the Zhang complex.

Step forward

2011-06-28T23:28:00.002+08:00

A month plus into my internship, it is evident that it is doing what it is supposed to doing to me. I am forced to re-examine the state of my life and the direction of my future. It is making me more thoughtful and pensive while pushing me to be more willing to take a daring step here and there.

So let's see what has happened so far:

1) My parents and sister support my decision to go on an AIESEC Exchange to Uganda.
2) I now have two best friends. One more than I thought I would have.
3) I'm booked for dinner for the next few days. Which is totally unexpected since I thought I'd be spending time at home all week long.
4) I have been working on my internship (with little success) and also as Member Committee Vice President of Alumni Engagement for AIESEC in Malaysia. It's really weird straddling both a day job and a part-time job at the same time.
5) I don't know what I will be doing after I graduate because everything is so confusing right now. Possibilities are endless and yet so maddening to have to choose.
6) Still no girlfriend in sight. The time will come?

Okay, maybe not so much a total examination but some things I've been pondering about.

Life's good. At least I am thinking about what's next.

Till another post, later days.

Click

2011-05-08T11:33:00.002+08:00

We 'click'.

There aren't too many people in this world that you can 'click' with. Once you find such people, you don't just let them go.

You just don't.

Till another post, later days.

1st, 2nd, 3rd

2011-05-05T23:53:00.002+08:00

Why did you choose GZ and not him? Why GZ at all?

Not exactly something you would ever want to hear about yourself. Having people wonder why you are chosen instead of other better liked people. If the world is truly run based on popularity votes, I will lose hands down.

I guess I am beginning to realise that I am always the second, third or even the last choice that I cannot imagine myself being someone's first choice. That is, first choice for anything. As a confidant, helper or even companion.

And that just renders me incapable of doing anything but wish I am the first choice. For now, always on the outside looking in eh?

Till another post, later days.

Can feel something?

2011-05-03T11:41:00.003+08:00

I know it may not be something you can think about or even relate but is it too hard to have people excited about the fact that I am planning to go to Africa?

Something a little bit more understanding than just ,"Oh hmmmm, right okay" or "It doesn't really matter which country really, Uganda or Kenya. Both sound the same to me".

Hello, I am potentially going off to the other side of the world alone and all you can say is "Hmmm, yeah"?

Thankyouverymuch for your concern. Really. Thank you.

Till another post, later days.

The Pooh quote

2011-05-01T11:07:00.002+08:00

In an interesting turn of events, someone actually said a variation of this to me,

“If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”

-Winnie the Pooh (surprisingly enough)

Awwwwwwww.

Did not expect it at all.

Till another post, later days.

Journal

2011-04-27T19:14:00.001+08:00

I really need a journal.

Or a worse memory.

Because remembering all the anger and pain is not helping.

I need to forget the bad stuff.

Till another post, later days.

Late nights

2011-04-23T05:37:00.000+08:00

Late as it is, with pop music blaring in the background and a multitude of knick-knacks strewn in front of me, there is that expectation of me to soldier on and continue my revision during this ungodly hour. I have been going through my notes ineffectively for the past four hours and I just might be at the point of indifference. Or perhaps it is just the ache on my arms from the lack of sleep that is bothering me. Perhaps it is both.

Across the table, I see an invitation being offered to someone and not me. I cannot help but feel the same old pain resurfacing despite my many attempts to hide it. Why him and not me? I have tried and worked at being ‘part of the gang’ and yet, you insist on excluding me. I am glad when I gain a modicum of acceptance but that is just how saddening that really is. Jumping at the slightest hint of salvation from the isolation like a newborn puppy or a neglected stepchild.

As the days pass by, I see myself being the outsider more often than not. No, this is not a cry for help from teenager seeking attention. It is merely an affirmation of my situation. A description of my inability to be one of the people. Just someone on the outside looking in. Does inclusion feel warm, like the blanket at 8 am in the morning and you have nowhere else to go for the rest of the day? Is it inviting like the grass to your toes after a shower? I really want to know.

There is also the possibility that I protest too much. Maybe I am accepted and am in someone’s inner circle.

I highly doubt that though. The ones I have chosen to stand by keep me utterly confused of my place in a position of utmost trust. I yearn for just that. To be told something that only I would know. Because I am that person to trust.

For now though, I do not know if it will ever happen.

Till another post, later days.

Who/what am I?

2011-04-19T14:16:00.002+08:00

Who/what am I?

I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come.

-Salman Rushdie.

Powerful stuff.

Till another post, later days.

Relax

2011-04-09T20:25:00.001+08:00

Finished with the second round of tests today. Loads of assignments waiting for submission. But that can wait. I'm relaxing for the night.

Till another post, later days.

Be 'halal'

2011-04-08T10:57:00.002+08:00

Having people I can just let go and be 'halal' with is what I hope for.

Being 'halal' as in there is no measurement of who did what for who. It's all 'halal'. There's no keeping score because there is no such necessity and there are too many things to bother counting.

That would be awesome.

Till another post, later days.

Old and new

2011-04-02T22:45:00.002+08:00

It's 10.45 pm and I'm sitting in my room going through my notes. I can't believe how much time has passed since that day when I was woken up at 3 am and every thing changed. Looking back, I was young and naive. Today, though, I feel old and young at the same time. Old as in suddenly having the experiences weigh down on me and all that baggage is kept within my very soul. Young as in finally being close to the pseudo freedom I so yearned for several years ago. The very notion that I may actually be released soon terrifies me because suddenly, things are becoming more real. More though provoking.

I have been spending a lot of time talking to people these days. Much more than I used to be comfortable doing. And many of the conversations involve me being the knowledgeable one. Where is my mentor, I find myself asking. I need someone to guide me the same way I am paving the way for others. I cannot continue being the floater that I know I am. I need to take root. To have a firm grasp on something to look forward to. But I do not know what.

One thing worth being happy over is the realisation that I am making an effort. An effort to being truly happy. The constant fear of being the creepy old man who lives in the apartment full of cats is truly something to behold. At least, now, I am pushing myself to make myself grow to be more mature in handling friendships and relationships. The boundaries are still a tad fuzzy but I am getting there.

To all but one, this will make no sense: Thank you for the helmet. It means a lot.

Till another post, later days.

No present necessary

2011-02-23T10:20:00.002+08:00

Someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday. Yes, my 23rd birthday which passed nearly a month ago.

I rambled some things about how I didn't expect anything. And I still don't.

But I really, really wished for that person, and many others, to just call me their good/best friend.

That was it.

No presents necessary.

Till another post, later days.

Long time I didn't post eh?

2011-02-06T20:33:00.002+08:00

兄弟

That's what I was reminded of several days ago. And the thing is, it was during a movie. The Green Hornet starring Jay Chou (let's not talk about the obnoxious Caucasian lead shall we?).

Hearing the word 兄弟 being said out loud and having Kato call another person his brother, however ridiculous he was, was simply heartwarming. It got me thinking about other people and their relationship with people they willingly accept in their lives. So willing, in fact, to the point of having them as their brother/sister. The brother/sister term being 兄弟/姐妹.

I reflected upon my own decision to admit only certain people into my life and the rest being kept at arm's length. At the moment, it felt silly, not letting people in easily. That particular moment had me thinking about my life and whether I would actually have way more friends if I just opened up. I might even have more than one 兄弟. Even the current 兄弟 is cool about the whole friendship. We hardly talk and he rarely shares anything with me. Of course, I do have reasons for having him as my 兄弟.

And that brings me to my realisation. People stay for a reason. Those who do are worth my time.

What I did with my birthday notification for a certain website was proof enough. When the day came, I got wishes from people. Not as many as the previous year but it was enough. I got what I wanted.

So here's what I think now:

I may or may not have more 兄弟姐妹 in the future but I know when I do, they'll stay.

Till another post, later days.

Half

2010-11-24T23:00:00.002+08:00

I came back home between my papers

But! I studied okay.In fact, during the day, my bed looked like this.Half the bed is commandeered by .....stuff.

And by my bed, I mean the sister's bed.

I crashed in her room. Hehe.

Till another post, later days.

Whoopee!

2010-11-23T21:29:00.001+08:00

Behold world!

I have come to a conclusion of some sort.

Whoopee!

Till another post, later days.

Rational?

2010-11-09T21:42:00.003+08:00

I know you may think I am too emotionally dead to care about what you say about me.

I do care.

It hurts.

More than you can imagine.

But I will never tell you that.

Till another post, later days.

Passion

2010-11-03T20:48:00.002+08:00

Everyone is getting pumped up and inspired lately.

Instead of being fired up myself, all I can think of is

Where's my passion? Did it go somewhere? Or am I just not getting it?

Till another post, later days.

Over the shoulders

2010-10-23T23:26:00.003+08:00

Having people putting their hands over the shoulders and being best buds.

The ones I want to do so will never do it.

And the ones who want to do it to me..

I'll finish the sentence when I finally find such people.

Till another post, later days.

Frank

2010-10-16T08:29:00.001+08:00

I honestly don't know what to do.

Till another post, later days.

Circuit insanity

2010-09-30T22:21:00.003+08:00

Lecturer gives assignment with minimal instructions and vague ideas. Because it's so 'easy'.

10 days and plenty of online articles on circuits later, I'm pretty sure that man was screwing with us.

Till another post, later days.

Wooden Mannequin

2010-09-18T22:53:00.003+08:00

Till another post, later days.

Ipoh!

2010-09-17T23:39:00.007+08:00

I think I owe this blog some cheer and merriment. No, I will not be talking about Christmas. I am, however, talking about the Ipoh trip I recently went on with a bunch of friends. I only heard about it a week before and just invited myself along for the ride. Then a few more came in and in the end, there were 17 of us in this food hunt around Ipoh.

We went around to all the usual tourist spots like Kellie's Castle which I was there two years back.

But this time around, I didn't focus on the buildings or the scenery.

Instead, I focused on my travel companions and took pictures of them.

It was fun having these people along for the ride.

Even if one or two were busy doing the accursed thing (work!) some of the time.

And well, focusing on taking shots of people allowed to take better pictures of people.

I had been so afraid of approaching people and taking their pictures before this. It was this barrier that held me back from moving on to being a better photographer. I could not dare asking people for the permission to take pictures of them.

Funnily enough, I learned that if I just kept snapping, everything would be alright.

In fact, being a fly on the wall was easier than I thought.

Of course, what is an Ipoh trip without the food?

The desserts above were snapped up at 1am just because we felt like eating iced desserts.

In fact, for the entire 3 days, our mouths and stomachs barely rested.

By the time I got back home, all I could think of was 'Eno. Now'.

Till another post, later days.

Drama!

2010-09-15T20:25:00.002+08:00

I had been planning to write about my Ipoh trip but I think it can wait for a little bit. You see, I watched something very interesting today. It was Moonlight Resonance, a TVB cantonese drama.

I found it fascinating because the characters in there were absolutely so DRAMATIC. It's not your usual she-hit-me-so-I-hit-her-back kind of conflict. Instead, there was this husband and wife who were arguing on whether the husband still loved his ex-wife. The man insisted that he didn't and he only missed his kids and wanted to do them right. The wife, mad with jealousy, claimed the man wanted to give him all his fortune just because the aforementioned woman was his first wife. The man then countered that he absolutely does not care for his ex-wife and the only woman he would ever love was his current wife, that is her. The woman refused to believe him and stormed off into the background.

Does it make your head spin how silly the conflict seems? I don't know about you guys but for me, it feels like the people around me behave the same way. Perhaps it is because I am no longer the one who is executing everything but lately, I have been able to observe more as an outsider to the whole charade.

Is it because people watch so much of these shows that they feel that their lives lack the suspense and action that is ever so present in the lives of these troubled characters? True, the issues are exaggerations but like every joke, there's always a smidgen of truth in them. The fundamentals are still the same. The lack of trust between individuals, communication (maybe there are but severely horrible ones anyway) and the personalities of the individuals that contribute to the deepening of the misunderstanding.

It's so formulaic that it is laughable. Perhaps some are unavoidable but the ones you can avoid, why not right?

Who am I to say anything actually? Whenever I come across such situations, I try to cut across the drama and nip the issue in the bud but alas, it doesn't get appreciated either. So what do I propose?

If their world wants to go up in flames, let them. No point getting all heated up for no bugger of a reason, innit?

Till another post, later days.

It's new!

2010-09-05T15:43:00.003+08:00

Oh yes.

I have finally done it.After 5 years of the same spectacles!

With yellowing lenses and peeling silicon legs,I now have got new spectacles! YES!

Clear vision!

Man, I was so afraid of my optician scolding me for not having changed it earlier but hey, he didn't. Heh.

Till another post, later days.

#iheartMalaysia

2010-08-31T00:03:00.003+08:00

I guess this is one of those posts that only come about because of the season.

Yeap. Merdeka season.

Not a very big deal in my book, I'd say. I am not saying that I am not grateful for this country having achieved independence 53 years ago but it is really difficult to feel anything less than ambiguous for a country that is so divided in opinion. We made big strides back in the day when Tunku Abdul Rahman yelled Merdeka three times and declared that we were under the rule of others no more. We were all working together to bring about a nation that soon became a pioneer for ASEAN, had a football team that were feared and legendary and even became a model of peace for multiracial countries everywhere. Our economy was on par with many Asian countries.

