Happy New Year!

Ah, 2007. You were a strange year. A happy year. A sad year. A crazy year. A crumbly year. A school year. And ... well, all kinds of years. But here's a newsflash, buddy.

*stage whisper*

You're over.

And on the other side of the sundial, we've got 2008. An unwritten year. An empty year. A year full of possibilities. A fuuuture year.

I welcome you with ... eh, a handshake.

So, since that I have grown tired of writing tome-worthy essays telling my year in embarrassing detail (but of course, none of you have seen that, they're all in my real-life journal) I will just write a few simple points and details.

Favourite Song: The Take Over, The Break's Over - Fall Out Boy
Favourite Movie: Enchanted :3
Favourite Book: I have to say this ... I just have to. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling

And now, a special annoyed-fest.
Most Annoying Song: Beautiful Girls - Sean Kingston
Most Annoying Movie: Shrek 3 ... sorry, just really didn't like it.
Most Annoying Book: Eh ... Bukit Kepong - Ismail Johari. Sorry dude, maybe if I wasn't forced into reading it ... although I do admit, the climax was delightfully bloody.

And now, the Last of 2007. (will be updated after midnight)

Last Song: When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating
Last Sentence: "Look, look, over there!"
Last Movie: The Lion King
Last Book: Sons From Afar - Cynthia Voigt
Last T.V. Show: Genghis Khan - Discovery Channel
Last Written/Typed Sentence: "can't see fireworks D:"
Last SMS: Prefect Link
Last Caller: Mama!
Last IM: "fireworks?" - Hannah

And then, the Firsts of 2008.

First Song: Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie
First Sentence: "Y'know, if you diri kat that park, then you can see, you know, quite clearly."
First Movie: Shrek
First Book: Konserto Terakhir - Abdullah Hussain
First T.V. Show: Grossology - Nickelodeon
First Written/Typed Sentence: "YEAH"
First SMS: "Happy new year. I'm being simple." - Hannah
First Caller: Nad
First IM: "Dude ... happy new year" - Hannah

Goodbye, 2007. I knew thee well.
And dude. Wassup, '08?

Sara-who-is-feeling-very-dramatic-in-the-face-of-a-new-year.

Doodlings

Since that I am now able to use a scanner (insert happy-dance here) here's something I doodled a week ago. I'd just gotten myself a set of coloured pens, and wanted to get used to the feel of them. So here they are. :)

From top left to bottom right: Rush, Kip, Drunk Bunny, Capsicum, En. Katak, Semi-Fictional Squirrel, Yam The Ayam, Apple and Grapefruit.

Capsicum, Apple and Grapefruit are part of this character I made up in Form 3 ... Nad, Hannah and Iffah will remember him. x) Peach, The Happy-Unicorn. Capsicum's his little sister, and Apple and Grapefruit are his best friends. I'll draw and scan a drawing of Peach and his twin brother, Ricot, sometime in the future.

And now, I have to sketch out a rough draft for the drama script next year. I'm pretty excited about it. :) Will write soon.



Sara-who-feels-artsy-right-now

Celebrations, then a book.

Firstly, Selamat Hari Raya to everyone who celebrate it. :) A little late on the wishing, but better late than never, right?

Secondly, my computer has been fixed. To which I say 'yes, it wasn't working before this' and 'YESSSSSS SCOOOOORRREEE.'

Ahem.

Now all I have to do is install all my old stuff, like Limewire, CreativeMedia, PSP and so on. I'd love to install Sims2, but, well, my computer seems to hate it. Gah.

I finished reading Mad Dogs a couple of nights ago - spoilers coming up, so if you're fussy, don't read anymore. It's very ... packed. xD James gets into the usual amount of trouble (he wasn't hospitalized this time around though) and we get some more scary gut-clenching violence (slashed apart by machetes, anyone?). Oh, and James loses his virginity. And not to his girlfriend. Some girl came unto him during the mission. Poor guy was sorta taken by surprise. At the end of the book, he tells Dana sorry, that he accidentally kinda had sex with someone.

And Dana was all, what, were you walking down the street minding your own business, and somehow tripped over some naked girl?

