*[dreamscape]

Ah, am I too late to play? D;

2009-11-01T16:14:19Z

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^^; Don't know if anyone still wants my outdated, errr, candy (why am I so late, sob), but oh well.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

From a_songfor_xx; so pretty! I wussed out and took a treat though.

From kishmet: "For the next twenty-four hours, preface every LJ comment you make with "And now, the weather report."

From iyori: "POST THE CUUUUUTEST PICTURE OF CHIKOTAN YOU CAN FIND AND TAG IT TO THE END OF ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS."

From yuncyn: MAKE ME AN ICON, WOMAN. AN 100x100 ICON OF THE NAC MAC FEEGLES, CHARACTERS WRITTEN BY TERRY PRATCHETT.

Coming to you live from Singapore!

2009-10-20T14:15:51Z

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:

70% P3, 30% misc.

2009-10-14T05:49:56Z

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.

Currently at level 42-43, with the rest of my party members averaging about 37/38. Juggling the characters around to level them all evenly is tough though, especially since I have an odd number of party members available at the moment. As it is, I push them until they're worn out before rotating - clearly, the just-before-full-moon nights (when they never tire out) makes this a bit of a quandry. ^^; Hoping to hit level 45 before I go face the boss this round.

And if juggling team members are tough, juggling the personas around is tougher! (>3<) Trying to keep relevant personas for the Social links and still fuse high-level ones almost always results in a lot of yen-spending - the last round ate about 100k just to shuffle them all around. Thank goodness it's not all that hard to pick up yen in Tartarus or I'd be broke by now. Elizabeth doesn't help with all her requests requiring fusion. Why oh why do we only get 12 slots; I hope we get more later on?

Also maxed out all the stats, yay! (^o^)9 That's one hurdle out of the way. Have three Social Links maxed out - only too many more to go! +.+ Hope I have enough time to whack all of them.

Aigis, why is your winning sequence so moe? ♥

BUT SANADA IS WINNAR FOREVER, YUS. ♥ Even if he completely fails at picking up girls (Operation Babe Hunt, WHAT.)

Death (and the rattling chains) is freaky. *totally runs for the next floor/warp point whenever the warning/chains sfx comes*

Finally got the actual-full version (all of four minutes plus) of 'Burn my Dread' - loving the funky-rock mix. I love how the lyrics match the game so well too, although I still can quite decipher the words when sung. ^^;

(And yes, 'back-dated' is my new middle name.)

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)/

What, an update?

2009-10-05T12:31:25Z

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!

Bleh

2009-09-21T15:28:56Z

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;;

Too much excitement, too much pain

2009-09-15T08:42:37Z

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.

The kneecap went to the left and, to my utter horror, did not pop back in like it usually does (in these kinds of cases anyway). I'm thinking it's because I fell against the dresser, which bent my leg and probably allow the slip to remain out.

And before you go, 'WTF AXTAR WERE YOU DOING SNAPPING PHOTOS D8<', you try distracting yourself from the pain of a slipped kneecap and the muscle ache in your lower leg for over thirty minutes. =_= It was a break from the 'your knee will be okay later' mantra that kept replaying in my head (which unfortunately, didn't help much with the pain).

My mom initially tried to help me straighten out my leg (because that's the only way the kneecap was going to pop back in), but my leg hurt every time it was moved. Calling the hospital didn't help either - doctors don't come out on house calls apparently, and if they actually manage to shift me into an ambulance, my leg would probably straighten out by itself and the whole hospital trip (and powwow fuss that would come with it) would be unnecessary.

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. +.+

Things I Need: A Life

2009-09-08T13:08:54Z

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):

i) Burger Shop 2
MADNESS. ABSOLUTE MADNESS. And a sorta-there, lolzy plot but mostly MADNESS. This is in line with the Diner-Dash-styled games, only with a slight difference in the actual gameplay - instead of clicking back and forth to do tasks, you're literally compiling the ingredients into the meals requested. It's all okay in the beginning...until the billion-and-one different machines start popping up and the fussy customers with insane orders pop in and you really just want to not serve spaghetti and salad and WTF, is that hot chocolate?

PS: I think I really, really dislike ninjas now. And sumo wrestlers. And blue-haired punks who don't know how to wait.

ii) Strange Cases: The Tarot Card Mystery
Lovely combo of the hidden-objects and story mode. The actual narration employs sketchy-art scenes (different from 'Drawn'; looks painted). Fairly easy puzzles, though the plot is a little strange, IMHO. Nice settings though and really well-done backgrounds. There really isn't much character development here - most of the characters are fairly two-dimensional. That doesn't impede too much on the gameplay, though it's fairly easy to guess the culprit(s) about halfway through the game.

iii)Women's Murder Club 3: Twice in a Blue Moon
I've played both WMC 1 and 2 previously, so I was really anticipating great things from WMC 3. And it delivered, with an interesting plot and even more intriguing suspects! One of the highlights of WMC for me is the plot, which keeps you guessing at the criminal all the way until the end. This round's mystery still can't top WMC 1, but it outstrips WMC 2 by far.

The puzzles are standard WMC, with recurring puzzle-types from the previous installments, such as arrange-the-bottles, Guess the Category and the typical seek-and-find objects sections (with super-tiny objects! T_T) A bonus is the usage of Jill (at last!) if only very briefly. If you like murder mysteries, chances are you'll like this game. ;)

iv) Princess Isabella:A Witch's Curse
After the initial snickering (I mean, it's a pretty, uh, interesting name, isn't it?), I have to admit this is one of the best games of the hidden-object/adventure-style genre I've played yet. Love the settings and the way you have to move back and forth in between rooms to solve puzzles to get the plot moving. It must have taken the game artists tons of effort to have to design each room two ways - spooky-cursed and sparkly-shiny-fairytale post-curse. Much kudos to them for that - adds to the gaming experience and yay, sparkly fairytale settings!

