Meweri Kristmas

shortblogpost shortblogpost
pleaseletthisbeshort pleasedontgetcarriedaway

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !
This is me (your host, TK) wishing you all
a jolly good day.
Of course,
the day is almost over.
But NOTHING is stopping us from partying even harder, right ?

I wanna thank all you beloved readers/stalkers
for repeatedly visiting my blog.
It means a great deal to me
when you type in my blog address.
Even if you are blogwalking/self-promoting your blog in my chatbox.
You still contributed to my Hit Counter.
So Thank You.

This year has been great.
Definitely a productive one.
Although I might not have had as much fun as I would've had if I stayed back.
I think fate/God/the Universe/my parents are trying to tell me something.
So I guess this year would end on a fairly good note.
I still have friends (thank God for that !).
I still have my family (albeit dysfunctional).
I still have my sanity (WHEW !).
I still have my V-Card (No you can't have it...)
And I still have...well...a good life.


You'd think living in Australia is all about a better standard of living.
But I still see lots of people on the streets,
begging...
Makes me extremely guilty when I try to ignore them.
Even sadder when I realize that living in a country with better economy
still has not changed the fact that beggars roam the five feet.
Five feet ?
Direct translation from Malay. *wink
Oh look,
I'm going off topic all over again.

But I guess what I'm saying is,
while we think everyone is having fun celebrating Christmas,
there're still people out in the street who're alone, cold, and hungry.
Maybe we can just take a little moment to reflect on what Christmas really means.
And hopefully,
I (and the rest of us) will be able to do some good
the next time we see the less fortunate.

OK,
enough of the sappy stuff,
I'm sure you've already had plenty of time to reflect.
Over the past few weeks,
I've done lots of random things,
since I've given up on looking for a job.
(Gee, I REALLY don't like how I phrased that)
I've done an Hour Of Code course,
and miraculously,
I've managed to code my very own custom Christmas Card.
I'll put it up here as a treat.
For all you loyal readers/stalkers.
The code, I mean.
Want to see the ACTUAL card ?
Just follow the instructions below.

1. Go to this link. (https://www.khanacademy.org/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial/p/project-greeting-card)
2. Copy of the code in the text box below.
   //background background(5, 16, 69); //noStroke all command noStroke(); //crescent moon fill(228, 235, 38); ellipse(340, 60, 100, 100); fill(5, 16, 69); ellipse(320, 50, 100, 100); //stars fill(245, 245, 10); ellipse(40, 15, 3, 3); ellipse(120, 9, 3, 3); ellipse(288, 10, 3, 3); ellipse(350, 2, 3, 3); ellipse(10, 70, 3, 3); ellipse(15, 90, 3, 3); ellipse(60, 110, 3, 3); ellipse(100, 100, 3, 3); ellipse(245, 145, 3, 3); ellipse(243, 100, 3, 3); ellipse(390, 105, 3, 3); ellipse(376, 140, 3, 3); ellipse(211, 83, 3, 3); ellipse(244, 18, 3, 3); ellipse(179, 113, 3, 3); ellipse(303, 80, 3, 3); ellipse(331, 144, 3, 3); ellipse(11, 190, 3, 3); ellipse(27, 156, 3, 3); ellipse(22, 127, 3, 3); ellipse(75, 156, 3, 3); ellipse(148, 190, 3, 3); ellipse(153, 153, 3, 3); ellipse(200, 200, 3, 3); ellipse(277, 222, 3, 3); ellipse(298, 189, 3, 3); ellipse(10, 266, 3, 3); ellipse(38, 230, 3, 3); ellipse(179, 288, 3, 3); ellipse(156, 248, 3, 3); ellipse(221, 279, 3, 3); ellipse(269, 310, 3, 3); ellipse(300, 266, 3, 3); ellipse(380, 230, 3, 3); ellipse(30, 330, 3, 3); ellipse(4, 380, 3, 3); ellipse(137, 330, 3, 3); ellipse(390, 380, 3, 3); //text var f = createFont("fantasy", 40); fill(247, 239, 247); textFont(f, 40); text("Merry Christmas ! ! !", 10, 56); textSize(20); text("From TK =)", 30, 85); //additional text var f = createFont("serif", 45); textFont(f, 45); text("Christmas ", 90, 170); textFont(f, 30); text("isn't a season...", 120, 200); textFont(f, 35); text("It's a feeling !", 115, 250); //snowy field stroke(0, 0, 0); bezier(0, 400, 200, 300, 330, 350, 400, 400); noStroke(); //snowman (base) ellipse(75, 380, 100, 100); ellipse(75, 315, 80, 80); ellipse(75, 265, 65, 65); //snowman accessory //buttons fill(0, 0, 0); ellipse(75, 295, 6, 6); ellipse(75, 315, 6, 6); ellipse(75, 335, 6, 6); //eyes fill(87, 43, 7); ellipse(60, 255, 10, 9); ellipse(90, 255, 10, 9); //mouth noFill(); stroke(0, 0, 0); arc(75, 265, 30, 30, 20, 160); noStroke(); //hands stroke(128, 49, 13); strokeWeight(4); line(20, 290, 40, 300); line(127, 290, 107, 300); noStroke(); //hat fill(225, 18, 18); triangle(65,190,50,240, 100,240); fill(124, 150, 214); ellipse(65, 190, 20, 20); noFill(); stroke(124, 150, 214); strokeWeight(11); arc(10, 170, 350, 150, 60, 78); //scarf noFill(); stroke(124, 150, 214); strokeWeight(10); arc(189, 244, 450, 100, 113, 129); strokeWeight(1); noStroke(); //christmas tree (base) fill(97, 55, 3); rect(330, 360, 40, 50); //christmas tree fill(17, 71, 9); triangle(350, 300, 270, 360, 430, 360); triangle(350, 250, 290, 320, 410, 320); triangle(350, 210, 310, 275, 390, 275); //tree deco stroke(225, 232, 16); strokeWeight(2); noFill(); arc(370, 190, 220, 120, 89, 112); arc(370, 225, 220, 120, 86, 114); arc(380, 260, 220, 120, 0, 133); arc(380, 295, 220, 120, 0, 136); noStroke(); //ornaments fill(255, 0, 0); ellipse(340, 251, 10, 10); ellipse(354, 288, 10, 10); ellipse(315, 313, 10, 10); ellipse(385, 358, 10, 10); fill(88, 16, 181); ellipse(363, 253, 10, 10); ellipse(355, 357, 10, 10); fill(207, 29, 207); ellipse(332, 285, 10, 10); ellipse(355, 322, 10, 10); ellipse(330, 352, 10, 10); fill(207, 240, 19); ellipse(380, 323, 10, 10); ellipse(305, 343, 10, 10); fill(9, 63, 224); ellipse(335, 318, 10, 10); ellipse(375, 288, 10, 10); //wood effect stroke(0, 0, 0); strokeWeight(1); noFill(); ellipse(358, 380, 15, 30); ellipse(358, 380, 10, 20); ellipse(358, 380, 5, 10); line(333, 365, 333, 395); line(336, 368, 336, 393); line(339, 366, 339, 392); //star on tree var star = getImage("space/star"); image(star, 300, 153);
3. Paste the copied code in the text box in the opened webpage (delete the existing code in the box first).
4. Viola !1! Enjoy this amateurish Christmas card done by me, to all you great people !

Well.

That pretty much wraps up all I have to say for this post.

Was it short enough ?

I'm already working on my next blog post =)

(Don't worry, it won't be THAT long... I hope !)

And I might do another update for the New Years.

Who knows ?

Well actually,

I'm not so sure about that.

But we'll see, won't we ?

Once again,

have a great Kristmas !

And Happy Boxing Day.

*runs off to shop (?)

Listening to Satellite - James Blunt

Gifts Galore,

TK

Books.and.ALL

So I was thinking of including
this in my previous blog post.
But I thought it'd be best
NOT to overload my stalkers
with one really long blog post.
Also,
I fear that if I were to add even more and more.
The blog post might never see the light of day.
EVER.
Like my other failed drafts.

But enough about that.
Back to the main focus of this update.
Today
(or tomorrow.
Depending on how distracted I get.
Ok probably tomorrow),
I'm gonna show you all the fantastic books I have.
But rather than tell you the story...
(which you can just conveniently Google
if you aren't so lazy)
I'll talk about where/when/how I got them.
As you can see,
I've taken yet another picture of my book collection.
Or at least the ones that are important enough
for me to bring them over here.
My first book is on the left.
My latest one is on the right.


