mushrooming days are over

so today was orientation.
and everyone is excitedly asking me how is it and why am i not excited for the first day of school.

what is there to be excited?
people, its orientation.

you go and sit in a hall of confused faces,
listen to 12 strangers giving uninspiring speeches trying to convince you that you made the right choice to study at their institution,
you tour around the campus and spot the best sleeping place,
and then you go listen to more strangers talk,
you get your timetable,
and you go home,
with "skipping tomorrow's orientation" in mind.

i am however, very looking forward to official classes. the lectures and debates and 4 days classes. :)

timetable looks crappy, but hey i have friday off so im not complaning!

uni

school starts thursday.
after 2 months of lepaking and dancing and teh sessions uni is starting in like 2 days.

taylors.

i dont know what to expect. i dont know if im anticipating. i know im not excited.

letting a friend down is one of the worst feelings ever.
sorry doesnt just covers it.

good pain, the kind of pain that makes you feel you're improving.

the dance teacher said that i have a 'S'-shaped spine just by looking and feeling my back.
S, not the right shape for a spine.
I told mum, and now she's freaking out. she always suspected something was amiss with my back, because i used to hunch really badly, really really badly, like an old witch, or hunchback of notre dam. S-shaped spine, she said, will affect my ovaries uterus cant have baby back problems in the future bla bla bla bla bla. guess i'll be expecting to get chummy with 50 year old weird smelling chiropracter uncles.

how fun.

spine is not the only problem with me, mum started talking about the weird strecth marks on my inner thighs. 19 year olds should not have stretch marks! this is baffling! i wasnt pregnant, i didnt get fat and thin in a short time, i didnt do anything to get these marks, i dont really care. mum does though.

and now she's talking about the weird arch at the bottom of my feet! it's abnormally high, mum said, "you've got flat foot". mum, people have flat foot because they DONT HAVE an arch. its too high. its dancer's feet. bollocks.

stop scrutinizing my beautiful body mum!

***

bruises and a loney swollen bump on my back.
and shoulder
and the top of my feet, you know, the boney part where your metatarsals (or whatchamacallit) are.

i pulled my inner thigh muscle attemping a failed spilt.
now i walk like a penguin.

contemporary dancing is so much fun! i love it.

is it weird if i tell you i enjoy the pain?

the more dance vids i watch, the more depressed i am.

how the hell do they do that!
i suck so badly.

I WANNA LEARN!! give me time and i shall!

nooo!!!

the tiny icon at the left of my facebook page shows a picture of a very familiar face.
"Christina Chu" it says beside the picture.

Christina Chu is my mum.

my mum has a facebook profile.
my mum has a facebook profile.
my mum has a facebook profile.

wtf! the world as we know is about to change!

here's to hoping that she doesnt add me! >.<

me thinks that the Harry Potter movie is a sad disgrace to the beautifully written book.

and Ice Age is idioticly moronic.

*boycotts Harry Potter movie*

they're awesome that way.

mum and dad purposely teman me all the way to cheras because i said i wanted to order a pair of dancing heels. for some reason mum decided to make a pair herself.

dad purposely drove us all the way there and even though its a new place and none of us have even been there before, he found the way without getting lost. he has one of the best sense of directions ever i dont remember getting lost in his hands. he's like a navigator. he's awesome that way.

we love trekking. fav pic of dad and me. first time he take photos like this. first time he let me take photo of him haha. first and last.

mum actually have their number stored somewhere and called up and got directions. i just mentioned that this affordable shoe shop in cheras and she immediately remembers that she saw in on the papers 2 years back and saw it somewhere. her pile of junk that i always complain about is useful sometimes. she's awesome that way.

when i had short hair. damn long ago. see the resemblance?

