Cherylina Crystalite

The Ogilvy Intern - A MONTH

2011-12-11T14:11:00.001+08:00

Yes folks it's been a month with Ogilvy & Mather Advertising.

Instead of complaining I will sum up the whole experience of these 5 days under lessons learnt.

Lessons learnt:

Have a cup of coffee before you start work.
Office politics.
The ability of speaking Hokkien fluently earns you many friends.

An advice from dad:

"You're just an intern. You are not expected to know everything. You are there to learn. While it is good to show that you're dedicated, willing to learn and obedient, don't try to take up all the responsibilities. When one thing goes wrong, it is not totally your fault. But learn from your mistakes and when in doubt, always ask."

It has come to the stage that when I leave early, I think about work.
Before I sleep, I think about work.
During sleep, I dream about work.

Whether if this is expected of me, I sincerely have no idea. I think it's both a good and bad thing. Probably shows that I'm hardworking and dedicated...

... and possibly stressed and perhaps need a vacation.

I'm keeping this post short and sweet so as not to overload you with the upcoming food reviews from.:

and

Stay tuned peeps ;)

Photo credits to: K-Tuck and JoinMe.

The Ogilvy Intern - #11 till #15

2011-12-04T20:21:00.001+08:00

Words fail to express how glad I am that the 3rd week is gone.

My mental self went on a crazy roller coaster ride this week because of Project B. Another factor is rapidKL.

People often think that an advertising agency is not doing well because they fail to come up with creative concepts and consumer-attracting advertisements. This is, to a certain extent, not true. Sometimes you get clients who just wanna screw up a perfect poster.

The client for Project B is one such.

I. Hate. Them.

They just don't get it. Not only did their demanded changes screwed up the poster aesthetically, the underlying purpose of arranging the brand and the masthead as such was ignored.

Fine.

Management is extremely important. I recall the days I pulled my hair out hourly when studying for Introduction to Management, and now I see how it all totally made sense.

When there is a procedure in carrying out work, one should follow, and the superiors should enforce it. Especially when you're working in such a big company as to occupy 3 whole floors of a huge building.

Got told off by someone from another floor because the team for Project B likes to skip procedures and conveniently leave out part of the team when sending job briefs. So yea, humiliated in front of the whole department. Geez.

Almost cried.

Steamed egg, veg, egg, butter chicken, half a chicken chop and hard-boiled egg = RM5

But nothing a good meal couldn't solve.

I binge eat when I'm sad, angry, happy and bored. I pretty much eat ALL THE TIME. Now it's time to put off some weight. My butt is growing too big now.

We all like to have lunch at Mama's Kitchen now. It's this restaurant serving mixed rice with dishes all around you. All sorts of meat and vegetable dishes, eggs and toufu. Best of all, it's cheap :)

I notice I eat like a kid. Natasha's plate is always full of veg; Farah's full of toufu and Kelly's plate looks like something my parents would eat but I will never.

Mine is all meat meat meat and more meat.

June had a bad experience dining at Mama's Kitchen. She had diarrhea after eating their food and she found out that there were lots of cockroaches running around under the food containers.

O_________________O

But, as my dad said, "The dirtier the place, the better the taste."

I'm starting get a hang of the whole process. It's all pretty straight forward. Check the deadline. Chase them art directors, studio artists, designers and copywriters. Pass the product around for the art directors, copywriters and executives to check. Send to output. Collect output. Check. And it's out.

To reward me, June gave me a little freebie.

May have missed the event, but at least I got somethin'.

This is 1 cool thingy.

Look.

The Johnnie Walker logo!!!

SO COOL RIGHT?! COOL SIA.

I'm such a kid. So easy to please.

Forgot to blog about the Big Bad Wolf Aftermath Sales, so here imma show you the aftermath.

All for RM28.

And yes that's the Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson there. For RM5.

Be very jealous.

Ticket to Ride: Europe

Board games the day before results were released.

Pretty satisfied with my core units' results. It's just the Gender Studies one, which I deserved it I guess.

From the boyfriend.

Will just go stuff myself with chocolates to ease my sorrow and pain.

The Ogilvy Intern - #9 & #10

2011-11-28T01:31:00.001+08:00

Leisha didn't enjoy the environment.

Kelly and Leisha were talking about how I got the best team, the nicest colleagues and the relatively more comfortable workload.

Initially I didn't complain. All I did was sit and wait for work, which rarely came especially when my supervisor was holidaying in California.

But, as I told them, "Maybe the shitty part has yet to come."

Day #9 was the first busy day I had. Project A was due and the final artwork had to be submitted to the clients before noon. Ran up and down, alternating between the office and Studio because of mistakes spotted everytime a revised copy is printed.

Had no idea how many papers we wasted.

Since Mr. A is on his annual leave, everything went to Mr. G, who is a cold icy figure that gives me the creeps as well.

You'd expect art directors to be hip, hyper and total jokers but nooooooooooo not this lot. Then again, everyone should just drop the stereotyping, I should too.

I learned that sometimes you should just shut your mouth and not apply the new vocabulary you picked up.

I admit that I'm cocky in the way that I like to show-off that I learned something, to prove that I'm a fast learner but *sigh*

Here you just get weird looks and loud "huh?"s.

Consider it a miracle that everything was done on time for Thursday *wipes sweat* *breathes*

Then come Friday. The worst I had. The shitty part.

My supervisor was again on holiday. Project B had a rushed schedule, but not as horrible as Project C, which was manned by Kelly's team. Both happening simultaneously and both required Traffic so Andy, being the seasoned and experienced intern, manned Project C. I heard they stayed till 8pm that day.

Now what transpired for Project B really made me question if I'm an idiot or a retard. Ms. S from Action called to ask about Project B, she thought her team should get some brief regarding Project B's press advertisement.

I ran to Ms. Su to enquire and passed the message, word for word, back to Ms. S. The latter sounded so confused and threw questions with foreign terms back at me. I repeated Ms. Su's reply and she sounded still at a loss.

What I picked up these 2 weeks regarding POSM is that they usually refer it to a poster. There were questions regarding 'visual', 'still shoot', 'big idea' and I just... blanked out.

That was just the beginning.

Ms. Jo wanted the art director to get the poster done by 'the end of the day' and present it to clients before 11am on Tuesday. LT, the ever nice fellow, had it done earlier in the afternoon and placed it in the Studio's folder for further action. I was supposed to check the progress and found, to my greatest shock that people in the Studio didn't know there was work to do on Project B!!

Rushed back and told Andy, who called Ms. Jo and guess what. She forgot to issue a job brief to Studio. Of course they didn't know there's work to be done. It was 5.30pm. She rushed back to the office, printed out a new job brief for Studio.

Then, the real chaos happened.

T was pissed that a job brief came after office hours to them asking for a FA by early morning Tuesday. Voices were raised in the phone call with Mr. D and all I did was stood and stared. Not only was it too hectic, but Ms. Jo didn't even specify the size of the FA.

But the mood mellowed when 1 of the people photoshopped their faces into a movie poster and everyone was laughing. I asked T, "By Tuesday?" He looked at the brief, turned his attention back to the object of mirth and said, "Tuesday."

So I was free to go, yet my mind was still troubled with the uncertainty regarding Ms. S' questions. What if she misunderstood? What if she's still confused? What if I sent the wrong message? What if I screwed the whole thing up?

What if I don't have any HDs for my exams?

HDs. Because I fared badly in Gender Studies that's why I'm desperate for them. I'm just really worried and a little shaken.

The Ogilvy Intern - #6 till #8

2011-11-23T21:38:00.001+08:00

What do you do in a crowded bus?

Besides watching ridiculous cartoons like 'Upin & Ipin' on the flatscreen TV, you usually slip into deep thoughts.

My days of staring at people's legs.

The awkward moment when a tall man stands in front of you and you're staring into his crotch, or a short lady and you're staring at her boobs.

I like to imagine 'what if' situations. With my MP3 player screaming at my eardrums, the public spaces becomes a private one and start thinking.

"What if we weren't together?"

"What if I didn't take this job?"

"What if my results deteriorated?"

"What if I see him?"

...

.....

....

.....

"What if Justin Bieber gets run over by this bus?"

Yeah. Trolling in the deep.

Experienced some intense office politics these few days.

Like what Kelly said, "When you keep quiet and sit in a corner, you'll find out a lot of things."

First time seeing the Managing Partner attending our meetings. He's a big hoohaa, if you must know.

I'm sure we all notice this thing Asians have for angmohs. It seems that all the angmohs here are CEOs and MDs or occupying some high-and-mighty positions.

Being an European or American, and especially being a white man, is like an advantage when seeking jobs in Asia. You're bound to get some high-and-mighty position.

However, having said that, this Managing Partner certainly has amazing qualifications. *cough* Oxford *cough cough*

Sometimes I really want to participate in the copywriters' jobs but... oh well I'm only just a university student.

The Ogilvy Intern - Day #4 & #5

2011-11-20T20:12:00.001+08:00

The perks of interning in an advertising firm is that when it comes to food, you know what's coming out soon.

And as an intern you fervently hope that the client will give you a bite or a sip.

But of course, as goodies are limited they only go to the staffs or big bosses, not to us poor little people.

Andy souvenir.

Yea we get all those nonsense things, those cheap things, things that people don't want.

Poor interns.

Anyway that's a gift from Jess to Andy. Had no idea what was going through her head.

On Thursday I was forced by Jess to go mamak during office hours. Apparently, I can't say no to the more 'senior' interns :/

Felt so out of place because there were 5 of us at the same table and halfway through a roti canai everyone started smoking.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against smokers. I just felt really awkward.

The scenario was like this:

Mr. D: *puffs smoke*

Mr. V: *puffs smoke*

Andy: *puffs smoke*

Jess: *puffs smoke*

Me: *look here look there fidget* oh hmm well... nice morning isn't it?

Mr. D: *stares*

Mr. V: *stares*

Andy: *stares*

Jess: *blows smoke in my direction*

Awkward.

Finally had some work to do. It's simple work and I'm not complaining! I'm really glad I had something to do, even if it's just pulling out relevant advertisements from the newspapers.

Lunch :D

It was my supervisor's last day before she goes on her annual holiday. Holidaying in California, how envious I am.

So now I report to Andy.

Far from indignant, quite the contrary actually, I'm rather happy that it's Andy! I mean, we've been sitting at the same place for a week, so a fair share of 'bonding' should make him a pleasant supervisor for me.

And he's an intern. He knows the 'pain' we interns go through, he'll be nicer to me :D

Very thankful to Mr. E because he's one of the few senior staffs who were willing to teach and involve me in work procedures.

Just when I thought to myself, "I must work hard! I must prove myself! I must show them I'm just as capable as anybody in this office" bad things happened...

Instead of stamping 'Received', which I ought to... I stamped 'Submitted'.

O_O

There goes 1 brownie point.

Farah and Leisha had a sucky day on Friday. Miscommunication, some staff venting her PMS on them. For me, it was a relatively good day. I had actual work to do, I enjoyed it.

Best of all I didn't need to engage with Mr. A, he on leave xD

My weekends are packed with the long-promised dates with old friends and coursemates I hardly had time to catch up with the movies in my hard disk or even read the books I bought from Big Bad Wolf.

And I'm going for the Aftermath sale this Thursday.

Celebrated Edmund's belated birthday yesterday with the zainans, those future engineers, psychologist, chef and the lawyer Chieh.

Intended to stay home because I was out forever but since I missed the previous hang-out session with CF, Steph and the gang... I sacrificed my ritual Sunday nap for CF.

And she brought us to Meeples (above Face to Face restaurant in SS15, Subang Jaya).

Meeples is every boardgame lover's heaven.

For those who love playing Monopoly, Game of Life, Cluedo and Risk!, this is the place you'd like to check out.

They have hundreds and almost a thousand types of boardgames in store. Unless you're a hardcore aficionado of boardgames, it's highly unlikely that you'll know any of the titles.

None of them ring any bells *ding dong*

The staffs are really friendly. First-timers like us were at a loss, overwhelmed by the different and foreign boardgames available on the shelves. Just approach a staff and ask for their help, they'll gladly recommend some boardgames to you and they'll even teach you how to play!

We played a total of 4 games today.

Pirates and treasures!

First on the table was 'Jamaica'.

If you're in for something that involves war strategies and racing (as well as a big fan of Pirates of the Carribean :) oh and any pirate-related novels), this is the game for you.

Personally, this was my favourite. I especially like the part where you can go to war with your fellow players.

So many things to consider: food supply, gun powder, gold, hidden treasures, moving forward and finishing the game! Opportunity costs.

Say Anything!

'Say Anything' is probably the best sleepover game you can have.

A must-have.

All you have to do is to be creative. A question is asked and the players will have to come up with the most creative answer. The player asking the question will secretly choose his or her favourite answer, and the other players will place bets on which answer is the favourite.

Questions asked include: which historical figure would you date, name a movie that best describes your life, what would you do if you had a day as the opposite sex...

Go wild with your answers!

Panic Tower!

To play this game, make sure your neighbours are fine with you screaming and shouting.

A nostalgic piece of game that resembles Uno Stacko of our childhood years, this is a more challenging and exciting game to play.

The best thing about Panic Tower is that, there is no limited number of players!

As the title suggests.

Finally, it was 'You Must Be an Idiot'!

Probably the type of family game that is also educational. Tends to be a little messy. It's like the boardgame version of 'Mafia', where players are supposed to guess who is the idiot.

General knowledge questions are asked, all the players are supposed to answer correctly, save for the one who got the 'idiot' card. When answers are revealed, players place bets on who is the idiot and then the identities are revealed.

Meeples is also a cafe, so, enjoy your boardgames with light snacks and chilled drinks. It's like the best hang-out and de-stress place to be.

Check out their game list and why not visit them this holiday? :)

64-1, Jalan SS15/4D,

47500 Subang Jaya,

Selangor, Malaysia.

info@meeples.com.my

03-56338033

The Afterlife - Life + Ogilvy

2011-11-16T21:36:00.001+08:00

Dah lama tak update. Harap maaf ya.

Hello y'all :)

Year 1 was officially over on 3rd Nov 3.30pm. The marks for the Gender Studies elective I took was out too. I shall admit that it was really disappointing.

Nevertheless, it's a lesson learned. As for the unit itself, I must say it was really an eye-opener kind of unit.

Then again, all the Arts units are like that, aren't they?

To be honest, I don't find that the case for INT2. Shh don't tell Dr. J.

That's us. The ARTsy people.

Has no idea who this is. But she looks like a Papaya.

Very much looking forward to Year 2.

The only thing regret is that... well... we Journalism major/minor students won't be having ChinHuat as a lecturer anymore :(

Will be missing his tutorials loads and heaps and mountains and valleys and oceans.

As per the title, post-exam life is the afterlife for me. Since I've been missing out on the movies and the socialising part of life, I'm determined to catch up with this lofty, sentimental and subjective thing we call 'life'.

My contributions to the box office went to these 2 movies, with no regrets.

'Tintin' was this little fragment of my childhood. Cousin Gaby used to buy me 'Tintin' comic books but I was too young to understand or even recall what the stories were. So dazzled by the graphics.

'You are the Apple of My Eye' ('那些年，我们一起追的女孩') has this really beautiful plot and storyline. The beauty of it is not in how interesting or how predictable the story is; it's in how you could point at each character and say, "Hey... that's like Tom/Dick/Harry from my class!" There's also the sense of nostalgia because it's everyone's high school memory. There were the girls and there were the boys, there were the naughty ones and there were the talks of sex. Then there's you, somewhere.

