The Bryan Story.... Choose your Uni/College Wisely!

Thanks for many of your positive comments about the last Article, "What..?! Only 1A?"... Hhahaha Gave me inspiration to write more! :P Well... after that article.. i was thinking of a Part 2 in some ways or another... Cos... SPM is one helluva crappy 17 years of life that each Malaysian has to endure.... Yea... Let me tell you a story about my good friend... Let's call him "Bryan" (Not his real name!) 

Bryan remembered after his highly rushed, adrenalin thomping (is that even a word?!!) I-am-so-screwed moment of receiving that lousy piece of paper that judged us for who we are konon (how many A's you got?!) moment... he and his friends screamed out loud....
"SPM.. **** YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yea... those were the days.... He continued to lepak with his pals... enjoyed life for a few more weeks to come... then enrolled in College....only to realize that...Damn..... This shyt is happening all over again!!!! No kidding.. He thought... after SPM... study life is almost over... and Every senior or older friend would have used that ever-famous line..... "COLLEGE & UNI LIFE IS DIFFERENT!!!!".... (yea right! No need study meh? sot jor ah!!!)

So.. Bryan came to a point... take Form 6... or Go for College? If take Form 6.. have to cut his hair, redye his hair into pure Asian hair colour (i.e. black.. like hello???) and remove his earrings... and UN-Cool himself....And OMFG.. an all-time favourite.... SCHOOL UNIFORM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Imagine Bryan is in some Northern Schools where they had to cut typically botak style.. or Girls school where every chic looks the same! hahahah Pun intended! :P)

From this point.. let's analyze how many versions of BRYAN do we have here.... k?

Form 6
Face it! Parents boh lui... Family boh lui... yourself boh lui.... Shut up and study harder in Form 6 and Change your TYPEs so that you can do better and make your parents proud... so that you can go into local Uni and earn a diploma or degree so that you can come out and work and give allowance to your parents later... again... remember my last article... where I wrote about being a piece of BBQ Pork? Atleast the BBQ Pork serves a purposes rather than you not studying hard!!!

Science Stream
Continue to be in the science stream... since Bryan was doing Bio Chem or Physics classes and had no clue... (hahaha) Now, if Bryan aims to be an Engineer or a Doctor... well.. by all means. What if Bryan still has no clue.... Well... Bryan can either:
i) Shoot himself right this instance
ii) Ask himself if he wanna be into Medicine, Chemical Line, Drugs (pharmaceutical lah.... what you thinking! hahaha) or being in the "Science" field... SERIOUSLY.... No kidding. Many of Bryan's "Friends" really still stuck themselves in the TYPE 9 category... where they just don't bother. Well good luck... BBQ Pork! let's not waste time talking about the BBQ pork (For Muslim friends who are reading this.. sorry la... don't get offended. it's just a Chinese phrase! :P)
iii) Ask himself if he MIGHT be interested in Accounting, Economics, language, Literature (urgkkk), business... meeting people and sell shyt... telling stories and inspire people (hmmmmm....)
Change stream into Arts

Arts Stream
Face it.. if Bryan was originally an Arts Stream student... most likely.. from Form 1-3.. he already know what he wants and who he wanna be... and decided to go into Arts solely because he wants this line in the future. If he is not that...(Ahem) smart initially, means, he eityher scored less than 2-3 A's in PMR and that he had no choice cause the School doesnt want him in the Science Stream and kind'a foced him into the Arts stream! (Hahah) Sorry.. again.. pun intended. If by now you are getting pissed... pls do not post some damn lame Anonymous comments here cause I spoke the inevitable. Face Facts.. ask you to study baik baik in Form 3 dont want..So dont give me the finger now!

If Bryan is smart enough.. he would have thought carefully....!
1) Become a BBQ Pork and stay in Science stream cos he really dont bother.
2) Stay in Science Stream cos he knows what he wants....in the Science field... OR.. he has doubts... about the fact that the only reason he chose Science in Form 4 was because going into Arts in Form 4 damn malu and like.. no friends there... or his school forces him in!
3) Switch to Arts cause he has doubts perhaps.. Maybe.. MAYBBEEEEE he thinks he might be better off here...