Today? The politicians are fighting amongst themselves instead of doing what they were meant to do in the first place; serving the people who elected them. The brain drain is so severe that the government had considered using a myriad of ways to woo people back to the country but to no avail. The Prime Minister came up with a motion to unite the people but it has but become a mere hollow slogan that is close to a joke.

The country is supposed to be rid of racism in all mediums or so say the ministers and yet, a certain newspaper constantly spews racist columns in the national language. Having a top minister state that he is 'Malay first, Malaysian second' without anyone to remind him that such statements go against the very concept of 1Malaysia just saddens me.

How am I supposed to feel for this country? I can't say I love it very much.

But I will never say that I hate it either.

Why?

Because I know that every country in the world is not perfect. Seek perfection if you will but you are never likely to find it.

I had this conversation with my roommate where he told me he wanted to migrate as soon as possible and asked me whether I would do the same. I apparently surprised him when I said no. My reasoning is that no matter where I go, I will still be treated like a second class citizen. It's just a matter of geography. The only difference is that in Malaysia, I am one of many whereas anywhere else, I am one of few.

Time and time again, I have heard of people saying that 'this must change and this person must go away'. Well, I don't disagree but here's the thing: have you registered as a voter?

That is the thing I cannot tolerate when it comes to people. They are so puffed up with how they feel the country should be run but did not even bother to register as a voter. Come on, what is the use of all that bluster when you did not take the effort of making your voice heard? Shout all you want about removal of policies but if you have not registered, you are no more than the wind howling at the mountains: all hot air with no hope of changing anything.

Perhaps one of the reasons why I am not all bitter like many of my peers is that I am still hopeful. I still reserve a little bit of optimism for this land I call home. True, each day you can find examples of there being disunity and there being racial markings but I attribute that to ignorance.

#iheartMalaysia because despite its flaws, I think Malaysia will be great one day.

That is what I believe.

Till another post, later days.

Different

2010-08-24T20:03:00.002+08:00

"I've never met a girl who thinks like you."
"A lot of people tell me that," she said, digging at a cuticle.
"But it's the only way I know how to think. Seriously. I'm just telling you what I believe. It's never crossed my mind that my way of thinking is different from other people's. I'm not trying to be different. But when I speak out honestly, everyone thinks I am kidding or play-acting."

-Norwegian Wood, Haruki Murakami

Till another post, later days.

Free fall anyone?

2010-08-22T23:33:00.002+08:00

I still haven't found it to be my safety net.

And that makes me feel like a giant ass.

Till another post, later days.

Grown ups

2010-08-17T23:44:00.001+08:00

When?

2010-08-16T23:56:00.002+08:00

People tire me.

You want me to give my opinions and I give them.

You tell me that I am too strict and I need to be nice.

You tell me to be tolerant of this and that.

Why is it always you guys? Have you ever asked what I wanted?

When is my turn?

Sometimes, I don't remember why I am doing what I am doing.

Till another post, later days.

Layered question

2010-08-15T10:43:00.002+08:00

"Do you have a best friend?"
"Yes"
"Oh, okay. Is it *insert name here*?"
"No"
"Then how many do you have?"
"One"
"Must be someone who knows your character very well and accepts you then"

Is it that difficult to believe that I actually have a best friend?

Till another post, later days.

Gym

2010-08-14T17:27:00.001+08:00

"I love this month!"
"Why?"
"Since many will be fasting, the gym will not be as congested!"
"But it's not like you go to the gym often anyways"

Sigh.

Till another post, later days.

The more you realise

2010-08-13T15:56:00.002+08:00

If you asked me whether I would have known such a thing would happen, I can definitely tell you no. I don't know quite what to say in face of such a predicament. Not yet or maybe not anymore. I'm quite flummoxed, to be frank.

It's not that I go out to attract trouble but drama and me, we seem to be destined to meet from time to time. I've cringed and I've swerved left and right trying to avoid talking about this part of my life where all I seem to ever do is face problems. Successes come far and few in between but yeah, they are sweet whenever they are around. Got to savour the moments, right?

It is impossible for me to articulate whatever I am facing and not make things sound good because they just aren't. It is like telling someone that the house next door is, indeed, not haunted even with the black aura, remarkably black doors, screams as alarms and the lightning flashes in the background. It is glaringly obvious that there are issues but only if you are asking me. The rest of the people living in this world seem to see things with fluffy bunnies in every corner and rays of sunshine bursting through each window.

To me, that is even scarier than the ghost house.

And try as I might, I just can't seem to win. Whether I am straddling the tight ropes of maintaining a semblance of balance or running off to a side just to take a breather, I can't seem to catch a break. It's like the phone never stops ringing and the people never stop staring. A break down seems imminent especially now that I am becoming more and more aware how alone all this feels.

The older I get, the more difficult I realise it is to be trustful of people. It's like the set of people from before remain to be the only ones I can trust to not turn. I try to let people in but somehow, I just can't let go. Would you? I don't know whether I have gone through much but every time I try to be less of whatever it is that I don't want to be, I am brought back to the same gate when we were betrayed. The same pain that I saw on her face. I just can't do it. I don't want to.

Why do I do this to myself?

Till another post, later days.

Waiting for the flames.

2010-08-11T10:57:00.002+08:00

I'm wondering right now whether I will ever be considered.

I try and try, I seriously do.

But what happens?

I'm still not there.

Frankly, I think if the world goes up in flames, people will think I had a hand in it.

And by then, I don't suppose I can care anymore.

I'm just done.

Till another post, later days.

PS: Content management is being done due to the fact that I am no longer free to express any thoughts of my own for the same reasons above. Want to know more? You know where to find me.

Back a step will ya?

2010-08-02T00:05:00.003+08:00

I think I need to get some breath of fresh air. Just leave everything behind and just breathe.

And a lot of perspective thinking. To just not think the way I am thinking right now. It's astounding how long it took me to ask all the important questions. I was so caught up with doing that it didn't occur to me to ask why I am doing it in the first place.

Truly, talking to the MBF really helped me unload the stuff off my chest. But sometimes I wonder if I am doing all these things for the right reason. I complain, complain and complain. Yes, I like doing certain things but a whole lot annoy the crappers off me.

I need to take a step back.

Till another post, later days.

Off

2010-07-29T01:42:00.002+08:00

I'm sorry I am unable to make you guys feel comfortable.

Till another post, later days.

ROAR

2010-07-28T15:24:00.002+08:00

Never ever disturb me when I am writing the accursed lab reports.

These things piss me off to my very core and any unsolicited disturbance is greeted with a growl.

And probably a snapping of the head.

Usually it'll be yours.

Till another post, later days.

Wonder

2010-07-24T01:22:00.002+08:00

It's a very subjective matter to be sitting in front of the computer and expecting to be productive. I've been so caught up with being this efficient machine that at one point in time I forgot what it meant to actually have my shoulders relaxed when facing the screen.

With half of my university days behind me, I am somewhat dazed as realization has yet to hit me. From time to time, I find myself still surprised that I have made it this far by ambling along. True, my lifestyle is hardly a slow one but to me, that's my life.

So here's a little confession. I still don't feel like I've been around in UTM for 2 years already. It still feels fresh, all that discovery and wonder. It's not to say that I would go oooh and ahhhh over every little aspect of this place but I'm still finding things which amaze me.

As I move onwards, I find myself jumping over vast pools of uncertainty merely because I lack the sensitivity to ponder about the gravity of the situation. However, there are more abstract notions that I have yet to master but have begun to understand. Somehow, being in this state is not that bad.

Many things still confuse me and I am unafraid to say that I may not grasp them any time soon. Nevertheless, as I try to find out whatever it is that will pull my heartstrings, I am sure I will learn soon enough.

Till another post, later days.

Oh shut up.

2010-07-23T23:17:00.002+08:00

What is it about people that stops them from telling you exactly how they feel?

I got to find out that someone I work with was unhappy with the way I was doing things. Well, that is what I'd think is happening since there was this post on the ever so popular social networking site which was more or less describing what I should have done.

Yes, yes. I suck as your leader.

Whatever.

Sometimes I wonder if the new me is all that great. It's beginning to get really tiresome having to be all that people expect me to be.

Is it so hard for you guys to lay off? I mean, you're not perfect and don't you dare presume me to be.

Till another post, later days.

Greener grass

2010-07-21T00:31:00.002+08:00

Week 2 of being in Year 3 and it seems like I'll be doing a whole lot more reading compared to my first two years. Which is a nice change from all that mind boggling counting.

I didn't really plan to type a blog post but somehow, it's pretty much nice timing since I didn't blog in a week as it is.

Frankly speaking, I kind of wish for a normal university life. It's not that the life I am living right now is horrible or anything. Heck, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Instead, this is yearning for something that I can't/won't have. It's like wanting to hang with the cool kids in school only to not even last an hour with them because they are that repulsive. You wish to be able to experience it since it looks so enticing as an outsider looking in but once you do, you freak out because it's not all it is cracked up to be.

So, yeah. Even as I type this right now, I am waiting for a friend in Taiwan to finish up his work so that I can talk to him.

Heh. Sometimes, I can't believe the things I get to do.

Nevertheless, whenever I look over to my friends and see them being so carefree, there's that tinge of wonder. Wonder if I was ever like them. If I ever was, I can't remember anymore.

Being anonymous is no longer a status I care to have. It's all about the achievements, y'all.

Till another post, later days.

Faith

2010-07-15T21:34:00.003+08:00

Yesterday was my first official presentation as the president.

It felt like everything would come crashing down with one fell swoop and that it was going to be a success at the same time. The uncertainty was almost excruciating.

I felt such pressure to perform that I didn't realise how ridiculous I looked wearing shorts, a collared tee with my black shoes. Believe me, it was quite a sight.

As I stood in front of everyone, I could feel the audience waiting for something amazing. I really hoped that I delivered. Or at least did not disappoint.

As we got along with the night, I saw things that I was really proud of. As those who sat beside me presented their sessions, I confirmed what I believed months ago.

I think things will be fine. I just have to have faith.

Till another post, later days.

Back in the land of nothingness.

2010-07-08T23:24:00.002+08:00

The odd part about being in UTM a week before the new semester starts is that I can't feel like the semester is starting.

On the other hand, meeting the first years for member recruitment has indeed been quite the experience. No longer being on the 'young' side of my four year course, I'm now considered old and senior. Or at least, I feel it to be so.

Except for the fact that senior sometimes means outdated by a tad. Heh.

It's just weird. I miss being in KL but somehow, being in UTM doesn't make me feel all that horrible anymore.

Perhaps it's because I have finally found something I can fit into.

Or maybe it's because the new semester hasn't started.

And MBF, please do reply the messages. It's quite a pain in the tuckus when you don't.

Till another post, later days.

Who calls now?

2010-07-04T00:49:00.002+08:00

Hi!

I am done being an obligation.

Let's see what comes next.

Till another post, later days.

Vienna

2010-07-01T23:17:00.002+08:00

Last country! *phew*

This time, it's Austria. Vienna, to be more precise.

And one of the main attractions is the Schonbrunn palace.

What's so special about this palace is that it is one of the many palaces of the Habsburg.

What's so special of the Habsburg?

They had this one queen whose name was Maria Theresa. She led an empire that covered most of Europe and just like how World War 2 affected most of the continent, her rule and lineage had its influence over most of everything.

She was a mother, a queen, a tactician, war general and a wife.

Wondering why I am talking about her?

The whole palace was built for her family and the best feature of it is that it is perfectly symmetrical. I would show it to you here but then I am using the Mac and I am still not used to handling the wireless mouse and it's beginning to piss me off, frankly.

There isn't really much for me to say here other than the fact that Vienna is famous for the arts and music.

One of the most famous musicians, Mozart, came from Vienna.

Anything else,

I can't really capture on film.

But like all other European cities, the sculptures there are amazing.

And the details!

It's really something to see all the details on all the art around town. It shows the amount of work they had put into it.

And finally, with the Europe posts done,

It's time to move along

Till another post, later days.

Sepak.

2010-07-01T01:24:00.001+08:00

I need to talk to the best friend.

Except that it is about the one thing the best friend wouldn't comprehend.

Should I be afraid?

Till another post, later days.

Hungary

2010-06-19T22:14:00.003+08:00

Second last stop

Hungary!

Or more precisely, Budapest!

Upon our arrival in Budapest, it was already 5pm and so, we left our stuff at the hotel and

had a Hungarian dinner!

Andddd, we even had Gypsies to to perform during the dinner.

I must say, they are good with musical instruments. Though they were very insistent on tips. Heh.

At that point in time, I was more interested in the dessert than their playing.

Mmmmm. Chocolate. Goooood.

On the next day, we went to the Heroes Square

which I first saw on the Amazing Race!

It was pretty cool, what with the statues and inscriptions.

On one side, there are figures of the past kings and the other, past generals.

This shot reminds me of the Beatles walk down Wyndham Lane.

Next, we moved to St. Stephen's Basilica

And when i went inside, it astounded me.

And this is an amazing painting.