Along with catching up with this 'life' thing... I got myself into something more...

... professional.

Red. Must be Cina man company.

Guess who's the new intern in Ogilvy Malaysia?

Yours truly :)

1 of the new interns, at least. 4 more from Monash! Farah, Leisha, Natasha and Kelly.

It's exciting to finally get to see what happens in the industry, as well as what happens behind the scenes of those funny TV commercials and appetising advertisements.

My fellow intern, Andy from HELP, was so nice to teach me how things run around here. There's the meeting with clients where ideas were taken, followed by the planning, then off to the studio, the product is then sent to the Creative team and copywriters for editing and checking until they're satisfied, finally the presentation to clients. Client happy, we happy, we do the output aka your billboards, full page ads and TVCs.

Now what's all these?

Freebies x)

Came in at the right time we did. Ogilvy Malaysia was celebrating their 50th anniversary. Goody bag was filled with Nestle yummies, an Ogilvy card and CD. Mug was given by boss' PA.

To keep this blog alive, I've decided I shall 'report' my interning days, which according to Leisha, only about 45 days.

Day #1

Assigned to the Traffic team, which makes me a Trafficker, I think?
Attended the first corporate meeting in my life waliao it felt like I'm really doing something, so proud of myself.
Boss' PA Ms. C bought us donashi from Big Apple. She said, "Don't be shy, we always have food here."
1 of my colleagues is a Monash Clayton alumni :D Business student he is, very the smart.
Got... nothing to do.

Day #2

Found out that the team's job is to make sure people get the correct instructions and documents.
So... this means that a large part of my job requires the memorising of names and stations. Who sits where and who does what.
Andy brought me on a tour and oh gosh there's a mini bar this is awesome pawsome the place looked like some show house.
FREE MILO.
Ms. C bought us marshmallows.
Met a certain Mr. A... who is very much like our own Dr. A. Equally as creepy.
Sort them freebies into the Ogilvy goody bags.

Day #3

Did 2 rounds of running up and down. More names and stations to remember.
More food to come, Ms. C bought us char siew paos. She's such a sweetie.
Noticed that people here are seriously really literally young at heart. I LOVE IT.

I think that's all?

Oh yes.

Coloured bodycon skirts are in!

From mango+Orangie :)

If you share with me this mild obsession with vintage accessories, cotton-candy coloured clothings and a penchant for the simple but sophisticated, then you'll love MangOrangie! Great quality and the owners are really friendly and helpful.

I'm Coming Home (:

2011-10-15T22:57:00.000+08:00

This blog has been left to rot for too long.

Chin Huat asked us to preview our other blogs in class, so embarrassing to show that the last update was what... last year? 3 months ago? I don't know.

So embarrassing to let them see the puerile things I write here. I shall grow up.

So anyway.

Would love to recommend my friend and esteemed classmate's blog, Joel Wong's blog. You guys probably would have read it, or at least heard of it.

Also, would like to ask you guys to check out my Journalism blog, if you want some serious stuff.

Last but not least, do check out this piece, by yours truly :)

My 2nd attempt at feature, but the first one to be actually reviewed by a professional journalist. Introducing to you, my mentor, Dorian Merina.

*whispers* he's the one who wrote 'Migration'!!! xD

Now. Back to my Gender Studies assignment :) cheerios.

2011-08-07T16:32:00.000+08:00

You're all so superficial. So puerile. You're all in university please think like adults.

Why do I even bother?

I Am Beautiful

2011-08-06T01:44:00.000+08:00

It's been a while.

My so-called winter break was very well spent. Went back to being a lazy wreck. Now in Semester 2 the whole roller coaster ride begins again: study, assignment 1, study, assignment 2, study, study madder, exam, becomes a deflated balloon.

Don't intend to put any photos or pictures. Too lazy to google them. It's 1.02am anyway.

Reason why I suddenly wanted to write an entry was because I had a heart full of things, quite personal, that I wanted to share during Dr. A's Sex, Gender, Knowledge tutorial (for convenience sake, let's call it Sex tutorial, shall we) when discussing the topic of pornification and raunch culture. But I didn't share. Partly because they're too personal, partly because I was too timid, partly because of the intimidating presence of some people there.

I shan't put names here.

Not intimidating as in annoying. They just make me feel stupid and silly.

When reading the required readings for this topic, I find myself deeply drawn to it. 'Cause I can totally relate to them. For the simplest reason, I was once that girl.

Of course I was never a prostitute, lap dancer, pole dancer or exotic dancer. But I was in some ways just like them. A prostitute trades her body for monetary gains; I trade my appearance for self-confidence.

In short, we both trade this sexualised image of ourselves for some sort of incentive.

Sexualised images being femininity. In lay men terms, the way a girl should look like.

I think every girl has had once a kind of 'identity crisis', or a phase of self-searching, during the early years of puberty. Questions like "who am I", "what am I", "is this the way I should be behaving" fraught our minds. I was no different. After all, I am just another girl.

I claim to be ignorant at times, sometimes for the sake of it, sometimes to appear 'cool' with things. Like what Dr. A asked, "Does your conscious self care what other people think of you?" The 'cool' answer would be "No, of course not. I am me. Why should I care? This is a free world." But no.

No. You do care. You're just in denial.

I remember being 13 and feeling ugly. I got my ears pierced, hair straightened, bought mini skirts that year.

I remember being 14 and couldn't look at myself in the mirror. I started to skip meals that year.

I remember being 15 and feeling neglected. That year, I photoshopped my photos.

I remember being 16 and crying at my reflection. That year, I tried to be one of the boys.

All those years I viewed myself as an ugly girl, an unattractive girl. The only way I know to be attractive was to be 'cool', daring and sexy.

Those juvenile days, I traded my air-brushed photos for more friend requests from strangers, boys from other schools, for popularity. I remember being in cloud nine naively thinking I was the only girl in my school who had so many connections with people, particularly boys, from other schools.

That made me feel a little more beautiful than I originally thought I was.

The adults say that it's the confidence that oozes from a female, and the air she carries herself with that defines her attractiveness. I decided it was a trait you should be born with, and I was born without. I masqueraded myself in the skirts, the hair, the jewelry and the attitude.

I personally think I've been through more transformations than most of my friends. From 12 to 13, from 16 to 17, from 18 to 19, from 19 to now. So many phases that some of my primary school classmates could not recognise me when we met in our 13th year. A uni mate and friend from my secondary years jumped when they compared me and my college years.

It dawned on me so gradually. Just lately, in fact, I found out that I am, actually, quite beautiful.

What made me realise that was the extra confidence I gained throughout the years, from a gawky 12 year old to a relatively nerdy 20 year old. It took me 8 years to get that much confidence. It took me 8 years to know that I should exhibit the confidence to be what I am now, relatively better than what I was.

But it's all inside my head. I think I'm beautiful.

I am beautiful.

So are you.

Yellow ;)

2011-07-10T21:38:00.000+08:00

So yesterday was the Bersih 2.0 rally.

I must say I regret not going. I was a coward and I admit it.

Felt so proud and blessed reading #bersihstories on Twitter. I've always supported the concept of 1Malaysia and, as many others agreed, never seen it happen in such a grand scale.

Asked tis old couple why they r in d rally. "I walked for my children" So heart-warming. D real heroes of Malaysia! #bersihstories

#bersihstories you don't care the color of the hand holding yours as you help each other out of a cloud of teargas.

Thanks heaps to all d helpful men tat helped women to climb over fences. They r really gentlemen. Heroes of Msia. #bersihstories

"Here bro,take my hand,hold tight,whatever happened,we must protect the women behind us" @ T.S Hospital when we're surrounded #bersihstories

#bersihstories When hit by tear gas, Malay helping Chinese, vice versa! This brotherhood shown truly touching!

TQ to two Chinese guys who pulled me away frm teargas canister&rub a pinch of salt into my mouth as I was completely stunned. #bersihstories

#bersihstories Kudos to KFC Puduraya for allowing us to wash out faces after getting blasted by tear gas again and again!!!

Just to list a few. Inspiring.

I have never felt prouder as a Malaysian. To know that I live in a country with people who are brave enough to stand up for what they believe in, that racial and religious backgrounds can be put aside to fight for a just cause.

Even prouder when I see news and photos of Bersih 2.0 rallies all around the world.

For me, patriotism and unity never shined so bright in Malaysia as it did in KL yesterday, submerged in a yellow sea of people, clouded by tear gas and bathed in blue dye.

God has been so great ;)

Results are out. I was at the lingerie section waiting for Hanny, checking out the laces and silks when the phone buzzed. Saw the alien phone number and the words ATS 1328, I froze. Didn't even care to look at the grades, just blindly jumping there and howling "Imma die imma die imma die" in front of Edmund and the whole KL.

Eventually I calmed down and read the list:

Media Studies -- Distinction
Contemporary Worlds 1 -- High Distinction
Journalism 1 -- Distinction
Introduction to Management -- Distinction

How did I get a D for Management? How? I just refused to believe that it's the actual results and called Hanny when she was in the fitting room. On the way home, still dazed and in denial, rang Steph up to confirm the genuineness of the SMS results.

And thank God and all grace goes to Him, it's real.

He. Is the reason why I live.

Why I Will Walk and Risk Losing My Freedom

2011-07-09T12:50:00.000+08:00

Dear all, a note posted by my lecturer, ChinHuat, on Facebook.

Simply inspiring =)

It's almost a foregone conclusion that my colleagues and I will be arrested when we show up on the street and walk towards Stadium Merdeka. Never mind the restrictive order published on the Star restricts only from appearing in the area around the National Palace.

When do the police believe in the rule of law anyway? They turn a blind eye to Perkasa, UMNO Youth and Silat Masters who threaten violence, and at the same time accuse people of "waging war against the king" for wearing the wrong t-shirts in their eyes and arrest people for wearing yellow, distributing flags and even organising neighbourhood cleaning-up activities.

So, any surprise that they will arrest us even if we do not walk in the restricted areas? After all, they have arrested more than 500 people by now and detained without trial six of them including Dr Michael Jayakumar Devaraj MP for possibly two months or longer under Emergency Ordinance.

How long will I and my colleagues be detained if arrested? May be a couple of hours, a couple of days, but if they are crazy, may be a couple of months.

The Police don't seem to care about public opinion. Not even the Prime Minister cares, does he? He extended an invitation to us to have a stadium for our gathering, then cancelled his invitation at whim and now ordered his security guards to imprison us for taking his words seriously.

Is it a crime to take a Prime Minister's word seriously?

The very reason why so many of our colleagues have been arrested since Wednesday and we may soon follow suit later is that we have a respect for the office of the Prime Minister. We have embarrassed him because he does not have the same respect for himself and his office, which explains the disrespect of his words shown by his ministers, the Police and even the management of Stadium Merdeka.

In this sense, the BERSIH 2.0 rally is beyond clean and fair elections. It's about decency in our public life. It's about a sense of shame and, as Ambiga nicely put it to the Police top brass in negotiation, conscience.

In the past weeks, not only the Election Commission, the Police, the judiciary and the bureaucracy have tried their very best to prove the case for the sixth demand of BERSIH 2.0 rally: Strengthening Public Institutions.

What do you call a country that makes Clean a dirty word? Kotorland? No, PM Najib and the police may believe that they are ruling a Kotorland but I will not be a subject of theirs.

I am a proud citizen of Malaysia. I believe in the promise of freedom and fraternity in the birth of Malaysia 48 years ago. If my belief that Malaysia is a free nation is seditious, I am guilty as charged. To assist the police, I will have my Constitution and Flag with me at my arrest as the evidences of my crime.

You may wonder why I take the shameless conduct of the Federal Government and Police so seriously. You may question if it is worthwhile to denounce the wrongs and perhaps lose my freedom for a longer period than otherwise.

Aren't you fearful?

My answer is simple. I am actually tired of being fearful. My generation was brought up at home, in schools and in society to fear and stay away from politics. We were indoctrinated to believe that we cannot handle freedom because of our diversity - in other words, because we are so different, we are inclined to abuse our freedom and inflict violence on each other, we therefore need a strong government. It's very Hobbesian.

I am tired of living in that Malaysia. I don't see anything wrong with the person next to me having a different heritage, professing a different faith, speaking a different language or believing in a different idea how this country needs to be run. Why do we need to be homogenous to coexist peacefully?

The real problem confronting country is our fear of violence. We fear ethnic riots so much that we are willing to tolerate authoritarianism which breeds corruptions and curbs progress. In that fear, we lose our independence. Fear becomes the new colonial apparatus and those who control it becomes our new colonial masters.

Fear is exactly the message that Perkasa, Utusan Malaysia, UMNO Youth and ultimately the Police try very hard to get into our mind. Live in fear and we will be peaceful.

I am going out to the street soon to defy that message.

I would be lying to say that I am not fearful of solidarity confinement, torture, never-ending court process, unemployment and most importantly, the distress that my mother and siblings need to endure.

I am fearful but I am more fearful of letting this country and the future generations continue to be colonised by fear.

I am fearful but I am going to overcome my fear because I want to be free. There is no peace in fear.

I want freedom for myself, for my nephews and nieces, for my students, for the children I may have in the future and all my fellow countrymen and women. I hope my families will understand and support me.

I want the freedom to wear any shirt and write a Facebook note without worrying about being charged for sedition!

I want the freedom from having police knocking on your door at midnight threatening detention without trials.

If the temporary loss of personal freedom can contribute in a very minute way to the permanent liberation of 27 million people, it will be a bloody good deal.

More than 500 brave Malaysians have lost their freedom to walk for ours, it would be an honour for me to join them to take the risk. Will you join me too?

The Semester Ends

2011-06-25T23:32:00.000+08:00

Well... been in Monash for 4 months and I managed to survive =)

Kudos to the comfort food that I found:

San Francisco Coffee's Extreme Chocolate =)

Mango, sago and caramel pudding in mango soup =)

Caramel centered waffles and chocolate coated waffles from Amsterdam =)

Heaven Set from Wong Si Nai's =)

They make me feel rejuvenated and happy.

I come home everyday to sit in front of To-chan reading articles, typing notes, doing research, writing assignments and study. It has since become a routine and even now when the semester is over, I can't shake off the habit.

Well, I suppose it's a good thing.

Then, there were the girls:

Leng lui Hanny

Fierce woman Aman-geetha, blur queen CF, cute Steph and Meow KarYan.

And the pink dolphin, of course.

Don't know how I could have survived without them. Especially when my stupid Management assignment team mates purposely missed discussion sessions, did not finish work on time and basically shirk off most of their responsibilities.

My girls were there to witness me put on a tearful drama in front of half of the library. How I started tearing and gradually reduced to sobs because of those 2 not being able to finish work on time.

End of story: they couldn't finish it by the deadline.

Since it's a group assignment, we have to submit only 1 report which means their marks = my marks. Their folly = my punishment.

A little something I did with a friend, MayLing, which I consider as an achievement -- covering the Save Malaysia Stop Lynas! solidarity walk story for journalism assignment.

Save Malaysia Stop Lynas! solidarity walk.

We were both so excited to see so many police officers assembled outside the Australian High Commission. Even more excited to see the red FRU engines parked along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng.

It was memorable. I remember the fidgeting, the sweating, the interviewing and the filming. Ended up with sore arms and feet, smelly shirts and wet hair. Been sandwiched between reporters, photographers and videographers. Interviewed some 'big' people. Got some valuable footage.

