Early fall

Ah, I've been busy, busy, busy - meeting deadlines, studying for tests, sleeping a little less. School's definitely picking up pace now with two tests looming on the same day.

The weather's been pretty nuts lately. It was very windy yesterday and today while I was walking outside. We went over to the apartment complex across the street to prepare some curry for yesterday evening's Hari Raya celebration. I figured it wouldn't hurt to dash across the road in just a T-shirt, jeans, and my sandals. Bad idea. 2 minutes of walking made my lips really dry and kinda numb. Even my cheeks were so cold when I stepped into the building. Lesson of the day: Always, always put on a sweater when the weather forecast says that it's 10 degrees Celcius outside (and especially if it's windy) or risk feeling like you're walking against an air-conditioning unit right in front of your face.

I bundled up a bit more appropriately (but not too warmly) today to go to church. I love how fall gives people the opportunity to dress up! :D Sure, it gets a little annoying when the wind is blowing into my face and I can't even keep my hands exposed for too long, but ooh, the dressing up! I got myself a comfy white fleece fall coat (with a handy hood attached). It's so comfy! :D Yep, I blew quite a bit on clothes and footwear. *shakes head slowly* But I'm utilizing them pretty well, so yeah. :P

Weather forecast says it'll be a cloudy day tomorrow with a temperature of 15 degrees Celcius. Mmmm, appropriate time to bring my purple scarf out, I think. :D Oh, speaking of which, I got a winter jacket that makes me look like a weird seal. Seriously. When I put the furry hood on, my whole head kinda gets swallowed up in the hood and I peek out like a seal. Beng Yen laughed at my seal face in the store. Sigh... that's what roommates are for, no? :P

On a completely random note, we had bak kut teh today! Thanks to my awesome roommate who never lets me go hungry! :D It sure made me miss home for a while... sigh. Man, I miss home soooo much when I'm cold and hungry! Haha... yeah, yeah, I know. I talk to my parents a couple of times a week (most people I know do it every day O.O or at least on most days of the week - I feel like such a bad kid sometimes -_-) and I don't have a shortage of Asian food at all (have I ever mentioned that I eat rice every single day? Mhm. It's one of the best ways to keep Crystal happy!), so I shouldn't miss home toooo much. I do miss my family and my pets very dearly though. No one gets me quite like my family does. And no amount of squealing at squirrels and chipmunks or enviously staring at people's dogs can make up for not having my own pets around. :(

Anyhoo, I shouldn't be all sappy now. Time to get back to work!

Have a good day/evening, wherever you are in the world! (And thanks for contributing to the diversity in my traffic feed haha!)

Weird

IT HAS BEEN A LONG, LONG DAY. Okay, not too long la. I'm just tired. Correction, my feet are very tired. The last thing I appreciate at the end of an energy-sapping day are multiple blisters on my feet. Black shiny shoes, as nice as you are, as much height as you add to me, I hate how you hurt my feet so badly. :( Do you know the origins of high heels? I watched a documentary that said that high heels were once just elevated shoes made for the purpose of walking through a town that was full of rubbish. (Disclaimer: My memory may be vague, thus this information might not be correct. You may look it up if you wish. I don't feel like doing it right now.)

My first major speech went... alright, I suppose. I almost fell over in the middle of my speech because I was leaning to my right. WHAT WAS I DOING LEANING ON MY RIGHT? I DON'T KNOW. Note to self: no tipping over to any side when in shiny, painful shoes. (Have I ever mentioned that this pair of shoes can squeak? The surface of the shoe squeaks! Man, imagine my surprise when I first discovered it - was it during my Penn interview? Goodness.) Oh, speaking of which, it's April 1! Exactly one year ago, I woke up early, logged in to my Penn applicant portal and read that beautifully written rejection letter. Yes, I am an Ivy reject. Haha. Throw a stone here and you'll likely get one within 5 throws. ANYWAY, that's not my point. (Actually, I lost my point because I got distracted...)

Oh, so anyway, today's lesson is: always bring a pair of comfortable shoes when wearing painful, toe-squeezing, feet-blistering high heels that only look good. I'm starting to think that I should really have custom-made shoes that fit my feet just nicely. Oh, did I mention that while I was heading to class, I walked past a girl dressed in formal wear who was holding her heels in one hand while walking barefooted on the tar road? Such is the excruciating pain that we have to go through. And what do the boys have to wear? Comfy, spacious dress shoes! And none of the tummy-tucking skirts and slacks that we sometimes unfortunately discover that we have almost outgrown after having not worn them for a few months.

But then again, I do like being a girl for the other things like how I can be more emotional and sappy when I want to be. And of course, owning bottles of nail polish and making Saturday my nail polishing day. Yes, I have a schedule for it. It is an investment of time as well as a relaxing activity! (Well, it isn't really when it starts smudging and all...) And the make up! And handbags! (Why do I feel the urge to get a new bag? We went into Miu Miu in KLCC and oh mannnn, the bags are sooooo wonderfully made with super soft leather that I couldn't help but touch for more than just 5 seconds! I really want a nice leather bag! The light-colored, big type! Why can't I find a nice, reasonably priced one? The ones I've seen so far fall into either one of these categories: cheap-looking - meaning they look fake or don't seem to weigh the right way - or much too expensive.) And the other stuff that guys aren't entitled to!

Thank you, God, for making me a girl in this era. ;)

As you can see, I totally lost the point of this post. I think it must be all that sugar I had just now. One glass of cold white coffee, a serving of curry on toast, two slices of birthday cake, a plate of fries, and a small bottle of apple juice - way too much sugar and salt! See la, now got sugar rush already. HOW?

