Post an ANONYMOUS comment with the following:

1. One secret.
2. One compliment.
3. One non-compliment.
4. One love note, but it does not have to be for me.
5. Lyrics to a song.
6. How old you are.
7. How long we've been friends.
8. And a hint to who you are.
9. After you do it for me, put it in your LJ and see who does it for you.


*starts looking around the various other LJs*

So instead of new clothes for Chinese New Year this year, my mom bought me this:



My very own name seal/chop! The characters are a bit tricky to pick out due to the carving style, but it's basically my Chinese name (蘇(苏 in simplified) 慧柔) carved into a stone seal. Somehow more appropriate than a new red blouse or skirt, if you ask me. ;) Thanks, mom!

Haven't quite mastered the technique of stamping it beautifully, but eh, maybe I'll have a good reason to practice using it soon, hmm?

(Hey, do you think the UTAR faculty would mind if I stamped it in place of my signature?)

In the meantime, I should probably stop wasting ink all over spare pieces of paper. (But I want to get it right, darnit.)

A long-belated post on our FYP research trip to Singapore is...still pending, whoops. Thankfully, Chapter 5 is not - sent it to our supervisor yesterday. I have the feeling she's going to lambast it anyway, especially since I still don't quite know how to write a proper conclusion chapter.

Off to edit my Chapter 3 and maybe download one of the Bleach OVAs!

So holidays are already over and before we knew it, bam whammy boom! We're back in uni.

This is the last semester for my batch - while I'm looking forward to graduating soon, a part of me traitorously wishes the semester would stretch a bit longer. Technically, I'll be going on to do my Masters (if I'm lucky) so I'd still be entrenched in education, but...well. Four years is a long time to spend in (and get attached to) a university.

Still, we've got all the way until April/May, so.

Speaking of this semester though, I'm eyeing a certain lecturer of ours - he honestly doesn't look or sound competent during the first lecture. I'm hoping he'll improve eventually but, eh, I won't be surprised if he didn't, to be honest. With any luck, our tutor will be better than he is.

FYP (or Thing-That-Should-Not-Be-Named-Ever)-wise, I've got two more chapters to go and one more to edit. Apparently, my academic writing skills (if I ever had any) have caved under the unconscious influence of my creative writing skills - clearly, I'd be a lousy business person. Am not looking forward to re-structuring my chapter, but at least the content seems sound for now.

Something about the whole thing encourages procrastination though. Hmmm, I wonder why?...

Recently, I rediscovered a number of old-hits, especially a few tracks by Natalie Imbruglia, why is she so awesome. Hats off to you, Youtube. But really, nothing quite brings nostalgia back like the old, easy hits by Backstreet Boys, Westlife, 911, Savage Garden, etc. Ah, to go back to the times when I fangirled Western bands and cheesy pop music...I still blame yuncyn (yes, YOU DENISE) for deflecting me over to Asian music and bands younger than I am. =.=

*sneakily stashes playlist away*

Also, yay for carneaglariel reaching the US safely!

EDITEI:

“If they can make 'Avatar', they can make anything.”

...MAHATHIR, OH MAHATHIR. That is the lamest, lousiest and most utterly laughable reason to use to back up your statement.

Then again, when that statement revolves around the premise of the US staging 9/11 just to have an excuse to attack the Muslim world, I suppose you'll take anything you can get. Even if you have to use it at an international conference in which Malaysia is riding on your shoulders.

I cannot believe you were once our Prime Minister. I use to think you were decent. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU.

WTF. Just WTF.

So, one of my not-quite-resolutions was to haul myself back into proper LJing. Clearly, this isn't a very good start. I'm hoping for some improvement by the time the next semester starts though.

Regarding the recent church torchings...well, what can I say that a lot of people haven't already said? Yes, that word is sacred and the reaction to the court ruling (re: protests) are fairly understandable, but isn't this overstepping boundaries? Isn't that wrong in the eyes of your religion as well? An uncle I know told me once that views of the two religions differ, that acts done in the name of God are considered honorable to Muslims, despite the monstrosity of the acts themselves. I don't want to comment too much on it though, especially since I can't profess to know Islam practices and views well.

