Monday, July 25, 2005

The perils of not being able to drive...

Why it bugs me:

1. Going to church have to rely on people to pick us up. It sucks more cause its early morning, and you being late will cause the driver to be late, and you cant just do your own thing and all.....I remember i hated the days when i had to get a lift to church, especially from Sam (punctual is not in his vocabulary) =p

2. After church cant just do ur own thing, gotta wait and see the driver's plans.

3. Cant just nip to somewhere nearby...Or rather, the distance is the "too-far-to-walk-to", but just around the corner for a car...Sigh.
Like yesterday, Li Yee and Chris really wanted to watch Initial D,cause its gonna stop showing in the cinema's soon. So we went to our "Summit" and the only movie time was 7.30pm.....looked down at the time...
2pm...
Brilliant.
5hours to kill at "Summit". And our rooms were only about 10minsdrive away. Normally, would go back, shower, do stuff drive back out, but NO, we dependant on Bas Mini, had to just hang about.

4. Sweating our butts off everywhere we go, cause we have no choice but to walk, and its all fine in the morning, and in the evenings when its cool , but 11-4pm its a killer time to be out and about. HOT

However there are perks (believe it or not) :

1. Getting fitter.

2. Hopefully losing weight... (muahaha..!)

And you know what?
Those 2 "perks" are enough for me to accept the unplesantness i have to go through... kekeke

But we had fun at Summit, we played pool, and had an audience of spaced out people, that were just staring at the pool table, freaks man.... And smoking , right in front of a BIG No Smoking sign no less...
Then tried out the mini karaoke booths, we chose Colours of the Wind (out of desperation) and an OLD SCHOOL one , AS Long As You Love ME BSB!!! My goodness, we were laughing our heads off in that lil confined space.
Wat next? Daytona (correct spelling?) But my gear was broken, and we chose manual, so my car literally went at 40km/j and suddenly jumped to 100km/j , how? Cause i got banged from behindby another car , so that gave me a thrust for a few meters...joy....

After everything, we rushed to get a bus back, cause they stop at 10pm. Overall made it back to out rooms in 40mins, amazing cause we get dropped off the other side of our campus and we gotta walk all the way back...And our hostel is uphill. Huffin and puffin.... We made it.

Tiara..!!! I MISS YOU

Friday, July 22, 2005

PKA

P ersaudaraan
K ristian

A gape

Well, today i went for my first Uni. CF meeting . Actually, last night there was a Combined Freshmen night, where all the uni CF's (there's 4 of them) one in BM, Chinese and two English ones, joined together and gave an intro to the freshies.Each told abit about their group , and how its run,time place...etc.
So yeah, today went for it .

I was thinking bout my school CF's.
In secondary school, back in DU , i NEVER went for a single meeting, i found it to be SO fake, full of the people that were the worst every other day of the week, but on Fridays 12.30 suddenly like someone else. Yes, yes, not all were like that, and i shouldnt be stereotyping, but thats how i felt bout it lor, which is why i never attended a single one.

Then when i went to BB, it was so different. There were so few people going , that it felt more family like. And the people there were so genuine...I dunno la, who's to say what about who's more christian and all , but it seemed as if they had their stuff right..

So now i'm in yet another. Its funny, cause all these years in TLC, feeling at home, now i'm the one thrown into a whole new setting, i'm the one people approach with the "Hi-nice to meet you..." smile, i'm the one they're probably wondering about... Oh NO, and if there's a Joshua Lee in their midst, its probably "oh man, what is she WEARING! Look how ugly her shirt is...blah blah...its SO last season" Kekeke...

They're friendly (duh) and FINALLY met English speaking people (ESP)...Hahaha, sounds so strange right ? But for the past few weeks , Chris & I have been on the look out for ESP, and we've not found any lor... Mostly chiang-hwa-yee, Malay n Tamil. We met some senior students same course as us, so shall get words of wisdom from them . They too have their, after CF makan, so we went la, and talked abit more to some of them there... I'm sure it'll be fine, after a while , and i wont be so "stranger" and hopefully will fit in.

