Where ART thou?
I have been away for to long and it’s August already (MegaSale month!). A summary of what I needed to talk about:
one I finished my Home Theatre model for Art (Paper 3) less than a month ago.
Absolutely not the final product!
When I received the question paper back in February (or was it March?), I remember telling myself “If can, I’m going to add a lighting system.”
And so I did.
This isn’t exactly the final product either. It’s just missing some speakers, that’s all.
If you are a fan of Monkey Island, you’d know that the drawing on the TV (yes, it’s a drawing) is based on the scene outside “Planet Threepwood”.
Also, the TV can swivel to the left or right.
You can jolly well bet that the whole model itself costs more than RM200.
To tell you the truth, the making of the circuit required 99% improvisation (the worst part is that I had no internet connection, and that means I have no where to refer to). In the end, I killed about 3-4 light bulbs.
Behold! The circuit.
Lightbox thingy! I didn’t glue the box properly, as you can see.
This be Yvonne’s model. The SpongeBob is hand-drawn, yes.
One of the decorative lamps she included
This is Farisha’s. Best model ever, hands down. FYI: Her dad is an architect.
two On the 22nd of July, I (and many others) missed the solar eclipse! They say that it was supposed to appear around 9-something in the morning. We had our Biology paper at 9.10AM. Aiyah, even if we didn’t have the exam, I don’t think it’ll be easy to spot the eclipse due to the cloudy Malaysian skies. The next night, however, I saw this:
Close enough lah.
three Went to play paintball on the 24th. Got shot at the neck and I felt so negative about life. Dementor’s Kiss hahaha. The mark even looked like a hickey that day! :O
four Malaysia will be hosting MTV World Stage somewhere this month (not that I’m a fan of MTV)…but I heard that FRANZ FERDINAND MIGHT BE COMING. Might be only lah — They’re touring around in the US at the moment, if I’m not mistaken.
…I guess there’s no chance of them coming, eh? Even if they are, my mother wouldn’t allow me to see them by using H1N1 as an excuse. If I get to see them [and at the same time if I actually have a high chance of dying], I get to die happy knowing the fact that I met them, right? Haha.
five It’s probably old news now but the saddest news since last week is: Yasmin Ahmad passed away on the 25th 
She was 51.
She was responsible for the Petronas ads we see on TV, and not to forget Sepet! She will always be remembered as the story teller; the best film maker Malaysia could ever have. Her films can really make you (or at least, me) do a lot of deep thinking. Although some of her films are considered “racially controversial”, it speaks a lot of truth. Like in Sepet, there was a line (spoken by a Malay character) which went like “All Malay men are lazy”.
Rest in peace, Kak Yasmin.
PS: I have never attended a funeral before.
This fire is out of control
The teachers seemed to be fascinated by…
…Mr. Chew’s singing. He sang that good ol’ Frank Sinatra’s hit “My Way”. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
HAHAHA just kidding. It was our fire drill. *snort*
(And yes, I am aware that Mr. Chew reads blogs. Don’t know if he reads mine but I’ve got nothing to be afraid of…for now.)
**Note: The last fire drill we had in school was, well, roughly ten years ago.**
Elena’s work of art. Medium: Ink from pens which no longer function properly
Random: Dug out this pic which was taken last year, but I don’t know who took it.
Butt-kicking action, ja?
Of sniping and old ladies
one Tales from my mother..
When I was only two weeks old, I was overfed and I had to be rushed to a hospital — and I would have died.
Much later in life, still as an infant, I had bronchitis because I slept next to some fan with full power.
So, who was behind all this?
It was my paternal grandmother.
She died of I-don’t-know-what just a few months ago. I did not attend her funeral. She wasn’t nice. She was very racist, especially towards my mother. Y’see..I don’t have respect for those who don’t respect..
When I was five, that old lady asked me if I wanted any of her pearls/gems/whatnot. I said, “Tak nak!” (I don’t want!) and she muttered, “Bodoh!” (Stupid!). My mother observed the whole thing.
