Haunted by the Malaysian-ness

Throughout the week, I got so “fortunate” to experience those things that I have been missing for the past 5 months.

The first one was getting stuck in a traffic jam surrounded by big trucks and lorries on a road under construction. The second one was getting a chewing gum stuck under my shoe, and I only realised it after I got home when there were so many stones sticking onto it. The third one wasn’t that bad, but it’s getting my head stuck with the same few songs that were repeatedly playing in every radio stations. Surprisingly, all the Malaysian-ness just loved sticking so much.

These songs are slightly out of the mind:

1. Travie McCoy – Billionaire featuring Bruno Mars (if you’re so desperate to be a billionaire, why don’t you just fly over to Zimbabwe and automatically you will be a billionaire, no problem at all)
2. Justin Bieber – Somebody to Love featuring Usher (don’t you have your parents to love, unless you are so pathetic to not have any)

This weekend was great!

• Friday – spent the whole day with Vandy Ho, Jocelyn Teo and Nai Loong, and occasionally with Nicholas Yong, Brian Chong, Shin Yi, Teong Jin, Lye Kuan, Sim Ee and her new boyfriend, Ian. We continuously travelled all around our areas from Fish Head Noodles at Kuchai Lama, to Bah Kut Teh (Teluk Pulai) at Klang, Aeon Bukit Tinggi, Botanic Garden, Amanda Leou’s house, Red Bread Basket at Kota Kemuning, and Kota Permai Golf Country Club. I have never been to so many places in one day in my life before.
• Saturday – spent the afternoon with Jamie Tang and Ming Soon playing Soul Caliber 3 in my house, and the night celebrating Wen Han’s surprise birthday party at his house. I’m so glad to see the gang again although it wasn’t complete with only Cassandra Leou, Samantha Leou, Jonathan Leou, Lai Yenn, Jing Yi, Kok Ming and Pui Quan. I’m also real glad to see Peik Shyuan after some time, and meet the Joshua’s in town. We really had some great fun playing iPhone games that night.
• Sunday – spent the whole afternoon with my family and relatives (Wei Yan and Wei Li, and their parents) at Midori, Marriott Hotel, Putrajaya having a non-stop Japanese lunch for about 3 hours. Oh how I love the sashimi!! And I immediately put on 3 kg after that (Okay, I have been continuously putting on plenty of weight since I came back :). Finally, I get to visit Sunway Pyramid for the first time ever since I got back and managed to do a great deal of shopping to stock up my empty closet in Malaysia.

Let’s just hope I get to settle some serious stuff while enjoying my stay at Malaysia. It would be a busy week, I can say.

Home Sweet Home

I can’t stress how much I loved my home, although there are many things which are different now. I finally get to sleep in my bedroom I longed for, the one where I will immediately feel sleepy once I enter it.

I also get to finally touch my beloved PS2 which I didn’t even have a chance to see it for almost half a year. I got to finish some games for the sake of accomplishment before I leave it again.

And my cute white Myvi too. I thought I would have forgotten how to drive after walking for so long in Adelaide. I only got the chance to sit in a car twice in Adelaide so far, and I wasn’t even the one driving. It’s really good to be carrying myself wherever I like to go again. I can’t believe how fast my memories just sip into my brain again, and in a few seconds, all my good and bad habits of driving came back again.

Lastly but the best of all, I get to eat some real Malaysian food. I am sure that is the thing I missed the most when I was away. Things can’t get any better with such nice food whether it’s at home or outside! I’m just glad to be back. I even put on 2kg in one day after I got back!!

On the other hand, I have to stop myself from being so greedy. I shouldn’t miss my life in Adelaide. It is obvious that I cannot be in two places at once, I got to remind myself of the meaning of opportunity cost. I have to forgo the moments I can spend with my dearest friends in Adelaide so that I can enjoy my part here. I hope it would really be worthwhile coming back over for such a short period.

