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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #241 - Tents in the Rain - Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019

    I opened my eyes and yawned. I stretched my arms wide and looked outside. I saw lots of tents already set up, with lots of kids running around, having lots of fun. Finally, I thought to myself. We're here!

    Along with the others, I got off the bus. 

    "Patrol leaders," Our scoutmaster, Scoutmaster Graham, said to us. "Please come with me."

    Because I was a patrol leader, I went with Scoutmaster Graham. It turned out that we needed to choose a camping spot for our patrol. We decided to camp in one big circle just for that sense of safety (I don't know about you, but I feel safer that way). Scoutmaster Graham then told us that it was now up to us patrol leaders to coordinate setting up the tents.

    "Guys, if you're in my patrol, please come with me!" I told my patrol. "We need to set up the tents."

    Everyone in my patrol followed. Suddenly, I heard a loud, rumbling sound. I looked up to where it had come from. I saw grey clouds overhead. They looked as if they were staring down at me like they were about to do something bad.

    And indeed, they did. There were only mere seconds before I felt the small drops of water plummet down to the ground. Before I felt the rain speaks to me in a language I couldn't understand. Before I felt like the rain was shouting at me and asking me to run away.

    And so, I did. I ran towards one of the cars to unload the tents. "Run, everyone!"

    I sprinted like my life depended on it. Now it had seemed like the sky had revealed it's sheer power, the rain really tormenting us now. It seemed like the rain had some communication to the ground too, with countless muddy puddles on the ground.

    I snatched a tent from the car, ran to the piece of flat ground that we were going to put it in, and ripped open the bag. My friend quickly pulled the tent out and quickly laid it on the ground.

    Great, I thought to myself. Now our tent is wet.

    I started to frantically connect the tent poles as fast as I could. After connecting them, I frantically put the poles into the flaps for them in the tent. I raised the tent and staked it to the ground. Fortunately, my friend helped put the rain fly on before even more water got into the tent.

   "Get in!" I shouted to my friend.

    I lied down inside the tent and wiped myself off with my towels. After that, I didn't do anything for a good 3 minutes, relaxing and enjoying the amazing sound of the rain trickling off my tent.

Slice Of Life #240 - Dale Carnegie - Tuesday, November 25th, 2019

    On Sunday, I went to attend the Dale Carnegie course. Apparently, this course is supposed to be a "motivational course", but it really stresses how to become the best you you can be. I had skipped at school trip to the MPO (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra) to go attend this course (which I was very sad about, but according to my friends it was a little boring - one of my friends who I will call T (he was in my class in 3rd grade) slept through the whole performance, according to him).
    I learned how to approach people and make friends with people. We learned about many things such as how to remember things better and how to be better prepared for an exam. We learned about some things that were essential to help bond friendships and to make people like you better as a friend and thought about who we wanted to apply those rules towards to get to know those people better.
    My parents were the ones who recommended me to go for this course. They had gone to this course in 2013, and they thought that it was really good and that it was going to be useful for me later on in my life, so they told me to go for the course. At first glance (so far, at least), I think that the course is pretty good and that the information that I learn will be useful for me later on in life. I'm actually attending the course for 13-17 year-olds, but my parents think that I'm mature enough for the course, so they let me attend the course. I was originally going to attend the English course, but the English course got canceled due to a lack of people, so I changed to the Chinese course. My goal is to win the Highest Achievement Award mainly because my dad earned it in his class, but also I want to grow as a learner in general anyways. If I don't earn the award, I won't be too sad (mainly because everyone in the class is at least 2 years older than me - I'm pretty sure 2 years older, but I'm the youngest in the class).
    I also got my own copy of the books How to Win Friends and Influence People and How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. Now, we have three copies of these books (because my parents also got them when they attended the course). My dad also has some books that cannot be bought in a normal bookstore because he earned those books by talking lots and giving good answers to questions in his class.
    Once I finish this course, every member of my family will have completed this course (because my mom and dad already attended this course before). I'm excited for next Sunday and what I'm going to learn in the course!

Slice Of Life #239 - High Achievers Award - Tuesday, November 19th, 2019

    "Chan Zhi Hong, High Achievers Award." The emcee said as I walked up the stage. I gave the woman a firm handshake.

