Month: June 2013

Normalcy

Many people think that “being normal” -or normalcy, in short- stems from being perfect. Otherwise, why would people want to be the best, the prettiest, the richest? It’s not considered “normal” by society perhaps, per se, but it’s normal to want these things. But what some people don’t realise is that imperfections are perfectly normal too. It’s the most normal thing in the world, even. It’s okay to not be okay. It’s not okay to be forever and always okay without a hint of not-okay-ness. To put it simply, everyone in this world has flaws, and everyone makes mistakes, and that’s the most normal thing in the world.

Normalcy is very subjective here, however. Some people don’t want to be the normal stereotype, they want to be weird and unique. That’s completely fine too. In fact, being weird and unique…is normal too!

At this point, probably most of you are shaking your heads and wondering if I’m deliriously rambling but trust me, okay, this is going somewhere. Remember when I said normalcy is subjective? Well, normalcy to me isn’t what people commonly define as “bland, mundane and boring”, but more like what is being done by more than one person. So, safe to say, there is no one in this world who is truly alone.

There is no point to this post, and it sounded way, way better in my head than when laid out in words. But ultimately the message I’m trying to spread is; when you think you’re abnormal and not of the norm, don’t worry and be fearful, because you’re you and that’s the most normal thing that anyone can hope for.

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Currently listening to:

Lifescouts Update

Big Ben badge. Obviously, I earned this badge last month during my trip to UK and even went to Alex Day’s booth itself to buy a physical badge for myself.

I visited Big Ben at Westminster with Kenzie and his parents. It was nothing much, just a trademark building many people take photo with to show that you’ve been to London. You couldn’t really enter the Big Ben itself, so that was as interesting as Big Ben could get. But I’m happy I have this badge. I’m happy I have the bragging rights of going to London at least once in my lifetime. And if you haven’t been to London, you’ve been missing out, honestly.

 

Zoo badge. The ultimate childhood badge. I’ve been to the zoo a couple of times. Not many times, but it was a good dose of zoo-sage for a kid like me at the time. I can’t quite remember the zoos I went to as a child, but I knew Taiping Zoo was definitely one of them. In 2011, I went to Taiping Zoo with a bunch of my other schoolmates as part of a Form 4 Biology educational trip, apparently. That was the only time I went to the zoo as an adolescent. And apparently Effie wants to bring me to the zoo when I go to KL, so that’s cool.

 

 

 

Horse riding badge. I think I’ve ridden two horses in my entire life. The first one was a pony, at A Famosa I think when I was about five or six. The second, much bigger horse was ridden at the beaches of Tanjung Bungah when I was about eleven, probably. Both times, I wasn’t a very good horse rider. It’d be great if there were equestrian lessons available widely here, though. That would be an interesting activity to delve into.

 

 

 

Safari badge. I’ve been on the A Famosa safari twice; once when I went there with my family when I was about ten and once with my schoolmates on a graduation trip when I was twelve. I’ve been on the Singapore zoo day and night safaris too, when I was seven, with my parents and cousins.

 

 

 

Pet-owning badge. Boy, do I deserve this badge. The only pets I’ve ever owned are dogs and fishes. No cats. Quite a shame, actually, because I kind of like cats too. I’ve owned about ten dogs my entire life, but currently I have two dogs. Golden is about 10 dog years and is a Golden Retriever, whereas Heart is three dog years and is a mixed poodle. They’re really different; where Golden is tame and obedient, Heart is ferocious and stubborn. But he’s the cute and small one so everyone spoils him. Life.

 

 

 

 

Chess badge. Not much to say here, since I’m not a professional chess player, but I learned to play chess when I was about nine years old. I loved it. I learned how to play Chinese chess when I was 12, but that I didn’t really like. My chess skills are pretty rusty now but it’d be cool to revive it.

 

 

 

 

Video games badge. VIDEO GAMES. I was a Playstation nerd when the first PS came out, and the first thing I would do when I went to my uncle’s house was play the PS for hours. I used to play games like Crash Bandicoot and Puzzle Bubble and Tekken and really childish games. Same thing happened when I used to go to Joshua’s house. And then I grew up to become a girl (ooohhhh stereotyping here, guys) and my parents weren’t the kind to buy video games so I stopped playing for a good few years but I recently rediscovered my love for video games when I went to Beneh’s place after SPM for a good gaming session. That, and also because of Dan and Phil’s influence.

 

 

Rubiks cube solving badge. I KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THE RUBIKS CUBE!!! Or rather, I knew. Back in Form One or Two, I can’t remember, but the Rubiks cube was so popular among my classmates and literally everywhere you went, there were people solving it. Even during class. We used to have competitions to see who could solve it the fastest. That was when I picked up on how to solve it. I wish I still remember how to solve it, I probably do, but it’s been so long I can’t be sure.