4) Arts easier lorrrr

To those who memang chose arts from Form 4 because they want to... well... good on ya! Stay here... shd probably stop reading liao... :P Anyway...WHAT IF...

Bryan comes to Arts stream.... What line pulak?
Well... talk to your bloody counselor and make him/her work. :P

Now.. if Bryan is in Form 6... he'll spend another 1.5 years there... So switch your types... choose your right subjects/streams... and good luck.. I'll see you in the next 2 years for another story. hahaha....
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For 5th formers who are choosing their Uni/College....Here we go...Got a few Bryans here you know...!

1) Don't wanna study liao... just go out and work ... and tells the whole world... wanna rest for a while and study later after "Gaining some experience"... Wow... This Bryan forgotten that he lives in Malaysia and most Malaysian firms look at what cert you have before hiring you.... Well, if you just want to be a normal guy.. live happy go lucky... serves drinks.. cut hair... bla bla bla.. then... ok lor.. Go ahead.... Most likely your salary in the future will not surpass RM1500/mth... (Disclaimer: We do have many miracles amongst us who has no cert and end up a millionaire... Big hand to you... now back to reality....)

2) Choose a college....now in this category alone.. we have a few types of Bryans.... 

i) Dunno what to study... follow friends lah!!!
Note: I have a few friends who chose Mechanical Engineering cos Banyak kawan going ma... so go lor!!!! They ended up burning the parents' hard earned $$$ of not less than RM5k+ for the semester that they barely survived... oh yea.. some even flunked big time.... I mean.. Come on.. These Bryan's where their parents are not that.. ahem.. rich... THINKS that they have the $$$$... hence, what they do? Steaddddyyyy lah!!! pass also maaaa!!!! or.. Shyt.. fail liao.. nevermind la.. re-sit! .. I mean... telling the world they go to Sunway College or Monash... or Taylors.. I mean... WOW... okay what!!!

FACE FACTS: If dy/dx and trigo is not your favourite subjects... or Physics you don't even score 60... face it... You suck....! Go study something else! I mean... come on...!!!! This field is just not yours!!!! you think you HAVE it.. but you don't! you suck!!! "Work harder can maaaa".. ok.. Once again ladies and gentlemen... YOU SUCK at Physics and Maths... Go study something else!!!! please! Dont follow your friends just because.. your friends like to study those field.. AND jeng! Jeng! Jeng!!!!....

Bryan's GF.... wanna study that .. so Bryan follow saja la... Cos... typical lor... GF ma.. can meet everyday ma... at the age of 17... He found his true LOVE....! He found that he really LIKES AND LOVEEEESSSS the GF so much that he would "Die" for her.... Aduih..... Go laaa.. Go.... No problem... :)

ii) Indecisive Bryan
This is where .... Bryan is not very sure what field he wants to do.. but he is better than the above Bryan at least he won't go into a field where his friends of chic goes into simply co there's company! I mean Come on!!!!!!! you are studying not because you want to stay with your friends!!!!

Let me share with you a typical Friendship lifecycle in Malaysia...
Primary Education
Secondary Form 1-3
Form 4-5 (Esp when your hormones start to pump in and opposite sex plays an important role here)
FOrm 6 or College/Uni Life
Work Life
Work Life 2
Work Life 3
Work Life 4?
Work Life 5???
We attend your funeral....

Friends come and go... Good friends stay... Some don't (That's why they are lousy ones!) Some kept in touch.. some even got married to each other... so.. CHILL!!! If your friends are good ones... tthey will stay in touch. Dont go following them!

So..back to our main topic... What Field???

i) Engineering:
You need to define which one! There's Mechanical, Civil, Electrical & Electronic Engineering! Lay man terms... You like machines???(Mechanical).. Build buildings/architectural (Civil) ... High tech gadgets and shyt like that (E&E).....Most "Bryans" who wanna be an Engineer would have known about which one of the Engineering fields they are interested in already... So... These types of bryans I don't really have to talk much cause most likely they are the TYPE 1s or 2s.... (Type2s.. pls la.. go out and get more friends...!) Good luck in your future ya! :) Make sure you build 'em bridges properly or buildings... so they wont's crack or leak... (woo hooo OUCH! :P)

ii) IT
Now.. actually.. this field alone got plentttttty of areas to choose from... The typical being Information Technology per se. These are mostly for those computer whiz kids... those Dota idiots who beat the shyt out of me most of the time... or they read codes on the computer screen and can understand them... like seriously....! This type of Bryan's... don't think anything else... just bloody go for this... Choose to major in some areas if you already know what you want....