The indicator at the top of the screen informing you when you have cleared the room is also really helpful, especially if you're worried that you may have missed something. The fairy's voice can be a little annoying at times, but meh, it didn't bother me all that much. Insanely detailed scenes (second only to 'Drawn' and maybe 'Nancy Drew Dossier:R2R') and a nice, simple plot that suits the game.

v) Nancy Drew Dossier: Resorting to Danger
One of the more light-hearted games in terms of plot compared to the other games pimped here (with the exception of BS2), this is more adventure-styled than actual hidden-objects. No objections from my corner though. I really like how they animate the characters and oh, the voice-acting, LOL! (I still can't pinpoint if I love or want to laugh at Cassidy's 'refined' voice.) Another one with well-rendered settings, and the pairing-up-items format really helps with the solving. One advantage of this game over the others are the characters/suspects you interact with - they're all hilariously over-the-top and amazing that way. And I really want to strangle that pomeranian, Mr. Mingles.

Apparently, there are six alternate endings to this story, so I might replay this eventually.

v)Drawn: The Painted Tower
THIS. IS. ABSOLUTELY. AMAZING.♥ Not only does it take the cake in graphics and puzzles (some so tricky they kind of blew my mind), but guh, it goes the extra mile in voice-acting and smooth animation that complements the scenes so well. And my goodness, the scenes are gorgeously rendered and detailed and the art style, GUH. I cannot express my utter admiration for the artists enough - they did an amazing job with the scenes and the colors and the general mood they evoke. I also love the way the sketchy style of the narration bits is paired together with the slightly-painted style of the actual in-game backgrounds. And the music. ♥

Like 'Nancy Drew', this is less hidden-objects than it is adventure-styled, but it works for this game. The plot was a little too subtle and brief though IMHO, and the ending kind of abrupt. But, like others say, that leaves plenty of room for a brilliant, equally beautiful sequel. :D

(PS: At 600+ MB, this is also one super-huge game. But...graphics. ♥)

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

More than just waving flags and patrotic songs

2009-08-31T06:49:20Z

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY/SELAMAT HARI MERDEKA, MALAYSIA

It's been a quiet Independence day (Hari Merdeka) so far today, but it's the fact that our country's actually reached its 52nd anniversary since the original declaration of independence that counts most. ;D

Ya, kamu masih negaraku, Malaysia. ^^

PJ skies

2009-08-25T12:44:00Z

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!

UP: Up and Away!

2009-08-22T16:16:24Z

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.

BAHAMAS GETAWAY; can't you just feel that sun. Please to be excusing the shark; it wanted some phototime too.

This is so Chinese-New-Year-y to me somehow; must be all that red. Also, may just be totally off, but I think I pulled off the 'Yesung smile' here, LOL. What do you think?

N-NANDA.

HONG KONG DRAMA IN YOUR BATHTUB - no one gave me the memo that we were supposed to not look Seriuz(tm). D8<

You know that saying 'Too much of a good thing can be bad for you'?

Well, clearly it doesn't apply to us. 8D Because we are awesome. TOO MUCH AWESOMENESS IN ONE PICTURE, MUST SHIELD EYES.

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.

So I just learnt the truth

2009-08-21T05:26:54Z

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

I'm actually 23 YEARS OLD .

At least, according to the Chinese calendar anyway:

from: this site

Apparently, the Chinese 'count the age starting from the birth, every Chinese lunar year which you will traverse count for one year more however your month of birth'. Which (I think) means you're pretty much one years old the minute you were conceived. And two the minute you move into another year, regardless of whether you're still in the womb when the Happy New Year celebrations come around.

Added to the fact that my birth-date is in November using the Chinese calendar...

WOW, I FEEL SO OLD. D8<

Round 'em Up, Write 'em Down

2009-08-18T14:57:17Z

Quick recap of the past few days again (or in this case, last Friday):

i) Went for raincloud_sama and enigmatic_wind's kind-of farewell dinner (the two of them are leaving for the UK soon) at Pasta Zanmai in Sunway Pyramid. The food was decent, but the service wasn't very good - we had to ask three times at least for my green tea and Denise got the wrong order once; they had to reconfirm the order several times, if I recall correctly. And that's not even taking into account the wait for the food to arrive. Admittedly, both yuncyn and I came late-ish and the restaurant was fairly crowded, but still. Not the best of impressions when it comes to service.

ii) sapphire_1010 AND I FINISHED 'CARTOON HEROES' (YES, ALL THE WAY TO THE END) ON DDR STANDARD MODE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER YEAAAAAAAAH. \(>A<)9

Hoping to reduplicate the feat someday before going for 'Captain Jack', yosh!

iii) Ended up buying a pair figurines from Vol. 2 of the Dynasty Warriors 6 Eiketsu Mini Figures because they're cute and I am weak that way. These figures go for RM25 each (ouch), but are pretty well made and cute to boot! Plus, it's Dynasty Warriors, end of story.

The figure is completely hidden in the box it comes in, so exactly which figurine you'll get is totally random and dependent on your own luck. Darnit. >:/

This isn't about the swords (or I'd be having an identity crisis)

Managed to get Cao Pi (Wei) and Ma Chao (Shu) - not too bad at all. ;) To be honest though, both of these are due to Denise's luck; she bought the first box for me when I was off DDR-ing with Saph and traded Ma Chao with my second box (which was Xiahou Dun).

I'm thinking of getting another box, if only in the hopes of getting Ling Tong (♥) or Zhao Yun(♥♥), though I wouldn't be adverse to getting Zhuge Liang or Gan Ning.

In the meantime, I guess Cao Pi and Ma Chao can fight a one-man war against each other over Lewis Carroll.

(Random: Just realized they don't seem to have Sun Ce, SOB ROMAN EMPEROR WHERE ARE YOUUUUU. T^T)

Today:

Dropped by the 'One Kilometre World' exhibition by S. Amin Shahab in Pyramid with my family today. It was pretty interesting, the canvas - in a nutshell, it is a one-kilometer-long canvas with various landscapes and people shifting and melding with each other. The whole thing was done solely in pen (Artline, if I'm not mistaken), which made the details on it doubly impressive, IMHO.

The rows and rows (and rows) of art canvas!

