Living between Realism and Idealism

Entries for June, 2009

June 4, 2009

[400] Tag me not, lol.

I got tagged by WaiYen who required sixteen random things, habits or goals about me. Fortunately for yours truly, she had just done quite a similar tag from Avinesh a couple of months back. So, here I am reposting it. Sorry for the obvious display of laziness, but do cut me some slack. The mass being protected in the skull, which I believed had degenerated from the its original purpose as a brain, is currently showing signs of malfunction and also inadequacy to perform any forms of intellectual purposes.

And I realised that the two posts I put up in response to Avi's tag was lacking of #15. But I guess, my readers are quite inept in counting. Lol. No offence!

This is the 16+9 random things, habits, or goals about me

#1 - I look so tough at the exterior, people think I have no fears. But, as a matter of fact, I am katsaridaphobic. Especially the ones that fly, I can scream and wail and run in no orientation, all simultaneously. Yea, I see you laughing.

#2 - I am very dependent on caffeine. But deep down, I know caffeine no longer gives me the effect [read: exhilaration & perked-up excitement] I used to get when I first started drinking. In these recent years, I still consume it religiously every morning to "persuade" myself that it is time to be awake. However so, I really forward to drinking my morning coffee. The contentment is just indescribable.

#3 - I am at my best with loud music plugged into my ears when solving calculations, statistical problems, anything mathematical, or when I need to think. I just realised it when I started varsity life. Heck, I aced every mathematical / calculation-related subjects that I took since I started my first semester. *why didn't I find out about this in F6?!*

#4 - I am very self-conscious. Not in the way I dress. Just in the way I talk and the way I carry myself when I face other people.

#5 - Everything that I buy for myself either to be worn or used, must have an average lifespan of 3 years. Ok, maybe I didn't INSIST on 3 years, but what I meant is that I don't buy something for myself unless I know that I would use it in the long run.

#6 - Sometimes, I wake up, I look at myself in the mirror, I will realise that I actually look good (the wake-up look) and I will remain happy for the rest of the day. Do you do the same?

#7 - I always wanted to be different. Most of the time, I am the trend-setter for some things, but I will never follow others on anything. Not in terms of fashion or dressing sense.

#8 - I like listening to random music in shuttle buses or vans. Not those Malay songs that spells CINTA at a monotonous tone. It's those Indonesian bands that I like. They have great tunes that gets stuck in your head even though you have just heard it once. Try "Dewi" by Dewa, or "Ruang Rindu" by Letto.

#9 - I like walking fast, and be the first in a group of walking people. I don't like someone hovering in front of me when I am racing to class in walking mode. I seriously feel like tripping those idiots who walks in the most lemah-lembut manner.

#10 - I like flavourful food. Not exactly food that burst in multitude of flavours. What I meant is just that I want is like, if this plate of fried rice is meant to be salty and spicy, please don't lack in either tastes. To hell with being health-conscious with the tagline Less Sugar, Less Salt and Less Oil. In a dish, every flavour must be equivalently strong to bring out the accompanying tastes. Salt complements sweetness, sugar complements salt. People who cook would know what I mean.

#11 - Because of #4, I don't quite like meeting new people. It makes me feel vulnerable, susceptible to feeling stupid, gullible, or ignorant. But then, in contrary to the feelings I have before meeting new people, after I have gone through the "meeting" part, I can just be anyone's friends.

#12 - I am a professional in blowing-water. This is an ability which I do not know how to word out in decent English besides the humble crapping / bullshitting / talking without thinking. That is why I think I am particularly good in literature reviews in my reports after going through journals. And I consider this as a good talent, and and, I have never told anyone about this.

#13 - Besides technological gadgets and my supplements, I am most willing to spend on shoes and things related to my hands and feet.

#14 - Partly because of #4 also, I am very observant of my surroundings and the people I meet. And before I continue, I would like to stress that this is a very, very, very bad habit that no one should learn or follow. What I do is that I can interpret one's attitude and personality with just a simple conversation. So with this so-called ability, I judge people too much at times. I don't know how I do it, or I cannot explain how I make such interpretations. I just know.

