*achoo..* 'cuse me. geez...this place is full of dust! well, guess that you can't say much about a place that's been abandoned for over 1 month.

ok, let's have a little recap. hmn...let's see... Nov 2. Bush got elected for a second term. that means another 4 years of unilateral approach and pre-emptive stance on America's policy concerning national security (read: terrorism). big words, yeah. but sadly, it's a return to the rule of the jungle, where survival of the fittest is the order of the day. rule #1: strike out first before others can get you, even if that implies making excuses to justify your means. we all know too well about the WMD in Iraq.

meanwhile, on the other part of the globe, life goes on. i had my first paper: Bio2. woke up the next morning to a rude shock: the controversial leakage of the paper. first UPSR, then PMR. now SPM and STPM? geez... you'd thought the Malaysian Examination Council (MEC) would be better than MES. what more can i say? i guess only Malaysia Can!

Nov 10. some schoolmates made appearance on several mainstream chinese press paper to complain about the matter. received mix feedback from the 'public' in general (from what i can gather). managed to cause but a small ripple. (sorry, people) and again, life goes on.

fast forward to today. Dec 2. memorable day. marked the official day of freedom for 71,142 STPM students nationwide. =)

everyone was wearing a smile today. even the invigilators were unusually perky. the lady invigilator in my classroom even ask us "are you ready?", before handing out the papers smiling.

so that's it. D-day has come and go. and i'm a survivor. survive and live to tell the story... i may not emerge victoriously or unscathed, but hey, at least i still have my sanity intact. *grin*

to the supposedly hardest and toughest exam in the world, (the teachers never fail to remind us of this on the first day), i guess i can now say "been there, done that."

goodbye to the nerve-wrecking, tension-mounting, sleep-deprived days and hello to my newfound freedom.