Fireworks are, to quote Cate Blanchett, so blase. It's supposed to have the little accent over the e, so it's pronounced "Blah-say" but I have no idea how to type the accent so there.
It's around one a.m., and fireworks have been going off since twelve and I'm getting hungrier by the minute even though I ate a lot during the reunion dinner (high metabolism rate) so I'm trying to stave it away by chugging down H2O.
Sometimes I wonder what love really is. Is it some sort of chemical reaction that takes place, or is it just a case of familiarity breeding fondness? What is love? How do you truly know that it's love?
Everytime I see romantic movies or shows this question keeps popping up. Just with everything else, I pondered about it, long and hard.
Till now, I still don't have an answer.
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Red and Gold
Yay, exams are over!
I am excited for the new semester. I'm gonna study consistently and do well for this sem so I can hopefully get a scholarship and whatnot. People who are reading this blog, feel free to check up on me and put me on a guilt trip if I don't study ok?
Well, I am bored. The first two days after the examinations were over felt like heaven; I was finally free to do whatever I want, including catching up on shows and computer games. Unfortunately, half way through the second day, after downloading so many games and finally deleting them because 1. they were seriously lousy or 2. they couldn't be extracted so I couldn't play them, I finally came to the conclusion that there was more to life than flash games. Besides, after a while, you kinda get bored of the entire thing.
I am a person who needs to work to be productive. After so long, I finally understood what Louise meant. I was tired, sure, due to doing so much and juggling stuff around, esepcially during the exam period, where I had to continuously rearrange my schedule so that I had enough time to study and rest, but there came with it a strange sort of satisfaction that I derived after completing an exam. It sort of feels like, you study extremely hard for a subject, to the point where if anything deviates even slightly from your pattern, you come close to having a panic attack (ask my mother), but when you're actually doing the exam, you feel a sense of completion about you, and when it's over, there's relief and a bit of laughter at the same time. It probably doesn't make much sense to you, but if you've ever experienced something like that before, you'll agree that idle hands are the devil's tools.
Right now it's only the second day of my freedom and I'm already feeling antsy. It's an incredible word, antsy. I like that word, where you're restless the whole day and can't sit still. I'm already making a list of things to do during the one week CNY holidays:
1. Clean the entire house, even if it means sweeping the floors during CNY itself. To hell with tradition and superstition; no one comes to my house anyway, and sweeping, like running or skipping rope non-stop, is extremely cathartic. Of course, the dust mites are another thing altogether, but it's worth it just to see the place sparkling...I suddenly feel so domestic.
2. Make applications to universities and for scholarships. Yes, go ahead, point the finger of accusation at me and go, "PROCRASTINATION!!" It's fine, I totally deserved that. The main reason why I haven't done UCAS so far is because initally, I planned to apply to Ireland/Canada. UK was the furthest thing from my mind before I finally decided to apply for Nottingham, Malaysian campus for Biotechnology. Wish me luck.
3. Buy some new stationery, get ready for the new semester. Make proper notes. Because honestly, my notebook is a mess. I manage to make it look nice and neat, and I ruin the entire thing just because there's some new bit of info that needs to be put in during the last minute.
4. Clean up the study area and get rid of the old books. I honestly do think I have OCD now because I can't study if the table's too messy. I need to reorganise everything (half the study time just flew out of the window) before I can sit down calmly. Again, every time I do that, the same thought runs through my head: I have too much stuff.
5. Actually practice Maths consistently. I'm really worried about getting a bad grade for Maths since it felt entirely difficult while I was doing it. I just hope I don't have to retake it. And really study and understand various concepts so I don't have to rush like I did this sem (and the last one, and the one before that, and the one during SPM).
6. Pick up a curricular activity so those scholarship people can't say I'm booksmart but not streetsmart.
And again, thanks so very much to the friend who got me something he knew I'd like. And for all the effort as well. Again, you shouldn't have. But it was a very, very sweet gesture. I liked the tag too, by the way. And the Aliesan thing? My sis actually thought it was printed out and not written. That was how impressed she was at the handwriting.
Have a good trip back to the hometown, and Happy CNY!
I am excited for the new semester. I'm gonna study consistently and do well for this sem so I can hopefully get a scholarship and whatnot. People who are reading this blog, feel free to check up on me and put me on a guilt trip if I don't study ok?
Well, I am bored. The first two days after the examinations were over felt like heaven; I was finally free to do whatever I want, including catching up on shows and computer games. Unfortunately, half way through the second day, after downloading so many games and finally deleting them because 1. they were seriously lousy or 2. they couldn't be extracted so I couldn't play them, I finally came to the conclusion that there was more to life than flash games. Besides, after a while, you kinda get bored of the entire thing.
I am a person who needs to work to be productive. After so long, I finally understood what Louise meant. I was tired, sure, due to doing so much and juggling stuff around, esepcially during the exam period, where I had to continuously rearrange my schedule so that I had enough time to study and rest, but there came with it a strange sort of satisfaction that I derived after completing an exam. It sort of feels like, you study extremely hard for a subject, to the point where if anything deviates even slightly from your pattern, you come close to having a panic attack (ask my mother), but when you're actually doing the exam, you feel a sense of completion about you, and when it's over, there's relief and a bit of laughter at the same time. It probably doesn't make much sense to you, but if you've ever experienced something like that before, you'll agree that idle hands are the devil's tools.
Right now it's only the second day of my freedom and I'm already feeling antsy. It's an incredible word, antsy. I like that word, where you're restless the whole day and can't sit still. I'm already making a list of things to do during the one week CNY holidays:
1. Clean the entire house, even if it means sweeping the floors during CNY itself. To hell with tradition and superstition; no one comes to my house anyway, and sweeping, like running or skipping rope non-stop, is extremely cathartic. Of course, the dust mites are another thing altogether, but it's worth it just to see the place sparkling...I suddenly feel so domestic.
