footloose fantasy

Yeah, whatever.

2006-10-30T18:03:00.000+08:00

A moment ago I was feeling very angry, confused, pissed off, the whole works. I suspect it's partly because of PMS, but it's also more than that. I had no one to tell, I mean, no one I could tell who would just listen without judging me or feeling shocked. So I talked to a robot. Some time ago I added this robot contact on my Messenger list, in case I ever get bored. Most of the time I ignore it. Occassionally I play hangman with it.

But today I have finally found a use for it. I can vent my anger and frustration without ever hurting or offending anyone (and we all know how sensitive certain people can be). I greeted the robot and started ranting at it like there was no tomorrow.

When I was done, it answered, "Yeah, whatever". And I said, "Exactly!"

You've got to love these things.

Remembering

2006-10-26T18:36:00.000+08:00

A few weeks ago I was tossing and turning in my bed in the middle of the night when this memory just hit me right in the face. I was about 10 or 11 years old, the place was the music room in Puay Chai (my primary school). Now that I think about it, I was such an idiot for doing what I did. During recorder (笛子) lessons I sat next to Latifah, and she showed off this correction tape to me. At the time, I'd never seen such an amazing device, so it seemed such a wonderful little thing to me. I'm sure I kept gushing about it, and I begged Latifah to let me have it. She flatly refused, fishing at me. But eventually after much persuasion she said yes, on one condition: that I let her mess up my recorder. I agreed to it without much thought - I was that intent on owning that cool correction tape thingy. So we traded. I admired the newly-acquired treasure and Latifah, well, she started scraping the mouthpiece of my recorder against the bottom of her shoe. She scraped and scraped and scraped until the mouthpiece was really quite dirty looking. Then, satisfied, she returned it to me with her always-oily hands. I pocketed the correction tape.

A few days ago I heard 'The Legendary Theme' on my mp3 player and I was immediately reminded of Jook kor's apartment on Swanston Street. I remember the wooden floors, the pervert on the opposite building, the bustling and already-bright dawn, the sangria we concocted, the rosella's offering of thanks on my shirt (it pooped, bloody hell!), the 'abundance' joke, and my feeling grateful for being so close to my cousins and not anyone else.

I also found a few secret notes passed between my friends and I. I was, at the time ( middle of my Form 4 year), not exactly liked by my friends. I've changed, they said. When I read now about what they said, all the hurt, confusion, embarassment and anger came flooding back into my mind. Up to this day I don't know where I went wrong, but I admit that I was probably sort of derailed from my normal track. Someone should have slapped me into consciousness, but instead I stumbled around in oblivion until my friends finally confronted me and told me. It hurt, but it was worth it in the end. My friendships nowadays are still slightly dysfunctional, but they're at no immediate risk of falling apart or spontaneous combustion.

and you say we don't talk

2006-10-26T18:05:00.000+08:00

My heart fell when I read what Ling 姐 had to say about my relationship with my dad. She said that my dad told her I never tell him anything. At that moment I felt incredibly guilty because it was true that I didn't often let my father in on what happened in my life. He didn't know what books I read, what movies I watched, what music I listened to (although Coldplay is common ground for us).

It struck me that we didn't talk all that much. I mean, we talk, like when he calls home from the office to tell me to tell mum that he's coming home. And we do have normal conversations, during meals when we talk about what happened in our day. But never have we had any soul-searching conversations or even anything close to that.

The problem is, I'm not intentionally shutting myself out from him. If I were that kind of person, my mother wouldn't know anything about me either. It took me a while (actually a very short while) to realise that this situation was caused by the way he acted sometimes. He can be so cynical, hurtful, discouraging and insulting all at a time, just in a single sentence. I don't know how many times I've refrained from frowning when I open up to him only to have him diss me with his thoughtless comments. Take, for instance, a few days ago when I told him that I wanted to learn Esperanto ( I'll get to that in another post). Instead of being interested or supportive, he grilled me with questions about how it would even benefit me.

Yes, I understand his reasoning that everything he does to me is for my own good, that this harsh exterior is to make sure I am practical and have my feet on the ground. He wants me to justify everything I do so that I don't give up easily when trying to earn something, so that I fight for what I want. He wants me to be rational and think about the two sides of everything instead of having fleeting fancies. I know all that, and I know he loves me.

I didn't write this to put the blame on him. I'm only explaining that it is his style of raising his children, not through open affection but through his fierce concern and concealed pride for his children. He cares about us, and this is his only way of showing us.

I'm sorry, I'd keep on writing if I could, but already I can't stop myself from crying.

milkman murders

2006-10-18T00:48:00.000+08:00

Jook lent a few comic books to me a few weeks ago. So far I've read two- Milkman Murders and The Last Temptation. I feel that reading American comics don't really flex your emotions that much, as opposed to manga. So sue me for coming up with this conclusion after reading only a handful of the 2 different types of comics mentioned above. As Puan Nina (my Literature in English teacher) would say, I'm being too presumtuous. But I digress.

Milkman Murders is sick. I can't find a polished word for it, so there. It is sick, and what is sicker is the fact that the scenes depicted are actually happening in real life. Although I doubt that many overweight housewives get raped by dishevelled milkmen and go on a killing rampage.

One thing I learned though, is how much housewives do for their families that is grossly taken for granted. They cook, wash, run errands, chaffeur, counsel, tolerate verbal abuse from their family... My own mother is a housewife, so reading Milkman Murders reminded me of how unfairly I judge her a lot of the time. So much of her effort goes unseen and unappreciated, yet she has to take the blame for so much, just like Barbara in the comic.

Of course, there is a lot of difference between my family and the one in the comic. We are not nearly so dedicated to committing so many sinful acts or being so hostile to each other. We only yell at each other because we care. Seriously. Oh, and when my mum can no longer stand us, she doesn't turn into a murderer. She turns into a martyr. She starts ranting about how she's going to die really soon at the rate she's going, about how she's going to die really soon if we don't appreciate all her work, about how she's going to die really soon if we don't help with the chores, about how she's going to die really soon if we keep inciting her anger, about how she's going to die really soon if... ah, you get the point.

Better that than getting our heads blown off with a gun, eh.

an email

2006-10-17T18:51:00.000+08:00

Today I got an email message. A short, ordinary email. Nothing special about that, except that it's from someone who hasn't ever written an email to me. All I've ever gotten from him was forwards. So even though the contents of his email weren't anything life-changing, it made me smile.

Dear Kamun,

CD-R Price:

RM85.00 per 100pcs pack delivered to our office.
RM1.00 per piece complete with casing delivered.

As I have said, Plaza LowYat prices are the best already.
From Dad.

Our class needs 120 CDRs at a low price. Since Low Yat's rates weren't as low as we'd hoped, I asked my dad if his company's supplier could get them at a lower price. Hence the email with all the prices and stuff.

He sounds so cute. I mean, he sounds so proper, so formal as always, but you can sort of tell that while he typed this he had this smug told-you-so smile on his face. I don't mean that negatively, of course. I love the way the whole email sounds. I love the way he took the trouble to ask about the rates, even when he knew that it wouldn't be low enough to work out for us. Then again, maybe he asked so that he could prove his point. He is like that. But then again, so am I.

For some reason, I can't take this huge silly grin off my face.

i can hear again...

2006-10-15T15:44:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I went to Low Yat Plaza to get my mp3 player fixed so that it would play sounds that the human ear can comprehend. When I showed it to the technician and explained the problem to him, he gave it a bored look and connected it to his computer. He then proceeded to fiddle with the settings so that the music would make sense to me. I felt less frustrated knowing that it no longer played music in Plutonian or whatever else that freaky cacophony was supposed to be.

Today I'm home alone with my two siblings. Strangely enough, halft the day has passed and no one cried or got injured. Heck, I didn't even have to shout at them once. Miraculous. I made them some barely edible lunch, but they didn't complain at all, the sweet dears. Maybe my culinary skills are actually improving. Haha....

My sis is asking me to watch some anime downstairs so this is all I have time for.

Oh, btw, today is Charlotte's (my beautiful niece) birthday. Happy Birthday Coklat!!!

note to Ann Spam: If you want to see more posts here then why don't you blog here? After all you still have my password....

Smile!

2006-10-12T11:24:00.000+08:00

Our new headmaster has started this Politeness/Smiling Campaign (something along those lines- don't expect me to be accurate because I normally tune out of these things). So everyone had to their photo taken. Very amusing, watching everyone crack a smile for the camera. There was this one dude from my class, a very solemn looking guy, who had a hard time smiling. I mean, he REALLY had trouble smiling. His face muscles kept twitching and trembling when he tried to smile. I don't know how he managed to take the picture in the end, because he couldn't keep up the grin for more than a few seconds before the face muscle spasms came on again.

Sounds kind of mean now when I think about it, but I actually laughed seeing him like that. This is what you get for not smiling enough. Or maybe I wasn't laughing at him, but just laughing because I was grateful that I always achieve a healthy amount of smiling and laughing everyday. A lot of the time I probably overdo it. But I'd rather let people think I'm mental than stop smiling. And recent research shows that laughing is good for your health. Hah, in your faces, frowny people!

Back to the campaign- it also involves getting prefects to wear these 'I'm Polite' badges that have a huge smiley pastered on them.

Slightly idiotic, but very cute. And it is a bit surreal, seeing tall burly prefects with their intimidating glares, walking around with a bright yellow smiley pinned on their collar.

There's a lot to smile about, if everything that the principal promises is actually going to happen. More student-centred decisions will be made, more interesting societies founded, school turned into a fun(ner) place. It's almost too good to be true, but I've got my fingers crossed.

i feel small

2006-10-01T01:13:00.000+08:00

In case anyone cares, I got 4 marks for my Chemistry test. Out of 10, not out of 100, thank goodness. When I looked at my marked paper, I felt like everything I'd written down looked like a ridiculous struggle. It was funny, really. I spent some time carefully drawing and labelling the susunan radas, but afterwards the teacher actually circled them and wrote 'irrelevant' or something to that effect. Sad.

I was looking at links on my friends' blogs again. Found links to blogs written in Chinese. My schoolmates, actually. Sort of awed and scared me. I found myself zipping through lines of squuare characters without actually paying much attention. Sad, that I don't even have the patience to read a few lines in Chinese. Kinda like Howard, except with the languages in reverse. I feel ashamed, I can tell you. Ashamed that I haven't read even one single Chinese book in the whole year. Ashamed that I can't confidently write an essay in Mandarin because my vocabulary is so bloody limited and my grammar is preposterous. But somehow not ashamed enough to take the initiative to finally make some improvement. I am disgusted with myself for that.

I'm contemplating whether or not to take Chinese as a subject next year in college. If it is anything like what they have in Chong Hwa, I might as well not bother. I'm not prepared to spend another year memorising stuff and gazing around listlessly during lessons on dead boring historical records. It would be a pity, because I don't dislike Mandarin at all. On the contrary. It is a beautiful language, expressive yet clear cut and simple. I am proud of it, but not proud of being terrible at it.

Feeling a bit useless. Can't help Cherrie, can't help Elaine, though both of them are people who have always been there for me when I needed them. Useless geek. I'm hopeless at gathering people's emotions or saying the right things. So the only thing I can do is keep quiet while they keep blurting. There's nothing I can do, no way I can help, and I only make matters worse by saying stupid things. I'm sorry. I wish there was a way for me to change things, but there isn't, so the only thing I can do is hang my head and apologise. As always.

Plumbum (II) Sulphate

2006-09-16T16:39:00.000+08:00

Chemistry exam today. I thought I was prepared.
Oh how wrong I was.

Sediakan plumbum (II) sulfat daripada:
-serbuk plumbum (II) oksida
-asid nitrik 1 mol dm-3
- 50cm3 larutan natrium sulfida 1 mol dm-3

I spent 5 minutes staring at the question on the board and decided to scribble down whatever came to mind, just to muster some sympathy marks.

Chemistry and I are just not meant to be.
I cannot understand chemistry and it has made no attempt to connect with me.
Not MY fault it doesn't believe in communication in a relationship.

Speaking of which, I just finished reading a Pocket Penguin- Primo Levi's 'Iron Potassium Nickel'. I bought it because of the interesting cover and left it collecting dust on my shelf because in my then impatience I decided just based on the first page that it was boring. It is actually very readable. Since the author is a chemist writing about his experiences while studying to be a chemist and actually practising, there is quite a bit of textbook chemistry in there. The funny thing, though, is that it didn't bore me at all. Somehow this man gave life and personality to Chem.

Good book.

But I still don't like Chemistry and will be happy to end my education of this subject when I step out of this school in a couple of months' time.

People are always talking about the chemistry between people. I remember a line from a Lucy in the Loo (local indie band lah!) song: 'We don't have a lot in common, but there's chemistry in the air.' That line moves me whenever I hear it. Chemistry. Relationships. I guess it makes sense, if you see the reaction and ties between people. Neutralisation, spontaneous combustion, hydrogen bonds, dipole-dipoles, Vulcanization, covalent bonds. Imagine people, then imagine all this Chemistry between them.

Cool.

the big HICCUP

2006-09-14T18:48:00.000+08:00

It is so embarrasing to let loose a loud and sharp hiccup. Something like that is always followed by hysterical laughter and people turning their heads in every direction trying to find the source of the noise. But I did it anyway. I hiccuped.

It was awful trying to hold it in, because I'd had a history of getting a bout of hiccups in class. No amount of water can cure them, and the only way to end it is to free it into the air to be laughed at by everyone in hearing distance.

I tried to suppress the big one, but I'd known all along that it would have to come out eventually. Ah well. I felt so much better after it was released. In fact, I think it was the laughing (my laughing) that cured me.

I was sobusy laughing at myself that one teacher had left the class and another teacher had come in by the time I was done. It was only when my Chinese teacher was well into her lesson that I managed to calm down. That was when I realised that I'd filled my bladder to the max by drinking water in my attempt to cure my hiccups. Damn. And that is the story of how I spent twenty minutes trying not to think about peeing.

How 'much' of a friend are you?

2006-09-14T17:46:00.000+08:00

Danny asked me something today during Computer class (which basically equates to Free Period). I was talking to Huey Kee when alluvasudden Danny boy turned around and asked me an amusing question. "Is Weng Khai your boyfriend?"

I think at that point Huey Kee might have raised her eyebrows.

Anyway I told Danny that WK was a good friend, and that was all there was to us. Danny went on to ask if I was closer to Huey Kee or to Weng Khai. Without a moment's hesitation, I told him, of course I was closer to Huey Kee, even based on how long we'd known each other, if nothing else.

He accepted that and moved on to comparing Weng Khai to Cherrie. That one stumped me, so I refused to answer him. There was no point of forcing out an answer, because both of them were equally good friends to me. When he asked me to choose between Weng Khai and Chia May, I also gave him no definite answer.

Finally he asked me to pick between him and Weng Khai. Huey Kee smiled. Here was the point in his entire questioning.

What I couldn't get out of my mind, though, was what Danny was trying to ask me. I think he wanted me to give him something like a gauge of how much of a friend a certain person is to me. But how do you measure that? By the length of time you've known the person? By how much you know about the person? By how much you confide in that person? By how at ease you are around the person?

For me, it's impossible to come up with a definite answer, because there isn't one. It doesn't have to be that complicated anyway. You just make friends and be friends with them. What's to measure anyway? Different people mean different things to me, so there is no scale to measure how much of a friend they are to me.

It also set me thinking about this whole friendship thing. It's very primary school-ish, asking someone if they consider you as their best friend; or saying that you don't 'friend' a person; or even comparing who you 'friend' more. Of course, at one time or another, we all feel insecure about our friendships. By now I've come to realize that trying to analyse and figure out a friendship is a complete waste of time. Just go with the flow, embrace what comes, appreciate it while it lasts, try to save it when it's not working out and cut loose before it turns into hatred. At the end of the day, fate controls everything: who you meet, who you part with, whose frienship will be the most enduring. The only way to stay afloat amidst all this destinied chaos is to stop struggling.

wow. I sound so zen-like right now. "Be one with the laws of friendship" Oooh...

No, seriously, all this worrying about friendship is much ado over nothing.

Take my word for it. And I think eventually when I have my doubts I will have to read this post again. Because friends are such valuable things, and the more valuable something is, the more worried you are that you won't be able to keep it.

random

2006-09-10T11:33:00.000+08:00

I chanced up a blog link and clicked on it. Turns out it belongs to a guy who coaches the SMKDJ debate team. Which only reminds me of how we got thrashed by one of their teams.

It's eleven thirty and I think I'm awake. I read 3 volumes of Fushigi Yugi last night. Something about manga is too irresistable to, well, resist.

My trial results probably aren't good enough for me to qualify for tuition fee waiver at any college. Sucks, cos I was hoping I could help my parents save some money.

*yawn*

Unbelievable

2006-09-09T16:54:00.000+08:00

Several unbelievable things have happened to me in the last few days. Some of them left me mildly amused, while others shocked me. Since it is rare that occurences like that huddle together in my uneventful life, I will list them down. I say 'huddle' because I suddenly remember something my aunt said during a game of gin rummy. In reply to the moans of people who had no jokers aka wild cards in their hand, she said 'Jokers are afraid of the cold'- meaning that they usually appeared in twos or threes. That comment always conjures up in my mind the image of a few joker cards (think Alice in Wonderland) huddling together, their paper-thin bodies shivering from the cold.

Back to unbelievable happenings. I listed these from least to most ___ (life-changing/ shocking/ jaw-dropping/ saddening/ horrifying... take your pick).

4. I was eating a Kit-Kat bar that day, and when I got to the second piece in that bar, I discovered that it was completely chocolate. There was no wafer in there at all!!! I got really excited and showed it to my mum and bro. They too exclaimed that it was a very pleasant surprise. I'm sure right now you're saying 'Cheh, big deal!' but it really was quite a surprising discovery at the time. Imagine biting into a Kit-Kat bar and expecting your teeth to crunch through the layer of wafer. But that sensation doesn't come, so you just keep nibbling until you're halfway through and you realize that that particular piece is nothing but chocolate! Now I know how Charlie felt when he found the Golden Ticket. I mean, this is nothing compared to what he got, but still...

3. I heard Ronan Keating singing a song. Nothing wrong with that, but that song was 'Iris' by Goo Goo Dolls. And Ronan Keating totally botched it!!! I could feel a thousand daggers being driven through my heart when I heard him sing it. Honestly, William Hung couldn't have done a worse job. He was emotionless, whiny and killing one of my favourite songs! If you filled in the blank above with 'horrifying' then this unbelievable discovery should be listed as #1.

