The Last Two Days in Under 30 Minutes (Hopefully)

On Monday I went to work early and I came home early, too. Daylight savings time had come into Australia and New Zealand, so from now on I am starting work earlier and ending work earlier, too.

I also got my roster. It said I had to be at work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, all at 6am. I asked my supervisor about this and he said that I could come at 7am on the weekdays, so that was nice.

Work was okay. About halfway through I started to get sleepy, but I made it to the end of the day and when I went home I was in bed fairly early. I just finished watching The Infidel (I had begun watching it in the morning) and then I went to bed at 10pm. I had done my exercises long before my shower. I should do that more often, it takes so much less time to go from doing things to being in bed when I'm on the computer.

Tuesday I woke up a bit late. Later on in the day I changed my alarm tone from "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" to the opening music from CSI: Miami (YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH!). Anyway, I got to work at around 7am, but I had to wait outside the doors for fifteen minutes before somebody showed up who could tag me in.

I worked through the day. Halfway through my nine-and-a-half hours (right after lunch, I think), I felt really tired and my performance suffered. It also suffered because I got a lot of calls from people whose phones all had this same problem whereby I would hear everything I said a few seconds after I said it. Hannah was right, I am bloody annoying. I couldn't concentrate with me talking in my ears all the time. Some people got quite upset.

Also I answered a call from a French guy in France. I could not help but smile at his accent. It was so amazingly... French. And not the sexy French that Amanda would probably be thinking about, but the frog's-legs-and-surrender-and-cheese-and-w(h)ine-and-effeminate type of French. I'm sure he was a nice guy, it's just that his accent was too French for me to hold a straight face and it was also too strong for me to help him with his problem, so I stumbled through the French HP page until I found the number for the French call centre and directed him there. I'd like to think his call was picked up by a typical Indian call centre, except everyone there wore berets and pretentious moustaches and spoke wit ze... ow you say... eavy French ixaunt.

After work I got my contract. There are large chunks of it devoted to patents and inventions. At the end it says that the terms I agree to will survive the termination of my employment, which sounds pretty sinister.

I drove to Amanda's house and we went to Devi's with Milan. Our conversation was about penises and masturbation and a little about other things but right now those two things are the only topics I can remember. In two weeks' time, Milan and Amanda will be buying me ice-cream. October twelfth. Start saving, you two.

Milan went home and Amanda and I went to pick up Geraldine from tuition. She thought that Aunty Rosie's car was Amanda's car. When I clarified things for her, Amanda and she simultaneously asked why my maid had a car. My answer to them was "Why wouldn't my maid have a car?"

When we reached Amanda's house I took Walker on a walk so that she could pee because Amanda couldn't do it because she had to pee. After the walk we went inside and then we went out again so Amanda's mother could run some errands. Meanwhile, Amanda and I stayed in the car and talked about domestic abuse after hearing that one Eminem song on the radio.

When we got back I stole the remote control so that we could watch world news instead of E! News. I tried to educate Amanda's family on how Kim Jong Un is a more important figure than Ellen DeGeneres, but they were women so they didn't understand. They didn't care much for the latest news on the Israeli naval blockade, either. At least Geraldine took interest in the trapped Chilean miners, though. I thought it was quite fascinating that she had never even heard of the mine disaster before. It must be nice in her head. Very... Local.

Anyway, after world news we watched a program on Nat Geo Wild about cats in the womb. I knew most of the facts already, so I tried to say them all before the narrator could. I was hoping to impress someone with my knowledge, but I don't think I achieved any reaction from anyone aside from annoyance. I did learn something new about purring and roaring, though. Also, cheetahs are fast. Also also, Amanda and Geraldine are still grossed out by birth, even kitty birth. Good luck to their future midwives, I say.

After that I moved to the massage chair and watched a show called Desperately Seeking Sheila. I hope Georgia and that cowboy dude work out. They seemed nice.

After that, Amanda tried to watch Friends but the disc was not working, so she watched House instead. The start of the episode was very interesting, and I wanted to know more, but the moment I left Amanda's place I lost all interest. Here's my guess: it wasn't lupus.

I'll be dropping by Amanda's again on Wednesday to help her move stuff because we didn't actually move anything today. After that we're watching Cloverfield. Yay!

I met one of my neighbours in the lift. She walked in when I was singing Stacy's Mom to myself. We had a pleasant (if slightly brief and awkward) conversation.

I need to do my fake push-ups, and then I'm going to sleep. I will only be asleep for two and something hours. Oh dear.

I Am Still Blogging, Hannah

I haven't quit blogging, it's just that I haven't been on my computer since I started work on Monday and as such I haven't had much time to update this blog. But I'll get to it eventually. There isn't much to write about this week, my days have mostly gone like this:

1) Wake up
2) Get ready
3) Wake up again from a nap that was taken sometime between items 2 and 3, suddenly realize how late I am
4) Rush to work with my dad or Aunty Rosie or on my own
5) Work for a few hours; don't remember enough about any calls to blog substantial amounts about them
6) Costly lunch
7) Take a break, maybe sneak in some Conquer Club in between calls.
8) Work for a few more hours; maybe get one or two interesting calls
9) Go home
10) Hang out in Hannah's room/Do exactly one interesting thing/take a nap
11) Do exercise and take shower
12) Go to bed relatively early.

