PiG

蔡依林Myself马来西亚演唱会

2011-07-15T14:32:00.000+07:00

Halo again :)

After two months, I'm here to update about Jolin's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G concert.

Needless to say, she was superb.

Here are some videos that I shot. ^^

《花蝴蝶》
This was the first song of the concert.
Her voice was powerful and bright;
she wowed her fans with a great opening accompanied with her energetic dance.

《黑发尤物》
I actually prefer the feather costume that she wore in Taiwan,
but we got the Pepsi-sponsored dress instead.
Oh well, she was still awesome anyway.

《美人计》
The hottest dance of her career yet.
Too bad Benny Ninja didn't come to Malaysia,
but the vogueing performed by her five dancers was intriguing too,
especially the blue-haired guy.

Just talking~
You know, Jolin's voice is actually VERY sweet.
Yes, I literally meant that.
As sweet as a candy.
I honestly don't remember her voice being that sweet,
maybe it's because of the mic that night.

《无言以对》
This is actually my least favorite costume of the night.
I thought that it made her look big and manly,
instead of the small and sexy image of her that I adore.

《七上八下、Can't Get You Out of My Head、Just Dance》
Can't Get You Out of My Head is by Kylie Minogue
whilst Just Dance is by Lady Gaga.
This video was the longest that I shot,
and it was all taken from the big screen because by that time everyone stood up,
so I couldn't really see her from the stage.

《给自己的情书》
This song was not sang in Malaysia, but Guangzhou,
and this video wasn't shot by me.
I'm just sharing this here because I'm sick of people saying that Jolin only knows how to dance,
but not how to sing.
I'm fed up of it.
Come on,
I've been to three of Jolin's concert,
from December 2006 to December 2007 to June 2011.
I can see her evident improvement.
She can sing.
No, she doesn't go out of tune,
and no, she doesn't gasp as if she doesn't have enough breath.
And hell, she dances almost throughout her concert.
This song here is by Faye Wong,
one of the greatest singer in Mandopop,
and Jolin nailed this song.
She nailed it.
So, don't ever say that Jolin can't sing again,
because she can.

Prom 2011 :)

2011-05-15T12:15:00.000+07:00

I'm blogging again :o
No, I'm not, haha.
I just wanted to put photos that I love somewhere,
and if I put them on Facebook with all the other prom photos taken,
it doesn't really show which ones I liked.
So I'm back again! For once, haha ^^

This year's prom took place at Park Hyatt, District 1.
I think the place is a good choice, although the ticket was a little pricey.
But good stuff always comes with sacrifice,
if we had fun last night,
the ticket was worthed it :)

Here comes the photos:

From left to right: Me, Phuong Anh, Quyen, and Anh

The girls again.

And again, don't get sick yet! Haha

Mr. Isley!!!!! ^^

He taught all the three of us.

Dear Hain :)

Her hair looks AWESOME.

Diep, Phil, Lucie, Hain, Amy, and Kajol

Hain and Lulu!

I know it's random..but I still like it ^^

Joseph and I :)

Joseph, Lulu, and I ^^

I love this photo!

Hain, Lulu, and I

Hehehe

The cute Chiang siblings.

Joseph and Mr. Isley

Actually neither of them asked to take a picture together,

I made them, haha

Joseph, Dean, and I

I don't really like how I look here,

but I like being with the boys,

so yeah.

Cute! :)

Dean, Kun Ho, and Joseph

Hahahahaha

I'm sorry, Joseph, but you look funny.

Hahahahaha

Remember to SMILE~~~

I LOVE this photo
So intense!

So that's all for today.
These are just the ones that I like,
there will be more on Facebook soon :)
Hopefully other people also took a lot of pretty photos.
Please read and reply! (Although this post is more of a look and reply ^^)
Adios~

Wei Syn

Working with Usher

2011-01-29T23:13:00.000+07:00

Apparently both of my idols - Leehom and Jolin - have had the experience of working with Usher.

Leehom was invited by Usher as a guest singer in his Beijing concert.

They sang Leehom's 唯一 and Usher's OMG.

Here's a video about them working together,

watch how Leehom taught Usher to sing in Chinese ^^

Jolin shot a GAP commercial with Usher.

They had to do some dance moves

and Usher later even joked about how Jolin is such a Diva,

haha~

The photo:

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

I'm back in Malaysia right now and tomorrow I'm hanging out with my cousins.

We're gonna go to the Karaoke and then I need to look for a prom dress..

I'm glad to be back for a holiday with good food

but I'm also missing my friends in Vietnam terribly :(

Oh, the way how habits just grow on me is frightening.

Have fun wearing new clothes, eating good food, and receiving angpao! ^^

First Week Back

2011-01-15T00:47:00.000+07:00

Yay~ It's Friday already. ^^

I'm happy, yeah, but this week wasn't that bad actually.

On Wednesday, we were given a tour to the new High School building,

and the building was beautiful.

Basement: Work out room, locker rooms, dance room, music room

1st floor: Reception and office

2nd floor: Black Cat Kiosk, library, IT room, green screen room, art room, garden

3rd floor: Math and Science rooms

4th floor: Language and Social Studies rooms

The parts that I like are the

1. Reception area

It looks very modern and profession.

It has a T.V. to show promotional videos of our school and four very cool display boards.

2. Library

The table and chairs are nice,

the chairs are comfortable to sit on

3. Garden

One word - beautiful.

I might hang out there during study hall,

to read.

4. Classrooms

Very nice tables,

awesome sound system,

fantastic view.

We had a celebration ceremony of the High School building during the last block of today,

and we had Domino's pizza for lunch.

I must say,

the cheese pizza was delicious!

I'm very excited for Monday,

because that is when we will be starting our classes at the new building!

Anyway, I have a few things to share:

(a) an article on Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

This is a comparison between the Western and Chinese parenting,

a very interesting article.

No offense intended, but yes humor.

(b) A very heartwarming video The T-Mobile Welcome Back

I hope you have a great weekend!

To You

2010-12-31T10:56:00.001+07:00

To A
I'm not very close with you, but you've once said to me that you were surprised about how you can talk to me about many things, as in you realized that I'm not just a serious person. And yeah, I'm glad that you found that out about me. I cannot really recall any special events with you, we seem to be more of a talk-once-in-a-while friends, not that I dislike it, just that we don't really a strong friendship. Still, I do enjoy your company and you're a nice person. ^^

To B
When I was told about it, at first I didn't believe it, because you knew me. But it happened anyway, and I'm not mad at you. Sometimes things just get out of control and it's no one's fault. I want you to know that I'm still your friend and I care about your happiness. Be happy and that's your payment to me. Haha, because if you're happy, then I know that I can let go. I will always be around if you need me.

To C
I hate the fact that I got closer to you only when you were about to leave. I've stressed many times that you've brought happiness to me, and the amount of happiness during those few months was unimaginable. I was sad when you left, and sorry when we don't talk as much after you left. Sometimes I even felt that I value you more than you value me. That's what I hate about friendship, the unbalance. Anyway, as I always say, try to make the best out of the worst, I try to hang on to the memories that we had together and be happy when we chat on Msn.

To D
You've been a great friend, keeping me accompany when I was lonely, never putting preference over friends, and being honest with me. I really enjoy your company, sometimes although scared, because I can never get things completed when you're here. Haha, but that's good in a way, isn't it? This shows that I put my full concentration on you. I want to say thank you, if it wasn't for you, this half year probably would have sucked, but you were here, so I'm happy. I'm really grateful that you're my friend, and I promise that you have my love :)

To E
Dear E, you've been an amazing friend to me. Once and once again, you never fail to surprise me with your maturity even though you're 2 years younger than me. When I talk to you, sometimes I even feel like I'm younger than you, and you're the one consoling me. Thank you, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to understand many things. I've missed you so because you've also left :( But no matter, as long as both of us stay strong, our friendship stays strong.

To F
I think this year we talked less due to the fact that I live in Vietnam and whenever I come back I don't even meet up with you. Still, I don't think it's a big deal because there are relationships that do not disappear just because of time and distance.

To G
You brought me to heaven and then pushed me down to hell. It was a terrible week. I can't really even recall the happy moments that I felt because they make me feel stupid. Sigh~ but it's not even your fault. I was depending on you too much and I let myself do that even though I knew it was dangerous. Now I'm learning to let go, to let go of the past, and to let you go. When 2011 comes, it will be a whole new start.

To H
I feel sorry at our current state. What happened to our friendship? We seem to be people who just say "hi" and "bye". I miss the times when you will come over to my place and we would talk for hours. You used to be one of the first to know about the things that happened to me, but not now. You know that I'm not really a quiet person, that I'm only quiet in front of people who I can't really talk to. Now I'm quiet in front of you, I don't know what we can talk about, I feel as if I can't connect with you. What's wrong?

To I
We don't see each other that much anymore. Well, that's just how it is when we are not in the same country. Maybe I'm not putting enough effort. I feel like I'm losing you and I don't want that to happen. Stay with me, will you?

To J
You too, I feel like I'm losing you :( I don't see you on Msn, and that's how we stay in contact. When I ask you out, you have other plans. Can't you spare time for me? I haven't seen you for months. I truly hope that I can watch the concert with you next year, I really hope so.

To K
I can talk to you for a long time. Sometimes I have the impression that I'm close to you but sometimes I realized that I don't know a lot about you. But anyway, I like spending time with you, sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's thoughtful, sometimes it's relaxing. ^^ You make me happy. Thank you for expressing your concern about it three weeks ago, I really appreciate it.

To L
Sharing secrets with you made us closer, haha. We became really close after, and it's a wonder. We are somehow similar in some ways and I enjoy talking to you. It's..enjoyable. Thanks for supporting me, listening to my complains, and laughing with me. Thanks for being by my side when I needed help and thanks for being an awesome friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you! :)

To M
You know that I don't know how to express love easily. Yes, I'm learning, but I can only express it in front of people who express love a lot. Well, for now I just want to say, be wise when you make decisions, don't just do something just of the pleasure of doing it. Don't be fooled.

To N
I miss you, I miss you, I miss you :( I don't know how long I am going to say these three words, but I think it will go on at least for a few years, probably a minimal of 5 o.O Ahhhh, that does not sound good at all. Anyway, at least we can give each other *pat pat* and *hug hug* across the ocean, right? Haha ^^ I look forward to the next time when we meet again. See you when I see you!

******

I believe that friends (although this post includes people other than my friends) play an important role in my life, they help to shape my life, my attitude, my mood, everything. In year 2010, thanks to the fourteen people above, I've experienced joy, sadness, disappointment, moments of laughter, 思念, honesty, hesitation, rants, depression, thoughtful times, etc. Although 2010 wasn't perfect, but I definitely gained a lot in that year. Goodbye 2010, I think I am ready to let you go. Halo 2011, although I don't know what you have to offer to me, but I will try my best to make you a good year, a year where I continue my second year of being an adult. Let's embrace the future with an open mind and a positive attitude! :)

My Year 2010

2010-12-20T18:55:00.002+07:00

2010 IS ALMOST OVER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

This Q&A is my favorite post whenever it's the end of the year. One of the reasons I'm doing this so early (I did this on the 30th in 2008 and 31st in 2009) is because I've abandoned my blog for more than two months. Sorry, blog. I just can't find time to write.

stayed single almost the whole year?
- Yes, and this is the third time I've said this. I'm not desperate though, after what had just happened, I think I just want to be around friends at least for months.

kissed someone new?
- Nope, but I got a kiss on the cheek from John David Alexander, my favorite kindergarten kid is school ^^

done something you've regretted?
- For the past two years I've said yes but it wasn't something that I could remember. This year...kind of the same. The two intangible things that I fear are guilt and regret; before I do something, I consider "all the shades of gray" (HAHAHAHA) so that I don't do something that I will regret in the future. In conclusion, I think I can say that I did not do anything that I've regretted this year.

lost someone?
- In some ways, I've lost a few people.

Chris Choi - he left to South Korea to continue his studies. Although we are not not friends, but we rarely talk these days. He brought me a lot of happiness during the 2nd semester of Grade 10. Lame jokes!!! I used to feel so 无奈 when he tells me those jokes but now I miss them so much...such irony! He told me that he will be visiting next winter (I have to wait one more year >.<) and I can't wait to see how tall he will be then. Hahaha

Jenny Yang - My dear Jenny, one of my first friends when I arrived at SSIS, left shortly after fall break to the United States. Although she's 2 years younger than me, she doesn't make me feel that way (basically all of my friends at SSIS are younger than me - ggggrrrrr - but I don't really feel that I'm older than them). In fact, she sometimes makes me feel I'm younger because I listen to her for advice. I miss you so much, Jenny, when will be the time for us to meet again?

There is another friend that I've recently lost, or I thought that I've lost. After reconsidering our friendship, I've gained the friend back in a different way. I'm just happy that I did not lose that friend.

Cut class?
- No, no, no. Maybe private classes for once or twice but definitely not school.

Were involved in something you'll never forget?
- Hmm....I started the IB diploma this year, and I don't think I will ever forget the days when the homework pile just never gets smaller.

