An old post...

So -- talk about a new perspective on life. University. The freedom is intoxicating at first, being able to do pretty much whatever you want as long as you have enough guts and willpower to do it. It’s great, but going back to the family? Priceless. Seeing old friends? Invaluable.

The nifty thing I noticed about my travel itinerary is how carefully planned out the journey is – until I get back home to Malaysia. Because I know that even if the flight is delayed by six hours (which it is), my parents will be there to pick me up. If the plane took a detour through Antarctica and arrived a week later, my parents would be there to pick me up. And there is no way I’d miss a flight back to the UK with my parents to drag me out of bed and send me to the airport. Ever reliable.

Anyway, sitting here in the airport burning computer battery time. Looking forward to a really good month. Traveling alone trying to carry four bags with two hands has been hell (if you must know, one bag on the back, one under an arm, and one in each hand was how I did it), but what was really amazing was the random strangers who offered to help me go up and down stairs when it would have taken ages otherwise.

P.S. After check-in its much better, playing my tenor in Malaysia will be WELL worth it now. I love this thing; I think my mom was right when she said I should have gotten a tenor sax for my birthday instead of another alto. It’s like an extension of my voice, the sound in my head comes out so much better even on this cheap ass tenor.

Finally, I have to comment on the Copenhagen talks I suppose. Well, some of it. As expected, the world can’t agree on what to do. They managed to agree that something should be done. ‘Something’ to be defined at a later date. The best line from Obama: “America is leading the charge against climate change with its technologies…” Well – I raised my eyebrows at that. I suppose, to be fair, technologically they might be, but their attitude as a whole is astonishingly indifferent.

Thanks, random strangers and Malaysian awesomeness, see you both soon! ((I told myself two weeks of lepak before two weeks of studying/interspersed with enjoying myself, followed by a week of straight up studying))

Written December 20th, 2009, 20 hours before arrival on Malaysian soil

Whoah...

So a certain Indian Singaporean has been bugging me to update this blog. So I guess I will. The same Singaporean asked what I've been doing with my time in Malaysia, and now it's pretty much the same old stuff I did before I left the first time. Which, I guess, was kind of the point. Only now almost everyone's gone again, and I'm left with the stark reality of studying for exams. That being said, I'm still looking forward to going back to England.

Seeing most of my old teachers (except Craig & Fletcher) was a genuinely interesting experience. It's strange how differently Munro (David?) and O'Day (Shane?) talk to us now. Maybe it was just me not knowing them well enough, but some of their stories and advice... It was a bit out of this world. O'Days suggestion? TRY EVERYTHING! Naturally, I'll be taking it with a grain of salt: His college days sounded fun but unfortunately for me I also have some fairly challenging academic requirements from my parents.

Anyways, one of the recent posts from ANYONE on this place is from Syamira. Who apparently keeps this crap alive still. Her post about 2009 reminded me how different life was just one year ago. MKIS seniors were all in the same routine of getting up and going to school, worrying about high school problems. Now we're all over the world, starting anew. Brigid seems half as studious, Carl knows some Japanese, Greg and Anand are toughing out army life, my sisters working her ass off in uni, and I'm living on my own doing what I want to do 24/7 (or maybe... 20/7). The only constant seems to be Elena, who is always studying.

I'm just glad no ones living in the past. I think we've all managed to move on. Even Danial, Tahnee, and Amirah, who have been sitting around having a six/seven month vacation, all of them are finally going to a new stage in life.

Thanks everyone for a life changing 2009!

P.S. Enjoy the next few years. Anand, I'ma count the months till you get out of NS.

You have arrived...

... at your destination, navigation complete.

First off, GPS always ended about 50-100 meters from where the destination actually WAS. Which can be fine, but it's not if you're looking for a specific house in a neighborhood with dozens of lanes and side lanes. It's like, almost good enough but NOT QUITE.

So I'm in the UK now. Was completely lost for the first week or so, and probably spent way too much money. Oh well... I've drawn up a budget for the rest of it so hopefully I'll be fine. The first week is basically nothing important besides settling in. Apparently how they induct freshman into university/into halls is by offering a party every single night. I only went to like 3 outta 7 (?) so far, which is just as well since I'm really not THAT heavy of a partygoer and quite frankly 2 out of 3 of them have been... well not that great. So if you ever get to Manchester, so far I'd recommend the Pure club. That was really nice.

One thing that I notice in clubs thats different from Malaysian clubs. The absolute THRONG of people who are just dying to get a drink and, I'm guessing, get drunk. Seriously, you walk in and you cannot even see the bar. They're crazy. You have to shove through that mess to even order something. I liked it in Malaysia where it wasn't so insane? I reckon everyone who wanted a drink still got it there anyways, right?

Other than that, if you're still at home with the family, ENJOY IT! I fell sick earlier this week (along with... just about everyone except this one girl who rarely goes out) and damn. It was hell waking up feeling like shit, knowing I had a class to go to, then I still needed to do my laundry and buy something/cook it for food later. The good news is I had Friday off so I managed to take a nap of epic proportions and still get all my stuff done. I managed to eat by convincing my flatmate to let me 'learn' how to cook by watching her cook, then eating that. I think that'll only work a few more times though.

