Just because I like to complain. It releases my stress instead of keeping it all bottled up inside.

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It's kinda hard to get people to chat with me nowadays, since they are either sleeping early from working all day, or not online I wonder why.
Facebook is also getting more boring everyday for me. Now I have all my time to go online and I am sick of it.....

I look forward to work. Today something interesting happened too!  There was a fruit festival at SMDS!

SO free langsat, free durians, free longans, rambutans, mangosteen........all you can eat! I think the plant manager asked some seller to bring all those in a van up to the company plant. They spread vinyl mat over the front porch, put up some tables, and everyone was invited over the intercom to the fruit feast at 2pm. How cool is that!!!!! I think the plant manager who is a kiwi, love durians too. ^^

Plus it seems so cute right? I didn't know there was such culture until I asked one of my superiors, there's one every year! T.T so great, I so wanna work here next time.......

Cause I kinda love this place. Well it's kinda early to proclaim my love, I dislike deciding on things so early, but let's just see? ^^

Hi, it's me again after some days. I've long settled down to the internship job here. Well, more like, just settled. There's nothing much to do, I'm just floating around, following people doing their daily jobs, reading up documents on standards, safety and procedures to do basically anything around the SMDS plant.

Can I say I'm actually enjoying myself here? I wouldn't very much call it enjoyable. I still dread waking up in the morning at 5am. Waiting for the bus to come, get on, listen to music and just having peace of mind in the morning for the 30 minutes time to work. I learn how to get my mood up in the morning, appear cheerful although I'm just not a morning person, and say good morning to everyone I walk past who appear friendly too.

I got treated to lunch again today. More than two weeks at SMDS, and the number of times which I've actually paid for my own lunch is like, 4 times? I'm always going out with the bunch of engineers and technicians in the electrical department, and they treat each other, and I get treated too. I'd have to stand the embarrassment for a long time. I'm happy that they try their best to make me feel comfortable and part of the electrical team. Not very much liking the awkwardness which comes with them teasing me every now and then, cause I thought I'd have to remain professional. But they're just being so friendly so it's okay.

The first time I met the electrical department manager, it was "Hello, nice to meet you, and welcome to the team."

Just wow, I love that - welcome to the team. That's not the kind of greeting you'd get in any company.

Today two of the Uni of Auckland interns studying chemical and materials engineering got in the company shuttle for the journey home. The girl, Marilyn invited me to dinner together with her and her friend, Douglas. After dinner I realized that Douglas lives quite far away and he had to walk back to where he's staying. Seems like he went outta his way to have dinner with us.

What more can I say, I simply must accept the invitation. Declining would seem unfriendly and probably decrease possibility of future invites, and this is a chance to get to know them as well...people in a similar position as me, similar age which is definitely welcoming at an unfamiliar place. So we walked over to the shop to eat dinner together. Conversation didn't flow as smoothly as  it would best have been, but it's all good. I guess we just need time to get to know each other. Douglas wants to go to KK to visit the beach, and asked me if I wanna come along too if they really do, so I said I'm up for it.

"You only have us for 2 more months, so you should appreciate the company you can get" - that was pretty much what he said roughly. How true. At a boring place like this, good company's what you need.

If you're stuck with the same people all the time, it's definitely not gonna do more good to you than it is when you're with different people. I wonder if I'm having good enough social skills to get comfortable quick enough with new people. I can't compare and know what is quick and what's slow. Right now I wonder how this new friendship between me and Marilyn and Douglas is gonna be since I hardly see them at work. We're at a different department, different building, and they don't even use the company transport to the workplace.

I'm just gonna see what happens or doesn't happen next.... =)

I got my PPE (personal protective equipment) today! They're mostly borrowed though. They haven't issued mine yet, and having no PPE, you can't move around much. I can't follow the technicians on their daily jobs, so I'm always confined to the office, reading documents to pass my time. Kinda boring if you ask me. Although the documents are supposedly important, and according to an ex-electric engineer who came by today, 'the right thing to read', they're worse than lecture notes. Most of them documents are guidelines, steps and etc etc. So I was pretty eager to do something different for a change.



These are my safety boots. Although I'm wearing my own size, my heel kept feeling like it's gonna slip out of my boots. The toes area fit though. These shoes are heavy, kidding! They must be around half a kg on each side. Felt like wearing anchors on your feet. They're industrial standard safety boots - genuine leather and steel toe plate inside, that's why it's s heavy. Most of the time I just drag my feet while walking in them. T.T Am I gonna get enlarged leg muscles from wearing these for a long time?



These are the wearovers. Damn uncomfortable for people wearing glasses, cause now you need to put these on top of your glasses. I kept adjusting them when I'm walking around.

I also got a safety helmet, and red Shell coveralls. Will post another time with me wearing them if I see a full length mirror where I can get a good shot of myself. =)

Today I went out to the Jetty construction site with me in full PPE attire. Pretty interesting, I hope I get a chance to work on the project so that I can learn more things.

And today, got treated for lunch again! On Monday and Tuesday I got treated by the electrical engineers in my department for lunch, and today one from another section treated me to nasi lemak for breakfast (which I ate after I reached home from work) and lunch by another technician! I feel pretty lucky that everyone's treating me real nice. They answer all my questions, stupid or not stupid and got me documents, drawings and such when I'm curious about something. So supportive! T.T

Okay, I think I'll keep the entries short, and leave some things fto mention for next time. Bye!

