Doodle #206

Boy it has been h-e-c-t-i-c. Still getting used to the new semester. I still can't really differentiate my units from each other. They all sound so similar! D:

And.. that's it for today! LOL My arm's aching from bowling. :/

...

Okay fine I suppose I can't just leave it at that, not when I'm suddenly spurred to write whatever comes to mind.

Yes the first week has indeed been rather disorganized, as I'm still stuck in the 'holiday' mindset despite not having much of a holiday. Trying my best to get myself up to speed, and determined to start studying earlier this semester. Even more so after the nosedive the previous semester. I really need to learn to reorder my priorities in life, having to juggle time between studies, relaxation, gaming, and dance. Yes, dancing is a commitment, I never knew how much time it could take up until I actually took it up.

It's been really fun, that I can say. Following simple choreography and simple isolations, that I can handle. But to actually dance with swagger and to execute complex maneuvers.. I suppose I'm managing, having jumped straight to Intermediate with ZERO basics at all. Strangely addicted to tutting. But as with most of my hobbies, I'm held back by myself, and my lack of creativity. Mehhh.

Studies wise, it's been.. Okay I can't tell exactly since it's only the second week of the semester. I guess we'll just have to see how things turn out.

Helped (somewhat) set up the MUPhaS booth the other day. Go MUPHAS! :D Okay fine I just stood there and provided comic relief. :D

And once again I find myself questioning the decisions I've made selfishly.

Doodle #205

The first week of Year 2 Semester 2 is coming to a close. Eventful, maybe not but hey, least it's back to the hustle and bustle of the good ol' routine. Keeps me busy, and I'm happy enough. On a completely unrelated note, I just got up from one of those impromptu involuntary naps while reading. It's like textbooks are the best silent lullabies a student can get. No need for lyrics, or a melody, just flip through the pages and OFF YOU GO! :D

So far it's only been a taster of what's to come. The assignments this time round seem, less in terms of quantity but the workload seems to be the same, or rather higher. But then again that's to be expected.

Too sleepy. Can't. Think.

Life

A gentle discord,
Slithers like wildfire,
No one side is just,
In this game for two,
A tale with no conclusion,
Destined for something greater.


A subtle fixation,
Tugs along the cord of zeal,
A transitory connection,
Lost in the passage of time,
When fate plays its card,
Two hearts collide.


Told through the eyes of another,
A silhouette's anecdote,
Not just a mere footnote,
But a story denoted,
By a chapter in the book,
Life.

Doodle #204 : A Close

And so the fifth and final week of the holidays are drawing to a close. A rather uneventful end to what was supposedly the most entertaining (or least it was meant to be) holiday season to date. We were asked to perform for orientation, and pretty much recycled the performance for the previous two Open Days. There's just something about the Monash crowd. I just need to find a word to describe it. Oh right, dead. Pretty much.

Once again the only cheers came from ourselves. Talk about getting into the moment. Nevertheless, enjoyed performing.

Then came the stagnant phase of the last week. Everything pretty much came to a halt and time itself just seemed to pass motionlessly. Funny how the very nature of boredom seems to dull the passage of time itself.

I suppose yesterday was a good day, somewhat. Met up with Mun who just finished her exams the day before, and Elaine, Ipoh gang! (Technically I do have Ipoh blood in my veins, but that's about it). Dropped by Monash first to run some errands, and meet those going for the Pharmacy Board interview. I had my turn the year before, as I may or may not have mentioned in one of my many inane rants.

Yes I'm just gonna leave this post hanging here, because I can.

Doodle #203 : MDFC Penang Tour

Whaddup peeps! I'll try to keep things in chronological order, as best as I can recollect the many events of the Penang trip a.k.a. MDFC Hip Hop Penang Tour. ;) Second time round to Penang and the first trip with these peeps. *yay!* Been waiting for this since before the semester ended.

And so we go.

Met up with the fellow KK-ians and our Most Photogenic Senior at McD, Kota Kemuning and carpooled to Monash! :D Where we were joined by Alex and Jet at the front gate. From there it was a long walk to Pyramid where the Aeroline bus was going to be departing from.

