Short Post

Okay, I know it's been slightly over a week since I last posted anything. But that's only because i've been so busy with my 7 whopping assignments, travelling back to Penang for my semester break, and admittedly going out with my friends. But thank god i've already completed some of my assignments. But there are probably still more to come. *sigh*

Anyways, you're gonna have to wait a little longer for the Malacca pictures coz i've been lazy to edit the pictures and also I don't know which ones to post up yet. But on the bright side, i've got a little surprise video!

I went back to Penang for my one week semester break which was last week. I had quite a blast catching up with friends and dining and all that stuff. I originally planned to post up pictures here but then there were like 30 over pictures which I wanted to show you guys. So instead, I made a video, posted it up on YouTube and here it is!!!:

Drive drive drive drive...

Hey guys, I know i promised Malacca pictures but i've been too lazy enjoying my holiday to get around to edit them and post them up, but I promise I will eventually do it. Everything's eventual now. So don't worry.

Anyways, i'm back in Penang. I took a bus home from KL and I arrived here on Wednesday night. I was supposed to arrive earlier but I missed that bus because of reasons I don't want to talk about. But the bus company offers ticket trade-ins and I got another ticket for the following bus which was like 4 hours later without any extra payments. So I was stuck there at the bus station lounge area and I ended up watching movies on my laptop. I was so glad I brought my laptop with me otherwise I might have died from boredom. So I arrived safely back in Penang. The trip was uneventful coz I was in my own iPod world throughout the bus ride. I got caught at the Penang Bridge jam though. That took up about half an hour. Sucks doesn't it?

So what's up with me? I've been trying to arrange outings with friends. The nice people. And other than that, I am planning the food i've gotta have before heading back next week. And by the way...

~ I've gotten my license to driveee! WHOO HOO!!!

Yes i've finally gotten my license renewed (which only took me 4 minutes to do) and now I can drive again after a one month absence from the steering wheel! YAY! Okay, I guess i'll shut up and drive now.

Jump

So I went back to Malacca again today. This time it wasn't a college-organised trip but a road trip with friends. We just basically wanted to get more information about the place and take more pictures which may come in handy next time for our assignments and stuff. So, we drove down in 2 cars, Jon's and FatJo's. But FatJo's boyfriend drove her car and led the way coz he seems to be more familiar with the area. We visited a couple of places. Jon and Sophia obviously did their homework on where to go.

We visited the 'Cheng Hoon Teng' Temple, apparently a UNESCO world heritage. Then we had lunch at the Chicken Rice Ball place again. I didn't satisfy my appetite for it the last time we were here, so this visit did the trick! Then we walked around the Stadhuys building area and took alot of pictures. Pictures of us jumping...and jumping. Then we toured the Architecture museum and lastly had dinner at the Portugese village. Oh yeah, I forgot we went to Mini Malaysia at the start of the trip. But that place was a rip-off and it blows. Parts of it were under renovation but they kept the ticket prices the same. So it's not even worth mentioning.

I don't think i'm gonna put up pictures on this post coz i'm too lazy to edit them now coz I like just came back about an hour ago. But I am gonna put up this pic Sophia took of me jumping at the seashore near the Portugese Village place. I love it, take a look:


But seriously, most of the pictures taken in Malacca of us were shots of us jumping. Come to think of it, it all started when I took jumping shots of my friend in Penang. Then when I visited KLPAC a few weeks ago, I thought of doing it again and that's when I got the shot in my display pic now. Then Jon wanted one. Then Sophia. Then just now in Malacca, Pam wanted one. And then Kar Weng. So basically, all followed suit. But I love their shots too.

That's all for now guys! Coming back to Penang in 2 days and i'll be staying for slightly more than a week. I'll be jumping with you guys in Penang soon!

*Coming Up: Pictures From Above Mentioned Malacca Trip.

