First of all, you must be wondering why he switched blogs, well there are a host of reasons for that, but chiefly for security reasons( joining the ranks of malaysiatoday, its here now: http://mt.harapanmalaysia.com/2008/and Mahathir's blog among the many that have been switching).
Well lets start right at the beginning, the reverse culture shock was a real bitch. He never once considered that the world here has moved on since him leaving in January, and things being different from what you hoped it to be certainly doesnt help the re-adapting process at all.
But there was no time to waste examining emotions, he thought the easiest way to get over it was to quite simply, start getting his life on track: Form 6. With a day to rest on Tuesday, he was back to school on Wednesday, 9th of July. All decked in the ridiculous all white Form 6 uniform, he remembers going into class, 6BSN1, with Ernest being the first person(he was the only one in class anyway) to greet him. He soon found out that Ernest knew most of his friends, Sam, Wai Chun, Boon Han, etc etc. He also found out that Ernest quite frequently skips PA and MUET, which explains his presence in class. And so after that he was off to PA class to meet his schoolmates, and also explained his absence in school with his experience in America, which made him a little popular. Overall, it was great to be back at familiar grounds again, SMK SS17, people were friendly, and even more so when they saw pictures of the hot chicks he so conveniently kept in his wallet.
On the topic of familiar grounds, he was also completely aware that Taylors debate competition was going on with Suhaib, Esther, and Shaun representing the school, considering he has been coaching the debate team through the
1st round: The media has a negative effect on the minds of Malaysians
and the
2nd round: The use of animals for entertainment purposes should be banned.
all through the wonders of the Internet.
They got a bye for a potentially tricky 3rd round: Plastic surgery should be banned
and their next topic was for the quarter finals against defending champions Bukit Bandaraya was: We learn more from experience than from books
They got negative.
He surprisingly(well maybe not so much) managed to help them form a solid case for a side that was under most circumstances biased against the negative.
The odds certainly looked stacked against SMKSS17, being pitted against defending champs that were nothing short of amazing in their final victory over St Micheals in Taylors last year, but who would've known that history would repeat itself, that SMK SS17 would again oust the defending champs just as they did in his time when they knocked SMKDJ out of the tournament, much to the protest of their debate teachers, and again this time Bukit Bandaraya's successors for this year were but a shadow of last year's team(albeit one damn hot shadow in the form of Dipti, their third speaker), were beaten by SMK SS17, and again there were unsatisfied debate teachers crying foul(unfair, unfair!). Dejavu indeed. But in all objectivity, they played right into SMKSS17's hands by being complacent, they did not anticipate the arguments of the negative, failed miserably in engaging it, and did everything he expected them to do. Plus they exceeded their time. Hence, they lost, deservedly.
Then it was semi finals, where the team he led last year stopped short, largely due to a stupid topic, but this time around thankfully it was: The Olympics is a waste of resources
They got negative(they have only got affirmative once in the whole tournament)
It was a nice even side, against SMK Sri Aman, and after all the MUET and PA skipping, fine tuning their arguments, the 2 teams went head to head. SMK Sri Aman were a real tough one, they had good arguments, countered SMK SS17's arguments(except the rebuttal point which he wrote for Shaun), and Suhaib delivered his worst performance ever as second speaker, fumbling on rebuttals, and making the kind of stupid mistakes he made in Form 4, Esther didnt help the cause either with a lousy rebuttal, only Shaun did decently well enough. Suhaib then redeemed himself with a classic reply speech performance, picking on the fact that the affirmative did not quote a single source, plus spending the whole time rebutting with the good stuff(who else?), summing up only on the last 30 seconds, which seemed to swing the debate to SMKSS17's favor along with the fact that Sri Aman also failed to rebutt Shaun's point, which was a strategy that worked out.
This was one close debate that SMKSS17 probably shouldnt have won, but because of a few technical mistakes by the opposition, SMKSS17 won, making up for the heartbreak of being knocked out last year at the same stage by securing a place in the final, along with SMK Seafield.
