Bloopers

Friendzone

2012-02-13T00:18:00.001+08:00

Well, Valentine's Day is upon us, and love is in the air, at least that's what we hope. For those of you who are not familiar, Valentine's Day is our age old celebration of love. Word is, many years ago, some saint named St. Valentine began wedding couples in secret. Why in secret? Well here's a history bomb for you. At the time, the Roman Emporor (not Julius Caesar, some dude named Claudius II) passed a law ordering all his men to remain single, in an effort to boost his armies, since married men were supposedly less than adequate at being soldiers. Anyhoo, yeah, the guy was freakin' martyred for being a rebel.
Unfortunately, now, many decades later, this once sacred holiday has been turned into the celebration of tacky Valentines decorations, cheesy all red/pink gifts and lots of depressed single people who grow older and more alone with each passing moment. There are a few issues that I'd like to point out. Just little things that I've noticed over the years. First off, this is the day when some guys turn their wallets over to the women. I'm always disgusted by how much guys are expected to spend for girls on valentines day. I understand when the guy is super duper nice and wants to give a little special something to someone who makes him happy, but he does it because he's an awesomely nice person, not because social gender roles dictate that he is expected to do so. Speaking of gender roles, I'm always perplexed at this situation when girls ask to be treated as equals to men and yet they expect that all men be extra nice to them, carrying their shit and complimenting them insincerely. If we respect them and let them carry their own weight, they complain about how chivalry is dead. If we try to take care of them, they get mad and say that all men are sexist and mysoginistic. I just don't get it. So girls, make it a little easier for your special someone, be it guy or girl (that's right lesbians, I'm talking to you), and treat them like people, and show a little gratitude. It really goes a long way.....and no spouting any feminist bullcrap. That's just how spinsters live in denial.

This brings me to my next point. The Friendzone. The amazing phenomenon that astounds me till today. I myself have been in this situation for a little while so perhaps I should share my knowledge about this topic. Here's an example of The Friendzone Effect:
Guy is with his crush. Let's call her girl. Girl says some thing like "Oh why can't other guys belike you. You'd make a great boyfriend. Blah blah blah." So Guy takes this as his signal that he should make a move but then she says something like "I'm so lucky to have you as my friend. and just that"
This guy, has just been friendzoned. Some girls are notorious friendzoners, often keeping nice guys as backups in case they want the comfort of a boyfriend without committing so that they are open for something more exciting when and if it becomes available in the near future. Just so it's fair to them, these girls don't know any better. They tell themselves that the relationship is completely platonic and that Guy is just really THAT nice. So Girl takes Guy for granted and Guy leaves for something better. And they lived happily ever after.
For more information about The Friendzone, watch the episode 'Hooked' on How I Met Your Mother. It perfectly illustrates how this phenomenon occurs, with slightly different terminology. On the hook=Friendzoned.
So here's to wishing a Happy Valentines Day to the happy couples, the depressed single people with slowly lowering standards, Friendzoned Guys, Bitchlipped Girls, the naive ones who think they live in a Disney princess movie, the rich ones who can actually afford overpriced Valentines Day gifts and last but not least, the rest of us who live this holiday as they do any other day letting life just happen. After all, it's just another day.

Choy Sun, God of Prosperity

2012-01-31T18:50:00.000+08:00

I suppose it may be a little late to post some stuff about chinese new year, so I'll just say that i enjoyed mine and wish you all a good one. However, there is just one thing that I need to get off my chest.

That is, as you've probably guessed, my burning grudge against a certain CNY Santa. For those of you just tuning in, Choy Sun is the God of Prosperity, a deity some people dress up as during chinese new year in shopping malls to spread good fortune to passers by. Sometime one year ago, Choy Sun gave me a terrible fortune cookie. Not that the fortune foretold my demise or anything, it was just of poor quality and wildly inaccurate. Now it seems, my old costumed nemesis has returned in the form of a newspaper advertisement, full page, welcoming clients who may need his services. Of course, this is the one and only costumed individual who needs to publicise his festive good mood. I don't remember cupid putting out a tv PSA on valentine's day, or even a tooth fairy hotline on dental care month. So, to Choy Sun if you're reading this, really?! And I want you to imagine me saying this with a look of condescending disbelief. Picture one eyebrow raised, giving the body language of "what were you thinking?"

Keep me marked and happy belated CNY.

If It Helps You Get By

2012-01-07T15:51:00.002+08:00

Normal

Been down in the dumps
Hit lots of road bumps
You're beaten and battered and damned
Been hearing some rumours
But take it with good humour
Or the voice in your brain will be jammed
You're at an awkward stage
It's common for your age
Just don't go wishing and hoping in vain
Wishing for wealth and beauty
It get's better, you'll see
You take the good times with the pain
Had some bad days
Clouds won't go away
By the end you feel like a freak
Your body, your clothes
Your voice, and those
Giant round apple sized cheeks
Talk too much or too little
Everyone else is a riddle
You don't understand what's so wrong
Normal, that's what you want to be
But that's impossible can't you see
There's no point in hoping to belong
And what is normal anyway
We ask that question day by day
Yet not one person can find an answer
Don't trust TV, it's makeup and lies
Overloaded with photoshop and CGI
While Internet is just a messed up disaster
Who you are and where you want to go
That's an answer only you can know
Think hard and rely on none but you
Not your parents or friends or teachers
Not Oprah, Obama or Justin Bieber
So what's a confused person to do?
With so much to achieve
You can only just believe
Everyone else is screwed up too
Then maybe when you're old and enlightened
And maybe strong and less frightened
The world will be more screwed up than you
But for now take comfort in the fact
I'll say so with tact
That 'Normal' is fucked up, it's true.

On This Tightrope, I Hang By This Thread

2012-01-04T01:59:00.001+08:00

My first medical interview comes this Sunday. Needless to say, I'm freaking out of my mind. My hands are trembling just typing this sentence. My parents just gave me the ultimatum. Straight A's or bust. Isn't that always the case. Straight A's for all main exams, no excuses, otherwise Medicine is off the table. My results for the AS exams comes in 2 and a half weeks. More freaking out. Then there's my meeting with my brother's friend. She's studying in IMU, and apparently, after 3 years in a medical university, it's become too much and she's considering dropping out. Her words of wisdom," Think twice".

I feel like I'm walking on a tightrope. Any second now, and I could fall. Sometimes, on my more bitter days, I wonder if people are just waiting to see me fail to say," I told you so" or to make me an example. One of those friend of a friend who failed to fulfill his dreams because he wasn't good enough. I can't imagine myself doing anything else and being happy. My family is trying to help. They think they will save me from a life of misery, exhaustion and monetary problems if they can convince me to go another path. A path that's much wider than a tightrope and definitely more stable. Yet, I still refuse and choose the tightrope. My family says I'm stubborn, but I really know I'll never be happy taking the easy way out. Despite their urging, or as my mother puts it, "You can't survive on sunshine and passion. You're just being stubborn and naive." My dad just constantly reminds me that I only have one chance. One chance and if I fail, they'll whisk me off to do whatever they want. At that point, happiness won't matter, passion dies, satisfaction falls to oblivion. To them, it's safer and maybe better to be a rich depressed engineer than an unstable, or worse, terrible doctor. Bah humbug. They say that a strong support system is needed to stay focused on medicine. Otherwise the next distraction will make you fail a major exam or something. I guess I have myself, and....Good enough.

I'll be honest. I'm scared. Scared out of my mind and I have to put on a brave face with all the certainty in the world when I tell my parents that my decision is made. It's no lie. I am not changing my mind. At least not right now. But uncertainty scares me. Failure scares me. I literally have nightmares of failing and having a mental breakdown and getting thrown into an asylum and having people spread rumours about me and attempting to escape by grabbing a fork as a weapon and tossing a guard through a window and getting lobotomized to keep me sedate and having the words 'told you so' written in my blood. That was morbid. Settling scares me. I'm scared because Medicine, competitive and focused as it is, EVERYTHING is uncertain and Failure is just around the corner looking for its next victim. And failure in medicine will lead to settling for some deadpan job. Yet still I walk on the tightrope. One chance. One chance on the tightrope.

Just thought that I'd do some therapeutic venting before I completely lose it. Keep me marked.

New Year

2012-01-04T01:10:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, sorry for dropping off the radar. Computer's been on the fritz. After a very long series of phone calls that I'd rather not get into, long story shrt, my repair charges have dropped by rm100.

I'm also towards the end of the holidays. Altogether, the holidays of 2011, slightly less than exciting. Rather productive though, learned guitar, practised suturing and managed to cover 3 books in about 2 weeks. During this holiday, I've solved a problem that's plagued me since 2009 (Refer to The Pain In The Back Of The Right Side Of My Head). My migraines were apparently caused by a defect in my astigmatism. Now, with my lenses changed, I'm 100% migraine-free.

Also, if you noticed the previous post, I've jumped back into writing. If anyone is interested, please try to come up with a tune to fit the words, since I would love to hear it as a song. For any of my previous posts, really. Just comment with a youtube link or something.

That's it for now. Keep me marked.

Exaggerated Overly Strict Chinese Parents Rant

2012-01-04T00:50:00.000+08:00

How Ungrateful

How ungrateful
So ungrateful
I regret the very day of your conception
This is disrespect
But what can I expect
The ultimate generational deception

It's not the Chinese way
Have you learned nothing in your life?
You owe us this much
My darling, it's such
How can you blame us for your strife

How ungrateful
It's distasteful
Next thing you'll be throwing us in a home
We wait to go senile
And all the sweet while
You'll spend our money going to Rome (Or someplace expensive like that!)

We fear the future
Who will care for us when we're old
We give you everything
Let the fat lady sing
Yet you don't do as you are told

How ungrateful
Every plateful
Of rice that I've fed you is a waste
This is such a shame
Are we to blame
Let's rectify all this with haste

No more books and music
No more seeing any of your friends
And if it's all the same
No computer games
Trust us, it's for your own good in the end (Now go study!)

Weekend

2011-12-14T16:44:00.000+08:00

Last weekend I went to my cousin's house for dinner. As luck would have it, my family had a lot going on for it that week, extended or otherwise.

-My cousins from London came down for a visit
-One of those cousins brought with him his girlfriend and proposed during the trip. Basically during the entire dinner all the aunties were asking the fiancè to tell the story of how my cousin proposed.
-My grandfather met his idol in person, Lee Chong Wei. He also ended up having his photograph taken and was published in the newspaper the next day.
-My eldest cousin and her husband were to celebrate their anniversary.
-Another cousin and his wife are now expecting a child. No word on gender yet, but I'm rooting for a boy.
-My niece's birthday is coming up soon. 2nd year.
-Sometime after dessert, my brother gives my parents a call. He's coming down from Manchester for a visit during the Christmas break.
-Another cousin has just welcomed a dog to her family. Puppy. Toy poodle. Named Wiggle.
-My nephew, who LOVES animals, discovered that he was allergic to his dog the day before the dinner. Consequently, his puppy had to be given away.

Needless to say, it was...interesting. Can't wait till the regular family drama pops up again.

Guitar Hero

2011-12-14T16:33:00.000+08:00

As some of you may know from my earlier posts, I've been considering taking up playing guitar for the past year or so. Well, the decision's been made. As of 2 weeks ago, I am now the owner of a tanglewood guitar. It's a funny story actually. I walked into the guitar store with a budget of rm300. 1 hour later, I walked out with a guitar worth rm1300. The store owner was REALLY good. Anyhoo, thank god my dad has a sensitive ear for this sort of thing. I'm taking lessons over the holidays now. Frankly, if I'd been asked 3 years ago, I would've said no to the entire idea of learning anything musically related. Now, I'm doing this. I'm part of it now.

Pyramid

2011-11-26T00:30:00.000+08:00

Highlights, Day One:

Pasta Zanmai. Filling, but not amazing. Good price though.
Bowling. White Fury beats Super Genius.
Bert's super bowling style.
The amazing bowling malays.
Karaoke reception. Sitting on huge black and red balls.
Actual karaoke. Stuck singing alone without lyrics. Forever alone face*
The extremely long list of chinese songs.

Highlights, Day Two:

Carl's Jr. Taste-wise, amazing, filling, fast. It burned a hole in my pocket though.
Breaking Dawn. Turned a tween romance thriller into absolute comedy with Nadia.
All of us were absolutely horny with comedy.
Kenny's present.
Jay Yen's awkward hugs.
Phaik's amazing go kart story.
Nadia and I started holding hands, sort of. It was awkward.
Eric's Deal or No Deal decision.

Sunway Pyramid, twice in 2 consecutive days. Damn.

The Devil's Advocate Receives No Sympathy

2011-11-26T00:05:00.001+08:00

Debaters. We're trained to view every matter as more than one side. We see gray where others see black and white. It's not always easy, especially when living in a conservative family from a conservative country with conservative traditions and a strong sense of importance in conservatism. To many, conservatism, censorship, these are the things that keep us safe, the walls that protect us are the same walls that keep us captive.

I don't expect everyone to see every point of view. That's beyond the ability of our mere mortal minds. What isn't though, is the courtesy to allow others to have their own point of view. I'm not strictly pro or con anything, if anything, I'd say I'm rather apathetic. My reasoning is that if you're not allowed to voice your opinions and be safe at the same time, when you choose survival over freedom, indifference is a key skill. Still, we keep our opinions to ourselves, it doesn't mean we stop having our own opinions altogether. We have a choice. Safety or Freedom.

My family often says, "You shouldn't have ever joined debate. Now your head's all screwed up." I let a lot of things slide. I don't mind eating the same thing for lunch everyday, because it's easy to cook. I don't mind not getting to choose my cake on my birthday, I don't mind that the dents in my car haven't been fixed in months despite my near perfect record since, I don't mind that I can't have a dog and can never admit that I do want one. I draw a line when my opinions, when I finally say something that needed to be said, become put down instead. When people start behaving as if my opinions are the most illogical things ever recorded in history. I receive this treatment a lot. Often in snide comments on my lack of common sense or the sheer hopelessness I have wrought on everyone's lives.

I understand why people do this. Prejudice, pr-econceived notions, assumptions, ignorance, rigid mindsets. I get it, I do. Still, we've all heard the old sayings. Don't judge a book by its cover. Look before you leap. Everyone has an opinion, doesn't mean they're wrong. Yet the words are often neglected, as with most lessons we learned in history I suppose. I cannot stress enough how tired I am the the same old scenario. Someone says something. I disagree. Vice versa. Before I can finish a sentence of my reasoning, someone gets emotional, as if my disagreement had done them great dishonor. Before I know it, The situation has become a one-sided shouting match and I still haven't been given a chance to say more than 2 sentences 30 minutes later. All I can do is defuse the situation. Nine times out of ten, the fastest way to do this is by admitting an insincere defeat. It's tiring, I admit, but It's better in the long run for the relationship. Isn't it? That's what I tell myself, anyway. It takes up so much mental energy, just because it happens so frequently and because I have to put it aside without letting it affect me emotionally. Right now, I'm tired. So so very tired.

When it becomes too much. When it can't just be held in. When silence becomes a throat-tightening vice. What happens then? Safety or Freedom.

3 Truths And A Lie

2011-11-10T02:54:00.005+08:00

Case 1.
GirlA walks into the room. It is too crowded. A man calls for everyone to move to another room. GirlA is stuck behind the door while a herd of sheep-minded students move to the new hall. Among them, a boy spots GirlA, waiting patiently behind the door. Before he can reach her, she manages to budge the door and move out of her enclosed space. The boy finds her in the new hall and sits next to her. A conversation starts. Boy meets GirlA.

Case2.
GirlB climbs into a car. She seems nervous, but she laughs it off awkwardly. She is getting ready for her driving exam. Halfway through her journey, she scrambles through the backseat, searching her pockets. GirlB asks the driver to turn back. Her ID is in her other purse. As the car stops, she rushes into the house and returns, relieved. From the front passenger seat, Boy turns around and makes an innocent joke. GirlB laughs. They arrive at their destination before introducing themselves. Boy overhears GirlB's candidate number and checks the namelist on a notice board. Boy finds her name. Boy goes to GirlB and introduces himself. He doesn't tell her what he just did. He should be nervous. Both of them should be nervous. They have a driving exam soon. Instead, Boy talks to GirlB and they're happy. A conversation starts. Boy meets GirlB.

Case3.
Boy has been friends with GirlC for a long time. Too long to remember the beginning. But the beginning doesn't matter. Boy has been having feelings, but he remains silent. The conversation has started, with many more beyond. But before he can do anything, before he can chase GirlC, he hears a rumour. The rumour that GirlC has found someone. The rumour is true. Boy chooses to confess his feelings. GirlC has a decision.

Case4.
GirlD is curious. Boy seems detached. GirlD sits next to him. A conversation starts. They find out that they have a lot in common. Many quirks, Boy once thought he alone had, he now shared. Boy meets GirlD. Boy and GirlD have lunch where they have jokes and find out more about each other. It is simple.

The Machete and The Moustache

2011-11-02T17:16:00.003+08:00

Ok, so this happened a while back. If you weren't already aware, I regularly have Thursday lunches with Fakemoustache and Beardfoot. At one point, Fakemoustache brought her friend along, Parang, who introduced himself as Mark. Ok, nothing unusual there.

The weird thing happened about a month after meeting Parang. When Fakemoustache said they were seeing each other. Beardfoot wasn't surprised but this came as a shock to me. Apparently, they'd been dropping signs for a very long time, which now that I think about it, I probably should've picked up on. Although, I had really great reasons for not picking up on the signals.

A. Parang joining us for Thursday lunches. Ok, this wasn't that big, just a new guy that I thought was Fakemoustache's friend. Much later, I came to find out that he joined us because they'd been seeing each other for months and she was ready for us to meet him.

B. Calling each other Babe/Baby. This was totally not my fault. Knowing Fakemoustache and her sense of humour, I thought they were being ironic. Very much similar to my own situation with Cap'n Crunch (see also, My Girlfriend Cap'n Crunch)

C. Holding hands. this may sound ridiculous, but As this only happened when we were on the road, walking to the restaurant where we were to eat, I thought this was more road safety motivated. Who knew?

D. His name's not Mark. At one point in the conversation, Mark said he was Korean, as in born in Korea, raised in Malaysia. Then Beardfoot called him Parang. The name Parang, sounding a lot like Mark, convinced me that I had misheard his name and that his actual name was Parang (not a common name, but I thought it was Korean and that the fact that parang also means machete in Malay was a coincidence). So, I asked if his name was really Parang and apologised if I had gotten him name wrong the entire time. He later told me that Parang was a nickname and that his actual name was Mark. This was a lie. A conversation with Beardfoot a week later, confirmed by a facebook profile showed that his real name was Aaron. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Well, all the best to Fakemoustache and Parang. Keep me marked.

Chicken!

2011-10-28T13:45:00.003+08:00

Ok, good news. Arrested Development, one of my favorite tv shows of all time is coming back with a fourth season since its end in 2005. The season will apparently run for 14 episodes before leading into a movie. Awesome!

Can't wait!

Taylor Lautner Has Abs, But So Does Jesus

2011-10-26T22:49:00.010+08:00

Ok, the other day I was reading the newspaper, and I saw this article about superhero vigilantism happening in America and England. The practical side of me is saying, "No, that's dangerous. We should stop them before they hurt themselves with their own stupidity". However, the inner geek in me is really screaming, "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! REAL LIFE SUPER HEROES!" I'd proceed with a fanboy shriek with a pitch which rivals most falsetto singers, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let me be clear. I love superheroes. I love the capes, the catchphrases, the taglines on comic books. I even love the fact that 83% of superheroes have super strength as a superpower just so they can look remotely as powerful as superman. When Batman and Captain America 'died', I kept track of what happened. Hell, I understood Infinite Crisis, the most convoluted storyline anyone should bother reading. Punk ass comic writers.

The thing is, these real life superheroes, obviously have no powers, they just have kickass costumes. I'd love to know if some of them have at least the Batman-like training to put a beatdown on criminals and money to finance gadgets or weapons. Unfortunately, much like Spiderman 3, Superman Returns and X-Men: The Last Stand, this was a disappointment. The most adventurous story I've seen so far is some guy named Phoenix Jones (could have picked a better name) who used pepper spray to preemptively stop a fight in front of a nightclub. PEPPER SPRAY. Pepper spray is only available for use in 3 situations:
1. A woman is in danger and SHE uses it.
2. A hunter is being attacked by a ninja bear with swordfish arms and a robot liver.
3. by the police.

Obviously I'm still a fan of superheroes, but all I'm saying is, don't be a dork. If you're gonna fight for justice, get training, gadgets, and for the love of god, better costumes! Seriously, capes?! Capes are used in comics to create the illusion of motion. In real life, unless the act as a paraglider or flame-retardant blanket, you have no business wearing them. Oh, and before I forget, GET BETTER NAMES. One of them is actually named Super Hero. It must've taken him the whole of 0.27 seconds to come up with that one.

To any real life superhero reading this, please take note that while I whole-heartedly support your ideals of courage, justice and masked vigilatism, I am disgusted by your outright stupidity, lack of self-worth and absolute absence of taste in names. Sure, all the good ones are taken, but it doesn't hurt to make a repeat every now and then. there are like, 4 guys named Wraith in the comics. Why can't there be two Rorschachs? Just know that I am critical because you're ruining my childhood, not because I care. :)

PS: To anyone interested in the development of these superheroes, please log on to reallifesuperheroes.com

My Girlfriend, Cap'n Crunch

2011-10-17T14:15:00.002+08:00

Hey guys, I'm back. So, first thing's first. The title above refers to some one really close to me, Nadia. If you've never met her before, here she is:

Here's the story. We were having lunch together, and by this time my classmates had been badgering me to find out who my girlfriend was (despite me denying I had one). There we were, just enjoying ourselves, when Mr Rajah's Favourite passed by. His eyes widened when he spotted me alone with a girl and pointed at her with an inquisitive look (I was facing him, while Nadia was facing away). I shook my head, knowing what he meant and once again denying it. Then, Nadia turned around and yelled, "I'm his girlfriend!" Mr Rajah's Favourite left a little later, and Nadia and I burst out laughing. That girl's crazy...in an amazingly awesome way. Since then, we've been joking with each other with sickeningly lovey-dovey couple nicknames. Things like Sweet Cheeks, Sugarpie, Baby, etc. And yes, it's funny because it's ironic. At one point, we used Honeybunch, and it sounded like a cereal so we followed that by naming each other with names of cereal like Lucky Charm, Trix, Cap'n Crunch. I've even paraphrased the good ol' Kellogg's saying with "You're Grrrrreeeaaat!" Not to mention one extremely funny post on Facebook with sweetheart quotes like "explosion of devotion" and "remote control car bomb".

Haha, GT's. Honestly, she's the best fake girlfriend I've ever had. You can find her blog on the sidebar on the right. Keep me marked.

Because You Can't Argue With A Decent Piece Of Fiction

2011-06-22T01:08:00.000+08:00

Ok, I'm going on hiatus from the whole blogging scene. As always, don't know when I'll be back. Life's a bit hectic right now. See you when I see you, I guess. Bye.

You'll Find Me Under The Landslide

2011-06-22T01:05:00.000+08:00

Wow, this blog needs a tune-up. Ok, so I've been really busy, even with holidays. It started 3 weeks ago.

3 weeks ago
It was exam week and as the first exam of the year, frankly, i was really nervous. Generally i don't get nervous for exams unless i'm unprepared. I'm almost always unprepared. Basically, i learned that i've lost my ability to stay up super late. This is a bad sign for someone who needs the wee hours of the night to catch upon class notes and studies before an exam. Needless to say, when the results come out next week, i don't expect much.

