Medicine (part 2)

I was rudely awakened by my parents who seemed to be more excited than me to tell me that they had received the late coming letter sent by JPA in this morning. They asked me to guess which country I will be heading to. I hoped for the word " Australia " to come out between their lips. However JPA denies my chance for me to be my cousin's junior. I got India.

Well, although Australia tops the list but I'm glad to get India. India has always been the well-renowned country in training the professionals to excel and contribute in certain critical fields especially in health care. Some people even stated that there are so many corpses in India, which means to be a kind of convenience or advantage to the medical students there ( try to figure out why :p )

Every one around me feels proud of me, they keep on complimenting me as if I already got my medicine degree. They asked me to give discount if they seek for my help in the future. They even started calling me Dr. Lui. It is still a long way to go, to be what they expected ( specialist, general practitioner, blah blah ) What I have to do now is just preparing myself to endure the hardship. I don't think too much. It is still not the time for me to decide which specialist I want to be. I have not even started my foundation course, to be specific, Cambridge A-level which I will be taking at Kolej Teknologi Timur.

I did feel abandoned when all of my friends ( JPA scholars ) are registered in one of the college known as INTEC. However how will it be if I compare the five-year of homesickness to the 18 months of not having old friends? From another perspective, maybe it is better for me to not relying too much to my old friends. As time elapses, I might be more independent and confident to communicate with every one there in English.

I'm still having worries about the interview I have to pass in order to secure a place for me in the universities in India, or maybe I think too much. Here I come, India :)

Games

I enjoy playing games. The games I used to play are just numerous.

When I was 5, I enjoyed playing hide-and-seek. Despite of suffering by hiding myself inside a hot and stuffy narrow cupboard for a maximum of 30 minutes, I would ridicule my brother for a whole day long after he had forsaken his attempt in seeking me. It was very proud for every child to win such a game. I will still be laughing at my stupidity whenever I recall it. I played shoes-hiding too. My mum did warn me that she would not buy me a pair of new shoes if I lost my shoe ( we hid only one shoe each ) again.

When I was 7, I was a Mario fanatic. It seemed not to be a boring task for me to save the princess from the giant monstrous king everyday, countlessly, in the same way. Pac-Man happened to be one of my favourite arcade games too. I screamed loudly when the four ghosts eventually sieged my Pac-man while there were only a few pac-dots left.

When I was 9, I started learning chess. I participated my first chess competition and it ended up brutally. I was checkmated within a few steps by a national level opponent showing no mercy towards me. Anyway, it didn't change my passion towards chess. I love the game.

When I was 10, everyone around me was absolutely engrossed in playing Pokemon. The most popular topic of the conversation among my friends and I at that time was the way we train a Pikachu.

I wonder how dull my life will be if there were no such games. I love gaming =)

My Grandpa

It has been one of my hobby to glance through the photos taken when I was small. In some of the photos there are the eight smilings of my family which consisted of my kind grandparents, my mighty mama and papa, three innocent siblings and I. Everything seemed to be very blessed until the God decided to be facetious when it was the April Fool's Day in year 2002. It was the day when I could never hear his sound again. Perhaps my grandfather's unforeseen death is the most shocking incident I've ever encountered.

The sepia photos seem to recall the past of the person I respect the most, nostalgic yet memorable. I would usually take more than 1 minute staring at my grandpa's weather-beaten face while letting those past moments we shared together to keep echoed in my mind. He used to cane me because I had spoilt his carpenter tools which seemed to be his precious. He used to smile happily which he normally didn't while celebrating his 80-year-old birthday with all the children and grandchildren. He used to grip my hand teaching me how I should write properly, after that I appeared to be the first kid who knew how to write his Chinese name while studying in the kindergarden school. Normally I would end up in tears. It is a saddening moment indeed. My grandpa seldom talk. He kept all his secrets, his hardship and even his borderless love towards the family all the time. According to what my father had told me, my grandpa never complained about his difficult life, never once. He worked as a construction worker who required to move those heavy bricks and breathe in those dirty dusts under the scorching sun which gave out steaming heat in order to seek a means of living. His dark hue colour of skin and the well-developed muscles could explain a lot. He instantly quitted smoking when my father had reached adolescence just to refrain his son from getting this bad habit. In case my grandpa had been smoking for decades. My father told me my grandpa was a pro gambler, I did imagine my grandpa to be the "God of Gamble", rolling the dice stunningly like most of the main actors do in the gambling-related movie. However, he decisively quitted too. He is mighty isn't it? He is always the most important man in my family. All of us feel proud to be granted him as our family guardian. Without him, we wouldn't have the chance to own a comfortable house and secure lifestyle currently.

