Slice Of Life #299 - Yet Another Break - Tuesday, December 1st, 2020

    Well, my last post said that I took a short break, but since then I've taken an even longer break, a break about 3 months long. I've been getting quite a lot of homework, so I wasn't able to slice for quite a while. However, now I'm back with a short update on how life is treating me.

    Currently, school is still online for me due to the Covid-19 virus. At first, Malaysia was dealing with it pretty well, and we only had 8 thousand cases in total (which was bad enough for everyone here already). However, after a few people not adhering to the rules, the government's bad enforcement of their very own rules in a jail located in Sarawak, and the elections that were held in Sarawak, we have successfully brought ourselves to a whopping 67 thousand cases! Impressive! 

    Therefore, as you probably can infer, we're still cooped up in our homes, without any fresh air to breathe. It's probably been this way almost the whole year now, and it's not very fun. We've gone into lockdown in March, and the lockdown was lifted around June (well, technically the lockdown was still a thing, but everything was mostly back to normal). The lockdown has since been imposed again on us in the month of August, which left us about 1-2 months to walk around freely outside (although we still had to wear a mask). Thinking about this right now, I probably do have a vitamin D deficiency from being indoors too long and not having enough exposure to the sun 😅😅. Not a very good thing!

    That's pretty much it for my update on my life today. Hopefully I'll be back next week, we'll have to see!

Slice Of Life #298 - Taking a Break - Tuesday, September 29th, 2020

     I took a break from slicing for a few weeks, but now I'm back! I kept telling myself that I would do it after I got my homework done, but when I got my homework done, it would always be time for me to sleep and I didn't have time to slice. The rest of the days were okay and I didn't really have much homework, but for some reason, I always had a lot of homework on Tuesdays but not a lot of homework on the other days. 

    Fortunately, however, I didn't have much homework today. I've already finished all my homework, and therefore I can start working on slicing. Hopefully, I'll be getting less homework in the future so that I can keep slicing more often, but I'm probably going to be slicing lesser and lesser as my homework increases.

    So far, nothing much has really been happening and life has been going on as usual. Covid-19 cases in Malaysia are going back up again :(((( but we are safe here in KL because most of the cases are in Sabah. It's getting late now, so I'm going to end this post here (I know it was a boring one). Bye!

Slice Of Life #297 - I Forgot To Slice! - Tuesday, September 1st, 2020

     Yup! I forgot to slice last week. I had a lot of homework, and that was at the top of my mind. I tried to the topic of slicing popped up a few times, but it kept getting forced into the deep intricate network of my brain, and I totally forgot about it.

    I remembered on Wednesday, but I also had a lot of homework that day. In fact, I had a lot of homework last week, but for some reason, my teachers decided not to give any homework on Friday, so I didn't have any homework to do during the weekend. It's weird. Sometimes, teachers give me lots of homework when I don't have time to do it, and when I do have time, teachers just don't give me homework. It'd be great if that was switched around.

    Fortunately, I don't have a lot of homework (school wise) this week. In fact, I was able to finish all my homework during WIN (What I Need) Time today (WIN Time is like a subject we have where we can do our homework, ask teachers for help if we're confused, or do anything that we need to do). I only have one more thing to do, and that is to study for a Spanish test that will take place on Monday. I also have to make a presentation for my Chinese class and finish up my piano homework before next Wednesday, which I should be able to do. However, my Chinese homework requires me to make a presentation about Malaysia's history, which will take a very long time as not only do I include lots of graphics in my presentation (which takes ages to do), I also have to research all the facts as I have terrible knowledge about Malaysia's history (which will take EVEN LONGER).

    I preordered a book called Resist (by Alan Gratz) on the Kindle, and it was supposed to get downloaded today, but the order didn't register and for this reason, I still don't have it yet. I suppose that's okay, as I still have lots of books that I haven't read yet at home.

    It's 9:30pm now, so I want to go read some books and possibly even finish up a book that I'm currently reading. Bye! (I've been ending my posts a lot more with the word bye now...)

Slice Of Life #296 - False Alarm - Tuesday, August 18th, 2020

    I was working through a really hard question on the Language Usage MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test. Suddenly, the fire alarm rang. "Evacuate, evacuate," The monotonic voice repeated boringly.

    "Now, out of all times?" I questioned. We were taking a very important test, the test that I cared about the most, and the fire alarm had rung, asking us to get out of the building.

    "It's probably just a false alarm," My teacher, Ms. Larsen, told all of us. "Let's just stay in the room and see what happens..."

    We pointed out to her that the high school classes had all turned off their lights and were heading outside. "Okay, you know what?" She continued, "Take that back. Let's go. I'm suspending your test for now."

    We rushed outside and were met by high-schoolers rushing around. "It's a false alarm," A high-schooler told us.

    "Okay then," Ms. Larsen said and sighed. "Back to the room!"

    "There goes 5 minutes of MAP testing time!" I mumbled sarcastically to myself.

    We headed back into the room and resumed the MAP test. And the bad news? The question now was even harder than the previous one.

Slice Of Life #295 - I Don't Have Any Ideas - Tuesday, August 11th, 2020

 Today, I'm out of ideas regarding what I should write. So, I'm just going to talk about how my life is going and how 7th Grade has been treating me so far. I'm loving 7th Grade so far. I have some pretty good teachers that all have a great sense of humor, so I'm feeling pretty good going into 7th Grade. This morning, I borrowed the book Illegal from my humanities teacher. I've just finished it not too long ago. It's a really good book about refugees and the tough moments they go through. Having seen refugees myself, I think it's a great book that helps let us know that we are the lucky ones and that we should in turn help others and come together as one as a society so that our world can become a better place.

