Golden Jail Bird

Hello everybody! Sorry for having not posted anything for quite some time. I have been officially "captured" and back in my "golden cage" (refer to my analogy of a chick who has learnt to fly and stuck in nest...my perspective of the nest has since changed to a cage). It was an eventuality actually but I am angry because I was dragged home 3 days earlier than I planned. My father gave me the order to return home when I disappointed him by returning to Cheras the moment we came back from Singapore. I didn't mean to disappoint him - I had just wanted to have my freedom and my own room for a little while more. Is that a crime? Apparently, it is a crime in my family law.

The transition from having my own room in a rented room to not having my own "permanent" room has been horrible. For the first few days, I resolved to sleep near Charlie's cage in the living room. But my mom who sensed my unhappiness had kept coming out to check on me in the middle of the night (and anyway, the living room is half of her bedroom). So, after 2 late nights in the living room, I moved temporarily into my grandmother's room. I am still unhappy with the arrangements, what with my clothes are in bags and my newly washed clothes back in the room that I have no access to AND the fact that I cannot find many of my things which are all in bags and arranged clumsily in the living room!

My attempts to escape from the "cage" by re-reading the Harry Potter series (ooh, the last book makes more sense to me now) and by going out to KL on my own have received comments and criticisms too. The worst part is that I could not even o out for drinks in the mamak stall with Brian! My parents are seriously driving me crazy! Their determination to lock me up in the house and my resistance to relinquish my freedom has resulted in a cold-war of some sort. Yes, I love them and I know what they are doing is a way of showing their love towards me. But enough is enough. Wasn't it true that children learn to be stronger when they fall? If they keep locking me up and keep ushering me towards what they want me to do, when will I get the chance to learn? When they pass on to the next world??

Do I sound like an ungrateful brat? Someone I spoke to did say that...Well, how would you feel if you were in my situation? I am truly running out of patience. HELP!

Practising to be a babysitter

Hello everybody...greetings from Singapore! Yup, I've been exported to our neighhbouring country along with my mom to be temporary babysitters/maid. It was just a phone call on Saturday afternoon and less than 24 hours later, my mom and I were on our way to the rescue.

Having helped my sister take care of her elder son for a day and a half almost all by myself (my mom accidentally had some sweet stuff to eat and was tired the whole day), I cannot imagine how a mother can live a normal life! What more a working mother! I think I learnt to look at a mother's life from a different perspective after watching this reality tv show called "Crash Test Mommy" on Discovery Home and Health. One thing I've learnt is that your house can never be as clean or as tidy as you wish it to be when you have kids (unless of course you have a maid to clean up the mess the whole time).

Another thing is that children are so full of energy that you someties wish that you could change their batteries from Energizer to some imitation brand batteries! I was worn out by the end of the first day. And Sean is already much easier to take care of these days!

Well, I got to go now. I think my charge has awaken from his nap. Haha..wish me luck! =)

Supposedly photo-filled post about Redang

Ok, so I finally got the time to go and get these photos from Woon who lives downstairs. Hehe...yup, I am still in denial and living in Cheras. I was just talking to her just now and we agreed that we will be living with our families again, cooped up like we used to be once we get posted. *Cross our fingers* Hope that we still may have our social life once we are back at home. Thinking now, most of my classmates are either first-borns or the youngest. The first-borns set a precedent to their younger siblings - still living at home with mom and dad, and probably still have a curfew at the age of 24; and the youngest (like myself) well, our parents just don't want to let go of their youngest "baby" so soon because they have no other children to hang on to by now.

Hmm..I am guilt-ridden. I miss my family and wish I could spend more time with my mom because she is so lonely. On the other hand, I can't give up my freedom - just yet. Besides, I don't have a room to myself at home still. It's not like I'm trying to get rid of my sister but now that her husband works the night shift, it means that I could not even use what used to be my room too in the afternoons! Ahh..the dilemma of a young chick who has somewhat learnt to fly but is still stuck (or going to be stuck) in the nest for the next few years!

Well, we all have our problems. But, let us not dwell too much into it and enjoy these wacky photos my friends and I took in Redang. You can actually rent the cameras with water-proof casings at the reception. And it's quite cheap too. RM 35 for 50 photos, Rm 45 for 80 photos and RM 60 for 130 photos. They also give you a CD and a free folder of professionally taken photos of the underwater world.

*Ok, I've tried uploading the photos so many times and failed that I give up! So, no photos this time. Wait for the next post or when I have a better internet connection. =)

I like...

I found this remarkable singer when I was watching a YouTube clip of my ex-schoolmate playing the guitar. Sorry, Luke (don't think you will read this, but anyway...) but I prefer this singer's videoclips to yours. Haha...So, people, download this! It's seriously great stuff! Enjoy!

Redang, Kuala Terengganu, Dungun Day 3

Ok, back in Redang...the third day we didn't do much. Brian and I decided to go take photographs and just walk around after breakfast. Laguna Beach Resort is really a nice place, I bet the price is nice too. =P

Laguna Beach Resort...nice.

Here is the famous MoMoCha Cafe. I never did finish watching the movie because I dislike Sammi Cheng's acting (although the movies that she was in all have rather nice plot).

