Heow heow heow
September 28, 2009
This is probably one of the best videos I’ve watched on Youtube.
It may not be so funny at first but when you get to the good part (and you will know what it is when you watch it) you will laugh your ass off.
I laugh so hard I cried.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Gradumacated
September 16, 2009
*I uploaded the pictures, pasted the html codes AND THEN FREAKING IE ENCOUNTERED AN ERROR AND IT SHUT DOWN!!! I had to copy paste the codes AGAIN! ^%$#@!*
As many of you already know, I graduated last month. The ceremony was LONGGGGGGG. I got to the university about 7am and the ceremony didn’t start til like 8.30 or so because we were waiting for VIPs. Speech after speech later, the ceremony ended at 12.30pm! It was a crazy hot day and I was sweating like pig underneath the pink(!) gown.
I’ve been asked how it feels to be graduated a couple times and I seriously don’t know how to answer that question. I’m at a loss for words to describe the feeling but it’s not because of happiness. I suppose the journey of reaching the finish line wasn’t what I expected it to be and so it took away from the excitement and happiness, I think? I don’t know. I haven’t quite figured it all out yet. If you follow my blog, you would have somewhat of an idea.
Anyway, I shall let the pictures complete the post.
Yours truly on the big screen
My mom took this pictures as I walked out of the hall
With the parents
Soupy my good friend and hubby came by bearing gifts!
With my favourite Soupy 
Somewhere in campus
Library behind us
The picture above is dedicated to Soupy. (Hi!!!! *waves*) I’m actually holding a pink stuffed toy octopus, a gift from Soupy. She gave it to me simply because it’s PINK. 
I’ve named the pink octopus Rosie because, well it’s pink, AND the name of the person who gave it to me is Rose. 
With dirty Leo
This was taken after getting dolled up for studio pictures
For now, I’m not going to post up the pictures I had taken at the studio. I personally think that they Photoshop the pictures too much to the extent that I look plastic but it’s not that bad I suppose because it was pretty cheap. Hehe
Gifts
The one person I had wished to be there is Rob, because he has helped me so much with my Postgraduate debacle but I guess we can’t always get what we want in life. Either way, I couldn’t have done it without out you baby. 
And now, I continue my job hunt!
Barn Buddy – The End?
September 13, 2009
I still play Barn Buddy on a daily basis but considering taking the game out completely from my Facebook. A few reasons why.
- I already bought up ALL the plots in my farm.
- I’m now up to level 38 and to get to level 39 I need to acquire 7700 experience points.
- And by the time I get to the next level, the only reward I get is “2 strong fertilizer”. Seems kinda pointless now.
- I have planted absolutely every single plants about 10 or so times now.
- I have bought the chicken…TWICE. It’s still funny watching the chicken jump up and out comes the egg. The chicken then looks between its leg with the look of “That came outta me?!”.
- All the weeding and bugging and cleaning up is starting to lose its appeal.
- There are some people who make the game less fun than it used to be because of their, shall I say, over competitiveness and seriousness towards the game? I mean after all, it’s only a GAME.
Anyway I haven’t completely decided yet. I have nothing much to blog about other than bimbotic things like my favourite new nail polish called Persian Indigo or my collection of shiny hair clips or shoes etc so I will spare you the pain.
Oh yeah, the favicon for my blog is FINALLY up on Internet Explorer. It only took oh, a FEW WEEKS! 
It showed up on the same day when it was uploaded on Firefox. I’m starting to think that IE sucks. Wondering if I should just move over to Firefox.
For some reason, my eyelid hurts when I blink and it itches too. It’s been going on for a couple days now. I hope it’s nothing. The last thing I need is to get sick or something. So I guess that’s my cue to get some early sleep.
Have a great week ahead everyone!
Mmm bop
September 11, 2009
If you read my previous post, you would know that I tortured Rob with the Mmmbop song just a couple days ago.
Anyway, I had a hard time falling asleep that night (serves me right) because I kept having that stupid song in my head. It was like I could hear myself singing that song in my head over and over again. Heck, I even caught myself humming that song while laying in the dark!