Not my first time travelling by Aeroline, but my first time going up to Penang by it. Was a pretty comfortable experience. This time round, we each had our personal TVs instead of the giant one up front where you would be forced to only view one channel.

Ah yes, an assortment of movies and songs all at the touch of your fingertips. Watched Johnny English Reborn to kill time. Damn it was good, laughed all the way through. Again. :D Songs weren't bad too, Avril Lavigne (her first album), Evanescence, among others. Heh. I iz one happy boi.

Clockwise from top left: Me, Jet, Sue Yen, Ding Xian. :D
 

MDFC Peeps yo! Jet and I at the back, Stacey, Sue Yen, Ding Xian and Alex up front.

Ah you just tell who is who on your own la. Nice shades Christine. xD


A pleasant 5 hours later..

Touchdown! Oh the smiling faces, and anticipation.

Aaaaaaaand, our tour guides, Penangites Min Yan and Marvin (in car) are here. Took a stroll about Queensbay Mall before officially beginning our itinerary, we need time to soak in the sights and sounds, and the much fresher air of Penang. A quick lunch helped boost the process. Hmmm.... Penang food.

First order of business, get our luggage settled. Off to Tunes hotel! So we were discussing how Josh and I had a room opposite another room, while Sue Yen and Ding Xian had the Penang skyline to greet them in the morning.

"Aiya, what if got hot girls living in the room opposite you? Good what."
"Omg what if we get old aunties who stare at us?"
"random chit chat"

Later on that day we discovered just who would be in that room opposite our window..

GIANT FLOATING HEAD NEXT DOOR.

After checking and stuff, met up at the lobby to decide the day's plan.

Off to the beach! Batu Feringgi

I'd just like to start off by saying I DID NOT expect myself to get wet in any way whatsoever, which is why I had opted against bringing an extra pair of clothes just in case. Of course that all changed when these two monkeys jumped right in.

 So tempted..

Which is probably why I stood so close to the water, just hypnotized by the waves. I suppose I asked for it, being so close and all when the tide started to come in. I (and about 2 others) weren't prepared for the speed and intensity of the wave which just ploughed through to shore. Water splashed up to my knees. Dafuq. Luckily it was just shy of my pockets where my wallet and phone were. D:

Josh and Alex really enjoying their time in the water. I was THIS close to jumping in as well, but stopped just shy of the water when we changed locations. For watersports. Or rather,

THEY went for watersports. All geared up.

Me? I prefer to stay dry.

Well I wasn't alone. Marvin seems to share my notions. Well, you can see where the water from the earlier wave hit me quite clearly here. Note the two distinctive shades of my pants. D:

Off they go! ZOOM ZOOM.

Beachside photoshoot session?

Uhm.. Guys.. I'm stuck.

And the rest zooms off in their little inflatable boat.

And that's my cue. Exit, stage left!

Marvin, Christine and I took the more.. dry route to pass the time. Only thing was, to get to our destination we needed to trek. ALONG A VERY LONG BEACH. All the way to Hard Rock Cafe. :D

Yeah...... Let's just say the whole trip back was filled with me talking, and whining, and... whining. Tipsy Gary now comes with three times the fun! I found out my alcohol tolerance levels... Non-existent. :D

After being kicked out of Holiday Inn for not being "guests" wow such hospitality to tourists, we went to search for dinner. I'll not go into the part how I got separated then lost from the group. Oh no I wo-.... Okay.

All smiles after a nice helping of Oysters, Char Kuey Teow, Ikan Bakar and other delicacies. Nothing quite hits the spot like Penang food after a day well spent. Especially since your stomach feels like it's running on empty. Or maybe it was me being high, and I needed to chow down on something to regain my senses. Either way, that was some darned good food.. and only the beginning of so much more.