I just realized how late it is, so I'm going to end this post here for today. Bye!

Slice Of Life #294 - First Day Of School! - Tuesday, August 4th, 2020

    Today was the first day of school! Except that it was online. However, before you go ahead and complain about me leading you to the "climax (not really)" and then going all the way back down the "story hill" by telling you that it was online, let me tell you that the rest of the school days are back at school (physical school).
    Only 2 grades in the Middle School can go to physical school during one day, so today my grade, Grade 7, is tuning in online. For the next two days, Grade 8 will be online, and Grade 6 will be online on Friday. Fortunately, after this week, we all are 100% back to school (except for some others that can't come because they are not in Malaysia, who will be online).
    I'm actually pretty excited for 7th Grade, because I got some pretty fun classes. I got the elective that I desired for, and also got a pretty fun Wheel class (which is kinda' like an elective, too). However, because school's reopening, it does mean having to get up a lot earlier. Tomorrow, I will have to wake up at 6:30am so I can get ready and eat breakfast before leaving for school at 7am. Well, with that being said, it's getting pretty late, so I'll have to end this post here. Bye!

Slice Of Life #293 - School's Reopening! - Tuesday, July 28th, 2020

    School's reopening again! I'm actually pretty delighted to hear that because I'm going to go insane if this goes on any longer. Before the Coronavirus, we all used to dread school because we were really busy, but because of the Coronavirus, lots of my classes have stopped, so I'm a lot less busy now, and on second thought, school's probably going to be the only thing keeping me sane.

    Also, a quick update on my comic-making: the final version, or the inking, is finally done! I've inked my drawings and Mr. Matt (check him out at smithvssmith.com!), who thought me about comic-making (trust me, I knew nothing), has helped me put the text. I'm very satisfied with the product. Check it out!!
    Now, I want to go read, and I don't have anything else to write about, so I'm going to be ending this post here. Bye!

Slice Of Life #292 - Currently... - Tuesday, July 21st, 2020

• I have just finished taking a bath.
• I'm going to be rushing this post as I want to be done before 9pm tonight.
• I'm working on my piano homework about transposition, which is SO HARD. I spent 30 minutes working on it yesterday and yet I'm still not done.
• For those of you that don't know, musical transposition is when you have a series of notes and you transpose them (well, I guess that's not a very good definition because I'm just repeating the same thing 😅) a certain amount.
• See it this way: You have a series of numbers and you have to increase them by a certain amount (ie. 5, so if the numbers were 10, 13, 15, the answers would be 15, 18, 20. Except that it's about 10 times harder to do that in musical theory). That's what transposition is.

Slice Of Life #291 - Comics = Fun - Tuesday, July 14th, 2020

Recently, I've taken a course on how to make comics from an ISKL alumni, Matt Smith. I'm pretty sure the school wants to publish a collection of authentic memories from ISKL, and since I signed up for the course, I get to contribute (YAY!)

I'm currently making a comic about my experience moving to our new campus from our old campus 2 years ago, and I'm really enjoying the experience. I've also realized that I'm a lot better at drawing than I really think I am (which doesn't really mean anything, because I'm still pretty bad 🤣). If you take a look at my thumbnails (basically a first draft), you can see that some parts look good, whereas some parts look pretty bad. Well, I may have copied the good parts from google... (ie. the audience in the first panel)

My script outline

On Sunday, I finished my script outline, which is just like my plan when making a story (it's a "comic story arc"). Then, yesterday, I was really into drawing and spent quite a long time (30 minutes) drawing my thumbnails. I don't really mind spending all that time, though. It was a pleasurable and fun experience, and I at least did something productive. I scanned it and sent it to Mr. Smith, who is offering me lots of guidance and is also my editor/letterer (basically, that means that he's going to take the comic and put it into photoshop so he can add the text in the speech balloons for me). At 11pm (he's in another country with a different timezone), he replied me telling me that he's shared my thumbnails with the other editors and that it's been approved (YAY AGAIN!!!!) Of course, I read the reply when I woke up the next day (it was a terribly good start to the day). He's also offered me some suggestions on how I can change the ISKL Panther (forgive my bad drawing, as it doesn't really look like a panther at all 😂). He suggested that I change the Panther to have a face that's more round, unlike the rest of his body. This gives him a really nice outline that is unique, and if we take a look at the silhouette of the new Panther (top right of comic), we can see that he is more easily recognized and differentiated from the other character, who is an ISKL student (who was originally intended to be me, but I changed the hairstyle and made the person very fat, so it's not me anymore...)

My comic thumbnails - still work in progress, so stay tuned to see the end product! :)

So, basically, that's my update of the week about my comic-making. I'll make sure to keep you updated about it!

Slice Of Life #290 - (Attempting) to Make My Identity Card - Tuesday, July 7th, 2020

    I'm 12 now! And that means that I have to go make an identity card (IC), as I can't use my MyKid (identity card for kids) anymore because it doesn't have a photo. Because of that, I did what any kid would do: I went to the immigration center with my parents today to make a new one.
    Upon reaching, we met a woman at the front door who asked us what we were here for. We told her that we were here to make my IC, and she asked us another question.
    "Do you have an appoinment?" She asked us.
    "Appointment?" I questioned. Since when do we have to make an appointment? I thought to myself.
    "Yeah. If you don't have an appointment, you have to go make one. Please take a look on our website.
    Okay, no big deal. We just have a make an appointment, and then we can make my IC later today.
    However, upon logging on to the website, I found out that all the slots were full until the end of the month. Woah! I thought to myself. There sure are lots of people turning 12 this year!
    Well, I'm back home now, and we've scheduled an appointment this Thursday - at another immigration center (I mean, I can't wait too long. I'm pretty sure it's a rule that I have to make it very soon right after I turned 12, and I turned 12 two months ago). I had to postpone making my IC by 2 months because I celebrated my birthday under lockdown, so now, I have to make it since the lockdown rules aren't as strict anymore. Until then, bye!

