Posts filed under 'General'
today started off a little angry for me. then sad. then angry again. now, i am feeling a little bit sorry - in the guilty sense of the word. yet, there’s this throbbing kernel of blissful contentment somewhere in the pits of my stomach. ever jumped into something big and risky, expecting the worse, but then at the end of it all discovered that there was no need to be afraid or pessimistic in the first place? because everything turned out perfect and more beautiful than you could ever hope for? that’s what i’m going through right now. it’s a good feeling, even if preceded by a little bit of remorse at the recklessness of aforementioned pessimism.
i really wish i could say why i was angry this morning. at least it would get my message across to the relevant people involved. but i think the more i dwell upon them, the angrier i get, and the fact is dwelling on such things doesn’t really improve the situation any. well okay i want to talk briefly about just one thing, because that is the one i am thinking about most. i understand why sometimes it is important to remain neutral, but i cannot help but feel a sense of disappointment, and sometimes disrespect, for people who are privy to both sides of a story but still are unable or refuse to form an opinion. there’s always the same old “aiyah sensitive issue lah i dowan to say anything”, which to me sounds so cowardly and unintelligent. just because things are ’sensitive’, you don’t even want to THINK about the problem at hand? when all the bare facts are laid before you on the table, you can’t even bring yourself to recognize what is right and what is wrong?
i hope no one misinterprets or jumps to conclusions about what i’m saying, because i’m aware that what i said can apply to many situations, but i’m referring to some very specific events. haih. i’m just so sick of people who can’t seem to employ just a little bit of judgment and integrity when it comes to situations that require them to, because as a result of that, nothing is ever done about the injustices that are allowed to fester. and when talk comes to do, they all step back and let the more outspoken ones take the heat. and when the battle is won, they all come out to celebrate together-gether. it’s damn unfair. no this is not about elections. this is something personal. it’s about friends, it’s about right and wrong, it’s about a certain person with no principles whom i believe i’m never speaking to again.
haih.
on another note, i finally sent in my acceptance notification to the one college of my choice. so this fall, i will be attending Columbia University :) and i also already sent out the decline forms for all my other schools. it was so hard putting the check mark next to ‘No, I Will Not Be Attending…’ in those forms, particularly the ones for Penn and Chicago. when i think about all the effort and determination and prayers and hope i put into my applications for these schools only a few months ago, i can’t help but feel so extremely ungrateful for declining all their offers. yes i know it’s very silly to feel like this because i’m SUPPOSED to choose only one school and decline the rest, but hey. i dont know lah. remember how i wasnt even expecting to gain entrance into any of my schools. and now here i am just signing the decline cards as if they dont mean anything to me. i felt a little bit nauseous as i was signing the Penn card. during application season, Penn was the first application that i worked on because it was the school i wanted to get into most - and i slogged through it like a dog because i really needed it to be perfect. i remember exactly how i felt when i was writing my Why Penn essay. and now.. i’m not even going there. it feels strange.
i want to say thank you to everybody who helped me get this far. first of all, thank you to all of you who voted in my poll and left me comments on my Columbia / Penn decision :) and thank you to everyone who sent me long emails about their opinions. thank you Yau, i’m so glad you took that first step all those months back; i couldn’t have done it without you. thank you Matteus, Andrew, Chen Chow for all your ever-encouraging comments and opinions. thank you Lotus for constantly giving me that swift kick in the butt to get me going - you are the reason why i’m even attending an Ivy League institution in 4 months’ time. thank you Christine for that great interview; it must have been why i was accepted into Penn in the first place. thank you Nick and Amanda for all the insight into Columbia. thank you Emily, Timtam, Booha, Eeyang and Dad for being there during the last few minutes of my decision-making. lastly, thank you to all my friends and relatives who cared enough to share their thoughts with me about both colleges and for hounding me ever so often about my decision :) you have all been very kind to me.
i really regret that i cannot attend Penn. but the more i think about it, the more i feel i made the right choice when i sent in my Columbia confirmation. so here’s to plunging into New York City headfirst and not looking back!