2. Make applications to universities and for scholarships. Yes, go ahead, point the finger of accusation at me and go, "PROCRASTINATION!!" It's fine, I totally deserved that. The main reason why I haven't done UCAS so far is because initally, I planned to apply to Ireland/Canada. UK was the furthest thing from my mind before I finally decided to apply for Nottingham, Malaysian campus for Biotechnology. Wish me luck.
3. Buy some new stationery, get ready for the new semester. Make proper notes. Because honestly, my notebook is a mess. I manage to make it look nice and neat, and I ruin the entire thing just because there's some new bit of info that needs to be put in during the last minute.
4. Clean up the study area and get rid of the old books. I honestly do think I have OCD now because I can't study if the table's too messy. I need to reorganise everything (half the study time just flew out of the window) before I can sit down calmly. Again, every time I do that, the same thought runs through my head: I have too much stuff.
5. Actually practice Maths consistently. I'm really worried about getting a bad grade for Maths since it felt entirely difficult while I was doing it. I just hope I don't have to retake it. And really study and understand various concepts so I don't have to rush like I did this sem (and the last one, and the one before that, and the one during SPM).
6. Pick up a curricular activity so those scholarship people can't say I'm booksmart but not streetsmart.
And again, thanks so very much to the friend who got me something he knew I'd like. And for all the effort as well. Again, you shouldn't have. But it was a very, very sweet gesture. I liked the tag too, by the way. And the Aliesan thing? My sis actually thought it was printed out and not written. That was how impressed she was at the handwriting.
Have a good trip back to the hometown, and Happy CNY!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
Frostian Phrasing
So my printer is not working, which sucks since I need to print something out.
Uh, as you all know, I need to burn off internship hours at the A Levels Department since I received the scholarship. So when they called, I volunteered two hours on 3rd Jan to help with orientation. Thank God I'm not retaking Physics Unit 1 since there's a seminar for it later on 3rd Jan. Speaking off, I find it a bit odd that we have seminars for Physics but not for Chem or Bio. Just a bit odd.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand - and I'm typing this with my head turned backwards since my sis is nearby and I don't want her to read this and begin any snarky comments. I'm a genius for not making a typo hehe - so I got a call yesterday saying that would we please show up tomorrow at eleven for a pre-orientation-volunteering briefing? Yeah, sure why not.
And it happens.
For the first time in goodness knows how many years, Harimau Malaysia wins 4-2 on aggregate in a football match against Indonesia. It's such a big deal over here that the PM declared tomorrow a public holiday. Yep. Doesn't make much of a difference to me since I am still on holiday, but whatever. The next thing I know, mum's yelling at me to call up HELP to ask since they're not allowed to open on public holidays (something to do with, if you want people to come in and work then you need to pay them and no one likes to suffer a loss).
That's right.
Thus I picked up the phone and called HELP (I actually had the number saved into my phone; that's how many times they've called me for some reason or other), got put through to the A Level's Department and a guy came on the line and yep, I asked my question.
Imagine my glee when they said that, yes, they won't be open tomorrow. So for a split second I thought, this is it! I don't need to go for a meeting! WOOOO!!
Then my elaborate fantasies - where I am suddenly Queen of the World, am leading an army into war, sitting on a golden throne with a crown on my head and a smirk worthy of Morgana on my face - came to an abrupt end a split second later when the guy said that the meeting had been pushed up to 4 pm, today.
Cue a loud, mental WHAT!!!
Genius....what a gushing genius.
Hence I am now dressed up (well, as dressed up a pair of jeans and a blouse looks next to shorts and a KDU T-Shirt, that is) waiting for the clock to tick, tick, tick....
But before I bore you all with the ticking, let me introduce to you my latest fascination *coughobsessioncough* with the latest addition to my "List of Beautiful/Pretty/KickAss Female Actresses/Characters". Now, they're not in any particular order, I'm just ranting them off as I go. Keira Knightley (thank you for the multiple lessons in my faux-British accent!), Katie McGrath (they should expand more on you in Freakdog, dear), Morgana le Fay (I am Queen of Camelot), Emilia Fox (there's something about the way she plays Nikki Alexander that's so utterly funny even when it's a serious situation), Morgause (Our Fearsome Champion), Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman, need I say more?), and on that note, Nimueh/Jaime Sommers. Emma deLauro/Lara Perkins etc. I bet there's loads more I could mention, but these are my chart-toppers.
Yes, I mentioned Katie and Morgana even though they're the same person (Katie plays Morg) but there are different qualities about each of them that makes me list them individually. Ditto for Emilia/Morgause and Michelle/Nimueh/Jaime.
And now, for the latest addition....
Drumroll please....
Starring in 2011's X Men First Class is.....
The White Queen, Emma Grace Frost!!!
Dude, seriously, if by now you're staring at the screen going HUH? please, please please Google Emma Frost. Really, she's utterly fascinating. Constantly dressed in skimpy white clothing (which I was attracted to - the idea of wearing white all the time, not the skimpy bit) she's a brilliant telepath and she can turn her body into inorganic diamond! How cool is that?
~By the way. That rip off in X-Men Origins: Wolverine? The end part where they all hide behind the blonde girl who shimmers like she's encrusted with diamonds? (though much more tastefully done than Edward Cullen) Yep she's Emma Frost. OK, so maybe I'm just jealous that she gets a cool name, cool powers and is the head of a multibillion company, but I was a bit, "OMG TWILIGHT!!" when I saw the diamond special effects. The actress is pretty, but when I think diamond I imagined her made entirely out of diamond, with the cool planes and sharp features, not Edward Cullen.~
And yep, I actually printed out a 82 page fanfiction just because Emma Frost and Jean Grey were starring in it, and I'm really addicted to characters like Emma.
And Severus Snape.
Ye-ah. People don't buy that, but I do.
