From my recent posts and status updates in Facebook, it’s pretty clear that lately I’ve been feeling a tad bit angst – to say the least. I want to address this, but not today, because somehow, work have been piling up today. The fact that I manage to type this implies that I’ve finished my job (yes), which says a lot about the speed I can actually finish my work; but I digress. Anyways, I don’t think that I can address the angst, at least not today.
I was thinking of doing something else instead – to show you that I can actually be jovial – or at least less angst. So I messed around and decided to put up my “Top 3 Moments of the Past 3 Years.” Since it’s premature to include 2010, I would be putting one moment per year from 2007, 2008 and of course 2009. I would rank the moments accordingly.
(Because lists are FUN!)
3. March 27, 2008 – The MEDIA Dinner
I was in my sixth and final semester of my Diploma in Accountancy, and I’ve basically been to all the MEDIA dinner – mostly to get my DL Award. On this particular dinner, it’s to celebrate us, the sixth semester students before graduating. For the first time ever, I won’t be going up stage to get my DL Award. As the night goes on, everyone is having fun including yours truly – well that is, until they announce the DL Award recipients to come up and to take their respective awards.
It was at that precise moment that I was engulfed with sadness and was trying my hardest not to look sad, because I won’t be able to go up on stage to get the award because the previous semester I got 3.47 – a measly 0.03 away from being on course for an ANC.
Friends tried to comfort me, and I put on a half-mask saying I’m fine (a pun on the actual mask I chose for the night; the theme was masquerade – go figure). So anyways, the next award was the ‘Tokoh Pelajar Award’ which is usually given to the person who is has good academic record (i.e. on course for ANC) and good leadership skills (i.e. former MEDIA MT or former MPP), and is a testament by the lecturers and peers that you’re the best of the crop; especially important in my batch, because our batch was arguably the best DIA batch that UITM Melaka has ever seen.
Knowing I could never get that award, I just blocked out everything around me – mainly because I wanted that award, and it killed me that I didn’t really fulfilled the requirement for the award. I barely listened to the MC until I heard them announcing the winner as…
“Adderly Shah!”
I was shocked beyond compare and the fact that the award was given to me by Pn. Afidah; former DIA coordinator who have always been great to me – especially during the whole Farah Syazana debacle, made it even more amazing. The fact that I was genuinely shocked and equally as happy if not more, more than merited this moment as the best of 2008 and number 3 on the ‘Top 3 Moments of the Last 3 Years.’
2. October 3rd, 2009 – The NICED Champions
Moment number 3 sets precedence for me. Since getting that award, I’ve always strived to be the best in whatever I do – especially during my degree; to make up for the loss during my diploma. I started off well in my degree and quickly set my mark as the top dog in my batch.
Then, debate comes a-knocking. I thought that I would suck in debating, but I wasn’t as bad as I thought – although MDO did come as a reality check. Looking at the crowd in MDO, I knew that I was a very small fish swimming in a freakishly large ocean with sharks. My desire to be the best was still intact, but I knew it was unrealistic.
Months went by, and I’ve won the ICDC and somehow gave me the confidence that I could actually achieve something in the debating world. Then come NICED, and with Jehan and Aiman by my side, my confidence grew. I came to PMM never expecting to win; was only hoping to break or maybe make it to the semifinals.
Then something miraculous happened, KBM 2, my team with the ever awesome Jehan and the reliable Aiman was ranked first to break and suddenly, we started to believe. We strolled past the quarters and when faced KBM 1 for the semis; we practically decided that KBM 1 would do a better job being in the finals and somewhat given up on the dream of making it to the finals. That however, didn’t mean that we were half-assed or complacent in the semifinals, we did gave our best shot – and won.
Now that we were in the finals, we were determined to win the cup, and with the help of our fallen colleagues, each of whom have contributed to our run to the finals one way or another, it was sweetest sound in the world when it was announced that the winner of NICED ’09 was from “Universiti Teknologi MARA Kampus Bandaraya Melaka 2!”
That win was momentous, to win a national championship. Sure, it wasn’t really the biggest tournament in the world, but that moment showed that I’m no longer a small fish – and while not really a shark (far from it), I knew that I could hold my own in the large ocean with the sharks.
So in a way, I did manage to be the best.
1. June 1st, 2007 – ‘The’ Birthday to Remember.
I won’t explain this moment, because to me, it’s my favorite moment – ever, and some things are just better kept deep inside. While technically there are only two people in the world who knew what happened that day, I doubt that the other person knows or care (or even remembers) about that day anymore.
Be that as it may, that moment is still lodged in my heart and is always on my mind.





