#2.7 My Life Would Suck Without All Of You

"You guys are crazy and make me crazier."

The stupid A-Level exams were finally over and we were totally freed from hell, at least until January next year. My prayer for a solution for all of my luggage had again been answered and although I was not from Sabah or Sarawak, the officers allowed me and some friends to put our luggage in the locked study room. This had saved me from a hell lot of problems without having to find ways to bring all of the luggage back to AS. And again I thank God for that.

I still couldn't believe that it was November already. Time really flies and it's time for separation again. Although I knew I would still be seeing them around next year, but it's still so sad to be parted with them. It's just only been one semester and our bond had grown so strong. I just couldn't imagine how I would feel when we had to fly to different directions after 2 years. The mere thought of it was simply and truly heart-breaking.

We celebrated so many different festivals, visited many places, had picnics, started BBQ, enjoyed hanging out in the mall laughing out loud, planned birthday surprises, organized so many parties, and had done so many stuff together. And all of them were of so much fun and craziness.
Although all of you are crazy, naughty, insane, lame, quarrelsome, and inhuman, I still think you all are so great and fun to be with. And you all had definitely made my life in Intec so much more interesting and I will seriously missed every one of you in this 2 months.

But still, I couldn't wait to be reunited with my family-especially my grandparents-again. MW would be coming back from Brisbane for at least 2 months and I couldn't wait to hang out and catch up with him. And as for friends in AS and Adelaide, I will be seeing all of you really, really soon and I could hardly contain all the excitement thinking about all the fun that we would be having.

Walk. Eat. Blog

Choc Cupcakes by Miss Wanie

Currently
listening to: 3 by Britney Spears
watching: Ugly Betty Season 4
reading: No-book-principle after exams.

#2.6 A Pursuit Of Happiness

"Don't be afraid. Just have faith. Mark 5:36"



When I first came to this new place, I had faced so much trouble just trying to blend in, and I resented everything and everyone here. I blamed God-I really did- for sending me here although I was the one who had made the decision to be here.

I hated the hostel, the people, the college, the environment, the food, the transport and everything. I had no one to turn to and talk to when I was down, angry, or sad. So, I prayed to God that I would one day feel happy and have a lot of friends in Intec though it seemed impossible at that time. And yet miraculously He answered my prayer. In fact, He had answered a lot of my little prayers this year, which I found quite hard to believe in the very beginning. But He really did. The right person would always turn up to assist me with my problems, and I managed to overcome the problems one by one by their help. And I thank God for that. The first time that I met Uncle Yong, he told me that my life would be so colourful but I did not understand what he meant by then until now.

New friends popped up one by one and our friendship grew stronger by each day, and I really enjoyed every moment that I had spent with them. Most importantly, we had so much fun together and I finally could be myself again when I was with them. Yeah, we were of different races, but so what? It's triple fun that way. Despite all the bad stuff that I'd said about Shah Alam, I still felt really happy to be here.

I was rearranging my stuff when this card fell out of the novel that I'd read halfway through. And now I knew what it meant, for I knew His plan for me. Next week would be my final. There seemed to be no hope for my Biology to score an A and it was impossible for me to finish all the revision before the final, but still I would like to shout out loud :"Don't tell God how big your storm is, tell the storm how big your God is". And I seriously missed my grandparents now as I'd not chatted with them for a long time. Hope them have fun in L.A and Las Vegas. Like I said, it's a new dawn.

Walk.Eat.Blog

Famous Ikan Bakar, Cahaya

Currently
listening to: Fireflies by Owl City
watching: Gossip Girl Season 3
reading: ODJ (Our Daily Journey with God)

#2.5 Brothers & Sister (+Cousins)

"Our love holds us together, our differences make one another stronger."

It had been a long time since I needed to slam hard on the bathroom door because they were using it for a long time. It had been a long time since I quarrelled with anyone of them. It had been a long time since we pointed fingers at one another when things went wrong. It had also been a long time since we quarrelled whether the bedroom lights should be turned off or on at night, or grabbing the TV remote control from one another, or complaining about one another to Mummy and Papa, or fighting over the air-conditioner remote control. Those may not be the nicest memories but I missed all those days with them.