It's the attitude. I'm a sucker for smart, intelligent people who are snarky and formerly evil and can insult you in such a eloquent way you're torn between feeling awed by all the big words, or angry at being called an "insufferable know-it-all", or just plain *makes a whistling noise* what did that word mean. Mmhmm it's the attitude.
And the voice. Everytime I read fanfics with Emma in it, I imagine a low, quiet sort of voice that borders on amusement and plain insulting. And Alan Rickman's voice just won me over. Just like how every actor playing Wolverine needs the deep husky-ish voice, all of my formerly-evil-but-sarcastic-Hogwarts-teacher-or-Headmistress-of-Massachusetts-Academy characters must have The Voice. I'm capitalising it. And I have no idea why I keep rooting for the older, learned (read: professor/headmistress) kinds. Hmm.
Blast. Supposed to be doing Stats now. Duh. Half an hour more to go before I need to leave. Joy.
And my exam starts in oh, less than ten days.
Gushingly glad we had this opportunity chat.
Uh, as you all know, I need to burn off internship hours at the A Levels Department since I received the scholarship. So when they called, I volunteered two hours on 3rd Jan to help with orientation. Thank God I'm not retaking Physics Unit 1 since there's a seminar for it later on 3rd Jan. Speaking off, I find it a bit odd that we have seminars for Physics but not for Chem or Bio. Just a bit odd.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand - and I'm typing this with my head turned backwards since my sis is nearby and I don't want her to read this and begin any snarky comments. I'm a genius for not making a typo hehe - so I got a call yesterday saying that would we please show up tomorrow at eleven for a pre-orientation-volunteering briefing? Yeah, sure why not.
And it happens.
For the first time in goodness knows how many years, Harimau Malaysia wins 4-2 on aggregate in a football match against Indonesia. It's such a big deal over here that the PM declared tomorrow a public holiday. Yep. Doesn't make much of a difference to me since I am still on holiday, but whatever. The next thing I know, mum's yelling at me to call up HELP to ask since they're not allowed to open on public holidays (something to do with, if you want people to come in and work then you need to pay them and no one likes to suffer a loss).
That's right.
Thus I picked up the phone and called HELP (I actually had the number saved into my phone; that's how many times they've called me for some reason or other), got put through to the A Level's Department and a guy came on the line and yep, I asked my question.
Imagine my glee when they said that, yes, they won't be open tomorrow. So for a split second I thought, this is it! I don't need to go for a meeting! WOOOO!!
Then my elaborate fantasies - where I am suddenly Queen of the World, am leading an army into war, sitting on a golden throne with a crown on my head and a smirk worthy of Morgana on my face - came to an abrupt end a split second later when the guy said that the meeting had been pushed up to 4 pm, today.
Cue a loud, mental WHAT!!!
Genius....what a gushing genius.
Hence I am now dressed up (well, as dressed up a pair of jeans and a blouse looks next to shorts and a KDU T-Shirt, that is) waiting for the clock to tick, tick, tick....
But before I bore you all with the ticking, let me introduce to you my latest fascination *coughobsessioncough* with the latest addition to my "List of Beautiful/Pretty/KickAss Female Actresses/Characters". Now, they're not in any particular order, I'm just ranting them off as I go. Keira Knightley (thank you for the multiple lessons in my faux-British accent!), Katie McGrath (they should expand more on you in Freakdog, dear), Morgana le Fay (I am Queen of Camelot), Emilia Fox (there's something about the way she plays Nikki Alexander that's so utterly funny even when it's a serious situation), Morgause (Our Fearsome Champion), Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman, need I say more?), and on that note, Nimueh/Jaime Sommers. Emma deLauro/Lara Perkins etc. I bet there's loads more I could mention, but these are my chart-toppers.
Yes, I mentioned Katie and Morgana even though they're the same person (Katie plays Morg) but there are different qualities about each of them that makes me list them individually. Ditto for Emilia/Morgause and Michelle/Nimueh/Jaime.
And now, for the latest addition....
Drumroll please....
Starring in 2011's X Men First Class is.....
The White Queen, Emma Grace Frost!!!
Dude, seriously, if by now you're staring at the screen going HUH? please, please please Google Emma Frost. Really, she's utterly fascinating. Constantly dressed in skimpy white clothing (which I was attracted to - the idea of wearing white all the time, not the skimpy bit) she's a brilliant telepath and she can turn her body into inorganic diamond! How cool is that?
~By the way. That rip off in X-Men Origins: Wolverine? The end part where they all hide behind the blonde girl who shimmers like she's encrusted with diamonds? (though much more tastefully done than Edward Cullen) Yep she's Emma Frost. OK, so maybe I'm just jealous that she gets a cool name, cool powers and is the head of a multibillion company, but I was a bit, "OMG TWILIGHT!!" when I saw the diamond special effects. The actress is pretty, but when I think diamond I imagined her made entirely out of diamond, with the cool planes and sharp features, not Edward Cullen.~
And yep, I actually printed out a 82 page fanfiction just because Emma Frost and Jean Grey were starring in it, and I'm really addicted to characters like Emma.
And Severus Snape.
Ye-ah. People don't buy that, but I do.
It's the attitude. I'm a sucker for smart, intelligent people who are snarky and formerly evil and can insult you in such a eloquent way you're torn between feeling awed by all the big words, or angry at being called an "insufferable know-it-all", or just plain *makes a whistling noise* what did that word mean. Mmhmm it's the attitude.
And the voice. Everytime I read fanfics with Emma in it, I imagine a low, quiet sort of voice that borders on amusement and plain insulting. And Alan Rickman's voice just won me over. Just like how every actor playing Wolverine needs the deep husky-ish voice, all of my formerly-evil-but-sarcastic-Hogwarts-teacher-or-Headmistress-of-Massachusetts-Academy characters must have The Voice. I'm capitalising it. And I have no idea why I keep rooting for the older, learned (read: professor/headmistress) kinds. Hmm.
Blast. Supposed to be doing Stats now. Duh. Half an hour more to go before I need to leave. Joy.
