A Comprehensible Affection

Dreams

2011-08-15T05:19:00.001+08:00

Last night I dreamt of some random event that made me so emotional when I woke up.

I don’t know if you believe what your dreams show you or if you think it is just some random thoughts that come into mind. To me, I am a total dream believer. I believe our dreams display what our inner heart really desires. Sometimes, dreaming gives me the inspiration to do something that I don’t usually do, such as writing poems, etc.

I remember how my mom used to tell me that, when you dream of someone who’s already dead, it is because their spirits came back to find you. Not to creep you out in anyway. Writing this actually makes me have Goosebumps all over. Also, if you dream of someone who’s not dead, you are actually missing that someone. Yes, I somehow have a lot of faith in the accuracy of this saying.

Coming back to what I dreamt about yesterday, trust me it is something weird. It is about me finally being able to get together with Lindsey, the girl I really like. We did what normal couples would do, such as cuddling up, holding hands, me kissing her forehead, basically things that are sweet. Nothing obscene. THIS IS NOT A WET DREAM.

Then suddenly I had this gut feeling that our room, we were in an apartment, was being spied on. Somehow we started running and at some point, we got separated. That is when I realized those people were after me and not her. There were four of them, random people. When I got caught, they started explaining to me why they were there to get me. All of them shared the same reason, saying that I was to be blamed for the death of someone dearest to them.

I was imprisoned at some random place. What made me so emotional was when I started scribbling Lindsey’s name on this piece of paper and I cried and cried and cried and cried for how I couldn’t see her again and how dearly I missed her. That sorrow felt so real, knowing that I was lying on bed all tired and half asleep (that sadness woke me up), I fear that tears would start rolling down the side of my cheek. It felt as though my heart had been punctured and it is now tearing in blood.

I am bad at explaining things but it is just plain sad. So sad that after I woke up, I feel sad thinking about it.

I am sorry if I think about you too much. I am sorry if I come off as annoying to you. I am sorry if you don’t want to talk to me as much as I want to talk to you. I am sorry if I seem desperate to reconnect with you. I am sorry if I am constantly bothering you. I am sorry if I there is anything that I have done wrong to hurt you. I am sorry because it is just me missing you TOO MUCH.

But, because I am trying hard not to show it, it is starting to hurt me slowly inside … Cry out loud…

Chicago, Two!

2010-07-08T13:57:00.001+08:00

Finally, the long awaited post has arrived…

If the first post didn’t ace in hinting you how much fun we were having or how beautiful the city was, here’s more!!!

So basically we spent our first night in Travelodge planning out our trip for tomorrow before hitting the sack. We soon found ourselves reluctantly crawling out of bed as the 10.30 morning sunshine shone on our big lazy asses. It’s the start of the day and we were already behind the schedule. What a shame! We grabbed some snacks and headed out of the hotel into the morning bustling city of Chicago…

Gazing at the beautiful city, with skyscrapers and buildings lining up so neatly along the side streets, we were so fascinated and spell bounded. Comparing Chicago with KL, KL is nothing but a disgrace to Malaysia.

Right in the middle of the city, we came upon this huge LED structure that projects different images at varied intervals.

There were also statues, Well-Maintained statues I should stress, which you couldn’t find in KL. We were happily mimicking those statues for the camera.

Antics. We continued walking into the heart of the city, passing by Millennium Park, we came across the famous Chicago Bean! It was a Tuesday morning when we found that lonely Bean. We went around and under, taking pictures of the Bean and our reflections at the same time, as if vain pots, but we were having loads of fun.

We took the subway to the Shedd Aquarium. And what have we found there, more sceneries!

We came upon many strange looking creatures in the Shedd Aquarium. Come to think of it, I took quite a lot of animal pictures when I have such limited batteries in my hand. I decided to leave my charger back home because I thought those batteries would last for 4 days, which they decided to die on me when it’s only the second day. Silly, I know. Thankfully, I had my 8mp N86 phone, which could actually take some awesome pictures. I am DELIGHTED!

It’s time for some history! So we went to the museum shortly after our tour around the Shedd Aquarium. There wasn’t much to see in the museum besides those ancient treasures and statues, hence, not many pictures were being taken. To be frank, this museum looked almost similar to the museum featured in Night in the Museum.

This day was really hectic. Right after that brief and dull museum tour, we went to the Adler Planetarium. The Reason: these 3 tourist spots were within walking distance, so might as well visit all of them at once, save us a trip. We were so jaded that we slept through the complimentary show. All the facts about the universe and the outer space were just plain boring that none of us could bear to stay awake and take in all of it.

The best part of the day was the bird view from Sears Tower, the tallest building in Chicago. We were there just in time to witness the whole Chicago city fell into darkness.

Dinner time came and we were a bunch of hungry wolves. We decided to pamper ourselves with the famous Giordano cheesy pizza. We had a hard time finding the restaurant though. It took us a few walks up and down the same street, some circles we took around the same block. Then as if those weren’t enough to test our patience and our ability to withstand hunger, the restaurant was still no where in sight. It wasn’t time to give up yet. So we tried asking a few pedestrians, who some gave us really ridiculous directions. Called some of our friends who have been to Chicago to confirm the whereabouts of the restaurant. It took us more than half an hour before one of us finally spotted the restaurant. It was as if we were entering the gates of Heaven when the waiter gestured us in. We took our order shortly after we were being seated, and waited for 45 minutes before our pizza arrived at our table. Those pizzas were so stuffed and cheesy that two pieces of them were enough to make your stomach blow. That meal was nothing but orgasmic.

And that was our second day in Chicago. It was really exhausting but full of fun!

Till Then,
Sean

Chicago, One!

2010-06-10T13:02:00.001+08:00

It was a fine, sunny spring morning on Monday when the engine of that huge GreyHound bus revved away, breaking the silence of that sleepy downtown in Des Moines. The next thing we knew, we were sleeping away like dead logs, despite the uncomfortable seats, as the bus hit the hilly road and rocked up and down, as if it were a basinet. We had an unpleasant 8 hour journey with a stop or two before arriving at Chicago. What a relief! It usually take one 6 hours at most to reach Chicago from Iowa, but the bus had to make stops at some station to pick up customers or otherwise. Thus, the lengthened journey.

We alighted the bus and spread our arms, taking deep breathes as the chilly wind bathed on our smiley faces. It was dusk, almost pitch-black when we gathered our carry-on baggage, took out our cameras and started flashing away. If it weren’t our modern apparel and sophisticated gadgets, passerby would think that we just came out from a cave or somewhere so deserted and isolated from the modernized world that it’s as though we have never in our life seen a bus station.

Look at us, people from a land so far away, traveling alone in an alien soil for the very first time, absolutely unaware of what we were about to experience.

Night fell upon us by the time we planned out a treasure map of our own, only that this map will lead us to our hotel rather than a locked antique chest filled with gold bars. We took an anticipated 20 minutes brisk walk along that quiet side streets of Chicago, occasionally stopping in the middle of no where, taking pictures of the mesmerizing Chicago night scene.

It’s common to get lost in unfamiliar places like Chicago, especially during a time where darkness veiled the entire city and rendered those street signs out of sight without the presence of street lights. As we searched frantically for the right route that would lead us to our hotel, we sought help from people who shared the same fate as us, people who didn’t own a car, only that they were more familiar with the streets than we did ourselves. You would be surprised to see people jogging by the roadside at this hour of the day.

Even though it’s rather frustrating to get lost, I was starting to fell in love with the city. She had such immaculate sidewalks and clear river water that it’s as if I belonged there, it felt like I was home again. We walked for more than the expected time, 20 minutes, before arriving at the front doors of Travelodge, the hotel for our 3 nights in Chicago.

It’s good to get some rest after such an exhausting journey, but we soon found ourselves walking by the sidewalks of Harrison street, in seek of good food to satiate our hunger. There were a whole lot of fast food restaurants around the hotel, but we told ourselves we didn’t come this far to experience something we already have back in Des Moines, that pathetic small town that are filled with overflowing serenity. So our ultimate decision was to have a taste of some Thai food from that Thai restaurant located just beside our hotel. Thai Spoon is the name of the restaurant.

Boy, was that restaurant crowded with couples and business people! It was awkward the moment we entered the restaurant, a restaurant packed with mature adults and us going in. Picture that for a moment, oh and don’t forget those stares, that does your parents even know you are here kind of stare. We were being seated at one dark corner in front of a table of rather senior women. We ordered our respective preferred meal and soon we were taking pictures of them and devouring and savoring them like baboons that were on hunger strike for months. I had Green Curry Rice. It was orgasmic at first but I got really sick of it when it was almost done because of the thick Santan and all. Overall, it’s a thumbs up.

We walked in a hungry man and shuffled our way out with a filled stomach and a satisfied smile. There goes our first night in Chicago!

Till then,
Sean

At Last!!!

2010-06-06T15:03:00.001+08:00

It’s been awhile since I last blogged. What exactly is holding me back?