My personal favorite landscape in the canvas; I labeled it 'checkboard floors and marble halls' and discreetly camwhored with it. (I'll spare you all from having to see that. XD) The depth almost makes it sink into the back of the canvas; wish I could explore that hidden part behind those pillars.

Egypt~! My photo totally doesn't convey the stillness within this particular landscape; t'was almost like being in silent corridors just looking at it.

:
I love, love, love the details in this; all that overlapping art to make the whole entity. :3

There's also the '1,001 Faces of Malaysia' project happening right beside the exhibition, with S. Amin Shahab sketching 1,001 faces of shoppers and people who 'represent our country'. It's still ongoing and will continue until the 31st of August, so if you want your face to be one amongst the many others, I believe it's open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Sunway Pyramid.

Grumpy Chiko wonders why world domination hasn't happened yet. :3

Snap, You're It!

2009-08-13T16:11:36Z

Figured I should upload the photos I snapped today at Sogo (more on that later), which ended up in me catching up a little on a few backdated photos. So, this isn't quite a photo spam, but what the hey, it'll do. (Warning, fairly big pictures - fear them!)

But first! Remember my goal of taking over the world with cute photos?

YEAH, MY PLAN IS WELL ON ITS WAY. 8D

UTAR Setapak Trip, Or 'The Pilgrimage in Search of FYP Enlightenment'

A long, looong time ago, a bunch of us EL UTARians decided to drop by the UTAR (Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman aka my uni) campus in Setapak to consult with our Final Year Project supervisor. It was a kind of win-win situation: our supervisor was saved a trip down to the PJ campus to meet with us, and we curious people would get a chance to see a proper UTAR campus with our own eyes. (Trust me, if you've been to our er, 'campus' in PJ, you'd totally understand this sentiment.)

Needless to say, we weren't disappointed - it was a nicer campus than ours, for sure with a better organized cafeteria, IMHO and a pretty stylish faculty office. That it was bigger goes without saying. ^^; Still, even if given the choice, I wouldn't trade our location in PJ for anything. Come on, give up convenient transit to Midvalley, One Utama, KLCC and the heart of KL? Not even if you made me.

We attempted some camwhoring before we left the campus, but eh, my skills are clearly stunted when it comes to fitting more than three people into one picture. Sorry Liz! ^^;;

After the meet-up with our supervisor, we met up with Dylane and her mom and had a super-awesome lunch in a place near the LRT station. Forgot to snap photos of all of us, but the laughs we had over our food more than made up for it. I'm still waiting for Sal to snort out longans through her nose. :3

Sogo Outing, Or 'Hey, look, waterfall!'

Went with my mom today to Kuala Lumpur to sort out some banking stuff - we actually bought KTM tickets one station short of our actual destination AND accidentally entered Bank Negara (no wonder those office staff were giving us funny looks!) before we actually got to the actual place we were heading to. And it had to rain on top of that as well. D;

Still, the rain cleared up after a bit and we walked over to Sogo, where they were having this absolutely ginormous bag sale: rows and shelves and tables of designer bags of all kinds on discounts everywhere! *O*

While we didn't get any bags (despite perusing the lots of them), my mom surprised me by getting me a bottle of DKNY's 'Be Delicious' which I've been wanting for ages now - thanks heaps, Mom! ^O^

Anyway, we made our way to the top floor, where the still-very-gorgeous man-made pseudo waterfall was. If anything, I think it's gotten prettier since I last came when I was, what, seven? eight?

My mom joked that it was almost like being in China for some reason, hence this cut's title.Personally, I think it's like being in one of those National Parks. :p

Very Backdated Stuff, or....well, yeah

Jade Curtiss (Tales of the Abyss) and Hinoe (Harutoki3), alllll the way from Comic Fiesta in December 2008. Hey, I DID say backdated. 8D;;

Noticed I haven't posted these on my LJ, so I just thought I'd rectify that. These are probably the best shots I have - clearly, I need lessons in character aura or something.

Both costumes are kind of incompleted even until now: Jade's leggings were/are too short and Hinoe's wig was/is still unstyled. (Ahahaha, PROCRASTINATION. A beautiful thing.)

My favorite picture of my Hinoe costume, even if I kind of fail at looking lecherous. >D

To round things off, here's my favorite self-photo from Bon Odori:

...for a self-proclaimed not-very-photogenic person, I have a lot of self-photos. O.O. Huh.

So What Have You Learnt?

2009-08-12T15:36:39Z

Since I fail at being up-to-date, let's review some life lessons I have learnt throughout the past few days.

Lesson One: Your (usually) trusty, long-suffering calculator will always die a convenient death when you need it most.
In this case, when I needed it for my research methodology midterm. Awesome timing, I say - only way it could up that would be if it died during the Finals.

...*touches wood*

Lesson Two: Any non-scientific calculator will, in an examination context, be out to get you if you attempt to use it to add/subtract/square root any sum containing more than 5 sets of numbers.

Try two lists with 35 numbers each. Painful experience, that. =.= I never did find out that standard deviation of differences in the end; yay for working backwards!

Lesson Three: Do not call people 'stupid'; instead use 'manifest profusion of delusional ideology incarnate' instead.
Not exactly what Persuasion and Negotiation may have set out to teach us, but wonderfully effective nonetheless once you figure out a way to memorize that and spew it all out without pausing. ;D

Lesson Four: Never, ever take a 'half-an-hour nap' before an exam.
Because you end up oversleeping anyway, which leads to no brush-up revision, which leads to you gaping like a goldfish during Oral when you forget Japanese particles and the teacher is waiting patiently for you to finish your (at this point, shot) sentence.

Lesson Five: Mosquitoes are the spawn of Evil. _EVIL_.
And like evil, they are everywhere. *swats at another one* If I have to kill another mosquito during lecture, I'll start a collection and sell them at Petaling Street because anything goes at PStreet.

Lesson Six: When everything seems too cramped and messed up, just remember: deep breaths and tomorrow.
Something which I should practice more. *nods*

Lesson Seven: When in doubt/stressed, the variety show, Star King makes everything better.
Why no, I haven't been on Youtube, loading all these videos....much....really...

