How To: Survive a Class When You Don't Understand Anything

We all could relate to this. 

You walk into the classroom, not knowing what's about to crash on your shoulders. You lay down your heavy bags and swiftly occupy the seat. The teacher rushes into the classroom and glances at all the innocent faces. We smile till the moment your teacher begins to rap. One thing is certain - you absolutely do not understand nor understood anything.

Earlier today, I had a Chemistry class in my school. I went into the lab like a braveheart and came out in despair like a Batman with a broken back. Such was the pain of trying to survive a class in which you do not understand anything. Deep from my heart, this sucks! Because ninety percent of the time, every teacher expects her students to know and understand contexts of her teaching before she even teaches.

What teachers do not understand is that the difference in definitions between the word knowing and understanding is huge. You can know a lot of things and in contrast, you might understand nothing at all. It exceptionally synonymous to memorising the topic's title and brief details rather than understanding it. However, fear nothing my dear Earthlings. Why? Because here's your guide to How to Survive a Class When You Don't Understand Anything,

• Never Sleep on It

Sleeping. Easy, yes. Dangerous, definitely yes. Sleeping could possibly be the worst idea in trying to survive such class. Not understanding the bone of contentions, you could be feel migraines and headaches hitting hard. Avoid sleeping or risk getting caught.

• Read it Yourself

If you don't understand anything your teacher is saying - or worse, it makes you fall asleep - read the books, handouts or notes by yourself. Best thing that could happen is that you might actually understand what's happening. 

• Sit beside people who understand

Sitting in a group of people who are plainly giggling or sleeping and trying hard to understand the words that your teacher is uttering - it may sound like Pitbul's rap but trust me, it's the lesson - is simply subtracting one from one - zero. Sitting beside people who actually understand your teachers' raps can help you understand better.

• Ask your teacher

Last resort perhaps. If all else fails, ask your teacher. Don't be afraid. Certain teachers might degrade you for asking. I always sum up all necessary questions till the end of lesson or breaks in between. Never interrupt a teacher's lesson in between.

• Revise after such horrid class

The most important step to avoid another horrid class is just to revise.

PS. - This only works if you are actually willing to care for the subject you are learning. If you don't understand any shit because you hate or dislike the subject, cancel the subject. It's simple. Say no, lol.

TJ.

Saying No

"Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other who have nothing to say but keep on saying it." 
Robert Frost.

The latter half of Frost's saying isn't the gravity of the topic. It's the first half that matters. Why? Because everyone of us suffer from not being able to express how we feel.

Sometimes, we all feel the immense and ponderous pressure on our shoulder from all kind of things that we never wanted to do. From the moment you agreed to complete your best friend's Mathematics homework or agreeing to follow your Mum to her friends' tea party to the point where all this burden ends, the size of help you offered never matters. Because regardless the size, these helps you offered are always burdens.

To ease them? Simple. Say no. Two letter word. One syllable. Because if you choose to agree to say yes to every one of your friends' wishes, you are wasting your time and life. True, bitch you ain't Jim Carrey from Yes Man! My Chemistry teacher likes to say-often too many times-that "Time and tide waits for no man."

I once decided to try saying no to things I never wanted to do and I could say two things-I was happy and people labelled me rude. Ever since, I've decided that I should adopt such lifestyle. I avoided any sort imaginary goals to reach a perfectionist's social lifestyle, I told people who were taking advantage of my intellectuality no. 

Of course, I didn't say no to everyone who approached me to help them. If it was a big project, I would take my time. Everyone god-dammit vital decision deserves a twenty four hour long time to be discussed about. So take your time. Compare it to your happy-to-burden ratio. Think about it.

So, why should you say no?

• You'll end up doing things you've always want to. 
• Now that you have time your yourself, people around you will thank you since you're spending more time with them.
• You'll be less stressed.
• Happier times will rise in the horizon. (Poetic bullshit, I know.)
• You get to "filter" out people who are just plainly taking advantage over you.

Then, when to say no?

• When your mum tells you what to wear
• When a friend want to copy your essays for the 237th time
• When your boss gives your too many directions and orders
• When things aren't in the beautiful side on your righteous scale 
• When your friends persistently pressures you to come over for a basketball game and you're dead tired.
• To your homeworks when you're sleepy
• When your friends asks (threatens) you to surrender your food to them

TJ.