There were 10 of us together, growing up together in the storm, in this family that was so shattered and yet so united, and yet we had pulled through all of them. We fought over everything that could be fought over-food, gifts, love, attentions, toys, books, stickers, computer, television, money, clothes and the list seemed to go on and on. We always got into serious fights as each one of us was so headstrong and stubborn. No one was ever willing to give in first and we almost never saved faces for one another. Every time, an adult had to step in and interfere before all those verbal conflicts turned into physical ones. However, the most amazing thing was that no one ever held a grudge and after that we were good, as if the fights had never happened before. Yet, we had never stopped fighting.

We had our differences, our very own opinions about things. But our differences made one another stronger. Of course, we did many things together besides fighting. We used to shower-splashing water at one another could hardly counted as one-together when we were small, imitating the adults by setting up our very own"family", acting as polices, Kungfu fighters, cooks, warriors, doctors, nurses, CEOs, and many many more. Also, we proudly (and stupidly) declared ourselves as the "Ten Brothers" as there were 10 of us. We played lots of games together and had such great time together. They gave me so many childhood memories that I would cherish forever. In fact, they completed my childhood.
And now we were all separated. I could still vividly remember how my heart broke when I heard that my little cousin cried all the way back to Alor Star after I boarded the plane to further my studies, and how sad I was when Mummy told me how my little brother used to wake up in the nights calling for my name. And how touched I was when I received my Pooh bear from my same-age sibling MW and how he had planned my 18 birthday party or when my cousin bought me a wallet a few days before I went to Adelaide. Yet, despite all these, every time when I went back to Alor Star I just wanted to hang out with my friends instead of them, all the while not knowing that they were sitting back at home waiting for me to spend some little time with them, and how rude and impatient I was whenever they asked me to teach them how to do their homework. They always remembered my birthday, but I always forgot theirs.

I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you all had done for me, and sorry to all of you for taking you all for granted. As we grew older, distance and maturity had made us quarrel less. I thought all the fighting thing had been over until recently I got back home and all of us had a big fight again. I guessed something never changed. :)

Love you all forever.

Walk. Eat. Blog

Tony Roma's, Sunway Pyramid

Currently
listening to: Down by Jay Dean
watching: nothing thanks to exams and tests
reading: A-Level Text Books (SHIT!)

#2.4 So You Think You Can Dream

"My dream is to have a dream."

Dream. It's a simple word but at the same time it's so complicated. I'm scared, because I don't have one, yet. And I seldom talked to others about it, as I knew how shocked they would be. Every time I tell someone-except a few of my best friends-about it, I could see it from their faces that they didn't believe it, and some even thought that it was funny. I did not understand how could it be so funny? It's not. It's not a laughing matter, to me it's not. It's pathetic.

I've always envied those who had a dream. They knew what their dream job was, what they were pursuing, and what goals they had in their lives. But how come I don't. To be frank, I have had no interest in anything at all. I don't see myself as a doctor, a pharmacist, a dentist or a Look!-I-have-a-job person in a few years time. When I was six, I wanted to be a police, only because it was cool, until I found out that their salaries weren't. When I was in standard 1, I wanted to be a teacher, only because I was always beaten and wanted revenge-a chance to beat the students who did not do their work, or forgot to bring their books. When I was standard 3, engineer was my choice only because I saw a poster of an engineer looking so smart and handsome, and stupidly I thought that if I became an engineer, I would be that good-looking too. Doctor was my preference in high school because many said that it was a waste not to be one if one's results were damn good. Later in college I turned to dentistry because my relatives remarked that it would be one of the highest paying job in the future. Now I was paving my way to pharmacy as many told me it was an easier and secured job. But was it what I really wanted, or not?

One day I was in the car with my parents and they suddenly asked me what my dream was. I told them straight away that I didn't know. Mummy told me that she met HuiEn just now and asked her about her dream, and it was to be a pharmacist. Then she said that there must be something that I really liked. I remained silence and Papa answered that question for me. "How can he have one, when he has everything without the need of dreaming to have them?" He said. I supposed it was true, in some way.

I would definitely fail if the title of English essay for the final A-Level exam was "My Ambition" because all I could write was "My ambition is to be a...a...a...THE END". I did not know what job I really wanted to have in my life. I have been searching it for my whole life, but I still couldn't find it. Maybe someday, just maybe, I will know and I hope it would not be too late by then.