I do hope that despite the fiasco, the Christians won't retaliate in kind. It's easier to preach than to practice and well, let's be fair - if it were my church, I'd be raging furious over the disaster. Heck, I'm pretty pissed off at the act even now. But we all don't need or want an uglier reenactment of May 13th and that is a very real possibility if this escalates. Will be praying that this will be settled peacefully.

(I do have a small confession though - I'm glad my church isn't in KL at this present time.)

In lighter (but no less dire) matters, I've sent the 3rd chapter of my FYP to my supervisors - that brings the grand total up to 2 (since I skipped chapter 1 for now). I...need....motivation....ugh. Hope the sent chapter is up to par though - wouldn't want to have to rewrite it.

Also, so many backdated posts to write! Procrastination is a dangerously seductive thing.

First LJ post of 2010, and so happens that it coincides with my birthday. ;)

...Okay, I admit it - I've just procrastinated on updating my LJ until now, but anyway. I'm 22 years old now, or am 'in duck years' according to my mom (due to the numeral '2' looking rather swanlike in shape).

So how does it feel to be a year older? Rather anti-climatic really, but I'm pretty aware that this year (and the following years) are going to start passing pretty quickly, what with the new challenges (ie. career, graduation, etc.) distracting us from noticing all that time slipping through our fingers. Gotte be on my toes then - I don't want to waste my time here on earth! Here's to (hopefully) a good year ahead.

I'm constantly joke-complaining that I'm feeling older, but to an extent, it's true! It's almost as if I've crossed a threshold somehow and am venturing into new territory. I guess you do have to be more mature and prepared to take on whatever life throws at you as you head towards that ultimate finish line. (I'll probably look back on this one day when I'm like 30 or something and go 'psssh, and I thought I was old then!' But hey, from me to the older me, YOU should know how I feel!)

Anyway, today has been a mega-awesome-super-duper day! I was planning on keeping it low-key at church, but some sneaky people found out anyway and sang the birthday song for me. Later, my god-uncle 'belanja'ed (treated) me to Shogun, a Japanese buffet for lunch. Since every birthday had to have cake at some point, my mom bought me one at Starbucks, where we had our family birthday prayer.

And later in the evening, I had a birthday dinner with some friends at Bubba Gump, which I have been dying to try since it opened at Sunway Pyramid. (FYI, the food there is delish, but be sure to bring along a fair bit of cash!) And because my friends are, well, my friends, the table conversation was fantastically hilarious, as per usual - did I mention I love you guys? xD Sorry I didn't invite more of you out; was trying to keep it small this year. Next time, yeah?

Seeing that I have about 15 minutes left on the clock, I'll just post this now while it's still on the 3rd. ^^ Thanks for all the wishes and the blessings, guys - I'm blessed to know you all.



PS: Saph, I be seeing this soon, yeah?

Still have a lot of photo and LJ posts to write/catch up on, but for now, lemme just say:


Merry Christmas, everyone!


*hugs all around*



(And get better ASAP, carneaglariel!)

Remember me spazzing over these cupcake lipglosses copies by Bloop?

carneaglariel ACTUALLY BROUGHT ME BACK THE REAL DEAL FROM UK. (T^T) TOTALLY FREAKED ME OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A YUM-CHA SUPPER. ♥

*STILL DYING EVERYTIME I LOOK AT THEM*



*shamelessly took a billion and one photos of them*

Can't bring myself to actually open it yet (so cute, kyaaaa~♥) but I will eventually.

...And then, I'll snap a billion and one photos of them individually. :D

Jac'kee, did I mention I love you lately? Yes?

I still love you. ♥♥♥ :3

Last Sunday, the socket in which my laptop was plugged in short-curcuited, effectively cutting off our electricity. Nothing happened to my laptop, fortunately, but we ended up having to fix the wiring, the fridge and reinstall the tv aerial (the last one just an issue we've been pushing aside for awhile).

