First five's from shengmae.

1. It’s ALWAYS bros before hoes.

My three best friends and I have gone through exactly the same thing and when I say exactly, I mean WAN HUNDRAD TAOHSERN PERCENT identitcal breakup situations and we all got dumped exactly the same way and felt the exact same shit for a year or so. Well, Jote's going through it now. 1.5 months and counting. Moral of the story - we all have each other and when things get heart-breaking and downright confidence-wrecking. We take care of each other, talk it out, get our logical brains straight, and back on the road we are.

2. Take up Mandarin classes.

7/8 of my ACCA friends are chinese-educated. More often than not do I feel insecure and inferior when socializing. I feel like the world's out to get me and they're plotting their sinister actions to embarrass my xiang jiao ren-ness.

Besides that, my dad tells me twice a day about, not only how it will benefit me in communication and networking with people, but also the detriments of not going to China to do this 3-month trip for goodness' sake.

3. Read more.

My vocabulary's as lousy as a C-grade movie. I didn't read at all throughout my childhood and now I STILL DON'T EVEN READ AT ALL. I'm on the computer all day, I'm on my phone all night, I'm in the toilet everytime, I'm climbing every week... I'M DOING EVERYTHING BUT READ. And not to mention having big trouble facing politically active rakyat when they come to interrogate me about my ulterior motives throughout my voter's registration campaign that I'm involved in. Seriously, the frigging newspaper is there everyday, getting wet by spilt water, doing nothing. go read the damn papers, boy.

4. You’re gonna enjoy high school.

SAVOUR EACH MOMENT. You'll know when and where you need to. Trust me.

5. Don’t worry about your crooked teeth.

Reading shengmae's one about this can make me omg cry all night ='(

But honestly, the laziness that will get to you, the discipline problems you will be facing when everyone's forcing you to keep your retainers in your damn mouth and not leave them everywhere else... won't matter because you will be a marvelous person and you will know it when the time comes. People will accept who you are. Not what you look like. And girls will be after you!

*Omg shameless*

6. Always think of the good stuff and look toward the future

Your excessive insecurities and self-consciousness is inevitable, I agree. But there are many other things that can help overcome your lack of confidence and shyness - one of them is using your time more carefully and making sure everyday that your to-do-list had something in it that would benefit you in the future. Making sure that everything you do makes someone else smile and that you know you have a good heart and you're using it to make this world a better place. Always look an improved you for the community in the future.



7. When you're choosing your tertiary field of study, choose the one you REALLY WANT TO DO

8 years ago, I started getting interested in graphic web design. I learned how to do basic stuff on photoshop, like colour stuff, draw boxes... It was so refreshing to create something out of nothing. It was colourful. It was my passion. I kept it.

Then 4 years and 2 months ago, my dad and I went to Sunway College to go checkout the courses offered there. We came across this lovely section which said "Monash - Mechatronics Engineering" and I was exhilirated. All my life I was this little boy who always like to take things apart and extract electronics from radios/walkmans/computers and join them to make something. It was time to show the world what I could do with my technicalities.

Then 4 years, and 1 month ago, My dad brought me to the Sunway School of Professional Accountancy (a.k.a. SunwayTES).

4 years and 1 month later after that visit, I am now struggling to finish my final audit paper.



8. "A Jack of All Trades, A Master of None"

Swaying in and out of all kinds of sports and keeping none of them close to you... sometimes it's a waste of effort, sometiems it's a waste of time. If you pick up a sport and you see that you're improving rapidly in it, keep it going. Don't give two birds about your teammates who are leaving to Melbourne to study, your friends who all do other sports, your dad who thinks that rock climbing is too expensive etc, and someday, you will find yourself in a school competition, in a college sports carnival, in the open games, in the inter-district fight, and soon you will see a world-class you.

And it's not only about sports, it's about everything! you may find yourself soon doing photography perhaps, and maybe in your spare time earning some pocket money from designing websites... but realize that if you took either one to further levels, you would have so much more earning power.



9. Don't think about what people are thinking about you!

WHAT'S SO HARD ABOUT JUST MAKING CONVERSATION. Everyone has insecurities. Just go for it, man. As they always say, you'll never know until you try. Seriously! I can tell you, you'll find yourself more confident after gathering all your energy to just go up to some random person and say hi.



10. When you meet someone named Ms. Liew, WALK AWAY.

She may be attractive, the both of you may click in seconds, but watch your emotions. You're a guy! Keep the logic up in there! Trust me!



Have faith. All the best!