Update 10.1

This just in: "I have nothing to write."

Pretty common theme nowadays, which explains the lack of blog posts.

Seeing as how this is supposed to be my venting grounds for anything that interests me, I don't understand why I feel compelled to write things that (I think) will interest other people. But I do. Darn it.

Following that compelling logic, I shouldn't be writing this post now... because honestly, me really has nothing interesting to say. But it's a chilly Saturday night and the boyfriend's asleep because of headache from very-tiring-and-long-afternoon-soccer-match, so I have nothing much to do besides...

1) study for upcoming exam or
2) update seemingly-abandoned-blog.

No points for guessing which one I chose.

Did I mention that I'm back in Louisville? It's been nearly a month since I came back. Life here is pretty much the same as before I left, except a few of my friends have left/will leave Louisville. It's so saddening when friends leave, even though we are happy for them. No doubt I'll meet and make new friends in time, but the friends who are gone always leave a void that's never quite filled by the new ones.

I just saw the photos from last weekend. Boy do I look weird.

Going to take an exam in 9 days. Do not feel the urgency at all. I've been trying to get back into study mode since a month ago. No success whatsoever. Still in eat-sleep-play-relax mode. It's so hard trying to study after an extremely long break.

The good news about this exam is I get to take the whole week off from work. The bad news? I need the whole week to work on the exam. Including sleeping and meal times. No kidding. I have plans for le boyfriend to serve me meals at my study desk for that entire week. Ok, no just joking. But I've heard it's hard and for the entire 96 hours that I get to work on the exam, I will only work on exam, eat, go to bathroom, sleep, repeat cycle.

Am currently on a Boy Meets World education course. By that I mean everytime during dinners, we would watch one or two episodes of said TV show. Because apparently it's the show of my generation and I have to watch it. I just have to. (do NOT ask me what generation is mine, because if you know me, you are probably in my generation okay? No age jokes allowed.) It's pretty nice. Funny and heartwarming at the same time. And it's not a too sickly sweet kind of heartwarming.

Feeling guilty. Going to study.

A Poem about Corporate Life

Written on a whiteboard at my friend's office:

Say already don't listen
Listen also don't understand
Understand already don't do
Do also do wrong
Wrong already don't admit
Admit also don't correct
Correct already not happy
Not happy also don't say...

Thought it was pretty funny... and true.

Yo-yo-ing

It's so odd.

There are some things that I need to let go of.. and occasionally I can come to accept them.. but sometimes they just bug me.

Sometimes I understand why it has to happen the way it did.. but sometimes I can't. I think understanding is not enough. I need to know for sure for me to let go. But some things we'll never find out because we can't ask. Some we'll never know even if we ask.

So what should I do? What am I supposed to do?

There are days when I feel angry, but blaming the other person while I feel like the innocent victim doesn't help. For one thing, I was not innocent, but what should I have done instead? I am not exactly sure.

In my more objective state of mind, I understand what's happening now. Haven't I seen it happen before to someone else? I know you mean well and it's better for you, but sometimes I feel bewildered.. as though someone sent me a half-torn map and expects me to know where the treasure is buried.

Am I supposed to ask you? Will you even admit it?

Someone wisely told me that nothing is forever.. and maybe a few months from now we'd be back where we started. But I doubt it. It's happened before and I've watched each one shatter. It's me, I know, who can't put the pieces back again.

But if I get the chance to choose again, I'd make the same choices. For I may have lost 2 eagles, but I've found my snowy owl.

Are you meant for me?

(I just remembered I made a list of "blogs-to-come" at the right column and I NEVER did write any of those. It's about time I start clearing the list. So here goes the first entry...)

Classic-but-highly-delusional-version:

Everyone has someone and only one who is meant for them.

Modified-and-more-realistic-version:

There are ten people out there for every person. If you are lucky enough to find one out of these ten, then you would live together happily ever after.

Note: These ten people are ranked in order. For example, the #1 person for Daniel Wu (which is me of course) is most meant to be with Daniel Wu. His #2 person, let's say her name is Sheau Chin (oh wait that's still me but what do you care), is the next most compatible with him. And so on. The ranking is reciprocal too. So whoever happens to be Daniel Wu's #5 person (which is probably still me) will have Daniel Wu on her list as #5.

