Happy Happy Joy Joy Punya Malaysia

"You do some more, Mummy sell you to the Indian man one ar...."



When I was very young, this was something that I used to hear whenever I disobeyed my mom. It never failed to get me shaking in my shoes and hence morphing into the most angelic girl around.

It does sound kinda racist, doesn't it?

Well, my two best friends now are Indians.


****************************************************************


What's the point of all these, you ask me?

Well, I decided to participate in Project Happy Malaysia, which is a voluntary project for bloggers to write about heartwarming tales about Malaysia/being Malaysian, in conjunction with National Day.

Happy naked kids.

However, never did I expected the humongous blog block (don't I have a way with words?) that I'd face!!! I was just staring blankly at my screen for ages, without a single inkling of a happy Malaysian thought.

I mean, there is the food.... ;)

But I shan't digress.

I've had my share of my inefficient government servants: IC, driving license, passport, renewals... Government services are a bitch. I have experienced being asked for a bribe by a cop (hee, I was speeding-lah), though I stupidly refused to. I have had countless encounters with shitass dangerous drivers on public transport. I have been left starving at wedding dinners because everyone is always, always late. Heck, I was even forced into paying cops because they insisted that the boyfriend and I were having some hangky-pangky in the car, when in fact we were just talking!!!

When I put things into perpective like that, it's really difficult for me to brandish out a happy thought.

But, for the love for my country, i shall strive on. ;)


For the moment, I can't seem to pinpoint one exact incident or moment which I can label as a true blue (wowee, national color!) "AWWW" Malaysian moment, however I do have some things that I want to share. :)

*****************************

I have a gang of friends back home, and we represent the majority races of our country. I've always been so proud of this, especially when I see people who only hang out with those who are of the same race. I mean, we're practically a paragon of MUHIBAH-ness! ;)

We invite each other over during Deepavali, Hari Raya, Chinese New Year open houses. We drool after each other's costumes, such as the lengha, sari, cheongsam, kebaya. I always make sure I have chicken bak gua (grilled meat slices, don't know what they're called!! Very prominent during Chinese New Year) for my Muslim friends. We talk 'bout which foundation best compliments our individual skin color. We try to teach other our mothertongue (I sure had fun teaching my friends to say "sex life" in Chinese!;) ).

We have shared laughter and tears. We have seen each other at our finest, and also when the situation called for tatty shirts. We have witness breakdowns and shrieks of joy, sloppy moments and hyper ramblings. We shared dreams, ambitions, hugs, clothes and cheesecake.

We see each other as individuals. We accept each other's flaws and weaknesses, but not skin color, as it simply wasn't an issue to begin with.

8 years and counting. I love you guys. :)

********************************

And this, is from a Malaysian abroad's view.

I've been in Melbourne for almost 2 months. First time away from home, first time being away from people I love; make that everyone I love.

It was really tough initially. In my first week, I thought that I could never survived till the end of the year. The first few nights, I weeped myself to sleep under my blankets.

Thank god for Malaysians.

The Malaysians who have been already studying in Melbourne previously really welcomed us with open arms. I was brought to eat the best nasi lemak around, I was invited to hang out in rooms-- to throw grapes into agape mouths, to hog the kitchen and play bridge, people inviting me over for dinner for a home-cooked meal.

They always have a ready smile for you, a cheerful greeting. And seeing a friendly face just made homesickness that much easier to deal with. :)


Update:
AND.... Us Malaysians made plans to meet up at 12am of National Day to sing our national anthem! ;)

We even have flags... (I really have no idea how they got them in Melbourne! o_O)

Kibar-lah!

At about late 11pm, we gathered at this mini hilltop in the middle of our halls...

Ambush of people...

We counted down to 12am...

10...8...5....3...2...1...

"MERDEKA!"

"MERDEKA!"

"MERDEKA!"

Three loud cries. And after that, we sang Negaraku.

LOUDLY.

By this time, we were creating such a racket that alot of people actually came out to see the hell was happening.

And when the guards came running out, we took after and ran down the other side of the slope! ;)

Lots of laughs and breathless giggles, more fun than I've had in a long time, but, the moral is clear.

Malaysians do stick together. :)

******************************

And actually, there are many other happy things in Malaysia. :)

Like the time I got a really sweet, sincere lady who served me when I was registering for my MyKad.

Like how there are still nice clean beautiful beaches in Kuching, with white powdery sand.

When I went to my favourite nasi kandar mamak, and I took extra heaps of dishes, and the guy still charged me the usual price.

Like how I was in a taxi, and the taxi driver was honest and chatty.

Teh tarik.

