A Sea of Cucumbers

A Sea of Cucumbers is migrating!

2007-07-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

I've decided to move my blog to wordpress.com...simply because it looks sleeker and I like the themes there better. Blogger has been great, don't get me wrong. If anyone's even still reading my blog...haha...I'm moving it here.

Time to mow the lawn

2007-06-19T14:56:00.000-05:00

Oddly, it took me a few seconds to confirm that I didn't spell "mow" incorrectly...somehow it looked weird... Well anyway, the point is, I haven't updated my blog for a long time, and it's growing grass and getting moldy (ugh), so I thought it's time to throw a few sentences around and claim that I've blogged.

So I have less than two weeks till D-Day, and I still don't really know how I'm going to organize my presentation. At least I'm at a better situation now than a couple of weeks ago when I still had chapters to write. All the same, I don't think I can resume breathing and eating normally until D-Day is over. It kind of feels like I'm going to a match-making session in two weeks and I still have 20 pounds to shed.

ICSE 2007

2007-05-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

Here are just some pictures from the 2007 International Conference of Software Engineering. Actually, mostly just the food we had while at the conference, haha.

Rude rude rude people

2007-05-25T10:50:00.000-05:00

Here I am in Hilton Minneapolis, attending the 2007 International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). Here gathers hundreds of smart, knowledgeable, and supposedly highly-civilized software engineers (or would-be software engineers). Despite the fact that we can do complex analysis of thousands of lines of code and that we have countless methodologies for soughting out tricky bugs in software systems, we simply cannot get our asses in the room for presentations ON TIME. As the talk is going on, people CONTINUOUSLY walk in, opening and shutting the door CONSTANTLY, and this about DRIVES. ME. MAD. I mean, why even bother coming into the room when it's well over 30 minutes into the talk? Why leave when there's only about 10 minutes left to the talk?? You've sat there listening to it for over 45 minutes, surely it won't kill you to spend another 10 minutes in your seat. Just STOP OPENING AND CLOSING THE DOOR for goodness sake!

Interesting facts

2007-05-19T13:50:00.000-05:00

If you have some time on your hands and don't mind watching a hottie "teach" you some interesting facts about internet porn, check this out. ;) Very tastefully presented, in my humble opinion. And do keep an eye out on how they spell Malaysia. ;)

Speechless

2007-05-18T15:19:00.000-05:00

Read this.
I.
Have.
Nothing.
To.
Say.

On second thought...has anyone noticed that this kind of things usually only happen in backward countries? With this kind of thinking it's no wonder they're so poor and backwards, and I think they deserve to remain that way. Just my personal opinion.

Run run run

2007-05-10T13:27:00.000-05:00

Do you know the feeling...oh you know, that feeling where it's like the sky is becoming closer to the ground, the air has become still, you can feel the prickle of every strand of hair on your arms, sweat starts to trickle down the sides of your head...that feeling...of impending doom.

Nah, I'm just exaggerating. While I am racing against time to graduate this summer, it's not really doomsday. It just seems like there are so many loose ends in my research that needs typing up. It's one thing to run a bunch of experiments, it's another to analyze the data and come out with a set of observations and draw conclusions from them. And it's a totally different thing to present so many thoughts in words in clear and organized manner.

Wish me luck as I continue racing...

My "YEAH" song

2007-04-30T23:14:00.000-05:00

When I feel pek check, this song always picks me up and gets me going. ;)

Stepping into the real world

2007-04-28T17:27:00.000-05:00

Recently Wei Wei wrote a post on her blog about feeling nervous at the thought of stepping into the working world. I guess I can totally echo that thought. After so many years of student life, all of a sudden (well, ok, not that sudden) we're actually going to do something in the real world! Work! Earn money! Be productive! I stress out just at the thought of it. Am I going to be able to cope with the demands on my future job? Can I fit in with the rest of the team? Will my colleagues think I'm stupid? Will my manager dislike me? Will I get my H1B visa? All these questions rage in my mind everyday, together with other questions like "am I going to graduate in time?", "how am I going to finish my thesis??"... It's enough to drive anyone up the wall.

But deep down, I think we'll be fine. Despite all these worries and uncertainties, I think we'll cope, in the end. We didn't go through twenty four years of life to break down like that.

The Sanjaya Phenomenon

2007-04-21T01:10:00.000-05:00

Ok. I admit that I don't follow American Idol, but I just could not ignore the so-called "Sanjaya Phenomenon". He was said to be supported by young girls and people like Howard Stern. Anyway, just out of curiosity I decided to check him out on YouTube.

Turns out I didn't think he wasn't so bad! I actually liked this performance...it's not easy to carry that tune, and he has a beautiful smile! Haha! Although he has been voted off American Idol, I'm sure this won't be the last we've seen of him.

A little too late, isn't it?

2007-04-11T10:03:00.000-05:00

I was doing my daily browsing of The Star when I came across this article: "Bad English added to list of things Beijing Olympic officials want to ban". I thought it was a joke when I first read the title. Olympics is next year, so isn't it a little bit too late to start working on improving your English now?

Videos

2007-03-29T00:49:00.001-05:00

Malaysian Night 2007

2007-03-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

It's either an honor or a sign that it's time for me to leave Lincoln...but either way, last night was the 5th Malaysian Night I participated in, and I've got to admit that it's still as much fun (although I was spared many headaches by not being in the committee, haha) as participating it for the first time. Here are some pictures.

Wallpaper

2007-03-07T23:04:00.000-06:00

This is my latest wallpaper...it's basically constructed from a couple of different small pictures. If anyone would like to get a copy of it in 1280x800, just leave me a comment and I'd be happy to share.

The Notorious MSG

2007-02-23T15:26:00.000-06:00

Recently a friend sent me a cute music video of a funny song called Dim Sum Girl. It was so cute and innocent, so imagine my surprise when I learned that the band that sang this song is actually a rapper band from Chinatown, New York!

If you'd like to sample their songs, click here. Listen to the lyrics! I tried to find the lyrics to Chinatown Hustler, but I couldn't find it. But here's a snippet of lyrics from their other song called Straight Out of Canton.

i am the man
goddamn
hong kong fever the son of sam
try to catch me if you can
i killed ten people with a frying pan

It never ceases to amuse me that the words "Motherf****r" and "eat a bowl of Chow Mein" can appear in the same song. GO MSG. :D

新年快乐！

2007-02-11T21:34:00.000-06:00

恭喜发财！万事如意！身体健康！年年有余！

It's that time of the year that makes me wish again and again that I'm back home. This is the 5th consecutive year I'm missing Chinese New Year celebration with my family and friends in Malaysia. I think back to the times before 2003 and I feel like I had totally taken for granted the opportunity to celebrate it with them last time. I never bothered to find out what are some of the traditional practices or how to prepare CNY dishes--I just blindly followed. I miss my grandma's special curry chicken and "giam chai ak" (a.k.a. "salty vegetable duck")...believe it or not, despite enjoying it for over 15 years, I never found out how she prepared them! I never even helped her out in the kitchen! If I had the opportunity to celebrate Chinese New Year back home one of these years, I will definitely make it a point to be more involved in the preparation instead of just waiting to enjoy it like the rest of the "younger generation" in the family.

