My apologies

Candle-lit faces, Candle-lit gazes

Last night was AUSMAT 21's grand dinner. I went and that is to be considered an achievement (yeah, boo-hoo I'm a loser). I mean, I paid RM80 and all. I believe, it's the first time I ever went to any social gathering (of such scale) quite so willingly. I really wanted to see everybody all dressed up and happy and stuff.

It was nice. I don't know. I wimped out when everybody started singing at the end of the dinner. I left. It was dark so people didn't really notice.

It was dark because the committee planned a surprise gift thingy for the lecturers. They gave twenty of us one of those small perfumed candles and had another twenty carrying roses and a small gift follow us in the dark to where the lecturers sat. The candle bearers stood in a circle around the lecturers' table, the gift bearers handed their gifts, then the lecturers blew each of the candles out. Pagan much? Hahah. Naww, it was nice. Some of the lecturers actually cried and that probably worthed much more than RM80 I'd say.

It was after the candle-gift event that the singing started. It was still dark while I made my getaway. Pretty darn rude of me to sneak off like that and not tell my classmates. They looked nice in the diffused light and I want to remember them like that. I only bid farewell to Alia (fellow victim of Otago's mass interview slaughter session. Egh, I'm just sore. Ignore me). She insisted that I at least say goodbye to the others but I just gave her hand another squeeze, an apologetic smile and left.

I bet she cried when the singing ended. She's such a nice person and she always cries when things gets a bit, uh, 'feely' and I don't want to see her cry. Saw her cry plenty of times already. After the interview, after the interview results came out, at the class party... so none of that for me.

Blame my conspicuous avoidant nature but really I just don't want to say goodbye and that's that. Hopefully, I won't ever have to say goodbye to any of them at any point in the near or not-so-near future. Let everything stay as if we'll all just meet up in class tomorrow (though thank god NOT! Haha).

Thus the end of the College phase. What's next remains to be seen.

_________________________________________________

P.S:

I've finished reading 3 of my Big Bad Wolf purchases. One was crappy (Exurbia by Molly McGrann), the other two were absolutely brilliant (The Reminder by Rune Michaels & Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell). Also, Beat The Reaper has this 'medical/mobster' game at its website. If you have nothing to do, then do click.

Exurbia was an unplanned purchase anyway. *sigh* Never judge 'Young Adult' books by their covers. Never. Not that Exurbia's cover is particularly attractive anyway though.

Liberty

I have officially finished the South Australian Matriculation (S.A.M). The results of my South Australian Certificate of Education (S.A.C.E) shall be known on the 16th December 2010.

What more is there to say? :)

To celebrate, here's something I wrote sometime during SPM. Form 4 and 5 seemed to last decades instead of two years. I remember scribbling this in one of my notebooks while studying. Those days, I care not to return to them. SPM was, IS, a nightmare. Sheesh.

Liberty

Can you smell it?

The scent wafting towards us,

Sweet and delicious,

Perfume of 'freedom'.

Can you feel it?

Tugging at our toes,

Teasingly soft caresses,

Of awaited 'Liberation'.

Can you hear it?

Whispering our names,

Beseechingly silent,

The winds of 'Release'.

Can you see it?

Just over the horizon,

Fleeting glimpses,

Of dawning 'Liberty'.

Run we must not,

Savour the flavour,

These cold shackels,

Soon,

No longer part of us.

P.S: Tomorrow, Big Bad Wolf Book Sale! *howlsssssssss* Now, BE JEALOUS heh.

6 for 24

On a lighter note, today INTEC Library had an open day. They had a secondhand book sale and I nabbed some precious titles I've been wanting. I've always dreamed of secondhand sales that'd have titles such as these. 6 books for RM24.00 is an excellent bargain. INTEC Library ought to have these sales more often.

30th July 2010

Sapere Aude: Dare To be Wise

Finally had my University of Otago interview for placements.

There are things I said that I wish I didn't and there are things I didn't say that I wish I've had. Either way, the things I've said are the things I've said.

My turn, unfortunately, was after Jeffery. Jeffery in his immaculate suit and shiny shoes. Jeffery with his perfect hair and perfect grades. Jefferey who sat right beside Dr. Brunton during the Otago presentation before our writing test and interview. There was an eagerness about him, his eyes practically shone with excitement. Super, super boy.