When you stand on the left, the image of Jesus Christ looks angled to 45 degrees. However, as you move to the right, the image starts to look like it's moving with you and the angle becomes non-existent.

Lastly, we went over to the Fisherman's Bastion where we got this view =)

Till another post, later days.

2010-06-17T10:58:00.003+08:00

This is a short post.

Mainly because i was only in this country for a short amount of time.

Short as in 3 hours. Yes, ain't a lot.

It's Slovakia!

Located right beside Czech Republic, it was a pit stop for us. For lunch.

And throughout the drive, we got to see vast expenses of fields and mountains and trees and quaint houses and.....well, you get the idea.

One thing I liked about this stop was the difference in food we were having. You see, because this tour provided us with city guides, they weren't really all that creative with local cuisine. Instead, we ate chinese food half the time.

So imagine how nice it was to have authentic Slovakian food.

This is the cheese platter with a bread spread.

And some soup with a name I can't remember.

Wanna know why?

Because the menu was totally in their local language (Slovak?).

But we did manage to order deer meat.

And fish!

Which I must say, was not bad. Not bad at alllll.

And that was our stop.

Told you it will be short.

Doesn't this scene make you feel like singing 'the hills are aliveeeee, with the sound of musicccccc'?

Till another post, later days.

Polska

2010-06-04T20:14:00.005+08:00

Polska pierochekovi!

That's a chant taught to me by a Polish friend. What does it mean? No idea. I don't even know what the spelling is even.

Yeap, you guessed it. On to Poland!

And the thing is, I seem to have much better pictures of the flowers here.

Behold the almighty pollen attack!

Now, our first stop in Poland was Auschwitz. For those who don't know what Auscwitz is all about, do google it up. It's extremely significant in Europe.

Anyway, here's a brief background. Back in the days of WW2, Hitler prosecuted Jews for being Jews. One of the things he did to them is relocate them from all parts of Europe to concentration camps and treated them like slaves under deplorable conditions.

The biggest concentration camp in all of Europe lies in Auschwitz Birkenau.

Built initially to house political prisoners, the concentration camps expanded as more and more Jews were sent there.

A cruel sentence that mocks the prisoners :Work will bring you freedom. Most of them never made it out alive.

The life expectancy of the prisoners were approximately 3 months upon entering the camps because they were only provided gruel with little nutrition and bread for food every day.

Every day, the prisoners were sent to hard labour and as they are already malnourished in the first place, it was not uncommon for some of them to die during the work shifts.

And as their numbers are counted in the mornings, should their numbers lessen in the evening, everyone in the group was punished. As a result, they had to carry bodies of their dead back with them.

This is the execution wall where they executed the political prisoners.

Particularly the Polish prisoners.

What struck me from the trip there is that the thing the prisoners of the camp couldn't handle the most was not the deprivation of comfort but the humiliation. The survivors would not talk about what they went through back then because reliving it is still too much for them.

Below is the railway track where the trains carrying people from all over Europe rode on. Upon arrival, the men were separated from the women and children.

Once separated, everyone was to strip off all their clothing for a fitness check.

After the check, they were told to take a bath. Having travelled thousands of miles in a cramped train, the new detainees were more than happy to comply. However, that was far from the truth.

The women and children (under 14) were always the first to go into the 'bathroom' like the one below.

Once all the women and children are all inside the chamber, the guards drop heat activated poison into the chamber, poisoning all of them to death within 5 minutes. The gas chamber is left alone for 30 minutes to ensure that everyone is dead.

What is horrible about this whole thing is that the Jews expected slavery and all the horrible treatment but nobody expected the gas chambers. Also, this particular gas chamber was located right beside the men barracks where the newly arrived men would instantly know of the fate of their loved ones once the gas chamber's doors were closed.

I would go on listing down the atrocities but it's really something you need to see for yourself.

Moving on!

Wieliczka salt mine!

This is one cool salt mine. Literally.

It is 165 metres underground

And it's looooong and huge!

The coolest part was that the sculptures inside the mines were totally sculpted by the miners themselves and not by artists.

And the sculptures are totally made out of salt!

And, the greatest achievement in the mine was this

an entire hall carved out of salt. Yeap, you read correctly. The floor? Salt. The statues? Salt. And even this

Pure crystallized salt.

Amazing.

That's it from Poland!

Till another post, later days.

Česká republika

2010-06-01T19:08:00.005+08:00

The second stop, Praha! Or the more popular name, Prague!

Honestly, this place is beautiful!

Our first stop was St. Vius Cathedral.

Let me tell you, the whole having your breath taken away concept was alien to me.

Until I saw the inside of this cathedral, that is.

Seriously. Breathlessness ensues.

The thing about this cathedral is that the first king who ordered its building got himself buried in the middle of the entire hall.

Then we moved on to one of the bridges over the Vltava River

Where there were many statues along the bridge.

But what caught my eye was this.

According to local belief, if you can put all 5 fingers on the 5 stars properly, you'll be blessed with good luck.

In the afternoon, we had free time to walk around.

And for lunch, we had this

Huge eh? This whole chunk of pork (leg?) had so much on it that even with the 4 of us we couldn't finish it.

And that's saying something since we only had two other things.

This soup.

And this platter that had duck, beef and chicken all in one.

In the evening, we had a cruise dinner. Nothing much to note except for this

Aperitifs. Really clears the gullet and makes you hungry.

After dinner, we walked back to the bus and on our way,

Swans appeared!

Also, I was a bit tired of walking then and snapped a random shot of the road.

And it turned out well.

Not too bad for random shots.

Really, I have more shots than this but I think Prague is something you have to experience it yourself.

Till another post, later days.

Deustcheland

2010-05-16T16:44:00.004+08:00

If you didn't already find out, I was off to Europe for two weeks. It was fun, exciting, exhausting (in ways more than one), somewhat thrilling and most of all, surreal.

Having grown up with a mix of modern Asian and Western cultures exposure, it was hard not to feel like I was finally able to see another side of the world. The side where people refer to when they are talking about being technologically advanced, the part of the continent that holds a certain mystery by being grouped together in this untouchable collection and each speaks a language alien to my own.

It was being able to see, for the very first time what life was like outside the Asian influence. And this is the part of the world where TV doesn't go as often what with America being the staple we've grown up with.

So guess which country this is? Without looking at the post title, that is.

Don't mind the grey background. The weather in Europe was like that most of the time.

Now, I would like to warn you that I am inclined to post many, many pictures up due to the fact that I had taken TONS of pics and I do not believe in uploading them all on Facebook due to several reasons that I will not disclose now.

Enjoy.

In Germany, we stopped at Berlin after a 5 hour layover in Doha (never do that if possible. Boring. Period)

Berlin Tower

And we arrived in the evening at 7pm. Straightaway, the entire tour group (yes, we followed a tour) was whisked off to dinner. And we got to taste the local beer!

The thing about the tour is that along with a tour leader, we had a city tour guide for each city we went to.

For Germany, we had Christina.

First stop, places along the Berlin wall

We then moved around the city and guess what I saw

Yeap. A Benz dealership. Cars are freakin' cheap there alright!

We moved on this memorial for the Jews murdered during the Holocaust

Okay, I couldn't resist myself.

The one thing I noticed about the birds over there is that they had a fur coat of their very own to brace the cold!

A simple crow(raven?) becomes a grey backed fowl! Yes, I got a bit ulu with this.

We then moved on to the Bundestag which is Germany's parliament.

There, we moved up to the rooftop of the Bundestag where there is a glass dome built which was built after a fire razed the initial dome roof.

Imagine going all the way up to the top when it was so cold. It was open air.

The good thing about it was that they gave out narrator devices to each visitor which are activated by sensors as we moved along the pathway up to the top.

The next day, we went to Dresden where we saw castles! Churches!

There was the Zwinger castle

There was also the Fraulein Church aka the Church of the Virgin Mary

The funny thing about the Fraulein Church was that they built a statue to Martin Luther in front of it. A Christian in the group said it was sacrilegious. Go figure.

This is more or less my trip on Germany. Mainly because we spent only 2 days there. And I lost AL my pics that I took of a certain place which was not included in the tour but we took a detour. FML.

Oh well. Cheers.

Till another post, later days.

Rest of the conference

2010-04-27T23:09:00.002+08:00

Okay, I don't think uploading all the pictures here makes easy reading.

That and I cannot do any more backlogged posts AAARGH

So here we go, the conference days of Taiwan!

APXLDS!

Getting pearl tea in one of our night time strolls around the city

Charmy of Thailand

And my name in Thai

Malaysian Night Party! In 7-11 =.=

Big on lunch boxes, they are.

Swiney(the pig) and Aniel of Australia. Why does the pig have a mask? The Ozzies thought it would be fun to poke at swine flu and got the toy pig as their mascot.

The beach party after a day of sessions.

The organisers held a night market for us.

And they had fireworks thanks to the city!

Gala dinner

And the Malaysian gang

And thus ends the conference portion of the Taiwan trip. Phew!

Till another post, later days.

Global Village

2010-04-16T18:05:00.000+08:00

Okay, I realised that as you study, hunger pangs become really obvious. And annoying.

____________________________________________________________________

Thing about the conference was that we arrived Taiwan a day earlier and stayed the night near the hotel.

Come the day itself, the four of us, not having met up with the rest of the Malaysian delegation, made a move for Kaoshiung's very own 85 Sky Tower.

This is the place we stayed at for the entirety of the week.*drools*

So what did we do for the first day?

Watch some Hong Kong fellas talk?

Not precisely. We had Global Village!

What is Global Village? It is a fair where all the representatives from different countries prepared things from their respective countries and showcased them to the locals/visitors. And turns out, for this particular GV, there was a whole bunch of high school kids there.

And we gave them a taste of Malaysian dodol. One guy didn't like durian so much that he didn't even dare swallow until his girlfriend ordered him to!

Other than Malaysia's, we had

Taiwan!

where they sported some gangster-ish tattoo to commemorate this Taiwanese gangster movie which was pretty popular at the time. Heh. Go figure.

There was also Hong Kong! Meet Vivian. She came over to Malaysia, UTM specifically last year under the AIESEC exchange program and we met again in a different country.Cool leh..

There's Poland! Marta, the lady in the red tee, brought a whole bunch of chocolates and sweets from poland that I couldn't stop eating it even though I was developing a sore throat.

Cambodia!

Japan! This guy had people call him Sushi becausehe said that most non Japanese don't remember Japanese names so everyone should just call him Sushi.

Russia! Hmmm. I got a coin from this stall but I can't rememember for the life of me where I placed it. Bugger.

Oh, right. We also had to perform a short performance to showcase Malaysia. Needless to say, it was quite the disaster.

And before you guys start telling me this:Yes, I know the batik doesn't suit me.Felt very Datuk-ish the entire time but actually, it was quite cooling to wear it especially with the Taiwan weather at 21 degrees and all.

And thus this was day 2.

Till another post, later days.

Duck's what?!

2010-04-09T17:50:00.000+08:00

So, here goes my post on my trip to Taiwan two weeks ago.

Whoa, it just struck me that I was travelling here and there merely 2 weeks ago!

Yes, syok sendiri moment is over.

Anyway, if you guys don't know yet, AIESEC is everywhere around the world (107 countries!). So, without much of a clear idea of where to head except to Kaoshiung where the conference will be held on the 21st, we had nothing planned for the 20th, our arrival date at Taipei.

And since AIESEC is everywhere, so are AIESECers. We met up with a Sri Lankan dude, Aravinda, who is from AIESEC in Singapore and he had plans to go about Taipei wit his friend, Jing Bing.

And so our adventure began. With a tour guide to boot!

We wanted to go to ShinLin night market. To do that,

we had to deposit our luggage bags in the Taipei station. It was so cool. Their storage systems were fully automated and LARGE.

Once we left our heavy luggages behind, off to the night market we went!

Where I had one of the ickiest eating experience of my life (so far)

No, not this. This is o chien. It is similar to the ones in Penang but with a lot more sauce and not as much oyster. I'd take Penang o chien any day.

What was icky? Well, turns out that the Taiwanese love eating this gelatinous tofu-like thing and they plonked one onto my plate, with expectant eyes.

I asked what it was and they merely said ,"Eat! It's nice. You eat meat right? This is no problem for you!"

So I took a bite. It was.....gelatinous. What more can I say? There wasn't much taste to it but after taking the first bite, something at the back of my head started screaming 'BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!!!'. And lo and behold, turns out that I ate duck's blood for the first time.

That harrowing experience aside, we really had a good dinner, whatwith bak kut teh, fish and vegetables ala Taiwan.

After dinner, we went to get some pearl drinks. And that's when I saw this.

Looks fake right? It's real!

These are white bitter gourds and apparently, they are no longer bitter because they are so gigantic. And they make drinks out of them. I bought one for NT $50 and it wasn't that bad actually.

Moving on, we went to the ShinLin night market where we ate gigantic Taiwanese sausages (the ones in Malaysia are NOTHING), salted fried chicken etc.

It was great

I mean, with friends (new and old) in a foreign country. Exploring and food hunting.

And then chlling on the footsteps of some random building, eating even more.

What more can you wish for?

It was awesome. And this was just day number one.

Till another post, later days.