A couple of jumping photos before we left:

We left Redang Island at around 9:30 a.m. in a speedboat which took us only half an hour to reach the mainland. Compare that to an almost 2 hour journey to reach Redang Island on the ferry! Brian's GPS showed that the speedboat was only going at 60km/hour. It was a rather bumpy ride but I enjoyed every moment of it. MeiJu didn't know that sitting at the front of the boat meant that it would be a bumpier ride and happily sat across from Brian and I. Haha...she was "faint boat" for a while (haha..classic translation from YiLoon to mean sea sick).

Meiju feeling "faint boat"

What is a journey to Redang without souvenirs? We went on a shopping spree at the jetty. Advice: Never buy things on the island itself because it would cost more. MeiJu and I bought a cuddly turtle each.

On the way to Woon's house in Dungun, we stopped by in Kuala Terengganu for lunch. We had steamed lekors (which didn't taste too good).

On the way to Dungun from Kuala Terengganu, we stopped by one of the many stalls by the roadside to buy satar. It tastes a little like otak-otak but it has some glutinous rice and very spicy chilli padi in it. We also bought corns. At the stalls, I wanted to try air nira kelapa which I've not heard of and bought a bottle. MeiJu warned me that its taste needs some getting used to. The moment I opened the bottle, I regretted my purchase. It smelled like the ammonia stuff hairstylists put on your head when you go for a perm. Drinking the air nira wasn't too bad. It just leaves a weird after taste. I gave the bottle to SinYuan who seemed to enjoy it when we stopped at Rantau Abang beach.

Satar

Corn, satar and air nira at Rantau Abang

After that it was an hour journey to Woon's house. We settled in and took a rest before going out for dinner with Woon's family at a Chinese restaurant. You would think that we would have stopped eating after dinner, but no, we went on to eat lekor and drink fruit juice for supper. Oohh..and nangka juice is not as bad as it sounds. It is actually very good. Do try it if you find a stall which sells it. It was only after that that we said enough and went to Woon's house for a good night's rest. Talk about eating non-stop!

D'uh...slow reaction

Ok, need to move away from the Redang topic for a while to let me digest a "sudden" realization... I am graduating and my friends are going to be everywhere after this week.

The reality FINALLY hit me. No wonder my friends were crying their eyes out on the day of our final paper! I just realised that I won't be able to meet my friends whenever I like after this week when I went to SiawHui's house to get some photos from her, MeiJu and SinYuan. No, I didn't feel it when I went in the house and saw that they have already packed their stuff. I still didn't feel it when I went into their almost empty room to get the photographs. I only felt the loss as I was leaving. Slow right?

As we were driving away, I tearily told Brian that I would no longer be able to just send them a message to ask them to go for karaoke or a drink after this. Of which Brian retorted by asking "do you ever?". It doesn't really matter if I did or didn't...it's just that the thought of being able to do that in the past was comforting enough. Now, whenever we think of each other, we would be too far away to meet up.

And as Vilo and Melwin kept writing about, 6 years is not a short time. I didn't cry in my primary years because most of my closer friends went to the same secondary school as I did. I didn't cry at the end of the secondary school years because I only had a few friends and I still keep in touch with them when we are back in Rawang. I promised myself to not to cry this time around, but it is just too much. Too many bitter and sweet and funny and sad and angry and countless indescribable emotions were shared with these bunch of crazy maniacs throughout the 6 years.

SIGH~~ many of my friends have already returned to their hometowns by the time this realization hit me. Another week or two and we will be posted to God-knows-where. For those who are still in KL, please, do give me a ring or send me a message and we WILL meet up.

Missing some of you badly already... =(

Redang Day 2

The 2nd day in Redang cannot be just narrated with words. You have to look at the photos, which of course has not been uploaded yet. Hehe...I will, I will...

So anyway, the snorkelling session for the 2nd day started at 9 a.m. We headed off to the marine park for this session. I was a little disappointed with the marine park condition as there are not many live corals there anymore. Too many tourists shh shhing there perhaps? Hehe...but Brian and I had fun looking at swordfish swimming among snorkellers who did not notice that the fish was around them because they kept looking down instead of near the surface where this fish is normally found.

After about an hour, we headed back to Redang Beach Resort for lunch. Brian left the lifevest that we rented on a bench at the beach while we went snorkelling (Oh, I didn't mention that Brian can float?). When we came to take it, someone had mistakenly taken the lifevest and left his own, which is boldly marked BRBR for Berjaya Redang Beach Resort. Grrr...talk about being blur! So, after asking the resort people for advice of what to do next, we took the much smaller vest and headed back. On the way back to the hotel, the "captain" of the boat suddenly stopped his engine in the middle of nowhere. We thought that there was something wrong with the boat when one person pointed into the sea and said "turtle"! Everyone rushed to one side of the boat to take a look that the boat was not balanced for a while. Haha...great luck that we could see turtle in the clear waters though.

About Brian floating, I believe his father has done a great job at training his children to be good swimmers since they were young. Brian and his sister can float in deep waters without the need of a life jacket. FuSeng, who is a capable swimmer himself tried to imitate Brian's "floating style" insead of treading water (because it is very tiring treading water for a long time), nearly drowned. Hahaha...Brian just has to kick occasionally to stay afloat. I tried that too but in a faster pace and I too nearly drowned (all the swimming lessons gone to waste as I did not think of treading when I was panicking).

