Make DJ proud, team!

The internet connectivity in my area has been ridiculously mercurial these last couple of days - one moment it's on, and the other it stops working for hours and hours on end. But then again I digress.

Here we are, and as I am typing this post, the debaters are rushing to pack their bags and preparing for bed, getting ready for the big debate battle that we have on our hands tomorrow. Tomorrow the team I'm coaching, the debaters from SMK Damansara Jaya are proudly representing Petaling Utara in the state level of the Wira Debate in Kuala Selangor.

We'll be facing the champions of the Klang district tomorrow afternoon and if we make it through, we'll be just two debates away from clinching the title of state champion. We'll be then staying the night at Kuala Selangor, in an apartment that Pn. Koh has taken the liberty to book for our use so that we'll be fresh and ready for our two more debates the next morning. We've prepared really hard and we're all praying really hard that SMK Damansara Jaya would be able to represent Selangor this year int he Wira Debate.

Selangor, if we do, we will not let you down. DJ-ians go all the way in everything that we do, and that's exactly the spirit we're going to bring into each and every one of our debates. We'll go all the way team, as all DJ-ians, both current and ex-students, are standing behind you! Go team, we're going ALL THE WAY THIS YEAR! ALL THE WAY!

More scribbles from the bilik tayangan.

Guess that sometimes our artistic side only emerges after stressful periods. *BLINKS EYES*

Kevin and Keefe.

It's Friday already! We still got the weekends and Monday to work on the cases team! We can do it!

And I got this from Sophia's blog. It's just such a sweet photo!

The Team.

Movie outing on me if we make it as state champions! We're going to all go out and have good fun soon! Give it your all team, we're all right behind you!

And yes, I didn't get that damned law interview. Maybe it's for the best, cause now I have the weekend free to help my team! We'll make it through!

My Brother, the artist.

Preparing for the upcoming Wira debate is all that I have been doing these couple of days, and we're giving it our very, very best.

John meditating on debate points.

But debating's not all about world issues and definitions. Not all the time that is.

That's Calvin, and he's holding a mighty big Rubik's cube!

Yes, debate sometimes can mean playing with big Rubik's cube when everyone else is stressing and trying to get their speeches right!

Let me get this straight okay, debate ain't all about boring speech writing and monotonous speech rehearsals! It's about great, close friendship forged deep inside the bilik tayangan. It's about having friends who'll you'll stay close with for years to come. It's the truth!

And it's also about temporal bouts of artistic insanity. It's the truth!

(Art done by Keefe.)

Zafirah!

Calvin!

Jayshendra!

Sophia!

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And yes, he especially loves me, because he made my picture *EXTRA NICE*.

Kevin!

Of course we had to get back at him. So we all chipped in to come up with something...... suitable.

Keefe!

Told you it was suitable!

Keep on working debaters! We're going to go ALL the way this year! IT'S THE TRUTH!

How to Get your Ex-Girlfriend back!

Got a random email from Stylelife, and it made a good deal of sense.

How to Get your Ex-Girlfriend back!

by Gypsy

I couldn't make her understand. Tears were in her eyes and a
wall in her mind blocked my logic. She didn't want me here
pleading in her living room anymore. She loved me, but she
wanted me gone. The more I stayed the more I hurt. Yet the
pain was all that I had left of our relationship. And if I was
here then I wasn't alone yet. It delayed me facing the
emptiness, along with the sleepless nights, the lack of
appetite, the piles of laundry, the stale air of my house
from being shut in for days and then weeks.

We had broken up before, several times to be honest. But,
this time carried with it a taste of finality, like acid in
the back of our throats. I hated the thought of now becoming
just me, and no longer a guy with a girlfriend. How would I
do it? How would she...well, she had that other guy, so I
guess that made things easier for her. I wouldn't be so
lucky. I would become single. I would have to call the
buddies that I neglected all too often to spend frivolous
time with her. We would have to go out into the unwelcoming
weekend nights, into the jungles of bars and clubs of
downtown Phoenix, Tempe, and Scottsdale. We'd get drunk and
roll the dice, and always miss more than we ever hit.

I wanted to be done looking. Damn it! I didn't want to go
back out there. I didn't want to take the lessons I learned
with her and try to apply them to a different person at a
different time. If she would just listen, I'd look past her
cheating, I had once already. But she couldn't hear past
that wall she raised upon which the dreams of our future
became tiny insignificant bug splats.

That night ended and the lines of what I should have said
rolled through my head like an endless scrolling LED sign. I
talked to everyone I could. I found counsel with friends and
tried to stay busy. Still she haunted me through life. I
found her hair when I washed my pillow cases. I had to say
her name when I canceled our dance lessons. This song or
that song was the one she'd burned to a CD for me. Her
MySpace said "Single" now. The necklace she gave me burned
heart-shaped scab into my chest. The hole she once filled
was all I had left and willingly I fell into it each day.

Eventually, I came here. I stumbled upon Neil's book and
chandeliers of ideas exploded in my head. The question
etched itself more boldly on my brain as I turned each page:
Would it all work on her?

...

Ring

"Hello."

"Hey, it's me."

"I know."

"Pick a number between 1 and 10 but don't say what it is."

"Um...OK."

"It's 7, right?"

"Yeah, what!? How did you..."

"I think I'm becoming psychic."

"Whatever. No you're not."

"Yeah, I went to this palm-reading lady and she had me do
this intuitive test called The Cube. I think it made me
psychic."

"Really, what was it?"

"Well, it's called The Cube and it tells you all about
yourself in a few questions. So first question..."

