The final phase (illustrated... now)

Spring term ended yesterday, on a rather unexciting note because I had no last lectures to celebrate having missed most of them in the process of catching up on sleep and collecting orders for EEE polo t-shirts.

The EEE Malaysians tried to celebrate the end of term by dragging 27 overworked, fatigued and coursework drained Malaysians for a Lebanese dinner in High St. Kent (which XQ aptly called the Rombongan budak-budak Malaysia dari IC ke High St. Kent).

We tried to squash in as many people as we could into one photo!

I say tried because dinner turned out to be excruciatingly slow and many starved to death. Nevertheless, for a first time department gathering, the company was fun!

The 4th year seniors - or also known as the oldies!

The 3 EEE girls - we lasted till the very end!

And the many photos we took should be up on facebook soon.

As for the many photos taken of me when I had (drunkenly) concussed at Nimalen's place in the wee hours of the morning...
I'm still trying to figure out how I can bribe my way out of this... obviously cheesecakes aren't going to do the trick this time.


In other news - I got a Japanese haircut for 5 pounds! And I'm loving it, even if no one else can tell the difference.


So it's the last 3 months of life in Imperial. The curtains are closing, hopefully not before I finish revising for the last 6 engineering papers of my life!

Stupid things...for kicks!

Level 1
( ) Smoked A Cigarette
( ) Smoked A Cigar
( ) Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex
(x) Drank Alcohol

SO FAR: 1

Level 2
(x) Are / Been In Love
(x) Been Dumped
( ) Shoplifted
( ) Been Fired
( ) Been In A Fist Fight

SO FAR: 3

Level 4
(x) Had A Crush On An Older Person
(x) Skipped School
( ) Slept With A Co-worker
(x) Seen Someone / Something Die

SO FAR: 6

Level 5
( ) Had / Have A Crush On One Of Your Facebook Friends
(x) Been To Paris
(x) Been To Spain
(x) Been On A Plane
(x) Thrown Up From Drinking

SO FAR: 10 (this is not looking good so far...)

Level 6
(x) Eaten Sushi
( ) Been Snowboarding
(x) Met Someone BECAUSE Of Facebook
( ) Been in a Mosh Pit

SO FAR: 12

Level 7
( ) Been In An Abusive Relationship
(x) Taken Pain Killers
(x) Love/loved Someone Who You Cant Have
(x) Laid On Your Back And Watched Cloud Shapes Go By
(x) Made A Snow Angel

SO FAR: 16

Level 8
(x) Had A Tea Party
(x) Flown A Kite
(x) Built A Sand Castle
( ) Gone mudding (offroading)
(x) Played Dress Up (all the time!)

SO FAR: 16

Level 9
(x) Jumped Into A Pile Of Leaves
( ) Gone Sledging
(x) Cheated While Playing A Game
(x) Been Lonely
(x) Fallen Asleep At Work / School (countless really...)

SO FAR: 20

Level 10
(x) Watched The Sun Set
( ) Felt An Earthquake
( ) Killed A Snake

SO FAR: 21

Level 11
(x) Been Tickled
(x) Been Robbed / Vandalized
(x) Been cheated on
(x) Been Misunderstood (every single time!)

SO FAR: 25

Level 12
(x) Won A Contest
( ) Been Suspended From School
(x) Had Detention (no I really wasn't an angel in school)
( ) Been In A Car / Motorcycle Accident

SO FAR: 27

Level 13
(x) Had / Have Braces
( ) Eaten a whole pint of ice cream in one night
( ) Danced in the moonlight

SO FAR:28

Level 14
(x) Hated The Way You Look
( ) Witnessed A Crime
( ) Pole Danced
(x) Questioned Your Heart
(x) Been obsessed with post-it-notes (omg! It's like I'm being spied on!!)

SO FAR:31

Level 15
(x) Squished Barefoot Through The Mud
(x) Been Lost
(x) Been To The Opposite Side Of The World
(x) Swam In The Ocean
( ) Felt Like You Were Dying

SO FAR: 35

Level 16
(x) Cried Yourself To Sleep
(x) Played Cops And Robbers
(x) Recently Colored With Crayons / Colored Pencils / Markers
(x) Sang Karaoke
(x) Paid For A Meal With Only Coins (haha, all the time in Msia!)

