This is Bob. Flat 1's resident Christmas mascot. It was a Christmas present from Lionel and myself to our household... and doesn't Bob look charming, decorated with kitchen foil and paper stars and my earrings. It even has the honour of being flanked by Amar's Lord of the Rings statues and Fidel's fridge magnets from Prague are happily lining Bob's foot (feet?). Just in case you are wondering, all 3 trees are called Bob, because Lu says we shouldn't discriminate (and besides if we were to give them all different names, when we shift the basket around we won't be able to tell the left tree from the right tree)  

Last night was a great party... just a few old friends (all Bbians and just us 3 Sri Amanians and Ravi's sister), a bit of drinks, good music, and hilarious old school stories. That's the way reunions are meant to be... to celebrate Jere's coming of age... the last one of the gang.

Bbian reunions are bound to remain a model for us Amanians. The sincerity, the comraderie, the loyalty which has lasted since they were shorter than us girls, amazingly shines through between crude jokes and Amil promoting Adidas or his Rudolph Red single every 15 minutes, or Prashant and KC concocting the weirdest intellectual-wannabe stories (how does KC say particle accelerator 5 times and still not explain what it does??) or Sachpal trying to tickle Anu or Jere's climbing on the roof or Ravi trying to stop his sister from drinking... good times lah, good times.

Will have a sequel tonight. Am trying to finish my homework so that I can go there with a clear concience.

Easier said than done.

psst... Lionel's back home... Emperor's gate is only missing its one pinky, naggy, girly occupant now. Just 3 more days. The fridge and oven had better be cleaned out before that, do you hear me, Yi Shan??? And the stove too. Don't think I don't know you haven't done any cleaning for a month!

3 days left before I fly back to London. And I haven't completed a single assignment! I am sooooo digging a deep trench for myself. Buck up, Charl!

Instead I spent the whole day with Charme, just chatting in my house. We're such old, lazy pigs... we didn't even feel like leaving my comfy comfy room. Haha, but how good it is to have a good ol' girl talk with a good ol' friend. Sherene, how I wish you could have been there!!!

Leaving for Jere's birthday party soon. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY JERE! Man... it's taken you this long to become a legitimate adult? Just have to look for my suit of armour to face the usual onslaught from Bhai, Ravi, Jere, Amil, etc. etc. Sigh...

From an estimate of 5000 deaths on Sunday, people all over the world are waking up to the news that the worldwide death toll stands at a staggering 23 thousand... and is rising yet.

My family is following the news closely, as we're still in shock at how close a call it was for us... and for our relatives. My grandparents who live in Penang, were fortunately only inconvenienced by power shortage. My aunty, in her flat along the Tanjung Bungah stretch, is well and helping with the relief aid workers at the churches and hospitals. On the evening when the news reached us, we were frantically calling another aunty, who's family was due to drive up to Penang from KL, that same day. By a stroke of luck, they postponed their beach holiday because my cousin's husband fell sick. My uncle who we believed to have been in Phuket at the time, finally rang us yesterday to say he didn't make the trip. And now that we've accounted for all that we can account for... there's only so much we can do as we watch the news on CNN or BBC and pray for them.

And I don't like the stand that is being taken. The fingers that are being pointed. The slam on the warning systems and weather stations and governments. How easy it is for affluent nations to talk and experts to give their advice when all that we can say, poor developing nations that we are, is that we have no money to buy all the latest meterological equipment they say we should have. We in the Indian Ocean region have never experienced anything like this before. In fact we have often comforted ourselves knowing we are out of the Ring of Fire. How could we prepare for what we do not know?

Perhaps it is a way of bringing the world together again, as we mourn with others in their grief. Perhaps... it's incredibly idealistic, but it's not the time to be cynical now.

News

... and the death toll is rising. 43 in Malaysia. Hundreds and thousands else where.

