Duelist Alliance (38 hours Creative + 20 hours Service) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

The reason why I will deal with both areas Creativity and Service is because they are easily discussed together. The Duelist Alliance is a group of friends who come together to play a card game called Yu-Gi-Oh! which originated in Japan. We have our own Ning website (duelistalliance.ning.com) where we can converse and discuss new cards and other related news. However, the large number of new players and people who have joined our group in the last 6 months have meant that we are in need of a website makeover. This will hopefully involve upgrading our website to a .com instead of a .ning and hiring a website designer to give our community a more fitting appearance.

Our aim is to further increase the ease at which people can play this strategic card game to accommodate this growing interest in Brunei Darussalam as it can be difficult to start up playing a game when you have no idea of who to play with and how to make the most of it. In addition, more on the creative side, I really enjoy the social aspect involved with this game as it brings together all of us with different ages but similar interests to play a much-loved game. The main reason that I play this game instead of all the others available is mainly because of the tactical characteristics involved and I enjoy competitive games with combinations of options to prove one's skill in the game. There are thousands of cards available to one to construct a 40-card deck out of; so the combinations are endless and each deck shows your personality as a player. We have often held tournaments whereby entrants play to gain points in a ranking system to show off those with the most competitive and consistent decks.

Another hope of the people who run this site (me among a few other of my friends) is that the money that is made from these tournaments can be put back into our community itself and the website so that we can hold bigger and better tournaments with more great prizes. Also, we do not have a fixed location to hold all of our activities in private so we are hoping to rent out an area or something similar and become a distributor of merchandise as there is no hobby card shop in Brunei and this could hopefully open the game up to even more people! Generally, this will help to enhance the experiences of all the people in Brunei that we all get from playing this game.

Now, further into the year (August), our friends are starting to organise a card hobby shop to be set up in an area called Kiulap which is a convenient distance for most people and should be easy to access. It will also be near other facilities which will help the shop blossom into a nice meeting point for us all. Also, we are continuing to hold more tournaments to allow players to socialise and enjoy themselves more. Now that our Ning website has its own funds, recent tournaments have had more prizes, heightening the enjoyment that we all get from playing Yu-Gi-Oh!, and we hope that this trend can continue in the future.

Weekly Piano Lessons (26 hours Creative) (Term 1 and 2)

I have been learning piano for over 10 years. Over this time, I have learnt a variety of pieces of music to play and have progressed through levels / grades while doing so, acquiring new skills as i go. I started learning in ISB but my teacher, Miss Yii Ven, moved to another location and started up her business, Muzette Alley, and I have been going there ever since. She has many students in her school and from her teaching, I have found piano as a different outlet that has been and is relaxing and so enjoyable at the same time. Lately, we all have practiced for the annual concert held by Muzette Alley. In October, I took the Grade 3 Theory Exam for piano and scored a High Distinction with 97% after all of the hard work, learning and revising; and I was very impressed with myself although for the past two grades, I scored 98% and 100% respectively.

For Term 2, I have continued with my learning of Grade 4 Theory which I will be examined for in October this year, 2010. In addition, I have continued with my completion of a Grade 4 Practical Book. Even through the long book with over 20 pieces, I can see my improvement in terms of the difficulty level of these pieces and the new skills that I have had to learn in order to pass them. The most satisfaction comes from looking at the first piece that I learnt in my books and comparing it to the most difficult one, to see my improvement. I still enjoy piano as I always did, as something completely different from most other activities that I do.

In Term 3, I completed my collection of pieces and moved onto a new classical book. Classical music is very demanding for the reason that it revolves heavily around fingering techniques and the ability to play one hand separate from another. This helps to differentiate the various lines in the music (melody, accompaniment, etc). Also, classical pieces generally require a personal input into the 'feel' of the music and this can be quite hard to do while concentrating on all of the other aspects involved. Nevertheless, enjoy classical music and the challenges that it presents to me because I know that that it will improve my proficiency in playing the piano. Also, my theory exam will be on the 30th of October and I am currently studying past-papers to improve my knowledge of the format of the exam and some common questions.