Work off the sugar high! Time to tackle the reading I've been putting off! And that article that I owe to my editor! OH, CRYSTAL, START WRITING ALREADY. Where is my zest for writing? :(

This post is really weird.

Alu suk aih

I've got a mini debate thing going on in class in the morning. I came back to my room after rehearsing less than an hour ago, thinking that I can squeeze in some reading time before turning in for the night. But, honestly, I'm so awake right now. Not because of the text or anything of that sort. But because someone's all loved up right now. I can't help it. The heart of steel has finally melted! I feel like reaching through the screen and hugging said person. But I can't. Ahh, distance.

This calls for a hearty breakfast over which juicy details will be exchanged. Ooh, yes. :D

This sort of makes up for the earlier frustration. I'm willing it away. Go away, you're not worth my time. Let me be this giggly college girl who feels like she's back in high school, asking stupid questions that are met with snorts and throws of the head. Like the good old days. :)

Contentment in small packages

I watched 2012 and almost cried. I don't like that they killed off so many people that I felt should have survived. And I was wrong in thinking that the movie portrays the end of mankind because everything was obliterated, but a small fraction of the human race survived (mostly because they could afford to pay 1 billion Euros per person - notice the subtlety with which the 'equation' money = life was hinted at).

I also found good bargains at Elianto. Go get the stuff there while the promotion is still on. They've even got stuff with prices slashed by half. Concealers and lip glosses at half their normal prices - a good enough reason for me to try out. :P And out of boredom, I've discovered how to work my Revlon palette to its potential. I've been blending and blending the colors but I'd never felt fully satisfied with the result until tonight. The maroon shade is awesome stuff. Top it off by blending in a deeper purple, mmmm, just what I was looking for. But there's one thing bugging me - smudged eyeliner. I think liquid ones are supposed to hold and last longer, but I don't know which to get. The pencil ones are working fine for me, but I don't like how they smudge after a few hours. :/ Now, who's up for a game of makeover magic with me? :P

I've been watching many clips on Youtube lately. Stand up comedy, simply funny stuff, make up tutorials, touching videos - and I think Youtube has really revolutionized the way we interact in the Internet. Whether it's for the better or worse, that's up to us to decide through the way we use it. I think it's really cool. (Haha, yeah, I have more to say on that, but I think I'd rather not go into that for now.)

I've been home for a month now (exactly a month tomorrow) and I've been pigging out a lot. I've gotten hooked onto 90210 and Psych (again!). And a lot of dragon fruit and mango, too. Yummy! I love waking up to the feeling of my comforter against my skin, my soft pillow under my head, and the sun rays lighting up my room. Nothing like some good ol' home comfort to greet you in the morning. :)

Hope you're happy wherever you are, everyone. :)

Why you shouldn't window shop in a high-end area

I was at KLCC for another orchestra concert today. It is 'The Big Country' today. We were treated to a stellar performance of country tunes played by musicians in country-inspired outfits. :D

The highlights of my day include a very entertaining concert, a very good dinner at Sakae Sushi (I am not completely averse to Jap food now!), a good bout of walking, staring sadly at a BEAUTIFUL black Ferragamo handbag on display, ogling a pair of va-va-voom red Jimmy Choo, and finding Nicholas Sparks' latest book... and not buying it. It is hot on the racks! It's still selling at RM69.90. After blowing almost RM30 on dinner, I figured I'd better wait for the RM30+ version of the book to be released.

:(

Ferragamo. WHY DO YOU TAUNT ME SO?

:(

No more high-end places for a while.

And Nicholas Sparks' new book. I WANT YOU SO.

:(

Patience, Crystal...

Taking a breather in the city

I had the whole day free to do anything I please today. So my shopping partner and I headed off to 1Utama with the guys and a car. Do you know how happy we are to venture into civilization every once in a while? :P

Lunch and dinner were mediocre. My first Italiannes experience could have been better, I guess, but I ended up forcing myself to finish up my plate of spaghetti because the tomato flavor was getting really overwhelming. Remind me not to eat anything tomato-related for the next week or so. A Carls Jr burger made for a quick dinner. Also a first for me as the only thing I'd ever tried in Carls Jr before this is the wedges. All in all, not the best meals I'd had outside, especially between shopping walks, but they were alright la.

We watched Surrogates after lunch. It is an okay movie, in my opinion. The parts with a lot of action were exciting and intense. But there were a few confusing parts when one character acted in several roles. Go watch it and you'll get what I mean. Not being a fan of action movie may make my views slightly biased, but I think it isn't anything to shout about. You get to see Bruce Willis acting as a depressed, frustrated man who plays out his life as an FBI agent through his surrogate. And everyone else is just as fake because no real humans are actually going out of their homes to live their lives on their own. Instead, they just sit at home in their pajamas and control their surrogates. It's kinda creepy, actually. My rating is a 3/5.

We did plenty of walking but much less buying than I'd expected. I forgot to buy a brush for my broken lipstick. :( And I originally wanted to get a new ring but I just couldn't find one/a bunch that I liked. We entered so many stores but ended up empty-handed. What is this la... On the other hand, it didn't make me feel so guilty for splurging on another pair of jeans. This is the last pair I'm buying this year. (Yeah, two more months to this year, and I say this.. Heh) But I can justify! :P Dorothy Perkins stocks reasonably priced jeans that fit me, so buy I say. :D

So that wraps up today. I actually have a lot of other things to mention, like the orchestra concert that I attended two weeks ago, but there are some things that need to be done at the moment.

Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

XX

It's a Tuesday morning and most of my brain space is taken up by wondering about whether or not I should color my nails now. How productive is that? I love nail polish. They make nails look nice instead of just drab and plain. Maybe I just need a nail buffer so I'd stop obsessing over which color to use every week. Or maybe someone can give me free manicures every week. Aaaaah.

A while ago, I got myself a light-colored (peachy) eyeliner. It's nice but I've decided I like the darker colors more. But I hate cheap stuff. I remember getting a cheap black one before and it just didn't work well. I thought my eyelids were gonna be scraped because no matter how many times I drew the line, the color would barely come out. Pffft. I don't want to use up my current ones, especially the brown one, because I love the texture and how easy it is to apply, but I don't feel like splurging now either, even though we just got our bank accounts replenished. *twiddles thumbs* I don't quite trust myself to enter a clothing store/make up store without purchasing something now. :X

Speaking of cheap stuff (yeah, my logic just jumps like that sometimes - bear with me), I have to say that cheap stuff just always fail on me. And I loathe that. It's like it makes me think that I got myself a very good bargain, but the next thing I know, the item just fails to function well. >:[ A good case in point would be my earphones. See, me being a very careless and messy person, spoilt my nice, (matching!) pink earphones, so I had to get a new set. I got it for dirt cheap, but it's already starting to show signs of spoiling after only a couple of months.

Another two cases in points are bags and perfume. Bags - how can you not love 'em? Okay, maybe you don't. But I blame my genes for my love for it! (Yeah, it's always easier to blame the genes than personal flaws.. Heh.) Anyway, cheap bags are nice to look at sometimes and there are times when I'm so tempted to buy them because they are cheap and would actually look pretty good (though I find that very few fall into the latter category here). But they just don't last. I especially hate it when bags peel and discolor. That's just completely off-putting!

Perfumes can be even worse. It's either lasting perfume or no perfume. It's a pet peeve I have. Ciplak eau de toilette/parfums are not cool. Not cool. They fill the air with artificial scents that try very hard to fool people into thinking that they smell good. I believe in paying for quality. That's why I hate seeing stalls selling ciplak perfumes. They may look and smell quite similar sometimes, but if you look close enough, there are many differences. I once picked up a copy my own perfume and was shocked at its bottle. Because the original bottle is made of heavy glass, and topped with a glass cap with a silver ribbon on it. Also, the perfume is slightly champagne-colored. The ciplak one that I picked up is bottled in a glass-like bottle that weighs more like plastic (ergh) and the color of the perfume is orange.

That said, my pet peeves apply mostly to the two types of items above. And shoes too. But that's too long a story to go into now. Because OH NOOOOOOO, it's a Tuesday morning and I should be crunching numbers and finding out circles of curvatures and osculating planes. WHEEEEE!

Did I mention that I might not have any classes at all today? I normally have a 2-hour Stats lab session on Tuesday, but now that we have gone through all the lab lessons, there might not be a class today. Cross fingers. :D (Edit: I've just gotten confirmation that there is no class today. WOOHOO! Wave yer hands in the ayerrr like you just don't careeeee! Um, I think I've been overplaying my songlist.)

Oh, today I shall do a reader feedback thing! Feel free to tell me: what do you pay for when you shop? Do you scout for the best deals and settle for something less than what you really want? Do you go all out and save up for that one thing you've been wanting? Or are you 50-50 in this matter?

(Yes, I think I may have been influenced by over-commercialization. Or maybe it's just me. Yes? No? FINEEE.)

*Ciplak: imitation

You have a nice smile

CRYSTAL, GO MUG LAHHHHHHHHHH. YOU'VE GOT A TEST AT 2 PM; WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??! *insert hitwall emoticon*

Ergh. I'm having a virtual monologue. The Internet has gotten to me!

I really do think you look nice when you smile.

Of friends and window-shopping

Yesterday was another trip to civilization (I love). I originally planned to head to Mid Valley (I know, you're thinking, aren't I sick of the place already?) by noon and walk around on my own. I need to get a new watch because I lost my old watch - my 16th birthday present Guess watch. I was so upset when I realized that it was missing. It must have fallen out of my slacks pocket on the way to the camp last month. When I came back to the college and informed the office a week later (because I couldn't get a chance to call the office during the camp - arghhhhhh!), the watch had gone missing for good. I hope its new owner would love it as much as I did. Despite its replaced leather strap and few missing Swarovski crystals, the watch means a lot to me. :(

I ended up not looking at watches at all. Instead, I tried on 4 tops in 2 stores. I even stopped by Vincci accessories (despite my vow not to enter the store). I was so tempted to walk into Elle when I saw this wonderrrrrrrful purple (it comes in black as well) handbag in the display window. *shiny eyes* But I was running out of time before Eric came to pick me up. I ended up walking one round in Nose after that. So much for the watch.

We headed to Ikea after that. I had the famous Ikea meatballs that everyone raves about. I was a bit sceptical of the raspberry jam that comes with the meatballs, but it tasted quite good. The ham sandwich I had was a bit too hard and dry, though. The daim thingy was mmmmmmmmmmm. After that, we toured the showroom. Ji Ding and I fell in love with the rocking chairs that cost RM599. :O I didn't know people pay so much for napping chairs! There was this really soft and fluffly furry drape too. It was so nice to hold. I can imagine falling asleep on it. SIGH.