Then this Sunday, water starts mysteriously seeping through the tiles under our desks. =______= We have no idea why or how to fix it, so for now, I have to occasionally sop up the puddle. I have no idea what's going to happen when we go to sleep.

*deep breath*

RAWWWWWWR.

Will post up the Halloween tricks in a bit and the massive Singapore post I should do soon. But for now, I'll settle with being disgruntled.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU POOF OFF LJ. Good stuff always go around when I'm not around. D;

1. create a graphic (200 x 200 max size) to represent your personal "candy". it should have your username on it, but otherwise can feature whatever you want. make it something special since it's self-representative.
2. make a post with the subject "trick or treat?". put your "candy" somewhere in it, and be sure to repost these instructions.
3. then, go around other people's ljs and reply to them with either "trick" or "treat". if you reply with "trick", they will give you an lj dare that you have to perform before taking their candy. if you're too wimpy for that, simply say "treat" and take their candy.
4. list all your collected candies in your original "trick or treat?" post to show off your collection, being sure not to direct-link!


^^; Don't know if anyone still wants my outdated, errr, candy (why am I so late, sob), but oh well.

*STARTS STALKING PEOPLE'S JOURNALS*

( And in the candy bag, we have... )

Am typing this on Denise's laptop (which I mooched off her) at the Visitor's Lodge in the National University of Singapore. Yay!

Before I recap the past two days, lemme just say that this lodge is possibly better than a lot of hotels (actually feels like one too) with an awesome, awesome shower. Makes up for all the hours of studying we've been doing in the library, but I am getting ahead of myself.

We reached Batu Pahat (Johor) yesterday and stayed over at Jo's (one of my uni classmates) house, which by the way, is so huge, I think I just stood and stared at it for a good one minute. Then again, when you have enough compound to rear five (previously seven) huge dogs, it's tough not to jawdrop for awhile. Her dogs are gorgeous though - I'll get the photos from Denise's camera and upload them when I get back to Subang.

We literally had dinner on the edge of Malaysia afterwards. :p The seafood was super yummy too, with succulent crabs and prawns I've never had before. We explored the area around the restaurant before dinnertime, including the temple perched at the very edge of land. The architecture there was really gorgeous and cunningly done, although the 4D lottery numbers scribbled on various walls and statues were a bit off-putting.

We also got to touch the Arapaimas raised there too! There was this rocky alcove with a pool and strategically placed holes big enough to stick a head and hand through. Apparently, if you manage to touch an arapaima living in this pool from head to tail, you'll strike the lottery. Or rather, have really good luck, but you know we Malaysians. :p

Needless to say, some of us gave it a go. My friend even got a combo-touch, with one arapaima trailing behind the other. I managed to touch the entire arapaima too, although I couldn't help scratching it a little like I do Chiko at home. XD The scales were really hard and the fish was really smooth to the touch. The arapaima themselves were really serene, for the lack of a better adjective. I guess they've gotten used to being a good-luck charm.

Early today, we left Johor and headed straight here via taxi to NUS and the library. I think we've clocked about 5 hours of solid research today and my eyes are already seeing stars. Hoping that the stuff I've dug up will help my FYP lit review. Either way, we're going back to hit the shelves tomorrow even earlier to squeeze out the most of our time here.

Oh, I do want to add this though: NUS is huge. With marvelous architecture. And awesome. Yes. Before I go back, I have vowed to try the sandwich vending machines.

Everyone's watching a ghost documentary in the other room, so I'm off to join them and maybe sort through the notes I photocopied today. Will post a major photo spam from Denise's pika-sparkly camera when I get back, but for now, here's a picture of me improving my future jackpot prospects:

Persona 3 log: Around 30+ or 50+ hours; can't remember the exact number, but I'm about 5 days away from fighting the Hermit Boss.

( Extensive P3 gamelog/spazz awaits )

Going down to Singapore next week to do some FYP research in the NUS library with some friends. Educational purposes aside, it'll be fun, I hope! ^^

I should do a Chiko photo-spam soon - I think I have more pictures of her than of myself/other people in my phone these past few months! Then again, I should probably upload some of the photos I've taken in uni, at least on Facebook.

