An evening of movie and cocktails

I just got back from a movie premier of Anthony Hopkins's movie with my mum, 'The World Fastest Indian' which was one of the movies screened in conjunction with Kuala Lumpur Film Festival. There was also a cocktail party afterwards, sponsored by New Zealand High Comission and we got to mingle around with the NZ ambassador and the people from the embassy.

And, no, the movie wasn't about the indian people. Indian, in this movie was actually a motorbike. And Anthony Hopkins's character was based on a true person, Burt Munro, a New Zealand motorcycling legend. So the movie was basically about Burt Munro's attempt to follow his dream of setting a new land speed record with his Indian bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

The movie was very philosophical and you could see strong determination in Burt's character when he tried hard to follow his dream of setting the record with his very modest looking bike. And the movie showed a different character of US which I rarely see in other movies.

I'm glad I went to watch the movie. And I have a Turkish language class tomorrow. My first class. Will give you the update soon!

accidents do happen

(The lil guy on the right)

So far my teaching lessons for my cousin is paying off. He can read a bit now after a week after of teaching. His mum told me that she was wearing a T-shirt that said 'Win Some, Win Some' and my cousin pronounced it perfectly without anyone asking him to. So yeah, I'm happy that he could at least read on his own now. But he still needs help with writing and counting and we're working on that.



And my other cousin, Nabil just got out of hospital after he fell off a bed (he was jumping on it like a trampoline) and his head hit the floor real hard. He was admitted to ICU for a night or so. And now he has a swelling brain. Can you imagine that? A swelling brain?FREAKY! He's only 3 years old but he still looks adorable as ever.



His accident reminded me of myself when I was around his age too. I too had a similar accident where my head knocked a cupboard hard and it bled and I couldn't stop vomiting. And I have a small scar just above my right eyebrow to remind me of that frightful accident.



I guess getting your head bruised at the age of 3 really runs in my family. LOL!

RA, the reading teacher

School holidays is here again! What do I have to do this holidays? Teach my illiterate 7 year old cousin how to read and count. Well he isn't exactly illiterate but a bit slow when it comes to reading and counting. He has Thalassemia and been in and out of hospital for bone marrows and blood transfusions for the past 3 or 4 years so there was little time for school.

Now that he's slightly better, he needs a lot of catching up to do with his reading and counting and writing. So as the eldest granddaughter on my dad's side and as the 15 year old who has nothing to do for holidays, it is my duty to be his 'teacher' for the next one and a half month. :)

No, he doesn't call me Miss Zaf. Instead he calls me 'Ra'. Nickname I was stuck for 15 years, given by my cousins and relatives. And by the end of december, we'll see how my cousin progresses. We just started yesterday and he's doing well so far.

Anyone need a reading teacher, I'm here to help. LOL!

what's in a name

I was away from the blogging scene for a few weeks now cause my Jaring connection was cut off cause I exceeded the credit limits. I first wrote this blog to share with people the bits and pieces of my life and also my views and opinions on certain things in life. And my blog URL was and still is victoriousgal.blogspot.com. I know some of you think that I'm a self proclaimed victorious girl with that kind of blog URL.

But let me explain to you why I chose that name. It more or less comes from my name : ZAFIRAH. It's a translation of my name. Zafirah is actually an Arabic name and it means victorious or successful. So that's where I got my blog URL. According to my name I'm victorious but am I really victorious in real life?

Hahaha. I don't think so. I'm just a girl living my life but always try to do my best in whatever I do at the same time. Everyone has a name. Name is a kind of symbolic contract between the society and the individual. By giving a name the society confirms the individual's existence and acknowledges its responsibilities toward that person. The name differentiates a person from others thus, the society will be able to treat the person as someone with needs and feelings different from those of other people.

The sense of personal identity and uniqueness that a name gives us is at the heart of why they are important to us as individuals and to our society as a whole. Although most people know very little about names and about the effects they have on everyday life. As humans with names, we have the need and right to know about the psychological, magical, religious, and ethnic aspects of our names.

Go here to find out the meanings behind your names

"> http://www.babynamescountry.com/

SELAMAT HARI RAYA/EID MUBARAK

SELAMAT HARI RAYA, MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN! I hope it's not too late to wish you that. Syawal is for a month anyway. It's still ok to wish you that and it's never too late to seek for forgiveness. Human beings never run away from commititng wrongdoings so here I am seeking forgiveness physically and spiritually from all of you cause I am no different from others. Cause I too commit wrongdoings like other human beings.

