Gone with the wind, found in the mist

Birthday

2012-01-14T06:56:00.000-08:00

I shouldn't have removed my birthday in my Facebook info. The good thing from doing that was that I get less ~~spam~~ people (or strangers, whichever) posting "happy birthday"s. The bad thing, it's the day after my birthday, and I'm not too sure everyone knows that. The posts are still coming in. So... I'm displaying my birthday again. I guess it has its perks.

The End Is Where I Begin - The Script

EKG

2012-01-08T05:20:00.000-08:00

Yeap! Encompassing kilograms. ~~Lame!~~ Well I had to make the title somewhat interesting! Otherwise future me won't read it.

Crazily random thing but, I've finally gained weight. And I'm having mixed feelings about it: happy that I have to monitor my food intake from now on, or sad that I have a limiter to my feasting spree. Roger, thanks for calling me fat. I guess I'm becoming human, in the dietary sense.

Yep, totally random. But it keeps things interesting, no? Or maybe it's just me. Stay cool and healthy, people!

Five Man Army - Massive Attack

2012

2011-12-31T07:45:00.000-08:00

So here comes the new year... Bleh

I can't care less. Not that I'm trying to be a sour grape here. It's more because you don't judge yourself based on 365 and 1/4 days.

It's gradual.

Or perhaps I'm just being the plain, uninterested me.

Candles (Remix) - Hey Monday

Ruffled

2011-12-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

Maybe I'm just letting myself down,

maybe it's a subconscious attempt to keep my ego in check,

maybe I'm just consciously blaming my subconscious.

I just have a whole lot of love,

laying dormant, wanting to burst out.

Though I act like I don't care much,

trust me, I'm malleable to anyone.

Now won't you help me fix that,

even as a momentary pause?

Bah. I'm just sitting here, after realizing that I played a little too much Skyrim again, looking at my Ruffles potato chips. Whilst running circles around Facebook. Speaking of which, I finally watched The Social Network. And it was

I can happily claim that edited picture to be of my work. And there goes my ego again.

My sem break is turning out to be quite unfruitful. But hey, I got to work at least. Next month will be a whole other problem: university applications. My gawd.

Machu Picchu - The Strokes

Eve

2011-12-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

Another pending Christmas that I don't have particular plans for... Oh well! But for the third year running, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is stuck in my head. Can't blame her, it's a kickass song with a hint of romance. Ignore the last word.

What I learned today is that a best friend is someone who you'd like to punch in the face at times, and instead makes you laugh alongside him. Thank you for reminding me that, Chin.

In advance, Merry Christmas! May your dream(s) come true, because I wish mine could.

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey

Fingerprints

2011-12-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's work with Roger with Major 7 Music was incredibly tiring. We worked from 10 am (at Royale Bintang Hotel) until 12.30 pm and then from 2 pm till 3 am at MMU located in Cyberjaya. It was psychotic, not to mention extremely taxing on my body. I swore I could've gotten a hernia anytime during work should I lift those stuff by myself. Well, it's only my fourth day at work so I screwed up on tons of stuff. Thankfully no one besides the AV crew realized it. But hey, the experience was a nice one. The pay was also quite good, but that didn't really matter. I just woke up two days later to realize that I've got multiple cuts on my fingers from getting cut/crushed/smashed by the gear when taking it down, and later loading it back in, the truck.

I'll be leaving for futsal soon with Vikesh, my driving school buddy, who recently came back from Ireland, pursuing a medical degree. I'm very excited, as I haven't had a good workout in two good weeks. Just hope that I don't get slaughtered out there like that game against the Middle Easterners.

But on a grand-er scale, sem break has been pretty meh... Maybe because I'm playing more than reading, OR that most planned events fall apart at the vital stages. And sem break kinda sucks when you have the luxury of time to stalk people whilst trying to suppress hormonal instincts. Contradicting much? But girl WHY SO ATTRACTIVE?!

Feel The Music (JXL Mix) - Tom Jones

Crimson

2011-12-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

A wonderful evening, I had.

With a familiar face.

We connected well,

as though the past did not entangle.

An idea flashed across,

in a glimpse I relapsed.

But the thought still persists:

am I to find the antidote,

and/ or maybe another adversity?

If only a degree of directness is obliged...
And a hint of crimson intent catches her attention

He Won't Go - Adele

Moonlight

2011-12-11T04:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I don't have a job, so I'm free for the entire month. I've cancelled half my trips with friends because I just felt like it. I'm reading again because I need to. All this bears one question in mind: Am I too selfish?

I'll leave that thought for myself to ponder on tonight when lying on my bed.

When I debate with myself,

regarding the people I missed,

I simply mention:

every single breath.

The problem persists,

how frequently it may be asked.

Circles - Digitalism

Dust

2011-12-05T00:56:00.000-08:00

Finally! After months of procrastination, I managed to pull off the spring cleaning of my room. It looks much neater now (and less claustrophobic). I'm sorry to my dad's co-workers for all the racket caused by the noise emitted by the vacuum cleaner, which was almost equivalent to a jet-engine's roar. So I've been sneezing for the past half-an-hour from the dust but I've vacuumed most of it. Will probably do a second sweep tomorrow morning.

Moreover, my family plus Sunshine went to witness "Stomp!" the dance/musical performance at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center last Saturday. They were phenomenal! I felt incredibly guilty for dosing off at once scene... Very, very guilty in fact... I didn't even know why I was all of a sudden sleepy. But it was a great show. And as a bonus, the Picom PC Fair was next door. So I got new earphones from Sensonic and a Logitech Stereo Headset. Like, FINALLY. Yay!!

Buen Salvaje - La Vida Boheme

Micro

2011-12-01T23:41:00.000-08:00

Whee!! I'm done with my finals for the last time this year. I'm planning to get a part-time, maybe even full-time job at Thyme Bakery at Uptown, since it's incredibly nearby. To work for a month. Eh hee

At least I have a clear picture of what to do in my free time (at last). I've got three main goals this break:

1. Do extensive research on my transfer univeristies.

2. Get a job, if not, learn how to cook anyway.

3. Read (more) books.

Sounds very straightforward. And now to hope the best for a TOEFL exam slot. I. Need. This!!

Fallin' Apart - The All-American Rejects

Studiere

2011-11-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

It's "study" in German, mind you. Dang... I've got my hands on a well-reviewed book by Umapagan of the BFM book club, Reamde, and Michael Crichton's unfinished book "Micro", which was halfway done before his passing. Sadly, I've got finals to worry about. The main reason why I can find time to blog now is because there's so much Bio crammed into my head that I can't absorb any more info at the moment.

Also tried registering just now for the TOEFL exam for next year. Unfortunately it's been fully booked till the end of February. Bloody hell.

Horchata - Vampire Weekend

Comfort

2011-11-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

It seems that fate, karma, or whatever force is truly at work out there. Just an hour after the previous post, Sab calls me up to go get a drink.

Simply put, we caught up and had a good time. Thank you, I really needed that. The simplest things are almost, if not the most splendid things in life.

Band of Brothers Suite One - Michael Kamen

Stagnation

2011-11-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

What's on my mind?

Too damn much.

My Mind Rebels at Stagnation - Hans Zimmer

Catharsis, the purging of emotions

2011-11-17T09:28:00.000-08:00

Just got back from the THEA 1000 mini-production entitled "Catharsis". Quite good, with some awkward scripts. But all in all, a good value for money. Kudos to Danny who's opening skit gave a great start to the night. And to everyone else, great job. You guys thoroughly deserve the credit.

But there's one minor issue I had (with myself not the production, mind you) tonight. I'm sure it's now a formality to flex my poetic wit or somewhat to cloud the meanings.

Another bliss,

prancing along the rose petals.

Swift and strong,

as the gale of the wind.

It thunders in my chest,

and leaves me unrest.

For the heart and the mind,

resume another contest.

Along the rose flutters,

but admired by many,

myself included.

To embrace its splendor,

or to gaze at a distance,

that is the question (un)answered.

I need a therapy session soon. Oh, god.

Since I Fell For You - George Benson

Face

2011-11-16T03:12:00.000-08:00

It's two weeks before my last finals for the year. Again, time really flies and another year just passes me by. I'll probably proceed with my inner reflections someday after my finals. But today, I'm surrendering myself to emotions again, sorry. Well, it was all because of coming across this picture on Deviantart. Big credit to the artist who did this.

I still look for that face,

the one only seen in dreams,

yet too immaterial to know who.

In that blur,

I'd roam around nomadic,

clueless, yet with a purpose.

Until time catches up with me,

I'll miss another face.

But sometimes,

I wish that she not be the one,

although how much splendor she possesses.

At times, I just don't want to fall for every flower out there.

Whether it be costly,

or a mere gamble,

I'll never know until I lose it all.

But then again,

I'm always playing shadow games with its notion.

I hate my emotional needs. They demand so much. Goodbye for today.

Carina - James Hunter

Landmark

2011-11-11T01:47:00.001-08:00

I feel like blogging on my Broga hike which happened on Monday, but I'm too lazy... Moreover, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 beckons for my attention. Anyway... the main topic for this post will be on the unique date. Sure there are massive song requests on the radio waves and bla bla bla, but I decided to create my own list.

11 reasons why today's unique six-digit binary date, 11.11.11, will be remembered for a while yet:

1) China's celebrating singles day, since 1 symbolizes being single.
2) Also in China, engaged couples are rushing to get registered for marriage.
3) Pregnant Korean mothers are demanding for C-section so that their kids get born today.
4) The official end of World War I (which ended on 11.11 am on the 11th of November, 1918)
5) The hackers in Silicon Valley is naming today Nerd New Year due to the six-digit binary date and are organizing an all-day hackathon /party for charity.
6) The next six-digit binary date will fall 89 years from now at January 1, Year 2100.
7) If you put the date in binary coding, it will be the highest value (since "1" is the cap value)
8) Yu Liang getting fraped so badly that his sisters completely blocked him from Facebook.
9) Me attempting to preserve a chocolate bar, left overnight in the fridge, from melting for some 8 hours(and SUCCEEDING!)
10) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is out!
11) The release of the dumbest, linear, stupid, childish, over-the-top goryness, cliched, Greek-mythology-insulting, biggest FU sign of all movies, "Immortals". Arguably THE WORST movie I've ever witnessed yet.

And have an awesome day :D

And this new Blogspot layout confuses me so!! :/

We're An American Band - Grand Funk Railroad

Smack

2011-11-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

I'm getting obsessed again. In retaliation, I gave myself a slap. Not too hard to leave a mark, but not too soft to go unnoticed either. Excuse the awkwardness. You guys should know I'm like that since college life started. Larger extremes: more extroverted AND more reserved at the same time...

Okay. That's all for now. Goodnight.

So Close - Jon McLaughlin

Reveal

2011-11-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

There's a few things I've learned in this week of fatigue-ridden college episode.

1. I get sad everytime I walk home in the rain. Don't know why, just my newly discovered nature.

2. Power naps are to be used sparingly, not all the time.

3. We met again, "D" and I, if you still remember what I mean. Otherwise, here's a reminder. But since I was so busy with the Halloween booth and stuff at that time, I just waved and smiled. At least she remembered me and smiled back. At least. And I still haven't gotten her name. Teenage romance? Oh, please don't be that...

Escapee - Architecture In Helsinki

Courage

2011-10-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

For the 21874th time, sorry for not blogging. I was either too busy violating (and abusing) my free time with FIFA 12 and Dues Ex: Human Revolution (which is shizz AWESOME) or finishing up the assignments I stockpiled all this while, and juggling the tensions of organizing an event with an absurdly demanding crowd.

*sigh* I hate it when I find myself in a position where I have to sigh. It shows near intolerable levels of frustration. But I'll soldier on, as I have been doing all my life. Unfortunately, that means the inevitable outcome of not meeting some expectations. I'll take the bullet for the team.

But I seem to be bereft of confidence lately... Maybe it's the big odds placed against me. Or it could just be me under-performing. Well, sadly I've been in a mess lately. Gotta get out of this slump soon. I'm sure I will buck up. Just need to push myself instead of someone else helping me.

I need more courage. And I'll drive myself to get some. I must.

Let This Go - Paramore

Idiot

2011-10-11T03:46:00.000-07:00

I just miss those times where I felt that I mattered. At least, to someone. Idiotic me.

Baby Blue - Dave Matthews Band

Blank

2011-10-02T04:37:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted for a while!! Another one of those "no incidents, no post" scenarios.

Had an interesting day at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary yesterday. We got to feed some elephants as well as ride on them. It was... scary yet fun (as all new things are). Then we were supposed to bathe the baby elephants later that afternoon. BUT they decided to take a leak and dump(s) in the river with the workers. So that idea was (thankfully) scrapped.

So blah blah blah, everything ordinary about a trip. Long hours in the bus, restlessness, and some snoozing. Best of all, no report required.

And I'm having emotional conflicts again. G-Dang it

Rumour Has It - Adele

Reborn

2011-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

*pardon my lack of enthusiasm; imagine the hype displayed in this post by the factor of 10*

Had a fun time with Atia and Sab yesterday. We went to The Curve at Mutiara Damansara. We initially wanted to eat at Ikea's cafeteria but since it was Malaysia Day, a public holiday now, it was jammed packed. So we settled for the always-healthy Subway.

We walked past Bubba Gump and at the entrance positioned 3 waiters. EVERY ONE OF THEM greeted in the same matter: "Hey, ladies!".

Self esteem : -10 points

It seems when I hang out with girls, I'm collectively the gal too. Not really complaining. Nagging, perhaps.