The fact that we can spinkle -lahs, -mahs, abuthen into our conversations like nobody's business.

How I feel when I step into a clean public toilet.

Like how Malaysians can speak more languages/dialects as compared to other nations.

The fact that you have some place to go no matter what time it is in the night, or rather, day-- good old mamaks.

The fact that our culture is the rojak culture. And by this, I mean you have to have all the ingredients to make a good rojak. Even without one, it's just not the same good old rojak anymore.

Well, I am not sure I made a happy enough blog entry about my beloved country, but hey, if all else fails....

This will keep you happy! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MALAYSIA! :)

All American Rejects and the Sea of Humans

YIPPEEEEEEEEEDEEEEEEEEEEEDAAAAAAADOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I am a free woman!!!

I actually survived!!!! :D

Assignment, completed. Presentation, done. Exam, likely failed.


*breathes the air around me appreciatively. The air of freedom!* :P


Hmm, as I am so free (GOD, I just love rolling this word off my tongue!!! :P) now, I am going to blog about the All American Rejects concert that I went to last Saturday!

I know, I know, it's old news already, but can humor me or not? ;)


Disclaimer: I know some of my friends will be horrified at the fact that I went for an All American Rejects concert (music snobs :P), but I swear to god, I am not a fan k!! I just went for the experience... ;)


The concert was at the same day that I went for the footy game. We left early to the city for shopping! ;)

Some sights that we caught at the city...



This bring the term walking billboards to a new level!



A wedding at the church!!
Someday I shall get married with a horse and carriage! ;)


Speaking of weddings, as we were leaving the footy stadium, we saw a parade of cars for a wedding!! The bride and groom was in a retro jalopy-like car, and boy oh boy, the bride's gown was GORGEOUS!! Think Mariah Carey in her We Belong Together music video! :)

Don't know why there were so many weddings in the same day ler... Maybe the date was Aussie's equivalent of the Chinese's auspicious day of 8 August? ;)


After some minimal shopping (*coughs*), we met up with Jaclyn near to the venue of the the concert!



Wow, over 18 only, don't play play...


I was all impressed with the fact that the concert was going to be held at a hotel... Until I found out that the hotel's name was the Corner Hotel.

????!!!!?????

What kind of name is that for a hotel???

Lo and behold, the hotel was located at, guess where, a corner. -_-



Corner Hotel at its finest.


I really don't know what's with concerts and dodgy places.

We reached the hotel, and there wasn't really anyone queueing, so we went to grab dinner at an overpriced Vietnamese restaurant for a not-so-special Special Fried Rice.

By the time we went back to the hotel, the queue was FUCKING long, I kid you not. The queue went all around the hotel, and we actually had to line up at some back alley.

It was a bloody cold night somemore, and Ms. Smartypants here only wore spaghetti straps with a jacket. Not enough to beat 13 Celcius, I am telling you.

After burning fats worthy of a baby African elephant, FINALLY, we got in.



One of the first things that caught my eye...


The stage looked very eerie, no? The ghastly green lights remind me of a cheaply-produced Hong Kong horror film so much. ;)



T-shirts for sale... These shirts are actually for the opening group, Hello Goodbye. The description for the tees are damn cute! Check it out, magic snail tee, teehee...




A cloak room is where you keep your jackets and any bags that you may not want to carry. Cloak rooms come in handy, especially during cold weathers, and say you wear layers of clothings to a club. I paid AUD2 to keep my shopping bag, which is considered quite reasonable; I've heard that cloak room charges can go up to AUD10.



Bleah, my arm looks so flabby here.


If you're observant enough, by now, you should noticed that I havn't posted up many camwhore pictures. And that, my friend, is definitely something out of the norm. Y'know why? 'CAUSE I TURNED UP DAMN UGLY IN EVERY SINGLE PICTURE THAT I TOOK THAT NIGHT!! :( :( :(

It's a conspiracy against me, I am telling you.



Heh, remember the pic I took of the stage? That wasn't the real stage. THIS is.
Erm, those are actually blood red velvet curtains, but the pic damn fail-lah.



Our rocker chick attempt. Kit Mey succeeded, I cannot make it.


And, yes, we do not understand the meaning of shame. ;)


The concert was supposed to start at 8.30pm, but we got in at 9pm. But ahead of us was a very long wait....



We got so bored of waiting, we just sat down on the floor, ignoring the funny looks the Aussies gave us.


After god knows forever, the opening group started playing. And by that, I mean about 10pm, grrr. And it was a noisy angsty, raw and young-sounding rock band.

Did nothing for me.

I was too busy falling asleep, as I slept less than a few winks the night before, and I already had a long day prior to that.

Oh, but the opening acts played at the eerie stage! ;)

Oh crap, I just spilled the beans. YES, there were two opening acts. TWO.

#@%$%&^%**^&^%^#

After the first opening act, we HAD TO WAIT SOME MORE for the second opening act.

*growls*

But at least the second opening act was good, it was the band Hello Goodbye. Apparently it is quite a well-known group in Melbourne, and judging from the crowd's response, well-received too. They played poppy alternative rock, and I personally felt that the act was real good! :)

But no pictures though, 'cause the owner of this blog didn't have the foresight to charge her camera, and plus the fact that she took too many nonsense pictures at the footy game, her camera was running on dangerously low battery levels the whole night. Aiya, and 'cause the opening act was playing at the other stage, which was at the other end of the room (we kiasu, we hogged a spot right in front of the actual stage :p), and hence, everyone was blocking me-lah.

After Hello Goodbye finished, we HAD TO WAIT SOME MORE. Leading me to start cracking lame lines like, "All American Rejects, if you don't come out now, I'll reject you ar!!!"

By the time All-American Rejects came out, it was 11plus.

Bloody hell, we waited over 2 hours for the main act to come out.

Even Jaclyn, who has to been to a number of concerts in Melbourne, said that this was a first.

And the moment All American Rejects came out, all hell broke loose.



Remember that this is an over-18 concert?

Prior to the concert, Jaclyn was telling us how lucky that we were going for the above-18 one, as she has been to concerts for 18-and-below, and it was havoc there. Subsequently, we discussed about how civilised people are in Melbourne during concerts.



ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.

Pushing, shoving, jumping, stepping on feet, poking, jabbing....

It was a mosh pit, for god's sake.



This picture does no justice to the amount of hands raised in the air.
(There was simply no space for me to actually catch a wider perpective of the crowd)


It was so packed, and everyone was just pushing to the front. It was a literally a sea of people. I had this REALLY gung-ho Aussie girl next to me, and she was waving her hands up all the time. The problem is, when you put your hands up in the air in vigourous movements in a constrained space, you tend to hit the people next to you.

I got punched in the face numerous times.

I got socked at my jaw.

I got hit at my gums. MY GUMS!!!

It was so cramped, that I felt I was molested 100 times over.

I was jabbed and prodded everywhere.

And the ultimate was when I got elbowed at this vulnerable spot at the side of my head, which left me lightheaded for awhile. I even had to ask myself questions in my mind to test that I didn't get amnesia.

But you know what?

It was fun. :P



Lead singer, whatsisname.


It was so cramped, that I, was essentially controlled by the crowd. I found myself swaying left and right, front and back as the crowd moves. There was this time whereby I leaned to the side at almost 90 degrees, but I still didn't fall, 'cause it was that cramped!! And even if you don't jump along with the crowd, you'll still find youself jumping away like a mad hare. This is 'cause when people jump, you get mobbed into jumping too!!

I even completely let myself go slack, and just let myself swing to and fro like a pendulum... I didn't fall at all!! ;)

Really a whole lot of fun, I found myself grinning (hence why people could get me on my gums) like a lunatic... I was just so amused! :P

Wahahaha, we Move Along with the people! ;)



Enjoy the pretty hues. :)

Nevertheless, the show was a letdown. The music was not bad, the band played well live, but there wasn't much interaction, and the worst thing was, they stopped playing after 6?7? songs.
WTF.





And sorry that the pics turned out so lousy... It's kinda hard to take good pictures when:

1) Your camera's battery levels are low, hence you're afraid to switch it on for the fear that it'll just give up on you.

2) When there's absolutely no space for you to raise your hand up to capture a decent picture.

3) And when you actually get your hand up there, everyone is jumping so much that your hand wobbles and your pictures end up being blurry.




And

4) You forget that your camera has a zoom-in function.



Much better. :)


And with grumbles (the band played for less than an hour!! Conmen!!) and bruises on our bodies, the night ended.

And with that, all I had left for the night was a blurry entrance stamp....




And fun memories of my first mosh pit. :)






Oh, and a lower IQ (all the punchings in the head).

Crabmeat, a dog and jumps.

I am blogging 'cause I am suffering from study block.

Erm, it's a damn serious ailment k, cannot cure one.

Furthermore, it comes with serious consequences. (Like, failing my mid-terms)

Lalalalalalalalalalalalala *shushes the tiny voice in my head*


Anyway, here are some random pictures I took eons ago, when I went down to the city to visit muh babe--zahra, hee.



Slurp, tempura, slurp.


I have been craving for Japanese food for ages, and I finally got my dose at the food court. ;)

Look what we found at the pet shop!!!