Lesson Eight: You know you're seriously in for it when you keep looping a song which chorus (melody) consists of only ONE note.
Though it must be admitted that the chords camouflages the one-note-ness to an extent and it's ridiculously catchy, but seriously. Darn you, Super Junior for invading (and successfully) conquering my playlist. And my mother's approval! *shakes fists*

(PS: For the curious, said song is 'Sorry Sorry' and said one note is A. Seriously.)

Well, that's about it, I should think. Write, self, write!

editei: Wait, wait - I come back to LJ and see that THERE IS AN OVA FOR RIKKAI'S EARLIER YEARS?In which Kirihara gets served by the Troika? Which features a CAPLESS, messy-haired Sanada Genichirou?

♥

*begins plotting way to get hands on this OVA by hook or by crook, most likely by crook*

editei: This hand-flute performance makes me feel like getting the Lupin III OST like, now. +.+

editei: I keep editing this post tonight, but only because I'm absolutely dying from laughter just watching these SuJu parodies on Youtube at the moment:

The one-man 'Sorry Sorry Parody' - by the time he reached the rotating computer chair...seriously, I salute the sheer creativity and utter LOLZ that is this video. >DDD

Office men dancing to 'Sorry Sorry' - From the Korean Airlines to boot! Goodness knows how many places they used as background setting, but this is absolutely priceless, ZOMG WHAT.

(I think they're the same group that appeared on StarKing?)

Either way, they also did a pretty snappy attempt(if less hilarious) of the dance version of 'Neorago (It's You)' (original over here for comparison purposes).

MPH-Alliance Bank National Short Story Prize 2009 Shortlist is out!

2009-08-02T13:03:30Z

After a fairly long wait, the shortlist for the MPH-Alliance Bank National Short Story Prize 2009 is finally out! (It's kind of well, 'jammed' at the moment, so you might have better luck viewing the list over here.)

Yours truly didn't make this list, but I'm glad I tried out anyway! ^^ Googling up the names of some of those finalists in the Adults Category seriously awed me - they look to have a lot more experience at writing than I do (of which I have eh, very little, eheheoops). :p Congrats to all the finalists; I definitely would like to read what you guys wrote! Either way, the shortlisted entries are probably way better than my crummy one (which I still can't bring myself to read without wanting to ram my head into the nearest wall - maybe 6 months down the line?...^^;;)

I'm a little amused by the whole longlist issue though - after all those requests, debates and arguments, I wonder if MPH will release it?

*resolves to work harder*

*by 'harder', I mean 'actually start writing again'*

*Obviously, LJ entries don't count.*

*I'll just need to unhook myself from too-catchy Kpop stuff first. Darnit.*

Taking over the world, one photo at a time

2009-07-28T11:40:14Z

No cut, just because. :3

A week in review

2009-07-22T16:09:59Z

Since I haven't updated in the past few days, here's a update-dump of a sorts!

Thursday

Finally went and watched 'Transformers 2:Revenge of the Fallen'. We thought the cinema would be empty, especially since it was both i) a school day and ii) 3.00 p.m. in the afternoon.

Turns out 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' was released on that day.

Needless to say, we waited at least 30 minutes in line for tickets. ^^;

Still, the movie was pretty good - worth the RM10 we forked out. The plot wasn't exactly the most brilliant story ever, but it wasn't as wafer-thin as some said it was, IMHO. Granted, I did think some of the robots (the Autobots in particular) could have gotten more screen time, but then again, judging by all the in-your-face transformations they kept doing, I'm thinking the animators had enough on their plates as it was, thank you very much. :p

Saturday

I almost forgot about Bon Odori - if futomimii hadn't mentioned it to me, I might have missed it altogether. ^^;

As it was, Saturday turned out to be a pretty packed day for me - classes from 8 to 1, lunch, and I barely made it back home by 3 p.m. to pick up my yukata and hop into raincloud_sama's car to go over to carneaglariel's place. ^^; Still, it was awesome seeing everyone again! I know I haven't met up with you for quite some time, what with the lack of transportation and time, so yay for that! The food this year was pretty good too; have to admit I was amused by the conveyor belt Sushi King managed to bring in this year.

If there's anything I have to complain about the event this year though, it would be about the amount of dust that rose during the event. By the time we left the stadium (early, mind you), it was almost as if a haze had dropped in to attend Bon Odori this year too. Also, the dance sessions was kind of awkward - pretty much the entire crowd just milled around watching the stage instead of dancing. futomimii, minses, m_egumi, sapphire_1010 and myself were amongst the few dancing at first, but eventually people joined us and the dancing kicked off properly. :)

With the exception of one or two shots, all pictures here were taken (aka: leeched) from other people, mostly from futomimii, raincloud_sama and minses) ; I didn't take proper pictures, I'm afraid. ^^;;

Monday

Woke up at 6 a.m. to an sms telling me the first two classes of the day were cancelled. Reset my alarm to make it in time for the third class and went back to sleep.

Woke up again at 11 a.m. to another sms saying that the third class was also cancelled. O_O Guys, please take care - a lot of people seem to be falling sick these days and the whole H1N1 threat doesn't help any.

Ended up watching 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with yuncyn; compared to the staggering lines of Thurday, the line was not only relatively short, but we nabbed lovely seats right smack in the center back of the cinema. The movie was pretty good and the plot better than 'Transformers'. I thought the cinematography was rather well done as well (gotta love those mad camera angles!) I'm still not that keen on the way Remus was portrayed and Ron was really more of a humor factor than a major player in the plot, but hey, Slughorn was pretty good. Couldn't help but note that Tom Riddle in this movie looked rather different from the one portrayed in 'Chamber of Secrets'.

Either way, I'll definitely be looking forward to the last one when it comes out. :3

Tuesday

Class cancelled again, mostly because the lecturer was still out sick. Had to go to uni to attend a meeting about Wednesday's AGM meeting and the disbandment of the EL club in Petaling Jaya.

Wednesday (today!)

If there was ever a day for Murphy's law to crash down on us, well, it couldn't have picked a more apt time.

