The time of our life...

My...what long time since i last blogged. I've been pretty busy since then up to now, with me busy trying to get into IMU, busy getting into IMU, busy being in IMU, and most of all, busy entering university life, the next chapter of my life.

To summarize everything up, i received the call from IMU that i'm offered admission into the August intake on 19th (Fri). Busy buying the shirts and ties and slacks on 21st (Sun). Busy trying to get IMU to confirm me a place (coz the caller somehow forgot she called me before and called me again) on 22nd (Mon). Rushed to Bukit Jalil at 6am just to reach IMU in time for the registration on the 24th (Wed). Have to thank my mom and dad for taking time off from work to drive me to IMU =).

First week of university.. (starting uni life..)
While in Bukit Jalil, i bunked in with my bro in his tiny room. The first week went by without much interesting stuff...juz some briefings and an English test. I got to know some of the other tutees that are under the same tutor as me, but i don't see them much after that. Friday, we were split into 15 groups with bout 12 members and bout 5 Orientation Officers (OO) each. I was in Group 3. Under some really famous senior OOs haha. We agreed on our group name on Friday itself, and did our group cheers and flag during the weekend. But little did i know what was to come during orientation (tho i have heard horror stories bout it from a number of ppl).

Second week of university.. (..and then the fun starts!)
The second week was our orientation week. Briefings in the morning, and as soon as we got the chance to run out of the auditorium, every group rushed around IMU trying to get the seniors' signature. Signature Hunt is what this perverse game is called =P. Haha..actually we just chased after specific seniors and did whatever they say to get their signature. Orders include 'caterpillar race', 'horseback riding', cheer-fights, do some stupid things to some unsuspecting seniors, stuff like that. We got all enthusiastic at first, but the spirit sort of went to sleep halfway thru the week ^^". By Friday we got sick of getting seniors' signatures already. For my group at least..coz somehow by sheer coincidence or something, all the lazy people got into the same group haha =P.

Monday - the day ice breaks
There's a dress code for each day of the week, and Monday is my group's celebrity cross-dressing day. Saris did the job for most of the male members but i got special treatment..i get to wear our group leader, Rahel's dress. She's smaller than me but somehow i still got into the dress O.o . And what's celebrities without make-ups. Our faces became the 'testing' ground for the girls (who mostly never put on makeup before O.o). In the end, i didn't dare to look at a mirror so i don't know which level of hell i'm supposed to look like i come from =P. But seriously..i've never got so many 'You're hot!' from so many people before (even strangers!). Don't know if i should be happy or not.. haha..

In the late evening was ice-breakers, another sadistic activity the orientation committee came up with haha =P. The juniors (us) were gathered around the volleyball court, and the next thing we know, all kind of shit fell from the sky..literally. Sometimes it rained water, but most of the time it rained flour, eggs, butter and balloons containing some liquid that smelled like garbage (our OO later said it's water from fermented frogs O.o). It rained and rained till all of us had cakes on our hair. Torturous as it may sound, it really does break the ice among the group members, mostly because we have to huddle together in a survival instinct to be safe from those predators. By the end of the day, we smelled bad all right, but compared to the next few days, we might as well be wearing perfumes. Haha...

Tuesday - Merdeka eve!
There's a Merdeka celebration BBQ at night so there's no orientation activity planned for the evening. Much of the day was spent around getting more seniors' signatures and trying to get the smell off our orientation T-shirt (we need to wear it for later activities).

Wednesday - Happy Birthday Malaysia!
Our group got together to discuss bout the group performance and IMCC* performance for Variety Night on Friday.
*i forgot what it stands for..but it's supposed to sound like "I'm sissy". Go figure.

