Besties Weekend in Meow City

I’m back from Cat City!! And I had a great weekend. While I was there to attend the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), it was catching up with my besties that was a bigger highlight of the weekend. I missed them so much so it was so fantastic to meet them after 7 months. We spent a solid 5 years together, 7 months feel like an atrociously long time before we meet. Plus work brought them so far away from me, with Ah Nee in Bintulu and Ah Hua in Kerteh.

We stayed up talking, chit chatting, gossiping and everything that happens when you put girls together in one breathing space. We also shopped for souvenirs with the favourite questions, “Eh, do you think this is nice ah?”, “If I bargain this for half price, you think can ah?”, “Oh, you’re getting that, me too!!” etc. The ruckus we girls made as we ransacked the shops of Main Bazaar equipped with our amateur bargaining skills was hilarious. It reminds me of the ladies of Sex and The City when they get together.

I felt like I was transported back to uni days when we hang out and have a great time. I really missed them and all our experiences together. The weekend was consoling, refreshing and glued us together even closer. Distance brought us physically apart but we’re always be besties in heart.

Now, let me talk a bit about Kuching and its people. The first thing to note was Kuching is very clean; superman even thought we were in Singapore! The people are very friendly, nice and so accommodating. We made friends everywhere we went, in queues, the shuttle bus, those who within 1 metre radius of where we sat during the festival, everywhere! When we wanted to cross the road, cars actually stop to allow us to cross. I have never ever experienced this anywhere else in Malaysia.

When superman and I were walking along the streets of Kuching near the Waterfront, I thought the sight of us in our sunnies, camera on my left hand, clutching a map on my right hand with a cap to shelter against the fury of the sun was a funny sight. So I thought that it was no big deal when I saw eyes trailing superma and I, plus I didn’t want to seem perasan, after all there were tonnes of tourist around. Not until an hour in Meow City that I realised I didn’t see any Indians around. So, superman and I looked like foreigners in our own country!! People smile, nodded, looked, stared and all not because we looked like tourist but the fact we look so different from the locals. Talk about being local celebrities *ahem* And seriously, I can’t differentiate the people there. Almost everyone looks like a mix between Malay and Chinese, I can’t tell them apart.

I’ll update more on the Rainforest festival right after I sort out the hundreds of pictures I took. Stay tuned~

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Some people have the notion that us being girls live in very pretty rooms, beautifully decorated with wallpaper, aromatherapy candles by the side, lampshade on the table and you get with a whiff of sensual perfume everytime you pass the room. Well, then you are all wrong. Because I live with a bunch of very messy girls for housemates and it appalls me how can some people live in such conditions.

The dishes can be left there for about a week before it gets cleared. It gets all slimy and you can even see fruit flies flying around it just the way shit attracts flies. I mean, what is so difficult about washing your mug/spoon/fork/plate/bowl right after you are done using it? And do the housemates expect someone to clean up after them? Come on, we’re all grown up enough to do things on our own, such small things some more.

Roomie and I keep our room neat and tidy. We both hate mess and make it a point to clean, sweep and mop the room regularly. Our shoes are neatly arranged. And you won’t find our utensils lying in the kitchen sink with the piles of other unwashed dishes.

Well, seeing is believing right? So here are some “evidence”. You can see the difference between room 6 versus the rest of the apartment. Also included are some quirky things you can only find in my house :P

Pictorial Memoirs of Cowboy Town Uni

I've spoken so much about Cowboy Town Uni so i thought why dont i let you see what it is like here. Cowboy Town Uni do have fantastic features everywhere you go be it our lecture halls, the astounding Chancellor Complex, our beautiful field and park and the hostels. Some of the pictures here are taken by a former student, CJY and the other half by me. I think as you scroll down, you will be able to visibly note which is mine :P. Have fun getting an insight of my 5 years here.

Finally

It is a slightly different day this morning. I heard the birds chirping their beautiful melody from the horizons. The sun wasn’t scorching as it usually is; it shone with a certain tenderness. The white clouds seem whiter today. The air is fresher like the mountain breeze.

I took measured steps trying to absorb the atmosphere, the sounds, the sights, the faces, so that today will be forever etched in my mind. The stupid smile refused to be wiped off my face. We final semester students all looked at each other with knowing smiles because we all shared the same feelings. So as we entered the Main Hall, we wished each other luck with excitement written all over our face, you must have been blind to not notice it. And I had a spring in my foot trying to control myself from skipping like a school child as I looked for table 260, wrote my ID down with more conviction and determination. Coz today is no ordinary day. Today came with a deeper sense of purpose. For today, I sat for my final paper as an undergraduate student.