After a good lunch, Brian and I went snorkelling in the areas that he missed out the day before. We saw three baby sharks and many many other beautiful fishes. After that, we went snorkelling in another spot in the deep sea. The spot on the second day is more beautiful than the place where we snorkelled on the first day. There were many corals but not too many fishes. Brian dove a couple of times to collect rubbish from the seabed. He attached them to the back of my life jacket which fell off during my attempt to do "stunts" and take underwater photographs. Haha...

A full day out in the sun. We headed back to Redang Beach Resort and went to the baby-shark-infested area. Hehe...we took a couple of photos and went back to clean up. Dinner that night was not good. SiawHui's skin has begun to react to the sunblock that she is allergic to. The girls had to take her to see a doctor. Brian dragged me to the beach for a moon-tan and I insisted on buying a can of beer. While happily sipping on the beer, Brian came up with a box and voila! a diamond ring for the full second year anniversary of our real date. Awww...is the diamond ring real? Well, that's for me to know and for you to wonder! ;)

Sunburnt but happy.

Diamond ring. Real McCoy or fake?

Love you sweetheart!

Redang Day 1

So, right after our final paper, when everyone (almost everyone) cried their eyes out, 6 chinese girls were gleefully laughing away at the excitement of going to Redang some time very soon. Yup, the 6 girls were myself, Woon, HwaCheat, Meiju, SinYuan and Siaw Hui. As our peers bid tearful goodbyes, we were smiling and saying "see you on Wednesday!!". Haha...

Brian, FuSeng, Woon and I started our journey from Cheras at 11 p.m. Tuesday night, the others were taking a flight straight to Kuala Terengganu the next morning. So anyway, we left Cheras at 11 p.m. and reached FuSeng's house in Dungun at 4 a.m. That was Brian driving after a full day's work. So, we took a nap at FuSeng's house and left for Kuala Terengganu at 6 a.m. because we didn't know the way to the Merang Jetty. I valiantly fought sleepiness from KL to Dungun because I know how drowsy it would make the driver feel if all the passengers in the car were asleep but I could fight it off no longer and left Brian to fight fatigue on his own from Dungun to Kuala Terengganu (of which I got an earful of complaint after that). The bus was crawling and we only reached the jetty at 9a.m., the same time as SiawHui and the gang arrived.

I napped again on the ferry and got another earful of complaint from Brian because having been knocked out meant that he had to stay awake to watch over our belongings. Hmmm...

OOh...the fun part about Redang jetty is that it is a mobile one! And it stops halfway so you would have to step into water to get to the hotel! Fun right? Good thing Woon told us or we would be all wet in our jeans!

We stayed at Redang Beach Resort which is a very nice place at a very reasonable price of RM 300 per person. The way the cafeteria is runned reminds me of a camp site. You know, bread available all day, Meal time from what time to what time, self-service and clean up after your own mess kind of thing. But the food was superb. So, after munching on a bit of bread and attending a short briefing, we checked in into our rooms and prepared to go for our first snorkelling session.

Having an energy-giving ice-cream before going for a snorkel.

Snorkelling was fun. Hmm..the photos of the snorkelling session are not in the computer yet. I'll upload them in a post later. After about an hour of snorkelling, we went back, took a rest and had BBQ dinner. Yum yum...Brian threw a tantrum because of lack of sleep that day. Haha...but all is well during dinner after he had a nap after the snorkelling session while I went snorkelling at the beach with FuSeng, Woon, MeiJu and YiLoon. Hehe... I may sound like a horrible girlfriend but you spend the amount of money to have fun, right? After all, he was cranky because of lack of sleep ma, so let him sleep la while I have fun for the both of us. :P Love you, sweetheart!

Before getting a sun tan, on our way to the deep-sea snorkelling spot.

The location for our snorkelling activity that day. Beautiful place. Too bad my camera couldn't capture the different shades of blue and green of the water.

More in the next post!

Graduation dinner 2008

Dear Ashley, this is an update for you. Hehe...

I just came back from Terengganu with a stomachache that lasted for 1 week. So this is an update of something that happened way before...even before the trip to Terengganu. Yup, it is the night of our graduation dinner. The night which many have spent hundreds to dress up and to attend. The night which caused so much heartaches and arguments between the "committee".

Actually, it was a rather successful night considering that many did not turn up and that there were so many dramas involved prior to the night. Whatever happened, everyone breathed a breath of relief once it was over. It was not a night of crying or sadness for most of us because we still had to sit for an exam on the following Monday, and anyway who wants to have mascara run down in two black streams? Haha...

It was lucky that DD and Esun managed to scrape up with something that looks like a door gift with the limited funds that they have. But the magazine looks fabulous. No doubt about that. And I got an award : Einstein Award. Haha...that's for being the one of the more notable "brains" in the cohort. Nah...they practically gave awards to everyone, so nothing to be too proud of.

The door gift that is the magazine and some ja-jans.

