Urghh!

Sick. Sore throat. Will update later.

Yaz

Phew!

The day of the deadline of the first exercise. I managed to complete mine in good time, so no problem there. In my last post, I did mention that I can laugh at people who are still struggling to finish the exercise. Unfortunately, though, that didn’t happen. Why? Because they all skipped lectures to finish it! Cheeky buggers. There goes my chance to gloat evilly at people.

I read in the papers that there exist some people who spent up to £3500 for their kids to have a better chance of getting into Oxford or Cambridge. Seriously, are they crazy or what? Apparently, there are some agencies and organisations that offer services to train applicants to face the famous Oxbridge application process. Honestly, I know you have to make an extra effort to get into Oxford and Cambridge e.g. finishing UCAS application early, an extra personal statement, the dreaded interviews, getting good results etc. but still, £3500 seems way over the top. Unless you’re rich and couldn’t care less about that amount of money, of course.

Hmmm… seems like a long time ago that I first arrived here in Cambridge for my own interview. I guess some time later I’ll write a bit about it.

Yaz.

Resuming life as a student again

Hey ho! Finally, a breath of fresh air. For the past few days I’ve been busy working on this coursework (literature survey, to be exact) and I’ve just finished writing the main body some time ago. Granted, there are still the abstract, conclusion and reference that I need to write about, but let’s not worry about those too much. Of course I know that it’ll be kinda crappy since even though we were given three weeks to finish the darn thing, most of us only start in the last week. Me included. Well, the deadline’s on Thursday so I still have time to smooth out things and laugh at people who are panicking because they have their hands full with this.

On a different note, I’ve now accepted… no, make that fully embraced… the fact that there exist some people who are buff and sporty and are into rowing and other physically-exerting stuff… who are much more intellectually superior than me. I guess you CAN have everything.

Yaz.

Eventful Saturday

Yesterday was the Scholar’s Admission Ceremony in Trinity College, which resulted in me wearing a suit, white bow tie and gown for the event since I’m upgraded from a Junior Scholar to a Senior Scholar this year. To those who don’t know, in Trinity, if you get a first class in your first year, then you’ll be awarded the Junior Scholar, which gives you room ballot privilege, £150, food allowance, among other things. If you get a first again in subsequent years, or if you get really good result in the first year, say, top five in the university, then you’ll be a senior Scholar instead, which gives basically the same but better privileges. £250 prize money, for example.

The ceremony’s pretty much the same as last year. I got the same book (and I’ll just put last year’s pic here since it’s the same thing) but this year I managed to get it signed by Martin Rees, Royal Astronomer and Master of Trinity College. It’s basically about Trinity’s history, but since history’s not my thing I haven’t even gone past chapter one.

The Great Court Run (last year’s link here) happened again this year but there’ll be no pictures since I was not there. Instead, I went to London for the Petronas open house & Eid celebration. It was nice to meet the new faces of Atlantic College students. There are eight Malaysians this year instead of the usual five.

I didn’t stay long, however, since there’s a volleyball training session in Cambridge at four. This year’s UCCMixed team (essentially the 3^rd team) looks promising, and I noticed a few people who are definitely the 2^nd team’s level, but they are in our team for some reason. Probably because they didn’t make it in the 2^nd team’s tryout or they just can’t be bothered with the time commitment or competitiveness of the 2^nd team. I certainly hope that we’ll perform better instead of losing to a secondary school team like last year.

And finally, since I was at King’s Cross station, I thought I’ll take a picture of the famous platform 9 and ¾.

Yaz.

Yaz

Some of you might be wondering, but the nick ‘Yaz’ was given to me by my room mates in Atlantic College. It was then picked up by my houseparent and after he called me Yaz in a house meeting, everybody else followed suit. Except the Malaysians, of course, since they have known me for longer and they’ve always called me Yazid. Not to mention that it feels weird if I hear them using the nick. So yeah, it’s basically a nickname for my non-Malaysian friends to use, mostly AC people though since not many called me by that name in Cambridge.