Visited a different country?
- Yes, I went to Hong Kong this summer! It was a great experience :)

cooked a gross meal?
- I've cooked something that is not very delicious but not gross, thank god. Haha

lost something important to you?
- I lost my Lenovo Thinkpad laptop that was only under my ownership for 2 months. It was a depressing time for me, and a painful lesson to learn.

got a gift you adore?
- I love letters compared to materialistic gifts. And yes, I did get a letter that I like ^^

tripped over a coffee table?
- Fortunately, no.

dyed your hair?
- My brother just asked me to highlight my hair yesterday, and I didn't really want to. Maybe during summer I'll do it, haha. What color though? The only color that I've really considered is dark/light blue, but I don't even know if it suits me. Any suggestions?

Is this blue okay?

came close to losing your life?
- Nope, I want to live loooong.

went to a party?
- I was supposed to go to Kajol's birthday party but I came back late from the NHS biking trip, so no.

read a great book?
- Sadly enough I realized that I didn't do much pleasure reading this year...

saw one of your favorite bands/artists live?
- T.T I'm sorry to say no, I didn't see any of my favorite artists live this year. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I get to attend Jolin's Myself concert when she comes to Malaysia.

2008: Friends and Enemies

Did you meet any new friends this year?
- I met some new people but none of them really became my close friends. I became closer to a few friends though, and I'm very happy about it ^^

Did you dislike anyone?
- Yes, I'm not very good at controlling my emotions and that probably is one of the reasons why I dislike people easily.

Did you grow apart from anyone?
- Yes, I did :( It's either they left SSIS, or I find that I just can't "click" with them, or the friendship somehow just fell apart. Did I make an effort to stop the friendships from growing apart? I think I did, but maybe not the best as I can. Not everything goes the way how we want it to be, right?

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships?
- Again, regrets are not something that I like to have. Although there are some parts that I wished were better, but sometimes it's probably better to go with the flow. We can't force ourselves to have something that doesn't belong to us. What is yours is yours, eventually.

2008: Your BIRTHDAY!

Did you have a cake?
- Finally I remember my birthday! Because photos were taken and I wrote about it in my blog, haha. So yeah, thanks to Kajol, I did have a cake for my 18th birthday.

Did you have a party?
- Not really a party, as I'm not a party person. But I invited some friends and we had dinner at NYDC.

Did you get any presents?
- Yeah

2008: All about YOU

Did you change at all this year?
- I think I did, although I don't know specially how, but I'm pretty sure I changed.

Did you change your style?
- I...got my nails painted black two days ago, does that count? Hahaha. But yeah, I do like to wear black, although it makes me feel hot like hell when I walk under the sun.

Were you in school?
- Of course, I went from a sophomore to a junior.

Did you get good grades?
- The 2nd semester of Grade 10 was the best since I attended SSIS. Junior year...it will be my worst since I attended SSIS :(

Did you have a job?
- I have no work experience! >.<

Did you own a car?
- I want to learn how to drive first! Vowed to during summer 2010, and I failed.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
- Hmm..no.

Did you move at all?
- I moved from My Phuc to the studio apartment that I live in now.

Did you go on any vacations?
- During the summer, I went to Hong Kong and Macau, and this coming week I will be going to Universal Studios at Singapore, Pulau Pangkor, and Penang Island!

.Would you change anything about yourself now?
- I wish for this every year: my weight to go down down down! I wish I can also improve my temper, so that I don't flare up so easily.

2010 WRAP UP

Was 2010 a good year?
- Every year has its own ups and downs, but yeah, 2010 was definitely a good year.

(x) stayed single for the whole year
( ) kissed in the snow
(x) celebrated Halloween
(x) had your heart broken
( ) mooned someone
(x) went over the minutes on your cell phone
( ) someone questioned your sexual orientation
( ) came out of the closet
( ) gotten pregnant
( ) had an abortion
(x) done something you've regretted

OTHER

( ) painted a picture
(x) wrote a poem
( ) ran a mile (I cycled for 45km though!)
( ) shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
( ) posted a blog on MySpace
(x) visited a foreign country
( ) cut in a line of waiting people
(x) told someone you were busy when you weren't
( ) partied to celebrate the new year
( ) cooked a disastrous meal
(x) lied about how old you were (That's what you start to do when you're 18 so that you can still get the non-adult price)
( ) prank called someone

In 2010 I...

[x] broke a promise
[x] fell out of love
[x] a little white lie or a joke.
[x] lied
[x] cried over a broken heart
[ ] disappointed someone close
[x] hid a secret
[x] pretended to be happy
[ ] slept under the stars
[ ] kept your new year resolutions
[x] forgot your new year resolutions (What were my new year resolutions???)
[ ] met one of your idols
[x] changed your outlook on life (I try to be as positive as possible, to make the best out of the worst)
[x] sat home all day doing nothing (Not exactly nothing, but I wasn't being productive)
[x] pretended to be sick
[x] left the country
[ ]almost died
[x]given up on something/someone important to you
[x] lost something expensive
[x] learned something new about yourself
[x] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it (The black nails!)
[x] made a change in your life
[x] found out who your true friends were
[x] met great people (Great teachers and great friends are great people)
[ ] stayed up til sunrise
[ ] cried over the silliest thing
[x] had friends who were drifting away from you
[ ] had a high cell phone bill (It's hard for me to use up the credit in my phone since I don't use it often)
[x] spent most of your money on food/clothes (I spent a lot of money on food, since I live alone)
[ ] had a fist fight
[ ] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
[ ] gotten sick
[ ] liked more than 5 people at the same

I think many, many things happened in year 2010. It's just that everything feels so distant and I don't feel as if they all happened in one year. The few big things that happened:
1. Joining the National Honor Society - I'm sad that we're recruiting new members because it won't just be the first batch people anymore, everything is going to be different. We had great memories, especially the Wildlife at Risk and Mekong Biking Trip.
2. Attending prom - It was my first time attending such occasions. Dressing up formally, etc. Although I didn't really have fun, prom is just not my thing as I don't dance, but I'm attending prom again in 2011.
3. I became good friends with this guy called Chris Choi who I didn't expect myself to be friends with (I cannot say that we are good friends now, but we were). It was all because of Pre-calculus. We suffered together, we studied together, and we got bad grades together (although our definition of bad grade was different).
4. Summer vacation to Hong Kong
5. Studying the IB Diploma
6. Started my independent life in Vietnam alone
7. And so much more!

There were definitely ups and downs in year 2010, but I'm happy to say that it was an amazing year because of my friends and family that love me so much, who have been supporting me in whatever I do and being there for me when I need them. ^^ Thank you. Right now I'm not sad that 2010 is ending (maybe I will be on the 31st, haha) because I believe year 2011 will be a better one. Don't you agree? :)

Tricks

2010-09-24T23:55:00.000+07:00

How many changes did you spot?

The only change that I saw was the card,

and nothing else.

Isn't it funny how people do not realize the change?

Is it because they don't pay attention to who they are talking to?

I did not see the gorilla at all,

I was focusing at the basketball and white shirt players the whole time.

What about you?

By the way,

did you realize that there was another gorilla in one of the other videos too?

I spotted that,

just so you know. ^^

Happy 18th Birthday

2010-09-24T23:51:00.000+07:00

Thanks to Kajol, Amy, and Rimta for the surprise birthday cake ^^

Phil and Lucy took crazy pictures all night, haha

Hain and Rimta were very creative.

When I'm in the picture, it's always more normal.

From left to right: Me, Hain, Amy

Kajol~~~

I've known her since 9th grade.

A miracle is happening in this photo.

Joseph is actually SMILING!

Hahaha, it's a miracle because usually he doesn't smile and he's stiff like a robot.

Thanks to Rimta, Joseph was smiling.

Haha

See the normal Joseph?

Almost expressionless,

hehehe

Sometimes I just feel like shaking my head at my friends,

look at them!

They said that they look like ghosts here >.<

Pretty Jenny and Rimta~

Although it was just a dinner,

I'm glad that these people -

Jenny, Phil, Lucie, Kajol, Joseph, Rimta, and Amy - came.

It meant a lot to me,

thank you! ^^

Rock Climbing

2010-09-24T23:32:00.000+07:00

As IB diploma students,

we went for a CAS retreat to District 3 for rock climbing.

Students were writing on their CAS workbook before leaving the school.

"Cheese!"

The wall that we were going to climb.

When I first saw it,

my reaction was, "How in the world am I going to climb that wall?"

Put on harnesses to get ready for rock climbing!

Left: Phil

Jinny was the first one to arrive at the top - she's Good!

Go, Jinny, go!

As you can see, although she was climbing at the easy part of the wall,

the wall ain't that flat either.

After moments of looking at my fellow students climb,

I finally convinced myself that it was my turn to climb.

This is me deciding on where to step,

which hand I should raise in order to move myself up.

Approximately four to five people climb the wall at the same time.

If you look closely, Phil is actually not climbing,

but hanging on to his rope.

Reason: He's afraid of heights and he didn't realize how high he was.

When he realized, he started screaming and stopped climbing.

Poor Phil :(

My initial goal was just to climb halfway up the wall,

but I was focusing so much on climbing the wall that I didn't realize how close I was to the top.

Hurray!

I made it up to the top!

Victory~ ^^

A picture with Jenny and Liem after I came down.

I was exhausted.

We did it!

Mission accomplished!

Well done, IB diploma students.

I like rock climbing so much that I'm planning to go rock climbing at least once a month with my friends.

This October when I go back to Malaysia,

I'm planning to conquer the ones at One Utama and Summit,

who's with me? ^^

Meal #3

2010-09-24T20:54:00.000+07:00

By looking at this, you know that I cooked Prawn Mee!

Woohoo~ ^^

Ingredients:

Yummy tofu and juicy prawns

(Tofu is DELICIOUS ^^)

My first half boiled egg: Failure.

Wondering why the shell is cracked with some yolk in the water?

Well, I didn't boil the egg long enough,

so when I was cracking the egg,

I realized that it was a half-boiled egg, not a hard-boiled egg.

So, I put the egg back into the pot and continued to boil it.

When it finally became hard-boiled, because the shells were cracked a little,

the yolk came out.

Oh well, I'll improve.

It's difficult to get yellow mee in Vietnam,

so I used one of my favorite type of noodles - spaghetti - as a substitute.

Believe me, it's a surprising substitute if you haven't tried prawn spaghetti.

大功告成！

Doesn't it look b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l?

Hahaha, it doesn't matter if it's not beautiful to you,

but to me it's enough because it was my first time cooking it. ^^

A shot of my delicious prawn mee from another angle.

I only had one packet prawn mee paste for the soup,

so now I have to wait till October when I can restock my food in Malaysia. ^^

Dios mio!

I can hear my stomach rumbling by looking at spaghetti coated with prawn mee soup,

fue muy delicioso!

Rudeness

2010-09-19T18:40:00.000+07:00

I was paying at the casher at Citimart,

and a lady just came from behind and put her goods in front of my goods when it's supposed to by my turn to pay.

Such rudeness.

Was I mad?

No.

Why should I let such a person ruin my day?

Instead I was smirking and laughing at the person inwardly,

laughing at her showing others how rude and uneducated she is.

p/s: I'm not a bad person.

Meal #2

2010-09-18T17:45:00.000+07:00

Fried Seafood Tom Yam Spaghetti

Looks ugly, I know >.<

I can't believe I took such an ugly photo

Ingredient No. 1 - prawns

Ingredient No. 2 - onions

Ingredient No. 3 and 4 - Fish cake and Sotong

Last but not least - spaghetti!

Maybe it doesn't look very delicious,

but I was happy that I succeeded in cooking it,

and in my opinion, it was tasty. ^^

Alligator's Bday

2010-09-04T20:44:00.000+07:00

It was Anh's (Alligator) birthday on Tuesday,

[person in the middle]

so we went out for lunch and a movie on Thursday since our weekend started early this week.

We went to Vincom's NYDC,

since the one near the church was too crowded..

I sat be side Kyuree,

CHEESE! ^^

*mom mom mom*

I ordered baked rice with ham and mushroom

plus a mango tango soda! ^^

But my stomach has shrunk since Mummy went back to Malaysia,

so I was already full when I halfway through the meal.

After lunch,

we went to Huong Vuong plaza in District 5.

After much arguing about which movie to watch,

we chose Predators.

I honestly didn't know what it was about,

until I saw the trailer when I was buying drinks.

I freaked out.

Haha

As a result,

Kim being the only guy among the group,

I told him that I wanted to sit with him during the movie.

Moreover,

I consistently used my bag to cover my face >.<

I know, this movie just has aliens,

there's nothing scary about it..

Sorry, but it's just not my type of movie,

plus I don't want to have nightmares...

Anyway,

I disliked the movie,

but Kim loved it,

haha.

It was a pretty good day overall,

and I procrastinated the whole night not doing my homework,

hahaha~

Meal #1

2010-09-04T20:06:00.000+07:00

Tteokbokki,

or however you spell it.

I succeeded in cooking it,

and it was edible,

hahahaha ^^

I Survived

2010-09-02T20:29:00.000+07:00

It's been a week since I've been living my new lifestyle,

and I'm proud to announce that I survived.

Because of the humongous IB workload,

I have been busy doing homework and studying for my tests

that I don't even have time to feel lonely.

Or maybe it's because I'm an introvert,

so I don't have problems being alone.

Moreover,

I have to thank my family and teachers,

who are concerned about my current situation;

friends,

who listen to my random talk everyday so that I don't feel lonely;

and Aunties,

who care about me and sometimes cook for me.

Thank you,

I am a lucky person to be loved and cared by all of you.