And I can only sit here and pray and thank God it didn't happen when my family was in Penang just 2 days ago. When we were on the exact same stretch of beach, jet skiing and playing with the sand, which was the part worst hit by the tidal wave. The few photos of a shattered Batu Ferringhi and Tanjung Bungah make me shiver because the image of my family being there enjoying the sun and sea is still so fresh in my mind.

His mercies are boundless...

News

On this day is born to you a Saviour... Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Christmas is getting quieter and quieter every year. As my cousins get married off, one by one... the festive cheer is dying down. And now, there aren't anymore Christmas eve gatherings. There's no one around.

So we had a lovely little Christmas dinner all to ourselves, prepared by the three of us. Then we put up the Christmas tree, opened presents and went to sleep.

This morning Daddy drove us to a little church in Sungai Buloh (because he said it would be nice to support little fledgling churches on Christmas day... and not get stuck in the massive hot, noisy and sweaty crowd at our usual churches). I suppose I survived the service with a few cynical thoughts running through my head. But that happens when I'm not in a Catholic church. And since it was Christmas, I told myself to shut up.

Got a christmas present from Greg - a surprise email this morning. Probably one of the better highlights of my day. Man, I still miss the way we used to talk about Christmas and church and everything...

Had the usual family lunch at my aunt's house. Albeit with a much smaller family. As I said before, no one is around. My nephew is adorable. There will be more of them tonight at my uncle's house. The little kids. Maybe I'll try to be nice for Christmas. But I only like the ones that don't scream...

I'm tired. Christmas isn't what it used to be. If I had a Christmas wish list... I'd want to have
1. Lionel with me and not anybody else for Christmas
2. Be back in cosy Emperor's Gate
3. Have Mum roast a huge chicken with stuffing and cranberry sauce for family dinner
4. All my cousins back for Christmas
5. My lost CD collection returned to me

Merry Christmas!

Back from Penang, the sun, sea and surf (and the toxic Penang waters, it's a biological hazard in there!). Tried to finish 2 courseworks and a Literature text. Failed miserably. Instead went parasailing, jet skiing and even rode a Banana boat. Am still not cured of sea sickness.

My sleep cycle is wrecked. I wanna go back to my snuggly bed in Emperor's Gate and hibernate for the winter. Oh man... who am I kidding... I don't want MY bed, I want Lionel's bed cos the duvet is softer and the duck-down pillow is nicer to hug.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

home...

home home home...
home home...

Leaving for the airport on less than 20 minutes. There's not much anticipation about going home this time, a rather nonchalent feeling. I've done this before... it can't be as bad as the last time I went home for winter break. *Especially* the last time.

There will be no wrongs to right this time. No tears to shed. No promises to make. No hopes to be shattered.

Just me, two weeks, and 5 unfinished courseworks.

Don't want to have to think of Emperor's Gate - all lonely and quiet. It's not used to this kind of silence! But it will just have to go into hibernation and spring back anew in the spring term (literally)

And just as a side note...

... friendster is getting too freaky for me. If the theories of peer pressure applied to me, I am actually reaching spinsterhood while others are making plans to have a second child and I should be desperately plotting to get a ring on my finger (heaven knows why... they irritate my skin anyway...). When you chance upon 3 married friends (with an average age of 22) in less than 10 minutes on friendster... it starts to alarm you. And it's no less alarming when friends you speak to insist on getting married before they reach their mid-twenties. What ever for? My boyfriend helps me with laundry every week now. Matrimonial vows will probably reduce laundry rates to 0.026%. It's the gospel truth! And somewhere in the small print of the pre-nupt there's a clause which says he will be tone-deaf to your whining and will only buy you flowers when he's forgotten your birthday.

Maybe I should call my mum tomorrow and tell her so-and-so is married... and freak her out for the fun of it. We just love annoying each other, me and my mum. That's why God made us such thick-skinned, hoity-toity, in-your-face women... who still expect our men to help us with laundry.

Now I know why people say Christmas is the loneliest time of the year...

