Just an ordinary day, except for...

The day actually started out quite uneventful. I went for radio class as usual at 11am just like any Thursday and was given a big surprised when my lecturer told me that we’d be having a mock concept test. The test was not too difficult, rather we have to use a lot of common sense to answer most of the question. Which was not too bad coz then, I should be able to do quite ok in the real concept test next week.

After the test, my friends and I went for lunch, where we met CW and her bf and her bf’s two friends there. It was rather obvious that her bf didn’t like us. Must be CW telling her bf all kinds of sob story about us bullying her behind our backs. She is such a bitch sometimes. Anyway, I went over and told her that Sham, our radio lecturer, asked her to collect her desktest results and cassette from his table and she didn’t even bother to say thank you to me. Plus, all my friends complain that the way she looked at us when we walked past was so suspicious. As if she’s keeping a big secret and she didn’t want us to know. Oh well, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as she doesn’t come around looking for trouble with me, I’ll just mind my own business and stay clear away from her. She is, after all, quite famous when it comes to backstabbing others.

Anyway, we returned back to college after lunch and went straight to look for Wadi, our radio studio assistant and the diploma students’ lecturer. Talked to him about our edited interview package which will be sent to Murdoch to be assessed and later joke about all kinds of things with him. He’s a really nice guy for a true Malay blooded male. Plus, he’s quite cute to boot for a Malay guy. You could say that he’s not the conventional Malay sort of guy. He’s also very friendly, and treats most of us as friends rather than students. Of course if we were to compare him with Aref, our ex radio studio assistant, Wadi is not as knowledgeable as Aref, but he works hard to understand the equipment so that he can assist us should we need any help.

We left the studio after half an hour or so and met Soo Heng, our Marketing lecturer on the way. She asked us to go for class first even though our tut class is at 3 instead of 2, because the Murdoch’s coordinator for Marketing will be in at 2 and he’ll be giving us tips on how to answer our final exams and tips on what’s gonna be out for our test 3. And off Chip and I went. The rest of our friends were either in the computer lab at that time, or some had even gone home by then. We attended the class til 3 where we listen to what George Graham, the coordinator had to say, then went and bug Wadi about our radio editing software again. We met Shalini, Diana and Morrow in the studio and saw their really sad faces but didn’t think much about it. That is until Diana blurt out that she and Shalini had already received their Textual Analysis marks from our Writing’s lecturer, M. They were moaning and groaning about how cruel he was with the marks that he had awarded them that it got me and Chip really worried about our marks. One of the reasons was because M told the whole class that somebody plagiarise in our class and that somebody happens to be a female. Which got Chip and me really frantic when we heard about it on Tuesday. In fact, it got all the females in the class really frantic, coz we didn’t know if we did plagiarise or not…even if we did, we must have done it unintentionally or something like that. The fact is, M shouldn’t have told the class that somebody plagiarised. He should have handled the case on a one-to-one basis with that person who plagiarises and decide if he should announce to the class. It is unethical to tell the whole class and even hint on the gender of the person. By doing so, everybody will be suspicious of everybody. Which is very humiliating when people finds out the person who plagiarises and started to inadvertently boycott her. M didn’t even tell our coordinator that somebody plagiarises when he should. He is soooo irresponsible. However, I would not want to complain much about him until the semester is over for my marks and results are now at the mercy of his hand. *sigh*

Anyhow, Chip and I finally decided to go and asked him for out marks anyway. When I got back my paper, I was so nervous that I didn’t really want to open it and find out what my marks was cause I fear that he will mark my paper biasly since he’s sort of prejudice towards me. I was expecting a Fail or the most a Pass there, but to my big surprise and shock, there was a big D instead, a distinction. Phew! I was so happy that when I left the office, I just hugged Chip and nearly broke down into tears. Esther came by and was shocked to see my big reaction there. For a second there, she thought that I’d failed or something until I told her my results. She laughed and congratulated me instead and gave me a really big bear hug. Chip did really well too. She had gotten a HD for her paper, a high distinction. Haha…smart girl! She was actually rather shocked than happy to see the HD in front of. In fact, she kept on asking me if she really deserved the HD. Aside from being the smartest person in the class, she sometimes do not have much confidence in herself. However, I find this naivety in her characteristic to be really fresh. The world is constantly surrounded by people who always have something up their sleeves but when you meet somebody like her, mature enough to churn out really good arguments in her assignment but naïve in certain ways, you will see the world in a whole new different way. I’ll really miss her and her crazy, naïve ways when she leaves for Ozzy next year. =(

