Chinese New Year = ?

Today is Sunday (29th January 2006), yes, it's the first day for Chinese New Year celebration... most of my friends were pretty excited about this festival...According to them, it's a day for the family members to gather together, having great time, eating wholesome dishes... doing stuff like that. I guess they are having close ties with the relatives, that's why they enjoy having the celebration, but kind of like getting more and more 'hateful' toward this festival.

I don't know why. But I couldn't feel it. The new year is not here. Pathetic, isn't it? Nothing special about Chinese New Year, nothing fun. Right now, just right behind me, a group of people are playing poker...yes, gambling...woo... Chinese people love to gamble. It has been a kind of culture for this ethic group since the twilight of the history. But, is that a good practice? I am wondering??!!

Besides, not many relatives gather at my grandpa's house today. Some of them are late, perhaps, or don't feel like coming due to their personal reasons? This maybe due to the discordances or doubts they carry toward each other. Those who are rich may not be that willing to mix with those who are poor, I suppose... some of them do not speak with one another...it's kinda embaressing to face someone whom you had grudges with, right? That's why, few of them are here...

In fact, as the time goes by, many things in our life is changing. Remeber when you were young? Well, whenever I recall back my childhood years, I could feel the extreme opposite sensation. I used to be a kid who was looking forward to the new year celebration... I wasn't looking for the red packet, clothing or what, just a sweet candy could cheer me up...the moments I shared with my cousins were truly amazing...but, they all remain as memories. All of us are growing, so do my cousins. All of us are either studying or working at different locations, there's seem like a big gap between us. Whenever I try to shorten the distance, I find it hard, really. *sigh* that's not only merely my problem.. I think times can change everything... including relationships. it's ok. Urbanization had caused 'evolution' in every aspects.

Anyway, the only thing I am happy with is the one week holiday. How good would that be if it is merely a holiday, without any festival or celebration. Maybe you will think that I am a freak... I guess I am, who on this earth would spend time online at the first day of the new year celebration...Yes, a lonely freak like me.. :P hahaha... it's ok... maybe my friends are going to visit me... maybe...I am not sure. Their visits might be able to make some difference.. :P hahah.. anyway, I didn't see any difference last year after their visits !! :<

*sigh*. I am bored. I hate Chinese New Year...

Chinese New Year = Boredom, stupid relatives and fake faces...

:*$

Freak and Weirdo

In fact, at first, I was thinking of writing something about my good friends or my family members. But, my experience with some people today drives me to produce this post, which is basically a descriptive piece about humans, but NOT ordinary human beings. One relevant thing I would like to emphasize here is that, there are tonnes of WEIRDO or FREAKS around us if you all ever observe the surrounding gingerly.

Ok, the ball is with me right now so let me start with some weirdoes I have been meeting within my own social circle. Have you all ever notice that there are always a few people around you who love to act like they are very close with you? There seem like some unique ties existing between both of you as he or she would judge you in everything you do and label you as some sort of character with certain type of personalities. The weirdo would even tell others about your characteristics openly as if she can read you like a book. Though, the fact is- “she knew nothing about you and the “so-called” facts about you that made by this person are all produced by her own imagination hailed from her “juicy” mind. Yes, all bullshit…

Hey, Chloe, don’t get misunderstood. Neither do I talking about you nor referring to your post about ‘Darlene’. The post about ‘Darlene’ flattered me but at least 90% of the content is reliable and true. Hehe :8 You got most of facts right, through your years of living with me, ya? :p haha… I am writing about someone else. You would not deny that this type of person does exist in this world, right?

Let’s forget about the weirdo above cause I have more here. :p Did anyone of you hear about ‘stalking girl’ story? Not a girl who is stalked by stranger but a girl who likes to ‘stalk’ on others’ activity. She might not be close to you but the way she interacts with you always pressure you. Once you started to chat with her on certain issue or even just casual amiable chat, she would ask you every single little detail seriously and firmly, yes, just like the way a journalist interview a prominent who has just committed crimes. She would try her best to know everything about you, especially your academic performance, and then she will spread around to others as if doing so can grant her a CGPA of 4.0. What’s the point of doing so? Only God will know.