..and that old lady dared to question me regarding marriage, last year.
“What race do you want to marry (if you had to choose)?”
“Uh…Chinese…” (Honestly folks, it really was the most sensible answer I could give. Why not Malay? I do not want to make the same mistake as my mother’s)
She laughed as though there’s a joke written across my face.
I swear that I will have the last laugh, but now’s not the time.
I just felt like sharing this. I think I am desensitized, heh.
two There’s always a time when I have the need to listen to something danceable.
Eg: Datarock, Daft Punk, Justice, Jamiroquai and of course..Franz Ferdinand.
The thing is: I can’t dance to save my life and yet I like songs that make you want to dance.
The most I could do is tap my feet or bob my head to the beat. HAHA.
Oh yeah and good chord progressions are colourful and they taste good. I am not synaesthetic, though.
If you are a pianist/guitarist, compare these chords:
a) Bm F# G Em F# G A Bm
b) C G Am F C G F C
My choice would be a) lorrr.
three A compilation of photos of my Biology teacher, Mr Phuah. Much thanks to Elena, who took the photos, made some captions while we reviewed ‘em and also named my camera Sniper. A not-so-fast one 
He told us about his experience in Tasmania, Australia, when he was about eighteen/nineteen.
It went like this:
“When I studied there, I lived with this old lady. I rented one of her rooms and one part of the deal was that I had to feed her beloved cat every morning at 5 AM.
Once, I slept at 2 AM because I had to study for a test; Otherwise my degree will go down the drain. Waking up at 5 for the sake of warming the milk for the cat made things worse. Once I was done heating up the milk, I called for the cat and then it came. It went to the milk, looked at it, and went off without even touching the milk.
I was so furious that I grabbed the cat by its tail, dragged it out of the house, swung it over my head in circles (like a lasso HAHAHA) and flung that cat. It went flying over the fence and to the neighbour’s garden. It never came back for 4 days. My landlord asked me “Have you seen my cat?” and I said “No…”
On the fifth day, it came back. I ran towards it and hugged it tightly. I was thankful that it returned. I never got to tell the old lady the truth. In fact, I acted like a hero and told her, “Mrs ____, I looked all over for your cat! I search high and low and I found it!…Here’s your cat.”
She treated me to a dinner at a fancy restaurant.
And she’s not around anymore. I never got to tell her the truth.”
He still hates cats. He also told us that he loves dogs and owns a beagle. An instant “Aww” factor.
Teachers’ Day ‘09
Celebrated on the 13th due to the busy schedule that we have. Open Day on the 16th. Exam starts on the 19th. Oh dear, I am in trouble.
Photos! (Manual mode + retained the ISO at 800)
Click on them for a larger resolution.
“HAPPY TEACHERS DAY”
Emcees: Vernexia and Rizki
This was taken all the way from the back of the hall, where the Form Fivers sit…Yeah, the “summit”.
Jolly Mr Chew in the middle and the sad-looking Mr Roland (in white)
Oh gads, look at the sea of orange and black (+ a girl in white).
It’s like a papaya.
The pledge/oath reminds me of this quote from Finding Nemo: “I am a nice shark, not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends, not food.”
It seems that En. Aseri knows the “Teacher’s Song” by heart
The Looks
From left to right: Maskurnia, Sheryl, Farah, Syakila and Rekha
It’s…Hariz and Steffi!
You are currently looking at my guitar
He’s one of the best guitarists that I know, seriously
“I’ve got a lovely bunch of guitar picks”
..aaand that’s my tambourine you’re looking at! 
Capo 1
Nina, Natalie, another Farah and Shao Wei
Hariz’s guitar
Chee Ming and Hariz
Brenda and Ryan
Another shot of the bunch o’ taped plectrums
Why so serious, Ryan?
