New year, New responsibilities

    Recently, my teacher had this motivation to start rover scouting in form 6. So the leaders were down to the ones with experience or well known for having achieved a certain award. There are 3 King's scouts in form 6 including me, both of them are my close comrades and were pretty well known for having achieved King's scouts award. I, on the other hand was just this one friend who somehow seems to be very close with them for no apparent reason to the majority. Before the AGM of the meeting where we nominate and choose the board members, I was ditched by both of them without any warning, they didn't appear at the meeting. So before the meeting started, I have friends ranting around  about what a nuisance scouting is and how we have no leaders since all the King's scouts left. I was pretty much a nobody in scouting since only my classmates and a few others knew about the King's scouts thing. The funniest thing is that they seem to rant about it to me, So I kept quiet and played along. (even signaled my classmates to not comment much) 
 
   And the fun began when AGM started, to be honest I didn't know if anyone would vote for me or not as President but for the heck of it, I tried. I am truly blessed to have supportive classmates with me throughout the voting session. My name was nominated by one of my classmate and I had to go out and sell myself, I told them what I believed in and what I've achieved beforehand. (note that the person who ranted to me before the AGM turned pale instantly, sorry bruh.. didn't have the heart to tell you earlier)  The next thing I knew, I was the official Crew Leader of Rovers of SMK Seafield (lets call it that for now since we have yet to get a troop name/alphabet) 

  It struck me as I was standing in front that I've never been a leader before. Like the ultimate leader of everything, usually I worked behind the scenes supporting my leaders but this was a whole new experience. I was required to conduct the meeting and it hit me hard when the teacher suddenly kept quiet and passed on the meeting for me to have a word or two. I was required to give a speech. Not just any speech, but a speech to make them believe in scouting.  That dumb struck moment was followed by a quick mustering of confidence from past experiences when I was in charge of small groups of people. There I was facing 70+ people my age and I had to sell it to them as though it was the best thing in the world.  My brain cells worked to dig out any relevant information for the past few years on why I believed in scouting and why it matters. My brain was frantically working while my exterior tried to remain calm and collected like a leader.

   I told them about the benefits. I shared successful example of people who were scouts. I SOLD IT like I meant it. But in all honesty, everything went with a blur. I remember seeing the teacher standing at the back of the group nodding to my words giving a silent approval. I remember having my friends come up to me afterwards telling me about how inspired they felt. I had people calling me Pres. the next day, people I didn't know. I wished I had a video so I could see what I said and how I said it for I could not even imagine how I managed to do it. I sincerely thank my scouters who have trained me and shown a great example of how one conducts a meeting. 

   Despite all that, there is one problem though. The teacher in charge has an issue about me not being stern. She wants me to be stern with them. Stern with people my own age. (she really doesn't realize how that can jeopardize the whole thing) She doesn't agree on my way of conducting a meeting, in her eyes a leader has to be stern and firm. But that's not how I lead. I hope she understands that every leader has their own way of leading. My way is through camaraderie and mutual respect. I know for sure I'll get it from her for at least a couple times more for not being stern enough but hopefully she sees that leadership can be done in a different way other than hers as well.

     I'd be brutally honest and comment on how this particular teacher expresses herself in words, she's harsh and she misinterprets information even before you finish the sentence. But she has good intentions. If it weren't because I dealt with someone close who acts the same way, I'd stay far far away from her already. If my past experiences are correct, there's only 2 ways to deal with them.
1st. Don't talk much. Don't talk at all if you have no solid proof or completed work to shut them up.
2nd. Talk to them through action.  They will only misinterpret words, but actions are louder than words and usually these people trust what their eyes more than they trust you .
  But the most important thing is to NOT GIVE IN. Usually the things that they kutuk you for doesn't make sense at all. Gain their trust and you can have it your way. Hopefully its a win-win situation in this case. She's satisfied with my performance, I get to lead my crew in peace.

Just a thought : Standing on the sidelines

    During my JPJ test (driving test) , the JPJ examiners aka ticking time bombs conducted a briefing before the test started. They were well known as a group of people who had mood swings comparable to a traffic light. You never know what fate awaits you for they have no hesitance to correct your wrong(and right) doings in a harsh manner verbally.

   Not to say every single one of them are evil but that's what they are portrayed as, you've got to give it to them. If you have to face every type of Malaysian (mostly teens) in a span of 12 hours or so and have them prove their worth to you. You'd break. I definitely would. 

  You're meeting people who are the future of this country and quite a number of them cannot even converse in our own national language. Not to mention the ones who can't even speak up and be heard. The future of the country turns bleak in an instance. 

 
  So back to the briefing given by the JPJ people.I'm sure most of you(Malaysians) are familiar with the awkward silence where the one giving the talk is expecting a response or volunteer from the audience. Our mindset is somewhat similar to titanic

    You jump, I jump.

Malaysians..

    See first la...

  You do,then I do.

     Follow oni

If wrong very mempersiasuikan

which results in reluctance to participate to avoid situasi yang amat memalukan. I admit that I do it as well depending on the situation. (Malaysians ma) The awkward silence soon rendered the speaker to disappointment and frustration. It was a room filled with 300plus people and only the occasional revving of engine was heard as the whole room remained ignorant to the need to respond. We would rather stand at the sidelines rather than fight at the frontline. 

While waiting for the exam, you hear different things conversations going on.The youngsters are talking about migrating. The graduates are dreaming about working overseas. Who are the ones who are gonna stay? Are we going to stay in the sidelines forever and follow suit the trend of leaving the country? 