    "Congratulations," She said to me as she handed me my certificate.

    "Thank you," I said, walking down the stage.

    I had been selected for the High Achievers Award for piano in my respective grade. I had successfully managed to secure 98% on my grade 1 piano practical exam. To get the High Achievers Award, you had to secure the 2nd highest score in your respective grade in your state (which means that someone got at least 99% on their exam - like, how?).

    I had managed to secure the 2nd highest score along with a few others in this section (3 others got the same grades as me), and therefore had earned the High Achievers Award, which was why I was at this auditorium with lots of other talented musicians to claim my award.

    I had woken up early that morning and ate a light breakfast (I didn't feel like having a heavy breakfast). My piano teacher had also come to watch me claim this award.

    There were many people performing at the event. The performers were all award winners, and honestly, they were all a lot better than me.

    There were also two people who managed to claim the exhibition award. They had managed to get the highest marks in the whole country to get this award. There was also one last award, but I forgot the name of the award. To get this, you had to get the most marks and best grade for your category.

    I was (and still am) very satisfied with the results that I've got in my exam. I'm going to keep working hard and I hope that I can earn this award next time.

Slice Of Life #238 - Love Beyond Boundaries - Wednesday, November 13th, 2019

    The moment I walked into that school and saw the snaking long line of people, I knew I wanted to help. I couldn't help but paint a smile on my face as multiple kids and adults thanked me for coming to help.
    Those kids, those adults, they were stateless people. Officially, they didn't have an identity, but unofficially, they were good, hardworking people that deserved to be recognized by the government. They had come here to seek a better life and make a living, but had come here illegally. They had stayed here for generations and generations, to the point where they didn't "belong" to any country anymore. They weren't recognized as a citizen of a country. 
    And me, I had come here to help them. I had come with my parents to help them and offer them help in any way possible, primarily when it came to healthcare. This was a yearly event, but as soon as my parents offered me this chance to go and help them and also take a glimpse at their lives, I knew I wanted to do so.
    They had no idea who I was, and I had no idea who they were, but at that point, it didn't matter. We didn't see differences, but instead saw similarities. I knew that we all were human beings, and that we were all  equally important. I was going to help, and I was going to help from the bottom of my heart.
    We had come with a non-profit organization called the Tzu Chi Foundation. Every year, an outreach like this would be organized by them. Volunteers from Tawau (where the outreach is being held) and Kuala Lumpur would come to help these stateless people live a better life.
    Lots of things were happening around the school. The dentists were carefully looking at everyone's teeth. The doctors were carefully inspecting the patients and making sure that they were in good condition and hopefully were thriving. The Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM) doctors were performing acupuncture, focusing on every move they made. I watched lots of committed adults help wash kids' hair to make sure that their hair was free from lice.
    I noticed that lots of kids had lice, and I think that this is because of their unfortunate living conditions. They don't have access to clean water or shampoo to clean themselves. They also don't have the privilege of bathing everyday.
    When I realized this, I realized that we really are lucky. For most of us, having access to clean water or shampoo is not a privilege. Most of us have access to that and use it everyday. In fact, it's become a norm for us to take a bath with soap everyday. But these people, they don't have access to this thing that we use everyday.
    I was assigned to help out at the pharmacy department. At first, I was confused because of the variety of medicines that were on offer to the refugees. I watched as many hands frantically scribbled down letters and words, labeling each and every bottle of medicine.
    When reading the doctor's notes so that we would be able to see what we needed to dispense to the patients, I've noticed that lots of them suffer from illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension. Some of them needed lots of medicine - some of them took 8 tablets of a specific type of medicine everyday.
    Because of that, I've learned that we are lucky. We all have a nice and comfortable life. We all have access to basic needs such as healthcare. Because of that, we can get all our problems/illnesses solved before they get worse. But this isn't the case for not only these stateless people, but also lots more people around the world. We all take this for granted sometimes. Because while we all are lucky and fortunate enough to have access to healthcare, on the other side of the world, there are many people who don't.
    I also helped measure the kids' height and weight. I used that information to roughly calculate their BMI (their body fat). Some of them were really skinny and had a pretty low BMI. I think that this is because of how they were suffering from malnutrition.
    I also got to take a glimpse at their daily lives and their living conditions. At the same time, we conducted home-visits. If the people were too sick or couldn't come to us at the site to receive medical treatment, then we would go to them at their house to help them.
    I saw some people selling bags of what looked like ice cream or popsicles, but found out that inside those bags were oil, not ice cream. If they found a ringgit or two on the floor, they would be able to buy some oil for cooking purposes. I then realized why. Buying oil in large amounts would cost lots of money, and they couldn't afford all that. They didn't have as many rights as us, so they didn't receive as much salary as us.
   They also didn't have very good living conditions. We had to walk across unstable wooden bridges to get to their houses. I was really careful not to fall off them. They had branched out into the sea (close to the shore) for more land to build houses. Most families only stayed in a small part of a house because they shared the house with other families. Only fortunate families had a whole house to themselves. Some of their houses weren't very clean either. I thought of my family and our house. We were 3 people staying in a house a lot larger than theirs. I had a whole room to myself. But my room was the size of a family's house in the village. They slept in that tiny space. I couldn't imagine sleeping in such a small room with lots of people. It would be extremely crowded, I thought, bearing in mind that one family had about 4 kids on average. Some fortunate families had a whole house to themselves, but usually, that was only because they had an extremely large family. I remember meeting a mother who had just given birth to a baby, but her oldest child was about 20/30 years old (I forgot the age) because she gave birth to a baby almost every year.
    I also met another kid who suffered from what the doctors think is scabies. His hair was also white and looked like it had got infected or something (this is something different, not scabies). Some of his hair had also fallen off. I don't know why this happened to him, but I think (and the doctors also suspect) that it was because of the poor living conditions and the fact that he didn't get to take a bath very often. Even when he could take a bath, it was usually with dirty water, which could possibly explain why he had scabies.
    I've learned that we are lucky. We all have the basic needs that we need and all have rights in this world. But these people don't. They have escaped from their country, and have lived here for many generations, therefore becoming stateless. Their identity has been taken away from them. We are very lucky to be able to live such a nice and comfortable life, but on the other side of the world, we don't know much about the lives of people that are not as fortunate as us. While most of us are aware that there are lots of people who aren't as fortunate as us, but never go and take a glimpse at their lives to experience and see their real suffering and what they have all gone through.
    There is a closed door isolating this information from all of us. But if we take a step and open that closed door and step away from our nice and comfortable life, we will find that on the other side, there are lots of people who are not as fortunate as us, and live a life anything but comfortable. But if we do commit to help these people, I truly believe that the world will become a better place for all of us and future generations to come. And I think that this should be our main priority. To take care of not only ourselves and this place, but to also take care of others so that our world will advance and thrive, and the world will become a better place for all of us.

