2010

2010 is going to be history in a couple of hours so here is a short tribute to this year.

I don't have much to say about this year really but despite that, there have been several occassions this year that have left my mouth hanging.

Like sometime in May this year, I watched my teachers dressed up in '80s outfit and played in a band!

No kidding.

This was my Lit teacher in A levels.



She was rocking the night away with her electric guitar! Their band was no hippie band too because they have the whole set.

Drummer, rhythm, lead, singer, you name it, they've got it!

Even shades!



And stage dancers too!

These teachers were not to be reckoned with because they've obviously done their preparations!



Haha. Those were the Physics and Further Math teachers dancing the night away! :D

That night was unforgettable. Minus the fact that we had cake. =)

The Math teachers pulled a prank on all the students too, with their DIY calculators!

Mr. Beadsworth: As you all know, next week is the start of AS and A Levels exams. The first paper is Mathematics and some changes have been made. I'm sorry I have to announce it now but it's the only time when all of you are here. There is a change on the type of calculator that you are allowed to bring in.

From down below: *LOUD GASP!!*

Yi Sheng: Please let it be Casio MS! Casio MS!

Mr. Beadsworth: It is going to come with a DIY kit so you'll have to set up the calculator yourself!

And it went on with super lame puns on the things the calculator must have!

Adder = toy crocodile
Keys = a set of keys
Cube = Rubik's cube
Log = literally a log of wood
Sin = sign of arrow pointing right
Inverse sin = turns sign over so the arrow points left
Tan = teacher brings in a beach chair and puts suntan lotion

Before I left that college, there was a short farewell party for the seniors that we (the juniors) organised. One of the games was charades involving plasticine.



Now I don't remember what Wei San was supposed to build to Meithan but I do remember this next one.

Jane was supposed to build....

Jeng jeng jeng.


What do you think that piece of orange plasticine look like?

Turtle? I bet you think it's turtle! :D

But... it's not!

It was supposed to be......



SUPERMAN.



Lol! Terrence was the first so he sang the Superman theme song.... until we forbade verbal contact. Hahaha. So they kinda had trouble passing the message onn after that. =P



And that's Terrence trying to hint "SUPERMAN" to Ananth. Haha.

Besides the CF Farewell, there was another farewell by the Chinese Cultural Club where we held a watermelon eating competition.


Cindy was the honourable judge and the rest of us were contestants.


We ate. A lot.


I can't remember the results no more but I'm pretty sure I didn't win. Lol!

But yea, those were the crazier times earlier this year which includes an episode of my getting almost drunk in Ipoh... but I wasn't. ;) At least I didn't puke. Heh!

I ended the year with the Damai trip planned several months ago where we played pool.


And sang karaoke with a live band. That's Kelly with a maracas.


And relived our mahjong days from last year. Marilyn was mahjong queen who won six games in a row.


And took like a gamillion jump shots because the photographer couldn't get it right. The photographer was mostly me. Amanda has a skill for taking jumpshots but when it comes to taking still pictures, they come out surprising blur. Strange.


We played mini golf... for 10 minutes. It's quite boring when you don't know how to do it right!


And we cycled. Even more amazingly, we taughtly Marilyn how to cycle! :D


So that's the end of 2010. It's been a great year. I've learnt a lot of things this year, including many types of sports. I've met with a lot of people including some of our ministers.

And although I don't have as many folders in my collection of pictures from this year, the year is still pretty awesome in its own ways.


Cheers to the new year. =)

To me from me II

Dear me in the future when 18 will feel like an age you've never gone through,

I have decided to update you once again on the little joys of being young. I hope I'm not rubbing salt on your wound. Oh wait, I hope you're not wounded by the fact that you're aging! Because like Madam Euphrasia used to say, you've got to embrace aging! I hope you remember Madam Euphrasia. She was your Penolong Kanan in high school who sometimes wears the colour black for what she calls "the slimming effect". =)

But enough of the introduction. It's been a year since you've left the comforts of high school and the memories of high school are already sort of fading. If it has completely faded for you, you can refresh your memory with the link to [my very first letter] to you! :D But no worries, there are some new ones to be created after all. Tonight I shall be going over to Francoise's for caroling. :)

I do hope you remember Francoise. If you don't, she is the girl who after studying in Australia for about 10 months, has forgotten what ice water is called in BM. Instead of ordering "air sejuk", she ordered "air lemeh". Lemeh, according to Maryann (and the rest of us who are still safely residing in Malaysia and therefore have relatively sound BM), is non-existent in the kamus. There is Lemah and there is Remeh. And as much as our Malaysian tendency to rojak words up to come up with a completely new meaning (like Rubang - rusa terbang. Saw it in Air Asia in-flight magazine. Apparently Tony Fernandez employs lame people too! =D), I highly doubt a weak and trivial water exists. She tried to defend herself by saying that she had in her mind "lejuk", which I guess is supposed to be better than lemeh because at least it's 50% right!

But as we grow older, more and more of those "catch-up sessions" materialise themselves into our calendar. Just awhile ago, I was supposed to go for early supper at Jase Tea Room. I reached there the earliest so I texted Maxine:

Adakah kamu sudah sampai? Saya sudah di sini dan ada sedikit lonely.

To which Max replied, rather heroically:

Ok! I'll save you from your loneliness soon! Tunggu saya selamat!


And she appeared half an hour later.

Talk about Malaysian time huh. -___-"


Luckily Francoise and Maryann appeared 5 minutes after you sent that text! So you didn't rot, don't worry. =)

Speaking of Maxine, she is one of your few technology savvy friends. But she has her moments when she completely fails to fathom the full potential of technology. For instance, she was supposed to celebrate her 18th birthday together with her housemate who shares the same birthday as her in Universal Studio, Singapore. But she said that the trip may no longer be possible because her housemate's handphone broke down and she thus cannot confirm the trip.

I had to remind her that there is something called Internet. And Skype. And Zuckerberg's phenomenal creation of Facebook (I wonder if you still use that or has something else like Nosepaper come into being... hm...).

Anyway, Maxine insisted that it wouldn't be the same.

Maxine: It won't be the same mah! Not like spending it together! Staring at the screen is very different okay!

I have to admit I was a little baffled.

Me: I meant using the Internet to contact her to confirm the trip...?

Her: Oh.

Get what I mean when I said she failled to fully grasp the potential of technology? Or maybe she's over-grasped it and thought too far into the future. =P

Anyhoo, I wonder how old you are when you are reading this. Are you facing any mid-life crisis yet? Because if you are, I've got just the things that you can do at this stage of your life! You may have to contact Abigail who is supposed to be your mid-life crisis partner in crime. =D

Last year, Abigail suggested that we dive into shark-infested water like Bella Swan. I had to remind her that as we may possibly be plagued by [beautiful] plumpness, [perfectly straight and at just the right places] wrinkles and [shiny and flowing like in them Rejoice advertisements] white hair, no Jake is going to dive in and save us from the sharks.

Besides, Taylor Lautner is about our age so by the time we're facing mid-life crisis, we may only be saved by a beer-bellied Jake. Eurgh! The horror! I be having nightmares now!

So recently, we revised our plan and kinda settled on bungee jumping. But with a trampoline at the bottom! So at that, I hope your children and spouse are sporting enough to watch.... or on a second thought, you might wanna buy some blindfolds coz they might get eye sores. Or you can bully your husband into jumping with you. Spousal bullying. Haha.

So ya, that's about it. Have a merry little Christmas! May you not be groaning in pain. May you not have rheumatism. May all your merry little wishes come true. And may you remember all the peoples who have changed your life so. :)

Signed,

Ah Lip [21/12/10]

P/S: It's Francoise Kelly Chen's birthday today. =D So happy birthday, Kelly! May you have many more blessed birthdays to come. =)

Slippers

I went over to my cousin's house yesterday to visit my little nieces. They are all under the age of 10 so they are all still very cute. The youngest, whom I last saw just a few months ago can apparently walk now (how fast kids grow!!), is only about a year and a half years old. :D

I was lucky to be invited into playing games with them because kids these days can be a little shy and fearful (besides being loud and annoying). So I found an abacus and decided to take it out to play. By play, I mean I decided to wave it around and see if the kids pay me any attention. (Also because I have no idea how to use an abacus *cough*) But one of my nieces found it fun to simply move the beads up and down.

Her: *flips bead up* *giggles, giggles*

Me: *flips another bead up*

Her: *giggles, giggles* *flips some more* *giggles, giggles*

Then when she accidentally turned the abacus around, she found that she had made a startling and magnificent discovery. The abacus could now become a car!

And it quickly became a game between her and her siblings to see who could push the abacus-turned-car farther without toppling the Hello Kitty figurine rested on the abacus-turned-car.

They played for about 10 minutes.

Today, when I saw them again, one of them was dressed in an orange dress with a pair of orange slippers to match. Now, the slippers have teddy bear heads on the straps. And you know those plastic teddy eyes sold in the market where the eyeballs (or rather, the iris) can jiggle? Yeah, the heads had one of those eyes.

My niece found great joy in jumping about and watching the eyes jiggle. She jumped and jumped, laughing and giggling along the way to no one but herself and her sister.

I'm not sure if the world becomes more complicated as we grow up or if it is our minds that and thoughts that complicate as we grow older. Or perhaps we like to think it as the world requires us to complicate things because things are generally, not simple.

Or maybe we just think too much.

I watched my niece jump around, feeling genuinely happy because she owned a pair of slippers that have jiggly eyes. I own a pair of slippers - oversized but amazingly durable - that is a gift from my friends but I don't look at it, jump around in it, grin foolishly at it and feel excessively happy. It is a pair of slippers. End.

Although come to think of it, when you own something that is a gift, you should feel happy. And if you feel happy, it is perfectly reasonable to jump around and grin foolishly. So sometimes I find the social norm just a teeny bit weird. People don't jump around in slippers because it's foolish. People aren't supposed to grin foolishly at nothing because it's odd and they may be mad.

But it's better to be "mad" than not to feel happy or thankful for the things that we have, no?

Btw, even though this is going to kill a bit of the imaginary momentum that I have for this post, a light bulb missed my head by seconds a moment ago. By light bulb, I mean literal light bulb, not an idea sort of light bulb. I was just minding my own business, pacing around the living room when this light bulb just dropped from its rightful place in the... light bulb holder (???). Anyway, the amazing thing was that I'd just walked past the exact spot seconds before and thus managed to escape unscathed.

Phew~!

I should put my fingers together now and give thanks for having been spared from brain damage and for friends who gives slippers for birthdays.

Then I shall go outside and jump around in my slippers....

Tarot, UNO and cheese

I have passed my law test! :D

It's Step 1 to my getting the P license. Woo hoo~!

Went to Tarot's yesterday to celebrate Fiona's 18th birthday. =) Maryann drove! It was okay except Ian kept nagging her along the way, which was quite funny. Hehe!

Ian: Brake brake brake! BRAKEEEE!!

Maryann: *exasperated* I already braked!

Hahaha. Anyway, we played a lot of UNO Cards and UNO Stacko there. I huffed and puffed and blew their UNO Stacko down. :D

But I supposed the more stupid part of the night should come from our cards sessions. =)

Fiona: *puts a Wild card*

Us: What colour?

Fiona: Pink. *heh?* EH! NO! RED!

And some more...

Me: *proudly lays down combos of 8, winning the game* :D:D

Roland: Catch.

Me: EH!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~~~

Technically I won! Then Cyril put down his combos of 7 and I lost. SAD.