Ten Habits That Could Kill Us

"I don't have any bad habits. They might be bad habits for other people , but they're all right for me."
- Eubie Blake.

Before we step into the spotlight, I would like to wish a prosperous Happy Chinese New Year to my readers and thank you for your attention towards my newbie blog. Continuing.

You have it. I have it. We all do. Sometimes a little bad habit is good for your charms. However, what if the bad traits become worse? What if it leads to unseen forthcoming dangers and harms. To break those habits, one first has to understand and sort them out first. Therefore, here's Ten Habits That Could Kill Us. (not literally)

• Abusing Caffeine 

Probably the most not-obvious trait present in the modern world, lingered with Starbucks franchise stores and Nescafé's ever expanding flavours. Caffeines are in abundance in coffee drinks. The funny thing is Caffeines are extremely synonymous to drugs. When a regular coffee drinker or a caffeine-in taker doesn't dose himself with caffeine, he suffers from headaches, extreme sleepiness and feeling as if he cannot function. Over dosing Caffeines could result in irregular heartbeats, panic attacks and also deprivation of sleep.

• Procrastination

Ah, this one has no age limits. I once caught my mum in the middle of her procrastination daydreams
while I was talking to her. Either I was too boring or the process of procrastination is effortless. If you are in your class or office - in the middle of procrastination - you might be caught off guard either by your teacher or ever worse, your boss. Procrastination is indeed a habit that could kill you because if your boss catches your daydreaming too often in the middle of office chaos, this might result in you being fired.

• Selfishness

Albert Camus once cited, "To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others."  Selfishness summed up in one quote, but I have to admit, Mr. Camus has a very good point. A little selfishness provokes the ultimate heartbeat of every action in oneself, the desire to win. That's good, however bundles of selfishness in oneself will lead himself to be isolated by peers and often judged horribly.

• Low Self-Esteem

People with low self confidence in themselves are those who always say, "Damn, that's too hard. I don't think I can do it." Of course you can't, you never even tried bitch! Being humble and having low self esteem has a thick line of between them. Try. If you fail try harder. I used to have a Taek-Won-Do coach who banned me from saying "I don't know, Sir." and "I can't, Sir." Trust yourself.

• Arrogance

I've been constantly told that I present an arrogant image in public. Honestly, I never even know. So when people told me, I never quite took it seriously. Remember, people hate arrogant ones. Being arrogant would not lead you to cheap alcohols, bitches nor a cool image in public. It leads you to be isolated and misjudged - all the time.

• Becoming an Owl during the night

This habit is abnormally common amongst students. Students tend to become an owl during the night. Reason? Simple, exams pressure narrows their minds to believe that studying at night whilst burning the midnight oil is an effective solution to cope with the exams pressure. Wrong! Remember, if you have homework or any sort of stuff that needs you to sacrifice sleep, tell NO to it. Never sacrifice your sleep for anything.

• Couch Potato-ing

It ain't a verb, I know. I have to admit, but I love to slack off on the couch after not just tiring but any day. And it kills me to know that I have loads of stuff to be completed yet I'm still there, on the couch, slacking off. Slacking off is synonymous to wasting time. As the saying goes, time is gold. You don't waste gold.

• Tardiness

This is one of the most frustrating habit out there. This is the ultimate symbol of a Malaysian. My friends are often left frustrated because of this habit. Tardiness is defined as "arriving after a scheduled time." Arriving after an expected time leads to rescheduling which erupts conflict among many others who prefers to be on time. So, let's try to be on time, shall we?

• Hot headed and Easily Provoked

This is a common habit or a personality trait of a sportsman. Remember, nobody likes seeing a person shouting around at everyone in rage. This doesn't only damage your image but it also causes people to fear rather than respect you. Besides, if you are paired or working with a group, it is most likely that your partner(s) would feeling uncomfortable with your presence.

• The Lone Wolf Syndrome

Once or twice, you would come across a person who would obey this principle; I want to do this myself. I will not obey others' guide. I prefer working alone. Never ever be that person. People suffering such syndrome would avoid working with group and often try to offend others who try to assist them. Working in group helps to ease the burden on the bare shoulders. Forget about receiving credits. 

Assuming each habit gathers 10 points each, try counting how many points you accumulate of out 100 points.