It was a hoot, I tell you. Oh, and I guess I'm being kind of vague here ... the book is the eight in the CHERUB series, which is basically about James Adams, who is a teen agent working under a child version of the secret services. The organisation takes in orphaned children and trains them to be secret agents. Very cool stuff. Not for younger readers, because of: violence, profanity and sexual themes.

And get this. Our beloved hero is only fifteen. His younger sister, who is also a main character? She's twelve. Oi vey.

Sara-who-has-now-moved-on-to-another-book

Dinosaurs and Stick

Just some pictures of dinosaurs. :) Oh, and Stick, the wood-person.

Raptor-Buddy and Stick. The start of a beautiful friendship. :emotear:

Good thing Stick's made of wood.

Hmmm, fake Christmas tree.

There's something you don't want to see while tree-decorating.

BOO.

Raptor-Buddy, in all his skeletal glory.

Hanna and Nazim's dino eggs. They're so cute. ^^

Sara-who-loves-having-a-camera

Awww no, Tagged!

1.Name one person who made you laugh last night.
Someone ... can't remember. Family.

2.What were you doing at 0800?
Sleeping.

3.What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
Eh, looking around Deviantart.

4. What happened to you in 2006?
Lotsa stuff.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?
"I'm sorry!"

6. How many beverages did you have today?
Plain water, iced lemon tea ... that makes two.

7. What color is your hairbrush?
Red.

8. What was the last thing you paid for?
Books.

9.Where were you last night?
At Johnny's in OU. Celebrating Papa's birthday.

10. What color is your front door?
White.

11. Where do you keep your change?
My pockets, my wallet, my table ...

12. What's the weather like today?
Cloudy-ish.

13. What's the best ice-cream flavor?
Chocolate chip.

14. What excites you?
Good books. x)

15. Do you want to cut your hair?
It's already cut.

16. Are you over the age of 25?
Nope.

17. Do you talk a lot?
I think so. xD

18. Do you watch the O.C.?
Nope.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?
Nope.

20. Do you make up your own words?
It's become a hobby.

21. Are you a jealous person?
Not really.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A'.
Amira? No wait, that's my sister. x)

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'K'.
Kristi :)

24. Who's the first person on your received call list?
Nad!

25. What does the last text message you received say?
"Got in? Er wt ah? Let's c...cat?" - Iffah

26. Do you chew on your straw?
All the time.

27. Do you have curly hair?
Nope.

28. Where's the next place you're going to?
The bathroom?

29. Who's the rudest person in your life?
Hmmm.

30. What was the last thing you ate?
Fish and chips.

31. Will you get married in the future?
Yes, I will.

32. What's the best movie you've seen in the past 2 weeks?
Stardust and Enchanted :D

33. Is there anyone you like right now?
Nope.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes?
Yesterday morning.

35. Are you currently depressed?
I'm so cheerful, it's sickening.

36. Did you cry today?
Nope.

37. Why did you answer and post this?
Because Nad wouldn't let it go. :P

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey?
Anybody in the world, I don't mind who.

Normalcy

The past week has been pretty normal, nothing much to talk about. Went to a wedding on Sunday, and celebrated Papa's birthday yesterday.

Papa, Nazim, Hanna and I went to Petrosains this morning while Mama and Mira went shopping at Subang Parade. Took a couple of pictures, but nothing much. I've been through that place so many times, it's kinda lost it's charm. Nazim and Hanna bought these little growing dinosaur eggs from the gift shop and I got myself one of those make-it-yourself velociraptor kits. x) I have this thing for putting stuff together.

Then we went to Kinokuniya. I was looking for Come A Stranger by Cynthia Voigt, but they didn't have it. MPH doesn't have it either. And Borders' prices are ridiculous. So I'll have to wait. Instead, I bought Mad Dogs by Robert Muchamore. Which is awesome, because it's not set to sell in PJ for like, another three months. So, yay! :D

In other news, Nad got let back into Sri Aman. xD Talk about hectic. *throws drunk bunny plushie at Nad*

And now, I have a tag to fulfill. Next post, since that it's kinda long.

Hmm.

*posts*

*stares at screen*

Working with templates on this thing is harder than I thought.