Hi everyone!

I'm finally back to my blog. Actually I'm doing my internship right now, in Shell MDS Bintulu - for those who do not know already. I think everyone who reads this blog who are my real-life friends know about it. =)

I've decided to revive this blog. Somehow now my life is a bit more interesting with me being an intern and all. So there are some things which are worth blogging, instead of me being emo or ranting about something you don't bother about. Coming here all alone to do my internship for 6 months, makes me excited and nervous at the same time, because I simply do not know what to expect. Thanks to all my friends who are there to convince me and also give me great advice when I am in doubt.

Here are some photos which I managed to take this morning when I came into the electrical department. I went into the rest and relaxation lounge, and seeing no one there, I snapped a few photos with my crappy phone camera.


This is what you see when you walk into the lounge. Pictures of Shell logos over the years.



There's a massage chair provided for the staff and contractors. Well it means something when they actually provide massage chair for aching muscles - the job's damn tough! No one uses the massage chair though. I'm tempted to try it, but better behave myself since I'm still new. Maybe one day later? =D



This pool table is the most used facility inside the lounge. Don't be jealous! Now I get to play pool everyday if I want to. That is, if I can get to it before the contractors and other staff do. It's almost always used during free time!



There's also an exercise chair. But why tire your body more after a day's hard work? You'd be so fit working at Shell, no kidding. Everyone's quite fit, with the exception of beer bellies, which actually can't be helped.



Tell me this doesn't look like a karaoke place! Dim the lights and it shall be. lolz

So far I'm liking this place. I hope I'll continue liking it until the end of my placement. =)

I received an email from Dr Ling which says this.

Dear Alice,

Have you decided to go for IBL internship or HED400 internship?
I need to confirm with them, and will request your preferred internship period.

For IBL placements within the state except your town, scholarship up to RM500 will be provided. So your fee may be only RM1000.

Thank you.

 

Regards,
Dr Ling

Wooookay. So I thought that Shell wants me as their intern mainly cause I said I will do 6 months of placement with them. Basically the idea they gave me was, they only like 6 month interns cause 3 months is too short. Now the lecturer is asking me about it again. Which makes me wonder again which one to choose. Choices choices choices. I kind of dislike them cause I need to deliberate very carefully.

Can someone give me any suggestions or comments at all? Anyone? Although I know that probably no one will reply a comment at all, let it just be a rhetorical question then. I just need to weigh out the pros and cons of each choice.

So you see, Industrial Based Learning (IBL) is 6 month internship. When I take this unit, I can't take any other subjects. Its a unit which I need to pay RM1500 for. Unless I can get a scholarship, which is MAYBE only, I will pay RM1000. I need to put aside money from my salary from working as an intern to pay for that fee. And I will graduate late, since I will miss one semester of studies. About final year project, it seems like...(seems only)..  I can work on it from 3rd year 2nd semester with my other coursemates, which is the semester after I come back from my training. I need to complete a work journal, do a progress report with my internship supervisor, and also hand in a 2000 words report by the end of my internship period. The only thing which compensates for this, is when I pass this unit (I intend to), I will get an extra line in my graduation certificate saying that I did IBL.

If I do the 3 months HED400 industrial placement which is necessary to graduate, I don't have to pay any fee at all. I won't mess up my subject sequence, I can graduate the same time as my other coursemates -  well that is when I hopefull pass all subjects without any difficulties *touch wood*. No problem also with final year project. And I don't need to send in a report or make any progress reports with my supervisor, just a work journal which has to be handed in at the end of the 3 months. No line in my graduation cert, of course.

Since I went to the IBL briefing session the other day, it seems like, it is good to do IBL, for the experience in the company. Cause 3 months is too short for the company to train interns and get to know their strengths (and also weaknesses). Also, it's like, I can have a try at working in Shell to see how it's like as an intern first, if I like the job there or not. Instead of applying there as a fresh graduate and not like it after working there for a while.

Of course I know its gonna be difficult working at Shell. =.= I know I know. It's hard. And probably I am gonna be homesick too. And 6 months is a long time away from home.

That's why it's so hard to choose!!! Why did Dr Ling ask me this again, I really thought I was confirmed to do IBL!  T.T tough choice.

I don't know how to reply to his email, so I marked it as unread in my email inbox. Maybe I will talk to him in person...but I wonder if he needs a speedy reply? Like the other day when he needs 24 hours reply to the internship offer.

Seriously I don't know what to do.

p/s: Will post up about what I've been up to these two days! Just back from Rotaract Zonal Assembly which stretched the whole morning, and I badly need sleep. Woke up freakin' early (7pm is early for me mmmkay), too early for saturday and sunday which is supposed to be a holiday!

My long awaited Arashi 3CD album finally arrived yesterday!!!! (it's just 53 minutes past yesterday when I am writing this)

Obligatory picture:


I am super duper excited and the parcel couldn't arrive at a better timing than it did yesterday. I was out since 9am in the morning to the Cheshire Home for helping out to clean the compound, organized by Rotaract Club. So I came back around noon after having my lunch with the Rotaractors from other clubs. It's nice getting to know so many new people. I found out that speaking Mandarin really makes them open up more and be more comfortable cause they mostly speak Mandarin. I think they'd avoid me like a plaque if I speak only English.