On the last day of the exam, right after the test paper was done, Beardfoot, Fakemoustache and I went for a movie. SUPER 8. Amazing show. If you like the strange combination of ET and Cloverfield, this would be the go-to film. Personally, I'm not a fan of the childish shenanigans of going up to an alien to be friends, but the train crash scene was to die for. My jaw dropped when i saw it. After the movie, since my car was parked on the roof, We went up there, at which point, they became overcome with the urge to get a view of the city. Unfortunately, everytime they went to the edge of the roof, something would spoil the view. Construction site, small building, flyover. Scenic fail.

2 weeks ago
At this point, my holidays had started. Saturday was spent watching X-Men First Class. I have to say, one of the better movies I've seen this year. Special effects: good. Acting: good. Plot: good. Costumes: good. Superpowers: good.

On monday, i started my attachment at the hospital sjmc. First day was at the emergency ward. You'd think a place like that would be filled with action and thrill. It wasn't. Emergencies don't happen every ten seconds like in House and Grey's Anatomy. I wasn't expecting that, but i at least wanted to see an emergency surgery or something. Instead, i saw a pleural effusion. Doesn't matter if you don't know what that is, just know that it's not as cool as it sounds but it's cool nevertheless. After a while, we got bored and decided to break a couple of rules. This decision would carry on throughout the week of the attachment and basically involved going around the restricted areas without permission. It turns out, if you wear a labcoat and walk around confidently, you can get around pretty easily. Saw a few MRI's, CT scans, got a tour of a cancer research facility, looked around a blood sampling lab, learned how a stress test was done, saw a seizure via video and the EEG accompanying it, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Attachment, awesome. Although, truth be told, i would've learned a lot less without breaking a few small rules here and there.

On friday, my friends and i went for a movie. Yes, again. Green Lantern this time. Not as amazing as X-men first class, i'll tell you that. Unfortunately, on the way back, while parking, i got the car pretty badly damaged. Parents were so mad about it.

1 week ago till now
Ok, my brother is coming back on thursday. I've been busy attending a course to prepare me for my IELTS exam. It takes up about 4 hours a day. Also, in preparation for Fathers day, i've been practicing baking my dad's favourite, Cream Puffs. It's weird when you taste so many batches of cream and they all taste the same but the texture is always off. Basically, i'm busy all the time.

Still, while picking up my mum's phone from SP, i went for breakfast with eZhi Livin'. We ran into Code Red, White Queen and Phaiker. After that, eZhi Livin' gave me a tour of his uni, which we took a shuttle bus to. Honestly, his uni is so much better than mine. I'm really jealous. Well, not really, Artillery A'hole was there. I know i'm supposed to have gotten over my grudge, but seeing him spoiled the tour a bit. Still, i did get to see Milestone and Black Queen again. I really missed them.

When i went to pick up my glasses from the shop, i underestimated how far it was. Using my gps to find my way there, i thought it would be a simple there and back. Too bad, my gps ran out of battery. During this split second, i was overcome with panic and drove past a traffic light while it was red. Also, i was screaming. I got pulled over by a cop and received a ticket. Remember all those stories that police don't do their jobs? It disn't apply here. Shortly after that, i drove around for a while in my frenzied state, desperately trying to find my way back. Eventually, i called my parents and got directions home. Quite honestly, it was the most stressful 2 hours in my car. Also, i think my day would have gone a lot better without a ticket.

I'll be going to Singapore soon, after my brother comes back. Until next time, keep me marked.

Enthusiasm: Killed In Action

2011-06-02T23:45:00.001+08:00

I'd first like to point out that planning a trip for my class is not an easy task. It was originally Driveshaft's job, but after a hissy fit, he almost wanted to cancel the whole thing because of how frustrating it was, i'll explain that later. In my effort to save the holidays, i stepped in to help with the planning, making it 2 organisers instead of the usual one. Driveshaft's plan started with a trip to Singapore. After numerous complaints about prices, accomodation and ability to go on the trip at all, we changed the idea to a trip to Pulau Redang. This fell into the same problem and so on so forth. So, Redang went to melaka, which wemt to johor, which went to penang, which went to camping. Thos is when i stepped in. I suggested Dusun Eko, the best camp i've been to so far. Unfortunately, Dusun Eko has a 1 month waiting list, so that idea was samurai-ed. While sourcing for a replacement, i remembered a place my old group of friends went to. Eagle Ranch, Port Dickson. It looked perfect. Basketball, go karts, paintball. It had everything, or so said the brochure. Quite a lot of people responded enthusiastically. I was just about to make the call to book a few rooms, when i asked how many people are interested in joining the trip, DDR and Swift pointed out thattherehad been an outbreak of some sort in the area not too long ago. That idea blew itself up faster than a horny al-qaeda extremist in washington dc. Given the time we have (one week), and the fact that we have exams next week (one week), the odds are, the trip wouldn't work out. What are we doing instead? Back to basics. MOVIE MARATHON! (Although Driveshaft, Swift and some other guys want to have a sleepover atmy house, an idea i have not even begun to consider)

Well, plans will probably change....again. Keep me marked.

At The End Of The Day

2011-05-27T16:41:00.001+08:00

Hey Buddy

Hey buddy, i thought that we were friends
But at some point it had to end
I guess i'm alone once more
I'm going crazy

Now, was it something that i did
Or am I too much of a kid
I don't know what's in store
But nothing can faze me

Still...
At the end of the day
I just have one thing to say
I'm gonna miss you, miss you, miss you
I'm gonna miss you all the time
I'll miss that crooked smile and your strange style
And the laughs we'd share

Hey buddy, you've gone to your own place
And you're running a different race
You've got to make your start
Though it will pain me

I don't want to throw the blame
But I know something is not the same
We've played out our small parts
Let life come take me

Still...
At the end of the day
I just have one thing to say
I'm gonna miss you, miss you, miss you
I'm gonna miss you all the time
I'll miss the jokes you'd make, and the smiles i'd fake
To show that i'm just fine

Hey buddy, this is the goodbye
I won't leave you hanging out to dry
I'll let you go for now
Please don't forget me

Please don't forget me
Please don't forget me

New York, New York

2011-05-27T16:39:00.001+08:00

I just watched the season finale of Glee. Not the best thing i should be doing, but even i need some downtime. Honestly, it was a letdown. I expected more. Still the songs were catchy. I really wanted to see Quinn's plot, but that scene was removed because of time constraints. The episode did reignite my love for broadway music, though. Plus, it makes New York seem like the ultimate travel destination right now.

Intensive Care

2011-05-27T16:36:00.002+08:00

I'm super excited right now. The first week of magazine distribution was a success and later my exams will commence. After that, i have an attachment with SJMC to look forward to. Finally, my time to experience everything in a hospital. I can't wait, but honestly, everything is coming at once, i don't want to drop the ball and become overwhelmed.

I'll update more on that later.

Hole In Which I Reside

2011-05-27T16:32:00.001+08:00

I have just gone for a talk on Medicine, the course i intend to take in university. I have to say, it is mortifying. The number of spaces they accept into uk? 10. At least from my college. I don't know what i have to do.

Work on my results to even get through exams, find some extraordianary extracurriculars for a great testimonial, find a long-lasting form of community service, bone up on every form of current issues topics i can find. Well, what do you know, i do know what to do. It's gonna be a busy year.

Zero Tolerance Policy

2011-05-27T16:19:00.002+08:00

Ok, this blog is due for an update. Well, recently i've been super busy with editorial board. I joined this club for 2 things. To get an outlet for my writing, and for power. Now, here I find myself on the precipice of becoming the head editor, and i am considering quitting. At the start of the year, all i wanted was to be in charge of a club, something to look great on a resume, something to make me feel important again. Unfortunately, it comes at a cost. My time, my freedom. It feels like it is consuming every free second of my time and everybody suddenly wants me to do all these things. And the thing is, this is just as head of distribution/creative writing. Finishing it off would certainly put me in the position of power i wanted for so long, but the only way i can rule to my satisfaction would be to rule with an iron fist. In my hunger for perfection, it makes it difficult to rely on others, so i take up the most responsibility. Let's face it, if they're going to make a whole bunch of mistakes, the problem will just come back to me. Then again, if i do it all myself, i'm not being a very good leader, am i? Also, I could say that I have very little faith in some of my members. A bout of hubris could just as well be my undoing. As for the writing portion, i've only written 3 songs since joining, what does that tell you?

I don't know whether things will get better, but i need to be editor or at least head of creative writing to have an edge in my resume or personal statement. Then again, if i don't quit, things could just go downhill and my exam results will suffer while the stress slowly closes in on me like an impending storm.

What will i do? No idea. Keep me marked.

Count 100

2011-05-21T12:09:00.002+08:00

Well, this is my 100th post. I can't believe I've been having a blog for so long. I could write a blog post about the joys of blogging while rehashing my top few favourite posts, with an image montage of the best times put on the blogs, but I won't. Go scroll through the archives yourself.

Instead, I'm going to congratulate my nephews. The eldest, got 100 in his BM, which is an amazing improvement for an autistic kid. When he started out, he got a zero, but now he's getting full marks. Then there's the younger one. He got 100 for every subject. He's so smart, and the teachers said that he has incredible leadership for his age. I can't wait to celebrate with them, probably will get them something as a present. Seriously, I'm so proud of them.

In other news, I just got back from badminton with the class. Damn, Ernie is just terrific at badminton. He's the only one who can go one on two with Obie and I. Stull, honestly, I'm super rusty. I can't wait for another game. Others there include Super Genius, Mr Rajah's Favourite, Tiger, White Fury, Strikeout, Neighbour, Headphones and Punchie.

Keep me marked.

I Don't Want To Be A Stranger

2011-05-20T23:21:00.001+08:00

Well, I just had an amazing dinner with the others. Chord's Farewell/Volleygirl's Bday. Honestly, I've really missed these people. Especially with everything going on right now, making time to meet them has become difficult. Still, no regrets. Highlights:

Seeing everyone again
Pretty Momma's super high frenzy
The Friday Octet, with Pretty Momma, Milestone, Grenade, RayPing, eZhi Livin', Phaiker, and Bangkok.
MegaphoneMuncher's unfinished chicken
The Bday mexican wave for Volleygirl
Milestone's M's
eZhi Livin's side dishes
MaxOut's superb calculator skills with the bill
Phaiker's motherhood

I'm so gonna miss these people until the next meet-up.

PS: Also, tomorrow, I'll be meeting with some classmates for badminton. Super excited.

Keep me marked.

Really Tough

2011-05-19T17:25:00.000+08:00

Ok, I've just finished three consecutive weeks of class tests and one kinda minor major exam (it was moral education).

I'm burning myself out a bit, and I just need a break, which is why I'm writing this. Today is the first time in college that I slept through an entire lesson. Granted, the lesson was shortened to half an hour, and i was asleep before the lecturer even came in, and I had a bit of sleep deprivation, and i had just completed a double period of bio, but still! I'm super disappointed with myself. Nope, that's a lie. I felt amazing about 20 minutes after the nap. When the grogginess wore off, just in time to do some last minute studying for the moral exam. I can see why MaxOut can do this anytime anywhere. Still, no use making a habit of it.

Also, my cambodian maid has left the house. The woman who couldn't pick up english after a year of everyone around her speaking it. The situation forced my mum to learn cambodian. Anyhoo, a new filipino maid came in today, and i don't know her very well yet. My mum found out she has a facebook profile, so we put passwords on every electronical device possible. Tedious, but necessary. Shall i ,ention she has an obsession with korean dramas? Will update on the maid next time, if i bother.

Keep me marked. Bye.

Experimentation With Ornothological Media

2011-05-17T16:58:00.001+08:00

Twitter! It started about 2 weeks ago, when my cousin showed me his Twitter account on his iPad 2. While I was originally hesitant about the idea of Twitter, everything magically appears amazing on an iPad 2, for some reason. The colours were brighter, the words seemed more entertaining, so after a while of consideration, I made an account to see what it was like. I have to say, very nice. Some people have the best ideas to spread all over the Internet. Unfortunately, it also has a terrible habit of failing to sign out, and I can never remove mentions. This made it rather irritating when using it on my computer.

However, the main reason for the shutdown of the Twitter experiment was the addictive quality it had. If crack cocaine could go on the Internet, it would take the form of Twitter AND Facebook. I really only need to be addicted to one thing at a time, so I'll keep a permanent Twitter account for when Facebook becomes irrelevant. The entire thing lasted for about half a week, and I could tell, it would consume my life if left unchecked. Knowing myself, I'd probably end up insulting random people and objects, criticizing Justin Bieber and accusing cats of being evil. Yes, the little cartoon bird is very innocent looking, but then, so is Tinkerbell, and she made Peter Pan think he could fly before watching him jump off the Darling house to his death. Besides, while some of the tweets were funny as hell, some of them were just plain mundane, and I couldn't get them off my profile. Anyhoo, my brief stint in Twitterology has ended as Twitterifically Twittermazing as twit twas.

PS: In case you didn't get the title, ornothology is the study of birds.

So that's it for Twitter. Keep me marked. Tweet you.

You Can See My Life Through The Scope of Animals and TV

2011-05-16T01:33:00.001+08:00

In my old high school group, we could talk about anything. Horse genitalia, schizophrenic babies, somersaulting soldiers. Been there, done that. So, my new classmates were a bit difficult to get used to. I used to be right in the middle of the conversation. Now, since everyone speaks chinese, it's like I'm on the outside looking in. Like in the safari or in the zoo, the animals would continue about their own business. I didn't know what they were doing, or why they did it, but every so often, a tourguide or safari guide would explain what was going on. "The monkeys are just cleaning each other" "That's how a kangaroo eats". Well, college is a bit like that. "We're planning where to go for lunch" "Oh, it was a joke in chinese". When the hyenas would laugh, and I didn't know what they were laughing about, that's what it's like when they tell a joke that I don't understand. At some point, they start talking so fast, translating in my head becomes difficult, so I just retreat to the little voices in my mind. Well, lately, since my return to my old school to collect my prize, all I've been thinking about is my old group, my old class, what they're doing, who they're with. As saddening as it seems, it's a great distraction from the much more disturbing truth. I'm not enjoying the show. That's basically what my college life is now. A show. I watch the show, but I don't feel like I'm living it most of the time. If I can decide that the little voices in my head are more interesting than life, it's probably a sign that I'm not enjoying that particular moment very much. Taking comfort in the fact that the others are having a much better time, I try to focus on the conversation, but then, once again, it's a show. As a former TV addict, here's how I see it. It's like I'm just an audience and the characters are talking but I don't know the plot. This makes for a very dull and confusing show, so I change the channel. At this point, I retreat to the confines of my head. Then, I might replay a better show from one of the recordings. Sort of like a flashback. And yes, there are those squiggly lines when you rewind a video. It helps that htere are no commercials, I guess.

On the outside looking in. From character to audience. I suppose that's what life has become. I guess being not emo is tiring and I might just need a place to vent it all out. I'll probably wake up tomorrow morning and everything will be alright again. Everything will be alright. It has to be. Everything has to be alright.

M Day

2011-05-14T12:36:00.000+08:00

Ok, I know I'm about a week late, but here's my Mother's Day post. What did I do for a sumptuous Mother's Day? Got up at 7am to make her favourite pastry, Bread Pudding. Later, brought to her room at about 9am for breakfast in bed. with the breakfast, I brought in the present. For the past week, I left her some hints that she'd be getting a white iPhone 4, which she finds to be a boring, predictable concept. So, I wrapped the box, and brought in what she would later discover to be the Chanel sunglasses she was looking for in London, but couldn't find.

That night, we went for dinner at our favourite Chinese food place in Bangsar. Reunion, by the Delicious group. She loves the environment in Bangsar.

Happy Belated Mother's Day Mum!

Idols

2011-05-05T17:44:00.002+08:00

Often times, life can get hard. So, on my climb up to power, I look to some of the great fictional characters for guidance. Here's a list of people every little kid should look up to, in no particular order, because I started typing this in no particular order, realised it halfway through and decided it was too much a hassle to rearrange everything.

1. Blair Waldorf

The fashionably devious woman who is willing to do anything to be on top.

2. Barney Stinson

The suit-wearing, scotch-swilling Master of Manipulation himself. This guy is Legen-wait for it....

3. Sheldon Cooper

Intelligence personified. He'd kill you if you said anything otherwise.

4. Sue Sylvester

She carries no ID. Why? Because people should know her.

5. Wowbagger The Infinitely Prolonged

The immortal who travels the universe on his quest to insult every living being in alphabetical order.

6. Dwight Schrute

The survivalist with a penchant for beets and deceit.

7. Dr Gregory House

The doctor who is willing to do anything. That's the dream. Also, the pill addiction.

8. Eric Cartman

The most badass kid in South Park.

9. Jigsaw

The only character able to continue his mind games 4 movies after his death (and no supernatural coming back to life crap like Freddy and Jason)

10. Stewie Griffin

The kid can tap dance AND build weapons of mass destruction. Who else can do that while wearing a diaper?

Keep me marked....-Dary! Legendary!

Super Genius Jargon

2011-04-27T23:39:00.000+08:00

There's classmate of mine who has become very popular in class. His daily terminology is spreading like wildfire among us, and frankly, I'm impressed. Here's a sample of the words we hear him say almost everyday:-

Black hole-noun, verb- An action that conflicts with the mood of the surrounding scene. Synonyms include buzzkill and potong steam. Used as a noun in a sentence: John was a real black hole when he described his foot fungus in explicit detail during his toast at Jane's wedding. Used as a verb in a sentence: John is still blackholing Jane's wedding with a particularly lengthy speech about bodily fungus.

Saddist-noun- Not to be confused with sadist, this word refers to a person who has unfortunate luck and is unable to join in the fun or simply has unfortunate things to attend to. Used in a sentence: John, you are such a saddist for having to have surgery to remove that foot fungus while we are off to have a mass orgy on the streets until cops drag us apart one by one.

Burden-noun- Someone who has caused great difficulty to another party. Used in a sentence: John is such a burden for constantly asking Jane to drive him around since he lost 3 toes in an unfortunate fungus removal surgery.

Surrogate Father-noun- (He didn't fully understand the meaning of surrogate mother at the time) A male with the capability of being impregnated by another male to bear the child of said male or have a fertilised egg be attached on his 'uterine wall' and yet not be the legal guardian of the child. Used in a sentence: John wants to be a surrogate father for Jane's husband to get money to feed his coke addiction. Jane just wants to skip the stretch marks.

Super Genius in front learning the hard way that he can't fly.

Congrats Super Genius, the first of my new classmates to get a post all to himself. Keep me marked

Nothin' But Love Between Those Buns

2011-04-27T22:55:00.004+08:00

Growing up, I was always a TV addict. I soaked up everything I could from the screen. One thing that I could always watch but never be apart of was the food eating contest. Pies, hotdogs, shrimp. America had any and every food eating contest to think of. Malaysia on the other hand, does not, or should I say DID not. That's right folks, I joined my very first food eating contest. It was held at Frames, a restaurant at Sunway Pyramid. The rules were simple. Finish a 1 foot tall burger with a 1 foot diameter, a near endless supply of fries and a jug of rootbeer float in half an hour. That's right, you heard me. 2.5kg of burger, 250g of fries and a 1.5lit jug of root beer in 30 minutes. When I described McD burgers as cute little baby burgers, this one's the Big Daddy of burgers. This burger goes up to the Big Mac and says "Who's your daddy?"

In the moments leading up to the competition, I was just fine. So, when the waitress brought 3 coasters in hand, I assumed it was for the 3 competitors. Little did i know, the 3 coasters were all for one jug. Later, a large platter came. The monster stared at me through a million sesame seed eyes. The mayonaisse gurgled murmurs and it bore lettuce frilled teeth. Truly lovely.

It was too large to hold like a normal burger, so I snached up a knife and fork to dig in. Ernie was taking a different approach. Sitting next to me, he started taking it layer by layer. Like many tinier burgers. Divide and conquer. Halfway through, I realised that while the dish looked really good, the taste was kinda awful. At first i thought it was the mayonaisse, so I lifted the bread layers and scooped off the mayonaisse with my knife. No luck. Then it dawned on me. THE PATTY!!! I took it out from in between the layers. It looked like someone ground up dead fish and chicken meat then sprinkled a generous helping of ginger and onions before squishing it into a deadly slab of meat. In my efforts to go through with it quicker, I tried eating the odd tasting 1 inch thick slab on its own. Bite after bite, it was endless. Finally I managed to get gulp it down, almost puking along the penultimate mouthful. Then, something much worse was discovered within the burger. ANOTHER PATTY. To kill the taste and speed myself up, I used fries. Cut a slit in between the patty, filled it with fries and made a pseudo-patty-fries taco. Then I ate it. By the time I was 3/4 way through the burger and halfway done with both fries and rootbeer, the stopwatch had only 3 minutes left. It was then that I ignored the burger, and just ate fries at a leisurely pace, sipping rootbeer along the way. I watched the waitress bring out another platter for Super Genius, while fingering my fries. A bit difficult to continue eating while carrying whatever I ate in my expanded belly. As soon as the time ran out, I told my friend he could have the rest, warning him that the burger tasted awful.

At the end of it all, noone won. We couldn't finish within the time limit. Moral of the story? If there's a food competition, and they can supply an obscene amount of food that would seemingly be capable of making kings jealous, don't trust it. The evil things taste worse than poptarts dipped in soap solution and blended with glass shards. Would I do it all over again? Yeah. Food eating contest: checked off my bucket list. Keep me marked.

The Dragon's Whisper

2011-04-26T00:49:00.002+08:00

To start this post, I would like to say it is NOT an emo post. Just statement of fact, or at least how I view things. I might've mentioned earlier that I don't like writing emo posts. This is no different. With that in mind, I should explain The Best Friend Curse. The BFC is a concept I learned at a very young age. It is simple, "Everybody leaves". Easy to understand. They have lives to live, I have mine. The thing with knowing what you want at a young age, is that everything from that point on is a ticking time bomb. Every relationship, every activity suddenly has an expiration date. From age 10, I noticed that my best friends kept having to go away for some reason, be it to go to another class, another school or even another country. True, facebook and msn made it easier, but what does a 10 year old know about msn, and facebook wasn't even invented yet at the time. So, I decided at about age 13, no labeling best friends. Just keep a number of close friends, but never ever pick one out. Still, as lonely as it is, the BFC concept extends past just best friends. It makes every action inconsequential. If everybody leaves, then what I do makes no difference, since their existence in my life is only temporary. This idea occurred to me at age 16. It was a terrible idea. I went around just insulting anybody in sight. Mostly the sensitive ones, or people I thought would give bigger reactions. Was I a jerk? Kinda. Was it worth it? Actually, yes. It became a test period, to see who stuck around after all that bitterness. I am so grateful I didn't push everyone away. Then again, they'll leave eventually anyway. Then again, maybe it wasn't their time yet. Then again, when is the right time? Excellent question. No idea. When someone leaves, the best ones are the ones you can see coming. They are immediate, and you can say goodbye, reminisce about old times. This happened when my class had a farewell for a close friend of mine, Princess Fishball. The worst way for them to leave are the slow ones. They happen so gradually and so easily, you don't even notice. When you notice that you don't talk anymore and you have nothing in common except some good memories, that's when they've pulled an Elvis and left the building. You don't even get to say bye, mostly because they're so near yet so far. Good example for this? I've got a pretty long list. A long list that even started the BFC concept. At the end of the day, I've made my peace with the Best Friend Curse. Eveybody leaves, but make the most of what you can while they're around. That's what makes life interesting. Happy ending!....Sort of. I told you it wasn't an emo post. Honestly, I'm happy. I'm a rolling stone, just taking what I can get. Really, still happy. I'll prove it. La la la la. See? Happy....Oh, shut up. Keep me marked.