The next day (yesterday) I told Rob about my “predicament” of falling asleep the night before.
He laughed at me and threw in a few smartass comments during our conversation.
S: So how did YOU sleep last night?
R: Eh, not too bad. Didn’t fall asleep right away…
S: Oh? How come?
R: Not too sure. BUT I know it wasn’t anything like yours. I wasn’t hearing some song in my head. 
S: OH YOU SUCK! 
R:
S: That was a low blow!
R: *proudly* Oh it SO was
After we said goodnight yesterday (after he made fun of me not being able to fall asleep), he messages me on the phone 30 minutes later saying “Damnit! That song is in my head now! I went to the bathroom and damn near hum that song! You suck!”. My reply to him was simply “LOL”. I get nothing from him, until 15 minutes later saying “It won’t get out of my head! Make it stop!!!”
So now that we both have that song severely implanted in our heads, I shall attempt to spread it to the rest of you. I can’t embed the original music video of the song here from Youtube, I guess for copyright reasons, so here’s a link to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sd0C_Us31kk&feature=fvst
I did however find a live version in case you’re too lazy to click the link above. Enjoy getting the song OUT of your head!
P/S: Check out all those screaming girls! Yes I probably would be one of them if given the chance at the time *hangs head in shame*
090909
September 9, 2009
So today is 9 September 2009 (09/09/09). I’m sure a gazillion people are getting married today since the number 9 is believed to be an auspicious number for the Chinese, which means forever (or eternity or long-lasting, you get the point) in the case of getting married.
I’m not that superstitious to believe that a marriage will last forever just because a couple marries on this date. But I’m not saying it’s wrong for others to believe in it. I mean I guess it helps prolong (for the lack of other terms) the marriage when you have that mentality in mind because you would try harder, I think? *shrug*
Either that or you just get married on this day because you won’t forget easily the date of your anniversary, therefore you wife-to-be won’t be nagging you about it. 
I really don’t know.
Anyway…
I was driving earlier today and had the radio on. Suddenly the song “Mmmbop” by Hanson came on air. I’m sure almost everyone reading this will know what song that is. If not, look it up on Youtube. Now, Rob and I have discussed that song before and he basically said that it was THE most annoying song ever. The second I heard the song on the radio, I immediately called him.
R: Hello? (very confused because I had already called him earlier)
S: Hi honey! I want you to listen to something
R: Okay….? What?
S: Okay, hang on.
*Cue me turning up the volume*
Mmm bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du bop, Ba du dop
Ba du
R: …..
S: Do you hear it?
R: Yeah…
S: You know what song that is?
R: Yeah…I think so…
S: Are you ssssssssure?
R: OH NO NO NO. NOT THAT SONG!
S:
R: *making vomiting sounds*
We hung up after the song ended. Later this afternoon, we talked about my little spontaneous phone call.
S: So you still have that song in your head?
R: Yes…
S:
R: You suck!
S:
R: Oh you really suck!
S: I know Mmmbop ba du dop
R: 
S: Oh admit it, you like that song!
R: Maybe…
S: Oh I’m so getting that song now!
Twenty minutes or so later, we both got the song. We played it and sang together to the song, all the while bopping our heads and laughing our asses off. It was fantastic! I think Rob secretly enjoys that song even though he doesn’t wanna admit it.
I had a wonderful 09/09/09. How about you?
Happy 09/09/09 everyone!
About me page etc.
August 25, 2009
I finally updated my “About Me” page. It’s nothing spectacular nor significant but I finally added more content to it compared to the previous 3 liner. I will probably change it from time to time depending on the mood I’m in but for now it’s good enough for me.
Currently I am totally loving the song “She is love” by Parachute.
I’m also reading a book called “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang. Technically I’m supposed to be done reading it by now as it was one of the books my supervisor requested I read before writing my thesis. Eager to learn, I went out and bought the book for about RM40! Unfortunately, I just never finished it.
