In WA....

I'm back!

Perth was great!:) It was nice to see Uncle James again, even though I don't really remember him. They were simply amazing to me. Kept feeding me, took me places. I had a ball. It's winter now so obviously, I was pretty cold (and I hate being cold) but otherwise, it was an awesome visit. 


Somehow, the sky feels nearer. I know that's stupid but that's how it feels. The moon seems a lot closer and in turn, the sky seems nearer too. The stars are all different as well. I could see stars every night. Their house is in a suburban area so the was minimal light pollution which meant that the stars shone in all their glory.

I saw kangaroos and koalas, foxes and owls, wallabies and wombats and even a dancing parrot! I was followed around by lambs for a minute and had my blouse chewed on by a goat. I fed a donkey too! I could not believe how big it's mouth was! Incredible!

They also took me to a chocolate factory (and yes, I obviously bought some chocolates, duh). Right next to that was a vineyard and we tasted wine and cheese. Yum:) Of course, in the dead of winter, the vineyard was bare but the wine was pretty good. And the view was great too.

One thing I really liked was that there were wild rosemary bushes growing everywhere. And the lavenders were in full bloom too. All in all, Perth smelt great! Between herbs, flowers and barbecue, my nose was having a party.

I bought tons of stuff to. Mission accomplished! I found shoes my size, jeans that I like, great blouses, a set of Rummy-O, and even matte nail polish! I spent every penny I had and I regret nothing. Oh, I also bought kangaroo meat back for bro. We're going to cook it tomorrow.

I tasted all three things that were on my list; kangaroo, crocodile and baramundi. My favourite of the three is crocodile, hands down. It tastes a little bit like chicken and totally delicious. Kangaroo isn't too bad and baramundi is really just another fish to me.

Anyway, I had a fun time there. I did miss home very badly but at the same time, I wish I could've stayed longer. I'm glad to be back though. The comfort of my own home, my own bed, the PC all to myself:)

All that's left now is a month more of nothing and then begins my life in Uni. I'm stoked and very nervous about it. It's going to be the start of a new chapter and I cannot wait. I'm pretty sure I'll have a great time. No doubt about that.

As for now, I'm going to sleep so I can wake up tomorrow and try own the new nail polish:)

An Update of Sorts... :P

Just thought I'd update this part of cyberspace with the few on-goings in my life.

First up, I'm heading to the land down under! Yessir:) I'm going to Perth for 2 weeks:) It'll be a blast and I can't wait! Ahhhh! I'm gonna feed some kangaroos and hug some koalas. Perth, here I come!!

Something else worth mentioning is that I wrote an article for the CDM Today! For those of you who do not know; CDM Today is my church's quarterly newsletter. For the next issue, the editor (I think it was the editor) asked the youths to contribute an article. After very little discussion, this task was given to me.

I have to admit, I had a little trouble coming up with something to write but I managed. I sent it to the editor, fully expecting it to be rejected with requests that it needed polishing up but to my utter surprise, it was well accepted! And so, my article will be published in the July issue:)

I'll post it here once the newsletter is out.

Also, I'm contemplating cutting off my locks. I've oscillated between loving the long hair, wanting it to grow longer and hating it and wanting to cut it short and save myself the hassle of dealing with it everyday. Right now, I'm back to keeping it. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how long I can keep this pendulum moving and where it might end up stopping.

And one last thing; I'm currently reading Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. At first, I wasn't to sure if I liked it. It takes a lot of brain power to process everything. It's a whole new world with no point of reference at all. Seriously, everything is alien.

But then, as I kept going, I realised that it's a pretty interesting book. Sure, I can't actually read it when my brain isn't fully awake ('cause I won't understand have of what's going on normally but when my brain is half asleep, everything gets foggier) but when I really focus, I find myself enjoying the story even though I can't understand half of what's going on. I guess it's not too bad, my blurness, because this is probably how one of the character's Arthur Dent must be feeling too. It's all just so weird!

But fun:)

Anyway, time for more tetris.

I miss....

Hello again. I'm back! :)

This post is dedicated to all things I've missed while I was away.

