Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2008. Show all posts

Sunday, December 28, 2008

i will be sure we shake the mountains while we dance

some things i learned during the course of the past few days:

001. taxi drivers are pretty scary; they try to preach to you about kepentingan membayar zakat one second, and try to hit on you the next. double personality much?

002. only hardcore kiasus would go all the way to KLCC to find academia tomes. cough diana and adib cough.

003. i really want a pet hyena. fo shizzzz

post-scriptum. i can't believe '08 is almost over. maybe the fact that i spent the first half of the year doing NOTHING has something to do with it? one can only speculate.

Friday, December 19, 2008

g'day mate


genting was FUN, because
001. i got to spend the day with my family. it's been a while. :)
002. the adrenaline rushhh; i can't believe on the rides that i went on! i usually stay away from the scary stuff, like roller coasters or anything that involves my feet leaving the ground, but i'm glad i did because it was crazy exciting. but that doesn't mean my imagination wasn't all over town, thinking of ways the machinery could fail, flipping me into the air which ultimately results in death. that didn't happen, obviously. I AM ALIVE.
003. it was a nice reminder of the past. you see, we went on some little kiddy rides when i was 4 or 5, and i could totally identify which rides we went on, because i've seen the pictures from that trip for a million times without actually remembering the experience, so i'm glad i got to see those miniature trains and stuff (:


anywhoop, today i cleaned a little. because i don't want to leave for college (in two weeks. blah) and have my parents thinking, 'oh yay one less person to clean after. good riddance.' ok i doubt my parents would actually go good riddance but i've been feeling bad, lazing around all day y'know. it's difficult to explain. i want to do nothing since it's the holidays and everything but at the same time i don't want to feel like i'm burdening anybody. hence, the cleaning.

while i was washing the dishes i was singing out loud to a song that was on, and my neighbour gave me weird looks. that saddens me a little, people can be so uptight about the silliest things. i wish people would be more open to the little things in life and not look at them lowly, because it's always the simplest things that give you the most joy.

Monday, September 1, 2008

LOLPIE

everyone has an opinion, it seems. and although i guess it's better than the alternative (a person with inactive braincells, can't think for himself, pak turut, etc etc), should an opinion-giver equal himself to an advice-giver? ok, ok fine maybe i shouldn't be the judge of this situation, but oh my god, if no one asked for your say, do shut up. there's way too much noise as it is.





i have not slept since, um, three AM? i'm waiting for subuh before i welcome the bed (or vice versa?). i have a feeling that my sleeping pattern is going to cause some trouble; it's haywire as hell. i also feel like a fever's overcoming me, yes the phlegm in mouth, Rudolph nose, i-think-may-need-to-wear-a-sweater-to-class fever, not the "sarah, kami rasa demammm. demam edward cullen" that my roommate was talking about. god help me, someone please slap me if ever i say that. consider this your permission in black and white.

or maybe it's just the air-conditioner. idk.

before i forget, the reason for this post: many thank yous for all the birthday wishes, hee :) sorry for the late replies and what-not, i was away on a dare i say it - a holiday. bad timing, really, my dad books a place a week after the holidays, and right when the teachers are in the mood of handing out quizzes and tests. i did get to see a turtle up close, though! i probably should leave out the fact of swimming out of the water as quickly as possible and into the boat when i saw the turtle was swimming up, because i suppose that would portray me as a scaredy cat and also probably an idiot. oh, well. this idiot thanks you for your SMSs, and the smiles they catalysed. (although this is the first year i slept through the midnight hoo-haa)

ps, selamat menyambut bulan ramadhan everyone. let's make this puasa our best, insyaAllah. :):)

Saturday, July 5, 2008

oh, don't act so surprised

oui, i am glad to report that i am still alive :D i am at a loss for words on what i should write about, because somehow, it feels like the past two weeks can't be summarised in a few short paragraphs, because sometimes it gets so overwhelmingly lonely being away from home that all i want to do is expel crude words (which would be horribly unladylike) and other times, things get really fun that i want to fill this entry with exclamation marks of joy. so i guess, if i were to write an entry about college life without words, it would be something like this:

