As The World Turns

Wow, that  ''Think I'll try do this every weekend'' in my last post was apparently a really big lie.

My bad, I was really really really busy last semester. And I spent my winter break back in Malaysia just being completely unproductive. Which was pretty damn glorious.

I probably have better things to do right now. Like the huge amount of homework I have to do because I have been missing classes. I'm apparently really sick. The doctors won't let me attend class or do any sports :/

Spent the whole day at the campus clinic yesterday. Was only discharged after 6 horrible long hours. And I still have to report back to them every morning till I'm better.

So I'm into my second semester in Vassar College now.

Have I adapted to life here? I'd like to think so.

Being the only Malaysian in my year, my first month here was definitely not easy. I'm not sure if I even really enjoyed my first month here. Yeah, there are other international kids here - not many though. But these kids tend to stick to people from their own country, especially during the first few weeks. It felt kinda lonely, not having anyone who is able to relate to my background in any way whatsoever.

Many people have asked me, why Vassar college?

Even my parents questioned my decision of wanting to pick Vassar, as they've never heard of the school. Though again, how would they know any liberal arts college anyway?

So, why Vassar?

Well, the first reason being that it's a liberal arts college. Which means I'd be given the chance to explore other areas of interest academically while still (possibly) pursuing a Science degree.

Secondly, it's a rather prestigious school with an acceptance rate of 23%. So I know being here will make me push myself academically. 

Thirdly, it has a relatively small Asian community. By Asian, I mean people from Asian countries, and not American Asians. And the reason why this is a ''plus point'' for me is that I figured being a minority would really put me out of my comfort zone and that would then push me to expand my comfort zone. I have nothing against a large Asian community of course, but why would I travel halfway across the world just to feel at home?
Fourthly, I f*ckn love the location of the school. It's at some suburban area of New York. It's not IN the city, which is great cause the city's crazy but I have easy access to it (one and a half hour away by train/car). The campus is also really beautiful. 

Okay I can go on and on but I guess in a nutshell, I knew by coming here, I'm signing up for an experience that no one else can tell me about. Isn't that what life is all about anyway, experiences that make develops an individual as a person.

So here are some observations I've made:

• The typical response to anything being said is ''OMG, that's so funny/hilarious''. Even though if we're being completely honest here, it really wasn't actually funny at all. Example sentences that would trigger a ''that is sooo fuh-nehhh'' would be:''I forgot to brush my teeth this morning''''I saw two squirrels chasing each other while walking to class''''Oh wow, I thought that green bottle was actually blue''
• They take ''bless you''s really seriously here after a sneeze. If you sneeze in class, the whole class suddenly turns religious - even the person at the opposite corner of the room would murmur a ''bless you''. 
• People don't use rulers here. I don't know why it annoys me so much, but it does. Why don't they want to draw straight lines? :(
• People here say ''OMG'' waaaaaaaay too much.
• People in my college generally don't give two fcks about fashion, and nobody judges. Which is pretty damn great. Ain't nobody got time for that!

There's a whole other side about my college and the social scene here. But I'mma save that for another post. Hahh. That's gonna be an interesting one.

Now, where did I put my medication?

93 Million Miles

Whoa, it's been a while since I've blogged. I miss it. It feels kinda nostalgic doing it right now.

Think I'll try do this every weekend. Maybe. We'll see how that works out. 

Anyway, I'mma just list out some stuff my blog's missed out.

I'm in the mood to talk about things before the States cause I miss home - so I'll save my US updates for the next post.

i) Penang Charity Concert

Okay this happened ages ago. By ages, I mean like a few months. But it really feels like forever - school wasn't even over  yet. Why was this significant? Because

a) it was amazing - Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beats, Alam Tham, Hacken Lee etc. in one single concert. Craaaaayzeh.
b) it was cheap (RM 2 ! And I didn't end up actually paying for it)
c) I missed my boarding curfew by at least half an hour - and totally survived it. I had an (apparently convincing) excuse and my favourite matron had my back.

ii) Graduation dinner 

Oh man, I miss 12/13s.

I can't actually remember much from that night.

We took tons of pictures, that's for sure.

