Near death. Or not really la.

WAH the scariest sh*t happened to me today!

I think, I could have died. (Uh, exaggerated or not I dunno la.)


People who've been passengers in my (mom's) car would no doubt realize, that dull looking red Kancil that I drive is a real old clunker of a car.

I remember that time when a bunch of us went to the National Museum, and they had an exhibition of old cars, and there it was, a Proton Saga being exhibited amongst old, really ancient cars.

Back then I thought, "Wah good thing I don't drive Saga. Very malu."

In restrospect, I drive something that is more memalukan than an old Saga.

I drive an old Kancil.

The radio doesn't work, the lock on the front passenger door is totally messed up (doesn't come up/go down when it's supposed to) (confuses friends who sit there), you step fully on the accelerator and instead of going "Vrooooom!", it actually goes, "Eeee-kachung-kachung-eeee" or something weird like that.

Needless to say, it takes longer to accelerate, even with the pedal fully stepped on. Even worse when it comes to uphill slopes. I'd be thinking, "Hurry up hurry up hurry up!" Cars behind overtake only.


Plus, and this one's a sure sign of Embarrassingly Old Cars, the windows have to be rolled down.

Yes, roll down that little handle thing.

Very very mafan when it comes to getting/putting in tickets in parking lots.

Oh, I'm veering off topic.


You know those overhead highway things, that have these concrete borders to prevent you from going off the edge and plunge right into Death?

The one I was on curves to the right (I hope I'm painting you an easy picture here), and at that time I was blanking out.

You know, your mind wasn't on the road.

And I came, what, an inch from the concrete blocks? And I was driving straight.

Curved road + driving straight = barge right through concrete blocks! = DIE! (or accident la)

I came to just in time (any further and I'd totally have hit it!), steered sharply to the right, and OMGWTFBBQ big ass truck right beside me!

Got honked, steered left, but cannot la the road is turning right!, panic a bit, steered right, and went on my merry way.

Very un-drama here, but trust me it was scary as heck. You know that very millisecond when you realize you're this close to hitting something large like a concrete block (and you know you'll fall off and die if you do), and you're doing 80 kmph on the highway, scary as heck. Then got truck somemore!

I have this fear of trailers / large vehicles. The other day something similar happened to Ling when she was driving, only it was less dangerous 'cause she was on flat, wide road, and I screamed, very unnecessarily loudly. Ling wasn't even the least bit shook up la.

Oh by the way. This Kancil I drive does not have power steering. (Yes it is thaaaat ancient.)

It is difficult, driving a car without power steering. It it stiff, and you pretty much cannot drive it with one hand.

Now you know.

Fortunately, no one else was in the car with me.

Even more fortunately, my mom was not in the car with me.

She'd totally stop me from driving out any more. She is already very sien 'cause it seems to her that I am dominating her car.

I so wish I had a car of my own. One that is actually un-Old.

I have to wake up at 7 am to drop my mom off if I want to have her car for the day, then go out at 8 pm to pick her up.

You people who have your own cars, so lucky!









P/S. I don't usually drive like that la. In fact I've never driven like that before. I was just thinking about Something Important today. Don't boycott sitting in my car, okay?

Pebbled Paths and Roadside Flowers

Ya know what? I probably should clean my room.

If I had RM5 every time my mom tells me I'm the Messiest Girl She Knows, I'd have.... enough to buy a decent prom dress.

But if you tried asking her just how many teenage girls she knows, and how many whose rooms she has entered, she'd pretend to be too busy to hear you.


Anyway, I'm on it.


I started clearing out this cupboard that I had. There's this huge pile of school stuff that I've collected throughout my schooling years.

After one schooling phase, I'd just chuck everything (report cards, school photos) in there and move on to the next phase.

Well, here I am, 9 months till the next phase (University here I come!), and till then I have no school to go to. (So technically, I'm no longer a "student"?)



So I started cleaning out the cupboard, and man oh man how much I've grown.




Schooling Year Number 1



That, me friends, is a photo of the FIRST ever class I was a part of. My classmates and I were all of 3 years old!

Apparently, you can never get kids to stay still long enough to take a good photo.

Spot me? (Second row, first one on the right!)


I was such a crybaby back then. My mom told me the teacher was very apprehensive about allowing me to go to the zoo on a class trip, which, of course, made me cry even more.

I got to go anyway. I remember we had KFC. Till now it's hard to not associate zoos with KFC.



Schooling Year Number 4



The year I graduated from kindergarten. With graduation robes and mortarboards. Cool eh?

One of my kindergarten classmates was also doing SAM in Taylor's. She used to be my best friend, I used to go to her house real often, then we'd break off lead from colour pencils, and we'd "cook" them in cups of water.

I probably attended no less than 5 of her birthday parties, 'cause she'd always invite me, even after we've moved on to primary school.

I don't know if she even remembers me now.



Kindergarten phase over, moved on to primary school phase!

Schooling Year Number 10




I rummaged through the entire cupboard, but couldn't find photos of my Standard 1 - 4 classes. So those are like, the Lost Schooling Years, or something. Like a Blank Page in my History Book.

Still, that was me, in Standard 6. A few of my then-classmates went to Catholic High, and a LOT of them went/go to Taylor's. (Clicky for a better looky! You could probably recognize a lot of them from Taylor's.)

That was when I was paaaaiiinnfully quiet. That was one thing Chuan Ling makes sure I never forget. ("You know that time I damn scared talk to you one you know!")



Schooling Year Number 11


Hahah, I love this photo!

Canyousee canyousee? We all had weird hairstyles back then!

Look at mine! My then-signature Mushroom Hair!

Oh man, so funny la.

Form 1, by the way. I used to get SO excited when I was in primary school and I realized I was going on to secondary school.

Secondary school kids looked so adult. I wanted to be like them.

Huh, fat chance of me looking Adult. I mean, till now I still don't look Adult.



Schooling Year Number 15


Final year of high school.

I grew up (somewhat),
wanted to be a doctor,
heard that a lot of people wanted to do SAM,
wondered why they'd even consider doing SAM (why SAM?! A-Level better!),
contemplated doing Form 6 (and International Baccalaureate),
and stayed in KL an entire week in isolation (to prepare for SPM).


And then -


Schooling Year Number 16



College class!

I changed subjects and switched class, then changed my mind and switched program, to eventually end up learning about the good and bad of science in the same four walls as these people.


(Good of science - sometimes it amazes you. The Creator must've had one heck of a time coordinating the universe like this.)

(Bad of science - uhh the failed papers and the desperate attempts of last-minute cramming.)


Phew! 16 years of schooling.

Can you imagine?

One year after the next, 16 back-to-back years!

How can you medicine-hopefuls tahan the thought of another 5 years of med school, then another dunno-how-many-years of specialized study?


Just thinking about it exhausts me.

