I woke up early to get ready for school and work। I suddenly came to my conscience that my car has exceeded it's 5000 mileage. Went to my fav. car workshop to get it service. They claimed the timing belt needed a change since it's never been change before. Anyway, got it changed with a price of RM350. Plus service: RM450. Goodness! sigh sigh sigh....

Then, went to pick up a stand fan that has exceeded it's lifespan too! Paid RM35 for the repair। Return home with the so-called-fixed-fan. Came back home - put it to test - works really well. But, not even 15 minutes, the fan went dead again! sigh sigh sigh...What's the damn problem with this fan?!?

As I was preparing to leave for UPM, a phone call came: Maxis broadband wants to come this afternoon to install the whole set of whatever! Sigh....afternoon????!!!! I asked if they could do it some other time, but of course, I wanted a broadband connection ASAP too। "Tomorrow", he said. Nah, today will be better. Just throw everything to me TODAY.

When do I ever get the chance to go to the lab?!

Another phone call came। Yes, never had soo many calls in one day in my entire life. A good friend from Sabah plans to come this November. I love her!!! She's coming for a week with his son to KL and Singapore as a vacation for her son who would have finished his PMR by then. Okay, another long conversation on the phone. Bla bla bla bla.....til' i lost track of time. I do admire her 'matriachal air' or aura. You can actually sense her aura from the phone {shiver}.

Not to forget, just spend a little over RM1000 (*#!$*&) for a return ticket to Bangkok Peak period. No discount. No RM8.00 goodie. The coming month and November will be pretty busy for me in the lab, but I can't help myself from travelling if the time permits. And when the opportunity arrives, I'll jump onto it without much thought. It's totally backpacking for us both. And yes, we don't have an itinerary (yet). No place to stay (yet). I'm basically googling everything! Nope, I don't believe in Lonely Planet guides. Makes it tooo tourisy. Not really going shopping, so please, please, please (esp. mum & dad and aunties & uncles, neighbours & labmates) - I don't take requests on souvenirs or Zebra stainless steal woks and pans, jeans, or bedsheets or Wacoal bras or underwears. A BIG CRIME for backpackers. I hate souvenirs so I might only bring back photos, postcards and memories :P

Souvenirs are only for once-and-for-alls. I promise to return to Bangkok as I would for Sabah, Perth and London.

Death by frying...!

My body was heating up like a cake baking in an oven without a timer. Burned! I was a walking time-bomb at that moment. When my supervisor told me this, his tone was a pity one. Yes, you do know why I hate it here. My feet are on the ground of one of the most absurb places on earth - Malaysia! I reckon this was the deciding juncture that made me a quitter AS WELL AS a leaver (hint: Singapore 2002 national day). Nevermind what the problem was (and is to come). I am not going to absorb all this s**t like a piece of sponge. Naive I was, but not anymore. 2 more years and I am gone from my so-called country that does not love me in return.

On a lighter note...whew...(take a deep breath)....Ratatouille was the most hillarious, absurd (I had to used this word again), most entertaining cartoony movie of the year. Those rats and their habits reminds me of Pooi's story about her resident rat in Wangsa Maju. I used to have ONE rat (a resident?) back in my house in Ipoh. Guess what? It even dig and ate our powdered detergent (there were poo). My mum passed the death sentence by frying the poor fry under the fiery sun. It screamed pleading innocence for a crime it was born to do: steal.

I recommend not Ratatouille but Black Sheep to everyone that needs a piece of cheap entertainment. I give it 4 stars (out of 5) for their (good) slapstick jokes. Sheeps are not considered pest even if they are multiplying like rats in NZ.

My first concert (does Disney On Ice count?)

Never would I thought of going to any gwen’s concert. As many of you have known, I have fewer likings for female singers. As a female myself, innately, male singer seemed more appealing. My preference lies on hot bodes like Justin with his slick moves and hip-hop stuff, Kanye, or any rock band for that matter. I am also not girly enough to sing-along to a Gwen’s say…Four In The Morning :P.