Roland: Uno Uno Game!

Matthew: Catch. It's only Uno Game. Not Uno Uno Game.

Lol. That was just funny. Hehe!

And they had eyes everywhere so they kept spying our last cards!

So anyway, besides Tarot, my mum bought some blue cheese from Cold Storage last Sunday. We just tried it today and it was.... interesting. No wait, let me rephrase that. It was absolutely terrible.

Although I must give my mum credit for only scrunching up her face and saying, "This tastes funny." when she tried it.

I kinda had to jump around and gasp for air, followed by a quick gulp of water down my throat and two grapes to completely get rid of all the mouldy taste. Ergh!

My dad simply puked the cheese out and washed his tongue with water. Hahaha!

My father also suggested that I buy Quaker oats to absorb some of the fats that I have acquired while I was away. He said that Quaker oats are normally fragrant.

Well, guess what?

It was the most bland thing I have ever tasted in my life. Lol! After five tablespoons of cooked oats (A LOT BTW!), my tongue was absolutely deprived of any taste whatsoever. My parents and their excellent choices in foods. Haha!

To end: English fail sessions:

Me: When you uses PPS...
Maryann: You uses?

Maryann: I wonder where's her mum is...
Me: Where is her mum is?

Got my Parker pen from school! :D

Reminders

I attended my first mass in Kuching today since... well, it has been awhile since I was last back. :)

It felt quite nice to see Father Albert, especially when he ran towards to fan to push it away after he lit up the Advent candles to save the flames. =P

Anyway, I got kinda nostalgic sitting in the pew while waiting for mass to start.

I was suddenly reminded of those first Fridays mass I used to attend with friends before school and we had the children from the primary school singing their hearts out and it was soooooo cute!

I remembered the whole row holding hands while singing Our Father. And Shalom sung while everyone offered peace, normally in the form of hugs or handshakes and if they were sitting really far away, we grinned extra wide and offer peace "V" signs.

And I remembered everyone clapping after mass. There was so much energy there.

Then, sometimes, I'd go into the Music Room for ISCF's session with Pn. Kong because I just knew she always had a lot to talk about so they were hardly ever done (if never) before the mass ends. :D

Once, she even forgot that I was back from mass and talked until she realised, "Oh! Lip Yi is here already hor! Let's close!" (and before that she was still using me as a reference, haha! Guess she thought I had always been in the room. xD)

Sometimes, we even saw people checking out their reflections at the Music Room's windows. That was just... weird and awkward. Heh! And some did it for 10 whole minutes! *peng~*

I think I was quite sentimental on that final First Friday mass that I was ever going to have as a student in November last year. Now you shall hear me sigh: "Ah, the good ol' times."

With that, I just wanna say that while I was in Selangor, I have forgotten and mayhaps left behind some of the passion (wow, strong word! =P) I have for God and I didn't quite realise that until I got back.

So today, I was reminded of more than just the good ol' times. I was also reminded of how much I need to depend on Jesus. I was reminded of the value of humility. And most of all, I was reminded of how difficult it is to keep a godly spirit alive, for you see, you can never quite tell when exactly that the flame has weakened. I had lived my life thinking I was doing the right things, going to church and youth, but even all that ain't mean much if I haven't got the right attitude.

And hence, with an imaginary cuppa wine, I shall give a toast to myself to go ahead with a new sense of direction - one that hopefully is the one planned for me. ;)

By the way, I don't think anyone reads my blog anymore apart from the occasional Amanda. Haha. Guess it's become a 'lil irrelevant now. sigh~

The good in goodbye

Went back to the airport again today despite just arriving there 3 days ago. Haha.

But this time it's to send Alicia off.

A lot of people went. A lot of lame jokes shared. A lot of laughters made.

And thus a sort-of-supposed-to-be sad farewell became a not-so-sad occasion for everyone after all. Heh! :D

Alicia: Don't come or anything or else I'll cry.

But all she did was stare at us from like 3 metres away while Christine dumped all her markers on Eleena because "they made my bag heavy!"

Then they gave her her farewell gifts and we all thought she was going to burst.

Alicia: I didn't bring tissue! Of all the things I didn't bring, I didn't bring tissue!

Maryann: I have tissue!

Alicia: But I'm not gonna cry now. I'm not crying yet!

Maryann: Maybe you'll cry after you see the tissue! *pushes tissue in Al's face* Coz you know, after you see the tissue, you'll remember you have to cry.

Me: Ya, it's like a chemical reaction. Tissue's the catalyst!

Eu Fern: I know you'll cry.

Alicia: ..... I don't think I'll cry anymore.

I think we were too lame to make her cry. Or if she did cry, she probably cried because we were too lame. :P

Anyhoo, Eu Fern gave her a sandwich.

Maryann: Oh look! Green sandwich!

Me: It's pandan.

Maryann: No! It's green!

Alicia: It's pandan.

Then I forgot what we did or talked about but I dumped the sandwich back into her bag and she got overprotective, taking the sandwich, poking it, put it next to her ear and reported back live on AliciaNews: Status of sandwich - alive.

Me: You have eaten a live sandwich?

Alicia: ... I have eaten a sandwich live! (lame much)

Took some photos. Took a looonnngg time to help them take photos. :D And after telling her the last of our Kuching crap, we bade farewell and Maryann and I went off to Spring to buy present. :)

To end: some lame stuff.

Maryann: She's thin. But I wouldn't call her a stick...

Me: What? Thick?

Maryann: I wouldn't call her a stick..!

Me: You wouldn't call her thick??

Maryann: STICK!

Me: Ooohhhhh! Thick is also the opposite of thin maahhh!

-------

And in Spring,

Maryann: *telling me some stuff*

Me: *eating chocolate waffle and a drip of chocolate dripped down* My waffle was shocked.