But it has all been great fun.

The whining about exams, the copying of homework ("Don't bulat-bulat copy ah! Change a bit here and there!"), the frantic attempts to hide Barang Larangan when there were rumours of spot checks.

The going out on the last day of exams to celebrate, the joy of bumping into a friend on school corridors, the deciding what to eat during breaks.


The best part, though, is the learning part.

I know I know, we hate exams and homework.

But when you look back and realize all these things you know that you didn't know before, there's a huuuge sense of satisfaction, plus you actually feel a lot smarter!

To be able to explain science stuff to people like your parents, ahhhhh nice!

Wouldn't give it up for anything.



There ya go. My schooling journey.

Can't wait for the next Phase to come along!

Let me complain, okay?

TOEFL today was shite.

No wait. TOEFL test location today was shite.


So there we were, all of us in one smallish computer room.

Somehow this girl and me managed to finish the reading and listening sections earlier than the rest. So we were allowed to have a 10-minute break.

Ten minutes over, we started on our speaking test.

Then, the rest of the room went on their breaks.

So what it meant was that while the girl and me recorded our answers, about 20 odd people were sitting around, observing us, looking at our screens and listening to our answers.

My thoughts -

1. I had 15 seconds to prepare my speech reply. They, having observed the both of us and read off our screens, had the entire break to prepare!

2. I was feeling damn self-conscious okay! Imagine, 20 people listening in on you and your reply! Kind of like giving a public speech, or something!

3. The invigilator came, stood next to me and listened in as well! I would have shoo-ed her off, if only I weren't already recording my reply.


It was slightly pretty damn well unfair, but I didn't mind it as much as the fact that by the time I went on to the latter parts of the test in which reading was required, the entire room started recording their answers!

How to concentrate?!

I remind you, it was a small room. You could hear someone talk from the other end of the room, even with your headphones on.

With 20 people simultaneously speaking extra loudly (having been told to do so by the invigilator), it was havoc.

How in the world can you read and comprehend that paragraph in front of you amidst all that chaos?

Plus, that countdown timer counting down the 45 seconds wasn't helping either. I got very panicky.

When it got to the really long passage in the writing section, I figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I just read out as loud as I could to myself to cover all the extra noise. Was practically shouting, I'd say.




So anyway. Naturally the girl and me finished our test earlier. At the room where we kept our belongings, she asked me how it was. I asked her back.

The first thing she said was, "I couldn't concentrate!"

And I knew exactly what she meant.

She told me she had the TOEFL in Singapore before this, and they had their own private cubicles.

Compare that to today's test location, where we were seated so close I could actually read the answers off the girl's screen. Of course I didn't la.


Oh man, RM857 in total paid, I hope I did well enough.


So, moral of the story is (and you really should remember this if you're taking the TOEFL in the future), if you have a testing station that isn't as isolated as you'd hoped, then never ever finish and have your break earlier than others.

Otherwise, while you're recording, you'd have the entire room listening to you.
And while you're reading, you'd have the entire room talking at the same time.


I'd whine about the mouse that doesn't seem to register clicks until you've clicked for the gazillionth time, but I'm too lazy.
But yeah, the mouse doesn't register clicks until I've clicked for the gazillionth time.

I remember trying to drag the answers into boxes, and the mouse was acting up again, and the timer was counting down the last 15 seconds!

I panicked like siao.

I tell you, that countdown timer managed to give me adrenalin rushes like no other roller coaster had.


Okay, enough whining. Choose your test location wisely. Bye!

Futures.

Uhhh, a very frank friend (ahem ahem) told me I got it all wrong - I should be telling people I hadn't studied, then get good grades, not write in my very public blog that I studied my ass off and then go and get crap grades.

But that is so high school lah!

So yeah, I got crap grades.

No matter. Still got Finals to salvage whatever I can.


Did the SAT today, finally, no more 4 hour practice sessions and memorizing words between lectures!

I met this girl today, who had come all the way from China to take the SAT. Apparently, they had no testing centres in China.
Imagine that! She was a bundle of nerves, but I guess I would be too if I had to fly a few thousand miles for an exam.


Three more tests / exams to go.

Everyone I know sitting for language tests have been paying several hundred ringgit for preparation courses. Now TOEFL is just two weeks away and I have no idea what the format is!

I am exhausted.

I feel like I'm just kind of going through the motions of studying for exams I eventually do miserably in, and I'm exhausted.

At least during SPM I had enough sense to enjoy myself a bit a lot. (I was watching DVDs and P. Ramlee movies!)

Anyway, I know you A-Levels (Cambridge board?) people are having your AS very soon, so good luck! (Like any of you will be reading this now.)

* * * * *

For everyone who's in the midst of the very confusing college application process,
or who's confused about the future,
or sitting for exams (virtually everyone I know),
or who's venturing into something completely new (Kwai Yee!),
or for anyone who just likes rhymes.

My favourite Dr. Seuss work.






Oh, the Places You'll Go!

by Dr. Seuss


Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any
you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And IF you go in, should you turn left or right...
or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

...for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

With banner flip-flapping,
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored. there are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be,
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't.
Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times
you'll play lonely games too.
Games you can't win
'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something
you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance
you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go
though the weather be foul
On you will go
though your enemies prowl
On you will go
though the Hakken-Kraks howl
Onward up many
a frightening creek,
though your arms may get sore
and your sneakers may leak.

On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You'll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life's
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!















* * * * *

I know I posted that up last year in my high school graduation post, but I love it too much to not post it again.

I actually printed this out and hung it in my room. I'm gonna get the book from Kinokuniya soon.

You can bet it'll be up again when I graduate from SAM.

(I realize I'm really pushing myself now because I'm actually pretty excited about the future. The university, the meeting new people, the internships, the actual jobs with actual paychecks!)

Uncanny coincidence - Something Corporate's 'Watch The Sky' is playing on iTunes.




"I think I could use a little break, but today was a good day.
Still I sink to think that I must craaaaaaawl!
There's things that aren't worth giving up, I know.
You live the life you're given with the storms outside, somedays all I do is watch the sky."




Yeah, no point slacking now and letting go of a potentially uber-exciting future.


So. Good luck finding your niche in life!

"I gave you blood. Gallons of the stuff."

I am pleased with myself. Well, kind of.

I mean, I've always wanted to do it, yeah, but I've also always been scaaaaaared.


It's almost like where things start going wrong in a horror movie, where the hero gets cucuk-ed with large needles and has his blood sucked out. Enough blood to fill a bag somemore.

I donated blood!


They said you had to be at least 45kg to be a donor, so I got on the scale and the guy-in-charge told me I couldn't donate.

I was very sick of being, um, rejected as a donor la. First time 'cause I pierced my ears a few months ago, second time 'cause I had a bit of a sore throat.