And then I experienced a handbag malfunction in the showroom. The knob (I don't know what else to call it; it's a functional embellishment) on my handbag which holds part of the strap together by holding a screw in dropped off. We found the knob, but not the screw. Which means that one part of the strap of my handbag is now detached from the bag. Which means that I cannot hold my handbag properly. And that is my only handbag here. ARGHHHHHHHHH! What is this with losing my watch, the soft ribbon on my Suzy Smith handbag, and now this stupid screw on my Charles & Keith handbag?! Now I have to come up with a way to string a ribbon through the hole where the screw bolts into the knob and fashion an embellishment out of it. It doesn't help that I'm stuck in this jungle with no craft shop. *frustrated*

Okay, to curb the frustration, let me get on to the more fun part. After touring Ikea and having a good look at the very nice furniture, sitting on comfy beds for kids, admiring plush couches, and hugging a very soft and longgg crocodile plushie, we left for 1Utama. We didn't have much time to spend in 1U, though, because I had to be back in Mid Valley by 9 pm. We spent most of our time having dinner rather than walking around (which means I still want to go and explore the mall... ah, why must it be so far away?).

Cute giraffe plushie - must show to Olivia (aka our own Giraffe)!

We had dinner at Dave's , a dim but kinda cozy place. We shared a gourmet pizza (I can't remember its name) and pork ribs. *happy sigh* The pork ribs were amazing - tender, succulent, juicy.. MMMMMMMMMMMMM. The only part I didn't like is the weird-colored mustard. Put beside the brown pork ribs, it just looked wrong on the dish. :P The Shirley Temple that Ji Ding and I shared was a tad too sweet and gassy at first, but otherwise quite alright. Eric's cookies and cream milkshake was really good. My first sip made me feel as though I was drinking ice cream. :D

Wonderfully juicy pork ribs

Gourmet pizza (salami)

Shirley Temple

Me and Eric - thanks for driving us around! :)

Me and Ji Ding - it was really good meeting you after over 6 months! And I shall remember that bit of conversation we had in the Ikea carpark. Aha. :D

After dinner

The night concluded with me making a quick exit from Eric's car and rushing to the train platform. The train arrived after about only 5 minutes of waiting. It was a good travelling day because: 1) I shared a cab with a guy and we split the fare because he fought for our rights when the taxi driver wanted us to pay RM10 each for the ride (thank you, Mr Serdang) and 2) I had to wait only 5 minutes for both of the trains I took. Both of these are very rare occasions. :)

All in all, I had a great time yesterday. But we really must do this with more time on our hands the next time around! Lets have an all-day outing! :D

Oh, in relation to all these, I now know that there are URS&inc outlets in 1U and Sunway Pyramid. AHHHHH. Mummy, you should come over for a weekend trip laaaaa. You will LOVE the things here! Come la, then we can go shopping. The sales here are crazy. Discount here, discount there - aaaah. This economic downturn sure is sure causing a great wave of sales. Is that good or is that bad? Good for the economy, taxing on the pockets, I suppose. Ah, the power of economics.

PS: Check out Charles & Keith's Summer collection 2009. My favorites are Shoe 738083 on page 4, Bag 374265 on page 6, Bag 374247 on page 10 and Bag 374185 on page 11. Sweet.

Liberation

It is FINALLY over. Semester 2 final examination, I mean. WOOHOOOOOOO!

Yesterday morning was the blah. I stayed up till 2.45 am and woke up at 6.10 am. I couldn't have been more astonished myself. But thanks to a proper breakfast and some willpower, I made it through the paper fine. :)

Afterwards, everyone dallied around a bit and then off we went to MidValley. We had a hearty meal at Kenny Rogers thanks to the belanjawans who treated us. :D After that, we girls had some quality window-shopping time before catching Confessions of a Shopaholic. The movie was nice. There's nothing much to shout about it but it was a good watch. Plus, we all just really wanted to savor whatever freedom we have.

After that, it was just more walking and buying. Contributing to GDP never felt better. *happy sigh* I realized how fast my purse was thinning when I was thinking of buying something and then saw a RM50 note peeking out. Aih. Money - easy come, easy go, isn't it?

Anyhoo, upon going through the things I'd purchased, I realized that I actually bought more practical than fun stuff. I mean, necessity, track pants, and insect repellent vs some light-colored eyeliner, a pair of feather earrings, and a gift for a friend? I didn't even get to buy the nail polish that I wanted. And I completely forgot about the analgesic cream and food stock that I need. Must buy them later. :/

All throughout the time we were walking around MidValley, I had a strange feeling. I kept on thinking, isn't there something I should be doing right now? I think I've been in my mugging mode for too long that when I'm finally free to do anything I want, I feel weird. AIHHHHH.

Now I have a headache and an irritating flu. Ah, the repercussions of coming back at 12.30 am and watching another movie till 3.15 am. But What Happens in Vegas was so worth it! Ashton Kutcher made me dream of some random hot guy last night. Ah, le sigh. :P

I should probably go downstairs to chuck my laundry load into the dryer now and see if those two girls downstairs are awake so we can go feed our stomachs. Laters.

Snip

I'm going for a haircut later. I cannot stand looking like I have a lion's mane, so I'm going to ask for a little trim and some thinning. I haven't trusted anyone else but our regular hairdresser with my hair for years now. Aih.