Slice Of Life #232 - Home, at Last - Tuesday, October 1st, 2019

    I held my book, water bottle, and soap tightly in my hands. I closed the door and locked it. I then walked to the table in the middle to drop my stuff.

    This is what happens almost every time I go home. I drop my books in the table in the living room, drop my other stuff on the dining table, and go wash my hands and legs.

    This is what happened today when I got home. Today, I got home at about 8:15pm because I had Chinese and Malay classes until 8:00pm. Fortunately, this only happens on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I get home at about 9:15pm on Thursday because I have Jazz Band as an after school activity and Chinese as an after after school activity. After that, I have to go to my Malay class for two hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days I hope for no or less homework. 

    I don't mind having lots of homework on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays because I have enough time to complete them on time. I may not have a lot of time to complete my homework on Friday, but at least the homework given on Friday is almost always due Tuesday or later.

    Today was the type of day when the world did me a favor - giving me almost no homework. There was some math homework today, but I have already finished it during WIN (What I Need) time at school - thanks so much for WIN Time; it's so useful.

    Now, I don't have any homework that is due this week (so far, at least), so I'm going to start working on my band homework after this. I'm almost done with my humanities homework, where I have to finish Wonder and write 6 sentences to summarize the section (I'm reading Wonder for the 2nd time and the book just gets better). All my homework is due on Monday next week, so I have a lot of time to do it, but I won't postpone doing it (welcome to my world!). I am hoping to finish all my homework today.

