Hate Mail

Dear Lecturer,

I understand that lately, you've been under a lot of pressure, and that this is probably the reason why you often snap at me or shoot sarky retorts at my questions in class. However, I'd highly recommend that you pop a bunch of pills and pull that stick out of your you-know-where before I lose it and shove my fist so far down your throat I'd be holding your liver.

Granted, my snide remarks about your inability to get a girlfriend (or is it boyfriend?) may have jilted you initially, but understand that as a student, I'm prone to mistakes. You on the other hand, you 28-year-old jackass, ought to snap out of it - especially since I've been trying extra hard to be nice to you these past weeks.

And before you go off about how "some people are being fake because I have to write your testimonial", I'd like to point out that as a mature individual (which is more than I can say for you), I have no need to kiss up. I'm pretty damn secure in my university placement, thank you very much. If it's so hard to sign a piece of paper indicating I do all your work -which I do, unlike some of your faved students- then don't. I'll get someone else to then. Because if you think I spent all this while kissing up to solely you, you are sadly mistaken.

Have a great holiday!

XOXO,
Nickolai

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Ok, I didn't actually hit 'Send' on that email and throw my fists up in the air triumphantly after; I decided that the fictional audience of this blog would enjoy my ranting more. (Don't lie..) Somehow, the urge to tell said lecturer off was overshadowed by the fear of being expelled. I'll admit it, it's cowardly. And if being assertive is beyond me, I'll just have to settle for being bitchy.

Alive & Kicking

I'm currently facing my semester finals with two papers already completed but four more stacks of dead plant to mentally devour. It's excruciating. The end of this exam period will be comparable to the end of SPM, and boy is that end taking it's time to get here.

Until that end comes, I'm not sure I can give you guys a real post. And yes, I know a proper post is a long time coming from me, which is why i posted THIS. It's a nifty reminder to you guys (The Rojak Clan) that I still remember our blog's existence and that I will be making an effort to soon post something properly thought up and constructed, as oppose to the excuse-of-a-post this is.

With that ending note I'd just like to post one rhetorical, not-meant-for-your-answering, heart-venting question...

WHY DO THE SINGAPOREANS GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO CATCH MY FAVOURITE AUTHOR NEIL GAIMAN LIVE IN ACTION IN THEIR COUNTRY WHILST I'M STUCK HERE STARING ENVIOUSLY AT THEIR WEB PAGE???

http://www.singaporewritersfestival.com/

And I finally sat down long enough at the computer

It has been the craziest of weeks that classes (hmmmm..... is that important or what?) seemed rather anti-climatic.


And here's something you guys are dying to see...

My room! I love the duvet cover. And the desk further confirms my mother's hypotheses that flat surfaces are mess magnets in Yihui's space.

And this is the view from my room.



It isn't Charles River and Boston view (which btw is gorgeous) but Simmons Hall make a good substitute I would say. In addition to that there is another view




Footballers in very tight clothing. Quote someone I can't remember 'It's like rugby except they just ram into each other. It's dumb."



And I put that all up because I just had to show my incredibly cute duvet cover.



If there's any time to visit MIT, Orientation and Rush week would be the best time ever. Where else can you ride on stuff like these:

That's a hovercraft. I went on that and levitated like a buddha for 2min.


And THAT is an East Campus roller coaster! Didn't go on this one despite many reassurances that it is perfectly safe by an East Campus resident. The cart flew into the air during the test run and they added mattresses at the end to stop that. But it is still the coolest thing ever! There was water flowing down the side that drips according to the rhythm of the music played for the dance floor. It's a pure gravity ride by the way, no hydraulics or anything. :D

This sign contributed to my not going on the ride too.

No one died this year either.


To add to that, free food was everywhere for about 2 weeks. And I tried liquid nitrogen ice cream for the first time! (Home made ice cream where they pour liquid nitrogen into flavoured creamy milk and this mist would surround the ice cream like in a potions lesson at Hogwarts. Awesome) There were many other firsts: toilet paper dodgeball (haha the whole lounge was covered in toilet paper when we were done), midnight tours (email me if you want the details to that event.. That's a secret :D), watched an improv, involved in making a short film that's on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuirS-yFD1A), watched the best talent show I've ever seen in the Freshman Arts Program, ate 17 scoops of ice cream in 13min with 4 others, race go karting at 45 miles/hour, dance party on a boat cruise...

The last three were rush events where fraternities hold awesome events like that to get the best guys to attend and join their frats as well as girls to attract more guys to come. Which is where I get to go. :D They spend about 1/2 a million within a week and there were so many incredible events that it was so hard to pick and choose. Six Flags (theme park), or Go Kart or Paintball? Steak & Lobster dinner or BBQ? Red Sox Game? Incredibly difficult questions usually answered by 'how near are we to this frat house?'.

It's coming to an end now though. As the frat parties got more private, the roller coaster taken down piece by piece, upperclassmen filed onto campus, we're moving on.

Welcome to Hell! (It really is written on the ground halfway to MIT from Harvard Bridge: Halfway to Hell.) There's a story too for why Harvard Bridge is named Harvard despite it's vicinity to MIT. But that'd have to wait. :D

Yihui out!

From the Back of Accounting Class.. to My Bedroom In Home Sweet Subang Jaya.

As I write this, I sit at the back of my accounts class whilst the lecturer drones on about suspense accounts, a terrible misnomer for a topic so boring I'd rather be watching the moss now forming on my bathroom wall grow. Evidently, I need a little something fresh to get me though the day - and perhaps a little cleaning detergent for the bathroom wall.

