Today is my Mommy's birthday, and so, I have made a short slideshow presentation for her.

I would have uploaded it to YouTube, but to have the world looking at my Mom is a bit weird. At least here on my blog, chances of the WHOLE FRIGGIN' world looking at my video is less. Nyahaha.

Enjoy this first experimentation of mine on Windows Movie Maker. Heh. Don't laugh at the dodgy pics, okay?

Soundtrack: Cherry Sky by Sotte Bosse (I couldnt think of a more suitable one)

Pictures: mostly taken in Kijal.

Original poem: by me. Who else?

Take One...thousand and four.

As part of our wholesome and fulfilling education in our Uni, we are required, from time to time, to complete assignments which threaten our sanity and destroy our social lives.

There is, of course, absolutely nothing wrong with that: or the late nights and hours spent in front of a computer (or laptop, choose your poison, people) until our eyeballs are irradiated with dangerous rays.

Nothing wrong with the panda eyes and the lack of sleep time, toilet time and meal-times. Nothing wrong with all that. Nope. Nuh uh.

Since I love assignments so much (they're so great for my complete well-being) there is nothing that will bring me more delight than to dedicate an entire section of my blog post on it. Delightful!

This semester, we have the exciting and exhilarating job of producing not ONE news broadcast, but TWO news broadcasts. One for radio, and one for television. On top of that, we have to produce also a report of what we did during the production of said news broadcasts.

(Here, I would like to take a moment to thank my group members, IS and J - for their hard work and for our excellent teamwork. As many of you may know, I am sometimes difficult to work with. I tend to worry when its not appropriate, and go nonchalant when I should be worrying. I can do good work, but expect lots of fussing and emo-ing along the way. >_< )

Despite my sarcasm, don't let me fool you. I enjoyed this assignment. (horror!) Yes I did. I doubt that I was much help (besides flapping my hands about and making bloopers) but I can safely say that it was an experience.

As for another assignment, it involves building an online newspaper, and it is here that I take my hats off to MZ and M. I can't build a website to save my life. All I can do is write. Har har. It has taken a back seat to Broadcast, but I am working on it.

So, despite the late nights and the fuss, I am happily surprised that we made it on time (no SUPER last-minuteness) and churned out some decent work. Now let's hope we all survive this 70% weightage coursework.

Gulp.

I bit off so much more than I can chew.

I tend to do that a lot. Sometimes I stop and think, am I getting my priorities wrong? Shouldn't I be working on my assignments instead?

I think, this semester, I did. I neglected a lot of what I should be doing in favour for a chance to get money and fill up my resume with articles. I think many of you, dear friends, are nodding your heads. I know you think I am neglecting my Uni work, and that I deserve every bit of trouble I am having. And you would be right.

How can I ever explain why I do this even though I tear my hair out and go bonkers with all I have to do? How can I expect anyone to understand that its more than money, more than bylines, more than pride?

I can't, so I won't. But I reap what I sow, and so reap I shall.

...and its 2000 words this year.

Next year, it shall be 3000, followed by 4000... yes, again, my friends, NaNoWriMo is a failure.

>_<

Mainly because I ran outta steam, despite having a pretty okay idea in my head, and also because I found that I have so much other writing to do. Bah.

Sorry V dear. T-T Thanks for all your cheerleading, though. ^^,

So, thats all for this round. Now, on to more work!~

Its a QU, my friends!

Just a quickie one; been super busy lately -will write a ridiculously long post when all this madness is over. But check out whats coming out next summer -err I mean, next post.


And.. we're rolling, take ONE! And Two! And Three! and Four! and Five! and OH DAMN I LOST COUNT.

Our BC JR assignments have been a crazy experience, hasn't it??? Full details on hopefully everything coming up soon!


What did you say? Debit cards? WHaaattttt????

Never have have I encountered so many challenges (which are good, actually, its experience) in ONE assignment. Or 7 of this ONE, to be exact. Full but indisclosable details coming soon, as well.

Contemplating my inability to complete a novel, ever.

Nanowrimo? An utter disaster, again. >_<


Till next post then. Please await with bated breath. I know I am. (trying this new thing called online-sarcasm......does it work?)



I guess not.

Kajang Trip and then some

Kajang Trip

~the delicious pork thingy returns! starring!
~V!!!!!
~K!!!
~J!!!!
~aaaaaaaaaaaand BRA-man!