The first book is a HTML guide.
My first book is NOT a story book.
It's (not-so) hardcore coding !
Back then,
I was obsessed with Neopets,
(just ask Ms Iiyee)
And you'd think we'd waste hours playing and feeding our pets.
YOU'RE WRONG.
It's a busy and economical world
where people customize their pages
to sell online items
and attract people to join their guilds.
The knowledge to code is ESSENTIAL
in order to be famous/successful.
I saw the book while I was in Singapore.
I NEEDED IT.
I wanted to CODE too !
I wanted to be FAMOUS too...
Unfortunately,
no one told me half the coding was not HTML,
but CSS.
Great...
Well,
I never did finish the book.
Not since they started talking about DHTML and XML.
But it was still my first step towards coding.
And it did give me an edge in my Form 1 computer class.
#ImpressedTheTeachers

Needless to say,
the only section I'd visit in the book store
when I was a kid was the "Computer" Section.
Hunting for more HTML self-help guides.
I came across the second book.
And the notion of starting a website really interested me.
Let's just say one thing led to another.
And I found myself buying the book.
Unfortunately,
it didn't introduce me to the TECHNICAL side of starting a website,
but the...business side.
Well,
it's a little bit of both.
More like the backbones of starting a website.
I finished the book.
But it didn't really help much.
Still an interesting read though.

And then,
we have that Little Black Dress book.
I know I know,
it's for GURLZ.
Well, let's just say I was bored, ok ?
I was in Form 3.
Don't ask me why I wasn't studying my ###
off for PMR,
the notion of studying just wasn't that appealing to me.
It was Miss Daughter's birthday.
The one where the McDonald incident happened.
Well,
what better gift to give a girl for her birthday than a novel, right ?
The epitome of teenage smart girls.
And there were just so many,
AND they were quite cheap too.
So I thought I'd buy one for myself too.
I don't really know why.
But since I was a kid,
the Confession of a Shopaholic movie has really interested me.
And that was before I've even watched it.
So...
when I say a novel with "Confession" in it's name.
I just couldn't resist.
I bought it !
And then never read it....
The life of an air hostess sounds interesting.
But not when you mix it up with lots of swearing,
overly-muscular potential lovers,
and Jimmy Choo sandals.
Because obviously,
a guy like me...
knows NOTHING about Jimmy Choo sandals.
Or any other famous fashion brands for that matter.
I mean for crying out loud,
the female lead (I don't even know her name)
brought a stranger back to her hotel
after a short meeting at a train station
and proceeded to....
do all sorts of stuff which I'd rather not talk about here.
But I believe,
ONE day,
I'll pick up that book.
And start reading it.
And ACTUALLY finish it !
#BucketList
(Speaking of bucket lists,
I should blog about one soon)

The next one's a little interesting.
It's about FACEBOOK.
I was in Form 4.
Facebook was ALL the rage.
Wouldn't it be great to learn about it's history.
To learn about Mark Zuckerberg and his many exploits ?
I was definitely interested.
So I bought it at a Target store near my hotel.
We didn't have much to do.
So I'd usually sneak away from all the boring shopping.
Tucked away in the silent "Books" corner of the store.
Reading this wonderfully insightful piece of wood.
On the last day before heading back to KK,
I told myself.
I want this book.
And so,
I begged Mum to buy it for me.
She said yes.
And I got the book.
I think,
at the time,
I genuinely liked the book.
Reading about how he started Facebook
in his own room at Harvard.
It's all pretty inspiring...
until he hit Silicon Valley,
and investors and what-nots kept popping out of NOWHERE.
There were SO many "characters" that were being introduced.
It was INCREDIBLY and EXCRUCIATINGLY painful
to even be able to keep tabs on everyone.
(I even tried making notes)
In the end,
I stopped reading altogether.
And I have tried several times to try and "get" the story.
But to no avail.
What didn't help was that I watched
The Social Network this year.
The film was definitely more much emotional.
heck,
Eduardo was barely even mentioned in the book.
And he was depicted as THE BAD GUY.
Although I'm not sure how valid is the book's story,
they still shouldn't have written Mark
as the "Protagonist"....
And he WAS kinda like a jerk and stuff...

The next time I went back to Perth
(Form 5),
I got House Rules,
by Jodi Picoult.
And you guessed it !
I haven't even began reading MOST of the book.
Only the first few chapters.
Don't get me wrong.
I want to read it...
but...
I just never had the time.
Also,
I just felt like
I NEEDED to buy a book from Perth.
NO MATTER WHAT.
And the cover looked nice.
(omg mum don't kill me)
But I still think the story itself is sorta interesting.
What with the main character
having Asperger's Syndrome and stuff.
I will read it. I will read it. I will read it...

Next.
Tony Parsons anybody ?
No ? No ?
Me neither.
Once again,
just like Confessions of an Air Hostess,
I got this off at the exact same book store.
WHILE looking for a birthday present
for yet, another girl.
And what do you buy for a girl
if you wanna imply that she is smart ?
BOOKS of course !
And it was on discount 0_0
I was flipping away,
deciding which book to buy.
I was going to get her this one...
But while I was flipping through it's pages,
something caught my eye.
And I told myself,
"Ok, I'll buy this one for myself.
I know I have other books to finish.
But hey,
I'll be in Australia soon.
And we have NO Internet.
I'll need to expand my book stash
in order to survive, right ?"
It's been over a year now,
and Australia's been keeping me pretty busy.
BUT I will read it.
Promise.

I'm not sure what is wrong with me.
But I think cheap books are the key to truly awakening
the shopaholic in me.
It didn't help that there was a mall-wide summer sale going on.
Including the book store !
How can I resist a book about Twitter,
priced at just $2 !?
AND it's not secondhand !
#Grab
Oh and look,
another cute little book about kids,
and arguably,
for kids.
But it looked cute.
And most importantly,
CHEAP.
#Grab.
The good news is,
I've finished BOTH books.
The children's book was mildly entertaining and comedic.
The Twitter one...was really something.
Well,
let's just say I had no idea NORMAL people
were THAT obsessed with using Twitter.

The next one is a proper novel.
A memoir.
Of an Australian-born Asian girl
called Alice Pung.
So in a way,
it's a memoir AND a biography.
It was for my English class.
But I suppose it still qualifies as a personal read,
just cause it's not compulsory in school,
but recommended.
Got it off Book Depository.
(Online shopping FTW !)
Unfortunately,
my English teacher had to rush us to finish the book
by the end of the first month of school.
So I didn't really have a chance to digest everything
and truly connect with the character.
In fact,
me and Ms Fashion came to the conclusion
that Alice is a little crazy
due to growing up in an Asian family in Australia.
The book mostly showed
what it meant to a new migrant in Australia.
How much the Asian and Anglo culture clash and stuff.
Oh look,
I'm writing as if this is my assignment.
Oh well.
Just keep reading if you want to.
I suppose it was particularly hard for Alice
because she had to go to a White school
while being all Asian-y at home.
It's tough being a child
since they're forced to live in two worlds.
In my opinion,
my parents have it a little better,
because they can just open up a shop in Chinatown
and make a living there.
Ironically though,
Alice's Mom is where I get most of my content from.
But I can definitely see where Alice got her crazy genes from.
Overall,
a good read.
I especially liked the part at the back
where she STOPS emo-ing like crazy.
Goes to uni.
Gets a white boyfriend....
And then she breaks up with him.
And that was the moment I knew,
she really was crazy...
#NuffSaid

Fast forward three months,
and I'm back at the discount book store again,
where I got my Twitter book.
This time,
there was another book that caught my eye
in the $2 shelf.
The 30-second Commute,
a book about working at home.
Freelance writing and stuff.
I am/was interested.
AND IT'S CHEAP !
So I bought it.
Never got a chance to finish it though...again.
UNTIL 2 weeks ago.
And yes,
it was definitely worth $2.
A good read, indeed.
Plus, it's the first book I managed to finish
ever since I got her.
(School-assigned readings don't count.)