My friend fetched me home to get my bag for the class which starts at 2 pm. Just when i was getting out of the car the postman went past with his motorcycle holding a bunch of letters. Went upstairs to my room, packed the necessary books and went down again, to see the familiar parcel from PlayAsia on the table. My bro, while leafing through the other letters that came with it too, said the parcel's for me. Hahah!!! It came! I thought. How cute that it came when I was just home for a while to pack my stuff! Or else probably my parents would help me to open it if I wasn't home when it arrived. Not that it's some dirty little secret to hide, but if they find out I bought it, or saw the USD 43.90 price tag on the label at the top of the box I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

So I grabbed it before anyone asks anything, stuffed it into my bag and left in my friend's car to hang out at her place before we go to class.

Of course I couldn't hold my anticipation and excitement and opened the parcel at my friend's place. In it was 3 CDs and two booklets of pictures and also lyrics. All in its glossy and attractive glory! After checking out what was inside the album I wrapped it back nicely again, and put it in the cardboard box with the bubble wrapping still covering the album. It will be kept that way, that's the best since it wouldn't be exposed to dust.

I super excitedly announced to Eric and Lik Ming and Lucas and Jason about my Arashi disc in the EPS class and showed them too. Not like they are interested or give a damn about the album anyway but who cares. I need to express my excitement and share with the people around me! Although they give little or close to no reaction. Of course they only can see the outside of the album which is wrapped in plastic. I wouldn't want fingerprints on the discs ok. ^^

It's about that much of exposure the album will get to the outside world and outside people besides its owner. Now it's sitting in the drawer still inside its box while waiting for me to find a place for it on my book shelf. Don't ask me if I will listen to it on my dad's sound system, of course not, there're digital versions to download. This album is for keep's sake. I'm sure everyone has something they like so much that they can't bring themselves to use it.

Signing off now. I'm tired from the activities for the whole day yesterday. I have some more things to tell you about, I'll probably write that post tonight, but for now I need my sleep badly. It's 1.26 in the morning!  Waking up early morning again tomorrow! Oops I mean later.

Goodnight and sweet dreams everyone!

Isn't it a long time since I've blogged? The last entry was 20th August. And today is already 27th, so I feel obliged to write this post which is a few days late.

I think I should write about my internship. Although I think that most people would have already known about it, I should just write it down in my blog and post it cause it should be a memorable thing. I got offered an industrial placement from Shell. Remember that thing I said about the perks of being close to the lecturer? I am sorta glad now that Dr Ling knows me and remembers me from the first semester when he lectured Energy and Motion, cause he is the one I have to thank for getting me the placement at Shell.

When I applied for it I really wanted to get it cause of course, it is pretty flattering by itself to actually be considered to intern in Shell, what more get a placement there. And it's really hard for female interns to get into Shell. When I got offered the position I was surprised and for a moment didn't know what to do. It feels scary cause you know the expectations from a company such as Shell would be very high. I doubt my abilities. Well, I doubt my abilities all the time, and it's not that I shouldn't do that, sometimes I am hopeless in handling things. So I had to give it a thought. I read the email and then went to uni for class. Coincidentally on my way to class I bumped into Mr Ting, the industrial placement coordinator for Electrical and Electronics. He asked me if I have received the email, I said yes and he asked me what I thought about it. We had a conversation about what Shell required from me and I was being a little concerned about whether they would prefer a male intern. I told him I'd deliberate. After we parted ways I bumped into Dr Ling. (ya I know, coincidence is a mysterious thing) As expected, he too asked me what was my decision, take up the offer or not. I told him I'd think about it too.

I really did give it a lot of thought. I was happy and excited about it. You know how sometimes, you're so happy and excited about something you feel scared too. And that's how I felt the whole day. It was a dilemma.

I talked to some friends and they told me to take up the offer. One of them said he'd hit me if I didn't take it. It seems like the right thing to do was just accept the offer from Shell. It comes once in a lifetime right? How many people get offered placements in Shell? Although I was scared I didn't want to reject it and wonder what might have been if I'd taken it. But I still hoped for more time to think...

The next day I got an email from the two lecturers I mentioned earlier, asking me for a reply as soon as possible. Looks like they want an answer in 24 hours. So I said yes, I'll accept the offer. Mr Ting emailed me back saying I'd made a good decision. Dr Ling emailed me back saying that it is a good decision, but bear in mind that Shell's expectations are high and work is heavy, and he hopes I'll learn more in the 'crucial environment'. As if I don't know that already! At these times I would have wished someone would tell me everything's gonna be okay instead of repeating what I already know to me. But of course, that's the truth, and I said I'll do my best.

My mum and dad don't really have much comments on it. The last time I discussed about the 6 month placement instead of 3 months to my dad it propelled him into giving me a full lecture about my confidence in making decisions. So it might be better that I don't discuss. Mum was supportive. She said my car could be shipped to Bintulu for my use to go to work for the 6 months there, so I wouldn't be car-less. And also, I could live with my grandaunt since they have extra rooms. But I told her to hold that thought and don't do anything until I get my placement offer letter. And about final year project, looks like it might not be a problem after all, since for final year project, I need 250 credit points, and I will have 250 credit points after semester 5, which is this semester. So I can do my final year project with the people that are doing it in final year. Except I will be in third year. *winks*

I think I've talked enough details about it to those who are interested to know. So I am gonna pen off now. See you again in the next posts! There's assignments given by lecturers already, so I am probably gonna be very busy soon. But I'll find time to blog, I promise.