First, all the sockets in the room we had selected wouldn't work. After that was fixed, the speaker we lugged all the way down from the floor above didn't work. A second speaker (also carried down from B2) proved that our microphone was the one malfunctioning.

And right as the AGM was about to start, the projector suddenly died an abrupt death.

If that wasn't bad enough, a good number of our seniors and classmates weren't there by the time we had to start the AGM.

Well, things picked up halfway through the meeting though - King managed to secure another projector and fix it up just in time for the secretary's report and Dr. Carmen was fairly good entertainment as a time-staller. :p And the lunch was pretty good; kudos to CC for managing to persuade the cafeteria aunties into providing a fairly generous spread on our budget!

And at least we're now spared the hassle of having to deal with the Department of Students Affairs for awhile at least. :3

*dusts off hands* I think that about covers it for now. Really got to pick up my LJing habit properly again.

BACK

2009-07-14T11:19:34Z

After a pretty long hiatus (not planned at all, mind you), I'm (hopefully) back again to bother you guys and stuff up your F-list with my random posts. >D Anyone missed me? Did I miss anything? Fill me in, guys! (Because going through +1000 on my F-list is....um, not an option.)

Nothing much to update as of at the moment, I think - lots of uni stuff to catch up on. Oh, and my hard-drive died. D; I'm hoping it's the result of a faulty cable though - I really don't want to consider the thought of losing 100+ GB of stuff.

(Oh, and LD won third, woot! :p)

axtar @ 2009-06-30T16:35:00

2009-06-30T09:00:14Z

I've really been missing in action recently, haven't I? ^^;; I doubt anyone really misses my posts on LJ though - haven't been writing about anything particularly interesting lately.

So Michael Jackson has passed on. (Wow, three-days-late post, how back-dated am I?) In a way, I guess I can't be too surprised. Nevertheless, rest in peace, Michael. Your legacy certainly will live on. Honestly though, after hearing about his life and snippets from carneaglariel,I wouldn't trade him that legacy. Here's to him being in a better place now.

Was assigned an FYP supervisor - none other than my first choice, yay! ^^ She's made promises (threats? >D) of making me read Milton's 'Paradise Lost', egads. Probably to do comparisons with my FYP, but I've seen 'Paradise Lost'. I've flipped through 'Paradise Lost'. I've put 'Paradise Lost' back on the shelves slowly and backed away. A bleak future awaits.

(But my supervisor's nice - I'm pretty sure she'll point me down the right track.)

Public Speaking presentation tomorrow. Not really prepared. Lecturer will pounce like a tiger on mistakes. I KNOW HE WILL.

Running on low sleep. I think I owe the Sandman quite a huge debt by now. He's mighty unpleased but go duke it out with the day - it's his fault for having only 24 hours.

Methinks this post becomes more incoherent the further along I trudge down the page.

Here is the end.

Meme dalam Bahasa Melayu

2009-06-18T10:06:36Z

Doing this solely because of sapphire_1010, whose answers were so 'menyampah', I couldn't resist. (Oi! Siapa 'celaka' ni??!?) A meme in 30 questions, asked and answered in Bahasa Melayu (or Malaysia if you want be be all technical about it). Watch as my BM rusts before your eyes!

1. Bekas kekasih saya adalah :
'Langsung tidak wujud'. Ya betul, itu namanya agaknya.

2. Saya sedang mendengar :
'Musim Gila' oleh Kotak Mancis Dua Puluh.

3. Mungkin saya patut:
tidur lebih awal. Oh, dan buat kerja rumah yang diberi oleh pensyarah yang perlu dihantar pada hari Isnin, tapi saya lebih suka pada alternatif pertama.

4. Saya suka :
makan. Ya, betul.

5.Sahabat-sahabat baik saya :
tidur lebih awal berbanding saya agaknya.

6.Saya tak paham :
Apa itu 'paham'. (Sepatutnya 'faham'; apa jenis bahasa ini??)

7.Saya kehilangan :
Banyak benda yang telahpun saya lupa.

8.Ramai yang berkata :
Langit adalah biru dan anjing ada empat kaki.

9.Makna nama saya :
Bintang, tapi bukan bintang jenis Angelina Jolie, sebaliknya yang merupakan batu alam semesta.

10.Cinta itu adalah :
Perkataan yang dieja dengan lima huruf; dua vokal and tiga konsonan.

11.Di suatu tempat, seseorang sedang :
Melakukan apa yang saya hendak lakukan. Celaka sungguh!

12.Saya akan cuba :
Menolong pihak Padang Pasir Sesat memenangi Kejohanan Altador di laman web Neopets. T^T9 Mari kita semua berusahalah!

13.Ayat SELAMANYA membawa maksud :
Siapa yang menulis meme ini? 'Selamanya' kan perkataan, bukannya ayat!
(Jawapannya adalah 'tidak berhenti-henti'.)

14.Telefon bimbit saya :
Agak canggih juga! Ianya bekas telephone bimbit adik saya; alangkah menyampah hal ini.

15.Bila saya terjaga dari tidur :
Saya sudah bangun.

16.Saya paling meluat apabila :
Saya dua puluh empat jam pun meluat agaknya.

17.Pesta/Parti adalah :
Dua parkataan yang bermula dengan huruf 'P'.

18.Haiwan yang paling comel yang saya pernah temui ialah :
'Chiko', anjing peliharaan saya yang juga dikenali sebagai 'Raksasa Misai'.

19.Peringkat umur yang paling menyeronokkan bagi saya ialah :
Sepatutnya sekarang, betul tak?

20.Hari ini :
sepatutnya hujan.

21.Malam ini saya akan :
bermain Neopets.

22.Esok pula saya akan :
bermain Neopets.

23.Saya betul-betul inginkan :
bermain Neopets. Dan menjadi jutawan.

24.Ketika anda lihat wajah anda di hadapan cermin pagi ini :
Saya belum melihat cermin pada hari ini.

25.Pusat membeli-belah atau arked permainan :
Kedua-duanya. Tapi arked permainan mestilah ada permainan yang saya sukakan and tidaklah terlampau gelap seperti sarang penagih dadah.

