Inception for the Fifth Time and Saving Ten Cents

My sleep kept getting interrupted by Faith. He wanted me to wake up and give him some attention so he was pawing at me and scratching and biting and basically making himself a nuisance. I covered my whole body in my blanket and after walking around my perimeter failing to find exposed flesh, he gave up and went to sleep.

At around twelve o'clock Jared came over so Ian and he could go to Mid Valley to watch Inception and Salt. Their commotion woke Faith up, and he started trying to wake me again. Luckily, Ian removed him from my bed so I could get another hour or so of sleep before waking.

When I did wake up, my Bible reading for the day was the beatitudes. There were eight of them. I wonder if Carmeni thinks they're in the same order as I do. After that Hannah asked where Ian and Jared were and I told her they had left already. She was upset because she thought she was going with them. She was busy at Susanna's birthday party and so she wasn't around when they left. I told Hannah that I could take her to see Inception.

Jan woke up when I was getting ready for the day. I had just finished brushing my teeth and putting in my contacts, so I went to go get a towel and some clothes. Jan took that as an opportunity to enter the bathroom, lock the door, and take a shower before me. Sneaky bugger.

Jan was taking a while, so I contemplated skipping a shower altogether, but I had already been taking two showers a day for the past week and I didn't want to break the streak. I think it's become a habit. Now I'll be losing a little more of my day each day for the rest of my life. I blame Elo and Carmeni for this. Oh well, at least I'll be cleaner.

Anyway, Jan eventually finished doing whatever he was doing, so it was my turn. The water was a lot less cold than it was the past few days. Either I'm getting used to it, or it's just warmer in the afternoon. I hope it's the latter.

After I was nice and fresh I started downloading Let the Right One In on Ian's computer, since I read that Chloe Grace-Moretz was going to be starring in an American adaptation and I wanted to watch the original Swedish version, since apparently it's one of the best vampire movies out there. Also I loaded The Money Song on YouTube so I could hear that since it was stuck in my head.

But yeah, after I had done all that we were ready to leave. Unfortunately there were no cars available, so we decided to walk. We made it to the end of our building's compound before realizing we could just have Aunty Rosie drop us off. We called her, but she told us traffic was too heavy on the way back, so we'd have to take a taxi if we didn't want to hoof it. Right after the call ended a taxi came by, so I hailed it down and we got in.

We decided to split the fare three-ways, and it was decided that if the amount wasn't divisible by three, I'd pay the difference. It was RM5.60, and since I was at the front I paid first. I was going to claim back the money from Hannah and Jan, but I forgot.

Our first stop was an ATM. I withdrew my last fifty of the month. I had hit my float, and with so few days left in the month I was determined not to let it drop any lower.

Jan didn't feel like watching Inception again, because he is a fool. I told him that if he watched Inception and Sorcerer's Apprentice with me, I'd pay for his dinner. Hannah wanted to know what she would do if she didn't want to watch Sorcerer's Apprentice. I told her I didn't know, so she might as well join us.

Since I paid for the fare and the other two didn't want to pay me back, they decided they were going to be nice and stand in line for the tickets while I had lunch at McDonald's. I got a call from Hannah saying that she was going to get the tickets soon because they had just joined a new line exclusively for people who wanted to buy tickets for The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Inception, but a little later I heard an announcement that said the line they had joined was exclusively for people who wanted to buy tickets for any movie EXCEPT The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Inception. I called Hannah to tell her this, but she told me she had just heard and was going to join the proper line.

Anyway, my lunch was pretty delicious (especially by McDonald's standards) and I ended up finishing it pretty quickly. While I was eating I was thinking about how much money I had left and I decided I couldn't afford to watch any movies, so when I was finished I went downstairs to tell Jan not to buy any tickets for me. When I got downstairs I saw that I was too late. He already had three tickets to Inception because he cut in front of the line. Fortunately, he had forgotten about The Sorcerer's Apprentice, so through that loophole I avoided having to pay for Jan's dinner.

After Jan and Hannah finished their lunch, we went to watch Inception. It was Jan's second time, Hannah's third time, and my fifth time. Jan and I managed to pee before the movie, but Hannah thought she could survive without emptying her bladder beforehand. Surprisingly, she was right. Anyway, the movie was still awesome. I was reciting the lines throughout the movie, which annoyed Jan, but fortunately there was nobody to my right so I could ignore him and keep doing it anyway. I did get a little quieter, though, since a group of people came in around fifteen minutes late to occupy the row directly in front of us. Hannah spent most of the movie texting, stopping every once in a while to blush and grin every time Joseph Gordon-Levitt showed up on screen. Jan kept looking around the cinema to see other people's reactions to the movie, so there were still a lot of things he didn't understand one it was over. At the end of the movie Jan and Hannah tried to instigate an applause, but it didn't spread. Instead we sat around until the end of the credits, listening to the score and looking for names that stood out. At the end they played Edith Piaf's "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien", which slowed down and morphed into a different part of the soundtrack before ending. It was pretty awesome.