A while back, I was talking to a friend about this. I asked her if she believed that she would find the right person for her. The modified version was what my friend told me. She didn't believe that there was only one person for her, she believed there was ten.

So I asked her if she did find one of them, would she know that he is the one meant for her. Or would she always be guessing? She said when she meets him, she would just instinctively know that he is one of the ten. Gut feeling.

So I asked her again, what if she meets 2 of them at the same time? Which one would she pick? Or worse, what if she was lucky enough to meet more than 2 at the same time? What now? That was why she came up with that ranking system. So she would just pick the one that's higher up on the compatibility ladder.

Then I asked her if that meant she would also instinctively know which one is ranked higher? At which point she said yes and told me to zip it.

That discussion happened a few months ago. At first, I agreed with her. Well maybe not ten people exactly, but a few people somewhere out there who were meant for me. Who, when we meet, would spark a fire so strong that it would take a lifetime and then a bit more to burn out.

I've had some time to mull over that discussion. And no.. I don't believe that there are people who are simply born to be meant for each other for life. Maybe there are people who are especially compatible with each other, but the level of compatibility can change with time.

People change. Our tastes, our hobbies, our goals, our desires, our interests. We change everyday. And with that, what we need from other people. So yes, there may be ten people who are just right for me now. But will we be right for each other forever? Who knows? Maybe when we change, we don't change in the right direction. So in that set of ten people, 5 of them are not compatible with me anymore. And because of changes, another 5 who were not in the list gets added.

I believe that at certain times in life, there are certain people (note not just one) who are more likely to fall in love. And when I move to a different stage in life, hopefully we will still be right for each other. But it's not a must. It's not a fact. It's not for sure. So if we change and we find that we are holding on just because and it's not working even though we tried, then it's time to let go. Maybe we'll lose a lover but gain a confidante, or maybe we'll find that even as friends we don't click anymore.

Do I believe that I'll find someone who would grow with me? I don't know. It doesn't hurt to hope. But I know I'm not ready yet. Have I already met the one who's right for me now? Who knows? Oh that's another thing, I don't believe I can instinctively tell that someone's the one for me. Guess I have no gut feelings. But I do know one thing... Daniel Wu's on my list no matter what.

当局者迷

我想我是想念你了。

不见你一两天，心情开始有点郁闷。

是什么原因让我想念你呢？

是我真的喜欢你吗？

还是因为我认识的人不多，又和你谈得来，所以特别想和你出去玩？

有点混乱。

到底喜欢不喜欢你呢？

是纯粹想要有个人依靠？

是因为一起玩时我很开心？

是因为难得在这里找到一个和我谈得来的朋友？

还是真的喜欢你？

又有谁可以说清什么原因就是喜欢，什么原因只是寂寞。

有时候会喜欢上一个人，是环境促成的。

在我心情最低落时，你刚好给了我依靠的感觉。

在我想出去玩却不知道找谁时，你刚好约我一起出去。

我随口提起一个我一直想去却从来没机会去的地方， 你第二天带我去了。

你陪我聊天，逗我玩。

所以慢慢地越来越想着你。

曾经说不能怕受伤害，可是终究是不敢的。

所以我把感觉藏起来，因为不想听到不想听的答案。

但是我想就算我把感觉藏起来，你看得出的。

至少我觉得身边的人看得出。

或许当局者迷吧，可是我猜不透你在想什么。

你喜欢不喜欢我呢？还是只把我当成好朋友而已？

不想问，可是暧昧太久，我开始心急了。

我是要走一步看一步的。

但愿我的耐力能够坚持下去。

Pool Night

I want to play pool!!! Pronto!!!

A bunch of us went to play pool last night. My colleague recommended this place called Oliver's Billiards. Seriously cheap. $1/hour for each person. It was very smoky, though. Then again, most of the pool places are smoky.

Haven't played in almost half a year. Love the game, still can't play consistently though. For some reason, I just can't seem to get straight shots. Sometimes I can do really hard shots, like when I have to "super-slice" the ball. Remember how I got the black ball in at Olmsted, Jack? Hehe, I remember someone saying he'll "pai" if I got it in wer. :P Left-hander team rocks!