Before my first semester in Drake ended, I had to attend to the siren songs of my life. Kind of corny for an excuse, but I really was struggling to keep myself afloat when those assignments and studies came crushing down on me like those lethal waves of tsunami. I swam, swam with all my might to the surface and gasped for air only to find more coming at me, which crushed me deeper into the sea. I was on the brink of giving up when the thought of getting into the President’s list was thrown to me like a huge life-saving float. I was finally, at the very least, afloat, despite having most of my energy drained. And that’s all that matters. I pushed on to sustain those grades and I’m glad to say that my efforts bore fruits, in fact, the sweetest fruits on earth I have to say. I got into the President’s list with a CGPA of 4.0. That wasn’t very hard, was it? Screw you. People get slashed along the way, bleed profusely, and were half dead when they got there. Some were long dead before they were even close enough to have a glimpse of the President’s list. It’s easier said than done.

When the semester ended, Whoosh. It’s like having tons of burden taken off your shoulders. The craziness unleashed, and all you can think of was to soar high up into that vast blue sky like a freed bird, gasping for fresh air like it were to be your last breath. At least that was how I felt. Most of my time were spent with my friends. We cooked dinner together, cramped up in a small room watching “Diary of A Sex Addict”, went shopping, gathered around a small dining table playing Dota. It was so much fun! I PPS-ed when I had nothing on my to-do list, and I was and am really into PPS. I’m watching so many movies, tons of it in fact, to compensate for those movie time my studies took up during the semester. Besides that, I drowned myself in activities and recreations. I say yes to all the activities Amy and Dan organized, activities I would talk about later on. Went to Bell Center with Ryan when he wanted to get some time off his FM preparation. I just did not want to get involved in words, as it would bring up those stressful moments I had a few weeks ago. Hence, I had to put blogging aside for a moment. Sorry I was on such a long hiatus. Bad habit for a blogger.

There goes my second reason for not blogging for such a long time. And here’s the third. Hey! I’m trying to give you reasonable and elaborated reasons instead of saying “I was busy, period”, which is so rude and short when I had you guys waited for so long! I’m being considerate here, so please bear with me. Here goes. When the time came to start blogging again, I hid and avoided. The thought of having to fill up such a huge blank in the story of my life scares me to hell. I didn’t know where to start and I didn’t want to leave my readers uninformed of those interesting days that I enjoyed so much either. It would be very unfair of me to blast your mind off with all the ramblings I had to make and not share with you even an ounce of sweetness I tasted in life. Being selfish defies the whole purpose of blogging and that’s just not what I’m going to do. So readers, you are now staring at the blog where pain and happiness are equally shared. Be loyal to it and regret you shall not.

So it’s time to put my fears and phobias behind me and embark on this adventurous journey of blogging, starting off from where I abandoned you, shall we? …

…Spring break finally came and my plans did go smoothly. Tuesday morning, Fang Kai, Chew, Ryan, and I were waiting eagerly at the GreyHound bus stop in downtown Des Moines for the very bus that will bring us to a place where all the fun begins… CHICAGO…

Of Randomness

2010-03-06T18:07:00.001+08:00

So the US has been treating me well, but I have some catching up to do when it comes to open-mindedness.

I remember barging into the female’s lavatory when I was still little, wanting to show people that I indeed am slightly different from the norm as I attempted things in a way that the society finds it disapproving but in someway, humorous because I was just a little kid, because as what we’ve learnt through experience in our lives is that little kids can practically get away with anything that’s wrong or crime-based to a grown up/mature individual.

Before I start digressing and going into the details of my obnoxious childhood behavior, allow me to continue. So in the US, it’s a total different thing from what I did when I was of young age, girls enter the men’s lavatory instead.

I had several encounters in the men’s lavatory that involves females. I’ve seen head of girls popping out of the cubicles through the reflection of the mirror when I was brushing my teeth. I’ve seen pink high heels instead flip-flops or shoes through that 6 inches gap beneath the cubicles. I’ve been warned by a bunch of girls not to come out from the shower cubicle without a towel wrapped around my waist because it’s going to take them about 1 minute to pee. And later on, I’ve heard them calling out to somebody outside the lavatory to help them with the door because apparently, they were being locked in. Those were fun encounters.

But if those weren’t entertaining enough, I have something else to share with you guys. It was a fine Thursday night, a night where most Americans would go to the bar or clubs to get themselves drunk and all wasted because there usually won’t be any classes on Friday, when I was doing my stuff and my roommates were doing theirs although it’s way past midnight. Us Malaysians just love staying up, aren’t we?

So I was doing my stuff when suddenly the door of my dorm room slammed shut, indicating that someone just came in or went out. “Bam!” is what you’ll hear when the door shuts itself. The nosy me couldn’t help but to put a halt to what I was doing every single time that noise came beating on my eardrums, pop my head to the other side of the wall and take a peek at the door to see who was coming in or going out. It’s like every moment when that happened, I am bringing myself closer to possessing a great potential of working at front desks, registering people who’re entering or leaving any particular building.

So as usual, I took a peek and saw a big-sized black American walking into our room without giving us any prior notice that he has an intention of entering our room by knocking at our door or whatsoever. It was weird that some stranger just barged into your room for no apparent reasons, but it’s even weirder when he started taking off his pants. I have no enthusiasm in watching a guy being bottom-less, so I turned away the moment I saw his erm.. pubic hair. He was doing it slow-mo so I get the chance to turn away before I stumbled upon little Johnson.

I sat still at my chair wondering what’s happening at the other side of the wall when I heard a sound so positively correlated to a guy peeing on a carpeted floor that without looking I was hell sure what’s actually going on. It was a long pee he took. The reason for me being a bystander is that I wasn’t sure if he’s drunk or he’s sleep-walking. In either condition, it’s a bad idea to wake him up and kindly ask him to buzz off.

First, if you failed to wake a sleep-walker, he might end up peeing on you than on the carpet, in which the latter is not that bad, just that it needs a little cleaning afterwards. Having pee on you? No thank you. Second, if he’s drunk and you’re trying your best to ask him not to pee in your room, you might end up Rihanna-fied. Or what’s worse, he might gun you down because it’s the US??! That’s the last thing that could happen to you in Unis, but who knows What fate awaits you? Third, what if he’s completely conscious of his doings and that was exactly his intention? You might as well say byebye to tomorrow’s sunlight if you acted all hero when you Asian is so tiny. So I did what I do best, nothing. And waited for the rainbows to come out.

So there he left, a puddle of pee for us. How thoughtful…

The following day, today, a Friday, I walked past my RA’s room and saw this written on the whiteboard outside her room, “No peeing on this door – 403.” I guess it wasn’t only my room that fell prey to this peeing monster that roamed the floor of GK at night.

On another note, ever wonder what it takes a person to snatch the final portion of his favorite food from someone who’s waiting in the line? So I went to Hubbell Dining Hall rather late today, few minutes before it closes to be exact.

Today’s food did not leave me much choice and it did not taste good at all, so I decided to go for the pizzas. Because Hubbell was just about to close, they weren’t making any more pizzas, and just nice, I was the forth in line when there were exactly 4 pizzas left. I was behind 3 rather small sized girls and I was pretty sure they were going to have a piece each and leave the final piece for me. So grabbed a plate and waited I did.

When my turn came, this guy came walking swiftly towards my direction, grabbed hold of the final piece of pizza with his hand and walked right past me, ignoring my presence totally. How much ruder can he be? I wonder…

The girl standing in front turned towards me, as if awaiting a dramatic reaction or some sort, but once again, I shrugged it off and showed her the what-can-i-do face. You’ll get used to meeting all sorts of people in this vastly diversified society. Well, good luck to us!

Pretty You!

2010-02-24T11:25:00.001+08:00

I have been very much disconnected from the Internet world for almost a week now. Therefore, blog I shall about my life 7 days ago. But before I start bombarding you with the story of my life, here’s a sequel to my previous blog post.

I almost got a full mark for my Acts test, 77 out of 80, which is 96% after converting to 100%. That was the only good news I had last week. The bad news was, I was loosing the feeling that I was having when playing pool few weeks before, the feeling that every ball I was about to hit is going to pot no matter what. It really is frustrating when the ball did not really pot but went out of target when before you gave your best shot, you were so confident that your estimation and accuracy were accurate enough to bring the ball right straight into the hole.

However, that actually motivates me to discover my weaknesses and faults and be better at pool, a game that I really adore. Every Thursday after my final class for the week at 5.45pm, I will have my dinner and head right straight to Olmsted Center to play pool with a bunch of seniors and juniors. The place is like my favorite hang out spot at Thursday night. I will be there for 3 to 4 hours, just playing pool and nothing else.

I didn’t really get much of pool last Thursday because I was at Jewett Residence Hall rehearsing my performance for the upcoming MASA night. I was reluctant to perform at first but because Stacey was the organizer, I had to help her out because they have inadequate performers.

So I was assigned to this Kadazan dance, which has gentle and slow movements to it. (youtube Kadazan dance if you have no idea what I’m talking about). Dancing “gracefully” to the monotonous beatings of the drums made me feel kinda uncomfortable and gay because I’m not used to slow and graceful dances, but am more used to popping, locking and some breakdancing. But halfway through, we are going to do some hip hop dancing, so oh well, that suits me. Hopefully we’re able to find someone to guide us through with the hip hop parts. Pray hard.

On a different note… One night, I entered the MEN’s lavatory, holding my toothpaste and toothbrush and looking real blur when suddenly, an American girl came out of one of the cubicles!!! My eyes widened because firstly, I was shocked; and secondly, I wasn’t expecting a girl to come out but a guy because it’s a men’s lavatory! She had a embarrassed face on and sorry-ed her way out the door while I gave her the unbelievable-laughter.