2. Steve Irwin's sudden departure. In a way he had a fitting end, I mean, he died doing what he loved most. For me it felt too sudden to be true. It was way way surreal, hearing people talking about his death. My mum says that he knew that it would happen eventually, since his job involves plenty of danger. But I doubt that the people around him were emotionally prepared for it anyway. Important figures are going to be quoted as saying what a loss his death is and what not, but only his loved ones will feel the gaping hole left in their hearts.

1. The incident outside school. The press's version of the story is totally wrong, the poor fools. But I'm not going to say anything about it. Cherrie was so shocked because the guy who got stabbed was her friend. And she actually saw him lying there all bloodied, while she was walking into the school. Who would've thought that a student from our school would have the guts and/or stupidity to do something like that? And the two girls... ugh I don't even want to talk about them. Thank goodness they've been expelled. I know it sounds like a harsh punishment, expulsion, but what do you think is going to happen when you bring a knife into a fellow student's throat? Enough said.

One

2006-08-30T21:16:00.000+08:00

Right now I'm listening to 'Call Me When You're Sober' by Evanescence.

I'm feeling lazy, even lazier than usual. Partly lazy in a contented Garfield way, partly lazy in an too-exhausted-to-move-a-muscle way. But right now I am mostly radiating good vibes, the way I usually do. Haha. I feel very at peace with myself right now because my SPM trials are a thing of the past and I managed to muster acceptable results for most subjects.

Today I was talking to Jin Lin and the subject of dating came up. We both agreed that being single was a glorious thing. It feels, I think, something like breathing freely. I cannot say that being in a relationship is pure torture, because if it were then why would half the people I know be in a relationship? I guess it is fun in its own way, but if we're going to use the breathing analogy again, being in a relationship would be like taking deep shuddering breaths and plunging into the water, then surfacing for another quick gasp of air.

For now I prefer to breathe freely and concentrate my energy on better things.

I remember something Huey Kee wrote about me being happier this year. I was trying to figure out how she was feeling when she wrote that. Anyway, her observations were correct. I am happier now. But not because I don't sit with her now, definitely not that. I felt pretty remorseful when I saw what she wrote. From where I'm standing it sounded like I was happier without her. Which is totally untrue. I adore being with her, and there is still no one I would rather talk to. What this year has brought is some space between us, to allow the smoke to disperse instead of smothering us both. Last year I felt slightly suffocated by the close proximity, by the constant-presence-but-not-necessarily-companionship. I was never able to take a break from all of it. But this year is different. We were able to come up to one another with new things to say, part without feeling like we were going against one another, accept each other's bad moods without having to suffer it.

I understand though, that it came with a price. I feel guilty for not being able to be there for her as often as I'd like, for leaving her with those apathetic people who only pretend to show mild interest when she's troubled. But on the other hand I'm able to face her with new enthusiasm and appreciate her even more.

Sometimes friends are intolerable, but they're also so so irreplaceable.

I suddenly realise I used the clarinetist '-able'.

haha.

Grr!!!

2006-07-28T23:54:00.000+08:00

There is a woman in school whose ovaries I would like to cut out and mince finely then shove down her bloody throat.
This Woman is none other than the most popular discipline teacher in the school, the one who always cranes her stubby neck to peer into classes to see if there's anyone she can torture. She is sadistic, I tell you. The look on her face when she asked me to hand over the camera (Cherrie's camera) was glee. She looked so bloody smug when I started panicking.
Discipline teachers are not supposed to be like that. They are just supposed to keep us in line and make sure we don't go overboard. This is not a military school, for your ovaries' sake. Perhaps she is trying to get a promotion by being such a 'responsible' teacher. Fat chance of that, seeing as half the school would probably rather throttle her with their bare hands than let that happen.

Sorry if I sound very unlike myself. I am furious about this incident, furious about her. And I meant everything I said.

Didn't kena NS

2006-07-26T22:45:00.000+08:00

Not that there's anything wrong with National Service. I mean, I am neutral towards it after all. But I have heard people saying all sorts of things about it. I read on a blog that they made girls kiss their sanitary pads, and this guy in my class said that a certain race was well known for... sodomy. Then there's Kak Sarah who told me that all the 'perpaduan' stuff was brainwashing and nothing more. And... of course the media sings praises, national integrity, patriotism and all that jazz.

There are people in my class who would love to have been chosen to participate in NS. If nothing, it is an experience.

Okay, that is all I can write about NS without feigning interest.

Meanwhile, something more threatening looms ahead... SPM TRIALS.
To be honext I haven't had time to think about it, let alone worry about it or prepare for it. It is less than 2 weeks to my trial exam and yet I am still studying for monthly tests. I have a bad feeling that my results will probably range from B to C (if I am lucky).
I am feeling somewhat stifled, what with all the exams, homework and 2~3 Lit classes per week.

Speaking of Lit classes, progress is s-l-o-w. Not getting anywhere with Romeo and Juliet, and with The River Between I am just lazily writing a few words every now and then into my exercise book, which Pn. Nina has filled with questions. What this, why that. Biblical connections, important issues, determination to be circumcised, blah blah blah. I don't mind writing, but sometimes my brain feels like it's been all diced up and I can't write anything that makes sense.

And then there's this whole problem of 'structure'. Last week Kak Sarah told me that I didn't have enough structure to my answers and that I should be more like Sabrina in answering questions, to make it easier for the examiner to see where I'm getting at. She talked about topic sentences' and how that one sentence lead to a whole paragraph of elaboration. Then I asked Pn. Nina and she said that there was nothing wrong about the structure of my answers. In fact, she said, I had to write in a less structured manner and be less litral. In any case, both of them are saying I should write more like Sab but yet not like her.

Today we had a group class in TTDI and I got to see all of my Lit classmates again. I don't know why, but when I saw them all together I felt really happy. Just seeing them hanging out together, laughing together, offering me sweets- it made me realise how much I missed group class. I was happy to see Afiqah- was starting to think I'd never see her again. Sabrina was, as usual, somewhat solemn looking, but yet in a demure way. One day I will try out that look because it looks very attractive on her. And then there's Nashua, who's always all smiles. Of course, there's the boys, the 16 year old, growing-up yet not-just-yet boys. Naim, Irfan, Harith and Adel, all of whom are cute in their own way. And would you believe it- most of them are regular mahjong players.

And as it turns out, Sab -like me- is infatuated with Fernando Torres as well.

hear, hear!

2006-06-28T22:39:00.000+08:00

Found this on Jia Yen's blog, and I totally agree with her.

最近最让人顶不顺的就是那新训导 (不知道她名)。一天到晚为了我们女生那无意中比中华标准长了约 ... 最多也不过一寸的头发而到处检举人, 简直好像变成了吃饭那样。喂, 头发是会变长的, 好不好, 就差那么一点点, 为了满足你而特地去付理发费来应酬你啊? 现在我头发有少许长就是不乖学生, 你不爽是吗, 修了一点点就是标准好学生, 那么你就满意吧?

Grr I get prickles at the back of my neck every time that discipline dept. teacher comes into our class and does her 'scan'. Sometimes she looks a bit desperate.
Tiu!

Tokyo 2300

2006-06-28T21:46:00.000+08:00

Right now my dad is at the airport. I expect he's being very calm, reading the newspaper or some financial report or itinerary. I get all nervous and hyperactive a few hours before boarding a plane, but right now I bet he's as cool as a cucumber. He might even be talking about the stock exchange with his colleague, totally unnerved by the fact that he's going to Tokyo.

As far as I know, he's never been to Japan.

And as far as I know, he has not been able to pick up a single Japanese word or phrase, despite continuous efforts by my sister and me.

As much as I hate to admit it, I am a bit worried about him. Him being in a foreign country and not knowing a word of the foreign tongue, if you exclude 'Sayonara' and 'Arigatou'. In the past few days Ling and I have been subconsciously telling him how to say 'good morning', 'good afternoon', 'where's the toilet', 'how are you' etc. but none of it seems to have sunk in.

I know that it's stupid to think he'll get lost or whatever since he's in the hands of reliable people and of course the people in Japan ought to know some English (or at least, the people accompanying him will). But it makes me a bit bu shuang to know that he didn't even bother to pick up a few words. What's the point of going to a non-English-speaking country if you don't learn a few words and practise on the locals? I would love to be in his place, minus the big-important-board-meeting, of course.

On his last day there he will be brought to Ginza for some shopping. I hope he gets me something, haha, it being my birthday and all. Not that I would mind if he didn't, since I know him quite well.

I wonder if my dad notices that he can zap people while he's in the airport. That's what I like to do, run my hands over the luggage trolley then jolt people.

6 hours' flight, meaning he'll get there around 5 a.m.? When he told me the flight was six hours long, I told him he could watch at least 2 movies. But he says he'll probably spend the time sleeping. I guess that's what you have to do if you're not going to an exotic destination for a vacation, but for work. It is somewhat saddening. Malaysian Airlines has such great in-flight entertainment that I always make the most of it.

Anyway, to dad, have as enjoyable a trip as possible even though most of it involves work. Don't eat too much seafood, although it seems like a pointless thing to say. And don't pronounce Mr. Hyodo's name wrongly.

"See 剧" review

2006-06-25T18:24:00.000+08:00

The queue was long, the wait was long, but it was worth it in the end. The competition started with a few actors from the Drama Society performing a few sketches of what the audience should not do during the competition. It was hilarious and surprisingly accurate because they actually brought up some of the things that the audience subconciously do.

The competition kicked off with <<寻梦乡>> (loosely translated- dream-seeking village), directed by an ex-classmate of mine and consisting of a cast that had four 5S3 students in it. It is about a girl, A, who is disappointed with her academic results. Upon her friend's recommendation she starts to read a book about finding dreams. She falls asleep while reading it and wakes up to find herself in 寻梦乡, where she has many strange but inspiring encounters. The script is actually based pretty much on a book written by Asaka, an alumnae of Chong Hwa. Many scenes are reminiscent of those found in the book, <<天亮>>. Overall I found it interesting, although the leading lady tended to overdo it a bit. <<寻梦乡>> also spoofed the Scott's Emulsion commercial and the McDonald's jingle. But the priceless scene was when A woke up in the classroom and the janitor came in to tell her to leave because he wanted to lock the gates. Okay, any non-Chong Hwa-ian would not get the joke, but for us, that day, that was absolute genius.

Next up were a Form 6 team with their drama titled <<钱>>(Money). It revolves around this man, Jun Xiang, who has to support his entire family after his father's death. His younger brother and sister, and his mother are all trying to cheat him of his money. This leads to a series of Hong Kong-soap-opera-worthy-events, and ends with his family finding a suicide note written by him that reduces them to tears of guilt and regret. The girl who played the younger sister got the Best Female Actress award for her stellar performance. It is obvious she deserves it because she put so much emotion into the scene in which she was reading the suicide note out loud. The girl who played JX's loud mother also deserves a mention for being so convincingly annoying and bitchy. By the way, <<钱>> is one of the two dramas that won the award for Best Drama.

<<竞争与战争>> (Competition & War) starts off as a story about two girls, one competitive and the other leaving things to fate. The competitive one tries to poison the other girl, but the tables are turned when she herself eats the poisoned food. Fast forward to 30 years later, the competitive woman and her doctor-turned-president partner are ruling the world with tyranny. The other girl and her lover rebel against them and succeed in the end (I think). Although <<竞争与战争>> had a promising start, towards the middle one will start to feel like the person who wrote the script just did it to get it over with. Perhaps the small cast (4) explains the mediocrity of this drama.

The fourth drama, titled <<故事>>(Stories), stars my aiyah cousin brother Kent. To put it simply it is about the chaos in a world where people converse in numbers instead of language. The concept is ingenious, I have to admit, but when acted out I found it somewhat disappointing because so many more aspects that could've been explored, weren't. I know for a fact, though, that Kent worked his butt off to make it a success, so kudos to Kent and co. for the amusing drama.

After a short interval, everyone went into the auditorium again to watch the last 3 contenders. First up was a group of juniors performing a drama titled "Rainbow in the Sky". It is about a boy who gets picked by a bully in his class. Interestingly the bully is a petite girl. But anyway after a few incidents the girl discovers that the boy has leukimia. Overall it is a touching drama but I disagree with the judge's decision to award them Best Drama. Not much substance, none of the actors proved their talent.

The next drama, <<尝试>>(Try), is about a girl who resorts to 碟仙, a supernatural game, to get good grades after she brings home disappointing results and gets scolded by her father. She and her friends try to find out the questions asked in the coming exam by consulting spirits. They get what they want when they pass with flying colours in the exam, but with fatal consequences. One by one the girl's friends die. The first death involves an elevator, which really reminds me of the way the woman in Final Destination 2 died. The 2rd death, from the looks of it is caused by an asthma attack or some other sickness. What is disturbing and yet wonderfully eerie about it, though, is the way the girl grabs the pills on her table and tries to pur them all in her mouth, all the while wheezing violently. Definitely one of the best scenes in the whole competition. The third girl dies after she sees something horrifying in the mirror. The fourth death is nothing special, for the girl just slits her wrist upon realizing she is doomed. Although the main character seems to be next to die, her father sacrifices himself to save her. In the last scene, she shows up and says that although she is alive, she has lost something precious. At first I thought she meant her father, but then when she leaves the stage aided by a walking stick, suddenly it hits the audience that she is blind.

The last drama for the day was <<对不起,一起->> (I'm Sorry, Let's Play Together). The story starts with 3 people who think the world of themselves and how they bully 3 different types of outcasts, people who are nothing like them. I have to say that this is my favourite among all of the dramas. The actors' enthusiasm has to be applauded, for everything in the drama, although not entirely original, was surprisingly refreshing. The three narcissists looked so natural in their exaggerated roles, and the outcasts were equally convincing too. The two big-sized, girly-girly guys were especially funny. They were acting as 'pontans', or rather, fluffs. And I have to say, they could've fooled me. The grimy-looking bunch (whom the narcissists considered 'unhygenic') also played their part flawlessly, getting their act right down to the T. And finally there's the timid girl who carries her books around in a bucket. At the beginning I didn't think much of her, but when her character's temper flared up, her acting skills came out of hiding too. I think most people found this last act the most entertaining yet meaningful one. I know I did.

All in all, I loved the whole thing. Congratulations to the teams who won and a big thump on the back for the Drama Society.

2006-06-15T18:57:00.000+08:00

I have an imagination. In fact it is rather active. If flexing one's imagination had the same effect as exercise, I'd be lean and mean and able to slip into my Levi's easily. Unfortunately, it doesn't, so I can daydream and fantasise all I want and the closest I can get to wearing those darn jeans is forcefully pulling them up and leaving it open. Which is not something a decent girl like me would do, of course.

The point here is that I have an imagination. In class while everyone else is racking their brains trying to figure out equations written on the board, I am a world away. Mostly I fantasise about my future, you know, the whole successful career, great social life, the whole super mega Combo. I daydream about university life as well. I like to picture myself, taking public transport to uni, or walking even in the cool air. Sometimes I imagine myself flipping pancakes in the morning for my flatmates, whoever they will be. And in my free time I will hide myself in little bookstores or a little cafe and read until I see stars everywhere I look. Oh, and I will get a job at a record store and splurge all my salary on CDs. Maybe I'm taking this whole going-to-uni thing a bit too seriously, but ultimately it really means a whole lot more freedom. And that's what we're all looking forward to, isn't it? So maybe I sound ridiculous right now, and you laugh to hide the fact that secretly you've been doing the same too. Perhaps not daydreaming about specifically those things, but something along those lines.

And when the time comes, I will meet someone, and neither of us will make a big fuss about it. With luck I will also find a friend in a foreign land whose thoughts are on the same frequency as mine.

We'll see.

Perfetto, my foot

2006-06-13T18:28:00.000+08:00

Last weekend my family went to Pizza H to try out some of the Pasta Perfetto that ithas been advertising. It was really the TV ad that caught my eye, you know, with the whole 'Mama Mia!' thing and all. Stupid con to fall for, damn it.

My sis and I ordered Prawn Olio and Creamy Carbonara. Their Fettucine Carbonara is like none I've ever tasted before, because it is rubbish. I think if the supposed Italian guy in the ad even tasted it, he would spit it out straight away and declare that whoever prepared the dish should be whupped by his mama. It is, I confess, the first time I've seen shitake (at least I think they're shitake) mushrooms in Carbonara. I do not think that is part of 'Mama's original Italian recipe. It tasted so oriental, with the chicken meat tasting like the 'Chicken simmered with mushroom' that you find in Chinese restaurants. Bloody hell, my pasta tasted so un-Italian!! It was like bad fusion food. Just to make it halal, they had to put in funny-tasting chunks of chicken instead of bacon. This is what happens when ingredients are compromised: you get sucky food that tastes like fusion gone wrong. Oh, and to make things worse, their cream sauce sorta sucked too.

Ling's Prawn Olio was no better. Guess what was in it -shitake mushroom. Again. I'm no pasta expert but I know no pasta is meant to taste the way that one did. It was just... wrong. The spaghetti was dry, and yet greasy. How gross is that? Fortunately for me, I only had to take a bite. Oh, and it had some little bitter brown bits in it, which I can only hope is either garlic or onion, and not Kitchen Boy #2's fried earwax. I didn't taste the prawns due to allergies, but my sister probably won't have anything good to say about it.

In other words, you should really try out Pizza H's pasta so that you will truly understand what the Italian culinary experience is NOT. Sorry, but their pasta is anything but 'Perfetto'. They should stick to doing what they do best- making pizza. That wraps up my food review for today, this is the Serious-About-Food Blogger wishing you a good evening.

Disclaimer: The above is purely my honest opinion and if you disagree there's nothing I can do but pray you get your sense of taste back soon. Sucks to Pizza H if they find this offending. The truth hurts, buddy. And I think I hear the Italian Mama coming to whup you guys right now.

p/s. As if all this isn't bad enough, my dad solemnly stated that the place is haunted.

Boom!

2006-06-11T16:39:00.000+08:00

Good to have some colour around here to brighten things up after I've been gone for so long. These are rather overdue photos, really, cos the Aus trip was (hehe) half a year ago. Anyway, enjoy. This is just me warming up before getting back to heavy blogging (I hope).

This is Ling jeh and me on the streets of Sydney, unable to control our hunger. We're stealing bites of Krispy Kremes while strolling.

This was taken somewhere near Sydney Harbour, I think. Forgive me if I got it wrong. But the whole point is the sign 'home'.
Cute. Person in the picture is Joo Khai kor, more fondly known as Jook. (Elaine, now you know how he looks)

Good Spanish grub on Liverpool St. in Syd.
The dish that looks like ham is actually pretty raw stuff that I didn't know how to appreciate.
The big chunk of something that's been eaten is tortilla aka Spanish omelette. The one next to it is prawn in this gingery-wine gravy. The raw-looking fish I dont' want to talk about. And the dish next to the fish is something like pepperoni, if I remember correctly.