But, nevertheless, I'm grateful for having friends here in Lincoln to celebrate with too! Once you're outside, friends really are the closest thing you have. I'm looking forward to pigging out with my friends here soon!

To Mike and GUESS

2006-12-03T20:27:00.000-06:00

Mike,

Hi! Thanks for the message. My Chinese name is 陈慧妮...you almost got it!

GUESS,

Gee, I have no clue who you are. Some hints?

Killer son

2006-10-16T13:27:00.000-05:00

For those who haven't read CNN recently, here's a link to the story I'm about to comment on.

So this 22-year old guy shot his entire family dead. It really makes you wonder, what drives a person to kill the closest people he has on earth? Is he out of his mind? High on drugs? Being just plain sick doesn't cut it. I mean, I've had people calling me sick because of my love for gory movies, but it's not like I will take a gun and blow my family away anytime soon. How sick do you have to be to actually do something like that? It's a mystery. And this is not the first time something like that has happened either.

If I'm a psychologist, I'd want to study the minds of people who blew away their close ones. What pushed them over? What made them even think of doing it? Did they hallucinate that their victims are aliens here to destroy planet earth? I can go on forever and come up with a million ideas, but I bet none of them will hit close to home.

You've goat to be kidding me

2006-09-15T13:42:00.000-05:00

This post is really courtesy of Alvin and BBC News.

Sudan man forced to 'marry' goat

A Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal.

The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up".

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

"Your blog grow grass lor!"

2006-09-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

I see I have neglected my blog for a few months now. More than one person has commented that my blog has grown grass...haha! Oh well.

Naturally, a lot has happened since June 30th. I went home for a month, I came back with my brother, classes started, and all that good stuff.

The best thing that happened this week, though, is that my Jay Chou album has arrived! Named Still Fantasy, it boasts some pretty funky songs (Indian-Chinese song, anyone?). My personal favorite is Qian Li Zhi Wai, a duet with a veteran Chinese singer. The girl in the MV for that song is really pretty...I think she looks a bit like my mum when she was younger! Hehe!

The second best thing that happened this week is the launch of the new Ipod Nanos! I can't wait to get my hands on the apple green Nano! ;)

Hips Don't Lie...indeed

2006-06-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's kind of funny that the guys in this clip can shake better than most of the girls in it. ;)

As seen on Break.com

French manicure

2006-06-18T01:46:00.000-05:00

I'm totally in love with french manicure.

World Cup 2006 online

2006-06-13T15:07:00.000-05:00

Stuck at work while your friends are watching World Cup matches on tv at home? ;) I found a peer-to-peer live television software called TVUPlayer (find the link to download it at http://ghacks.net/2006/06/09/worldcup-preparations) that has ESPN, ESPN2, CCTV-1, and CCTV-5 that broadcasts live World Cup matches. So you can watch the matches online! :) The streaming is fast and quite clear, it's like watching tv, except you're in the office. Hehe!

A day in Omaha

2006-06-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

After a long day of shopping (thank you Alvin!!!), the best thing to do is to sit back and enjoy a great meal, which was exactly what we had today.

Delicious! :)

Equilibrium: WATCH IT

2006-05-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

If you haven't watched Equilibrium (a film out in 2002), you don't know what you've missed. I saw it today and I was just totally blown away! I haven't seen such beautiful action scenes since The Matrix.

Christian Bale was awesome in this movie...quiet, deadly, passionate, dangerous, fluid, strong...all at the right places in the right doses. Beautiful.

The all-new Yahoo Beta

2006-05-12T14:15:00.000-05:00

I know we've all converted to Gmail but I couldn't resist raving about the new look of Yahoo Beta! It's clean, and best of all, it looks like a web-based Mozilla Thunderbird!

I'm a sucker for cool designs (as opposed to functionality and coolness like Gmail), I really am. ;)

Sick

2006-05-09T14:32:00.000-05:00

As I did my daily browsing of CNN this morning, I was shocked and totally sickened by this article about a man who cut a willing victim up and ate him (not before the victim and the killer had dined on the victim's penis together though). After reading this article, all I could think of is...who is sicker? The willing victim or the killer??? How sane can you be if you responded to the killer's advertisement on the internet to offer to have yourself killed and eaten? And how SICK do you have to be to actually dine on your own flesh WITH the killer??? Blekkk!!!

What's wrong with people nowadays?! What's wrong with good old steak???

10 Nude Scenes that We Didn't Need to See

2006-05-08T14:56:00.000-05:00

Being the avid Hollywood fan that I am, I stop by entertainment.msn.com every now and then to get the latest scoop on celeb gossip and news as well as my personal favorite, the Undressed! section where they feature celebrities with their horrendous outfits. Today, I nearly choked on my own tongue in laughter as I read this article: 10 Nude Scenes that We Didn't Need to See. It's a must-read! The author has an excellent sense of humor--she managed to make me appear like an idiot trying to stiffle my laughter in the office.

Enjoy!

Change your theme at your own risk

2006-04-25T18:19:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to drop a quick note here to clarify that if you choose to follow my instructions to change your Windows XP theme, you do so at your own risk! ;) Today my anti-virus program crashed (well, it refused to turn on, I consider that crashing). I don't know if it's just coincidence or that some system files got corrupted when I mucked around with the theme and the other programs...but whatever it is, just be careful! :P

Imitation Mac

2006-04-24T23:53:00.000-05:00

For those who know me, perhaps you've heard me say at least once how much I love Mac design but at the same time how I cannot live without Windows (sigh). Today, I mucked around with Windows XP themes and realized (much to my delight) that there are loads of stuff out there that can make your Windows desktop look anything but! Don't believe me? Check out the screen shot below:

Did you do a double take? If you don't look at the task bar, this looks just like a Mac...but wait! What's the Windows-looking taskbar doing there?? Haha...! This is actually my Windows XP desktop after the makeover, isn't it the coolest thing? ;)

In case you're interested, here's what I did to get this look:

1) First of all, I downloaded a patch to enable Windows XP to use unsigned themes (i.e. themes not created by Microsoft). You can follow these steps, or if you can also do it with a Multipatcher like this one.

2) Before proceeding, you need to have finished Step 1, otherwise it won't work. Then go online and google for your favorite theme. I used this, the Jaguar theme. For additonal visual styles (you can use the Jaguar theme and combine it with another visual style if you prefer another look), you can check out this awesome site. Iceman's site has some pretty good installation instructions to refer to.

3) After you've copied the theme and visual style files to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\ folder, you should be able to use them by right-clicking your desktop and then click on Properties > Themes. You can choose your theme here, and for your visual styles, click the Appearance tab and choose from the Windows and Buttons menu.

