Little Luke "Skywalker"

Friday, March 24, 2006

Back To School - Meme

"I wonder how you can write in Chinese and English so well, can share your academic background so I make sure Zara walk the same path?" - Zara's mama

The infamous phrase above put me in the spot to respond to this tag on my "academic background". Here goes... (very lazy to dig out old school photos and scan it though)

How many schools did I go to?

Kindergarten at Jesus Caritas Catholic church for a year
Can't remember too well already, but all I know is that I had plenty of fun and games. Can hardly remember anything I learned there except to run about and climb up stuffs.
Primary schools (2)
First one is SRJK(C) Desa Jaya where I studied for less than a few months before my family shifted. Moved over to SRJK(C) Mun Choong at Jalan Ipoh for the rest of my primary school days. The most unforgettable memory I had for my primary school days is the first time I lied to my parents. It was about me attending some computer lessons in school. For some reason, I could not find the designated "computer room" in the school. I ended up telling my mum that I went but could hardly come up with anything when she asked what I have learned. It was not until my mum went to the school to ask the teachers that I finally confessed (I was only standard one!).
I hardly ever study as well in primary school, mostly avoiding homework and being caught. For some reason, I ended up as a head prefect as well as the conductor for the school band (LOL!).
Secondary school (Remove to Form 5)
Again, I did not study much as well except the night before exams (even for PMR and SPM). Got placed in remove class because I scored one short of straight As in my UPSR exams. I didn't mind that as remove class was like a total honeymoon year. Due to God's grace, I remained at the top class every year. I even got to be the head prefect again for no reason. I began to show tremendous amount of interest in computers to the extend that the teachers and headmasters kept coming to me to help them out in their word processing and spreadsheet stuffs.
As for sports, I am involved in countless stuff including athletic events, basketball, badminton, tennis and volleyball. I am also the school representative for tennis as well as state representative for volleyball (weird for a not-so-tall guy huh?).
Tertiary studies
Went to a form six class for 2 weeks before my application to the newly ~~established~~ set-up Multimedia University at Malacca (where that big guy is studying now) was accepted. I was reluctant to go at first (because all my friends are at form six) but was ~~forced~~ persuaded by my parents (bless them). If weren't for them, I would never have met my wife, J. I enjoyed myself very much at Malacca as the life there is very quiet and things are cheap.
Two years later, we got moved ~~like guinea pigs~~ to the desert area of Cyberjaya where the so-called new campus was located. Since the hostel rooms are equipped with network points, I enjoyed unlimited net surfing, mp3s, online gaming, ~~porn~~ videos etc. after getting myself a PC. There wasn't much entertainment at that desert, hence we had to go to Puchong or Serdang to find entertainments.

Was I the studious nerd, or the last minute hero?

LOL! Never studied like a nerd before. Anyone who knows me can stand witness. I will only gather everything the night before, then will study straight for 8-12 hours straight until the next morning before I go into the exam halls. Due to my super-efficient short term memory, I was able to "vomit" out everything in the exam hall and return everything back to the teachers/lecturers. After the exam will be a whole day of sleep and rest for me, then it's back to play time again!

Was I the class 'taiko' (big bully) or the teachers' pet?
A little of both. I was one of the most naughty and rebellious people in the class. The teachers have a love-hate relationship for me. The reason behind is that they need my help in their computer stuffs and they could not find any reasons to punish me since I did quite well in the exams (LOL!). In the end of the day, the teachers still consider me as one of their favourites while the rest of my classmates will still treat me as their gang :)

What was the biggest rule I broke in school?
Hmmm... can hardly recall any rule-breaking incident since I was either a prefect or head prefect for most of the time. I am the one who is upholding the law instead because I AM THE LAW (copyright Judge Dredd reserved)!

Three subjects I enjoyed
English - I was the top of the class for this subject because we used to have a Philippine maid at home for 10 years and we spoke to her in English. In fact, my younger siblings even had some guai-loh slang when they spoke mandarin or Cantonese when they were small.
Physics - Always fascinated with physics because it teaches so much of the things around us, especially how aeroplane can fly and huge ship can sail on sea. Simply amazing!
Mathematics - Is because there is always a solution for all the problems. This is the only subject where you can score a perfect 100% and no boring writing of essays.

Three teachers that inspired me
Ms Teoh - She taught me mathematics and additional mathematics. Is because of her that I got so interested in solving complex mathematical problems. She would always challenge the class to solve some difficult problems just to inspire us to work harder.
Mrs Yap - She is one of those with a pure English education background. Her English is perfect and she gives out tuition for the 1119 papers. I was her favourite student because I am scored the top marks in the class (FYI, my class is filled with students from Chinese education background). Oh yeah! She is a true fan of that Patrick Teoh!
Mr Ling - One of my university lecturer that teaches engineering maths. I truly admire his passion for numbers but could not compliment him for his skills in teaching. He made me wanna try very hard to solve some complex problems that he threw us in his lecture. I could spend hours trying to solve on problem just to impress him :P

So, to Zara's mama, are you sure you want little Zara to grow up like me? If she does, you will suffer (or even vomit blood) for the next 20 years just to get her to study or stay at home every night! LOL!

The list of the next victims are:

Twinsmom - is always interesting to see how she writes!
De Bookworm - I wonder she was a bookworm back then
Jesslyn - since you are one of those mummies who's not pregnant at the moment :P

Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 3/24/2006 09:20:00 AM :: and invited 17 Blah(s):