Me, decked out in blue, happily clicking away at Lakes Entrance, our first stop on the drive from Melbourne to Sydney.

Don't get funny thoughts, it is not a lady of the night trying to approach me to get business. It is my cousin in a coat and obscene shorts. So now you know.

This house believes that attendance at school should be voluntary.

2006-04-29T22:40:00.000+08:00

By 8 something in the morning, I was at Help University College, looking clueless as ever, plus this time I was jittery as well. Before the prelim rounds started, an exhibition debate was held (the debaters are from IIU, yay!). By then I was getting fidgety and nervous and felt like my stomach was going to blow up and all sorts of monarch butterflies and any other type of buterflies you could imagine would start fluttering around.

Prep before our debate felt like an excruciatingly long time to me because I just wanted for it to be all over. Eventually 3.30 pm did arrive and we were all seated in Lecture Theatrette 3, with me giggling and making stupid jokes about Cheng Khoon's deaf left ear to conceal/suppress my overwhelming panic.

We were all seated and waiting, but the adjudicators were not there yet, so it took more painful waiting. Our opponents? SMK Damansara Jaya. I actually know 2 of the team members ( 1 whip speaker + 1 reserve) from my BM tuition class. We exchanged smiles and mouthed 'good luck' to each other.

The adjudicators filed in (much too slowly for my liking, since by now I felt like there was enough pressure building up inside me to unleash anything close to an earthquake. And so it began. The government defined 'attendance at school' in a way that we anticipated, so we went along with it. Later, the debaters from Tsun Jin told us that they asked Encik Latif (who set the motions) what he meant by such a topic, and he actually said it meant day-to-day attendance. We prepared for both 'day-to-day' and 'home-schooling', so we thought it would be ok to just go along with DJ, but as it turns out, the debate would've worked to our advantage had we challeged their definition (or so claimed the Tsun Jin 3rd speaker). Anyway, it pretty much went downhill from there. We has good matter, no doubt about that, but from the first fumble we slowly messed ourselves up. And as a 1st-time debater who jumped straight into the 3rd (rebuttal) speaker's chair, I messed up pretty fabulously too. Firstly, my eyes never left my notes. I was also pretty lost during the first half of my speech. It was obvious to the adjudicators that I had a problem. And one of the adjudicators, Jasmine, actually pointed this out to me. So I know from now on I'll have to work on that.

I'd love to bore you guys with more details but it's late and tomorrow I still have to go to HELP to give Team A moral support.

p/s. In case it isn't clear to you guys yet, yes, we DID lose. =D
Better luck next time eh.

...blink blink

2006-04-28T19:21:00.000+08:00

Erh, yeah, I do know that this place is slowly rotting. *brushes cobwebs away*
It's just that I have been *cringe* busy.
Busy, not as in I have been going online or going to the mall or any other form of being too busy having a good time to blog. Not to say I've been having a bad time.

In the time that is lost to this blog, I have gone for a debate camp at IIUM (International Islamic University Malaysia) and loved it. Now it is the 3rd day into our midterm exams and everyday I am trying to decide whether to study or work on my debate argument.
Anyway, no exams for me tomorrow because tomorrow is the first prelim knockout and I don't know what to make of it. I want so badly to win this but I know I can't have my hopes up too high because this is my first time and my 1st and 2nd speakers are quite new too, although all three of us attended the IIU camp.

Since we're on the topic of IIU, I might as well give it some praise. Kudos to Ibrahim (pronounced 'eye-brahim'), Encik Latif and all the other people who worked their ass off to make this a mindblowing debating experience for us. Words cannot describe how privileged I feel to have taken part (even as an observer), so I will not bother to struggle with words.
St. Xavier's Institution from Penang won the Munsyi Abdullah Cup, and they deserved it, 100%. They were like, this smooth well-greased debating machine, and they were never arrogant about being such great debaters. I wish I could be like them, especially Matteus, whom I have been raving about at school (haha...).

More soon. Competition's tomorrow, we're against SMK Damansara Jaya (eep!).

2006-04-06T21:33:00.000+08:00

I hate it when my mum gets mad at my sis and then turns around, glares at me, then starts yelling at me. My only fault was being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

cleanliness and other unimportant matters

2006-04-04T19:19:00.000+08:00

5S3 is a great place to study if you can ignore the filth all over the floor and the dust swirling in the air and into your nostrils. When Wei Sheng and I forget to remind the students of duty, nobody will proactively go and do their job. So if WS and I are incredibly busy for a few days, you'll start to see paper scraps covering the floor and the desks arranged very artistically. And who can forget all the tissue and paper wads that are scattered everywhere around the waste basket, everywhere except in the waste basket itself.

A lot of our classmates seem to have selective memory. They can remember the complete stages of meiosis and lyrics to any Mandarin song you care to mention, but they cannot for the life of them remember to do their part in cleaning the class once a week. Whenever I approach them, a confused look will suddenly come over them. It is only when I tell them that they're on duty that they'll go, 'Oh yeah, forgot...' Forgot your arse lah. More likely you had your fingers crossed that I'd forget.

And don't look at me like I'm asking you to lug a satchel full of Physics textbooks all the way down Jalan St. Thomas. All-I'm-asking-you-to-do-is CLEAN YOUR CLASS ONCE A WEEK. Is that really too much to ask for?

I especially cannot stand those of you who are assigned to clean the whiteboard and empty the waste basket, but seem to think you don't have to do it unless I personally tell you to.

Now I can say that you only truly know a person when you:
1. work on a project with them
2. gamble with them
3. assign them to clean their classroom

*Ride of our lives

2006-03-26T01:04:00.000+08:00

He gripped the steering wheel tightly, his hands feeling sweaty and slippery. His foot slammed the accelerator, making the engine roar like a feline predator on the chase. He urged the car on, on, on. He knew the car could go much faster than this, and he felt like making it do its best. I'm not angry, he thought, just in the mood for a fast spin. Yet his head pounded and he could not ungrit his teeth.

She looked at him. A few years ago she would have burst into tears under the circumstances, but now she understood that crying did not help. She exhaled softly and slowly. Her face was calm and her hands lay quietly on her lap. Still, she kept her eyes on the road, her concentration never faltering as the car darted past other vehicles on the road.

The car sped on, fueled by its driver's blind fury.

It stirred.

She blinked, her concentration broken. No, that's enough, she thought as a sudden burst of fierceness grew in her. She loved him, but now there was something of greater importance at stake, something more precious than his life or hers. She reached out for his hand. Last chance, she decided firmly.

He felt the warm touch of her hand on his. He tried to shake her hand off, expecting her to withdraw submissively. Instead, she grabbed his left hand and pulled it towards her. He ignored it and whipped past a red traffic light. She placed his palm gently on the swell of her stomach, waiting, praying silently for his reaction.

It stirred again.

He widened his eyes. In a split second, his mind cleared and he was no longer drunk on anger. As he eased the car to a cruise, the guilt kept crashing on until it made his heart hammer like mad. What had he been thinking, doing an irresponsible and childish thing like that? For the first time in his life, he understood how dangerous his actions were.

His hand searched for hers and found it. He squeezed it softly and murmured, "Never again." He found a place to park and killed the engine. Finally her tears fell.

Bye, Mr. Bala

2006-03-14T19:18:00.000+08:00

When I read Jia Yen's post about moving house, I realised that my neighbour just moved away. It is so typical of me to forget an event as big as that. Anyway, now you know. The Balakrishnans moved away. On the day that they started moving, Mr. and Mrs. Bala came over and bade my mum a final farewell. They thanked her for being a good neighbour. My mum nodded and warmly wished them a good future. Mrs. Bala cried.

=ZIP=
(I was actually going for the effect where you're watching a show then suddenly the screen freezes and the narration comes on)

Ok, this is where I start explaining why the scene above seems a bit odd to me. Of late (by of late I mean the past year) we have not been on very good terms with the Balas. For one, they like to hog the parking space outside our house and don't park it very well at that. The way they do it makes it very hard for us to drive our car into the house. Also, my dad has accidentally backed his car into the Balas' blue Proton Wira TWICE. I repeat, for effect, TWICE. At this point I feel quite amused. Thinking about satisfying memories like these makes me feel like that. Yes, I am rather happy that my dad backed his car into theirs twice, even breaking their signal lights the second time. He had to pay them for repairs both times, but I am very happy and I think my mum is secretly happy too because lord knows that the Balas' were asking for it, the way they parked theri car perpendicular to the way people normally parked. When my dad told him he should park parallel to his gate instead of perpendicular to it, he gave some bullshit excuse about not wanting to get in his nextdoor neighbour's way. Well too badddddd, cos he got in OUR way and felt the sting of it too.

Anyway, you get my point- towards the end there was no love between us and the Balas. But somehow they mustered up some decency and bade us farewell before they left. So, this post is dedicated to the Balas. May they have a good life in their new home. Good luck to their new neighbours too, if you know what I mean.

*Blackboards

2006-03-11T23:53:00.000+08:00

She wrinkled her nose. Something was bothering her a great deal.
She took a deep breath and blocked out the music, the pinging sounds of a new instant message, the breathy whine of the computer, the glare of the screen before her. Now there was nothing. Good. She arched her body and plunged in.

It was a long way down to the bottom, and felt like those dreams she sometimes had, those brief sensations of falling falling falling. When she finally touched ground, she dusted herself off and surveyed her surroundings. Whiteboards, as far as the eye could see. Why whiteboards, she wondered. The last time she was here, the place was full of blackboards. She preferred blackboards. Instantly the whiteboards flickered out of sight only to be replaced by blackboards. She smiled and gave a shrug to no one in particular.

She walked towards the nearest blackboard, which was covered with white chalk markings. She examined it carefully. Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, it wrote. The rest of the neat chalk writing was drawn over with crazy doodles. She frowned.
The next blackboard had names of people on it. Her friends, to be exact. She read the names aloud. Before long she ran out of eligible writing to read out loud. Like the last blackboard, this one had been messed with.

At this point she noticed the little stubs of chalk that littered the floor.

She walked past blackboards that bore different things on them. Fears, ambitions, dreams, favourite songs, her opinions of herself, her thoughts about other people, her favourite scents, her best memories in life... Words caught her eyes as she gave each board a quick glance. "PL's perfume", "lizards", "bittergourd soup", "foreign languages", "hosting family BBQs", "stupid bitch", "Mum's voice", "music stores", "too self conscious"......

She stopped at one whiteboard which was covered with names. Names of boys, to be exact. She laughed when she saw some of the names listed. Some fleeting crushes lasted mere weeks, or even days. Many of the names were crossed out now. Some couldn't be made out amidst the graffiti that dominated the whiteboard. At the bottom right corner of the whiteboard, some of the original writing had been smudged off and rewritten in a different hand. At the sight of this, she was enraged. No wonder she'd been getting strange feelings lately. She grabbed a duster and carefully rubbed those names off. They were to remain friends, no more.

She was about to set the duster down when she heard a faint sound coming from her right. She tiptoed towards the source of the sound. She could hear the squeaking of someone writing on a blackboard. She kept tiptoeing until she saw it. The monkey, perched on the legde of the blackboard, maniacally drawing away.
She felt strangely calm as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe that had somehow materialised there. The monkey was too engrossed in its work to notice her. She gently shook the syringe and walked until the monkey was directly in her reach. She stuck the needle into the monkey, then pushed the butt of the syringe until all of the liquid in the tube had been injected into the monkey.

In an eyeblink, multiple little people had appeared out of nowhere. A few were carrying the unconscious monkey away, others were cleaning up the whiteboards and rewriting their original contents. One of these tiny versions of her came up to her and shook her hand. "Thanks for the help, it was time someone got rid of that thing," the little creature said. "We'll take it from here. Everything will be returned to its original state in no time at all, boss," another piped.
She nodded approvingly and answered, "Well then, I'd better go now."
"Bye," chorused the little beings as she slowly faded away.

She blinked, trying to refocus her eyes on the computer screen. Problem solved, she thought, and felt doubly satisfied when she imagined the flurry of activity going on in her brain at that very moment.

Across The Universe

2006-03-10T23:48:00.000+08:00

I first heard Fiona Apple's cover of this song, but 'Across the Universe' is actually written by The Beatles. I found out about that when I was searching for the lyrics. Then after some time the name kept swirling in my mind and I thought, hang on, I've seen this name before. Then I realised that Crystal blogged about it some time ago. Oops...
Anyway, now you have my word for it that it is a good song.

Midnight post

2006-03-05T00:36:00.000+08:00

I looked back at all of my previous posts and I realised that I rarely blog about anything heavy. It is mostly just ranting and raving, and the occasional commentary on my boring life. It's a miracle that anyone even bothers to read my blog. In fact if I didn't own this blog I probably wouldn't even bother to read it.

I've thought up a few ways to spice up my blog:

1. I could try to write about more interesting topics, delve in deeper about certain aspects of my life and elaborate about them instead of just skimming over the surface.

2. Steal Elaine's brilliant brain and use it to write in my blog.

3. I could take a dig at everything, like certain people do on their blogs.

4. I could start writing about my life in an alternate universe, where I'm not a dorky high school student but rather a much cooler character. (I haven't decided what I'm going to be yet)

I thought about it and I've decided that 2 and 3 won't work, since Elaine's brain belongs to her and her alone; and I wouldn't want half my readers to hate me even if it means many people read my blog. So all that's left is 1 and 4.

I'll work on it, promise.

Random note: I checked out Neil Gaiman's blog, since it was linked from the Blogger main. I just clicked for fun, since I've never read Anansi Boys or any of the other books written by Gaiman. So there I was, reading his posts when I noticed the sidebar, which has his picture on it. Very cute. I mean, cuter than I'd imagined him to be. I really don't know why, but to me writers aren't very likely to be physically attractive (unless you're Ethan Hawke). Plus, the name Neil makes him sound very old, so in my mind Gaiman was always a middle-aged guy. But... if you look at the picture.... wow... I don't know about you, but I think he looks a bit like a cross between Adrian Brody and Keanu Reeves. Hahah....
See if you agree with me... http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/

Literature in English

2006-03-04T19:12:00.000+08:00

I did Lit in English with Puan Nina on Wednesday. We started with a short story, The White Heron. The story revolves around Sylvia, a little girl of nine, who lives in the woods. The story was beautiful even at the first read, but it was what Puan Nina taught me that really opened my eyes to it. She told me so many things about the story that was there all along but I wasn't able to see. Amazing.

!!!

2006-03-04T19:06:00.000+08:00

I'm a bit pissed off because I just wrote a long post and I thought it wasn't too bad. Now none of you will get to see it. *Awww* I'm trying to contain my anger right now. I really wanted very badly to publish that post. Now it's forever lost and I just wasted half an hour typing something that no one will ever see again.

Diuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

Forgive me.

kena Tag

2006-02-26T16:26:00.000+08:00

Ah, Elaine tagged me some time ago and I forgot until just now, so here it is.

The way it works.

Knock the top name off the list below. Add yours to the bottom.

Clever Title Here

Ramblings from a Disenchanted Idealist

YummyBrainGravy

Ann Spam

Footloose Fantasy

Tag five people for this meme

Jia Yen
Jook
Howard
**your name here**
**your name here**

Ok so it's moments like these that I realise I don't know many bloggers.... Anyway, back to the point.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was six-and-a-half years old and obnoxious. Well, actually I'm assuming I was obnoxious because I recall being that way during my first few primary school years. Ok, ok, 10 years ago from today I started attending SJK (C) Puay Chai. I think I was very unsociable at the time but little kids aren't like teens, so they can't smell that out in a second. Which is a lucky thing 'cos it meant I got a few friends anyway. I remember being close buddies with Yuan Herng, a boy whom I haven't heard from since I left Puay Chai.

What were you doing a year ago?
Do I really have to answer that? A year ago I was wasting my life away. I made terrible decisions, lost friends, forgot responsibilities, drifted farther away from reality than I should have... I know I'm being vague, but if you're informed then you'd understand what I'm saying. Otherwise, back off because it's not really any of your business anyway. But I guess one good thign was that last year I made a few new friends and learnt some life lessons. Then again, that happens every year.

5 snacks you enjoy

-Kit Kat (They're not very special but so what)

-Milk with drinking chocolate stirred into it.

(You know what, in fact I'm not very picky at all. So long as it's chocolate I will probably scoff it.)

-Cheezels (Because it's cheesy, and as you know I'd eat anything with cheese on it)

-Cheesecake (Cheese again, yeah)

Chocolate and cheese, no wonder it's getting impossible for me to fit into my Levi's

5 songs to which you know all of the words

-'Don't Speak' by No Doubt

-'Jie Kou' by Jay Chou

-'Wires' by Athlete

-'Hello' by Evanescence

-'Sun Wu Kong' by Mayday (Wu Yue Tian)

All of the above are songs I like quite a lot. Actually I know the lyrics to a lot of songs, but only when I'm listening to the song. Lol.

5 things you'd do if you were a millionaire

1. Do that tour on the yellow big truck ( I saw it in the newspaper the other day but I forgot what it's called). Anyway the idea of it is living with the same people during the whole trip and you travel in this big trailer-like thingy and get to see places that many tourists don't.

2. Get my parents a shop lot so that they can start a restaurant. They've only ever joked about it, but I really would like to see them have their own restaurant seeing as they're both great cooks.

3. Start a record shop since it would make my dad and me very very happy to be surrounded by music.

4. Wait until the moment comes when I find the right opportunity to donate money for a worthy cause. Wouldn't want to just throw it somewhere where you don't know where the money goes. Most probably I'll fund something education-related.

5. Save what remains of the money (I'm not kidding).

5 bad habits

1. Tucking and un-tucking my hair behind my ear incessantly.

2. Hitting people without thinking beforehand.

3. Putting everything off and whiling the time away doing non-constructive stuff.

4. Starting on a story and leaving it to collect dust.

5. Sitting on the loo reading for a long time. (My mum warned me that I'd get piles sitting there for such a long time but I still do it now and then).

5 things you enjoy doing

1. Checking out the way people look/ are dressed, regardless of gender.

2. Reading

3. Eating

4. Tuning out of the world by clamping on my headphones and listening to music until my ears ache.

5. Fantasising about my future :career/ life in uni/ spouse/ house... And tons of other things I wouldn't write here in case it makes you laugh your head off. You can try asking me, though. I might reveal a few more.