To be frank, if Jeffery don't make it, then NONE of us will. It was at exactly 10:15A.M when he stood in front of the interview room's door and waited for his turn. The girl before him, the first one to be interviewed, emerged out of the room after 20 minutes, breathless. Or perhaps winded. I can't be sure. She immediately left.

At 10:2oA.M, Dr. Brunton opened the door and Jeffery went in. It was perhaps the most grueling 35 minutes of my life, waiting for my turn. At 10:55A.M sharp, the door swung open and stepped out Jeffery, beaming excitedly. Said that it was very exciting talking to Dr. Brunton. He said some more stuff but I've already tuned the world out by then. He wished me luck and I stood at the exact spot he stood while I waited for my turn. Reciting some zikirs and praying fervently for things to go smoothly.

What is there for me to say? We talked. And of course, the nature of my marks were also discussed. Undoubtedly, he must have drawn comparisons between mine and Jeffery's. Darn.

Anyway, he was a friendly man, Dr Brunton. It was very easy to talk to him. Though it did not, for even a nanosecond, escape my attention how sharp his ice blue eyes were. I'm almost positive that he can read your mind, or see through the back of your head or shoot laser beams at will if he wishes to. That sharp.

I asked Carol how long I was in the interview room. Apparently, I spent a good 30 minutes with Dr. Brunton. We talked about:

- my interests --> Thus, the topic of horse riding arose. (We discussed this quite at length, Dr. Brunton likes to ride too)

- my grades

- my choice of dropping Physics for Malay Studies

- my experience as a team leader

- what I think the word 'health' means

- what special qualities I have that would make Otago want me to study in their dental school

- how I'll manage my prayer times and class

- if I'd feel homesick if I study overseas

(These are the things that I remember anyway.)

A lot of back and forth. The only good indication that I picked up from that friendly exterior and intimidating eyes was that he liked my essays. He expressed interest in them and said that he appreciates the effort I put in them. Pointed out which he parts he liked and stuff.

My downfall of course is my marks. He expressed great concern for them. All I hope for is that he picked up my passion to achieve my ambition of becoming an orthodontist from both my essays and the things that I've said, and will consider my eligibility.

What will be, will be. I've done myself justice and that's what matters most to me.

And, if it weren't for this interview I would not have had the opportunity to visit the Oral Health Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia in Putrajaya. I'd like to express my thanks to Dr. Rashid Baharon (Senior Principal Assistant Director & Dental Public Health Specialist) and Dr. Mustaffa Jaapar (Principal Assistant Director of the Dental Law Enforcement Department) for their kindness. They're both an inspiration to me.

Also, Dr. Dashrilsyah from UPM's health clinic who has helped me to have a very very clear career pathway.

I've the next 15 years of my life all mapped out thanks to these people.

All I can do now, is hope. Should there be a time for miracles, for me it is now.

My Future Is Hanging By A Thread

It's been a while huh. The significance of my life now lays in the hands of never ending assignments, quizzes and tests that just never cease to pile up. I've tests and quizzes every freaking week, sometimes twice a week! They're usually at night too. Freaking annoying. Say hello to SAM (South Australian Matriculation) though they call it AUSMAT in INTEC, it's actually SAM.

Had a terrible chemistry test last week. It was difficult as HECK. Chemistry was NEVER that hard before! Organic chemistry is interesting but applied questions can be tricky. ESPECIALLY when you only have 1hour 10mins to answer a BUNCH of structure questions + an essay. The lecturers did it on purpose. I swear they did. Just to trip us up so that we'll kick ourselves into overdrive for the mid year exam in May.

Got my biology test paper too, got ANOTHER accursed B, 76% this time. Only one person in my class got A, 84% (Rabihah yg comel). Aaaaa...and guess what? I saw the biology marks of this other chinese guy who's gonna do dentistry in NZ (me too, hopefully) from another class. He got 90% for test 1 and 93% for the recent one. Like, DAMN. I feel worthless. I NEED those kind of marks. Dentistry's TER for Uni Otago is TER96 yo! Haish.

That aside, my IELTS test is in 2 weeks. On the 23rd and 24th April. Egh. Abaikan.

What else? I don't know. I'm not even going to bother writing bout maths, EVER. I'll just do what I can, and hopefully I'll land myself an A sometime soon. THEN, I'll write something bout maths.

