heh. /insert smugness
Sooo. I’m done with finals. :D so happy! Am currently at the airport right now, waiting for my flight in ATLANTA and then off to LOS ANGELES! :D hee.
This is like, the highlight of my semester. :D gonna savor the taste of Sin City and Tinseltown while I can, as I soak up the sights. :D
So, about my exams. I think I’m doing well this semester, with the exception of Biology, of course. Barring any freakish outcomes, and with the predicted D in Bio, I should be getting GPA 3.38. Imagine if, by some freakish miracle, I get a C in Bio, my GPA will be 3.47. I’m trying to get it up to 3.8/3.9.
I’m not bragging or anything, but I do feel really good putting in a bit of effort into my education. I’ve always mostly relied too much on my own perceived intelligence rather than work on it. So it’s kinda satisfying when you actually realize your work paid off! I’ll (hopefully) be doing the same thing for next year. :)
So, technically I didn’t work as hard as other people would. I just worked hard on studying smarter.
In Physics, I hardly ever pay attention, so I try to do the homework and gain more understanding from there. In Japanese, you gotta pay attention, so I did. Turns out I’m a fast learner for language. What else? Martial arts was fun. Got an A. Ooo Abnormal Psychology. It is such fun subject, I love it, although towards the later chapters were too boring for me.
Heh. In other words, God is with me. Even in bio. I’m actually doing well in lab, so it’s no biggie. Too bad lab isn’t a different course :(
Anyway, what else?? Oooh. Holidays! Yes. Going on another vacation! <3 :) This time to the West Coast. In Spring, after getting my licence, imma hit up the East Coast, and maybe a trip to down to FLORIDA and upwards to OHIO. Florida for Disneyworld, and OHIO for Cedar Point – home of awesome rollercoasters. :D and summer for other places I may have not visited yet, or Europe. Depends. Ooh, perhaps next winter break in Hawaii! :D Yeah baby. Livin’ it up! :D
So that’s about it for now. :D heh. Toodles.
Busy semester
Been a long time since there was a real post.
Got a pay raise – I’m gonna divvy up and use my pay for: electricity, internet & phone bill. Gonna put in more hours next semester so I can save up for an anime con/spn con.
Went to Chicago for Thanksgiving again – Black Friday was kinda dull, not much sales. Went with Uma, Renu & KW. Met up with Fatin & Emily and their other halves. Went around downtown Chicago, took lots of pics, gonna upload them to deviantart soon.
Put my crafts & writing ventures on hold – I just don’t have time anymore. Still very much inspired, and still connected to my creative muse, but I gotta manage my time better than this to make something worthwhile.
What else? Oh, and I learned to cook 2 vege dishes, and chicken curry. – Renu says they’re all good. Next challenge is nasi minyak. And rendang.
Getting As for four of my subjects, and failing my bio. – Physics, Martial Arts, Japanese 101, Abnormal Psychology. Hopefully that would keep my GPA afloat. ><
Made progress on the social front – getting along well with colleagues and lab partners without being too professional.
And going for a winter break in the West Coast! Going Lerdie & her sister to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Definitely stopping by at the casinos, Disneyland, and Alcatraz. :)
Can’t wait!
My cousins have kids now. Technically their kids would be kinda like my cousins right? Lol. But we’re kinda close, like siblings, so we just ignored the technicalities.
I now have 4 nephews.
Okies, that’s all for now.
:D just a random post
If You Were Born Today, October 10: You possess the charm, sense of balance, and intelligence of Libra, but you are more confrontational and outgoing than others born under the sign of the Balance. You seek to forge an identity that is unique and distinctive. You have excellent organizational skills and you have the ability to lay down solid, practical plans. You have an unusual and charming voice or manner of speech, and you take special pleasure and delight in surprising, or even shocking, others. With your playful and friendly manner, it might surprise people to know that you are actually quite ambitious. Famous people born today: David Lee Roth, Tanya Tucker, James Clavell, Helen Hayes, Ed Wood.
my food life.
unimaginative title, though it describes this post aptly.
i’m just gonna list down the dishes i can make successfully, thus far:
- bak choy soup
- molten chocolate lava cake
- cabbage with soy sauce
- rendang
- peanut butter chicken nuggets
- cola chicken
- roti bakar
- french toast
dishes i’d like to try within the next couple of weeks:
- chicken pot pie
- malaysian curry (from scratch)
- cauliflower cream soup
- red bean bun
- hokkien mee + make own noodle
- make own rendang paste
- make own roti canai
ambitious? kinda. but renu and i work together on most of the recipes (not the chinese ones. =P) i mostly cook from memory, actually. it’s actually kinda fun trying to figure out what my grandma/mom put into the dish, and try to replicate that distinctive taste. gosh. i’m actually thinking about cola chicken right now. haha. i’ll probably post up a few things regarding cooking on a tight budget.