!!!!fdsaldsalf;fsdjfsfjkfjshfd!!!!jkf!!!!!!!!!!!jhdskfds*&&(&*7832jhfskjfdkj;!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!kjdsfk;ds'fsk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!495fd*(*()^&(^%5%$%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...but i shan't because i'm in the mood of elaborating boring details (lucky you!).

orientation was fun, and provided some much needed distraction over the fact that i was living away from home for the first time, in a place surrounded by kelapa sawit plants (damn you taylor's students, with your mcd's and starbucks, eesh.), where i only know one familiar face (diana). during the first few days, it was like operating on autopilot, going wherever i was asked, doing whatever i was told. i remember thinking, oh shit am i really going to spend the next two years here??

but then things started to look up, people whom i introduced myself to remembered my name (eventhough i found it hard to remember theirs, which made me feel TERRIBLE), the orientation activities were really designed to orientate ourselves with our new surroundings and make new friends, instead of some stupid ragging by the seniors, which is pointless as hell. i made new friends (and hope to continue doing so; i hardly know every single person in my block) and the seniors are really helpful.

still, there are loads of things that i still need to get used to: lining up for meals, washing clothes by hand on a slab of tiles, wearing baju kurung most of the time, lights out before midnight (LOLZ), the abundance of flies (goddamn), walking 434832804 kilometres every morning to class (our block is the furthest away from everything, le sigh), speaking in bm 80% of the time, cold showers, not speaking freely about periods and making sure my kain kurung is all right because of the presence of boys here (hahaha).

classes have already started, we've only had introductory lessons so far, "okay sila perkenalkan diri anda semua" and my classmates are all nice and friendly. and you know what, i thought sri aman prepared me to face all the kiasus in the future, boy was i WRONG. after the first day of class, everyone rushed to the library to check out books we would be needing (because IB textbooks are expensive enough to kill for, honest to god) and almost everyone read THREE chapters ahead and did the tutorial exercises after each topic, even though the teacher hasn't even started teaching yet. someone help pls.

and in case anyone's curious, these are the subjects i'll be taking:

Malay A1, SL
English A2, SL
Business and Management, SL
Biology, HL
Chemistry, HL
Mathematics, HL

SL is the acronym for standard level and HL stands for higer level, btw. on top of that, i'll have to complete the Extended Essay, Theory of Knowledge course, and Creative, Action, Service (CAS) it's all part of the great masterplan of the International Baccalaureate Organization to turn us all into "well-rounded individuals". is it weird that i think that they might actually succeed? because it feels like it's getting to me already. gaspethhh.

malay isn't as bad as the initial impressions suggests, because we'll mostly be doing literature. in the second sem, we'll be learning world lit, ie: literature that has been translated to bm. i've looked at the list and we'll be learning things like pride and prejudice, ("lagak wasangka"), and the great gatsby, ("tuan gatsby"). you have my permission to LOL. i'm kinda excited for my english class, because it's supposedly "elite", since they're only offering one english a2 class for the whole batch, and we'll be learning some cool literary components and structures of argument, culture and media, and PLAYS. which most probably means we'll be going to actor's studio, which means we get to get away from bukit changgang, if only for a few hours.

oh and i guess i should mention the reason of my being home since yesterday (friday) even though the college had seven million activities planned out for us, and the explanation behind it would be that, tiada bekalan air di kolej. harharhar. so those of us who live nearby, were "strongly encouraged" to go back home. gladly so. it's amazing how crisis bonds people, seriously. everyone was carrying their baldi at the pili bomba in search of clean water to clean ourselves with. the lack of water became the turning point between my roommate and i, we didn't speak much before, because i had some difficulty understanding her loghat utara, but going around the college hunting for water really does break the ice. :)

i suppose that is all from me for now. i have said much too much, and spent much too much time on the computer, when my purpose was to search for some material for my business and management class (yes we have homework already). OKAY, toodles.

p.s.: in response to aisyah and nicole's advice to me before i left for college, ("get a boyfriend, okay!") the good-looking ones are all taken, heh.