Thank you God for keeping all of us safe. Thanks so much to MayLing who did all the contacting and inviting me to join her. Thanks to JiaWei who helped me with my piece-to-camera. Thank you so much to Mr. Vincent Jiam from Save Malaysia, Mr. James Nayagam from Suhakam, and all the participants from Kuantan who gladly allowed us to interview them.

My news report, if you're interested: http://vimeo.com/24246047

In my opinion, I think I benefited most from Journalism. Not only was it challenging, it allowed a hands-on, practical experience in the field. Slammed doors and cold shoulders were part of the experience (I even got a very discouraging e-mail from a potential interviewee), but that just goes to teach you how difficult working life is.

At least ChinHuat won't fire me if I did some minor mistake.

ChinHuat himself is a very good lecturer. I think I'll only be seeing him for this year. He's not teaching Journalism Law or Economic Reporting. But wow. What a semester the class had with him.

Right now I'll keep him in my prayers for the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9. I had wanted to cover the story for experience with Mr. Sunny, but got scared and further frightened by my home fellowship leader and parents. Yes, I am gut-less. But I'll start with the really peaceful protests and then maybe venture to a higher level.

In fact, all my lecturers are awesome. Dr. Yeoh, our own Lord Vader. He says the most... un-sangka-ble things. Dr. Helen, who is always so nice and helpful, and who gave me my first ever HD. Dr. Elaine, who told us so many funny stories of her life in Japan. Dr. Loh, who gives me that knowing yet sinister smile that says, "I know why you're approaching me with puppy dog eyes."

Ah. The semester ends. Peace on earth.

No.

Until the results are out on July 11, then only I'll have peace.

The Role of Wives

2011-06-03T18:29:00.000+08:00

Seriously?

I. Literally wanna slap her.

Siti Maznah Mohd Taufik is a member of the Obedient Wives Club and Ikhwan Polygamy club.

Further elaboration needed?

Polygamy = a marriage which includes more than 2 partners. I take it that the club upholds the idea of having more than 1 wife and more than 1 husband.

Hedonism, I tell you.

I'm for democracy, everyone has a say, so she has a say too. Let's hear her argument:

Domestic abuse are caused by disobedient wives.

“Domestic abuse happens because wives don't obey their husband's orders. A man must be responsible for his wife's wellbeing but she must listen to her husband.”

Adulterous husbands are the results of wives who are not sexy.

“Wives should welcome them with sexy clothes and alluring smiles when in the privacy of their homes.”

We women should all be desperate housewives.

I agree that every husband wants to come home and see his wife wearing only the most revealing lingerie and posing as if she's doing a cover photoshoot for FHM, Playboy and Penthouse. Siti Maznah proudly said that she does exactly that: welcoming her husband after a tiring day of work with her perfumed body in sexy clothes, all smiles.

However, my question is: a wife who does not exhibit her sexual appeal most of the time, is that a sufficient and acceptable reason for a man to indulge in social ills. Going to brothels just because his wife is not sexy and take the risk to satisfy his sexual thirst at the expense of, perhaps, contracting STDs.

Siti Maznah. I understand your blind loyalty towards your husband. I understand that in your eyes, your husband is like a god -- faultless. But I would like to point out that you, despite your attempt to uphold the sovereignty men in the constitution of marriage, did not do them justice.

Hey, not all men are that stupid and ruthless. You say it as if it's a very logical response. Wife not in sexy clothes ----> hello hookers.

You portray them as simpletons, hedonistic simpletons. It's as if all they want is just sex, sex, and more sex. While it is proven scientifically that men are easily aroused, their minds are not occupied with just SEX, SEX, SEX.

Love your women, don't abuse them.

According to you, Siti Maznah, a wife should obey all her husband's orders. You also said that, I quote, "their word is law" as long as whatever they do is not against Islamic law.

If your husband wants to marry off your 10 year-old daughter to his 55 year-old, perverted business partner. You know, like what they do in the olden days, make an alliance, keep it all in the family, solidify the partnership. Clearly, it's not against Islamic law. As a mother, are you willing to see your daughter suffer at the hands of a pedophile, a man cruel enough to sleep with a child who is not even a teenager yet?

What if your husband restricts your freedom, telling you that you can't have Facebook, you can't read the newspapers, you can't use the telephone. You are only to be a housewife, occupying yourself with absolutely nothing except cleaning, cooking and sleeping with him.

Many women will rebel and what may seem like disobedience to you, to me it is fighting for basic rights.

Every human being, regardless of gender, race, age and sexuality deserves to map out their own life. They deserve to say, "This is how I want my life to be." This blind obedience is degrading your status as a man's wife to that of a slave.

We are equal. As much as a woman needs to appease her man, he has to do his part to satisfy her as well.

Because Twitter isn't Working

2011-05-14T02:00:00.000+08:00

I'm finally writing a post.

And that's because Twitter ain't working. It says they are experiencing over capacity. The last tweet I read on Twitter was Reuter's report on Twitter getting an injunction from a US court.

Injunction can be prohibitory or mandatory. In this case most probably it's prohibitory. Something about a woman who wanted to stop her daughter's life support machine. And all Twitterholics know how a news can spread like wild fire via Twitter in like... 2 seconds? Maximum 1 minute?

Anyway.

Yes, Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon.

Watched this movie with Edmund @ MBO Cineplex, Viva. MBO's popcorns are the real deal man, unlike GSC which gives you only half of what you paid for.

The story is good (I bet the book is better, as usual) but the acting sucks. You cannot see the chemistry between RobPat and Reese. We all get it that you're dating that sulky thing, Kristen Stewart. But hey, you're an actor. Act real. Reese is a hot woman. How can you not have any 'emotional' or 'mental' connection with her? RobPat had more connection with that 50-year old elephant than with Reese.

No doubt of Reese's standards. You can see how hard she is trying to get RobPat into his character. She's so natural. He's so not. Probably Kristen pressured him in some way. I pity Christoph Waltz who had to play the bad guy again. He's such a charming fellow. I liked him although he's a Nazi in 'Inglorious Basterds'.

And yes, I should be doing my assignment. Management, in fact. Hate it hate it hate it why did I take it in the first place?

All the assignment 1s are back. I practically got 1 of each grade. HD, D, C and a big fat P. For what? Management. Urgh.

Well, back to work. No sleep till I finish this damned paragraph.

Lucky Business Students

2011-04-28T15:58:00.000+08:00

It's obvious that Monash loves its Business students more.

Why is it that the Business students finish their exams first? Why is it that the Business students have later due dates for their assignments?

WHY?!

So, here it is, my sucky exam timetable:

June 8 -- Introduction to Management

June 10 -- Contemporary Worlds 1

June 20 -- Media Studies

Here it is, my sucky assignment due dates:

May 3 -- Contemporary Worlds 1

May 6 -- Media Studies

May 20 -- Introduction to Management

You tell me la what is this. Urgh.

Oh. And don't get me started on the fact that they have NO assignment to worry about during this mid-semester break. We Arts students have to burn the midnight lamps, torches, bulbs to hand in at least 2 assignments IMMEDIATELY after the break.

I need to de-stress.

The wonders of frozen yogurt: destress. Amazing, I tell you.

I knew about this earlier but I tried to defy reality. Group study in the library: failed.

We camwhored before leaving. My 'awesome' webcam.

Then, we went for lunch in Taipan. Bloody nice place.

Ham in cream soup.

Texas grilled ribs and sausages.

The most ohlala bacon I've eaten in my 20 years of life.

As I said earlier, frozen yogurt has so many wonders it blows your mind away.

1 of the world wonders that mankind came up with. Sheer genius.

ChinFong got me hooked on to Tutti Frutti.

Speaking of which, I have cravings for frozen yogurt. Again.

On Being Spontaneous

2011-04-09T19:10:00.000+08:00

I should be doing my notes on Introduction to Management now.

Always doing the wrong things at the wrong time.

Jake Gyllenhaal running in fragments of memories. Love it.

Let Edmund talked me into watching this movie.

I'm not a sci-fi/action movie fan. I watched 'Inception' because everyone in the world is saying it's EXCELLENT. I watched 'Source Code' because Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 90%.

We all know that if Rotten Tomatoes says it's good, it's good.

Johnny Depp the LIZARD.

Which is why after this, imma watch 'Rango'.

I've been so spontaneous lately, and that's besides the movies.

I decided overnight to drive to an unknown place in Puchong to interview someone for my Journalism 1 assignment.

I had this craving for dim sum, which I tweeted, and instantly Hanny suggested dim sum for brunch in USJ 20. Then we all agreed to jump into Hanny's car the day after to get dim sum.

Oh, and I suddenly went to Elianto to get myself a nail polish remover (apple flavour!! All happiness), a bottle of base coat and top coat each. But you can blame that on my university gang. They got me into painting nails.

And I really have no idea how I came up with that pose for a soft core porn advertisement during Media Studies tutorial. Wasn't as epic as Alex's lying-on-the-table pose, but so suggestive!!

Spontaneity rocks.

Yet Another Series of Food Therapies

2011-03-26T18:36:00.001+08:00

How I love food therapy.

Supper in Jogoya on 18 March.

Lunch in Italiannies on 22 March.

It's a blessing to enjoy good food with the 2 sets of people whose company I love the most =)

The Nottingham engineers and my dear Chieh~

The stupid zainans: here are 3 of them.

The catfight couple.

That poor little Shaun who's constantly bullied by Edmund.

And of course, the engineer.

In the other sphere, my new found university buddies.

Steph, my carpool buddy, and Amanda. They have like similar clothing size.

Hanny the cosmetic guru and KarYan the Meow =0

Food, food, food. The best way to de-stress after 2 grilling assignments =/

Our appetisers: Hanny's super healthy salad; my spicy tomato soup, KarYan's clear broth with pasta.

Amanda's shrimp linguine.

Little Steph's shrimp fettucine.

Hanny's mushroom risotto, I vow to try this the next time I visit Italiannies.

My rolled stuff chicken breast. Doesn't look that appetising but it's good and filling =)

That pretty abalone that we love to camwhore with.

I am so blessed =)

P/S: Dedicated to all my friends. Love you people.

幸福, 是默默地来

2011-03-22T00:14:00.008+08:00

有时候，想到自己现在的状况。。。会觉得自己是很幸福的。

虽然父母不是什么巨富大亨 -- 世界七大洲除了住在一个，去过另一个，其他都只闻其名，不见其景 -- 但总算一家乐融融。有什么就吃什么，能穿得起什么就穿什么。

啥 Italiannies, Jogoya 这些贵的，要吃的话，存些钱，舍得花就花。

这样的生活，你能嫌不够幸福吗？

还有身边的猪朋狗友。有个还好到帮我涂指甲油。

拥有同代的人与自己分享生活中的哭与笑。繁忙的功课中，有朗朗的笑声，也足够让自己对自己傻笑，，在大学自然多了一份滋味。

往往人都在一旁期待幸福送上门来。

但，可否想过，幸福是默默地、悄悄地从门缝钻入心头？

就好像学者形容般：从未失去过自由，又怎么能明白失去自由的滋味呢？

从未失去过，你又怎么断定自己比别人不幸？

感谢他，教导我如何体验、感觉、享受生活中的甜酸。

感谢上帝，无微不至地照顾我、宽恕我、爱我。

Memento

2011-03-08T22:33:00.002+08:00

The keepsakes of my memories are everywhere. The train station, the car, the bedroom, the hall, the backstage...

The keepsakes of my memories are everything. The smell in a car, the touch of a finger, the ray on my skin, the smile on my face...

Sweet or bitter, saddening or angering, I wouldn't trade them for the world.

I remember all of you. Your footsteps in my life are my mementos.

I remember.

My Ivory Tower

2011-03-05T11:10:00.006+08:00

The long awaited date has come and gone.

Mommy's birthday! Look what we got her.

I shall say this again to emphasise how wonderful a daughter I am. I bought her a pair of Charles & Keith heels. Kitten heels, since she complains that my choice of a pretty pair of heels will result in her falling and breaking her back.

Her words, "Fall die you." You know it's a direct translation from Chinese, don't you?

Jian's fake Ray-Ban and the cups of iced lemon tea, Ong's creation.

I love the butter chicken rice that restaurant serves. It's located directly opposite the Pudu LRT station. All you need to do is cross the back alley road, 1 2 3 4 5 steps and you're there.

Yes, I'm a university student now. I'm a degree student. I'm a student from the School of Arts and Social Sciences. My majors are Communication and Writing, minoring in either Journalism or Gender Studies. I'm awesome.

My life is cool.

To survive and in order to be on that gleaming 2nd upper level of the academic ladder, I'd have to read extensively, research widely, write proficiently, think openly, speak eloquently, present convincingly etc.

That's the Vietnamese spring roll we had in this restaurant called Saigon in Bangsar. Too mint-y and basil-y for me. Yuck.

It's pretty much what you call 'no life'. Like life with lots of basil and mint. Yuck. Anyway... I think I'm enjoying it =) How I love you, Mr. Stress.

The lecturers are nice. According to ChoonHui they're humans in disguise, demons in real. Not that they're really evil, they're just vicious when they mark the assignments.

Speaking of which, I already have 4 assignments thrown on me, all due by the end of this month. Assignments have a higher weightage than examinations now *gasps and passes out*

They say life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get.

Well, mine is definitely not a box of Patchi chocolates, 'cause Patchi chocolates are all so yummy.

On the bright side, I met Amanda and 2 other girls. Amanda was from MCKL previously, she studied for 1 semester and left and was in my Literature class. Then there's Stephanie and ChinFong. Stephanie and I have so many mutual friends, including that Caryn who's in Canterbury now. ChinFong... well, we both know Chester =P

Stephanie and I live around the same area, and since we share most of our lectures and tuturials, she's my carpool buddy!

On the dark side, I think my Journalism 1 lecturer is trying to brain wash me. But he's pretty cool, he got arrested twice under the Sedition Act 1948. He's even on Wikipedia. And there's the load of assignments to be done.

Well, cheers everyone.

That Non-Halal Day

2011-02-25T17:54:00.011+08:00

For this was on Saint Valentine's Day

When every bird cometh there to choose his mate.

---"Parliament of Fowls"
Geoffrey Chaucer

So according to a certain female religious teacher, Muslims aren't supposed to celebrate Valentine's Day.

In fact, they aren't allowed to celebrate it. Because it's non-halal.

Complimentary bread -- plain and wholemeal -- served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Anyway, according to our learned ustazah, there are a few reasons why Valentine's Day is haram for Muslims. The first one is related to the ancient pagan festival celebrated by the ancient Romans, the Lupercalia, which is estimated to be from 13 till 15 February of the Gregorian calendar.

That's when the names of virgins are written on paper and put into a box and, like a lucky draw, picked by men. So the virgin whose name was picked by a man will be the man's sex slave for a year. That's the way the ancient Romans celebrate Lupercalia, right?

Wrong.

Lupercalia is a festival of cleansing the city of evil spirits. It is also a festival that is believed to bring forth health and fertility. Lupercalia is celebrated in honour of the wolf that nursed the founding fathers of Rome, Romulus and Remus. In Latin, wolf is 'lupus'. So yea.

How was it celebrated? Well, according to Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar', there's an excerpt where Caesar directed Marc Antony, "Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, to touch Calpurnia... the barren touched in this holy chase, shake off their sterile curse." In short, during the Lupercalia, young men will run around the city naked and strike anyone in their way with a cloth. Barren young wives will happily let themselves be struck because it is believed that this will cure their sterility and bless them with children.