So what do you do when you really want to do it, but you're 0.5kg under the required weight?

You jump a bit on the scale, of course.

So the needle was swaying left to right, and I went, "Boleh la. Tengok, saya 45kg."

I am a genius.


Initially the nurse couldn't find my vein, she'd keep hitting my hand, adjusting the pressure, and going, "Hmm?", which freaked me out a little. I mean, I don't want to have her poke around, looking for my vein.


Anyway.

It definitely feels good.

So good, in fact, that the bunch of us who donated were all super enthusiastic about doing it again (3 months later la).

Ying Ying looked at her blood donor booklet, which recorded the times you donated blood, and said in an ambitious kind of way, "I want to fill this book up."

Yeah.

So you people reading this, go do it!

If you're worried about the pain bit, believe me when I say, it does not hurt that much!

Just a slight sting when they give you the anaesthetics, and after that you wouldn't feel a thing.

If you think I'm bulling you, well then at least believe the Look people halfway through the blood donation give their friends (who're presumably trying to assess things first before going in themselves), the kind of Look that says, "No pain at all!"

And trust me, everyone has that Look.

If it does hurt, which it shouldn't, I guarantee you, then at least you know, and you wouldn't have to do it again. And, you wouldn't have to say you never tried.

If it doesn't hurt, well then now you know! You can start donating blood for as long as you're capable.

And y'know, this is the easiest, and possibly one of the very few chances we have of doing something even remotely heroic.

'We'd love to have you!'

GAHHHHH.

I just got off a call from New York. And I think I sounded like a Stupid Malaysian Kid.

For the first time ever, it was an interview that the person on the other end was not assessing me, neither was I being weighed off against a bunch of other people all vying for something or other.

It was supposed to be 15 minutes, but it ended up being half an hour long.

30 minutes of myself thinking, Gawd why can't I answer questions like an matured 18-year-old should?

I sounded like a 12 year-old trying to sound like an adult.

Now we all know, Chooiyen cannot speak, she can only write a bit. Though I already found that out during my feeble attempt at debate, and writing doesn't mean much because writings are basically just speech you had time to polish up.

At least, I did not use lah or meh or anything like that. Not even once!
But she was speaking perfect English, ang moh slang and all, naturally I got nervous.

Gosh I embarrassed myself. Worse still, it was a recorded 30-minute self-embarrassing act.

* * * * *

Here is a bit of Very Interesting Fact Regarding G10.

I did a survey on my classmates on their opinions on freedom of expression.

65% of them feel that artists, musicians and speakers in public shouldn't be allowed to talk freely. Music and art should not contain offensive material.

Now I wonder if they actually listen to rap and hop-hop, in which bling-blings and booze and partying and sex are the way to go.

Even more interesting, 35% agree that if there was only ONE religion practised, if only one religion was allowed, then there'd be more peace within the country.

When I had that question thrown in, I had expected everyone to disagree. I mean, only ONE religion? Ridiculous notion.

But now when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

Hmmm.

* * * * *

I was just told last week that I suffer from a Weird Inferiority Complex.

Weird thing to hear from someone who's known me only this year.

"You need to learn how to sell yourself! If like you lidat, how you gonna win in anything?"

What she doesn't know is, sometimes it's more accurately called Pretending To Be Humble.

* * * * *

Oh my gosh I just found out, college mates found my blog!

Paige, stop playing with your laptop and start studying!

Oh, and, jangan kembang yea =)

A disorganized post, of Singapore and such.

Throughout the four days in Singapore, there were a few overused phrases, one of them being "Only in Singapore, never in Malaysia!" (and another one being, "Jiu Hwei! Until which station?")

Come back really kena cultural shock lah, the elevators there move faster, the cars actually stop for you, the toilets aren't just clean, they generally look pretty funky too. And the people never get irritated when you ask for directions.

Anyway. We spent all our nights walking along Orchard Road, and the Christmas decorations were beautiful.

I remember walking past a seemingly ugly-looking structure, and one of the guys went, "What the hell is that? So damn ugly."

That was in the day. We came back at night, and that "ugly-looking sturcture" had morphed itself into a beautiful, beautiful christmas tree fountain!

I don't remember seeing Christmas decorations that nice in Bintang Walk, but maybe they've bucked up this year. I assume I'll be making endless comparisons when I'm there later.

(But make no mistake, I love KL. Going to stay in KL with my parents is usually a bit like going on a walk-fest. We walk everywhere, i.e. to the best beef ball noodle stall by the most rundown building you can imagine.)

So anyway, my family would probably go visit Singapore soon, which I cannot join because I have a lot of things to do.

And, my family would be going off to China in January, which I cannot go because I'll be in Kem Geo Kosmo (Spam so likes the word, hor?).

* * * * *

AAH! My brother's coming home next week!

Excitement. Anticipation. I-Can't-Wait-ness!

It's sad 'cause my time with him is cut real short, all because I've got to leave for National Service on the first of January, so I'm still having doubts about that after-Christmas Pangkor trip.

Coupled with the fact that I've not told my parents about it yet, I've got a good mind to just forgo it.
The only thing stopping me is my conscience. I told them I'd go, you know?

I heard my brother has gotten quite fat gained quite a bit of weight while being in Hawaii, and the guy refused to take a picture of himself when I asked him to, so we'll just have to wait and see just how fat much weight he has gained.

But seeing that he's always been quite the monster eater (as in he eats monster quantities of food, not taht he eats monsters), I wouldn't be surprised if he has become pretty blimpy.

Oooh yes, he's coming back!

* * * * *

There's been an inexplicable surge in visitors of late, which is weird 'cause I have not been updating at all.

But the tagboards so awfully lonely lahh.

Ahah, if you're here looking for prom photos or anything, I bet you're disappointed, 'cause I did not go.
Wrong place to go to if you want photos anyway. That's why people don't find this blog interesting. I don't have photos =(

If you're here because you think I've been blogging lately, you clearly do not know me well.

If you're here by accident and are not even from Catholic High, well then, nevermind.

* * * * *

Before I sign off, I must report that as a result of the Singapore trip, I -

- can now ride standing up on my bike!

- have learned to play Cho Dai Di! (Luuu, are you proud of me now? Hahah)

- have touched stingrays, starfishes and some other stuff I cannot identify

- learned that unless you're a pro biker, doing 'aerodynamics' is just about complete bullsh*t

- have touched something

- am seeing WW2 in a whole new light

- dislike shopping (always have, always will)

* * * * *

Christmas is almost here!

They're having a Christmas party, with turkeys and decoration and all - the works! (P'haps the best part would be my bro joining us in this one!)

I think we need a class gathering cum Christmas party.

We could have it at the house of the-guy-whose-house-is-so-nice-but-is-SO-self-conscious, and whose-mom-asked-him-to-invite-his-friends-over-for-a-party-to-which-he-replied-that-he-had-no-friends.