I miss my shower, which I know exactly how to control.
I miss Malaysian ringgits and coins (not the new ones, though).
I miss hearing the Azan, fives times a day.
I miss the desktop at home.
I miss looking at my Harry Potter books everyday.
I miss the Malaysian heat and humidity.
I miss Malaysian food, obviously.
I miss the messiness of my room (although, we weren't exactly the neatest tourists around)
I miss my usual makan shops.
I miss the almost-not-working-anymore glow-in-the-dark stars on my room wall
I miss ceiling fans.
I miss being able to go out any time I want and not get lost.
I miss my slippers.

Those are what I can think of right now. So, yea. What I actually missed the most was just plain ol' Malaysian-ness. I didn't really miss the people because I knew I was coming home. So, I wasn't really upset about that. But I did miss the day to day stuff because a Europe Trip meant no total Malaysian-ness for 24 days straight. I didn't really realise it till I came home but I really missed it here. But now I'm back so no worries:)

Anyway, I actually planned on posting the daily Europe thing. At least once a day... But then I thought that it would be a little hard and not to mention kinda disorganised and messy. Therefore, I've decided to create a separate page for Europe.

If you just look underneath my Blog Title (A Big Bowl of Something), there's a link called 'My European League'. You can see that it's right next to 'My Wish List'. Click that and you'll find yourself on the page on which I'll post Day 1 to Day 24 of Europe. So far, I've posted Days 1-5. Happy Reading:)

Missing for 10 days, so Here's Day 1:)

Hola! Bonjour!:)

So, as you've noticed, I've been away for quite a while. Well, my Europe trip with Mama and bro is on it's 10th day now. I've been writing down something each day and I've been meaning to post it everyday but sometimes we don't get internet access so, it's quite tough.

I've got everything saved on the laptop but now I'm trying to work out the logistics of posting what I've been writing. I think I'll just post one a day. If I happen to have anything to add, then I'll just do it after my daily thoughts.

For today, I'm supposed to be asleep because we have a long day tomorrow but I can't help it, I finally have the laptop to myself for more than 5 minutes and even thought it's already 1am plus, I just have to take advantage of the wireless connection:)

I've been having a great time, really. It is an amazing journey and I still have 13 days of it. Well, here's Day 1:

24th April

Adrian drove us to the airport. Our flight is at 10.55am, if I'm not mistaken (which I am, and you'll soon find out why). We checked in our bags and headed to Kopitiam for some breakfast. At about 9.30, we decided to head to the boarding area, thinking that we should explore the shops there as well. Luckily we did because as it turns out, our flight is actually at 10.05 not 55! OMG!

We were rushing like mad towards the gates. Thankfully, we didn't miss the flight. That was too much excitement for me, right at the beginning of everything. We hadn't even left Malaysia yet!

Anyway, there's nothing much to report about the flight itself because it was really just the most terrible 12 hours of my life. I was just sitting, couldn't really do anything. I couldn't make myself pay attention to the movies of the songs or even the games. I couldn't focus and I was restless. I couldn't sleep comfortably either. It was really terrible.

The only really good parts were seeing snow capped mountains as we passed Nepal and landing, of course! Clearing immigration was not an issue. The line was quite long but they were working very fast, so no problem.

Once we got out of the airport, we took a bus to Victoria Station and then a coach to Faversham, where Ma's long time friend, Uncle Kumar, picked us up in his small Nissan Micra (one of the more common cars in England).

By the time we got to Uncle's place, it was already 11.30pm. So, in essence, the whole of the 24th was a traveling day. We had some bread and fish curry, then landed on the bed. We were all really tired. Man, at that point, the thought of spending another 12 hours in a plane to get back to Malaysia was the least tempting offer anyone could ever make to me, no matter how homesick I was.

Ish.... But the ride from the airport to Faversham wasn't too bad. We got to see a lot of the English countryside and some parts of the London town. Everything looked to picturesque and like it could've come out for a post card or something. And when the driver announced the stops, it felt like something out of a storybook. Everything, from the accents to the brick buildings, brought me back to those old movies and stories I've read. The voice in my head even adopted an English accent. I hope it doesn't stay too long.

:)

European Moustache and Chameleon.

Hello! It's been a while since my last post. Which means, lots of updates in this one!!

First up, I just got Simple Plan's A Big Package For You DVD!! AHHH! Thanks mama for buying it and thanks to Jennia for carrying down for me!:) After being a fan for 7 years, I can finally say that I have ALL of Simple Plan's CDs. Nad and I are going to watch it soon, before Europe!