We also have the Comp Science, Comp Engineering degrees... We have the designers.... those stuff... And if these type of Bryans...most likely from form 3 since he started Dota-ing or CS-ing... he would have known which field he wants to!... Good Luck...

Now.. our major concern is those Bryans who THINKS that Comp Science or IT Diploma/Degree is cool and wanna "Try it out"... again... my bottom line... Choose wisely... Go understand the field before coming into this before I call you a piece of BBQ Pork again.

iii) Business
There are many business degrees out there... question is which one? Now... A lot of these new "University-College" people will tell you how "highly-accredited" their diplomas or degrees are....! Of course laaa.. you forgot their rice bowl is .. TADA... from that particular College!!!!!!! Be careful upon selection. I have a friend who has a diploma that was "Accredited by the LAN - Lembaga Akreditasi Negara" (Now different name ady... dunno call what.. but same shyt) ... only to find out a few years later that the Diploma is not recognised by the government or the LAN department.. In other words... No LAN use (Hey... not vulgar word ya...)

Those 3+0...4+0.. please study them carefully.... They will show you letters chopped and signed by the new LAN or whatever department there is in Malaysia... but at the end of the day.... you will still have a no LAN use cert if you don't find it out before you sign up for the course!

When you have selected a particular Uni course etc... they will put you through Foundation level.. then Diploma level 1-3 or maybe advanced... then Degree... or some would tell you Foundation.. then Year 1-4... bla bla bla the list goes on! Do note that once you have signed up ... your Foundation or Year 1 MIGHTTTTT not be recognized by another... so-called University-College ya! Especially when many people wanna study in one particular Uni.. then decided to switch to another... you will (again) waste a lot of your parents' hard earned $$$$ cause the new Uni-College you enrolled in.. would tell you that the former cert you got... not recognized wan... cause that Uni from UK or Timbaktu is not very popular wan bla bla bla!!!!! Then, they say... "Nevermind la.. we have checked with our (experienced) Chancellor what not.. that this new Uni will now accept you, BUT (there's always a catch) you have to do additional semesters.... i.e. more $$$$$$$!

Find out more about the College/Uni you want to enrol at first... Don't because they have "affiliations" with some UK canggih names that you can't even pronounce.....you reckon that your future piece of paper that cost your parents 40k+ is actually a piece of crap.... :)

If it's Business related degrees or diplomas.... you might even want to look at ABE, CIM etc... these are professional courses where they are recognized worldwide ya!

iii) Accounting?
Some already debating that they want to take CIMA or ACCA already... and without much knowledge of what they are.. or actually what they stand for! Friends say maaaa.... CIMA not so good.. ACCA better... more recognized... these sorta Bryans....(again) shd be BBQ porks... cause they listen to their "friends"... i kind'a forgotten Bryan's Friends are all professors and doctors or great accountants eh?

CIMA is Chartered institute of Management Accountants and ACCA is Association of Chartered Certified Accountants .... Do these words mean anything to you? I bet 9/10 wouldn't have a clue.. just like Bryan!!!!

Laymen term.... CIMA is more towards management accounting... ACCA is more towards Auditing etc etc... Now if these laymen terms also you don't understand.. and yet.. you are like this Bryan who really has some form of passion for Accounts (urgkkk)... shut up and do LCCI first please... or some basic foundation in Accounting....

You have to go through some phases before you actually know whether CIMA or ACCA suits you better... So, Bryan shd really start with those basic accounting.... decide later cos your lecturers will guide you and at the end.. you yourself will know CIMA or ACCA is better... Otherwise... go be a BBQ Pork.... :)

Other fields:
Now.. there are plenty more fields to go into for Bryan... but this writer really can only speak about so much that he knows.. hence... good luck OTHER BRYANS....! :)

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Now...What if Bryan Studies his Form 6... and comes out.. and didn't actually get an offer to a local degree... harrrrrrr..... jeng jeng jeng......!!!!!!!!