20 points <     "You are an angel."

30-50 points    "With a little change, you will be respected."

60-80 points    "Dude, change for the sake of yourself."

90 points >     "How is your boss still not firing you?!"

Thanks for reading.

TJ.

How To: Make A Killer Presentation

My family members motioned each other to sit down on the unoccupied chairs, strapped with silk ribbons. The atmosphere was glittered with countless number of decorations, that it resembled a wedding dinner rather than the "Internet Studying Program" orientation that we were attending. I stared down at my watch, glancing sideways at the door - waiting for the presenter to enter. The orientation took thirty minutes to begin and once it begun, my parents were snoring already. Sister tilted her head downwards as she scrolled through her Facebook news feeds.

Personally, I don't blame my family members for losing interest on the orientation minutes into it. The presenter was late. He distributed ten pages of notes - filled with obvious marketing techniques to blind parents into getting the system fixed in their homes. He used PowerPoint to a height where he was basically reading he everything he wrote on use slides. He diverted from his topic so much that he started with The Program's Manuals and ended on his personal experiences at the equity market. That was five years ago.

Has this ever occurred to you? Great! So, please use this horrid experience to avoid any similarities to your presentations.

Therefore, how to make a Killer Presentation?

STEP ONE - Planning 

• Choose your topic wisely. 

              Honestly, everyone tend to make great mistakes here. Students or presenters -when given option to choose topic from- will often choose the easiest and the most presentable topic. For example, "how to save environment" over "Should gay marriages be allowed?". Remember, easy topics are often general issues or widely acknowledged fields. General points of discussions leads to lack of participation, response or interest from listeners.

•  Research on your topic 

              A presenter or a person with outstanding oral presentations skills would at least spend an hour researching facts, fun facts, theories, conspiracies, details, whys, hows, and whats about the topic of discussion. Researching more leads to greater understanding of the topic of discussion. This does not only lead to a higher confidence when presenting the topic, but also enables you to answer questions if asked by the listeners.

•  Practice your talk

            Spontaneous talk can have two pathways; pure understanding of topic or complete utter garbage. Though a little ability to converse and bullshit is widely welcomed. Never ever think you could make through an entire talk just by blundering everything you know, especially if you're presenting on a formal event. Draft your points into written format and allow yourself to create your presentation. Once done, practice the same presentation for at least ten times. Practice in front of your family members, mirror or even your goldfish (you might get a smart goldfish at the end of the day).

• Have your presentation unfold logically                                                                         I've seen horrid presentations by cocky people who assume that they can spontaneously make a presentations out of thin air. Utter crap - that's what I listened to. That's because their points are not organised and arranged according to system and the points just pop out anytime because the brainstorming sessions occur halfway through the presentation. Listen, just like every story, your presentation should contain three segments - opening, action and an ending. Opening should include your topic and and an overview of it. The ending should briefly state the general points and bang!

Step Two - Presenting.

• Get Biased - don't overdo it.

         Not many how-to-dos would include this point. This is a complete secret - not completely a secret. A general opinion is always safe but it isn't the food-for-thoughts. A biased or a provocative point can lead to multiple perceptions of the topic. For example, you could always ask a question, keeping in mind that it should be biased.

• Make contact with the audiences

         Remember, you're not the only one out there. The whole presentation is a general concept of you interacting with your audiences, with time accumulating their interest to the main topic of yours. Ask the audiences questions to make sure they are listening to your presentations. Make loads of eye contact, not towards one specific person - that's creepy. Make eye contacts with everyone in the room. Be mobile, move around. Make countless hand movements and gesture - this leads to audiences believing you really know whatever shit you're talking about.

• Be Confident

            I was told by my friend once, Sam, that I look like I'm having the time of my life whenever I'm involved in public speaking. I told her, "trust me, I'm as nervous as you are. I just hid it well." The Truth. The inconvenient truth is that everyone performing would feel nervous and those who looked to be brimming with confidence are just hiding it well. Avoid looking down on the floor or out of the windows.

•  Presentation Tool

          Here's a thing. Presentation tool are just a medium to create better understanding of the topic in the audiences mind. It is not the decisive factor in your presentation. Regardless of how many props, presentation slides and materials you use, the only thing that would matter is your presentation methods. However, if your presentations skills are great, then additional tools would fit in fine.

