Anyone Seen My Self-Esteem?

The long awaited IB Final Exams finally
started with a bang (in my head)

Imagine entering the hall centre
with confidence for your first paper (which happened to be English) and finding
out you’re not that prepared after all. For one, I was asked to find a synonym
for a word I’ve never heard of before – fuddy-duddy.

I know, the first time I read the
question I was like “fuddy-what??”

Thank God there were a range of
answers for us to pick, and so I made a wild guess. Well, according to the
context of course, not ‘main tembak’
(Malay for “random shooting”) or dice throwing, unlike what some people do. Or
maybe I did. Guess if you can figure out the meaning from the sentence given:

“Some surgeons don’t like working with a particular anaesthesiologist
because he’s a fuddy-duddy and plays boring, old songs in the operation
room.”

Answers:

- fake

- interesting person

- genuine

- old-fashioned person

Thank GOD for multiple choices
questions! I would never have guessed, but then again, it doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out that it means ‘old-fashioned person’, which was
the correct answer. Oh well, at least I learnt a new slang.

A friend, after the paper ended,
complained that it wasn’t fair because it’s an American slang that’s not common
among Malaysians. Plus, it was a paper for people who do not speak English as their mother language, so I do agree it wasn’t
a fair question. Then again, life isn’t always fair, eh?

And there you have it. New vocab
and new lesson in life.

Taking my mind off exams for a
minute (and the horror of MATH paper
starting Monday), I played a game of tennis with my good friends. I haven’t
enjoyed a good round of tennis lately, due to crappy serves and strokes, but
today I played pretty well, so it was thoroughly the pleasant break I needed.

The sky was simply beautiful in
the evening today. Breathtakingly mesmerizing, with stacks of white clouds
parading amidst a sea of blue skies, I adored the 6pm sunset sparkling in between the milky clouds. In my awe, my mind at the same
time thought of what my *ehem* crush
had told me a few days before. Let’s just call the person Future Engineer @ FE.

I had the opportunity to walk
back with FE (in which I ‘control habis’,
as they say it :-P) one night a few days back after supper. FE started the
examination earlier, as Physics paper commenced on Wednesday, and so I thought
wishing FE luck was a must (common sense, not cari perhatian), in which I did. Then we chatted about future plans
and university, where I asked if it was true that FE got a placement to a
renowned Canadian university.

“Yup, but I’m planning to apply
to switch to another prestigious uni in Canada – X University,” said FE. Now I wouldn’t want to give too much detail, would I?
Hehe.

“But why? Isn’t So-and-So University good enough?” I
enquired.

“I heard the scenery’s more
picturesque, plus we get a marvelous view of the sunset in the evenings. And
it’s colder up there, so it’d be a good experience,” chided FE, with that heart-melting
smile bore to maximum melting effect. (All together now – drool!)

Snapping back to reality, and
there I was in the tennis court, still staring at the magnificent sunset. I
guess crushes should remain crushes, and God knows that it’s not meant to be.
What’s the use of wishing something would happen, something would spark, when
after this we’ll both go separate ways?

Sigh. Looking at sunsets will
never be the same again. Anyway, back to the books for me!

9.30pm, Friday, 4/5/2007.