Ciao everyone.

Today I saw two very amusing things while driving. Having a camera phone is handy at times like these.

First picture.


Looks familiar? Maybe it is hard to remember where exactly did you see this, but you've definitely seen this before. It's Bon Jovi! Used excessively in their music video "Have a Nice Day" and also the album cover is that exact smirk with the same red background. It's the Bon Jovi album cover used as a fuel tank compartment cover.

The next one is even more funny. So i was driving along the road when I noticed that the green Toyota Avanza in front of me has got something dangling at the back of their boot. It looked pretty weird at first cause I can't see clearly what the heck is it from afar. So got closer and saw what it is. I simply must take the photo although I had to keep up with the car.


I followed the car and parked behind it at the traffic lights, glad to take a closer picture of that inanimate object dangling from the back.


If you could just click on the picture and take a closer look, you'd see more clearly what it is.

A tiger's tail hanging from the back of the car? Accidental or intentional?

My mum and I were laughing all the time we were behind this car. What's even funnier is the tiger's tail is so short. Hahaha!

Hi! I'm back again. I feel sorta guilty abandoning this blog for three whole days! When my goal is to actually write one entry per day plus one pic maybe. But I forgot to take pics, plus I don't see anything worth snapping recently.

By the way, the limited edition Arashi album I bought on Playasia was shipped two days ago! I am super happy. For those of you who don't give a damn, I am just gonna fill you with the information anyway. It's called "All the Best!" which is actually a collection of Arashi's singles from their debut in 1999 till 2009. Cost about RM165 plus shipping fees but it's so worth it since it's 3 discs, limited edition and also 10th anniversary release. I wonder when it will reach here. I'm counting the days, and hopefully the postman delivers in the morning. I've kept the disc a secret from my parents; they don't know I am buying it (just like that Arashi photobook I got from Kinokuniya during the trip to KL) or else I'd be bombarded with questions and I'd have to lie. So if they don't know about it, I won't have to lie right? -.- I feel bad for lying too but if they know the price I'd be dead meat.

Yesterday I saw someone who looks like my schoolmate from high school. That schoolmate's elder sister was my senior who was real nice to me when I did my prefect training. When I walked past the lobby she was on the phone. She stood there talking on the phone while I stopped and just stared at her, thinking "This person looks familiar" and tried to remember her name. I am bad with names, as I've countless times mentioned before -  so I couldn't remember. I wonder if she recognizes me cause when I stared at her she stared back, still talking on her phone but she stared back at me for what seemed like 5 seconds, and then she turned her back on me and continued her conversation on her phone. Still, I stared as she pushed the glass doors open and walked outside. Owh well, I thought, then walked away. Maybe I mistook her as the wrong person. Later that evening while driving I remembered that the schoolmate's name is Joanna. I still keep the thank you card from her sister somewhere in a box file.

Two weeks into lectures and the first week into tutorials I realized that this semester's subjects are really boring. It's nothing but Fourier series equations, circuits analysis, and signals. Plus, I think that I am gonna hate Engineering Management 1 a lot. I'll tell you if I change my mind, but right now I think I hate it. The lectures and tutorials involve a lot of listening to the lecturer explain on and on about the terminology in the management notes. But those who've taken the subject says John is a good lecturer. If only I can increase my attention span. The three hours night lecture was pure boredom. Everyone listens attentively, which makes you feel bad that you don't. Perhaps this is cause it's only week 2. Perhaps everyone will start talking as weeks pass by. Or perhaps they seem like they're listening but are actually spaced out. Perhaps they are listening to music on headphones just like me! I'll never forget to bring my headphones again. They're the essential item for Management lectures now.

I am off to hunt songs to put in my phone now! I need a playlist which can last me three hours.

Bye!

I was asked, what is my all time fave movie. I never gave a thought about it before. Probably cause I am too lazy to actually think of what movie is my no. 1 movie. Cause I'd have to mentally do a ranking of all the movies in my head (of cos I won't be listing them down, it'd be too silly), the first task of remembering all the movies I've watched would be too tedious. Plus I have a bad memory. And I don't remember the title of the movies I've watched sometimes.

But if there is any movie, which when you talk about it, I will start gushing about how wonderful it is and how meaningful it is and how much of a tearjerker it is, there's one and only. See if you can tell from the super duper famous quote from the movie?


You all know this quote right? Sure you do! I'll amuse you with another one.


Oh my god, this one is epic.

I absolutely love Forrest Gump! I think many people love it too, love it to bits. I wouldn't know for sure if it is their number 1 fave movie of all time, but, if they love it, it should be among their top fave movies, right? Which means that, there are enough Forrest Gump movie fans to make a Forrest Gump fan club!

I remember there's one time I saw a Forrest Gump storybook at the Swinburne library. It was a short version of the story, so the book was only about 50 pages thick. I took it with me, away from the fiction corner and went to a isolated corner of the bookshelves filled with engineering books to read it. I was done in a while, (since it's so short) and put it on the shelf together with the engineering books then went off to do something. When I came back to retrieve the book, Mr Yong (my then physics lecturer) was there browsing through engineering books and came upon that Forrest Gump storybook which was obviously out of place among engineering books.

I said "Errr...".

He heard me and asked me if it's put by me there. I said yes and asked him if he's watched the movie. He said "Yes! It's a very very inspiring movie!"