The thing is, there has been some rather weird traffic coming to the blog from rather dubious Google searches. I decided to check and I found out that Yaz is actually a type of oral hormonal contraceptive. In other words, it’s the thing that you take (via your mouth) if you don’t want to get pregnant. Ha ha, that was hilarious! Just thought to clarify that for people who stumbled here by mistake =)

Oh, and no matter what, I still love that nick. It sounds cool.

Cheers,

Yaz.

It’s one day late but…

…I just want to wish everybody who’s celebrating it (me included) ‘Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri’ or Eid Mubarak. Take your pick. Eid was on Friday in the UK but in some other parts of the world it’s on the Saturday (today) so I’m not really that late after all.

There were classes throughout Friday morning so I wasn’t feeling very celebratory. But it's not that big of a deal, same as last year I suppose. And I totally forgot the expression ‘Eid Mubarak’ so on Thursday night I texted people saying Happy Eid, which sounds completely wrong. Oh well…

In any case, I’ll probably drop by London next Saturday for some free food. There’s also one tomorrow but I haven’t decided yet whether to go or not. We’ll see how it goes.

Yaz.

Alright, I’m angry.

I usually cook two portions of meal each day in Ramadan, one for iftar and the other for sahur. Yesterday, though, I went to the iftar organised by the Cambridge Islamic Society (ISOC) so I didn’t cook anything, thinking that for sahur, I can just eat some instant Uncle Ben’s two-minute microwaveable rice in my kitchen cupboard or something.

However, I woke up this morning, ready to eat, and the food is gone! I can’t believe it! If it’s a spoon or plate then it’s understandable (not to say it’s okay, and I left notes in my plate cupboard to warn people) but somebody actually had the audacity to steal some food items that you clearly have to microwave to eat. Since the other food item that I have are some frozen chickens that I definitely don’t have time to thaw and cook, it looks like I have to go hungry for the day. Bastards.

Yaz.

Two Days…

… since the opening day of the most despised film in my entire life (and that’s not a hyperbole). Usually when I think a film is bad, I’ll just move on and forget, but I’ve never hated one with such passion, especially considering that it wasn’t released yet at the time I started hating it. My utmost regret is that it’s being made at all, but since I can’t do anything about it, I’ll just derive my pleasure on how it tanked in the US cinemas and received generally bad reviews. Really, that’s the best possible outcome for now, since if the film is a success, they might make sequels and because they’ve diverged so much from the book for this film, the future sequels will be unrecognisable as well. Except the only downside is that the film might turn people off from picking up the book, which is a shame really.

For those of you who have no idea of what I’m talking about, it’s a horrible adaptation (and I used the word loosely here, if you can call writing a new story altogether an adaptation) of The Dark Is Rising, a book which is part of the series that’s also called The Dark Is Rising. You can read my previous rant about it here. But really, it’s such a hatchet job at an adaptation that no self-respecting fans of the book or Susan Cooper (the author) will not be pissed off at it. You can even tell things aren’t going well since they changed the title of the film twice after they released the trailer. From initially ‘The Dark Is Rising’, they changed it to ‘The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising’ and finally, a few days before the film is released, it changed again to just ‘The Seeker’. My assumption is that after reading the book properly, as well as other books in the series (no, they haven’t read the other books in the series while filming it, so they had no idea of what's going on in the story), they figured that they have no similarities at all with the film that putting ‘The Dark Is Rising’ in the title is nothing less than fraudulence. Or maybe they just got so many hate mails from fans of the book to change the title.

For now, I really hope that they will stop making sequels, and that someday someone will buy the rights from them and make a truly proper adaptation of my favourite book from childhood, the way it’s meant to be.

Yaz.

Ranking

I just had my first meeting with my DoS (Director of Studies) yesterday for chemical engineering and she gave me a piece of news that can both be considered good and disappointing. On one hand, I am in the top ten in the final exam ranking last year and the only Trinity student who got a first class (hence her star pupil, as she jokingly put it). On the other, being in the top ten is just a vaguer and grander way of saying you are ranked number ten and bearing in mind that there are fifteen students who got first class, that’s just two-thirds of the way down. That’s pretty disheartening, considering that even though I got ranked number 65 in my first year in Natural Sciences, that’s halfway in the middle of the hundred something people who got a first. Now, I know it doesn’t quite scale like that, but I can’t help feeling like I should have done better. In fact, seeing my disappointment, that’s what my DoS told me, “You’ll do better next time, won’t you?”

BP came to give a talk about their summer internship yesterday evening (which I’m giving serious thought to, considering this is my last summer here and I haven’t done any internships at all) and as I mentioned in this post one year ago, they gave free copies of Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook (which normally costs around £60) to everybody who got a first or two-one. One thing I found when lugging it around back to college: that stuff’s quite heavy.

Yaz.

Noooo! They’ve ruined The Dark Is Rising!

Okay, you know when you have a favourite book? A book that you really like, say, one that you read when you’re a child, was instantly engrossed in, and became a part of your childhood. The Dark Is Rising is such a book for me. I wasn’t exactly a kid when I read it, more like a fifteen-year-old teenager, but I remember reading Greenwitch, the third book in the sequence (which is also called The Dark Is Rising), enjoyed it immensely, and started scouring MCKK’s (my secondary school) library for the rest of the books. Unfortunately, it has all but the last of the sequence, Silver on the Tree, and I was left hanging until a few years ago when I bought the book on the internet. Just a note, you can read it in the order of book 1,2,3,4 and 5 or even 2,1,3,4,5 for the reason that (some of) the key characters from book 1 and 2 are different and they only meet in book 3 onwards. However, starting with book 3 is totally not the right way to read it. Oh well…

For those who have never heard of it, The Dark Is Rising (the second book) is about Will Stanton, an English boy who discovered on his eleventh birthday that he is the last of the Old Ones, beings of the Light, and that he has to find the Six Signs to stop the forces of the Dark. The book is deeply embedded in British and Celtic folklore and Arthurian mythology. It also received the 1974 Newbery Honor award.

I found out a few months back when browsing IMDB that the book is being made into a film. At first I couldn’t believe it since it is my favourite book, then I was really excited. However, after searching a bit more on the net, I was flabbergasted, and not in a good way.

Apparently, the people involved in the making of the film had decided to take it upon themselves to ‘adapt’ the book in a way they see fit. And by that I mean they totally butchered the story. It is now changed so much it’s horribly beyond recognition!

Now, before you start, I know you have to change the book a bit to make it into a film because of the different media. That’s pretty much obvious and everybody knows that. However, there is a line between adapting a book and making an entirely new story altogether! From what I’ve gathered, the only things that are the same are the names of some of the key characters and the fact that Will has so seek the six signs.

As a start, they scrapped all the Arthurian reference! I mean, what the heck? That is entirely integral to the story since it’s part of the storyline. In fact, two main characters (one appearing in book 4) are directly from the mythology. By removing that, you’ve effectively removed the backbone of the story itself. Which also means there’s no way they can make book 4 and 5 into films, since you won’t have much of the story left. Apparently, the scriptwriter acknowledged that he hasn’t read the rest of the series, which is absurd, since that’s a very stupid thing to do if you’re making an adaptation.

What’s more, they’ve changed the main character’s nationality to American, furthermore distancing the film with the English mythology. His age is also changed to thirteen, since they probably thought an eleven year old hero will not appeal much to teenagers. They changed the magic from subtle to flashy (a la Harry Potter style). They’ve also totally rewritten the characters. They changed Will’s family from a caring one to a stereotypical emotionally distant, pick-the-younger-brother type family. His older brother is now an agent of the dark. Instead of the English countryside, there are now police chases in the malls and kung fu fights on top of fruit carts. There are a lot more changes, and you can find a list of them in this blog in livejournal here. There’s also another big change, which I’ll get into later.

Sadly enough, I was planning on seeing the film despite all the disservice it has done to the book, simply because it’s my favourite book being shown on the silver screen, if nothing else. However, now that I’m back in Cambridge (with fast internet), I saw the trailers for the first time. And I must say, I’m not impressed. They’ve turned a perfectly good book into a cliché-ridden, typical kiddies story. What’s more, I’ve made the decision not to see it because the trailers confirmed my worst fear:

They’ve totally changed Will Stanton.

Now, Will is one of my favourite book characters of all time (the other one being Granny Weatherwax) and one that I adored so much when I was a kid (or rather, teenager) and is still now. He’s a calm, collected and thoughtful kid (that comes with being an Old One) and is described in the books as ‘wise beyond his years’. In the film, the impostor Will is a bratty little kid who tries to be cool and fit in. He blows up cars and hurled his brothers with his super powers when he’s frustrated. They even gave him a love interest! Now that is utterly PREPOSTEROUS!! In the trailer, Will is quoted as saying “I'm supposed to save the world? I don't even know how to talk to a GIRL!” I was so shocked it’s not even funny. Now that is one thing that Will Stanton will NEVER, ever say. And I mean never!

I realised that to see this film means I’ll be ruining the Will I envisioned in my head, so I’m not going. I know that it’s not really his real character, but it’ll be hard to get it out of my head if I see the film, and I don’t want to be reminded of it every time I pick the book to read. I’m appalled enough as it is now with this horrific treatment of my beloved book.

Yaz.

Hey there!

I’m now back in Cambridge. Well, actually, this is the third day since I’m back so it’s not really a big deal anymore, which also means I should have posted this sooner (e.g. the first day) but it wasn’t easy to move stuff and set the place to how I like it to be lived in. Ever tried moving ten boxes from one end of the college to another? My advice: avoid if possible, especially when none of your friends are back yet to help with it.

Speaking of which, my room this year is great! The first thing I noticed, and also the thing that most prominently makes this place worthwhile is it has a fridge installed! It also has a sort of mock fireplace that has been boarded up, which is a pity. The downside of the room, however, is that the kitchen is downstairs, so I have to walk a bit to cook.

Computer table

Bed and studying table

Fridge. Left door is the way out. Right door is the bathroom

Actually, by far, the best room I’ve ever lived in is the one in my first year. I’ll give a quick rundown:

1^st year

Pros

• Best room ever. Enormous! Like my across-the-hallway-neighbour Dom said, “Compared to yours mine is like a box.” Actually, it's not really that much bigger but you get the idea.
• Has a fridge, two tables (one for studying and the other for computer), lots of sofas, mock fireplace, and a proper bookshelf.
• Kitchen’s just nearby

Cons

• The only thing I can think of is that it’s located on the road where Sainsbury’s is, so it can be a bit noisy at times. Also in the morning it faces the sun so you will often be woken up by it, although this might be a good thing. It depends.

2^nd year

Pros

• Biiiiggg wardrobes. Lots of storage space.

Cons

• Far from Sainsbury’s, my department and the dining hall.
• No fridge in the room
• Kitchen has no oven. Also if you cook in the afternoon it will get really hot because of the sun.

3^rd year

Pros

• Fridge in room, two tables, boarded-up mock fireplace…
• Not far from my 1^st year room so it is also strategically located

Cons

• Kitchen far away
• Not much storage space, though I’ll probably manage to squeeze my bags and boxes somewhere…

Oh, and just to mention, all those room have en-suite bathrooms. I can’t live without it.

I’m a senior scholar this year, which means I get first dibs on choosing the rooms. Guess I’ll choose properly this time, with research, room visits etc unlike last year where I actually didn’t know what the room looks like until now.

Classes will not start until next Wednesday so I have plenty of time to relax/do nothing/get bored. At the moment I’m in a One Piece marathon. Episode 120 something and counting…

Yaz.

It’s almost time…

… to go back to the UK. Just another ten days. Can’t wait.

Today was the second day of fasting. To be honest, it feels kinda weird since this is my first time fasting in Malaysia in five years. I sort of like fasting in the UK. With it being cold, you don’t get that tired, or thirsty. And the fact that breaking of fast can happen as early as half past four. That was really something. I think I might have irritated the hell out of some people by whining about how I wish I can be there instead of here for Ramadhan. Ha ha, sorry to… well, you know who you are =)

There is something going on that made me feel extremely unhappy. However, since I’m currently in Malaysia and am somewhat sheltered, I haven’t felt the full force of it yet, which I probably will once I'm back in the UK. So, when I get back, expect me to have a long rant about it.

Yaz.

Just to tell you...

Ha ha, I know, I know, it's no excuse for being silent for almost a month or so, but in between playing games, reading, watching stuff and a few excursions to KL there isn't really anything interesting to tell.

Anyhow, I'm going back to the UK and Cambridge this 24th for my third year. Am really looking forward to that. So if there's nothing else going on hopefully you'll hear from me then.

See ya!

Yaz.

Back From Camp

Hey there! After ten days I’m finally back from the aforementioned camp. At first I didn’t feel like making a blog entry about it since it was just so and so and the things that I learnt there (things like positive mental attitude and the like) weren’t exactly new. Still, I think might as well let you know that I’m alive.

The thing is, the camp was supposed to be held somewhere in Port Dickson but due to a recent case of dengue there (or so they say) the venue was changed at the last minute to somewhere in Ulu Langat. Not exactly a promising start, plus the fact that we were packed like 20-30 people per dorm just added salt to my wounded expectations. But looking back, I think it’s a good thing though since I’m not exactly a social person and the dorm arrangement made me able to know quite a number of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

Course contents aside, I think the benefit that I gained the most from the whole thing is actually peace of mind. See, back in Cambridge, some of my friends always teased me that I’m working for the side of evil (they have this view that all oil companies are evil) and the only retort that I can come up with is that we actually improved the living conditions of the people there by building hospitals and facilities (and this is true). However, during camp, I’ve been assured that my sponsor doesn’t just do business deals with anybody. In fact, we’ve turned down a couple of business offers from certain countries because of their shady behaviour. Knowing that was a relief to me.

After the camp, we were transported to Negeri Sembilan for this homestay program at this place called Laman Bangkinang. It was alright, and the fact that the families stuffed us with food makes it even better. However, I couldn’t shake the awkward feeling of calling other people mom and dad so I sort of wove my words around to avoid addressing them directly while appearing inconspicuous.

We also visited this school where we kinda tried to motivate the students to be successful. I don’t know whether that worked or not but it was quite fun. The two eleven year old kids assigned to my group were quite adorable, and even when our session with them was finished, they went out of their way to come and see us during our other activities later in the day and the day after. To tell the truth, they kinda clung to me, which I don’t mind really.

Well, that’s basically it about the whole camp thing. Among other news, I went to the National Library yesterday and they have this new system of checking out books at the kiosk machines instead of it being manually done by the person behind the reception counter. It is nice to see this step in the forward direction. Now, if they would just buy tons of new books I’ll be satisfied.

Until then,

Yaz.

Of Pools, Books and Camp

It was green. The water was suspiciously green. It would not look out of place in, say… a lake in the middle of a rainforest, but definitely not in a swimming pool. A pool is supposed to be blue. Light blue that you can see the bottom, but NOT green, or a mixture of green and blue. I used to say turquoise is my favourite colour. Guess I have to rethink that.

Alright, backtrack from the beginning. I was feeling like I did not have enough exercise, which is true and not just a feeling, so I took a bus to PADE, this aquatic centre in Shah Alam, which also served the purpose of getting me familiar with the Shah Alam area and the bus route, since I don’t get out that much. Anyway, upon arriving, I had to wait like, another hour since the actual session times are different from the one on their website, and if I go swimming straightaway I would be kicked out in just thirty minutes (they have a few two-and-a-half hour sessions throughout the day and the ticket’s per session). That was fine since I can just hop on the bus, go around and familiarize myself with Shah Alam and come back (despite the lengthy wait between buses, it was really great that RapidKL introduces this day-ticket thing, reminded me of London). So I went back after an hour and was told the outdoor pool was closed for cleaning, which is a pity because even though people driving by can see me, the pool is outdoor and crystal blue clear and looks like fun. Still, I was there, so I just bought the indoor pool ticket (which was RM1 more expensive than advertised on the website) and changed.

That was when I discovered the condition of the pool. It was a sharp contrast with the outdoor pool, which shocked me, since if you can take care of one pool, then why not another? I swam nonetheless, since it was not that bad (it was neither toxic green nor bubbly) and it should have been chlorinated, but still, I tried not to get too much water in my mouth and fervently hoping that there will be no after effects such as sore throat and the like. Thankfully, I’m still fine. But all in all, I was looking forward to swimming, and I was disappointed. Maybe it was because I chose a less busy time to go swimming (Monday afternoon, I was swimming alone for twenty minutes until somebody else came) and the outdoor pool was closed because there being not many people makes it easier to do maintenance. But really, is it my fault?

And there’s also the fact that the website was not very informative. Of course, you can always call the pool to know something, but I don’t like the hassle of dealing with people, especially with the existence of a site which should do the same thing. I would love to say that one should not create a website and not maintain it, but then again, that’s what I’ve been doing, so I’ll keep quiet about that, he he.

Alright, that’s enough complaining. In other news, I’m overjoyed to find out from Amazon that Wintersmith will be released in paperback at around September. Heck, I don’t know how long I’ve waited for that one. It just looks odd when you have a series and the books were like paperback, paperback and suddenly… hardcover. It doesn’t go together. Also, Jasper Fforde’s new book was out in July. There was even a book signing event in Borders in Cambridge, unfortunately I wasn’t there at the time, due to me being back in Malaysia. Oh well, I’ll buy these two when I get back to the UK, unless, somebody wants to buy it for me as, say, a present, hee hee.

Finally, probably a divine intervention to all my complaining about being bored and not enjoying holidays in Malaysia, I have to attend this camp thing organised by my sponsor, next week. It’s probably a whole load of motivational talks, group activities… you know, that lot, with a homestay programme thrown in. Unfortunately, this means being separated with my beloved computer and all the games in it that I prepared to alleviate boredom during summer. Hence, even though the camp might be fun, at the moment I’m too despondent to be parted with my computer to see reason.

That’s all folks,

Yaz.

Spoiler?!

I’m frustrated. Furious. More than that, I’m enraged. I feel like killing somebody. And I’m surprised that some people have the audacity to show their stupidity where the whole nation can see them.

The thing is… I was reading the paper today when a headline of an article caught my eye. Really caught my eye. As you probably know, the last of the Harry Potter books have gone on sale. I haven’t bought it yet. If you read my previous posts you’ll also realise that I’ve only read the sixth novel recently. Since I read it so late, I’ve known who died in that book before reading it. Not anybody’s fault; I was having dinner with some friends when the subject of Harry Potter slipped into the conversation and somebody inadvertently mentioned the spoiler. Perhaps because we were really into it, that that person thought that everybody there had read it; and almost everybody had read it anyway. So it was alright, sort of. And she did apologise to me afterwards.

However, this time, it was not forgivable. The books were just on sale for a few days. Regardless of whether millions of people are reading it right now, or the fact that you’re covering the news of fans rushing to the bookstores to buy the books, you just don’t put a spoiler on the newspaper. And most definitely NOT on the title! You don’t say “Fans are [insert emotion here] because [insert spoiler here]”. This is not some kind of amateur journalism, this is one of the most widely read broadsheet paper in the nation! What was the writer thinking? In fact, what was the editor thinking? Gee, thanks. You just spoil the ending for thousands of people. Such professionalism.