Gwen concert started with a nice little queue at Putra Indoor Staidum. The queue gradually turned into a hideous snake-like formation (there were confusions at the start of the queue!). Quite inevitable. Hey, even those paying for RM340++ seats had to queue darn long too! Gwen was ‘practically Malaysian’ so she followed Malaysian time too. She started half an hour late, but I believed she was waiting for Beh to arrive before she starts her show. No kidding - Gwen turned out the lights right after Beh sat his ass on the seat!! Hah..!

It’s hard to believe that our seats turn out to be amazing because our tics were comparatively cheap. We could see her quite clear from our angle. Thanks Kenny - you’re the real genius here. And the concert begins – all songs from her ‘Sweet Escape’ album were amazing. Never would thought buying an album from Gwen, but errrrr…yaa, I am beginning to download her songs now that I love her. In the concert, I sang a long though I think I did forgot her lyrics a little (embarrassing!). Some songs are even unheard of :P Flashback: Hitz.fm was virtually a Gwen.fm (you’re right, Fipink - on that Tuesday!), so I did some practicing on the lyrics (sing along with my car radio) before the concert so that I wouldn’t be accused of being a bad ‘fan’ in the concert. Her songs are quite rap-py, so it’s difficult to follow her the whole time despite my effort to learn some songs. Plus those screaming crazy fans, I realized my voice actually didn’t matter.
Hey, try singing to a Hollaback Girl song for instance….bet even a fan of Gwen can’t remember those wordy-lyrics (I may be wrong) – All I could remember from that song was ‘ba-na-nas na-nanas” and ‘ain’t no hollaback girl’. If I were to go another concert of anybody, I think learning the chorus would be sufficient. I am sure to remember any of Justin’s lyrics though.

No regrets for the concert and because I did have a great time, it felt short. Still had some voice left for next day’s swimming class to scream at those kids. I thought those Japanese harajuku dancers were excellent. I didn’t feel short changed at all. Gwen also had a good rapport with her fans. She was still very sexy even she wore black tight leggings. The word here is ‘tight’. Nahhh, not even an issue! - the media had made a huge buzz about nothing.

Justin’s next. NO cameras allowed?

Minneapolis Bridge collapse.

When the news broke thru' CNN, wooohh (sweat), I thought it was from some hollywood film or some Steven Speilberg behind it. It was exactly like Die Hard 4.0! Collapsing bridges! After I've read the accounts from survivors, I guess it's really too bad something like that happens in a place I thought was generally safe when we speak about engineering and science. This bridge over the Mississippi River was under construction when the collapse occurred. The bridge couldn't hold the weight of the many vehicle on top of it, but wouldn't the engineers have calculated that?!

There's this bridge over Bandar Utama, as you come from BU 11 and 10 towards Centre Point and Sunway Damanasara just in front of Sony building. Before it's under its current construction to widen it, I have never felt save on top ot it while waiting for the lights to turn green. All the cars are bumper to bumper crawl towards Damansara uptown.... it just feels scary and unsave, dunno why. Then the controversial, cracked highway in Kepong (I thought would have collaspe one day - touchwood!!!) is also scary because you can totally feel the vibration of the road (and my car) when any large trucks/lorry passes you.

Anyway, speaking about cars...I thought my bloody small Kelisa couldn't conquer Camerons, but I was wrong. Though at certain inclination I had to change to 3rd or 2nd gear, I guess my car could take it quite well. Hey, with extra weight behind (we girls bought tonnes of stuffs back to Ipoh) and someone sitting behind (no mentioning names here!), my car felt draggy but managed to pull through the whole journey. I think the trip to Sg. Palas BOH plantation was the most interesting as there were swearing involved and some exciting manuveres too!

We should do this more often. Next year maybe: more trips. Next time I'm not driving :P I can't drive airplanes, u know.... (hint hint: Bangkok!)

Singapura, oh Singapura!

On 21st July, I went to Singapore for a reunion with 21 of my SIF fellows. Can't believe it has been 5 years and everyone looked just the same as they were 5 years back!! Well, there are some minor changes though - Man became thin, Dat is sooo built and Claudia is 5-months pregnant. Otherwise, everyone remained the same as who they were 5 years ago. Our childishness has not disappear either - playing all those crazy drinking games (thanks Dat!).