Grandpa, don't worry about me *rubbing tears*
I'm more sensible and thoughtful now, I've grown up, I've achieved a new milestone in my academic field. I manage to secure a scholarship to pursue my tertiary study. I'm sure you'll be joyful if you can hear that.

Grandma always feels lonely. I'm so sorry to her, I wonder how many time I can ever see her again once I continue my study...

Grandpa, here I pay you my highest respect! I love you grandpa.

Examination

It has been three days since I started my blog. As the promise goes on, I will be squeezing my brain once again at tonight. Normally I'll find something that inspires me in recom but the topics left are seemingly too tough for me to express my point of view in English. Suddenly I think about examination, it will be interesting for me to write indeed.

Many people did ask me for the secret to score a string of A1s in this examination. Well, I'm not trying to reiterate the cliche or general statements such as 99% of perspiration and 1% of inspiration, unwavering determination, full commitment etc. However I may share some of the less abstract ways to improve your performance during the examination.

First and foremost, do not burn midnight oil during the examination weeks. Well, as we know, lack of sleep and tired mind will affect your performance adversely. It is definitely not worth to cover just a few more topics but you are emotionally distracted when answering the questions. Secondly, try to make short notes that could be able to recall you the complicated mathematics concepts or the chronology of the history stories. Read it before you enter the examination hall, it can act as a kind of confidence-booster too. This way comes handy when there is really a bunch of points or facts you need to memorise. In fact you can even draw something inside your short notes, it works! In addition, I would advise you not to discuss the questions immediately after you have submitted your paper. It is because you might lose your confidence once you have spotted some of your answers are wrong. ( Actually I didn't obey this during the SPM weeks, I wonder if I could still handle the next paper IF I knew my points of essays were really digressed :p ) Apart from that, utilize the time allocated for each paper by checking the answers. I would like to mention the subjective part where there will always be cases about losing the marks for the entire question just due to a tiny error in using terminologies. Besides, do study the format used in the particular subject rather than spotting which question will stand a higher chance to be asked. Last but not least, stay relax and refrain from getting nervous to tackle the exam questions =)

For the examination such as SPM, you will have to prepare yourselves for about two years therefore you definitely want to answer the questions at your best performance. I hope the advice above will help. All the best to the dedicated candidates of the coming SPM! Keep in mind that SPM appears only once in your lifetime! ( You don't hope to take it twice, do you? :p )

Medicine

Fortunately, I'm chosen by the Public Service Department (JPA) to pursue my tertiary study under its scholarship in medicine. People told me that I'm as lucky as winning lottery as the total amount spent on me could be nearly a million ringgits. However it is not the time for me to enjoy the savor of victory, I know I shall start preparing myself mentally in order to push myself through the hardship that I might face soon.

Pursuing medicine means I will works as a doctor a.k.a medical officer in the future. I've read many of the blogs written by the medical students as well as doctors. They share their two cents to those who are going to join the medical profession. As most of the people will say, being a doctor is glamorous and can earn big money. It is a misconception indeed. If we count the salary of a doctor hour by hour and then compare its ratio to the other job, we can conclude that the medical job can only bring you monetary stability but not wealth. A doctor cannot be a millionaire.

What propels me? First, I had grown an intense loving towards science and mathematics since I was small. I expect I will be doing science-related job after I've grown up. It doesn't make sense right? Okay actually I'm finding job satisfaction at the same time. I can imagine when I manage to bring the patient's health back to an acceptable level, all things worth. Secondly, I'm inspired by my cousin, Chang Yang who is currently undergoing his fifth year medical education as a medical student. Apart from that, his siblings are also working as doctors in different hospitals now. This spurs me a lot. My parents were encouraging me to follow my cousin's step since I was in primary school. They even started imagining the time when my cousins and I are working together in a private hospital. In fact, they didn't force me to become a doctor but slowly analysed the benefits of being a doctor to me. Actually there are more threats than benefits for being a doctor but I quite agree with some of the points. A doctor will know more about health and hence he can be the health consultant of the whole family which will then practise healthy lifestyle together. A doctor might develop more philosophies about life due to the challenging life saving tasks.

Good grades in examination is needed to get you into a medical school but grades alone will not keep you afloat for long. You need a stubborn determination to progress in medical field that requires a decade of training. I've heard that a number of medical students were giving up in the first year studying medicine, it is a waste of time and resources indeed.

I've ready to endure the five years of intense study and a full lifetime of dedication to humanity.
I'm one step closer to my dream.

Malaysia, my country.

After being inspired by the "what you don't like about Malaysia" thread in recom, I would like to point out my two cents too.

I love Malaysia, it is a lovely country for everyone to live in, but there are some imperfections in certain aspects which can be a kind of disgrace among the Malaysians.

