Batman! I saw Batman!

Today, my little cousin turns 5. And since I'm conveniently located in CA, I attended his birthday party, which consisted mainly of good Malaysian food, a group of very loud 5-year old boys, lots of blue cake icing which made the kids look like they're from a vampire movie, and Batman. Yep, Batman! Oh, you know, one of those cartoon character people that you can hire by the hour from an agency. :D

When the guy walked in the door, my first reaction was to quickly cover my mouth to stop myself from bursting out laughing. Oh, the guy looked fine...there was absolutely nothing wrong with him except his loose fake muscles (you know how Batman's suit looks like right?) and his too-short pants--which didn't conceal his black laced-up shoes. But other than that, I was surprised to find that the guy really had talent with kids. He managed to get 7-8 5-year old boys--who were all over the house running and yelling before he arrived--to be quiet for nearly an hour! They were mesmerized by the tricks he could do--disappearing crayons, magic colorbook, body painting...etc. He was good, I have to give him that.

The funniest thing had to be...just before the guy left, he asked my uncle if they hired a cartoon character for my cousin's birthday party too last year. My uncle said yes, it was Spiderman last year. The guy went "Yeah, that was me!" Apparently he thought that the driving instructions given to him seemed very familiar! I don't know why, but I find this extremely hilarious.

California~

So here I am...in good old California! This is the break I've been looking forwrd to the whole summer, and how am I spending this much-awaited time? Oh, nothing much, just sitting in Kai Wen's room working, watching DVDs on my own, eating cereal with vanilla flavor soy milk, channel-surfing...yeah, it's quite interesting. :) Haha, nah, it's not as bad as I described, I'm having a very relaxing time, something I haven't had for a while. And working part-time is great...I mean, getting paid during vacation, how cool is that? ;)

Anyhow, we met Jerome and Joyce on the day I arrived in CA. We went for lunch together and then went to a mall to shop. Freakishly, it reminded all of us of Lincoln times...you know, when Joyce and I were roomies and Jerome and Kai Wen were housemates. We used to do that all the time...get up late the morning (or early in the afternoon, depending on your perspective), have lunch then go shopping together, then dinner...etc. Well anyway it was really fun, and sort of heart-warming, to do this again in California.

Well, that's that. I'm looking forward to the weekend like everyone else I guess. :)

After all the anticipation...

Ahem, it's been a little over 24 hours since I finally got my hands on the long-awaited Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book, and I've just finished reading it. When I closed the book, I stared at the purple cover (I took off the green paper cover, which I found annoying because it keeps slipping off) for a few minutes. My mind was a mess, torn between feeling of regret that I finished the book so quickly and the feeling of relief that I finally finished reading the book. I was also torn between sorrow, curiousity, awe, and shock, among other indescribable emotions, brought on by the story which I had anticipated for these many months.

Now I won't give away the story here of course--that is for people to find out for themselves, I would never rob others from the joy of racing through the pages of the book. Nothing is more satisfying than that. In fact, I had to stop myself from reading too fast, a few times I had to stop, take a deep breath, then continue reading in a slower pace so as to not miss any details in the book. However I must say, though, that I did not expect the story to take a turn as it had. Although a horrible friend of mine told me one of the most important plor turns in the book before I started reading it (and I assure you I will NEVER, ever forgive that person for doing this...NEVER), I still felt shocked more than once while racing towards the end of the book. I have to admit, I certainly preferred the more light-weight, cheerful tone of the earlier books (i.e. books 1-3). Ever since book 4, the world of Harry Potter has changed, and I still haven't decided whether I like or dislike this new, more realistic and dangerous world. Of course it is more suspenseful and a whole lot more grown-up, but I guess until I finish the 7th and last book, I cannot make up my mind. There are some parts in the 5th and 6th books that I wish didn't happen, but I'm sure they happened for a good reason, and I shall wait eagerly for Ms. Rowling to disclose why she made them happen the way they did in the final Harry Potter book.

And while I'm waiting, I guess I will continue to ponder some of the details in the 6th book and wait for my laundry to get done, the chicken to defrost, and start packing, in my very un-magical world.

A name for my blog?

I was surfing through a few friends' blogs and realised that most of them have creative and meaningful names...and I was like, "My blog is called 'Hui Nee's blog'???" How creative is that?! Immediately my mind is flooded with different names, the first one being 'A Sea of Cucumbers'...hahahaha. Don't ask me why I have this fixation with seas and cucumbers. :P

Another thought that came to my mind after my sudden naming enthusiasm was this: Have I become less creative as I grow up? *stares at ceiling* I don't know. I've always been proud of my creativity. When I was young, I used to think up all sorts of games when I played with my younger brother. I had (and hoping that I still have) a very active imagination, and I really, really, really, don't want to lose that. But as time goes by and I face more realities of life, I feel that I don't have the luxury of day-dreaming anymore and perhaps have let my creative mind go lazy. I know this is a lame excuse...tonnes of people out there get creative in different areas, but for me, my passion had been drawing and writing, but I can hardly recall the last time I sat down and wrote something. My last drawing--a watercolor painting of a basket of peaches--is now carelessly chucked in some corner in my bedroom.

