Of Beaded Turtles and Impossible Dreams

Two Nights ago, I dreamt the impossible came true...

I dreamt that my university had suddenly transformed from a dull entertainment-deprived ex-shopping mall into a 5-star student haven, complete with luxurious condos, palm trees and posh restaurants. There were shower rooms for students and the ground floor of the uni was lighted up with beautiful deco lights. There were even glass doors and polished tiled floors...and bazaars selling all sorts of exotic delicacies...and...and...

Then my alarm clock rang, dragging me back to harsh reality.

As some of my friends already know, I have this certain fondness of turtles and turtle paraphernalia (though as the years go by, I feel that my liking for them is diminishing slowly, but surely). My mom borrowed a beaded turtle (a turtle figurine that's made entirely out of strings and beads) from her yoga teacher and asked my grandma if she could figure out how to make it. During her next visit she produced two orange beaded turtles. She's amazing, my grandma. I couldn't even think of how to start and she, being over 70 years of age, still has the wit and creativity to replicate such a complicated piece of work without any assistance. That's her special talent, and I admire her for that. :)

Last Saturday she came over to our place and taught me how to make the turtle. It was harder than expected. Seriously, bead art should be recommended to all aspiring surgeons, and it would most definitely help improve their dexterity. With Grandma's help, it took me almost three hours to complete a single turtle. Even now, I can't remember the steps exactly. Fortunately, she left me a sample of the starting piece. But it still takes a lot of effort to figure out which hole to put the string in and where to connect each bead, so on and so forth.

Holidays are ending in less than three weeks... *Sigh* I have a feeling that it'll all be over before I know it. Wanna complete playing my computer game and watch anime...

Langkawi Trip

More pictures more pictures more pictures...

The Langkawi trip was before the reunion, but I managed to get these photos only a few days ago.

Every year for the past three years, I go on a trip with my group of close friends. Usually it's during the middle of the year, when Ching Ee and Shiau Wei come back from overseas. As stated in the title, we went to Langkawi this year from the 21st till the 24th of July. Actually we felt that the trip was too short (spent more than a day from that duration travelling to and from Langkawi), but what to do, I was having exams before that, and after the trip we had to tend to the reunion. For this trip, the people who went were Andrew, Vee Han, Calvin, Meng Lee, Shiau Wei, Diyana and me. CHING EE AND SENG KIAT WHY LER YOU COULDN'T GO??? Wasted... We had so much fun there. :)

And without further ado...

On the way to Langkawi. The bus ride to Kuala Kedah was a gruelling 5 hours+. Thank goodness for Vee Han. After reaching the bus station in Kedah, we took a taxi to the jetty and subsequently a ferry to the island.

In the van we rented. Since they were the only people who had experience driving manual vans, Meng Lee and Vee Han were officially Driver and Co-driver for the duration of the trip. :P

Scary cable car ride... but wonderful view.

Breath-taking view from the summit... The sky looks like it's blended with the sea, you can barely make out the horizon. It wasn't hot up there, cos it was late in the evening before sunset. It's so utterly serene and romantic...

...that isn't water.

Having dinner at an ikan bakar restaurant.

In the speedboat, going to Pulau Beras Basah. Luckily there's no such thing as taking sampan there or something... If not, Andrew and I would have puked all over the boat already...

On the beach in Pulau Beras Basah. Dunno why everyone's leaning towards on side...-_-" The sand feels a little like wet rice, hence the name Beras Basah.

Found this hermit crab while strolling the beach. It wasn't happy to see us though. It kept trying to pinch me with its claws. Poor crab... feel bad for harassing it like that...

*Highlight of the whole trip: being 'ambushed' by monkeys at Telaga Tujuh.* After spending half the day at Pulau Beras Basah, we decided to soak our sticky and sandy selves in the waterfalls at Telaga Tujuh. We bought an ice-cream cone each to eat on the way up to the waterfalls. Little did we know, there was a troupe of monkeys waiting at the side of the road. The minute they saw our food, they closed in on us! There were so many of them, got mommy, daddy, baby, uncle, aunty, grandma and granpa monkeys, practically the whole extended family was after us. It was like a scene from the movie "Congo", only these apes were much smaller and less malicious. The worst thing was they weren't afraid of people. In the end, we had to fend them off with a large stick. We didn't hit them, of course. Just swung the stick around to frighten them. Later, one brave primate lunged at me and tried to grab my ice-cream cone. I screamed like crazy... That scared the poor fellow off. Then I could see a couple of caucasians laughing at me from a distance... So embarassing...

At the waterfall. Finally.

We also celebrated Meng Lee's birthday there. Unfortunately, we could only get him a slice of cake from a cafe in the Petronas gas station... Sorry Meng Lee, but glad you enjoyed it anyway.

Andrew, me and Diyana in a Berjaya Resort Chalet. Lovely place. :)

Photo of Hail

This picture is from http://www.nst.com.my/Thursday/National/20050811093950/index.pda
It was taken after the freak five-minute hailstorm in Subang Jaya on Wednesday. Now I wish I went downstairs with my camera too...

Comments

Changed the comments settings so that now anyone can post their comments on this blog.