Or we could just be lazy and meet up at a restaurant in a mall again.

Anyway, signing off!

(An early Merry Christmas! Remember, I was the first one with the greeting!)

Free Hugs

So we arrived back in Malaysia around 10.30 pm yesterday.

I'd blog about the trip now, but I'll just wait till I get the photos from the others first.

Anyway.

We were in Orchard Road yesterday, walking to Takashimaya for lunch, when we saw a girl and a guy holding up signs, offering free hugs.

Which reminded me of the Free Hugs Campaign YouTube video.

Initially we just walked off, but then we turned back and figured we'd go for a hug. A group hug.

A couple of stupid jokes were told, we laughed, then we walked off.

Only, I stopped, walked back to where she was and did a solo hug with her.

We wished each other an early 'Merry Christmas', and I left.

I have no idea why, I've been thinking about this ever since I've returned.

So I went online, googled the Free Hugs Campaign, went into this forum, and read this post written by someone who recieved hugs "from a guy and a girl in Orchard Road".

I think it's pretty amazing, this Free Hugs thing.

Think it'd be nice to do it in Bintang Walk?

CHS Golden Jubilee, and other things

Gawd, I used a total of Rm75 this week.

And I owe people money.

I'm supposed to go out and get a birthday present for a friend today, I know exactly what she wants, and it ain't cheap.

I've got all these money going out, but none coming in.

Sigh, if you've borrowed money from me, and I've forgotten about it, and you're reading this, return the money, okay? (Keeping fingers crossed.)

* * * * *

It was wonderful, I pretty much achieved my goal, which was to visit every stall/exibition in school.
It would be pretty crazy to not visit them, 'cause they're all real interesting, and besides, they're not gonna be there, ever again. Unless you live another 50 years, and return to CHS.

So I went around with my sister, yeah, and we watched a rat dissection / got a henna tattoo thing / waitted in line for the haunted house but figured there were just too many people.

I wasn't kidding when I said I had no money. My sister had to go make her friend return her Rm10, just so we could get that henna thing.
Pretty stupid really, but hey, this'll be the only time we're allowed to have a tattoo-like thing in school.

My mom's reaction to them, "Aiyoh! Sai mm lat ga! Teacher tai dou dim hou?!"
You translate yourself la.

You know, the Sejarah society's exibition deserve a special mention. They had this almost life-sized sarcophagus thing, complete with this corpse inside.
They also erected this really tall thing on one side of the room, and it had all these egyptian wordings carved onto it.
The wonderful thing was, they were all made from paper-mache, but they looked so real. Wonderful.

It was great, that the LKT stall had an endless stream of customers. I mean, people were coming in non-stop, yeah, so it would be pretty safe to say, they did a very, very good job.
They could've hiked up the price a bit, though, 'cause their prices were pretty cheap, and 'cause they were that much in demand.

There were a few weird stalls, like the PTA's, that were selling watermelons.
I walked one round, two rounds, three rounds, all at least an hour in between, and by the third round, the watermelons looked... like it never moved. There were this much watermelons when I left, there were this much watermelons when I came once more.

They could've sold brocolli, and bussiness would probably have been the same.

There were also a few rip-offish stalls, that sold food that were pretty much yuck.

I took my parents to the chemistry lab, to check out a few of my friends' experiments thing. We checked out Lu and friends' volcano.
The first time we went, Linda told us to wait till 12.30pm, which was another 5 minutes. So we went ahead and looked at the other experiments, and when we returned later, the S3's were ready.
My mom waited while they poured this mixture thing into the volcano.
My mom waited while the volcano got ready to puke volcanic lava.
And just as something was about to pour from the volcano's opening, her cellphone rang. By the time she finished talking, the volcano was done.
Talk about bad timing.

Anyway, it was a call for her to return to her office, which was a bummer. My parents left then, so I was left with my sister.

The whole 'being-poor' thing really hit us big when we wanted to get this mummy doll trinket thing. It costed Rm2.50 each, and we both wanted one, so we kind of took out the money we had, counted them, took aside money we needed for transport home, took aside emergency money, and figured that... we could only afford one.
Oh, how bitter being penny-less.

So we left school at about 3.30, and at the end of the day, I had Rm3.00 left in my pocket.
'Twas just after it was too late to go back to school that I realized, I could've gotten another mummy-doll trinket.

But the most wonderful thing was, it was July 1st, which means a new month, which in turn means gettin' ALLOWANCE, baby!

* * * * *

You know why my sister had no money with her on saturday?

Because she just spent a cool Rm89.90 on My Chemical Romance's DVD. 'Life on the murder scene' or something.

She's so crazy over them, she made my brother buy MCR's first album in the US and air mail it over to us, all because Malaysian music stores does not stock up on that album.

I don't see what's so special about that DVD, I mean, even the lead singer didn't seem to take it very seriously. They were shooting their video diary, and the guy was talking to the camera while lighting a cigerette / rubbing his eyes non-stop / taking large swigs of F&N right from the bottle / sratching his out-of-bed hair / extremely slouched on the couch.
If people were shooting me, and it would be on DVD, where it'd be watched over and over, I'd at least make sure I looked presentable.

Well, at least, she no longer listens to Hilary Duff. Eurgh.

* * * * *

My dad drove us to the Curve for dinner last night, because we wanted to try out that Japanese restaurant, but while waiting in line, we suddenly realized we have had enough sushi while in school.

So we went to this italian-ish cafe.

And I had the most amazing smoked salmon cream pasta. I forgot my manners, 'cause it was good, and went ahead and licked the leftover cream and small salmon flakes. Lovely!

What is the most delicious fish if it isn't salmon?

I not stupd, I just Crybaby.

I read my post from yesterday, and gosh, what utter rubbish. But if you got what I was trying to say, it'd have been something interesting to ponder over. Honestly.

I watched I Not Stupid Too today, and I must say, why no one warned me that it was going to be a tear jerker? I had no tissues with me, and the tears were coming down like, um, rain! It was so unbelievably sad!

It was also very funny, there were a bunch of very-act-macho guys sitting behind us, who spoke cantonese and liked Jay Chou ( I know 'cause they were cheering during Jay Chou's little "cameo"). I kind of imagine them to be the lala kind lah.

Anyway. Everytime the tear wrenching scenes came on, they would try and find something to laugh at. ("Aiyer, look at the guy's nose! So big leh!") People like these are often just trying to cover up the fact that they are about to cry. Then there was this guy, who was trying to make himself laugh at his friend's "cover-up" jokes, and he went "hahahahahahaa-uuaapp!"
Heh. He was trying to laugh, but that sob prevailed! He was freaking crying okay!

Macho guys don't like people knowing that they cry.

I came out of the cinema after the movie, and went straight to the loo, but it was packed, so I walked a little further to another loo, and a couple of people were staring at me. Not being perasan. Really staring at me.