In the streets of Malacca

+ Jonker Street


Last Thursday was my field trip to Malacca. The bus left late (coz it arrived late) and so we had only a limited time to wonder around Jonker Street and the surrounding area. It feels weird coz I was there a few months back. For this assignment, we are required to get into groups of 2 and come up with 2 A3 sized paper sheets displaying the architecture, culture and food of a culture in Malacca. My teammate (Pam) and I are gonna do Nyonya Baba 'Baba Nyonya'.

~ Pam and I outside some fancy building

Anyways as I was saying, it feels kinda unusual to be back there again and to visit the same places (although this time round I didn't go to A' Famosa and the Stadhuys Building). We mainly walked around the Jonker street area. Everyone was snapping photos of the buildings and the food and the people. I found it funny when one of my coursemates went "Look! An ice-kacang making machine!!!" And everyone started toward it to get a shot. Haha. Okay, so I also passed by the same Hockien Association building like my family and I did the last time. And I also went to the exact same chicken rice ball shop to dine. See:

~ Kar Weng, Me and Pam outside the Hockien Association...we're all Hockien Lang!


~ Ahhhh...chicken rice ball...*salivating*

So basically, we just walked around the place, pointing our digital cameras in every direction possible, and getting as many useful shots as possible for the assignment. Malacca is a lot like Penang since they're both under the Straits Settlements. So I guess I might be able to get similar pictures back home. Back to the point, we visited a restored Dutch house which was located at 8, Heeren St. It's kinda like a typical Chinese townhouse with the airwell. We were taken on a small tour inside the building. Then, we had a second lunch at a nyonya stall. It's okay but not as good as home cooking. It's catered towards the tourists.

~ Jon and I at the Nyonya Food stall place.


~ Me, Jon and Sophia outside an abandoned house.

At one point, my camera fell to the ground! I was like SHIAT! SHIAT! SHIAT! DIE DEE!!! At first something was wrong with the lens protector part, but after a few days of usage, it returned back to normal...phew *wipes sweat from forehead* It's okay fellas, it's okay...nothing to see here, move along!



Our last stop was the Baba Nyonya Museum. Let me tell you, it was B-E-A-UTIFUL!!! It's restored to it's former glory with all old pieces of antique furniture on display. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited. Dang it! So we were only allowed to take pictures of the exterior. The building is actually made up of 3 Chinese townhouses combined into one. So it's pretty darn huge. We had to followed a tour and the tour guide sucks. It's SO obvious that she memorized the explanations. She dictates like the terminator. Seriously, she was like emotionless when talking to us. I'd rather listen to a doorknob talk.

Before we left, we went souvenir hunting at the local shops there. Look what Jon bought:

~ He bought a freakin' wooden sword the size of a tongkat!

And then minutes later...

~ Pam came prancing towards us with another one...o.O

So the Malacca trip was enjoyable had we not had so little time to spend there. It was a big rush for all of us.



+ Movie: Disturbia



Okay, so I watched Disturbia 2 days ago. I've been wanting to watch it for a long time ever since it got released in America like several months ago! It stars Shia LaBeouf (why is he in so many movies lately!), Sarah Roemer (hot!), Carrie-Anne Moss (that Matrix woman), David Morse and Aaron Yoo. I think it's pretty good coz it's not your typical horror movie. It's also got some other elements like humour and teen romance thrown into the mix. So it's safe to say that it's entertaining. I guess Shia LaBeouf is starting to come out of his irritating 'Even Stevens' shell. And I was surprised to see that Matrix woman play his mom in this movie. Since when did she look so old? But I think her role in the movie was pretty small...they could have maybe expanded it a little bit. But some of the plot scenes are a little ridiculous. I mean, if you suspect that your neighbour is a wanted serial murderer, wouldn't you lodge a police report instead of watching him with your binoculars? But anyhoo, it's an okay flick to catch.



