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~ :)