Monday, June 23, 2008

the day before YOUKNOWWHAT



in 24 hours, i won't even BE HERE. i haven't packed a thread, and i haven't even had the chance to improve my handwriting, which has been steadily declining in terms of quality, as pictured above. it feels weird, weird enough to make me wake up from sleep without the help of the alarm. amazing or what. oh yeah we got new fishes for the aquarium. hee.

i had a nice weekend, watched made of honour with nicole on saturday (movie's good, btw) which was funnn. and then my paternal grandparents came over to our house, kind of like a last visit of sorts. it was very nice of them. :) sunday relatives from my mother's side had lunch at our house, which was very, very, nice because i got to spend time with my little cousins. but i avoided my mother's mother grandmother, because we don't get along well (but she doesn't get that, which is ughtastic.)


here be a picture of me and nicole. WHY ARE ALL OF MY FRIENDS PRETTY AND SMART.



my cousins. alif and tisha, both of them found amusement in my sister's stuffed animals. they have a brother between them, but he was out in the den watching some stupid cartoom and didn't want to join in the photo shoot. later on in the day another flock of cousins came by, but the camera was MIA because they disturbed me from my nap, so no coolpoints for them. we did watch spiderman 3 on dvd and played some ball, though.


aww, isn't she a cutie pie? although, i have a feeling she's going to break a lot of hearts in the future.


and i mean that in the literal sense of the expression, OF COURSE.

OKAY OKAY so this post is just me, procrastinating the inevitable (packing) so i should go. we're going to the doctor's in a bit, to pick up some medicine in case i fall sick in college and i need some drugs ASAP.

one last picture, though.


bye.

Friday, June 20, 2008

have a piece of candy



i had a great day :) i totally support you becoming a geek (not that you aren't already!) and sacrificing your social life at intec, not that it would last long, because i know you just as well as you know me. here's to more sleepovers, phone calls, camwhoring, and craziness. you know, i'll even help babysit if ever you end up with eight kids.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

it's nothing significantly life-changing, but...

i had a very nice weekend, thought i'd just put it out there :) MPPH was awesome, and it felt so normal, and comfortable going back to school. after that we went to pasar jalan othman to buy carnations and we had asparagus for dinner (among other things). then on sunday, the family went to sunway because my sister wanted me to ice-skate before i go off, which was extremely, EXTREMELY wonderful (both the gesture and the experience) and i spent father's day with my dad doing grocery shopping.



(i'm the awkward looking one in the middle of the picture, wearing black btw)

yesterday i went to the hospital to review the results of my medical checkup, and i am official HEALTHY. after that i went to the stationery shop and splurged on supplies, 71 ringgit in all. crazy stuff. i have also decided which books i'm going to bring to college (step numero uno in The Great Packing Process)


the time traveler's wife; welcome to britain (AS MOTIVATION, rah rah! it's a quirky little picture book about the idiosyncrasies of britain which i bought for 10 ringgit at that cheap bookstore at amcorp mall); the very peculiar cow (my first every "book", before enid blyton, it was 'peter and jane'); a home at the end of the world; the catcher in the rye (because how could i not?); the history of love and extremely loud and incredibly close. plus a souvenir from KLM: a miniature figure of a dutch townhouse.

i'm not such a big fan of nicole krauss' book, but i guess i had to include it in because she and jonathan safran foer dedicated their books to each other (they're married). and they even used the same font. now, doesn't that make you go AWW ?

and because this post is already random as it is, i suppose another picture won't hurt.

