The smooth surface,
Almost mirror like,
Watching it unknowingly,
I entered its flow,
Unconsciously submerged by it,
Fighting to grasp the sky,
Before being pulled down again,
Following it’s flow,
Unable to turn back,
The road is set;
I shall head to sea,
Can you see the future?
It’s unpredictable
✿Oracl3✿
"We can't force forgiveness, all we can do is wait and be sincere..."
A touching story i got through the mail from xin yin, and before blogspot goes into an outage, and since i don't really want to forward, seeing that my connection is so crappy that even my msn can't connect i place this little story here, that touched my heart.
What would you do?....you make the choice.
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection.. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day
~~ i wonder what on earth is wrong with maxis again??!! erghh.....
-Oracl3-
"Trying to repair the damage after it's done is far too late, the scars are already there; you lost your chance..."
Huey's birthday was originally on the 28th of january, but as i expect that such a day should be spent with family :p i organised a friend celebration on the 30th instead which was today.
As most, if not almost all of the people that we usually celebrate with, have already been kidnapped by the education system of the United States of America, the number of people that we had, was sadly limited. But i guess, quality matters more than quantity :p
So, i had organised this quite early, abbout 2 weeks in advance, and had somehow managed to gather 5 people, including the birthday girl, namely: Satoshi kun, Huey chan, Nicholas Leong, and Nicholas Seoh; well including yours truly that makes five.
Unfortunately, i had the feeling that some people had forgotten about today, i had already told everyone it is your own responsibility to remember that you have a function... (i will get smacked at people for this, because i forgot my own classes haha..) so well, i decided to be a kind hearted soul and texted the two people which my intuition has told me, that they had forgotten.. (true enough, i was spot on...)
so it ended up with me, huey and ccy at our usual Japanese restaurant, then seoh came to join us for dinner before he left to pick up his little sister, unfortunately leong couldn't make it, but he did call haha..
ooh oh me and huey had sukiyaki haha.. it was ok, the soup was salty as hell, and well the egg yolk didn't cook =.=' cause the pot wasn't hot enough... but overall it was fine.. (next on my list to try is oden!!)
well, this birthday was overall a nice one, though it was only so few of us, but we managed to talk and crap a lot, and i got huey a black handbag hehe, the last time we went out together she said she was looking for one...
when i was shopping for it, i found another that i liked as well.. so i had a tough time deciding which one to give her, but i decided based on... the ability of the bag to store her water bottle haha... (weird way to reach a conclusion?? haha)
ccy bought her a cake, which we shared with some.... ermm friendly middle age men in the next table, we sang happy birthday together, and in exchange for 3 slices of the cake, they gave us each a little shot of Chivas each..
it was nice of them to sing along and joke along with us.. haha and we all cheered each other with our Chivas..
we later downed our drinks and paid our bills as we wanted to go to the Digital mall in ss14 as i wanted to buy DVDRs... unfortunately they don't except anything but cash, which as you guessed it, i lacked.. so most probably i have to go there again....
it ended up with Huey getting her DVDRs and her anime, Le Chevalier D'Eon which is currently in my possession muahaha..
we ended the outing with, going to Huey's house to watch 4 episodes of Le Chevalier D'Eon and me eating my Ramli Burger!! (i hope that satisfies my cravings... haha..) before heading to our respective homes.
Thanks ccy for being the driver... and i hope Huey enjoyed herself and love her present :)
Unfortunately and sadly, as i was rushing, i forgot my camera ~sob~ so there aren't any pictures.. sigh =.= but it will be etched in our memories :)
-Oracl3-
" It takes a lot of understanding, time and trust to gain a close friendship with someone. As I approach a time of my life of complete uncertainty, my friends are my most precious asset."
woke up around 10 something, and got ready while my cousins ling and Ben came over to pick me up, watched... what did we watch? =.=' oh yes, we watched game plan which was at 250 pm, with so much time to spare since we were at the shopping complex since 11, we went shopping for some clothes that Ben would need when he went over to Australia...
he was such a fast shopper, (prosperous underwear anyone? haha) that we ended up visiting toy's r us, and fooling around there for an hour before having lunch at nando's...
after that as my parents were going out for dinner, i headed home for a shower and to feed my dog, before going to ling's house, had dinner there, then headed back to bandar utama with ben and his girl friend to watch sweney todd...
game plan, is a feel good movie i would say, the outcome can be clearly seen, and well, in some aspects touching, not a bad watch... but the storyline is cliche if you asked me... (remember big daddy?)
sweney todd.. let's make this clear, i watched it because jhonny depp was in it, after pirates of the carribean, i thought i would give this a try...the movie overall was so-so, very dark and gloomy with a lot of violent murders, ling claims it will give her nightmares... =.='
so, ermm, i would recommend game plan.. but not sweney todd.. it's intriguing but also kind of dark, and melodramatic, somewhat like a musical with all the singing about..... but ok... but it was basically like a vendetta gone sort of awry... (well since when were vendettas NOT awry...)
had a nice chat with ling, and laughed my head off.... talking about well my blurness in the past and all, and how i let oppurtunity slip past me...
on a final note before i end 3 glasses of ice lemon tea makes me super hyper... (courtesy of nando's bottomless drinks...)
i sit here at 3am on a monday morning, because mosquitoes are buzzing near my ears...
sigh, my internet connection has been very "superb" of late, the many calls made to the maxis centre says that there is a problem connecting to international sites, how long does it take to fix... "well, it should be about 24 hours.."