*pokes Edit HTML and jumps back*

Still-kinda-confused-Sara

My Chemical Romance - Live in KL

Guess where I went yesterday?

I'll give you a three letter guess: M ... C ... R.

Got it yet? :D

Papa, Mira and I went to Stadium Merdeka at around 6.20 pm. The place was packed! There stalls around the outside of the stadium, selling t-shirts and food and stuff. Our seats were on the benches, which means that we get to sit down if we want to, but the stage will be the size of a matchbox. We got into the stadium just as Pop Shuvit were performing, and at that point the only ones jumping around and screaming were the people right in front of the stage.

After Pop Shuvit went off, the lights facing the audience were turned on, so nobody could see what was going on on the stage itself. It was 7 pm around that time.

Finally, after more than a half hour, the lights went off, and the crowd went wild. That's when we could hear the guitar playing - then the stage burst into light, and How I Disappear started playing. Halfway through the concert, after one of the songs, one note was played. Just one note. The very first one leading to Welcome To The Black Parade. And everyone exploded! It was AWESOME.

Mira and I took pictures, but since that we were pretty far off and the camera zoom could only go so far, everything is just a blur of lights and colour. We could see pretty well actually. Although the band were like fairly large ants to us. I spent most of the time watching the screen on either side of the stage.

Here're the best of what we took last night. If you squint, and maybe lean forwards a little more ... you can just make out the band members on stage. :p I tweaked them a little on PSP9 so that they'll be a tad bit clearer. Sorry folks, if you're lookin' for hi-res full-blown pics, I suggest you look through some other blogs. ;)

You don't have to try squinting here ^, the concert ended already. :p

So there you have it. :) My very first concert! It drizzled through the entire thing, so if you weren't wet from sweating, you were wet from the rain. The band was great. Almost too solid, Papa said. They played all the songs except two from the Black Parade album, and a few from their old albums, like Helena.

I wouldn't mind living through it again. -nodnod-

I-do-wish-they'd-played-Disenchanted-though-Sara

Ps. I just went to look at MCR's Myspace page, and one of the comments cracked me up. Yesterday, Gerard Way called themselves the 'American Sex Boys'. Which was a hoot, I tell you. Anyway, I look through the comments, and a Malaysian dude said thanks for the concert and called them the American Sex Boys. Another commenter replied that with:

' "american sex boys". . .?
what ?

sometimes your fans say the weirdest things.'

xD

At Hulu Langat

Went to Sg. Congkak this morning. Papa did a barbecue, Mama helped him and me and the sibs fooled around in the water, which was FREAKING COLD. I had my goggles with me, so I scootched around with half my head underwater watching the fish fighting the current. There was one fish with a bloody face. Looked incredibly freaky. I named it BFF - Bloody-Faced Fish. :D

After like, half an hour splashing around, Mira and I got up to eat the first of the barbecue. Steak and chicken. Yumm. Mira was shivering, and her lips were blue. She asked Papa about hypothermia, and he said that it could happen in sungais too and Mira started freaking out about how cold she was. xD There were two cats under the little pondok we rented. We fed them bits of fat from the steaks and named them Sungai and Congkak. ^^

A while after that, Papa's friend, Uncle Zailan came with his family and he started making a dam out of the river rocks. There was only one opening left for all the water to go now, and that made it very fast. We took our floats and went cruising down the mini-rapid, bump de-bump bump. I now have a bruise throbbing at the base of my spine. ^^;

All in all it was loads of fun. I literally stuffed myself with food, went splashing about, dragged myself out and stuffed myself, over and over again. Ahh, life.

I'm halfway through reading The Runner, and I gotta say that it is an incredibly angry little book. I keep saying out loud while I'm reading it, "Chill, dude!" xD

This-blog-needs-a-playlist-Sara

A tiny dose of Disney animation.

Which, I might add, I have sorely missed over the last few years. I watched Enchanted on Tuesday with Nad, and well, I feel that I owe it a review (or at least something vaguely resembling one). So, spoilers ahead, for anyone who hasn't watched it yet.

Enchanted's something that you shouldn't bring logic to. Or your hatred of fluffy baby animals. Or any hatred for Disney-theatrics for that matter. Because the movie is entirely made up of pure, fluffy, feel-good FUN. The cartoon bit at the beginning had me in stitches, what with Giselle's singing and Prince Edward's marriage proposal.