Strategic Card Gaming Club: My Self-Initiated (17 hours Service + 5 hours Creative) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

This club is mainly an extension of the Duelist Alliance (www.duelistalliance.ning.com) that we have set up and running. Many activities in ISB are for sporty people and not everyone wants to take part in a competition or do a sport in the hot sun. So, my friend Afnan and I jointly started up Strategic Card Gaming Club where we have over ten students who play Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!. Everyone plays Yu-Gi-Oh! in the club and so Afnan and I helped them to be more competitive by suggesting ideas and improvement for their decks so that they can attend our weekly meets where everyone in Brunei gets together and plays Yu-Gi-Oh!.

I feel that we have achieved our goal which was to expose them to Brunei's duelists and help them get more enjoyment out of the game. To make this properly happen to its fullest extent, we invited our club-members to our online Ning site and we hosted a tournament for them to debut in where they could then start to earn points and be a part of Brunei's Yu-Gi-Oh! ranking system.

Now, a few months on (April), our school duelists have taken part in numerous competitions both in and out of school in order to enjoy the experience of the game as they rank higher on the community's leader board and ranking system. In addition, I noticed that this club proves to be a nice social gatherings at lunchtimes which helps us to wind-down and enjoy ourselves for a little under an hour before going back to class for the last few hours of school.

Water-sports (10 hours Action) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

My family and I have recently jointly bought a boat with another family as a consolation for being in Brunei so long (16 years) and because the activity is too expensive to undertake everywhere else in the world. On jointly buying this boat with another of my friend's family, we were now able to enjoy the activities that come with owning a boat. These include boating off to the spit where we have barbeques and surf. In addition, I learnt to kneeboard initially, and then move on to wakeboarding which is similar to surfing in the sense that what you are on is moving as well as your surroundings. Through a little pain at first though, I realised that this used a completely different set of muscles in my body as my thighs and arms usually ache the day after if I do not stretch beforehand.

However, I enjoy the challenge and the work in the learning of a new sport. So far I have managed to stay on for a long period of time once I picked up the knack of the sport after many failed attempt at first to stay on; but I have also managed to successfully pull off a couple of 360's! I have yet to get any serious airtime though; that is proving to be a rather difficult trick and I am working on that at the present time...

I enjoy being outdoors as opposed to doing work all of the time at home as I get the opportunity to take part in enjoyable activities such as this. From having this new leisure option open to me, I have taken full advantage of it in order to try new thrills such as driving the boat, doing water-sports, while enjoying quality time with my family as well as my friend's family.

School Physical Education Classes (8 hours Action) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

For our Personal And Social Education classes in school, we mostly play team sports to build our connections between one another while improving our general teamwork, coordination and cooperation. Moreover, I just enjoying playing around with my friends in a friendly game of soccer, Ultimate Frisbee or other tactical games. I enjoy being a leader in sport-teams towards my classmates and I try to involve them as much as possible to make them feel more confident so that they can improve their abilities.

For the majority of the 3 Terms, we played softball, sometimes with the rest of the year when they were not doing the alternative creative activity. I enjoy softball as I can actively contribute to the success of my team and I enjoy leading others. However, for about 4 weeks, we changed to volleyball which is a sport that I found very difficult in the past. Luckily, I managed to succeed in improving my technique which allowed me to contribute more in my team. What I enjoyed about it though was the fact that other members of the class stood up and took leader roles instead of myself, and this allowed me to improve a different aspect of my communication skills.

