Tribute to Everyone and Everything in Miri, Part 1

Look at me.... while everybody's studying and pouring their all into the coming exams, what am I doing?? Blogging ~.~" Anyway, now that I come to think back, this blog was created 3 years ago when I first step foot in Miri... so... this post is somewhat a tribute to everyone and everything in Miri that has come to be a part of my life, and a re-cap of my life within the past 3 years.

This is gonna be a long post. So sit back and enjoy if you're.... actually planning to read it 0_0 Or you could always come back later with a cup of coffee to read it. ^_^v

You have been warned. Let us begin.

Part I - 3 years of Miri Life

Approximately 2 years and 9 months ago, I step foot into this place. I remember the day I first arrived clear in my mind as if I'd just been dumped here yesterday.

It was a Saturday, 2 weeks before the start of Semester 1 2008. The day was cold, windy, raining... and I remember seeing the sad face of the old bus driver as soon as I came out of the Arrival hall at the airport, holding a piece of paper written "Curtin University" on it. He's no longer here now.... sigh.... maybe his sad faced got the better of him.... =(

With the day being so cold, we all rushed on board the bus to take shelter, just to realize we were on a much colder refrigerator, freezer box more exacly.... being shipped 30km North to one of the most God forsaken towns in Malaysia.

For my first semester there, I chose 2nd worst (oh, nono... no... there's still worse) possible living environment to live in! The Lakeside Apartment!! Imagine being shipped to a deserted swampland covering a 3 KM radius, with only ONE way IN and OUT of the middle of a place called 'Nowhere'.... .... That can only mean one thing to any person in the right mind.... For a moment there I thought I was going to Prison!!?

If you think I'm bullshitting you. I'm NOT! Seriously.... Yes!... No!, just LOOK!

To the left is your airport, the middle the town area... though it still needs improvement, but at the moment... who cares? Coz we've got God knows where to your FAR right!

See??? It's like the most nonstrategic place to be dumped in. Much worse if it's a windy, cloudy, rainy dark day. And as if things could go badder.... the uni was literally a GRAVE the day I arrived.... the only soul I met, and talked to, on that Saturday, was the dorm officer showing me my room. I remember the guy looking slightly uneasy at the look of the empty dorms..... it's like when you watch those horror movies where something suddenly opens one of the doors and pounces at you.

The hostel worker opened the door to my room... "This is your room... ". I walked in.... inspecting the room with nothing to inspect in it.... there was just a floor, 2 walls, a window, a ceiling.... ah, well, and a bed without sheets, chair that creaks, table with moulds, and... an empty wardrobe..... hmm... I guess they wouldn't have filled the wardrobe with clothes would they....

"Check that everything is in place, and fill in the form over there." he said, pointing at a piece of paper on the table..... "What's there to bloody check???" I thought..... then he said "If there's nothing more I'll be off now~", and BEFORE I could even think of anything to ask, or even say 'Umm....', I turned my back to see him scurrying off down the staircase at the far end of the hallway............

So just to remind you. I was now in the middle of a swampland.... in the middle of nowhere. I even had to check my phone to see if there was a signal =.=".... to reassure myself I was still on earth.

 Image credit to Google Earth

Can you just bloody look at the patch GREEN all around!??  Yes! In case you're still wondering...... That IS Curtin University Sarawak. And look at the picture, barely HALF of the picture is in proper view from a satellite photo. Now you know what I'm talking about....

After days of settling down.... and finally understanding how the word "Home Sweet Home" came into being.... you think that the worst is over. Far from it.

For the first week of uni.... we learn how to Decipher Mad Max's Timetable schedule

Those of you in Curtin Miri, but came later than me.... here's a Review of what our Timetable looked like during my first year here.

So.... I'll let you in on something.... That, is ONLY the FIRST PAGE.... MONDAY, out of 5 pages of timetable.... and this isn't even a FULL page.... it's cropped to only about 2/3rd of the whole page, because if I included the whole page, all you'd be seeing is patches of colourful design that would make it into your collection of High Resolution 24 inch widescreen monitor wallpapers.

How I managed to find my classes was a miracle by its own. Thank God (and Curtin) they changed the timetable to a much more clever and humane method the very next sem. Oh, and did I mention that the timetable changes nearly EVERY WEEK??? means we have to 'decrypt' that colourful wallpaper everytime a new Monday comes along.


And then....

2 weeks into the sem. You realize you have a room mate that wakes after hearing the alarm, just to shut it off, just to go back to sleep, and wake up later not realizing he's waken up before. In fact, living with a room mate who has classes EARLIER than your own kinda gets on your nerves.... especially if you've been watching David Letterman's Late Night show the night before.... but of course we don't have that here.... but who EVER does wanna leave the bed at 7am in the morning?? Not me...?

So on a regular schedule, I turned into his alarm clock.... I woke up to HIS alarm, to wake HIM up.... and go back to sleep. And I guess he has someone to thank for that, hmph!

Then.... in KK, I "Lived to EAT", but in Miri, I "Eat to LIVE"... During the first month here in Miri... I starved every night... wondering what to eat. And living in that hell-hole in the middle of nowhere just meant that even if we called the 1-300-88-2525 Pizza delivery, they wouldn't even ACCEPT your order BECAUSE YOU WERE TOO FAR!!