1) Firstly, dai sei... cos never Change TYPEs... still stay like before in Form 5... so.. cry also no tears eh! :P
2) He has options now.... just like the above.... but do note... If a sixth former who fails to get into Local Uni... with the STPM cert and after yet another 1.5years of torture... Bryan comes out and joins some College... he only exchanges probably 6months of the foundation level of the private studies. This means.... Bryan's peers would have been in Year 2 by the time he wants to do private education after form 6... OR let me put it in a more torturous way.... Bryan's Juniors.. most likely 2 years younger.. might end up in the same class as he is! Cause... Bryan's juniors who went straight into  College after Form 5... spends only 6 months for Foundation or at most 1 year (for those bloody LCLY Colleges like T******) ...

SUMMARY
What should Bryan Do?

i) Smart Bryan... already know his destiny (konon)... Go ahead... Good luck in your future and Change your Types!!!! :P
ii) So-So bryan.... But already decided.... Go for it!!!! If that's what you wanna do.. don't follow your friends etc etc... Go study that field/line!!!

iii) The SH Bryan... Dont waste your parents' money... spend 2 more years in Form 6 to see if it really changes your type and keep you focused on what you realllllly wanna do. otherwise.. go out and work!

All in all... Choose your courses or fields wisely... Don't make a mistake and it will simply cost loads of money to make that U Turn later. And once you have selected that course.... Don't turn back and focus on achieving good results! Don't tell me the owners of Facebook is a College drop-out.. or a lot of millionaires are just SPM holders.... The right thing to point out is... ARE YOU ONE OF THEM? if you are.. you would not be reading my article by now cause half way through you would have thought "Crap! Waste time.. not worth my time reading"... Hence... ya... face facts...!

Disclaimer:
Sorry to offend anyone if I Bryan-ised your life... but again.. this is my blog for the benefit for all my Leos and their friends. you don't like it, don't read.. but wait. if you are reading this.. means that you have finished reading the entire long and lame blogpost... Still don't like it? Go find some wall to bang...

Good Luck!

Regards

Lion Alan Thoo
DC for Leo Clubs
District 308B2 (Malaysia)

WHAT???? only 1 A in SPM?!

I had to type something when I got so much news from my Leos about their results. Some were very happy because they scored straight A's... Some scored so-so... some only had a handful, some had none at all! Well .... Gaining Straight A's is something you should be extremely proud of! You have done well.. and congratulations! Also to those who scored the number of A's... Bravo!!!!! Let me tell you this... My sibblings... Elder and younger brother  and me.. with all the A's we got during our time at SPM... probably still cannot classified as a STRAIGHT A's student. Mark my words... all three of us combined you know! hahaha! 

Let's start to classify the types of students you are:

TYPE 1: Straight A's and active in your extra-curricular activities

TYPE 2: Straight A's and stay at home, number of friends on Facebook exceed 500, but number of real friends ... "10 fingers can count all" (typical chinese translation.. my apologies)

TYPE 3: 6-8 A's... not too bad in your social life... and very happy of your results cause you earned it!

TYPE 4: 6-8 A's... very active in your social life.. and not happy with the Type 1 & 2... cause you think that you should be there! You are now blaming yourself for not spending enough time in your studies and you are thinking the famous phrase... "I wasted my time in XXXX club/association.. I should have bla bla bla...."

TYPE 5: 4-5 A's... very happy with whatever you have achieved... cause you led a life at school.. got friends.. got family... got facebook (hahaha) and you're just happy! No issues!

TYPE 6: 1-3 A's... Very active in social life.. FB most likely >1000 friends.. real friends lagi banyak... Should be some key persons in their clubs, associations etc etc... Don't bother much about all the other types as above.. cos you felt that you led your life happily.. gained a lot of street-smart experience.. and don't bother about anything in the world at this stage

TYPE 7: Just as Type 6, but the problem is you damn tulan with yourself now... cause you felt that you should have studied harder.. you shouldn't have joined all those clubs or association! Your parents are screaming down at you.... for such lousy marks and that you disgrace them... The word that constantly pop up in your mind right now is... "I should have..."... or "I Could Have...."