Awesome Date Ideas
Pretend you’ve never met, then loudly try out lame pickup lines in a swanky bar. Act like they worked.
- Go on a walking journey and every fifteen feet draw a chalk arrow in the direction you’re going. At the end of the trip, leave a big pile of chalk.
- Create photo evidence suggesting that you went on an adventure that didn’t really happen
- Go for a drive. You can only make right-hand turns. When you finally get stuck, turn around and then you can only make left-hand turns. Repeat until you find something interesting. Take pictures along the way!
- Build forts out of furniture and blankets, and wage war with paper airplanes.
- Go to a major chain bookstore, and leave notes to future readers in copies of your favorite books
- Write a piece of fiction together. Outside at a cafe. Ask strangers when you get stuck.
- Try and visit as many people as you can in one night, and turn as many things inside their apartment upside down as you can, without them noticing.
- Do the lamest tourist thing in your area that you have both secretly wanted to do forever. Have an unabashed good time!
- Hide and seek in the park
- Go around the city with sidewalk chalk and draw hearts with equations inside on random things
- Drive somewhere unknown and have dinner in a city you’ve never been to. With fake names.
- Go for a drive with the passenger blindfolded, choosing directions at random. see where you end up
- Dress up as pirates, commandeer shopping carts, and have a war upon the high seas.. er, parking lot.
- Go on a search for as many good climbing trees as possible, climb as high as you both can in all of them, compile photo evidence
- Rent a movie you’ve never seen before. Set on mute and improvise dialogue.
- Dress up as pirates and go parrot shopping at local pet stores
- Go to the airport, get the cheapest, soonest departing flight to anywhere when you show up, and stay there for a weekend.
- Walk around a city and perform short silent plays in front of security cameras
- In the middle of the night, drive to the beach, so you arrive just as the sun is rising. Have a breakfast picnic, then fall asleep together. Bring a sun umbrella.
Dealing with Insecurity
I know quite a few individuals in my circle of friends who are very insecure about themselves. They try not to show it because they think it’s a sign of weakness. It is. But just because it is a sign of weakness, doesn’t mean that they should keep it hidden forever. Most people would try to fix insecurity by patching it up with different things such as talents, friends, relationships, popularity, fame, and money. None of these would ever successfully cure you of your insecurity.
For me, I’ve been struggling with it for nearly all my life. I’m very pleased to tell you that I have found the way to crack it. To deal with insecurity.
First of all, there are a few things you gotta understand:
- Insecurity is a form of identity crisis: “I don’t know who I am, without…”
- Dealing with insecurity means that you gotta understand that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
So, how to deal with it?
Ask yourself, what do you feel most insecure about? Are you afraid, that someday when you change a bit of your personality, you’ll be left without friends? Are you afraid, that if you lost a particular talent, you won’t have the same measure of success you once did? Are you afraid that without your popularity with the opposite sex, you’re an ugly and unattractive person?
Once you figure that out, you’ll know why you feel insecure. I’ll tell you why. All these things – people, popularity, fame, talents, money, success – are temporal and changeable. They are mutable. They do not and will not last, ever. The sooner you understand that, the better. We crave for permanence, for a sense of belonging, for stability. That is our very nature. Despite everything, these are the things that we desire, and we look for solutions in all the wrong places. The only one who can give you that permanence, stability and sense of belonging is Christ. God. Jesus. He doesn’t change. He is immutable. And He loves you.
So, root your identity in Christ. What do I mean by that? Well, the reason it’s called the Good News (in my opinion) is partly because it gives us the security we have been looking for. Look at the Jews before the coming of Christ. They had to work for their salvation. They had to be nothing less than perfect to ensure their place in heaven. Look at what happened when Christ came – people constantly told that God loves them, no matter how ugly they think they look, no matter how imperfect they are. God loves them, and all they had to do was to love him back, and to show the rest of the world that God loves them too. I am secure in the knowledge that no matter how badly I mess up, as long as I look to God, and lean on His strength, and draw breath from His grace, I am saved. I am forever saved. My soul has found its home. So, by rooting your identity in Christ, you are basically admitting and acknowledging that you are and always will be a child of God, unless of course, you choose to give it up. Your birthright, just like what Esau did. You can do it, but why? What for? A fleeting moment’s worth of pleasure? It’s not worth it.