Well, on Wednesday night I went to watch a movie and on Thursday I went with friends to surprise Nicholas at the airport before he left, but that's about it. I'll blog more about those later, I guess.

I will definitely be updating the previous post with more information about my first time clubbing. This is a blog-commitment. It is, like, the closest I can get to making a promise without actually making a promise.

Gotta take Hannah and Yii-Huei and Ebony to malls now. Should be fun.

Before I go, here is one picture from Facebook for this post:

First Day of Actual Work

Thursday (today?) was my first day taking actual calls. It was very interesting. Other stuff happened after work, but I am tired and I have to be awake again in less than five hours so unfortunately not every thing that happened will get the details they deserve. Also this post will probably be loaded with errors.

Okay, so I woke up early. I did my daily Bible reading. I took a nap. There was some alarm trouble but fortunately I set two alarms, so it was inconvenient but not, um, fatal.

I got ready and then I spent a little too much time on the computer. I left the house later than I should have.

I arrived in the office around eight minutes later than I should have (I was supposed to arrive at 7:45, I got there at seven fifty-something). Fortunately, I was already inside the office when Hariz first spotted me and nobody had started working yet so I was in the clear.

I got assigned a temporary desk and computer, and then I tried to set everything up. The computer froze, so I restarted it and went through everything all over again.

I got my first call before I was actually ready for it. Right now I've forgotten what it was about, but I think I should be able to recall in future if you ask me.

After that the calls came in quite steadily. I answered them to the best of my ability and it took me around 15 minutes to work on each. A few wrong numbers meant that my AHT was down to 12 minutes, but it was still way about 6.

I had to check with my supervisor for help quite a few times, but I was told many times during training that calling the supervisor was perfectly okay as long as the customer agreed to be put on hold, and all of them did.

Between twelve to one o'clock my fellow part-timers went home, but I elected to stay on until five for more money and experience. Before my lunch break I got called over to meet with a dude who does call monitoring. He told me that the call he was monitoring of mine had passed, so I was doing okay. However, I had to practice the script, slow down so the customers could understand me, repeat the serial number with the phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, etc), and use less words (I was talking a bit too much). I also met with Hariz and he told me some stuff, but I kinda forgot what right now.

After that I took my break and did my Conquer Club turns and then I answered one more call before I went for lunch. The car was really really hot. I had to wait a few minutes for the car to cool down before I could drive it. I went to McDonald's. I had too many fries, maybe.

After (or before, it's late and my memory's a bit wonky) lunch, a lady dropped by my desk as she was leaving. She had also stopped by earlier when my wrap-up time exceeded six minutes. Anyway, she asked me how things were going and I told her that my biggest mistake so far was sending a customer to T2 without giving him his case ID and the support hours. She said that was not that bad for a first day mistake, but I shouldn't repeat it.

Anyway, I took more calls until five, then I went for a talk with my supervisor. Dave asked how my first day was and I said it was good. He said that that was good because I was doing a pretty good job. I asked him what AHT was expected of me as a new guy, and he told me that 12 minutes was pretty good since his AHT when he was starting was between twenty to thirty minutes. I asked him how long it would take before I could keep my AHT under six minutes, and he said around two weeks. He also told me that hiring the lot of us was no mistake, so that was nice. It's nice to know that I'm not a mistake.

Oh yeah, sometime during work it was someone's birthday so I got cake. It was chocolate indulgence. It was delicious cake.

On my way back, I decided to drive by Amanda's house to see if I could help her pack. I gave her a call and she said she was in Bangsar with Davinia because her parents were away, but I could join them in Devi's in a bit. I told her that sounded like a good plan.

I drove to the cul-de-sac (it may not actually be a cul-de-sac, that's just the first phrase that comes to mind to explain the place) near Saundra's house to do a u-turn so I could go back. I decided to park and see if I could go see Jared and Saundra's new puppy. I gave Saundra a call and she let me in. Kendra, Saundra, and I went to see the puppy. Scratch is adorable. Kendra is nice, too. I don't understand how Hannah can think she's one of the most annoying children ever.

Anyway here is a picture of Scratch.
While playing with Scratch, I got a call from Amanda. I said goodbye to the Lockes and went to Devi's to meet Amanda. She told me where to park.

At Devi's I washed my hands and looked for Amanda. She took a while to find me because I wasn't wearing orange, and I took a while to find her because I was looking in the wrong direction, I guess.

We went to Guardian to buy Amanda some eyeliner (Geraldine had lost her previous supply) and to get Davinia some makeup remover. I bought some mouthwash while I was there. I also saw some eyeliner with ferrocyanide in it. I probably spelt that wrong. I'll Google it tomorrow, it can't be as dangerous as it sounds.

After getting the stuff from Guardian, Amanda and I went to Devi's to meet with Davi. We got a table and we talked about stuff until Geraldine arrived, and then we talked until we ran out of conversation, and then we played a game where you connect animals to other animals or countries based on the first and last letter and it was a lot more fun than it sounds and a lot easier to explain than I've explained. Amanda kept getting "E"s and "A"s, it was fun to watch.

