Slice Of Life #117 - Bazaar Ramadan - Tuesday 29th, May 2018

    Okay. So, today's post is going to be about bazaars. This month is Ramadan, where Muslims fast (in terms of not eating and drinking). Bazaars open at about 4pm (I'm pretty sure), which is a few hours before sunrise. Whenever it is Ramadan, Muslims have to fast unless they are sick, have the urge to vomit, or some other things happen (oh, and FYI, I am not a Muslim. I just happen to know a lot about Ramadan).
    I have been to bazaars quite a lot with my parents because we buy food for eating. My parents can eat all of the food there that are vegetarian, so they sometimes buy the food from the bazaars and eat them for dinner (typing the word 'bazaars' is pretty hard on the keyboard (opinion)).

Onde-onde
Picture Credits:  https://goo.gl/images/KN9c8r

    Yesterday, we just went to a bazaar. We walked around buying food, and suddenly it started raining. It didn't take long for it to start raining heavily, and we took shelter under a nearby shop. I felt bad for the people on motorcycles because they would have got pelted by rain. In less than 5 minutes, the heavy rain transformed into a tiny drizzle (what is wrong with our Mother Earth these days?). We walked to a shop and bought 'onde-onde', a food that I loved.
    After buying 'onde-onde', we quickly went home, afraid that it would rain again.


I guess I'll end this post here! What do you like to eat? What are you doing at home? Thanks for reading this post! Stay updated for  more posts like this!

Slice Of Life #116 - Trinity Examinations - Happened on 14/5/2018 - Tuesday, 22/5/2018

There was a creak as the bright brown doors of the hotel room opened and cold air gushed out of the room.
    "Good morning!" The man exclaimed. "Zhi Hong, is it?"
    "Yes," I replied. "Good morning, sir!" I said again, not wanting to be rude.
    "Thanks for being here!"
    "My pleasure."
    The man was wearing a fine blue shirt, and a black tie. I had read about this man in the waiting room, which was basically a hotel room. It was on a 'poster' (not really a poster, but something like it) that said -- About Your Examiner -- in tough bold words. This examiner was a very good pianist with a diploma, who passed his grade 8 piano practical exam with a distinction. 
    "So, if you just take a seat at the piano and let me see what songs you are playing, that would be great." The examiner said. There was a shuffle as I took out the paper that I was supposed to give to the examiner and handed it to him.
    I stared at the front cover of my book of pieces, and I saw the word 'Trinity' again and again. Yes, the name of the company. Yes, this was a real examination.
    "Thank you for waiting." The man said. "Now, would you like to start with your pieces or technical work?"
    "Anything would be fine," I said to be met with a reply.
    "Your exam!"
    "I guess I'll do technical work."
    I quickly finished my technical work, and we moved on to my pieces, playing nothing wrong like my technical work.
    "You have sight reading, so why don't we have your sight reading now?"
    "No problem."
    The examiner walked towards me and placed the sight reading book on the 'playing stand'. "Let's have 1A. You have 30 secs."
    I quickly scanned through the piece. 30 seconds flew by, and I took a deep breath, and started playing. It was lucky that the examiner gave me a easy one, because I easily played the whole thing.
    Next came musical knowledge. The examiner asked me questions about my songs, and I also answered them, lucky that the examiner gave me easy questions again.
    "You are now done with your examination. You may go home now. Have a nice day."
    "You too! Thanks for the awesome examinations!" I said with joy in my voice.
    I opened the door, lifted my foot, and swung out of the room.

Slice Of Life #115 - The Novel Knockout Competition - Happened Today (15/5/2018) - Tuesday, 15/5/2018

