am.

Woke up at 6am... am so tired now... Teacher's Day was great fun though. Hehe. Then came home(no CF today), and slept again... for another 1 hour.. before dragging myself out of bed for a badminton session. Won 2 doubles games and 1 singles game. Against guys. =) The girls that play badminton seems to be suffering extinction.. so I have to resort to boys. Hehe. But anyway, was kinda tired, not enough sleep, so my body felt like lead.

Saw the SBA training there again... saw old friends as usual.

Am having another badminton session tomorrow at 9.30am before I leave for Port Dickson.. hehehe. This time with a group that I'm more familiar with, and perhaps gives more fight. I've been feeling a need for competition lately. Not as in an organised tournament, but competition, close fights with opponents. After being in MBA for more than a year already I'm beginning to feel bored.. but I just need to hang in there a while more. Hehe. Till SPM. Or perhaps the guys will start improving.

Take care,
Joanne

Now... let's talk about training

All of a sudden my usual coach in MBA disappeared... then yesterday this new guy coach turned up.

So all my fellow trainees with me were immediately prejudiced... before he even trained us, mind you. All talked about quitting. Tried to get me to agree to quit too. But I said no... I told them I'm only quitting MBA after SPM... that's when I'm gonna train a few times a week.. now MBA is like just a place for me to continue oiling my strokes so it doesn't become rusty after SPM...

Anyway, so yeah.. they all judged the coach before he even did anything. Then he started the shuttle drill.. it was quite tiring.. I mean, for the others lah. For me I've done way worse ones before I joined Megah.. All start talking about quitting even more! Say so tough.. too tough... too old to improve already... I was like, "HUH??!" Oi, want to improve then train lah. Don't want to improve waste money, for what? For me I found him good lor.. the past few weeks we've not been doing shuttle drills, just games and what was that word again? Forgot already.. see lah so long never train properly. Skills..? Oh! no no Routine. Yes. That's the word.

Then after that games... the last 20 mins. For the 1st time in a long time I was asked to play singles with the girls.. while the guys played doubles... wah quite unfair wei I prefer doubles... with the guys somemore! Haha. But anyway.. I understand lah.. new coach.. how he know I can challenge and sometimes beat the so called better guys...?

So those monkeys went out to the counter and complained... "Want to quit already lah if this coach is permanent!" I just shrugged... no point trying to make them see the light if they refused to..

Next thing I know.. somehow all this hue and cry reaches the Puchong branch.. the main branch.. the big boss branch...

Anyway after school I had the chance to talk to a couple of them.. they said they will stay on in MBA... I should have known all this big talk was just nonsense.. Instinct told me so actually but I brushed it away... and they had no solid reason to actually quit.. First thing they saw me, "You're aching or not??! My legs, stomach etc etc all aching!" But I just said no.. eh it was only 3 different shuttle drills, 1 set each...rest about 15 mins because there are 6 others somemore.. What aching muscles?? Wait till you do 2 hours nonstop of all kinds of drills... 3-4 sets each... OBT did that before until his MAID scolded him. Lol! He was like, "want to improve then where got complain one."

Apart from being 'tough' and 'use that tone'... they have no solid reason for condemning him lah. And I told them so. I said people never do anything don't go and cause them trouble..

Then went to CineLeisure to watch Spiderman 3... not too bad, just that well, it was kinda brief, the characters were too.. erm, not delved into properly. But good show, I liked it :)

On the bus on the way back to KJ station... next thing MBA calls me up. I was like, 'HUH??' But nvm.. just answer lor.. they wanted to know my opinion on the new coach or something like that.. honestly, they've got so many others to call and ask... why me? I'm considerably new to MBA as compared to those who trained 5 years there already. I gave them my honest opinion lor.. I find him good(I don't want them changing to another coach, sekali not as good then...) etc etc.

But if they think they can bring up champions with a good coach... well, honestly. Very honestly in my opinion(and many others), it's the players themselves who choose whether or not to improve. As far as I know, as long as I've got a coach that knows more than I do, I can improve by leaps and bounds. My old XD partner? His dad could hardly play well.. but wow, his training methods were unique.. no wonder we took the title without much fight. So while I'm pretty sure I could have beaten that old uncle in a game, I benefited A LOT from his training. His style of training certain shots are really awesome.. even my coaches were amazed by my backhand pushes during the tournament.. it just kept killing the guys behind(esp. left handed ones).