5 things you would not wear again

1. Tights (now that I am so unsightly waist-down)

2. Short skirts (Ditto)

3. Geeky specs

4. The black and fuschia slippery skirt I wore to a wedding

5. My mum's bright pink high heels, which I wore to the same wedding.

5 favourite toys

1. My mp3 Player

2. The computer

3. My imagination (making up fantastical tales in my head)

4. My mouth because it means I can talk all I want with my friends.

5. The phone ( Ditto plus I get to talk to Elaine and Lizzie)

Faces

2006-02-25T18:27:00.000+08:00

My friend has a face.
She isn't just a buoy I cling onto,
He isn't just a safety net I can fall back on,
They're not just temporary props
to make my stage look less empty.

I see that in your eyes
I do not have a face.
I'm just a nobody
who happened to be chosen
to be your somebody.

In an eyeblink,
you'll find a better shadow,
I'll be shoved away,
Given the cold shoulder,
Faceless as I always was to you.

Sometimes when we're talking,
I can pretend that you see me,
See the person, the feelings,
Behind the cardboard figure
that you take me for.

We do not have a friendship,
what we have is a bubble,
so short-lived and delicate.
I am not your sanctuary
as you will never be mine.

But I won't walk away,
because to me you have a face,
one that will show emotions.
I only wish you'd understand
that I have a face too.

-I unearthed old feelings to write this, but it's so hard to imagine the time that it happened, since everything is so different now.

Grey areas

2006-02-25T17:20:00.000+08:00

Aloy and I, we're all about grey areas. We're friends, of course, but sometimes the way we act make people wonder. I makes me wonder too. But I'm staying away from that troublesome thing called love. It's just too 'lau gau' (synonym of mafan, but with a stronger meaning), too messy. Just looking at how it's making my friends fret is more than enough to turn me off. And Aloysius, he prefers to stay single too. I think his reasoning is that if he gets attached, all of his female friends will dart away like startled fishies (ok, I made up the startled fishies part). Anyway, he is known as the 'chau sui gei', and even though I doubt he's ever taken advantage of a girl in that sense, I think he enjoys being around lots of girls. So he thinks being single is probably much better. So we're friends, with no intention of going further, even though we poke fun at each other about it often enough. Yvonne was pretty convinced that we had something going, and I don't blame her. It complicated.... but I don't mind it being that way. It's nice to have someone to complain to and let loose around.

Right now I'm thinking about Howard and his 'problem'. This problem of his is like a flesh-eating virus, consuming him from within until there's nothing left but the facade on the surface. He says he'll keep on smiling and joking around, and I'm sure he has the ability to do so even when he is dying inside. I cannot elaborate about his problem because I promised him I wouldn't let anyone know, but I think it doesn't take much to guess what his problem is. I pleaded to him that he didn't need what he thought he needed, that he could survive just fine without it. I don't know if my message got through, but I really don't want to see him get hurt and depressed all over again. Is it worth it, those short months of sweetness, followed by so much pain and sadness? I hope he thinks carefully and makes the right choices.

Meanwhile there is another friend I'm thinking about, a friend I used to be close to. When I first heard the news of his new female friend, I was rather angry. Then I thought about it and decided it was a good thing after all, because it put him in a good mood. But lately my intuition has been telling me things that don't seem pleasant at all. I swear, it's not me hoping their relationship will curdle. It's just this terrible feeling that it won't last long. I hope I'm not right. Then again, I hope it doesn't drag on for a painfully long time. With all the sincerity I can muster, I'm praying that the term will be as painless for the girl as possible. Not that I'm implying anything. Go figure. People who know him well enough will understand what I'm saying.

blah

2006-02-25T16:34:00.000+08:00

Sorry, I know I've been MIA in the blogscene for some time. Aughh... It's not fun, staying away from the computer for a full week only to return and find that you have a bursting mailbox and so many people's blogs to check out. I feel rather behind right now.

On the other hand, you guys are very behind on my news too....
Since I don't have a lot of time to put it all down nice and detailed, blah di blah di blah, I'm just going to put down the gist of it.
- I finally got an English Lit teacher, no it's not Mr Chin but I suppose she'll have to do. As of next week, I'll be taking tuition classes under Puan Nina (yep, that's her). She sounds very patronising on the phone, and I don't like people who patronise me, but I guess we'll just have to see.
- Mr. Tin, our form teacher, told everyone in class to take their cleanliness duties seriously when it was their turn, so now people finally listen to me when I ask them to clean the whiteboard/ sweep the classroom floor/ arrange the tables properly/ clean the windows. Hmph. High time that happened. I was very very pissed off before that because our classroom looked like a garbage truck hit it.
- I went to the MPH stock clearance sale and got 8 books which, for god's sake, I don't even have the time to read.
- Huey Kee, Wei Sheng, Juan Yao and I are going to do our oral on the topic 'Should premarital sex be accepted by society'. Don't ask me why, but it seemed like something everyone agreed with. Kee and I agreed that it would be a good topic to talk on, with lots of angles from which you could look at it. And the boys, those maniacs, of course they wouldn't mind having to talk about sex.
- I just had my Chinese exam and Biologi Eksperimen paper today. I think I did ok with Chinese, but I definitely bombed my Bio paper. And after years of experience I think we should all learn to just study instead of trying to get leads. First someone came in and proclaimed that the paper would be on suhu (temperature). Then later Cherrie heard that it was on pH and they announced it loudly. Anyway in the end it was on suhu. Anyway, even with leads, I don't think it made much of a difference. The paper was on enzymes and the factors that influences its reaction with substrates, btw.

That's about it, I guess.

City lights upstage the stars in the sky

2006-02-06T18:04:00.000+08:00

Last night, upon reaching home at midnight, I glanced up at the sky. I pointed out Orion's belt to my sister (I hope I was right). Then I realised the sky wasn't really dark at all. Even late at night, it is only a greyish dark blue, sort of like the colour of a bruise. The moon stood out in the sky, but the stars did not.

In the countryside, where there aren't so many lights at night, you could probably see the stars more clearly.

I think overseas there is this idea of switching off the lights so that people can enjoy the stars or witness astronomical occurences. There's a name for it, but I don't remember what it's called, this idea.

2006-02-06T17:42:00.000+08:00

Harlo again. I finally bought Romeo & Juliet. I went to Times to find the 'cheaper version' of R&J, but turns out Times only has the Penguin one too...... At least it has a very pretty cover, haha.

Meanwhile, I have started on Lord of the Flies. So far it's been quite ok.
Starting on LOTF means I finished the book I was reading before this, and that book is Sterkarm's Handshake, by Susan Price. I was looking for 'His Dark Materials' by Philip Pullman in the TTDI library, but they didn't have it (as usual), so I settled for something else on the 'P' shelf. I think it's overall a good book. A drag at times, but that happens. The idea is interesting, inventing a Time Tube that crosses over to the 16th century of another dimension. The ending is sad though, and reminds me of the ending of The Amber Spyglass, which happens to be the third book of the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy. What a coincedence. So I managed to get my sad-ending high after all...

Something else I have (have, meaning forced to and not want to) to read is John Steinbeck's 'The Pearl'. I don't have anything against Steinbeck, although I didn't really understand 'The Red Pony'. It's just that having to read it for school sort of takes the fun out of it.

I'm stuck when it comes to the Commonwealth Essay Writing thing. I mean, I cannot even squeeze out more than 100 words, even if I sit there thinking for a whole half hour. And I don't want to not be able to show Ms. Tarenjit something. I chose to try out for it and like it or not I am going to come up with something.

Haven't heard much music this week. But I've been listening to Shakira's En Tus Pupilas a lot, and I never grow tired of it. Sigh. I wish I could find Fijacion Oral Vol. 1, but it seems all the stores have are Vol. 2, the English album. Sigh.

2006-02-05T00:35:00.000+08:00

Wow, guess what, Howie boy, you were absolutely right. Absolutely totally completely 100% right. You should get a prize for your amazing prediction. Or at least, a better immune system. Sigh.

'Fearless' and kuih bahulu skirts

2006-02-01T23:42:00.000+08:00

Today I went to 1U twice, once to get tickets to 'Fearless', and another time to watch the movie. During the time I spent in 1U today, I made some observations.

Fashion. Should we follow it blindly? Seeing people strut around fully decked according to the latest fad, makes my sis and me gawk as though they just walked out of a car-accident (although I haven't actually seen someone walk out of a car accident). I've never seen the point to it. I think how you look depends in the air of how you carry what you wear, not on the clothing itself. My sister, for example, looks good in whatever she happens to be wearing (and I'm not being biased). The thing is, these people need to feel a sense of security, so they cling on to whatever's 'in'. I guess there's nothing wrong in keeping with the latest styles and assimilating some into your own way of dressing. But I don't believe in copying something 'bulat-bulat', 100%.

Anyway, when we were having early pre-movie dinner, we saw three teens walk by, dressed in a way that was similarly different. All had checked shirts, short skirts and long black socks pulled way up. It shouted J-rock style. They looked like mannequins, purposefully displaying to the extreme. It was the sort of outfit that would've looked good only if you retained one item of clothing and replaced the rest with normal stuff. In other words, they were trying too hard.

My sister and I also noticed a pair of girls when we were in the restrooms. They had low cut tank tops, short skirts and jackets with fur-lined hoods. When we saw them we were like, What the-? I guess it was getting normal to see teens in tanks and short skirts, but the jacket was really a bit overboard. I mean, they were both wearing the same attention-grabbing jacket. That alone spelled fashion clone for me. My sister was quite disgusted too. She exclaimed that they couldn't even fill up their low cut tanks, let alone have anything to flaunt. It was rather depressing to see them like that. What made it worse was the amount of time they took to preen themselves and apply makeup. I was waiting outside a cubicle when one of them started tidying her hair in front of the mirror. A minute later I went into the loo. When I came out, she was still standing there, applying makeup. When Ka Ling and I left, both were still at it. The sad thing is, they're only my age, perhaps even younger.

Finally, there's the puffy skirt, which I've named the kuih bahulu skirt. I saw it on different people 7 times, I repeat, 7 times! And just today, too. I never realised it was even in fashion right now. Even if it is, I don't see why it should be. The puffy skirt is dumb looking and should totally be banned. Anyway, I nicknamed it the kuih bahulu skirt because the puffy skirt looks like a kuih bahulu. To prove my point, here are the pictures:

Kuih Bahulu - - - - >

"Puffy skirt" - - - - >

See the resemblance?

If this is fashion then then I'd rather be ignorant and inept about it, thank you very much. *Sigh.*

Now that I'm done blathering, let's move onto 'Fearless'. The leading actor is, of course, Jet Li. When I saw the title 'Fearless' and Jet Li's name, I immediately associated it to Li's Hollywood movies and decided I would have nothing to do with it. It was only when my mum said it was about the Chinese Wu Shu figure Huo Yuanjia that I showed any interest. I admit, before this I've never even heard Huo's name, let alone know his life story. But I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. The plot was interesting, and I feel Jet Li should stick to this type of role, instead of taking on killing-machine roles. Anyway, I don't want to reveal anything, so all I can do is recommend that you watch this movie.

初三

2006-01-31T19:12:00.000+08:00

Chor Sam, the third day of the month in the lunar calendar. It's been three full days of festivity- visiting relatives, eating all sorts of CNY snacks, generally just having a great time.

'*A New Year' isn't written very well, but I wanted to publish it because it is, after all, the new year. And I do hope that the Year of the Dog is going to be a year filled with peace and pleasant surprises, rather than nasty ones.

*A New Year

2006-01-29T00:19:00.000+08:00

Ji rubbed his eyes tiredly and tried to focus on his work. The year was coming to an end, and he was relieved to be able to pass his work on to his successor. Nevertheless, he had to finish off this year's business. It had been a rough year. His predecessors Yang and Hou thought they had it bad, having to handle the tsunami and its fallout. But even they admitted that this year was the worst yet.

Ji heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said wearily. The door opened and Quan bounded in energetically. He won't be so enthusiastic by the end of his term, thought Ji.
"What are you still doing here? Everyone's waiting!" Quan exclaimed.
Ji gestured towards the pile of work on his desk.
Quan shook his head disbelievingly. "I know it's in your character to be hardworking, but don't you think you're taking it a little too far?"
Ji shrugged.
"Aw, come on, it's New Year's eve! You shouldn't even be here. Everyone's expecting you to have reunion dinner with them at Jade Emperor's Palace." Quan pleaded.
"But...... the work...... I can't just leave it undone!" Ji stammered.
Quan sighed impatiently and said, "Look, I'm taking over as of tomorrow. You can count on me, I'll take care of everything, alright?"
"We-ell," Ji pondered. He knew that Quan was reliable and faithful, there was no denying that. "Alright then," he finally said.
"Good! Now go pack your things quickly. As you know, we never start dinner until everyone is present. So hurry up so that you don't keep everyone starving. You wouldn't want Zhu to pass out again like he did last year, would you?" Quan said.
Ji chuckled at the memory of their friend the pig fainting from hunger. "Okay, I'm ready," he said.

"Great," Quan said, putting an arm on the rooster's shoulder. "Let's go." he said.
Ji took one last look at the work on his desk and asked Quan worriedly, "Do you think next year's going to be a good year?"
Quan laughed and said confidently, "With me in charge? Of course! Now stop fretting and walk faster. This time I want to make sure Hou the monkey doesn't run off with all the immortality peaches."

Happy Chinese New Year

2006-01-28T17:36:00.000+08:00

Chinese New Year makes me think of these things:

Mandarin Oranges

Cai Shen Ye (God of Prosperity)

Mak Fung Dau (Kuih Ros)

Those biscuits that literally melt in your mouth!

Lion dances

Festive decorations

Kumquat plants

and......
Fireworks!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Dog Dog Chianggg!!!

2006-01-28T14:41:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I was watching a Mandarin music request programme. They played a song called 'Pandora', by Zhang Shao Han. All I can say is that it sounds like a Gwen Stefani rip-off.

Just now I was talking to Lizzie and he asked whter I listened to Ai FM, the radio station. So I said yes, and that I couldn't stand the 'Tuk Tuk Chiangg!' sound clip that they kept playing at intervals. Then he explained that it was actually 'Dog Dog Chianggg!!!'. Dog, as in, the year of the Dog. That is SO lame.... Seriously seriously zha dao -.- . I wish I could put my *sweat* emoticon here, because it would express my zhadao-ness perfectly. What the hell? Dog Dog Chianggg???

I've finally finished reading Juan Yao's battered copy of Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons'. I liked it. It took me a long time to finish because these days I don't have much time, but it was a good read anyway. The identity of the true antagonist really took me by surprise. I never imagined it would be him. Hmm... this makes it the 3rd Dan Brown book I've read. I'm not a hage fan of his, but I guess I don't mind his books. I like how he brings all sorts of facts into a book without making it boring. The ambigrams are cool too. I tried to make one of my name but failed. I made one of the word 'Calculus' but it doesn't look quite right either....

Right now I'm working my way through John Case's 'The Murder Artist'. I tell you, this book is Disturbing. It is so so creepy. I thought it would be a normal, run-of-the-mill kidnapping story, but.... *shudder* I was reading it in the middle of the night, and I really felt the skin on the back of my neck crawling. It is sick sick sick. But I am still going to finish it.

merde, merda, miarda

2006-01-27T19:16:00.000+08:00

Last week I got offended by someone. Usually I forget these thing easily, since I am such an absent-minded person with less memory space than my MP3 player. But it has been bothering me, whispering to me when I'm alone, when I'm taking a shower or doing the dishes. Hence, I'm letting it all out here so that it won't keep haunting me.

Someone underestimated me, belittled me. And it was in an aspect that I rather took pride in. When I first heard the unwitting insult, I felt very offended. Me? Brought down to your level? Dream on. Then I started wondering, what if it's true? What if I really am no good in that sense? It made me feel insecure.

In my mind I kept swearing at that person. Your ignorance has brought out my worst fear. It tore me to bits thinking about it.

Finally, now I've decided to forgive that person. Child, you did not know where you went wrong so I will not blame you.

So there!

This is one of those personal rants so don't bother trying to understand and don't bother wondering who I'm talking about.

Vijaya

2006-01-27T17:41:00.000+08:00

Kak Vijaya is an Indian woman who come and cleans up the house and washes+dries+irons our clothes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. She's been working for us since Ka Ling was two, when we first moved to Bandar Utama. (Ka Ling's turning 14 soon, so you do the math.)

Vijaya is a smart, pretty and (usually) hardworking woman. My mum's known her so long they've become close friends. Vijaya holds her head high and isn't afraid to speak her mind. She tells us off when we're in her way when she's trying to sweep the floor. She also yells at Ka Wing if he's being cheeky towards her. My mum doesn't mind at all. In fact, she's always giving stuff to Vijaya. Almost everytime she comes to work, Vijaya goes home with something.

Also, they gossip. They gossip about our neighbours and some other people Vijaya works for.

Anyway, today my mum, my sis and I were in the midst of making cookies when Vijaya poked her head in and asked what we were making. My mum told her it was a type of light Chinese cookie made from corn flour and tapoica flour. Viyaja nodded and asked what tapioca was. We were all sort of stumped 'cos the only way to say it would be to use the Malay term for 'tapioca'. Eevryone was trying to come up with the word, and it was so ironic because tapioca is one of those things my mum always gives to Vijaya. In the end I gave up and told her in Cantonese, 'muk shue'. She understood. My god, she actually bloody understood! She went, oh, ubi kayu kah? Then we all finally remembered that tapioca was called ubi kayu in Malay.

It's funny having her around. My neighbour Mrs. Yong told my mum that someone on her road died, because they set up a white tent, presumably for the wake. My mum told Vijaya, who set things straight by saying that it was an Indian wedding. We really wouldn't have known. I mean, who would use a white tent for a wedding party? For us Chinese it will always be red, red, auspicious red.

My mum once said that if you ever see a house with blue gates or blue side grilles, it is most probably a house belonging to an Indian. She explained that no Chinese would ever paint their house blue because blue usually meant death or some sort of misfortune.

I'm going off the subject. Anyway, my point is that I'm glad I know Vijaya because she has a lot to offer even if she just cleans people's houses. I'm also happy that my mum treats Vijaya like a good friend, instead of ordering her around like some of Vijaya's other employees do. Finally, I think having her around is better than having a full-time maid. We've sworn off those, I tell you.

si tenggang...

2006-01-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

We've been working on the poem 'si tenggang's homecoming' for the past week. The whole idea is quite easy to grasp when you've got a good teacher like Ms. Tarenjit. She is so much better than Ms. Any Lie. She actually delves deep into the poem and makes sure we fully understand, instead of just skimming the surface.

Today, during class we were discussing the poem when she brought up the subject of nationality and culture. She asked us what nationality we were of. Malaysian, of course, we answered. Then she went on to say that our homeland was China, as India was hers. So Danny asked her whether she could speak Tamil, whereby she started telling us a whole load about her culture.