Eek. My face was completely red from the crying. I tried washing it, but the red remained. So wutoodoo, I walked around the mall for the next fifteen minutes looking like I had just had a fit.

I hate the fact that I always cry the most during movies. I dislike my active tear glands. My sister says my crying is distracting, because I sob too loudly. See? I hate it.

But the first half of the movie was waay funny.
Like how Tom and Jerry wasn't paying attention to their mother. Reminds me so much of myself.
Like how the students went, "Eh, next class got spotcheck!" and everyone scarmble to hide their cellphones. Reminds me so much of CHS students, and also of myself. Haha.

Anyway.

I bought Chevelle's This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In) album. I know, it was out in 2004, what took me so long? I dunno why it didn't cross my mind, I'm always thinking 'buy this CD buy that CD' but never 'buy Chevelle CD'. So stupid, 'cause it's so good! Easily one of the best.

The thing about Chevelle is, they don't do the mainstream kind of pop influenced rock, yet their music is still good enough to be played over and over on MTV and all that. Take The Red from the old album, for example. Solid. The best Chevelle song ever. And it's a far cry from the usual Nickelback and Paparoach.

I once lent my burned compilation CD to my friend, and the first song on it was The Red. He told me the first song sucked. Huuuuhhhh? I remember Chinese New Year last year, I was in Ipoh, I was practically spending all my free time listening to Chevelle over and over again. (Yeah, burned CD.)

Chevelle isn't trance music, but some of their songs leave you in a trance. Like Comfortable Liar. Especially during the bridge, you just sit there, non-moving, and you marvel at the wonder that is Chevelle. It is completely awesome. They're like Marilyn Manson. You don't just like the songs, you are completely awed by them.

I was having Burger King's lamb burger (very good, I recomend also), and the mayonaised cabbage fell on the booklet. Sighhh.

CNY drowsiness

Hm. Chinese New Year this year didn't have the atmosphere it had during previous years.

Ipoh and Melaka weren't bad. But except for the angpaos, nothing else reminded us of CNY. 'Twas just like any other holiday.

To be frank, all this holiday did was tire me out, besides making me that much richer. We were on the road so much.

Especially when we were coming back from Melaka. We had lunch at 2 pm. Then we drove home right after lunch. Melaka isn't too far away from Petaling Jaya, Selangor, 47301, but we only got home after 9pm.

Read it again. 9 p.m! There was a heavy jam, and my uncle's car broke down. Yeah.

Nevermind.

At least I still got to try out my camcorder. And I am very happy with it.

My sister and I were supposed to make a home movie, a spoof of Little Red Riding Hood, and she had my mom's red t-shirt on her head for the cape (unbeknownst to my mom), and a green shopping bag as the basket of goods. But we only got to "Little Red Riding Hood walking in the forest". Because we spent too much time planning how the movie would go, instead of actually shooting the movie itself.

Nevertheless. I have no complaints.

I was just on the phone with Chuan Ling. We were waiting for an answer through SMS from another friend of ours.

"So, how?"

"Dunno leh, I just sent her an SMS. Wait for her answer first loh."

"Oh, okay."

"................................................................................................"

"................................................................................................"

"Eh. You want to wait like this until the SMS arrives?"

"OH YEAHOR! Didn't realize. SMS arrive only you call me back!"


And it's a good thing we didn't 'wait like that'. Because it took that someone 20 minutes to answer me.

See what I mean when I say the holidays only served to tire me out?

Anyway. This is just a filler entry. I just came home. I have to go out again tomorrow. I need to sleep.

Speaking of sleeping, nothing gets as bad as this. I just realized, I need more Sleeping Hours than a lot of other people I know.

I know Wen Chuan goes online 'till 5am, then wakes up at 11am the next morning. And he considers that late.

I go online 'till 3am, and wake up at 12pm the next morning. And I consider that normal. How sad is that?

I go to sleep with the a bunch of people at the same time, but I would wake up two hours later than them.

Back in Ipoh, on the first day of CNY, my aunt had on this beautiful dress, waiting for my sister and I to get on with the proper CNY celebrations, and my parents were already up and all, and I was... what else, sleeping.

(I've got to mention, my mom was very weird that day. I was sleeping, and she was in the room, and she was waving the angpaos in front of me, and going, "You want angpao? Huh? Then go pour tea for me!" And 5 minutes later, "Want angpao not? Want then pour tea first!" And then, "Want angpao then pour tea!"
And then it repeats again.
And the weird thing is, neither my sister nor I was paying attention to her. Not begging her to give us angpao also. We just slept on. She was pretty much entertaining herself.)

But that's just me. I need 9 hours of sleep if I want to be at my best. Any less than that, and I would be sleepy all day.

Any more than that... I would feel lethargic and headache-y, and also be drowsy all day.

Make long story short. I am always yawning. 'Nuff said.

By the way, happy Chinese New Year to all!

(Not such a filler entry after all.)

Older, but not much taller

Okay. So Zihui finally uploaded the photos she took of my 17th birthday.

Emphasis here on 17th birthday.










Means I'm SEVENTEEN years old.










Means old enough to drive.







Yeah, like an ADULT.

So I should LOOK like one, shouldn't I?

So I was browsing through her MSN Spaces photo page, which you could only view photos one by one, and not all of them as thumbnails (maybe can but I dunno only).

So I was clicking 'next', then 'next', then 'next'....

And suddenly I came upon this photo.
















It is of Li-Ann and I, obviously.

Now, I wasn't feeling very well when I was going through the photos, 'cause I was tired from my walk from school to LRT station and all, and I also had a bad headache.

But this photo cheered me up considerably!

You see, Li-Ann and I are supposed to be of the same height. Our heights are the one thing we've been rivaling each other at since Form 2.

Look at the photo again! See, Li-Ann is tip-toeing-stretching-up to take photo with me! And I don't even have to TRY to be taller than her! SEE, no effort at all!
(Click on it and you'd get a much larger image, and you'd see what I mean! Hahahahahah!)

And today, Aaron told me I am of average height, just like other normal girls.

I was very happy, 'cause when my mom and friends say I'm short, I can say, "I AM NOT!"







But then, I clicked 'next' and just HAD to see this photo...



















Michelle isn't that tall also. Why'd she have to hunch like that? =(





Most deppressing photo of the bunch, however, was this.









He was the only one I remembered to tip-toe while taking photo with, so I was obviously assuming that I would more or less be of the same height as him. Or at least, not so short.

Imagine my horror! I mean, I was on tip-toes, dammit!



Honestly, it is very deppressing.

But nevermind. I have consolation; I am taller than Li-Ann! (Eh Ann kididng ah! I am not that happy.)





Perhaps one day, I will grow very tall. I mean, I'm not 21 yet. That's the age where you stop growing, right?