If I didn't watch National Geographic, I wouldn't have known about so many animals and insects in this world. But then.... National Geographic didn't tell me about the tonnes of Mosquitoes in Miri!!! For the first 2 months in Miri, we had to learn to,

1. Dodge mosquitoes.
2. Go home before 6 pm to avoid being on the Mosquito's buffet menu.
3. Learn not to open your mouth when you ride a bike at night, or else you'll be having mosquito buffet, freshly served live mosquitoes, straight to your mouth.
4. The last and most important lesson. "Ridsect is your Friend"

A little re-cap for those of you who haven't read my previous blog posts before:

My hands looked like balloon hands from slapping so many of these

The tonnes of Vampire mossies killed within a sweep of our friendly neighbourhood weapon - Ridsect.

Ah... you can enlarge the photo if you think you can'see enough of those tiny buggers, in fact
I challenge you to count all of them =)

Don't think I need to explain more about the mosquitoes.... or you could go here to see my previous posts.

Soon though... the fast forward button starts kicking in.... and everything just flies past.... soon, you're looking at exams....

Exam in High school is one thing. In fact, I nearly forgot how exams in high school was like, until I read this previous post of mine.... which reminded me of my naughtiness and stupid acts.

But people in uni take exams SUPER seriously..... in fact, so seriously that I still can't deal with it the way they deal with it till today. Until this very last 2 weeks here... I'm still like "Hey, yo~ waddap waddap~" when I enter the exam hall.... but everyone else looked like Halloween or Ghost festival came early this year.

In fact, I even have such a 'memorable experience' at the library during exam period in my first semester here. Reading it just reminds me that it seems I'm still the same right now.... blogging long and nonsensical posts while everyone is worshiping their textbooks for the upcoming exams.

However.... time flies.... before I knew it, a sem had passed.... and I was in my second semester in this dreadfully mosquito infested place.

I was in luck, I moved out of Lakeside, found a place with my other friends, not too far from the bus stop, and all was good... .... =)

********

For the 2nd sem in Curtin, I did quite a lot of stuff. Namely,

1. I took a Commerce subject, Management 100, as my elective. You know when people say Science and Commerce totally don't mix??? Trust me, Believe them;
2. Then I joined CV! (That's Curtin Volunteers for any of you thinking it's "Curriculum Vitae"... you can't JOIN a Curriculum Vitae anyway ~.~");
3. I witnessed Boulevard mall throw a panic event where you get to see people running, no kidding, RUNNING~!! down the "UP" elevator;
4. We had a Steamboat dinner~!! For mooncake festival, and other fun stuff;
5.  I joined the John Curtin Weekend for the first time, had a bone jolting better than Ogawa massage 6 hour road trip into one of Sarawak's long houses, where if suddenly the Tribe leader decided you looked juicy for supper, you had no where to run to;

And among these I enjoyed the JCW trip the most... Even though sitting in a Hi-Lux cruising across moon-crater roads at 100km/h doesn't help keep the Mc. D you ate that afternoon in your stomach; But the experience I had over there, with the people, the nature, the rivers, the waterfalls.... after witnessing all that, all is forgiven. LOL~

Those were among the more intriguing things that happened throughout the second sem, and since I didn't wanna bore you with tonnes of words.... yea.... that's about it for 2nd sem.

********

3 months of holiday free-flowed like water into the desert sands..... gone in no time.

And by February 2009, I was back in Nowhere land. As life in miri went by, life there started to feel.... 'normal'.... or at least I thought so....

By my third semester, most of the things to be explored in miri had been explored; things unseen had been seen. With my camera now though.... I'm happy that I actually managed to 'document' more of the things that happen now.... like this one....

was the "Attack of the Clowns" on Curtin Open Day, 4th of April 2009

But there's always ONE THING in miri that will NEVER go away. And that is, Boredom.

If you get bored back at home, Fine~, you turn on the TV, go out with friends, go to the beach, throw a party, but in Miri?? Boy oh boy, without knowing many people, and having only a pair of Legs as transportation, we can't go around jolly-ing while exams are around the corner can we??

So, out of all the boredom we can get in miri, I decided to learn something new~ Frisbee~!! For all you know, frisbee was a game Dogs played. But I found out that I was wrong about that.

Then as exams are approaching, stress + boredom, makes wonders happen.

 

And this, was the product of "Stress + Boredom + a housemate suffering from (stress + boredom)"..... we did 2 clips in fact..... another one which you could view here, if you bothered to.

Before I had time to make a 3rd one.... the 3rd sem was officially over. And the crazy ex-classmate + housemate + coursemate + "brother" who had been with me for 1 and a half years was transferring to Perth. And I don't think anyone else would be as crazy as her to do such silly things with me anymore.

********

4th Sem arrived. With my best mate flown 3,744 km away to Perth, and her fun roomie moving out as well, things seemed to be much more boring.... SOOoooo boring that I actually had a whole post dedicated to the feeling of being bored, entitled: "The Definition of Boredom"

So for my 4th Sem, I spent my time conquering game after game of First-Person-Shooters, Strategy and Real-time strategy games, mini-games, text based games, you name it.... and I spent even more of my hours on Movies, animes and stuff to keep my mind off the boredom.

