Good Times

To say this was a busy week would be inaccurate. In fact, I was so free, it was a crime! And rightly so, since I'm supposed to complete two assignments by tomorrow. But I really only have to do one by this weekend. The other one is due next week, or anytime before November 3rd and it's really already too over-discussed in class. I just hope my answers won't be too similar or schematic with the others.

So.

If I forgot to mention, I had an open house last Sunday. Thanks to everyone who came. I'm sorry that the laksa was a bit funny D:. Here are some of the people who came, and funny enough, most of them came in pairs. Here are my ex-homies, wearing opposing colors. Normally it's the opposite who wears pink and blue. Khaye and Mary came over after attending a wedding at Batu Caves. They had a bit of a sleepover before they ate. They were the last to leave too. Good fun.

Pictures are posted without permission, of course xD.

The next day, Monday, sensei gave me this, to thank me for the kueh lapis I gave her soon after raya.

She said so here. It's in full hiragana for those who can understand it. Basically saying 'thank you very much. It was very delicious. - Ooshiro *heart*' xD So now we know where those funny doodles in the textbook came from.And I suppose she wanted to return this container back. Even though there was no need since this is a disposable and I gave them away often. In a cute Sushi King bag too.

This week is the last class week we have. Starting next week till our first exam paper is the final exam. I have one resit, but that teacher said the topics are the same. All the same syllabus. Possibly the same questions. As I said, our college uses repeat exam papers to make life easier.

I need to start planning my studies now.

Oh, oh, I've started exercising again. It's been two weeks and I feel great! Cliche, I know, but so true. I take less effort to do things now and my breathing feels so smooth it was as if my body draws on the energy from the oxygen by automatic! Of course, I wanna lose weight, but I also want some strenght and flexibility. And the great thing is that, they both come as fast as the fat goes! Though I can only exercise on the weekdays because of my annoying neighbours. I hope they are away this Deepavali even though they prolly don't celebrate it. I am going to exercise that Monday morning hehehehe.

I completed my goal of three exercises per week today, and I have class in the afternoon. Last class of the semester. Need to shower. Have homework to complete hehe.

Ta'ra!

Oh My Holiday!

GWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

This sucks. I had anticipated it, but to have to face reality was worse D':. From November to March, resorts in the Malaysian east coast close in anticipation of the monsoon season. Therefore, Redang and Tioman, along with my dreams of snorkelling are out this December! But I am adamant about going for a holiday this end of the year, so I scoured the list of hotels in Malaysia. After all, our government is promoting cuti cuti Malaysia aren't they? So shouldn't there be somewhere decent to go to this season?

While islands on the east coast are out, islands on the west coast are fine all year long. They are mainly Pangkor, Langkawi and Penang.

I know. Lame, right?

I've been to Langkawi so many times already and I just went to Penang not long ago. Which only leaves Pangkor. I looked up Pangkor resorts and they all ahve pictures that dated back from the 90's. *puke*

Crestfallen, I moved on and looked up Cameron Highlands. So I couldn't go to the beach, this holiday season. Why not go way above sea level instead?

....

I did some more search and forget it, I am turned off by Cameron Highlands now. I am not a big fan of plants, although I like strawberries. Even Berjaya Hills and its fake Japanese Village and fake French Town do not appeal to me. It just makes me even sadder that I am not in an actual French Village. T_T or Japanese Town.

I suppose the only island worth going this end year is the island of Singapore, shopping for games. Maybe I should get a ps3 while I'm there. And maybe visit Sentosa Island while I'm at it. Unlike Malaysia, Singapore really knows how to take care of their guests.

Malaysia is so boring. Whoever made up our attractions is lying.

Ta'ra.

Iroiro na Mono

Random and various things, as the title suggests indeed. I wanted to do this post last night, but I suppose Kuja was at the end of his life so he couldn't handle it. I had to turn him off last night. Kuja goes on week-long runs often, by the way, so don't worry about him (Kuja thanks you for your concerns...if any).

Anyway, about a week before going home for raya, we got a new carpet for the apartment. It took some persuasion coz I told daddyo the house looked bare without one. He said stuff about it being hard to maintain and dust and whatnot, but in the next half an hour, we were already sorting through several rugs and carpets.

Moral of the story: daddyo is easily persuaded. Just don't tell him that. xD

This is the carpet we got. It's surprisingly light, and very smooth and fluffy surface. Some sort of new material or something. Has small, round rubble soles to keep it in place. As I expected, the living room look 100 times cozier with this little addition. Of course, this picture is before I actually put it in place.