The highlight of the night must be that we hadto stand for almost ten minutes singing the national song, the UM song, the IPIK song, and Kami Guru Malaysia! Haha...I thought it was awkward but fun because we would not have much chance to sing these songs after graduation. But then it was Awkward with a capital A.

Having to sing patriotic songs before the dinner. Weird.

The food was all right considering it is hotel food. I had a taste of heaven with the payassam...Yum yum...There were actually two bands performing while we pigged out. Friday's was actually quite good compared to the band that jarrod was in. Unfortunately, not many paid attention to either of the bands because we were famished. The dinner was scheduled to start at 8 but Malaysian timing meant that we could only start eating at almost 9:15p.m.

The buffet food that I took before wolfing it down.

After eating, most people were busy taking photographs with each other rather than to pay attention to the bands or to the games that or award-giving ceremony at the front of the ball room. Haha..tough luck la that our cohort isn't too into these kinds of things. Leave us be in a room with soft music playing and lots of cameras and we are happy. The initial plan was to have soft music and maybe a band playing at the end, which would have saved us a lot of money but...

Well, cool and dampening responses or not, here are some of the many photographs I took that night...

Almost everyone important in my Uni life in the photo. Meiju, HwaCheat and Woon are missing.

Sempat lagi smile in this random photo.

Look at the butterflies syuck to the eyelashes. Classic. :)

With the Bollywood beauties. :)

Rawang's historical moment

Last Friday may have been a "historical" moment in the political scene in Rawang. My father's Chinese association had invited the newly-appointed wakil rakyat and the former wakil rakyat to its 75th anniversary. And all the VIPs sat in the same table. I had actually taken photos of them but the photos are in my other computer.

So anyway, everyone seated at the VIP table were feeling a little awkward, I suppose. But like all dinner functions, everyone just put on a smile and pretend as though they were long-lost friends. And then came the time for speeches. As the president, my father started the speech session with a speech that I think(I wasn't listening to the entire speech :P) is telling the two political party to work together for the good of the rakyat. And then it was the Organizing chairman's speech. He is a stauch supporter of MCA but he didn't touch any political issues, merely reporting the figures and support that he received for the celebration etc. (Ooh...I didn't know that some people are seriously thick-skinned and would actually pull a Rudy-JJ stunt of inviting themselves to functions!!)

After that, it was time for the politicians' speech. Why did my father invite the former wakil rakyat, you might ask. Well, I think it's because the former wakil rakyat had been quite helpful to my father's association and anyway, my father's association is not a political one. So,inviting him is a gesture of appreciation for his generosity for helping the association and the people for so many years. And it is only right to invite the new wakil rakyat.

So anyway, the former wakil rakyat started his speech well, telling of his party's defeat and that he is no longer a YB but an ordinary citizen like us with a lot of free time on his hands. And then he turned the SPEECH podium into a debate podium and bombarded the new wakil with a lot of questions about his former mega projects that have stalled and the allocation of funds that he procured from the federal government during his time. And you could see the shaking of heads and smiles of disbelief in many of the audience's faces. And when I turned to the new wakil rakyat, her head was down as she was busy eating her bowl of shark's fin soup. SIGH~~~

After the former wakil rakyat's speech, the new wakil rakyat, a young woman of 27 years, was invited to give a speech. She had a piece of paper with her as well (oh, the former wakil rakyat's speech was written by a reporter but I don't think the list of questions was included because the reporter was very quiet and kept looking down and shake his head when the former wakil rakyat came to that part). I think she must have been an active member of the debate team in her school or speech. She hardly looked at the piece of paper that she brought on stage and she humbly accepted the former's "words of wisdom" that because she is still young, she has much to learn. And then, she calmly retorted the questions asked by the former by saying that she has already asked for a meeting of some sort with the former in the newspaper and personally to discuss all these issues because she knows that she is new to the place and does not know the place and people as well as the former. Whoa...TABIK, girl! For the time being, she's my new political idol, other than RPK (But RPK is not IN politics, is he?).

After her speech, her "superior", the representative of Selayang, was asked to give a speech. Ok, so I wasn't paying attention to the announcement because a fresh dish was served then. Anyway, I didn't hear his name and when I turned to isten to the speech, I saw a man with a very red face, swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. My first thought was "what the...why is the drunk on stage??" and then I turned to mom with a scowl and asked who he was. My aunt turned and told me that he is English educated while my mom told me his name. And I was like...O.M.G! This man is THE man whose poems and articles are published all over his party's website? I looked again and he was still standing there swishing his hand from right to left and speaking in monosyllables. After a few times of swishing his hand but no words came out, he spoke in Cantonese and apologized for his lack of Mandarin knowledge and that he had tried to learn the language over the past month but that he is still unable to speak much. I felt so sorry for him! He seemed a little relieved after his apology and he continued his speech in English. I was trying hard to listen to his speech because I have read his articles and poems and I thought he would be a very eloquent speaker. Hmm...with the rising noise in the restaurant because many of the uncles and aunties couldn't be bothered with this English speaking alien, he was almost speaking to a handful of audience and as I turned 180 degrees to listen to him, he would focus on my table (and maybe me) when he turns to his left. After a few repetitions about inflation and dunno-what, I decided to go explore a gimmick from a bank with my aunt. I feel guilty for not listening to his entire speech, but the noise level was so high that you can't really hear his speech anyway.