Maryann: ... Oh... That's actually quite funny.. what the heck! *sinks in chair*

-------

Alicia: *holding a book/card that reads: Where is the good in "Goodbye"?*

Maryann: There. *literally points to the "Good" in "Goodbye*

LOL!

How I miss the times when I have lame conversation snippets to post up! Christine said I have sunk (SUNK!) to a whole new level of lameness...

End of first sem

My first semester is officially over. I am now sitting at home, enjoying television and fast Internet connection. :D

Wow, that actually rhymed!

Anyway! After law paper on Tuesday, everyone was giving hugs and saying goodbyes and happy holidays "in case I don't see you again". Some let out shouts of freedom. I went down to the library to share my joy with the Accounting students.

Eelyn hit me when I wished her Good Luck!

Coz you see, the law paper ends earlier at 11.10. a.m. The Accounting students have their last paper at 2.00 p.m., so they're only free at 4.10 p.m.! Heh!

After al that wishing, we went to Pyramid for lunch at Manhattan's Fish and Chips. :) Since we were going to celebrate the December babies birthday later that night, Sandra and Yeong went to shop while the rest of us tried to drag Eelyne to watch movie with us.

We ended up watching a really lame movie by the way! Luckily it was only RM 10!

After that, we went to catch up with the shopping team and guess what happened! She walked right into Roxy, right up to the purse section and insisted that she was going to buy herself a purse (padahal kami sudah beli satu Roxy purse untuk dia).

We were like "No need la! Today is not a good day! Not even your birthday yet - no discount! Let's go!"

Moments of panic. Phew~

Then she walked into Kitschen and tried on the EXACT shirt that we had again bought for her. =.="

We had a steamboat dinner at Yuen after the Accounting students were done. :)

And we ended the day with a birthday bash for the December babies (Alexie, Elian and Eelyne). They were gonna throw them into the pool but the pool was closed so we had a celebration at the basketball court instead, Pool was substituted with bottled water.

Alexie got really high after being attacked so she started splashing 100 plus at everyone who stood in her way. Then we had a short cake fight.... then the guards came so we got a bit speechless and left. Cleaned up the court for awhile with Yi Hui and went back to our unit for a mini celebration. :)

I think they talked til really late. I ended up falling asleep while packing. And before I knew it, I was already on the cab with Siong Lung, Elian and Ben to the airport! :D

We talked some more and time passed really fast and so now I'm back.

Home~ :)

The first sem

I have been so looking forward to the end of exams that I have quite forgotten that when law paper ends tomorrow, it will also officially mark the end of my first semester here in Sunway.

Wow.

So I thought before it ends tomorrow, I ought to recall just a little bit about what has happened thus far. It is also to take my mind off all the twisted voting systems of the world that I have to read. Blah.

So anyway, there was the Genting trip over one of the weekends with 13 other people. We had a tour around the casino (with Alexie's help :P), watched a late night movie (Detective Dee, some watched Blood Ties but I was a coward so I didn't watch the horror flick) and had super early breakfast at McD (at 4.00 a.m.).

We also had a fantastic time squeezing into the beds at 5.00 a.m. Olivia got pushed down the bed twice! Hahahahahhahaha!! So the boys had to give up their beds for us. xD

We also had a random trip to Petaling Street some nights ago where we ended up in SS15 for supper at Snowflakes and Asia Cafe and eventually walked home at 12.30 a.m. with Chee Zhen as our "tour guide". Before that was also a random trip to Klang Pasar Malam on Siew Chee's car for soya bean and fried oyster omelette and fried lala. As you have probably deducted from now, we are great eaters.

We have also had plenty of celebrations among us Ausmat kids. We'd celebrated Hari Raya together, Diwali and also Mooncake Festival. We'd watched people dancing and singing. We had dinner together at some Chinese Bak Kut Teh Restaurant and lit lanterns and sang songs about the moon. And on birthdays, we have thrown people into the pool, faked blackouts and ate tonnes of cakes.

Not forgetting our many bizarre presentations where I've seen guys cross dressed as girls and girls cross dressed as guys - although it is less awkward for girls to act as guys! xP Watched some really silly re-makes of novels. Eelyne sitting in trolley and Yeong Yeong holding a comb as a gun. Watched some disturbing clips as well *cough*naz*cough*joel*cough*. I think I had a rather disturbing clip of myself abusing Vee Vien's sister with a belt... in a re-make of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Lol. Olivia said I looked "pian tai".

Of course they were also good ones like Alexie and Olivia's video on The Joy Luck Club. Definitely more believeable and less disturbing! Alexie's singing after that made 4 or 5 people cry! Eric and Pauline's video on The Life Of Pi was quite hilarious too. And Ben and Raul's song on To Kill A Mockingbird (Sweet Home Maycomb County, parody of Sweet Home Alabama) went better than my version of Hey There, Laila (parody of Hey There Delilah).

The late suppers after youth at SS15 are also memorable. :) We were supposed to have a picnic at some park in KL once but the idea of being stuck in a jam was far too scary so we ended up having a picnic at the youth centre. Lol! And we played board games in Meeples. :D Oh, and last week's embarrassingly awkward experience of going up to receive blessings while completely forgetting about the dress code *cough*Evelyn*cough!*

And of course, those times spent with my "family". Even as I study now, I can hear them watching movie and talking nonsense in Sheau Jiuan's room. We have mostly been adventurous. We'd sit and talked to each other on the eve of our examinations about everything - from our history to sports to birthdays and pads. Speaking of sports, we had also walked all the way to Mydin just a few days before our exams for the sake of watching Chong Wei's showdown against Lin Dan in the Asian Games.