My favourite part is definitely the scene in the park, with everyone singing and dancing the same time Prince Edward was running around looking for Giselle. ^^ Ooh, and the chipmunk, Pip - I expected him to be annoying, but he was the funniest thing about the entire movie!

The ending was definitely an ending. Everything was tied up neatly with a bright red bow. Giselle ends up with Robert (kinda expected really) and Prince Edward brings Nancy back into fairy-tale cartoon land (they're the cutest couple. xD).

Spoilers end here. I realised that I don't have much to review. ^^;

In other life-stuff, I bought The Runner by Cynthia Voigt from MPH. I've been wanting it for a while, but did you know that it costs RM32 in Borders ... and only RM19 in MPH? Scandalous.

Yeay-I-got-a-new-book-Sara

Thinks and stuff

Now I'm done with Trippity, I feel that I can post whatever now. xD

On Tuesday, Acu left for Haji, along with Wan Syuk (Matuk's sister) and Mama Long and Pak Long. When we were at Tabung Haji, I couldn't help but notice that the place was full of well-wishers and family members. Then I counted the members of our own party:

Roughly 29 of us, sending off 4 people.

Acu said that that was why we weren't allowed to follow them to the airport. Before they came up with that rule, the airport was full of people who weren't going. People were bringing their entire kampung to send them off.

Papa wrote Acu's name all over her luggage on masking tape. We were all standing around watching, then he placed a new strip of tape and wrote in big letters: MCR ROCKS! And Mira and I burst out laughing.

It was pretty exciting watching all those people, and hearing everybody talking about it. Really makes you wanna go too. I'm gonna miss Acu. I especially felt it last night when Wei Zhen sms-ed me about a drama showing on Saturday - it's good for me to go since that I'm on the team next year. And I was thinking, if Acu were here she wouldn't mind going. Mama isn't interested in that stuff and nobody else can go, so I'm not going. I can't go alone, after all. xD

I-better-start-studying-for-next-year-now-Sara

Ps. Check out the Rescue 2 Rehome link in my Clickables over there <--- if you're thinking of adopting a dog or cat. :)

Trippity Trip Trip: Last One

We left for Thailand on Saturday morning. The journey was uneventful, all of us in a van for roughly an hour and a half. Hat Yai is different from when it was the last time we went there. Not as many stalls. But the food is gooooood.

I wanted to go to the Warner Brothers store, only to find that it doesn't exist anymore, which was a little disappointing. On the other hand, we bought loads of soap and stuff from Boots. Which sells the nicest smelling stuff ever, by the way.

It was during some kind of lantern festival when we were there, so when night came, we could see little red dots flying around in the sky. Mira and I were a little confused at first, but there were just floating lanterns.

We left Sunday morning. The trip back home was ... long. Really long. I went through the road atles every five minutes to check our positions. So slowly over the hours, I turned the pages from Kedah, to Penang, then Ipoh and finally, I had to take out my handphone light to read the Selangor page since that it had gotten dark.

And that's pretty much our vacation to Penang and Hat Yai. :)

I-notice-that-Mira's-version-only-lasted-one-short-post-Sara

Trippity Trip Trip: The Sequel

It's been a long time, and I still haven't finished Trippity Trip Trip. So I'm going to churn out my experiences on the second day of vacation now.

Mama, Papa, Nazim and Hanna went down to the beach first, since that the rest of us were still in bed. But immediately after breakfast, Mira and I changed into our beach stuff and went running out, to find that yes, indeed they do have parasailing. At first we wanted to go together, but after they hooked us up and explained what you'll have to do up in the air, I changed my mind.

It sounded a whole lot complicated than I thought. xD So in the end both of us went up with instructors. Mira went first, you could hear her squealing as the sail went up. Then my turn came - but just after take-off, the sail lost wind and I was dipped into the waves, just for a second, but my glasses nearly came off! But it was so much fun. You could see the line of hotels by the beach from up there, and everyone looked like ... well, not ants, but smaller.

