Goodbye Thomas...

When I first arrived in Lincoln, the first place I stayed at before I moved to the dormitory was "the White House". To me the name fit perfectly, not only because the house was white, but also because Thomas, the then-president of NUMSA (Nebraska University Malaysian Students Association), lived there. Since then, Thomas has been one of the most prominent figures in my university and social life in Lincoln, Nebraska. For some reason, I always thought that Thomas will always be here...and I'm definitely not the only one who thought so.

Sadly, yesterday Thomas flew home to Malaysia for good. Although I already knew for a while that he was going to leave, but knowing it and actually realizing it are really two very different things. Of course it's not like we're never going to see him again...but the thought of not having our "big brother" here to protect us and help us when things go wrong is just...weird. Thomas always seems to know exactly what to do in any situation...he knows who to contact, where to go, and how to go about it, and it's always reassuring to get his opinion on things like fixing the car, getting something done on campus, and so on.

But perhaps, on the other hand, we should all feel happy for Thomas that he could finally go home to be with his family and reach for better things at other places. One thing he should feel proud of, though, is that when he left Lincoln, he not only left behind good friends, he also left behind a legacy (if I may say so) that will always be remembered by the Malaysian students community in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Best wishes to you, Thomas!

Biking expedition!

I have to write about our 20.1-mile biking expedition! Sin Yee and I joined Ryan and Kah Fatt for a biking trip yesterday...we biked all the way to Pioneer's Park! That took us about 2 hours because we missed a bike trail and ended up cycling around for a while looking for our friends who were bbqing at the park. That was a great achievement in my opinion because I haven't biked such long distance in my life!

Actually our biking trip didn't start off that great...2 seconds after we "officially" kicked off our biking trip, I realised that both my tires were flat! I was totally embarassed I must say. Everyone had to stop, and Ryan and Kah Fatt helped me inflate my tires. By the time this was done it was already around 5:40pm. Then off we went...

We were just barely a quarter of the way when I started to regret that I didn't bring a camera. The view was breathtaking...we even biked along some streams, and we saw some little rabbits and even a fake deer (which, of course, I mistook as real, sigh). I was pedalling furiously to keep up with Ryan and Sin Yee, wondering why everyone else could pedal so slowly and yet go so fast, when Kah Fatt pulled up next to me and asked me, "Do you know how to change gears?" I knew at once that I was being silly again...I was on 3rd gear the whole time! After that really embarassing moment I learned to use the gears on the bike and the rest of the journey was much smoother.

When we reached home at last (after a very delicious meal at Pioneer's Park thanks to Chee Peng and family) it was around 9:40pm. Because it was summer time, it actually didn't get very dark even then although Ryan and Kah Fatt had their bike lights on already. If it was winter time it would have already been dark when we left (at around 5:40pm)...but then again, if it was winter time biking would be the last thing we'd do... I thought my bones were going to shatter into a thousand pieces when I finally got back to my room, I was so tired! But surprisingly my body didn't ache much today (I think I ached more from dance practice, hah!) although I will have to avoid sitting on hard surfaces for a few days.

Next on my to-do list before I go biking again? Get a more comfortable bicycle seat!

Missing in action

It has been a long, looooong time since my last entry. As usual I have no excuse for it except plain old laziness. The last few weeks have been a mixture of excitement and boredom. In a nutshell, the Midwest Games came and went. We girls won bronze in the Midwest Games basketball competition while our men proudly won the basketball gold medal for the 4th consecutive time. That weekend was like the highlight of my summer (how sad)! There was so much unfairness and rough-play during the games it wasn't even funny. You'd think 20-year olds would play basketball like civilized beings but oh man you couldn't be further from the truth. And the referees didn't make it any better...we saw a few who couldn't ref to save their lives, like the dude who blew the whistle on my team mate for 3-second violation...in our own court! She was defending our basket at the time, sheesh! But there was also this really cute ref too, haha, so at least it wasn't that bad.