oh and i went to watch Iron Man today :) i wasnt expecting it, but it was OMG SO GOOD. exciting, engaging and jaw-droppingly awesome from start till end. deep sigh! when i grow up i want to be like Iron Man!! *___* either that or marry someone like him!!
okay i have nothing else to say, and i really should be going back to bed. obviously my newly-recalibrated body clock is now cacat again. and for the people who are only here for the pictures, and i know there’s some of you out there!!!, i leave you now with one picture from Bangkok :
me trying to decide which shirt is more ME!, at Khao San Road - my 2nd favourite place in Bangkok after Chatuchak :)
May 2nd, 2008
it is a good time for the internet junkie! guess who just got a free Sony Ericsson k660i to go online with to all her heart’s content? yesssss, lucky me :D actually no lah, i don’t get to keep the phone forever; i only get it for a brief period so that i can learn the ropes of this phone to write this short review about it.
after discovering the wonderful world of 3G and getting myself one of those unlimited data browsing plans, all i really care about now is surfing the internet on my mobile phone :P so this phone came JUST at the right time, because apparently the k660i’s focus is all about its internet browsing charm. score!!!!! there is nothing an internet addict loves more than a phone made just for internet addicts :D
two reasons why i like the k660i : the HSDPA-enhanced browsing and the desktop feed ticker.
HSDPA, or also known as 3.5G, is an evolution of 3G that greatly increases data download speeds. it’s broadband-like speed right from your mobile phone :) it’s great. streaming American Idol straight from Youtube has never been better or smoother. i’ve also been happily showing everyone within reach all my favourite Jeon Ji Hyun commercials from my profile in Youtube, because all the videos load so quickly with HSDPA, and Jeon Ji Hyun is only like the cutest and hottest creation of God, EVER. watch the Giordano and KFC ads that i have on my profile and you’ll see what i mean! and while you’re at it, do watch the other ads i’ve got there because they’re all really good… hahaha especially the one titled ‘Best commercial ever’ :D hehehe le giggle.
the k660i also has this really awesome ticker function that brings your news feeds automatically to your phone’s desktop. yup, breaking news headlines from your favourite news sites straight to your desktop without you having to search for ‘em, complete with thumbnails of accompanying photos. and after some tinkering around i found that i could get automatic update flashes of blogs from this feed widget too :D see, i’ve got a masak-masak.blogspot.com update on my desktop.
my brother tells me that the k660i is the cheapest HSDPA-enabled phone on the market, and it retails at around rm890. quite cheap right? my brother’s friend actually wanted to buy the k660i off me to give to his girlfriend. sooooo nice :\ why nowadays all the school kids so loaded wan, can buy mobile phones for girlfriend :\ chow eeyang why last time you never buy mobile phone for me!!!
thus ends my very n00b review of the Sony Ericsson k660i. thank you timothy for arranging this for me :)
this blogger supports the writing of truthful and sincere reviews/advertorials :)
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i had a really good time in Bangkok (and rushed like crazy from the airport to the Malaysian Dreamgirl finale!) over the weekend. i’m back home now, and suddenly there seems like a lot of things to do in too short a timespan, but i look forward to the upcoming preoccupation. it will be good to soak myself in BOTH happy and exciting things, before i commit myself fully to only one or the other in time to come. the truth is, i want to be happy; it was very obvious from the way i chose to flip my coin at Suvarnabhumi today. but then ‘exciting’ sounds too good to pass up. and maybe excitement will breed a different brand of happy.. who knows.
