Speak Now

You'll Be The Death Of Me

2012-02-19T23:38:00.001-08:00

Before the weekend started, I decided Saturday would be Chemistry and Biology day where I finished all the work related to those subjects. Sunday would be for Math.

But Sunday is almost over and the closest I've gotten to touching Math was buying graph paper from MPH.

Sigh.

The Qualifying Test is coming up and Miss Er is going to think I'm a total retard.

Get A Room

2012-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday was Valentine's Day, so it reminded me of an issue I've wanted to talk about for some time - PDA.

There is decent PDA I admit, but more often than not I just want to shoot some couples. There is a right time and place for sucking all the saliva out from your partner's mouth, but that moment ain't when you're in front of me.

Yes I understand you are in a relationship but my memory does not need to be refreshed every 2 seconds when you stick your tongue down her throat or play footsie with her under the library table. And please, he has a name, you don't have to refer to him as "my boyfriend" like a territorial feline.

I get really stumped when I hang out with couples and they decide to whisper sweet nothings to each other and feel like it's a perfect moment to snuggle. No, I am not amused.

Back in high school, there was a couple I knew who were the sweetest ever. They're just like best friends, but happened to be in love with each other. When they hung out with us, they knew their place and were just normal people, joining in on conversations and basically not shoving their relationship in our faces.

The mall is the worst. I know the fine line between acceptable and Eww-dafuq varies with everyone but generally I would think walking side by side with their hands on each other's butts is not acceptable. Once on the escalator, a couple decided the need to huddle for warmth because I swear there isn't enough space in between them to squeeze in a bank note.

Don't even get me started on Facebook. I find this even more annoying than actually seeing the couples real life because the fact that I'm seeing it online means the person intended everyone to see a picture of them kissing/hugging/devouring each other. Not cute.

So unless you are 79 years old, I really don't want to know how many hours you have been together, or see a picture of you two kissing on my newsfeed. Thank you goodbye.

Sugar, Butter and Everything Nice!

2012-02-11T23:51:00.000-08:00

One of the things I did immediately after I was freed from exam mode was to bake. It's one of my absolute favourite thing to do :)

I found this delightful blog by a Malaysian Sydney food blogger recently and I'm hooked onto all her recipes! They're very easy to follow and most importantly, she uses the metric system. I hate it when I find an awesome recipe but it turns out to be in that horrible system the Americans use and I have to convert the measurements. Gahhh so mafan! Baking is not supposed to involve math!

The first recipe I tried was Milo flavoured cupcakes. I also chanced upon this picture, and so wanted to incorporate the Milo cupcakes into it.

But it failed majorly ): Let me take you through the whole thing.

The cupcake mixture(or what do you call it?) was fine, basic stuff. But the problem arose when I came to the part where I had to fill the ice cream cones. I had a perfect plan in mind, but gravity and kitchen chemistry had different ideas..

First I lined them up..

And filled them using this funnel I never knew I had. Perfect right? BUT THEN 20 minutes later when I returned to check on them...

PFFFTTT AARRGHHH BAAAAHHHHH THE HELLLLLL!!!

Apparently the cones "un-curled" upon heating and fell -..- Luckily I had the tray beneath to catch them if anything happened. THE UNIMAGINABLE HAPPENED, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED.

Sigh.

I had more mixture left so I had to go back to basics and went with the paper thingies.

However, the cupcakes were really really good! The Milo powder definitely made this cupcake recipe special. It's almost fool proof. Just have a better plan if you're going for the ice cream cone stunt. I figured I should get the McDonald's ice cream cones instead of these pointy ones, like in the picture I found.

Moving on, the next day I took on a more challenging cake, also from raspberricupcakes.com. It was for Hui Jan's belated birthday surprise, since her birthday was in the middle of our exams and the most we could do then was call her and wish her ): So I decided to make it extra special with this recipe. Here's what it looked like when the blogger did it :

It was so pretty I knew I had to try it when I first saw it on the blog. Fortunately I did not run into any major problems with this cake, but it was really time consuming. The whole thing took me around 4 hours, since I only had one baking tin and had to bake the layers one at the time.

It was just a basic cake mixture, but the trick was to separate them into equal portions and add food colouring in different concentrations until you get the right tone. Oh oh, I almost forgot, I did cut the sugar down by half. She used 400g of caster sugar! Even after I halved it, the cake came out really sweet. Just imagine how hers tasted like.