The topic: Globalization widens the gap between the rich and the poor
side: Negative(surprise, surprise)
So its a guaranteed 50% scholarship for all of them(including Shumita, a reserve), but of course, who knows when SMKSS17 will get this far again, so they we're certainly all out to win.
But apparently, globalisation seems to be a jinxed topic for him, he lost defending globalisation, and this time, the team he led also lost, defending globalisation. It was their best performance ever, with Shaun and Suhaib stars of the debate, eclipsing Jasmine Jasani whom Suhaib was intimidated by, but on the day, none of their speakers were really outstanding. But they were very well researched, had solid arguments that even he would be proud of, but SMKSS17 were more than a match, with much better rebuttals, going on attack mode taking down their arguments, but they simply stuck to defending and repeating their case stand, refusing to budge and engage in the debate, which made a final a very dour occasion, a real contrast to last year. Suhaib was the only thing that made the debate bearable, being his usual dramatic self, flirting with the girls in his speech, frequently drawing laughter and applause from the crowd, plus the occasionally "oooooooh" when he delivers his acid laden rebuttals.
But when the chief judge commented on the debate before delivering the results, he made it quite clear that the negative had lost, and also put the blame on the first speaker(Esther) saying that once she was done and Suhaib went up, it was " too late". Apparently he had made up his mind after Esther had spoke and after 2 speakers form Seafield spoke, but it was Shaun and Suhaib who swung the debate back to them, arguments and performance wise, SMKSS17 should have won. But the chief judge stressed the importance of being a team, and that, he concurred with considering Esther made a bad rebuttal, failed to properly challenge their definition of the motion especially when the Affirmative set the parameters of only considering the economic aspect(which they themselves did not follow fully). At least the Seafield team was consistently average, apparently having an average speaker with 2 good ones disrupts team solidarity.
He now realizes the importance of the first speaker.
But with all said and done, Suhaib got best speaker and a full scholarship, Esther and Shaun got 50% scholarships, and the school got RM5000, and now finally the school is paying attention to English Debate. Right now he has plans to start training next year's debaters, and he was quite surprised to find out that there is more talent than he had originally thought in Form 4. So right now he is feeling like a club manager, what with training, and taking part in 3 debate competitions next year, Taylors would be akin to the Title, since its little less exciting that the other competitions because theres no POI, but still is the main prize(whats the point of winning the champions league if you cant even win you own league, huh Liverpool fans?), and HELP debate would be like the Champions League, with all the more glitz and glamour that comes with HELP(especially since Wira cup and Taylors hardly get any coverage), and Wira would be like the FA cup, the least important of all.
Alright, alright, enough of debate, the next on the list of familiar ground: Interact Club.
Guess who's the new president, yup, he couldnt believe it himself. The only time it really sunk in when he was giving the customary impromptu speech as the newly installed president at the IU day of the outgoing board, Evan and co.
Yeah, about the IU day.
Its hard to gauge the success of the whole thing when the MC was on drugs and half the people left when a hard rock band over-rocked the thing. Pn Kany had to step in. That was when he made his solemn vow that there will be no bands during his tenure as president.
But other than the crazy band and the MC gone high, it was pretty good. Lets just leave it at that shall we?
Then theres also the case of him flunking all his papers for the first exam except MUET of course, sort of a reminder of his march exam in form 4. But as you can see, he was busy. He's totally got his priorities straight.
Blazerboy is also back, yes, he rejoined the prefects, insisted on not having a post, and if he were to be totally honest with himself, the only reason he joined was because he liked wearing a blazer. Although it is a little tight, which comes with having an extra 10 kgs.
Now that you are up to speed with everything, onto this Friday, the Prefect dinner that he is hosting. Yeah, the last time he did it he did vow never to do it again, especially now since his AFS buddies are having a sleepover in a hotel near Pyramid to celebrate the August babies(carrie, wai quai and ariff) on that night, but somehow he relented to the relentless persuasion of of the new KP, Charmaine, and hence, he is MC-ing the dinner. He probably should lay off the solemn vows.
Well looking at how things have turned out for him since coming home, it looks very well, he has readapted, and finally getting on with his life. He could hardly ask for more, except, maybe more hot American chicks.
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