how long has the problem been persisting? well about a week, or so... =.=' the connection is much better today, at least i can blog.. rather than just stare at my blog...
i also think that there is a problem with animeeden, i can't seem to be able to finish my twelve kingdom download.. it's only one more freaking episode.. puh-lease... =.=' and i still have naruto and romeo x juliet to download.. sigh... thank god for fansub which lets me continue my donwloads... (that's for other anime.. unfortunately the aforementioned animes are unavailable on fansub)
on another note, ever suffered from a sore neck? slept the wrong way the night before?
sometimes i get mild ones, but this is the first time, i had one so bad that any small little movement sent a shock of pain through my neck and shoulder...
it was so bad, that i couldn't even touch my head, couldn't look down, couldn't turn my head right, and well, any movements involving the shoulder muscle hurt me as well, so ya undressing was a pain, and i even needed help washing my hair =.='
in the end i had to turn to medication... so muscle relaxants were popped in, and rubbed on... my dad even made me wear a neck brace.. which helped somewhat.. when i woke up, it wasn't that bad, but the 5 hours of CLP lectures jsut made it worse...
well either blame the lecture or the fact that i couldn't rest my neck for so many hours, and instead still had to use it, which must have resulted in the aggravation of the problem. even mild attempts to support my head on my arm caused pain, what was i to do??
came home for medication and rest, eating was also such a chore, as i couldn't tilt my head, walking up and down stairs as well was such a chore... sigh.. hopefully that is the first and last time i experience such a sore neck... even now the pain is present, though it is much, much milder..
oh when did i get a sore neck.. well on saturday haha
i hate maxis, i hate anime eden, i hate mosquitoes, and i hate the freaking hot humid weather!!
"You can't make footprints in the sand of time if your sitting on your butt, And who wants to make butt prints in the sand of time"
the month of january seems to be the month of birthdays.... this really hurts the wallet i must say.. whose birthdays you ask? well let's see, there is nicholas leong (5th), xian ai(12th), my cousin ling (19th) Melissa (22nd), Wei Hao (24th), and Huey (28th)
all in all we have 6 people 0_0'
anyway, that aside, on the 20th of january, chi ming, with a little help from me (i was busy so i assisted very little :p) organised a little dinner for mel and xian ai, since wei hao's birthday is in january, we called him along.
we went to BU where we met up with wei hao, who coincidentally happened to be out for a movie with, kevin wong, tze kiat, and tze kiat's brother...tze wei? well, his english name is michael. we had dinner at ajisen ramen, the food was so-so, the table was too small for 9 of us, so we had to swap places when we were done eating.
after dinner, we headed to bakerzin for desserts, apprently the cakes there are very delicious, but when we got there, the stock hadn't arrived yet, so there weren't much choices and it was already late. while there, i met another classmate who was from 5 petunia as well, swee king, hadn't seen her in a long time, she was working there as a waitress..
from left, we have kevin, wei hao, tze kiat, micheal, from right front, melissa, xian ai, me, michelle and chi ming. picture taken by swee king.. according to mel, it was like a taman sea reunion haha.. guess it's true, only two DJ-ians :p
following swee king's reccomendations, and also because the kitchen was closing we had limited choices, and we jsut chose this stuff....
michelle was craving for something too, so she ordered this.. overall it was ok, a bit too sweet for me, and poor wei hao, we made him down a shot of cocoa.. haha.. well after teasing him and tze kiat :p
we were talking about homosexuals, and so happened tze kiat and wei hao's shirts were the same colour, thus the joke haha.. and well.. it was a fun night, alot of jokes and all.. and somehow..due to his preference in movies, wei hao was ermm.. called a lady?(jokingly of course) so guess who wears the pants in the tze kiat x wei hao "relationship"? haha..
well it was an enjoyable night out. ending with us (chi ming aka the designated.. well only driver we had then, me, mel and xian ai...) heading to mel's house, to watch the videos of poor cheese being "abused" on his 21st birthday last year, and with mel opening up a bottle of white wine..
lovely stuff, but mel and i practically finished the whole thing.. well it's no secret that i like chilled white wine, but drinking that amount in such a short time.. haha.. it was okay though... guess "training" in the UK has it's wonders? ahaha.. not that i drank alot while in the UK though.. more like when i was in Prague (stares at sister... )
so that's all.. i only have one episode left to download from the anime twelve kindgoms, hopefully i manage to download it, and finish my god damn series... before this i didn't have much problem, so it definitely annoys me to no end, that the connection is like this now, and i am having so much difficulty trying to download... i should bitch to maxis... and their unstable connection...
again i need DVDs, desperately need them in fact. only have two remaining ones left..
on another note, i finally went chinese new year shopping.. my mom was saying that she was kind of envious that it was easy for me to find clothes.. well i bet when she was my age, she was just like me... but now she is in what i call the "in between age" so wearing this or that either makes you look too young or too old... we really need a shop that sells " in between" clothes..
interestingly enough.. i was tempted to break down into tears when shopping for clothes, cause it was being all nightmarish back in the UK, thank the heavens for XS... one thing i really don't understand now is the style which is "in fashion".
when i was still in the UK, i was like.. "..ok..." but coming back here to malaysia, i am wondering, don't we have our own asian fashion???!!! it was as if the UK fashion shifted to malaysia, layered clothes, scarfs and coats together..