The only new thing that came out of my 4th sem was 'Prom Night'.... which.... although nothing too amazing, I'm just glad I went and managed to get some nice photos like:

One of my favourites for the night, though a bit blurry

********

Semester 1, 2010, Year 3 Sem 1.

This semester was practically MapleStory Semester. From March all the way till June, I was basically Mapling my way through the semester. I updated my blog less, watched less anime and movies, worried about studies less.... all because I was stuck to Maple.

 GBIRD is me.

Yea, the 3 of us are dead in this picture.

We committed suicide for the fun of it =)

 
I don't know why, but although maple is a stupid, childish, and a super-duper time wasting game, filled along with loads of 14 year old's who haven't got a spanking for not using manners properly yet.... but I like this game....

And I also love the stupid times we spend together, just wondering about a virtual game, when we can't meet up in real life to see each other.

And the best part of Maple, is CHIT-CHATTING. You know, if you asked me to choose between chatting in Windows Live Messenger (aka MSN), or Maple, I'll choose maple ^_^ The cute and childish environment filled with Emoticons just make it so much fun to sit down, chill-out, and talk nonsense.

I could write a whole lot about the fun and idiotic things about Maple I'd love to share with you guys, but this post isn't specifically about maple. So, next time maybe.


Once again, I CANNOT cease to emphasize more that Miri is a place Sooooo boring, that... you would lose your mind if you didn't find something to do. And that.... was when you realize you could do things you never knew you could. No, I didn't realize I could fly, I wish I could though..... one day... suddenly realize I had some kind of superpower out of the boredom.....

Ok, back on topic, I just suddenly, out of the blue, learnt to Draw~ even if just a bit.

Yea, I know, the proportions are off and this and that, but hey.... I only drew for like, 2 months? That's when you know.... maybe boredom isn't necessarily so bad after all.

Then.... once again, time flowed like water swirling down the toilet bowl whenever finish your business.... And it was my final Semester.

********

At long last.... I survived all the way to the near-end of this 3 year long stay.

And before I left Miri, once and for all, and never to come back again, I had to do one thing, for sure.... BRUNEI~~!! Nearly every student in Curtin would have had tried having Sushi in Brunei. It's fresh, cheap, a LOT, and is the only thing that's lived up to the word "Delicious" for the 3 years I've been in Miri (but then again the sushi is in Brunei, so I guess Miri doesn't get credit)

One of the dishes.

There's many photos of food, but this ain't a food blog, so go google up sushi photos if you're suddenly craving for it, and don't hold me responsible for making you hungry.

Soon, there was Curtin Open day once again. And this time, there were Kites~!

There were pretty cool kites where my photos don't even describe HALF of what I see.

You really had to BE THERE to see everything in full view.

Then, for the last time in my Uni life, I decided to join the JCW Event once again... Though it wasn't as enjoyable as the first one.... meh... I guess it's still an experience....

I had quite a mad night there.... I still can't quite believe I actually got myself drunk on 'tuak' (local wine) and was chit-chatting nonsense with the elders and senior committee members till 2am in the morning.... they sure love to see their guests drunk eh?

During this last sem, I also managed to round up a couple of guys for some rounds of "Call of Duty" at Miri's Cyber Cafe. Going to the cyber was always fun, but not so when you enter a cyber filled with headphone equipped computers and people all minding their own business.

Coz you see, back in KK.... our cyber cafes had big ass altec lansing speakers that shook literally the whole cafe with 1 or 2 of those, and guess what, we had FIFTY computers, so that's 50 big ass speakers to go with. So whenever we sit down and play, the place is already so deafening that you could scream to your heart's content and no one would even hear you~ And that just makes playing COD so much more war-like.

Then for the past 1 month, I'd been busy on my Final Year Project, on that so-called "Intelligent Surveillance and Automation System". And after a month long worrying and fussing about whatever makes it so 'Intelligent', it finally came to an end 2 days ago, with a presentation to 9 Electrical and Computing Department lecturers.


Presenting to a group of people who has a level of intelligence 5 to 10 times yours makes you suddenly feel so.... insignificant. You think that "Ah... don't worry, its all good.... it's under control, don't sweat it, it's not a big deal..." right up until the moment you're standing before that group of people who knows MORE than what you're talking about..... and then the first greeting you feel like saying for your presentation is  "SSSShhhyt...."

But anyway, it was an experience.... one of the coolest things I experienced within my 3 years here in Miri.

********

Before I could even stop and stare at what I've been doing for the past 3 years, it was all over, well, nearly.... if you wanna put it that way.

After being in Miri for 3 years, you can't help but feel, maybe this place isn't so bad after all, even though, like I said before, it's smack in the middle of Amazon and basically Kingdom of the Insects as far as Malaysia is concerned. Trips downtown cost RM2.50 bus fare, one way only, and that's a 40 minute crawl to the city in the bus.

In fact, I've also done my share of crazy things with my friends here in Miri, and it's a place that's turned from being alien to a sense of belonging. 3 years.... I still can't believe I'm getting so old already....