 

 

 

Scrabble badge. Scrabble used to be my favourite game. You can see I was brought up rather intellectually (cough). I haven’t played Scrabble in years, though. People these days don’t exactly turn to board games for entertainment anymore, do they?

 

 

 

 

Bowling badge. I actually bowled for the first time in December 2012, when I followed Beneh and Putri and many other schoolmates of mine to Pacific after SPM finished. I mean, actually, really bowled and not just go to a bowling centre and watch other people bowl. I was terrible at it. I still am. I have terrible coordination skills and stamina so that was expected, at least.

 

 

 

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Currently listening to:

It Flooded On My Birthday

Because let’s face it, it was probably the most interesting thing to happen before the event in itself had even started.

I sent out invitations to a couple of friends who were still in Alor Setar/back in Alor Setar to come to my house on the Sunday evening at 7PM but 15 minutes past 7, only my uncle had turned up so I began to get quite antsy if anyone would even turn up at all. Literally everything was already almost prepared, but no one had turned up yet. So I started to scroll through Twitter to…calm my nerves or something and saw that Khey Ken had tweeted that it was flooding outside his house and he couldn’t get out. Immediately after that, Ching Ju and Hui Ying called up to tell me that they couldn’t make it because of the flood as well.

I started to feel really dreadful, like of ALL the days it could rain and cause a flash flood, it happened on the night of my birthday. I was sad at first, but then I felt indignant. And then I laughed because it was the greatest story ever. It would be the greatest story I would ever tell. So I went with the next plotline in the story: my dad and I drove around the flooded neighbourhood to pick up my stranded friends from their houses; like a Flood Bus or something. A Flood Party Bus. It felt strangely exhilarating.

We picked up Ching Ju, Hui Ying and Khey Ken and by the time we reached my house, Yi Jing and Peter were already there. Jia Yuan and her sister came later, also braving the floods.

We had a barbecue (graced by the presence of self-anointed Masterchef Mr Teoh aka my dad) and pasta and salad and everyone was talking about everything and it had been so long since I last met up with so many of my old friends so it was pretty rowdy and I yelled my throat sore that night trying to talk to everyone really loudly. We had a cake and everything, and desserts and also Jaffa cakes courtesy of Peter. Needless to say, I was really, really full before the night had even ended. And then it was just a lot of talking and laughing until 11PM, when everyone realised how late it had already gotten. The Flood Party Bus dropped off those who had arrived the same way, and my birthday ended.

It was truly an amazing birthday; the floods somehow made it even funnier (when its nature shouldn’t have been) and the food was really good and the company even better. Reuniting with old friends was lovely, even if it’s just a short time before we leave for college. I’d like to thank everyone who made an effort to turn up and also to everyone for the lovely presents. But more importantly, many special thanks to both my parents, and also my uncle (whose birthday was also the same as mine) and his family for preparing and holding this huge party for me which surely had been pretty stressful. I am really, really thankful.

That night, I fell asleep listening to Dan and Phil’s radio show on BBC Radio 1.

And now for photos!

Khey Ken, Jia Ying (Sarah), Xin Thong, yours truly, Jia Yuan, Hui Ying, Ching Ju, Jia Wen, Yi Jing and Peter
Jaffa cakes spelling my deliberately incorrect name made by Peter

WATCH OUT, WE’VE GOT A LEGAL GIRL OUT AND ABOUT RIGHT NOW (loljk I still live on the Internet)

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Currently listening to:

Expanding and Exploring

I went to PJ on Thursday and Friday, with my parents. A lot of people thought I would start college then, but no, I was just looking around the place where I would be studying and staying at. Always good to know new environments beforehand before you completely dive into it. Also, there are a few edits in my previous post concerning FAQAMCF which you might be interested to know.

The whole college environment and having a college room to yourself was very…foreign. Everything was so brand new and different it felt surreal. The people, especially. One of the admins advised me to “make friends with KL people as they have different mentalities” and while I have many KL friends already myself, I still wonder how it’d be like to live with these people for 18 months. Quite daunting, if you ask me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to adapt. I know I did a one month internship at The Star but this was different. We weren’t a tight knit group. Not really. And these weren’t people I knew beforehand. Again, pretty intimidating.

But the prospect of having a whole college room to myself is pretty exciting, I should say. Also daunting, but nice, because I can decorate it however I like and it’s something I own. Mine. Makes me feel pretty adult-ish and independent. I don’t know, honestly. The whole going to college thing makes me feel excited and scared at the same time. Ready and unready. I can’t tell. It’s a mixture of both.

Oh well, just like the title suggests, it’s time I expand my horizons and explore the world, right? Well, I did a fair share of exploring the United Kingdom, maybe I should explore my own country, too.