+ PJ Hilton Christmas Train Display Project

For out Design Communications class, we are made to help out with the PJ Hilton Christm...let me just call it 'The PJ Hilton Project'. It's a competition in which our senior students won last year, and this year, they were allocated 5000 ringgit to produce a HUGE display unit which would get showcased during Christmas Season at the PJ Hilton lobby. It's a challenging attempt coz you have to do the landscape from scratch and build buildings and props and decoration and make sure they fully mesh together. Oh, and the display unit has 2 layers! So that's like twice the amount of work! There would be 5 themes which are featured in the project which are: White Christmas, Renaissance Christmas, Desert Christmas, Tropical Christmas and Dark (Underground) Christmas. I'm in the Desert Christmas group and they are building pyramids and mudhouses for now. So on some Sundays, i'll be going to the hotel and help out the seniors to build the stuff. Kinda fun, but messy...

Look what i've built:

~ Everyone who sees this thinks that it's a bench. It's actually a miniature wooden table made out of Balsa wood (a lightweight wood).

That's all for now. Holidays are coming up and I may be going to Malacca again with my friends next week.

Trip the Night Fantastic

Let's get started!

+ The Islamic Museum Trip

Okay, so we took a bus to the museum for this class trip. I wasn't all that excited about this trip as I pictured we were all going to some old, dark, stuffy museum with boring showcases spewing long stories on who's who in history. But I couldn't be more wrong. The museum was quite impressive. It's clean, with good lighting to highlight the showcase units (some using natural lighting) and the artifacts featured were excellent. They even have this drape cloth (I forgot what it's called) from the Ka'abah. This trip is intentionally a site visit and we're to note the influences of Islamic design in things such as architecture, textile, art, armoury, pottery and the other stuff on display...I think(The lecturer wasn't really clear). We were required to choose one of the categories and focus on that. So Jon, Sophia and I decided to do armoury...well coz not a lot of our coursemates were paying much attention in that area.


Unfortunately, the museum prohibits photography inside and thus I have no photos of the displays. Instead, we were expected to sketch out anything that we find interesting. YES...SKETCH!!! But somehow or other I managed. Not good...but it's acceptable. Okay, picture time:

~ the museum building


~ the ornate plaster ceiling


~ Jon, Me and Soph


~ Jump!


~ Tyra, Pamie, Fatin, Me, Soph and Jon posing outside the museum before leaving.

The only thing I have to complain about is that we had only less than 2 hours to spend there after paying like 6 ringgit. More time should have been given AND Taylor's should have covered the cost of entrance fees! That'd be good.


+ Orientation Night

Orientation night was a bust. Not only was the food insipid, it was also limited to the extent that a number of people didn't actually get to eat anything (Okay fine, maybe the punch was okay). The crowd was ridiculous too. It's supposed to be ORIENTATION night people! But somehow I saw more seniors than us freshies...maybe that's why all the food was all gone before you can even say 'party!'. And the DJ was also playing has-been songs. But at least there were a few performances...including a drag show *bad... bad images in my head* and also some dance performances which were alright. But other than that, nothing can save this night from sucking more badly. Oh, but there is...at the end of the night, they opened up a dance floor where everyone can groove to the (has been) tunes with disco lights flashing in the club-like ambiance except for the fact that it was held outdoors. Ergo, you can imagine all the sweating. Don't get me wrong, dancing is good, dancing is healthy. But dancing outdoors dressed in semi-formal attire was just not good.

The theme was 'Celebrity Night'. I noticed the girls put quite an amount of effort into dressing up. Some guys were also dressed up but others only went in jeans and a t-shirt...o.O I went there clad in black jeans, black shoes, a dark navy button-up shirt, a brown belt, an electric blue skinny tie and a cobalt blue sweater. Tell me what you think about my look! A few people said they really liked my striking blue cobalt sweater. Others thought I looked different in a tie. My friends thought I took my inspiration from Green Day. But truth be told, I wanted to wear something inspired by The Killers. So here you go:

~ Me with the girls


~ Marco, Suzy, Fatin, Me and Jon


~ Faeem, Me, Sophia and Johann





~ these two pictures were taken as we were leaving...all tired and sweaty

Okay so that's it for now. Tomorrow, i'll be heading down to Malacca as part or my site visit. I'll try to take as many pictures there!

PS: Don't ask me about the title.