Slice of Life #289 - Cooped Up At Home - Tuesday, June 30th, 2020

Yup, you've guessed it! I'm still cooped up at home. Fortunately, there's no law saying I can't go out now, so I can still freely go out whenever I want. But, because we have to social distance to stay safe, me and my family are staying home for most of the time. I'm not going to complain much about it though, as it is an improvement - I can at least go out now.

On Sunday, I went for my first ever badminton lesson in 3 months. And now, I'm not really regretting it at all, but my hand hurts a lot. Somehow, even though I ran a lot, it isn't even my leg that's sore, but instead my arms. Fortunately, only my right arm is sore because it was the only arm that I use when playing badminton.

Summer camp is over, which also means that I'm going to be really bored again. However, I have made a checklist which is actually making me busy, so I'm pretty grateful for that. I always underestimate how long it takes me to complete everything on the checklist I made, because in life, most things are easier said than done.

I always try to balance my computer time and non-computer time each day, and so far I'm finding that it's going pretty well. Now, I tend to do one activity off the computer (ie. piano, reading, etc.), then one activity on the computer (ie. Duolingo, which is an app that I use to help me practice my Spanish), and vice versa.

And then, after dinner and returning home from my daily walk after dinner, my computer is a no-go zone. My parents haven't created a rule that says I must do this, but for some reason I've just done it a lot and now it's a habit, so I just tend to not use the computer after dinner. I don't know what exactly it is that fuels this need to get off the computer, but there's just something in charge of doing it, and I'm grateful for it. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't been on the computer after dinner for so long, I just want to keep it a habit and not break it (It's kinda' like I'm on a "no computer streak", and I just don't want to break it).

Now, IT'S DINNERTIME (WHICH I REALLY NEED BECAUSE I'M SUPER HUNGRY), so bye!

Slice Of Life #288 - Nothing To Write About - Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020

    We're still in RMCO (basically lockdown), so life is still pretty boring. :( However, the country is starting to reopen again, as I can go to more of my classes now. I can go take piano lessons, swimming, and badminton lessons now - and we're talking REAL lessons (like, non-virtual ones).
    Other than summer school, life has been pretty boring today. I've played games for longer today, so my plan for today is to: GET OFF THE COMPUTER FOR THE REST OF THE DAY AFTER WRITING THIS. Wait. Actually, "get off the computer for the rest of the day after writing this and taking today's dose of coding lessons (I'm learning coding for free now because I have lots more free time, and also, why not learn something new?)
    After doing some coding, I'm going to practice on the piano, clarinet, read, write (maybe? kinda' not in the mood to do it today, but maybe I'll be in the mood later), and do anything that pops up in my head later.
    Well, since I have lots of things to do, I'm going to end this post here! Bye!

Slice Of Life #287 - SUMMER HOLIDAYS!!!!! - Tuesday, June 16th, 2020

YAY! It's finally summer! Except that we still have the quarantine, of course. Which means that I'm still going to be pretty bored...

Fortunately, this year, summer camp is free, and I won't be travelling anywhere during this period of uncertainty, so I'm taking summer camp this year. There are 2 periods for summer camp, with the first one being from 9:00am-10:00am, and the second one starting at 10:30am and ending at 11:30am. During the first period, I'm taking a class called Fun with Geography with my 4th-grade teacher (because my geography is pretty bad :) During the second period, I'm learning how to use an app called Garageband to create music. I'm really loving this class because it's pretty easy to make good music with it, and I've only spent 2 days learning so far, but I've already created 2 songs (one of them is complete, the other's not quite complete yet). Fun with Geography is pretty fun too, and I'm learning lots of new stuff because my school doesn't teach geography as a subject, so therefore my geography is pretty bad (haha).

The lockdown is not as strongly enforced anymore. We're currently in RMCO (Recovery Movement Control Order), which allows daycares to reopen and companies to start working (at their full working hours, in fact), but schools cannot reopen yet (not that it really matters for me, as school's already over). Because of the new rules, I'm now able to take piano lessons again (and hopefully badminton too), which I'll be taking tomorrow at 3:30pm. I'm really excited to have piano lessons again!

Now, I don't really have anything else to write about, so I'm going to end this post here and go read A Wrinkle in Time (which I've surprisingly not read yet!) Bye!

Slice Of Life #286 - Robert B. Gaw Citizenship Award - Tuesday, June 9th, 2020

    I logged into the zoom call with no problems (surprisingly). Mr. Casey and Mr. Woodward, my principal and assistant principal, greeted us as we came into the zoom call. I got settled and waited for the ceremony to get started.
    Finally, the ceremony was in full swing. We all listened as Mr. Woodward talked about the history of this award and the criteria for it. "Robert B. Gaw used to be the head of school at ISKL (The International School of Kuala Lumpur)." he said. "This is an annual award sponsored by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for students in Grade 6, 7, and 8. Based on the criteria below, established by the PTA, this award is given to one student in each grade level who, in the opinion of the teachers, and I quote, exemplifies the international aspect of the school. He/she interacts in a positive way with, and shows an appreciation for cultures other than his/her own; demonstrates courtesy to teachers, staff and fellow students, and shows  respect for the rights of others; demonstrates a positive attitude and willingness to support in-classroom and extra-curricular projects and activities; and is gracious in dealing with success as well as disappointment."

