After Chem tuition, Tim called me, asking me whether I wanted to join them for a mini outing to "burn some time" (according to him) at Kuala Kedah to see whether the castle (palace) there is still open to visitors. According to him, the castle was still open when he last visited the castle when he was in primary school. But as I recall, the last time I visited that place (when I was Form 2 I think), is was closed, due to repairs.
And it turned out, I was right, it is still not open to public. I wonder what they are doing with the building. Anyway, the sunset was worthwhile. But the condition of the Kuala Kedah beach is terrible! It's filthy! It's smelly. Rubbish is seen streaking everywhere!.. old shoes, paper cups, even bags! The sand is also black-ish in color, I suspect is due to the dirty sea water that is contaminated with oil.
Just look at the amount of rubbish! And this is just one part of the whole area. I wonder, if they clean the place up, treat the water, and make the place into a resort, with proper maintenance, I am sure it'll be a success!
Where in Alor Setar can you find places with such beautiful sunset scenery? Almost no where in Alor Setar, unless you are at City Plaza's top-most floor's car parking area.
Anyway, the outing was overall fun! Joseph's car mati"ed" engine once when going up the steep bridge. He complained so much because he had to use his bukit skills four times! LOL. He also failed going up without sliding back on another bridge. Maybe he should retake his license! =P
One for the album!
For the past 6 months of my life as a Lower 6 student in Keat Hwa, I've been made to stay back in school on Sundays and Mondays for extra-curriculum activities and so called "R&D (Research & Development)" sessions. And we have no choice, it's compulsory, as school authorities say they are orders from the Education Ministry.
At the start of this "programmes" after school, we were called to do "kerja amal" a.k.a. free labour to the school. We were asked to scrape the school walls, so that they could be repainted, and paint some of the walls we scraped. And this is said to give us marks in our curriculum activities. I bet the school saves tons of money not needing calling outside painters to paint the school.
I mean, why make us stay back to do such work? We have already had a long day at school, now, more work to tire us further? I tell you, we're dead tired after such heavy activities. The whole day will end up wasted.
After a few weeks, the R&D sessions officially started. It is said to help us in our studies. Let me tell you what happens there. R&D sessions, first of all, are divided into the 4 sessions for different subjects, except for Biology and Physics. We have R&D sessions for Math, MUET, PA, and Chemistry. And we don't do much in those sessions.
With 4 classes combined together, do you expect 2 teachers to cope with so many students? In PA R&D sessions, we would sit there and chit-chat, in that small chair-cum-table (the ones commonly found at tuition centres). We can't revise either. We're tired, the room is stuffy, the chair-cum-table isn't big enough, and it's noisy. And this happens for MUET too. In Chemistry R&D sessions, each group is given a task to speak about something. But, when groups go out to speak, with mic isn't functioning well, we end up hearing blurred sentences, which we can't make out what he or she is trying to say. For Math, yes, he will be teaching, and this is the only subject, that truly helps us in our STPM.
Why can't we be like Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid? They incorporate this R&D sessions into the schooling time. And they end at 2:10p.m. everyday. But, if I'm not mistaken, starting for next year, Form 6 students will end school at 3:00p.m.++, if i'm not mistaken. Sigh. It's a waste of time. We don't get much out of it. Don't you school authorities get it?
I sat for my final 3 papers of MUET today. It was, urm... okay? I made a few careless mistakes here and there. But I guess that happens, nobody is prefect right? :)
I sat for Reading (Paper 3), Writing (Paper 4), and Listening (Paper 1) today. As for Speaking (Paper 2), I sat for it about a month ago.
Paper 3 was, tougher than all the exercises that I've done in school or in school-based exams. I've a bad habit when tackling a paper, that is always starting from the back to the front. I guess I was already blur when I reached the first text, and made a really CARELESS mistake! What was I doing? I can kick myself for that! I think I became rather panicky after I've read the last text!...because it was so hard to understand what the writer was writing about. Oh well, it has passed. Maybe I shall take it again next year.
As for Paper 4, I guess it was rather okay? Question 2 (the factual essay) was:
"In an arranged marriage, the choice of husband or wife is made by parents and elders. What do you think of this practice in today's society? Discuss. You should write at least 350 words."
I wrote more than required, I think, about 500 words on approximate count. I only had two main points, and the rest were examples and effects of the points that I've stated. Hopefully, the examiner understands what I wrote. :)
Listening (Paper 1), I was rather blur I think, or in the state of panic. I couldn't catch question number 3's answer, about when conservation on turtles started. It was hard to hear when you can hear 5 radios playing the same text but at different places. The listening test were held in 5 different classrooms, and the text being played above or beside the classroom I was in were so loud, it was distracting!
