Second Last Day of the Decade

Okay so this is how I spent the 30th of December, 2009.

I had cereal for lunch after waking up, then I went on the computer for a while, then I went with Ian to pick his car up from the repair place, then I drove back home, then I ate some junk food, then I drove over to Carmeni's house, then I had some dinner (the mutton was excellent), played some taboo and blackjack, watched some Time Warp, and went home. At home I swam twenty laps, so I won't have to do any on New Year's Eve. Also, Ian gave Hannah fifty ringgit for her Christmas present, and Hannah still owes me forty ringgit for my Christmas present, and I still owe Ian eighteen ringgit for his blackjack winnings. It's a bit of a convoluted debt. Also also, Yii Huei is staying over. Her voice has changed since the last time I saw her.

When I wake up today I'm going to have to go buy chicken and junk food and stuff for the party. Also my parents might be taking the karaoke to their party, which will be good for my dignity but bad for the fun of the party. Oh well.

Oh yeah, Carmeni reads my blog. Because of that I didn't really have much to talk about with her because she knew everything I did already. Heh.

Results and Poor Decisions

I woke up and remembered that it was the day that my results were going to be uploaded. I logged on and checked, and they were there. I had scored high distinctions for Advanced English and Critical Thinking Skills, and Credits for Engineering Mathematics Principles and Physics I. The results for my Moral Studies haven't been released yet.

After I checked my results I enrolled for Finite Mathematics, Psychology for Personal Development, and, by accident, Statistics. I found out later about my mistake and dropped Stats for Physics II.

My dad had promised to reward me based on the amount of HDs I got, so I found the e-mail with the list of rewards (RM200 for two HDs) and forwarded it to him.

I was pretty happy with myself, so I decided to celebrate with a bit of gambling. That was a mistake. I lost RM68 to my brother after a few particularly disastrous blackjack rounds. It was not pleasant.

When my dad got back, I watched him and Hannah book tickets for Hannah and Jan's flight to Indonesia sometime next year, and then I watched him transfer my reward to my account. After that he took Jan and me for dinner at Sin Kee's. As usual, the chicken chop was really nice. On the way home we stopped by Bangsar Village so I could withdraw my money and buy the Christmas present Hannah owed me. I got four packets of licorice: green apple, mango, strawberry, and original. I don't think they'll last more than a week, but it will be a very sweet week.

So yeah, that was my day. I still owe Ian RM18 for the blackjack, but Hannah owes me RM40 for the Christmas present, so that will work out. I'm going to watch Avatar in 3D soon, I think.

Just Lazing About

Yesterday I didn't do much. I woke up late and had bacon and bread and a sausage and an egg. After that I spent pretty much the whole day watching movies (I watched the last part of the latest instalment of the Up series, and I rewatched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was awesome), burning old games onto CDs so I could install them later, and reading The Pig that Wants to be Eaten. All in all, a pretty good day.

Today I woke up, went to church, came home from church super early because the service ended super early, installed and played one of the old games I had burned earlier (Carnivores 2, very fun), and then left to go to Mid Valley with my siblings to watch Avatar in 3D with Ruben and Stefanie, who we've been friends with since a long, long time ago. Unfortunately, there were only three tickets left, so Ruben and Jan went off to do their own thing while Hannah, Ian, and Stefanie went to watch Avatar.

Hannah gave me fifty ringgit to go buy my Christmas present with. I went to MPH intending to buy The Men Who Stare at Goats, but it was RM59.95, so I just sat down and read the whole thing instead of purchasing it. I tried to find an alternative book, but they didn't have any copies of Brave New World or Fahrenheit 451. I briefly considered buying Robinson Crusoe, which was only around RM23, but I guessed that we probably had it at home, so I left it.

On our way home, Ian got distracted while talking about the movie he'd just seen, and he wasn't able to stop his car from hitting another car in front of us. His breaks had been faulty for a while, so that was probably also to blame. Anyway, the guy driving the car seemed really patient. He and his passenger looked like they were dressed for a ball or something. My dad drove by and settled things, and then he chewed Ian out when we got home.

Ian needed to get to a party, but because of the accident, I'd have to drive him. I told him I wanted to go swimming first, and he let me. Swimming with Hannah and Stefanie was okay. Stefanie is pretty lucky that the only other person in the pool was very inattentive, and that I never ended up looking in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Anyway, I went home and started burning some movies onto a DVD for Hannah to watch later, and then I drove Ian to his party, and then I came home and finished Thank You for Smoking, and then I wrote this.

Oh yeah, I won't be watching Avatar tomorrow. Both Amanda and Davinia have other things on. I should probably start planning for the New Year's Eve party.

I Slept Through Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas. After waking up, my family opened presents and stuff. Jan was very happy with his iPod touch cover that I got him. Hannah couldn't find any of the things on my list, so I'm going shopping with her later to get something I'll like. Susanna got the most presents.

After opening presents, everyone except for me went to church. I stayed at home and went on the computer and climbed the stairs and such. At around ten forty-five I got on my motorcycle and rode to Amanda's house. It is very nearby. I wasn't sure if I had the right address, but when I called her phone nobody picked up, so I decided to just go ahead and ring the bell. Right after I did that I knew I got the right house because I heard her yell "What?! I haven't even showered yet!"

Her mum let me in and gave me some orange juice, and I wandered around the living room looking at pictures of the family and stuff. There was also a tray of cookies, and they were very delicious. Amanda came out a bit later and told me that I was really early even though I arrived at the time stated in the text because everyone else was coming later. I talked to Amanda and her sister and we went out to get ice while waiting for the other guests to arrive. Most of the day went by like that, just talking and watching new guests come in and such. It was nice. When Davinia arrived I invited her and Amanda to the New Year's Eve party at my place, and we also made a tentative plan to go see Avatar on Monday. We'll see how that works out. Also, one of Amanda's younger relatives, this three-year-old girl, got a tea cart and a great big set of toy food. I assembled the former. For my efforts I was rewarded with an imaginary tea float, which is imaginary tea with a scoop of toy ice-cream in it. It was hypothetically delicious.

Amanda has a very comfortable house, with a lot of cushions and two bean bags. In the afternoon I fell asleep a few times in between conversations. At six I got a phone call from my mum, which woke me up from one of the longer naps. I decided that it was a good time to go home, so I said goodbye and merry Christmas to Davinia and Amanda and her family, and then I got on my motorcycle and went home.

At home I spent time on my computer. I didn't actually end up watching a bunch of movies set in Christmas (eg. Die Hard, Gremlins, Home Alone, etc.), so that is one plan that I guess I will delay until next year. I had to take Hannah and Susanna for dinner at McDonald's, but I was tired and wanted to take a half-hour nap first. Hannah gave me a six-minute massage instead, which was better than a nap so we got to leave sooner. When we got back home again I found this book called "The Pig that Wants to be Eaten (And 99 other thought experiments)" and I ended up reading more than half of it. It's really good. I also played a bit of blackjack. I started the game up two because Joel had played a few rounds on my behalf, and at my peak I was up six. I ended up breaking even, though. Then Ian had a bunch of people over for poker, and I went downstairs to swim thirty laps.

When I got back everyone was about to leave, so I took a shower and just kept reading thought experiments. Eventually I got tired and went to bed. Christmas was okay.

Walking and Christmas Eve

So I did walk to the KL tower from my house. I left at a few minutes before one in the afternoon, and I arrived at around two forty-five. Not much happened along the way, and it didn't take as long as I thought it would. I did meet a couple of guys trying to get a stalled car working again, and I tried to help out, but there wasn't much that could be done.

Anyway, at the tower I watched a free short documentary about its construction, and then I bought a souvenir. The souvenir was a key chain with three landmarks in the order I passed them: Dataran Merdeka, Menara Kuala Lumpur, and the Petronas Twin Towers. I managed to get a ninety-cent discount on it, which was something like 20% of its original cost, so that was nice. I didn't go up to the top because that would cost something like thirty ringgits, and all I had left was my RM10 emergency money. I called my mum up and asked if she'd cover the cost of the train ride back if I used that money, and she said she would, so that was also nice.

The twin towers are just down the road from the KL tower. When I got there I walked around to the front, admired the view, and wondered how the French spiderman guy managed to make it to the top a few months back. Cool dude, that guy. Anyway, I went inside Suria KLCC to check out the decorations. They were pretty lame compared to the Pavilion.

I took the LRT back to the Bangsar station and walked home. I wanted to go swimming after I got back, but since it was raining and we had to leave to go for the Christmas party in our Aunt's house soon, my dad said I shouldn't, so I didn't. Instead I took a shower and went on the computer.

The party was fun. We got to meet some people from last year's party, and the food was good, especially the trifle dessert. Conversations at the Christmas parties are always entertaining, too. One of the guests was a girl who I met a year or so ago when I was doing my driving test when I overheard her talking about how my cousin, Dexter, failed the test, so it was cool meeting her again. After the food was done we went to the living room for further conversation and Rock Band. I fell asleep waiting for them to play Creep, and when I woke up it was Christmas.

So yeah, long walk, fun party, good day. Later on I might be going to a friend's Christmas party or I might get stuck at church. We'll see.

Sunway

Hannah woke me up at around ten and told me to get ready. While I was preparing for the day, she went with Ebony and one of the parents to pick up her friend. When they came back I finished packing, took the keys to Aunty Rosie's car, and then we left for the day.

Our first stop was a petrol station. The car was empty, so I had to pay RM35 to fill it up. After that we drove to Sunway and parked in the same spot I had a few months ago when I went ice skating with friends from college.

Once we'd found Hannah's third friend, Esther, we went to the line for tickets and waited. I was in charge of buying the tickets. Technically all of us should have paid the adult price, but Hannah insisted that Elaine, Ebony and her would only need to be admitted as children. The total cost was RM250, I think, with RM50 of that being a deposit that we would get back when we returned from the park.

Hannah's plan was to hit the water park first, then the dry park. I told them to go ahead because I wanted to try out the pirate ship ride first. During the ride I was seated next to an Australian lady, so we started talking and I found out that she was from Runaway Bay, which is right near the island where my friend from a few posts back got stranded. That was a cool coincidence. Anyway, the ride was a lot of fun. I went off to find Hannah, but halfway down I realized I'd forgotten my bag. Luckily when went back for it it was untouched.

I wandered around the water park for a bit and I met the Australian lady again on my way to the artificial beach where MTV World Stage had been held. It was pretty cool to see the pool filled with water and not a crowd.

I managed to find Hannah and her friends waiting in line for some slides, and I stuck with them for most of the rest of the time. We went on a bunch of slides together. Since there was an odd number of us, I had to be paired up with a stranger for some of the slides. The kid and large Iranian guy I ended up with were quite okay. The third time, though, I decided to wait for Hannah to finish and then go with her instead, because the alternative was a guy in a speedo, and I guess that is where I draw the line.

When we had spent a few hours at the water park and done almost all there was to do, we decided to leave and try the dry park. I elected to take a nap while the girls tried some rides. They woke me up half an hour later and we went on a river ride together. I managed to stay mostly dry.

We split up after that. They went to go try some more rides while I went back to go on the pirate ship ride a couple more times. I met up with them for the Tomahawk, which was definitely the most thrilling ride. It finished right at 6pm when the rides closed. Almost exactly at six, it started raining. The timing was pretty cool.

On our way out of the park, Ebony noticed that her phone was missing. They tried to call it but there was no reply. Meanwhile, I saw that one of the tigers in the tiger enclosure was walking about, so I stopped to gawk at it for a while. When it started doing boring things again, I realized I'd lost the girls. I called Hannah a half dozen times or so before she picked up the phone and I managed to find her again.

They had given up the search for Ebony's phone, so we went to the mall to have dinner at Hartz Chicken Buffet. On our way there, the girls stopped to change in one of the toilets and I sat around outside reading World War Z. When we got to Hartz I realized that it was not as delicious or as cheap as I remembered it, but it was still pretty dang good.

After dinner we said goodbye to Esther and I drove home. The drive started with a jam but it was pretty okay after that, so that was nice. It was also nice that I didn't have to go out of the way to drop Elaine off since she lives right on the route home.

When I got home I decided not to go for a swim, since I'd already swam a bit at Sunway. I think I might do forty laps tomorrow. I'll also be walking to the KL tower. That should be interesting.

Zack and Holmes

Today I woke up at noon and had cereal for lunch. I saw an article in the newspaper that said The Star was giving out free tickets to a Sherlock Holmes' premiere that evening, so I told Jan about it and said we would be leaving at four.

In the meanwhile we went to get my motorcycle back from servicing. What my dad said yesterday was right, it does feel like new. Hopefully I won't wreck it again next semester.

I spent the rest of the afternoon eating pie and reading about Improv Everywhere's latest missions. At four o'clock I put in my contact lenses, grabbed my backpack full of books, and met Jan at my dad's car to go over and get the tickets.

I had found the location for the ticket giveaway using Google Earth. It was right next to the Curve, and I knew the way there, but I managed to get lost anyway. The parking spot I picked wasn't exactly optimal, either. We had to walk quite a long way to get to where we needed to be. The car would be there for eight hours, so we'd probably also have to pay a whole bunch for the parking ticket when we were done.

When we arrived at the cineplex there were already around twenty people in line, but they didn't seem to be lining up for anything. We stood behind them, anyway. The line shifted a couple of times before moving to another location completely, but the final place was in front of a table and everything so we knew it was official. I passed the time by reading World War Z for the third time. It's a good book. Jan went on a nearby computer or something. I would've made friends with people in the line, but when I asked them which college they were attending they told me they were still in secondary school, and then I realized that I did not know what else to talk about so I stopped.

After we got our tickets we still had two and a half hours to burn, so I kept reading my book and Jan kept listening to his iPod before we got hungry and wandered off to find an ATM and a Burger King. The Burger King we settled on was pretty dang spacious. I decided not to order so many onion rings any more. They aren't that fantastic anyway.

When we got back to the cinema I let Jan read World War Z while I read a few short stories from the book Joelah had traded with me for Freakonomics and the Jeffery Archer short story compilation. They were short and interesting, which was good. Jan took a while with World War Z, but he enjoyed it, which is good.

We went into the cinema a few minutes before the movie was due to start. They played sponsor-related promotional material to outdated popular music for a few minutes, and then switched to trailers that didn't seem suited to the target audience at all.

The actual movie was very entertaining. It was like a semi-steampunk Victorian buddy cop movie with a dash of Dan Brown and an unmistakable RDJ-ness throughout. I don't think anyone could watch it and not enjoy it. I recommend it.

Jan and I were among the last few people to leave the cinema. I stuck around for the closing credits because of the song that they had playing (Rocky Road to Dublin), and then stayed on until the credits stopped rolling just to see how many other people would stick around just because I was sticking around and they thought I knew something they didn't.

Anyway, when Jan and I got back to the car, all the autopay stations were closed. I decided to just drive up to the exit and ask where to pay. Surprisingly, the guard told me that I could just pay right at the booth, and it would only be RM2, so that was nice.

We got a bit lost on the way home, but we made it eventually. Jan got out and helped me park. I took the stairs upstairs so I won't have to when I wake up later, and then I got changed and went swimming for the day.

Tomorrow I'm going to Sunway. I hope I don't use too much money.

This is a Title, and Under It Is a Post

So let's see, today I woke up, had lunch (spaghetti carbonara, very delicious), joined my brother and friends for blackjack (I broke even), went for a swim with Hannah, walked the stairs, dropped my motorcycle off for servicing, went with my dad and Hannah to meet her friends at their house, and then went on the computer for the rest of the day.

I spent a large portion of the night chatting with this Australian guy about relationships and getting stranded on an island and where we lived and such. He managed to become the third party in a lesbian relationship for a while, which is awesome. He also is quite close to having a 42-year-old girlfriend, which is also pretty cool. And he has been having an on-and-off relationship with a girl since they were 6. He also went to a party on an island a kilometre or so from shore and got left behind with a couple of the girls he was with and had to spend the night there until they got rescued by a boat. His life is awesome and he's 16. I'm very jealous.