Queen's Song (part 3)

It's 5:04 AM. I haven't slept all night. I'll sleep on the bus.

I just ate my sahur. That’s what we call our breakfast at this unbelievably early hour, before the dawn comes to signal the beginning of the day’s fast.

“The thing with insomnia is you’re never really asleep. You’re never really awake either.”

Ever notice how the sound of the clock seems to sharpen at night? Of course. It’s all I could hear for ages. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

No internet. This sentence does indeed, deserve it’s own paragraph. (Whoops)

I was going to go into a tirade against romantic comedies. Predictable, feel good bull. Start off with a bunch of laughs, then try and tug at your heart for an ‘aww’ moment. But I changed my mind. I watched a bunch of depressing, confusing, deep shit recently. I could use a romantic comedy. The Ugly Truth, I think that means you’re up next. Katherine Heigl beats Sandra Bullock anyway. Maybe I still got that thing for blondes. (…Yeah)

Some things I realized in the past day’s moments of meditation (in between being harassed by my cousin):

I should be more considerate. My cousin’s five years old. What’s my excuse?

I believe in God. (This should be a sparker) Regardless, I know who I turn to when I feel like I really need it (among others). This thing that there’s not even any logical proof of.

Up is an amazing movie. Where did they find the people who made that shit seriously? It honestly feel like they handpicked some of the best and made them all work on that movie. Fitting of my mood currently (listening to Grover Washington. Jr - In the Name of Love), the notes of the chorus in Married Life from Up are almost enchanting.

I have one more week on this peninsula. A lot of people are staying. So it’s like a bye for now (depending on whether or not they let the Singaporean folk out once in a while?) , not a farewell. I’ll probably enjoy myself in the UK, just like I did here after feeling down about leaving Texas.

I suppose, then, life really does move on.

It’s 5:18 AM. I promise myself not to edit this when I move back into sane-land. i.e. Kuala Lumpur. It’ll serve as a ridiculous reminder.

Finally, Tekken can go screw itself. That being said, I’ll still go and get my ass beat to get better at it because it is fun. Unlike Halo, where getting beat is boring because Halo is a bullshit game where it takes like a thousand rounds to kill someone.

My bus leaves in 4 hours. But that’s Malaysian time. So it could be like 6 hours real time.

Thanks for reading the stuff I slobber onto the page.

“Dude, your mouth is like a black hole… where ideas get sucked in and die.”

It’s 5:25 AM.

THE STAGES

You haven't changed a bit.

...Well actually, you have. Used to be nicer.

Damn! Well luckily I didn't take that the wrong way. I'm not sure what the right way is. But here are what I think are the three stages to getting to know me. And a lot of other people. Generalize, categorize, stereotype freely! Enjoy.

Stage 1: You think I am a golden boy with a pure heart. I'm the nicest, most polite guy you'll ever meet. You know me slightly well.

Stage 2: You think I'm a funny guy, but a jerk sometimes. You know me pretty well.

Stage 3: You think I'm a nice guy who'll do a lot for his friends. You know me too well.

No wonder it takes me ages to make friends. Anyway, I wonder if I am getting meaner.

Also, I am confused as to what I am supposed to be doing for Ms. Lehar. And confused as to how I ended up in a GIN membership for life. WHAT ARE YOUR STAGES!?

Thanks for your feedback.

P.S. Scratch one more buddy this Monday. =[

Anand's a Ninja

Why does he have an afro?

Also, Transformers own ninjas. With one finger.

First things first: Doing a UK Visa sucks. It takes ages, and with so many hoops to jump through it's ridiculous. It's just a long and arduous process. The good news is that it's much faster than getting a US Visa. Apparently. That must suck. The other piece of good news is that the University of Manchester is really helpful

The other thing I've been doing is still a whole lot more of nothing. I visited the seniors today in school, to laugh at them (and also to sort out some more Visa stuff with Daly... yay) Just some minor things to finish out for Lehar, still gotta give her the USB she ordered.

I want to meet more teachers who are not completely hopeless with computers. It's just bizarre to me. Part of that whole gamer logic thing, I suppose.

Also grats to Tahnee on dinging 17. The ****, seriously. Way too young to have graduated IB. Congrats anyway! It was nice to meet people again (Yorrick LOL) and even meet someone new that I never really talked to. Too bad I couldn't go to KL afterwards. I feel the urge to go out to town in KL one last time before I leave since I have heard that KL is indeed the best place to do that.

Thanks for agreeing that Transformers beat the shit out of ninjas

... Sigh.

Add one more reason I can't wait to get the hell out of this country. Shitty internet. Good job Malaysia.

And without further ado, a continuation of my vocabulary lessons. You may remember the first vocab word: "Mancrush". After that reminder, the next word is:

To TMNut - the process of screwing with one's internet (esp. a paying customer) so as to make access impossible.

"Wow, my internet went out Saturday and I called and they said they won't come fix it till Tuesday. I think I just got TMNutted."

Nothing else interesting happened this week. Just trying to get my UK Visa done so that I will be good to go for uni. Also, I was redrafted into the service by Ms. Lehar to do some random things. Joy. Luckily for her I don't hate her.

Thanks for caring.