So meanwhile, as I tick the seconds down to the weekend, here's a little update of the happenings in Hartamas:

Yesterday, I was interviewed to join the Student Council. I'd forgotten how much fun being interviewed...

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That was how far I got before my accounts lecturer (Mr. Pathman) snapped at me for using my handphone in class.. And now, I'm home! In overcrowded, polluted, traffic-crazy, H1N1-positive USJ, Subang Jaya. I miss this place so much!

Here's me continuing the epic tale of scholared life in Sri Hartamas. I'm expecting a huge offer to write my memoir any day now. And maybe a nice cover picture to go with it! I'm thinking a headshot as my abs aren't looking too good given the problem with my current workout plan (it doesn't exist and therein lies the problem).

In any case, I got into the Student Council. It's been alright thus far, but although the group is small, I feel a little like an outsider because everyone else seems to know each other and has so much in common. It's what I like to call the 'Odd-one-out Syndrome'.


See what I mean? I feel like Hitler in the Cloned Sisters of Mother Theresa convent..

Anyhoo, last week I drove my aunt, mom and cousins to Mid Valley. It was insanely crowded despite the fact that our country is supposedly in the midst of the swine flu pandemic. But while holding my breath to ensure I breathe in as little of the potentially infected air as I can, I managed to shop a little. Bought a few books; I'm currently reading "Here's What We'll Say" by Reichen Lehmkuhl and although Sarah's already lent it to me, I wanted (and bought) a copy of the "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.


It's awesome and I'd like to reread it sometime soon; perhaps when I reduce the heaps of homework on my desk to a smaller, more managable pile..

Old seasons

My T8 lecturer likes to inflict pain on his students.

ROF = Ruler on Finger.

And he has this evil smile when he does it.

We had a class test yesterday. Out of 60+ students, less than 10 people passed (including me!). There would be a longgg ROF session next class. Lol.

The lowest mark was 7%.. which means that person will get 43 ROFs.. Poor guy.

A random conversation with ex-lecturer :
Mr Jack : Hey!
Me : Hellooo, I am late for class!
Mr Jack : Aren't you always late for class?
Me : T__T what?? since when I was late for your class..?
Mr Jack : But you always ponteng my class.

Lol.. damn zha dou!

Currently sick.. This morning, woke up.. then...
Dad : How are you?
Me : I th.... *crap. no voice!*

Btw, it's not only the sick season now.. but also the coupling and break up season! =P

Kuala Selangor Trip..

(I'm back! My 2nd post and I'm still praying I won't stop updating..)

On Wednesday,as I previously mentioned,I went for a half-day trip to Kuala Selangor with the Korean girls who came to INTI SJ. We left Subang at about 4.15 p.m. and first stop was Bukit Melawati where we could see the Strait of Malacca and most of Kuala Selangor. There's also a colony of Silverleaf monkeys living on this hill. They're very tame and,at least in my opinion,cute.. We fed them nuts which we bought before we went up the hill. And to my surpsrise,the Korean girls were braver than I thoguht. They seemed really excited while feeding the monkeys and one of them actually told me she was suprise how in Malaysia we have monkeys hanging around at roadsides and how in Korea they can only see monkeys at the zoo.









After done playing with our long lost cousins,we went to the fishing village located along the river to have our dinner at one of the many seafood restaurants located there. The food was pretty good and the view was awesome. Once we filled ourselves up,the bus took us all to Kampung Kuantan for a trip along the river to look at fireflies. It was my first and I was totally awed. However,I was told that taking a picture of the trees litted by fireflies at night is utterly useless. So I didn't,though I did try.. It was an amazing sight to behold,seriously. The trees looked as if they were lit with Christmas lights. And the trip ended there. The bus then took us back to Subang.

Life is a maze & love is a riddle ~

I went to college . . .

to learn how to eat twisties without dirtying my fingers.

use chopsticks!

Take picture with the secondary camera!
The person that came out with that idea (front camera)
is a genius la..
Can use it to replace a mirror. Hehe :)

Oh btw, my moral studies lecturer is another version of Cik Lai! Lols.

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Anyway.. life's great! I won't be blogging anytime soon though, exams coming soon. Time to switch on the nerd mode! (:

Tripping Down Memory Lane

Two weeks in and I'm still struggling to keep up with the fast paced momentum of things here in Sri Hartamas. And by fast paced I'm not referring to the speeding Lexus that nearly ran me down as I crossed the road to college this morning, or how quickly the money in my wallet seems to evaporate these days.

I'm talking about work. Both the home- and house- variety. The tall piles of homework which I'm doing my best to enjoy and the immense amount of cleaning that I never even knew existed.

In the last two weeks, I've discovered that dirty dished don't magically do themselves, fried chicken rarely materialises on the dinner table, clothes almost never pick themselves up, and that after you withdraw money, viewing the diminishing balance in your bank account gets increasingly depressing.

Yes, life lessons all around for me.

But things aren't all bad. Today, I debated! And for those brief 6 minutes, the world was right again.

Unfortunately, feelings of nostalgia leave an aftertaste of longing. Post debate, I began to miss Lily and Atreyi (and Ken Ming and Zekey and Aiman!) more than ever. The 2008 debates were some of the most amazing experiences of my life.

But I have to live in the now; and my 'now' requires me to look forward and prosper. So I joined the TCSH (Taylor's College Sri Hartamas) debate club. Compared to Sunway's debate club, it's a relatively small family, but it's nice to be back in familiar territory again.

And so, with my mantra of clouds and lemonade, I'm soldiering on. =)