We did spend many nights cooking (mostly cabbage - shudders!) and talking about life and playing card games. And those nights before exams where we re-enacted ancient Chinese customs of palace talk. Yeong became the Maharaja and Michelle was the Pemaisuri. Yi Hui became the prince and Pit Yung was the maid. Lol! The rest of us became princesses. The hilarity of it all! What with Yeong Yeong banishing Michelle to the "Cold Palace" and later on got attacked by her wife. Hahahahahahah!

Exam stress, I tell ye. And the last things that I can remember are those moments we spend in the bus ride home playing random games. Vani, Kim, Uhen and I played some really lame games once. Vani has weird fingers! xP And the day Sue Yinn, Stephenas, Hafizul and I went back really late and we shared a lot of lame jokes! Or that time Yu Heng and I kept disturbing Kim about her "presents" from Sabah. Or those dinners after CF where again, lame jokes are shared. :)

I wish I can remember more but like I have once said, some memories didn't get imprinted in my mind. But on the brighter side, tomorrow we will be having yet another celebration. =)

PJ

Popular in Summit Mall is currently having a book fair with mark down prizes. I have never purchased to many books in my life. In fact, I have not purchased a single book for a long, long time!

So now I have this small collection of books that I doubt I will ever find the time to read. Exams start next week and I'm supposed to have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird. I have read one chapter. ONE.

On the other hand, I went to Petaling Jaya Street on Tuesday! :D

It was most adventurous because we later ended up in SS 15 and walked all the way back from SS 15 to Casa at 12.30 in the morning. It was past midnight so we didn't want the cab. And we didn't want to wait for U 63 at the bus station in Pasar Seni because it was 10.30 and the conditions of the bus station was... let's just say not so nice.

Reached home at about 1.00 a.m. after food at PJ, Snowflakes, Asia Cafe and McD. ;)

Celebrated Chee Zhen's birthday on Monday with mushroom soup. Lol.

And my unit organised a huge dinner last Saturday for 14 people. ;) Games. Talk. Blackout. Talk some more.

Anyway, after spending an entire hour walking around the Popular book fair today, I only came home with a RM 2.95 pocket dictionary while others came home with plastic bags of books. Sigh!

Street sweepers, toilet cleaners and garbage collectors

Warning: A long post with all words and no pictures.

During a random outing to Sunway Pyramid for lunch on our AUSMAT Independent Study Day, a few friends and I discussed about economics over sushi in Sushi King. At one point we talked about wages for labourers and professionals. Now it has always been a personal belief of mine that labourers deserve a way higher pay than professionals. I find it wrong for teachers to tell students, especially young ones, that if they don't study hard, they will wind up as street sweepers, toilet cleaners and garbage collectors. I used to argue that if it weren't for the street sweepers, the toilet cleaners and the garbage collectors, the world will become so dirty that even doctors and professors and reserchers will be out of jobs. Why? Well, how will you keep things sterile? Bacteria will be circulating the air that even doctors will become patients themselves. Pills and medicine will be contaminated and spoiled before they can even be tested and administered.

You may say that you can keep your own things clean. But the streets? Unless you plan to live in your own house for the rest of your life, you are going to have to drive your own rubbish to the landfill. You have to sweep your own neighbourhood streets and clean your neighbourhood's public toilets. There will be a duty roster so everyone in the neighbourhood gets their own fair share of work. That could work, you say.

But hang on.

So now everyone is a garbage collector, a street sweeper and a toilet cleaner - 3 in 1 like them Nescafe packs!

No so glamourous now isn't it? Is it really that shameful and degrading to be working in these jobs? Are these jobs ranked that low in the imaginary hierarchy of jobs? You say that their jobs require no specific skills. Well, I say who are you to define what skill is high and what is low. At the end of the day, what is more important: Is it really your ability to use your laptop and surf the Internet that gives you life? Or is it the hygiene in your food and water that keeps you alive? Isn't it embarrassing that you know how to balance accounts and treat people yet do not know how to wash your own clothes or work the oven or clean the toilet until it is sparkling?

Then again, it will be completely unfair to say that the professionals have it easy because I know they don't. In Politics and Law, we learn about proportional representation in voting systems. I wonder if anyone has thought of proportional wage redistribution - a system where everyone gets paid what they have worked for. This theory basically works like this: the firm divides its profits proportional to the number of workers in each department of profession. So skills are categorised.

And then, from there each department will have another distribution in terms of their own skills. See, what is different about this is that you compare the scarcity of skills in the market of its own skills. Like for example, there are many kolo mee sellers but only a few stalls' kolo mee are good. You can't compare kolo mee with laksa because they are of different natures and therefore, the eventual judgement will be biased. Likewise, you can't compare the skills of one toilet cleaner with that of a lawyer. So you would compare kolo mee with kolo mee to be fair in determining what defines a good kolo mee, no? Similarly here, you compare which toilet cleaner is more efficient in his or her work with other toilet cleaners. Who cleans more toilets in a given period of time? Or whose toilets are cleaner? From there, you derive a definition of good toilet cleaners. This induces a scarcity of good toilet cleaners and therefore, these toilet cleaners get paid a higher wage that is proportional to their skill in cleaning toilets and which justifies their effort and efficiency.

The only reason why these workers are being paid minimum wage is because their skills are deemed as homogenous (that means identical). It does not matter whether you clean the toilets sparkling clean or not. What matters is that the toilets are cleaned. And if the boss is not satisfied, boss merely scolds the cleaners and order that the toilets be cleaned again as if it were such a easy task to clean toilets. There is no scarcity in the supply of labour for toilet cleaners because toilet cleaners (and other similar jobs) have no trade unions to control their supply. In professionals, there is a clear standard to distinguish a good lawyer from a bad one. The good lawyer inevitably gets paid a higher wage. But because this is not the case for labourers, they get paid the minimum wage no matter how hard they work or how skilled they are at labouring.

