Monday, September 28, 2009

Time of our Lives

12:14 PM

I've heard one too many times that you have the time of your lives at uni. And despite the immense stress that comes with it, the multitude of confusion, the assignments that grind you to the ground, the tests that makes your adrenaline rush more than a bungy jump ever would, I am beginning to agree. My life has never been so fulfilling. Coz amidst all that haste, there's a sense of belonging that fills me up with happiness. A purpose that drives me. Mornings to look forward to. An appreciation felt within unlike any other. Compared to my first year, my second year at Auckland uni has improved by leaps and bounds. My social network has widened seamlessly and my confidence has surpassed it's original threshold.

I have many people to thank. Many avenues to be grateful for. Friends to be appreciative of. Coz as of now, I am in a very happy place. And I know being here is transient, this phase may only be a temporary one in my many many phases. But right at this very moment, I am grateful to be here.


The lovely UMSA 09 committee (some) during our Raya open house celebration on Saturday. Had some really yummy food after we helped out in the morning. And then there was some heavy politicking in the air. I don't care much for politics. But I have decided to continue my journey with UMSA and elevate myself to the top 4 positions. I'm running for secretary next year. I know it won't be easy, but I'm ready to take on the challenges and enjoy the lows that will come with all the highs. There's so much I can never be too sure about but I take comfort in knowing that like it did this year, if I were to be elected again, UMSA will most definitely help me grow just as much or even more so next year.

Izzah, my Huia floor mate lent me her baju kurung. And I don't ever recall wearing a baju kurung, so I think this is the first time I've actually worn one.

Friday night was DV8 at Studio on KRoad. It was one of the final Asia events UMSA was involved in this year. Only went coz I managed to get a free ticket courtesy of the Asia clubs coz i helped publicize the event on Facebook. Was a pretty good night, but I am increasingly turned off clubbing these days. It's pretty pointless really, especially since I hardly drink and thus hardly become all crazy like everyone else.

haha. squishy. at Jie Huei's place for our version of the 'last supper'.

Allan doing the squishy. I've become really close to Allan of late. Been confiding in him a lot. And I hear out his problems as well. So it's a mutual agreement sort of thing. It just feels comfortable.

haha. love this one! But honestly, I HAVE to stop hanging out with these guys. It's robbing me off my innocence and drowning me in a pool of lame jokes. I think I have more than a healthy share under my sleeves at the moment.

playing the dancing game on Wii. super fun times!

although, it makes us appear ridiculous on pictures.

check out Tuan's sexy eyes. Jie Huei and I applied eyeliner and sparkly to them. Best thing was, he was fine with it.

The 09 committee that I will NEVER forget. too many memories. to much laughter. good times that cannot be replaced. love you guys!
check out this version of No Air by Boyce Avenue. I absolutely LOVE it. Way better than the original. I have it on replay =)

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Monday, September 21, 2009

Lost

1:52 PM

Been feeling a little..............


Yesterday, when I got back home, I realized that I might have just stopped growing spiritually as a person. I am still God fearing in a humanely way but some things have just changed. Ashamed as I am to admit it, clasping my hand in prayer has become quite an effort. And even when I do turn towards Him, the same recitals are repeated almost too robotically and then regimented wishes are mumbled like I don't even mean it. I'd hate to imagine the person I have become if even 5 minutes of prayer seems to take great effort. Why has it become so difficult to confide in a greater being who created me and bestowed me with the survival instincts as I live and breathe to this day? Where in the past I did it willingly because of the abundant of rewards reaped from the belief in a higher being, I now do it out of guilt.

If you don't pray, God won't bless you and He will take away everything you ever owned and your happiness and He will strike you with a lightning and you and your family will be damned then.

Why do I still think like a child? These things have been engraved in our innocent minds eversince we were kids. If you're naughty, God punishes you. If you grow up to steal and become a murderer, then you will end up in hell. Does it really work that way at all? I can't believe I am about to quote Karl Marx here, but I will. Marx said religion is the opium of people. I find truth in it. Religion was created to keep society sane. To prevent us from running wild. We had to hold on to this belief that there was a greater good what with all the suffering that we witness everyday. I wish I could see the world again from the eyes of a child.... So many religions. So many different ways to praise God. So many different interpretations of who He is and how we ended up where we are.

It would take someone with spiritual strength to not question who was controlling the world and it's people like a puppet master in the skies. As of now, I haven't got that spiritual strength yet. I have many many questions. And I have the desire to grow and not bask in the stuntedness that has overidden my life of late. Coz when my beliefs become weaker, they are manifested in lies and other less than proud deeds which I do not wish to speak of here.