Kiss With A Fist

2011-04-22T15:21:00.007+08:00

I've always known that when it comes to music, my taste can be a little different from everyone else. This fact has never been more obvious before than in the past few days. The thing is, I get bored easily. Really really easily. Especially with music. So when some famous singer comes up with a top 40 hit, I get sick of it really fast. It will be everywhere, on the radio, in shopping mall PA systems, youtube, facebook, people will be singing along from time to time. Due to this, I listen to primarily indie, broadway, covers and some exceptionally amazing hits. Unfortunately, this puts me at a disadvantage in my new class. Everybody has a hardcore favourite. DDR will defend Lady Gaga to his dying breath and Godly D is fighting off all the haters on her own (she likes Justin Bieber). The thing is, with all the Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, etc lovers out there, the singers I like tend to drop out of the picture. Not many people can relate to a mix of obscure artists and a handful of chart-toppers. If they're popular, I don't read into all their songs, which makes talking to hardcore fans a problem, since I only know the really good songs. If they're obscure, they have too few fans, or at least not from my part of life. Back in my old school, it wasn't so hard to find people interested in obscure singers. I could always rely on Grenade and Mooker to refer to in cases like this. Even if they didn't know what I was talking about, they were always open to whoever I suggested. Now i'm wondering where the love went for all the neglected people. She & Him, Spoon, The Kooks, Adele, Noah & The Whale, Mumford & Sons, Belle & Sebastian, Dean & Britta, Benji Hughes, Florence & The Machine, The Smiths, Anna Nalick, Jesus Jackson, Macy Gray, Corrine Bailey Rae, The Ting Tings, Vampire Weekend, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Klaxons, Hockey, A Fine Frenzy, The Pretty Reckless, Madcon, Regina Spektor, Sam Sparro, Sara Bareilles, Joan Jett, The 88, The Arctic Monkeys, The Fray, Alexandra Burke, Marina & The Diamonds, The Corrs, Natasha Bedingfield, Rick Springfield, Third Eye Blind, Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Travis, Wes Hutchinson, Feist, The Noisettes, Bob Seger, Money Mark, Olly Murs, Mumm-Ra, Skint & Demoralized, Keane, Death Cab For Cutie, Verve Pipe, Pavement, Ellie Goulding, Pacific, The Submarines.... Through listing all those neglected yet amazing artists, I have actually lost my train of thought. I can bet most of you readers haven't ever heard of some of these people. Still, that's what makes them so great. I like how their obscurity lets me take a break from repeated assaults by Ke$ha and Maroon 5. Not that I don't like them, I love them, but as I said, I get bored easily. Also, I don't really have a favourite artist. i just have favourite songs. As in I judge based on individual songs, not by who makes them. Normally, unless they're REALLY good, I'd listen to only 1-5 songs from an artist or group. If it's any more, I get sick of it beyond belief. If i get lucky, maybe I can get some of my new classmates to go a little less mainstream. If not, well then I guess I won't get bored of my songs so fast. Anyhoo, I'm trying to bring these amazing people to the spotlight they deserve. If you'd like, just pick anyone and search youtube. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Scooby Snacks Cause Rectal Cancer

2011-04-16T01:02:00.003+08:00

Burgers are cute. I noticed this a while back when I was eating at Mc Donald's with a few friends and described my double cheese burger as cute. My friends, as helpful as they were, stared at me with blank faces. I should explain. I am generally a guy who does not like 'cute'. Not most furry animals, not soft toys, not tiny anime figurines with gigantic eyes. I draw the line at burgers, babies, and SOME animals.

So when I describe something as cute, it's out of the norm. Is there a reason for my lack of interest in the 'cute'? Probably. Plenty of my friends who are girls would ask me why I had no interest in their 'cute' teddy bear/dog/domokun/any other soft creature from the black lagoon. Normally, I have one question when a girl buys that sort of thing: where does it go? I mean, sure it could stay in the bedroom, but it gets too much eventually right? Most girls wouldn't throw their stuff out, so I would assume that they collect the tiny stuffed creatures. Every time I see my friends buy a soft toy, I just worry that they'll eventually suffocate in their own bedrooms from lack of space. So, if you ask me "OH MY GOD! Isn't it cute?" and I say "No", I'm really thinking about your own safety.

As for tiny anime figurines with gigantic eyes, my cousin is obsessed with them. He's obsessed with anime in general, an interest we do not share. So, when he comes down for a visit, bringing with him some newly bought figurines, I give those tiny plastic statues with faces frozen in perpetual smiles about as much attention as an attention-deficit horse would to whether Justin Bieber's new haircut makes him look less like a lesbian or not. Then, my cousin would ask me "OH MY GOD! Isn't it cute?" and I would say no. Here's the reason why. When I imagine how a person would be if he had eyes as huge as those, I consider his quality of life, and it looks bleak. Imagine the constant hazard of having sharp pointy objects so near eyes as huge as dinner plates. Or perhaps the looks one would get for having such freakishly mutated eyes. "That guy probably has some eye tumours", they'd say. The terror it must be to find a pair of spectacles or sunglasses. Thoughts like this flash in my head as my cousin's lips mouth out in slow motion "OH MY GOD! Isn't it cute?" Go ahead, imagine it. Not cute.

Then, there are cutesy poses. As if people didn't have enough reasons to camwhore. In recent years, I have found that this activity no longer treads in the domain of the females but also the males. Unisex cutesy poses, or Uni-cutesy, flood the internet in all their overhyped glory. The people of the world try putting their hands near their mouths or sometimes do a pouty lip thing, sometimes maybe an estranged peace sign that doubles as bunny ears for another person. I'm not judging, I just don't like doing it myself. When you think about it, do people REALLY want to see you trying to act 'cute'? If they wanted that, they would've asked for baby pictures. Sure, I get the occasional argument that it gets boring otherwise. If it gets boring, why take a picture? I just don't get it. Taking the picture is boring, so you add a peace sign two centimetres away from your left eye at a 45 degree angle to 'spice it up'. The geometry of face to hand posing:cute? I'll never understand it.

I probably have a lot to learn in the realm of 'cute'. I doubt I'll bother trying to find out more. Until disinterest and disdain wear off, I guess you can keep me marked.

Up Up And Away Part 2: Nobody Cares About Sean Fentress

2011-04-11T23:45:00.005+08:00

The second day of our Genting trip started at 8am. I was the first to wake up, so i went to shower. Since i was the only one awake, and i had been having a song from the Grey's Anatomy Musical episode stuck in my head, i decided it would be ok to sing in the shower. Unfortunately, the walls were thin. Anybody from my history knows that I'm not the best singer. In fact, i'm regularly asked to stop even the slightest musical hum. Ended up waking Driveshaft, Obie and Alienware. Note to self, don't sing.
After waiting for the others to wake up and get ready, i went on a walk with Super Genius. It was nice, calming.
Played iPad and Psp until around 10, before leaving the room with the others for breakfast.
Let the others go back to the room to pack while Alienware and I walked around. We had already packed.

Walked around a bit, then met up with the others for a buffet lunch.
Went for another round of bowling after deciding against bumper cars with Punchie, Swift, White Fury, Strikeout and Groover. This time, i scored a double strike. Improvement! *proud face*
Went back to the hotel at around 2pm.
Group photo session then rushed to go get our luggage.
Went down in cable cars, then bus.
Reached 1Utama at around 5.
Went for movie with Super Genius, Swift, Driveshaft and Pirouette. We watched Source Code. I wouldn't say it was a bad movie, because that would be a compliment. The ending was just a marketing ploy to make Source Code 2. Will probably be a direct to dvd next time. Also, nobody addressed that Sean Fentress, the real Sean Fentress just disappears. You may be asking who is this Sean Fentress character, but truth be told, nobody cares.
Split from the others at about 7.30. Went for dinner with parents at New York New York.

Overview: Best first out of state class trip. Can't wait for the next one!

PS: To everyone who missed the trip, I really really wish you could've been there, but then again, i'm sure you had your reasons. Here's to an awesome year ahead.

Keep me marked.

Up Up And Away Part 1: Terminal Velocity of Accelerated Complacency

2011-04-11T23:24:00.006+08:00

On friday, some of the people in my class went on a class trip. Since it's going to be a pretty long post, here are the highlights of the trip.

Arrived at 8, bus left, without us. We had to wait for Alienware who went to the wrong station.
Ate breakfast
On the bus at 9, off the bus at 10-ish. Shorter trip than expected. Got no work done.
Check in at hotel, but Ernie (he booked the hotel room) wasn't there, so we had to wait a while for him to email them verification. We had brunch in the meantime.
Went to the room, decided that 4 rooms were too many and we could actually do with only 2 rooms, so we looted one room of all its free things and moved the mattresses over to the guys' room. Went into secret agent mode to keep lookout in case the hotel staff disapproved. 2 guys kept lookout, 4-5 carried the mattresses over. Transfer success. Left both rooms with the 'do not disturb' sign out, just in case.
Whole group went to the outdoor theme park at about 11 or 12.
Some of the group scared the little kids by jumping onto the merry-go-round carousel. Those kids will remain traumatised for what would seem to be the rest of their lives. I took pictures.
Rode on lots of rides, roller coasters, flume ride, fast train, spinning chairs. The flume ride got me wet, so i used the fast train and spinning chairs to dry off, since the fast motion would act like a giant fan.
Met up with Neighbour, who took a later bus ride alone.
Went hunting for a ride called The Flying Dragon. Epic fail.
Lunch at McDonalds. Price=Too much. Way too much.
Walked around theme park again. Tried looking for the Flying Dragon, with success. It was closed.
Rode on a flying dumbo ride (conveniently renamed Jumbo to avoid copyright infringement)
Rode the worst pirate cart ride, and the best freefall ride ever
Amazing go kart. Knocked Neighbour and Super Genius out so many times.
Did the Corkscrew. No, it's not a crudely named sex position, it's a really awesome roller coaster.

Whole group got on the swinging pirate ship, we made ourselves look really stupid with the screaming, but that's ok, we just kept screaming "We're from Sunway!" It was ok.
Had a lot of fun with White Fury's Asyok-ah joke. Awesomeness verified.
Split from Driveshaft and Pirouette, so we decided to go buy their birthday cake.
Hid the cake in the hotel room fridge, then met up with Driveshaft and Pirouette
Had dinner, once again, too expensive. I'm considering getting a lawyer because it was practically robbery
Later walked around, some went to the arcade
Whole group met up at the bowling alley, realised that i am a terrible bowler. More on that in part 2. Headphones got the highest.
At about midnight, we went up to the room
Surprise bday party for Driveshaft and Pirouette
Played truth and dare
Watched Driveshaft serenade Pirouette
Black-holed Super Genius into breaking the curtain railing causing the entire curtain to fall apart.
Went to bed in our respective rooms at about 3am

All You Can Do Is Breathe

2011-04-06T18:53:00.002+08:00

I guess one thing you ahould know about me is that I REALLY want to be a doctor. Well, the reasons why have changed over the years, but ever since I was 3 years old, it's been what I wanted. Of course, as with all 3 year olds, most people dismissed it as the wild dreams of a child. I could've aimed to be a cowboy, or an astronaut, or even a three-legged dragon with hotdogs for arms and an overactive libido. Nobody would mind, or even take it seriously. Of course, how could any sane adult? My regular answer to the question "Why do you want to be a doctor?" was "I'm not afraid of blood." Eventually, as I got older, I went through the generic answer phase, "I want to help people, I really care!" A nine year old kid saying that would spark hope in lots of people, but one thing you should know, I come from a family of engineers. At the time, they thought I was just doing it to be stubborn, be different from the rest of them. "wait till he's older! He'll change his mind." But I didn't.

By age 12, I began collecting medical articles. Put them in a little scrapbook. Primarily cardiothoracic surgery related, they were so brightly coloured with the blood everywhere. It began to cast doubt in the doubt of my family for me to know laparoscopic surgery at age 13. By then, my reasons had changed to "It's just my interest". Around that time, my first nephew was born. As he got older, he showed signs of symptoms. For autism. At the time, autism was still new to the world, with autistics easily confused with mentally retarded people. Movies like Rain Man would distort the public's view of autistics into thinking they were ALL geniuses, which is not the case. Only 10% of autistics have special abilities. Anyhoo, I began feeling like there was more I could do for the kid. So, I searched up everything I could about autism. It came to a point, I had to explain the disorder to my family members in a way that they could easily understand. After a while, even when my nephew got better through therapy, I still needed to do more. I tried all that I could to spread info about autism. Be it public speaking exercises, or just the daily conversation. In fact, if you'd like to know more about autism, there are several links at the bottom of this page that would be quite helpful. After a while, autism led to neurodevelopmental disorders, which led to neurodegenerative disorders, which led to neurology in general, which led to cardiology, nephrology, etc. I wanted more. Most kids my age were playing DOTA or Counter Strike on the computer, maybe even shopping online. I was reading about how to diagnose Leptospirosis. They watched Super Sweet Sixteen on MTV, I watched documentaries about the human brain. I started diagnosing myself for every little symptom I had, and though I was always correct, there was always that small period of paranoid hypochondria.

Which brings me to present day, age 18. I'm beginning to wonder if I missed out on a lot in life, since I devoted so much of myself in medicine. Still, I guess I've done some stuff that most wouldn't be able to say they have done. Like dissecting a rat in class without a bleed until the heart was cut out. Or counseling a dyslexic kid to teach her how to read. So, if people ask me why I would want to be a doctor, knowing that I would never be insanely rich or powerful, knowing that I would have to sacrifice years of my life to treat complete strangers, knowing that while everyone is outside living life, I'm preserving it within the four walls of a hospital; i still reply the same answer I did all those years ago, saying it's my interest. To be honest I know that the real answer is "I can't imagine wanting to do anything else".

The Story So Far

2011-04-03T12:21:00.005+08:00

I'm pretty excited this week, my class is taking a trip up to Genting this Wednesday. A lot of my friends are saying that my class is pretty cool for organising something like this. I don't disagree, I like this class a lot. They're...nice. Still, even after 3 months, they're something to get used to. College life is a bit like high school, but someone hit the fast-forward button on everything. And there's also the way college life brings a lot of my history back into my life, even if I don't necessarily want it to. That's right folks, this is "the Story So Far..."

A lot of people from high school and primary school say I changed a lot in the past few months. Some can't even recognise me. Whether it's the glasses or maybe it's the clothes, it's like sometimes I can go around and people would think i'm just a random stranger. Even some friends, whom i've known for close to 10 years could mistake me for someone else. It's not their fault, a lot of people change after they go to college. I do still miss my prefects tie though. It's amazing that i didn't go through an identity crisis as expected. But I do hate it when my old friends view me as a stranger now, until i take off the glasses. Now i know how Superman hid his identity as Clark Kent. Hell, my old friends are starting to say I look like an Asian Clark Kent, glasses and editorial board reporting and all. Not that I didlike it, I like Clark Kent. But i never get tired of the "shocked to see you're so different, i didn't even recognise you, now i look like an idiot because i'm speechless" face they make.

Now more than ever, i am being haunted by my nemesis. Even after i've decided to let the grudge go, i feel as though now there's a void and all that hate has to go somewhere. Until now, i can't find a person to hate as much as i did to L. He was So utterly despicable he would abandon me for two bars of chocolate, pushing me over my chair then rummaging through my bag while i was too shellshocked to do anything. Imagine, having chocolate get picked over you, being rejected, for something as small and inconsequential as chocolate. That feeling of rejection and insignificance fuelled my hatred for 5 years, but i won't let it anymore. And yet, still i thought i saw him, across a crowded hall the other day. If L has truly come to taylor's college, i don't know how i would react. Should i just ignore him? Get some closure on my grudge? Make peace with the fact that he'll always and forever be a soulless mindless bottom-feeding peon who lacks a frontal lobe of the brain? I happen to know he's still a jerk, and that he's a power-hungry tool who is hated by everyone who sets their eyes on him, but i really don't want to run into him again and fall into old habits of thinking up revenge schemes and directing all my hate towards him. I need to know if he's really followed me to college.

And then, there're the classmates. Truthfully, the atmosphere is different from high school. Have you ever gotten the feeling just when you get comfy with something, you get plucked out of your life and thrown into something entirely alien to your world? Yeah, my first month of college was like that. It was all about getting used to the way people talked, walked, even eating their food. The jokes were different, the history was blank, it was new. Just new and different. We're much closer now, but I have to admit, even after 3 months together, i can say that we're not as close as some of the other classes. There are a lot of clicks and sometimes i wish they'd just go crazy. Now it feels like half the class is really really crazy, and the other half just wishes everyone else would shut up. I look at Natalie's clase and it's brimming with awesomeness, which i know my class can do too. It probably just takes some time. I sometimes get the feeling like maybe we're just TOO different, and then i have one really good day with them that makes everything ok. Something's not right, i can feel it. It's not the people, something else that's....off. I mean, even after being put in a tinier classroom, we still can't connect universally through anything other than food and gossip, and maybe the iPad, but that's only if i bring it, which is almost never. My old group of friends back in high school could poke fun at Pope sex and make bets about depression, remake the history of the screwdriver and sing about squashed flowers, discuss the legitimacy of boobs in obtaining world peace, argue about whether the kid from chalkzone could beat ironman in a fight, and do a dance number to Usher's ohmygosh. We could do/talk about anything...ANYTHING. I want to recreate that. My current class is almost there, but not quite yet. Almost.

As for the PreMed Society, I have to admit, i was upset at first, but i'm actually really glad i ended up not being part of their committee. I remember on the first few days, i would curse that a demonic hellspawn should pull them all down into a world of fire and brimstone to be tortured for all eternity. Now i'm just glad to enjoy the view. I get to really be a part of the experience, just going for the events, instead of planning my butt off, putting out every little fire that pops up. So, to the current committee, Congratulations and Good Luck!

PS: Punchie asked me to make a post dedicated to him. Sorry, Punchie, you get a postscript. Maybe next time I'll give it an upgrade.

Update: I've found out that L is not coming to Taylor's. I also know where he's going instead.

Special K's New Cereal Box

2011-04-03T00:37:00.002+08:00

The other day was the great unveiling of Kenny's house.

Basically we had a few rounds of twister, taboo and pictionary.
I would have to say, camwhoring while playing twister is the most depraved thing anyone can do.

Then we had camwhoring with wushu weapons
More camwhoring with tribal wooden masks
Oh, and we compared Ping's jellies to Amanda's

As always, had fun with the group. BOOBEES NUMBUH TOO!

Crumbled Oreos Go Well With Vodka

2011-03-30T23:09:00.001+08:00

In light of all the exam results fever, i have decided to post some more than helpful tips on how to get over the crippling depression that hangs over all of the dissatisfied ones. Whether you just missed out on that one A+, or you missed out on a lot more, i'm very sure this will help.

A. Try alcoholism. You're most likely 18 or almost 18 anyway. I hear that it is a great pastime and by being an alcoholic, you get to meet all sorts of new people! Expand your social circle, with Alcoholics Anonymous!

B. Driving dangerously. Nothing beats the thrill of winding the windows down and just putting the pedal to the medal. In this case, the medal is fictional, but the pedal doesn't have to be. Try stomping hard on the accelerator and taste the adrenaline of freedom...and maybe metal from the oncoming car 5 seconds later.

C. Pigging out. This one is highly recommended due to both its versatility and availability. What's more available than food? It's simple, just dress up in your sloppiest clothes, grab a tub of you favourite ice-cream, sit in front of the tv, and dig in.

D. Sex. It speaks for itself.

E. Worshiping a random object. We all need to get in touch with our spiritual side. With all the positive energy flowing from whatever it is you choose, nothing can get you down. Doesn't matter if you worship corn or a cactus or even the miracle of fire, to each his own!

F. Posting compromising pictures of yourself online. I don't know why people love doing this, i haven't tried it, but damn, it's popular. There are so many outlets on the internet! So drop your facebook posts and drop your pants, this one should put you in a happy daze.

Well, i really hope this helped all the depressed people in the world. Follow my advice and you'll go far....or to hell...whichever comes first.

The Mr Miyagi Experience

2011-03-27T00:14:00.002+08:00

Recently, my neighbour of age 16 has asked for my help in his schoolwork. After hearing about my results, he decided i was a suitable role model for study techniques. Honestly, i don't know if i'm the best role model in terms of studying. Especially for someone with my mediocre-among-the-great results, my confidence in my ability has been greatly shaken. Still, at the risk of potentially screwing up his understanding of spm curriculum, i agreed to teaching him. I'm so thankful that he's still in the early stages of form 4, so it's all the basics. The basics which form the foundation of all his understanding for the next 2 years. So now, i'm wondering what i probably shouldn't have done in my late high school years.

A. Watching the Back To The Future Trilogy on the night before SPM exams
B. Not paying attention to teachers in class
C. Falling asleep in class
D. Not sleeping at night
E. Getting distracted by learning how to get 'feelings'
F. Becoming addicted to studying with an iPod
G. Going night crazy, when i was so tired, i'd get angry at tiny things like the colour of lights in my room
H. Study stuffing, foodwise
I. Not working consistently
J. Not studying in Form 4 almost at all, it was a party year
K. Wasting time on EST, which i dropped after a few months
L. Not having more organised notes
M. Watching a Gossip Girl Marathon during my Form 4 final exams
N. Not exercising more
O. Becoming addicted to Facebook
P. Starting a blog for which i would have to consistently write new posts
Q. Napping, all the time
R. Spending all that money on fries for Natalie
S. Getting the wrong kind of iPod
T. Getting a competitive edge with the spirit of a thousand supernovas
U. Realising very quickly that i was nowhere close to competition material and giving up almost instantly
V. Skipping Add Math class, once. Also BM. And maybe Sejarah. And Mod Math too. Well, all the classes, really.
W. Writing poems about piles of dog poop instead of studying
X. Generally studying only a couple of weeks before exams
Y. Study groups that never work out
Z. Adopting an almost bigoted, pessimistic and vindictive attitude that borders on insanity

Well, i turned out ok, i guess. Hopefully i'll have another 26 things to regret in college. The regrets are like the appetizer to life's meal. It goes well with garlic bread on the side.

As for my neighbour, he just came to ask a few questions about chemistry, so i am very proud to say, i didn't screw him up!....i think.

Triumph and Discontent Part 3

2011-03-26T12:42:00.000+08:00

Now, i should probably conclude the triumph and discontent as a trilogy.

Remember the debaters i was training in part one? Well, they won their debates and are now preparing to go to the finals. Congrats guys! So proud of them, even if i had doubts at first.

Also, yesterday, my license was delivered to my house, along with a secondhand car! I guess i'm not like most people, so eager to try driving and show off freedom. For me, it's just a means to an end.

Anyhoo, this brings me to my discontent part of the post. It became very clear to me, very soon that my results were not good, but merely mediocre. How did i come to this conclusion? Well, i should probably tell you that all the people in my college class are freakin' smart. This should illustrate how smart they are.

------------them.

------------other smart people in my form 5 class

------------regular people, me.

I'm not saying i'm particularly miserable among my classmates, i'm just saying maybe i got put among people and i'm out of their league. It's been crazy. Everywhere, it's a+'s falling out in strings of 8 or 9. Makes my measly 5 kinda weak. I have to keep up with these people. Now, more than ever, i just feel like studying more and more until i become worthy of someone with my kind of ambition. All i know is, until i prove myself, i won't be able to reach any of my goals. One of them being, to get to at least the same level as all these other smartie poops. Nerding up has never been more important before now.

Triumph and Discontent Part 2

2011-03-25T14:22:00.000+08:00

Previously, on The Awesome Bookmark....I got my results after a particularly strenuous 50 minutes. My results were satisfying, but only after i got out of that crowded classroom did i manage to see all the bliss and horror brought on by spm. All around me, i saw groups of friends, reunited in success, and there were those left behind in the dust. Some put on a brave face, some let it all out....but we're not here to talk about them.

Ok, after the spm results came out, we went around thanking teachers for their help through the years, then went out for lunch together. I went with Pauline, Geraldine, amanda and Ping for a detour to see Mrs Lee. Great to see her again. Then we later went over to Place in SS15 for lunch. The place was packed with my friends, as EVERYONE came here in separate cars. We joked around laughing at Rebecca Black's song, Friday. There is something very wrong with the picture when you edit the 13-year-old's pop hit into becoming death metal rock.