Because if it isn't, and if this is the maximum height that I'll ever reach, imagine what'll happen when I turn 60 and start shrinking.

People on the streets would knock into me by accident, turn to their friends and go, "Eh, just now I knocked into something, leg damn pain, but I dunno what it is. Cannot see wan. Damn scared!"





Bah. Whatever.


Here, just for the fun of it. Group, minue one, photo.

Did I mention, I was secretly glad I didn't leave anything embarrassing around the house that day?

One time I was dealing with the laundry, and I dropped my undies on the stairs, and didn't realize until much later. That would've been embarrassing.
















So chio, so kawaii nye!

Speaking of photos, did I mention, I got a new Digital VideoCam! It's for my birthday.

Woot!

I love my posters, and they love me too

I had a tiny argument with my mom because she threw away my Linkin Park poster. Sad, huh?

I have kind of said that my mom throws things away compulsively, haven't I? Well she's done it again. With her reason being that the posters were dirty.

Sigh. She could have wiped the dirt off. She didn't have to throw them away. Or, she could have told ME about it, and I'd wipe the dirt off myself.

Whatever. She just didn't have to throw them away.

Anything that stays with me for a year, chances are it'd have sentimental value to me. I've had almost 40 posters on my wall since years ago, and now she's gone and threw every single one away! I wouldn't really have minded that much if it hadn't included two of my LARGEST, NICEST, BEST QUALITY Linkin Park posters!

They really mean a lot to me. Just like the Backstreet Boys, Linkin Park is another band that has stuck with me when I was younger, and I'd always listen to their albums if I happen to be going through a bad patch, because listening to them was comforting.

Besides, one of them had been bought when I went to that LP concert two years ago. Best night I've ever had, I'd say. I could well be on drugs, because I was so HIGH! I was literally stepping on everyone's shoes!

Gah. I just wished my mom would ASK before she throws my things away. She's done it a whole lot of times before, not asking and all.

Well, bye-bye big beautiful LP poster!

Something stupid to cry over

Relating the details of your dream to someone is almost like torturing them. No one really wants to know what you dreamed last night.

*squeals in a bimbo voice*
But OH last night I had just the weirdest dream! I SO have got to tell you about it!

Okay, so really early this morning, I woke up and heard my own loud sob. I had tear-streaked face, and my nose were somewhat runny. Gawd, I was crying in my sleep.

Realizing I was crying in my sleep wasn't weird. It was what I had been dreaming and crying about that I found strange.

I actually dreamt that someone died. It was, uhh, Marilyn Manson.

I was with this guy friend (not boyfriend) whom I don't really know in real life, and this guy friend of mine is a huge fan of Manson also. We weren't only mere fans, we actually knew Manson on a personal level. (Wah, imagine, Chooiyen and Manson, friends!)

Then one day, Manson DIED. But he had published this book for his fans, and eventhough he was talking to everyone who liked Manson, it felt like it was directed specially to my friend and I. And gosh, were we crying.

I was crying like I had lost my parents. For one thing, he WAS my friend and my favourite artist. For another, I had been looking forward to his new album. It was mostly the fact that I would never get to hear a new Manson song ever again that depressed me. I had locked myself up in a fitting room.

We've not gotten to the weird part yet.

When Manson died, we didn't exactly know what he died of. But from what he had written in his book, it was like he anticipated his death.

So anyway, I woke up, found out my sister had heard my sobs, went and cleaned up my face, looked at the clock, realize it was not time to wake up yet, and went back to sleep.

Then I had another dream, and it was in relation to the first.

I was reading this really old book, and according to it, a person would die if he stood between 24 and 29. I had no idea what that meant.

Then I found out Manson had stood between the sun and the moon. Apparently, the guy had purposely wanted to die so he could donate his body parts to whoever needed them. It wasn't right, random acts of kindness for real-life Manson would be like robbing a bank for us normal people. He just doesn't do it often.

Then it turned out the body parts Manson donated were.. uh, prosthetics. It got a bit freaky then.

But really, it was a VERY vivid dream. I can still recall passages from that old book. Words like "Manson has hast" were particularly highlighted. Plus, they were very cryptic, you had to figure a whole lot out yourself. It was that clear and vivid.
Then I got a stupid SMS that woke me up. I should've switched the phone off when I sleep.

It's just really stupid to be crying over the death of an artist.

But I didn't drool in my sleep. That's a relief.

Okay I PROMISE you I will not bore you with details of my future dreams anymore!

Why throwing stuff away is not good

I couldn't sleep well last couple of nights.

Actually I hadn't been sleeping well since last month, what with having to share a bed with my mom, but I've finally returned home and have since been sleeping in my own bed.

But minus the forts.

Lemme explain. Since I was really young, every night I would build a fort around my bed before I go to sleep. I would prop my pillows up along the side of the bed, and probably along with a soft toy or two, and my trusty bolster.

And I have been using the very same pillows almost all my life. I've now got two types of pillows la, one proper pillow, and two baby pillows. I've gone through a few adult pillows, but my baby pillows have stayed with me since I was a, what else, baby.

So I've since had a number of pillows, of which I'd always sleep on one of the baby pilllows and use the other, along with the adult pillow as fort bricks. But I've only ever had one bolster. Baby bolster, haha.

I'm sometimes strangely sentimental when it comes to my stuff. You have no idea how upset I was when I lost my ruler six months ago. I was still searching for it after a week. Heck, you know I was upset when I'm here talking about it half a year later. But I've been using that ruler since form two. And I didn't obtain it in the conventional way.

But I digress!

Back to my baby bolster. Also my fort brick. Every single night, when I build up my mini fort, I always arrange that bolster on the left side of the bed. So that it can block out the lights from outside that manages to seep in from under the door. When I sleep I always get to feel the bolster on my left. It has been like that ever since I can remember, which must be a LONG time ago, because I remember we were still using that double decker bed then, which my mom dismantled when I got out of kindergarden.

(Background voice: What the hell is your point?!)

Point is, it has become my security pillow. It gives me a sense of security. And when my mom threw my baby bolster away three days ago, she threw my sense of security away with it.

I know my mom has been badgering me to throw it away since a few months ago because the seams were no longer intact and some of the fluff from inside were popping out. Well what did she expect, I've been using it since I was a toddler. I always managed to stop her before she chucked it in the bin.

But few days ago, I wasn't at home. I was out enjoying myself, and my mom was doing her post-renovation house de-cluttering. Which basically means throwing out everything she sees as old, too dirty and crap-looking to revive, and everything else she had meant to throw away but has never quite gotten to it yet (this is where my baby bolster fit the criteria).

So when I came back, my bolster was already in that huge plastic bag full of other things she wanted to throw out.