First, here is a fat ass photo of Bra-man, making his 'GODDAMN IT, I AM HUNGRY, HURRY UP WITH THE PICTURES' look. Not a very intimidating look, but extremely funny nonetheless.

From top: The delicious pork thingy, the chicken thingy, and the other chicken thingy.

The highlight of the entire trip, of course, was the food. What else?? It began in the morning, with a late breakfast-lunch at the aforementioned claypot place. Pork still as good as I remembered (gard darn it I am hungry again just thinking about this, and mind you, its now 12am in the morn) and the chicken was just as spicy as I remembered too. We ate hard, laughed at Bra-man's antics (don't we always?) and discussed all manner of inappropriate and appropriate things.

One more pic of the food.

We chilled out a lot at J's place, and as always, we played some PS2 and discovered whole new quotes for the semester.


I managed to bomb spectacularly at Lego Indiana Jones (but did not get bamboozled, at least, I was commiting suicide all by myself anyways) and even managed to soundly defeat both J and K at Tekken, FOUR FRIKKIN' TIMES!, before narrowly being defeated by J at last.


What did I do, against such prolific gamer guys? I button mashed. I used a character which J told me was easy to use. Indeed, she was. All I did was mash the X and square button. It was, indeed, frustrating at first to lose so spectacularly against them, but thanks to some timely tips by J and the God of the Button Masher, I managed to scrap some truly amazing walloping. Fun? You betcha!


We had initially decided to embark upon our pre-arranged Karaoke plans: only to find that Jusco Cheras Selatan was PACKED LIKE SARDINES IN A CAN and that Green Box would set us all back at LEAST 25 bucks each. Steep!


We were like o_O. So we switched tacks and went to a cyber instead. Turns out; the game selection was limited, and an EXTREMELY annoying kid was bugging Bra and J the whole time.


He kept going 'Bang nak main nak main' and demanded that we let him join us. He couldn't have been more than 12, I swear. What on earth are these CC ppl doing letting him in anyways??


In the end, Bra got so frustrated, we left after barely an hour. On the way back, Bra realised he left his lappy on, and dark clouds were gathering, and so he rushed back to switch it off.


Long story short, in the end, we played lotsa PS2, watched J install Red Alert 3 (while me n V watched Cry Baby, a truly cheesy and so-bad-its-good musical starring the VERY young and delicious Johnny Depp!), and talked over snacks a lot.

Then when dinner came, we were ravenous!!

Unfortunately, starvation prevented me from taking pix, har har. But here was the menu:

1) Kai Lan with salted fish

2) BREATH FRIGGIN' FIRE fish.

3) Fried sotong with salted egg.

4) Pork ribs in whatsitsname sauce. Pardon my bad Canto!


The veggies were merely a formality, if you ask me. Har har. What with three meat-eating men on the table.


The sotong was AWESOME SUPER. Light taste of egg, but with some heat to it. Ribs were good too.


Now, the BREATH FRIGGIN' FIRE fish turned out to be SISSY fish instead. Lol. After good training with Spicy Pan Mee, honestly, I think a handful of red chilli aint gonna faze me. Muahaha.


Still, the fish was good -fresh, no mud smell (I hate that about tilapia, the fishy, muddy smell, so usually I avoid tilapia, but this one was done just right), plenty of sauce (or soup, if u wanna call it that) and with plenty of hamchoy and tomatoes.


After a solid dinner, we ventured for SATAY KAJANG (what is a trip to Kajang without satay?) and had another second dinner. Hahaha. Though not so good as the popular one (which was giler crowded) it was fair enuff, better than KL satay anyway. Played around with Bra's newly-acquired laser pointer, which, gosh gracious, actually goes up to at least 50 feet.

Of course, he lost his sanity completely with it, pointing at passerby's asses. HAHAHAHAHA.


Oh yes...never forgetting...


A HUMUNGA DUNGA BIG ASS THANK YOU TO J!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For dinner and for brunch.

All in all, yet another SUPER outing with the same four people (link to previous post under pic of Bra's funny face) and heck, I had not had so much fun in quite a while (save for that ridiculously funny game of Flatout). It was really good to kick back and enjoy myself for once.

.....and then the 'some' I mentioned.

Very pretty, very unnesccesary pics of my favourite wildflower on Melawati Hill.

It seems to me, that for the past few weeks, that my updates have been absolute 

 

SHITE.