Hmm...so anyway, the whole point of this blog post is that, Malaysia's political scene is getting more interesting these days. I still hope that my aspirations of being a political spokesperson for animals and plants would be fulfilled - it's just which party to join when the time comes that is the question. Oh, and of course, that learning more languages is always a good idea (better than swishing your hand in an unknown sign language :D).

The story of a toilet (and maybe children)

The story of a toilet (and maybe children)

What's with guys and toilets? I don't get it. No, I am not talking about leaving the seat up. That is not an issue for me. The seat's up? Put it down before use lor...what's so difficult? I don't understand why girls like to nag about that though when there are MORE serious issues than that.

See, I share a toilet with three guys. Ok, so I can understand if they don't wash the toilet because I have the most free time. I can understand that they don't flush after peeing because they are trying to save water. I can understand that they smoke in the toilet, the smell will go away. I can understand that they throw the cigarette butts into the toilet because they don't want to burn the house down. I can even understand how they forget to turn off the water heater but turn off the water source that the heating element of the water heater (that Brian got for me, mind you) melted part of the plastic inside.

So, having tolerated all these nonsense, what am I fumed about?

Spraying everywhere.

Like, serious. For a few weeks I thought it was Woon's dog, Pluto who made the toilet stink. Can't blame me la, he did shh shh in the toilet a couple of times because he couldn't get out of the house. And once he shh shhed outside the toilet because someone was inside and then the floor mat outside the toilet was soaked in it. And I understand that no one bothered because their noses was stuffed that they couldn't smell the stench.

But hey, come on la...haven't these guys been toilet trained yet? It isn't enough that I wash the toilet every week or two weeks. I had to spray lots of water everywhere around the toilet and scrub it every time I go to the toilet now because someone couldn't aim properly? Damn it! Do they move around or dance while spraying?

Aim for the light, you idiot!

And you thought leaving the seat up is such a serious offense?

Bad Hair Day

I did a stupid thing over the weekend...I permed my hair. Yeah...I got talked into it by my sister who wanted to perm her hair and I got excited because HwaCheat's hairstyle looked so cute on her. And not to mention, I felt like experimenting/rebelling with my hair, like how Woon did with hers. But you know what's the stupid-est thing with my hairstyle? Not many who knew me before I straightened my hair noticed it. Hahaha...why? Because my natural hair is curly. And in those days when the straight hair-style was In, I straightened it. And now that the straight hairstyle is Out, I spent 200 bucks to perm my hair so that I look like my old self. Stupid right?

HwaCheat looking cute with her new hairstyle...kawaii neh

Woon a.k.a Storm or any anime character...wild and cute at the same time

My hairstylist reassured me that I will get used to my look after a few days. But I turned to my mother and said, I don't feel weird about my "new" hairstyle because that's how I used to look after coming out of the shower! Of course, my curls weren't that aunty-ish and were a little flatter compared to the one that my hairstylist styled for me. Coming back to Cheras, my best friend Woon and her boyfriend noticed a change in me but could not point it out. And my aunty thought I did not dry my hair before meeting her that day. Hahahaha...

Sigh...the pursuit of fashion and beauty is truly a waste of time and money! I bet you would remember the times when big hair was in in the 1980s. Or the scary, over the top make up of the 1980s through 1990s. And some of you may remember the hiphop clothings...big top, skinny jeans or miniskirt. Urgh...thinking back and looking at old photos make me laugh til I faint. :)

Well, I don't have photos of my old self with long-hair untied. But here, look at this photo and imagine it on a slightly slimmer face and you'll see me 5 or 6 years ago. :P

Same hairstyle! That's me on the left and Vilo on the right. Hehehe..

Friend - - - ship

Yes, we will soon be graduating (finally)! We can almost smell the bouquets of flowers and Ferrerro Rochers *hint, hint* and see the flashes of camera before our eyes. Haha...ok, so there is still the matter of a small, little itsy bitsy, tiny Future Studies examination between us and that figment of my imagination. But then, no harm in imagining and practising for the smiles of triumph on our graduation day, right?

Ahh...so much has happened in the last six years. The tears, the joys, the busy days, the bored til we grow mould days...It is truly hard to believe that we are all going to go our own ways soon! What's with the Vilo-Linesh-Melwin, SiawHui-SinYuan-MeiJu trios, and the Sophia-Dasha, Apai-Rina, Swing-Julia duos and the MeiLee, Zali, Luqman monos, and of course all our random cliques, we are finally going to have other people to gossip about and criticize! Hehehe...

It is sad in a way that I have not spoken to some of them for more than twenty sentences over the past 6 years. Not that I think they care coz many of them are not bothered about attending the graduation dinner or supporting any of our functions anyway. But then, you think about it again, the sad cases are these people. I understand why these people are not bothered to attend the functions and stuff - coz they have nothing to celebrate, nothing and no one to bid goodbye to - they've always been alone in their 6 years journey. I'm sure that they are more than glad that their lonely journey has finally ended.