I could've still saved the situation. I could've fished the thing out. But I figured, what the heck, my mom promised me she'd get me my first ever proper adult bolster (having been using a baby bolster all my life, anything else you people would consider a Normal Bolster would, to me, be an "Adult Bolster").

It wasn't until at night when I was in bed that the profoundness of the situation finally hit me. My mom had thrown away my most important thing from my childhood. My baby bolster!

Back to point number one. Why I couldn't sleep well last couple of nights.

Well, I still had one of my baby pillow back in Times Square. We hadn't actually gone and gotten our stuff back yet. The only reason I had my other baby pillow with me was because I had brought it with me when I was making my way home, by monorail and LRT. Of course, I'm not brainsick, what would people think when they see a 16 year old walking around KL all alone, with a lumpy, old looking pillow.

Nope, I stuffed it in my backpack. And it only fit one pillow.

So I was laying on my bed that night, not being forted up because of the lack of pillows. Adult bolsters would never be the same, because they are huge and clumsy, and they take up a whole lot of my bed space.

Without my bolster, how would I get that all too familiar feeling of security everytime I extend my left hand? Having had that bolster every night for the past (more than) ten years, it feels extremely weird not to have anything on my bed, and to only feel air on my left.

Very weird.

Sad thing is, I don't even have a photo of it.

Out. Not in.

Foremost, an apology to my (possibly non-existantial) readers. (I know people visit, but I have no idea if they actually read through the posts.)

If you've been following my blog religiously (which I know you haven't), and you've been looking forward to my posts (which I know you don't), I'm sorry I haven't been posting for the past week and a half.

Let's just say I'm forced to take a couple of weeks off from the internet, from my house, and from Taman Mayang, Petaling Jaya on the whole.

I had no idea this was coming, the whole thing just pranced upon me one saturday morning (y'know, the saturday after my last post). I woke up, and my dad went, "pack your bags ah, we're moving out for a couple of days." And so, I stuffed a couple of days' worth of clothes into my bag, and off we went. Only, 'a couple of days' became 'a couple of weeks'.

I've got the laptop, but no internet connection. Say bye-bye to internet surfing.

I'm doing this in Starbucks now, if you're wondering.

I'll probably be staying here until next week. Oh joy.

If you're wondering what drove my parents to having to move out like this, it's the Renovate and Revamp thing going on in our house. Big scale renovation lah.

My house is in a HUGE mess!
But, I don't mind the dust and pieces of wood everywhere as much as I do the SOUND.

Every morning, just a little past eight, practically the whole house would be vibrating with the LOUD noise from the drilling. NO ONE can sleep through that, so every single morning I have to wake up for one and a half hours, before going back to sleep again.

It is now a routine, and it is irritating.

And when you go out the front door and into the lawn, you have to be extra careful of the stray nails and ladders that are set up.

Walk into the kitchen, you have to manuver around the washing machine and the dryer before you even get to the fridge. Imagine having to wash the dishes in the bathroom sink!

Even the bathroom downstairs is rendered useless with the huge kitty cage and various pails taking up most of it's space. Because they got in the way of the construction works.

And when you're on the computer in the living room upstairs, and you feel like a little fresh air and a break from staring at the screen too much, well too bad for you, 'cause pull the curtains apart and be greeted by some indian guy laying bricks instead of the usual blue sky.

And every now and then, strangers walk up the stairs. They're always either the people who install sinks and toilets or the air-cond guy or stuff like that.

And before long, they will be in my room, making a mess there, too.

But you know what? I'll SO be looking forward to when everything is built and installed and painted and cleaned! 'Cause almost everything will be nicer and better looking! And more spacious too.

And best yet, I'll have my orange tiled bathroom! Orange, because it's the BEST colour ever. I feel a little guilty though, because I had insisted my mom order the large 40cm x 30cm tiles, as opposed to the 20 x 25 tiles she wanted to buy. And being so much larger, it costs more. She probably isn't too happy, since she's already spending so much.

But hey, when it's all done, I'll have a very nice looking bathroom!

Did I mention I'll be painting my room orange, too? Yeap, finally!

Anyway, not having internet connection does not mean I'm not inspired to write, does it? When my inspiration hits, it hits hard.

So I gotta write. In Microsoft Word, then save. Then post when in Starbucks.

Darn, of all days to forget my cell phone, it had to be today. Now I hafta lug this thing around while I look for my mom.

When insects attack

Something freaky happens every once in a while. And yesterday had me freaked out some.

I was in my room, listening to a bit of trance music. I thought I heard my sister yelling for me, but I figured I must be hearing things, which can happen a lot when I'm listening to music (like I'd think I heard the phone ring, and only when I walked over to it that I realized I was only imagining it).

But anyway, it got louder. So I switched the audio player off, and gawd was my sister sounding frantic. I walked out of my room and was absolutely SHOCKED at what lay before me. Little flying things, possibly thousands of them, all flying about in the TV area. The place was SWARMING with them.

You probably think, "cheh, little flying things only ma, they are found almost everywhere." But think. It was really late at night, and the windows were already all closed. I have no idea where they came from. My sister told me later, that she was on the computer right, and there were a few flying about her, but she brushed them off, thinking they must be those darned mosquitoes. Then when she finally decided to move her neck muscles a little and turned her head to the right, she realized the whole place was swarming with them. And no, they were not mosquitoes, much larger in fact. There were already up to 20 of them standing, or sticking, to the chair she was on. Eew.

My sister was screaming frantically, because she was stuck. There was no way she could get out of there without going through that whole mess of those things. Mess, is an understatement. There was so many of them flying so thickly, wall would be a better word.

So my mom got up, and being the brave, gung-ho woman that she is, she went in there with nothing more than a can of insect spray. And oh boy did she spray. She sprayed until every single one of those darned things fell dead. And when that finally did happen, the floor was covered with them. Dead insect thingies. Really, it was one of the most freaky sights. I would've gotten it on camera, if only it weren't already stolen. And cellphone cameras couldn't capture it clearly.

Needless to say, my sister couldn't sleep after that whole ordeal. Imagine la, sitting there on this chair covered in insect things, in a room full of insect thingies, and not knowing it, still blissfully clicking away at the computer. Urgh.

The Big Day!

All the work everyone's been busy with lately, the many time we've stayed back after school, the saturday morning practices, the late night preparations, all lead to none other than the LKT Farewell BBQ Party! And finally it's here.

It wasn't bad. In fact, it was very good considering the fact that next to NOTHING went according to schedule. It started off with a sketch. Our own interpretation of 'Shrek'! I was Puss in Boots, so I had Fui's dad's boots on (which made me look like an idiot plumber), a toy sword, paper whiskers sellotaped to my face (3 on each cheek, idiocy!), bath towel draped behind me (for the cape) and beach hat to top it all off. I swear, if I were anywhere else in those, people'd lock me up in a madhouse and throw away the key.