Strawberry Splash, good for those who love sweet + sour drinks =)

Reason no. 2 why Valentine's Day is haram: Saint Valentine wrote a last love letter to his jailer's daughter, whom he loved. At the end of the letter, it is signed, "From your Valentine." This famous phrase is printed on all Valentine's Day cards.

Err... so? Is that even a reason? So you can't buy a card signed with a prisoner's name.

Wrong.

You see, Valentine's Day is originally a saint's feast day. And there are numerous saints named Valentine, however, similarly they are all martyrs. There is nothing romantic about the origins of Valentine's Day. The romantic myth of Valentine having a love affair with his jailer's daughter was created during the Early Medieval Era of Europe for the sake of making this feast day more interesting.

In some other versions, Saint Valentine was not in love with his jailer's daughter, but was a preacher and healer. She was blind, he healed her, and then told her about the gospel.

We're like salt and pepper. It's only normal that we come together.

3rd reason why Valentine's Day is haram: Saint Valentine was the priest who married people secretly when the emperor decreed that no man should marry. Because if people get married, they wouldn't wanna go to war. He was captured and executed on 14 February.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, how sweet and fulfilling it is to die for my country. So this Saint Valentine is actually a traitor, he committed treason by marrying poor love birds, thus causing the country to lack men to go to war. Consequently, endangering the country. We can't embrace the death of a traitor, can we?

Wrong.

Again. This is another romantic legend spunned by troubadours of the 14th century. There are no records in the Catholic calendar of saints or anywhere that a priest named Valentine is beatified and canonised because of his risking his life to join people in holy matrimony. In fact, the feast day of Saint Valentine is not even observed by Catholics anymore because nothing, absolutely nothing, is known about him. The only thing we know is that all these Saint Valentines are martyrs.

Then again, isn't it better to marry than to go for war? Are you no lover of peace, ustazah? Also, being married allows you to have a legal heir, which is quite important for ancient Romans because they are so patriarchal. Such that your property won't flow into your uncle, brother or some greedy distant relative's hands. After making sure you have an heir, you can still go to war, right?

Classic carbonara. Fettuccine, well cooked chicken cubes and nicely seered mushrooms bathing in good old creamy carbonara sauce. I found it really good, but the carbonara expert insisted that it's only so-so, and that a little more pepper would make it superb.

Another reason my Muslim friends should not celebrate Valentine's Day is because it is an English tradition to celebrate the mating of birds on this particular day of February.

What? Ew. Watching birds mate? That's pretty disgusting. Animal porn. Pfft.

Wrong.

Well I don't actually know that birds choose to mate during winter, albeit the ending of winter and the beginning of spring, it's still pretty darn cold for bedroom activities. And anyway, where did you get that idea from, madam ustazah? I've never heard of Englishmen celebrating the mating of birds.

The only explanation I can think of how you got this bizzare idea of birds mating on 14 February, and also celebrated by the English, is from Chaucer's 'Parliament of Fowls' (the exact verse quoted at the top). 'Parliament of Fowls' was written by Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of the more famous 'The Canterbury Tales', describing a person walking through a temple and seeing flocks of birds gathering to choose their mate.

Madam ustazah, it's a poem, if you can't observe the obvious. And poets tend to beat about the bush. Like your syairs and sajaks. The beauty of a poem is at being succinct, also of the poet's skilled use of metaphors and other poetic devices to send out a message. I wouldn't take the poem literally if I were you.

Chicken Milanese. 2 grilled pieces of tender chicken breasts resting in a plate of creamy cheese, and topped with fresh juicy tomato cubes and peas of spinach. A masterpiece.

The last reason she gave was that Saint Valentine played a huge part in the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordova, Spain (remember your Secondary 5 History? Cordova, Andalusia, Bani Uthmaniyah, bla bla bla... hey it rhymes).

Wrong.

Cordova was captured by the Muslims in AD 700+, and then captured by the Castillians in the 15th century. As I mentioned long ago, the Saint Valentines are martyrs, the last Valentine was martyred before AD 700+. So... did he rise up from the dead as a thousand year old zombie and led the Christian army to capture Cordova? Not likely.

You can watch this video for more information. As for now, tata~

P/S: Orientation started and I'm really glad to meet some new friends. That includes an old friend, Amanda, who studied in MCKL in our 1st semester of A Level.

Again, the world is a small place. I met Stephanie, who is Caryn's primary school classmate! Chin Fong, who was formerly from BAC, is a classmate of Chester. Lol. Thankfully, we're all 20 years old (I'm 19. 19). So there's no feeling older, wee~

Burlesque is Smexy

2011-02-20T14:59:00.002+08:00

Watched 'Burlesque' with Chieh @ Pavilion yesterday.

And I agree with the critics. Cher looks like a drag queen struggling to keep her Burlesque Lounge open so that she can continue her Botox treatment.

Because she needs it. Anyone can tell.

It's not a compilation of Christina Aguilera music videos. It's a movie-length music video based on 1 song, or a few tunes that sound really alike.

Anyway, the last number was explosive enough. At least for me.

Learned a lot of ~~seductive~~ nice dance moves. Learned that Carl's Jr chili cheese fries are awesome. Learned that Kristen Bell can be evil.

Learned that burlesque is actually very sexy but decent.

Water = Prosperity

2011-02-07T21:35:00.004+08:00

I'm sure everyone knows about how watery this CNY had been.

Taken on the way to Pagoh from grandparents' house.

Directly outside my grandparents' house is a huge drain. The water level was very high, putting us in a very precarious state. Thankfully, there wasn't any rain since 2 February.

Mom's aunt lives in Pagoh. We've heard of the serious floods that happened in Segamat and Ledang, but I didn't expect Pagoh Town to be plagued by the heavy rain.

Along the road to Pagoh from my grandparents' house are acres of land with endless rows of oil palm trees. Above are baby oil palms. The land beside the so-called highway is so low that after the flood, you can go boating.

The car cruising through the flood water.

Upon entering Pagoh Town, there's a road to your left that leads to some housing areas. That road was closed as the water level was dangerously high. And I heard that some crocodiles were spotted.

We Chinese have a knack at making unfortunate situations seem fortunate, and fortuitous. We're all about the money. There's a Cantonese saying that goes like: "Water as property." Direct translation.

Then, regarding angpaos, some of them have 'shrink water' (another Cantonese phrase).

Seems like they match: flood and angpaos. Everything to do with water.

I spent the whole afternoon on the Monash Arts & Social Sciences page, trying to find out details about orientation week and then I found out (thankfully) that I'm supposed to attend a 2 hours session briefing on 17 February.

Then, I got so anxious because it says there I should get an Authcate account prior to attending the session. So I did that whilst talking to Floydie. After that, I found out I have 99 unread e-mails in my Monash Portal. So I read up, did all the enrolment stuff and finally...

I found the orientation week page. And it says there I'll only need to do what took me the whole afternoon to figure out on the first day of orientation.

This means I'm anxious to start university. I'm a good kid.

Food Therapy

2011-02-01T13:16:00.007+08:00

Just a few weeks ago I talked about retail therapy. Now I'm gonna tell you about the wonders of food therapy.

The Sunday before the last one, we celebrated Aunt Jennifer and dad's birthday at Dragon-i with my oldest uncle and aunt.

I only like their XiuLongPao, dumplings and handmade LaMian. Their other dishes are average. Can get better ones outside at a cheaper price. But, since mommy's the one paying, she's the one to make the decision.

Then on last Wednesday, my last Wednesday at work, Edmund came to have lunch with me at Musa Fashion & Cafe. We wanted to try their RM13 set lunches.

His chicken rendang wrapped in Lebanese bread.

My spaghetti bolognaise. Looks very little, but very filling.

Those were the choices for Wednesday's menu. Friday's the best, penne in creamy carbonara or chicken pie with mashed potatoes. All set lunches are served with iced lemon tea.

Then on last Saturday, joined some of those from the drama gang in Times Square for Nicole's farewell.

My bitch is going to Aussieland soon. 10th to be exact. It's difficult to meet up during CNY, what with all the 'balik kampung's and relative-visiting, so we decided to meet up earlier.

I wonder when's the next time we can sit together and joke noisily like that. We certainly made it clear to the waiters that we're the customers from hell. Well, at least Nicole did.

The woman acted like she's the boss of the restaurant. Her China-aunty accent saying, "Allo." Then picking up the sauce bowl, showing the empty side to the waiter saying, "Refill." During intervals, there was food-gasm, and us saying, "It feels like missionary/69/cowgirl in my mouth."

The best part was us bullying Gracie, consequently making her scream "I'M ORGASMING." The way people look at her after that... lol, priceless.

Ah. I miss us.

P/S: Bought shoes from Vincci on Sunday and my retail therapy has come to an end. I feel satisfied, happy, rapture, light, in cloud nine. Wee~

Happy Chinese New Year to all =)

Malacca & the Jungle Birthday

2011-01-29T21:12:00.019+08:00

Went for a day trip to Malacca last Saturday.

The responsible and safe driver -- Edmund. Drove so safely that even the Viva was forced to overtake him.

A Famosa, through the lenses of a DSLR.

Interior of St. Paul's Church. I've always enjoy reading the memorial plaques there.

Some underground fort, I'm guessing St. John's fort?

Stadthuys Square. I don't even know how to pronounce it.

Good old Jonker Street.

Donald & Lily's Restaurant, at a hidden nook nearby Jonker Street. According to the orang Melaka, this restaurant serves the best nyonya food and cendol.

2 bowls of cendol for RM5. The coconut milk and the gula melaka was the perfect ratio, so it wasn't too cloyingly sweet or too 'milky'. I'm a sweet tooth, I don't like my cendol with too much coconut milk. I found this 1 just nice.

Ensconced in the middle is the taugua rojak, RM5. Again, I'm not a rojak person. I don't like the crunchy things they serve in the usual rojak. Taugua rojak, however, has my favourite tofu and fish cake. With the usual cucumbers and pineapples, a generous splash of black sauce and a sprinkle of crushed nuts. Perfect.

The delicious nyonya laksa. Unlike the ones in KL, they serve nyonya laksa with fish balls and omelette shreds instead of the usual shreds of chicken meat. The portion is not too big, just nice and at a reasonable price of RM3.50. The laksa is rich with coconut milk, not too spicy and really really tasty.

All in all, our lunch was RM8.50 per person.

Went to Sam Shu Gong to shop for local snacks. Bought some chicken biscuit and a jar of concentrated preserved lime juice for mommy.

Our poser pictures taken in Dataran Pahlawan Megamall. He looks more natural at it, and he calls me a poser. Pfft.

Had tea at Nadeje. We ordered an original flavour mille crepe cake and some non-alcohol cocktails (we're good children). On the left is Vanilla Bay, which tasted like 100 plus with pineapple chunks at the bottom. Mine was Florida Breeze, on the right. Sour, just what I needed.

The original flavour mille crepe cake was RM8.50. A little pricey, but you gotta give the thumbs up to this chef. What seemed like a thousand layers of thin mille crepe decked on top of each other with vanilla cream sandwiched between. Yet to try the cheese flavour one.

Bought some cheese tarts from Opps!!! Cheese Tarts @ Dataran Pahlawan back to KL. They all look so yummy: black & white chocolate, lemon, chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, black charcoal and a free almond cheese tart!

We then went to meet up with the Zainan gang (shortform 'ZN') to give Tokyo a surprise visit. Unfortunately, Tokyo's beloved Chieh sort of gave out the surprise. So the birthday boy wasn't surprised at all. How disappointing.

Some genius' idea to celebrate Tokyo's birthday in the jungles of Hulu Langat. The surrounding was so dark and scary (lots of banana trees). But I must say, the food was good.

The birthday boy with a face of sheer disappointment after finding out that his birthday gift was a basketball. He realised later that it was a genuine Nike basketball that costs a bomb, and most probably touched by LeBron James.

My first yee sang of the year. A very, very salty one = a salty start?

Yesterday was my last day of work. So I guess you guys will see more entries. Hopefully.

Retail Therapy

2011-01-16T16:30:00.003+08:00

Grace Lai told me about this wonderful therapy.

I find that it works very well.

Just went shopping for CNY clothes yesterday and I felt rejuvenated. Rather overwhelming too, because the sales girl is a friend of Edmund, and she was ultra helpful. Shoving dresses and tops and high waist shorts at me.

Felt a little embarrassed because out of so many clothes she put into the fitting room for me, I only picked 3 pieces. 2 tops, 1 dress and 1 high waist shorts cost me RM220. And I got a 30% discount voucher on the total bill for my next visit.

I'm itching for another shopping spree at Dressylicious @ Kuchai Lama. Who's with me?

Into Siem Reap #3

2011-01-09T17:00:00.010+08:00

Last day in Cambodia, we travelled a little further from Siem Reap town to see Banteay Srei.

More ancient sites en route to Banteay Srei.

Welcome to Banteay Srei, people. It's known as the Pink Sandstone Temple. Sorry if you're expecting something like Barbie doll pink or candy floss pink. Compared to other temples, this one has a slight shade of pink, thus the name.

Intricate carvings. Very detailed. Banteay Srei is famous for its carvings because they are so beautifully and meticulously done that every wrinkle found on a flower petal is carved out, making it life-like.

Till today, Cambodians still believe that Banteay Srei was built by females. That's because only females can be that meticulous and painstakingly detailed.

However, archaeologists pointed out that records of the time said that the temple was built by the king's guru (mentor, prime minister).

Visitors weren't allowed to traverse every inch of the temple due to its fragility. The middle part of the temple is the restricted area.

The outer courtyard of the temple.

1 queer thing about that day was that it was extremely cold. It was as cold as Cameron Highlands. And Brian found me a pain in the ass because I whine about the cold and yet complained about the heat for the past 2 days.

I can't stand cold, I can't stand heat either.

Our guide, Chann, showing us homemade palm sugar.

Palm sugar. Palm tree sugar. Not gula melaka sugar.

Lunch = steamed rice + amok fish + chicken with assorted vegetables & cashew nuts + sweet sour pork. We've been eating that forever.

If you ever go the Siem Reap, you must have Sach Krork. It's like the traditional Chinese sausage, but tastes so much better.

Quite cheap. 1 plate with about 6 slices = 37 cents.

On the way to Lake Tonle Sap, we stopped at Wat Thmei.

Wat Thmei is a temple attributed to the memory of the victims who suffered and died under the Khmer Rouge rule. The white monument contains some bones of the deceased. Photos of the dead on the notice boards, from old men with missing teeth to babies still suckling at their mother's breasts.

Lake Tonle Sap, from the bus. It's so big that when you gaze at the horizon from the centre of the lake, it's only sky and water. No trace of land at all.

Floating villages, the villagers are all Vietnamese.

Child begging for money from her tub-boat.

Some villagers exploit their children by forcing them to beg money from visitors. They come in speed boats, with 1 on each side of your boat they got you surrounded. The children hopped on to your boat despite the danger of falling into the deep waters.

They walk around the edge of your boat asking for USD 1.

1 fucker of a tourist dangled a piece of USD 1 at a group of beggar children. All the boys hop from their boats trying to get the money. 1 of the boys was so near to touching it but another kid jumped and snatched it. The fucker of a tourist just laughed. The boy who missed was beaten by his mother with a paddle.

Saw this genius of a person selling Banana Milo Pancake whilst shopping around Old Market.

You see, we haven't tried any authentic Khmer dish safe for Sach Krork. The food was either Chinese or Thai. Hungry, at the same time fearing diarrhea, mom and I took a brave step forward to try out this pancake.