Frankly I’m surprised I didn’t finish the book because it is really interesting. I suppose the part that discouraged me from reading it in the first place was the fact that it’s about 700 pages long and 2 inches thick. At the time, reading wasn’t my most favourite thing to do. Wild Swans is basically a memoir about three generations of women in China during the 20th century. Upon finishing the first two chapters, I realised why I was asked to read this book in the first place. I wished I had read it. I guess it’s never too late.
Speaking of the thesis, I have to print 6 copies of the abso-f*cking-lutely final copy to give to the university so that they can bound it in hard cover. It’s going to cost me Rm48 per copy and I’m doing 6. Of the six, four are required by the university (pftttt!) and the remaining 2 are for my personal use. One for my own safe-keeping and another as a gift to Rob. Initially I wanted to give a copy to the supervisor but I learned the other day that one of the 4 copies required is actually for the supervisor.
My laser printer is almost out of ink so I need to get a new cartridge. I’m quite impressed how long the first cartridge lasted me, considering I bought it back in 2006/2007 I think. Definitely got my money’s worth. A new cartridge is going to cost over RM200 and add the RM288 (RM48 x 6) for binding. I see my moolah (a total of RM488) flying off into oblivion. ~le sigh~
I am hoping to get everything done by Friday and hopefully get one or two of my friends to help me lugged all 6 copies to the university. Any takers? I’ll buy lunch even! I already have a couple names in mind so if I call you, please feel exceptionally special ok?
Sometime last week I watched P.S. I love you and it is a TEAR JERKER! I cried so many times. The last time I cried that many times watching a movie was A Walk to Remember. I have to say it is one of the best movies I have ever watched. Now I really wanna get the book! I hope the book is better than the movie. Yes, I know the movie is from a book but funny enough I always like to watch the movie first THEN read the book. A Walk to Remember was a good movie and the book was great, even though they changed the storyline a bit in the movie. Unfortunately someone borrowed that book and never returned it and I don’t remember who it was. 
I think I have rambled enough for the day. I shall go continue reading Wild Swans.
Au revoir~
Random stuff
August 24, 2009
So I have finally graduated over a week ago.
Today I returned the graduation gown and in exchanged I was given my master degree certificate. Upon looking at the piece of paper in my hand, the first thought that went through my mind was “So this is what the hype was all about? Over 3 years of my life for this?” Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I have regrets or anything of the sorts.
I guess I’ve always pictured the moment of holding that certificate for the first time to be of greater significance and that I may feel some sense of pride and achievement but I don’t. I don’t feel anything special about it. Strange isn’t it?
The white envelope now sits on a chair and I haven’t bothered to look at it since this morning when I was asked by the staff at the graduate centre to check it. I guess I’m just wondering what I would be up to now had I not take up this extra 3 years of study. Would I be more established in my career right now? Or would I still be in the same job/position by now? I know, I know. I think too much.
Come to think of it there’s not much I can do other than think. I do have a lot of spare time at the moment. I’m still waiting for more interview calls. BLEH!
Before I forget, I not have a Favicon! If you don’t know what it is, it’s that pinkish S picture next to my URL in the address bar. If you don’t see it, try clearing your cache and reload the blog. Hopefully it’ll be there. It updates slower on Internet Explorer but it showed up relatively soon in Firefox after Rob loaded it up for me. If you still don’t see it, let me show you a picture.
I have to say that I am very pleased with it. It’s just so, well, me.
Still toying on the idea of locking up the blog to registered users. I have the plugin in my WordPress and I can pretty much activate it whenever I want to. Hmmmm…decisions decisions…what to do what to do.
Guess I’ll decide later. I’m going to catch up on some sleep.
Graduating
August 11, 2009
*Long post. Took a couple days to write. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.*
Alas, I will be graduating on Saturday…
I found out last week and when I saw the email with the subject of “Konvokesyen 2009″ my heart stopped for a few seconds and then it started to beat faster and faster as I read through the contents of the email. I couldn’t believe it. In fact, I still sit here and wonder if this is all a dream and that at any given time I will wake up and it would have all been my mind playing tricks on me.