Equipped with wings, the sky was clear, and the weather was perfect but how could I begin to fly when there's no destination?

Still searching........just for a dream.

Walk. Eat. Blog

BBQ Plaza, Sunway Pyramid

Currently

listening to: Happy by Leona Lewis

watching: The Suite Life On Deck

reading: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

#2.3 Moonlight Saving

"The first song was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and I was so embarrassed that I could only remember part of its lyrics."

*Title quoted from Eugenie (To all ass friends: Daylight saving has started and although the time difference between us has changed, our friendship hasn't, and won't.)

The annual Mid-Autumn Festival was here again and 10M10 had unanimously agreed to celebrate it at the park near the girls' hostel and thank God it was a blast. After I showered and changed, I went to SinHui and Tiong's room, and was surprised that they had prepared the Chinese Herbal Soup. I had to admit that it had been a long time since I had tasted it. It tasted great but it made me feel a little homesick. Although we had some minor problem with the taxi, we managed to reach Section 18 at about 7p.m. We shopped for paper lanterns, candles, drinks, ice, snacks and some chopsticks before we had our dinner together in one of the bistros nearby.

At first, some of us felt that the park was too dark as it literally scared the hell out of us but our fears were gone the minute our lanterns were lit. After everyone had arrived, we chose a nice spot and started to light up our lanterns. It was indeed many Malays' first time to play with lanterns and all of them were so excited once they had done fixing their lanterns with the candles. "It was so beautiful!" Many of them were screaming and we were filled with joy when we saw our lanterns illuminating the dark park and some of us took a walk around the park. We chatted while enjoying the moon cakes, snacks and drinks with the light of the lanterns around us flickering like fireflies flying in the mellow moonlight.

Later, we carried the brightly lit lanterns and sat in a big circle under the bright moon (I could hardly remember seeing it but I was sure that it was round that night) and someone suggested that we could sing some songs that everyone knew. The first song was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and I was so embarrassed that I could only remember part of its lyrics. We clapped our hands in sync and continued to sing songs like "Rasa Sayang", "Barney' s theme song", "Rat Loves Rice" and many more. Then, we took turns to talk about things that people did not know about us. We had a good laugh at one another's answers and we were taken by surprise that there were quite many that were from other classes and we got to know more about one another.

Due to the damn (and unnecessary too, at least to me it was) curfew, we were forced to end that wonderful night. We closed our eyes for 10 seconds to think about all the great and funny stuff that had happened that night. Ily played some songs of Taylor Swift with her guitar and we sang along with her. After that, we took the cab back to our hostel and it was already past curfew and that meant the gate would have been closed. I kept on praying in the cab and luckily the gate was not closed yet when we arrived and it was a miracle that that night's curfew had been extended to 12a.m or we would have to camp outside under the moon . We sighed with relief and went back to our rooms and chatted a while before we went to sleep.

I received calls from Grandpa and Mummy that night and although I didn't get to gather and celebrate this festival with my family, all my friends still made that night so much fun and memorable. Thanks everyone. Praying hard also for those who were trapped under the rubble in the recent quake to be rescued and those who suffered from droughts in Africa.

We did totally forget about Chang'e, didn't we? Oops.

Currently

listening to: Good Girls Go Bad (feat. Leighton Meester) by Cobra Starship

watching: Desperate Housewives season 6

reading: About A Boy by Nick Hornby

#2.2 Charmed

"I'm blessed."

When you're reading this, don't worry, I'm still very much alive. Life has been good to me and although it hasn't been as good as it used to be, I'm still satisfied with everything I have now. Ever since I came to Shah Alam, I began to learn more about life as days passed by. I learnt that not everyone was as fortunate as others, not everyone had a warm family to support them every now and then, and not everyone appreciated things that others had done for them.

As for me, I knew that I'd always been lucky ever since I was born. Being the first grandson in the family, so much love had been showered to me by everyone in the family. I wouldn't deny that I had always taken everything in my life for granted, especially my family and friends. I came from a big family and everyone of us had unique and different personality. Like any other family, we had family issues too and we liked to quarrel, argue and disagree with one another. Almost every day there would be a new issue and everyone would fight and a verbal conflict was inevitable, but at the end of the day, the issue would be solved and all was forgotten and forgiven. There's not one family event that did not involve all the fights and arguments. We often wanted to kill one another but we all clearly knew that we would be utterly lost without one another. They always let me make my own decisions, let me chase my dreams, and let me do things that would make me happy. They made me strong and encouraged me to believe in that strength. And they made it clear that if anything went wrong, I could always go home and they would always be there for me.