Jan and Hannah were mad at me for getting them to stay until the credits were over, but I thought it was worth it. We went to get a cab, but right when Jan was asking the driver if he could take us to Bangsar, I remembered about Amanda's birthday present, so we went back in the mall. Jan and Hannah didn't want to accompany me to MPH. Jan was mad that I chided him for not understanding the movie, and Hannah was just too lazy to walk. I told her that I'd tell her more about Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, and she relented. Jan came along, too, because he is a little baby and he's too scared to be alone.

While I was looking for Murphy's Law, I told Hannah how Arthur's real romantic interest in that movie wasn't Ariadne, but Eames. I'm not sure if she believed me or not, but I managed to find the book. I took two copies to the middle of the store; one to read and another to buy. Hannah and Jan got bored of waiting for me to finish the book, so they went home without me.

When I was done reading the book I realized that maybe it might not be Amanda's thing, so I called her to ask if she had any books she particularly wanted to read. She told me about this Louise Rennison book that she wanted to read. She said she had Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series except for books 5 and 7, so I told her I'd try and find the fifth one. I went to the information desk to try and find it, but they were sold out all over the country. I called Amanda to give her the bad news, but I told her that they did have 14 copies of another Louise Rennison book in stock called "Withering Tights" and I asked her if she wanted to get that. Amanda misheard and thought I said "Wuthering Heights", which was a book she wanted to read. I told her that it was a different book, but I'd get Wuthering Heights for her if there was nothing else she wanted. She told me to see if they had a book called "Icarus".

They did not have any copies of Icarus in stock, so I sent Amanda a text. It read: "Icarus is sold out, too. So: Wuthering Heights (classic book; referenced in Twilight) or Murphy's Law (awesome book; cops, thugs, and diamonds)?" I was hoping Amanda would ask for Wuthering Heights, because apparently there was a version that was only RM9.90, whereas Murphy's Law was RM45.90. Amanda replied with "Hahaha... Okie", so I sent back "Wait, aren't you going to choose? Or should I toss a coin?", so she said "Withering heights", so I went to get a copy of Wuthering Heights while I typed out a reply.

There first copy of Wuthering Heights that I found helped me establish the author's name, but it was twenty-something ringgit, so I brought it to the information counter and asked what the difference was between that and the RM9.90 one. The lady behind the counter brought back the RM9.90 version and apparently it came with bonus features, which meant the cheaper one had more content, so that was nice. After paying for the book, I sent Amanda a reply that read "Haha, it's Wuthering Heights. Withering is the one with the Tights. =P".

As I was leaving MPH, Amanda texted me saying "Hahaha... Actually.. Get me tht one la. It sounds so funny...", so I turned around, went back in, and asked the lady to help me find a copy of Withering Tights, too. The moment I read the synopsis I knew I had done the right thing by not buying Murphy's Law. Withering Tights sounded like exactly the kind of thing people like Hannah and Amanda (girls, basically) would want to read. Anyway, Withering Tights was RM35.90, so my total came up to RM45.80, which meant I had spent 10 cents less than I would've if I would have bought Murphy's Law, so that was nice, too.

I called my mum to pick me up so I wouldn't have to pay for a cab fare. As I was nearing the exit of the mall, I was approached by a perfume salesperson. Since I had time to kill, I agreed to try on some cologne. The lady sprayed my arm with one bottle, then told me to hang on a moment while she got another bottle for comparison. She then sprayed that on the exact same place. When I pointed it out to her, she apologized and tried again on my other arm. This time I could smell them. One was citrus-y and nice, and the other was kinda generic. She then told me that the first bottle was something like RM160, and the second one was RM250. I told her that she was maybe marketing to the wrong guy, since I was just a student and I don't even had a job, but I told her I'd tell my dad since I didn't want her to feel like I'd wasted her time.

When she was out of earshot, I mumbled "Two hundred and fifty dollars for a scent..." to myself, and then after a few moments I laughed out loud at the involuntary pun. Everyone looked at me strange, and I was suddenly very glad that I was near the exit.

My mum arrived, we went home, I blogged about the day. I'll wake up early and study for my quiz tomorrow. I'm not sure when I'll ever get to write that other blog post about all the things I'd forgotten to mention. I guess forgetting to write a post about stuff I had forgotten about would be pretty appropriate, or ironic, or whatever.

