Totally O/T: I just saw Mamma Mia movie last Sunday, & I was surprised by Colin Firth's voice! Not bad for someone who isn't a singer by career. My image of him in mind is still Mr Darcy though.. & seeing 'Mr Darcy' sing felt like a fairytale. I love seeing actors I like sing.
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I had a really weird week.

Okay. The week hasn't end yet but now I tend to see my class days as weekdays while class-free days as weekends (including Thursday =P).

Monday, 8am-4pm. Two classes with a 'class' gap ("Language and Communication"'s lectures ended early this semester!) between those two classes.
Tuesday, day started late because the lecturer for morning's class was away, 11am-4pm. Plus another 6pm-8pm session at my music school. They always have these music theory trial exams before the real exam day which I have to attend to get good marks (I'm okay with this).
Wednesday, almost like Tuesday. First lab class was cancelled this week. Second lab class started at 10am (+ replacement class for last 2 weeks) - 1.5 hour. Then another lab class at 4pm. French class (replacement class for today's holiday) at 5.30-8.30pm.

Crazy hours. Added with these facts, it gets crazier : I rarely eat at campus (so I always miss lunch BUT I drink a lot, okay. I have to keep myself hydrated) & I don't take the university bus. I always walk. It's very therapeutic to me (although my legs think otherwise =P).


Anyway... I'm not blogging about that today. It's just that I realised how I've gotten a bit weird (or weirder, if you prefer that) since mid-semester break ended. It happened in those 3 days I just described.

It's like I've become happier... which is hard to believe because I have so many assignments/projects to be done, last minute-ly again. So the only plausible explanation would be I've totally lost my sanity it. Instead of slowing down, I'm taking the "shutting off" approach to deal with the stress. Yikes.

I think I've shut off a part of my senses. I feel like talking all the time. I dared to answer my lecturer's question, got it wrong & I felt okay. I mean, I didn't feel embarrassed or something like that. I don't even care if I was right or not before answering, I just feel like speaking out whatever's in my mind at that moment. Another thing. I had three surprise quizzes this week, & of course I didn't study or revise anything at all, but I could still smile after I handed in my incomplete answer sheets. I was thinking "Why bother if I couldn't answer? Just focus on what I can answer... but don't repeat the same mistake in the future. Must study."...

Then... I [could] find joy in every little thing I see around me. Hmmm. I can't believe I just said that. As much as I find that's too melodramatic... it's true! I didn't know why everything seemed funny during those three days. I laughed or smiled for no reason. I also smiled to random people including strangers. I'm pretty sure I'd shut off the "If x happens, do y" part in my brain.

I stopped caring for a while what others think or say. I just want to do what I think is right.


I can actually love being this way.
:)

Blog meme from here.

Saturday 9: Don't Stand So Close to Me.
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Answered with current state of mind...
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1. Who would you like not to stand so close to you?

People I find annoying. Smokers. Perverts. Criminals.

2. Which of the following aspects of your life would you think rates the highest: mind, body or spirit?

Mind. I admire how my mind works. I'm still in the process of understanding how it works though...

3. What is your favorite movie line?
4. What is your favorite movie title?

Sorry, I'm skipping these two questions. I have several favourites but I keep changing my favourites so it doesn't mean much anymore... I do like watching movies but I don't watch currently showing movies because I stay away from cinemas as far as I can. My source for movies is either TV or DVD/VCDs. Maybe I'll just share this random me-fact : The first movie I ever watched at the cinema was "Jurassic Park". I remember there's a Coca-Cola (or was it Pepsi?) ad showed before the movie started and I was begging my parents to bring me home (thought it didn't matter if returning home means I have to spend time with granny)... but we stayed on anyway. Which might be the reason I'm interested in dinosaurs...

5. What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?

Nothing miraculous happened to me lately.

6. What do you try to stay away from?

Book stores!!! Seriously. I can end up buying many kinds of books because of my random interests in anything. Fiction books. Astronomy. Paleontology (Dinosaurs!). Hobbies. History. Music. Jonas Brothers. Lol. It's crazy.

Anyway... it's very important to do this now because I'm saving my money for a Satio.