My Raya /Eid was celebrated in Pahang. It was fun. We did the normal stuff every year. Went to the mosque on the 1st day of Raya to pray, visited relatives' graves, ate Raya food (lemang, rendang ayam etc.) and caught up with other relatives. And today I had a small Raya open house at my house, of course. Only close friends were invited cause we weren't planning on a big event this year. Here are some pics from my open house:

My guests in my room

Girls being cheeky =)

CAUTION! Posers on the road

Putting up a small performance

=)

buka puasa

Finally the long awaited PMR was finally over on Friday. Overall it was ok. Nothing to be overly excited about. Ramadhan comes and goes very quickly without you even noticing it. One moment you wake up at the wee hours of the morning for 'sahur' and the next moment it'll be Hari Raya already.

My family had hosted like 5 'iftars' or 'buka puasas' this Ramadhan which was a good thing, really cause it made my house livelier than usual. Last Friday we had 2 Turkish guys, a colleague of my mum and Kak Pah, her other old friend for 'iftar'. And today, I had a couple of my friends over to my house, Nunu and Sofia.

We had pizzas and spaghetti and ice cream with fruit cocktails and green tea. Those two girls hated the drink and they poured theirs into my glass when I wasn't looking. How sneaky! Alia was supposed to come as well but she couldn't make it cause she had fever. Probably 'cause of all the hard studying she did last week. She couldn't come so we went to visit her.

Brought her some leftover pizzas and choccies for her siblings. Get well soon, babe! Now that PMR is over, I don't know what to do to fill up my time. Probably take up French or maybe tennis or continue with my long delayed violin lessons. I'll think of that soon.

Yay! Hari Raya is next week! Can't wait to go back to Pahang and savour all those yummy food and enjoy the company of my chatty yet lovable relatives. As much as I hate to say goodbye to Ramadhan, I have to say hello to Syawal too. Ramadhan trained me to be patient with my daily life but Syawal would be the time to be with your loved ones. I know this is a bit too early but SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!!

Buka puasa on Friday (5/10/07)

Buka puasa on Sunday (7/10/07) with the 'girls' who hated green tea. LOL!

a night of bbq

My blog is practically dead. It's been more than a month since I last updated 'cause there was nothin' to update bout. Even if there were stuffs to talk bout I was probably too lazy to update or too busy facing my books to be bothered with my blog. Ok, enough bout my dead blog 'cause I'm back (for awhile). Hanna Banana invited us (me, Alia, Nunu, Anis, Mimi, Syamir, Wai Meng, Harith and Zharif) to her family barbecue dinner on Saturday night.

It was a night of pure enjoyment and laughter. What a good way to break our tension as PMR trials resumed on Monday (arrggh!!!). The food were all scrumptious and thank you Hanna and family for being such a great host. Harith and Nunu had a fun time throwing around chicken bones at each other. LOL! Here's some pics from the night.

All smiles for the camera!

Me and Mimi yang HOT!

OMG! The mess we created after eating but don't worry we cleaned it up (or did we?)

Nunu blocking her face from the chicken bones!


P/S Good luck to muah's friends who are taking PMR trials this week!!!

sweetness of victory

I guess my poetic part in me has finally paid of today. Wanna know why? I was announced as JOHAN for a 'Pertandingan Menulis dan Mendeklamasikan Sajak Geografi' peringkat Daerah Petaling!!!! Few weeks ago I was approached by Puan Chia to write a 'sajak Fenomena Alam' for Hari Apresiasi Geografi and the best 5 sajaks in Petaling district would be picked to be read out in front of the judges.

I joined the same competition last year and won 3rd place. I truly didn't expect to even qualify for the top 5 because I was writing the poem in a rush. Guess where I wrote the poem? On a plane! Yes, on a plane. Or to be precise on the plane ride from Narita, Japan to Detroit, US. So, guys...wanna get some inspirations to write poems or to be poetic? Do it on a plane! I know I did.