SO FAR: 40

Level 17
(x) Done Something You Told Yourself You Wouldn't
(x) Made Prank Phone Calls
(x) Laughed Until Some Kind Of Beverage Came Out Of Your Nose
(x) Kissed In The Rain

SO FAR: 44

Level 18
(x) Written A Letter To Santa Claus
(x) Watched The Sun Set/ sun rise With Someone You Care/Cared About
(x) Blown Bubbles
(x) Made A Bonfire On The Beach or anywhere (so many times, i miss the
campfires)

SO FAR: 48

Level 19
( ) Crashed A Party
(x) Have Traveled More Than 5 Days With A Car Full Of People (my family
every single holiday!!!)
(x) Gone Rollerskating / Blading
(x) Had A Wish Come True
( ) Been Humped By A Monkey

SO FAR: 51

Level 20
(x) Worn Pearls
(x) Jumped Off A Bridge (well off a pier)
( ) Screamed "Penis" or "Vagina"
( ) Swam With Dolphins

SO FAR: 53

Level 22
( ) Got Your Tongue Stuck To A Pole/Freezer/ice Cube
( ) Kissed A Fish
(x) Worn The Opposite Sex's Clothes
(x) Sat On A Roof Top

SO FAR: 55

Level 23
(x) Screamed At The Top Of Your Lungs
( ) Done / Attempted A One-Handed Cartwheel
(x) Talked On The Phone For More Than 6 Hours
(x) Recently stayed Up for a while talking to someone you care about

SO FAR: 58

Level 24
(x) Picked And Ate An Apple Right Off The Tree (jambu lah, can?)
(x) Climbed A Tree
(x) Had/Been In A Tree House
(x) Been scared To Watch Scary Movies Alone

SO FAR: 62

Level 25
(x) Believed In Ghosts
( ) Have had More Then 30 Pairs Of Shoes (Aku Nak!!!!)
( ) Gone Streaking
(x) Visited Jail

SO FAR: 64

Level 26
( ) Played Chicken
(x) Been Pushed into a pool with all your clothes on
(x) Been Told You're Hot By A Complete Stranger
( ) Broken A Bone
(x) Been Easily Amused

SO FAR: 67

Level 27
(x) Caught A Fish Then Ate It Later
( ) Made A Porn Video/got asked to make one
(x) Caught A Butterfly
(x) Laughed So Hard You Cried
( ) Cried So Hard You Laughed (can meh?)

SO FAR: 70

Level 28
( ) Mooned/Flashed Someone
( ) Had Someone Moon/Flash You
(x) Cheated On A Test
(x) Forgotten Someone's Name >>so many times
(x) French Braided Someones Hair
( ) Gone Skinny Dipping
(x) Been Kicked Out Of Your House (yeah by mum... for not practising the
piano)
(x) Tried to hurt yourself

SO FAR: 75

Level 29
(x) Rode A Roller Coaster
(x) Went Scuba-Diving/Snorkeling
( ) Had A Cavity
(x) Black-Mailed Someone (xiaokai lots of times)
(x) Been Black Mailed (by xiaokai too)

SO FAR: 79

Level 31
(x) Been Used
(x) Fell Going Up The Stairs
( ) Licked A Cat
(x) Bitten Someone
(x) Licked Someone

SO FAR: 83

Level 32
( ) Been shot at/or at gunpoint
( ) Had sex in the rain
( ) Flattened someones tires
(x) Rode your car/truck until the gas light came on
( ) Got five dollars or less worth of gas

TOTAL: 84

84 out of 132 stupid things... hmm... how is killing a snake a stupid thing?

The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

The end of term is just a short 3 days away. As usual, I haven't started revising anything. So many things to procrastinate, so little time.

I've added back blog links on the right but I'm missing a whole lot of links because I've lost my old template for good. Give me a holler if I've missed yours. This Guy, you've changed your blog address so many times... I've given up remembering it.

If all goes well with Lionel's interviews, I'll be popping over to Chicago for a short holiday during Easter. Yay! If all doesn't go well, I still get to stay in London and do stuff... I guess.

These few weeks have been very trying, but at the same time quite self-gratifying. It's nice to know you have so many friends who care when you thought you had none. I still miss the old people though. More than ever now! Nevertheless... cheesecakes all around, when Christina finds me some Oreos! You can't find Oreos in London! Believe me, I spent half a Saturday trying.

It's really reeeeeally cold now. The middle of March just decided to go all frosty on us! *shiver*

If Charlotte made shoes...