Then it's off to the arduous task of baking the layers one by one.

When that was done, I stacked them up from lightest to darkest, with a spread of black current jam in between each layer.

And now the icing. The blogger used a normal butter cream icing and put tons of sprinklies on top, but I surrendered, that was going to be too much work. I got lazy and made a oreo crumb icing instead. It's just the normal butter cream icing, but I cut down on the icing sugar and used oreo crumbs instead.

Here, the final product (:

Taken with Dhama's phone (:

All that time spent was worth it because everyone loved it! Next time, I'm going to make it a rainbow! :D

Update : Saw this Checkerboard cake and I must try it out too!!

The Exam State

2012-02-03T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last week after I've finally completed the last paper of my A levels exams :

Since normally I wouldn't sit down more than an hour doing homework or revisions, I think my back has developed a hunch. Phew, that hard core studying period totally wrecked my physical state. My already depressing fitness level has gone negative! All I did was wake up, face the laptop doing past years, eat, then back to the laptop, sleep, eat, refer to textbook, sleep.

Due to this cycle, I've been playing catch up with the household news. I no longer knew what was going on, what was going to happen. Occasionally I exited my room/cave and asked what was going on, only to feel depressed because I couldn't join in on the fun ):

My sleeping pattern also progressively gotten later and later each night until now I can't sleep before 12am. It's quite annoying since now classes have resumed and I have to wake up at 6am. I remember having to struggle to go to sleep each night. I was tired, but my mind just wouldn't quit it. It kept imagining what fun things I could do after the exams ): The sad part is, the exams are over, but no fun things have been accomplished! Class started immediately after the last paper for us, unlike the July intakes who got roughly a week off.

So now it's back to lectures and math homework and waking up at 6am. No one thought of putting all the Physics classes either first or last period each day, so people like us have to kill two hours every Monday and Wednesday. Sigh.

Extended Leave

2012-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

Ah, I usually update once a week but I'm afraid I won't be able to write a lot until my Edexcel A Levels exams are over, which is the 26th of January :( I will be missing out on Chinese new year (first day of CNY is the 23rd) and I am terribly miserable. CNY is probably my favourite of all favourites of festivals! Gah, I can't even start to elaborate, because if I do it will never end and I need to finish doing these Chemistry past years.

Sigh.

Best part of CNY - coooookiess!!

Might as well wish you happy CNY in advance :/ Gong xi fa cai!

Hello, 2012 :)

2011-12-31T22:11:00.000-08:00

I have come to a conclusion that as you grow older, the year flies by faster.

Puay Chai 2, Class 6M '05

During my primary school years, I used to loathe school and couldn't wait for the year to come to an end because that's where the holidays were. Time passed oh so slowly with tons of homework and after-school extra classes (that's what you get for going to a Chinese primary school).

Mum and I during graduation (:

Then came secondary school. It was fun enough. School activities were much more exciting and adventurous. That's probably why time went by relatively faster for me. The years would just whisk by and then finally SPM was over and so was high school. The bittersweet feeling I had is still quite fresh on my mind, truth be told. Catholic High is a wonderful school and even though I was really looking forward to stepping into college, it was a place I knew I would come to miss.

A promo poster by MCKL which was sent to CHS!

And so now I am in college. This year has been simply amazing! Naturally it just sped by, while I could barely catch a few breaths in between events. Although I started the year with doubts in Methodist College, now I just can't imagine myself anywhere else.

I feel I have gained a lot this year. In terms of knowledge, definitely a big step from all the lies we've been taught in high school! Especially Chemistry. Watch out kids, be prepared to throw away most everything you've learnt in form 4 and form 5 ;) A levels Biology is much more compelling than what was taught to us in high school and I think more students would enjoy the subject if genetics were included in the syllabus. Just saying. Math, eh, maybe not that much. CHS add math easily covered the first two papers - C1 and C2, for me and prepared me well for the following two, M1 and S1. I know next semester will be a lot tougher but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, shall we? ;)

Got a little carried away in the Bio lab (:

Academics aside, I acknowledge the personal growth that I've attained along the way this year. Amongst many things, most significantly, I've achieved some sort of independence. It's just really different for me because all throughout high school, my mum was always around, her being a teacher at CHS. I could depend on her when shit went down. For example, if I forgot to ask for her signature the night before, I could always drop by the staff room and get it from her. I remember it being very convenient for me :) Oh and also I kinda used her table as a locker for my textbooks :D

Obviously she wasn't by my side when college started and I think (since I never really had the need to) I managed myself pretty well! I looked out for notices on my own, paid fees on time and could sign my own important documents because I finally turned 18! But I felt especially good about myself when it came to transport. I take the LRT to college and back every day and discovered the subtle and simple joy of not troubling someone else for a ride. I don't miss the hassle it is to arrange to meet the driver somewhere sometime just to get home. It's very liberating to know that I can go home anytime I want as long as I can catch the train, bus or occasionally take a cab.