I have two more years to go,

and I have confidence that I will lead a memorable life here in Vietnam!

伯牙絕弦和無言以對

2010-08-28T12:02:00.000+07:00

These are two great songs from Leehom and Jolin,

please spend sometime listening and watching to these videos,

thanks! ^^

伯牙絕弦

無言以對

Back To School

2010-08-28T11:54:00.001+07:00

Hello~

I realized that I haven't been blogging regularly,

other than the lack of time,

the motivation to blog isn't there either.

So school started on the 11th,
and my IB diploma life has officially started.
To be honest, the workload is super.
And not in a good way.
Haha, I can't complain though,
because IB was what I had chosen.
The humongous workload was expected when I made that choice.

All in all,
although I spend a lot of time on school work these days,
I still enjoy going to school. ^^
I must say, some of my classes are interesting,
especially the ones that I have not taken before in SSIS,
such as Theory of Knowledge and Economics.

This year in Spanish class,
my classmates aren't the same people who I had with in the past two years.
We're combining classes with people who had studied Spanish for three years.
My first thought was Oh My God...how am I ever going to catch up?
Plus, I realized that the atmosphere is different this year..
I hope that I will grow to like this class soon.

Theory of Knowledge,
for those who doesn't know what this class is,
it's kinda like a philosophy class,
but the main theme is:
How do we know what we know?
How do you know what going on now is true?
How do you know that this isn't an illusion?
Because you see, hear, smell, and feel it?
But how do you know your senses are true?
If you watched Inception,
maybe you know what I mean. ^^

I'm a person who doesn't really like change,
unless the change is really good and beneficial.
So, when I walked into my Math class this year,
it was the class that I felt most at ease and comfortable,
it was as if the summer didn't existed, haha.
This is of course due to my Math teacher,
who I've had him two years,
and I'm gonna have him for the next two years!
Hahaha~
To be honest,
I think he is going to be the teacher that I have for the longest in my life.
^^
One thing I realized in the class is that
all my fellow students are from Algebra 2,
but that doesn't really give me a privilege
because they are all those kind of "Math people".
And I'm not T.T
I envy them so much.
But that's not a bad thing either actually,
because I thought when Tuna was leaving,
I'm gonna be doomed in Math class,
but now with all these smart people,
I can ask them for help!
hahahaha

English so far has been the class which I received the most homework,
but don't misunderstand,
I still like English.
It may not be a "fun" class,
but it always feels good to really understand a book that I read.

Surprisingly,
I enjoy myself quite a bit in Economics class.
In my opinion,
Economics is a bit like logic,
you have to think about what is the cause and consequences,
but of course,
this is just the beginning of the course,
it may turn difficult as we progress,
who knows?

It's quite different to focus on section than study Science as a general,
which was something that I've been doing all my life.
This year,
I've chosen Chemistry as the Science that I want to study,
we've not really gone into the Chemistry part,
now is more of the basic Science stuff,
like dimensional analysis and significant figures.
老实说，我不是很喜欢我的班。>.<

Music is very different from my previous music classes.
This year is more...professional? I should say.
We are learning Music vocabulary,
orchestral instruments,
and later will delve into Music history (I think).
In addition,
one of our IB external assessments is that
I'm going to have a 15 minutes solo performance in April (Oh my god!!!),
I have to select 4 pieces of music and my performance will be recorded.
After that,
the recording will be sent somewhere for IB examiners to assess my performance
o.O Scary, huh?
I've already chosen two pieces of music for my performance,
and here they are:

Mozart's Piano Sonata K.332 in F major

Chopin's Nocturne Op.55 No.1
This is the version with string instruments,
but I'm playing solo, of course.

School so far has been really exhausting,
and my life isn't relaxing at all.
I'm always happy that the weekend is here,
because I finally get to rest.
But that's life, right?
In between the routine,
you find little excitements here and there to spark up your life,
and that's where relationships such as friends or families (and bf/gf) step in.
^^

How Asian Are You?

2010-08-10T14:07:00.000+07:00

I saw a few people on Facebook playing this quiz,

and since I haven't played this kind of quiz for some time,

I decided to give it a go. ^^

So, how Asian are you?

[x] Both of your parents are from Asia

[ ] You use the term “Azn” (What is Azn?)

[ ] You think DDR is fun ( What is DDR?)

[ ] You’ve watched lots of anime (My bro and sis do though)

[x ] You like Korean dramas

[ ] You have stuff hanging on your phone

[ ] Your parents want you to marry within your own race (My mum just doesn't want me to marry certain races)

[x] You drink lemon tea

So Far: 3

[x] You style your hair , NOT with gel

[x] You have a meebo / myspace / friendster / facebook

[x] You speak languages other than English

[ ] Your parents are strict ( I don't think they are strict)

[ ]Your parents have high expectations of you (They kinda let me do my own thing because they trust me)

[x] You always get A’s/B’s on your report (Not always, but pretty much these two years)

[x] You do Chemistry/Biology/Physics ( I do Chemistry in IB)

Accounting

[x] You know your multiplication table

[ ] You play badminton or table tennis

[ ] You’ve seen the Asian version The Ring and/or The Grudge

So Far: 11

[ ] You own an Asian car (I can't drive, yet)

[x] You’re not the only child

[x] You’ve gotten little red envelopes around February

[x] You know the difference between kung fu, karate and tae kwon do. (One's Chinese, one's Korean[I think], one's I don't know)

[ ] ( girl ) You prefer white guys over asian guys( guy ) You prefer asian girls ( I still love Asians ^^)

[ ]Your mother tries to bargain even though the product is already discounted (We only bargain in places that we should bargain)

[ ] You can do the rubiks cube

[ ] You play video games

So Far: 14

[x] Every time you’re going out, your parents ask you where you’re going and what time you’ll be home (This should be done in every family, not just Asians)

[ ] You have karaoke at home (I wish I do)

[x] You know BoA/Gazette/Ayumi Hamasaki/Gackt (Japanese and Korean...why isn't there Jolin or Leehom?)

[ ] You’ve been to a LAN more than 3 times (What's a LAN?)

[ ] You have incense sticks in your house (My grandparents' houses have those though)

[ ] You own a gaming console

[x] You play a musical instrument

[ ] You get nothing if you do well in school (This is ridiculous)

So Far: 17

[ ] Your parents won’t let you go out if you have school the next day ( I get to go out as long my studies aren't affected)

[x] You have Asian Songs on your computer or iPod (I don't listen much to Western music)

[ ]You don’t like football (Generally, I don't play sport)

[ ] You have a curfew

[ ] You know what ulzzang/tb means (???)

[ ] You know what purikura is (Again, wha???)

[x] You like bubble tea (Bubble tea is awesome ^^)

[ ] Your parents bought you shoes many sizes too big so you can “grow into it” and wear it for years to come (My feet stopped growing for years)

[ ] You’ve played final fantasy

[ ] You believe in fortune cookies

So Far: 19

[ ] You get mostly “No“‘s when you ask your parents for permission for something (I usually get "Yes"s)

[ ]You’ve heard the song “Got rice?” (What language is that song in?)

[ ]You have a tutor (Used to, when I was in primary school)

[x] You’ve had pockys or yan yan before

[ ] When you seek for your mother’s permission she replies “Ask your dad”

MY RESULT: 20

( 1-10= Southerner) [ ]

(11-20= American) [x]

(21-30= European) [ ]

(31-40= Azn Boy or Girl) [ ]

(41-50= Super Azn Boy or Girl) [ ]

So I'm an American, huh?

That's....no offense, but I love being Asian.

Haha

School Reopens

2010-08-10T12:27:00.000+07:00

School reopens tomorrow,

and I'm a little nervous >.<

Currently I'm preparing for school,

such as packing my bag, cutting my nails, and printing my homework.

But I'm also excited at the same time,

because I can't wait to know my actual schedule,

meet friends and teachers who I've missed during the summer,

know who I will be in Homeroom and my classes.

I hope it will be an exciting school year.

p/s:

Jolin's new song 玩爱之徒 mv was released yesterday and here it is

However, I must say it's not a favorite of mine.

In addition, Leehom's new song 你不知道的事 was released this morning

I love this song, I really do.

It makes my heart ache when I listen to this song,

I think when I'm sad, I'm gonna listen to this song,

which includes next Sunday when Leehom is gonna be in Malaysia whilst I'm in Vietnam

T.T

Hong Kong & Macau

2010-08-06T10:43:00.000+07:00

This is pretty long post, so be prepared,

although they are mostly photos. ^^

Taking the Skybus from One Utama to LCCT,

thanks to 力跃哥 for driving us there. ^^

Daddy and bro on the bus

Mum and Qing

*peace*

Grabbing Hong along so that I wouldn't be alone, haha

Stupid me took this stupid picture, haha

There's absolutely no meaning in this >.<

Air Asia, now everyone can fly~

Yeah, thanks to it,

we're going to Hong Kong!

Yup, we've arrived in Hong Kong.

I didn't realize that Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese characters until I arrived there.

I thought that Taiwan was the only place that uses tradition characters.

The first glimpse of the streets Hong Kong.

They use a lot of lights.

My first breakfast in Hong Kong.

It's so oily!

But we don't have 猪趴包 in Malaysia, so I had to try it.

I'm not very good in eating oily meat though >.<

We went all the way up the mountains to look at the whole HK scenery,

and it was pretty awesome.

The most memorable thing about the peak was this though,

the spelling error, hahaha!

We passed by this unique building,

and do you know what it is?

The famous 红勘!

Where singers such as Jolin and Leehom have their concerts whenever they go to HK.

We took a stroll at 星光大道 and my family took a picture beside Bruce Lee.

Sorry about the picture,

it should be turned clockwise so that you can see whose hands are those.

Those hand prints belong to Jackie Chan, by the way.

Back to 星光大道 again that night.

This statue reminds me of the Oscar,

although this statue is a She, not a He.

A shot of HK night view.

Hahaha, by looking at this photo,

can you guess where I was?

Disneyland!!!

My first photo of Disneyland was given to the Little Mermaid,

because she is my favorite Disney princess ^^

We were lucky,

when we got into Disneyland,

there was a parade going on.

The best part of the parade was the appearance of the Little Mermaid!

She's ssooooo beautiful...

*drools*

The buildings in Disneyland are pretty awesome, right?

It makes you feel as if you're in another world.

We played a game something related to Buzz Lightyear,

and all we needed to do was use the gun in Hong's hand

to shoot the Xs on the bad guys.

Easy enough?

Then we took a boat ride called A Small Small World.

During the ride,

you see little dolls from different culture all around the world singing

the song It's a Small Small World in different languages.

Then, another boat ride through the human made forest.

What's interesting about this boat ride is that we had to choose between three tour guides,

Cantonese, Chinese, and English.

We understand and speak all three, so which should we choose?

After deliberating, we decided to choose English.

Reason:

If we choose Cantonese, Hong and Qing can't really catch up,

if we choose Chinese, we have to squeeze with the many, many Chinese from China,

if we choose English, there are only a few people.

So which tour guide would you choose?

A visit at Tarzan's tree house.

Sleeping Beauty's castle at night.

Everyone's waiting for the last show of Disneyland - fireworks.

To be honest, the fireworks were the best that I've ever watched.

The best part about Disneyland is that no matter how old you are,

five or fifty,

when you're in there, you're in a totally different world,

a world that you've forgotten for a long time - a world of your childhood.

Wei Qing ate this twice in HK.

Rice+Egg+Luncheon Meat = simple but delicious.

Maybe I should cook this in Vietnam, haha.

Arrived at Ocean Park,

the place that we always see in HK drama series.

A look at the view of parts of Ocean Park,

we only played on one of the rides,

because we wanted to spend more time on looking at the animals.

This, is a lazy seal, of course.

Jellyfish!

The one moment that I saw so many jellyfish in my life.

Pretty~~~

I honestly don't know what this is called,

but it has beautiful fur.

Panda! It's adorable,

we spent minutes staring at it eating.

Waiting for the performance to start...

It's amazing how well trained the dolphins are.

Jolin 式鞍马?!

Haha, just kidding.

绵绵冰....

One of the foods that I miss so much,

it's soooo delicious!

My breakfast on the day we went to Macau,

I love the macaroni+ham+abalone+hot soup,

yummy!

A very uniquely designed building

- gold, silver, and bronze.

Lisboa casino, owned by the richest man in Macau.

By the way, he's 88 years old this year and he has four wives.

Arrived at Macau Tower,

the tallest tower in, Macau, obviously, haha.

See the border around outside?

If you dare, you can walk around the tower.

An idea of how walking around the Macau Tower looks like.

I would do it, if I had the time and money,

would you?

Then, our dear tour guide brought us to another floor,

with see through glass on the ground.

We were allowed to stand/sit/do anything you want on the glass.

The goal was to make feel scared,

because it's so high and you think the glass isn't strong enough to hold your weight.

Apparently, we weren't very afraid.

Hahaha

Next stop, St. Paul Church's ruins.

The only part remaining is the main entrance.

*Ka chak!*

A photo for memories.

Oh oh oh!

I didn't realize the significance of this building my dad told me,

"That's the hotel where Zhao Min's boyfriend is gonna work."

So, here is a photo to show how the hotel looks like.

Hong took a photo beside the English guard of the hotel where we're waiting for our bus.