To sum it all up, that's basically my whole experience in Miri.... the 3 years, the time spent, the time wasted, and everything within, of course, there are things I missed and stuff I couldn't include, but this post is already getting ri-donk-ulously  long.... so, I'll leave it at here.


Nevertheless, my days in Miri are coming to an end, and although I've taken for granted many things here in Miri, like the cheap food, the vast and infinite sky, the unpredictable weather, the laid back environment, and most of all, that feeling of.... Boredom.... I think I'm gonna miss that feeling once I step out into the society and start work.

Ultimately. Miri... isn't that bad of a place once you get to know it.


We'll be parting soon.... very soon.

Final Year Project, Officially Ended

After a month long of bugging myself to finish me and my friend's project, it all finally came to an end yesterday.

Ending in a high tension atmosphere, with 9 Electrical and Computing Department lecturers, and another 10 or so students and friends who actually call themselves friends by parking themselves in an already tense audience, the Finale of this project was a Presentation on what our project was all about.

I believe I'm good at presentations.... at least good enough to get myself through the usual casual presentations to 1 or 2 lecturers plus an audience who knows nothing more than you do.

But in this case, the situation is pretty much opposite. I was presenting to NINE lecturers with a knowledge that far surpassed my own, making whatever knowledge I had compared to theirs seem like a minuscule speck of sand on Tanjung Aru Beach..... and although 1 beach was already enough to compare, there were NINE beaches to boot. Even my cunning and sweet talk wouldn't sway them from their vast experience and knowledge.

The two best lecturers which I looked up to, but feared that they'd be present that very day, Sir Terence Tan and Sir Amaluddin.... I remembered the feeling in my stomach when my friend told me "Gosh, Amaluddin is here". I swore it felt like year 1912 and I was on Titanic when it went down.

This is what the room looked like while our genius Sir Andrew Wong was presenting his Wi-Fi Recon Robot =)

You see... speaking to a group of students, who have NO IDEA what you're talking about, while you're rambling your saliva away on some alien language that makes you seem all high and mighty, ISN'T a problem.... at all!! For all you know, I could say "Hitler was Vegetarian" and they'd go "Oh?", "Umm...", "Ah~".... at most (Which is in fact true, Hitler was vegetarian. Bet half of you didn't know that~ HAH~!)

It BECOMES a problem when the people whom you're talking to, knows EXACTLY what you're talking about, and every single detail you say must be correct, or else you're digging your own grave...... with your mouth.....

But you know, the feeling of presenting something to someone of 'higher rank' than you, kinda makes you feel like.... 'Woo.... this is important'.... and you get a feeling of satisfaction when you're done with it.

 

That morning, I was thinking of saying "Good Morning, Ladies and Gentleman"... when I realized the Ladies weren't at all present and it was all the males in the room. And according to my experience, even the 'ladies' whom are within my field of studies are all pretty 'Man'. Just saying~

Somehow.... we managed to rumble our way through the whole presentation. With more than half of the words that came out from my mouth actually being 'made up' ON the SPOT, it turned out much better and under control than the days I spent presenting to my mom. Overall... I just have to say, it surely is an experience....

As soon as the presentation was over, I felt as if...."Fooooooh~.......... It's OVER~" It felt even more relieving than finishing an exam!!

Seconds later, I realized, we still have exams to take.... and I was dragged back down to earth from my half dazed state from finally finishing the project.

All the best to everyone else out there, studying for their exams.

Whatever you're doing, don't force yourself and just make sure you're happy~

So long, till my next update.

Waiting for the End

Waiting for the End reminds me of the song by Linkin Park.... hmm... not a bad song though =) I kinda like it.

Anyway, life as I know it is coming to an end. I still can't quite accept the fact that I've finished classes in uni. I mean.... THREE YEARS~!!.... just flew by... before I could even say "What the *tut*~"

One of the good things in Miri, is it's sky

My days in Miri are numbered now... I don't know whether I should feel happy, or sad. The good thing is, KK's Sang Nyuk Mian and Bak Kut Teh is always waiting for me back home; the bad thing is... ...

... ... maybe there isn't a bad thing after all.

But I'm definitely gonna miss Miri, even though it's practically a boring, dull, hot, hazy, deserted, abandoned, far from town, has overpriced supermarkets, 'imported' fish from Sabah, lousy food that your Kakak could cook better, full of vampire mosquitoes in the evening, and over-populated by zombie dogs at night....

Gosh... I just made Miri sound like the last place mankind should ever exist in. But hell... whatever, it's pretty much the truth ^_^

Hmm... there's a lot more I wanna say, but time won't let me at the moment. Coz I'm rushing a 50 page documentation on my Final Year Project, which.... I'm sure the lecturer would be flippin through 3 pages at the time saying "Good... good.... ", and then giving me 30 out of 40 marks before even reading the hidden "Note to lecturer: You look good today" hidden in between one of the lines of programming code.

I should be writing a full and filling post sometime soon though, as a 'Tribute' to Miri =)

When I have the time to do so.

Till then.

The Last Free Week

Having been in Curtin Miri for the past 2 1/2 years... I just had my last free week ever in Uni life. Never will there ever be another free week for me again. (Unless I somehow get a job like... a school teacher??)