    I am expecting some more homework tomorrow, but only from humanities class. I don't think there will be any homework for science. There may be some homework for Spanish class, but usually Spanish homework is pretty easy and doesn't take a lot of time, so it shouldn't be a problem. I am not expecting any homework from band because we already have some homework that is due on Monday.

    Now, my mom needs to use the computer (my school computer has been "locked" because the school set parental controls - which is so annoying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - and it "locks" everyday at 8:30pm (except for the weekends), so I have to go now!

Slice Of Life #226 - Middle School - Tuesday, August 8th, 2019

    I've just came back from middle school. Today is the second week of middle school, but we have already done our reading and math MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) test. Tomorrow, we don't have any tests (which is a great relief), but we have a test on language usage on Thursday.

    In middle school, everyone has a really heavy backpack (or most people do, at least) because of all the supplies we have to bring to school everyday. We need a bunch of A4 notebooks now (which are a lot heavier than you think it is) for school. According to our math teacher, we need the thickest notebook we can find for math because we are going to be using a lot of paper for math this year.

    For us, middle school is like university. We have a 10-minute break between classes, where we have to walk to other classes. The teachers don't come to us. Instead, we go to them.

    Other than that, I haven't met a lot of people (from grade 5) in middle school yet. I think this is because all of our classes are in different orders, and we all have different classes (some people may have drama, while I don't - for this trimester, at least).

    I have completed most of my homework at school already (YAY!), but still have some math homework to do. I also have to practice my clarinet, so I'm just going to wrap up this post right now because I don't really have anything else to write about. See you next week!

Slice Of Life #225 - The First Day Of School - Tuesday, August 8th, 2019

    I looked at a piece of paper to confirm my homeroom. My mom was chatting with her friend. "I'm gonna' go up first!" I said to my mom. "Bye!"
    My mom waved goodbye to me and continued talking. I walked up the stairs to my locker.  I opened it, put my bags inside, set the combination and locked it. I pushed open the glass doors to the common area.
    Inside, I saw some of my friends on the sofa, chatting. I went over to join them. After a while, my mom came up just to check on me and see where the grade 6 common area was. She looked into my locker to see how big it was and how much space was in there. After that, she left for home.
    At 7:55, I walked to my homegroup. Me and my friends walked into the room and started talking (because we had nothing else to do). At homegroup, we got some information about the whole day. At 8:10, we left homegroup for our first class. Because today was day 1, I would have periods 1, 3, 5, and 7. I would start my day with period 1, which was Spanish. I made my way up to the 4th floor, where all the language arts were.
    After Spanish, I had a 10-minute break, where I didn't really have time to do anything. I had to make my way down the 1st floor, which was where my lockers were. I put in anything that I didn't need and got everything that I needed (or thought I needed, at least).
    After period 2, we had a welcome back assembly. After the welcome back assembly, we had lunch.
Then, I had period 3 (and I did not know which class I had - math or science - because I did not check my schedule - but I knew that we weren't gonna' do anything in the 1st class - and math and science were in the same class. After period 3, I had period 4, which was humanities. Humanities class was slightly shorter this time because we had a Green Team (which was my house - Green Team's the best!) get together. At the end of the get-together, I got my ID card. After that, I went to the library to borrow a book - which I already finished - and went home.
    And that was how my first day of school unfolded.

