Be A Tree...

Well for about a week now me and the msyouth group have been working on the msyouth video which would be shown next week. I learned two things from making the video: first, its very stressful and second, my computer sucks.

Despite so, i find it rather fun. I dont know why though.... seriously haha.

Ok today was rather fun. In the morning I didnt have to do much since it is a thursday and we had cca today. Maths was ok, history was better than usual and physics was just bearable. Something happened during history time though. The Deputy Principal 1 (i dont want to mention names) came to our history class and told me that she had just picked me to go to the Sunburst Youth Camp held in Singapore at the end of the year. I was rather surprised in hearing this though because I seriously think there are others more deserving to go. Also I dont think I have a chance since the government only allows representation for the country once in every four years. The last time i represented the country was in 2005 when i was part of the delegation going to Jogjakarta, Indonesia for the International Junior Science Olympiad. I guess another person would be given the opportunity as i was already given one not long ago.

However I stil have to go to the interview next week on the 11th of June. I heard that in the interview itself I'd be asked to dance/sing or do both. I dont know if i have the guts or integrity to do so. Maybe I'd just end up spill my guts.... haha.

Now enough about that. After break-time we had MS Youth. I was asked to take the group photos of the Form 5 and Form 3 groups since they didnt bring any camera and that I clearly had one.

After all that was done with, we started our session. The pra-U2s were divided into 4 groups and jobs were delegated among us. The first group (adeq, wan, hayaah, adib, sim and zudin and khaliq sometimes) took the responsibility of judging the posters submitted by form 1 and 2 students for the poster competition in collaboration with the environmental week which would be held next week. The second group was the adopta plant group. Michelle, Azim, Hanis, Mei Ping and a few others whom i regrettably forgot took this task. They were supposed to come up with names and personalties of the plants that would be up for adoption next wee. The third group (zimin, afiq and i forgot again haha) were to help Cikgu Yani to arrange things in the audi for next week and also bring out and repair the sculptures (especially the pahlawan one).

The final group was the video editing group. The group comprised of Mal, Zudin, Ainul, me, zimin at first and i think that was it. Khaliq and Sim were also there but they didnt stay static as he involved himself in other groups also. Mal, Zudin and Ainul went around school to interview some teachers while i was left to edit the videos. It was great. I worked on 3 computers (mine, Mal's and zimin's). On Mal's computer was used for music selection, my computer was used for browsing the web and transferring data while Zimin's was used to edit the videos (pictures of me working will be posted depending on whether i get a hold of them or not). It was rather cool doing these things and I could say others seemed envious by just looking at me (HAHAHA). Sim provided me with some awesome music. After that we had lunch and i continued on editing in the library with Khaliq, Sim and Adeq.

Yup 3 laptops... c meips ucap aku setaie ah
(thanks for the pic meips!)

Well the highlight of the day would be the environmental talk we had in the afternoon. A presenter from the Canadian High Commission came to talk to us about the environment. We talked about how and what we can do to save the world from the crisis it is facing now. He also gave us a brief account of Canada. After a few minutes of talking, he showed us a DVD. The Dvd was a collection of animated stories by Frederic Back. He showed us the story, The Man Who Planted Trees. It tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful singlehanded effort to re-forest a desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps near Provenance in the first half of the 20th century.

The story to me was rather touching and I wasnt alone on this one as I saw Michelle weep at the end of the video. The shepherd, Elzeard Bouffier, lived in solitude and his everyday routine was to plant trees. It was magnificent. It was to me a perfect picture of an ideal life as although he was alone, he had done what he had loved. I thought that this was a true story however when I wikied the movie, Elzeard Bouffier was just a fictional character and the story was made to make trees likeable or planting trees likeable. However even with its fictional origin, i cant deny that it was inspirational.

Next was discussion time and it was rather productive. As an end note, the speaker gave us his life principle which was the Tree Principle. He said that we are made of three things, our roots, trunk and branches and leaves. The roots symbolizes he people you are with who support you. The trunk is the part of yourself which you can never change which is your personality and attitude. Lastly the branches and leaves symbolizes our skills and specialties.

There was this one thing he said which hit me the hardest. When he talked about the branches and leaves of our life, he mentioned that none of those will ever grow without knowledge. He said that "knowledge is like sunlight and its up to you whether you want to absorb it or not". Nothing else can be said about it. Thats more than enough motivation for me to strive for the best. But im still pessimistic as i constantly fear that i may disappoint myself one day.

End of rambling... back to work!

PS: to the economists (zimin, munji.... uhhh forgot haha) sitting for their econs paper tomorrow good luck!