4) There are more cool stuff that you can do. For example, like the dock at the bottom of the screen? ;) You can get it here. Like the shadow beneath your windows? Try this. To make them appear everytime you boot up, though, you need to drag the executables for these two programs to your Start > Startup menu.

5) Can't get enough? I even went as far as to get Messenger:Mac skin for my MSN Messenger 7.5, hehe! You can get that here.

There are still countless things you can do, like getting the Y'z Toolbar so that your taskbar looks more convincing (I'm happy enough the way mine is now though). You can also get Mac icons, just google.

So...yeah, it's kind of sad, haha, that I have to have a fake Mac, but hey at least it looks pretty! ;)

My new favorite song

2006-04-22T13:48:00.000-05:00

I think more than one person went "wtf???" when they visited my blog these couple of days. A friend offered to visit my blog more often if I take down that Hokkien song. It was amusing. Haha!

So after blasting visitors with Hokkien song for a few days, I've decided to put my new favorite song here instead. This is a not-so-new song by Eason Chan, titled "This day next year" (literally translated from Mandarin).

若这一束吊灯倾泻下来　或者我已不会存在
即使你不爱　亦不需要分开
若这一刻我竟严重痴呆　跟本不需要被爱
永远在床上发梦　余生都不会再悲哀

人总需要勇敢生存　我还是重新许愿
例如学会承受失恋

明年今日别要再失眠　床褥都改变
如果有幸会面　或在同伴新婚的盛宴
徨惑地等待你出现

明年今日　未见你一年　谁舍得改变
离开你六十年　但愿能认得出你的子女
临别亦听得到你讲再见

repeat

在有生的瞬间能遇到你　竟花光所有运气
到这日才发现曾呼吸过空气

I miss home

2006-04-20T22:25:00.000-05:00

Bad Day

2006-04-17T01:00:00.000-05:00

Where is the moment we needed the most
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost
They tell me your blue skies fade to grey
They tell me your passion's gone away
And I don't need no carryin' on

You stand in the line just to hit a new low
You're faking a smile with the coffee to go
You tell me your life's been way off line
You're falling to pieces everytime
And I don't need no carryin' on

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Well you need a blue sky holiday
The point is they laugh at what you say
And I don't need no carryin' on

You had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day

(Oh.. Holiday..)

Sometimes the system goes on the blink
And the whole thing turns out wrong
You might not make it back and you know
That you could be well oh that strong
And I'm not wrong

So where is the passion when you need it the most
Oh you and I
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
You've seen what you like
And how does it feel for one more time
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day
Had a bad day

My Five Factor Personality Profile

2006-04-05T22:38:00.000-05:00

Extroversion:

You have medium extroversion.
You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party.
Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences.
But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time."

Conscientiousness:

You have medium conscientiousness.
You're generally good at balancing work and play.
When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.
But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.

Agreeableness:

You have high agreeableness.
You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.
Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.
You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.
In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.
You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.
A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!!!

2006-04-05T14:56:00.000-05:00

Today Ryan turns a ripe old age of 24...cheers! You're going to have to run quite a few extra miles after the cake and dinner today, Ryan! :P Hehe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALVIN!!!

2006-03-31T12:04:00.000-06:00

Today Alvin turns a ripe old age of 24! :D Hehe! Alvin, hope you will have an extra good day today! :D

Peaches

2006-03-22T13:04:00.000-06:00

After staring at this picture on my bedroom wall for almost a year, I finally completed this painting yesterday.

The death of our snowman

2006-03-21T17:49:00.000-06:00

Sin Yee came home today and I wanted to show her our snowman whose birth I so carefully documented last night. So we went out to the balcony, and just as I was pointing proudly to it, a guy approached the snowman with a shovel, and before I could even properly introduce him to Sin Yee, the guy just started whacking our snowman with the shovel! Sin Yee and I just stared at the gory scene with our mouths hanging open. The idiot from hell completely destroyed our beloved snowman, then laughed and went back to his car, which was packed with a few other mentally challenged young men like himself.

I'm enraged! FURIOUS!!! At first I was just sad (for a split second I felt like bursting into tears), then I started feeling angry...and started to think of various ways I would like to see those guys die. I HATE THOSE PEOPLE!!! I hope our snowman visits them tonight and strangles them!

BIG snowman!!!

2006-03-20T21:53:00.000-06:00

It snowed and snowed today...and we have LOTS of snow! At 8pm today, Ryan, Chi Min, Alvin, and I went out to the side of our apartment building and built a snowman!

Below is the making of our beloved snowman:

1) Roll up a BIG snowball.

Ryan and Chi Min rolling up the snowball. It's rather heavy!

2) Roll up a second, smaller snowball, and stack it up on the big one.

Alvin, Chi Min, and Ryan stands proudly around the half-finished snowman. At this point we were still having some debates regarding its gender. (Ahem)

3) Pat the snow to make it firm and round.

Chi Min, Ryan, and me .

4) Put on the eyes and nose.

Chi Min carefully performing delicate plastic surgery on the snowman's right eye, which was nearly destroyed by Alvin (tsk tsk).

5) Finally! It is done, and we stand proudly with our lovely snowman!

Isn't the snowman big and tall??

Our proud snowman.

My poor snowman

2006-03-20T16:54:00.000-06:00

Just yesterday I posted a picture of my beloved mini snowman...and today it snowed so heavily that *sniff* it's now completely (well, almost) covered in snow! :(

Snowman

2006-03-19T23:10:00.000-06:00

This is my fourth year in Lincoln and yet I've never made a snowman before. Today, I finally had the chance to make one (albeit a mini version)! Sin Yee and I went out to our balcony and made a snowman on our table. The snow was wet and easy to pack, the perfect texture for making snowmen! :D Below is a picture of our snowman, proudly sporting peanuts as eyes, dried chilli (which crumbled to bits in the process of being "planted" on the snowman's face) as a nose, and a pair of sturdy plastic forks as hands.

Our proud snowman and its cuddlly companion

Running after time

2006-03-19T13:55:00.000-06:00

Before I could say "Winter Break!", Spring Break has rushed by. Many times I wake up in the morning and groan, "Is it March already??". For some mysterious reason, time seems to fly this semester. A blink of an eye, it's 4pm and almost time to pack up. It's insane.

This is like a familiar childhood dream...you run and run and run but you can never catch up with the person in front of you. In this case, the person in front of me is time. But really, sometimes it's not so much of "I don't have enough time to do this and that"...it's more like, "I have time on my hands but I don't want to use it to do this and that", which is worse. When I should be doing homework, what do I do? Read novels online. When I should be researching, what do I do? I check my email...and the list goes on. I don't know why I'm so...lazy...or is it...unmotivated? Why?? It's frustrating, and scary. I know, I know, I need self discipline...but heck, there's nothing to motivate me to discipline myself! Woe is me.

