Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Demotivators
Hello! Finally back in Kuching and it feels great! Haven't been doing much lately, besides sleeping, eating, gaming, going to sematan etc. So not that much to post about. Life in uni was alright, alot of studying but whilst spending all that time studying I discovered my newest craze - demotivators! Here are some samples:
LOL
LOLAwesome! xD
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It's time
For an update! But not today. Haha. School's started again and it's starting to get hectic, so I'm not going to have much time to blog for awhile. Just thought I would make some notes today on what I've done so far since I last blogged, in case I forget.
In October : went to watch Fallout Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's and Cute is What We Aim For. By the way I had to reformat the hard drive so all the pictures I took are now gone. =( Also, I had midterms and had to study like crazy that month.
In November : went skiing at Salt Lake City during Thanksgiving! After that we went to Las Vegas for a few days (stayed at MGM Grand! But it is quite crappy now). I think Vegas would have been better if we were loaded but sadly we are stingy asians so instead we ended up eating McDonald's dollar menu most of the time. We also gambled a little at the slot machines. Hehe. Here's some pics.
Left to right : Lam Seng, Yan Chuan, Kawa, Jae Hee, JB and me posing with our snowboards.
Slot machines. Haha
This is outside MGM, and the background is the scenery for New York New York. We went on that indoor roller-coaster thing that you can see on the left of the picture.
In October : went to watch Fallout Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Plain White T's and Cute is What We Aim For. By the way I had to reformat the hard drive so all the pictures I took are now gone. =( Also, I had midterms and had to study like crazy that month.
In November : went skiing at Salt Lake City during Thanksgiving! After that we went to Las Vegas for a few days (stayed at MGM Grand! But it is quite crappy now). I think Vegas would have been better if we were loaded but sadly we are stingy asians so instead we ended up eating McDonald's dollar menu most of the time. We also gambled a little at the slot machines. Hehe. Here's some pics.
Left to right : Lam Seng, Yan Chuan, Kawa, Jae Hee, JB and me posing with our snowboards.
Slot machines. Haha
This is outside MGM, and the background is the scenery for New York New York. We went on that indoor roller-coaster thing that you can see on the left of the picture.In December : had finals till the 15th then went to Harvard, Boston and had really nice Malaysian food where the waiters spoke hokkien. Went to Connecticut on the 19th to Trinity College and bummed in Jo-Ann's room the rest of the hols till January 4th.
And now it's January! It gets dark by 5pm and at night it sometimes goes to -20 degrees Celsius. Alright it's time to go - will update again soon, sometime next year, probably. xD
And now it's January! It gets dark by 5pm and at night it sometimes goes to -20 degrees Celsius. Alright it's time to go - will update again soon, sometime next year, probably. xD
Saturday, November 10, 2007
September
Wah it's been so long since the last update it feels damn weird to be doing this again. Haven't updated for 2 months! Wah. Quite alot has happened since then, I hope I don't miss anything out. Ok first I got a job at the university dining hall, I work/ed (quitting tomorrow yay xD) 4 shifts there, as dishwasher, soups and salads guy, the grill guy and also as silverware person. Of all the shifts, silverware is the grossest. All kinds of food gets stuck on the forks and stuff and we have to dip it in some kind of sick green-colour looking solution to get the crap off. It's supposed to be soapy water I think, but all the food comes off as it's dipped, so you get loads of floating pieces of half-eaten scrambled eggs etc. Damn disgusting. The good part though is the pay isn't TOO bad, I get 8.10 dollars an hour, and with about 12 hours a week, that makes it around 100 dollars! Quite nice, but then again I never really save much cause I'm always spending. Heh shopping online through eBay is fun!