Anyway... it started raining heavily so Rakesh couldn't make it, since he lived some distance away. So the three of us decided to watch a movie. There weren't many shows to choose from, so we settled with Johnny English Reborn. With front row seats. I guess that's the bargain you make if you decide to buy the tickets just a minute before the movie starts. It was a good movie, though. Very funny.

Then once the movie ended, we went home. Now that's what I love. A simple get-together, no fusses, everything just comes across naturally. Now why can't I have that more often?

Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People

Waterfall

2011-09-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

To live life, is to find a purpose,

of why you were brought to this Earth,

of what you are meant, or made, to be.

If you can't find that purpose,

NEVER lose hope,

it will come forth in due time.

Frustration and anger may arrive first,

but they are mere bystanders,

discouraging your efforts.

Heed not their calls,

but the ones in your heart,

those, that truly mean something to you.

As Coldplay mentioned in their recent song,
"every teardrop's a waterfall",

Just don't fight against the current. Man, when you understand how a wonderful, nice person can be that insecure, you can't help but bleed your heart out, to the point of being reduced to tears. I think I'm gonna go let it out now. I'm sorry for the incredibly depressing post. I just need to pour the contents of my feelings every once in a while.

Then again, this blog is 99% ranting, eh? Goodnight, and to all, safe dreams.

Every Teardrop's a Waterfall - Coldplay

Joy

2011-08-30T00:51:00.000-07:00

I learned a valuable lesson today,

and it brings an internal conflict to a close.
I don't need/ see everything,

but a want derails judgement.
Discreet pieces of appealing traits,

it attracts but is not enough to appease one.

That should,
that could,

and that would,

be a perfect conclusion.
Let that implicit meaning show to those at heart,

for a heart on sleeves is merely a giveaway.

GOD I'm happy I rediscovered poetry. College is making me less free (again). Now... to read on Charles Darwin's excursion to the Galapagos Islands, or Football Manager 2011?? Oh dang...

All I Need - David Ryan Harris

Patience?

2011-08-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

Asking someone out for lunch, is such a big task. WHY IS THAT?!

Forevermore - David Ryan Harris

Daze

2011-08-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

This past few days have been quite nerve-wracking for me. Paintball was boatloads of fun, but at the expense of my grandaunt (God bless her soul) leaving this plane and my good friend getting caught up in a nasty accident. Thankfully, I was there during the moment. I don't know... maybe sorrow is coming across naturally to me, that I not embrace it but on the flip-side, acknowledge it to be an integral part in life.

Orientation today was another bucket of joy. I helped out the Sun-U Council and had a great time with random strangers who came for orientation. Funny thing is, that for once I didn't think it was so important to know their names. I guess sometimes it's fun to hang-out with strangers coming together for one sole purpose. When I think about it now, it's sort of a mini epiphany on how joy should be felt. That's comforting.

And my parting message today:
To all my friends,
I've always cared.

It's just that I wasn't always showing it,

just lying outside visibility.

Warning Sign - Coldplay

Skype

2011-08-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

It's the single most inventive thing I've seen to ever brace online messaging. You get to call people!!

Yes, this invention marked it's debut years back. It's just that I'm utilizing it a lot more frequent lately. And it's really great to talk to some people halfway across the globe, knowing that they're doing fine.

I love you guys. Okay. Mushy mushy moment gone.

Annie's Song - John Denver

I'm BORED!

2011-08-07T03:41:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to fill up my time with more useful stuff in my agenda, since my first sem break featured me solely vegetating at home. So for the past two weeks, I've been going to social events, well... minor ones, walking around the place, and spending more time playing my new Football Manager 2011.

Okay, so maybe more time will be put to playing this game. BUT STILL! It's a good game which involves tactics. So it's not that bad. And I'll be going for paintball soon, so cross that off my Bucket List.

Yea... I'm kinda just posting to fill my blog up. Cheers.

Oh! And the Community Shield is on tonight with Man United going up against the "noisy neighbors" Man City. I'm sure it'll be interesting. Aguero may be starting! And I'm curious how David De Gea will fare.

Signals the start of the Barclays Premier League next week!!

I Told You I Couldn't Stop - Jakob Dylan

Recap

2011-08-01T01:56:00.000-07:00

Since god knows when Roshan's camera will start working again, I'll just start anyway. On Thursday, 14th July, the Liverpool Football Club had a training session alongside the Malaysian IX national team at Bukit Jalil Stadium. It was from 7pm up until 9pm. So after my 3 o'clock Calculus class that day, I rushed to Kelana Jaya LRT Station via the RapidKL bus to rendezvous with Roshan. He reached around 4pm due to the Tropicana City Mall bus. Along the way, we missed our stops some 3 times, which cost me some RM10 extra. The stadium was packed with people. Outside the stadium were plenty of stalls selling jerseys and other memorabilia, the most apparent being those blasted vuvuzelas and horns.

So after an hour of waiting, the guards opened the gates and the thousands of Kopites waiting outside started pouring in. These were some of the shots taken during that day, most of them coming from the official tour website.

The attendance that day was close to 40,000 fans. That's nearly half the stadium filled with Liverpool Supporters. To be frank, I myself was surprised by the vast number of people who showed up. It was more than the attendance of the Arsenal match a few days earlier. And this was only the training session!

The next day, I had my driving examinations. So I had to waking up at AWOUHDQ 5 a.m. in the morning just so I could take the bus bringing us there (to Jalan Broga, Semenyih) which SUPPOSED to arrive at 6.15 a.m. Below the agency office, swarmed with mosquitoes under the rain, was hardly a good start to my day. The bus ride took 2 hours, doubled of what was the supposed eta. And the air-conditioning in the bus was at full blast throughout that journey, when it was raining heavily outside. All I had was a collared shirt and jeans to keep me warm. Needless to say, my fingers and ears were desensitized.

The day was extremely draggy as what seemed to be the most boring day of my life. And at the end of the day, I failed my driving test on Open Road section. What did I do wrong? I crossed an invisible line of white paint on the floor, entering the next lane. Okay. My bad. But to add insult to injury, I had to endure a freaking THREE HOUR bus ride back because of a few factors:

- Bus driver didn't know the way. Couldn't even tell me where the heck we were.

- It rained very heavily, thus the traffic jam became more time-consuming.

To top it all off, my phone was close to death so I had no music to listen to. Oh, and I had to walk in the rain back home, which gave me the flu.

Saturday was a fun day though. Roshan and I took extra care when we traveled there and back. The LRT to Bukit Jalil was jam packed with Liverpool fans. When the LRT reached the destination, everyone began to cheer as we exited the compartment. Almost instantly, anthems were sang and the atmosphere was tremendous. This was going to be a cracker, and THIS is what you call a big club, rich with tradition and we, the fans, are always the 12th man.

The game ended in an exciting 6-3, with the visitors running riot in the stadium. And the best part was although the near-full capacity of the stadium donned the traditional red of Liverpool, we supported both sides of the game. And Malaysia played well. Through all times we sang the YNWA song, I think I can get most of the lyrics. C'mon, which other team has their own song?

And that, ends the three day spectacle of awesomeness. And with that, loads of fatigue. Cheers. And YNWA

You'll Never Walk Alone - The Crowds

Bowel dismemberment

2011-07-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not done with the "super week" yet. Still under wraps!

On a more recent news, I finally took heed to patch up the two giant holes in my Cheetah pants yesterday. The green one. Well, my mom asked me to. Finished sewing in 2 and a half hours. Boy, that was long.

And today I stumbled across a carton of unopened milk which was expired the day before. Not wanting to waste any food, I opened it and tested it. It was safe, so I drank it. The whole 1 LITER of it. Biggest nutritional mistake I have ever made. That was around 12.30 this afternoon. And I just went through my SIXTH pit-stop to discharge my bowels. I tell you, it's a hundred times worse than consuming detox drinks.

The Handshake - MGMT

Bands

2011-07-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

Pardon the impromptu-ness. I don't like writing down and erasing my lines.

Still walking aloft the breeze,

hoping it will carry me to another dove.
Yet no avian being passes by,

just the chill of the breeze.

I leave my heart on my sleeve,

so that all can see.

But probably no one cares.

Meh. Seems scrappy at best. Need to do something more... PRODUCTIVE

All Signs Point To Lauderdale - A Day To Remember

Second guesses

2011-07-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I knew you well, you proved me wrong. Again. Well, it isn't bad news. It's just that I need some time to think it through and accept it. Rejection makes it unnecessarily complicating at best. Since I'm having my semester break now, I suppose it's good timing.

Okay, I won't over-think on it. No.

And I'm STILL waiting for Roshan to upload those photos... I wanna blog on it now...

Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven

Ugh...

2011-07-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

Had a very, very exhausting past 5 days... So many events back to back. But it was all awesome, except for the failing my driving test part. Will blog on it all when I'm free. Down with the flu now and exams are next Tuesday. One last push! And then, ~~my driving exam retest~~ more sleeping hours!

Paper Romance - Groove Armada

Volunteer

2011-07-11T02:28:00.000-07:00

It was a rainy day during Calculus class on Thursday, June the 30th. Then again, I was mightily stuffed from my meal-for-two mixed rice dish. My brain could barely figure out a quadratic equation any faster than my 15-year-old sister could. And boy, did time creep slowly. As the two-hour mark neared to a close, I felt my side-pocket, the one housing my phone, vibrate. Desperate for something interesting to happen that day, I hastily slid my phone open. It was Kevin. Knowing Mr. A&P Director of the Sun-U Council, it must be some request for volunteers.

True enough, it was. The Sun-U Council needed more helpers at the International Students Office (ISO) as it was a new intake for several programs such as the accounting programs (CAT and ACCA), Canadian International Matriculation Program (CIMP), Foundation In Arts (FIA) and so on. Kevin said that he needed help from 3 till 5. Since my class just ended at 3, I thought: "Sure, why not. Besides, I could get some hours of community service for this."

So Yu Liang and I went to lend a hand. Through the glass panes, we could see the hectic condition of the office. The seats were all taken up, there were some helpers running to and fro, calling out to several people. It was chaotic. And in the midst of that anarchy, stood Kevin, smiles and all.

He quickly briefed us on how each department of inquiry is segregated to distinct sections of the somewhat large office. Opposite the entrance to the ISO, was some 8 separate desks, each specializing in course placement-related inquiries. To your immediate right, was the head office girl, nicknamed "Kak", who helps in anything related with paperwork, be it printing official transcripts or registration and application forms. Opposite Kak's desk situated three desks related to insurance-related affairs. To the back of the office, was some 10-odd tables helping out with visa applications, renewals or brand new. On the much-occupied (mostly by brochures) reception desk featured 4 ledgers for students to fill in their details before being attended to.

In that whirlwind of information being crammed into my head, I had to go back to Kevin to recap all that. Took me some 6 times to get it all sorted out. But once we knew what we were doing, it was going very smoothly.

Then after half-an-hour, Yu Liang had to go, leaving me and Kevin to man the place. Ish. Then came in this lady, with her daughter [I'll just call her by the alias of "D" (for daughter) as two "her"s in this conversation will get very tricky] walking slowly behind her, almost shy-like. She went to Kak to ask about the deposit International Students have to pay as part of their insurance. After a short while, Kak approached Kevin and I and asked which one of us was willing to show the lady and her daughter the way to the Financial Department as they need to print their official transcript. Since it was getting monotonous in there, I volunteered. They were Indonesians so I was a little lost in translation as Malay varies from Malaysian to Indonesian. Well, not completely lost.

So I escorted them there and the lady asked me, in Bahasa Indonesia, of course: "What course are you doing?" I made sure I pronounced every syllable properly as my tendency to chew up words is rather annoying, answering "American Degree Transfer Program" really slowly. She nodded and I saw D brush aside her fringe. At that moment, I got a clear picture of her face. And ~~DAMN~~ she was cute.

I stayed cool and asked the lady what course was D enrolling in, as she was some few paces behind us. Her mother replied "CIT". For a moment, I paused. Wait, I thought. Computer Information Technology? Since when was there a computer science course in Sunway? I was extremely puzzled but I just nodded, trying to buy me some time to figure what it was. But it was too late, the next question came and it was "Is the program good here?". Like an idiot, I just laughed and said that I don't know. She laughed along, saving me some blushes.

When we reached Financial Services, I took a number for them as they both sat down. Then I went and stand beside them. D saw me standing and offered her seat for me, smiling and she shuffled into the next seat of the row, and I accepted the offer. Still befuddled on what "CIT" may be, I asked her what course was she doing, making sure my voice was low enough so that her mother won't hear me. She replied "Certified Accounting-"

Oh! Now I know! It's Certified Accounting Technician. CAT. I forgot that the way some people pronounce "A" isn't "eh" but "eye". Then, she asked me whether was it a good program here. I promptly answered: "It's very good here, most people come here." with a smile. Then again, private institutions DO get more students due to the high demand. I wasn't wrong.

I then asked where was she from, hoping it was some place I know (unfortunately, that meant either Bali or Jakarta, which wasn't very helpful or encouraging). She laughed as she stated that I surely haven't heard of the place before. "Try me" I insisted. Well, I can't actually recall what she said, but I have no clue where that was. Then she laughed, revealing her two rows of near-perfect, white teeth. I guessed it was the result of witnessing my clueless dead-pan look that I subconsciously display when I don't know stuff.

Then our turn was up and we settled it quite quickly before leaving. The trip back was exactly the same as the trip to Financial Services: very quiet. Then she sat outside at the tables provided by the ISO directly outside the office as I went back in to resume my shift. I took one last look at her before going back in. She saw that and said thank you. I flashed a smile as I said: "Your welcome."