oh and for the curious, Cindy won Malaysian Dreamgirl. Adeline was the first runner-up. Hanis was the second runner-up who looked visibly shocked that her name was called first, and who also had her own fanclub posse all decked out in red ‘Vote Hanis!’ tshirts and cheering for her incessantly at the finale. no, i didn’t manage to take a picture with Cindy’s dad :\ but i did manage to take many funny pictures with many funny people, mostly involving the recent loss of my epidermal perfection. under my nose, to be exact. hahaha. kawan kawan sekalian, please send me all the pictures, ok!!! i want to put them up :P
April 30th, 2008
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
it seems i am quite the failure when it comes to technology. the other day my brother was checking out some online forums on his iPhone, and i looked over and said how i wished i had an iPhone so i could go online whenever and wherever i want.
and he said, ‘your phone also can wat, stupid!’
my former phone that i never knew could be used to access the internet. sigh.
please lah -_- i was all like, ‘if my phone could go online, do you think i would not know???’
apparently it can. wtf. and all it took was a visit to one of those Maxis shops. actually it was quite funny… i went to the Maxis shop at Pavilion, thrust my phone into the hands of the guy working there and asked him, ‘my phone cannot go online right??’.
and then he said to me … ‘why girls don’t like to read manual when they buy phones wan ah?’ -___-
then he tinkered with my phone for like 30 SECONDS and suddenly Google popped up on the screen o_O
shit???? where has this service been all my life???
needless to say, i’m using my phone ALL THE TIME whenever i’m out now. i just can’t… stop… going online!!! yes yes i know it’s very rude to be checking my email in the midst of dinner and stuff but i cant help it :( it’s just too easy to slip my phone out of my bag, press a few keys and start checking my email or check my favourite blog haunts for updates. sigh. summore my new phone so nice..
things i have been doing with my newfound love for this thing called 3G Internet!
1. FACEBOOKING
you know what I love most about Facebook Mobile – i get to update my Facebook status wherever and whenever I want, AND people can see the update and text me (or wall me!) their responses instantly. hehehe like yesterday when i was in the bus on the way to Singapore, i changed my Facebook status to Su Ann Lim needs love and ice cream.
hehehe and then i got all these texts and walls giving me love and promising ice cream dates. dont bluff me ah you all, i collect wan you know. oh and Lainie and Tze, don’t be lazy. faster go do your work!!!
another thing that’s great about having Facebook on your mobile phone is that you get to check out profiles of people immediately. hehehe. like last week, Adrian was showing us the profile of this girl he likes. needless to say, we were all very sampat about it, crowding around the phone and giving all our critique and opinions. haha no lah Adrian she’s very pretty. don’t be emo okay :P i went and poked her summore… hehehe.
2. CHECKING IMDB MOVIE RATINGS
this is totally NIFTY :D when checking out movies at the cinema, there are times when i’ve not heard of some shows being screened - i have no idea what these movies are about, and the posters don’t tell much either. and then of course there are times where the movie trailer looks good, but something in your gut tells you the trailer is a deceiving veneer for a movie that will surely suck :\
enter IMDB, the best ever movie database in the universe!!! for those who’ve never heard of IMDB, it’s a site that gives you every single bit of information about any movie you wish to look up. i am so addicted to it that i IMDB every single movie i watch upon returning home :|
now that i can go online with my phone, what i do is just IMDB the different movies right there at the cinema before i buy my tickets. instant checking of movie rating and cast! w00t. one gem uncovered was Definitely Maybe, which i wasn’t sure would be good, but a quick check on IMDB showed a solid rating of 7.5. well, Aira and i loved the movie to bits :) it was so sincere, feel-good and touching; definitely one to watch with the girls or with the significant other.
(in other movie-related news, i just watched The Other Boleyn Girl. ah so fantastic :) starring two of my all-time favourites Natalie Portman and Eric Bana, and Scarlett Johansson who is Martian’s not-so-secret crush, we didnt need IMDB to convince us to watch THIS movie!)
3. CHECKING MY MAIL
my mail-checking is just bordering on obnoxious now :( i keep going, ‘wait ah… wait ah… let me reply mail first!’ right in the middle of conversations. *ashamed* i cant help it lahhhhh i feel so compelled to read and reply because checking my email is just so..possible now :( and what with how quickly that lite version of gmail loads on phones. le sigh.