  

JPJ guy given the cold shoulder at some point 

  Dear fellow Malaysians, when are we going to learn to speak up and be heard? Will it be when the education system has been altered for hundreds of time or when the society has deemed it time to stop trying to make us shut up and listen every single time like a good student.
Or will be standing on the sidelines forever?

p.s I passed my ujian JPJ :)  Those time bombs allow me to drive. They're
not that bad now are they?

Pleasant end , Memorable start 2014/2015

   31st Dec 2014

 Spent the day catching up with a group of close friends from high school (Gosh I sound so old) . Well this group in particular is made up of people from the after school chinese lesson, which is why we call ourselves MCA ( obvious much?) The day out with them was rather pleasant. It's not everyday where you could mess around and be you yourself (in my case which is being very direct when holding a conversation *WARNING-may cause tears and drama if you don't get what I'm trying to say*) 

SUSHI KING QUEENS

  Laughter and joy would best describe every moment spent with them till that very evening. My first dose of new years eve rendered me with contentment. Little did I know that one could feel something more when the feeling of content was occupying the place on your chest. That evening I attended a new year's eve celebration held beside the lake at my housing area with my niece, who knew I'd bump into superheroes and ex-seniors from high school.

spiderman looks like the michelin tyre mascot huh?

  Both the superheroes were friends of mine (bangga sia) but my niece didn't know that. So when we sat down for a meal after taking pictures with them,  she blurted out : "I like spiderman. Which one do you like? Batman or Spiderman?" I swear I almost choked on a piece of Rojak. (worst way to die) Not that I dislike them but where is Ironman when you need him? One does not simply explain about choice of super heroes and friends with a 5 year old. (no really!) In the end I redirected her interest with another question instead of answering her. (Couldn't bring myself to break the news to her about my Marvel crush on Ironman)  

   

   Batman was nice enough to offer my niece a chance to fly which she refused stating about the fear of being chucked into the lake. I reassured her if she was chucked into the lake, I'd personally throw batman into the lake as well. (what are friends for? ;) ) I brought my niece around to enjoy the event as the superheroes and ex-seniors worked to entertain children and adults alike. After my niece finished her ice cream potong which one of my ex-seniors kindly bought for her (thank you), we went over to bid them (my friends) goodbye before the 5 year old starts chanting the I-wanna-go-home mantra.

    Before setting off to send the disappointed little girl home (since there wasn't going to be fireworks in respect of the recent tragedy) , Batman invited me over for second round at his place. Well that came from no where ._.  (BUT HELL YEAH!) I didn't accept the invite straight away since I didn't know whether I was allowed to be out this late (for goodness sake girl you're 18 years old) In the end I had to put the invite on hold till I get the thumbs up from my sis which was really very much unlikely in my opinion due to the bad feng shui thingy for going out this year (but it's 2015 soon. very very soon.) , I was actually very prepared to stay at home for the marvel-thon on fox movies but who knew she gave the thumbs up and even offered to drop me off back at the lakeside.

  By the time I reached , The superheroes were just relieved from their duties for the night and were having dinner together. We helped clearing the venue for a bit before leaving for batman's place. 

I present to you.. ninja-turtle   "meja-turtle"
(process of returning tables to batman's house)

I've never countdown to new year before since it was just ....  ._. (okay fine I never had the chance) But it was a simple yet pleasant way to spend the last few hours of 2014... If you considered playing cards and drinking pleasant. (It definitely was) And no, drinking doesn't necessarily mean alcohol. See! There's coke as well! ( lol to whom it may concern, I reassure you we drink responsibly. No minors involved. Adults were informed. Chocolates were eaten. Chickens were roasted.) I didn't drink much, planned not to drink at all but accidentally took some (courtesy to someone -_-) so ... let's not waste stuff. But the whiskey was pretty good, I'd take whiskey over wine any day.The difference between 40% and 48% of alcohol was immense. (took a teeny-tiny sip from someone,no harm done :P)

monopoly yang kena isolated

 

  Oh yeah, we played Chor Dai Di (card game). Felt like Chinese New Year but in this case, I won the first round of 2014 (YESH!). We went on playing till 2015 with a few occasional toast of whiskey and coca-cola.

spiderman unmasked
 "shh..don't let the kids know"

  We toasted to year 2015 as our phone rang with new year notifications that kept coming in. So this was what it meant.. that people who had nothing to do would be sending all sorts of greetings with elaborate phrases. (HAHAHA I HAVE A LIFE! IN YOUR FACE! lol pardon the excitement) 

 So for year 2015.. the first people who I saw were my fellow scout leaders which in this case were super heroes. I spent my new year with super heroes =]  I also won the first match of chor dai di for the year 2015. (ngeyehehehehe)  We played fireworks a while after my niece called me asking 

:"YI YI is spiderman and batman walking you home?" (I put her on speaker and let the superheroes answer themselves. hahahhahaha x) )

We spent the first moments of 2015 stating all the first things that we're doing. Like .. first chicken of the year.. first drink of the year.. first facebook notification of the year...pirate kings game invite -_- (I got something else which was WAY more hilarious, so much so I didn't know how to react to it) 

those anti-climatic fireworks that go..
EEEEEWWW-PAK! habis cerita

 It was no doubt a pleasant end and a memorable beginning of a new year for me. I came upon this question on twitter which says :

"What would you change if you could go back in time?"

Nothing

If I did I wouldn't have spent the new year with superheroes now would I? It's not the mask but the person inside that makes them super heroes. 

To my dear friends/superheroes/scouts, Happy new year! :)