Slice Of Life #224 - At The Clinic - Tuesday, August 6th, 2019

    Currently, I am at the clinic. I attempted to sign in to my private account to write this post, but Google kept asking me for the a verification code and stuff like that. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that because my mom wasn't around (and she had the phone). I called her but she said she didn't receive anything and we tried different ways but it didn't work.
    Because of that, I have to use my school account to write this post. I wanted to use my private account because I would be able to do some writing after I wrote this post. Unfortunately, now I can't do any writing because all my work and stories are in my private account.
    I am currently at my dad's clinic because my mom is doing some things outside. Okay... The AC just turned off for no reason. I'm gonna go and turn it back on.
    I'm back. Now, I don't know what to write about. I'm reading on my Kindle. Oh, wait... I said that I was gonna write about my trip to Taiwan last week.
    Last week, I came back from Taiwan, where I went to a summer camp. At the summer camp, I got to experience the outdoors. The summer camp was a "farming camp", and so on the first day we played a few games that were widely played in rural areas.
    On the 2nd day, we went to a pineapple farm and an organic farm. At the pineapple farm, we got to eat as many pineapples as we wanted. At the organic farm, we got a lot of free food (in exchange for the fact that we had to "work" for them). We also helped them harvest vegetables.
    On the 3rd day, we we went to a beach and also a place where they would grow trees and use them to make things. We had a lot of fun at the beach, but unfortunately I forgot to charge my watch, so it "died" at the beach. My watch is alive now because I charged it when I got back. We also went to a place where they would take naturally grown trees (I forgot the species) and would make them into clothes and things like that.
    On the 4th day, we went clam catching and fishing. We did fishing the way the indigenous people did it. They would build houses for the fish and the fish would live in it. Then, when they needed food, they would catch the fish and eat it.
    On the 5th and final day, we went to a rice farm, where we learned about how they packaged rice, how they harvested it and how they made it white rice (basically stuff like that). After that, we went home.
    And that's basically what happened. I'm gonna go now. Bye!

Slice Of Life #222 - A Piano Exam

    I took a deep breath as I walked into the examination room. "Good afternoon, Madam," I said to the examiner.
    Today was a big day. In the morning, I had my Moving on Ceremony, where I got my certificate for completing elementary school. Now, I was taking my grade 2 piano practical test.
    "Please take a seat right over there," The examiner told me.
    I walked towards the piano and put my music on the stand. I opened it up to my 1st piece.
    "Let's start with Balleto, your first piece. You may start whenever you're ready."
    I placed my hands on the keyboard and started playing my first piece. I finished playing my first piece with a few mistakes, but not very obvious mistakes. Next up was my 2nd piece, The Ballerina. Somehow, I messed up in the middle and couldn't keep playing on, so I had to restart, which was extremely disappointing because I played that piece the best. I played the 3rd piece almost perfectly, so I was happy about that.
    Next up were my exercises. I had selected an exercise to play (the easiest one), and managed to play it perfectly. My examiner had the privilege to select my 2nd exercise. Fortunately, she selected the 2nd easiest, and I also played that perfectly.
    Next, the examiner came and asked me for my favorite piece. I showed her my favorite piece. She asked me a few questions about the piece. I was able to answer them all correctly (for some reason, she asked me really easy questions).
    After that, I played my scales. Scales are a set of notes in different keys. You would play either one octave or two octaves (for me, I had to play all my scales for two octaves). Overall, I played my scales correctly. My index finger slipped while I was playing a scale, but I managed to recover.
    Last but not least, I had my aural. I actually did pretty well in my aural test, because I got all questions correct except for one.
    "Your test is over," My examiner said to me. "You may go home now."
    "Thanks," I told the examiner. "Have a great weekend!"
    "Indeed, I will."
    I clutched my book tight as I opened the door and walked towards the waiting room, where my mom was waiting for me. The test was finally over.

Slice Of Life #216 - Chinese Chess - Tuesday, June 4th, 2019

    Okay... My chess class is over. Today, I had my Chinese Chess class, and I have to say, I learned a lot. The person that teaches me chess is an "international grand master". He competes internationally and arises as the champion in almost all of the competitions he attends.
    Before class, I was working on my Free Choice Writing Project (FCWP) so that I could get it finished before the end of the school year. I would then be able to publish it and have it put in the "5DH Library".
    I had gone down about 15 minutes before 7:00 (the time my chess class was supposed to start) to get my chess set out and organize everything. After that, I sprinted back up the stairs, taking them 2 by 2, just to get up so I could work on my FCWP.
    I finished writing chapter 11 of my FCWP when I heard the sound of a doorbell. Again, I sprinted, but this time down the stairs (*Please do not sprint up or down the stairs at home. In fact, don't sprint up or down the stairs anywhere. You could get seriously injured and you may or may not end up with a broken body part.*). I watched as my teacher came into my house.
    We started to play some chess. I improved every time I played it. I moved my horse. "Thank you!" My teacher said as he ate my horse with an elephant (I'm playing Chinese Chess, and Chinese Chess is different from normal chess).
    "Dang..." I said. I made another move, eating a soldier with my car. My teacher moved his horse.
    We kept on playing. After a while, my teacher told me that I had already won. All I had to do was move my car down. My cannon was positioned in a spot where I could eat the king if he moved to the left, and my horse could eat the king if he moved forward. Now that my car was in position, the king couldn't go anywhere without being eaten.
    We played one more round of chess. After that, my teacher started teaching me a few things. He put a few chess pieces on the chess board. "Do you know how to win?" He asked me.
    I started messing around and trying to figure out how to win, but after about 3 minutes, I asked my teacher how to win. "Look, it's pretty easy. You mark this elephant. The elephant will move up. Because you are already marking the elephant, you eat it. If the other elephant decides to eat you, your king can afly over and eat the other king. Then, you can win."
    He started testing me to make sure I understood. When I didn't know what piece to move (and it was a really easy decision), he would make me think so that I would remember it for a long time.
    "Don't worry if you forget what to do. We're humans, not computers. Computers will never forget things, but humans will." My teacher told me.
    He kept on teaching me new things. After that, we played another match. And just like that, my class was over.
    I had learned a lot today.