While playing last night, I suddenly recalled someone teaching me how to play pool a few years back. I remember how patient you were. How you made me do the same shot over and over again until I got it in at least twice. How you wouldn't let me give up. I remember when it was my turn, you would watch me shoot to make sure I got the right angle. You would pay attention to me and not at the other tables. I hope someday we'll have a chance to play again.

Oops, went a bit off track and nostalgic there. So yeah, now I have this craving to play again. Have to bug people to go play with me soon.

________________________________________________________

刚读了几片张小娴写的短文，是表姐寄给我的。

其中有一篇正好说出了我的感受。

我发现我留了一些他的习惯。

这并不出奇我知道。

会玩Poker是他教我的。

喜欢打Pool是让他培养出来的。不过上面提到的人不是他。我说让他培养，但不是他教得最好的。

爱听的音乐种类是被他影响的。

我从曾经在我生命中路过的人学来很多生活习惯、爱好。

为何偏爱喝Vodka？因为一个曾经认识的男孩。

为何偏爱喝Vodka掺Cranberry？因为一个失去联络的朋友。

为何喜欢读张小娴的短文？因为一个中学时代的华文老师。

也从曾经在我生命中路过的人，知道什么习惯、作风我是永远也不想有的。

爱情变质了，决不要拖拖拉拉。把自己藏在房里，搞得颓废不堪，又能如何？

还没尝试就先放弃、做不到不会好好检讨还要怨别人，对不起，我要说一句：看不起！

你进了我的世界，到底会留下什么样的脚印？

我拭目以待。

My weekend story

No updates since last Thursday. Evidently I'm getting lazy at this blogging thing.

Let's see... things I planned to do for the weekend. Celebrate. Did that. Go out and have fun. Also done. Do stuff that I can't write on my blog. Yep, did that too.

Last Friday, we went to Sully's (a bar) on Fourth Street Live! It was man-market night. Yes, you read that correctly. It's MAN market. Meaning there are (desperate) guys walking around in the bar with number tags. And if a girl/guy finds them scrumptious enough, he's sold. I wonder if he gets to say no to his buyer or not. Think there's a return policy?

The auctioneer was pulling guys up onstage every now and then to err.. promote the latest "offering". Truthfully, most were big "No"s. This guy was walking around in an orange suit! Wah, that one seriously cannot tahan. But hor, there was one very cute guy loh. Really very cute. I don't want to describe, but believe me, he was cute. The I-will-definitely-break-your-heart kind of cute. Too bad he didn't have a number tag though. :P

Guys are seriously unfair. All this while I've been going to bars and listening to their millions of comments on the ladies there. Lots of pretty girls here by the way. Cute guys not so much. Darn. So finally FINALLY I see one boleh tahan one hor, and I make one tiny comment saying "that guy over there is quite cute". And I get my taste proclaimed terrible, my eyesight doubted, and some eye-rolling action. Unfair or not?

So anyway, conclusion is I didn't bid for anyone in the man market.

Last Saturday I went to my colleagues' house for the poker tournament. Lost. Flat out lost. So much for my previous 2 winnings huh. Didn't have any good hands. And didn't dare to bluff. Was fun though. Their house is soooooooo nice. Next time I want to have a house like that too. With a dog, too.

It was snowing a little that night when we left their house. The roads were pretty icy. And guess what.. we got stuck on the road. There was a pretty bad accident (we found out later on) so the road was basically blocked. Didn't move an inch at all. For TWO hours. TWO hours!Really not moving. We could have turned off the engine and it wouldn't make a difference. Except we would freeze to death maybe. Crazy betul, 20 minute drive became 2 hours plus.

For the first 15 minutes when we were stuck, we watched the cars drive by on the opposite side. Some people here are crazy! These people were zooming past as though the roads were perfectly dry. We saw at least 5 cars spin, some hit the railing too. Since noone got hurt, it was quite interesting to watch.

Yes yes, I know we didn't get nearly half as much snow as Des Moines. Don't brag.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Yes yes, I know I'm 2 days late (almost 3). I wanted to wish on Valentine's Day one, but then I got busy mah. And got lazy. And tired. And need to study. And got lazy again.

