This is the second time I'm spending New Year's away from home. Definitely not complaining. Anything beats sitting in front of the computer staring at fireworks that can only be seen if you crane your head over the treetops. Haha.
So. 2009. It's been a good year ... dare I say one of my favourites? I guess I could say that. So many new things to learn, new people to meet. Yeah I had fun and I learned stuff along the way, Alhamdulillah.
Thanks to everyone who's been a part of my 2009; You guys made things interesting.
Tried my hand at shoe painting for the very first time. :)
Base colour.
Hehe. Blue stripes. Avatar-inspired! I have that movie on the brain. (After watching it in 3-D, watch the Making of it. It's pretty darn awesome.)
Finished pair. Took me half a day, including time spent taking breaks and stuff. It was loads of fun. I sprayed them to keep the paint from coming off but I'm still a little nervous about it. Gotta go buy a new can specially made for fabrics because the one I've got is for paper. Then going to put it through a wash just to be extra careful.
The laces that came with the shoes were white but I replaced them with the ones from my old NS shoes. Can't wear them anymore because the inside sole has peeled off. Those shoes lasted me a whole year! In fact, a year ago tomorrow was my very first day in camp.
Watched Avatar for the second time today but in 3-D. It was awesome. :)
I think I'm in love with this movie. Nyehehehe. Second time watching means picking up on tiny details. Loads of fun. I want the DVD so I can watch it again. Whoo!
I'm feeling very comfortable. Assignments are moving at a really slow pace but at least they're moving.
I'm doing a lot of expressing myself in my private blog. It makes me feel better. Seriously, never felt so relaxed emotionally. Everything happens for a reason and everything you're going through, no matter how bad it is, it's just going to make you stronger. I think I'm writing like this because I just read some poems written by a person whose friend was dying from cancer. The friend is healing. She's going to live.
It makes me feel really happy, even though I don't know either of them personally.
The drawing is a mountain of cats. I drew it on a whim. Maybe I'll colour it. :)
Songs that have meaning for me over the past year. In no particular order.
Breathe Taylor Swift ft. Colbie Caillat This is my emo song. Gosh knows how many times I turn to this song whenever I'm feeling down and depressed. It's got the highest play count on my iTunes. Don't worry, I'm not a depressing person. Haha. The part that gets me every time is 'It's 2 a.m., feeling like I've just lost a friend, hope you know it's not easy, easy for me.'
Another Heart Calls The All-American Rejects ft. The Pierces Song about love that can't last. Haha. I love this because it reminded me of a couple of my characters. I don't get tired listening to it. 'We lie awake but dreaming till the sun will wash the sky.'
Thunder Boys Like Girls 'Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer.' That's all I'll say about this. :)
Fireflies Owl City What can I say? I fell in love with it the moment I listened to it on a certain online artist's livejournal. It is such an adorable song. It makes me happy inside. 'It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep. 'Cause everything is never as it seems.'
Hijau Zainal Abidin Listening to this song makes me think of sunlight pouring through windows in a warm coloured classroom. It reminds me of sleepiness and to a certain extent, the smell of juggling balls. I think of everyone calling out 'mandi laut' at the top of their voices. There's a funny sort of feeling I get on the edges of this memory that I can't quite describe. This was the song they played everyday for a month during my first month in NS.
Fearless Taylor Swift Oh man I love this song. It lifts me up and puts me on a high. My favourite line is 'Run your hands through your hair, absent-mindedly making me want you.' It's so casual and sweet.
The Take Over, The Break's Over Fall Out Boy This song has been my ringtone for the past three years. I have yet to grow tired of it. Possibly my favourite song by FOB. 'We do it in the dark with smiles on our faces. We're dropped and well concealed in secret places. We don't fight fair.'
Mona Lisa The All-American Rejects Floofle, you know what this means. 'You can sit beside me when the world comes down.'
I Gotta Feeling Black Eyed Peas Singing loudly and off-key in the car. I've done this with so many people. Totally universal.
