happy anniversary mummy and daddy!
it's not the 9th here yet, but it is back home...
glad you haven't gotten sick of each other yet. =)
love you!
Friday, 9 November 2007
Thursday, 8 November 2007
alanis and jason.
"it's like rain on your wedding day
it's a free ride when you've already paid
it's the good advice that you just didn't take
and who would've thought it figured?
a traffic jam when you're already late
a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
it's like ten thousand spoons
when all you need is a knife
it's meeting the man of my dreams
and then meeting his beautiful wife
and isn't it ironic, don't you think?"
-ironic, alanis morisette
you know what else is ironic?
you staying up all night to work on a paper, and then your professor announcing that she's decided to extend the deadline.
woooohoo.
anyhow, staying up all night was quite an experience. suddenly i had so much time! and the rest of my week is looking pretty good now i've gotten most of the major stuff out the way. it's so weird that i felt so alive yesterday - except for like an hour or two. i wanted to put up a post about it then but didn't wanna speak to soon, cos the full effects usually hit when you actually do get some sleep. but today wasn't bad! sure, i was falling asleep in chem and i feel tired now, but it's really nothing out of the ordinary. and i probably looked worse than usual, but i only bumped into joon and goen - goen's a girl and joon doesn't count, so no harm there. =)
my verdict on staying up all night:
in this case it was definitely worthwhile, but i don't think i'll be doing it again anytime soon. i'm not gonna push my luck.
this evening i was walking around with a slight smile on my face - something i haven't caught myself doing in a while.
maybe it was because the sun was out. maybe not.
"i reckon it's again my turn
to win some or learn some."
- i'm yours, jason mraz.
isn't that an awesome way to look at life?
it's a free ride when you've already paid
it's the good advice that you just didn't take
and who would've thought it figured?
a traffic jam when you're already late
a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
it's like ten thousand spoons
when all you need is a knife
it's meeting the man of my dreams
and then meeting his beautiful wife
and isn't it ironic, don't you think?"
-ironic, alanis morisette
you know what else is ironic?
you staying up all night to work on a paper, and then your professor announcing that she's decided to extend the deadline.
woooohoo.
anyhow, staying up all night was quite an experience. suddenly i had so much time! and the rest of my week is looking pretty good now i've gotten most of the major stuff out the way. it's so weird that i felt so alive yesterday - except for like an hour or two. i wanted to put up a post about it then but didn't wanna speak to soon, cos the full effects usually hit when you actually do get some sleep. but today wasn't bad! sure, i was falling asleep in chem and i feel tired now, but it's really nothing out of the ordinary. and i probably looked worse than usual, but i only bumped into joon and goen - goen's a girl and joon doesn't count, so no harm there. =)
my verdict on staying up all night:
in this case it was definitely worthwhile, but i don't think i'll be doing it again anytime soon. i'm not gonna push my luck.
this evening i was walking around with a slight smile on my face - something i haven't caught myself doing in a while.
maybe it was because the sun was out. maybe not.
"i reckon it's again my turn
to win some or learn some."
- i'm yours, jason mraz.
isn't that an awesome way to look at life?
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
he, she and her.
he runs along an invisible path, as fast as he can, looking at me saying, "i wun, i wun"... then he falls - unintentionally or not i don't know, sitting down hard on his bum. it doesn't hurt him or anything. he looks around mildly and then says, "i fall" to no one in particular. he sits there for a moment, then he grabs a handful of leaves from the ground and sorta chucks it in front of himself. he grabs another handful, with the other hand this time, and throws it ahead again. seemingly satisfied, he gets up and walks... aimlessly, but contentedly.
she sees her blowing bubbles. "issy's turn, issy's turn!" she says, head tilted up as far as it can go. when this doesn't work she become increasingly agitated, sorta running on the spot. "issy's turn bo bubs!" she wants her turn, but is distracted by the pretty bubbles - purple, amber and a brownish green. she forgets about doing her little dance for a while - trying to get a finger into a big bubble just out of reach. she reaches, reaches, reaches... and then topples over, landing on her bum. she gets up and frowns. "issy's turn!", more insistently this time.
she looks down, smiles, and gets on one knee, bubble wand in one hand, bottle of bubble solution in the other. "okay, lucy's turn," she says. she blows, but her lips are kinda pressed together with her bottom lip sticking a bit further out, so she's blowing up into her fringe. she tries again, this time with a crease between her eyebrows.
she laughs, not unkindly, and says, "look lucy, put your mouth like this," shaping her mouth into an "o", "and then you blow. gently." her next attempt's an improvement, and on her fourth try she actually manages to produce two bubbles. small ones. but she's too focused on the wand and on getting her blowing right that she fails to notice them.