Jo Nie, Boon King and I watched this silly, comedy, low-budget New Zealand film called "Black Sheep" (what else could New Zealanders do but to film their own sheeps...sigh). From the title, I knew it would be hillarious. Jo Nie and I burst out laughing each and every minute! Non-stop. But there were many bloody scenes too. Imagine you are in New Zealand and there's nothing there but sheeps, and this crazy GM sheep comes attacking you by munching at your flesh and then you turn into...ya....a sheep too!!! Oh, soo bloooooody and bloody funny!!! Good entertainment.

I missed my Harry Potter 7 dateline because of this Singapore trip. MPH man came right to my doorstep but I wasn't there. When I went to MPH to collect my book and free gift, MPH said that no transaction was being made and my name was not in their list of bookings. Ohhh...sooo sucky...First, I realised that MPH priced their HP7 book RM99.90 while Tesco was at RM69.90. I could have just cancel my online booking months ago and purchase the potter book from Tesco instead. Then, I had to go allllllll the way to MPH Midvalley twice to ask them about my transaction that has already been debited to my credit card. I became furious because they couldn't fix my problem. Money paid, but no book! So expensive some more..... Alas, MPH claim there was a mixed-up and finally after all this silly hassles, I got my Potter book.

First thing I did was to run through the epilogue - the last 7 pages. So, Harry Potter is alive. And that's it! That's all I need to know!!! I haven't open the book since. I shelved my Potter away and continued reading my other book that I have started since last week - Middlesex. Seems I am not a Pottermania anymore.

Girls, girls, can't wait to go Cameron Highlands. Camerons will be my final trip for this month or two. Saving money for overseas trips, and my parent's 30th anniversary this X'mas.

Months of movies

The month of June and July have been movies-month for me. Transformers was good. Watched it twice somemore. Even Titanic - I just watched it once on big-screen. And then there's Die Hard 4.0, but it was not as good as expected. Maybe because my expectations were a little too high. Die Hard 3 was the ultimate Die Hard. Die Hard 4.0 had no climax; the villain was a sissy computer guy and the scene where a jet shooting on this big truck that Bruce Willis was in looked entirely wrong and irrational. I prefer if the truck would just turn into Optimus Prime or something. More believable than a bunch of empty, falling highways. Samy Vellu would not like Die Hard 4.0 because the damaged highways would remind him soo much of our Malaysian ones.

Then, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (mouth-full!) was saddeningly not even to par with the other Potter movies. No quiddith, hate the maturity of all the casts, too much junk at the end and the movie ended abruptly. Well, it was the weakest book (and story line) so I guess it's the weakest movie soo far of all Potters.

I still believe that the British movie Hot Fuzz was the best soo far this year. Unexpectedly, the british humour did work well on me! The partnership between the 2 polices worked sooo well too. The whole movie had a good combination of humour, action (soo good!), and well-created script. I think the whole occult thingy that existed in the small 'crime'-free village is a little absurd though. I recommend this show to everyone!

I am now watching the season finale of Desperate Housewives 3 on 8TV! Wow, time flies..

Break-up and break-free.

I am sitting in a Starbucks cafe near the Jab. Pendaftaran & Imigresen at Pusat Bdr Damansara waiting for my passport to be renewed. I have to applaud the swift service by the pegawai(s) there as it takes less than 3 hours to get a passport done. Syabas! Five years ago, I still need to come back in 3 days time to get it, which had cost me addtional expenses on petrol, parking and time.

I will be going to Singapore this weekend to reunite with my SIF friends (yay!) and Camerons in the next to be with my best pals (yipee!). I also took a 2-week leave from my uni to concentrate on my writing and my comprehensive test. I guess I just want a break from everything this month.

I have to apologise to many of my close friends and (busy-body)relatives who has been wondering how I've been after my breaking-up with him. I know you guys/gals have been most supportive but I don't want to share sob stories of how it happened and what not because I just cannot explain the whole situation in mere words via the phone or blog. Thanks for the concern for those who called. I would love to be in the gossip pages (at last!) but truthfully, I am fine. And girls, we will meet up soon. So, no speculating on my story!!

