Bitten by a vampire hamster called Raisin...

Long time no blog....

2009-05-08T11:29:00.002+08:00

Whew, it's been almost exactly a year since I actually posted something. Odd how exams make me more productive in everything but revision.
Anyway, too much has happened in a year to possibly put it all down here, so I won't even try.
What does astonish me however, is that this time last year I was in Coffee Bean?? On my holidays already? And to think we thought this year was shorter than the last. This is weird.
I'd better get back to my attempt at consuming several books. Odd how fiction is so much more easily digested than non-fiction (in particular academic non-fiction).
Oh well. Will be back in about a month, hopefully more regularly with pictures and descriptions of lots and lots of lovely food.
Till then....

Coffee Bean customers...

2008-05-20T16:22:00.007+08:00

Home sweet home.

Sunset in Penang :)

I've only been home for two days now, but already I'm feeling restless. Sure, there's TV and (fast) Internet, but really, there's not much else to do. I know I'd probably be shocked to read this in, say, five or six months down the line, but I actually miss all the hard work that goes with lectures and lab reports.
Haha...it really is true when they say you always want what you can't get.
Anyway, I haven't really got much planned yet; I applied for a work placement at a pharmacy in Midlands, but I haven't heard from them yet. I really, really dread at how long this summer is going to be. Normally, my summers only last about two months - July to the end of August, but now the holidays have started in May!!!
I suppose I could blog a bit more now I have so much time...
I'm sitting in Coffee Bean right now, the one in Island Plaza, and since I've been here for a bit, I've observed quite a few different people passing through.
You get such a variety here - it's actually quite interesting to just sit and watch. If I had my sketchbook with me, I think I'd have quite a few pages.
Hmph. Just got disconnected. Anyway, back to the odd people...
Right now I've got three ladies on the table to my left who appear to be the local Sex and the City group - towering heels, glossy nails, glossier lips (despite the coffee), lots of wealth on display (from the chic mobiles to the designer handbags and what I think is a MacBook Air. It really is a lovely bit of technology. Yes, it is indeed a MacBook Air.) and naturally, plenty of gossip, which includes the price that one lady is selling her car for, lunch plans for the upcoming week, herbal slimming supplements etc etc. Wow...these ladies really are busy...
Then, there's the gym people. Unless they really, really like the 'gym look', Coffee Bean gets a lot of business from the people who go to the gym on the top floor for their daily/weekly/monthly workout. Although, I have to say, when you've just slaved away on the treadmill for two hours, what's the point of undoing all that hard work with a large Chocolate Ice Blended?
Then there are the tourists/expats. Hold that thought. The biggest poser just walked in. And I'm not usually one to criticise, but seriously...does she think she's on a photoshoot or something?
Long, streaked hair, tiny skirt, minute top...good grief, now she's actually leaning back and thrusting her chest in the air whilst flicking her hair over her shoulder, pouting, and looking around, like you see women doing in shampoo ads. Except she's in Coffee Bean.
What a strange creature.
Anyway, back to the tourists/expats. There's quite a few here...they seem to mostly be families with young children, although there are quite a few older couples. It's funny...this Coffee Bean is so international; loads of different accents floating about, even different languages.
Ah, the Sex and the City ladies are leaving now. I guess it's a good time to end this post. They're doing the whole I'll call you about later/tommorow thing before sweeping past in a cloud of perfume.
Hmm...I think I might go get a bit of that cheesecake over there, it looks rather tempting...

Summary

2008-05-14T13:19:00.016+08:00

Right, just a couple of relevant statistics...
Last blog published : sometime in 2007.
Today's date : 14th May 2008.
Days till I go home : 4
Time till S.3 : 4 months

Ouch...my neck's stiff from staring at the computer screen so much. But it's just to compensate for the, what was it? Week and a half that I didn't touch my computer because I was madly revising for my exams.
Yeah, something like that.
Well, the year's been mad. Absolutely and utterly crazy. There's so much that's been going on, the only way I can adequately summarise it is with pictures (most of which my amazing friends took; I'm far too lazy)...

This was Steph, Sam and I posing with some Seremban siew pau. I know, that was last year in October or thereabouts...very long ago. But it's a nice pic :)

Oh, Pharmnotts Christmas dinner...that was lovely. We went to an Italian restaurant and had a really tasty buffet. This picture is all the people on my table. The abundance of supermarket plastic bags tells you that a lot of people got chocolate from their Secret Santas, haha!

This was the night we went to KLPAC and watched the Sinfonietta play movie soundtracks. A really, really amazing night - the music was good and then we went to Hard Rock cafe (see pic). They have a simple but incredibly awesome (!) dessert: warm chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream. Yes, that's us there, attacking the ice cream...I think Sam and I finished them in record time, and then we started eyeing up the other bowl :p
That night was a really nice ending to Season 1 (our way of labelling the semesters, since everything is overly dramatic). Then after dinner, we went carolling at the Eye of Malaysia, probably scaring all the lovebirds who go there to coo and cuddle.
Really got me into the Christmas spirit (the carolling, not the scaring :p)

Well, the highlight of Season 2 was probably the Annual Dinner. What can I say about it, really? A fun night that started with Sam, Wen Qi and I having LAN exams :S, then off to get our hair done, then a massive makeup session in Steph's room and finally off to the dinner :) We took that picture while Jason Lo was performing - the highlight of the evening. I love the fact that we managed to cram a mini rock concert into the dinner.
Ah, everyone was all dressed up so nicely...there's too many pictures to put up, and besides, it's easy enough to go on Facebook to have a look.

Anyway...tired now...I haven't typed this much since my group project report...think I'll just leave it as it is, before I manage to babble even more...

Very unbusy week ahead....