After that Hanna and I went on a horse-ride. It was her first time, and the horse's name was Lima. At this time, Nazim and Papa were jet-skiing, and apparently Nazim was a little speed-demon. He wanted to take Mira and I, but Papa said no. xD

We went back to our room at one or two in the afternoon. That night we went out to the night-market again, to buy anything last-minute. I bought a bunch of little things. We came to this DVD stall, and Acu bought the entire set of Friends seasons. Every disc cost only RM3, and from what I've watched from the first and second season, they're all clear.

Acu, Mira and I went on to buy some nasi goreng for Atuk while Mama, Maktuk and the kids continued shopping. Just before we reached the place selling nasi goreng, we passed a burger stall - we couldn't help ourselves, all three of us ordered a burger special each.

And what exactly made up the burger special? Well, of course there were the buns, bits of salad. Then we saw the burger patty itself, sitting in the middle of the egg - and covered in mayo, sauces and a sausage. Then it was all wrapped up and put together. Let me tell you, it was messy business eating the stuff. But it was oh so good.

There's just one part of the trip yet. I'll type that out in the near future. :)

Now-I-can't-stop-thinking-about-that-burger-Sara

Trippity Trip Trip Part 1

I've been back from the holiday for two days now, just hanging around doing nothing. I've started cycling again, what with all the food I ate in the past week. I feel heavy and frankly, uncomfortable. :p

Anyhow, we started the trip to Penang on Thursday morning, in two cars. I followed my grandparents and Acu (that's my aunty ... my dad's sister.) while the rest of my sibs went with my parents. I had fun reading the Malaysia road atlas Acu keeps in her car. We didn't need it, but I know a whole lot more map-places now.

We were somewhere along Changkat Jering's area ... roughly, I only started browsing the road atlas after this happened. Anyway, there was this landslide there in the morning, and they were clearing it up. There was a massive jam, and we were stuck in it for two whole hours! And it was for only ten kilometres. Turns out the only reason the place was so crowded was because of the drivers all slowing down to look.

We reached Penang Island ala ferry. It was pretty dark by then, so we couldn't watch the jellyfish swim by as usual. So we just looked at the lights on the island. Very pretty.

We stayed at Holiday Inn. It's at Batu Ferringgi. Right next to the beach, and in the middle of the night market! We spent what was left of the night going up and down the streets looking at knick-knacks.

The second day of the trip was the best I think. I'll write about that later ... tomorrow morning or something. I'm going to try and get the pictures we took. :)

Thought-dump

I'm going to Penang tomorrow, with the rest of the fam. I intend to enjoy myself - I mean, days by the beach? For half a week? Spectacular stuff. I've gotten meself a new sketchbook just for the occasion. Y'know, it's times like these that I miss my old computer, and my colouring programs. It's the one thing I miss most. I feel lost, not being able to scan and colour my drawings.

Makes me feel kinda left out.

But life's like that, isn't it?

That brings me to something else I've been thinking about. People. People, and how they react to different situations. There're people who whine, those who laugh at everything, then there're those people who just take things as it is, no question about it. I read my story books and I realise that I'm a downright WIMP. I just sorta sit back and let things happen. I don't make things happen. I let them.

There are people who make things happen, people who don't want things to happen and people who just sit back. Then there are people who are caught somewhere in the middle of these three. It's a thought.

So this has just been a thought-dump. Gotta let these babies out somewhere, so why not cyberspace.

Been-Thinking-Way-Too-Much-Sara

Detachment and other not-so similar scenarios

I just realised ... that I didn't feel anything for Prince Charming until all that was left was his skin, and they turned it over ... then I realised that he was really dead. Meh. :\

Anyhow, the holidays have officially begun! My last day of school was spent discussing drama team scripts with Tarsha and Nahjan ... then being completely whacked after recess with Stephanie, Lakshmi, Shasha and Angie. The jokes we told ... HAHA, there was this really lame one. And we were all laughing hysterically and Angie was all, "Why are you all laughing?! It's lame!" and that made us laugh even harder.

Then we tried this game where you just sit around and stare at each other. First one to laugh, loses. :D That was hilarious.

