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...