#2.17 CNY

"CNY's the time when families reunite, friends gather, happiness fills the air and most importantly Ang Pow money's given. Save the red packets and just give the money, and NO coins please. "

Up, down, left, right. No matter where you looked, the colour was red. Decorations inside every shopping complexes, ads on the roadside, politicians' faces beside the drains...blah blah blah...everything was red. I wondered what would people think if black was used instead? (Just kidding.) A lot of countries-especially those who owed China a big sum of money and those who wanted to please China- went overboard by decorating their countries with all sorts of silly stuff and pretended that they really did care about this occasion. Anyway, back in Cendana we had a pre-reunion dinner before we went back.

We played some cards after that. Yeah, I knew a lot of people got caught for this and I knew it's illegal. But what's the point of catching them? I could guarantee you that during CNY every house (Chinese of course) would have rounds and rounds of poker games going on. So what's the point? Why not gather all the Chinese in the prison and serve them free reunion dinner. You could bet they would continue to gamble in prison. But could you blame them? They were Chinese after all. And only human.

The next day, we went to Pavilion after school. The New Year songs that were playing in the air just made me want to rush home straight away. Of course I was just kidding, neither did I own private jet planes like some Dato nor my mouth was stuck with money that had the strong smell of coffee (or should I said the money from the people's sweat that disappeared mysteriously every year?)

After we had our reunion dinner, we took some family photos. The last time was when The Lord of the Rings was on the big screen. Yeah, it had been that long.

Spotted: A couple with the couple shirt on Valentine's day. 

Doubt no more, it must be Mummy's idea.

The first day of CNY, a lot of pretentious people and blood..nope money-sucking politicians came to the open house and there was the lion dance. It was believed that this could ward off evil spirits. Blah, it was just business. All these genetically mutated lions ate nothing but money, money and money only.

On the second day, we went back to Perlis (Mummy's hometown). We visited Tasik Melati where Mummy and Papa's wedding photo shoot took place. "You know, last time....", "Your dad.....", "This place...." Yeah, yeah, yeah, Valentine's day's over Mummy.

And because of their love, we had these 2 naughty and hyperactive twins. They thought they were in some Chinese Kungfu movies. This was OK but what's WORSE was that Mummy thought she was filming Malaysian's next top model. Just take a look at the way she posted in front of the camera.

And that's how I spent my new year. Ang Pow money? RM0. Why? Mummy used them to pack Ang Pow for others. If someone gave 6 of us RM60, they would get back RM40 for their children. Yeah, you get the picture.

Walk. Eat. Blog

The Loaf, Pavilion

Currently

listening to: Tik Tok by Ke$ha
watching: The Proposal

reading: Kunang Kunang mag

#2.16 The Last Teen

" It's indeed the best birthday that I've ever had."



It all started exactly at 11.59pm when my mum called to wish me Happy Birthday. She called 1 minute earlier just as she knew the phone would "explode" by 12am. How thoughtful she was and that's one of the many reasons I LOVE her.

Then at 12am, the boys came into the room and turned off the light when I was still obviously on the phone. Wilson kissed me on the cheek and they began to sing the Happy Birthday song while holding the 2 cakes and 1 special dessert that they had MADE themselves. I was so thrilled as it was totally out of my expectation. Yeah, I expected that they would sing songs but never the cakes and the desserts. The phone was totally "exploded" with lots of calls and messages, and I didn't manage to answer all of the calls. Wilson answered the call from the girls and talked about some silly stuff for a while before the girls sang the birthday song through the phone. I was touched as they purposely gathered and stayed awake just for my birthday.

And there was the prank! The boys tricked me into believing that the LCD projector that I'd borrowed was broken as it fell to the floor by pretending to be the officers from the HEA Office and that I had to pay RM20,000 for it. I lied on the bed for 2 hours worrying about all the stuff that was not true at all. And when I confronted Sin Hui for it, he said that they couldn't allow me to be so easy and relax while the whole ALM block was busy making the cakes and dessert for the entire day. "We're busy and so must you, " he said. It made sense at first but later on it struck me how LAME that excuse was! WTH!!