On an unrelated note, I clocked in 2 hours of blissful sleep in the afternoon. Yeayyyyyyyyyy! I sat in the cold library for almost two hours before lunch while waiting for the rest of them to come out of their classes and developed a terrible headache while reading up some Socio stuff. I think my eyesight deteriorated because now I can't read very well for long periods of time while wearing my contact lenses. Hmpf. This means a trip to an optometrist in KL. (I know, you're wondering why I can't just find one here. I just can't! I've seen several optometrists in Seremban, but anyone would rather accompany me on a day to KL than to Seremban lah.) Anyway, more or less as a reason to alleviate the headache, I slept la. I love nap-time. :D And have I ever told you how much I love how fast the sun dries my handwashed clothes? I love the feeling of clothes dried under the sun. The crisp feeling, the fresh scent.. ahhh. Aiyo. Here I go slipping into my aunty-like mode again. :/

Oh, and today, I realized that I've been better at managing my money so far into this semester. Then again, this may just be the consequence of many weekends spent cooped up in the hostel. How sad la. :(

Ok ciao.

*Edit: You have no idea how worried I was when I sat in that chair, wondering how my hair would end up looking. When the guy clipped up part of my hair and started combing through my curls, red flags went up in my head as I silently willed him to not comb out my curls. Plus I wasn't wearing my glasses so everything I saw was just a blur. Aiyaaaaaa! But the guy did a pretty good job! *relieved sigh* Haha.. I feel much better now. :P

:)

The interview went smoothly. Thank you for your good luck wishes and encouragement. :) So now that I've completed the whole application process, the time has come to just wait.

I think my feet hate me a lot now. They're very tired from the pressure exerted on the arches and blistered from the covered front of my heels. But I still love my shoes. The only thing that I didn't quite like is that I had to keep my shoes in my new bag because I didn't wanna walk all the way up and down with my heels lest I wanna risk blistering my feet beyond normal levels of pain. So, yeah, I felt so sorry for having to put my new, shiny bag through that. :/ But a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do.

Oh, and guess what I had for lunch before my interview? Pasta at TGIF. Hahaha! Wendy and I thought that we could grab our lunch at KFC just opposite the interview venue, but the outlet was closed, so we had to head back onto the other side of the road and went to TGIF instead. My creamy fettucini was soooooo good. And the chicken was, oh boy, it was beyond awesome. MMMMMMMMMMMMM. I'll be so happy if TGIF opens in Kuching. :D

So, apart from my blistered feet, I am happy today. :)

Time to get to work now. Goodnight!

Connection

I dug through the pile of clothes, hoping to find something nice. Did I want to buy something? Maybe. It all depended on how nice the stuff looked - or so I thought.

Ah. Here's a nice plain top. I paused for a moment and scrutinized the item I had in my hand. Nice blue shade, nice texture... And then I tossed it back into the mound of clothes and sighed.

"Don't buy, don't buy, don't buy." I began muttering to myself.

Oh, here's a nicer one! My heart lifted, my lips formed a smile. Red flags raised in my mind. Mmmm.. I really like this one! Should I get it? Oh, I should. I really should. This would be a nice addition to my wardrobe. I love the color..

"Nope." I tossed that one back onto the pile too. "No more buying. I've spent enough. I've bought enough. I do not need this." I told myself firmly, willing myself to believe that letting go of two nice items of clothing won't hurt me despite my friends telling me to just get it lah!

The girl beside me caught my eye and smiled knowingly. Oh, she understood me perfectly well. Sometimes it's funny how two strangers can connect that way.

Away from the Blahs

I was really, really reluctant to wake up yesterday morning. I had Calculus at 8 am, but at 6.45 am, I was still denying the fact that I GOTTA GET OUTTA BED NOWWWW! and buried my head further into my pillow in the hopes that some powerful force would freeze time for me to snooze - which apparently didn't happen. What did happen is Poh Yee barking at me to wake up. Yep. I seem to have this luck of being given room mates who are light sleepers who wake up the moment the alarm clock rings (I find these people really amazing because I just can't do that!). Anyway, she managed to persuade me to wake up at last. I trudged to the bathroom feeling very BLAH.

During Calculus, while still wallowing in my bad case of the Blahs, I raced through all the differentiation questions we got at the fastest speed my foggy brain could allow and then just about passed out with my forehead almost stuck on the desk. I was that drained. The wonderful Ipoh white coffee that I had at 8 pm before our Bible study session began (I knew I should have turned down the coffee. ARGH!) on Thursday night kept me awake till 3 am.

The Bible study session on Thursday ended at 10 pm. I headed over to the cafeteria with Francis and Mern Jie to work on our ENL presentation. Our small meeting had mini breaks when Francis went back to get his laptop battery and when Yi Shen came along to poke fun at me by saying that I'm a closet mugger. Hey, brudder, stop saying I'm a closet mugger la! CHEH! (Talking to him always reminds me of McNair *sigh*) There were three extremely cute kittens in the cafeteria. They looked sooooooo adorable when they jumped on the tables and when they chased each other around. AWWWWWW. :)

Our ENL presentation went well and I'm happy about that. Coming back to the room at midnight was worth it. :) My group was randomly chosen to present first (why oh why?). I was supposed to deliver the introduction, so like it or not, I had to be the first person to start presenting in the whole class. O.o Anyway, there weren't much nerves involved because the audience is already so familiar to me, but I was a little worried as I napped for 1.5 hours before my presentation, so I didn't really commit my whole script to memory. Anyway, I think everyone in the class did quite well, even in the Q&A part which came very unexpectedly. (I still can't believe I included Wall-E in one of my responses..)

On a totally random note, I really want the book The Kite Runner. (Just so you know.. I'M TURNING 18 IN TWO MORE WEEKS.. *hint* HAHA!) :p

PS: I can't believe I took so long to notice you. Tsk.