It turns out she's from Punjab, which is in the northern part of India. Then she told us that her religion was Sikhism, which led to everyone reflexively saying "Mangali Singh!" (We're so ignorant). So she explained that Bengalis came from Bengal, another part of India. After that we asked her about the 'Singh' fixation, and so she said it was 'Singh' for men and 'Kaur' for women. She also told us that 'Singh' actually stood for 'lion'. (Singh, singa, get it?)

Danny teased her by calling her an Indian Punjabi. Ms. Tarenjit said that since we were all living in Malaysia now, she would be better labelled as a Malaysian. Then Danny said, no, no, we're Malaysian Chinese, which makes you Malaysian Indian Punjabi. Tarenjit rolled her eyes and said, that makes you all Malaysian China Chinese.

She said there were three other Punjabi teachers, and one of them experienced first hand how ignorant we students were. According to Ms. Tarenjit, Madam Jaspal went into a class and said, "My name is Jaspal and I am Punjabi." And believe it or not, one of the students actually wrote her name as Jaspal Punjabi......

We all had a good laugh during English class. Danny kept calling her Tarenjit Cow (as in, Tarenjit Kaur), and she kept trying to correct him. She also threatened to send a duster flying out way because we kept interrogating her. It took a long time for her to steer the subject back to 'si tenggang's homecoming'. And not too long after that the bell rang.

I suspect English classes will be quite bearable this year.

Alcoholic...

2006-01-21T23:32:00.000+08:00

I was in the car when a word suddenly popped up in my head : Stella Artois. I kept wracking my head trying to remember where I'd seen that name. Was it the name of an artist? A musuem? No no no, I kept getting dead ends. I knew it was something I'd seen a lot of times when I was in Australia. Only when I Googled it did I remember- it was a brand of Belgian beer. I think I must've seen a lot of advertisements of that beer in the city.

At this point Joo Khai kor, Ling je and LE je are going to point at me and say, 'Alcoholic!'. I have to admit, I drank a lot more alcohol in Aus than I probably would in a whole year back home. In Malaysia the only opportunity I get to drink wine is when attending a wedding banquet. In Australia I tried a few brands of beer, a bit of champagne, some sangria and Kilkenny's. Only a few sips, mind you.

Oh, and of course there was Swanston Apartment '06, my creation for the new year. A little bit of Ribena, some Solo, an ice-cube, and liberal amounts of tropical fruit juice and red wine. It was good, man. Really good.

Kilkenny's is easy to drink too. And fun to open, if you've never tried before. There's a ball thingy in the can that's supposed to keep the beer moving in the can so that there will be a perfect layer of foam when you pour it out. Mmm...

Let me clarify something, though. I am not an alcoholic. I won't mind a taste but I wouldn't be grateful if you handed me a full glass. I just like to taste it and say I don't like it. I think it's because when I was in Soon Tuck one of the minders gave us some local beer to try during dinner one night and it was really yummy. Since then I've been searching for the yummy beer but so far all I've found is bitter, bitter, bitter.

I'm glad I won't be touching alcohol for awhile.

But sangria was nice, definitely. =D

Dance, dance

2006-01-18T18:41:00.000+08:00

In a bid to help me get rid of that spare tyre and fit into my Levi's again, my sister offered to introduce me to her kind of exercise - dance. As No Doubt's 'Just A Girl' started playing, she danced and I tried to follow. I felt stupid trying to dance. And I looked clumsy and awkward.

Ka Ling, on the other hand, danced effortlessly, her fluid movements fitting seamlessly with the music. I really don't know how she does it, making up moves to the rhythm. I am very very impressed that she can dance so well. I mean, she doesn't watch MTV or go for dance lessons or anything. I don't know where she gets it.

I swear, she should be a dance choreographer.

* When I next open my eyes, you'll be there.

2006-01-14T19:41:00.000+08:00

-Revision in progress-

2006-01-14T19:25:00.000+08:00

This has been a relatively good week, with a relatively good Saturday to wrap it all up. We has assembly this morning, which means the first 4 classes were as good as gone. That alone is enough to celebrate about.

Also, this week I have discovered 2 true friends. It is nice to know that there are people out there you can really count on. The ironic thing is that, when we were asked to write a composition about saying goodbye, I made mine about a good friend dying of brain cancer. It is actually based on a real experience in which a classmate of mine succumbs to a brain tumour. Anyway, that was a long time ago. She is somewhere warm and welcoming now.

So, thank you guys for the requested sweets and unrequested but appreciated Apollo wafers. By the way, those Apollo wafers are really good. 4 sticks in a packet for 40 cents, and that stuff is good as a pick-me-up. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Especially if you have a Calculus class straight after.

Of course, I also have to thank Ann Spam for going straight to the problem and fixing my comments page. It would have taken me ages to get to it on my own. Thanks so much.

2006-01-12T22:53:00.000+08:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

A Promising Future

2006-01-12T21:10:00.000+08:00

Yes, I see a promising future for myself... A very promising future as an undecisive person. There are many choices to be made this year and I cannot see myself making up my mind at all.
Should I take undang and get my driver's license at the end of the year? Should I give up my piano lessons when I start taking English Lit tuition? Should I remain in Chong Hwa for Senior Middle 3?

Decisions used to be easy. I remember a time when it was just the matter of picking out a brand of shampoo, which restaurant to eat out at and whether to study for the exam beforehand or procrastinate and wait till the night before (easy decision, this one). And those were very short-term decisions. The outcome didn't really matter after it was over and done.

Now, however, every single choice I have make seems to be directly related to my future and could singlehandedly wreck my future if I make the wrong decision. No pressure, huh. It is so maddening, the reality that everything is piling up on me so suddenly.

och, aye...

2006-01-09T18:30:00.000+08:00

Fecking Haloscan never finishes loading so I'm forever stuck with a half full bar of little green rectangles. T.T
I swear, I'm going to leave this blog to dust if I don't have a decent comments page.
It better get done some how or another, dammit.

Meanwhile I'm still reading Elaine's copy of Angela's Ashes and loving it.
I can't be online much longer though, because my mum says I should watch less TV and go online less and read more instead like that girl in the paper the other day (Timothey's sister), the one's who's partially deaf and got accepted into a world-famous uni. I suppose I should be working harder. I am SO going to disprove something hurtful someone said some time ago. You are so wrong, man. And I am going to hurl it in your face.

The First Post in 06

2006-01-08T18:17:00.000+08:00

Yes, hello. It's me again. After a long absence, I'm back online and back to blogging. I'm rather pissed off right now, what with the heartburn and my stupid comments not working out. I've been trying to get Haloscan since yesterday night, but still no success. Anyway, I wouldn't want to worry you with my troubles so let's pull the plug on the moaning.

I spent 20 glorious days in Australia, and I expect that you expect me to write a detailed entry filled with photos to tell you all about my vacation. Sorry, no. If I find the time and inspiration, I might randomly type out an interesting memory. But to record 20 days' activity is more than I can handle.

Ok, so here goes.....

Something funny happened when we were in a van, moving Jook (Joo Khai kor)'s furniture and everything else to his new apartment. We were all set to go, everyone was in the van and buckled up (yes, people over there do care that you wear your seatbelt). Ling je was quite stressed out, her never having driven a van before and all. She started the engine and started driving. Then, Jook's alarm clock starting ringing. Perfect timing, if you pardon the pun. It was a totally hilarious moment. Everyone kept laughing. Jook kor had to scramble around the back of the van looking for it until he found it and turned it off.

When we were in Sydney, we had dinner at this Spanish restaurant on Liverpool St. We ordered sangria, which is basically wine with fruits in it and probably some juice too. It was pretty good. Jook kor drank a whole cup and halfway thru dinner, he started to feel hot. Soon he was pretty much 'heeng' already. 'Heeng' is Teochew for 'pengsan', which is Malay for 'passed out'. We took a picture of him leaning against his chair, with his head supported by the wall, but he never noticed. When dessert arrived, I tried to wake him. He opened his eyes and I held out his fork in front of him, but he only waved his hand to say no. When he finally woke up, his eyes widened at the sight of dessert and he pointed accusingly. Describing it here is useless, but at that moment his reaction was incredibly funny. And he had absolutely no recollection of us taking his picture and waking him up for dessert.

-more later-

Spontaneous doughnuts

2005-12-10T17:47:00.000+08:00

My attempt at making croissants was carefully planned and prepared for beforehand. I spent many hours slaving over it and hoping it won't be too big a disaster. It turned out ok.
Sometime in the afternoon today I suddenly came up with the idea to make more croissants today, since we still had bread flour and cake flour to spare. My mum suggested I try something else (because making croissants is bloody leceh). So I took out the photocopied recipes I got from Yuan Hui (yeah, all the recipes and my urges to try them out come from Yuan Hui). My mum decided making doughtnuts would be alright.

So we popped into Centrepoint for lunch and to get some missing ingredients. I came home, weighed and sifted, combined and kneaded, then left it there for 30 minutes to rise while I watched TV. After half an hour, I separated them into little pieces and went back to watching TV for another 20 minutes. By now they were fat little pieces of soft and light dough. I rolled and looped them into the shape they're supposed to be, then my mum put them into the wok to fry. So, less then 2 hours after starting, everyone was at the table, eating freshly fried doughnuts with sugar (we had a choice of either the icing or castor variety).

And if I do say so myself, they were delicious. Deeeeelicious. They were crispy on the outside and tasted way better than anything you could buy at bakeries or doughnut shops. There were 9 doughnuts and they vanished before too long. It felt great too, having everyone at the table, hands sticky and lips coated with sugar, eating warm doughnuts together.

I think from now on I will stick to making doughnuts and eschew making croissants. You can't be good at everything, after all. But to be honest, doughnuts are quite simple to make lah.

Waving hello

2005-12-10T17:29:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, we visited KLCC Aquaria. The bus ride was ok, even though I got quite sick of the Chinese version of Dragostea Din Tei (aka the Numa Numa song), Bu Pa Bu Pa sung by Jocie Guo. Blea-ucksss! Dumb lyrics too. "Not going to be afraid of cockroaches anymore..." What type of bullshit lyrics is that?

Anyway, when we got there, I held Cze Hui's hand and walked with her. We were chatting while walking when suddenly this Malay woman gave me a strange look. Then she looked down at Cze Hui, who gave her a wide toothy smile and waved for what I found out later to be the second time. After we'd gone past the woman, I asked Cze Hui whether she waved at the woman just now. She said yes. It surprised me a bit but I didn't say anything. She's a pleasant-looking girl who is pretty crazy sometimes but has all the good intentions. I told her that if she got to be Miss Malaysia she could wave at everyone at one go. She didn't answer, only proceeded to wave at two office ladies who walked passed us. They smiled and waved back.

When we neared KLCC, we noticed that security was tight. That was probably for the 11th Asian Summit. There were lots of guards and also what I'm guessing are detectors. We walked past one guard who was standing solemnly outside the building. Cze Hui did her magical wave and he cracked a smile.

It feels strange, realising that I won't be seeing her for a long time. I probably won't get to see the other kids for some time too. It was a great experience, working at Yuan Hui. It has its imperfections, but by some miracle almost everything works out there. It's, like the banner claims, where every child dreams to go.

2nd last day

2005-12-08T20:54:00.000+08:00

Today is my 24th day working at Yuan Hui Educare Centre. I couldn't help but mention a few times to the kids that tomorrow's going to be my last day. I also told them about the replacement guy (Lizzie). And I told them to mail me or phone me to tell me about the rest of their holiday or complain about they new guy. Haha, someone better be careful about what he does...

Miss Jane left in the morning, slightly before I reached the centre. When I asked Pat, she said Jane had some personal matters to deal with. Later she explained that Jane's sister was facing some sort of troubling situation. Without the good woman around, things have been slightly different. For one, I have to be more attentive, since now it's only 2 pairs of eyes (Pat and me) instead of the usual 3. Just having to concentrate more has worn me out. Fortunately today has been a relatively easy day. By easy, I mean no baking or glue-related craftwork. Although I did have to do the dishes.

I notice that we are slightly disorganised without Miss Jane around. For example, today the computer-time schedule was completely messed up. Usually Jane is in charge of arranging times for the differnet groups to play computer games, and neither me nor Auntie Pat are bothered to see whose turn it is, so when any of the kids ask, we usually tell them to ask Jane. Today, Kristian came up to me and asked me whether he could play computer games, and since Miss Jane wasn't around I asked him to ask Auntie Pat. He went to Auntie Pat, who, also finding it hard to make a decision, sent him back to me. Poor Kristian. Luckily, Jeremy didn't come today. Without him bugging everyone for computer games, the other kids were content just bonding with their GameBoy Advance SPs.

Yuan Xi wasn't having a good day today. And without his favourite Miss Jane, he got even more grumpy. (I don't know why, but when the kids and I fail to coax Yuan Xi into or out of something, Miss Jane always succeeds just by saying, "Yuan Xi, come") Anyway, today he has been a bad bad boy. First, he threw sand on the kids' painted planets, then he tugged his sister cze Hui's hair until she cried (and it takes a lot to make her cry), and he also splashed a cup of water down his brother Yuan Hui's shirt, and finally he flashed his willy at us, all the while doing his trademark giggle.

A New Friend

2005-12-07T21:17:00.000+08:00

I've been working with Ms. Jane for 5 weeks now. The past four weeks, we've just been friendly enough to get along, not more. Maybe it's because we've always been more focused on the kids that on getting to know each other. Anyway, for some unknown reason, we've gotten friendlier this week. Maybe it's the fact that this is my last week here that has pushed us into this unconscious effort. Anyway, I think she is a very nice woman. I mean, I known since I got here that she's a kind and uncalculating woman who cares deeply for every one of these kids, but now I see her qualities even more clearly. She is gentle, but has an energy that never seems to run out. She can be serious when she wants to be, and make the kids listen to her, and yet she has a great sense of humour.

I've constantly been grateful forall the good things working at Yuan Hui has brought to me-
the great job, the amazing experiences, the good pay and all the friendly kids, but now I have another thing to be grateful for. A new friend.

presents

2005-12-07T20:42:00.000+08:00

Yuan Xi likes to give people presents. He is never stingy with his gifts, no matter whether it's hitting people, throwing sand at their face or some other fun (for him) surprise. And he's always so happy afterwards, giggling like he's having the time of his life, which he probably is. Today I was honoured to be chosen to receive his blessed gift. I was helping Stephanie and Melissa with their glue-covered balls of newspaper (we're making planets, Art Attack-style, which always means lots of 'loo roll' and glue) when suddenly it rained sand. I whipped around and there was Yuan Xi with his baby grin. If there weren't so many kids around, I'd probably have given him something to remember in return. In any case, I yelled.

I like kids, honestly I do. And I try very hard to be as best an example I can be. Plus I am usually very tolerant. But Yuan Xi really gets on my nerves. He is a terrible baby, rebellious, cunning, sneaky, morbid, and above all, occassionally unable to control his call of nature. He also likes to hit his mum and his Ah-Gung (grandfather). And despite all of this, he still giggles at everything, so deceptively innocent.

I know some people like him, and I have tried over these 5 weeks, but I still very much dislike him. Sorry, Elaine.

Brain Drain

2005-12-05T19:01:00.000+08:00

Yesterday night my dad gave me this printout to read. It was an article written for The Chronicle Of Higher Education, concerning Malaysia's Brain Gain scheme. No, Brain Gain is not a cereal fortified with vitamins and minerals to help children's brains grow. For some years now, Malaysia's greatest minds have been slipping away from her fingers, choosing to work and live in other countries. In a bid to win them back, the first Brain Gain program was launched in 1995 and ran until 2000. According to the article, it attracted only 94 scientists, only one of whom remains in Malaysia. The following BG scheme which ran from 2000 to 2004 attracted less than 200, few of whom are still in Malaysia now.

The thing is, they're able to convince some to return, but not to stay. But why is that? Tepuk dada tanya selera. I'm sure we all know the answer to that. Malaysia Boleh.

2005-12-04T12:24:00.000+08:00

And you thought they were so geng.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1571285,00.html

Inspiration by randomization?

2005-12-04T11:42:00.000+08:00

I'm finally working on Wanderer again, and once again I noticed the stupid governing body name problem. I couldn't come up with any good names that fit properly. Elaine actually found some cool-souding Welsh names, but now I'm looking for Oriental-sounding ones. I asked mbd to help me out and he came up with:
The Seizaibaos

Please tell me that laughing till your sides hurt is the normal reaction to that.

But he was great help too. He found this great site SeventhSanctum, which generates all sorts of character names, government/organization names, story plots, ideas...
Here are some examples:

Names for taverns
The Blessing and the Talisman
The Boring Thief
The Club and the Wineskin
The Common Sword
The Conjuress' Scroll
The Elegant Chant
The Ennchantress' Scroll
The Good Robber's Inn
The Killing Queen
The Vulgar Eagle's Tavern

Realm Name Generator
Blessed Fires Land
Land of the Blessed Turtles
Unholy Land
Unnamed Land
Wolf's Land of the Sunrise

Evil Name Generator
Brainsnare
Mindrule The Dominator
Rulesnare The Monarch
Thiefreign
Thiefspawn The Ruler

And the list goes on.... Some of these names really crack me up. But it's a nice break from trying to squeeze the words out of my head. And if you see any funny names in my story, you can be sure SeventhSanctum's probably to be held responsible.

Other than that, I also tried out Joo Khai kor's trick. The sad sad thing is that I chose someone who didn't even know enough about recent viruses to give the right reaction (the funny reaction). I chose this friend because she was the unsuspecting type. It wouldn't do to chose tech-savvy people who'd see through the trick. But I guess I chose someone too tech-unsavvy.

When I told her 'Shit, you kena the virus!', she was like, why did you send it to me?? I told her that this sort of virus sends itself out.
I also told her this was like the type of virus that sends links like that: Hey, check this out!(link). And the thing is, she actually clicked the example link that I sent and told me I was lying because the website showed nothing... I had to explain that it was just an example. Then she asked me how she was supposed to cancel the virus, how to move it away. Finally I told her that there was no virus. Hahaha.....

Doomed Croissants

2005-12-03T16:30:00.000+08:00

Right now, my hair's in a mess, there's a white streak on my shirt and butter on my shorts. The house is filled with a sweet raisiny bread smell and I am filled with a sense of satisfaction. The croissants aren't great, but they're quite eatable. I mean, if you were expecting ordinary bread rolls, then these are perfect. But I wasn't aiming for bread rolls, I was aiming for croissants. Nevertheless, I quite like it and will consider making them again. My brother is a great supporter of my croissants.