Barley Less Ice
I don’t know whether this dude is Neal or Nigel
Jonathan and his necktie of many garish colours
And I don’t know who the guy on the right is. Sorreh!
Clapclapclap! ‘Twas the cake-cutting ceremony. (I think somebody sang Happy Birthday in the background )
Funny how I used to think that megapixels can cause the blur/bokeh effect. Pfft. Thank goodness I realised soon enough that it’s just the aperture.
Surprise performance #1?
Sheriff Rizki in hiding
Jonathan, Brenda and Neal/Nigel
If the guitarist is Neal, then the pianist is Nigel. If the guitarist is Nigel, then the pianist is Neal.
Twins, ya see. Who’s who?
Surprise performance #2 with all performers on stage
Steffi brought out the tambourine and Rizki brought out the maracas. Ayyy! Mexican Hat Dance, anybody?
(+2) Random photos in class:
“You people are such angels!”
Note the colours.
Taking a photo of a photo being taken, what a mouthful.
Sports Day ‘09
From a trombonist’s eye-view
Originally uploaded by malfrinko
It was my last Sports Day yesterday.
Fifth and last time to march and perform at Matsushita Stadium with the school band. (this is not the last band activity of the year!)
No more Atten-Hut.
No more Parade Rest.
No more Left-Face-Left/Right-Face-Right.
No more Mark Time March/Forward March.
No more Parade Dismiss.
The school band is a club/society and Green House is a [sports] team, but it seems that I have a lot of spirit for the band rather than the latter. I just don’t know why. Maybe, to me, making music with others is better than engaging in sporty stuff. I’m extremely pathetic in running and all that.
I think…if the school band did not exist, I might have been in Green’s marchpast team.
Yellow House was the champion again (for how many consecutive years already?); Followed by Red, Blue and Green. I contributed only one point to Green House and not to forget, a whole lot of sweat to the prop-painting for the Green House marchpast team.
Before the final results was announced, I was telling myself that I’d be frustrated if Green House is only less than 5 points away from Blue House.
…It turned out to be right. We were 4 points behind Blue. At times like this, you’d feel that every point counts.
I’m just glad that all of the paintings we’d done did not go to waste Yep, Green’s marchpast team grabbed the gold!
##Using an 18-200mm camera lens as an utility:##
“Eh, that fella running there..Green or blue?”
“Cannot see.”
“Oh wait wait wait, I use my camera.”
*zooms*
“Blue.”
PhotoSpam time. But before that..
Credits: Ivan [right] for taking the marchpast and band photos
Edward [left] for taking the band videos (update: JUST ADDED!)
MARCHPAST + BAND
Prefects
Scouts
This is Sparta. This is madness. Spot Faris/King Leonidas haha
Raging Spartans! Red Forever
If you tilt your head to the right, you’ll see that the “G” on the shirt is actually the power icon.
”Nature” is our theme this year. Not my favourite (and I am not into saving the earth),
but we could look at it as many things like:
The Green Lantern followers, Elves or Druids, Treehuggers, Freaks of Nature…
It’s a heart, but ye can’t see it clearly here..
This is a masterpiece which Farisha, Laura and I worked on
It’s a picture of Mother Nature but we didn’t come up with the design
This is the original picture:
CHEERLEADING
A present!
Surprise!
Can you do the can-can?
Back-breaking, man.
Awakening the dead
*punch punch*
Dispersion
“Sawadeeka! We welkam you to Bangkok!”
They’re like casting magic spells right there.
“NO don’t drop it on my head!”
Tango sort of thing?
I smell some grammatical error..
The one jumping at the front has extraordinary jumping skills.
Which way is it: West or East?
Chai Leng says “HI!”
“Pick me, teacher! Pick me!”
Hovering Humans
Hovering Humans Part 2
The undertakers
Oh gads, mid-air split.
“Hyugh. We’re so strong, we need no overly large biceps.”
Y…MCA.
No perversion allowed.
“Ugh, what’re these jellyfishes doing on my face?”
