Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Best uncheesy romantic sentence ever!
"...[she] burns with jealousy, leaps to conclusion, cries; and turns to ice - but, when she smiles; the world is mine."
11:45 PM
I think its strange sometimes I just miss people who are so close by. Like, I miss the people they once were; before things changed so drastically. Because although we're next to each other, it's not the same; because we're just different. We're still hanging out together, doing the same old things, making lame jokes, having fun in general; but something inside just tells us - this is different, this is new. My only hope is that this new is good.
10:11 AM
A bit early but...
New Year's Eve thing?
Shall be edited whenever I think of something new.
NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR 2010
1. Participate in at least one marathon
2. Write at least five short stories
3. DECIDE what to do with life (and stick with it!)
4. Learn how to navigate PROPERLY
5. DON'T get scholarship retracted
6. Stay awake during classes (and try to pay attention most of the time w/o doodling)
7. Attend CCA meetings (REGULARLY)
8. Weigh 48 kgs
9. Learn how to dance (like, properly)
10. Limit computer time to 3 hours a day (*gasp*!)
11. Read the bible everyday
12. Eat less junk food
13. Be less selfish/ lazy /insensitive
14. Abolish herd mentality (RAWR!)
ACCOMPLISHMENTS (from last year's list)
1. How to cook
2. How to drive
3. How to cut/trim hair
4. Not flunk AMaths (at a regular basis)
5. Travel to a foreign country
6. Spend more time with family
7. Manage $$ semi properly
Not bad, eh. Of course, I didn't write down the things I didn't accomplish. The post would be too long otherwise. =X
1:19 AM
DESAPARK CITY
31st DECEMBER
9.30 PM - ? AM
*details to be added*
(sorry for crappy poster, lost most of my brushes and fonts)
I tried to invite everyone but I might hv left out some ppl so feel free to add everyone. =D
WHY DPC?
1. starry night!
2. picnic by the lake!
3. use less petrol, save the earth!
4. no crowds (aka no large flocks of stinky sweaty ppl)
WHAT TO DO THR?
1. bring snacks to eat by the grass
2. hang out & enjoy evening breeze
3. chat!!!
WHY MUST I GO?
1. last event of the year!
2. won't be seeing each other as often again.. D=!
WHAT DO YOU BRING?
1. snacks! (stuff that won't be too messy, so dry junk food)
2. an enthusiastic outlook (even if you dun like that person's face, just deal with it; last day of the year! =D)
COMMENTS/SUGGESTIONS ARE WELCOME
UNCONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISMS ARE NOT. =D
1:02 AM
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
I realised I still owe Mabel about $8 for taxi fare... LOLLLLL.
Since prom wei, and I'm super proud I remembered! =D
Oh, by the way; I finished my last official driving lesson today. Wasn't as illuminating as I thought it would be - and I realised I really wasted a lot of time.
For one thing, the first lesson consisted of him telling me how stupid I was and me turning in circles.
The second was more useful, had a little bit on uphill and the three point turn.
TODAY I spend 1.5 hours doing the fricking three point turn to the extent the instructor slept. YES HE SLEPT.
Then he woke up when I jerked the car on purpose and finally decided to teach me side parking.
Which by then, I was extremely exhausted, having spent another hour prior to the lesson driving about DCP with my dad and practicing controlling steering with a figure 8 and zig zag turn. AND I had blisters on my palm due to the lovely fact that the kancil we used to drive had an extremely stiff steering wheel. I could see my arm muscles bunching up each time I turn the steering wheel.
SO.
I kinda messed up the side parking. Knocked over one of the plastic pole thinghys that are supposed to be boundaries but are in all actuality just mop handles stuck into old paint cans with cement.
>_< !!!!
But hey, when I weigh the things I learnt this year in my 31st December list, I can actually put something relatively constructive, driving.
And, yeah; played DS games for the past two days... Finished Time Hollow and Atelier Annie (alchemist game). Both are really RPG like, with storylines. (I LIKE!) Time Hollow's about this guy who wakes up, finding that his parents have disappeared, with the world completely erasing any trace of their existence. He finds that he has the power to open small portals into time, provided he has pictures of events occuring in his mind (flashbacks). (He uses a pen. LOL) And there's this guy who also has the same power and uses it to kill of his friends and stuff. Kinda cool. =D
The Atelier Annie one is really nice, despite it somewhat giving me a dating sim kinda feel. It's about a girl called Annie who is forcibly made to participate into a resort building competition because she's too darn lazy. (her dream is to marry a rich guy and do nothing but sleep her days away) The characters there are really interesting, and the game is fairy unique. You get a mixture of SimCity and Final Fantasy and a random cooking game.
Because in this game, you have to build resorts, managing money and stuff whilst fighting monsters to gather ingredients required for you to synthesize them into items to fulfill quests. And as this goes on, you have the semesterly competition of which you can either get a gold, silver or bronze award that determines the amount of money you have to build more resorts.
