Hulk Sebby

Our Education System Now

I got this video from a friend of a friend. Kind of makes you think doesn't it?

Way Things Used To Be

When I was back in Kuching during the Hari Raya holidays, I thought it would be a good idea to visit my old stomping ground with Ezam by my side.

The old place looks like how we left it 5 years ago. Only this time it appeared comparatively smaller.

Ah... many a fights had occurred here

We visited our old Form 5 classroom and tried to remember where we sat.


Form 5 was a hell of a year for most of us with the SPM examination and all.

It drove some of my classmates to the point of borderline psychotic behavior.

When I look back at those times and comparing it with the stuff I have to face now, I would have laughed at the prospect of sitting for SPM.

Looks like they took apart the old hockey field and transformed it into a a marching ground for St Joseph's School Band.

I'm very critical of school bands, especially with my own. The supervising teachers (if you would even call them that) are only interested in how the students perform on the marching field. Not to worry how they seem to perform poorly in their academics as long as it brings glory to the school's name and give my ego and wallet that extra swelling.



The classes now have white boards and projectors. Hell, it even has a sound speaker to announce the start of the day.

I miss my old school. St Joseph is a La Salle School, a dying breed. These schools were run by missionaries who would unselfishly dedicate themselves to their profession. Some of the old teachers in my school are also made of the same mold.

Sadly the quality of the school has been going downhill. I am proud to say that St. Joseph is a school which prides itself on having strong Catholic roots, but at the same time respecting the religious needs of others.

Where in West Malaysia can you find a chapel and a surau just next door to one another?

Back here, there was little racial polarity. I have friends of many different races there. A few have been close to me throughout the years. When I went over to West Malaysia, the racial polarity here had me taken aback. To be friends with those of your same race, religion and creed to me is not only stupid but kind of boring.

Anyway. I had a good time reliving old memories in good ol' St Joseph. May it continue to remind me of my roots and my upbringing every time I go astray.

Bachelor Tips: Top 10 Things To Do If You're Alone For a Week

1. Wear a white shirt, underpants and socks. Play that music from Risky Business and imitate Tom Cruise's dance.
2. Shaving your scrotum. "A shaved scrotum is quite breathtaking, I suggest you try it" - Dr Evil in Austin Powers Man of Mystery.
3. Eat dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch and lunch for dinner. Then name them accordingly: brinner, brunch, and lunner.
   
4. Try downloading porn on RedTube, PornHub, PornoTube simultaneously and see which of the 3 downloads the fastest.
5. Follow up on number 4 if you catch my drift.
6. Finally letting that stomach flab go.
7. Run around to work up a good sweat, then roll in your housemate's bed in the nude.
8. Memorizing movie titles a particular actress was nude in, bonus points for specific body parts.
9. Taking the liberty of relieving your other housemates from cleaning up the fridge by drinking their beer.
10. Write a top 10 list of something that has no relevance in everyday life.
    

A Weekend In Genting

As we walked out of the examination hall with a sigh of relief that the exams are over and a 3 week holiday has begun.



We have been planning this trip for over a month now and I was glad for once that one of our hare-brained ideas finally bore fruit.

The 4 of us including a good dozen of our batch-mates decided to leave the sleepy town of Seremban and travel to Uncle Lim's sovereign nation, Genting Highlands.

Lim Goh Tong's story is one of inspiration. He is a shining example of a rags to riches story. A Chinaman with only a change of clothes and a few worthless coins worked through sweat, blood and tears. From a rubber tapper to a successful contractor, risking all he had earned over the years for a gamble to further multiply his fortunes by Tunku Abdul Rahman. A plot of land on a mountain out of nowhere in the state of Pahang was the site he picked on a helicopter to build his very own city, check that his very own COUNTRY. There he built his theme parks, his resorts, that cute little mushroom farm. But most importantly he picked that site to build his casinos. People from all walks of life have tried time and time again to beat Uncle Lim not because they need the money, but for the sheer thrill of one-upping the great man himself.

This weekend, it was our turn to try.



We arrived at Genting and checked in around 5 in the evening. After placing our bags in our rooms we decided to freshen up a bit before heading downstairs to survey the tables.

We met up with our other batch mates and after more cam-whoring we decided it is best to eat a full meal to sharpen our wits before the great battle ahead.










As it was the 8th of August 2008, we hurried ourselves to the nearest sports bar to witness the great opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. It was nothing less of spectacular and we were all proud to call ourselves Asians after witnessing what a great job the Mother Land did. After cheering our national squad and observing some strange sounding country names we have never heard off, it was off to the tables to test our fortunes.

Because the do not allow cameras into the casino, I am unable to show you what went on. However lets hope my description is accurate enough for me to paint a picture for your imagination. :D

The night began badly for me. I came in with RM 200 as my capital and less than half an hour I lost half of it. I was barely winning back my money on the Pontoon/Blackjack table even after the tutoring of a seemingly "caring" auntie who pitied my plight. Despite the advice I got I was still loosing money. I decided then the smartest thing to do was to retreat and fight another day. Caution is the better part of valor as the saying goes.

Then as I walked with whatever I had with me, I saw an Indian dude in his 30s, stocky and short in built placing his bets on another player who seemingly had all the luck in the world. I peeked at his cards and saw that he had a 15, the dealer showed a 9 so he had to hit. He hit and got a 6. Another time he had a 17 and the dealer had a jack, he hit and got a 4.