After the tinsel stops glittering, and the lights stop blinking, and you begin to see past the fancy deco... you can really feel completely alone, especially when the only person you are used to depending on every day isn't here... but all the way in New York! Sometimes all it takes is one person to disappear from your daily life, and you cease the ability to function normally.

I can't wait for these 3 weeks to end...

Oh the pinkiness...

If you didn't see this coming... I don't know what to say.

All the cotton candy pinkiness and soft marshmallow fluff of the Christmas season must be kicking in.

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We went to Hamleys today, Lu, Lionel and I. If you don't count having to wait at the doors as batches of customers were let in every 10 minutes (due to security reasons), Hamleys is like a Wonderland for any age. Lu and Lionel got to ogle at die cast models, F1 cars and miniatures... while I had to be pulled away from the Barbie doll section (read deprived childhood - I only owned 2 Barbie dolls, of which my sister decapitated both). As we were actually at Hamleys on a mission (to find presents for Lionel's little niece and nephew) we scoured every floor for suitable toys (I suspect it was more out of wanting to be little kids ourselves and playing with everything rather than searching for gifts). We eventually ended up at the Bear Factory, where I got to make 2 teddy bears and put hearts in each of them. I really wanted to make a labrador puppy, but neither Lu nor Lionel thought it looked cute enough... and personally I believe no puppy can be cuter than Dewy! He'd be really jealous of a new puppy, I'm quite sure of that!

Both the Emperor's Gate households had dinner at Garfunkels later courtesy of Lu's dad. Thank you, uncle! Amar had to miss it due to his unfortunate timing of being on a plane heading back to Malaysia. (Btw, Amar, a slice of your Panetone is still sitting in the kitchen... and your Geisha and carrot videos are spreading around the Emperor's Gate network like wild fire).

And now that I'm done with this splurge of pink, it's back to lab reports...

It's 3am in the morning and I just have to blog this! Lionel's all curled up under the snuggly duvet and tightly clutching the big fat duck feather pillow I bought him last term and snoring like a little pig. He looks so blissful, and so huggable! But I'm not supposed to wake him up. Darn!

Chien Liq treated Lionel, Fidel and I to coffee today. Just a good old chat with friends (both new and old) over warm mugs of Chocolate Mint Milk, Eggnog and Gingerbread. Sometimes its just nice to get a bunch of people who hardly have anything in common and just laugh like old friends. Thanks for the treat... hope it made you feel a leeetle bit better, if at all.

I managed to make it for the last bit of the Emmanuel carol service today. Rushed into the darkened MDH after German and surprisingly found a seat. After I'd pulled myself together from the cold outside, to my surprise I found MSoc and Singsoc people seated all around me. And right in front of me was in fact Amar (falling asleep) and Jia Hong. In fact the carol service was packed with more Asians than Caucasians... makes you wonder... a little.

The singing was nice as always. I would have liked to have been at the whole service, but well, no one told me I missed anything. In fact rather the opposite. And I suppose all was well... I'm always apprehensive about sermons and speakers. And I do miss the odd Christmas Carol. With my head filled with C++ and Motor Speed Controls, it's hard to feel the Christmas spirit.

Anyhow, I've finally drawn a resistor through VCL and Grace will be here in less than 10 hours. All will be well with the world. Peace on earth, good will to men.

Of Castles and Raya Dinners, Programming and Christmas Cookies... Bunga Rayas and Coconuts...

When you are rushing a project that could pull your grades down to the abyss of doom, the days just seem to fly by while you desperately try to cling on to them and kick yourself for not having started earlier and instead wasted way too much time unnecessarily on other little things (MSoc for instance!)

So maybe I had the last 4 days to catch up on ALOT of undone programming. But who can think of C++ when you are travelling down to Canterbury with a busload of Singaporeans? Canterbury of the famed Canterbury Tales and THE Canterbury Cathedral is a picturesque town (although I suspect that is only the touristy centre of it). The Cathedral is the numero uno factor for this surviving little town, apart from the Roman wall that surrounds it... and well, I'm usually the last person to criticise anything old and ready of restoration... but well, nothing particularly interesting about this Cathedral. I liked the St. Nicholas parade better. Now, that's something you don't see in London everyday! The one canal we spotted did give it a little bit of old Elizabethan flavour, otherwise Canterbury is something I'd just like to remember as a story book town.

