Where's the kuda kepang?

I'm currently feeling rather comfy. Just had a luxuriously long hot shower, a tasty dinner consisting of chicken cooked in my friend's Lloyd Grossman's madras curry sauce, and am currently listening to Wynton Marsalis' beautifully rendered Canon in D for 3 Trumpets and Strings whilst sipping on a mug of cold coffee mixed with a dallop of ice-cream and lots of chocolate flakes that Sheril made for me.

Went to the M'sian Night organised by the M'sian Society of Newcastle Univ last night with Omar, Karin and Priya last night. They came along with expectations of good food and exposure to the rich cultural heritage of Malaysia. Unfortunately, the food was nothing much compared to the yesteryears (Priya only had salad and a few karipap as she's vegetarian) and the night was dominated by a Lord of the Rings sketch and even a 'limbo rock' session (although there were a couple of traditional dances and martial arts performances, along with a fashion show). I can't help but feel that so much potential was wasted, or maybe I'm just growing old. But I was deeply embarrased at times, and it was quite sad that the best time my friends from Carlisle had was when we had a few drinks at the Student Union halfway through the sketch. I felt so bad that I paid for their tickets.

It was nice meeting up with some of the people there, though I only knew a handful. And approximately 5 seconds after I left, my ticket was chosen as the winner of the lucky draw, something that has never happened before. Luckily I left the ticket in the good hands of Elly and Ellina, and I was quite happy to leave the hamper with them to take back to the Brighton Grove house, although I did take a packet of biscuits to munch on the way back to Carlisle.

Turns out that there's a student from Taiping who scored 15A1s and 1A2 in the recent SPM examinations. But the poor girl has not been chosen as the top student in M'sia (it was given to a couple of people with 15A1s) and is not even listed in Perak's top 100, which are filled with students who scored 'all A1s'. Bodoh tak? Whether it's a political decision or just a routine gaffe, I do not know, but she definitely has my sympathies. You work your ass off in a normal, 'SMK' school without the privileges that're routinely showered upon MRSMs and SBPs and you don't even get recognition when you succeed. Hopefully, she'll be given an appropriate scholarship, instead of it going to someone less deserving.

I've always been a little anti-MRSM/SBP despite my dad having worked in one for the whole of his career. We definitely differ in opinions on that matter, and he was sorely disappointed when I didn't take up the offer to go to MCKK and refused to even apply for a place in MRSM. I appreciate the wonderful opportunities that exist for those who do decide to go to such schools - you get the best teachers and equipment (my school had to wait for almost a decade to get its labs updated and money promised to it is still outstanding, last I heard wherelse MCKK was totally refurbished when QE2 visited all those years ago), and you have powerful, well-connected alumnis.

But even at Standard 6, I felt that there was something not quite enticing about being in the company of individuals that're of a relatively similar mindset and are given opportunities based on ethnicity rather than socioeconomic circumstances. If I had gone to MRSM like my dad wanted me to, I'd probably never had the opportunity to play the piano, discuss Nietzsche and get confused over Shakespeare with my friends (funnily enough, I used the MRSM library to get hold of my first plays as there weren't many available in my school and nobody else ever bothered to check them out at MRSM), co-publish magazines that almost got our asses sued, learn the art of 'malufying' oneself in public, learn that racial tensions do exist but can be overcome by bonds of friendship and so on and so forth. In essence, I'd have led a very different life, one that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much.

Then again, a few of my nearest and dearest had their education in such schools and have turned out to be amazing individuals who aren't just totally academically-oriented. So there must be something good in there somewhere. If only it was made available to the general public too. And I'd probably be a lot more studious if I had gone to MRSM. Haha..

Had planned to go for the gig in Sheffield initially, but the fact that travel's gonna be crap has put me off. Instead I'll spend the weekend in Newcastle, where I hope to catch V for Vendetta, catch round 2 of F1 and lepak with the others as per usual; and on Monday I'll play host to Jaja.