I was so happy when he said that!

I think it's the best movie for anybody to watch. I'd force people to watch it if they haven't! I guess that kind of attitude qualifies it for being my favourite movie, if there is ever a criteria. However,  I don't think there's anybody who hasn't watched Forrest Gump, I'd be shocked if they haven't.

This movie has it all. It's inspiring, it's funny, it's sad, it makes you believe in love and life and working hard in everything you do. It makes you feel that being stupid is probably happier. And the luck that Forrest has is beyond your imagination too. Funny scenes like showing his buttocks to president, being the founder of "Shit happens" and the smiley face, using a toothbrush to scrub the floor. the And Tom Hanks was the best person to act the part of Forrest Gump, I love his narrations throughout the movie. And also his accent. ^^ And his lines from the movie - damn clever, whoever came up with the script.

I cried watching this movie. I just love tearjerkers.
 

I guess it's gonna start. I am gonna be the target, I am gonna be the one doing wrong things. I need to be the one on the lookout for her behavior more often than usual, because I am the one with the problems already.

It didn't use to be like this before. They got sick of me already. I am not interesting anymore, so they are gonna start doing this to me. Start finding my fault, start lecturing me on what I should do correctly.

This serves as a reminder for me to not care so much about my friends. I thought that caring is good. Looks like some people just hate it. Let me go back to who I was before -  not caring, not knowing anything. It's much more bahagia like that. I hate being judged by people; who likes being judged? Especially by people who aren't that good themselves. I hate explaining myself and my actions. Cause explaining is tiring and annoying, and explaining is useless anyway, they won't believe you no matter how hard you try.

Love this song and its lyrics so much.

People said I am such a busybody. Well fine, let me be a busybody somewhere else and not disturb the people who supposedly dislikes it. I think they are hypocrites. Everyone loves a good gossip. Yes, everyone. When I start gossiping, if you hate it so much, you can ask me to shut up and I will. Why did you listen attentively? Why did u laugh and join in?

At least I admit that I like it. I hate people who pretend to do the right thing. Say they dislike bad things, but actually enjoy it as much.

Hypocrites.

Just finished watching The Prestige. It was a damn great movie. Highly recommended! And I don't want to give it points out of 10, you simply have to watch it.

Can I say something else now?

I have this confused feeling. You know, people always tell me that they think I am an independent person, but I really am not. I feel that I rely on people most of the time -  like normal people do. Probably you can't see it but I am discreetly more dependent on others than the normal average person. If not on daily life stuff, it's probably emotionally dependent (if there is such a term).

Emotionally dependent as in like, I need someone there for me to tell stuff to, complain to, talk to, simply be there beside me. I'll feel scared if I know that there's no one there beside me.

This semester is getting more lonely. Is it because of the h1n1 that no one dares to come to the library anymore? But putting that aside, there's the fact that most students transferred to the Aussie campus. Why I use students is because I can't really consider them my friends; I don't really know them well or talk to them much. Although I don't really talk to them, having them around gives me peace of mind. You know that there's people near and around you going through the same things as you, fighting for the same things as you. And that's what my definition of being emotionally dependent is. Sorry if there actually a term emotionally dependent and it differs so much from this definition I have. I simply don't know what to call it.

I understand how Stephanie feels in KL. She talked to me on msn before, asking me why didn't I take up Form 6 and go with her to a local university. She sounded upset at that time. I guess she must be feeling like how I am feeling now. Having a good friend at your side makes it so much easier to go through rough times, and I still regret till today that I could not be at her side at that time. I was also not by her side when she was crying over her STPM results. What kind of friend am I? I could only try to console her over the phone. Are girls the only people who need emotional support? I remember my secondary school BM teacher say that in uni, it's important to have good course mates. It doesn't matter if they help you or not in your coursework, but just having them there as an ear to listen to your complaints is enough. At the time it was said, I couldn't really comprehend, but I should say that there couldn't be something more appropriate to add.

I simply can't imagine how it would be like to go through uni life alone. Going to classes alone and such. Being alone although in a crowd-filled room. It's even worse than being alone in an empty room.

That's why I'm scared of what could be. Perhaps this is what they call comfort zone, and I'm worried what will happen to me if I step out of it.

For the first time in a rather long time, it doesn't feel like I'm sitting in an oven when I'm in my room during the afternoons. It rained! Yesterday night it rained for quite some time and this morning it drizzled a little. So much difference in the temperature and people's moods when it rains. A long car drive feels quiet enjoyable as compared to a blazing hot day; and for some reason there aren't many cars on the road today. I am spared the long traffic jams which I hate with so much passion.

Thank you very much for the rain - the man-made rain. According to my dad (he's in meteorology; no, not something to do with meteors but it's weather related), some guys from KL came and did the cloud seeding. I remember years back when there was this bad haze he was part of the team of guys that went up on the airplane to do cloud seeding. During that time they used huge tanks of water and sprayed droplets of water into the clouds. Now it's more advanced -  they use something like packs of stuff (most probably water) that explode and spray its contents into the sky / clouds like fireworks. Think fireworks, but replace those sparks with water, and that's what you get. The plane went up for three times, one trip cost RM18000. So guys, that rain we had yesterday -  it cost RM56000.