Anyway some of the stuff we talked about in Devi's was how Daryl worked nearby and what was going on with Amanda and the guy she liked and how apparently Juria and her boyfriend had been in that very same Devi's just three hours ago or so. We also gossiped but I won't be sharing much of that here. Also this local celebrity showed up but I didn't recognize him. Also Amanda and Davinia passed judgement on random passers-by. Also Amanda told us about her upcoming Nike photoshoot and how I should do some modelling. I agreed to let Amanda and Davinia take me shopping one day to get me new clothes because I don't really know how to dress fashionably. I dress for comfort and utility first and fashion... last.

We went to Bangsar Village so the girls could use the bathroom. Davinia spent a long while waiting outside with me for Amanda and Geraldine while Amanda and Geraldine were spending a long time in the bathroom waiting for Davinia. It was a bit pointless.

I returned Geraldine's English-Malay dictionary and said goodbye. I'll be seeing them again on Friday evening at 10:30 to go clubbing. I'll be driving Amanda there and staying sober so I can witness the shenanigans and drive her back home safe and sound.

When I got home I told my mum and Hannah how my first day of real work was, and Hannah asked for some of my money. I told her that I'd give her RM5 a day if she exercised with the stairs and fake sit-ups. She agreed. I realized later that this scheme would lose me RM155 a month. Dang.

Hannah actually got me to sign a contract about the exercise and stuff. She's also getting RM20 for burning Cloverfield and Titanic onto a DVD for me for a movie night that may be happening next month or so.

Hannah is a crafty girl.

I need to go to bed now, after showering and stuff I'll maybe only get three hours of sleep or so. I need to nap from when I get back from work until when I have to get ready to go out at around nine forty-five or something.

P.S. Oh yeah, while I was at Devi's, Amanda pointed out that she saw my brothers. I wanted to sneak up on them and surprise them, but they spotted me first. They were going to Pappa (Papa?) Rich with El-Hanan and Joel. After exchanging greetings, I went back to Amanda and Davinia to talk about nonsense.

Long Sunday, Part One

My story about Sunday is going to be split up into two (or three) parts because I'm too tired to write about the whole day, plus my dad said I have to wake up at nine tomorrow morning to show discipline, so I want to go to bed soon. Besides, I started writing this at three and it's now almost midnight, so I'll probably need another day to get a better pace. Also this is the boring part, so don't feel too bad about skipping it (or anything else on my blog).

Okay, so on Sunday morning there were a lot of us in our house. There were Stefanie, Ruben, Jan, Hannah, Ian, and me. My dad was out driving with Susanna. I got a call from my dad saying he'd be downstairs in five minutes, so I tried telling everyone to get ready because we'd be going downstairs soon, but they all ignored me so Ruben and I went down first.

Jan joined us, and then my dad pulled up outside the lobby with Susanna. We got in, and the others came down soon after, and then we left. My dad needed to know if we had to pick up Aunty Catherine on the way to church, but my mum wasn't picking up her phone so she couldn't ask her. A few weeks ago I had called Aunty Catherine, though, so I could just call her on my phone and find out. Unfortunately my phone chose that exact moment to stop working, so I had to use a key to pry the back open and jiggle the battery to restart it. Once the phone was ready again I found Aunty Catherine's number right at the bottom of my most recent calls list. If I had made just two more calls it would have been gone and we would have had no way of contacting her. Anyway, I called and asked if we needed to pick her up for church, but she said she wasn't even going to church that day, so that was a nice waste of time.

We had dim sum for breakfast. I ate a lot of fried prawns. My dad told Stefanie how to eat the porridge she had ordered. There were a lot of instructions and it sounded way too complicated for porridge. That is why I'm glad I just eat the prawns when I'm there.

After breakfast we went to church. Hannah, Ruben, Stefanie and Jan sat in the row of seats that was right at the back end of the church, which is usually reserved for families with children. There was no place for me, so I just stood behind them until somebody took a chair from a row in front and gave it to me. I found the ink-and-tip part of a pen on the floor. It was from a red pen. I wanted to draw on myself without ripping off Hannah's skin-watch, so I drew a fake scar on my wrist. I have to admit, it was pretty lame. I found other things to do with the pen-bit, though. I managed to draw an S and a H on Stefanie and Hannah.

The reverend's wife came to us and asked us to move up front because the back was reserved. There weren't any rows that were completely empty, so Hannah and Jan were hesitant to move forward because it would mean splitting up. I went up front with Ruben and they followed. I sat next to Ruben and in front of Jan, while Hannah and Stef sat next to each other and Susanna and my dad.

After praise and worship was over, Jan, Hannah, Stefanie, Ian, Ruben, and Susanna all left the sanctuary to go upstairs, so it was the second time I was the only one left listening to the sermon, but this time my dad was here so he could see that I wasn't lying and also that I didn't fall asleep. Also I borrowed two ringgit from my dad since nobody else had any small change they could lend me to add to my three ringgit for my usual RM5 offering. It was kinda weird, borrowing money just to give away. Oh well.