Other than that, there was one friend of mine who was really queer. She was quite a nice girl at the first time I approached her. She was kind enough to help me in many things while lending me ears for all my complaints and homesickness grudges. Later, after knowing her deeper, I realise that there was something very wrong about her. She was emotional and would suddenly give me cold shoulder. Besides, she had a lot of arguments with her roommate in hostel. The manager of hostel management depicted her as ‘Trouble Maker’ who used to lodge tonnes of complaints regarding her roommate and floor mates. She would yell from her windows if the residents downstairs making noise and would sit on the ground of train or LRT when the seats were not available. The utmost horrible thing was she pasted a lot of ‘horrible’ pictures cut from newspapers against her room’s wall. My other friends who had been to her room claimed that those pictures were ugly, however, to me there were not merely ‘ugly’ but scary. I had that kind of feeling when I accidentally spotted one picture of a yellow twisted face. That’s creepy. Since then, I stayed away from her. I guess she didn’t need me at all, too. Her world was too narrow and only able to fit herself in. I am sure that her personalities were developed due to her complex family background. Parents have immense influence upon the way children think and act, isn’t it?

Anyhow, a weirdo wouldn’t really harm you, but a freak does. I met one bloody psychotic taxi driver when I was having my internship with a local press last year. He was a middle-aged man from PJ. None of you can really imagine what happened inside the taxi. I was safe but the driver freaked me out by telling me all sort of nasty nonsense. He said I have the most charming smile which he ever seen in his entire life and he bore a special feeling toward me. He claimed that there weren’t any distance between us after spending the minutes with me inside the dreadful car. The worst thing was he said he was thinking of marrying me and it has a high possibility for me to be his wife because my relationship with my boyfriend is not stable…EWKKK yes, he said all kinds of rubbish that was spine-chilling. The only thing I had in my mind was ‘raped, killed and sliced’!! Luckily, I was safe…I won’t elaborate on that eerie experience but would like to quote his very last sentence before I got off his stupid taxi.

He said, “Miss, if there is ever a chance for me to meet you again in the future, I will never let you off…” :*#

A truly sickening freak, isn’t it? Freak can kill. Better be careful!!

As a matter of fact, majority of the freaks and weirdo can be found in cyberspace, it’s a hotspot for abnormal humans to gather together. Yes, I am speaking from my own experience. Many people who love chatting with strangers online are freaks who are completely running out of their minds. Er.. Actually, I shouldn’t say so; I am a great ‘chatter’ myself, or perhaps ‘addicted chatter’ as defined by Chloe. Nevertheless, I swear that I am not a psychotic, maybe a bit ‘out of track’, but I am perfectly normal, ok? haha..I don’t know why but I really find it an amazing experience to chat with people from all walks of life, from different part of the world… I have to admit that I met with some fantastic people who are really wonderful, whom I will never ever get to know in real life. Nonetheless, meanwhile, I had encounters with freaks, too.

There were some online users who would throw me weird question and weird statements like: “How would you fight in a competition of wrestling?” “We are enemies, so we should fight with each other in a war.” “I want to marry you, are you thinking of becoming my wife?” during the very first chatting session. :*$ hahaha.. Remarkable isn’t it? All sorts of stupid and unimaginable conversations, not many normal mankinds in this world, right?

I wouldn’t further evaluate on it as the list would go on and go…the conclusion I have to make here is- there is a huge amount of people, who would do all sorts of unexplainable thing that either scare you or irritate you. On the other hand, I realise that majority of the human beings have that type of ‘bizarre’ genes inside their body and I find myself queer too…Opppss..I shall not categorizing or claiming who and who are odd, right? I might be the greatest freak in each and every others’ mind!!?? :p

The Party, Organizer and Vodka

I had a party with my friends in ‘Sea Park’ last week. Basically, I was invited as a guest in the first place but things turned out to be ‘a bit’ different from the nature of a guest. It was an appealing and hilarious experience. Before sharing this anecdote with you all, I have to introduce my pal, who invited me to the party.