Chann warned us that it may not be good.

It's something like roti pisang. Picture roti pisang on a plate, pour some condensed milk on the roti pisang, sprinkle a generous amount of Milo powder on it and lastly roll it into a scroll.

Yummy. I'm sure Adam will love it.

Basically, that's all for Siem Reap. We boarded the 8am plane out of Cambodia the next day. Apart from airport tax, you'll be required to pay a 'Passenger Service Tax' of USD 25 before you exit the country.

Why? I don't know.

Into Siem Reap #2

2011-01-01T18:26:00.014+08:00

The BBQ countdown party at Kent's house yesterday saw lots of drunkards, all high on vodka.

When I told dad I'm going to a friend's countdown party, he put out a stern face and said, "Don't. Drink. Any. Liquor."

I wiki-ed the definition of 'liquor', it means any alcohol beverage produce through distillation. So... I guess I can drink beer and wine. Bwaha.

Anyway, I'm a good girl =)

We started our second day in Siem Reap by waiting for the sunrise at Angkor Wat. Again, words cannot fully describe the magic of the moment.

When the sky gradually turned amber behind the towers of Angkor Wat, it was as if we were transported back to the days of its glory.

Behold. Le soleil. Heaven's eye. The huge fireball.

Bak Sey Jam Krong, another old temple. But we never went in, because the main focus was...

Angkor Thom =D

That's the face of Jayavarman VII on the South Gate.

Ok, before you ask, I shall explain the difference between Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. They're not the same thing, obviously. The word 'wat' means temple, as we know from our secondary history textbooks. The word 'thom' means city.

So, Angkor Wat can be translated as the temple of Angkor, whereby Angkor Thom is the city of Angkor. They are separate buildings. In fact, Angkor Thom is not even a building, it's a city. Angkor Wat is not in Angkor Thom.

Angkor Thom was the initial capital of the kingdom. Until some war broke out in the 14th century, the kingdom shifted it's capital to Phnom Penh.

Let me bring you to the asura side of the handrail. They're situated on the left side.

The deva side of the handrail, on the right side.

My favourite shot. That's one way to live forever. The king forever watching over the capital city he built like a guardian.

Bayon temple. The temple is full of faces. The towers have either 3 or 4 faces looking at each direction.

I won't elaborate much on Bayon. Bayon is special because of the distinct style (faces everywhere) and also because of the context of its carvings.

Instead of indulging the visitors' eyes with more of Mahabrata and Ramayana stories, the carvings tell more of the daily lives of ancient Angkor. Such as cooking, monkeys climbing trees to get coconuts, fishing, etc. Also, there is a large carving describing the war between the Angkor empire and the Champa empire (sejarah stuff, I know).

More pictures in my Facebook albums.

Baphuon temple. Closed for reconstruction =(

Damien beside an elephant at the Elephant Terrace. Noob face.

Walking to Ta Prohm. You should know this temple...

Maybe you've seen this in 'Tomb Raider', or 'Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom'.

When Angkor Thom was abandoned, the temple fell into the care of nature. Nature has a mind of its own as well as it's own idea of preservation. The trees held the temple ruins together, so it's like a sort of external foundation.

Even though it's dubbed as the most popular tourist attraction, the place is still very quiet. It's as if the walls listen to your utterance, and your voice drowned in the green forest. There is an eerie kind of ambience that makes the temple a favourite among movie directors.

You can imagine how the Frenchman who discovered this temple felt (his name is Henri something, can't remember). The curiosity killing him and pushing him to venture through the dark hallways of the abandoned temple; yet the stone faces instilling a haunted vibe pushing him away. His mind fraught with worries of booby traps, found in adventure novellas of his time.

Having started the day by watching the sunrise over a magnificent temple, the best way to end it is to watch the sunset on Bakheng hill temple.

As the sun sank beyond the horizon, we made our way down the temple, step by step, very slowly (the slope of stairs to the top of the temple was 80 degrees). Whilst hastening our way down the hill before the sky turned completely dark, I watched the golden hue of the temple fade and thought of the wonders and destruction we humans are capable of.

Sigh. Why waste energy on nuclear bombs when we could build so many wonders?

Here it Comes...

2010-12-30T11:57:00.003+08:00

I'm in the office.

Mom is lost in Puchong, searching for IOI Business Park.

Tomorrow is a public holiday (thank you SO MUCH, Mr. PM and national football team), so today is officially the last working day of an AWESOME year.

My 2010 Resolution included:

get an offer from King's College London (which I did, but couldn't go).
get a scholarship to UK (failed).
get my driver's license (YEA MAN DONE! But I've only drove like... 5 times).

I think that's all.

Here's an early new year wish to all my machas and anehs, dears and darlings, real and fake family members, awesome friends and readers.

2010 has been an awesome year. For reasons unknown, it felt very draggy. A Level felt like last year, as well as results day and Bali trip.

I'm looking forward to:-

an exciting 2011;
university life and all the competitions + backstabbing;
the drive to Sunway;
the final 'Harry Potter' movie;
angpaus;
Malacca and Redang/Langkawi trip with fellow 5S2 classmates and zainans;
lingerie shopping with Chieh. We're so doing it next year; and
13th of May 2010 =)

Again, a blessed New Year to all.

Into Siem Reap #1

2010-12-24T21:09:00.020+08:00

Working makes you lifeless.

That's why working pays and having fun doesn't. See it this way: they rob you of your life, hence they pay you back. They give you fun, hence you pay them for the fun.

Simple business stuff.

Just came back from Siem Reap, Cambodia last Saturday. I enjoyed the trip thoroughly: everything was awesome except the food.

We've been eating these 2 dishes for every meal since day 1.

The former is called Amok Fish. We didn't know it's the Khmer name for the dish, we thought the fish was amok when it was alive. Dad said, "We'll most probably run amok after eating it." Amok is actually a type of gravy, something like our curry. We have curry chicken, curry fish head; they have amok chicken and amok fish as well.

It tastes sweeter than curry, very generous in coconut milk and not spicy at all. Imagine our local curry: add a little more sugar, reduce the thickness, take away the spiciness.

The latter is called stir fried pork in sweet and sour sauce. Just like our 'gu lou yok'.

Siem Reap's first greeting to us when we got down of the tiny AirAsia airplane.

I heard that Siem Reap International Airport is bigger and grander than the airport in Phnom Penh. Most probably due to the influx of tourists attracted to Angkor Wat.

The hotel we stayed in. Along the way to the airport, there are rows and rows of hotels. All of them ranging from 4-star (around USD 100 per night per room) to 7-star (up to USD 2k per night per room).

Nearly perfect competition, I tell you.

This is Preah Ko, one of the oldest temples in Cambodia. It's more than a thousand years old. Most of the temples were dedicated to Shiva, so you can find Shiva lingams at every temple.

If you recall your secondary school history lessons, the official religion of the Angkor empire was Hinduism. However, although the official religion of modern Cambodia is Buddhism, the people still offer prayers to the 3 main Hindu gods.

Female guardians, don't know what they're called in Khmer. But you'll find this at every single temple. Funny they should trust the sanctity of the temple to females, and at the same time view females as the weaker sex.

Walking towards Bakong Temple Mountain. A temple mountain is a temple built to resemble the legendary Mount Meru of Hindu and Buddhist mythology. Since Mount Meru is where all the gods live, then a temple that resembles their original home would definitely fit the gods.

Acting like jakuns on the top of Bakong.

This is exactly why I enjoyed my Siem Reap trip. I love climbing steps. I love to climb around. My long white legs need to move around, you know. I'm always climbing here, jumping there.

Might I add: historical monuments are not boring, they are awesome.

Lolei temple. It's built as a memorial temple to Yasovarman I's ancestors. It once stood on an island, only accessible via boat. Unfortunately, the lake has since dried up. The idea of building a temple on an island originated from Hindu and Buddhist mythology as well. It's believed that Mount Meru is surrounded by an ocean.

Now here comes the most exciting part: the walk to Angkor Wat.

Angkor Wat, one of the contemporary 7 Wonders of the World. They should play some background music along the causeway, heighten up the vibe. My heartbeat was seriously accelerating, mixed emotions (I don't know whether to cry or to laugh out loud).

I know I sound crazy. But I've been dying to see Angkor Wat with my own eyes.

After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the entrance of the outer wall.

Very similar to the Forbidden City of China, you have to walk about a kilometre to reach the main complex. First, cross the moat; second, choose an entrance; third, walk towards the main complex.

Another thing is, all these huge temples are surrounded by moats. There are various reasons as to why there must be a moat:

The priests said it resembles the ocean surrounding Mount Meru.
The civil engineers said that the water of the moat provides hydraulic pressure, essential to the stability of the temples, which are mostly built out of sandstones.
The army said that the moat is the classic defense must-have for every fort or VIP buildings. Since ancient Angkor was a very religious country, temples are the top priority.

BEHOLD, ANGKOR WAT. A dream come true.

Look how beautiful her reflection is upon the still waters of the lake. Tagore said that the Taj Mahal is 'one tear drop... upon the cheek of time'; then Angkor Wat is the deep grey pupil in the eye of time, never to fade and never to change.

Angkor Wat is the best preserved Khmer temple, as well as the biggest Hindu temple in South East Asia.

We get to climb up the main tower. The way up was a 75 degrees slope. The way up was easy, if you don't turn and gaze at the world below. The way down was freaky.

The outer walls of the main complex are fraught with large scale scenes of intricate carvings, retelling selected stories from the Mahabrata and Ramayana epics. Scenes included the battle between Rama and Ravana (remember the secondary school Malay classical prose "Sikap Terburu-buru Membawa Padah Buruk"? thats the story); the 37 heavens and 32 hells; one battle scene from the Mahabrata; ceremonial procession of Suryavarman II and the beautiful Churning of the Sea of Milk scene.

Too bad the latter, also the piece de resistance, was under restoration works.

I flew all the way from Malaysia and they said it's under restoration. Urgh.

Had a sumptuous buffet dinner at Siem Reap town. There were traditional dance performances as well: apsara dance, coconut dance, courting dance, etc.

That's all about Siem Reap for now.

Merry Christmas

To all my darlings, dears, machas, 'family members' and friends

Mon Cheri

2010-12-13T20:14:00.003+08:00

I knew there was more to you when I first heard your name.

Like a naive girl, I fell in love with you on our first date, and knew that we're meant to be.

And so we became an item. You and me.

I love your tanned skin.

I love your charcoal gray eyes.

I love the speed you process ideas.

I love the musical voice of yours.

I love you.

I love you, To-chan.

2010-12-10T10:05:00.002+08:00

"There is no greater glory than to die for love."

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"Love in the Time of Cholera"

Before you spit at the sight of this, think about some notable personalities:

Jesus Christ
all the parents in the world
Robert the Bruce
the patriots everywhere
Sumayyah & Bilal
the Apostle Peter
the martyrs of every religion

And the list goes on.

So yes, there is indeed no greater glory than to die for love.

Fairytales!!

2010-11-27T23:27:00.003+08:00

Watched 'Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale' with Edmund and Damien.

I love Disney cartoons. I simply can't get enough of Disney cartoons.

At last, a Disney princess in purple!! Snow White was a mixture of blue and yellow; 'Sleeping Beauty' was pink; the mermaid was green; Belle in gold; Jasmine in baby blue; Cinderella and that New Orleans girl wore the same dress.

Talk about style.

Ooooh, and Rapunzel was barefooted.

Anyway, my point is, every Disney cartoon (not the Princess series alone) are superb. And there will never be a case of too many songs.

2010-11-24T20:57:00.002+08:00

When I don't write anything about us,

it doesn't mean I don't cherish us.

I just don't think there's a need that the whole world should know

about us.

After all, 'us' is made up of two 'u's,

not two 'i's,

and certainly not 'them's.

When I don't write about the pain I feel

when there's a crack between us,

it doesn't mean I don't think it's a big deal.

I just don't like people to look at me with sympathy in their eyes.

It's not like we'll still be together after this;

it's not like it's gonna make you happier.

P/S: The same applies to her.

All That Glitters

2010-11-22T20:51:00.004+08:00

Unsophisticated camaraderie smells of honey, grilled meat and tortillas.

It's also the foolish ignorance you find in almost-legal youngsters.

To live life to its fullest -- carpe diem, is to smile with the deepest satisfaction when you reminisce of bygone times.

Happy belated birthdays to Edmund and WeiKit.

P/S: I get so f-up emotional after gatherings. It's not the 'growing-old' feeling, it's more of like a 'gratitude' kind of feeling. Thank God for friends like these =)

I Eat Snails

2010-11-14T21:45:00.004+08:00

Why shouldn't I? They're so yummy.

Bathed in garlic cheese sauce... ooh empyreal dish!!

People always ask me, "You mean you eat snails?" and I'll always answer, "No. I eat escargot. French snails, you know?"

And when they roll their eyes and say, "It's still snails." I'll tell them that French snails are different from your regular snails, just like French men are different than the regular men. And don't get me going on the Spaniards.

Perhaps Spanish snails taste even better.

But if they still persist, I'll say, "Well, it's better than eating frogs, or innards."

I find people who eat frogs dislike the idea of chewing escargot covered in melted cheese. How illogical.

Went to the Big Bad Wolf Booksale yesterday with Chieh and sapu-ed 7 books.

Chieh's mom's generous erm spending saved me lots of money. Since she bought all of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's books, I save RM16. Oh and then she bought the sequel to Ken Follet's 'The Pillars of the Earth', so I save another RM8.

Muahahaha.

And my patient waiting finally paid of. I finally bought Marcus Sedgwick's 'My Swordhand is Singing'. I've waited so long for it to drop from RM60+ to RM49.90, still waiting for it to drop further but it refused to. Anyway I got it for RM8 now wahahahaha. I waited almost 4 years for this book ok no joke.

Found this interesting book published under the Vintage series called 'Sexing the Cherry' by Jeanette Winterson, which I'm sure KuanYu will love.

It was so difficult to decide between John O'Hara's 'Butterfield 8' and John Fowles' 'The French Lieutenant's Woman'. Both plots are similar, involving a disgraced woman, but differ in the social background and values. I opted for the latter.

May go back to sapu books again on Tuesday. Wee~

Definition of Satisfaction

2010-11-05T21:46:00.005+08:00

Satisfaction is the saving of an hour's queue to enter a popular Japanese fashion retail store.

Photo taken from Chloe's Facebook. Poor girl went there on the opening day and the crowd was mad. Today, it wasn't so bad, much better.

Chieh and I were disparaged by the crowd we saw at 11am+ and decided it's better to satiate our hunger first. When the appetizers and the drinks came, we got to know from Tokyo that Isaac, Chris and Theng were there.

Naturally, the thing to do was to message them and asked if we could... you know... slip in.

How evil, I know.

So the poor guys queued up for an hour whilst we happily ate our lunch and walked there to meet them, conveniently cutting the queue.

The spoils of war. 1 pair of skinny jeans + 1 pair of so-called denim leggings (I still see them as jeans) = RM79.80. Thanks to Isaac's generous gift of a RM20 voucher.

One thing to note: the guys spent more time shopping than us girls. How odd.

Perhaps it's because the nice tops are all sold out, Chieh and I couldn't find any tops worth buying. However, the guys were having a whale of time trying out clothes (this being their 2nd time visiting the store, how I marvel at their persistence).

Isaac said, "I came again because I haven't bought enough clothes!"

Lol. Coming from a guy. Lol.