I demonstrated higher value, I disqualified, I elicited
values, I showed pre-selection, I sank neuro-linguistic
programming anchors every chance I got, and I built jealousy
plotlines like the ancient Egyptians build pyramids. To her
I became the all new attractive and exciting model of me. We
were together again, watching movies, having dinner, taking
road trips, and screwing like rabbits might on the night
before bunny Armageddon.

Almost a perfect story, but I couldn't keep it up forever. I
had only whitewashed the exterior of a rotting house. Inside
I was still hurt and unconfident. I juggled a good game for
a few months and then the bottom dropped out. And this time
our biting actions and burning words scarred our memories of
each other forever.

Now, many of you like I, came here for her, that one girl
that you are broken for. Often I am asked "How do I get her
back?" And yes I know the prescription for your affliction,
it's my own design. Yet to take that pill into your heart
is to invite doom there. It is the sin of vanity to seek to
resuscitate that which has died, to create your own
relationship monster of Frankenstein. The truth is that if
you manage to get her back it will self-destruct again.
There's too much hurt surrounding you both to make it right.

I know this truth doesn't dispel the hurt. In fact, it takes
some hard work on your part to move past it, but, you can
make it go away forever. There is no quick fix. You can use
this community and it's teachings to spackle over your
faults, however, this never allows you to rebuild your house
of attraction to its maximum height. We have all the secrets
you wish you knew since you first wanted to kiss a girl
instead of just pull her ponytails. If you put in the time
and effort to truly learn, then you become better. You can
mold yourself to be the life of the party, the guy with
the girlfriend of his dreams, the guy not afraid to approach
any woman you are attracted to.

Today, after the hurt is over I'm glad that I had her. I'm
glad that together we ripped a hole in my heart because
without it I wouldn't have met all of you. I wouldn't have
learned to be the man I am today. So embrace the pain and
make it the fuel that lights your fire of self-improvement.
Don't go after her and re-open the dark door of hurt, it
always ends one way.

Thank you Marlene.

That is so true. I guess things happen for a reason, and like Pn. Mag said, our most painful failures in life can turn out to be our greatest teachers, molding us into the people we are meant to be.

My dearest friends and my most cherished students, thank you for making me see that silver lining. You guys were my silver lining. Thank you.

The boy who talked too much.

When I was younger and still in primary school, my friends (and teachers alike) always knew me as the boy who talked just a little too much. I always had something to say about anything and everything. I am a naturally curious person and you could always see my hand flying up first in the air during lessons. Teachers would be bogged down with my questions and would many a time tell me to keep my questions to myself back then.

My natural aptitude for speaking and inclination for the spotlight has led me to naturally end up as an active public speaker, and eventually a school debater in my secondary school years. I loved speaking up and talking to people, I just did.

In college, my thirst for knowledge and aptitude for critical thinking led me to take up the new A-level subject offered in Singapore, Knowledge and Inquiry, after a very stringent selection process. Knowledge and Inquiry is a subject that throws philosophy, epistemology and the various modes of human inquiry together and forces us to look at the very fundamentals of how we construct knowledge in our everyday lives. It was in this new environment where I was given a chance to hone my writing skills and put my analytical and thinking skills I picked up through debating to the next level. I thrived doing that subject; for once, school really made me think and ponder about the nature of our reality. It made me see the world in a different light.

I continued my debating career well through college. I managed to secure a representative spot in the college’s debating team, which had only one spot for a foreign student, after overcoming stiff competition from other students, both Singaporeans and fellow foreign students alike.

To be honest, I really had no idea what I wanted to do or pursue after I was done with my A-levels. I have always seen myself as a multidisciplinary person – a renaissance man of sorts – equally adept at either arts or science subjects. I am naturally inquisitive and love learning about the world at large. The downside was that I had no idea what sort of course would be right for me - they all looked equally interesting. The many choices before me only added to my confusion.

Then a miracle happened.

I got a call, offering me a job as a teacher in the secondary school that I was from as they were short on teachers. I gladly took up the offer.

I was made to teach all sorts of subjects, ranging from English, Moral Knowledge to even Art. It seemed daunting at first, walking into a class without any teaching experience, but something inside me lit up when I first saw the faces of my students listening attentively when I walked in class to teach – my students appreciated and needed me.

I taught them not because it was something my headmistress required of me, but because I wanted to give them my all. I went the extra mile for them and they showed me that they appreciated it. I received little notes telling me how they enjoyed my lectures; comments on my blog telling me that they were going to miss me when I had to go. I was actually making a difference in the lives of my students.

For once in my life, I truly felt satisfied. It was not because of personal achievement or material gain, but because I have discovered joy in serving others.

At about the same time when I was teaching, another event changed my outlook on life – the Malaysian general elections. I was fed up with my government. I loved my country, but I hated the corruption so rife in our government; I resented the fact that students far less academically qualified than me received government scholarships while so many like me were just forgotten. I wanted change, but few believed it was possible.

“The ruling coalition is just too powerful,” they told me. This did not deter me. I made my message for change clear to my friends and family, persuading them to believe in change. It became apparent to me that whatever I am to do in life, I want to bring about positive change in the lives of others.

It made me realize – I want to serve. I want to ensure that justice prevails. I want to ensure that kids in rural areas are not deprived of a proper education. It made me see that I wanted to be a law student – a person well versed with convincing arguments and knowledge of the legal system so that one day, the boy that once talked too much can be someone who spoke out for those who can’t speak, who could stand up for those too weak to stand.

The boy that once talked too much finally saw how he fit in life's grand scheme.

*this was one of my scholarship application essays (:

Edit: *SCREAMS!* why is the law interview letter not here yet when the interviews are during the coming weekend! *SCREAMS!*