As he started describing the Grade 6 recipient for the award this year, my heart was beating frantically although I had no idea why. It took me a whole 20 seconds to realize that he was describing me! I quickly ran through everything he said about the winner. Mother tongue is Chinese - Check! Signed up for Care for Kids twice - Check! He participates actively in the Jazz Band - Check! I realized that he was describing me!

My heart was beating very hard at this point. I could feel the loud thumps against my neck. It felt like there wasn't enough space for my heart to be contained as it started beating like a wild elephant. "With this," Mr. Woodward said, "I am very happy to announce this year's Grade 6 Robert B. Gaw award recipient!"

I was super excited to find out who it was. My eyes were fixed on the computer screen just to see two of the worse words possible. Connection lost. These two very large words were shown in the middle of the screen. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" I shouted. "The WiFi always crashes at the wrong times!"
"Zhi Hong, it's you!" My mom shouted at me. She was also on the Zoom call, and her WiFi also crashed, but it crashed after my name was announced.
"YESSSSSS!" I screamed out of happiness. I had not anticipated this to happen at all. I quickly moved to another place in my house, hoping for a better internet connection. Finally, it worked. The internet was strong enough and I rejoined back into the Zoom call.
"Zhi Hong, do you have anything you want to say?" Mr. Casey, my principal asked.
    "Yeah," I replied. "I'd just like to thank all my teachers for their help along the way, and I'd also like to thank my friends for being there for me. I wouldn't be here without you."
    "Congratulations, Zhi Hong. We hope to see you soon, and congratulations all of you on an awesome year! We'll open the chat now so you can say congrats. Once again, congratulations on completing Grade 6, and we'll see you next year!"
    As soon as the chat was enabled, messages started streaming in like they were bolts of lightning. "Thank you so much!" I wrote in the chat. "I wouldn't be here today without you!"
    I left the Zoom meeting that day feeling elated and speechless. I HAD DONE IT!

Slice Of Life #285 - Novel Knockout - Tuesday, June 2nd, 2020

    I clicked the mint green "Join" button. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself. The teams were being shown on the screen. The moment I saw the sign, I knew our team was in for some trouble.

    Zhao Yang (ZY), Maya, and Wesley on one team?!  I thought to myself. Of course they are - and they're probably going to dominate if I'm just being honest...

    I met with my team and we started the Kahoot. Today's competition was multiple choice, and we were competing as a group against other students in our school for some Kinokunia/Amazon gift vouchers.

    The competition was very hard. The fact that all the books were novels (except for 1 book) didn't help at all. Longer books meant more detail, and more detail wasn't a good thing, especially when the competition required you to remember all the details of the book.

    Overall, I thought the competition was okay. Some questions were brain boggling and simply left me dumbstruck, whereas others were very easy. Fortunately, they were multiple-choice questions, so we managed to answer most of the answers correctly.

    I still remember how I felt when I looked at the scoreboard. I did not feel confident. Just as expected, ZY's team was crushing us. However, after a while, we were hot on their tails. As we entered the last 10 questions, we knew we couldn't let them win. We went into full tryhard mode and answered the questions to the best of the ability (not that we weren't doing so before). Fortunately, our hard work paid off. We saw our points get higher and higher until our group name finally skimmed past theirs. WE WERE IN 1ST PLACE!

    But I knew we had to keep maintaining that lead. This group was good, and they could steal our lead anytime. And fortunately again, we were able to do that. The last few questions went by like a blur, and finally, it was time to see the final score for the first section of the competition. My heart thumped loudly. I shivered even though it wasn't cold as I waited for the final score to come out. Finally, 1st place was revealed - IT WAS OUR TEAM! I shrieked with joy and lay down on the floor. We were in the lead - at least for now...

Slice of Life #284 - Reading - Tuesday, May 26th, 2020

It's pretty late now, so I'm going to be keeping this post really short. I didn't really have anything to talk about, so I guess I'll talk about what I've done today, and that's a bunch of different things, but mainly reading. I'm very happy to say that I've read about 400 pages today and have finished My Life as a Ninja, which I started today.

I've also worked on homework today, but I still have a lot to do. Fortunately, we're going to be getting time to do it in class, so I think that I should be able to get my homework done. And if the class time is not enough, then I'll just do it in my own time.

Tomorrow morning, I'm probably going to go for a 2km run with my dad (except that he's going to be on the bike). I'm going to sprint the first 800m to see what my time is, and then I'll jog the rest of the way home.

Then, I'm going to go to school, which, unfortunately, is starting early at 8:30am tomorrow, which means that I may be in a little bit of a rush. But other than that, it should be fine. I'll cope.

Now, I don't really have anything else to write about, and I've somehow managed to write this post in 5 minutes, so I'm very happy. Bye!

Slice Of Life #283 - Life As It Is - Tuesday, May 19th, 2020

    Currently, my life is still the life under lockdown. The lockdown has been extended again until June 3rd, but fortunately, it's only CMCO (Conditional Movement Control Order). This means that most businesses can resume and kids can now go outside (but we can only stay in the car). School continues to be online, and we're going to have all end of the year things online (ie. the end of year assembly will be online this year).
    Recently, I've been taking online BSA (Boy Scouts) merit badge courses. This allows me to earn merit badges and continue progressing in rank online during these weird times. Last week, I took a course for the chemistry merit badge, and I'm happy to say that I now have that merit badge! This week, I'm taking a merit badge on safety. The two choices I had was between safety and communications, but I decided to take safety as I would have the chance to do communications with my troop when the CMCO is lifted (communications is required, so I'll have a chance to do it). I also chose safety because I felt like safety is a very important topic, and that it may help me a lot in the future.
    Now, I have nothing left to write about, so I'm going to go and continue taking the safety course (I have 1 video left to finish by tomorrow). Bye!