#15 - In a much more positive way to put it, I am very optimistic to decisions that I have made. When I set my mind to something, I would keep on harping on that, either thinking about it, or mentioning it. I think it is a way that I use to convince myself that the decision which I had made is all good and I should look forward to it. Well, actually, this is what I define as the classic - being in denial, TQVM.

#16 - I would choose to be scorching hot, than freezing cold. At any cost.

#17 - I love doing origami. Especially those practical ones which serves a purpose, and not just for aesthetic reasons. And also a tendency in making them in mass.

#18 - I have a underlying talent in creating a mess wherever I go and the best part is that I can find my things easier in messes rather than tidy arrangements. But then, I am no longer a messy person. I have changed. It is just a cliche, lol.

#19 - I would prefer guys to talk to me in English, rather than those who babble in Mandarin, like the ones here in UTHM. It would be such an ideal place for me! Nothing is perfect. But but but, I also have to add, there are loads of Mandarin-speaking nice guys that I know. No offence!

#20 - I enjoy being seen as an independent girl/woman/person, and not one of those clingy girls.
/rant starts here/ Why does guys prefer clingy girls over girls like me?! /rant ends here/

#21 - Shoes that looks good which kills my ever-walking feet, I will buy. Comfort shoes which will let me travel a thousand miles with grandma feet, hell no!

#22 - I have inherited this genetic trait from my Dad in which will prompt impulsive buying in me if I like something, and this liking comes seasonally in particular items. No joke.

#23 - I have never regretted applying into this university (UTHM), regardless of what people think of this place.

#24 - Part of the reason on why I started blogging 3 years ago was because I wanted to be heard.

#25 - I had never gotten on a serious relationship. I had flings, but not serious ones. I just want one serious relationship in my lifetime if it's ever possible. (=

WaiYen, I hope this is good enough!

| music | Kekasih Gelapku - Ungu
| mood | awake

Filed under Daily Dose | 2 person vomitted

June 5, 2009

[401] An update on my mundane yet humble life

by chenyeng2706 | 03:21 AM

I bet everyone who is within the same networking circle as I am has heard of Su's trip to Aussieland a couple of weeks back. You guys could've bumped into her album, or perhaps read entries from here, and her Day 1 entry here.

Well, I need to drive some of my insignificant blog traffic to her blog in hopes of showing gratitude for being the mule - the one who brought back loves from Aussieland for me from dudey!

And I shall forever love Avinesh for driving the extra mile to transport it over to me from Su's place. You've been given the welcoming ritual by Rinchen, so what more would you expect in return for bringing the Aussie Love to me than Rinchen's very own welcoming ritual, right? Bet'cha loved the Husky. Take care of the virgin stitch, okay?

So, anyways, this is the Aussie Love that I received ...

Aussie Love [unopened]

Aussie Love [opened]

It's been such a looooooooong time since I have seen your handwriting, TINGGG! And guess what, it has never changed. The last time I've seen it was in the little birthday note which you stickied onto my 20th birthday present. And I wonder if you still remember what you gave me on that year's birthday?

Thanks dudey. Although I'm not a big fan of chocolates, but I'll eat that. Saya janji okey?

For the past few weeks, I have grown and nurtured an obsession over ...

*RESTAURANT CITY*

... and I have been engrossed in a levelling frenzy. By which I mean, trying to gain more points to elevate my level. "Lvling" is a term used (and abused) in MMORPGs for that same meaning.

I can always find the time to let the restaurant run and I just come back to check on my employees' energy bar, and to clean the toilets. Now that I have more employees, I can just place more toilets in my restaurant, and let it run independently until my employees' energy bar hits 80%, and put everything on hold to allow time for my employees to regenerate their energy bar to 100%. And this means that I have to check on them every 30-40 minutes.

Maximum Popularity Rating

And not to mention that my popularity rating hits the maximum bar (50.0) while I'm on this lvling frenzy. And at the moment, I am in the Level 18 bar, with 62.7k GPs. The screenshot above was taken yesterday.