Ahhh...the Geography Club.
Warning.
It's a gay book.
I bought it,
simply because,
well,
"I'm bound to get bored staying at home every single day.
I need some more books to fill my
(unread) book stash".
Found it online
(the same place where I found Alice Pung's novel)
and bought it.
The story interested me.
Forming a secret club because you can't be who you are
in a label-obsessed high school community.
I wasn't very sure if it was worth it.
But it had "club" in it's name.
So I was enticed.
(the same apples for The Breakfast Club)
(What can I say ?)
(I'm a sucker for high school club stories.)
Oh,
and it was dirt cheap.
How could I resist ?
It was definitely a good read.
So far,
it's one of the two books that I felt were
actual page-turners for me.
#YourMileageMayVary
BECAUSE of the awesome main character.
He's just awesome.
Others,
not so much.
And the story wasn't a GAY story.
It's more about high school, friendship...
the cliche stuff.
It JUST so happens to have gay characters.
Haha.
The book even got a film adaption,
but I'll leave that for next time.

And the "last" one.
(I know what you're thinking.
"FINALLY !"
That is...
if you've been reading everything so far.)
Shopaholic Ties The Knot,
by none other than Sophie Kinsella.
The writer made famous for her
"Shopaholic" novels,
if you haven't already figured that out.
See.
I told you I was a big fan of shopaholic books.
No,
I don't really care if it's a chick lit.
So this is the third book in the series.
I started borrowing them from the State Library.
It took me a whole year just to get through the first two.
Mind you,
I wasn't reading consistently.
Basically,
the formula was that I'd finish one book every term break.
I tried my best to finish them.
But somehow,
my interest in the story has slowly dwindled away.
I'm not really that eager to read it anymore.
Hmm...
I'm not sure if I'll still read it.
I miss watching Isla Fisher play Rebecca Bloomwood.
WHY COULDN'T THEY JUST MAKE A SEQUEL !???

And that's the whole list.
Well, almost...
Since I've got a new phone.
I can download and read eBooks !
And I have read quite a few.
Ok maybe just 2.

The first one's
The Perks of Being A Wallflower.
Because I am a self-confessed wallflower.
Yes,
I am also an attention whore for
labeling myself a wallflower.
But hey.
It's a free country, right ?
I liked Charlie.
He's cool, I guess.
The story was pretty engaging.
Although the ending was a little confusing.
Probably because my version was missing a few pages.
(That's what you get for downloading illegal PDFs)
I remember craving a read at the book
when I was nearing my finals.
I don't know why.
Unfortunately,
I kept forgetting to download it.
So I ended up reading it DURING my finals.
#Facepalm
The good news was
that it really fitted my mood at the time.
And I was reading way into night,
fully knowing that I had my Maths paper the next morning...
I overslept the next morning.
I should really be moving on now,
shouldn't I ?

The other novel I read.
The other page-turner I read.
IS
The Undomestic Goddess !
Also by Sophie Kinsella.
And to be honest,
I think this book spoiled me too much,
and is probably the reason
why I've lost interest in the "Shopaholic" novels.
I first spotted the book in my school library.
If you're a librarian,
you'd know that it's under the F KIN section.
Yes,
I was looking for a Shopaholic book,
but my school didn't have one.
(They also lost their
Perks of Being A Wallflower book,
which prompted me to download it online.)
So I grabbed this book out of sheer boredom.
Read the first few pages.
It's a career-oriented story.
Mostly about the main girl,
Samantha,
choosing between the job of her life
and the love of her life.
I didn't realize it then,
but I soon became officially in love with the book.
Finishing it in one go.
200 pages in one night.
Not exactly the best way to enjoy a novel.
But still,
I LOVE IT !
(the book,
not the 200 pages per night thing.)

And there you have it.
All the books that I've own.
And oh my,
this HAS turned into quite a long post,
hasn't it.
DARN IT !
Oh well,
I'll try to do a short one next time.
I should really get started on those books.
Seeya =D


Listening to Almighty Bhunivelze - Lightning Returns : Final Fantasy XIII OST

Reading glasses : ON.

TK

Over.a Month.

I'm  backkkkk !
OK,
I've lost count of how many times I've tried using that
to start my blog post.
But this time,
it's as true as ever.
I'm back for good.
After a month of studying AND a month of slacking off,
I've finally managed to muster up enough courage and determination
to click on the 'New Post' button.
FYI, I'm always on my BlogSpot.
Checking for other bloggers who actually update their blogs.
So far, Ms Iiyee is the only one who's updating her blog.
And now it is my turn.
#ResurrectingMyBlog

One of the main reasons why I was having such a hard time
updating my blog was that there's just so much for my to write type.
And believe me,
this will be quite a LONG blog post.
So long that I didn't feel like using a recent event to start my blog post.
Just cause they're too many things to remember (and type !).
Hopefully, you'll accept this challenge
and see this as a fascinating opportunity to test your reading speed.
As well as your ability to detect grammar errors that my brain
occasionally makes after typing for several hours on a keyboard non-stop.
Of course, it's still super hard for me to type this.
Not that I wanna see blogging as some sorta chore,
but again, the sheer thought of typing for hours causes my face to twitch ever so slightly.
Even now, I am blogging in the public library,
where public eyes prey on my incredibly loud and irritating taps on the keyboard
and passer-bys can just stop behind me and read all that I'm typing.
Gee, I really hope there's no one behind me right now.
But I do feel sorry for the guy next to me,
having to hear my three taps per second.

My, my.
That was quite the paragraph.
And I still haven't gone into reminiscing what I've done in the past 2 months.
Where should I start ?
Well, I guess I'll have to re-read my previous blog post
to find out where I left off.

*gOES OFF TO READ LAST BLOG POST
*gETS DISTRACTED
*twenty mINUTES lATER
*rEALIZE I'm TYPING IN caps

My last post was near the end of October.
That wasn't so bad.
Ok so I think I'll begin with what happened on the last week of October.
Exactly where I left off.
Ok.
I'll start now.
Any second now.
As soon as I stop typing crap.

Let's start with graduation !
THIS day was what I call a #CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
Let's start with what I wore.
That goes without saying.
My classic Domo-Nyan Tee and
my favourite skinny-but-not-that-skinny straight jeans.
I love that shirt (and jeans).
Too bad the colours are coming off.
I didn't really care whether I look formal or not.
Because the people who've received awards last year dressed pretty casually.
Unfortunately,
last year's prize winners aren't this year's prize winners.
Quite a few people were dressed formal.
Or at least smart casual.
And there I was.
Wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans
with my (again) favourite Converse shoes.
Gawd, I felt so cheap and out of place.
Haha.
I woke up early that day.
Well, not THAT early.
Just early enough to not be late.
And I spent the morning in the school library talking to Miss Prez.
After that meet up with some "friends",
and sat down in the cafeteria.
Yes, I graduated at a cafeteria.
Talk about a dodgy graduation.
But it was better than I expected.
At least, they had a stage and a backdrop.
With some pretty swanky artworks on display,
done by our awesome Art students.
I'll skip to the important part now.
I won awards.
Yay.
I'm sure if you stalk me on Facebook,
you'd see it.
If you didn't,
you can see it on your right.
If you've already seen it,
see it again.
That's four awards.
Three for top subjects and One for being Dux of the College.
Me ? Dux ?
I was surprised too.
Of course, that's almost because I do "easy" subjects.  =P
So each subject award comes with a certificate,
a $50 voucher to spend at the ABC shop and
a medal thingy with my name engraved on it from Perth Mint.
If you don't know what's an ABC shop,
trust me,
you're not missing out on much.
I'm so clueless on what to buy there.
You can never buy anything good there.
Just DVDs of shows that you've watched on....
The ABC channel.
Which, quite honestly, is a waste of money.
Because you can always watch it online....
Well, at least I get that medal.
According to the label that comes with it,
it's 99% silver.
Yay.
Real silver.
For the Dux Award.
I get a certificate and a tiny little medal that comes in a tiny little box
like the ones you see where people put rings when they propose.
Sadly, the medal is of a lower quality.
The silvery "sticker" surface was already peeling after a few rubs.
(Not that I rub it on purpose or anything).
So after the whole award ceremony
(not much of a graduation, right ?),
there's free food,
which I didn't really eat.
Because I was too busy snapping photos with everyone.
And by everyone,
I mean strangers whom I've seen many times before but never had the guts to talk to.
Yep.
I did it.
And then after that,
photos with teachers.
Yay.
But I looked stupid in some of them...
Oh well...
After taking photos with everyone,
it's time to go home.
I celebrated with a victory lunch a.k.a a beef kebab.
#delicious
Then it was back to studying.
Although I really wasn't in the mood for that.
From that day onwards,
my lazy genes started kicking in.
(Physics in TWO days)
And that's how I spent my graduation.