Nothing special happened this Valentine's Day, which was expected. I went out with a bunch of friends for dinner. Had Peking duck again! I think I'm addicted to that dish. It's so delicious. And so fatty. Which makes it even more delicious. Mmmmm... getting hungry just thinking about it.

I got a box of Godiva chocolates on Valentine's Day. :D It was sooooooo delicious. Brought it to work to share with my colleagues. So good so good. Truffles are still the best though. If you've never tried truffles... well then my friend... you have never eaten REAL chocolate. No kidding. Everyone MUST try truffles. They are expensive though. *sigh*

(I so want to write about something else related to chocolates, but I can't. Darn. Ask me if you want to sampat haha.)

I also got a watch. Going to wear it everyday once I get some of the links removed. Oh and then the day after Valentine's Day, I got a bouquet of flowers from a friend. :) Very pretty! There were white roses, white carnations, purple lilies and some other I-don't-know-what-they-are-called flowers. Thanks yah. I like it a lot. Got a lot of teasing from my colleagues though. Have to keep explaining that it's from a friend only. I have a feeling they don't really believe me. Ah well...

And now it's time to introduce....... Bear Bear and Kacang Bulu!

This is Bear Bear. Bear Bear is 2 days old only, but has already developed an obsessive love for candy. You can tell since he's tied a big bag of candy to his left arm so I wouldn't steal it. He likes to smell good, keeps himself clean and is attracted to flowers. No, he is not gay. Bear Bear is also distantly related to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.



This is Kacang Bulu, formerly known as Wak Wak until an anonymous person pointed out his real name. According to his birth certificate, Kacang Bulu was born on December 10, 2006. He was unfortunate enough to fall into my hands 5 days later. Muahahahaha. Despite popular rumors, Kacang Bulu does NOT like to eat mosquitoes. He is actually quite the gentleman with polite manners. Check out his spiffy suit complete with tie and all.



Kacang Bulu loves to sing. He only sings ONE song though, and oddly enough whenever he sings, he sounds just like 4 of my friends. Want to hear? (I just uploaded the video, so it might not be available yet. Apparently might take a few hours.)

Busy Crazy Week!

Haven't been blogging much lately, compared with the one week where I had a blogging spree. I wrote one per day for 5 days in a row!

Too busy nowadays. I had a crazy week at work. CRAZY. Crazy until I couldn't take my Wednesday afternoon off for study time. :( Partly crazy because I work so slooooooooowly also. But then if I work fast I know I'll miss stuff and then I have to go back and redo it anyway.

Crazy until I have to go back to the office to work tomorrow!!!! And tomorrow is a SUNDAY. I'm working on a weekend for the first time! I think this requires a formal recognition of some sort. In a really weird way, I'm kind of happy that I finally have the need to work on a weekend. If you've never worked on a weekend, then you've never actually worked in a consulting firm. Hehe, just kidding yah. I'm working tomorrow because I'm slow mah.

Oh and so many things happened and will happen this week! My department had a poker tournament on Thursday night! And guess what? I won 2nd place overall. Second place! SECOND place you know! Me, win second place! Hehe, I have to keep saying it because it is really unbelievable that I won SECOND that night. I won second by chip count because we ran out of time. I would have won first if I knew it was the last hand (I thought 2nd last hand pula so I folded). If I went all in last hand, I would have won. But still, I didn't even think I would make top 5 loh. I was expecting to get busted in half an hour.

Trust me, I'm not a good poker player. I don't even have a poker face. But that night, I felt like I could just tell what people have, and somehow I knew when I had the best hand and how to lure them into betting their chips. It was soooooo cool. I think the fact that I only had 2 hours of sleep the night before helped. Too tired to show any expression on my face. Hehe.

And then last night I went out with my colleagues. Went to my colleague's house first, played a drinking game called Connections. So fun, but I was so unlucky loh, one round I had to drink the whole bottle of O3 in like 10 minutes. Then after that we went to play midnight bingo. The place was soooooooooo smoky. And speed bingo is so crazy. The person calls out numbers like a machine gun. I didn't even have time to check all my cards. I think I must missed like every other number he called. Plus the fact that I was a bit drunk already didn't help. Very fun though.