So yes.. MBA students need a change of attitude... and that includes me. I think I'll stop complaining about training... haha. But really, when I complain I'm really just jesting.. I don't mind training... I've always said, "You can train me any way, any where, any how, super hard, as long as you don't kill me." Then I realise how tough human beings are.. want to die also cannot... cause good coaches really know how much players can go... and how much to push... unfortunately for me the limit seemed... to be my shoulder. Haha! Then my coach thought he overcame that problem when he cross-court lobbed nonstop with me for... I think about 600 times.. not sure, try lobbing for about 10-15 minutes nonstop, with attacking lob, probing lob and defensive lob all in.. After that he proudly declared my shoulder cured. LOL!

Oh yes... MBA is having a friendly match with Wira Tangkis club or something like that... next Sunday during training. Since I'll be returning from Port Dickson on that day I told them I can't make it.. I'm not very willing to go now actually.. with my current form like that.. I'm trying my level best to get back some sort of form, these past few weeks I've just been dropping more and more... perhaps it happened gradually.. just that I never realised it. Then during the 3 days when I'm in Port Dickson(AGAIN), I'll be missing a tournament.

Now this tournament is high-standard one oki... So I don't really mind missing it.. not because I'm afraid I'll lose... but I don't want to meet my old coaches there. They will surely be there.. KL tournament somemore... At my current form it's totally embarrassing oki... I don't want them to start asking me to go back to them for training... though RM120 for 3 times a WEEK is dirt cheap... but... haiz... sorry coaches... not now... plus last I heard no one around my standard anymore... a few moved on to become state players.. only gong gong players like me stopped... So there's not much use for me to go back... I played with one of their current 'better players' a while back and gave her 3 points..

At first when I heard all my friends are stopping I didn't mind too much.. then it hit me.. who would I play with??? Those who give some semblance of good fights leave.. then what do I do?? Thankfully... they are staying.

So anyway.. I don't mind new coaches.. I always have old coaches to fall back on if the need arises. New styles keeps the game exciting. =)

So yes.. sorry for another badminton post... :-)

God bless ya all,
Joanne

Exams are over... for now

Well for today I'm free from exams... mid term's last paper was today. Needless to say I really had to rush last minute for this term... I was too busy with koko before that, and a few projects to actually start studying earlier. Plus a tinge of laziness, of course.

Let's do a review..

4 May - Moral. Hmm. What shall I say? Moral teaches us nothing! Absolute nothing, just total utter nonsense. If I get an A it's because I tembak my nilais well.

7th May - BM 2 and Ekons 2. BM was.. well, I was unprepared for it lah, didn't read the Komsas part... no time... Ekons 2... Surprisingly quite tricky.. not hard, but tricky. Not the usual straight to the point kind of questions. I think Beh Beh is out there to get me. Seriously! After his paper he loves to ask me with that sadistic smile, "Hard ah?" The past 2 terms last year I usually said no... this term when he asked I just said, "Eeyer! Cacat paper! Lousy paper! Where got set like that one!"

8th May - BI 2 and Accounts 1. BI 2 was... oki ler easy. Got 72/75.. got two wrong in objective.. careless.. haiz. Accounts 1... Wow there were so many mistakes in that paper that whenever I couldn't get the answer I just moved on.. true enough the teacher comes in to correct after a while.

9th May - Ekons 1. Got 37/40... considering I had totally abandoned Ekons by Tuesday to study Science it's not bad... Ekons overall 85% though... means my paper 2 did quite poorly.

10th May - Science 1 & 2. I just hantam some.. not too sure.. ended up with a 79%(for the 3rd term in a row).

11th May - Math 2 and PJK. Whoa stress stress stress I created my own formulas.. as usual =P. For the first time in Taman Sea exam history formula sheets were given.. waste my brain space only memorise for nuts... PJK I just did, made sure I had shaded 50 boxes, and caught up on much needed sleep. I really fell into deep sleep for about 30 mins.

14th May - History 1 and Georgraphy 1. Tembak quite a number in History.. Geo oki lah... considering I spent only about 1 hour on it.. got 35/40... then as I was studying for Paper 2 yesterday so geram... if I had studied easily 40/40.. everything was in the textbook. Sheesh.