Getting into K-pop could be bad for my brain. Oops, too late. 8D;;

EDITEI: Oh, forgot to mention, also finally got my hands on that Olympic closing song I wanted - 'The Moon is Bright Tonight' (Jin Ye Yue Ming)! (^o^) Glad I stumbled across it - all my searching back then availed to nothing. *happily loops it again*

EDITEI: HOCRAP, a cockroach just ran out from under by external hard-drive and it can fly. I'm not so bad with the ones that creep along the ground, but ugh ugh ugh, flying cockroaches are the worst!

My mom, Superwoman that she is, took a few pieces of tissue paper in her hand, squished it, threw it in the dustbin and sprayed Sheltox in it (the dustbin) for good measure. Go Mom! What would I do without you? \(T^T)/

Really quick update, mostly because I've been a horrible updater. ^^;;

Finals are over! Exams were tough, but definitely could be worse. Crossing my fingers for satisfactory results.

Knee is still stiff, oy vey. Still, at least I can climb stairs properly now.

Tried picking up Star Ocean 3 again, but the disc stopped working before I even got to the first battle tutorial. T^T Decided to try Persona 3 instead (Yes, I'm backdated), which may very well be the worst-best thing I've ever done. How the heck do you guys juggle maxing out the training +social linking + stat raising?? (;3;) Also, Sanada is very, very fangirl-able. ♥

Unfortunately, my mom thinks I play too much PS2. (But I haven't touched it in ages except recently to spin Pop'n Music 13 a few times, go figure.)

Have been as bad at e-mailing as I have been at LJing. ^^;

FYP AAAAAHHHH.

Haven't checked my F-list in forever - anything important I missed? Fill me in, guys!

Knee's been acting up lately; it slipped out again last week Saturday when I was getting out of bed. >.< Popped straight back in though (I'm thinking it's more a subluxation than dislocation), but I've been hobbling for a few days now. Right side of my kneecap's a bit swollen and stiff too, enough for it to hinder my leg from completely straightening.

I'm not all that keen on seeing a doctor though - not only is it expensive, but I'm predicting that they will suggest surgery as an option. +.+ Definitely not keen on that at all! I've heard stories from my mom's friend who underwent surgery for a similar problem, only to discover that it made little difference; it still popped out.

Oh well, I'll just take extra care and hope the swelling goes down (and the popping cease!)

In other news, I really should start studying for the Persuasion and Negotiation final exam. XD;;

I was thinking that today would have been kicked off by Research Methodology and the first day of our Finals.

And oh man, was I wrong. *winces* Painfully and utterly wrong.

At around 1.15 a.m this morning, my left kneecap slipped out of position right when I was about to go to bed. This hasn't occurred in ages, which was bad enough.

Worse, it stayed out until about 2.00 a.m, during which time I couldn't bring myself to straighten my leg because of the sheer agony attached to the effort of doing so. Cue pain, pain, PAAAAAAIN and more pain.

( +1 photo; might not be for the squeamish )

God bless Uncle Terry in the end; when called, he rang up his sister-in-law, who was an orthopedic surgeon and came over. Until now, I'm not sure how he did it, but he managed to lift my leg up and pull it straight with as minimal pain and discomfort as he could.

Ended up not being able to sleep the whole night in the end due to the discomfort and soreness and went off to uni at eight for the research meth exam at nine. Thank God my mom called the uni staff early - they allowed me to do my exam paper in a separate venue on the ground floor (the original venue was two floors up). Granted, the knee guard and crutch probably helped my case lots too.

My knee is horribly stiff and sore right now, with little twinges of pain shooting through it when it is shifted after being stuck in a position for too long. But at least it's back in. *sighs* Probably going to be hobbling for the next few days though.

On a brighter(?) note, today's exam wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! The feeling of being the only one in an exam hall is a bit disconcerting though. I kind of got the feeling that the invigilator wanted me to be done with my paper ASAP, but unfortunately for him, I'm one of those students who like to stick around for the whole duration of the exam paper.