So we left the store at 5pm, approximately 3.5 hours spent in there.

Chris treated us to dessert at Snowflakes in Pavilion.

This 'beeping UFO' thing is so cute. It beeps when your treat is done. So in.

Satisfaction is also the using of less than RM80 to buy 2 good quality designer jeans and being treated to ice blended desserts.

P/S: Yesterday's 'tomorrow' was good after all =)

I'm Waiting...

2010-11-04T17:00:00.002+08:00

... for tomorrow.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, Tomorrow!

Too bad that you're always a day away. Well anyway, I still love you, Tomorrow.

P/S: I love you even more, New Clothes. Bet on your last dollar, I'll always love you.

When Boys Come Together

2010-10-29T09:10:00.002+08:00

I was on the phone with Edmund last night. There was some noise in the background (some squealing) which could be ignored until suddenly it exploded.

Me : Why so noisy one?

Mund : Huh? Oh. That Jason lah. He's watching Japanese porn.

Me : Wtf! *laughed madly, stopped abruptly and asked in a serious tone* Serious?

Mund : Yea la. Haiz. Stupid one.

Me : And you're not watching?

Mund : *incredulous tone* No. Please la, I don't watch Japanese porn.

Me : Oh yea, I forgot. You watch other porns.

Towards the end of the conversation...

Mund : Tonight I'm sleeping on the bed.

Me : *horrified* You're gonna hug your friend and sleep?! *wtf wtf wtf*

Mund : Hell no!! Please la, I'm not gay.

Uh huh.

So, this is what happens when boys come together. They laze around in the house, turn the house into a refrigerator, one guy starts watching porn and the others pretend that they're not watching.

Interesting.

Of Words Unsaid

2010-10-28T15:19:00.002+08:00

It came like a splash of cold water on the face at 3am in the morning.

He shook my hand every time I see him when we attended home-fellowship meetings.

You could always see a glint of his pearly whites on his smiling visage.

I remember him by his trademark stutter that comes along with his gentle voice.

Uncle Sim was gone at approximately 8.46pm, Tuesday, 26 October 2010.

Life is a joke when a perfectly healthy person you often rub shoulders with in church, and last talked to 2 weeks ago suddenly crumpled to the floor due to what appears to be a heart attack, and succumbed to Death in not more than half an hour later.

Legacy is farcical when you start talking about the deceased as if there are so many things about him that you could talk about now, but never thought of discussing before.

And the only thing one could say about him when being asked is that, "He was a good man."

Uncle Sim was a man of God, of integrity, of compassion and of love. He presented himself as a rare type of the male population: soft spoken, gentle, somewhat timid and pleasant. In short, a true gentleman.

My heart and prayers go out to Aunt Susan and Jared, whose hearts are filled with emotions of discombobulation and sorrow, and are probably going through the things they regret they never told their loving husband, and doting father.

Woe.

The fragility of Life:

You give and You take,

But You breath life.

"Death be not proud," challenged

Dr. Donne with his pen.

For we retire this life of

Pain of the flesh, illness of the bone,

To an eternity of peace

In mind,

In soul.

So, we thank thee, Death;

We thank thee, fragile Life.

But we thank thee both

With tears in our eyes, and

More --

More as the Tiber will flow.

The Gay Years

2010-10-22T07:56:00.007+08:00

Nostalgia is the way you feel when you're stalking someone's high school life to find evidence of the said person's sexuality.

The owner of this picture said this is the evidence of 'group loves', whatever that means.

So maybe he's not gay. Ok. *checks Facebook status* YOU LIAR.

Anyway.

I miss the gay-ness of high school.

One day we'll look back at the photos of yesterdays and say, "How young and golden we were, how gay." And never know that the ray of sunlight that bathed our faces on that day are the exact ones grazing our skins now.

No Life

2010-10-15T21:29:00.003+08:00

My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,

And true plain hearts do in the faces rest...

I understand now why my parents say that time flies.

I understand now why people feel their lives are fading away.

I understand now why most women shed tears for almost all occasions.

I feel that time flies and waits for no one.

I feel that my life is fading away and melts into the air.

I feel that wet substance clinging to my lashes because nothing is forever.

Which was why I held on to it as if it's what preserves my life and wept softly into the night.

Facebook for Dummies

2010-10-10T20:22:00.002+08:00

What I saw in Popular that day.

Seriously. If Gracie knows how to use Facebook, I'm sure everybody can.

Waste 50+ bucks on a manual to using Facebook, this either showed that the Help topics on Facebook are failures; or the buyer is a complete idiot.

And it's as thick as my Contract Law textbook.

P/S: I still don't dare to drive beyond my housing area.

Lonely Lunchtime

2010-10-07T13:13:00.004+08:00

I'm alone in the office now.

The boss was the first to leave for lunch. Mom went for lunch with a client. The other two clerks ate together.

The office boys pop into the office at irregular times, it depends on the journey and the number of documents they have to deliver, but they never come back to the office during lunchtime.

After 2 and half weeks, I've done everything from typing formal letters (rigid, cold as steel, mundane words) to bending paper fasteners. And of course, learning the art of answering calls.

On the first 3 days of work, I started wondering how could people answer phone calls with a smile. It's difficult, especially when the caller informs you of a document the company should collect and they speak too fast, too indecipherable and too eager to hang up the phone.

I felt a little quiver in my throat when the caller asked, "May I have your name? It's for records purpose." That's when I started imagining the outcome of a misinterpreted message, a mispronounced name, or a memory loss.

Working in a legal firm certainly makes you fear a lawsuit.

Looks like a small matter but it could result in a delay of receiving something as minute as an acknowledgment letter; or as serious as the execution of will between feuding siblings.

I don't know. It just scares me.

The world nowadays are full with freshly graduated lawyers, eager to sue people over matters as miniature as sneezing 10 feet behind them just because you scared them, after they've been called to the bar for... 5 minutes before they wanna sue you.

Occasionally, I get rich Hokkien uncles who flirt; wealthy old men who speak fluent English with a hint of Singlish; voluptuous women from China clinging to their Malaysian husbands as if the latter were their Gucci bags; timid house buyers who have minimal knowledge about the procedures involved when you take up loans or buy properties.

Oh yes, I see almost all kinds of people from almost every walk of life.

But I haven't met a tall and handsome young man in working clothes with a tie, who'll walk through the pair of glass doors and dazzle me with his coy smile, and speak English with a banana accent.

I must be dreaming. And I'm blogging whilst working.

Adam, My Rival

2010-09-25T22:23:00.004+08:00

Uh huh. Adam Wafi.

After I told him not to touch Edmund, he still did. In front of me, under the table, his leg fondling Edmund's.

Edmund: Do you know that's my leg?

Adam: *blinks at him then proceeds to fondle again* Oh.

Edmund: *syok face* Wooooo~

As Jeremy warned me before, I should be careful. Can't believe I'm vying for a guy's attention with another guy. And it's Adam. I wouldn't be so flabbergasted if it's Iven I'm fighting with.

So that was the mini gathering with some of the drama peeps on Malaysia Day.

Patrick!! Now I have 2 Patricks. Patrick the red dog; Patrick the starfish.

Lunch with Chieh was fulfilling: appetite-wise and mental-wise. We talked about Law over a meal of Kenny Roger's.

When Chieh and I talked about watching 'The Owls of Ga'Hoole' rather than 'Legend of the Fist', Edmund said, "What's so nice about watching a bunch of birds flying? At least the Donnie Yen movie got fighting."

Males *sigh*

I'll have you know owls are cute.

P/S: I passed my driving test. Wee~

Musician Girlfriends

2010-09-21T13:25:00.003+08:00

Are you familiar with the name Vanessa-Mae?

Yes. This girl. The violin player. The youngest ever to play Beethoven and Tchaikovsky's violin concertos.

'Destiny', her own composition.

'Storm', by Vivaldi, played in techno style.

She's hot. She's got moves, just watch how she moves her body when she plays the violin. She's single.

It's just kinda sad that people name Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox as beautiful people; and teenage boys + horny mature adults dub them as sex icons, but talented people like Vanessa-Mae and The Corrs are ignored.

Methinks musicians make better girlfriends than actresses.

For one, your actress girlfriend may be acting to love you, 'cause they're all about acting and often get lost in their character's world. I'm talking about the Hollywood and Bollywood and whatever -wood actresses.

Musicians are often quiet and sensitive people. They're sensitive to sound, of course. And they're talented with their fingers. If you know what I mean.

Flutists are talented with their tongue.

Wtf.

Must Have Been Centuries

2010-09-20T15:11:00.002+08:00

I told HuiChi my deepest and darkest secret last Thursday:

I can no longer write.

Well, I can still write academic essays, formal letters and reviews. But I can no longer write with emotions. My writings are dead now. It's like a flat piece of shit without shape.

That sensitiveness that I had when I was still in high school, the perspective I used to view everyday things, the degree of observance that I used to possess... they're all gone.

Another thing -- it's been centuries since I wrote something that is NOT an assignment or an obligation. I became lazy. I became senseless.

I'm no longer what I was. And it's sad.

My Poor Leg

2010-09-13T23:13:00.004+08:00

Damien bought new games for me to play on his Wii.

'Alice in Wonderland', the Tim Burton version.

He knows most of the Wii games we have are gender-biased (towards his sex, of course), hence he decided to be a good brother and buy some games for me.

He even bought this for me. I'm a sucker for the series (personally, I like Australia's most, Alice Burdeu omg). Such a sweet brother I have.

Anyway, the topic is my leg.

In Muar, we had a BBQ party at grandma's house. Since they don't have a proper BBQ kit, they built BBQ pits out of bricks -- somewhat like mini altars. Charcoals were poured into the pits and lighted, wire gauzes was placed above it.

Being the cousin sister my babies adore (it's so true), they came to me, asking me politely to help them BBQ the bacons, the sausages, the chicken wings, etc.

And so I walked back and forth from the pits, sometimes crisscrossing between them. Then, at that fateful moment...

I scratched my leg on the wire gauze. The scorching hot wire gauze.

When it happened I just felt a tinge of pain, an amalgamation of heat and an ant bite. I looked at my leg and it looked fine under the dim light. After a while, I saw 5 distinct pink scratches. Then the pink darkened into vermillion, then crimson.

Only then did I uttered 'ouch', and limped my way into the house to wash the wound.

My sensitive wound only permits me to wear flip flops and Japanese slippers.

Ouch.

I've been watching 'The Tudors' lately. Yes, I ditched 'Gossip Girls' season 3 for the man with 6 wives and countless mistresses. However, rest assured my affection for Chuck Bass will remain unchanged.

All I can say about the series is:

If you're a guy, you'll wish you're Henry VIII.
If you're like me, you'll love Natalie Dormer's portrayal of Anne Boleyn.
If you're a guy, you'll definitely love it.

P/S: Aaah. What TV series shall I indulge in next?

Escape to Bali #4

2010-09-09T12:40:00.006+08:00

On our last day in Bali, mom and I went walking around Kuta Beach.

Langkawi what? This is so much better.

Blue sky + blue sea + white sand~

Plus angmohs. Ahahahahaha.

We're always so conscious about our body we don't dare wear bikinis. But the angmohs don't care if there's a lump of fat here or cellulites there...

Just flaunt it.

Kuta Beach is more for surfers; Sanur Beach for water sports.

My hotel's swimming pool is for swimming laps and drinking.

First time on an Airbus A330, flying from Bali to Jakarta. Airbus huge. Airbus awesome. Airbus has a lot of games and movies. Packed like a sardine fish can, but still plenty of space left.

There were only 14 or 15 of us on the flight from Jakarta to KLIA. They're all angmohs, another 2 ABCs who think Malaysia is uncivilised and were surprised to see awesome KLIA.

Bought Toffifee!! Yummy yummy chocolates.

Then I tried to cook macaroni and cheese...

I found it not thick enough, Damien said it was tasteless. At least it looks good =D

Astro called me 4 times the day before A Level results were released. It sounded like they wanted me to come for another interview, but I wasn't so sure they would still want that after I told them my results and my university placing.

But the lady in-charge was adamant, even after I e-mailed my results to her. Frankly, I thought this was gonna be some miracle. She arranged an interview for me with the HR Director, who turned out to be the man who 'poured cold water' on me during the first interview, as deduced from Chloe's description.

Thankfully, he had an emergency meeting and the Assistant Vice President of the Talent Management took over the interviewing session. He was very nice, and he actually looked through my file.

This morning at 7.29am, Chloe and I received a text message from the lady in-charge.

P/S: I thought it to be either a mistake, as I was told there was only 1 position left. And here Chloe and I are, getting full scholarships. Is this for real?

Escape to Bali #3

2010-09-04T13:47:00.010+08:00

Yana had a family emergency so we had a new tour guide, Ayu.

We went glass-bottom boating all the way to Turtle Island.

The water was very clear but it was too dark. Can't really capture visible photos of corals and fishes.

They breed turtles there, kononnya to preserve wildlife and all.

But I don't buy that. If they're trying to protect turtles, then why did they sell accessories made out of turtle shells and skin? Hypocrites.

It's so cruel to manhandle a turtle. Look at it struggling. Seriously, I dislike it. I mean, you can touch it, but carrying it up and laugh about it?

How would you like another person to suddenly carry you up without your permission, pose a photo with you and laugh about it?

I do that to Maxie but hey, he knows me; the turtle has only seen you once in its entire lifetime.

And here are my photos of mom acting like a budak kecil.

She behaved like my elder sister instead of a mother when we were there. It's weird. I know she enjoyed it. Because she doesn't look her age, she looks so much younger than her actual age.

And she'll kill me if I tell you how old she really is.

Balinese eat pork because they're 99% Hindus. This is the famous guling babi.

Unlike the Chinese suckling pig, they roast the whole mature pig, not the baby pig. So you get to eat the skin, the fats, the lean meat, as well as the innards. They use turmeric and other herbs to hide the 'pig' smell.

I'm not one who likes pork dishes, but this... me likey =D

Had lunch in Ubud, the new tourism capital of Bali.

We were told that the new thing for Bali is farm stay as the angmohs gradually got tired of the beach and the sea.

I vote for the beach and the sea.

Chalets with the traditional 'atap' roof overlooking the rice fields. The harvest season was just over when we visited. It's a quiet little town, more family oriented. Kuta is more of a Bintang Walk, whereby this is like Fraser's Hill.

Our lunch -- crispy roasted duck with the usual side dishes. Honestly, I prefer the roasted ducks sold near Leisure Mall. Different palette.

Visited the ancient palace, also built around the 16th century, of Ubud.

The locals believe in karma. They're very friendly and almost sinless. They don't steal because they believe that if they do, someone else will steal a possession of their 7 times more valuable than the one they stole.

Hence, it's safe for the authorities to lay their gold antiques under the sun. They'll be there. They've been there since the last century, I think.

After some shopping, we proceeded to Tanah Lot to check out the famous Pura Tanah Lot, one of the 7 sea temples of Bali.

Now, the queer thing here is that these 7 temples were built by the sea, in eyesight of the other temples. This means that when you're at the Pura Tanah Lot, you can see the Pura Luhur Uluwatu far at the horizon, as well as Pura Rambut Siwi (if I'm not mistaken, that's the name) at the other end.

Plus, the temple was built from rocks. It's like it was carved out of the rock formation itself.

Another shrine. If only I have a DSLR and know how to use it.

We had Chinese food for dinner, much to my chagrin. I came all the way to Bali not to eat Chinese food: I came to Bali to eat Balinese cuisine. Yes, we've been eating Balinese cuisine for the past 2 days but I eat Chinese food almost everyday of my life.