You know, I'm so happy I came to Louisville. Yeah, it sounds like all I do here is drink and gamble only. And I know quite a few of you think I'm becoming a drunkard. Which I'm NOT. I'm just trying to build up my tolerance. ;) But it's so fun here. My colleagues are sooooooooo nice and fun. The friends I met here are sooooooo nice and fun too! Sorry lah, my vocabulary for describing friends is a bit limited. So maybe there are not as many lengzhais here as LA, but who cares? You think I'm such a shallow person meh? I don't make friends with people just because they are lengzhai also. If I do, I won't be such good friends with Mr. Turtle liao loo. :P Hehe, just kidding yah.

There's a nice balance between having fun and studying here. Although recently it's tipping way over to "having fun". Die, I have to finish my 5th report by tomorrow and I haven't even started. Ah well, I'm going out in half an hour again! The university of Louisville has a Chinese Association and they have a Chinese New Year celebration tonight. Their performance schedule looks pretty impressive. The leaflet already looks super impressive. Oh and the food. I hope it's gooooooooooood. Guess I'll just have to stay up tonight to do my report.

I'm so happy I'm here!!! :D

My Skiing Trip

Guess what I did last Saturday??

I went skiing!!! AND tumbling down the slope... since somebody pointed out that I tumbled more than I skied. (Is skied the correct past tense for ski? Looks weird.)

Fell down about 5 times. Average out one per hour. I think lah. Might have lost count halfway. :p Hehe. One time I fell so badly my ski came off. Another time I fell so badly my poles were too far away for me to pick up. Had to leave them halfway up the slope.

But it was soooooooooooo fun!!! 3 years I spent in Iowa, land FULL of snow, and I never went skiing. Had to wait until I came to Louisville for my first skiing trip. My friends and I went to a ski resort called Perfect North near Cincinnati. It's about an hour and 45 minutes away. I just found out Cincinnati is so close by. Am so going there next time for good food.

Since I've never gone skiing before, I went for the newbie lesson. The others had gone skiing before, except one, so he and I went for the lesson together. The instructor was very nice and extremely patient. The lesson was supposed to be one hour long. But then because I was so not a natural skier, he spent an extra hour with us. Until I finally learned how to turn. Hahahahaha. But he was seriously very patient loh. And no, he is not a lengzhai ski instructor. I think if he was lengzhai hor, I don't need to learn how to turn liao. Won't be paying attention at what he's saying.

So now I still don't really know how to turn. I can turn when I'm not skiing that fast, but once I speed up (which is the time when I should start zigzagging), then I'll straight away forget how to turn. Stupid right? The only thing I can say I can do really well... is getting off the lift. Takes skill one mm kay.

Was very very cold that day. We started skiing around 4 pm. Ended 9 pm plus. Temperature was about -10 C. Ok lah, I know it's not as cold as Des Moines, but we were OUTSIDE for 5 hours plus. And then I left my waterproof gloves in my friend's car back in Louisville. So for the first 2 hours I had thin gloves until my friend went to buy thicker ones for me. My fingertips are still numb now. Hope it's not permanent. Too expensive to visit doctor to find out. Hehe.

Quite sore now. Walking like an old lady in the office. Back pain, leg pain, hand pain, fingertips pain. But so so fun! I want to go again some time... but not in such cold weather anymore.

Next time, when it gets warmer... we will be going horseback riding! Who said living in Louisville is boring huh huh huh? *chuin face*

M'sian Restaurant in Louisville

Can you believe it? There's a Malaysian restaurant in Louisville!!!

Called August Moon. Opened by a guy who was born in Ipoh. Apparently it's been here since 1987 (20 years.. whoa...). And has quite good reviews.

So today my friends and I went to try it out. I already read the menu on the website so I knew it wasn't very authentic before going. *sigh* My optimistic hopes about it being like the Penang restaurant in Chicago all gone.