7. What is it too late for?

It's too late to want to pursue a career in Medicine or Music. Sigh. I know it's still possible but there seem to be something that's stopping me. Maybe my real interests aren't really in those areas. Or maybe... it's because I'll be more satisfied to know/learn any knowledge in this world without having to practise (too much pressure). Knowledge is free. You just have to be smart enough to find it yourself.

8. Give someone credit for something and name it if you can.

Erm... This "Dear Joe" pic Joe tweeted which was created by i.love.joe on Flickr who was inspired by "Dear John" movie poster...

9. Would you rather be famous now & forgotten after you die or forgotten now & famous after you die, forever? And why?

I would rather be famous now & forgotten after I die. Haha. Simple. I need to know that I'm famous. I don't care anymore after I die.

I don't believe in the fact that I'll be completely forgotten after I die... there must be at least one person who will know/remember. I'll make sure of it.

I love books. But I’m not necessarily a bookworm. I really, really love to keep books. I still have many un-read books in my bookshelf.  

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Now I have 3 French dictionaries. Yes. I’m lexicon crazy. I’m not even sure if I’m going to use them much in the future. But I’m 75% sure I’ll use them. *self-denial*

The middle (dark blue one) is my first French dictionary bought at City Mall’s Popular Bookstore. I like the size… Not too big & not too small. Pronunciation guide is included unlike the light blue one’s (Oxford Learner’s). That one was bought at Signature (or Eaton’s? ‘cos the stationary section is called that).

What I like about the Oxford Learner’s dictionary : Le (masculine) or La (feminine) is added straight away in front of every words. I just realised the importance of this in French dictionaries during class where the lecturer kept asking us if this or that thing is masculine or feminine. *sigh* It seems hard to guess if the thing is ‘male’ or ‘female’. I have to associate the things with masculine/feminine characteristics to help me remember which one to use. The other dictionary is a visual dictionary from Suria Sabah’s Times Bookstore. That’s self-explanatory, I guess. ;P

These are from the visual dictionary. Apparently some countries use le, some use la… The other pic… I was reminded of Jacques Clouseau (Pink Panther)’s “hamburger” blunders. Haha...

“What Your Teacher Didn’t Tell You (Vol. 1)”… That was a randomly-picked book. Like Eragon (I haven’t even read Eragon yet!). How can you resist a book with that title? It’s thought-provoking! What my teacher didn’t tell me? What should I know that ‘they’ don’t want ‘us’ to know? (The author, Farish A. Noor, is described as “Malaysia’s hippest intellectual” at the back cover.)

Actually, it looks like a history-ish book to me… but oh well. I’ll risk that. It might turn out good.

The other colourful-covered book is Diana Wynne Jones’ latest book, “Enchanted Glass”! I can’t find that book in Sabah, you know… I asked my mum to buy it for me (as gift! Haha..) when she went to KL for meetings (again) few days ago. It’s still wrapped in plastic… don’t feel like opening it yet. The first thing I thought of as I read the synopsis at the back is “House of Many Ways” (“Howl’s Moving Castle” 2nd sequel). Hmmm. Anyway… I’m saving this for a bad day. Yeah. You read it right. Bad day. A good book is the perfect pick-me-up on bad days.

Nah. I would never never never ever put my full name here. As tempting as it is, I just couldn't bring myself to do that. The burden to not be able to blog my thoughts the way I like is too much. When people I know can easily google my name and find that I have been blogging (or had blogged) about them it could be awkward when I meet them again. It's okay if I'm close friends with this person but if he/she's someone I'm not too close to... Ha!

... erm... Actually.. I didn't think of it this far so I don't know what will happen. (But surely it would start with embarrassment!).. I guess I'm not ready for that yet.

The name I put on Twitter is close enough though...

I have a very unique name. So I'm happy to have it all by myself. It's long but I'm proud of it. It surprised me when I got some search results on the last part of my name. Apparently, there's also someone named V-- in Indonesia! So much for a unique name, huh...

Anyway... This post is about the origin of my name, so let's get back to business.

Before I was born, my parents thought I'm going to be a boy so they wanted to name me "Mats Wilander" (Haha.. To my friends that know my full name : It [kind of] has the same rhyme, isn't?) after the famous Tennis player in the 80s. But I arrived as a girl.. Haha. It's amazing how my parents get to think of my 'girl' name in short time notice. When I was in primary school, I always separated my name Ruth V-- when I wrote my name. I realised that I had it all wrong when I started Secondary school (in Form 1). Lol.

