Thanksgiving

November 24, 2009 | Published in | 6 comments

In general, I definitely think people in Malaysia don't say thank you enough. I've heard this rant no less than a hundred and twelve times in my life from my grandfather who gets irate whenever people don't say thank you - he always says thank you. This is why - out of pure habit - every time I get out of someone else's car, I always say thank you to the person who has driven me home. I always say thank you to the person who's just done me a service, be it give me my kopi peng, hand me some change, hold open the door for me etc. Granted, I may be a grumpy person, but that doesn't mean I forget a simple monosyllabic "thanks" or "please" every time somebody has done something small for me.

If I'm rude, it probably just means I either a) have a face problem with you or b) don't like you - at all :)

It goes without saying that ang mohs are infinitely more polite when it comes to simple manners; their sentences typically end with "have a nice day!" or "have a good night". You'd be amazed at how much better you feel as a customer and person afterwards even though you may have just bought about twenty dollars worth of unnecessary candy (I've been stressed).

Since this is my first Thanksgiving here, I thought I'd be extra nice. Here are some things I am thankful for:

1. my underappreciated and overabused family back home
2. my similarly treated friends the world over - I'm only mean because I love you and so you'll remember me always. I hope, anyway.
2. my partner in crime in Boston who gets the worst treatment by far; he only shuts up because he has to.
4. computers and the WWW
5. sam edelman zoe boots
6. james hetfield
7. frozen yogurt
8. the fact that i can, if i so wish, eat my grandma's laksa and char kway teow simultaneously when i'm back home

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you've been reading this blog and/or my notes consistently, more power to you ^^ Email me and I'll send you a postcard. I really do like sending out postcards - when I remember!

fail

November 22, 2009 | Published in | 3 comments

*stress eating and pulling newly-cut hair out*

(I had a burrito for dinner and now I'm eating chocolate)

(I have bangs now but since my hair was cut by a girl in a leopard print top who sported lots of tattoos, I like to think I don't channel kawaii as much as I channel angry Asian girl with bangs)

Daul Kim

November 20, 2009 | Published in | 2 comments


Isn't it funny how people don't remember you until after you die?

I posted about wanting her platinum hair (click) back in April.

Now she's dead.

She wasn't even 21.

pitfall

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I don't usually fall sick; I like to say that I am a hale and healthy person, one who exercises three or four times a week on average and was once capable of running 10 km in under an hour without having to do too much training. I don't remember the last time I was bedridden, coughing and being brought to tears every five minutes like a baby choking on Lego part. Crying and sickness are both the same to me: deathly weakness. The slightest infection and boom bang bang good as dead. I have been stuck in a drug-induced fog, half-dreaming of little white roads that lead to nowhere plagued with the inherent oh god what am i missing in class today how much more reading do i have to do? there is no end to the path I'm taking and I drop down and sit quietly cross legged on the ground like a little girl and I cry and I cry. make it stop, i say. make it go away.

it's times like these when you miss your family and those closest to you the most, so much so that you hole yourself up and refuse to see anyone the whole week. if i were at home, i'd have crackers on the tackiest plastic banana leaf plate and my mug of unsweetened Milo in the twenty-year-old black octagon shaped mug, the shape of which I found so fascinating as a child. i'd have white porridge and soy sauce and pickled cabbage and fried eggs that my grandma would specially make for me. she would barge into my room and ask me questions about how i'm doing every 5 minutes and then run back out again. long story short, why the fuck did i ever leave home again?

everyone i know around here is often quite fascinated with how i'm not actually from London but actually just study there - which sort of makes me on exchange with two places if you think about it properly. i only got to see my family once every 3 months or 6 months. this year i won't be seeing them for 9. it'll only be another 6 before i go home again in june. the first quarter has flown by and it doesn't even feel like i've blinked once. my eyes are dry from capturing all the action and inaction of an American life. yeah, i slave at the lab, i work 7 hours in the library on quite lot of days because it's my last year and i'm not fucking it up again for the 4th time but i've also had some amazing times here: the endless stream of parties, the alco, the weird costumes, the odd spontaneous activity or two, eating every kind of American cereal, the jetset life. i look forward to the rest of them and the rest of my life.

oftentimes i catch myself muttering, 加油 加油!