I feel sad, sad that I've let my (ahem) talents to waste, sad that I have not let it grow, sad that I seem to have lost the passion in what were my favortie hobbies. When I used to write, whenever I turned on the computer (yes, there was a time when I didn't think that computers are useless without having internet connection) to start writing, I would get this tingling feeling of excitement in my whole body and I'd feel energized. I haven't experienced that for years now.

Perhaps I'm thinking too much. All this because of A Sea of Cucumbers? *lol* Man, I really like the sound of this.

I'm going to miss you Pei Ying~

As Pei Ying got out of the car, it suddenly hit me--this was going to be the last time I see her for what's probably going to be a long time. I couldn't help looking at her again, then again, while wishing her a safe journey tomorrow. As Chong Ee's car pulled out onto the dirt road toward my apartment, I wish I'd given her a hug. Since I didn't, I will dedicate this entry to her. I am so, so, so going to miss her.

Batman Begins...

Last night I went to watch Batman Begins with Pei Ying...it turned out to be better than our expectations! Christian Bale rocks as Batman!!! *jumps up and down in enthusiasm* Of all the actors who portrayed Batman, he is by far the best I've seen so far. George Clooney? *roll on the floor in laughter* Puh-leeease.

When I first saw Christian Bale on screen though, my first thought was, "Wait a second! Isn't that Donnie Yen?!" For those who hasn't got a clue who Donnie Yen is, check him out here. Do they have the same face-shape or what?! They look SO alike! And freakishly, they both have an infant daughter each. You know how people say there're always 6 other people in the world who look like yourself...? Well here's two of them! :P

Anyway, it's Wednesday! Meaning there's only 3 more days to Harry Potter! Yeah yeah yeah!!!

You don't have to register to leave a comment anymore!

Thanks to Ryan, I realised that people actually had to register with Blogger to leave a comment on my blog. How annoying is that?! So I finally logged in to Blogger and poked around its settings options...and found out that you can actually decide who can post comments on your blog. And since I've never messed around with these options before, I had no idea...hehe. Well so now you don't have to create a Blogger account to post a comment anymore! Yay!

Lincoln.Population - [Malaysians]Huinee.Friends = Huinee.Happiness--;

Yeah, it's a little nerdy, the title, but it totally expresses my feeling, so why not use it? :) Summer is drawing to an end and fall semester will begin in less than a month. The Malaysians here are leaving one after another. This morning Joyce and Jerome flew off to California, then this Friday Pei Ying will fly off to Minneapolis, later this week Sook Hoon and Keny will leave to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then while I'm in California, Su San will go off to Minneapolis as well. Soon, Su Hoon will also go home to Malaysia for good. All my friends, leaving Lincoln for a better future while the rest of us here slog away in our studies.

I shouldn't be surprised or sad, really. After all, we're all here only to study, and this station--for lack of a better word--of our lives is bound to come to an end. But I like to think that, however brief our encounter was, we've all made an impact in each other's life and will remain good friends as we each follow our own paths in life.

With all this, I can't help thinking about my own life. I still can't shake off that newbie feeling--the feeling that I've only just arrived here! I still remember the first time I saw Joyce--on the sofa with An Sin and Fenni, and the first time I saw Su Hoon--lying on the bed (which we were going to share!) like a dead fish. In the new students' eyes, I'm probably just an old senior who doesn't hang out with them. Truth is, I'm struggling with my own identity...graduating, going into grad school...being 22!!! *sob sob* It's funny how when we were young we always wanted to grow up...but now when I'm at this point of life I'm furiously backpedaling, trying to cling on to yesterday, refusing to admit that I am indeed a 22-year-old who needs to live up with her responsibilities in life. No more shrugging of the shoulders and thinking "oh, pa will take care of that"!

Well, I guess separation is just something everyone has to go through at some point in our lives. *hugs* to all my friends who are leaving...

Another note on Harry

I came across this article on CNN and felt happy. I've never been comfortable with all the Harry Potter merchandise I saw since the release of The Order of Phoenix. It's like they're making use of children's love for the books to cash in! So when I read that this year they won't be having as much stuff for The Half Blood Prince, I'm relieved. After all, "Harry Potter mania is essentially a celebration of reading, a phenomenon created by children, not marketers."--quoted from the article. How true!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince...

Like everybody else who adores the Harry Potter series, I'm waiting eagerly for the release of the 6th book on July 16th. I don't know about other people, but I can't really explain why I'm so anxious for the book. Perhaps it's J.K. Rowling's magic with words, perhaps it's because I love being immersed completely in Harry's world when I read the book, or perhaps it's that "new-book-smell". But most of all, I think it's because I get the chance to let my imagination run wild as I page through the book and let those words turn into real world in my mind. I think Hogwarts resides in some mysterious location in my brain and comes to life everytime I read a Harry Potter book.