This is a short version of my experience…
In December 2005, I signed up for a Masters Degree while Rob was here visiting. After he left, it took me quite a while to get off my ass and started my research. It was supposed to be a 2 year ordeal program and I was scheduled to graduate by 2008. In the span of a couple years, I have re-written and edited draft after draft of my six-chapter thesis.
The process goes like this. I finish a chapter, email it to my supervisor. He then takes about a month or sometimes up to 3 months to read and then email me his feedback on what edits/corrections to be made while I worked on the subsequent chapter. Initially it was a challenge I enjoyed. I secretly enjoyed the fact that I was acquiring all this knowledge about my area of study even though sometimes it didn’t fit in my thesis.
I learned about things from Marxism to Chinese history, from theories of dialectic materialism to revisionism, read texts written from the 18th and 19th century and many more. All this would not have been possible had I not taken up this Masters Degree.
In 2008, I was denied graduation because the process was lengthy and required more time. I now assume that my supervisor thought I wasn’t ready to bring my thesis to a panel that would accept it and let me graduate. I was devastated. Nonetheless, 2008 turned into a good year when I was able to spend 5 and a half weeks with Rob.
He knew I was sad about not graduating and so he suggested I go over for summer during July-August. I knew that he wanted to get me away from being at home around graduation time (which is always in August). For that, I am thankful. The entire time I was there with him, I didn’t think much about graduation. I wholeheartedly had one of the best 5 and a half weeks of my life there.
I came back home with renewed determination, hope and faith. I was refreshed and I knew I was going to finish what I started. I worked hard because I was determined to graduate in August 2009.
Fast forward to the last couple months…
Even though I had personal issues to deal with, I still managed to keep myself focused. I was in constant contact with my thesis supervisor and he assured me over and over again that I would make it to graduation this year. I, on the other hand, was sceptical at first but after so much assurance from him, I was sure I was going to graduate this year. I would cordially say I am graduating this year when family and/or friends enquire about my studies.
Anyway, after 4 drafts on each chapter later, I submitted my final draft for evaluation in early June as instructed by my supervisor. In fact, my supervisor mentioned that he was going to push the university to publish my thesis as a book.
My jaw dropped when he brought this up to me. ME? An author of a book? Crazy, isn’t it? I was ecstatic(!) yet somehow didn’t think to announce it to the world because I’ve begun my journey down cynicism and wondered if it would ever happen. Nonetheless, Rob and I had fun with the whole author thing as he commented that if the book sold great (not that it would) I would be his sugarmama.
Meanwhile, because of bureaucracy and incompetence, my thesis was not read by any of the examiners until a week later. My supervisor literally had to jump in and personally forwarded my thesis to both internal and external examiners for evaluation.
Two weeks later, I gotten my evaluation. Both passed me BUT the external examiner me requested that I added parts here and there to make the thesis more comprehensive. The internal examiner was more critical on my referencing style and requested that I cite my sources more frequently. I understand that to a certain extent. What pissed me off was that after every paragraph he drew a line and wrote “Source?” on it. Now my gripe was (and still is), “Does he expect a source after EVERY sentence?” You know what, I don’t think I should get into that now. It would make this an even longer post.
Once again, I met up with my supervisor and showed him the evaluation I got from the examiners. He then proceeded to tell me that since there was THAT much to clean up and edit, I should consider the fact that I won’t make it to graduation this year. Apparently he didn’t expect this magnitude of a feedback. I then asked “If I get this done in a week, what are the odds of graduating?” He answered “I can’t promise anything. You can try but I can’t promise anything. Don’t kill yourself over it. Just take your time and do what you need to.” To which I just said “I don’t care if I don’t graduate anymore. I want to get this done and over with. I want to get on with my life.”
At that point I was so angry and I channelled it into more determination. I wanted to finish the damn thesis within a week, submit it for final evaluation and get it out of my life once and for all. For a week I slept an average of 4-5 hours every night and worked really hard on it. To my amazement I really did finish all the necessary edits in 6 days. I submitted what I hoped would be my FINAL copy and waited.