Slice Of Life #282 - Travel to India - Tuesday, May 12th, 2020

Ahhh! Finally, something intresting! Let's jump right in...

Yesterday night from 7:30pm to 9:30pm, I went to India for a short break! Except that it was online. My dad decided to join a Tour India thing, so I decided to join him for some fun! What we got wasn't really what I expected to get, however. At first, I thought that we were going to "literally" tour India with 3D maps and buildings (using google maps or something like that). However, it was really just a powerpoint and a woman telling us all about India. However, overall, I thought that she did a pretty good job. I learnt a lot about India during those 2 short hours.

After the course, I decided to go and make brownies for me to eat during breakfast. That all went really well, except that I may or may not have filled the container so much that it overfilled...

This week, I'm also taking online courses in order to earn my chemistry merit badge for Boy Scouts. It started from yesterday and will be going on until this Thursday. So far, it's been going pretty well and I'm liking it a lot. I've learnt a lot as a chemist these past 2 days, and I can't wait for tomorrow's course.

I don't have much time left, so I'm going to end this week's slice here! Bye!

Slice Of Life #281 - Tomorrow's My Birthday! - Tuesday, May 5th, 2020

    Tomorrow's my birthday! I normally don't talk about my birthday in these types of posts (or do I? I forgot), but I have nothing to talk about other than my birthday, so it's worth talking about it. We're going to be ordering from one of my favourite restaurants, Sushi Kitchen. We don't really have any other way of celebrating my birthday tomorrow other than eating from that restaurant, mainly because we can't go outside due to the Movement Control Order (MCO).
    Life at home is starting to get very boring. I don't really have anything to do when I don't have school/classes. I'm going to try and finish a book that I've borrowed quite a while from the library this week, but probably not the book that I have on my kindle - mainly because that takes so long to read. I've spend hours reading it but have just reached chapter 5 (which is on page one thousand something)...
    I'm going to be keeping this post short because I don't really have much time left now. Bye!

Slice of Life #280 - MCO Extended Again! - Tuesday, April 28th, 2020

    Just a few days ago, the government announced the the Movement Control Order (MCO) was to be extended until May12. This means that I'm going to be celebrating my birthday in lockdown, which frankly, I don't want to have to do. It's not the best choice, but it's the only choice I have, so I'll take it. We'll be ordering from one of my favorite restaurants, Sushi Kitchen, in order to celebrate my birthday.
    Yesterday, I had my Malay IGCSE exam. I took my Paper 2 (comprehension) and Paper 4 (writing) exam virtually. It was pretty easy, and I think that I can get some pretty good grades.
    Other than that, I have nothing else to say, so I'm going to end the post here, mainly because it's starting to get late and also because I have nothing else to say. Bye!

Slice Of Life #279 - STILL Bored At Home - Tuesday, April 21st, 2020

    I will always remember the time when the COVID-19 virus was a pandemic. At first, I didn't really care about it, mainly because there weren't many cases in my home country, Malaysia. However, after reading lots of stories about our amazing frontline healthcare workers working very hard, and after not being able to go outside because of the virus (due to the lockdown), it really has impacted me in many different ways, even though I don't have it.
    I've been trying to keep busy recently by making some arts and crafts from simple things that can be found in my house. For example, I've made a wallet out of tape this Sunday. It probably would have looked a lot better if I used duct tape, which was what I was supposed to use. Unfortunately, I soon came to realize that I didn't have any tape at home, so I was forced to improvise and make it out of adhesive tape.
    I've also been reading a lot more before going to bed lately, but nothing more has happened than these two points. I still go to school and still watch the same science videos I said I was watching (link here if you don't know what I'm talking about). However, my life is also a lot more carefree now because I don't go to as many classes and after school activities anymore.
    Because of the lockdown, I don't really have much to say, so I'm going to end the post here (my posts are getting a lot boring-er, aren't they?

Slice Of Life #278 - Bored At Home - Tuesday, April 14th, 2020

The Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia has been extended by two weeks, and it's driving me crazy. The Movement Control Order currently imposed on all people residing in Malaysia is now in its 3rd stage. The MCO was originally supposed to last only 2 weeks, but it has been extended twice (to 6 weeks), and I think that they'll extend the MCO even more after the end of these two weeks.

This means that the reopening of schools all around Malaysia may be delayed even more because they aren't essential elements of society (they are, but schools being close for 6 weeks isn't a big deal because Malaysia is implementing virtual learning on all government schools and all other schools are also learning online). However, the Coronavirus situation in Malaysia has improved, 

Due to the MCO being extended, police are also raising the bar. There are now roadblocks everywhere and a reasonable reason to be out must be presented to get past. Unfortunately, these roadblocks can be found within a 10km radius, so they are causing havoc when it comes to traffic. I watched a video just about an hour ago of one of the roadblocks taken from a passenger on the MRT (train), and it was absolutely crazy. There was about 1km of traffic due to police checking each and every single car to make sure that they were out for a good reason.

Because of the MCO, I'm also pretty bored every day at home. I have nothing to do and school only lasts until 3:00pm (not that I want it to last any longer). Other than that, I don't have very many virtual classes other than school (I only have Malay), so I don't have anything to do except for homework, which usually doesn't take very long.