It's Like the Rain Was Especially for Me

Today I got my results back for my Psychology mid-term. I got 13.67%, which is one of my worst test scores ever, I think. Carmeni got one point less than me, and Joanna got .67% less than me, which means we're tied for overall scores.

I was supposed to study with Amanda during my long break, but she was sleeping somewhere so I decided to nap, too. I only managed to sleep in the DSA for one and a half of the three hours, so I spent the other one and a half writing up my Finite Mathematics assignments.

Speaking of assignments, I've got two for Psychology. I've got to write the introduction or conclusion for our group assignment once we've combined all our parts into one great big report, which is Carmeni's job. I've also got to proofread the end result. Plus, tonight I have to add APA referencing to my contribution. On top of all that, my next reflective writing essay is due next week. It's about motivation or something.

Anyway, I went home as soon as my last class ended because I was very hungry. I was hungry because I didn't spend anything on food. I'm not spending any money until Thursday because of my overspending at the Outback Steakhouse yesterday. But yeah, when I left college it was just starting to rain. I thought I would ride home quickly before the rain got worse, but the moment I was on the road the rain got really bad. I was thoroughly soaked when I got home, but I was all right after a hot shower and some toast. A few minutes later, the rain stopped, so that was nice.

Oh yeah, also, on my morning walk on the stairs I encountered a surprising sight on the eighteenth floor. My cat, Faith, was lying on one of the stairs. He didn't make a noise when I picked him up and and only started mewing once he was home. Silly cat. He'd gotten a bit thinner. Someone must've left the door open. I'm lucky I found him.

Ian downloaded BioShock 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. He's playing the latter, and it looks pretty dang awesome. I'm jealous; I wish my rig could handle it. Oh well, at least I have RuneScape.

Hm. I'd better work on those citations.

Break's Over

So today college started again. I woke up a bit early because I thought I had a cell group meeting for my Christian Fellowship, but it turns out that that's been cancelled due to the Chinese New Year break. I got to college a little late for my Finite Mathematics class. It was half-empty. Since I had finished Guns, Germs, and Steel, I started reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree again. I couldn't remember where I left off, though, so I may have re-read some sections. Oh well.

After college I had some fries from McDonald's, and they were really good. I like it when that happens.

When I got home I watched Lost and Toy Story 2 and read the homework for my Baptism class, but then I called Ian and found out we don't have a Baptism class today.

Hannah wanted to go to McDonald's for dinner, so I offered to drive her in return for permission to read the fourth Princess Diaries book. She accepted, but there weren't any cars available so I grabbed the motorcycle keys instead. Luckily, my dad was downstairs when we were talking to the bike, so he took us to Wendy's instead. It was pretty good. We got to eat Baskin Robbins for dessert. I had Cotton Candy flavoured ice cream with gummy bears on top. That was nice.

Back at home I gambled and swiftly lost RM20, and then I did my exercises. Also, Hannah threw a cat on me.

Cookies and Naps that I Wish I Had Taken

I dropped my phone when I was leaving today. Fortunately it's an older Sony Ericsson model, so it wasn't damaged. I had to restart it because the SIM connection was a bit fiddly, but other than that it was fine. I realized I got a text from Joanna saying that she wouldn't be in college today because of a family emergency and I should pass that information on to Ms Selena. Anyway, I think I'll replace my phone sometime. It's very hardy, but the camera is broken and the screen is glitchy and I don't have a transfer cable and for some ridiculous reason it can only store around 100 text messages, whereas other phones don't even seem to have a limit.

I arrived almost fifteen minutes late for Psychology, which is the latest I've arrived for a class except for that one time last semester when I was an hour late for Advanced English because I was listening to Juria's birthday story, I think. Anyway I was lucky because Ms Selena was just starting the class when I arrived, so I told her that Joanna had a family emergency and wouldn't be coming today and then the lesson began. We learned about the eye and other sensory organs. We were told that people can taste stuff with the inside of our cheeks. I tried it out with a Nano Nano. It's true, we can.

After Psychology I had a nice long break, so I went with Amanda to McDonald's. It was still too early in the day for the lunch discounts, so I just ordered some twister fries and we shared those. When lunch was over we went back to Amanda's place because she was kinda sick of college and our next class wasn't until two o'clock anyway. In Amanda's house I had some really yummy butter cookies. They were the same kind as I had on Christmas, and they had maintained their level of deliciousness in the weeks that had passed. Amanda and I sat around talking about guys and their intentions, her family, and movies that, oh my goodness, I had to watch (Amanda's words, not mine). She actually wrote me a list of movies that she loved and I needed to watch. I haven't even heard of most of them: A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, The Sweetest Thing, Stepmom, Simon Birch, and Sleepers. Anyway I took a quick nap on the beanbags in her living room and then we went back to college. At college I realized I wasn't hungry for McDonald's any more which meant that Amanda's cookies had saved me RM12, which was nice. I did buy some nuggets from the marketing students because I like eating meat and helping marketing students. I spent the rest of the break talking and napping and eating tiramisu that someone had bought. The tiramisu kinda tasted like bananas.