Speaking of Europe, it's only 10 days away. I've finally started helping mama with the train schedules and boy, lemme tell you, it is Confusing with a capital C (just in case you didn't notice that I capitalised the 'C'). We're taking the Eurorail Global Pass which makes sense because we can use the National Trains for free and we get discounts on train rides, bus rides ad even boat rides.

We're trying to come up with a plan. Just a rough estimate of which trains we're going to take to get to the different countries. It's going well but its a lot of work. Honestly, my dreams these past few days have been plagued with Departure and Arrival times! Also, the Trenitalia website keeps haunting me!

I tweeted about this and @Eurail.com actually replied! Haha!:) That was definitely a fun part of today.

Anyway, I'm almost done figuring this out and I think we'll be ok. We'll spend a lot of time in trains but the view will be good and besides, I'm pretty sure the journey will be interesting. I plan on adding the famous Malaysian prefix, 'Lah', at the end of every sentence. Just to flaunt my Malaysianism in all the European people's faces :P

I'm taking my 'Jati Diri' and Patriotism with me all the way there! (even if I'm not 100% sure of the political, economical or social ongoings here)

Anyway, packing will have to start soon, next week, for sure. I hope we take just the right amount of stuff. We don't wanna over pack (like women are wont to do. Or maybe it's just me). Also, we need to make sure that we have enough space in our luggage and spare weight for the trip back. Don't want to be leaving any souvenirs behind. I have a list of things to buy and I shall have them all! Muahahhaaha! >.<

I'm going to bring my notebook along with me for the ride. I want to make sure I record every bit of awesomeness! Maybe get a flower from each country to press in between the pages of my book. Just for keep sake.

I'm also trying to figure out what would be a good, small souvenir for myself. I want something from each country. Like maybe a badge or.. I don't know, earrings? OH OH! I also want to make sure I find a moustache ring! If I do find it, I shall get one for myself and one for someone else who I know really wants one. Maybe, only if I get it, I'll mail it to her (once I get back la), just to surprise her:)

Alrighty, moving on. Erm, wait.. I lost my train of thought. Hmm.... Here's something to look at while I catch up with that train:

Got it all from THIS blog.

Now, back to what I was going to say. I'm learning to speak Hindi form the Pakistani bartender at work. He's a good teacher. So far, I can tell people my name, where I live, ask about them, and even how to say , "The water is boiling" and "The water is still boiling!". :) If I keep at it, I will be able to speak Hindi! (Now, please feel free so say whatever you want about me learning Hindi when I don't even know how to speak Tamil). Funnily enough, while learning Hindi, I started to think in Tamil. Like WTH! :P

Now, to the serious stuff. What happens when you really like talking to someone, but that's just it? It's the conversations that you like. The person is ok too but you don't like him enough to want to be in a relationship with him. Do you still talk to him or do you stay away? I mean, talking to him keeps the friendship but then you don't want to mislead him. And staying away is basically running. So, what do you do?

I have no idea. Seriously. It's not that I don't like him. I just don't like him enough. We talk a lot but I don't want him to get the wrong idea. I've already said no, twice, and I'm glad that it didn't ruin the friendship but sometimes I get the feeling that he's still trying. I mean, good on you for not giving up la, but don't expect me to change my feelings because I standby my response. I just don't feel about him the same way that he feels about me.

I think all this is really stupid. Why can't the guy I like, like me back? Why is it that in my entire 7, 365 days of being alive, the only 3 guys who've ever straight out said that they like me turn out to be guys I never really thought of in the same way? Why oh why?

But I'm also optimistic. I will find my guy one day, of that I'm sure. I don't know how or why, but I am definitely sure. And if all else fails, the Disney Princess in me plans on falling in love in Europe.

:)

Oh, and about the title of this post; I really do want a pet chameleon someday. They're so adorable! I've always liked chameleons and once I saw Paschal in Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale, my love for them has grown! :)

Moustache..?

A couple of things (or more).

First up, the Seduction Closet "Like and Win" contest is up and running. Which means, I am officially bugging everyone as well as spamming their wall to collect as many "Likes" as I can. So, I've spammed FB and Twitter. Now time to ask you readers to do the same! Here's the LINK. Just make sure you "Like" the page as well or else your vote will not be counted.