So yesterday afternoon it rained an hour or so at my area. Those living near my house should be grateful that they're living near me. Why? Cause my dad pointed out the area where his house is on the map to those guys from KL doing to cloud seeding and said, "That's where my house is, do cloud seeding above there first." Haha, I like my dad's sense of humor! ^^  But joking or not joking, those guys from KL really did the cloud seeding in the skies above my house area. See? There are perks to being in meteorology. My dad can decide where the rain falls - the man made one anyways. The reason why it rained for 5 seconds at SwinB is because it was out of the cloud seeding area already, or at the very edge of it.


Just now I had class at 10.30am. But since it rained last night and it was a cool morning I don't feel like getting outta bed at all. Which is quite bad for me - if I can't drag myself to wake up for a 10.30am class, what about next week onwards when it starts at 8.30am?

I forgot to give my reviews for Flags of Our Fathers that I watched two nights ago. And also for the movie I watched last night, Kingdom of Heaven. So here goes:

Flags of Our Fathers: 8.5 out of 10
The reason why I have this an 8.5 out of 10 is maybe because of me being biased, it being the Clint Eastwood movie. But I shall try to be as fair as possible, and reason out that why I give 8.5 is cause this is a movie that I don't mind watching again. Since it's not on DVD I had to watch without subtitles - and you know how some actors mumble their lines. I had to strain to listen properly what they were saying. And maybe cause I paid that much attention to listening to the dialogue I find this movie really meaningful (I like meaningful movies). Flashbacks are usually quite confusing to watch but I don't have any trouble with this one. It's nice that they added some funny lines for a punch of humor in war movie like this. Makes you smile a little as contrast to the serious vibe you get from a war movie.

Kingdom of Heaven: 7.5 out of 10
Why, I thought that a good movie would interest you enough to keep you awake when you feel sleepy. Honestly I was sleepy when I started watching, yawning all the way. The later part of the movie was more interesting, so I am glad I pulled through and did not just stop watching halfway. The plot for this movie was good, Orlando Bloom as charming as always, you can see that they really choreographed the fight scenes well. Of course the climax - fight between Christians and Muslims over Jerusalem was awesome. But this isn't really something that I feel I wanna watch again. Hence 7.5.

Anyway, since I am so free I am gonna watch The Prestige now! I have high hopes for it after reading the back of the DVD. Will probably blog about it later after I've watched.

Tata!

I feel so tired, and it's only been the first day of the semester and I'm feeling this tired. How am I gonna get through the 8.30am to 8.30pm lecture and tutorial marathon on Tuesdays?

Kinda upset with how the registration for tute classes went. Turn out that I couldn't be in the same tute class as one of the tensai for DSP (Digital Signal and Image Processing) subject, cause of various silly reasons. In short, put the blame on a certain lecturer. =.= I can't believe that we actually need to line up to get the tutes we want! So it was madrush to fill our names on the list. I feel it's so lame. If it wasn't for the fact that most of the tutes I need to register for are the ones that I simply HAVE to register for (cause it will clash with my other subs), I wouldn't give much of a damn.

Ok I lied. I will still line up to get the class I want and shove everyone out of the way, because I simply must try to get the tutes I want. And cause I don't want to spend time arranging my timetable to make it as perfect as it could possibly be before semester starts, and have to throw it outta the window just cause I could not get that class I want and I need to rearrange again.

Anyway today I was lent three movies by Avery. V for Vendetta, The Prestige and Kingdom of Heaven. I really wanted to watch The Prestige first, but since I was assigned to watch Kingdom of Heaven I guess I'll do so.

I thought I hear raindrops outside...but now there's no sound. Please rain heavily!! I miss heavy rain which pours down so hard and so loud on the rooftop. It's nice white noise to sleep with.

Ok off to watch movie!

Before I forget, Happy Birthday, Weiliang! Happy 21st, and welcome to Club21! 10 August - -

Thanks to Joyce, I was convinced to get a new Twitter account. Right now I am following a few artists' tweets! Rob Thomas, Taylor Swift, just to name a few. I haven't  really thought about who to follow on Twitter yet. I'll think slowly and add people along the way. Joyce says I am her first friend to have Twitter! I am so up-to-date, right! ^^ I bet if you ask you-know-who-the-bitch *coughAmycough* she wouldn't even know what's a Twitter let alone have one. (just for laughs, I don't hate her THAT much. But just for getting back at her for saying that I think I'm so cool and all that. Well I do know more things than her. At least my grammar is better.)

Anyways, tonight is so boring. I should be out celebrating my last day of the holiday, doing anything else but sitting at home in front of the computer. But I know what to do already, I'll watch a movie, the one that I was so excited to get from Annie and haven't gotten around to watching - Flags of Our Fathers.

I know you are wondering what kinda movie is it. It's a war movie okay. Gotten quite good reviews I think. But I will never be able to convince anyone to watch a war movie with me unless it involves hot guys or big shot actors acting in it, so I shall watch it alone. Pretty sad you might think but I'm okay with that.

By the way tomorrow is Weiliang's birthday. And we are gonna celebrate with him of course. But we are gonna have night class at that time which starts at 6.30pm till 8.30pm. So what I am gonna do is:

1. Go to the lecture as usual.
2. Sit there and wait patiently for the attendance list to come over to my seat / try to get people to hurry up signing it so I can get to it asap.
3. Sign my attendance + the attendance of those who don't go to class cause they're going to the party.
4. Sign up for the tute class I want + help other people sign up too.
5. Pretend to listen intently to the lecturer while waiting for the perfect timing.
6. Take a toilet break. (cabut lari)
7. Go to party, and hope that the lecturer doesn't do a head count of the people that come to class to compare with his attendance list. Or worse, call out names to confirm.