The world needs to interact. The world cannot be kept in balance if everyone is so selfish. That is why we cannot compare labouring skills with professional skills. Fundamentally, both are already different! It takes no genius to figure that out. So there needs to be another different set of standards. Through the proportional wage redistribution, you recognise the skills in a labourer and they get paid better if they do a better job. In a way, it serves as a n incentive for them to work harder. And you get better toilet cleaners and better security guards who do not doze off during their working hours.

Because the amount of wage for each department is allocated, the best worker will earn more and the weaker workers will earn less. This keeps the competition alive. But rest assured, as mentioned, the profit is redistributed in proportion to the number of workers so even the weaker worker will be paid the minimum wage. This theory applies to the professionals as well. Goodness knows how many under-qualified doctors, lawyers and accountants there are out there. So through this system, the good ones get paid more and the lousy ones get paid less. It will motivate the weaker ones to improve themselves so that their standard of living, material wealth wise, will improve.

This is not communism because not everyone gets paid equal. You reap what you sow - that is the basis of this theory. Of course in practice, it will be far harder to perfect, but hey, like perfect competition, if everyone aims for this, social welfare will definitely become better. And with less government intervention!

In EALD, I had to write a movie review about The Blind Side, explaining on whether one person can make a difference. Yesterday I read in loyarburok.com that today's generations of Facebookers and Twitterers are promoting laptop activism - as the name suggests, it is social activism behind screens. We stop working towards making a change. We think that writing a status in Facebook and Twitter is enough. It is not, so they claim.

Well, in the spirit of the movie review I have just written, I believe that if I post this up, I will at least be able to influence a few of my friends to be nicer to the uncles and aunties they see sweeping the streets they walk down everyday. And perhaps as the very good friends that they are, they will help to to preach what I have just written.

I concluded my essay by stating that it takes one initiator and a lot of influenced people to make a difference. I hope this peice has changed your perspective at least a little bit. I have the utmost respect for my friendly neighbourhood cleaners because I know that I will never be able to find the strength in me to serve people like they do.

I'm not lame!

So I went back to school on Thursday and actually had a lot of fun chatting in the staffroom with teachers.

I even taught Pn. Yii Ling and Madam Tan this hilarious Indian dance I learnt from Ashley! They were so excited to learn!

Step 1: Tukar lampu.

Step 2: Cuci baju.

Step 3: Snuff out cigarette.

Step 4: Hide behind a tree.

Step 5: Sambut air liur.

Before long, I had 4 teachers (Pn. Yii Ling, Madam Tan, Madam Fu and Miss Susie) practicing the moves behind their cubicles! It was really a sight to behold! :P

Miss Susie: You have to tell them to have their expression right! *does a really, really, really silly face*

Then when Madam Euphrasia walked in, Madam Tan pulled her to try it out as well. Haha!

It is times like this that I really miss about high school. Watching people having fun while not fearing about making a fool of themselves and laughing really hard about it. And being reminded of how vain everyone can be – yes, even teachers!

Madam Yii Ling: *shows everyone their dance practice video*

Everyone: Hey look here! Wrong move! Hahahaha! Eh! This part so funny! Hahahaha!

Madam Yii Ling: *after a lot of hahahas* This last part is about me dy! Cannot watch! *closes video*

LOL!

But the best part is perhaps just being able to be vain myself without feeling wary of being judged. Hey, everyone in STS is vain after all. That was the whole point they fixed this gigantic mirror at the back of the assembly hall (on the stage!).

Me: Why is there a mirror at the back of the stage?

Miss Susie: So that we can see our reflection. We’re too vain! xD

Me: Then when there’s a speech being given, everyone just look straight and adjusts their hair la?

Miss Susie: Hm… no. We’ve seen too much of ourselves. We’re bored of the reflections now!

Lawl.

I think I sort of miss being close to teachers. To be able to make fun of them, even. Heh. But that never turns out well. Sometimes, I just gotta admit that no matter what, they’re still smarter. I went back to school to claim my magazine and told Madam Tan that mum didn’t give me any money. So she was asking me to claim a receipt from Miss Susie.

Madam Tan: Ask Miss Susie to write a receipt. She’s not a Math teacher. You can ask her to put a decimal point after the zero!

Miss Susie: Ha?

Me: She says you’re a language teacher so you don’t know where to put decimal points. This magazine costs 15 ringgit. You can put a decimal point anywhere after the zero. xD

Miss Susie: After? So I put it after the second zero!

Me: CAN!

But after that, I discovered that Miss Susie has to calculate these marks for some 5S competition in the staffroom. And because I insulted her calculating abilities, she entrusted her work to me (even making me recalculate her own marks!). Get what I mean about clever teachers? And as it turned out, I was the one who calculated wrongly! So malu. I gave her a chance to gloat but she didn’t want to because that would mean I didn’t have to continue checking her calculations anymore. Cleverness, see!?!

Me: Shitsuke… isn’t that a mushroom?

Miss Susie: ….

Me: Oh no! That’s shitake!

Miss Susie: And I thought I spelled it wrongly!

Anyway, Madam Fu also offered me chocolates.

“Smuggled chocolates,” she said. “From Madam Euphrasia’s room.”

Apparently, Madam Euphrasia has a stash of imported chocolates in her room and these teachers keep entering for the sake of the chocolates until sometimes, Madam Euphrasia gets so annoyed, she pours out a whole lot on a piece of paper and goes “Nah!”.

Lol!

I also witnessed band practicing. Ah, band. They are supposed to call me “Ma’am” now.

Miss Susie: *drags me into band room* How are you supposed to call her?

Eleena: *on the drums* Hi, Ma’am?

Miss Susie: HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Eleena: You bored souls!!!

She made Alicia call me Ma’am too.

While the band was practicing, I was busy signing yearbooks at the back. I tell you Christine has this huge pencil case full of colour pens which can no longer be used (most of them anyway) and you have no idea how remarkably tedious it is to search for a single colour!

