Tak Sempat Mengucapkan Selamat Tinggal... T_T

Hello. Kepada anda yang pernah ada akaun Friendster dan tidak pernah mendeletenya walaupun sudah lama tak log in ke sana, saya percaya, anda mesti memahami situasi saya sekarang. 

Yah, setelah lama mengaktifkan diri dalam facebook, saya sudah tidak lagi melawat laman friedster berkurun lamanya. Dan pada bulan September yang lepas, apabila saya cuba log masuk ke dalam laman friendster, saya telah dikejutkan dengan avatar baru dan semua gambar-gambar lama yang telah saya muat naik (upload) ke dalam friendster telah hilang semuanya.  T_T Habis semua gambar kenangan dengan kawan-kawan first year semua dah tak ada. Nasib la ada gambar yang sempat upload kat facebook. Kalau tak, langsung takde kenangan first year kat facebook.

Bukan itu je, blog friendster aku yang bertajuk Undiscoveredluv tu pun dah kena buang. Huwaaa... Walaupun blog itu tak aktif, tapi blog tu macam kenangan terindah masa lampau. Blog itu merupakan permulaan aku untuk mengekspresikan diri dalam alam maya.

Hmm, kenapa pula Friendster ni nak diubah jadi laman game online eh? Kenapa Tagged yang tak la famous sangat tu masih dapat bertahan sampai ke hari ini? Huwaaa~

Tagged account

Tak percaya, ini akaun Tagged saya yang masih aktif sampai sekarang walaupun saya jarang log masuk.

Gambar itu menerangkan betapa lama saya tidak mengupdate akaun ini. Hmmm. Tu la akibat terlampau banyak join laman online sosial (Hi-5, Tagged, Friendster, Facebook, Twitter, etc). (-_-")

Memory with former students.

Tapi... Yang penting gambar ni masih selamat. :)

Thank God.

The History of a Practising Prankster

I LOVE to play prank. I used to play a lot of pranks on people and  sometimes even on my pets. I am not sure if this hobby had something to do with the fact that I was born on 11th April (which was dubbed as double fool day by my sista) but I guess my family loooove to prank people, especially me and my siblings. 

I remember one April Fool's Day, when my eldest sister Michele was still  12, she played a prank on her friend by presenting him with lizard's dropping wrapped in a bunch of papers. (-_-") Her friend was really disgusted. Score!

And my second sister Melissa was very good at shocking people and also keeping a straight face when making up stories. She always tricked me by popping in front of me out of nowhere with her long hair covering her face - gosh I always jumped out of my skin whenever she did that. Besides that prank, she tricked a lot of her friends too. One memorable prank that she played on her friend was the one where she made up stories about herself trying drugs before, and her friend somewhat believed her. (-_-") He believed her to the extend that when she confessed that she was actually lying, he wouldn't believe her confession. Backfired prank huh? lol. 

My mother was also quite a prankster. She played a prank on me when I was still in Form 6 by asking me to try a pansuh that she received from her colleague. "It's chicken pansuh" She told me. I was skeptical of her statement but since there's no harm in eating something your own mother brought home, I just tried it. I was clear it was not chicken, but it did not taste like fish either. 

"It's actually snake's meat," She told me, smiling. (-_-")

Besides this light prank, there was one time, circa 2002, my parents and my cousin Mary played a prank on my cousin, Agnes. My cousin Agnes is my adult cousin who was already a mommy that time. Agnes's family and our family wanted to go back to Dalat, so for security, Agnes placed her family car at our home (because we had gates and they didn't). So Agnes, her husband and children went back to Dalat by water transport, which was a speedboat. Since our family were using car to go back to Dalat, Agnes placed some of her things in our car for us which we promised to pass to her that very evening when we reached Dalat. 

We went on with the road trip as planned, but when we reached Mukah, which was about one hour from Dalat, we stopped at Mary's house (PS: Mary is Agnes's older sister), and from there the idea to play a prank on Agnes came up. Mom called Agnes up and told her that we didn't go on a road trip as planned, we were still at Sibu and would only go to Dalat the next evening. So that very moment, Agnes was very angry and disappointed so she called her sister Mary up (who was my mom's partner in crime in this prank) and Agnes told and shared all her disappointments and rage with Mary. After Mary hung up the phone, we all broke into laughter~!

When we reached Dalat that evening, Agnes's husband saw us and was very surprised. He, looking tired, told us that Agnes was very angry and asked him to buy back all the things that she put in our car at the shops. When Agnes found out that it was actually a prank, and her things arrived safely at Dalat with us, she was quite angry but not as angry as before. She just said that "Eee, this prank is just too much! Don't do it again."

Okay. Enough about my family's prank. Let me tell you guys about my own prankster experience.

Yeah this was how Madam Meenon looked like. Sorry for my horrible drawing. (-_-")

When I was about 8 years old, I played a prank on Sharon, my cousin, who was also my  closest playmate during my childhood. We always played downstairs at my old house. One fine day, I was extremely bored, so I decided to play a trick on her. While we were playing, I told Sharon to wait for me downstairs while I ran  upstairs, went to my parents' bedroom and quickly dressed up in my mom's old dress. I wrapped a towel around my head just like a headscarf and wore a pair of sunglasses which I took from my parents' dressing table. Then from upstairs, I shouted my cousin's name and asked her to join me upstairs. Slowly, Sharon climbed the stairs and then she saw me in all those funny clothes.