• Bullet points kills (bullets - duh)

        We all have been told that the mind could only concentrate on one at a time. Yes, 90% of the society can only or - choose - to focus on one thing at time. Long detailed and organised bullet points requires a hard long time to read and the audiences also have to listen to your perceptions and presentation of the points. So tell me, which one would they choose? It is however, still fine, to do bullet points. My opinion is that it is highly sagacious to only include two bullet points per slide. Each slide should only cover one sub topic. In that way, you could also keep track of your presentation.

Perhaps, that's all. 

Remember, public speaking skills don't develop in one night. Don't give up if you have made horrible presentations. I've made loads of horrible presentations that made my friends giggle at the back of the class before.

And, last but not least, as my friend told me that my presentation skills aren't goddess perfect either.

Folks, you don't need a perfect presentation skill to teach others to confront their problems. All you need it a heart to help and a little knowledge.

P.S. Lots of love.

TJ.

Why Manchester United Will Rise

You might have noticed it from the title itself. Yes, I am an Old Trafford faithful. Ever since I started watching football, I knew I was going to support Manchester United. Never occurred to me though, why? Why would I choose Manchester United at times when Chelsea and City looked dominant? Why would I believe United at times when Barcelona and Madrid triumphed in Europe? 

Nevertheless, cutting to the bone of contention, I am a realistic person and I believe that Manchester United will rise and triumph again despite the ongoing crisis in Old Trafford. Rare, yes.

If you have known Premier League long enough or even before it was even established, one thing was certain. Liverpool was the king before 90/91. And look at the records after that. They reached some of their lowest point. I agree, the Champions League finals in 2005 and 2007 did shed glitters of hope and success but no Liverpool fan can hide that that wasn't the Liverpool that should've have been. And now, every football fan believe that such would occur to United. Nope.

Simply, because our wealth and history is there to conceal any cripples and wrinkles present. Woodward might have been horrible at signing players but he definitely got more sponsorship deals to United than any club could've imagined. Bleacher Report identified Manchester United and Barcelona of Spain as the most influential football club in the world, thanks of course to our wealthy sponsorship deals. Money is never a question.

United fans have never forgot to spin the wheel and blame on the American Owners, the Glazers. Look here, I'm not defending them and I, too, feel angry at Glazers for robbing from us for their own deprived times. At the end of this season, I believe funds will be provided to Moyes to make himself count. The sad thing is I predict there will be only one or no signing during this Winter transfer window. Why? Why, well, because we're Manchester United.

Manchester United are one of the very rare list of clubs that still buys players that they see as a long term product at the club. Crisis moulded and panic signings aren't fruitful, we all know that. We-fans-are just desperate to see new faces and hopes at United. Believe it or not, one potential signing can change your season. The Ozil-Arsenal effect anybody? And there are no players out there that can fit into the long term conditions; excluding Herrera of Bilbao and Koke of Madrid. Both are having the time of their lives at this season and selling them at Winter is pure stupidity for any club. Rumours regarding Pogba, Vidal? C'mon. Only Marchisio seems possible, yes but only at the coming summer transfer window.

Moyes, for me is an excellent inch-by-inch Fergie replica, which is the reason why Fergie chose him. His temper, taciturn and calm ethiques at conferences, hardworking ethic, faith in youth and ability to succeed with such low funds is what earned him a move to United. Many United fans were quick to dismiss him and blame him for losses and draws. From my own opinion, the only two faults he did and is still doing is; sacking the entire back room staff and playing Kagawa on your left. 70% of the crisis is due to Woodward's lack of signings and a weakened yet well concealed squad left by Ferguson.

So, to all Old Trafford faithfuls, I would like to say this; 

Give the club sometime and we will rise. Not because of some summer signing or luck, but because we're Manchester United and we'll rise. We always do.

TJ.

Somebody Has To Say It #2: Having A Crush is Totally Depressing

Thesaurus defined crush as "to break, pound or grind into small fragments or powder"; "a usual temporary infatuation." Either way, the end product is always similar, broken. 

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppp. Gosh, I get it. Moving along.

