Panthera Sapiens Ellipsis: The Blog

Here I am, once again in the death grip of the Slimy Purple Muck. It’s not as bad as one might think, though. It appears that the recent Malay New Year celebrations have mellowed the test setters somewhat, as the few papers I’ve taken so far are quite definitely not the horrible, torturous experiences that I was envisioning before. In fact, I would almost be confident about obtaining A1’s for them all, if not for the fact that a paper that is easy for me will almost certainly be easy for the rest of the nation, thus causing a disruption in the grade curve, and therefore that I will have to do particularly well to get good grades. I hate irony. At least I’m on a holiday of sorts now; with only EST on Saturday, I have until then to goof off. This is mostly, of course, because nobody ever studies for EST except those who are linguistically challenged. It’s so easy that I think of it as a guaranteed A, there only to fill up blank space on the certificate. Not, of course, that I’ve got...

Well now, this is my next and probably last post before I’m overtaken once again by the vice grip of tyranny that goes by the seemingly innocuous name of the SPM. Right now, I can safely say that I have not been studying quite as diligently as my mother would have me. After all, she says that the only way I’m going to an Australian college is on a scholarship, and if I don’t get good grades on the SPM, I won’t get a scholarship and will be forced to take STPM. Oh horrors. Anyway, I am now once again in uncertainty as I wait to see what college I can go to. (As I see it, the STPM is only to be taken as a definite, desperate, only-to-be-taken-in-times-of-great-and-perilous-danger last-minute choice; even A-Levels are better.) I shall soon be applying to TAR college, which I will probably not go to even if I do get in because my mother will have found yet another, better (read: cheaper) college to apply to. But then it’s just my grouchiness taking over. I’ve been particularly grumpy ...

That’s the first bit of SPM over. I won’t call it the first half, since it isn’t. I’ll just say that the worst is over, and worse is to come. I had History today, and let me just say, without going into details, that what I hoped for wasn’t asked for, and what I passed over turned out important. It’s that whole cornerstone paradox again. At least it’s raining. I could eulogise it in prose or verse (not, God forbid, FREE verse) for hours on end. But I won’t, since my eulogies usually come out somewhat grammatically questionably, and they tend to ramble on and on, non-stop, never-ending, ever-lasting, unto eternity and beyond (oh good, no hyphen here), forever and ever, time unto end. I’ll just super-simplify it and say that I think that those who don’t enjoy rain are idiots. And at least I have the next 13 days off. Less about eight days’ study, I’ll still have about one week to unwind. Interesting that I need six days to unwind from four days’ exams, but then most strange things are....

Well now, it appears that the SPM is upon me—and no, I haven’t gotten anywhere near the swimming pool yet. I can’t even leave the house without my mum yelling after me not to forget my books! In fact, I just counted, and we students are actually taking about ten days’ exams, stretched out over one whole month. For every day that we take a test, we have two days off…and that’s for those who are taking extra subjects like me. For those like the Pig who take nothing more than the absolute necessary, they have only nine days to freak out over. And I do mean freak out. Now, as for my plans…well, I certainly won’t be going to Shanghai in the foreseeable future, since my foundation studies are expected to begin in January and the SPM ends in the beginning of December, leaving a little over one month to relax. And thirty days, obviously, is definitely not enough to use up my 45-day visa in China, so I’ll be stuck at home. You can be expecting more posts like this, especially because I’m a rec...