Social and Student Council (10 hours + 4 hours Service) (Term 2 and 3)

During Term 2 where Jo and I were voted in as the President and Vice-President of the Social Council respectively, we have helped to set up various school events such as the annual Singing Bees Contest and Valentines' Day. Both of these events required preparation but more so with Valentines' Day as we had to setup the night before to ensure that the roses were as fresh as they could possibly be, and this took quite a few hours but the surprised and satisfied reactions of the students (with how many roses and chocolates they got) on the Friday made it all worth-while; knowing that we were helping to make the students enjoy the time that they have at ISB as great as possible. In addition, we also jointly run with the General Student Council to better service the students through Sport and Environment activities and drives. Currently, we are also working on smaller scale ideas to tie in with the house-point system that ISB has to make the activities more competitive and enjoyable for everyone. I hope to see the General Council as a whole to keep meeting the needs and wants of the students so that we can provide them with the best opportunities to make school-life more than just the books.

In Term 3, our council took the opportunity to give the students of ISB the most enjoyable activities to take part in. We put on: Breakfast Friday, where we sold breakfast at break time; School Splash, where we hired bouncy castles and slides, and bought water guns for everyone to have a massive water-gun fight; Movie Night for the Year 6s and 7s, this was so that they could bond and allow the Year 6s to feel more comfortable about entering secondary; and Inter-house Basketball Competitions, where teams of Red, Yellow and Blue from each year played each other to become the winners of the junior and senior divisions, and then the overall champion of the school.

I am thoroughly impressed with the effort that we have put into the number and variety of activities that we have held for ISB, and I hope that the students feel the same. Even though we had initial difficulties working together as a team while juggling our demanding schoolwork, we have managed to successfully work together with all of the ideas that we have put forward as a council. I hope that we can continue to work together well so that we can put together an amazing last Term before we hand it over to the year below.

Homework Supervisor and Student Mentoring and Tutoring (11 hours Service) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

Over the first, second and third Terms, I have tried to help students with their organisation to not only make us be a role model and improve them, but also to improve our OWN organisation so we can in turn, try to help them better. However, I have always taken pride in my organisational skills and I have suggested that my student follow the same work patterns as I do so that they can be as productive as I am which I stress to him. I enjoy caring for and seeing other students be successful through just being given a short talk to at the start of the day twice a week to see if any subjects are giving them trouble or if they need advice; mainly, they just need to be shown how to do things and then they will do it well. All that's needed is that initial push and I have firsthand seen how my student has progressed and been a better student in general. I had never had this opportunity of an extra option to help me in the past and I feel satisfied that my student DOES have this opportunity so that he can perform better in school.

In Term 3, I tutored a student two years lower than me for the IGCSE maths course in order to help him improve his knowledge of the subject, ask quesitons and to reinforce what he had learnt in class. I felt that while I was tutoring, I was also revising my old work which tied into the current maths course that I was doing, IB Mathematics Higher Level. This was the first time that I had actually tutored anyone for anything and the experience taught me to be patient with the process and open-minded with the way that I could explain the different topics, so that I could teach them in the best way to enhance his learning.

Cricket Training and Matches (42 hours Action + 2 hours Service) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

In addition to being on the basketball team, I am also on the Cricket team of ISB. I newly joined this club in October, 2009 and have been one of the leaders of the team. I genuinely have a love of the game as a whole as watching it on T.V. is a highlight when I visit Australia, and I feel very excited when I play cricket and I already have some amazing memories of our games. At the moment, my bowling is quite good but my batting reactions needs a little practice so that I can stroke the ball and place it where I want on the field. Because of this fact, I have not been able to score high all of the time when batting in matches against our rival school, JIS, because I am more conservative when I play. But sometimes you just need to take a chance when you play as I found that this was when I played best. This is what I am trying to work towards to improve my game so I can further contribute to the team's success in the future.

Near the end of Term 3, our team took part in the Tri-series between ISB, JIS and the Under 19's National Team of Brunei. We played our best and made it into the finals where the scores were tight up until the very end. We won with only 2 overs to spare but it was ISB's day for victory again. I was very impressed by the way that our team played and worked and communicated as a unit, and I hope that we continue to do so in the future. A little while after the conclusion of the series, I wrote up an article with help from my dad and my coach, Faisal, for both of Brunei's newspaper: The Brunei Times and the Borneo Bulletin.