Family that can never be replaced.

My life would never have been completed without all my friends. I found my group of friends in high school, another new group in Adelaide. We did practically everything together. In high school, we always hanged out in malls together, watched movies together, burnt the midnight oils together the night before the exams, had sleepovers, travelled together and the best part was talking about sex issues and made dirty jokes unashamedly. In Adelaide, there was a bunch of ass monkey friends that always be around and gave me all the great memories that I would cherish forever. We went to the same college together and although we studied in different classes, the bond we formed grew stronger as each day passed by and seriously, I really felt more like family than friends and it seemed like we had met for a century rather than just a few months. We visited so many places together, had picnic by Glenelg beach, watched the most beautiful sunset at Henley beach, picked strawberries at Beerenberg Strawberry Farm, teased one another about the subjects we had chosen (Still Biology rules and a big BOO to Physics, haha) and always had lunch together. I have always wondered what I had done to deserve such awesome friends. So, I wanted to say a BIG thank you to all of them. You all have certainly left a significant footstep in my journey of life. I missed them so much and I would never have made it to today without them. And of course friends in INTEC were just as great especially all the 10M10 friends (sorry for being an irresponsible class rep), all the Christian friends, my roommates and of course the cheerful JiChing, cute but grumpy Sin Hui, and helpful ChienChoong.

Bestest friends in High School. (Many were left out)

Bestest friends in Adelaide. (Some left out too)

Friends in INTEC.

Speaking of life, I had always pondered and wondered what life really was. Recently, I got a quote from a movie saying that "Life is a climb, but the view is great." It's very true and HuiRen asked me what if he fell into a deep valley. I told him that he just had to pick himself up and climb back up again. Yes, life's as simple as that. We would meet all kinds of people in life, some would make it brighter and some would let us down, and when that happened we just had to pick ourselves up and move on. However I think that my life now is about love, friends and family as I won't know what I would do without them. And now everyday I am growing closer to Christ and His love and faith to all of us are just so amazing. I don't have any dreams now (about ambition) but I know that I would figure it out one day. I have a family to love, friends to turn to when I'm tired, and Christ that's always there for me. This is what dreams are made of to me.

I'm really blessed and lucky. Charmed? I'm sure.

Currently
listening to: The Climb by Miley Cyrus
watching: Gossip Girl Season 3
reading: Crayon SinChan

#2.1 Ghost Whispered

"Before I could figure out what was actually happening, a powerful source of energy rushed into my body and I began to shiver and tremble like a leaf. "



It had been 2 months since I came back to Malaysia, being away from all my ass Adelaide friends (Don't blame me, Jamie called all of us that. ) and finally everything seemed to start making a little bit sense to me. Life was easy but dull. Just as I thought everything was getting better in time, the incident yesterday, or early this morning struck me like a lighting bolt, too sudden and too quick for me to escape and worse off, there was no where else to escape.

It was around 3a.m. in the morning, and I had just finished a quarter of my Biology report as I had been slacking the whole day. A few minutes later, I got tired and decided to call it a day. As usual, I went to brush my teeth and wash my face before getting into my bed. Before long, I drifted off to sleep. I dreamt that I was walking on a road and started to feel all dizzy and began to fall to the ground. Then as crazy as it sounded, everything was plunged into pitch darkness and I began to feel a strong force sucked me into the hole of darkness. Suddenly, I was instantly awake and I was 100% sure that I was not in the dream anymore. I tried to move and struggled to open my eyes but I couldn't. All I could do was lying still on the bed. Before I could figure out what was actually happening, a powerful source of energy rushed into my body and I began to shiver and tremble like a leaf. My whole body was shaking and I could feel something inside of me. I panicked and for a moment then I really thought that I was going to die. The energy inside of me was so strong and there was nothing else I could do.