Few days ago on Sunday, I attended this American host family thingy. So I tagged along with Lydia’s and Stacey’s host family and went to Jordan Creek, Des Moines’ biggest shopping mall before going to Valley Church, where all American host families in Des Moines meet up for some activities. All Drake students were seated with our respective host families in round tables, and we played board games or poker cards, whichever our host family brought with them that day.

Then it’s dinner time and then performance time and bla bla bla. Then yay! what a great day, and fast forward that to the tormenting moment when I gobbled down management stuff for the exam on the following day. The exam went well and I guess I could get quite a good grade. I’m actually having another exam tomorrow but it was postponed, so no exam! But there’s a quiz on Thursday, so I have to study for it.

And sadly, no pool again for me this coming Thursday because there’s another practice for the Kadazan dance.

Till then! Bye.

Wha’chu Say?

2010-02-16T07:36:00.001+08:00

So the days in Drake have been mundane, almost identical to that in Malaysia. Attending classes, finishing up homework and assignments, studying for exams and quizzes, nothing none of you can’t imagine.

The obvious difference is the weather, of course. I walk shivering rather than with sweat dripping all over my face. I step on snow rather than gravelled paths. I have cold hands rather than sweaty palms. Not to mention also is the food difference. If Hubbell serves good food, I might have rice, chicken, broccoli, and sweet corns. If not, pizza is my sole and ultimate choice. If I’m lucky, I get really nice pizza with melted cheese and tasty crust. If not, I get ridiculously salty and oily pizza that made me feel like my life has been shortened by 10 years.

Aside from that awful food, I still have subs as my final option. But trust me, those subs are not very reliable. The best option is still the instant noodles from Walmart! =)

The day before Chinese New Year, I spent half of my day at Bell Center playing badminton. It was exhausting but enjoyable. I then went out with my roommates to the China Place again. This time the food wasn’t that bad. Maybe I have accustomed myself to the food here.

On the way there, I brought out my new N86 to a test. Took some night scenes of Drake, and not to my surprise, the pictures weren’t that clear. Oh well, it’s 8 megapixel but it’s not perfect. Sharp pictures can be taken during the day though. I’m satisfied with the performance of my new phone. Very!

So I celebrated Chinese New Year with an exam on a snowy day! Took some pictures on my way back to dorm. The exam was quite simple. My professor handed us some review questions last week and most of the questions from the review came out. I was told that the same thing will happen for every exam the professor gives. Free A!

I can’t wait to get back my test papers for ACTS 140! Hopefully Professor Kester could get all the papers marked by tomorrow.

Till Then! Happy Chinese New Year!

Let It Snow!

2010-02-02T14:29:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the delay. It was absolutely, 100%, genuinely unintentional. Okay, maybe there was a slight intention for the delay at the beginning, but I was totally preoccupied with my homework and gatherings and some kick-ass events some Drake’s clubs organized.

Last Saturday, I was at the ISA party at Stacey’s residence hall – Morehouse. I know ISA sound intimidating as it is the acronym of the infamous Internal Security Act in Malaysia. But trust me, the party organized that night was fun Fun FUN!

We had pizzas and also some lemonade for drinks. After making sure all stomachs had been satisfied, we played games!

The first game was to pass down the message, that simple. If I’m not mistaken, there were around 40 of us? We were broken down into 2 groups, the Red and the Blue. So each group made a line and the message was passed down till the last person in line. The fun part of the game was to listen to how significant the message had been altered when the last person in line was called upon to announce the message they received.

Then came the game of popping balloons. No, it’s not the game where you race among each other to inflate the balloon and then sit your big fat ass on it in order to burst the balloon. It’s the tying the balloon on one of your legs and then try to burst other people’s balloon before they pop yours game. Of course, the Blue team won because I was in the team, cheh.

After that, we were all broken up into groups of 2 and I bet everyone of you is familiar with this game. I don’t know what it’s called but it’s the game where you have to have your feet on the newspaper that was to be folded in half each time the music stopped, at all times. I teamed up with Yin Qi and we almost won. We cheated a bit but Yin Qi’s feet were never outside the newspaper! (He was piggy-backing me).

I think after that game, they figured we were exhausted and needed something cold to quench our thirst, that’s when the ice-creams came! And while I was eating the ice-cream, I played musical chairs. Yes, musical chairs. I was never good at musical chairs so I was eliminated soon enough.

The dance floor was opened after a second round of musical chairs. Didn’t dance much because my quadriceps were too exhausted from the badminton game I had before the party. How serious was it? Whenever I stand up straight, my quadriceps cramped, that serious. I had to literally keep my legs bent for 10 minutes to give the muscles some rest.

Sunday was another boring day. I had 3 back-to-back classes today, there’s nothing much to say. But it snowed today, quite heavily. Nice! =)

And yes, as promised, I’m going to post up pictures of Drake covered in white snow! Be patient.

I shall try taking pictures of snow with a different mode next time.

Till then.

Popcorn Friday!

2010-01-26T13:55:00.001+08:00

I know it’s Monday but this title has been moving about in my mind since Friday. Why? Last Friday, I tagged along with my friends and a few Americans after dinner at Hubbell Dining Hall (Where else even though the food is revoking) for an American board game session at Morehouse. The game is called Killer Bunnies.

Never mind the game if you’re that kind of person who doesn’t like really really slow game. But if you do, google is all yours. It’s not that I’m bad at explaining things, which unfortunately is actually quite a fact, but it’s best if you learn as you play. All I can say is that the main aim is to kill bunnies that don’t belong to you, that’s why the name killer bunnies. Make sense?

Coming back, we get to eat popcorns while we played and the smell of popcorns was really aromatic. In addition to that, there was this similar burst of aroma of popcorn blasting through the atmosphere that tingled my nose hairs when I was on my way back to my dorm room in Goodwin-Kirk (we call it GK for short). So, having popcorn smells slapped twice on my face, HARD, I pretty much think that Americans eat popcorns on Friday, and therefore, led me to the title – Popcorn Friday! Yay!

In case you’re wondering about the food in Drake, it’s awesome. Trust me. It can make someone with a huge appetite go down with diarrhoea, then make him feel like vomiting every second the thought of Hubbell food flashes through his mind and not forgetting, instilling phobia and fear into him that he never takes food in large amounts no more. That’s how AWESOME Drake’s food is.

Yes, I had diarrhoea, then fever plus a headache which lasted for 3 days? It was tormenting and in this kind of freezing weather, it was hard recuperate. For those who’re in the US currently, drink more water and don’t get sick, blizzard’s coming! It’s easy to get ill but it’s hard to get out of it.

On Saturday, the Malaysian Student Association (MASA) at Drake held a Welcome Back Party for all MASA members, and practically, you’re a member of MASA if you’re a Malaysian. So for the sake of meeting the seniors and other Malaysians to build up my network, I slept in that day just to make sure that all my illnesses were gotten rid of. It didn’t quite work but I definitely felt better than previous days.

The party was okay. It wasn’t like any other parties where there’s ample supply of beers and alcohols for guys to down just to impress girls, who then become all drunk and wasted and start puking at every corner they swayed to. Neither was there a disco ball hanging on the ceiling, brightening the entire room with rainbow colours while sweaty people squeezed onto the dance floor and started nodding and shaking along with the rhythm of the music.

NO! Not even close. This party was way laid-back than that. We did a little bit of speed dating. Basically new students us, were arranged to be sat next to a junior or a senior and we start talking for 2 minutes, then we move to the next senior or junior, that speed dating. Then there’s the game of matching characteristics, which I will definitely bore you to death even more if I go into detail. The benefit gained from the party was that you get to know more people along the way despite the corny and lame activities implemented to achieve that objective. So yea. No comment.

I was invited by Ken Vin, one of the seniors to this Saturday Night Supper thingy, which is on Sunday (weird) at one of the American homes for some home-cook dinner after I complained to him about the food at Hubbell when we were speed dating (sounds wrong but it was what we were doing).

On Sunday, I went without any hesitation just to get away with Hubbell food for the night and of course, to gain more experience of the American culture. It was a long 20 minute journey and when I stepped into the house, there were around 20 of us cramping in that small wooden American house, eagerly waiting for dinner to be served.

Although the food was almost similar to those at Hubbell i.e. rice, chicken, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, but it tasted way better. Love it. We played a little card game called President after dinner before bidding goodbyes to them folks and heading back to Drake. It was a great night! There’ll be one every Sunday night and I sure am going to all of them if I have the time. No, I’ll find time for it. =)

It’s snowing heavily today and yes, there’ll be pictures! But not today. Hee~

Till Then.

Weather Fun!

2010-01-21T03:42:00.001+08:00

So, yesterday I had my first class in Drake University at Aliber Hall 0006. It was Theory Of Interest, the only class I had in my schedule for the day.

It started off pretty interesting with Professor Kester joking away, then it got a tad boring as he started going through the materials on the textbook. Your mind usually start wandering away when a professor does that but he was constantly trying his best to brighten up the class. Appreciate it much.

And there’s one thing I have to say, Americans can be really really smart. Never look down on them.