15th May - Accounts 2 and BI 1. Accounts was not too bad, everything balanced so.. not too bad lah. For once I had a lot of time to check over my answers. BI 1... 2 essays... just wrote lah. But my English has not been up to mark lately, been playing too much badminton and hardly reading.. so I lost some 'touch'... hahaha.

16th May - Teachers' Day in the morning and after recess BM 1(essay). It rained so they attempted to fit 1000+ students into our small school hall... ended super early cause couldn't control the students... the middle ones were really hot and sweating needing oxygen... BM 1 essay wasn't too bad... superbly easy actually all the questions.. really your standard essay kind of questions.. cara, sebab, kesan, langkah... etc. Not much of a challenge, nothing too fun to write about.

17th May - Math 1. Hahaha... oki lah... the day before my brain just went kaput and I didn't know how to solve any sums when I tried.. so I just went into the exam room with faith. :-)

18th May - The dreaded paper. History paper TWO. I really created History. Cause I had no time to study anything... I studied 3 chapters out of 9 chapters.. How to answer anything? I just created History on Gerakan Islah... Hahahah!

21st May - Today... last paper... Geo 2. Now let me tell you usually Geography, like Ekons is superbly easy. NORMALLY. USUALLY. Not that case today. Haiyoh... I really never wrote so much nonsense for essays before... after that my teacher asked, "How was the paper?" I just said, "Bad! Why set so hard?" and she smiles that way... arrgh cannot tahan all these teachers.

In conclusion... I only expect to do reasonably well for Accounts and English.. Accounts was the only paper I could tell my teacher, "Oki lah, survivable" in reply to the usual "how was the paper?" question.

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

400m, 800m & 1500m

I don't know who decided to put me in these 3 events for sports day... thats 2700m added up!

I don't mind so much the 800m and 1500m, just hope it won't be on the same day. But 400m is a sprint... not exactly my cup of tea. I mean sure, stamina wise I can live through 800m and 1500m, but a 400m sprint will just kill me. No actually it won't kill me, I will only end up last.

Originally they wanted me to do 400m, 1500m and 1500m WALKING event. I nearly had to plead with them to pull my name out of that event, I have absolutely no idea how to walk! I mean yes, everyday walking sure, but competitive walking? In your nightmares... I just told the captain of yellow house, "Sure, if you really want me to I can join the 1.5km walk... but I'll be embarrassing you, myself and the entire yellow house." Hahaha!

But not been running lately... have to start soon. Or else I'll just end up dead... for the UDTA test I did the 1500m in 8 mins 41 secs... slow.. slow.. slow..

Exams are coming... drawing nearer... and I seem to be bored of my books already... 'Lord grant me strength'

I seem to be thinking more and more about badminton... every exam season it's the same... hahaha.

Today in training my coach had a sore throat.. being the idiot that I am I had to start laughing when she talked.. please lah, sore throat already talk less lah.. talk so much somemore in that croaky voice.. next thing, "Why are you laughing??" and she comes towards me. With the raised voice... HAHAHA the voice became even worse... hahahaha! I couldn't help it, she just refused to stop shouting in that voice and coming after me.. she was swinging her racquet and it terhit my hand when I was in the midst of my laughing fit... immediately she panicked and started talking even more, asking me how I was, where she hit etc etc etc. Of course I was too busy laughing and laughing to reply her.. all I managed to do was gasp, "STOP TALKING!" then she said, "Don't cry!" and "I don't want to stop talking/something along that line"Thats about the only sentences I can remember.. me crying because a racquet hit me? Hahaha only in your dreams. Anyway there was no pain, probably my laughter worked as an anaestatic because later when I looked at my hand it was actually red and there was some skin taken off. Just a very tiny bit, nothing much.

Next time when I've got a sore throat I know how to make others laugh.. just talk and talk and talk in that croaky voice without refusing to stop.

Oki.. it's pretty late.. I've got to drag this wretched body to school tomorrow... this year I'm really gonna kill myself, do or die to get perfect attendance in school. Hahaha. What I never managed to do for 15 years of my life is gonna change this year...


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Double my efforts.. Triple..