26.Makanan Barat atau Jepun :
Kedua-dua pun sedap!

27.Bilik yang terang atau gelap :
Saya tak kisah, asalkan penyaman udara dipasang.

28.Makanan segera adalah :
Sangat sedap, terutamanya Mi Maggi.

29.Ayat terakhir yang anda katakan pada seseorang?
Alamak, sudah lupa.

30.Siapa yang anda nak Tag?
Sesiapa yang mampu membaca semua karut yang telah saya tulis sampai ke sini.

axtar @ 2009-06-17T00:49:00

2009-06-16T17:47:33Z

*blows off dust* Haven't been prodding around LJ for awhile now - sorry about that. The current Altador Cup over at Neopets has been kind of distracting me from pretty much everything else (Lost Desert will win the cup, darnit! (T^T)9 ), but at least I've been poking my friends list every few days or so?

Anyway! I figured it was high time I kickstarted my posting again. And what better way to do it than with a fire report?

Yep, a small fire started over at Taman Subang Ria, the park just slightly outside our housing area. We first noticed it from the highway on our way home from uni (around 5.45 pm); it was fairly small as far as accidental fires went but dangerously near a electric tower. I initially tried to send in an SMS to Rakan Kop(the police hotline) using my mother's new handphone, but figuring out how to send it(!!) was tricky enough that in the end, yuncyn sent the SMS herself. The police called her back in about 10 minutes - fairly promptly, we thought - and soon enough, a fire truck came trundling down the road.

Us, being Malaysians and therefore KPCs ('kaypochi'/ busibodies), followed the truck into the park, arriving just in time to see the two firemen-scouts return from their scouting to direct the truck over to the actual fire. Denise and I even jogged over to where the truck was at the actual fire site, where we got to watch them put out the fire. (Citizen-journalist photo op; how could I resist?) It took them about half an hour, but the fire eventually died down enough for them to rake over the damage. Good to know our Malaysian firefighters are pretty professional (and prompt!) when it comes down to the crunch. ;) And thank goodness the fire didn't spread.

What really irritated me though was the reactions of some of the joggers about the fire. According to my mom (who stayed behind near the car), several were concerned enough to also have sent in a report to the fire station. However, there were some who actually dismissed it, justifying their lack of action by claiming there were so many green trees around it, 'it would have died out by itself'. And yet others didn't bother at all, probably thinking that other people would report it - why waste time and effort? Just keep jogging lah. Both of these attitudes - the dismissive and/or bystander effect - could have very well caused the fire to have grown to destructive proportions, especially if left to burn long enough to reach the electric cables. And, if you think about it carefully, both are rather self-serving in nature; hey, if it's not happening to me, why should I care about it, right? Seriously, if everyone adopted one or even both of those attitudes, where would our community or, better yet, nation be? Let's learn to be less selfish and care about our environment, both the people and the surroundings. Hey, we'd be grateful if someone extended a line of help to us; why can't we do it for others?

Even more vexing is the possible cause of the fire, highly suspected to be a carelessly thrown cigarette butt. What is it with we Malaysians and littering??? It's a fact that a good number (if not all!) of our sidewalks and roads house quite the population of litter along them. Makes one wonder how civilized some of us actually are if we can't even grasp the basic concept of disposing trash into a proper dustbin.

Well, enough of my ranting, here are some park photos I took on the jog out:

I'm really glad they decided to keep the park around - a year or so back, the park was considered for demolition in order to make space for an apartment building (or was it a parking lot? Hmmm...) Enough of the public protested at this idea that the idea was eventually scrapped. Good move, I say.

Also, while I was uploading the park/fire shots, I thought I'd put up some pictures of Chiko as well. ♥

Bigger, fluffier and as cute as ever. ♥ I contest that no one can resist that face. NO ONE.

Coming assignments and talk that the FYP supervisors will be assigned by next week makes me tired just listening about them. :/ And wow, did my blog-writing skill rust when I wasn't looking?

Quick, ninja-time!

Clearly, I may have a problem. And yet I feel horribly, gleefully unrepentant. (That's the last of them, I promise!)

This is probably a testament to my (lack of) willpower

2009-06-04T15:49:37Z

So much for logically deciding I shouldn't get them earlier; technically, I've just bought a whole set. *facepalms* I blame it on the vanilla scent that wafted past my nose when I checked to ensure the third cupcake gloss (for my cousin) was in good condition.

(Cupcake lip glosses from Bloop, left to right: melon, strawberry, vanilla)

And I found the other two much, much closer to home - in Sunway Pyramid to be exact! Even better, we (I dragged yuncyn out with me again ^^;) were allowed to pick and choose the ones we wanted, unlike the prepackaged ones in Midvalley. The way I figured it, they could be a present to myself for last semester's grades, but justified or not, they are really too cute to resist, darnit.

When I came home, my cousin had a surprise of her own for me - this cute doll-pendant necklace that, incidentally, she also got from Pyramid today:

Thanks so much, Pei Yi! (^3^) I'll be sure to keep (and wear) it safely.

Now, for some less frivolous stuff. Noticed this on dustyhawk's LJ and hey, who am I not to forward a good cause:

The above DiGi campaign is aiming to raise RM150,000 in 30 days for various charities and we can help! That banner there will lead you to the charity I chose - MAKNA - but you can choose a different charity to support from the Save Now!' page. Just click on the charity you want to support from one of the three categories (nature, health, social), and DiGi will donate RM5 to that charity.

You don't have to be a DiGi user to participate in this campaign, so no 'but I'm a Celcom/Maxis/insert your mobile provider here' excuses, guys. I'm not sure if it's limited to Malaysians only but there's no harm in giving it a try. ;D You will have to verify your email after clicking since each individual/group is only allowed one vote, but it is a pretty sweet deal nonetheless.

So if you can spare some time and a click for one of those charities, please do! Those charities will really appreciate it and so will the people those charities help. :) Also, do spread the word - let's give DiGi a leg up in achieving that RM150,000!

Mmm, Yummy Stuff!

