34th Post: New Beginning

It's been sometime since I flew to US, and I'm finally ready to make a new post. I guess I abandoned this blog for far too long that I myself nearly forget about its existence too. Well, this is my first post with pictures (from my own camera), yay~ Well, anyway, let's start with some photos from my campus.

One thing that I like about the campus is there's much greenery around, but that also mean more walking to be done...

This is supposed to be the sculpture of Marquis de Lafayette, the French general whom our school was named after.

The building behind the trees is the Library, I like it a lot though it can get very crowded at times.

This is the dorm I'm living in right now. Love its location in the center of the campus.

My dorm's front view. It was named Kirby House, supposedly a rich person who donated a lot of money to the college. There's a few other buildings named after him as well.

My room, how it looked like after I arrived on campus for a few days. It's much messier right now.

I ventured into a small town just below my college (did I mention that my college was on a hill?) on the first weekend.

The view of downtown from the hill.

The dreadful slope that I had to walk up and down twice a week as I had a class in a building downtown. Maybe I should petition for an elevator (like that's ever gonna happen).

The town square, with some stalls around it selling various stuff.
Well, I guess that's all for now. I know it'll be a looong time before I update again. So, farewell folks.

33rd Post: Fruitful Conversation

It's been a long time since I last blogged and I'm still not in the mood to blog, yay~ so today I'm just gonna paste an epitome of a fruitful conversation that I had on msn and let it do the work for me. For the privacy of the participant in this groundbreaking conversation, I shall nickname him/her 'Radio', I hope you enjoy this as much as I do. We were discussing the places that we can go when I return to Kuantan by the way.

Me says:

if tak jadi lagi, then go tc la, 100% sure won't fail, plus we can go there anytime as well....

Radio says:

yahor wahhhahahh tats da only beach we cn afford

u brin ur snorkellin gear la

we snorkel n look at da sampah under da sea

Me says:

isn't there a simpler way of doing it, we bring our own sampah and throw it on the wave and let it roll back to us(while staring at it) then we throw it again until we get bored

Radio says:

wah..ur life at help nt tat gud ke?ur leisure activity v kesian n lonely..nvm wen u cm bek we'll accompany u throw sampah n watch it roll bek den throw it again..again n again n again...........................

Me says:

excuse me la, there's no sea in kl ok... u're the one who suggest we watch the sampah first and I'm only making it easier for you

Radio says:

i wana experience snorkellin n u suggest we throw sampah on da beach n watch it rooooooolll bek leh.......

da main point is snorkellin nt watch sampah rooll here roll there la

Me says:

excuse me la, the main point for snorkelling is to watch coral reef colourful fishes, not to simply dip your head into the water and watch sampah, u can even do that in your bathroom...

Radio says:

i dun hv a bathtub,so i still wan snorkellin muahahaha

its nt da same as swimmin e

totally diff things laide la.........hv to wear mask n wear foot pad deleh

Me says:

but what's the objective to wear all those stuff in the 1st place? it's not just to go to deep sea is it? the coral reef is the attraction la~

Radio says:

cheh if lik this u wear goggles oso same ma,y wear a mask?

Me says:

u can choose to do so if you're so adept that u can withstand the water pressure under the sea

Radio says:

snorkellin nonid to go under da sea da......we snork on da surface ny la

Me says:

I know that but the thing is can u stare at the coral reef for a long time without drowning? that's the use of that mask la

Radio says:

u cn resurface n dive bek,its simpler than wear mask actually....

Me says:

for people like me who's not good with water, I'll have to do that every few seconds, can't even see the shape of the sampah clearly la

And that's the conclusion for this conclusion-less conversation.

32nd Post: 2010's First Post

After a period of time known as eternity, I've finally decided to update my long abandoned blog. It's been some time since I finished my dreaded exams (which I screwed up *proudly), but I'm just too lazy to write anything...

And I still don't know what I'm going to write in this post after I've finished my 1st paragraph... My recent exam? One word sums it all: TERRIBLE and that's it. (Ok la, not all of them but at least for few of the paper la) I would rather not dig into that wound any further. My 2010 resolution? I'm not really the type that's so particular about 'yearly resolutions' and it's February already, perhaps Chinese New Year resolution? Get many Ang Paus!! (In other words, money ;P) Anyway, I prefer to just go for it when I think of something rather than planning them at the beginning of the year. Maybe I can talk about what I'm going to do in this year?

After getting myself enrolled in the longest A-levels in the history (2 years instead of the normal 1 and a half year or even the intensive 1 year course), I'm finally going to graduate from HELP in a few months time, yay! Frankly, A-levels is a very dull course and the time I spent at HELP is largely forgettable except for a few activities. Furthermore, the food around HELP is torturously scarce that my taste buds is dying from all the fast food and mamak's 'XX goreng'. From all of these, I guess you can conclude that I'm rather happy to leave HELP in general.