After that, we split up, most went home, some went back to their respective colleges. Eric and i went ahead to meeples, a boardgame cafe. There, we met up with eric's add math tuition friends, some of whom, were my primary school friends. We were soon joined by Nadia, ajay, geraldine, muqri, zhi zhiang, soon huat, desmond, yew ming, phaik yan, kenny and jay yen. If you are playing with my group of friends, you'd know a game titled "Say Anything" would immediately get our interest. Basically, the judge has to ask a question, and everyone gives an answer to that question. The judge decides on the best one.

In our game, this happened:
What is most important in a relationship? Undies
What would be written on my tombstone? I will slit your throat and pull you under. :)
What is the weirdest collection you can think of? Old condoms
What's the worst pizza topping? Me
What's the most awkward thing to say on the first date? My crotch itches

After a while, we gave up with the scoring and just went pointless. And eventually, we just through the rules out and made up our own questions.

What fruit best resembles your chest? Kiwi, peaches, durian

Later on, nadia's parents gave ajay, muqri and i a lift back to our respective houses. One thing i absolutely love about riding in nadia's car, is that she has a beanbag pillow which i always play with. How i play with it, well, you should ask nadia.

Fast forward to later that night, my family went to Delicious in Bangsar for dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We had SO much to eat! I had a watermelon-lychee ice blended drink, mushroom soup, stuffed mascarpone chicked with grilled potatoes and for dessert, classic chocolate cake with icecream. It was just so deliciously decadent!

Gonna conclude this story in part 3. For now, keep me marked.

Triumph and Discontent Part 1

2011-03-24T16:29:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the big day. I can honestly say that when i started out the day at around 7.30, my confidence was unwavering, beaming from every pore. By 9.15, i had arrived at school to help train the debaters for their competition. Confidence dropped to an unbearable nil. I could still form sentences, but a VERY uneasy look was on my face. Trained the debaters, met some friends, then at around 11, the whole bunch of us went downstairs to get the results.

The classroom was packed! Since the school hall was being used for a competition, we had to use an empty classroom instead. Teacher after teacher walked in, holding a large pink file each for their respective classes. The first teacher came in at 11.03. The following timeline will help show how the events that followed occurred.

11.03- ok, it's coming....good luck everyone!
11.06- congratulations, all around!
11.12- where is she!
11.15- she's not coming. I'm going to die from anticipation
11.16- i feel like i'm gonna vomit...
11.18- more congratulations! Less vomit-y
11.22- she's here! The dreaded pink file!
11.23- time to line up
11.24- say hi to pn rajes. She congratulates Amanda on straight a's because she saw the results already. I look at her expectantly. She tells me she thinks she saw me get one B.
11.25- i briefly consider other jobs aside from medicine if i'm not smart enough to be a doctor. Prostitution? Nah, i'd lose money looking for a pimp.
11.27- vomit feeling is back
11.28- more people getting straight a's. I feel terrible.
11.29- wondering what's for lunch
11.32- singing under my breath to calm down
11.35- amanda asked me to stop singing with just a look
11.37- almost throw up on eilene, nothing comes out. I can't even puke right.
11.38- huongyi tells me pn rajes was wrong about yung chien's results. I get a glimmer of hope
11.39- oh, another guy got straight a's. Hope crushed.
11.40- yep, definitely going into prostitution
11.42- table is so close
11.44- AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!
11.45- my teacher gives me a high 5, congratulating me on the straight a's
11.46- sign form after getting over shock
11.47- thank all deities in all planes of existence
11.48- knew i could do it!
11.49- can't walk straight.

So, it ended well, i got 10a's. 5 a+, 1 a, 4 a-. i'll probably explain what happened afterwards in the next post. Keep me marked.

Doomsday Clock

2011-03-23T08:30:00.001+08:00

SPM results are out in less than 2 hours. Good luck to all SPM takers of 2011. Fingers crossed for good luck.

Get Out Of Jail Free Card

2011-03-23T07:55:00.003+08:00

Day before yesterday I went for my driving exam. As many can understand, i was VERY worried. Reason? When i step into a car, i immediately think of crashing. Not just a small fender bender, or even a bump with another car. I imagine huge explosions of epic proportions, capable of incinerating everyone within a 2 mile radius. How crashing a car achieves this, i'm not sure, but i believe it involves a gas truck, a nuclear plant, and a blind rabbit.

Anyhoo, that's behind me, since i've actually become a relatively capable driver with a few extra lessons under his belt. When i got there, i met up with Jeremy and Muqri, both of whom were also taking their tests. Also, met a few new faces, mandy, whom i met at the road safety test, and tessa, who almost forgot her ic that day. As for the tests itself, road test came up first. You should know, i had 2 problems with the road test:

A. I would panic.
B. I would rest my hands and not hold the wheel if stuck in a traffic jam long enough.

To counter this, A, i started singing in the car. As most of you know, my singing is infamous for being able to make people WANT to bleed out their ears. Whereas for B, i wrote a note on my hand in pen ink. "What are you doing reading this? Put your hand back on the wheel!" During the test, i'd like to think it went smoothly, except at the ending, when the jam suddenly got really bad. We were going uphill. Thanks to a jumpy bus, i had to do that free gear, handbrake thingie SO MANY TIMES. Oh well, doesn't matter, because i passed. 18/20. No blind rabbit, or nuclear plant, or even a gas truck. No explosion incinerating everything within a 1 mile radius. I must've been REALLY REALLY lucky!

As for the circuit test, which i was much more confident in, i passed all. The slope that kills most drivers-to-be, i did in one try, although i could have done 2. The parking was relatively straight, no stray halves of a car sticking out of the box. The 3 point turn, done with only 3 points. So, good day. Of course, by the time i started the circuit test, i was riding on the high of passing the road test, so i felt like i could take on the world. I could leap buildings with a single bound! And then the waiting time killed the high. Then i went back to being only able to leap from a single building in a single bound but this power only works once, because it is also called suicide.

Well, my license arrives on the 25th. Thanks to everyone who congratulated me! But more importantly, thanks to everyone who has a death wish enough to jump into a car with me. Hopefully the blind rabbit, gas truck and nuclear plant don't appear while i'm driving out in the real world.

127 Minutes

2011-03-21T10:48:00.001+08:00

In a few hours, I'll be sitting for my driving exam, but I'm not here to talk about that. No, I'm here to talk about my final driving lesson yesterday. It was a Sunday at 8am, so when we went to the driving school, it looked ok, at least until we reached the slope. You see, the slope is really high. High enough to block the other side from view. When I saw that the line for the slope wasn't very long, I decided to go up. Unfortunately, when I got to the other side, the line for parking practice was unbelievably long. I was stuck there for so long. If you've seen the movie 127 hours, (or was it 127 days?), you'd have a rough idea what I went through. Well, I haven't seen 127 hours/days, but I imagine it to be around the same as my experience, based on what I saw in the trailer. I was stuck in a tiny Kancil (tiny car, if you're an international reader) for so long, my legs got numb. Then I got bored, so I started humming, but then I realized that I was alone in a car, because my instructor had left to use the bathroom. Being that the car was almost soundproof in the midst of other roaring engines around me, and the added security that the window was rolled up, I decided to sing to pass the time. Not soft, calming singing, loud stress relieving singing. But then the singing was too long, because the traffic jam was too long, so I got a sore throat. I guess I can see a few similarities between my situation and James Franco's.

Right now I'm just hoping to do well for the test later.

My Annual Minefield

2011-03-20T10:56:00.003+08:00

Yesterday, the company my parents work in had their annual dinner. Basically it's just a dinner to celebrate a good year and appreciate all those that did a good job, like the Oscars of Engineering at Inox (name of the company).

I got a table near the front, so according to my parents, I had 4 jobs:
A. Act as messenger between my table and the stage.
B. Take pictures
C. Get food for people at my table
D. Clap

I can honestly say, the worst job was the clapping. As with all awards ceremonies, there will be liquor, with people drinking said liquor, with said people getting drunk off their ass, with said drunken asses not paying attention. So, when my parents said my job was to clap, they really meant clap so loud that drunk people would snap out of their drunken stupor long enough to start giving applause, or if they were too drunk to move their hands together, just cheer for whoever got the award. It was tiring, since i was the guy who had to indicate when it was appropriate to clap. Still, it was worth it when i decided to imagine that they were clapping and cheering for me because of amazing clapping skill.

I do have a bit of discomfort when it comes to the annual dinner though. Every year, the people there change. Some quit, some are fired, new people are hired. And since a lot of them look the same, I haven't learned to differentiate myanmarians (do you call people from myanmar, myanmarians?) and nepalese. So every year, I end up calling the wrong guy by the wrong name, or not know his name at all, in which case I just mumble something that could sound like anything, thus leaving me saying some thing like, "Hello mmrphh, so good to see you!" More often than not, they just blame the mumbling on the loud music or fill in the blanks by blaming it on my accent. I am however, traumatised by the one year when the following conversation took place:

Random Person: Brandon, how are you?
Me: Hi, doing well. Nice to meet you!
Random Person: *confused face* It's me, Nathan. You worked here last holiday right? I'm quite sure we met at the time.
Me: Erm, yeah, I worked here, but i'm so sorry, I don't think I remember you.
Nathan/ Random Person: Oh.
*awkward silence*
Me: Uh, well, I should go help my mum with...stuff. It was nice meeting you!

That dinner is like a social minefield. Every year. I walk through a minefield every year. A minefield with a DJ and caterers. Looking forward to next year's.

The Nerd Herd

2011-03-19T00:05:00.002+08:00

It occurs to me that I have failed to describe the people in my class. I mean, Deena frequently does it, I guess if I do it once, I can get it out of the way.

Godly D- Super nice, and she sounds like a great person, but although I know she can be fun, she seems to just clam up when I'm around her. And no, not as in 'happy as a clam.'

Swift- i've had ONE conversation with him. Verdict: Should have more conversations with him.

Headphones, Mr Rajah's-Favourite and Tiger— I can't say that I know them amazingly well, but I enjoy talking to Tiger. Whether it's gushing over guys or the correct way to eat pizza, it's always amusing to watch. I haven't had a proper conversation with headphones yet, same for Mr Rajah's-favourite. Still, I can consider Mr Rajah's-favourite the reason why I am The Bio Rep now. He's super funny, but i'm kinda worried Mr Rajah's gonna put a bullet in his head one day for not keeping his mouth shut.

Big Sis- This girl freaks me out with her treatment of her brother, but I can honestly say that we have a lot of things in common, so yeah, she's pretty awesome.

Sifu- I love talking to this one, although she is constantly getting into trouble with teachers for laughing too loud.

DDR- this guy is freakin' smart, but I always get distracted in class when I look his way because every now and then he breaks out into a dance number during the lesson, especially if the headphones are on.

Punchie- Super nice guy, when he's not punching you. I don't mind, it's really soft and it's his way of saying hello. Although most people use their mouths, I don't know how they do it in Muar.

Super Genius- he amuses me.

Alienware- We constantly have our ongoing debate about Mac vs PC's. More often than not, he makes me feel comtarded (computer retarded), but still we get along well enough to stand each other.

Obie- I might have mentioned him before. He's my assistant. My anime-loving, too-nice-to-hate-anything assistant.

Bert and Ernie- Both of them are amazing. Ernie is some sort of math wiz, and Bert...Bert has bad internet connection.

Driveshaft- i can't express how flattered I am that he tries to imitate the way I speak. Also, he's got a neverending belanja-list.

Cracker- She's a really nice person, but....she sometimes lets her clothes ride a little low....leaving her buttcrack very visible. For some girls, horny pent-up pervs wouldn't mind. This is not the case. Still, really nice.

Neighbour- it astounds me everytime he comes into class late because he's actually staying right next to the college. Still, i like him, he's like an adidas-shoe-identifying savant.

Fratwin- she's Ernie's fraternal twin. Unfortunately, Ernie didn't have a twin on Sesame street, and i can't remember any female characters who are even remotely in touch with ernie, so i had to make up a character named Fratwin. Anyhoo, Fratwin is incredible, we spent one thinking skills project together, and she is so modest, i feel kinda guilty for writing down any answers at all.

Multitasker- I don't know how he does it. He plays plants vs zombies on his iphone under the desks, and on occassion takes naps in class, while the teacher is there, and still he manages to not get kicked out. Either it's an invisibility cloak, or some cool ninja skills, i am impressed.

There's a definite possibility that i have left some people out, but that's either because i haven't gotten to know them enough yet, or that it's getting late and i want to sleep.

Hey There, Hotstuff

2011-03-18T23:21:00.002+08:00

Just got back from Muqri's 18th birthday party. It was so great seeing the other's there again. We ate at Chilli's, or was it Chili's? Anyhoo, we had amazing food, with even better service, but we paid dearly. I expected a rm20 meal, but I paid for a meal twice that price. Dropped off Muqri's present, and we sang like drunk merrymen, which is acceptable, because number 1, it's a birthday, and number 2, it was a friday night at Chili's.

Highlights of the evening:
How we met everyone
Jay Yen's newfound reputation
The squeaky chair
Ping's disappointment in Nadia's accounting skills
Ping's disappointment in Geraldine's accounting skills
Ajay's pickup line with our waitress, Nicole
Nicole's reaction to Ajay's pickup line
Muqri's Chilli's power-up
Zhi Zhiang's...just Zhi Zhiang
A game of 'Hate That Cow'
Geraldine's sociology ability
Muqri's Shower
I have been deemed 'College-like'

Uh, I guess it's spelt as Chili's

Another Chance

2011-03-18T15:17:00.003+08:00

I know I was wrong
And i've made mistakes
But that was a while back
I've bided my time
What will it take
To stop this eternal heart attack

Because I've fallen off my mountain
No longer up high in the air
All the dirt that I have taken
No use to whine or make prayer
And you may think I'm an idiot
Clinging to ambitions unfulfilled
But I'm not done with it yet
Not till I have been killed

So take me back
Into your arms
Oh what's the harm
Of another chance.
I could be anything you wanted
I could be saint
I could be a sinner
I could be on top
I could be a winner
Just for another chance

Don't turn me away
It's too much to bear
I've planned all my life to do this
With all my hopes dead
But you really don't care
Is there something that I've missed

Because you're all that I've hoped for
But I guess life's just unfair
So when opportunity knocks on my door
You know that I'd be there
And you may say my hopes are empty
You may say that I am dumb
But the chances are a plenty
And one day my chance will come

So take me back
Into your arms
Oh what's the harm
Of another chance.
I could be anything you wanted
I could be saint
I could be a sinner
I could be on top
I could be a winner
Just for another chance

Just for another chance

How To Hate

2011-03-14T21:10:00.002+08:00

If there's one thing my friends know, and my new friends don't, is that i am great with holding a grudge. How great? I have hated a guy for 5 years just because he stole my chocolate in Primary 6. I wrote a poem specifying just how much i hated him and all the terrible things he deserves. Refer to the post "A thin line between love and hate." Anyhoo, in case you didn't know, i have just gotten over the grudge after 5 years of cursing, stalking, scheming and plotting. I feel as though i am really maturing as a person. No, i haven't forgiven him, i've just stopped hoping his life would be a living hell in which all the creatures of the underworld despise his sorry guts. No sir, i have given up on trying to find info about him and for all i know, he could be dead or be coping with a drug addiction or he could have lost all his toes. Ah well, i'm living my life, and he's living his empty shell of a life. I don't care anymore. :)

So, the first thing about a grudge is to know the enemy. Gather all info you can and the closer you are, the better. My target had no facebook, no blogs and no contact with me. With these being the usual sources of info for stalking somebody, most sane people would give up. I took it one step further. I searched through google and pored through multiple blogs written by the people around my target. And then i went through any website, any blog, any page with a possible link to him. Insane? Definitely. But oh so fun.

Next, is the waiting. You bide your time and wait for an opening. If you get to see your target on a daily basis, all the better. Look for an opening. A vulnerable point. In my case, due to lack of interaction, i had to wait 5 years. As time consuming as it was, i could gather enough info to satisfy me. I knew as much as i needed to about my target.

Lastly is the revenge. It is important not to let your anger out all at once. Because once you hit, or punch or kick, the anger is just gone. You need to keep it inside you. Let it grow. And when you find a vulnerable point, let a bit out. That way, you can let out small doses of hate and they'll suffer in the long term. Also, you have less chance of getting discovered as someone who hates the target, which opens more oppurtunity for gathering info, and hating even more. The style of revenge depends on a person. Whether it's psychologically putting them into a shame spiral, destroying a hope that they hold dear, or just turning everyone against them. In my case, i didn't really have to do much. I found out about my target's life, and it sucks. Just knowing he turned out the way he did was so satisfying.

Which brings us to an optional step. Personally, i don't know whether to recommend this step because it depends on you yourself. You can't force forgiveness on someone. So, until you can end your personal vendetta on your target, i don't recommend this. This step is called letting go. It's not time-consuming, or expensive even, but it's not easy. Just know, when you're ready, all you have to do is not care anymore. That's it. Some grudges are easier, some are harder. As a retired hater, i only ask that you make sure you choose your strategy wisely.

Still, the satisfaction of letting go is nothing short of amazing. I'm much happier now.

Rock That Aftershock

2011-03-13T09:28:00.015+08:00

Well, the news of my crushing rejection from the PMS committee is out. I can't say much about it except....dodged a bullet there. I am now working as a creative writer for the editorial board. No worries, the editorial board is a lot more fun albeit the power is not as high up there as i originally intended. The people are great and i think we're really coming together as a team. I would like to say that i bear no grudge against the current PMS board, or even the old one. Still, I would've loved to hear about my bad news directly instead of being left wondering and then told by word of mouth. I mean, how hard is it to send an sms saying "You did't get in. Sorry." Five words. You don't even have to type the whole thing that many times! Just add all the other rejects and click send. Honestly, i've never experienced such rejection at this level, not with something so promising. Well, i guess PMS isn't for everyone. Too bad, I really wanted to control PMS. Haha. Anyhoo, i'll be uploading some of my creative work every now and then to get feedback, so stay tuned for that. Finally, another amazing publication to get published in.

In other news, i would like to take a moment to send my condolences to the people in Japan. No amount of samurai sword slashing could possibly have withstood an earth-shattering quake and a wall of water tumbling down your world. To make matters worse, the nuclear reactor was affected and radioactive material has seeped out into the open air. With a rising death toll and an even longer missing persons list, i do feel truly sorry for the land of the rising sun. Hang in there, Sushilovers.

Back to the good stuff, Eric and Khang Waei're back today! And Nadia's birthday is tomorrow! Not to get ahead of myself, but i think nadia's gonna love the gift i got her. And Eric's gonna reacquaint himself with sunway pyramid. Trust me, after he attends classes at sunway uni, he'll know it like the back of his hand. Even if none of us are going to thesame colleges, and our colleges aren't even neighbouring or remotely close, and NS keeps separating us at different times, I can't wait to see these guys again.

Well, that's all for now, keep me marked.

Ninja Grandma

2011-03-13T09:08:00.001+08:00

I was walking down the street just the other day
To get to the market with my usual way
Then I saw an old friend to have a chat
We talked about everything, this and that
My fish was still cold and the veggies were bought
How much time do i have left? Uh, quite a lot.
Just two old women going on and on
Talking about all the years that had gone
So we talked about work and kids and pie
And then a deafening blur just zoomed by
I was knocked on the ground, how unfair
My day's purchases were lying everywhere
Then I looked ahead and realized something
My favorite handbag was now missing
The snatch thief was still in sight
So I ran after him with all my might
A deep gash ran across my shin
And there were some cuts on my skin
"Stop him! Stop him!" and yet he ran
His face masked by a helmet and
His gloved hands clutched my bag
He was wrinkling it! That fag!
He knocked over tables of chicken and still,
I jumped over them with amazing skill
Another table, of carrots this time
I ran over a car with hardly a climb
Then he turned the corner and fled
Only to find out the end was dead
Behind me the crowd had come
Holding bats and sticks and bubblegum
We ripped his helmet off and beat him good
Some flung fistfuls of messy food
He was bleeding bad and badly bruised
(Before, he looked like Tom Cruise)
With gum in his hair and tomatoes in his pants
The police arrived and cuffed his hands
They asked some questions and then the press
We took some pictures, for the paper no less
I later met up with my friend at her nearby flat
She asked "How did you do any of that?"
"You're sixty years old with a bad knee"
"Just last week you had surgery!"
I shrugged and went blank, my brain had a lag
Then finally I answered, "I really like that handbag."

March Madness

2011-03-06T07:58:00.002+08:00

In my efforts to procrastinate studying for a class test, i have decided to write another blog post. To be honest, i have to say, college is taking up a lot more time than i thought. Everyday is another dateline, every hour is another class, every minute is another chance i'll just nod off and fall asleep by accident. I noticed that my blog post production as reduced immensely and my topics of conversation have dulled down their usual luster. Honestly, if I'm not procrastinating from being too tired, I'm working till I become too tired. Not off to a good start, considering I NEED to be great at everything. Here's a review of the upcoming month.

Eric and all the other NS peeps coming back on the 13th. I would be more excited about it but I can't, I'm already too excited. I'd say we would need a lot of catching up to do, but we already do that every week on phone. So, I guess all I have to do is pick up where we left off. Still, I'm really messed up about the dream I had the other day. About Eric becoming some uber uptight military shirt tucking in shorts super soldier. That dream woke me up at 4am and I couldn't go back to sleep. I know it's stupid and I don't think he'll actually turn out that way, but I don't know how NS brainwashing works. Or worse....he'll turn back into Douche Eric, aka Deric. The dream did indicate his return. But then again, the dream alternates between Eric and Deric repeatedly. I love how everyone has an alter ego in my head! All in all, Eric or Deric, I'd just be happy to have him back again. Khang Waei, I'm not so worried about. He's less into the whole self-image makeover thing. Still, till the NS ends.

Nadia's birthday is coming up soon, and I'm cracking my head to figure out what to get her. Make a play on an old joke, or come up with something new that fits her perfectly? Nadia ain't no average Joe and she makes plain janes look as significant as belly button lint (Note: the belly button is NOT the button women press to get a baby after 9 months of pregnancy like some biological oven) I feel absolutely terrible for last year's birthday since everyone was so caught up in the debate prep craze, we absolutely forgot the date and we didn't realize until facebook reminded us. I'm really hoping to make it up to her this year, if possible. Nadia, if you're reading this, although you may not because you are working, but if you are reading this while on your shift, get back to work, but then again if you're not working right now because you're at home or on break or on the toilet, just remember this. You're turning 18, not turning into an alcoholic. Unless you want to turn into an alcoholic on your 18th birthday itself, which I do not advise, please don't go full out into party mode and do something stupid like hijack a school bus and drive it through a park before crashing it into a mall fountain.

Next on the march madness list is my driving test. 21st. After that, as long as I don't screw up, I'll be a fully licensed driver. Am I looking forward to driving? Yeah but no, but yeah but no but seriously, it's only because on like my first lesson I saw a slide about the hazards of drunk driving in college and after numerous years of staring at medical article after medical article about injuries, some but not all brought on by driving, I have a small paranoia when behind the wheel. Yes, it borders on pessimism and yes it is completely rational, so it can't be phobia. My parents say there are much worse things to be afraid of and I agree. I'm afraid of those things too. Then again, how is it that some people are afraid of spiders or bees but not afraid of perishing in a flying metal deathtrap used for daily transport?

Also, The spm results are rumored to be on the way. A little birdie heard from the grapevine and tweeted on facebook that the date set is 24th. Not based on speculation, someone from ppd said it. I'm freaking out about it. I am worried about my physics most of all. If i really think about it, i could never forgive myself if i get anything below 10 a's. There's just too much at stake. Granted, it's not a life or death russian roulette game of chance, but still, it's pretty important.