2009-06-02T11:30:15Z

The new semester began yesterday - no more lazy days and late mornings, awwww. Our new schedule's a little strange with Saturday classes and off-days on Tuesdays and Fridays. Also handed in my FYP proposal (after 3 days of brainstorming over what to focus it on); here's to hoping it won't be rejected!

Since we only had one lecture yesterday, what with it being the first day of the term and all, I followed a couple of uni friends to go catch 'Monsters vs. Aliens' at Midvalley. The movie wasn't too bad, but I think my expectations of the movie was set a little too high - it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. A result of too much hype perhaps? Still, the animation was good and Bob was an absolute scream. I wouldn't watch it a second time though.

Anyway, remember me mentioning these cupcake lip glosses in a previous post? Well, if you ask yuncyn (and probably a number of other people), you'd learn that I've (sadly enough) been telling her how much I want these over the past few days. While I was at Midvalley, I followed friends into a beauty store, and lo and behold, there were several tester-samples in all their cupcake glory placed on one of the racks for display! *O*

Needless to say, I spazzed out. Really spazzed out. ♥ Granted, they were not the UK ones I saw - copies made by Bloop, actually - but still! After thinking they weren't available locally, it was a lovely, lovely surprise.

Sadly, logic kicked in and told me that RM36 (RM24 when Denise offered to take one) was more than I could spare for the set (three in one box) and I ended up going home without buying them after providing myself with a number of very plausible reasons as to why I was doing the right thing.

Upon reaching home, logic took a large beating from the part of my brain which has a weakness for cute stuff. With assistance from Denise, logic eventually caved in and today found us back at Midvalley to buy the set. We did try looking around for alternatives first at Jusco, Metrojaya and random pharmacies to see if we couldn't find sets with more choices (each set of three have random cupcake designs in them; the place we found it at only had 3 sets left with some of the cupcake designs already unavailable). No such luck - turns out Bloop is a pretty under-the-radar brand; we were probably lucky to have found the lip glosses we did at all!

So we finally bought a set and split it between us - I took the strawberry one, Denise the chocolate and the third one will probably go to my cousin for her birthday.

tl;dr? I AM A VERY HAPPY PERSON BECAUSE OF THIS:

♥♥♥

Star Trek Stuff

2009-05-27T16:56:41Z

Went to watch 'Star Trek' with friends yesterday; thanks for inviting me out, guys! ^^ Glad I changed my mind and decided to watch it in the end because, boy, was it worth it! I'll admit I'm not a Trekkie - I only know the name of the series and whatnot - but the movie was really, really enjoyable. I guess I was expecting several references to the fandom that I might not understand or pick up; glad I was proven wrong in that aspect. And Chris Pine is awesome eye-candy, yes he is. ♥

Heck, I'd watch it again, maybe even get the DVD when it comes out. ;p

That being said, I popped over to maxsterism's LJ to read all his Star Trek posts with my newly acquired knowledge (to a certain degree anyway). And boy, Max, did you hoard up on some hilarious stuff:

*am still laughing at above video* I seriously need to stop looping it, but seriously? Being disappointed that the story-line made sense? Outrage at subtitles for Klingon dialogue so that people who 'haven't studied an imaginary language for years' can understand it? I can't tell if those fans are actually being serious considering the video is supposed to be a news-spoof, but that is hardcore, people.

Also took a stab at that Star Trek 'which-character-be-thou' quiz.

Your results:
You are Chekov

Chekov		65%
Uhura		65%
Deanna Troi		55%
An Expendable Character (Redshirt)		55%
James T. Kirk (Captain)		45%
Jean-Luc Picard		45%
Geordi LaForge		40%
Will Riker		40%
Beverly Crusher		35%
Data		32%
Mr. Scott		30%
Worf		30%
Leonard McCoy (Bones)		25%
Spock		20%
Mr. Sulu		20%

Brash, rash and hasty,
but everyone loves you.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

*ROLLS WITH LAUGHTER* Wictor, Wictor, anyone?

Sadly, I apparently have almost nothing in common with both Bones and Sulu - shame that. T^T

Also, I need to stop staring at this set of lip glosses packaged in cupcake containers, but they're too cute, darnit! I wonder if they even sell them in Malaysia?

Kemaman Trip Report (now with pictures; just add water!)

2009-05-24T15:38:45Z

Back from Kemaman, where we (yuncyn and I) bunked with a friend of ours, Sal, border-hopped between Pahang and Terengganu and enjoyed the heck out of two days. 8D Thanks for having us over, Sal - we had a awesomely awesome time! *hugs*

Anyway, long post is LONG and heavy picture post is HEAVY. Seriously, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

DAY 1:

Woke up at 5.00 a.m. to catch the Malaysia Airline's Firefly flight to Kuantan - second time I've been in a plane in eleven years, lol! Had a light breakfast at the airport terminal before hopping onto the plane where the journey was so quick, it was almost as if we were barely in the air at all!

Kemaman was actually an hour's drive from the Kuantan airport, but since the Kuala Terengganu airport travel time was twice that, we settled for the former. Besides, it was a pretty scenic drive back, so no complaints on that end.

I swear, the minute we landed, Sal started putting her plan to Stuff Us Silly (tm) into action - we immediately popped over to a food court for breakfast (again!), followed by cendol. And we hadn't even gotten to her house yet. >D Seriously, the food there is good - better than some of their alternatives in Subang, but more about that later or this entire post will be devoted to food and nothing else. (Yes, that good, guys!)

The first day we were there was pretty much Beach Day - went over to a local shopping mall where both Sal and Denise bought new swimsuits (or 'tankinis' as Denise calls them). Also introduced Sal to the Bishi Bashi arcade game in the arcade upstairs, looked around the trinket stores and resisted the temptation of ice cream. Afterwards, went back to Sal's place and rested a bit before hitting the beach.

According to Sal, there are a number of public beaches around, but since they were both i)crowded and ii) dirty, we drove back to Pahang (!) to reach the Legend Resort, where the beach is a run away from the swimming pools. The beach was pretty clean, as was the water and we had a blast.