Parting calls.

2010-04-05T16:13:00.003+08:00

As I sat on the floor with my new team, my current teammates lined up in front of us and did a bow.

At that moment, I felt a tad awkward. I was not with them and instead, I was with a bunch of people with whom my relationship is cordial at best.

One by one, my current teammates, my friends, said their piece. They gave advice and words of encouragement based on their experience as an Executive Board member for a year now. Again, I felt slightly shaken as I knew exactly what they were talking about, having gone through those things alongside them.

It hit me that they would not be taking the next step with me. Instead, I will be the one to lead the new team. It was surreal.

One spoke about regrets.

One spoke about enjoyment.

One spoke about how we became actual friends.

One spoke about working at it to build good relationships.

As they told us their words, they referred to the three of us who will be staying as part of the next generation.

At last, he came up. He was being his jovial self but it was obvious that even he was affected by what was yet to come. He spoke about how all of us in the current team had extreme personalities and yet, somehow, we managed to be close. To be a team. To be friends.

I wanted to say so many things but just couldn't find the words to do so.

I knew that I have to move on. It was inevitable from the day I was selected.

But it just started hitting home.

Now that we are nearing the end, for some of us anyway, we have to slowly hand over our responsibilities to our successors and take a step back.

For me, I have to hold on to my strengths and be that which I promised to be. I will be strong enough to lead those working with me.

But for my teammates, thank you.

Each and every one of you changed me to become who I am today.

As each of us made our peace with the situation at our own pace, I realised that you guys taught me more than I realised. It was not apparent until it was pointed out to me. And even then, I am still trying to understand the changes I have gone through.

It has indeed been an experience.

I am glad I made that leap one year ago.

And I am glad I made another leap this year.

It is time for me to do some good.

Thank you all.

Till another psot, later days.

Mental health chek up.

2010-04-04T18:50:00.000+08:00

I am beginning to wonder how people handle the separation between work and play.

Or more precisely, how to separate their professional personas from their life in casual clothes.

I want to be able to be a goofball.

But then, whenever I do, it's like the whole world thinks I am either drunk or fever-ish.

Because it's not normal. For me anyways. It's like the la chupacabra dong the hokey pokey instead of eating villagers in Mexico or something.

Well, hello dear world, I do need time for myself. I need to be able to relax and let go and not have people wonder about my mental health.

Where's the best friend when you need him?

Till another post, later days.

Love, lie, live.

2010-04-02T01:05:00.000+08:00

I am back from Taiwan!

Was there for an AIESEC conference in Kaoshiung.

Oh the stories I can tell you! But really, I am very tired right now as I fell sick on the first day (FIRST DAY I tell youuuuuu!) of the conference and have yet to recover. Cough and cold weather? Not a good mix.

It was great meeting people from different parts of the world and hearing what they have to bring to the table.

However, the best part of the whole thing was making new friends and having these newfound friends bring us around the place. As we went around, I got to learn about them and somehow, our stories are so different and yet tinged wth similarities.

There's just so much hope and passion in the eyes of these friends from around the world that you can't help but feel connected to them somehow. Even if you just met him/her 35 minutes ago.

People may not understand what you are doing at times but for that brief 10 days, people around you get it. No skepticism, no sarcasm and definitely no self righteousness disguised as concern.

It was mainly about getting together, planning and learning from one another. It was nice.

However, back into Malaysia, I am swamped by tests I postponed and assignments I put off. Been ack in UTM for 3 days now. Have been working non stop for that same anount of days.

And so, with April Fool's day, I played a prank on people to get some laughs for myself. Which one? Oh you know, the typical change of Facebook status to being in a relationship one. Somehow, people felt that it was lame and not funny at all. Somehow, my credibility is lost.

That's where I am perplexed. Why would any announcements regarding my love life erode your faith in anything I have to say? Why do you insist on calling any enjoyment I may have as lame? Who gave you permission to try to insult my fun?

I would think that as long as the person I am with knows that we are together, all will be good. How would other people's acknowledgement affect our relationship?

It doesn't.

Simple as that.

I will definitely tell friends I care about these things personally and not through some social media site where things like 'complicated' relationships exist. It's just the way I roll.

For the people who were fooled today and got a good laugh, good for ya!

For the people who felt slighted due to the prank, I am sorry but you have to loosen up a bit. And that whole thing was for my own enjoyment. Not yours. I needed something to loosen myself up. It's not my fault you're a stick in the mud.

For the rest of the world, cheers for being in love, single, ignorant, wise and everything else. There's just too much to live for.

Till another post, later days.

Wallet where were we?

2010-03-13T08:36:00.000+08:00

It has been a while, dear readers. What up?

Things happened over the past few weeks.

I've gone home for the weekened last week only to be stuck at home with a horrible, horrible migraine due to the oppressive heat and accursed lab reports.

I got my 4th migraine in 2 weeks thanks to the said heat and lack of proper cooling system. I mean, it's very difficult to shield yourself from the bloody sun when you keep walking from the faculty to the library, office and cafeteria. All of which have got no covered pathways linking to one another. OMGAIKILLMESELF FOR THE HEAT WAVES NAO!

And thanks to the migraines, I fell ill on Monday and Tuesday. And I lost my wallet.

Yes, my wallet.

Imagine the panic of not finding the very container in which all your personal identifications are in there along with everything dear to you. It was almost nerve wracking. Not to mention the fact that I have no transport of my own and had to rely on the good graces of my friends.

I did find my wallet eventually (or at least the library did) but some fellow took my RM100 note. Not what I would call a huge loss in view of what losing my IC and driver's license would mean.

But the whole incident helped shed light on my current situation. It showed me that I lacked interaction with people of my age group. Or at least people from my faculty and year.

Most of the people I am close to are either in AIESEC(the horrors, really) or debate. And they are going to graduate within the year. Who will I hang out with in the future? Have crapping sessions with? Share the random and yet oh-so-entertaining anecdotes with?

Perhaps he got it right last time. Perhaps it really is a wonder I managed to get close to anyone at all.

Oh well.

By the way, I will be off to Taiwan in a week. I foresee no rest for myself until the end of finals in April.

Whoa, the sem is almost done already?

Mucho quick innit?

Till another post, later days,

Crumpler galore!

2010-02-28T20:24:00.001+08:00

I HAVE GOT A CRUMPLER BAG!!!!!!!!!!! W00ts!

It is teh b0mbz!

Sorry. The l33tspeak is just too hard to resist.

Anyway, I now know that spending half a day in Singapore is indeed possible. And quite therapeutic too.

However, all good things will come to an end.

As evident with me stepping into Malaysian soil and all sorts of things come flooding back in.

Back to real life eh?

Till another post, later days.

Busted phone

2010-02-24T23:14:00.001+08:00

My phone's keypad is busted.

Or should I say working wayyyyy too much.

It is constantly pressing on random keys and making it close to impossible for me to type any text messages and names for my phone book contacts.

And call making is rather difficult as well as the receiver only hears the tic tac sounds of the keys being pressed. And this malfunction only occurs one day after coming back to UTm from the holidays. Great.

Wanna know the best part of this whole thing?

The day it started breaking down was the deadline for this application for my AIESEC team. So obviously, as with Murhy Law, all crap came loose.

People started calling me incessantly to hand me their applications and texting me to ask questions.

And it's not only restricted to AIESEC stuff.

Honestly.

On Monday, before the phone got crappy, NO calls and ZERO texts.

On Tuesday, with a crappy phone, 20 calls and 10 texts.

You kidding me ARH?!

So now I have to look for a temporary phone before I get back to KL for a proper phone.

Till another post, later days.

Baby Weng Hin

2010-02-15T15:01:00.002+08:00

Honestly, with so many cousins, it is almost too easy to not know some of the young 'uns. By young 'uns, I mean the nieces and nephews.

So, the moment my sis got back from Singapore for the new year, the family went out with one of our closest relatives(geography-wise and relationship-wise) to Ming Court located in Bangsar and my cousin brought her newborn son!

Kok Weng Hin!

Honestly, he was so cute and taking pictures of him was fun. Especially since he was having a nice day ,what with getting to be outside exploring, he gave me his nice faces!

More or less.

On to the food.

Where we had yee sang! Actually, taking pictures while having one hand handling an extra long chopsticks was no easy task.

(Clockwise from top left)Egg tarts, yee sang with salmon, fish noodles(can't remember the name) and some really, really weird fusion of banana, mango and prawn.

(Clockwise from top left) Shrimp dumpling, siu mai, carrot cake AND ....wait for it, wait for ittttttttttt, pork ribs!

As you can tell, I was going through pork withdrawal and that day was the first time I got pork after a long while. And it was gooooooood.

Here's all to the post for now. And if you haven't realised it yet, this post is simply for me to post up pics of that baby while maintaining a semblance of a eating post. Whee.

Till another post, later days.

Christmas and Chinese New Year parties

2010-02-13T00:13:00.003+08:00

I am behind in terms of pictures.

So, I shall be posting up pictures of two events from AIESEC parties. Yeah, about that. You guys know that we bring people from around the world to work(either at companies or on projects) right? So, as some sort of cultural experience for both parties, we have get togethers and basically have fun.

The place is Alina's. She's the intern from Romania working at a travel agency in Johor, under our AIESEC programme.

First up is the Christmas party!

Alina and Loh, my team mate.

The colours! Alina baked it herself by the way.

Love the natural expression here.

And here's Wei Jun. Pretending to be cool. Heh.

And then there's the Chinese New Year party!

Where everyone was supposed to wear red.

Henna!

Sam from Australia.

Here's Ai Ling, a team mate.

More to come!

Till another post, later days.

Breathe

2010-01-27T10:40:00.001+08:00

I need to have faith.

I need to think straight.

I need to breathe.

Till another post, later days.

Twists and turns

2010-01-22T10:07:00.001+08:00

It's 22 days into the year and I have a lot of fascinating things happening. There's the persecution of faiths and the old argument on how certain rights are being taken away from groups of people while some others say it is perfectly alright.

Then there's the comments made by our very own minister that disses social media users. Word to the wise, oh tradionalist of a minister, your boss has Twitter too.

Nevertheless, I don't think I would like to talk about these things, oft repeated as they are in more outspoken blogs.

I'll focus on my own life instead. It's funny as I had to fill up a questionnaire to submit for my applicatio to become president of AIESEC in UTM. Man, those questions were tough.

However, I found it invigorating. No longer was my intellect being belittled or taken lightly. General knowledge was required of me and I felt the thrill of identifying events that moved me to explain inside the questionnaire.

As I slowly made my decision to run for president, people gave me advice, motivation talks(urgh!) and even downright pushed me to give it a shot. So I did.

And when I let some it of my friends have a look at the final draft, I realised that I truly have matured. No longer was I obsessed about the organization (like previously) and was able to summon up the perspective to view things as an outsider. It was somewhat sobering to know that I have a huge task ahead of me, should I become president.

However, what happens if I don't get the post? After all, I'll be going head to head with a fellow team member for the post and he is someone I truly respect for his abilities.

It's really funny when I have to think up of a contingency plan. It's like planning to bomb. Then again, isn't life filed with unexpected twists and turns? I watched this show called Glee(WHICH YOU MUST WATCH ALSO!) and at the season finale, they sang acver of this song that went like this:

You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes,
You get what you need

Which is pretty true. You may want a lot of things but somehow, I find myself well taken care of. I follow where the path may lead me, with a few choice turns of my own, and so far,I find myself not for worse for wear. In fact, I am kind of glad that I am where I am today.

Yeah, I do have my plans and I intend to see them through.

But in my plans, I always allow some leeway for some uncertainties.

After all, it's the unexpected that makes things interesting.

Innit?

Till another post, later days.

We work hard, play hard and take damn nice shots of ourselves

2010-01-17T17:54:00.002+08:00

Well, blow me down and call me Popeye!

It has been more than several weeks since my last post.

Alas, as usual, the problem is too many pictures, too little time.

Anyway, tests are these week and next so updates are going to be remarkably rare.

Nevertheless, here's a little something I took a few weeks back.

This is the picture of the Executive Board of AIESEC in UTM 09/10.

And yes, I took it. Thank goodness for tripods.

We work hard, play hard and take damn nice shots of ourselves. *grins*

Hmmm, looks like Blogger resized it. Buggers.

Till another post, later days.

Pictures only

2009-12-29T14:00:00.003+08:00

Okay. Pictures only. Minimal words.

Kin Wai at the tuk tuk.

Speed!(Okay, the driver was moving quite slow actually)

Went to a temple beside the Chao Phraya river. Forgot the name(more like unwilling to dig through phone for the freakishly long name)

Random picture of Thai university students. Damn. If only they went to UTM.

Paid 500 bahts(RM50) to enter the old temple.

Which was well worth my money.

Bloody steep steps. Almost didn't dare to go down.

Tada!

Post done!

Till another post, later days.

Christmas? Wuzzat?

2009-12-24T15:17:00.001+08:00

Sitting in the library, going online at random sites on Christmas eve.

Awesome pawsome.

I want to go home. But oh well, going home next weekend.

Till another post, later days.

Written post

2009-12-20T17:04:00.002+08:00

Lazy to upload pictures for this update.