Anyway, mom's choice. The tom yam soup was nice though.

P/S: Lian asked me to be her roommate in Sun-U Residence. No. I wanna come home to see my doggie and sleep in my own bed. I wanna continue earning extra pocket money from Minda Ceria 2.

Going to BookFest on Monday. Wee~

Escape to Bali #2

2010-08-29T14:21:00.022+08:00

The tour agency paired us with a Mexican family for the next day. I admit that I was excited to meet angmohs.

Our first stop -- Barong Keris dance.

It's like an opera, but without singing and minimal dialogues. Basically it's all dancing and 'fighting'. It's a local legend adopted from the Mahabrata.

So many DSLRs around, with super long lenses.

The Rangda aka Monster. Rawr.

Oh and there's a monkey behind.

On the way to Kintamani, there are 4 villages. Each village has its own signature handicraft. The first village we visited is famous for their handmade batik.

There are 2 types of batik, the painted one and the weaved one.

My little Mexican friend who thought I was 14 years old. Ricardo has soft curly black hair and hazel irises. He speaks impeccable English without accent. His last name is Torres.

Ahhhhh angmoh kids.

Passed by a village which specialises in stone carvings. We didn't visit this village because none of us are interested to buy a heavy and fragile statue. Although they are really really cheap, shipping them back home will cost a bomb.

The motifs are mainly Hindu-Buddhism.

The giant volcanic lake of Kintamani. At this height, the weather is cooling like in Fraser's Hill. The view is spectacular.

The active volcano. Judith, Mrs. Torres, almost freaked out when Yana informed us that it's still 'alive'. The last eruption was 2 decades ago if I'm not mistaken.

That's what I'm talking about: lunch beside an active volcano. It's not so much about the thrill; it's more about the picturesque scenery and the clement weather.

The food wasn't fantastic, but good. Their mixed vegetable soup rocks though. Maybe this was where Edmund ate the 'poisonous' onion rings. Anyhow, my stomach isn't as delicate as his. No food poisoning.

Coffee beans in civet cat poo. That's how you get the aromatic and rich civet cat coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world.

Why is it the most expensive coffee in the world? That's due to the quality of the coffee beans and the processing of it.

Firstly, you don't wake up and find civet cat poo in your front lawn everyday. You may find them in your neighbour's. Secondly, civet cats are choosy animals, they only pick the best coffee beans to eat.

The terraced rice fields. More greenery. Bali has enough food sources to sustain its inhabitants. If ever I were to move to a kampung area, I'd move to Bali.

I'm joking. I'll never move to a kampung area. Too much of a city girl.

A village where villagers are skilled oil painters. Realism, cubism, abstract, whatever you want. I prefer watercolour paintings more than oil paintings. Oil paintings lack the serenity and phantasmagorical quality that watercolour paintings have.

That's a personal opinion. I like Van Gogh's oil paintings though, especially the one about stars in the night sky.

The signature handicraft, wood carving, of another village.

My expression said, "Wth. How did they do that?"

Carolina and I in 'sarongs'. We had to wear sarongs as a sign or respect before entering the temples.

I find the architecture fascinating. It's 16th century Balinese design.

The Balinese do not have figurines of the gods they worship on altars and shrines, unlike the Indian Hindus. Yana said they pray to the spirit of the gods.

She got so bored whilst we were shopping for silver jewelry she had to play Top Model. Aww... angmoh kids I tell you.

Mio carino Carolina, one day you'll regret for not choosing an earing or two. That village is famous for its silversmith works, you know.

I absolutely love this part of the day, like totally -- candlelight dinner on the beach!!! XD

I love hearing the sound of waves lapping on the beach, I love the vibe, I love the fine sand, I love the clear night sky, I love the stars, I love the restaurant's band singing 'La Bamba'...

... and I looooooooooove the food omg glorious barbeque seafood.

I love everything except the prawns. Not a big fan of prawns. We should have tried the lobster and crab.

The ambience was so romantic that everybody was cuddling, all the angmohs especially. Angmoh girl laid her head on an angmoh guy's shoulder. Judith and Julio playing kissing games (see how people keep the flame burning even when they're almost 50 and with children).

And I have no angmoh to cuddle with *sulk* *sulk*

They didn't join us for the next day's tour as they only signed up for a 1 day tour. Sigh. Shall miss my sweet Carolina. I wish my daughter will look like her.

IF I could have a daughter. 20 years time.

Ok 10.

Well it isn't up to me to decide when right? Who knows when the ingredients will arrive. Or if they ever will arrive.

P/S: MACC should get a new lawyer. Abdul Razak can't even speak English properly, not to mention that he doesn't understand simple English as well. Oh, and he lacks common sense. Cindy can be a better lawyer than him.

I don't understand why that principal had to say, "... balik ke negara asal!" My homeland is Malaysia, just like them, just like you. If it's because you settled here before we did, thus making us foreigners...

Well, we all know who the original inhabitants are, don't we?

Escape to Bali

2010-08-21T22:46:00.014+08:00

I flew to Jakarta in business class.

Oh yes I did. I've lived for 18 years and had finally had a taste of what it's like to fly business class. They upgraded us for free, which was the best part.

Such a big seat, so comfy, so spacious I looooooved it.

They serve you welcome drinks in wine glasses. How classy is that?!

When those from the economy class have no choice regarding the menu, we were allowed to choose between 2 set meals: omelette or rendang chicken.

Shall work harder next time to earn enough money and fly business class again =D

Since they don't have the train thingy in Jakarta airport, they transport passengers to the immigration via buses and limos. Of course, the business class people enjoy the latter.

Stayed in the Aston Inn Tuban. 20 minutes walk to Kuta beach.

The thing I love about this hotel is its decorations. Everything is purple.

Purple painting, purple pillows, purple wall, purple shampoo and shower gel with lavender scent!!

Our guide, Made Mulyana (or Yana), was so friendly and helpful. He brought us for aroma therapy + traditional Balinese massage after we settled down.

Frankly, it felt so awkward and embarrassing when the masseuse asked me to strip off every piece of clothing and lie on the mattress completely naked. Alright, not utterly naked. Anyway the massage was good.

We had dinner in this pretty gazebo. Indonesian cuisine, flying Gurame fish being the plat de jour.

Doesn't it look as if it's flying?

After dinner, we went for a sojourn around Kuta Central. It's like the Balinese version of Bintang Walk, only crappier. You see so many Dolce & Gabbana outlets you'd know none of them are real.

The streets were filled with ang mohs walking around topless or in mini tube dresses. I saw hot bods ranging from any size to any number of packs to any skin tone to any density of hair LOL.

The memorial erected after the terrorist bombing tragedy in Bali.

P/S: Results aren't what I expected. Felt better till I saw them leaving for UK and Hong Kong. Could be in Edinburgh by next month if I got the scholarship, but I'm too much of an idiot.

Took me a while to wake up and see that the problem is my pride. Like what Mrs. Dharma said, "I'm really happy for you. You did well, nothing's hurt, except maybe your pride."

I can always do my masters in Oxford.

Heartiest thanks to him who took leave and accompanied me to get my results, talked me through, assured me and suffered a summons for me.

How I'm a Threat to Trees

2010-08-11T21:30:00.011+08:00

Trees everywhere should cower in fear when they see me driving near them.

As if trees have eyes. Way to go, girl. Anyway, driving lesson was fun today.

The reason why I almost drove into a tree was because I didn't know the right way to handle the steering wheel when doing a U-turn. My hands got stuck halfway, I panicked, my foot stepped harder on the accelerator.

My instructor was good. You may think he mumbles too much, like a grandma, but that's just what I need. I need someone to mumble about my driving skills (like I have any).

Most importantly, I need a patient and strict instructor. Because I may knock things. Or kill things.

Away from the morbid subject, I'm now working. RM 4 per hour.

There are only 2 students. It's so quiet I think it's haunted.

See what I mean? JunKiat told me I can bring a laptop along to watch movies. "To kill time," he said. To me, 2 hours pass by pretty fast.

I have nothing to complain about. Except for the deafening quietness.

An old picture of ChunWai strumming his guitar. I love this picture because whenever I look at it, I feel the vibe of that day. Very nostalgic, especially now when John is already in Chicago.

One day we'll all fly away.

Which is why you need a laptop, wifi and a webcam. That is, if your laptop is the grandfather of all laptops, like daddy's.

It's good to be pampered and spoiled. I'm sure all girls share my sentiment =)

She brightens my day. Her smile is that of an angelic radiance that obliterates my woes.

NiuNiu inspires poetry. She's the epitome of innocence and loveliness. It's impossible not to fall in love with her. Mommy Sarah made the last photo her display picture (because it looks like her, duh).

Love me grandma. She's so adorable and youthful for her age. I think it runs in the family. People often say that about mom (much to MY chagrin, hmph).

My skin looked like porcelain. That Lumix camera is good.

Farewell, HP Pavilion dm4-1002TX

2010-08-09T13:02:00.007+08:00

Working at the PC Fair has been a bittersweet experience.

It was bitter because Dell and Sony have laptops with attractive colours, where as HP and Compaq laptops are just dull. The only saving grace was the HP Mini.

However, IT dudes know that the Acer Mini has a faster processor working at 1.8 GHz whereas the HP Mini moves at only 1.66 GHz. So yea, the comparing.

Speaking of comparing, another company selling HP laptops upstairs were giving out 25 free gifts, increased to 30 during the last few hours of the Fair. All IT gave only 10 free gifts, increased to 13 during those last minutes.

Ironically, it was also sweet because I get to touch the HP Pavilion dm4-1002TX everyday. I love the beautiful design and soft shiny colour. It's the most expensive laptop we're selling, best price at RM 3299. I think selling 1 unit of it is like hitting the jackpot.

But I won't recommend it to customers. Although it operates on the i5 processor, the hard disk size is only 320GB and has a RAM size of 2GB only. The only plus points are the design and the biometric fingerprint recognition. Might as well get the Compaq Presario CQ42-291TX, i5 processsor as well with 500GB hard disk memory and 4GB RAM

size.

Another nice thing about working at the Fair was the screaming. Sensonic had promoters screaming almost at every hour since day 1. Frankly, I am in awe of that girl who led the screaming and yelling. "Sensonic, HUAT AA!! Happy hour!!" to which Daniel replied with "HP LAPTOP!!!"

The best event was singing 'Nobody' during that last hour of the Fair.

An interesting event that happened a day before the Fair was mom's sudden decision to travel to Muar for Grandma's birthday. I thought she went mad.

Because of that, I had to skip my first day of work. Not a very good impression for a new employee. Anyway, it was worth it. I got to see my 10 year old cousin sister drunk after 3 sips of red wine.

I don't know how to flip the video (and yes it's too small) but you can still see how drunk she was. Laughing and shaking, giggling and blushing all night. We were sure she was drunk when she almost fell down whilst walking to her seat.

Happy belated 70th birthday to my Grandma =)

I'm so freakin' tall. It's a good thing right? Wee~

P/S: I sold 14 laptops. If that stupid fella who backed out at the last minute came back for the laptop, it would be 15.

Still hate him. He pressured us to give him the speakers that HP reserved as a free gift for another model. Add on the 10 free gifts and extra headset that he ALSO pressured us to give him for free, frankly I don't think we earned any profit. And then he wanted a pendrive.

PC Fair is a business fair, not a charity. Deng him.

Our Date With Hector Berlioz

2010-07-26T13:31:00.005+08:00

That was the main event of the week.

Chieh and I went to Dewan Filharmonik yesterday to watch Berlioz's 'La damnation de Faust'. WingYie and her family were there as well.

She suggested for another Subway breakfast appointment. Gah I'm so hungry.

It's not really an opera like 'Tristan und Isolde' and Mozart's epic 'Le nozze di Figaro', more like a smaller one. No elaborate costumes or actions; more focus on the singing and facial expressions. There are minimal actions, e. g. the seducing of Marguerite and Faust's escape.

Overall, it was an enchanting performance. I was looking forward to hearing Mephisto's baritone part, sang by Nicolas Courjal. Chieh and I fell in love with him. Ah French men.

Marguerite's part was sang by Katherine Rohrer because the original singer was down with flu. Anyway, she was equally as engaging as the rest of the cast, in terms of voice. However, the guy who sang Brander's part has the face for Mephisto's. The 'bad boy' face lol.

Love Marguerite's dreamy serenade.

Love the Menuet des follets.

Love the end of Part IV where Mephisto and Faust ride to hell.

The music was quite cinematic and modern in the climax. The style is similar to present-day composers like Clint Mansell and James Horner.

Though it was a very neck-straining experience (straining to read the English subtitles on the projector), I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Right after that, I rushed to attend this gathering planned by John. For us 2003 SJK(C) Naam Kheung 6K students.

It has been 7 years. We still remember those age-old scandals and childish things we did. I even confessed to Ms. Khoo how I 'shortened' the essays she asked us to copy.

Bunny and I weren't in the pictures because we left a little earlier.

It's so good to see them again. It's so good to have ChunWai play the guitar whilst we hum to that pretty song, '童年'.

Ecstatic when ChunWai strummed his guitar and sang 'When You Say Nothing At All' for me. Aww. I almost melted.

P/S: I miss Bunny, ShinWee and LungChuin the most XD

And I find that KL is such a small place people are interconnected. As in, your friend may know your classmate from college whom you'd never dream would know each other.

About Planting Ideas

2010-07-22T12:31:00.003+08:00

I'm currently still recovering from the awe of 'Inception'.

'Inception' is the movie. Of. The. Year. The impact on the viewers was just like the impact you get after watching 'Transformers'. The first movie, of course. The sequel kinda sucked.

No. 'Inception' was better. It was the bomb. Omg. I think Leonardo DiCaprio may just bag an Oscar for Best Actor.

His acting was just mouth gaping. The character mimics that of the one he played in 'Shutter Island'. Broken man, isolated from his family, unable to release the past, lost in his work. Looking forward to see DiCaprio take up a pure villain role.

The next movie I wanna watch would be 'Despicable Me' because of Agnes and the Minions.

Everybody is mad about this quote: "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die! It's so FLUFFY!!!" I want it as my SMS ringtone. I heard Josh has it.

Agnes is so cute. If only my future daughter (if I were to have one) will be as cute as her.

Met up with Chieh before the movie. The last time I saw her was 2 days before she went to Taiwan for her graduation + 'coming-of-age' trip with YiLing.

Picture 2 girls on a 10-day vacation in Taiwan and what do you get? Overloaded luggage full of shoes, clothes, perfumes and cosmetics; as well as the loss of a few thousand bucks.

But whether or not it was a total waste of money depends on the spoils concerned, as well as the individual price of the spoils and the quality. NTD 290 for a pair of heels of that quality is NOT a waste of money.

I won't say the same for the perfumes. Not a big fan of perfumes. Tsk tsk, Chieh.

Thank you so much for the chocolates =)

A box of Guylian seashells chocolates and 3 bars of Hershey's milk chocolate. Not to forget the pretty necklace and funny hair band. I love you so much, Chieh X)

In addition to that, 2 bars of Cadbury Black Forest from babe. I'm in chocolate heaven. How I wish my fridge will be filled with that much chocolate everyday.

Gosh I'm a chocoholic. Omg there's such a word.

As expected of girls, every 'meet up' includes some food (a drink and some snacks, usually shared) and an overdose of sharing and comparing ideas.