Think of all the promises you can claim to. Think of all the goodness you can do, freely. Think of all the people who will be saved by the knowledge that God loves them. This is your birthright. Why, why should you give it up for temporal things?
When something threatens to shake my peace, I turn to Him. I know He’ll take care of it, just as He promised He would. In the meantime, I figure out how I can overcome it as well, and how I can teach others to overcome it. God’s plans for you are always wonderful, beyond your imagination. Beyond. It will be mindblowing, it will be fantastic. It will be uber awesome. He, the Creator of the universe, is asking you to trust him. Why won’t you?
Monthly Progress Report.
Location: Miri
so far, i’ve managed to extend my ‘welcome’ for about 2 weeks extra. life at home has been okay, optimal at best. went out with my parents most of the time, had a good full body massage, nice haircut and eyebrow tweaking. =D i’ve been keeping myself busy with lots of stuff.
pampered myself, catch up on my fave food in miri, made craft stuff. the usual. oh, and i’ve been taking up my online summer courses, which is rather… annoying. =.= sigh. oh well. at least i’m in a different timezone, so i actually have a wee bit of time to procrastinate and not do my work. :D
i’ve been making jewelry, but mostly bookmarks. running a biz isn’t too tough, but it isn’t easy either. i have to keep track of the client’s orders, requests and accommodate to their needs. besides that, i gotta have time for myself, and to keep doing what i enjoy. it’s easy to just create and design things for the sake of keeping up with the business, but it’s so tough to be continually inspired into making your own pieces. pieces that actually mean something to you. mum took me to a craft fair here, and i wasn’t the least bit inspired. you know why? the pieces were mass-produced. their quality is not lacking, of course, since they run a proper business and therefore have more resources than i do. it’s just that when you look at their items, you could actually see that it doesn’t mean a thing to them, except $. -.- sad.
i try to come up with names, and use my inspiration as a guide on how to make my stuff. it’s pretty intuitive so far. i’m looking to purchase a few books on jewelry and needle-felting, and dollhouse miniature stuff. i’m also interested in making pop-up cards some day. just learn the technique, and start designing my own.
for now, i’m rekindling my love for quilling, so hopefully all goes well. i’ll post up a pic of the finished product. =D next time. man, maintaining a business on handmade items ain’t easy. =[ oh well.
erm, so i packed up my stuff for holiday, and included a mini-kit to keep me occupied at least.
Location: Kuching
not ideal. i mean, i enjoy coming to Kuching when i’m allowed to have my freedom and privacy, both of which are SEVERELY lacking in this trip. i shan’t rant so publicly, but yeah. not happy. here, my welcome expires in 2 days. why oh why didn’t i think of it before? =.= tomorrow (July 1st) i’m heading off for KL, so things are bearable at this point. i finished my english course, though now i’ve just started on my british literature course. great. at least it’s not american literature. so not interested. mm. and i scored a freaking 60/100 for my 10-question quiz. NOT HAPPY. grrr. so upset. =.= my psychology exam is tomorrow, so i’d better prepare for it. ai.
i’m not sure if i should look forward to my KL trip though.
i mean, these are the friends i’ve not seen for almost a year already. i do keep myself updated through facebook and stuff, but there are more new faces than there are old ones. lol. besides, i know i changed a lot since i left. iuno. i’m a bit apprehensive, but the ticket’s booked. and at least i have company to go watch HP7P2 with. =D besides, when all else fails, at least i can lepak in the city and just not care. i have all the freedom in the world! :D
yeah, well, so far, that’s it. just a customary holiday report sort of thingy.
productive.
i’d say. weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
my life so far?
FREAKING AWESOME.
i had to take my test about two nights ago. so happy i’m living in a GMT+8 zone. XD i get to procrastinate for about 8 hours more. freaking nice. anyway, psyc101 test. it was okay. not very satisfied i didn’t score 100. but i’m pretty much happy about the marks i got though. not a bad start at all. :) 96. weeeeeeeeee.
then there’s my english process paper. also another last min job.
got my feedback. positively glowing reviews!
and i’ve just finished shooting some product pics for my bracelets and bookmarks i made. four charm bracelets, five bookmarks. i’ll post them up after editing them later. on top of that, i’ve shot some nice flower pics lately. which reminds me, i gotta look up on pointers on how to shoot when it’s midday. i took a few shots of the flowers just now, and i found something interesting. hehe. shall try it again tomorrow, and see what i can come up with. i never really understood why photographers try to shoot in natural light as much as possible, but today it finally dawned on me. no pun intended.
anyway, lesson learned!
so i’ve been really busy lately. ah. and i ordered more stuff from beading.com.my to stock up on my jewelry supplies. =) next project: origami! i’m gonna try out making some complex models, and see if i can miniaturize it somehow. =) wayyyyyy too many ideas.
alrighty. gotta go now. toodles!
nightmare.