Oh and after that,
I went to collect my exam results.
I'm extremely (very) happy over the fact that I graduated with straight As.
It's finally happened to me.
THANK YOU not-as-difficult-as-STPM education system !
And then I saw my attendance record.
99%.
One half-day absent.
DAFQ.
I was NEVER absent.
How the FFFFFF could this happen.
I was so close to a hundred !
And the jerky guy in the admin office wouldn't help me.
All he said was,
"Look, if it'll make you feel any better,
I'll print you a new one without the attendance record
so it'll look better...."
GAWD NO THAT'S NOT WHAT I WANT.
Heck, I don't even care if I get a 99% at the point.
I just wanna know which *^%&#$&$%*& teacher marked me absent.
I knew IT !
It was IT !
No literally, IT as in Information Technology.
Jerk's always late and telling me "we won't have class this Friday".
And it's OFFICIAL.
I hate him.
I managed to calm myself down.
"Ok, so it's just one day...
Come on, the school gave me prizes....
Just smile and walk away before you give Asians a bad name."
And then I walked away.

And now,
here are some random photos of me and other people.
(I am so breaching the Privacy Act right now)

Me, Miss Married and Miss Neighbour. 

Both from my Chem class.

Miss Neighbour sits next to me.

BUT WE NEVER TALKED FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR....

until recently of course.

Miss Married is quite young,

but married...

Mr Round.

Not in a racist way.

His face iz roundzzzzz !

Mr Nik and Mr Bach

I'm pretty sure Mr Nik is from Sg.

And Mr Bach...

is the guy who's on the same bus as me every morning...

but we never talk.

No.

We still haven't...

Miss Valedictorian.

And as you can see....

a failed enlightened pose.

Darn you Mr Perfect,

you're just too "perfect".

Miss Philosophy

Girl who stays back everyday until 8 with me at the library.

We NEVER talked.

Over the course of a year,

we've only exchanged two sentences.

"seeya"

"wanna have a picture with me ?"

Btw, that was me asking =P

Me and Mr Fashion

Not to be confused with Miss Fashion.

He's one of the few Malaysians in the school.

And he definitely dresses to impress.

Mr Physics.

Awesome and nice teacher.

He keeps complimenting me =P

Sowi for falling asleep in your class all the time.

It's not you,

it's just the classroom.

Mr Chemistry.

SCARIEST.TEACHER.EVER.

Well, he's not that scary.

But seriously,

first impressions.

Still couldn't talk to him with a poker face...

Miss English (As An Additional Language/Dialect)

The only teacher who calls me TK.

And the only person to call me KT....

Lovely woman.

I don't usually say 'lovely'.

But she's just....lovely.

I enjoyed our bonding time every Monday evening.

Because I'd be the only student seeking help with homework...

Miss Librarian.

The only "cool" librarian in the school library.

And the only one who works till 8 every night.

So, most days,

it's just me and her

and a whole lot of silence.

Mr Sunglasses.

He's always giving intimidating looks.

The peace keeper of our school.

Well,

he's actually a huge softie =P

Once you get to know him...

Unfortunately,

I still don't know him.

Well,

not his name at least.

Also I wanna make a little shout-out
to Miss Scorpio (name change =P).
Her birthday was on my graduation day.
Such coincidence, right ? RIGHT ?
I never got to formally wish her a happy 19th birthday in public.
So here ya go !
HAPPY BIRTHDAY =D
I hope our friendship lasts forever.
I am truly blessed to have met you.
Heck, you're one of the few good things that've come out
from enrolling in Form 6.
It was a good thing your application for that scholarship
got turned down.
OMG I WAS JUST JOKING.
Oh who am I kidding ?
(please don't slap me)
I'm effing glad you didn't get the scholarship.
I'm effing glad you didn't attend another school for Form 6.
I'm effing glad you still wanted to be a marine doctor lady
and decided to choose Science instead of Arts.
I'm effing glad you signed up to be a librarian.
I'm effing glad you came back to the interview despite
being manipulated by Miss Sy into joining the SPBT.
I'm effing glad you decided to volunteer to do more work for Bulan Membaca.
I'm effing glad you spotted my tiny orange car.
I'm effing glad you decided to make a totally inappropriate comment
about my tiny orange car and my height.
I'm effing glad you sat at the back of the class.
I'm effing glad you were supposed to do a duet during prom.
I'm effing glad you actually have pretty damn impressive English
(Beware. Band 5 Alert.)
I'm effing glad things turned out this way.
I'm effing glad I met you.
I'm effing glad I told you.
I'm effing glad we are who we are today because of all the things
that COULD'VE went differently didn't.
Thank you for being my bestie.
Also special thanks to The Man In The Sky, God,
for planning all this.
I swear you always give me the most unpredictable surprises.
(I was gonna upload a picture of your face
that no one's ever seen before.
Unfortunately, I don't have one =(
And I don't think it'd be very sentimental
if I upload a picture of you receiving last year's
PSS's certificate from Mr Ooi...)
But here's something else
that's even more symbolic.
Happy (Belated) Birthday !


Next, let's talk birthday.
I don't think I talked about birthdays the last time I blogged.
It was probably because
there was something missing that day.
Ah yes,
exams were looming.
And I was so NOT in the mood for some cake.
But most important of all,
there weren't any presents.
Well, my bro gave me a (FULL) cup of Boost smoothie.
And Mom tried making a cake.
But something was still lacking.
I needed more presents.
The cake needed for sugar and artificial colouring !
(Notice the lack of icing sugar !)

Although I never got my super sweet and unhealthy birthday cake.
The presents certainly came,

albeit late.
But hey !
That's how most surprises appear, right ?
I was completely gobsmacked when I saw a pink box on my table.
It was massive.
And I was just tired.
And Physics was the next day.
And it was Halloween.
I don't know how Halloween equates into this,
but it was still Halloween.

My name was on it.
Along with my address.
But I didn't really care.
What really matters is what's on the inside, right ?
*Opens box.
My my, what is this ?
A pamphlet telling me my package
has been opened and inspected by Customs.
Oh whoopy....
Ok screw that.
Yay presents !
I was not expecting the giftS that I got.
I thought I'd get like an online digital album or something.
Not something that I could actually touch.
I loved the ducks !
I didn't know why, but I just did.
It took a little reminder from Miss Prez for me to remember why I liked the ducks so much.
Hehe.
Silly me, getting old and all.
Long story short.
I found something online that made me want a stuffed duck.
You know,
the big ones where you'd hug.
But three tiny ones are sooo much cuter.
They even have names on them.
Like voodoo dolls !
*Evil grin

And then I got this neck pillow thing.
It looks a little feminine.
But screw that,
it's perfect.
I was always on my
"Interesting-things-to-own-but-not-worth-it-but-everyone-has-it" list.
I MIGHT bring it along with me the next time I travel on a plane.

I also got a rubber hammer toy thing.
And if life gives you a hammer,
you don't use it to build and construct.
No no no.
You do a Miley Cyrus impression !
Nothing spells trashy more than licking a hammer, right kids ?

And then there was the beanie.
Hmm..wonder where they got that idea.
Well, I wanted a beanie before.
But then I decided to just let me the world see my messy hairstyle the way it already is.
No point in hiding it.
Though, the beanie was pretty cool.
Wait, it IS called a beanie right ?
Stupid me don't even know how to put it on properly. =(

And last but not least,
a notebook.
One that is already written on by many,
read by even more,
sniffed by detector dogs,
carressed by airport officials (and probably read by them too).
But all that didn't matter.
I love it !
Honestly.
The design was pretty cool.
Especially with the labels that was sticking out.
Just like Stanley and
his Great Big Book of Everything !
LIKE if you remember the show.