I quickly approached her and tell her "Hi, I'm Madam Meenon, Maureen's not here." Sharon was speechless. Until now, I think she actually believed me or maybe she thought that Madam Meenon was my alter ego lol. So that moment onwards, she would call me Madam Meenon whenever she sees me in funny clothes and glasses.

When I got older, my prank got nastier. I was about eleven or twelve that time. I shared the same room with my sister Melissa while my eldest sister shared the same room with our cousin Pamela. Pamela is our cousin from Dalat who used to live with us to help out with the house chores. So one day, when Pamela was  showering, I entered their room when nobody was there and hid under their bed (PS, their bed were combined together). When Pamela came in the room alone to change her clothes after showering, I put out my left hand from under the bed and frightened her. Thank God she did not scream and her reaction was merely  "ISH... Baby padu..!" in quite an annoyed tone.

After feeling satisfied with my prank, I planned another prank - now on both Pamela and Michele. Muahaha!

One fine night, I pretended to have a fight with Melissa. Then, I pretended to be really upset and announced to the whole family that I would sleep earlier that night, and locked the door to our room. Actually, I had informed Melissa beforehand that I would lock our bedroom's door for this prank. So after pretending to sleep, I tiptoed to Michele and Pamela's room and let my bedroom's door stayed locked so that nobody would be suspicious. I hid under their bed. There was a gap between their bed and it was that gap that I planned to carry out my prank. Muahaha..!

So, my plan for the prank was this:

This was more or less how my fingers looked like that time.

 I stick the plasticine on my fingernails so that they would look scary. I planned to scare both of them by popping up my hand through the gap between their beds from underneath. Muahahaha. But then, not all prank would go smoothly as planned. While waiting for both of them to come to their bedroom, I fell asleep under their beds.

In the middle of the night, I was suddenly awake. I realized that I fell asleep and I heard both Michele and Pamela were still having a conversation on the bed with the lights off (you know, the before sleeping conversation). So in the middle of their conversation, I popped up my hand from  the gap between their beds and trying to make a scary sound but since I just woke up, my supposedly scary voice was hoarse instead. 

"What??" Both of them were kinda shocked. To my disappointment, they didn't scream  loudly like how I imagined they would. 

"She did it again!" Pamela said and both of them asked me to go back to my room and sleep. I went back to my room obediently, and although the outcome of the prank was not as good as I imagined it would be, at least  the outcome of the prank was quite a consolation.

During my university years, the pranks that I played were merely like hiding somebody's branded bag uhuk Joe uhuk, hacking someone's facebook status uhuk Mark uhuk, pretending to quarrel with Melissa during April Fool and uhuk Step uhuk Ebeth uhuk believed it lol. These were the pranks that I played and  I still think that they weren't enough.

But pranks do have a few rules. One, we cannot simply play pranks on people without knowing their health condition, whether they had histeria, heart attack or something. Two, we have to find a suitable prank for different people, according to their personality, their history etc. Maybe on my future post, I would share with y'all about the rules and regulation (sounds formal, right? adui!) of playing a prank on people.

Wow this sudden craving for pranks made me miss Ashton Kutcher's Punk'd episodes. I wish I could have a camera to record all the pranks I played before. MUAHAHAHA.

 So be ready people.. Till the prankster strikes again...! ;)

The Sweet Taste of Miss Ajuntha's Candies..

"I know I never really tell you all about this, but you all are really good, and I enjoyed teaching this class."

That was more or less what Ms Ajuntha (bukan nama sebenar) told us during our last LHP 456 class today. Our class started with Ms Ajuntha teaching a lesson on impromptu speech. Our last lesson. The word last could mean freedom from classes, but it could also mean the farewell to great teacher, great classmates and great memories. How ambiguous the effect it had on us.

After she finished the unit on impromptu speech, she passed around to us the candies that she promised to make for us. Its taste was sweet, as sweet as the memories we had during our class. Sometimes I  did complained why did I made myself busy by joining this course, but at the end of the day, I think that this course left a big impact on me, and it left me with memories as sweet as Ms Ajuntha's candies. I was really glad I took it. There were many lessons that I've learnt, in and outside of the learning syllabus, from this class.

After the eating session, Ms Ajuntha asked all of us to sit in a circle. We obediently and excitedly seated ourselves in circle as we know what she was up to. Some sharing among us, I expected - and I was right. We were asked to share our future plan after the semester, because majority of us were final year students. There were many who had the same plan like I do, which was to continue with Master studies, such as Hafizah  and her boyfriend Eizham (bukan nama sebenar), Yee Heng (bukan nama sebenar), Abel (bukan nama sebenar), and another guy whom I didn't remember his name, oops. There were many who also planned to look for jobs once they graduated. For the 2nd year and first year, they shared what they were gonna do during the coming four months holidays. WOo hOo~!

Actually, this sharing was divided into two parts -1st part about future plan (more to our professional side) and the 2nd part (which is more to our personal side). People were more anxious to know about the 2nd part of our sharing, which of course, mainly revolves around our status, single, taken or complicated lol. Some are taken already, some are single, and some are actively searching lol! 

When it was finally my turn, I told about my plan to go back to Sarawak for one month. 

Suddenly Ms Ajuntha asked all of them....

"Do you know where she came from?" 

And they all answered "Sarawak." 