Thursday - the day hell broke loose (and the REAL ragging begins)
The usual stuff in the morning, signature hunt all thru late afternoon. In the evening was 'Treasure Hunt'..and if it sounds like fun, it's deceiving. Unless, of course, your idea of 'fun' is getting ink, paint, more flour, more eggs, more butter, more 'garbage water', wasabi, sambal, belacan, all kind of shit you can think of, some more water that smell worse than shit, etc on your body. 15 stations. 15 kinds of torture. More than 5 hours of 'fun'. Think 'Fear Factor'...without the fear, but with sadistic Station Masters (SM). Haha...but really, this is the most fun time of the whole orientation. I'm starting to miss it already haha O.o ..tho it took days to wash the smell and stain off my orientation shirt..

Friday - Variety Night (more like low-quality porn night haha)
My group got so lazy (yes..our OOs too =P) we decided to forget bout the Signature Hunt and Dress Code. But we got a reason for being lazy...our IMCC fell sick the day before. Guess who became his substitute O.o. Less than 12 hours to the performance, and i was told i had to stand in for him. God help me...

So..what's an IMCC anyway? Many of the freshies didn't know, but having friends and bro in IMU beforehand is handy. Each group has to send an IMCC for the 'beauty pageant' on Variety Night. One guy, dressed up and made up as beautiful as possible (you'll be surprised by how 'possible' it is to make a guy beautiful..). Each IMCC has to be a Disney character. My group was supposed to send a Sleeping Beauty O.o . (ok, i know, i suit this character a lot ^^")

1pm. Final touches to Sleeping Beauty's gown. 3pm. Last rehearsals for group and IMCC performances. 5.30pm. Dressing up Sleeping Beauty. 6pm. IMCCs gather in LT1 for final preparations. It's really funny...me sitting there, 4 girls touching up my face. Feel like i'm some celebrity that needs to look beautiful every moment or something. By 7pm i had so much make-up on (eye-shadows, eyeliners, mascara, lipsticks, lip-gloss, foundation, you name it, it's on my face), i barely recognize myself haha. Took lots of picture, and finally it's time to go up on stage..

I won't go into what IMCCs did on the stage, you use your own imagination =P. One thing for sure..once you watched all those IMCCs' performance, you're never gonna watch another Disney movie anymore haha. As for my performance, nah..i don't think i did a satisfactory job (i didn't have time to practise!) but the experience's gonna stay in my memory forever. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience..coz i'm never ever gonna dress up as a girl in my life ever again! (it's more like for others than for myself haha =P ..i don't want to cause a sore-eye epidemic)

Group performance-wise, we didn't do any better too ^^". But with the theme horror, it's really hard to make it interesting, funny and not-too-vulgar at the same time. But i gotta salute Group 1, who's theme was documentary. I never knew a human's life cycle can be THAT interesting and funny haha...

Saturday - last day of orientation..sob sob..
Due to extreme fatigue caused by Variety Night, our group (which by now has whittled down to half) unanimously decided to skip Telematch this morning. Quoting Rahel, our leader, 'Group 3 doesn't exist anymore after Friday' haha. But i did wanted to come, so does a few other group members (if only we asked each other to come..). Doesn't matter anyway..don't think i can wake up in time for it haha (last night ended at 1.30am..and congrats to Prasad aka Swan Princess for winning the pageant!). Heard it was almost the same as 'Treaure Hunt'..except we get to compete against each other this time (Treasure Hunt was more like a 'survival' game ;) )

At night, we had BBQ nite =). This time, Group 3 got revived. Most of the group came...maybe it's the food that draws them haha. We started BBQing at round 7pm, but each time a chicken wing or sausage was ready, it disappeared. I noticed the same thing happened to the other BBQ pits as well. Freaky... haha. Actually the seniors kept asking for food so what to do, we have to 'contribute' to their hungry stomachs lor. Ended at round 12.30am, by when most of the juniors are already MIA (guess everyone had advanced info on the cleaning up duties ^^"). Me, Hui Lin and Ben sneaked out right before they start cleaning up =P. But we wouldn't have escaped if not for our OO, Joanne, who gave us all-clear signals all the way out haha. Thank you Joanne!