Unfortunately, nothing much has happened in my household in the past week, so I don't really have anything to write about other than the situation in Malaysia right now. However, the MCO is also kinda' good, because I now have much more free time to spend with my family. I usually don't get to spend this much time with my family on weekdays if it weren't for the MCO because my dad would be working and I would just be coming home from Malay class right now. Other than that, I can also sleep in because school starts at either 8:30 or 9:00, so I just have to wake up an hour earlier (I try to wake up at about 7:10am) and get ready for school - no travelling time means 1 hour saved!

Well, that's really all I have to say in today's post! I mean, what much is there to write about when you're stuck at home for 4 weeks? I haven't stepped outside the boundaries of my house for the past 4 weeks, so that means that I don't really have much to write about because life at home is pretty boring. I'll end this post here! Bye!

Slice Of Life #257 - Life As It Is - Tuesday, April 7th, 2020

8:50

  

I have just finished eating my breakfast. I have read a few pages on my kindle before breakfast, but now I'm going to go prepare for virtual learning, which is starting in 10 mins.

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8:55

  

I have just loaded the zoom link for my first timeslot of the day, which is humanities. My humanities teacher has already posted our agenda for today. Today's class probably won't be very long, as the agenda says:

- Book Sell Task Questions?

- Extra Elements of an Article - Maps

- Write your own News Article OR DEAR!

I don't think that there's going to be any questions, and I also think that the maps part of the class will be pretty short. Finally, the "write your own news article" part is individual, and I'm already done with it, so I 'm just going to DEAR (Drop Everything And Read).

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9:30

  

Humanities is over, and I've done all my homework for humanities (except for the book sell because that's going to take some time). I'm going to DEAR now.

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11:50

  

It's lunchtime! I'm going to go eat my lunch now, which is carbonara spaghetti. I'm looking forward to that!

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1:45

  

Now, we have office hours, which is like WIN (What I Need) Time. I've made a plan for what I'm going to be doing. First, I'll work on finishing my Spanish homework. That shouldn't take very long. Next, I'm going to be doing my science homework before working on my book sell for humanities. If I have time, I'm going to be doing my Malay homework that's due next Monday. I'm going to end this post here. Bye!

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Slice Of Life #256 - Lockdown - Tuesday, March 31st, 2020

    Currently, the Movement Control Order (MCO) is still in place, so I still can't go outside. Only adults can go outside, and it's only for important reasons (they're a healthcare worker, they're sick, they need to go buy food, etc). Because of that, I have only been able to walk out into our garage, which I haven't done a lot because there was never much to do there.
    However, I have managed to get myself occupied with more things. I try to keep myself busy so I won't be lazy when I go back to my normal, crazy schedule again. Other than that, I have also tried to do something productive during my free time because I find that it feels really satisfying once I'm done. I've been sleeping a little later than normal and waking up earlier than on holidays (not school days), which I like because it feels good to be waking up early - don't worry, I'm still getting all the sleep that I need.
    In the morning, I still have virtual school, except that all the classes are shorter and we get a lot more homework in some classes. Math homework is especially hard to do on the computer because I have to draw models on the computer, which takes you about 3 times longer than doing it on paper.
    Before virtual school starts at 9:00am, I try to wake up as early as I can - 7:30am would be nice - so that I can breathe in the fresh, clean morning air and feel the satisfaction of waking up early. Other than that, I also get to see the sun cover the whole sun in red and orange, a very satisfying view - and I get a really good view because I live at the top of a mountain. I do some reading, play the piano and catch up on a few interesting live-streams that I would like to watch live if I had the chance to, but unfortunately, the people are living in different time zones and therefore stream at different times.
    After virtual school, I attend any meetings or classes that I'm supposed to be at virtually. For example, today, I had a Novel Knockout meeting that started at 3:00pm. Sometimes, I also have Malay classes after school. If I don't have any classes after 3:00pm, then I try to do some things that are productive for a while. I am currently watching Sally Le Page's Evolution Live live-streams on evolution, Mark Rober's SCIENCE CLASS! live-streams, and Maddie Moate's Let's Go Live live-streams.
    And then, I do some more reading. After that, I just do whatever I feel like doing. And of course, I end my day by going to bed, ready for the next day.

Slice Of Life #255 - Movement Control Order - Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

    Currently, Malaysia is under partial lockdown due to the Coronavirus. The government is trying to limit contact between people, so, therefore, they have closed all unimportant things (things that aren't required for the community to succeed) and all important things (such as healthcare) are open. Because of that, I'm really, really bored, as I have nothing to do (schools closed). Normally, I would be at school (or virtual school), but this week's spring break, so I have nothing to do. I haven't stepped out of the gates of the house for about a week now, since last Wednesday.
    I only have a science project to work on that's due after spring break, and it's supposed to be a team project, but none of my teammates are working on it, which is driving me crazy! I don't really know what to write about now, as nothing much has been happening, so I'm going to wrap it up for now. Bye!

Slice Of Life #254 - IGCSE Oral Exam - Tuesday, March 17th, 2020

    My heart was beating fast and hard as if it was too big for my chest to contain it anymore. I took a few deep breaths, focusing on the task at hand.
    Before I even anticipated it, my invigilator came to the preparation room. "Hi, Zhi Hong," She said to me nicely. "I'm your examiner for today."
    I followed her into the examination room. She clicked the record button, then read out all my information, including my candidate number before we started the actual test. I was taken aback: I had no idea the test was going to be like that. I had practiced a lot before the test but had had no idea what the examiner was going to do during the actual exam.
    I was about to find out.
    "We will now start the role play," The examiner told me. She read out all the instructions in Malay and started talking to me. I played along as I was told to (I was given a card telling me what to do during the role play and 15 minutes to prepare so I would know what to do during the exam).
    After the role-play, it was time for my prepared topic, where I had written an essay about Chinese New Year and had memorized it in advance. I was most scared about this - I was scared about forgetting what I was going to say. Somehow, I managed to find the strength to remain calm even with the stressful circumstances. I said everything smoothly, without a single mistake.
    After that, it was time for the free talk, which was a conversation with the examiner. I found that part especially easy, as all the questions that the examiner asked me were easy to respond to. There were a few questions that posed a challenge to me, but I managed to get through them without the examiner knowing that I was being challenged by the question (I managed to hide it).
    In the end, I managed to get through the exam without a problem and went home happy!