I had a sudden realisation that I have not visited my blog for quite some time today. So I checked it and found out that I got tagged. With a gush of familiarity, I chose to repost an old tag.

It was really not done out of the mean, patronising manner. But I just thought that the tag was the same and it befits the criteria. So, I'm alright, no?

And then after I had done the tag, I realised that one of the items in my sidetitle (the column you see on your right) had gone missing. The html codes must have been updated. But then I thought, it was kinda irrelevant to place it there now as it is deemed to be labelled as stale. So, I had a sudden rush in me at that very moment to make some changes.

Now you can see ...

Chronic Facebooker

the chronic facebooker (tm) column

Twitteriffic

an updated twitteriffic (tm) column

MyBlogLog

an updated MyBlogLog column

And I pushed down everything else. Resized them to fit it nicely into the designated columns. Messed around with the codes to remove some of the redirecting links which I detest.

Everything looks fresh! And me loves it to bits.

As an end note, I miss everyone from the City of The Lonely. Do you miss me too?

The House of L3-05

This little family picture was taken and editted by yours truly as a front door identification poster of our apartment. I opted to have a simple assembly of pictures and details of each member of the house, rather than doing collages and usage of multi-coloured papers to make that poster. I think the reason the hostel admin wanted those posters as they get confused easily as to who stays in which apartment, and also to help other people in locating students visually and not hentam semborono by simply knocking onto doors.

The evidence to substantiate the purpose of this picture is here ...

Suing says, "Welcome to L3-05!"

a video which was recorded on the last day spent in the Perwira residential college
(narrated by Suing)

And no, you can't play the video. It is just a still. A good attempt you have there, trying to hit the play button. XD

| mood | sleepy

Filed under Daily Dose | 7 person vomitted

June 18, 2009

[402] Aku rawak = Random is me

by chenyeng2706 | 08:01 PM

I have always thought of myself as an easily-contented person. As a child, as a teenager, but now, not quite so as a young adult.

But I would still continuously feed myself with a sentence to create a mindset that I have to be grateful for whatever that I have, wherever I am. There's a feeling in me, an urge - which is insatiable. Should I call it greed?

At this moment, if someone were to throw me a question,"Are you happy?", I will say, "Yes!" gleefully. I feel that Lady Luck is by my side. Or even if it's not really the blessings of Lady Luck, I would say that Karma is giving me indeed good things in the recent days.

Why am I happy?

I've gotten my results for the previous semester. I am in the Dean's list, thank you. I have been rather confident on my GPA as I know I would never let myself slip out of the Dean's list. What is keeping me awake at night before I get my results during every semester is how much would I be able to improve on my CGPA?

As what I have posted on my PM on MSN was, "Short, just point-O-six short ..." and that is clearly a hint of what my target was and what I have obtained. It's not exactly disappointment, neither happiness.

I should advocate what Limmy have said, "You should underbudget and over deliver lah..."

Do you mind if I still call you as Limmy? Should I change over to Yiling?

Why am I happy?

There are two persons involved and they bring much joy and happiness to me. I wonder what the future beholds. I hope something works out. But I don't want to bring my hopes up, just keep everything as platonic as possible.

But, I am happy.

I would like to congratulate Nurul 'Izzah and Mursyidah, my primary school classmates, on their engagements. I kinda doubt that they would still remember me. But still, I have good intentions to congratulate them.

And to MeiLoo (a.k.a. Christine Ooi), she is sort-of engaged, lol. She's going to register this year with her other half. (Hint: 090909)

The "sort-of" was quoted from her. That's what she said when I asked her.

Congrats to MeiLoo. I'm really happy for you, although a bit jealous, but mostly happy.

| show | 7Edition
| mood | okay

Filed under Daily Dose | 8 person vomitted

June 20, 2009

[403] Uninterrupted sleep - not too much to ask?

by chenyeng2706 | 02:06 PM

This morning I got awoken quite abruptly by Mum which has gotten me very irritated with Lingzilla. Okay, I understand that you are the IU Director and you have to attend other school's IU Day to broaden up your experience and also to bond with other schools. You always have things to do on weekends and not to mention you having to stay back almost everyday during weekdays. But can't you ever try to fit your activities into your parents' schedule?!

