The Testy Test

I had a test last night. My preparation for it was not so great. I did glance through the notes but always managed to find something to distract myself with. My itchy fingers would be clicking the mouse going through random songs, surfing the net, blog tweaking, anything but to pay long enough attention to my notes to absorb them into my teeny tiny brain which is already partially filled with junk that academic stuff like this needs to force their way thru. Phew…

The test was for the subject called Facilities Engineering, Transportation and Storage. That’s quite a mouthful. Now, let’s break down the subject name. Facilities… hhmmm can be improved tremendously here in uni. 2 very important improvements would be our internet connection AND our mobile service provider reception.

The internet because I would truly appreciate a faster connection, I would love to download all the songs I want, watch youtube since Keropok has been supplying me loads of links or basically do whatever I want involving the internet.

The Service Provider (specifically Maxis) connections: because (hello!!!) I have a life outside of uni!! It really sucks that I can barely hear anything when I answer a call in my room.

Or that I need to walk out of the block to get better reception.

Or that I get bitten by a million mosquitoes when I’m outside on the phone.

Engineering – we’re all engineering students so I think this is self explanatory.

Transportation – I want wheels of my own!!

Storage – if you consider the boot of a car as temporary storage, I can fit 2 of me in Ah Sha’s car. Plus there is ample ventilation in her car boot, its extra special. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.

So going back on track to my post – the test. It was suppose to start at 8pm, however the lack of answer sheets got the test delayed to 8.30pm. I don’t think I did too well; I couldn’t answer all the questions and resorted to loads of random shooting (tembak-ing).

Once the test was over, Mdm Princess insisted we all stayed back and remain seated. And then The Lecture began. While the test was going on, the lecturer, Mdm Princess was prowling the test room with her 2 side-kicks and caught a substantial number of students with notes which they did not successfully hide from her bionic vision. Well, that and they were not smart enough la.

Mdm Princess was testy. So all of us had to listen to her going on about how bringing in notes is considered cheating and this should not be taking place, we’re final semester students and we should know better… this went on for a good 10 minutes. She lectured us the way a teacher would to a 10 year old child.

I like the part when she mentions that a lot of students signed up for this course (a grand total of 207 students, we cheered) because it has a reputation of being easy. We all instantly gave a horrified look and said, Easy??? No way!!! The test was prove that the subject is hard. Right, who am I kidding? I heard the exact same thing from my seniors and that’s why I signed up for the course.

Well, I have 2 opinions in this incident.

First: I believe she had a reason to tell us that she is unhappy with the fact that we cheated. And yes, we are at the very tail end of our undergraduate stint here, we know better. In no place of education I know, cheating is allowed, acceptable nor look highly upon. 5 minutes is really nothing, I have endured far worst before. So she did have a point. We should not cheat, if we were not prepared, then we pay the price of not doing well. Sounds fair, after all, no pain, no gain.

I have copied once during a test, got caught and failed. That test contributed 15% of my coursework. It was a horrible experience, one I will never want to repeat. But in failing me, the lecturer also taught me a good lesson in integrity. So for that, I thank you.

Second: we are freaking 20++ years olds, you could spare us the lecture. Or just hold back those who cheated and lecture them instead.

Meantime, she has yet to decide on the punishments for those caught cheating. I would say, give us non-cheating students bonus marks, a 10% bonus would be just nice :). For those who cheated, well, fail them! *evil laugh*

Twisted Nursery Rhymes

Mary had a little pig,
She kept it fat and plastered,
And when the price of pork went up,
She shot the little bastard.

Mary had a little lamb,
Her father shot it dead.
Now it goes to school with her,
Between two slices of bread.

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To have a little fun.
Stupid Jill forgot the pill
And now they have a son.

Simple Simon met a Pie man going to thefair.
Said Simple Simon to the Pie man, "
What have you got there?"
Said the Pie man unto Simon,
"Pies, youDumb Ass"

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings' horses,
And all the kings' men.
Had scrambled eggs,
For breakfast again.

Hey diddle, diddle,
The cat took a piddle,
All over the bedside clock.
The little dog laughed to see such fun.
Then died of electric shock.

Georgy Porgy Pudding and Pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play,
He kissed them too 'cause he was gay.

*This isn't originally written by me. Saw in on a Friendster bulletin, found it pretty interesting, so I posted it here :)

The Attack

I vividly remember stumbling into bed last night. It was humid therefore I did not snuggle in my blanket as I usually would. In the middle of the night, however, I was rudely awaken by… well, let’s try guessing

The terrible urge to pee?
.
.
.
Nope
.
.
.
An awful nightmare?
.
.
.
Nope but good try though
.
.
.
It was too hot to sleep?
.
.
.
Not quite.


I woke up feeling like I was smack in the middle of a horrible supernatural attack in a rainforest. It was the attack of the Biggest, Most Annoying, Freaking Killer MOSQUITOS!!!