But even though I planned on actually enjoying my free week, things don't always go as planned. This free week turned into more like a stressful disaster of plans un-planning themselves and unplanned plans taking over.... like...

• some guy staying over and taking up half my bed, thus messing up my sleeping time;
• or 4 hour dinner sessions that consists of dinner topics that revolved somewhere in between 'SAW' and 'Hostel';
• or playing card games such as 'Bullshit' with people who don't even bullshit;
• Left 4 Dead and COD till 1am in the morning;
• Counter-Strike till 4am in the morning!
• spending 40 Brunei bucks on a day trip to Brunei;
• going downtown looking for something that I didn't manage to buy;
• and I just got a new game (the game isn't new) called 'BioShock', an award winning game in 2007, which scored no lower than 9.0 in ALL reviews;
• drawing anime characters from random animes;
• random photoshoots during what supposedly was my naptime;
• .... ....
• worrying about my assignments and final year project....
• yes, worrying, but not doing anything.... sigh...
• ... ...
• and so on and so forth...

But of all the stuff I did, there are 3 kinds of things, that when I do, I forget about everything else in the world, I leave all my worries behind, I stop worrying about time, food, work, everything else... and just put my all into what I'm doing in front of me. And doing those things, are the things I enjoyed doing most this free week.

Number 1, Games. I'd been playing games ever since I knew how to. And I never get bored of it. There's always new games anyway if I get bored of the old one. And right now, I'm playing this thing called "BioShock", I believe I mentioned it above... but still I'm gonna give it a quick run-through.

BioShock, released in 2007, leaped to the top of the list of First Person Shooter games in that year, I don't know where it holds out now, but I know its still bloody popular.

Anyway, the story is about a city built Underwater, called "Rapture". However, being submerged underwater, something went wrong, and soon, the whole city went to hell.

I haven't finished the game though.... in fact, I'm maybe just like... 5~10% into it... because it's a LONG game and it's toOoOo effin heart thumping to rush through it all at once.

The theme of the game is dark and gloomy, and every dark corner out there... you're gonna think something is watching you from there.

Then we have this Big Daddy and that cute Little Sister beside him, which he protects.

And in the game, you have skills like lighting people on fire, with the snap of your fingers! That's like Roy Mustang for you if you know him from FullMetal Alchemist.

Okay, enough for the game.

*********** 

My 2nd entertainment is, Photography.

When I pick up my camera and start shooting something with some inspiration. I forget about everything and just shoot.

Unfortunately though.... my photography isn't enough to help me survive.... so I can't just forget about everything else and go around taking photos.

*************

Lastly, my 3rd form of enjoyment and entertainment, isn't something I knew I could do until 4 months ago.


Drawing

Okay, I'm not that good at it, and I don't practice often. I only draw like.... 1 proper sketch a week or two... coz it takes time, and inspiration for something good to come up.

For now, I tend to draw mostly by reference of photos, pictures, or works of others, replicating it or modifying as I see possible by me =) Because I haven't had the ability to totally create something from nothing yet.

Like this piece:

Took me somewhere around 2 hours to finish... yea... I'm a bit slow at it, but never mind... I don't mind slow, I can enjoy the feeling of just being able to express myself through a pencil. And that's what I love most.

*************

However, free week is coming to an end, and I haven't started on anything solid yet. I have a massive Final Year Project which is sitting around and I'm assuming as if it's gonna build itself by itself when the time is right. I sure hope I am....

Till next time.

Ressurection

Time and again I've planned to update my blog actually, and re-post things that I missed out, stuff that I delayed. But the more I lag behind, the more left out my blog became, because the longer I waited, the more I didn't know what to update about. So, I decided that I'll pick up from where I left off and just update like I usually would, ignoring the fact that I missed out a whole 2 months of updating ^_^


So here I am again, back into blogging.... I hope. As this serves as my own personal record for my life line here on earth, and at the same time for some of you who enjoy reading it to keep yourselves entertained, I will try to continue updating as I used to.


Anyway~.... So I actually wanted to give a more solid update, but because I'm so busy with assignments, works, and games lately, I decided to make it just a simple 'what-am-I-up-to' post.

So.... I have been busy... how busy you say? Well, let's just say busy enough to prevent myself from being bored all day like I used to be. And the root for this -- MapleSEA

Okay.... so I USED to play maple. Yes, a LOT, I could say... to the fact that I was actually the number 2 highest level in class when I was in secondary school. And then I quit because of various reasons which I am lazy to state because I do not think it would interest you.

This.... is me... ^^

.... Last time...

But here I am again back to this childish-2D-side-scrolling-platform and time consuming game. (Curiously, it seems to be the only game that I can get hooked on to for hours.... *besides COD and L4D with friends that is, of course...*)

What's more?? MapleSEA just launched a new job class recently.... recent actually being... 2 days ago =) And it's a Magician class re-named as DragonMaster. The main difference about this job is... you have a cute little dragon hovering beside your character at all times... ^_^

And so... I can say I was one of the enthusiastic players which joined the crowd and created a new character along with everyone else just to have a look at what it was like. It was one of those times when Maple was all of the sudden full of players rushing to do quests and everybody looking like clones, hehe

See the cute little dragons hovering around some characters? ^_^

Game Masters (GM), are like the in-game "Gods". Even they come by once in a while to see how everyone is doing. Honestly speaking, it was the FIRST time I saw a real GM in-game after so many years of playing maple, LOL.