Malaysian Night 2006

2006-03-06T20:30:00.000-06:00

Finally...the big day came and went...it seemed like not long ago we were just starting to prepare for it. Now, it's nothing but a memory!

Nice song

2006-02-19T23:55:00.000-06:00

Fell in love with this song. It's just beautiful.

(若不是因為愛著你) 怎麼會夜深還沒睡意
每個念頭都關於你我想你想你好想你
(若不是因為愛著你) 怎麼會有不安的情緒
每個莫名的日子裡我想你想你好想你
愛是折磨人的東西卻又捨不得這樣放棄
不停揣測你的心理可有我姓名
愛是我唯一的秘密讓人心碎卻又著迷
無論是用什麼言語只會只會思念你
(若不是因為愛著你) 怎會不經意就嘆息
有種不完整的心情愛你愛你 (愛著你)

Listen to it here.

Happy Valentine's Day

2006-02-15T23:37:00.000-06:00

Receiving flowers is one of the few joys of being a girl, hehe. :)

Candlelight dinner with Sin Yee, Alvin, and Ryan.

Penang Hokkien podcast!

2006-02-15T16:00:00.000-06:00

I realized I just threw in the dance video there in the previous entry without any explanations... :P So for those of you who are slightly lost, that's the Chinese dance that we performed at the 2005 Midwest Games. If you go to google video and type "Chinese dance", this is the first video that pops up!

On another note...for some reason I've been obsessed about the Hokkien dialect for the past couple of days. Today I stumbled upon a true gem...a Penang Hokkien podcast! Please, if you understand Hokkien, it's a MUST-HEAR! John Ong is hilarious, and listening to all the people speak Penang Hokkien made me miss home so much!!!

Another funny Hokkien-related site I came across is this Hokkien blog. Hilarious, but the Hokkien on the blog is more like KL-Hokkien. Still, try reading it out loud...you'll have a few seconds of laughs at least. ;)

Happy Valley

2006-02-14T12:13:00.000-06:00

About me

2006-02-12T02:01:00.000-06:00

I've always liked reading horoscopes and playing around with all those so-called personality tests...here are a few results from recent tests I took:

依你的出生日期,轉換成星期幾,然後來分析個性
星期六女人

外表上帶著一種神祕感，不易讓人窺視內心世界
個性獨立自主且真性情，難以抗拒的歷練與智慧
外表冷豔內心熱情澎湃

如果投入了一愛情關係，會變成不折不扣的女人
努力專心的以愛情為主

人生歷練通常極為豐富，冷靜理智心胸十分開闊
不會凡事計較怨天尤人

十二星座都有不為人知隱藏的一面
有時獅子座的人會一副狀況外的樣子，

其實他在裝傻，很多事情他都看在眼裏。所有事情他都很清楚，可是並不會介入，明哲保身。獅子座會以裝傻或哈拉的方式就過去了，其實獅子座的人是很聰明的，他很怕後續會有的很多的麻煩。

快來看看你是屬於那一種朋友
洞察人心的神秘派

在團體中，你的話並不多，甚至別人對你的印象都是「神秘」。其實你並不是不喜歡和人群在一起，只是你喜歡躲在一邊觀察，所以你非常能看出別人心裡在想什麼。你也喜歡和別人討論命理、星座、占卜之類的學問。

人不是十全十美的，找出你容易有怎樣的人格障礙
你容易有『戲劇性人格』

戲劇性人格特質型的人喜歡享受掌聲，害怕寂寞。也非常在意旁人對你的意見想法。你喜歡盡所能地去表現自己，也喜歡站在領導地位，對他人有支配欲，容易對人頤指氣使。有時過於依賴自己的想法去左右周遭，常得罪朋友而不自知。

建議：充實自我的專業技能，自可相得益彰，旁人對你也可由衷地心服口服。

Interesting.... ;)

Dance video

2006-02-12T01:24:00.000-06:00

Here's the video of our dance performance at Omaha. I'm glad I didn't fall flat on my face! :P

Omaha

2006-02-12T01:09:00.000-06:00

Today we went to Omaha to perform at the Chinese New Year party held at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. It was jointly organized by the Chinese students from UNO and two other schools. We decided to stop by Old Market after the performance and indulge in high-calorie foods. :D

What kind of dog are you?

2006-02-12T00:39:00.000-06:00

Wei Wei sent me this really cool site...give your birthday year and date and find out what kind of dog you are. Hehe. Here's my reading:

土佐犬
日本犬類，認真、誠實，但非常頑固，敏捷的判斷力，和機警的行動力是NO.1，不服輸是你的優點也是缺點。

基本性格
你是活潑又充滿活力的，大膽又直接的個性，所以，只要是想做的事，都會去完成；敏捷的判斷力是十二犬種中最優越的，再加上好奇心強，想知道的事一定會徹底調查，直到解開謎團，不服輸的個性讓你的鬥志非常旺盛，一旦說出口的事，一定要做到，若有人來阻止，一定會給予反擊，如果因此而遭人批評的話，你也不會介意，反而會愈挫愈勇，鬥志愈來愈強，但土佐犬最大的缺點便是不會做人，脾氣暴躁，常常發脾氣，事後才又後悔不已。

適合的類型
能帶領調皮的你的只有狼犬型的人，若能真心的接受對方的建言的話，你們就不會產生對立的情況，也可以真正的討論一些問題，對事物有敏銳觀點的吉娃娃最適合作你的下屬，你也會喜歡他的自尊心強的部份，另一方面，要交朋友的話，則可以選擇對朋友有義氣的柴犬，即使不常連絡，當你遇見困難時，他一定會助你一臂之力的，會是你的最佳伙伴。

不適合的類型
最不合的就是多話的博美狗，當他知道你的秘密之後，就會到處跟別人說，也許是太率直了，但這點卻是你所無法理解的。

Personally I think it's quite accurate. The parts I agree with are "只要是想做的事，都會去完成", "好奇心強，想知道的事一定會徹底調查，直到解開謎團", and "土佐犬最大的缺點便是不會做人". My friends, what do you think?

Find out what kind of dog you are here!

Beware of some sites that might not be supported by IE 7.0

2006-02-08T10:45:00.000-06:00

Just a short note...before you jump into the bandwagon of IE 7.0...be aware that some sites might not work...like Wells Fargo online banking... *sob*

Free speech vs. respect

2006-02-08T10:27:00.000-06:00

If you're anyone who reads newspapers lately, you'd have known about the furor over Prophet Muhammed cartoons in Europe. Today a French weekly reprinted the cartoons, and not only that, even printed a new one on the cover. To quote the paper's editor, Philippe Val, "When extremists extract concessions from democracies on points of principle, either by blackmail or terror, democracies do not have long left". My opinion? What a bucket of bullshit.