Can I bring it home, pwease????


Cute until can die!!! :)

Zahra is taking Imagery classes, and she had to take pictures for her assignment ("Urban Landscapes"). So, throughout the day, the moment anything catches Zahra's eyes, we would have to suddenly stop and she would start snapping away... For instance, we went on the escalators twice for her to catch a good shot. ;)



I took a picture of Zahra taking a picture.



An example of what caught her eye... :)


I am sure your end-product would turn out great, dear! =)


After cinnamon rolls, chocolate sauce and a wee bit of shopping, she brought me back to her apartment...



It looks even better in real life, like a quirky array of drawers!!! :D


Damn nice k, her place; like a 5-star hotel. I want to move out too. :(

And a picture before I went home...



Hopscotch.

I used to play hopskotch with my sisters all the time. I'd steathily steal kapur (chalk) from the classrooms, and excitedly scribble on the porch. So many nights, we were bathed under the lights from the streetlamps, happily jumping away.

That is, until my dad comes home, and parks at the porch, right on top of our squares.

-_-

I am not sure about you, but to me, a simple picture like that, brings to mind of gaily laugter and joyous innocence.


Wokies, enough reminiscing, gotta get my butt off to studying! :P


Update: I'd kill for a plate of nasi lemak now!!!

Auspicious Date

Oh my goodness, guess what??????

I just realised that it's my blog's one month's, erm, erm, anniversary!! Hee.

Check out my first post ever... Damn lame one...

*Hugs and cradles my blog to me lovingly* (I know you can't exactly do that but we just pretend we can k)






Walao, this post dam pointless wei.

Rain on me

It has been raining all day long, a cold and miserable day. :(




My umbrella was my most trustworthy accessory.




Hence, how could I resist camwhoring with my new prop? :P




Ignore the messy hair, Melbourne winds SUCK.


Haha, and while I was shamelessly taking pictures of myself in front of my halls, an old lady passed by, and she gave me real funny looks.


Sorry lady, I really would have liked to invite you to join me. Hee.


And this is me sticking out my tongue at you if you do not approve of me camwhoring ala tak tau malu.


You suck too.


Oooh, speaking about rain, I saw a quote about rain yesterday... If you want the rainbow, you've got to take the rain too.

And another nice one that Small told me about!!! Some people walk in rain, some just get wet.

Don't you just feel all inspired and ready to take on the world now????

I sure am ready to take on some rain puddles!!! *skip skip skip* :P


************************************************************

On a side note, every few days of the week, there'd be vendors selling various things on our campus, from books, to jewellery, to eggs even. As rain was cheerfully tumbling down the whole day, almost all the stalls weren't open today.

On my way home, I saw one of the very few stalls that were open, a flowers stall, and really, business was awful, 'cause everyone was either running to shade or hiding under big fat umbrellas. Hence, I thought I'd do a good deed, and I bought flowers from the stall! :)




Myriads of blooms. Mosaic of colors. :)


I feel so happy when I see the flowers in my room, so colorful and bright! :)


Oh, and a thought just struck me, this is the first time I bought flowers for myself!! I am such a grown-up already. Sniff.


And a sobering thought... See the gerberas in the bouquet? The boyfriend used to buy me gerberas all the time. :(



*takes a look at the flowers...* Yay!!! *happy back* :D



A burst of colors, really, is all you need in life. :)

Burn baby burn!

I had an extra class this morning at 8am, and when I ran out of my halls (late as usual), I realised that it was drizzling, and it was FREEZING cold.

So I ran back into my room to grab my umbrella.

I was wearing only a long sleeved tee over spaghetti straps, so the logical thing to do would be to grab a jacket too right?

Nopesies. I didn't.




'Cause I suddenly remembered that you burn fats faster when you're cold.

-_-

Dory Fish

Of all the luck.

I have an assignment due next Monday.

I have an exam on the same day. Mind you, an exam that pertains a history of a failure rate of 90%.

And on top of that, I just got chosen to make a presentation on Monday!!




Fuck, this brings Monday Blues to a new level.




How am I gonna do this??? :( :( :( :( :(





Guess I just have to.....

Keep on swimming, keep on swimming....

A load of bull.

Saturday was a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day for me.

Footy (Australian football) in the day, and All American Rejects in the night! ;)

We were supposed to meet at the bus stop before 11.30am, as the bus will leave at that time sharp. However, if you've read my previous post, we "charaded" till the wee hours, and I only slept at 4 something IN THE MORNING. Please gasp in horror with me now please. So, obviously, it was a teeny weeny little difficult to wake up in time right???? :)

Yea-lah, I ran like an idiot at 11.35am to the bus stop....