The ultimate independence though, was when I got my driver's license. Suddenly I could go anywhere, just as long as I knew the way. My mum now calls me an octopus (in mandarin) because as she puts it, "it has eight legs and goes all over the place!" Lovely, I am an invertebrate.

Taken during MCKL's annual Treasure Hunt where we had to travel around KL taking public transport!

My scope of view on life has also somewhat widened as I became more exposed to certain fields this year. Very realistically, I learnt to now view arguments from both ends. I am embarrassed to say I used to be stubborn and not open my mind to opposing ideas if I didn't like them. But I realized sometimes there is no real conclusion to a conflict because there is never a definite right to something, no matter what.

Something else that I was very much exposed to this year in college was Christianity. I am a Buddhist but I've never really been very religious, so I keep a very open mind to all religions. MCKL's Christian Fellowship is very active and this year I joined their CF camp in Port Dickson. I always wondered about the religion because of all the western shows and books I've read. It was always a Christian wedding in movies so I wanted to know more about this religion. The camp was an interesting experience and I think it was lovely of them to have accepted me even though I was not a Christian. Throughout the three day camp, the one thing I found fascinating was the amount of faith, believe and trust one could have for their God. It is rather different from Buddhism but I think everyone is suited for different religions and it is for yourself to discover what is for you.

Hui Jan, Shean Yen and I <3

Oh and who can forget the stunt I pulled with the musical this year! You can NOT believe the amount of requests I have received to rap Superbass because of that infamous scene! I am honoured, of course, that so many people enjoyed it :) And whoever knew I had decent hand-eye-leg-brain coordination? Gosh, I used to be TERRIFIED of dancing. Absolutely terrified. I think this year I regained some of the shamelessness I lost when I obtained consciousness at 5 years old. I also realized something - the amount of things you can accomplish just by throwing away your self consciousness is quite remarkable. Try it someday, and you will amaze yourself.

Burlesque - I think the moves are imprinted onto my brain forever and ever.

Culture-wise, it has been quite a change for me. I've never really had a problem adapting to new environments so I fared well. But just to point out some noteworthy ones would be how I converse now. I have always been in a "Chinese" environment, where everyone either spoke mandarin or at least understood it. Here in MCKL, most of my close friends frown at me since I switch to my mother tongue when I get agitated or nervous. I call it the Asian Spasm! I have to control myself now so I don't go all qingchonglinglong on my Indian and banana friends.

Also since MCKL is located in Brickfields, I am now eating a lot of Indian food and experiencing some Indian culture. Ooh especially when Deepavali was around the corner! My three lovely Indian friends Dhama, Trishi and Yagnesh so patiently explained to me when I asked about pottus, saris and heenas. Okay maybe more sarcastically when I asked Dhama -.-

Ah, this post is becoming longer than I first expected, so here is a picture for you to regain focus.

Getting my first ever Henna a day before Deepavali :D

Of course, a huge chunk of this amazing year was due to the fantastic friends I made. You know who you are <3 I don't want to compare friends and say I found myself a "BFF", because really, you can't compare different groups of friends. I won't forget my lovely mates from high school, or the sweet group from primary school that I still keep in touch with. It's just, different friends = different experiences = different memories. They are all separate jewels and gems in life, precious in their own way.

It may seem like 2011 has brought a humongous change for me, appearance wise the most obvious - brown hair, braces and contact lens - but really I didn't change all that much. I may know a lot more biology terms and can balance more chemical equations, but I still am the loud and talkative person I was a year ago, heck, ten years ago! (Okay maybe not ten years, I used to be afraid to talk to people and have self esteem issues but that is another story for another time). For one, I still lack self control, like how I am writing this super unreasonably long post when I'm supposed to be studying for my exams. I may have to work on that soon or else I am never going to get an A in Chemistry! And also, my lack of control over my emotions. That is to blame for the emotional mess I was in August. Oh, was I a burden to my poor friends. I'm glad that phase is over, but I'll never know when that will strike again so I gotta start building a spare heart of stone so I don't break down so easily.