The Saltwater Room Owl City I think with a bit more work on this song as a music video it will drive me around the bend. But I still love this song to bits and pieces. 'So tell me darling do you wish we'd fall in love?'
Your Song Kate Walsh Of all the songs listed here I think this one is the one I listen to the least. But it hits way too close to home this year ... so I think it deserves to be here. 'Haven't you heard, I'm stuck on a verse. I'm stuck on a boy who fills me with joy.'
So that's it. This has been a ... musical year for me. These are just a few of the songs that have made the biggest impact on me. I've never listed so many songs for my year-end post before. Usually I have just one, or three at the most. Also I'm playing on the piano a lot ... haven't learned a new song in a while but I keep playing Love Story over and over again. I love playing that song, especially the bridge. It's pretty without even trying.
So thank you for the music, 2009. :) Here's to 2010 bringing more great tunes. (*cough* and more of my favourite artists coming over here to perform *cough*)
Ack all my hair is standing on end this is so much fail. I couldn't move the first minute I looked at this ... my limbs were frozen in place out of embarrassment. Check out the freakishly rainbow coloured backgrounds and the character designs. I know I can't be a good judge because I don't like manga to begin with but I have some respect for some styles which are pretty cool. THIS STYLE IS NOT.
Argh come on people you can find classier artists than this. Bleh I can't bear to look at it but I can't tear my eyes away. It's like a car crash.
Just found the best way to take my mind off things ... Wrote a letter to myself saying all the things that I'm too scared to say aloud and I'm too ashamed to think about. It's good to just lift myself out of myself and see everything from another person's POV, know what I mean?
I think it worked. I feel oodles better. :)
Been spending the past few days watching season 2 of Gossip Girl. Yeah I know I'm way behind. Pfft. I think I'm hooked. Why are they all so damn pretty? I could stare at their faces for hours. Oh wait, that's exactly what I've been doing. Haha.
Heading for swimming later, Hanna's got a class and I'm driving. Swimming is the best thinking time! Awesome. Ta.
Went to Mid Valley yesterday to celebrate Hannah's birthday. Happy birthday Hannah! :D
I fetched Iffah and Nad and we set off onto what we didn't know was going to be a long road trip. None of us are familiar with Mid Valley ... the last time I went there was four months ago and I was definitely not driving. So I missed the turning into the mall and we ended up driving towards Cheras. This is the part where I began to freak out - I was laughing hysterically in the driver's seat because goshdarnit I have never driven into KL in my life and the thought of being lost in some place I didn't know was daunting.
Somehow or other we ended up on the highway heading for Putrajaya of all places. A few turns later and a U-turn, we were driving past Bukit Jalil Stadium. Arghhh. Finally found a highway that looked vaguely familiar and could have cried tears of happiness when I saw Taylor's Lakeside Campus. Hahahahhaahha. I was so happy. We had made a huge roundabout. We arrived in Mid Valley an hour and a half after we left home. It's pretty funny now that I look back on it.
Mid Valley was freaking packed. Took us 45 minutes to find a parking. I am never going back there again. Not driving there anyway. Never again! Unless someone else is driving. Yeah.
Birthday girl with the movie tickets for New Moon. :) Movie was damn boring. I wanted to sleep. The only parts I felt alive was the scene with the wolves and Volturi. If the movie was about epic fighting between the wolves and Volturi I would be really really really happy. But it's not. So ah well. This made me laugh though:
Bella: I'm coming. Edward: I don't want you to come. Bella: I want to come!
And then at the end of the movie ...
Edward: Bella, come. Bella: No.
Whaaaaat hahahaha. Along with the Hindustan running through the forest scene. That was hilarious.
On the way home with Nad I took yet another wrong turning and ended up in TTDI. Hadoi. It was a good day though. I'm exhausted but it was an amazing day and I had loads of fun. The road trips made it memorable. Days like these make me want to love everyone in the world. Hahaha. Love love love.