    23 students filed off the bus and walked to the entrance of the British International School of Kuala Lumpur (BISKL). Students were there to greet us, and a teacher showed us the way around. We went straight to the library to get ready for the upcoming Novel Knockout competition that was organized by the Kuala Lumpur Librarians Network (KLLN). I was one of the 8 people selected to represent my school in the competition, and the other 15 people were people that came to the meetings often.
    "Zhi Hong, Alice, Cathy,  Pin. I want you to sit over there and get yourselves settled." Our librarian, Ms. Suji, said. We all walked as a team to a spot in the library.
    "Ok," I said. "Get all the review sheets you currently have with you out now." We were not allowed to bring our competition books down because Ms. Suji didn't want us to be accused of cheating. There was a rustle as everyone got sheets of paper out from their backpacks. We had lots of work that we had yet to do.
    For the competition, there were 8 books. The Whale, Beetle Boy, Laika, Real Friends, Sweet Pizza, Pax, The Diamond Mystery, and the Boy and a Jaguar.
    I grabbed a book from the wall. "I'm going to write the answers for 'The Whale'." I said.
    "I'll do 'Beetle Boy' and 'Real Friends'."
    "I'll do 'Pax' and 'Diamond Mystery'."
    We all talked about who was going to write the answers for specific books. That was when we realized that none of us were capable of being the expert for Boy and a Jaguar.
    "Tobiah! We need you!" I called out. Tobiah was really good in Boy and a Jaguar, so then he had to tell us all the details from memory, as we were not allowed to have the book with us.
    "Guys, would you all follow me to the auditorium for the competition?" A woman said to all of us.
    We all stood up. "I guess it's time for the competition!" I said. "My heart is thumping so hard against my chest, it feels like it doesn't have enough room!"
    The auditorium was freezing cold. After a few minutes, we were called down.
    "ISKL!" Team A and Team B of ISKL rushed down the stage. A thrill ran through my bones as I took the steps 2 by 2 onto the stage.
    First up was the Readers Award. This was a individual competition for everyone that got selected. We had to answer questions of random popular books and write what the name of books was when we saw only the cover, not the words.
    That competition was hard. What is the horse's name in Winnie the Pooh? As soon as I read the question, I was dumbstruck. It's been years since I read Winnie the Pooh!!!! I just left the question blank.
    "5!!! 4!!! 3!!! 2!!! 1!!!" Everyone was shouting, announcing the fact that we had 5 seconds left.
    "Pencils down!" I turned my paper in.
    It was another 2 mins before the actual competition begin. "Open your packets!" The commentator shouted. I ripped open the envelope and passed it to Cathy, who was writing Beetle Boy.
    "Someone answer the Ipad questions!" We had 3 mins to answer the questions for each book, and we had until the 6th book to finish the Ipad questions.
    "What's the answer to this?"
    "Air-conditioning vault."
    The questions for the competition were really detailed. The Ipad questions were detailed, but for me, they were plain easy. The questions on paper were the hard ones. Every time they had the paper questions, I would slam it in the box to answer the questions in time. I would also rip the envelope and take out the paper. I looked at the other schools, and to my surprise, they opened theirs nicely.
    It was finally time for the answers to be announced. 2 girls from my school, ISKL, tied for the middle school readers award, so they had a heat round. Final score: 1-0. In middle school, my school secured 4th and 5th place.
    "Now, I will announce the elementary school results from lowest to highest." The commentator said. "In 3rd place, we have ISKL2!"
    I yelped with joy. That was the team that I was in!!! I ran down the stairs to grab my awards. I got a book and a certificate. At the same time, she announced even better news.
    "In 2nd place, we have ISKL1!" Even though that was not my team, I was still happy. They got a certificate and a 50 ringgit voucher to spend on whatever book they wanted.
    "I am so proud of all of you! This is the first time that ISKL ever got in top 3 for this competition! Next year, we should get 1st place, 2nd place, 3rd place, and 4th place!" Ms. Suji said after the competition.
    "No, next year, we should get 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd." I said with a smirk.

Slice Of Life #114 - My Birthday - Tuesday, 8/5/2018 - Drafted on Monday, 7/5/2018

    Yesterday was a special day. I meant Sunday. It was the day of the Hindenburg crisis. In case you didn't know, the Hindenburg was a zeppelin, and one of the hydrogen gas tanks exploded, sending the whole zeppelin down. I'm pretty sure that's what happened. Happened on May 6. Yes, May 6.
    My birthday.
    It was a very special day. In the morning, we had something that had stuff to do with my religion. I had to wake up really early, so I moaned when we got into the car. Good news! I was allowed to sleep in the car because it took a hour to get there.
    After that, we went home with some time to take a bath and settle some important things. We had 30 more minutes left before we were going to a restaurant with vegan cake (I have allergies).
    On the way to the restaurant, we picked up a friend, and there was nothing interesting on the way there. Because there never is (I take that back).
    We ordered our food, and I rushed to the cake area. I was going to pick my vegan cake. My mom also got cake with milk for the friends that were celebrating my birthday with me. I had some noodles and soup that were delicious. I gobbled up all the food and swallowed some vegetables. They did something to those vegetables, because they were yummier than usual (I'm not saying that I hate vegetables. In fact, I love vegetables).
    And that was what we did to celebrate my birthday.
    Cake.
    At a restaurant.
    That cooked very good food.
    IT WAS THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

P.S: Click here for all my posts with the word birthday.

When is your birthday? What did you do this weekend? Did you watch a movie? Were there any special things? Was it completely normal? Hope to hear from you soon! Thanks for reading my blog! Please "give" me some comments in the comment section below. Stay updated for some other new posts! Thanks!

Slice Of Life #113 - I ALMOST FORGOT - Tuesday, 1/5/2018

    Okay. I am currently really stressed out. I totally forgot about Slice of Life. It is currently slightly pass my bedtime, and my mom just reminded me about Slice of Life. She then gave me 10 mins to write this post. This is quite a decent time for me because I can write quite a lot of things in 10 mins on the computer. (It has currently been 2 mins since I first got on the computer).
    I told myself that I would just do a rush post. I was not going to miss another 'slice'. I had missed 1 post, and I also missed another, but I technically did not miss that day, because even though it was Wednesday here in Malaysia, it was still Tuesday in the US. So, I did not miss that day. What should I talk about now? I don't know.
    Did I just spell 'about' wrong? I don't think so. You heard nothing. (Actually, I did misspell 'about' just now, but that was nothing.) Wait. It's already 10:13! 5 mins have passed now. What in the world! 10 mins is almost up. Anyways, I am very surprised because I usually excell in remembering to write my 'slices', so I don't know why today I forgot. Maybe it's just because today's a holiday. I just have a good feeling that I wrote my post because I won't have to worry about missing another 'slice'. What is wrong with me! I keep spelling 'slice' wrong!
     10 mins almost up. Clock is ticking. Still have 3 mins left. I think I just have to say GTG! Oh, and FYI, GTG stands for 'Got to go!'. Oh, and BTW, FYI stands for 'For Your Information'. Oh, and just saying, BTW stands for 'By The Way'.

                                 Bye!!!!!!!!!