There are plenteous citizens who are lack of courtesy and not civil-minded. Just take a look at our public toilet and the streets. I can't withstand the terrible stench of the "blue box" after jogging in a park when it was the time for me to answer the nature's call. Gosh! It might just take ten more seconds to put me into nauseous state after I peed and of course, flushed it which most of the people didn't. ( I think I'm over-exaggerating it :p ) If you are a rubbish collector, in Malaysia, thanks god! You will have a lot more of work to do. Those people, might have a thought that everywhere can be a rubbish dump as long as it is not in their houses. I recommend the city administrators to be very strict in applying the rules to apprehend those law offenders like how the Singapore government is doing now.

Secondly, I feel irritated by the politicians who advocate Ketuanan Melayu. Ketuanan Melayu is not a right. In fact it is a negative sentiment created with political intentions. During the early states of Malaysia the Malays were discriminated in term of economy, therefore the federal constitution had awarded them this specific privilege in order to recover their involvement in economic activities. At that time, the Chinese and Indians were still having strong ties with their countries respectively. They just fought for own benefits instead of to be united and cooperate with other races. They felt that they were second class citizen. Now all things are changing except the "granted privilege". The PM proposes the idea of One Malaysia. What? Are there any fragments in our country like Korea? Actually our majesty is just trying to clear the race barrier once again and encouraging us to do all good for our country without considering more about racial benefits. However, the Malays felt challenged when our PM decided to alter the Malaysian New Economic Policy (DEB) in conjuction with the idea of reducing the reliance of the bumiputras towards the government as well as enhancing self improvement in them. They argue that it opposes the Ketuanan Melayu. Actually I try not to offend anyone but now everyone is born here, grown here, and educated here. Malaysia is our home, we love our home. Yet we ( non-bumi ) have to face a lot of hardships. It is like not allowing a criminal's child to redeem himself because of his parent!

I would like to condemn the corruptions happening every now and then too. Blatant Corruptions! I would not know how to explain if a foreigner is asking me about this. I can still barely remember there was an international corruption level report "awarding" our country with quite a top rank. Furthermore, our money has been sucked through tax paying while the problems of poverty, infrastructure advancement and degrading local universities are seemingly left aside. These could be seen as one of the consequences of corruption. The judiciary system, err, I don't dare to criticise much but if it really happens to be like what the people are saying at the coffee shop, political motivated and biased, I'm not sure if Wawasan Malaysia will once again be delayed, maybe 3030? 4040?

The election, my first impression is : The parties promised almost everything they could just to gain more votes as if they will be the best administrators if the city, but did they actually fulfill the promises once they won the election? Have the people's voices ever heard? Look at the Perak's politic nonsense which occupied the headlines of the newspaper for several days. Democracy is the people's decision, means it should be the people who decide which party to represent them to voice out their demands in the parliamentary level. Is the judgement of the courts democratic enough? Every side has its own sayings. But I wonder why they don't hold one more election for the people.

Frankly, our country has a huge space for improvement. We have no qualms to sacrifice for our country. It's our only home, the lovely home.

JPA scholarship

Nowadays the system JPA giving out the oversea scholarships has been criticised either in positive or negative responses. People accuse JPA for its lack of transparency, unfair treatment towards the candidates who did extremely well in the 2008 SPM, the uneven distribution which doesn't follow the quota at all etc. When I flipped the newspapers to get myself into the news of this issue, there are only unsolved endless cases of students claiming that they have more A's for their previous SPM results therefore they should have awarded the coveted JPA scholarship. Yes, this problem had been existing since a few years ago when it was believed that the SPM level started deteriorating in term of syllabus. Check this out, there were only 60 candidates who managed to achieve straight A1s in the SPM more than 10 years ago but there were nearly 2000 candidates who did the same thing in the last year! Here raises some new thoughts - are these new generations getting wiser? Or the level for the candidates to score A1 in each subject is decreased? I would absolutely agree with the declining level and for the former one, I guess not at all as I am the one who has come through such a "easy-to-score-A1-era". Okay,if it doesn't sound convincing, I'm just showing some examples here, for the less shocking example I would like to mention my friend A who had abandoned the whole form 4 syllabus of history subject in SPM 2008 without fear but yet he managed to score an A2 for it. OK FOR THE SHOCKING EXAMPLE ( actually I'm not very sure if it is true but it will sound ridiculous if it is true ), my friend B who did only a question in his additional math ( index number, section C, which was taught by his friend one week before the SPM ) could unbelievable pass that subject! I would call that miracle. So please judge the whole case with another perspective and stop being very proud of our "more-and-more-brilliant-students". No offense. I know some are great indeed.