"I mean specifically.. Maybe if you don't mind, you can share with them, cause she told me about Dalat and it was interesting.."she continued.

I was touched that my LHP teacher thought that my story on Dalat during my LHP interview was interesting, so I told them that I am from Sibu and my parents are from Dalat. They all were familiar with Dalat through the literature story "How Dalat got its name". Thanks to the writer, people knew about it and thought that the place was interesting lol.

I told them about me being a Chinese-Melanau mixed-blood girl, due to my origination from Dalat, and they all asked me to speak a phrase in Melanau. All I can think of that time was 

"Ngadan ako Maureen Chua" which means "My name is Maureen Chua."

After that, they all asked me to proceed with the second part which is jeng jeng jeng "Your status". Automatically, I made a statement "I think I'm gonna be single forever since I'm a feminist." It was kinda a statement berani mati cause I don't wanna get caught eating my own words in life later.

Ms Ajuntha was like "What if you found Mr Right?"

 I looked at my teacher and said " Hmm... It's hard to find Mr Right right now" without caring that they were many guys in my class hearing that statement lol. Or perhaps I prefer Mr Left (-_-").

"You know love happens.." Ms Ajuntha added, and I realized that my teacher is a romantic person actually hehe. 

Honestly, I don't know. I am not looking for love. If it happens, it happened. If it doesn't, I won't look for it.

And I noticed that this LHP class had turned into a sort of formal pillow talk lol. 

In exchange for the sweet candies, my class presented Ms Ajuntha with farewell card  that we secretly signed and Ferrero Rocher chocolates as farewell gift. It was a really sweet experience. :)

And the sweet taste of the candies lingered in my mouth. It was the first time I tasted it, but I won't forget the taste. 

Come and Walk with me Down My Memory Lane~

[Interframe: Hawa and me went to consult Dr Rita this afternoon and guess what - she saw us shopping at Tesco last night. :" Busted! Lol. Ah... and the 'RACISM is so Yesterday' finally arrived after waiting for so long but guess what, one of the t-shirts has the wrong size~! (-_-) Felt quite annoyed cause I had highlighted the orders even and checked the orders thoroughly!]

Just sat for my first paper today and had mixed feelings after sitting for it. I felt both relieved and disappointed for being unable to answer the questions confidently, and because I was unsure of the accuracy of my answers. Okay, maybe I should put it to rest and focus on the coming exam this Friday, which by the way, is for my minor paper, Script writing. Well, the semester is coming to an official end after the exam, and I will have to end my 2nd year status. To continue with my tradition like before, I would like to reminisce the good times being a 2nd year student.

Well, how can I describe the feelings of being a 2nd year student? Let me just put it this way - it feels like you are the middle child in the family. You are not the new faces, and the same time you are going to stay at the university for a long period of time. Well, as a 2nd year student, I am both a junior and senior at the same time. One thing for sure, my social life changed a lot during my 2nd year compared to the year before. I guess my prayers have been answered. I am no longer the insecured girl, I am no longer awkward mixing with new people and I could adjust myself and adapt myself more efficiently to the circumstances than before. Well, thanks to Catholic Undergraduate Society and not to forget facebook, I became who I am today, though not perfect, but a better version compared to the awkward first year undergraduate student that I was. I felt more contented and thankful during my 2nd year, less dependent on my sister, compared to my first year where I felt that I had so much insecurities. Thanks to my seniors, peers and juniors, you know who you are, who gave me the chance to experience contentment in my university life. So here, I would like to invite you to walk back down to my memory lane while being the 2nd year student here in Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The start of my second year started with the recruiting of the new members into CUS. Thus, Melody organized a bowling game to let us break the ice with the juniors - and that time, there were only two of the juniors present, namely Jasper and Michael. XD hahah. So-called ice-breaking with the juniors huh~.

Thanks to Lis for bringing her handphone to capture this moment! XD

Then, we tracked down the graduating seniors and buy some tokens for them as symbol of appreaciation for being a CUSers during their undergraduate moments. The picture above showed us showing up for the convocation of our CUS senior, Anna Edwina. After that, me and Step went to have a look around the Tapak Konvo and took a ride on the horse. Man, that is the last time I'm going to ride on a horse cause I felt sooo unstable riding on it.

Felt like wanna fall! Ugh! By the way, thanks to Step for taking this photo. ;)

Then, we have our outing to Kerachut. There were just a few of us but we enjoyed fooling around during this outing. Everybody shows off their comical side, none of us were acting like a proper lady during this outing. XD


Posing with the flags. Show-offing our patriotism.

The stairs to museum? Hehe.

Well, the next agenda is the car-wash at Immaculate Conception Church. We came there as early as 7.30 am and managed to raise a few hundreds. Thank God it was not raining that day. I had a great time washing the cars with my junior Vera, and my peers - namely Clevellen and Eduard. They were all good sports to be with. We even joked about blessing and baptizing the cars with the water.

Us, having a car-wash at Immaculate Conception church for the fund-raising to join the Intercampus Gathering.

Then, there was this CUS gathering which dated back in 18th September 2009, which was one significant and memorable CUS gathering, because it was full of crazy moments. I bet that this was one of the craziest CUS gathering in history ever! The gathering was conducted by the Hibari Four family, and it was the gathering right before our journey to Intercampus Gathering at Majodi Centre, Johor.

We were given sweets and asked to wait at the verandah while they (Hibari 4 family) were preparing something for us to play.