She named herself ‘Protocol’ few months ago. Scratching your head now? Ya, me too. According to the explanation of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, ‘Protocol’ carries the meaning of ‘original draft of an agreement between States’ or ‘etiquette as practised on diplomatic occasion’. Don’t ask me why, I am still wondering the main reason for her to name herself this way. What on earth that drives a short girl like her to name herself Protocol? Is it because of the car she drives? Her tanned skin? Or her astonishing body figure? It’s okay. We can put her weird ‘English name’ aside first. :p Ok, Protocol organized a home party. She invited me to HER party as there were not many people involved and she and her housemates needed a person to help them in preparing.

After that, we shopped for the materials in Tesco, which situated in Damansara. All of a sudden, the conversation as below took place:

“Hey, chia, do you know the way to prepare ‘Mah La Guo’ (spicy flavoured steamboat that is famous in Taiwan) or not? None of us know the way of making the soup. We only have a bottle of spicy sauce that was brought from Taiwan. That’s not enough. We must add in something else to make the taste great. Do you know? Can you help?”

My reply was a bit uncertain as I was surprised that none of them know the way to make the soup but yet planning to make it as the core dish. I said, ‘I can ‘try’ to help as my mum is selling all type Malay’s and Indian’s cooking materials for the dishes like: ‘curry’, ‘rendang’, ‘masak kicap’, ‘masak merah’, ‘masak lemak’... but I am not sure if the taste will be great”.

They answered, “ Cincailah, better than nothing. You add in anything you want. It’s ok. We are sure that the taste won’t go too wrong.”

Immediately, I could feel the stress. :P haha. Meanwhile, Protocol was thinking of what to buy for drinks. Then, I suggested alcohol since they were going to have some poker games after eating. (Gambling always comes with Alcohol isn’t it? Though, I was just being cheeky). But, Protocol took it seriously and claimed it to be a great idea. Her only worry was that not all her housemates are able to take pure alcohol.

“Then we mix cocktail lah. What’s so hard about it?” Without any hesitation, I straight away replied her that way, as if I am a professional in cocktail-making. In fact, I only watched others mixed them, before but I myself had never tried before.

Being an alcohol lover and fantastic drinker, Protocol was really in high spirits to hear about it. She gave me the task of preparing the cocktail even after I confessed to her that I had never mixed them myself.

“Cincailah, you just add in whatever you like, I am sure the taste wouldn’t be too queer.” Again, she had her full confidence on me. :&

Next, the story continued in Protocol’s house. Once we reach there, we were busy preparing the vegetables, meats, prawns, eggs and the soup for steamboat. However, at that moment, Protocol told me that, “Chia, I am tired, can I rest for a while upstairs?”

Being a loving and considerate friend, definitely I would allow her to rest. Sadly, she awoke after three hours. Yes, when all the materials are cut, sliced and placed on plates and the living room was overwhelmed by the scent of chilli.

Within the three hours, Protocol’s housemate and I was busying doing all sorts of homemakers’ job in the kitchen. Some more, we did not have enough knives, plates, forks, bowls and stuff like that. Wow! We could feel the pain in our necks. Luckily, after smelling like an oily skunk due to the sweats and oil, I was able to boil the soup successfully with other materials. It was an experiment, but didn’t go wrong. :P after having a good sleep, Protocol approached me with her innocent eyes. She said she was remorseful for her mistake and would do the rest of the job- ‘Take the dishes out and place them on the table’. Hahaha. She looks cute when she is feeling guilty. :p

Lastly, it was the cocktail. Yeah! We bought a bottle Vodka from Tesco, which was 700ml and cost us RM24.99. It consisted of 37% alcohol. Based on the statement of Protocol, it was a brilliant choice because the price was cheap and the percentage of alcohol was high. Hahah.. Obviously, she is very ‘Asoh’.