The only annoying thing is the persistent time limit, which stops you from doing anything you want. Days past very quickly, and the game lasts only three years; which stops you from doing basically everthing you want. Apparently, there are seven documented endings. Never tried all yet, too lazy to.
On a side note, my luggage back to Sg weighs a tonne.
8:32 PM
Monday, December 28, 2009
2A1s, the rest A2s.
A1 in Maths and English.
I was damn satisfied in the dream.
But when I woke up...
Still, I managed to get an A2 for Physics; so, not bad.
8:45 AM
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Now that Christmas season is almost over.
It's about time for me to set New Year resolutions for 2010...
And see what I've achieved in 2009.
... it seems that I have yet to achieve the solution to procrastination and sloth, so it's gonna be something I've to do later.
9:56 PM
Had another lesson with the instructor from hell.
I SURVIVED THREE HOURS WITH HIM. (omg!)
And I managed to learn uphill, three point turn and get this, I was allowed to drive home by myself!
=D
Okay.
This time the lesson didn't feel so long.
Although I didn't say more than two words.
And I got a major ego boost when I saw some other people from another driving school screwing up the three point turn when I got it on the third try.
I did, however; kinda die on going uphill, with the engine actually stopping like five times throughout the entire time. The clutch and accelerator balancing act was hell and I kept jerking the car trying to get it right.
AND I must have been super unlucky or something because I almost DIED three times. There was this lady driver who turned in from a junction WITHOUT STOPPING OR SIGNALING. AT HIGH SPEED. Thank God I slowed down my car when I saw her...!!! And there was this BIG IDIOT who drove in the middle of the two way lane and almost collided into law abiding me! There was also this SUICIDAL KID who was standing in the middle of the bloody road as if he owned it.
PLEASE GIVE WAY TO THE L DRIVER. OKAY???
Oh yeah, yesterday, went to Melissa's church for this Youth Christmas thing, and the pastor was kinda disorganised (at least, to me). I think nothing beats SSMC. Then we went to Souled Out. (looked super cool)
And I was there for all of three minutes when my dad came.
T_T
But I really wanted to get home. Super exhausted. Came home and just slept all the way.
SORRY ppl.
8:45 PM
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Okay dilemma at 12 midnight.
Tomorrow I have to do tonnes of things, including accompanying my mum to the hair salon and stuff and later in the evening, go to Melissa's christmas party.
And I have to practice driving. BECAUSE MY INSTRUCTOR IS PURE EVIL.
I shall type bits of my conversation here.
INS: Your theory good anot?
ME: Er, okay la. (I mean, I passed with a 46/50 in 9 minutes out of the alloted 45...)
INS: Your theory must good you know after you go kill people go fighting you will go to makhamah (court) and they will see your driving certificate locked in JPA (Public Transport Authority) one you know.
ME: Er, ok.
INS: You know your parents paid a lot of money for the seminar, RM 80, 6 hours of information. You better remember all your theory properly otherwise you get kosong (zero), fail.
ME: Er, ok...
INS: You go already must learn something after you got kill people got accident then you go to makhamah and all.
ME: Er, I skipped the 11 hour thing.
INS: Why you skip???
ME: Because I have to take the license early since I have to go overseas. (BECAUSE YOUR BLOODY INSTITUTE GAVE ME A CHOICE DAMMIT)
INS: Okay, now I ask you; when you press clutch?
ME: To change gear?
INS: Fail! You press clutch to stop the car and change gear! Very important one! After you dunno how to stop the car you get into accident then kill people.
ME: Okay, sorry.
INS: Now I see your theory very bad. So I must teach you now.
ME: Okay...
INS: Now I ask you. What do you do to get P license?
ME: Er, take theory. Sit for amali six hour lecture. Then a five hour lecture. Then practical,.?
INS: Fail! There's three bahagian (parts). Bahagian satu, theory, five hour lecture plus six hour amali. Eleven hours total. Then bahagian dua pass three parts; parking, bukit (hill), and belok tiga penjuru (three point turn). Then third section jalan raya. Remember???
ME: Okay...
INS: I ask you again. How many types of saman are there?
ME: Er, I dunno.
INS: FAIL! How are you going to drive car like that? After you go kill people then the makhamah will see your certificate locked up in JPA. There are five types! Jabatan Pengangkutan Awam, Polis Diraja, ???, ekor and aduan.
ME: Er, okay.
Other stuff he asked.
1. Brake
2. Hazard lights
3. Mirrors
4. Mini sections in jalan raya
5. Other theory stuff that isn't in the book..... T_T_T_T_T_T
OMG SO TRAUMATISING.
AND THIS INFO RIGHT.
NOT IN THE BLOODY BOOK THEY GIVE US.
(and according to friends, was not in any of the lectures either)
(AND isn't required in the actual exam!)
