Monday, September 29, 2008

Mid-sem Holidays Are No Fun!

It never is!

We always get tons of assignment piled up during this time because "there aren't any lectures or labs hindering you"!!!

That sucks!

Still... I guess the no-labs-no-lectures part works.

No, wait, that isn't right. The only reason why we've got this two tests after the mid-sem break and assignments etc. are because of one thing.

Darn clashes with Malaysian public holidays!

Lecture clashes are bad enough =\ I had to sit for a test an hour early this semester because of that. (That meant arranging for the time and having to even think of sorting it out even though it took only an email or two.)

But when public holidays come (and we all know how many Malaysia has... if we can count them...) all official activities cease. Lectures get delayed. Experiments get carried forward. Report due dates get pushed back... until they all pile up at the 13th week of the semester! (That's the last one ever.)

We're supposed to be following an Australian calendar with no Malaysian holidays!

It's no fun when you can't go on a real holiday and see stuff and play when everything's left for this week to do.

Huh? You're saying it's my fault I didn't do it earlier, aren't you!?

I can't blame you for that.
=(


It occurred to me how I actually managed to pull it all off all these years. I actually prepared early. I wrote half my experiments in my reports before they get carried out and then write everything else on the last minute (which only takes a couple of hours because I've finished everything else). This semester was definitely different. I got so laid back I literally did everything the morning I had something due. Ugh.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Behind The Mirror...

Lately, I have often felt as though the path I seem to be heading is filled with bright, clear signs telling me that I've gone the wrong way. But in every other direction I turn, I only see one path that is ahead of me... filled with bright, clear signs that says it's the wrong way. Darkness fills the space behind me and on my sides. I turn with wary steps, to see if there's a path, but the darkness pulls at me in every other direction. Confused and lost, my cries for help left unheard.

Or... because no one expected to hear it, they thought it could not be me...

I see others walking in the darkness on paths that I could not see. I call out to them but they could not hear me. Yet, when I am silent, they turn to me with happy smiles and expect a mirrored image of their happiness. So I give it to them, and they turn away satisfied.

Is it okay to cry for help when you are expected to be the one hearing the cries of others and helping them?

Is it okay to be lost when others are looking to you for the right way?

It is okay to point them to the right way because they can see it but not go there yourself because you can't see it?

Perhaps there was a voice I hoped to hear but could not just because it had become so soft that it became as silent as my cries...

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Monash Ball 2008 -belated post-

It's the one and only time in my whole uni life where I would turn up in a nice dress, styled my hair in a salon, wearing make up and nail polish! Seriously! Can you imagine all the trouble we have to go through to attend an event that lasted only 3 hours?!? (Okay, so that's very long... and I'm not counting the after party.)

Still... I'm glad I went. It was great fun with friends I know... going around snapping photos, complaining about how long before it was time for us to eat, looking at and commenting on everyone's costumes...

Speaking of costumes, the girls were very pretty that day! (Most turned up in formal wear as the boys so I shall not comment too much on that.) Yi Voon wore a black halter dress which was very nice. Mei Lin wore and pretty purple/pink dress that fit the colourful theme for mardi gras. Pui Ming was so 'yeng'! She dressed up in nice black slacks, white shirt with frilled collars and a black vest! Mei Lin and Pui Ming had their make up done by professionals and they did look very good. (Photos are all available on facebook... thus will not be posted up here).

Entertainment wise... I would say... I was rather disappointed with the ball. It wasn't formal and it wasn't fun (unless you were on stage...). The highlight of that night was our buffet dinner. Can you imagine? The dances were great and the fashion show was interesting. But the Miss and Mr Monash "event" (don't know what else to call it) was... obscene! I didn't come to a ball to watch a girl try to seduce a guy or a girl give a rose to another guy and french him! They had good events lined up but the way they presented them were awful!

This is an annual ball! It's supposed to be formal! For crying out loud, the vice pro vice chancellor was there! (It's a good think the PVC was not there instead.)

Sigh.

Anyway... I was immensely thankful for my friends who were there. At least they were around to make it fun.


There you have it, my belated post on the Monash Ball... lolz... the excitement probably died down by now so I guess it's not that big a deal anymore. Just had to post it up because of my lack of events post. Haha.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

H2

A baseball manga that was completed quite awhile ago (both the ori-Jap one and the scanlations) that I've only recently read. It was good. Just as good as everyone claimed it was. It was especially good for me because I didn't read anything about it before (except that it was about baseball). There wasn't anything cliche about it. The plot, the story, the way it was presented, etc. was all very original. Half the time, the pictures did the telling and that was that was the best part. It didn't need so many words and at the same time, it felt as though it was the manga-ka who was there with you while you read. It felt refreshing, like a good conversation with an old friend.

What really made me realize how good it was though, was in chapter 281 onwards. I won't tell you what happened here because it was completely unexpected the way the story went. The manga-ka had outwitted the readers in every sub plot that, just when you think something's going to happen, something entirely different happens instead! This chapter was especially good because the manga-ka made me think "yea right, that won't happen". I read the next few pages and was still thinking "that can't happen... right? It's impossible." and after the next few pages... I still couldn't accept what happened until the main character did in the end. Really! It was like going through the exact same emotions the main character did! It was a well thought out story.

Thus ends my personal/impersonal thought on a manga I've been following. Heh. I'm supposed to do an assignment due tomorrow. Why am I not doing it? (Sorry dear, I know I promised to too...) Sigh... I'm doing it... it's just that, unless I can figure this part out, I'm not going anywhere. And thinking about it for a full day hasn't brought me anywhere.

Well, here's me going back to reading and hopefully coming up with something.


By the way, I *heart* this summary by One Manga.

Summary:
Hiro has two loves: baseball and porn. But due to an elbow injury he gives up baseball choosing a school with no baseball team. His childhood friend Hikari attends a different school with baseball ace Hideo and the two wish Hiro had not given up baseball. Hiro joins the soccer team but meets Haruka, a very clumsy girl, who is manager of the unofficial baseball club. When the soccer team challenges the baseball club to a game, with hopes of humiliating them, the baseball club nearly loses until Hiro, disgusted by the soccer team's arrogance, switches to the baseball club.