TYPE 8: No A's... Still ok to you.. you are really not that affected la. Chill-ing all your way and laughing at the Type 7s!

TYPE 9: No A's... Blames the world... don't care.. and no idea about whatever...

Let's analyze now aite!!!

TYPE 1.. well congrats! You earn it.. studied hard... well done! For the Type1, I respect you really. How I wish I could be just like you! You know, I have friends like you peepz... Active in all that you do at school... prefect maybe.. scouts? Leo? Interactor? Bandie? Debator? Someone in school lah! You are awesome wei. You work hard and play hard! Good luck in our future! Don't look back now and say that you have achieved this great and awesome results and start slacking k? Your SPM and high school life is over! Now's College and Uni time! Continue to be that top student out there and continue to enjoy your College & Uni life! Definitely you'll love it as it's a whole new ball game!!!!!

TYPE 2: Firstly, congrats lah.... Secondly.. Sorry I have to say this... You might end up with thick glasses somewhere... maybe earning a couple of thousand and driving a brand new proton sudah cukup makan gua? A small house and 2 kids already cukup. Good on ya... But really... if you end up in some Uni.. stop facebooking and go out there to actually "LIKE" what your REAL friends are talking about man... Seriously! I mean.. ya lor.. you will most likely end up working for the TYPES 4-9 anywayzzz... think about it... Staying in this "TYPE" will make you so old in thoughts that you would end up being a bloody anti-socialite. But then again, if that's the journey of life you want to lead... Go ahead man! Really... and my apologies for pointing out the inevitable.

TYPE 3, 5, 6, 8... Do you know.. how many people out there are just like you? You'll survive in the open , real world faster than anyone else! You have principles in life and you would have no issues mixing around with anyone, from any race, country or religion cause you have the brains and you go for it!

TYPE 4, 7... I think you should just go out and get and chill! You need to move yourselves to the 3,5,6,8....! You have the brains too.. but you have the jealousy heart and soul in you that should have been wiped out! You need to seriously think about the examination is something to challenge yourself and not against one another! Life is a competition. Whether it is a healthy one or a dead serious competition... you'd better stay clear pls! You may have the brains... but if you let the heart tells you where to go and lead you to the "I will do all I can to bring him/her down" mentality.. then you'd better stop that feeling right now! How to? 

Oh well.... look yourself in the mirror....scold the person facing you kau kau!!!!! :) It might work. Hahahaha..Otherwise...

Chill... and work harder next time! Life is just at the cross roads... not even started yet!

Types 9: Erm... go get a job and make yourselves useful la. Don't waste your parents' money for tertiary studies no more.. better let them use it for a European holiday or something.. at least they earn it! :) Otherwise.. it's time to think about your life and move yourselves to the other Types already lehh! it's time to make your past 17 years of life... a slightly more useful one.. not to the world or your family yet.. but atleast to yourself! Think about it! It ain't cheap raising you... Like Chinese Saying... your parents should have gave birth to a block of Honey BBQ Pork. atleast the prok serves a purpose. :)

Time to wake up from your life and make them proud of you!

Summary
I scored 3A's in my SPM back then. I was very active in my Leo Club, school band and prefect activities! The number of extra-curricular certs that I have received would add up to at least an inch thick (then)! To blame it on my activities, I must say it will be a little to harsh to do. But I did. YES.. I was really a TYPE 7! No kidding! Still failing to think that I could have balanced out my activities and my studies... I just couldn't be bothered with my life and went into Form 6.

When I was in Form 6... I must have thought I was a bloody Romeo or something.. and because of chicks and all... I kind'a screwed up my life and also at the same time I was really not studying much. I didn't fail any subjects though.... but I had 1A, 1B, 1C, 2 Ds in my STPM! i only really tried to study 2-3 months before the exams! Throughout the 1.5 years in my Form 6 life... I think I hurt many of my friends by choosing wrong words and doing the stupidest shyt anyone could have thought of (we'll leave that for another blog post k?)....

Hence, when I got the results... I kind'a like ... stayed at TYPE 7... blame the world.. blame this and that... and forgetting to blame that one thing that is undeniably the root to my "failure"... ME.