Now, I think that is enough for one night. It's new year's eve and it should be filled with happy thoughts to welcome the new year. The dragon year awaits, and here's to hoping it will be a grand and majestic one. Cheers!

I Want to **** You

2011-12-23T23:32:00.000-08:00

See that right there, the title of this post? Misleading, isn't it? But it really piped your interest, did it not? So this brings me to what I want to talk about today - unnecessary media censorship. By the way, what I really meant was "I want to love you" (:

This little parody from Jimmy Kimmel is a great move at mocking the totally senseless censorship happening nowadays.

In Malaysia, a lot of things are considered inappropriate, so the authorities decided to bleep them. But most of the time, these things would not have been paid much attention if it was not so crudely censored. No matter on newspaper, TV or radio, these people just find the need to censor the most insignificant things.

The thing is though, I don't know whether the media is getting more "colourful" these days or just that the public (mainly I mean parents) is becoming more pussy. 'Cause I don't recall from my primary school days scenes getting cut or songs bleeped midway on radio. To clarify what I meant by the ~~parents~~ public becoming more pussy, you see, someone had to be the one demanding these "inappropriate" things to be censored, and logically the parents are the ones doing it.

I always come across news saying parents blame the media for their children learning swear words or violence or shit like that. I've got a few things to say about that. First of all, why are you leaving the parenting to the media? WTF is all I have to say to you, you lazy parents. You should be monitoring them and what they watch, hear and LEARN from the media. Or better still, instill in your children good values and morals so that they are not easily swayed by what they see. I grew up with strong belief in harmony and kindness so I didn't even think about trying to reenacting what I watched on TV. See? Parents, if you've got that down, you don't have to complain that the media is getting too harsh and get random words bleeped.

Which brings me to my next point, the back firing of censorship. When the song "If You Seek Amy" by Britney Spears started playing on radio, no one knew what it really meant. (For those who are still in the dark, when you say "If You Seek Amy" really fast, it spells F.U.C.K me). But then radio began to bleep or muff out the words. The unaware wouldn't have paid any attention to it at first, but now that you've decided to bleep it, they sure as hell are going to google it, you dim wit!

I, for one, didn't know what "Mazel Tov" from Black Eyed Peas' song "I Gotta Feeling" mean. I didn't even register the word when I first heard it. BUT right here in Malaysia, they went ahead and did some censor shit on it, and it ended up sounding so odd and out of place, I just had to find out what it was. Apparently it had something to do with a Jewish saying so bloody sensitive Malaysian authorities wanted it bleeped. Congratulations, now everyone knows what it means.

Yeah so since I am currently more around radios than TV or newspaper(yes the sad truth, but I read news online now so no censorship problems!), I shall express my annoyance regarding this bleeping nonsense on audio. The poor victims are the pop songs. Here are some examples which make me want to explode but laugh out loud at the stupidity at the same time :

Jason Derulo - "It Girl"

Actual lyrics : Baby you're the shit girl

What I hear on the radio : Baby you're the shhhhh girl

Lady Gaga - Born This Way

Actual lyrics : No matter gay, straight or bi

What I hear on the radio : No matter gafffttbbssstttthhrrrbaaaablubbb

Katy Perry - Last Friday Night

Actual lyrics : Skinny dipping in the dark, then had a menage a trois

What I hear on the radio : Skinny dipping in the dark, then had a nageenageAaabuzzz

Rihanna - Unfaithful

Actual lyrics : I might as well take a gun and put it to his head

What I hear on the radio : I might as well take a *a bubble popping sound* and put it to his head

Avril Lavigne - Happy Ending
Actual lyrics : All the things that you hide from me, all the shit that you do
What I hear on the radio : All the things that you hide from me, all the shh*zoing* that you do

Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl"

Actual lyrics : I kissed a girl and I liked it
What I hear on the radio : I kissed a *the most awkward pause ever* and I liked it

Do you not feel me? Please tell me you find this extremely annoying as well! Just play the damn song the way it was recorded! Or if you really need to, do it with class and grace. Take CeeLoGreen’s “Fuck You”. They have so nicely recorded it that it is now “Forget You”. Another would be James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”. There is a part where he sings “you can see from my face that I was fucking high”. The radio edit was made into a seamless “you can see from my face that I was flying high”. Now that is how you do censorship. Not cutting out the word completely or just lazily adding a buzz or bleep over it. However I still believe some things do not require the censorship in the first place. Come on, “take a gun and put it to his head”? I will not repeat myself. I think I have expressed myself clearly enough in the earlier paragraphs.