Next, I completely changed the layout of my room, got a nice electric guitar and amp, a free TV from Malaysian seniors (wee!), and also joined an engineering fraternity! I'll post some pics of my 'new' room soon, but about the engineering frat, it's called Theta Tau and it's a purely professional (nerdy) frat, which means that we don't actually party much but when all the cool companies like Dell or John Deere or whoever comes to uni, we can go for their dinners etc. cause the members of the frat are invited! It's supposedly the oldest engineering frat in the nation but right now the UIUC one isn't doing too well. We were only just recently reactivated again after I think it was 20 years of being inactive, so we don't have a house and are relatively unknown.
What else what else. .In October I went to Indiana with the Singaporean Student's Association (SSA) to play soccer for UIUC's SSA against the other mid-western universities' SSAs (michigan, chicago, indiana, purdue, northwestern etc.) and we got 3rd! UIUC sent two teams and the seniors got 2nd overall. That was very fun but for the first half of the first match i had to play on the muddy field in my flat-soled-futsal shoes. I was sliding around the place, bad. Sorry have no pics of the midwestern SSA games, nothing really worth taking pictures of anyway. In september I went to Chicago! (again with SSA) Now here are some pics from 2 months back:
It's a 3 hour drive from Urbana to Chicago, so our first stop was at this Chinese restaurant, where we had dim sum for the first time since August.
Siobee !
A Singaporean senior's (Joshua) car.
The train station at Chicago, from here we took the train downtown.
And ended up here !
A Hershey shop around that area, which sold the world's largest Hershey's bar.
30 dollars for that bar. Insane (O_o)
Hancock Centre!
A live band performing at Hancock Centre's lower level.
And the view from the observatory at Hancock ! Nice huh? That's actually not a sea but Lake Michigan I think.
View of the other side of the city.
It eventually got dark and here's a shot of some bean-looking thing at a park in Chicago. Sorry about the extremely vague details, but this actually happened 2 months ago so I'm even more blur about the stuff happening than usual. Anyway the bean is quite famous I think and if you stand under a certain point at the bean you can see 20 images of yourself, pretty cool.
There was also a jazz fest going on at the time. Think Ah Pa would really have enjoyed it.
Later on we went on to Navy Pier where there are something like nightly fireworks shows, if I'm not wrong. Anyways it was really crowded there (though it looks deserted in this pic) cause something was going on but I don't remember what it was already. =S
From left to right: Sona, Sheryl, JB, me and Erica. I don't really know wtf JB is doing here in this pic haha. JB if you ever see this I'm sorry for posting this up xD
The ferris wheel and spinning thingy there. Had no time to go on those, too bad.
White Castle!
From left to right: Cheeseburger slyders, Chicken fingers and fries.
A close-up of the slyders. Actually I didn't really like them. They aren't really all that good as the Harold and Kumar made it out to be. But still if you ever get the chance you should try for yourself and see.
Me and Srini trying to be Harold and Kumar. Hehe.
Next, I completely changed the layout of my room, got a nice electric guitar and amp, a free TV from Malaysian seniors (wee!), and also joined an engineering fraternity! I'll post some pics of my 'new' room soon, but about the engineering frat, it's called Theta Tau and it's a purely professional (nerdy) frat, which means that we don't actually party much but when all the cool companies like Dell or John Deere or whoever comes to uni, we can go for their dinners etc. cause the members of the frat are invited! It's supposedly the oldest engineering frat in the nation but right now the UIUC one isn't doing too well. We were only just recently reactivated again after I think it was 20 years of being inactive, so we don't have a house and are relatively unknown.
What else what else. .In October I went to Indiana with the Singaporean Student's Association (SSA) to play soccer for UIUC's SSA against the other mid-western universities' SSAs (michigan, chicago, indiana, purdue, northwestern etc.) and we got 3rd! UIUC sent two teams and the seniors got 2nd overall. That was very fun but for the first half of the first match i had to play on the muddy field in my flat-soled-futsal shoes. I was sliding around the place, bad. Sorry have no pics of the midwestern SSA games, nothing really worth taking pictures of anyway. In september I went to Chicago! (again with SSA) Now here are some pics from 2 months back:
It's a 3 hour drive from Urbana to Chicago, so our first stop was at this Chinese restaurant, where we had dim sum for the first time since August.