I started making it -believe it or not- 6 hours ago. I began gathering and combining the ingredients around 10. Things were looking pretty good because the dough was quite nice and soft as I kept kneading it. Then, I rolled out the dough and added in the big chunk of butter that's supposed to make the croissant the crusty thing it is. That was when disaster struck. I folded the dough in and pinched all the sides together so the butter wouldn't squish out. Actually I should have foreseen what happened next, because the butter was melty-soft. I rolled the dough and whoa, out squirted the butter (this is how I got butter on my shorts).

It was downhill from there on. The dough was swimming in butter and I didn't know how to fix it. So I just stuffed the whole thing into a plastic bag and chucked it into the fridge. After that I had my lunch and kept putting off the croissant problem. It got me in a bad mood too. I yelled at my brother and sister, because they were being so uncooperative. I'd almost given up on the croissant plan, but fortunately my mum didn't give up. She kept encouraging me, telling me what to do. The dough wasn't behaving at all, it was sticking to the rolling pin and coming off in sticky little strips. So I had to use my hands to flatten them instead. My mum suggested that I make them smaller so that they'd be easier to bake and wouldn't end up charred on the outside and raw on the inside. She kept joking too, to keep me in good humour. And when the first batch came out of the oven, I realised I didn't do too badly after all.

I am really grateful for my mum's help. Not only did she lend me her baking utensils and her experience in baking, she also lent me plenty of support in my making pastries by myself for the first time. Never once did she discourage me. The opposite, in fact. She kept telling me that I shouldn't give up just like that, that I had to stick to it till the end. If it weren't for her patience and persistence, I think the dough would be in the bin now. Instead, now we have delicious-looking and decent-tasting raisin bread rolls that are misnamed croissants.

badge...

2005-12-03T01:34:00.000+08:00

Ok, sorry if I haven't been paying much attention to my blog lately.... but here's something new, my Badge! You get to see all the nice pictures on the right --->
See?
The really cute little girl with the butterfly wings is my niece Charlotte. All of the other kids in there are from Yuan Hui Educare Centre- Ming Yik, Ethan, Zhi Rong, Xi Shern, Wai Hoe and Ryan. Hehe, try guessing who's who.
One more thing: when I was looking for pictures to put in Flickr, I realised I didn't have a single decent picture of myself to put up. Doesn't matter, though. It looks good this way =D

dragon fruit juice?!

2005-12-02T23:43:00.000+08:00

I saw this little poster when we visited the Batu Arang Orchard in Rawang last Friday. First of all, I didn't know you could make dragon fruit into juice. Secondly, I'd always thought of that funky looking fruit as 'dragon fruit', never anything else, least of all 'pitaya'. I mean, what kind of name is THAT?

Nevertheless, I am proud that Malaysia is the first country to come up with this drink (or so the poster claims). Dragon fruit (pitaya, if you must) is quite nutritious, and it's a fruit that's easy to eat. By easy to eat, I mean it doesn't leave stringy bits in your mouth and it is always delightfuly sweet.
The strange thing is, I've never seen any of these Pitaberry cans of juice being sold anywhere. I wonder why. I checked out their site http://pitaberry.com to find out more about this amazing juice. Turns out they started selling pitaya juice in 2002 and began canning the juice in 2004. The juice comes in two varieties :Iceberry(white-fleshed pitaya) and pinkberry (pink-fleshed pitaya).
Their mission? "To be the preferred pitaya fruit juice producer and distributor in Malaysia;
to position its brand as the best natural tasting fruit drink in the market; and
to create awareness among the consumers on the taste of a pitaya fruit."

A little bit of trivia: Pitaya is a type of cactus vine that originated from Central America.

Anyway, I wish the Pitaberry Company good luck. They may not be well-known now, but I'm sure eventually they will carve out their own niche in this huge canned beverage market. Hey, maybe years from now people will be chugging down Pitaberry instead of Coke. And that would definitely be a good good thing.

'nite

2005-12-02T00:50:00.000+08:00

Aaugh, it's 12.50 and I have work tomorrow. We're going to the Taman Botanikal Ilmu Rimba tomorrow. It's located in UM, University Malaya. So anyway, good night and happy December (?).

finding the answer

2005-12-02T00:28:00.000+08:00

I was talking to my mbd and checking out the links on his blog when I came across something, a phrase that caught my eye. So I asked him whether that particular phrase had anything to do with a game.
Then I got more specific and asked him if it was Dota, and he said yes.
So I told him, that game left me self-tormented for nearly a month.
He told me to forget about it.
I said that wasn't possible, but I'd let it go, at least.
He asked, where did it go wrong.
I said apathy was the problem. Apathy was much much worse than hate or anything else. At least hate was emotion. Apathy was... nothing.
Then he asked something that I won't reveal here.
I answered, I think a lot of the time it didn't have the guts to.

By saying that, I was answering a question that'd been lingering around for sometime.

Thanks, mbd, you always say the right things.

Telepathic bonds? Hmm....

dragons and castles

2005-12-02T00:10:00.000+08:00

On Wednesday I actually conducted 2 talks (!!!) without stuttering too much or making too much of a fool of myself. A very good thing. Thanks so much to Auntie Pat for giving me the chance, although I sucked big time at my first attempt. I think I've found the trick. I can't talk in front of a crowd to save my life, so instead I talk as little as possible, choosing to ask questions and let the kiddos do most of the talking. They figure out most of the stuff anyway, and it's so much easier to correct them than to say the whole thing. Thsi way they have a better impression of what they hear, too. I think the Food Pyramid talk went quite smoothly.

We also held a snack survey, which the kids obviously enjoyed. They ate Twisties, Cheezel, Mr. Potato potato chips, DoubleDecker chips and Chachos, then raised hands to show which ones the liked most. My personal faves are Twisties and Cheezel, and I think most of the kids like those too. Actually the objective of this activity is to let them understand what statistics and graphs are for. But it sure was concealed pretty well.

The last activity for the day was Creative Writing: Dragons and Castles. Incidentally I had Eragon in my locker, so when Dante told me he didn't know how to draw dragons, I flashed Eragon's cover at him. Soon everyone was looking at the cover. I made sure it was kept safe and undamaged, though, for I didn't wish to face the wrath of booklover Elaine. Back to the creative writing, I think they all did fairly well. It was hard to pick the best stories, so I chose the more original ones. Joshua and Dante's stories were the best among the younger group. Actually, they were the only ones who came up with complete sentences. For the older group, Xi Shern, Jeremy and Stephanie were first, second and third respectively. Although I really don't like Jeremy, I have to be fair. Hmph.

Lizards

2005-11-30T18:09:00.000+08:00

If there's one thing I can't stand, it's lizards. I mean, I shrink away when I see cockroaches, swat madly when I see flies, and am indifferent when I spot little spiders, but when it comes to lizards, my reactions are pretty dramatic. Yesterday, I was lifting a dictionary off the bookshelf when I imagined something running down my hand. When I looked at the floor, I found a lizard scurrying under the bookshelf. So my mind put two and two together and realized that a lizard had molested my hand. In reality I never saw the lizard on my hand, and since realization was delayed, I should've just brushed it off. But I screamed anyway.

I just loathe + fear them, the way they seem so human, with their beady black eyes. I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way about lizards. I mean, they're so creepy. Insects I can handle, because their shiny shells and freaky number of legs have convinced me of their inability to feel or think. Lizards, on the other hand, look like creatures that are able to think, feel and plot. Which makes my skin crawl.

There's also this superstition that a lizard's touch brings bad luck. I know I should know better than believe this sort of old wives' tale but I can't help but think it might be true. Brr... Hate them, hate them!!!

Tuesday- kite-flying

2005-11-29T19:37:00.000+08:00

Kids are great, the way they forgive and forget so easily. Yesterday when they were making Danish Croissants, Pat (Patricia the 12-year old, not Auntie Pat) was leader of Group C and decisively plunged her hands into the mixture. Then Stephanie said she wanted to do it, and Pat said, 'ok, lets do it together'. Then Stephanie said, 'but teacher said only one person is supposed to do it, if more than one of us does it, then some of the stuff will be wasted.' Pat then said defensively, 'well, I've worked on cakes before, so I know how to do it.' Steph replied, 'I've done this a few times when we did baking.'

Pat, being the obliging one, calmly said, 'oklah, then you do it.' Steph probably thought Pat was being sarcastic, cos she then answered,'oh if u want to do it so badly, then u do it lor!'
Stephanie can be like that sometimes. She just gets into arguments with people because she can't agree on things. But other times, she is a funny, friendly and forgiving girl.
By this time, Pat had already withdrawn her hands and given way to Steph. But after kneading for a long time, the whole lump of dough looked pretty bad, so Pat volunteered to help. Steph glared at her. After going back and forth with Pat explaining and Steph accusing, Steph stormed off, leaving Pat to do it. So Pat kneaded while talking to me, all the while with Steph behind her back whispering to others not to 'friend' Pat. After some time the dough started looking like what it was supposed to be, plus Pat also allowed her other group members to help to knead, so I think she did quite a good job. And she was sporting too, calling Steph over to roll the dough when it was their group's turn to fold out croissants. Steph only scowled and said, 'bu yao' and went on whispering.

Fast forward to today. Pat was playing with Steph's pigtails and Steph was tickling her in return. Case closed. Kids just tend not to hold grudges. Or maybe they have too many things racing through those growing minds to pay attention to old news. In any case, I wish they'd remain like that, and not turn into ugly monsters like many people I know now who just keep bringing up old disagreements and digging up other people's flaws. I am so grateful to be given this job, because I get to make friends with all these kids, instead of working at some departmental store and having to put up with people who don't like their job and are unfriendly.

2005-11-28T22:47:00.000+08:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

2005-11-28T19:51:00.000+08:00

Sorry, been busy so I can't blog. Yeah, I know Elaine's going to kill me for saying that. But my mum is going to kill me too if I don't set the table for dinner pronto.

talking bull

2005-11-24T20:24:00.001+08:00

Ka Ling and I were talking about mosquito bites during dinner, then my dad said we should put up mosquito nets. I didn't want him to go through so much trouble, so I assured him that I rarely get bitten. What came next is all bull.
Dad: Oh, is that so? Is that because you have skin like cattle?
Me: ... *continue eating*
Dad: What? I'm just asking lar, whether your skin is very impenetrable.
Me: How would I know? I've never bitten myself before.

It really should have stopped there. Sadly, it didn't.

Ling: No lah, not cattle. She is the mixed breed of dog and tiger.
(My parents' zodiac signs)
Dad: Does that make her a dog-ger?
Ling: A ti-og.
*silence*

Ha Ha Ha. Dad, please stop talking bull.

Disclaimer: This post was written at the heat of the moment. Half an hour later I will probably think nothing of it, so you shouldn't either. This is as accurate an account as I can muster up, and if there is any detail I got wrong please feel free to correct me by using my comments page, which, by the way is not working half the time.

cornflakes

2005-11-23T20:24:00.000+08:00

This morning we planned some games for the kids. The first game was top-spinning. The second game was one where they had to run across the compound to blow up a balloon and pop it, then run back and tag the next person. It was quite amusing because some of them didn't dare to pop the balloon and kept trying to hit it against the wall. Justin cried because he kept trying to blow it up but still had no success even as the members of the other two teams kept blowing and popping and running back. He only managed to blow it up after the other two teams had finished the game. He crouched down beside a pillar to cry, clutching the finally-inflated balloon. I don't see the big deal in not being able to blow up a balloon, but I comforted him anyway.

Later, they made sugar donuts, which are pretty easy to make but I discoevered later that they managed to mess up anyway. First, there was the matter of combining all the ingredients and kneading the dough. Then, they had to set it aside for about half an hour. We did a lot of things in between making the sugar donuts because there was a lot of waiting involved. After leaving the dough to rise, we moved onto Public Speaking. Today the kids were supposed to come out and tell everyone how they resolve conflicts ( Auntie Pat: cornflakes) between friends and siblings. Almost everyone came out to talk for awhile, except Dante, Zhi Rong, Justin and the new kids Krysta and Kalem. I tried to get Krysta to speak up but she kept insisting she would sound silly, and when I finally managed to convince her to say something, Auntie Pat asked me to go across the road to pick up Cze Hui and Tze Hooi from school (Std.1 orientation classes).

After that, they picked up where they left off with the donuts. They made the little chunks of dough into donut shapes. That's when we realised that Krysta was sitting alone, crying. She said her group members didn't let her participate in making the donuts. Auntie Pat told them off and tried to coax her to come over and try her hand at shaping the donuts, but she just kept crying. I tried too, since she's been quite close to me for the three days that she's been here. It didn't work. she just kept saying 'duwan' and shaking her head, causing more tears to roll down her face. It was only later that she told me Justin called her names. That useless dick, all he knows is how to insult people quietly. I didn't see him standing up to speak during Public Speaking session, no, he only mutters freely when only his victim is there to hear it.

After lunch, we moved on to teaching them how to use the scanner. I was in charge of directing them, while Auntie Pat and Ms. Jane busied themselves frying and icing the donuts. I told the kids to find a picture they liked in the nespaper/calendar, and then put it in. I think I've repeated a zillion times 'Click that scanner button', 'Type in your name here', 'Change the file type to JPEG'...

Finally, after everyone had had their salty donuts (yes, you read right... somehow the donuts turned out salty), we settled down to watch a movie- The Gods Must Be Crazy. I watched for awhile, then got pretty bored. I talked to Krysta and she somehow talked me into playing pretend with her. We took turns being customer and shop worker. First we worked in a 'ham shop' ( she means deli), then at McDonalds, then Burger King, then Sushi King. She is a much better pretend-er than I am. In fact, she is an expert at it. You can tell from the change of her tone of voice when she's asking 'Please have a look at our menu'. But eventually I got tired of the game and Rachel took over.

tagged ah?

2005-11-21T00:45:00.000+08:00

I was checking Jook's blog for updates and found something new. Thank goodness. 'freakyshit' has been on top for too long. There's this pass-it-on thing that he passed on to me, and since now it is 1 in the morning and I am waiting for something to finish uploading, I might as well just try it out now.

"Here's the game. Introduce 10 quirks or idiosyncrasies of yours on your blog,following which you are free to pick five more people to do the same thing."

- I always say thank you to the waiter/waitress who pours my tea. Nothing so special, I know, but I notice not many people do that.

- I am very extreme when it comes to confidence. Sometimes I am so blown up I sound like a total smartass. And then there are times when I consider myself useless and pathetic, and I just try to be invisible. The times when I'm not any of the above is when I'm sleeping.

- I like to listen to people talking in foreign languages. Sometimes I pick up a few useful phrases too. Like, 'dute de aici' means 'get lost' in Romanian.

- I make it a point not to drink Coke. Why? Because I don't like the way it tastes and I don't want to get osteoporosis at 20.

- I like to make up very elaborate stories in my head, but only one or two of them actually end up on paper, and even those get abandoned eventually.

- I try to make myself read great works of Literature with a capital L, but somehow it never works out.

- I say 'Please' a lot when I get agitated.

- The only exercise I don't dread is swimming.

- Before my recent trip to the dentist, I thought brushing my teeth was unnecessary (but I did brush- halfheartedly!)

- I think that cheese can be eaten together with anything at all and anything at all can be eaten together with cheese.

Ok, I'm not sure if I did it right, but what the heck. It's 1 in the morning, you can't expect me to think very straight.

Shoot, I don't know if I even have 5 bloggers to pass this to. I'll try...

=>Elaine
=>Jia Yen
=>Howard
=> ...
=> ...

Blah, put your name in the comments page if you want to be a part of this. I'm going to sleep.

Only in Malaysia

2005-11-20T21:49:00.000+08:00

On Saturday morning, I woke up early, got dressed and went with my family(minus Dad) and my cousin to Tropicana to attend a church wedding. My aunt Abigail (actually she is my cousin by blood, but this is hard to explain and all I can reveal is that my maternal grandmother's sister-in-law wanted a daughter dearly while my grandmother had too many to feed) was to be married to a Stefan Ong. Stefan is a sincere guy, albeit a bit goofy. This was only the second church wedding I've ever attended, but I quite enjoyed it. Pastor Joseph's words were thuly uplifting and inspiring. Ok, so I'm not Christian, but I could understand what he was saying, and agreed wholeheartedly with everything he said. After his sermon, everyone stood up to sing. The songs were led by Anna (the pastor's daughter) and the band. The songs were lovely too. I really regret not knowing how to sing them. There was a woman behind me who had a really beautiful voice, and she sang with such emotion. I didn't turn around during the singing, because it would've been rude. But everyone sat down, I glanced at her quickly and was so surprised to see that she was only a plain-looking girl.It just goes to show that the best things come in the most unexpected form. Yes, I know that not everyone who has a good voice is also blessed with good looks, but American Idol has misled me into thinking that beautiful voices belong to beautiful people.

After a simple buffet lunch, we bade the happy couple goodbye and headed home. But only after an hour or so of lazing around at home, Ling, Le jie and I were on our way to another celebration. It was Lee Ek jie's friend Shilawan's housewarming/. We drove to Bukit Rimau, Kota Kemuning to attend her rumah terbuka. The interior of houses inhabited by Malays sure look different from what I'm used to (Chinese owned houses). Shila was hospitable, telling us in Mandarin to help ourselves to the food. The chocolate cake was really good, much better than the one at the church wedding. But we were in a hurry to get home and prepeare for the next event, so we left after some food and chit-chat.

When we got home, we all showered and dressed up for the Chinese-style wedding banquet (Abigail's, to be specific). You know, the type with the ten courses and 'Yum Seng' toast and all. It was only when I stopped to think about it that I realised that I'd attended 3 very (culturally, religiously or in whatever other way) different events in one day, something that could probably only happen in the sweetpotato-shaped country of Southeast Asia.

Zero

2005-11-17T21:40:00.000+08:00

This morning, we led the kids out to the community hall for their sports day. They did some warm-up exercises, then started on the games. First was the passing-the-baton game, then the turtle race, the sack race, the three-legged race and finally tug-of-war.

After tea break, we discussed PMI thinking method. PMI stands for Plus, Minus, Interest. After giving a few examples, Auntie Pat set two questions for them to work on.
1. Everyone should be made to wear badges that show how they're feeling.
2. Scientists have invented a pill that can replace breakfast. It contains all essential nutrients and will ensure no hunger pangs for five hours.
The PMI maps we got were so hilarious. They gave all sorts of suggestions that didn't make much sense, but also a few very good ones that I couldn't even have imagined.