2007-11-06T00:54:00.000+08:00

Well, after last week's madness, everything seems to have suddenly slowed down.

This week, we're having a very long weekend. It starts on Thursday.

It's amazing what a contrast this week will be compared to last week. First, there's the Deepavali holiday (Thursday). Then, the normal Saturday and Sunday off. What happens on Friday, you ask?

Well, our fabulous class reps managed to get our lectures re-arranged so we have our two measley Friday lectures on next Tuesday and Wednesday! We definitely picked well when we voted them in.

So, there you go. My week is more or less planned, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Hectic, hectic week.

2007-11-03T23:31:00.000+08:00

I'm absolutely knackered now. The past week's been possibly the busiest I can remember - and it seemed as if it would never end!
I have a bad feeling that this post is going to feel something like that too, but hang in there.
Right. To start off: Monday.
What can I say about Monday? Well, there was a full day of lectures, then I had to go buy stuff for my Fear Factor games (in Kajang - and I bought some really nice chocolate chip cookies.), followed by the rehearsal for the Halloween Night. We went to the Great Hall for that, and it was alright - sound and other technical stuff was fine, and I got the full, final programme. Did I mention I was emcee-ing? Yep. Anyway, we rehearsed, and then I had to prepare for the lab the Wednesday, which was, well, cooking class.
Hmm....my lecturers will probably hang, draw and quarter me for saying that, now I think of it...
So, Monday was fine, not too stressful. Of course, I had the shadow of The Pharmaceutical Calculations Exam hanging over me, so there was plenty of doom and gloom. But naturally, like the idiot that I am, I managed to get pretty much everything going on in that week.
Then Tuesday - the day itself. Did I mention that I'd only worked out my costume the night before? The event is fancy-dress, and as co-emcee, I needed something good, but at the same time, not too flashy. In the end I settled for the old tried-and-tested pirate outfit, eyepatch and all. I even had a sword this time, so it was better than the last time I dressed up as a pirate.
Although I have to admit, the costume wasn't exactly the only thing I left to the last minute. Remember the Fear Factor games? Well, before the event started, I had to prepare the games things, which basically consisted of extremely disgusting food. An example is a concoction I made of coffee, Coke, mayonaise, tinned sardines, tomato sauce and wasabi. Lovely, isn't it?
Anyway, I had to prepare the food for the games as well as get ready to emcee, which I just about managed to get done.
I guess the event went well, although I still feel that it could've been better. Oh well, there's always next year. And after we cleaned up and everything, a whole lot of us went out to eat...and the Music Society (who organised and the night) footed the bill!
Wednesday was mainly catching up with revision for the exam, Thursday was the exam and Friday was getting the results of the exam...and I PASSED!!! The passmark was 90%, which means I had at least 90%. I'm so happy!!!
Oh, and on Friday I was given the honour of witnessing Stampeding Pharmacy First Years.
What is that, you ask?
Well, it's when we have to do our lab report in one building, with a deadline of three hours, to be handed-in in a different building. Naturally, everyone works right up to the about five minutes before the deadline, so at about 4.40pm, there was a rush of about fifty or so First Year Pharmacists to hand in the report. Fortunately, I'd decided to go a bit earlier, so I wasn't caught in the rush, but I did witness the mass exodus from the lab building on my way back, and let me tell you, it was scary. I don't know how, but even the girls in heels and little skirts managed to run - fast!
So, that was Monday to Friday, but the week doesn't end there : I had Moral Studies the next day. A 9a.m. start with lectures, lunch break and then a two hour exam at midday.
But finally, that was it. Sure, I still have manufacturing records (for my 'cookery' class), another lab report, and a presentation, but it's not going to be as wild as I felt the past week was.
At this very moment, my biggest problem is figuring out if I really want an ice cream, and if I do want one, should I go for the lime/vanilla or chocolate cone......?

The Onion Theory

2007-11-02T19:11:00.000+08:00

Have you ever heard of the onion theory? To be honest, I hadn't until this week. Well, actually, it was my friends and I who came up with it.
If you've seen Shrek, you'd most likely remember a bit in it where he describes himself as an onion to Donkey- I believe the quote (which I found on Wikipedia as I don't have a copy of the movie) is :
"Onions have layers. OGRES have layers. Onions have layers... you get it. We both have layers."
No, I haven't met any ogres. On the contrary. I've learnt that you shouldn't judge people by first impressions because they always end up being very different.
Like when I've met people who seem rather crude. But in the end, they end up having the sweetest personalities. Or people who seem sensible and pleasant but end up having absolutely foul tempers and expressions sour enough to curdle milk. Or others who seem rather ... I suppose I could say pathetic ... but can miraculously transform into inspiring leaders.
Well, at least they have an amazing ability to control rowdy committee meetings.
Anyway, the point of all my rambling is to say : Don't judge a book by its cover. Very cliche and all, but true. You never know what you might find under all those layers...

Loony logging in.

2007-10-21T22:19:00.000+08:00

For the past ten minutes, I have been constantly logging in and out of MSN Messenger. To put it in the words of one of my friends, "Grace, why are you signing in and out like a loon?"
It's not my fault at all. For some strange reason, the university is incapable of providing a decent wireless internet connection to the students on the campus.
Take this for a comparison : Multimedia University in Cyberjaya (ok, so it's owned by tmnet, a communications comapany...) has a connection that can download an entire music album in ten seconds. That's -seconds-, not even minutes. I've heard that here it takes half an hour to get a five minute video clip to load up.
It's not even possible to compare the two.
Anyway, the connection seems to have calmed down, and I've stopped my loony behaviour. Naturally, this will probably not last long enough for me to post this in one go - it'll probably take two or three 'refreshes' to do it.
Wish me luck!