I was so scared la, I mean, first time driving a car and all and I got so terribly scolded. Really felt like crying.
So.
Planning to go practise with my brother's car first BEFORE another session on Sunday since he said "You are very clumsy. Steering and clutch very bad."
I'm like, WHAT ELSE IS THERE.
And I circled a housing estate like 99999999 times during the two hour lesson.
So,
Back to my dilemma.
Should I go for Melissa's church party or should I practise driving to prevent myself from being murdered on Sunday.
Or should I just try to squash some practice time on Sunday afternoon.
I DUNNO LA.
And when I was driving, it RAINED. SUPER UNLUCKY WEI.
I only feel better because Vincent suffered the same fate.
WHAT TO DO.
12:16 AM
Friday, December 25, 2009
1:58 PM
Thursday, December 24, 2009
threads that link me to you
slowly intertwine as
we laugh
smile
play
together
they grow
as the memories
melt
into reality
now
pulling away in
all directions
cutting
into my skin
tearing it apart
friends
friends
friends
the resounding echo
empty.
10:49 AM
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
... wondering if i should move to tumblr.com
It sounds so cool. =D
...
Idea rejected.
Moving every two years is a pain.
11:40 PM
TO WATCH LIST:
1) Alice in Wonderland
2) The Blind Side
3) St. Trinians
4) Inglourious Basterds
=DDDDDD
Edit: Driving lesson no. 1 tmr!!! Very scared! Only operated an auto so far, dunno how to use manual...! >_<
11:41 AM
I feel like I'm the poster child for blurness nowadays.
It seems as if any semblance of intelligence has been sucked out of me after O levels and has proceeded to leave me into a catatonic vegetable-like state of which any modicum of human intellect is absent.
For one thing, it shows in the way I have to read things twice to actually get something. I scan through words, as I always do; go "huh? does it say THAT?" and read again just to understand it properly. Even then, five seconds later the words disappear from my mind, much like the same way a luscious bar of chocolate is golfed down by a hungry six year old.
Like the Copenhagen summit on the environment? It took me THREE times to remember the name, much less spell it correctly. And I read quite a few articles on it.
Aside that, my attention span, previously already rather inferior in size has shrunk to the size of a peanut and is steadily growing smaller by the second. I keep thinking of other things as I do other things. Like now, I kinda feel like I should turn on the radio and grab something to eat and load a movie and call someone all simultaneously at the same time.
Huh, the urge is gone.
I think I'm psychologically damaged, as of now; the result of going out to often/worrying about results/sleeping & eating too much.
Awesome.
And since this blog allows my archive to be readily accessed, I feel kinda depressed when I read my posts from previous years. They seem so much more entertaining/witty than the ones I'm writing now, which consists of a bare few lines. I also feel like I've been having too much fun recently, going out every single bloody day; something I have NEVER done before my friends could all drive. NOT productive at all.
I suppose it wouldn't make a difference if I stayed at home. I'd probably get addicted to some new online game and play until my eyeballs fall out from their sockets from overuse. Which seems to happen quite often. Not the eyeball thing, the addiction thing. Still, I would have read more often, considering I haven't read a book in over a WEEK (horrors!) since it's impolite to bring a book with me when I go out with my friends; basically sending subliminal messages that I think that they'll probably bore me to death before they actually attempt to do so.
(*cough* dota @ genting *cough*)
But anyway, I really had tonnes of fun, and since it's pre-college; of which everyone's going their separate ways and all, I think it should be okay.
At least I hope so.
9:22 AM
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Source of tiredness -> over enthu-ness.
I have this weakness of which I can only stay "high" for a few hours before being super exhaustd later on. So usually when I spend the whole day out all excited and stuff, when I come back, I feel very much dead.
ANYWAY.
DAMN SCARED FOR JC.
A lot of seniors suffered in the promotional exams.
AndImightbenext.
Provided I qualify into the jcs of my choice in the first place.
STRESS.
1:31 PM
Monday, December 21, 2009
damn tired.
dunno why. shouldn't be so tired.
shall elaborate tomorrow.
11:25 PM
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Changed.
MUST WATCH ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
Johnny Depp!!!!! *hearts*
(and Anne Hathaway > White queen)
I think it's about Alice returning to Wonderland. Which sounds pretty cool.
Wanna watch Princess and the Frog too. Avatar, btw was pretty mediocre.
Also, note to all Airbender fans, the guy acting for Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender is the same guy who was the main for Slumdog Millionare.
yeah, the Indian guy.
Not that I'm racist or anything but Zuko was fricking Chinese in the animation la. He even had pig tails I think?
WHY HOLLYWOOD. WHY.
11:50 PM
crap i can't find my tagbox again.
SO CHANGING MY BLOGSKIN.
10:08 PM
I came to my blog, and the first thing I realised.
I COULDN'T FIND MY TAGBOX.
WTH.
But anyway, had another jam packed past few days.
Su & YJ's sleepover was funnnn!
