Resolution: 2009

Haha, the thought of me making a New Year resolution. Well, this will be my first time doing so, and I'm doing it publicly! So, here it is, my New Year resolution (with my conscience keeps butting in...):

1. Cut down my TV/movie time from limitless to two per day (Come on, are you serious? Can you possibly stop watching Desperate Housewives, Gossip Girl, Samantha Who, those TVB series in your laptop waiting for you to watch it...Boleh ke?)
2. Learn something new (Such a general statement!)
3. Cut off junk food and reduce intake of carbonated drinks (Haha...you're drinking teh-O iced limau while writing this...and it's super sweet!)
4. Start exercising (You're getting more ridiculous!)
5. Get into Dean List next sem (Your CGPA for last sem is already 3.41...are you sure you're not writing this just to have AT LEAST ONE resolution achieved?)
6. Start living actively (By?...another general statement!)
7. Be charitable! (Hope you can do it.)
8. Appreciate and love the people around me better. (Who are you refering to?)
   
9. Be more sociable. (Are you a standoffish?)
   
10. Change myself! (Your resolution is a joke!)

Lord, give me strength to pull this off.

Reflection: 2008

How time had flew. In a blink, we're about to enter 2009. Like 2008, 2009 promises new adventures, new experiences, new knowledge, new blah blah blah...you get the drill. Anyway, as 2008 about to come to an end, I thought, what's better than have a reflection of what I had done throughout the year.

My first job. I had my first working experience at the beginning of the year (yes, I didn't work after SPM as I was busy taking driving lessons, helping my mom-ok, I'm making up excuses...) where I was working as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. I remembered on the New Year day itself, as I was wondering around Jusco alone, desperately wanting a job that when I saw that there's a vacancy at the restaurant, I rushed to it. The boss, without much of a glance, just hired me after I filled up the form. There, I met friends that I cherished, experiences I treasured, skills I hope I can use in the future. And I gained weight (nothing drastic!) during my time there, what with the big portions of lunch and dinner, curi makan here and there, etc. I even kena dengue and hospitalised. After 6 days 4 nights, the doctor still can't confirm if it's dengue! While I do love working there, I was rather upset when I was told that I can earn more if I had worked as clerk in bank. My father told me that banks won't hire temp worker like me but my senior said otherwise. I was CHEATED!!!

STPM result. THANKS GOD my STPM was nothing horrible. The nervousness I felt while waiting for my result...I was afraid that I might had an heart attack! I'm grateful for the scores I got, yet I'm a bit sad, mostly regret that I didn't really did my utmost best. I know I can do better. Anyway...moving on...

Entering USM. Wow, my first time staying on my own. The thought excited and scared me a little. Nevertheless, I embraced it with the best I can. I remembered feeling disoriented on the orientation week, constantly clinching towards familiarity (pathetic, I know...). But as time went by, I'm accustomed to the new environments and surroundings. Met some interesting friends, gained new knowledge, yadda yadda...What surprised me the most is my command of Mandarin and Hokkien. I knew I'm capable of speaking both languages but always to an extend, with my Hokkien better than Mandarin. At first, I'm quite shy to speak Mandarin, but lama-kelamaan, I'm using it as if it's my mother tongue (which is not...), albeit very broken.

Overall, 2008 was a rather eventful year for me. Here's hoping for a more fruitful year ahead!

Next, New Year Resolution.

O Sister

GUESS THE SONG!

Recording 1 -

Above is my little sister's rendition of a famous TVB theme song. Try guessing it. It's not that hard. In fact, it's VERY EASY for the anyone who had watched this year's most anticipated TVB series or listened to Chinese radio stations. Write your answer on comment page please.

On a side note, congrats to my other sister for landing a job in Jaya Jusco. Hope she cooperate with her future co-workers.

Sis, PLEASE don't let your Mr Hyde out in the public. Don't taint our family name.
*Just kidding*

p/s-Be merciful with your comments on my sister's singing. She's just five years old.

Lunch

Place: Moven Peak Restaurant, Greentown
Meal : Lunch set (Traditional English Fish and Chips, soup of the day, dessert and drink)
Price : RM 14.90

I have no idea what the soup is...

Delicious!!!

My sister ordered spaghetti bolognese...nothing special

Both my parents ordered stew-cook rice with roasted chicken

Verdict : I like what I had ordered. Gonna try C***o Fettucini (can't remember the name!)