In actuality, that night we only planned to get a welcome mat for the front door. Daddyo was commenting why we (I) don't place a mat by the entrance to rub our shoe soles so the dirt won't enter the house. We had one in place before, but it got messed up a lot whenever the door opens. And it looked awkward just sitting there, some distance from the door, and when the door closes it's practically in the middle of the entranceway.

So a door mat is what we needed. One that is outside where people can rub their shoe soles on before coming in. It's practical and nice. So I got us one that wouldn't complain and would always, always smile no matter how much people wipe their feet on it. :D This, I think was taken the same day we bought the carpets. This was at the Golden Scissors Saloon, Times Square where daddyo goes for his monthly grooming session. I tagged along, naturally, and got a haircut myself.
My hair was cut short before during my July break, but it's grown out shape and I have been able to tie it up too so it needed more cutting. I had my hair washed and cut, and despite me having more hair than daddyo, his head was still foaming when I left the shop early to go shop at Borders. xD We break fast at Marriot that day. Nice stuff.

On that note, I am really loving short hair. Before I would feel a twinge of regret for my long hair, but not anymore. I use less shampoo, my hair dries faster and I don't need to tie it up to get it out of my face. I just like having my head hold all my hair up without restrainers. Perhaps I should have it trimmed and styled every three months instead of six months, eh? xD

This is in the middle of my Japanese class. I sit in the front row. I've been stuck there since my first class and I have a tendency to return to the same seat everytime, especially if its a good seat. As I've said before, our lessons are conducted kindergarten-style, with all the recycled names of Kimura, Chan, and Lee. I wanted to put up a picture of sensei but I felt like a pervert putting up people's pictures without their knowledge. Not that I've never done it before, but it just felt different this time. xD Maybe next time.

Ah yes, this package arrived a few days ago, and Miss Nadja Irene was extremely pleased with it. I mailed it the Friday before I left for Kuching (26th September). It amazed me how short Norwegian addresses are. Even their postcode has only four digits. My Kuching home address is also similarly short, but I think the case in Norway is because of their population of only 5 million xP.

Pictures are courtesy of Sasarai.

Aaah, post-workout soreness, I missed thee~~. It's a sign that I've been working hard, aye. xD I even cleaned the ceiling fan today, as part of my efforts to reduce the distribution of dusts in this house. KL air is freaking bad. The dusts are not just black - they leave a stain if not properly cleaned. I wiped away an inch thick of black dusts off the ceiling fan. It has never been cleaned before and we've been living here for about 3 years. As soon as it was cleaned, I noticed how much smoother and stronger the spinning becomes. Increased in aerodaynamics, now that the blades are dust-free?

I finished the first draft of my assignment, even though I'm supposed to finalize this draft today, according to my schedule. But sighs. Too much free time is making me lazy.

I'll have pizze tonight, and I need to pop down to the sundry shop to get water.

Ta'ra!

p/s I think I really do have the make of a domestic goddess.

Getting Organized?

I am trying to be, despite my various failed attempts in the past. Indeed, some of them had met with some success, but they have all been short-lived. So I decided it's time for some re-evaluation of my time. And time is certainly something I have a-plenty.

The night I returned to KL from Kuching, I took my B5 ring binder stuffed with xlassy off-white loose leaf papers, and started drawing columns and hours. I did an evaluation of my time, with my day starting from 7am (yeah, right) up til 2 am. Therefore, 18 hour days. It looks like I'm sleeping for only 5 hours, but my sleeping hours are flexible and naps are included in the days.

In summary, this is my findings:

1. 18 hours a day, = 126 hours a week.
2. 16 hours of classes a week, (school + Japanese lessons)
3. 8 hours of TV a week.
4. 12 hours of commuting a week (Am really not happy with this)
5. Which totals into 90 free hours a week.

I have classes Wednesday to Friday only which means my weekend is longer than my weekday.

Now, rather than buying a new organizer, I went out and bought sport shorts. (I went to KLCC. After I bundled my umbrella which was dripping wet and had been put into a plastic wrap by the guy at the entrace, I started prancing forward, humming to the theme song of Doraemon. This humming to Doraemon thing has been happening quite frequent lately, despite me not watching any Doraemon since I was 12).