Anyway tomorrow I'll be doing nothing. It should be nice. The day after that I'm taking Hannah and her friends to Sunway, where I'll either wander the mall or join them in the theme park, depending on whether I have RM50 or RM100 left in my bank.

That What You Know

So camp was okay. We had some meetings, we had some games, we ate at a buffet, some stuff happened. 10th KL now has a plan for 2010.

The meetings were less boring than I expected, and they went by pretty fast, too. Since Ashley wasn't around, I was in charge of taking down the minutes. I got to borrow a laptop for that, so it was easy.

The games were fun. I managed to survive three or four rounds without getting soaked, and when I did get wet it was because I was in the splash zone near the losers.

Genting is an awesome mountain. The view is spectacular, and the weather is just great. The mist was so thick at times that the beam of my laser pen was visible. It was cold and drizzly the whole time, which may sound sucky but it was such a welcome relief from what I'm used to that I loved every second of it. Of course we dared each other to see who could stay in the cold the longest. I won. Well, not really, but I complained the least during the dare. Being shirtless in mountain air is exhilarating; I suggest you try it. Running shirtless in mountain air is even better.

There was also a buffet and gift exchange for the NCO Christmas party. The buffet didn't have much to offer in terms of the main course, so I just piled a bunch of breaded fish fillets on my plate and dug in. Desserts were awesome, though. I tried a bit of everything, and my only regret is that I only had one piece of the berry cake, which was absolutely the best thing there. It was like Chocolate Indulgence, but more sweet and (of course) less chocolaty. Also, I mixed a bunch of stuff (sweet & sour powder, wasabi, and soy sauce) into a wine glass and dared people to drink it. Jan, Gabriel, and Zhan Peng each had a sip, and then Ian finished the whole thing. It was great fun to watch.

The gift exchange that came afterwards was nice for most people, but I didn't enjoy it so much. The gifts we bought were randomly distributed, so I ended up with a shitty cell phone accessory someone had grabbed at the last minute and my gift ended up with someone that I don't care much for (I don't dislike him or anything, I'm just indifferent). I left my gift in the room, nobody wanted it. Even the person who bought it didn't want it.

Instead of going home we went to one of the Old Town "coffee shops" (the quotation marks are because it's a franchise) to eat with the NCOs. I wasn't that enthusiastic, but then I saw that they had added French fries and a Western breakfast set to their menu, so now I'm a little more positive about Old Town. Anyway, our trip there was pointless because the person we thought we were picking up found other transport or something, so we (Ian, Jan, and I) had to go meet up with the church for carolling alone.

At the Pavilion I got some doughnuts and read the newspaper while the rest of them carolled, but then I got bored so I wandered around the perimeter of the mall. I got back just when the carolling ended, so that was nice. Hannah came back home with Ian, Jan and I.

When we got home I had to carry up both my bags along with all the papers from the NCO retreat. Hannah was carrying Jan's uniform or something, and Ian also had his hands full. When I got to the elevator I yelled at Ian and Jan since they were inside and they were letting the doors close, so Hannah and I only just barely managed to get in. Ian said that his hands were full so he couldn't open the door, and Jan said the same was true of himself. I said that he was being pretty bold to suggest that a pair of boots and a plastic bag were something to complain about when I was lugging two bags and six pieces of paper almost as large as myself.

After I said that, Jan lunged across the lift and hit me in the face with his boots. I asked him why the fuck he did that, and he just stood there, so I asked again, louder. He didn't respond, and I was pissed off, so I dropped what I was holding to hit him back. There wasn't any easy place to punch, so I settled for strangling the bastard. Ian started yelling about watching the paper to make sure it didn't tear or whatever, but at this point I didn't care. Jan grabbed my neck, too, but the little shit started scratching, so now I've got a bit of a gash near my windpipe. We stopped for a bit, but I wasn't done being angry (I got hit in the face with a pair of fucking boots for no reason except that Jan didn't like me pointing out how selfish he was being. I'd like to see someone who wouldn't be angry in a similar situation) so I reached across again, but I couldn't do much damage because Ian said to stop or else he'd stop us. Once the lift opened I went inside and locked the door, and my dad came out and calmed me down. He brought Jan into his room and caned him, which satiated my wrath.

While I was waiting for my dad to discipline Jan, I reflected on the camp and BB and decided that my decision to quit was still a good decision and that I made a mistake by agreeing to join again, so I purposed to quit again, and I did. So for the second time this year I am out of BB. I had some responsibilities from the NCO retreat, but I'm sure Gabriel can handle them just fine.

Anyway, I went down to swim. I did 30 laps (60 lengths of the pool) because of the 3 days that I was away, and then I walked up 20 flights of stairs. I realized just now that I didn't have to do the latter, but oh well. I guess the extra exercise can't hurt.

The whole family except for Ian went to the restaurant downstairs to eat. The food was great. I talked to my dad about Google Earth and biological computers and how the brain processes images. It was an interesting conversation.

When we came home, I installed Google Earth for my dad and showed him how to fly an F16 through the Alps. Then I checked my computer (21 unread items in Google Reader, 0 Facebook notifications), and then I wrote this.

Tomorrow I'm dropping my motorcycle off for servicing, then on Wednesday I'm going to go drive Hannah and her friends at Sunway, and on Thursday I'm going to walk to the KL tower. It should be a fun week.

A Vacation is When You Get To Do Nothing and Don't Feel Guilty

So I didn't actually do twenty laps at the pool. Turns out that a lap is one length of the pool and back, so I actually did ten laps. All my swimming has been at night, lately. I'll try and change over and do afternoon swims so I can get a tan. Also the water will be warmer so that will be nice.

I'm almost done with the Up series. I'm halfway through 49 Up, which is the latest one, so after another hour I'll be completely done and I can download 7 Up 2000 and 14 Up 2000, and maybe Married in America. I also watched Surrogates and Iron Man recently. They're both fun to watch, but although Surrogates seems like it would be a smarter movie it is actually the dumber of the two. Iron Man was still super-awesome the second time around. Can't wait for the next one next year.

My dad gave the OK for a party on New Year's Eve, so I've made a Facebook event and sent out invites. I'm hoping for at least two maybes from my friends, and five confirms from Ian's. I want the party to have a glass bowl full of M&Ms or jelly beans, and also bowls full of various flavours of potato chips and nachos, and of course lots and lots of steaks. If all that is there, it will be awesome.

Ian, Jan, and I are going to an NCO retreat for BB from the 18th to the 20th. Since the company secretary won't be there, I'm in charge of taking minutes. This is the second year I've had to replace her. I really hope the company starts to improve so I can quit again. Responsibility sucks.

So, Yesterday.

Yesterday I woke up at noon and discovered that Ebony was in our house getting ready to leave for a girl's camp with Hannah and Susanna. I also found out that Jan and Ian were going to a cybercafe, and I wanted to go, too. I had to rush a bit to get myself ready.

At the CC, we played the third campaign of Left 4 Dead 2 with Kenneth. It went a lot smoother than the last time we played. Only two of us managed to escape, though, but that's because everyone ran off to do their own thing during the finale instead of following my plan. After that Kenneth decided to play Counter-Strike, so Ian, Jan, and I played the second campaign without him. I thought the fourth player would be a bot, but some guy from elsewhere in the CC joined instead, and he was a complete idiot so we died before even reaching the first safehouse. Jan got bored of L4D2 after that, so Ian and I played Generals against each other and a bunch of bots. We both died pretty quickly.

After we were done with the CC we went home, and I went on my computer until late in the night-time. I mostly played around with Google Earth, which is really really awesome. I know I should have been this excited about the program four years ago when it was released, but I never spent much time with it so I'm only now discovering its awesomeness. You can zoom in to any outdoor area on earth, change the time of day or time in history (I saw a plot of trees across from my house turn into an awesome high-class apartment block), or, best of all, switch to a flight simulator at any time. I flew an F16 around KL, then I tried to fly a prop plane through the Grand Canyon (I got lost in a dead end and crashed), then I flew to the Burj Dubai, then I flew 300km from Paris to the Netherlands. That last flight took me half an hour or so, but it was pretty dang cool. I took the coastal route.