i was wondering whether i am on the right continent.... i mean, yes i admit it looks nice, when i was in the UK i love wearing scarfs as well, but who in their right mind in malaysia would go around strutting with those stuff on??!! we are a tropical country for crying out loud, do they even make any money??????!!!!! gosh... what on earth is happening...
either than that, things like tights, and balloon skirts, i thought i escaped those when i came back, boy was i proven wrong.. i guess my taste in fashion is too conservative.. so not only is my "taste" in man is sort of controversial in today's society (apparently such men are extinct..)... so is my taste in clothes.. i really am living in the wrong era....
or maybe, it's only for this year and next, till they change the fashion again.. or maybe it's because i have had been too much of a hermit that i hadn't realised the extent of how the world has been moving, and have been left behind... whatever it is.. i will be controversial to society if i have too....
maybe i belonged in the feudal era haha, but i was some sort of princess, since i don't do anything at all? haha.. you never know, past incarnations, if you believe in those.. it's really strange how the world works..
-Oracl3-
"Dreams come a size too big so that we can grow into them"
"To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer" -Mahatma Gandhi-
Yashin = ambition, aspirations...
with chinese new year around the corner, we are all busy (well my parents at least haha..) with spring cleaning, and guess what my mom found? my form 1 (this was when we were 13 years old), penulisan book.. i was quite surprised that thing has still been sitting around after almost 10 years...
wanting to get rid of the trash, i went through the book before throwing it out, and came across a short essay which i had written at that time...
and yup, if you managed to guess it, congratulations, you are one smart person haha.
the title was Cita-cita saya, translated to english it means my ambition.. can anyone take a guess what was my ambition when i was 13 years old?
>>>>>
>>>>
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>
you guessed right, it was to be a lawyer. it was really weird reading that, and realising that i already have my degree and all.. one of the reasons i wrote that i wanted to study law was well, to help innocent people, or to become a family lawyer, but my first reason was, because i don't have to study too much, cause law is only a 3 year course haha..(but actually law is studying for life, cause legislations and the law keeps evolving...)
well, my thoughts on law has changed.. (i m not gonna defend the innocent, cause i don't know if they really are innocent, and well, child welfare is depressing...) now that i am 21, my views have changed and i'm no longer the naive little girl... but what can i say, it is almost surreal, that what i wrote became a reality. but heck, i had been playing with the thought even when i was in form 5.
i really have not much of an idea why i chose law, but...well let's see where i go from there... :p
oh and i am not reproducing that essay here for one reason, and one reason only, and that is, it's because i don't want to exhibit my atrocious malay essay to everyone in the world... haha
-Oracl3-
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop" -Mother Teresa-
just a little something to entertain my sister if she is really that bored.. and well i got this from the mail, sent by xin yin.. sometimes i do wonder why do people send spam.. and forward stuff, but since i have nothing to do lately, i don't mind them, and in fact actually open to read some of them... so i found this littls cartoon amusing, and i m not really a fan of forwarding stuff.. if you want to read it, you can read it on my blog.. ..
anyway moral of the cartoon? don't jump to conclusions....
"Everyone is fighting with their inner madness" -Rin Kobayashi-
title means Boku no Chikyū o Mamotte
translated directly it means protect my earth, but putting it in a nicer context, and due to other's translation, it has come to mean Please Save My Earth.
it has a sequel called ボクを包む月の光 Boku o tsutsumu tsuki no hikari, which i will touch about briefly, since i haven't read this manga yet , but am looking for it's scanlations. But from what i can see, the manga for this hasn't really been scanlated...
but from what i can gather, our main chracters in please save my earth, has married and has a child, and the story gather's around the child. i hope that people scanlate it and put up directdownload (i shun sendspace and megaupload) links haha..
so back to the main topic and the reason why i am blogging bout it... the reason that i'm blogging about a manga.. haha.. well let's just say that i was really impressed with the storyline. the drawing initally was crude, but it got better as the manga progresses, and the storyline keeps getting more and more interesting, to the point where it was kind of addictive.
it's a story, about reincarnation, ESP, love, revenge, friendship and fate. a really wonderful story.
basically it talks about 7 aliens (who look human, but have strong ESP powers) who were placed to study earth from their home planet which was then destroyed by war. the main character i would say is a 17 year old girl called Alice, (the reincarnation of Mokuren) and a 8 year old boy called Rin (the reincarnation of Shion). and yes, you guessed it right. those two were lovers in their past life. a disease broke out on their moon base, slowly killing all 7 scientist, leaving only three behind. with only one vaccine, and out of malice to make Shion suffer, Shuukaidou (Haruhiko's past life), gave it to him. the vaccine did its work and Shion was the only one on the moon base for 9 years after everyone has died (thus his age gap with the rest of the group)
flash back to earth, and we have Jinpachi (reincarnation of Gyokuran) and Issei (reincarnation of enju) Alice's new classmates, who claims that they have been having "Moon Dreams" since middle school. it was fate that brought them together, and thus their search for the other remaining scientists.
having been stuck all alone on the moon for 9 years, with the corpses of the woman he loves and his friends, drove Shion insane, and gave him immense hatred. thus once reborn, and remembering his past life he sought revenge on Shuukaidou for making him suffer...
thus the story goes..
what is more interesting to me is the ESP, which they call people who have it, Sarches, and apparently it is a gift from their God Sarjalim. the ESP battles were wonderful, with some added imagination (after all it's all still pictures.) it was a really pleasant read, to learn that they have a special breed of humans called Kirches (mokuran is one of them, she has a symbol on her forehead), who can talk to animals and plants, and their singing encourages the plants to grow.