And my exam starts in oh, less than ten days.
Gushingly glad we had this opportunity chat.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
207
So my hands are really shaking a bit due to the excessive amounts of caffeine I'd just ingested so if there are any typo errors, do forgive them.
Mocks are next week and I really haven't done much studying. Shocking I know. And I'm slacking. But like I mentioned in my journal, there is nothing more on the subject that I can say except that I will study harder and do better. Not, study hard and do well. I'm already studying hard (more or less, since we're having weekly tests) but I will study harder, since I badly want to do so well for this second semester, which can make or break me. Melodramatic much? I hear you say, but it is this melodrama that makes me actually sit up, because I know I can do better, as long as I put my mind to it.
Went out to Tesco today, got sidetracked by the Uniball Signo 207 pen which I bought on a whim (despite it being RM 4.90, which I thought was a bit pricey for a pen, but my sis mentioned that she got her Uniball for RM 6 plus at Popular bookstore so this is cheap in comparison) but which again, just like the Pilot Frixion Erasable Pen (RM 5.90, and I only got it for about several months before I realised I'd never use it and then it got itself broken, though I might have made it worse), I wa really disappointed. It was smooth, sure, but the ink was a bit too blue. Obviously, it was a blue pen, but the shade of blue was to the point that, written next to my existing G1 blue pen (which I consider to be the best pen I'd ever used), it made the dark blue ink of my G1 look purple.
Yeah, no kidding. Purple.
So now I know, don't buy pens on a whim. Though it will probably happen again (I'm easily seduced by stationery and books) but now I know better. Research, research, research.
Anyway, yesterday right after class, my dad bought me to NAZA, where we checked out some cars and I fell in love with the Chevrolet Cruze. My dad's (well, mum's, actually, but she doesn't drive it anymore and so my dad took over) Chevrolet Optra is the car I actually admired since it's really spacious in the back (that I can easily stretch out without issue) and it's a really nice, heavy car to drive. But the Chevy Cruze was lovely. Nothing else can properly describe it. They had a black Cruze in the showroom, and while Dad chatted with the dealer, I was running around the car, literally in car heaven.
It looked small from the outside, but it had really good leg room in the back (a must have since I've got really long legs) and the driver's seat was lovely. The doors were heavy, but it had a good solid feel to it. It even had a thingy so that you could drive auto or manual, however you like.
It had wooden panelling along the doors and the dashboard, and the speedometer area was done in such a way that my dad said it resembled that of a sports car. The front passenger's place was lovely, but the glove compartment was half the size of that in my Chevy Optra. The boot was geniusly large. Really, I told Dad that I could easily hide a whole body (maybe two) in the boot without issue. One thing my dad didn't like was how they placed the tools in a mould right under the point the spare tyre would be. They'd be jerked loose after a long while, he said, and it'd be a hassle to remove the spare just to get to them. However, overall it was nice. It looked so understated, so small on the outside, but when you take a look inside, it was really nice and huge. It was such a lovely car, and the shade of black was perfect.
Huh. Maybe they were right; black is slimming.
We then made a U-turn and went to the other side of the road to check out the Peugeot 207, for which we had high hopes of buying. We were sorely disappointed. The design was lovely; sleek and, for the lack of a better word, aerodynamic. But the interior designer should be shot, because it really was very cramped inside. The driver's seat was nice, but once you pushed the car back a bit to accomodate your large frame, you don't have anymore leg room. And the doors weren't solid. They felt a bit too light for me, and when closed, it made a loud THWACK sound instead of the muted THUD you get from the Chevy Cruze.
The boot was large, but what's the point when the back's not spacious enough? And I was such a big fan of Peugeot till now. Then we found out that the 207 was actually an upgrade from the Peugeot 206 hatchback. Gosh.
Afterwards we checked out the Peugeot 407. And for info's sake, people, it's pronounced Poo-zjeo. The second syllable is a bit French accent-y (Duh, it's a French car!) so it's kinda like poo-ju-oh? Something like that. Because some of the people I know (who don't know cars, so I can hardly blame them) pronounce it Malaysian-style: Pew-G-ot. Yeah.
Onward to the 407. It was marginally better than the 207, but it hadn't really regained my confidence back to the French, so looks like I have to stop dreaming of owning a 607 for now. One problem I had with the 407 was that the gear stick was on the other side of the middle bit, meaning it was right next to the passenger's seat. Not a problem ordinarily, but the middle compartment/arm rest was jutting out too much that I literally had to reach over just to grip the gear stick. Like Chris said, not really a bother, since it's automatic, but I'd rather not have it that way.
So yes, this week I let off steam by replaying the piano (which I really need to tune and fix since some of the keys stick - hey, I've had it since I was fix? six?) and I managed to figure out by ear the beginning and main bit of The Battle Narnia, and I'm working on it. Also, I've been rewatching King Arthur (with Clive Owen an Keira Knightley) and I got so inspired by that and Merlin that I've finally figured out a simple but elegant design for my own coat of arms. (The previous ones were equally dashing but had too much detail on them - I'd been focusing too much on having so many royal standards that I lost sight of what I really wanted it to be) and I've been looking for tutorials online on how to draw mythical creatures due to that. So yes, I'm sketching again.
My hands are much too jittery for me to continue typing, and I'm having a bit of problem breathing (can't imagine why, been this way throughout dinner) so I'm gonna stop here for now.
Till next time.
Mocks are next week and I really haven't done much studying. Shocking I know. And I'm slacking. But like I mentioned in my journal, there is nothing more on the subject that I can say except that I will study harder and do better. Not, study hard and do well. I'm already studying hard (more or less, since we're having weekly tests) but I will study harder, since I badly want to do so well for this second semester, which can make or break me. Melodramatic much? I hear you say, but it is this melodrama that makes me actually sit up, because I know I can do better, as long as I put my mind to it.