The D in my Textual Analysis was the second surprise of the day. The first was the mock test. The third surprise is the phone call I received at 7.30pm just now. A staff from KDU called to inform me that I’ve been shortlisted for the KDU Merit Scholarship. *pumps fist into the air* I was actually taking a nap at that time, but when I heard the lady over the phone told me that I’ve been shortlisted, I was wide awake immediately. I mean, I didn’t expect to get shortlisted when I applied for the scholarship in August. I was just giving it a shot, never thinking much or expecting much about it. Even though the scholarship awarded is not much, at least that’s what my friends told me, I’m very, very happy to be shortlisted. I’ll be attending an interview regarding the scholarship before they decide whether they want to give me the scholarship. Frankly, even if I did not get the scholarship, being shortlisted for it is good enough for me. It shows that I actually DO have the potential to do well enough in my studies for certain parties to consider giving me a scholarship. I know Mum is really, really happy for me. I could tell from her voice when she called me later. I’ve actually proved to her that I AM smart enough to excel in my studies but I think she’s happier than I am. Hehe…I bet she’ll be calling her best friend to tell her the good news soon about my getting shortlisted.

I’ve cautioned Mum not to tell my uncle about the scholarship or any financial help I’ve been getting. Although he did not offer to loan Mum his maid to take care of Granny, he’s been sort of like doing his part by dropping by in the afternoons and buying lunch for Granny, to make sure that she’s ok. Mum’s been telling him that the expenses on Granny’s medication for her high blood pressure and cholesterol is taking a toll on her, what with her needing to give me allowances and what nots, and he’s been providing bit by bit of money to Mum to help out with Granny’s expenses which is a good thing. What I’m worried about is when he finds out that I’ve gotten financial help in my studies and he decides Mum’s expenses is not that heavy anyway and decided not to chip in a lumpsum of money to help out with Granny’s expenses. Mum promised not to tell him. After all, telling him would not be advantageous to us.

I know I made us sound like an advantageous bunch, my Mum and me. But we’re not. I’m just reminding Mum to take back what he owes her and what’s rightfully hers. Who was the one who gave him the money for the down payment of his first house? My Mum. Who was the one who gave him the money to start a business of his own? My Mum. And who was the one who loan him RM20-30k in cash when his business had to buy some materials in cash and he didn’t have the cash and didn’t want to let his wife know? My Mum. It’s all because of my Mum that he is what is he today. Mum didn’t want to take out her savings for him on his business, she rather keep it and invest in my studies instead. In fact, the money that she loaned him was meant for my studies. But because my Mum loves him a lot, after all, she’s the one who took care of him since young and Mum’s always loved him as her own brother, she finally took out that much money and loaned it to him. Even when she didn’t really want to. It’s been years since he borrowed that money from my Mum. But right to this day, he still has not returned every single cent to Mum yet. Sure he did once in a blue moon, returning only RM1-2k at a time, but lately, before the whole thing with Granny, he hasn’t been returning Mum the money. Even when she told him that she needed the money to pay off my fees. I told Mum that she has to be firm with him in order to get back the money. Why should I sacrifice my studies just because he did not bother to return the money in time? I continue telling Mum that if she doesn’t ask him back for the money, I would. Mum’s been really cunning lately, trying to get back every single cent that he owes her so that she can save them up for my studies and also for rainy days. I’m really proud of her whenever she told me that she had asked my uncle for money and he returned it to her. I don’t find anything wrong in asking back for something that is rightfully hers.

Oh well, enough of the ranting and raving for the day. All in all, I’m just very happy that I’d gotten a D for my Textual Analysis and that I’d been shortlisted for the scholarship. ;)