EMERGENCY ALERT: PIMPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
gah.
alrighty, back to topic.
i haven’t had the time to indulge in all the summer plans that i set out to do. been busy trying to make sure i get my coursework completed before i start on anything else. i shall revise this silly plan of taking summer courses later. gah. unfortunately, i have another course lined up in the second half of summer. english 102 would be completed by then.
english 102 involves a lot of discussion work! it’s just annoying that i have a deadline when to post in the forum and such, and you have to respond to your classmates comment.
i think that having it with just 2 days in between to post something makes it inconvenient. gah. and you need it for participation grade. *grinds teeth*snarls* gah. whatev. so i have to start on my third process paper now, and figure it out. *growls*
psychology 101 is interesting, to say the least. i’m quite pleased with the overall layout. i can do the assignments by a certain due date, and they’re not all due within two days of each other or anything like that. it sorts of allows me to assign a block of time just to complete my assignments. right now i’m still preparing for my first exam – 50 questions in 50 minutes worth 100 points – so things are pretty hectic. i shall try to prepare for the second and third exams while simultaneously read up on the topics to complete my quizzes and assignments. shouldn’t be too hard.
i can’t wait for british literature! i just want to get it done and over with. i do wonder if we have to study the classics though. hopefully they wouldn’t ask us to find some weird, obscure version that i can’t just glean off the internet. hehe. alrighty, i gotta go out for breakfast now!
returning to my tropical home.
whoaaaa. it’s almost a year since i left for US.
time flew.
anyway, i got back on the 19th. spent my first week coping with jetlag and ENGL102 essays and stuff.
been doing well so far. i wake up at 8am nowadays, don’t ask me why. even if i sleep late, my body automatically wakes up at 8.
no sleep-ins for me. argh.
let’s see now… what have i been up to, exactly?
well, i messed up my room. XD and have not tidied it up yet. i’ve started learning cantonese online, finished reading about 5 books in a few days, did some bracelets, finished two essays, four quizzes, two activities, took hundreds of photographs, edited a few, and spent AGES on facebook. oh, and i bought some CDs, so i shall rip off movies and such.
hee. so, in two weeks, i’ve been rather productive. =) this is good. a very good sign indeed.
so… what else have i not done? teehee.
- Learn new languages: Korean, Japanese, French, Cantonese. (reading, writing, speaking)
- Learn better photography skills
- Potential subjects:
- Miri city
- Food
- Pets
- Family gatherings
- superdupersecretprojectthatmustnotberevealedeveruntilitisexecutedperfectly.
- Scenery – conceptual.
- Crafts:
- Complete teahouse
- Jewelry
- Finish commissions – men’s bracelet, panda, zebra.
- Complete gifts – housewarming gift, baby-welcoming gift, parents’ anniversary gift
- Write stories:
- Edit: UI, CTMEOY
- Participate: rs-games, spring drabbles.
- Finish: UI, Treatise.
- Start: Fragments, Haven’t Met.
- Graphic Design
- Learn to cook & sew
- Prepare pdf files
- Cookbooks
- Craftbooks
- Draw again
- Bunny & Monkey
- Sirius & Remus
Argh. Looking at the list again made me feel like i didn’t do a whole lot of things i had set out to do.
alrighty. shall start on the orange-colored items soon! <3
have also been busy getting myself reacquainted with miri again, so i’ve been driving my mum around. rewarded with short trips to the cendol shop, and sometimes the bookstore, and other times, i get to buy lots and lots of cds. =) heehee. as for my current weight and body shape – MAINTAINED. :) my metabolic rate is back to normal – which means that regular intake of milo and sometimes mee kolok helps my wee tummy move along :) fufufufufufufu. no more constipation. ah. lovely. alrighty. it’s 3am. i gotta go to bed.
too late ady!
a very floral story.
went to my aunt’s place the other day, just before she took off for kuching. there was this small plastic pot of arranged flowers, and they were dying, but still very beautiful. i couldn’t resist taking their pictures, and didn’t get enough time to fully exploit their ‘slow death’ so i brought the pot home. still not satisfied, but at least i’ve tried something different.
i experimented with different angles and focus points for each picture, and finally settled on these few after post-processing. they are all titled, though the meaning of each title and picture may differ from a person to another, have fun interpreting them. to me, each picture told a story, and each story inspired me. somehow, in my mind’s eye, these flowers weren’t just plants – they felt almost human and they had their own voices. i was especially attracted to the dying daisies, and the white carnation. enchanting.
it has its very own gallery page, but i’ll be showing a few here. =)
summer plans!