Here's another video for you to laugh at (:

I have reached the end of my rant. That is why now I prefer to listen to music online, so I am not affected by radio stations trying to play God and decide should be heard by the public.

GTFW

2011-12-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

Personal space from the sales person. I'm sure you've dealt with it before.

I've never worked as a sales assistant before, but if I were to, I'd know what to do. I would stay my ass away from the customer and let them browse, while still be attentive so I can offer my assistance when they need help. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT.

I swear, nothing scares away customers faster than a personal-space-invading sales person/shop owner. Lady, you don't have to follow me around the whole bloody shop! I ain't gonna steal anything. And if I need help, I will turn around and ask you. Give me back my two metre radius and stop following me around like you're trying to get my scent and hunt me down!

But fret not, there are still some decent shop keepers who understand customers. Every time I go into a shop where they have a nice person manning it, it makes me so happy and I feel guilty if I don't buy anything. I absolutely adore the cheerful girls who smile and say "Hello, welcome!" and "Thank you, please come again!" even though they know you're never coming back.

So dear reader, if you are going to work part time as a sales assistant during the holidays, you know what to do. DON'T DISAPPOINT ME.

Your Existence Pains Me

2011-12-08T03:24:00.000-08:00

I was cleaning out my Facebook friends yesterday and multiple times I wondered, "why did I even bother adding this person if I hate seeing his/her face so much?". Then of course the answer was obvious. I wanted to keep track of that bitch and make sure they ain't happy.

I know it's an awful way to think, but come on, it's only human nature. You've gotta be a saint to never have had an ill thought towards a person you absolutely can't stand. Someone who has caused you pain, anger or sorrow at any one point of your life. I'm not saying this is a huge part of myself. It's just times like this, when you randomly chance upon their existence on Facebook or even bumping into them on the street, and deep down you just think, "I hope you have a bad day".

This video totally expresses how I feel, 6:47 especially. Luan is my favourite youtuber. He makes everything funny :P

Obviously I don't go around wishing random people harm or anything, so don't worry, you'll be fine unless you've pissed me off before ;)

I Have Curly Hair?

2011-12-02T22:30:00.000-08:00

I did this a few days back, but forgot to post up the pictures ;)

I managed to curl my hair without using a curling iron! I learnt to do it by watching this video tutorial :

It's pretty simple. Wash your hair, wait for it to dry off till it's slightly damp, then roll it up with paper! Oh yeah, instead of using paper bags like in the video, I just used normal strips of paper. It works the same :) And FYI I slept with those paper strips in my hair! It was rather annoying, but the results were very fun :P

Unfortunately since my hair is naturally rather straight, the curls faded in a few hours ): I didn't add any hair products like mousse or hair spray, so it didn't stay.

It was super fun to do, but next time, I'm going to make sure it stays for more than a few hours!

We've Got That Superbass

2011-11-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

As y'all know I've been pretty occupied with the musical staged by our Performing Arts Club the past four months or so. But now that it's finally over, the whole experience seems so surreal.

It was such a huge part of my life the past few months that now I don't know what to feel. Of course, mostly I am relieved that it's over. We worked so, so hard to make it a success and we are so blessed that it turned out exactly how we hoped it would.

But it's definitely a bittersweet feeling. I will learn to miss those nights we stayed back to rehearse, although I complained about it then. Those tensed meetings and stressful days will be something I will never forget. Oh, and the fitful hours of sleep the night before the musical? Worse than the night before SPM started.

So many people came up to me to tell me what a great performance it was. And hearing the wonderful response from the audience was one of the greatest feeling I have ever had. I felt an immense sense of pride that was so overwhelming I teared. I was part of this creation. This is something to call ours. We were here from the beginning, we were there at the end. Step by step, we went through the process. It's just so rewarding.