Watched this on a whim with the fam last night. It's been busy busy busy so when there was a 9 o' clock show, we just up and rushed to OU to watch it. The cinema was packed! I was worried that it was going to be noisy, what with all the squealing toddlers but it was actually a really fun audience. Everyone laughed at all the right moments and clapped when the movie ended. Haha.
So, the movie itself. I really enjoyed it! It made me realise how long it's been since I watched a 2D movie in the cinema. It's a good experience, so catch this while it's still showing. The plotline is a twist on the original Frog Prince story, which I think everyone already knows. And as is custom with any Disney 2D movie, there are songs! There was one particular number that I really liked, about what you need and not what you want. Dunno the name.
Oh and the best part? Believable love story. Or at least better than the old style meet today, married tomorrow. Heh. It was cute lah. I hope that this means that they'll be makign more 2D movies. I feel like watching this one again.
In other news, midsem break has started! I've only got assignments planned. Not inserting anything else so far because I want to see if I can kick my creative juices into producing something worthwhile. I still haven't started on my latest DIY frame set yet. And I want to get some writing done on AfterParty. And maybe some drawing too. Here I goooo.
I just realised ... If the same thing that happened to me in May happens again, I'll be pretty devastated.
I think I should sharpen my observation skills. Being oblivious to things happening right before my eyes is turning out to be majority of the reasons why I go into emo-mode.
I just don't want it to happen again. I'm far too happy about how things are right now and I don't want the dynamics ruined.
Tomorrow is the last day of college for this year. Sure doesn't feel like it ... so many things to get done during the holidays. Let's go and do this.
Mowgli-googly bear darling, How were we supposed to know that our time together would be so short? Time together is just never quite enough. Thank you for being there for us after Scout said goodbye. Thank you for the healing. I'm sorry you had to go so soon. We miss you already, baby.
Here's to the original Party Cat (Meow-Meow). I hope you're partying it hard in catheaven.
Thursday started out raining. Came to college with two umbrellas because Sammie was stuck in the carpark without one. Heh. Walked into class and realised that I forgot to print out my IELTS style essay. Cue the panic! Frantically called Mama and she got Mira to wake up and email it to me in college. Temporary panic over. And then Ms. M says that we have to finish our research proposal on THAT DAY ITSELF and hand it in before 5. Cue another panic, since that we had already made plans to meet everyone at Pyramid. :/
So we speed-typed through everything. Then we waited for Ms. M in the classroom but I was silly and forgot to ask her where she would be waiting so she was waiting in the office instead. Teng. Finally we handed the proposal in and raced off to the carpark to our well-deserved day of fun. x)
What can I say? It was a good time. When I came home, I made the mistake of watching Friends bloopers on YouTube. While I was laughing, I realised just how much I was suffering from laughter overdose. My body was seriously exhausted. I had the spent the whole day running around, panicking for half of it and laughing like a maniac for like what? Four whole hours. I was conked out. I haven't slept so early in months. Haha. Talk about whirlwind.
Awww I love you guys, every single insane one of you. :)
Firstly, Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha to everyone. :)
Secondly, I FINISHED NANOWRIMO. Brought the laptop to Gombak where I spent four hours in front if it typing. Finished a little before midnight then went to sleep for Raya the next morning, that is today.
I feel like I can breathe again. Haha. Now time to hit the pile of writing assignments!
The past two weeks have been wicked fun. :) I didn't get to do a few things I wanted to ... I didn't get started on my new DIY frame kit for one thing. And I didn't have time to make my cover for next year's organizer. Or watch some DVDs I've been planning to watch. But here's a dump of stuff. It's more for my benefit really ... so when I look back on this post I'll remember what was going on.
WARNING. Big fat post.
This is my cover for my NaNoWriMo novel. :) Made it myself on a whim. I'm quite fond of it. So far the word count is at 34,368. I have another week to pull almost 20,000 words out of my butt. I can do it! Insyaallah. I really want to get to the finishing line for this thing.