And then there are class tests. I'm swamped in them. Tests, assignments, homework. My procrastination meter is at an all-time high. 1000 procrastination points! New high score! But anyway, moral of the story, i'm so dead.

That's all the news i have for now. Till they actually happen. Keep me marked.

Leadership Whore

2011-03-05T13:11:00.003+08:00

Hey guys, in case some of you didn't know, i'm a power hungry egotistical megalomaniacal leadership whore. It's safe to say that after giving up my presidency of the English Club back in high school, i have gone into withdrawal. In fact, i get the feeling i might be making up for lost time during the holiays. Here's my progress so far on the road to complete control on life, the universe and everything.

Biology Rep
As i have complained earlier, i was involuntarily elected the class bio rep. Needless to say, i'm doing a good job of handling Mr Rajah's tantrums and the handphone spotchecks have dropped to a very satisfying nil. I didn't intend on letting the situation get out of hand, but today all of us got let out late so that we could look for a missing dropper in the lab. A DROPPER. Either i'm doing too good a job by making sure nobody moved until the dropper was found, or i made a terrible mistake by not noticing that the dropper was in the 'broken apparatus' bin the entire time. Ah well, they voted me in anyway. At least i get a new assistant. However much i miss ivor as my old VP, Other Brandon aka OB, or Obie, is doing a relatively ok job, i guess. He's probably less efficient than ivor, and has less of well, a lot of things, but he's essentially a nice guy.....who thinks that i'm an evil taskmaster from an alien planet bent on destroying everyone in sight. I may not like his anime fan interests (he actually has an anime costume), and i may not like that he often mistakes droppers for syringes, but at least he recognises that i am an evil taskmaster from an alien planet bent on destroying everyone in sight.

Editorial Board & Premed Society
I'm really looking forward to working in writing again. The first and second interview went well. I guess if offered, i might consider the editor job, although i signed up for head of creative writing. The environment there is great, just a bunch of people having fun while working with a dateline. Still, it's one of those posts that show nothing on a resumè, unless it's a really impressive post.

On the other hand, the premed society is something i've been looking forward to for 2 years. The one job that would look great on a medical university application. To go into something with medicine for extra curricular, it's been a dream. However, now that i've gotten a little closer to it, it looks so....serious. It actually reminds me of the prefects board. But then again, if i manage to get the president post, i could change what needs to be changed to make it more fun.

This really reminds me of when i dropped out of nominations for prefects board AND decided against joining the junior board of interact simply because the chances of being head/president was lower. Then i took over English Club president. Leadership whore instinct activated. I'm just not ready to be working for someone else while i have so many ideas for changes. I'm an idea guy, a big plan guy, not a worker bee.

At the end of the day, i'll only take one. Don't know which one, but i know i stand a good chance in both. Well, i guess i could try doing both jobs, be The Multitasker. Still, i'm not ready to let Superior Brandon get ahead and turn into a terrible monster. I'll decide.....soon. Whatever i decide, i really hope i get it. I'm not overconfident, i just feel perfect for both jobs.

Prank Off

2011-03-02T19:17:00.001+08:00

Hey readers, the other day I was having lunch with Libby when I got a super strange text from an unknown number.

UC: Unknown Caller
BL: Brandon Loo

UC: Hey the name is Loo, Brandon Loo.
I tried calling the number but there was no answer. So at Libby's suggestion, I returned the text.

UC: Hey sorry for not picking up, I'm just too nervous to talk to you.
UC: I'm in class, can't pick up...but we can meet after my class though.
BL: That's too bad, I really want to see you.
UC: It's ok, we can get to know each other. ;) Can you please not call me, I'm in class now..Besides, I'm quite shy.
BL: Who is this?
UC: I'm Haylie Wong
BL: I don't know anyone named Haylie Wong
UC: I know, I don't know you that well too.
BL: Well, I hope to figure out who you are. Bye.

You'd think that by saying bye, the conversation ended there, but no, it did not. I waited till the end of classes and went home. Then I used my house phone and called the number while changing my voice and impersonating someone else.

BL: Hello, this is Jeffrey from KBU College, are you currently attending any colleges at the moment?
UC: Um...yeah, I'm studying at Taylors College.
BL: Well, I don't suppose you would be interested in our college Open Day on the 17th?
UC: No.
BL: I'm sorry, can I know who I'm speaking to please?
UC: This is Maha.
BL: Thank you for your time.

I should explain, Maha is a friend i met from Natalie's class. I wanted a cool, almost murderous yet humorous way to get her back. Then I started texting Maha.

BL: I know it's you Maha.
MH: What? what? How'd you know?
BL: Jeffrey from KBU College called for Haylie Wong.
MH: HAHAHAHAHA...What? You're super awesome, damn you're smart...What!What! I didn't have a clue...and by the way I only SMS-ed you twice. The rest was my classmates.

Moral of the story, I'm awesome.

Word of my prank got around Natalie's class and when I had lunch with them today, I think they were really impressed. Some said sorry and I'm like "What for? It was fun." In the end, I feel really comfortable with the craziness of their class, really nice people. Natalie and Pauline, I approve. Lunch again next week?

The Dog Did It

2011-03-02T18:42:00.001+08:00

Continuing on the other day when I jailbroke Zhiying's iPad, here's the story of what happened a little later. At around lunch time, Jo Yi picked us up is her mum's car and all three of us went over to swensen's in Subang parade. Why? Two words. FLASH MOB. Ok, not really. Class reunion. It was so great seeing everyone there, how they changed, asking how their lives are after high school.

Highlights and High 5's:
Jo Yi's "mental torture"
Natalie's radio surprise, kudos to her.
Amanda and the paper bag conversation
Phanit's finally among people just as crazy as him
People regarding me as Zhiying's "twin"
Yung Chien mistaking me for Zhiying.
Yiing Yuan getting addicted to Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds
Huongyi's math skills with the bill

I'm so glad to see my old class again, even if swensen's is only good if you have a butt load of cash to burn. Ended the day broke on cash but rich with friendship...How gay.

iPlayed, iBroke, iPayed, iLaughed

2011-02-27T22:04:00.000+08:00

Hey readers, sorry it's been a while. My life has been a crazy mix of everything and nothing. I guess that's one of the downsides of a routine. There's so much going on but nothing noteworthy. Well, I am proud to announce that there is something to say. My iPad has been jailbroken! Yes, it's true. Not only that, I'm starting to get a reputation as the jailbreak guy. People are now asking me to meet up with them to jailbreak various devices. I myself don't think what I'm doing is wrong, but it isn't entirely right either. Still, while the issue dances in that gray area, like my moral teacher, Mr Ari says, it's all up to reasoning...that racist jizzrag. In all my time as a proud customer of Apple, I have never loved their devices more than I do now. Too bad that on the first time I worked with Zhiying's iPad, I ended up deleting everything in it. Still jailbroke like a charm though. Sorry Zhi.

Aside from my illegal activities, my legal life is pretty boring/busy. I know I should do my work and study ahead...but procrastination is so much more fun. The aftermath, as well as the actual math....and chemistry and physics and biology and moral and thinking skills, are less fun. My to-do list is getting longer, my homework pile is getting taller, and my schedule is getting too full. I'm tired all the time and keep almost nodding off in class. This is where the magic happens. I've been taking some Ginseng pills, Ceretam tablets, Vitamin C and spirulina every morning starting last week. At the risk of sounding like a commercial for drug addicts, the pills are amazing! Everyday is less tiring and I feel so much more energetic! Well, not that much, just enough to get me through the day. After a 6-7 hour day in college and another 2-3 hours in a tiny kancil car for my driving lesson, the most I can do is trudge up the stairs and crash in the bed. Which just so happens to be what I'm doing now, except that I'm typing while trudging. I reached my bed. Time to crash. Night and bye.

Super CNY Special Double Dose Post Part 2: International

2011-02-18T20:55:00.001+08:00

Part 2 of the CNY was my trip to Korea. I went there with a very specific stereotype of Korea. Either they're overly-disciplined uptight super soldiers or super feminine cutesy peace-sign toting nerd specs wearing pretty people. Boy, was I wrong. Before I start, I should tell you I'm not being racist, I just generalise people based on media stereotypes. So, here's what I learned in Korea.

1. Korean stereotypes only appear in Seoul. The rest of the Koreans are pretty much the same as the rest of the world. Granted, I am very impressed with the face value concept. Those Koreans REALLY know how to dress themselves! I mean how many guys wear purple cardigans with a matching purple tie underneath a designer suit at age 50? And the glasses? I couldn't walk ten seconds without seeing them. I loved them so much I got a pair. Although, I do feel they abuse the peace sign. They use it every time they can. At every angle, one handed or two, with varying distance from their faces.

2. Skiing is AWESOME. I fell twice but only because I did not know how to stop at the time. Once I got the hang of it, it was great. I went further and further up the slope to go further and further down. Hence, faster. I'm no adrenaline junkie, but i'm seriously considering my options in that area. In Korea, I went to Mt. Sorak for a ski trip. Review for it? Go there. For me, no regrets.

3. Hiking. I went hiking. I don't remember what was the name of the mountain. All I know is that the rock formations were unique due to an age old volcanic eruption. The climb was thrilling. There was a breath-taking view of the entire Jeju Island. The other side of the mountain was not so amazing. A field in the middle of a former volcano. Sounds great? Well maybe in April or May, ie spring. I went in February, ie Korean winter. The field was brown. Still, by the time I got there I was a very out of breath and a little light headed, so the colours were beautiful and mixed up for like 2 seconds. In those two seconds, those lack of oxygen induced images were amazing.

4. Nanta! This is a Korean broadway show. I've loved broadway since a trip to London and catching a show of The Phantom of The Opera. Nanta is Korean for Cookin'. Nanta! had a kung fu performance, percussion instruments, acting, drama, romance, a rock show, cooking acrobatics, traditional korean music, comedy, a korean game show, audience participation, and colourful ball throwing spatulas all rolled into one amazing show. To summarize, it has the awesomeness of a foursome between several virile possums.

5. Some Koreans are vain! I walked around Doota, a Korean shopping mall, and noticed that there are large reflective surfaces next to the escalators. The surface acted, basically, as a giant mirror. Due to my small addiction to hot chocolate and thrifty instincts to search for the best prices in the mall (I won't buy a cup of hot chocolate for more than 4000 won), I walked all over the place comparing prices of hot chocolate. I noticed that without fail, every time I stepped onto an escalator, I would see someone, be it man or woman or both, glance at the mirror to fix their hair or clothes.

6. I love Korean food. Period. I just love it. I wanted to go to a place suggested by my cousin with amazing spare ribs. Unfortunately, it's located near a military base and was genuinely dangerous. Taking that into consideration, I still wanted to go there. Correction, I still want to go there. In other words, I didn't get to go there. Oh, I ache for Korean meat in my plastic gloved hands, bathed in sweet/spicy/sour sauce.

7. Korean music is really catchy. Problem is, I don't know what they're saying. This makes remembering the song properly a bi difficult so I sometimes mix the forgotten parts with other English songs. Throughout my week there, and I mean every single day, I had the song SEOUL by Super Junior and Girls Generation stuck in my head but it was mashed up with Bruno Mars' Grenade. Also, I went to this place called Lotte World, basically a Korean Disneyland, and they had a gallery devoted to the Korean celebrities. Rain, Big Bang, Randomly pronounced Korean name. The other parts of Lotte World were really good though. The trick to not comparing it to Disneyworld and getting disappointed? Low expectations. That said, it was really good. The even replaced Mickey and Minnie Mouse with their own raccoon characters. Thrill rides there are amazing but the best was the 4D movie about a haunted house. It was told from the point of view of a cat that stumbles into the house. If you remember correctly, I hate cats with a conviction I can describe as religious. Anyway, the cat goes through torture of loads of angry spirits (like!) and in the end looks like it escaped. But twist! The cat looks at it's reflection in a puddle and it IS one of the ghosts of the house now! Did not see that coming.

8. Korean shopping looks good. Too bad I don't think I could really use any of the stuff there. There's a lot, but it was winter, so the only thing I bought was a pair of glasses. If you are a woman though, you will have an infinite number of things to buy. Reason? Women buy pretty and useless things because they look nice. It's not a bad thing, I'm not judging, just saying women a Korean shopping work well together. Case in point, I saw a 3 inch doll called a Domokun. It was very cute and it made me think of Zhiying and Nadia, both of whom have Domokun pencil boxes. I really wanted to buy them one each, but then I considered do they really need this? Answer: No. Plus the 3 inch plaything(haha) was hardly worth the money, pretty expensive.

Well, that's it for Korea. I wish I could go back there again. I really do.

Super CNY Special Double Dose Post Part 1: Domestic

2011-02-13T02:42:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, I'm officially back from Korea. Great place. I guess I owe you a CNY special double dose post. This is part one about my trip up north to Sungai Petani, Kedah.

The Drive:
We started out right after college, a few hours after I met Eric and the others for lunch. Left at about 5pm. Drive itself was uneventful, it was what happened at the rest stop. No, this is not a rape story. We ran into my mum's high school best friend. Personally, I've never met her, but I'm supposed to call her Aunty Cheryl. I found out she's also from KL but I've never seen my mum contact her before. Ah, how difficult it must be to remain in touch for people born in the Pre-Zuckerberg era. Yes, before Facebook I bet people had to handwrite letters. If I had to wait a week for a friend to send back a photo of me with the word 'like' scrawled on the back, I guess even I would cut off that relationship like a gangrenous limb. If any of my friends are reading this, I'm just kidding, I'd do anything to keep in touch even without the Internet.....Well, maybe not....It depends on who is reading this. Haha?

Fire-In-A-Pot:
Dinner on the first night was in Ipoh, with my grandaunt. This was great because my mum's cousin and her kids ie my second cousins were visiting from Australia. One of my second cousins, Aaron, brought a bunch of fireworks from Penang. We lit up footballbombs, spinners, sparklers, rockets and a new version of poppops. The rockets were amazing, we lit two and sometimes three at once. And the footballbombs made a crater in the ground. Eventually, we stripped the sparklers of all their gunpowder, tossed in some poppops and lit it up. Result was an extremely bright fireball that rose about 2 feet above the pot. No sound, just a really bright ball of fire. Too bad we had to leave right after that or else we would've tried even crazier mixes. We arrived at about 11pm in my paternal grandfather's house.

The Spring Cleaning:
Since my grandfather lives alone, things can be a bit difficult to clean up on occasion. So this trip, we decided to get some old stuff cleared out. My grandfather's great with tools, he made a cabinet out of old broken speakers. Unfortunately, not all of them are winners, like the broken microwave that was used as a shelf. After some heavy duty cleaning and a lot of thrown out junk, we had an amazing dinner. Steamboat, beef rendang and lobak. If I had brain damage, I would probably type OMNOMNOMS, but I'll just say it was insanely good. Small towns always seem to get the food right and trust me, Sungai Petani is small. Met up with my paternal cousins and found out they learned to play guitar on the Internet. No lessons, just YouTube. Amazing. Also, my cousin Sylvia is some really smart hardworking kid, just a year younger than me. The two of us are constantly getting compared to each other. She's the smartest person in her class, which is the best class in her school, which is the second best school in Kedah....and now I find out she wants to be a doctor....too. Oh yeah, family competition. You'd think that I would sabotage her in an effort to get the leg up on the little mentioned contest between the two of us, but I prefer to treat her as an inquisitive apprentice. I answered any questions she had, and gave whatever advice I could. She's just decided on the doctor thing a few months ago while I started research at age 12. Plus, smartest in a small town is not much compared to anything in Subang Jaya. I don't feel threatened in the least. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still ahead in many ways. Anyhoo, day ended with a midnight fireworks show outside. Fireworks + countdown to CNY= Me + n(very) + happy

The Big Day:
Chinese new year day was pretty good this year. Woke up to a bunch of angpaus thrown in my face. I haven't even counted the money yet. Had a big CNY lunch, mostly steamboat. Had a very scary event happened to me. I should explain. I have an eight-year-old dyslexic cousin with the maturity of a kid at age 5. So she tends to be a little hyperactive, and can still do stuff like slapping people and throwing tantrums, much to the annoyance of all my extended family members. Still, I try to teach her to read on occasion and I babysit her when I see her, to give her parents a break. I can tell you, it is very tiring to take care of kids. Still, I love them....if they're cute. Just kidding. Haha....Not really. What? Well, anyway, I guess she hasn't learned how to behave like a normal person yet, but she got a little crush on me this holiday. Must've mistaken patience for affection. I was so uncomfortable when out of nowhere, she starts kissing me, holding my arm and saying 'I love you' repeatedly. I don't know if you know this, but I tend to dislike having my personal space violated. It took me a while to pry my arm away without hurting her. Otherwise, I would have a crying kid on my hands. Ugh, creeps. Moving on, my parents decided it would be a good idea to get me a guitar. They've been throwing new stuff at me a lot recently. It's weird, I keep saying I don't want things, and they just keep giving them. Tennis lessons, clothes, new camera, iPad, guitar, Chinese lessons, gym membership, money. Not that I don't want them, who wouldn't. I'm just a little unsure if I say yes that the things will stop coming. Maybe if I say no long enough, I'll get a new car. Haha. Oh yeah, my dad took me on a tour of Sungai Petani, showed me his old school, my mum's old school, some houses where people used to stay, places where things happened. It was really nice. I've been here tonnes of times, but I never got a tour like this. It was really nice. We left a little after lunch at around 3pm. Arrived back home at around 8. When I got home, hallelujah, I had Internet! I love the small towns, be it for food or for people, but seriously, wifi is scarce.

Birthday CNY:
Next day was the second day of CNY. This time, we visited my mother's side of the family. my grandparents came down for a visit from Penang. Also, my cousin and her husband and son came all the way from Hong Kong. In case you've seen it, the lava lamp in my room was a gift from them after I was the ring bearer for their wedding. That day was my nephew, Dylan's birthday, and I don't get to see him so often since he's from hong kong, so I was really glad to be around. I spent as much time as I could with him. Not to mention the other nephews, the eldest is Brian and his brother is Ian. I am told that Ian has a lot in common with me. Cute while he's young, cunning, smart, manipulative, loves books, TV addicted and he speaks with an accent. Yes, he's my favorite nephew. It was great spending time babysitting them. Had a great lunch and then went home to do some last minute packing for the trip to Korea. Left the country at around 1am. I only regret that I couldn't stay for the birthday party that night.

Coming up is part two of the CNY special double dose post. Keep me marked.

The Awesome Awards

2011-02-07T00:00:00.003+08:00

Hey readers, if you are reading this, it means that I am not able to make a post but I still want to update my blog. I repeat, this is an automatic post. In fact, i am writing this in December 2010. Every time I reach a milestone in life, I feel there are a handful of people who played big roles in getting me there. So without any further ado, here are the awards to all the best people of 2010.

THE GO-TO GUY AWARD: ERIC CHONG KEN NYEN
THE QUIRKS & QUIPS AWARD: NADIA HONG LI XIAN
THE BEST BRO AWARD: LIM ZHIYING
THE MEGAPHONE MUNCHIES AWARD: NATALIE YONG KAI WEN
THE GIANT SHOE AWARD: AJAY KUMAR PURI
THE MIRROR LOVER AWARD: YIP JO YI
THE RANDOM PHILOSOPHER AWARD: PROF. SHER MUN
THE STUCK IN STRAIGHTJACKET AWARD: SAMUEL NG SHEN HAN
THE BIEBER BEATER AWARD: HWANG HUONGYI
THE NO LONGER NPOA AWARD: TONG YUNG CHIEN
THE PRO HOMO AWARD: TONG MAY YEAN, GERALDINE
THE PRETTY MOMMA AWARD: AMANDA CHEN HUEY TSAN
THE POINTLESS STORYTELLER AWARD: PHANIT SUVANMANI
THE ITUNES GENIUS AWARD: TIE, JEREMY ONG SHERN LI& SYED AMIR
THE PILL POPPER AWARD: LIM HWEE PING
THE BOTOX SPEAKER AWARD: CHOO YUN KIT, KENNY
THE FAKE FAKER AWARD: LEE PHAIK YAN
THE ONLOOKER COLLECTOR AWARD: WONG CHAI QIAO
THE MOST FOCUSED AWARD: MUQRI DANISH

To the winners, congratulations. I will really miss all of you next year. Ok guys, this should be enough until I get back. Till I return, keep me marked.

Going For An Ass

2011-02-04T08:53:00.003+08:00

Well guys, I'm back from the Sungai Petani, Kedah. Let's start from the last day of college. It was probably one of the best days in college so far because Eric had just gotten back from NS for his one week break. To make things even better, my Thinking Skills teacher was absent, so I got to come out to see him 30 minutes earlier than expected. We had Salmon Steak, food was only okay but for food and a drink, the price is pretty good. I saw a video of Eric's dorm in NS, heard a few stories about his daily life there. Maybe it felt like he was going off to Iraq the first time I heard it, but I guess now that I think about it, I can see why some people say it's fun. I'm not worried for his safety as much anymore. I mean, the guy went for a month and all he got was a bald head, a tan and a few pimples. Far from the worst case scenario I keep playing over and over in my head. See also: leptospirosis outbreak. Nadia intends to go for it in a couple of months. I could probably worry my butt off, but Nadia's got some mad skills with The Axis of Calamity and The Fulcrum of Doom. No, I have less to worry about her than Eric even. Still, there's no telling how I would react to her being in the wilderness without a computer. See also: Bored with Facebook. Chai Qiao described NS as a place for torture by psychotic kids. I don't know if that is an exaggeration, but then again, her scenario might have been worse than Eric's. Too bad I won't be seeing any of them for about a month and a half more. I'm still worried the brainwashing will set in and they come back as militaristic overlydisciplined uber patriotic super soldiers. Too bad I didn't get a chance to see Khang Waei in person. I guess phone calls will do for now. His camp isn't even within my phone network coverage. We'll definitely catch up as soon as we can.

Nadia and Ajay pointed out that if I were to go for NS, I would see it as quite fun...or worry about myself. Note, I would have fun, but NOT being picked allows room for constant worry for the people who DID get chosen. Though, after seeing Eric that day, he can take care of himself just fine. Hope he gets back again soon. And all the other NS draftees too I guess. That's all for now. I'll post about the rest of my trip to the hometown soon. Also, tonight I'm going off to Korea.

Post-It Notes With Coffee Stains

2011-01-29T23:50:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, just letting you know I won't be around for about 2 weeks. I'll be leaving for my hometown to spend CNY hols and then fly off to Korea for an extended vacation.

While I'm gone, I encourage you to leave any questions or even comments for me in the chat box and comments section so I can get back to you when I return.
By then i'll probably make a post about my trip after I settle down and unpack.

Until then, HAVE A SUPER CNY AND KEEP ME MARKED.

Bloo says bye.

A Basket of Puppies Choking On Sunshine And Rainbows

2011-01-29T23:20:00.004+08:00

Wow, the last post was just really emo. I guess I should balance things up with a happy post. I guess the happiest thing that happened to me today is when Eric told me he was coming back. *punches air, accidentally hit someone and awkwardly apologize, almost get sued* I can't wait to see him, we have so much to catch up on. Even if he is bald and might be brainwashed with crazy NS voodoo, I'll take what I can get. Too bad it's only 4 weeks before he has to go back. At least it doesn't stop there. Other people to look forward to are Khang Waei, Chai Qiao and all my friends who answered the call of NS.

Second thing to be happy about is that I finally managed to sell off my brother's old economics books, including the motes! That's rm120 to save from my book buying budget. That's rm120 I get to spend on things I actually like. Thanks to Natalie for being a great customer.