Last dessert in HK,

although it looked pretty,

it wasn't that delicious T.T

Last view of HK streets.

So long, Hong Kong!

You were amazing,

I'll miss you loads!

p/s:

Luckily for me, when I was the HK airport,

I saw this

An advertisement of Jolin!

Hahaha.

Freeline Skating

2010-08-05T11:29:00.000+07:00

"Do you know what freeline skating is?"

That was a question asked by my cousin, Brian when I met him in Hong Kong.

And of course, I didn't know what it is.

Skating...obviously it's related to sports.

And me knowing about sport is kinda....haha, a joke.

Fortunately, Brian uploaded videos of freeline skating on Facebook,

and I got a glimpse of freeline skating.

You should have seen seconds of Brian freeline skating in the video.

It's kinda cool, isn't it?

I've never seen people play this sport before,

maybe it's not popular in Malaysia?

Or I might be just a 井底之蛙。

So, are you interested in learning how to freeline skate?

(I don't even know if that's a correct verb >.<)

Stuff on Celebrities

2010-07-28T11:34:00.000+07:00

Haven't been blogging for a looong time, I know.

So here I am, updating on stuff that I've been looking at these weeks.

Leehom's new album 《十八般武艺》is releasing soon,

at the 13th of August,

on the same day his new movie 《恋爱通告》is releasing.

In Malaysia, if you want to pre-order his album,

and the following information only applies to CD-RAMA,

the price is RM51.90.

But if you are a member of Popular,

you can get the album at just only the price of RM45.90.

What are the privileges of pre-ordering?

A choice of two keys:

Love and Home version,

plus a poster.

Leehom's new song 《柴米油盐酱醋茶》mv is also released,

and here it is:

Last Friday,

a 30 second preview of another new song 《你不知道的事》was put on Youtube

On the other hand,

Jolin's new album 《蔡依林Myself概念专辑》will be released at the 10th of August.

In Malaysia, if you want to pre-order her album(which starts this Friday, 30th of July),

the price is only RM40.90,

with a free poster.

There are three different posters,

each applies to different outlets.

1. Speedy

2. CD-Rama

3. Other outlets

The downside to pre-ordering the Malaysia version is that,

I don't get awesome gift choices such as

the headphone,

the recycle bag,

and the 写真.

I really want the 写真,

and I heard that Malaysia will be importing the Taiwan version.

But is it gonna be with the 写真? And how much does it cost?

There's no information available yet :(

What do you think I should do?

Anyway,

Jolin's new song 《美人计》mv has just been released yesterday,

and I hope you like it. ^^

What do you think about the dance?

Apart from Taiwanese artistes,

I've also been looking at Korean celebrities.

If you don't know,

the latest Korean drama that I watched was 《原来是美男》．

These are the four main characters of the series,

from left to right,

黄泰京、高美男、Jeremy 、姜新禹

The cartoon version

My favorite?

The bossy and mean 黄泰京 ^^

See the pig rabbit?

I love the drama so much that I even got a pig rabbit of my own.

In addition,

I want to say that the other two guys who acted as Jeremy and 姜新禹

are not actually actors, but singers.

Jeremy is the vocalist of FT Island whilst 姜新禹 is the vocalist of CN Blue.

Because 《原来是美男》 is going to aired in Taiwan this Friday,

apparently FT Island made a Mandarin version of their OST.

To be honest, I find it very funny when I listen to it,

because of the Korean accented Mandarin, haha.

But the song is still awesome, of course. ^^

CN Blue has an great song, called Loner,

and even if you don't listen to K-pop,

give it a try to this song.

Maybe you will like it?

All in all,

I realized that I only have two weeks of summer left!

Gggaaahhhh.

Although I may not be as nervous as my siblings who are starting to go to their new school next week,

I'm still nervous about starting on the IB diploma.

Wish me luck!

Jolin and Leehom 旋风

2010-07-11T00:21:00.000+07:00

12/7 王力宏《柴米油盐酱醋茶》歌及MV首播

14/7 蔡依林新歌《美人计》首播

14/7 王力宏新专辑《十八般武艺》预购

★ 全省唱片行>> 獨家預購禮
幸福約定 Leehom 簽名鑰匙一支
Home & Love 特殊造型2款, 消費者可自由選擇
★ 幸福 Always Open 7-11 預購禮
1. 王力宏自導自演電影「戀愛通告」預告精選
+ 2010最新創作「柴米油鹽醬醋茶」MV DVD
2. 幸福生活寫真冊 (16頁 / 21cm x 18cm)

20/7 蔡依林新专辑《蔡依林同名专辑Vogue》预购

30/7 王力宏新专辑《十八般武艺》发行

What a summer!

Waiting for more news to be released ^^

I know that you know that I know you know

2010-06-22T22:09:00.002+07:00

And so yesterday I was chatting with my friend (let's just call him X).

We haven't chatted since he left for his home country,

which was last Monday.

So, the usual 问候语 asking him about what he did last week,

and he asked me what I did.

Syn says: hang out with friends three different times and finished my english summer reading

X says: finished your summer reading?????!!!!!

Syn says: Just english

X says: that's still very fast.....and also the double entry journal?

X is actually the first person from school who I've told that I've completed my English summer reading,

because most of the people wouldn't start their homework this early.

If I told them,

they might say that I'm crazy.

But, seriously,

if I don't do homework,

I might be in front of my laptop all day long.

Syn says: because we have a lot of hw, that's why i'm starting early, if not i'm just rotting away at home. yeah, plus the journal

X says: .................then, weisyn

(I realized that he's stopped writing, so I said)

Syn says: hmm, i'm sensing something, what?

X says: u know it. i know you know. hehe.

Syn says: hahahahahahahahaha. you know what? i can't stop laughing right now

X says: why? i know u know. and u know that i know.

Syn says: i know that you know i know. haha, yeah.

X says: i know that u know that i know u know

(are we playing 绕口令here???)

I was laughing really hard at that moment, I swear.

I just couldn't stop laughing when I read

"X says: u know it. i know you know. hehe."

I'm a little proud that X and my 默契 was good enough in this topic,

that he didn't even need to say out loud what he wants from me,

and we both know what he was talking about.

And another thing that I need to mention is that,

in X's yearbook,

I wrote five or six sentences,

including one in the beginning about how we started to talk more because he borrowed homework from me.

In the end, I wrote a postscript to tease him:

Are you gonna borrow homework from me next year?

The thing is, the next school year hasn't even arrived,

it's just the second week of summer,

and he's borrowed the first homework for Grade 11.

Hahahahaha~

Oh, I must say,

X does NOT copy my homework,

he just uses them as a reference.

And did you realize something?

X said to me, "i know that u know that i know u know."

When it's translated into Chinese, it becomes:

我知道你知道我知道你知道。

Hahahahahahahaha!

Breakfast

2010-06-22T20:02:00.000+07:00

A place where I go almost every week for breakfast. ^^

I believe that the workers are from Hanoi,

because the way they pronounce some words is different from the Vietnamese in Saigon.

This is how the place looks like.

There's no shop/booth,

instead we sit in the open air,

by the street.

My sister and I ordered Banh Cuon,

sometimes we call it Vietnamese Chee Cheong Fun.

It's served with Nuoc Mam (fish sauce).

Banh Cuon is filled with ground pork and minced wood ear mushroom,

and the one beside it is Cha Lua (Vietnamese ham).

Banh Cuon is a pretty light dish,

neither salty nor oily.

My mum and my brother ordered Bun Cha.

Vermicelli + grilled marinated pork chops + vegetables.

The grilled marinated pork chops are served in Nuoc Cham,

which is mixed fish sauce.

See the drink in the red circle?

It's called Ca Phe Sua Da,

which is translated into Ice Milk Coffee.

It's a drink that my mum, dad, and sister always order.

Conclusion:

Try these foods whenever you come to Vietnam!

Wildlife At Risk with NHS

2010-06-19T16:18:00.000+07:00

I know I went to this trip about three weeks ago,

but I still wanna talk about it,

to lock it in my memories.

It was May 29th 2010,

and we were going to a place called Wildlife At Risk (WAR)

to provide service.

On the bus:

Ms. Jones, our NHS teacher!

And Jenny, who's too shy to reveal her face, haha.

Mr. I, who is Ms. Jones' boyfriend,

who also went with us to WAR.

He was awesome helping us! ^^

Anh, Claire, and Kyuree~

Joon Won and Joseph.

This photo was initially booooring,

because both of them gave me poker faces.

So I said to them,

"Guys, I'm taking a photo, so you should smiiiiiiile, get it?"

And they give me this! Haha.

Presenting the last row~

Kim, Phil, and Sonya.

Caution: P and S are the noisy people,

they didn't sleep at all on the bus!

Hahaha, I was just joking.

The animals:

Gibbon.

I think most of us agree that this was one of the most dangerous animals at WAR

because it scratches people and grabs people's hair.

Not cute at all.

Lulu!

That's just the name, and she's super cute!

All of us love her,

and we can spend thirty minutes standing in front of her cage watching her eat.

She is just adorable. ^^

Otter.

Although they're also cute,

they still kinda stink.

Moon bear.

Not very interesting,

although I fed them lunch.

Porcupine.

The poor, lonely, three-legged porcupine.

Preparing food for the animals!

Phil(pink shirt) and Jenny(brown shirt) were in charge of the leafy vegetables,

whilst Kim(black shirt squatting), Joseph(black shirt standing) and I(black shirt sitting) cut the fruits.

In the beginning, I was given a carrot,

and I swear, it was so hard to cut through!

After several tries, I was breathing heavily,

still not being able to cut the carrot.

Suddenly, I heard "chop! chop! chop!",

o.O

from my upper left side,

the sound of carrots being cut.

I turned my head toward the sound,

and saw Joseph cutting the carrots.

"Soooo strong..."

He heard me, turned his head, and grinned triumphantly at me!

Grrrr....

Our group photo in front of the gate of WAR.

It was 2pm when we left WAR,

so we decided to go to the Cu Chi tunnels! ^^

Group photo beside a tank at Cu Chi Tunnels.

I didn't expect the visit to Cu Chi Tunnels to be interesting,

because I've already been there once with my relatives.

However....

A local guide was bringing us around the location,

explaining the history and the functions of the traps.

When we got to the tunnel where we were able to actually go into it,

that was where the fun part began.

During my first visit,

I only went through twenty meters of the tunnel with my cousins.

This time...

before we went in the tunnel,

the guide told us to neither turn right nor left,

and just go straight till the very end.

I was surprised,

because I remember we had to turn right in order to get out of the tunnel.

Anyway,

we just went into the tunnel fearlessly.

The tour guide was first, Joseph second,

me third, Jenny fourth, and the others.

I must say that the tour guide was SUPER fast!

The last time I was in the tunnel,

everyone was scared, holding on the edge of the shirt of the person in front of you,

walking like a duck, so we were slow.

This time, the guide's pace was faster than an average person walking,

Joseph didn't want to lose the tour guide out of sight,

so Joseph walked as fast as the guide.

I didn't want to lose Joseph out of my sight,

so I walked almost as fast as Joseph.

Unfortunately,

the people behind were duck walking,

and they were very scared of the dark.

Uh oh...

Of course, when we - tour guide, Joseph, and I - went too far,

we had to stop to wait for the others.

In the middle of the tunnel (the whole tunnel was one hundred meters long),

our guide decided to abandon us!

He told us to just go straaaaaight till the end.

o.O

We walked and crawled.

There was one point where we couldn't even crawl through as it was too narrow,

so we had to sit down and slide through the tunnel.

(Luckily I wasn't too fat or else I would be in BIG trouble.)

Finally, we reached the end!

Phew~

We walked through a hundred meter tunnel!

A round of applause for the NHS members~ ^^

On our way back home:

Kim is sleeping!

Another sleeper!

Sorry for being a paparazzi, Joseph.

Since I know you wouldn't get angry at me,

I just couldn't help myself for taking a snapshot of this.

Haha.

And me?

Cheerful on my way back home. ^^

It was a great day and I had fun.

p/s: Two of the photos are from Ms. Jones' blog.

You can click on hers to read what she wrote about this special day.

Summer = Homework

2010-06-16T18:41:00.000+07:00

Summer doesn't mean holiday.

Summer means homework.

Sigh.

Unlike last year's summer,

with only Spanish and English reading,

I have tons homework this time.

I swear, my homework isn't weighed by kilograms this time,
it's weighed by tons.

If you don't believe me,
look.

1. Music
(not mandatory, suggested by my ninth grade music teacher)
Read music history,
so I talked to my private music theory teacher,
he photocopied four books,
Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth-century.

2. English (mandatory)
Read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
plus an every chapter double-entry journal.

3. Spanish (optional)
Actually I don't have any Spanish homework,
but I'm gonna study the class with Spanish 3 students next year
(I'm only in Spanish 2, which means I'm one year less experienced).
As a result, I think I should review some Spanish this summer,
so that I won't fall back.

4. Economics (mandatory)
Read The Change Makers by Maury Klein
and Financial Literacy for Teens by Chad Foster.

5. Math (mandatory)
A 26-page of instructions Math project,
and it has to be done individually.
I haven't read through it yet,
and I'm scared T.T

6. Theory of Knowledge (mandatory)
Watch ten TED talk shows,
and write about five of them.
I was also given a list of movies to watch,
watching them is optional,
but it's always best to do what's suggested, right?