Of course I support the freedom of expression, of course I feel that everyone has the right to have their voice heard, but at the same time, I feel strongly that we should have the basic respect for each other as human beings. If you know that it's a taboo to portray Prophet Muhammed, why on earth would you want to purposely print it (and again and again)? To uphold democracy? To defend free speech? You don't have to prove that you're an uncivilized a-hole to support free speech! Just because you respect Muslims enough to not print cartoons about Prophet Muhammed doesn't mean you don't have the right to talk about same-sex marriages or abortion, or any of those other contraversial topics. It's just simple, basic respect for fellow residents on earth.

This. Is. Just. Plain. Sad.

Best wishes Keat Siang and Wei Jet

2006-02-08T01:32:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow Keat Siang and Wei Jet will leave for California...

IE 7.0

2006-02-08T00:29:00.000-06:00

Finally! IE finally has tab browsing! :D Click here to try it out!

Firefox != IE

2006-02-06T23:37:00.001-06:00

A couple of days ago I posted the video of our potluck...and had been wondering how to stop it from starting automatically when the page is loaded. I tried and tried and it just stubbornly refused to not start automatically. Then today I realized...it was because I was viewing the page wih Firefox...when I tried with IE, it worked like a charm. I was like, grrr... The layout also turned out better when viewed with IE. Sheesh. So if you're using Firefox and feel annoyed by the video clip...don't blame me!!! :P

Committee and friends :)

2006-02-06T23:23:00.000-06:00

Here's a picture of the cute members of the 2005-2006 NUMSA committee. :)

From left: Adam (birthday boy), Omar, Arjun, Ryan, Moh Yin, Ling Chiu, Jing Chyuan, Joleyn, Sin yee, Michael, Hooi Ling, Ai Pheeng, Chi Min, and me

Go Go Malaysian Night! ^-^

Pictures

2006-02-06T00:45:00.000-06:00

Today we had lots of fun with the camera. :)

"Lou Sang"

2006-02-06T00:06:00.000-06:00

This evening Sin Yee and I hosted a CNY potluck dinner. The main attraction was the yee sang that Sin Yee brought back from Malaysia. Here's a video we took before the dinner.

Chinese New Year meal

2006-01-31T14:42:00.000-06:00

Last night we went to Shogun for our kind-of-belated Chinese New Year meal! We ordered 6 rolls and 4 sushi (yum!!!!). Enjoy~

Maui roll, Caterpillar roll, and Spider Maki roll.

Tsunami roll, Houston roll, another roll that I forget...(hehe), Salmon sushi, Tamago sushi, and 2 other kinds of sushi that I forget.

Sin Yee, Chi Min, Alvin, and me!

It was a memorable dinner....Happy Chinese New Year everyone! :)

Chinese New Year 2006

2006-01-25T19:54:00.000-06:00

Let me start off with a hearty "Gong Xi Fa Cai"!!! :) Yes, I know I'm over here in the US, in a small city called Lincoln right slap in the middle of the states, but it's Chinese New Year all the same, just minus the cookies, relatives, and ang pows. But despite the festivity, there's something that bugs me... some of my friends had asked me "Why don't want to come back for CNY?".

Ahem.

Hello??? It's the middle of the semester, and despite having quite a large Chinese population here, CNY is nothing to the Americans, hence, it's just another Sunday, so no holiday, period. The closest they would come to celebrating this Sunday would be because it's 2 days from payday. I wish I can go home and celebrate CNY with my family and friends back home, but it's not like I can take the bus for 8 hours and arrive in Penang.

So let me say it for the last time...I want to go home for Chinese New Year, but I can't. Please don't ask me that question again!

Oh, and happy Chinese New Year. :)

My first manicure

2006-01-07T17:13:00.000-06:00

I always walked past the nail salon in Gateway Mall thinking..."Why are there so many people in there? What's so nice about paying big bucks to let other people paint your nails when you can do it yourself?" But I'd always wondered how it feels, and thought of trying it out but just never did. Finally, today, I got a french manicure!

The process was pleasant...it felt so pampering! They even threw in a hand massage! I've never been a spa person...I've never even gotten a facial before in my life...so this was a new experience! I have a feeling I will return for more soon... ;)

rm -r *

2006-01-06T17:40:00.000-06:00

These simple, harmless-looking symbols may not seem very threatening to most people...but they caused me a lot of agony this week. Translated into english, it means "recursively remove everything in this directory". Everything here meant all the scripts and information that I accumulated through the semester for a project....all....f**king....gone. The worst part is...I cannot blame anyone because the idiot who did this was myself.

But as usual....there are always two sides to a coin...because of this incident, I realized how lucky I am. About 10 seconds after I realized my horrible mistake, my office mates were abuzz...trying to help me recover the files and comforting me....friends consoled me, gave me support, helped me write script (hehe)...it was really touching, to say the least.

Thank you all, my precious friends. *hugs*

Void

2006-01-04T01:21:00.000-06:00

Have you ever experienced a complete void of emotions before? There was a period of time when I used to be scared, because I felt so empty of emotions. For a long time I didn't feel especially happy, nor sad, nor angry, disappointment...nothing. Everyday I just went about my business totally blank. I felt scared because I thought I will remain like that for the rest of my life. I wanted to feel, to love, to hate, to be able to feel anger. I wanted to feel like a person. When I could break up with someone over the phone in five minutes and didn't feel the least bit upset, I freaked.

Back in high school, I was a hot-blooded person...I loved and hated with passion. It was during those times that I got hurt the most, by the people I trusted and liked. I think somehow I learned to keep everything inside then. But eventually, I let go, and gradually allowed myself to reach out and start feeling again.

Now...I'm starting to hate it. Being able to feel means being able to be hurt. Being able to be hurt means being vulnerable. And I hate nothing more than being vulnerable. I think...it's time for me to get back into that void...

Perfect world

2006-01-03T15:04:00.000-06:00

In a perfect world, everything is laid out perfectly for us from birth to death. We don't have to lift a finger to achieve anything, don't have to struggle against the tide. We don't have to suffer heartbreak and disappointment, anger, or betrayal. There's no such thing as stress, or hunger.

But we don't live in a perfect world, and that's a fact. Things can go wrong and they do go wrong; sometimes we have to do things that we don't want to; and sometimes we need to give up things that we like for practical reasons. More often than not, to achieve even a simple goal, it feels like you have to swim across the Anlantic Ocean, naked, no less. And heartbreak, disappointment, betrayal...who goes through life without tasting them? Undesirable and painful as they are, it is these hurdles in life that defines us, molds us into who we are, and builds our characters.

The worst thing that one can do when faced with difficult times is to run away. It is like a scene from our childhood nightmares...you keep running, but the monster is always at your heels, snipping and snarling. In an adult world, it is time to suck it up and actually stop, turn around, and face that monster. Because the truth is...no matter how tough something seems to you at the moment, time will eventually wash away the hurt, the pain, the anger, and whatever other emotions that seemed so strong at the time. Time heals, that's a fact, it's just that some people take longer than others. But if you don't tackle the problem once and for all, it will forever be like a scab on your skin, bleeding everytime you pick at it, never really healing.