Sigh… in some other countries they take spoilers seriously. The fact that a spoiler like that can be published in a major newspaper shows that the mentality of people, at least some of them, in this country is not mature enough, at least where books are concerned. I wish they’ll be bombarded with tons of letters of complaints. The least of the satisfaction that I can get.

Yaz.

The Library

See, the thing is… I can’t really say for sure that the National Library deserves the ‘National’ in its name. Well, the main building is huge, and it has several floors with lots of shelves filled with books but they’re really lacking in what really matters to me. I’ve known lots of clever people, and it just goes that they all read books like ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ or ‘The Road Ahead’. They tend to indulge in books about self-motivation, self-improvement, or political and philosophical thoughts. But me? I prefer fiction, mainly fantasy. Ha ha, so much for the clever image that I’m trying to build.

But I disgress. The thing is… the fiction section of the National Library is in a separate building. I last went there in 2006 before I flew to Cambridge for the winter term. As such, I was expecting new books after my one year absence. However, to my dismay, there aren’t any. There aren’t any that I’ve noticed anyway. If possible, there seemed to be even less books than my last visit.

So there you go. The library is probably a disappointment to any fiction freaks like me. In the end, I ended up borrowing two ancient and tattered copies of book 6 and 7 of the Wheel of Time (I left my copies in Cambridge, haven’t gotten round to reading them yet). They look so fragile that I’m afraid to read it, just in case they suddenly fall apart and I have to pay for the damage to the books. Still, in any case, I’ll keep going there cause you can’t go to a bookstore every time you have a book craving.

Yaz.

P.S. Don’t you hate it when you found a series in the library and they’re missing like, the first book or one somewhere in the middle, making you unable to read the series? Yeah, me too.

P.P.S. I found Sergei Lukyanenko’s Day Watch for RM70 in Kinokuniya. It was quite surprising! I bought the Night Watch for half that price in Cambridge. Guess it’s a good thing we have all these second-hand bookshops that I can peruse at my leisure.

Update

Hey there! Been awhile. In case you were wondering, I was sick. Caught a cold straight after getting here in Malaysia. Must be the shock of the climate change. Then I was whisked away to a place with no internet connection for like, ten days. Hence the reason for me disappearing off the face of the earth. However, now, as a friend put it, I’m back in civilization.

One thing I don’t like about holidays is the lack of things to do and people to do it with. I prefer the December and Easter ones, because I’m not going home and I can always visit people in the UK and do something. But summer is just three long months without much people contact, not to mention the dial-up connection. I once offered to change the connection to broadband, but the ‘rents don’t agree since for nine months of the year I’ll be gone and there’ll be nobody using it so it’ll be a waste of money (one year is the minimum for broadband service). Good thing before I go back home I stocked my computer with animes, movies and games so at least there’s something to do. Though recently I’ve discovered this aquatic centre nearby so I’ll probably spend some more time there. And I also might go to the national library to read some fiction. Ha ha, it’s a holiday and the place I’m looking forward to is the library.

In any case, I’ll probably keep the blog alive with a few postings every now and then. Don’t expect too much, though.

Wherever you are, hope you guys have an excellent summer holiday! Righty then, I’m offski.

Yaz.

Packing, Leaving

It’s basically one of my least favourite parts of being overseas: putting all your stuffs in boxes, not to mention throwing some away because they won’t fit; getting the melancholic feeling when you see an empty room instead a room with your stuffs strewn all over it; and enduring a thirteen hour flight back home. Gee, what a way to celebrate one’s birthday.

Then again, maybe it’s just me. I know others who were tremendously excited on the prospect of going back home. Crazy people.

Anyway, I wish to say thanks to everybody who had wished me a happy birthday on Facebook and other places. Now that I’m going back to primitive dial-up connection, I might not be able to update my blog as much, so in the near future, if you’re wondering whether I’ve dropped off the face of the planet, then rest assured. I’m still breathing… somewhere.

The next time will be from Malaysia. Cheers!

Yaz.

Good News!

Well, since it’s overdue, I’ll give a recap about what happened during the May Ball, but first, let’s give way to a much more exciting piece of announcement:

I got a FIRRRSSSTT!

Yep, that’s right. A First! A First! A First! First! First! First! FIRRRRSSSST!

My friends and I went swimming in the morning until noon. Then on our way back we decided to stop at the Senate House, where the results are posted, to check them. I was really nervous, for reasons that I’m sure I’ve explained before. I think my friend was, as well, since he dreamt the night before that he got a two-two. So we went there, approached the notice boards and looked at the results. I saw my name absent from the First list and my heart sank. But then it wasn’t on the 2-1 list either. ‘Well, that can’t be right. There’s no way in hell I can get a 2-2,’ I thought. Then I realised it was the year above’s results and ours were just below it. And there’s my name, in the midst of Firsts. I think I screamed out a bit, just like the one above. Ha ha ha.

Oh yeah, my friend got a first too. We were delighted!

The May Ball was awesome. I heard that last year a bulk of the people attending have to queue for like two or three hours to get in but this year I stayed in a friend’s room who lives inside one of the main courts so we got in earlier than the rest of the people. They have tents with different kinds of food inside and at the Neville Court’s cloisters they have champagnes on ice. Not that I tasted it so I don’t know how good they are but from comments I heard apparently they were like £80 per bottle, which is quite expensive as champagnes go, so they must be really good. Next, going out to the backs they have a tent for oysters, nice and fresh. In hindsight, I should have gone back for seconds, thirds and fourths (well, I did go back for seconds) since the oyster tent was only available for three hours until midnight.

There were also tents of Mexican foods, chocolate truffles and cookies, pizza, smoked salmon bagels, ice cream and chocolate fountains, available in milk or white, in which you can drench your strawberries in. They were really good. There were also swings, a giant slide and bumper car rides. Unfortunately, I didn’t take lots of pictures that night. The only ones I have were shots, or rather videos of the fireworks performance, which I must say, was probably far better than the Cambridge City Council’s on Guy Fawkes Night. So there you go.

Notice the river was packed with people. They’re not really attending the ball. They were just folks wanting to catch a glimpse of the fireworks up-close so they parked, or moored their punts on the Trinity part of the river. If somebody falls in, I doubt that person can resurface easily die to the sheer number of punts on the river.

They were also offering punt rides for the night, which sadly, I didn’t take advantage of, since my friends were more interested in the bands and music that were playing. Which reminds me, I’m not usually a fan of live music and bands (though I sometimes dance in my room, with the curtains drawn close) but there was one that was really good and I couldn’t help but join in. I think it was called the Go! Team, or something.

The Ball lasted from nine until six in the morning, but there were always things to do, so you won’t get bored, at least not until the last half hour, when things were winding down. They serve coffee and tea all night too to keep you awake. Personally, when I was tired of walking around I always nipped into the tent where they have stand-up comedians, most of which were really really good. One in particular reminded me of my Londoner ex-roommate, the way they talk is exactly similar. It was very enjoyable listening to the lot.

At the end of the ball they took the survivor’s photo, which is the photo of people who had lasted the whole ball. I was in there, though I’m not sure if I looked okay or if I looked shabby and exhausted with bloodshot eyes.

And yeah, my friends (yes, more than one, and on separate occasions) complimented me on my bowtie, which looked really good, especially for someone who had just learnt how to tie it that very afternoon. Yay, I felt elated!

So yeah, that’s the ball as I remember it. There were other finer details as well but telling each and every single thing here might be pushing it, he he he.

Yaz.