So where I'll be going to after this? Attending another university for my degree of course. Let's start with the universities offer I got. First, I got admitted under Early Decision(ED) into a liberal arts college in US, Lafayette College. Usually when I mentioned this, people's first reaction is: What course ar?. I'm tired of explaining this already so I'll let Wikipedia do the works for me :D

"The “liberal arts college experience” in the US is characterized by three main aspects that demarcates it from undergraduate experience in other countries:

(1) smaller size than universities, which usually means more individual attention is given to each student;

(2) residential, which means students live and learn away from home, often for the first time, and learn to live well with others additionally, the residential experience of living on campus brings a wide variety of cultural, political, and intellectual events to students who might not otherwise seek them out in a non-residential setting;

(3) a typically two-year exploration of the liberal arts or general knowledge before declaring a major." Quoted from Wikipedia under 'Liberal Arts College' section.

Here you go. I've received financial aid from them that is enough to cover my tuition fees plus some living allowances.

Now move on to the offers that I got from UK universities. The courses that I applied is Geosciences by the way. I've applied to 5 universities and 1 rejected me and yes, the one that rejected me is one of the most prestigious one in the world: University College London(UCL) which ranked no.4 in the world according times. Sob... Never mind that, I've still got another 4 conditional offers from Manchester U, Edinburgh U, King's College London and... miraculously, Imperial College London(ICL) which ranked right below UCL. But the condition is that I need to get 3 As in A-levels... == difficult la. But I'll be able to get JPA scholarship straight away if I'm able to satisfy ICL's condition.

Even so, I guess I'll still be going to US if nothing goes wrong. First, I'm ethically bound to enroll at Lafayette college under the ED contract. Second, I'm not so keen on the idea of having to work for the government after I graduate. Third, I'm' very interested in LAC's education system. Hopefully I'll make use of my remaining time here fruitfully and make a good transition to my university life.

Well, I guess this is long enough to compensate for my lack of blogging for such a long time, not that anyone cares. Until next time, for whoever is still checking out this dusty blog...

31st Post: Fly, My Papers~

I'm happy and worried at the same time right now. I just finished preparing all the stuff for my Early Decision and they're going to be fly off tomorrow. Finally, the torturous process which has last for a few damn months is going to end! I wanna play games, watch anime and enjoy myself, yea~... Dream on, SAT subject test result is going to be released in 2 days time, my college internal UCAS deadline and YKLS production is 2 weeks ahead, the week after is my mock exam followed immediately by my college stage play... And the worst thing is I didn't noticed this until I'm typing this right now... (=.=|||). But I'm still happy, I don't care! But that doesn't stop me from worrying as well. I sound like a miserable idiot... I guess I should stop ranting because this is all I did these days.

Enough about my life. To make this dull blog more lively, I shall share a joke by the stand up comedian, Douglas Lim during the opening day of the actors studio. He began by saying that there was a policy in Malaysia that any programme aired in Malaysia has to be made in only one language, there shouldn't any mixing of the languages like rojak. (Which I think is impossible considering all the 'I nak dress itu.' and 'You nak minum tea ke?' that appeared in the malay drama) So he continued and said that it is very difficult to do so, especially at a mamak stall which is ubiquitous in Malaysia. Imagine the director want to shoot a scene at the mamak stall using only English.

So he sit down an call: Mamak! Mamak!

"CUT!!" What?

"You must say Indian Muslim instead of mamak."

So he sit down again: ...Indian Muslim! Indian Muslim! One Nasi Lemak!

"CUT!!" WTH?

"You shouldn't say Nasi Lemak --" OK, OK! I know I know, do it again.

So he sit down again: Indian Muslim! Indian Muslim! One Fatty Rice! Less Chilli Paste!

OK, up until now I was laughing my mouth off already. I'm sure it's much more interesting to hear him crack the joke on stage. Actually the joke continues but the last one is kinda 18PL so you imagine yourself la. Feel free to try that during your next visit to the mamak stall, oh I mean Indian Muslim stall. XD

30th Post: Rhythmic Roots

Just a small update to promote my upcoming performance:

Great Eastern

presents

The Young KL Singers

in

Rhythmic Roots

celebrating the cultural and musical heritage that is Malaysia.

Last year, we explored the development of jazz. This year, we are exploring our cultural roots.

As in years past, The Young KL Singers (YKLS) will once more be staging another exciting upcoming production entitled “Rhythmic Roots”, from 12th to 15th November 2009, in the Actors Studio, LOT 10.

Our group of 30 passionate, music-loving performers enters its 11th production since its inception in 2002, after achieving outstanding success in previous shows including the sold-out performances of “Simply Andrew Lloyd Webber” and “Breaking It Down!”. Two of our performances, “Through the Barricades” and “Move It!”, have won the Kakiseni Audience Choice Award in the Boh Cameronian Arts Awards in 2003 and 2007 respectively. In all 10 productions, the choir has performed a wide repertoire of music, ranging from Broadway musical pieces by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rogers and Hammerstein, to the colourful rhythms and rhymes of jazz. After many years of primarily Western repertoire however, The YKLS were inspired to discover our own roots by looking to the music originating within the multiracial cultures of Malaysia and other Asian countries. This became the impetus for this year’s production, aptly entitled “Rhythmic Roots”.