PPS: When you're reading this, I'm probably in MidValley. YAY for civilization! :D

Today I shopped

There is this silly tongue twister we used to say in primary school, "kakakku kata kuku kakiku kaku". It's amazing how long we try to say the whole sentence repeatedly before the gales of laughter and long-suppressed giggles start making their way out. But my toenail is feeling a little funny now.

I set my alarm to 8.00 am because we were supposed to meet the others at the bus stop outside the hostel at 10.00 am to go to KLCC, but I ended up waking up at 9.20 am. I was exhausted and dragging myself out of bed took every ounce of energy I could muster. I was so tired because I went to sleep at almost 3.00 am. Never eat your dinner up to 11.00 pm and risk ending up waking up feeling fatigued the next day. Ugh. Anyway, there went my plans to wash my clothes (washing machines and dryers are STILL not in yet, so I STILL have to wash all my clothes by hand.. have not dropped a single cent into the laundry service here yet). I had a quick breakfast after my bath and went to the bus stop with Wendy. While walking to the other side of the bus stop, my left foot got stuck in a small crack on the ground and I stubbed my small toe on the ground. My little toe throbbed after that. I was afraid that I'd broken the whole nail because it had happened before and I didn't even realise it at that time. Further inspection at the mall afterwards revealed that all was well and that my toenail is still intact, but it still feels a little funny, even now.

The trip to KL Sentral was boring. I didn't have my baby with me so I couldn't listen to any music. All I had to listen to was the screeching sound of the friction between the train and the tracks, people talking and bad ringtones at level 5 volume (seriously, why must people use club or dance songs as their ringtone and put it to level 5?! Takkan wanna announce to the whole world when they get a call, or worse still, just a message? Ish!). People were pushing like mad, as always. *sigh* A few of the ticketing machines at KL Sentral broke down and did not accept the notes we put in. We managed to find a functioning one but it took quite a while - precious time wasted again. We headed to KLCC and went to the top floor to have lunch. I had black pepper beef rice, which was seriously made with black pepper. It was so spicy and hot I almost finished all of my Sarsi before I even finished my meal. =p

Our next stop was Kinokuniya. The guys wanted to look for SAT books. I wandered off on my own because I already have my own books. I browsed through the fiction there and searched for the Econs textbook that I'm supposed to get (It is sold at RM100 there! Guess I'm just gonna wait till the stock arrives in the INTI bookstore next week). I ended up buying Jodi Picoult's 'Salem Falls'. After that, Wendy and I roamed around looking for jackets. I get freezing cold in every lesson because the classes are always soooo cold I have to keep my hands jammed in the front pockets of my jacket when I'm not writing. It took what seemed like forever and a million stores later before I stumbled upon stuff that I wanted to buy. I spent quite a while at the Padini section and ended up with a comfy light yellow top. I also got a thick, navy blue top to wear on cold days. I got both the tops with a 70% discount. And then I found the jacket. It is a thick Radioactive jacket, white with black polka dots. I decided not to get any of the hoodies because they're too fancy. I know, the polka dots aren't very unflashy either, but I love the jacket! Its original price is RM99.90 but it was selling with a 50% discount. I'm delighted with my buys because now I have more colours in my wardrobe (Almost all now! I don't have anything orange though, because I left my orange Adidas shirt at home.. oh, and brown too, because the brown Hush Puppies shirt I have is old and faded already, so I left it at home too).

With hurting feet, we made our way to the bagel stall where we shared 3 warm bagels before heading to the train station. We arrived in the hostel at 8.30 pm and had our dinner in the dining hall. I was so exhausted I felt like I couldn't walk back to my room. Now I'm alone in the room, freezing cold because the air-conditioner is set to the lowest temperature with its fans at high speed. It's so cold that even my fingers are beginning to numb. O.o

I spent about half an hour washing 3 days' worth of clothes just now. I wringed the water out of all my clothes and brought them over to the other clothes-drying area on the other side of the block because the one nearer to my room is full already. Now I've got some ironing to do and maybe I'll stay up to finish up my ENL101 assignment and do some reading. Maybe I am crossing over. =p

'Night!

Mmmmmmm..

What a wonderful day to slack! Though it didn't exactly start off with much slacking. In fact, I left the hostel at 7.45 am and headed to school for Physics extra class. I was so sleepy that I fully utilised the 20 minute break we were given by sleeping. I think the power nap did wonders for me. It kept me going till almost 12 pm when we were released. Zhuang Wei and I went to Plaza Sing to grab lunch. Ended up sitting and chatting at a Jap restaurant for over an hour. I had chicken teriyaki ramen and dumplings. Wonderful food; leagues above Nightmare's food for sure.

I'm in the middle of some Chemistry questions now, but I really feel like doing something mindless (I'd already spent time browsing the Net for hairstyles - need a revamp badly, bags, shoes - it's not a waste of time, okay.. it's called getting back in touch with life.. haha).

Shall be trotting along Orchard with my girl pals tomorrow. SALES everywhere! =D HAPPY!

Tadaaaaaaaaa!

FINALLY! The hostel's wireless connection is back up again! And I can get a stable connection from my desk in the room! *cue harp music*

Woke up later than planned this morning - 6.30 am. Freaked out, climbed down the bunk steps in a rush (I can do it with my eyes closed already! Lol), grabbed my stuff and zoomed into the bathroom. After that I made a dash to the canteen to pack 2 pieces of bread with kaya spread for breakfast, jammed them into a Ziploc bag, dumped my stuff into my bag, rushed to the lobby and decided that I hate my alarm clock. It dies every night! I think the battery socket is loose. Lucky for us a cab came by only a minute after we stepped out of the gates. The ride to NTU was cold. Very cold.