I also went swimming, but I only did 20 laps so it only took me fifteen minutes or so.

Ian and Jan want to throw a barbecue on New Year's Eve, which is awesome because I want to do that, too. After I get my dad's permission I'll post an event on Facebook and send out invites and stuff. Should be a lot of fun.

Also I got a reply to an e-mail that I sent as a reply to an e-mail I received two years ago. The e-mail from two years ago was about catching up after a while of losing touch, so there is some nice symmetry going on here. It's cool to see what's changed with this dude I've known from the internet since I was like twelve or something. Now he's about to graduate from university and he's got his own web company with his brother and a friend and stuff, so that is cool to know. It's kind of like the Up series, but more personal. If you still have the e-mail address of a friend from your past, you should ask them how they're doing. It'll always have interesting results.

Yeah I think that's all I got. Oh yeah, I should've dropped my motorcycle off yesterday at the repair place to have it serviced, but I forgot.

Wrasslin

I spent most of today reading about tall buildings and assassinated Dutchmen on Wikipedia. I walked the stairs, too, but I am becoming increasingly convinced that that is not much exercises at all.

I spent three day's of allowance on a McDonald's delivery order. I regret it a tiny bit.

I went swimming in the evening again. Hannah came along, but the pool was under treatment so the water was all murky because of the chlorine or something, so we sat in the other, much shallower pool instead. After a while Jan came downstairs with Susanna and Hannah left, so I decided to challenge Jan to poolside wrestling. He said he didn't want to because he was a pussy (his words), and there wasn't much I could say to convince him otherwise. After a while he changed his mind, though, so we laid down the rules (no scratching, no kicking, if both of us fell in at the same time then the point went to whoever threw the other guy back in after climbing out) and began. I won every single round for about half an hour or something before Jan finally managed to throw me in, but the throw left him off balance and he fell in a second or so later. He still insists that he could kick my ass in a normal fight, but I think we both know that that is so not the case.

After I came home and took a shower I realized that my watch was gone, so I went downstairs in my pajamas to look for it but it was nowhere to be found. When I got back home I saw it lying on the floor, so that is something.

Ian had some friends over to gamble. I think I might have joined in if I hadn't spent all my money on McDonald's. Also, I had cereal for dinner. I do not regret that.

Today Was a Better than Usual but not Amazing Day

Today our church was carolling at Tang's in Pavilion. Ian, Jan, and Mama were involved, but Papa, Hannah, Susanna, and I were not, so after the church service was over they stayed behind to practice while we went home for a little while.

After we were done lying around the house we went over to watch the carolling, but we stopped off for a bit of lunch in Subway first. My sandwich was delicious.

I wasn't that interested in the carolling, so while I was waiting around for it to start I got hit with the urge to wander around a bit. I was gonna get Hannah to tag along with me, but she had to stay behind and take pictures for the church. I saw a dude with a shotgun going to take a smoke break, so I followed him outside to get a better look at the gun and figure out what he was guarding. Outside, there was a Bentley dealership, and few banks, a van belonging to one of those security contractors, and a whole bunch of really expensive cars in the valet parking. I also managed to find an entrance leading to the concierge, and from there I walked to the main part of the mall. It was huge. There was a performance going on in the center that was attracting a much larger audience than our church's carolling was.

I went back to Hannah and said that I had to show her something and it would only take five minutes, so she agreed to come along. We went to see the expensive cars and the center of the mall and the performance, and Hannah took some pictures. Soon, though, she had to get back for the carolling, so I was left alone to wander. I found my way to the highest floor and looked around, and then I decided to go see the carolling again before heading outside to the front of the mall to see what it looked like from there.

As I was heading down the escalator, I got a call from my dad telling me that the carolling was finished and it was time for us (Susanna, him, and I) to go back. As we were driving back I called Hannah and asked if she wanted to go see The Princess and The Frog at Sunway later on around nighttime, but she wasn't interested.

Once we got home I put on a movie for Susanna to watch and then spent the rest of the time on my computer while my dad went out to play some golf.

In the evening I was ready for a swim, but then I got nice and relaxed and fell asleep. My dad woke me up and told me not to nap so late because I'd wake up in the middle of the night and end up going to bed in the wee hours of the morning. After I woke up I went to the pool and did laps for half an hour or so. I also found how quickly I could swim one lap, how long I could thread water, and whether I could still swim a lap underwater. My findings were 20 seconds for both, and yes.

When I got home I talked with my mum about the sensationalism in today's newspaper. Hannah was also included in the conversation but she was upset that I was applying things from college and left. The conversation ended when something from the article was clarified and I realized that I was arguing needlessly, so I went to take a shower instead. My hair is in a really bad condition because of all the chlorine in the pool, and the shampoo I use isn't helping.

After my shower I went on my computer, but as soon as I got online my dad said I had to shut it off at twelve, and I said "No", and he gave me a really long lecture about that because he thought I was disrespecting him, when in fact I was just saying "no". He also thinks "maybe" is a disrespectful word, so I've got to be careful about using that answer with him in the future.

Hm. I want to wander around the city with someone I can talk to. It would be fun.

This is What I Do When I Don't Have to Do Anything

I fell asleep on the couch at six in the morning and woke up at around noon when Susanna put an obstruction between the fan and me, cutting off air circulation around the couch and heating it up pretty dang quick.

I did not do much until 2pm, but at 2pm I went swimming with Hannah and Susanna, and we stayed downstairs until three thirty or four o'clock or something.

After I got home I spent the rest of the day on the computer.

Huh. I thought this post would be longer, but it actually was quite an uneventful day.

Oh yeah, Jan and Ian came home from their camp, so that is something. I liked it better when they were gone.

Okay, so that was the first day of my second semester. It went quite well. Here are my plans for the other twenty or so days:
-Keep swimming everyday.
-Walk to the KL Tower.
-Finish watching the Up series.
-Watch at least three of the unwatched movies on my hard drive.
-Have a good time on New Years' Eve.
-Drive somewhere far away one day, just for the heck of it. Bonus points if I can convince my dad to pay for the fuel.
-Read through my whole blog again, fix all the errors, add appropriate tags, and make all the font verdana.

I think that's about it.

It is Finished

My final final exam of the semester, and thus my last day of the semester, was today. I studied in the library for half an hour or so while waiting for the test to begin. I also talked to my classmates.

I scored either 44/60 or 46/60 for my continuous assessment, so I for a pass I needed to get either 6/40 or 4/40 on the final, 21/40 or 19/40 for a credit, and distinction would require a 31/40 or 29/40, which seems quite unachievable considering the subject, so I decided to make my goal a credit. I managed to answer a little more than half of the questions within the time limit, but when I handed in my paper Mr Joel said I could have done better. Oh well.

Outside the exam hall, I asked Sue Ann how she did, and she said she was worried that she wouldn't get a High Distinction because she didn't know how to answer one of the questions. She was being ridiculous, though, because she scored 59/60 on her continuous assessment and she only needed 24/40 on the final to get her HD. I'm sure she'll manage.

When I got home I sent a mass-text to everyone on my contacts list asking what they were doing on New Year's Eve to see if any would be free to come over and have a barbecue and watch the fireworks. I got something like five replies, but no confirmations. Oh well.

My dad was having a company dinner at Sunway since he was the new CEO of Devices World, so Hannah, my mum and I got to tag along and enjoy the free food. The food was really, really good. It is one of the best buffets I've been to. The desert selections were especially nice.

After Hannah and I were done, we went to Sunway Pyramid to fix Hannah's iPod and my mum's iPhone, and also to get the Christmas present for the person whose name I drew when we were organizing who would buy presents for whom for Christmas. Anyway, I got the gift for RM50, and the people at the Apple store said that Hannah's problem could be fixed by sending her iPod in with its warranty because that would result in her getting a brand new iPod, and my mum's problem could be fixed by turning off silent mode on her iPhone.