Mum's morning ritual begins with ironing clothes. She'll turn on a switch, and three things will turn on simultaneously - the iron, the fan, and the radio. What makes me feel like getting out of bed, grabbing an axe and induce permanent damage on it has to be the bloody radio. I sleep with the door wide open because since my room is located at the back of the house, I keep the door open so that I can hear things like people calling from the front door, or perhaps the phone ringing. I am not an early-riser, but I sure am a responsible (stay-at-home) daughter who takes care of the house.

Anyway, when Mum's morning ritual begins, I will be very unhappy with the blaring voices of the chinese radio station having their DJs talking incessantly like a chicken's arse. The perfect definition of annoyance in my sleep dictionary. But I just turn away from the noise and try to continue my sleep. Nine out of ten times, I would have succeeded. And this morning, the zero-point-one probability happened.

Mum was talking to Lingzilla about her schedule for today, and that she'll be dropping her off to Anderson's by an hour earlier because she had to rush back to her school as there will be a meeting to attend. Yes, I listened to all of this while bopping in and out of my sleep. Then Lingzilla made a huge fuss over this and my ears successfully filtered all that out. She mentioned something about too early, and also nobody and yadda yadda.

The next thing I realised was a pressure pressing onto my shoulders (my sleeping position usually resembles the recovery position) and then slowly, my senses picked up.

"Wake up. I need you to send me off to school first because I have a meeting at 7.30 am, then I need you to send Lingzilla to Anderson School by 8-ish because she has something to do there."

"Why can't you send her there before you go for your meeting? I thought that was the plan."

"She said she doesn't want to go there that early because there won't be anyone there with her. And it's a foreign place to her. Can't just leave her there by herself."

"Aiyor. Just abandon her there lar. And the most, it would just be an hour. What's wrong with a little wait?"

"I don't usually ask you for your help, so get up and just listen to what I say, okay?"

"Why so troublesome? Ask her to just bail out on this then. Everything's settled!"

"..."

Then Mum walked out of my room, grumbling, using her almighty, fail-proof Reverse Psychology on me. I crawled out of bed sleepily, washed and brushed. As I was doing my thing on the throne, I heard, "Mum, you can drop me off earlier. I have friends there. So, no worries."

At this point, you can imagine the frustration mounting up and off my head.

By the time I was done with the bathroom, Mum came and told me the same thing. Then I was already fuming, using flowery language with multitude of colours to describe my frustration on Lingzilla.

Conclusion: (i) Close the door before I sleep next time; (ii) Kill Lingzilla.

| mood | awake

Filed under Daily Dose | 4 person vomitted

June 22, 2009

[404] BBQ.WTF.SMS

by chenyeng2706 | 03:53 AM

After being in recluse for a good period of time, I finally got out of the house to meet good, old friends for a barbeque party at Avinesh's place yesterday. The word recluse that I am using would gravitate me being M.I.A. at almost all outings and gatherings. It was supposedly arranged to be on the 27th of June at PhooiYee's place. But something happened, and Avinesh had to play host instead.

I'm here extending heartfelt gratitude to him for picking me up and sending me home, arriving as the earliest guest and left as the last few ones.

Honestly speaking, after not seeing these friends for a long time, there were moments where I could sense awkward silences, imagine crickets, and it did make me feel distant. I no longer know how to say hello. The friendliness felt seemed superficial and customary. Then it popped into my mind, "Geez. Tonight will be a long, heck of a night."

Personally, I don't think of myself as that much of an extrovert. But I cannot survive alone, this is for sure. I need comfortable companionship - wherever I go.

After the first few rounds of food ..

As more and more friends arrived and hyped up the place, I have had a very brief moment of isolation. And at that moment, a tinge of regret is slowly radiating from within, eating me up inside. Regret - for being there, but not being in there.

But these amazing friends I have, the ones that have been with me when I went through my awkward teenagehood, the ones that grew up with me, and the ones who would still see me as a friend through the years of not unavailable - they made me realised that I am still a part of them, and that I am a friend who mattered and still do.