Then we browsed the night bazaar for items of interest. Spotted some pretty cool T-shirts, kind of like what you see at Urban Tee, nonsensical messages. "Tell your tits to stop staring at my eyes", those kind of things. Was thinking of browsing about when they decided we should all get ONE shirt and synchronize it, dubbing it "The Penang Shirt". I suppose we were all spoilt for choice, and couldn't decide on any particular shirt so we just gave up on it. I did spot a pretty cool looking sweater priced at RM65 though, but just don't have the $$. D:

Headed back to Tunes for the night. Took 5 to refresh ourselves and the designated rendezvous point was Starbucks next door. Why, you ask? ;)

So I was supposed to distract.. Somewhat. Don't look at me! Distracting isn't my forte. Heck, I just sat there. ANYWAY. Behind the scenes.

Le preparation by Alex and Christine.

"Hey peeps! There's a big stage behind there, wanna go chill there ah?"

3.. 2.. 1!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...

Atta boy.

Happy 20th Joshiee. :)

Ah, so hang fuk ah.

MDFC celebration yo' And the thing about going on trips with fellow dancers.

SPONTANEOUS FLASH MOB.. Somewhat. Or spontaneous performance. And the award for best dressed hip hop dancer goes to.... *dots*

Dayum we sucked, but hey! It's about having fun. :)

And..... POSE.

I did notice someone actually recording us as we were dancing about. == Oh what the hell.

Having tired ourselves out, we just sat and chilled near the fountain. Or so I was told it was a fountain. But it had many bright shiny lights! :D

ZOMBIESSS.

And Super Josh comes to the rescue! Darned nice picture. ;D

To say I was drained was probably an understatement. The moment I got back to the hotel room, I crashed instantly on the bed. Next thing I know, it was morning. Thing with hotel rooms is their epic thick curtains blocking out the sun, making everything look like it's 5am. *pulls curtain, light pours in* OH DEAR GOD MY EYES. THEY BURN. *looks at watch, 8am* Okay, rise and shine! Got up and ready, and as if on cue the morning call crew came knocking on our door.

With that, the second day officially began. A short trip to the jetty and a so much more grueling walk into town later, we found ourselves at the bicycle rentals.

All of us but Min Yan, Sue Yen and Christine got our own bikes. They travelled the town on foot. :P Not much pictures here since Christine was the main photographer of the trip and she was on the separate group.

Gotta say, it's been awhile since I cycled. My bike wasn't too shabby, but there just wasn't much room to navigate as we were cycling along the same roads across the city that the cars used. So we had to watch out for vehicles.

Warning: Bland and mediocre pictureless explainations begins now. Those of you with a distaste for boring word posts are advised to look away now.

First stop was a coffee shop next to the Kuan Yin Temple nearby. Can't remember their name exactly but they are famous for their Otak-Otak (or so it says on their signs). Since we were so close to the Kuan Yin Temple, we stopped by for a little cultural visit. Gina, Cacing and Jet all got their fortunes taken (try out la), using those shake until a stick comes out kind of ways.

On the bikes again! Stopped by a second temple, where Jet dashed in to pray. I suppose it's caused he tried the fortune thing twice and had bad luck for both. :/

It was then to yet ANOTHER temple. Snap shots, photos, left.

Khoo Kongsi now. :D Took us awhile to get our bicycles parked properly. Then it was off to explore the place. You may look up the place yourself. I was never a travel blogger, it'd be really weird if I even tried to start explaining it.

Time for FOOD. I guess my lack of energy showed, which in turn helped prompt the decision to go food hunting. :D Cycled a pretty long distance into town. Managed to find this small shack which had some pretty awesome Red Bean / Green Bean paste / soup thingy. And Yam Rice, DAM NICE. :D Sometimes you find things in the most unexpected places. Course, the main destination was still Penang Road. Off we go! Into a place I recognized pretty well after having walked across it over 5 times.

Joo Hooi Cafe!

One of the best laksas, ever. Period. Alex did mention something about the one from a morning market. I've yet to try that but this is probably among the top places to go for Laksa and/or Cendol. :D

Then it was a straight road all the back to the rentals, as our time has more or less expired. Hard to believe 4 hours just sped past like that. ZOOOM! We were back before I realized, felt so much faster too. Three cheers to awesome guide Alex! Hip hip hurrah!

Then there was just the waiting for Alex and Min Yan to come and get us from the shop.