How's that? Does it sound like a foolproof plan or what? Unless the lecturer's a real pain, and takes attendance by calling out names or something. That will be really ngiau chee of him. But I don't think so since there's 4 tute classes open for registration, there should be many students taking Management 1, hence too many to call out one by one.

Okay, am gonna go and watch that movie now.
Oh shit. I just realized that I have night classes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday instead of Monday and Tuesday only which I initially thought. Bummer. =.=

That's the view from the balcony of Star Cineplex! Look at the haze. =.= But being at the balcony of Star Cineplex simply means that...

...I went to watch The Taking of Pelham 123 with Joyce!


Thats the 'standee' that's at the cinema. It's  nice that I blogged about wanting to watch it on the last post, since Joyce read it and said she wanted to watch it too. She has buy *1 free 1 ticket* coupon for (M) movie, so we'd split the one ticket price to save money. And coincidentally, Pelham was M! So lucky! And so are the other movies like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Public Enemies, Harry Potter...etc etc. Public Enemies I want to watch too since I saw the trailer the other day and it seems interesting. Plus Johnny Depp is in it. Errrr, but I guess I'll hold back -  I don't want to spend any more money than I already do.

So the ticket, on a Saturday, was only RM4.50. That's real cheap, cheaper than watching on movie day ok! And there's no crazy crowd at the cineplex like on Wednesdays. But still need money lah of course. Well it's money well spent cause the movie was great. John Travolta and Denzel Washington were real funny in some lines. I'd give i a rating of 8 stars outta 10. I'm not much of a movie critic but any movie that doesn't make me wonder "When is this gonna end?" when its running halfway deserves high ratings; I don't have a very long attention span.

Tomorrow's Sunday. (which is actually today since it's past 12am, but my day doesn't start until after I sleep and wake up) And the day after that is Monday. Semester starts on Monday. I can't wait for it to start. But I feel like I'll probably be feeling lonely once the semester starts, cause I won't have to go out and hang out with friends. Once the work starts piling up, I'll feel lonely too; just that I won't feel it as much cause I'd be busy with work to bother about it. Somehow that's a good thing.

On the last note, I have to lose lotsa weight! My target is 50kg. My plan: Portion control, no food after dinner, more water to bloat myself up, apple to fill myself up instead of rice. I hope I can make it. Plus I hope the uni work will automatically make me lose weight. ^^ is it too optimistic?

Wish me luck!

Ciao everyone and good nite!

Those two movies, The Taking of Pelham 123 and also The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which I really want to watch at the cinema - has to be put on hold (or maybe I'll get the DVD) cause I am simply super broke.

AHHHHHHH I wanna watch Pelham cause it's just too too too too too nice the trailer is really great and I love these kinda movies I love John Travolta!!! I'd drag my aunt over to the cinema and demand that she treats me to this movie if she is here right now. Wait a minute, I kinda wanna watch Orphan too, after seeing the trailer the other day.

Talking bout my aunt, her birthday is 8th of August! Which is today. She's always been more like an older sister to me. She always bullies me to cook for her when I visit her in Sibu, with the lame excuse of my cooking being better than her (it's only a little better than hers, okay?). Bullies me to install and crack games software for her. Bugs me with an email of a long list of songs to download for her. Bugs me to download multiple seasons of TV series for her (and I don't even watch the ones she wanna watch). Bugs me to download anime for her. And bugs me to solve computer problems. Demands that I tapau Secret Recipe cakes and char kueh all the way back to Sibu for her.

When I go back to Sibu and she needs to go to work, she kicks (yes, literally) me outta bed in the morning, gets me to bathe, prepare, and follow her to work. Cause she wants me to become her personal assistant at work. Yea, like an office girl. And I forgot to mention that, she also forces the sleepy me to drive on the way to work in the morning, despite my sleepiness and my whining 'I'm so sleepy I can't drive!'. She simply ignores that. But she treats me to lunch during work in return of me doing her bidding. And later after work we always go to the mall and window shop, and she always gets me to do the driving. And her excuse is - she can't parallel park, she can't even straight park if the space is too small (she's driving a kancil ok =.=). And if I don't so as she says, no more trip to the mall - and I can't just have that cause going straight home I'd be dead bored.

I know, it's kinda surprising that I'd let a person bully me that much cause I'm always the one doing the bullying. But just cause I love her so much I can't help it -  she's like the older sister I never had. She's always treating me to stuff - food (lotsa them) and sponsoring me clothes and such. When around her, I am a minor - she says that I don't have to pay for food cause I'm not working yet. I happily accept your treat, thank you very much! But she says she's gonna ask me for treats when I work next time. She'll write all the expenses in her Buku 555 and calculate the total! So funny! I love her sense of humor. And when she sees something I like and longing for it and no money to buy it she'll get it for me and surprise me. (There's this bracelet that I wanted for the longest time but didn't buy for obvious reasons, and a few months later when she comes to Kuching for a visit, she got it for me! tsk tsk, so touched)

For all that bullying I readily took from her, I bully her back too. Always annoying her with "Whatever~" to her questions or statements, which she thinks is really rude. And still staying in bed (although I'm already awake) when she kicks me to wake up in the morning. Leaving her bedroom door open on purpose cause I know she doesn't like it (afraid of mosquitoes). Leaving her keys someplace else instead of on the table (she dislikes it too). I'm always doing things on purpose to piss her off or annoy her - and then smile or laugh at her expressions.