During the announcements, Uncle Kwon Hong wanted to greet the newcomers to the church, so he asked me where my friends went. I told him that they had all gone upstairs. He asked if they were coming down later for the youth meeting, and I shrugged my shoulders. After that I sent a text to Jan that said "Uncle Kwon Hong just mentioned your absence in front of the whole congregation. Nice going." Jan missed the point entirely and replied with "Yea... What an ass." I sent another text to him that said "Oh yes because I was totally talking about how HIS behaviour was inappropriate and not anyone else's. What an ass indeed." Jan obviously wanted to get back to his nap or whatever so he replied with "I don't care. I'm not replying to your next sms." The next text he received from me said "Dude! A gypsy just cursed my phone! She said that only the most handsome and intelligent son of a family had the power to reply to my next text, which is this one. Bummer."

Anyway, I didn't have any gum to chew so I kept myself from falling asleep by drawing on myself. I wrote a letter on the back of each of my fingers on my left hand so that it spelled out FATE, like Charlie did on Lost. After a while I wrote LATE above that, since that's what he changed it to later on in the show. I was still bored, so I rolled up my sleeve and gave myself his tattoo, too. I was pleased with how well "Living is easy with eyes wide shut" ended up looking on my shoulder, but later I realized that I probably got the tattoo on the wrong spot and I also probably got the lyric wrong. I had, but not in the way I had thought. The actual lyric is "Living is easy with eyes closed", I had thought it was actually "Living is simple with eyes wide shut". It's from Strawberry Fields Forever, by the Beatles.

Anyway, I also drew a DS on my right ring finger so I'd also have Charlie's Drive Shaft/Dexter Stratton ring. I drew references to stuff under folds on my pants (4 8 15 16 23 42, "You're waiting for a train", "I like Chinese") and I added some random nonsense at the worn-out bottoms of my trouser legs (A red splotch with an arrow pointing to it and a note that said "Totally not hobo blood" on one leg, "IF YOU CAN READ THIS YOU ARE TOO FAT" in mirrored handwriting for Jan to read on the other).

The sermon was pretty good. It was about Solomon and Paul's opinions on wives (mostly Paul's), and there was also a bit where I heard a nice analogy (or metaphor, or simile, or something) on forgiveness involving credit (Forgiveness BC), cash (Forgiveness for the robber on the cross), and gift vouchers (Forgiveness AD). Also the gift vouchers had an expiry date (Death). So that was nice.

Throughout the whole service I was thinking about letters that I might write in future. I told myself that I would make a note about it on Facebook later, but I didn't. I might do it today if there is still time left after writing this post.

After the service was over I was handed an envelope to give to my mum. I asked my dad if I could have the car keys so I could put the envelope there. He gave them to me, so I stored the envelope, and then I went upstairs. As I was going up the stairs Clement asked me where I had gone. I told him I had just gone to the car to store something. He asked me where I had gone during the service. I told him I hadn't gone anywhere, and that I was the only one among my siblings who had stayed behind. He asked me if I had fallen asleep, and I said I hadn't. He was all "I see, I see" like he didn't believe me. I don't know why he thought I went upstairs during the sermon. Ian's the one who usually does that. I also don't know why the only time he called me out on sleeping in church was the Sunday when I was wide awake. Whatever.

When I got upstairs, Stefanie and Hannah were playing with crayons, while Jan and Ruben were just talking. I showed off my boredom tattoos and the stuff I had written on my trousers, then I got some crayons of my own and wrote a crude poem. I handed it to Stefanie. She read it aloud:
"Roses are red
Violets are blue
You are so pretty
Can I please touch your-"
And then someone else snatched it off of her, and then Hannah snatched it off that person, and Hannah started reading it while Stefanie was begging for it back so she could finish. When she got to the punchline she sighed in exasperation and I thought that was hilarious. Stefanie grabbed it back and was all "Can I touch your books? Does it say books? What does- Oh." I showed it to Jan, but he didn't think it was funny. Ruben didn't think it was funny until I pointed out to him that I had dotted the Os in the last word, then he laughed. I still can't get over how perfect the first snatcher's timing was, I mean it was right before she read the last word and everything. I'm so juvenile.

Anyway, after Hannah saw my shoulder tattoo she asked me who did it, and I said that I did. She wanted to know how, and I said it wasn't hard. She tried to do her own, but she ended up reversing the J so it looked more like "Toseph Gordon-Levitt". I told her it would have been smarter to just write JGL inside the heart. Hannah and I helped Stefanie get "HL" for Heath Ledger in a heart on her shoulder. It came out quite nice. I shaded the heart to make it pop. I also tried writing Stef's initials on her back in 3D lettering, but I kept running out of ink and S is a hard letter to write on skin, so it didn't turn out as good as it could have. I also wrote "And these..." on the back of one hand and "...Are not The Hammer" on the other, and when I looked up, everyone was gone and I was left to clean up the mess.

I met Jan and Ruben outside church, and we went to the park to meet the others. They swung on the swings, but the whole swingset was not anchored properly and it kept popping out of the ground, so that was fun. I did some chin-ups on it. I was surprised how easy they were to do; I thought I was a weakling.

I got a call from my dad asking where we were, and I told him we were in the park. He said that he had told us to be downstairs for the Alpha Course, so I told him that I was only in the park to get the rest of them back to church. As we walked back Stefanie suddenly declared me her new Hannah and we walked back arm-in-arm. Hannah was jealous.