As I opened the bottle cap, the fragrance occupied my five senses. I was enchanted. I added in almost all of the vodka with some cocktail fruits, mango and lemon juices, until Protocol stopped me. She said it wouldn’t be a wise idea to pour all the wine as the percentage of alcohol is high So, I was left with about 100 ml of Vodka. What should I do? Certainly have a taste of it since the scent was so irresistible. The problem was, after taking the first sip, I couldn’t stop it. Yes, I stored the rest of them in my stomach. :P

Later, when everyone was busying scrambling for the spicy steamboat, I was busying drinking the cocktail as the taste was too wonderful for me. I do not really like steamboat. Maybe things will be different if we are having wintry weather in Malaysia. Anyway, I never find it a great idea to eat hot-water-cooked vegetables or meats under that type of warm temperature. That’s why; my heart was captured by the icy cold cocktail.

The result I gained: Red face +Red eyes +Red skin= Red MoNsTeR. I wasn’t drunk but the skins all over my body was red in colour especially those covered parts as they are the fairest fractions. They are well-protected from sunlight but definitely not wine. :P Besides, I couldn’t sleep for the entire night. I felt myself animated. My body was hot. The alcohol excited my nerves. (Don’t think the other way round, ok?). Whenever I closed my eyes, I felt myself spinning and there were something caught between my throat and stomach. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. At last, I drank water, lots of water and forced myself to puke. :& after vomiting for three times, I felt better. Finally, I could have a nice sleep at 5am.

I would like to apologise to Chloe as I accidentally woke her up with my awful puking sound in the middle of the night. Sorry, I couldn’t help it. :p I learnt an important lesson- ‘never finished up the Vodka all by yourself and stay away from Protocol when she is thinking of ‘organizing’ a party’. :p hehehhe.. Amusing, isn’t it? I was supposed to be a guest, but then ended up carrying the task to take care of the major duty of the party and even demonstrated the way of preparing the soup and cocktail. Haha…in fact, I knew nothing about it. J The party was tiring, but it was fun. A first time experience of being an organizer, fortunately, I had a whale of time with those lovely friends, even though some of them were strangers to me.

What I would like to emphasize here is that, I wasn’t drunk, ok? I was conscious enough to write an e-mail to my friend when holding a glass of cocktail with my left hand. :*$ Can you see it? Mr. Stanhope? I WASN’T drunk. Moreover, the utmost relevant fact is --The party was a decent social gathering for decent people like us. It was a jamboree for friendship-building and relaxation, nothing wild or fishy. Please bear in your mind! :p

Hurray! A great party! Everyone was satisfied with the steamboat and cocktail. I received tonnes of compliments. One of the housemates even claimed that the guy who is going to marry me in the future will be the most fortunate man in this world! J

YaY! Thinking of a party? Maybe I can aid you in organizing! *wink. :p For vodka, cheers!!

WoW (3)

3. Carl

Here’s the greatest tutor when I was having my high school days! He taught me Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language) and I had to attend his class in tuition centre 3 hours per week. Carl was the most well-known BM tutor at that period of time and he wouldn’t simply accept any students without knowing their ability in that language. He used to assure his student that all of us could score an A if we follow what he asked us to do.

Like what I have mentioned before, I love languages, including BM. I aimed to achieve an A1 in the coming SPM examination so I followed all his words and advises. I underwent a ‘devil’ type of training and worshipped him like a God because he was really the best tutor for me at that period of time. His knowledge and skill in essay writing was really marvellous! Finally, after all those hard work, I scored an A1 in BM. I was rejoicing. The first thing I did after taking my result was to call my tutors and thank them deeply. But, for Carl, I would like to thank him personally by showing him my result.