Went out to Tesco today, got sidetracked by the Uniball Signo 207 pen which I bought on a whim (despite it being RM 4.90, which I thought was a bit pricey for a pen, but my sis mentioned that she got her Uniball for RM 6 plus at Popular bookstore so this is cheap in comparison) but which again, just like the Pilot Frixion Erasable Pen (RM 5.90, and I only got it for about several months before I realised I'd never use it and then it got itself broken, though I might have made it worse), I wa really disappointed. It was smooth, sure, but the ink was a bit too blue. Obviously, it was a blue pen, but the shade of blue was to the point that, written next to my existing G1 blue pen (which I consider to be the best pen I'd ever used), it made the dark blue ink of my G1 look purple.
Yeah, no kidding. Purple.
So now I know, don't buy pens on a whim. Though it will probably happen again (I'm easily seduced by stationery and books) but now I know better. Research, research, research.
Anyway, yesterday right after class, my dad bought me to NAZA, where we checked out some cars and I fell in love with the Chevrolet Cruze. My dad's (well, mum's, actually, but she doesn't drive it anymore and so my dad took over) Chevrolet Optra is the car I actually admired since it's really spacious in the back (that I can easily stretch out without issue) and it's a really nice, heavy car to drive. But the Chevy Cruze was lovely. Nothing else can properly describe it. They had a black Cruze in the showroom, and while Dad chatted with the dealer, I was running around the car, literally in car heaven.
It looked small from the outside, but it had really good leg room in the back (a must have since I've got really long legs) and the driver's seat was lovely. The doors were heavy, but it had a good solid feel to it. It even had a thingy so that you could drive auto or manual, however you like.
It had wooden panelling along the doors and the dashboard, and the speedometer area was done in such a way that my dad said it resembled that of a sports car. The front passenger's place was lovely, but the glove compartment was half the size of that in my Chevy Optra. The boot was geniusly large. Really, I told Dad that I could easily hide a whole body (maybe two) in the boot without issue. One thing my dad didn't like was how they placed the tools in a mould right under the point the spare tyre would be. They'd be jerked loose after a long while, he said, and it'd be a hassle to remove the spare just to get to them. However, overall it was nice. It looked so understated, so small on the outside, but when you take a look inside, it was really nice and huge. It was such a lovely car, and the shade of black was perfect.
Huh. Maybe they were right; black is slimming.
We then made a U-turn and went to the other side of the road to check out the Peugeot 207, for which we had high hopes of buying. We were sorely disappointed. The design was lovely; sleek and, for the lack of a better word, aerodynamic. But the interior designer should be shot, because it really was very cramped inside. The driver's seat was nice, but once you pushed the car back a bit to accomodate your large frame, you don't have anymore leg room. And the doors weren't solid. They felt a bit too light for me, and when closed, it made a loud THWACK sound instead of the muted THUD you get from the Chevy Cruze.
The boot was large, but what's the point when the back's not spacious enough? And I was such a big fan of Peugeot till now. Then we found out that the 207 was actually an upgrade from the Peugeot 206 hatchback. Gosh.
Afterwards we checked out the Peugeot 407. And for info's sake, people, it's pronounced Poo-zjeo. The second syllable is a bit French accent-y (Duh, it's a French car!) so it's kinda like poo-ju-oh? Something like that. Because some of the people I know (who don't know cars, so I can hardly blame them) pronounce it Malaysian-style: Pew-G-ot. Yeah.
Onward to the 407. It was marginally better than the 207, but it hadn't really regained my confidence back to the French, so looks like I have to stop dreaming of owning a 607 for now. One problem I had with the 407 was that the gear stick was on the other side of the middle bit, meaning it was right next to the passenger's seat. Not a problem ordinarily, but the middle compartment/arm rest was jutting out too much that I literally had to reach over just to grip the gear stick. Like Chris said, not really a bother, since it's automatic, but I'd rather not have it that way.
So yes, this week I let off steam by replaying the piano (which I really need to tune and fix since some of the keys stick - hey, I've had it since I was fix? six?) and I managed to figure out by ear the beginning and main bit of The Battle Narnia, and I'm working on it. Also, I've been rewatching King Arthur (with Clive Owen an Keira Knightley) and I got so inspired by that and Merlin that I've finally figured out a simple but elegant design for my own coat of arms. (The previous ones were equally dashing but had too much detail on them - I'd been focusing too much on having so many royal standards that I lost sight of what I really wanted it to be) and I've been looking for tutorials online on how to draw mythical creatures due to that. So yes, I'm sketching again.
My hands are much too jittery for me to continue typing, and I'm having a bit of problem breathing (can't imagine why, been this way throughout dinner) so I'm gonna stop here for now.
Till next time.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Red Light
Well, I'm currently munching roasted chestnuts in front of the laptop, feeling frustrated because I was supposed to do my Chem Unit 3B as well as my Stats homework and past year question, as well as study for my electric field test on Thursday, but I woke up late today to a really nice American breakfast of eggs, sausages and beans. Went out for lunch at this really nice curry fish head place, came back feeling exhausted, so I only did my Chem homework (not the 3B though) and promptly feel asleep.
Had every intention of waking up half an hour later, but really, I actually woke up 2 hours ago, at seven in the evening. Yep, shows you how exhausted I am. And since I woke up late, and no one made dinner, the chestnuts mentioned above became it. That and a small slice of brownie.
Throat is perpetually sore, and have to keep clearing my throat every now and then. Voice changed a bit, especially during the first couple of days, and since it hurts too much to talk then, it's become deeper by a hint, though it'll probably wear off once I'm healed.
And Malese Jow rocks! Anna from Vampire Diaries anyone? For male vamps, I support Team Damon, but for females, I got for Team ANNA! Seriously, they shouldn't have killed her off. Her single, Red Light is fair. Catchy, in a disco dance sort of way, but "You Left Me In The Air" strikes a chord with me better than Red Light. The latter has a catchier title though. So go listen!!!