I had no expectations. During the 6 days I worked on it, I pretty much had the thought of not graduating implanted in my head. I dealt with it, albeit not so well, but I did. I braved myself to face the many people who had expected me to graduate this year and started hinting the news of not graduating.
To my surprise I will be graduating this coming Saturday as I mentioned earlier. The first person I told was Rob and later that day I told my parents. Aside from them, I didn’t tell anyone about it until a few days later. I was scared that someone was going to call me up and said it was all a mistake on their part, that the email was not intended for me. That goes to show just how much of an impact the journey of writing this thesis had on me.
I don’t know if I can blame entirely the university for this but it really has not been the experience I hoped it to be. From denying my right to JUST apply for a scholarship to rude staff, from incompetence and lack of research material, I pretty much backhanded the university when I did a survey conducted by the Ministry of Higher Education.
This has been a long journey, with much blood, sweat and tears. Mostly a lot of tears, to be completely honest.
I am relieved that I will be graduating but I am indifferent about it. I don’t really feel like celebrating, mainly because I am still in fear, fearing that it will all come crashing down again. It feels like a defeated victory. Mostly I am just glad for the people who are happy for me because they deserve it.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is true but how does one define “stronger” in this sense? Am I stronger now? Yes, to a certain extent. I am stronger in the sense that I am more cynical. That is the strength that I have acquired from taking on this degree. Even though I am looking at the graduation gown hanging on my door, I am still questioning whether this is really happening? I still have my doubts and I am questioning my faith in some things.
Perhaps ten years from now I will look back and smile and think about what a great challenge this was and how it affected my life.
For now, I am done with school. I want to get on with my life.
Untitled
July 28, 2009
I spent most of my morning yesterday cleaning up my room and organizing mostly the pile of stuff I have laying around. Since I finally returned all library books not too long ago, I now have space for my own books and whatnot. Still cannot believe that throughout the last three years or so I have borrowed more or less 200 books. That’s just insane! I don’t even remember going through that many books.
Speaking of books, I finished the novel I was reading entitled “The Choice” by Nicholas Sparks. It was a tearjerker! As I have said in my Twitter, I almost brawled my eyes out. It was a very touching story and as soon as I reached the good part, I couldn’t put the book down. I don’t normally finish a book in one sitting anyway.
Since I haven’t had much to do lately, I’ve done a lot of thinking. I tend to have the need to vent my frustrations or thoughts or problems on here but I refrain myself from doing so mainly because some things are just too personal to share with the whole world. Sometimes I wished I had started this blog anonymously. I know it sounds kinda childish and irresponsible but at least I can write whatever I want. I’ve had thoughts of restricting access to this blog for certain people but when I think about the time and effort that went into creating this blog I felt that it wasn’t worth it. As most of you already know I have the tendency to over think things, therefore I overanalysed things.
Aside from thinking about issues in my life and what I want to do with it, I’ve watched a lot of ER that I bought from the China lady. I used to never miss a single episode when I was younger (damn I feel old just saying that) and somehow they stopped airing it on TV here. Anyhow, I never paid much attention to where the show was based in and watching it again, I realised that it was based in Chicago. Watching the show makes me miss Rob so much because there were some scenes which were filmed in places that we went to, like downtown Chicago, Navy Pier and Grant Park.
I’m babbling aren’t I? I better call it a night and get some sleep. Haven’t been sleeping as good as I want to with these nightmares/dreams I keep having. One involved a lot of snakes and the thought of it makes my skin crawl. Okay I’m still babbling…
P/S This post is untitled because I can’t be arsed to think of one right now.
Quick note
July 17, 2009
Too busy to blog the rest of this week. Have tons to rant but must focus on more important things for now.
I have to deal with stupidity and this will probably cost me big time. Either way, I *will* finish what I started. This has taken me more time than I ever expected. Not giving up now because deep down inside I know I am not a quitter no matter how many times I say/think I wanna quit.
I shall update next week.