On a different note, the weather yesterday was beautiful. It snowed and the bald trees were smothered with powdery snow that when the wind blows, the snow came down as if it was still snowing. I didn’t expect myself to amble across Drake with a camera in my hand and start clicking away because PLEASE, I’m a student, not a tourist. At least I will feel pretty awkward doing that. So I took a picture of the scenery from my dorm room. =) Pretty?

I know I had to show you my uni one day, so I chose this day, Jan 20, a Wednesday, a perfect day for venturing out into the cold when almost everyone is still hiding themselves under thick comforters and snoring away, to bring back some pictures of Drake especially for you.

Why? You ask. This day was supposed to be the most hectic day for me each week, but due to the weather condition in Des Moines, (I don’t know about other states) freezing rain and yada yada, all classes are cancelled today.

You think I must be prancing around with joy. No. I had my sleep being interrupted twice and you know, waking up twice is not a fun thing to do. At first, I woke up at 7.30am to find that the earliest classes have been cancelled. I then hopped onto the bed and get on with my sleep. 3 hours later, I was awaken by the alarm and when I checked, the notice has been altered. This time round, the cancellation of classes was meant for the entire day. Are you kidding me?

Coming back on track, I covered only a few buildings but I think it’s sufficient to give you a general idea of how my uni looks like because most buildings look similar, with red bricks, windows and all. Not to worry, I will be back with more pictures, just to keep you waiting and to build up the suspense.

That’s all that I’m saying and I bet you’re swearing at me already. “SHUT UP NOW AND JUST SHOW THE PICTURES!” Sean, “OKAY OKAY!”

Olmsted Building, the place where I had my Drake ID done and where you can have Subs, Pizzas and whatever they have for lunch and dinner. Not buffet style.

This is Goodwin-Kirk, my residence hall. It’s also the place where I play pool with Hern Ee and Angus.

The black building on the right is Meredith Hall, where I’m going to have my Probability 1 class. Sorry I was taking from quite a distance.

Look how a cold weather with freezing rain can cause tree branches and every other things to be frosted up. The building on the right is Aliber Hall, where most of my classes would be at.

This is where Yi Yun and Lydia currently reside in - Morehouse. It’s right beside Aliber Hall as you can see from the above picture.

Yes! I was wearing a pair of slippers while taking those pictures.

These are the classrooms in Aliber Hall if you haven’t notice they are classrooms.

That’s all for today. Stay tuned! =)

Campus Life

2010-01-18T14:56:00.001+08:00

It was just yesterday night I spent my first night in Goodwin-Kirk. The bed was very nice to sleep on and all the bed sheets I brought from home made my room feel very homey. It took me almost 2 hours to unpack all my things from 2 luggage and so I was tired and lazy after that. That’s why the slight delay of updating my blog.

I broke out of my daily routine of coming online after moving into the residence hall. There’s so much to do here and it is so much nearer to those places from the dorm compared to the house at Cottage Grove Avenue. For instance, there’re 2 pool tables at the ground floor of my residence hall which you can play for as long as you desire at zero cost.

Apart from that, Bell Centre which has basketball courts, badminton courts, squash courts, swimming pool, gym and so forth is less than 10 minutes walk away. If you are a sports averse person, then feel free to join the slew of clubs and societies Drake has or you could always lock yourself in the room 24/7.

As for the food part, it’s pretty much taken care of as Hubbell Dining Hall is once again opened for students. With a meal plan, you could enjoy the large variety of food HDH provides. And because it’s buffet style, you could eat as much as you can. Besides that, McDonald’s, Subway and Starbucks are now only a stone throw away. So if you were to get bored of the food in Drake, you know what to do.

This is what I did today.

I woke up at 10 in the morning and started upgrading my Operating System. Although it took me more than 2 hours to fully upgrade my lousy Vista to the awesome Windows 7, the result was satisfactory and it was worth the hassle and the waiting.

An authentic copy of the Windows 7 OS costs around $30 if you’re a student of Drake. Yes, as a Drake student, you get privileges like that. However, I didn’t pay for a single cent because Choon Hoe has a complimentary copy which I suppose came along when he bought his Dell back in Malaysia. I decided to give it a try and it worked! Boy did it feel good to have Windows 7 operating your laptop.

A little later after lunch, I went over to Bell Centre with Hern Ee for badminton. There, I met a lot of people, all Malaysians if you’re curious, and one of them was Ian. Finally get a chance to see him. I had a great time playing badminton, a game which I retired from more than half a decade ago, despite being thrashed like mad. It was fun.

Now this is something you won’t get very often. Chloe and bf came down to Des Moines from Ames for some beef noodles for dinner at this restaurant called A-Dong. So the bright shiny light bulb me tagged along. What? I haven’t seen Chloe for quite some time already okay.

So the beef noodles was really scrumptious and filling. Unlike the beef noodles you get in Malaysia, the beef noodles here are really beef noodles and not noodles with a minute amount of beef. The beefs were as much as the noodles I must say. And hell no I’m not exaggerating. I’m up for more. *hint hint*

At 10 something at night, I went down and had 7 games of pool with Hern Ee before coming back up to finally have some rest. What an exhausting day! =)

Pictures time?

That’s all. Byee.

Unfamiliar

2010-01-14T02:04:00.001+08:00

Seeing that the number of viewers and readers have increased for the past 3 days, I decided to reward each and everyone of you enthusiast of A Comprehensible Affection with another update of my life in Des Moines. Apart from posting up words which I know most of you despise, I’m also going to upload some pictures I have taken on my trip to Des Moines and some, in Des Moines itself.

Before rummaging through the contents of my luggage for the transfer cable, allow me to talk about random facts about Des Moines and the people.

As I have mentioned, I am now staying with Hern Ee, Angus, and Pek Hong (a Malaysian girl whom I’d not mentioned) in a house, which is pretty huge from the outside but not from the inside, in 2801 Cottage Grove Avenue. This house in which we currently reside has 3/4 levels, however, due to the extremely unique design of it, all floors are not connected to each other. Meaning, there are no stairways in any of the floors which lead to the next.

In fact, each floor has its respective entrances at different sides of the house. Ridiculous as it may sound, it took Hern Ee long enough to know that Ian is staying in the same house as him but on the higher level. Speaking of Ian, I have not seen him for a little over a year now and still haven’t got a chance to see him. As the saying goes, so near yet so far, it can be very convincing at times.

After spending more than a day in this suburban, I realize everywhere could be just a stone throw away from everywhere. What also caught my attention is the design of the road, which made “getting lost” sound pretty absurd. Everywhere is a walking distance from everywhere but people don’t really walk much now because of the extreme weather condition, duh.

Since yesterday was my first night here and I was sleeping on a sofa due to insufficient beds, I didn’t sleep really well. I woke up at 7 in the morning, my earliest yet ever since God knows when, and turned on the laptop. Trust me, it was a long wait until those 2 boys got out of bed. I was so starved that at 2 in the afternoon, I barged into their room to inform them about my grumpy stomach.

Because I was planning to open an account at the US bank near Drake, we went to this place called Jimmy Jones for lunch. It was something like subway but they serve their sandwiches with French bread instead of those fancy Italian ones. It cost me less than 6 American Dollars (considered cheap if you give your head a smack and stop doing those conversions) and I really loved it. Not to mention, the portion was big unlike Malaysia’s Subway, where a supposing half foot long bread was served in less than 6 inch.

Then we got our butts to the other side of the road and went into a building which has a “US Bank” board, covered with white snow, fixed to the wall just above the entrance. It was really really a tedious process to open a bank account. I bet I took around 1 hour or more to get everything done.

It was already pass 4.30pm by the time we reached Olmsted Centre. It spoilt the plan of getting my Drake ID done when we came to a locked entrance door and a completely dark building. Since we were already out, we decided to pay Yi Yun and Lydia a visit. It was really nice to see them but their apartment was steaming hot, we ~~didn’t~~ couldn’t stay for long. It’s like the hot wind you get in Malaysia but without the wind. Someone could get suffocated in there, seriously.

We then went to McDonald’s for dinner, Woot~ The price was FUHREAKING CHEAP! They actually sell Chicken and Cheese burger for $1, FREAKING ONE AMERICAN DOLLAR. Now I know where to go when I’m starving, 5 chicken and 5 cheese burgers, please. Thank you. We stayed at McDonald’s for awhile before heading back to Yi Yun’s to deliver her her meal.

The night yesterday was a bit chilly, plus it was colder than previous nights but I can totally survive this. =)

Till then.

At KLIA

At Changi

I ate Burger King at 3 in the morning.

Look how empty are the food courts.

The entire airport was also empty at that time.

I was on my way to get my boarding pass at 4.15 in the morning.

I got myself a window seat on the flight to Hong Kong.

At Des Moines

Front View: The house in which I’m staying.

Side View.

I can See Snow everywhere~

Sean Arrives At Des Moines

2010-01-12T13:20:00.001+08:00

After an excruciatingly long flight from Hong Kong, I arrived safely at Chicago O’hare airport to find myself in the midst of an emergency situation.

During the 14 hours flight, one of the passengers suffered from breathing difficulty I supposed. It was so serious that the flight attendant had to summon a doctor among the United Airlines passengers over the PA. After arriving at Chicago, we were all required to remain in our respective seats as the doctors rushed into the plane to the rescue of the patient. You get that once in awhile.