It was irritating to be bitten all over and after 5 minutes into the attack, I ran out of fingers to scratch the itch. It was some sort of a dance ritual trying to shoo the mosquitoes away. For visualization purposes, imagine doing the Mosquito Pockey lying in bed.

You smack your right hand in, You smack your right hand out,
You scratch your right hand in and you squirm it all about.
You do the mosquito pockey, And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

You smack your left hand in, You smack your left hand out,
You scratch your left hand in and you squirm it all about.
You do the mosquito pockey, And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

You smack your right leg in, You smack your right leg out,
You scratch your right leg in and you squirm it all about.
You do the mosquito pockey, And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

You smack your left leg in, You smack your left leg out,
You scratch your left leg in and you squirm it all about.
You do the mosquito pockey, And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

You scratch your whole self in, You scratch your whole self out,
You scratch your whole self in and you squirm it all about.
You do the mosquito pockey, And you turn yourself around.
That's what it's all about.

I eventually relented and waved a white flag, surrendering to my fate. I have never been molested so violently by mosquitoes … untill the record breaking last night. In times like this, I wish Belle was here to do her professional mosquitoe swatting; she’s such an expert, even insect repellants pale in comparison.

Oh by the way, I don’t kill mosquitos, I think its cruel to harm creatures who need to feed on our blood for a living. Hey, they didn’t ask to be that way. I just @#$%^* and sigh and do my Mosquito Pockey when they “visit”.

Let’s hope I’ll be guest-free tonight.

What's your name?

Pre-story: Ah Kie wrote a lovely piece welcoming me to the blogsphere. I’m really touched, that was sweet of him. Here it is.

***
What exactly goes into a name? I believe our parents thought deeply into giving us names, thus stamping our identities for the rest of our lives. My name is a combination of my parents’ names, the first syllable from my dad’s name and the other two syllables from my mum’s name. My name was decided way before I was born. I did ask what if I turned out to be of the opposite sex, they nonchalantly said, it’s alright, we’ll just change your middle name *horror*.

As I grew up, I didn’t quite like my name. It sounds very traditional, rare but still … traditional. I have only come across one person with my name, he was an old man, yes, you got that right, it was a guy. So I have a boy’s name! I did ask around “knowledgeable” people aka old folks if they knew the meaning behind my name. I must say, it is pretty… manly. As a whole it means Warrior of My Generation. Sounds really macho isn't it? But since I’m a girl, I will think of myself as Zena, Warrior Princess. Right. Considering my size.

So how did this name thing came about? Keropok had a friend, Ah Der over and his mum couldn’t quite catch her name. So the mum asked if she could give Ah Der an English name. Ah Der didn’t mind, if it means Keropok’s mum can remember her better, no harm done.

Thus began the discussion of a new name. It started out with Christine (origin: English, meaning: Follower of Christ) which resulted in the choosing of spellings, is it going to be Christine, or Kristine. The other options were:

a) Elizabeth (origin: Hebrew, meaning: God is my oath) apparently reminds the mum of
someone slutty back in her days.
b) Claire (origin: French, meaning: clear, bright) sounds like chocolates.
c) Sophie (origin: French, meaning: wisdom) was sweet.

And so it was settled, she will be known as Sophie….Or so Ah Der thought, until the mum said “Goodbye Christine” when she left. So yeah, looks like Ah Der’s new name is Christine. She’s still getting a hang of her name.

I think it is cute and really funny. From a one syllable name, Ah Der is now Christine. Wait, now we can call her Chris for short. And since Chris is also a boy’s name, I have a friend. Hehe…

Paris, I Love You

I’ve been itching to write the whole weekend. But I had no internet access. In fact on Friday when I woke up, the connection had simply died on me. No matter how many times I renewed my ip address or restarted my computer (which is usually my last resort and Always work), alas the internet was nada.

So today, at long last I get to post again. And *gasp*, Ah Kie got a new template for his blog! No fair, I’m still customizing my one which is taking forever and he did his in one day.

My weekend was awesome. Wanted to watch Jumper, however the tickets were sold out. So I settled for a French movie instead, Paris, je t’aime (Translation: Paris, I Love You). It was a completely different movie unlike anything I have watched before. There is no story line, the movie is made up of a compilation of love stories all taking place in Paris, the city of love. And unlike Love Actually where the stories or characters are somehow interconnected, it is not the case here, each story is stand alone. The love stories are pretty random, my favourites are the blind man who falls in love with an actress (played by Natalie Portman), a mother who lost her child, a guy who falls in love with a woman he meets at a car park and he has been looking for her ever since. When he finally meets her, he passes away in her arms. The weirdest one is about a young man (Elijah Wood plays the young man) who sees a vampire killing an old man, attracts her with his blood, gets turned into a Dracula, hugs the vampire and eventually bites her to death.