Alice in her past incarnation ie Mokuren
Mokuren and Shion, in their past incarnation
overall, it is a really lovely manga to read, totally refreshing... with some things which really touches on our life.. should we let the past dictate how we should live the future? that is the main question in the manga. there were some wonderful quotes from the other characters, which i will be using when i post, from now on.
and to my sister, who had crispy cremes...Biatchh.. haha.. well one day if i get my @$$ back to London i will be heading to Harrods myself haha..
and all this while the quotes that you all have seen on my blog.. well the sources are from, myself, books, mangas, shows, anime, from friends..and from surfing the net...
~~
on another note.. maxis is being such a pain... it shows that it is receiving the best frequency yet my connection is slow like hell and not stable.. it took me 5 days to download an episode of twelve kingdoms.. i only had 2 left then.. well....now i have one... but it still irritates me non the less..
the main reason why i seriously have to become a vampire, or at least lead a vampiric life would be due to my internet connection. the site which i download from doesn't allow me to continue downloads if something has happened to the connection. thus at times it takes me eons to download something.
so my solution is to stay up till the wee hours of the morning where there are less people hogging the net, which hopefully means a better and faster connection to start my download before hitting the sack.. sigh the thing one does for anime haha
-Oracl3-
“I don’t want to reach that wretched answer, that I just wanted a kiss, like when I was a child” -Shion-
on the 18th of august 2007, a day after i had touched down in Malaysia, i was jet lagging as i had jsut arrived back from London which was an 8 hours different to Malaysian time. in my determination to overcome the jetlag i decided not to sleep for 24 hours so that i can force my time to reset itself.. it failed miserably.. but ended going for the gathering without sleep for the past 48hours haha.. well it's 48 cause i didn't really sleep on my 14 hours plane ride back to malaysia..
in my poor attempt to cover whatever eye bags i had i wore some make up that night haha.. ;p thus the greeness you see in the pictures... also because of the slow internet, i only loaded a few pictures...
the girls..haha.. sitting from left you have me, aiyee, wendy, behind from left, christine, michelle, maryln the host, weili, xian ai and mel...
girls already mentioned above..jsut count in ermm retarded des with his toungue sticking out again haha.. :p ok ok he isn't retarted.. but he is for sticking his toungue out?? hahah
left sitting, joel and brian.. :)
well it was a fun night and this round no one got thrown into the pool haha.. also also it was raining...and this round we didn't manage to play with the piano...last time we played piano and sang along that was really fun :p but that's all for this post :)
so my title says, today almost all my posts have been related to music... i just realised it.. sitting infront of the computer for hours trying to upload all the pictures is taking my whole day, because malaysia's connection is so bloody slow... so this shall be the last update for the day.. till next week, if i'm free and if i have the mood to continue with the ever growing list of updates
二十日十二月二零零七年 cheese birthday was actually in November.. i think the 12th? but anyway, as we were all not free at that time, and he he was stuck in semenyih, so only on the 20th of December did we manage to celebrate his birthday with him...
i was running low on ideas as to what to do, as it seemed so casual to just go for a movie, a meal and call it a day, so i decided to make it a karaoke session.. the girls were up to it, but unsure, or quite certain that cheese would oppose, it was kept a secret from him.. his job... well unfortunately was to be the driver haha.. although we were celebrating for him haha... so off to the curve we went, for red box karaoke..
the second surprise.. which cheese claims i conned him was Michelle's appearance haha.. i made a pact with her, to tell a little white lie to chi ming ahha.. so he was surprised when he saw her.. mission accomplished.. :p
so we spent the hours singing away, till it rained so heavily.. but the rain may not be our fault ahha.. and we bought a cheese cake for cheese.. which we all shared...
after karaoke, chi ming treateed us 4 girls to big apple donuts... one guy and four girls wah so lucky i m sure alot of guys are envying you now haha...
it was raining heavily, but chi ming was a real nice gentleman when he sent us all home :p and he gave us each a little christmas gift... which ermm.. seems that my dog has taken a liking too.. so i have to keep it out of reach of the dog haha.. :p
~~ (have i posted on this before?? my tendency to join posts have resulted in my confusion.. my computer files have been a mess of late, and besides categorising what has been burnt out and what hasn't i didn't exactly separate pictures that have already been blogged about... so forgive me, if this has been posted before..)
now on to something not very related, is an old picture taken on the 22nd of march 2007, on that day, the Reading drama society of the university were staging a musical, their version of Queen's we will rock you.. honestly they weren't bad.. that was my second musical after lion king? or was it my first? haha.. well it's considered as one of the musicals i went too.. it was fun and being with al my friends, so with the help of aiyee we took a group shot in the 360.. this is the place we usualy club keke..
there was another funny shot (not really funny persay, but posing), but as i m too lazy to upload anything else no thanks to the darn connection.. so i only posted this picture..
like everyone else, i would be lying if i said i don't miss my time in reading/europe.. so yes i miss those times..
of the whole list of things to post, i still have these many left =='
one fine day when i'm free i will have to go through my mountain of pictures to determine what pictures i want developed to use for my scrap book/photo album...