Went to play badminton in Megah today with some friends... played singles with 1 boy... Now looking at his strokes and footwork I am quite sure I could have beaten him easily. The last time I played with him it was pretty easy, but today it was like I had so much trouble. First off I was down 2-12. Definitely not a good way to start. I made so many unforced errors! Kept smashing & dropping into the net + lobbing half court. Reminds me of MSSD this year...

I don't know what happened to me lately. If you ask my old coach, he will tell you that unforced error is something I rarely ever do in a game, especially not in tournaments. But of late it seems to be creeping in... perhaps it started a long time ago, just that I never really bothered about it until today. Today it hit me.. I beat that guy 23-21, but the score could easily have been way lower. Of course I can blame it on my lack of warm up(reached there at 11am, was asked by coach to play with him in about 5 mins), but no.. even later when I played doubles I smashed into the net more than usual.

So I've decided to take my training seriously. Been slacking off too long now. Have to double/triple my effort(if I even gave any). I just imagined if my old coach saw the way I played today he'd be ashamed to tell anyone that he was the one that made me who I am in 1 year of training. Arrgh.

I've not been using all the strokes/skills that I was taught before too. What happened to my spinning nets, slice-smashes, slice-drops, and all? Now I seem to stick to the usual drops and lobs alone. Once in a while an attacking lob, but thats about it.

Gotta do something about it. If I join Selangor Close this year(hopefully its on) I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my old coach(who will surely be there).

But now training only 4 times a month very hard to polish up my strokes. Last time training on court 3 times a week(about 3 hours training each time, and another 3 days in the gym) made life much easier when I wanted to learn/polish up strokes. So if we use Math, 1.5 weeks of last time is equivalent to my amount of training now(12 times a month on court compared to 4 times a month on court). Stopped my gym because wanted to start squash and had transportation problem there after the bus service stopped... Now stopped squash cause of transport problems too. Haiz.

Nonetheless I'll do my best during training.. from now on. No more backside shots and fooling around! Slacked off too long now.. practically wasted about 1 year in Megah doing nothing... I've got a good coach there, may as well try to use her. But for the month of May I don't know how much I can actually give because it's the exam period, with only 5 hours of sleep per night. We'll see though.

Take care,
Joanne

Still not sick! =)

Been sleeping 5-6 hours the past month everyday... only manage to catch up on some Saturdays (about 8 hours of sleep then) once in a while...

And the amazing thing is...

As healthy as ever!

Hahaha normally by 2nd to 3rd week am a total gone case, coughing/sore throat/flu... lol.

Not bad eh. Usually I go on like this until I fall sick... thats when I sleep a lot. Haha. But so far... this year... not too bad.

Anyway today took English literature mid term exam.. wrote nonstop for 2 1/2 hours... my hand was so painful at the end of it. Went to Ikano after that to 'lepas steam'.

O Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father, and refuse thy name,
If thou shalt not, declare thy love and I shall be but sworn my name

Something like that lah. I forgot the 3rd line so its modified. Hahaha! Want more?

O brawling love, o loving hate, o misshapen chaos that *forgot*

Whatever lah. Too much Romeo & Juliet lately. Hehe.

Tomorrow going to Melaka! Wanna buy my Aopo pen(a super cheap, fantastic ink pen)! It works even better than Pilot... RM7.90 for 12. Hehe. Good deal.

Need to play badminton already... quit the Friday night group edi... well actually they told me I can go whenever I want lah.. but don't want to, standing in front all the time.. quite the boring.. plus they dare not hit in front cause I kill all their shots. So usually the guy partner behind me will be running all over the court. But these old uncles have ego.. young ones pun ada. Haha. Of course my smashes not as strong as theirs... sharper yes, but not as strong. So they like me to stand in front.. stand in front never mind, but at least hit the shuttle in front lah..

Anyway dunno how I reached that topic. Oh yes... want to play badminton. But going Melaka tomorrow so will just have to wait till Sunday.. haiz.

Tomorrow Hari Kecemerlangan.. see how much money I'll get. I'm guessing around RM30. So can forget about entering class tomorrow already lah.. today cause of raptai enter half day only. But my school considerably simpler than primary school... primary school raptai for 3 days... haha. But maybe cause primary school small kids mah... sec. school most of us already know how to shake hands.. receive cert.. I think.

Oh... by the way, I got the Prefect of the Month for the 2nd time!

HAHAHAHA!

Very amazing lah.. I just try to do my best to stay within the 'useless but no reason to sack' boundary and get Prefect of the Month instead. Hahaha. Was doing duty as scouts den... as far as I know only useful thing I did was switch on the fan for myself so that I wouldn't feel hot. Maybe because I did 'kebersihan' duty twice? Kebersihan duty is to check the cleanliness of classes and give them marks.. supposedly every prefect have to do once only.. but for some reason they asked me to do twice... I fussed a bit but still did lah. =P

Hang in there Jo... another few more months and you get to step down and be duty free!

God bless ya
JoJo

Exams coming..

Yes people, the dreaded 4 letter word event is coming..

EXAMs.

Haha. How fun right?

MAD AH YOU! What fun is there in this terrible dreadful event?

Hahaha. A motivator once said, look at it with a positive outlook. It's a time to challenge yourself. Right.. if I were to challenge myself I'll probably be failing every single subject.

Let's be honest, I don't have much of a drive. Haha. It's how hard the people around me pressure me. Seriously. For instance, my History teacher is new and sees me like the rest of everyone else.. so I didn't bother to study for his subject during a monthly test, concentrated on Geography(my teacher scolded me for not getting full marks. Idiotic, no?) and got a 33/50 for History, and 58/60 for Geography. Lol.

If people expect me to perform my best, then yes by all means I do my best, even if I've got to kill myself to do better. If not I honestly, really, don't bother. I suppose I see no point in it. Wrong attitude I know, but hey, I'll try to change. TRY to.

Even in badminton.. during the KL Close when I had just managed to push a girl everyone(except my coach) expected me to lose to into rubber set.. my coach used the 5 minutes to give me the pep talk of my life. Haha. Seriously! I knew I had to win it because I could see thats what he really wanted me to do, not just a half-hearted effort on his part. So yes, I managed to secure a place in the semis, then finals due to him. =)

Now my teachers and family want me to get 12A1s! Okay okay, there is a limit you know.. if it's something I can control then fine, I'll try my level best. But we all know that in public exams anything can happen..

Haha. I have 2 choices. TRY to give them what they want, or just give up. What do you think?

I think I shall strive on this weary path... if I fall down lets hope it's just over a little rock and over a cliff. =P

Today was my stress-reliever.. haha what else? Badminton. Did exercises that I've not done in such a long time.. to imagine I used to do burpees/lunges/high knee jumps/push ups/sit ups/etc etc (1o exercises) during training last time for about 50 mins non-stop. Hahaha. 2-3 times a week too. I look back and consider how amazing I was then... LOL.

Btw, in my old training... 1 has left for BJSS, another current state player(bronze in MSSM) and aiming for BJSS next year.. another got silver in MSSS singles, entered MSSM.. another training in SBA.. another winning more and more titles in KL...

Hahaha. Amazing, ain't they? And to imagine I used to beat them all in training(except the current BJSS fella.. geram, should have beaten him at least once for ego's sake).. now they'd probably thrash me upside down. Hahaha. But whenever I meet up with them I always tell them to train hard and become M'sia's future players... haha at least I can tell my kids in the future, "Mummy used to beat so and so last time." =P

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

So much for being free today...

Thursday is usually my free day.. nothing to do, only homework. So usually I look forward to it.. and yes I looked forward to today.. to going home straight after school, sleeping a bit and pigging out.

During recess CP suddenly asks me if I'm free after school.. so I reply yes lor. Turns out there's a surprise birthday party for Wai Yan in her house.. so oki lor I agree to go. Rains after school.. a whole bunch of us CFers gather in the canteen wondering what to do.. we were planning to walk mah. Thank God for form sixers that have cars =p. Some followed Raymas and some followed Aku. Hehe. So we reached Wai Yan's house happy and not-so-dry but still quite dry. Lol. Practiced a short sketch for Wai Yan.. had a good laugh over it later on. Lol. We waited for our president to bring the birthday girl.. they only arrived at 3pm.. we waited for like 1 hour+ for them.. but oki lah. Hehe then ate my 2nd lunch(ate in school earlier, too hungry =P). Left her place at 3.45pm.. walked home. Been online since then.

Oki so I've had a pretty good day. =) May not have been the totally pigging out day I was hoping for but it turned out just as well.

Bye for now. =)

Time for myself...

