You broke my heart several times this year…

So many things had happened in my life this year. I became a fan of Jonas Brothers (it's their music that I fell in love into first!) & Demi Lovato (Come on, admit it! Not many girls from Disney can have a great voice like her!). I finally have the courage to meet a dentist after 9 years. My favourite black cat died, murdered by an unknown neighbour. I started tweeting on Twitter. I learnt to drive, got my licence though I don't have the opportunity to drive [my family car] officially yet. I took my first ABRSM practical exam (Grade 1). Joined NaBloPoMo. Blogged everyday on November 2009. Went to Tawau.

And also... I had finally entered university! I'm a year behind compared to my friends who started last year. Better late than never!

Then, in university, I experienced a mild case of culture shock (coursemates from Peninsular Malaysia & Sarawak). I also discovered the hot-tempered/angry side of me. Usually only family and close friends can see my angry side before but university life (minus dorm life) seem to bring out the worst in me. *sigh* I still don't know how to deal with this. It's not really a recommending trait to have, you know. The only bright side of it is I am able to express myself easily (but that might have been because I blog more often this year and started tweeting). The fun part of university life is the access to the library (lol! SO many reference books at the university library!)... Not only that lah! Haha. I went dragon-boating for the 1st time in my life. Performed three songs with my Art Appreciation group members (assignment).


Anyway, though the title of this post sounds resentful, believe me, I'm not. There's just so many sad events I don't want to remember in 2009...

But I'm grateful for the good things that had happened to me throughout this year.

I wanted to take "Anthropology" course (1st choice for UPU) in the local university that I will not name here (any comments with the name will be rejected) to avoid being searched online, but I got "Mathematics" with CG (3rd choice!) instead. Maths is always fun, so I was also glad I was offered that course.

Pursuing studies near home enables me to continue pursuing my musical skills. I lived off campus because of an impending practical music exam last July. I passed the exam with distinction!

I think I'm starting to know myself better. Hopefully I'll be a better person next year...

Thank you, God. Thank you, Dad, Mum, @Jvira & Rus. Thank you, Eve, Mel-chan & Ren-chan! Thank you, Miss Chong!



I know this thank you list should be longer... I'll edit later!



2009. You were an important part of my life, but I’m not gonna miss you. Not gonna.

I don’t remember the last time I’m this happy to see the new year, 2010. Haha… It must have something to do with yesterday – my Semester 1’s exam result! Finally out!

Wanna know what grades I got for each course?

I was expecting a number lower than 3 (or worst, 2) based on my month-ago exam days but 3.08 surprised me! Yeah, I know it’s not the best… but coming from someone with low expectations and almost no effort studying, you must agree with me that’s astonishing, right?

edit Jan 1st, 2009 : It seems that they miscalculated our GPAs. Bummer. They missed taking 2 credit hours in account... so mine came down to 2.8. :|

Somehow... I can see a 4.0 isn't that impossible anymore...

[A]

[B]

[C]

[L]

• fluent in Malay and English languages (we learn British English in school so you'll see more of that here... although sometimes there might be American English mixed in because I read/watch stuff from there)
• able to understand Dusun (my own ethnic's language)... couldn't speak much/doesn't have confidence to speak :P *or it's just me making up excuses lol* 
• able to understand conversational and read Chinese mandarin (thanks to being in Alec Su fandom <3), there are characters I still don't know how to read, but apparently it was enough for me to understand Qiong Yao's novel "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" (Part 3) novels (I cried buckets!)  ... not so confident in speaking in Chinese though.
• able to understand conversational Cantonese (grew up watching east-asian drama series esp Cantonese ones on TV)
• took French language courses in University. Very rusty now :P...but I decided to continue learning by myself.
• currently self-learning Japanese language (Arashi effects <3), able to read easy sentences (struggling with kanji characters though. I'm glad that I know some chinese characters beforehand).. & able to understand simple conversations [on Arashi's variety shows] though my vocabulary is still lacking.

[M]

[O]

[P]

[R]

[S]

[T]

Semester 2 started today.

I was expecting something like having classes start straight away  (No introduction week)… Today, I was supposed to have 3 classes. I already have some phrases I tell myself to prepare for this second semester. One of it is : “Expect unexpected things to happen.” [Learned lessons the hard way in Semester 1). Unexpected things are assignments to be done this semester, extra classes (tutorial/lab), things like that… What I didn’t expect was…

The cancellation of classes on the first day of the semester.

*sigh* It seems to be an expected, predictable event though (among those living in dorms). I may be taking the 100% attendance too seriously, huh… It’s the end of the year! People want to enjoy the remaining days of 2009, duh!

Okay. Maybe there’s other reasons but yeah, I can see why it’s not time to have classes.

*cough* oh. I think I’m going to be sick for tomorrow. Maybe sick for the entire week. =P

 

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I saw this quiz from another Sabahan's blog.