My dad had ordered a bottle of wine during the dinner (it was on the company's account, after all), so I got to drive home. Everyone left before I parked the car, so I almost ended up scratching it against the side because I suck at parking and I usually need someone to supervise. Hannah usually sticks around to help, but she was feeling impatient tonight. Mama ended up coming back and parking, instead. I should spend a while really learning how to park.

Anyway, tomorrow I am going to start swimming. I plan to swim every day for the whole of my semester break. How long I'll be doing it for or how many laps I'll be doing I do not know, but I will be getting some exercise and some sun, so that's gotta be healthy. Also I want to walk to the KL tower. I guess I'll do that on Tuesday or something.

After Tomorrow I Will Be Done (For Now)

Last night I was talking to Hannah from 12:15am to 5:00am. I think that is the longest I have stayed up talking to someone. She's a cool sister, though, so I don't mind at all. My only regret is that I taught her that when she says "Thank you" in her little girl voice she can convince people to do pretty much anything, so I can expect to be manipulated a lot in the coming days.

Three hours after I fell asleep I got a text from one of my Physics classmates asking which floor the test was on. I told him it was the fourth floor, and he asked where I was. I told him I was still at home, sleeping. He was confused, because he thought the test started at 9. I told him it started at 12:30. Oh well, at least he managed to remember which day it was on. Plus he had extra time to study.

Since I was already awake I borrowed Hannah's MP3 player and listened to some music while I tried to fall asleep again. I didn't manage to fall asleep, but it was very relaxing. Fireflies is one of the best songs to listen to when you are sleepy and in a bed.

After I woke up I read my usual three chapters from the Bible, and then I decided to read through the first few chapters of Genesis to follow Biblical history from creation up until the exodus from Egypt. I gotta say, the start of the Bible is kinda sexist. Luckily that doesn't affect me because I'm a dude, but apparently us guys are the masters of women or something, so that is something.

When I was done with the Bible I got ready and went on the computer for a bit. I had set my alarm for 11:10 so I could arrive at the Wisma with enough time to study and review for the test, but I kept hitting snooze while reading stuff, so I only arrived at around 12:00. Before the test started I managed to study about twenty minutes' worth of material, which was everything except the end of the last chapter on optics.

When I opened the test I was shocked. I did not understand how to answer any of the questions. I flipped through the book and found only one question in the subjective section that I knew I could answer. However, I started doing the work and the answers started making themselves apparent to me. There was a lot of things I didn't understand, and I was never sure of any of my answers, but I think I did well enough to get a credit. It was a really tough test, though. As I was finishing up the last question, I realized that the answer I had written down was complete bullshit and there was no way it was the right answer, so I wrote "The above answer is almost definitely wrong, so here is an elephant to make things better" and then I drew an elephant.

I talked to the highest and third highest scoring guys in class after the test was over, and we agreed that it was a lot more difficult than we had expected. We were all grateful for the question with the bear, though, because we had done that one for a tutorial earlier and it was about torque so it was easy to do.

I called Hannah up and asked if she wanted to go for lunch, and she did, so I told her to be downstairs in a few minutes with the keys to one of our cars. When I got home I parked my motorcycle and got in the car and we went to have McDonald's. I tried a Prosperity Burger. It was not worth what I paid, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. It wasn't good, either, though, just okay. The bun was insanely soggy. Anyway, I have done my part to continue my tradition of ordering a single Prosperity Burger every time they are available, hoping that it would be different from all the other Prosperity Burgers I've eaten, and then being disappointed by what I get. I guess I'll do it again next year, too. There are some things that I'll never learn from.

I know I said I'd do my EMA homework today, but I don't think I can be arsed. I guess I'll do some of it in the hours before the test tomorrow.

Well, I Mostly Stuck to the Plan

Last night I went to bed at 4am because I was reading through the older posts on my blog. I found a few mistakes and corrected them. At one point I noticed I left out a "not". Leaving out a negation is the worst mistake you can make when typing something out, I think. Anyway, I like my old posts. They help me preserve memories.

Today was supposed to be Engineering Mathematics Applications day. I woke up at 2:20pm, and after reading the Bible and moving some furniture and walking the stairs, I got right to work. I finished reviewing and highlighting the material by around 6 o'clock, and by then I decided I was too tired to continue so I packed up my stuff and took a nap instead of doing the test exercises and homework. I think I may do that after the Physics test tomorrow.

I'll be doing my last-minute Physics revision for about an hour or so before the test. My goal for the course is a Distinction. For that I need to score 21/40 on the final, which should be quite achievable as long as there aren't too many questions about optics and centritedal force.

Anyway, when I woke up from my nap I watched the first half hour of Thank You for Smoking because that is a very good movie, and then I watched 35 up. I really, really like that documentary series. Can't wait to see what they're all doing in 2005.

Ian and Jan are in band camp and I'll be sleeping in another room, so the boy's room is going to be empty for the first time in a long time. That is not really interesting, but I just felt like mentioning it.

Hannah just finished watching the first Back to the Future, and she really liked it. I am glad that managed to convince her to watch it. Now I've got to give her the other two, though. Oh well.

I Felt Daft and Relieved

I woke up at 10:30am today because my Physics exam is scheduled to start at 12:30. I read the Bible and didn't fall asleep, got dressed, had some breakfast, mucked about on the computer for a bit, and left at 11:45. When I arrived on the fourth floor, I didn't see any of my classmates. I checked my notebook to make sure I had got the right floor, and I saw that my test was indeed at 12:30 on the fourth floor, but it was on Thursday, not Tuesday.

When I got home I watched The Ugly Truth with my younger siblings. It was better than the Metacritic and RottenTomatoes score had led me to believe. My mum decided to join in halfway, which was awkward, but not as bad as the time she watched Juno with us.

After we finished the show I moved from one screen to the other and watched two more installments of the Up series on Ian's computer. It was really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. The Up series is now my favorite documentary series. I do not know if I had a favorite documentary series before this, though, so that is a thing. Um, anyway, the Up series basically follows the lives of 14 children who interviewed when they were seven years old about what they wanted to do with their lives and stuff. That was in the mid-sixties, and every seven years they would be interviewed again to and they'd talk about what had changed and what had stayed the same and stuff, so you'd get to a glimpse into these people's lives and what impact their decisions years ago had on them as they grew and stuff, and it's really fascinating. I stopped watching at the start of the installment from 1991 where they're all 35 years old. I'm going to continue watching tomorrow or something.

Tomorrow is Engineering Mathematics Applications day. I will not turn on my computer until I have done all my leftover homework and revised all the material. I've got at least three hours worth of work, I think. At the very least I'll revise and highlight and do the excercises in the frames that I haven't completed, and then if I still have time I'll do the test exercises and such.

Back to today, though. After I stopped watching 35 Up, I moved to my computer and the third screen of the day. I was interrupted when I heard 2012 playing nearby, so I went to join Ian in watching it. It was either a pretty low quality DVD rip or a pretty high quality bootleg, but the end result was good enough. The only problem was that all the location names were in Russian and there were no subtitles for the non-English bits, but I got the gist. The movie itself was not as dumb as I thought it would be, although it was still pretty dang stupid. It was really enjoyable, though. There was a sufficient amount of explosions and stuff got destroyed real good, so I appreciated that. Also the characters who knew they were going to die generally made sure to tell their loved ones that they loved them, which was good. I always find myself wishing that people who are going to die or going to risk their lives would tell the people close to them that they love them. I feel that once that's done then it is a lot less worse if they do die, because then at least the people who will be mourning them knew that they were loved. This is the reason why I regularly tell my parents I love them whenever I'm about to go anywhere on my motorcycle. So yeah, fun movie, kinda dumb, but that's forgivable because it was all about the action anyway.

After 2012 was over I talked to Hannah for a while about our cats and stuff. One of the things I talked about was how mattresses on the floor are better than beds. I'm not really sure why I feel this way, but I much prefer sleeping on a mattress on the floor than a bed. I guess it's cozier.

Oh yeah, during the movie I got a call from Madam Esther. She asked why I quit BB, so I told her. Somehow she managed to convince me to join again, so now I am back in BB. I told her I'd just stay for the first few months of next year to help her with her plans for the company, and then I'd probably leave again. She was okay with that. So I guess I'm in BB again. I guess it was nice to have two weeks off, even though I was going to miss those weeks anyway because of replacement classes and finals. Oh well.