 

No really. They don't really say anything, I haven't had an interesting tale to tell at all, and I actually have merely been typing just for the heck of updating. 

 

(I feel it is further confirmed by the fact that even V-sweetie have stopped commenting T_T And everyone else, for that matter.)

 

I feel the need to recover my writing again. I truly do. I read a particularly well-written post on J's blog (here) and I admit, I am shamed at how I've neglected writing properly in my blog. 

 

I should sit down, and think about what I am writing.

 

Writing; my heart feels heavy sometimes, because I now find little pleasure in it. I used to love the way the little black type collected together in little clumps to form ideas, thoughts and pictures. I can tell the whole world about anything at all –really, all I need is the right word.

 

And now the right words come like shy splatters of rain in blazing heat. They fizzle, just before they reach my fingers. I feel like a kaya bun with not enough kaya in me to even justify being named one. I feel like chocolate with no cocoa powder. I feel –alright, never mind. I am being melodramatic.

 

Oh, I could blame the lack of sleep. I could even blame the lack of brain activity. Mindless advertorials and tedious assignments have indeed, reduced my mental capacity to that of a six-year-old. I feel, however, a six year old would actually best me at reciting ABCs, because to my horror, I actually forgot mine. For a few seconds –I actually panicked. 

 

(A.   B. C… Holy cow, what comes next?? What???)

 

My Mommy dearest once said:

 

“If you write for a living you will find that it becomes, after some time, a tedious chore. Are you sure you want to take up so much freelancing? You will grow tired of it, even if you love it NOW.’

 

Mothers are right, you know. They always are. You think they are wrong, when first they speak ominous warnings.

 

But years later, when you’re older and wiser, you see how right they actually were –all along.

 

I had loved writing, much like a girl who loved a crush and thought about him all day and all night, before realizing that thinking about him so much is actually very tiring.

 

She would smile when she thought of him, she would treasure every moment spent with him. She would recall his every smile before she closes her eyes for sleep.

 

And upon waking, she would remember how he did something oh-so-cute the other day. About how she would smile at him with her heart in her eyes the next time she sees him. About her stolen glances (he would have a cute butt or something, something that she would find particularly attractive) and her melting heart.

 

Then she would realize, that he would always remain out of reach, and that he would always just be there as a good friend, and she would find the bittersweet truth in it to be painful, and yet come to be dependent on it.

 

After a long while, she would start to feel tired; exhausted by the mental exercise, of the tugging of the heart. It would be a chore to remember what he said that stole a piece of her heart. It would be painful and pleasurable at the same time to laugh quietly to herself at his jokes.

 

She still loves him, oh yes. She still loves him the way only a woman could love a man –a man who makes her happy, and who makes her feel like she’s special. She would never, ever, entirely give him up. But she is tired. It has become a chore to love someone who would remain so achingly close, but frustratingly distant.

 

He is my writing. He is my passion for writing. He is the pleasure I used to feel when I wrote for my eyes and my eyes only. He is the one I used to spend so much time with, just for the pleasure of his company. He never used to make me feel inadequate or stressed out. He was the one thing I could depend on to release whatever emotions that tore at my soul.

 

And now he has left. Should I chase him? Should I abandon all fatigue, and throw exhaustion to the winds, and run after him, calling his name and giving my heart out to him? Should I pursue my elusive lover with nary a care for my aching feet and broken heart?

 

I cannot tell if time would bring him back to me. I cannot tell if time will change his mind, and he will embrace me and truly, truly accept me at last. Or even if he would grant me the gift of his own self again.

 

Perhaps, deep down inside me somewhere, I am afraid. Terrified and scared to admit the truth.

 

Perhaps, just perhaps, I never had him at all, that he was never mine to begin with, and he was never there in the first place.

 

It’s a terrifying thought. A thought I would rather not ever see written, but I must write it down anyway –facing fears head-on is the best way to eliminate them, so they say.

 

I don’t agree. I beg to politely but most passionately differ. I think that fears are sometimes meant to be kept, to be tucked away in a mind-safe with a padlock. Fears that could unravel the very web you have built to make sense of the world and to fit inside it.

 

Foolish, aren’t I, then, to actually write this post? Foolish, and foolhardy, because even though I know that when I re-read this post I shall feel ashamed and embarrassed by my fears, I wrote it anyway.

 

I wrote it anyway. 

And to make up for all my frequent QU's....

Let me be the first to admit that a 5-day absence in this little realm called Twisted Trainsistor is highly unusual of me. 