“Rhythmic Roots” is a journey through the various ethnicities and cultures of Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, China and India, and our indispensable contributions to our own cultural heritage. Baba and Nyonya folk songs, Malay and Indian traditional pieces, and songs tracing the development of Chinese culture in Malaysia from its mainland China origins are some of the highlights that will definitely be heard in this upcoming production. It will be directed by Joe Hasham, a multi-award winning director, actor and writer and his involvement in “Rhythmic Roots” is something that the YKLS is very excited about!

One thing that makes this production unique amongst all other past YKLS productions is that for the first time, all four co-founders of the choir are working together. “Rhythmic Roots” is truly a very special show which emphasizes the importance of origins – where we come from, who we are, and the many, many influences and cultures which have shaped Malaysia’s musical heritage into what it is today. This is definitely something not to be missed.

Songs that would be sung during the show:

Aeyaya Balano Sakh-Kah-D (Konkani/Indian)

Yuet Kwong Kwong (Chinese Cantonese)

Gai Bintang (Indonesian Madurese)

Pok Pok Alimpako (Philipino Maranao)

Janger (Indonesian)

Modern Youngters (Chinese Hokkien)

Soleram (Indonesian)

Lolo Re Babu (Konkani/Indian)

Loy Kra Tong (Thai)

Wau Bulan (Malaysian)

Kami (Malaysian)

Bua Kaaw (Thai)

Sin Sin Si Batu Manikam (Indonesian Tapanuli)

happening at:

The Actors Studio@Lot 10

12 - 14 Nov@9pm

Charity Matinée: 14 Nov@3pm

15 Nov@3pm

tickets:

rm43 (centre seat) | rm 33 (side seat)

call/walk in: TAS@Lot 10 box office - 03 2142 2009 | 03 22143 2009

walk in only: klpac box office@Sentul Park, Axcess@Head Office(Jln Semangat), 1 Utama, Alamanda Putrajaya

artistic and music director - Susanna Saw San San

choreographer - Lakshman Balakrishnan

assistant music director - Tracy Wong Wei Wen

producer - Denise Kong Hsu-Pei

director - Joe Hasham

LUCKY DRAW:

4 prizes to be won at every show*

(Victoria Station dining vouchers and Nescafé Gold hampers)

*excluding charity matinee

title sponsor

Great Eastern

supported by

Zanders, Creative Clicks, Victoria Station, Nescafé Gold, HSBC in the Arts and The Actors Studio Teater Rakyat.

www.theactorsstudio.com.my

Well, I know that this wouldn't do much to push the tickets, but I guess it's better than doing nothing.

29th Post: Mixed bag

Just had a terrible/great weekend, how so? I woke up on saturday morning on 6am after sleeping for 5 hours++ to get to metropolitan college for SAT subject test. And to tell the truth, that is my first time taking a whole test in the specified time. Much to my surprise, the test that I really rushed (like finishing the last 20 question in 10 minutes...) is actually chemistry which I have most confident in. Ah~ life is unpredictable T.T... The only thing I can do now is pray hard for my result.

Then after the test, I went to lot 10 (it's a shopping centre in Bukit Bintang, where those high class people hang out at) to perform in the opening night of the new actors studio. Many VIPs like officials from Australian Embassy, Japan Embassy, Singapore Embassy and all those Datuk(s) and Datin(s) came. The best part is I got to perform on the same stage with some of the best artists in the country~ All those bad feelings from SAT disappeared after that. But I was extremely exhausted and fell asleep immediately after I went back. That's all for today's brief update. See ya, folks.

28th Post: Madness

It's been a long time since I last updated. It's been freaking busy, and I mean it. Just hope that everything will go well for October and things will start to calm down a bit. So what sort of mess I'm getting myself into? Firstly, all those cumbrous university application stuff. UCAS(UK) and Common app(US) early decision deadline's one month ahead, and I haven't even started my personal statement for UCAS nor finish my essay for Common app... Then I have to prepare for the SAT Subject tests as well. Actually I didn't plan to take the subject tests as the US colleges to do not require me to. Ironically NUS do and it even made me take 3 subjects. Well, life is not a bed of roses after all. The test is 2 weeks ahead and I just finished half of the dictionary-like Physics textbook, how the hell la I'm going to get myself well prepared in just so little time left. For those who don't understand what the rubbish I'm talking about, it's just some rant about how cumbersome overseas university application process can be. But these stuffs would not be enough to get me THIS frustrated, not until I add in all the other activities.

My Young KL Singers upcoming production is in early November as well, and the rehearsal is getting more intense with 3 hours long practice thrice a week. Further more I have to spend more than 1 hours just to travel to the rehearsal venue, gosh~ Then I've foolishly got myself involved in the stage play organised by our college as well, which would be in early December with 2 hours practice twice a week. The play is George Bernard Shaw's 'Man and Superman' and man, it's just damn wordy that I dunno how the hell I'm going to memorize it. All of these add together = CRISIS!! I seriously dunno how to divide my time to complete all of them in the best way possible. Well, first thing I gotta do is to put this blog on short term hiatus, till the day we meet again...