It only took a while for me to realize that I had already seen all the Alpha Course videos. Uncle Anthony kept repeating the same video over and over. I told Ruben that this was because he thought we were idiots. Anyway, I texted my dad and told him that I had already seen all the videos, and to prove it I told him what was coming up next, so he let me leave.

I went back to the park. I played on the swings a bit, and then I took a jog around the lake. I didn't stop to look at the turtles, though, because I realized that I still had the car keys and I wanted to be nearby in case we needed to leave soon. Instead, I took off my shoes and walked across the reflexology path. It wasn't as painful as I remember it being.

I was getting bored and sweaty, so I went to the car, cranked up the air-conditioning, and listened to the radio. Susanna wandered out of church, so I called her into the car and we listened to some reggae. After the reggae we heard We Didn't Start the Fire, which Susanna loved because of the chorus. We also heard Nobody by the Wonder Girls, which had another chorus that Susanna enjoyed. She tried to clap along, but she was always late. She loved it anyway.

The Alpha Course finished and I drove everyone back home.

10th of March, 2010

Some of these posts have dates for names because I can't be bothered to think of a title.

I finished The Lexus and The Olive Tree.

I'm waiting for the latest episode of Lost to download.

I had a Christian Fellowship cell group meeting. It was okay.

I did five hundred of the six hundred words for my contribution to our Psychology project. I think it's good enough.

Denise didn't know I have a blog. That was a few days ago, though.

I played yet more RuneScape. It's hardly even fun, I wonder why I still do it.

I got my allowance today, plus the 83 ringgit Ian owed me.

It's quite really late. I've been falling asleep on the couch a lot lately because I have been too lazy to do my sit-ups and I can't take a shower until I've done my sit-ups and I can't go to bed unless I take a shower, so I end up falling asleep on the couch and waking up an hour or so before sunrise and doing my exercise and shower then. It's all right, I guess.

Back to the Beat

I didn't post for the past few days because our internet connection's been spotty and I haven't been able to get online much recently.

I forgot to do my exercises during the weekend, so I'm going to have to do three times as much as usual before my shower later.

College started again today. I realized that our leadership camp is this weekend. Oh dear. It should be fun, though.

Also, I got my reflective writing results back for Psychology. I got 3.5/5, while Joanna got 4/5. I'll do better than her on midterms, though.

I watched ten episodes of Glee when I got home from college. It is an excellent show and I'm sad that I only have three episodes left to watch. Ah well.

Almost Eighteen

So today I woke up on the couch. I hadn't done any exercise the before I fell asleep, so I did that, and then I realized I hadn't walked the stairs the morning before, so I did that, too, and then I had some cereal.

College was back after a three-day weekend. I spent Finite Mathematics alternating between nodding off and reading Guns, Germs, and Steel. After that I sat around with Elo and Joanna and Carmeni and other such people. I think we spent most of our time talking about Nick's 21st birthday.

After that I went to accompany Amanda for her lunch. I got some fries while she got doughnuts and fried rice. We talked about what happened on her 18th birthday party and how she went clubbing and got drunk and threw up and lost her shoes and such. Sounds like fun.

When lunch was finished I think I hung around a bit more talking to people about stuff, and then I went to the KPD to do my Physics lab. We were working with pendulums and such. It was okay. I spent a lot of time arranging pins while my lap partners did the experiment. I don't know what I'd do without them.

After Physics I went back to the main block for Psychology. I decided to sit in the back with Carmeni. It was nice.

When I got home I got my Moral Studies textbook to give to Amanda, and then I got Hannah to print out a map to the place she needed to be to pick up the tickets for her Valentine's Day premiere. We then drove around for an hour and a half looking for the place before finding out that Hannah had printed the map to a place in Subang Jaya when her tickets were in Petaling Jaya. Anyway, we went to Amanda's house to give her the book, and then we stayed and ate cookies and drank coke for a long while. That was nice.

Now I'm back at home and I've been on the computer for a long while. My plan was to study for my Physics test on Thursday and also complete my Psychology assignment, but that's not going to happen. I've got the Psychology document open, waiting to be completed, but I've been putting it off by reading a Reddit thread about the craziest facts people know and other random internet stuff. I hope to finish it before I go to bed, but I won't be able to study Physics. I guess I'll do that tomorrow in college.

I'll be eighteen in fifteen minutes. Yay!

I Should Remember What Is and Isn't Worth Eating

Today I woke up and took my time getting ready for Christian Fellowship. There was going to be a welcome to CF party later on. I was on the computer until twelve thirty, which was when it was supposed to start. Since I was bound to be late I decided to help Hannah drop off Yii Huei instead.

Yii Huei had to drop off some stuff at home before going to her friend's house so they could go watch a movie together, so I went with Hannah to drive her to those places. When we arrived at her friend's house we said goodbye because it would be the last time we saw her unless she came visited us after coming back from Penang.

Hannah and I went to eat at Popeyes because I had a craving for it. It was pretty tough to find a place to park, so I was grateful when we found an empty lot. It was near a parking machine that I couldn't figure out how to work, so we didn't pay.