my list... 220307 Reading Drama Society's Musical, We will rock you in the 360 200807 Reading Gathering in Malaysia 100907-230907 Perth trip and wedding. (kind of a lot here...=.=') 121107-151107 bentong trip with xian ai 171207 お父さんの誕生 201207 celebrating cheese belated birthday at the curve.. 211207 ロスコちゃんのピンクシャト 221207-30108 my multiple outings with 兄ちゃんと純子さん (also quite alot, this will be broken up to subsections..) 271207 Tmn Sea 2003 gathering at sky cafe ss2 (the pictures are already on facebook, and ccy has already posted on it...) -- some europe pictures... (random shots?? i think i still might have a few lurking somewhere in my hard drive..) --> bulmershe playing piano.. forgot the date.. but it was 100% in June.. --> playing the baby grand piano at Sheffield, well i thought it was St Patrick's JCR? in June as well..
-Oracl3-
"What else can one do but treasure the memories... "
after the exams in May i was travelling extensively around Europe, but there were times when i was still in reading..
so.. since the classes were over, exams were over, and we had a lease till June, and graduation was in July, what were we to do?
i ended up, cleaning out my room, in my preparation to move to London, and finally home to Malaysia, and well the other times, were spent with friends, and the piano.
bridges hall had its own piano, which i frequented with my friends, but it became sort of a battle, to play the piano, as everyone in the hall had also finished their exams and all..
i later heard from Wendy, that there was a baby grand piano in saint Patrick's hall, thus almost everyday after lunch, i would make the 20minute walk to the hall to play the piano, and walk back to bridges in time for dinner...
i even managed a piano, flute duet with Wendy!! haha.. it was nice being able to play a baby grand piano, the sound it emits is totally different from a stand up..
anyway, i had posted before pictures of the piano in st pat's because at one point i brought miguel along to play the piano.. but here are pictures of me playing the bay grand, courtesy of wendy, and after those pictures we have the bulmershe pictures..
all these piano playing activities were before the 28th of june 2007 because after that, i was busy moving out, and my sister had arrived in london to help me move out as well.. thank god for my sister, or moving out would have been such a pain.. =='
they have such a nice JCR.. but maybe they don't have enough rooms or something, but putting the TV with the piano.. that' isn't a very smart move.
another view...
now on to Bulmershe.. pictures courtesy of anastasia, and i got them from dave after much harrasing haha
outside the bulmershe entrance.. with our photogrpaher anastasia haha :p
about 20-30 minutes walk from bridges hall, we were led to the university of reading's school of music, by non other than Miguel, who apparently frequents the place to play the piano. so thus one day, we piano enthusiasts decided to make a trip there. unfortunately there are no pictures of me playing the piano there... but there was a video of me and Miguel doing a piano duet of canon in d, unfortunately, try as i might, i am unable to upload that video,(anyone can help?) if i ever succeed, i shall post that video...
was going through my files, as i need to delete files to make space...
i really need some dvds...
the boy band that would become mothercare.. haha refer to my birthday pictures to get what i mean.. (27th april 2004) a walk after dinner is healthy.. here we are at the agricultural building site, about 10 minutes walk from our hall..
watched too many korean dramas? haha (27th April 2007) taken during one of our after dinner walks to calm exam nerves haha
27th April 2007, the dandelions are different to malaysia's they are nice big and round haha...
this my dears, tilt head left, is a heater in a restaurant in prague, a greek restraurant.. 19th april 07
19th of April 2007, was staying in prague for the easter break, (i stayed for 2 weeks, it's ok to tour but not stay there long term.. it drives you up the walls..) sister brought me out to eat greek food.. it was yummy :)
...but here i am, looking pensive.. wondering... will the food arrive first or will i die from hunger first, while my sister plays with my mobile haha and you were fulled by the looks hehe i looked like i was deep in thought but i was thinking about food haha
18th of august 07, a little reunion upon my return from the UK at our favourite japanese restaurant..
17th June 2007, what one does when bored in Paris, the first time i managed to built a card house this big haha..
Paris Palace de Italia (i think that's how it's spelt) 17th june 2007, inside the church...
Paris Palace de Italia (i think that's how it's spelt) 17th june 2007, inside the church...
Being a speaker of at least 6 languages (with varying fluency…), I had always thought that translating anything from those languages would have been a piece of cake. There have been some hitches along the way, but I don’t think I am that bad at translating be it from, Chinese, Malay or Japanese to English. Naturally, that made me think that I wouldn’t have much of a problem when I had to translate back to the aforementioned languages…
I must say that my Chinese isn’t exactly superb, I learnt how to listen and speak from watching TVB dramas, so I guess that says a lot doesn’t it? Though I can manage a decent conversation, and translate what I want to say, but reading and writing, poses a huge difficulty for me, as I wasn’t really Chinese educated, though now I am trying to pick it up, bits and pieces, here and there.