Just in case you can't find me, this is the picture you should like.

Very the model-ly pose right... :P

I just had to be all model-like la. It's not everyday you get the chance, right? I really liked the moustache on the sign:) I think it's the hype of going to France that's got me going gaga over cute moustache related stuff. hahaha!~

Anyway, please help a girl out ok:)

What's next? Hmm.. oh yes! Europe is happening in less than a month! OMG!! Mama and I still haven't renewed our passports yet and we've got some shopping to do too. And not to forget some details to plan. Things will go well, I hope :P

I've been quite busy lately. Lent seems to be packed with projects and also, it seems like everyone wants to meet up! SMKAM2 friends, La Salle friends, Sunday School friends and church too! I feel so busy la.:)

Ok, the next thing I really wanted to talk about it my next craft project. I'm going to make a DIY Astronaut T-shirt. When I say Astronaut here, I mean the Simple Plan version. There's this cute little Astronaut on Seb's guitar pick and I want to paint it onto a T-shirt.

I tried printing the design but it came out all blurry. I think it's because the original is quite small so when I blow it up, the pixels all look so cacated.  So, what I ended up doing was tracing the picture straight from the computer screen onto and A4 paper. 

Like the guy is doing in this picture:

Anyway, it came out pretty good. All I need now is to get a nice, comfy t-shirt so I can start my work! :) I want to get this done before Europe. 

The thing is, I've been so busy lately, and still am, that I don't have time for this! AHH! I'm gonna have to wait till after Easter to settle everything. That leaves me about 2 weeks. I think I can manage:)

That's all for now.

Remember to vote!! :)

Muy Clasica!

Yellow! Hi again. So, firstly, I guess that I should post more often. Yes, I should.

Now that's settled, let's get down to business.

There are a few things to be excited about!

I saw Dillon yesterday! He's grown! I really miss him man! Anyway, he was so great to hang out with. He can be a little stubborn sometimes but he does listen to you if you tell him nicely. I really should go see him more often. I love being called Che Che. I love laving a little hand tug my finger to make sure I'm paying attention.

When we were about to leave, he started to cry. He kept saying, "Che Che, don't go. Don't go! Dillon come, Dillon come. Che Che don't go!". OMG! Is there anything more heartbreaking than that? Not to me!! I want to go again! :D

Anyway, another thing is EUROPE!~

Only two month till we fly roughly 12, 829 km around the world to Europe, babeyh! I really can't wait. At first, it felt like a dream. Then the whole AirAsia thing happened and hopes dwindled, but now... now it's reality!

My new countdown (I think I shall add a countdown widget on this blog) is for the 24th of April! That's 38 days away! (I didn't realise how close that was till counted just now). So, time to start hunting for many long sleeved t-shirts, thermal socks, new toothbrushes and luggage! We also need a camera and spare batteries as well as extra memory cards.

This is going to be epic! The three of us have never been on a holiday together, just us. So, this is going to be a first. Talk about going big on the first try! This is certainly that:) I think it'll be great. We'll be so far away from home. There'll be no distraction from our world. It'll be a complete escape.

I can't wait man! People keep telling me to prepare for a culture shock and I'm trying to but I think no matter how much I prepare, I will be blown away. So, why worry?!

Oh! Now let's talk about new stuff! I have a new bag!! Wohoo!!!:)

If you don't know me, I'm a terrible person to go serious shopping with. Window shopping is fine, but if I really want to buy something, I can be really picky. It's just that, when I buy something like a bag or a pair of shoes, I tend to buy for the long haul. So, I am very particular about every little bitty thing. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's just a pain in the ....

So anyway, I have a new bag... after months of searching! We found it in PAS of all places! It's a beautiful small-briefcase like bag. (I'd post a pic but we still don't have a camera yet and my phone camera isn't really clear at night). It's brown with a light gray strap and flap. It looks muy clasica (that's Spanish, by the way. No, we aren't going to Spain).

Also, we found shoes! I looked high and low for shoes that I liked. I found a few but there wasn't any in my size. I went to I-don't -know-how-many shoe stores and found none! Finally, we went to a shoe store mama's been going to for years. They used to do custom orders and stuff. I found awesome flats, veltvet-like, and really cute heels! So, I bought (or Mama did) 3 pairs of shoes that day! Now, I'm well stocked:)

Moving on, I dyed my jeans! I discovered the wonders of Dylon Fabric dye, thanks to Mama:)My faded, washed out jeans (which mama say's is too ugly to be worn to church) has been dunked into a vat of simmering dye water! It's now a pleasant blueish-grey colour:)

This makes me want to dye more stuff!!!

Let's end with this:)

'I'm not crazy. My reality is just different from yours  - The Cheshire Cat from Alice In Wonderland.

Mish-Mash of Malaysianism.

Ok, there are a few things I wanted to talk about here but as usual, my poor memory is such a tool. I knew I should have written it down.

First up, I want to talk about being Malaysian. I've been getting a lot of slack lately for not being able to speak Tamil. Yes, I am and Indian who DOES NOT speak Tamil. I grew up in a household that spoke English. On rare occasions, I heard some Tamil conversations, really shorts one. Hence, I can understand a little, but once you go more than 5km per hour, you lose me.

Some people have said that I should be embarrassed for not being able to speak Tamil. Some even laughed at me. Well, you know what, I'm offended. Yes, I'm Indian and yes, I wish I understood the language better. However, I am a Malaysian first and foremost. My great grand parents were from India (I'm guessing, I'm not sure. I have to check that out) but I was born in Malaysia. Being Indian is my heritage. But being Malaysian is me, and it will be my children's heritage.

I'm proud to say that I can read, write and speak BM very well, as I should be able too seeing as I'm a Malaysian. I'm proud of my country. I'm not embarrassed whatsoever when people say, "You can't even speak your mother tongue?" because to me, Malay is my mother tongue. This is where I was born, where I grew up and where I live. This is my origin, and I see nothing wrong with that.

I'm not disowning my Indian heritage. I'm acknowledging that it's part of my history but it's not completely me. I  am a Malaysian, and darn proud of it. So, back off. Please and thank you. :)

***

Next up, I cannot wait for my STPM results!! When are they going to release it?? AHHHHHH!!!

***

I can't wait for EUROPE! :)

***

I'm really happy because I've made a lot of new friends this year, not only at work but all over as well. I've made quite a few friends through the common love we have for Simple Plan. Seriously, they're really nice, normal people who just happen to adore SP as much as I do.

I think it's awesome.

***

Ok, this will be longer.

I always talk about living outside the box. Leading a creative life, unhindered by societal norms. It's easier said than done.

There was this window of opportunity for me to do exactly that. I had a chance to do something fun and totally out of my comfort zone. I really wanted to do it, but I let fear get in my way. I think the window of opportunity has shut tight but I might be able to open it up just a crack. Just go for it right??

On the same topic, but not so: Though I'm all for colouring outside the lines, I also happen to be a stickler for rules. I think rules are there for a reason and though sometimes, they are meant to be bent, we should still keep to them.

This might sound completely insane, but I feel that it's entirely possible to lead a creative, fulfilling, let's-colour-outside-the-lines life while still following the rules. Don't you?

Sabah!!!!

So, I finally found the time and energy to write about Sabah!

Let's start with the plane ride to BKI. We took off at around 9.45am, with a Captain Christopher in the cockpit. We told us that we were flying at a speed of 800km/hour, approximately 37000 feet in the air. It was heavenly! Literally, I mean. I got the seat next to the window so my focus was there for the whole 2.5 hours. It felt very surreal. You know how you sometimes wonder what it'll be like to look through someone else's eyes? Well, I actually felt like I was doing just that! But lo, it was me! All me! Captain Christopher said that we would make a right turn at the South China Sea before landing in Sabah. (I just had to write that down. So amazing, right?)

Anyway, we were racing through the clouds. I could just visualise Olympus, home of the Greek Gods, with Zues on the throne surrounded by all the others. The clouds looked like cotton candy or snow below us (we were higher than the clouds!). Even at that height, the Earth looked flat. It just goes to show how big the Earth really is.