Take-off like Superman! Woosh.
Go, fight, win
Looks like the High School Musical 3 poster.
Trojan or Spartan? Aiyah, same thing lah.
“Eh, can scratch my back ah? I cannot reach the itchy part..”
Invisi-golf
TEACHERS’ TELEMATCH
Supporters
Dribble dribble dribble
I guess this was the moment when Ustaz fell down..and initially, he was leading..
TUG-OF-WAR
Chaaaaarge!
Looking at the horsies reminds me of Charlie the Unicorn
Anchor.
“Let there be Add. Maths!”
“Whaat. You call that a tug?”
“I don’t care!”
Defeated.
Victorious.
HOT HOT HOT
Gloves to reduce pain?
Mr. Chew poses with some style
Green’s Capt. Yap Yee Sam/1 2 3
“Ah come on, ye sissy sea urchin! Tug ‘arder!”
Defeated.
There’s something freaky about his right eyelid in this picture
RANDOM UNCATEGORIZABLE PHOTOS
Heng Hau’s smug-face
“I’m soaring like a candy wrapper caught in an updraft!”
Their own island
The score board fell forward..
Mr Kao looks really worried
It’s Christabel again!
He thinks he’s #1
–Post-Sports Day–
Things we [as in the band] did after Sports Day ended:
1. We “marched” to Pizza Hut.
“Fall in!”
“WOI CHECK YOUR LINE LAH!”
“Eh, wrong leg!”
“Parade, go to Pizza Hut!”
Yeah, it’s sort of a band joke/inside joke, which is cool.
2. We continued using band commands while we were in Pizza Hut.
“Atten-Hut!” *holds up a knife and a fork*
“Roll-roll-roll, down! Roll-roll-roll, eat!”
3. We took photos!
Atten-Hut!
I’m second from the left.
Just so you know, it was nobody’s birthday.
This “rock sign” was used as one of our marching signals.
Do the Lala pose!
The Trombone Section — playing air trombones!
We had to say “Trombone!” instead of “Cheese!”
Ended up having that strange smile on my face.
And next year, the trombone section will be taken care of by Han Quan (2nd from left) and Nagulan (1st from right)
Steffi and her gangstas
Gangsterism. Money. Grayscale.
More money
Kar Seng and I
He’s such a cute little fellow!
The Pizza Lifter Heroes
What goes well with bamboo trees?
A ninja! (there’s a shuriken on Steffi’s left index finger)
4. We walked back to school while talking about gangsters.
“Cross the road when the car comes. That’s what gangsters do.”
5. I found Green’s Mother Nature painting which used for marchpast and we re-arranged it. Apparently, the head went missing.
Oh well.
Money is the root of all evil
one It’s not everyday that I draw stuff like this:
Click for fullview, please?
two I forgot to state that Zusak’s use of German curse words in The Book Thief made the book look really…good. As I see it, some stories would be boring if there isn’t a single bit of verbal action. Look at Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. Remember what Mrs. Weasley said to Bellatrix Lestrange? 
three If serious jamming with some friends is already fun, then I wonder how things would be like if I get to study overseas and form a little band at the same time. And just today, I participated in an audition for Sri KL’s Charity Dinner with Alastair, Hariz and Sheryl. Charity, money…hmm. Mmph. Must be funny, in a rich man’s world.
Which reminds me, I think that the school is trying to rob us. In a certain way, lah. If the air-conds of one’s class are not turned off, then RM25 will be collected from the said class.
“Aiyah, don’t bring your money to school lah! Otherwise go file a police report. “Robbed by my own school”. “
four How time can really be killed:
You cannot afford to miss the ending.
Drama Competition ‘09 Part Deux
Photos are taken by me, unless otherwise stated. Used the same ol’ D40 + 18-200mm. Manual mode. As usual, no flash fired.
Another little note: Black outfits which are under blue lights appear to be red in photos (in my case, at least), but don’t worry; It’s already corrected.