Had every intention of waking up half an hour later, but really, I actually woke up 2 hours ago, at seven in the evening. Yep, shows you how exhausted I am. And since I woke up late, and no one made dinner, the chestnuts mentioned above became it. That and a small slice of brownie.
Throat is perpetually sore, and have to keep clearing my throat every now and then. Voice changed a bit, especially during the first couple of days, and since it hurts too much to talk then, it's become deeper by a hint, though it'll probably wear off once I'm healed.
And Malese Jow rocks! Anna from Vampire Diaries anyone? For male vamps, I support Team Damon, but for females, I got for Team ANNA! Seriously, they shouldn't have killed her off. Her single, Red Light is fair. Catchy, in a disco dance sort of way, but "You Left Me In The Air" strikes a chord with me better than Red Light. The latter has a catchier title though. So go listen!!!
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
From Crawling To Walking To Running, We Move Upwards And Outwards Until We Die.
As a natural process of life, we fall in and out of things. We grow into some habits, and fall out of others. Undeniably, the most common phrase is, "We fall in love, we fall out of love," or something to that effect. This is just a short introduction for the main point of my post today: Falling Out of Love.
With Chemistry.
Dude, what did you expect?
The story starts way back when I was a kid. Constantly curious, always wanting to know why, poking her head into everything. Once I jammed the lock in the store room with a bit of wire because I wanted to learn how to pick a lock but the wire I had was slightly too thick. So the whole world came crashing down and it took my dad a couple of hours to get the door all fixed up.
And I read. A lot. Anything and everything I could find. From the ailments and sicknesses a toddler to get (I found a very informative book with lots of pretty pictures and diagrams) to Reader's Digest and all that sort of educational thing. And I watched a lot of TV. Whoever said kids can't learn anything by staring at the idiot box is either an idiot...or he's just jealous that he doesn't own one. Because most of what I've learnt about forensics, hypnosis, basically, the basis of my scientific and general knowledge came from two sources: Books and TV. I learned about thermite way before they taught us this in Form 5. I learned about DNA. And what I couldn't get from the TV or books I got from the Internet.
Naturally, it seems fitting that I go into science. And I loved every bit of it. Science explains everything so wonderfully. It's kind of like, you never truly see the potential of something until it's explained to you scientifically. It's when your eyes start to open and you go, "Hey...that's right."
Of all 3 sciences they taught us, Chemistry was my favourite. It was a combination of memory andhands on processes, and I loved it. I already had an ingrained sense of love towards science, and I didn't like Chemistry because the teacher was good, or because I like the teacher. No, I liked it because Chemistry opened my eyes to a whole new dimension.
When we came to college, the first thing they told us was that we could not memorise, we had to understand. And I believed in what they said, and I agreed wholeheartedly. So I sought to do the best I could.
What a fool I was.
This semester, the workload increased. I get that, it was expected. Nothing I couldn't handle. But then the lecturer started bombarding questions at us, and when we didn't answer, boy, did she get into a whole lot of shelling. It's moments like this that make me dread going into that class, my favourite class, because I simply don't know when I'm going to get chewed out and be made to look like a fool in front of everyone else.
The fact that the lecturer in question is strict partly contributes to the matter. My class does Chemistry homework and we go all frantic over it, because we're afraid that she's going to kill us if we didn't finish our homework. And I hate that, because I'm doing homework not because I want to challenge myself, or because I truly love the subject (yeah, I happen to like doing homework) but I do it out of fear.
Fear.
I can't believe what I'm saying but it's true. I do my homework partly out of fear.
And is that the way to go? We're all scared and bullied into doing exercises, and no doubt, it's beneficial to us in the long run, but I can't remember how long ago when I used to do a couple of pages extra, out of my own choice, because I was truly on a run. And this sickens me because I'm near killing myself studying for Chemistry so that I can answer her questions and not incur her wrath on me, and I don't even like her that much. And I can't even be bothered to study ahead for Biology, which has turned into one of my favourite classes to go even though the material is boring, because the lecturer is extremely cool and fun. He makes everything so accessible and come to life. And I really enjoy his classes; I'd feel so guilty that I didn't do his work when I respect him that much. The only motivation I have to do well in my next exams is that, with his teachings, I managed to get an extremely high score for Biology, even higher than Chem, and I want to excel that score for this coming exams, because I want to see that look of pride on his face, to know that I am where I am thanks to him.
And no, this isn't an ode of love to my biology teacher. I don't do student-lecturer relationships.
I don't believe that this applies to me only. Everywhere I look I see that we are going more and more lax. The eager-to-please students from Semester 1 have all but disappeared. We used to ask so many questions, used to have so much fun in studying. Now, we are all shells of our former selves.
And that thing about not memorising? Yeah, turns out that we were yelled at for not having the information at our fingertips, that we needed to understand, not memorise. Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but we need memory work as well, yeah? What's the point of understanding the concept if you can't remember what you were supposed to understand?
If my self-censor hadn't been kicked into place a while back, I would have been so tempted to end this with a "Screw you."
With Chemistry.
Dude, what did you expect?
The story starts way back when I was a kid. Constantly curious, always wanting to know why, poking her head into everything. Once I jammed the lock in the store room with a bit of wire because I wanted to learn how to pick a lock but the wire I had was slightly too thick. So the whole world came crashing down and it took my dad a couple of hours to get the door all fixed up.
And I read. A lot. Anything and everything I could find. From the ailments and sicknesses a toddler to get (I found a very informative book with lots of pretty pictures and diagrams) to Reader's Digest and all that sort of educational thing. And I watched a lot of TV. Whoever said kids can't learn anything by staring at the idiot box is either an idiot...or he's just jealous that he doesn't own one. Because most of what I've learnt about forensics, hypnosis, basically, the basis of my scientific and general knowledge came from two sources: Books and TV. I learned about thermite way before they taught us this in Form 5. I learned about DNA. And what I couldn't get from the TV or books I got from the Internet.
