Posts filed under 'Daily Grind'
here’s the lowdown on my status : tired, hella sleepy from the recent (successful!) recalibration of my body clock, voice sore from screaming back and forth in a noisy club, knee scraped from a lousy fall when i tripped over my own feet, hungry because i forgot to have dinner!!, but most importantly - bags unpacked :(
i’m leaving in the morning for a long overdue holiday somewhere not so far away :) it is a sort of runaway-getaway, clear-my-head kinda thing. only, the original plan was to go alone, but it has since been hijacked by an incorrigible idiot who insisted i set my holiday back two weeks so that he could come along after his exams. haih. bencinya T____T
anyway yes lah i haven’t packed and i’m so tired, but i’m sitting here blogging because there’s a few things i want to blog about!
1. COLLEGE
the first and most crucial is my college decision, because this one involves a deadline. i have to send in my replies to all my schools by Monday, but until now i still haven’t decided on a school. i’ve narrowed it down to two - University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City.
okay i seriously need help in making a decision here :( please help, ok? if you know anything about UPenn, Philly, Columbia and New York City, pleaseeeee leave me a comment with all you have to say. i would muchly appreciate it. here are the attractions of both schools to me, and put side-by-side is precisely why i am so undecided :
Penn : big Malaysian community, has my intended major of Philosophy-Politics-Economics aka PPE, close to my aunt who lives in Pennsylvania (this means board during spring/winter break! and of course seeing my lovely aunt whom i love), the presence of Wharton (arguably the best business school in the world) where i may consider doing a dual degree in finance, Chenchow’s opinion that a Penn degree is more recognized in our part of the world (i’m not sure about this!), a warm, friendly and sociable student body that i know i will fit into and love.
Columbia : small Malaysian community (can be a good thing), the fact that i was accepted as a Scholar (more on this later), it’s in the extremely exciting and thriving New York City, nicer dorms than Penn, dorms are RM 3200/year cheaper, a school known for exciting events and its artistic (but potentially snobby) culture, and FREE TICKETS TO BROADWAY!!
i only just found out a few days ago that i was named a Scholar by Columbia upon admission, because i’d completely overlooked the letter when it came in my admissions packet. the perks for me as a Scholar are - arranged meetings and discussions with world renowned speakers, academic enhancement programs, first dibs when choosing courses, a conferred special title upon graduation, cool internships with program partners like the NYC Mayor’s Office and … JP Morgan Chase, muahahahaha (sorry, inside joke :P), better research and study opportunities, and free Broadway tickets!! yes you can tell the last part excites me the most :) in a nutshell, it’s a kinda ‘elite’ student program where the participating students get all these added benefits and probably more that i dont know about.
i only have 2 days left to decide :( please help me reason this out. do you guys think the perks offered by the Scholar’s Program and the excitement of NYC is worth giving up Penn? after all, if i went to Penn, NYC is only two hours away… sigh. so emoe. do leave me your comments ok? and i even modified my Nuffnang poll to have my college options instead. haha. *points to right side* please answer my poll! thank youuu :)
2. AMERICAN IDOL
okay first of all. CARLY DID NOT DESERVE TO GET VOTED OUT. /stomps around
i didnt know this week was Andrew Lloyd Webber week, and when i found out at the start of the show, all i could do was jump up and down, screaming PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! and i am so happy because David Archuleta sang my favourite Phantom song - Think of Me, and he did it beautifully. this performance of his, as well as Imagine from Lennon-McCartney week, proves that this 17 year old kid deserves to win American Idol 2008. yes, any Phantom fan would know that he botched up the words to one part of Think Of Me, but the clever thing to do was make up new words that sat nicely to correct timing - which David Archuleta did, AND which Brooke did not, and deserved to be voted out for.