The end..
And thus our orientation days ended. All the laughter, all the sweat, all the cheering, all the shouting till we had no voice. Nothing beats surviving orientation with you guys around. Rahel, Debbie, Hui Lin, Ben, Mustaq, Tze Ling, CK, Kher Dee, Vivian (Jia Yee), Najihah and Selv. You guys ROX! =).

And of course, without whom we all wouldn't have survived a minute during orientation. Our dear OOs, who guided us, advised us, cheered with us, got ragged with us, stayed by us the whole orientation. Joanne, Xinli, Chee Kun, Chee Keong and most of all, Johan Siow. Never in my dreams i could've wished for better OOs. I'd like to thank Johan, for everything he did for us, taking time off to look after us, and especially for staying by my side while i'm waiting to go on stage as Sleeping Beauty (i have stage fright, but having you there encouraging me just kept it at bay). When a senior asked us to shout "We love Johan!" on the rooftop for his signature, i'll say, we've never once doubt it ;). Thanks for being our OO! Hope you don't rag us so bad when we become OO next semester ya =P.

PS - yeah, we're going to pass down the tradition of bathing using the fire hose to our juniors haha =P

Shit, are you ready?
Ever ready!
ARE YOU READY??
EVER READY!!
Who are who are who are we?
We are we are we are SHIT!
Who are we?
WE are SHIT!
Who are we??
We are SHIT!!
OHH..SHIT!!

Group SHIT, it's nice getting thru all those shit with ya =P.

-4.21pm, 5 September 2005-

To Subang and back in 12 hours

August 18th. The day we all have been waiting for.. well, not really =P. It's the day we get our A2 result slips..though most of us already knew our results beforehand thru calls to Mr Ananda himself.

Me, Yong Chen and Yih Seong took an early flight to KLIA on the day itself. Frankly, i've never flown in an aircraft before, so you might say i'm pretty excited bout it haha. And that morning flight ain't dull at all. There's the non-stop turbulence all the way from Senai to KL, which reminded me of roller-coaster rides, only that you don't know when your ride's gonna drop ;). Then halfway thru the flight there's a loud crack and a flash of light just to the right of our plane. Apparently our plane got struck by lightning O.o . Swear i've never thought my first flight will be this interesting. And the guy sitting to my right doesn't seem to enjoy the flight much ^^.

Back in 121D..
Took off at 8.45am, reached KLIA in 45, and another 30 to Subang. Feels so nostalgic going back there again after 3 months away. Met up with Pat in 121D and chilled there for a while, talking bout nothing for an hour. 121D's still looks the same to me, except the 'family love' atmosphere ain't there anymore haha. According to Ashok and Leong, the other apartmentmates ain't chilling with them much. Kept to themselves in their room most of the time. I guess time is the best ice-breaker ;). Leong came back after a while, and got 3-4ed for asking what's 'Mel' and 'home'. Haha...

..off to college..
Saw Hoi in college, together with Paik Weng. But then the moment Hoi came to join us, Paik Weng walked away. Sigh...i dunno whether it's problem on our part or his. Since the beginning of college till now, he still doesn't fit in with us, though we were classmates for one and a half year. I remember the time when he 'tried' to talk to me while i was in the library..but i think i gave the impression that i wasn't interested in talking to him. Not that i ignore him or something, just that i don't know what to say to him. Guess that's the same scenario for all of us, we talk at different wavelengths. Hope he doesn't think we're some arrogant bastards or something...

Neway, we got out slips, then some of us had to stay for the award presentation shit. Waited a few hours just to get some 20 sen coin size gold plaque... pendant.. whatever you called that. Anyway, the point is, what's the use of that? A lecturer suggested we give it to our partners as gifts...right. Then Pat suggested we can use it as earrings...haha. Seriously, everyone wanted to pawn those gold pendants..at least we get some money to spend ;)

..and lunch at Uncle Seng's! (oh..i missed the food there ^^)
Lunch at Uncle Seng's (Pat's been craving for Uncle Seng's haha) with the same old PM1 gang + Tasha, Pavan's girl. Felt really good to be together with everyone again...coz this'll probably be the last time all of us can get together for lunch.