Siobee !
A Singaporean senior's (Joshua) car.
The train station at Chicago, from here we took the train downtown.
And ended up here !
A Hershey shop around that area, which sold the world's largest Hershey's bar.
30 dollars for that bar. Insane (O_o)
Hancock Centre!
A live band performing at Hancock Centre's lower level.
And the view from the observatory at Hancock ! Nice huh? That's actually not a sea but Lake Michigan I think.
View of the other side of the city.
It eventually got dark and here's a shot of some bean-looking thing at a park in Chicago. Sorry about the extremely vague details, but this actually happened 2 months ago so I'm even more blur about the stuff happening than usual. Anyway the bean is quite famous I think and if you stand under a certain point at the bean you can see 20 images of yourself, pretty cool.
There was also a jazz fest going on at the time. Think Ah Pa would really have enjoyed it.
Later on we went on to Navy Pier where there are something like nightly fireworks shows, if I'm not wrong. Anyways it was really crowded there (though it looks deserted in this pic) cause something was going on but I don't remember what it was already. =S
From left to right: Sona, Sheryl, JB, me and Erica. I don't really know wtf JB is doing here in this pic haha. JB if you ever see this I'm sorry for posting this up xD
The ferris wheel and spinning thingy there. Had no time to go on those, too bad.Ok at this point I really ceased to take pictures but anyway all we did after the fireworks was go back to the hotel and sleep. The next morning we went to a shopping mall and spent the entire day there. The pictures continue at the end of the 2nd day, when we went to -
White Castle!
From left to right: Cheeseburger slyders, Chicken fingers and fries.
A close-up of the slyders. Actually I didn't really like them. They aren't really all that good as the Harold and Kumar made it out to be. But still if you ever get the chance you should try for yourself and see.
Me and Srini trying to be Harold and Kumar. Hehe.Alright that's all for now, next post I'll put up some more pictures of the dining hall, my room and post about October and the Fallout Boy concert! =)
Friday, August 31, 2007
This walk that we share together
Today is National Day ! And also the day June leaves Kuching to join me in the States. Yay !
Although we will still be 2 hours apart (by plane) with me in Illinois and her in Boston (Harvard =P), it's still loads better than me being here alone. 2 years ago at this time I think I was still in lower 6 A with James and Byron and Miao, seems like an age ago really. At the time I was there only cause I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do, and now looking back I'm really glad I took the time to think it through.
And I never intended to come to the US after form 6 at all. My original plan was to go to Australia, Perth probably, and try to get into one of the universities there. June practically brainwashed me and I ended up taking SATs and TOEFL and writing bloody university application essays instead. Omg I still remember those frantic days spent writing stupid essays about 'My hometown Kuching' and getting our teacher's recommendations, and I really think I would have been unable to go through with it without her constant nagging and badgering. Haha sorry June but it's true !
Form 6 was a pain. We used to spend whole days at the state library studying, eating crappy library restaurant (it was called 'Window By the Lake' I think) food, feeding ducks with crab crackers O_o. We also had to manage our school's Interact Club - which mostly involved me signing stuff that June spent hours typing xD - deal with all the shit in school, that was a really tough time too, and we got through it together !
I can't begin to imagine how vastly different my life would have been if I hadn't met this tOopiDy giRL at the interact club telematch in 2002 with the fUnNy tYpiNg on irc. Haha ! I definitely won't be where I am now, for sure. This new phase in my life is as much yours as it is mine. Hopefully I can share yours as well. Safe journey !
Although we will still be 2 hours apart (by plane) with me in Illinois and her in Boston (Harvard =P), it's still loads better than me being here alone. 2 years ago at this time I think I was still in lower 6 A with James and Byron and Miao, seems like an age ago really. At the time I was there only cause I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do, and now looking back I'm really glad I took the time to think it through.