Yesterday night I fell into bed at 9.45pm. Was too exhausted to do anything else, I figured trying to study would just be a fruitless attempt, going online was just a waste of time. At that point lah. So I slept till 8am this morning. 10 hours of sleep may not be enough considering I sleep 5-6 hours per night on schooldays.. But I survived reasonably well on it lah, didn't feel like dying when I woke up.

I don't know about other school students, but every morning when I'm forced to wake up at 5.45am for school I just feel like dying. Seriously. I mean, I want to continue sleeping for another 6 solid hours or so, but I'm forced to move my wretched body for the sake of school.

Will this cycle ever get broken? If so, when? When I leave school? Or when I leave college(if I do)? When I retire??

Hahaha but by around 6.30am I'm usually ready to take on whatever the day has in store for me.. including trying to stay awake for BM lessons(most boring ones in my whole schooling life-not the subject, but the teacher).

The good thing is I've got some badminton during the week to relax.. release stress. Hahaha. I play best during exams, I figure it's because I need to release all the tension within me in the game. At least know I look forward to training.. time to socialise with friends and just enjoy. Last time training was a serious thing, couldn't fool around with all my chicken shots.. otherwise will get it from my coach. hahaha. Yes sure, training competitively has its rewards... winning tournaments was fun... but oooh the pressure. It's almost as if badminton became a burden, and not something fun anymore. I had a wonderful time basking in my coaches' praises after upsetting some players and all but when I didn't perform well.. Actually, in all the tournaments I joined, only didn't win anything in Selangor Close.. my point is, while I enjoyed winning, I wanted to enjoy training too. The thought of all the killer physical and agilities(we spent 1 hour doing it each session.. that's 3 times a week!)... yes yes I can attribute my stamina to all that I suppose but it was still.. hahaha. Anyhow, I don't regret that 1 year of competitive training.. after I stopped(when my coaches shifted to Kepong, I just used that as an excuse to stop), my coach tried to contact me continuously 3-4 weeks.. but at that time I was busy and 'busy' each time he called.. I finally got the guts to call him back one day... hahaha well he tried to convince me to go back.. got transport for me.. said something about 'talent wasted' etc etc etc. The conversation ended with me saying I'll contact the other coach if I needed transport...

Let's just say I never called the other coach. I know I won't go back to that training lah, I now spend my time in school involving myself in CF.. the occasional sports practice(I've been 2 times so far this year =P).. and studies. SPM. Don't play play. Hahaha. As I see it, in badminton(sports in general) there can only be 1 winner.. 1 champ.. but in the academic world there can be 1000 or more champs and each will be recognised in their own different way. Hehe.

Anyway today's training was okay.. well wasn't really training lah, just ran a bit in the beginning. Others blamed me for it wor.. I messaged my coach online about something lah. The 'older ones' had to run 2 rounds around 4 courts, 4 sets in 35 seconds(girls, 30 secs for guys.. not that they made it anyway). Hahaha. But I think my coach planned it anyway.. but to me not a big deal lor, I just ran fast enough, not pushing myself to run faster to keep just within the time frame... about 30 or 31 seconds I think. Mana tahu the other girls had to kill themselves to run within the time frame.. actually they didn't need to run so fast.. I just paced myself to keep within the time frame(my coach would shout out the timing).. but the girls had to run so fast.. for what? Still reach within the time frame with me hardly panting and they dying. After that all 3 girls complained about butt pain! HAHAHAHAHA! Guys pun nearly died.. some lah. Wanted to vomit etc. So much for my coach trying to torture me.. the others around me died lah.

Then we played doubles.. my partner and I are unofficially the champs.. =P We beat all 5 pairs easily.. only 1 pair gave a bit of resistance.. actually we just had a bit of a slow start, then we were trailing 16-20... then I said, "CANNOT! Must win all today!" Hahaha cause they just lost to a pair that we beat easily. But at 20 you know lah.. pressure edi.. 1 mistake and we lose.. hahaha thank goodness they made the mistakes.. caught up 20-20.. then 20-21.. 21-21.. 22-21...22-22.. then we led 23-22.. then yay they smashed out! Hahaha.