I remember forgetting the lyrics to a song while performing - that was slightly embarrassing. OH WELL (:

And here's a video of our graduation lip dub - yet another project I took up when I could have had spend all that time studying. Time management never was my thing.

iii) Sashi's birthday party

iv) Perhentian trip with my lovelies

Oh maaaaan I miss these girls :'(

And yes, I made yet another video ! :D

v) Philippines with Sashi

Boracay - amazing island.

I can finally cross off parasailing from my ''things to do in life'' bucket list.

Hanging out with Sash totally boosts my self confidence, as you can see.

vi) Goodbyes

HOMETOWN !

My silly billies (:

My last Malaysian meal. This is absolute torture now, just looking at the picture.

My last night in Malaysia before coming over to the states (: 

vii) Making of ''Face in the Crowd'

Tryina make Julian look like he's fresh from bed.

Getting Adrian's voice for narration (:

So we shot the short movie within a week cause we had a short time window between my Philippines trip and my final leave to China & US.
I had the material and edited it in China.
The short movie was for a video contest organised by Monash University.

Aaaaaaaaaaand WE WON !
RM 3000 grand prize.
It just feels so amazing to be a a part of this - to know all the time I spent on it totally paid off (:
(Wish I could say the same about school work)

viii) China & Family Time

A monk wrote this for me - it was quite inspiring (though I honestly didn't know what it meant and had to get it translated)

I'm not exactly a religious person - I barely know anything about Buddhism - but this trip to China definitely got me engaged in my roots in many ways.

Wilber Pan and KOBE BRYANT :D
at some event promoting Smart Cars.

Celebrating my father's birthday with his staff.

I'm just super happy and glad I got to spend his birthday with him and my whole family - considering how little I get to see him.

I owe everything I have to them <3 br="" nbsp="">

I probably missed alot of pictures and am lacking alot of descriptions but yeah, in a nutshell, it's been pretty eventful.

I miss everyone.
I miss home.
I miss Malaysia.

But I ain't ready to come back home yet. Not just yet.

Let It Roll

(This was written on the 24th of June but the internet in the airport was a lil too crappy to be able to upload it)

So, I'm sitting here in the airport. 

I wonder why people get so excited to line up when the gate opens. Even when the line is crazy. I mean, you've already gotten your seat, so it doesnt matter what time you get in the plane. Ain't competing for anything. Plan's gonna leave at the same time anyway.

 Or maybe I'm just too damn lazy to line up. 

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I have been doing alot of painting around the house. It sounds like it should be fun but it drains so much energy from me. Maybe our paint roller sucks, I don't know. 

Original colour of the walls. 

Then we gotta paint wo layers of white primer paint. 

And finally the end result. 

So that is just ONE wall among many. A typical day consist of me painting from 11 in the mornin till 6 in the afternoon. Woo-freaking-hoo.

And then for the last 3 days, I've been helping out as a facilitator at a primary school's(SK Sri Selangor) leadership camp. Yay, more kids. 

 Quite a fun experience, really. Though some kids were hard to work with (pampered spoilt ones). At least I had the best company I could ask for to be with me as facilitators :D

I love them funky weirdos. 

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Really haven't had the time to do what I planned to do, quite a few things to finish up. I guess them things will just have to wait.  

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So now, after all that, I wish I had the energy to be excited for this trip to the Philippines. Cause I should be. 

But I'm just so tireddd.

Maybe I should have booked the flight for tomorrow instead. 

Oh well, too late for that. 

Wander On

What I came home to when I got back from Penang:

House undergoing renovation.

I literally breathe in dust everyday for 2 weeks now.

   

And! As a graduation present, my mum got me this

She knows me far too well TEEHEE!

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Besides that, I've been overly occupied with things I don't fancy being occupied with.

Like, 

I filled in as a substitute (I had to google up the spelling of that - never been sure whether it's substitute or subtitute, sigh, one of those lessons I'll never learn) teacher at my mum's school for two days.

Pshh, Jyen, it was only two days.

NO, don't you dare. It's like war out there.

It was horrible on the first day cause I filled in for a teacher that taught Standard One (7 year olds).

Where duuhhh helllll do they get all the energy from? What on earth are they fed in the morning?

I had such a hard time trying to control 40 of them kids. 