So I shall be taking a break for now.

My new sem started (yes, gasps! Horrors!) and a week quickly passed.I'm taking 16 credits this semester and I have told myself to take things easier.

For the past 2 semesters, I had been pushing myself to the limit. I took up debate, AIESEC, 18 credits(though not exactly by choice)and Japanese lessons. I had to deal with departmental meetings, executive board meetings, events, homework, revision and in the end, exhaustion.

My studies suffered a lot and around the end of my study semester(pre SWOTVAC for you Aussie students to understand), I had a lot of assignments that suddenly needed passing up and the tests were aplenty.

Therefore, I am no longer taking Japanese classes. Not for this sem anyways. It's way too taxing. Instead, I am having 16 credits, a more flexible schedule and much more time on my hands.

In fact, last Monday, my first class was at 11 am and on Tuesday, the first class was on 12pm.

So what's up?

After the Thai debates and the AIESEC conference in UUM, I feel like I have grown up quite a bit.

Thanks to debating, I can see things at a deeper level. I have begun to understand what people meant by having a deeper analysis of what the entire motion is about. I am starting to see that the world is more than what you can get from the surface. There's a lot of layers involved and it is up to me to uncover them and understand them because no one else is able to do it for me.

As for AIESEC, I now remember why I am in it. Many people like to comment that AIESEC takes up a lot of time and is full of people dancing hippie dances. They don't seem to be able to grasp the idea that AIESEC is beyond that. I am willing to devote my time to it because I truly believe that it is able to push me to greater heights. Friends of mine have been telling me to focus on my CGPA, making my resume look good and secure a good job for the future.

I know they mean well but really, I can't agree with them. I believe that I am taking the necessary steps to bcoming who I can really be. In AIESEC, I have learnt that you need to be more than just a know-it-all. You learn to take care of those around you. You gain an international perspective. You get to meet all sorts of people who are able to inspire you and teach you things you might have otherwise missed.

You also gain friends. Friends who will be there for you through thick and thin because you are in it together.

I'm trying to say that it is the people. It's the people who make all the difference. =)

Till another post, later days.

British Parliamentary style

2009-12-15T15:34:00.003+08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now resume our previously scheduled program i.e. blogging properly!

So, let's move on to day one of the debate competition.

Loads of adrenaline pumping by the time I took that picture. I mean, it was my first ever international competition and I wasn't even sure what I was up against.

I was imagining the worst and was freaked out enough to wonder if my first match up would be against debating giants.

Luckily enough, we didn't.

But honestly speaking, Chulalongkorn University is pretty damn amazing.

They are in the top 100 unis in the world, there is a shopping mall located right beside it and there's the MRT station underneath the mall. So, getting to class is pretty convenient.

So, I won't really talk much about Chula right now because I'm not really in the mood to gush all over it. I think gushing over it when you're chatting with me has the best effect.

So what is this British Parliamentary style that I was debating in?

First of all, I'd like to clear up the fact that while debaters are known for their oratory skills, not everyone yells at one another nor do we 'shout the other party down'. I cannot stand it when people seem to think that all debaters are a bunch of future Taiwanese politicians who cannot seem to hold a decent conversation without throwing a fit for not being right.

It's damn insulting okay.

How many debaters do you know who grabs the mike from you when you are speaking and calls you an idiot? To your face anyway.

Not that many right?

Contrary to popular belief, we have got rules to adhere to. There are method points, techniques and rules of conduct.

Being deragatory and condescending does nothing but to inflate the debater's own ego.

What it all boils down to is how well you argue your case. You have got to analyse the motion properly and come up with a solution(if you're on the proposition side) or counter proposal (if you're the opposition) and rationalize your points. You can be polite, nice and even cheerful and still win the case. The bottom line is how well you know your stuff.

So, onwards to BP style.

Now, as you can see, there are 4 different teams. There's the Opening Proposition(OP), Opening Opposition(OO), Closing Proposition (CP) and Closing Opposition (CO).

The first half of the debate works with the opening sides battling it out first. The closing side do not get to present their case for two reasons:

A) They are supposed to extend(I'll explain in a bit) the cases of their opening halves.

B) They will get their say in the second half of the debate.

However, they are given the chance to give Points of Information aka POI. These are basically questions posed to the opposing team to either throw them off balance or to introduce substance which will help their arguments.

Now, after both team members of the opening sides(each team has two people) are done with their speeches, the closing half begins.

The tricky thing about the closing part is that the opening teams get first pick at all the arguments. So, if you find your points being taken away by the opening team, you either find a new point quickly or be screwed.

You might find this to be a tad unfair so there's something called extensions. Extensions are the further analysis of the case by the side of the closing teams. The closing teams have two choices. They either do a further analysis of what the opening side argued and bring the debate to a deeper level or put in new points that is different from the openings and yet remain very much in tandem with them.

You see, you can't say the opening sides are wrong because technically, you are on the same team as them. So, if you do backstab them, you will be known to have 'Knifed' your bench and will be given a strict penalty.

If you are thinking that the closing sides have gotten a pretty raw deal, you should know this: The opening side has got to set the case for the entire debate. So, the closing doesn't really have to do much but to follow the case set by the opening. That makes it less stressful when it comes to prep time. However, it also means that you won't know what the heck the opening sides will come up with. Heh.

Thankfully, the selection for the sides and positions are rotated for every round. As an effect, every team gets to be at one side at least once throughout the entire competition.

This is it for the explanation for the style. I'll be back later with more coverage of the whole thing. For now, I gotta go. I'm back in UTM, in my fac's comp lab and my eyes are drying up thanks to the uber cold air conditioning.

Till another post, later days.

Update hiatus

2009-12-03T17:08:00.003+08:00

0!

Stands for zero updates for the following week!

Unless I find time enough to blog about something during the AIESEC National Conference happening in UUM, Kedah.

Chia Li, sory I won't be at your birthday party.

Pei Chuen, sorry I won't send you off on your trip to Adelaide for whatever reason.

Shaz, sorry for being a FFK all this while.

Eric, sorry that we can't meet up even though I said we will.

My debate team, sorry that I won't be there taking part in the debate with you guys.

Then again, it's probably what we will call 'having a life' I think.

Till another post, later days.

Thai food excursion

2009-11-30T21:49:00.004+08:00

On the second day, more and more people started arriving and we begun to feel like we were in an actual competition.

And well, we were taken good care of.

But the only thing was that we arrived a day early and so this day was just the opening ceremony, briefing and adjudicator's test. Which, thankfully, I was not part of since I participated as a debater and not adjudicator.

And since that was in the afternoon, we took the chance to walk about!

And guess what was the first thing I noticed in Thailand was the taxis. They are

PINK.

Breast Cancer Day must be pretty easily celebrated here.

And we even got to taste the local cuisine.

We went to get our lunch at this noodle house where I got to taste a satisfactory tom yum. And it's so different from the Malaysian tom yum. It was so much better. Spicier, more sour, more appetite whetting.

And also, there was this dessert that had a lot of santan but somehow, not entirely horrible.

Of course, I can't remember the name anymore. Go figure.

One thing I have to admit is that I always had the idea that Thailand was this backwards country with dodgy streets and severe lack of personal safety.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this.

This spot at Siam Square totally reminds me of Hong Kong! It's so full of life, clean and modern that I couldn't believe I was in a place that came out with movies like Shutter.

I mean, tons of people there were carrying Macbooks, iPhones and Blackberries! Even the Machines store there looks sleek and full of patrons.

I am so jealous okay.

And when I asked the Chula students about it, they said that those things are expensive but they get them anyway because they are popular gadgets. I WANT TO GET THEM TOO!

Sigh.

Anyway, we got back to the hotel in time for registration for the competition and attended the opening ceremony.

Which was pretty run of the mill, with the top adjudicators from Sydney Uni, Harvard etc telling us about the rules and such.

But what I would really like to gush about is the food that we got when the adjudicators got a 30 minute break for dinner before their test while us debaters got the night off.

Since my team had two adjudicators, we had to get something to eat at somewhere close by and so we settled for hawker food.

And it turned out to be one of the best finds of the entire trip!

I'm not kidding!

We got to this place and there was NOBODY who spoke any English. The closest to any form of communication (for me anyway) was sign language. Hungry, I headed to this stall where this woman was frying some rice. Throwing caution to the wind, I signaled to this lady that I wanted 1 of whatever she was cooking.

Let me tell you, she gave me an odd look. Like I was some idiot who couldn't speak any Thai to save his life. Which I totally am.

And I am so glad for that. I somehow ordered this.

This fried rice had the softest meat ever! It was not overcooked or undercooked. I could say that it was perfectly done. And to think that I got it off some stall along the road.

Or I was just really really hungry. Heh.

I'll go explain what happened in the competition in the next post. But for now.....

Here's a vanity shot.

Till another post, later days.

In Bangkok to Bang Sue

2009-11-26T01:12:00.002+08:00

Well hello hello.

Yours truly is back from the Thailand debate competition and let me just say that it was one of THE best competitions I have ever attended.

Not that I have attended many but it was definitely well planned, convenient, fun and an eye opening experience on so many levels.

8 of us (6 participants and 2 escorts) left last Thursday and I was already jumping up and down even before I left for the airport. The friend who was supposed to fetch me to the airport with him was so late that I had to find an alternative transport. But we both reached with plenty of time to check in our luggage and get settled in. So no biggie.

Meet my fellow teammates. (L to R:Allan, Kin Wai, Wen Zhe, Khye Lih and Kin Hoe)

You'd think that after a year of not having flown with AirAsia would have removed all traces of my dislike for the cramped spaces but nope, I still felt like I was squashed between the window and the person beside me.

Speaking of the person beside me, Wen Zhe had never flown before, much less out of the country. So imagine my horror when he asked me when we were going to experience turbulence. He was really hoping that the plane would have some.

The doll's Kin Wai's. He brings it everywhere and takes pictures of it at different locations.

He said that in all the movies he had seen, turbulence was a given. Honestly. It's no comfort knowing that that the person beside you is pretty much praying for something to go wrong with the flight.

But then again, the feeling that I was leaving to another country to represent my uni for a competition was pretty awesome in itself and almost nothing could diminish it.

Fast forward two hours,

and I was in Thailand! Greeted by this huge statue at customs no less.

Did you know that Bangkok is one time zone away from Malaysia? It was so nice to find that we gained an hour upon reaching Suvarnabhumi Airport and could spend more time exploring.

Okay, you wanna know something? The moment I heard about this competition which is the Inaugural Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship 2009 was going to be held in Thailand, all I could think about was how crappy the accommodations would be.

I mean, they were charging 500 bahts (RM50) a night! I pretty much envisioned the worst. Like, no air conditioning, rickety fans, communal bathrooms and hawker food.

And this is what I got as my room for the next 5 days.

CAN YOU BELIEVE YOUR EYES????

I was speechless for a few seconds just at the sight of such comfort. Of course, I was agog upon realising something else too but I'll tell you guys more about that in my next few posts.

Anyway, we stayed at the Bangkok Centre Hotel which is located right beside the MRT and it was so convenient to go....jeng jeng jeng...shopping! *cough* Of course, it was easy for us to go to Chulalongkorn University too*cough*

Reminds me of Singapore actually. Malaysia lacks such efficiency. Srsly.

Actually, this was my first time being in a foreign country where I didn't understand the local language. So tons of sign languages and confusion abound. They were rather unavoidable really. Also, the local names made little to no sense to us foreign delegates (I was a foreign delegate! how cool is that?!)

So imagine what happens when a bunch of (male) debaters get together and they see a sign like this?

In Bangkok no less.

Laughter all about! (If you don't get it, do comment and I'll explain)

What did I eat for my first night in Thailand? Hawker food!

This fishball thingy is awesome. It's simple yet awesome. I kid you not. With a slightly spicy sauce, it's bouncy and such a nice snack. Awesome.

Also, if anyone told you that Thailand's a place full of cheap things, that person ain't lying.

Heck, even booze is cheap. It's like half the price of that in Malaysia. I can just imagine it being a paradise for many a young adult from Malaysia.

So what did we do for our first night?

Why, we visited the night market in Lumphini and shopped of course =)

This is it for now. I'm sure the photo diarrhea is enough to cause havoc with your bandwidth as it is.

Till another post, later days.

Thailand, here I come!

2009-11-19T09:18:00.002+08:00

Hello!

Yours truly shall be in Thailand, or more precisely Bangkok, for the next few days until Tuesday.

I will be competing in a debate competition where it's a style totally unknown to me until last week and joined by hundreds of teams from all around Asia.

Awesome?

AWESOME.

Wish me luck!

Good luck, I mean.

Till another post, later days.

Hello Baby Kok!

2009-11-15T00:25:00.002+08:00

Meet baby Kok.

More precisely, he's Kok 'Er' Xuen (The Er in the middle is me going 'Errrrr'. I forgot his full name. Yes yes. Condemn this uncle if you wish)

This little baby came into the world more or less a month ago when I was still in Johor and wasn't able to greet him. So, I tried really really hard to make sure I see him for his full moon.

Why? Because he's the first child from my cousin and her husband.

The proud parents.