According to Wikipedia, did you know that MUET is only accepted by two countries? Malaysia and Singapore ONLY? How about other countries? Why isn't it recognized? All the hard work for nothing. I'm considering IELTS, another English test that is accepted worldwide. Anyone interested?
Before I continue on, The Star paper has published a few warnings about a second-wave hitting Kedah again, as well as Kelantan, and Perlis. If you want to read the articles with your own eyes, click here, and here.
"Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein gave the order as the Meteorological Department predicted the second wave could hit the three states if heavy rain persisted."
Quoted from The Star.
Let's hope for the best, and pray hard that a second wave doesn't hit Alor Setar again. We all want to enjoy our holidays in peace, right?
Back to the story.
My taman was so FLOODED that we had to get a lorry to get in, to check on the house. My neighbour, managed to borrow a lorry from a friend. He called my mum, and it was decided that my dad and I would tag along.
We arrived at Wisma, but they hadn't arrived. Apparently, jams were bad in town. I managed to take a few pictures while waiting.
Ever seen a tow truck letting down the towed car? It uses a hydraulic pump to lift the lorry's head up and allow the car to reverse down.
Fascinating eh?
Here's another picture.
I think no VIP or VVIP in the right frame of mind would want to use this road. Haha...
The lorry arrived, and let me tell you, it was no small lorry, it was HUGE! You know those lorries that carry sand? Yeah! That lorry.
Some parts were knee deep and more, and lorry still had plenty of room before the water hit the engines of the lorry. A normal car would have "KO"ed before it even moved 100 metres!
On the way in, 
All water. And this was just the beginning of the journey.
The waters were getting deeper and deeper as we ventured deeper into the taman. Look at this picture:
The water has covered more than half the sign board!
The poor Taman Golf Mini Market. After the flood receded, I heard the owner say that flood waters entered the shop about 4 inches. The cleaning they had to do was terrible.
Anyway, I got to my house. MY HOUSE WAS SPARED! Almost all of my neighbours' house were already submerged at least an inch of water, but mine was just lapping outside the house. Phew!
On the way back, my neighbour said a friend of his wanted him to rescue his dogs. And the golden retriever (as seen in the picture below) was overly excited. The dogs were hungry, and one of the people on board fed them bread and biscuits (BUTTER COOKIES!!!). The golden retriever started wagging its tail like crazy, splashing spots of mud on everyone.I thought I would go home clean and dry, but thanks to the dog, I was covered with MUD. 
Ah, it has been an experience! Hopefully, there won't be a next wave of floods!
As I blog, it's raining now. The recent flood has made me paranoid about rain. Months ago, during the hot season, I was craving for rain. But now, I prefer sunny skies compared to rains. Sigh. I hope if a flood do happen again, the government will warn us 24 hours beforehand.
Continuing with my last blog post, I evacuated from my home to Aunt Chua's. After Biology exam, I had to find my way back through town to Taman Stadium. There were many roads being closed due to floods, and there was a massive traffic jam in Simpang Kuala. It seems that it was one of the few roads left to town.
That evening, when my father and I took a stroll down the taman to check on the monsoon drain, it was already overflowing. I was like "Here going to flood too? Where to next?".
And true enough, the following day, at about 5 a.m., water started sipping in like a thief in the night. It was scary, I tell you. In just a mere 30 mins, the whole road was covered with water, and not to mention Aunt Chua's porch.
There was a discussion on where to park the car. Finally, it was agreed that two cars will be parked at City Plaza's top floor, although we thought it might be a little unsafe. On the way up, EVERY floor was PACKED with cars, except for the top-most floor. And, there were ROWS of BRAND-NEW CARS parked there, Suzuki Swift, Toyota cars, you name it. I guess the car-dealers were afraid that their cars might be flooded. It was a good thing too, because that meant that nobody would want to steal my car, as there are so many new cars around. =D
In the afternoon, Taman Stadium had already became like this. Later that night, the electricity was cut, and I had to spend the night in darkness and without a fan. =S I've became a creature of comfort, but thankfully, it was cooling that night.
Town in the afternoon.
03/11/2010 - 07/11/2010
FLOOD.
These are the days that I shall remember for as long as I live. Well, I couldn't remember much about the last flood that happened 5 years ago. All I can remember is being sent to Aunt Chua's place for evacuation for a few days because of the flood with my sister, Teong Huan and his sisters. And we played Metal Slug 3 on Teong Huan's computer. But that was 5 years ago.