Oh, and I got stung by a jellyfish. XD;; Granted, it was only a passing sting; no grabby tentacles or anything. Ironically, the other two were way deeper in the ocean than I was - it probably washed in with the waves and brushed past my leg. The sting was not all that bad; mostly a line of an achy kind of pain (anklet of pain, lol!) that bothered rather than pained me. The lifeguard on duty said that the jellyfishes around that area weren't the poisonous type as well. Wish I had taken a photo of the bugger that did it though.

We hung out so long at the beach that we were kind of late for dinner - Sal's family treated us to a big dinner with some amazing fried calamari that Denise got addicted to. I took so many helpings of the vegetables (kangkung?) that Sal's father initially thought I was a vegetarian. ^^ We actually contemplated tagging along with Sal to go to a floating restaurant for supper(?) but ended up being too sleepy to leave the house. ^^;;

DAY 2:

We had fish mee for breakfast, something of a specialty up here (and boy, I can totally understand why now that I've eaten it):

Originally, we had bounced around the idea of driving to Kuala Terengganu to take the ferry to Pulau Redang but had to scrap the idea after Sal's parents informed us that one needs to reserve seats on said ferry before going there. So we ended up driving around and going to any place that caught our fancy, which turned out to be the BEST IDEA EVER.

First, Denise suggested going to the Kemaman Mini Zoo because it sounded interesting. Our initial theories of guinea pigs, rabbits and goats were immediately smashed the minute we took the ride in, where the first thing we saw were elephants. Since we were sitting on the shuttle vehicle though, we couldn't get down and look at them properly, but we figured we'd go check them out on our way out.

The mini zoo was 'mini' only in size; they had some pretty impressive animals in there, including this absolutely adorable black bear. When we climbed up to look at the bear enclosure (we were the only three there), we were slightly disappointed to see that the area was apparently empty; Sal theorized that the bears were asleep in the pipes leading to a private den. Then suddenly, this bear comes out and heads right towards were we were standing looking down and climbed into a standing position to look up at us:

It, thankfully, had a companion - seriously, I thought they looked more like chimpanzees at some points, the way they were moving. We also saw otters engaging in...vigorous activities; CHILDREN, LOOK AWAY FROM YOUR SCREENS:

There were several suspended bridges/walkways over enclosures, which allowed visitors to pretty much look at the animals from above their pen without getting too close, making it a win-win for both us and the animals. These walkways were also roofed with lush greenery, making it a very scenic walk indeed.

We got to see a number of pretty cool animals, including a peacock trying to woo its stubborn girlfriend, a camwhore-wannabe tortoise, possibly the world's tiniest frog and an orchid farm:

But the highlight of the zoo for us was definitely the ELEPHANT RIDE - not only did we get to ride it, the trail the elephants took went directly into the jungle area just beside the run, which meant lots of climbing and descending into areas we wouldn't have been able to enter otherwise. We all started out sitting in the basket (with the guide in front), and ended up moving to sit directly on the elephant itself (with the guide in the basket) by the time we got back, lol! Initially, I thought it'd be rocking from side to side, but the entire ride was surprisingly steady. Our elephant's ears kept smacking my legs and its hair was really bristly but if anything was a gentle giant, he was definitely it. Best RM20 spent, IMHO.

So guys, I believe you wanted PROOF? 8D

Could only take Denise's picture properly, since her elephant was behind ours - made it easier to turn around and quickly snap a shot. Her elephant was a female (20 years old), hence why she was smaller and tuskless. The elephant Sal and I rode on was a 30 years old male. The photos may make them seem smaller than they actually are, but lemme just say, when you're standing in front of them, much less being on their backs, there's nothing small about them at all!

I've definitely gained a new-found respect for elephants' strength from this trip - Denise's elephant uprooted a tree in her path and ours not only broke off a tree, but broke it again into pieces using his trunk. The two of them took their leisurely time going through the trail and took breaks to try to eat the greenery around. >D

After we exited the zoo, we popped back to Sal's house, took a quick shower and headed out again with the intent to drop by the turtle sanctuary (in Pahang) on the way to the beach, stopping along the way to have otak-otak and satar (both fish-based kuih), the latter which I wish they made in Subang because it was that good:

Due to where we parked, we ended up entering the turtle sanctuary by the back door, which may have been the best entrance we could've made, because we ended up being able to not only see the turtles in the pool but also the baby hatchlings fresh from their eggs. Sadly, belimbing (leatherback) turtles no longer come to Malaysian shores, but we were lucky enough to be able to see green turtles, hawksbill turtles and painted terrapins, all three species which are endangered today. Also, since we donated and were getting along fairly well with the person in charge, we were also allowed to release some of the of-age baby turtles into the sea. The person in charge also invited us to come back at night to watch the turtle eggs actually hatch, but since that would've been super-late (2-3 a.m.?), we had to decline.

Oh, by the way? The sandy spot my finger was rubbing in the video was the turtle's belly button, where the umbilical cord had been attached to. :p

Hit the beach again later, where I again got bitten by something in my thumb. Seriously, my karma with sea creatures wasn't very good on this trip! ^^;;

Dinner was BBQ! Sal's parents popped out their barbecue set and we ate so much chicken and beef that Denise couldn't move for ten minutes. Since it was the last night in Kemaman, we played a lot of Chor Tai Ti and camwhored being Awesome:

DAY 3:

Back to Subang for us! The flight was in the morning again, which meant getting kicked up at the break of dawn to pack and get ready. The flight seemed even shorter on the way back and we played Hangman all the way back. Also had a packet of Wasabi-flavored Twisties that are really wasabi-flavored for real.

All the other photos are over here. This post alone took me, what, an hour to compile?

All in all, it was an amazingly productive holiday (or just 'amazing' would probably do the trick) - thanks Sal for allowing us to bum out at your house! And tell your family that we're really, really grateful for them tolerating us dragging you out here and there. >DDD Only downside of the trip were the perverts who turned up at the Legend on the first day, but the way I figure it, it isn't all that surprising. And weighed against the experiences we had, it's really almost nothing but a niggle in a memorable trip.

So...Redang next time, yeah? (^o^)9