At the custom, the queue wasn’t very long compared to the queue I was in at KLIA. I quickly got out the necessary documents and hoped that everything would go well for me. Well, FML, things always don’t go smoothly for me, just like how I was put on hold for a week before I could get my US visa.

The immigration officer behind the counter greeted me and started punching down my info to the computer in front of him after I conveniently handed him my passport and documents. I sensed something went wrong when he’s taking a much longer time than supposed. After he was done, I thought, Great! I could go get my luggage, YAY!

Instead of saying Thank you, have a nice day, he told me to follow another officer to get my process completed. Great! What now? So I followed this officer whose name was Rolland or something like that, pass through all the counters right to the counter at the end, just like someone who was going to be detained. Freaky much? I was then asked to fill up a form that has “US Homeland Security” printed on it as the header. What is this all about?!

When I was done filling up all the details that I remembered filling for more than a thousand of times just to come to US to further my studies, I handed it to another officer and was asked to grab a seat. Okay, that means the hope of all is well went Kaboom because for God knows what reason, I was being held back.

I sat on the aluminium bench and watched “NSEERS REGISTRATION” those two words ran through the LED board just above the counter over and over again for about an hour before being summoned to the counter again. Behind the counter, Officer Mitchell asked me for some biological verification and explained that if I were to leave US, I had to go through all the hassle again or else I would be illegally leaving the country. FML. No leaving the US until 2 years later then, thank you.

At gate F12 in Terminal 2, I boarded UA6225, a really small plane and departed to Des Moines at 4.25pm. Hey, it’s not as smooth as it sounds. The flight was delayed for about half an hour. The best part was that I reached the gate half an hour before the expected boarding time. Which added up to a solid 1 hour time of waiting.

So, I went to the wall, put me bags down, took out my laptop, sat against the wall and started blogging offline with Windows Live Writer cause the wireless service in Chicago Ohare Airport was just like that in Changi. This showed how useful Windows Live Writer is, okay? (This message is for those who chose not to heed to my advise). =)

Despite all the delays, I arrived at Des Moines airport just in time to see Siva, a senior Drake Student who’s also majoring in Actuarial Science and who’s also a Malaysian, walking through the automatic glass doors. I identified him with the Drake hoody he was wearing, Duh.

After loading my heavy luggage into the boot, Siva took me around University Avenue before heading to Cottage Groove Avenue, where Angus and Hern Ee now temporarily stay.

My tummy was grumbling ever since I landed in Chicago. So, shortly after all my luggage were stowed in the house, I went out with Hern Ee to this Chinese place which was a walking distance from the house. I must admit that the portion served here is bigger than that in Malaysia but the taste, obviously, wasn’t close to the standard of Malaysian’s food. Owh, and did you know that in US restaurants, they expect you to give a 15% tip?

I guess that’s about my trip to Des Moines. =) The weather tonight wasn’t freezing cold although it was –10 degrees Celsius. However, if there’s wind, then everything would’ve just been plain shivery.

PM me if you’re curious about how I’m really doing here.

Byee.

Fly You May

2010-01-11T05:58:00.001+08:00

Just in case you haven’t been informed about my flight to the USA, I left KLIA at 8 in the evening yesterday. Booyah.

So I departed from home at around 3.30pm. Throughout the 50 minutes journey to the airport, I contacted some of my relatives yada yada to bid them goodbye. It wasn’t a tear-inducing moment.

Of course, I also received some calls. One of them was from my darling, Shermaine. It was so nice to hear from you and trust me, I’m starting to miss you already. =’(

At the airport, the queues at both counter E and F were like a gigantic anaconda. I wasted almost an hour waiting for my turn to check in. It added on to my frustration witnessing some immoral people cutting queues. They were supposedly late for the check in and were allowed to do so (cut queues). Might as well be late than early then.

After getting everything done, I buzzed Clement who had earlier arrived at the airport with his 2 other friends to send me off. We were getting ourselves into a really interesting convo when Elaine’s call hampered that progress.

Thanks for the call, Elaine. It somehow calmed me down although I’m not nervous, and you failed to make me nervous. I have to say this. You are so motherly! =) Not referring to your age but your concern and care. You know what I mean.

Arriving at Changi airport at around 9.00pm, I leisurely walked to the information counter to gather the information about subsequent flights and boarding passes. I then sat the sky train to Terminal 3, the terminal in which I will board UA896 to Hong Kong at 6.50am. Bravo! It’s 10 hours from then on.

Seeing that I had ample time to spare, I decided to explore around the pretty Changi airport. As I walked across the airport, I began to wonder how a not-so-pretty airport like KLIA could win the best terminal award.

Finally satisfied with the distance I’d covered, level 2 and level 3 included, I found myself a seat at one of the WiFi spots and started browsing through the Net with my laptop. Owh. In order to access to the wireless service Changi airport provides, you have to surrender your passport at the information counter and get a free account. If you are a hassle-averse person, bring along an internet cable. Then you can have free access to the Internet without having to log in.

MSN and Skype were the best way to kill time, seriously. And not to forget, Facebook. Half of the time, I was chatting with my friends and boy did time fly pass me! Thank you Clement and Qing Han for staying up late to keep me company.

Of course, my family were there too, to remind me of this and that and this and that and this and that. Never ending. Until finally, it quieted down when bed time came. I stayed awake the whole time. Imagine that.

Ate Burger King at 3 in the morning and got my boarding passes at 4.45am. It’s 5.53am right now. In just a tic, I have to get myself prepared to board on my next flight to Hong Kong! Till then.

Byee!

Ps: I am very proud of myself for not feeling nervous at all when it is my first time travelling to somewhere so far away from home, ALONE. =)

Best NYE Celebration

2010-01-02T18:37:00.003+08:00

So it’s that time of the year again, which I very much look forward to. No, it’s not Christmas, and No, it’s not New Year. It’s uncle Jak Boon’s house party!

In case you’re wondering who uncle Jak Boon is, he’s neither an uncle nor a relative of mine. He was an old classmate of my dad way back in Malacca High School. It is nice to see how they are still keeping in touch after so many years.

Just 2 years ago, uncle Jak Boon started taking the initiative to gather his classmates back from MHS for a bonding session at his spacious crib. This year was a tad different from previous years because he decided to have a NYE celebration instead. *He usually holds the party after new year*

Come to think of it, it’s a good thing he made a slight change this year or I would have missed the best party of the year. Good food, good environment, good people, good company… What else can you ask for?

It always have been a DIY popiah party because uncle Jak Boon prepares the best popiah sauce and ingredients ever. So far only praises were heard.

This time, the party comes with even more scrumptious food, Malacca Duck Mee! That was really orgasmic. I ate 2 bowls of it even after eating rolls of popiah. Felt like having more but oh well, have to leave some for others. =)

Wait.. There’s more. We had homemade sago layered with saturated Malacca sugar and soaked in coconut milk for dessert! Way better than the ones we had during PROM and the Thanksgiving dinner.

Tequila jellies were being served too. There were red and green jelly. The green ones tasted like Listerine, the red ones are just like the cough medicine you can grab from a nearby pharmacy. Both had some bitter taste to it. We were joking about the taste of the jelly when one of the uncles said, “The next colour that will be served is Blue(Viagra).” Funny much.

We had a glass of red wine each while waiting for the new year countdown. The wives clumped together and gossiped away. Some uncles and aunties joined uncle Paul as he played the keyboard and sang to the melodies of songs back in the 70s. I was pretty sure a pang of nostalgia swept through the entire living room then.

When it was half past 11, one of the uncles went around with a huge red plastic bag, distributing a bag of party accessories each to the olds and the youngs. That was pretty unexpected. Soon, whistles and party horns blasted through the living room, adding on to the cacophony.

I joined the fun and was later tempted to take pictures of cool uncles and aunties having fun playing with what are the kids favourite toys in parties. Hey, people of the older generation know how to have fun too yo! Don’t play play.

With the black box switched on, we countdown New Year together, shouting in decreasing order the seconds we had left to the new year 2010 at the top of our lungs. When the time was up, everyone was cheering, hugging, and exchanging handshakes, wishing each other Happy New Year. The atmosphere could not have been merrier with these people.

With that I had the best New Year Eve celebration ever. I really wish I have that kinda celebration every year. =)

Kiss The Rain

2009-12-29T22:35:00.001+08:00

Back when the Fall semester was still on, I told some of my friends about the song “Kiss The Rain” played by Yiruma. It’s a very nice song that I did not hesitate to learn. I started playing the song day and night before I began to master it.

I put some expressions into it and strived to make it sound perfect. It wasn’t easy, trust me. The days I took to make it sound right were definitely way more than those I took to learn the song. Apart from that, it’s very hard to play expressively in front of the camera. OMG!

So as promised, I’m dedicating this song to a friend of mine. *It goes with the poem I gave you* Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: PLEASE DO NOT FALL ASLEEP WHEN YOU’RE LISTENING TO IT!

I Love My Friends!

2009-12-12T02:32:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, I had dinner with some of my ~~high school~~ ex-classmates at Wang Chiew restaurant.