Kevin saw that and started eying me as I returned to the reception desk. She's pretty cute, he said. Yeah, she was, I replied. "You got her name?" "Nah, it'll be weird and all..." I shrugged. And he raised his eyebrow, giving me the "you're sure about that" look.

Actually, I thought about it a few times in that brief escort. But in the end, I didn't ask. Sure, she's cute, kind, warm and all, coupled with that sweet smile, but she's in a totally separate course from me. We'll barely see each other and to top it off, she's an international student, what are the odds she'll be around long-term?

That was logic speaking. And I took every word of it.

After rethinking about what had happened that day, I think I made a really bad judgement call. The was some connection that I felt with her. And distance, to say the least, was never up to debate when it comes to me being attracted to someone. Emotionally, my feelings said a totally different set of opinions. I should've just taken the chance. Just reminiscing about her, her perfect skin, that warm look in her eyes, the slender body, the way her hair was beautifully pinned up, even down to the way she walks, being reserved while not wanting to garner any attention at all, the epitome of modesty. As Malcolm Gladwell of the book "Blink" would say, snap judgement tells a lot. Yes, she was seriously attractive.

But I hesitated and brushed it off. And the chance went by. Let it be my lesson for the future. That's the least I can hope for. For in some odd way, that memory is still latched tightly in my memory stem. And it's those kind of "tiny fragments of experience" that signify something bigger. Should fate be extremely kind, I hope I would see her again. The funny thing is that if I weren't to volunteer to help Kevin, none of this would've happen. Should I leave this to chance, is the least of what I can offer. And I'll try to keep my eyes peeled for the day that we do cross paths again. I believe I still have a chance. Thus, I volunteer myself for that cause.

Burning Love - Elvis Presley

Reformation

2011-07-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

I am wrong as much as I am right,

or so I figure.

I falter, I stumble,

but I'll try to pick myself up.

The shadows still offer their haven,

but although tempted, I refuse.

The marionette will have one less pawn to showcase.

Or so faith tells me so.

I no longer drag this heavy feet.

I've discarded some of the burden.

No longer was I encumbered,

be it by doubt or strength.

For resolve is what I thrive,

to bathe in it's embrace,

be it right and ridden of wrong.

But what is day and night,

if we can't fight against the same plight?

We are the dark, we are the light.
Still we result in nature's blight.

Wow... I'm getting some groove back on impromptu writing again. And it's nothing short of elation for that fact alone.

However, the recent hoo-ha about Bersih 2.0 is really nonsensical to say the least. Anwar Ibrahim, although I hold no favor for him as compared to any other politician, was hospitalized at Pantai Hospital as result from the rally. To make matters worse, an innocent person actually lost their life due to breathing problems from the resultant tear gas. Why does the government do this? I don't really know. It's only normal that we question nearly everything. As a concerned citizen, I do. I just keep my head down and not nose around. The less I know, the better. But violence was never right. Sigh.

C'mon People (We're Making It Now) -

Richard Ashcroft

Fourth of July!

2011-07-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

On Monday, the ADTP Student Committee had it's first event with the upcoming board members. It was at the Sunway-Monash Residence and the management was VERY PRIVY. Very. But scrape that.

The whole purpose of the party was to celebrate America's Independence Day, also for the Dean's List ceremony, and a party for the leaving students.

And I was a little nervy. Of course I should be, it's my first big step in college life outside books. It was going really well, the setup and sound checks and decos. As Naufal would say: It looks pretty good!

At 5.30pm, the guests started arriving and soon, the place was packed with people. It was getting exciting and I thought: Wow! This could BE it. It's gonna be darn fun.

Then, some problems popped up because the management, being privy (that's all I'll say) nearly put the entire event to a complete halt. But thanks to our adviser, Mr. Chong, he and his top-notch negotiation skills bought us just enough time to enjoy the party. We really owe it all to him.

Here are some of the best pics from that day. Not much explanation is needed, credits to Vicky Ong for the pictures.

It didn't matter whether I had a quiz for Sociology the following day, or that my hair was badly chlorinated, or down to the fact that I cut finger in the process of tying balloons. It was worth it.

I'll be looking forward to working together with you guys again!

B Is For Brutus - The Hives

Adagio

2011-06-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Somehow, God does have his mysterious ways. I mean, I don't worship him to decide my fate, but I do recognize it whenever he shows me a sign, however miniscule the sign may be, the magnitude always larger.

After my post earlier today (okay, technically yesterday as it's already past midnight), some 12 hours ago, I receive a call from her.

Her reason behind the call is solely to catch up on lost time. I didn't mind. We're still friends, good ones too. Again, she ran out of topics rather quickly. But I'm okay with that, it just means that we're still the same, I'm just meddling with my thoughts anyway about the previous sentence. It was good to hear that she's fine, and partially on how I'm fine with it too. So I didn't miss the middle part of The Karate Kid for nothing.

Oh well, time to sleep.

Crossroads - John Mayer

Shambles

2011-06-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

You really wanna know why I always show discomfort when we talk about her, yes, about you?

You guys just can't seem to get the point that I DON'T LIKE TALKING ABOUT IT. But still, as one of my closest friends, how can I blame you? You're just concerned.

Sorry about that. Brief outburst.

Yes, it started off as one way traffic, but then you've seem to have turned your head. And for once, I felt accepted by someone else who was more than a friend. For once, I felt truly happy for my personal life. And it seemed genuine for a while that you felt the same, that we have some connection that was intangible, yet highly valued. In that moment, I felt not romance, but real attraction. I may be too young to say such things, but that was indeed how I've felt.

You began to tell me your stories, and I shared my fair half. The best part was that I understood you, that beneath that radiance of confidence you had, you and I were similar in some degree: unsure, insecure, in need of a supportive figure.

I obliged, but you didn't return the favor. I told my stories, you criticized me for them. Instead of patronizing, you did the opposite. It wasn't constructive nor helpful, but I kept my mouth shut. I was happy enough. Still, that was just part and parcel of a relationship, I thought. Overnight, we made up for our scuffles.

Then it came the time where I literally placed my body on the line for you. Although I suffered a Grade One ankle sprain, I still took the 20-minute walk to your house just to surprise you, but you weren't free. You didn't even bother to take that few steps to exit the house. Sure I was on painkillers, but that was just temporary. I endured and almost ran through the pain barrier with you for that marathon, staying by your side the entire time, slowing down when I was too fast for you, looking out for any threat to protect you from. And the day that we embraced, that one sensation was all I've needed to make me happy. But that was the last day that I was about us.

I placed everything on the line for that relationship. I even considered breaking my own principles for you: to abandon Buddhism. I'm not proud of that thought. Although I'm not the best Buddhist, its culture IS my identity. The thought of leaving my identity behind for a gamble of a chance, is not a very proud one.

Then a few months passed, and the cracks started showing. You learned that we share less commonality than we once believed to have had. And you tried to brush me aside. You ignored me at times, and began to speak in harsh tones, sometimes even rudely. I knew what was happening. I just didn't want to face it.

We had our first argument in school, and it wasn't good. You won, but only because I didn't put up any resistance: it'll just make it worse. So you took more drastic steps, and just overnight, everything changed. You didn't say a word, you completely ignored me, and my voice was left unheard, whether you did hear it or not. I tried to salvage what I could, my friends helped me as well. But you've decided. And soon, I threw in the towel too.

So what is it that makes me sad whenever you're mentioned? It is that you never gave me the chance to work things out, that we, weren't giving it our all, that there is still one stone unturned, that we didn't not fully weigh all our options, that the finished article may just have been fabricated. Well, maybe you didn't give it your all. I did. And lost something in return.

So that, is essentially my black rose. And that's why I can't fully trust my judgement anymore. That I'm broken, and I'm still recovering. But you seem fine, like it's never happened. Well then, good for you. I'll be happy for that small piece of news.

Sleepwalker - The Wallflowers

Clarity

2011-06-27T04:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, not posting much as this week seems to be "crunch time week" for me. Got a Mid-term paper tomorrow, overdue Calculus homework on Wednesday, and a presentation given just today, which also needs to be submitted on Wednesday. Oh, and 11 pending interviews for my Sociology report. Crunchy. Om nom nom.

And regarding the previous post, the rambling one, it's NOT about the past issues I've had or any mushy mushy touchy stuff. ~~I'll save that for next time~~ It's just a guy being a guy, thinking every other person out there is just... too beautiful or elegant or smart to be worth consideration. Dang, there goes the mushy part. Okay, back to work.

I've Been Delivered - The Wallflowers

Standard??

2011-06-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a guy. Kind of a normal guy. With hormones. Annoying, mischievous, always-questionable hormones.

But girl, why must you be so darn pretty? I think there is such a thing as being "too pretty" to the point that it only affects me. Yes, this is my personal rambling 101 class. I'll admit I'm quite messed up in the head at times.

That's all. Goodnight.

You know what? Ignore me. I'm just gonna post it anyway as I always post stuff I'll regret posting.

Peace??

So Weightless - David Choi

Chosen!

2011-06-20T06:57:00.000-07:00

When I first donned my new slacks last Friday for the interview, the thought of being chosen to be part of the ADP Student Committee didn't quite cross my mind. I just focused on trying to impress them and kept revising my answers.

Before the interview, there sat Naethan, Rikesh and Eric. We had a chat and I heard from Rikesh's mom (who happens to be the ADP supervisor) that they were opening 20 slots for the committee this year. I was a bit relieved, noting a 2/3 chance was quite good odds. So I went in, answered confidently and left in a span of 5 minutes. It will probably be the quickest interview I'll live through.

And I just received a SMS notifying me of being chosen to be part of the committee. I was thrilled. Then I saw the notice on the group wall on Facebook. Only ten people got chosen. I immediately felt a surge of elation. Out of the 30-odd aspiring people, I got chosen. So the odds were steeper than known, but I made it. I'm incredibly happy both because I can do something outside my daily studying and the fact that I'll be representing the face of ADP at Sunway. It's a big responsibility, but I'll relish the challenge. There's a meeting on Wednesday with the current group and the new group. Can't wait for that.

Here I come.

Oh, and David Choi was AWESOME OMGOHWIDUASLDIUAWD SEXY KIMCHI DURIAN BOOTILICIOUS!! It's on his Twitter, not just random rambling.

That Girl - David Choi

:/

2011-06-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

This will probably be the only post where I couldn't find a title to. This short semester is going by so quickly. Heck, my finals are next month on the 20th (which is right after the Liverpool friendly and Jog For Hope, oh crap!!).

I can't even get any inspiration to blog... Haizz... The brain drain. Anyway, I got a Calculus 1 Quiz tomorrow and also my ADTP Student Council interview. God, I'm stressed out for the interview. I want it very, very badly. Unfortunately I'm going head to head with 30-odd others for the 13 slots offered. That 1:3 odds are not very convincing. Wish me luck. I'm gonna call Atia soon to find some confidence, and maybe, my ace in the hole for tomorrow. Fingers crossed, as usual.

Closer To You - The Wallflowers

Wonder, ponder, squander

2011-06-06T05:23:00.000-07:00

I'm still caught between fear of rejection and fear of a missed opportunity. But as the wise gurus say: It's about the little things in life that count. Eh? *sigh* I think I'm better off enjoying what underwear I pick each day. That does matter. To me at least

Don't mind me. I'm just hogging space before finding something more worthwhile to blog upon. On another note, I may not enjoy this short semester as Sociology will take up a lot of time. I got a proposal due next Wednesday. AND IT'S ONLY THE SECOND WEEK HERE!! Luckily my group partner is on the case already. I'll just slack about for today and perhaps study up for this Wednesday's quiz.

Volcano - Damien Rice

Thank you, Jack Sender!!

2011-06-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Taken from his blog, A Warming Trend Post. There's a link at my blog as well, if you wanna read his work. Fantastic stuff. I feel compelled to meet him in person.

Taken from his blog, A Warming Trend Post:

days are like eggs
some sunny side up
they’re hard, or scrambled
and, thank god,
always a few are
over easy

The brilliance of language, makes me smile anyday.

Dogs - Damien Rice

Blaze

2011-06-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

Still the hallways continue to mock me. Just as how the sun glares down on me.

I'm starting to think that I can only write and not compose. Sucks to figure that out.

Jaded - Aerosmith

C2AGE

2011-05-23T01:23:00.000-07:00

If I'm not mistaken, C2AGE stands for Comics, Cosplay, Anime, Gaming and Entertainment. Basically, it's a Comic Con toned down to the Asian level. This year it was held at Tropicana City Mall.

Lots of my friends wanted me to join them in this event. After witnessing the full force of my college's Anime Club, I am hellbent on distancing myself from anything Otaku, besides reading Manga. So I tried to cough up lots of excuses just not to go. Me and a few friends were suppose to group up after the event to catch a movie, since some of them are going for the event, held at 11 in the morning.

Due to some miscommunication between Roger and, I thought that the event had already ended at 10 and started walking there. Only halfway through my journey did Roger explain that the event had JUST STARTED. I tried my best to kill time walking there, but the sun was shining down it's heavenly grace on me so I was getting slow-cooked. So I reached the place right when it was about to start.

I grabbed a cup of coffee from Starbucks first as I rushed out of my house on an empty stomach upon getting Roger's text. He soon joined me and we chatted for a while. I was shocked to know that he was shocked to know that I have a blog. He reveals to me that he thinks the idea of guys blogging is weird and that the sole purpose of most bloggers are to vent their disgust towards people they dislike, thus he doesn't receive the news of me being a blogger all that warmly. Then he asks me what was my purpose behind blogging. I longed for that question *Que evil music accompanied by maniacal laughter*.