Some of you know about my Brit beau Jon (ahem: Cal, Pink, YP). Well, Jon is superbly great (any other superlative that I can add?) but he's back at Imperial. He will be returning to M'sia soon. Love him. But still, no speculating!!!

I think I just need a break. See you all in Singapore and Camerons.

Writer's block.

After attending a seminar on 'Publishing for Postgrads' last week, I think I need to revamp my whole Ph.D. research. It's more like little changes here and there to cater for my publishing needs. To publish in citation-indexed journals is like...impossible (with regards to my research), but I think maybe I need to brush-up on my English and make it more professional/business-like. My grammar is quite good (chhe....!!), but I definitely write like a 5-year old! Many people do not realise that despite flawlessness in my spoken English (cheez....my scholarship interviewers were defeinitely impressed), I write English like a kindergarten kid - no 'flowery' words, no puns. And depite my hobby being reading (I read A LOT) and watching American movies (that's how I indirectly improve my English), I still cannot write professionally. It's like there's a 'barrier' in my brain that...okay, seeeeee.....I cannot find the exact word to say it (sigh). I cannot express anything properly in writing! How to publish?

(come to think of it, blogging is also a form of publishing)...nevermind...

I also had this 'writer's block' this month. I wanted to express myself but I just can't. Not in words and not verbally too. Not sure about the science behind 'writer's block' but I hate it. There's soo many stuffs that I want to say - about my country, my life, my friends, my studies...but cannot pour out to anything and to anyone. Nm. After my publishing seminar at UPM, I went to Camerons. And there, I got hooked up with this lady from MARDI, who knows almost every farmer in Camerons. She's an expert in this pesticide thingy, and she is tactful in asking pesticide questions when interviewing farmers (sensitive issue leh)....god, she knows like millions of languages...I just adore her.

When I was down from Camerons, I had ppl waiting for me to celebrate my birthday...not that I don't like my birthday...it's just like another day to me. Thanks all who celebrated for me. And just THREE DAYS in Camerons, I didn't know soooo much have happen down at lowland Selangor. I didn't know: "Pak Lah got married?!! Bird Flu in Sg. Buloh area?! Some landlord set-up hidden cameras to spy on naked tenants?!" Camerons is soo dead and un-cold (blame it again on global warming?) that you just don't get any breaking news there. Nobody talks about anything, but vege, flowers, pesticide and contaminated water. Cameron folks just do their thing and forget about the world beneath them. But I believe that being ignorant about the world is good at times. Carefree.

(okay...er...err....er...I dunno what to write!)...Writer's block syndrome coming back!!

Pui Wah came back from Taiwan to be with here family here for a month. Welcome back, Pui Wah!!! Glad you are back. We will meet up. Tell me about bird flu...or the chicken research you are working on (not!).

Hei, this SMART tunnel is not too 'smart' after all. Now, don't tell me it's to save KL from STORM floods and not FLASH flood?!!? So what is it EXACTLY built for, hah?! Also, there will never be an end to this flash floods in KL centre as long as SemiVallue still reigns his JKR throne.

So much has happened

So much has happened!

I finished reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. Pigs rule! Anyway, I am now reading Orwell's 1984 book too....guess, i will be finishin' it in 2 weeks (no time to read these days).

Watched 'Rent' the musical. It was brilliant! Absolutely brilliant. I was in tears at the final part of the movie. So freaking sad. Broadway/musicals is not my type (except Sound of Music, of course!) but, 'Rent' somehow manages to convey it's message that living unconventionally is OKAY. And then there's this theme song 'Seasons of Love' played in the background...reminds me of my SIF friends!!! Don't worry, will see you guys/gals in our reunion on 20.07.2007.

Last Sunday, my Aikido friends and I drove to Penang to find/eat good Penang hawker food. I love the cendol, the mee mamak, and the ice kacang. Managed to sapu 5 DVDs that is just RM4 a piece near Batu Ferringhi. Good deal. Next stop was Taiping - see the lake gardens and manage to catch the antics of some wild monkeys. Called Yeng Pooi to ask her where the public toilets are (you saved our lives) and together we went to market area to drink leng-chi-kang.