Slice Of Life #253 - Life As It Is - Tuesday, March 10th, 2020

    Currently, as I am typing this, I am in the dining room eating a bun. I've just finished practicing my clarinet, and have just watched a few really funny violin videos. I don't have much time to write this post today, as I want to go to sleep, so this post will be a short one.
    Last Saturday, I had my music theory exam. Overall, I thought that it was pretty easy and that I think that I'm going to be pretty happy with my marks. I anticipated the actual exam to be a lot harder, but when I got the exam paper, I was relieved, as I realized how easy it was.
    Now, my next big exam coming up is my IGCSE Malay Oral Exam, which is taking place next Tuesday (March 17th). Overall, I think that I'm ready for the test and that I'm going to be able to score well.
    Tomorrow, I have a sentence fluency test in humanities, which shouldn't be too hard. I think that I'm going to be writing an argumentative piece on climate change explaining why climate change is the most serious problem all of humanity is facing right now and why we should help mitigate the impact of climate change on all of us.
    Now, I'm going to end this post here because I don't really have anything to say anymore. Bye!

Slice Of Life #252 - Tests, More Tests, and Even More Tests - Tuesday, March 3rd, 2020

    Tests, More Tests, and Even More Tests. That is my life right now, which is what's keeping me busy all the time now. This Friday, I have a summative math test coming up, so I'm going to need to do a little bit of revision. I'm not too worried about it, as I think that I'm going to do pretty well. I just want to do a little bit of revision on my reasoning, because I always strive for a good grade on my reasoning.
    This weekend, I have a music test coming up. I will be going to take my ABRSM Grade 4 Theory test this Saturday in the morning. Because of this, I also have lots of revision to do, as I would like to be able to score another distinction (let's keep the streak going!). Fortunately, after that, I will be going to Ipoh to go relax in the natural hot springs there because my allergies are starting to flare up, and relaxing in these hot springs usually helps my allergies get better (I think it's due to the salt in the water).
    Next Wednesday (no, not tomorrow, the following one), I also have another humanities test coming up on sentence fluency. I will do a little bit of revision to refresh my memory, but I'm also pretty confident that I'll be fine. I don't know why the sentence fluency test is being held at this time of the year, as it's the start of a new trimester, and report cards are out this weekend, so it's too late for the teachers to add anything new to it. Usually, a test like this would be more towards the end of the year because the teachers would be able to use it for writing report cards (well, at least for me it makes sense because the test would still be fresh in their minds).
    Finally, next, next Tuesday, I have a Malay IGCSE Oral Test coming up. Usually, Malaysians take this test in Grade 8, but I think that I'm ready for it, so I'll be taking it early. Therefore, I will also have to do some preparation in advance to prepare for the test.
    That's all that I know about my tests for now. I'll keep you updated whenever I can! Now I have to go do some preparation for all my tests!

Slice Of Life #251 - A Conquered Trimester - Tuesday, Feburary 25th, 2020

    As we are nearing the end of this week, we are also coming to the end of this trimester. A new trimester is about to come, and I'm a little sad and happy. I'm going to be forced to move on to a new class (my wheel classes - service learning, health, and drama - last only one trimester each), which means that I won't be having the same classmates in my wheel class because in middle school, we follow a rotational schedule, which means that each student won't have the same classmates for each class (it's just like college). However, I am happy because my last wheel class is drama, which students say is the best class, so I'm looking forward to be pounded by heaps of fun. Report cards are coming out this weekend too, so all the teachers are busy working on report cards when they're free. Fortunately, the transition from the 2nd to 3rd trimester isn't the usual time when students say goodbye, which I reckon is a good thing, as leaving your friends is never a nice thing to have to do. Lots of people find the transitions between trimesters a little sad because they will be forced to change after school activities as some activities usually last for a trimester only. However, I'm not finding it sad because all the activities I'm in this trimester are going to be an activity next trimester!

    I think that this year's been an amazing year so far, and I can't wait to see what new opportunities await me in the 3rd trimester!

Slice Of Life #250 - Currently - Tuesday, February 18th, 2020

Currently...

• Trains are whistling us a greeting as they whizz by.
• The station is shouting: Ding, dong, ding, dong!
• Motorcycles are growling, getting prepared for a new journey.
• Cars are roaring as we they speed past.
• Trees are swaying about in the breeze, as if they were greeting us.
• The sun is setting, casting a orange and pinkish glow over the sky.
• Our car is calming down and going into "rest mode" as we get out of it.

