Feel Again

Finally, I had a really good week (:

General Chem, German, Squash, Film and Psychology - I'm really enjoying all my classes so far this semester.

Also, here's a snippet of a conversation between my friends over dinner that I'll slip in here so it's eternalised.

''Let me finish my story!''

''Is it a sex story?''

''..no''

''then you don't get to finish it''

To end this on a good vibe, here's my current feel good song.

Heyyy we're gonna have a good day.

Let It Snow

Heaviest snowfall so far. See how buried that bench is?

I'm still deciding how I feel about snow.

Was talking to my classmate, Ben, this morning about it. I think his optimism about this whole ''snow is great'' is rubbing off me a little. Just a tiny wee bit though. Cause my first instinct when I see that it's start snowing is to hiss at the clouds and curse at the world a little.

It's not even 10am and I'm already thinking ''well, that's a wrap! Let's go to bed''

Woke up at 7am to have breakfast (having breakfast by myself before my 8am German class has become one of my favourite things, I don't understand why cause I used to hate being alone. But I think some alone time early in the morning is rather refreshing.)

But I also lost my V-card this morning. I bet it's buried in the snow somewhere, never to be seen until I get a new card and don't need it anymore. That, is my luck.

Went to German class all prepared for our quiz.

But instead spent the first 20 minutes with the rest of the class trying to get our professor's car un-stuck. That was actually pretty fun. Somewhat a bonding experience, especially for me, cause I'm the only new kid in this class. 

And then the professor drove home.

And Chem class is also cancelled. 

WOOOOO.

Yeah, I'm not leaving my room for the rest of the day.

Until rugby practice I guess. Mehh.

On a side note, DJ Earworm's United State of Pop 2013 is out ! :D
Well it's been out for a while now.. but I only just found out.

Dawn

Hello, February.

Sorry to be blunt.

I know you just got here but I kinda already want you to go.

But maybe you can stay awhile. 28 days doesn't sound that bad.

Just, be nice to me.

Please?

Ring a Ling

Mmm yes, look at me, blogging two days in a row. Overachiever.

I'm a big fan of lists cause it keeps my thoughts organized. So here's a list of things that are ''new'' with me ever since coming here to Vassar.

i) I play rugby now. Contact rugby, that is, not touch rugby.

I wish I had action shots. but NOHP. All I have is a selfie.  Jue Wern was right.. my cheekbones do look like boobs.

Yeah, it's not exactly the gentlest sport out there.

We're currently off season and cause of the horribly unfriendly weather, we now have 3 gym sessions and 3 rugby practices per week. I'mma get so ripped! Kidding. I can think of at least 5 people back home who wouldn't let that happen.

I absolutely love the girls on the team though.

ii) I'm used to being on the can/showering when a male is in the same toilet(same toilet, not same cubicle). Why? Most of the toilets on campus are gender neutral. 

But what if you need to pooooop, Jyen?

Well, I don't know if other girls try to find a time when the toilet is empty, but for me, when I need to poop, I need to poop. I am only human.

iii) I'm in a hiphop dance crew on campus. HYPE

Some girls on the crew are soooo amazing. Sometimes instead of practicing in the studio, I just wanna watch them and clap my hands.

iv) The side of head is shaaaaved.

It's something that I've always wanted to do ever since graduating from SMK USJ 8. 

But my mum's always been like, not under my roof.

Was she mad when I finally did it?

No, not really. She's cool like that.

She's just been calling me ''botak'' alot. Meh.

v) I'm seeing someone now.

Funny thing is I've known him for years and I never saw this coming. 

Well I don't think anyone did, cause everyone I know who knows are still trying to get used to it.

I guess to be honest, I'm trying to get used to it myself.

Been a while since I got involved like this.

And long distance (especially this amount of fcking distance) sucks.

It's not the easiest thing to try work out.

But he makes me happy (: 

My boy, he ain't the one that I saw coming

And some have said his heart's too hot to hold

And it takes a little time

But you should see him when he shines

Cause you never wanna let that feeling go

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. 

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

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. 

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

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.  

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

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.