And as we sat there on the small table in Starbucks, I told him my story. Well, I've mentioned the purpose before so I'll skip the mushy mushy parts. The main story is still on the event. But that look on his face where he took those words back about guy bloggers, was utterly priceless. To rain on my brief parade, C2AGE just started.

My ears had to bear with the pitchy, often chipmunk-inspired Cosplayers belting out their all-time favorite songs while resisting the urge to gouge out my eyeballs due to excessive horror. I swear I would break if not for my noise-blocking earphones and the Borders nearby.

So essentially, what I've learned that day is:-

A problem: A toilet full of people.

A bigger problem: A toilet full of Cosplayers.

Baby I'm Yours - Breakbot ft. IRFANE

Introverted?

2011-05-21T01:46:00.000-07:00

*Before proceeding, kindly note that the average age group for the people I'm mentioning about is about 13-17 years of age*

These ~~days~~ ~~months~~ years, I've seen ~~a couple~~ ~~a few~~ tons of people just put depressing, often corny and emotional (ish...) posts about their relationship(s) on any social networking site, and they get all the sympathy their friends can offer.

I just keep my mouth sealed and carry on. I don't need the attention.

People, YOU HAVE NOT come of age where marital status does matter or receding hair is a commonality!! Why do almost (almost) every teen has to be so overly dramatic?!

"End of the world's today, no wait, tomorrow!". Gawd.

Though I do believe I'm some no-fun person with an abnormal case of growing up (not old) quicker than others, it's only because I have waved off the influence of pop culture that I'm ranting on the aforementioned. Hate to break it to you poor, psychologically primed people but jocks are not ~~all~~ dumb, the popular people are not ~~all~~ plastic, nerds aren't the saddest people in the world and singing pop songs in the Glee Club will not make everything A-okay. Heck, you'll probably work for a nerd sooner or later in your life.

It's not that I have the emotional gauge of a rock, I just don't favor unneeded drama in my life. So am I really an introvert or an extrovert with a dash of absolute I-don't-give-a-crap? More 50-50. Nuff said.

The Rat Within The Grain - Damien Rice

Wallpaper

2011-05-19T06:51:00.000-07:00

I recently learned that you can set your desktop background to change pictures at given intervals in my notebook (Yes, I'm part technophobe!!), so I decided to make my wallpaper(s) as awesome as I want it to be.

I was soooo engrossed in it, I ended up digging through my entire library of pictures for the desktop background. Little did I realize that I took one and a half hours doing so.

It better be worth it!!

Rootless Tree (Live @ Abbey Road) - Damien Rice

Dean's List

2011-05-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

I got a 3.69 CGPA. Okay it could've been better.

Bright side, Dean's List-ed!

Down side, I gotta near perfect grades from now on.

You know what's the messed up part? I got to get a 4.0 GPA for the next 10 subjects (3 in each of the two long sems and 2 in both short sems) and I can only achieve a 3.89 CGPA.

I'm cork-screwed. QUQWHDIQUWGERFLIQUWYDGIYUQKWG!!

And somehow... I'm addicted to The Bloody Beetroots now. Didn't think I would dig alternative electronica...

House N° 84 - The Bloody Beetroots

Ponder

2011-05-17T20:31:00.000-07:00

You know, sometimes I have this feeling that you want something. Something only I can, perhaps even used to, offer. I need more space to think this through. Maybe just more time. Mixed signals aren't handy at all. Who am I kidding, you don't even stop by, whether it be here or in reality.

Song writing is a pain when you're struggling with writer's block. I can only pen two lines a day - and that's plain sad. I suddenly realize that I do have a lot of personal posts. Hope they don't mind.

Here Comes Your Man - Meaghan Smith

Twang

2011-05-16T02:47:00.000-07:00

Okay so clearly I haven't started my song project due to the overwhelming urge to game, game, game and to be a slob. That will change now. Well, I can't just say soon. That is just... me.

Alright! Time to initiate the work process.

She's Got You High - Mumm-ra

Aloft

2011-05-12T05:03:00.000-07:00

You know, listening to House of Cards by Radiohead and Broken by Lifehouse while checking my friends' profiles on Facebook... is eerily beautiful.

I think I'm losing it. Yea... that line above didn't make much sense. I probably don't understand myself fully. But I find it... soothing. My questionable self... why didn't you show up earlier?

House of Cards - Radiohead

Philli, philli

2011-05-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

(Sooo sorry for taking so long. Hope you guys enjoy this post!)

Day One

We had to board a 1 a.m. flight so I didn't have much comfortable sleep on the first day. We left the house at 9 p.m. on Sunday and I only managed 2-ish hours of sleep from the 4 hour flight. The immigration lady was such a ... b-word. When it was my turn, she did the usual key-in crap and once she was done, she just threw my passport back at me. Like what the heck, man? AND she threw my departure card away, by accident or not, god knows. But I wasn't mad, unlike my mom who was FURIOUS. I guess I'm okay-ish with it due to the fact that I'm used being treated like sh!t. Pardon the language. So much for my mabuhey (greeting). Miss Melissa M. Navarro, I'll remember you. Anyway, time for some lighter stuff.

We were met there by our tour guide for the WHOLE TRIP, Juan. Man, he's big, 6' 5'' at the very least. He has only been to KL once, and that was at KLCC. I was puzzled: Of all places, why there? He later revealed that he went there for the Petronas Basketball Competition. He certainly looks like a basketball player, bald and all. The sun had risen as early as 6 a.m. and we took the time to admire the sunrise as the 12-seater van drove about the highway.

The we began our 2 hour drive to Tagaytay. I tried oh so hard to sleep during the drive, but the bumpy surface of the road made it impossible to sleep. I was struggling enough, trying to keep my neck from dislocating. I got some 15 minutes of power nap, miraculously. But we haven't reached Tagaytay yet, it was only a rest stop for breakfast. It was about 7 a.m. then. We went to the nearby 7-Eleven to grab some snacks and drinks. There were a group of people at the table outside, drinking some beer. Can you imagine that, drinking beer at 7 in the morning?? Then Juan explained that they were workers at the call centre working the night shift. This was their sleeping time: in broad daylight. There was even a lake there, filled with Koi and Karp, even a boat ride around the lake.

*Well, I just drained some 9% of battery life typing this section out. Gotta type quicker next time! Lunch is here!!*

We reached Tagaytay at around 8.20. There was some mix-up during check-in, as they only had one room for us, when my mom booked for two, and the management of which my mom booked from can't be reached as it was not office hours yet. In the end, they gave us another room, thankfully. And it was a twin room, all the more better! We unpacked our stuff and headed out for breakfast. Almost every eating place here in Tagaytay has a view overlooking Taal Lake and the volcano. We had some of their speciality beef, stew, also known as Bulalo here, along with some Beef Stew and Pork Knuckles.

Bulalo served with Fried Egg and some rice

Beef Stew

The place where we ate, Green Ats

The beef there was sublime. All of us were stuffed so full that we called it the day! No joke. We just went shopping at the SaveMore grocery store, where I got mistaken for a local when a saleswoman wanted to advertise some Vaseline body wash on sale. We just ended up buying some 3-in-1 coffee and Cebu Dried Mango (a local favourite there) and retreated back to the hotel. The store had a few interesting food up for sale, though.

Like these two:

Durian, Guava and Mangosteen Spread

I took the break to play some games on my notebook, while my dad and granduncle took a nap. We left for dinner at around 6.45 p.m. and it was already as dark as night by then. We ate at Josephine's for dinner, a very famous place for their Kare-kare, a Philippine stew. It is made from peanut sauce with a variety of vegetables, stewed oxtail, beef, and tripe. Yes, I had to refer to Wikipedia for further explanation. Again, we stuffed ourselves with the wonderful food there. Notable mentions would be the wonderful view with gazebos and benches placed outside in the vicinity of the blistering cold and their Crispy Kankung, crisp and paper thin, served with homemade Mayonnaise. Absolute bliss.

And to prove how GOOD the Kare-kare is, they displayed their certificate of acknowledgement.

Victors hands down.

Day Two

We went far away from Tagaytay today, about a two-hour drive. I kinda forgot the name of the place. It's said to be a good viewpoint for the volcano. It was incredibly windy up there and my hair was all over the place. The hill was interesting as it was private property to one of the ministers back then. He decided to leave it as it was later on. There's even a private chapel there for him. I encountered what would be the only Filipino who couldn't sing. He was video-ke-ing (karaoke, but with video instead) and his singing was all over the place. Juan implied that he was very, very drunk. We all couldn't agree less. The worst thing is the dreadful singing can be heard from everywhere as the compound was small. He even scored a 92 over 100 in some songs... Loose wires, I say.

We had dinner at MushroomburgerRobinsons to grab more Dried Mango because my mom (who ate it WITHOUT ME) said it was that good. We bought 40 packs.

FORTY. UNGODLY. PACKS. OF. DRIED. MANGO.

Heck, we freaked the store out! It amounted to around RM 150. Achievement unlocked. For dinner, we headed back to Josephine's to eat as it was that good. No prizes for guessing how much we ate.

Day Three

The next day we went to Sonya's garden, a private estate initially which was later opened for the public to view. It was such a lovely place, with many colourful flowers all over the place. I snapped a mad number of pics, since Macro is what I like doing. Here are some of the pics.

We later found out that Sonya has a book published no where but here. She insists that it is personal and that's why it can only be found at Sonya's Garden. My mom decided to buy two issues, one for her and one for my dad's client. When we purchased the books, the lady asked us to stay there for a while. We were puzzled. Stay here? What for?? She explained that she's going to get Sonya herself so that she can AUTOGRAPH the book personally. Whoah! It was that personal to her. Not just that, we got to choose from a variety of scented inks and coloured wax seals. That was another pleasant surprise. Unfortunately I didn't snap any photos; my sister did that. Then Sonya suggested we try the food out here.

So heeding her advice, we went to check out the food. They had this buffet offer, which costs some RM50 if you were to convert it to our currency. But this people were all incredibly health conscious: all they had in the menu was spaghetti and greens, NO MEAT whatsover.

We gave up and snuck out quietly so that the waiter didn't notice us. They had already served us drinks.

Then we tried to go to Breakfast at Antonio's, which was the only restaurant to make it to the Top 50 list of best restaurants in Asia. It was the only place in all of Tagaytay where no Filipino was dining there. I got skeptical. And then we saw the menu. Hot dang, it was expensive!! A drink alone was equivalent to one and a half meals somewhere else!

My grandmother and granduncle admiring the wall of photos there

So we again, ditched the place and headed to Jerry's Grill instead. They had, again, nice food there and we were stuffed. Juan told us that the restaurant will have a Halo-Halo (THE BEST DESSERT I'VE TAKEN) on the house if it was your birthday. But all our birthdays are months away. So my father claimed that day to be his birthday. We all kept mum. Typical Malaysians. Hahaha!

Day Four

Thursday, we went to another distant place suggested by Juan as Tagaytay was getting monotonous already. I didn't catch where we were heading, so the place we visited still escapes my mind. Something like Escudero Mansion. It took us some 3 hours or so to get there. But we had a carabao (bull) cart to bring us around the whole compound. At the back of the carriage sat this elderly couple who provided the live music to serve the occasion. They sang rather beautifully olden classics like "You Are My Sunshine" and "月亮代表我的心" (yep, they knew the song). It was nice at first, until my sister and grandmother joined in. Then it got a little... annoying. Ah Mah, you know I love you a boatload but it was a bit (I stress, a bit) hair-pulling to hear you and my little chipmunky sister singing.

Then we had a buffet lunch at a man-made dam. It was very unique of an experience (but a pricey one!). The rocks were slippery due to the moss and I cursed myself for not wearing my slippers. I was terrified when guiding my grandmother across the stream. A small slip would spell disaster for her aging body. Nevertheless, it was very soothing to feel calm, cool water rushing fast your feet. Very serene.

The whole bunch, kung-fu mom attached

We were stuffed when we left and the staffs there kindly gave us copious amounts of tissue paper to dry our feet. To make matters more interesting, my grandmother asked them for more tissue paper - in Malay! Boy was that awkwardly funny.

Then we visited the museum there. It was started by the Escudero family, who were closely tied to the Americans when they occupied Philippines, according to the tour guide. The current generation of the Escudero branch is the sixth and they still reside in that exact estate. Photography was prohibited so I couldn't take any pictures. But the entire ground floor hosted tons of Jesus Christ statues from churches all across the nation. The second floor showcased the antiques from the past century, like Ming vases and other commodities bartered in the early days. They even have the clothing of the nation's leaders and patriots such as Emilio Aguinaldo and Jose Rizal. I also took some opportunity to flex some History know-how.

We then hit a shopping mall for dinner. We finally had out hands on some Jolibee and god it was SUBLIME for fast food! Juan was once a manager there and he revealed to us that their policy of keeping food fresh was responsible for making them the fast food powerhouse in the country. He said that if the chicken is not sold in 15 minutes, they'll dispose of them. And the food is actually as good as Carl's Jr.!

Day Five

We felt that Tagaytay had nothing more to offer so we headed to Manila since they have cheap motels which can be rented for half a day. So we first went to shop around a little where I took the opportunity to get the polvoron molds from the Goldilocks store there. It would be one of the most epic scenes of my life. That event can be broken down to four stages, each stage represented by a worker I talked to.

Stage One
I went to the lady working at the cashier and I asked: "Do you sell polvoron molds?". She looked past me at the rack selling polvorons and pointed there. "Ah, polvoron.", she said. "No, no. The molds." I replied showing the action. She just frowned and asked me to confront another lady.