and my favourite Idol contestant of all, David Cook, sang Music of the Night from Phantom. now i dont usually like this song, because the love that the Phantom has for Christine was just never communicated rightly to me through the song. in fact i always found the song kind of scary, in a perverse way. but when David sang that song this week, it all just became so clear. oh the tenderness! the emotion! the love. there is no doubt about it - David Cook owns my heart and soul. *dramatic*
i’m hoping to see a Battle of the Davids in the finals. and before this i wanted Carly as number 3, but now i guess that’s not possible. Jason Cook is good and i like him, but he’s shown that a lack of versatility is his problem. his rendition of Memory from Cats was just awful :(
3. Return of the TV shows!
yesssssss Gossip Girl is back, and it seems the trends of stockings and ribboned headbands are here to stay :\ it’s a delicious new episode, this one, and the next one is going to be even more explosive! new character introduced!
and guess what else is back?? GREY’S ANATOMY, that’s what!!! yes it was too long a hiatus, but i’m just glad that it’s back at all - i jumped out of bed instantly to IMDB it when Jay texted me in the morning that Grey’s was back and showing in America in a few hours. hehe it’s torrenting now as i write this. oh how i have missed my McDreamy! and the delicious and scandalous lives of the cast of surgeons :D Scotty, try not to puke okay hehe. you know you love McDreamy too!
4. i remember having a fourth thing to blog about but sleepiness is really getting the best of my memory. le sigh. i’m going to pack at turbo speed now and then sleep :) goodnight all.
April 26th, 2008
at the Youth 08 q&a the other day, us 4 bloggers were asked among other questions how we find so much stuff to blog about. my answer was that there is so much going on in our world and within yourself that it’s impossible not to find inspiration everywhere you go. if i had all the time in the world, i’d probably be blogging every few hours (which i used to do, if anyone remembers my pinkskyes blog from the 2001-2005 days!). but alas there are time constraints :) yet there truly is so much to blog about and share.
some things in point form:
- i find that in all 19 years and 3 months of my life, i tend to do ridiculously stupid things when i am in sleepy stupor. this month seems to be exceptionally pregnant with such stupid things. a lot of the time and when already knee-deep in aforementioned things, i get this naggy feeling at the back of my mind going, ’stop it! stop it! sleep on this before you do anything!!’, but in the fire and zeal of sleepiness, anger and any other peripheral emotion i am feeling, i always forge ahead and do it, bravely telling myself that the courageous and principled don’t sleep on their next step of action. apparently neither do the foolish. siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. lesson learned. next time i’m going to allow myself 12 hours of defusing time or sleep before i do anything this reckless.
- there was a bus crash last Friday. it was KL-bound from Penang, and driven by YET ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS who have scores of summons against them but still want to drive buses and put the lives of so many people in danger. apparently this particular bus driver was speeding and SMSing in the heavy rain. SMSing!!! this crash is hitting a little bit closer to home because Jolene’s friend was one of the 3 who passed away, and Waffle’s cousin was very badly injured. this is so unbelievable. why don’t these people learn? did last year’s slew of bus crashes not teach anyone anything? resign if you’re not doing your job right. your carelessness has cost lives. i saw the facebook group dedicated to Jolene’s friend Nian Ning - she sounds like an absolutely amazing girl. straight a’s for UPSR, PMR, SPM, was in medical school, a debater and public speaker, gorgeous. and so very young. everything seems so small when you think about how a young life has just been taken away and the kind of grief her friends, family and boyfriend must be going through. Jolene’s call of action against the bus company Konsortium and the bus driver can be found here.
- i went back to my high school today for yet another round of the filling-out of college application forms. my counselor wasn’t in her office, so i let myself in. there were two little girls in there, and i asked one of them if she was my counselor’s daughter. she said yes. so i asked the other girl if they were sisters, and she piped up with, ‘No, we are best friends!’. so simple and so innocently straightforward. i used to say things like that when i was a kid. it was so nice being a kid.. ignorance really is bliss sometimes. nowadays i say things and wonder a few hours later if what i said was the right thing. and then i obsess about it. and then i get stressed and emo to wong wenqi wtf.
- Sweeney Todd is an amazing movie. bring a paper bag with you when watching Cloverfield. i cant wait for The Lovely Bones and The Time Traveler’s Wife to be out!!!