Dad knows i love love love satay and purposely turned into Peel Road for some really awesome Kajang Satay to makan but sadly the shop wasnt open. so we had kuey teow, assam lasksa and sup kambing instead.

and we have to go back next week to collect the shoes.

i didnt have to do a thing. i paid though! :)

and i didnt really expect them to teman me go up just to make one shoe and come back to klang again.

but they're really supportive when they know its something im passionate about and its something i need, not want. if its something i want just for fun they wont peduli me. lols!

mum and dad gets really annoying sometimes,
but they're awesome that way. <3

to start from scratch again.

i hate regrets, i try to live life without regrets, i dont have many regrets,

but, i regret not taking up dance classes for that 4 month stint in US. i should have just tough it out and take that one hour bus ride to Aurora and pay that hard earned cash i was saving and go for that one hour dance class and take another one hour bus ride back home.

who knew how much damage 5 months of NOT dancing did. the techniques and alignment i painstakingly got good at after YEARS of practice, now all gone.

and i have to start from step one again. the worst part is i know what im doing wrong when im dancing in front of the mirror but i just cant seem to do it right. freaking hate the fact that i suck at dancing now. haih... i want to go for more classes. :-

people. if you are good at something, be it music or sports or drawing, dont stop practising just because u are busy or lazy. its takes a lot of hard work and time to become good at something, imagine having to go thru the same process all over again, just to get back to the same level as u were before.

ay caramba.

how unexpected :)

went for my first day of work today and instead i got another job offer.

my last target of the day, typical chinese family with mum, dad and lil baby daughter. they were impressed by my super-fast speaking and fluent english and was like "woah, slow down". lol. i tend to speak a lil bit too fast sometimes. and then they say my english very good, their daughter's english no good, son's english also bad, so want me to tutor their kids in english and bm.

BM siao liao cause my bm return to Grace Tay edi.

English ar can consider, but, i dont even know what is past present tense, my has have had is agak agak wan- sound right means right, sounds weird means wrong. that was how i was taught, by my brothers. serious! (coz i didnt learn anything from -2 / nedu)

they didnt seem to mind that im a 19 year old freshie working part time for fun with no teaching experience whatsoever. how nice :) we exchanged numbers.

me, a private tutor. 2 kids. imagine that. im looking forward to it, been wanting to do something like this but...

whats a preposition?

how la!

Los Angeles, California!

LA was our third stop during our not-so-grand west-american tour. we stayed in downtown LA, and walked around discovering nothing much but a very quiet town. People in their power suits talking on their phones, fast food joints lined the streets, and Mexicans in flourescent orange jackets surveying the traffic.

nothing eye-popping really. I spotted some buildings filmed in movies, a very pathetic looking Pershing's Square, the Staples Center got my brother all excited..

Staples Center- where all the sports games, and Micheal Jackson's funeral was held

but the one thing about this places that attracted me was the quaint little ancient, deserted, antique theaters and hotels. I love how these theaters screamed the era of black and white films, and Audrey Hepburn, when movies were called "pictures" and women dressed up in their freshly curled hair and fiery red lipstick, men in their handsome 3-piece.... Closed down it may be, but beautifully preserved..

the Los Angeles Theater- with the last movie sign still intact.

the innards of the LA theater if im not mistaken

a very antique Hotel Clark

one train ride up and we were at Hollywood,
home of more movie theaters that brings back that whiff of nostalgia, though these very old theaters are still busy with screenings......

The El Capitan Theater that also somehow houses a Disney store

The Pantages Theater showing old films

and of course, Hollywood was home of THE Grauman's Chinese Theater.
you know those movie premiers with the red carpet and the movie casts and the paparazi asking them about the movies? and sometimes they go on all fours putting their hands in cement? apparently this is where they do it. VERY impressive theater. they even have guided tours to visit the inside. LOL

Grauman's Chinese Theater- super tourist area.

the inside. its so big play hide and seek also can go missing.

the floor damn nice lo. you can see people going around looking for their fav stars hand and foot print. This theater's been around since Marilyn Monroe's time. and err, i went there 2 days after the Wolverine movie premier. spot the stolen diamond in this pic!


tinseltown was also home of the Hollywood sign *duh!*
street perfomers,


and of course, the star lined streets that is the Walk of Fame.

The simpsons, Victoria's Secret's Angels, and even Kermit the Frog have a star!

My dream and only dream when I left for the US was to visit DISNEYLAND, a very important number on my 100thingstodobeforeidie list.... but, i settled for Universal Studios instead, even though Disneyland was close by. All because the brother happily went to Orlando and played at the LARGEST Disneyland and Universal Studios AND Seaworld without me! didnt want to do Disneyland twice, he said. fine, i said. We didnt manage to try all the rides but i was damn excited taking photos with the mascotts!

We didnt have time to try all the rides but The Universal Studio tours were pretty cool. They took us backstage and around the actual movie sets and locations and explained how a tiny pond was filmed as a big sea. Movie magic is damn tricky i tell you! smart, but sneaky!
outside Universal studios was like a little street with shopping and eating called the Universal Walk. its like Universal studio's very own township, without the house.



Funniest thing that happened was we say this Guy with long brown hair and beard dressed like Jesus. but, he wasnt a street perfomer, he just walks around acting and looking like Jesus. 3 days later, we were watching TV and TMZ was reporting about this weird Jesus guy in LA! haha.

and there was this weird crazy guy with his pants down to his crotch (no underpants), walked around with his hands up so his belly is exposed and talking some crazy language. he was like semi flashing us.

Los Angeles might seem like a very posh and hip place, but ironically it has some of the cheapest shopping. And, beyond the tourist traps and camera flash, it was another dodgy area with weird shops selling stripper paraphernalia/more weird stuff, and policeman summoning girls that were parading their bra's and panties.

Nothing much around LA i suppose, but it was quiet exciting to learn about how movies are made and it was very fun spotting the places I've seen on TV in person. And watching movies and being able to say "I've been there!" is so rewarding, in a way. i suppose. :)

watch out for day four in Los Angeles, the wonderful Santa Monica!

Be Body Beautiful

Mei's tips to be Hot like the Sun and Shine like the Moon!
that are boy, girl, and metrosexual friendly :)

what the doctor told the brother :

Ever wondered why that pimple on your forehead never subsided even after putting copulous amount of expensive pimple cream for days!?

the answer is so simple you'll go "uhhhh..."

Here's how to make sure those icky face gunk work-
-after cleansing and drying your face, allow face to air dry, till its totally dry BEFORE attacking that acne with pimple cream.

- forget about putting on toner and moisturizer and all the other stuff ! pimple cream on a clean, naked face works best. extra layers will only dilute, and reduce the efficiency.

your face will still be damp, not totally dry even after wiping it with a towel. the leftover moisture on your face will dilute the cream that you have appiled. Thus, the watered-down substance will not work as effectively on your skin and leaving you with extra days of pimple stress, which willl cause more pimples! oh no!

-$$ saving extra! you only need to apply a teeny, tiny amount of cream. the size of about the 1/2 of the tip of your pinky will do just fine. any brand of pimple cream will work, there is no need wasting on high end products that will give you the same effect!

so, for clear healthy skin, let your face breath and let it dry! my personal reccomedation is to put on toner and moisturizer after your face is damp no more!

also, don't stress about having pimples, you don't want MORE pimples, do you?

hope this works! :)

i love cartoons :)

you know the chinese proverbs that says you learn new things from reading old books that you have read or something like that?

well, i find it very applicable to movies too, and much more fun compared to books.

I've just watched the re-run of Toy Story 2, a very legendary movie from Pixar- my all time fav animation production company, and it was EFFING HILARIOUS!

"The movie's clearly articulate theme is whether life should be lived for the future or in the present- somethings both adults and kids may find provocative "

when i was 9, when toy story 2 was first released it was this magical cartoon with talking dolls and singing penguin. It was a mindblasting movie then, as it is now but at that time it was just funny at parts action packed at parts and the good 'ol happy ending that puts a smile on my face...

but watching it 10 years later, i found myself laughing hysterically at all the subtle irony and parody and humour that the creaters wittingly, sneakyly incorporated into the movie that i have never notice before. like

... the Star Wars parody - " I AM YOUR FATHER!" "NO......................."

... The airline that the toys were headed to was called FAREAST, and they were headed to Japan. Far east-Japan. get it? very smart eh?

... and the part where the plane crew was loading the luggages on the aircraft and they just threw the box with the Fragile sticker into the plane and then the glasses in the box broke but the crew members didnt give a shit. - ohh so true. and a very nice comic relief too

ohh and all the other hilarious moments.....

i think Pixar has been sold though.. OHH THE HORROR!!

this is why i love Pixar movies, they made movies that not only kids love, but adults, teens, grandparents would enjoy as well. Something the whole family can enjoy indeed. and the best part about Pixar is the story line is always very original, predictable at times (all movies are), but very very original and creative. Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, Wall-E - all fresh and uniquely Pixar, always fun to watch! unlike all the movies nowadays that recycle old ideas to create the same movie with the same storyline and the same cliche ending. ("17 again"? come on that is "13 going on 30" with reversed age situation and reversed gender) its either that or they remake old movies, create sequels or just copy storylines from that best selling book, comics and cartoons. the world is out of ideas! next up we'll be seeing the the remake of SuperMan, Enid Blyton tales in the movies and in 20 years, Transformer remake but in cartoon version on the big screens too! im not much of a creative genius myself but at least im not the one being paid to have new ideas.

ahhhhnnnnnyyyyyyways,

watching your a good movie that you havent watched in years, highly recommended. you might just find a new spark in that old love of yours, discover something new :)

what say you?

p/s: Toy Story 3 coming out in 18 June 2010. suprise surprise. click HERE and while saying TOY STORY 3 to watch the very funny trailer!

being the littlest aint always the best

First child is the kid with the most attention,

Second; the neglected,

Third; the spoilt?

How true is that?

it may be true, to some degree.

thats why we always hear of friends complaining that their baby sister is the littlest spoilt brat ever,
a friend who is caught in the middle would lament that big brother gets all the praises and him the scolding,
and the eldest in the family would often be heard sulking about having to take care of his siblings.
and then they hope and wish and dream real hard......
" if only i was the baby kid, i wouldnt have to deal with this crap"
or something like
" if only i was born a year older, maybe dad would love me"....................

but you know what they say,

With the Good, Comes the Bad, and maybe the Bad would make something out of you.

assume that i am speaking for the majority,
and based on my own observation.

the Eldest, having to look after pesky little babies all his life would turn out to be one heck of a leader. ohh,. and first dibs on the college fund how nice is that?

the Middles, suffering years of being shadowed under elder and little, being the "neglected" one, will grow up to be the most independent of the family, being able to survive on his own. (although i dunno how living under a shadow gave my bro such a big ego.)

and lastly the little kid, having being so called babied and pampered and love all his/her life,
have lived a better life than his/her elders. what baby wants baby gets, and thats enough. happily forever a spoilt brat. BUT do you how nice is it to be living with the name "spoilt brat" all you life? do you know being the littlest means having the whole family including grandparents, assume that you are the dumbest and stupidest and laziest and the almost-useless one in the family? Even though you are capable and smart and have painstakingly studied like there's no tomorrow to get a freaking scholarship because your parents already spent the college fund on your brothers! and even though you are the president of this and that, a perfectly capable and smart persson with commen sense and the top scorer and have made the family proud countless time, it all means nothing and you are still considered that little kid that knows nothing and cannot even be trusted to help grandpa pack his bags or a simple task like sending mum the flight details. even if you have smart and strong and useful opinions it usually is ignored because you are once again, always and just a little kid.
ohh and littlest kid gets to grow up having to be as good as their brothers AND play with hand me downs - 2nd hand clothes, toys, room, bed, car- how FUN! ( i dont mind the hand me downs, just saying)

so you grow up with the title "spoilt kid that knows nothing" all your life or until your mum decides to go all Angelina Jolie and adopt 7 more kids from Africa.. even if thats not the case.

and, in my defense, i want to state to the court that just because i am the last child, I AM NOT SPOILT. I was not awarded 50Ringgit for every A i score, i get scoldings when im bad, i mostly cant do the things that my brothers get to do, and most importantly, lots of the stuff and attention that my dad and mum gave me was because i worked hard and earned it. and having 2 extra people to look over your case just because mum and dad is not enough is always extra fun.

there, do you still envy your siblings for the attention they get?

__________________________________________________________

bro " go help you grandpa pack for his holiday."
me " kong kong, need help with your packing?"
grandpa" you? you no need lah. you dont know anything gong-gong wan"

ouch.

bro"sent the flight details to mum edi?"
me "yes"
bro "the time and flight number and airline everthing got put in anot?"
me "yehhhss"
bro "you know which one is the flight number anot? dont send the wrong thing"
me "yessss"
bro "which one? show me."
me " this one la! you think i stupid is it?"
bro " little bit. cannot trust lo. cannot trust"

double ouch.
___________________________________________________________________

i still love my family and i have awesome brothers ok.

all too Malaysian

here's something for all us Malaysians to be proud of!

Dated March 2009

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama present give away the Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage to Malaysia 's Ambiga Sreenevasan (Malaysian Bar Council) at the State Department in Washington , DC (AFP).


In celebration of International Women’s Day, the Department of State announces the recipients of the third annual Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage. This is the only award within the Department of State that pays tribute to outstanding women leaders worldwide. It recognizes the courage and leadership shown as they struggle for social justice and human rights.

This year, the Secretary of State will pay tribute to honorees representing Afghanistan, Guatemala, Iraq, Malaysia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. They are among over 80 exceptional women nominated by U.S. Embassies worldwide for their extraordinary work in advancing human rights. The women will be in Washington from March 8 – 12 for a program of meetings with government officials, NGOs and the media. The Office of International Visitors is partnering with the Office of International Women’s Issues on this project.

Ms. Ambiga Sreenevasan of Malaysia is an accomplished lawyer who became President of the Malaysian Bar Council, Ambiga Sreenevasan masterfully uses the rule of law to advance human rights, the status of women, and religious tolerance. In the face of death threats and intimidation, Ms. Ambiga has emerged as a strong voice of tolerance and justice.

source: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/03/120070.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Congratulations Ms Sreenevasan! Thank you for making the nation proud! I love it that you are representing Malaysia on stage in one of our traditional outfits that signifys your heritage and country.


but, is MALAYSIA really proud? Lets not argue why the proud news of this little Indian Lady being honored with such a prestigious and internationally recognized EPIC award is left unknown to the country. unknown. Where are the news coverage? should we not be proud that one of our people has made a difference in society? should we not acknowledge that Malaysia has once again made it to the international platform? why are we not allowed to learn about our achievements? why are the media silencing this? who is making the media hush hush about such an important event?

I know i would be super duper proud if i read this on the newspaper. i will be like yeah, Malaysia boleh! it would be like Nicol David winning the squash championship or that badminton guy getting the olympic silver. but no, apparently social justice and advancing human rights means nothing to this country. hmm..

and yet, the story of this Malay girl's failed (but courageous and honourable) attempt to cross the english channel made it to the front page of the news.

this is all to dejvu and all too Malaysian.

but lets not start this endless argue again shall we?

Lets be proud of Ambiga's Sreenevasan's achievement! Join me, and give three proud Malaysia Boleh cheers to Ms Sreenevasan!

*updated : an epic win for Malaysia sadly ignored. This is something too great not to be known, dont you think so? Lets be the proud Malaysian that we are and share this story, let it be known that we still have admirable and capable leaders with greatness to look up to. Share Ambiga's Sreenevasan's story on your blog!