As the invigilator said put your pens down and stop writing as time is up, I could barely contain my anticipation to just jump like a kangaroo. Once all the papers were handed up, accounted for, the words “You may now leave the hall” brought upon shouts of joy for we are done! I feel liberated. I have completed one more phase in my life :).

Right after exams

No more control macho, to hell with exam papers~

The beginning of the end

Right this moment I am sitting for my first paper of the final examination I’ll ever sit as an undergraduate here. Yes, I’ve scheduled the post. I kept searching within me the feelings I thought a final semester would be experiencing right now. Joy? Anxiousness to get rid of the paper? Glee from looking at the juniors who will be sitting for many many more papers? Sadness knowing instead of exams, I’ll be facing KPIs (key performance indicators) when I work? I really don’t know. There is no word to describe how I feel right now. There is just air, empty spaces of moment with nothing to fill the gaps within.

I’m not exactly excited neither unhappy, nor gleeful or worried. I’m just calm. I always thought I’ll be thrilled when this day arrives. I am at the final leg of my journey as a student, the glamour of being a final semester student can be rubbed in many faces, I’m getting out of this somewhat hell-hole for good and no more reading of notes, cramming hundreds of facts which will be unlikely used eventually. To think that the luxury of no longer having to deal with exams would be an event to remember. But it is not. It feels like how it feels with every other exam I have went through the last 9 semesters in Cowboy Town Uni. Nothing much has changed in terms of exam experience.

Perhaps the excitement hasn’t kicked in yet. I might feel the thrill of my supposed ecstasy of saying good riddance to this place when I sit for my Final Paper of my Finals. Maybe. Maybe not. I will take one day at a time. I guess with all the work burden I had previously, my emotions may be lagging. Hopefully it will catch up with my current pace.

All the best everyone. For all outgoing final sem students, let’s kick some real ass this time around!

Princess for a Day

I was picked up by a limo.

I had superb entertainment in the car.

AJ and I

Princess compliant #1: Jr was TOO quiet, his silence is deafening
I had really yummy food in Moven Peak.

I had the company of super amazing, loving juniors

I had Cake (OMG, I had cake, I had cake, I had cake!!!)

Cake Cake Cake from Secret Recipi

I had a really cute pressie

My Pressie

Since I had cake and a pressie, everyone automatically thought it was my birthday. So I had a “Happy Birthday” song played for me

I had a card with very touching words. *I will miss everyone here*

I had 45 minutes to spare before Iron Man. So we took 45 minutes worth of camwhore pics

The Girls

The Boys

All of us

I watched Iron Man which was excellent!

I was dropped back to my doorstep.

But being princessly was not the best part. It is the loving loving thoughts and things AJ with J, JB, A, DV, H did which really touched my heart. I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful night I had yesterday. I loved the cake (how did you guys know?!), the cute lil teddy bear (he’s so adorable, named him Martin) and the company of all of you. It saddens me that that night would have been one of my last ones here with you all. With promises to keep in touch, I will leave this place with a heavy heart. *Hugs*

Chemy Dinner 2008

The semester officially ended last Friday which also marked exactly 5 years of my presence here in Cowboy Town Uni. In those 5 years, I spent 2 months as a Business Information System student before I switched to Chemical Engineering. To commemorate the end of our journey as a Chemy student, a farewell dinner was organized in Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh.

Le Gang were dressed to the nines in our very terrific attires, I think we stole a fair share of limelight. Seeing that we are the most multiracial clique in class (and being the oh-s-glamorous people we are), we decided that we should wear a traditional costume different from our own.

So I wore a cheong sam or qi pao that night.

Taken right before I left

Ah Kie with a baju melayu, Ah Ha kurta suit, Ah Sha baju kebaya while Ah Lan decided to stick with smart casual. Now, how to not steal limelight la? *laughs* We got everyone’s attention the moment we stepped in :)

Ah Kie and Ah Sha

Ah Ha and I

The dinner was short, sweet and simple. The organizing chairperson gave a 2 minute speech and dinner commenced. Food was excellent, International Cuisine buffet and the spread had a lot of variety. The deserts however were disappointing.

Why so shy Ah Sha?

We played games – charades, folding of the newspaper and 3 songs were performed by our friends. The night ended with a group picture and off the camera went flashing like crazy with everyone trying to get a picture with everyone.

I’ll leave you with some here:

2 sets of couple – Tana and Punitha with the Indian Costume, Iman and I in our Chinese costume. And the best part is we didn’t even pakat with each other. Nice coincidence and check out the superb colour coordination.

Classmates

The very very extended family. Now who was I again?