The test was.. funny. I don't know what to make out of it, really. But I still want to be able to convert my NRP to an H3 subject. That'd be great. I have to submit my project proposal by 30 May. My professor's giving me till 20 May to come up with my draft which I need to send to him for checking. Which means that I have 10 days to brainstorm and come up with something to do with solar energy. *BUT I NEVER DID A TECHNICAL REPORT!!* Okay, okay, that was just my nerves screaming. I shall persevere.

The lectures were sleep-inducing. Couple them with my lack of sleep, it's lethal. I felt like a zombie while I was dozing off. I had my chin cupped in my hand, my eyes staring right ahead at the screen, only to find myself drifting off to Lalaland more than a gazillion times. *sigh* I think I've been killing a lot of brain cells lately by pulling extremely late nights. But Term 2 is nuts. I can't finish my work and revise if I don't pull late nights. But I shall press on. 2 more weeks and we will come to the end of Term 2. Can you believe it, I've already spent a total of 18 weeks in JC?! Wow. Time really flies.

Stayed back for debate meeting yesterday, which lasted till 7 pm. And then went off to the Cultural Centre (sounds so cool, right? Actually it's our school's biggest hall la.. haha.. bet you thought it's some performance hall outside) for the guitar concert. Devoured the hot dog Kingston got me before the concert began. (I know I ate extremely fast la.. But can you tahan if your last bite was at 12 pm?! Okay, maybe you can. But I cannot!) The slow pieces were good albeit a little lullaby-ish (or maybe that was just because of my pounding headache). Tom played throughout the concert, so pro la! =) The concert ended on a high note with the rock band's rendition of Play That Funky Music and some other song whose title I don't know lol (yes, I do realise how lame that sounds..). Part of me wished that they had played La Camisa Negra because I loved it when the IMH band performed it last year. =D

View of our CC from the seats on the upper deck

Seeing as how I'm actually in the mood to blog today, here are some pictures that I've just uploaded from my phone. I've had most of them for ages. Just didn't upload them because the connection was down.

I love that glove! =p

Shing Yee being shy.. *ahem*

Joanne enjoying the pseudo-scientist thing..

Buat ape tu?

Eh eh.. don't take my picture la, darling..

By the way, all the pictures above were taken in the Chemistry lab where we worked on our biodiesel project for the SYSF, which, unfortunately, our team did not get selected to enter into the finals. But it was a great learning experience for me even if it did involve a lot of frustration and obstacles. It made me fear the lab less (yeah, I know, who is afraid of the lab?!) and especially helped me to get used to the apparatus to ready myself for SPA (Science Practical Assessment for those who are not familiar with the acronyms here). Plus, it was great working with Mr Yeo and Mr Ong because they are such a funny pair. =p They made us laugh so much that we didn't look like we were actually doing work in the lab.. heh..

Next.. STEAMBOAT! (I can hear my stomach grumbling now.. skipped lunch.. sabar, perutku..)

The JC1 and JC2 scholars in McNair

Ji Ding and I being auntie-ish lol

And here are the SAFTI trip photos! (No Panas inside.. so saddddddd..)

And this one.. this makes me so hungry.. better go check if dinner has arrived.. *drool*

Ice-cream stop at ECP

There are more but Photobucket is lagging quite badly and I need to go check on my laundry now. Stay tuned for the next batch of pictures! =D

Run, stop, breathe

Life, I would say, has not been very fun lately. Oh, where do I even begin.

Many a time I'm reminded of how fortunate I am just to be here. But sometimes I can't help but feel like I've left my life somewhere. Perhaps it's just the usual feeling of having something amiss when change happens. My schedule's always packed, there's always something to attend to even in the short half-hour breaks that I get occasionally. It's common for me to be rushing to one of the computer labs just to print a couple of sheets that might decide whether or not I'd still be breathing an hour later. Sometimes, in the midst of everything, I wonder how things could have been like.

Don't go berating me. I am not regretting my choice. I'm just contemplating. (I think GP does that to you.. it cracks open your mind and forces you to stop regurgitating what people normally expect you to do.) Had I taken an alternative route, I would still be at home, enjoying luxuries which I can easily brush off as no big deal. Had I stayed, I would most likely still be hanging out in the same places and getting hyped up over The Spring. Had I not come here, I would not have met my super crazy bunch of friends (we're such a jumbled lot but that's what makes us get along well.. =p). Things could have been so much different.

Sometimes, running on the track as I pant for breath, I wonder why it seems to be such a fitting analogy to my life now (and wondering why NAPFA exists). Over here, it's do or die. And trust me, I'm not exaggerating. I can honestly say that I am happiest when I climb up on my bunk bed and know that at least for the next 5 to 6 hours, I can let go of my worries and stop going through my mental schedule. It's crazy, sometimes, the way we try to pack in so much work in so little time. Now that we're in Term 2, tests are coming in every week. All the way from Week 5 to 8, I think. Fuiyo.