Played wii and rock band and watched role models (which su kinda regretted letting us watch cuz it was unrated, though it really doesn't matter because I'm turning 18 next year!)
And thennn I was supposed to go to this Edufair on Saturday but didn't go due to utter laziness. Got Wei Ann to help me take some flyers though, dunno how THAT's gonna help, but whatever. Then went out for dinner with the Voons at a seafood restaurant I've never seen before. Felt kinda guilty because they called my favourite dishes. Again. Eventhough I said not to.
Sigh.
And today went to Curve to hang out with Shuk, Dev, ZJ, Tim and Joel. Had two ice-creams, this lovely green tea one from some tea specialty shop and Lecca Lecca (sp?). Ate at TGIF and split some really goood nachos. We had some waiter trouble, as usual. And although we specifically mentioned for them to HOLD THE CHEESE they dumped it in anyway and Shuk ate like only a teensy bit cuz of that. Thennnnn played pool, or to be more specific, watched them play pool while I twirl around in my movable chair and winced at the sound of some guy screaming at the karaoke machine.
Went shopping at FOURSKIN (well, a little) cuz they're having sales like everywhere. They're selling earrings for RM2 per pair, and some are the double piercing kind, so its like RM1 per pair. And the design's kinda interesting, although not all that great. They had sales for accessories too, but I already bought loads so couldn't buy anymore.
They have cute plastic bags. (lol @ THIS IS A SMALL CARRIER. I LIKE IT SMALL.)
And dad let me play about with the car. Granted, it was an auto; but I still got to drive! Albeit, in circles; but it was fun anyway! The accelerator's really sensitive, like, it takes the barest push for it to work - and I find it really weird that an auto car moves without you even pressing anything. No accidents, no near misses either; which was awesome.
Aryl's party tmr!!!
I'm doing ice-creams! Yay!
9:52 PM
Thursday, December 17, 2009
BIG MOOD CHANGE.
Shall not talk about it
But am rather pissed at certain people for being bloody INSENSITIVE to the people who love, care and respect them.
The worst thing is when you feel like you can't do a single thing but watch as the people you love go through hell due to the group of supposedly more logical, saner adults.
You'd think they'd act their namesake.
4:50 PM
PASSED UNDANG!
Just came back from Genting! Very hyped up!
Going to YewJuan & Suzanna's sleepover in a few hours time!
4:14 PM
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
6:34 PM
UNDANG tmr!!!!!
Dying dying dying dying....
>_<
I dunno if I can pass or not. If I really can't though, it'll be gargantuanly embarrassing.
because so many ppl who DIDN'T STUDY still PASSED the test.
Bt, really; I tried the electronic trial thinghy and I passed like only twice out of the four times I did it.
!!!!
Granted, one of the times was in English in which I was totally lost because I couldn't understand half the terms because everything I read was in Malay. Still, if like so many ppl in Malaysia can pass the bloody Undang and I can't; it means ginormous retardedness and colossal stupidity.
die die die die!!
10:05 AM
Monday, December 14, 2009
First thing when a guy (from SG, btw) finds out that girls play online games, say.
"Do you m@sturbrate?"
Mental age?
Probably -5 or something.
Bloody streamyx killing my online gaming.
Oh, went to the choir thing today and realised that I hardly knew everyone there. First of all, most of the F5s already left once I left, second everyone was from SJK(C). Which I wasn't familiar with. Anyway, saw the girl that will be my junior in XMS next year, pretty normal girl - doesn't look like a geekomaniac.
The really sad thing was, CHOIR WAS SO DEAD. Like, everyone was in little cliques, nobody was mixing with everybody. When I was in choir back then, sure we had cliques, but we still hung out with everyone and generally poked fun at each other.
Some of them were like breathing cardboard cut-outs.
Singing wise? NOT ENTHU AT ALL.
Choir always is the CCA (ko-ko) group that's the noisiest, more exuberant, most ENERGETIC. And still, this time, I was faced with mechanical little robots eating their chicken systematically. Well, I suppose during my year we had people like Nanthini and Wei Jean who were all really crazy together. It didn't matter what race we were.
Which seems to be the issue now.
I brought it up when I went there.
Apparently no one really noticed.
WTH.
6Bestari might be having a get together!!! Anybody interested?
(or does everyone have too many nightmares abt std 6 0_o)
11:04 PM
Okay!
I'm better now!
I can tell because I'm bloody hungry but I can't eat because MY MOUTH IS FULL OF BLISTERS.
Which is hell, when I'm confronted with tantalisingly delicious HOME COOKED FOOD.
T_T
And worse, I have to take my driving license test this Wednesday I have almost died trying to read the guide book.
I mean, they have this stupid 12 second rule WHICH I DON'T GET WHATSOEVER. I understand the two second rule, when tailing a vehicle, I understand the four second rule, when tailing a loaded vehicle BUT I TOTALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THERE IS THIS BLOODY TWELVE SECOND RULE. Even the instructions given for overtaking is a gazillionbillion times simpler than the bloody twelve second rule.