With China opening up, I guess it is a little sad to say that my Cantonese is much better than my mandarin, that sometimes when watching television, I have no idea what they are saying and am forced to revert to the subtitles, I noticed however, that I do not face such difficulties when watching Cantonese dramas…
I remember at one point though, in high school my teacher thought I was actually from a Chinese school, cause of the way I spoke my mandarin. (Personally to me, it wasn’t that fabulous, but to make her think that I am from a Chinese school… how did I speak mandarin then??) She even tutored me in Chinese, and showed the utmost surprise when I insisted she speak in English…
Those were the days; I still vividly remember her expression back then. But upon entering college, everyone around me spoke English; hence my mandarin and Cantonese were thus forced to take a back seat, though lately I have been trying to use them as frequently as possible… I’ve even been learning how to read and write, though I prefer the traditional writing… (let’s not speak about speaking Hakka, I admit I suck in that dialect…)
About my Japanese, this… well, what can I say? I practically self studied the damn language. I’m still bad at forming grammatically correct sentences, but I guess it really is a slow path learning Japanese by yourself, but with the help of some online translators, in translating the kanji, I can decently manage to translate some Japanese, so I guess I’m not that bad in this department, thought translating from English to Japanese would, ultimately take a lot of effort on my part. Though I know the words, structuring it into a proper sentence is a challenge for me…
Now, on to Malay, as a Malaysian, and having studied Malay all the way from primary school to secondary and well scoring distinctions in it, that would naturally make some people think that I am proficient in the language, but I beg to differ. I hardly used the language, either read or written since I left high school… 5 years ago, and I hardly speak Malay.
I still remember the time, when I was young, due to my love for the sun, I was exceptionally tanned, plus my proficiency in the language, it really made people scratch their heads as to my race.
Well, all I can say is that, translating from English to Malay is no mean feat. I had to do it with a dictionary to boot. Malay being my national language, I smugly thought that I wouldn’t have a problem translating from English to Malay (as compared to the other languages mentioned above…) but I was proven wrong.
Excuses are, maybe it’s because I haven’t used it for so long, cause after that my work did speed up. But hey, it really did make me realise, it is really harder to translate from English to whatever language, well for me that is.(I don’t know about the other geniuses out there…) Translating is not an easy job, you understand what it means, but how do you convey the message to a third party who isn’t proficient in the language? That is the hard part. I faced that many a time, I know the meaning, but how do I express it in English??
miraiwamitteru has been taken up by some weirdo.. i came to know about it, because i import my blog posts to facebook, and was surprised when i saw a weird posts, with sentences that makes no sense.. go ahead try it, some fantastically smart fellow, has taken up my own url and looks like he/she is writing some sort of coded messages for spies on that site.. interesting....
"There is no shortcut in life. To the end of our days, life is a lesson imperfectly learned."
stuck in my hometown with nothing to do,(not to mention feeding mosquitoes =.=') i was reading some old books lying around, namely reader's digest, and came across this article which i thought to share. (ARRRRGGggHHH so itchy... =.=' so many bites... )
December 1985 reader’s digest Condensed from woman’s day Written by Jo Coudert
My brother in law reads magazines when company is visiting his home. A neighbour of mine doesn’t introduce the person she’s with when I run into her on the street. When I invited one friend to lunch, she arrived an hour late because she’d come across a garage sale.
They’re all perfectly nice people; they just have rotten manners. Heaven knows they’re not unique. These days you’re lucky if you can make it to work in the morning without being cut off in traffic, having a door slammed in your face, or getting smoke blown in your eyes at the coffee counter.
It used to be only department storeclerks and French headwaiters who were consistently rude. Now it’s everybody. But the extent of the breakdown in manners is no reason not to fight back, and I’m trying.
One of my favourite weapons- the invidious comparison- worked well recently when I hurried into a well drugstore to buy aspirin. The clerk, after a glance that dared me to object, continued shelving cans of hairspray. Finally I asked mildly, “whatever happened to that sweet fellow who used to work here?”
I have no idea who used to work there, but the clerk sprang up to wait on me to probe he was as lovable as the next guy.
Now if I could just come up with an equally effective line when strangers call me by my first name. last week a chiropractor summoned me from his waiting room with a hearty, “ come in, Jo.” I’d never set eyes on him before. How was I to respond? Calling him by his first name would be uncomfortably intimate. On the other hand addressing him as “Dr. So-and-So” while he called me “Jo” would put me at a psychological disadvantage. I didn’t have the nerve of a dignified friend, who simply won’t look up when her first name is called.
Although the first-name problem still awaits a solution, I have no trouble when someone phones up then puts me on hold. I hang up. Ditto for the rude caller who starts the conversation with “Who’s this?” as for friends who don’t identify themselves when the call, I call them by someone’s else name.
The other day a young woman stopped me on the street for directions, which I had to repeat three times. The she walked off without a word. It’s so easy to say “thank you” that I wonder why the words have become so rare. The dearth of thank-you notes for gifts is particularly galling. One friend cut off birthday checks to nieces and nephews if two years go by without a thank-you note.
As for wedding presents that go unacknowledged, one friend boldly calls the couple to say she’s putting a tracer on the package she assumes was lost in the mail. I’m more cowardly. I call the bride’s parents and ask if the gift got there. Once when I did that, the parents chided the bride. Her answer: “ I’m not into thank you notes.”
The implication of the bride’s remark- that of a relaxed, informal approach to life- is often cited to explain the behaviour I’m complaining about. It’s considered friendly to call you by your first name, it’s proof you’ re not uptight to be casual about getting places on time. I know all the arguments; I just don’t think much of them.
It seems to me that simple courtesy makes life easier. If your invitation says R.S.V.P. but I don’t let you know whether I’m coming because I’m not “hung up” on things like that, you’re hung up planning your party.
I used to think manners, like paint, were designed to make the surface look good. But one day I learned the real value of paint the hard way- when I investigated a parade of black ants climbing the side of my house. I discovered they had tunnelled through the unpainted bottm of a windowsill and were attacking the wooden underpinnings. And I suspect we’re now learning the hard way that manners aren’t merely decorative but serve to keep the foundations of society intact.