For appetizers, we tried the chicken satay. It was........ HAIH....... I don't feel like saying. It was...... it was....... disappointing. :'( Was quite bland loh. We each took one skewer.. had one bite.. looked at each other with the it's-not-nice-but-I-want-to-be-polite kind of look.. and then all of us said.. "erm.. did they forget to put flavoring?" First round: failed.

I had "Malaysian style beef curry" for my entree. Mm.. definitely not like chicken curry, and definitely not like beef rendang. Speaking of which, I miss beef rendang! But too lazy to cook. So this "curry" hor, it was....... it was...... quite nice loh! :) Even though it's not very authentic lah, but for Asian food, it was pretty good. My friends' choices were pretty good too. 2nd round: passed passed passed!

Actually, I took photos of our food, but I haven't uploaded them from my phone. Why? Cause I'm lazy, and I don't really know how to upload stuff from my phone yet. Haven't done it enough times to remember. Speaking of which, I haven't put songs into my phone! All those free memory sitting idly in my phone unused. So wasted. But ahhh, too lazy.

Erm, I don't remember if I said this before, and too lazy to check my old posts, so I'll just say it again. We've designated Thursday as Dinner Night. My friends and I will go to a different restaurant every Thursday. We take turns choosing one restaurant. So far, we've had Korean barbecue, Cantonese, Greek, pan-Asian, American, and Malaysian!

It's quite fun. 2 of them are my colleagues, the other 3 I met through one of my colleagues. Sometimes they invite other people too (I don't bring anyone since I don't know many people in Louisville). A chance for us to keep up with one another. Plus time passes so fast here that Thursday seems to arrive in no time at all.

Wonder what we'll eat next week....

A Promise

Somebody promised me that he'll marry me if I'm still single at 35.

:D

I have no worries in my life anymore.

(Quick! Introduce me to all the guys you know!

I only have 11 more years to go!)

Hehe, just kidding yah.

你是最好的, 你知道吗？

My Horoscope

Guess what's my horoscope today?

You may feel pushed and pulled emotionally but that's what it will take to get you to do what needs to be done to move on. Let go of the things and people who are no longer a benefit. You can find happiness, security and a better future.

Exactly what I need!

I've been saying the same thing over and over again since last Christmas. But what my head tells me and what my heart actually feels can be quite different. And I'm way better friends with my head than my heart.

So yesterday I made a decision to cut off everything. No more 藕断丝连。 Otherwise it'll just drag on and on and take me forever to move on.

I've been rationalizing and overanalyzing my emotions since day one. No more of that. I don't have to reason out what is right and what is wrong. After all, 是非对错谁人悉? We don't have to exchange sorry's, don't have to say thanks. What happened was nobody's fault and our choice. 过去的让它过去.

Thanks to all of you who kept me company. Thanks for listening to me rant on and on and over and over about the same thing. Thanks for staying up at night listening to me vent. Thanks for listening to me even when you need to work. You know who you are. If you think I'm talking about you, then I probably am. Thank you so much. Just a heads up, I'm not saying thanks now because I won't rant anymore.. because I very well might. But I'll try not to. ;)

I don't have to pretend to be strong. If my emotions wash over me again, I'll let myself swim in it, but I won't drown. No I won't. I'm not the only person in the whole world who's going through this. It's just that it's my first, and I'm learning.

But I'll walk through this. How long will it take before I wander through this maze? I don't know. Maybe months, maybe weeks or maybe days. Time will heal me and he doesn't take Disney Fastpasses. So I'll just wait. (And study for that exam in the meantime.)

You know how the more you try to do something, the worse you do? Like when I'm playing Minesweeper, if I am consciously trying to beat my best time, I'll play even slower than I usually do. I got my fastest records when I was not paying attention, clicking away while daydreaming about something else.

So I guess this is the same thing. One day soon enough, when I'm out grocery shopping, or having a walk in the park, it'll suddenly hit me: "Hey, I haven't thought about so-and-so for a while now."

And then I'll know I've moved on.

Here's to my happiness, security and a better future!

(Head: Psst, hey Heart, you listening to all this?)

Winterfest 2007!

Last Saturday, our department had an event called Winterfest. Which is a fancy way of saying "annual new year dinner".