Not just any cousin, mind you. One of my closer cousins who has always been around since foreverrrr. You know... those kind of family members who are always around, cool to hang out with and seem like your siblings rather than cousins.

So when she had her baby, it felt closer to home since this is the child of someone with whom I grew up with. It's like my sister's kid, though not quite.

And yeah, I do have got a lot of nieces and nephews. Heck, the oldest is in Form 2 now, I think. The feeling of being old doesn't really get to me because it's not exactly a new thing since I have been an uncle from the age of 7.

Nevertheless, seeing the cousins grow up and start having families of their own, I am growing increasingly aware of my own adulthood. I've dreamt of being an adult for so long that now it's so near, it seems rather surreal at times.

Of course, having aunt(s) tell me that my parents are really really good with babies *hint hint heavy hint here* tends to make me shifty about the whole deal.

In this case, denial is indeed a river in Egypt and my metaphorical oasis.

For now, my parents will just have to contend with my cousins' kids. It's not my time yet =)

Till another post, later days.

Corporate uplifting

2009-11-11T23:26:00.001+08:00

I'd like to say this to the world:

I don't do inspirational one liners, quotes or even pep talks.

Know how those corporate leaders send inspirational e-mails to their subordinates to cheer them up and increase productivity? And the subordinates loathe it and probably categorize it akin to the seven levels of purgatory?

It's so damn irritating when people suddenly type out inspirational things that are supposed to 'uplift your spirits' and 'motivate you to do your best!'. Honestly, the only thing I am motivated to do is think that the person who sent it out in the first place have got way too much time on his hands and just wants to say something wise and shitz.

I'm fine with you talking and saying how you're inspired but spouting things like 'the heat of the forge determines the strength of the steel' and 'at 99 degrees water is hot. Add 1 more degree and it's boiling' is pure bull okay. Fine, it's wordplay on the banality of everyday occurrences that somehow seem to wow the non-science people and the effectiveness of giving the little extra but come on! Is it really something that people don't already know?

What, people are that dumb to not realise that with a little bit of hard work, things will come to you? Sheesh.

And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that peple my age are already saying these kind of things. Maybe it is me and my principle to avoid becoming a corporate schtickz as much as possible but really now! Next thing you know, you will be saying things like r-branding, logistical, paradigm shifting and a whole load of things that not many people understand but pretend to anyway just because everyone else does.

Till another post, later days.

Let loose, footloose.

2009-11-05T23:35:00.003+08:00

Sometimes, to be able to let loose and just dance seems to be the only thing that matters.

Even if it is a spazzy dance.

*Credit goes to Ziyan for putting this up on Twitter*

Till another post, later days.

It pays off.

2009-11-03T22:12:00.002+08:00

I had a good day today.

I mugged and I was well prepared for the paper.

It has been a while since I felt this feeling.

It was good.

I'm not willing to go back to what it was usually again.

Till another post, later days.

Locked out

2009-11-01T23:40:00.002+08:00

I think exams is stressing me out a little bit. Okay, Maybe a lot.

A few days ago, after my Ethnic paper, I locked myself out of my room. My roommate just left for his two hour paper and I was stuck outside with my cellphone and 80 cents (I went to wash my clothes).

Now, the logical thing would be to go to the office to get an extra key or wait it out until the roommate returns.

What I did, however, was try to break into my room. Yes, you read right. I tried to break into my own room.

First, I went to the back door to try to unlock the door by squeezing my hands through the rails. I did that for 10 minutes only to realise the door was additionally locked at the bottom. Heh.

Then I went to my friend's place to get a chair to try to remove the glass panes on top of my front door and climb through. I carried the chair from one block to another (see, I was already losing my mind there and then) only to find the glass panes tightly held in place.

With almost no hope but to wait it out, I found a loooooooooong bamboo stick in my friend's room(about 2.5 meters long). With a stroke of (idiotic) genius, I brought it back to my room to try to hook the key to the bamboo shoot and successfully get back into the room.

What I got out of that attempt was some stares from some fellow floor mates and very sore arms. Okay lah, I looked really stupid poking a bamboo stick into my window like some deranged fellow trying to break in.

Wanna know why I didn't wanna get the office involved? Firstly, I didn't pay my electric bills for this sem. It's not like I purposely avoided it. It's just that by the time I remembered, it's the middle of the sem and I was kinda afraid that they'd fine me for having paid so late. Yes, I am still in Malaysia. Crappy bureaucracy remains a norm here.

I didn't wanna sit still because I really really wanted to get back to my room. I just mopped the place and wanted to enjoy it without the roommate around but alas.

My room was so clean okay. Sigh.

And now it's a disaster area again thanks to the tons of paper I have for revision.

Till another post, later days.

What happens

2009-10-29T12:15:00.001+08:00

My first paper was today. Ethnic Relations. In many ways, a very crappy subject. However, it's supposed to be easy with the questions in it basically regurgiated from preious years.

Or so I thought.

For some reason, the people who prepared the paper decided to be smart and funny this time around. They came up with a whole new set of questions which tested us on things like:

'Apaka nama dokumen di mana Perdana Menteri Ke-4 telah mengemukakan Wawasan 2020?'

Very WTF okay.

Yes, I didn't exactly pay much attention to it because it's essentially one of those papers you just HAVE to sit for but don't necessarily have to like. Studying for it can be quite a waste of time too since it's like a compendium of Malaysia's history biased to make certain people look good. Politicians that is.

Adding to the crapfest was the fact that most of the questions were not easily answered with common sense.

Out of 4 possible answers, many times I found there to be 2 logical answers. AAAARGH.

And since I was doing my paper under the mosque(yes, you read correctly. Below UTM's Islamic pride and joy, the biggest mosque in a public university!), I wondered one thing.

You know how in temples, girls don't go to pray(can they even enter) when they are having their period?

So does the same rule apply to Muslims?

And if so, what happens if someone's having their period and had to take the paper in the mosque? What happens then? Is it sacrilegious?

No, I'm not being offensive. Well, at least I hope not. I mean, this is somewhat of a valid question right?

Sigh. The things I come up with when I am supposed to be answering my papers.

Till another post, later days.

Is it true?

2009-10-26T00:00:00.002+08:00

Is it possible to be in love with the idea of being in love rather than actually experiencing the real deal?

With all the fluffy romance movies (blockbusters! HAH!) about these days, it's not too far fetched to think that maybe we are being conditioned to think that being in love is good and therefore hooking/coupling up seems like a good idea.

No, I'm not feeling the pressure like last time but yeah, it's a valid question.

How do you know that you like someone because you like someone genuinely and not because you have just watched some show like The Proposal(which isn't all it's cracked up to be. For me anyway) and are itching for some companionship?

And if you did go after someone due to being egged on by such external stimulation, does this mean that you're actually setting both you and the other person up for disappointment?

And yes, any mention of tween movies that make you wanna retch *coughTwilightNewMooncough* just qualifies an insult from me. Sparkly vampires are major turn offs.

Oh yeah, BMF, I will need to talk to you once you see this.

Till another post, later days.

Thailand

2009-10-20T00:35:00.003+08:00

I just got back from an AIESEC party. By party, I mean just a bunch of people with an organiser and food arranged and also organised games.

Not one of those parties full of alcohol and the music is for dancing and you basically go nuts. No, what happened was pretty much safe clean fun.

And even then, I think my reputation is pretty much gone as I was 'made' into doing rather ridiculous things. Come tomorrow, I suspect I will find tags of myself on Facebook in videos. Oh the horrors.

_______________________________

I got cleared by the uni to go for a debate in Thailand! Expenses paid OMGGGGGGGGG.

I am so freakin' excited that I get to go to Chulalongkorn Uni but there's just one hitch:

I have never done British Parliamentary style before and that competition is totally BP styled.

Eeeep.

It's full of extensions and trying not to stab your opponent-ally(this actually exists -_-) in the back while having a proper stand of your own. Serious shift from my usual stuff okay. I mean, I was trained the Asian style and now I gotta slug it out in a totally different manner.

It's so scary and yet I feel the adrenaline rush every time I think about it. Serious kiasu-ness here.

Oh, and I haven't told my parents. Somehow, every time I call them, it slips my mind. Must. tell. them. soon.

As it stands, I don't think I will be back home for more than a week in a row for sem break. Whee.

Till another post, later days.

Note.

2009-10-17T10:53:00.002+08:00

It's now study week and I am supposed to start mugging my buttocks off for the impending finals.

I cannot believe it's the end of the study sem already. If I thought about it, it's like ridiculously fast. Yesssssssss, people tell you that ALL the time but when you experience it, it totally blows my mind how fast time passes.

Anyway, I was attending this talk by the Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia and I can only say one thing:

HE'S SO CUTE.

Cute as in like this sweet old man who seems to be able to make you feel affection for him even though you hardly know him.

Also, I wanna be an ambassador too! It's so cool to be able to go to different countries and handle world issues while being the face of your own country. Although, being the face of Malaysia would of course be extremely interesting thanks to our government's interesting actions of late.

Wanna know something funny?

Someone said that KL people are brats.

Whooooaaaa there. Since when is geographical background a reason to label people? I cannot believe that it is acceptable to even say such things. It's like saying Americans are obese and warmongers. Or that anything that the British say is Shakespeare. Or that PRC people are communists.

Does it seem right to call people names like that? Hello, if I recall correctly, you have to be brought up somewhere. May I insult the place you call home as well?

Heh. Never mind. I'm done fuming with the sarcasm and thinly veiled insults that you insist on saying. I wish you and your partner well. It's not like you're going to change anyway.

Till another post, later days.

And this is just one test

2009-10-04T22:36:00.004+08:00

My Fluids 2 test is tomorrow.

And I just found out that the notes that my lecturer gave is ridiculously scant.

This is a page out of the old notes that I dug up from the senior's pack.

And this is how my table currently looks like.

Gotta finish reading up and memorizing the formulas by tonight.

Hmmm. I feel like hitting someone really really hard.

Till another post, later days.

Ten thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning rods

2009-10-02T18:18:00.005+08:00

I'd like to make myself believe
that planet Earth turns slowly
Its hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
- excerpt from Fireflies by Owl City

As the days progress, there's a certain routine in the absence of one. I go through the day ticking things off my long list of things to do, hoping to see the end of this anxiety that comes with having a goal that somehow seems so hard to reach at times. Sometimes, I am sucked into the rush and I forget that I am pouring way too much of myself into projects, events and taking care of my charges. Then whenever I take my head out of the thick of things for a breather, questions start to form and I wonder why I bust myself up for something which seems to drain so much of my energy. There's an answer to it and I am satisfied with it but it's really difficult to explain to anyone else. How do you rationalize the enjoyment of work without sounding like a workaholic?

Then there's the price that comes with having an active working(?) life. The personal life gets forgotten and it seems somewhat inconsequential. I tell myself that things will come when it comes but really now, even I am getting slightly worried. 21 years and still no show of a prospective date. The social life is also close to non-existent. Although, having a social life in UTM is somewhat a challenge as it is. I have had my (new) team members ask me (repeatedly for one) whether I have a girlfriend. Or even had one before. Honestly, I can't seem to have a satisfactory answer.

No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am looking for someone I can connect with.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am not looking for people desperately *adds grin*
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I don't believe it is fair for the parents that I am dating on their dime.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am still not mature enough.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because the girl I thought I really liked went with another guy and completely crushed me not too long ago.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because it isn't fair to expect someone to tolerate me being so busy 24/7.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am too picky.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am way too much of a bore.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because girls don't see me that way.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I am really afraid that I will ruin everything like how I always do.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I don't know how the hell anyone can date in UTM which may have probably the least romantic/fun things to do.
No, I don't have a girlfriend because I don't have access to transportation which can ferry anyone but myself.

Honestly, I don't know which to tell people. All? None?

Then, in the true spirit of the question, what is the main problem? And then, what can I really do?

Till another post, later days.

Singapore Day 2

2009-09-26T01:52:00.003+08:00

Day 2 at Singapore!

The sis led us to Ngee An City(apparently,the locals call it Takashimaya. Heh)

where we had brunch at

The wait was loooong(okay, fine 20 minutes plus) but really now, we made reservations! Oh well, those who didn't had to wait for an hour.

No harm done. While waiting, I took some shots.

Can you see the sis behind my mum? She was kind of surprised with me pointing the camera at her direction. Guess we're both not the type that can knowingly pose for pictures. Go figure.

What did we eat? The usual fare of dim sum.

The custard bun was not the western type of custard but the type made out of salty eggs which weren't really my kinda thang. Not bad though.

I remember back in the day when my uncles set up shop in SS2 and the shop beside theirs always had fresh Pineapple Bun(Boh Loh Pau is pineapple bun right?).

To their credit though,the shrimp/prawn dim sum was nice!

And lately, we've been exposed to the whole 'soup within the pockets' dim sum. I was somewhat disappointed to find very little soup in mine.

All in all, the meal was alright. Nothing that I'd go hoo hah about. Must have been the Oosters meal that set the bar so high up.

But then right, at night, we went to the East Coast Seafood Centre to find the Jumbo Restaurant. I won't gush much about it but reallllly, I had the best fried(?) fish

It wasn't too friend and was marinated just enough to give off the great taste.