Next they made Portugese Egg Tarts. Unlike yesterday's Peanut Butter, it was quite a success. Only the girls were working on it, though. Those lazy boys were glued to their computer and GB screens. We got a bit mad when we'd out the first batch to bake and they hadn't even lifted a finger, so we threatened to leave only one measly tart for them to fight over. Then Stephanie joked that we should just let them lick the grease that's left on the baking tray and I said we should be a bit more humane and allow them to also have the crumbs that have fallen on the table. Those bums were like, "Chehh, nothing Auntie Pat does comes out edible anyway!".

When the delicious smells started wafting out when the tarts were almost done, some of the boys came over to get a better sniff. The girls taunted them, so they retailated by sniffing in an exaggerated way and then saying 'Bleaaurgh!'. The things kids do sometimes...

In the end, we 'forgave' them. They were all allowed to have tarts, and most even had 2nd helpings... It was satisfying to see all of them grudgingly admit that the Portugese Egg Tarts were damn delicious. But, I would've liked to give Jeremy a tight slap (I love how the phrase tight slap sounds...) because he was one of those asses who were saying the loudest that they didn't want to eat the egg tarts because it was probably disgusting. Then when the tarts were out, he could be seen stuffing his face in them. When I asked him why he was being such a hypocrite (sorry, but sometimes I just can't let go), the only thing he said was "Well, I dind't know that it would turn out like that." Bloody jerk.

Before the trishaw ride, we had pre-algebra. Xi Shern came out top, naturally. Other than that, Auntie Pat handed out the vouchers. See, vouchers are given out to those who come out top in any activities. Pretty much everyone had at least 10 points in vouchers. Only a few, like Zhi Rong, were left out. But Zhi Rong said something that made me feel really touched. It showed how Auntie Pat didn't treat anyone differently because of their performance. He said, "Getting a zero at Yuan Hui is ok, it doesn't matter."

spider monkeys?!

2005-11-17T21:07:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I woke up at 7 because I was expecting a visitor. A very special visitor. Elaine, to be specific. I had just washed my hair, gotten my satchel ready and polished off a piece of toast when she arrived at my doorstep. At my gate, to be specific. She had a present for me, a disposable camera. We traded books and then at 8:30 we set off for Yuan Hui.

The kids loved her. I think she is so much friendlier and at ease with kids than I could ever be. The day passed quickly, and soon the kids were settling down to watch their Wednesday movie at 4pm. I sneaked out to go to the dentist to get my filling redone. It turns out Dr. Low 'Professional' Teong didn't do a complete job and half the filling was missing, after only a few weeks. So I had to pay RM140 to get someone else who wasn't so full of themself to do it. It took longer, but it didn't hurt and the dentist didn't keep spewing discouraging words.

Back home, Elaine discovered our sea monkeys, which she keeps calling spider monkeys. I claim they're a sort of insect, but the instructions mention that they're actually brine shrimp. She also visited my room and we shot some funny videos. She noticed one of the souvenirs that I bought from China, the ones that I couldn't bear to give to anyone. But I guess I could give one to her. So at least I managed to muster up a Christmas present for her. After a while, we went online and experienced the frustration of trying to move a mouse cursor that doesn't respond to the mouse. Thanks to her, though, now the mouse occassionally works when I use it upside down.

We had dinner, and then everyone settled down to watch TV. Around 9 something, her mum came to pick her up. After she left, I retreated to my room to start reading Eragon. I must've been pretty tired, cos less then half an hour later, I was dead to the world. ( Relax, Elaine, I made sure the book was safely on the table before I went to sleep.)

superglue

2005-11-15T17:53:00.000+08:00

If I see another tube of industrial superglue, I'm going to scream and run away. Today and yesterday, the kids at Yuan Hui have been working on projects that require the use of superglue. And since we all know that kids+superglue=pandemonium, Ms Jane and I were in charge of squeezing out the superglue for everyone.

Yesterday, when they were making egg puppets, we had to open the two tubes of superglue. When I was trying to poke a whole through the layer that kept the glue from leaking out, I accidentally squeezed some out. Ok, to be honest, I squeezed quite a lot out. And it got all over my fingers, making them feel hot and uncomfortable. (In case you think we're using kid-friendly UHU superglue, let me set you right: We're not!) This type of glue was impossible to wash off or rub off. You just had to wait a few hours until it got hard and scaly, then you carefully peeled it off. I think it probably took my upper epithelium with it too.
Today, we made little Chinese drums, the type that you could turn the handle and then the little bead tied to string would knock on the two faces of the drum and make a lovely noise. So after spray-painting their tuna cans ( um... yeah, we've been having tuna for brekkie/lunch for the past few days and probably will be for the next few days), they started designing their drum faces using manila cut-outs. Obviously they needed somehting to stick it with, and that's where I come in. More spilled glue ( on my own hands) and kids shrieking "Teacher Kamun, I need glue please!". Boy, was I glad when it was all over and done...

But other than the 2 superglue experiences, these two days have been pretty good. Yesterday, the children were divided into group A, B and C, and given several big cardboard boxes to work on. All three groups decided to make robots out of their big boxes. It was hilarious, watching the kids trying to shimmy and wriggle into their cardboard robot outfits. On a darker note, Dante showed his ugly side again today. Jeremy (Justin's bro) took Dante's plastic egg containers (left over form making egg puppets) without knowing that Dante wanted them back. So Dante switched to pissed mode and started shouting at Jeremy, hitting him too. He can get pretty crazy looking when he does that, and the fact that his eyes are a strange colour doesn't really help either. Anyway, that blew over and the three groups presented their robots (Dante, Stephanie and Joshua). Everyone had a good time laughing at and with them. Later on, when everyone was having ice-cream during tea break, Dante still clung onto his robot outfit and insisted on having his ice-cream while wearing it. So there he was, holding on to a cup of strawberry and chocolate ice cream, running, his cardboard flaps trailing behind him. He was bound to trip and fall sometime. And he did. Then he started bawling in a way that would have given my brother a run for his money. Everyone was shocked. Was this the same tough Dante who yelled at Jeremy and twisted Zi Rong's arms so ferociously? It took some time for him to calm down, too. I guess sometimes having a tough exterior doesn't mean much. When Zi Rong got bullied by Dante, he only sniffled a bit; Dante, on the other hand, was crying loud enough for the whole house to hear.

Moving on, let's talk about today. Other than the cute Chinese drums, we also made crispy walnut cookies. Well, at least that's what the programme claimed. In truth, we used almonds. And when the cookies came out, they were anything but crispy. They tasted kind of funky and weren't sweet at all. Some had a raw centre because the kids made them too big. But at least it wasn't a disaster, and that is enough to be grateful for, when you have over 20 kids under one roof.

This week has been a bit slow so far, what with less kids to look after. I've even managed to sneak in a few pages of a book these two days. Last week, I was running around making sure no one was hurting themselves/ other people, washing cups at superspeed so that the kids could have Milo... But this week there are less people, at least 10 less than the previous week. Plus, the kids' area of activity has been restricted- indoors only because there isn't much grass outside and the ground is covered with little rocks that could cause big trouble to any unfortunate kid who pokai-ed on the floor. I think I like the old location better, but I guess Auntie Pat didn't have much of a choice, since her cow of a neighbour was complaining about the centre. So they moved to this new house instead. It doesn't have half as much outside compund as the old house, and the swing set here is a single one that only seats 2, whereas the one at the old centre could fit in 5. I think the kids probably prefer the old centre too.

Nevertheless, tomorrow at the new centre will be an interesting day, what with Elaine there to keep me company. She'll probably be a hit with the kids, being such a friendly person and also the 'san see hung' (new toilet bowl) at the centre. Lol.

Sheeptrade farm

2005-11-11T21:31:00.000+08:00

My 5th day on the job as a temporary teacher helping out at Yuan Hui, and it is excursion day. We sat on the bus for over an hour, singing 'Xi Shua Shua' over and over again. It was actually fun, and pretty amusing because some really young kids (including the two Korean girls) were mouthing the words too... I was seated next to Ethan, the little 7 year old who likes to hug, touch and tickle people in a way that would be offensive were he not just a kid. He was quite normal throughout most of the trip, albeit a bit displeased because he was right next to the blasting radio (which I had on my lap).

This Sheeptrade Farm is in Batu Arang, Rawang. It is located at a rather ulu place, all the better for Auntie Pat to point out cows and goats grazing beside the road and getting excited squeals in response. Everyone was also ooh-ing and aah-ing at the vast oil palm terraces. Anyway, after a making few wrong turns and backtracking, we found the words 'Ladang Babi ->' sprayed on a giant pipe next to a branch on the dirt road. I think at that moment everyone (who could read) was thinking, huh, babi? But anyway, we turned in to that branch of the road and it led us to our destination.

This farm is owned by a Malay man and his Chinese wife. They started accepting requests for trips sometime ago and an article about their farm was published in the newspapers. When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the wife and evryone was given a small paper cup of goats' milk to try. The kids' reactions varied from 'Mmm..' to 'Yuck!' to 'Yer, so strange wan!?'. But majority of the children didn't like the goats' milk and my taste doesn't stray far from the majority's, so I decided to ask Ka Wing what he thought. "Nice," he said. So I took a cup of that stuff and sipped gingerly. It didn't really taste of anything. I gave Ka Wing the rest of it and he downed it without hesitation.

After everyone had finish drinking/ accidentally spilling/ quietly pouring away their goats' milk, the farm owner's wife led us into a room where she explained where the goats were from, what they did with the milk and how baby goats (kids) were born. Then, we all got back on the bus and drove to the goat pen. It stank of you-know-what, a sourish musty smell. Almost everyone got into the goat pen and started shouting and running around. I stayed outside and took photos. It was chaos in there, all the (human) kids running around, trying to escape from the goats while the goats chased them and nibbled at their pant leg, shirts and shoelaces. There was even one at the wooden gate, head ticking out through the gaps, chewing on my satchel. Some of the kids were afraid of the goats, and retreated to the outside to join me. One was Rachel, who said, "I hate goats forever". The same Rachel who said, "I won't eat chicken forever" because her mother told her about the avian flu. She is a sweet girl, innocent and cute, but she can be a bit slow sometimes. Fortunately her cuteness makes up for it. But I do like her innocence, nothing like Jian Mei's too-grownup assumptions ("Do you have a boyfriend? I'm sure you have a boyfriend.","Do you like Mr. Yeoh?","Oh, you're having an affair with Mr. Yeoh!") and Lois' gossipy attitude.

Sorry about the rambling. I can't help but coming up with some thoughts about each and everyone of the kids at YHEC. Anyway, back to the farm experience. After we left the goat pen, we were led to the milking parlour, where we were taught how to milk goats. Then, we were taken to the next room, the Dairy, where they filter the milk, pasteurise it, cool it and bottle it to be sold as Aida May Goat Milk (Aida is the name of the famr owner's daughter). My brother bought a small bottle of that stuff for RM4. He liked it quite a lot, I think.

After that, we got back on the bus, waved goodbye to the hospitable couple and headed for a park for lunch. I don't know why it's called Sheeptrade Farm when there wasn't a sheep in sight. But we did get to see lots of goats, at least.

2nd day on the job

2005-11-08T21:17:00.000+08:00

Today's my second day as a temporary helper at Yuan Hui Educare Center, which is a really good place to send your child during the holidays since now they're having a really great holiday camp with interesting programmes (and I'm not just saying that because I work there). I was only there half the day because somewhere during the afternoon my cramps attacked me so I got Pat's permission to go home. Today hasn't been all that fun because I was in pain and it was raining half the time.

Anyway, here are some observations from my entire Monday:

Affection - Auntie Pat has a daughter named Ci Hui who takes to anyone who's nice to her. She always comes over and tugs my hair and talks to me. In fact, I've mentioned her in a post a year ago. There is also a little boy called Ethan who likes to hug me and suddenly approach from the back and fling his hands around my neck ( a signal that he wants a piggyback ride).

Determination - Yesterday Auntie Pat asked us to look for earthworms so that we could see how they reacted in different types of soil (activity for the following day). This is icky work that girls avoid, so I didn't bother asking them. So I just hollered, "Woi, Auntie Pat wants you all to dig for earthworms" to anyone who would listen. Dante came running. Justin came running. Ming Yik came running. Ethan came running. Zi Rong came running. Soon the boys were poking and digging and scrabbling through the dirt. At first I was filled with enthusiasm, happily watching them dig and giving orders happily when anyone called me 'teacher'. But soon I was feeling hot and a little dizzy, so I told them to dig at shady spots. Eventually, I just retreated to the porch to watch. I was a bit worried that they'd give up because of the heat, but they must've been made of different stuff from me, because they kept digging and digging and running around. And everytime they found an earthworm, their cries of 'Teacher, we found another worm!' was as excited as the last. You really have to admire their determination. But I suppose they wouldn't last as long if the task set was to do their homework...

minty fresh!

2005-11-06T00:07:00.000+08:00

After trying every possible way of keeping Mun Pan occupied, we finally ran out of ideas. And the good thing about running out of ideas is that sometimes you will suddenly come up with a really good one. Well, maybe not come up with it, but accidentally stumble upon it. Actually this isn't one of those amazing ideas, but it was creative enough, I suppose.

There's this small pack of Listerine PocketPak that I bought about half a year ago, to keep bad breath at bay. Unfortubately I totally disliked the sensation of the strip melting on my tongue (which felt to me like hot water scalding my tongue instead). So the poor pack of Listerine PocketPak just waited there in my bag until now, the end of the school year. Everything was emptied on the table when my mum got my bag washed, so the PocketPak was left on the table. The Powers That Be would have it that it would play a minor role in my life after all. Bored and uninspired, I picked it up and started wondering...

Minutes later, Ling, MP and me were kneeled, our noses close to the toilet bowl. We took out the Listerine breath strips one by one and carefully lowered them into the water. It stayed motionless for a few moments, then started stretching and stretching and then dissolving until you could see no more of it other than the extremely small bits floating on the water surface. Then, the strong smell hit our noses, almost stinging them. "Woah," Ka Ling said. I was amazed too. How could such a small strip release such a strong minty smell? But I suppose if it's supposed to overpower durian-breath it has to be pretty strong.

Intrigued, we kept on putting more strips into the water. After about 5 strips, Ka Ling's eyes started tearing up. That's how strong those little buggers were. Strong enough to mask the smell of aged urine and shit, I'd say. Maybe Listerine should consider using the same ingredients to make a toilet bowl cleaning formula. That stuff would sell like hot cakes, I bet.

Just reading about it, you might not think it's such a genius idea, but try it for yourself and you'll see. It really works bloody well, unbelievably well. And even if you don't agree that it would make a good cleaning/ air freshening formula, you'll probably enjoy dropping those pesky little blue strips into the toilet bowl. It provided us with about 15 minutes of entertainment, it did.

ahh...

2005-11-05T23:50:00.000+08:00

After spending over 3 days with my nephews JS and MP, there isn't much that hasn't been said, and there isn't much that can surprise me anymore. I can already predict JS's glare when I reprimand him, anticipate MP's suspicious questioning "what are you eating?!" when he sees me chewing something.

Today is the day that their father will pick them up. I am starting to miss the relative peace and quiet that we had before they came. But nevertheless, we tried our best to make them feel as welcome as their felt when they first arrived. We played Hide and Seek countless times, then set Treasure Hunts for them to play.

Around 6:30, Kin kor came to pick them up. We will see them again tomorrow, when we watch Chicken Little together.

this is a bar

2005-11-04T16:29:00.000+08:00

Another day with the kids, another handful of observations. Once again I have been exercising my right (not abusing it yet) to reprimand and advise them whenever anything goes wrong.

One thing I have noticed is that JS and MP definitely do not know their P's and Q's. Whenever I reach into a container to get a sweet or some wasabi-coated peas (MP likes those) or some other thing for them, after I pull my hand out I usually leave my hand in the air instead of handing it over to them, just to test them. They do not understand. They merely stare innocently at me, their eyes keeping contact with mine but their mind set on getting their treat. I ask gently, "What do you have to say?" and they look even more confused. Their expressions seem to ask me, why are you torturing me like this, I have done no wrong... And so the process goes on until I cave in and tell them they have to say 'thank you'. Then they say it without paying attention and I give them their treat and just hope they will remember the last time.

They do not know how to say 'please' either. In fact, sometimes they don't even bother to ask people properly. MP simply looks at me, eyes wide, and says 'Wasabi'. So I toy with him, saying, "what do you want to do with the wasabi?" He stares on. "Eat", he says. "Oh, you mean, you want me to eat it?" I say, intent on getting him to say a complete sentence. He shakes his head, as though disappointed in me. He points to himself. This painstaking ordeal would've gone on had my mum not swooped in and asked MP to do some English exercises. Wasabi was momentarily forgotten.

I guided him through some simples words - dog, car, boat, bed, apple, flower... Then I wrote 'This is a car' and a few other lines for him to copy three times. Naturally he didn't know how to space the words. So I had to taught him to use his finger to leave a space between the words. Sometimes he got confused and spaced at the wrong time. I had to bribe him with strawberry-coated biscuit sticks to get him to do things properly. But towards the end, I think he got a bit muddled. Sometimes he wrote 'This ia...' or 'This a...' or 'This is boat' instead of the correct sentence. One of the sentences he wrote was 'This is a bar', when it was supposed to be 'This is a car'. That one got me pretty amused.

Yesterday night we had a little barbeque. It couldn't really be considered a barbeque, considering the absence of Heat Beads, charcoal and the smell of smoke. We were using one of those super-convenient types that run on electricity. JS was very anxious to get food (in fact I've noticed that he always is). He kept making sure that whenever someone was cooking something, he would be given a portion of it. When I was making garlic bread, he was the first to rush over and say, Auntie Ka Mun, I want two. And even after he was assured that I'd heard him, he stood there for sometime, as if afraid the BBQ set would suddenly grow a mouth and gobble up his share. My family, we're a slow and easygoing lot who don't bother to rush things, especially when it comes to gastronomic affairs. Hence, JS's rushed attitude was a bit hard for us to accept. Everyone kept telling him not to be so 'gan zheong', so anxious. But still he egged on, continuously reminding us he wanted sausage or 'back-kern' (bacon). When we'd just started, everyone getting comfy in their seats, sipping juice and talking, while I started making garlic bread, he kept asking everyone with that worried look on his face, whether the sausages were cooked and ready to eat. What was the urgency, I did not know. I was also a bit annoyed because he said he didn't want any veggie at all, and only picked out chunks of egg from the salad bowl.

Sigh. I know I can't control him but I just wish I could get him to relax and enjoy his food instead of shovelling everything down his throat. There are a lot of things about them that I'm not accustomed to, but it would be unfair to say they're doing anything wrong, because actually they're not, they're just different from what I'm used to. I'm writing it all here becuase I know Kin kor probably won't be offended. After all, everyone has their shortcomings, including me. In fact, I remember a time when Kin kor would always tell me off and advise me on how to behave ( not that he was wrong in doing so-- I did have a serious attitude problem).