And I never intended to come to the US after form 6 at all. My original plan was to go to Australia, Perth probably, and try to get into one of the universities there. June practically brainwashed me and I ended up taking SATs and TOEFL and writing bloody university application essays instead. Omg I still remember those frantic days spent writing stupid essays about 'My hometown Kuching' and getting our teacher's recommendations, and I really think I would have been unable to go through with it without her constant nagging and badgering. Haha sorry June but it's true !
Form 6 was a pain. We used to spend whole days at the state library studying, eating crappy library restaurant (it was called 'Window By the Lake' I think) food, feeding ducks with crab crackers O_o. We also had to manage our school's Interact Club - which mostly involved me signing stuff that June spent hours typing xD - deal with all the shit in school, that was a really tough time too, and we got through it together !
I can't begin to imagine how vastly different my life would have been if I hadn't met this tOopiDy giRL at the interact club telematch in 2002 with the fUnNy tYpiNg on irc. Haha ! I definitely won't be where I am now, for sure. This new phase in my life is as much yours as it is mine. Hopefully I can share yours as well. Safe journey !
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Uni !
Yo wassup homies? How's it hangin'?
Haha it's me Darren and I'm still alive ! I'm now at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but the name is so ridiculously long it's more commonly known as U of I. Today marks my 15th day on campus, and so far it's been pretty good, nothing bad has happened yet but anyway so classes have started - I have the shittiest schedule ever. Mon-Thurs my classes start at 8am ! Thursday is the worst, I start at 8 am and class ends at 5 pm. Crazy huh?? Probably because I had my class registration late, and all the lectures were full by then so I ended up with the stupidest lecture times.
I got a single room (most of the rooms are double, some are triple and even quadruple O_o ) which was really unexpected - and also not so good. I get all the privacy I want, but without a roommate things get a bit lonely. Instead of having ready-made friends waiting for you in your room, say, I have to make an effort to find a partner or friend to go bowling, buy books and have dinner with me etc. Here's some pics:
Of my room door !
Tornado warning (O_O)
The hallway outside
The study desk
My closet
The overall view
This is the centre of all the traffic in campus, reason why there isn't any traffic at all is cause the picture was taken at like 6.30am in the morning the first day I arrived. Couldn't sleep, jet lag.
The Mathematics Hall
The Illini Union. Pronounced ee-lai-nai. Not ee-lee-nee or ee-lee-nai.
Random pic
Pics of 'The Quad' which is a kind of park in the middle of campus. Outdoor events held here. I went rock climbing on a vertical wall thingy here!
Squirrels. These buggers are everywhere and they let you get as close as 2 feet before running away. Damn annoying.
My first burger meal ! You wouldn't think it but it's actually really hard to find burgers here. They always have pizza or pasta or some kind of cheesy crap, so this was a really nice change. ^^
Me and Low Yen Shine, the only other Chinese private student who's a freshman here. Most of the others are MARA or INTEC sponsored Malay scholars. This pic was taken at the aptly named 'Cravings Restaurant', where they sell stuff like Curry Rice and Cha Kuay Teow. At least, that's what the food's supposed to taste like, though it doesn't really come close.
Haha it's me Darren and I'm still alive ! I'm now at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but the name is so ridiculously long it's more commonly known as U of I. Today marks my 15th day on campus, and so far it's been pretty good, nothing bad has happened yet but anyway so classes have started - I have the shittiest schedule ever. Mon-Thurs my classes start at 8am ! Thursday is the worst, I start at 8 am and class ends at 5 pm. Crazy huh?? Probably because I had my class registration late, and all the lectures were full by then so I ended up with the stupidest lecture times.
I got a single room (most of the rooms are double, some are triple and even quadruple O_o ) which was really unexpected - and also not so good. I get all the privacy I want, but without a roommate things get a bit lonely. Instead of having ready-made friends waiting for you in your room, say, I have to make an effort to find a partner or friend to go bowling, buy books and have dinner with me etc. Here's some pics:
Of my room door !