Look at the picture above and you will know what I meant by the craziest gathering ever. It was like a zoo or a nursery full of hyperactive kids.

Then, there's the ICG. The experience at ICG was awesome, though I heard that it was not as happening as the previous ICG which was held at St Anne, Bukit Mertajam. But I was thankful because during this ICG, I became closer with my senior, Matth, because we were roommates during the camp. And the rest, as they say, is history. ;)


Participants from USM Minden at the ICG. Say ORAIT to Jesus! (Note the weird poses. lol)

And the last CUS activity for the semester would be the gathering at FM house with Fr Dominic.

Then, before the exam, me and my seniors had some outing together during the study week to release our tension.

After the sunset Mass before makan-makan time!


Eating somewhere near Queensbay area. Know more about this outing in this post. :)

And all of that were the significant events happening during my first semester of my second year. The new semester starts at 2010, and I changed my hairstyle. I guess it's a tradition for me to change my hairstlye at the second semester of each year. Hmm, wonder what my hairstlye would be for the coming year huh? (Bald head fashion is possible if my hair loss keep getting serious!)

The second semester started with the CUS Annual Camp 2010. It was held at College General. This is a group photo during one of the sessions conducted during the camp.

Dr Prema was one exciting speaker. ;)


As usual, the CUS weekly gathering... XD I was clueless about the actions for this action song! Lol.

Having our Ash Wednesday 2010 dinner. Before that, Marce, Claire Marie and me went to watch a movie (Wolfman). Then, before the Chinese New Year holidays end, we went to join the Exco Camp which was held at the FM House. The camp was fun, though there were just 9 participants. At least, it was easier to break the ice when there were less participants.

Taking picture with Fr Dominic as one of the challenges during this camp. Fr Dominic is the youth chaplain for the Catholic Undergraduate Society and he would try to frequent the activity which may bring the CUS closer to the campus ministry.


One of the coolest pictures during the camp. Lol. XD


Group photo on the last day of the exco camp. It was one memorable camp and thanks to Anne for organizing it all by herself!

Then, on one of the CUS gathering, we were having a futsal match instead. Melody was the one behind this. Thanks Melod! Lol. Have fun that day! It was enjoyable and fun, and not to forget, tiring. The guys were really something. Their stamina last so long.

Me, together with my futsal team. Didn't we look cool? ;)

Then, on the 6th of March, we had a trip to St Joseph Children home for our outreach programme. Know more about this activity in this post. :D It was during this visit that one of my seniors, Duke, found his future kids, lol, namely Raymond and Mothis. This visit to St Joseph Children Home brought out the fatherly behaviour in Duke.

A group photo of us with the children! :D

And last but not least, the last CUS event of the semester, was the long awaited CUS Nite, which had the theme "A Night in Paradise." I had so much fun that night, but the downside was that I had not taste the soup that was prepared for the buffet. (-_-) Haiz..

More story on CUS nite in this post.


Hawa and me during the Malam Bumi Kenyalang. ;) Everybody wants to pose with the sape! Lol.
And not to forget, our last class with Miss Tahereh. The other last classes photos were available in facebook. Too lazy to grab some of them. XD

One picture to keep as memory. hahah.

This will be one sweet memory lane happening in my university life. I became closer with those whom I was not that close with, but at the same time, I became further with those I was once close with, especially Lee Ying, Pei Lee, my first year friends namely Mei Ling, Sook Mon and Susanna. Life is a compromise as they say, and we could not have it all. But I wish I will have the chance to meet them again soon.

Though I couldn't have it all, I think I got the best that I could ever have for my 2nd year in university and I am thankful for it. God has answered most of my prayers, but for the next semester, I have one more prayer, and if it has been answered, I am going to write it here in my blog. Deal.

By the way,

bye 2nd year?

:'(

a walk in their tiny shoes..

Interframe: When reading the children’s books for my coming Friday’s exam, I couldn’t really understand some of the vocabulary in those children books – even for my 21-year-old brain. Now, I remember that I never really read as a child though I was familiar with some of the story books. I just browsed through the pictures. And I guessed some of the interpretations I made when I was little about the storyline through the illustrations in the story books were almost correct. So I guess that was how I learned literature as a child – interpreting pictures instead of texts.

If somebody ask me whether I love children, without much doubt I would answer "Yes." And if I had the chance to elaborate, I would add "I love playing with children, but I dislike taking care of them." Yes, it's true that I love children - but I love children not in the motherly kind of way (maybe because I hate responsibilites towards another person), but rather in another sense, where I treated them like my friends, my equals. If I were to play with a child, I would lower myself to their level, trying to be someone their age though I am obviously older than them by a couple of years. (Yes, jangan risau, aku jenis yang sedar diri aku dah tua).

I would try to see the world through their eyes, at the same time trying to reminisce the way I was when I was their age. Unfortunately, I've always failed, because I've lost that gift - the gift of innocence - while growing up. Thus, I couldn't see the logic why they wanted to do something out of mind - like watching silly cartoons nonstop, going out to the playground on a very hot sunny afternoon, or maybe just a walk up and down the stairs where some of my little cousins found interesting. Those activities were all so.. boring and meaningless? So I resorted to being the villain - the one whom the kids can play with but at the same time, the one whom they always tried to be against. (Ask my two cousins - Rachel and Ezra - and yes, these are their real names..)