Roomies. Garang wei. Don’t play play~

Iskandar and I. Notice how I don’t have my shoes on. I had so many complaints that everyone looked shorter than me so there were requests that I take off my shoes and hunch a lil to compensate for the difference in height.

Hang Li Po versus Chun Li

Le Gang

More pictures are available here

"Controversial" Pictures

A bunch of Chemy (short for chemical engineering) students got together and organized a farewell dinner last night at Casuarina Hotel, Ipoh. I'm currently waiting for the pictures from the official photographer to complete my collection before putting up a post.

To save more time, I’ve shared the pictures on DC++ (the P2P network) instead of transferring them every time someone asks for them. And then a most interesting conversation started when a classmate pm-ed me on gtalk. She very politely asked me to remove any "controversial" pictures that I took. My first reaction was one of shock, like how dare You tell me to remove My pictures that I took with My camera! But then I reflected on her words and of a previous event.

Somewhere last semester a batch dinner was organized and the organizers came under fire when a lot of "controversial" pictures were being shared. Controversial in Cowboy Town uni consitutes of:

a) Girls with very pretty dresses. Literal meaning: not wearing "decent" clothes like baju kurung or tudung aka not covered up

b) Girls and guys in the same picture. Literal meaning: those of the opposite sex shouldn’t be seen together in the same frame

c) Girls and guys in close proximity with "provocative" positions. Literal meaning: standing close with perhaps their arms around each other the way good friends do

d) Innocent games played which may look "suggestive" depending on the angle you look at

These definitions really depends on which eye are you looking through. The management view all these as bad, terrible for the uni's reputation, immature, against moral values, ethics and religious beliefs. I look at it as it was a night of spent with the bestest of friends for a memorable time before we head our separate ways, dressed up all pretty and nice and taking loads and loads of pictures for memories. None of the pictures were even remotely controversial. But then again, these are thru my eyes. Things got so out of hand that the organizers were threatened with possible expulsion. And that’s not even the best part. Some of those “indecent” pictures were even featured in the PAS website criticizing the current generation who are loosing sight of the virtuous path of good versus bad.

So i kindly removed all pictures that could be deemed "unsuitable". Yes, they were my pictures but those pictures include others in them. And I wouldn’t want a night of innocent fun to get out of hand when the extreme conservatives try to find fault and land my dear classmates into hot soup.

We talk about freedom of speech and liberty of technology. Bah. These social barriers and obligations start from now on. I could be selfish and stubborn and go like, I don’t care, those are my pictures and I can do whatever I please with them. Or I can be politically correct, remove the pictures, keep everyone happy and nobody gets into trouble. I choose the latter.

Oh, to look for the pictures on DC++, search under Chemy Dinner 2008 or you could look up my hub frushilgik.

Another reason to love the fact i'm getting outta here

Remember i mentioned the terrible internet connection in uni not too long ago? Guess what - it just got worse!

Here's an announcement posted up on the Thailand students' portal:

GOOD NEWS, starting from today (23rd April 2008) UTP will not provide TMNET Streamyx (wireless internet connection) anymore and LAN will be limited to educational websites and download up to100KB ONLY.

Can you imagine us student who already had to endure living in the desert here and now they top it off with this? For crying out loud, the internet - by which i mean emails, YM (since MSN is banned, what did i tell you?), gtalk, facebook, friendster, myspace etc etc are pretty much our only means of being in touch with the rest of the world. Without the internet, gosh, it will feel like we're not only in a desert but a tiny desert clammed by a huge coconut shell.

The internet fluctuates tremendously, worse than a PMS-ing female. And I cant remember the last time i sent an email (attachement included) that's less than 100kb. Gosh, even the weekly reports i email my supervisor is larger than that. So there you go, I'm glad I will be outta this place soon enough.

Oh wait, i forgot to mention, the uni is also planning on shutting down mirc and dc++ (our P2P network, which i prefer to call the piracy heaven) as it is apparantly the cause of slow connections. Shutting mirc and dc++ is NOT the solution. I think the solution is crystal clear - increase our bandwith! Gosh, its not like the uni is poor or anything. We have the backing of the richest company in Malaysia for Christ sake. Shheeshhh.... some people just do not think out of the box. Oh well...

Whizzing By

Dear Diary,

I’ve had so many things up that I haven’t really had the time to update. Last week was crazy with 3 major projects due – Facilities, Operations Management and Engineers in Society. The bulk of the work was from the Facilities project. Initially, it was overwhelming but as we went along and figured out our way, the project was do-able. And seeing that most of us were going home for the weekend, there was urgency to finish everything by Thursday.