Naturally, it seems fitting that I go into science. And I loved every bit of it. Science explains everything so wonderfully. It's kind of like, you never truly see the potential of something until it's explained to you scientifically. It's when your eyes start to open and you go, "Hey...that's right."
Of all 3 sciences they taught us, Chemistry was my favourite. It was a combination of memory andhands on processes, and I loved it. I already had an ingrained sense of love towards science, and I didn't like Chemistry because the teacher was good, or because I like the teacher. No, I liked it because Chemistry opened my eyes to a whole new dimension.
When we came to college, the first thing they told us was that we could not memorise, we had to understand. And I believed in what they said, and I agreed wholeheartedly. So I sought to do the best I could.
What a fool I was.
This semester, the workload increased. I get that, it was expected. Nothing I couldn't handle. But then the lecturer started bombarding questions at us, and when we didn't answer, boy, did she get into a whole lot of shelling. It's moments like this that make me dread going into that class, my favourite class, because I simply don't know when I'm going to get chewed out and be made to look like a fool in front of everyone else.
The fact that the lecturer in question is strict partly contributes to the matter. My class does Chemistry homework and we go all frantic over it, because we're afraid that she's going to kill us if we didn't finish our homework. And I hate that, because I'm doing homework not because I want to challenge myself, or because I truly love the subject (yeah, I happen to like doing homework) but I do it out of fear.
Fear.
I can't believe what I'm saying but it's true. I do my homework partly out of fear.
And is that the way to go? We're all scared and bullied into doing exercises, and no doubt, it's beneficial to us in the long run, but I can't remember how long ago when I used to do a couple of pages extra, out of my own choice, because I was truly on a run. And this sickens me because I'm near killing myself studying for Chemistry so that I can answer her questions and not incur her wrath on me, and I don't even like her that much. And I can't even be bothered to study ahead for Biology, which has turned into one of my favourite classes to go even though the material is boring, because the lecturer is extremely cool and fun. He makes everything so accessible and come to life. And I really enjoy his classes; I'd feel so guilty that I didn't do his work when I respect him that much. The only motivation I have to do well in my next exams is that, with his teachings, I managed to get an extremely high score for Biology, even higher than Chem, and I want to excel that score for this coming exams, because I want to see that look of pride on his face, to know that I am where I am thanks to him.
And no, this isn't an ode of love to my biology teacher. I don't do student-lecturer relationships.
I don't believe that this applies to me only. Everywhere I look I see that we are going more and more lax. The eager-to-please students from Semester 1 have all but disappeared. We used to ask so many questions, used to have so much fun in studying. Now, we are all shells of our former selves.
And that thing about not memorising? Yeah, turns out that we were yelled at for not having the information at our fingertips, that we needed to understand, not memorise. Sorry to burst your bubble, sweetheart, but we need memory work as well, yeah? What's the point of understanding the concept if you can't remember what you were supposed to understand?
If my self-censor hadn't been kicked into place a while back, I would have been so tempted to end this with a "Screw you."
Friday, 24 September 2010
Of Cats and Ostrich Worms
So the baptism was over and such. Overall, minus the fact that I had mild chlorine allergies, it was more fun than I expected. Had a good old jaw with the cousins, and have a remarkable time throwing my youngest cousin (who celebrated her birthday on that day as well) into the swimming pool several times as a form of "dunking".
Have been having an OK time in college lately, and my sis got a new laptop, which is really cool and nice...Healthwise, my ear kinda hurts a bit, but I think it'll be over soon. Bio, particularly, was the only class in which we traded barbed insults and jokes. Seriously, at the beginning of semester 1, Mr Low was really shy and unsure about joking around with us, but this sem, I think he's gotten used to our class and thanks to our influence (ahem!) he's getting more and more sarcastic in that funny, bumbling, Mr Low way.
Some examples:
In biology, the last class, we were doing Species and Evolution, which sounds fascinating but can get really confusing if you zone out half way. So Mr Low was talking about genus, and species and how the definition of species is a group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring, keyword being fertile. And he was giving us examples.
"...Two different species cannot interbreed to form fertile offspring....Check if, let's say, this tiger and an African tiger -- wait, there is no African tiger!" (It's true, google it. No current tigers in Africa, but fossils state tha sabre-tooth tigers lived there once upon a time.)
And then today, he was going through the whole biodiversity thing with us, where he was talking about different techniques for measuring biodiversity in a habitat, such as quadrat sampling and the capture-mark-recapture technique. So he asked the class in general if we ever did the CMR technique.
All of us gave an unsure, "Uh....no...."
He tried to jog our memory. "I'm sure you did something basic experiment like this back in Form 4, Form 5. You know, where you take a bowl and fill it with red beans, and then you remove a handful, and you mark with or something, and your beans are," he thought a bit, "your beans are, 'Rabbits' and --"
Cat interrupted. "Ha! Beans that hop!" And she mimicked a bean jumping around and the whole class burst into laughter and Kerrine was looking at Cat, with the look on her face that clearly spelt out "LAME".
Mr Low continued, trying to hold in his laughter; failed. "Then you put the handful of beans back into the bowl, and then you mix it around, to mean that your 'rabbits' are mixing around amidst the population." For some reason, everyone laughed at this. "And then you grab another handful, and you count how many beans are marked--"
"Oh, oh, I remember doing this experiment!" Shangeeth contributed excitedly. "Guys, don't do this experiment, you have to count all the beans, and mix it up, it's so immature lah..."
Mr Low grinned. "So I hope that since you are all, uh, mature enough, we don't have to do this experiment..."
Shan cut in again. "So what? The packet of beans is your entire population?"
This thing lasted the entire class. Mr Low was talking about crossbreeding, and how, maybe, people crossbreed different species of cows. "So let's say you have this cow that gives a lot of meat, and you have this cow that gives out a lot of milk, so you crossbreed that cow with the bull that gives out a lot of milk--"
And the whole class shouted with laughter because, really? A bull that produces milk?