But hey, if I can drive I SHALL BEAR IT.
I hope I don't fall sick again though, cause I'm going out today, and probably tomorrow to hang out with Mei Yin(?) and then the day after is the driving test and directly after is the trip to genting and next my sister's celebratory party for getting straight A's and then Yew Juan's sleepover and then church and then hanging out with Shuk Huay...
OH MY GOD.
Now that I think about it. I feel sick already.
12:28 PM
Saturday, December 12, 2009
coughing out blood is unfun.
8:56 PM
Had a persistent fever for the past few days. Temp reached a peak of 39.2 C today.
Went to hospital.
Got blood test for Dengue, got test for H1N1.
Went on drip for two hours, got injected in the BUTT for fever.
Sooo exhausted.
Really, I was sick even when we went to 1U the other day, but considering if I didn't go, the entire thing would probably be canceled, I went anyway.
Sigh.
8:26 PM
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Starting to feel that holiday's really starting!
Yesterday went to DCP with 1/2 the gang to celebrate post SPM.
Hung out with them until KarYee, SueSan, Ann, Fong and Vincent sneakily left, (jerks. Well, ONE of them had a valid excuse) leaving me with the guys.
Realised that although most people basically remained the same, quite a few of my friends changed. A bit sad.
Certain ppl when clubbing yesterday; not that it's world changing or anything, but since there was alcohol involved and I'll probably depend on them to drive me back.... nah.
And, oh, I met Melissa! She's working part time at Coffee Bean. Planning to hang out someday.
KITE FLYING TODAY.
or, to quote wei ann, considering our lack of resources "retarded-miscellaneous-object-flying".
(considering she's planning to make a kite out of grass whilst I, the more intelligent being chose to form one out of a highly superior plastic bag)
=DDDDD
9:58 AM
Monday, December 7, 2009
flipped through brother's econs books.
WHY ARE THERE GRAPHS????
10:59 PM
Saw Huiting's post on the guide to a girl's mind.
And I feel kinda depressed.
WTH.
Am I like the only one on earth who's gone 17 years without a boyfriend???
That's so retarded.
I think something is wrong with me.
No wait, something MUST be wrong with me, considering I know 12 year olds who have serious relationships. And especially when I hang out with X rated friends who have all been hooked up at one point or another.
Maybe I'm too much like a guy? *glares at CERTAIN PPL in charge of the brainwashing*
Oh well.
Which reminds me, when I went to China, I felt SERIOUSLY OBESE there. I mean, at home, I'm like already overweight but in China I'm the size of a panda. At least. Everyone there's so slim and tall and pretty. (and homogenous I suppose) The thing is that they fit our criteria of good looking people so much they
ALL LOOK THE SAME
and when I say that, I actually MEAN IT because when I went shopping
I MISTOOK THEM FOR THE MANNEQUINS MANY TIMES
and I'm not joking. Because I almost screamed when I saw one move. It's scary okay. I was seriously relieved when I came back to KL where everyone was normal and not STICK THIN.
ANYWAY.
Looking forward to tomorrow!!!!! SPM IS FINALLY OVER and I can finally GO OUT. (yes, if you haven't seen my over enthusiasm on facebook already) The only thing is that we're having a farewell party for Miss Low but I probably can't go cuz we'll be going to Genting which is super super sad because it's going to be the last time all SMKB my batch choir members are going hang out in such a large scale.
But really, I don't know who's more excited that SPM is over, me or the actual examinees. >_<
Another downer, Shuk's busy jamming for gigs for the three proms she's playing for so SHE CAN'T GO OUT OFTEN. (ha, this is directed at you)
And oh, it seems that my holiday's longer than most SPM-ers considering I start school later, but most's taking college next year. Whee. XD
7:00 PM
cut my fringe crooked today.
so now i have side parting. (yes, finally)
i was waiting for my hair to grow out but it seems that cutting was a more effective option.
=D
gonna love tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!
6:23 PM
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Surprise surprise.
The guy who broke into our house wasn't her boyfriend from Indonesia, but instead a random construction worker.
11:29 AM
I can't sleep
so I'm going to write about what happened.
Hopefully it'll make me feel better.
My maid, Junaeni; ran away.
Okay, this sounds bad, like I've been abusing her or something. But serious, this is one thing that really causes me to feel very much depressed.
Let me start from the beginning.
On our last night in Beijing, my dad got a call from his friend from the committee of Kepong Baru. He said that there was an outsider in our house, who lied poorly to the security guard that he had to enter the area due to a construction project in a nearby mosque. They discovered the guy in my house and the found out that he was my maid's boyfriend.
The thing is, she has lots of family problems - god knows how much she seems to suffer back in her home. She got married young, gave birth to a baby only to be left by her husband who took a mistress. She was nineteen when she started working for us, having lied in her permit. So she was really like an elder sister to us, considering the narrow age gap.