Anyway, once I met with everyone else, it was already about 6.15pm. So, we headed straight to Donggongon for dinner. Before I go any further, I have to mention that the timing there is a little different than in Semenanjung. At 6.45pm, the sun was completely set, the moon was out and the stars were shining! It looked like it was already 8pm. Anyway, I ordered the Nasi Goreng Kampung (not the same), June and Kak Ira ordered Kuew Teow (pretty similar) and Julio had the Tom Yam Sup (nothing like it at all!). After that, we went 'home'.

'Home' was a pretty comfortable apartment with two balconies (front and back) and it was fully furnished. The best part of it though, was that view from the back balcony. Mount Kinabalu, clear as anything, towering over the smaller, so-called mountains around it. It was beautiful!

Mostly, we spent our time visiting people. Since June and her family hadn't been back in 2 years, everyone wanted to see them. I had lots of fun learning about June's family and meeting everyone. We met uncle's father, the village chief, who had an adorable puppy! Then we also me aunty's father, the very 'gaya' man even at his age.

We went to the Philippines Market near Wisma Merdeka. It was one long building of wet market stalls and another, equally long building of handicraft stalls. There were so many thing I wanted to buy but I didn't. Most of it I didn't need but the one's that made sense to buy, I didn't because I was being to indecisive! I did manage to get an I ♥ Sabah t-shirt though. Most of what I wanted to buy for people back home was there but I didn't get anything because I was thinking too much! Silly me!

The next day, we went around a bit in the morning and by night time, we were at the Ballroom, preparing for the wedding reception. Aunty Rossane looked gorgeous. She wore an off white, strapless wedding gown as she entered and after the third course (it was a Chinese sit down dinner) she changed in to a maroon dress. Both made her look like a princess! The dinner was not too bad, and the hall was pretty nice. As was the custom in Sabah, some cousins went on stage for a little karaoke session after dinner and even aunty joined in at the end. Everyone was scrambling to take a picture with the happy couple. June and family managed to steal them away for a few seconds to take a family shot.

When we arrived home that night, everyone was so exhausted. We slept and didn't wake up till late the next day.

I arrived home on Sunday night. I was spent! I had school the next day so once I got home, I had dinner and landed on my bed.

End of Sabah Trip!

Willy Wonka Appeared (or Rather Is Going To Appear) In My Dreams!

So, let me say this; this is the first ever holiday in my entire Form 6 life that I've spent actually worrying about school. I'm not completely stressed out about homework (because I have none) nor am I stressed out about studying (because I did a little and I'm still on track). I am, however, a little worried about my R&D project as well as the Ribbon Awareness Project, the two proposals I have to write for CSS and the Magazine. I'm not feeling overwhelmed or anything like that (because it really isn't that much work), I'm just worried that my habit of procrastinating will come back and bite me while I'm sleeping peacefully, dreaming of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory on a breezy, mid-April night.

I've managed to kick start my R&D project but the worst is yet to come. Believe me, handing out survey forms to over a hundred students (the majority of which are boys) is one thing, and getting them to fill it up is another all together. Here's the best past, after that's done, I need to manually analyse all the data. Meaning, I have to check every answer and record everything down by hand. No problem right? Well, after that, I have to come up with graphs & charts,explanations & hypotheses and not to mention conclusions. All that, I have to then pile together into a folio which has to be submitted before sometime in June. Awesome! I love school:)

Also, I've just realised that my room is a mess! I've to make sure I clean it up before leaving for Sabah. Knowing myself, I'll come home from my trip feeling lazy and I'll dump everything in my room and clean it up about a month later. Adding mess into an already messy room doesn't seem like the smart thing to do. I've been told before that I'm a smart girl and so, I shall act like it. My room will be sorted before I leave on that plane! :)

Trailing from that, I am super stoked that I'm going to Sabah!!!