7. CAS (mandatory)
For those who don't know,
CAS stands for creativity, action, and service.
This summer,
I'm supposed to think what activities I want to do in the next two years,
because we have to start the paperwork in August
and submit our plans by October.

8. SAT (optional)
Pre-SAT is held in mid-October,
and this time I should study for it beforehand,
instead of just going into the exam room and do what I can.
I know many of my friends are actually going to academies to study SAT this summer,
oh dear....

That sounds a lot to me,
does it to you?
Well, I was the one who wanted to choose IB,
it was my choice.
So, I'm gonna finish what I started.
Aza aza fighting!!!
^^

FIFA World Cup

2010-06-14T21:37:00.000+07:00

Although I don't watch World Cup,

some of my friends do,

so I still know some of the results, haha.

Since I don't watch soccer,

I can't really talk about it,

but I found a lame joke about it. ^^

I found the joke today while sorting out my school files,

it was written on my planner by Chris.

I guess we were just bored in class,

so he wrote it to amuse me.

Here goes:

Chris, "Do you know what the World Cup is all about?"

Wei Syn, "Soccer, the previous one was in 2006."

Chris, "No. People bring their cups all over the world and make a huge one together."

Wei Syn, "......"

Hahaha.

Was that a good one?

I'm not really sure for you,

but I laughed out loud when I read the joke this afternoon.

That's all I can say about World Cup. ^^

p/s: Jolin has a new song and I really want to share it here!

My Beloved Pre-calculus Group

2010-06-13T22:15:00.001+07:00

I was not a big fan of study groups before,

because I don't really believe that people can study in groups.

First of all,

it's so easy to get distracted that all you want to do is just

talk, talk, and talk.

That's why I don't believe in study groups.

However, months ago,

I was invited to study for a test with the ten graders who take Pre-calculus.

I said yes immediately,

because I knew that I needed help on math,

and my friends can help me.

Introducing the members:

1. Chris Choi

The guy on the far right, standing beside me.

He's tall, at least 180 cm,

just that to make this photo look good,

he lowered himself to my height - 157cm.

Thanks, Chris, haha. ^^

Like me, he needs help in math,

and most of the time, he is the one who's organizing these study group sessions

(he orders me, and I call the people).

He brings a lot of joy and laughter to us,

with his lame jokes and perverted topics.

Although sometimes he makes me speechless and want to hit him(and I do),

he truly is a fun person.

2. Joseph Chiang

Joseph doesn't need help in math,

it's ridiculous if you say that he does.

When he comes to our study group sessions,

all he needs to bring is his brain,

because that's what we need from him.

He comes, sits there, buys a drink,

waits for us to ask questions, answers questions,

sits back and relaxes.

Sometimes he makes us laugh too,

with failed lame jokes(Ting Cooper) and sudden sounds(Ngah!).

3. Tuna (Tuan Anh)

The guy beside me.

Like Joseph, he's also a math genius,

only needs to bring his brain and voice to study group sessions.

I depend a lot on his during our study group sessions.

Although he doesn't talk much,

he's actually the master of lame jokes,

and Chris learned the skill of lame jokes from Tuna.

Whenever he says a lame joke,

I always feel like, "Oh my god..how did he think of that.."

4. Dabein Lee

Dabein's the one with specs ^^

Other than just pre-cal classmate,

he's also my I-have-all-classes-with-you buddy.

He likes to tease me a lot,

since I'm not sure when,

and the most common one is:

Db, "Wei Syn."

Ws, "What?"

Db, "What? Why are you talking to me?"

Kinda lame..but that's what happens to me everyday in school.

So those are the people in my beloved Pre-calculus group.

We have other people who join us occasionally,

such as Phuong Anh(twice) and Ray(once),

but the four people above are the ones who are present for almost all study sessions.

I must say that I love the time spent with them,

some were productive, some were useless, some were perverted,

some were funny, and some were just Oh My God.

Haha.

But all of them are Memorable.

I have to thank all of them,

Chris, Joseph, Tuna, and Dabein,

for helping me improve on my math

(For your information, my math exam went from B- to A,

and that's around 4 letter grades!).

I had a great time studying with them,

other than just the academic benefits,

I became closer to them as a friend,

enough to feel sad when I know that we won't have any study sessions next year.

With Tuna and Chris leaving, T.T

Dabein studying SL Math (I think),

and Joseph in HL Math,

it won't be the same anymore!!!

Sigh.

I will truly miss all four of you :(

I hope that the friendship will remain,

and have a great summer, mis amigos!

MOF - Ministry of Food

2010-06-09T14:41:00.001+07:00

As mentioned in previous post,

I have no school, so I decided to sleep in.

However,

my body doesn't agree with me,

I'm used to sleep about 7 hours a day,

but I really wanted to stay in bed,

so I forced myself to close my eyes and continue to sleep.

As a result,

I woke up at 9:45am with mild headache.

Sigh.

Enough is enough, I shouldn't have forced myself to do something that I can't.

10:30am, I hopped on to Auntie Irene's car with mum

and went to 久仰大名的 Vincom Towers.

As I stepped into the shopping malls,

I had a sudden feeling that I wasn't in Ho Chi Minh City.

The shops and the ambience,

so similar to Malaysia!

哇~哇~哇~

I really wanted to go around and see what shops they have,

the clothes, the shoes, and the food!

Haha.

Actually, those are just dreams.

In a country where the people all wear M, S, and XS sized clothes,

I don't think I will be able to find something suitable.

And the price?

*cough cough*

I think shopping in Malaysia is more reasonable.

Walking around the food floor,

our first target was a restaurant called Seoul Garden (or something like that).

It's a buffet style Korean restaurant,

but we didn't really like the food offered,

so we left the place.

Walk, look, walk,

then,

oooooo~

what is that place?

Japanese food?

Looking at the menu,

hmm..seems ok...

"Okay, let's go in!"

And so, we went into the pretty cafe.

Surprisingly,

the menu was very satisfying,

we each ordered a deluxe lunch set,

main course+soup+drink for 79,000vnd.

Everyone's food was pretty good and the portion was enough to fill us.

I ordered a Yaki Soba set,

and sadly, it didn't taste delicious T.T

It didn't taste bad, but it was cooked like an ordinary Vietnamese fried noodle.

Nothing special,

and my mum's food was better.

I should have ordered something like this:

The restaurant also offers Japanese Italian fusion pasta,

like the ones in Pasta de Gohan or Pasta Zanmai.

Yummy, right?

Oh well, I will order something better next time.

After that,

we had an add-on of dessert - 25,000vnd.

As MOF specializes in dessert,

there were a variety of desserts to choose from.

See?

And of course, if you know me,

I chose the black sesame gelato!

Yum yum, luckily it didn't disappoint me. ^^

I tried Auntie Irene's chocolate brownie too,

and it was a Wow dessert.

Haha, warm and soft, delicious~

Well,

I just wanna say that I'm glad that a nice place like MOF is in HCMC,

and I haven't had enough of Vincom Towers.

I will go back soon! ^^

Last Week Of School

2010-06-09T00:49:00.000+07:00

My four-day finals have just ended and it's the last week of schools!

Finally! ^^

Finals wasn't actually that suffering,

I had a WOW weekend (will blog about it soon),

and I'm pretty confident with my exams.

Least confident to most confident:

English - Spanish - Science - Precalculus

Irony? Haha.

That's just what I thought,

I can't guarantee that my results will turn out how I think they will be.

So, after my last exam at 10:30am,

I accompanied AC around the school,

and promised a lunch date with PA before I returned home.

Then, after meeting my dates at the school gate at 2pm,

with my stomach rumbling and sweat dripping,

we decided to feed ourselves at Tokyo Deli,

with delicious sushi and cool AC!

Honestly,

I think the four days of exams - without talking or chatting with friends,

have triggered my desire to talk till soreness.

We talked at talked,

at Tokyo Deli till 4:30pm,

talked while walking to Gloria Jeans,

and talked again while I drank lemonade at GJ till 6:30pm.

The sides of my mouth were so sore due to excessive talking, smiling, and chatting.

Oh, I love wasting my life.

Haha.

Went home, had Kiwi for fruit, and JapChae for dinner!

Yum yum!

There were tons of leftovers,

so I guess I'm having delicious noodles tomorrow? ^^

I'm going to a QA's house with PA for a sleepover tomorrow evening,

and I'm excited, cause it's my 2nd sleepover.

Actually, Daddy's coming to Vn tomorrow night,

but I still chose to go tomorrow,

cause tomorrow is the only day that I know I will miss him the least.

I'm sorry that I can't meet you though, Daddy,

will see you on Thursday 3:30pm! ^^

Back to the point,

it's the last week of school,

so what do you expect?

1. Exam papers (screams from SSIS students)

2. Yearbook and autographs (can you sign my Yearbook for me, please?)

3. Report card (I'm gonna burn it before my parents get hold of it, says some students)

4. Award ceremony (how many subject awards are you aiming for?)

Do they sound exciting?

Usually people are excited at this period of time,

and me too, cause who isn't excited now?

Looking at the list above,

all of them create butterflies in my stomach.

However, I don't really want the last day of school to arrive too,

and there's a reason for that.

A friend of mine,

who I have come to value,

is leaving Vietnam and returning to Korea to continue his studies.

I will miss you, Chris Choi,

I know that I've said this to you at least three times,

but until the moment you leave,

I think will continue to say that I'm going to miss you.

T.T

Chris,

you gotta let me take a decent picture of you before you leave Vietnam,

seriously.

Prom 2010 The Oscar Night

2010-05-21T18:38:00.000+07:00

Last Saturday was my school's prom,

and unlike last year,

I decided to go. ^^

At the entrance of the ball room,

taking a picture in front of the High School Prom banner.

From left to right,

Amy, Lucie, Jenny, and me.

My table!

From my left going clockwise:

Joseph, DaBein, SangYeon, HanSol, KeonSun,

Chi Binh, Raff, Lucie, Jenny, and Amy.

Oh yeah~

my hair was curled for that night.

Seriously, I wasn't very used to it cause my hair was never curly.

Thanks to Hain for recommending the awesome hair saloon

and being my translator for two days!

Petra, one of the few Malaysian friends in SSIS,

gonna miss him! T.T

Instead of last year's buffet style,

we were served food.

This is the main course,

duck meat with caramel sauce,

pumpkin puree,

spring roll with roasted peach.

I performed at prom!

Like last time's Talent Show,

I joined The Fishermen.

This is the first song,

Feeling Good by Muse.

I didn't play,

but I was on the stage to help Duy Minh, the vocalist,

to take the megaphone away.

Second song,

Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis.

Notice that I was barefoot?

Haha.

From left to right,

the guitarist - HanSol,

the drummer - Raff,

the vocalist - Duy Minh,

and the bass player - KeonSun.

Go Fishermen!

Dessert, yum yum!

Strawberry, ice-cream,

apple crumble, and raspberry.

At the hotel's bathroom,

taking a picture with Silvia and Amy.

Flash!

Eeeek.

This was my look for the night!

I want to thank Rimta and the others for suggesting that I should have bangs,

and I really like my new bangs. ^^

Thanks to Kajol, Amy, and Hain for helping with my make up,

mummy for buying my dress and shoes, and controlling my diet,

Zmin for lending me her handbag and earrings,

Qing for accompanying me while I prepared for prom.

Hopefully I didn't miss anyone out. >.<

I'm Sorry

2010-05-05T23:57:00.000+07:00

I must admit,

even though my ICT (computer) teacher has been telling us that

we have to be careful about what we put on the Internet,

I never fully understand his advice until today.

To whom you may be worried,

I've edited the part where you wished not to be published,

so please don't worry.

I didn't realize how wrong I was to write out our conversation,

and I want to thank you for telling me that you don't want it written here.

I promise that I will be more careful in the future.

To be honest, I really value your advice.

I came to SSIS in Grade 9,

and you are the only teacher that I have in both Grade 9 and 10.

So, when you told me what you think how I would do if I took Math HL,

I wasn't discouraged,

I was actually happy that you were being honest with me.

Just like you said today,

you weren't trying to discourage me, you just wanted to be honest.

Between truths that may hurt and white lies,

I prefer the truth because I want to know where I stand as a student.

So, I think I will choose Math SL next year,

as it was my original choice in the first place,

except that I won't be taking AP Calculus with you anymore.

And I know myself,

I know that Math isn't my favorite subject,

but I still do try my hardest to do the best as I can.

Finally,

thank you for being patient with me all along whenever I ask you for advice about my course selections,

thank you for being honest with me,

and thank you for being such a good teacher.

As a student, what more is there that I can ask from a teacher?

I'm sorry for the trouble that I have caused you from my schedule conflict.

I'll miss you very much next year when I don't have you as my teacher.

Five Day Weekend and such

2010-05-02T12:19:00.000+07:00

I don't know why,

but since I moved to my new apartment,

I get tired easily.

Maybe it's because I cycle almost everyday,

and I walk up and down the stairs to the apartment,

I start to feel sleepy around 10:30pm.

Then, my legs would bring my heavy body to my bed,

which is only 2 steps away from my desk.

Slowly, my eyes would close,

and I would be asleep with my homework undone.

Zzzzzz....

At 5:30am,

my alarm rings off and I wake up.

I brush my teeth, wash my face, and I'm fully awake.

Actually, 5:30am is not really that early considering that I have 7 hours of sleep.