Now, with our vice-captain leaving Brunei and consequently, our team, we will have to find new faces to join our team and this will also require me to take a more leading role in our team as a whole.

Basketball Training, Matches, Tournaments, Coaching (15 hours Action + 2 hours Service)

Over the course of this term (Term 1), I have continued to join the ISB's Under 19 school basketball team through going to the weekly trainings and attending matches against other schools. In addition, there was also a tournament held where people made their own teams and sometimes we played teams that had adults in them. However, this just helped us to improve our competitiveness over the few months in addition to all of the games we played with other schools. The constant stream of games every week means that our fitness level has to be able to withstand the constant movement required of the game.

In addition to playing basketball, I have also helped coach the Under 15 school team for a couple of mornings to improve my knowledge of the game by directly refereeing it and appreciating the job of the referees. Basically, I enjoy the competitive nature of basketball and sports in general, with the skill and coordination and communication needed to work efficiently as a team so that we can be the best that we can be. In conclusion, I feel that this helps to balance out my academic school duties and makes me feel more balanced and thoughtful (tactic-wise).

In April, our school team took part in an inter-school competition. We played JIS, St George's, St Andrew's and SMSS. The matches against St George's, JIS and St Andrew's were close, with differences being only under 8 points. We managed to beat SMSS by 77 points to their 48 points. All in all, we won all of our matches except for the game against JIS. This has taught me to acknowledge and congradulate the effort that our team put into training, but also to realise that we can't always win, and we should train harder so that we can play better as a team.

Anzac Day Dawn Service: Flag Raising (2 hours Service) (Term 3)

On the 25th of April, I woke up at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning to drive out to the beach known as Muara Beach. The reason for me being there was to be a part of the ANZAC Day Dawn Service. Even soldiers from the army were brought out to be a part of the service and greatly enhanced the feeling that the service gave. I am very proud of my heritage and as a result, my teacher chose for me to take part in the raising of the Australian flag while my friend, Savannah, did the same for the New Zealand flag. This experience was greatly uplifting as I had never been to a Dawn Service before. What also kept it fun was the fact that I was wearing trousers and a collared shirt, so the sand-flies didn't get the chance to bite me. Not everyone else was so lucky! I am truly gratified that I was chosen to do the honours and I hope that in the future, I am given more opportunities to represent my country.

Soccer Training, Matches and Football Funday (6 hours Action) (Term 1, 2 and 3)

In Term 1, I briefly joined the soccer team as requested by my friends so that I could take part in the annual Football Funday held at Jerudong International School. Soccer is purely a game of style and skill. Since I was young, I have mainly taken the position of a defender, providing solid protection for whichever goalkeeper that is working with me. I take great satisfaction from knowing that I have prevented a goal for the team and know that I have been a part of our victory - I like to contribute, to make me feel as if I've accomplished something and here, I know that I am improving the bonding and trust between us all whilst also representing the school during the funday where we narrowly missed out on being in the semi-finals by goal-difference. I hope to get back into soccer again as a full-time sport soon so that I can improve my defensive skills around my talented friends who play as strikers.

During Term 3 I managed to find enough time in order to play for ISB's soccer team once again, this time we had already made it into the semi-finals of the cup. Our opponent was the sports school, Sekolah Sukan. They proved to be formidable opponents with their fast style of play. However, we managed to use this against them in order to score one goal and we had a close chance in the last few minutes to equalise but we failed to do so. This, like most sport activities, taught me to accept defeat and try to figure out where we went wrong so that next time, we may play better and maybe win in the finals.

Mount KK Mountain Climb and Community Service (3 hours Service + 8 hours Action) (Term 3)

From the 10th to the 14th of April, my friends and I went on an out-of-country trip to climb a mountain and also to help out a local neighborhood.

We started out journey the next day in the mid-afternoon and our mountain group of 14 students and 2 teachers continued along at a steady pace. It took all afternoon to reach the rest-house where we would stay overnight to rest before the dawn climb.