The good thing about all this is I am not afraid to be lost. Or to admit that I am. Just because there is so much to learn. I don't even know where to begin. Or how to. I'd have to start somewhere and I wish someone would guide me through the entire process. Someone who'd do it not merely for the sake of evangelism or with ulterior motives. But people only know so much and sooner or later I'd have to come to a decision. Axioms of choice. Haha. I think what I'm really wishing for is for God Himself to come down and lead me in the right direction.

Then again, we are all human. We get lost. We find our way... And that in itself is a reinforcement for spirituality. I wish to be able to finally see the changes unfold right before me when I reacquire the strength that I once possessed. I have faith that I will.

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Friday, September 18, 2009

BFM Shenanigans

12:42 PM

Saturday morning. And what better way to start the morning before delving head first into a world of isoquants and utility functions for my microeconomics test on monday. I'm beginning to notice a trend. Blogging before a nerve gritting test is pretty calming. It smooths out all those tiny knots that have formed themselves within the grey matter in your brains. Or maybe it just works for me.

I woke up this morning to the dreaded sound of the stupid construction outside. There are two uni residences up at Grafton. And I bet both Huians and Graftoners have cursed the construction site one too many times this year alone. In fact, I've forgotten what it's like to wake up to a nice quite morning. There're road works everywhere. It's like an alarm clock that just won't shut up. And best thing is, the alarm clock begins to ring at three in the morning and continues throughout the day. You just have to learn to drown out the noises. I'm lucky I'm not a light sleeper. Because I know people who are and let's just say, they're not in a very happy place right now.

Hari Raya looms upon us today. I'm not sure what my muslim friends are doing but I know my Hari Raya will be spent studying every page possible of my econs 201 course book. I'm still considering making a trip to the architecture library after the gym this morning. I love the archi library for the simple reason that it hasn't been discovered by many people yet. The lights are just right and there's no tendency for overpopulation which I am quite particular about.

Anyway, on to more serious matters. My last week of the holiday (which ended the week before this), was pretty much concentrated on my backstage crew role for the Brighter Future Musical. It was held at the Freeman Arts Center at Epsom Girls Grammar, a drive away from the city. The last few days of the week had me whisked away into a world of musicals. After high school musical and all that bullshit that they have these days, I thought this was going to be some lame ass production as well. But it was nowhere near lame. Talent is the word. I was surrounded by an amazing group of talented young souls that I felt nowhere near my element at all.

This was taken during one of the rehearsals. Long time MCC groupie played the lead, Environ, in this play and the theme was simple yet pronounced.

Best thing was, the music was composed and produced by Jun Bin himself! And it sounded almost too professional to be the brain child of an average asian graduate who is in the midst of studying animation. My respect and admiration for this young lad tripled in just that week alone.

Jun Bin briefing us after the play on Friday.

Group photo. Clearer ones available on facebook with psycho threads that make me wanna untag myself.

with some of the cast and crew.

My only complaint was the unhealthy lifestyle that ensued on performance nights. Supper was mandatory. Unhealthy supper that is. And the fact that my gym going sprees were disabled during the aforementioned period, I didn't feel too happy gorging down happy meals. Can't say the same here for Tuan who played the kung fu master in the play.

The picture that earned me the stripper name Diminatrix. Along with all those other names....

This is what the jobless bunch of us came up with. we turned mighty, juicy and grand Angus, names of a burger to Anus..... yea.




Boys will be morons. But I just love these two. LMAO.

Day two of play. Allan had to occupy the car booth coz there was no other way to transport him to the Freeman Arts center.

Backstage.

I think i had the coolest job! I was supposed to communicate with the peeps in the on call room at the top to make sure that everything (lighting, curtains, yada yada) on stage was good. Hence the headphone. And i also had to shout out lines to the actors in case they forgot their lines. Hung out with Allan alot doing backstage shenanigans.

me and the director cum script writer, Ada...

with D24? Hijrah, who played the villain.

more cast and crew

with my backstage peeps.we had to be decked in black. so the ones who aren't in dark here, aren't part of the crew...

with pumpkin Boon.

Kung fu master Tuan, his wife and Jarrod (aka Environ)

more cast n crew.

K-Ann. She played one of the instruments in the band.