I wasn't around, but according to my mum - the person most affected by the course of events; she got a boyfriend (?) in Indonesia during her periodic breaks back to her hometown. The guy's mother threatened to marry him off to someone else if Junaeni went back to work for us. The thing is, she came back anyway, because she said she already promised, and anyway, it was only for another three more months.
Details are still hazy but we think her boyfriend flew to Indonesia to see her, and stayed in our house for awhile before being found out.
She left a letter, didn't touch anything but her passport and just left. She was afraid that we would send her back to the maid agency because she let her boyfriend into her house, something that we wouldn't have done anyway; we had already decided to pretend nothing happened. For it seems the maid agency is a freaky place her exact words "mereka akan menyiksa saya" ("they will torture me").
And I feel like crap because I wonder if I had been much nicer to her, attempted to get to know her better, she would trust us even more - just as we trusted her.
...
I hope you're okay out there. =/
12:59 AM
Got bored of summarising events.
Shanghai
1) Went to city areas (sat on the tut-tut(?))
2) Went to Qipu street (shopping haven)
Took 10 hour train to Beijing
Beijing <--- -4 degrees celsius once! No joke!
1) Almost froze to death (!!!)
2) Went to Temple of Heaven
3) Went to Summer Palace (ironic, since it's Winter)
4) Went to Wangfujing food street (with gross food)
5) Hiked Great Wall
6) Went to Lama Temple
Took 12 1/2 hour train to Hangzhou (finish watching Canaan)
Hangzhou
1) Walked around West lake
1) Walked to some tourist spot I can't remember due to extreme cold (not comparable to Beijing though)
Took 5 hour flight back to KL. (which was delayed 1 hour for no apparent reason, of which we only found out after we BOARDED THE PLANE)
Took 1.5 hours taxi ride back home.
Butt. Very numb.
Along the way some really depressing things happened. Shall elaborate next time.
Didn't get many souvenirs. They were either fugly or pathetically expensive. (wanted to get a nice fan as a HnG memoir but it cost 300+ yuan so didn't)
12:49 AM
Third day.
I woke up at about 7, having slept relatively peacefully the previous night. (discounting the fact my sister kept squashing me until I almost fell over the side of the bed)
Had a weird dream that I called up Meng Yue (not logical?) and asked her where she stayed. She said, "Beijing." (not true?) and I was pleasantly surprised by the coincidence and I asked her to meet up with a few others in a few days time.
Huh.
I suppose dreams are strangely aligned to time and place as well.
I'm supposed to go shopping (finally) for clothes today as I have "seen all Shanghai has to offer" (streetlights, etc.) I only hope I can find something because my parents didn't pack in most of my clothes.
!!!!
And I have absolutely no more clean shirts to wear other than the one on my back. Which is pathetic and annoying. But I guess it gives me another reason to get some clothes without parental disapproval. It is, after all, a necessity for me to have one of the most basic of human belongings, garments. Note, the degree of necessity might just inspire me to buy them in copious amounts, something that has no association with !desire to get more clothes! whatsoever. Really.
Ahem.
Btw, xiao jie here, means prostitute. Do not use in restaurants!
12:48 AM
My second day in China. And I didn't manage to sleep whatsoever the previous night because I was attacked by the flu monster. Deprived of any semblance of rest, I was pretty sure I was going to die the next day, having woken up at one hour intervals the entire night to clear my sinuses.
As of now, however, I'm in the bullet train.
It's punctual, left the station on the dot at 1.21 pm, unlike most public transportation; which was a pleasant surprise; though not entirely unexpected knowing how perfectionist some of them are.
The weather feels strange, considering I have never been out of SEA before. It's like being in a very well air conditioned room, where you constantly feel cold, but the option of turning off the air con doesn't exist, so it seems like a perpetual state of torture, considering my paper thin against cold. (and by paper thin I mean relatively non-existent)
The people here look at me strangely as well, as if they can't decide where I'm from. I suppose it's because I neither look local or foreign and probably also because I'm accompanied by my blatantly Chinese looking family but don't quite look oriental.
Also, communication is like playing charades.
POOR charades, that is.
I was trying to ask the temperature and with my poor vocabulary, only managed to say "Today" "very cold" "what" and a lot of English inserts of which my listener only looked blankly at until I was forced to go into my room, go online, type the English word into my laptop, google it in mandarin, point desperately before I got an answer that was only a poor approximation. I'm pretty sure the lady has never been so baffled by another Chinese before. But hey, I suppose I can say I'm pretty resourceful. =D
And once, there was this taxi driver who asked us where we were from considering we had no grasp of Mandarin whatsoever. My dad managed to reply that we were in Malaysia and that our Chinese population reached 6 million. Surprisingly, he understood very chim stuff like when the taxi driver enquired about the government of Malaysia, which I totally didn't understand. Note, atypical of most PRCs he didn't know that Malaysia held any Chinese.