I was home for exactly 31 hours!! It was so short but nothing beats coming home. Got my sister to bake chocolate chip cookies for Ah Kie’s birthday party and mummy dearest made my favourite chicken curry! So yummy!!

Saturday was spent on Ah Kie’s birthday party with so many people. Had a really awesome time meeting the rest of the gang. We continued the celebration with dinner at La Bodega in Pavillion. Then instead of heading back to Ah Kie’s straight, I hung out at Hobbes, where I watched the youtube of Veyron, discussed music, Imogen Heap, movies etc etc. Oh, Hobbes even lent me a book, Bone which I totally dig! Wish it wasn’t so heavy so I could bring it along for class to read during boring lectures. :P

This week will be spent on completing the draft of my thesis which is due on Friday. And I’m really sorry for not being in touch with some of you (and you know who you are). Work was extremely stressful especially last week, pretty tensed too. So I didn’t come across as friendly or borderline pissy even, and I’m really sorry. I feel awful bout it but I’m pretty hopeless at multitasking especially when the projects are humongous with deadlines screaming at my face. But good ol’ Ohkulala is back. It feels good to be back too.

It’s the last week of the semester. Gosh, time really flies. Come Friday, it is officially my last day of my FINAL semester AND 2nd may also marks exactly 5 years I’ve been in Cowboy Town Uni. Part of me feels happy coz it marks another milestone in my life that I am coming to an end of my uni life (Cowboy Town Uni makes you feel that way, especially with its location). A part of me feels sad to leave this place as it holds so many memories of new friends, adventures, experiences and most importantly, of growing up. *Thoughtful*

The Social Outcast

Just 2 days ago i was talking about the poor phone reception and unstable internet connection here in uni and how without either my social life will suffer.

i guess i said it too soon.

This morning as i was logging into gtalk, i got a notification saying "ACCOUNT DISABLED". wtf. seriously, WTF. i have no idea what happened. but i do know this. for the last 2 weeks, i've been receiving tonnes of delivery failure notifications and i had no clue as to why is this happening so i naturally report them as spam and cleared them. easy right? until i checked my sent messages and realised that my account is the cause of it. it has been silently spamming people with the most disgusting emails like teenage sex, viagra for better performance, prescriptions that will change your life, yadda yadda. therefore when the emails do not get sent, i receive the delivery failure notifications. i did ask around and so far the spam has been addressed to random emails, i'm glad none of those in my contacts list has been affected so far.

so today, i actually am feeling the glimpse of a destroyed social life. i rely very heavily on my gmail for work purposes as well as to keep in touch with my friends. and today that is taken away from me. the email i use for my blog (kullovesyou@gmail.com) is a secondary account, one created when i was caffein high 5 years ago. but seriously you dont expect me to put this down as my primary account in my resumes for companies to contact me right. coz i think the moment they reach the line where my email is stated, i think my resume will be chugged into the "dont qualify" pile.

it is amazing how we become dependent on technology and emails. a part of me feels thankful that not ALL my account access uses the primary gmail account or else that will definitely spell D-O-O-M. so far my facebook, friendster and yahoo mail are working fine. i pray it remains so.

a big word of thanks to dear roomie Ah Sha for helping spread the word about my predicament via her gtalk status. so for the time being, do redirect all emails to vandes38@yahoo.com. A word of reminder, i do not appreciate forwarded emails so spare me the task of deleting them ya. And do add me on my temporary gtalk account, kullovesyou@gmail.com while the problem is rectified.

my most immediate concern is my resumes that has been distributed by the Career Unit of Cowboy Town Uni. i hope that if and when they would like to contact me and realises that my email has been disabled, they would pick up the phone to give me a buzz instead. i rather the walk out to the corridor to answer the call than to miss out on anything.

So pretty please to the people at Gmail Support, I need my gmail account up and running as soon as possible. Meantime, you know what to do right.

The End

2 weeks ago, I attended an interview with company S where I met the most interesting interviewer, Xena. The experience was memorable to say the least.

Results are out. I didn't get through the final screening.

No hard feelings, I did do and try my best, I can't think of how could I have changed it to make it better.

To those who got through the final screening this Friday, all the best. It is the final leg of the journey and I wish you all success :)

Frustrated

These days my patience is running very thin on two very important things – the reception of my mobile phone service provider and the speed of the internet in uni. I can’t pick an either or, they both make me do this:

As a loyal Maxis customer, is too hard to expect good reception in my room? Every time the phone rings, I’ll need to get out of my room to the corridor but that solution is temporary. After say 3 minutes, the connection lapses and I will be forced to move which eventually leads me to going out of my block. It is no fun you know. I would really love the convenience of being able to have conversation without 50% of it being this:

Me: Hello

Caller: Hello. Hello. Heellooo…. I can’t hear you. Are you there?