Well, I'm going to start exercising regularly again so I need them for motivation hehehehe. After all, exercise would only take about 3 hours off those 90 free hours. Its not a lot, really. 1 hour each session, 3 times a week. I even blew up my exercise ball again and bought two new workout DVDs. I love Denise Austin. XD

2009 organizers are on sale now, by the way. Next year I'll just get a small one. Easier to bring around. Besides, I have thesis datelines to chase starting January, ending December, so a pocket organizer is essential. I just need to write down what to do on those days and stuff, anyway.

But my daily organizer will be manually done with B5 paper and stick up the wall with blu-tack. I just need to get blu-tack, and hope they dont leave a mark on the wall. And I really dont like it when my dad has a peek at my schedule. But pfft. Then he knows what I have to do and such.

Over-planning is overkill. Therefore I like to keep it flexible. I have an assignment due next week, and exams starting November. My exam will only take two weeks. If not ebcause of my Japanese class, I would be able to go home. We just found out our exam is on the 24th of December. Though the possibility of it being moved to January is high.

Either way, this will be a busy final exam since I have to resit one paper. Sighs. This has been such a blow to my ego earlier this sem with the stupid cangkul making himself out as if he's so smart even though all he does is mumble.

That's cangkuls for you. One giant tank of stupidity.

Of course, my life cannot be all work and no play. In fact, I played a lot. Holding my little black controller and have Vaan run around in his mini top is really filling me with happiness. XD I should prolly get a new memory card. And ooh, I really want that white, 160GB PS3 now. Daddyyyy!!!

Ta'ra!

It Has Arriveth!!!

Let me tell you about today. I woke up early, in a good mood, took the train and bus to school and went to my morning class, where the lecturer liked me.

Then PMS kicked in, and I had to loosened my belt one hole behind and was hit by massive stomache. By lunch time I had to buy an emergency pack of Kotex and sort myself out. Trust me. This was not the first time.

Either way, first day period pains are not easily relieved by merely changing pads. Whatever those ads tell you, they lied. You can only relieve the pain by medicine and I, who have never tried menstrual pills before, decided today I desperately needed one to get through my afternoon class.

Just as I was making my way out of Jusco towards Guardian, I received a text that our afternoon class has been mercifully canceled. Just last night I was doing some self-checking and realized that I have over 96 of free hours a week and this afternoon off is going to add to that. I briefly thought of doing some shopping, and dropping by Times Square for my friend's errand. briefly. Then, my uterus started acting up and all thoughts of pleasure went out the window. I needed to rest. Badly.

I went to Guardian. And they were out of Panadol Menstruals. I cursed and walked away, waving goodbye to the mascaras.

I made my way to subway, and bought two sandwiches. One for lunch, the other for dinner, so I dont have to worry about it later. By then I was already in a prissy mood and my first victim was the guy serving me at Subway. I am not repentant.

The bus ride to KL was bumpy and terrible. Luckily it wasn't peak hours so I got two seat for myself. Unfortunately, the seat, the people and the whole bus stank, like how public transport always do and in addition to giving me a headache, it worsened my mood. I was already wondering if I could survive the train ride and short walk home.

Therefore, when i reached my stop, which was conveniently at the side of a main road, I hailed a cab. Five ringgit and five minutes later, I was home. Thinking of the slightest chance that the sundry shop in our apartment would have panadol menstruals, I went to the lobby instead of all the way up to the fourteenth floor. Out of curiousity, I stuck my hand into our mailbox and my palm struck gold.

Indeed, resting on top of our pile of mail, was this snug little package. The stamps are nice.

I pulled it out without effort and nearly squealed on the spot, like I did when I opened Totchi's raya card for me (Thanks, Totchi, btw. I really loved it. xD).

It was the DVD Watashiwa-san had sent me from Norway.

I examined the package and found that it had cleared Malaysian customs on Septemeber 25th, therefore it was possible that it reached me before I left home for raya, therefore the reason the guard didn't inform me of any packages arriving when I was gone was because it had already arrived before then.

Hmmm.

The package obviously had went through a hell of a trip, looking at the rip at the corners and how crumpled it was. Anyway, that doesn't matter. I am only interested in the content.

TA-DA!!!

My own, first, original Final Fantasy XII game!!!!!

You can see that, obviously, but I have been craving for this game for so long, I was numbed with happiness. This is the first original PS2 game I own. I had to kiss up to Watashiwa-san a lot to obtain this.