Of course there were hiccups along the way, all sorts of misunderstandings and road blocks. But in the end, it seemed so insignificant. We produced a show that received praise beyond our expectation. It is again, one of the proudest moments of my life.

Thank you PAC. Thank you Benji. For this amazing experience that is second to none.

Update (3/12/11) : I have uploaded the recordings of both nights on youtube! Whoever who missed the show can now enjoy it too ;)

These are from Friday night's :
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Saturday night's performance was not as smooth but it was just as entertaining :
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQYETWgkkfw&feature=youtu.be
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp-P01WWcrU
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MafzghQW5aQ

Lesson Learnt

2011-11-15T02:44:00.000-08:00

I am very, extremely annoyed right now. Here is the story :

Last Wednesday, around 10am just after math class I dropped by my locker to get some books. As I was about to leave for my next class, a girl came up to me and asked whether I had a lab coat and if she could borrow it. I didn't know who she was and vice versa. But out of kindness I said yes. Since I was only free until later on, I told her to meet me at my locker at 1.30pm to return it.

My mistake was to be so naive to believe that everyone in MCKL was honest and trustworthy. I didn't even ask for her name or phone number. Now she has yet to return my lab coat. And I have to go around every lab lesson to borrow someone else's.

Pfft.

Dear peeps, if you happen to know this girl,(I'm pretty sure she's from July 11 and the only thing I remember about her is she wore a tudung and isn't Malaysian) please ask her to give it to the student council. She has caused me a lot of inconvenience and she should have at least tried to get to me somehow. Ever thought of sticking a post-it on my locker? I mean, come on, I lent you my shit and I have to go around looking for you?? How ungrateful can you be?

Update (21/11/11) : My lab coat has been returned to me, thanks to the wonderful Hannah Azuree and Dhama :)

Que Sera Sera

2011-11-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

It's been a year.

Chinese New Year, 2010

Yesterday was my maternal grandmother's first death anniversary. "Time heals everything", they said. I guess it didn't apply to grief. As time stretched out, I only missed her more. How can time heal when it only makes you miss someone just that much more?

She passed on a Friday, I remember. Three days before SPM. She's been fighting lung cancer for around three months, and finally that evening, couldn't fight anymore. It's still so clear in my mind, that afternoon, seeing her for the last time. She was reduced to lying in her bed, with an oxygen mask, even speaking a few words left her breathless. She tried to speak, that day, but we couldn't make out what she was trying to say. And then, I remember leaving the room because I didn't want her to see me cry.

I hated so much that I couldn't spend more time with her after she was diagnosed. Only on weekends I went over with my family to her home in Ampang because I had to prepare for that darned SPM. Thinking back now, I would screw SPM over. It had no worth against time spent with her.

June 2010

It's hard to describe my grandmother in just a few paragraphs. There's just so much character all crammed up into one small, lovable woman. In the collection of memories I have of her, she's just, oh she's just really something.

She spoke in mandarin to all of us, except for distant relatives from Penang, who conversed in Hokkien. And she was always so full of energy, it was entertaining just to watch her speak. The best "shows" were when she complained about the relatives she didn't like. Oh, she would go on and on. Along the way she would come up with nicknames for them and each one was so spot on, I couldn't help but laugh. Eventually in my head I would refer to those relatives in their given nicknames.

Nicknames and gossiping aside, my grandmother was one of the most generous person I knew. When I was younger, whenever she visited, she would shower my siblings and I with gifts. A t-shirt for my brother, soft toy for my sister and hair clips for me. Every time she visited, her hands were filled with bags containing goodies for us.

On the other hand when we went over to her place, she would cook up a feast. At least five dishes would be on the table, although I remember I would only eat two of them, the rest being "adult food". She was a fantastic cook, and whenever she decided to make asam laksa, it was a full family tree event. Every family member of her four children would be there. And I do mean every member of the family.

The one thing my grandmother did better than anyone else in the world was being proud of me. She never compared me to my brother or sister or cousins or anything like that. She was proud of me, period. I loved calling her to tell her about my latest accomplishments back in primary school and even high school, though less often. Once, after doing rather badly at a chess competition, she didn't call me careless or accused me of being too lazy to practice. (All of which my mother did by the way) Instead she told me the fact that I manage to reach state level was enough. She was amazing just that way.

She's the one in yellow.

