Lethargy and Laziness

So it's been more than 2 weeks since my last blogpost. It's a familiar scenario: everytime the holidays roll around, I find myself with less time to come online than during the busiest of times. Like I've said in previous blogposts, it's really quite ironic.

It's been about a week since we came back from our family vacation in KL, and I'm still trying to get used to being home. It's so sudden; one minute you're in KL, the next you're back home. Everything's so fast. I still haven't truly unpacked. The new books are dumped in a huge pile on my table, and I know there are lots of stuff still left sitting in my suitcase. I just can't seem to get around to tidying up. I've just been overwhelmed with sudden laziness. Wait. Correction: my laziness has always been there, but it seems to have doubled up in quantity (can you measure laziness?) lately. And it doesn't help that I'm asleep more than I'm awake, which makes me even more lethargic than before. I only see one possible treatment to this situation: I need to go back to KL! There, I was active and energetic, and I spent more time walking than sitting. And my eyes glittered and glimmered, especially when they glimpsed the variety of food. And the shopping! I shopped there like I've never shopped here. Simply because you can't really shop here, nope, not in Kuching. Sadly, there's really not much variety here. I've gained some weight from all that eating (3 meals a day, plus all the not-so-little in-betweens!), but that's what usually happens when you're on vacation anyway. I miss the food. Yum yum. So many dishes and eateries to choose from, yet so little time to sample them all! The only thing I can think is why aren't there any nice eateries here? Sigh. At the end of the day, it's just plain old wishful thinking.

I've still got a long way to go before I start working (that is, if I start working). I'm quite bored now, spending my time watching telly and reading. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying my free time, but really it gets a little mundane and monotonous after a while. These days, one of the only things I look forward to is getting out of the house and meeting friends. But my friends are either not here or really busy, so that's really not much getting out. Maybe I should get a job after all. Just to pass the time a little faster, y'know? Cheers.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I've always like the X-Men cartoons, and was quite sad when the final X-Men movie came to an end a few years back. I thought it would be the end of the series, so imagine my immense joy when I heard there was going to be a movie on Wolverine. I literally went around telling people all about it. These past few years have passed with me wondering when it would be ready, when it would finally be released, so I was really excited when it finally arrived on Malaysian shores, and I spent close to a week bugging some of my friends to go watch it. The bugging intensified when I found out Gambit was going to be in the movie. I wouldn't stop talking about it. I guess my friends were finally fed up with all the bugging, because my buddies Vivian and Trish finally decided to accompany me to the cinema last Saturday evening.

Boy, were we blown away. It was a great movie. I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but I'll just say I wish Gambit had more scenes. I think he stole the show everytime he appeared, he was that cool. It was fun to see the other mutants too, but Gambit trumped them all. Gambit was always my favourite from the X-Men cartoons, and I was really disappointed when he didn't even appear in any of the three X-Men movies. Not one, but three X-Men movies and they couldn't even slot such a major character in? Okay, he did appear, or rather his name (it's Remy LeBeau, for those of you who didn't know) did. See if you can spot it, 'cause I went ballistic in the cinema all those years ago when I spotted his name. But yeah, it was a huge bummer not to have him in the previous movies. So my attention shifted to Wolverine, largely because Hugh Jackman did such a good job playing him. But I was still waiting for Gambit to make an appearance, but he never did, until now. Which makes me real happy. But it isn't enough! Now I'm hoping they'll have more X-Men movies and more Gambit in them.

I think I'll shut up now. Enough gushing. You guys will just have to watch the movie yourself to see what I mean, and please, go watch it in the cinema. I know many people are watching the leaked one, the one without the special effects and all, and really, it's just not the same. Why would you watch an incomplete movie when you could enjoy the original? It's like eating a double cheeseburger without the cheese. Like drinking Coca-Cola without any ice. Like eating Maggi mee without the seasoning. I think you get my drift, no? So please go watch the original. And anyway, this is one of those movies which you have to watch in the cinema, if merely for the blinding exploding scenes and sound effects. It's such a great movie that my friends and I are already eagerly anticipating the DVD release. That's how good we think it is. And to that I say cheers!

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

Have you ever had one of those little secret dreams, the one where you don't tell anyone because you're rather shy about it, and where everyone around you goes kinda shocked and flabbergasted when they finally find out what it is because they think it's not something you would ever do, and then you kinda raise your head defiantly and say it might sound crazy but you're gonna do it anyway? Well, today I finally accomplished one of my little secret dreams.

I dyed my hair purple.