Stage Two
The next lady worked at the custom cake making and delivery department, so I presumed her command of English may help me out. I asked the same question, adding "the one used to make the polvoron itself" at the back of that question. She mistook shape for flavor and replied: "Ah, chocolate." and pointed to the rack beside me. So I proceeded to Stage Three.

Stage Three
Back to the counter I went. I asked her the same question from Stage Two and added (again) another "it's to create the shape". She replied: "Yea, only oval shape." I rephrased the question and she just pointed to the basket of polvoron on the counter. She got puzzled and went to the back to get more help.

Stage Four
Along came this young woman with gloves from the bakery at the back. I tiredly asked her. And she (surprisingly) gave me a straightforward answer: "No we don't." And that concludes my quest for the polvoron molds.

Then we went to the seaside to witness the sunset. Here are some pics I took with my phone.

And here are some of the sunset.

Then we went to this huge shopping complex known as the Mall of Asia. Seeing it in person, I could understand why. It was easily FOUR TIMES LARGER than One Utama here. And we were just in time to witness their fireworks display. It was wonderful, however due to the dark surroundings, I deemed it the Night of a Thousand Flashbangs. I managed only three photos as my phone's camera has no proper scene mode for night photos, not to mention the slow shutter speed.

Inside, they have a ice rink where we witnessed an amateur ice hockey tournament. We also bumped into this shop called Spoofs. They sell shirts with - you guessed it - spoofs on them. Like the Got Fatter (instead of God Father) and Fart and Furious. I got the one which says Facebulok (bulok - inferior in Tagalok) and my sister got Twoilet (from Twilight).

And then... nothing much significant happened besides the shopping and the sleeping at the motel.

Day Six
We woke up and had to board the flight already... So we said our goodbyes to Juan, and he gave my brother his jersey he wore during the Petronas 3-on3 basketball competition he participated in years ago, autograph included.

And THAT! Ends my month-long post. Hope you guys didn't burn your eyes out reading this. You can also check out part one, part two and part three of pictures taken by my sister. Though it may contain lots of useless pictures, no offense. Cheers. And till the next trip, happy reading.

Wonder - Dan Black

Filth

2011-05-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

You know how bad your OCD level is when you start dropping the F-bomb at the sight of a cockroach, even when you know your parents are just meters from you.

I just simply hate dirty crap. And I just smashed the damn thing head first. It's finally reduced to a flattened state. I got even more pissed when I learned that NO ONE took the liberty of replacing the empty tissue paper at the dining room and the toilet paper at the back toilet.

Now for some cooling off...

Ooh La - The Kooks

Question.

2011-05-02T21:15:00.000-07:00

The recent confirmed death of Osama bin Laden raises a whole lot of questions compared to when he lived. Yes, he may be some threat to America, but from a neutral perspective is it something to rejoice in?? Sure, a figure of terrorism has been removed. Surely the void left by a force of evil will be filled with a more powerful and malicious figure. All over Facebook, I see loads of people gloating at his dismissal. And what all these idiots say? "Yay! He's dead."

What the hell's your problem?

Is al Qaeda gone for good? No.

Has the War on Terrorism ended or even begun approaching to an end? No where close.

So why the hell are you guys so goddamn happy for?

Humanity has learned to feed not just from food but from the pain of others. Is that what you want for you and everyone near you? To bloody live on the grief projected around the world?! We're better off dead then.

Taking this quote from my senior, who is currently studying in America:

"The fact that we are rejoicing in the death of another human being, is disturbing and twisted in itself. Is this what we have come to?"- Vineeta Tan -

It's a very powerful statement. So I question the world: Is this what we should be happy of? The death of another person?? What if that were to be someone you knew, worse yet, someone close to you. Only we are capable of destroying each other. That's our curse.

A damning curse.

Runaway - Kanye West ft. Pusha T.

Bundaberg Root Beer (THE BEST ROOT BEER THERE IS!!)

2011-05-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

The get together today was super fun. 13 of us went and it was a blast.

We had badminton first. There was one memorable match when Thein and Henry paired up against me and Suzanne. We played the front-back formation (is there actually a proper name for it?) as the opposition opted for the standard side-by-side formation. There was one long shot that Suzanne tried to return, but the shot was already dipping and was too low to return. She still managed to hit it, but it shot towards my arse. The was a brief silence, then an uproar of laughter. I had to endure the walk of shame to retrieve the shuttlecock. The game never seemed the same after that. On the bright side, Cindy managed to snap this shot of me.

I call this the "Spine Buster"

We had swimming after that but only the guys went. We took turns charging each other into the pool once we got out. Then we attempted this move Thein told us about called the "Dark Hammer". It's darn tough if you can't find your center of gravity, as I learned the hard way. I landed chin first onto the grill. Lucky it was a plastic one. The steps are shown below from right to left.

Then we had a group shot.

After that, we bathed and had some snacks at Gayithri's apartment before going to One Utama. The one thing I find annoying about that place is that you will ALWAYS see someone you know there. This time it was

Adris

yea I am not intending to flame him or anything. It's just that he's nice to the point it's annoying. I hope I made sense with that previous statement. He has kept greeting me for the past 3 years EVERYDAY, each year with the same, nice, respectful line: "Hi, Senior."

Yes, I'm flattered but it's goes to the point of driving me (slightly) insane. So today I saw him with his presumed girlfriend. Naturally, he said hi. I must say, isn't that a little odd to show in front of your girlfriend who has no darn idea who that person may be? And he'll proclaim : "That's my senior back there!". Then again, I'm just being my noisy-on-the-inside self.

I bought a glass of Bundaberg Root Beer, which just happens to be the best there is in this world nothing much to it. And we regroup where the following conversation took place.

Henry: What is that (drink in your hand)?
Me: Beer.
Henry: puts on deeply concerned face, while lowering his voice You okay ar?
Me: It's Root Beer.

I swore I could've laugh the entire day away.

Group Picture!

Efemera - Tulipa Ruiz

Clutch to crutch

2011-04-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

I had my first driving lesson on Friday evening and it was rather, eye-opening. I picked up the gear shifts quite fast but the car stalled twice because I forgot to jam on the clutch before braking. Oh well, not bad-ish. But I have to agree with my instructor, Mr. Wong, my turning is horrendous. I have no proper perception of distance when driving. Through the 5 laps we went, he had to bail my butt out all those times. And his car's accelerator is darn sensitive. I over-revved some 5 times when in gear one.

Mr. Wong's a cool dude, though. He makes it fun when he teaches and always makes a joke to calm you down. I mean, we were talking about girls at Kota Damansara and what not, which oddly enough made me more uncomfortable than him. After driving, my ankles were super sore for remaining at the same position for an hour and a half. But it was fun. Can't wait for my next lesson on Wednesday.

To express a (slight) hint of how scared I was, watch Barney Stintson driving. It's taken from How I Met Your Mother, but I forgot which season was this in. Season 3 or 4. Cheers.

And that reminds me... My Philippines post isn't up yet... Drat.

Around Us - Jonsi

Epinephrine

2011-04-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Epinephrine... Hate it, hate it, hate it. Some annoying, uncontrollable weapon the warrior's most ungodly tool it is.

Just to justify how safe my house is, there aren't any flies or pests whatsoever that enter the house as it is properly sealed and cleaned. Maybe one cockroach in 6 months, and that's if there's some food around. Mosquitoes, maybe two this year. Yes, it is THAT clean. And I'm proud to say it. *slaps ego*

Aaaanyways...

I was dead tired yesterday morning and I had to wake up at 6.15 a.m. to catch the Sunway shuttle bus. I did the routine get up, switch on the lights, turn off the fan, and drop some toilet bombs. Just when I sat there, I heard some scratching noise coming from my plastic bathroom door. I though it was a lizard, no biggie.

How wrong was I.

Out came this fully grown cockroach from below the lower door bracket. I was going all !*#%$!#@$ on it. And it was about to enter my room.

I jumped out from the toilet seat, put on my pants (you don't want those crawling on your jujubes *cringe*) and crouched, poised to strike. Upon seeing that bugger, adrenaline just shot into my veins. I thought: "Crap... There's goes my sleep...". Then the roach started moving towards the nearing possible hiding spot: my bags.

I reacted quicker and literally threw my bags aside. I intended to catch it (it didn't occur to me that was gonna be tough). And I saw my empty potato chips containers on the table. That could've been the reason the roach is here. So I tried to coax the roach into the makeshift cylindrical prison. But that was just stupid.

The pest then ran through my other bags, which I also threw aside, until it hid at the corner of the room. I couldn't reach it as the foot of the table was blocking the way. So I forced it out from it's hiding spot, only for it to hide under my sleeping bag. BLOODY HELL!! My room is a damn playground, I thought.

Again, I got it out from beneath the sleeping bag and it dashed across the room to the other corner, where my guitars are. I got so fed up by then I just resorted to killing it. I drew it out in the open again and hammered it with my chips container. I took my six hits to land one. It was finally stunned and I finished it off. Upon looking at it's motionless body, I slumped to the floor. God dang it, that was tough. Then I bagged it up and sprayed copious amounts of disinfectant at it's last scene. I looked at my phone's clock. That took me 15 minutes.

I reached the house late and skipped breakfast. I managed to board the bus still, thankfully. However, due to the adrenaline still flowing through my body, I didn't have a chance to sleep at all. By the time I reached college, the adrenaline finally wore off and I was returned to my buzz-crashed, lethargic self. I bought a cup of ice Milo from the vending machine for breakfast.

I took 5 steps, only for the paper cup to soften due to the ice and it slipped through my fingers, leaving a splatter in the middle of the cafeteria. Oh wait, that was my scientific reasoning behind it. What my friend saw, goes like this: I was very tired that I lost concentration and the cup just slipped through my butterfingers.

Okay, that seemed more believable. So I went to buy another cup, this time a hot cup of Milo. The heat from the drinks managed to inflict some pain on my fingers to keep me awake, so it managed to reach sanctuary.

That was the last of the string of unfortunate events that day. Oh, and Chemistry as well... But I don't wanna go there. All I ask for is a B.

Okay, gotta go revise on my Biology now. Today's the last day of my finals. After that, the whole month of May for my sem break. I'm definitely looking forward to that!

3 Rounds And a Sound - Blind Pilot

Recap

2011-04-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

Dear yourself,

You know, Kevin's right. You are edging on the brink of paranoia. And that, my friend, is so uncool of your usual questionable self. You need a new discovery, or perhaps an experience revisited. Keep that in mind you doofus.

By the way, keep it up with the one-word titles. I find the ambiguity most intriguing.

From,

The logic side of your brain

Yes, I enjoy a whole lot of monologues. And that just makes me look like the occasional narcissist.

Snowflake - Malachai

Rage

2011-04-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Today's lunch made me witness this piece of shit of a couple so horrendous that I can't restraint myself from cursing. They had reminded me of the disease which are human beings. I'm in such a disgusted and angry mood that I need this to be remembered.

If all you can do is disrespect and treat your own child like he/she is a nuisance, then FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T FREAKING GET ONE!

Monster - Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj and Bon Iver

Charity

2011-04-23T21:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the SMKDU LEO Club held the LEO Charity Dinner and the entire BOD, excluding Yee Leng and Su-Yi, featured with VIP seats, courtesy of Darryl Choo. Man, that guy has lots of connections. Our charity dinner last year had a RM 2,000 budget and we managed to gain RM 3,000 in revenue. Theirs this year however, had a whopping RM 8,000 cost, and it was under the intended RM 12,000 budget. And to top that, last night's performance included Caprice himself!! Who is he? Well, I only know a tad of information on him, but he's one of the most famous Hip-Hop/Rap artists in Malaysia. I've only heard two of his songs, and they're relatively good. It has something to stand out in Malaysian music.

Then there was the open dance floor, which we partied our butts off, as always. In the process, most of us lost half our voices, as always. It was a fun night to unwind, since my finals is this coming Tuesday. I partied hard last night, now it's time to study hard!

Tighten Up - The Black Keys

Test

2011-04-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of "duty" as a legitimate Scoutmaster and it was for a test session requested by the juniors. It was... okay. I mean, maybe it's because I've done many test sessions for them before that. The only difference this time is that I can certify their test by myself.

There was one memorable event from that morning, however. It was for the "Essentials for camp" test. Juniors were suppose to list down 25 items required for camp. This dude, Darryl, added stuff like:-

"underware";
"walking stick", and
"plastis bag"

I actually LOL-ed on the spot. Some people just have spelling issues. *Burst out with laughter*

:O - Dapuntobeat

Figures

2011-04-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

I know not everything has a catch, but is this an exemption? Dang my problems. If only I have a therapist friend. Learning to use American English now, since I'm gonna transfer next year. I'll probably revert back to British English later on, cos I can't get enough of using words like "lads", "mate" and "bugger". And I just realized that "therapist" is "the rapist" combined... God-sent?

All Of The Lights - Kanye West

Frantic

2011-04-19T06:51:00.001-07:00

OH CRAP! I FORGOT TO REPLY ON MY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION!! SUPPOSED TO COMPLY BY 18th APRIL. TODAY'S THE 19th!!

ASDFAGHSJFDWHTYDFA!!

King Of Anything - Sara Bareilles

Workout!

2011-04-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

I had 2 hours of futsal with my cousins and 2 hours of football right after that at the park. Extreme conditioning. After not working out properly for weeks, I feel fit already!

