Selamat Hari Kebangsaan!

"Tanggal 31, bulan lapan, lima puluh tujuh... Merdeka, Merdeka!"

Yeah, that's one of the few patriotic songs I know, embarrassingly. I do still remember the lyrics to Setia... I think. Anyhow, I don't care what you say! I am full blooded Malaysian, no matter how many times you affiliate me with that island down south!

It's a quiet Merdeka day for KL residents this year. The celebrations have been shunted to my father's hamlet hometown - Kuantan. And I'm more than glad I'm not one of those red, white, yellow or blue clad school kids continuously waving flags and scarves while singing some badly composed patriotic song for almost an hour. Can we not come up with something more creative after 47 years of independence? Or is it part of the constitution to drag submissive school kids to the parade just to form a human flag?

As a tribute to the nation's independence, my sister and I are attempting to make a tiramisu cake today. I do not have very high expectations of it, seeing that I had to replace the mascaporne cheese with another italian cheese as my sister is quite determined to make that cake, with or without the right ingredients!

My printer is also quite determined to annoy me by printing as slowly as possible, with or without the right colours!

I can't do this!

I can't live without a routine. I wake up at 8am and think "Shouldn't I be somewhere?" and then recall that staying in bed is considered a luxury to some and maybe I should just draw that duvet back over my head. But no! I toss and turn for about 15 minutes, and then decide I've had enough of sleeping. It's time to start the day.

But what with?

My diary which has been filled with reminders and 'to do' lists is now so empty, it's almost lifeless (roughly the same condition I am in). I know I'm supposed to do stuff for MSoc, but now that I have all the time in the world, it's just too much time to handle and MSoc things become insignificant teeny tasks. Not important because I didn't pen it down in red in my diary and underlined it at least twice.

I wonder what such obsessive compulsive behaviour will do to me in my old age!

The last day of work is finally here! Popped off from work at 1pm sharp (practically ran helter skelter out of there!). A very unexciting end to an unexciting attachment. Half the office wasn't even there on my last few days of work.

Strangely enough, now that I am free, I don't really feel like doing MSoc work. Maybe its fatigue, maybe I've reached the end of my rope, maybe I just want to enjoy doing absolutely nothing for awhile.

I'm tempted to do something totally outrageous and out of this world next week. Like baking or something...

And catch up on some TV, newspapers, blogs, and finally get down to starting my Literature reading list. Every time I look at it I feel like crying. Engineers shouldn't be put through the torture of doing humanities! Oh well, Literature was still the better of all the evils (which includes stuff like History of the Roman Empire, Music and Western Civilisation, Politics and Philosophy...). It's time to get back to Hardy and Blake and Lawrence, and forget Fourier and Laplace and that stupid cat!

I am le tired.

And judging from the nicks on msn, so is everyone else.

After weeks and weeks of MSoc work (yeah, that's right - MSoc work! Because I don't do any real work in the office anyway) I took a weekend break, dumped my freshers list on Tao, sent off my half written M-nite script to Ayish, packed my bags and jumped on a night train to Singapore.

I was quite determined not to be reached in Singapore. I had swapped my Maxis sim card for a Starhub one, and only my parents and Singaporean friends knew my number. I would be far far away from the Internet on Sentosa Island with Singsoc. And if all else failed, Lionel was quite determined not to let me do any MSoc work too!

So I arrived in Singapore on a bright Saturday morning and immediately hopped on an SBS bus (gosh... I've missed SBS buses!) straight to NUS into Charmaine and Joseph's welcoming car. Charme brought me to the Art's canteen for it's famed food... but my stomach felt kinda stapled the moment I crossed the causeway. After a quick shower I ran off to RJ (leaving my towel in Charme's room in the process! Go me!).

Odacia was, well, good actually! It was great to see all of you... and you... and the day had ups and downs AND a football smashed into my face, but it was all good. Hanging around aimlessly and talking cock with Odac just like the old days... watching the Olympic table tennis match, sitting on the floor at Taka basement, eating dinner (I didn't think the old Odac habit still existed!)... I'm sorry I didn't stay longer. And it wasn't as I had feared - that things had changed and gone and moved on and that you guys would see a different me and not like it. But it didn't happen, and even Morris was so nice to comment, "I see your fashion sense hasn't changed".