They'd be pink...

... no surprise there!

Cook your own shoe at the Puma Mongolian Shoe BBQ

One day I'll go dancing on the moon

Echoes of thoughts bouncing back in the darkness

I don't read much Malaysian news when I'm too stressed with work/societies/MSoc elections (lol at that one) etc.

But I can't ignore the blaring trumpets heralding the brilliant SPM results (16, 17, 18 'A's?). When will the fanfare stop? Remember the days when 9A1s were almost impossible to obtain? Tell me now what happens to those 15 or 16A1 students when they reach university? I just need to look around Imperial and I can easily tell you that of the Malaysian scholars (JPA, Mara, Petronas) sent here, a good 5% fail and are never heard from ever again, or else repeat a year at the expense of our tax payers money. While the Singaporeans are always in the top percentile, a few rare Malaysians make it there and many more appear to be only mediocre or even at the back of the pack. Why make us feel good about our brilliant SPM results only to be outshone during our prestigious overseas education period?


On the British frontier...

Malaysian Society elections are heating up. Chien liq says I'm suffering from a common disease that afflicts some 'warga emas' of MSoc, namely 'IC-MSoc-Withdrawal-Symptoms'. Yes, CL, no insult of yours goes unnoticed! However this is a society I care too much for to lose to the Malaysian disease of apathy and cronyism and playing of racial cards. Our committee took great pains to build it up, it'll take only a day to tear it apart.


On the academic side...

Andrew says "FYP going up in smoke? Who cares?". Lol... you made my day lah, tai kor!


On other Charlotte-ism's news

Shopping is an afliction and Zhern Yoong will not let me go out unless he approves my dressing style and co-ordination.

I sang at the EE Revue yesterday, and if I get hold of the videos and recordings - they will be posted everywhere - blog, youtube, facebook, etc.

I also stepped on a foot with my 3 inch heels yesterday. That foot belonged to Prof. Peter Cheung head of undergraduates in EEE. If he hadn't been so impressed with my singing, I'm not sure he would have allowed me to graduate.



And on to the weather...

Spring is here!!!

Are our children dying for freedom, nation and countrymen?

Prema was eighteen. She died yesterday during National Service training, miles away from her parents and home.

She wasn't a soldier. She wasn't even part of a reservist army. She might not even have been there of her own will.

Her cause of death is unknown and in the most optimistic case (how do you make a death optimistic?) there may have been nothing anyone could do to prevent it.

But you know, and I know, that Prema did not deserve to die after collapsing in a public toilet on an unnecessary government programme that has not proven its worth and is becoming more of a national embarrassment than a racial integration tool.

8 trainees deaths since the inception of the program 3 years ago. What are our children dying for? For pretensive national harmony and integration?

Emperor's Gate - A photo montage

Being back at Emperor's Gate last week for Chongka's birthday was so nostalgic, I had to dig up the old photos. When Emperor's Gate was my own cosy little corner with the big kitchen!
It's like walking down memory lane...

I present to you, and it's current occupants:
Emperor's Gate - A photo montage tribute

[left photo of pillars, courtesy of Jac of the Flat 2, Emperor's Gate fame]

Moving in day. Marvin gets stuck in a household mop box. Also the day we eventually realised how my laptop got stolen!

Flat 1 used to house a strange collection of household pets which we became rather attached to, including the Bobs.

The soft toys in my room, including Dewy, Pingu and Yaya

Xiao ya

Bob I

Bob II - whom we grew so fond of, he joined us for dinner everyday and we could never bear to use it to garnish our Mee Siam

And the official 'Bring Maomao to London fund'. Flat 1 really did their best!


The kitchen was probably my favourite place in the flat. It was MY kingdom where I ruled supreme

And the kitchen really was quite spotless most of the time

And food was always in abundance! Oh alright, this one was an exception - for Chinese New Year 2005

The things I love best, lilies... and my kitchen! Oh and Lionel who's standing behind, of course!

The other rooms were just... okay...
Like the bathroom:
And the back rooms where Yi Shan built his Great Wall of China from a mountain of past year papers

I loved the cool dark corridors and the little hallway where Amar emptied half a bottle of champagne on me after MNite and had to mop everything up!

But second to the kitchen, I loved my room! With it's huge floor space and our inflatable sofa for watching TV on and my woven tatami mat for studying under fleece blankets on!

Lionel thought this would make a very funny family portrait of all the Emperor's Gate pets!