It is a Platinum version. Which is just a fancy way of saying a re-print of best-selling games. Watashiwa-san didn't really like the cheap-looking cover illustration, but I loved it either way. I have two fakes and they both suck. The disc gets stuck in different locations and when it does I have to replace it with the other. I finally gave up, even though I've gone quite far into the game. I don't like the suspence of anticipating when it would next just freeze.

Originals are really something. I didn't know all originals come with a booklet of manuals. Just very basic manuals. I have a few originals for PS1, one for PSP and one for PS2, and they all have booklets. It's pretty neat. They are all legitimate and stuff. After all, I don't feel good about 'stealing' from my favorite manufacturers.

Having this game in my grasp, I pulled Kujong out of his sleeping bag and plugged him in. I popped the DVD inside him and started playing. The downside of this was that it didn't recognize my previously saved data. Having no other choice, I played from the beginning. Which was awesome - nothing freezed! I did not mind replaying it because it had been over ten months since I last touched it. And besides, there were some items I wanted to find.

Afterwards, 6-hour++ straight of gaming ensued. I finally stopped after getting a terrible headache from staring at the screen too long. There is always tomorrow. xD I am so happy!

THANK YOU WATASHIWA-SAN!!!

I am swallowing that game whole. Now my life is complete. xD xD

Ta'ra!

p/s btw, if you were wondering, the sundry shop didn't have panadol menstrual and my stomach ache disappeared while I was immersed in the game. xD Kujong is great therapy.

Raya

Hello.Seven days of raya has passed and now I'm back in KL. I won't complain like everyone else that raya gets more and more boring every year. In fact, I like this more relaxed atmosphere. This is the first time we celebrate raya without my beloved grandmother. I don't even have the heart to put her picture here.

But life goes on, and we celebrated as best as we could. Unlike previous years, I barely have time to visit friends later in the day because we spend so much time just hanging out at grandma's house. This year is different though. We still get our yearly dose of roast lamb and roast beef at my dad's uncle's, but we were pretty much done with families by 4 pm. That night I managed to visit three houses.
Ezra was back from Melbourne for raya and we had a rare gathering. On the second day we have our annual open house and Totchi came by, as usual. xD

Here we are, our slave and his mistresses. Slaves should be on the floor, of course. His incompetence thus far is forgiven because he gave me some gifts this year, hehehe. I managed to go out at night on the second day and visited Munee with Totchi. After staying at her house for a while, Totchi and I went to Bing, and ended up checking out this really cute employee. Yep, that really made my day. xD Our open house wasn't as hectic as before, but it was still pretty enjoyable. Last year was even more exhausting, but this year is fine too. I like the extra downtime later in the day.

I held an open house for friends on the third day, and made laksa! My laksa was gone by the end of the day. So happy. xD I'm going to hold an open house in KL too. I felt like I went on a laksa marathon for the enxt two days, because all the open houses I went to afterwards served laksa. There is definitely no better laksa in Malaysia than laksa Sarawak. We Sarawakians unanimously agree. After all, all the other states laksa's gravy were made from fishes. Eww. Ours are made from herbs and good stuff.

Then, until next year!

Ta'ra!

Raya Eve 2

Like all raya eves, it was spent doing some hefty cleaning to prepare for our raya second day open house. None of us wanted to clean on the night of raya first day. We all wanna go out of course, so we really pushed ourselves tonight to avoid work tomorrow night.

Selamat Hari raya to you guys over in Norway as well!! I really missed having you guys around!

Ezra!! Ezra is back too! You! How dare you run away to Melbourne without telling me!

And Totchi, ima, ashita no ban, hima desu ka? xD

Our open house is second and third day. Second day is pretty hectic because it's our official open house. I'll get so burned out by the end of the day I can barely stand! Third day is usually an open day for friends only. So if you wanna avoid the crowd, come on the third day. We have non-traditional food that day. xD if you wanna come on both days that's fine too hahaha!

I will go out fourth day onwards. So if you have open houses I can crash or you want my lovely presence in your humble abode, please tell me! My crew and I will surely give you a visit! xD

After deciding which outfit to wear tomorrow, and solving my scarf crisis, I'm finally set for tomorrow. I wanted to buy some mascara tonight, but Guardian was out!! All the mascaras are gone!!!

We have now in our hands a mascara crisis.

sighs. Anybody has one I can borrow?

Selamat Hari Raya everyone!

Ta'ra!