Holiday Forecast: Bright With a Chance of Insanity

Ok, so I didn't exactly comment on my following days of exams. I have a good reason though. I was too busy reading! But more on that later. The exams went fine. English Literature wasn't too bad but not too good either. Every other subject went fairly well. Now, I have the rest of the week off for Deepavali which is this Friday. After that, one more week of school and then, about 2 months of... we'll see. It could be utter boredom with nothing whatsoever to do, stuck inside my own head or working. Boredom, I think, is inevitable. So we'll skip trying to plot against it. Same goes for being stuck in my own head. That leaves me with the option of working. I want to but I'm not so sure. I certainly do miss working there but so much has changed. I don't know if I want to alter my memories of working there. Holidays at home doesn't sound to bad anyway. Apart from total boredom and complete immersion in my own head, I still have my books and the wonders of modern technology (namely, television and the Internet) to keep me occupied. I've also been a little energetic about cooking. I've got scores of dishes in my head that I want to try. Maybe I should just stay home and make them? Though choice. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday, we (Mina, Visha, Dinesh, Bengs and myself) went to Lookout Point for a little post-exam celebration. We got a little lost on the way but with the help of a nice young lady in a Kancil, we made it. We had lot of fun on the way, singing along very loudly to Lady Gaga (except Bengs, who just smiled and laughed a lot at out insanity). Going up was the fun part. We saw the whole city from up there. Lights everywhere and cars on the road. The food was great too. We sat and watched time pass by. It was very relaxing. Calming, too. I just couldn't help but feel small and insignificant looking at the whole city down there. It was mesmerising and kind of hypnotic. I would have stayed there the whole time if not for the others who wanted to take lots and lots of photos. (No offence to them though, I enjoyed the photo shoot as much as they did, I just wanted to watch the lights too). I guess that even though I may be loud when I'm with them, I like to sit in the quiet just as much. My outlet, you could say.

Moving on, my current literary adventure is non other than Artemis Fowl himself. I read the first 3 books in the series back when I was in Form 4. Now, I've caught up with the rest in the series and am waiting to get my hands on the next book. Artemis Fowl is a teenage genius who finds a whole new world, underground that is. A world of fairies and magic. His pure genius combined with the technological advances of the People(Fairy People, that is), his personal bodyguard named Butler, and a certain elfin captain help save both their races and more from annihilation more then once. His whole adventure will be too long to write out here so I'll say this; it's spectacular. I was at first flummoxed as to why I was so interested in this book. It was fantasy and reality packed into one and filled with so-called human misconceptions regarding the whimsical, so obviously I was drawn. The main reason, however, is the fact that these books keep me so tightly locked that I am immersed from the moment I set eyes on the first sentence. Each page is jammed pack with adjectives and descriptions of everything. My brain is constantly on edge trying to process each information and come up with proper imagery to follow the words on the book. It reminds me a lot of the Harry Potter Saga. Eoin Colfer's writing style is different, in my opinion, to that of J.K Rowling's but they both seem to highly relish the use of adjectives and descriptive sentences. They use imagery to thrust the readers into another world and both do so quite splendidly with their respective styles. These kinds of books keep me hooked till the last page. Nothing is predictable. It's filled with so many things that I can reread it a dozen times before actually getting bored. Also, I suspect that the two Sidney Sheldon books I read before this had me wanting a less darker place to put my mind in. Artemis Fowl seemed like the best option.

Bad news though. I've read all 6 books now. Finished it even before the long holidays started and before the Deepavali holidays even ended. I'm definitely reading it again, no doubt about it. BookXcess doesn't have the latest book, The Atlantis Complex, but I don't mind waiting until they do. There are other book and hobbies to pursue. Speaking of BookXcess, I went there with RM50 and left with RM1 and four books which would have cost RM35 each in any other book store. Oh, how I love them!

Love, Sanity & Faith (or Lack of It)

So, on Saturday, we re-arranged the furniture in the hall. The junk is all out and things were moved here and there. The hall now looks much bigger and much less cluttered. I like it! We were thinking of re-painting the hall. I suggested different colours for each wall but that suggestion seems to have led to a discussion on my sanity:) Today, I waged war on my room! I was fighting from the crack of dawn (10am to be exact) till way after lunch time. This first battle ended with almost 75% of my room re-organised and cleaned. All that's left is the junk under my bed which I feel requires a whole day to itself. This battle may be won the war is still on. I have two weeks (13 days to be exact) to raise my flag in victory.

