So, he's going to MI (Millennia Institute) for the first three months. I think, comparing his experience and where I was in 2002, he must be more confused than I am. Firstly, I think he's not even sure whether he wants to go JC or poly after the actual results are out. Then there's the constant guessing about "what will be my O level results arh?"... Secondly, he appears to be going to MI with some preconceived notions of what it should be like. I definitely made that same mistake when I was posted to sajc. Initially, I thought that was the end of the world already. And because of that, I was mopping around during orientation (I still remember the O theme was saintashaga). But looking back, I think it really helps if one enters a new place w/o being too judgemental about it before even stepping in. As it turned out, I dare say I remembered having much more memories about sajc as compared to tjc. Thirdly, my parents are toying with the idea of sending him to Taylor's College in KL - it's where a lot of ppl prepare for australian universities there. But I'm kind of sceptical of it, I think I'm coming from a "look carefully before you leap" school of thought.
And my brother's questions so far about first three months... hmm, oh you just see it for yourself la =)
- So, what is "angel and mortal"?
You know, I vaguely remembered my cousin asking this same question before she stepped into pjc in 2004. It's those type of questions... well, all I can say is that it's this letter-writing thingy where you write to your mortal w/o her (well it's almost always a her for a guy's case) knowing who you are. Similarly, someone will write to you (hopefully a girl too) w/o you knowing who she is. The thing is... don't ever attempt to find out who your angel is, otherwise you're gonna spoil all the fun. Well, I had lots of fun playing angel and mortal... never really guessed my sajc angel is sarah until friendship day. Always thought it was justina. Looking at what I wrote about a & m so far on this blog, it looks pretty contrived to me. Guess you've actually got to play it to know what angel & mortal is all about haha.
- The teachers from JC... fierce or not arh?
Well, actually, how different were the JC tutors from our secondary ones? My brother's expecting the tutors at MI to be an "i-couldn't-be-bothered-about-you" type.. but I think, a lot of tutors at tjc were really great. Great not in the sense that they were indifferent people, but they were much more willing to share their life experiences with you. That is, if you actually take the effort to see that they are also human beings. Too many of my students are isj imagine that teachers exist from another planet. heh.
- Economics... I heard it's all about counting money.
I wonder what you have to say about this, since most of us did economics in JC. haha. Well, it's more than just counting money. There are lots of graphs involved and lots of essay scribbling (and always having a 9/25 for case-study w/o ever actually knowing why you got that mark you did). More importantly, it's about strawberries and being really marginal. haha. Strawberries was Mrs B's favourite example for any microeconomics example ("Imagine a farmer has a strawberry farm...") and marginal, well, I always remember how bk would say "Marginal! Marginal! Marginal!" as if he was about to prepare his imaginary car for an F1 race. anyway.
Honestly, I detested studying for market structures (oligopoly, kinked dd-curve, monopoly and the likes of it).
You know, the more of such questions he ask.. the more acutely I'm aware that these were the questions that I was asking myself before I stepped in sajc. It's like, I didn't remember asking "what subject combination can i do arh?" or sth like that. Rather, it's all those questions that one would possibly dismiss it as trivial.. stuff like.. "eh JC can wear sports shoes hoh?", and wondering how many pretty girls will there be to watch in the orientation group haha.
But I'd probably tell him later tonight to enjoy his first three months. Honestly, that's the most sensible thing to do. No point worrying about O level results, no point worrying that all my friends are in ajc and I'm one of the lone(ly) chs ppl who got posted to sajc. Take time to appreciate the beauty of ponning classes, slacking, playing whacko a million times during orientation etc haha. Sample all the canteen food. Remembered the nasi briyani at sajc... remembered mrs ram too :) heh.