After some Cornish pastries and the unfortunate incident of my Waterstone balloon (the one that flew away), we got back on the bus and headed for Dover. When we arrived at 3pm, the daylight was beginning to dim and that definitely made Dover castle look all the more authentic as the medieval castle it was meant to be. I was no doubt terrified of exploring the dark and creepy passage ways and rooms in the castle while Lionel dragged me up and down stair cases and through dark galleries and who knows what. By 4pm the sun had pretty much almost set and as much as I wanted to see the white cliffs, I wanted to get out of the castle first! We managed to get a tiny glimpse of the white cliffs after following Kai Leng's lead and climbing up and around the castle grounds. Finally the quest to discover what that Dover Beach poem we did in SPM was all about was revealed... in a Pasir Panjang modern port scene. Dammit!

Otherwise, the day trip was a great escape from the usual weekend life. I rushed with Lionel in tow to the MSoc Hari Raya dinner upon arriving back at Imperial at 7.30pm. Luckily by the time we arrived they had barely started dishing out any food at all. I can't say much for the food. There were some mix ups and abit of committee intervention was required, but nevertheless - you always get happy faces when you put a huge bunch of Malaysians and food together!

Amar was also at the Raya dinner, having just arrived in London to be our Mary Poppins for one week. And while he's basking in the Christmas atmosphere, he made the most of the Sainsbury's baking aisle and thus we have a few tupperwares of pecan butter cookies. He's planning to go shopping for Christmas deco for the emperor's gate household. And as a gift to the household, we now have a new bottle of Molton Brown Thai Vert handwash. Just what we need Amar... branded hand soap! Don't forget the throw rug, Lionel and I asked for!

And as the term draws to a close I am frantically trying to finish the M-Nite script. Once I have finished it and assured myself that it will not be too much of a ridiculous laughing stock, I will insist that every friend and foe who is in the UK attend this Malaysian Night. How can you not be tempted to watch an original play entitled: Of Bunga Rayas and Coconuts? Hilarious, no? Ah, well as I discovered tonight, I certainly do very well cracking myself up... especially when no one else finds me the least bit funny!

Viewership of this blog has probably dropped tremendously... save for the few attacks on Xiao Kai in the tag board which never seem to cease.

I'm struggling to familiarise myself with Borland C++ GUI. I know I shouldn't have left it till this late, but I was still relying on my safety net of having programmed C++ for 2 years back in JC, but it's been more than 2 years since I coded my last C++ program.

And instead of finishing my programming project, (which I'm highly tempted to throw if it wasn't for my ambitiousness to score perfect first classes), I've been working my ass off on the MSoc membership card. It sounds trivial, but in reality my entire week was devoted to designing, printing and laminating 200 plus little cards. There Chris and I were on Tuesday, fiddling with Photoshop from 6pm till midnight, trying to salvage what we could of our lost design, revamping the old design, building the back of the card from scratch. Then on Wednesday from 6pm till 8pm, I sat with Lionel in the SAF comp labs, arduously watching each of the 24 pages struggle to be printed every 5 minutes! And from 8 till 9pm I practically broke my back bending over the cutter in the Library, slicing 200 little pieces of paper. Then on Thursday, not much was heeded of my call for help (although I greatly appreciated the help in pasting all the photos - which was done in less than an hour! See what happens when we work together??!!). But as one by one everyone left for their own afternoon activities... I was left to slice another 200 little cards (the back of the card this time) and then headed home to paste, trim and laminate them... card by card... thanks to SingSoc's little laminating machine (I didn't fancy staying in the EEE stores room until late, laminating cards). My housemates and I worked diligently until we laminated the final card at midnight with a sigh of joy and relief!