Spotted: Toyota AE86 from Initial D

Truth be told, I'm not the one who spotted the car. It was my coursemate, (I'm not sure which one did spotted it, though) Xin Hao who spotted it. We were sitting on the roundabout on the Christmas Eve enjoying ourselves when he/she saw it. The famed car from Initial D. Wondering if it's Jay who driving that?

Photo by Qi Fang.

STARBUCKS-ING!!!

Again, Merry Christmas from me to all of my friends and family.

Starbucks Coffee, my paradise that cause a hole in my wallet. Everytime I'm on holiday and near an outlet, I will buy -if I don't restraint myself- a cup of coffee or frappucino ice blended coffee or ice blended juices (mostly frappucino!). Therefore, I decided to make a series of entries on Starbucks. And to begin the first of the many (I hope!) entries, here I am, sitting at Starbucks Coffee in Taiping, sipping my delicious Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucino Blended Coffee Venti (large) size.

My delicious Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucino!

One of the three Starbucks Christmas beverages, it's only appear during, no surprise here, Christmas season. I had tasted the Toffee Nut Frappucino Blended Coffee last year when I was in Genting Highland and I liked it. Instead of ordering the same thing, why not try a new one, I thought. The Dark Cherry Mocha Frappucino I'm having right now is tasty. It had the sweet cough syrup-like taste that cherry had that blended well with the chocolate chips and the coffee.

And the Taiping outlet is very cosy. I'm resting right now on a sofa while typing, waiting for my family to finish doing their shopping. And I'm not the only customer! It may be because it's Christmas, the stall was filled with people (not full la!). And the staffs were quite busy.


According to one of the staff, this outlet was opened on 31st of August this year (or 30th...I might heard wrongly...).

Christmas...Penang Style!

Just came back from Gurney Road counting down to the minute before Christmas (OK, we did not really stay there till midnight, but it still close to 12.00am) with my fellow coursemates. And boys, Penangnites really know how to celebrate Christmas.

Before I went to Gurney Road, we went to a steamboat restaurant which name I forgot in Burma Road (I believe) called Golden BBQ Steamboat Restaurant located at Jalan Nagore. The five of us really applied the 'All You Can Eat' motto and took LOTS of food, till we technically stuffing ourselves just to avoid the fine. When we stepped out of the shop, we were all 5kg heavier (or maybe more!).

This is the restaurant...

...look how crowded it is!

The choices...

Just look at the food on our table!

Me and my coursemates in the restaurant...

...and in front of Gurney Plaza

Then, we went to Gurney Drive to experience the spirit of Christmas. It was crowded with people, mostly teenagers and those in their 20s like us. They were snow spraying each other, wearing Santa caps and devil horns hairbands (what Devil got to do with Christmas?), couples cuddling each other. Just plain crowded. There was even a fire dance performance called 'Semerah Api' (if I remembered correctly).

All four videos are about people snow spraying each other.

Aftermath of snow spray!

Fire dance performance.

We sat near at the roundabout there chatting away in Mandarin, Hokkien, and Cantonese all muddled up. The atmosphere there was very lively, unlike back home in Ipoh where Christmas just comes and goes. After experiencing the way festivals are being celebrated here, I'm going to spend my New Year Eve here in Penang too.

Look at the people and the traffic!

Human or statue?
Tortoise!

Photos are courtesy of Qi Fang, Chai Ying and of course, myself. Videos are all from my phone. All those background voices are mostly from me and my friends.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Spotted: The Devil Studies MSG162

Apparently, the Devil needs to study Applied Statistical Methods too for reasons only He himself know of. I was busy minding myself when I saw the flaming red horns. Quickly, I took the pictures before the Devil himself disappeared like everyone did when they attend the doze-inducing lectures.

There she is, releasing sleeping gas to her victims.

The Devil possessed the unsuspecting student.

Due to my seating (far from the Devil and the FURTHER away from the lecturer!) and the poor-performing camera-phone of mine, the qualities of the pictures rather disappointing as you don't often get a glimpse of the Satan.

Few minutes later, the Devil had disappeared as foretold. Hope He can survives the strong doses of sleeping gas to remain the ruler of the Underworld. You don't want the Underworld to be a mess.

Back In USM!