A WALL. in the bedroom i share with my sister. supposedly vintage posters of air france adverts which my dad bought in vietnam. i guess these were the ones they used when france had power over vietnam? i don't know, i suppose so. also, JALUR GEMILANG. sfwee.

ps: I LEAVE IN A WEEK! i am a little anxious! but also excited! but i don't think it has sunk in yet that i'll be leaving soon! and won't be able to sleep in my own bed! and enjoy air-cond at night! and hot water in the morning! excuse my excessive use of exclamation marks! i leave in a week! mati lahh.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

people are snobby

no really, they are.

if you're thinking, 'hey, it's labour day, let's go out shopping at the curveeee!' STOP your train of thought, because no matter how high and mighty you might think you are, you will experience one or more of the following*:-

you WILL be trapped in a traffic jam. and if you're lucky, you'll also be stuck in a royal procession because some dude riding in a black mercedes decided to have a family outing of his own.

you WILL get pissed at random strangers and/or your family members. crowds are the cause of 17% of stress attacks which in turn will probably lead to arguing and maybe some use of profanities.

you WILL walk around borders clutching your books tightly for fear of someone snatching the one and last copy of richard powers' book you managed to snag of the shelves while you greedily look for another title with a animal manic in your eyes. you're not taking away my right of buying my desired books at 15% off!!

you WILL find it hard to control the urge to not scream when someone keeps pushing a food trolley into your back while you maneuver a trolley of your own containing 7000 calories and also when someone bumps into you when your hands are full with soft drinks. GEEZ.

you WILL experience a near death experience while you cross the road with a metal thingymajig from ikea because the drivers care more about getting a parking spot than the innocent life of a pedestrian. sad, but true.

you WILL wonder numerous times over the course of the day why you put yourself in such a stupid position. out on a public holiday? SERIOUSLY??? you should've known better than that by now.

*results may vary

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

READING LIST, oh eight.

(1/sept: SOMEONE SLAP ME! MAKE ME READ A BOOK! I AM SO ASHAMED)

(huge post in the making)

so i was at mph earlier with aisyah and i realized how much mph has been dissapointing me lately. i mean, i have not been able to find a lot of titles i've been looking for. but anyway, that's not really the point.

the point is, i'm trying to read as many books as i can this year. 50, at least. 52 weeks, 366 days; should be manageable, right? right. they say, the average malaysian reads about two books per year. let's change that, shall we?

have read
(as of 19th may)
01. 'extremely loud and incredibly close' by jonathan safran foer
02. 'the great gatsby' by f. scott fitzgerald
03. 'the inheritance of loss' by kiran desai
04. 'franny and zooey' by j. d. salinger
05. 'sweethearts' by sara zarr
06. 'wuthering heights' by emily brontë
07. 'boy next door' by meg cabot
08. 'the jane austen book club' by karen joy fowler
09. 'everything is illuminated' by jonathan safran foer
10. 'lolita' by vladimir nabokov
11. 'the history of love' by nicole krauss
12. 'love in the time of cholera' by gabriel garcia marquez
13. 'the unbearable lightness of being' by milan kundera
14. 'how to be good' by nick hornby
15. 'white teeth' by zadie smith
16. 'little eartquakes' by jennifer weiner
17. 'the namesake' by jhumpa lahiri
18. 'what is the what' by dave eggars
19. 'the echo maker' by richard powers
20. 'middlesex' by jeffrey eugenides

want to read
02. 'the children of men' by p. d. james
03. '1984' by george orwell
04. 'middlesex' jeffrey eugenides
05. 'the book of lost things' by john connoly
06. 'atonement' by ian mcewan
07. 'anna karenina' by leo tolstoy
09. 'fight club' by chuck palahniuk
10. 'the lord of the flies' by william golding
11. 'a clockwork orange' by anthony burgess
12. 'to kill a mockingbord' by harper lee
14. 'kafka on the shore' by haruki murakami
15. 'pride and prejudice' by jane austen (i obviously suck big time for STILL not being able to finish this book. woe is i)
16. 'the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy' by douglas adams
17. 'alice's adventures in wonderland' by lewis carroll
18. 'perfume' by patrick suskind
19. 'good omens' by neil gaiman and terry pratchett

this post will be updated (hopefully, frequently) troughout 2008. lists will be kept up to date, and all that.

i would love any recommendations from any genre. also, places to rent books or get books for cheap or second-hand books in good condition would be of great help. 12:57 AM and i'm feeling ambitious.

EDIT (19/5): so it seems that there's a 90% chance that i won't be able to make it to fifty this year. aiming for at least 25 before i leave home. hah.