The name of the restaurant is real stupid. The Mandarin version of it - 黄记 - is pronounced as Huang Ji; Cantonese version - 黄记 - is pronounced as Wong Kei; and the English version reads Wang Chiew. What the heck? So I got into a slight trouble when telling my friends about the restaurant we’re going to dine at. (I used the Canto version when they are more familiar with the English version)

Anyways, I was really delighted when most of them turned up, which proved that I am not really a bad organizer! In fact, one of them actually brought someone along*coughjaspercough*.

To satiate your curiosity, those who went were Michelle, Wei Guan, Li Foong, Wei Hoong, Jon, Jasper & GF, Jordan *LF’s Neighbour and I just knew about it*, Say Keong, Yung Xiang, KyeLing *Back from Aus!!*, and Huey Ee. So happy to see KyeLing after so many years.

My greatest achievement of the night – ordering food for everyone (13 of them) and it wasn’t easy. 6 dishes weren’t enough, sorry. But hey, we did have a balanced diet dinner. We had chicken, pork, fish, green vegetables, and tofu! Carbo, Fats, Protein, Fibre, etc. all there! =) My tummy wasn’t really satisfied, though, but it’s the atmosphere that counts.

Without further ado, let’s get on with the pictures.

Ah~ What a wonderful family portrait!

Awww~ Me and 3 Angels. Charlie’s Angels? =)

From right: 1 serious, 1 suffocating, 1 AB-normal.

Ze good boys..

Jasper the friendly guy. Finally got yourself a companion eh?

KyeLing and Little Miss Sunshine! Yes, that shirt suits you a lot Huey Ee.

*********************

Second Round, People. Went to Swensens in Ss2 for some delectable desserts! Whee~

Ss2 is always so jam-packed! I wonder why people flock to MURNI every night without FAIL when the place is not very hygienic *sorry but true* and the food is not really that Gooooood, plus the food is expensive. Can someone kindly explain to me, please? It made finding a parking space around that area almost impossible.

I wasn’t taken aback that I was the last to get my car parked. Haha.

So it was my second time at Swensens. The first time was at Changi! The steak I had was really really great. I missed it so much. Coming back, I fell in love with the Banana Split Ice Cream thingy when I flipped open the menu. Ordered it and it was great but I have to admit that I regretted a little. Should have ordered something extraordinary. Never mind, there’s always a 3rd time!

Li Foong had a slight dilemma back then choosing between soup and ice-cream. She chose ice-cream in the end. Wei Hoong was relishing his Chocolate something ice-cream to every drop of it, Michelle thought that the mango ice-cream tasted a little bitter, and Jonathan, who was sitting on the other end of the table, was trying so hard to seduce someone with his seductive ice-cream eating technique when he was surrounded by guys, weirdo. But overall, ice-cream made everyone happy! Yay to ice-cream.

On the unhappy note, half the group just sat and had ice water as dessert. So potong steam!

Halfway through, Huey Ee and Kyeling went out to buy a pen. Weird. I thought so too at first. Why do you need a pen in a restaurant at 10pm? Little did I know that they needed the pen to write me a goodbye card, but instead, they wrote on Swensens’ quality serviette. Let me show you how sweet they are.

It’s the sincerity that counts. You guys made my day.

Not forgetting Kyeling’s special present for me…

The silver lining – She didn’t get to eat Mango in Australia for a very long time and she’s afraid that my fate will be similar to hers. So she bought this so that I could bring it over to the states and eat 2 sweets each year on my own self-declared Mango Day. Unfortunately, the expiry date falls on March 2010, 3 months after I arrived at Des Moines. Sorry Kyeling! *finishes the sweet*

I feel like a bright, shiny lamp post.

Another lovely family portrait! =)

Glad you guys had fun!

When can we meet up again? I couldn’t stop pondering…

Scarlet

2009-12-04T01:05:00.001+08:00

Few months ago, I had my mom bought me a new piano because the one I had was really really bad. The sound wasn’t nice and I dislike the piano keys. Actually I just wanted a Yamaha piano. =)

So after getting the new piano, I started learning this song called Scarlet. A REALLY NICE SONG!

At first, I was using this piano sheet transcribed by Althea Chia. There wasn’t anything wrong with the piece, just that it’s arranged for beginners. The simplicity of the piece made it sounded different from the original song. I wasn’t pleased.

I went through all the hassle, rummaging through sites in search for a better one. At last! I found this piano sheet arranged by Noir1453. However, that piece wasn’t perfect. So I combined both pieces into Sean’s piece. =) Thank you.

Hope you enjoy. And PLEASE, LEAVE A COMMENT! Thank you.

The REPORT!

2009-12-01T16:34:00.001+08:00

Disclaimer: This is a report I wrote for my club so it’ll be long-ish and detail-ish. The details are not that accurate as I wasn’t at the hall at all times/wasn’t paying attention. So, skip the writings and to the pictures you may. =)

It’s that time of the year again where people gather together on the last Thursday of November for a memorable thanksgiving night. This year 2009, thanksgiving falls on the 26^th of November.

Less than 2 months ago, a newly formed club, American Eagle did not plan to just sit silently and witness this exciting day turn mundane. Collaborating with the Techno Science club, another club of the ADP department had made the organizing of an exhilarating thanksgiving dinner with Charity as the theme, an absolute success.

The clock on the wall showed 5 o’clock, when the preparations were almost done. A little bit more decorations to be put up and some band rehearsals would make it complete.

Half an hour later at 5.30pm, the invited children from the Nur Salam orphanage arrived at the entrance of the hall of HELP’s residence where the thanksgiving dinner was held. They eagerly formed a line before the reception counter to receive a goody bag each, which was kindly sponsored by UNICEF, before swarming into the hall adorned with colorful balloons and ribbons.

While the children were being seated at their respective tables, chattering and giggling away, the committee members were busy ushering guests and VIPs who arrived a little later.

At 6 o’clock sharp, hosts Shannon Goh and Michael Campton put a halt to the cacophony and cheered up the guests with their jokes before moving on to the welcoming speeches.

The thanksgiving dinner officially started after our very own Head of Department Mr. Ho; Ms Rani, the advisor of American Eagle Club; and Edwin Low the president gave their respective speeches on the stage. The long awaited dinner was then served after 3 lucky draw prizes were given out to the lucky ones.

While the children queued up for the food, bands and performers were getting prepared to give the large crowd a mind-blowing performance.

First up was a sexy modern jazz performance by 2 girls, donned in vests and fedoras, popping and locking to the beats of the music, which ended a few minutes later with a thundering applause.

Followed up was a singing and acoustic performance by Green Eggs and Ham. Despite being occupied relishing the wonderful dishes the buffet had offered, the audience sportingly took some time off the food and swayed to the rhythms of “Use Somebody”, a song by King Of Leon and “Chasing Cars”, a catchy song by Snow Patrol, which were performed.

Up next, there were interesting activities and amazing prizes up for grabs for the kids, now that their tummies were satisfied. Standing side by side, the kids were given deflated balloons each. In order to get the prize, they had to compete among themselves to be the first to inflate and pop the balloon. It was so much fun seeing how those little kids struggled to keep the balloons in place and pop them.

The next activity was even more exciting as it involved toilet tissue wrapping. After the kids were broken down into 3 groups and provided with toilet rolls, they embarked on a frantic search for a subject to wrap. Michael Campton, the host was held victim by the first group and was stuffed with toilet papers to look like a pregnant lady. Although the activity ended in massive mess, it was worthwhile to see how much creativity was brought into play by the children with just wrapping alone.

The last activity for the children was singing performance. Prizes were to be given to those who had courage to sing a song in front of the audience. Those who love singing started whispering ear to ear for an agreement of a suitable song before heading to the stage. Soon, melodious voices sounded across the hall as the kids swayed their body and sang to every word of their favourite song. The audience was utterly awed and mesmerized by the kids’ performances.

Finally, the last performance for the night was by the ministers of comedy. As they performed, Aunty May went from table to table, gesturing the audience to clap to the beat and kept the party going. When that could not make the night any merrier, she decided to invite people from tables to have a dance with her on the stage. Aunty May definitely made the audience choked with laughter.

Before the night was brought to an end, hampers were given out to the Nur Salam orphanage as charity, which was the theme of the dinner. Another session of lucky draw ensued, which brought the audience to attention. This time round, the lucky draw prizes were bigger, eventually bringing more joy to the lucky ones and greater disappointment to those whose numbers were not being called upon.

The night came to an official close right after the lucky draw.

OKAY! Pictures Time!

Qing Han happily playing with the kids! =)

Jeremy posing when he shouldn’t be there.

I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING! QING HAN IS IN EVERY SINGLE PICTURE! Anyways…..

I don’t like camwhor-ing.

Datin Jeesha! =) Where’s your hot dress?! HAHA.

Mr. KUMAR!

Ms. Rani! The teacher advisor of American Eagle Club and Techno Science?! o.O?

OKAY! SO THIS IS FOR YOUR NECK, YOUR THIGHS, YOUR BELLY, YOUR BUTT, AND YOUR BOOBS… There you go. 5 vouchers for the new Ukimono. =)

I’m not going to eat you Elaine…

That’s all! Heee~

Plain Silly

2009-11-17T21:28:00.001+08:00

There is a never ending list of silly mistakes I made in the past that will bring about life-changing results. I would feel remorseful only after thinking through what I really did. Then I would start worrying as if tomorrow is going to be the end of the world.