(You need a life, Pau-chan!)

                                                                             ..............(Yes I know)

In fact, its not that I don't want to; I've not had the time to: assignments, anyone? So anyways, its a Sunday, and I find myself with a little more than an hour to do nothing, and so I shall write a nice long post about, as always, 'absolutely nothing' -but a funny 'absolutely nothing'.

I hope. So we shall begin ya... Its gonna be a long one.....

Whee.

Lalalala.

Hum de dum de dum.

Ok, the end!

Muahahahahaha. No la. Ok Ok. Serious.

MPH Warehouse Sale

The Mph Warehouse Sale was a nice one. Most of the time they are worth going, truly, for there are plenty of good titles there going for cheap (I use cheap loosely, coz many times they're only cheaper by a few measly bucks, especially the super-popular titles) but the best is finding little-known gems for unbelievably low prices. 

One of my hauls was in a few posts previous (which is thanks to MZ), but a two-time trip to this sale yielded excellent results: 

Two books, from first trip:

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak; a truly good book I have yet to finish but am enjoying it so far and Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist, whom I had eyed for some time but didn't pick up. RM 15 and RM 10 respectively.

Two art books, from second trip with J (perchance you may read about his book-splurge in his blog later, so I won't tell his tale here, nyahahaha):

The Complete Visual Companion to the Lord of the Rings (RM 10!!!!!) and Fantasy Art (also RM 10).

Very nice indeed, albeit now knee-deep in debt (again!)  and many thanks to J who saw me drool (in large amounts) on the two art books and thought it wiser to save me from myself with a timely loan. *nods nods* 

Indeed, books are my vice, my Achilles Heel, my Pandora's Box and my Ambrosia. A good book? Anytime baby, anytime. 

The LOTR Companion, sadly, proved to be rather a cheesy and melodramatic read -fit only for those who have not read the books, but wish to understand the movie better. It isn't the perfect visual companion to those who've read the books, though it is good enough for an hour or two of serious drooling. Still, at a price tag of RM10???? Am I complaining??? Hella no!

The Fantasy Art book, on the other hand, is an immensely intriguing read and visual pleasure. It even has some illustrations by Alan Lee, who famously illustrated for the Lord of the Rings centennial version and for Children of Hurin as well, and Chris Moore and Dave McKean, names I have seen here and there but can't seem to place. Sci-fi illusts, mostly. 

(Drooled over them both on the train on that day -I honestly think if I get any weirder I'd be arrested for crimes against public transport)

However, a clear indication that I need a life and NOW is that I got excited, yes EXCITED about going to the book sale. I was walking faster than I've walked in a long time and was just relishing the thought of being among books, books, books.

My sis said I was weird and gave me the same look you would give a person who just said

 

                      "I am into bondage so torture and tie me 'cause I've been baaaad". 

Not the best look to receive, for sure.

Badminton.

If my achy arms are anything to go by, I think I need to do it more often. The last time I blogged about a badminton game, Bra-man collapsed and removed his coverings (hahahaha) and made 'sweat angels'. This time, seeing that LM was around, Bra-man showed remarkable constraint. Muahaha. I now have a niiiice Cybershot and he does not go crazy enough for me to get some classic moments. Chish.

I am rusty. Too rusty. But hey, I am one of those super UN-competitive people when it comes to games and sports. The reason is because I know I suck at both. Hahaha. So my competitive streak disappears when I get behind the comp or behind the net, because if I am gonna lose anyway, I may as well have fun with it. 

However, I am hyper-competitive when it comes to other stuff; like eating...Yes. I am competitive when it comes to eating. I have a large reputation to protect ok?? Nyahaha. 

It was a really good game, nonetheless. And Holy Cow, M is great. GREAT! I swear I saw Kelvin see his life fly past his eyes when she swung her racket. Foosh! Foosh! Scary! Tennis arms la *shudder*

Assignments

This semester is absolutely horrible. SEVERELY short deadlines and top it up with the extra-side stuff I do -it has been just awful. I need to play games sometimes. I need to read and read and read and draw (with 6 new colour pencils my sis just bought for me for a nice discount; RM 3 discounted to RM 2.2 each) and draw and do what I love to do but CAN'T. I also need sleep. Lots of sleep. 

I need to slow down on the freelancing. T-T Agh! FYP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*goes bonkers*

Ugh. Perseverence! 