The only thing i find is, dunno why we gotta repeat the song over and over...They like repeating songs i guess, the chorus sung at least 3 times, if not more. And for Hallelujah To The Lamb, we started with the chorus, and sang it about 3times, first verse once and chorus another 3-4 times....! Guess just not used to it....

But overall i'm so glad that i'm finally in a CF. Been missing out on praising and worshipping God, can feel it. And this Sunday we'll be going to Sg. Nibung Gospel Hall. Hope will be alright. Neh- it will be alright...

Last Thought : Though it doesnt matter at all, our Prez is Brethren... Woo hoo! Kekeke But we could tell before hand, how he spoke, and how he prayed...

Monday, July 18, 2005

Sendut Day


Vector Challenge's Topher turns 20!!! :P Posted by Picasa

The picture above is a specimen of a Squat/Sendut. His Bday was on the Saturday, and i was the FIRST to wish him in person (since i was there at midnight,we were doing homework in the canteen) Quite a number of sesat impatient people called him before midnight tho....Check ur watches la people..

The Koh's came up on Saturday, so nice of them right ? And they took us out for lunch and later on dinner...Some aunty that Chris had never met in his life took us around. Came back pretty late ,and all tired so went back and slept.Had no time to cut the cake till Sunday though, but it was still nice, sang the bday song, and smeared cream on his face.

Spent rest of the day at Tesco's. I tell you, the Koh's kept feeding us! And the Sendut didnt do anything to stop them . Terrible .

I gotta go now, didnt have much time online this time.

Its basically just to tell the Sendut that i've know since i was nine -

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD FART !

Friday, July 15, 2005

T G I F

Since for the moment i'm free on Fridays (Really, classes not up and running yet) we decided to be adventurous and hop on a bus and go somewhere....

Went onto the first mini bus that came our way. The driver was CRAZY...I felt like i was off-road on a jeep and the driver was on drugs or something...We were speeding and he was weaving through the traffic...

Got to Bukit Jambul, which is a shopping mall equivalent to Subang's Summit. (yeah, yuck- i know)
It dont have TGV or GSC, it has MEGA PAVILION.....!
Before buying the tickets, we were split between War Of the Worlds (me) and Initial D (Chris) so Kash had to be our deciding vote, and YAY he chose WOTW...
It is not a movie worth me commenting on...Tis okay lar...Wednesday movie. Maybe Initial D would've been better after all.

After the movie, with freezing toes n nose, went for lunch, and off again on the next mini bus that came our way. Thought of going one loop, but the bus driver kicked us off somewhere, and we walked to dunno where and looked at dunno what.
Oh yea, it was a fort.
Chris was overjoyed, i was amused (at Chris) and Kash seemed uninterested.

Clouds came rolling in so we went looking for a bus stop again.
Basically, we got abit wet, bus was crowded , and u know what ?
Chris, the stupid Sendut sat down and didnt even offer me the seat okay.... To much right? Me and Kash had to stand the whole way, while he rested la, slept la....
Gentleman konon...SENDUT BETUL!!!

Finally made it back to USM, and i wanted to walk back to our hostel in the drizzle, but NOOOooo Mr. I -cant-wet-my-hair wanted a bus...After waiting and watching 3 full busses go by, we walked, and it was nice cause the weather was lovely.

Am now in the cc (i think the worker know's me by now)
And thankfully that sendut is not next to me, finally a com VERY far away
Tonight he's gonna kena from all the torture i've had to put up with this week.
Its his Vector Challenge night, and i've told everyone to go to the cafe to watch it later at 11......

At least i have some fun to look forward to later.

PS: SENDUT is the new squat....

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Boring-nya....