Although I got a blister on my big toe on my right foot, not to mention coming close to getting toe cramps on my right foot twice, and scratches on my left knee for keeper diving, I'm incredibly relieved to be able to have a proper workout, although this is a bit too overboard for a proper workout.

I went for my course's first-ever mini theater production on Friday night. I was very good by all standards. Sooo proud of you guys!

P.S. Watch Rowan Atkinson's play entitled "Fatal Beatings". It was before he undertook the guise of Mr. Bean. YOU WON'T REGRET IT! It's darn funny.

On my final note for tonight, I'm so glad that Bob Marley's musical talent is passed down to his son, Damian. I'm having a musical epiphany now. Reggae, man.

All Night - Damian Marley

Manikayu

2011-04-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I finally had a good (enough) excuse to skip Moral Studies: Manikayu. It's sort of a training course for ex-scouts and teachers who are interested in being scoutmasters, and ultimately to teach the juniors. This was Level One (a direct translation from Peringkat Satu) out of three stages. The camp is only happens once in a year so I jumped at the opportunity. It was rather... boring. But it's all worth the 60 cents-worth of leather we got at the end of camp. And the painful fingers trying to make the woggle out of that strip of leather. Very worth it. Now I realize that most "numbers" in life don't add up. Well, certainly not in the monetary sense.

Yes, THIS piece of leather. Very important indeed.

The representatives for 73rd Petaling (those standing), Simon, me, Peili and Raymond

Sitting there are Mr. Ngoo (Assistant District Commissioner) and Mr. Khaironnizam (Camp Chief)

Well, I haven't been blogging a lot lately as the assignments are coming in hard and fast. Not to mention finals are 2 weeks away. One day I had to face the task of completing half the results of a research paper in a matter of half a day. That required a cup of coffee and 3 hours of drilling to complete. Not fun.

And I finally learned how to record with my com!! I'm such a technophobe, right?? Since my term break is looming, I can take time to finally record some songs. Maybe write another dozen in that period. Okay! I'm aiming for 4 complete songs by the end of May. Challenge accepted.

Televators - The Mars Volta

Of green peas and idiosyncrasies

2011-03-31T05:50:00.000-07:00

Hmm... Catchy title. Okay, sudden epiphany. *Potential song title - check*

I'll cut to the chase. We had Bio lab session this morning and it was on the study concentration of carbon dioxide gas released by green peas (hence part one of the title). The thing was that we had to do it in pairs.

On a usual basis, my bench will consist of Genevieve, Rebecca and Jessica, Genevieve being my partner. However, today Rebecca was late and it was "partnering time". What an awkward term... Aaaanyway. My bench was clueless on what to do: wait for Rebecca, or stone until her untimely arrival...

*WARNING!!* HORMONAL TALK IMPENDING. CLOSE WINDOW IF YOU COULDN'T CARE MORE (yes, "couldn't care less" is the wrong term constantly overused)

...Then this incredibly hot Iranian girl (of which the obvious I would not elaborate any further nor state who is she. Let's call her Miss I!!), which I've never exchanged a word with EVER, pops up beside me and asked whether she could be my lab partner. Out of sudden autopilot-ness (as my brain crashed for two seconds), I said okay. The bench concluded: sorry Rebecca, you're flying solo. They didn't mind though, so I was spared some blushes. Don't get me wrong, Miss I was incredibly efficient and carried out the experiment way before I read the procedures, which was more than just great.

So I learnt one minor thing about myself that is probably not worth the two minutes you guys spent reading on this post, which is that I'm still the jumpy kid I was back in Primary school, somewhere in the deep recesses of my often-quetionable mind. I need to work on that.

AND I finally got a weekend free of replacement classes, with no tests whatsover the next week!! Elated me.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles

Brief

2011-03-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

Hi, sorry for the absence. I was darn busy with all the assignments and test I had to make up. I'm still not done with the Philippines post... Which is very bad.

On another note, I got 7 mixed As for SPM. My Add. Maths and Bio had a B+ grade. Very disappointed with myself, especially for Add. Maths. Received some flak from Mrs. Chuah on that blunder, and I can't blame her. Even getting As for History and Malay didn't soothe me. Anyway, I'm getting over it. Gonna fill in the form for a recheck, though.

Just making a quick post to let everyone know I'm not dead yet. Narcissistic me. Oh well. Time for more Tobuscus. He's so hilarious.

Like A Stone - Audioslave

Awaiting

2011-03-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

Currently at the departure gate T14 waiting for my 1.20 am flight. It's gonna be a loooooong one, 4 hours. Which means that once I land it will be effectively 6 am in the morning. And damn, I wish I brought a book to read...

I happily abused the free Wi-Fi at the LCCT and found out that there's a spelling mistake in my Bio Field Trip Report. One. Freaking. Typo. Error.

NOOOOOO!!! I'm dejected already. The drama that I am. Hopefully this one week vacation can trigger, or I guess you can say, re-awaken my songwriting chops. I need more original pieces coming through, since I'm having a 5 month drought already. Not so good news. Okay, now to read some Spawn comics!

Oh, and I'll be much obliged to blog on this journey. Just hope that I have the time to do so, since I've got Mid-Term exams waiting for me back in college. Eeek.

Split Screen Sadness - John Mayer

The Last Five Years

2011-03-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Just now, I went to KLPAC to witness a musical/play titled "The Last Five Years" for my English assignment on critical analysis of a play. I had lots of fun there, although only Danny accompanied me among the crowd, mostly filled with couples. So since this was an assignment, I was required to write out the critique for the play, in the dark. I was thankful of having the skill of writing without needing to look. But I think I made more grammatical errors than the joint total of my current writing works, as I had to think the sentences through while watching the performance at the same time.

The play was directed brilliantly, with creative aspects and style wonderfully executed. Loved every minute of it. Strongly suggest it. Now to start packing for the Philippines trip. See ya!

Born To Be Wild - Billy Idol

Huzzah!!

2011-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

And thus, I've reached the milestone 200th post!!

HECK YEAH!!

Nothing much to type. I kinda forgot what I was supposed to post. Drat.

I think it was regarding my project. But I dunno...

Finally using Skype to chat. I'm actually chatting with Beng now!! Damn, I miss that woman. The Swiss gal looks so much bigger now!!

Okay, gotta post this quick! Gotta catch up with my best friend. So much, actually that's a heck COOL much for the 200th post. Farewell.

The Forecast - Jason Mraz

Incomplete

2011-03-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

You know what?? I didn't talk about the Bio trip at all!! Thus, I'll just paste my report here.

6.55 a.m. on a gloomy Saturday morning was the time I reached the foyer of Sunway University College. It was still dark and although we students were supposed to gather here by 7.00 a.m., there were only a handful present at that moment. We were soon joined by Dr. Uthaya, who had brought her sister and niece along for today’s trip. Mr. Gopal shortly joined the fray and we began boarding the bus at 7.37 a.m. However, some 5 minutes later the bus pulled up at the Sunway Medical Centre for David wanted a cup of coffee from Starbucks. We resumed the journey soon after.

At 9.00 a.m., we had finally reached the place. Most of today’s participants were already feeling restless as the long drive took some toll on them, even me. We were relieved to finally disembark from the bus. We headed to the information counter first. There we met up with our tour guide for the day, Laila. She gave us a rough idea of what to expect from the inhabitants of the forest, including the often-annoying mosquitoes and the mischievous monkeys. We then took some time to look around the flow charts and information boards. There was even a scale model of the entire compound placed in the middle of the room.

15 minutes later, we proceeded to the bags deposit booth so participants can lighten the load for the energy-sapping 4.5 kilometer walk ahead of us. Later, we gathered at the entrance to the forest and Laila gave us an introduction to the place.

We began our walk into the forest at 9.29 a.m. We witnessed some Silver Leaf-monkeys early into our journey and also came across a termite mound. We cross the nearby bridge, with a T junction, and went straight. We walked past a rather muddy terrain before reaching the end of the path.

After 20 minutes of brisk walking, we reached a watch tower. We all ascended the stairs to the top so that we can start bird-watching. The tower overlooked the lake which is situated at the heart of the Park. Quickly, participants took out their binoculars as they gazed upon the lake. Many herons were resting atop the trees and Mr. Gopal noticed a Monitor Lizard swimming in the lake. We later descended from the tower to collect some samples for our upcoming lab session. We walked back to the bridge and Laila revealed the muddy path we passed earlier was the work of wild boars. She explained why she did not tell us just now because we may attract the boar if we panicked.

Afterwards, we took the path at the left and it turned out to be a very big circle around the lake. After half an hour of walking and cropping plant samples, Laila stopped us at this petite plant resembling Mint. She explained it to be a Neem plant and insists it is edible but very bitter tasting. She asked for any volunteers. I accepted. As I took a nib of the leaf, the bitterness quickly sat in. I can say that it was bitterer than Bitter gourd, as it left a very strong after-taste. As I was trying to kill the taste, Mr. Gopal told us that Neem was a common herb used to cure the itchiness of those who got Chicken Pox.

At 10.49 a.m., we reached the mangrove swamp section of the nature park. We got on the bridge and walked along, while looking at the swampy terrain below, searching for crabs and mudskippers. We saw the Sonneratia sp. followed by Rhizophora sp. and lastly Brugeria sp. Then Moloud offered us some Pistachio nuts from her country, they were good. At the end of the mangrove walkway, we had a “catch & release” session, where Andy and David had fun catching crabs, while Safa screamed out loud when she startled one back to its burrow.

At 12.10, all of us had completed the tour around the forest and walked out the nearby town for lunch. Mr. Gopal had stayed back to guard our bags as some of us left them behind. Dr. Uthaya then asked us to rendezvous back at the entrance to the park at 1.00 p.m. for the hike up Bukit Melawati. Kevin, Joseph and I were the first to finish and went back to the park at 12.50 p.m. There, Kevin had sudden bowel issues and had to use the toilet while Joseph and I waited at the hut with Mr. Gopal. We waited and waited, but no one seemed to return. Then at 1.40 p.m., we saw Dr. Uthaya’s sister and niece approaching the hut.

She explained to us that the others were waiting at the outer entrance and had hiked uphill since 1.20 p.m. Noticing that it was too late, the three of us stayed back and learnt more about the hill from Mr. Gopal, since he is quite familiar with the place, coming here on several occasions. At 2.00 p.m., we tried to catch up with the others via the shortcut stairs but they had just descended as we made a move. At 2.10 p.m., the exhausted participants of the trip happily boarded the bus home. We had a 20 minute rest time as the bus had to change tires. Kevin and I went down to get some food to eat and we lost track of time. Thankfully, Joseph called me to give a heads-up and we frantically rushed back to the bus.

We reached Sunway University at 4.00 p.m. and immediately went to the lab to press our plant samples. Mr. Gopal gave us step-by-step instructions and we submitted our samples at 4.30 p.m. and headed home after that.

Cheers :D

Warning - Green Day

Bittersweet Nature

2011-03-05T03:30:00.000-08:00

Today, Dr. Uthaya's fledglings, me included had a trip to the Kuala Selangor Nature Park for what was seemingly fun in the name of science.

We left at exactly 7.37 am, as I logged almost every incident in my notebook for the later 500-word report. The bus had a brief hiatus at 7.41 am as David needed his Starbucks coffee from the Sunway Medical Centre. After one and a half hours of headbanging music with Kevin on the bus, we finally reached our destination.

It was like any trip to a nature park: lots of mosquitoes, cool birds, mangrove swamps, more mosquitoes, you get the drill. Lucky for me, I foresaw (ish) this problem and wore a long sleeve t-shirt. I was surprised to be the only one who did so.

There were some beautiful plants and fauna around, although the otters were a no-show that afternoon. Here are some of the pics.

Fungus on the wooden railings

Colourful caterpillar

Wild boar footprints

All along the watchtower, bird-sighting

Termite mound

Note that all these pictures are taken with my phone. Hehe.

Now to kill myself over the report. Nuts

Lyla - Oasis

Crash

2011-03-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

Dang my bus just rammed a Mini Cooper at the turn right before entering college. Man was that guy mad. And I just assured my friend that our bus driver is a very capable one yesterday. I hate being wrong...

Jamming in 40 minutes time, I'm here in Moral class SIX HOURS before it starts. Another achievement unlocked.

Crash - Gwen Stefani

May-er??

2011-03-01T05:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday in Sunway, in my 4 hour free period, I read 10 comics continuously from The Oatmeal and still got bored.

Achievement unlocked.

Started going on a John Mayer streak now. Trying to get my hands on all his albums. Seems that I'm getting into the "Blues" era of my musical influence. I still think Battle Studies and Continuum are tied for "His Best Album" award, in my often-questionable musical opinion.

Pre-Calculus was quite enjoyable today. We're halfway through at Chapter 4 out of 8. And Chapter 4's Circular Measures are VERY therapeutic. No brainer work, for a Mrs. Chuah disciple. EGO!!!

Anyway, it was also my first time witnessing a young woman, I'm guessing a few years short of her 20s, actually swearing out of frustration on a Pre-Cal question. It was funny, and scary at the same time, since she sat beside me.

And I realised that this blog is 3 post short of hitting the 200 post milestone, after this one. YAY!!!

She's a Mystery - John Mayer

Unspeakable.

2011-02-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

NOT despicable. Just speechless. I didn't want to use that word as it's too cliched. Just learnt about the importance in the omission of cliched lines today in ENGL 1050. I'll get back to that later.