I just can't use a desk to study...
It's an organised mess!

But at the end of the day, Emperor's gate was about

the people...

The neighbours...

The occasional honorary house-member...


And the silly things we did...

It was home, for awhile...

Chinese New Year in a box!

The new year passed without a single pineapple tart... until today.

My mother for the first time heeded my pretenses of "haiyah, dun need to send new year goodies lah, so far, so expensive" and really didn't send anything this time! I only got the token angpow.

Lionel and family, however, took pity on me and decided to send me a box of their homemade pineapple tarts. And so I've been checking my pigeon hole everyday for the last week until I received this:
Of course on seeing the pierre cardin box, I realised I'd give up new year goodies for a new pair of shoes. But it was not to be.
This is aunty's typical way of packing stuff to minimise impact. Also because she says "tissue paper in London very expensive one! Singapore very cheap!"

And to my surprise, it wasn't just pineapple tarts (which thankfully haven't gone mouldy), but also cashew biscuits (my favourite!) and shrimp rolls (which I'm devouring now!).
Finally, some REAL festive cheer!

========================

In other news,

MSoc's CNY dinner was crap

The tiny ISE dinner (which I wasn't present for, but joined later for drinks) was fun and nice to have Hai back.

Shisha and chill out at Chrissy, Jun and Wui Seng's place was a nice way to end the day. No mahjong though. That's the only dissapointment.

Unmotivated

I knew this would happen. I CANNOT be left alone to do a research project. I hate FYP. I hate reading papers. I will NEVER do my PhD BECAUSE I hate reading papers. I can't manage my own academic time. I need short milestones and lots of goals.

My FYP is going up in smoke. My exam results had better be absolutely brilliant!

Ash Wednesday 2007

Today also marks the first day of Lent.

It's an incredibly trying period to be good.

Should I skip my 12pm lecture so I can make it to the Union Dining Hall early enough, since I have to be Eucharistic minister today?

It really is difficult to be good.

Recustomising

I did a stupid thing and forgot to save my old template.

In the meantime, I haven't got the time to redo the layout just as it used to be. I'm an idiot. Yes.

Later.

On the subject of Birthdays!

And you know I never fail to embaress Sugi every birthday!! LOL!

Happy 24th Birthday Sugs!!! The older you get, the better to marry you off!!!
Hope you had a great birthday with family, nieces and nephews, and with any luck the guys remembered and did not torment you too much on your special day. Hugs all the way from across the... erm... Atlantic? One day I *have* got to look up a world map.

Sorry for the late wishes... I only got back at 11pm after being tormented by the EE 3rd years (AGAIN!! why do I do this to myself???) at Chong Ka's birthday feast prepared by the folks at Emperor's Gate. I miss my old flat... a lot!

Alright, that's all I can muster today... I'm falling asleep already. Everyone's birthday is special... zzzZZZzzzZZzzzZZZZ

My response to "A Response to the gay adoption article" in this week's Felix

Re: Letters to the Editor, Felix #1373 and "Gay Adoption - Where's the Crime?", Felix #1372


The Felix is getting out of hand recently. Earlier this academic year, it allowed a writer to come forth and write most insensitively about Islam. All further editorial responses to the mass of letters to the editor were mostly defensive with liberal use of "freedom of opinion and speech" and further ridicule of the writers of the letters.

Last week in Felix #1372, an anonymous writer addressed the issue of the Catholic Church's stand on gay adoption. While it is fine to question the controversy, I believe it is not in any way alright for one to use this issue to belittle Christians and Muslims (as the article also added).

The real issue in the article, as Andy Sykes suggests, is "that adoption cases should be sonsidered on an individual basis, whether they come from hetero- or homosexual couples". However I am of the opinion that the editor failed to recognise that the writer was attacking the Christian community under the pretense of addressing the adoption issue.

Much of the article did not include the Church's true statements on the adoption issue, nor the government's stand (led by a Catholic nonetheless) but instead merely focused on the homophobic Christian/Catholic Church.

It IS a misconception that Christians are homophobic. What Christians condemn are polygamous sexual relationships, which happen to both hetero and homosexual couples. The main problem that Catholic adoption agencies have with placing a child in the care of same-sex couples is that, after much research, the Church has found same-sex relationships to be very unstable. Using the same argument, Catholic adoption agencies are unlikely to place children in the care of unstable hetero-sexual couples.