A mountain never seemed like a possible task for me to accomplish. I have a fear of heights and getting up anything steeper or higher than a hill with slippery surface scares me to death. Even though my endurance and fitness levels are very good, I have a problem with the joints in my hips that cause them to hurt after a physical activity. I thought that this would hinder my progress and maybe even stop me from continuing on and finishing the climb to the summit. However, we all woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning for the dawn climb and trekked on in the darkness taking occasional breaks to catch our breath.

At about 5am, Sam (my best mate) and I reached the summit after pulling ahead of the main group. The summit was 5 degrees and we were all rugged up in the dark eating chocolate to keep our body warmth up. Only when the sun came up, did it become clear how far we had climbed, how high up we were, and the beauty of the landscape around us, 8 and a half kilometers above sea level. To me, this had to be one of my most amazing personal accomplishments so far and I got to enjoy this experience with my friends, helping to further the value of our friendship.

The next day, after meeting up with the rest of our year, we traveled a few kilometers from where we were staying to meet the children of a local community school, where we would then help to construct various things for their schoolyard and classrooms. I worked on doing wiring for the fence before moving inside to help clean one of the rooms. After that, we all spent some time interacting with the children, playing games and helping them colour among other things. Not too long after, we left to pack up our gear and get ready for the short flight home.

From this unique trip, I learned a few different things that helped to boost my self-confidence, friendships and interaction skills. Overall, I am thoroughly pleased with how the trip went and look forward in the future to accomplishing other activities that I didn't think that I could ever achieve before.

Mountain Climbing Training (15 hours Action) (Term 2)

In preparation for our trip to Kota Kinabalu where me and thirteen other students would climb the mountain, we had to take part in training for our muscles and our mind because sometimes, it's the mind that proves to be the barrier. So, from early January up until early April (the week before we left) we trained at different tracks of varying difficulty. Initially, the walks were quite easy for me to manage as I have past experience from doing monthly jungle treks. However, I was concerned for a couple of members of our team during these sessions and so, those of us who were stronger helped those who were having trouble by providing confidence-building so that they could believe that they could do it. But by the time we were near the time to depart, we were all fit enough even on the harder and more mountainous trails that took more time and determination to complete.

This training was essential to prepare ourselves for the rarefied oxygen levels upon reaching the peak of Mount Kinabalu and I was confident that we could all make it up the mountain together as a team now that we knew each others' strengths and weaknesses.

War Gaming Club (total of 17 Creative hours) (Term 1 and 2)

We all meet up on Tuesdays for two or three hours to play a variety of tactical games that surprisingly encompass war in the main strategy. These include: risk; warhammer and heroscape.

Heroscape is played with figures on a pre-constructed board formed from hexagonal pieces. The hero figure or squad card states how many dice you get to roll for attack, defence, special effects and how much life the figure starts off with.

Warhammer is very similar but the rules are all in one (extremely) thick rule guide, and so, one of the club organisers has to be there as a judge to tell us what the figures can do (whereas in heroscape, the information is already on the information card specific to that figure). Also in warhammer, the landscape that you play on could be a table with a drink can and a lunchbox with a pencil case as obstacles. This means that less equipment is needed to play the game.

Risk consists of six team colours where up to six players compete to take over the world on a board picturing the countries of the world. Reinforcements are given at the start of a player's turn based on the number of the countries that a player controls, divided by three (rounded down) and bonuses for owning a whole continent of region (Africa or Aisa) are then added.

These games are all very enjoyable, especially with the large number of people who join the wargaming club. My favourite from the above is heroscape, followed by risk / warhammer. This is because I have found that I enjoy playing with figures but heroscape is more new-player friendly and therefor, is easier to play which boosts the amount of fun that we can have as a group.

BGIC Setup and Participation (38 hours Service) (Term 1 and 2)

Over the course of the first two terms, alot of planning was required by us four Secretary Generals and the Teachers in charge of the whole thing. We planned the numbers of student from each of the schools, allocated them countries through long a country matrix, put on simulations of the procedure of the conference among other things. The stressed importance behind having these simulations are to make the delegates feel comfortable as many this year were new and had no idea of how the conference ran or what they were expected to do, so this helped to ensure that the actual days of debate were as heated as possible.