Since I'm in the skit, I'm not in the position to judge how it went. But I could tell it wasn't very good. Who can blame us? We had the script written only last night, and practised only two hours before performance time. It was the STUPID DANCE! We spent days practising it, and it got CANCELED!

The stuff that we PLANNED didn't go well, and wasn't entertaining the seniors very much. But the stuff we did SPONTANEOUSLY and come up with at the spur of the moment were WILD! The dances, the limbo rock, gosh I even had cramps on my left leg, we were jumping that crazily! My friend came holding sticks of sausages, and I had to grab her 'cause I couldn't stand right. I never said I loathed dancing, in fact I absolutely LOVE it. But people probably think I'm pathetic when it comes to it. But what they don't know is, I can only do one type of dance properly. In fact, I EXCEL at it. I call it the Monkey Dance, and it's the type that requires NO choreographing OR coordination. All it needs is a little bit of flinging of arms here and and there, shake your booty every now and then, lo and behold, you've danced the Monkey Dance!

And adding to the fun, the awesome selection of music! We had piles of cds to choose from, and only one fifth of them were original. Apparently, they were all from me. All the others had were pirated cds. One guy even went, "eh? Why got original wan?" See how corrupted it is now that people expect to see PIRATED CDs, and are surprised when they find original ones instead.

The food was okay. Meehoon was probably a teeny bit dry, but there were mashed potatoes and fried wantans that were delicious! Ah and of course, the barbeque. Chicken wings and drumsticks barbequed with honey. Sausages. Were there nuggets? I don't quite remember. Satay, I think. And during the singing performances, people started bringing roasted marshmellows over and sharing them with everybody. Nice!

The best part, besides the dancing, HAD to be the (ex-) president's speech. It was touching, and at the end of it, he started crying even. Hah, he even sang us two songs. He probably wouldn't win Malaysian Idol, but he definitely won our hearts over.

Then it was 10pm. All of a sudden, everyone started going home. But it was AGREED that only the seniors go home at 10pm, everyone else has to stay back to help clean out the place. Heck, the headmistress would kill us on Monday if we left the school in a mess! BUT, only a pathetic number of 9 cleaned the place. Out of an attendence of 60+, mind you! Then 15 minutes later, there were only 7. People probably think cleaning up that huge place we used was easy, but it so wasn't! There were tables full with cups and plates and chicken bones and dripped honey, barbeque pits, dirty skewers and charcoal all over the place. It definitely took a long time to get things cleaned. Then there were the decorations we had to take down. And bear in mind that the BBQ was held in the open, at night, and the few spotlights switched on did not do much to light the place up. We had to clean up in the dark. We couldn't really see the bits of charcoal on the brick-tiled floor, but we knew it was there, so we were practically sweeping around blindly, trying to get at as much pieces of charcoal as we can.

So while others went home at 10+pm, Ling and I only got home at 12pm. Unfair or not you say? Was half-dead by the time I got back home. I even had trouble keeping myself awake in the shower. I was already feeling dead beat for the past few days due to sleeping only at the wee hours of morning, and today capped it all of. Up to 14 hours in school. Ling and I were 2 out of the only 3 people who stayed back after the grooming course in the morning to do the preparations for the farewell BBQ.

We had to attend a grooming course in the morning, and it isn't often that LKT has two activities like these planned on the same day. After the course, only 3 people stayed back to do the preparations for the BBQ party. Ling, Alf and I. Then there was another guy who stayed, but he was more interested in the soccer match that was going on than helping us with the preparations.

So anyway, Alf and I helped Ling with the decorations, balloons and all. Then later when more people arrived, we started practising our sketch. Then the seniors arrived, that was when the BBQ commenced.

I'm digressing. What I'm trying to say is, it is totally unfair for Ling to do so much, and not get any recognition. All the credit went to Ivan and Michelle. I agree, they were busy throughout the week prior ro the BBQ party, but Ling sure wasn't laying idly around swinging her feet doing nothing. She was busy too. Busy with the small details that people do not really notice but still take a good amount of time to finish. Like the invitations (problems cropped up here, and she had to redo them), and the games that we didn't play in the end. And the decorations. People generally take these for granted. Oh well.

Vertically challenged - not a crime!

I'm probably not very tall. In fact, being only 5'3'', I guess I'm somewhat vertically challenged. My friends even call me Shorty. Shorty Lim. I've tried pointing out to them that I'm so not the shortest one in the group (what happened to Zihui huh?) but their excuse? That 'Shorty' suits me too well to be used on other people.

So I live with it. And they've been calling me that ever since. They even do it in large crowds. I could still remember sometime last year, we were on this sort of roller coaster ride in an amusement park. And instead of screaming the way other people do, they were going "Shorteeeeee! SHORTEEEE!!" Surprisingly, it wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it'd be.

I've probably gotten too used to that nickname that I don't realize it when they use it. So here's something which happened a week ago that I didn't notice until now.

Zihui and I were at Sunway Pyramid. The mall? Zihui's phone was at home. Her mom wanted to contact her. So she dialed my cellphone number. Guess what she called me? "Eh, Shorty arh, Zihui leh?" I wouldn't mind if my friends called me Shorty, but my friend's mom?! And I didn't even realize it until much, MUCH later.

Zihui had weird names for everybody on her phonebook. I was Shorty (that explains why her mom called me that). Ling was 'SaPo' (crazy woman). Funny ones were Jin ('Down Syndrome Kid') and Ivan ('Olay Spokesperson'). Then there were weird ones like 'Monkey' and 'MiaoMiao'.

It'll all be very amusing, until one day when she forgets who is who. Now that, I'd like to see!

Phone withdrawal symptoms?

I've gotten a few sms-es both last night and this morning. Guess people don't quite remember I don't have my phone with me anymore.

Three asked me to bring the portable cd player to school for practice.

Two asked if I was going for practice.

Another one, nah, petty stuff, not worth mentioning.

Grr. I had to sneak the Nokia 3310 out to check for smses. Yes, they gave me back my SIM card, but come to think of it, I should've asked for the batteries and memory card from them, too.

1. I don't want people messing with my phone.
2. That memory card could still be used, instead of being left lying idly there.

Looking on the brighter side, at least I know my phone bill for the upcoming month wouldn't be much. My bill for the past month was double of what it had been all along. That was a shock. I know I've been using it a little more than usual lately, but that much? It's probably because of me having to organize all that stuff, which meant there were a lot of calls to make. Especially the English Literature class we're about to have. Eeek, sometimes I wished people'd just hurry when on the phone. I wouldn't give two hoots if they were the ones paying for the call, but if they made ME call THEM, then the least they could do is SPEAK FASTER.

I don't have an alarm clock. For the past few years, I've been relying on the phone's alarm to wake me up in the morning.

Too bad, guess I'd just have to sleep right through school then.