Actually.. I'm curious to know if I'm actually improving still as compared to my previous training. I thought I may have actually dropped.. after all, in my previous training if I missed 2 sessions and went back in 1 week it was a pretty serious thing.. like taking a break for too long. But then thinking over it.. training once a week may just mean I improve slower.. or at least maintain... I don't know. I still have a lot of shots I want to improve though... after SPM I'm going on a training spree. hehehe. Not sure whether I should go to OBT or my EBA coach though. Of course I'll maintain Megah's.. that's a bit too fun to stop.. but on weekdays I'll train elsewhere.. there's this Andrew that keeps trying to 'lure' me into his training.. but I don't know about him.. perhaps I'll just try his out for a while.

There's one problem though.. by improving I cannot play with people I used to play with before without finding it boring.. now either play with my training mates or some good old uncles to get some fun and competition... I don't mind losing as long as there was fun+some fight.

Oki crapped a lot already, now I'm off to do a whole pile of unfinished homework. I've really changed a lot lately.. a pile of unfinished homework doesn't worry me at all.. just depresses me a bit. hahaha.

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

6 days of school in 1 week!

Totally exhausting lah. Hectic week in school, then today(Saturday) is a replacement school day for the CNY hols... haiz. I don't want to skip school because I want my attendance to be perfect in my school leaving cert. Hahaha.

But if I do manage to do it, that will be an amazing feat.. considering all my years in school, from kindergarten to form 4 I've not managed to keep perfect attendance.. sometimes studies gets so mundane you just have to take a break..

But no.. this year... I'm all out to get full attendance. hahaha. Unless something big stops me.. which had better not happen...

School followed Friday timetable, so school was over at 12.25pm.. whew what a relief. My class attendance? 9/39. Actually I basically spent my whole day in school helping teachers with statistics for SPM and sleeping a bit... only my Math teacher wanted to teach.. she wrote 2 questions on the board and told us that if we could solve it, she wouldn't teach. Now you know how good my math is right... it's downright TERUK. Hahaha! And well, my classmates weren't much better... of course we couldn't solve the 2 questions, not even 1. Simple ones too, simultaneous equation. Something like that lah. But anyway yeah she just taught a bit, gave us an extra question, that's all.

Left school at 12.30pm.. reached home in record time.. 12.53pm because there was rain to hurry me.. hahaha. Had lunch... wait wait, wasn't hungry, so didn't eat lunch. I think too tired to eat lah. Left for youth at 2pm. Managed to make it through youth without fainting(tired =P), and reached home, ate an early dinner. Now.. deciding if I should sleep, continue onlining or study. haha. Got test lah.. teachers putting pressure. Haiz.

Was supposed to play badminton this morning.. last night at 11.30pm an sms came from a friend asking me to play badminton.. but you know lah.. I wanted my attendance... so I had to decline... haiz sadnya. While I was nearly half asleep in school on my desk I was thinking... 'Could be playing badminton now....' hahaha. But oki lah I enjoyed my classroom without all the noise for once. School was generally a quieten down place too... no more like market. hahaha.

Anyway trying to get rid of my old site.. 3 years old... but I completely forgot what email and password I used... form 2 was such a long time ago....


God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk

Long time no update...

Well anyway... let's starts from MSSD... got the bronze medal for doubles, lost to the eventual champs 17-21, 18-21. But overall okay lah, singles lost to this really er tall tomboyish looking girl. Hahaha. 12-21, 22-24. Could have beaten her but that day wasn't my day.. kept dropping and lobbing out for some odd reason. I usually don't make this kind of mistakes, especially during tournaments, but like I said, it wasn't my day. The final point she won was the climax of it all.. I swung during a half court lob, and guess what? I missed! hahaha! I admit I was utterly disgusted at myself at that point of time. I mean, swinging and missing is a mistake that can only be excused when someone has not warmed up properly, not when the score is 22-23 and you're on the losing end! Lol. 2nd last point was when I dropped out. Like I said, it was a game poorly played, and I basically have no excuse/reason as to why I lost. She was tired by the 2nd set, and I knew I could have beaten her if I stretched it to 3rd set.. Just realised I blogged about this once already, but won't bother to delete it.

Anyway, doubles while I'm not overly satisfied with my game(should have played with more brains, less bull-like), I am quite happy that I actually won something during MSSD. After all, I missed 1 week of school, the least I could do is bring something back. Possibly my last year in MSSD too.