Okay, enough talk on maple. You might be furious at the fact that I said that I'm 'busy' with gaming~ But well, I DO have other things to do also....

I've been busy lately with assignments, assignments, tests, and tests too.


Again and again people have asked me "What course are you taking?", and I reply "BTech." But I always get puzzled faces from that answer. So I tried a different approach. I answer "Computer Systems and Networking," instead.

But you know what?? 90% of the human population's mind cannot process the words 'Computer Systems and Networking' and always equate them into "Information Technology", which, in short, sounds like... "IT". zzz....

Or another common reaction I would get is "Oh~ So you're studying computers~?". "Ah yes, yes... something like that." I just can't be bothered to clarify sometimes, because it just doesn't make things better =) "Hey, actually my computer at home is kinda broken, could you help me take a look at it?"; "Nonono... sorry, the 'computer' I study and your 'computer' isn't the same." =.=" Lame? Well, saves me the trouble ^_^


Actually, the name implies exactly what I'm studying, Computer Systems.... and... Networking.

To give you a brief idea, this is what it's like:

They call it Wireless Networks

Wireless Data Networks 303. We learn about wireless communication, internet, mobile phones, bluetooth, anything wireless. Wireless Pet control commands do not apply. I do not know why there are so many wires in the picture though......

My name is 68HC12

Embedded Systems Engineering 301. In this unit, we learn simple Embedded Systems programming on how to program an embedded system. Embedded Systems are hard programmed hardware such as your microwave control unit, washing machine controlling unit, car engine ECUs, aircons, and used in many other systems.

Haha, that's like two units from this semester. But yea... it gives you a rough idea of what I learn.

So much for Maple, Assignments, Exams, and more~.... I think I gotta get back to doing them.

Will update another time. For now, ciao~

Ways to study before Exam

So what's been going on lately?? Well, I think all of you are clever enough to realise nearly EVERYONE is having exams lately. And that includes me.

Well, I'm gonna be straightforward and tell you guys this. The Worst Enemy for Exams today, is Facebook. Haha, obvious? duh~ I guess it isn't rocket science. I've been hearing so many versions of those so-called "effective ways to study" lectures ever since I stepped into Uni, and the FIRST thing on everybody's version is "NO FACEBOOK".

Unfortunately for me, I seemed to got addicted to it at the wrong time of the year T.T Whilst having an exam the very next day.... I was surfing stalking people's blogs, spaces, and FB photo albums "re-living" my Senior Secondary years =.=

I had 3 days of straight of my life's worsts subjects I've encountered so far.... and my schedule was...


Midnight 1, 4:30AM in the morning:

Stalking FB profiles.... photo albums....

And....

Doing 90 Degree Head Tilt exercises while browsing Madame May Ting's MSN Spaces photo albums (Seriously.... you could've rotated them before uploading them lol).


Day 2, whole night:
Commenting and laughing my ass off at comments in our newly Updated photo album of long lost photos ^^ It's just so nostalgic looking at those funny pictures of our kiddy looks.

And browsing more photo albums such as the one below:
http://cid-fd8ea43a9c64c842.skydrive.live.com/albums.aspx


And finally, Midnight 3, which is tonight:
What am I doing? Blogging at 6AM in the morning.... why am I awake so early in the morning you might ask? Coz I didn't sleep *_* (Well, this time I studied..... a little....)



I seriously wonder whether I can pass my units this sem...

Though I'm really worried for it. But I really can't help but laze around.

A Taste of Halloween

**Blog seeming dull lately? Yea... well, sorry guys. I haven't really had the inspiration to blog lately. I've been busy reading up on photography ~.~ and also sleeping... hmm... my apologies

Never have I known what Halloween was like since I was a child. I'm asian, so what did I expect? Halloween isn't celebrated much in Asian countries, so... yea....

Anyway, on 30th October 2009, the Curtin Arts and Dance Society (not sure whether I got the name right... but whatever...) held a "Halloween Night Festival", and having nothing to do, and friends who were just as 'sakai' as me, we decided to take a peek at what Halloween was all about.

I went with hope of taking some pictures as a keepsake, and brought my camera along. Unfortunately for me, my on-board camera flash was out of order. Which left me with a useless black piece of paperweight dangling from the bright yellow 'nikon' worded strap on my shoulders. So I didn't really manage to take many photos.

However, with some skill and brains, I managed to come up with the idea of "borrowing" other people's flash to get some pictures. And the results were.... some 'graffiti' like photographs ^^

So, as you can see above, that night turned out a BIT more interesting than I expected.

There were people who came in nurse costumes, some looked like some character from Scary Movie... all the way to the "Devil Wears Prada" look walking around in the midst of the crowd.

Before anything else, in case you were wondering what I wore... haha, sorry to say that I just wore plain clothes.

Well, with everyone looking so weird and awful, I have to say that it was quite fun to look straight into someone you see every single day in canteen.... yet wonder "Who the hell is this guy?". Some wore masks; some made their face white 0.0; some looked like they just finish having dinner with the poor T-virus infected zombies; and one even painted his face green like Frankenstein!! (+ the two screws in the head)


Anyway, besides all the horrifying looks in everyone's faces. There was dinner! and performances ^^ Hmm... I guess RM10 for the ticket wasn't too bad after all.