Of course,
not all presents came by mail.
Miss Noon and Miss V gave me presents too.
Miss Noon gave me a lollipop while
Miss V gave me a box of chocolates.
Funny how they're both trying to give me diabetes.
Fortunately I've hid the lollipop behind some bookmarks
and locked the chocolates up in cryo-prison.
The present wrapper for the chocolates still has
it's base shape preserved,
making it look like the package actually exploded...

Also, dat moment when you re-check everything.
And found out just how many stamps it took to ship all those things
from KK to Perth.
I'm really touched guys.
And although I don't really know the full details
on who contributed and how much they've contributed,
I'll always be grateful to this kind and generous act of yours.
So the next time I'm acting all b*tc*y around you,
just tell me :
"I paid for the shipping of your 19th birthday present."
and I'll probably stop whining and behave.
Just a thought =)

So after wasting my final week of studying
(time well wasted !),
November arrived.
And it was time for me to sit the
dreadful-but-not-as-dreadful-as-STPM-but-still-equally-dreadful-because-i-put-a-lot-of-time-into-studying-this-time WACE exam !
Physics on Day 1 did not help one bit,
except for the whole just-get-it-over-with-now part.
I actually got pretty depressed when I did last year's past paper
the morning before the exam.
It was so hard.
And I went into emo mode.
But the actual paper was a joke.
I thought it was simple,
but of course,
careless mistakes and all.
But other students came out talking like this :
"Wow. Hey I think I'll bag a 90 this time !"
#ColdSweatMoment

English was next.
Then Maths and Chemistry.
Then finally IT (Applied Information Technology).
I don't know if normal people feel this,
but I kept thinking that I'm dumb
(maybe I really am, but the feeling intensifies)
when I'm waiting outside the exam hall.
I'm thinking of so many things,
yet when I realise that I've been spacing out,
I can't seem to recall a single thing that I've been thinking of.
Ok, it's a feeling I can't really describe.
But I'm just really anxious about the exam is all.

ohmaigawd,
especially for English.
Since I've been getting a lot of questions wrong
when I rushed through the past year papers.
I also rushed through my essay during the exam.

Maths...
was a troll...
Stuff that my teacher's never taught me came out.
Not even in school exams.
"Well it's your own fault for not reviewing the syllabus yourself"
Well, in my defence,
I didn't think those questions would be worth up to 6 marks !
The other past papers only had them under 2/3 marks.
And then this year,
BAM !
Good bye 10 marks.
Oh and let's not forget about scaling...
I screwed Maths up...

Chemistry was surprisingly OK.
Well, there were some stuff I didn't get.
But others didn't get it too.
So we'll all fail.
That's fine with me.
But there was a question about absolute zero.
THAT is NOTTTT in the syllabus.
I'm sure of it...
And of all the questions they had to ask for my essay section,
they just had to pick polymers....
I did chemical equilibrium
and I memorised EVERYTHING for rusting and SOAP.
GAWD SOAPS WERE A NIGHTMARE.
But I kept calm and wrote down all the crap that I could remember.
It was seriously crap,
I wasn't even using the proper terminology.... XP

As for IT,
I had a 1-week break to study for it.
Don't worry,
IT's easy, right ?
Haha.
WRONG.
The more I look into it,
the more I realised how far behind I was.
Thanks IT teacher,
I "love" you so much.
#UrgeToKillRising
I even attended an IT seminar that I was invited to that weekend at another college.
It was quite far away.
I actually felt like I was in Rural WA. XD
Even the train station has a rural feel to it....
I was the only student from another school,
and it was an all-boy school.
Scary.
Well, scary for me anyways.
The teacher was really impressed with my Sem 2 IT results,
and proceeded to blurt it out to the whole class.
Now they all think I'm a brainiac...
Quiz time was soooo humiliating.
I couldn't answer a single question...

"TK, do you know what's SMTP ?"
"Yes"
"Ok, what does it mean ?"
"Ermm.... I forgot..."

Yes, that conversation actually happened.
THE HUMILIATION !
And believe me,
there's more of embarrassing moments from where that came from...
I asked the teacher if I could email her if I had some questions,
and she said OK.
Emailing her was pretty nerve-wrecking.
Simply because I don't know her and
she might think I've lied to her about my results by asking really basic questions.
The questions I asked were REALLY basic.
But I guess the paper turned out OK.
And quite reasonable, I think.
Well, I can't judge this paper
since I'm such a bad IT student.

And that was WACE in a nutshell.
Now all I have to do is wait for my results...
which SHOULD be coming out on the 30th of December.
Less than a month from now.
Nervous ?
Nope.
Well, maybe after Christmas.
Haha.

Moving on...
The first thing I did to celebrate my newfound freedom is :
BUY FINAL FANTASY XIII.
It's been on my wishlist since... FOREVER.
Well technically, it's been there since 2011.
I never thought I'd actually get a home console.
But now I do have one,
Raitoningu is MINE forever !
#foreverandeverandever
Let's just say I've seen very little sunlight for that following week.
Finished the game in a little less than one week.
But I'm still playing it now once in a while
for the sake of being a perfectionist.
(Collect every single item in the game, anyone ?)
What's next ?
XIII-2 ?
Maybe not yet.
I wouldn't wanna miss out on the beautiful spring days of December.
Wait, it's DECEMBER !?
That means it's Summer already !
You might think it's winter, but think again,
it's Summer.
We're in Australia,
where things don't happen normally...

Not to mention XIII-3 came out somewhere around that week too.
The inner fanboy in me has truly been awaken.
And yes,
I've already spoilt the ending for myself
and for several other people who don't really care for Raitoningu...
Wanna know the ending ??


***SPOILER ALERT***
Lightning kills God. Lightning creates Earth. Lightning is God. The End.
***SPOILER ENDS***


Quite blasphemous, isn't it ?
Fine, I guess that last part doesn't really apply.
She turned down that position to live her life like a normal person,
in which we see her SMILE.
In all it's CGI glory !
*Fanboy Squirm....

So after celebrating my birthday and graduation,
going through a month of studying and exams
and playing as Lightning till I drop dead like a cockroach,
the next thing on my mental to-do list was :
FIND A JOB !
Of course, not just any job.
I wouldn't wanna work at McDonalds or KFC
all the way through Uni.
I want a job at a comfortable environment,
where customers aren't abusive and
the work-pay ratio is actually good.
(No offence to teens who work at fast food joints.
Keep up the good work !)
I wanna work at a library.
Now don't call me overly-ambitious, OK ?
It was all my school librarians' fault.
I was just asked her about her job,
and suddenly she went all psycho about me
getting a summer job at a library.
I went back to school to write up
my cover letter and resume
then proceeded to go job-hunting.
Well, as expected,
no one wants me.
Or rather,
all of them gave me the same repetitive answer :
"We don't take candidates at this level.
You'll have to submit your resume to the local council."
And I didn't...
Hahaha.
I was going to but....
One day when I went back to school to print out even more resumes,
I bumped into my beloved English teacher.
She knew I was job-hunting
because I asked her to be one of my references.
She asked how was I going with it...
Same old same old.
Small talk and stuff.
Eventually,
she made me realise that I'm better off just enjoying my holidays.
Since I'm going back to KK soon,
no one would wanna hire someone like me,
when there are sooo many school leavers just begging to be employed.
"You have plenty of time..."
Also,
she reminded me that I've studied my A** off for the entire year,
so I deserve a rest.
Oh I was such a fool for thinking that
finishing Final Fantasy XIII in one week = break.
There were so many things to do.
Places to see.
Scratch the part about places,
I'm not interested in seeing stuff alone.
Still, I have sooo many movies to catch up on,
books to read.
Yes, I do have a lot of books to finish.
Those of you who really know me will know that
I buy books and leave them on my shelf to rot.
Wanna see my current list of books to read ?
Here !
All in chronological order,
beginning from 2009 at the bottom until this month.
The top two are movies, though...
Sorcerer's Apprentice and She's Out of My League.
Both starring Jay Baruchel.
Coincidence ?

(Did you know Jay Baruchel used to appear in
Are You Afraid Of The Dark ?
I was wondering why one of the kids looked like him.
That was back in the 1990s though...
So young Jay !)

I have secondhand stores to visit.
Libraries to chill in.
The daily paper to read.
Church activities to get dragged into.
Online courses to do.
Animes to catch up with.
New shows to get introduced to.
Presents to buy.
Pianos to play.
People to catch up with.
And last but not least,
blogs to be updated.
And many many many more.