We had to find an ATM before we could eat. While we were looking for one, Hannah convinced me to pay for her meal. She was the one who spotted the Maybank ATMs, though, so I guess she earned it.

Popeyes was okay. It was really filling, so even though I only had a biscuit, some mashed potatoes, and two pieces of chicken, I still couldn't finish everything I ordered. Hannah couldn't finish what I had got for her either. We only had a little bit leftover, though, so that was nice, at least. Anyway I don't think I'll be eating at Popeyes again unless I want more biscuits or mashed potatoes. Actually, I'm not sure why I came to that conclusion. The chicken skin is crispier than most places, and the meat's a lot more succulent. It's also priced around the same as KFC. Hm. Maybe I will eat in Popeyes again. I'll make sure I'm really hungry before I do, though, so I don't waste any food.

When we got home, I took a nap. When I woke up I watched a In The Loop on Ian's computer. It was good. After that I claimed the massage that Hannah said she'd give me if I paid for her meal. I then remembered that I hadn't walked the stairs even though it was Friday, so I went and did that. When that was over I was pretty tired, so I took another nap. When I woke up from that one I turned on the TV and did some exercise while watching a drama on the new Astro channel. It was called Half Broken Things and it was pretty good, too.

Anyway tomorrow I've got replacement classes at college. Also I'm apparently supposed to keep a dream journal for Psychology. Should be fun.

My birthday seems to be really really close. I wonder what I should ask for. I wonder where I want to eat dinner. I wonder if I should have a tiny party.

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.

Late to Rise, Late to Bed

So after I wrote my last post, Ian came home and said that he had three people ready to play Left 4 Dead 2 and he needed a fourth person, so of course I agreed. Sean Joel and Jan were the other two. Ian was rushing me a bit, but I got to eat a bit of bacon and eggs before I went.

Anyway first we had to go pass some money over to the dad of the dude whose car Ian hit a while back. We spent enough time waiting for me to be able to say that Ian could've waited at least until I got my contact lenses in before we left. Ah well.

L4D2 was awesome fun as usual. The only downside was that Ian didn't want to cooperate on the first finale, and we ended up having to turn down the difficulty to Normal to get past. Also the guys who ran the cybercafe kept dropping by to tell us to "make the noise small". We shrugged them off. Anyway the second campaign we played was hilarious fun, so that was good.

After that we went over to Maybank so I could get some money (I now have RM150 in my bank, which is still quite a bit) and then we had some KFC. The popcorn chicken was pretty yummy.

Nothing much happened on the drive after that. We sent Sean Joel home and listened to football on the radio, but that was it.

Anyway back home I saw that Hannah's beanbag was in the living room. Hannah said it was there because it had a hole in it and she was waiting for Aunty Rosie to sew it up. Also, Yii Huei and Rebecca are staying over. I've only had, like, one sleepover ever, and that was when I was eight or something. Maybe I'm jealous.

Anyway I'm going to read and exercise and go to bed. I think I'll chew gum to stay awake in church tomorrow. Other plans for tomorrow include watching The Hurt Locker and taking a nap.

More Responsibilities, Yay

I woke up this morning on the couch. I had originally intended to nap on it for a wee bit before taking a shower and going to bed, but the nap lasted way too long. Anyway I did take a shower and I did go to bed. I woke up again at two in the afternoon.

Anyway, Friday. I had a meeting for HELP's Rush Race that I told Ms Selena I'd attend, so I was in college fifteen minutes before it was supposed to start. That was a bit odd, that the one day I would arrive so early to college would be the day when I didn't actually have a class or anything.

I sat around with Davinia and perhaps a few other people while waiting for eleven o'clock to roll around. We spoke about which cousins Indians were allowed to marry and which they weren't and whether it was weird or not to like your cousin. We also looked through the list of Indian inventions on Wikipedia. Diamonds were on the list, so that was a thing.

At a little past eleven I realized where I had to be and went to the meeting. It was a pretty good meeting. I'm on the committee for a comedic sketch that's supposed to raise RM5000 for the event. It should be fun. The meeting kinda reminded me of NCO council meetings in BB, but the difference is I actually care about helping out with the Rush Race. Also I'm not the person doing the minutes any more, so that's nice, too.

After the meeting was finished I went over to the KPD for the first Christian Fellowship meeting of the year. There weren't any activities planned, so instead we just did praise & worship and prayed for a whole bunch of stuff. It was okay.

When I got back home I was informed by Jan that I had to drive him to get his hair cut before taking him over to Cheras so he could sleep over at Sri Sempurna to get the place ready for Fun Day. Before I did all that we sat down to catch the second half of this show on the National Geographic channel about the Aryan Brotherhood. It was pretty interesting.

I was wondering whether I should've gone with Jan to get my hair cut, too, but I decided to stay in the car and listen to music from Jan's iPod instead. I would've used the radio, but the antennae in the Kancil is busted and we haven't fixed it yet. Jan got back with an okay-looking haircut and I drove him to where he needed to be and then I drove myself back.

When I got back home I think I took a nap. I may have done something before it, but I definitely took a nap at one point. My parents woke me up a few hours later as they were leaving the house. I heated up some spaghetti carbonara and spent a while online before watching Year One on Ian's computer. It was either that or The Hurt Locker, and Year One was shorter. It was a pretty mediocre show, but I had expected as much so I wasn't that disappointed.