Physics was okay. We learned about springs and waves, and the concepts were pretty easy to grasp.

Back home, Faith was lounging on the couch in a ridiculously cute manner. I woke Hannah up from her name to come over and see him, but he had moved. Anyway because I woke Hannah up, she had me take her to drop off her phone for repairs. She also wanted to go pick up her iPod, but I got her a slurpee instead. Of the RM50 that I withdrew on Saturday, I have RM10 left.

When I got back home again I took a nice long nap. After that I went on my computer for a bit, then I read the last few pages of my Psychology textbook, and then I exercised for a bit. I'm a bit surprised at how quickly I managed to finish reading my Psychology textbook. Also the sit-ups and push-ups are becoming easier to do. I did seventy-five push-ups today. I think I'll do a hundred tomorrow and maintain that. I might up the amount of sit-ups. I think I can feel an improvement.

My arms have been trembling slightly the whole time I've been writing this. I'm going to shrug that off as the after-effects of the push-ups.

When I wake up I'm going to wash my face so I don't fall back to sleep again, and then I'm going to have some cereal.

If I end up going to Amanda's house some other Monday, then I'm going to be sure to eat more cookies and spend more time on her beanbags. Her family has a very comfortable living room; I want to spend more time napping in it.

This One Time I Killed A Cockroach That Saw Me Naked

(Originally written on the 13th of May, 2008)

I hate cockroaches.

I'm terrified of them. It's only roaches, not any other insect. It may have something to do with their slimy bodies or their hairy sharp-looking legs, but the most disturbing thing about cockroaches is knowing that for every cockroach you see there are always dozens more hiding away. They’re like ninjas in that way.

To a normal person with a fairly clean house this fear would not be much of a problem. However, although I have a fairly clean house I am apparently not a normal person. Normal people don't have cockroaches appear on them at random times for no reason.

I've had a cockroach suddenly appear on my arm while I was taking a whiz in the jungle which resulted in frantic brushing off of the area for the next few hours every time I felt a movement, I've had one crawl up my thigh towards my manparts which resulted in frenzied slapping and more brushing, and I've had one drop on my shoulder while I was changing my shirt which has led me to conclude that there is something about me that cockroaches seem to find irresistible.

One night as I was exiting the shower I saw something scuttling across the bathroom floor. Without my glasses I could only just make out that it was a cockroach, and a pretty big one at that. I was absolutely mortified when I realized what I was looking at since these things have a history of crawling on me and now I am totally naked.

Panic took hold of me. The roach was too close to my glasses for me to risk grabbing them, so I sprang for the nearest weapon, which happened to be a bottle of heavy duty toilet bowl cleaner. I decided that it would be easier for me to poison the bastard than crush him with the bottle, so I unscrewed the cap and squirted the cleaning fluid with as much precision as I could manage without my glasses (which is not much precision at all). The roach ran from one side to the other and I traced its path with a blue trail of cleaning fluid across the tiles. The roach then scuttled under the door and out into the bedroom.

I had lost. The roach had escaped to terrify me another day, and I was left with a whole bunch of cleaning fluid to mop up. I put on my glasses and was about to start cleaning up the mess I made when I heard a meow.

My cat is the best cat that a guy who hates cockroaches could want. I’ll wake up some mornings and find hairy sharp-looking legs strewn across the living room floor and a limbless, chewed-up cockroach corpse under a chair or table. He likes to bat them around a bit before he tries to eat them, you see. It’s not just cockroaches that he hunts down and kills; one time I came home to find a dead pigeon in my bed and my cat next to it. He was pretty pleased with himself after that one.

Anyway, I looked in the direction of the meow and sure enough my cat was batting at the now belly-up roach. So I did manage to poison the bastard. Usually I’d leave the roach to suffer and die but my cat was in the room and I didn’t want him to start chewing on the toxic carcass so I decided that I had to get rid of it soon.

I shooed my cat away and threw some toilet paper on the writhing roach. Its flailing legs moved the paper around a bit, but it didn’t manage to uncover itself. I smacked the bottle of cleaning fluid on top of the paper and heard a crunch and a stain appeared on the paper. I kept hammering the paper with the bottle long after the roach would’ve been dead and then hammered some more. I picked up what was now nothing more than guts and crushed bits of exoskeleton in yet more toilet paper and flushed it away.

After washing my hands and putting on my jammies I climbed into bed and pulled the covers tight over myself while my cat kept watch on the bedside to ensure no cockroaches would be crawling over me at night.