However, there is also a welcome sight for us (2008 SPM candidates). The hard-to-score-A1-subject which is generally believed among the Chinese that it is just a type of conspiracy played by the politicians to reduce the number of Chinese candidates with straight A1s IS NOW slightly ( or greatly for some people ) "improved" by setting the threshold to obtain A1 lower than the previous year,that is from 1~2% to 5~6%. Will the percentage keep rising or drop back in the next year? Who knows?

Okay here comes the well-known trend among the young candidates. Sadly most of them have a misconception that "the more the merrier" in term of A1s under the effect of A1 glorification after the most A1 record had been broken,again and again. Can u determine a person with 16A1s is definitely smarter than another with only 10A1s? Yup I agree with the statement that the former has a great ability to cope with more subjects, but do consider there are boarding schools which just allow the students to take not more than the compulsory subjects. Perhaps the students will be the innocent victims in this scenario by being rejected in applying JPA scholarship. Does the SPM result slip ( tuition-boosted ) with more than 15 or even 20 As smell better? Is it a necessity for a student to take more subjects which he doesn't like at all rather than to concentrate on the subjects he chosen for his interests just to prove that "ohya I can do what u did, I am more deserved to pursue my tertiary studies under JPA scholarship"? It is unhealthy. Some people might say that if we can exploit and benefit ourselves from the flawed system ( scholarship awarding system ), so why don't? Yes the system is flawed, therefore we should improve it but not exploiting it. To address this problem, we should not blindly follow the unhealthy trend by choosing 20 subjects in SPM. The quality should be emphasized but not the quantity. ( Perhaps, in the future, there are 1000 branched subjects, each subject consists of a couple of questions and a student must end up with 300A1s to secure the JPA scholarship )

I think it is a must to discuss and improve the procedure of choosing JPA scholars. There was an example that a candidate who had taken 10 subjects but ended up with 9A1s and an unlucky A2 in moral education. He was excellence in co-curricular activities, yet he was rejected by the JPA scholarship givers with the reason : not having A1 in moral. Oh my goodness, doesn't it sound illogical for him to get rejected just because he cant follow the dead format ( nilai + elaboration1 + elaboration2 + blah blah ) of that useless subject? ( to prove that it is useless, get knowing with one of my friends who did score A1 but lack of virtue and be proud of using rude words in his communication way ) I will be the first one to agree if this subject is been asked to be abolished :p

Today there is a saying that the government will limit the total number of subject to be taken in SPM for each candidate to 10 by the coming 2011. It is believed that in the coming years there will be no students appealing for the same case. But, seriously, is that the best solution? I would like to know if JPA will have a lot more of fun in choosing JPA scholars among the straight 10A1s candidates if they really enforce this. For me and perhaps everyone that has a better perception in this issue, increasing the difficulty of the syllabus and setting the new threshold in getting A1 to a higher level is indeed the most rational solution. Don't forget the JPA scholarship derives from all the money of tax payers. Do appreciate it if you get it ^^

troublesome ENGLISH

Well,this is my first post in English since I had just been blogging in Chinese via friendster. What triggers me in doing so? Hmm, the main reason is to improve my English. I am always fascinated by the way people express their ideas or concepts by using such a good command of English AND the most important one is, they can convey whatever they think precisely and spontaneously which I can't. I'm NOW having big troubles even in constructing a sentence in English, I mean, the words,the phrases can't come out naturally and of course, when it comes to speaking, it will be even worse. I think many of my friends as well as those who have been undergoing a long term of Chinese-speaking-environment will have to face this problem also. My teachers always tell simple English will do, but I believe that when it comes to certain extents it will appear to be not appropriate enough. My cousin did advise me to take a look at some people's blog, for instance, Lim Kit Siang's blog. I find it useful though. Apart from that, I spend most of my time in visiting recom,the worldwide Malaysian students network. By going through the threads, to be specific, the debates on the latest issues like the unfair treatment towards the applicants of JPA scholarships, the contradictory posts that raise controversies, the ironic facts that reflect the truth of our national society, I can merely scratch my head and think: Oh my gOsH! my level of this international language is extremely low. Okay,whenever I take a seat in a cinema from now on, I will try not to rely on the subtitles shown to catch the words spoken by the native-speaker-actors with the "lightning speed" (yeap, for me it is) and soon I will surely be very lost in the mist of stories -___-lll Anyway, it is a type of better training for me,better indeed. I'm one of the typical Chinese-educated students which means, my sentences will sound weird to those who are English-educated. Problems exist to be solved! I hope that I can overcome what I always fear - speak, write, and think, IN ENGLISH =)

*For those who are encountering the same problem, let's give our best shot in improving it!