After that I read my Psychology textbook and did my sit-ups, and then I fell asleep on the couch.

Anyway since I woke up again this afternoon I haven't done much. I had some carrot cake for breakfast (Or lunch), and I think I brushed my teeth, although I'm not 100% sure on that one. I'm going to spend a bit more time online, and then I'm going to watch a few more movies from Ian's computer, and then I'm going to (as usual) read my Psychology textbook and do some sit-ups. I wonder if I'll be this free next weekend, too. I hope I will, but I guess I'll have homework to do by then.

But yeah, I settled my college fees on Thursday, so I don't really have any pressing items in that department. Once Mr Naj prints out the Physics slides I'll study them and memorize the relevant formulas, and if Mr Chen distributes any Finite Mathematics homework I suppose I'll do that, but right now I'm free, and that is nice. I've also got RM200 left from the RM300 I get each month, which is twice as much as I usually have around this time of the month. That is also nice.

Oh yeah, it's Saturday. Hmm. I guess I'll do twenty-five push-ups this evening alongside my sit-ups and see if I can stick to that. Hopefully daily exercise will make me hungrier so I can eat more and get bigger. This anorexic-type look is getting tiresome.

Wednesday is One-Class Day

I've only got one class on Wednesday. It's finite maths and it starts at two. I woke up at ten.

I checked my phone and saw that I had a text from Hannah asking if I could take her to Sunway. I said I could. I drove her and Jan to Sunway at around twelve thirty, and got home in time to go on the computer for a little bit before I had to leave for class.

I arrived in HELP at exactly two o'clock. The lecturer was late, so I made conversation with the people behind me. They're all nice people. They are in their first semester and probably my age. That's nice.

The lecturer arrived and taught the class about linear equations and slopes. I had learned all this before. The class seemed to go by really slowly. The lecturer's style is nice, though. He talks like a grandfather or pastor or something, and he makes things very clear. Still, I was very glad when class ended because it was extremely boring.

Once class was over I had two things to do before going to pick up Jan and Hannah. First, I had to withdraw some money, and then I had to buy the Psychology textbook and the Finite Mathematics notes and tutorials for the semester. On my way across the hall, I noticed that Amanda was crying and Joanna was comforting her. I asked Carmeni why Amanda was so sad, but Carmeni didn't know. I had a hunch, though.

After I got my money from the ATM, I went over to Secret Recipe to pick up a piece of cake to cheer Amanda up. I don't think I could be too sad if I was given free chocolate cake, and so far I think this is also true of everyone.

I got the Finite Maths notes on my way down. When I got to where Carmeni and Amanda and everyone was earlier, there was no-one there. I texted Joanna to ask where Amanda had gone, and found that she was already in class. I waited outside and passed the cake to one of the latecomers to give to Amanda. She texted her thanks as I was buying my Psychology textbook.

When I was buying my Psych textbook, I overheard a girl asking about the CTS textbook. I asked her if she had bought her Advanced English textbook yet and when she said she hadn't, I offered to sell her mine. She bought it for half price, so I got fifteen ringgit. That was nice.

After that I rode home, swapped my motorcycle keys for the ones to Ian's car, and drove to pick up my siblings. Stefanie came home with them, too.

Back at home we got changed and went swimming and lazed around by the pool. I went on the computer and took a nap and drove Hannah and Stefanie to 7-Eleven, and while they got slurpees I had some fries. The fries were delicious.

I haven't done much since then. I did talk to Amanda on Facebook, though. She thanked me for the cake and confirmed my hunch about why she was crying. But yeah, aside from that there isn't much else to talk about. I hope Amanda feels better tomorrow.

Oh yeah, also, I think my gut is looking less flabby. It's hard to tell since there wasn't much there to begin with, but I'm going to go ahead and say these sit-ups are working.

First Day of My Last Semester

So it was back to routine again. I woke up at six-thirty, read the Bible, had some cereal, put in my contact lenses and freshened up for the day, grabbed my bag and left for college.

My motorcycle was on the verge of dying right up to the first traffic light. I had to hold down the choke right up 'til then. I managed to get to college safe and sound, though. Now that my helmet box is attached again, I don't have to hook my helmet under the seat any more. That's nice.

Since I arrived at HELP at around seven thirty, Carmeni was the only other friend I saw. We talked for a bit and she told me that Finite Mathematics classes weren't starting until the tenth, so I decided to accompany her to her statistics class. The first stats class had a quiz to assess their knowledge so it could be compared to the end of the semester. The bits on probability were pretty simple, but I just guessed the rest of the answers. Once we were done with the quiz we were allowed to leave.

As we were leaving the classroom, Carmeni and I started arguing about whether salvation was based on works or faith. She had said something about people going to hell based on what they did, which I think is bull, so then she asked me why then was there purgatory, and I told her that there wasn't. She didn't believe me and bet me two ringgit that there was Biblical evidence of purgatory. I took the bet.