Also, my mum said that our church won't be having an overnight prayer meeting on New Year's Eve this year. This is excellent. I've always disliked New Year's Eve because of those meetings, since I only get along with a couple of people from church and I find the rest of them either annoying or uninteresting. Now instead of spending the start of the New Year in my room on my computer I can invite friends over and have a party or something. I think I'll mass-text everyone with an invitation after my Engineering Mathematics exam is done, since that's the final final and the end of my second semester. I think everyone else has plans for the night already, but it can't hurt to try. Even if none of my friends come, Ian's friends will probably come over for a party. I will do my best to make sure that that party involves a large amount of junk food and candy, because I like junk food and candy and I think other people do, too.

I wonder if I really will end up swimming everyday or taking a walk to the KL Tower during the semester break.

And Then There Were Two

I had set my alarm for 5:30am so that I could be at Wisma HELP by 7:30am to meet with Amanda to study as much as we could before the Critical Thinking Skills final exam. The alarm went off, and I woke up, but I fell asleep before the third paragraph of my daily Bible reading and when I woke up again it was 7:30. I sent Amanda a text saying that I had overslept and I was going to be there at around eight or so, and she replied saying she was already there.

I couldn't find Amanda when I arrived on the floor at the Wisma where the test was going to be held. I asked Carmeni and Elo and I was told that she had gone to the bathroom. Twenty minutes later there was still no sign of her, so I had started studying the book on my own when my phone rang. It was Amanda, and she was on a different floor, so that was where she was. When she got to the fourth floor we managed to get around half an hour of studying in. We mostly memorized lists.

When the test started we went into one of the smaller rooms opposite from the really really long lecture hall where I usually sit for the exams. The test itself wasn't hard. My only problem was that I had forgotten the first item on one of the lists I had memorized a few minutes earlier, so I ended up putting "Identify the dilemma" instead of "Describe the facts", which will cost me 2 marks on the test or 1% of my total score.

I finished the test ten minutes early, but quite a few people had left already. I hung around asking people what they had got for the Venn diagram section (Valid, Invalid, Invalid, Valid). Everyone I asked except Carmeni and Denise got it right, I think. I kept hanging around because I was hoping to find someone who was hungry and would want to go for lunch with me, but I could not find anyone. Alessandra gave me a granola bar, though, so that was nice.

I realized that this was the last exam for the core subjects for the semester and so it would be the last time I would be seeing most of the people there until next year. My goodbye bubble was burst when someone pointed out that my Physics test tomorrow was at the same time as the statistics test, so that would actually be the last time I saw them in '09. Oh well.

While I was waiting for people to get hungry, Joanna was on one of the computers looking for someone's Critical Thinking Skills continuous assessment score. I took the opportunity to count how many people had scored higher than me. The answer was three. Three people had scored 54/60, and I had only scored 53/60. I could only miss out on 16 out of the 80 marks from the final. Anything more than that and I'd only have a Distinction. I should be in the clear if I got more than 4 out of 5 questions right, though. I hope that was the case.

I also saw Michelle from church when I was waiting around. She had just finished her Thesis Defense, which was one of the last classes she was doing before graduating. This week is the last week of her three-year Psychology degree program, I think, and she's only got three exams left. That was an unexpected encounter, but it was nice.

After a while I got bored of waiting and left to eat McDonald's on my own. It was okay.

Two tests left.

Appreciation in Absence

So today in church I passed the time by leafing through the King James Version of the Bible. I managed to find verses with references to witches (Exodus 22:18), unicorns (Isaiah 34:7), dragons (Psalm 74:13), and infanticide (Psalm 137:9). That was a fun way to pass the time.

When the sermon was over I went to the nearby park to look at turtles. They are fun to observe. I wish I had more time to spend looking at those guys. They're adorable.

My dad took Hannah, Susanna, and I home early because I had planned to for the CTS quiz with Amanda at one o'clock. When we got home I had some time left before one, so I got on the computer. I soon realized that half of the sites on the internet weren't loading, Google and Wikipedia included. The internet was all weird on Hannah's computer, too. Fortunately, Bible Gateway and the Skeptic's Annotated Quran were working, so I looked up some more bizarre verses and checked up on how long the Quran was (it is really, really long). I might read the latter someday out of intellectual curiosity, but I'd want a modern English translation to work with.

Anyway, Amanda called and said that she was still at a clinic because of her flu and her family was also celebrating her father's birthday later, so she wouldn't be able to study today. We rescheduled to tomorrow morning and I wished her a quick recovery, and then I went back to my computer.

My plan for the day was to avoid naps so I could sleep early and therefore be nice and rested for the test tomorrow. That plan did not work because I fell asleep on the couch and it is now 11pm. Oh well.

I had three pancakes for dinner. They were delicious.

My dad bought some live crabs. We're going to eat them tomorrow. The last time we had crabs they were pretty damn delicious, so I'm looking forward to the next dinner. My dad snipped the string and stuff that was binding up one of the crabs and put it in an aquarium. In the process he accidentally snipped off the end of one of its legs, but the crab didn't seem to care much. Susanna was terrified by the crabs. The crabs seemed unfazed by Susanna.

When Ian and Jan came back from the cybercafe, the whole internet started working again. That was odd, but nice. That is why I am able to write this post now.

Two Down, Three to Go

I woke up at ten in the morning today. That was pretty great. I got ready for the day and had some cereal for breakfast. I haven't had cereal for breakfast in a long while. It was nice.

At 11:45 I arrived at Wisma HELP and started studying for my Moral Studies exam. When I arrived there weren't many people, so I just sat next to the closest people I recognized and started reading. I had sat next to Ashley, and so I asked her if it was her birthday today since that is what Facebook had said it was. She said Facebook was correct so I wished her happy birthday, and then I spent the next 45 minutes reading through the Moral Studies notes and asking people how much they needed to score to pass.

The test started at 12:30. It wasn't that hard. I'm pretty sure I got the 14 marks I needed to pass, and I'm certain I didn't get the 39 marks I needed for a credit.

I finished the test about half an hour early and read through the remaining chapters in my Critical Thinking Skills textbook. At one point I popped down to the library, but only Davinia and Samuel were there so I went back up to the exam floor to read instead. I finished the book at 3:30 and set the alarm on my phone for ten minutes before the Advanced English exam was going to begin, and then I took a nap. When I woke up I saw Jacob and Oliver arrive from the elevator, so I asked them how much they needed to score to pass and stuff. When I tried to find other people to talk to, the exam halls opened and everyone started moving inside.

I found a seat and filled in the stuff that had to be filled in. I noticed that my hands were shaking, which was odd because I wasn't worried about the test at all. I had already passed the subject; the only thing that would be decided by this final was whether I got a Distinction or a High Distinction. Anyway, I got up and went to my bag to get some gum to chew. I think that stopped the shaking.

The test was easy. I only had two trouble spots, but they were only worth one point each so I didn't get too worked up over them. My summary and essay were okay. They definitely aren't going to get me top marks, but I should get more than half marks for them, and I think that should be enough. I guess in the end it all comes down to which lecturer is marking my paper. It kinda sucks that my final grade will be decided by something so arbitrary, but that's life. Anyway, I started packing up my stationary the moment I had finished the last sentence of my essay. I didn't bother to revise my answers. I handed in my exam an hour early and went home. I think I was the first to finish.

When I got home I had a great big bowl of spaghetti carbonara while I watched TV. I think I'll take a nap soon, too. Only three more finals left. Yay.

End of Classes

Classes for this semester are done. My last class was technically yesterday, but 1am on Saturday night is basically still Friday so I'll just say today to keep things simple.

So today started again with me waking up late because it was raining again. I called Sue Ann to check if Mr Joel was in class yet, and he wasn't. I managed to get ready and get to college only five or ten minutes after Mr Joel, so that was okay. I only got a bit wet in the rain because it had become quite light by the time I left.