Feel free to steal ‘em as you like, stalkers For larger resolution, you’ve gotta request from me personally.
5 Delta — The Life Of Thye Perk Yang (awarded second place in the competition)
5 Sigma — Murder in the Mansion (they didn’t win but they’re worth mentioning. Lots of posh names were used in the drama, and er, Clementine is actually a girl’s name)
5 Gamma — Snow White Returns (awarded first place in the competition)
[videos can be found in the previous entry]
[credits goes to Calvin Khor for taking the following photos][Auto mode]
Hwee Wen and I, and Sounds&Music means serious business.
The baby’s kicking!
Hi-ho, heave-ho
All by himself
Snow White just got charm’d.
Heh.
Hungry kidnappers
I want more food!
So useless!
Black magic scene!
He is Dragonball! Abuken!
Take that, sista!
Dancing to Thriller
Everybody dance now!
Syok-sendiri-ing/self-pleasure
Soulja Boy. YOUUU.
Doomed
OMGZ
Wait! Says the queen.
The queen appears to be coconut-headed here
“You fight like a milkman!”
“Oh, how appropriate. You fight like a cow.”
- not quotes from our drama, but from Monkey Island instead
That HEE-HEE-HEE face
He/she can take the land!
Mourning
Playing dead is hard to do. Especially when you leave your eyes open.
Curtain call!
Butt-smacking goodness!
one My Valentine’s Day was pretty good, in a way. It has nothing to do with people at all. It’s just my purchase of that day which made my day good:
It be Franz Ferdinand’s third album. Been waiting for this since 2007 It was released on the 26th last month. Looked for it everywhere since then, but I failed to find a copy and I assumed that Malaysia was just slow. Luck was on my side on Valentine’s, so to speak.
This album is really different from the last two. I could hear plenty of synths and the drum patterns are very new (the drummer, Paul Thomson, got slightly influenced by some African beats). Most of the songs sound very different and it takes some getting used to. Ulysses is one of my favourite tracks and I somehow managed to figure out the drum pattern at the beginning (which really is a good thing). Czech it oooot!:
(Mr Nick McCarthy smirked grimly at 1:27. Yay 
)
two Was supposed to mention this quite some time ago: I have a dwarf hamster!
This wee rodent screams, did you know that?
three I found an old manual camera lying around the house. Played around with it for a while but it’s too bad that there’s no film or battery in it. Very old school. Nevertheless, I’d love to find out about its photo quality, someday..
I figured how to adjust the aperture size (without any reference from the net!)
Can you see the aperture hole?
four Gee, Biology! My class had the chance to poke a cow’s heart and we also got to dissect a sheep’s heart + lungs.
Warning: What you are about to see may be disturbing. Not for the faint-hearted!
Right, this is not the start of the “disturbing photos” journey, HAHAHA.
This is Mr Phuah, the smiley-faced Bio teacher
The disturbing-ness starts below..
A sheep’s larynx + lungs + heart
Apparently, this sheep has 3 lungs…according to my own eyes..
iProd! uProd! theyProd!
This be a cow’s heart which was already dissected by the students of 5 Delta
There’s the thump-thump..
Left ventricle..or just its wall
This is how the sheep’s lungs looked like before it is filled with carbon dioxide
(Yes, someone had to provide some CO2 through that burette attached)
This is the after effect!
That “white-beige-pink” thing just popped out and spreaded like a plague!
Another person squeezed the lungs and the unpleasant air from the lungs went back into the CO2 provider’s mouth 
Sheep’s heart
The first cut is always the deepest, is it not?
In this case, the second cut is much deeper than the first
Heart diagram in the textbook + One in the hand
Vanessa and the sheep’s heart-shaped thump-thump
Wei Li/Snow White with the sheep’s larynx and..I don’t know what that thing on the right is
Seng Giap and Wei Li
“If I give my heart to you ♪”
And of course, I saved the best for last
Look closely!