It was quite fun. Dressing up and meeting my colleagues' wives/ husbands/ girlfriends/ boyfriends after hearing about them for so long.

The food itself was okay, there was cheesecake! Although I think I've been pampered by very good tiramisu, so cheesecake doesn't have as much appeal anymore.

There's a Happy Hour coming up in two weeks! I think my department has tons of activities going on. One luncheon per month, potlucks every now and then, one happy hour per month, and then during summer there's softball, volleyball, soccer, scavenger hunts, farm outings...... I can't wait for summer already!

As promised, here are photos from Winterfest:

This is me, posing before leaving for Winterfest. Don't tell me you don't take photos of yourself when you are dressed up. :P I don't know why I'm holding the camera at that angle.



Sabrina and Jazz sit in the same "six-pack" (cubicle cluster) as I do. Baiyun is Jazz's guest. Sabrina's a reeeeeeeally nice person. She and I go grocery shopping together every Thursday. And we eat lunch together. Seriously, I don't know what I'd do without her in Louisville.



Jason and Alan also sit in my cluster. I didn't take a photo with the girl missing from our "six-pack" though. Shoulda. Rebecca is Dan's roommate. I work with Dan ALOT. Somehow we keep getting thrown into the same project teams. He's fun though. Jason and Alan keeps bullying him about giving me too much stuff to do. And I don't bother correcting them. Kekeke.



Okay, it's too much trouble making borders for all these photos. So that's it for show and tell. :P

Mailed from Cambodia, Sent from the Heart

Today I got a postcard from my ex-roommate in Singapore.

Just a few short lines written on her trip to Cambodia.

But long enough to warm my heart, knowing that a friend faraway is thinking of me.

*hugs*

Thanks dear.

Receptionist-wannabe

Quick, guess how many hours I spent talking on the phone this past Sunday!
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Ready?
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Answer: eight hours!

I’ve never been on the phone for sooooo long in my entire life. Can be receptionist liao. It wasn’t all spent talking to the same person lah. Spent some time catching up with 5 friends, mostly the people at Drake. Btw, I have all Drake students grouped under the heading Drakulaeans (root word: Dracula :P) on my MSN list. No ‘Bulldogs’ for me.

Every time I move to a new place, I kind of lose contact with my close friends at the old place. Well, it’s not unusual to be less in contact with them I guess. But I wish I can talk to them more often. Everyone is so busy though, busy working, busy studying, busy ‘pak-toh’-ing… and the 12-hour time difference is seriously not helping matters.

I’ve been talking to some Drakulaeans quite a bit the last few weeks. Was nice to know what’s going on at Drake. I miss having potlucks and desserts at KY’s place. I miss the ‘parties’ over at Ross during the weekends, actually I kinda miss Ross, that was the bestest room/apartment I’ve ever had in my 5 years of dorm life. But of course my apartment now is better lah. :P And I miss the MAHJONG!!! Oh, I met someone who says he is interested in learning mahjong, but I don’t know if he was serious or not though.

Gonna call a few more people this week, but I doubt I’ll do the eight-hour stint again. It was nice to catch up with people, but that was really a lot of talking for one day!

Girl Gathering!

Last night I met up with some of my high school friends for dinner. Nothing big, just catching up with each other. Since I'm leaving in 2 weeks, I'm finally feeling the pressure to do all the things I've been planning to do since the start of the holiday. Such as meet up with people that I haven't met yet. 2 of them I met only once since I came back, one I haven't been in contact with since 3 years ago!

Half the animal gang @ Chef Long, September 12, 2006

It was very nice to see them again, it really does feel like we picked up where we left off. Ok, I know everybody says that la, which makes it the queen bee of all clichés, but it's so true! Except now instead of school and guys, we talk about work, our experiences studying abroad and... oh wait, we still do talk about guys.

Everybody is so busy now (except me but not for long). My high school friends, aka the animal & vegetable gang (don't ask), are scattered everywhere liao. Let's see... Keong Yu Zai is working in Australia and I think will/is a PR, Piggy studying in Sabah, Gorilla working in Sabah, Fei Zhao Yu (African Fish) in Penang if I'm not wrong, and the rest all busy working. Hmm, so far no one reached the get-married-and-have-kids stage yet. And it will NOT BE ME first ok?