Hail in Subang

Me: Hello?
Calvin: Eh Leng Hui! Got hail lah just now! Did you see?
Me: HAHHH??!?!?

Apparently it HAILED in Subang Jaya yesterday evening. But I was too absorbed in my computer game at that time to bother walking to the window, which was just 10 feet away... *Sigh* I missed one of the weirdest occurrences in Subang this year. Just because I was too lazy to get my atrophied butt off the chair.

Vee Han's brother was even funnier ("Vee Han! The world is ending! Got stones falling out of the sky!").

Yesterday's rain didn't ease the situation much. My sisters have today and tomorrow off from school because the condition in Petaling Jaya has worsened. Some people must be thinking: "Why is this girl always blogging about the weather? Doesn't she have anything else to blog about?"

Well...

Was talking to Vee Han yesterday about his Semester 2 Kuala Kubu Bahru posting. He told me there was this 15-year old girl who committed suicide and her body was sent to the morgue. It's so tragic; many young people these days are taking their own lives. The reasons are varied, be it exam pressure, family problems, drug addiction, or being jilted by their boyfriend/girlfriend. But does all this justify the act of taking a razor and slashing it deep into your throat? Why down a whole bottle of Paracetamol because you didn't pass your PMR? I mean, there're bigger things in life than a set of multiple choice questions (wait... now some of the PMR papers have subjective questions, but still...).

I suppose I have to try to look at this from his/her perspective. What was the most important thing to you when you were 15? Personally, I can't really remember, most probably it was (and still is) my family. What were your goals in life? Perhaps when we were that age, little things like PMR meant the world to us. Nothing comes close to being as challenging and gruelling as that. "I have to pass I have to pass I have to pass. If I don't everyone will think I'm stupid, I can't get into science stream, I won't be able to find a job and the world will end." Thoughts like this run through the heads of some students. It's devastating and all-consuming, this feeling.

In retrospect, the trials and tribulations of my adolescence seem pretty diminutive compared to the things I'm experiencing now. And in the future, when I'm past my prime, I'll be saying the same thing about my university life. It's the fact that when we've overcome an obstacle, it doesn't look so daunting anymore. Someone once told me: In adversity, we find strength. It's in rising to life's challenges and fighting against its current, despite your fear and insecurity that we discover the true beauty of being alive. And at the end of the day, when all's said and done, it isn't whether we succeed or not which is most important. It is the satisfaction sense of fulfilment we give ourselves, knowing that we tried our very best. For what is life, without struggle?

Heh. Easier said than done. Wait till EOS 5 comes along...

To my fellow batch mates who didn't make it the first time around, don't despair. There's still another chance. I respect your perseverance. Fight on! I'll see you all in Semester 4. :)

Prefects' Reunion 2005!!!

Was supposed to post this earlier but was lazy...
Also lazy to write a 1000-word essay about how the reunion went, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words...

Prefects' Reunion 2005
Date: 30 July 2005
Time: 7.00 pm - 12.00 am
Theme: Kaleidoscope of Memories
Venue: Selangor 1, Sheraton Subang Hotels & Towers

Organising Committee: Meng Lee (Organising Chairperson), Calvin, Vee Han, Andrew, Seng Kiat, Jennifer, Ivine and Irene and me.

Weeks before the reunion: A frantic scramble to make datelines for hall payment, dance rehearsals, ticketing, contacting seniors, writing letters to schools, settling the sound system, balancing accounts, etc etc etc...

The outcome: A brilliant success! Despite some technical difficulties and minor hiccups in the beginning (Am not bragging, this is based on comments from some prefects and guests who attended the event).

From my point of view, the performances saved the day. No event can be successful without good entertainment. Vee Han and Andrew, you and your dancers were fantastic!

Many thanks to Meng Lee and gang, as well as everyone who contributed to this event. We did it!

Shiau Wei, Meng Lee, Ching Ee and me.

The Three Stooges: Vee Han, me, Andrew.

The finale of the Destiny's Child dance.

What they used to get those 'gorgeous curves'...

Exposed!!!

Flaming swords: Opening to the Marmalade performance.

Kudos to the men of Lady Marmalade. It takes real guts to prance around on stage in heavy make-up and skanky Ah-Lian clothes.

Footloose session.

This is my favourite picture. :)

Hazy Entry

Don't know what to write about, being my first entry and all... Finally decided to hop on the blog bandwagon (with inspiration from Johan, the only person I know who updates his blog REGULARLY during EOS 3). Am having my semester 3 holidays right now, so I've got plenty of time to waste crapping about whatever that comes to my mind/crosses my path. Being in medical school, there is seldom the need for writing grammatically correct, whole sentences. Guess writing a blog will help prevent my language skills from deteriorating to the point of no return.

Please bear with me. My writing skills were never good to begin with.

It's been horribly hazy recently. This morning it seemed pretty fine. But just when I thought it would be getting better, the whole area suddenly became engulfed by suffocating, white, smoke-smelling smog-like thingys once again. Even my room reeks of smoke. Really feel for those people suffering from asthma and bronchitis and other various lung conditions.

Here's a picture taken from my apartment window:

That's all for now. Will be back with more soon, since things like creating a new blog are classified under 'hangat-hangat tahi ayam' activities...