"look, you did it!", she says, pointing to the small bubbles. she looks at her, surprised, and by the time she shifts her attention to the bubbles they've popped.
she turns her eyes back to the bubble wand, bringing her lips so close to it that they probably tasted bitter the next time she ran her tongue over them. she shapes her mouth into an "o" and blows. hard. a bubble half forms, and then pops before leaving the wand.
she laughs, gets back on her feet and blows bubbles down toward her. she smiles and waves her hands around, jumping, popping as many of them as she can.
he catches her eye. "wun, wun!" he urges, beginning another of his laps. she smiles to herself, a pursed up kinda smile, and grabs her by the hand. "run, lucy, run!" she says, taking tiny steps to match her pace. when they complete the lap he falls on his bum again; she throws herself on the ground, and she throws herself on top of her, giggling. she lies there, in the damp leaves, looking up at the tree that was covered in yellow leaves just last week. today its knobbly branches and spindly twigs create a lattice, contrasted against the murky sky above. it's murky, but she has to squint to look up anyway.
and she just lies there, looking up, with leaves in her hair.
her with her runny nose, lying on top of her and giggling close to her face.
and him, saying, "i fall" to no one in particular, playing with his leaves.
she sees her blowing bubbles. "issy's turn, issy's turn!" she says, head tilted up as far as it can go. when this doesn't work she become increasingly agitated, sorta running on the spot. "issy's turn bo bubs!" she wants her turn, but is distracted by the pretty bubbles - purple, amber and a brownish green. she forgets about doing her little dance for a while - trying to get a finger into a big bubble just out of reach. she reaches, reaches, reaches... and then topples over, landing on her bum. she gets up and frowns. "issy's turn!", more insistently this time.
she looks down, smiles, and gets on one knee, bubble wand in one hand, bottle of bubble solution in the other. "okay, lucy's turn," she says. she blows, but her lips are kinda pressed together with her bottom lip sticking a bit further out, so she's blowing up into her fringe. she tries again, this time with a crease between her eyebrows.
she laughs, not unkindly, and says, "look lucy, put your mouth like this," shaping her mouth into an "o", "and then you blow. gently." her next attempt's an improvement, and on her fourth try she actually manages to produce two bubbles. small ones. but she's too focused on the wand and on getting her blowing right that she fails to notice them.
"look, you did it!", she says, pointing to the small bubbles. she looks at her, surprised, and by the time she shifts her attention to the bubbles they've popped.
she turns her eyes back to the bubble wand, bringing her lips so close to it that they probably tasted bitter the next time she ran her tongue over them. she shapes her mouth into an "o" and blows. hard. a bubble half forms, and then pops before leaving the wand.
she laughs, gets back on her feet and blows bubbles down toward her. she smiles and waves her hands around, jumping, popping as many of them as she can.
he catches her eye. "wun, wun!" he urges, beginning another of his laps. she smiles to herself, a pursed up kinda smile, and grabs her by the hand. "run, lucy, run!" she says, taking tiny steps to match her pace. when they complete the lap he falls on his bum again; she throws herself on the ground, and she throws herself on top of her, giggling. she lies there, in the damp leaves, looking up at the tree that was covered in yellow leaves just last week. today its knobbly branches and spindly twigs create a lattice, contrasted against the murky sky above. it's murky, but she has to squint to look up anyway.
and she just lies there, looking up, with leaves in her hair.
her with her runny nose, lying on top of her and giggling close to her face.
and him, saying, "i fall" to no one in particular, playing with his leaves.
it's 3.17am.
and i'm still awake. just finished working on my social development draft that's due tomorrow at 12, and i have work from 7.30 to 11 which means i needed to finish it tonight. didn't help that i had a cog dev midterm earlier, followed by a lit quiz. work tomorrow also means i have to be up in about... 3 hours. i think i'll just stay awake - if i go to sleep waking up is gonna be hell. would be interesting to see how i turn out tomorrow, cos i've never really tried it out. i know i'll probably regret it and kivk myself for being so stupid tho, especially since it's just monday. hmm.
some much needed laughs from the game now known as "jewish holiday":
and my all-time favorite:
we should play again soon.
some much needed laughs from the game now known as "jewish holiday":
and my all-time favorite:
we should play again soon.