There have been times that I thought I was never going to be happy again after certain incidents, but I always smile again. That's life. Get over it.

Beautiful

2006-01-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

This image rendered me speechless.

How many computer scientists does it take to unclog a bathtub?

2006-01-01T14:59:00.000-06:00

Here's the million-dollar question again.... So yesterday my bathtub was clogged after I washed my wool clothes in the tub (noooooot smart). I pumped and pumped the tub, hoping that the wool would come up, but the water stayed stagnant. So I left it overnight, and sure enough the next morning the water is all gone. Unfortunately, after taking a shower, I realized the tub has not actually been unclogged. So I stared at the few inches of water in my tub and set off to borrow a pump from Alvin. But alas, I didn't know how to use the damn pump! It was so hard to push down, so I asked for help. Alvin came up and helped me pump for...at least 15 minutes. The water went down about an inch, and I thought, yay, happy ending! BUT, the joy lasted for only half an hour because the water stopped going down after that. So...in the evening Ryan came over with yet another pump in hand and set to work. After about 2 minutes, he asked me, "Why is the handle for the plug up?" and he pushed it down. Immediately we heard the welcomed gush of water, and within 30 seconds, all the water in the tub was gone. SO...apparently, what happened was...I must've accidentally moved the handle while I was washing my clothes...so of course the bloody tub was clogged...I plugged it!

Oh well.

Happy New Year!

2005-12-30T22:43:00.000-06:00

Where do I even begin? 2005 has been a most...eventful year in my life so far. First, I began 2005 as a graduate...then I got my first real web development job (although it was just for the summer). I can't begin to describe how much I learned from this job - some realities of development outside of the classroom, working with people, meeting clients...etc. This summer has been a much-needed break for me away from the classroom too...everything was going fine...then I had to have that seizure in mid-June, which racked up medical bills that caused me more headache than the seizure itself! Thank god St. Elizabeth hospital had such a wonderful financial aid program.

Then August came and I began life as a masters student. I quickly realized that it's not as easy as undergraduate had been...but it's fun too...more independence, more exploration, new friends, new knowledge...it was a lot to absorb. So you can imagine...all the ups and downs for me in 2005...not to mention gaining close friends in the form of Alvin and Ryan (you guys are the best!) and then some. If my good buddy has not been here for me these few recent months, I doubt I would've been able to embrace 2006 with a sane mind (you know who you are, buddy...I thank you with all my heart!).

And then...these will all be set aside in my memory chest as year 2005 once the clock strikes midnight tomorrow...

End of Fall 2005

2005-12-16T15:30:00.000-06:00

Another 8.5 hours and I'll be FREE! Free from classes, that is. The project, which is the reason I'm not free yet, is still half done, so I'm blogging with a heavy heart. Wait a second, you ask, if you're stressing out on a project, why are you even blogging in the first place? You lazy bum! Yup, I'm just blogging because I wish I don't have to do my project. :P

Anyway, to everyone who's already done for the semester, hurray and I'm happy for you! Oh, wait, you don't sense the sarcasm? ;)

Stressed out

2005-11-19T16:04:00.000-06:00

This is how I feel right now. Please let it be the end of the semester already.

iPod Shuffle!

2005-11-15T21:33:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago I signed up for a credit card offer...free 512Mb iPod Shuffle after first purchase with the card! I thought it was too good to be true, but I applied anyway...and it really came! Right now I'm uploading music to my new Shuffle...after some painful examination of the user guide. Perhaps it's a universal rule, if it's not confusing enough, it's not a good user manual. Sheesh.

There's such a thing as "too messy"

2005-11-13T23:29:00.000-06:00

I've always been a messy person. Those who've seen my apartment/room would certainly agree (you know who you are!). But today I realised there is such a thing as being too messy. I was navigating my way through my room while talking on the phone when I accidentally stepped on a magazine, which slid out and I suddenly found myself proposing to my door. Since I wasn't expecting to be in this position, my toes were folded painfully underneath my foot, and it *bleep*-ing hurt like a *bleep*!!!

So the moral of this story is...it's definitely time for me to tidy up my room. Sigh.

How many graduate students does it take to refill a stapler?

2005-11-11T15:20:00.000-06:00

I used to think that the question "How many X does it take to change a light bulb?" is stupid...I mean, I usually don't get the joke...except maybe the ones involving lawyers, haha. Anyway...I never knew I would actually experience this in real life. :D

So...at our software engineering lab, we have a little cupboard with some basic office supplies. One of them, is a huge-ass stapler which apparently needs to come with a user manual. Anyway, so it ran out staples, and we wanted to refill it. Two PhD students tried their hands on it yesterday with little success. Then today during lunch time, Maddie and I tried...and tried and tried and tried, with no success! We examined the staple up and down, side to side, and we just couldn't figure out how on earth to fill the thing with new staples! After that Beng also tried...and finally...Joey managed to fix the thing. It was simple actually...all you needed to do was to pop the staples in before inserting the spring thing (ah, it's hard to describe), while before that we were trying to insert the staples after the spring thing.

Anyway the whole process took about half an hour. I just thought it's hilarious...that we needed SIX people (4 PhD students and 2 Masters students, no less!) to figure this out! You'd think a simple task as this would be less of a pain in the ass.

Hilarious

2005-11-07T21:53:00.000-06:00

Here's a joke to share...

A couple is doing yard work and the wife goes to take a shower. Her husband is looking for a rake and can''t find it. He yells up to his wife, but she motions to him from the window like she can''t hear. So he points to his eye, hits his knee, and then makes raking motions. ("I need the rake.") She replies by pointing to her eye , grabbing her left breast, slaps her ass, then rubs her crotch. The man is confused and runs upstairs.
"What? What was that?"

"Eye, left tit, behind, the bush."

- Jokes.com

Nothing like a busy weekend to make me start blogging again

2005-11-05T15:49:00.000-06:00

Have you ever experienced this: you're busy like hell, but you find yourself suddenly paying attention to other totally unimportant, trivial things in your life, like your dusty computer monitor that has been dusty for ages but never bugged you enough to clean it before, messy room that suddenly seems too messy to stand, emails that has been sitting in your inbox forever that you seem to have to answer now, old pictures that suddenly seem soooooo interesting, the blog that you've left untouched for god-knows-how-long...you get the drift? Well, I know it has a name...denial/avoidance...call it whatever you want, it's the same thing...and I'm currenly stuck by a severe bout of it. I've been "working" on a summary of a paper since...forever. Other people would've come out with a whole freaking paper by now. Anyway, I'm praying (but not sure to who...just to the general skyward direction I guess and hope that someone will pick up the signal) that I will have the willpower to overcome this.