Came back yesterday. I'm now residing at Desasiswa Tekun. Compared to my previous room at Desasiswa Cahaya Gemilang (CG), Tekun is FAR more nicer and comfortable. Unlike in CG where the room is dusty, the room here is much cleaner and more windy though a bit smaller. And the best part is it has Wi-Fi (currently unavailable, I believe).

BEFORE

AFTER

The qualities of the pictures rather bad and does not really cement the differences. I'll post some better ones when I have time to do so.

Now, the bad part. When I went to the key station to get my room key, I was told by the Penolong Something Something Desasiswa that I need to present a passport-sized photo to her first in order to get the key, which, unfortunately, I didn't have it at that moment. I reasoned with her, trying to talk some sense to her to let me have my key so that I put my luggage first, but still, a big, fat no. I can understand that it's part of the policy but the things that crossed me the most was her tone. She was so arrogant and cocky as if she some sort of big shot who decide who get the key and who's not.

Anyway, since I can't do anything, I have to go out to the nearest photo shop and have my picture taken, costing me RM 13.00. What a bummer!

On the bright side, i just found out that Chee Hoe scored 3.99 for his first semester. His downfall was his Ko-K, which he had A- for tennis. Congrats!!! Wish I was that smart.

Winter Solstice Festival

冬至节快乐 (Happy Winter Solstice Festival). To be honest, I have almost zero idea why we celebrate it. According to Wikipedia, the origin of the festival had something to do with the Yin and Yang philosophy of balance and harmony in the cosmos. It is usually celebrated around December 22 every year.

What I do know is that we eat 湯圓 (tangyuan) on that day. 湯圓 are made of glutinuous rice flour and shaped into balls of various sizes. It may be plain or stuffed with fillings like red bean paste and so on. They are cooked with sweet soup. Since I won't be here at Ipoh, we decided to celebrate it 2 days earlier.

湯圓 made late at night

delicious...

Learn To Say YES...The Smart Way

Ah, Jim Carrey's 'Yes Man'. I watched it with Katherine, Siew Wei and Rern Jern. It has its funny moments like the Korean part, the suicidal man, and other. And I quite like the songs Zooey Deschanel sung in the movie. I'm not really a big fan of Jim Carrey as I find him sometimes over-the-top but I find him bearable in it.

The premise of the movie is something like this: Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is challenged to say yes to everything that comes his way in his life for one whole year, leading to a series of comic events. That's pretty much sum it up. The idea of a man saying yes to everything he comes across is rather crazy. While I believe it will lead to a whole lots of possibilities and experiences, it too could spells trouble.

Stranger: Can I rob you?
Carl: Yes, you can.

Stranger: Can you help me kill my wife?
Carl: Sure, why not.

It's just stupid to say yes without thinking and also to say no to everything. Life should be a mixture of yes and no.

Check out this song and comment about it. It was featured in the movie.

Oh ya, thanks, Kat, for the treat and the gift.

Uh-Huh - Munchaussen By Proxy (Featuring Zooey Deschanel & Von Iva)

Semester Result Is Out...

And I have to say, it's better than I expected though I know I can do better. Below are the result.

KOD KERTAS	KETERANGAN KERTAS (BM/BI)	GRED
LKM400	BAHASA MALAYSIA IV / BAHASA MALAYSIA IV	B+
LTC100	BAHASA CINA KOMUNIKASI I / COMMUNICATIVE CHINESE I	A
MAT101	KALKULUS / CALCULUS	A
MAT161	STATISTIK PERMULAAN / ELEMENTARY STATISTICS	B+
SKW104	PENGANTAR ISU-ISU EKONOMI / INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMIC ISSUES	B-
WUS101	TERAS KEUSAHAWANAN / CORE ENTREPRENEURSHIP	B+

Post-Mortem:
Well, I KNOW my worst performance had to be SKW104. I just studied it LAST MINUTES and I'm quite surprised with the B-. Surprised but glad. I guess the professor is indeed generous. I'm glad that I didn't mess up my MAT101 A LOT to cost me my A. overall, I'm quite OK with the

CGPA : 3.41 (just 0.09point shy from Dean List)

Delicious Food Around Ipoh

Restaurant: Black Canyon

Meal : Fettucini with Salted Fish (RM 8.90)
Hot Cuppacino (RM 6.95)
Total : RM 16.00

hot cuppacino
Fettucini with Salted Fish

Fettucini with Chicken Green Curry
(Chee Hoe's)