I even prepared a slideshow for the presentation of my sajak. Puan Chia informed I was in the top 5 just 2 days before the competition and I wanted to get first this time so I thought the only way to stand out from all the other contestants was to have a slideshow depicting images that was relevant to my sajak. But I came very close to not get to view the slideshow because the host SMK Pusat Bandar Puchong (1) didn't prepare projector and laptop for the competition. Swt!

Lucky thing we requested for one and just minutes before my turn, the projector wasn't working and they took time to make it work. I heard someone from the crowd said, "Pakai muzik jelah kalau tak boleh buka." Heck, NO WAY am I not gonna show my slideshow after a whole night preparing for it.

But nasib baik boleh....I thought the recital of my sajak was not too bad considering I only had like 2 days to memorise it. The other contestants were equally good. Though a few did forget their lines in the middle of their recitals but that was forgivable I guess cause they also had less time to prepare.

And so they announced the winners and I won!!! DJ also won 4th prize for 'Pertandingan Membina Model 3D' represented by Michelle, Ying Yan and Jo-Yi. The model was very natural (bentuk muka bumi) and judging from the rest of the models, I thought our school should had at least gotten the top 3 placings but......

We had another hour to go before the school bell rang and all 5 of us (the girls also came along to take their certs) were reluctant to go back to school so Puan Chia decided to take us out to Tropicana Golf Club to celebrate our sweet victory and we had choco brownies.

So I can now add another plague to my already full cupboard but never mind, it was worth it. But now it was time to focus back on my studies. My mum has given me a 'warning' for me not to join any other competition until PMR's over. Hmmm......

East Coast moments - Final Take

In Cornell, with the founder (Ezra Cornell)

In Changi Airport

With Dr. Andrew and family (Im not in the pic ;()

I'm here again for my last bit of the trip. After travelling to almost the whole part of the East Coast, we were ready to head back where we started, Ithaca to start packing up for our flight home. But before that we had a lil sight seeing in Ithaca cause we didn't get the chance to do it the last 2 weeks. We did some last minute shopping in Waterloo Premier Outlet and also visited another university, Cornell University.



I'd visited 4 out of 8 Ivy League unis already, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and MIT (though I only passed through MIT cause didn't have enough time) but I would say Cornell was the nicest of all. Cornell was so huge I think it was easy to get lost there and the surrounding was so stunning and calming. But my mum said don't go here during winter, it's bloody cold you probably could get frostbite ;)



We had dinner at my mum's Fulbright host house, Dr. Andrew, a lecturer in Cornell. He married a Malaysian and the wife cooked fish curry and rice and apple pie and ate it with ice cream. Yum! After dinner we had to go back to the motel and started packing up. We had 6 luggages that had to be checked in plus another 6 carry-ons. Imagine what our trolley bags looked like.



So then I had to be on the 36 hours plane ride.....again! I'd had enough of plane rides for awhile now. In fact, I'd enough of all means of transportations. Planes, buses, trains, taxis even trishaws! They had trishaws in NYC. I been on all those transports for far too long during my trip that my whole body are so sored by now.



But the East Coast trip had been entertaining and some of the visits inspired me to be better ineverything like the Ivy League unis visits so that hopefully, I could be there again but as a student. Amin. :)



So now it was time to get back to reality back home in home sweet home, Malaysia and focus on studies and PMR. Oh god, PMR. My knees shaked just by typing the name.

East Coast moments - Take 3

Ready for Mamma Mia on Broadway!

On the horse ride in Central Park

Riverside Park

The wall in Ground Zero

On the steps of Columbia University

Central Park

So now it's New York City!!! You know what? I could definitely fit in as a New Yorker. There were a few times when tourists stopped and asked me the way to so and so street thinking that I was a local. LOL! Too bad all I had to tell them was, "I'm sorry but I'm not from here". You see, I'll have no problem fitting in here later on. ;)

The day we arrived in NYC, we checked in the hotel and my mum's friend, Dr. Susilo who was in NYC on Fulbright scholarship as well took us on the Subway and we went to Ground Zero. The ex-WTC site was still full with cranes and stuff and rumours had it that they were planning to build another one but after 6 years, nothing much seemed to happen. There was a wall near the site to commemorate the deaths of firefighters who died while trying to save other people lives during the 9/11 event.

There was a whole lot of names of firefighters and there were images depicting the whole incident and it really touched my heart to see how many people were willing to put other people's lives ahead of them and I wish I could just be like them. You know, less self-centred and everything. The next day, we got up early and head over to yet another university, Columbia University, one of Ivy League universities.