So I’m going to continue my one woman war against rudeness against the thoughtlessness that could someday bring our civilization down in ruins.
~~ scratching away.... sigh
-Oracl3-
"A real friend never gets in your way, unless you happen to be on the way down"
boredom day in and out, lousy internet connection adds to my despair.. it takes me a few days jsut to download one episode of anime.. how i wish animeden is like fansub where i can continue my downloads...
on another note.. i think it speaks volume when you feel that your are obliged instead of willingly doing something for someone... a talk with my usual counsellor and some thinking on my part revealed to me, that a certain someone may be jealous of me, my personality i guess.. but she doesn't know that i have my own demons to fight...
i mean, why only to me do you use that tone... and i don't know, the amount of time has taught me what fair weather friends are.. though i care a lot about friendships, and don't expect anything in return, there is only so much i can do, and it is only human to be expected to be treated nicely.. but about your jealousy i can't do a thing about it. i can't change my character for you, i think it's you that should revaluate yourself and think.
over the years, i've done quite a lot for you, whether you realised it or not..(you could have done the same for me, but it was more like you were obliged too) but as another friend said, sometimes it's naturally born, some people have it at birth some don't.. and as a friend i've helped you more than i should and i think that is my limit.. it's time i spread my wings to greener pastures, and find people who actually care and know how to show it..
although once i am at greener patsures, i hope i have enough strength to climb the fence...
maybe your EQ sucks, but well if that is the case, then do something to improve it. if i were like you, i would have always been a bad tempered bitch till now.. and have no friends..
i need more guy friends. (or those kind of girl friends.. if you get what i mean..). i m tired of putting up with people where i have to watch what i say and do, that i might as well don't say or do anything at all...
again makes you wonder, why are people all so selfish.. sigh but if there are no selfish people we wouldn't know what generousity is...
i want some all weather friends, who make me feel comfortable, love and cared with them...
-Oracl3-
"Balancing on the edge of the abyss, one slip to enter that unseen world"
“When you heart’s been poked at one too many times, you start to build an unbreakable wall around it…”
~Ongaku wa yappari sugoi.daisuki~
十三日一月二零零ハ年：日曜日
Today I went to watch the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra with Huey, compared to the last round, it was a much more enjoyable experience, there seemed to be some changes in the members, but the orchestra this round was full of more emotions than the last round. (Violinists are still oh so sexy!! >.<) Today's programme, i might dare to say, since my music education isn't that high, but i believe, based on the composers chosen today, that the performance was mostly from the romantic period, though i m not very sure how to differentiate the music between the periods, but there is always a start for me :) -->
Today’s programme
Edward Elgar The Wand of Youth Suite (Op. 1b) - March - The Little Bells - Moths and Butterflies - The Tame Bears - The Wild Bears
Verdict for this 17-minute performance: I can safely say that I love Elgar’s work, well at least the Wand suite
Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 1 in F sharp minor (Op. 1) - Vivace - Andante - Allegro vivace
Conclusion to this 27-minute performance: Simon Trpceski is a wonderful pianist, this one wasn’t bad, but I like other Rachmaninov works better
Antonin Dvorak Symphony No. 5 in F - Allegro ma non troppo - Andante con moto - Scherzo (Allegro scherzando) - Finale (Allegro molto)
A wonderful 40 minute performance which indeed proved to me that the conductor Maestro (Can I call him that?) Kees Bakels, is a wonderful conductor.
Overall, I still feel that the Slovenia Philharmonic Orchestra was better, but the Malaysian Orchestra wasn’t bad either, I think that maybe one of the reasons, the MPO wasn't as enjoyable as in Europe is because the management, doesn’t provide the spectators with more information, all they tell you is; Elgar’s the Wand of Youth Suite, they don’t tell you bout the March or the butterflies etc, so it’s harder to imagine what to feel for…
The only way out I guess is to buy the booklet, which cost 5 bucks, and well, though it does help, I will just be outright honest and say that we still lost to Slovenia’s orchestra, however, Malaysia’s orchestra still has plenty of room for improvement. Keep it up MPO!!
The last time I went, it felt like only those in the first few chairs, like the concert master, the 1st cello etc (non musical people, this kind of means the people with the higher position, meaning they are more skilled, or actually to phrase it, the most skilled of the bunch and thus are placed as the head for their section…) were the only one exhibiting any sort of emotion as they played while the rest were kind of stiff..
But today I was met, with a more smooth flowing orchestra… it could be that my mood wasn’t the best last time, but anyway, I still enjoyed it this time. It was a fun and nice experience, and I m all set for another orchestra soon :p
Michelle’s MSN has a very thought provoking quote to it: “ Faith is taking the first step, even when you can’t see the whole staircase.” A well said one…
On another note, coming home and having dinner, I was having a little discussion with my mom… Well putting aside the fact that she thinks I m lesbian due to my lack of interest in the opposite sex, we were talking about feelings…
If you asked me, I would say that jealousy is a normal feeling; whether it’s to the person you have special feelings for, or for close friends (sorry but I don’t think that normal friends are capable of extracting such emotions). The fact that we feel jealousy means that we treasure that person, and if I may actually be bold enough to say so, I would say that actually jealousy, could be equated to the fear of losing that person… don’t you think so?