I was trying to search for brown to draw a tree but I couldn’t find it so I drew a purple tree instead. Christine said I have bad colour taste. But she told me later on that her brown disappeared. =.=” And I really accidentally dropped her entire case on the floor trying to find that colour.

I also watched them try out some of the games for band camp. :) Looks fun.

So ya, I kinda wish that such classroom days can return but it’s ended so what can I do. In the mean time, I shall bask in this:

See, this is teacher introducing my dance.

And this is Christine Ling calling me lame! And one Super isn’t enough. It has to be squared! INSTANT K.O SOMEMORE! And in CAPS!

But… Teacher says I am NOT lame! This is like… major accomplishment! Abigail will agree! I used to make UNfunny jokes before school even starts!

Kim: Lip, that’s not funny.

And if you need a closer look!

But of course, the glory has to end.

What has the world come to.

P/S: I think this post feels more normal now. It's more shallow. Phew. Can you imagine life being like a deep, deep well and everyone has to struggle to understand the maksud tersirat?

I think everyone misses the time when everything is simpler. When Math is NOT done on a RM 500 calculator. When the only graphs we need to know are line graph and bar charts. And you still think the moon is stalking you.

New take

There used to be a time where I believe that every day, something will always happen to make my day. It may be from a random chatting session where random topics are discussed or it can be from a particular event. Nonetheless, I pay attention to these details and later in the day, I pen the events down to remember the funny jokes. I still laugh looking back at some of the silly things that have happened.

Unfortunately since I entered college, this habit has ceased to exist. Even though I laugh occasionally every day, I find no significance in the jokes or events. In short, I didn’t find anything worth pending down and I don’t know why.

Today, I have decided that I want to pay attention to these details again. Personally, I think it will do me good. If I can think back and remember all the good things that have happened every day before I end the day, I believe I will cherish the life I have here a little bit more. I will be less of a walking zombie or an automated robot that wakes up on a Monday and looks forward to Saturday before the first class even starts.

So I have decided to write the posts below to remember the things that have happened.

It is also as a sort of my new take on life.

Granted, it has not always been so easy adapting - especially this year. Like it or not, close friends are hard to come by. And there will be times (as long as you're standing at a new beginning) where you miss all that was familiar. More often than not, I am so self-absorbed with the past and the future that I fail to see the significance of the present. I've let moments of fun slipped by my memory. I've dusted away whatever print these moments may have left. Or worse: I may have hardened my mind that prints can no longer be printed.

Today, I have decided that this is not the way to live. Oh, no.

Today, I take my first step to remember details again.

PAL Presentations

This post is to be dedicated to the many assignments and presentations that we have had to prepare.

The most stressful one perhaps the one for our PAL. It was worth 50% of our finals and our lecturer demanded creativity.

Boy, you have no idea how hard it is to be creative!

We started with Katryne's group that presented on Voting Systems. They prepared ballot boxes for us to participate in voting! xD I feel so grown up. Eheh!

Then it was Raul's group where Khim became pseudo Miss Angela. Fuyoh. She was SO GOOD at impersonating her!! She entered and went "Sorry class! I'm late! So what's in the news today?". She even sat on the table the same style Miss Angela always sits! It was kinda freaky but also so cool to watch. Haha! And it ended with Raul impersonating Ramya and her "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!"

After that was my group. We had to present of An Alternative Electoral System, so we basically presented on the US Electoral System. We had a mash up of role play and games and elections. Joel became Presidential Candidate from Democrat: Dayak Obama. And Keefe (Chan) became Presidential Candidate from Republicans: John McChan.

Raul: So you're Dayak Obama and he's John McChan... is she (points to Pauline) Sarah Pauline??

Joel: Haha! Ahem. No. Actually, John's running vice is (points to Pei Ling) Sarah Peiling!

In case you're curious, Dayak Obama's running vice was Joel Biden. Haha.

Anyway, like I said, we had some role play so during the giving of the manifesto, the party policies were elaborated on.

During practice,

Pauline: (asking Joel) So, Mr. Dayak Obama ah, I want to ask if you are for abortion.

Joel: Yes, we are.

Pauline: Are you for free market?

Joel: No, we are not for free market.

Pauline: Oh. Coz you see, maybe I can give birth and then sell it...! Okay, let's move on!

And during presentation,

Khim: You are not for gay marriage. But I love my girlfriend! So how?

Keefe: You can love your girlfriend. We are not against that freedom. But we are just not supporting you getting married to your girlfriend!

Khim: Then are you practising discrimination?

Keefe: No, no! We recognise gay people. In fact, we acknowledge that they form an integral part of our society. But we just don't believe they should be a part of our marrying society!

(I laughed at that! Haha!)

Hetish: Basically your ground for opposing LGBT is because of the kids. What if my boyfriend and I don't want to have kids?

Keefe: Then... you have to think about the children you are influencing when you visit the playground!

Talk about creativity. Hahahaha! I really like his answers. And when I was explaining the Electoral College, I said that if Pauline is a lesbian, she would deem it better (as an Elector) to vote for Dayak Obama. So at the end, after the elections, Pauline was like: "As you know, I'm a lesbian so I'm not gonna vote for John McChan. I'm casting my vote for Dayak Obama!"

Oh! And as we were playing the game, Ramya was the official dice thrower.

Ramya: Two!

Pauline: Okay! Two! Before the dice even hits the table!

[We kinda had a pre-plan dice number. Haha!]

Pauline: Will Dayak Obama hit the press conference box? It's....

Class: ONE!

Ramya: One!

Pauline: Alright! ONE! Psychic, all of you!

LOL! So lame la.

Anyway, that's basically our presentation. There were more interesting ones after ours. Lee Weei's group held a station game around college and Eric's group made it into a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire style. Super cool. And they had a super awesome video! xD

But the most hilarious one has to be Nazzeef's group. Omg. Their role play. Can laugh til peng!