I really don't mind doing all this work. I was born with an irresistable need to do things for others. But is it just me, or am I the only one who wants to give it my best? I would once in awhile like to be asked if I need help, rather than rally for support everytime.

I'm feeling pretty much broken in spirit. I'm taking leave till end of the term. I need some time to myself and my struggling studies. If even XQ notices that I'm skipping Digital lectures, its high time I bucked up!

It's that time of the year again... to drag a bus-load (make that 2) of Malaysians up to Nottingham for 'the Games', make sure everyone gets a sandwich and a drink, ensure that all the players are where they should be at the right time, and then hit the town (but returning in time to cheer which ever team gets into the finals... I predicted Basketball and I was right!)
So after meeting up with Amar, who's positively haggard... what have you done to yourself, man?... Lionel and I left Notts Uni to do the tourist thing. I called Jilly who had some trouble giving me directions to town and to Nottingham Castle as she said it would be quite complicated. Guess what, Jilly? I got on Rainbow 5, just as you said, and got out when I saw the 'Robin Hood Tales' and lo and behold, what was right in front of me? Nottingham Castle! (Which was quite a dissapointment... I mean how many times can you try to burn and destroy a castle?)
After awhile we got tired of the whole tourist thing (especially when we started to see Malaysians with cameras at every turn), and we came to the conclusion that Robin Hood was overused. It wasn't just the 'Robin Hood Tales', 'Friar Tuckers' and 'Robin Hood' estate agency... it was the Robin Hood Knights Tandoori Restaurant that did it! And Adrian swears there is a Roo Bee Hoo Chinese Take-away in Notts too! I'll check with Jilly on that one!
Lionel and I eventually made our way to the Christmas markets (quite reminiscent of the markets in Austria and Germany) but after a really good pub lunch (London pubs completely outdone in this case!) the shopping bug got the better of us (oh alright, just me) and I returned to Notts Uni just in time to support Basketball finals with a new coat and a new pair of boots. Lionel and I unfortunately got off the bus at the wrong stop (the Lakeside) and thus walked the entire length of Notts Uni back to the sports centre in the dark. Its times like these you just have to love the bright London lights!
Well, IC MSoc did a great job at the Games. We didn't lose that many first rounds. *grin* and we were all so good and got on the buses on time! And didn't give Charlotte a headache, I say cheers to all of you!

And just for overkill I'm going to post 2 blogs in 1 hour. Don't you just love my sudden spurts of narcissistic information?

I'm beginning to find myself too annoying anyway. There's something seriously wrong when your own voice annoys you. Oh hell... who else have I been annoying?

I've been fervantly praying for more compassion. Some weeks it works, some weeks I just bloody want to piss everyone off. I'm starting to think I suffer from multiple personality disorder. Coupled with postponing homework disorder and falling asleep in lectures disorder (but at least I go for all my lectures... digital doesn't count).

Last Friday was Chris's surprise birthday party. They tried their darndest to get him wasted, they did! But, for all it was worth, Chris was still sober enough to talk to me about Membership Cards at the end of the night! You go, Chris!

I'm still working hard on the M-Nite script (practically trying to breathe life into it). What is scary is that after more than 6 months of working on it, what if the story flops? It's silly enough as it is. The gags and the witt jokes cover up a little, but it won't save it from drowning. I really hope Ayish and Dzam have more optimism with it than I have. CL too.

Going to watch Pagoda Street (a Singapore Playhouse London production) tonight. Hopefully an asian muscial will inspire me to be the astounding M-nite playwright I am trying so hard to be. I want to write a musical next time, dammit. (mumbles to ambitious self to shut up)

This Saturday I will be in Nottingham, hopefully exploring Nottingham town and NOT waiting at the sidelines to watch our teams trash other Malaysian teams (which is a given). I promise to come back in time to support the teams that do get into the finals, though.