So, I do my homework in the quiet-peaceful-no distraction environment.

That's my new routine for now,

I don't how long it will last....

***

I don't think I've ever mentioned this here,

but these weeks a friend of mine, Chris,

likes to tell lame jokes to me.

There are actually a few more friends who do that to me too,

but Chris is the worst,

because I have a few classes with him.

Have you ever heard a lame joke,

and then it was so lame that you feel like hitting a person so badly?

That's me.

For instant...

1. "You're so selfish."

"What? No~ I don't sell fish."

2. "The boss of Apple company is perverted."

"How so?"

"He created 'I touch'!"

"..."

3. "Wei Syn, why are you so bad?"

"Huh?"

"You're so bad, Wei 'SIN'!"

I don't know what you feel about the jokes,

but after listening to endless lame jokes,

I really feel...ugh...it's just so LAME.

A few days ago, I told Chris that I'm happy that a 5 day weekend was coming,

so that I don't have to listen to his lame jokes.

Guess what he said?

"But, that also gives me 5 days to think of new lame jokes to torture you."

"..."

"Be prepared, Wei Syn!" (Flashing a big grin at me)

"..."

***

The final theatrical Eclipse trailer is revealed!

In my opinion,

it was better than the last trailer.

Action much!!!

***

Jolin has a new song!

FINALLY~

after waiting for more than a year.

Although this song just a promoting Taiwan song,

it's still good!

A type that she rarely sings,

淡淡的，却也唱进我心里。

***

As mentioned above, it's a 5 day weekend!

From Friday 30th April to Tuesday 4th May

What's more is that my family's in Malaysia,

so I'm HOME ALONE.

It's actually not that scary as I thought,

I mean, look,

I'm alive enough to sit in front of my laptop to blog right now!

The problem is just the food, actually,

but I still survived till the third day, haha.

But much of the credit goes to my friends,

you know why?

Friday tea - Hain came over,

and we cooked JapChae (a type of Korean noodle).

To be honest,

by looking at Hain cook,

cooking doesn't look as hard as it seems!

Friday dinner - Silvia and Rimta came over,

so they cooked nasi goreng.

I helped, of course, by saying where's the soy sauce, oil, rice cooker, etc.

I know, I'm kinda useless.

Well, at least I'm an expert at washing dishes...

Saturday breakfast - I slept over at Hain's house,

so breakfast naturally provided. ^^

We ate a Korean breakfast,

steam rice, kimchi soup, seaweed, quail eggs, cucumber, and fish.

Yum yum!

Saturday lunch - Rimta and Sylvia went to Hain's house,

so they cooked Bulgogi (Korean rice with pork).

I'm really not a big fan of meat,

especially meat with fat,

so I mainly ate rice, gravy, onion, and carrot,

still Delicious~

Saturday dinner - I heated the leftover fried spaghetti,

and added a fried egg.

Simple!

Sunday breakfast - fresh orange juice and cheesecake.

(Cheesecake may be too much too some,

but it's normal to have cheesecake as breakfast in my family.)

Sunday lunch - I'm gonna cook after I finish typing this blog post!

So what did you eat these days?

Schedule Conflict

2010-04-22T21:23:00.002+07:00

I'm having schedule conflicts..for next school year,

which is August 2010 to June 2011,

when I'm in Grade 11,

my junior year.

*sigh*

Anyhow,

let's have a look of my last year's and this year's course selections.

Instrumental Music (Grade 9 and 10)

Integrated Science (Gr9/10)

English (Gr9/10)

Spanish (Gr9/10)

World Civilizations (Gr9)

History, Geography (Gr10)

Algebra 2 (Gr9)

Pre-calculus (Gr10)

ICT, Life Skills, Advanced Composition, Public Speaking (Gr9)

Writing Development, ICT, Health, Swimming, PE (Gr10)

What do you think about my course selections?
Did you see any courses that you are interested to take?

These are my next year's course selections.
Music, Chemistry, English,
Spanish, Economics, Calculus,
and Theory of Knowledge (philosophy).

Now do you like them?
Do you think they suit me?
Or did you see any subjects that just make you feel like puking/vomiting?

The conflict is that I initially chose Geography as my Social Science subject,
instead of Economics.
However, it was crashing with my Calculus,
so I had to drop Geography and take Economics.
Honestly, I have no interest in Economics,
but what can I do?

Actually, three of my subjects are SL (standard level),
whilst the other three are HL (high level)
- excluding Theory of Knowledge.
Acknowledging the fact that I have no interest in Economics,
I have to take Econ SL,
which leaves me to push one of my SL subjects to HL.
After thinking, musing, and pondering,
Math was the lucky subject.

*sigh*

I don't know if I'm making the right choice.
Looking at my current HL courses
- English, Chemistry and Math,
it feels a little overwhelming,
as they seem pretty difficult courses.
The only thing that I'm relieved about my course selections,
is that out of 7 courses,
5 of them are exactly the same as what Joseph is taking next year,
which means if I have any difficulties,
at least I know that there is someone that I can turn to for help.
Mum says that I shouldn't rely too much on him,
but...
I think he might rely on me too,
IF he doesn't do his homework.
HAHA

p/s: I know the long talk about my course selections is boring,
so I'm showing two videos that I find very entertaining:

The Original Pikachu Voice

JigglyPuff's Song at American Idol

Enjoy!

National Honor Society Induction

2010-04-17T21:18:00.001+07:00

I'm not sure if you were aware about this,

but 71 days ago,

I received a letter saying that I was accepted as one of the members of the National Honor Society.

Along with me,

there were ten other students who also got into the group,

which are...

Kyuree Kang, Anh Vo, Kim Doan, Claire Park, Joon Won Lee,

Philip Pincus, Sonya Eom, Jenny Yang, Rafael Muliawan, and Joseph Chiang.

Last night was the induction ceremony,

in which the members of NHS were given their certificates.

The candles of Scholarship, Service, Leadership and Character.

Lighting candles.

Ms Jones, the advisor of NHS,

giving out certificates.

Everyone has their certificates in their hands.

From left to right,

Me, Jenny, Phil, Kim, JoonWon, Claire,

Anh, Raff, Kyuree(behind Raff), Sonya, and Joseph.

With family.

Jenny and me.

Mr Johnson, the High School principal and me.

The girls (missing Sonya though >.<)

Everyone! ^^

Phil and me.

Okay..this picture is a failure because

I was looking at Joseph's camera and Joseph was looking at my camera.

Raff was looking...somewhere.

All was perfect...

until I closed my eyes.

Aaarrrggghhhh.

FINALLY!

A successful photo!

Yay~

I can't wait for our service trip to Wildlife At Risk at May 29th!

p/s:

I saw these expressions and cropped them out,

so cute, eh?

Hahaha.

MRISA 2010 At SSIS

2010-04-17T17:45:00.001+07:00

MRISA again, was held at SSIS this year from April 2nd to 3rd.

There were eight schools that participated in this event,

which are...

Saigon South International School (SSIS) from Vietnam,

International School Ho Chi Minh City (ISHMC) from Vietnam,

Hanoi International School (HIS) from Vietnam,

United Nations International School (UNIS) from Vietnam,

International School Eastern Seaboard (ISE) from Thailand,

International School Phnom Penh (ISPP) from Cambodia,

Northbridge International School (NISC) from Cambodia,

and Vientiane International School (VIS) from Laos.

Our school, SSIS, won the championship the two previous years, 2008 and 2009.

Of course, we had high hopes that we were going to win this year,

I mean, there's no reason that we will lose, is there?

The only lost that we have had this year was against the Taipei School,

which we lost by 3 points.

And they are not even in MRISA,

so, why not?

Rimta shooting a ball.

I was just trying to capture a photo of the spectators,

and somehow their expressions appeared so when I took the photo.

What happened???

Practicing before the game starts.

Joseph shooting a ball.

The Starting Five on the court waiting to play!!!

Daniel Lee at the Point Guard position,

main shooter of our school's team.

Unfortunately, Daniel got a cramp in the two most important games.

One of it, was the game that we lost to the Taipei School.

Mano Ramos at the Shooting Guard position,

another shooter of the team.

Despite his height, he's always the star of our school's basketball team.

He scored 12 points in 2 minutes in the championship game!

Joseph Chiang at the Small Forward position,

the person who throws the ball into the court whenever the ball is out.

Go Yo Yo Ma!

The basketball player who plays the violin, haha.

Jun Hwa Lee at the Power Forward position.

Finally, Michael Nguyen!

A.K.A. Big Mike

Although we didn't manage to shoot the ball,

but at least we stopped the other school from grabbing the ball.

Good job, Daniel!

Mano shooting a free throw.

Joseph shooting a free throw.

Dean made this video,

about the players of SSIS 2010 basketball team.

For your information,

we did not win this year's championship.

T.T

We got second.

I ensure you,

everyone was so disappointed!

Maybe you would understand our feelings if you knew the final score,

which was 38-39.

We lost only by ONE point!

If only the ball went in the basket at the last second,

we would win,

but it didn't.

*deep sigh*

Oh well...

it was a great game,

and every single player on the team worked really hard.

We hope that we will have a better year in 2011,

and win the championship!

Spirit Week at SSIS

2010-04-03T20:39:00.004+07:00

Pajama Day

From left to right: Kaylyn, SaeHyun and Hain

Clockwise: BiHan, Me, Kajol, Lucie, Amy and Rimta

Mismatch Day

Adams and Jane

First row: Jenny, Hain, Amy, Rimta, Raff

Second row: Kajol, SangYeon, Lucie

Flats: Amy

Flats & shoes: Kajol

Shoes: Me

Kajol, Me and Amy

Nerd Day

Jane

Dean

Mano, Jane, Jinny, and SaeHyun

Vivian

*From someone's Facebook

Kim

*From someone's Facebook

Phil

*From someone's Facebook

It's So True

2010-03-30T23:22:00.001+07:00

与不同星座的人沟通爱情

巨蟹座

　　個性閉塞，妳問三句他答壹句，即使講話也不容易表太心裏的意思，或是很迂回地說出心裏的想法，問他話時也不正面問答，或者根本不回答，所以想從他們心裏挖出東西很難。順此溝通的技巧是先博得他的信任，讓他相信妳是站在他這邊，而且是雙向溝通的，並非單向逼迫他妥協。要以退爲進，進壹點退三步，比如妳想問他，今天公司有什麽事，通常他們會沒有反應或隨便敷衍幾句，那妳就別再問了，明天也別再繼續逼問他，過幾天再開口。

Spirit Week

2010-03-26T21:07:00.005+07:00

It's Spirit Week next week in my school!

I'm pretty excited about it,

because I decided to participate at least 25% actively in it.

(Ok,ok. I know 25% is not that much, but still...)

Anyway, if you don't know what Spirit Week is,

especially those from Malaysia,

Spirit Week is a week when everyday has a specific theme,

and students will dress accordingly.

Sounds interesting?

Here are the themes for next week:

1. Pajama Day

If everyone wore the pajamas to school,

our class would most probably look like this.

Just that our sizes would be much bigger,

and we wouldn't "act cute".

I was actually planning to wear like this,

not with the clown hat, of course.

But then I saw another picture,

which made me have second thoughts...

A baggy home t-shirt,

pajama pants,

bedroom slippers,

plus homey tied up hair.

Should I do that too?

Cause I look fat when I wear everything pink...

(Tell me what you think...)

2. Crazy hair/Mismatch Day

These..are pretty crazy.

I don't know if I have the guts to go to school in that state.

I wish I have a crazy wig that I could wear to school.

Effortless and crazy.

Sounds awesome.

An idea about mismatch.

I wonder how much time will I take to stand in front of my closet,

wondering what to wear,

how to mix,

and what don't go together.

These people are just amazing.

What do you picture me wearing?

3. Nerd Day

They look like nerds!

Not really...

How do you dress up like a nerd, anyway?

Maybe I should go to school as myself,

as some people might already consider me as a nerd.

Haha.

I know, bad joke.

Authentic nerds?

4. Twins Day

The basic thing about Twins Day

is that you have to wear almost the exact same clothings with your partner.

Is that hard or easy?

I haven't asked someone to be my twin yet.

Non-chronological Order

2010-03-24T23:24:00.002+07:00

I'm moving this Saturday, to my future studio apartment.

Exciting?

Not really, especially when the packing makes Spring break not really a break.

But I'm not really packing, yet.

I don't really have the right to complain, eh?

It's been almost one year since I moved to the current apartment that I'm living in,

and I think I'm a teenie weenie sorry that I'm moving out of it.

I'm not sure what to feel right now, honestly.

I think I'm a little heartless at the moment.

Either I'm heartless, or the message hasn't really sunk into my mind.

I'm thinking of taking picture of my new apartment after I've moved into it,

but I'm making no promises here.

Cause since I'll be living there along starting August,

I think it would make more sense to show how the apartment should look like.

A single person's apartment.

Mum got an e-mail from Mr. Barton this morning,

saying that he doesn't think putting my piano at school is a good idea.

Therefore, change of plans.

I'm going to sell my beloved piano.

The piano that I've played on since I was 7.

I'm turning 18 this September.

That's how old my piano is,

that's how long my piano has been accompanying me.

I should have strong feelings for my piano,

at least I believe I do.

It's one of the places where I go to whenever I feel depressed.

I play music on it.

And now, it's going to leave me forever.