So, the next day, I went to the tuition centre to meet him. It was a hot day and I sweated a lot. My body was sticky but I was really happy thinking of showing my most respectable tutor my result. He was having a class in the tuition centre; I did not want to interrupt him so I waited outside the class for 45 minutes without air-con and fan under the hot temperature just to get him during the short class’s break.

Lastly, I got him with me for about 5 minutes. He remembered me and I proudly show him my result slip while telling him that I scored an A1 in BM.

“Sir, thank you very much. You help me to score an A1 in BM. I am really lucky to have you as my tutor. Thank you soooo much!”

He replied, “Nope, it’s all your hard work. I teach you and you are willing to strive hard for yourself. So how many A’s do you get in SPM? 8, 9 or 10?”

I was shocked. Awkwardly, I told him that I was only able to score 5 As and planning to apply and study in a private college. His response was somewhat irritating as he turned into a cold face after knowing that I was only a 5As achiever.

“Why applying private college? Why not local universities? You can try to apply UTM. UTM will accept 5As achievers, if not then study form six. It is always better to study in local universities!”

I said, “But I am interested in mass communication rather than anything else. I was a science student so I wouldn’t be able to change my major if I were to further my education in local universities.”

His last sentence and action were devastating. He said, “Oh I see.” After that, he just walked away, without even saying a goodbye or looking at me twice.

The story isn’t good because it ended with me walking alone on the street, with my mind that had his last few words replaying, over and over again. I was really too naïve to imagine that he will be overjoyed for a student who scored A1 in his subject and then went back to thank him personally.

After all, he granted me a chance to see through human nature. Ya, it was my fault; I wasn’t a 10 or 11 As scholars, what for thanking him? However, I am still grateful for having him as my tutor. Without him, I guess I won’t be able to get an A1 so easily. There is something that I have wanted to yell at him since years ago:

“Sir, I am not the best achiever, neither do I entering local university nor taking STPM. But, I am doing perfectly fine in my current private university and I will be getting a bachelor degree very soon, at the age of 21!” :P

WoW (2)

2. Betty

She had a great influence on me during my elementary level. Betty was my form teacher when I was in my standard 4, 5 and 6. I am not sure if I should say I like her but she is definitely an influential educator that enables me to grow.

I have a fancy for writing and languages since I was just a kid. Unfortunately, I was in the top class during my primary level. For your information, my primary school is the most prominent school in my little hometown. There have been representatives for all sorts of competitions outside the school and most of the students do well by gaining victory. Yes, I am trying to tell you all that I was one of those representatives, but seriously, nothing glamour.

As a matter of fact, I had been sent for all types of competition in writing, languages, calligraphy and even drawing. I have to admit that I did well most of the time by bringing back trophies but there were times I failed. Certainly, Betty wasn’t happy about it, she specially arranged other representatives and me in a group and asked some other teacher to teach us on Chinese literature, calligraphy and even essay writing during the schooling hours. So, obviously, we couldn’t have the same schedule as what others did that time. I was under a lot of stress because I had been chosen to represent quite a few competitions at the same time while having the obligation to maintain my academic performance. It was really hard. I used to do my homework and those extra exercises plus my tuition’s homework until 1 or 2 am. It was really unhealthy for a kid who was growing both mentally and physically. My mum was kinda worried. She accompanied me to do my stuff until I completed them all and even did some of them for me when I had to memorize Chinese literature while preparing final exams.

Frankly speaking, I lived in the hell! At last, I couldn’t take it anymore and broke down in front of my mum. She had tears in her eyes while telling me to quit participating in several competitions. What I did was I purposely screwed up my calligraphy class by writing them badly. Besides, I also stopped handing in my ‘extra’ exercises by giving the excuses that I couldn’t do them well and I wanted to quit some contests. As a result, Betty was furious. She scolded me badly and punished me with her cane until it scraped the skin of my palm (I am not exaggerating! It was quite common for teachers to slap or caned students harshly in my school that time).