Monday, 5 November 2007
i'm sick...
...of reading research articles.
but here's something i thought i'd share:
in research concerning the effects of child maltreatment, it has been found that more negative outcomes are associated with neglect alone, in comparison to a combination of neglect and abuse or abuse alone. in other words, kids prefer being "acknowledged" by their parents or caregivers, even if it means abuse, rather than simply being left alone but not abused.
such is the need we have for human contact.
scary, huh?
but here's something i thought i'd share:
in research concerning the effects of child maltreatment, it has been found that more negative outcomes are associated with neglect alone, in comparison to a combination of neglect and abuse or abuse alone. in other words, kids prefer being "acknowledged" by their parents or caregivers, even if it means abuse, rather than simply being left alone but not abused.
such is the need we have for human contact.
scary, huh?
undiscovered.
"well the time it takes to know someone
it all can change before you know it's gone
so close your eyes and feel the way i'm with you now
believe there's nothing wrong
you think that i want to run and hide
that i keep it all locked up inside but i just want you to find me
i'm not lost, i'm not lost, just undiscovered
and when we're alone, we're all the same as each other
i'm not running, I'm not hiding
if you dig a little deeper, you will find me..."
-undiscovered, james morrison.
it all can change before you know it's gone
so close your eyes and feel the way i'm with you now
believe there's nothing wrong
you think that i want to run and hide
that i keep it all locked up inside but i just want you to find me
i'm not lost, i'm not lost, just undiscovered
and when we're alone, we're all the same as each other
i'm not running, I'm not hiding
if you dig a little deeper, you will find me..."
-undiscovered, james morrison.
Sunday, 4 November 2007
evil pacman got the malaysian farmer!
in case you're wondering what my title's about (which you probably are), a bunch of us were playing this drawing game thing at sean's last night where everyone writes a phrase/word down, and then passes it on to the next person who has to draw it, and then fold over the phrase/word and pass it on to the next person, who has to guess what the picture is and write down the phrase/word, and then fold over the picture and pass it on to the next person... until it comes back to the person who wrote the original word/phrase down. sorry if that didn't make sense! yeah so anyway, i wrote down "ducks vs devils", since that was the game we were gonna watch today - the oregon ducks against the arizona state sun devils. and when it got back to me, it had evolved into "evil pacman chasing a malaysian farmer". that was pretty funny, as were a few of the others we came up with. =)
yeah so anyway, we won the game today! yay. and it was a pretty big deal from what i gather, cos they're ranked higher than us and now we have a shot at the national championship and stuff like that. i'm still not that into it, but at least i know when to cheer and why people boo and what "safety" means, which is good improvement i think. =) everyone was really revved up! i think there were close to 60,000 people at autzen, which was a record high. the way people booed the stray asu (arizona state uni) supporters who wandered into our section was kinda amusing. asu had guts tho - they brought their own flags and ran round the field whenever their team scored a touchdown or a field goal, and they even had their own motorbike riding in before their players! which is specifically a uo thing, i think. the game started at 3.30pm, so by the time it ended it was all dark. would've joined the rest for dinner if i didn't feel a little under the weather, hopefully something i can sleep off >.< i'll go for doco's? dough co.'s? soon guys! when i can enjoy it properly.
so now i'm back "home" (i.e. my room - still feels weird calling it home), and probably gonna have an early night. probably should get some work done too, boo. will put up pics from the game soon, tho they're not that much different from the pictures of past games. we just all have more clothes on. =P
right. til next time! =)
yeah so anyway, we won the game today! yay. and it was a pretty big deal from what i gather, cos they're ranked higher than us and now we have a shot at the national championship and stuff like that. i'm still not that into it, but at least i know when to cheer and why people boo and what "safety" means, which is good improvement i think. =) everyone was really revved up! i think there were close to 60,000 people at autzen, which was a record high. the way people booed the stray asu (arizona state uni) supporters who wandered into our section was kinda amusing. asu had guts tho - they brought their own flags and ran round the field whenever their team scored a touchdown or a field goal, and they even had their own motorbike riding in before their players! which is specifically a uo thing, i think. the game started at 3.30pm, so by the time it ended it was all dark. would've joined the rest for dinner if i didn't feel a little under the weather, hopefully something i can sleep off >.< i'll go for doco's? dough co.'s? soon guys! when i can enjoy it properly.