Now I'm a boy of almost 18, I can help and see for my own eyes, how devastating a flood can be, to an individual, a family, a community, a district, a state, and the country. I believe I have gained more experience, that shall be useful in time to come, although to others, they have lost much.
In a short duration of 5 days, my family and I were literally running away from water. Everywhere we went, flood waters followed us. I evacuated on Wednesday, as the waters started to rise where I stayed, mainly because I had exams on the following day. I was tempted to "ponteng" school like what Chen Tat did, but I thought the better of it. But I probably do quite badly this time, well, I'll know soon.
My parents stayed back at the house. Shortly after I left, the electric supply was cut. I pity my parents. They stayed at home all night without electric and had to move the hall's furniture to a higher level.
Look at Taman Golf's field. It looks more like a swimming pool now, right? I had the chance to take some shots here and there before I evacuated. The bicycle always comes in handy. When all electric and motor appliances fail, this is where your skills come in.
The pictures here may explain a thousand words, but by experiencing it youself, it amplifies the effect by a thousand times more. It has been an experience.
More stories to come. :) I hope the worse is over.
The world's population is increasing at a rapid rate, and the supply of food cannot meet up with the ever increasing demands of the world's needs. Countries have poured in billions in dollars for research in genetically modified food (GM food) in the hope in solving this problem. In my opinion, I believe that there are two sides two a coin about this matter.
GM food as we know, is something new. Scientists are still uncertain about the short-term and long-term effects that GM foods might bring, towards humans, and the environment. For all you know, after consuming these foods, we might find the next generation born deformed. Or the plants and animals we know today mutated into something new. And with these new unknown changes taking place, it might disrupt the many cycles that keep the ecosystem in equilibrium, creating more problems!
GM food crops can be genetically modified to be resistant to various diseases, herbicides and pesticides, but when the climate changes, or when a new disease infects the crop, the whole crop will suffer and dies. This is because somehow, genetically modified crops lose the ability to adapt to these changes. For example, if the Earth's temperature were to rise by 1 degree Celsius worldwide, all the GM food crops will be affected, and this will result in billions of dollars in losses, and we might find ourselves without food.
By planting GM food crops can also bring unintended harm to other organisms. For example, in the United States, they planted genetically modified corn. And scientists have found out that a certain species of butterfly population, Monarch butterflies, has decreased at an alarming rate. This clearly indicates GM crops might bring harm to other organisms. Imagine if genetically modified grain causes chickens to die when consumed by them, we would find the world without chickens within months!
Although GM food has its cons, we cannot deny the fact that it has its pros too. With GM crops planted, less area can now produce more! Imagine 10 acres of land can now produced 10,000 tonnes of grain instead of the normal 2,000 tonnes. It's an increase by 5 times! Therefore, the world's food problem can be solved in no time. GM food can also genetically modified to be of a higher nutritional value. A scientist can now insert genes that can make the fruits of the plant contain more nutrients. Take an orange for an instance, scientists can take a good gene of a tomato and implant it in an orange. This means the orange can now have the nutritional value of BOTH the orange and the tomato. It's 2 in 1!
In conclusion, although GM foods solve the world's food problems, there are many unseen and unknown effects towards mankind and the environment that might be disastrous. Therefore, I believe that we should tread carefully and carry out extensive tests before we plant GM crops.
Funny eh? =D
This was pasted in the toilet of Edelweiss, a restaurant in Penang. I shall blog more about it soon. ^^
After Chem tuition, Tim called me, asking me whether I wanted to join them for a mini outing to "burn some time" (according to him) at Kuala Kedah to see whether the castle (palace) there is still open to visitors. According to him, the castle was still open when he last visited the castle when he was in primary school. But as I recall, the last time I visited that place (when I was Form 2 I think), is was closed, due to repairs.
And it turned out, I was right, it is still not open to public. I wonder what they are doing with the building. Anyway, the sunset was worthwhile. But the condition of the Kuala Kedah beach is terrible! It's filthy! It's smelly. Rubbish is seen streaking everywhere!.. old shoes, paper cups, even bags! The sand is also black-ish in color, I suspect is due to the dirty sea water that is contaminated with oil.
Just look at the amount of rubbish! And this is just one part of the whole area. I wonder, if they clean the place up, treat the water, and make the place into a resort, with proper maintenance, I am sure it'll be a success!
Where in Alor Setar can you find places with such beautiful sunset scenery? Almost no where in Alor Setar, unless you are at City Plaza's top-most floor's car parking area.
Anyway, the outing was overall fun! Joseph's car mati"ed" engine once when going up the steep bridge. He complained so much because he had to use his bukit skills four times! LOL. He also failed going up without sliding back on another bridge. Maybe he should retake his license! =P
One for the album!