Erm, the 1st part is totally wrong.

Part 2 is mostly right.

Okay, I dunno about the 3rd part. I do like to joke around people I don’t know well… but I can also be serious (not smiling, doesn’t seem want to talk) around them. People I’m close to? I think it depends on the mood (whether we’re fighting, sharing a joke) and also the topic of our conversation.. To those who know me : What do you think?

Oh! I believe Part 4 is always right. I try to be honest where possible but I don’t reveal too much about myself at the same time.

Big solid YES to the 5th part!!!

 

Wanna try the quiz? Go here!

You Want to Impress Strangers

You want strangers to think you're attractive. You want to be seen as gorgeous and sexy. You want your friends and family members to think you're smart. You like been seen as insightful and wise. You are at your most playful when you are around people you don't know well. You're more serious around those you're close to. You let strangers see parts of you right away, but you believe in keeping some things private. You don't become close to many people. You only let people you've gotten to know very well in.

A christmas edition of "at random" post!

I'm mostly in foul mood during Christmas. (There, I said it.)




2005-2008 Decembers
I finished my SPM examination on the first half of December. My grandpa died on Dec 11. I received my first cell phone.

No blog posts in year 2006 & 2007.

My family and I were in KL last year's December. See this post & this. I had a 2008 Appreciation Post. Expect a 2009 post soon.

Awesome Christmas present ever!
Duh. I dunno what's the problem with the university's system lately but it gave me a second chance to register! I get to register for Japanese language class!!! (Not yet at this moment, still 'battling' online). I missed it again!!! Arghh! Anyway, I chose French language (my 2nd choice after Japanese language) this time.

I think my brother's PMR result is his awesome Christmas present. It's amazing he got that result considering how very 'last minute' his revisions were...

Perfect Christmas
The perfect Christmas I always have in mind (which doesn’t happen often or at all) is this :
- Christmas sermon. Only.
- Small gathering consisting of family, relatives & close friends (really, really close ones only.)
- Christmas movies with heavy christmas spirit themes.
- Playing Christmas songs on the piano/guitar... singing Christmas songs among family, relatives & close friends.
- Good food. With me involved in the cooking [the food] process. Barbeque.

All that. Without people I don't recognize. Without people who only attend the church on Christmas day. Without repeating the same thing you said yesterday today.

For once, I want to have this kind of Christmas.



Lastly, I installed a widget for images from here. I've always wanted this but can't find a way to use it with blogger. If you want to see the effect, click these photos... (wait till the page finish loading)
Edited 04-02-2019 - Removed widget but I'll leave the photos here :D

A sight of a village near Kg. Pahu

This is a post where I test new blogger hacks. Sorry, nothing readable here.

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From here.

I was in Tawau for my cousin’s wedding.

You’d think I’ll be all excited to attend it (it was my first time going there too)… but I wasn’t.

Urgh. It’s like camping! I hate camping!

But I called this post “Ups and Downs” because it wasn’t erm… all bad there. I mean, I had bad times but I had good times too. It’s ‘almost fun’ I guess…
Lol. At least now I can say, “I’ve been around Sabah by car!”… Not really ‘been to the entire state’, but close enough. Something is better than nothing. Haha. 

We used the road via Keningau to reach Tawau. Before that, we stayed for a night at Keningau (friend of dad’s). It’s a pastor house (same church but different area).  The church is directly under the pastor’s house. They had christmas rehearsal the same night so the music was really LOUD that night. Lol. It was an interesting experience. They did stop by the time we went to sleep.

/* This was taken after dinner in Tambunan. We reached Keningau in darkness.*/

We stopped by Tambunan first for dinner than headed to Keningau. Didn’t find a decent restaurant in Tambunan. The one we went to overcharged us (the food wasn’t any good too!).  /*The front yard of the place we stayed at.*/

The road (Keningau to Tawau) was still a gravel road. A long gravel road without any stops (where you can find lavatory… or jamban. Haha). It was dusty all the way! Crazy! Oh yeah…had a flat tyre during that journey. My uncle in Tawau told us that it’s faster using that road (to Tawau)…the only disadvantage is the road isn’t complete (not asphalt).

The road trip was kinda boring cos there’s not much to look at (dust everywhere) & not many vehicles passed our car (mostly only logging trucks). There were trees everywhere – which was the only thing I looked at. I brought along books but can’t concentrate on reading them. My sister kept saying “Priceless” whenever she saw a row of trees that were beautifully arranged (naturally, of course).

It’s been awhile I stay in kampong. It used to get me excited when I was little. Balik kampung. Mandi sungai. Haha. But, yeah, we stayed with our cousin (who’s getting married) family.

I don’t really anticipate those things now… but huh… can’t avoid bathing in the nature (river) in Tawau. Good thing I didn’t go berserk (like, “What? I don’t wanna bathe in the river!”).