4. WIKIPEDIAING STUFF DURING CONVERSATIONS
HAHAHA want to impress people during conversations as if you knew what the heck they’re talking about?! i bet you do :P Wikipedia + 3G is your savior, teehee. anything from industry jargon to a classic book EVERYONE must have read in their lifetime, from the latest news to some pop culture reference.. a quick check on Wikipedia underneath the dinner table is all it takes :P Vincent took my phone to google ‘the invisible hand’ after i told a lightbulb joke yesterday. okok come i tell you the joke:
Q: How many economists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None; the Invisible Hand did it.
hehehehehehe damn funny right hahahahaha faster laugh
5. READING BLOGS
a godsend during long waits and traffic jams. here’s a blog i’ve been checking regularly for updates on my phone lately :
Teenage Lolita is a blog written by a Singaporean call girl / prostitute who is my age, and has been at her job since she was 15 or 16. it is an extremely personal and almost blase insight into the life of a teenage prostitute, and one of the best blogs i’ve ever come across. she speaks at length and yet ambiguously about the ins and outs of the men who hire her, the perks and hazards of her job, her derision at people who look down on prostitutes, and her love for money and expensive things. i could write a whole post about how amazing and touching and shocking her blog is, and maybe one day i will, but for now i’m just going to trawl her archives through my phone when i’m stuck yet again in that infamous Jalan Sultan Ismail traffic jam :) please read her blog, especially the older posts when she’d just just started her job. it’s a fantastic read.
6. YOUTUBE
it’s so very easy to share videos now - a quick search on youtube is all it takes to pass around the video of Achmed the Dead Terrorist. HEHEHE. i KEEL you!!! *eyebrows* cracks me up every single time, and i never hesitate to share this video to people who’ve never heard of Achmed.
speaking of videos, Episode 13 of Malaysian Dreamgirl is up! quite interesting, this one, with a special challenge issued by Kenny where the winner(s) got to take back a very coveted prize :) the girls were also featured on NTV7’s Breakfast Show, and they were paid a visit at the Dreamhouse by 4 yummy men. Jonathan Putra (aka JP) is all sorts of delicious :D
besides MDG, i also have been following Idol from Youtube on my phone, cos i never seem to be home at the right times to catch it on tv. ah David Archuleta was disappointing this week. i’m rooting for David Cook as always, and Jason Castro has a special place in my heart. i would die to have him serenade me on his guitar or even that ukulele, i really really would!
——
sigh i remember how when i was switching phones a couple of years ago, my brother was telling me to get a GPRS or a 3G phone. i was like ‘huh… no need all these things lah, so fancy for what!’ well, i really want to shoot myself now :( that’s a few years of internet-on-the-go that i’ve wasted and am never getting back.
eh i just thought of something! can i use MSN on my phone?
April 17th, 2008
it is 6 a.m, but instead of sleeping like i should be, or finishing Catcher in the Rye at home and in the comfort of my warm bed like i could be, i am here in Mamak-Near-My-House, STUDYING, with this.. incorrigible idiot who thinks that he can pass his finals by mugging only TWO HOURS before his paper starts. yaaa i cant believe it either. this is exactly why we broke up so many years ago. priorities in life too different, haih.
everybody, meet eeyang.
he is my first love and one of my best friends to this day :) as i write this, he’s sitting across the table from me, mugging for his CSCI paper that is two hours away, from a textbook that he DIDN’T EVEN HAVE, which *I* had to print out for him. my sole task on this fine morning is to sit here with him and make sure he studies and to scold him every once in a while when he gets distracted by shiny things :\ i even had to bring my pencil case for him because i wasn’t sure if he would have any stationery on him -_-
our relationship has always been like this. when we were going out in Form 2, it was one of those classic high school relationship stereotypes where the jock was going out with the nerd in some aberration of the natural high school ecosystem. well, no prizes for guessing who the jock and the nerd are respectively, but i was a very pretty and sociable nerd okay!!! we were from completely different and very segregated circles, but as fate often has it, it was only a matter of time before we found each other and fell completely head over heels in love.