me awe-struck by my first flight..(ok, it's my second time but i get to look down this time!)
Chatted and joked till 5pm, then me, Yong Chen and Yih Seong had to catch a plane at 6.55pm while the rest went back home. Flight back isn't as interesting, but all three of us get window seats =). The moment we touched down in Senai Airport, my neck's already permanently twisted to the left hehe. The view down from an airplane is really awesome... especially when the plane go above the clouds. There's only clouds below, and i can see the horizon where the sky meets the ground. Feels like i'm in the outer space of something, looking down on Earth hehe. Then the sun sets, and the view below turned into total darkness, with the occasional colonies of light. Sigh...i wished the flight will never end.. Ok, i sound a bit jakun here, but hey, who's not fascinated by their first flight ;)

So thus the journey ends. More than 700km in 12 hours. Man, i've never travelled that much before hehe...

-1.23am, 22 August 2005-

Life as a goldfish

One of the goldfish just died this morning. There were two of them, one wholly orange, one with its bottom half silver. And less than 12 hours ago, the silver-bellied one lies at the bottom of the temporary fishbowl - just a plastic container actually. Nobody realised it died till my bro came back from school at 'round 2pm. Yeah i had been sleeping till late afternoon.. again. The strange thing is, i dreamed that same goldfish died last night. Coincidence. Strange. It didn't seem to want to eat the night before. Maybe that explains its death. Or my dream.

Yeah it's just a goldfish, its life not celebrated, its death not mourned. It did not even get buried, let alone get a funeral. Just a flush down the toilet. I don't want to think where it'll end up.

That's life for a goldfish. Living in a fishbowl its whole life. Doing nothing except eat and swim round and round the same confined space. Until finally death liberates it from this watery hell. It lives for the pleasure of us humans. I don't think that's even a good reason for living. Sick, that's what we are. Humans are sick. Tell me that deriving pleasure from watching goldfish trapped in a fishbowl is not sick.

There's even a 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip related to this. To quote it,

Calvin : Look, I caught a butterfly!
(showing Hobbes a butterfly trapped in a jar)
Hobbes : If people could put rainbows in zoos, they'd do it.

How true. I guess that's human for you.

I think at this point you'd have realise i'm an animal lover. Not those who go around showing off their birds in cages, fish in ponds, or dogs on leashes. They should be ashamed they even dare to call themselves animal lovers. More like animal torturers to me. Isn't limiting someone's freedom a torture to that person? I rather see them live as they truly deserve to live their lives. Free. That's why i never liked zoos.

Sigh. I'd have studied veterinary if not that i think it'll be hard to find work later. Yeah, i'm selfish. Isn't that just being human?

-1.57am, 17 August 2005-

Life in a flash

Yih Seong got us out again today. We didn't really know what we are gonna do initially.. we just planned as we go haha. Pat gave a rare appearance in our outing today, after missing out on so many movies, lunches and stuff. If Ashok and Leong were there, it'll feel so much like a reunion of sorts. Even though we still see each other much more than i thought possible haha =P.

Lunch in the early afternoon, one DotA game to suppress Yih Seong's addiction, and one and a half DVD to last the whole evening. One year down the road, this 'day out' with all of us will not seem likely anymore. Sigh..

As i was driving back, i got caught in a damn bad jam. The cause? An accident. Yeah, they happen everyday, i know. But seeing a car split in half totally is really disturbing. Apparently it hit a tree, most probably skidded of the road as it was raining at that time. I didn't see the driver or passengers, probably on their way to the hospital as i drove past. Life can be so unpredictable. Who knows who'll die tomorrow. But then, i'll never want to know that i'm gonna die tomorrow ;)

Right past the accident, with my foot on the accelerator, my car on the right lane, my speed increasing past 80 km/h, an SUV 500m in front of me signaled to overtake a car. As i drove nearer, that SUV driver seemed to be in a dilemma or something, one moment he looks like he/she's gonna overtake, the next moment he/she's turning back into his lane. You know, like constipation lol. And so i slowed down to let him turn into my lane, as any courteous driver would =P. And all of a sudden he/she slammed on the brakes. In the middle of both lanes. I did the only thing i could think of. Slammed the brakes too. But i didn't slammed it all the way coz i fear my car will skid. And the car behind will bang right into me.