Columbia was fine though I think Harvard was much better. The uni was not that spacious but I kinda like it cause it was so near NYC, my fave city. ;) We had brunch at Riverside Park which was just down the road. After brunch we took the Subway to Central Park.

Very green. They even had a mini theme park there and it was free! For a second, I was hoping to go on the Ferris wheel and the water slide but the long snakey line where only 5 year old kids were lining up made me change my mind. But we did go on a horse ride around the Park. No offence but the horse smelled like poop and pee!

I'd always wanted to watch a Broadway show and that day was my lucky day when my parents purchased 3 tickets to watch Mamma Mia, a musical based on ABBA songs. The play was fine but I liked the songs. I'm a big fan of ABBA songs now! Mamma Mia....here I go again.....lalalala..

42nd street Times Square had always been my fave of NYC. It was so vibrant, so full of people and life. Even after 12am, the street was still alive with all those colourful, animated neon signages and people still walking around the street. I definitely like it here!

It was a sad thing but we had to leave NYC the next morning to go back to Ithaca. Never mind, I'll be back, hopefully.

NYC, the city that never sleeps. Darn right it doesn't!

East Coast moments - Take 2

With the statue of '3 lies' (he's not the real Harvard)

In Quincy Market

The 'fam' at Harvard University

Me with the 'tour guide', Roxy (an Econs undergrad)

Cape Cod beach

I'm back again with second take of East Coast moments! So after 2 days in Ohio we flew to Boston, Massachusetts on Delta Air. But the flight was cancelled after all the passengers were seated with the seat belts fastened because, get this, the paperwork to allow the plane to fly wasn't rectified. WTH. That was the 1st time in my whole life that I've been on a plane that didn't have the permit to fly. We were put on another flight and we wasted a day which was supposed to be spent in Boston but instead we were in Washington DC airport while waiting for the next flight.

But we managed to arive in Boston safely. Our first stop in Boston was a flea market, Quincy Market. Whenever my family travel overseas, we, my mum in particular always make a point to visit any universities nearby. This time it was Harvard University, my dream uni. haha. We went on an 'Unofficial Tour' around the uni led by 2 of Harvard undergraduates, Roxy and Megan. Harvard was surrounded with old buildings but it had a nice atmosphere. I definitely don't mind studying here ;)

After the tour we met up with another friend of my mom who was here doing his research, Prof Muhammad Haji Salleh (the sasterawan negara/national laureate). We planned to go shopping in Wrentham, a premier outlet mall where branded stuffs were sold at half price. My eyes almost popped out of its sockets looking at all those shops with dirt cheap prices but too bad we came 2 hours before the shop was closed so couldn't really shop. On the way to the mall, we went to Cape Cod where we had fish as lunch. Very yummy!

After Boston was New York City......again! We went there by bus which took us about 5 hours. But I'll tell you more of NYC on the next post. Later!

East Coast moments - Take 1

Me at Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

One of my fave places in the world, Times Square

On our river trail at Evan's wedding reception

I'M BACK!!!!!I'm finally back after 2 weeks missing. US had been great and I would say that it was the most memorable, fun trip I ever been to out of the many trips I went in my life. I went to remarkable places and met up with people from different walks of life. What I experienced was something so precious that no tours or tour guides could offer. Right now you're about to have a taste on my journey so enjoy!

After 36 hours waiting and being on planes, my dad and I finally arrived in Ithaca, New York where my mum had been waiting and boy, were we whipped out with the plane ride. But our jetlagness did not stop us from driving for 4 hours to Niagara Falls in a rental car. And my dad almost went to jail. Wanna know why? He was issued a ticket from the police for speed driving. He was brought directly to see the judge and it was either he pays the fine or he goes to jail.


Of course he paid the fine as he didnt want to be Paris Hilton cell mate. LOL! Niagara Falls was magnificent. If before this I only seen it in movies like Superman II but this time I was there for real, seeing the whole thing and feeling the splashes of the waterfall on my face as we cruised along the river with the Maid of the Mist boat ride. From the boat ride, you could see both sides of US as well as Canada as it was the border between Ontario and New York.