This song is the soundtrack of my MONTH. I love it to bits and pieces. And I FOUND IT FIRST. GRR. I was listening to it for like a month before the radio started doing it. I'm ticked that they got their cheesy mainstream media hands on it but at least if he gets a bigger audience in Malaysia, the chances of him making a concert here is higher. Hmm.
I also made a little something on GIMP2. Super proud of it but can't post it up yet because the person it's meant for hasn't seen it yet. Maybe in another month. ;)
Movies I watched:
I cried. Haha. Yenny laughed when I told her that but I could see her wiping her eyes too. Hehe.
This was tiring to watch. A lot of the time I had my hands covering my face going "OMG DRIVE FASTER ARGHHHH". SPOILER here skip to next paragraph if you don't like it. The only bit that really stayed with me was the ending: "Where have you been all my life?" "Gift shop." Hahahaha that made me smile.
Yes I know lah, lambat tengok. Haha. Borrowed the DVD from Acu and watched it on the comp. OMG I love it. The geek in me loves it. I love it like I love every other epic sci-fi fantasy I've ever encountered. Haha. I can't wait for the sequel. It's so quirky and FUN. I love the little Russian dude. He is adorable. Hahaha.
Good gosh, I love this movie. It's so cool. The animation is pretty freaking awesome and even thought some of it was pretty weird, that made the movie even quirkier. The soundtrack was very dream-like, which I think was a nice choice. Gave it a dark sort of feel. I wouldn't mind watching it again.
People who made things interesting over the past two weeks:
Saltwater Roomies - Nigel, Sammie and Marc. ;) Played Sims3 (or rather, Nigel played it while the rest of us lurked in the background) which is a messed up soap opera and then went to OU for waffles and pool (which was mostly Marc and Sammie, the rest of us just lurked in the background).
Yenny! Partner in crime (I'm just the sidekick, she's the evil genius) and NS buddy. Haha. Had lunch and managed to catch Time Traveler's Wife a half hour after it started. Then had our customary chit-chat session over lunch and a mini road trip back to her place. Kinda sad our day got cut in half though. :(
Hamizah my listening ear. x3 We bumped into Hani at Nichii. So cool. Went swimming at Hamizah's place and had some heart-to-heart timez. Spent the whole day together. Had a great time. Here's to hoping it doesnt rain in the evenings so we can actually do our jogging thing. Haha.
And my Sri Aman lovelies. This was the best picture we could take with all four of us at once. Haha. Sophie, Hannah and Aidil. We spent our time taking pictures with kiddy rides. Or rather, Aidil spent her time taking pictures with kiddy rides.
Soph didn't take pictures with the kiddy rides. Haha.
Anyway, I had a great time. Now it's time to GET THINGS READY for 3rd sem. Cool. :)
Old video of my cover for Man Who Can't Be Moved. First song I ever played without sheet music. The first time I heard this song was on the radio last year while I was studying for SPM. I was crazy about it but I always missed out on the DJ giving details about the song name and the name of the band. One night, the DJ played snippets of the songs coming up within the next hour. One of it was this song. I was so insane over finding out the band, I didn't move from my room even when Mama called me over to watch something on TV. I waited for 45 minutes! Gosh.
Anyway, since then I was kinda obsessed. That's why I started playing it on the piano. I love playing this song, it makes me feel peaceful inside. :)
Speaking of creative projects, my NaNoWriMo is, by right, 8,000 words behind my goal for the middle of this month. Have to catch up on that if I'm going to hit 50,000 in the next two weeks. Hmmm.
Sorry for lack of updates. Just don't feel like updating so much.
This made me laugh so hard. I dunno, it's just the expression on their faces and the way Robin's saying it.
Oh, exams are over. Best feeling ever. It's been one heck of a semester. Made more ... colourful with the drama presentation and the MMH video presentation. But it brought a lot of us closer together. It was a good semester. Despite the crappy moments. But then everything's got crappy moments.