I tried my best to open my eyes, and I just could make out the silhouette of the closets in my room. I knew that something was very, very wrong and instantly I knew I had to do something. Although I lost control of my body, my mind was clear. I knew I had to fight it off and I began to pray. As a buddhist, instinctively I began to say "Amitofo" but nothing had changed. Then, I kept on repeating the word "Jesus" in my mind for some time. I didn't even have the time to fear or think, I just kept saying them and finally when I shouted the word "Jesus Christ" in my mind, I began to feel it slowly slipping away and eventually it left my body. At that very moment, I could sit up and open my eyes. I looked around me and found out that nothing had changed and everything was still in its own place. Rahman and Zaid were still up using their laptops.

Without much thought, I walked out of my room into the study room and talked to Zaid, my roommate, about it. My eyes widened as I heard the words coming out from his mouth. " I've also experienced such thing before when I slept, I think there's something "dirty" here," he said. I called Mummy immediately and at first she thought someone crazy had phoned her right in the middle of the night until I told her what had happened. She asked me not to worry and that everything would turn out fine. As I was wide awake, I turned on my laptop again and chatted with Alvin for a while about the incident.

Seriously, I never thought that such thing could ever happen to me. I had shared a lot of ghost stories with my friends but they were just merely hearsay. I remembered sharing them with Jasmine, Alex and Eugenie in Bradford Lodge, with Mira, Ily and Wan in the Intec Library, and of course with all of my high school friends in Keat Hwa, but usually I just laughed it off and then nothing had ever happened. Ok, I had to admit that sometimes they scared the hell out of me.

Today morning, I received more calls from my family members asking me not to be scared and to be strong and calm. I knew that this incident would really haunt me for the rest of my life and I would never be able to forget it. However, I still wanted to thank God for saving me from whatever it was and also my family and friends for always being there for me whenever I needed them. Love you all lots.



Currently
listening to: Obsessed by MC
watching: The Final Destination
reading: Dance While You Can By Susan Lewis

#11 Terminated: The Photo Perfect Chronicles

"Since this is the last post on Taller In Other Ways: Far Away From Home, I would break away from the tradition and put more photos instead of writing boring stuff."



During the break, I went to Penang with a few of my best friends in high school- Yvonne, her sister, Winson and Zitheng. Overall it was fun and I loved the eating, chatting and shopping part best.

ShuaShuaLe, A must-go place in Prangin Mall.

25 photos to reminisce 2009 Jan-June

New Year Countdown for 2009
My 18th birthday party MW made for me.
Last photo in the airport b4 leaving for Aus.
The first visit to Cleland Wildlife Park during orientation week.
Taken while walking around Rundle Mall.
The landmark-Art Gallery.The first visit to the South Australian Museum.First time to Glenelg beach.

Visiting Adelaide Zoo.

Laming in Geoff's Chemistry class.

Sleepover in Zixian's house when I got back to Msia for 1 week.

Bush Trekking on Mount Lofty.

Watching sunset at Henley beach.

Strawberry farm in Handolf.

Picnic by Glenelg.

Went to Victor harbour to watch Dolphins.

" Friendship is like the wind, you cannot see it but you can always feel it."

Adelaide friends (in alphabetical order):

Alex: Know Zac Efron? Yeah, this is him.

Alvin: Want someone to watch over you? Grab him today.

Azizul: Searching for the best cook? You have one here.

Brian: Want a game after school? Find him.

Careena: If the earth crust is cracked by a loud voice, you know why.

Chiew: If you can't find some place to stay or someone to talk to, call him.

CJ: Wanna date some junior? He is your choice.

Eugenie: What more can I say about my freakin' awesome mum?

Huiren: Want a shy boyfriend? Get his phone number.

Jamie: The lamerest person on earth? No, the whole universe.

Jammy: Eager to meet some Hongkies? He is one.

Jasmine: Want a drunk babe? Date her today.

Michelle: Ever seen the fattest pig? Just open your eyes and there she is.

Nicole: A girl that puts toothpicks on both of her cheeks as she smiles even when she sleeps.

Priscilla: The most serious ENL students that Greg can ever find.

Serene: Want a MV of yourself? Phone this pretty girl.

Sophia: If you have a death wish, disturb her when she is studying.

Victor: Get his msn if you want to meet the son of the boss of Marrybrown.

WeeChen: Want a free Mac meal? Call him.

William: Eager to meet someone from NZ? You have one here.

ZhaoFarn: Wanna hear some crap when you are down? Find him.

And who am I? You know you know me. Bye, guys.