Oh, and I've found out what class I'm going to. 5SC. I was kinda hoping I'd get SA ... which is a long-shot, considering my grades. But y'see, here's the reason. All through my years in high school, this has been my class order: E, D, C, SB ... and SC. I wanted to complete the pattern sooo badly. xD

I'm lookin' to see if I can grab a seat in the middle of the classroom. I'm sick and tired of sitting at the side and craning my neck just to have a good look at the teacher. Note to self: Tell seating partner of this since that I'll probably be busy with prefect duties.

Beginning-Holidays-With-Caramel-Ish-Coffee-Sara

Ooh, what's that lumpy thing that goes thump, thump?

The answer, my dears: A heart.

To be precise, what I really mean is a frog's heart. Yup, there has been a frog dissection in the Bio lab. Fascinating stuff. I won't go into terrible detail, but after Pn. Yong had shown us all the important bits (major organs like lungs, heart and liver) she let everyone pull on gloves and dig into what was left of Prince Charming (that's what the frog was named).

I didn't touch the little dude, just leaned over the table to watch the others explore. In the end, they sorta took out all the little frog-organs, so that we could look at the kidneys and backbone. So the heart was sitting some five inches away from the body - and it was still thumping.

Whoa.

And y'know, Pn. Yong was pretty impressed with Prince Charming, who was actually a rather fit froggie. Obviously, he'd had a lot to eat. His stomach was practically bursting. Anyhow, Prince Charming was buried after the class ended. I dunno where, because I wasn't around then.

R.I.P. Prince Charming. You've been an enlightening experience. :)

But Mira isn't very happy about that ... she's pretty pissed off at me right now, I think. She's become some sort of froggie-liberalist. I mean, I love the little guys too, but this is a learning experience. Even though I don't intend to study medicine, it's still good to know.

This-Was-Cooler-Than-The-Fish-And-Cockroach-Sara

Ongoing Construction!

... And life goes on. School again tomorrow, which I am not thinking about. I've gotten used to this whole holiday-vibe thing. Even my biological clock is ticking to High School Musical question-songs.
One more week.

One more week.

As for the blog construction, I've given the sea-monkeys a break. They've all gone, which is way weird because everything doesn't look any different. Could be because they're imaginary ... yeah, that should be it.

I have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. So now my count of books read on the TIME 100 Books of The 20th Century has gone up to 3/100 opposed to my previous 2/100. Celebratory stuff people. *pops Sprite bottle*

Anyhoo, the book is ... whoa. Yeah. If you look at it this way *tilts head* the story is ... pretty much about how Jem Finch broke his arm at the age of twelve. Really good stuff. I'd say more, but I'm a little rusty at giving book reviews. But here's a synopsis:

The story is from the point of view of eight-year old Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, the daughter of the one of the lawyers in the county, Atticus Finch. It pretty much details the events leading to Jem - Scout's older brother -'s broken arm. Starting from the arrival of a new friend and neighbour, Dill, leading to the children trying to make Boo Radley - who hasn't been seen for fifteen years - 'come out'. Then there is a case where a black man, Tom Robinson is accused of raping white, nineteen year-old Mayella Ewell. Atticus is given the task of defending Tom Robinson. But this is the 1930's we're talking about - black people aren't looked on to kindly in the society, so the chances of Tom Robinson going free is pretty slim.

All in all, I say, fascinating stuff. You'll have to read it to really get it. *nodnod*

That's all I got for right now, other than thinking of documentating all the movies I've ever watched in alphabetical order on this blog space. xD

Will write again when this blog has gone somewhere. Possible with a c-box and playlist going.

Currently-Bookworming-Like-Crazy-Sara

Amateur Introductions

I like beginning new things, don't you?

Doesn't mean I end up finishing it though, more's the pity. Anyhoo, welcome to my humble beginnings as a, uh, blogger. As you can see, everything's a little messy and I have my troop of imaginary sea-monkeys constructing the site as we speak.

*sounds of cellophane-taping and chainsaws followed by tiny gurgly chatter*

They're alright, and the pay is cheap. I keep stepping on them though, it's kinda sad. O_o;

I'll be posting again when the sea-monkeys go as far as they can go, what with their microscopic arms and legs.

'Till next time.
Sea-Monkeys-Have-Feelings-Too-Sara