Me: But I can hear you. Helloooo. Can you hear me? Heellooo

Caller: Oh, there you are. So, how’s things *bzzz**cracks*crackles*bzzzz*? *Mumbles jumbles rambles further*

Me: Huh, sorry I couldn’t hear you. What did you say?

Caller: Hellooo… Elllooo…. Yellow. If you’re there, *bzzz**cracks*crackles*bzzzz* you.

So you see it sucks when I can’t carry out a decent conversation. Half the time will be spent on saying “Hello”, “I can’t hear you”, “Could you please repeat that”. I have developed the skill of guessing what people say to me during all the buzzing and lost in transmission lapses. These skills only go so far. I have guessed wrongly in the past which led to hilarious conversations. Pretty much like A asking B, “So, where did you go today?” and B responding by saying “Oh you heard too. Yeah, my uncle’s grandfather’s sister-in-law’s nephew’s neighbor’s daughter passed away 2 days ago”.

Without my phone dearest, I’ll be as good as living under a coconut shell. It is the life line to my social existence, the outside world, far away from Cowboy Town Uni and of course of home. I do feel bad for those who call me for the agony of not being able to hear me. And I feel bad for those who feel bad for me every time I ask them to hang on while I get out of my hostel. But I don’t think I have much of a choice at the risk of not having a life beyond the perimeters of my campus. Because the alternative of stubbornly sitting in my room, getting text messages from Maxis listing down my missed calls and not be in touch with the outside world is unacceptable. So yes, when the phone vibrates its happy tone, I briskly walk out, down the staircase to the corridor walkway to answer the call with a smile on my face.

The internet brings upon a different but equally frustrating story. It is pretty stable except when you really need it to be working. Then it becomes an a**olic b***h. I remember how the first 5 weekends in uni were spent internet-less. I felt so lost without it. Every time I want to Google something, I go all the way to clicking IE, waiting *fingers tapping* and then when it says “Page Can Not Be Found” before I bang my head realizing that there is NO internet again!

The lack of good connection really saps out all the joy in blogging. There are so many things I would like to post but they are just too time consuming that I eventually change my mind. Just look at my Vaisakhi post, I wanted to upload about 8 pics but only ended up with 3. You want to know why? I took me 2 freaking hours uploading them onto Photobucket before I could generate the html codes to include them here! 2 hours=3 pictures=productive time gone to waste on waiting.

I know I should be thankful that I do have internet and what can barely be called a phone reception. Not everyone in other parts of the world (or even in some uni’s in this country) have the privilege of such facilities. However, I do feel I hold certain leverage against Cowboy Town Uni simply because it claims to be a uni of international standards and world standing. How could a university of this prestige not be able to secure its scholars and students a consistently good, fast and stable internet connection? I don’t think that it’s a demand too big to fulfill.

As my mother puts it, this is only for 2 more months. Indeed.

Work versus Me

I do not complain. I enjoy the work I do. I eat, drink, walk, sleep and breathe work. Work… that’s pretty much there is all to life right now.

Work piles up at a much faster rate than I can complete them. Deadlines are everywhere so much so I no longer know how to prioritize anymore because everything is equally important and their due dates are very near one other.

I’m beginning to feel the weight on my shoulders. Slowly but surely tiredness creeps up on me, holding me back and slowing me down. I do push myself but just not too hard lest I stumble on my face with dirt and grime in my teeth. And when I do, I somehow end up with “naps” in the midst of lectures, rejuvenating my mentally saturated mind.

I for one always look at the bright side of things. But right now, all I see is a mere glimmer that is diminishing with time. So many things, so little time. I’m tittering on the brinks of no hope and running out of drive and momentum.

Mum tried pacifying me saying that this will all be over in 2 months. But that is no consolation whatsoever. Yes, this will be over in a couple months. However just because it will reach an end soon does not make my work burden any lesser. Work will still need to be done and between now and June, I see a very long road ahead.

I’m drained, worn out like the tattered corners of my favourite book from reading and re-reading it over years. I do want to take a break but I can’t. The guilt conscious halts me from doing so. I am still strong inside but my edges are showing cracks. How long can I hold on? Only time will tell.

The glamour of being a final semester student is overrated. I will go back to my good old foundation days in a blink. Hhmmm… then again, it will mean another 5 years in Cowboy Uni, so I guess not.

I will stand by my principles, give my best and hope everything turns out great. Optimism is the best spirit to have yet and while my Optimism Badge is a little faded, I wear it proudly. I look for the small things that make life better. And today I got exactly what put me right up on cloud nine - the Rainforest World Music Festival. Watch out Kuching, Ohkulala will be painting the town red coming this July.