Next thing is that my class is actually starting to be quite fun. I do like the people there, well mostly. I don't know anyone well enough to call an enemy so I like that. As for friends, time will tell which ones are which. For now, they're just happy acquaintances. It's only been two weeks after all.

Another thing to be happy about is my trip to Korea. I'm really looking forward to skiing and the culture and THE FOOD. I love Korean food. I do get a bit apprehensive about people who emulate Korean celebrities a bit too much, though. Well, to each his own. I just find it creepy to let something so inconsequential influence your every waking moment. Still, Korean dancers are really good, I don't mind admitting that.

Now for sunshiny happy overload to brighten up all emo posts, I was eating dinner at JW Marriott earlier and on the display they had the cutest rabbits for the whole CNY Year of the Rabbit decoration. Ooh, with those lovable fluffy bunny ears. I wish I could have rabbit satay right now...Makes me wonder what happens if I see a really cute baby.

Okay...the puppies from the title are vomiting sunshine and getting rainbow diarrhea. Note to self, never do that ever again. Happy posts kinda make me sick, emo posts too. Bloo gonna bounce.

Judged You 'Dy

2011-01-29T13:18:00.006+08:00

Hey readers, as you know I've just completed my 2nd week of college. I'm starting to get to know some of the people in my class a little better, and i really like most of them, so that's good. One thing that really annoys me though, is that people tend to make very obvious assumptions about me before they actually get to know me, not just in my class but throughout my life. I guess it's really easy to judge people by their covers, and with so many new faces a lot of us can make the mistake. With me, first thing people talk about is the way I talk. With my accent, and arguably slightly wider vocabulary than some, I guess it may come off as snooty or upper-class. Truth is, I'm not any of those. I've never gone to an international school and I was born in Malaysia. I've never even been out of the country for more than 2 weeks. When I say things like "the room is uncomfortably quiet" and when you point out it is high-class English, please take a second to think how I will judge YOU. I learned the word 'uncomfortable' when I was 6 or 8 and the word 'quiet' before I can even remember. Expressing admiration for simple words just because I talk the way I do makes me think you are either poor in English, which I can forgive, or foolishly idiotic. Then there's the fair skin thing. Too bad there's no giant satellite laser beam that shoots common sense from space when people wonder why i have fair skin. Simple answer, genes. WTH, i'm in the science class and they can't piece that together. It's not even pale or caucasian. And it sure as hell isn't effeminate. Also, some people may peg me as the super-obedient-responsible-takes-himself-too-seriously-guy. Let me make this very clear. I AM NOT THIS GUY. I may look the part, I may even have a small portion of those qualities, but please, please don't judge me before you even have a conversation with me. Oh what's the point, I've made my first impression. I just hope these new faces get to know me before they write me off as a freak. I don't want to change myself to please people, I feel they should change themselves to please me. I bet all of us feel this exact same thing, but we just keep tearing each other apart with silent insecurity. I can tell I'm not off to a good start when I look at someone and think about doing a pistol whip. Still, I guess it's too soon for me to do that. Maybe I'll save the pistol for in a few months time after I get to know all my new acquaintances better. Until then, keep me marked.

As a last word, in this new place with new people in and out of my class, or even my college, I can only ask that we set aside the cruel judgy looks and just let the good times roll.

Motherfudging Bun of A Sitch

2011-01-28T16:49:00.006+08:00

Hey readers, sorry I haven't been posting as often as usual recently. Expect more of it because college is taking up more time than I thought. Not so much because of classes but really the resting time required to get back on your feet. My daily naps are getting longer by the day. The other day, I was reading in my room when I dozed off and slept for 3 hours. Almost missed dinner. Shock! Horror! Gasp! Burp!

If that isn't enough, sometimes I skip the rest time and jump into driving lessons right after college. That's right, you read right, driving lessons. This boy here got his L license and he's learning at a disturbingly slow pace. I've done some horrible things in a car, but I can honestly say I prefer some of them compared to actually driving one. Driving lessons are....interesting. My instructor is Mr Ng. He's this super patient guy who showed me the L license of some of his students.....including Nadia's. I can't complain about her picture. A guy sued a blogger for criticizing his curry fish head stall online and I don't intend to be the next victim. But then again, nobody looks good in their license/ID card pictures. I myself look stoned, drunk and oddly one with the universe in most of my pictures. Anyhoo, back to driving. Driving was hard at first as the clutch was an immediate enemy. In a while, I'll be going on the main road to practice instead of a safe, empty service pathway. Is it weird that I think the car hates me because every time I get in, the gear shift looks like it's giving me the finger? My ankles cramp a lot while driving.

On an unrelated note, let me introduce my Biology teacher, Mr Rajah. Mr Rajah is a really great teacher and I find him to be an exceptionally nice man....except when he is not so nice....which is all the time. I really like the pleasant, happy feeling i get when I'm talking to him....and imagining him choking on his own saliva. Don't get me wrong, he's an amazing teacher, he can just be a little bit uptight. So in college, each subject requires a class rep. Basically it's like a class monitor but there's one for each subject. Mr Rajah needed a Biology class rep. As well as an assistant. Suffice it to say, nobody wanted the job. It came to the point that he had to give us a dateline to pick a rep. Ideally, someone would jump at the chance to tackle the challenge of a demanding teacher. Realistically, everybody pushed the job to each other like it was a metaphorical time bomb. As luck would have it, there are 2 Brandons in my class. There are 2 jobs available. It doesn't take a math genius to figure out the probability of the time bomb blowing up in our faces. They even had a vote to decide which Brandon gets class rep. and which one was assistant. No asking whether we WANTED the jobs or not, just vote. 18:12. That was the vote that put me in the bio class rep position. At first I hated the idea, but when I really thought about it, the others probably would have screwed up the job a lot more than me. Call it hubris, call it pride, I have a talent with defusing rampant angry teachers. I did work with Ms Ruth for a whole year after all. Within minutes of being appointed, I was already considering ways to abuse my power. Things like 'forgetting' to hand in the homework of someone I didn't like or rushing people to the bio lab with the enthusiasm of a drill army sergeant or confusing people by asking them to hand things to Brandon without specifying which. "That's very unethical! And inefficient!" some might say. I would probably ask them to give the job to someone else then. Well, at least I get an assistant again. Ivor was an excellent number 2 last year. Maybe Other Brandon will be....I wanted to type 'even better' but I am seriously reconsidering that.....maybe moderately competent.

Today was my first day on the job, actually. The Universe decided to really throw back its head and spit in my face because some stupid clown honk SMS ringtone popped up during bio class. Mr Rajah got so unhappy about being interrupted that he asked me to check the ringtones for all the handphones for one third of the class, to enforce a 'principle'. Results were inconclusive and we couldn't find the source of the sound. Spot-checks for handphones. It's high school prefect mode all over again. Well, the results were inconclusive to the teacher, but I have a sneaky suspicion it was Jovan. His phone turns on silent with the flick of the switch and that makes it really easy to turn on silent when nobody is looking. That's why I didn't check him. Just accepted his excuse that it was silent the entire time and moved on. I may not be a fan of the guy, but I just wanted to get on with my life instead of hovering over a table checking ringtones. Time well spent, Mr Rajah, I mean seriously. Principle's a real sitch.

I'm starting to get less psyched for college since it's so tiring but I guess keeping an open mind about it....is tiring. Fudge it. Keep me marked.

Lumps and Humps Don't Mix, Fergie

2011-01-24T16:04:00.001+08:00

Finally caught a break. Guys, as you know, I have recently started college. I've only been there for a week and I've already learned so many things. Considering that classes have barely started, I'd say I'm off to a good start. For those of you just tuning in, previously on The Awesome Bookmark I mentioned that I was going to start college in Taylor's. It's now a definitely new experience. Fortunately for me, I'm great with meeting new people as long as we're within range of each other and have something in common to talk about. I am, however, terrible at continuing long conversations. I don't know if it's just me but sometimes I just run out of things to say. In fact, while the other person is talking, I have to pull some multitasking jujitsu to grasp at any viable topics of conversation while listening to whatever is spouting out of said person's mouth. Still, I manage. In fact, within the first few minutes of entering the college, I began making new acquaintances. Let me start with 8.55am Tuesday, January the 18th.

I was stuck in traffic at the time. SS15 as usual. The orientation was supposed to start at 9am. I arrived at the multipurpose hall at about 9.07am. While checking my class, which is PM12, by the way, some guy with a camera approached me and wanted to interview me. I was like "Guh, what?" and when I wiped my slack-jawed expression from my face, managed to listen to half of his questions. Then he pressed the record button, expecting me to give my answers in a casual and calm fashion. I told managed to choke out the answers in a deceptively calm voice all the while in my head screaming "Just stay f***ing CALM!!" With a smile, he gave his thanks and I went into the hall.

Hall was crazy packed. I couldn't even see any of my friends (I later found out they were on the other side of the hall). The ushers brought me to the first row and in baseball catcher style, signaled "You're Out" to the first row of people, mostly staff, asking them to go stand at the side. This made space for a group of people, like me, to sit. Being paranoid as I am, it is times like his that I incessantly worry one of those staff members would hate me for stealing their seat then plot an elaborate scheme to kill me off and say it was an accident. Luckily, paranoia is easily combated with layers of nervousness. I began to sweat at this point. I'm not proud of it, in fact, I go to great lengths to control my nerves so as to not sweat. I can assure you, it is a disease, though. Anyhoo, nervousness turned into boredom when the numerous speakers took the stage one after the other taking turns to say their piece. Some of them bombarded us with slideshow presentations and some with painfully cliched jokes. Eventually, one of the slideshows wouldn't work and the speaker had to stall for time until the helpers could get the slideshow up and running. At this point, I started talking to the guy next to me, whom I later learned was named Hans. I love it when I meet people with foreign sounding names. Be it a Russian Nadia, a German Liesl or just Apple. Hans told me a bit about himself and vice versa. We ended up paying very little attention to the desperate attempts of the speaker to stall for time to mend the technical difficulties. Eventually, they did fix the darn slideshow, and they did start dragging groups of confused teens to their classes. I spotted a couple of familiar faces here and there. Joanne, Beatrice, Natalie, Pauline, Yiing Yuan, Priya, and even Jian Hui. I guess he dropped the scholarship at KBU.

My class, PM12, is, for lack of a better words to describe it, I'll call it new. During the icebreaking session, I didn't get screwed over by forgetting someone's name and I got to draw a very screwed up portrait of Justin Bieber. I'd say that went quite well. As for the people in my class, there are 2 Brandons and 4 Shauns. Let me correct that. It started with 4 Shauns, then it was discovered that 2 Shauns were there due to a clerical error so they were transferred to their actual class. Then they didn't like the other class for some reason and transferred back. So now it's back to 4 Shauns but some of them are going by their Chinese names like Weng Ming and Wern Cheong. As for the other Brandon, we actually have some common ground. I don't want to make it a competition, but we compared notes. He is Brandon Lim from a school with 2 other Brandons, one Ng and one Loh. I am Brandon Loo from a school with 3 other Brandons, one Choy, one Shia and another Loo, plus a Loy two years younger. Just remember, it's not a competition between Brandons....but I'm, so winning. IF there were to be a Clash of The Brandons, I admit, I would resort to using strategy TX. Strategy TX is a plan I devised during one of my competitions in high school but it was deemed so heinous it could not be used. The strategy is this: go up to the victim and say in a quiet but well-meaning voice,"I'm so glad to see you in this competition. I heard from one of the guys that you had testicular cancer/are pregnant/had to remove your special part(s).Truly an inspiration." Then I point the victim to an unsuspecting stranger and fade into the background, watching them tear each other apart. All that aside though, I really look forward to meeting all these people.

As for study related stuff, the work at the beginning is not too bad. Sort of like the level of Midyear in Form 5. Math feels like add math. Biology feels more like chemistry. Chemistry feels like super chemistry. And moral is, well....moral. Book buying is burning a hole in my pocket. I swear, if I don't wrap the book stuff soon, I'm gonna be so broke. In the past week, I have spent rm214 on books alone. My parents insist on buying new books instead of secondhand stuff from seniors. Luckily, I can sell off my brother's old economics books to subsidize about rm135 from the books. Workload is currently still light, but by the end of the day, my brain tends to switch off, making it quite hard to pick up on new stuff in class. Basically, it's my periodic mind stoning, or PMS.

Speaking of rampant PMS's, I've been wrestling with the decision between choosing between extracurricular activities, or ECA's. Current front liners are debate, futsal, dodgeball, badminton and the Pre-Medical Society. Obviously PMS is a big advantage for me if I continue into a medicine career, but I just wish their activities were a little more exciting. I'm going to try to take over the club, maybe inject a little more of Brand's essence. As for debate, my parents pointed out that when in what I dub Debate Mode, I tend to bring my competition into real life a lot. I guess pointing out every part that's wrong with someone else's argument can be rather annoying especially since I regularly play the role of Devil's Advocate. Nah, debate's more law oriented in college anyway, it's probably time to retire the cue cards. Dodgeball has been an interest of mine since I saw that Vince Vaugn movie, Dodgeball. My brother and I used to love watching that show, to the point that we mixed futsal and dodgeball to create Evasionball. It's roughly the same as dodgeball, but you have to kick the ball and hit the other player. Ball becomes neutral when it hits a wall. He was better at aiming, I was better at dodging. Inevitably, it was a cat and mouse game. Which brings me to futsal vs badminton. Both sports I've played since I was a kid but I guess I could only be considered moderately mediocre. I play futsal a little bit more than badminton, but I stopped playing since my last PJ session in high school. Right now I'm leaning towards futsal, but maybe I should lay low with a defender position. I'm pretty sure these college guys are going to be nimble twinkletoes. My parents also want to sign me up for tennis lessons, which I'm not entirely inclined to go for, but I'm not resistant to either. I can definitely picture myself choking on my own breath, unconscious on the court with a large bump in the head from an incoming fuzzy green ball. At least the ball in fuzzy and green. That's all that matters in tennis as far as I know.

It's gonna be a busy year I can tell you that. I'll keep posting as usual if my schedule doesn't kill me, so keep me marked.

Choy Sun Strikes Back

2011-01-22T23:21:00.002+08:00

Previously on The Awesome Bookmark, Choy Sun The Chinese New Year Santa gave me a bad fortune in a fortune cookie. Not that the fortune predicted impending doom a la 2012 or Zombieland. No, this was much worse. The fortune was of poor quality in the sense that it did not apply to me and hence, was not a fortune. The last time I saw him, he was in The Curve. This time, I went to 1Utama and he's stronger than ever.

Note, CNY Santa is especially powerful during this season and will stop at nothing to ~~rule the universe with an iron fist~~ promote his shopping mall. That's right, this time I caught him holding a catalog and enticing passersby with various promotions. He didn't even give out fortune cookies this time and his elves were missing too. The true way I knew he was more powerful, was not his mall promotion skills...no. It was that he was black. I tried to get a picture of Black Choy Sun to spread through the media and warn everybody, but I was called off field due to lack of time. I'll get you one day CNY Santa, one day. I swear in the name of overly cliched but at least accurate fortune cookies.

That's What She Said

2011-01-17T22:59:00.004+08:00

For the title above to make any sense, you need to read the title of the last post. Then again, most of my titles don't make any sense.
I couldn't help myself, one more post before college starts. I forgot to tell you about my run-in with the weekend. As most of you know, Chinese New Year is on the way and this year, I will actually get to go back to Penang. That means Ang Pau collecting starts soon. Cue clip of Scrooge McDuck diving in money pool. Makes a guy wonder if rm200 worth of 5¢ coins is enough to fill an inflatable kiddie pool.

I'm not here to talk about that though. I'm here to talk about The Chinese New Year Santa. I don't know what he really is supposed to be called, so I stereotype him with all the mall Santas I saw around December since I didn't think Chinese New Year had a mascot. Anyhoo, the other day, I went to The Curve and there was this guy in costume giving out free fortune cookies to any guy passing by (rhyme bonus). He was surrounded by a few other girls about the age of 10, similarly dressed who also gave out free fortune cookies. I can imagine this guy keeping away his Santa costume on the 26th of December and having his CNY Santa costume dry-cleaned by January. Maybe the little girls are his elves. Maybe I've also discovered the man behind all the holidays with costumes! Easter Bunny Santa, Deepavali Santa, Hari Raya Santa! Maybe his house has a long corridor filled with mannequins dressed in those costumes! Oh, the conspiracy I have unfolded! Hammer of Thor, I forgot what I really wanted to talk about.

Oh right, the fortune cookie. I'm used to getting fortunes from fortune cookies that make no sense at all. Usually it's something vague that could apply to anyone. This year, it was different. Frankly, I'm disappointed with you, CNY Santa. You give me a fortune cookie all nice and wrapped up in plastic, I wait for an entire afternoon to open it because God forbid if the crumbs get all over me, and when I finally get around to opening it, you put in a fortune that really pisses me off. "You are a bundle of energy, always on the go." I expected a cliched, half-thought-out but at least sage-like saying. Like something Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid would say. Really, I wouldn't mind if a piece of paper from a cookie called me a grasshopper. Instead, what I got was a cliched, half-thought-out, INACCURATE saying. That's right, I went there. How you like me now, CNY Santa? How you like me now? If I was a bundle of energy, I would be running in circles talking so fast the Roadrunner would say "What the beep?" No, I'm sitting in front of the computer typing a blog post with Copter Mania on the other window trying to beat Nadia's insanely manly score.

I miss the good ol' days when things like "Eternal happiness can be yours if you do what needs to be done" or even "Be patient to attract opportunities." I miss THAT. I didn't care about how they could apply to anyone as long as they could open a cookie and read the tiny piece of paper. I cared that it could apply. Period. Then PMS. Then period again. Menstrual cycle. Biology chapter 4 form 5. I used to picture a huge hall filled with trained monkeys in tuxedos, writing their butts off so they would be rewarded with a banana. If it was really good, 2 bananas. With the kind of quality I'm getting here, I would fling poop at your monkeys. They would enjoy it and start a poop flinging party and all your CNY Santa costumes would smell like poop.

Jeez, CNY Santa, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself (rhyme combo x2). I need to sleep now, busy week ahead. Keep me marked, except you CNY Santa, you get a white hot "disappointed with your work ethic" look. Let it burn....your toast.

This Is Just A Short One

2011-01-17T17:29:00.003+08:00

Hey readers, just letting you know that college is starting tomorrow. I don't want to promise anything since a bunch of people say that week 1 is extremely hectic but I'll definitely try to post some stuff about college week 1. Really nervous but kind of excited, like the butterflies in my belly suddenly got buffed up on steroids. Anyhoo, will be busy from now on and late night posts at 3am will be a big no no. I'll be back when I can so please keep me marked.

Your Donuts Make Me Go Nuts

2011-01-17T02:53:00.005+08:00

Princess Handsy Pansy Pinkie Rainbow Honey Pussy Wussy Dinkleberry Fairy Sugar Maple Jelly Donut Mashypop Cuppy Icingcake Strawberrycherry Pony Trickle Truffle Giggle Buttbutt Boobboob Rosie Posie Sweetness Pies Cake Cream Delicious Lemon Meringue Oh-So-Good Oh Yeah *orgasmic noises* Bubblegummy Bear Spice And Everything Nice Blushy Cushy Caramel Sticky Poppy Mary Bumbee Glee Asam Boi Cotton Candy Sandy Thong Stickers Bubbles And Buttercup with Bootylicious Blossom Droolicious Pikachu Doodoo Squeaky Screamy Sour Flower Power Crybaby Squiggly Wiggly Woogy Moogy Oogy Pixie Sticks Web Willie Minty Pixie Dust Tinkerbell Blondie Macchiato Frappucino Smoothie Mango Milkshake Kitten Puppy Heels Wookie Tookie Jelly Beanie Baby Cookies N Cream Puff Butter Bread Toffee Chocolaty Gelato French Panties French Kisses Hershey's Kisses Mwah Mwah XOXO Slllp *cough cough* Ruby Loobie Scooby Shiny Succulency Sensual Seduction Braided Ponytail Mascara Lip Glossy Stick Dick Ribbons Buttons and Warm Mittens Daisy Paisy Faizy Lazy Emo Elmo.

I found this while I was browsing through Nadia's blog history. Just so you know, it's a nickname and it's not for me. It's Sam's. Ah, good times. Which brings me back to the point of this post. Apparently, some time in June 2008, before I even set up this blog, Nadia tagged me in a post and I didn't even know about it. So, without any further ado, this is the first tagged post on this blog.

Rules: Selected blogger must say 10 things about themselves. Then tag 5 other people to do the tag.

1. I am a huge comic nerd. Not the manga kind, the typical superhero fan. IRONMAN FTW!!!!! WOOH!!
2. I have killed a lizard with very loud Britney Spears music. It was Gimme More. Gave the lizard a heart attack.
3. I HATE the colour purple and The Colour Purple.(One is a colour, one is a broadway musical)
4. I don't trust Japanese people because some of them dress up in anime costumes and act cute but they're descended from samurais.
5. I think if you haven't peed in a moving vehicle, you will eventually.
6. I'm terrified of wild monkeys because of a documentary I watched when I was a kid.
7. I have stapled my finger before. It hurt.
8. In the simplest way I can put it, I'm frickin' awesome.
9. I regularly have future dreams which make very little sense. At least until they happen. They happen rather frequently too.
10. In my Standard 6 class photo, I looked like a light bulb because we were standing under the Sun and my skin was really fair at the time.

There, Nadia, happy?! Two years late but I did it. Oh yeah, I need to (reluctantly) tag 5 people for this.

1. Geraldine
2. Sam
3. Barrack Hussein Obama
4. Yo momma
5. Yellow Digi dude

The Human Torch Was Denied A Bank Loan

2011-01-17T00:23:00.006+08:00

Sometimes my friends come up to me and ask "Brandon, how do you get so many movies?" Well, for you dedicated readers, here's the answer. I download. A LOT. After reading this post, you can too.

Step 1
Go to CNet.com and look for a torrent managing program such as Bittorrent, uTorrent or Vuze. They aren't so different but there are tiny little details that can make managing files easier. For beginners, I recommend Bittorrent, but I am currently using Vuze. Install the program in your computer and if you like, you can try to explore the functions.

Step 2
Go to a torrent download website. You should know that P2P sharing is generally frowned upon in most countries. It's not illegal, but if it gets out of hand, it will be. For example the Superfundo website was shut down just last year due to legal disputes. Lawyers and Politicians. Anyhoo, the best website for beginners is Isohunt.com. As a guideline, search something in the search engine at the top of the page, look for what you want with a green number next to it. The green numbers are on the right of the page. Green is good, no numbers or black numbers are stagnant or slow, red are corrupted with viruses. Also, to look for the safest set of movies, I suggest you search up Jaybob. Jaybob is a team of people who 'seed' or provide the movies after ripping them from DVDs. The movies you download should always be either DVDRip or DVDSCr. DVDRips are definitely safer.

Another option, is if you intend to download the episodes of a series. Just search up the name of the series you want, find the season and episode number, and click. Here's a few examples:
- 30 Rock S01E01
- The Office 101

Step 3
Once you have clicked on the episode/movie you want, click on DOWNLOAD TORRENT. If you selected Bittorrent or uTorrent, it will open in the program automatically. If you are using Vuze, it will be sent to your downloads folder and you'll have to open it manually form there. After that, just leave the torrent to finish downloading. You can track the download progress in the little bar. After it reaches 100%, you have to right click on the movie and select OPEN IN FOLDER (SHOW IN FINDER if you're using a Mac). Normally, the best kind of files you can use is either in avi, mp4 or m4v format.

Step 4
Now you need a player to watch the movie you just downloaded. To watch on your computer screen, I suggest QuickTime, which you can get from the Apple.com. To watch on the TV, you need a thumbdrive that has a memory large enough for your movie and a DVD player with a USB port (the hole that fits the thumbdrive). Then from the remote, switch to USB mode.