And then on Monday. We had one of our last few UMSA meetings. Can't believe my term this year is coming to an end. The AGM is coming up very soon and with it comes the vanquishment of my editorial position and I've still yet to decide if I should run again. With UMSA came a 360 degree turn of my life here in Auckland. It opened up opportunities, became a catalyst when it came to meeting new people, improved my social life by leaps and bounds and allowed me to take on challenges that I never imagined I would! which is why giving it up seems quite unimaginable. =(
Part of the committee. Taken at the engineering cafe where we have our weekly meetings.

ANd then we resorted to Nandos for dinner.
I should go before I ramble on further. The world of isoquants and consumer theory await me. *sigh* have a good and safe raya guys! and appreciate everything that comes with it, coz as you should be well aware of, I get nothing close to that here.

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

My intermission - Your entertainment

5:20 AM

because blogging is so much more appealing than writing an essay about Marx's alienation and Durkheim's anomie....

Holidays have been fantastic. Apart from the assignmenting bit.

Got invited to Wei-Yuen's last weekend. She insisted on delighting me with lunch and I obliged without much persuasion.

I absolutely love her room. You see. This is why I want to go flatting. So that I can embellish my room with non dull furnishings and make it my own.

Anyway, the hillarious tot made us all (Nath, Mark, me and herself) egg noodles as make shift spaghetti.

And then there was her one of a kind sauce. A tinge of tangerine slammed my tastebuds during initial contact but after a while the taste grew on me, so much so, I'm craving it just as I write this. There were shrimps and tomatoes embedded somewhere within the mound. And she garnished it with parsley, pepper (which we got to grind ourselves!) AND feta cheese. Delish! Aiyo. I want to experiment with my cooking skills. I NEED to. If only i had a proper kitchen and not a communal one where my pots and pans and chopping board AND knives get stolen. bah!

Ah. Classic Nathan. Music and Nath are inseperable. Like peanut butter and jelly. Like adenine and thymine bases on the DNA helixes. Like Nathan and Wei-Yuen. =) Complementary.

more snapshots of her room.

Martha Stewart in the making.

And then on Monday, social officer and long time friend Allan Ooi organized a laser strike event for UMSA. And where there's UMSA, there's the bunch of us crazy souls. And OMG. Laser strike is the ABSOLUTE bomb man. Must try! it's like paintball minus the pain. I didn't expect to have so much fun (or sweat so much....) but I did. And I met all these new faces, never knew they were members to begin with! And the best part of it all was getting to shoot people and run into them without and excuse. So funnnnn. If i had the chance, I'd go again and again and again and again. But one thing's for sure. Go in a gigantic group.

me and my sniper mate for life -Jie Huei. We always end up together. Whether it's washing dishes, acting in skits, shaking our booties and even in games like these. I'd never even imagine that I'd meet here again after BRATs Kuching 07 (where we were in the same group just as well!) but I guess that's the thing about unexpected twists in life. Love you Jie Huei!

Rayvin, Roger, Boon and Akbar. Loved being stuck in a car with these guys. Rayvin and his china apek jokes crack me up. Roger's the one with great advice. Good head on those shoulders man. Boon saves the day. You can count on him to. And Akbar. Ever reliable. Ever supportive. Ever gutsy. Equally crack up material. OMG. you guys should so watch his Vellu Annaa Air Asia X video clip for the ball. Just go to youtube and search vellu annaa. sure to find it. It's some hillarious shit. Swear you won't regret it.
Got back at 3 am after I hung out with the guys at Denny's and had to wake up early the next morning for mini golf with Fran, Sam, Yuen, Noob and Nath.
Yuen and Nath picked me up from Huia and off we went to the pirate themed mini golf course near the airport.

=)

just as close this year as we were last year.

me and sam. before exilation.

Fran and Noob.

My very first attempt at mini golf and I loved it. Loved the course!







love this one of them!



stylo milo noob

turns out, Nath's really competitive when it comes to err, almost everything so when I was winning on beginners luck, it got a little scary. eek. but I'm not competitive, I mean it's just a game so I was cool when Nath took the lead after seriously traumatizing me! But i came in at 2nd place. So yes. Golf may just be my niche.

Happy after finishing all 18 courses. I have no idea why i'm posing like Bozo the clown. Had to think quick. We put the camera on timer.

And then we went to this cafe nearby for a bite.

Perfect end to a perfect day. If only my essays would do themselves. sigh. Can't wait for BFM this weekend. I'm actually looking forward to tumbling in and out of the stage with Allan for our prop stint.

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