The funny part came when he asked my dad what generation of immigrant my dad was. My dad answered that
"I'm the second generation, my mother is the third."
The taxi driver's face....
Priceless.
Of course, he was trying to say that his father was the first generation whilst his mother was the third generation. But he managed to garble everything until the driver was so frustrated.
And oh, I see farms! Seriously interesting to see neat little squares of green, peppered with hints of vegetation slowly making their way out of the soil as I pass by with the train. And the scenery! Willow trees crouching over the glassy like lake, it's drooping leaves swaying slightly in the soft breeze; as if guardian to the lake before it.
So pretty!
Reddish leaves are also seen throughout, leaving an autumn-ny feel, despite it being late November. The houses are different as well, there's no terrace houses or the usual fleet of houses I'm so accustomed to, every house seems to be surrounded by its own plot of land, most of which is converted into farming areas. Or so I can see through the train window.
Also, Winter fashion is gorgeous! I'm really looking forward to shopping and stuff. =D (of course, aside the flashy, garish looking ones with cartoons printed on it)
If you managed to finish reading this absurdly long series of posts of my trip here, congrats! It's more of a record than anything else, really. Well, since it's only the second day and I have ten days in China, hang on for the loooong ride.
My dad just randomly gave a random guy a random RM1 note in a random manner!!!!
....
...
My parents are so weird.........
....
...........
(as you can see my blog is somewhat like a live telecast.)
okay, not so random.
the guy was someone we changed seats with.
and he wanted to show the guy a part of Malaysian culture. (money?)
but still.
okaaaaay.....
okaaay....
whatever.
shall go take a nap now.
.
.
.. that girl sounded like yihua!
...
oh, all china girls have extremely high pitched voices.
and some of the aunties seem very fierce. =/////
scary. (they're shouting at the conductor now)
***
Went to my cousin's place by a van. Learnt the many virtues of haggling. Place is g o r g e o u s!!!! 'Cept the freezing cold floor. (We have to wear fluffy slippers)
Walked around Shanghai, saw Shanghai city lights.
Took the sub twice.
Took taxi many many times (and it's still relatively cheap, less than RM10 each go)
Took a boat across the river. (dunno what river?)
I wasn't really interested, considering city lights can be seen everywhere.
And oh, in People's Square, there's like a MacDonalds every ten steps. I saw about seven McDonalds, five KFCs, two Pizza Huts (I couldn't recognise if it was Pizza Hut aside from the red hat. The words "Pizza Hut" was replaced by Chinese characters) three Starbucks, two Haagen Dazs, one Yoshinoya and assorted other fast food restaurants.
The place was pretty crowded despite it being a Thursday night.
My dad bought this laser pen thing that allowed people to point to things very far away. And by very far, I mean across a huuuuge river, and at a top floor of office buildings. My cousin brother could even use the pointer to tell us which room he worked in in a sky-scraper-ish office building. Apparently, it was military grade (or so my parents surmised).
The person who sold it to my dad initially offered RMB150, an insane price for a measly pen.
Most of the money would go to the operator's pocket anyway. Then my dad mused that he was given the opportunity to buy it at RMB120, but still he refused. So the guy dropped the price to RMB80, almost half the price initially stated. But my parents haggled it down to RMB60.
Er...
Is that normal???
The guy was kinda cute, though....
(and he spoke English!) <- which is kinda sad, that it's now a feat worth admiration
And I felt super guilty that my parents bullied him off a good deal. But hey, whatever my parents save is my gain, I suppose.
And Ee One said that people will never sell things at a price that will cause them to make a loss!
....
Right????
And oh, saw a lot of historical-ish German built buildings fruit from the Opium war dozens of years back. Apparently those were the remnants of a pier, hence the name "The Bund." Or I might have confused piers with ports, I didn't really pay attention. I would definitely like to go in one of the buildings but my parents were to entranced by the city lights to give anything of historical value a second glance. Anyway, it seemed that a lot of those buildings housed expensive brands like Dolce & Gabanna, etc. etc.
Definitely a high end area.
Still haven't seen any schoolkids around. Dad and cousin brother struck up a conversation about how today's generation's kids (including me) have no future whatsoever and how they (including me) will bring the country (Malaysia/China) to its ruin considering that they (including me) and spoilt terribly by their parents (which also coincidentally includes my dad) and that they (including me) will not be able to take responsibility for whatever projects they might do in the working world. In front of me.
...
Tact is underrated. Drama, however, is much overrated.
And whilst I was sitting in the train, there was this four ang mo guys that struck up a highly explicit conversation about this girl one guy was trying to hook up. Conversation items include, "hand did job you f*** suck" not necessary in correct order. There were more, but I was trying hard NOT to hear.