This habit of mine is really making me sick of myself. Subconsciously, it's as if I feel that some excitement and drastic changes would make my smooth and perfect little life the more livelier and happening.

A fortune teller once told me... “You are born to be lucky. Your life is almost perfect. One of the loopholes in your life is that you worry too much about things. You have sleepless nights thinking about them. You lose appetite stressing over them. You can't stop thinking pessimistically about the results you might get. These anxieties you have are really unnecessary because things always turn out to be just fine.”

Today, I did a silly thing again. I really hope this time round, the fortune teller will be right once again. If things were to turn out wrong, I’m going to be embroiled in lots of hassles, naggings, and troubles. I would be the one and only silliest person in history who had ever done something that brainless and stupid.

~in silence, I pray~

Jennifer’s Body

2009-10-29T02:40:00.001+08:00

When I first heard about this movie, I told myself it’s a must-watch movie and I’ll kill myself I were to miss out on it. It’s like the most anticipated movie this fall because the well-known hottest American actress Megan Fox is going stark naked in Jennifer’s Body. I can already imagine guys pointing at posters of the movie as they passed by and dreaming about that very day the movie is being released in the night.

However as days gone by, I heard bad rumours about the movie spreading fast like a wild forest fire. I began to have a second doubt about the movie. The must-watch movie had turned into one of those movies that are not worth watching. Since Megan Fox is starring in the movie and she’s going completely naked, it’s obvious that she’s going to be the only limelight of the movie and all else would be trivial and insignificant.

Anyway, I watched Jennifer’s Body yesterday with Clement. Lucky for me, he couldn’t find himself a female date so I was second on his list I supposed. Not that I’m gay and it’s good to watch movies like this with a guy, no? Met up with Mae and Elizah before we entered the cinema hall.

So what can I say about Jennifer’s Body?

It’s a hoterromedy = Hotness + Terror + Comedy.

When you see Megan Fox in Transformers, she’s already super hot. But in this movie when she’s draped in tight spaghetti stripes and super low waist jeans/undies, your brain goes “BOOMS” – Ms. Ris Low. The kinda hotness does not have the same degree as putting your licked forefinger on her body and it’ll go “pssssssss”. It’s way beyond that that it can make you regret doing the mentioned act. You’ll get a burnt finger and start crying for your mommy, that kinda hotness.

To be honest, you’ll go completely blank during and after the movie. You wouldn’t know what just happened or what’s happening cause you’ll be dazzled by Megan Fox’s hotness. And when the movie is over, you’ll have the wtf feeling cause you’ve not gotten enough of her hotness.

As for the Terror part, it’s a little freaky because a hot actress like Megan Fox is bloody all over and altogether she looks like a man-eating maniac with her razor sharp teeth sticking out like a hungry predator thirsty for blood. Trust me, it’s not hot when someone that hot is so monster-ish.

The Comedy part was okay okay, at least it’s not some cold jokes that make you shiver more when you’re already that cold.

So all in all, I wouldn’t recommend you this movie if you show no enthusiasm in girls like Megan Fox or you’ve seen enough of her body! =) OR you’ll be wasting 2 hours of your time sitting through a boring movie that has not much content. Karyn Kusama is smart to smudge her lousy movie with hotness. That’ll win audience all right.

Everyday Life

2009-10-18T14:41:00.001+08:00

So I have been busy with my life and have never bothered to keep track of them. This fine day, I’ve finally broken out of the cocoon and started composing my life journals.

Maybe stating myself as busy is more of an overstatement when comparing to those in the US, but I am busy. Try embroiling yourself in a situation where you have 5 out of 7 days of rest, ample time to spare for siestas and wouldn’t mind waking up to the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun almost every single day. Owh, then you’re left with 2 days to get busy with life, which is tantamount to 32 hours a week only if you plan to have 8 hours of sleep.

32 hours to finish up one week’s work, isn’t that busy? Anyway, I just hope that I could focus on completing my part in the Balanced Scorecard assignment I’m working on currently and get over with it quickly.

On a happier note, I have been having wonderful weekends for almost a month now.

On the 3rd of October, I went to a friend’s house in Kota Kemuning along with my family and had the best moon cake festival celebration ever. Shortly after a hearty dinner of homemade nasi lemak, we armed ourselves with lanterns and candles for reloads and took a short stroll to a park nearby. It was night time and the air was a little chilly but a bit hazy so the air wasn’t as fresh and pristine.

At the park, there were kids running round the park, some playing with candles and waxed them to the graveled pathway, and others chasing each other at the playground while their parents stood aside, dealing with the lanterns. My friends, very much like myself found playing candles/fire much more interesting than lanterns. Hanging our lanterns around an immature palm tree, we started lighting up candles while shielding them from the breeze that whizzed through the park. Then it drizzled a little but that didn’t hamper us from having fun after so many years. Before we went home that night, we ate mooncakes and drank Chinese tea just like how anybody would celebrate mooncake festival.

On the 4th of October, my high school friend Kah Soon drove his brand new Honda city and picked Michelle, Chuan Chuen and me up along the way to Cineleisure. It was Kah Soon’s birthday on the 1st of October but because it fell on a weekday, we decided to postpone the celebration to the weekend. A fine Sunday morning it was when we hit Cathay Cineplex. Approximately 10 minutes later, we regretted buying the tickets.

It was Far Cry, a low budget film with hardly any contents starred by unprofessional actors and actresses, we were watching and I almost cried for help. The movie was on v-fib all the way, even during the fighting scenes. Trust me. It was so atrocious that any other movies ever filmed would have been better than this one. I was totally speechless when it ended.

I give Far Cry a mere 2 out of 10 for their effort, which obviously did not bear any positive results.

On the 10th of October, 5 days before my mom’s birthday. We had an early birthday celebration for her at Sushi Tei in Tropicana City Mall. Japanese food is one of my favorite, in fact, my whole family enjoy eating Japanese especially Sashimi that goes well with wasabi. We ordered Teriyaki steak, Unagi Kabayaki, Salmon Mentaiyaki, 3 plates of Ebiko Sushi, 2 plates of Sashimi, 4 bowls of Sushi Rice, and some kind of grilled chicken with rice (forgotten the name for it).

Boy, was it a delicious meal! I relished every bite of it so that the taste could I remember for days. Here are some pictures of the food we ordered.

Guess what?! We celebrated for my mom once again on her birthday itself, October the 15th. This time, we went to Italiannies at The Curve. It wasn’t crowded that day despite the Deepavali holiday or whatever holiday it is. I’m a little ignorant about holidays nowadays because I’m no longer in high school and I only have 2 classes a week soihave5daysofholidaysaweeknomatterwhat.

So yea.. We ordered Lasagna A La Ravina, Chicken Parmigiana, and Penne Bolognese. The atmosphere was wonderful until they started playing the music like some kind of pub and it was noisy. We had to talk over the cacophony to make each other understand what we were saying. Then frustrated mom asked one of the waiter to lower down the music but they ended up switching it off.

Those are the birthday celebrations this month. Other outings were Friday movie outings with Aaroni, Qing Han, Jie Hwa, and Bryan. We had watched a couple of movies like Gamer, Ugly Truth, Surrogates, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Pandorum.

Gamer was so unrealistic and inhumane. You either pay to control or get paid to be controlled. It’s a sick movie. Some perverted bastard could hire you, for example, if you’re a sexy lady, bring you around and make love with strangers while you’re unconscious. Or some immature child could hire you, if you’re an inmate, control you in a gory battle where if you were killed, you’ll be dead forever. No resuscitation or whatsoever to bring you back to life. I hope we’re not seeing our future right there.

Ugly Truth was awesome with pretty Katherine Heigl starring as Abby and handsome Gerard Butler starring as Mike. I love how they put words in a way that it’s obscene and funny at the same time. Totally a brilliant adult comedy.

Surrogates was of something similar with Gamer but better. This time it involves robots in lieu of real human body and you’re totally in control of your own substitute(s). You could perform dangerous stunts like skydiving, bungee jumping and etc. without having to consider the risk of death while having the ability to gain pleasure from what you’re doing. But to own a surrogate would cost one a hell load of money.

Okay. This is one happy animation. An ambitious scientist who persevered to make his every endeavors in creating a machine that would contribute to the world worth while. He worked hard in his crib out in his father’s yard since young to invent something useful despite often being ridiculed at by his peers. Finally, he successfully invented a machine that could turn water into any food one could think of. That’s all I would disclose. Telling the story further would make this a spoiler.

I love the story of this movie and it’s not scary at all! So for non-Horror movie lovers, you could include this in your list. =)

That’s how I enjoyed half the October away.

Crazy Beginning

2009-09-17T22:22:00.001+08:00

A lot had happened recently but I was a bit laid back about putting it all up in my blog. With my latest post due sometime a month ago, you could already guess the number of chill pills I have been consuming. So, I’m here to haul it all up the ocean before everything sinks deeper and fades away.

If you are someone who keeps track of my barren blog, you definitely know that I had been working part time jobs on and off throughout the previous semester break, which had earned me quite an amount of pocket money. I was coerced into putting a halt to my sudden urge of working when college reopened, which was something I actually looked forward to.