Tornado warning (O_O)
The hallway outside
The study desk
My closet
The overall viewAnd now for some pics of the Uni itself:
This is the centre of all the traffic in campus, reason why there isn't any traffic at all is cause the picture was taken at like 6.30am in the morning the first day I arrived. Couldn't sleep, jet lag.
The Mathematics Hall
The Illini Union. Pronounced ee-lai-nai. Not ee-lee-nee or ee-lee-nai.
Random pic
Pics of 'The Quad' which is a kind of park in the middle of campus. Outdoor events held here. I went rock climbing on a vertical wall thingy here!
Squirrels. These buggers are everywhere and they let you get as close as 2 feet before running away. Damn annoying.
My first burger meal ! You wouldn't think it but it's actually really hard to find burgers here. They always have pizza or pasta or some kind of cheesy crap, so this was a really nice change. ^^
Me and Low Yen Shine, the only other Chinese private student who's a freshman here. Most of the others are MARA or INTEC sponsored Malay scholars. This pic was taken at the aptly named 'Cravings Restaurant', where they sell stuff like Curry Rice and Cha Kuay Teow. At least, that's what the food's supposed to taste like, though it doesn't really come close.OK that's it for today, already 1am and I have to wake up at 7. Bah.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Haish
It's time for me to go, it really is and it's finally sunk in. I'll be leaving today ( August 11th ) for the United States after 9 months of holiday and 20 years in Kuching. I remember when everyone started going off at the end of form 5 and I was stuck in form 6, wishing I was going too. That was 2 years ago and now that it's time for me to leave I find that I don't want to. I'm partly excited that I'm going to uni and somewhere new, but mostly I just feel reluctant to leave home. Everything just feels so final all of a sudden, like: 'this is the last futsal match with my futsal mates for 9 months', 'won't get to see ahpa and ahma till next year', stuff like that.
That's why for the past week I have been stuffing myself with Kuching food, probably one of the things I'll miss most about home. Here's a list of the all-time favourites so I'll always remember:
1. Gubak mee at green hill corner
2. Sio bee at open air
3. Petanak kuay chap
4. Sister cafe Curry rice
5. Spring cafe Kolo mee
6. Sah-Koh Cha Kuay Tiao behind St. jo
7. Azza burger
8. Ah yew Laksa
9. Sundrop and Justea Anggur
10. Home-cooked food!
I have no idea what to say now, feeling a bit numb at the moment.
One more thing before I end this post though. Here:
Wtf is that?? Our time capsule ! Buried at my house at 2.22pm on the 2nd of January 2007. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, not very sure exactly when already). Even though I'm leaving home and everyone's going their separate ways, let us not forget this piece of evidence that shows who we were at the time of our youth and where we are from. We might have forgotten by the time we dig it up in 2017. Remember this, everyone - you know who you are. Ok?
That's why for the past week I have been stuffing myself with Kuching food, probably one of the things I'll miss most about home. Here's a list of the all-time favourites so I'll always remember:
1. Gubak mee at green hill corner
2. Sio bee at open air
3. Petanak kuay chap
4. Sister cafe Curry rice
5. Spring cafe Kolo mee
6. Sah-Koh Cha Kuay Tiao behind St. jo
7. Azza burger
8. Ah yew Laksa
9. Sundrop and Justea Anggur
10. Home-cooked food!
I have no idea what to say now, feeling a bit numb at the moment.
One more thing before I end this post though. Here:
Wtf is that?? Our time capsule ! Buried at my house at 2.22pm on the 2nd of January 2007. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, not very sure exactly when already). Even though I'm leaving home and everyone's going their separate ways, let us not forget this piece of evidence that shows who we were at the time of our youth and where we are from. We might have forgotten by the time we dig it up in 2017. Remember this, everyone - you know who you are. Ok?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