Hurry up MAY, end soon Mr. April. I wanna bade goodbye to you. I only have one week of mid year exams in May (the 2nd week). 1st week, got one week holiday (Study Leave for Mid Year exams), after exams it's SEM BREAK oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhh. One month :) (Mid May til Mid June).

Then we'll be studying without breaks til August. September got mid sem break again + Trials. October, nothing I suppose. Just REVISE REVISE REVISE. Then finally, the real SACE exams (1st November til 10th November).

So you see? I'm trying to keep myself focused and motivated here. Wish me luck. I'll be needing lots of it.

P.S: Bought myself a new book last weekend, Tender Morsels by Margo Laganan. It's DISTURBING, yet...I don't know. It's quite poetic, the tragedy of it and all. Never read anything like it before. And to think it's a YA book...the themes are rather mature. A fantasy, a dark fantasy. And I mean that really, and NO not dark as in werewolves + vampires + suave cardboard musterious heros...rubbish. There's not even a dude in it :S besides the psycho dad n the weird midget.

Turn Off The Gravity

Finally, I have a definite goal to aim for. Yes, I've found out the TER I need to score in order to secure a conditional offer to study DENTISTRY in University of OTAGO, New Zealand. Here's what I need:

TER96

I've been obsessing over this since I set foot in INTEC. Like eghhh. All I needed to do is fill in the enquiry form at SELSET's official page, here: http://www.selset-newzealand.com/contactus.htm

So simple, should've figured this out earlier. All those hours I spent scouring sites, blogs and what not to

Anyway, got a feedback a couple of hours after I submitted the form. Which is neat! :D Those peeps working in SELSET are doing their job right. Kudos to them. For future references, I shall put up my enquiry and the feedback I received so that if there're noobs like me out there looking for this sometime in the future might find it here :)

Enquiry: I'm an AUSMAT 21 student studying in INTEC, UiTM Shah Alam on JPA's scholarship and is also NEW ZEALAND bound.

JPA offered me to study DENTISTRY in UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO.

I've checked the official site of UNI of OTAGO and found out that DENTISTRY students will have to complete HEALTH SCIENCE first before continuing 2nd yr in Dentistry.

[Yes, everyone going for medical related studies such as dental surgery must go through the Health Science First Year before qualifying into the 2^ndyear]

The requirements table at the site stated that the TER requirement for Health Science is TER85. JPA's cut off point is TER90 but I know that the real TER requirement to do DENTISTRY in Otago is higher.

[The University website listed entry requirement is for “the rest of the world” so to speak. This way of entry is that you of into HSFY, you must attain 1^syears HSFY results of A or better in order to be qualified to be into the section for entry into the 2ⁿyear. To be selected, you will need to meet the academic (HSFY academic results standard), obtained a good UMAT test results, pass the interview process. If all goes well then you will be offer to continue your studies in the 2^nd year of dental surgery.

If you apply through our Centre, we will submit your application around Aug 2010 using your mid term results at INTEC. The University will then do a selection for interview, they will come in to INTEC and interview students who have been selected for interview. If you have been successful in the interview , you will be given a Conditional offer of place to Health Sciences First Year (pending meeting the TER entry requirement to HSFY – currently it is at TER >=96). You will also be give a Conditional Offer into second year of Dental Surgery (pending the stated grades you must obtain – B+ average)]

So, I would like to know exactly what is the TER requirement for a JPA scholar student like me to study dentistry in Otago?

[For JPA cut off, you will need to check with JPA we are not able to comment]

Thank you for lending your time to read this. Hope to get a reply soon :)

SUBMIT: Submit

Yeap. SELSET peeps are good. The stuff in blue is what I wrote, then they replied through e-mail like that. I coloured the replies in red so you can see em' clearly. That just shows they really read my enquiry and clarified things thoroughly instead of just telling me I need TER96 end of story. Haha.

To get TER96 I'm estimating a minimum of a 20, and a combination of 18s and/or 17s for the 5 SACE papers I need to sit for in November. I've done my homework regarding this, asked around for the info. A friend of a friend of mine got TER97.25 with a 20 and a combination of 18s and 17s. So that's what I'll need. Oh, do note that 17+ is an A. 16 is B.

That's that then. TER96, be mine. Turn off the gravity and let me fly...