Discourse analysis on Thursday - hopefully no mishaps will happen before that paper. +.+

Have been absent for awhile now mostly because I have been marathoning computer games of late. A lot of computer games.

But oh boy, what awesome games they are! O.O I'm a fan of hidden-objects games, but I love adventure-style games as well (okay, maybe a bit more) and most of the games I've been playing have been enjoyable hybrids of both, with gorgeous settings and graphics to boot.

Anyway, I told myself my next post would have photos from the last few days of the semester, but I caved into the need to chronicle the games that have eaten up my attention lately. Next post, maybe? ^^;

*looks at her D: drive* So, in the past...three days (four, if one counts today), I have played (and completed):

( Here be the List of Games (tm) - gaming spazz ahead )

I've also played 'Shopping Blocks' halfway (very Restaurant-City-que). Thinking of starting Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! tonight and Midnight Mysteries:The Edgar Allan Poe Conspiracy (Poe!) sometime in the future.

Also, I intend to start studying for my Finals!...eventually. 8D

In line with futomimii's absolutely gorgeous sky photos - seriously, check them out if you can - here is a shot I snapped yesterday in PJ:



Lovely blue sky :)

Wish I should say the same about the actual weather though - it's been scorching hot these few days, ouch. +_+ Add being stuck in traffic to that equation, and you get a lot of general grumpiness.

Worse still, despite my white blood-cells (usually) stellar defenses, I think I'm coming down with the flu. +___+ If that isn't bad enough, there's a sore throat threatening my voice, which I really, really need for tomorrow's public speaking presentation. Considering it is the final assignment for the subject and carries pretty heavy weight in our final evaluation, I need to stay audible at the very least. >.< Ugh.

Gotta last through this stretch and the Finals!

Today, I went with yuncyn, futomimii, carneaglariel and enigmatic_wind to watch 'Up' in Sunway Pyramid today. I've been hearing rave reviews about it and even reasons to bring tissue paper to the cinema during the movie. That, snowballed with the fact that it's Pixar pretty much meant I would eventually check it out.

And boy, it doesn't disappoint! I didn't cry the 'one litre of tears' piratelicker did, but I did end up sniffling at several points in the movie (yes, including the short clip before the movie began and the ending.) And I have to agree with Reins on the OST - gorgeous, gorgeous music that complemented the animation and story really well. And all those vibrant colors and smooth, amazing animation and guh.

The plot is simple enough to follow, but unfolds so beautifully without actually being shoved directly into your face. (Also, it is apparently so subtly conveyed that a kid behind me kept asking her parents what the heck was going on on the screen. +.+ Mmmmm, I'm thinking this may be a movie tailored more towards the older crowd then.)

Loving the character development as well - Carl's (obviously) the one given the most attention and focus, but I like how his development is clearly tied in with the other characters whom, while less developed (even static at times), are pretty likable. And Dug. ♥

Not going to drop any spoilers here, but do check it out if you can. It is definitely worth the watch and-

SQUIRREL.

- I mean, and will be worth the time and money spent. Seriously.

Not really related, but I really want to watch 'The Princess and the Frog' once it hits theaters. And wow, I really miss the good ol' Disney movies, like 'Aladdin' and co.

Anyway, the bunch of us took some purikura pictures afterwards and divided the photos amongst ourselves. Here are the ones I got. (Sorry about the picture quality; my scanner is old. T^T)



We started out pretty 'seriuz'. Really, we did.

( +5: Five times as sparkly, five times five as crazy-mad as you can get when you shove five girls into a photo booth )

Will add another picture-cut once I get the other pictures, because seriously you guys, there are more epic pictures than these. For serious.


In other news, I passed 'Captain Jack' on DDR today! \(^o^)/ With a quarter bar left to boot. Turns out it was easier than 'Cartoon Heroes', mostly because the latter has more double steps. Hoping to replicate that the next time I take a whack at that machine.

Guys, I have something to confess to all of you. I'm not actually 21.

I'm actually 23 YEARS OLD .

( And here's the proof... )