Though most of the performances weren't THAT amazing.... (maybe due to the darkish atmosphere and a sort of..... bad choice of venue for such an event. But in case of liability issues, I won't complain here, hehe....) but overall, there were a few that managed to keep me amazed.

Even though I have NO IDEA whatsoever HOW Halloween is related to Cheerleading.... they managed to put on quite a show (despite me being unable to see anything thanks to the crowd... and the dark atmosphere once again). Reminds me of TTSS cheerleading btw....

Then other than cheerleading... there were a couple of dance performances and also music by some live band. Even our dear Pheobe performed Cha-Cha at such a break-necking pace....... that I didn't manage to take any pictures T.T sob..... sorry Pheobe.

Nevertheless.... besides listening to some heavy metal music that almost made me deaf, the rest of the night was pretty interesting. And the BEST performance of the night of course..... went to this girl below.

Looking at the picture above... you might think she's in for a Singing performance... don't you?

But the fact is, she's a Beat-boxer, this girl above managed to Beat-Box a nearly 10 minute long playlist of one-woman-mouth-band-including-DJ music. I seriously could NOT imagine so much sound coming out from that SINGLE mouth of hers. I even had to stand up and look around in case they hid a full band behind one of the walls.... but I can tell you for certain, the full range of drums, guitar, vocals, vocal effects, and even dj-ed records came purely from that one woman standing in front of everyone.

I've heard and seen Beat-Boxers on TV and talent shows like American Idol. But never LIVE.... And she really blew me away that night.

Before the night ended. Of course, they had to give out their "Best Costume Award" to someone. And above are the top 10 nominees. From right to left, we have...... a Statue of Liberty =.-....; a Fairy; an Angel; Zombie 1; some random Cowboy 0.o (I wonder how he got up there); our friendly neighbourhood Sweeney Tod; some undead Zombie nurse....; Zombie 2; and lastly Luna the Moonbunny ^^

**I forgot who won. So....

Well, and that's about all that happened on 30th October besides me sleeping. It's a bit late for it now but anyway....

~ !!~Happy Halloween~!! ~

Curtin Prom Night 09'

It's been nearly 2 weeks since my last update.... Sorry if I kept anyone waiting, but I was pretty busy lately, with studies, assignments, and also a sudden change in a couple of plans...

And so..... I was busy all week last week, up to the very 3AM on Sunday. To cut the long story short, I had 3 assignments due last friday, and after finally struggling my way out of that, next came 2 events back to back. "Prom Night", and the our beloved "Mooncake Festival" ^^


First things first. Prom Night.

Since secondary school, I heard the term "Prom Night".... from movies, dramas, highschool musicals.... and all kinds of funky teenage movies. I always wondered what they did in prom night besides get to know each other, eat eat, dance dance, drink drink, and so on.... .... so THIS year, I attended the ever-so-mysterious-to-me "Prom Night"

This year's theme for prom night was "Stars of Romance". (whatever that means...) The ticket itself cost a freakin RM50, which I would rather pour into my investment of another camera lens, stacked on top of the fact that my whole ring of friends weren't going.... so, Oh Well.... I decided not to go.


However, opportunities present themselves in the weirdest way. Within the next few days, I received the opportunity to attend the prom night, for FREE!! ^^ But of course.... there was a catch...... I went..... as a photographer..... 'no food, just shoot'. Well, anyway, I've been doing these kind of 'backstage' work ever since I learnt how to do them, so I accepted, just for the fun of it.


Prom Night is the time when all the girls and guys make an extra effort to make themselves.... "Stand out of the Crowd", or, to some extent.... "Electrify others".

For the guys, all the blazers and coats suddenly fly in, the dusty leather shoes get polished, and the tangled neckties get ironed, and all the 4 lettered words are nowhere to be heard.... the girls, come in dresses, wear sparkles, earrings, their bling-bling, make up, Do their HairDo, Talk the Talk, and Walk the Walk.


Some even come with a pre-planned Colour theme.

For a formal dinner like this.... I guess it's nothing less to be expected, haha. After the arrivals of all our ladies and gentlemen. The next thing, of course, is to proceed to dinner =)


35 tables, 10 persons per table, 350 in total.

With everyone seated at their place... and hearing each other's growling stomachs, Dinner is Served!!

Oops.... but before that.... of course, there was the common "Opening Ceremony" and Speech from the Dean. So they'll just have to wait patiently for the food to cook.

We had 4 photographers that day.... and here's my pal. No, that's not me. I don't own a flash unit yet.

Being a paparazzi on scene isn't something simple.... It's like holding a gun, that doesn't kill.... yet everybody's scared of you (why!?? coz I can shoot you!?), and then, to make things more complicated.... our dear Waiters and Waitresses have to bustle around the place at full throttle, and literally whispering 'excuse me' behind your back thinking you have some kind of subsonic ears or phsycic sense to realise their presence when we're trying to aim for that 'Once-in-a-lifetime' moment.