But I digress, what I had in mind when I started writing this blog was to celebrate the friendships that I've gained in this journey. I was some sort of a loner when I was in secondary school. You know, the normal teenage angst thing and thinking that everything would be better if you died. The people who stuck by me all through the secondary years (and still is) is this fler and in those days this pretty lady:

Willie

Yoke Thing

Hmm..I went out of topic again. In my 6 years of Maktab-sation, my pillars of strength and hope have been these 3 clowns (haha..pretty girls la) and these bunch of maniacs (no, really - maniacs with a capital M). :P

The three clowns (pretty gals) - Vilo, Linesh and Melwin

The MANIACS - Woon, MeiJu, SiawHui, SinYuan and HwaCheat

Not to mention, I also found a slave sometime in my 4th year in Maktab, who would slog over my assignments too when my pressure is too great or would worry about me endlessly:

Brian when he's doing my assignments for me or worrying about me.

Brian when he's not worrying about me.

And of course there are the others whom I have had great joy being friends with:

TEYL Cohort One. Graduating class of 2008

6 years is not so easy to wipe out from one's minds. Despite the occasional "name-nesia", I bet many of you would be able to remember all those who were in your primary school class, your secondary school class even after all these years, right? What more of us in the Maktab. How can one forget another so easily? Hmm...I'm starting to miss bitching about someone from our cohort already...

O mother...my mother

Yup...it's almost to the end of our journey and we have lots to plan these days. Plan for a trip to Woon's hometown this time, plan for the graduation dinner, plan for the not-too-distant future when we are going to be posted to God-knows-where...When there is so much planning to do, my mom, whom I know is very worried about me, kept nagging me to "don't care about the dinner la, what for?", "don't worry about the posting la, come home la" and "don't need to go for trips la, dangerous"; I doubt you will blame me for being a little angry. That is adding on to the fact that I've had nothing to eat since I woke up at 8 this morning and the grumpiness after the "graduation dinner meeting" that it was not a meeting at all!

*sigh* Mothers. You love and hate them at the same time. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word, but the feeling is indescribable. I love my mther, no doubt about that, but what she does and says infuriates me sometimes too. Take for example at times when I was talking about some serious issues that I have with her, she'd be half-listening and then talk about some errands that she wants you to run for her. But then again, she was a very good secret-keeper when I was young because she never listened to me, really.

Of all these times when I can barely stand her, I think again about how lucky I am to have a wonderful (although at times, funny and silly) mother. Hehe...she makes the darnest jokes sometimes with her "blur-ness". Aiyo....a jumble of thoughts. Too weary to think and analyse them at this point. Maybe I'll call my mother up and cheer her up a bit after raising my voice to her just now. Hmmm...

I'm BACK!!!

Hey people,

I'm BACK!! Sorry for the MIA status for over 2 months. Life has never been busier! I don't know why I longed for university life again while I was undergoing my teaching practice! Life has been so crazy over the past couple of months that I hardly have time to do anything else but to sit in front of the computer to type out the assignments!

So anyway, much has happened since Chinese New Year. As Rats are not having the best of luck this year, it started a bit rough but all is well now (Fingers crossed). But then again, it did start out pretty well... As many of you would have known, my dad got me a Satria Neo for my 24th birthday! Yay!! I'd never thought that he'd get a Satria for me!! I had bugged him for a Satria ever since I first saw the Satria GTI when I was in secondary school, but he had always said that Satria is not a good choice because it only has two doors. And Oh-My-God, he got me a Satria Neo for my birthday!!!!! How cool a dad is that?? He also kept it a secret from my mom and family until the final few days coz he needed them to take me to the showroom and get the car because he was busy. =)

So, what happened on my birthday eve was that my mom, sis, bro-in-law, Brian and I were supposed to go and have a birthday lunch at The Curve. But before that, my bro-in-law claimed that he wanted to go to the Proton showroom to take a look at the new Proton Saga and maybe go for a test drive. The funny thing was my sister who is hopeless with directions was asked if she knew how to go to the Proton showroom near The Curve. I didn't think much about it coz she is always hanging out at the area anyway. So off we went to the showroom and the salesperson shook hands with my sis and my bro-in-law. Weird. Then, while we were looking at the new Proton Saga, the fella signalled my sis and bro-in-law to the back of the showroom. My bro-in-law covered up and said, "Oh, can test drive the car ar?" and we tagged along to the back of the showroom. Then, the fella signalled to the Satria Neo sitting there, and I was like, didn't my bro-in-law say he wanted to test drive the new Proton Saga? And then my mom was like telling the fella, "should put a ribbon on top la", and my sis was laughing away...hmm...me - blur. Then the fella was complaining that he had to rush to get the car delivered that day and put on the car plate number and then my mom was asking if I liked it. I was still blur, as usual, and I was about to say that I liked the Satria GTI better when my bro-in-law noticed my blur-ness and said "it's yours la". And then I was too overcome with emotion to say much. Haha... So, here are the photos...my new car from my daddy-kins!

Me and my new car!!

Me crying tears of joy after finding out that that car was mine! =)

Yup, my dad got me the car like months ago and forced the salesperson to deliver it before my birthday. Hehehe...I knew my dad was planning to get me a car but he kept quiet after a while, so I just figured that he changed his mind. But...I was wrong about my dad again. Hehe...