The rest of the day I spent catching up with Nadiah. We haven't seen each other in a while but when we met it was like we were never apart (I sound so romantic... haha!). Anyway, we had fun telling each other tales about our new school (UiTM Penang for Nad & LaSalle PJ for me) and our favourite subjects (Cooking for her & BM for me). She's really enjoying herself and I'm glad. I really missed having her around and I know that all too soon I'm going to have to say goodbye again but I'm not going to think about it just yet:)

Moving on, I'm pretty sure that my sense of timing and bad memory when paired together will hurt me one day. I accepted Nad's offer to break fast with her tomorrow but I forgot that the Tuesday that I planned to go out for dinner with my family is actually this Tuesday (tomorrow) which means I'm going to have to cancel with Nad. I feel terrible because this is the second time I've had to cancel with her and both times were my own fault. Of course, she understands but I just feel bad for doing it. I'll make it up to her:)

A few of things I just felt like posting:
*Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc After this, therefore because of this
*Hebrews 11:1 Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
*I said to ma today, "I lost my sanity when I cut my hair" and she replied, "You need to have something to be able to lose it". My dear mother:)

14 Hour Day

Before I really start, I'd like to mention that today has been a really, really long day. We (ma and I) left the house at 6am and only reached home a little after 8pm.

T.G.I the last day of school!!!!!!! Two weeks off and even though I have homework (3 1/2 essays & 1 objective paper to be exact), I'm stoked! I've got it all planned out and this time, I have a feeling that things will go according to plan. Obviously, I'm going to stay up late today, just to mark the beginning of the holidays :)

Apart from being the last day of school before Raya, today I went to my first ever CSS meeting and English Lit class. I'll start of with CSS. They're a bunch of hyper catholic boys, in love with their religion and so completely stunned that there is a girl in their group. I'm not too sure but I think it's been a while since they've had a girl in CSS. Anyway, being the only girl, my dear mother's predictions came true when they unanimously decided to make me their new Secretary. I'm honoured of course and I'm happy with the way they welcomed me. They were of course shy, as was I, but I can see us all getting along quite well. I'm very excited for all the planning of activities to start. Many of them go to the same church and it's nice to have a little piece of it here in school too. It's like a connection between home life and school which I've never really had. They're good boys and I'm looking forward to the coming year.

On to Literature, of the English nature that is. We had our first official class today in one of the CERiA cabins. I have to say, out of all the classes I've ever attended in my entire life, this was the most exciting (BM ties with it for 1st place, though). We read through and analysed 3 poems by Hardy (just to begin with). It is still an intimidating subject to me but I feel that with the help of our teacher, we'll be able to make it through fairly well. The poems we covered today were the simpler ones and from what I gathered throughout the class, the teacher thinks we'll be able to understand the meanings quite easily. I'm having a great time. So far, the only glitch is in finding a proper venue to meet up. CERiA was fine when the classes were supposed to be on Saturdays but now that it's on a weekday, we'll need to source out another option. The last resort will of course be the teacher's office but I think somewhere else (maybe a park or a quite cafe) would be better and less imposing. She's already spending her time on us so let's try not to take her space as well. She really fun to study with and she's so obviously passionate about Literature that learning isn't so much learning as it is an experience with her.

Once Monday comes, I'm getting into my school mode to make sure I finish my homework as soon as possible. I know I've said that before and it didn't happen but this time, I'm all charged up and in the mood, which I'm sure will last through out the holidays. Right now, I'm in a mode where I can see myself doing all the things I want to do, experiencing and living the life I want to live. I can see those images so clearly in my head that I just know I'll be able to get there. That's why I know I'll be able to finish my homework fast and spend the holidays like I've always wanted too. ::) It's a powerful feeling. A 'sometimes-you-just-know' moment. This is it. I know it is!

LET THE HOLIDAYS BEGIN!!!!

My oh My!

*I was looking forward to the holidays.. WAS being the operative word!

TONS OF HOMEWORK! That's what I get for my first school holiday this year. Pages of notes for Business Studies and Accounts, a stagerring number of structured and essay questions for Business Studies, Accounts and MUET, and not to mention 13 topics to read up on for PA!

HELLO!!~~ It's the holidays. According to the dictionary, it means "to take a break from work and relax". I think 'teachers' in general forgot the meaning of that word.

Anyway, I'm going to have to pace myself. I'll do the reading part everyday, notes I'll have to finish by Monday so that I can start the questions on Tuesday. I'm aiming to complete my work within the first week, except the reading of course. That I'll have to spread out over the course of two weeks. Hopefully, I'll stick to this plan or else I'll go totally haywire. Time to shape up Cat!