Our relationship revolves around the bullying each other and hanging out with each other.

I wouldn't want it to be any different, it's so nice this way.

Happy birthday to you!!!! May our sisterhood / friendship / relationship / bond with each other remain as tight as ever no matter what happens in the future! <3

After about two weeks (?) of reading The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters, I finally finished reading it just now. Don't mind me for being so slow at it. The only time I find to read it was while waiting for my mum to finish work in the car, before afternoon naps, between housework, and also before bed. It was interesting. Well I kinda expected the kind of ending it had. A phrase that appears often in the book goes a little like this - 'The ending is always in the beginning'. As I read on, I did not think it would have a happy ending -  and it didn't. But I feel satisfied with the way it went, it's not a fairy tale where happily ever after is always guaranteed to happen.

The book was written as a series of letters by the main character of the novel to various people. It was my first time reading a novel in such a format, at first it seemed boring but later I find that it's fresh. I had to make out the time line and everything that happened. There's lotsa humor involved, I was amused with the way the character pens her letters; when she was angry, when she was melancholic, when she was sad, when she was longing, when she was excited. How come not many people write novels this way? And I definitely loved the way the language was used, the way scenes and locations were explained - it was beautiful. And it's even more amazing because it wasn't a narration, but in the form of letters written to loved ones.

Oh yeah, and the thing about this 'written letters' format is, it doesn't actually give you the feeling of 'not wanting to put the book down'. Cause there aren't any chapters, just individual letters. So somehow that's good for me who can't keep reading for long hours cause I need to do something else.

So since I've finished this book, which one would be my pick to start on? I had a hard time picking which to read cause they all seemed so interesting to me, but I guess the others will have to wait cause the winner is:

Ta-dah! The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It says at the back of the book, it's San Francisco Chronicles Best Book of the Year, blah blah blah. Hopefully it's as interesting as the review says. Guess I'll know when I get started on it tomorrow. I never dump a book aside if it's boring after I read it halfway though. For some reason I always try to finish them. My aunt - who loves reading novels too, tend to dump uninteresting ones aside - which I don't approve of really, but I can't think of a reason to convince her not to.

Somehow cause I'm really broke, and have to resort to the cheap entertainment of reading novels (which is really really cheap cause these novels aren't even mine, they were lent to me by the wonderful Joyce), I've recovered my passion for reading, which were put on hold since I entered uni 3 years ago. 3 years is a long time. My English has disappointingly deteriorated. I can't even tell you how much my vocabulary dwindled as compared to high school - it's too embarassing. Reading these books and then writing about them at least, or about random things would make me try to remember the vocabulary I want to use to explain stuff.

And being excited after reading a good story, usually I'd want to tell somebody, so I'll save people the boredom of listening to me babble on and on about some book they didn't hear about before, what more to read. Sadly there's no one to talk to anyway. So I shall write it all here instead.

It's almost 1.12am, I think I should go to sleep. Ciao everyone, and see you on the next post.

Right now I am in the process of applying to do the 12-week internship program which is necessary to complete in order to graduate. Not very much in high gear in applying to companies, but I'm on it....I'll try to speed up my pace as soon as possible. Anyway, since I am entering 3rd year soon, and completing 20 subjects (hopefully, fingers crossed) by the end of this year, I will be eligible for IBL.

IBL is 6 months internship as compared to the 12-week placement of industrial training, so if i start an IBL at the end of this year, round December, it will take up my time until June or July. Which means I will be missing one semester of studies.

I'm really interested to do IBL, it's an opportunity to learn more things, and besides,  I get one measly line in my graduation cert saying that I've done it. Well, that's one line more than other people who don't have it. Also, IBL with a good company in hopes that I will be able to work there when I graduate.

Well, there are certain things that I have to take into consideration too if I were to really take IBL instead of the 12-week placement. Besides having to pay RM1500 to the university (well, what's up with that yea? I mean, I will be away working but gotta pay THAT much for a unit), I will miss one semester of studies (mentioned already).

Missing one semester is not just about missing one semester, it will mess up my unit sequence as well. I'm wondering if my graduation will just be slowed down by ONLY one semester, since the university offers certain subjects only once per year. Right now I am following the recommended unit sequence, and it seems fine to me. But one semester away could cause problems on which subjects to take and when to take them and if it's available.

Of course, these are the things which I gotta think about IF I do get an IBL placement somewhere nice. Like a big company.  Please accept me as an intern!
Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I need to write a few thousand words paper on my experience during IBL also. So it kinda sucks having to do more, and pay more, and work more, and miss one semester - but for the sake of that one measly line, and also hope of landing a job offer, I gotta do it.

But let's just lay low and not get my hopes up too much. I'll have to focus on actually getting a company to accept me first.

The weather nowadays is just so hot. In my room, it often feels like an oven during afternoons. And that terrible haze causes my nose to itch when I drive out.

See you again on the next post. One of my goals this semester is to improve my English language, so you'll probably see me post more often. Or else I don't get much chance to compose thoughts and matters in writing. I've forgotten how much I love to write. Did you know that when I was around 9 or 10 my ambition was to be a writer? Funny how it feels so distant now.

Ciao!