Sir tried to continue. "Sorry, not bull. So you take the bull and you crossbreed it with the cow of the different species--"
"And you get a bow," Lyn commented drily. Bull + Cow = Bow (rhymes with cow)
So naturally, this thing with cows leads to the tale of how Lyn is so gullible, she fell for Shean-Woei's story about how brown cows have moustaches. And Lyn fired the "Do brown cows have moustaches?" question at Mr Low with such conviction that he hesitated a bit (because, h later explained, she seemed really confident that such a thing happened) and Lyn used his hesitation to argue the fact that see, she wasn't the only one who fell for it. And Cat commented that at least Mr Low was better than Mr Ling, the Physics teacher.
Of course, my class being the way it is, demanded to know about the whole Physics teacher thing. I was present when it actually happened, and I couldn't resist laughing when that day (which was also the day Lyn fell for the moustached brown cows story) Shean-Woei was telling us about it and she told the same thing to Mr Ling, expecting him to scoff. Instead, he gave her the reaction of the century: "Ha? Really?"
Later today in bio, Mr Low started telling us about this particular species of worm.
ML: There's a worm that buries its head in the soil...
Cat & Fi in unison: Earthworm!
ML: No, another one --
Cat & Lyn in unison: Ostrich worm!
Then, you can't just end this story without some more laughs. There was an in joke someone started during Physics when we were doing capacitors and capacitance when all of a sudden, Cat and Kerrine started laughing. Seems that Alex, being his old lame self, smirked at Cat and said one word:
Cat-pacitors.
Have been having an OK time in college lately, and my sis got a new laptop, which is really cool and nice...Healthwise, my ear kinda hurts a bit, but I think it'll be over soon. Bio, particularly, was the only class in which we traded barbed insults and jokes. Seriously, at the beginning of semester 1, Mr Low was really shy and unsure about joking around with us, but this sem, I think he's gotten used to our class and thanks to our influence (ahem!) he's getting more and more sarcastic in that funny, bumbling, Mr Low way.
Some examples:
In biology, the last class, we were doing Species and Evolution, which sounds fascinating but can get really confusing if you zone out half way. So Mr Low was talking about genus, and species and how the definition of species is a group of organisms that can interbreed to produce fertile offspring, keyword being fertile. And he was giving us examples.
"...Two different species cannot interbreed to form fertile offspring....Check if, let's say, this tiger and an African tiger -- wait, there is no African tiger!" (It's true, google it. No current tigers in Africa, but fossils state tha sabre-tooth tigers lived there once upon a time.)
And then today, he was going through the whole biodiversity thing with us, where he was talking about different techniques for measuring biodiversity in a habitat, such as quadrat sampling and the capture-mark-recapture technique. So he asked the class in general if we ever did the CMR technique.
All of us gave an unsure, "Uh....no...."
He tried to jog our memory. "I'm sure you did something basic experiment like this back in Form 4, Form 5. You know, where you take a bowl and fill it with red beans, and then you remove a handful, and you mark with or something, and your beans are," he thought a bit, "your beans are, 'Rabbits' and --"
Cat interrupted. "Ha! Beans that hop!" And she mimicked a bean jumping around and the whole class burst into laughter and Kerrine was looking at Cat, with the look on her face that clearly spelt out "LAME".
Mr Low continued, trying to hold in his laughter; failed. "Then you put the handful of beans back into the bowl, and then you mix it around, to mean that your 'rabbits' are mixing around amidst the population." For some reason, everyone laughed at this. "And then you grab another handful, and you count how many beans are marked--"
"Oh, oh, I remember doing this experiment!" Shangeeth contributed excitedly. "Guys, don't do this experiment, you have to count all the beans, and mix it up, it's so immature lah..."
Mr Low grinned. "So I hope that since you are all, uh, mature enough, we don't have to do this experiment..."
Shan cut in again. "So what? The packet of beans is your entire population?"
This thing lasted the entire class. Mr Low was talking about crossbreeding, and how, maybe, people crossbreed different species of cows. "So let's say you have this cow that gives a lot of meat, and you have this cow that gives out a lot of milk, so you crossbreed that cow with the bull that gives out a lot of milk--"
And the whole class shouted with laughter because, really? A bull that produces milk?
Sir tried to continue. "Sorry, not bull. So you take the bull and you crossbreed it with the cow of the different species--"
"And you get a bow," Lyn commented drily. Bull + Cow = Bow (rhymes with cow)
So naturally, this thing with cows leads to the tale of how Lyn is so gullible, she fell for Shean-Woei's story about how brown cows have moustaches. And Lyn fired the "Do brown cows have moustaches?" question at Mr Low with such conviction that he hesitated a bit (because, h later explained, she seemed really confident that such a thing happened) and Lyn used his hesitation to argue the fact that see, she wasn't the only one who fell for it. And Cat commented that at least Mr Low was better than Mr Ling, the Physics teacher.
Of course, my class being the way it is, demanded to know about the whole Physics teacher thing. I was present when it actually happened, and I couldn't resist laughing when that day (which was also the day Lyn fell for the moustached brown cows story) Shean-Woei was telling us about it and she told the same thing to Mr Ling, expecting him to scoff. Instead, he gave her the reaction of the century: "Ha? Really?"
Later today in bio, Mr Low started telling us about this particular species of worm.
ML: There's a worm that buries its head in the soil...
Cat & Fi in unison: Earthworm!
ML: No, another one --
Cat & Lyn in unison: Ostrich worm!
Then, you can't just end this story without some more laughs. There was an in joke someone started during Physics when we were doing capacitors and capacitance when all of a sudden, Cat and Kerrine started laughing. Seems that Alex, being his old lame self, smirked at Cat and said one word:
Cat-pacitors.
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