The next morning after class, Wilson (again) pretended that he wanted to buy some stuff and asked me to accompany him. When we got into the class again, everyone was in the class and the birthday song was sung again. A big box stood out of everything in front of the class, tied with red ribbons and wrapped with paper. After the ribbon was cut, V and the others wanted me to close my eyes and take off my glasses. I hesitated as I knew this was clearly another prank, but yet STUPIDLY I closed them. The next thing I knew was that my hair, my face and my clothes were covered with whipped cream. Later I was told that Vais had jumped out from the box and slammed the plate with whipped cream into my face. The boys were behind to catch me just in case I ran but they overestimated my cleverness as I just stood there like an idiot.
Later I was asked to close my eyes again and the confetti was shot up into the air. And God, it was beautiful. Then, it's present time . The girls gave them to me one by one: the pink goggles, the baby socks, the pacifier, the lipstick, the baby powder, the banana, the pregnancy test, and finally the thing that was usually used to prevent pregnancy (not diaphragm). Yea, that thing...the thing...aiya, I knew you're dirty-minded enough to figure out what it was. One question: WHEN & WHAT THE HELL WOULD I DO WITH ALL THESE THINGS?
Then, all the 10M10 people pretended to be good and again I needed to close my eyes. ( ==??!! How many times should I close them??) They said they would lead me to the toilet but when I opened my eyes we were in the field and I was shot with lots of water bags. "You're the one that said that you wanted to clean up," they said. Another LAME excuse. =="
After all these, I had to admit that my level of intelligence was 0 after all. But I wondered why I looked younger as I aged? It must be inside the genes. And Michelle Lee the pig was officially the last one to wish me after a few days. "Since I couldn't be the first, I would be the last," she said. ^%$$#%^&*! =)

The first present from SinHui

The card from Hannah, Yeefarn, Ivy, Zixin and Cindy that I love so much.
The crocs from my roommates.
Birthday wishes from every one.
Sarah's lovely piece of art.
The special gifts.
Finally, the special Taiwan stamps from Tiong.

Thanks every one. Love you guys. =)

Walk. Eat. Blog

The unique cake by ALM boys

Currently
listening to: Starstrukk ft. Katy Perry by 3OH!3
watching: Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief
reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

#2.15 2010

"Some feelings could only be felt and not be summed up with a chat over a muffin and a cup of tea during breakfast."

It's always amazing to look back and realise how many choices that you'd made, how many good time had gone, how many times your feelings were hurt, how much tears were shed, how much you'd changed, and most importantly how far you've come. It's only been a year. Yet, everything had changed so dramatically, in both good and bad ways.

A lot of unexpected things popped out of nowhere and I'd learnt never to expect the expected in life, as everything would change in any seconds. And whenever I looked back, I would be surprised when I realised how short and fragile life was, and how easily it could be taken away.

Today last year, I set foot in Bradford college for the first time. Being miles away from my family and friends and alone in a world that was so unfamiliar, fear was everywhere. And uncertainties never left. I had not realised how much courage and strength I'd summoned until a small chat with someone in the church. "It must've required a lot of courage to come here all by yourself, did you ever feel scared?" She asked. I answered no but in my head I was shouting Yes, and All The Time. There were always a lot of fear and uncertainties behind the courage, weren't there? I remembered crying to sleep in my room holding the photo album the first night in Adelaide, feeling all alone, and I continued to every night in the first week. I had never been so far away from my family, and the thought scared me to death. I dreamt of home and friends every night. I scolded myself to be so stupid and stubborn to choose to study so far away when I could actually choose otherwise.

I remembered looking up into the sky shimmering with thousands of stars. It might sound strange but it really made me feel closer to home, and at the same time feeling less lonely as I knew we were looking at the same sky after all. I remembered taking out the extra pillow case from the closet just to smell it. It reminded me of home, and I cried more. I remembered cooking instant noodles with William the night before the tests, and it reminded me of the nights when my high school friends and I sms-ed and called one another just to make sure that every one was awake studying, and it gave me strength and encouragement to push on.

Later, things went pretty well, if not better. I met all these monkey Adelaidians. I had never talked to anyone about the bond we had, or the beautiful sunset that we watched together or the crazy night of Brian's birthday, or the AB dinner we shared. I just felt there's no need to, as no matter how nice or understanding they were, I knew that they wouldn't understand, as they had not gone through it themselves and mere words could never be able to describe it. The same went to the moment I had with my high school friends, and it too applied to the time I spent with the friends in Intec. Some feelings could only be felt and not be summed up with a chat over a muffin and a cup of tea during breakfast.

Lesson learnt last year: Life, just like dark night, it may be dark, but it will always be accompanied by millions of stars, and they are always always there even if you don't get to see them sometimes. And when I look back, I know just as much how far I've come.

Walk. Eat. Blog

T-Chow, China Town

Currently

listening to: Angels cry (feat. Neyo) by Mariah Carey
watching: Charmed season 5

reading: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (cried 3 times reading it, shit!)