After that I went to the admin desk to see what the status on the Finite Maths sign-ups were, and I was told that they had already started, which meant that Carmeni was either misinformed or a liar. I'm assuming the former. Anyway, I went to the lab to sign up for my Finite Maths group. While I was there I also went on line to check if the Bible mentions purgatory, and it does not. That was nice.

Once I had signed up for my Finite Maths group I realized that the first class was from eight to nine-thirty, which meant that it was just ending. I ran over to the class just in time to meet the lecturer and add my name and details to the class roster. The lecturer looks like a nice enough guy. He's old and Chinese. Should be fun.

My next class was at twelve, so I mostly just hung around talking to people. I found out that Alessandra had managed to get three High Distinctions last semester, bringing her total up to five. I found out later that she was one of only three people to get HDs for Psychology. I'm glad she was in my group for Malaysian Studies and Advanced English. Anyway, I spent most of my first break with Amanda. We went to McDonald's and I bought fries and we talked and ate and then got root beer. Apparently Amanda only had RM300 to spend for the whole of last semester, which is probably three or four times less than I got and averaged to around three ringgit a day, which is ridiculous. I'm suddenly a whole bunch more appreciative of my allowance. Also I found out that Carmeni thought that my family was rich, which is silly. We aren't even upper middle class. We are just middle class and my parents may be giving us a bit too much disposable income, but do not tell my dad that I said that.

At twelve I rode to the science lab for my first Physics lecture. I was told that six people had survived from last semester, so now our class was around half the size. We didn't really learn anything in class aside from the course outline and where our marks would be coming from. Our final chapter is going to be modern physics, which I am very excited for. The list of subjects we'll be covering looks a lot more difficult than last semester, so I don't have high hopes for a distinction or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to pass this. If I work hard enough I'm confident that I'll pass, actually, so it's all a matter of how much effort I put into this subject.

Class ended early, so I rode back to the main block and took a nap. At two o'clock it was time for Psychology. I'm in Psychology with Carmeni, Joanna, Arun, and this girl from my Moral Studies class who was dressed exactly like Hannah. She had a purple shirt, a brown scarf, jeans, converse shoes, heck, she even had brown hair. She's one of the better looking people in class. Right behind me was this Chinese girl who dyed her hair yellow and wore Hello Kitty crocs. Yikes.

Psychology was a fun class. Ms Selena is an excellent lecturer to have, and I could tell that I was going to have fun. Whether I would be able to out-perform Alessandra in this subject was a different question, though, but I think that I should be able to get a at least a Distinction if I put the effort into this.

I've only got one class on Wednesday. It's a Finite Maths class from two o'clock to three-thirty. I think I've already learnt most of the stuff in Finite Mathematics during Engineering Mathematics Applications and Calculus, so I think I'll do okay. I think it'll be my HD subject of the semester. I hope it'll be my HD subject of the semester. Also, Elo will be coming back on Wednesday and I will try to meet all the people from last semester who I did not meet earlier. I am looking forward to it.

Also it has been nice not to have to swim today. I don't think I gained anything from all those laps, except for the knowledge that I am able to stick to a routine like that. Next time I'll be doing more laps, and I'll be doing them in the day. It will be nice to finish with some muscles and a tan. Anyway I'll try to remember to add push-ups to my new routine which is currently just sit-ups. I will do twenty-five push-ups, and I will do them on Saturday. I hope.

Oh yeah, after college I filled up my motorcycle and it cost RM11, which is three ringgit more than usual, so either they raised the price or my motorcycle was dangerously low on fuel. It rides a lot better now with its full tank, so that's nice. Also Hannah woke me up in the middle of a nap to give me a back massage, which was also nice, because right after I could go back to sleep feeling a lot more relaxed. I love naps and massages and I hope to combine them more often.

I want to watch Avatar in 3D with a friend.

Last Laps

So it was the last day of my semester break. I woke up, went through my morning routine, took a nap, went with Hannah to drop Jan off at Mid Valley so he could watch Avatar in 3D, came home, did my final ten laps, met the very fat cat that scared Amanda on New Year's Eve (She shouldn't've been scared of him; he's very friendly and affectionate), did another hundred sit-ups, and then realized that I had to pick Jan up.

When I opened the door to leave the house, this huge thing went buzzing past me. It slammed a wall and collapsed upside down and started flailing about. At first I thought it was a bee or something, but upon closer examination it turned out to be a cockroach. There are huge flying cockroaches in my house. Wonderful.

I killed it with a shoe.

The mall looks really eerie at night when it's all dark and closed up and stuff. Jan was waiting for me outside because I was around ten minutes late. He didn't seem to mind.

Anyway now I'm back home and all packed and ready for college. Packing basically consisted of emptying out my files from last semester, stuffing the paper under my desk, putting the empty files in my bag, and zipping it up. I'm waking up at six-thirty. Should be fun.

So I did not complete any of the plans for my blog. The posts are still in Times New Roman instead of Verdana. The list posts are still list posts. The old posts with mistakes still have mistakes because I didn't review them. Other plans I didn't go through with include: spending a whole day driving around and getting lost, and meeting up with my friends to go see a movie or something. Oh well, at least I walked to Menara KL and KLCC and did ten laps every day. I wonder if I'll be able to stick to this sit-up thing for the rest of the year. It's getting easier every day. I wonder if I'll add push-ups.