Then it was followed up by this 'sing chi'(care to help me with the english name for it?)

It was like squid only better! The sauce was akin to the steamed fish sauce and yet it was so big and nice and ooooooooh..... I'm salivating right now as I type this.

We also had crabs but then my pictures came out crappy since I was just aiming to eat and not take photos. The black pepper crab was actually spicier than the chili crab. The chili crab tasted like sweet and sour crab instead. Singaporeans don't take much spicy stuff, is it?

Anyway, that's it for food in Singapore.No, I didn't do much besides eat and thus explains the expanding waistline. Eeps.

So here's me signing off from the Singapore post!

Till another post, later days.

Singapore trip! Day 1

2009-09-23T01:12:00.003+08:00

Oh man, I have been busy. YES, I know I am ALWAYS busy, you don't have to tell me that.

Nevertheless, I still know why I maintain this blog.

So what did I do a few days back? Well, I traveled over 1000km within the span of 5 days. How? I came back from UTM to KL on Thursday and then my parents decided to go to Singapore to visit the sis on Friday night and I came back on Monday morning.

That made up 1000km on its own already.

Anyway, I'll post up Day 1 of our trip.

We arrived in my mum's friend's place at Greenfield(which is located at the east coast) and met the much raved about dog, Lulu.

I don't know what type of dog Lulu is but judging by the way my mum and sis went on about how talented it is, I don't think it mattered.

Cute right? Lulu can do all sorts of tricks like play dead, twirling around etc.

Oh yeah, Lulu is a male. Nice name eh?

Anyway, Lulu, along with another dog called Lucky which I was afraid of snapping photos of considering its size, stay at Singapore while their owners were back in Malaysia. So they were pretty hyper when they saw us since we were fresh new faces.

Since we arrived in the afternoon, we got the sis and she treated us to dinner.

And it's at Oosters again!

I went there last year and a year later, I was back! Muahahahahaha. I was craving for it and I must say that it was well worth the trip down.

Only problem there was the lighting.

Or the severe lack of it. It was so dark and my flash did light up the pictures somewhat but with me being still unfamiliar with it, the shadows were very clear.

Oh well. I got my beer anyway. XD

So what did we have? With morepeople to eat with this time, we had so much more!

First up was Sausage and Stoemp which was your average Begian sausages and mashed potatoes(which was green for some reason). I won't say it was bad but it kinda paled in comparison to the next few dishes.

The sis ordered the Hoegaarden Cod which was cod cooked with alcohol and butter. Soft and creamy. Suited me just fine but the mum preferred it to be less buttery. Heh.

And also, the portions were a tad small to share properly amongst us four. And there were MORE potatoes.

Then came the 500g pot of mussels which I had last year and was waiting for it for soooo long.

It was fresh and huge and yummy and amazing and .......sigh. This is why I gained weight during the holidays.

The sis also ordered the pork knuckle which was the best dish of the night.

Of course, there were fried potato balls and hence leading up to my 'MORE potatoes?!' look.

But the pork knuckle...it was drool worthy. The skin was crunchy and the meat almost melted in the mouth.

Can you not see how tasty it is?!

I hope this post managed to make you hungry=)

The parents says cheers to ya!

Till another post, later days.

Jun and Hua

2009-09-17T19:45:00.004+08:00

I went to an AIESEC camp last week and I am still going through the pictures.

Content management, if you will understand.

Gotta filter out the crazier pictures. Otherwise, people would think that AIESEC is full of insanity. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Wei Jun's the one in red and Kai Hua's the one in pink. I didn't plan the interaction between the both of them, mind.

Of course, I so was not supposed to have taken this. Supposed to have focused on the meeting but I couldn't help it. Heh.

They're pretty entertaining.

Till another post, later days.

Sex on Fire!

2009-09-07T20:38:00.002+08:00

Ever since I joined AIESEC, I have had to plan out my entire week's schedule ahead.

If I didn't, I would find myself with assignments/projects/meetings etc crashing down and crushing my very spirit.

Jap class tomorrow.
AIESEC gathering - Wednesday evening
Differential Equations - Wednesday night
Local Leadership Development Seminar facilitators meet- AFTER my DE test
Debate training - Thursday night
Local Leadership Development Seminar - Friday 12pm until Sunday evening.

That's without adding the assignments into the mix. Ah, what syok-ness.

Will post up stuff when I have the time but excuse me if my posts are nothing more than short blurbs, kays?

Oh yeah, Traxx FM played Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire!!!

I have regained my faith in Malaysian radio.

Till another post, later days.

Splash!

2009-09-02T15:12:00.003+08:00

This is what I did when I went home last weekend. I saw this tutorial on JonMing's site and decided to have a crack at it.

It was fairly easy to set up but took a few tries to get it right.

For more pictures, click here

Yes, some of the pics may be out of focus. It was rather difficult focusing without a tripodholding the camera still. And I focused on a spot higher than supposed to.

But constructive criticism will be much appreciated!

Till another post, later days.

And so he leaves.

2009-08-30T01:29:00.005+08:00

The thing about 29/8/09 is that Aaron left at the night and I seemed to have spent a majority of the day with him or his family. Strange.

Alright, rewind.

In the morning, I had breakfast with Aaron and several of his college friends. Pretty cool people. I can imagine why Aaron hung out with them. However, I was the only one who didn't know anyone but Aaron there and I basically kept quiet while listening to their escapades. I want to be able to have trips to places with close friends and have stories to laugh about!

After that, Aaron's dad brought him to the site of their new house and I tagged along. And thus began the trigger happy episode!

One thing about their house is that it is HUGE.

The ceiling's high and so the place is pretty cool.

See how high the ceiling is?!

There's even a site for a koi pond.

Taken from one of the rooms on the second floor. Very Disturbia.

And this is the top floor. For a library it seems. Can you see the view? To be able to read books with such a view is sigh worthy.

See this pic below?

What a wasted shot. Just when he had a proper pose which was not at all pretentious(trust me on this. Getting Aaron to pose for a photo naturally is nigh impossible), my flash wasn't put up and I got a very dark shot instead. Oh well.

After that, I went back home and came back out several hours later to send him off at KLIA.

Which is a simple enough thing except for the fact that I didn't drive there but followed his grandparents there instead. They live ridiculously near my place. Consider your carbon footprint people!

Okay. No. I wasn't all that concerned about the environment but it was pretty standard that my parents wouldn't allow me to drive to KLIA on my own since I have never been there on my own before and my navigational skills is as superb as my ability to remember names which is pretty much abysmal.

So I followed Uncle and Auntie Hooi. One thing about Aaron's family is that they are really, really nice (which is like saying that they are nothing like him. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). I mean, after we sent him off, they even treated me to dinner. Of course, I was tagging along with them and they had to fetch me back anyway. But still.

I wonder if the whole send off was a typical one. The friends and family came. He checked in his luggage. Did small talk. Then he left.

Wasn't there supposed to be mushy parts or some tearing at the very least? The fellow did not even look phased by the fact that he's moving to the other side of the world. Then again, he usually looks blur anyway.

You know what was the stupid part about the whole thing? All his family members and the college friends(all girls by the way) got a hug and I got some weird double wrists shake thing. Reason? Because he's 'afraid that Guo Zhang might tear up and cry'. WHAT LAH. I come back all the way back from Johor and basically protested to people to postpone activities just so that I could come back and I am told I will CRY?! Sheesh.
See that?!

Anyway, when he left, I couldn't seem to take a proper shot without using the flash and by the time I got around to thinking about the flash, he was already past the gate and I didn't bother taking pics anymore.

So this is all I got.

What a sad case. That's all I got of his departure.

Well, Aaron, if you're reading this, you gotta give me better poses next time. And none of the cheerleader/lala stuff okay.

So, there it is. The best friend's left the country and won't be back for several months. I don't know if I can be in KL when he comes back,. But the funny thing is that we can go on for months without seeing one another and still he remains to know me better than most people. Heh.

You're an ass, Aaron. But I'll see you when you get back. =)

Till another post, later days.

Stuck in UTM. Not for the first time.

2009-08-24T14:25:00.002+08:00

I'm sitting in my design class, waiting for my lecturer to come in.

And all I can think about is International Congress which is happening 4 hours away and I cannot attend because

a)I'm not a president
b)I have got a test on Sunday which meant that I couldn't even attend the Global Village which the rest said was amazing.

Makes me think. I should make sure I can go for the next year.

Till another post, later days.

Gadget Dude!

2009-08-15T16:27:00.003+08:00

Test week.

Urggggggh. What a bloodbath. I seriously need to sleep more so that I can pay more attention in class.

Basically, life lately has been all about work, studies and trying not to be overwhelmed by either. I can confidently say that I have yet to have a nervous breakdown. W00t!

Okay, kidding.

Emo Zhang has officially been placated by the recent spate of emo-sity. Watching an uber sad Japanese drama(which I had no idea was that mind numbingly sad) helped in the emotional relief part.

Of course, I am now in the midst of training juniors for AIESEC in terms of External Relations. Hmmm. Me. An educator. Who would have thunk it? Of course, as usual, there are the ones who can test your patience and those who think giving others their attitude makes life so much more enjoyable. Well, newsflash to y'all juniors reading my blog:

*censored*(Yes, it's pointless alluding to it anymore. Heh.)

Anyway, that aside, I have officially reached a new level of multitasking!
With TWO lappies(one lent to me by Jun), a walkman courtesy of the parents, my cellphone and several thumb drives at the ready, I have gained the status of Gadget Dude!

No lah. Actually, the additional lappie was for my video call with Boey, my boss, through Skype. You see, I don't have Skype and he suddenly announced that he wanted to call each ERian to check up on us. So I agreed and realised that I didn't have Skype and my appointment time with him was the earliest. So, I called several people for it in the morning and voila! Got myself a lappie with Skype along with a mike and earphone.

Then after Jun confirmed, I thought about the weight and how I had to carry it around until I met him later in the evening. So I told him to only bring his mike and earphone.

So, I tried to install Skype on my own lappie and create an account of my own. But then the installation was estimated to take an hour to install. And when I started, it was 1 hour away from my appointment. Couple that with a couple of false starts and 'installation errors'. I tell you, that one hour was such a nerve wracking experience for me.

Then I started panicking and cursing myself about how I could have so easily used Jun's lappie and saved myself of all the (self-inflicted) drama. But when Jun came,he brought his lappie! Which was an alright thing but it was SUCH a big lappie compared my travelmate. I swear, I am never able to like big screen laptops ever since I laid eyes on the travelmate and its relative lightness. I mean, come on. Lighter than a 14 incher but performs better than a netbook.

Unless you're planning to get me a Macbook Pro, of course. I would shut up immediately.

So I waited for Boey's call. He had an appointment before mine and informed me about being late. So I waited for 10 minutes. 20 minutes. 30 minutes.

Then he called. But of course, that 30 minutes could have been used to call companies instead lah, I'm just saying.

And guess what? He used the AIESEC office's land line to call my cell phone.

Total waste of all that drama. about Skype.

Geram kan?

Oh well.

I just realised that I was rambling for the past few paragraphs. Must be the sudden release from intense revision that's driven me to incoherency.

La dee dah.

Till another post, later days.

I was Love Drunk, Now I am Hung Over

2009-08-09T18:56:00.000+08:00

I have come to learn that several people in UTM have found my blog. Either because I refused to tell them my blog’s address which spurned them to look for it even more or because they were blog hopping and found it totally by accident. So welcome to you guys, I guess I should say.

You wanna know what’s so odd about my health these days? For the past one month, I have been sick more often than I was healthy. Then came the haze which FINALLY came to UTM and I am healthy like nobody’s business. Minus the ridiculous oppressive heat that comes with the dust and smoke that surrounds us. CURSE YOU, INDONESIAN PLANTATION ARSONS.

As I am typing this, I am listening to Invisible Man by 98 degrees. Funnily enough, just when I thought I was over the pain that came with the knowledge that she found another. (Okay, Aaron. I know you told me to stay away from such songs but hey, I thought of giving it a shot) Yes, this is quite the proclamation and if you have a modicum of intelligence, you should be able to understand very well what I am writing about. So don’t ask me anymore unless I choose to talk to you about it.

It’s rather funny really. Just when you were ready for it, suddenly there’s nothing for you at the end of the waiting. All you get is that feeling like you prepared for this test, you dedicated so much of yourself for it, only to find there’s been no test for you to ace at all. Bad analogy but excuse me as I am currently in the tests season.

And you know what’s even more fantastic? I haven’t got anyone in UTM that I feel like being all touchy feely with because I haven’t got anyone like that. It’s funny, y’know. I want to have someone around I can be comfortable around but really, it’s difficult. I have yet been able to feel secure in telling people anything more mundane than bitching about assignments, the weather, joking about and daily happenings. I feel like I have to keep it all in for some absurd reason.

Funny, to feel so alone in a place so big.

I maintain this façade of normality and usual cheeriness that people always see beneath my grouchy exterior (apparently, I am a very upbeat guy. Heh) I can’t even seem to break down in front of people.