Vaisakhi

Happy Vaisakhi everyone!! Vaisakhi is a very important day for the Sikhs. While it is widely celebrated as New Year, it also marks the very significant religious event of the creation of Khalsa. You can read more about it here.

So here’s what I did for Vaisakhi. A group of us headed of to Pusing Gurdwara. Right as we entered the Pusing junction, there was a massive jam which is totally surprising seeing that it is a pretty small town. And then we noticed there was a chariot!! So the driver dropped 3 of us by the side of the road and we joined in the procession.

I was so excited! I’ve always wanted to join in the procession but have always missed it. Seeing that it is my final semester in uni, I feel so blessed to have been able to be part of this. I simply could not contain my joy last night to be able to be there. The atmosphere was exhilarating. There were hundreds of people, young, old alike decked in their best for New Year’s. Did I mention that the chariot is the same one used in Anna and the King?

The chariot carried the Guru Granth Sahib (GGS), the holy book for the Sikh and the Kirtan group (a group of people singing hymns while playing traditional instruments like the vaja and tabla). The procession started out in Seputeh Gurdwara around 7pm. The drizzle did not dampen anyone’s spirits, all around you see is smiling faces. Lucky me, I came prepared with an umbrella. By the time we arrived in Pusing Gurdwara, it was around 9.30pm. Lo and behold, the crowd waiting at the temple was as big as the crowd in the procession. I have never seen the place so packed before.

Here are some of the pics from last night.

Me at the stairs of the chariot

Me at the middle of the chariot

Le Boys

Well, I hope everyone will be blessed with happiness, success, joy and love this Vaisakhi.

Pussies are fattening

“Seriously, pussies are fattening? Where the hell do you get something like that from? OMG”

“There is a theory on that actually. Guys fuck guys and there are no strings attached. Therefore they keep fit to look good for their next fuck. But guys who do pussies get satisfied very easily especially when they are married. They no longer have to look good hence they get fat. So, pussies are fattening.”

Now, if you think that conversation is weird, hold your horses. That’s just the beginning. We coin loads of words over the years referring to sexual pleasures, organs, people, twists of the horny mind etc. For example we have Titsy (guys with protruding tits), Oily (for girls who are overweight), buncit and the more common ones like hot, sizzling, limp, lame and the list is endless.

It adds flavour to the things we say. No wonder I was called Corny back then, not that what I said was actually corny and cheesy, it’s the way I say things. I know it’s up their minds but nobody says it so I do and it usually leaves everyone in stitches and of course the occasional groans and slightly embarrassed faces.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. We don’t only talk bout things like sex, fuck buddies, hot bodies, sizes and measurements, boobs and butt. Those are just some of the things we talk about. We also talk about global warming, who got thrown out of uni because they stupidly got caught red handed, job hunting and when are our next assignments due. We just do not deny talking about the less discussed topics, those that some people shy away from. Seriously, if you are thinking it, why hide it and pretend like it isn’t there. Conversations of this nature are best shared over lunch with doses of laughter and giggles. I think it’s on par with shopping therapy.

So if pussies are fattening, what about cocks, do they have the same effects? Coz poor me needs some flesh here. Or maybe I need another pussy. Hhmmm… *ponders*

FESCO

Last night, Ah Kie and I attended the Festival of the Colours of The World (FESCO). It is a series of cultural performances and dances from 10 institutes of higher learning. I felt like I was watching a Malaysian Festival, the whole Malaysia, Truly Asia right before my very eyes. As usual, Ah Kie and I camwhored before the show started. We took pictures with the dancers, their costumes were elaborate and so colourful!

I was surprised to see the MCs, they were friends of our batch. Kinda shocking seeing that we're in the final semester, most people shy away due to the immense work load we have. But they said they're doing it one last time, for old times sake. Aww... so sweet.

We also took the front seats to get a better view. Oh, and let's not forget our 10 seconds of fame when we appeared on the main screen singing the uni's song at the end of the function :P.

So I leave you with my favourite pic of the night.

Of Pooja Mantras and Love Song

My current Pooja Mantra is Love Song by Sara Bareilles. I love the simplicity of the song, the beautiful melody of the piano and the soulful voice of Sara Bareilles. In case you're wondering what is a Pooja Mantra, let me explain. Pooja usually refers to prayers, daily prayers. And Mantra could be a chant or a form of meditation, you say something repeatedly, over and over again.