Slice Of Life #249 - MAP Testing - Tuesday, Feburary 11th, 2020

    What is going on? I thought to myself when I opened up the NWEA Secure Testing Browser. I was showing me five words: Oops, where's your testing browser?
    What do you mean, where's your testing browser? I mumbled as if the computer was a living being. It should be right here, if it wasn't for you!
    "Um, Ms. Saylany, it isn't working for me," I told my math and science teacher, also my proctors for this test.
    "Ugh..." She groaned. "Go see the tech person."
    I went outside and the man eventually fixed my problem, but when I started the test and was on the 3rd question, my screensaver kicked in, which, turned out to be a big problem. Since the testing browser was super secure, it was supposed to lock everything on my computer down and deny my access to any outside browsers. However, it did allow my screensaver to go on, and once I was on that screensaver, I couldn't get out.
    I frantically clicked the trackpad to find a way to get out. Unfortunately, I was forced to force quit my computer and log into the secure browser again, but fortunately my progress wasn't lost.
    The first few questions were easy, but as I answered more and more questions, the questions started to get harder. It wasn't long before I was getting excerpts from Shakespeare's work and reading speeches about economic growth and war from former presidents a long time ago such as the Gettysburg Address.
    I went through each question slowly and thoroughly and answered each question to the best of my ability. As I neared the 40th question, I started to get nervous. There were about 40 questions in the test. I was about to get my score.
    Finally, the time came. At first, I was a little disappointed, as I thought I had went down in score, but soon I realized I was thinking of the wrong number. Indeed, I had gone up! I smiled as I went to my teacher to give her my score.

Slice Of Life #248 - No Class - Tuesday, February 4th, 2020

    Every day at WIN (What I Need) Time, I go to take Malay Lessons from Mrs. Rajes, my Malay teacher. This was because I was going to be taking the IGCSE Malay test soon, and I needed to do some preparation ahead of time.
    However, yesterday, I had thought it was Tuesday (but it was Monday), which meant that the next day would have been Wednesday (or I thought so, at least). Because of this, I told my Malay teacher that there was not going to be any WIN Time today (hey, in my defense, it wasn't on purpose. I mean, everyone makes mistakes), as usually on Wednesdays we have an assembly instead of WIN Time in middle school.
    Well, to my surprise, when I walked into the class today for my Malay lessons, all I saw were all the other students, but not the teacher. I then realized that I had made a mistake yesterday, as today was Tuesday, not Wednesday.

PS: I'm sorry...

Slice Of Life #247 - Chinese New Year - Tuesday, January 28th, 2020

    "Thank you very much," I told one of my relatives, accepting a red packet from him. I added the red packet to my pile of red packets.
    I was in Ipoh, my dad's hometown to celebrate Chinese New Year. I liked Chinese New Year, not only because I got red packets, but also because it also allowed me to rest. It also gave me extra time to do homework (which, honestly, doesn't really apply to me because I complete all my homework before Chinese New Year to avoid having to do homework during holidays like this).
    I also loved going back to Ipoh, as I got to go eat at amazing vegan restaurants that have things (such as cakes) that are vegan that cannot (or are hard to) be found in Selangor.
    Unfortunately, this year, we only had 3 days (including the weekend) of holidays because of Chinese New Year (sad), which didn't allow me to go back to Ipoh for too long.
    I like to open my red packets after Chinese New Year, which means that I have to wait for 18 more days before I can open the red packet - which is really testing my patience. For now, that's what I'm gonna' do. Wait for 18 days to pass until I can finally open my red packets. That's all for now!

Slice Of Life #246 - Badminton - Tuesday, January 14th, 2020

    I smashed the ball hard, then took two steps to the middle of the court. I turned quickly and ran towards the net to hit a drop shot. Then, I turned again and repeated the same thing.
    I was at my badminton class. My teacher was a person who used to play doubles for the Malaysian team. "Come on!" He urged me. "Keep going!"
    I was taking badminton lessons more frequently now, especially because my teacher wanted to train up my skills in certain areas because he thought that I had the potential to train in his "elite group". Today, he was training my ability to react to drop shots and hit the ball to the back of the court to try and make the opponent run.
    My badminton coach's goal for me was to hit 20 consecutive shots running back and forth, but I had passed that goal by a lot, as I was already at 80 shots. I breathed short, shallow breaths as I ran back and forth, clutching my badminton racket.
    Time flew as I hit the ball again and again. Finally, I managed to get to 150 consecutive shots before my coach stopped me. "Great job," He said.
    I grinned from ear to ear. I had done it.

Slice Of Life #245 - Happy New Year! - Tuesday, January 7th, 2020

    I know that this title would have been better last week, but last week, I happened to be in China, where I couldn't access Google, so I couldn't slice. I currently am sitting at the dining table, eating my breakfast. I'm eating it later now because it's the holidays and I'm waking up later (not really a good thing), so I'm eating later. My mom's made pretty good pasta for me to eat this morning, but the drink tastes pretty bad because she put some turmeric in it (just trying new things).
    China was pretty fun. I got to go to Lijiang and Kunming, where there was lots of beautiful scenery every time we turned a corner. I managed to get some pretty good photos because of the good scenery there. In Lijiang, I got to go to the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Black Dragon Pool (see picture above).

This picture wasn't taken by me, but I had taken an almost identical one from the same place. The picture here is taken from the Black Dragon Pool, a national park in China. If you look closely, you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain covered with snow looming in the distance.

    In Kunming, I got to go see the Stone Forest, which basically is a forest of stone, if you look at the picture below. We spent a whole day there before leaving to go back to Malaysia. The stone forest used to be located in an ocean, but the water from the ocean caused the rock to erode and eventually, the rocks started to look like this (with some help from tectonic plates, of course). In some places in the forest, you still can see some lakes and fallen rocks due to earthquakes, making the Stone Forest a really interesting place.

This is the bird's eye view of Stone Forest, although not all places in the forest are like that. There are lots of very interesting places in this stone forest, and I hope that you have a chance to go there sometime!

    Well, this pretty much wraps up what I have to say this week. Bye!