FIFA World Cup 2006.

The Time Of Our Lives (Official song for the FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY 2006)
Toni Braxton with Il Divo

There was a dream
Along time a ago
There was a dream
Destined to grow

Y hacerse pasion
Con un fuego abrasar

Un deseo de dar sin fin harm.
El deseo de ganar

For the lifetime of heartbreakes harm.
That brought us here today
We’ll go all the way

And It feels like we’re having the time of our lives
Let's light the fire fight the flames
Let’s come together as one and the same
Cause it feels like we’re having the time of our lives
We’ll find the glory in the end
For all that we are
For all that we are
For the time of our lives

Hoy es el día
Es la ocasión de triunfar

Para hacer realidad el destino
Que soñábamos conseguir

Una vida de lucha
Nos trajo hasta aquí
Llegaré hasta el final…

It feels like we’re having the time of our lives
Juntos, unidos triunfará nuestro deseo de ser el mejor
It feels like we’re having the time of our lives
Toca la gloria junto a mí
La hora llegó

de la verdad
El momento llegó…

Y ya nunca jamás lo podré olvidar

Cause It feels like we’re having the time of our lives
Juntos, unidos triunfará nuestro deseo de ser el mejor
It feels like we’re having the time of our lives
Toca la gloria junto a mí
La hora llegó
La hora llego
We’ll find the glory in the end
For all that we are
For the time of our lives