Frankly, having a crush on someone isn't always depressing. What's depressing is that it remains as a crush forever. We all are aware of the love cycle; strangers, crush/friends, love. Yes, but this isn't just an ordinary Barbie tale. This is life. We all have wandered into our classrooms, workplace or even campus, peering and glancing quickly at one specific person. We sigh and chant questions subconsciously, why isn't that person mine yet? or why can't I muster enough courage and boldness to tell the person about my feelings for them?

Why? Because we all are afraid of being crushed if we tell that person about our feelings.

Some of us have to realise that until we make a move, nothing will happen. You stare blankly at your mobile phone's screen. Her/his name and number written on the screen. You fingers smoothly drew closer to the green dial button on the left curvature of your screen. NO. NO. I shouldn't. What if she/he's busy? What if they find me annoying? And you cut to the home screen and switch off your mobile phone. PEOPLE. How can we assume that she's gonna cut the call if we never made the call?

To those that have managed to express their feelings and escape the valley of friendzones, congratulations. No, seriously. Friendzone is a horrible abyss. I've managed to actually express my feelings to my crush once. I was certain about my efforts, live or die trying. In the end, she admitted that she too have feelings for me. Stupid enough, I said that we shouldn't jump abruptly into a relationship, as it would throw both of our lives into chaos. C'mon guys, I was fourteen. 

Honestly, I'm not mocking anybody's crush in this mind-to-blog perception. This post isn't written to illustrate how hard you can get crushed by your crush nor to depict the struggles of having a crush. This is merely an advice to everyone out there who wake up, thinking that their crush will be theirs one day; you'll never get what you want if you don't go for it.

Go for that person. Tell that person that they're your world. 

A friend once told me, "you may be one person to the world, but you can also be the world to one person." 

Just another wild scribble,
TJ.

Somebody Has To Say It: Pendidikan Moral is a Extreme Prodigality

Hi readers. Been a while? Errrmm yeah. Well, writer's block kicked in and got me all fuzzy. Before we splash into the title of the post, I would like to thank all my readers and wish everyone a - late - Happy New Year. I would also like to apologise and promise to make some time to update my blog every now and then.

Somebody Has To Say It #1 : Pendidikan Moral is an Extreme Prodigality

Bold, some might say. I am actually expecting a lot of criticism and negative feedbacks towards my choice of post. I would like to clear the tension in the air and remind everybody that I do not intend to insult anybody but just expressing my perception.

To readers that aren't too familiar with Malaysia and the education system here, Pendidikan Moral is a subject taught to Standard One students and all the way to Form Five. So, basically a normal Malaysian student studying at a government school would study Pendidikan Moral for eleven years. For the first six years, the questions and syllabus are purely nothing but the science of logic and deduction. More of what would you do if you were there stuff.

Once you pave your way into Form One, students will scratch the heads and sigh loudly, wah? Or even a desperate what the heck sigh! Because it doesn't make any sense. Pendidikan Moral syllabus in  the secondary schools are divided into thirty-six chapters, each for a moral value. Such Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan (Belief in God) being the first chapter. And each moral value consist of two three lines of exaggerated so-called definitions. To everyone questioning my opinion, how can I accept a general definition of a moral value when my accounts of the moral value are different? What if my definition of the value is different from what is stated? 

If so, isn't that the right method? Assessment should be based upon what the students think about the value and how they define the value. But, is that how it works? NO. The syllabus is meant to test students ability to remember thirty six exaggerated definitions, only for the students to forget what or how they think the value is. And apparently, even misplacing a word in the essay-looking definitions would earn no empathy from the marking scheme. The marking scheme cites it as an wrong answer. What the heck?

One should always remember that not everyone who aces Pendidikan Moral examination really have moral values and ethics in themselves and not everyone who doesn't ace his Moral examination doesn't have moral ethics.

To those readers who think I'm just a student who's complaining because I can't ace it, you're wrong and that's a horrible lie. I generally think it's just a pure prodigality if the examination syllabus doesn't change. Pendidikan Moral is an important subject, but for the moral values to be properly instilled in each student, remembering thirty six definitions is certainly not the way.

Before I rest my case, I would like to apologise to anyone who felt hurt, offended, unappreciated or exasperated by my views. I would like to insist that I am merely expressing my thoughts and views into words. Only words - not bitter insults. I am not condemning my alma mater, teachers nor students or even the syllabus. What you are reading - here - is nothing but me saying that what's being done is not efficient enough.

Thank you. 

 TJ.