The more important message is that we finally settled things between us. It's about time wei... We didn't really talk face to face. It was only after guitar, well that day it was piano, lessons with her that I decided to set the record straight. I guess when you break up, you do die a little inside. And there's definitely some discreet tension between two people, but they make the best out of it and move on. It only took me 4 months to do so. Yes, I admit it. She was someone remarkable, although the previous posts here and there seem otherwise. It was a rough period, but all relationships are like that... Oh well. I've grown up just a little more now. A matter of time.

Okay, back to ENGL 1050. We got a new assignment today which is to give a mini presentation on our favourite song of all time and the meaning behind the song and the reason behind that particular song choice. I'm loving this. 100%

I feel like doing a song for each genre. Hmm...

End of a Century - Blur

New resolve

2011-02-26T07:55:00.000-08:00

I had a successful blood donation yesterday. Let's see... anything memorable?? The doc gave me some morphine for painkiller although I didn't receive any last year and still made it through with no pain. Oh, and Mr. Gan Shao Qin kept torturing me by clamping my arm with vice-like grip, causing my blood pressure to rise. Not to mention he took my blood donation booklet hostage for some 2-3 hours as I lay there motionless, waiting for my blood to clot the wound. Butt hole...

But enough of that. Today's "No Apologies" talk was immensely long. I won't say it's boring, quite the opposite really. But it was very lengthy and that made me restless towards the end. And I have a jamming session next Friday. We're doing 21 Guns by Green Day, unplugged. Yeah man. Time to anti-amp up.

And after that it was already 6.30 in the evening. Dinner followed up and I revisited SMKDU for the Scouts' Malam Kebudayaan(Culture Night). It was such a sad thing to see the number of fresh talent dwindling even more as the headmistress had set "standards" for new students to enter the school. So reception hitted an all time low. But, Scouts being Scouts, we soldiered on. And MK, although wasn't much on the culture, perhaps more contemporary now, it was still entertaining. I got to meet up with my batch and I realised, damn I miss them a hell lot. I definitely need to find a way to get back into Scouts as a Scoutmaster. It's not just a need, it's for the pride of a Scout. And I mean I don't just need it, I live for it.

Finally Got It Right - Crystal Bowersox

Donation

2011-02-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

I was really looking forward to the blood drive today. I planned to donate right after my Bio class as I'll be beat after having some 400ml of blood drained from me. But towards lunch, I made an uncalled error: I couldn't resist and consumed fatty food for lunch.

How is this bad?? Although nothing funny pops up in your blood test and weight check, through the second screening of your blood after you donated it, the hospital officials will have to reject the "fat" blood as it isn't good for other people. So in a sense, you'll be donating for nothing.

So I'm going to set things straight tomorrow. Then afterwards, I can happily sleep during Moral Studies. Hee hee.

Oh, and although Crystal Bowersox's debut album is not all that fantastic, it has almost all of what I ask for in a folk album. Love you, Crystal!

For What It's Worth - Crystal Bowersox

Work work work

2011-02-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

Haizz... Still have my PowerPoint presentation I haven't started for English tommorow. Ah, I'll just do it in college tommorow.

Currently talking to Sab while typing this out. Having trouble jabbing out words at the usual speed. Can't blog much. Gotta chat more. Ciaoz

Walk (Pantera Cover) - Avenged Sevenfold

Boredom... is inexplicably underrated

2011-02-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

Damn. My next class starts at 2.30 p.m. and here I am, reading Spawn and Facebook-ing since the time I reached here. At least I brought my power source so I can utilize my notebook for long hours. Feel like playing some Oblivion but I don't think the staff at the financial services behind me would like that. They may get jealous. Hee hee

Don't feel like doing assisgments at the moment. Incredibly overwhelmed by fatigue as I'm blogging this. Woke up at 4 this morning to watch one of the biggest letdowns of a Liverpool game at Prague against the Spartans. Defensive football is such a bore. Hopefully I can cope with this tiredness and not enter "psycho mode"*

* Psycho mode is also known as "emergency power supply", saving power by minimising processes, in this case, substituting logic and intelligence for energy and craze.

Till the next table tennis game.

Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots

Some warmth

2011-02-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

Having continued the streak of sore throat for 3 days, I just wanted to make a hot drink for myself, a feat which I've NEVER acomplished this year, being the slob I am.

And damn, hot coffee is VERY therapeutic. Now I get why those coffee commercials have random people smiling sheepishly after the first sip.

Oh what comfort a good, hot drink can do for you. Elated for once.

Baby Fratelli - The Fratellis

If...

2011-02-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

Time to express myself in total ambiguity, oh such love of a gift.

Because I nearly chose the same rose,

it's nectar so sweet, encapsulating bliss.

Bearing the usual striking, entrancing Scarlett.

The fragile red petals, yet a volatile red.

How I nearly threw the bouquet away,

just to place that one flower by my windowsill.

If I only knew better at that moment.

Yes, I have unresolved issues.

Now planning to scare the sh!t out of me with some Dead Space 2 gameplay and trailers. How dandy to diffuse the situation.

Sabotage - Beastie Boys

Tha Gween Hornet!!

2011-02-11T05:07:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, me and 5 guys went to Sunway Pyramid to watch The Green Hornet in between classes as we have a 4 hour gap in between.

The first thing I realised about TGV at Pyramid is that there's no deposit for bags. So five of us, as Jane overslept and FFK-ed us, had to lumber into the middle seats of row H, all of this in the dark.

Danny was making way for his seat and nearly sat down with his popcorn when his bag knocked his arm holding the popcorn and it erupted popcorn from his container. Kevin, who never knows how to hold back his laughter, did exactly as I explained some few words earlier.

The movie was quite funny. Jay Chou spoke proper American Engrish. Yes, it's meant to be a typo. And there's tons of cursing around. It was quite a good script, since it's a surprise that Seth Rogen himself helped out. It was a very different approach to a masked vigilante movie, but Green Hornet was originally made to be like that. Good show.

Just read an article on Lucas Leiva. Very pleased with it. Finally did him some justice. A very much improved player since 3 years ago. YNWA

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/601627-lucas-leiva-an-apology-to-a-hidden-brazilian-diamond

And I got Wi-Fi and a fixed line in Studio 46 now! SYOK!!

Now to continue my music download operations... *que Espionage Theme Song*

Too Late - Dead By Sunrise

Chances, I think have gone begging

2011-02-06T06:52:00.000-08:00

A quick post, to leave out the actual meaning.

Lately I was reminded why I play it quick and loose: So that I don't waste my hand away.

Reading "The Kite Runner" now and DAMN I'm on the verge of re-enacting the waterworks displayed previously when I read "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. I watched the movie yesterday and I'll have to finish the book soon. I got about an hour left before I put the book down and watch Liverpool kill Chelsea and Torres off. What joy that'll bring.

And I got rid of the old cbox. Yes.

Shake Me Like A Monkey - Dave Matthews Band

A Rabid-, I mean Rabbit New Year

2011-02-05T01:58:00.000-08:00

We welcomed Pauline back for her brief National Service break and had an awesome get-together, while meeting 2 new friends. I'm kinda having a little crush now... which is very, very bad as I have a crush already. Aaaanyway... The main focus is on CNY.

Chinese New Year this time round had more work handed to me and my siblings as we're older and seemingly led to believe to be more capable of a bigger workload now.

Lou Sang!! No after photos, it got too messy

The next-gen Lims, enjoying some muchies before the work

So work, work, work... Work, work, work. It was more exhausting than before, but I guess that's what everyone says.

The Men At Work, brushes at the ready for a thorough floor scrubbing

However, this year's new year spirits weren't dampened although there was a significant amount of family members visiting other places. But it was a great Rabbit New Year still.

Our only photo taken during visits, which was at Di Kim Poh's place

And in the midst of all the work, I STILL managed to wake up at 4 am to watch Liverpool host a game against Stoke, without Torres. Yes, he left. Doesn't faze me as much as the other die-hard fans. Because when you think about it, getting Luiz Suarez and Andy Carroll for the cost of Fernando Torres and 5 million pounds, after he has past his prime, is a darn good deal.

Tommorrow's match when Liverpool raid Stamford Bridge is going to be a killer match. Game on, Reds.

I Got Soul, I'm So Wasted - Wallpaper

Hail, Adi Dasler!

2011-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to blog about college life so far. It's just that there were two obvious differences that I realised separated college from secondary school.

In college, people actually WANT to study. Then again, I suppose they paid for it. The second lesson, I'll leave it for others to learn.

But what I really want to blog on are these babies.

BOOM! Adidas F50 AdiZero Prime

(But I got the shoes, not boots)

Since the Chinese New Year was round the corner, my parents suggested that I get my Futsal shoes now because most stores have sale now (refer to previous post). So on Friday night I went to Royal Sporting House at One Utama to get me some shoes. There weren't many shoes up for grabs so I narrowed my choice down to the Predator X and the AdiZero, since there wasn't any Nike Elite T90 Lazer III around.

Since the AdiZero is a speed boot as opposed to the Predator X, which is a power boot, I opt for it in the end.

Well futsal, here I come!!

Visited Joyce today at work since she was working part-time at Jusco, One Utama. Got to catch up with her for some 10 minutes while my family waited for their Carl's Jr. burgers not far away. It's nice to see a good friend again. Oh no... getting nostalgic now! I should stop here. Bye!

Some Might Say - Oasis

Futsal with my cousin @ Foum 19

2011-01-23T02:27:00.000-08:00

A dear note to self:
Need to attend an outing? Wear my running shoes
Need to go to college?       Wear my running shoes
Play basketball?                  Wear my running shoes
Play football at the park?    Wear my running shoes

Play Futsal on Astroturf? DON'T wear my running shoes

Yes, I had loads of fun. But I kept slipping all over the place. Took about 6 slides to the ground, resulting in scabs on both my knees. Now I have some leverage against my parents on whether I should get some football shoes. Adidas Predator X, here I come!

Open Your Window - Reverend & The Makers

Moral

2011-01-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

I'm SOOOOO gonna die in the 3 hours spent every Friday there.

And I'm not falling for someone. No, not now. Baaaad timing.

Make You Feel My Love - Adele

TGIT (Thank God It's Thaipusam!)

2011-01-20T00:09:00.000-08:00

Yeah!! I get a day off for my first week of college today, which coincidentally is my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, mom!! Lots of love!!

Well, the first week of college was mainly introduction classes. I was quite, no VERY surprised that I haven't found ANY "Jiro Chinese" in the institution thus far. Until Monday in my Psychology class. You wouldn't guess who: my Psychology lecturer herself... Like AMAGASH! I got to learn Psychology, which I have no clear idea on, and learn in while dealing with even more confusing words and terms. This is going to be tough!

I was also notified that I was accepted into Calculus I after the initial grading had too few students who passed. But I decided to re-sit Pre-Calculus as I'm in no rush to do my Maths subjects as I only require a minimum qualification of Calculus I. So why not get a good grade for Pre-Calculus, and get good credits for Calculus I as well?? And I learnt that another Puan. Shaja IS POSSIBLE!! Well, I met my English lecturer which is quite similar to the former. I'm SOOOO thrilled!!

Currently cramming my games from the desktop into my parents' 30 GB hard-drive. Probably gotta do another 3 trips to fully transfer all my files. This is gonna take a while...

You Get What You Give - New Radicals

Fatigue

2011-01-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Is getting to me fast!

Dang, it's only been 3 days of orientation and I feel so tired already. What did I miss out?? Hmm...

Oh, okay. Gotta recap what happened from Wednesday till Friday first.

Wednesday

First day of orientation!! I was a little nervous (when was I never??) as it was my first step into adulthood... ish. So I just grabbed the most comfortable collared T-shirt I could find, and got my loose hand-me-down jeans and took off to Sunway. I took the bus as Sunway has a shuttle service that goes from Kepong to the university, passing Uptown along the way.

So I left the house with my mom and siblings as they have school in the morning and reached the bus station outside 7 Eleven right at the corner of Uptown. It was 7.00 a.m. but the bus hasn't arrived yet. He said he would be there. Then it was 7.11 a.m. and I called the bus driver as I got jumpy (notice the sheer coincidence of me calling him outside 7 Eleven). He said that he was nearby and true enough, he reached some 40 seconds after he hung up.

I got on board and took out my wallet to pay the driver as I assumed that I have to pay him for the ticket. He just looked sharply at me and pointed his finger while saying in Malay: "You're the one who called right?!". I just nod my head and approached him to pay. He ordered me to take a seat before my fingers could reach for the Ringgit notes. So like an innocent young kid, I quietly took my seat.

After a few stops, we had reached the Kelana Jaya LRT station. Then the driver- Oh! Which I forgot to mention is Mr. Azmi- received another call from a new student at the station. She said that she was INSIDE the building. So Mr. Azmi got a little ticked and raised his voice when on the phone, asking her to exit the place right away. So he had no choice but to hog one of the two lanes. The other drivers weren't happy. Neither was Mr. Azmi.

So we finally reached Sunway some 40 minutes later. I realised that Ai Vee takes the bus as well. It's good to see a familiar face, since I'm so far from most of my old acquaintances. So I went to the registry first to get my offer letter after my transfer. Then I met up with Chris, Azrai and Ai Vee as they take MUFY next door at Monash University. I then asked Ai Vee how she got her bus ticket, as I didn't pay the driver at all. She told me that we had to purchase the ticket BEFOREHAND. So in a sense, I accidentally free-loaded the bus driver. Not a good way to start the day...

Orientation commenced around 9.00 a.m. Danny pulled out as he had a bad fever going on. Well, only the last 40 minutes of the day was fun. Seriously!! The early parts were all boring talks on how we were wise on "investing your future with Sunway". We had a group activity which required lots of teamwork with some 10 people I met in a span of 2 minutes (some hot people though, hormones talking here. Ignore ignore). Well, in the end us Group 2 "Johan"s won. Yea man.

