10 years since the government experimentally implemented a compulsory examination for 9 year old students nationwide. It was called Penilaian Tahap Satu(First Grade's Assessment). Doesn't make sense to me, should be called Tahap Tiga, since we were in standard three.

Born in 1987, I was one of the many pioneer students who sat for the examinations somewhere in September 1996. The examination's purpose was to assess a student to see if he or she was fit to skip a grade and proceed to standard 5 instead of standard 4.

When all the other kids were outside playing in the playgrounds or sitting at home playing masak-masak or climbing into abandoned homes to burn dried leaves, I went for tuition to PREPARE for my Penilaian Tahap Satu examinations.

I remember I was so excited that I was finally attending tuition. Oh, I've heard so much about tuition! I finally get to go for something called tuition! I bought nice exercise books for 20 cents from my school bookshop and anticipated the ride to Bandar Sunway every Tuesday evening.

My teacher taught me IQ questions and simple essays.
The types of questions asked in the PTS MCQ examinations were such as:-

1) Spot the odd one out:

A) Banana
B) Coconut
C) Equator
D) Apple

....

Honestly,majority of the nine year olds must've not given a shit about the examinations or else that would not have been a single standard 4 student in Malaysia circa 1997.

The essays were ALWAYS about Berkelah Di Tepi Pantai(Picnicking by the beach). The difficult ones were about being Sebatang Pen(A Pen).

I was actually nervous about sitting for the examination and puked out mushrooms during my grand aunty's birthday celebrations at a restaurant two days before the examinations. I even had diarrhoea because I was so afraid to face the examinations.

The format of the paper was 50 Multiple IQ choice questions and an essay!(Berkelah Di Tepi Pantai came out! Yay!).

-

So, duh, I passed the examinations.

My class teacher called me out of computer class one day.

"Uh oh," I thought. Maybe she wanted to scold me about playing Mario Brothers on the school computer... but everybody's playing it too!

I went up to my class teacher who was leaning against the balcony.

"Pei Shan, you're the only one from the class who passed the PTS examinations."

"Huh?"

"You're going to standard 5!"

"Oh. okay. Thank you!" I was shivering with excitement. I always tremble when I am extremely happy. Don't know why...some physiological effect, perhaps. Body more receptive to cold..?

All the 33 students of SRSS19 Subang Jaya were called to the principal's office to be given a pep talk/to be congratulated. The stupid assistant principal scolded me, "Pei Shan! I said tallest stand behind!!!"

"...um, I'm the only one from my class." I mumbled.

But anyway, yeah, my parents were overjoyed, my partially deaf grandfather who was still alive back then was really supportive of me to take up the PTS offer, relatives far and wide knew... etc. (my paternal grandmother is not called Astro for nothing).

I was having second thoughts because I didn't want to leave my friends! All my classmates asked me not to leave and chided me about being action baby lotion michael jackson now that I'm skipping standard 4.

I was even supposed to go to the top class in standard 4. Oh what fun~~.

-

The first day of standard 5 was pretty awkward. Who were all these tall boys and girls?? They look so... scary and action baby lotion michael jackson. It was hell to stay back after class to attempt standard 4 work and go home to do standard 5 work.

I remember crying about having to draw the South East Asia maps. (just the shape of it lah).

I remember calling my father on the phone and crying, "I don't know WHYYY I must learn how to count the area of a leaf!! I DON'T KNOW HOW!!!!"

I remember crying to my tuition teacher, "HOW ?! TOMORROW EXAM ALREADY!! I cannot remember all the states of Malaysia's flags and their meanings!!"

I ended up getting number 2 in class and number 6(i cried.). Which is pretty silly actually, since it's such an achievement already to be better than the normal standard 5s. Some of you who are reading might know Jade Ho(who was from SMK Seafield and is still very beautiful, smart and popular. But the keyword here is smart!)... I got number 2 she got number 3. Nyahahahaha.

--

From standard 5 to form1, PTS students were treated like outcast by the normal kids. In secondary school, a class was set aside for the PTS students. The other normal kids would usually say, "Oh, right. Aiyer, PTS."

The things they used to call us were like Pencuci Tandas Sekolah. or Pityass. ;

It's like our mentality was deemed lower than theirs. For lack of better word, they hated us. Because we were childish and too smart for our own good.

Damn funny though because they loved calling PTS kids, "Small kid". My dear best friend Melody Song Faye-Lynn would not allow me to touch her Girlfriend/Bliss/Seventeen/Cleo magazines because I was a "small kid" and should not be allowed to indulge in reading material with sexual contents.