Hoho. 3 months without lessons. Well, not really. I’ll be having online classes to keep me occupied, but even then, I still get to have lots and lots of alone time! <3 so. which brings me to the next program: listing out all potential activities to keep me occupied.
- Learn new languages: Korean, Japanese, French. (reading, writing, speaking)
- Learn better photography skills
- Potential subjects:
- Miri city
- Food
- Pets
- Family gatherings
- superdupersecretprojectthatmustnotberevealedeveruntilitisexecutedperfectly.
- Scenery – conceptual.
- Potential subjects:
- Crafts:
- Complete teahouse
- Jewelry
- Finish commissions – men’s bracelet, panda, zebra.
- Complete gifts – housewarming gift, baby-welcoming gift, parents’ anniversary gift
- Write stories:
- Edit: UI, CTMEOY
- Participate: rs-games, spring drabbles, deviantart
- Finish: UI, Treatise.
- Start: Fragments, Haven’t Met.
- Graphic Design
- Learn to cook & sew
- Prepare pdf files
- Cookbooks
- Craftbooks
- Draw again
- Bunny & Monkey
- Sirius & Remus
An Ode to a Sunny Spring!
Je vous aime soleil!
Week is almost over! We have Friday off, so that’s good. I’ve no idea what to do, maybe just catch up on sleep or go out for a movie? :) Had dinner with Amerie & Amir the other day at Eat’n Park. *swoons* The cute waiter was there! Was so glad I decided to wear a turquoise spag strap top and a mini skirt. :) He still has the sweet, cute smile and his eyes are still shining! And he was so sweeeeeeeeeeeet~~~~~ Kya! I chanced a look at his name tag this time, and found that his name was Marc! Ooh! Of all the guys’ names I’ve come across so far, I’ve always been partial to Mark/Marc/any other derivations.
*laughs like maniac* hehehe.
So tempted to go there again, if only just to ogle at him. *dreamy sigh*
Somehow he reminds me of Remus Lupin. His voice is mellow, easy on the years. His laugh is … a bit weird. *shatters* Lol. His shaggy hair makes him look cute though, though I do prefer that he kept his hair short. Sigh. At least that makes his angular face look a bit sharper. All the angles are now softened.
Tak suka la. But can’t deny that he looks good. :> If only Eat’n Park was an on-campus thing, I would’ve applied to work there.
Sadly, it is not.
Never mind la. Aduh.
But this is why I love the sunshine right now. I get to wear all the pretty clothes I want to, and thanks to my rigorous exercising over the past few months, I look good in what I wear. :) And I can buy pretty, pretty clothes without caring that it shows my bulge, because I don’t have any bulge! :D haha!
Did I mention that i saw him staring? =) weeeeeeeeeeeeee *floats to the sky* Oh well. There’s nothing I can do about it.
My hands are tied.
rawr.
implosion.
lately, since re-starting my miniature endeavors, i’ve stopped dreaming. dreaming as in the REM sorta thing. when i sleep, i wake up without remembering anything, other than utter blackness. at first i didn’t know why, and it felt so strange to be without dreams. somehow, some time after that i realized something.
i dream because i have no creative outlet at that time. that’s why my dreams are so wacky, so peculiar and so colorful. i don’t gain any inspiration from my dreams, but my subconscious appeared to have been searching frantically for the perfect creative outlet. hence, the implosion.
unfortunately, i’ve slowed down, miniature-wise. i’ve ventured back into writing again, as you can see from my previous posts. writing helps me put my emotions into neat, perfect categories. especially if i can decant them into characters, make them live it out realistically, so that i do not have to do it on my own. it helps keep me busy actually, and i really don’t mind it. unfortunately, i might not have time to write much now, since my exams are so near! and then i’ll be back in malaysia! whoopdedoo! can’t wait.
ah. speaking of which, i’m in a dilemma. i’m not sure what to bring home and what to leave behind – craft-supply, i mean. also, i’m gonna have to start packing now and clean my room. sigh. okok. gtg. church soon. nites.