Ah Nee and I coined this termed back in our foundation year when we have a particular favourite song that we play again and again, not once getting bored of it. So how often do i play my Pooja Mantra a day? At least 20 times, but the figure is more accurate at 30-40 times a day. Yes, 40. My longest phase was where I played this song every single day (i'm afraid I can't say which song here :p) for about 2 months. I go through phases of Pooja Mantras. Some years, I may have up to 10 Pooja Mantras and there are times, only 2. I do play loads of other songs regularly but only if i play it for at least 20 times a day do they qualify as a Pooja Mantra. So here's my current Pooja Mantra, I especially like the last 2 lines of the song.

Head under water,
And they tell me to breathe easy for a while.
The breathing gets harder, even I know that.

You made room for me but it’s too soon to see,
If I’m happy in your hands.
I’m unusually hard to hold on to.

Blank stares at blank pages.
No easy way to say this.
You mean well, but you make this hard on me.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’d need a better reason to write you a love song today.
Today.

I learned the hard way,
That they all say things you want to hear.
My heavy heart sinks deep down under you,
And your twisted words, your help just hurts.
You are not what I thought you were.
Hello to high and dry.

Convinced me to please you.
Made me think that I need this too.
I’m trying to let you hear me as I am.

I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one, you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's,
Make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I'm not gonna write you to stay.
If all you have is leaving,
I’m gonna need a better reason to write you a love song today.

Promise me you'll leave the light on,
To help me see with daylight, my guide, gone.
'Cause I believe there's a way you can love me because I say,

I won't write you a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I'm not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
Is that why you wanted a love song,
'Cause you asked for it,
'Cause you need one you see.
I’m not gonna write you a love song,
'Cause you tell me it's make or breaking this.
If you’re on your way,
I’m not gonna write you to stay.
If your heart is nowhere in it,
I don’t want it for a minute.
Babe, I’ll walk the seven seas when I believe that there's a reason to,
Write you a love song today.
Today.

Of Interviews, Head Cracking and Xena

Have you ever felt like you were shot and survived it?

Well, I know exactly how it felt like.

There was a career fair in uni on Tuesday and Wednesday and I took advantage of the fair to start applying for jobs. Lots of companies set up booths and a number conducted interviews or screenings. I handed in my resumes and awaited their response.

My friends and I applied for company S, we went for the first round. You pick a topic from the folded pieces of paper and talk on the topic for 3 minutes, that’s it. At 5pm, results were out, those shortlisted will be going for the 2nd round, the group dynamics, the next morning. So on wed, we were there up and early.

My group consists of 6 members from various backgrounds. 3 of us were final semester students and the other 3 were applying for internship placing. So we got down to the project. The most interesting part was the presentation. Here, the assessors will be asking lots of questions on our designs etc etc. My group, unfortunately, did rather poorly. We did not meet the minimum requirements despite working really hard and putting in lots of effort. Defending our quality of work was challenging. In the midst of defending, we were asked if everyone in the group was agreeable to the design we came up with. Everyone mumbled yes in agreement.

Until

Until…

Until…

The guy next to me said no! He said he wanted it designed differently and we shoved his idea aside. OMG! You don’t turn your back against your own freaking group. Who does that? And this is group dynamics test. Yes, it was true we were not agreeable on his design. Everyone (except him) felt the design was not going to work out. Hence we stuck by the design everyone (he claims the majority, but not him) agreed upon. Things went from bad to an immediate plunge for the worse.

We were then asked to draw out the design of the item we built. The assessor, let’s call her Xena, wanted to see if everyone had the same picture in mind. 6 people, 6 different drawings. The problem was this; 5 drawings were pretty similar but one particular drawing looked completely different from the rest. Gosh, another bomb landed on us. How are we going to explain that one member in the team understood the design differently from the rest? Was it a communication break down? Poor explanation? Terrible coordination? Sigh…

I came out of the interview feeling completely down. No matter what we said or explained came out satisfactory. The feeling of being a complete failure is overwhelming. So when the results were to be released at 5pm, I went there half heartedly reflecting on the poor performance from earlier.

I scanned the list very quickly. 16 names were there, so few… sigh. I looked, and I took a second look. My name was in the list!!! I blinked, I stared, I looked in utter disbelieve, my eyes squinted. My name is there! Holy cow.

So on Thursday morning, I had 2 interviews. Pet’s interview was alright. The second interview was hhmmm.

I was bombared with questions and remarks and comments from the moment I got in the room till I got out. Xena was my interviewer and it was one on one. In a fictional world, the pic below describes the manner in which she questioned me:

I did my best answering her questions. I couldn’t answer 2 technical questions. I did not want to waste Xena’s time coming up with some mumbo jumbo about something I didn’t know, so I immediately admitted I didn’t know. To which she responded, “I can’t hire you, you are technically incompetent”.