Just back from CF Camp(12-14 March). Was okay, just that as usual it hurt me to see so many youths taking God so lightly. It's the same every single year, but I don't know how to put it in words. Sure, there are some youths out there passionate for God, but out of the 220 campers.. So many people do not realise what God really did for them all... What Jesus did. Sure, it's easy to say, "Yes, I know, Jesus died for me.." But do we really think what Jesus did for us? He was beaten, humiliated, stripped, kicked at, and NAILED to the cross! For what? For US! For our miserable wretched souls. Who will do that for us? An innocent man, willing to go through it all for our sake, for our salvation. What an awesome gift, but yet so few realise what the word 'crucified' really means. We hear it so often in our lives that our hearts have hardened and we fail to understand what Christ really did for us, what He went through.

By the way.. lately I've been getting to know more and more bisexuals/lesbians. Maybe they were there all along, my eyes were just blinded. I don't know, but I do know it's a really sad thing.. more on that later.

God bless,
Joanne

Life

Is hectic hectic hectic!

Arrgh.

Cannot handle lah, too many things to do. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway today MSSD singles U18 girls. Well, I lost. First round met a KDU girl, was told she was weak, but obviously that informer's standard is pretty high. I mean, she had good strokes, no awkward strokes, the kind you are usually SUPPOSED to meet in the first 2-3 rounds of MSSD. Anyway, I beat her 21-7, 21-8. She was kinda intimidating, with her two coaches(grown men) telling her what to do. And here I was, with no one but perhaps CP who just told me "good..." Hahaha! But I beat her lah, although she had good strokes I suppose mine was better.. or my footwork was better.. or something was better lah. I don't like meeting such people in the first round of MSSD! And I watched those with awkward strokes play with each other... long rallies(if you could it rallies) somemore. Lol. Geram betul.

After that I saw the KDU coaches looking at me... wah I dunno whether it was hate.. anger... or just plain frustration. I supposed they expected her to reach until at least QF... not lose in the 1st round. Oh well, the draw has always been unfair... I mean, KDU kid somemore man... I hear they pay RM600 per term to their coach... plus their own outside training I guess. But later on one the coaches came and told me I played a good game, so I guess they aren't that sore towards me..

2nd round met a girl I've been actually wanting to play against for quite a while now... Lost first set 12-21. Yes, very badly. I made all unforced errors, especially my forehand side, all kept going out. Until all the spectators watching groaned with me(Lol, there were a bunch of adults all sitting and watching me from behind).

2nd set.. was down 10-18, then all of a sudden I think I realised I was losing... all unforced errors you know, her smashes weren't that hard to take, drops etc can be taken. So yeah, it was my stupid mistakes. Anyway, I suddenly had to urge to play my best... dunno why didn't awaken earlier... then caught up slowly... 11-18, 12-18, 13-18... until I was leading 20-18. Then... she caught up(yeah, I dropped out a couple of times). 20-20. Then I led 21-20. Then she drew 21-21. Then she led 22-21... and caught me off-balance, and she won 23-21.

Kinda wasted actually... she was pretty much tired I could see... if I had managed to push into rubber set... could have won. But after that meet Peggy lah. Hahaha. I suppose... maybe God has a point there. Maybe He wants to conserve my energy... for doubles.. or prevent injury.

Halfway through the 1st set my shoulder kinda slipped. Bleh. Lousy shoulder. But I completed my swing so it slipped back into place. Thank God just some pain after that, nothing else. :) So maybe if I had to play against Peggy.. my shoulder would have died and never resurrected again. hahaha!

Anyway, after that I watched that girl play against Peggy in 3rd round.. first round gave some fight, lost 17-21. Not bad I must say, when I watched that girl play.. I'm surprised I even managed to give her fight.. hahaha. But 2nd set below 10 lah, Peggy got serious I think.

Overall, I think what my coaches have been saying is true... state players aren't that strong. If I trained a bit more perhaps I could make it.. but I can't afford it lah, not the time, but my body. Can't take all the wear & tear.

Anyway, doubles next Monday.. will be going this Wednesday to watch who I will be meeting in QF... because CP and I are seeded, so we're just waiting in the QF. Win one game and we've got at least a bronze medal in hand.. Oh I really hope we do... At least we've still got time to perfectkan our service. Not exactly the best service in the world.

:)

God bless
Joanne Lim
Webmaster@joannetmj.tk