Shocked? Don't be. I just thought, what better way to symbolize my freedom from 4 gruelling years of lectures, assignments and exams, this historic exit from university, than to cut off my hair, right? All in all, I must have been at the hair place for 4 and a half hours: shampoo, cut, blowdry, straightening cream, shampoo, blowdry, straighten, more cream, shampoo, blowdry, dye, shampoo, treatment, blowdry, cut, all in that order. Or something to that effect. It was such a long and drawn-out process that I forgot the exact number of times they shampooed/blewdry/creamed my hair. In all honesty, I'm surprised my hair hasn't fried itself yet. It cost a bomb (to my limited coffers at least), but I must say it's worth every last cent. I showed them a picture from some hair magazine that I've had in my possession for the last few months, and told them I wanted my hair to look like that, and I must say they've got the exact purple shade I wanted. I was very particular about going to a hair salon that used the very brand advertised in the magazine, and I'm happy I brought along the magazine to show them what I wanted. In short, I'm happy. Very.

So what's left is to see the reactions of people when they next see me. As can be expected, I'm quite nervous. It's really quite drastic, this hair makeover thingy, and I know a lot of people will say it doesn't suit me or my 'image'. But really, I don't think I care anymore. It's my hair, and I can do whatever I want with it. And besides, if it's really that bad, they can close their eyes, or stay away from me, or just wait a few months till it's all grown out. But for now, I'm just gonna grin and say cheers!

The taste of freedom...

... is so very sweet. I really can't believe it. It's finally over. That's it. The end. No more school. Just allow me to savour this moment... Ah... Now here it is, the release of emotions:

MERDEKA!

The moment we were told we could leave the exam hall, I let out a great big whoop of joy. Some of my friends up front started screaming, and I saw some girls shaking each others' hands. Obviously, happiness wasn't running short today. Four years, we've been thinking of this exact day, and it's finally here. It was kinda strange though. An hour later, I wasn't feeling much emotions. Everything still seemed somewhat, well, normal. I suppose it hadn't sunk in then.

But now it has! To celebrate and commemorate this great historical once-in-a-lifetime moment, my good friends and I went to this eating place called Elephant, where I had my usual Coke and mushroom and turkey ham fusilli, with extra cheese of course. Then the night was still young, so we headed over to tHe Spring for a little walkabout. And of course, I managed to snap some pics while we were having dinner. The pictures might be blur because my camera can't seem to take good night or indoor shots. But anyway, here are some of the good ones:


It's really strange, knowing that I've completed my undergraduate degree. I'm not sure what's next, and I've got to think about what I really wanna do next. I mean, I know what I want to do, but I'm still not sure if it'll all work out. Only time will tell I suppose. But for now, I'm going to enjoy this new-found freedom! Cheers you all!

End of Lectures

I'm a few days into my study break, and really it's quite strange to realize there'll be no more lectures to attend. Yup, as you might have guessed, my days of driving to and fro, rushing to Unimas for classes and all, are over. They ended last week, with a big bang in the form of our Popular Culture and Literature Exhibition. I've uploaded the pictures on my Facebook profile, so head over there if you've got some extra time on your hands. You might notice that in the pictures, everyone's got really big grins and smiles, and I suppose this is 'cause the realization that it's really over hasn't quite sunk in yet.

The past few days have been spent rushing through the final draft of my FYP. I passed it up for grading on Monday, and yesterday I sent it to the printers. Why so early, you ask? Well, I'm hoping to pass it up early, and apparently transforming our miserable FYPs to impressive-looking hard-bound books takes up to a week. Basically though, my university life is over, and all that's left is the last two exams we'll ever take in Unimas. Sure calls for some interesting thinking and pondering. Cheers people!

One last presentation

It's another huge sigh of relief to breathe, as I cross yet another hurdle in my university life - defending the results of my FYP (or undergraduate thesis, as some might call it). It's not something all undergraduates have to do, but it's part of my TESL course, and passing it allows us to get an additional Honours title behind our B.Ed degree. It usually takes up 2 whole semesters, and last August (or was it September?) I finally got down to working on it. Well, to cut a really long story short, I finished it about two weeks ago, and today I had to present the findings to a panel of lecturers cum judges. I did alright, so yeah I'm happy. Anyway, here are some pictures that I managed to take of the scene in the presentation room.

I know everyone looks really happy in the pictures, but in reality the room was filled with so much tension and nervous anticipation, you couldn't even breathe! And here I've included some random shots of this week of lectures.

Yup. TESLians sure work and play hard. It seems as if I only entered university yesterday. Time sure flies fast. I think I should try to take pictures of these last few remaining weeks. We'll see how it goes. Cheers you all, and have a good weekend!

Now I can sleep...

I finally finished my FYP, or at least the first draft of it. Took me a few days of back-breaking hard work, but I've finally got my Chapters 4 and 5. Am so relieved that it's over. The only thing left is the revising, editing, re-revising and re-editing, then it's to the printers with it! There'll be a presentation of the findings on March the 19th, but for now I think I'll just forget everything and try to rest. It's time to enjoy!