Well, application to the local university came....at that time... we didn't have online submission.. no facebook nor friendster even.. for friends to post "I'm going to apply for this bla bla bla" on their status. We just had word of mouth! Yup!!! I grew up in the Malaysian Internet Revolutionary period of time.... hence.. yeah.. MIRC was a cool thing then! Oh ya. ICQ came about later! hahahaah! Those were the days man!

Anyway... I applied for some courses and yes.. I didn't get anything! Yup!!! Nothing! So where do I turn back to? My parents of course! My parents and elder brother supported me in my tertiary education... Both of them were just teachers in public schools and my brother was only an accounts executive then... he just finished his accounting course and started working not too long ago then.

Well... I told myself that... all my life as a TYPE 7... and failing to see it when I was like that.. i started to think otherwise. I told myself... I can do it if I want to.... I changed my life entirely. I seriously and really.. really studied hard... cause I knew the extra tuition classed my dad had to give was to support me in my private tertiary education. True enough... I bought loads of books...revised constantly with my friends... and stayed focused! Well.... the results...? In that sem, 2 students scored straight A's for our Level 1 Business Diploma... and I was one of them. I then applied for a degree completion course doing an ADP course (American Degree Program) and I graduated top of my class.... and gave a speech at my graduation ceremony! My parents were thrilled!

Oh.. just incase if you are wondering... when i said I migrated from TYPE 7 upwards.. I really didn'y go to the extend of a TYPE 2 ... hahaha... I was the Org. Chairperson for my college's Prom Nite... and in 96, I obtained Top Leo (Omega).... I organized a project called Literacy Week that was a nominee for the International Lions Club Literacy and Cultural Award... Though the project didn't win, being able to be selected by the Multiple District 308 (Malaysia-Singapore-Brunei) for the award was already something I am proud of! I also went back to my school band and actively supervised projects, practices etc etc etc! 

I think I managed to migrate from TYPE 7 to somewhat of either a TYPE 1 or 3...

NOTE: Telling you all these is not to flare my successes. It's not to tell you what awards I got.. what achievements I obtained whatsoever! telling you all these was because i wanted to tell you that I realize at some point that.. "IT'S TIME TO CHANGE"!!!! Some people see it back in Form 1 when they screwed up their UPSR (hahahahah.. wtf!) Some after their PMR.. some after SPM.. and it wasn't until my Tertiary years.. my college/uni years... that I realize I screwed up my entire high school life.. and because of me... my family had to work twice harder to put me through college! Even so... HOW MANY PEOPLE out there would not realize even until they die that they stayed at a certain TYPE for life?

I have friends who have stayed in TYPES 7 .. or 9... or whatever you wanna call it.... even at Uni... and they ended up failing their subjects etc etc.. and become a college/uni drop out.. and end up selling some stuff for some companies.. earning a starting pay of not more than RM1200/mth? And still... complaining about their lives.. bla bla bla???!!! How often do you hear some people.. seniors... saying the following:

"Don't follow my footsteps.. Study hard now. It's your future"
"I f***ed up my life... cause I didn't study well"
"When i was your age.. I was bla bla bla bla bla"

WHAT TYPE ARE YOU????!
It's time to make a difference... If you are a LEO Member... and you were serving as a Leo during my terms as RCC or DC, I am sure you would have been to a M.A.D project (Making a Difference) for the community as well as for the environment... But have you ever thought that.. it's really the time to stop and MAKE A DIFFERENCE in your LIFE now!!!!

If you are highly active in your activities, but seriously suck at your studies.. It  is time to really consider doing a lifecheck and balance things out! If you are a studious Type 2....Really.. go out there and stop complaining why you have no friends! You are a smart person.. but it's time to CHILL!!!! Go watch a movie from the actual cinema rather than downloading from youtube!

This is your LIFE!!!! Do you want to just drive a small car when you grow up? Live in a small sized apartment or house? Work 9-5pm and end up at home having no idea what life is all about?  (Disclaimer: Sorry to those who are in this state... my respect for you if you feel that your life is full with this conditions... My apologies for using your life as an example. I do not mean to insult your current state)

Time to switch and upgrade your TYPEs. Time to Make a Change in your life and Make a Difference for your future!!!!Time to strike that balance and start to think....!

Regards

Lion Alan Thoo

DC for Leo Clubs

District 308B2 (Malaysia)