Happy CNY everyone!

I am posting from the State Library, when I really should be somewhere else right now. But beggars can't be choosers. I have to take whatever intermittent net access I can get.

So I'll officially be moving into College Square on the 3rd Feb, in my twinshare apartment on the 8th floor. It's fantastic, great view, affordable, everything. I only know my roommate by name; my parents met her parents when College Square visited M'sia not too long ago and set me up with her since we were both looking for a roommate. It kinda feels like arranged marriage, hahaha! But from what I hear, I'm pretty confident we'll get along very well. Apparently, she even looks like Hui Lynn.

Oh and, just now, while waiting for my computer time slot, I went bargain hunting in a bookstore nearby. I'm so proud of myself, I found the complete works of Oscar Wilde for $9.95 which is a little less than RM 30. Tis awesome. Also my love for stationery made me buy a 'massively reduced' Dilbert 2006 calendar which is equally awesome. I couldn't resist! I'm feeling quite happy and satisfied now.

Right, I have to go, shoot off a coupla important mails before I rush down to Fitzroy Gardens for a lovely party-picnic thing to celebrate Rach's b'day which is not today. Bye all, miss you muchly.

Brief update

Sorry for the silence guys, I've been rather occupied these few days. Landed 3 days ago, feels like some time already. I think it's the weather. The first two days were almost unbearably hot in the afternoon unless you sat under the fan, stared into blank space and not move a muscle.

Today's pretty cool, but I suspect it's going to get up to 40+ degrees again tomorrow. I've been looking for accommodation, and I've made a list of possible places and will be house-hunting today. On foot and public transport. Aaugh.

Otherwise, I'm fine. Caught a cold (can you imagine catching a cold in 40+ degree temperatures???) but no, it's possible. I caught a cold when we went to the beach to ride over the hot day. I hadn't slept well since coming here, so I've been tired, headachy and a little stressed with the house-hunting stuff.

Uni enrolment went very smoothly. I can't wait to start, hahah, the subjects all look terribly interesting. I'm all set to work my ass off for uni, and hopefully I'll do good enough to earn an honours year in Finance cause it's really competitive and there are only 40 places available. I'm actually really looking forward to the work...I can do without the holidays already.

That's all for now. I caught up on my sleep and rest last night and am feeling much, much better. And, I'm going to see Brokeback Mountain in 2 days! ;-)

A few days ago I called my school in Aus to ask about my IB grades. They promised to fax a copy of the results slip and asked for my name. So I said it and spelled it out for them.

When the results arrived, I nearly choked with laughter when I saw the name Yim Hui Lin (Stefanie). Brudder, they sent me YOUR results, HAHAHAH. Well, they got the 'Hui' bit right, and the 'Y' and the 'in'...but fact is, I never mentioned a Christian name, and no matter how hard you try, there just no way you can say my name in a way that produces the 'L' sound!

I called them back and patiently pointed out the error. They were mortified, naturally, and commanded me to DESTROY the document immediately. The usual hush-hush confidential policy. I didn't think it could get any worse than that really; I felt this incident came really close to when Baldrick spelt 'Christmas' without getting any of the letters right. Compared to Baldrick, 6 correct letters out of 10 is a great score. 60%! You gotta say, it's fantastic!

Unfortunately, the moral of this story is, it CAN get worse. My parents went out for a wedding dinner tonight and the onus was on me to order dinner. The majority voted for McDs delivery, and I wasn't about to pass up a prosperity burger. =) My brother was perhaps more interested in WoW and didn't seem at all concerned with dinner so I took my time about calling them up. Let him starve, I thought. Now usually I'm a conscientious, exemplary big sister, and I might not have dallied if he didn't keep staring at the computer screen while pestering me to order dinner. WoW sucks the soul out of you, I tell you.

Anyway, that's not the point. The point was, when I eventually did call (it was about 8.10pm) I was asked for my address and my name and my order. The works, you know, and soon dinner was on its way.