-

After form1, the PTS kids proceeded to form2 along with the other normal students and we mixed well and found our own cliques. Puberty kicked in for most of us and soon you couldn't differentiate who was a PTS and who was not.

Previously it was very obvious. The PTS kids were SMALL in size. I was one of the unfortunate extremes lah. I've been tall most of my life.

The so called childish mentality became less and less obvious due to peer influence. (and of course, growing up helped alot too!)

Soon the PTS students camouflaged with the normal students. It was always so fun to see the surprised look on my form4 classmates' faces when they found out that I was a PTS.

-

Sitting around with an addmaths book in my hands, I looked around the class. Cliques were sitted around gossiping and trying to study prior to the SPM examinations. It was the last week of form5. I saw the fat little boy now mixing with the 'cool gang' from primary school....and they are no longer little and fat and 'cool', but lean boys with low pants and spiky hair. (The standard look for any boys in the Malaysian education system with half a brain to fit in).

I looked at the people surrounding me. ALL of them were older than me by a year.

The PTS students have been distributed evenly amidst the high school crowd.

As a result, I have NO best friends from secondary school who are of the same age as me. I looked at the students who were in the year below me as my juniors and felt that they were younger than me. One of them even confided to me before that he felt I was older than him even though I'm his age, but a senior.

Sometimes I even felt that I was 14/15/16..and thought that I was 15/16/17.

But NOW? I feel that the 1986 kids in my class are like.. well, the young ones. The 1985 people are like, the normal age for my course. And of course we have the 1984 and the 1983 and the 1982 whom I feel inferior to. There is that "senior" feeling somewhat. Even though I'm the youngest one in the class, I hardly feel like I'm the youngest. The entire class seems to be the same age.

Which leads me to my conclusion: No matter how old your peers are, peer influence will occur, and the mentalities will be in tuned.

---

Sorry for babbling for so long as I get carried away sometimes when reminiscing.

I don't see why the government decided to scrap the examinations. The last batch of PTS will be 15 year old this year. After 4 years of PTS examinations, the government thought that it brought more disadvantages than advantages to those who managed to skip standard 4.

As far as I know, most of the PTS kids who managed to get through are doing really well for themselves. I'm not blowing my own horn, because I'm nothing compared to the really outstanding ones. And most of the PTS kids went on to become best students.

Alot of people think PTS kids are extremely smart. Yes, the extremely smart ones are sometimes PTS kids. But there are also average students who are PTS ie. myself. And there are crazy students who are PTS kids who had to repeat form5 because he couldn't give two fucks about his SPM examinations. (and did silly things like standing on his chair and singing metalicca songs during the SPM trials, taking a chair and threatening to hit the teacher etc)

What I'm trying to say is that getting to skip standard 4 was only tough in the first couple of years. I don't know why the government took this opportunity away from the 90's babies.

We're still here. Surviving. And it's always nice to find out that a new acquaintance is a PTS. :)

I wonder if the government ever wondered whatever happened to the ...19,000(or something like that) who got pass the examinations in 1996.

My grandfather had a few of us over for a dinner at his house. Some how, the people who were there were familiar, but they were not family. The only family member who was there with me was my father. I don't usually take my camera to family gatherings. But I kept asking my father to help me take pictures of me with my grandfather.

We stood side by side to each other in silence while posing awkwardly for many photographs.

Then I sat down and asked my grandfather about a story of him when he was a boy. He told me how he found a coke bottle and did a school project with it. But as I listened to the story, I kept crying and crying and crying. It was like I knew that he would leave me soon.

Sometime later, he passed away and I felt somewhat satisfied that I've managed to at least take many photos with him before he died.

Then I woke up from my dream.

The first thought in my head was, "Ohmigod, that was so sad. I should visit my grandfather more often."
Then I will gain a little more conciousness, "Wait, he died so many months ago."

This is not the first time such thoughts came to me right after a dream about my grandparents. It's like I have temporary amnesia right after my dreams.

I don't think I've blogged this, but once, I even dreamt that Chee Kiang's grandmother had the same face as my grandmother. This was before I met his grandmother.

In the dream, his grandmother was apparently from Penang too(one of his grandmother is from Penang, but I was dreaming about his paternal grandmother who was from Perak) and that there was a very high chance that she could be my grandmother's long lost twin sister. (In my dream, I was horrified to find out that I was Chee Kiang's cousin. Haha)

I remember sitting on his couch and peering at his grandmother's face and holding it in my hands. His grandmother who looked exactly like MY grandmother had this very innocent and sad and lost and naive look on her face.

My OWN grandmother is anything but innocent and naive. So it was weird to see her looking like a little girl. The expression I mean.

