The Vox Populi

Vox Populi means the voice of the people, if you are all wondering.

Wondering why I'm not active again, huh? Well a lot of things happened recently and I prefer not to talk about them, except for one. 9 Days of public speaking training went by like a flash I tell you. I can still remember all the criticism and verbal-whipping I had throughout it. Of course today, was the competition, what I refer to as... WAR. I'm sorry, can't help but to say it because the only song that could motivate me was from 30 Seconds To Mars. Of course, the night before I kinda freaked out. In truth, I didn't expect this to happen...at all.

So today was competition day, woke up in the morning and donned my uniform, clad in a blazer due to prefectorial board formality reasons. AS I make my way to school I whispered my speech to see if I could recite it perfectly. Seeing that problem taken care off, I had a little confidence in me. S we made our way to St. Mary's, yes, the same venue from last year's inter-zone competition.(We being Ms. Sheila the teacher adviser, Mr. Derek KOK AKA the mentor and Johnathan Goh AKA the successor ) And when we reached there I saw a rather familiar face...Trester Kaur, who I dubbed Derek's pseudo-girlfriend...don't ask. And of course we got our breakfast, well most of us, Johnathan didn't eat. And GOD I miss St. Mary's good food that has ridiculously puny portions. So after that we entered the conference hall.

Let me tell you most of them looked intimidating, the competition that is. But in the process of calming myself down, I succumbed to Derek's advice. "Go and have fun, psycho them." He says. So I started talking to Trester, which eventually lead me to talk to the friends she's met and extended to almost the whole of the contestants. So there was a total of 13 schools, namely St. Mary's, Convent Sentul, Chong Hwa, Kiamas, and of cousre, SMP with their dreaded teacher adviser. A boring competition turned out to be rather entertaining. Status report for the prepared speech is:

1st Speaker (St. Mary's) : had a rather interesting topic; Body Language, but the intonation is...yeah.

2nd Speaker (SMP) : Wow, such a contrast from last year... this one is just like a flat-line.

3rd Speaker (Convert Sentul): Very well presented, with no mic at that. Interesting topic but rather informative, still, love the delivery.

4th speaker (not sure from which school) : Had decent delivery until she forgot her speech.

5th speaker (also not sure where she's from) : Very dramatic delivery, but generic topic on teenage blues.

6th speaker AKA Me : Well, Derek said that I lacked confidence in this one, but was more composed. Stumbled on a word though...

7th speaker (not sure) : Started okay, but freaked out.

8th (Kiamas) : TRESTER! Product of unity. Very witty speech, had a slight Chinese slang to it. I find the term Chinjabi very catchy.

9th speaker (SMK Bandar Baru) : Dude, nice speech. Love the snapping fingers and kids dying part. Poverty redefined.

10th Speaker (SMK Las Salle) : Topic had potential, (TV Commercials) but kinda boring...

11th speaker (not sure) : Very funny speech man, but perhaps too funny. But it was rather entertaining. How to speak in public, huh?

12th speaker (not sure too) : Very generic topic, Global warming. Delivery was okay.

13th speaker (Chong Hwa) : The one who got my respect, a Form 1 entering such competition, Derek freaked when he was talking about money. Oh the irony. He also had a standing ovation from the speakers.

Through the course of the competition I had more confidence fueling me. When we were quarantined in the waiting room... the psychological warfare begins. It ended up with Me, Trester, Amirul, and that other guy having a blast dilly-dallying our time there. So we were the calm ones, we even had time to tell jokes, listen to music and just making random noises. While the rest just went tense. When I was called into the quarantine room, and saw the topic "Entertainment", Ms. Sheila's final random topic from yesterday's practice came to mind...."Music" of course I added a little spice here and there. When I came out, I completed the deal that we would reveal the topic, whoever went first. So as Trester went in, I told her the topic for a few seconds' advantage. And Silent-shouted at my 2 other partners-in-crime just before I gave my speech. So I hoped I helped.

I didn't know what happened to the first 5 speakers, I heard the 3rd speaker did good though. But the 7th speaker had a nervous breakdown and puked, she pulled out of the competition as well. I think the lines "The rhapsody waltzing through the ages." "..like the latest phenomenon; Lady Gaga. Bad Romance, anyone?" and "The emotions on the silver screen." saved my speech. Trester quoted Adam Lambert, I think it was because of me. The guy after her did a wonderful speech, it sounded very intelligent, he redefined entertainment by saying that it isn't just the glits and glam but also creativity, he pulled off Issac Newton as an example, very well done. After him, it went significantly down, yet still rather entertaining.

After the competition, everyone had a sense of relief. We were just wasting time and talking. Getting to know each other, and hey me and that guy who talked about poverty might start a band! Derek and Ms. Sheila told me that I didn't have to win, because I did my best, so that was an extra relief. The time went flying so fast we didn't even feel it. And in the end the judges arrived back and we were back in tense mode. We were nervous, but went into a state where we were guessing who the winners are. I guessed that 3rd would go to either me or Trester, 2nd to the guy who talked on poverty who I find very entertaining and 1st would go to the girl from Convent Sentul. The poverty guy told me that I would win 1st but I thought that was preposterous. The results came in.

3rd was.... SMK Kiamas, Trester. So far I thought my prediction was correct.

2nd wen to.... St. Mary's. This is the part where I started panicking if I'm going to disappoint my friends and Derek.

Now here's the part all of you might not expect. The moment the MC said "And the 1st place goes to..." I was half praying it was either me or the poverty guy, or the convent girl. Then the MC continued saying "Contestant number 6, Law Sie Weng from SMK Maxwell." Immediately I went "HOLY SHIT!" to the poverty guy and Trester. Looked at my 3 supporters at the back. Johnathan had a smirk on, Derek was doing epic fist-pumps and Ms Sheila was clapping ever so proudly. I was of course overjoyed but kind of felt that others deserved it. Then I packed up my bags and made my way out, teachers were congratulating me, of course I was thanking them as well. And of course, my favorite part, fangirls, EVERYWHERE. I shook hands with the other speakers and the girls and made my way home. It was truly a once in a life time experience. And a first time feeling like a winner.

On the way home we stopped at Selayang Mall and ate some Popeye's. That was a first too. Stomachs full, we went back home. Talking about the competition along the way. Hearts overjoyed.

I truly miss new-found friends. And how Trester is an expert in making love....letters. Too bad life goes on, eh? I wished I could re-live the moment.

The rest is silence.
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Quote of the day: "I'm an expert in making love...letters." -Trester Kaur on her talents.

Insanity of the Day:

"If the teacher told me to talk about Silence in impromptu I would *stands quietly* there, silence" -Amirul on ridiculous impromptu topics.