Oddly, I enjoyed the river baths (lol). The last time I went to a wedding (which required me to stay in my kampong) – my aunt’s wedding – I bathed in the rain (with sarong of course!)… that was a thrilling bath experience (I recalled a shampoo ad where the girl used the shampoo and washed her hair while dancing in the rain). Anyway, we had to bathe in dark (we brought along torchlight and candles) twice & I saw fireflies! Haha.

Oh yeah. You can see oil palm trees everywhere in Tawau, Lahad Datu and Sandakan. These are the main areas for oil palm plantations in Sabah.
It’s no wonder my relatives in Tawau sometimes eat snake dishes (caught in ladang). A curry-like snake dish was served the first night we were there. I didn’t take a bite but my sister did. She said it tasted like fish, sweet, hard & bony.

I was kinda surprised to see how big Tawau is. The town is bigger than the town in Labuan. I don’t know how it compares to Sandakan (I was asleep when we got there) but I think they’re almost the same (maybe Sandakan is slightly bigger).

I know there’s a “Mongolian Chicken Rice” stall in Kolombong’s Giant hypermarket building but that one pales in comparison to the one I’d eaten in Tawau (the food outlet is very popular in Tawau, it’s mentioned in Tawau’s wiki entry!).

The wedding was on Sunday, after church service. In the morning we got up early because my uncle (with almost everyone staying in the house) would be leading us to Tamu Tawau. I thought we were going to attend church first. Haha. Imagine the car full of weird smells, snake fruit & salted fish combined, whenever we get into the car.
Oh, yeah. The wedding! Nobody told me I was supposed to be in the “walk to remember” (If you read “A Walk to Remember”, you’ll get what I mean)! Lol. My cousin walked in followed by her aunts (including my mum) and cousins (including me).
When the wedding ceremony started, I felt a lump in my throat. I kept trying to hold back my tears but when they exchanged vows, I cried (I cried a little too at my aunt’s wedding). Yeah. I’m over-emotional. I can cry over things I just watched on TV (like ads or documentaries). Books make me cry too. But crying at weddings isn’t something I know I’m capable of. Do I have to avoid attending weddings starting now? Hehe… My mum said it’s because it's held in the church. “Sometimes it gives effects like that to people.”

We returned to Kota Kinabalu the next day via Sandakan’s road.
My parents decided to stop by Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre.  We reached there past the feeding time so they wanted to wait. I was cranky and moody at that time so I didn’t join them when it’s opened. I only hear stories from them. The first time we arrived (we went to Sandakan town before returning to Sepilok, again), we saw wild monkeys ‘digging’ the dustbin. Scary!

The wild monkeys sometimes steal the orang utan’s food, the ranger told my dad. Nasty. They even tried to fight back when they were chased away.

We ate lunch at Sepilok. The prices were reasonable. Slightly higher than usual but nothing too much (like in hotels). Delicious too (better than the restaurant that over-charged us in Tambunan).

We stopped by Ranau for dinner. The road from Sandakan to Ranau was kinda creepy… maybe because it’s dark. Hehe. My dad told us a funny story about a colleague who drove through the same road. This colleague heard scary things about the road (like apparitions) so when he had a punctured tyre he didn’t dare to stop, he kept driving (with the flat tyre) till he reached Telupid (located between Ranau and Sandakan). Nice sceneries (the usual trees). We were tired of seeing oil palm trees along the road from Tawau to Sandakan.


I slept all the way to Kota Kinabalu after Ranau. When we reached home it was almost 11pm already.
It could have been less than 17 hours if not for the long stop at Sepilok and Ranau… Oh well. But it does take longer time to reach Kota Kinabalu (or Tawau, if the other way round) using that road compared to the Keningau-Tawau gravel road.

Anyway… The aftermath : Will I go back to Tawau? YES! Lol. It’s was fun being there. We haven’t visit my other uncle’s house in Tawau’s yet. And Semporna too! Haven’t been there yet! Also there’s an archaeological site (hanging coffins!) I wanted to visit in Kinabatangan. That made me think (again) about my interest in anthropology. My aunt played a really good host to us and was very accommodating. I’m grateful for that because she seemed determined to let us have a pleasant stay there (which we did have).

Just when I was getting bored with The Sims 3…


this came via mail last week.
Lol. I had fun travelling & I haven’t met a mummy yet.
 


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Are you still using Internet Explorer?
Today, I found Google Chrome Extensions. Before, I did wonder if Chrome will have something like Opera widgets or Firefox add-ons in the future. Now, it’s here! (Still beta version though). Been adding those I think I’ll use often.
 
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Today’s laugh from FMyLife…

Yeah. I read sites like that. Haha.
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Aww…. “Pushing Daisies” ended yesterday on 8TV… Gonna miss the cute pie-maker. (But “Ghost Whisperer” is back!)