My birthday is in 27 minutes! Friendly reminder, guys.

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Currently listening to:

Frequently Asked Questions About My College Future (aka FAQAMCF)

Two posts in one day. And this is why, kids, you should never put off blogging because the guilt will just well up in you and you find yourself writing multiple posts a day.

Where are you going to study?

Sunway College in PJ.

Are you taking a scholarship?

Yes, I’m taking the Ministry of Education (almost said “Magic” there) SPM Bursary.

What are you studying?

A Levels.

What subjects are you taking?

Not entirely sure yet, but probably a combination of law, economics, math and (blank).

*Edit: I’ve decided to take physics, chemistry, math and economics. WHOA what a contrast, right? The Sunway admin advised me against taking law despite the fact that I wish to pursue a law degree; that’s because we found out you didn’t have to take subjects that related to your degree. Nuts, I know. So why the science subjects if I don’t want to go down the science path? We also found out humanities subjects gives you lower points in your UCAS application and would put you in a disadvantage. Also, should I ever change my mind in the long run, I’m still able to switch to science stream. I can’t take law as a subject anyway so I might as well do this.

How long is your course?

Two years.

*Edit: You can only take two years if you’re taking pure science subjects. So now I’m taking one and a half year. Aw sad.

Why (not take one and a half year)?

Because if I take one a half year, I’ll finish my A levels in November and since I want to enrol in a university in UK, I’d have to wait nine more months for the English intake in September so I might as well do two years.

*Edit: Refer above.

Where will you be staying?

The Sunway Monash residences.

*Edit: No edits here, just wanted to comment that my room is pretty freaking cool.

Why don’t you go to Taylor’s?

[Controversy warning] Because I prefer a different environment from Taylor’s also Sunway offers free accommodation and book vouchers for bursary scholars.

When are you going to start studying?

3rd of July.

I think that’s about it for now. So there you have all your questions answered!

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Currently listening to:

Home! For A Week Now

Yes, yes, I’m a terrible blogger, no need to remind me about that. I come home for a week and don’t bother to update anything about my life here. Not even to say if I arrived home safely! But I think that’s general knowledge since I’ve already stated in my previous posts that they were written on Malaysian soil. But still! The novelty has vanished, sigh.

I arrived at Penang International Airport at 8PM on the 27th of May Malaysian time where I was greeted by my parents and Si Pek plus his family. We had dinner (LOCAL FOOD OMG) at a Chinese hawker centre and in the space of that hour everything felt so FOREIGN. The weather -the WEATHER oh my god it was so HOT- and the tall, dull grey buildings and the cars and it just felt so WEIRD. Returning home was even weirder. You know those moments when you just feel so dazed that you don’t know what to do or what’s happening? Yeah this was one of those moments. I guess it was one thing to go to a foreign place altogether and then return to a familiar place but feel that that is foreign. So I started crying for a while, which was silly, in retrospect, but I guess I was just kind of confused at the time.

There was also the issue of the yawning gap of seven hours between the English and Malaysian timezones. For the first three of four days, I went to bed at 5/6AM and woke up in the afternoon. It’s improving, thank goodness, but it’s almost made me nocturnal. And then there’s the thing of sleeping in itself. I don’t know if anyone else who has ever slept in cold climates have ever noticed this but I find it more comfortable to sleep in colder climates. Obviously, right, Michelle thanks for being captain obvious. Over there, it was like a natural air-conditioner and not a machine that, like, expels artificial air, I guess. I don’t really know how to explain it but basically, what I’m trying to say is sleeping in English weather is nicer than sleeping in Malaysian weather!!!

Next on my list (because I always, always have a list duh) is the manners of the general public. Being in England was so nice mostly because of the people. You enter a shop, they say hello. You leave, they say thank you. You can’t sneeze in public without getting a “bless you”. And basically, people say “thank you” for everything. So I became the same. I started to say “thank you” and “sorry” for every single thing and then I when I was aboard the plane from KL to Penang, I said “thank you” to someone who had allowed me to walk out into the aisle first and all I got was a pretty grumpy face. That made me feel nostalgic for England a little bit more.

The last difference, and it might not be a wholly important one to anyone else, is the fact that I can’t watch Dan and Phil’s live radio shows and liveshows anymore. Well, I can, but then I’d have to stay up till 2AM. Which, considering my current altered timezone, shouldn’t be quite a problem but still, theoretically!!! We’re not in the same timezones anymore, and it makes me feel left out once more.

I slipped back into routine rather quickly though, as now I have another, well, date to look forward to, aka the date I enter college. Scary yet exciting all at once. I’m considering a new category to sort my college posts into on this blog. I feel like I’m going to embark on a different journey.

It’s also June now! Which means it’s birthday month. 🙂

I’ve also cut my hair!

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Currently listening to: