Cheras + KLCC

Went to Cheras (Cheras is kinda far from PJ, I went to University LRT Station by bus, then transited to STAR LRT at Masjid Jamek @@) to get study manuals from Sis Poh Yan (only look for her when I need her *slap me*). Hauled Shuzhen to go with me as the manuals are heavy. Chatted a while with Sis Poh Yan about her actuarial work in Hong Leong Assurance; she is doing well, I'm glad for her. Her condo is spacious and windy, a conducive place to stay, and the bonus part is the rental is cheap.. It's expected as it's in Cheras.

Went to KLCC after that. Without any hesitation, I decided to try the spaghetti in the food court, as it was recommended by Nicolekiss. Yes, the spaghetti was really delicious with the strong scent of cheese. I ate Meat Ball Bolognese, should have eaten Shuzhen's Mean Ball Marinara, as it tasted better. And guess what it only cost RM 7.99!!! Cheap!!!

Beyond praise, considering the price

The lunch was definitely a relaxing one as we got to sit beside windows to enjoy the breathtaking scenery outside, I felt I was like savoring great food in a classy restaurant, like those in Hong Kong series.

This is the only part in Msia which is a bit classy

Another side of view of Tasik Titiwangsa

Headed to Kinokuniya after the sumptuous lunch. I wanna purchase a book(Sophie's World) recommended by Chris long time ago. (Actually I went once not long after he told me about this book, but that time Kinokuniya was closed for clean up)Seriously we really can't blame Malaysian to read less; it's so hard to get a book. The well established book stores are Kinokuniya and Borders only. It's been a long long time I do not browse Kinokuniya, and of course is not aware of its handy book searching machine. It amazed me.

We just need to key in title/author of
the book we are looking for. And it will show us
the details. For people who are 'direction blind' like me,
I can print out the map to look for the book easily.

The map

It was really Shuzhen's day as she bought three novels by Kathy Reichs, a great author and international bestseller. Seeing her buying the novels happily made me recall those days when I was addicted to thriller novels. I can save money on novels now by just borrowing them from her. *smile*

After two hours burying ourselves among book shelves, we went to Isetan to buy Sushi. According to Shuzhen's mum, Sushi in Isetan is far nicer than those in Sushi King and Sakae Sushi and it costs cheaper too. I just learnt today that Isetan was opened by Japanese. There was a Hokkaido Fair there too, a lot of Japanese food there cooked by Japanese chefs on the spot. But we didn't buy anything as we were too full, and they were expensive too. A small tiny pancake cost RM2.20!

A wide variety of sushi

Didn't buy any (those who know me well should
know how much I love Western food and how much
I dislike Japanese food). Maybe I should really go
Japan to sample the real Japanese food
and I would love it... Japanese food in Msia disappoints me a lot.

At last we were shopping randomly. I swear to be on diet!!! I can't fit in more and more blouses anymore!!! As a result, I didn't buy any blouses though it was a megasale going on.

Reached home finally at 5.15pm. Slept like a log when I reached home.... A nice outing indeed. I was happy though I was worn out (a sentence I like to write when I was in primary school) *smile*

A Summary of My Recent Happenings

Finally I have time to blog. Too many happenings happened in the time I was away from this so-called e-activity. Life is still the same, still as hectic as ever. Tests, assignments and presentations really caused me having ceaseless nightmares. Frankly to admit, I’ve lost the momentum and enthusiasm to blog, mainly due to my lacking of reading and writing (my new year resolution of reading twenty novels is hard to reach already). Let me briefly highlight the main happenings in this few weeks’ time.

Passed my first actuarial examination, Exam P/1 finally, but failed the second, Exam FM/2. Quite relieved about it as I only managed to prepare Exam P/1 in one month’s time, in between I had seven tests, quizzes and assignments in total. I was quite excited when I saw the screen with the message “Congratulations! ….”, quickly I grabbed the pencils I used to do the exam and calculators and ran out of the exam room. Until I signed out that time, then only I realized I shouldn’t take out the pencils, they didn’t belong to me, and I apologized to the in-charged officer. She smiled back at me, and reassured me it was okay. I called my parents and texted my friends once I reached the lobby (I was having my exam at a quite classy place, Sheraton Imperial Court.) to tell them the “glad tidings”. *exaggerating* Went loitering in Mid-Valley straight after the exam (not loitering actually, I had purposes of getting there-to get my book, do some grocery shopping and get some blouses). Shuzhen gave me a surprise when she texted me telling she was in Mid Valley too, where she was supposed to attend Public Speaking lecture. Shuzhen, GinHwa and Alan “interrogated” me on the exam and mainly about my feelings. They didn’t believe when I told them I was happy but not to the extent of cloud nine. This is what Shuzhen said, “come on, can you please not to stay cool always?” Seriously, I don’t think this is anything to be proud of, as I failed FM/2. Anyway, Shuzhen treated me to eat scallop porridge and XO chocolate bar. *thanks Shuzhen*

Okay, to be frank, I admit, July 24, 2008 was my day! I will remember it. It signified my first step in the actuarial long and bumpy path.