Next up was my favourite city in the world, NEW YORK CITY. We went there with a bus which took us about 5 hours. It was my first time in New York City since my last visit 7 years ago. There was something about the city that made my adrenaline pumped harder than usual. New Yorkers were known as unfriendly people who just didn't bother about the surroundings as they continue their paces in the metropolitan city. At least that was how the New Yorkers were portrayed in movies and books. But there were some friendly people like this 1 guy who helped me with my bags while I was trying to carry it up the steep stairs of the Subway.



We only stayed in NYC for a day as we had to catch a 13 hours train ride to West Virginia. Yeah, 13 hours. We stayed over at Nancy's, my mum's friend. I really like her as she was very well-read and witty. She's a Professor (Chairperson) in 1 of the unis in Parkersburg. I learned a lot of stuff from her from gays to French revolution to the economic growth of West Virginia.



The next day, Nancy drove us to Columbus, Ohio to attend another of my mum's friend wedding reception, Evan. Now, this reception ain't like the typical white wedding you normally see in movies. Instead, the reception was held in a camp called Camp Mary Orton. Very different. We went on a river trail and met up with Evan and his relatives and friends.



After the reception, we walked around Columbus. It was a nice city. We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Haiku. We finished dinner at about 9pm and we wanted to see more of Columbus but unfortunately the shops would normally close at 9pm. But there was this one particular shop that was still opened, Torso. They sold 'interesting' stuff that no shops would sell like 'PMS breath mints' and others (I wouldn't name them) and it turned out to be a gay shop! We only realized that after Nancy saw a brochure in the shop promoting gay parade or something that was gonna be held next week. Interesting.



I would continue my post another time as I coudn't possibly fit my 2 weeks trip under 1 post. Stay tuned for more East Coast moments!

hasta la vista!!!

School's gonna start tomorrow....Just like everyone else, I'm dreading to go back to all those chaos in school from tons of homework to facing the books again 'till late night. It was a bliss not to have to face the books for 2 weeks, wasn't it? Anyway, while you guys are back at school studying Sejarah and counting answers for Maths problems, I will take my own leave and be in the States for the next 2 weeks. WEEE HEEE!!!!

I've just finished packing my bags. Had a hard time packing cause I don't know how to pack light though my dad constantly reminded me to pack as less clothes as possible. It's because we're gonna go around the East Coast so it'll be insane if we want to drag 10 luggages around the cities. LOL!

My flight is tomorrow night and it's gonna stretch to more than 30 hours of travelling 'till I reach Ithaca, New York. Imagine that, man! I'm sooo gonna have an extreme jetlag. 'Till then. I'll be back with my posts on my trip if I don't suffer badly from jetlag. Hasta la vista!

A day of hunt and ashraf sinclair

My holidays started with a blast yesterday. I participated in a Treasure Hunt organized by Galaxie in the Curve. Hui Wen, Juinn Chang and Ariff were all in my team. It was a really tiring hunt. We had to go back and forth Ikano, Curve and Cineleisure like maniacs through out the Hunt looking for clues and I felt like I ran a 40km marathon.....maybe more. My legs are now aching like mad that I can't even walk properly. Too bad we didn't get the top 3 spots.


Guess who else participated?? Girls' heartthrob, the hot ASHRAF SINCLAIR!!! He was in the Celebrity Team (Ferhad, Chelsea Ng and some other guy) and gosh, he looked soooo much hotter and cuter in real life. In case you've been leaving in the cave and wondering who is Ashraf Sinclair, he is Malaysia's hottest actor and his most popular with the movie Gol & Gincu. I had a shot with him as well but the 'smart ass' Ariff still hadn't pass me my photos therefore I can't post the picture now.


But the most embarassing thing happened as well when I slidded and fell right IN FRONT of him! It all started when the Celebrity Team was asking questions after the Hunt and whoever answered the quests correctly, you'll get a goodie bag with music CDs in it. Ashraf was asking the question: "What's my character's name in Gol & Gincu?" I raised my hand and he called me to the front. While I was about to step in front, a guy's leg was blocking the way so I jumped over it to avoid bumping into the leg.


My foot stepped on a plastic wrapper and I slidded and fell with Ashraf Sinclair just a few feet away from me. The crowd when "WHOA!". Ashraf said, "Whoa. Cool it". Lucky thing the host made a joke out of the thing by saying, "Ashraf, she's just showing you your actions while playing futsal in Gol & Gincu". I said , "Yeah!" and laughed like it was the most natural thing to happen while inside I was cursing myself for acting like such a klutz.