On the first day in which delegates try to find support for their action plans, my fellow Secretaries General and I floated around between the allocated rooms for each committee which were each dealing with different world issues. We gave advice to the Chairs (those who run the committees), and gave help to lost or confused delegates in addition to introducing the few days of amazing debate that were ahead of us.

On the first day of debate, I entertained the Ministers and Her Royal Highness in the Royal Lounge and then showed them around the committee and tried to give them an overview of what the delegates were doing. Once the ministers left, I gave advice to the Chairs and made sure that they kept their committees in check. On the second day of debate, a new opportunity for debate was introduced to BGIC and was run by the school year above us. This involved making up fake information to present to the various committees as a simulation crisis. The idea behind this was to bring something new and different to BGIC and to make to delegates think on their feet from their country's point of view to quickly come to a general consensus on the actions that should be undertaken to solve them. Finally, the third and final day of debate involved the committees in each Forum (we have two forum in BGIC, essentially two separate conferences are going on at the same time because we are so large now) and I chaired the whole General Assembly of over 150 delegates with my partner Secretary General and our Parliamentarian (who acts as our helper). I was very excited to see the participation of one of the youngest delegates that I have ever seen and he proved to be an active leader in committee debate and general assembly debate.

I enjoyed having control over this many people and to allow the debate to run in the way that we saw fit, so that the debate was the best that it could be to make the delegates' experiences the most enjoyable for them. I think that all of the delegates took away with them fantastic memories and I enjoyed being a part of it, to see all the hard work and preparation come out, and most of all, to receive the praise of so many people who either watched or took part in ISB BGIC VIII. This just goes to show that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything!

Surfing (17 hours Action) (Term 1 and 2)

This is yet another sport that I enjoy doing. It is out in the fresh air with the cleansing salt water that is goo for the skin in general. Anyway, surfing is a sport that involves having a large amount of stamina to continue to catch and ride waves. Sadly, surf in Brunei only comes in the months of November - February as this is the time of the monsoon season here in Borneo and as a result, our beaches are opened up to swell and we can then catch waves. The swells can sometimes reach up to a maximum of 8 or 9 feet with the correct conditions and tides. These waves can pose a challenge to catch as they require great precision and skill to ride them so that you do not wipe-out.

However, Brunei's surf is usually a "soft-wave" where the top of the wave rolls on itself instead of breaking cleanly and this makes them harder to catch, but that just means more exercise for us. With that said, the waves can still produce barrels (where you ride inside the wave as it is breaking) but these are easier to catch on a boogie-board instead of a regular surfboard. I am most proficient on a boogie board at the moment but when the next surf period comes around again, I hope to be able to use both boards with ease.

Qatar MUN Conference (20 hours Creative) (Term 2)

On the 27th of January until the 2nd of February, five of my friends, two teachers and I travelled to Dubai and then to Qatar to take part in an international Model United Nations, similar to that of ISB's BGIC. The main reason to participate in something like this is because while I enjoyed organising BGIC, I still wanted to debate and so, this was the perfect opportunity. While we did have a nice little holiday around Qatar, visiting its museums, universities, and seeing the amazing architecture of their buildings.

However, the scale of the debate was the highlight, and the topics that we debated on. I represented the country of Bulgaria and my committee was SPECPOL (special political). We debated the border issue of Pakistan and Afghanistan in addition to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Both of these topics required me to go away and research them beforehand and provided me with a greater knowledge of the world that I live in. I got a good kick out of debating with a high standard of intellect and was one of the highlights of the year's many events. I enjoy applying my knowledge of the situation to what I and other delegates think could be a possible solution, and working with them opened me up to the many different approaches possible and allowed me to question the validity of them (one delegate suggested re-instating the Taliban as a legitimate Government!).