Return

Now I have finally returned home safe and sound. It is indeed good to be back, even if it’s just 3 weeks.

I was really looking forward to this initially, but not anymore when it comes to farewells. Sometimes, I even thought of not coming back so that I don’t need to encounter so many farewells. The feeling of missing people is so hard and painful. I wouldn’t need to experience so much of that if I don’t travel back and fro.

A world without family would make friends so much more important and valuable. And when I leave that world, my heart felt like being pierced by a thousand swords as I think about those friends every once in a while. I dare say Shu Yi, Jeffrey and Eric, I wouldn’t have been alive right now if it wasn’t for you all. Spending my memories with you all did helped to distract me from some of my problems. But now that we’re separated, I just realised I need to be more independent in facing my problems.

I have to admit that what I missed most in Adelaide is those magical moments that I spent with you three, and Su Ling. I just hope that our friendship can remain strong despite the absence of each other.

I guess I just need to force myself to keep looking at the bright side. I am back home to enjoy with my family, relatives and all my beloved friends. I will leave those emotions of missing you all till I get back to Adelaide. After all, it’s not like “you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone”.

Not Football Fever, But Exam Fever

My first ever final examination in Adelaide is just 1 week away. I am trying my best to race with time and hopefully, I can win it by finish revising everything before the exams.

Long-hours studying really causes some side-effects on me. I get so emotional after that, and pessimism just sips into my fragile heart. This hasn’t been the first time, and the main cause of it is always me being “last minute”. If I hadn’t always leave a subject till the end to prepare for, I wouldn’t be so suicidal.

• 1st semester – Introduction to Management
• 2nd semester – Introduction to Law
• 3rd semester – Communication and Information Systems in Business

These are the subjects that made me forgo all others and I always spend the whole study break going all-out for it. Now, things just get worse when this 3rd semester subject is a combination of two textbooks – Communications & Information Systems. Usually, people study both of them separately, and now I am studying it in less than 2 weeks.

What’s more is that every time I am preparing for examinations, there would be some distractions which makes me sidetrack from revision. The first semester was the Astro Star Quest 2009 which I was so enthusiastic with, and I spent the whole revision period managing Alvin Chong Fan Club – www.alvinchong.forumotion.com. The second semester wasn’t too bad with some events by Taylor’s Accounting Club. Now the third semester just gives another blast with Kelvin Yeoh’s Taylor’s Students Support Group. I am part of the committee and here I am again creating a forum– www.tssg.infodiscussion.net.

Let’s just hope that the end result would be the same as the previous semesters. Good luck to everyone preparing for exams!

Tea Tree Plaza - Adelaide’s Shopping Heaven

Yesterday, I spent the whole day at Tea Tree Plaza, a shopping mall in Adelaide, with Vernon, Shu Yi and Eric. It’s been three to four months since I’ve stepped into a shopping complex. Memories of Sunway Pyramid and Mid Valley swept by every step I took into the multi-storey indoor complex.

Another AU$15 was spent on a movie ticket. This time, it’s Prince of Persia. Luckily, it did not disappoint me. I’m satisfied with the story overall although everything seems so predictable to me.

As winter drops by officially now, I am being pressured into a treasure hunt for winter wear. What’s more is that sales are everywhere! But sales only meant that prices are reasonable in Ringgit sense. This makes shopping hard as I always find myself stuck in the centre between nice but expensive clothes and cheap but awful clothes. I have not much time left before I turn into an ice-stick. This will prove to be a difficult challenge when I now have 13 more days to exams.

Su Ling’s Birthday Celebration

For the past 2 days, I have been busy preparing and celebrating my best friend’s, Su Ling’s, birthday. Her friends and I gave her a surprise party at her apartment during midnight of her actual birthday. This is not the first time we give surprise birthdays to our friends. But it certainly is fun. The feeling is certainly satisfying when I see her so happy and touched with what her friends and I prepared for her, such as inviting friends and planning for the celebration. It is indeed really rare that I have this satisfaction derived from other people’s happiness, and this is one of them.