Step 5
Believe it or not, you have a limit to how many shows you can have in your computer. Too many, and your shows eat up the memory in your internal hard disk space. To counter this, you can either delete unwanted shows, or get yourself an external harddrive.

Extra notes:
1. DO NOT download porn. Viruses all over.
2. DO look up any info you need about your show such as episode numbers or names of movies with Google or Wikipedia.
3. DO use Torrentz.com as a backup if Isohunt fails you. It is a hub for websites just like Isohunt.
4. DO use an organizational system to help you keep track of your files after downloading them.
5. DO expand your downloading horizons with songs(mp3), ebooks(PDF) or pictures(jpg).
6. DO be patient. Some downloads take longer than others.

I hope that was enough to get you started. Pardon the jargon. Keep me marked.

20,000 Leagues Under The Pee

2011-01-15T23:07:00.010+08:00

To any international readers, here's some special info you might need to know when visiting Malaysia. A fair majority of people speak in Manglish ie. Malaysian English. Basically it's almost the same as regular English except there're a few "lahs" or "ahs" thrown in and maybe the occasional major grammatical mistake. Growing up, I was a TV addict, and I mean it when I say I was addicted. I would watch a show so many times that I soaked up info from that show like a sponge. I first heard the word trepidation from Alfred in the Batman series. At age 3, I would express my distaste at returning to Malaysia while I was on holiday in Australia with the excuse that there was a terrible haze back home. When cut off from TV, as during my UPSR exams at age 12, I dreamed of reruns of my cartoons. To be specific, the episode of I.M. Weasel when he creates a microscopic city of mini weasels that compete with I.R. Baboon's mini baboons. Yes, there are commercials.

The point I'm trying to make is that I learned so much from TV at such a young age that I even spoke like the characters on TV. No, I don't mean that I said " What's up doc" every ten seconds. I got a very small accent from the cartoons and never used "lahs" or even "ahs". As you can imagine, this sets me apart from a LOT of my peers. It is not uncommon for people to have strange reactions to my accent. Since I was a kid I have been plagued with the questions," Are you American/Russian/British/Canadian/Christian/from another country/from an international school?" Do I looking freakin' white to you? Ok, I guess I'm pretty fair-skinned but it's not even close to Caucasian. I used to get a bit annoyed by the questions but by now I guess I'm used to them. Still, I do notice small things when talking to people. For instance, some instantly correct their usual grammar problems and use bigger words in their vocabulary arsenal. When they turn to speak to someone else, they revert to their regular way of speaking. Then they turn back to me and speak in near perfect English as though nothing happened. Some even go so far as to put on a very thick, very fake accent. Oh yeah, like that would spice up the conversation. It's not a competition. School teachers constantly asked me to stop talking the way I do, usually English teachers. My usual reply is that I can't turn it off. Believe me, if I could I would, but unfortunately, it just doesn't come out naturally when I try to speak like a regular Malaysian. In fact, I can't even turn it off when speaking in another language like Chinese or BM. This personal handicap is a constant joke among my friends which I agree, is really funny when I hear myself. Also, when people hear me speak, they immediately expect perfect English from my lips. Though I keep telling people my English proficiency isn't even that great and sometimes recommend them to other people for help, they seem convinced that I'm a walking thesaurus. In fact, they called me that at one point in high school! I don't resent it, it's very flattering, but I only know the answer to the question 8/10 times at best.

Oh God, I wish I didn't get so worked up when people made fun of my accent when I was a kid. A lot of people assumed it was a fake and I did it for attention, often resenting me for it. People especially got annoyed that I didn't join the status quo of spouting out "lahs" and "ahs." I used to try to be quiet as often as possible when I was younger but then, as I grew older, I realized people automatically assumed that I was a great speaker because of this accent. I took that and expanded my actual capabilities to get over my fear of talking. Yes, this included taking classes for public speaking, drama, even writing as an extra. Now, the unusual way I speak is a great icebreaker with new acquaintances although I still have trouble with English impaired people. So, to all the people who made assumptions and made fun of the way I speak, thanks for making me better than the Average Joe. Without your ignorance, I can safely say I would not be better than you today.

To my readers who experience this problem or any other of a similar nature, I offer this advice. People can be idiots. Take advantage. Be better. Thanks for keeping me marked.

So Scared of Breaking It That You Won't Let It Bend

2011-01-14T12:54:00.002+08:00

History has shown us many things. War, Peace, Love, Hate. But one thing that has always remained constant is the lust of Man. It hardly ever changes. What used to be left only for the bedroom between a guy and his wife, note I said wife, not lover, has now spilled into the Internet in all its glory. The audience, wanting more, decide perhaps something tasteful can be put in movies. What happened to those scenes like in The Notebook? When the star-crossed lovers wanted to get down and dirty but just before they do, some kind of interruption hits. Even the naughty parts were at least censored by amazingly coincidental placing of Ryan Gosling's arms.

Now, pick a movie, Jennifer's Body, Black Swan. Girl-on-girl action has become common. Don't get me wrong, I'm all up for good ol' go-time but I don't want to see Mila Kunis licking the nether regions for Natalie Portman then kiss her on the lips. I don't think ,"That's so hot." I think ,"That's so unsanitary." The worst is when they nude up for comedy. That's just like the lowest of the low. The unbelievably long list of parody movies that constantly make this mistake is just unbearable. The plots are terrible, jokes mediocre, acting less believable than two kids standing on top of each other dressed in a trench coat trying to get into an R-rated movie and parodied material that hardly even fit with the story. Then, they cheapen the entire thing with unnecessary nudity. These also include the American Pie Series. Year after year it's just another bunch of kids doing radically weird stuff to get laid.

Call me old fashioned, but there's kind of a limit to the weird stuff.

Birds Singing in The Sycamore Tree

2011-01-14T00:55:00.002+08:00

A cow goes moo. A beloved cartoon helicopter in the game copter mania on facebook goes "duh duh duh". I know that sound too well. It haunts me. The copter not the cow. Though to be honest, cows are rather haunting. Their beady eyes and the way they chew cud. A flick of their tail and a fly drops dead. I'm going off topic. Right, the copter mania. It all started the other day when I checked Nadia's facebook page and it was just covered with posts about her score on copter mania. I wanted to beat it. 1978 seemed easy enough. I tried it a couple of times and I was hooked. Like crack cocaine but instead of drugs, it was cartoon helicopters. Soon enough, Nadia's score was beaten but I only reached second place. Sam had a score of 2794, and he did that while reciting the 7 times table. He reached 7x15. I was impressed. Nadia later chatted me up and we found out that chat spamming would teleport the copter if the computer lagged. First time, it added an extra 100m to her score, but later attempts at this only made her crash into floaty wooden blocks. She gave me the angry face emoticon. >:( I don't like that emoticon very much.

Later, Nadia beat me with a score of 2710, taking second place. Then she went swimming, during which, I took over with 2715. Second place again. I was not satisfied at all. I decided to rest for the night and continue my copter conquest the next day. This was actually a good idea because I was just in the zone. I can tell you that controlling a broken copter with long continuous plumes of farty smoke coming out back that won't even land on the ground, it's not easy but I did manage a whopping 5200. Nearly double the score I had intended to beat. Cue proud face. This is Pet Fights all over again. That satisfied my copter crazy for a while. Can't wait for them to try and beat my score again. Judging from Nadia's facebook posts, she's already beat Sam. I'm really going to miss both of them this year but a new new new years resolution is a new new new years resolution. Stay classy, readers. Goodbye.

PS: This last note was added the day after this original post. Sam has taken first place again with 5961.

The Sound of Settling

2011-01-13T02:06:00.005+08:00

This is a list of all the movies I watched this holidays.

1. Land of The Lost
2. A Christmas Carol
3. Easy A
4. Forrest Gump
5. Hard Candy
6. Inception
7. Letters To Juliet
8. Macgruber
9. Momento
10. The Bounty Hunter
11. The Brothers Bloom
12. The Karate Kid
13. The Last Airbender
14. You Again
15. The Men Who Stare At Goats
16. The Other Guys
17. The Town
18. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
19. Unthinkable
20. Chronicles of Narnia 3
21. Austin Powers
22. Austin Powers 2
23. Austin Powers 3
24. Blades of Glory
25. Anchorman
26. Harold & Kumar 2
27. Saw
28. The Notebook
29. Undercover Brother
30. Dinner For Schmucks
31. Napoleon Dynamite
32. Buried
33. Salt
34. Step Up 3
35. Shrek 4
36. Taken
37. The Brothers Solomon
38. Hot Tub Time Machine
39. Despicable Me
40. How To Train Your Dragon
41. Did You Hear About The Morgans
42. Scott Pilgrim Versus The World
43. The Backup Plan
44. Knight and Day
45. Legend of The Guardians
46. Predators
47. Clash of The Titans
48. Surrogates
49. The Rebound
50. The Losers
51. Tekken
52. Knowing
53. Back To The Future
54. Back To The Future 2
55. Back To The Future 3
56. Avatar
57. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone
58. Black Swan
59. The Switch
60. When In Rome

61. The Proposal

Blast From The Past

2011-01-12T11:02:00.001+08:00

What Happened To Snow White?

What happened to her, you say?

Well, the prince turned out gay

Whatever was the happy ending ,

Really is depending,

Whether it makes you sick,

A fairytale is just a gimmick.

There never was a once upon a time,

As I disprove the lies in this rhyme

The dwarves sued Snow White,

For her wretched ugliness and robbing sight

And midget labor and other crimes,

But did Snow White do it this time?

Did you know that Snow White's fear

Bit her in her giant rear?

For she had a thing with powdered wigs,

It made her slobbering like a pig,

It made her a nervous wreck,

But the trial started no turning back,

When the judge said, “Are you guilty?"

Snow White replied, "Well, I’m rather dirty"

Then the judge called the prince to the stand,

Not so charming, he's rather bland,

He was a bad man, quite ferocious,

His heart black, he' quite vicious,

"That woman's a horrible witch!

I say, she's worse than a b*tch"

She's guilty; I’m not changing my mind,

If you think she's pretty, I think you're blind,

I hope she spends years six to ten,

In that dump you call state pen,

"Hey judge, I’ll give you 20 bucks,

If Snow White's guilty through hard luck,"

A dwarf told the judge with glee.

"Hey, you got it; I'll do it for free"

I hate the drool on her chin,

I want her in the bin,

But she should be in the state pen. ,

Serve some time and then,

Invite everyone to a nice feast,

But leave her out, that ugly beast.

Now that, my friends, is the end,

Snow White did not attend,

The lovely banquet and eat glorious food,

She died, Hooray! What good,

So everyone lived happily ever after,

They always smiled and had much laughter.

Created by

Brandon Loo

My New New New Year's Resolution

2011-01-11T11:10:00.002+08:00

It's that time of year again, people. The New year has arrived. Out with 2010 and in with 2011. I can't say I won't miss 2010, it was one of the best high school years I've had, and the last I will ever have. The New Year is a chance to look at future opportunities. Now more than ever, since I'm starting college in exactly 1 week. As I said in a previous post, I will be attending Taylors College for my college education. Long story short, I've made a promise to myself. Some promise to stop drinking alcohol. Some promise to lose weight (Which I guess I need as well). However, I promised to hold onto old friendships and try to break my old habit of never making an effort to keep in touch with old friends. That promise was made 12 days ago. In this time, I had to watch a lot of people leave. Some went to National Service, some went to boarding school, and countless went to so many different colleges, different courses, different countries. We were splintered, spread out, and maybe I'm being dramatic but watching it happen in slow motion made my heart ache. Many people know I'm not a fan of change. In fact, I tend to oppose it. I decided that instead of letting this change get me down, I couldn't hold on to what I had. My new new New Year's Resolution is now to let go of the past and embrace college life. This includes letting go of old grudges, letting go of worry and of course, people. I always knew I would need to move on eventually, why not now?

Movie In My Mind

2011-01-10T14:47:00.003+08:00

The 31st of December in 2010 was a big day for me. It was the last time I would see my friends that year and the Movie Marathon at my place was held to usher in the New Year. For anybody who has known me for more than 10 seconds, they would know that I'm a pretty big movie buff. As in, I download them...a lot. I own 700gb of movie, series and videos to watch whenever I'm in the mood. To cut the story short, my friends could pick from hundreds of movies to watch and we only had time for 3 movies.

Highlights:

1. Watching Natalie and Amanda watch a guy cut off his foot in Saw.

2. Introducing Anchorman to my friends.

3. Phanit's reaction to the amazing placing of Ryan Gosling's arms in the Notebook.

4. People raving over Easy A.

5. The final farewell of 2010.

Sing!

2011-01-09T23:16:00.002+08:00

Ah, birthdays, nothing like them. The only thing that stands out, is your 18th birthday. This is a post about Natalie's awesome 18th, the first in a series of them. It started a few weeks ago when a facebook event came out inviting some of my friends to her birthday. Problem was, she had no idea what to do. Ideas were shot around from screaming ice-skaters to poolside partygoers. In the end we settled on the dreaded karaoke. For those of you who are not aware, I'm not exactly a good singer. In fact, my singing has been described as the sound of a thousand cats dying simultaneously. The sound of my voice confounds people as they attempt to decipher the tunes I hummed. Unfortunately, more often than not, they could not seem to tell what I was singing or humming. This brings me to a physics class a few months ago. Natalie told me about an idea to bring all of us to karaoke, knowing that I'm a terrible singer.

Back to the present, here's my take on the party at Neway Karaoke. I arrived with Nadia who was nice enough to give me lift there. When we arrived, Geraldine, Sher Mun and Sam had already arrived but Natalie was late to her own birthday. We tried working the system, with Geraldine having the most experience with it. Songs I sang include:
1) Bad Romance
2) Like A G6
3) Hit Me Baby One More Time
4) Hello
5) Toxic
6) HaveYou Ever Really Loved A Woman
7) Afternoon Delight
8) With A Little Help From My Friends

I should probably mention, aside from numbers 1, 2, and 4, the other songs were mixed in with the entire group. When 20 or so people sing at the same time, it's a little tough to hear anyone but yourself, which was all good for me. The ones I sang weren't too hard I guess, or at the very least, my friends reserved their comments. I had a very, very good time but I did feel something was missing. Many of my friends were off to National Service or couldn't make it. No offense to Natalie, I had an amazing time, I just had a feeling that I missed a lot of people. Not only that, it was the last time I would see Sam, Phanit and some others for a very long time. To end this post, the party started very very well, had tons of fun and laughs but the end, when people started leaving, it started getting a little bit sad, sort of like something was ending.

Curious George Goes To The Zoo

2010-12-30T10:25:00.003+08:00

The other day, I was invited to go to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. I woke up at 5.30, left the house at 6.30, arrived at my cousin's place at 6.50, left cousin's place at 7, arrived the sanctuary at 9, watched my nephews feed elephants at 10, watched my eldest nephew try to talk to an elephant at 10.27, watched an elephant scare my cousin and her son to stand on a bench at 10.45, left the sanctuary at 11, had one of the best bahkutteh ever in gohtong jaya at 1, arrived cousin's place at 2.50, arrived home at 3.15.

Overall a bit of a disappointment, because you're supposed to be there at 2pm for the activities such as elephant riding and elephant showers. Still, I did get to try out my camera, the NEX-5. Pictures were amazing.

It Can Only Get Better

2010-12-22T10:26:00.003+08:00

The other day was the Mass Birthday. A day to celebrate the birthdays of everybody who missed them during the SPM exams. Loads of fun at Italiannies in which we just sat at the table and had dinner. Best parts in a nutshell? Pictaking, Evolution of Zhiying, Tip 50cents, and Reasons why Sam and Nadia were late.

Empire State of Mind

2010-12-21T14:49:00.003+08:00

Ah, the night has come and gone. Prom was certainly something to remember. I arrived a little late and missed some pictures but that's ok. Food was good, performances was amazing, ballroom was to die for. Birthdays were celebrated and hugs were made. We danced and sang and laughed. We took pictures and posed for the camera. We voted and clapped. Truly, it was amazing. One thing though, was the slow dance. I was talking with a friend about our favorite Christmas songs, mine personally is Last Christmas by Wham. This was the song we danced to during the slow dance. As much as I enjoyed it, I guess I had higher expectations. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't who I was with or what we did, I just had something different in mind that reality just can't satisfy. Absurd expectations aside, I really enjoyed myself. The question though, is not what we did during prom, it's what happens after. When everybody parts ways and leaves the hotel. Some go home, others simply take the party to another venue. Some take off their suits and some wipe away the makeup. Some leave and never return, others made mistakes and must face the consequences. Whatever it is, I know I might not see some of these people again.

On a another note, I'm so glad to have Sam back here again. what has it been? 2 years since I saw him. He hasn't changed a bit. Friendly advice for all future prom-goers, enjoy it while you can, because when it's over, it's so over.

PS: Congrats to Amir and Sher Mun, who won Prom King and Best Dressed Guy respectively.

Zombie

2010-12-20T14:07:00.003+08:00

To be more specific, zombies and plants. Fighting. In a garden. Where sunflowers give out sunlight. That's right, I played the recently popular game, Plants vs Zombies. It amused me for a good 3 days, and I have to admit, it's addictive. Most people would agree I'm not normally a fan of computer games, but this one is really not all that bad. Too bad I finished it too fast.

Dream On

2010-12-20T12:40:00.003+08:00

Last Thursday night, I had a really weird dream. It's one of those can't make any sense out of it kinds. I was trying to save Piglet of the Winnie the Pooh fame, and we had to go through a road of fire. The fire turned into a stampede of flaming horses and we somehow got through with nothing but a large blanket. Then, when we finally got through, Piglet disappeared and some guys were looking at me weird. Then, I check my pants and my wallet is gone. Piglet stole my wallet. This wouldn't be the first time piglet has terrorised me either. When I was a kid, a Piglet puppet came really near my face and tried to bite me. Unfortunately, it still had the plastic tag so I ended up getting a scar. I swear, you just can't trust beloved cartoon characters anymore. Anyhoo, I woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and panting, rushed to check my wallet, then went back to sleep. This time, one of my oldest friends from primary school gave me a sweet, one of those 5 cent sorts, and said happy birthday, then broke down crying because I didn't get him anything for his birthday. Then, we get juice in America. The strange part doesn't even end there. The following morning, I went to the Taylors College Open Day to register and guess what I found. My friend from my dream was there. Apparently, we'd be in the same college next year. Futuredreams always tend to freak me out like that.

Moving on, after a lot of thinking and dabbling with the idea of boarding school, I have decided to remain here and do A-levels in Taylors. I guess I'll be sticking around for another 2 years, readers. Looks like you can't get rid of me that easily. So, for now at least, keep me marked.

Damn you, evil piggie!!!

Go, Speed Racer, GO!

2010-12-20T10:56:00.004+08:00

Hey readers. 2 days ago, Eric, Kenny and I went for an IQ quiz over at KBU. We met Jian Hui there and got the reputation of most supportive and loudest group there. The competition works like this. We took 2 tests, then the scores for both of these are added together. The top 5 go to the final round, whereby they answered some questions in both iq and general knowledge. Jian Hui won 1st place which comes along with a scholarship to uk, a laptop and rm500. Of course, before we arrived, Eric, Kenny and I were thinking about the probability of any of us winning. At first, it was 3 out of 155. Then, I reminded them Jian Hui was there. So it went down to zero. You wouldn't believe some of the questions in there. One example is this:

Mr David's peacock laid an egg in Mr Smith's garden. Who owns the egg?

A) Mr David B) Mr Smith C) The Peacock D) None of the above

Give up? It's D. Peacocks don't lay eggs, peahens do.

One thing though, the other 4 finalists were REALLY TV deprived. One of the questions showed Heath Ledger as the Joker and asked what movie he's from The guy guessed Batman Returns. It's a wonder how he got 2nd place. Makes a guy wonder who's really the smart one here.

After the IQ marathon, Jian Hui treated the rest of us to Italiannies in Empire. Then we went to Eric's house before going for go-karting. It's my first time and it was so amazing. I mean if a guy ever had so much fun, it would be by spinning a go kart. I would spin it on purpose just to get the feel over and over again. Drifting was cool too. I don't know how to explain it, there's no feeling like stepping on an accelerator and going on at full speed along a long road. Best post-SPM activity so far. Loved it. If anybody wants to try go karting in the future, I can only recommend this, don't slide left and right in your seat while turning in an effort to be 'one with the kart'. You'll end up with blister-back and swollen-skin, like Eric. Speaking of Eric, today's his birthday. So, have a great 17th, you're finally old enough to drive. Also, when you get to NS, try not to get brainwashed.

That's all for now. Thanks for keeping me marked.

Madame Bovary's Ovaries

2010-12-15T16:58:00.003+08:00

Hello, readers. Here's the scoop. Prom is on the way and everybody is really excited. Everyone is going all over the place buying a dress or new suit, maybe a watch or some shoes. Too bad some of these add up to hundreds of dollars worth and that's money you can't get back. Aside from money spent from buying the ticket, I, unlike some people I know who spent excess of RM300*cough* Nat* cough*, spent a total of zero dollars and zero cents for prom. Cue smug pride beaming. Here are some very helpful tips for the prom-goer on a budget.

1. The ticket. It's optional. It costs money, but it's only a fancy colourful piece of paper. I say, make your own with paper napkins and crayons. Nobody will know the difference. If they don't let you in, accuse them of racism, storm off, and come back with a fake mustache. Nobody says no to a mustache.

2. The suit. If you're a guy, a suit may be pretty handy for prom. To save some cash, some opt to rent suits. To save even more cash, I suggest a T-shirt with a tuxedo design but make it classy. Steal a flower from the table centerpiece and clip it to your shirt with a safety pin.

3. The corsage. Don't get a corsage.

4. The dress. For ladies, the dress is instrumental in deciding the belle of the ball. Take a page out of the Lady Gaga fashion book and go there dressed in a giant trash bag. For added fun, toss on a few slabs of meat for a gorgeous meat dress. That way, you don't need to buy dinner either.

5. Accessories. We all know men and women use very different accessories. Girls use a wide variety, from shoes to jewelry to purses. Guys may be satisfied with a belt, shoes, a watch, and maybe cufflinks. Instead of jewelry and cufflinks use fishhooks. Forget about a purse and use a plastic bag. Staple different coloured bags to make them look more vibrant. A belt can be replaced with a black piece of cloth. And for every stylish person, shoes, who needs 'em. Go barefoot. It's eco-friendly.....for some reason.

6. A trip to the salon. For the ladies, walk in very calmly and say these words. "Make me look amazing for free or I'll cut you." Mind you, these are hairstylists, not magicians.

Well, readers, there you go. Great ways to go to prom when you have less cash in your pocket than a bum with a gambling problem in Vegas. Have fun at prom. Keep me marked.

Lick It Up

2010-12-10T12:15:00.000+08:00

Do The Corn-Corn

By Brandon Loo

I love the yellow and green

When it hits the scene

The way it’s harvested with a basket

It makes my body chill

Gives me that special thrill

Without it I’d be lying in a casket

I love the little yellow ears

Come on my dears

It’s right and outta sight

Corn on a cob

Never a sob

Can’t resist with all my might

Yeah, corn makes me smile

It’s cooked in every style

Cornism’s the only cult that’s okay

Cornism’s coming here, please say so!

Cornism’s coming here, don’t say no!

Oh yeah it’s corn-oh!

Popcorn so buttery

Before a movie

There’s nothing that fits that kind of vision

Put it on a stick

Gives me that special kick

You know it’s the only right decision

I love every crunchy bite

Every little delight

The juice that squirts-oh!

Corn is the only one for me-oh!

Cornism’s coming here, please say so!

Cornism’s coming here, don’t say no!

My life’s filled with corn-oh!

My life’s real with corn-oh!

Oh yeah it’s corn-oh!

Open your mouth

Tomatoes go south

Savour every little bite

When corn is steamed

It makes me scream

Juice drips away from sight

Oh yeah it’s corn-oh!