So, goodbye semester 2.
Hello, holidays. Ready to show me a good time? ;) I'm channeling pick up lines. Bah. Doesn't matter. I want to have FUN this next two weeks.
Happy Halloween! Since I'm not going to any kind of party or whatever, I've just marked the ... event by: 1) Watching Jennifer's Body 2) Collecting random pictures from costume shops.
With number 1, I'll just say that I had low low LOW expectations. Bad reviews on IMDB and all. But I found the movie pretty entertaining. Not as scary as I had hoped though, quite disappointed about that. It was better than I expected, overall. And if you're going just for Megan Fox well, you'll have what you paid for.
With number 2 ... well ...
Well Jov isn't technically in a costume, but ah well. :p
Also, how a single accessory can work so many ways:
Fyra, Sammie (Blondie), me (Emoboy), Jov (Granny) and Carmen (Little Red).
It's the day before Halloween. Perfect timing to have the drama presentation. :) Inilah sahaja setakat Halloween costume saya. *cough*
Anyway, I have to say that it went really well, better than I expected. It was a bumpy road and definitely wasn't easy. A lot of tears and sweat and crap. But it brought us closer, yea?
Thanks to everyone who helped out to make this thing a success.
And now, I just want to get finals over with so I can celebrate freedom without having to worry about studying. Ahhhh.
I randomly clicked a friend today on facebook. Then I clicked on her friend. And his friend. And his friend. Then clicked her friend. And her friend. And another friend.
And it went on and on and on ...
I have travelled the world. I've seen camwhore pictures of various nationalities and skin colours. I have seen names that I can never pronounce. Names that are easy to pronounce.
Finally, I realised that I had reached Hong Kong. I kept going. And then I realised: The page I had reached was a girl from KUANTAN. I kept going. I found a guy with a KL license plate. I kept going. I went too far, I reached Singapore. I kept going, desperately searching. And then I clicked on a boy. And he. Is my prefect junior's older brother.
I HAD COMPLETED THE CIRCLE.
I started with Anna, a friend from college. Fifteen minutes of bored clicking later, I bumped into Sharvin, my prefect junior.
Video! Couldn't embed because of some reason or other. So click if you're interested. Anyway, I used to be a hugely obsessed with this show. Sure, it's ridiculously vulgar and has no qualms at all about showing any kind of content (so far the only thing I haven't seen is man-parts, everything else is pretty much free showing). But it had some pretty awesome characters.
The video contains spoilers for the first season finale. I really suggest watching it 'cause it's a pretty cool show, but don't watch this vid if you don't like spoilers. :)
Spent the past two nights digging through TV Tropes. It's amazing if you're a big entertainment nerd. It's like wikipedia for the fandom geek. It's how I rediscovered Skins after two years of not watching (they've changed the cast for the third season apparently so I'm not interested in catching up) and a lot of other books, comics and whatnot.
EDIT: Spent a bit longer on TV Tropes and found out that the way I'm digging through it, clicking never-ending trails of links for pointless information is called The Wiki Walk. Teehee.
It's a nice distraction from the hectic whirlwind that is college. Can't wait for hols.
I've been wanting to read this for AGES. Since before SPM, in fact. The only thing that put me off was how it costs 60 freakin' bucks. I always try to budget myself to RM40 because dang it I don't like watching money fly away every time I visit a bookstore. :/ Anyways, went to Amcorp Mall a few days ago and saw it selling for RM14.
I KID YOU NOT.
Seriously, I think my brain shot itself with happiness and went on a roller coaster ride of joy. I'm only halfway through the first chapter. And I realise that I miss being a booknerd.
New cat, Mowgli. :) Thought he was a girl at first but then realised that he's ... not. Heh. Been hanging around the house for a while but walked in a few days ago. So we've taken him in. Krash is quite cool with him so it's all good.