By the time I reached Sentosa it was past 9pm. Taking the bus over to Sentosa, quite alone, little puffs of memory clouds passed through my mind - especially that dreadful YEC Camp, Odac seniors farewell, and other times spent with friends come and gone... and it felt a little weird to literally leave Odac behind and join a new bunch of friends in Singsoc. Odac which has always represented Singapore for me is slowly being replaced.

Lionel picked me up from the visitor centre smelling of BBQ smoke, and brought me to the chalets where the first person I chanced upon was Ronald Huang! (Not so big a surprise) Lester was somewhere around too (also not that big a surprise), but then Ronald pointed out Bok and said "You're still scared of him, right?". Ouch! 3 Odac seniors, now my juniors... guess there won't be a dull moment at Imperial anymore. It was great meeting up with my seniors. I've missed their bullying. Meeting up with Jacq, Darren, Ee Wen, etc. was great fun too. I'm now feeling the pressure of holding a camp that's up to standard. Loved the little airconditioned hut I shared with Lionel - seriously Singaporeans are spoilt!

Guess I missed most of the activities at the camp, but still managed to pick up some gossips with regards to the infamous Lester Loi who's made himself quite popular! Had breakfast at Macs where Kai Leng mistook a real dog's bark for Jac and Marvin's barks and sent a disapproval warning to our table. Then went back to Lionel's house to bathe and change and then it was out to Suntec again to meet my brother for lunch. Fed him enough seafood to make him sick! He didn't even want desert! Then after going to church with my little brother, I went back to Orchard to meet the linsteadians for Xiao Loong Pow (however you spell it lah...). Didn't eat much because my stomach was still stapled but managed to stuff 3 tar sau pows! Go me!

We then headed over to Jac's house and I was introduced to her menagarie of animals, whose names you'd swear were right off a restaurant menu! That's what you get for calling your dog Tofu and hamster Zi Ma and Char Siew Pau. Darren scared the living daylights out of her parrot by prodding it with a stick. I don't think I ventured near it at all. At least Tofu likes me, dogs can SO sense that you're a cat lover, Alex!!

Nearly fell asleep while the guys watched football, and Lionel and I pretty much concussed after Alex dropped us back. But not before I got to finally check my mail while Lionel was taking a bath, even though I was sort of forbidden to. Spent Monday morning just lazing around until it was time for me to go. I don't get many chances to laze around on a working day, and with Lionel at that!

And now it's back to work again. I don't mean office work of course. I'm on call for Msoc 24-7. In fact my phone was continuously ringing the night a got back! Looks like I can't really leave MSoc alone, even for ONE weekend. Can't wait to run back to Singapore again on the 8th! Yes, I'll be back, and maybe this time we can say more than just hi, bye and ask annoying questions, huh?

My weekdays have just become a buzz. But the weekends are hell-uva joy ride!
I just couldn't wait for last Friday to end. Lionel and Darren boarded a bus from Singapore at midnight to arrive here at 6am. Woke up at 7am with a shock to find no miss calls or smses on my phone. Lionel's idea of being considerate was my idea of causing me to worry and imagine all the unimaginable possibilities that could have happened to them.

Finally brought them over to my place and after a rest we set off for KLCC, for an MSoc committee meeting. Must have been broken all committee meeting records! 5 hours in the KLCC food court! By the end of it my voice had half disappeared and Amar was suffering hunger pangs at home... waiting for us to join him for Asam Laksa... which we did eventually. Yummy!

Plans to watch House of Flying Daggers with Lionel didn't turn out so we ended up tucking in on garlic naans and special rotis at Murni. All diets set by my mum were completely ignored.

Lionel and I spent the entire Sunday lazing around, eating banana leaf, looking for parking at Ikano, wolfing down Peranakan food and finally watching House of Flying daggers before playing chauffeur and picking up Amar, Darren and Fong May for some late night mamak in Bangsar.

Had to wake up earlier (haha, like about 10am) to go shopping at Midvalley on Monday. Didn't really find anything worth buying and I guess I was kind of tired from the lack of sleep. Finally sent Lionel off at Palace of the Golden Horses where his parents were waiting for him.

Nothing like a weekend spent lazing around with Lionel. Will be in Singapore next weekend to take a sneak peak at Sojourn (and of course for Odacia-lah... I haven't forgotten about you guys). Right now I just have to worry about this Saturday's Gamuda scholarship awards ceremony. Tuning my guitar, practising vocal scales... how long has it been since I last performed for an audience?

2 more weeks till the end of my practical training. I'm counting down the days (10), and if I'm bored enough I'll count the hours too!