I just went to Glenelg, a town beside the beach, to have a buffet dinner in conjunction with the celebration. Time really passed so fast during happy moments. But I don’t know why my emotions just changed to the opposite once it ended. I guess my time is up; it is a better decision to concentrate on preparing for my exams which is in 2 weeks time.

Assignment Danger

I have finally finished all my assignment for this semester, with the finishing touch on Quantitative Methods in Business.

Bad things have been happening recently. The worst one is about my friends in Taylor’s who got accused for conducting plagiarism. This happened in Introduction to Law, as well as Financial Accounting 2 where we were required to prepare a full company’s annual report all on our own hands. I just wish them the best of luck so that they do not fail and repeat the same course.

Now that made me really worried about my own assignment. I have a bad feeling about my CISB assignment which I have mentioned in the last two post. I noticed that a part of my assignment which was done by my group mate is sort of a copy-and-paste version of information on a website. I obviously got no time to change everything, but only able to include a bit of in-text referencing into it to reduce my chances of being caught plagiarism. I just hope everything bodes well in the end.

Post-Vesak Day

 After market, I’ve went to Adelaide’s temple for prayers in conjunction with Vesak Day. I suppose this is the Australian spelling of Wesak Day. Its structure looks wonderful as you can see. It even seems like an imperial palace. The temple is located quite far and it is so inconvenient to go there. Lucky thing I had Eric and Shu Yi as companions. Everybody else seemed so tied up with their studies that they did not want to go. I almost catch a cold for travelling there as it was raining throughout the journey. I’ve never seen so heavy and long rain in Adelaide before.

I managed to Skype with my family and my relatives came over to “their” house. I’m glad that my cousin, Wei Li got the JPA scholarship to study her A-levels as well as the 6-years medicine degree in Poland. Like wow! Congrats to her!

I ended my night by watching Digimon Tamers with Jeffrey. It really brings back memories, but the beginning part of the series is a bit boring. Hope it gets more interesting soon so that it is worth my time watching it. After all, getting to spend time with him is worth the time.

My Most Productive Day in Adelaide So Far

What a tiring and shocking day for rushing my Communications and Information Systems in Business 2500 words report. I managed to finish it right ON the due time of 5pm. I am pretty worried as I never get to check through one-fifth of it, and I did not do the Introduction and Conclusion of the report. I’m just glad that I successfully submitted right on time, but I’m not too sure whether it’s considered on time since I submitted at 5:00:10pm.

Jeffrey cooked half of the dinner and it’s his second time. The food was great and I really hope I can be like him soon. Night turned out fun for me as I get to play Kingdom Hearts, but it wasn’t too good for Eric and Su Ling who each wanted to be alone for that night. I hope they are okay now.

I have one last assignment to go for this semester which is Quantitative Methods report. I hope all goes well for this one, unlike the one above. After that, I can prepare for my final exam which is in 3 weeks time. Yeah, time does pass swiftly.

Roxas-Motivated Diary

After playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, I have been inspired to change my blogging concept to a short and simple diary, like what Roxas usually do.

Today, my Communications and Information Systems in Business tutor, Ms Kathy Darzanos complemented someone in front of the whole class about being the best presenter who showed great confidence and connection with the audience. Although she didn’t mention the person’s name, I am very pleased with myself because she personally told me the same thing a week before that. I felt acknowledged by the fact that at least I’m not fully being discriminated by the locals here.

Tonight’s Aikido was one of the best as we applied the skills we learned so far and had a good practice on break-falls. After that, Vernon brought me to Pancake House along with our Aikido partner, Sam. This is the first time I’ve been here despite staying right above it for 3 months plus. I really loved the Dutch Chocolate Fudge pancake topped with vanilla ice-cream.