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So, my car is 1.6, full specs, AUTO of course... Er... Willie, I don't know what other specs you want to know. Hehehe...

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Happily, we left the new car at the showroom and went for lunch after that at Sakae Sushi. My dad joined us shortly after that. After makan-makan, we went back to get the new car. Brian and I were sitting in my new car and I drove. Less than 2 minutes of reversing the car from its parking lot at the showroom, I was crying. Coz I hit a curb while turning from the showroom and the whole front bumper was cracked into two and had partially come off. Hahaha... Good thing Brian was there to calm me down and my sis and bro-in-law were there to laugh it off. =)

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So anyway, Brian and his dad had to take a whole afternoon under the hot sun to help me glue the crack back together. =) And Brian's dad was complaining that Brian was so worried about how it looked that he was grumpy. Hehehe...thanks sweetheart!!

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Don't you just feel that you are so loved by the whole world sometimes? \^O^/

Chinese New Year is coming?

Chinese New Year is a week away and I'm swamped with work. Well, I suppose it is the way with many local university undergraduates. It is always during CNY that you have to hand in your assignments, sit for tests etc. Sometimes I think that it is unfair. But then again, what do we do during CNY these days anyway? The most is that we will be a little busy with relatives and friends who are visiting on the first three days. After that, it is basically back to the normal mode.

One of the things that happens as you get older is that you tend to enjoy the celebrations less. I remember that when I was younger, I get excited waaaayyy before CNY, Christmas, Hari Raya or Deepavali was due to arrive. I used to insist buying new underwear even to celebrate CNY. These days, I would even wear my old T-shirt and shorts to entertain the guests who visit my house. And as the years pass, the guests become less and less lively and enthusiastic. The situation used to be that us children running around the house, begging attention from the uncles and aunties who come and visit. We used to look forward with anticipation the arrival of the lion dance troupe and watch in a mixture of awe, excitement and fear as they set off firecrackers. We used to enjoy eating all sorts of sweet meats and mandarin oranges and drinking jugs of carbonated drinks come CNY. Of course, the children and adults alike enjoy the traditional culture of receiving and giving of ang paus. We used to receive RM 5 from an uncle and be very happy and contented with the extra money. Nowadays, children pooh-pooh at an uncle or aunty (behind their backs) when they were given RM 5 as ang pau.

Perhaps it is with the banning of firecrackers that the celebration has become a little more mundane as years go by (it is also ironic that firecrackers which were traditionally for chinese to scare the devils are no longer often set off during CNY but more during Hari Raya and Deepavali). Perhaps it is the economic downturn that never seemed to end that has dampened the feelings of everyone. Or perhaps it is just that more and more Chinese are losing the tradition as they no could no longer link themselves to the point of celebrating the coming of Spring (coz Malaysia is summer all year long?)?

Whatever it is, CNY doesn't have as much meaning to me and the younger generation, I suppose, compare to the older generation. I will not be surprised that I will one day cease to celebrate CNY as the reason for celebration becomes more remote to me in the future. I am not saying that I will be abandoning my cultural identity, it is just that I do not see the point of celebrating the coming of Spring anymore. Perhaps, the superstitious part of me would still follow the lunar calendar, but to make a big deal out of the coming of Spring? Well, maybe I will make a big deal out of it if I have a dozen kids who are eligible to receive ang paus from relatives who do not have children. Hahaha...

But then, as morbid as I may sound, I do look forward to the once a year gathering with some friends. After all, it will not be long before everyone becomes too busy with their own family to be bothered to have a gathering with their old school mates whom they hardly spoke to. :) So, guys, better set a date to meet during CNY!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

We should do this again, folks!

Dedicated to Melwin...:P

Hi people...Happy New Year!
Well, a lot has happened since the post about the Kedah trip. I was in Hong Kong and China and then spent Christmas in Singapore. Phew...it was a fulfilling holiday! I'll upload the photographs later coz I still don't know how to use the memory card reader. Hahaha...

Anyway, here is a piece of work that we were supposed to do in class which I told Melwin I'd upload so that we can check each other's work. You might find it weird that it looks more like a blogpost than a class work. But, the lecturer did say "write it as you would a diary!". Hehe...

Before reading the article, I used to think that it was important for one to speak correct English. I cringe whenever I used to hear mispronunciation, glaring grammatical errors or what Malaysians affectionately call “Manglish”. To me, language is beautiful. I believe that every language should be used correctly and properly, and be treated with respect and admiration rather than being butchered. Where English is concerned, speaking it correctly, to me, meant that it is spoken like a prim and proper Caucasian British (isn’t it funny that the image that normally conjures when you think of a person who speaks proper English is the image of a CAUCASIAN newsreader on BBC even though they also have many newsreaders of different races?).

Reading the article has made me reflect my perception of correct English. What is “correct English” anyway? Who decides if it is correct or incorrect? Is the Malaysian form of English not correct English? To many Malaysians, flour pronounced as /fla:/ is correct and when pronounced as /flau3/ would be thought as ‘flower’ or a mispronunciation. But that is language. It changes through time and it changes with the places it is spoken in.