Thank god nothing happened. I managed to stop inches behind that SUV, which is still a third into my lane when i nearly rear-ended him. And the car behind me managed to swerve to the left lane and braked in time too. An accident avoided. Another day to live. Phew.. and did i say i was driving a Kancil? The last thing you'd want to be in in an accident ^^".

-2.35am, 17 August 2005-

And life goes on...

Out we go..
Sigh...so tired these past few days. Been going out so much i hardly had the luxury to wake up late anymore hehe. Not that i hate chilling out with my homies..in a month or so i'll have no one to go out with! It's kinda sad, you know. Everyone will be off studying and me still here rotting at home haha. Sigh...i'm still trying to figure out where to get a job to keep myself busy for the rest of the year. Anybody have any idea?

Anyway..i watched 'The Island' last Sunday, one of those rare movies i actually enjoyed. The way it put us in the clones' perspective, so naive and innocent, in an all-too-familiar future that's really possible. Really good movie, but maybe i enjoyed it so much because i've became so bored of this long holiday. Ah well...

And then Tuesday, Yong Chen got me out for badminton. Don't know why i even agreed..coz my wrist still hurts if i move it too much. But since they only got 3 players and it might be the last time we play badminton in a long while...see how good a friend i am? lol =P. Oh yeah we had some DotA games while waiting to play badminton...and i say those guys really have been practicing haha.

Thursday..we wanted to watch 'Seven Swords' at Leisure Mall but the next show was at 9pm when we got there. And so somehow, just somehow..i don't know what unseen forces possessed us to agree to watch 'Bewitched'. Maybe we were tempted by the offer to 3-4 Yih Seong if it turned out to be sucky haha. He's the one who wanted to watch it so much (at first) anyway lol..

Motorists beware! senaiboy on the loose!
Wow...i never thought my dad would let me drive a car myself, let alone suggest it! O.o Especially since i almost caused the deaths of a bus-load of people last Sunday ^^". I got my first unsupervised driving last Tuesday, though it's less than 30km to Yong Chen's place. And strange that this may sound, i'm actually more scared bout my own driving than anyone else haha. Somehow, when i got on the road, there's a totally different me behind the wheel. I just seem to get so..agressive. Maybe i'm being over-conscious of my own driving. It's surprising you guys don't get freaked out while in my car haha. Bet you don't dare to tumpang my car anymore, eh? haha..

And besides, i always had this fear of getting lost on the road...since i'm really really bad with directions hehe. Almost failed to find my way back after dropping everyone off...took me more than an hour to get home (and because of that, i missed my swimming lesson ^^"). It was like, 'hmm this place looks familiar' and 'where the heck am i' all the way, until i found myself in front of my house. Nothing short of a miracle, really ;).

A2 results out! Unofficial one that is...
Yeah, the day we dread arrived too soon anyway..maybe we should pray harder haha. It has been out since last Monday, and everyone's so eager to know what they get, even though it means calling Mr Ananda himself O.o . I only called Taylor's on Wednesday..NOT because i already know what i'll get, just.. i don't know.. i rather wait till 18th. In the end i gave in anyway, and well.. trying not to sound too proud, i'm really happy with what i get. 4As, just what i've always prayed for =). I won't 'publish' the other's results..you'll just have to ask them yourselves ;). Congrats to all those who got the results that they're happy with...whom i hope is everyone i know ^^.

