It's been a long year, and we've had plenty of good times. So here's a rundown of what we did this year, each month.
JANUARY
Kickstarted the new year with a shoutout, announced the addition of three new brothers (Darren, David, and Richard), and the departure of two (Lester and Cosmus). We started our sporting events of the year with the Cross-country Race which we managed to secure 2nd place in the Form 5 category (Patrick! Yeah!), and celebrated the first birthday of the year (Bro. Isaac's). Also we celebrated a rather short (6 days) Chinese New Year.
FEBRUARY
T-shirt suggestions started coming around, it took us about 7-8 months to finalize it, but overall it was a pretty good job (more to that in the later months). Bro. Ivan posted some Valentine's Day tips, and our English Oral Assessment was underway. Alleem's group hilariously did Romeo and Juliet and sent the class laughing. And then there was the SJS Sports Day. Patrick house (us included) took first place and whooped some serious ass. For the Form 5 category, we took 3rd place.
MARCH
The Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease stalked Kuching, and Bro. Javier posted some tips on preventing contagion. Bro. Ivan starts experimenting with different blog skins for our Brotherhood, and plenty of reminders. SPM 2005 results came in, with 4 people scoring straight A1s (hopefully we'll do better, eh?). And then there was our last Mufti Day. We didn't miss the opportunity and took plenty of photos to remember it for years to come. First Exam of the year. Work on the class profile for the school magazine started as I began collecting profiles and pictures. Bro. David points out the oxymorons in Moral Education, and we found out that Gerald gets tortured each morning by 'Negaraku' and 'Ibu Pertiwiku'.
APRIL
Bro. Ivan starts a Multiply version of our blog (I think it's become defunct, but good job anyway), and we learn what a yabby is (a shellfish native to Australia). And then another seminar on career choices, along with our Mufti Day Montage. Bro. Jia Wern scores a whopping 113 in Add. Maths (whoa! not to mention beating Javier's record of 102), and the class profile is almost complete. The SAMAR club organized a frog dissection session. We skinned our frog, preserved it's skin, and it's been hanging behind our class for several months, followed by the frog dissection montage. Language Week was "celebrated" with several language-oriented events (duh). The Brotherhood won 1st place in both the 'Deklamasi Sajak' and 'Interclass Forum Competition'. Bro. Jia Wern gives a little food for thought, and I post my review of the St. 3 Band Concert, along with photos. Bros. Fahri and Ivan gave us their opinion and equated the Joggerthon with the Iraqi Occupation (interesting comparisons). And our school won 3rd place in the Kuiz Sains Alam Sekitar regional category. Kudos to Bros. Jia Wern, Matthew and Alfarouq.
MAY
Bro. David starts the month continuing Bro. Jia Wern's post on making a difference in life. Bro. Agan posted a little something on the Prefects' Telematch '06. We also had a BM seminar on the BM SPM paper. Teacher's Day went without a hitch, and as with all other events such a this, we went a little nuts singing along with the bands. (I LOVE YOU BABY!!! Okay, let's regress.) Our school won consolation prizes in the AstroInvention 2006. During the holidays, St. Joseph's proudly hosted the 3rd Regional La Sallian Convention, which several brothers were involved. I posted a very lengthy review of the eventful 4 days, but no pictures.
JUNE
We celebrated the Gawai holidays with our Chemistry folio project, movies, and homework. Additionally, the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany kicks off, and most of us start taking sides. What really sucked was some of the important matches were in the middle of our examinations. Bro. Ivan reminds us about the class T-shirt pricing and collection. Another sports event, the Tug-of-War is won by our Brotherhood by Bros. Gerald, Ian, Marcus, Joel, and Syazwan. Hands down, we won 1st place. June also saw a brief hairstyle trend of NS-baldness. And also the trend of crazy chain essays, several which were posted in the blog. Italy wins the World Cup, Zidane becomes a household name with his infamous headbutt of Materazzi. (Allow me to digress, a Chinese entrepreneur used Zidane's move as a trademark for his new alcoholic drink. The trademark is a black outline of a man headbutting another in the chest. He didn't get sued for it. Okay, let's regress.)
JULY
Kickstarted with another chain essay, crazier than ever. SJS hosted the SJS Concert, to which I reviewed and posted a montage of photos. Finally, our class T-shirts arrived, and we spent the next day's PE period in those shirts. The Second Exam of the year took most of our time away from posting. Some of us found out we were selected for NS through the site and the SMS. Bros. David and Isaac came up with the class yearbook idea (which we need to hand in our profiles ASAP!!). Sadly, Kuching lost part of its heritage when the Sarawak Club we know, love, and spent countless hours there was wholly destroyed in a fire.
AUGUST
Another version of the class T-shirt was circulated, and collections came in. The Brotherhood turns a year old! Bros Chan, Ivan, and Fahri came up with several class nominations (which I have no idea what happened to those). St. Joseph's finally won 1st place in the National level Band Competition. First Italy, now 1st place? Great glory indeed! Kuching begins to suffer from the infamous haze season.
SEPTEMBER
SPM Mock begins. And we finally find out the 10 brothers selected for NS. Bro. Jardian wins the Student of the Year award (for Form 5A), much to the surprise of everyone else. The Brotherhood undergoes a brief hiatus while the mock is in progress. Steve Irwin passes away.
OCTOBER
SPM Mock ends, and finally the class profile is revealed to our readers (good thing too, after the fiasco). Explosions occur daily, breaking the monotony of education. We also learnt that driving Toyotas is unpatriotic compared to driving Protons (as pointed out several times by Bro. David). Our school magazines finally arrives, and tempers flare as everyone from the teachers to the students (except maybe the Form 4s) had something to say about the appalling state of the magazine. Fingerpointing starts, and apologies abound. Of note are the 'Golden Quotes of the Teachers' and the mangled Form 5 profiles (no fault of the Form 5 classes). Our hardworking Ministry of Education decides that we should do our MT project at the 11th hour, which we, too, handed in at the 11th hour; right before our study leave.
NOVEMBER
Study break begins, with several extra classes sprinkled before SPM. SPM finally comes, and the Brotherhood takes another hiatus.
DECEMBER
SPM ends! Freedom for about 6 months before we consider our tertiary education. Agan throws a fantastic Post-SPM BBQ. A few friends from other classes joined in the fun. The Brotherhood seems to take another hiatus as the main contributors are either away on vacation or has no access to the Internet. Everyone gears up for the new year: scholarships, uni applications, NS, what-have-yous. It's been a great year. Let's keep this blog alive!