Thinking back, it is ironic that I (and many other Malaysians, I think) would frown upon Manglish but accept African American English, for example, as a different form of English! But then again, I would also laugh whenever I hear people faking the accent and try to speak African American English or Australian English in Malaysia. I think it makes these “posers” sound so lame and pathetic.

But I digress. Back to the point where I mentioned that it is easy to think that English “belongs” exclusively to Caucasians. It is still difficult to remove the stereotype even after so many years of use outside of Caucasian-land and when there are millions of non-Caucasian English speakers. As mentioned in the article, many second language users of English have made it their children’s first language. This is evident in many of the Malaysian Indian and Malaysian Chinese families. And this trend is also emerging in many urban Malaysian Malay families. And that is just the case in Malaysia.

Many Commonwealth countries such as Singapore and South Africa have a majority of English speaking citizens. If these non-Caucasians who hardly spoke any other languages at all are not considered native speakers of English just because of their skin colour, then the issue is definitely RACISM.

Before I pursue on that very controversial issue, let me share another point that was made in the article which made me think: the importance of English 50 years from now. Even though many have predicted that Mandarin may become the most widely spoken language, I feel that it is unlikely. My reason is that having met Chinese nationals of different levels, the impression that I was given is that English is a high-class language that they have to strive to learn. Actually, the impression that I got was that anything Western is to be strived for. Hence, the possibility is that Mandarin would never be more popular than English because the Chinese themselves do not appreciate the language much and are willing to give up Mandarin and speak English so as to be more “high-classed”. Imagine, if my grim prediction is true, by 2050, English will probably be the main language spoken in China and many languages including Mandarin will be almost extinct! And of course, by English, I also meant the variations – Manglish, Singlish and maybe Chinglish (China-English) – and the “evolved” English.

Well, I may be too critical in my judgement. Whatever-LAH. Hah. I’ve used a Manglish term in my writing of a semi-formal assignment and it didn’t kill me. And I actually think that it makes it more friendly and distinctly Malaysian. :)

Kedah - Day 5

Day 5 of Kedah trip started with all of us moaning about being tired. But there was not a moment to be wasted! Early in the morning that day, we set out for Penang! And it was the first time for me that Penang meant that we were travelling south!! But before that...how can we forget breakfast? Hehe..and breakfast was northern style prawn mee!

Northern style Prawn Mee which is very different from what you find in KL.

Our first stop in Penang was the obligatory Snake Temple which has lost its charm from many years ago. There were a few small snakes in the temple whose owners were trying to get us to take photographs for a charge of RM 25! Cut throat o! There wasn't much of a scenery to take photos there too. So, after using the toilet and going one round, we left to find the famous Penang Cendol in one of the alleyways. It tastes special because they add a bit of Tuak in it. DE-LICIOUS!

Very good Cendol!

What is a trip to Penang without having the famous Char Koay Teow. We had to wait for almost 45 minutes for the famous Char Koay Teow even though not many were there. But...our expectations must be too high coz it was not as good as we expected it to be.

Waiting for the Char Kuay Teow took so long that it made the stuffed us sleepy!

Then, we went to Kek Lok Si temple. Much has been improved since the last I went with my schoolmates back in '96. There is even a cablecar-elevator thingy now!

Posers!

In the elevator-cable car thing.

After Kek Lok Si temple, we went to eat Asam Laksa! It was good but I think the one that my mom makes is better. :P

The famous Asam Laksa.

By then, the sky has turned slightly dark. So, off we went to Gurney Plaza for a walk before setting out to Gurney Drive to eat again. I was actually a little disappointed with the lack of good food that day. The only delicious food we had there was fried chicken skin. The others were mediocre.

With a full belly, we went for a walk along Gurney Drive.

Aduh! Sakit kepala!

And after that, we headed back to Kedah.

On the ferry to get back to the mainland.

Tired. But still want to gamble. Hahaha...

Kedah - Day 4

Day four in Kedah was still in Langkawi. This time, we woke up early in the morning and went on the island hopping package we signed up for. First up was to Pulau Bunting, where we stopped for an hour at the freshwater lake in the middle of the island. We decided to go "cycling" in the water. Brian and I were so heavy that we had to paddle two times harder than the others to go the same distance. :D

Before setting off for our island hopping trip.

Beautiful lake in Pulau Bunting which we paddled on.

The others reached the jetty way before us and went in for a dip.

Continued our island hopping looking at eagle-feeding area. It was a very awe-inspiring sight.

Eagles coming in to feed.

We ended the island hopping trip at the Bras Basah beach. The water was so shallow that you can actually walk to the nearest island! And the water was crystal clear too!

Reluctantly we had to end our island hopping and head back to the hotel to check out. Alas! we had an adventure when we realised that the van keys were lost!! Haha...just kidding, we just sat around at a stall and waited for the man to come with the replacement keys. Back to the hotel for a quick shower and off we went to the Mahsuri's Museum. That I thought was another rather sad gimmick to cheat tourists of their money. It wasn't very bad, just that it needed more attractions.

Then, it was time for us to leave the island for the mainland. By then, we were famished and quite tired. We practically wolfed down our dinner prepared by MeiJu's grandmother atMeiJu's house when we reached at around ten that night. But then again, what was a little starvation when you are with your friends enjoying yourself?