I answered correctly (luckily!) which was "Eddie". He asked me again, 'What's Eddie's full name?" I went "err....". Ashraf said, "Hahaha. Never mind. I don't even know his full name". So I went back with my mortified face and my goodie bag and Keefe said, "Nice slide, Zaf. Damn keng weyh, how did you know the answer?"


Are you kidding me??Gol & Gincu is practically the only local show that I watch religiously and my only fave. So knowing Ashraf Sinclair's character's name is a must for all G&G addicts. LOL! It had been a fun day what with running all over the Curve, Ikano and Cineleisure and also making a fool out of myself in front of a whole bunch of crowd as well as my fave actor ASHRAF SINCLAIR......

Yesterday couldn't have been better :)

gone are the days....for now

WEE-HEEE!!!The much dreaded mid-term exams are finally OVER. Gone are the days where I have to 'burn the midnight oil' 'till 2 am. Gone are the days where I have to go through stacks of revision books and exercises all in the name of getting As. Gone are all the days where I wake up groggily in the morning having only 4-5 hours of sleep. Gone are those days.....FOR NOW, of course. Those hours and nights that I spent on studying better be worth it if not I'll jump down a block, undoubtedly(HEHE!!JOKING MUM!!!). It'll be in just another 2 more months before these days come by again where that time would be my trials and PMR....huhuhu ;(

But whatever it is, I just want to let my hair loose this holidays and just relax. Unfortunately, my hair would still be tied tightly in a bun (<---whatever that means) since I still have a workload of stuff to do. From my Sejarah project to a whole book of Agama book that needs to be done to a science project that I don't even know what or how to do. Haizz....Seems that this holidays won't be much of a holiday for me.

But look into the bright side, I'm gonna have a holiday of my own after the school reopens for 2 weeks so yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, is anyone interested in joining the INTEL Science and Engineering Competition? I need another person to join my group after one of the team members bailed out of the competition unexpectedly. We're supposed to invent something 'creative and innovative' in the field of science or engineering. Anyone interested just tell me, ok?

HAVE A NICE HOLIDAY!!!

my 15th bday!!!

YAY!!! It's my birthday today!!! To be honest, I wasn't too perked up with my 15th birthday mainly because my mum wasn't around to celebrate with me this time and to me a celebration is not complete when your family members are not around and every birthday means you're getting older whether you like it or not.

My day started with a birthday wish from Anis through SMS at precisely 12.11 am (thx girl! you're the 1st to wish me). My morning was greeted by my mum's birthday card that was lying next to my bed. She sent to me 3 months ago from the States and I promised her I'd only open on 11th of May and I kept my promise ;). I asked my dad what would I be getting for my 15th birthday. And he said, "You want presents some more? The trip to US in June is already part of your birthday gift". WHAT???? I thought that trip was supposed to be a family trip not a gift for my birthday!!

AHHH...well. I guess I should just be thankful 'cause the trip would cost a bomb and by right I should be studying at home for PMR but instead I'll be missing 2 weeks of school. So, thanks papa!!! Thank you for all your warm wishes for me today. Mimi gave me a real cute glass with the picture of cows on it. Thanks Mimi aka Dafi's lover!! Fadzil gave me an ultra cool digital clock which could change to 7 different colours every second. Thanks Fadzil. I lurvee that clock!!!

Out of the blue, Daryl broke into a broken tune of the 'Happy Birthday' song in our class. It was really awkward 'cause everyone's wondering what the hell was he doin'. But Thanks anyway, that was really sweet of you, Daryl. My dad, aunt and uncle brought me out to dinner in Italiannies in the Curve. It was just a simple dinner but I enjoyed it because great things come in small packages, ryte??

When I was on my way to school, I had a reality check of my 15 years of life in the van. I asked myself, "Have I done enough for the last 15 years? Was my life worth it for the last 15 years? Did I do more good than bad or was it vice versa in my 15 years of life?"