I have also learnt that sleeping at 7am in the morning (very early indeed…hehe) is a sure way to screw up your sleeping habits. I woke up at 5pm and my first meal of the day was dinner. Well, since I do believe in trying everything at least once, I can check “Sleep at odd hours” off my list :).

How did your weekend go?

Dreams

“Never be afraid of dreams for they may come true.”– Unknown

My uncle gave me a book back in high school and told me to write my dreams in them. He said by writing them down, it will feel more real. I was skeptical but I wrote them down anyways. Not too long ago while spring cleaning my room, I found that book and I looked back at what I wrote. Some have come true, some I believe will come true one day. So I am listing down some of my dreams I hope to achieve one day. It is not the scale of the dream that matters but the essence of it that is far more important.

1. Travel & backpack around the world
I know this is really broad so ill list down the countries / places I’d like
to visit:
a) Paris
b) New York – live like the girls in Sex In The City
c) Bali
d) Mauritius
e) Maldives
f) Vienna
g) Mexico
h) Brazil
i) Spain
j) Rome
k) Prague
l) Amsterdam
m) Dubai
n) Bangkok, over and over again for shopping
o) India – Rajasthan & Bombay since I didn’t go there the last time
p) Basically, the whole of Europe
q) Cambodia – again. It is a humbling experience. We all need the gentle
reminders of how fortunate we are no matter how we think otherwise. You’ll
know that when you get here.
r) East Timor
s) Glasgow – bring my mum here, she’s wanted to come back here for so long.
t) Anywhere else my heart desires

2. My dream house – It is white, big with a huge lawn. The path leading to house will be shaded by tall palm trees. A garage by the side to park the cars. A well manicured garden, a patio where I have breakfast at on my lazy weekends, picnic table for tea time, blooming flowers everywhere. The interior is one of sheer simplicity, clean cuts and moderation. It oozes the feeling of calmness and serenity, my sanctuary, the place I escape from after a long day.

3. My dream car – I have too many to mention but I’ll settle for the BMW 3 series, it’s sporty :). Ill have a superb sound system installed, cool sport rims, and some minor modifications to make the ride look woooaaahhh.

4. Salsa – I think dance is the most sensual expression of love, salsa says it all. And I’d even like to salsa at my wedding dinner instead of the usual couple’s dance.

5. Exercise / staying healthy – I want to keep fit and seriously build on my poor stamina. It is humiliating to go jogging and see a lady twice my age jogging past me without a single pant, smiling knowingly at me!

6. Not-so-ordinary sports
a) Diving – need to get my license
b) Paraglide – to overcome my fear of heights
c) Parasail – as above and I love love love water
d) Anything to challenge myself

7. Buy a pretty dress from the House of Dior straight from Paris. My childhood dream to be attired in couture walking down the stairs looking fabulous.

8. To learn to play tennis – have always wanted to play but was not allowed to take lessons when I was younger. Mum didn’t think it was nice of girls to have muscular arms nor being too tanned from playing under the sun. I think those were just excuses so that she didn’t have to send me all the way for class.

9. To take a couple of years off to teach in a remote area or a small impoverished country - I’ve been blessed with everything I need; I see this as a very small way to give back to people. And an education is a passport to a better future. Donating money is the easy way out but everyone takes that road. I instead would want dedicate my time and effort to people; it is more meaningful.

10. Be the best person I can be. We all grow and play many roles in live as we progress – a child, sibling, friend, student, employee, boss, eventually lover, spouse, parent, and grandparent. I want to be that amazing person we are all cut out to be, I can’t promise I won’t make mistakes but I do promise to give my best shot.

Now, let’s stop dreaming and get back to work.

Happy Birthday

Finally, at long last, after months of contemplation, I now have my very own blog. I must say this is a bit of an achievement for me; I did have loads of hesitancy in getting this done for various reasons. What if someone stalks me from my blog or try to be funny and starts reading my mind or predict my future? I don’t want that. I know, everything I said was pretty far fetched but still, watching Peyton being stalked on her podcast by her supposed brother in One Tree Hill is freaky enough. A good lesson to be learnt.

And then I think of the question once posed to me, “What would you do if you are not afraid?” That was all it took to change my mind.

The posts here aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m sick and tired of being judged by people. Why can’t everyone just mind their own freaking business instead of poking their noses at places they don’t belong? I’ll write and do as I please here solely for my pleasure. And I’m not going to give two cents worth of what others have to say about what I say or write here. I face that in the real world, I don’t need that here in the virtual world. Plus I didn’t say I am nice. Hah…

Okies, enough of ranting. Here’s to the celebration of Burst of Energy. A lot of thought (and consultation, thanks V) went into picking its name. I wanted something that represents me yet not glaringly obvious, I’d still like to keep a part of me a mystery. So here’s to Burst of Energy, a very Happy Birth-day. I look forward to a wonderful journey ahead filled with beautiful memories with you :)