Scratch the awkwardness. Scratch the regret. Nobody had even changed a wee bit since the last I remembered them. The only thing that is different - everyone has definitely graduated from their awkward teenagehood.

The people who came for this BBQ gathering were inadvertently segregated into two groups. The MGS group and the non-MGS group. Us, ex-MGSians, were the ones who hogged the front porch, gossiping, hollering and shaking up Buntong the whole night, whereas the others, were banished to the barbeque pit at a small corner of the house. Sorry!

Food was bountiful. And the crowd was great.

Before I continue this monologue, I would like to send loves to Gel for being the one who marinated the chicken wings, skewered the chicken wings and helped clean-up the things while we were busy chattering away. Sorry that I couldn't sit down and have a decent one-on-one update over Bacardi with you - instead, you had to have it alone while standing at the door, overlooking the front porch, observing us monkeying around.

The girls were immersed in juicy gossips and updates about everyone who was anyone in our network. And after years of not speaking in the same, comfortable lingo which was mutually understood by everyone in MGS - guess what? We never did lose touch! We were talking in a codified manner at one point, and another minute, we were shouting like hooligans. There will never be a reason as to why we behave like that - we have been like this since we set foot in MGS. Other people might be disconcerted, but who cares?

Surprise Birthday Cake!

Further into the night, the June babies were presented with a pleasant surprise, which I wasn't really expecting. Drop-dead honest lor!

Gel brought a cake out of the house, got everyone else to sing "Happy Birthday" harmoniously and for a split second I asked myself, "Whose birthday is it today?"

*smacks forehead* Since I don't know anything about this, probably it's for me! *inner child jumps in joy* Then I saw a few others with equally blank faces. Ahh, the June babies!

June babies with The Cake

*Sorry PooiYeng. This is the only picture I have which involves all four of us with the cake*

Cake-Cutting Ceremony

*FooYine, what were you looking at? Got eye-candy meh?*

Uniform presents~

*And we have presents - such a memorable memento! All four of us have the same present!*

The June Babies with their New-Loves

| pooiyeng.2506 | phooiyee.2706 | cy.2706 | fooyine.2906 |

Here's a closer view of what we've gotten from them ...

Mooo ~

To those who had taken the effort in making this gathering a success, I do not know how to express my appreciation and happiness, it is just so overwhelming. Each and everyone who was there - you guys made my day. The little surprise celebration was indeed the finishing touch, a cherry, to complete the cake. I am still at a blur as to who was in-charge of what just to make everything a success for the night.

Thank you for making me feel so happy and loved that night!

Compulsory Group Picture

[BBQ Party pictures, courtesy of Ah9/Crystal.]

People started bidding goodbyes after the birthday celebration ended. The crowd subsided. And what's left of the crowd shifted into the living room. Some of the guys started cleaning the front porch soon after.

After cleaning up was done, Avinesh took out the Bacardi and the small group of MGSians and ACSians chatted up random things. About half an hour later, more of them went back, leaving me, FooYine, Shankar, KyEan and Avinesh.

The host was famished at that moment. So we went into the kitchen, rummaging through the uncooked leftovers of the BBQ. We cooked some halved sausages and ate them with chilli/tomato sauce + mayonaise and downed it with even more Bacardi. KyEan was sitting there, hoping that we could empty the bottle quickly enough because he wanted to keep the bottle. Since we were sipping the drink moderately slow, he couldn't stand waiting for us, and he left.

The four of us remained, me, FooYine, Shankar and Avinesh, sitting at the dining table with me picking over the bits and pieces of the sausages, talking about almost anything and everything we could come up with.

It was already about 4.00 am when we started cleaning up the little mess we made in the kitchen. The night ended with Shankar driving back to his place all the way at Klebang, and Avinesh sending me and FooYine back to our places respectively.

When I reached home, it was already 4.20 am, and my brother was waiting for me. Aww, so sweet of him!