Here i am again .
Sitting in the cyber cafe.
Next to a stupid Squat, who's playing Fifa or DotA, i dunno....some guy game la.
*There they go screaming, scored a goal i think...*

Wanted to sort out the library thing today, you see we all have to go for a "How to use the Library" session, and so we went at the alloted time, and it was full up.....Grrr, we then ran over to the other library (yup, USM has 2) and we were speed walking behind 2 other guys that were super speed walking there, sad to say i did giggle at them they really looked like ducks okay...
Got there, and the same problem, FULL... How annoying is that!
The next session was 2hours away, and we couldnt be bothered so decided to take a bus home...

At the bus sop some dude asked me for a tissue, well actually he asked through Kash, appearently he was shy/afraid to ask me cause he thought i was a foreigner....

Sigh.

Its sad okay, and weird, and i'm not used to it, cause i'm used to being home where everyone's used to me and no one bats an eyelid that i look Mat Salleh...
I mean, here people look, glance and all that, but i'm immune to that already la...
Got it since birth , so what to do.
But whats sad is how people are scared to talk to me cause they think i dont understand Malay for one, and that i only speak English....I've literally heard a few times people talking about me , and they think i dunno Malay.... Bah....
The signboard around my neck doesnt seem like such a bad idea after all...

But i'm sure in time eveyone will get that i'm NOT different, and i'm exactly the same as them.

Guess what is one of my assignments ...? I'm to keep a journal for the next 40 days , and then at the end analize it using 10 different comunication terms....
Seems easy at first, and then i think back to RBS how we were forced to journal.It was good training i think , cause now i can do it and the words just flow...
Scared i may write too much.

Hae i mentioned what a boring place it is at the moment... We still dont have our Uni ID cards, so we cant use certain places, and our tutorials only start 2weeks from now, so me n Chris are SUPER free most of the days..
Tomorrow we hope to be adventurous and will hop on a bus and somehow get to Komtar or some shopping mall la..To just get out of the Uni is like, JOY!

Yesterday, so annoyed cause went for a lecture, imagine 380 people trying to squeeze into a hall with a 300 person capacty...it was horrible man, but some how after about 15minutes, people managed to get seated, extra chairs needed of course. Then we waited, and waited...and waited...
A woman walks in half an hour later and says , its been canceled! Imagine how peeved the 380 tired, hot, squashed people were... But thats just life i guess..... I went off to Mc Dee's and had a chocolate sundae, i've been wanting one since i got to Penang and i just enjoyed the cool of the aircon and yummy ice cream.
Then we go for a talk on how to study, at 8pm, supposed to be anyway, by 8.30pm still nothing happening...
FINALLY some dude came out, and starts his talk
The last thing i remember was :
Nothing is Impossible
I'm possible
I dunno what it is with the speakers so far, but they all seem to come up with really LAME lines...Surpasses u la, Obi-Mun.
Well, after that line, i fell asleep, according to Chris, for about 15mins. When i woke he was still rambling on, so i had enough, grabbed my bag and walked out.
Went for mamak with a new bunch of girls that i've met...They're such funny people, and we had a great laugh...
I have to be in my hostel by midnight!!! I'm like a Cinderella!
But in time , i think i can get to know the guards and......muahahah....
Horns all come out la...
I'll end here.
The Squat next to me is really a Squat. He's like, copying all i do.
I warn you , in 3 years one of us might kill the other.
Chris, you've been warned...

Monday, July 11, 2005

ITS MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

oh my GOODNESS!!
i'm finally touching a computer after 10days of not.
well, for the super blur ones, i'm in USM Penang, and my orientation was last week.
It was pretty good actually...The people looking after us, PPMS , are all students in their 2nd or 3rd year , that willingly come back a week before their own holidays end to help out with running the orientation. And i must say , two thumbs up ....
They were really kind, helpful , friendly, understanding... I must say its a good start for us freshies, cause i've heard horror stories from other Uni's, UUM ,UPM and even UM- Malaysia's supposedly no.1 uni....! Nothing like that has happened here, and i'm so happy and thankful that i got USM after all...