And speaking of church activities.
I've been really busy with them lately.
So busy that I even danced.
Yes, danced.
Tambourine dance to be precise.
In front of a crowd.
To make things worse,
there wasn't a stage,
so the whole audience felt extremely close to me.
And there were only four of us.
I have a video.
But you'd be crazy
if you think I'm gonna upload it.
(My deepest apologies to Miss Geologist for
dropping my tambourine on your head.
That must've hurt !)
Yep.
That's pretty much it.
Just a little shout-out
to my adorable little tambourine coaches
back in Good Sam.
If I hadn't joined them last year,
I would've been a novice with no experience.
Now, I am a novice WITH experience.
So thanks.
Thanks for all the wonderful times
you made me dance in front of other church members.
Love,
The first guy to join the Tambourine Group.
I would say the 'ONLY guy',
but after I joined,
other guys started swarming the vicinity.

Are you eyes beginning to bleed as much as
my finger bones are gonna break ?
Good because we're almost there.
Now just a quick update on what I'm up to now.
Nothing much really.
I'm just trying to talk to as many people as possible.
Finish reading as many books as I can.
Keep myself updated with the local news.
Finish my online courses....which are due in a few days.
Also, I've dabbled a little bit with SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
and coding, since it IS the Hour of Code week.
Its quite an interesting lifestyle, actually.
Is this how it feels to be 'laid back' ?
If it is,
I LIKE IT.
Well,
I still have a lot of things to check out.
But I'll definitely keep all you stalkers up-to-date.
Hopefully I can actually keep my promise,
and do something productive each day.
FYI, doing something unproductive is still considered productive,
because you are actually doing something,
instead of not doing anything at all.
For example, sleeping for 10 hours.
I hate myself when that happens !

On a COMPLETELY UNRELATED note,
I was just reading about unusual and bizzare baby names.
You should check it out.
It's really quite...interesting (?)
Someone tried to name their baby boy 'Leviathan'.
Isn't that just adorable !
Ever thought of naming your twins
'Fish' and 'Chips ?
Well, don't worry,
you're not the only one...
OMG SOMEONE NAMED THEIR SON 'THUNDER' !!!
I wonder if there's a girl named 'LIGHTNING' !
*re-initiate fanboy mode.

Well, enough of me typing crap.
Why don't you stop reading this junk
(that is...if you've even made it this far)
and go outside.
Breathe some fresh air.
And stretch a bit.
Maybe take a shower.
I know it can be REALLY draining
after reading my wall o' text blog posts.
And I do apologize !
I simply forgot about my previous promise
to try and make an effort to keep my blog posts short.
Well,
I guess there's really nothing much to say now.
By the way,
did you notice all the grammar errors ?
I have.
Ciao ~


P.S. Apologies for the terribly blurry pictures.
My camera might have gotten a little better
but my photography skills are just as bad as ever.

P.S.S Congrats on making it this far.
Even though you might've just scrolled all the way to the end without reading.
Allow me to reward you with a picture of
my breakfast from this morning.
I made it myself =P
Now if only I can learn to NOT screw up my omelette...


Listening to Closer - Tegan and Sara

The lights are off,

And the Sun is finally setting,

The night sky is changing overhead.

Here come the dreams of you and me.

I won't treat you like you're o so typical.

Reading in Progress.

TK

books end

Well.
It's almost time for graduation.
But before MY graduation,
I'd just like to make a little shout out to all my wonderful but extremely distant friends.
"Happy Graduation".
"Happy Belated Graduation".
It doesn't take a lot of stalking to see all the happy faces.
But nonetheless,
I still stalked.

My so-called graduation is coming up on Wednesday.
But my so-called graduation is only a so-called graduation.
No 'jubahs' (I don't even know what they call them in English, robes ?).
No handshakes (Well, maybe informal ones).
No going on stage one-by-one.
You know what ?
It's NOT a graduation.
It's....it's....it's....
just a stupid Award Ceremony where the top brains get prizes.
And the graduates would be sitting there watching people receive prizes.
What a waste of...umm... time !
WACE starts this Friday.
And they're making them sit there for an hour or so, doing nothing.
Well, at least there's free food.
But everyone's gonna fight for the free food, so....
I know Miss Fashion will.

I've just came back from my WACE English Oral Test.
And I am grateful nothing bad happened.
As per usual,
there's always that post-exam period where you suddenly go
"SH*T I should've said or written that. Not that.
OMG I could've bla bla....FML".
And I definitely felt it.
But I guess it wasn't that bad.
...Hopefully.
I can barely remember what the questions were.
Everything just blanked out as soon as I went in and as soon as I came out.
Oh well,
what's passed is past.

I think my examiner was an Indian (?) guy.
OMG maybe he's middle Eastern ?
Ah whatever,
his skin was dark.
And thank God for that.
I don't think I would've been able to manage eye contact if
the examiner was an Aussie guy.
Dat' accent...
Everything went OK.
I came out in one piece.
(Oh look, subtle anime pun.)
And now it's time for the bigger, harder, scarier exam.
And here I am,
typing away like nobody's business.
#DestinedForFailure

Well, this is just going to be another one of my many
hiatus-warning post.
So,
you are/were warned.
Probably not gonna update a lot for the remainder of this month and next month.
I mean,
it's not like I'm going to have a picture of me wearing my graduation robe, right ?
Because remember,
I'm not getting one.

On a totally unrelated note,
Chemistry totally foiled my straight A streak.
And its always the last paper that I take back that ends up being the B.
#FML
But beggars can't be choosers I suppose.
Hopefully scaling will come to my rescue !
Ok I guess I should stop writing crap now.
But before I end this.
Let's just take a moment to bow our heads in memory of Aero.
You have served me well.
And you will be greatly missed.
Thank you for being with me everywhere I go.
I don't know what I would've done without you.
Rest in peace, dear friend.

Now who wants to see my new phone case =D
Its BLUEEEEEEE.....
That means its pretty.
#eBayFTW
Thanks Miss Iiyee for showing me the wonders of eBay.


Listening to Animal - Neon Trees

They say it's what you make,

I say it's up to fate.

It's woven in my soul,

I need to let you go.

Slacking off !
TK

the calm after the storm that is the prelude to the even bigger storm

Finals are over.
Thank God for that.
I could feel myself getting more and more tired as the days passed.
By Thursdays night,
I was already passing out without brushing my teeth.
(Yes, I know its gross. You don't have to remind me about it.)
I felt particularly bad for my poor lil' tooth because I had a GALLON of orange juice earlier.
And we ALL know orange juice contains citric acid.
(Thanks Chemistry....)
I can practically dream about my teeth melting.
Well, a small part of my tooth already came off for ***** knows what reason.
I brush my teeth everyday but my teeth refuse to love me back.
Ok enough about oral hygiene.
Let's talk about what I always talk about.
EXAMS.

I quote myself,
"It's been an emotional weekend..."
....and tomorrow's my finals.
Great.
There were happy and sad emotions.
Mostly stimulated by sappy new movies and books.
A little bit of real life stuff.
But I won't go into too much details on that.
An interesting thing I noticed about last weekend was that,
I wasn't really in the mood to do any work.
I just sat at the library and watched movie trailers.
Come home and read an illegally downloaded ebook.
Watch Finn's tribute episode.
Go to the library and daydreamed even more.
And BAM !
Some bad news.

Next thing I know,
I'm chasing the bus again on a Monday morning.
My new phone alarm is being a real *****.
And I can't really hear it ring in the morning.
So I woke up a little later this week.
Well, its a good thing I wasn't late for any papers.
I won't really go into details about which questions screwed me over.
(Stupid Amino Acids and Non-perpendicular equilibrium question !)
But I will tell you that,
it didn't rain while I was walking to school,
my calculator did not die on me in the middle of exam,
I did not lose my calculator,
my papers weren't exact replicas of past years,
and I knew that I had to use a pen to write, not a pencil.
So I'd say it went a little better than the last time,
in terms of not making a fool out of myself.
Not so sure about my actual marks though.
It is kinda nerve-wrecking.
Chemistry was SURPRISINGLY hard.
I mean,
I did the past papers and I found them hard.
But I didn't know the questions would take me that much by surprise.
(Stupid empirical organics. Wasted half an hour on you !)
But whatever.
The whole thing is over.
Funny how the last paper (Applied Info Tech) was the subject I gave up on.
And I didn't really study for it,
because,
well, I gave up on it.
(I only need the top 4 of my 5 subjects)
I didn't really study for it.
By Thursday afternoon,
I've become so exhausted for unknown reasons that I took an hour-long nap in the library.
And then kill more time by talking to the librarian.