Don't let me fool you though. I love what I do and I love the way my life is right now. There are things that will always bug me; but I am grateful that I have other stuff going on for me now that I never had before. 

I am also just waiting -I can wait for this one thing. I can wait because I think it's worth waiting for. I will wait because I know rushing things would make it go bad and I cannot bear to lose this. I will wait and see and let time tell, because time always tells. 

Its life, people! It sucks, it rocks and it's a hell on wheels, but dammit, I love it. For now. XP

So much is OFF

*bonks head*

Yes folks, its a quickie update. I shall start using the abbrevation, QU. -_-'

Been super swamped lately; assignments and more assignments beckons and sometimes I wonder where on EARTH did my 24 hours go????

Have been feeling slightly off too -kind of like colour that was stronger but faded away with the rain and too much bleach.

- not sick, but just off. You know? Like I am not myself. Turns out I am so blur its not funny. Turns out my life is just as off as the rest of me. 

Why, when everytime something goes well, something else goes spectacularly BONKERS?

Can't even fathom how sometimes I can't sleep at night because my stupid brain decides to start working suddenly. 

Stupid things, stupid hopes, stupid wishes. I should start imagining sheep -little fluffy sheep- flying across my ceiling instead.

Lately, all I have been up to is typing, more typing and lots of stupid worrying. And as often as I can, BFME2. Though that too, is rare, now that the boys have gone off it too. 

Am I off my rockers? You betcha.

Ladies and gentlemen, finally, a good use for my little Cybershot phone. ^^, Pics! and an update on my Kijal trip last week, on the 10th, 11th and 12th of October (yes, just before classes started again).

So now, tanned and marvellous, I bring to you, the WONG FAMILY KIJAL TRIP!!!!!

Just passing the Karak highway. Karak. Nyeh. Small town with lotsa potholes.

It began with a 5-hour journey past little towns and endless highways, in a car built for rough terrain and macho men but certainly not squishy butts.

Testing out how far I can stretch me ol' Dino's patience by clicking around in the car, which annoys him no end. Muahaha. Very dangerous waters, that.

After several stops along the way, finally arrive at Awana Kijal, Terengannu. The lobby is really nice, actually, with a sort of open-air concept. There is also a huge dolphin fountain in the middle of the lobby, which looks oddly childish, actually, but gives a more friendly feel.

However, though the hotel is lovely, and the food is rather nice (at least the pastries, which go for 50% off after 9pm) I have ONE (just one, yes) HUGE gripe. This:

And the Ugliest Tong Sampah Award goes to......

The world's friggin UGLIEST tong sampah. Seriously. It is scattered all over the hotel, reducing a five-star to a four-star in about two seconds. However, much is redeemed by this Giant Chess set (which was THE thing waaaay back when I first stayed at Awana, back in 1995, methinks) which I think is still the coolest thing ever. Hee hee.

Ready, knights!

Still, the hotel is a Golf and Beach resort, and their golf course I hear is quite the thing. Dunno about that, but I like the look of it anyway.

Whacking small balls with big stick. How nice for golfers.

But, the highlight of the beach, well, is the beach! Lol. Thankfully, in Kijal, it remains clean and super gorgeous. Would have loved to have caught a photo of the school of fish I saw leap out of the water like silver flashes. It was something out of National Geo, I swear. Once in a lifetime thing.

Still, here are pics of the beach!

The nice clean sand and blue salty sea that makes you splutter and spit. Super nice.

Taken from behind the benches on the beach, I like those benches. Uncomfortable, but nice to sit and enjoy the wave and breeze and sea-sounds.

This is the left stretch of the beach, which is in total about 3-4 km long.

The right side of the beach, to which there is a jetty at the faaaaaar end (seen a bit in next pics)

More piccies of the beautiful, beautiful sea.

Aha! Another thing that always get me giggly is hermit crabs. Love their little scuttly ways.

See those little claw-prints?

The Wong family congregation. Left to right, bro, sis-in-law (in blue), younger sis (in skirt), mommy dearest and Dino dearest, who seems to be gesturing at something. I don't know what.

My mom and dad were walking hand in hand along the beach, just like they did 30 years ago. So chewt. Hahahaha. We caught 'em ala paparazzi. XD

So, we've reached the end of my post for a very nice holiday which I enjoyed very very much. ^^, Man I love my phone. I leave you to comment on the pic quality and pic composition! Do leave comments on the pics!

Goodbye ya'll