so now i'm back "home" (i.e. my room - still feels weird calling it home), and probably gonna have an early night. probably should get some work done too, boo. will put up pics from the game soon, tho they're not that much different from the pictures of past games. we just all have more clothes on. =P
right. til next time! =)
Friday, 2 November 2007
halloween, kit, kids and sastera.
wow, has it really been a week since i've posted? time's a-flying!
well, this week was definitely better than last week... i had more fun, more sleep, and more exercise. =) oh and i also had my first halloween! i didn't actually do anything on the actual day, but i partied the weekend before. in summary:
1. looking like a nerd one night and an emo the next wasn't too difficult for me. not necessarily a good thing.
2. i made new GIRL friends, yay. fooding at sierra and kelly's was a lot of fun... i actually had a semi-meaningful conversation in mandarin! and i heard "aiyo" for the first time in ages! (kelly's singaporean)
3. iball was a blast! good job isa people! =)
4. don't drink alcohol on an empty stomach, when you're really tired, when you had alcohol the night before, or any combo of the three. lol.
5. "crank dat soulja boy" was overplayed, but i had a blast dancing to it over and over and over and over again.
6. i still haven't carved pumpkins. =(
7. i still don't know how girls could and can walk around with their super-short skirts and minimal tops - i was wearing three layers and i was still cold!
8. sean's been hanging around romandy a lot.
kit had his birthday the day before halloween, so happy birthday buddy! wish i could be there to celebrate it with you and everyone else... i was thinking about it and i realized that it was the first surprise birthday party i've missed since we started having surprise birthday parties for the gang. and that was like, 5 years ago! emofying. anyway, i hope you had a great one!
hmm, what else? work's been getting better... there's nothing like having a kid voluntarily climb into your lap. or run to you for a hug. or turn to you for comfort. and it's hard not to have favorites! i like kids. i still don't like diapers tho, but i'm getting better! oh and speaking of kids, i'm volunteering/interning with a grad student who's carrying out research about theory-of-mind (basically how and when children learn that people have their own beliefs and feelings that may or may not guide their behavior), and we've been practicing the scripts... i'm really excited about running actual experiments! i'm helping out with making phone calls to recruit participants too, and i got us our very first participant! woot. =)
in lit class we just finished with the ramayana, which i enjoyed. with the odyssey, which we did before this, i felt kinda disadvantaged because almost everyone else in class had done it in high school, and the closest i had come to it was watching troy. greek mythology was something i hadn't really been exposed to either. the ramayana was something i was definitely more familiar with, and it's amazing how i felt such a strong cultural connection with it. the way the characters talked, their beliefs, the society... even the names were easier to pronounce. i didn't expect to identify so strongly with it, so it was a pleasant surprise, and a reminder of home.
and probably the most amazing thing is, the lit i learnt in high school back home actually helped! that's right, fellow malaysians, bm sastera is not completely useless! on monday we were gonna have a quiz in class, and i assumed it was gonna be about the odyssey since we had just finished it the week before and we were just gonna start the ramayana that day. i'd completed the assigned reading on the ramayana, but i focused a lot more on the odyssey. and of course the quiz had to be on the ramayana! so i thought i was screwed, but bm sastera came to the rescue! you know how we learnt about this bird-ish dude who was fighting with some other monster dude or something to that effect, and how the bird-ish dude's wings get cut off? well that's from the ramayana, and the bird-ish dude's name is jatayu. one of the extra credit questions was "who is jatayu?" and when i first looked at it i had no idea! then i remembered how we were laughing at the story in high school, about how ridiculously stupid the story was, and remembered that there was a jatayu involved... so i managed to somehow connect the two and answer the question! and the first question was "what's sloka?" and i had no idea at first either, but then i remembered "seloka pak pandir" and all the other selokas, so i hazarded a guess about it being the hindu epic style, which i vaguely remembered reading something about, and i was right! lucky me that bm has some roots in sanskrit. (random note: at work, we keep track of when the kids get diaper changes or when they use the potty, and "bm" is used to denote "bowel movement", i.e. poop. for all you non-malaysians, bm back home stands for bahasa malaysia/melayu, which means malaysian/malay language.)
kay i think i've written enough for today - just submitted a blog post for cog dev (that's our assignment - writing a blog post about something we learnt or read or discussed in class. so cool ya?). next monday i have a quiz and a midterm, and on tuesday i have a paper due... so wish me luck!
well, this week was definitely better than last week... i had more fun, more sleep, and more exercise. =) oh and i also had my first halloween! i didn't actually do anything on the actual day, but i partied the weekend before. in summary:
1. looking like a nerd one night and an emo the next wasn't too difficult for me. not necessarily a good thing.