Nazzeef put on this skirt (you will not believe how many guys in AUSMAT has acted as girls!) and Ashley put on moustache.

Trying to demonstrate laws against sexual assault in marriages (in certain countries),

Ashley: Ambil teh!

Naz: Ya, ya. Abang letih kah?

Ashley: Kerja banyak. Malam ini mahu gembira tak?

Naz: Ha? Tak mahu la! Sudah lewat mahu gembira apa!?

Ashley: Abang nak jugaaaa!!

Naz: Tak mahu lah! Tak mahu!

Abang: Tapi abang sudah belie *whisper don't know what*

Naz: Ha? Ya kah? Tak mahu la! Itu sudah kahwin 20 tahun masih mahu gembira apa!?

Ashley: Abang nak juga!! WAaaarrrgghh!! *jumps!*

There was another one where Naz acted as prostitute to demonstrate a different form of law. Super hilarious. He was like selling for RM 5. -.-" He also did an impressive impersonation of Olivia!

Naz: You run over my foottttt! Now you have to pppay!

Ashley also acted Ben's Bieber hair quite well. :P They ended it with a dramatic drama of divorce case. It was to show the role of Mediation. So anyway, Siong Lung and Helfie are married. Siong Lung's the husband, Helfie's the wife. Naz and Ihsan are the kids. Ashley's the mediator.

Siong Lung: Ngo em chung yi lei la! Lei mo yung ah lei! (I don't like you anymore. You're useless!)

Helfie: Lei mo yung ah! *slaps Siong Lung*

Siong Lung: I don't love you anymore la! Divorce la! What mediate! Divorce la!

Helfie: Em tak ah! *slaps some more* Divorce, divorce! Mediate first la!

Siong Lung: Fine! Zai zai! Come!

Ashley: Okay, so who wants the kids?

Siong Lung: I want both!

Helfie: *shakes head*

Siong Lung: Say something la!

Helfie: EM TAK AH! (CANNOT AH)

Ashley: Fine. Then we'll let the kids decide. Who do you want to follow?

Ihsan: I want Papa! I saw Mama with that man in green shirt!

Siong Lung: HA!?

Helfie: Shhh!

Ashley: Okkaaayyy.... So who you want to follow?

Naz: ... TETEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!!! Papa no tetek! I want mama!!

LOL.

It was so funny!!

Those are basically our PAL presentations. The best presentations I have ever seen in my life, truth be told! Creative and informative at the same time. Extremely enjoyable too! xD

I hope high school can be this creative next time. Haha! But it's a lot of hard work la. I suppose it's all worth it at the end coz we all got full marks.

:D

Birthdays kids

Have I mentioned that there is an Olivia and a Kimberly in AUSMAT? ;P

Anyway, this is the AUSMAT Olivia.

She celebrated her 18th birthday recently on the 21 October 2010.

Her housemates decided to give her a surprise party at midnight.

This is her cake, it says:

Sang Yat Fai Lok

Hon Hon Pit Pit.

It's basically Happy Birthday in Cantonese. And Hon's her surname so... I don't know the significance of Pit Pit. Lol!

So anyway, at 11.45 p.m., we were all gathered outside of their unit. They had actually pasted notes on their door with instructions for us. Haha!

Lee Weei even took the liberty to remind us it's Olivia's birthday - "so don't be mistaken!", she wrote! LOL.

Lee Weei and Alexie popped out from time to time to check on us. At about 11.55 p.m., Eric lit the candles to her cake and a blackout was induced in the unit. I later heard that Alexie had climbed on a chair, closed the main switched, quickly climbed down, stealthily put back the chair, ran back to her room and came out shouting "BLACKOUT!!!!"

iLOL.

Anyway! They screamed for damn long inside okay!

We were afraid that the candles would go out soon so we sent Yong Wei to bang on their door. We pressed the doorbell at first but *ahem* doorbells work on electricity!

Yong Wei must have banged really hard because instead of opening the door, there were more screaming. -.-"

Finally, after don't know how long, the door was opened and we sang the song.

We made Olivia bite the candles out. The cake was too expensive to push her head in. =)

It was really nice cake too.

At least it was better than Chien Yang and Kumara's birthdays. Chien Yang was thrown into the pool at midnight. Haha! Kumara got away coz he claimed he was sick. :P

But it was midnight so it wasn't easy to coax people to eat the cake. Ah wells. ;p

Anyway, that is it for Olivia's birthday. :)

This is what I drew for her as a birthday present. Tee hee.

On 29 October 2010, it was Eric's birthday.

We celebrated for him after PAL class on Friday.

This is his cake. It's coffee. :)

Before class started, Pauline and Alexie pasted this note at the back of his shirt that reads:

Hi. My name is Eric and it's my birthday. Please wish me!

We even got our lecturer to play along! xD

At the end of class, she was like:

Eric, I heard Miss Ruma (our director) wants to see you? I heard it's pretty serious? Have you done something? It's about something broken and she's quite upset. Do you know what you've done? Do you know it's wrong to have so much talent in one body? Yea! Coz if there are people like you all around, you put people like me out of jobs! What's the first rule? Don't piss off the authority! What did I tell you? Don't be outstanding - just be the average guy!

And this comes from the lecturer who enters class every day, demanding to know what's on the news and constantly emphasising on the importance of being outstanding (not just the average guy). Haha!

I think Eric got a really awesome birthday present from Miss Angela (our PAL lecturer) that day.

And even better - his present extended to the whole class too!

All of us, after slaving for a crazy amount of time, have managed to obtain 50/50 for our presentation. And mind you, our presentations were TOUGH. Phew~! xD

Yea. This is our Politics and Law class. The guy holding the big green manila card (also the birthday card) is Eric. :)