Physically, I am drained right now. My leg muscles are screaming for mercy. Two consecutive days of PE just makes you wonder when you'd just keel over and pengsan. Okay, maybe it's just me. But, really, if they can make someone as unfit as me run, they can make anyone run. I don't have to do morning runs, but instead I have to go to the gym twice a week after school. Think they're afraid that I might sprain or injure something. Thing is, I don't have to do morning runs (yay.. I see people turning green) but I still have to complete my 2.4 km. Alamak.. My right side felt like it was splitting into two while I was doing my 2 laps to wrap up yesterday's PE. Someone please tell me this isn't my reward for not having to do PE for two and a half years. =_______________=""

Okay, okay, I'll cut the moaning already. On a lighter note, we went for a trip to SAFTI last Saturday. (Yes, I was dragged out of bed at 6.30 am on a SATURDAY for a field trip. But it really made me miss the good old days when we toured around the island with all the other scholars and the MOE officers.. I remember the bumboat ride, the race in Sentosa, the year-end party, the crazy amount of food they fed us.. I'd give just about anything to have those days back..) It's an army camp which houses OCS, an institute for the top 10% of the NS guys. I had a leaking tap - AGAIN - why does it always have to happen on trips?! The bus ride took what seemed like forever. There I was, squashed into a seat, using up a whole pack of tissue paper. And then I got a massive headache. Aiyer. Had to take Panadiene to alleviate the thumping. Stupid thing is I was totally fine when I was walking under the hot sun, but the moment I stepped onto the bus again, the leaky tap came back. Ish.. annoying. BUT! Droning lectures and super cold-super hot surrounding temperatures aside (we walked into a freezing cold auditorium and out into the searing heat a couple of times), it was worth it. Because of PANAS!

Apparently, almost everyone else thought that he's hot too, but no one mentioned it. I told Ji Ding while we were having lunch there (they serve better food than Nightmare.. urgh) and she went "Ahhhhhhhhh!!" Later that day, I discovered that everyone just didn't wanna mention it.. Ishh.. why do I always have to mention it first? Anyhooooo.. it's good to see that nice guys still exist. Nice and fit. Muahahaha.. okay, okay, I realise that the tone of my post has completely shifted.. =p But then again, since when do I stick to only one consistent tone.. haha..

Oh, by the way, I think my JC has the nicest uniform.. haha.. just couldn't resist saying that la. =p I've heard many people say that they wanna enrol into the JC just for the uniform.. adakah patut.. Weird.

I shall now go off to escape the heat in the lobby, go check on my laundry in the dryer, attempt to revive my legs which have turned into jelly using my wonderful analgesic cream (I so should not have forgotten to buy another tube when I was back home.. ish..) and then continue to dream of Panas.. oops, I mean, finish my tutorials and catch up on what I missed in Chemistry. =p

Tooooooodles!

Elusive fun

Finally, some private time. It feels like forever since I last updated. It's the whole hassle of typing this thing up on my laptop and then publishing it in the computer room because my lappy cannot connect to the hostel's WiFi which has been very elusive lately that makes me put off updating my blog more regularly. But then again, it feels like forever that I’ve come back here after the short break, when in actual fact it’s only been 6 days today. Time is passing at its own pace.

Life is back to normal once again. Assignments have started pouring in, projects are popping up here and there and there are tons of things to tend to at once. But that doesn’t mean all work and no play. We headed to Clarke Quay on Thursday night to chill. And I got myself some wonderful Hokkaido ice-cream. It’s so good I couldn’t resist. Tried the coffee flavour this time.. *drools* Yesterday, we went out to watch Spiderwick Chronicles. I won’t say that it is superb, but it’s okay – not too bad. I’m not a movie person, so maybe my so-so standard may be very good to others. I bought 2 VCDs, The 40-year-old Virgin and The Break-Up. I’m pissed that the second CD of The 40-year-old Virgin is defected. It isn’t returnable nor refundable because it was on offer for 5 bucks. =( But there’s an upside. I got myself the Never Gone CD – at last! It’s 12 bucks, which is a whole lot cheaper than what I can get back home, considering that my CD comes with an extra DVD too! =D

I’m thinking of getting myself a pair of slippers because I’m tired of alternating between my Adidas sneakers and Hush Puppies walking shoes every time I go out, especially when I’ve got blisters or when my toes decide to act up for the millionth time. We entered URS & Inc. twice yesterday, tried on some stuff and came out empty-handed. I could have gotten something and just pay using NETS (this wonderful credit-card-like system which tempts you to buy stuff even when you have only 30 bucks left is NOT GOOD, I tell you.. it’s so tempting just to swipe the card and stroll off with your purchase..) but I didn’t. It was either I was being fickle-minded or I have turned into a permanent cheapskate. But then again, considering splurging on a pair of slippers doesn’t exactly make me a cheapskate, does it? My total spoils so far have not guilt me out of surveying – yet. Hehe.. =p

Fun is hard to find in the midst of school and all its demands, but it isn’t an impossible task.

Meet my baby

Not too long ago, I fell in love. And what sweet love it was and still is.

My baby!

My brand spanking new Sony Ericsson W580i in 'Metro Pink'!

Three days ago, my dad and I went from store to store just to look for this phone because I was dead set on buying it in pink and nothing else - not black, white, nor grey. I know la, pink is very prissy. So what? It's a pretty phone. It just happens to be pink and I like it that way! I did think that black makes the phone look very sleek, but the moment I saw the pink version in one of the stores last week, big red flags went up in my head. My aha moment, so to speak. =p

It's very easy to use even though I'm already so used to Nokia's functions and shortcut keys (I used a Nokia 3100 for 3 years). The camera is quite clear and the colours turn out nicely. As for the walkman function of the phone, I'm very happy with it. I got this phone ultimately because it is a walkman phone so that I won't fall asleep when I study.

The pretty factor is just a sweet little bonus. =p