And they spoke all this in the top of their voices, with most of the PRCs oblivious to the content of their conversation, other than the fact that it was loud and violent sounding as they. cannot. understand. English.
Bloody hell.
My parents didn't realise because they were so enraptured in their own conversation in which involves the critical analysis of the economical and political status of China and America. And Expo Shanghai 2010, which involves China officially opening China up to the world. (Jackie Chan is one of the stars ic i think)
And throughout all this I was listening blankly, having nothing interesting/useful to contribute.
Yeah. The love.
12:47 AM
I am now on the plane.
With not much to do, it seems that I shall just input my entry for today.
Woke up at 4.30, after sleeping at 2 having to wait for my download to (finally) complete, Canaan ep 11,12,13 which is a PAIN with a 6 kb/s connection. Got myself ready and watched blankly as my parents rushed around, realising they left things out. It was precisely 5.36am when the taxi arrived.
Although already slightly late, I was unconcerned with the time because it seemed that we were going to be very early for our 8.10am flight.
But.
DISASTER 1#.
Halfway through our journey, our lovely taxi driver had a flat tyre.
All of us got down, and I was expecting the taxi driver to call up his friend to pass the baton to him; instead, my dad had to help him change tyres. Our journey continued for a few minutes only to have the taxi driver turn into a petrol station. His tyre had too low a pressure for us to continue traveling.
DISASTER 2#.
When we reached the airport, we were told by the lady at the check-in counter that we were in fact the last group to have reached the airport. Everyone else had
already comfortably positioned themselves in the waiting area.
DISASTER 3#.
Another nasty surprised surfaced. The tickets bought by my mother did not include luggage booking, which meant every luggage weighing 15kg needed a payment of RM30. And just our luck, our baggage weighed up to an incredible 48kg, which meant that the additional 3kg already cost us RM30. Lovely.
DISASTER 4#.
And I just found out I'll be eating airplane food. I hope I survive.
***
(Later)
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
DISASTER 5^9999#
Plane food was horrible. AND TOTALLY NOT WORTH IT.
But whatever, I guess. Airplanes aren't known for their cuisine anyway.
(shall insert pic for you to better understand THE PAIN)
***
(Later still)
By the way, noticed that the great firewall of China blocked quite a few websites, some including my favourite hangouts like facebook, blogger and wordpress. Didn't bother to check twitter, it probably completely bans it, considering what happened in Tibet.
The room is pretty cool, with a flat screen tv (suspended), own private bathroom, two single beds, antique-ish table, lights that give the room a warm glow and lots and lots and lots of blankets. (which were completely necessary) And oh, yeah, wifi. (a surprise!)
What I found interesting was the dual purpose of air conditioners here. Instead of merely cooling the room (something that was actually quite pointless in the ~10 degree celsius weather) it also heats the room with hot air. You can actually control the temperature of the room from anywhere between 10 degree celsius to 30. Of course, the temperature controlled isn't precise, at the thermometer probably detects only temperature within 1m radius, causing the rest of the room to be relatively cold still and one tiny area at an extreme temperature.
DISASTER 6#
I also found out that my parents' Mandarin is atrocious. Admittedly, mine is hardly better; but my parents combine cantonese and hokkien to form a new blend of language incomprehensible to all but themselves. When they attempt to speak to Chinese-speaking locals I often have to ask them what they are trying to say before trying to translate gibberish into painfully mangled Mandarin, of which at least is somewhat understandable.
Which is annoying!
Because I expected my parents to be able to communicate with the most basic of Mandarin considering they were so gung ho about us backpacking. If I knew, I would have at least gone through some Mandarin phrase books to brush up my Mandarin.
It especially was a pain when we got into a little trouble at the airport looking for a cab.
***
The place we're staying at is near a lot of bars and clubs. It's almost pitch dark by five, and you see a lot of people hurrying home already by then. The bars and clubs, however are brightly lit up with florescent lamps, a stark contrast with the inky darkness and dimly lit street lights.
The surroundings seem to be covered with a perpetual fog of which I cannot distinguish whether it is a product of pollution or of cold. My dad says its the former.
But walking through the streets was interesting, to say the least. The crisp cold air made it feel that the entire of China was air-condtiioned, and I managed to observe the people around, as they hurry by. There were no students around even at 5 pm, I suppose they're still in school.
Dinner tonight was quite nice. Tender, braised pork with fluffy white rice and fresh, mixed vegetables and warm soya milk with mango ice. And it cost us about RMB 68 for a dinner for four + desert! Not bad indeed. =D
Also, bought a few bracelets. Quite cool. But dad says should abstain from buying anything else before we reach Shanghai (self proclaimed shopping heaven)
MUST BUY.
1) Cap!!!!
2) assorted winter clothing that can be adapted to Singapore weather
3) boots!
4) souvenirs =D
LAST THING.
TAXI FARE IS CHEAP DAMMIT.
(no wonder the PRC scholars never want to take taxi)
12:47 AM