After I had bathed and dried my hair, and getting ready to crawl in bed, it was close to 5.00 am. My body was absolutely dead-out, but my eyes, my mind - I was very much awake. As I was attempting to talk myself to sleep, I heard the alarm clock go off in my parents' room. Odd, why would the alarm go off on a Sunday?

Moments later, Lingzilla's alarm began its ridiculous drill of nuisance as well. Then it struck me. It's the bloody Starwalk, alright.

During the time when I heard Lingzilla having her morning shower and my parents talking in their room, I was contemplating on whether to go for breakfast with them. The next thing I realised, I dozed off during the contemplation. Great.

So, if my basic estimation skill is not rusty, I might have fell asleep subconsciously at about 5.30 am. And during holidays, I would require a standard eight-hour sleep. Give or take, I should be waking up at 1.30 pm, at most 2.00 pm. To have hopes that Lingzilla would understand the gravity of frustration that she put me through yesterday, and to have learnt to never devoid me of sleep - the mere mention of her name is already spelling out disappointment effortlessly.

Wake-Up Call

She called me at 10.34 am - I was only 5 hours into my sleep. It has been quite a while that both my phones are in silent mode and I am very sensitive to the vibration of the phone. And I could tell which one was the vibrating one as well. Anyway, back to Lingzilla. I could have pictured me strangulating her when I saw the caller ID.

Don't ask me what/why she called me for. All I could summarise is that, she was born perfect, the limbs and all - except that her common sense was (glaringly) missing. Obviously if you can't reach both of your parents' phones, try the house phone! You very well know that once we get indoors, our phones will be close to dead. Our house is the blind spot of the telco network coverage.

Conclusion: (i) Switch off the phones before sleeping; (ii) Kill Lingzilla.

I have been texting quite too often these days. Probably because I have started using DiGi Prepaid iLike - the SMS Plan. Yes, I have finally forgo the Fu-Yoh Plan.

And because of this newfound hobby, the corner of my right thumb is now sporting an area of callous, small one.

Callous #1

Taken two weeks ago

Callous #2

Taken today

Time to invest on a full QWERTY keypad phone. *grins*

Computerised voice in Tiberian Sun: "Insufficient funds"

So, I guess I will be stuck with a mound of callous for now.

| music | Kekasih Gelapku - Ungu
| mood | sleepy

Filed under Daily Dose | 3 person vomitted

June 23, 2009

[405] Living on past glory?

by chenyeng2706 | 03:09 AM

The year was 2005. And we were the accidental debate team. We were in it for the fun. Thank the angels for the Foo. We wouldn't have survived it without her egging on us, brainstorming us.

Debate with a difference

(undated newspaper clipping)

Upclose

the foo.shankar.cygoh.anita.avinesh

We have been through a lot as a close-knitted group of friends in a short period of time. That has indeed brought us closer - way more than what we had acknowledged. Amateurs turned champions.

The Foo has taught me so much during those gruelling times. She had taught me all that there is to learn about talking with a thinking brain. And I came out of the debate with a better brain. Thank you, Miss Foo.

avinesh.cygoh.shankar

Anita. You're being missed here. The three of us hoped that you were here when the picture was taken. (=

Signs that you have abused your mouse:
(i) You need to click three times on the mouse to double-click an icon;
(ii) The mouse has confused itself and gets disorientated, resulting your left-clicks into
right-clicks, and vice versa;
(iii) You can see wear on your mouse.

My Overworked Genius Mouse

Poor mouse. You've got an abusive owner. Call Tele-Dera.

| mood | blank

Filed under Daily Dose | 1 person vomitted

July 1, 2009

[406] Love. Hugs. Kisses

by chenyeng2706 | 04:44 AM

Two years.

My bestie went off to Aussieland, to dwelve further into something which has been her passion, for two (whole) years already. Not that she doesn't come home, but I miss her when I get nostalgic.

From Dudey

Dudey, do you remember this text message?

I am still keeping it. Just so you'd know, you're always in my mind. And I am always going to be there for you as how you are always here for me.

Happy Second-Year in Aussieland!

Hope that you would still love Malaysia the same.

| mood | awake

Filed under Daily Dose | 2 person vomitted

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