- i got google searches for romantic Vday restaurants as early as December :P so if you have yet to pick a restaurant for your Valentine’s Day dinner, i’ve got a review list of 10 restaurants that i wrote last year, that you can choose from. Part 1, Part 2. i’ve got another 5 cozy and romantic restaurants that i may write about sometime soon if i feel like it :)
- aira was telling me the other day how a young biology teacher that we had in high school used to talk to her about me. she told aira that i reminded her of herself during her younger troublemaker days, but the difference was that i had friends and she didnt. sigh i really am very lucky to have my friends, because they are the coolest and best friends you will ever find. high school was what it was because of them. even to this day, they empathize with everything that i feel and never once tell me that the problems i face are small and petty. and they help me through these things so diligently and kindly. sigh. sometimes i dont know how i deserve the friends that i have. /emo. jovann stop watching tv and come and hang out with us sometimes!!!
- i will find it in myself to not be so angry. i will find it in myself to not be so sulky. i will find it in myself to not worry so much. i will find it in myself to be hopeful, optimistic, forgiving and happy. and i will find it in myself to sleep on things before i take drastic actions. and most of all, i will find it in myself to not regret the things i do, and to learn from them.
- God is good.
- AND!!! the notorious Part 3 of the Lingam Video is out!!! mosey over here for the video and the transcript of the conversation :P
January 28th, 2008
i woke up today at 4pm with a jolt, thinking - SHIT how could i sleep in till this late??? i’ve wasted half a day!!!
but then i realized i have no more deadlines :) i have nothing more to do because i sent in all my college applications yesterday. no more essays, no more short answers, no more lists of extracurricular activities. i stared at the ceiling for awhile and relished the feeling of having absolutely nothing to do. it was wonderful. i dont ever want to see another cup of coffee in my life ever again :\
one college that i applied to required a peer evaluation of the applicant. i asked songjun if he would write my peer evaluation for me, to which he so nicely agreed. now that my materials and applications have been sent out, i’m finally allowed to read the essay. and i seriously think it is THE coolest letter of recommendation i could ever ask for.
over the past few weeks, i’ve been toiling away writing my personal statements, and sometimes when i’m done, i sit back and i think i did a good job capturing my personality and identity in those essays. but then songjun goes and writes this evaluation of me that just trumps everything that i’ve written about myself. i was just floored when i read his essay. there were so many things in there about me that i’d never even thought about putting into my applications, and yet it condensed and packaged me up into one page more perfectly than i could ever attempt to. this essay is truly a work of someone who knows me better than i know myself.
i want to put up this essay because i’m so proud of it :) it’s the coolest thing anyone has ever written about me. thank you songjun :) i am so grateful for this.
Peer Evaluation for Su Ann Lim
Peer Evaluation has been removed. Please contact me directly if you would like to view it :)
yes, i really did say that during prom. on stage. into the microphone and in front of everybody. and didn’t realize how stupid it was until 24 hours later. SIGH. do you think american colleges will still want me after they learn of the completely BLONDE things i can say sometimes??? :(
January 4th, 2008
life is so good to me. i swear lah, even if all my 8 (yah i painfully decided to axe 4 from my list) colleges reject me because i am an useless under-qualified applicant in their pool of IB-ing geniuses who are this close to finding the cure for cancer, i will still be happy just because life is good. yes, i will still be happy even though i will be an uneducated bum for the next 4 years.
(well not SUPER happy lah, but kind of happy - in a contented, nirvanic, do-not-need-earthly-pleasures kinda way… sorta.. but of course if i got accepted into college, i am in no way complaining!!!!!!!)
all this stress has got me looking like crap. i bumped into Kiat Loong the other day, and when he saw me he said, “WHOA you look like hell!” -_______- then yesterday at dinner, i was telling Jin and the girls that i’ve been having this sleep problem where i can’t seem to fall asleep unless i’ve been up for at least 30 hours, and then Jin said “yeah i believe you.. you look like it”. -________- damn bad wan lah all these people :( cant they LIE!
things haven’t been going well lately. just little issues lah, but taxing nonetheless. and then i had to catch the flu / fever / sore throat bug that’s been going around, so now i feel drowsy all the time. but i cannot sleep, remember?! so it’s like i’m caught in this zombie limbo, neither awake or unawake, shuffling listlessly by as everyone zooms past me in their high heels and takeaway cups of coffee. all i have are dark circles under my eyes and not enough coffee. during times like these, ice cream and love keep me sane.