we came from very different backgrounds and we didn’t like or do the same things, but at our very cores we were almost made for each other. we were both rebels at heart - impatient, ambitious and never letting anyone or anything get in our way, we were both all about feelings and emotions, and we really understood each other. where one of us lacked something, the other filled up that void. for the first time, i understood what people meant when they talked about puzzle pieces and completing each other. like i said, we didn’t like or do the same things, but we always took a lot of joy in learning and discovering the other person’s world. i spent a lot of time cheering him on at his basketball games, and he used to come over to my classroom and hang out with my friends, who all loved him. i remember how he gave Aira an entire pack of crackers for her birthday, because we used to call her Pollie the Parrot :P he taught me all about computers, sports and cars, and i taught him all about grammar, geography and history. in Kemahiran Hidup classes, he did all my woodwork for me while i did all his jahitan. yeah, it was one of those relationships :)
we went out for about a year before we split up and he went to a different school. neither of us saw the split coming, and in hindsight it was one of those things that shouldn’t have happened. then came many years of very little contact, where we would hang out only once in a while or turn to each other whenever we had issues that no one else but us would understand. we’ve been spending a lot of time together lately, because yes, we’ve both been having issues and of course we just naturally turn to each other - just like it’s been from the very beginning :)
this is us at Jalan Alor having that clam seafood thingy (informally called chuit chuit but i have no idea what its real name is) where you have to suck the meat out of the shell. like the numbskulls that we are, we could not suck out ANY of the meat, and had discarded 3/4 of the plate before we realized we were sucking on the wrong end of the clams :\ two days ago we both emo-ed over fries and a quarter pounder (i said i didnt want one, but i ended up finishing his), and yesterday i had a super craving for fah sang wu, so he drove me all the way to SS2 just to have a bowl. and today… we are both sitting at Mamak-Near-My-House making sure he doesn’t fail his CSCI paper. tomorrow we are going out for a movie and then making sure he doesn’t fail his upcoming English paper. hehe.
conversations with eeyang:
me: you so totally need to study harder. i can help you with CSCI!
eeyang: eh i’m not doing so bad.. i got 48 out of 60 for my midterms!
me: ……..
eeyang: aren’t you proud of me?
me …… um that’s like a B or something..
eeyang: HELLO??? a B is PRETTY DAMN GOOD!!!
me: no it isn’t. anything less than an A is material for suicide.
me: eh actually how many girlfriends have you had so far?
eeyang: hmm.. *thinks* three! you, koi lin and joey.
me: hah.. elaine leh?
eeyang: oh then four.
me: jessy leh?
eeyang: oh then five.
me: natalie leh?
eeyang: oh then six.
me: then how about that girl from taylors?!
eeyang: what, that one also count?? okay lah then seven. eh but if she counts then so do pei yee, lie peh, sarah…
me: WTF
hahaha sometimes he really cracks me up. we have so much fun whenever we meet up, and it’s so good to know we still get along with each other so well. and that we still understand each other :) we have the kind of friendship where we can just flop onto each other on the couch, watch a really shitty movie and then get up and go home, feeling a thousand times better. we could ask each other for a favour and it’d be granted instantly without any hesitation.
we didn’t break up because of different priorities, but we broke up because i didn’t know what a good thing i had then. but i know now :) eeyang, if you are reading this, can you please go back to doing your work!!!!!! stop talking to me about random things!!!!!! i am not going to answer you anymore!!!
ooh, this just in:
eeyang: do you know why i’m so panicked over this paper?
me: you are so not panicking. you’re like too calm for your own good
eeyang: NO, i’m damn panicked okay!
me: okay… is it cos your paper is one hour away?
eeyang: no lah… it’s cos this exam has 2 invigilators. so my classmates and i can’t copy or exchange papers like we’re used to doing :D
me: WTF
April 15th, 2008
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