After P/1, I resumed my piling work in UTAR, gave my best to catch up whatever I missed. The good news is I have been doing okay (perhaps I don’t expect much from myself in UTAR’s exam anymore?). Another bad thing to comment is my gang (Shuzhen, Alan and GinHwa) always has our meal in JayaOne after the test on Wednesdays, it doesn’t only burn a hole in our pocket but also shoot up our weights. @@ *blame JayaOne of having so many nice food*

I still haven’t gotten rid of my bad habit which is carelessness. Perhaps it’s incorrigible (another new year resolution unreached)? I left my whole bunch of keys inside my room on one of the Mondays. But the point was I was not panic at all, I just asked my housemate to open main door for me to go out . @@ The reason I could stay cool was I knew Alan has scissors to cut the padlock. *smile* *sweat on me* I was touched when Alan, GinHwa and Shuzhen purposely came to help me after the class. Alan hammered the padlock out. If he just gave me all the tools, I’m sure I couldn’t get it open. He is really skillful in hammering the padlock (as a result of having a few experiences as mine @@). Yea, I use the word, ‘hammer’, the scissor was too small to cut my padlock. After that, we went to the night market in SS2. We couldn’t resist the aroma of durian hitting our nostrils, and so we were STANDING to eat the durian by the stall without second thought of our image, only to realize when Shuzhen asked how if we bumped into any acquaintances. We only ate two durians, and they cost us RM25.

The vendor who recommended us the two so-called branded durians

Two durians are definitely too few to satisfy us, the gluttonous eaters. The durian fever still went on. Last Friday evening, we went to eat durian again in SS2. But this time, we were “smart”, we ate at a place which let us eat as much as we could with only RM10 each head, only to recover from our ignorance, when we only managed to eat some. We did try to throw in as much as we could, but later I warned them not to take our lives for granted, our lives definitely do not worth only that 10 bucks. *laugh*

Good for heavy eaters; bad for dieters

The same afternoon last Friday, Alvin treated me to eat in KFC, as a reward I passed P/1 (after two weeks of the exam, unquestionably, because both of us are so busy). *thanks Alvin* A secret here, I’d been fighting hard just to get this meal. As I told him, I’m really short-sighted, I just strive for the short-run profit. *kidding* Anyway, I still owed Alvin a debt of gratitude, as he always reminded me from time to time about the meal before the exam. A great friend, no? This was the first time we chatted face-to-face for so long. As Alvin claimed we had just talked face-to-face in less than an hour in total since we know each other. Strange huh? But of course, we did chat on msn far more than ten hours. I’m smiling when I’m typing this, I feel that it’s quite odd.

The same day, Dharmen called me to remind me that he counted me in the futsal competition in UTAR Sport Carnival. I felt cheated when I went for training on Saturday. Dharmen told me beforehand that I was just the reserve, all I needed to do was to sit at the bench watching them play. This is because each team was required to have at least a female player, and his girl friend would be the main female player. To my dismay, his girl friend didn’t show up during the training, and I was required to play. I started to feel something amiss, and so I “questioned” him. Then only he told me his girl friend would have a Taekwondo competition on Sunday. In other words, I would be the key player; I needed to play every match, with no substitute. I was in quite a distressed state, as I had a test on Wednesday, and a presentation on Thursday (which is today), the worries gnawed at me the whole Saturday night. The main reason was I never listen during the lecture and Shuzhen had not yet gotten her ingredients ready for the demo speech. But as the Chinese idiom goes, “a ship will sail in straight when it reaches the dock”, things came naturally well. I did okay for the test and the presentation, though I fumbled a bit during the demo.

Back to the sport carnival, the strategy Dharmen used was I was required to disturb the opponent’s male players or block the opponent’s female player from disturbing my team’s male players. Funny, right? We lost in the first two rounds, but scored three goals during the last round and it qualified us into semi-final. During semi-final, we had a draw. And so a penalty session was held. And each team’s female player was required to play. As expected, I didn’t contribute the goal; as expected too, the opponent’s female player didn’t contribute the goal too. It’s would be really the goal of the year if female player had any goal (quoted this from the male players @@). We won the penalty! And so we were qualified into the final!! We scored a goal not long after the game started, but our defense collapsed after that, and let the opponent scoring three goals. It was too late to make any amends when the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the game. We were still happy though we lost as our opponent was a strong team, last year champion.

The first runner-ups

I joined UTAR IDOL 2008 Organizing Committee to get to “decorate” my resume next time and of course to know more friends. This was the first time I joined something out of academic activities. And guess what one of my new friends told me?! “In my impression, you always attach to a girl, and just bury yourself with your book during lectures and break time.” Gosh, I’m not anti-social and nerdy, ok? Explanation implies hiding the truth; I shall let them to know me day by day, to let them know how friendly and how wild I could be… wahahaha…..

Mainly these are my highlights in these few weeks. Now I’m just waiting for final to come and preparing for the coming actuarial exams (damn, I’m behind the schedule!!!).

p/s: see how incoherent my writing is?!!! I need to read more novels!!!