No, 'sharing and comparing ideas' is not another word for 'gossip'. There's a slight difference between the two, a thin line but still, not to be confused.

It's a very beneficial and healthy activity, you know. You males just frown, complain that we gossip or put down other homo sapiens with senseless perceptions but no, that's not it. It's not about that.

It's a form of therapy.

I feel so much better after 3 hours of talk. Less guilt, definitely. And not so troubled anymore. Like what KJ always say, "Let it be."

It Comes After the Rain

2010-07-18T18:58:00.003+08:00

Fresh ideas and inspiration usually come to me after a heavy rain.

It's actually kinda metaphoric. Fresh ideas, after a heavy downpour. Fresh, downpour.

Whatever.

Cindy's favourite peas. Such a healthy eater. The only time I'll eat healthy is when I'm sick. Or when I'm having a baby.

Otherwise, my daily diet will be made up of solely oily food and more oily food.

And some tofu. Tofu is good. I love tofu, hence my skin texture =)

Just had to snap a picture of fried squid rings in the night market. They reminded me of Paul. Although Paul is an octopus but didn't you notice we sometimes confuse octopus and squids?

Or maybe that's just me.

Anyway, fried squid rings are good. Fried octopus tentacles? Never tried.

God bless Paul.

The Remnants

2010-07-09T17:27:00.007+08:00

I can say a million mean things to her in the face.

But that would make me a bitch, wouldn't it?

I have absolutely nothing against her. Hell, we don't even know each other. Most probably I won't even know that she exists if he never told me (I'm thankful for his honesty anyhow).

The only problem that is between us (unknowingly for her) is that I'm jealous.

I'm so darn jealous. Envious of what she has and I don't. Which sounds very childish and stupid, it's like I have no life and nothing else better to do (quite true, given the circumstances).

And I'm not saying that I'm not. I admit it.

Like every guy, he tells you that he loves you the way you are.

It makes sense. He wouldn't be with you if that isn't the case. Maybe he doesn't like the way you look on some days -- e.g. your bad hair day -- but that case is in the minority. You should just be thankful that he likes you for most of the days.

Not much reason for me to be jealous, is there?

5 more months to being 19 and I just embarked on my first bumpy ride of boy-girl relationship 2 months ago. So I'm a late bloomer sort-of. I'm too much of a school girl behind the thick polycarbon spectacles, and my vision slips a tad because of too much sweat on the bridge of my nose.

One reason why I got into a relationship later than everybody was because there were no suitors. You seriously don't expect someone as nerdy as I am to have suitors. What with my thick polycarbon spectacles (doesn't this just 'bespeak' of geek-i-ness? lol) and unsmiling face. Weird sense of humour, Rachel Berry-esque attitude, and odd preference for Literature, the Performing Arts, History and Philosophy. Neither cute enough nor hot enough even the nerds didn't want me.

Another one is that I'm not ready for commitment. Face it, there's a certain level of commitment involved when you agree to be someone's boyfriend or girlfriend. No more flirting, hello? How do you live with that? For some cases, you may need to decrease the number of times you hug someone of the opposite sex. It's like being controlled, with your consent of course.

Similarly, I don't want to form an emotional attachment with someone, then break up with him if it doesn't work out and move on to the next male in line. Because there'll be leftovers, remnants, seemingly forgotten pieces of him/her that you can never erase from your memory.

And that's why I'm jealous.

We all know that our past haunts us, especially the sour ones, bitter ones, unpleasant ones. We stumble sometimes, there are mistakes. Some so obnoxious they sting you, make you cry and you're forced to regret and live with it for the rest of your lives.

Personally, I think that isn't the worst case scenario. I think having torn pieces of someone else in your heart is worse. It's like you sticked 2 papers together, leave it for a while, then try to separate it.

You won't be able to get a clean separation. No. Pieces of one paper will be sticked on the other, and one paper will always have missing pieces.

I think she has taken some of him along with her. I think he still has some of her deep in him.

Maybe I'm thinking too much. But that night when he said, "It's because of the past..." I just thought of her. All that comparing I did in secret: what she's good at, her IQ all the way to the type of style she sports.

Sometimes I wanna lock myself up and ask Cindy or Chieh to slap me awake. But I'll never tell them this face to face, I may write to them.

I could never muster the courage to tell him. If I do, he'll most probably shake his head, laugh at me, ruffle my hair and tell me I'm thinking too much. Or he may sigh and look at his shoes sadly, then give me an unfathomable stare and we'll sink into awkward silence.

That's why I wrote it out. Because I can no longer contain this. No more. Nevermore.

Where Rainbows End

2010-07-05T23:11:00.007+08:00

The title sounds like something from a Cecilia Ahern book.

Snapped this in my garden. I think there's a pot of gold at that end of the rainbow.

Buried by leprechauns. Stingy little green men. Evil midgets.

Not necessarily in the literal sense of the phrase -- 'pot of gold'. Could be black gold, as in oil or petroleum.

It's the first time I saw a full arched rainbow. And I noticed it started with purple and not red. Shall go back to my primary school and tell that to my Science teacher.

Listening to Son by Four's 'A Puro Dolor' now as I type. I feel as if I can write one descriptive piece of essay again, like how I used to in Mr. Sean's class.

I miss you, Mr. Sean. Just in case you're reading this.

Went back to Muar again last weekend.

Had a whale of a time with the babies. It doesn't matter if they're not below 1 year old or they're not longer in prams, they're still babies to me.

Ah, kids. Absolutely *heart* them.

JiYing and the shy Clement. Poser betul that little fellow. Just like me. Wee~

Edmund said, "The girl very cute. I like." JiYing has her first fan already. Ah my pretty cousins.

This was the last movie I watched before the exams.

And Puss is still sexy although he's fat. Mainly because he has Antonio Banderas' voice. Ahhh... mio carino~

I missed a lot of good movies because of exams. Let's see, 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time', 'The A-Team', 'Letters to Juliet' and 'Coco Avant Chanel'.

The first movie I watched after exams was 'Toy Story 3', which was super duper uper luper GOOD!! Pixar never fails you, because it's a part of Disney.

Since Disney never fails, Pixar won't.

Personally, methinks 'Finding Nemo' was epic and their best!

DORY!! I love Dory. I shan't eat dory fishes anymore. No pan-fried dory for me.

Now I shall slowly catch up with the flow. I'm so outdated. I think the newest song in my playlist is 'Airplanes' by B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams, which is quite old.

Speaking of playlist and songs, my MP3's battery died on the way to Muar. At the starting of the journey. Wtf?!

It died as in, permanent farewell, gone with the wind. Now it's with Aunt Agnes and she shall perform a surgery on it and bring it back from the Underworld. I'll be deprived of it for at least 2 months.

That's not the worse part. The worse part is that my playlist will be gone. Erased *poof* gone.

Thank God for the Walkman babe gave me 2 months ago.

My earphones were damaged beyond words and babe said he has an extra which he never used. I didn't think it came in an unopened box along with a Sony B series Walkman.

Being the tech jakun I am, I thought it was just for recording because it said so on the cover. And I didn't know about it until today when babe told me.

Me: Gahhh! MP3 deprived for 2 months! How to survive 5-hour undang talk on Saturday?

Babe: I lend you my iPod Nano want or not?

Me: Expensive thing. I scared I damage it. Nevermind la I bring my novels to read.

Babe: Lol ok, nerd. Eh, the Walkman I gave you last time cannot use kah?

Me: Huh? It's an MP3 meh?

Babe: Duh.

P/S: Yes I'm finally taking the first step to learning how to drive on Saturday. Starting with the torturous 5-hour talk for undang.

It's been a pleasure spending 2 months with you.

The Lightness Under My Feet

2010-06-26T22:56:00.009+08:00

My A Level days are finally over.

No more studying at nail-biting speed for a while. University life will be starting soon enough, either August if I end up in Singapore or February if I don't.

Anyway, I miss the thrill of studying. Also, there's the queasy feeling in the stomach you get when you sit for an exam knowing NOTHING about what you're facing.

I won't say I did well in A Level. Somehow, you can easily predict what you'll get for your exams when you put down your pen and hand in the paper.

It's not like SPM, where you think you wrote shit but you ended up with an A1, or A+ for now.

A Level is very real. If you wrote shit, you get shit. Literally speaking. However, there's a rare chance that you may do better than you expect, for example in English Literature. Or you may do worse, like in Economics.

My subject combination was good. Strictly towards humanities. 2 subjects of pure essay writing.

Mr. Lawrence's lobster spaghetti. So hot. Not the lobster, the person himself. Oh yes he is sizzling hot in his red prom shirt.

Right now, I'll just pray for my English Literature (because I think I screwed up Unit 3) and my Economics (because I screwed up Unit 4 as well). Please God let me have ABBB at least.

Can't wait for the lingerie shopping trip Chieh and I planned. The shopping trip on July 1 as well. She even planned for a night market excursion on 30th, to celebrate her liberty.

Ah. I enjoy friendship.

Just met up with part of the drama gang today, after so long. I missed out their trip to Pavilion for Jer's birthday, this time I shan't.

Thanks to Ben, I just noticed we're all in different colleges and schools now:

Gurpreet was from Stamford and I from MCKL; anyway we're both out of college now.
Iven's in Berjaya learning how to be the next Anthony Bourdain.
Nic's cavorting in Taylors like the horny girl she is.
Jer's studying Accounting, of all things he could do, in TARC.
Cat's going to Ipoh to take up Education.
Grace is enjoying tall Chinese males in Cochrane.
Ben the young boy is still in SMKTC.

That's about it. We're all passionate about the performing arts but none of us could go there.

But we still stick close together. It's great to have them. Love you guys and thanks for the afternoon.

A good laugh, a good shout and a good hug... that's just what I needed.

Missing my baby cousins. Will be going to Muar next weekend, if everything goes according to plan. Yay~

Shall sit for my Undang soon, as well as learning how to drive an old manual Kancil. The fun I shall have. I understand that driving is a tasking job, especially when there are jams.

Chieh will be going to Taiwan for a holiday with her friend. The Bali trip is unconfirmed and most probably won't come to fruition as well. At least, I hope the 5s2 gang will be able to cook up a holiday plan that doesn't include Genting Highlands.

That's all for tonight, folks. All the best to those finishing A Level this coming week.

P/S: South Korea lost. I'm sad =(

Exams and Football

2010-06-10T22:20:00.009+08:00

It's unfair that FIFA starts this month when I'm having exams.I wanna watch Spain. How can I watch FIFA peacefully before finishing my Law papers? I wanna watch Spain. A Level finals are such a killjoy to students all over the world.

Daddy's not gonna subscribe the sports channels because I'm supposed to be studying and it will affect the boys' sleeping habits. Whatever.

Someone please call me during any of Spain's matches and describe EVERYTHING that's happening on the field to me. Someone please text me the scores immediately after the matches.

My first lunch in Suria KLCC's food court... all alone.

McDonalds' McValue lunch set just isn't enough for my gargantuan appetite. I need more. I think I can have 2 McValue lunch sets at one go.

I've been craving for DeliFrance's fruit tarts for so long. Thanks to babe for buying me one.

When I was in kindergarten, Aunt Jennifer used to bring me to Leisure Mall after classes. We would go to the arcade and I'd try out every single ride available for my height. Then she'd treat me to McDonald's. We'd hang out in Popular and before we leave, she'd always buy me a fruit tart.

I miss those carefree days when you don't know what 'entrance requirements' and 'annual tuition fees' are. I miss being a kid.

Dinner in Sunway Pyramid after Damien's ASEAN selection test.

Saw so many nerds waiting at the convention centre for their siblings. I felt so at home. If you were there, you'll agree with me that children nowadays are over-burdened.

Hundreds of kids whose heads can't even reach my shoulders, donning thick spectacles and I-don't-care-what-I-wear outfits pouring out of the examination halls. They've been there for more than 12 hours. Just for the exams.

Damien doesn't look like a nerd, but he's smart, in a stupid way. How ironic.

That's why I love my brother.

That super red and ultra spicy bowl of noodles. Shall never understand why people torture themselves with spicy food.

Just like Chieh. The tom yam soup was so spicy it made her nose runny, yet she still persisted drinking it because it's nice. Talk about masochism.

I never thought he has such good taste. That's regarding the shape.

Most guys don't get this: when you're faced with gold and silver, GO FOR THE SILVER. I don't care if it's cheap silver, stainless steel or whatsoever so long as it is SILVER in COLOUR.

Gold is for grandmas. Or Indians, they love gold (it goes well with their skin).

Platinum is good. Crystals are beautiful. Diamonds are the best. But of course we don't expect you to buy us that, do we? Swarovski and Harry Winston can wait.

So I sat for my first paper for this exam season on Monday.

Economics 2 was manageable. I hope the same goes for my Law papers. Next one coming is Core Maths 3 and English Literature. God help me.

P/S: Today's interview was a disaster. I don't see the point of them wasting time to see me when I didn't include any of the universities they wanted in my application form.

Seriously, what do they want?

And they told me at the very last minute that they didn't want those universities. Yet another 2 interviewers told Chloe a different story.

Mashed into A Pulp

2010-05-17T20:49:00.002+08:00

I thought of the English essay I wrote for the SPM English paper, 'Stars'.

It was an experiment, I was trying out Amy Tan's style of writing. It was also a strategy as I found that Caucasians find the concept of orientalism very fascinating.

A 16 year-old girl from an aristocratic family during the Qing dynasty had a glimpse of her betrothed. She started to fantasise about life after marriage to this man, 5 years her senior and a member of the royal family. Then she started thinking of the ugly side of this arranged marriage.

What kind of person is he? How would it be to live a life of guaranteed luxury? Will he treat her like how a learned gentlemen treats his wife? Does he want mistresses or concubines? How painful is the deflowering process? Will she be able to conceive and give him a son? What will befall her if she couldn't?

Her unanswered questions only heard by the stars.

The marriage took place and the deed done. She sat by the window after her husband was sound asleep and saw the same night scene before her, perhaps the same shining stars. For all she knew, she was a different person. Yet somehow, deep inside, she knew she was still herself.

That's exactly how I feel now.

Awaiting June 25

2010-05-16T17:34:00.006+08:00

As usual, I look forward to the ending of every major examination.

I hate exams. But exams mean that the term is ending. So I love it. Love-hate relationship. Lately, I've been a hyperactive exam candidate. It's worrying me.

Actually, I've been hyperactive for the whole semester, which is very worrying.

When the others have been going out, skipping classes and having fun in the first semester, I was doing the opposite. Can't help it, too pure. I know nothing about the wonders of the outside world.

When others have been studying in the library and practically attend classes like devout believers, I've been itching to skip classes. And I've been going out a lot.

Dad's third attempt at culinary -- so-called 'burgers'. Tomato paste, cheddar cheese and tuna sandwiched in a pita bread.

Something not made from potatoes, which is good. I'm tired of potato salad and mashed potatoes already. I like this dish. Well done, daddy.

Dad's souvenir for us from Sri Lanka, how thoughtful. I looooove chocolates.

Theng looking innocent whilst posing with his 19th birthday present -- an authentic genuine Gundam model.

I love the wordings on the gift: we love you as much as the price of this present!

Epic words.

A few dialogues during Theng's birthday that I found interesting:

1. Someone said to Theng, "Already 19 and we still have to buy dolls to pujuk you."

2. Chieh pushed her milk tea towards Tokyo. Tokyo said, "Nevermind, I don't want." She looked at him with her big eyes and said, "I ask you to stir for me la!"

Nyahahahahaha. I love life.