Break time! We got about a very much needed hour's break from the hectic schedule and just kicked back and relaxed in the hotel. Alex and Jet came over and we played Monopoly Deal while waiting for our call time of 5pm at the lobby.

Second night's agenda, Gurney Drive's beach. One car, grab the beer, other car, find a spot! A short trip to TESCO later (and getting lost in their parking lot), arrived at the beach, beer in hand. Alex ran off to get us some makeshift buckets, chucked the water and ice in. Sprinkled some salt to lower their freezing temp to cool the beer better. (Alex's idea. Engineers ftw). Laid out some newspaper and cardboard to form a temporary picnic site, and we were off!

Songs, dance, chatting, drinking. Life's good. :')

Once the night was over, packed up. Wouldn't wanna leave any trash behind, we're such civic-minded people. *grin* Back to the hotel! I was on the first trip back so I had to wait for Joshiee to get back, and strangely enough I managed to stay awake until I heard footsteps in the hallway. "Yeap, that has to be them" stepped up, opened the door and voila! They're right in front of me. And that's the last thing I remember before crashing onto the bed.

That concludes Day 2.

Those of you who looked away earlier, it is now safe to look back onto this post.

Day 3 began on a much lighter note, least for me anyway. Only awoke around 10ish and rushed to get ready for our last half day in Penang. Time sure flies, felt like everything passed by in a heartbeat.

First stop for the day is a pastry shop of sorts just a little ways down the street from our hotel. Nope, don't have a name for you. I'm just so bad with names. *shrugs* But if it's any help you may stare at the interior decorations in the picture below.

Everything there was good. Steam / Friend man tau, Chicken Pie, their Bean Curd. YUMZ. I swear I got hungrier the more I ate.

Now that the appetizers are settled, time for the main course. Headed over to McAllister Road for more Char Kuey Teow, probably the priciest I've ever eaten at a whopping RM7 per plate. But damn they were good, like REAL GOOD. Aiya 1 or 2 plates only okay la. :D

Due to parking issues, we actually made a detour into the hospital opposite the stall. That was some funny stuff wei.

This is about the time I start to get lazy and just get straight to the point in my posts.

Next stop, Blue Mansion! Sadly we missed the tour by a mere 30 minutes. D: So all we could do was stand outside and take pictures.

Which we did.

A short walk down the road to The Chocolate Boutique. Upon entry, we were given a tour and got free tastes of their chocolate and coffee products. I can still feel the lingering taste of mocha in my lips as I write this. Damn, it was good.

Jump shot after we were done with the tour. ;D Why didn't we do this by the beach the other time? Dam weird do it in front of some shop. Rofl.

That was pretty much the last destination of interest for us, it was back to Queesbay after that.

At the Aeroline office. It's been an awesome 3 days. Unforgettable. :) Can't wait for the next trip with you guys!

Kinoc, out.

Doodle #202

To summarize the events of late, I've had a pretty eventful first week of the holidays (as denoted by my previous post), but that's where the fun ended. To describe the second week as 'lacklustre' is probably the understatement of the semester. There was absolutely nothing to do, and no one around to catch up with.

To demonstrate the extent of the utter blandness of the second week, I have absolutely ZERO recollection of it, save for the fact my biological clock went haywire and I could no longer remember what time of day nor which day of the week it was. Thursday night was when I remembered I had an outing the following morning, which was Friday. I was still thinking it was Tuesday. That's how messed up I was.

The 3rd week (this current one) was somewhat better. I've been kind of occupied, I suppose. Resumed dancing, probably against my better judgement. My body felt so stiff and my leg refused to move properly/smoothly. Must be the lingering phobia from my very FIRST sprain in my entire life. Which in itself is probably a statement, I need to be more sporty. This way of life is just.. Unhealthy, to say the least. Practice again on Friday and will be performing this weekend! I hope things go smoothly with only 40% of the original crew dancing. We had to reshuffle positions and insert new choreography. But some were rather an improvement. :D

So far, there'll be a Penang trip on the 4th week and Ipoh during the final week so I guess I'm packed.

Given so much,
Yet wanting more,
To abscond oneself,
From a waking dream.

Tighten the bonds,
Engraved in memories,
Through the passage of,
Time.