When we were 17, Piggy did this fortune telling thing for all of us. Apparently I was supposed to get married at 18. Naturally everybody has been "looking forward" to the supposed wedding la. Which did NOT happen! Hah! But until now people still mention it. Like "eh? Weren't you going to get married at 18?" Not within the next 5 years, thank you. Unless Daniel Wu or Wang LeeHom comes up with the idea lah. Hehe.

Tomorrow we'll be having another gathering. Nothing like someone's upcoming departure as an incentive to get people out!

Snapshots of My Life @ Drake

2 years ago, 8 new Malaysian students went to Drake. Happy, young, hopeful and innocent (hehe..).


We started holding doors for people behind us and saying 'how are you?' to everyone that passes by. Breakfast was unanimously agreed as the most satisfying on-campus meal. Anywhere that requires more than 15 minutes walk is "too far", in winter anywhere further than 5 mins is a pain. Wal-mart became THE place to shop for anything and everything. Eating Chinese food was a once-a-week luxury.

But we also did some Malaysian stuff.

Chinese New Year potluck! Everybody had to cook.. and wear something red. If you don't and choose to wear some other color (like blue) instead, then prepare to "keng sou" "gu-wak-zai" style. Although I must say holding a styrofoam bowl really spoils the "dai lou" image.

DASS (Drake Actuarial Students Society) Malaysian Nite! We got talked into cooking M'sian food for the actuarial students at Drake. It was a great chance to show the Americans & other international students why we keep gushing about M'sian food. But don't think they liked all of it. The 3-layer pork (yummy! full of fats!) might have been too much for some of them.

Malaysian Nite! By Jan '06, we finally had enough M'sians at Drake to have our very own special night. Self-funded, it was the night of the Malaysians, by the Malaysians, and for the Malaysians. The night was a blast!

And of course.. mahjong! Pretty much learned all my mahjong tricks in the States. I love this game! Miss playing 3-ka with self-proclaimed God of Gambler and my roommie.

During holidays we went sightseeing. For some reason every Thanksgiving (late November) I keep going back to Chicago, but with a different bunch of people though. This was taken in the Field Museum at Chicago. No wonder King Kong was so angry la.

And when we get down to it, we study pretty hard too.

In May '06, after a memorable 3 years, I'm finally done! Still happy, still YOUNG, and still hopeful! Woohoo!

Pilot Entry

This marks the first sentence in the first entry of my not-so-first blog. :D

I'm moving to Louisville, Kentucky soon. All alone. *sigh* Actually, it's kinda exciting to start fresh, because IF I manage to kick my bad habits, noone in the land of Fried Chicken will know I even had them in the first place. Muahahahaha. But then again... who is going to watch movies with me? Who is going to makan dinner with me? And most importantly, who is going to PLAY MAHJONG with me????

The big plan is, I'll write down my life working abroad in this journal. And I mean every single detail. I don't care how boring or mundane some entries may be. Because someday 10 years from now, I'll be glad that I have something to keep these memories alive.

I realize that I have virtually no pictures from my Freshman year in Grinnell. So sad. Those were fun times, watching movies with my roommate and next-door neighbor, hanging out with the international students (mostly Indian economics majors for some unknown reason) and having deep thoughtful conversations. No pictures as reminders, though. :( Good thing I took more photos at Drake.

So from now on, I will take as many photos as I can!! Hopefully my photography skills can improve also, but knowing myself, that is quite unlikely. It's about time I start using my camera too, before it becomes obsolete. :S

Btw, if I don't update this blog once every few days, please call / message / VISIT me. I might have died from loneliness. Or boredom.

Overflow

I wish you were here
I've got so much to tell you
I don't know what to do
or even if I should do

But you've got enough
and I don't want to trouble you
Who am I to demand
when I don't even give

Do you know you make me feel
that no matter what I achieve
I should have done better
I should have tried more

Should I tell you
there's too much pressure
I don't want to do it for you
This is not my dream

I hate you for pretending
I hate you for lying
Why can't you just say
what's on your mind

Well two can play in this game
I'll go with your rules
but while we're at it
let's add a few twists