Instead of being someone who would play along with the kind of games that the kids wanted to play, I would suggest another game - which was more interesting to me but not to them, but like it or not, they had to follow reluctantly to my suggestions or else, no games at all.

When Rachel and Ezra were little, whenever they wanted a playmate, they looked for me, but if they wanted something like sweets or junk food, they looked for my elder sisters - either Michele or Melissa - because both of them were more generous in treating them with those junkies, but me, I was like - second guessing myself in giving so much junkies to them because I wanted to save some for myself and yes, I admit, being with children sometimes bring out the child in me, apparently. Thus, it was no wonder that they did not listen to me like how they listened to adults. In other words, I wasn't fearsome to them. (This explains why the kids that I used to teach at my alma mater were not scared at me at all - instead they rebel against me).

All of us must had a lot of moments to cherish during our childhood. There were amusing times, and most of them would be lovely times, whether our first Christmas at our parents' hometown, our first trip to somewhere foreign to us, and our first big birthday celebration. Nowadays, we are all grown up, so it's now the little generations' turn to experience their childhood. But the kids nowadays might have different childhood from ours, and ours were definitely different from the older generations'.

Coming from different generation, there was always this sort of expressions, "Kids nowadays are not as good as us," "Kids nowadays are pampered too much," and so on. Yes, some of the expressions were true, but what do we expect when they were raised in different atmosphere from us, or perhaps our parents, the earlier kids? And what makes us think that we are not responsible why kids nowadays are behaving the way they are - too demanding, and sometimes, disrespectful - compared to the earlier children who were always ended up being beaten with rattan by the fearsome parents if they try to be mischievous.

Kids nowadays - are just as much as innocent as us when we were little. It was just their luck to be raised in this atmosphere which are so polluted with pop modern cultures, which actually, were invented by us - the older children, the used-to-be-innocent earlier kids.

Instead of putting a harsh judgment on these kids, why not we ask ourselves "Are adults nowadays any better?"

What do you expect of your kid when you put your kid in front of the television, 24/7, just so you can have a rest after your day's job?

Are you even aware what your kids are watching on the television?

Instead of trying to let your child understand you - why don't you try to understand your child?

They were born to this world without much choice - don't let them regret the decision that they didn't make.

What is the difference with adults in the earlier days and adults nowadays? (in Malaysian context)

Earlier adults though generally not as educated, they know what was best for their children - which was sufficient attention. (But count out the adults during the Victorian area because they were practising child labour back then.)

They didn't confine their children within the four walls of their home - they let their children mix around with the neighbouring children and thus, the children were more contented. Or precisely, you, the present adult, were more contented when you were little.

So, as modern adults, what can you teach your children - since I guess most of you live in the apartment building where letting the child roaming around the neighbourhood could endanger them more than helping them?

All you can do is to give your little child the attention he or she deserves. Perhaps, bring them to the playground occasionally. Or there was this one little simple thing you could do - which is to read them bedtime stories, from a selection of children story books. There were many underlying messages in children story books, which was dedicated more to the adults rather than to the children.

When I mentioned that I didn't understand most of the vocabularies in a children story book though I am already an adult (or young adult precisely), I guessed maybe, children storybooks were not meant for children alone. I think it was meant for adults to read them - for their children, and elaborate the story for them. And while reading the story books for their children, adults may get to understand the children's world better because they might get the underlying messages inside the stories- and at the same time, kids can understand the moral of the story better through their parents' elaboration. You know, while studying children's literature, there were many underlying messages, where adults were portrayed as villains in children's eyes. How sad can it be? Do you want to be the villain in the eyes of the innocent ones?

Please, try to read some storybooks to your children from now on. Cartoons in the tv are sometimes good, but you wouldn't know what the message the kids will conclude since you couldn't help them interpret the cartoons in the tv everytime they watched it. Do read story books to your children oftenly - preferably during bed times since it's the only time you will be off from work - and try to walk in their tiny shoes and guide them in their children's world because you wouldn't want them to miss what you think was the most memorable stage of your life - which was indeed, your own childhood long time ago.



Interframes: I recommend story books like Heidi, Alice in the Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz to be read for children around 5 to 7 years old. They were nice stories and very suitable during the growing up phase. And yes, I should be on a hiatus like my sister now since self-control to restrain ourselves from temptation is one of the quality in becoming a good adult. heheh. And yes, now I am trying to be a responsibe adults towards children, but that i assure you, will take a very long time though. ;) Yes, this will be my last post during exam season. Or else, i will have have the worst universityhood.

Your Room Shows Who You Are, and That My Dear, Is Not a New Discovery...

I am not a good hostess. I just leave my things messing around in the room (especially during exam season) and when people came to my room, I did the tidying up in front of them - I mean, how embarrassing! I used to do this whenever any of my hostel mates came to my room, both my hands doing the tidying up, while my mouth kept apologizing profusely for the mess. Sometimes if I am lucky and I got a 10 minutes notice, I grabbed all my books and notes which were scattered on the floor and bed, threw them all into my cupboard and voila, everything looked fine again, and prayed that I do not have to open my cupboard in front of the guest. By the way, if you are reading this, Marce, (that is - if you even know the the existence of this blog, hehe), sorry my room was damn messy - and I wanted to apologize I didn't have snacks to offer you. I used to buy snacks in case there is any guest coming but I ended up eating them myself even before the snack could make its way into my food cupboard, due to the temptation during stress. Hehe. But one thing for sure, I love having guest around, especially those who never come to my room before because a room is actually a place where you get to show your personality, and share bits and pieces of your life. It is your comfort zone, and it just shows your guest the idea of what makes you comfortable. Apparently, people get to know you more through your room -unless you are the kind of person who doesn't do anything to your room (but still, even when you didn't personalize your room, we can make conclusion about you - that you are either a very busy person, an uncreative person, or a plain simple boring person - pick one or pick all three, no limits here.)