Although now I miss her to the core of my being, I wouldn't wish her to be still here with us. She was in a lot of pain before she passed. I try to always think of the good side - her being released of her suffering. But sometimes, when I see a picture of her or hear her favourite song, Que Sera Sera, I can't help it but tear up. It's like, a friend leaving for overseas without getting their address to write to or number to call and there is no internet where they are. All you have left are the memories and just pray you never forget.

Chinese New Year will never be the same. Even now, her house feels so empty without her. Her laugh, her grumbling - these were the things I only missed once she was gone. You know, she always wanted me to cut my hair short. As much as I love the length it is at now, I would snip it off in a heartbeat for her. Just for her.

My Kindle is My Best Friend

2011-11-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

I have many hobbies, but by far my favourite thing to do as a pastime is reading. And my latest indulgence is Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune.

I won't be doing a full review on this because I only had time to read it once :| Oh but I'm still reeling in excitement! I am so totally in love with this new series. Rick Riordon wrote this series in a third person's point of view, also switching between characters, which is refreshing compared to the Percy Jackson series. In that one we only got to experience the adventures through Percy's mind, which sometimes gets a tad bit boring. This series - Heroes of Olympus - is wonderful, with so many new characters and awesome powers :)

Percy appears again in this book and ME GUSTA. His awesome-ness is undeniable. I prefer this book over the first one, The Lost Hero, as it was not as confusing. Some of the mysteries in the first book was explained in this and everything just makes more sense now.

I was rather annoyed at how it ended though. It's not exactly a cliff hanger, but Percy was JUST about to get reunited with Camp Half-Blood and BOOM "the third book, Mark of Athena will be release fall 2012". Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I couldn't concentrate in class the rest of the day afterwards.

Anyhoo, I wanted to add how much I love reading. Escaping reality is just what I need every now and then. So books work out perfectly fine. But there's just one problem :

Happens to everyone, no? Suffering from post-reading depression now. Should start a new book, then undergo the same cycle again :/ I know everyone tells me Percy Jackson books are for kids but who cares? I admit the language is a bit unsophisticated, but the story line is very gripping and I've learnt so much of Greek mythology through this series. Rick Riordan used to be a teacher and taught history so I'm sure he'll be proud he's managed to teach people all over the world about Zeus and his buddies.

Sigh, can't wait for the third book now ): But no worries! The last installment of the Eragon series will be released in a couple of days and I shall be distracted once more :)

Words

2011-10-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hello. Trying to make a comeback here. Bear with me.

Well so, I had the urge to start writing again. I didn't want to continue writing on my old blog because, I don't know, I guess I wanted to start fresh, college and all. The last real post I published on the other blog was in April, but even since the start of this year I've been slacking :/

Not unlike before, I will write as I speak. I don't like using bombastic, fancy words if I can just string a few simple words together to convey the same thing. I try to stay as true as I can to myself, not transforming into someone else just because I'm on the internet. If I'm emotional here, I am emotional in real life. If I type in caps lock, it means I'm really excited, I'm not faking it. What I'm trying to say is, you won't find me being all emotional here but denying it when you encounter me in person. If I dare to rant online, I won't shy away if you ask me about it in the hallway. I am who I am on my blog, no "other side of me" shit going down here.

Comprehend?

Now, isn't the layout lovely? It's looks so happy that it makes me happy! Oh, and isn't the font just simply adorable? I spent quite a while choosing the perfect theme to fit, well, me. I know "me" would usually be blasting pink, but I couldn't find a nice one so this will do. If you're wondering about the font.. ;)

Page text : Indie Flower
Bog title : Homemade Apple
Date header : Crafty Girls
Post : Coming Soon (Not kidding, that's what the font is called)
Gadgets : Crushed

So anyway, I shall now address my blog title. "Speak Now" is the title of Taylor Swift's third album and of course, if you do not know already, I am very fond of her. Very fond. I chose to take the same title for my blog because I feel the same way about words. I shall not go into totally-obssesed-fan-mode and quote Taylor, but basically she explained that it signifies the importance of words, and how if they were said the wrong way, or not at all, it could haunt you for the rest of your life. Well, I won't necessarily be haunted by it for the rest of my life, judging on my attention span of a goldfish, but I will be rather annoyed if I didn't let my opinions be heard. So there, title explained. Taylor Swift is gold.

I shall end my first post here. My excitement level is rather high now :D It's been a long time since I wrote something more than five lines long. Science subjects do that to you. Wookay now, bye.