Slice Of Life #215 - Camping - Tuesday, May 28th, 2019

    I opened the boot of the car to take out my camping gear. Today, I was going to be going camping with my Boy Scout troop. I saw my friends waiting for me in the elementary foyer. I walked into the parents' lounge, where we were all waiting because it had an air-conditioner. Estefano, one of my patrol-mates, was playing a really weird game.
    After a while, we transported all our materials to the cars and the buses. The bus ride was really cool and fun. We saw a plane that was a balloon, so the plane was just levitating up in the air, and we laughed at it for a pretty long time. Now that I think about it, I really don't know why it was funny, but it was just really funny.
    We also played truth or dare, and we dared Toby, one of my friends, to lick his palm. The next time he chose dare, it then became lick a palm tree (Toby hasn't licked one yet, but I doubt he's going to do it anyways).
    After the bus ride, we unpacked everything from the car. As soon as we came down from the bus, it was immediately a bloody battle between us and the insects. I took out my insect repellent and sprayed it on myself.
    We found a good spot to camp and started to set up our tents. After we set up our tents, we went to cook our lunch. I then realized that I forgot to eat my breakfast, so I ended up eating it for lunch. We talked to each other for a while after lunch, then went to wash our utensils.
    When everyone was here, we crossed the road to a clearing next to the beach, where we did some rank advancement. We learned new things so that we could get to the rank of Scout in Boy Scouting.
    I was one of the first people to finish all the requirements, so I then went to have a Scoutmaster Conference with Scoutmaster Graham. After that, I went with our Senior Patrol Leader, Christen, to work on the Totin' Chip, which allows you to use a pocketknife, saw, and axe when you go on other camps with your troop.
    I managed to earn the Totin' Chip, so I then went to play at the beach with a few of my friends. We saw a whole "crab army" - we saw at least 25,000 small crabs. After playing on the beach for a few hours, we went back to the campsite to make dinner. For dinner, we were having hamburgers. I helped cut the burgers in half. Edwin did all the cooking, and Leo put the ham and vegetables inside the burger. Because I was vegetarian, I ate burgers with only vegetables in them.
    After that, we built a campfire and started it. We told each other jokes and performed the skits that we had organized under short notice. We planned it over a course of 2 minutes and never practiced it...
    We saw 5 satellites flying together over us, and so we went to the beach to check it out. We also saw Mars and Uranus from the campsite.
    Sleeping was really hard to do. I managed to sleep for a few hours, but then woke up because lots of other people also couldn't sleep and started chatting to each other - really loudly. They then started to play The Game of Life on an Ipad, which was even more annoying because they started talking even more.
    When we woke up the next day, it was a fierce battle between us and the mosquitoes again. The first thing we did was to take down our tents. Next, we went to boil water for breakfast because we were having instant noodles. I ended up eating 2 cups of instant noodles and a slice of bread. We also made ham and cheese sandwiches.
    After that, we did a quick sweep around the large campsite to pick up trash. After that, we went home. Those 2 days were 2 really fun and meaningful days, as I had earned my Scout rank and Totin' Chip.