When the food and bill finally came, it was a little past 9pm. The food was good, fries a little soggy but the name - oh, the name was atrocious! They got my name down as, you'll never believe it - Miss Angrie Yen.

Actually...I knew an Angrie Yen.



There's nothing wrong with my pronunciation at all, thankyouverymuch. I blame everybody else for this. *sulk*

Hey you, 2006.

It's an hour away to the new year and the perfect time for casual bloggers like me to blog about another non-event that is 2006. While others eagerly await countdowns and new year parties, I spent this morning at a stuffy 6-hour bengkel session listening to a Maniam dude explain about the innards of a Kancil. I'm also almost sure that I've gotten 5 shades darker and signed myself up for skin cancer in the near future. =)

On a [questionably] brighter note, I saved my dad from a fashion faux pas early today. He actually attempted to go to work wearing a blue-striped white shirt matched with a brown-spotted yellow tie. I kid you not. Good thing I woke up early for breakfast, just in time to save him and make him change his tie. I swear, the second I walked into that kitchen and caught sight of him placidly drinking his tea, my eye started twitching, I sneezed six times and broke out into a rash. My mom tried to be diplomatic by squinting and eventually saying that the look was an acquired taste, but by this time, the rash was really starting to bother me. Hahah.

Now. No turn-of-the-year post would be complete without a raw, soul-searching evaluation of 2005 and an astute and bitingly witty prediction of 2006. So here goes.

A raw, soul-searching evaluation of 2005
1. I discovered the tantalizing, titillating, smutty world of slash. [My fiercely straight male friends may choose to skip to item 2 now.] Girls, trust me on this, slash is good for you. And we can pretend that because it's in written form, sometimes with brilliant and complex plot and character development, it's wayy more high class than porn, or what ex0 and I euphemize as 'freeable space' on any guy's HDD. >=) And since it's the 21st century, we can stop pretending that we don't have sex drives too. Mmmmmrosenbaum.*bonk* XD

2. I finished college and exams and am more than eager to get on with uni and stay on my own in a neat little apartment in the city with modern contemporary decor and stainless steel stoves.

3. I grappled with insecurities, tried to overcome my habit of overreacting, made very few (if any at all) enemies and very good friends. All in all, a very memorable year!


An astute and bitingly witty prediction of 2006
[NB: Because I am shortsighted - left eye 450, right eye 350 - I'll leave the predictions to others =]

1. [Blake Ross: creator of Firefox] Another blog search engine will release a list of top 100 bloggers. Every blogger on the list will blog the news in the form of: “Wow, I’m honored to have made it onto the top 100 list” with a link back to the list maintainer’s blog. The list maintainer will in return blog: “I’m honored to see that the list has been covered by such a high-profile blogger” with a link back to the winner’s blog. The link incest will continue for weeks until it has propelled the list maintainer himself into the top 100, at which point the list will be declared a sham and the blogosphere will erupt in outrage.

2. [Kevin Maney: USATODAY.com] Cellphone cameras will actually become useful. For most consumers, digital cameras on cellphones have turned out to pretty much be vestigial organs. You want a camera on the phone, but the photo quality is marginal. And then pictures end up stuck inside your phone like bugs in a Roach Motel. It's too hard to get them out if you want to print the photos or move them to a PC. So the cameras don't get used much. That will change in the coming year, says Bob Gove of Micron Technology, which makes the imaging chips in most camphones. Cellphone cameras are going to get good enough in 2006 to replace stand-alone digital cameras, Gove predicts. At the same time, companies such as Pictavision are popping up to make it easier to do more with camphone pictures, such as uploading them to the Internet and creating a slide show.

3. [DarkWinter] Google, having acquired Blogspot and Picasa to add to their already illustrious and comprehensive list of services, will finally conquer Wiki after a long and bitter fight involving poison mushrooms and the Association of Communist Wikians. Google will upgrade to God of the Internet and we will be powerless against it. Larry and Sergey will become filthy rich and spend the rest of their days acquiring more companies and living in shameless decadence.

And that's all for the 1st of January, 2006.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! *fireworks* Have a fantastic year ahead! =)