I apparently have never gotten my hands dirty hence I don’t have what it takes to work for S. I was asked to prove that I am capable of working with the same capacity as the male species, both physically and mentally. And I had to repeatedly convince her I could do this and that and this and that and a whole bunch of things. Despite my best efforts, she wanted more. No matter what I said, nothing I said was right. She had a retort or a remark to my every response. How am I going to crack my head telling her in many different ways that I want this and I’ll work for it? She did not look impressed. And I couldn’t do anything about it.

I get the idea why Xena asked me the questions she did. It was totally relevant to the job applied. It is high pressure working for S and she have to make sure a person who gets in is not the kind that cracks in the interview. The real world is going to be much harsher. I came out not knowing how well or badly I did. But for the grueling experience, I am glad I went through it. It was tough, it pushed me to my limits, made me break boundaries of what I’m currently capable of doing, and it forced me to think quickly and sharply. She is doing her job and she’s executing it by going 10 miles out of her way to do it better. And who am I to blame her for wanting to do a great job?

So after feeling like a target of a shooting range practice, I came out mentally drained. The 20 minute interview with S was way more draining than my one hour interview with Pet. I have absolutely no idea what will come out of the interview. All I know is I tried my best and I couldn’t have done it any better than I did. If I do make it through the final round, I am grateful. If I don’t, I have no regrets. I tried and gave my best. So yesterday, I survived being “shot” and lived to tell about it.

Today, I declare it my chill out day. I’m taking a break after 3 days of interviews and completing the compiling of my final year group project. So far, I have watched 3 movies already, Bourne Identity, Just Follow Law and Pulp Fiction. Right after posting this, I’m going to catch my fourth movie. I have yet to decide what it will be. Oh well, its not head cracking matter. Ill just do the Eenie Meenie Minie Mo.

Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is super addictive. When I first heard of the show from Ah Hua, I immediately dismissed it. Basically, it is yet another high school drama focusing on a bunch of teenagers with their social life and problems, some pretty boys, some pretty girls, lots of fancy clothes and big houses but of broken homes etc etc. I think I pretty much described all teenaged shows on TV.

However, due to the American Press Association strike (which thankfully has ended), all my favourite shows have been put to a complete stop. No more McDreamy and Wisteria Lane stories for me. I did get started on a new show, How I Met Your Mother which I absolutely and totally love because it is real, with solid characters, those you love and those you love to hate. However, I finished watching all 3 seasons in less than 1 month which lead me back to my original problem, no shows to watch.

So with the lack of options, I had no choice but to turn to Gossip Girl. I mean, it can’t be that bad isn’t it? I did survive 1 season of O.C and One Tree Hill is awesome. So last Friday after my shopping trip, I downloaded the pilot and watched it right before I slept. And it was alright, cute guys, no wait, HOT guys to boot!

After that, I got hooked to the show. There are only 13 episodes available (again due to the strike) and I finished watching everything in 3 days! I remember the 2nd night I was watching the show, I got up to the fifth episode and then DC++ (the uni’s P2P network of sheer illegal piracy) went Poof! I was so frustrated, the tension, the drama, the suspense was so intense that I was short of screaming, pulling my hair out, gritting my teeth to know what will happen in the next episode.

So here’s the glue, the magnetic force so strong that I finished watching everything so fast. The good looking cast is well, superb looking. Yes, the show is exactly like any other teenaged shows but the hot boys are definitely appealing to my eyes. *laughs*. Gosh, now I sound like a complete bimbo. So feast your eyes the same way I feast mine :)



She's Blake Lively who plays Serena. In case you're wondering how come she's featured here, well, its coz i think she's hot too and I love her voice. It is a lil rough, like someone with a slight sore throat, it is so sexy.

Serena again



This is Crace Crawford who play's Nathaniel Archibald aka Nate who was dating then not dating and now again dating, hang on, they broke up again, with Blair, Serena's best friend.

Aahh... those soulful blue eyes

Penn Bradgley plays Dan Humphrey who had a crush on Serena since forever and finally dates her. He's like the sweetest guy, warm, matured, caring and yet doesn't over do it. Phew... or else he'll end up being Mr Nice Guy.

And last but not least, this is Matthew Settle who plays Rufus Humphrey, Dan's father who btw used to date Serena's mother those days. He looks real good despite his age, hunky, a melt-your-heart smile, romantic and makes the best waffles too :)So how can I not like him? Ooohhh.... if only I can get a life partner who'll grow up gracefully the way Rufus did. *laughs*