Holidays!

November 18, 2009 | Published in | 5 comments

Nothing spells holiday season more than red Starbucks cups! I'm so shallow, I know, but I await toffeenut lattes every year eagerly since discovering them in my first year.

Also, the mother of all flus harkens the onset of cold weather. I have been bed-ridden for the past 3 days. Well, whatever. I'm so excited to be heading to the east coast again.

Having said that, I miss Chinese New Year at home. This January/February, I won't have celebrated CNY at home for 4 years.

That is a long time.

Selling Stuff

November 16, 2009 | Published in | 1 comments

Getting rid of some stuff HERE on eBay!

Items include AA bodysuit, AA satin jacket and A&F jeans.


I'm a size 4 on average.

AA stuff all unworn, A&F jeans are pre-loved. Will be posting more things up soon. Willing to ship worldwide, just ask beforehand! Thanks! :)

I'm so going to set up shop when I graduate; I cannot possibly carry everything home with me! :-S Meanwhile, how sick is this ring? Available for purchase on Etsy.

Glow

November 15, 2009 | Published in | 2 comments







Fuzzed Up

November 12, 2009 | Published in | 5 comments

I lost an eBay auction just now on the most beautiful baby blue Juicy Couture fur coat. I am stressed out and anxious and unable to sleep. I haven't had the most productive day - at all. The Higher Powers, however, are trying to make fun of my obsession with fur (which leads to procrastination and lack of work because I will not stop until I find myself a beautiful fur coat to stroke to sleep), I stumble upon this:

Is it just me or do they look like Furbies that have cleverly hidden themselves within the folds of the Coffer?

I think they're just key chains though. Still.

bad romance

November 11, 2009 | Published in | 2 comments



Not gonna lie - i've been listening to this song on loop for the past 24 hours.

And i'm in total awe of her rocking the McQueens.

Ooh, a banner

November 09, 2009 | Published in | 2 comments

Oh look I made my own banner with my trial version of Photoshop instead of studying. These are some of my favourite things in life: assam laksa, shoes, ridiculous quotes and differential equations. Not so much the equations part, but that's kind of what I do right now.

Back to work!

Furrr

| Published in | 1 comments

Is it bad that I want a fur coat?

Kinda like this (ignore the fact that it's J Lo. Didn't even know she was still alive):

And more chunky knits?

Even if I am now residing in Southern California?

ETA: Her fur coat is looks like a furry bath robe and no, it is not ridiculous to possess a fur coat in SoCal.

Food & Boobs

November 07, 2009 | Published in | 2 comments

I apologise for the blurriness of this photo. I took about 5 photos on Halloween simply because they didn't allow bags into the rave, so I got lazy. But here I am - the Punk Rock Fairy..?
On the way to LA. I just thought they looked remarkably like boobs.

I <3>

HAHA do you dare? 12 egg omelettes. DUDEEE.


My 4 egg omelette at The Broken Yolk LOVE!

Hiii!
Vintage blazer, concert tee, M by MJ aviators, UO bag, Topshop brogues.

What Am I?

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< *whine >

So, the other day I had a random girl come up to me asking if I am Singaporean because she'd heard me talking on the phone. I laughed and said, "No, I'm Malaysian", but she was really excited because she'd grown up in Singapore but literally lived in America all her life etc. I didn't think much of this until later on at night. It triggered an avalanche of thoughts which ultimately begged the question: what am I?

