This is taken from my post in my school's website http://forum.smkbintulu.net


Well, now's the time to learn some openings. In international chess we normally follow some general principles. These are thus:

(i) Control the center
(ii) Knights before bishops
(iii) Castle early
(iv) Do not move a piece more than once in the opening
(v) Do not move your queen early

Of course, if the opponent violates the opening principles, you should also punish him/her. Sometimes this may involve violating the principles yourself...

Today we'll be learning an opening called Ruy Lopez or also the Spanish Opening/Spanish Torture


















The Ruy Lopez occurs after the following positions:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf6 Nc3
3. Bb5

The Ruy Lopez is a very positional yet potentially tactical opening. By moving the Bishop to b5, the Bishop attacks the sole defender of e5. From here on, we have three main continuations:

3. ... a6
3. ... Nf6
3. ... d6

... a6 is Morphy's defence
... Nf6 is Berlin's defence
... d6 is Steinitz defence

Of course, after 3. ... a6, White cannot win the pawn on e5 as demonstrated below:

4. Bxc6 dxc6!?
5. Nxe5?! Qe7! skewering the Knight and pawn (or 5. ...Qd4 forking)
6. Nf3 Qxe4+
7. Qe2 Qxe2+
8. Kxe2 -/+ due to Black's Bishop pair

Therefore the only logical move would be 4. Ba4 (The moving of the Bishop twice in the opening is in response to Black's weakening of the Queenside and is thus justified)

4. Ba4 Nf6
5. 0-0!?

Black cannot hold onto the pawn in the long run and faces serious attacking chances from White... eg

5. ... Nxe4?!
6. d4! exd4?
7. Re1! pinning the Knight to the King

Note that 6. ... Nf6 then 7. dxe5 regains material

I will post the others in a later entry =P Got complained of overdosage >_<

Sejarah

So long I did not post an entry, and so I decided I should finally pen down some of my feelings =)

This is more on 30th April's happenings haha.

As you all know (or some of you may not, whatever. An example of a useless sentence you should avoid when writing an essay...), I work as a Sejarah and PJK teacher in SMK Bintulu (for now hehe). Recently, I have earned the title "Cikgu Gila" from 4S7 and 4S1 students. From the information I gathered from my colleagues, I found out that they were horrified with my presence in class... another period of agony and torture. I mean, who would like sejarah? XD

NOBODY

Well, that's exactly the problem which I faced when I first took over the class. More than half of 4S7's students had beatiful red colours for their papers and needless to say, 4S1 was quite hopeless. According to the students, the teacher never taught them in class AND they never brought their textbooks and/or used them (quite different from our generation). They just copied notes on the blackboard day in day out and when it comes to answering questions, half of them didn't even know what to write -.-

All of that was to change the moment I got my hands on the classes

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

First rule: Those who don't bring Sejarah textbook will have a punishment of 20+5(n-1) times of push-ups, where n = the nth time violating the stated rule.

Second rule: Study Sejarah everyday because I may spring a surprise quiz anytime anywhere.

Third rule: Do not do something you would regret... I am known for my sarcasm and sharp words :)

Fourth rule: Topical test EVERY Thursday. 2 structure and 2 essay.

Fifth rule: Those who fail the topical test will be punished by (40-n) times, where n = exams marks and n <40

Sixth rule: Passing mark for 4S7 is 60, for 4S1 is 40

Seventh rule: All Sejarah textbooks are to be put on the teacher's table prior to examinations. Sitting arrangements will be reshifted to avoid "accidental stray sideway glances"

Eight rule: I will almost go in any single sit-in period available for me to continue teaching the syllabus and/or giving surprise quiz.

Ninth rule: If anyone forgot the name(s) of important historical figure(s), I will change his/her name into that person's name so that s/he will NEVER FORGET IT. Right now we have Nandiswara Wong Soon Fook, Amir Koh, Zaid Goh and Alaq.

Want me to teach your class Sejarah? Maybe you should think again =) But my stringent regiment does have its merits. From the mediocre 2 passes I got from the first topical test from each class, I now have 14 passes from 4S1 =)

And there's even a 98 scorer from 4S7 by the name of Kong Chan Hum

I feel so happy that they are finally starting to study Sejarah... I must admit, I love teaching this subject... And I never really hated it haha... (weird guy -.-)

History is important as it gives you a free A1 lolz... Good luck to everyone sitting for Sejarah SPM...

One Day More

To the tune of Les Miserables' One Day More (please google it on youtube to fully appreciate this blog)

Mark:
One day more, another day another destiny,
This never ending road to victory,
These friends who love to sing and rhyme,
Would surely win a second time,
One day more...

Benjamin:
I did not believe until today,
How can I live when we are parted...

Benjamin and his voice:
Tomorrow you'll be worlds away!!!
And yet with you, my song has started.

Lee Yi Fang:
One more day he's on his own.

Benjamin and his voice:
Will we ever meet again?

Lee Yi Fang:
One more day with me not caring.

Benjamin and his voice:
I was born to be with you!

Lee Yi Fang:
What a life I might have known.

Benjamin and his voice:
And I swear I will be true.

Lee Yi Fang:
But those boys cant leave me there...

Samuel Tiong:
One more day till we perform.

Benjamin:
Do I follow where she goes?

Samuel Tiong:
At the stages to our stardom.

Benjamin:
Shall I join my brothers there?

Samuel Tiong:
When our ranks begin to form.

Benjamin:
Do I stay and do I dare?

Samuel Tiong:
Will you take your place with me.

All:
The time is now, The day is HERE!!!

Mark:
One day more!