''Miss Wong, my leg itchy''

''Teacher, can I go toilet?'' x 2057

''Teacher, he push me'' x 192

''Miss Wong, my leg still itchy''

''Teacher, *insert names* spilled Nasi Lemak outside just now during recess''

''Miss Wong, you know, I have an auntie and her name also got Wong''

''Teacher, can I go wash my hand? It's kind of sticky cause I touched glue''

''Teacher, I take off my socks okay? It's very itchy''

And because it was my first day and I haven't handled Standard Ones before (I had Std 3 and 6 the last time I taught) and totally forgot I was in a local public school (think I got accustomed to Uplands and all the teachers being too nice) so I was super nice and addressed to all their little whines. Exhausting.

I had 7 classes on the first day.

Spent the first 3 going through some math.

Gave up at the end and played games for my last 4 classes that day.

I had ''The Hangover'' for one of our Hangman games under the category of Movies

Only realised how highly inappropriate that movie was. 

Also, realised how horribly horrible I am at spelling too, 

The following were considered but not included in the game of Hangman cause I forgot how to spell them - 

1. Hippopotamus

2. Pinocchio

3. Pirates of the Caribbean

My homework

Day 2 was much better, I got Std 3 and 6 classes. Phew !

Had games with them as well.

In the Std 6 class, I..

...told a kid he only had 3 minutes to run downstairs and refill his water bottle

They just had recess.

...seperated two kids from each other and forbid them from making any sort of noise for 15 minutes

They get to reunite if successful.

...(jokingly. kind of. not really.) threatened a kid that I'd make him eat paper.

He was supposed to do some math homework given another teacher(the one I was filling in for) but decided that making paper moustaches was a better idea.

...also (jokingly. kind of. not really.) threatened a kid to have his head in the rubbish bag. 

He kept talking about the rubbish bag for some reason..

..spotted this table

Goh Keng Yu. Had a huge crush on this guy when I was 9. Probably the only person I liked in primary school that wasn't my age.

Extreme nostalgia when I saw this. Just felt like the world stopped and all the memories and images I saw through the eyes of the 9 year old me suddenly just hit me. 

It's been so many years since and there I was, in the opposite end of the classroom, being the teacher.

--------------------------------

Everything is gonna change soon for me.

A lil too soon for the liking of my comfort.

I try staring out into my future, hoping to get a sneak peek, but I don't see anything that provide me with any sort of certainty.

But, I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I don't think there's any way of preparing for it, just gotta take it as it comes.

Till then, I wander on.

Add My Effort

So, I'm here lying down on my bed, thinking

"Aww shyt. I forgot to get back to my blog last night."

And you're thinking

"Uhh. But it doesn't matter. No one's keeping tabs"

And my blog's thinking

"You never keep your words! This is why we never worked out!"

And my dog's thinking

"I wonder if I'm the only colour blind one around here..? No hold on. How do I even know what colour is? How can I be blind to something I don't know exist? How can I. do I smell a rat?"

And a random biker just passing the road outside is thinking

"Yeah damn right. It's a brilliant idea to ride around here alone when my bike sounds like dying cows who are mating at the same time. This is some swag shit" 

And I'm back on track. 

So yesterday turned out semi productive. I cleaned my room and put away EVERY thing in drawers and shelves to prepare for the repainting of me room. So now my room is absolutely naked. 

Then I mopped the floor (daily routine now)

Woo. 

Then today!

I looked fr flights to New York. 

Helped sand paper a wall. These workers get paid for something but I was bored. 

Mopped and swept my room after they painted half of it. 

Then spent like 2-3 hours cleaning the shared toilet between my brother and I. 

Damn right, 2-3 hours in a toilet.

My brother has this amazing ability to make the toilet seem so abandoned and historical when he uses it everyday. I hardly go in there cause I feel like I'd drown in bacteria and E.coli. 

So I cleaned. 

And I'm not talking wipe-the-mirror and flush-the-toilet clean. 

I mean scrub-the-floor, wipe-every-inch (limited by height), clean-every-item (including the rubber ducks he has in the tub. And yes, he's the older one between us), bleach-the-shyt-out-of-the-tub-and-sinks clean! 