On seeing the miserable ADP timetable, I was gravely disappointed at the number of subjects offered this fall semester. However, when I gave it a slight thought, I couldn’t help but empathize HELP, as dedicated lecturers as Ms. Yap and co. had turned or are turning their backs on the institute. Leaving behind a pillar-less crumbling tower, which is not only facing a shattering end but also an imminent danger of bankruptcy, sadly to say.

4 days of waking up early and attending a full 10 hours of class each day, gave me more doubt of what not to take than a comforting assurance of what subjects to take. As an ending outcome of shopping around and choosing subjects, what I got was exhaustion instead of a decision. I sought help from Ms. Mamoorian, who is the admin of Drake University via E-mail and later found out that the only subject I could take was Accounting 2. Ridiculous ain’t it? How can someone take only one subject in a long semester? Unless that someone is as jobless as Riz.

Political Science wasn’t that bad, especially when Mr. Ho the Head of Department was the one conducting the class. A retired lawyer Mr. Ho shared many of his first-hand experience in class, which I found amusing despite the exaggeration of having to make friends with the ministers of the Malaysian government and even some former president of the United States. Frankly speaking, I was this close to registering the subject as I was pretty convinced that it would be an interesting class. I didn’t in the end after I got a reply re-confirming that it was absolutely unnecessary for me to take it even as an elective. So Accounting 2 it is.

I really couldn’t imagine me wounding up being a couch potato at the end of this semester since last semester had already made me a lot lazier than my first year in college. So I gave myself a little motivation and continued my job hunting stint! Having ample time to spare, once again I was spending time trawling through forums, searching for “lucrative” part time jobs. =)

After sending out about 10 resumes to 10 different agents, I received notifications about interviews via phone calls and sms pretty soon enough. Without further hesitation, I accepted a promoter position at the DiGi specialized store at the Tropicana City Mall outlet due to the reasonable pay and the simple job scope. Never did I know that I was being lured into a Trap of Boredom.

There was literally nothing I could do in the shop. Allow me to enlighten you. My job scope was to promote DiGi postpaid lines and that I would receive a commission of as high as RM 20 after successfully selling 4 lines in a day, the subsequent lines sold would earn me as much as RM 5 per line. Since Tropicana City Mall is a new mall and is nothing compared to any other shopping complexes in the Petaling Jaya district, the number of shoppers were pathetically low each day, even during weekends. I ended up helping DiGi users, mostly foreign workers reloading credits into their accounts.

I felt like a retarded freak who had never embraced any from of education, doing something that only required the least amount of brain work. It was so boring and a complete waste of time that when my friend invited me to a gathering the other night, I smsed and lied to my agent about a family emergency as soon as I hung up the line, ditched my supervisor who was happily playing bejeweled back at the shop, and left work an hour earlier for the gathering. God blessed the night, it was awesome.

The following morning was Fawesome when I was told that some client decided to put the store on hold temporarily, which in English means I do not have to work in that hellish place for some time. But even if I was asked to go back later on, I would reject it anyway.

So, I’m unemployed again! =)

Yuka Revisits

2009-09-13T15:44:00.001+08:00

I was awaken from my dream to the techno rhythm of “Untouchable.” As I fluttered my eyes open, I saw the black phone, neatly covered up and protected by a layer of silicone, flickering as the deafening ringtone filled the room mercilessly.

It was August 23rd, a dazzling Sunday morning as birds gracefully flew over rooftops, chirping away. About a year ago today, I hosted a Japanese girl with the name Yuka, who came to Malaysia under the Lions Club Youth Exchange program. Hosting her was a wonderful experience and a crazy adventure as together, we explored the confusing corners of Kuala Lumpur in sweltering afternoons on foot, taking silly pictures and laughing at the jokes we made.

Yuka’s strength is in mastering languages, which allowed us to communicate with her without much complication. That made jokes more sensible to her, which I fancy and it definitely spared us ample time for more outings rather than staying home trying to explain things to her with awkward body languages. Aside from her prowess in languages, she’s an amiable person who is very approachable and friendly. So it wouldn’t be much of a surprise that she had nested an enormous network of acquaintances during her 3 short weeks of stay over here.

After receiving the call, I heard this familiar voice propagating through the headset from the other side of the line. From that moment on, I knew that today was going to bring back nostalgic moments to me and relive those wonderful memories of Yuka previously etched in my mind. Yes, it was Yuka who had arrived a few days ago. She came over here along with her friends from Japan. After hanging out in Malaysia for about 6 days, Yuka decided to leave her gang and arrange a meet up with us on the second last day of her trip in Malaysia. So nice of her to remember us.

So all the excitement started all the way in Sunway Pyramid, where a guy whom Yuka had been staying with for the past few days, put her under our care. After ensuring that her belongings were safely placed in the trunk, we strolled around and traipsed from handbag shops to boutique aimlessly. Occasionally making fun of each other while trying on trendy shades and putting ugly polka dot dresses around Yuka’s neck.

There was a farewell party specially organized for those Japanese YEs that night in Sunway, but Yuka decided to fling it for a hearty meal with us in Italiannies at the Curve. It wasn’t entirely a regretful choice for her, in fact, it was a great decision to join us at the dinner despite the hard time she had when deciding on whether to join her Jap mates or us.

My dad ordered a plate of chicken lasagna along with some meatball pasta and a plate of steamed chicken with potatoes, seasoned with some Jalapeño slices and a spicy gravy. The expressions she made when relishing those delectable dishes while sipping at her bottomless iced lemon tea was priceless. When all the food were cleared up, she had to struggle to get up from the cozy chair she had been sitting on because she was too full. Had to pay a short visit to the toilet, I guess?

That’s not the right way to call it a day. Shortly after we reached home, we found ourselves heading out the door for supper! Of course, the best place to be was at Kayu in Ss 2. She loved the Roti Canai and the Teh Tarik, so a plate of Roti Canai and a glass of Teh Tarik it is.

After supper back home, we wanted to help her out in tidying her luggage bag as she’s leaving for the airport the following morning. Too bad, she lost the keys to her luggage. What carelessness. Thankfully, she later remembered that it was with one of her friends, so there wasn’t any luggage packing until the next morning. The best part – We called off the plan, donned our pajamas, settled down on a comfy sofa in the living room, and chatted half the morning away. What a day.

August 22nd Part 2

2009-08-30T02:18:00.001+08:00

Half an hour after I received a call from Han Han, I drove down the highway while keeping my eyes locked on the roadside for signboards that could lead me to Felix’s house in Sri Hartamas. No trouble occurred when I searched for Felix’s house, putting aside that blocked junction that could have brought me straight to Felix’s house rather than having to travel around the whole housing area into the second entrance.

So there I was 15 minutes later at the front gate of Felix’s house to find myself being greeted by friendly family members and friends of Felix’s. Soon, I found myself joining the grilling, putting fat pieces of chicken onto the wire gauze, right above those burning charcoals to be barbequed. Aaroni on the other hand, who we jokingly suggested that he could have majored in Culinary Engineering because he seemed to be very interested in culinary, obviously, was happily seasoning his potatoes with onions and seafood with tom yam pastes, and wrapping them up with aluminum foils before barbequing them.

Han Han was so occupied with seeing others BBQ stuff that she’s always seen near the “pit.” Maybe she has a thing for guys who barbeque because I suppose she thinks they’re hot? Wake up please, it’s because they’re smothered by the heat emitted from those burning charcoals. *Jokes* Anyways, she later found herself a new obsession, which was to barbeque sausages without actually leaving any burnt marks on them.

Then there’s this guy whom Felix knew from Frisbee pick-ups, named Terrence was hyperidrosis-ing while he bit into his chicken with relish. Apparently, he found it amusing to bang every single sentence Han Han said and that peeved her alright. Although Han was always thought to be offensive in a way, especially when she’s talking, she appeared to be rather vulnerable that night, revealing much flaw in her speech that were subsequently being corrected by the one and only Terrence. I see a Yin and Yang balance there. Maybe they should get together so that Han would be tamed.

I was at this table for a short moment with this bunch of funny people before I decided to join Han who was barbequing her sausages. They were chatting and laughing away like there’s no tomorrow while I sat speechless at a corner as I did not see any humor in what they said. That’s what happened when you’re in a place of strangers and could not blend in well – Awkwardness it was.

And of course, we had Felix’s darling – Hershey joining us as she wandered around the porch, leaving nothing behind but sets of footprints. Poor Han who couldn’t rear dogs in her apartment found herself calling out for the dog and happily caressing and stroking its shaved fur whenever she got the chance. I’m certain that Han had a whale of time then.

Then gambling time came and all gamblers registered themselves at the dining table, putting in a minimum of RM15 or was it RM10 for some chips in order to get started with. It was poker they were playing. I couldn’t bear watching them play for more than 5 minutes because it was so darn boring, so I got out of the house to the porch where Han was kindly giving Felix’s parents a helping hand in wrapping up the mess we all made.

When the cleaning was done, Han, Terrence and I sat around the little round table and had a small chat with Felix’s parents. Riz, the jobless guy joined in after he got tired of watching the ongoing football match alone, bringing along the leftovers which he had been gnawing on since God knows when. Few minutes after the clock stroke 12, the gambling ended and they all swarmed out of the house, getting ready to head back home.

After a brief camwhoring session, we bade our goodbyes and parted our ways.