Joshua Ong:
One more day to competition we will nip it in the bud
I will join these little schoolboys, they will win their foes like fart (LOL)

Grace + Derrick:
Watch them run their queen, catch it with a pin,
Never know your luck when you can win the KING,
Here a little fork, there a little luck,
Most of them are goners so they won't miss much.

All:
One day to a new beginning
Raise the flag of stardom high
Every man will be a king
Every man will be a king
There's a new world for the winning
There's a new world to be won
Do you hear the people sing?

Benjamin:
My place is here, I sing with you...

Mark:
One day more!

Benjamin and his voice:
I did not believe until today

Lee Yi Fang:
One more day all on his own.

Benjamin and his voice:
How can I live when we are parted?

Mark:
One day more!

Benjamin and his voice:
Tomorrow you'll be worlds away.

Lee Yi Fang:
What a life I might have known.

Benjamin and his voice:
And yet with you my world has started.

Joshua Ong: (Overlapping)
I will join these people's heroes I will follow where they go
I will learn their vict'ry secrets I will know the things they know.
One more day to competition we will nip it in the bud,
I will join these little schoolboys.

Grace + Derrick: (Overlapping)
Watch them run their queen, catch it with a pin,
Never know your luck when you can win the KING,
Here a little fork, there a little luck...

Mark:
Tomorrow we'll be on our way, tomorrow is the judgment day

All:
Tomorrow we'll discover what our God in heaven has in store.
One more dawn,
One more day,

ONE

DAY

MORE!

(all modifications are meant for lolness with no harmful intention to any party. Please continue to support SMK Bintulu Choir Club!)

Disclaimer: One Day More is not, in whatsoever form, a property of SMK Bintulu Choir Club. We want to thank the composer and lyricist for such a powerful and meaningful piece to add to our limited repertoire.

Streamyx

(to the tune of Harry Potter's Double Trouble)

X tremely slow and unreliable
Y ou never know when it's unusable
M any times the line's unstable
A nd you hate that lousy cable!
E very month you pay but how come
R eally slower than a snail it becomes!
T ell me what's the problem TELEKOM!!!
S OMETHING LOUSY this way comes!

P.S. Read the first letters revers XD

SUMO

I read an interesting article from SUMO written by Paul McGee today...

Sometimes in life we just have to Shut Up and Move On! (SUMO). Here's the humorous excerpt (no, not your bone!)

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends...
I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time and what do you get at the end of it? Death.
I mean, what's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you move to an old people's home. you get kicked out whe you're too young, you get a gold watch and then you go to work. You work fro forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You have fun, party plenty, then you get ready for senior school. Then you go to junior school, you become a kid, you play and you have no responsibilities. You become a little baby, you go back into the womb, spend your last nine months floating... and you finish off as an orgasm

lol -.- Some food for thought for ya

Humility

H umility is something I am lacking
U nless I learn this thing
M y future's but nothing
I know it's no use just realizing
L ess only just sit and talking
I 'll only learn by changing
T o stop self-praising
Y es, no more self-gratifying

University applications

I told myself I will NOT be tempted to switch on the computer, but somehow the bedbugs were on strike and decided they wanted to have something else besides bedsheets to chew on. A sleepless night soon passed by and I was fidgeting every few minutes.

Probably I did get some winks but it was soon 4 o'clock in the morning and that was when the restlessness really kicked in. Where was my blanket? *toss* Where is the pillow? *scratch* Oh my aircon is switched off! A bit stuffy, better switch it on again! *fiddles for the remote* Oops, gotta go to the loo! *walks to the toilet and goes back to bed* It's so itchy! *scratch again*

Amazingly, it was suddenly 5 a.m. I told myself I will NOT BE TEMPTED TO SWITCH ON THE COMPUTER!!! Unfortunately, mere mortals can't possibly resist their inquisitive character. So it was on with the system unit and soon I was browsing Mozilla Firefox...

For Porn... yea right -.-

FOR ADMISSIONS DECISIONS! Will Cornell decide I was suitable? Being a Brunonian is equally exciting...

And then it came: Harvard: REJECTED!

Oh well, I expected that as I did not even get an interview. (still my cheerful self)

The second blow came harder than expected:
Cornell: REJECTED!

But why??? I thought I did well for the essay? Cornell was, in my opinion one of the more reachable Ivies, but I guess that's apparently not.

In the midst of my frustration I suddenly forgot my Brown and Princeton password. Totally disconcerted from the two application results, I went to school with a glum face. Reminding myself everything is in God's hands, I tried my best to break the news to my teachers who helped me with the apps: all their efforts were for naught.

But better news was in store. Using my colleague's computer, I finally managed to access CMU's admissions page. At first I didn't notice anything different than the other times (which mounted to a hundred) when I went to the "Where am I in the process?" page. Then two "accepted" words suddenly caught my attention - I WAS ADMITTED INTO CARNEGIE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND MELLON COLLEGE OF SCIENCE!

Just then another email came in from Stanford University. Filled with euphoria over my FIRST EVERY ADMISSION FROM US, I decided that some can be spent on rejection letters =)

To my surprise I was waitlisted for the university I spent the least time on my university apps (does it imply something?) [I thought the prospect was bleak so I just applied for fun]

Those news were probably enough for me to survive my last two rejections: Princeton and Brown. Looking back, I only got admitted into CMU out of my 7 universities I applied. Am I disappointed? Of course! But I am also thankful for the admission AND the waitlist.

Ironically, I prayed to God during my applications. I told him that whichever you give me means you want me there, pursuing that degree. God does a great job relieving my burden to choose =D So I guess CMU it is! Look out, here comes Tartan Mark Wong!