There was a musical violin orchestra playing as people ate their dinner, a performance from the "Curtin Idol" group of 3 girls, and other stuff that I couldn't remember.

Soon after dinner though.... everybody's compact digicams suddenly popped out of their tiny wallets and all the camwhoring started. Then I realised there was no need for us photographers anymore = (


I was wondering whether the night was gonna end soon. Until all of the sudden, the lights dimmed, and the curtains opened...... revealing...


The Dance Floor.

(Unfortunately I didn't upload any pictures of it)


Firstly, was the good old ballroom dancing for the couples. However, that one didn't last long. Not more than 15 minutes after the curtains fell, the music changed, the spotlights changed, and the initally romantic setting turned into a Full Blown Clubbing Scene!

People crowded around, the ladies took of their high heels, the men took of their coats, and the dance party began!

Some people whom looked like they studied the dictionary in campus, literally danced their feet off that night.

It was one wild night for most people.... and it was definitely a fun scene to see.


Sometimes though.... I can all but say 'Love is In the Air':

Later that night.... I guess I found out why they named it "Stars of Romance"

*** E N D ***

想要发疯的感觉。

Forgive the chinese title, because I couldn't think of any nice way to put it in english, hehe.

The heat of the mid day sun, the piling up of assignments and exams, plus the drowsiness of being half asleep, and so many things going on in my mind, just makes me wanna go crazy. There's been so many times I wish I could just change my course to another that was more suited for me, or something that I'd enjoy more, but that just isn't the option available for me.

I don't know about other people, I don't know about other subjects, but sometimes I get the feeling that my subject is like the effin hardest subject someone could possibly come up with. There's been countless times when I just don't bloody KNOW what the hell I'm reading looking at! Imagine looking at a page filled with gibberish! (gibberish means random words/language that makes no sense at all for those of you who didn't know what it is) If you can't imagine that, just imagine going to a Thai or Tamil website and try reading a page from there. That's the feeling I get when I look at my labs and practical notes.

Anyway... at least today's over, I managed to study (somehow....) and just decided to update my blog with something 'Normal' since the last few posts have been anything BUT normal.


So what have I been up to recently?

Firstly, with regards to the previous post. I decided that..... I will perform and continue with magic, until another hurdle comes along and I fall flat. With that being said, magic needs practice ^.^ and I've been kinda held up between Uni assignments, studies, and playing with my poker cards. But nevertheless, it certainly feels good being able to hold those cards once again and do all those fancy stuff with them.

Then after having my camera sitting around doing nothing for some time, this Saturday I went for a potrait shooting session with Curtin's Photography Club @ AppleBox Pictures (both of them merged into.... I dunno what they call themselves now). I'd love to upload the pictures I took, but as they are not pictures of Me but some 'hired' models, I think I don't really have the right to distribute the pictures, especially not online. Sorry ^.^


Well, have an exam coming up tomorrow. So long....


p/s: Is the post a little TOoo normal?

Where am I?

**Goes well with this song, load song 1st, then listen and read ^_^**




Stepping out of the door today as the first day of my 4th sem in Miri, things began with a slightly different feeling to it. Everything seemed.... like it wasn't quite there yet. The road that led to the everyday bus stop I used to take seemed so quiet... And just waiting for the bus seemed long enough to make me tired.


The canteen that I ate at every morning while here for 2 years seemed so unfamiliar altogether. I couldn't decide what to eat; I couldn't decide where to sit; I couldn't see where I was going, where I should go, what I should do; because everything I did wouldn't make me feel any better.


I went to the atm to check my balance: I went to check the notice boards for new notices; I went to the bookshop to check the book prices; I went to the computer labs for the aircon; I went to the toilet for no reason whatsoever. Yet, the places I could go to were limited...


Sitting in such a crowd, yet feeling like there was no one else, it was something so frightening, something that made me feel so frighteningly alone, and it was so much more than what's seen on the outside.

30 minutes I spent with a plate of full moon toast felt like a never ending plate of food. Taking out my phone and placing it on the table only seemed to make things look slightly better, but my relief ended when the canteen worker had to take away my one and only empty plate on my table... leaving me... .... empty...


Everything felt so unreal.... like it couldn't be happening.... like it shouldn't be happening.


Where am I? Why am I here?



As a friend, I have to admit that,

I miss you.
Hope you're doing fine out there without me.

FRISBEE!!

It seems like a century since my last post.... sorry for that because somehow I got caught up somewhere between TONNES of games and TONNES of studies..... oh, and a couple of movies too.... so, I'll try to get back to posting more often, haha, IF possible


Okay... about Frisbee....





So I believe I'm not the only person whom will have THIS come to mind.

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Well, I'll admit that all these while, that was my opinion on frisbee.... You, and your favourite dog.... by the beach, bonding with each other by a game of throw and catch...... but *Deet DEET* boy I was WRONG.

After actually trying out frisbee for my very first time last week, I found out that........ it was more than just a game played by dogs.

Instead turned out more fun than I thought....




Well, I can't convey much through these pictures.... so the best is for you to try it out yourself, and find out whether you like it....


Either way, I think the next time we have our class trip or something, we could very well add this game to our arsenal of games, wahahaha.

Just a short update for now, nothing much coming up here...... so....... so long, haha.