the other night i flopped onto the couch to channel-surf my headache away. Ugly Betty was due on, and i thought i’d just catch a few minutes of it to see if it’s a series i’d like to follow. but then this music video was playing. i dont remember who it was or what the song was called.. but all i remember was feeling really at peace watching it. and it was a very familiar feeling. for a few glorious moments i was brought back to those days where i could spend all day in front of a TV just watching videos and chilling out. that brief reprieve was great.. but then i had to turn off the tv and go back to life.
things that are keeping me happy :
1. i found my Reese’s shirt back!!! the one that Puppy got me. it says - ‘Love is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups’.
puppy, i dedicate this picture to you, even though i’m too sick to camwhore for you as per our original definition, and even though it was taken in the tandas at Starbucks, hehee.
2. i love Taylor’s College all over again :) they hire all the right people to be their Programme Directors. fingers crossed that this will go the way i need it to. FINGERS CROSSED.
3. i got an amazing email (or non-email, seeing how it wasn’t actually sent to me) from someone about my blog and how it inspires him. emails like that always make me feel wonderful, and each time i get one of those it’s always such a pleasant surprise. it’s a totally cool email, and i wish i could publish it here. thank you, Chris :) one day i will have to find your song too.
4. these pictures from Facebook’s Bumper Sticker application, hahahahhhaa! let me share the joy!! :
hilarious, yes?? isn’t that 300 one simply the giggles :D ah, good laughs.
December 14th, 2007
it was a long time ago. i opened the book and read the first page, perhaps a little too recklessly. there was a story on it - short, sweet and snowy. pause for some time-travel : i’m thinking back to that time at Toastmasters, the watered-down teh tarik, the elderly Grammarian, a guy called Fai, and me… me turning around to say, ‘yes?’ and then regretting it immediately. and now i’m back to the book in my hands, as i stand in front of a dust-collecting bookcase with a table behind me that in later years would become very special. a table that in later years would be given away, and i would never see it again. my last day there is hazy; i dont remember if i knew it was my last day there. but does it really matter? the couch stinks now, it reeks of green tank tops. my memory of the living room has become narrow-eyed and wary. i wish to forget it sometimes.
i had a dream the other night. in it, i was asking angrily, ‘do you want to get out of my house?’ and he said, ‘yes’. so i said, ‘okay, go.’ i dont know if he chose to go, because reality’s phone rang then, pulling me by the stomach out of my restless slumber and turning my nervous hypothalamus inside out until i was shocked awake - back in the world of the living and caffeinated, back in the world where phones ring at the most crucial moments of your dreams. i picked up the phone and saw that the caller was the person who may or may not have left my house. baby, i had a bad dream, i whispered. and he soothed me and calmed me all the way from there - that city with the ubiquitous traffic light sounds and the sloping slopey slope down to Queen’s Road Central - sending me his love and very, very obviously not leaving my house. thank you for not going.
i can see my toes from where i’m sitting, and i suppose that it’s a good and healthy thing to be able to see your toes. very much recommended by the experts! long live visible toes. but i fear that if the haze gets any worse, i wont be able to see them anymore. the air will be thick and dusty like the last time my brother ran combustion experiments in the oven and the whole apartment was filled with pizza-box smoke. sorta like haze, but the difference is that the person responsible for the pizza-box smoke (my brother) was sorry. but we flung our windows open anyhow.
went out with lynn and st and ivan for dinner yesterday. it was very good and i laughingly told them Waffle84’s 3 rules for buffet dinners. rule #3 was to not drink any water, but ivan blatantly defied this by grabbing my glass of strawberry juice and downing it, because i was wailing about wanting to change my drink (the strawberry juice was really bad, and each person only gets one glass to fill with whatever choice of beverage) but there was nowhere to empty the glass into. and apparently ivan thought the best place to empty it would be his stomach, and that’s what he did. for me! even if it meant breaking rule #3 and drinking vile fruit juice! awwww ivan. <3 chivalry is not dead because you’re alive. MWAH. happy belated birthday to a fabulous you :)
November 28th, 2007
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