Mean Weirdos, Weird Meanies

BOH SOOOOONG!

SUPER boh song!


HAIHHH why is it that you always think of clever comebacks AFTER your chance of delivering them are long over?!


Like if someone says, "You're such a donkey!", then you get a bit stunned, then you say, "Err, no lah no lah, actually not really wann.."

And then hours later you go, "AIYAH! Should've said 'YOU THINK YOU'RE NOT AN ASS MEH??'!!"

Always. ALWAYS.

I'd be willing to trade in my SPM A's, my SAM A's, CDs from my collection, my entire wardrobe, my super lovely pillows, basically all of my possessions for the superhuman ability to think of the perfect comeback and deliver them with perfect timing!

If I cannot have that, then alternatively I'd love to have the ability to read minds so that I could understand just what some people are thinking when they go and VERBALLY SHOOT SOMEONE!

Conversation with Normal Person
Girl: "Hey, I got a scholarship from my college!"
Normal Person: "Congratulations! How much is it worth?"
Girl: "RMxxx,xxx!"
Normal Person: "Wow, that's a lot! Good for you!"

Conversation with Mean Weirdo
Girl: "Hey, I got a scholarship from my college!"
Mean Weirdo: "What college? How much?"
Girl: "NameOfUniversity, RMxxx,xxx!"
Mean Weirdo: "Oh, that school kind of easy to enter. So many Asians enter, that's why they give so little scholarship la."


I mean, these people always say things that make you go, "WTF?!?!"

And the weird thing is right, when both of you are talking and comparing both your situations, you feel like you're in a better situation, or you had a bigger achievement, the Mean Weirdo will go and shoot you down, make it sound like they very geng, so that you feel very scum-like.

Like, if I've been knighted by the Queen (which is impossible because I'm not British, but example only la), I surely wouldn't go around saying, "EH! The Queen knighted me! I am Sir Chooi!"

OF COURSE NOT RIGHT?!

Instead, a normal person will go, "Aiyah, actually not that big of a deal la, I'm not the first person to be knighted also!"

A Normal Person at the other end of the conversation will go, "What no big deal! Super big deal okay!", so that Sir Chooi will secretly feel very syiok.

But A Mean Weirdo will go, "Yeah, you're right, not a big deal also. Eh you know I just became a Datuk! A DATUK man, super geng! DATUUUUKKK!!"

Have they never heard of this little thing called Humility?


I was talking to a prime example of a Mean Weirdo through Windows Live Messenger, and the whole chatting-without-being-face-to-face thing kind of hampers my ability to think of good comebacks (the more they sting the better).

The GOOD thing that comes from it though, is that I can scowl at him, stick my tongue out, stick out a certain finger (the pinky, I mean! The pinkyyyy!!), and he wouldn't even know it.


If I'm ever like that, tell me okay?

'Cause I super despise such people.



GAHHH.


(It is 4 a.m. and I've got my super cool comeback thought up. Too bad said Mean Weirdo is already offline!)

An assortment of things you don't want to know anyway.

So we went to Genting Highlands this past weekend, and it was quite fitting actually, considering the first of our many trips together was also to Genting. It was like 2003 all over again, really.



In 2003, we stayed up till 6 AM, had the most uncomfortable sleep because 6 (SIX!) people were sleeping in random positions on TWO single beds joined together, walked around next day in a sort of dream-like daze, and slept for 5 hours straight after getting home.

Last week we stayed up till 5 AM, I had the most uncomfortable sleep because we were in an apartment without sufficient beds and some had to resign to sleeping on the carpet, walked around the next day in a dream-like daze, and slept for 6 hours straight after getting home.

Yep, 2003 all over again.

Many many thanks to Shi Yunn and Hui Lu!



LOL I just thought this shot was super funny! Look at Zi Hui and me!

I'd been on all of the fast rides, but I've not been on the Pirate Ship. So naturally I was worried la, so I asked Zi Hui, who'd experienced it before, how it was.

She was like, "Not that scary la, just very chi gek, like your heart falling out."

Then Shi Yunn was super enthusiastic, wanted to take the highest seat, so I figured, fine la, I can handle.

LOL middle of the ride, Zi Hui and me went from "AHHH! Hahahahha!" to "Ohmygoodness, now I'm really scared la!" and "Oh man, I'm actually scared already!"

My leg was shaking, seriously. But it was super fun!

(I have to say though, our faces in the photo is NOT an accurate indication of the actual level of terror both of us felt. We were NOT that scared okay!)

* * * * *

Sigh.

You know Murphy's Law is in action when the ONE time you're away the entire weekend (and hence cannot check your inbox), you get an "URGENT"-labelled email regarding your plane tickets, which having not been replied to ultimately led to RM200 being unnecessarily charged on your father's credit card.

So unlucky right? RM200 is a lot of money to be charged because I was in Genting and didn't reply one email =(

Which is not good, considering that my dad handed me his credit card and trusted me to book my own plane tickets and find my own hotel room.

(Somehow, arriving the night before is RM2000 cheaper than arriving ngam ngam hou on the required date, even with the cost of hotels -Hilton hotel! Buffet breakfast! LCD TV! With HBO and stuff!- factored in.)