I didn't know Ipoh had 'Rum Jungle'. It was at Sunway City (I am more like a KL girl already, kinda foreign to Ipoh now) So, thank you uncle Ah Lieh for taking us there, and belanja-ing us the booze. Brian, Mhong, Sheaushin, Leong and I were dancing like mad ppl. Ipoh ppl really don't dance!! The band that was playing that night was extremely good, but, the Ipoh ppl were like separuh mati when it comes to partying. Weird Ipoh ppl.

Next morning, we went Gua Tempurung. 50 ppl went in at one-shot! So many ppl! Holiday marrr. Pity the tour-guide that had to manage 50 ppl one by one - especially at the lubang part, where he just pull our legs (sort of like impatient already!). I got my head banged onto a sharp end of a stalectite (wrong spelling!) and instantly that part swelled and there was this painful throbing after that. Not good. Can't comb my hair now. Actually, this is my 4th time in gua tempurung already, but each time, the experience is different because the ppl I went in with are different. I could go again - for the 5th time!!

Back at KL, we all went karaoke at Red Box @ The Curve. I was kinda tired, but manage to sing my lungs out at some of my favourite songs. Who could ever miss the 'Pang-yau (Friends)' song by Alan Tam. I think Mhong and I did very well in 'Barbie Girl' by Aqua. Hehehe. And sensei did impress us with one of his oldies that was pretty hard to sing - something about 'A dog name Boo'!

Just wanna thank some ppl that were kinda concern about my mum: Callie, Beat, Yeng Pooi, Bun and many others. My mum came back with her test results and she was cleared-off all diseases (it wasn't cancerous)!! My mum's second (opinion) doctor confirm that. I am thankful that my mum is okay, because she doesn't seemed so well lately. The doctor said that she's just getting old (not a word any woman wants to hear!) with pre-menopausal symptoms. Thank you Lord Jesus for listening to our prayers.

'Brave New World'

My form 3 tuition teacher (Mr. Low, who lives on the same street as I 'til today) have always talked about 3 books that have to be read by everyone:

1. Alice In Wonderland by a Reverend (?! wow) Louis Carroll, also a mathematician & logician.

2. Animal Farm by George Orwell, an anti-Stalinism.

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I read Alice in Wonderland..like..years years ago...when I was still a kid. Well, I read it uncritically and thought of the story as boring and weird or 'just-another-fantasy kinda story'. Now, it's is the most mathematically profound (exaggerating..) book I've ever read!! (okay, because I DON'T read maths book!).

I've read Orwell's Animal Farm also like....years years...ago whereby pigs, chicken and all sorts of domesticated animals playing politics right at your backyard. Hmmph...I actually totally forgot what it's all about right now. Guess I'll just go to UPM library to pick up this book and read it all over again...when I have the time.

At present, I am reading Brave New World. Well, it's like a science fiction thingy (dystopian fiction, they call it) but it's inconceivable that our world would be divided into two worlds in the future as 'humans' search for 1) stability and/or 2) freedom. Which world is utopian? Which world is dystopian? U decide. A 'civilised' world -where people literally worship the maker of their world (they depise God), nobody gets pregnant, nobody becomes old, everyone is squeakily hygiene, babies are hynotised to live in their unquestionable own castes when they grow up, little girls taught to be promiscuous, no families, kids asking "what is a 'mother'?", hormone therapy everyday, etc. etc, etc (nighmare!). In 'civilisation', stability is achieved. No clashing, no fighting, no wars. Everyone is made to understand their own role in their respective castes. No questions asked.

The dystopian world is the one we currently live in. Women conceive viviparous-ly, people do get old and fat, worships God, stinkingly unhygienic, wage war against one another, there is such thing as 'family' and 'mother' and 'father', and there is such thing as 'romance', etc. etc.....all those things you own/have today. In Brave New World - these are percieved as wah lau...'uncivilised'.

Come to think of it, I prefer THIS world - overwhelmed with abnormalities and oddities. Makes us more human, right!?

Remember the movie - "The Island" starring Scarlett Johanssen? Something like that lorrr.....but, of course, different plot la..