Goldfish and Newcastle United
My bro's friend gave him 2 little goldfishes yesterday, which are less than 3 fingers' width long. Really cute. They reminded me of what Jermaine Jenas said bout life at Tyneside... "It's like living in a goldfish bowl". O.o I'd hate to see him leave..but looks like he isn't likely to stay for long anyway. Sigh. Newcastle's luck still at an all-time low, losing to Arsenal on their first match of the season just hours ago. I read that there's some controversy over the late penalty, but i'll rather keep my comments to myself (there's Arsenal fans somewhere out there reading my blog =P). Out of Europe, out of reliable strikers (if only Owen would agree to join..). But if the Magpies squad isn't something to be proud of (yet), its supporters' fierce loyalty is ;). Toon Army all the way!

-3.30am, 15 August 2005-

Blogs, luv them, hate them.

Don't know why, but i'm not feeling in the mood to blog lately. Perhaps i contracted the 'too-lazy-to-blog' epidemic that's been spreading thru my friends' blogs recently? I hope not hehe. But still sometimes i wonder..is all this blogging thingy just a fad? Something that comes and goes after everyone got bored of it? From the look of some of my friends' blogs, it sure looks like it. But i have no right to condemn them for not blogging now, do i? As much as i wish they'll continue to blog, it's up to them to type all those posts. And not everyone's as free or bored as me to keep blogging. Sad, yeah i know. Not them, me. Haha. Got nothing to do the whole day..and the only thing interesting happening nowadays is opening up a friend's blog and get shocked that there's a new entry (yeah, new entries come THAT slow). Lol..maybe i should get a job. Fast.

There are times i gave up checking my friends blogs, and turn to total strangers' blogs to amuse myself. And i couldn't help but notice something. As many 'alive' blogs there are out there..there are a few times more 'dead' blogs. Hmm..looks like the epidemic is more farspread than i initially thought. Sigh. But then...among all those typical 'my life' blogs, dusty blogs, 'cant-make-any-less-sense' blogs and weird blogs (as in..WAY too weird to be read), some rare gems do turn up. Like this blog. Bloody funny, extremely offensive (to those who don't know how to take things lightly hehe), and goddamned frank. Best of all, it's Malaysian - you just can relate to whatever he blogged. Do check it out, but i've to warn you first, don't take anything he said..err, typed..seriously. And prepare to have a good laugh over there.

-1.07am, 28 July 2005-

So bored at home..

Nothing much to blog about lately, just that me, Jem, Yong Chen and Irwin went to City Square to catch 'Fantastic Four' this morning. Well, i can't say it's a disappointment, coz i don't really have high hopes for it anyway. But still, it's not as good as all the critics claimed. Watchable? Yes. Fantastic? It's got to be a no from me.

Maybe i've got really jaded by the comic superhero/heroes premise those movie producers try to wring out as much money as possible from. Spiderman(s), X-Men, Daredevil, The Hulk, Batman, and now, Fantastic Four? Give me a break man. Maybe we don't have to wait that long until they start making those Superman movies again. oh wait, they already are making one. My god..

Back to the movie, first thing the story sucks in? Their names. Mr. Fantastic? The Human Torch? Invisible Girl? The Thing?? How much more creative can they get haha. But then, this comic started so damn long ago...maybe the artist just got a 'comic-superhero-names' block..whatever you call that. Can't blame the movie then. The second thing? I dunno...it just makes me feel empty inside. Like when you're watching all the 'Friends' episodes at one go. Or when you're playing DotA for the millionth time. The excitement just isn't there anymore. Sigh. Oh and btw, Julian Mcmahon (as Dr. Doom) just keep reminding me of Christian in Nip/Tuck. Lol..Dr. Doom sucks. The only thing good about this movie? It reminds me that i don't like Fantastic Four, movie or comic or whatever. Yes, i'm biased. So? Sue me =P

Oh and before i forget..here's dedicating a short section to one of my friends. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LI HWA! =). It's her birthday yesterday, so maybe i should say HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY! =P Funny how we can still remain friends though we haven't met each other yet haha. Well, best of luck in your STPM later this year ;). Give it your best, k?

-1.52am, 28 July 2005-
And before any of you say anything, we're just friends ;). No scandals. Haha..