Believe it or not,

I always thought that my piano is the best piano ever.

Better than the grand pianos that I've played on.

I wonder how would I feel in the following years,

whenever I play on a piano,

I would remember my first piano that has walked with me for ten loyal years.

I just got back from Mui Ne yesterday.

Honestly, it was quite a disappointment for me.

First off, the beach was never my first choice of vacation,

because I hate to be tanned,

especially if I did not have a great time at the beach.

And that was exactly what happened to me at Mui Ne.

The beach (sand and sea) was not beautiful at all.

The sea water was even brown,

and I saw water flowing from pipes (god knows from where) into the sea.

Eww.

No banana boat, no snorkeling, no kayaking, no para-sailing.

All I did there was swimming in the swimming pool(which I could do in my apartment's pool),

got tanned(for just being under the sun for 15 minutes at the beach),

ate not so superb food.

The worse part was the time was going so slow.

I slept at 10:30pm on the first night,

I had nothing better to do. >.<

I miss Pulau Redang.

Last Saturday was my second day at Taipei Sch's Chinese Class.

From 8:30am to 11:20am, I studied Chinese.

Despite the extra homework,

I enjoyed attending the classes.

It was as if I was at Chong Hwa.

My Chinese teacher is funny too, I like her. ^^

On the first day,

I was supposed to have a test,

so that they can put me into an appropriate level.

I thought it was going to be a difficult test,

that includes reading and writing.

It turned out that I worried too much.

All I had to do was read two sentences,

and the evaluator even asked me whether I wanted to go to H1(lower) or H2(higher).

I was shocked at his question.

My reaction was,

“这不是你决定的吗？”

“哈哈，是啊。可是你也可以选择你要去哪一班。”

“哦……那H1和H2有什么分别？”

“其实，都差不多一样。”

And I saw the evaluator wrote H2 on my form.

To be honest, I was glad that I was in H2,

cause it was the highest level among all the Chinese classes,

and a friend of mine was in that class too.

That was what I thought.

The teacher realized that my friend, along with 4 other students,

were actually more advanced than the other 7 H2 students(including me).

So they immediately started a more advanced class for my friends.

Haizh...so much for my happiness?

My dad bought two bicycles last week.

So I started to go to my private music classes by bicycle,

and Taipei sch too.

The distance to Taipei sch is FAR,

and tiring especially when I have an at least 30kg riding on the bike too.

Phew~

The bright side is that I'm doing more exercise that I used to.

And I have to get used to travelling in bicycle around Phu My Hung,

as that's how the situation will be when I start to live alone in Vietnam.

Zmin, don't get terrified of the idea of my cycling around in Phu My Hung, ok?

I'm doing just fine,

just had a few close accidents once in a while.

Haha.

Just a few updates about my life,

hope you don't find them too boring.

This I Believe

2010-03-23T23:39:00.002+07:00

I had this activity last week in my English class about what we believe in. We were given fifteen statements, and we had to either agree or disagree with the statements.

"A" Agree "D" Disagree

1. Life is fair. D

2. Words can hurt. A

3. Police are your friends. D

4. What goes around comes around. D

5. How you act in a crisis shows who you really are. A

6. Love conquers all. D

7. An eye for an eye. D

8. People learn from their mistakes. D

9. You can't depend on anyone else, you can only depend on yourself. D

10. If you smile long enough, you become happy. D

11. Miracles do happen. A

12. There is one special person for everyone. A

13. Money can't buy happiness. D

14. Killing is wrong. D

15. Doing what's right means obeying the law. D

凡事都没有绝对的对或错。

Ambiguity

2010-03-03T15:08:00.005+07:00

What do you see?

A young woman or an old lady?

Sorry for not updating so long..

I actually have a lot to say during some of the days,

but I was too tired (or lazy??) to blog.

I just didn't feel like writing.

Anyway,

I have been watching basketball games nowadays whenever I am able to,

and I must say,

our school's team is good!

(I know, it's kinda random. >.<)

I don't know if I've mentioned before,

but I was running for National Honor Society's secretary,

and I lost.

I'm not sad, though,

because I wasn't having high hopes,

and I didn't have a great desire to win that post.

Ok, now I'm gonna start to talk aimlessly, ignore me, ok?

You like him, or at least you think you like him.

But the nervousness, excitement and butterflies are gone.

You don't feel those feelings anymore when you see him.

But you want to believe that you still like him.

You still pay attention to him.

But how do you if you still really do like him?

You're upset when he doesn't say goodbye properly,

but you're not upset when others do so.

You force yourself to remember what happened between you and him,

and becomes upset when you can't remember the exact details,

but never upset with others.

You think a lot about his words,

wishing that there's a background meaning to his words,

but is there, really?

Do you still think that you like him?

The last but not the least,

I have been working on Photoshop in my ICT class,

and one of my project was to Photoshop my face.

I'm not an expert,

so I only did some basic stuff in editing my face.

Can you spot the difference?

If you can,

open the two images in two tabs,

can click on them back and forth.

This way,

you will notice the differences more easily.

Have fun!

Before

After

Chinese New Year

2010-02-11T00:38:00.002+07:00

一转眼，

and year 2010's Chinese New Year has arrived!

I'm so excited!

Aren't you?

First off,

thanks to all of my today's teacher for not giving any homework to me,

and I'll just cross my fingers so that tomorrow's teachers will do the same.

Secondly,

I have a performance tomorrow first thing during first block!

Nervous much?

I'm going to perform "When You Wish Upon A Star",

with Sang Yeon, who plays the oboe.

I hope everything will go well.

Wish me luck!

At 12:30pm tomorrow,

I'll be leaving school,

as I need to catch my 4:40pm flight to Malaysia.

I know that some of the people that I know are also flying tomorrow,

and so I wish that we'll have the 缘分 to meet at the airport.

During Chinese New Year,

most probably I will not be able to surf the Internet at all.

Woa~ I wonder how would life be?

I would miss some of the people sssooo much.

T.T

Anyway,

wish all of you

a very happy Chinese New Year!

Food that I love - Taiwanese

2010-02-07T10:29:00.004+07:00

台湾香肠 Taiwanese Sausage
The only place that I would eat this is when I go to pasar malam,
and I think it's pretty pricey, like RM2.50 each (I think).
It's not very healthy either,
but once in a few months, ok la~

咖喱鱼丸 Curry Fish Ball

Seriously, when I was researching for food,

I found this under the Taiwanese food category,

and I thought that this was Malaysian Chinese.

Paiseh~haha.

Anyway, I don't eat this that much either,

maybe once in a while if I saw this at pasar malam.

Er..maybe RM1.20 per stick?

爱玉冰

I also thought that this was Malaysian...haha

It's sweet and a little sour(maybe?),

and it's nice if you eat it when the weather is hot.

What about you?

Are you a big fan of Taiwanese food or

you just like a few of them?

I've never been to Taiwan,

so I don't know if I really like Taiwanese food or not,

but these three that I mentioned here are those that I would eat when I used to live in Malaysia.

Blogging Websites

2010-02-05T17:34:00.004+07:00

Yesterday,

I realized that I am using FOUR websites that are related to blogging.

Es muy mucho, no?

1. PiG http://www.guin3apig.blogspot.com/

I have been using this blog since September 2008,

so I have been blogging for about 1 and 1/2 years till now.

It's amazing how time flies...

I don't blog everyday though,

because writing sometimes can be a long and tiring process.

But I try to update as much as I can.

2. Wei Syn Tan (guin3apig)

I don't exactly remember when I started using Twitter,

but I think it was around the October 0f 2009.

(Or was it July of 2009?)

Anyway, unlike blogspot,

Twitter is definitely where I would update at least once everyday.

This is because I only have to write a maximum of 140 characters in each post,

which is pretty effortless, don't you agree?

And sometimes, things that I want to share is not long enough to be put in a blog post.

3. PiG http://guin3apig.tumblr.com/

Anyone know tumblr?

Actually, I created my tumblr account around the time I created my Twitter account.

At that moment, a friend of mine told me that tumblr was much better than Twitter.

So, out of curiosity, I created my tumblr account.

I didn't know how to use tumblr then,

so I just abandoned it.

Till now, I'm starting to use it again, because of Philip Pincus.

4. Syn Pondering http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/weisynt/

(Seriously, how many blogs do you have?!)

This blog was created because of school.

If you visited this blog,

you will realize that the posts are not personal.

The subjects that require me to blog are English, ICT (computer) and Geography.

Although this blog does not include personal writings,

I still welcome any one of you to visit it!

So, yesterday while I was chatting with Phil,

I told him that I had too many blogging websites.

He told me to just stick to one.

For example, use tumblr only and abandon blogspot and Twitter.

NNNnnnoooooo!!!

I cannot bear to leave my blogspot and Twitter...

they contain too much of my memories.

As a result, I decided to use ALL four blogs at the same time,

because I realized that tumblr has some features that I really like.

So guys, I'll be updating all four sites regularly!

Do you think this decision is rational?

Would you read my posts in all of these sites?

Fact Or Illusion?

2010-01-30T10:36:00.001+07:00

The Magic Word

A Ride Home

2010-01-30T10:22:00.000+07:00

The Magic Word

I Won

2010-01-30T10:01:00.000+07:00

The Magic Word

A Dream That I Was Not Supposed To Have

2010-01-30T09:58:00.001+07:00

The Magic Word

People's Choice Award

2010-01-08T10:43:00.002+07:00

Some videos to share AGAIN...

1. New Moon Spoof

2. Taylor Lautner wins Breakout Movie Actor

3. Queen Latifah taking a picture with Taylor Lautner, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban

I Love Movies~

2010-01-07T16:45:00.005+07:00

Shrek Forever After

Release date: 21 May 2010 (Malaysia)

Rated U

Cast:

Cameron Diaz (Charlie Angels, The Holiday) as Princess Fiona

Eddie Murphy (Disney's Mulan's Mushu) as Donkey

Mike Myers (Austin Powers) as Shrek

Are you tired of Shrek's story? Honestly, I am a little.

But I've watched all 3, why not watch the last, right?

Plus, it's in 3D~

The Back-Up Plan

Release date: 22 April 2010 (Malaysia)

Rated U

Cast:

Jennifer Lopez (Maid in Manhattan) as Zoe

Alex O'Loughlin (August Rush) as Stan

Buahaha~Don't you love romantic comedies?

-kinda like The Proposal.

The female character is so screwed..

Leap Year

Release date: 8 January 2010 (USA)

Rated U

Cast:

Amy Adams (Enchanted, Night at the Museum 2) as Anna

Matthew Goode (Watchmen) as Declan

I did not know that women can propose on the 29th of February,

and...the female main character is so screwed...again!

I wonder though, how can she fall in love with another guy so easily?

Frozen

Release date: 5 February 2010 (USA)

Rated 18

Cast:

Shawn Ashmore (X-men) as Lynch

Emma Bell as Parker

Kevin Zegers (Gossip Girl) as Dan

Ugh....creepy much?

Especially when the girl had to pull her hand away from the bar.

Who would expect a day out to ski turn into such horror?

Hot Tub Time Machine

Release date: 19 March 2010 (USA)

Rated U

Cast:

John Cusack (2012) as Adam

Rob Corddry as Lou

Clark Duke as Jacob

Craig Robinson as Nick

Hahaha~ I can't stop laughing at three scenes:

1. "What color is Michael Jackson?"

"Black." (Duh! Obviously.)

2. "We can invent ipods!"

3. "Can I text you later?"

"You mean, what?"

"Are you online at all?"

"I have no idea what you're saying"

"How can I get a hold of you?"

"Come find me~"

"That just sounds....exhausting."

Daybreakers

Release date: 11 March 2010 (Malaysia)

Rated U

Cast:

I don't care who acts in this movie, the plot is just so awesome!

Here comes the vampire decade~

Would you rather be human or vampire?

The Karate Kid

Release date: 10 June 2010 (Malaysia)

Rated U

Cast:

Jaden Smith (Will Smith [I Am Legend]'s son) as Dre Parker

Jackie Chan as Mr. Han

This movie is actually a remake,

but it looks interesting, doesn't it?

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Release date: Now showing at Malaysia, released at 1 January 2010

Rated PG-13

Cast:

Christopher Plummer (Up) as Doctor Parnassus

Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight's Joker). Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell (Miami Vice), and Jude Law as Tony

Honestly, I don't know what this movie is about,

but any movie that has a weird Johnny Depp in it,

I'm gonna watch it.

Curious why there's four actors playing Tony?

Because Heath Ledger passed away when he was shooting this film.

Cop Out

Release date: 11 March 2010 (Singapore)

Rated U

Cast:

Bruce Willis (Die Hard) as Jimmy Monroe

Tracy Morgan

Seann William Scott (Mr. Woodcock)

It's just funny~ Hahaha

10.

The Book of Eli

Release date: 25 February 2010 (Malaysia)

Rated U

Cast:

Denzel Washington as Eli

Gary Oldman (Harry Potter's Sirius Black) as Carnegie

There's Gary Oldman, and the plot doesn't seem to bad,

so I'm gonna watch it!

What is wrong with these people?!

2010-01-03T19:01:00.003+07:00

As usual, I was browsing www.sinchew.com.my , reading news.

I tumble upon this article.

After I read it,

I was shocked and angry.

I was also curious, so I searched for that group at Facebook.

And here it is.

I cannot believe the comments that I read there.