The reason for such stringent regulations is not deeply rooted in the Church's moral beliefs (as many would like to resent) but in the fact that children from Catholic adoption agencies are usually the most difficult cases to place (i.e. children with disabilities, etc.). Rather than risk putting a difficult child with an unstable couple, the agencies would rather safe guard against it.

There is nothing immoral to be viewed about this entire situation nor the Church's view on morality. However it amazes me what little it takes to provoke any form of resentment against the Church. If freedom of opinion and speech are so greatly prized, then freedom for Christians to believe should not be compromised either.

Gongxi Gongxi lu sama family!

In the spirit of Chinese New Year and muhibbah-ness, my mother sent me a CNY greeting in... Malay?

Anjing pegi, Babi mali
'sueh' pegi, 'ONG' mali
Untong untong manyak kali
Hali hali suka hati
Kena ekor kena loteli
Gongxi Gongxi lu sama family

And they say we don't integrate enough? I think, just like Manglish, there should be a special way to term the brand of Malay the Chinese speak and have come to call their own.

And for once my mother actually sent me an entertaining forwarded sms!

San Nin Fai Lok!

Before the doggie year goes out, and because I was born at the tail end of it and deserve to wag ecstatically, here's wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.

Kong Hei Fatt Choy!!!

I will be buried under mountains of cooking from this afternoon onwards, and towing a bunch of freshers (the non-Chinese ones probably) to Chinatown for the massive celebrations (and I hope they'll escape alive).

And I will be refuting all claims by Sandip and David that I'm being racist by holding a reunion dinner in Linstead only for the Chinese. Just because I didn't invite them. It's not like Dave invites us to any Canadian celebrations!

Spice up your coffee!

Here's a tip... the next time you brew that next cup of coffee...
try adding:

whole cloves (just a pinch)
a cinnamon stick (just a stick)
and a star of anise (just a star)

for extra kick - add chilli powder!

Just the extra sizzle for a cold rainy night!
and for more hot drink recipes, click where it's pink!

It's times like this I think I'm going to miss London's cold winters.

And then I think how much I'm going to miss the theatre
The old cobbled roads
The quaint little shops
The Thames
And the lovely old buildings
And the cars whizzing by on those old old roads
Yeah I think I'm gonna miss London.

As well as making my own lunch like this:

Tiada masa lah...

Sebab malam ini aku akan dihibur oleh Evita. Janganlah menangis untuk aku...

On another note... I need to stop acting like a fresher and grow up. And that includes getting my work done on time and not yak away until 5 in the morning.

Meanwhile heard in room D5...

"You know I have two grandmothers? Eh, you also got two grandmothers???!!!"
"Erm, doesn't everybody?"

USA just wanna kay poh China's business only...

This made me laugh out loud (something I don't normally do to avoid disturbing the neighbours) this morning.

Mr Brown's response to the US's response to China shooting down their own satellite.

China Rocks

Click and listen lah!

Everyday I try to go out and grab lightning... but it always strikes me down...

Charlotte is still busy, with this:


At least she's done with the designing part, and hopes to see the pillars at the Sherfield walkway plastered with eyes when she walks past them today. The fruits of her labour had better be... well... fruitful.

The week ahead looks stormy, with her many many to-do lists set to rain upon her.

If she had more time, she'd wanna finish this:
but lately her head hits her pillow before she can even pick it up...

When she isn't busy drafting up her to-do lists, she's humming the following songs in her head, the ultra stylish I write Sins not Tragedies, and (forgive her for taking a liking to American Teeny Rock Wheatus-sound-alikes) Geeks get the Girls by American Hi-Fi





and if she finds her guts, she'll be singing this at the EE Revue next month:



(the Mandy Moore version lah, but the New Radical's video is cooler)

She still has no time to read the papers or browse news-blogs, but recently this made her happy:
Fun programme to teach students about integration
because she's mellowed and become optimistic and hopes this will not fail (and if all goes well should replace the ridiculous National Service tragedy that has befallen her country), oh and because she likes camping anyway.

And because she leads such a fast paced life and finds it difficult to leave time for simple things like sitting in the park, enjoying the sun and praying... she's had to download prayers-as-you-go to her iTunes to well, pray as she goes. Religion in the 21st century? Or just a reminder not to worship her laptop and feel like life is crashing down on her when her internet is taken away.
And now its back to starting her busy schedule for the week. Thank you for listening.