I'm Malaysian Chinese, but I almost don't speak Chinese at all; English is my first language; I went to an international school in the same place for 15 years, so that doesn't make me a Third Culture Kid; I say "lah" and "leh" and "lor" pretty often if surrounded by the correct crowd; I studied in London for 3 years, and now I'm in the US; I'm pretty well versed in Western culture, English literature and Western history, but have a near zero knowledge of my country's history; I come from a family of - for lack of a better word - anglophiles (my grandfather speaks Queen's English - and when I say Queen's English I suspect he may have a better grasp of the English language than the Queen herself).

I've always been ashamed of my inability to communicate in Mandarin or Cantonese properly. I can speak Hokkien fine, but hey - how many people actually speak Penang-style Hokkien, right? I took a Level 1 Mandarin class last year and did pretty poorly in that, despite the fact that I had constant help from my flatmate. After that stint, I decided I'd just watch Mandarin/Cantonese shows to acclimatize myself. It doesn't help that Wah Lai Toi doesn't do Malay subtitles anymore, though.

Anyway, at least I can cook Malaysian food. Sometimes.

This never used to nag at me before, but nowadays as I mingle with people from people all over the world here in International House, I find myself having trouble introducing the concept of why my first language is actually English and not my mother tongue. People are amazed at how well I converse in English when I come from a developing nation in South East Asia (though this may actually stem from ignorance more than anything else). I should be able to speak and write Mandarin the way I speak and write in English, dammit! I just have more trouble than I thought I would attempting to speak Mandarin in that I sound ridiculously foreign and just wrong overall.

Being this far away from home and Malaysians in general has made me realize that maybe Malaysia isn't as terrible as Malaysians think it is. The United States is equally mired in political and racial problems as Malaysia is, but people sure as hell aren't running away. I wonder why.

I am probably not the best candidate to represent Malaysia, which is a crying shame. I wanted to make the spoilt brat decision of going to China to live for the summer, but I doubt even 3 months would help. Especially when nobody speaks Mandarin at home. Sigh. This identity crisis needs to be addressed ASAP. Identity crisis and future career prospects. Yes, top of priority list definitely. I don't really want to graduate; I don't mind working 'til midnight everyday writing lab reports. Honestly.

< / whine >

College!

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Okay.

A guy just got arrested on I-Walk for dancing on a cop car in a red furry bikini. I'm thinking this isn't very out of the ordinary around here on a Friday night.

Toms Shoes

November 05, 2009 | Published in | 3 comments


I've been eyeing these shoes for several days after having seen them on a classmate. I know, I know...this is a far cry from my collection of 6 inchers. As much as I'd like to, I cannot cycle in massive platforms.

So, today after some 6 hours of staining cells and watching them die in front of me, I decided to go ahead with these. They look (and apparently ARE) so ridonkulously comfy! And perfect for my constant biking to class and this weird hot-and-cold SoCal weather, too.

ANTI STRESS SHOPPING FTW!

Bullet Points

November 04, 2009 | Published in | 3 comments

BUSY BUSY BUSY BEE!

- We made it safely back to SD after a precarious drive home at 4 in the morning on Halloween night. Thank goodness the freeway is so large here so there aren't any weirdos lurking around in the middle of the night in the middle of the freeway.

- I learned how to pipette solutions properly today. GO ME! (I was a totally failed pipette user until today)

- Halloween pics coming. I can't find my camera cable. Go me, yet again.

- I had a dream last night about sitting in a house by the sea that had 10 foot high waves crashing down mercilessly upon the glass windows. This was mixed with a montage of images of a woman with jet black frizzy hair and sharp teeth looming over me with the most eerie grin on her face. No, I don't know what it means, but it is probably a manifestation of this thing called Stress.

- I'm going to Noo York and Vegas with R and two of my friends from London during my Christmas break. I cannot contain my excitement.

!!!!!!

I want to wear a bikini t-shirt and walk around with a red plastic vizor and eat as many hot dogs and boiled prawns with thousand island sauce as I can for $1. W00t w00t. SIN MUCH?