In class we finished up the last programme and reviewed what we'd be studying, and then we got to see our marks. Sue Ann scored 49/50, which is awesome. I got 36/50 (I think), which I was not expecting. I have a shot at a Credit if I do really well in the finals. Cool.

When EMA was over I can't really remember what I did because it was uninteresting, but after doing whatever I forgot doing I went to study some Critical Thinking Skills with Amanda. We managed to just barely cover the second of six chapters that need to be reviewed for the finals. Once we'd memorized the final list of things I went over to CTS class. Ms Tay was reviewing some stuff that was going to come out for the final exam. When that was over we had to write what we thought about the course, and then we were free to leave early.

My priority after leaving class was finding a spot to nap. I found a place on a bunch with some bags and friends, but I couldn't nod off in the fifteen minutes I had, so I just talked to people instead. I don't think I realized that I had just finished the last class of my semester.

At 12:15 I left to go to Christian Fellowship to help out with the Staff Appreciation Day. I chose to go with the group that was distributing the appreciation gifts (3-in-1 coffee and a note) in the main block. It was pretty cool; I got to go into the staff rooms to place the stuff and while I was doing that I got to see how spacious and cool the lecturers' rooms are. We distributed the gifts to lecturers and administrative staff and guards and janitors. It was nice.

After we'd been down the whole hall and we were almost done with the thanking, I said goodbye to the others and went to study CTS with Amanda. She was sick, so we didn't get very far before we had to stop.

Sleep and Cake and Studying

Today I woke up and fell back asleep because it was raining and I was comfortable. When I woke up again it was 8:15am. Engineering Mathematics Applications starts at 8:00am on Thursdays. I was still in my pajamas. It looked like I was going to be late for my first class because I slept in for the first time in two semesters. I went to my phone to call Mr Joel so I could tell him that I was going to be late, but when I reached my desk I saw that I had a text, and it was from Mr. Joel, and it said that class was cancelled today because it was raining and he couldn't make it to college for his first class. I put down the phone and went back to sleep.

When I woke up it was 9:15am. Advanced English starts at 9:30am on Thursdays. I was still in my pajamas. I managed to get ready in fifteen minutes, and I was on my motorcycle by 9:30.

I got to class around ten minutes after it was supposed to start, but there was no sign of Mr Dharminder. Jeh Ying and Alessandra told me it was Yu Yhee's birthday, and we decided that we were going to announce it to the class because it would be embarrassing for her and fun for us. More time passed without Mr Dharminder's presence, so I told my classmates about that one time when my dad got bored of waiting for his lecturer so he went over and locked the doors to the lecture hall. I decided to do the same thing so that I, too, would have a story to tell my children. My plan was foiled when a student latecomer had to be let in and I discovered I was too lazy to relock the door.

When Mr Dharminder finally did arrive, we told him about Yu Yhee's birthday and we all sang "Happy Birthday" for her. Then Jeh Ying and I volunteered to go grab some stuff for the class/birthday party that we were apparently having. We collected a couple of ringgit from each person and went off to get chips, napkins, cups, drinks, cakes, candles, and cutlery, in that order, while the rest of the class got their marks and did some revision. When we returned to class we once again sang "Happy Birthday" to Yu Yhee, and then we ate, and it was good. The cake was delicious. Near the end, we pulled a student out of the hall to take some class pictures for us. Before the party ended, Marcus told me that I had scored 43/50, which put him and Ka Jeng two points behind me. Later on I checked my e-mail and discovered that my score was in fact the highest score for the semester, so yeah, I'm awesome. Getting the High Distinction isn't going to be easy, though.

After the party ended I was allowed to keep the leftover Pepsi and potato chips since I had paid for the drinks and cake myself. I couldn't finish the Pepsi, so I left it with Zach. The two of us talked about the semester break and what we might do and what we were going to do. We also talked about Calculus. Apparently Mr Joel said he'd make the Calculus quizzes easier for the current semester. I don't wish he would have made our semester's quizzes easier, but I do wish he would have made them longer. I kept running out of time on those dang things.

At some point Amanda and Davinia passed by on the way to get something to eat, so I decided to follow them. They were going to Secret Recipe, which was excellent because that place has cakes and I like cakes a whole lot. When we got there they ordered a slice of cake each. Amanda also ordered a glass of Frosty Orange Juice, which she let me try. It was really good. We talked for a while and the girls spotted Roshaan and Vicky walking past and Nigel joined us near the end. Amanda and Davinia couldn't finish their cakes, so I helped. The cakes were delicious. I also got to finish Amanda's orange juice for her. I very much enjoy going out to eat with people who are almost full.

Amanda, Davinia, and Nigel all had classes at 12:30, so I went to the DSA to nap. Well, my original plan was to read through my Moral Studies notes and get very bored and tired to maximize the nap's potency, but before I could leave the table of contents I was interrupted by Aaron. He was selling these really cool anime-type pictures that his sister had drawn. They were pretty dang awesome, but I'm not a fan of the style she used. Aaron thanked me for my time and left, and then I fell asleep. It was very nice.

When I awoke it was time for Critical Thinking Skills. Today we watched our classmates do some presentations, and then we got our scores back. Ka Jeng had brought in her lunch from McDonald's and she was sharing it with everyone during the presentations. She let me finish her French fries when there was still, like, half a pack left. I don't think I could ever be that generous. French fries are delicious. Anyway, when the presentations were over we got our scores back for our second quiz. I got 4.875 out of 5 because I only got three questions wrong. Ka Jeng didn't do as well as I thought she would. Argument diagramming really tripped her up. She still has me beat on presentation and mid-term scores, though.

When my CTS was finished I sat down somewhere to talk to someone or something. Amanda passed by and asked why I didn't reply to her text. I checked my phone and saw that while I was napping she had asked me if I would study with her later. When she passed by again I said I would, so we did. We only managed to cover one out of six of the chapters that will be coming out for the finals. Well, we also did the beginning of another chapter, but it was a big chapter so the start hardly counts. We made plans to continue studying at her house, but when I got to my motorcycle she called and said that I couldn't come over if her mum wasn't there because of their house rules on boys, so I said that we could just go over to my house instead. Right when we were about to leave the car park she remembered that she had church today, so we rescheduled our study session to tomorrow and I went home.

I forgot what I did when I got home, but I know that during the night-time I reminded Hannah that she had to do her daily exercise and she did a couple of sets before saying that she was giving up on the month-long routine after a week because she wasn't seeing any results. She said she would do a half-hour of Wii boxing and some sit-ups every day instead. Later on she changed her mind and now the routine is a half-hour of playing the Wii every day and maybe some sit-ups if I remind her and she isn't feeling lazy. That girl has commitment issues.

Oh yeah I also found out that I was the highest scorer in Advanced English this semester, so I gloated about that to Joanna for a while. That was nice.

Cake, Coffee, and a Cockroach

Today I got a free donut and free cakes which came with free coffee. It was good.

First, though, I'll talk about two perhaps interesting things from yesterday. The first thing is when I was eating lunch with Amanda and Davinia and they were telling me about Ms Tay and how she was the only lecturer this semester that they weren't too fond of. Apparently she marked them down on their research papers for submitting just a few minutes late, and she had a pretty bad attitude to teaching. I told them about how she told me not to care for the other, slower students and just watch for myself. I guess Ms Tay doesn't have much tolerance for uncooperative students. Ah well, she's from what I've heard she's still better than Ms Chris.

The second thing from yesterday was when I had a roach on my arm again. It was on some weights than I had retrieved from my parents' bathroom for my sister. This time I didn't freak out when I felt it crawling. I followed it until it was in a good position for whacking, and I whacked it. Once it was disabled, I grabbed it by the antennae and dangled it in the faces of my younger siblings before flushing it down the toilet because drowning is the worst death and I really hate cockroaches even though their only crime is being ugly and invading my personal space. I think that I'm over my fear of roaches now, though.

So, anyway, today. This morning, I met this dude in the elevator. He was stopping on the first floor instead of the ground floor, so I asked him why. He told me that it was a faster way to the underground carpark, and proceeded to show me the shortcut. Now I can shave precious seconds off my route to my motorcycle which will allow me to leave later to college and thus wake up later. Yay.