Something funny did happen though.
Miss Fashion told her Math teacher about me and giving up on IT.
(She talks a lot lol)
Her Math teacher got super worried about me skipping the paper.
She texted Miss Fashion about how worried she was and told her to give her my name.
Haha.
Thanks Miss Fashion for reassuring her that I'd show up.
Me, skip a paper ?
Obviously her Math teacher doesn't know me that well.
Oh wait.
She doesn't know me at all.
Well, long story short,
I found the paper that I didn't study for the easiest.
Thanks karma !

I spent the rest of the afternoon 'participating'.
Thanks to Mr Doctor,
I've managed to engage in a friendly conversation with Miss Burette for the first time.
It was nice, I suppose.
I ended up wasting a lot of time though.
But I'm not really all that worried about it.
Because, finals are over.
Unlike when I was on my term 'holiday'.

Unfortunately, my newfound freedom is/will/shall be short lived.
There's only two more weeks until WACE.
And the first paper of the WHOLEEEEE month-long exam ?
Physics.
My oral practicals are next week.
And I haven't even prepared.
School only starts on Wednesday.
This is NOT what I need.
I shouldn't be slacking.
Oh look at me.
Worrying 'bout 'important' things.
I bet I wouldn't be thinking like this last year.
Well, at least I passed (most of) my papers last year.

Ok let's talk about something else.
Perks of Being A Wallflower, anyone ?
I finished reading the book in half a week.
That's how much I neglected my finals.
Some parts of the book was confusing.
But some parts (the friends part) were touching.
Not sure if I should recommend the book, though.
I mean, I know its good,
but I'm not sure if I 'clicked' with it.

Today, I've (illegally) downloaded a copy of
The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella.
I've tried reading the book in my school library,
but I found out that reading via my phone is wayyy more convenient.
I don't have to carry around a heavy book that I'm going to have to constantly worry about the due date.
Its great to have something to do when you're waiting for the train or the bus.
And by the time its my stop,
I'm already hooked.
But it kinda makes me question myself :
"Why pick up a reading habit RIGHT before you super big mega ultra important exam ?"
Well, I just can't help it.
Its just like smoking.
Once you start, you can't stop.
And now I feel sorry for all my actual books.
Real, paperback books which I've 'never had the time' to read.
I wonder what should I do with them.
Well,  I still wanna read them.
Wouldn't wanna waste all that money now, would I ?

Its Saturday night.
8pm.
Its official.
I've wasted a whole day.
And you know what ?
It feels great.
Well, except that part when I was standing in the middle of the street like an idiot because I don't know where to go.
Well, I guess that just means that I have no life.... yet.
I'll get one soon.
I promise.


Listening to High Hopes - Kodaline

Alpha and Omega.

TK

Here & Now

Having similar time zones can be a real blessing.
I can be 3000 kilometres away from home
and still know what time it is.
That means I can probably guess what everyone is up to at the very moment as I'm thinking about it.
I could completely off track though.
Its not like I know their schedules or anything.
Things change, of course.
But it isn't take rocket science to know what they're up to now.
They're all dressed up.
Handsome and beautiful.
Elegant and charming.

Its been exactly a year and a year after I kinda felt that.
Although to be fair, there was more going things to do than to enjoy.
But the moment, that night, would remain etched in my memory for the rest of my life.
Here I am, typing this.
I'm wearing my Radioactive Domo tee on the inside and my checked blue shirt on the outside.
I don't know why I'm typing this, but I just felt a need to.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that 'I'm here, and they're there'.
But its not like I'm jealous or anything.
Okay well maybe just a little, even if I'm not feeling it, its never nice (or safe) to give a 100% guarantee.
Ain't that right ?

I want to remember this moment.
Not as a moment of regret or sadness.
There's no point in being all sad and stuff.
Life is just too good for me to be whining like a little b**c*.
I might not be there right now, but life goes on.
And I just wanna wish everyone that I care about a 'good night'.
As in have a night which is good and happy.
Not get high.

I really wonder why I'm typing this.
This whole blog post I mean.
I guess after watching Glee's The Quarterback, reading the first 130 pages of an illegally downloaded PDF of Perks of Being A Wallflower, re-watching the trailer of About Time 20 times all in one day, you just can't help but feel like appreciating your time and life a little more.
I just want to memorialise this moment.
Even if it means absolutely nothing to me.
Have fun guys =)

What am I doing ?
Finals are next week.


Listening to Lakehouse - Of Monsters and Men

I never know what the future holds,

just like everyone else.

Time catches up to all of us.

I've tried to live everyday, 

as if it was the final day,

of my extraordinary ordinary life.

Getting sentimental.

TK

Grocery Bags

For me it was just a typical day.
Chasing after the final CATs of the day has become quite the norm.
After a day-long trip to the library,
I find myself running through the cultural square,
past the train station and along Forrest Chase.
I needed a timer for the CAT.
Unfortunately the timer at Forrest Chase's CAT stop has malfunctioned.
So I had to make my way to Raine Square.
It was further away down the road,
but I just felt insecure about not knowing when the CAT may come.

After a short walk down William St,
I find myself crossing the road in a rather impatient manner.
My back was slightly hunched as I walked on with my classic poker face.
Perhaps I chose to keep a stern expression on my face
because I was somewhat deaf to my surroundings.
All I could hear was the music blasting from my earphones.
Regardless of how people might think of my walking style,
I walked hastily towards the CAT stop at Raine Square.

Almost there, I thought to myself.
But just as I was holding my breath and making my final few steps to the timer,
someone came out of the square.
It was a short, little girl, probably around her 20's despite her height.
I guess the best word to describe her was 'petit'.
And I must point out, she was Asian.
She was holding grocery bags.
There was no doubt about it.
She was just shopping at the Coles in Raine Square.
Well, I didn't really care about what she was doing,
or where she wanted to go.
She came out of the entrance and just stopped.
Right in the middle of the pavements.
And right in the middle of MY way.
Unsurprisingly, I couldn't react as well to this sudden 'obstacle'
because of my "deafness".
For a second there, I lost my balance trying to stop my heavy footsteps.
But I managed walk around her without making too much of a fool out of myself.
What a weird girl, I thought to myself.
I didn't really give much though to her after that.

Back to my timer.
4 minutes, it says.
Good.
There were still CATs running, and I didn't have to wait for more than 5 minutes.
It was quite dodgy really.
There were no chairs at the stop.
It was in the middle of a street so lots of people were walking.
It'd be hard to find a good spot to stand without getting in everyone's way and looking like a complete idiot.
I backed up a little and leaned on the walls of one of the closed shops behind me.
My poker face still unfazed by the earlier loss of balance and hearing.
3 minutes.
I can see the CAT coming from a distance.
Yay, I thought to myself.
It couldn't wait to get home and have dinner.
I was starving.
And what better way to reward myself for a day of hard work
than to chow down on a plate of whatever-Mom's-making-tonight.
Yes, yes.
All the food in the world...
but my train of thoughts were interrupted by the Asian girl I saw earlier.
She walked pass me.
Approached the bus stop sign.
I wasn't sure whether she was reading what was on it.
But she redirected her attention to the Aussie couple standing next to it.
She talked.
It felt a little weird.
Asians don't talk to Aussies.
Especially Aussies dressed in black.
I thought they'd look scary.
They were talking about something.
But I couldn't hear, obviously.
What I could hear was Gary Lightbody singing :
"I imagine you were home, in your room, all alone...."
Oh well.
She was probably asking about the CAT or something like that.
One thing I've noticed with Asian people are.
If the get on the CAT, they'd probably get down at Harbour Town.
I don't know why.
Do they live there ?
Do ALL Asians live there ?
I bet the girl was also heading to Harbour Town.
She was just asking for confirmation.
Nothing better than the local's advice, right ?
Well, nothing special about that.