All out of breath, to this....


Damn little people!!
Plus one Smalls smiling spastically. ;)

Idiot!! The bus was still waiting!! True, the first bus has already left, but heck, there was one more bus waiting patiently for us!! I could have caught another few more precious minutes of sleep. *grumpy*




The stadium--MCG (don't know what it stands for ler)!! (Update: The boyfriend informs me that it stands for Melbourne Cricket Ground) Looks like Bukit Jalil right? ;)



Intense hug. ;)



Congregating for instructions which no one bothers listening anyway.



Fuiyoh, futuristic-looking building! ;)



'Cause the guys excitedly snapped pics with the Vodafone building, we girls followed suit.




Kit Mey: "Why Melbourne liddat one?? Always got something suddenly pop out in the middle of nowhere!!!"

The hall representative of the halls was our guide for the day, and we kept on getting left behind, and she had to run back to us and herd us back to the main group.

Why we got left behind?

Immortalise our surroundings-lah.



Which one is the most alike?
All also fail. -_-

Then, we witnessed a beautiful love story right in front of our eyes...


You can so imagine this on a romance novel cover.



Where's the gun, babe???

We gleefully agreed to pose as Charlie's Angels, with 'guns' and all. AND, apparently, while we were posing, Joleen who was taking the picture for us saw that Smalls wasn't posing, and Smalls actually lifted a finger to her mouth to shush Joleen from telling us. Hence, this potong-stim picture. Traitor!!

Hmmmph.


The only point of this picture is the dead leafless trees.. End of winter!!

Spring is coming!! *birds starts chirping all round*



Hehe, Olympics.



Tada!!! The stadium in its full glory!



Stadium lights! Damn nice right, the hue of the sky.... *hugs self happily*



First time camwhoring in a stadium. Oh crap, I have done that before.
Fine, first time camwhoring in a Melbourne stadium. ;)

Lunch time!


*sniff* Kit Mey got a hotdog, which I think is such a perfect match for a sports game in a stadium. Unfortunately, I don't fancy hotdogs in Melbourne all that much, they are just too salty.



Me pouting 'cause me no have hotdog. And I never realised that my nostrils are so big.

Oh, and the team that we supported was the Western Bulldogs (Western Australia), and they played against the Adelaide Crows. Since we are on the subject, can someone tell me why the hell are their names so silly???!!! Why animals???!!! Do you know how disturbing it is to hear a whole stand shouting "GO, CROWS!!!" ???



The Western Bulldogs doing their warm-ups before the game.



The game begins!!

A footy game goes like that:
- Two teams of 18 players each.
- Game is divided into 4 quarters of 20 minutes, plus extra time.
- PLayers pass the ball to each other using a kick and handball.
- See the 4 poles in the pic above? Kicking the ball through the tall inner posts, will score a goal (6 points), whereas kicking the ball through between a goalpost and either of the smaller outer posts, will score a behind (1 point).

~plagiarised from the Welcome to the AFL (Australian Football League) booklet given to all spectators~

And please don't ask me about penalties or fouls, 'cause I know shits about that. Football is hard enough for me! ;)



Check out the crowd... And the giant pompoms! :P



A vendor in the stadium!! Sorry-lah, I am really damn jakun. ;)

I sucked at watching the game live... I'd be watching and watching, and suddenly, I just lose sight of the ball, and I get confused... So I ended up watching the big screen...



I went to a live game, just to watch it onscreen. -_-



Look... This picture is straight out of a sci-fi movie, isn't it???



Yup, I can totally imagine it..


Errr, at first we were still cheering and whistling, but by the time the first quarter finished, we were all eager to leave already. I guess it's very difficult to muster so much passion for a game that I've just came to knew about. Furthermore, I honestly do think that football still beats footy hands down-- so much more excitement and adrenaline-pumping. Aah, the boyfriend will be proud of me. ;)

As the stadium was very near to the city, we thought to leave for the city (anyway, our concert was held in the city). Nonetheless, guilt held us back, and we only left after the 2nd quarter! *proud*



The score right before we left...

During the break after the 2nd quarter, (in which we were all packing up to leave already), they had little kids dressed in football uniforms running out to kick footballs, some sort of performance, I guess...

And guess who got excited?


Paedophiles in action. ;)



Mandatory group pic! :)
Front row (left to right): Joel, Joleen, Thean Aik, Totti.
Back row: JC, Smalls, Kit Mey, me.

After that, off we marched off to the city... And there WILL be more upcoming tales about the day and the All American Rejects concert! Till then, tata!

Update: The Western Bulldogs won the game after al!! Woohoo!!