Meanwhile, Betty also picked on my hand writing. She said I had a terrible handwriting and it could be a ‘disease’ that could spread. As such, for other students’ sake, she got to ‘quarantined’ me from others. Sound unbelievable? Better believe it. Betty changed the seats by transferring my best friend who sat beside me that time. I was traumatized over that incident. It was the first time for me to realise the sense of being boycotted. I was lonely and helpless. As a school kid who were vulnerable and innocent, it is turmoil! However, the only lucky thing was the quitting of those contests turned out to be a success and Betty didn’t really pick on me again after the seat-changing thing.

Some of you might think that she is really a prick! I do not find myself liking her as I still couldn’t understand what made her to act so ruthlessly toward an obedient and over-pressured kid? Anyway, I want to tell you all about her because she actually aided me to develop my talent which I wouldn’t aware without her guidance, but, ya, in a relentless way. :-)

WoW (1)

Wow! It has been ages since I last uploaded the only post in my blog. No choice, I am having my final year now so the schedule is tight. ;-P since I have promised my dear friend to upload something after completing my chapter 3&4 in thesis, definitely I have to realise it. At here, I am dedicating this post to my friend- Chloe.

There is nothing special about this post, I just wanna share some of my memories in my journey of pursuing education. Wait, let me count, I started to enter the ‘garden’ of school since I was six years old. Now I am 21, so… 21-6=15! Waw! I have been studying for 15 years. What a long period of hard time? Ya, the years gone by are tough, however, I am sure that each and every one of us gained a lot of constructive and functional knowledge, which allow us to achieve the so-called ‘dreams’! Anyway, I think that the most influential people throughout our learning life are teachers, tutors and lecturers. I have a lot of experiences with this group of people because I was that kind of very ‘Kiasu’ kid. I used to have numerous tuition classes to attend to when I was having my elementary and secondary education. My schedule was tight and my life was hectic as once I even attend three different tuition centres at one time to sharpen up my English! Haha, let’s don’t beat around the bush, OK! The stories of the great educators begin…

1. Alice

She was my form teacher when I was in the Agape Kindergarten. There was nothing special about her outward appearance. She looked homely and appeared as a typical housewife who was thoughtful and sympathetic. One day, Alice called the students out to elaborate on our academic performance. Unluckily, that day wasn’t my day. Before entering the morning class, I played with my little friends in the surrounded playground and I accidentally stepped on something that wasn’t supposed to. So, when I took my seat, my friends around me kept on saying that they smelt something terrible. I felt guilty but I acted like nothing had happened and followed the crowd to complaint. Later, when my name was called by Alice, I was nervous as I worried that she might find out the ‘source’ of the awful smell, so I decide to get rid of that piece of nasty material stacked under my shoes by grinding the shoe’s heel against the ground when she was asking me questions about my study and revision at home. (What a brilliant idea for a six-year-old kid??)

Suddenly, she said,” what’s that smell? Did u step on something?”

At once, the noise of my classmates rose, “oh! She is the one who stepped on Dog Shit! No wonder the smell is nasty!”

“Hahaha, Dog Shit! Dog Shit, she stepped on Dog Shit!!”

Even though I was only six but my ego was strong. This led me to nervousness and totally embarrassment. Sweats came rolling down from my forehead and I was shaking. Deep inside my young and fragile heart, I could hear myself yelling, “I don’t want! I don’t want people to laugh at me, Mama!!”

Later, Alice had a glance at my shoes and took me outside the classroom. She asked me to grind against the green grasses and sand to get rid of the dirty thing. After that, I dared not going back to my own seat, Alice then led me back to my seat and told the whole class to keep their mouth shut. Her face was red. It was the first and the only time I saw her getting so furious.

She yelled at the class, “There is nothing funny for those who stepped on animals’ excrement; there was no reason for you all to laugh!”

Finally, the whole class turned into complete silence and none of my classmates mentioned anything about dog or shit again.

Her stern face at that moment carved an everlasting mark in my heart. That was the first time; I had my little ego and self- esteem being protected by my very first teacher.