First Encounter of the....police officer

2005-11-03T20:23:00.000-06:00

There! I can finally say that I'm a fully qualified driver now! I've been stopped by police! For what? *drumroll* If you were expecting speeding or any of those glamorous crimes, you'd be disappointed...apparently I didn't turn on my head lights! I was so surprised, and come to think of it, he had his blinkers on for a while before following me into my apartment parking lot and finally stopping me. The officer asked for my ID, proof of insurance, that sort of thing. I wasn't scared though, because I've never been stopped before and I knew that headlights was no biggie, plus I only drove back from Oriental Market, which is only a few blocks away. Anyway he checked out my records and everything and said he's letting me off with a warning. Next time I'll have to be more careful. A plus, though, is that the officer was actually quite hot! Haha!

One big cucumber coming up!

2005-11-03T00:11:00.000-06:00

Okok...this time I've been away for so long that I think I've probably lost the already few readers of my blog. :( I didn't mean to! Pictures speak more than words....and here are some of things that are constantly on my mind lately...

What....another homework?!

Hmm....maybe I should just do this tomorrow...

Hmm....what should I have for lunch/dinner?

NOOOOOOOO....it's due TOMORROW?!

Oh well, you get the idea... ;)

Name generators and other shit

2005-09-27T13:06:00.000-05:00

Everyday I visit Alvin's blog, and on the rare instances when he doesn't have a new entry, I secretly curse under my breath--something along the lines of being lazy. :P Then, I think of my own blog and silently apologize to Alvin.

So anyway, today I was browsing on Friendster when I came across this rather interesting buletin entry: Generate your real Japanese name! I thought...now, who wouldn't want to know their real Japanese name? So I hopped over to the site and I am now Miharu Hara (Hara being the family name...how do Japanese people order their names? Family name before first name or...?)! For the very curious minds, the first name means "beautiful clear sky" and the last name means "wilderness". I don't even know if people actually translate the last names this way, but what the heck. :) It sounds like a nice name so I'm happy.

Me and mocha

2005-09-21T10:04:00.000-05:00

The first eight months of this year had gotten me used to not going to school, and I've forgotten my usual "schooling" habits. Until this week, that is. I started craving for coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. I know, coffee is not good, coffee makes my hands tremble...yada yada yada. But I've been puzzled over my lack of energy these past couple of weeks. Until it hit me--I haven't had coffee since I started school last month! It all started this Monday, when I was fighting hard with my eyelids--so I probably looked pretty awful with half-closed eyes and a dangling mouth. So after class I went to the student union and bought myself a grande cafe mocha. After that I fought through the whole day with such rigor and energy that I knew that from now on, coffee will be part of my life again.

My very own zombie movie

2005-09-01T12:36:00.000-05:00

Here it is. The consequence of loving and watching too many zombie movies. Last night I had an awesome dream (I refuse to call it a nightmare because I didn't feel scared at all--in fact, I felt invigorated!).

The dream started off with me visiting a friend at a "farm", and in the middle of the night, I was woken up by thudding and hissing sounds. I got up to investigate, and to my shock and horror, the window (which was covered by a thick piece of cloth) had a hole, and a snake was slithering into the room from the hole! Curious, I actually crouched down and checked out the snake. I vividly remember thinking to myself that this snake is non-poisonous because it doesn't have a triagle-shaped head. Then the next thing I knew, I was holding a chair and crushing the the snake's head with the leg of the chair. *CRUNCH* *SLOSH* [insert own imagination here] Then, enraged, I called the friend whom I was visiting. When he came into the room, he was actually disappointed that I wasn't killed by the snake! Then the story took off from here...I realised that this "farm" was actually this crazy place filled with zombies and people who lured visitors to the farm with only one purpose--to kill them! So I started running--at this point I suddenly had a female companion, but don't ask me who 'coz I can't remember! We tried to run for the exits, but we were closely chased by a few packs of blood-hungry zombies who snarled and growled at us. Then, just when we were about to be trapped in a dead end, we found a couple of tables filled with--you'd never believe this--CDs! Mountains of CDs...there was Jackie Cheung, Jay Chow, movie CDs...you name it. But what we saw were...weapons! So we quickly tore off the packaging and took out the CDs, then when the zombies (and some humans) came, we threw the CDs at them like they were deadly frisbees. Some caught them in the throat, some in the stomache, and they started toppling over...and I was happily hacking away at a zombie's leg with a CD when...

...some bloody idiot decided that it would be cool to call me at 7:00 in the morning! So, there it was, my very first zombie movie, produced, directed, and starred by ME. :P Hahaha!

Somewhere not too far away in a little town called Beatrice I can almost hear someone muttering "Serves you right for watching so many gory zombie movies!". :P

Back in Lincoln and roaring to go...or not

2005-08-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

"It has been nearly two full weeks since I got back from California. I can't believe three weeks went past so fast! Isn't it unbelievable?! Am I the only one who feels that the earth might be spinning faster nowadays?? And scientists said that the earth is actually slowing down (check it out here)!

But anyway, back to little Lincoln here...the first major change here is that Su Hoon has left. :( She's one of my closest friends here in Lincoln, and not having her here is something I find hard to get used to. Su Hoon is most thoughtful, sensitive, and loyal friends I've had and I'm really sorry to see her have to go home when she really wanted to stay in the states. I can only wish her all the best in Malaysia, and hopefully will get the chance to meet her in the future."

The above two paragraphs had been sitting in my draft folder for a couple of weeks now. Sorry to be absent for so long, but I was so engrossed with my somewhat new, hectic life that the last thing I wanted to do was to sit down and write about it. But anyway, I just came back from The Brothers Grimm, which happened to be the first movie which I watched sitting alone! I actually went with Ryan, Chi Min, Sin Yee, and Joey, but we went so late that the cinema was packed by the time we got in, and there was absolutely no space for five people to sit together. To make it worse, when I went in, it was so dark and I couldn't find Ryan and Chi Min, so I just sat at the nearest empty seat that I could find. It wasn't a bad experience though! The movie was good, sort of a mix of comedy and fantasy. It was sort of like a melting pot for all sorts of fairy tale characters--there were Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Ginger Bread Man, Hansel and Gretel...etc. Cute! Not to mention there were two hot guys--Heath Leadger and Matt Damon--and two gorgeous ladies--Monica Belluci and, uh, somebody I don't know. Hehe.

Well, some of you might have noticed that I've changed my website slightly. I did this because I saw how formal and informative other graduate students' websites are. Unfortunately I'm still catching up with my research project so a "my research" section would probably have to wait at least a couple more weeks. Anyway, the main reason, really, for me to change the layout of my website is because I realised how ugly the pages appear on the Firefox browser and on Linux! Horrible! Now they look ok, still not great, but at least the words don't cover the pictures or run off the tables anymore. :P

Batman! I saw Batman!

2005-07-31T01:21:00.000-05:00

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~

2005-07-21T23:04:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-07-17T16:22:00.000-05:00

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?

2005-07-15T09:49:00.000-05:00

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~

2005-07-14T21:48:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-07-13T09:29:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-07-12T13:33:00.000-05:00

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--;

2005-07-12T12:17:00.000-05:00

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

2005-07-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-07-05T12:45:00.000-05:00

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.