Same thing, I woke up from the dream, feeling guilty about not visiting my grandmother at their house in USJ3. Then I remembered.

However, I've also had dreams where I'd see them and KNOW that I'm dreaming and that they were dead.

I was at one of the stops along the North South Highway. There are some other parts of the dream that consisted of strangers, some children asking me to buy things, and a little boy asking me to hold his keys, some adults wanting the key from me, and the little boy making me wait for a little too long.

But that's not the point, the point was that I came upon this gazebo. I saw my form3 Living Skills teacher sitting amidst a crowd of Indian diners. No biggie, I'll probably go say hi later, I thought. I turned to my right and I was surprised to see my family there. I mean, why would they be somewhere along the North South Highway?

My Uncle Terry and Aunty Judy were back from the UK and were dining with my family too.

I went up to the table and stood at one end. Clockwise from my left sat: My father, my mother, my uncle terry, my aunty judy, MY FATHER AGAIN, MY MOTHER AGAIN, and oh god.. my deceased grandparents. This time in the dream I knew that they've passed away and did not make conversations because I was freaked out.

But I think the freakier bit of my dream was to see repetitions of my parents. I mean, TWO sets of them on the same table?

I excused myself and my Uncle Terry asked me where I was going. I said, "I gotta go to school."

Weird........ I had this dream when I was on the bus back from Kedah.

What have I been eating recently???
:(

Sometimes I get mind numbing conversations on MSN from people who have randomly added me from my blog(I block those who tell me they got my email address of the "internet". Funnily, they are all middle eastern folks who add me. And the first thing they want to do is "Play webcam"). Admittedly this girl who chatted with me added me a long time ago because she wanted to do a survey on national service.

I'm not entirely enticed at the prospect of talking to people who I meet through the internet(without any mutual friends or interests to bridge the connection). I will reply monosyllabically. But I've brought my responses to mind numbing conversations to a whole new level!

Let's call this girl E. E, first and foremost, I'd like to apologize for making fun of our MSN conversation. But it's just too funny. LOL.

E: your brother followed you back to Kedah?
Miss Lai: Nolah, I only came back for the weekend.
E: Oooh..is his name Jason Lai?

At this point, I was quite bored. So I said...

Miss Lai: eh, how you know?
E: Is he the one who conducted in the MPO?

0_0 This is getting weird..

Miss Lai:yesyes! That's the guy!
E: Okay, I saw him then just now.
Miss Lai: tell him his sister said hi..
E: Erm, just now afternoon leh. Now evening already.
Miss Lai: icicic.
E: Uhhuh, uhhuh. What work is he doing anyway? Zoo keeper?

Wtf?!! How random is this? So I thought fine lah, the weirder the conversation, the funnier it gets.

Miss Lai: Yea.....zoo keeper.
E: Really?
Miss Lai: Yes.
E: Then how come he conducts in MPO?
Miss Lai: Because he likes music too.
E: Zoo keeper where? Malaysia?
Miss Lai: Nah, Switzerland.
E: u mean he came all the way to Malaysia just to conduct this MPO..? Wow..
Miss Lai: Yeah...passionate huh.
E: Uhhuh. He studies music too?
Miss Lai: Yeahh..
E: and animals too.

!! What?!

Miss Lai: Yea....amazing huh.
E: Uhhuh, Passionate to the animals or the MPO?
Miss Lai: He is aiming to make an All Animals Orchestra. AAO.
E: In Switzerland?
Miss Lai: No, in Zimbabwe.

I can't believe she still believes me.

E: Haha, what animals will there be?
Miss Lai: You know, the type which make sounds.
E: You mean every kind lah.
Miss Lai: Yeah, but sometimes rabbits are a little quiet. So not every kind.
E: When is this AAO thing?
Miss Lai: Should be held on the 30th of February 2010.
E: my mum said all the animals that he is training now will be dead by then man, so long more.
Miss Lai: lol...well you don't know. Only the longer surviving ones are selected to play for the orchestra.
E: Oh..so are you going to go see it?
Miss Lai: It should be fun. I mean how often do you get to see a donkey singing in
               falsetto rite?
E: Does the donkey really sings or it brays?
Miss Lai: Train it to give out different amplitudes of brays lor!

Whatever bray is. -_-

E: It would be fun seeing them bringing out wrong tunes. Haha.
Miss Lai: No, they have four years to train. nothing should go wrong. You don't have faith in Jason?
E: got lah, that one definite. But you won't know what will happen suddenly right.
Miss Lai: Yup...
E: so you only have one sibling..? a brother?
Miss Lai: Yeap.....
E: Okay.