I’m sure everyone at some point has felt jealous about one thing or another, your friend spending too much time with their girlfriend or boyfriend, or spending more time with other friends but you, but I guess in such situations, this is where we do unto others as you would have do unto you…
Well with much thought, that is what jealousy means to me. I’m afraid I will lose my precious so I get angry when my brother snatches him away. But thinking like King Solomon, I would rather not fight over it, lest my precious suffers, so I relent. And I know that I will get my little precious back in the end… Though I am reluctant, I do what I think is best, for the one I care… if it is meant to be yours it will come back to you, right?
But I guess that is how it is, the moment you start to feel that you are no longer jealous (not even a twinge… no matter how much you have accepted it, there’s bound to be a twinge of jealousy…) over the fact that your close friend is hanging out more with someone else than with you.. Then I think that it’s high time, you start re-evaluating your friendship… (guess you weren't that close to start with after all?)
And for the record, before I end, I am quite sure I am not lesbian, I am a pure heterosexual…
I think.. Haha
-Oracl3-
“To cure a broken heart, what you need is loads of love, time and lots and lots of patience…”
I wonder what do you do when you lack patience? =.=’
Due to the fact, that i was mostly not available at home... (guess some people were fooled by my msn? haha the human isn't there, but the computer was downloading for me..) i have ended up with plenty to blog about, but so little time.. (well i m bad at time management.. or rather lazy at it...)
resolution that is not associated with the new year? to return to normal Malaysian sleeping hours...study????? o_O' ... and to avoid shallow, insincere, jealous, unappreciative, uncaring & inconsiderate people. (the latter is a must.. but i doubt that i can achieve that... sigh.. guess the best i can do is to find better people)
catch up on my anime, manga and some drama..
currently watching:- ~Twelve kingdom (wonderful anime, lots of character development), ~Shades of truth (internal affairs with a twist and comedy, absolutely love it... i want a guy like wu song haha.. "pan jin lian you number one slut" o_O' in the end fall in love with her pulak.. haha), ~D Gray Man is getting interesting..too many shows to mention.. but these 3 are my favourite at the moment.. ~ need to finish up all the animes that i left hanging... (watched halfway, then was busy so stopped, and forgot about it.. need to finish the ending??)
finish up my fan fiction bribe, so that i can get my fan fiction... half way through gua.. considered... need to rewatch the first few episodes of ゴストハンタ- i might post the fic here when i m done.. maybe..
and oh dear, do i have a lot of updating to do.. ==' from what i can pluck from my brain, and trying to put it in as orderly a fashion as possible...
220307 Reading Drama Society's Musical, We will rock you in the 360 200807 Reading Gathering in Malaysia 100907-230907 Perth trip and wedding. 121107-151107 bentong trip with xian ai 171207 お父さんの誕生 201207 celebrating cheese belated birthday at the curve.. 211207 ロスコちゃんのピンクシャト 221207-30108 my multiple outings with 兄ちゃんと純子さん 271207 Tmn Sea 2003 gathering at sky cafe ss2 -- some europe pictures... --> bulmershe playing piano.. forgot the date.. but it was 100% in June.. --> playing the baby grand piano at Sheffield, well i thought it was St Patrick's JCR? in June as well..
well actually alot.. arghh.. so many ==' i actually might have more... ==' months of pictures ==' i got a new batch of pictures from europe from mel and desmond, like ermm months ago, but sicne i've already blogged bout europe i guess i will jsut skip that part that have already been blogged... and jsut blog about the stuff that was well.. that i forgot to blog while still in europe..
sigh.. heavy downpours yet again... "nice to be home".... ==
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.
This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.
I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.
Congratulations!
If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback!
Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:
for 2 years & 2 months... i have been using 未来は身ってる
and well the reason why i have been so busy of late is because my brother came back with his Japanese girlfriend, so we brought her sight seeing shopping and all, and therefore i was hardly online, i managed to brush up some what on my spoken Japanese, and i learnt a few new words..
and also i learnt that my blog title was grammatically wrong, thus the change, thanks to 純子さん :) so to see the future, or to say that the future can be seen, one must say mirai ga mieru.. i thought that mirai wa mitteru was acceptable.. but she said no.. so there we have it.. pictures and posts of what i ve been up to lately, will be posted later.. as my brother and girlfriend just left today.. have a safe flight :)
and well tommorow classes starts for me, so i don't have much time, but i will see how it goes.. on another note... where the heck is my sister???? =='
Edit: hmm come to think of it, i've had this blog since... 2005? before i used to dabble a bit with htmls, and changed the colour of my blog, intially it was the minima template, and it was white, in 2005, i think, i made it purple in 2006? well i think in 2006 i made it blue, then in 2007 before satoshikun helped me design the current layout.. it was purple..
now that it's 2008.. hmm haha, but i sitll like the current layout, and from what i personally know, it's a lot of trouble to design new designs...
and well for 2008 i did make a major change for the blog in the sense that the title and the url has changed.. so that is all the change you will be getting for 2008, i guess... the poems and stuff that i used last time was around for one and a half years before i changed it when the blog design changed...
so let's see how long Flow will last before i get another muse, (which actually i have, but am lazy to write.. my current muse is snow... :p) and that time.. haha maybe i will ask for help to change the layout again.. till then.. as i said...the only change is the url and blog title.. happy 2008.... ~~
sigh what is wrong with the connection? why can't download?? aii...