The answers: "For my 15 years of life, I think I did enough for my life but of course I want more 'cause life is too short not to experience other things. My life was worth it cause I didn't waste it bein' involved with the wrong clans and the wrong activities and 'bout doin' more good than bad, well, I shouldn't be that bad-la ryte? Of course, I've done a few bad stuff once in awhile (arguing with my parents etc.) but I don't think it ever outweighed my good 'behaviour'.

Does that sound reasonable? I don't know cause I just had a glass of iced mocha and it's making me dizzy and a bit offguard now. ;) Anyway, I better stop crapping now but before that I want to thank my family and friends for their love and care for me on this supposedly special day of mine. I'd been blessed with great family and friends. I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Turning 15 today feels pretty much the same with being 14 yesterday :)

P/S Besides being a bit dizzy due to the mocha, my com had just been hacked by POKEMON. Yup, pokemon. Thus it took me more than an hour to write this freakin' post cause POKEMON is now making my com and my life miserable!! Like Adel said, birthday present from Pikachu for me. Well, thanks for nothin' Pokemon!!!

And Sam Low, thanks for that wonderful post of me on your blog. luv ya, girl!!!

champs!!!!!

If you have read my post on the KDU debate, at the last part I mentioned that I was supposed to prepare for a science quiz for district level. It was finally held today in SMK Sri Aman and SMKDJ was represented by me, Luke and Joel. And guess what??? Our beloved SMK Damansara Jaya was the CHAMPION of the Petaling district for the lower secondary science quiz!!!!!WEEEE!!!!

I couldn't believe my luck to be part of this marvellous team. The competition started off with a written objective test. 40 questions were to be answered in an hour and the top 4 teams with the highest tallied marks (there were 3 in a team) will proceed to the finals. DJ scored the highest marks in the written test out of around 30 schools that participated. Thus we went to the finals which was an oral quiz.

The finals was an intense moment for me. The finalists were us, SMK Seafied, SMK Damansara Utama and SMK USJ13. We started off pretty badly but with the help of the hero of the team a.k.a. Joel Tan we managed to climb up the spot to become the champion.

I did a pretty silly mistake at the beginning where I answered a question wrongly which was "what is the virus caused by the birds (or something like that)?" I rougly knew or at least I thought I knew the answer. The answer that was goin' through my mind was 'H5N something' but I wasn't too sure bout that. So I answered something out of the ordinary which will sound stupid and I don't think I want to tell you what I answered.

But for your reading pleasure, I'm obliged to tell you so. I answered SARS. Yea, I know. Silly me, eh?? The real answer was 'Influenza H5N 1'. Luke kept teasing me 'bout it even after the quiz ended. Right.....Influenza H5N1, I'll remember that 'till I die. LOL!

Anyway, after 2 rounds of questions, the results were announced and we were the winners!!!
I always thought myself as more of a language person but I guess today I discovered another part of my plus point.....SCIENCE. Thanks to Luke and Joel who rock the socks of the team!!!HAHAHA!!

Ohhh....and thanks to Michelle and Ying Yan for the choco bar you gave me today. That was really sweet of you girls and yeah, I do lurveeee choccies!!! ;)

3 days of little sleep

These past three days I had only 3-4 hours of sleep each night. It all started when Puan Koh approached 3 Batai's debate team few weeks ago and she wanted us to represent DJ in KDU English debate. The reason why she picked a junior team for this championship it was because she wanted us to get the early exposure to debating for a better preparation for next year.

On Monday we went against Methodist Boys School with the motion "THB that boarding school is beneficial to children" as the opposition. We lost. Our very first time representing school in debate and we started out with losing. Not a good start, eh?

KDU debate went by wins. Meaning, in order to proceed to the semifinals you go by how many wins your team has. There were 3 rounds and the 2nd round was against SMK Tsun Jit with the motion "THB that young people should be subjected to night time curfew as a way to reduce crime" and we were the government. This time we nailed it and won. I also won 'Best Speaker' :) But our first victory was a bit smeared with the fact that the opposing team was questioning our win. The teacher, in particular said that we were referring to text and we shouldn't have won. Oh, for god's sake. Debate is not solely 'bout your style. It's also bout the solidness of your caseline and your matter and I think we went for the meat this time instead of the bones. Oh, well. It's a free world. They can say whatever they want.