Goodbye Thomas...

2005-06-20T10:51:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-06-13T13:44:00.000-05:00

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

2005-06-13T11:21:00.000-05:00

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.

我的汽车啊

2005-05-20T10:16:00.000-05:00

前几个星期我才花了几乎四百块修理我的汽车，换了个 timing belt。前天，我的汽车的冷气机坏了！天啊！我的心中连连叫苦：不是又要花四百块吧！于是，昨天我的朋友带我到他相熟的 mechanic 那里。我提心吊胆地看着那位 mechanic 研究我的车，如果很仔细地看我的话，大概可以看到几滴汗从我额头上流下来！好不容易地挨过了那几分钟，他终于说道：“Just a burnt resistor, $25 to replace。” 哇！我好开心，真想扑过去给这位伟大的 mechanic 一个拥抱！哈哈哈哈！当然我还需要付 labor 钱，但已经比我想像中的好很多了！

这时我才体会到，有汽车真不是开玩笑的。不但汽油要钱，要常洗车，要买保险，还要有心理准备汽车会随时需要进医院哦！当然我买下这辆汽车的时候已经知道这些东西，但知道和真正体会到还真是不一样的！

怪心情

2005-05-11T12:48:00.000-05:00

这几天一个人在家，不知怎地心情就是特别怪。一会儿无聊，一会儿烦，一会儿心情好得不得了，一会儿愤怒（这是看了神雕侠侣之后）。尤其想到很多朋友这个时候可以回家，真是羡慕极了。结果，本来昨天想好好地整理房间，但只弄好了一小部分就放弃了。到底我想干嘛？逛街吗？又不是啊（而且也没钱逛啦）。看书？在看着啊。找朋友？昨天有啊，但并没有令我好过一些。吃东西？老天，我已经吃得够多了。哟！烦死人了！

说起神雕侠侣，我就禁不住想到以前我刚刚接触金庸的小说的情景。我中学以前一向来不看华文小说，通常都只看 Enid Blyton 的故事书，或是 Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys 之类的书。但上了中学认识了薇薇之后，就开始爱上了卫斯理的小说。然后就开始接触亦舒的小说，到最后才心不甘情不愿地看起金庸。薇薇和涵健可是费了好多口水才终于说服我开始看金庸的小说的哦！好像还是涵健硬把一套的“笑傲江湖”塞给我我才甘愿看的哩。想起来都好笑。

唉！没有话讲了，怪心情啊，求你放过我吧！

呵，大家都毕业了！

2005-05-06T12:56:00.000-05:00

明天早上是毕业典礼。啊，好快。我不是刚毕业吗？眨眼间，一个学期又过了，又有很多好朋友要走了。昨天，一位小学认识的老朋友和我通了几封信，大家都在感叹时间过得很快。可不是嘛，好像才是昨天，我们还是小学生，背着笨重的书包在课室外面排队，见到老师还会弯腰行礼呢。现在，大家大学毕业的毕业，做工的做工，剩下来还在读书的也只剩下一两年就毕业了（呵，除了那些胸怀大志要当医生的人）。接下来是什么呢？还不是结婚生子啰。哈哈！不知谁会是第一个？要想像以前小时候一起玩耍的朋友结婚生子，我还真要停下来好好发挥我的想象力才行呢。

祝福各位明天毕业的好友，愿你们事事顺利！

为什么我事事提不起劲来？

2005-05-05T15:18:00.000-05:00

今天我只上了半小时的班。可笑！其实是老板没有事情给我做，就放了我一天假。我回到家中，也没有什么事情做。其实嘛，是有一大堆的东西等着我做的，但我就是提不起劲来做。最近我都是这副德性，做什么都没有精神，房间一塌糊涂，简直像狗窝。除了上班，我每天回来就是想着晚餐要吃什么，明天午餐要吃什么，你看我！为什么会这样？成天无所事事，人也跟着胖了起来。有人和我说，这是闷的缘故。闷？我闷吗，我问我自己。

以前读书的时候，往往功课都来不及做，哪会去想到“闷”这回事。每天上完课就是赶回来读书做功课，功课永远都堆积如山，做来做去好像永远都做不完。一天只吃两餐，想到功课还没有做就根本没有心情吃东西，不知不觉人也就瘦了下去。减肥完全不费吹灰之力，哈。我想念那种时光吗？或许是吧。但想到，再过几个月，我又会过回那种日子了，所以就放松自己。闷，就让我闷吧。这种日子不会长久，就让我放肆一下吧。

嘿，我是幸福的

2005-05-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

瞧，我又偷懒了。唉，光是说有什么用？我看我就是不能培养写日记的习惯，反正每天都没有什么紧张刺激的事发生，有时候真的是不知道该写些什么。难道写我这天吃了些什么吗？还是写工作的时候做了什么？还是写我今天遇见了谁，和什么人说了什么话．．．啊，流水帐啊。

不过，不知怎么，用华文写，就是有种不一样的味道。也许是我最近常看亦舒的小说，看着看着，不知不觉被她感染了。亦舒和卫斯理就是这一点不一样，卫斯理嘛，看了就只会开始胡思乱想。亦舒就不同了。看了她的小说，会变得很仓桑，会对爱情结婚这种事失去信心，会感慨社会的昏暗，会觉得世界上根本没有“快乐”这回事。听起来，怎么会有人喜欢看这种书呢？看了白伤心。不过，我偏偏就是喜欢，往往一看就是好几个小时，真的废寝忘食，连吃饭冲凉都搁在脑后。嘿，可怕。

还有，她的小说里的人物很多时候不是很痛苦很可怜，不然就是大富大贵千金小姐豪门少爷。不过，不管他们是什么人，总会有个共同点：他们不快乐。看了之后，我都会很庆幸我是我。瞧，我不是很幸福快乐吗？从出生到现在，没有吃过什么苦头，从小娇生惯养。虽然我不是什么千金小姐，但是吃得住的样样都好，父母亲很舍得把钱花在我和弟弟身上，中学毕业了又送我到美国来读书。我还能要求什么？我比亦舒小说里的人物幸福多了。好不容易大学毕业了，很顺利地找到个年轻有为的教授愿意请我做研究生，可以免费读硕士学位。所以我说，我是幸福的。

Intensive training

2005-04-18T13:02:00.000-05:00

It has been nearly a week since my last entry...I've just been really, really lazy. :P Well to summarize what happened last week...all I remember is intensive basketball training. INTENSIVE. We played for about 3 hours on Thursday, almost 5 hours on Friday, and about 3 hours on Saturday...talk about ACHING! By Saturday morning we were aching all over. I'm getting rather excited about the game though. I think these training sessions are helping very much, but I feel that I still have a lot of learn...and improve! I fumble pretty often, and my dribbling is not very stable, and I can't really aim when I try to throw the ball into the hoop. *sniff* But I vow to improve!!! Cheer me on now!!!