So, I thought to myself should I try this method instead of winning it back by playing myself? I saw that thick stack of chips the Indian dude had in his hands and decided why not? So I placed my bet on the old Chinese gentleman who had extremely good luck and started winning of him. I managed to win back my capital and was about to make a nice profit when suddenly the card dealing machine "broke down", suddenly there was a change of dealers, suddenly they had to open up a new deck of cards and suddenly I took my chips and went running away.

I decided to use the formula I learned from the Indian dude and placed my bets on the dude with all the luck on another blackjack table. I indeed made some winnings and was content to stop then.

After cashing in my chips I met up with some of my old Josephian friends who were holidaying in Genting as well. I watched as they played the roulette wheel with some moderate success. As the temptation to go back to the tables increased as the night prolonged, I said farewell to my former school mates and started walking back to my room.

Good ol' Kevin too made a handsome winnings from his humble capital of RM35. The others too did well.


Any good gambler would know that gambling after 4 straight hours would affect your good judgment and you would not be able to concentrate as well as you had previously. Plus I secretly think that the high altitude Genting air with its low Pa02 is responsible for the lack of judgment especially during the wee hours.

Kev and I returned to our rooms after bidding Sidney, Keat How and the rest luck and warning them about stopping once they start loosing. Happy with my winnings on my first trip to the casino I feel asleep with Kevin in my bed only to find out the next morning that Keat How had no place to sleep hence him sleeping at a very close proximity to me. To make matters worse I had a bad case of err.... EME. I found out that aside from Keat How all of them lost what they had won and dipped at least RM 100 into the red before they stopped.

So with heavy hearts and lighter wallets we left the kingdom of Genting and headed to the cable cars. While awaiting the bus to bring us to Central, I decided to use my winnings to purchase a ticket for the 10 Animal Kingdom exhibition in Genting. I love going to the zoo to see animals since I was young. Needless to say I have been to quite a number of zoos and animal exhibitions. This one was impressive for RM 12 which I think would be donated to charity. It was the first time I saw a skunk and a raccoon up close.







The reptile exhibit was very interesting, especially the alligator snapping turtle. It had such an awesome name and it looked like a tank.



The bus arrived around 2.30 p.m. and we were dead tired and slept for the entire trip. We arrived at Central in an hours time and there we said our goodbyes and parted ways. It was a good trip despite us not going to the theme park.



Thank you guys for such an amazing trip. Enjoy the holidays!

A Weekend With El Cid

Sigh a weekend alone in Seremban. Well not really alone because Sidney is here with me. The other two went home after classes on Friday leaving Batman (me) and the Boy Wonder (Sid) all alone to fend for ourselves.


We were supposed to eat at the yummiest mamak place in SS2, the legendary Murni where they serve such wonderful, sumptuous, meatiest, most artery clogging food you ever masticated. One bite of the Roti Hawaii and you would understand why people risk future heart attacks for such a treat. Hell I even took the liberty of doing some brutal gym work just to not feel guilty when I shove that bad boy down my throat.


But sadly like all things in life, this one didn't really work out.

Sid and I, though grumpy, decided to make lemons out of lemonade . . . lemonade mixed with vodka that is.



Together with the vice-secretary of the SRC we went to the Family Store to buy a substance which is the answer and the cause to all life's problems.



It was roughly decided that we would test the detoxifying limits of our liver by pitting it against the full fury of alcohol . . . . to what we could afford lah.

However despite careful planning and much persuasion on my part to have a mini drinking session with our beloved SRC vice-sec it kind of fell apart due to lack of enthusiasm on her part.

Again Sid and I were thrown back into the purgatory of boredom.

Dejected and beginning to loose hope I decided to follow my impulse and buy something that I don't really need. A pair of gray-colored contacts just to see if I could scare the kids in my neighborhood.



So ends my wonderful Saturday evening with Sidney who is currently now cursing me for not drinking with him.


Sorry buddy.
I promise I'll drink to your health in 2 days time : )

A Weekend In Kuching

I went back to Kuching the 2 weekends ago to celebrate my grandma's birthday as she is 76 this year.



It was nice to be away from the hectic lifestyle of West Malaysia.


Kuching has changed so much in the past 5-6 years since DAP took over the Kuching seat.

New universities like Swinburne were built and its reputation is growing strong.


Shopping malls such as Spring and Boulevard are giving a small taste of KL life without the overinflated prices.


Starbucks and CoffeeBean are sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain. : D


KPJ decided to build a new private hospital in Kuching alongside Normah and Timberland giving her 3 private hospitals that would surely increase the revenue of our state from medical tourism.

New flyovers and underground tunnels to ease the jam.

Yes, Kuching has matured and hopefully will grow to be a very important city in the near future.

Yet, despite the rapid growth she has not forgotten her roots.

Its nice to go to a coffee shop and order the food that gave Kuching its reputation as being one of the 5 food havens in Malaysia. (In my opinion)






She has not forgotten her culture that defines Sarawak as the Bornean Paradise that made us infamous to the world.


She is famous not only for her cultural heritage but also for her natural beauty.



Kuching, or Sarawak for that matter is a place where racial polarity is not a problem as it is here in West Malaysia. I never knew such discrimination based on the race of a person till I got here. I am thankful for the fact that the people in Sarawak still are willing to mix and have a good time because of friendship and camaraderie and not due to the fact they speak the same mother tongue.



You can say we're backwards because we're unwilling to let the other component parties in West Malaysia to come over here, but trust me, we're much better off without them.



When I'm away from it I love Kuching as an abstract. Ask any Sarawakian for that matter, studying or working abroad. If they are true Sarawakians, they carry the purest, distilled form of Sarawak in their hearts and would not let you forget it.