And today, we went against Garden International School with the motion "THB that human cloning should be banned" and we were for the motion. After the two debates, I think Daryl, Keefe and I gained the momentum and we did our best today. But it wasn't good enough to seal us the victory. The adjudicator said our matters were sufficient but our styles brought us down. Daryl won 'Best Speaker'. He deserved it. Keefe and Daryl did their very best today and you could really see the syncronization and the unity of the team though we lost.

The 3 of us put in a lot of passion, commitment and hardwork into this debate competition. Someone was asking me how come I don't look sad that we actually lost. Well, crying and feeling sad for what had happened would only make me a sore loser. I'm glad I went through this competition because it really opened up my world to a new environment of debating. FYI, DJ's team is the ONLY team in the whole KDU debate championship that was purely form 3 speakers making us the most junior team in the competition. But I have to tell you this, we put up or at least we tried to put up a good fight to the opposing teams regardless of age and I think we succeeded in doing so.

To me, this whole debating experience is like baking a cake. We have gotten the basic ingredients of the cake (the basic debating skills) and we already mix the ingredients in the cake mixer. Now that are left to do is to perfect the mixture so it'll be all fluffy and nice after baking it meaning we need to perfect our basic skills of debating for the better and hopefully soon we will get to put the icing on the cake which will of course be the ultimate victory for us.

Now I can get back to my normal life and start concentrating for my mid-term exams. Oh, crap! As I'm writing this post, now I remember that I have a science quiz to prepare in a week time. Crap, crap, crap!!!!!

BTW...thanks to Pn Koh who had been very dedicated and helped us with our debates, Michelle, Adeline, John and Pn Farahnaz.

Me, Picasso and Nature

I had been very poetic these days. Hmmm.....I wonder why and how in the world that I developed this interest in just a few days? I guess writing poems was a better way for me to express my feelings on everything. From people that I love and hate to dreams that I had. Two days ago I wrote a biographical poem, ME, PICASSO AND NATURE. Here's how it went:

I am unartistic and curious,
I wonder how Picasso does his arts,
I hear him munching late-night tarts,
I see him sleeping with his head apart.

I want to draw like him too,
I am unartistic and curious,
I pretend I dream of Picasso and his arts,
I feel his brush tickling against my tingling skin,

I touch the paint splashing down,
I worry my hair would get dirty,
I cry at the thought of it being greeny and gritty,

I understand that art imitates nature,
I say, we should imitate it too,
I dream of healing the nature that is in danger,
I try to do a little everyday,
I hope me, Picasso and nature go along someday,
I am unartistic and curious.

What do you think? A bit weird, though. Especially the 1st 2 and 3 lines. But I really dreamt of Picasso with his head apart. Damn eerie, ok. LOL!

stick models+XS clothes=xtreme body conscious people

skinny model

Just the other day I heard yet another story of a teenage girl dying of anorexia. Everytime I hear these kind of stories I thought, "how can anybody be so stupid to starve themselves to death just because they think they're fat?" That's when I thought again why would the girl thinks she's fat in the first place when her body weight is actually fine.



When you have friends who care more 'bout the size of their bums then actually having fun in the outside world. When you have magazines that feature stick figure models and when you have clothing shops that sell XS sizes....the pressure to be part of all these rises and leads a person to be anorexic.



I know I'm a bit curvy (I wouldn't use the word fat cause I hate it) but I never thought of starving myself so I can look like Paris Hilton. In fact I lost around 10 kg when I was in Form 1(I was freaking 'curvy' during my primary school years) but all I did to shed off the 10 kg was to dance around in my room as a form of exercise. Now I slowed down the losing weight thingy but I'll continue again soon if I feel like it...hahaha!



The point here is that if you don't have Jennifer Lopez's bum, Jessica Alba's body figure or Shakira's hip doesn't mean that you're FAT. I have friends who would scream their heads off just because their bums are bigger than their head. I don't see the rational of worrying bout this 'minute' stuff. There are far more important things in life we should worry more like achieving the dreams we had and do something 'bout global warming that's gonna kill us soon.



In the meantime there should'nt be stick figure models in the magazines or the runways because this would make our teens even more insecure of their body sizes. Italian fashion designers are doing the right thing where they banned anorexic models (like the pic above) from appearing on their runways. We wouldn't want to see our friends, family members or even ourselves to die just because they are not happy with their weights. If you think you're 'curvy' then just exercise-lah.



Don't worry, be happy ;)