As Taylor joined Gary for the chorus,
the timer went down to 2 minutes.
But that's not the only thing that caught my attention.
The Asian girl was walking towards me.
By instinct, I stared at her as she came closer.
My hands automatically pulled my earphones off my ears.
So much for enjoying the chorus, I thought.
Just as I finished telling myself that,
the girl opened her mouth and the next thing I knew,
a cluster of confusing syllables came out.
"............ basu stecion........"
That was the only thing I could make out.
Judging by her accent, she was probably Japanese.
Maybe even Korean.
Well, I thought she wanted to know where the bus station was.
So I lifted my hand lazily and pointed towards the structure across the street.
Problem solved.
But she continued with another weird puzzling sentence.
".................Ro.........street........."
It was already bad enough I couldn't understand her first sentence,
but now her second sentence seems totally unrelated.
At that point, I've given up hope.
Her speaking skills are just terrible.
All I did was give her an honest answer.
"No. I don't know where it is."
I was being honest.
The street name that she spouted out with considerable effort sounded like it belonged outside the city.
At least nowhere near the suburbs that I was familiar with.
Just as I was waiting to give her another "honest" answer to her next question,
she asked "Where are you from ?"
Her sentence still lacked clarity, but I could actually understand it this time.
Without thinking twice, my mouth blurted out "Malaysia".
It was probably due to my acquaintances asking about my country-of-origin so much.
I figured she'd probably wanted to know about which suburb I lived in.
Unfortunately, before I could correct myself,
she walked away.
I guess she's given up hope on getting any helpful advice or assistance from me.

I just stood there, slightly shaken.
I put my earphones back on.
At this point, the timer had gone down to 0 minutes and
Gary was singing the final chorus with Taylor.
The bus within clear sight.
The traffic lights at the corner of the building turned green and the CAT drew closer and closer.
With thoughts of my epic dinner gone, I turned my attention back to the little girl.
I thought she'd try asking other people but she didn't.
She just kept walking down the street.

Was she going to keep walking aimlessly ?
How is she going to get home ?
She can barely speak English, I doubt she could read.
All these thoughts suddenly flooded my brain.
The CAT stopped in front of me.
Everyone got on.
I got in line at the very back.
I was having my doubts.
Should I try to help the little girl ?
What could someone like me do ?
I couldn't even understand her.
As the passengers slowly boarded the CAT,
my heart started beating faster and faster.
It was what psychologist would call a "fight or flight" situation.
To stay behind, miss the last CAT and help the girl get home.
Or to just ignore her and go home.
My stomach felt a little weird.
My intestines felt slightly twisted and uneasy.
My feet just lifted itself and before I knew it, I was on the CAT.
I quickly scanned the vehicle for a seat.
Found one and sat down.
The CAT started moving.
It went pass the girl.
She was still walking.
Still carrying her grocery bags.
I wonder would she ever find her way back home.
Regret and guilt filled my heart.
When it to my stop, I thanked the driver and got down.

Then I started running.
I ran and ran.
I didn't know why I ran.
I just wanted to. I needed to.
I stopped outside a building near my apartment.
I was panting heavily.
I sat down on a short brick fence.
Thinking about what had just happened.
Still panting and listening to a repeated Gary singing :
"This is the last time I'm asking you....",
I stared up at the sky.
No stars.
Two women walked past me but I decided to ignore them.
After catching my breath,
I stood up and walked towards my apartment.
What happened that day was truly a rare experience for me.
The little girl was probably afraid and alienated.
She shopped for groceries at the supermarket.
Something an experienced Asian wouldn't really do.
They'd just buy their groceries from Asian stores at Northbridge a.k.a China Town.
This must've been a traumatising experience for her,
and for me as well.
We both felt helpless in our own ways.

From what we've discussed in my English lessons,
language empowers.
It empowers us to participate in society.
The fact that the little girl lacked the ability to speak well
must mean that she felt disempowered.
Her self esteem was all sapped away.
That was probably why she stopped asking people for directions after talking to me.
I assumed she'd thought it was pointless asking some other Aussies when even an Asian kid like me failed to understand her.

"Language empowers us." is a common phrase reiterated in my English lessons to no end.
I've used it in my oral exams.
It was the most basic sentence one could say to score a few extra marks.
I thought they were empty words.
Words that I'll never understand.
But those words have value now.
I finally understand what they truly meant.
They finally made sense.
The true importance of language.
Maybe it was dead apparent for many people.
They naturally understood the importance of language and its empowering aspects.
Alas, I am not one of those "many people".
But I am grateful for understand what they truly mean to a person now.
Thank you, little girl.
I didn't see you today.
I hope you're home already.
Safe and sound.


Listening to The Woman I Love - Jason Mraz

I want time to stop.

TK

Aim-less

Wassup everyone ?
Hello ?
Anyone here ?
Guess not.

Oh wait.
There is.
Here you are.
Yes I'm talking typing to you !
Well, there IS someone reading (YOU !),
I guess I'll blog and try to think of some interesting events
that've conspired last week.

Hmmmmm.....
I still can't think of anything.
(That's me thinking with 2.5 months of no hair cutting)
I've been studying (omg hum-bragging 0_0 )
for tests the whole week.
That and assignments.
Yes, I have tests.
Tests that count !
I got my first B in Maths.
Its gonna look so out of place in my report card.
Oh wow,
I'm bragging unconsciously.
Oh well,
can't expect to be perfect.

What else ?
Had 3 hours sleep on Thursday,
and proceeded to go to school
and hang out on Friday.
Ohhhh and SKYPE,
before crashing into my bed.
Maybe I should blog about my relationship with my bed ?
My bed's awesome.
I sleep with it every night.
Not that I'm objectum-sexual or anything.
(Which, in case you're wondering, DOES exist. Google !)
But it just feels soooo good to be with it.
I know it sounds a little awkward to use the word 'it'.
Well, my bed is kinda blue.
So calling it a 'she' would be kinda be a little misleading.
Calling it a 'he' would just garner disgusted looks.
So 'it' it is.
(My bed comes with lips btw, perfect for making out.....not that I do it or anything)

Well, let's see.
What else is there to add ?
My life is pretty boring, isn't it ?
Well, at the rate its going,
I wouldn't really call it a 'life' anymore.
#NeedToGetALife .....
#AfterFinals ....
Well, I guess I should make a little shoutout to Freo.
Our local footy club who've just earned themselves a spot at finals....
which they just lost this morning....
No I wasn't watching footy.
I was simply staring at my TV screen while
doing stuff on my laptop.
Its really hard to avoid, y'know.
My TV screen is just THAT big.
Ok that was intentional bragging.
But I guess there's no point in talking about that.
I never really watch TV nowadays.
Now that I think about it,
the only show I've ever watched on Aussie TV was
MKR.
I'm sure there're other shows that would appeal to me.
But I'm just too lazy to commit XD
My weekly dose of visual entertainment is basically just :
Vanguard on Sunday,
Yugioh on Monday,
Naruto on Thursday.
Oh, that sounded so pathetic.
Like really pathetic.
Really REALLY pathetic.
I need to stop re-reading that line.
Just move on...
But I guess I'll forever be geeky.
#GeekForLife
Oh wait,
actually...
I looked up the difference between Geeks and Nerds on Google.
Looks like I'm more of a nerd.
#NerdForLife

And here I am,
sitting down in my room,
with just a single lamp to illuminate it.
Typing on my laptop,
(which I will have to return to the school on my birthday)
while trying to figure how to plan my holidays properly.
Oh did I mention its the holidays ?
I won't re-read what I've just wrote to
avoid any further cringing.
There's actually a list of stuff I need to do.
I write them all down.
But in the end,
I only got to do half of ONE of the agenda.
Well,
there was also 1 hidden agenda that I didn't write down.
SLEEP.
OVERSLEEP.
I did such a good job with that one.
Its been FOREVER since I last slept for nine hours.
Well, until today.
I think I got about 11 hours worth of sleep.
THAT felt good.
Of course, that totally ruined my mood to go out and
actually get stuff done.
But Oh well,
I still have 2 weeks to goof off.
I'll operate my study timetable into the leftover times I have.
(but we all know that isn't gonna happen)

I guess that's all I have to say for now.
Maybe I'll blog a little more this week,
so tune in for more.


Listening to A Love Like War - All Time Low feat. Nic Fuentes

Ready to let go ?

TK