It's so clean now, you can take a dump on the floor and it'll sanitise itself. 

And Janet's thinking

"You sound so homey. Come clean my house"

Damn

So I couldn't sleep last night till about 5 AM.

And this morning at 8 twenty-effin-three AM, my brain decides:

''NO, JYEN! :D Pshh, you don't need sufficient sleep! Let's wake the hell up right NOW! YAYYERSS!''

And right now, I just feel like

and the world feels like it's filled with rainbows and unicorns and maybe even some flying pigs :D

&#@$&#$%^(*&@*#&^%!!!

LIES.

GAWDAMMIT, you're not doing IB no more, stoopid biological clock.

This is ridiculous.

Yeah, that's right, middle finger to you brain. 

Anyway, whuatevuh, silver lining yadida, guess I have a whole day ahead of me to be productive.

Let's see what I come up with.

I'll get back to you at the end of the day.

BUT. First thing's first - breakfast.

Take A Walk

That's exactly what I want to do right now. Take a walk.

Then again, I have better things to do, like revise for HL Math blog.

So a few recent things:

Warning, I'm in the mood for colours.

1. School ended
Crazy. That was fast. I don't quite know how I feel about it. Don't think I'm too attached to Uplands as a school. Going through IB and swimming across the ocean of its requirements haven't been easy (still swimming). I hate to admit it, but gained alot by going through IB. And, meeting the people I've met and going through all the experiences I've had here definitely made it worth it too. Morgan asked me a few days ago, if I had any regrets in these two years of being here. I thought about it and all I could do was mutter a lame reply of ''I don't know.. Maybe I should've studied more..'' cause I'd do it all over again and I wouldn't change a thing. Just gotta work on tying some loose ends now. And close off my CAS account too.

Perhaps a more emotional post will be due after I'm actually done with my IB exams. 

Anyway, to end our last school year, we did a flash mob. I'm still pretty proud with how well everything actually worked out in the end (with the last minute edit of the music + minimal dance practices) and impressed with the amazing people who were willing to participate and learn.
I may have messed up a lil(teehee), but here it is:

2. The elections

I'm not going to pretend like I know a whole lot about politics, because truth be told, I was never the kind who was too bothered. Only a few years ago, I had to have my friend sit me down and explain who Najib is. But I'm slowly crawling out of my political shell. And this time around, I was really hoping for a change.

I'm pretty disappointed that the ruling government retained  their roles.

I don't know enough about politics to really rant about it, but I'm definitely aware about some (not so) undertable issues + bribery that have been going around.  

It's pretty disgusting that they unashamedly bribe with all the free food and cash going around.

But what really gets to me is definitely the overly discussed issue of giving immigrants citizenship.

Now don't get me wrong,  I'd welcome anyone into my homeland with open arms.

But these people aren't deserving of our citizenship, neither by naturalisation or registration.

These are immigrant workers (I hate to call them Bangladeshis cause it makes it sound like I have issues with citizens of that country)

How low and disgusting do you have to be as a government to be willing to sacrifice national pride and security just to retain your (highly undeserving) seats in the government?

It annoys me that my shallow pool of vocabulary would not allow me to truly express how disgusting I think that is.

And it ticks me off to see the happy governing faces,

what satisfaction should there be from ''victory'' if the game wasn't even played fair and square?

I know there isn't a guarantee that the opposition would do much better, but the risk would've been worth it cause we needed(and still do need) a change.

But besides all the verbal bashing, it's great to see the unity erecting (yes, erecting, I refuse to choose another verb) from this elections though.

So maybe, just maybe, there is hope in the near future when my generation gets to vote (:  

Till then, I naively hope the government would (start to) act in the people's interest.

And not spend tax revenues on useless submarines. Worst opportunity cost ever.

3. Ongoing IB exams
4 papers down, 11 more to go ! (I clearly have no comments under this headline)

4. The future

For once, doesn't seem too far away. I'm nervous, intimated and excited.

By the rate time has been passing, I'll have to say goodbye to everything I've learned to know and

 I'll see you soon, New York.

Signing off now, with my current feel good songs.

Sincerely yours with much nerdy love,              

 

'   the stars are bound to change.

wait for another day.

the future's not that far away.