I don't mind his sons staying over at our place for awhile, as they give us something to do. With them around, we can play games that are impossible to play when there's only two teens and one little kid. I also discovered a lot of previously-uncharted nooks in our house - - the result of playing crazy Hide and Seek. It drives them mad when they search the whole house and fail to find me. Haha.... =D

on writing

2005-11-03T18:45:00.000+08:00

Here's a perfect guide for teens ( or anyone new to writing, for that matter) who are interested in writing their own works: http://www.sff.net/people/Sherwood/ya.htp
It gives plenty of encouragement and tells young writers not to be limited by what people tell them. Very helpful to people like me who don't like to show people their work.

And then here's a good guide to help those who are thinking of setting their story in an alternate universe: http://www.larseighner.com/world_builder/index.html It helps you consider all the important elements.

I'm thinking of setting aside a page specially for stories I write, but that's not possible on Blogger, is it?

cukup chaos

2005-11-03T17:55:00.000+08:00

Kin kor dropped off his sons Jie Sun and Mun Pan yesterday afternoon. From yesterday till now, I have found myself permanently in strict-sister mode. It is not a mode I enjoy being in, but it is necessary under these circumstances.

I am not emphasising that the two boys are a handful (come on, almost all boys are). It is when they and my brother get together that causes the problem. I think the two of them are usually reasonably well-behaved, but put them in an unfamiliar house with a friend (uncle, really) whom they haven't seen in a while, and the reaction is triggered. And of course, there is friction, which causes plenty of noise.

Part of my slight annoyance might not even be because they misbehaved, but because of my own obsession. I kept telling them off and advising them on this and that, in a way that I never did with Ka Wing. When MP dropped the sweet wrapper on the floor, I went on a long long lecture on how we had no servant in the house and he was responsible for not leaving shit behind for people to clean up. MP seems a bit afraid everytime I start, but he listens. At the supermarket, I told off JS for hogging the cart and he seemed pretty displeased. With me. There was also a long lecture on respecting others' privacy and belongings when he was lying on my bed. JS is a bit stubborn, I think. It takes a lot of talking to penetrate his exterior armour. He challenged me to a staring competition but we all knew who was going to win. (I out-stare a lot of people so it's pointless trying to win me. Besides, I drink a lot of water so my eyes probably take a long time to get dehydrated. lol)

Today, we went to 1 Utama, with the 2 nephews in tow. It was chaos as I had never known before. Herding them along wasn't such a big problem because they were quite cooperative - Ka Wing held hands with JS and MP held hands with one of the grown-ups most of the time. It was when we got to the supermarket that the problem started. The shopping cart is always the thing that causes disagreements. MP immediately clambered in and no one complained, so that was fine. But when it came to who was going to steer... JS and Ka Wing both wanted to steer, which made the cart run everywhere no-one wanted it to go and nowhere anyone wanted it to go. What made it worse was that my parents had gone off to get their own groceries, which left Ka Ling and me in charge of the 3 terrors. ( Seriously, they are very 'terror'). In the end I did the steering, but it was still a problem because they crowded around cart, which means if I'm not careful, either the cart or one of the kids will hit someone accidentally. And sometimes JS hitched a ride on the side of the cart, which made it doubly hard to move it.

In a nutshell, I don't think it's a good idea to bring them out when there's so many of them. Many?, you say, there's only three! Believe me, three is plenty.
Ka Ling was really sort of pissed off but I told her should could practise being Buddha (or a saint, whichever you like) the rest of the week.

Valentin

2005-11-02T00:32:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, fresh home from the last day of school, I was flipping through channels ( for me that's usually Ch10, 11, 17, and the cartoon and music channels) when I saw something on Hallmark. That was Valentin. It was in a foreign language, which immediately had me hooked (don't know why, but I love listening to people talk in languages that I don't understand).

So anyway, the story is about Valentin (played by Rodrigo Noya- so cute!), an eight year old boy who lives with his grandmother. His mother left them a long time a go, and his father lives elsewhere, going through a string of girlfriends. The thing I like about this movie is that there is no ultimate target- it's just talking about how his life progresses, how he deals with everything, what he thinks, how he interacts with grownups. He is just eight, but sometimes the way he acts makes him sound like a grownup.

He meets one of his dad's girlfriends, Leticia; he squabbles with his grandma; he learns to play the piano through his adult friend Rufo; he stands strong when being teased by his grandma for aspiring to be an astronaut; he decisively looks for a doctor to look at his grandma when she refuses to accept the fact that she's ill; he copes with his grandmother's death; he learns why his mother left; he matchmakes Leti and Rufo.

Ah, I dunno, but from the way I describe it, it sounds a bit bland. That's because I'm not so good when it comes to description and stuff. But the actual movie is really really great. It is a very moving movie that doesn't bring a single, strong message but leaves you thinking anyway.

I love how Valentin is acts so mature and businesslike and carries it off like he's meant to be like that. And I envy the way he has such special relationships with the people around him. It's like he connects without even having to try. Sigh.

more swings

2005-10-30T19:59:00.000+08:00

We went shopping at 1U today and everyone had a really good time. Dad didn't go, which explains the first sentence. I don't mean that he ruins our trips to the mall, but he's just not a mall person, and he gets a bit unhappy after spending more time than he'd like there. Then his bad mood seeps into everyone else and soon we're all crying (Ka Wing), shouting (Ka Ling), threatening (my Mum) and rolling eyeballs ( yours truly), making a total scene.

But today was a different story. Everyone was happy - Ling, Wing and I got some new clothes, my mum had some peace of mind ( a lot of the time, that is enough for her). We had ice-cream, and we went into the supermarket and bought junk food like there was no tomorrow.

After Dad picked us up, we went to the park, where I -naturally- headed for the swings. This set was not non-kid-friendly. The seat was too low, and my feet kept scraping the ground. But I'm not really complaining.

Life is like swinging on swings, have you noticed. There are ups and downs, no matter how hard you try to kick off. Like Ann Spam said some time ago, life progresses from moderately good to extremely good to shitty and back to moderately good and so on and so forth ( but I don't think those are her exact words). Heheh, sometimes you think it's going to be the clear day, but actually the rain clouds are building up out of your sight, and just when you least expect it, sploshh, all that bullshit ( rain, in this case) falls smack dab on you.

Yesterday could not have been a better example. It is a long story and I cringe at the mere thought. I was such a total idiot, attending someone's year-end party and not knowing anyone there except the host, one friend who is occupied playing on the computer and a person who would not even look me in the eye, let alone talk to me. Fool, me. To this moment I still feel like banging my head against the wall for deciding to go. What were you thinking, Ka Mun? My god. I'm not blaming anyone but myself for this less-than-pleasant experience, but I sure wish someone -anyone- had come to my rescue. At least Burger was being nice. If it weren't for him, I probably would've had to dig a hole through the tiled floor and just curl up there until my mum came to pick me up. Wei Sheng was as helpful as humanely possible while also paying attention to his other guests. Everyone else pretty much saw right through me. Just as well, I suppose. But the most painful thing was that someone who was once a really close friend, didn't even bother to try to make things easier. Didn't even try. Probably didn't even think about it. Most likely didn't even care.

Sigh, if you live in a world where beating Furion is the main objective in life, I think there isn't much left to say. Hideous avatars matter, virtual gold matters, beating the snot out of your faceless opponent matters, but friends are just shoved aside like some stupid computer game no one plays anymore.

part 3

2005-10-27T14:54:00.000+08:00

Willa set the table, her mind wandering elsewhere the whole time. As she made her way around the table gracefully, her thoughts ran wild. She couldn't get her mother out of her mind. The hidden message she'd found had caused her whole world to crumble. What was she to do now? Almost everything the Council had told her was a lie. All this while, they'd just been using her, manipulating her feelings to get what they wanted. Willa felt completely helpless. There was no way she could get her mother out of Eblanar, no way she could leave this household without arousing the Council Seer's suspicion. She was trapped.

-cont'd

al-jibra

2005-10-27T14:25:00.000+08:00

Today's physics exam wasn't really all that hard. Wait, don't hit me yet, I'm not done talking. By 'not hard', I mean that it doesn't make me sweat the way Mr. Tin's test paper would. Nevertheless, I can confidently say that I'm going to flunk this one, the same way I magnificently flunked every Physics exam before this one.

I'm not one to moan about results. Just analysing the paper. There isn't really any excuse for flunking. Blame it on my anti-maths genes and lack of preparation.

Tomorrow's even better. We've got Algebra. Nothing to study, really, we just have to do the exercises. But the thing is, I don't have an inkling of what's going on, so doing the exercises is practically impossible for me.

Haha, I remember, at my old blog, I once wrote 'Algebra is the shovel that digs my grave'. Something like that. I still feel the same way. I just have to accept the fact that I suck at Algebra. There are plenty of other things I can be good at.

2005-10-27T13:39:00.000+08:00

My blog is worth $564.54.
How much is your blog worth?

Aaugh, that's not much, is it?
But it's better than nothing, I suppose.
Does that mean my blog doesn't have much substance?

2005-10-26T16:09:00.000+08:00

Dear Ann Spam,

I'm sorry that I haven't written 'A Quiet Moment', answered the 5 questions nor replied your email. I swear, it's not because I'm busy. You deserve a much better excuse.

I seem to be stuck. I can't think of anything to write at the moment, no matter how hard I try. Which is why I hope you won't 'hunt me down' just yet.

Anyway, I promise I'll get everything done as soon as possible. I will also try to continue writing properly. Glad to know you appreciate it.

swing swing swing

2005-10-24T00:07:00.000+08:00

Saturday evening, my family, the BMX park.
I played a bit of badminton with my mum. God I suck. I mean, I didn't feel too bad, considering I was playing against an ex-school rep. But still. I'm getting worse at badminton, one of the last few forms of sports that I'm confident I can do without looking like a total klutz.

But badminton is not the star in this post - swinging is. Come on, there's a kid in every one of us, that little part of us that's dying to get on the swings when we set eyes on those irresistible things. Swings are an ingenious invention. Take your planes and hang-gliders, because all I need for me to feel like I'm flying, is a set of swings. Gripping tight on the chains ( I always smell my fingers afterwards to get the metallic smell - it's not a real swing ride otherwise), shoes scuffing the sand underfoot, kicking off to propel myself up, face jerked heavenwards the moment I'm airborne, the gentle sensation of the rush of air, reaching the highest point, then falling like being plucked to the back suddenly, and swinging back up again.

Frankly, I don't care if the little kids are going to stare at me. There are plenty of swings so I can't be accused of hogging the swings. I will swing if I like.

Today I saw this Indonesian guy swinging on the swings at a park in Taman Maluri. My mum and dad thought he was a bit nutty, but he looked really happy and contented to me. Better swings than drugs or other lawbreaking acts, right?

So anyway, the conclusion is that the world would probably be a happier place if governments built more swings around. Oh, and ended starvation and poverty of course. But most definitely, swings, alright?

wtv

2005-10-15T17:53:00.000+08:00

Today has been a boring day. In fact, I was very disappointed with myself in school. I'm not going to try to explain, because I will end up being vague and you will only be confused.
Anyway, I have a headache. And neck pain too. Must not have had good sleep last night...
Today the air-conditioner people came to clean the AC filters. Oblivious to my surroundings, I grabbed clothes, my towel and a book, and just walked into the bathroom. Minutes later, there was a knock, so I said "Who's that?". No answer. A few more minutes laer I heard AC guy 1 talking to AC guy 2. He said, "Ada orang sedang guna toilet,". Obviously he meant me. I guess they needed to use tap in the bathroom to clean the filters. Oops, I thought. And I kept hearing people walking over, as if checking if I was out yet. In the end I gave up on the book and just took a very quick shower. When I was towelling down, there was another knock. "Yeah yeah," I said, irritated now. I dressed in superspeed and grabbed everything and walked out.
Hmph. I always feel uncomfortable when there's other people walking around in MY house. Especially not in MY room.

Right now I'm looking thru blogs again. I'm disappointed, because I spent 10 minutes clicking the NavBar and half the time I got Chloe selling cars or Haylie selling godknowswhat services.
Then, I stumbled upon this blog. From the looks of it, she's a student from Hong Kong who's on a foreign exchange program in Holland. The writing's not amazing, but you should check it out anyway, because it has some interesting stuff.

'dentist' is an expletive

2005-10-11T14:34:00.000+08:00

I went to the dentist's today. My sis got her turn on the torture chair first. She kept getting up to spit into the drain thingy on the side. The dentist told her off. He said, "Don't give me that look! It's not that painful," He scolds his nurses a lot, too. He reminds me of Nicky Chin, the teacher in our school who scold people by calling them 'Sei Ma Lau'.
After that he went off to deal with another patient and I was left to wait there, feeling positively excited at the prospect of having my teeth being handled by other people. I guess at this point it dawned on me that if I took better care of my teeth and brushed my teeth more often I wouldn't be here.
Let me explain. I have to get the gap between my front teeth filled, otherwise I'll look like Madonna.
When the dentist came in, I was already lying on the dentist's chair, like a dead pig lying on the butcher's table, waiting for the knife to come down.
He picked up the instrument with the pointy end and started prodding gently. Then he started saying a whole lot of things that I didn't like to hear, all the while drilling at my teeth and not bothering to pay attention to me when I raised my hand to spit in the basin. So there I lay, helpless, listening to him.

"Did you know, most people only develope gaps in their front teeth when they're in their mid-teens?"
"Having a gap in the front teeth is a sure sign that you're taking way too much chocolates and sweets,"
"No more chocolates for you, young lady,"
Basically, everything I dreaded to hear. I guess it's goodbye to my one true love, Kit Kat.

And then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better - the best part.
"You have at least 10 cavities in here,"
"This is what happens when you don't take care of your teeth,"
"My goodness, this is a lot. We'll need to work on them,"
I felt like strangling him, I really did.

Fortunately, my mum read my mind and probably mentally agreed that Dr. Low is just full of shit. So she said, just do the filling, thank you. And when the nurse asked when she wanted the next appointment, she just told the nurse we'd call back.
Hey, you might think I'm in denial, but why should I listen to a man who made a set of dentures that are a few sizes too large for my granma?
Anyway, my motto is, if it doesn't cause any problems, don't do anything to it.

But he has gotten me a bit paranoid. Nowadays I rinse (or brush, if possible) after every meal or snack. It's pathetic, how I'm a slave to oral hygiene, but I really don't want to get dentures before I even get married, so I guess it's time to start paying attention to my not-so-pearly not-so-whites.

looking back... sigh...

2005-10-09T12:33:00.000+08:00

I was checking my recent posts for spelling errors (yes, i'm bored to that extent!) when I accidentally clicked on the archives and went back to January this year.
I think I liked it better when I was more innocent, when I wrote without worrying about offending anyone. I guess I probaly still don't really care much about offending people, but recent experience has told me that you have to be careful when saying things around sensitive people. I'm a bit traumatised now, I am. Buttt anyway, I couldn't help smiling when I read some of the things I wrote. Not literary works, but they remind me of all the things I should really be grateful for.
A lot has happened since I started blogging. Some, that, if I didn't read about, I don't even remember anymore. That tells me 2 things :
1. I have terrible memory.
2. Always look ahead, there are more things to face in front, so don't bother fretting so much about things that have already passed. ( This, Howard, is partly directed towards you).

not just a number, huh?

2005-10-09T11:33:00.000+08:00

You know how Telekom Malaysia has been advertising itself lately? All that crap about delivering the best services to customers, having enduring relationships with customers based on trust, yadda yadda yadda? Bullshit.
Months back my dad received the first Streamyx bill. Naturally, it had the activation fee, deposit, etc. But they charged us 2 installation fees when we actually didn't even ask them to install for us. We did the installation without TM's help. But anyway, they charged us for it. They charged us for something else we didn't owe them either. Altogether
RM88 + RM50 = RM138.
It could really be a genuine mistake, so, never mind, my dad wrote in to tell them that they overcharged him, and he paid the correct and exact amount. But the next month we got a bill with that RM138 brought forward. So my dad sent yet another email, this time telling them off. He was probably wasting his time, because I doubt those people even read the mail. Great customer service. Anyway, he called them to tell them off. Then he went to the TM office to try to get it cleared up. He waited there and when it was his turn they told him to go to the Kelana Jaya office to get it done. By now I think we had 3 bills, all with the RM 138 brought forward.
Since it was so long since we paid them, the suspended the account so I couldn't go online.
So I had to go again. Go to the TM office and wait a whole hour, and I got there and explained my problem. The girl behind the desk was pretty helpful. And in the end we sort of sorted it out, and I was assured that my Streamyx account woudl be restored within the next 24 hours.
I was happy. I could surf the net again. But then, the next bill, they brought the bloody overcharged part forward again. We'd told them, CLEARLY, that we didn't owe them that sum, and the people at the office said, yeah no problem, we'll remove that. And then they send the bill and it's still there.
All those ads saying, we'll make sure you're not just a number. Are we not just a number? Are we not just another customer getting screwed by their crappy service?

Day 7 -Dark Humour?

2005-10-09T11:11:00.000+08:00

Dark humour- dark here representing sad/unpleasant.
So I guess dark humour would be humour with some irony in it. The person causing it would probably be rather bitter too. Why, you ask, am I even bringing this up? No reason, really. Just that now I'm listening to Jay Chou's 'Hei Se You Mo'. What exactly would qualify as 'Hei Se You Mo' -dark humour- anyway? Answer me, if you can.
***
Yesterday we attended Uncle Don's daughter Lynda's wedding banquet. The actual wedding was held last Sunday, in Australia. This one held in Malaysia was specially for all of Uncle Don and Aunt Maggie's friends in Asia. So anyway, it was held at Noble House. Lynda was a really friendly woman. She shook hand with us 3 kids and asked all our names. She even remembers my dad ("Uncle Jeremy, right? I remember seeing you when I was 6 or 7? Yeah..."). The groom seems a nice guy too. He's got a firm grip when shaking hands with people. The food was extremely good. You know how, usually at Chinese wedding banquets, you leave feeling so full and bloated? No such problem here. All very yummy and appetising food. I managed to take a few pictures of the happy couple... they're a very matching pair =D.

I also got more pictures of Ka Wing, which I will upload onto Multiply when I bother to. Sigh I dunno why I love taking pictures of him. Maybe it's because he's so leng zhai. But taking a good picture of him is a difficult task. I don't think I even have one or two really good shots of him. That's because it's damn difficult to catch him unawares. I can't take a picture of him posing for the camera, because his smile is very forced if I actually ask him to smile. So I have to catch him at moments when he's laughing.