Week after that, I'm going to Canterbury and Dover. It's nice to get out of London and finally see the white cliffs of Dover.

And 2 weeks after that Lionel will be in New York, and I will be home!

That's enough spam for another 2 weeks, I should think! Cheers!

Sometimes it's hard to be a proud Malaysian, particularly when your own politicians, (nay, Deputy Prime Minister) make comments that allow for the entire world to point fingers at my country and laugh out loud.

Take a moment to read Najib: NS needed because schools failed in integration from The Star, and then ask how an entire government can admit that their school systems have failed to integrate the young and teach them to mix without care of race, religion or background... and yet, they do nothing about the root of the problem.

Yes, we cannot change the system of having vernacular schools. But why implement NS when most young Malaysians have left school? If it is to be a 3 month 'OBS camp', why is it not implemented while we're still in school and can make the best out of it?

They don't try and change us when we're still in our formative years. When we're young and impressionable 13 or 14 year olds. Instead they try and change us when we're 17 or 18. When we're rebellious and no longer want to be labelled as children. When some of us are already working full time, married and worse still are already parents!

This isn't a problem of patriotism. This is a real social problem which exists in our society, whereby we don't tackle the root of the problem. Instead we try to fix what is broken, and at the same time allow the rest to continue breaking, so we can fix it.

Shame on you!

Ladida...

Here's to a lovely autumn day. Azure blue skies with nary a cloud. Bloody 6 degrees weather. And shivering icey fingers (thank goodness I never went to medical school... my patients would have died of shock from cold fingers!)

We're all at home awaiting the arrival of Amar. Except for Lionel. He's in Nottingham playing volleyball and probably grumbling about it.

So what's been up since all hallow's eve? It's hard to recall. The last 2 weeks went by in a flash, and now its the weekend again. In short this is how the last 2 weeks probably went (probably, because my mind is in quite a blur, wreck by committee dissentions and piling up homework and unvisited relatives)

• Started first round of M-nite auditions. 4 hours of listening to auditionees (whilst trying to film them... smile, you're on Candid Camera!) and I'm sick of my own script. Wrote a whole new scene in one night for the second round of auditions. I'm starting to really like Leslie's character, even if he is the baddie. Finalised the main cast yesterday and e-mailed all the final auditionees this morning. I hate dissapointing people, because I didn't get a role in the main cast myself last year and it was downright annoying to find out people who simply couldn't act had gotten a part (and I don't mean any of my comm members - I thought you guys were brilliant). Nevertheless, our final cast has a damn load of talent. I'm now trying to fit in supporting cast members, because we just can't waste all that lovely lovely talent!
• Pumped up the inflatable sofa. Very comfy for watching movies on, and I suppose Amar can use it as a bed when he comes down to London. Got an idea to fill it up with water so it becomes a water sofa bed... but decided not to, in case Yi Shan decides to rear little tropical fish in it, which he really thinks is a brilliant idea!
• Met up with Michelle and Andrew who were down from Sheffield for the weekend. Ying came along too and was surprisingly the earliest. I kept a look out for pink flying pigs. We had crepes at the Creparie and then bummed around in my room for awhile. Ah... I feel like I've done my bit with keeping up with old friends.
• Went round to Kristina's for a little potluck dinner together with all the Emperor's gate people. German pancakes and salad, roast duck and chicken wings with chilli char siew sauce and not forgetting Marvin and Jac's wine... cannot imagine a more international feast. Quite a merry night just chatting away and listening to renditions from Kristina and Marvin (who was attacked by a "No, hombre, no" speech impediment).
• Finished reading half of Dorian Gray. Fell asleep while reading it last night. Lionel claims I was talking in my sleep. Don't like the idea of self portraits anymore.

And so that pretty much rounds up my boring two weeks. I'm trying to ignore my homework but I hear Laplace Transforms calling. Integrating e^x^2 is interestingly quite a challenge still even though Ying says it can be done. I need to work on double integrals.

More Hallowe'en photos...