Well, lemme just say the highlights of the O-Week or USM so far.
1. ITS BLOODY FREAKINGLY HOT HERE - seriously, there hasnt been a day of us not sweating out butts off, cause we gotta walk around, well, there's a bus but its Msian so its slow, and the sun just seems extra bright here...And its an island, so yup, darn hot. Not only that, we gotta wear formalish clothes when we enter the main hall, so thats even more sweltering...

2. I CANT REMEMBER NAMES FOR NUTS - everyday we've been asking the same questions, name- where you from- what course - thats been the conversation starter for everyone and with everyone. And i really feel like hanging a sign round my neck saying "I'm Malaysian. Yes i can speak Malay. I'm just like you !"

3. HOSTEL ACTIVITIES - i was staying in hoster called Cahaya Gemilang, so everyday we did stuff, the hostel dinner ROCKED! My table was the loudestm and halfway through, we YAMMMM-SeennnnGGgggggg and the whole 300ppl in the hall stared at us. Sigh, what to do, we're just happening. Also did a thing called Senamrobics,where we jumped about to music. Me n Li were SUPER semangated and did it with gusto.

Actually , there's so much more, but to list it all down would bore everyone , including myself to death. But overall, it was much better than i expected and i was sad when it came to an end. We then had to move to our permanant hostels, and its VERY far away from my school...When i get back , i'll be a champion walker.

The weekend Jon and Jee Lee came up for a visit. I was SO SUPER HAPPY to see them... And Daniel was around, he was our tour guide and driver, many many thanks to him...He was awsome, taking us to the best food, driving us through the CRAZEE traffic. On Friday was the first time ever stepping out of USM, the past week, so ignorant to the world outside, that i didnt even know 1. London got the Olympics and 2. It got bombed. Thats how cut off we were ok...
Well, we did the typical tourist things, kuey teow, went to the beach to watch the sunset... On Sunday went to Butterworth church, Daniel's church, It was nice n quaint, the type where everyone knows everyone and they were really warm to us visitors, though, the announcer got my name wrong (Shelly) kekeke, and guess what refreshments were served after service? Milo, egg tarts and DURIAN! Cool leh......
AND we have come up with a super duper keng chow nothing can beat it line that is just...indescribable:

FUMANCHU......! ! !

I dunno if its a Life Chapel thing, but we seem to attract attention everywhere we go cause of our loudness...Jon and Dan countless times hung their heads, cause of the nonsense things we did. Li Yee nearly hit a boy with ice, and tried to order a drink in Hokkien, hilarious, Jee Lee kept dropping her food, Chris would come up with the bimbo-est of statements like, How long is 180months? And i said, 1 1/2 years, and he was "Oh.....Ok...." Then bout 10seconds later realizing how wrong it was...Me? I didnt do anything attention grabbing, cause thats SO not me...kekee
I gotta say sorry to Jon and Dan who had to endure us TLS fellas...U guys r really put up with all our FUMANCHU and screaming, and yelping, and ......Everything la...
But yea, FUMANCHU is our word of the month. But no one can use it but us...Sorry....!

But all good things muct come to an end, and on Sunday night J & J went back to KL...Was very sad cause that was our last time with anyone from home... We were pretty stoned after that, on the way backk to our hostel.

Well, to let Joshua know, i only cried ONCE the whole time i've been here, and it wasnt when i was alone in my hostel room , or sitting in the canteen with a broken spoon.....It was while praying.... I really thought i was tough enough make it through without crying...I guess, it really dawned on me how i'm not with the people i love the most, and that i wont be around for all the things i wanna be around for...And how good God has been to me though i'm a piece of squat...Was one of the saddest nights to date.
But its alright.
And i'm alright.
And we're alright.

I end here, with some wise words used by one of the hostel supervisors, as he ended his speech during the dinner :
Durian
Honeydew
Thank you...
PS : Mun Onn, u still owe me a trip up here. Terrible la u , cancel last minute... to much.
FUMANCHU!!!