What is wrong with these people?!

Some of the group members declared that they are not racists,

but they think that if you came to their country,

you should learn their language.

And may I ask, is that a rule?

They said that when they are waiting in a line,

they hate it when people are NOT speaking in English,

because they can't understand them.

Their reason is, why hide what you are saying?

Excuse me, Jerks, why should I not speak my mother tongue when I'm with my friends and family?

Why do I have to speak the official language of the country depending where I am?

Oh, for the love of god, does speaking in another language means that I'm hiding something?

Honestly,

I pity those people,

because they are so narrow minded.

The world does not contain only English,

yes, one cannot deny that English in an international language,

and one of the most widespread language ever spoken,

but English is NOT the most important language to every single person in the world.

Think wisely, people!

And The Honor Is Given To...

2010-01-03T16:23:00.002+07:00

My first post of 2010,

and the honor is given to....

Youtube!!!

Hahaha

It seems lame, doesn't it?

But I've watched several videos last year,

and I wish to share them with, at least,

those of you who read my blog posts occasionally.

First off,

Avatar Exclusive - Behind The Scenes (The Art of Performance Capture)

Don't you think that technology is so amazing?

Notice that Sam Worthington, who play Jake Sully, is Australian.

Hark is accent!

Secondly,

AVATAR performance capture

I cannot imagine how they do it with James Cameron's virtual camera!

Thirdly,

Peter Facinelli Interview (Live On Jimmy Kimmel Live)

This is the longest video among the videos I'm going to share today, 5:51

But please watch it,

I couldn't stop laughing at Peter's last year's birthday experience

Fourth,

Kellan Lutz Kisses Nikki Reed at New Moon Premiere

How sweet!

Fifth,

Interview Kellan Lutz and Nikki Reed

Kind of funny, anyway~

Sixth,

Chicken Dance

On the piano~ Just thought that I've never seen it played on piano before.

And I love how the pianist moves his hand, so graceful and elegant!

Seventh,

Backwards Piano Playing

That guy is good~But that is my only comment, haha.

Because I wouldn't bother to try.

Eighth,

方炯槟－天黑黑

I must say, I prefer this version to Stephanie Sun's version.

Ninth,

萧敬腾小巨蛋开唱

Ahahaha~ Funny and a little sissy.

But I don't doubt him, Jam is a great singer!

Last but not least,

王力宏　邓丽君　一见你就笑

It has been long since I have heard Leehom being so hiphop,

I wasn't very used to the sudden change.

But I love the addition of Teresa Teng,

and if you didn't know,

Teresa Teng didn't sing that fast in her version -

Leehom made her sang hiphop, haha.

Well, well, well,

I hope that this post isn't that lame,

and you enjoyed at least 3 of the 10 videos that I posted here.

May your 2010 be better than 2009!

My Year 2009

2009-12-31T22:56:00.003+07:00

2009 IS ALMOST OVER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

stayed single almost the whole year?
- Yes, for the whole year, can I change this situation? Not that I'm greedy, haha

kissed someone new?
- No one who I can remember of

done something you've regretted?
- I...think...so...but, it must be not that bad, cause I can't remember

lost someone?
- Fortunately, I do not think so

Cut class?
- No, no, no. But I was accused of doing so once, ggrrr

Were involved in something you'll never forget?
- Yup, it is not in my power to mention in here, it is not safe!

Visited a different country?
- My regrets, no

cooked a gross meal?
- Nay~

lost something important to you?
- It is my pleasure to say no

got a gift you adore?
- Yes, I adore my strawberry ice cream

tripped over a coffee table?
- I believe that I am not called Isabella Swan

dyed your hair?
- My wishes is that it will be blue by next July

came close to losing your life?
- I am not that unfortunate

went to a party?
- I would not condemn myself to a situation where I will be as still as a rock

read a great book?
- I read many pleasant books, Pride and Prejudice, The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter's Daughter, Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie

saw one of your favorite bands/artists live?
- I was lucky enough to have a holiday when Leehom went to Malaysia to hold his Music-Man concert

2009: Friends and Enemies

Did you meet any new friends this year?
- New students, new friends

Did you dislike anyone?
- I still have the habit of doing so

Did you grow apart from anyone?
- I did, apparently, but many friendships are also stronger now

Do you have any regrets when it comes to your friendships?
- No, I'm perfectly contented

2009: Your BIRTHDAY!

Did you have a cake?
- I wonder why I never remember a thing about my birthday

Did you have a party?
- Although my memory is loss, the answer is "Nay"

Did you get any presents?
- I had a perfect portrait drawn by Lucie!

2009: All about YOU

Did you change at all this year?
- People change constantly

Did you change your style?
- I am still me

Were you in school?
- Of course

Did you get good grades?
- I did well on the 1st half, report cards on second half will be received next year

Did you have a job?
- I did not have the pleasure of changing my occupation as a student

Did you own a car?
- I was not able to learn to drive although I am now seventeen

Did anyone close to you give birth?
- No

Did you move at all?
- I moved from My Phu to My Phuc

Did you go on any vacations?
- I went to Cu Chi Tunnel and Malaysia (??!!)

.Would you change anything about yourself now?
- Same as my last year's wish

2009 WRAP UP.

Was 2009 a good year?
- It was a good year, I'm sure there are some down parts, but I can't remember any, so they can't be that bad.

(x) stayed single for the whole year
( ) kissed in the snow
(x) celebrated Halloween
( ) had your heart broken
( ) mooned someone (What is "mooned"?)
(x) went over the minutes on your cell phone
( ) someone questioned your sexual orientation
(x) came out of the closet (I broke it!)
( ) gotten pregnant
( ) had an abortion
(x) done something you've regretted

OTHER

( ) painted a picture
(x) wrote a poem (I wrote loads!)
( ) ran a mile (I walked a few miles, does that count?)
( ) shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
( ) posted a blog on MySpace
( ) visited a foreign country
( ) cut in a line of waiting people
(x) told someone you were busy when you weren't
( ) partied to celebrate the new year
( ) cooked a disastrous meal
( ) lied about how old you were
( ) prank called someone

In 2009 I...

[x] broke a promise
[ ] fell out of love (Maybe I did the opposite)
[x] a little white lie or a joke.
[x] lied
[ ] cried over a broken heart
[x] disappointed someone close
[x] hid a secret
[x] pretended to be happy
[ ] slept under the stars
[ ] kept your new years resolution
[x] forgot your new years resolution
[x] met one of your idols
[x] changed your outlook on life
[ ] sat home all day doing nothing
[ ] pretended to be sick
[x] left the country
[ ]almost died
[ ]given up on something/someone important to you
[ ] lost something expensive
[x] learned something new about yourself
[ ] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
[x] made a change in your life
[x] found out who your true friends were
[x] met great people
[x] stayed up til sunrise
[ ] cried over the silliest thing
[x] had friends who were drifting away from you
[ ] had a high cell phone bill
[ ] spent most of your money on food/clothes
[x] had a fist fight
[ ] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
[x] gotten sick
[ ] liked more than 5 people at the same

This year was FAST, really fast. My true friends who I discovered last year are still my friends, I'm happy to say. Some friends I became better acquainted with them, and I'm really grateful and happy about that. I knew that I understood myself better this year. Most excitingly, I found someone to like, adore and admire! Haha.

Happy New Year!

寻找自己 · 失去自己

2009-12-28T22:38:00.003+07:00

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

I just finished The Joy Luck Club last Thursday, and just like The Bonesetter's Daughter, it failed to give me the satisfaction of reading it. I'm not saying that both are not good books, in fact, both were very powerful in touching my heart. I had a lot to think during and after reading them, but I was lost.

Yet, I have one point that I was clear of and want it to be talked about here, thanks to Joseph and Kim.

The Joy Luck Club's author, Amy Tan, is a Chinese who lives in the United States. The book mainly circled around Chinese mothers who went to the US. Their children were American born, thus, could speak Chinese but couldn't read Chinese characters. Their first language was, of course, English.

I was chatting with Joseph the other day, and he told me that his first language was Chinese. I was surprised, although I wasn't sure why I was at that moment, as he was Taiwanese. Isn't it just the most normal thing ever for a Taiwanese to have Chinese as his first language? I realized later that I was surprised because, after living overseas for one a half years, I have seen students speaking less of their mother tongue, acting more Western-like, most importantly, losing their culture and their true self. I then seized the opportunity to ask Joseph how he was able to maintain Chinese as his first language. He told me that he went to the Taipei School every Saturday for Chinese class.

I was in awe. I knew that Joseph came to Vietnam at 2nd grade, which was about NINE years ago. But he was able to, and succeeded in maintaining his mother tongue. I have come to this country only for 18 months, already I have felt that I was slowly losing my primary language. Lack of speaking, lack of reading and lack of writing. Look at this blog, ninety percent of it is written in English. Would I be able to write in Chinese again? The flow is long gone. I admire Joseph.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to sit in the same cab with Kim from district 5 back to district 7. It was a little awkward at first, as I wasn't very acquainted with Kim. But, of course, we couldn't let silence continue, so we talked. Maybe I was comfortable talking to Kim, so I told him about my feelings after reading The Joy Luck Club.

Kim told me, that because he was half Australian and half Vietnamese, when he was small, he wasn't accepted in neither culture because he was a Half, a Mixed. In addition, at that moment he disliked the Viet side of him, so he focused on his learning of English and French. Now, he only learned to acknowledge this side of his Vietnamese blood, and to love the Vietnamese culture.

That night, I set a rule to my family - to speak Chinese only. My sister and brother was very disagreeable in that matter. My purpose was in hope to improve their speaking in Chinese. However, the result was shocking, at least, for me. My brother lost his ability to express his ideas, he wasn't able to convey his ideas in Chinese. Looking at him, he was pulling his hair at both sides, begging me to change this rule. He wanted to speak in Chinese. My sister's condition, was not as bad, but she also had slight difficulty.

How pathetic! How this could be?! We were only here for 18 months - is that so long compared to Joseph's 9 years? A Chinese unable to speak in Chinese, how absurd that idea is to me. I refuse that to be the future of myself.

寻找自己或失去自己。That, is for us to choose.

Descriptive Writing - Nasi Lemak

2009-12-26T22:43:00.002+07:00

Right now, would be the moment of heaven if I have a packet of Nasi Lemak in front of me. Heart pounding against my chest, intestines twisting, electricity going through body, palms getting sweaty, waiting for the moment to open the wretched packet.

Even with the packet sealed, as I put my hands on the packet, I could feel the warmth of the coconut rice, my saliva started flowing like a vampire's venom flooding its mouth after smelling the scent of warm, wet blood.

Yum...bless the Malays for inventing such food that does not deserve to exist on the earth. Lifting my trembling right hand, I pulled the seal away, revealing the mysterious, fragrant meal that attracted the hungry monkey. Taking a deep breath, trying to sniff the vapor released from the packet.

Hmm...the scent of coconut, spice, cucumber, nuts, anchovies probing against my fatty tummy. I couldn't stand it anymore. As quick as lightning, I used the silverware to scoop a spoonful of coconut rice and shoved the rice eagerly into the awaiting mouth.

No, don't munch yet! Let the fragrance of coconut diffuse into the space, waiting for the scent to achieve the state of equilibrium.

p/s: This was written ages ago, probably during October. Are you hungry?

Losing Friendships

2009-12-26T22:26:00.002+07:00

I think what I have lost most in my seventeen years of life are friendships. Not that because my friends died or I "broke up" with them. We didn't argue and became "not friends" - I rarely argue and fight with my friends. Or more accurately, my friends never wanted to argue or fight with me. I don't know why, people fight, but never with me. A friend of mine said that that's because people respected me.

Anyway, so the friendships that I've lost were neither lost because they died nor broken up, then how were they lost? Well, they just slipped out of my hands, and there's nothing I can do to pull them back.

Funny how, at that moment, you'll think that you love your friend so dearly, that you would do almost everything for her. Be a 24/7 friend, always there when she needs you, give her and embrace when she needs a place to hide and cuddle, give her a shoulder to cry her tears our. It sounds like parent, but you'll never believe the overwhelming satisfaction of being depended by someone.

Then, because something, something out of your hands, something that you couldn't change happens. You are forced to be apart, you vowed that you'll remember her forever. Yes, after months, or maybe years, you still remember her, but the deep satisfaction is long gone. You are no longer a drug of hers.

The friendship has slipped away. You never noticed the slow movement if it creeping away from your fingers. When you realized that it's gone, oddly enough, there's not much grief. It's gone, and you can smile and say, "At least I have had you."

p/s: This was actually written at November 30th, 2009. It's extremely raw and unedited. I wrote this in my Writing Development for 10 minutes non-stop. Hope you enjoy!

空洞

2009-12-16T18:58:00.002+07:00

This is NOT how I should feel right now.

No.

But I do feel so.

I need to do something.

I actually do have several things to complete,

various things to keep me busy.

But I can't stop this feeling from clouding myself.

This always happens after a few days exam.

Basically my winter break is already here.

I don't need to go to school tomorrow because I have already finished my exams today.

I know that one of the reason that I'm lost is because of one particular person.

I don't like how my mood is controlled by him.

He's not even controlling it on purpose,

he doesn't even know that he has the power to control me!

Come,

I wish tomorrow evening was here,

so that I would meet you at the airport.

Then I would be fine, once again.

Come.