And when I tell myself that it’s my entire fault for not opening myself up to people and being all friendly, I get upset. It’s not exactly something I can control and that’s really my personality. Those people who write books can say all the things they want about changing your perspectives and all that shit but I regret to inform them(and you if you’re thinking it) that it’s really down to your personality. Try changing that which a person….well, a person. It’s somewhat frustrating.

Things just seem a lot less meaningful. I mean, there’s a lot of confusion. I know that love is something that makes your life so much better and for a short while, I had it to wonder about. Now it’s just this void which I don’t know is supposed to be filled with what. Work? Another hobby? More classes? More assignments? More books to read? More social activities?

And I must admit that it stung a little bit when I found out that the second of my two course mates I usually talk to got attached. Yes, I am happy for her but that leaves me to become the last single person among the three of us. Suddenly I am the odd one out. There’s the devoted girlfriend who sends regular text messages and now there’s the dedication from the newfound boyfriend. Where does that leave me? Don’t get me wrong, you two. You’re amazing friends. But I know that your loyalties lie elsewhere and I don’t blame you for a second. Just wish I know how that felt like.

It’s alright to have work to complete but now there’s the emptiness that lingers at the back of the head and what am I supposed to do with it?

I don’t know. I really don’t know.

Till another post, later days.

Going HOME

2009-07-30T23:46:00.003+08:00

I'm going home!

I'm going back to escape from all the crap that is in UTM, the cyber space and .....beyond. (Refer to previous posts if you're THAT clueless)

I am going home where it is safe, relaxing and above all, HOME.

I don't have to face people and put on a smile just because of my responsibilities. I don't have to act like I don't mind when I am being insulted. I don't have to pretend like everything is alright.

Because at home, everything IS alright.

I mean, yes, a lot of things happen back home but it's something I look forward to. I have been confused, tired and very much dazed for the past one month.

I need to collect my thoughts amidst the chaos that is in my house.

Because, again, that's where home is.

Thanks to the people who showed concern, online and otherwise. I just have got a rough week. Which had been particularly painful. But I'm working through it. Slowly. So you can relax.

Till another post, later days.

Hurt

2009-07-26T00:50:00.001+08:00

It hurts.
I thought I wasn't ready
That I didn't care enough
I was wrong
It hurts.
It fucking hurts.

Goodbye

2009-07-25T09:56:00.002+08:00

I so wanted to be perfect
Perfect enough for you to notice
But now, I guess it's easier to slip away
It's been too long
It never was.

Self

2009-07-24T07:13:00.001+08:00

Till another post, later days.

Maoist Solidarity

2009-07-23T18:43:00.003+08:00

Two posts ago, I lamented on the fact that the Chinese community still insists on ganging up have absurd orientations for the sake of camaraderie.

It has finally hit home now. For the past week, my 3rd year seniors have been arranging a get-together for all of the Chinese in the course, from first to final year.

I didn't want to go because of several reasons:
1)I really didn't like a guy. Especially since last year's faculty night where I was insulted and manipulated by that senior.
2)I didn't see the point in having a meet when none us know who our seniors are beyond those a year away ahead of us.
3)I have got plenty to do as it is. Currently, I have one design assignment where I had to come up with 5 A3 pages worth of stuff by Sunday and another lecturer gave some exercises today which is due tomorrow. It's not like I put off those things or anything. I really don't have the time for something so inane.
4)I am once again insulted when the seniors expressed their disappointment towards our less than interested attitude towards senior-junior bonding sessions.

I think of it as remarkably superficial and extremely pointless, these things. Half the time I don't even see them. Don't get me wrong. Out of my four 3rd year seniors, I actually like 2 of them. I would gladly help them out if they ever asked but not for the annoying bugger. You made a fool out of me, demanded for my pictures, made me pay AND insisted I waste my time for YOU? Use that brain of yours that you take so much pride in.

I tolerated him back then as some sort of testament to my newfound patience towards other people. Now, though, I find my patience wearing thin.

My friend who fell sick today was unable to attend. Wanna know what they did? They called her up and in some not very thinly veiled way, bullied her into going. For the sake of showing solidarity apparently. I am very sorry to tell you this but this does not exactly boost morale or encourage enthusiasm. Not only that, I am utterly annoyed by the fact that they wouldn't even let her rest. Oh come now, are you that caught up with the Maoist propaganda where you have to be one with all to ensure the survival of your 'kind'?

'Sick no matter! We fight for the cause! We believe in what is right! *waves the red book*'

Truly saddening to see such a thing taking place in university.

Why am I going you may ask.

Well, firstly, I want to personally see what they will say about my friends. I for one will not let them slander my year just because we're not around to defend ourselves. Also, I will be going there for the sake of my other two seniors. Yes, they ARE that nice to invoke such gratitude within me.

Anyway, it pays to see what nonsense they'll come up with this time. I can very well condemn it with firsthand knowledge of this moronic display of racism. At the very least the haters can't tell me to shut up since I didn't go through it or anything.

Hmmm, the bossy senior has demanded for my presence. Guess gotta go through it then.

We'll see what will happen tonight then.

EDIT:Back. Wasn't too bad actually. Hung out with some diploma people I get along well with. Oh well.

Till another post, later days.

Cooking attempt FAIL

2009-07-16T10:09:00.002+08:00

For the past week, I had been sick. So sick, in fact, I thought I had H1N1.

Like, wtf right? I mean, it's bloody confusing these days wondering if you have the common cold or some deadly disease.

You see, the symptoms included difficulty in breathing, lack of appetite, fever, headaches etc. II had every single one of those symptoms okay!

Sigh. Turns out that I just had a variety of diseases all at one go. Heh.

Anyways, because of the lack of appetite, i am constantly hungry.

The reasoning for it is this.

I am hungry all the time because I am sick and my body uses much more of the energy to heal itself(I think). So, I have to eat. Then when I look for food, all I get is UTM food which is barely tolerable on the best of days. Nevertheless, I pile a lot on my plate but only manage to finish half because of its suckiness. Because I have not been able to finish my food most of the time, I end up getting hungry really really early(like at 4pm) and then I want to look for food but all I get is...jeng jeng jeng...UTM food.

BAH.

So, I tried to cook up something for myself. I bought fussilli and pasta sauce the other day.

I thought, hmmmm, how bad can it get right?

So, being the genius that I am, I boiled the fussilli in my kettle.
Which was fine except for the fact that the kettle stopped boiling once 100 degrees was reached. Then it wouldn't continue boiling like I wanted it to. I needed to boil it for 7 minutes. Only managed 3 minutes.

Not caring about that tiny little setback, I proceeded with the sauce. Poured it in, I did.
Wanna know what? It tasted as NASTY as it looks.

Urgh. the 3 minutes boil resulted in a fussilli meal that tasted like glue -_______________-

In the end, I had to buy bread to eat instead. Sigh

Till another post, later days.

Ragging?

2009-07-12T13:37:00.003+08:00

With the advent of the new semester, juniors are almost impossible to miss.

Especially in UTM where they are still wide eyed and huddling with one another, hoping to find some solace in big numbers against the big scary campus where 2nd years and above seem to lord their way through the faculties.

Now, there's something that is bugging me. I don't understand the Chinese community despite being Chinese myself.(No, not China Chinese you nimcompoop) You see, they seem to have a lot of interest in taking care of the freshmen. I'm using the word 'they' because I do not fall under the same category.

Ever since the very first day, I hear things like 'junior orientations' and 'senior junior buddy system'. It sounds wonderful right, having someone a little bit more experienced than you in the ways of the system to guide you as you try your hardest not to drown in your sudden emancipation from life with the parents?

Depends.

On the senior you're getting, that is.

Now, if you got someone like me or my coursemate, you're probably in for a crappy orienataion because we honestly don't care for it. What we did this year was meet them on Monday morning and introduced each other. Then I told them to go to my room at night to collect books that I wanted to pass on to them. I also answered whatever questions they had on UTM to the best of my abilities.

That was it.

For the other type of senior, let's say that you'll be well into the spotlight. These seniors are the ones who will gather the lot of you and ask you to do apparently meaningless tasks for your orientation like gathering signatures and singing the school anthem in public. Why do they do these things?

The answer I got from one was to 'put presure onto them so that they realise that they're no longer under the protection of the parents. Instead, they are in the harsh world where they must learn to work together with their coursemates. We want to make them bond quickly'. Aren't their intentions pure? Frankly, I find it a load of bovine faeces.

I for one should not be saying much because I did this before. I am not the one to forget my past indiscretions. Nevertheless, you're in university already. Why are you still doing such things? Shouldn't you have outgrown that need to feel superior to the newbies?

Honestly, the most childish thing was when I saw these bunch of 1st years approaching a 3rd year, aplogising for not having met him during his first week. They sounded so meek (quite possibly feigned) and sounded like they needed his signature to survive in UTM. Then the senior had this look as if he was somewhat insulted. I mean, come on! Did you have to act so high and mighty?

If the excuse to do this is that your senior did the same to you, you really have got nothing. Just because someone did it to you doesn't mean you need to pass it on to others to make them suffer the same things that you did right?

Who knows.

Till another post, later days.

Kajitsu Nihon Ryori

2009-07-06T19:55:00.001+08:00

I'm now back in UTM and I am now a second year!

Okay, the realities that come with being a second year i.e. having to act responsibly, buck up my CGPA etc have yet to sink in.

Now, I am still in KL mode so I would like to introduce you to this japanese restaurant that you guys most likely have not heard about.

The name is Kajitsu Nihon Ryori. It is located in Tamad Desa and every time before I go back to Johor, my family would go there to for lunch.

You know what is so good about this place?

Well, it has THE best Chawanmushi that I have ever eaten. Honestly, most restaurants I had been to treat this particular dish as some sort of prelude to better things and so rarely pay much attention to it. But I digress!

You see, if a restaurant serves good food, obviously they will prepare everything nicely right?

So, after going to many Japanese restaurants over the years that served mediocre and cheap or nice but expensive food, my family decided to go to this little known shop. They don't have that many customers but it seems that its small customer base keeps it going strong.

We haven't turned back since.

This Chawanmushi is soft and yet really smooth on the mouth. It is given when you order a set meal.

Normally, such restaurants will charge around RM35 to 45 for a single set but this place have sets that are from RM22 till RM38. Cool right?

The thing about this restaurant is that it is run by a chinese couple that speaks really fluent Japanese. There are Japanese who patron this restaurant and they would serve them while gabbing away in Japanese.

Anyway, you should really try out this place.

The address is

39A, Faber Plaza,
Jalan Desa Bakti, Taman Desa,
Off jalan Kelang Lama,
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel:03-79830726

Till another post, later days.

KLue Urbanscape

2009-06-29T01:10:00.006+08:00

KLue Urbanscape!

I came back last Tuesday and heard that Urbanscape was coming on Saturday. On a lark, I decided to go. Coincidentally, Patrick

and Shaz

were going too and long story short, I ended up meeting up with them at KLPAC.

Some performers doing improv based on the Postsecret postcard secrets.(I think).

Good thing too! You know why? I got to swap lenses with Patrick and Mikel(whom I met later)!

The moment I saw Pat and Shaz, Patrick swapped his wide angle lens(17-40mm lens? Pat, a little help with the details can?) and it was AWESOME. The clarity! The width(like duh)! The sharpness!

I thought I was going to turn into mush holding the huge lens. Not to mention getting stares from everyone.

The next few shots were taken with his wide angle lens.

As I moved about, these two guys were performing and man, they were so cool.

Their song went along like this:

'Kamu adalah babi,
Tentulah bapak kamu babi,
Dan emak kau juga babi!'

Or something like that. It was really refreshing to hear malays singing something normally considered to be taboo. Thumbs up, I say!

Then there were even more improvs(seriously, were those improvs?) and this time, the performers had to concoct a storyline that was entertaining. Or be boo-ed off to their deaths. Literally.

The aye-nay crowd.

One thing I like about KLPAC is the architecture.

Definitely worth a few shots

I like the concept of having greenery around the buildings. Very nice.

Bumped into Wan Ting there as well.

After a while, I swapped lenses with Mikel and got this Tamron lens(Patrick, a little help with specs?) which allowed me to do this:

No, not stalk girls. It was a zoom lens that could zoom really far and allowed me to take pics of subjects naturally. I LOVE being able to take such relaxed pictures.

Of course, snapping at close range was no problem either.

As we moved about, it became very clear that KLPAC was a place for the performing arts.

We entered into one of the halls(or was it the only one?) and this group was performing for a crowd in a dark room. BUT! I managed to zoom really close and snap this shot of them.

I'm in love with so many lenses now.

There was also displays of digital pictures outside the hall.

Very cool.

After a while, we moved outside where most people were.

Where we saw this bunch of guys performing.

Honestly, I am highlighting this bunch because I got to take REALLY smooth pictures of them performing for the first time EVER. Thanks to Mikel's lens of course.

Took pictures of others as well.

*ahem*

Anyway, at the same place, we found balloons! With such vibrant colours, it was a good chance for a photo snapping session.

Shaz wanted to have a go.

Pretty cute, I must say.

I posed as well but the picture was overexposed. So this is the result.
Mikel didn't pose but was busy photographing others.

Like me, again.

Met up with great photographers, learnt a lot and rediscovered my love for photography. Ah yes, bliss.

Till another post, later days.