2. i made new GIRL friends, yay. fooding at sierra and kelly's was a lot of fun... i actually had a semi-meaningful conversation in mandarin! and i heard "aiyo" for the first time in ages! (kelly's singaporean)
3. iball was a blast! good job isa people! =)
4. don't drink alcohol on an empty stomach, when you're really tired, when you had alcohol the night before, or any combo of the three. lol.
5. "crank dat soulja boy" was overplayed, but i had a blast dancing to it over and over and over and over again.
6. i still haven't carved pumpkins. =(
7. i still don't know how girls could and can walk around with their super-short skirts and minimal tops - i was wearing three layers and i was still cold!
8. sean's been hanging around romandy a lot.
kit had his birthday the day before halloween, so happy birthday buddy! wish i could be there to celebrate it with you and everyone else... i was thinking about it and i realized that it was the first surprise birthday party i've missed since we started having surprise birthday parties for the gang. and that was like, 5 years ago! emofying. anyway, i hope you had a great one!
hmm, what else? work's been getting better... there's nothing like having a kid voluntarily climb into your lap. or run to you for a hug. or turn to you for comfort. and it's hard not to have favorites! i like kids. i still don't like diapers tho, but i'm getting better! oh and speaking of kids, i'm volunteering/interning with a grad student who's carrying out research about theory-of-mind (basically how and when children learn that people have their own beliefs and feelings that may or may not guide their behavior), and we've been practicing the scripts... i'm really excited about running actual experiments! i'm helping out with making phone calls to recruit participants too, and i got us our very first participant! woot. =)
in lit class we just finished with the ramayana, which i enjoyed. with the odyssey, which we did before this, i felt kinda disadvantaged because almost everyone else in class had done it in high school, and the closest i had come to it was watching troy. greek mythology was something i hadn't really been exposed to either. the ramayana was something i was definitely more familiar with, and it's amazing how i felt such a strong cultural connection with it. the way the characters talked, their beliefs, the society... even the names were easier to pronounce. i didn't expect to identify so strongly with it, so it was a pleasant surprise, and a reminder of home.
and probably the most amazing thing is, the lit i learnt in high school back home actually helped! that's right, fellow malaysians, bm sastera is not completely useless! on monday we were gonna have a quiz in class, and i assumed it was gonna be about the odyssey since we had just finished it the week before and we were just gonna start the ramayana that day. i'd completed the assigned reading on the ramayana, but i focused a lot more on the odyssey. and of course the quiz had to be on the ramayana! so i thought i was screwed, but bm sastera came to the rescue! you know how we learnt about this bird-ish dude who was fighting with some other monster dude or something to that effect, and how the bird-ish dude's wings get cut off? well that's from the ramayana, and the bird-ish dude's name is jatayu. one of the extra credit questions was "who is jatayu?" and when i first looked at it i had no idea! then i remembered how we were laughing at the story in high school, about how ridiculously stupid the story was, and remembered that there was a jatayu involved... so i managed to somehow connect the two and answer the question! and the first question was "what's sloka?" and i had no idea at first either, but then i remembered "seloka pak pandir" and all the other selokas, so i hazarded a guess about it being the hindu epic style, which i vaguely remembered reading something about, and i was right! lucky me that bm has some roots in sanskrit. (random note: at work, we keep track of when the kids get diaper changes or when they use the potty, and "bm" is used to denote "bowel movement", i.e. poop. for all you non-malaysians, bm back home stands for bahasa malaysia/melayu, which means malaysian/malay language.)
kay i think i've written enough for today - just submitted a blog post for cog dev (that's our assignment - writing a blog post about something we learnt or read or discussed in class. so cool ya?). next monday i have a quiz and a midterm, and on tuesday i have a paper due... so wish me luck!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