* * * * *

Let's do a little comparison on the prices of white 2.4 Ghz Macbooks in Malaysia and in the US, shall we?

In Malaysia,
Price = RM4,599

In the US,
Price (plus state tax) = $1274 = RM4204

If that's not wonderful enough, they're throwing in a free 8GB iPod Touch for college students!
An iPod Touch costs RM1399 in Malaysia, by the way.

So basically over there I could pay RM4204 for the same things that would cost me RM5998 in Malaysia.

Yes, take time to wrap your head around that.

Home among the corns

The original version of this post was longer, as people like Paige can attest to LOL, but then I started getting a lot of uncalled for traffic.

I'm not a particularly uptight/fidgety person la, but I am a bit uncomfortable when I get a lot of strangers coming in from search engines. Like, I was talking about colleges, then suddenly I get a lot of people who Googled the colleges' names and was directed here.

Just makes me uncomfortable, dunno. So I'm sticking to the "more facts, less opinion" rule.

(How can I remove my blog from Blogger Search, or any search engine for that matter? You'd only want a lot of traffic if you have Nuffnang ads or Google ads or whatever, which I don't LOL.)

(Do those things really make money?)

* * * * *

Hooo. So I went for my visa interview at the US Embassy today, and my student visa is approved, so I'm ready and raring to go!

You know, when they said "interview", I imagined a private conversation, really thorough questions, just a very intimidating sort of experience on the whole...

...Only it was anything BUT. The interview was conducted over the counter (there were 9 counters altogether) in a tiny room where 50 other people are waiting, with a glass panel between you and the consular, so it called for the need to use a speaker.

So basically people there waiting can hear your conversation la, and I imagine it'd be a bit embarrassing if you were rejected a visa.

Anyway!

The first thing the consular said to me in his very American accent was, "So you're applying for a student visa? To.... *pause* Grin..nell College? I've never heard of that! Where is that?"

Sigh, LOL.

And such is the stigma that comes with going to a small liberal arts college. I went to have my passport renewed a couple of weeks ago, and I had three (!) different officials go, "Eh? Grinnell ah? Tak pernah dengar pun?"

LOL I remember when I asked my SAM lecturers to write my teachers' recommendations, I contemplated adding big-name sort of schools, like University of Michigan, even if I weren't applying, just so they wouldn't think I'm applying to ciplak schools that are easy to get into, and not bother trying to write solid recommendation. But I didn't la of course.


So anyway. Yeah, I'm going to Grinnell College (in Iowa)!

I was asked why I never mention the name of my college on my blog, like I'm trying to be elusive about it, but no la! I just figured since no one would've heard of it anyway.

It's super cool, actually. One of the colleges that accepted me sent me a DVD, and in it their president said that when you go to the college "you don't just check into a room, you check into a community".

Which is true for most liberal arts colleges, because almost all LACs have enrollments of less than 3,000 (versus 10,000 in larger universities), so I imagine it results in a very close-knit community.

I remember during the agonizing wait for college decisions, I received an SMS at 11 a.m. one Sunday morning (I was still sleeping, paiseh) from a fellow Grinnell applicant, and she was like, "Grinnell's decisions are out! Check PioneerWeb! Good luck!"

Wah I rushed to the computer, logged in, saw "Congratulations!" in big bold lettering, and was like, "SCORE!" I knew I was definitely going there!

Apparently it's only well-respected in the academia, less so amongst non-college-going people, even in the US. I know a lot of American Grinnellians say that when they're asked which college they're going to, people often give them blank looks, or mistake "Grinnell" for "Cornell" ("Oh, you're going to Cornell! Congrats!" "No, it's Grinnell." *Blank look*), or they'd just go, "Where is that?" "In Iowa." "Why the heck would you go there?"

(Grinnell has this t-shirt that on the front is printed "Where the hell is Grinnell?", and on the back, "Who the hell cares?" I'm definitely getting that!)


Anyway.

The U.S.A. For Students will be held on June 14th, which is this Saturday la.

If you're thinking of studying in the States, or if you've not made up your mind and are still trying to decide, I recommend this enthusiastically!

I remember going to Midvalley last year for this, and I didn't visit a single booth. I basically just arrived in time for the seminars I was interested in, finished listening and left. All because I had a Maths Common Test the next day and still had no idea what was what!

(LOL reminds me of the days when I'd go in to the exam room not knowing much at all. One time we were asked to explain solar sail in the essay(!!) portion of Physics Common Test, and I left it blank because I have never even heard of solar sail before!) (I failed la, obviously.)

Anyway. It's a tad unfortunate they didn't have a seminar on Liberal Arts Colleges like they did last year, I mean, it was one of the things that convinced me LACs are the way to go (nevermind that you will never get your friends/relatives to go "Wah, not bad ah!" when they ask what university you're heading for).

All I can say is, I fully endorse an American education lor, whether one in a national university or a liberal arts college, expecially if you don't want to be pigeon-holed and you want the freedom to explore.







Anyway! I saw a cute guy today.




Actually no la, I just don't know how to end this post. Bye!


(Oh, the USA for students thing is over, but whatever la.)