So actually, what are the things that make my room, MY ROOM?

1) Tons of books - either story books or text books.
I like reading books, but now I am gradually switching to reading blogs. Maybe it's because I am too lazy to hold a book - you know, especially the hard covered books. It's damn heavy especially when you want to read them while lying down. But I like to keep books, especially English story books. This semester, I had to buy 6 children story books for my Children Literature course, but I didn't really complain, and I am not thinking of selling them off at Chow Rasta because I wanted to keep them. But it was a totally different story for text books. I bought text books because I was in the kiasu mode for this semester, when a lecturer stressed how important a book is, I was among the early birds to purchase the book- skemalah katakan. But those text books were still virgins - until the eve of the exam for sure.

Conclusion about me: You can conclude that I like to read fictions and I only read non-fictions merely for exams. You can even conclude that I am a person who like to take the easy way, buying text books instead of photocopying them - and that I am a kiasu person for buying the almost every book that the lecturer asked us to buy.

2.) Clothes hanging on my window
If you want to identify my room from outdoors, try this - look for the room with tons of clothes hanging on the window - and you shall be assured that the room belongs to me. This shows that I am ahem, someone who could adapt well to situation. Since we didn't have enough space to dry our clothes, whenever the clothes that I hung at the suspension system (not sure if I am using this noun correctly) were halfway dry, I would transfer them to the window for further drying. And no, I don't care what people think about it (especially the people who were exercising at the back of my hostel who can have a nice view of our windows and what we hung there *sigh*), as long as my clothes are dry, that could make my day and what's more important, I would be less worried.

Conclusion about me: You can conclude that I am someone who's obsessed with laundry and someone who could adapt well to situation. heheh.

3) Soft board full of prayer cards and a drawing of Jesus
Well, this shows that I am a Christian, or specifically a Catholic. But don't get the wrong idea, I am not a holy person *shame mode on*. Yeah, the reason I put many prayer cards was because I am a great sinner, so I need more prayers and protection from God. (Remember that it was the sick people who keep more medicines, so that goes the same for me..) And about the drawing of Jesus, I have always loved drawing, so I would love to put something I drew on my soft board. Besides, I didn't have any holy pictures (and I am too thrifty to buy one cause they are expensive, huhu) so a hand work of your own was the best option right?

Conclusion About Me: I am a Catholic, and I am someone who loves artistic things (it runs in the family maybe).. But as I've told you earlier, I am not a holy person, and I only have halo when I walked under the sun.

4) Table full of scattered books, notes and everything important to a student

Whenever I am busy and needed to rush, I would just place my things on my table or on my bed - that was the case before exam. But for the case during the exam or the study week, it was because I went to search for my notes high and low, thus the messy table and bed and even the floor. Thank God I have a roommate who could tolerate my madness and messiness. :)

Conclusion about Me: I am a messy person. Simple as that.

5) A picture of my besties and me

I received a gift from my besties back in 2008, before I step my feet on USM. I opened the gift while I was on the plane, to keep my mind off from my gosh-it's-my-first-time-being-on-a-plane-alone worries. It was thoughtful of them, to give me something memorable - a picture of us - Sally, Stephanie, Amanda and me together. The frame was beautiful, but what was more beautiful was the message from the picture. It was a picture of us camwhoring inside the toilet of Cafe Cafe, a well known hang out spot in Sibu. I couldn't help but to reminisce our good times together whenever I saw the photograph. It was true, though as cliche as it sounds, that a picture tells a thousand words - or more precisely, recalls a thousand memories.

Conclusion about Me: I am a sentimental person.

Now, can you analyze your room or your friends' rooms? Put on your room radar on and try to observe now yo~! And no, room raiding is not an option.


PS: Though your hostel room may be your temporary bedroom, it still can sum up a few personalities, if not all, about you. So, be wary what you keep in your room, people, because the things you keep have the power to reflect who you are.

* Insert Car Wash song, by Christina Aguilera feat Missy Elliott *

The date was 6th September 2009. It was a historical day. I went on a car wash under the CUS club at the Immaculate Conception church that day. The car wash was to raise fund for the CUS activities, especially the upcoming ICG camp. I woke up as early as 4.45 am because I was to check attendance for the members who will wait at the Sungai Dua station. My Gosh, it was damn cold showering early in the morning. I used to shower at 6 am and also around 5.3o am something but to shower at 4 something in the morning was like the champion of coldness. Thank God there were not many hostel mates who witnessed me shivering like crazy. Fuh~! I arrived at the Sungai Dua pondok as early as 6.15 am, and of course I was the first to be there. Then, there were only 5 people who turned up at the Sungai Dua station, because majority of the CUS members who participated in this car wash waited at the RST gate.

Around 7.30 am, we arrived at the Immaculate Conception church. The church was a beautiful church and it was quite a shame I never attended a Mass there. I usually went to the Our Lady of Sorrows (OLS) church, because it was the nearest church to USM.