And that was the end of our conversation. I've never had so much fun crapping.

Intrigued, I googled Jason Lai MPO. And nearly shat my pants laughing.

*

Sett was kind enough to fetch Jimmy, Ken(one of the pharmacy dudes over here who also happens to be the guys' housemate) and I to the bus stop for the weekend trip back to KL.

Sett had to take a bath (ooh-er, sorry girls, no photos) so we chilled at the boys' three leveled floors for awhile.

I had to go around with my camera. :) Let you have a peek at the living conditions of my guy classmates'.

l-r: Ee Chean and Ken's room.


Maxis on his bed. He shares a room with Ah Thong.


Chwan Horng's room.


Ah Thong in his room with his prized possession.


Jimmy trying to impress me. Tak jadi lah dei. And the funniest thing about him is that his mattress is a blow-up one. LOL. And it's so cute that he puts a bed sheet on it. LOL!!


The winner of the Best Room Award goes to Sett. So classy wei. Like so Japanese Zen-ish. GOT PLANT ON THE TABLE SOMEMORE..#$#$(#*$^#. The only plant I have in my room is the fungus on the ceiling. But really, his room is situated on the highest floor, and the breeze is just fantastic. Imagine his black curtains flapping in the wind as he studies Anatomy.


They even have the right mind to put a cardboard beneath the shoes! PASS!!


Normal lah..............................


The resident vegetarian belanjas everybody some papaya.


Maxis does not believe in forks.


Thanks Maxis!


While waiting for the rest to get ready, I was bored. So I took out my eyeshadows and had fun making Maxis's thigh look pretty.

Surprisingly, this time around, the bus ride was GOOD. AND FAST. Within 5 hours, I was in KL already. Yi Lin, this time no backside pimple leh!:)

I sat in between Jimmy and Ken in the bus. The benefits of being a woman. Ahh. Ken was showing me photos that the boys took while cleaning the house. And the mad things they got up to. You know they actually "WORK OUT" by climbing the OUTSIDE of the house from the ground floor to the second floor? crazy!!!


Some smart alec figured that the floor was slippery enough to play human bowling.


Yay. Goal.


Oh wow, sliding dentists.


LOL. Dental orgy.


This is the funniest picture!! LOL!! They are really sliding on the floor! Apparently one of them figured out that it hurts less to propel themselves by springing away from the wall..as compared to doing a running jump and then falling to the ground in hopes of sliding for quite a distance.

Boys.



What? Got play commando also??!


LOL! Head pain already!


One of the running jumps' demonstrators.

Hope you guys clicked on the video at the top of the entry:) Was quite nice to see the rushing water. The water level was DAMN high. An old uncle stood next to me and looked out to the river as well. He asked me, "Can you swim?" "Yes, I can," I replied. "I can't." he smiled. The both of us agreed that the river looks so beautiful with the rushing water.

It's nice to take a breather from the evening rush hour to observe things like that eh? 




Outside Masjid Jamek, while crossing the road. I know my dad will kill me if he knows what I did.


Wet wet wet..

I came back for the weekend because I had relatives who came back from the States. :| Haven't seen them in 10 years. But I guess, it doesn't really matter after you've not seen each other for 10 years. What's another 10 more years? So I came back for "me time" mostly, since the boyfriend was in Kota Kinabalu with his father. Sigh.

But I did manage to catch up with (Divine)Dennis, MunTeng, Joshua, She Dee, Jiun Jeh(apparently VERY popular in NUS now), Wai Kit, Vern Yang and OMIGOD DENNIS TAN.<-- haven't seen this dude since...secondary school.

I asked Joshua, "So, any women in your life now?"
Joshua retorted, "What woman woman all.. still young okay!!"
"Old already lah. Faster tell. How many women adi?"
"Girl lah..GIRL."

Since Joshua is still single......Watch out for him in a future pimptress post! Yea! Thanks to Wai Kit for suggesting a very appropriate name for him: "Jumping Joshua."
Dennis promises to send me some photos of Josh. He says he'll try to get some which shows Joshua slightly elevated from the ground.

-_-. Don't think Divine Dennis gets my Pimptress role....girls don't CARE if he can jump. They just want to know what desirable qualities he has. Right girls?



Cute photo of my Dad, Cousin Derek and Mervyn sleeping in the living room. That's Angel running.


Angel sees me taking a photo. And so does my father.


Angel ignores my dad's attempts to play with her.


I miss Mervyn. Actually, only to pose for the photo. Don't really miss him. :D hehehe.



Let's play Fart On The Brother.


We have a love-hate relationship.