Oh yeah. Sometimes people made fun of my name because it rhymes with Belanda (malay for Dutch). It used to bug me in Primary school... hehe. But that was over 10 years ago.

Now I'm just proud of my name.

There's a 'right' way to pronounce it (by my standards of course, duh) so I always take notice of people who pronounces my name accurately. At times, I think my long and unusual name made people easily remember my name. *smiles sheepishly* My French language lecturer is one of those who pronounce it accurately, with a bit French flavour to it! She even said it sounded like a Roman or Dutch(or was it Italian?) name. Made me smile.

:)

My sister returned home last Thursday... but tomorrow her holidays will end - she'll be back in Semenyih's PLKN camp in the morning.

Wow... Time travels so fast these days. I'm not feeling sad, just empty. It's the same good, old feeling again - loss of a familiar thing around you. *sigh*

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Last Saturday, I went to Suria Sabah's Times bookstore again... and bought two expensive books again. Arggghhh. Please keep me away from bookstores in the future!!!! Books, books and books again! Impulsive purchase! Grghghg. The temptation is so hard to resist!

Oh, yeah. I learnt something too that day.
I must remember to throw away the 1-cent coins in my wallet.
(Apparently I didn't read the "whole" article back then in 2008. Duh.)
Was laughed at by the cashier and my own father (seriously, dad!). I hate being the one outside "the know".

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Have you heard about the new buzz, Google Buzz?

I had it turned off in my Gmail but I know it's powerful. I have no idea how they know how to find the people "suggested" for me to follow. They seemed to be based on my interests... maybe even from the feeds I've been subscribing on Google Reader. I mean... they suggested me to follow Selena Gomez's buzz. The only thing that's related to Miss Gomez in my GReader is her Twitter's rss. Does that mean the person suggested on Buzz is her real gmail address? Don't you think that's scary? The fact that Google knows who you are and is exposing you to strangers? If my assumptions is true, I hope those celebrities will take notice and manage their Google Buzz statuses properly.

Anyway... I haven't started using the new feature yet actually but it sounds cool & fun to be among those early users. It even looked like something I'll use more often than Google Wave (which I think is more suitable for group meetings and other serious, business-ish things)... it might appeal more to young users (teens, young adults). I like taking random photos of things so it could be a perfect place I can post my photos. But wait... wasn't that the reason I joined Tumblr in the first place? (or Flickr for that matter)

Hmmm... Buzzing, huh? I will have to start by experimenting first (like I did with Twitter) ... & only after I understand how to manage its privacy settings.

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My latest favourite Chrome extension is this. Google Dictionary!

I always use answers.com to look up for words when I'm typing my blog posts or reading online. But with this extension, I just have to double-click that word and the meaning will pop-out.

In short, it saves time and energy.

Blog meme from here.

Saturday 9: It's a Beautiful Morning

1. Are you a morning person?

I used to think that I'm a morning person, I like waking up early etc. But nowadays... I couldn't wake up early anymore. When I'm woken up abruptly in the morning I get cranky and moody. So yeah. I'm not a morning person. (This post is made in the middle of the night.)

2. Tell us of a news story that truly shocked you.

Shotgun marriages. I don't wish to elaborate more.

3. What was your very first job?

Ermm... what job?

4. What characteristics do you despise?

Stupidity. That's not a characteristic, is it?

5. To where would you retire?

Greece.

6. Are you named after anyone?

Oh, yeah. My name is VERY, VERY, VERY loosely based on Mats Wilander. (A post on this : coming soon.)

7. How do you release anger?

Talk, complain, whine etc about everything but the thing I'm really angry about. Isolation. Loud music.

8. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I think I use sarcasm too to release anger. I'm kind of more sarcastic when I want to make someone (who made me angry first) mad.

9. What is your least favorite thing about yourself?

I don't accept wrongs, failures & criticisms against me easily. Yeah, sure I listen & read them but those what-I-did-wrong thoughts will dwell in my mind for a long time - hard to brush off - and I will find a way to improve or prove that they are wrong.