After orientation, I made ammends by buying my first bus ticket for the next day. Then my mom fetched Kevin and I back to Studio 46 and we played some football before Chin brought us to dinner with Henry and a few friends at Fish & Co. in One Utama. Turns out otherwise as there was a large group of friends to celebrate Zee, Sijie, Kai Sheng and my birthday all at one go that night. It was very nice of them, especially the organisers, you know who you are. Thanks so much!! Now if only Ben uploads the photo quickly so that I can post it.

Thursday

IT'S MAH BURFDAE!! I felt no different though... Received a call from Beng exactly at midnight congratulating me. Unfortunately, my brain was on autopilot and I answered almost in a total robotic fashion. Also got a nice hug early in the morning from a dear friend, which cheered me up a lot.

Danny made an effort to come although he had the flu bug going on. He also had some nasty nosebleeds here and there as he sneezed too hard. Very nasty.

Well, the day went by quickly as we had some more activities than talks. We were split into 6 groups and I quickly made friends with Derwinn, Hannah (which were local students), Jane (a student of Korean nationality and the youngest of our program as she's 17), Joanne (a Belgium-Asian mix) and Manjit and his cousin, whose name just escaped me (both who are from Iran, I believe) and Stella, one of the members of the Student Council for ADTP. Then there was a contest. Each group had to build the tallest tower with only the equipment in their bags. We had an umbrella, so we kinda won. And the loser group gets to be punished by us. So Jane made the 6 of them couple up and slow dance. It was hilarious.

Then we had to plan our study schedule as the lecturers distributed the time tables. It was quite nerve racking for me to decide. But eventually, I made my decision. 5 subjects out of the recommended 4, and 15 credit hours to the advised 12. I like a challenge.

Aedes mosquitoes. Kevin had to mutter: "You know, snakes, tigers, lions... etc..." We convinced her shortly after that that Kevin was kidding. And when we had to snap our photos, she had about 8 takes just to get it right as she kept closing her eyes as the flash came. Then we had a long and tiring talk on Thinking Skills. Most of the people left before the talk finished. But they later revealed that we had to sign our names at the end of the session and if we didn't, we had to sit through it AGAIN. So we reluctantly stayed on.

At night, my whole family went to The Curve to celebrate. Me love Sakae Sushi. Mmm. I also happened to bump into Sabr and Atia, the latter who I've never seen in 2 months. We chatted for a while. Then it hit me that I DO speak with an accent when I use proper English. It's freaking me out! Later messaged Beng back on the birthday wish.

Friday

Last day of orientation. Had to study kao kao for the Maths proficiency test early that morning at 9. Then I saw the paper. "Damn! It's like Mrs. Chuah's Add. Maths standard!" I thought. But I did my best and handed the paper in. We later learned that only 10 people had passed and I joined the remaining 20 something people who failed. I passed the English one though, but almost everyone passed it too.

We also had a field trip (FINALLY!!) to the computer lab, CLC 1, and the library. We actually used the Internet for Facebook as we waited for the lecturer. I quickly did so to reply the birthday wishes.

After that, Jane, Derwind, Kevin and I kinda just stoned at the ADTP office, skipping part of the talk We eventually returned to the Multipurpose Hall for the rest of the talk. Then Kevin and I took the bus home. It was raining super-heavily when on the way back. And the worst part was that I spaced out when on the bus so Mr. Azmi skipped my stop and continued all the way till the last stop at Taman Manjalara. He was soooo mad when he saw me still on the bus. And he so kindly sent me home after that. So I owe him BIG TIME. I managed to reach home some 3 hours after leaving Sunway.

Yeap. I guess that's all that I wanted to blog about. Hopefully I can continue doing this when college starts. And I learnt that I'll eventually be so busy, I can't watch football matches and play Fantasy Football next season. Crappo...

Pass The Buck - Stereophonics

Birthday

2011-01-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

Got wall bombed.

Can't talk much. Maybe on a weekend when I'm free. Got Maths & English exams tomorrow!! Gotta read up on Add. Maths again!!

Wish me luck!

Sound of Silence - Atrocity

Toshiba, arigato!!

2011-01-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

Yay!! I finally got a notebook. Yes, I know, it's for work purposes... But the 1GB graphics shouldn't be put to waste, right?? I mean, it's BETTER than my PC's graphics card. But for now, I'll just enjoy the Wi-fi from Cafe 32. Studio 46 doesn't have any Internet yet so this'll do just fine. And I now have a webcam so I can Skype as well.

And I approve it.

Now to find me some COD!

Technologic - Daft Punk

Apology

2011-01-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Just finished typing out the formal letter to Sunway on declining my A-Levels Scholarhip offered.

Why the nuts am I doing that??

Four simple words.

America. Degree. Transfer. Program. And the really wrong thing is, my best friends wish to extend our friendship run for at least another 2 years. It's gonna be damn... awkward.

Mr. Curiosity - Jason Mraz

Starters

2011-01-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well to some, it's the first day of school for the year 2011, which also happens to be the best time to mock my siblings. No more tight-fitting school pants for me!! Muahaha.

On the other hand, today's the day where HELP A-Levels students start. Damn, I miss them already. And I'm starting next Monday. Noooo! It's too soon!!

Sat for my undang-undang exam today. Nearly failed with a borderline 42/50. Damn I feel stupid. And now, the entire examination centre's participants know my name. Here's the thing, I was sitting at the very back of the hall and the Malays surrounding me were damn noisy. So the desk girl, with the incredibly soft chipmunk voice, got so angry she actually asked my institution's driver to shout out my name. My mind was on autopilot at that moment so when I heard my name, I instantly went "Woo hoo!!", raising my hand.

There was a short, silent pause. And the hall was bursting with laughter the next moment. I just went with the flow and laughed with them. Well it's over, at least.

And my sister just got her school magazine. I was elated to see 2 out of my 3 submitted essays in the language section. English, of course. One of my impromptu poems also made it, along with the much coveted poem dedicated to my grandpa. This is for you, Ah Kong. Hope you can see it!

Aiyo... Heang's leaving for NZ on the 6th and Beng's leaving on the 22nd... I'm soooo gonna miss them. Crap. Don't jiwang now....

Winter Wonderland - Jason Mraz

One week left...

2011-01-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

Wow... And crap. I got a week left till college life. I'm not fully ready for that yet!!

And I have my undang-undang exam tomorrow. Gotta get that L license soon.

Now to read more Spawn! Oh, and plot the route to go to Sunway.

Come Out And Play
(Keep 'em Separated) - The Offspring

And the new year beckons...

2010-12-31T06:57:00.000-08:00

And in some 1 hour and 4 minutes, a new decade will come forth. Wow. 10 years gone just like that. What have I done in that amount of time?? From 7 to 17 years of age. Really. What have I truly accomplished?? It's so befitting to hear "Hanging By A Moment" on my Windows Media Player now... Very befitting.

When I think about it, how much have I changed, both physically and mentally. Gosh, I'm soooo gonna dig through my photo album after this.

And looking back, I can say that I enjoyed my progress from kid to teenager, although I didn't fully utilize all the resources I had. And for the next decade, new friends, college life, and the reluctant journey into adulthood. It's gonna be rough, but it's just the way I like it.

Not gonna witness some fireworks tonight, since most of my family is down with illnesses. Oh well, I don't need them to cheer me up.

I leave the decade filled with experiences good and bad,

with some mended hearts and some broken ones still being pieced back,

with laughter, tears, triumph, bruises, joy, scars, and all the ambiguous wonders I have left out.

Hopefully, I may just find some new life experiences to share with everyone, and maybe just someone.

I will stride down memory lane 2000-2010 with pride and my head held high. Sure I'll look back in the bitter and tearful memories occasionally, but that's how I enjoy my reminiscence. As long as we don't dwell in the past, I don't see what's the wrong at glancing back.

Damn. I really got a write a song about this, don't I? Then again, I'm SUPPOSED to record at least one song and post it before life at Sunway University College starts. Wish me luck then.

To all, I bade a Happy New Year in advance and farewell for the last post in the year 2010.

Time for some Counter Strike: Source.

Love,

Fang

Goodbye - Paperplane Pursuit

Rejoice

2010-12-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

Yay!!! Malaysia just beat Indonesia in the finals!!! Although they lost in this second leg 2-1, they had a comfortable 3-0 lead from the first leg at home. So no worries!! Malaysia Boleh!!

And for today, at least I'm making some progress by letting go little by little (like, FINALLY...). Well, I can't just be in a slump forever. So I guess... I'm moving on. Yes, I'm cutting a frustrated figure for the long delay... I don't like it myself. Oh well... Till the next time we meet.

Hurricane Jane - Black Kids

Blink

2010-12-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

Finally, I got a good book to read. Yay me. As you can see from the fine print below the title, it's about using your subconscious to evaluate and assess stuff instead. It's seems... complex. After the first few pages, I was very impressed as anyone can relate to the phenomenon which is Blink.

The author, Malcolm Gladwell, does look pretty smart, with his Einstein-lookalike hairdo.

I just finished learning Chapter One, which is the Theory of Thin Slices, a sophisticated method of making a quick evaluation or judgment within a short amount of time. For instance, a person who can apply this theory properly can be as good, if not more accurate, at understanding someone better than his/her close friend for, let say 8 years, just in a window of 30 minutes. Unfortunately, about 45% of people who understand thin-slicing can't apply it. I haven't tried it out yet.

Currently learning the art of "Priming". This'll be fun. Okays. That's it for today. Not in the mood for prom blogging yet. And it just hit me that I'm starting pre-u in a week's time. Crap.

Cassie - Flyleaf

After

2010-12-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

You know what?? I just re-visited a presumed "dormant" blog of a friend and man... is it deep. I guess the more I try, the more it's backfires. But on the flip-side, if I don't do anything, what will stop the decay?

Haizz... Damn problems. Oh, one more thing. The driving agency just called me not too long ago to notify me that they lost ALL my personal info so I have to register myself again. Utterly superb.

Well, Malaysia just thumped Indonesia 3-0 at Bukit Jalil earlier, which is great, since they lost 5-1 to them earlier in the group stages. Celebrated with some awesome dessert with the Americans and the Tans.

And prom was seriously, a blast. Can't blog much now la... Losing the hype plus I gotta help my dad assemble and re-organise the new furniture for his office at Studio 46. Starting to look like a cool place to work in, or a super cool cyber cafe!! *hint hint*

Oh well, I'll just end this post with one nicely taken photo of me during my solo performance. Maybe it'll give me some motivation to blog more on prom...

Well, here it is!!

Thanks, Brandon!! Fantastic work.

The Son of Flynn - Daft Punk

A Night In Paris

2010-12-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

It was a really

Stressful

Emotional

Tiring

Psychotic

evening.

Will blog more once I have the pics (and more passion).

And I got my desktop back!! YAY!!!

Tonight - FM Static

Gone with the wind, found in the mist

Birthday

EKG

2012

Ruffled

Eve

Fingerprints

Crimson

Moonlight

Dust

Micro

Studiere

Comfort

Stagnation

Catharsis, the purging of emotions

Face

Landmark

We're An American Band - Grand Funk Railroad

Smack

Reveal

Courage

Idiot

Blank

Reborn

Waterfall

Joy

Patience?

Daze

Skype

I'm BORED!

Recap

Bowel dismemberment

Bands

Second guesses

Ugh...

Volunteer

Reformation

Fourth of July!

Adagio

Shambles

Clarity

Standard??

Chosen!

:/

Wonder, ponder, squander

Thank you, Jack Sender!!

Blaze

C2AGE

Introverted?

Wallpaper

Dean's List

Ponder

Twang

Aloft

Philli, philli

Filth

Question.

"The fact that we are rejoicing in the death of another human being, is disturbing and twisted in itself. Is this what we have come to?"- Vineeta Tan -

It's a very powerful statement. So I question the world: Is this what we should be happy of? The death of another person?? What if that were to be someone you knew, worse yet, someone close to you. Only we are capable of destroying each other. That's our curse.

A damning curse.

Runaway - Kanye West ft. Pusha T.

Bundaberg Root Beer (THE BEST ROOT BEER THERE IS!!)

Adris

yea I am not intending to flame him or anything. It's just that he's nice to the point it's annoying. I hope I made sense with that previous statement. He has kept greeting me for the past 3 years EVERYDAY, each year with the same, nice, respectful line: "Hi, Senior."

I bought a glass of Bundaberg Root Beer, which just happens to be the best there is in this world nothing much to it. And we regroup where the following conversation took place.

Henry: What is that (drink in your hand)?Me: Beer.Henry: *puts on deeply concerned face, while lowering his voice* You okay ar?Me: It's Root Beer.

I swore I could've laugh the entire day away.

Group Picture!

Efemera - Tulipa Ruiz

Clutch to crutch

Epinephrine

Recap

Rage

Charity

Test

Figures

Frantic

OH CRAP! I FORGOT TO REPLY ON MY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION!! SUPPOSED TO COMPLY BY 18th APRIL. TODAY'S THE 19th!!

ASDFAGHSJFDWHTYDFA!!

King Of Anything - Sara Bareilles

Henry: What is that (drink in your hand)?
Me: Beer.
Henry: puts on deeply concerned face, while lowering his voice You okay ar?
Me: It's Root Beer.

A dear note to self:
Need to attend an outing? Wear my running shoes
Need to go to college? Wear my running shoes
Play basketball? Wear my running shoes
Play football at the park? Wear my running shoes