Cheng Yee, Arthur, Marcela and me were responsible to lure the parishioners who attended the Mass to let us wash their cars. We were divided into groups, and my group only consist of four people, namely Clevellen, Eduard, Veraneeta and me. I was in a dilemma situation as I wanted to promise the customers that we would give them a good wash as I was aware that their expectations are high, as most of them were from wealthy background. It was a far different scenario compared to the parishioners at OLS church because most of us at OLS church came by buses instead of our own transportations. But thank God there were some of them who let us wash their cars merely for the donation purpose. Some even gave donation without us needing to wash their cars. The priest was the generous of all as he gave our club RM50 just to wash one car, and then he was the one who gave us permission to have a car wash activity going on there. ;) Thank you, Father!

We had a fun time washing the cars though tiring. Well, maybe I wasn't that tired compared to the others as I didn't really wash the cars because I had to search for customers. I was quite nervous because we were running out of time to finish washing the cars that time, but thank God some of the customers were not in a hurry to go back, so we had enough time to finish washing their cars. Phew~!

The scenario of the car washers, busy cleaning up the washing tools after finishing the activity.

Eduard @ Diva and Siaw Yan were posing as I took their pictures. Anyone interested to let them model your products in the future? ;)

Our happy faces after finishing the car wash. What an achievement. Hooray~!

We raised quite a lot of money for this car wash. Hopefully, there will be less financial worries for the ICG camp. ;)

On another note, I just wanted to mention about the fun night out every week with my sister and seniors after the Sunset Mass. I did not take this for granted though we do it quite often. Every moment spent together was to be treasured as I am aware that the next semester, we might not go to church together again as they would be involved in teaching practicals.

So, I immortalized this fun moment we had together last week here.

I'm soooo gonna miss you all the next semester!!!!! (*=*)

Preserving My First Year Memories..(;_;)

[ Interframe: 'FIRST' is the Significant Word in this Post]

It's been days since the end of exam, and I finally had to say goodbye to my First Year status.

(which means goodbye koleksi khas status.. giggles with roommate on this joke we shared together..)

Therefore, I am going to preserve all my first year memories in this post.

Do I feel sad?

Yes!

Do I feel happy?

Yes, because I've made it!

I survived the first level of tertiary study!! {and so do a lot of people} But for a lazy bum like me, this is something significant. :) :)

Before I continue to crap a lot about my first year story, there's something you should know.


[Warning: This is a super long post, and no, this is not a vain post because some ugly photos were included! ]

Before stepping into the university, I was excited to leave home. Yes, seriously. It's not that I don't like home or what, but before I step into the university, I was a substitute teacher and I just could not stand the stress. I can't wait to leave the hectic moments and focus on my own life. --> How many time should I say I am not meant to be a teacher and teaching profession is not meant for me? I just resigned on the 27th of June 2008, and my flight to Penang was like 29th June 2008. Hectic moment was the most appropriate way to describe it. Have to pack everything rapidly and I remembered it was my sister who helped me pack my clothes. (;_;) Thanks, ya.. b-ut, but, she kind of took some of my clothes out from my luggage. She said we can go shop for clothes once we are in Penang. No wonder I kept wearing the same clothes over and over again during the lectures before we have any time to shop for clothes.

(-_-)

It was my first time on board alone. And I was excited. "Hello, adventure~!!" was all I could think of. (I even wished that I stepped into the wrong flight and went overseas to have a greater adventure than studying, haiz~ but the flight administrator did not do mistake in that kind of things.. Instead, they lost one of my luggage, which Thank God, was found the next day.. Because my slipper was in that luggage, I had to wear sports shoes to shower before the airport guy finally sent my lost luggage to me... What an unfortunate first week for a first year during her first time in her first university..) My sister would only go to Penang after the orientation week, and I went for my registration without anyone by my side. I thought this was common because my sister also registered herself without any family with her, but when I reached USM, the other students were asking me if I was accompanied by someone but I just gave no as an answer. And most of them like, felt bad for me, but I really don't feel bad for myself because I would like to feel equal to both of my sisters who did their registration without family members by their side. It made me feel proud(for the first time in my life) by doing this thing alone because back at home, I don't even dare to go to the market nearby my house alone. (Loser~! )
My first time stepping in Fajar Harapan, I spoke Malay to everybody, including Chinese people because I wanted to be on the safe side of not showing my shallow knowledge in Mandarin vocabulary. Plus, I stuttered when I do not know how to speak a language fluently and when I speak a language I am not fluent in with somebody who do not know my language standard. Oh, well, I thought I could escape form the busy hectic life during the orientation week, but obviously I was wrong. Since I arrived late at the university, I had to do so many stuffs,
e.g: Matric card photo taking session, Bank Islam registration, etc, etc. I got lost twice in the University just to complete all these stuff. Okay, if I am going to write everything I experienced out, then it's gonna be a long and continuous story like a Bible. So, to save the precious time, I uploaded many pictures to show how I survived my First Year as a USM student... (;_;) --> I am proud of myself. A lazy bum like me survived her first year? Unbelievable!!

FIRST SEMESTER, 2008

WANTED!! (for madness)

(See how blur I looked? So bulliable!! The hair, the facial expression, everything was so wroooooong!! Tsk.. Tsk..)