When I arrived in Moral Studies just as Ms Geetha was going through the scores. I got 36 out of 60, which was more than most people I know, although Carmeni came close with 35.5 and Annora beat me by a whopping five marks with 41. That was because I got 9/20 for the group project, which was the worst score of all the hundredsomething students in the HMC department for that area. It won't matter, though, because Ms Geetha told us that no employers look at LAN scores when they're hiring. All I need to do is score 14/40 or more on the finals and I'll pass. The class ended after only fifteen minutes or so, but I stayed behind to compare my scores with everyone else's.

After I had satisfied my curiosity, I went with Joanna to pick up donuts for her class parties. The lady at Donut Empire told us about the different types of donuts, which was as delicious and more interesting than it sounded. After Joanna had selected her two dozen donuts for her two parties, she got a donut for herself and a donut for me. I really enjoyed my donut, and it has cancelled out any lingering upsetness I may have harbored against Joanna for not inviting me to her birthday party. My forgiveness is very easily bought with sugary treats. I think the world would be a better place if everyone was like me, because that way we could end all wars with a just couple hundred bakeries.

When we were done with our donuts I said goodbye to Joanna and went home to faff about on the computer and do a bit of EMA homework. I topped off my break with a nap and drove back to college just as it started to drizzle.

As I was approaching my classroom for Physics, I spotted the end of Joanna's Legal Studies class party, so I popped into class, greeted the lecturer, and popped out again to ask Jo about leftover donuts. There were none. The remaining two boxes were headed for the Human Communications class party at the other side of college. I made a mental note to check it out as soon as Physics was over.

We got out scores for Physics, and I was one point away from the top scorer with 54/60. I have a shot at a High Distinction, but it's going to be tough. I need to score 31/40 for my final exam, which is going to be a challenge. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, Samuel and I decided to get Tze Yeng some cake because he had written all the reports for our lab group and was responsible for something like 10 of our marks or something. Mr Najmuddin decided to join us, so the four of us made our way through the rain to Secret Recipe. Mr Naj said that he would pay and we could order what we liked, so we each got a slice of a different cake. The waitress informed us that each slice came with free coffee or tea. I had a moist chocolate cake and black coffee. The cake was okay, but chocolate indulgence (The cake from Joanna's birthday) is definitely better. The coffee wasn't strong or bitter enough, but it cooled quite fast so that was nice. Mr Naj told us about spending nights in cybercafes playing Starcraft and Half-Life 1 multiplayer when he was a student. We also talked about tall, cool places to visit in Malaysia and gastronomic restaurants.

When the cake and coffee had finished we thanked Mr Naj for the meal and the lessons and we went our separate ways. I found my way to the Human Communications class party and had the role of class photographer thrust upon me since everyone else was actually part of the class and wanted to be part of the group photograph. Half the shots I took were shaky, but the other half turned out quite okay, I think. After the pictures were done I had some jelly and 100-Plus and I was given half a bottle of Pepsi to take home. That was nice.

When the party was over we went to the hall to play with ice. It was okay, but I bruised my shoulder a wee bit.

After we ran out of ice I went to the lab. Joanna was hanging around with Alan, who was arguing with this tall Nigerian dude about whether Nigeria was a better country than Zambia. It was a fun argument to watch and participate in. Later on the conversation turned to the murder capital of the world, which the Nigerian dude insisted was not Johannesburg, although all the Africans in the lab agreed that that place was pretty dangerous. That was an informative conversation. Later on the conversation turned to Alan's hair and the stuff Joanna could put in it and soon it was time to leave.

When I got home everyone in the family wrote their name and Christmas wishlist on a piece of paper. We then mixed up the papers and picked one out. The gift for the person I got should be pretty easy to get, if I remember about it.

So anyway, in less than 12 hours I've got an EMA and I have not finished the homework for it yet. I guess that's my job for tonight. Oh and apparently people (one person, at least) do read my blog. That is good to know.

Okay-Type Stuff Happened Today

Yesterday I had to buy in to a poker game at our house for RM10 as part of my agreement from Sunday to get Joel to play Left 4 Dead 2. I lost pretty quickly, but it was worth it. Left 4 Dead 2 is awesome.

After I lost I hung around for a bit to watch the game, but after a while I got bored and wandered to the room to karaoke. Jan came in to tell me that they could hear me outside and they were commenting on how much I sucked, and I said I knew. I kept singing. When I was done I asked which song I least sucked at, and the answer was "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". I will practice that more, then.

Anyway, today was cool. It started with me falling asleep a whole bunch of times as I was doing my daily Bible reading, and when I finally woke up I noticed I was going to be late. I managed to get to class fifteen minutes after it started, so that was alright.

EMA was the first class. We did some more work and got some more homework. After that was CTS, which was just a bunch more presentations. Ka Jeng's was excellent. I think she's gonna beat my score at CTS, too. Ah well, I guess being the top scorer in one subject once is good enough.

During the break I hung about with various peoples. Carmeni told Joanna that I was mad because I didn't get invited to her birthday on Sunday, but I said that all I had said was that Joanna was the person who did not invite me to her birthday; I didn't say anything about getting mad. Joanna said she didn't invite me because she wasn't allowed to invite too many people. She invited Li Ying and Elo and Arun and Carmeni and the rest of them, though, so I guess I'm just not important enough of a friend to her or whatever. I am only mildly upset by this, though, since she mentioned me in her blog post on her birthday.

Anyway, I asked Carmeni where Amanda and Davinia were because they are more interesting people than my current company was. She said they were in class or something, but I guess their class had ended pretty soon afterwards because they walked past a few minutes later. I went with Amanda to go get some fries and she told me about her boyfriend's best friend asking her to lie to him about something and how she got in trouble with both of them and it was somewhat dramatic and interesting but I was only half-listening.

Since I didn't have Physics today I decided to celebrate by taking a nap since I wasn't allowed to sit in for Human Communications like Amanda suggested. I flipped through the CTS book before dozing until twelve-ish. After I woke up I located Davinia and waited around for Amanda and then we went to Amanda's mum's cafe for lunch. When Amanda saw me on my motorcycle she made history by being the first person not to call it "cute". Instead she asked me why it was so small and if it was a minibike or something. I think I prefer "cute". There are only two words that get cooler when you put "mini" in front of them, and those are "gun" and "Uzi". I kinda want a larger motorcycle now.

Amanda's mum's cafe is near the Mist Club. They serve really good orange juice, eggs, and cupcakes there. I had a very enjoyable meal with very enjoyable company and conversation. It was so enjoyable that I stayed until 2 o'clock, which was when my Advanced English class was supposed to start. I paid, finished Amanda's leftover drinks, and rode back just in time to be fifteen minutes late for class. Nobody noticed me come in, though, so that was nice.

Advanced English was fun. We split into groups to do skits about one of our life experiences and what could be learned from them. My group elected to do a skit about my motorcycle accidents. Our moral was that you shouldn't let other people tell you what you should do when you're driving, and you should always keep your eyes on the road. The group after us did a skit about making sure you go on dates in places where your date's parents' friends won't see and inform on you, and the group after them did a skit about the proper way to get mugged. When the last skit was over, Mr. Dharminder told us about crime and the police's lack of response to it. That was a valuable lesson. I don't see what it had to do with English, though.

In Moral Studies we did some revision and we were told about the format for the final exam. I fell asleep. When I woke up it was almost done, and the moment it was over I went out to the hall and fell asleep.

I woke up when I heard Elo and Li Ying talking about playing hide-and-seek. We didn't get to play that, though. When everyone was getting in the room to hide, a cleaning wandered in behind them, which ended the game pretty early.

I went home, took a nap, went to the pharmacy with my dad for vitamins and contact lens stuff, listened to my dad talk about his experience with girls and how his younger years were similar to mine, and helped motivate my sister to exercise.

That is the end of this post and who even reads this stuff aside from me as I'm typing it? Eh, it doesn't matter. I think I'm going to expand on my point-form posts over the semester break. I also want to walk to the KL tower and go swimming every day. I wonder if any of those will happen. We'll see.