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate

2010-12-10T12:13:00.003+08:00

I Don’t Want To Friend You Anymore

Right now I stare at the faces of photos past

The back of my mind they have been cast

I think back to a moment in time

It is I think the point of this rhyme

It’s a day I cannot forget

Yes, he burned me like a lit cigarette

Flashback to the year 2005

It is a really long scary dive

I was in standard 6

Super awkward, I hardly mixed

So here’s the truth, I cannot lie

I hate the guy, I can’t deny

I thought he was nice but he just led me on

Threw me aside like I was a used tampon

Some girl pissed him off, I realized

As she tried really hard to apologize

Brought him two white bars of Toblerone

He merely waved his hand, she was gone

She was dismissed, she gave the chocs to me

To be shared with my brother, so you see

Even when his face looks like a cancerous mass

He runs like the wind into my class

Raids my bag and thrashes around

I did nothing, I was spellbound

I was like so OMG

Do that to me how could he?

I didn’t do much, just too shocked

This creature had me chocblocked

I should have reported theft and assault

But didn’t know what those words were called

He still had the nerve to offer me one

I said, “No, so long, have fun”

After that, we hardly talked

Eventually I had to walk

I hate him with hatred near religious

For his stupidity must be contagious

In the five years he haunts my mind

Creeps into my dreams from behind

Taunts and laughs in a park at night

Even I know that’s just not right

During a scavenger hunt he teases me

My prophetic dreams came frequently

To the masses he is a stranger

The ever-present hidden danger

Difficult it was to track him down

I asked plenty of people in my town

I Googled him, Facebook friendfinder

The Internet could have been kinder

It is not healthy to begrudge someone this long

My friends sang their constant worried song

He did something quite unnatural

Stabbed my back with betrayal

But then one day in 2010

My luck had changed right there and then

An article about him on the web

Opportunity I had to grab

The speech that got him a standing ovation

Had revealed his identity and location

He welcomed Japanese people to his land

Then one day I saw the horrible man

At a contest at HELP University

He still had a repulsive personality

He saw me but just walked on by

I tried to be nice and said hi

He remembered me but shrugged me off

Then smugly left with a scoff

Being the bigger man didn’t work

It was time for revenge against the jerk

Torturous thoughts my mind came to

Oh, all the things I could do

Erectile dysfunction

Crash at the next junction

Infect him with HIV

Make him forget his ABC’s

Contaminate all his drinks

What will he ever think?

Empty all bank accounts

Zero on all amounts

Make his stairs extra steep

Attacked by flying sheep

Locked out of his own home

Gets an extra chromosome

Removed fingernails

Body parts in the mail

Always a sleepless night

Electrocuted by a kite

Shot from a sniper rifle

Pleasure I cannot stifle

Frame him for holding marijuana

And I really wanna

Give him a concussion

Reverse liposuction

Turn his skin yellow

Jaundice for the fellow

Fire a crossbow

Shipped to Moscow

Miley Cyrus

Computer virus

Kidney theft

Steal the left

Things get gory

He says sorry

I don’t listen

I’m still pissin’

Rewrite history

Cause a mystery

Spread a rumour

Give him a tumour

Snap back to reality

A more realistic mentality

I needed something less complicated

Even simpler than having him constipated

It needed to be perfect for the mood

So in the end, I spit in his food.

Reboot. TAB 2.0

2010-12-10T10:45:00.007+08:00

Ta Dah. I'm back.....For a little while anyway.

Well people, another year has come to an end. I'll be back on the blogosphere for another few weeks before starting a new chapter in life. COLLEGE. Let's recap what all my faithful bookmarkers have missed in life outside the computer screen in 2010.

1. Toastmasters

2. SPM 2010

3. Suicidal gays getting bullied

4. Leadership Camp at Dusun Eko

5. A LOT of birthdays

6. A LOT of missed birthdays because of SPM

7. Debates

8. PLKN

9. Graduation

10. Successors

Let's start with number 1. The toastmasters are a group of people that go around teaching and practicing the fine art of public speaking. They came to the school and asked me to describe the gender of a shuttlecock. It ended up being a piece of sports equipment that plays for both teams.

No. 2. SPM. This one basically ate up my entire year. Three weeks and 10 subjects later, my friends and I have come out on the other side near dead and yet more alive than ever. Now I have a pile of books in my study room the size of a 14-year-old. My schoolwork has given birth to a beautiful baby workload.

Next, No. 3. This year a bunch gay kids couldn't take the bullying anymore and decided to drop dead. While I'm not advocating homophobia, bullying or gay rights, I do feel it is extremely wrong to commit suicide. The IT GETS BETTER campaign is now trying to combat the suicidal homoteens with....star power. That's right, celebrities. These people go on the air and talk to people about their experiences in life and how they got through to become better people in the end. Well, most of them anyway. Notable homo erectus fan, Justin Bieber, decided it would help these teens to just say the name of the organization. That's it. He said one sentence about bullying, "You know, it gets better, you know", then said something about bystanders. In another instance, he didn't even know what German means. The American educational system must be worse than I thought and I never thought highly of it to begin with. Anyhoo, respectable homosexual teenagers reading this, if you are being bullied, suck it up for a little while. I frown upon suicide, it makes me think you are either weak, careless, ignorant, selfish or stupid, or all of the above, and you wouldn't want that. Suicide, NOT COOL, NOT AWESOME. Same for Bieber.

Back to me with No. 4. Leadership Camp. Basically all the club presidents and a few others with more than one post in more than one club attended. 80 to 100 participants split into 10 groups. All of us in the wilderness of Pahang training ourselves to be the best that we can be. I myself had an excellent group. So excellent, we got the best group at the end of the camp. I'm just so proud that all the smugness seeps out my every pore to say that I am the leader of that group. We beat everybody else, that's not important or even significant, but it's a real ego boost. I also got voted MOST CARING LEADER. A bit of irony there but it's really true. I was very caring during the camp. After reading about all the horrible things that happen in the forest, people falling and slamming into trees, that sort, I was so worried that someone would get hurt during the jungle trek. As such I went back and forth helping people across ledges, rivers, slippery stepping stones, steep slopes and low hanging branches. What can I say, an injured person would have spoiled the rest of the camp.

No. 5 and 6 are the birthdays celebrated and ignored throughout the year. Eric and I are planning a mass birthday celebration for ourselves and our friends who missed their birthdays because of the SPM. Stay tuned for that one.

No. 7, Debates. I attended a couple of really good debates this year, KDU & HELP, met with one particularly despicable annoyance at the HELP debate but that's not important, I wrote a poem about it and will be posting it soon. While my team won a couple of debates, we didn't manage to make it to semifinals. On the other hand, Nadia's team made it all the way to octofinals in the Help debate and then won the finals at the Dato' Wira debate. I am incredibly proud of that girl. She used to be this quiet silent say nothing whatshername when we were younger and she improved so much. From stage-frightened silenced to one of the best public speakers I've ever seen, including myself. Kudos Nadia, I will miss your strange near sociopathic tendencies now that we are going to different colleges. I would also like to announce my departure from the debating scene to move on to new things in college. Natalie's right, can't stick to the same boring stuff forever. However, before ending my debate career, I did manage to join my friends in judging a debate. Completely different experience altogether. It was an inter-team debate of form 3 & 4's who had zero experience. Overall, not bad, for some. I was quite impressed with the winners but all I can say is they learned from the best. So, before going in, us judges would go help the little newcomers and coach them. Feels good. Like walking on sunshine but more tiring and less magical. More like walking on...... concrete. Rewarding, nonetheless. Mr Jacob will have some great debaters with a lot of promise next year.

No. 8, PLKN. The four most dreaded/anticipated/loved letters in the alphabet besides BDSM. I myself did not get selected but a few of my very close friends did. Most of them are going to Perak but they're all in separate camps. Now I'm worried they'll get injured or die there. From most of the published deaths, the people the die within the first 24 hours mostly from small, treatable diseases. Especially with the leptospirosis outbreak in Malaysia (spread by rats), who knows if they'll get infected. But then again, if they don't get hurt or killed, I'm really going to miss them for 3 months.

Penultimately, No. 9, Graduation. I've never had such fun with the odd mix of nostalgia, hope and happiness...at watching Natalie and Amanda cry. Hug a teacher, cry it out. At least I'm not the one who took the pictures of the with red noses and teary eyes. I just asked whoever who did it to get a good angle. Crying ladies aside, it was pretty good.

Last but not least, at No. 10, my successors. My English Club plans flopped because of the exam workload but I did make a pretty significant contribution to the club system. I nominated new Board members half a year early. At least I know it's not a popularity vote. Unfortunately I found out the president I elected decided to up and leave for Johor a few weeks ago. So now the new president is Amanda Sena aided by her VP, Pan Jia Xing. Congratulations, you two, good luck next year. Make English Club look like a legitimate club. My other successor is the new owner of THE BOOK. TB is a large five-book notebook that was stapled together. I've been writing down SPM notes in it for close to 2 years now and it includes all my tips for succeeding and memorizing. Congratulations Ms. Megan Yong. Please take good care of it. I will show you how to use it but some of the memorising methods were changed at the request of your sister who asked that pg-13 stuff remain censored.

Well, that's 10 things for 2010. I'll stick around until 2011 sweeps me off my feet.

The Omega Chapter

2010-01-01T00:00:00.014+08:00

This is my final post on this blog.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, So Long

THANKS FOR KEEPING ME MARKED

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

2009-12-28T14:59:00.005+08:00

Recently, my family was put in charge of hosting a Christmas party for my extended family. We had a potluck where each person brings one dish. My cousin showed us her new squeeze. My 3 nephews came excited and waiting for their presents. We had a Secret Santa. And we had decorations and shit.

The potluck was really, Really good. With lots of leftovers. I could go into each and every dish to describe you their unique flavours but even my words would do no justice and time as with all things is limited. We had chai kuih, turkey, fried chicken, beer, pepsi, nuggets, mango salad, potato salad, pasta in marinara sauce, lots of fruits, nasi lemak, bee hoon, yam cake and a whole lot of love.

The kids went crazy over their presents. I have 3 nephews and a niece that was just born a couple of weeks ago. She's still too young so she stayed at home with her parents who couldn't make it to said party. If you ever want a splitting headache, and trust me when you see these kids, you wouldn't mind it, go ahead and make all the presents toy musical instruments. I was really glad that my youngest nephew (he stays in Hong Kong and LOVES cars) loved the present I got him (a toy Audi R8, silver) more than the one given by my cousin (a black Lumborghini that looked like the Batmobile). He was also fascinated by my lava lamp which ironically, was a present given to me by his parents 5 years earlier for being the ring bearer on their wedding day. Anyhoo, the second nephew, got a Barney trolley bag which was what made him jump up shouting "Barney, Barney!" in the cutest voice ever. His brother, the eldest, was really into the toy guitar. It is at this point, I realized I can only like kids that are either good-looking or cute. If you are silently judging me in your head saying cruel words like "What an utterly shallow bastard", I would like to reply with a "Thanks."

As for the Secret Santa, we all brought a present each. I gave the most reliable present in history. Socks. They went to my cousin's husband. I wish I could've seen his overjoyed expression at receiving such a timeless classic. In return, I received a breakfast in bed table from my other cousin. The table, while meant for just breakfast, is what I use now as my study before I sleep table. I also got a new pair of swimming trunks and a very tasteful reversible jacket. The trunks are perfect since I've been swimming loads during the holidays.

As for decorations, my house already has 2 Christmas trees outside but since it's raining season, a beautifully lit Christmas tree was not a good idea. Also, the lights were too short. We opted for lights dangling from the curtain pole that gave a luminous Christmassy glow to the pile of presents.

Also, a little while later, my cousin brought out a surprise cake. I shut off the lights and the little candle was perched nicely in the cream. They carried the cake in and wished my parents Happy Anniversary. Yes, my parents were married on Christmas. Durian cake. Not my favourite but good nonetheless.

I have an uncle who is rather quiet. He is the serious type and shows significant humor when giving a speech. I find it a herculean task to get him to say my name out loud so I go to great lengths every time I see him just to say my name. He has said the names of almost all my family members. My brother was lucky because my uncle said his name when my cousin got married. In this particular failed attempt, I was bored and trying to chat him up about Obama. One thing led to another, and we went from just Obama to American Politics to their healthcare policies to their economy to their competition in the global battlefield. Half an hour we talked non-stop but he still didn't say my name. That kind of sucked but at least I liked the conversation itself.

The kids went home first with their parents. Followed soon by everybody else. Parties are awesome but cleanup.... not so much.

Merry C's people. To all the naughty and nice, keep me marked.

The Desert Sands- Day 9 & 10

2009-12-23T13:30:00.001+08:00

How To Be On Top of The World

Nothing much happened on this day. My cousins and I woke up super early at like 4 am to go to the hot air balloon ride at dawn. On the way to the hot air balloon ride field, we took a bus, a boat, and a van. We reached the hot air balloon, stuck there for a few minutes, found out it was the wrong entrance, drove one big circle and walked back to the balloon. That was super frustrating but going up in the balloon was really magnificent. We watched as the Egyptian sun bathed the land in wondrous light. Behold Luxor in all its glory. We saw the point when the green fields stopped and turned to the desert sands. Hey, that's the title! Anyhoo, VERY smooth ride. We didnt even feel anything when we landed. The people cleaning up the balloon started dancing and singing to celebrate a safe landing then pulled people into the celebration. I was not pulled in. Unfortunately, we landed right in the middle of the road and our dancing was obstructing the traffic. Can you imagine rushing to work when you're caught in a traffic jam because of a load of dancing white dudes? They didn't need to imagine but they got pass eventually by honking a lot.

Our way back wasn't too bad. They gave us a free T-shirt and certificate for surviving the ride. I was really glad to get a certificate this time because when I climbed the top of the great wall of China, the booth was closed so I never got my certificate. I almost lost this certificate when it fell out of my plastic bag. Luckily, a guy picked it up and passed it back to me. We went back to the hotel where I went swimming.

We checked out of the hotel at 12.30 and went to the local bazaar. Nothing much there. I just got a buttload of papyrus bookmarks. Later we got on a one hour plane ride from Luxor to Cairo. We stayed at the Cairo airport until 12.00 am before learning that the flight was delayed to 2.00 am. I guess this would be the time I fell asleep in a Burger King.

The plane ride was ok, slept the entire way.

Egypt Review: Great for history buffs, horrible for shopaholics. But a must go if you want to visit the Ancient Wonders of the World. I give it a 6 out of 10.

The Desert Sands- Day 8

2009-12-22T11:34:00.003+08:00

How To Be An Egyptologist

Day 8 was a good day. We went to the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple, Karnak Temple, Alabaster Shop and Luxor Temple.

The Valley of The Kings is this huge valley where old pharoahs of Egypt were buried. The mountains that encircled the valley acted as pyramids due to their pointy nature. We only had time to go into 3 tombs but each one of them were almost identical. The walls were painted to depict the lives of each pharoah with the ceiling painted to look like the night sky. In the tombs, we weren't allowed to take pictures or even touch the walls of the tomb. The way into the tomb itself was usually either a long corridor or a steep slope down.

From there, we went to Queen Hatshepsut's Temple. That temple was beautiful in infrastructure but there was a story behind it. Something about the Queen stealing the throne from her stepson/nephew (she married her brother and that was common back then.) And so she proved herself worthy of the throne before eventually dying. Her stepson/nephew took the throne and ordered for everything with her name on it to be erased. Queen Hatshepsut's history was erased and we almost never found anything about her until some archeologists found her mummy and checked her out using tooth samples and facial recognition software. The temple itself was originally a temple to the gods Osiris, Hathor, Horus and Anubis. Also, funfact, The Hatshepsut Temple is located directly opposite the Karnak Temple in an axis.

The Karnak Temple is the largest temple. Period. The place was huge with towering pillars everywhere. Two obelisks could fit in there. The pillars were big enough it needed 8 people with there hands outstretched to encircle to entire base. The pillars were designed in the shape of papyrus. The egyptian kids there were on a field trip and they just love tourists. I'm not a fan of them. Granted I would usually love kids, these children just were NOT CUTE. They swarmed my mum and the only sentence they knew how to say was "What's your name?" which they repeated over and over even if I answered them. Annoyed the crap out of me.

The Alabaster Shop was a shop that sold alabaster statues as well as statues made from other materials. Figurines made from moonstone, ashtrays made from lapis lazuli, statues of gods made of granite. I took a sample of alabaster and put it in my pocket but discarded it when someone told me it was unlucky to take stones and rock away from egypt.

That night, we went to the Luxor Temple. The Luxor Temple is this huge temple that isn't even completely unearthed. Archeologists suspect that the rest of the temple is underneath the ground where people now call homes. Like Abu Simbel, 4 huge statues guard the entrance facing a long corridor of sphinxes. Inside the temple itself, many pillars resembling the Karnak Temple, an obelisk and lots and lots of ruins. There was also a courtyard there where pillars would stand around resembling four walls. Our tour guide for that area, Ahmed, actually did some research in this temple when he was an archeologist. Got into french magazines in the 90's. He was so impressed by my knowledge of egyptian deities, that he said that if I wanted, I could be a pretty good Egyptologist although I myself don't think that career was suited for me.

The next day was our last but we had one more thing to do.

Keep me marked for Day 9 & 10- How To Be On Top Of The World

The List and The Box

2009-12-20T00:00:00.002+08:00

Today, this post commemorates Eric's sixteenth birthday. Knowing him for a pretty long time, I can only say that he is really, really awesome. He's been through a groundbreaking year, with becoming a prefect and being in the Interact club. This guy's great with Risk and cards but most of all, he's great at picking out presents. Hope you liked the shirt. It was between that and Risk but Natalie told me you would outgrow it in a couple of years. She suggested one of the things from The List.

Quote-

Eric: Is Khang Waei in school?

Brandon: Ya, I think so.

Eric: Risk?

Brandon: Sure.

HB, E. Make a wish, Eat some cake, Keep me marked.

PS: Don't go look in The Box.

The Desert Sands- Day 6 & 7

2009-12-18T14:26:00.004+08:00

How To Leave One In The Dark

On the 6th day, we woke up at 2.30am to enter a convoy to go to Abu Simbel. Abu Simbel is 3 hours away from the cruise boat. The entire place was apparently moved from its original location down the river to protect it from flooding. The temple was disassembled, moved and reassembled in its current location. In the main hall, light floods in from the entrance and illuminates 4 statues. The temple was actually built to make Ramses II appear as a god to frighten his enemies. Thus, he appears as a statue alongside the other gods: Ra-Herakhty, Amon-Ra and Ptah. It is said that twice a year, the light from the entrance will illuminate only three statues, leaving Ptah, the god of darkness, in the dark. Ptah statue is also the only one with its face badly damaged. Within the temple are a few chambers, each with carvings and paintings depicting King Ramses and the kingdom he ruled. Outside the temple, 4 giant statues of King Ramses II stood, 2 on either side of the entrance. It was magnificent, the statues. Too bad you aren't allowed to take pictures of the inside of the temple.

On the way back, I really needed a bathroom and had to hold it in for 3 hours. You see, remember the desserts from the night before? The pomegranate tarts and melons that I loved? They gave me food poisoning. Really bad food poisoning. Some of the other members of the tour would come to experience some discomfort later on but none so much as myself. The tour left for Kom Ombo Temple while I remained on the cruise.

That night, after they returned, I was coaxed into having dinner even with such a bad appetite. I went down to the restaurant full of people and started to feel sick. My parents, cousins, uncle and aunties were already seated at the table. My dad offered me some of his soup saying I needed to eat something. I forced myself to drink it even as a wave of nausea hit me. Then IT happened. I turned around just a second too late and vomited on the restaurant wall, missing the ice bucket I was aiming for. The stain on the wall never got out but the bucket helped. When the vomiting stopped and the bucket was half full with brown puke, I turned around to everyone at the table, taste of bile in my mouth and said hi, hoping it would break them of the shockfrom watching me vomit on a wall.

On day 7, I was still not feeling well. Almost all my meals were porridge or rice soaked it soup, which is essentially porridge. Everyone had gone out to the Edfu temple while I stayed in bed and watched Saturday Night Live on my iPod. At lunch time, when they got back, I was ready. The second that nausea hit me, I ran to the bathroom. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to get to the toilet bowl, so I did it in the sink. Little did I know the the drain plug was still in there, so no vomit could flow out. This is the disgusting part. I stuck my entire forearm in there and pulled the plug out. I could feel the stomach acids, the undigested rice, the juices that would swirl around in your stomach, all swirled around my hand. I have a very clear mental picture of what happened. And it all circled the drain.

I did however, get to see Esna Lock that day. Because of the dam, The water in that area had 2 different levels. The Esna Lock allows the water to be pumped out so that boats can move it to the lower level. It was interesting, moving away that much water.

The rest of the day was pretty much just rest and relaxation. I was getting a little better and expected to go to the next destination, The Valley of The Kings.

Keep me marked for Day 8- How To Be An Egyptologist

The Desert Sands- Day 5

2009-12-18T12:54:00.003+08:00

How To Ride A Felluca

After arriving by train at Aswan, we went to have authentic Egyptian food. McDonald's. Service was horrible. They didn't have hash browns. We would later go to the Unfinished Obelisk, High Dam, Felluca ride and The SS Nile Ruby.

The Unfinished Obelisk is an obelisk that was left unfinished, hence the name. This is because halfway through carving out the obelisk, a huge crack appeared and scarred the obelisk. It was intended to be the largest obelisk ever built but unfortunately, it never came to fruition.

The High Dam was the largest dam in Aswan that would generate hydroelectrical energy for the city. It is also used to control the flooding of the Nile River.

Later, we rested in the SS Nile Ruby before going on a felluca ride. A felluca is a sailboat used by egyptians. The sail is made of canvas and not much can compare to the view of the Nile River while riding one round around the area.

That night, for dinner, the dessert was REALLY good. Melons and pomegranate tarts. These last two sentences are really important but I won't tell you until you read Day 6 & 7- How To Leave One In The Dark.

The Desert Sands- Day 4

2009-12-17T16:45:00.002+08:00

How To Stand In The Room of Floating Lights and Marble Walls

The answer to the above is: Shoeless. I'll explain in a little while.

On our 4th day, we went to the Alabaster Mosque, Egyptian Museum, went on a very informative tour through the ancient world and rode an overnight train.

The Mohammed Ali Mosque is made almost completely of marble thus is named The Alabaster Mosque. Due to its sacred and pure nature, tourists aren't allowed to enter with their shoes on. But it is so worth it. The main hall, where people do their praying is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. There are hundreds of light hanging from the ceiling in concentric circles and a chandelier in the middle. The ceiling is a colourful emerald marble that looks down upon all visitors. The floor and pillars and walls are made completely of marble. There is a tomb of Mohammed Ali on the right side of the hall. According to the tour guide, while praying , the men prayed downstairs but the women prayed upstairs. something about devoting their attention to Allah.

Next, we went to the Egyptian Museum. The Museum was HUGE. Utterly gigantic. We didn't have enough time to cover the entire museum, so we looked at just a few exhibits. Exhibits about how the Ancient Egyptians lived, Queen Hatshepsut, King Tuthankamun, the ancient deities of Egypt and the mummification of animals. Unfortunately, no photos could be taken in this museum.

The informative ride through ancient egypt was unremarkable. We just took a boat ride and saw people acting like the people of ancient egypt.

By the end of the day, we took a train ride to Aswan, leaving Cairo. I hated the train station. It was unbelievably dirty, crowded and filled with white dudes. There was a guy washing his feet in the the bathroom sink. The train itself was not so bad. The toilet flushed away to a hole and all the piss and poo goes onto the railway tracks. We spent the night in the train and waited till the next day.

Keep me marked for Day 5- How To Ride A Felucca