First picture ever with my first three friends during the first day I arrived (29 June 2008). Lee Ying was the first to smile to me, Tina was the first to speak with me, and Maton was the first person I met after I met the previous two. -->have to be fair mah.. I was having headache that time, and the pink jelly is not helping either. I felt nauseating just by looking at the pink jelly, and believe it or not, this statement came out from a girl who eats like a horse.

Tina and me posing near the DTSP building. Lee Ying was the photographer. I looked happy, because I finally found my way to the DTSP from Jabatan Hal Ehwal Pelajar and found these two girls after being lost in USM on the day we open our Bank Islam account!! --> proud of myself part 2..

A trip organized by the CUS trip to Bukit Larut, Taiping.

And later, on the same day, we went to the Taiping Zoo..

First time washing cars in a big group and for a good cause.. (I remembered me and my sister kept arguing that time.) And my skin becomes 20% darker after this activity. But it's okay, demimu CUS club activity..

My first ever adventure with Lee Ying (besides going pasar malamlah~!) This setting was located at the not-so-top part of Penang Hill..

Me and my friends during the Convocation Fiesta on 14th of August 2008. Maton (in pink), Dila and Azimah (both in blue) and Dila again (in brown)..

On the next day, me and Pizal went to camwhore around USM before the Raya holiday.

Me and Pizal taking nice picture here. Thanks, Maton for being the photographer! Pizal was a friend I met during orientation week. She's really helpful and sporting. She was the one who accompanied me to the Nibong Police Station to make a police report about my first handphone's loss.. (;_;) You're so nice, Pizal.. You won't accept it when I offered to belanja you ice cream Tesco... --> Maybe next time I should try offer Baskin' Robbins ice cream where no one would say no.. *wink*

2ND SEMESTER (END OF 2008 TILL 2009)

Then, the 2nd semester arrived. Getting older, but hopefully look younger.. ;)

The first activity of the year would be the CUS camp held at College General.. Can you spot me? Cannot? Oh, but of course. I changed my hairstyle. From long straight hair to short straight hair.(The reason for this so-called drastic change is because I want to jimat syampu, besides the niat tersirat to look younger than my elder sis..)

Then, move on to the 2nd activity of the year, Malam Bumi Kenyalang, held on 7th February 2009.

My first time becoming a protocol (and first time wearing make up in public at the university - the last time i wore make up in public was when I was a flower girl at 6 years of age.. ) for PERKASA (Perkumpulan Anak-anak Sarawak) activity during Malam Bumi Kenyalang. Had a nice time counting other people's money.. (Nice, if only the money belongs to me.. Cause they do not belong to us, our hands were sweating while counting them over and over again..)

First time visiting Little India. Me, Melissa and Hakimi at Little India. Photo taken by Hafiz using my sis's precious camera.

Personal note: Actually, Melissa Chua was the one who kind of promised to take me to visit Little India to look for Punjabi suit if we have free time. At last, it was Melissa Edward yang menunaikan janji Melissa Chua by going to Little India with me for our SHE group project.. :)

Thanks, Mel --> (Melissa Chua jangan perasan..)

Later that night, on the same day, went to church with seniors for Station of the Cross and then after back from church, we indulged in good food though it was lent season.. :"

Mellisa, Melissa and me.. (Melissa is such a popular name, huh? )

Xiao Yen and Angel >--> senior with the same birthday as mine!!

Then, one of the most unforgettable activities would be Masquerade Nite 2009. My first time joining the CUS Nite. Awesome experience.. :D

Me taking pictures with my seniors, including my sister.. Unforgettable night, indeed. By the way, that night was the Earth Hour night.. Hehehe.. *nervous laugh*

The last day of our first level Spanish class. Mr Omar Rodriguez (seated at the centre) was our Spanish teacher from Barcelona, Spain. He was the first Spanish person whom me and majority of my classmates ever communicate with. He made the class felt fun and alive. :D

Here comes 11th April. First time celebrating birthday apart from family and apart from home. Was celebrating my birthday combined with Kim Hong's belated birthday at KFC. After that, we went to Pasar Malam.

Later that night, camwhore inside the hostel's toilet. If only the mirror wasn't that dirty..

On 23rd of April 2009,

Make a date with my friend Hawa to go to cinema and shopping together. Guess we shopped till we dropped that day. We went to watch a movie titled "The Uninvited" at Prangin Mall cinema, and I uninvite you all to watch that movie because it was not that good, and not worth it. Just wait a few month and that movie will make its way to HBO channel.

Me and Hawa.. ;) Our first outing together..

Then, on the next day, 24th April, Lee Ying, Kim Hong and me went on an outing to Penang Hill. We got ready as early as 8 am. And we arrived at Penang Hill at 1o something in the morning. Thank God it was not raining that day. Phew~

Lee Ying and Kim Hong sitting on the old swing. Reenacting childhood memories, huh? ;)

"This is our kingdom"--> Two empresses looking down at the beautiful scenery from the top of Penang Hill.

This bird reminded me of home.. :)

Me and Lee Ying hanging out at the seaside in front of Queensbay, Penang.

So, those were the happy first year memories. Some of them may not be captured in photos but that doesn't mean they were less significant.. It's hard to let go our sweet memories, but we have to move on and embrace the second year. Haiz, whatever will be, will be.. (*=*)

Time to hibernate until the next semester.. (-_-) --> In this context, this look represents hibernating, not emo look, ya..

Bye bye, FIRST YEAR memories.. (;_;) --> Now this is emo + crying look..