For the time of our lives

~~~

While everyone else is so caught up with the FIFA World Cup 2006 held in Germany - waking up at 3a.m. in the morning to cath a match or even worse, taking a whole month leave from work just for the case of The World Cup - I prefer to celebrate it in a different way. Listen to the songs and dive in with the celebration all around the world! I'm not a football fan at all (matter of fact, I'm not a fan of any sports at all!) but I admit it's fun to see what the people do JUST for The World Cup! I do get in with the occasional conversations with school-friends and stuff, but knowing as little as I do, I mostly just sit quiet and listen with anticipation. I fell in love with this song and the richness of Il Divo's voice (again! Get's me every time!) the first time I heard it through youtube. Well, I really don't know what's happening in The World Cup but I heard that yesterday's match, Brazil was really good. Is it? LOL. I wouldn't know. Sports just isn't my thing.

By the way, dad tries to get in as much as possible with the football frenzy all over the world, but he usually falls asleep in front of the TV by the second match. It's so funny. I mean, he watches football alone (heck, I'm not going to be a goody-two-shoe son and accompany him on the floor to watch football at 3a.m. in the morning!) and I usually catch him with his eyes closed when everyone (my whole block) screams and yell at the score of a goal! He even subscribed to one of those skanky sms services updating you about the latest score! LOL. I bet he's asleep now cause I can hear the crowd screaming through the TV in the living room and I don't hear a sound from dad.

I'm going to get back listening to this song on repeat for the rest of the night.

11th June 2006.

Considering that I'm dead tired today, I'm just gonna post some pictures about my birthday yesterday . A reason to show you the pictures taken by my Canon Powershot S3 IS too! Too tired to actually write anything. School today was at Dewan Sri Pinang (theatre). I was called by Mr. Goh to go as a supporter. It was a good way for me to adjust to the early wake-up time without being so stressed out about unfinished homework and to miss the first-day-of-school-misdeamanors like long fingernails and long hair. Don't know how was school like today as I spent the whole time in the theatre to "support" my fellow schoolmates on their English Drama Competition. The new timetable and time schedule is effective from today onwards. School ends at 2.00p.m. and I still haven't get my new timetable, meaning, I'll be bringing the wrong books to school tomorrow and once again, missing lessons.

Back to the pictures.

The day started with us visiting kong-kong's grave. Everyone (aunties and uncles and cousins) came back from afar to visit kong kong's grave. The slab of stone was just finished a few weeks ago and we did some prayers when we
were there.














Had a little gathering after that at poh poh's place. Everybody was having fun posing for the camera! I was inevitable glad that everyone accepted the camera well and not have secret conversations behind my back saying that I'm rich. Well, if there was, I wouldn't know.








Had some durian right after. It IS the beginning of the long awaited season! Durian is my favourite fruit!











Proceeded to the Balik Pulau market after that for a little walk. We started the day early and the market was still opened. Not that it had an opening or closing time, but most of the hawkers were still there.

I attended the Lectors' Tea-cum-briefing session later that afternoon. Was extremely reluctant to attend it but mom was persistent to send me there. I had to attend and bear the 2 hours being stuck with Lucille Dass. It didn't go that bad, actually. It was kind of fun as Lucille call it a bonding session.

I managed to persuade mom and dad to take us down to the beach after my tea-cum-briefing session. After asking for such a long time - since I realised that I was living in Penang ISLAND which was surrounded by beaches and that going to the beach is not a hard task for us! It wasn't supposed to be even a task at all! But obstacles always tumbles into our way when it comes to the beach.


There, we celebrated my birthday at the beach. It looked dysfuntional enough! LOL. All those food and table was akak's and mom's idea! We had practically everyone staring at us!

I guess that's the end. The end of a new beginning of a new age, I suppose. Dad hasn't mentioned anything about motorbikes or license. Am I off the legal age in Malaysia? How I wish I could be driving a car by this age!

Nothing To Complain About.

In less than two hours, I'm turning 16, and here I am, typing on my blog, listening to some old classic songs (The Chords - Sh boom) from Cars' Soundtrack, as Carina and others have fit laughters watching their cantonese reality game show in the living room leaving behind trails of their laughter spilling into my room ever so often. That's my birthday eve. I bet some people are having fun, getting drunk, hitting on girls on their 16th birthday. Oh, I'm certainly not complaining! Don't get me wrong, I'm just putting it in comparison. I'm not that kind of teenager anyway. I practically have nothing to complain about on my 16th birthday.

My birthday present definitely came by early. It felt like Christmas came by a month early! After all my frustration for waiting, I got it early! Ok, I need to confess. I realised that I was over-obsessing and rather self-centered over the 2 days that I needed to wait for my camera. Wasn't a really proud moment, I'm sure. I really need to take things easier and not get myself too (extremely) caught up in a certain thing. I'm sorry... but, I think God heard my prayers and decided to spare me the endurance. I got my camera on Wednesday and I was too busied with it to actually blog anymore.

I actually begged dad to drive me down to Gurney on Wednesday morning to see if my camera's arrived. "I know the guy said Friday but there's always a possibilty, isn't it? I'm sure the shipping of the product from Singapore wouldn't need FIVE days! Please, please, please!" I begged him over breakfast, still holding up my five stubby little fingers. It got me acting like a kid, huh? He relented and drove me down after lunch. Oh, the sacrifices my dad does for his children. The manager made a phone call to confirm that there was stock and I was already gleaming when I noticed some positive tone in his conversation. The next thing I know was that I was fiddling with it and the User Guide for the rest of the night. Spent my next two mornings trying my new camera out at the park.

Although my 16th birthday's not filled with wild parties (alcohol and sex), I still have my own little league of enjoyment with my family. Buffet lunch with dad, mom and Edmund (Grace was working) proved to be satisfying enough. I mean, as you can see, I don't come from a extravagant background (the camera was a gift, ok! Not easily bought!), so these luxurious buffets don't come that often and when it does, I'm considering myself very lucky. We did have our own little celebration with that buffet lunch (in Evergreen Laurel Hotel) but we had another one today with amah and akak, still leaving out Grace cause she was working, at Cititel Hotel. This time, it was more of an oriental themed buffet and as usual, I was bloated by the time we reached the car. Can't help myself.

Having lunch today really got me thanking the Lord. I had my mind fully on the children in Iraq (or somewhere else, I'm not sure) that had no food at all and all those people who were struck by natural disasters, over lunch. I couldn't complain at all, although the rendang tasted really funny. All my life, I've never starved before or even lived life in difficulty. And these people (AIDS victim, natural disasters victims and war victims) as I know it are living their everyday lives in so much difficulty. I was kind of emotional when I thought of it, which had me saying a little 'thank you' to God for the things that I have and for the wonderful family members I live with.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure this has got anything to do with the coming of age but I'm beginning to find Edmund annoying lately. As in, really really annoying. He copies everything I say and does everything I do. He's rude and obnoxious. He's over-pampered and a spoilt brat! Sometimes, I really feel like ripping his head off, but that thought really makes my stomach churn. He comes to me everytime asking for the camera, in a whiny, complain-y tone, when I've already said, probably a thousand times that, "The camera is not a toy for you! It's much too big for your tiny little hands and you might drop it! Please understand. I can only give it to you at home!" He will never get the message in his head. I accidentally hurt his arm (although I was pretty sure I didn't do anything) today, but felt oddly pleased. The things he does and the way he dresses is most of the time embarassing and I'm always the one trying to "correct" things with him. We just don't see eye to eye anymore, these days. Mind the age gap.

Then it occured to me, maybe it's because that he's a spitting image of me when I was his age! I did the same stupid stuff he did and I wore the same stupid clothes as he did! It's embarassing to think of it now. But I didn't have anyone to save me from my embarrasment then, did I? I'm trying to do him a favor, aren't I? At least he doesn't have to feel as stupid as I do now when he's 16. But he just won't listen! He's such a stubborn head! *sighs* Well, I suppose I'll just have to let it be the way it is. If I was saved from those embarrasment back then, I wouldn't be who I am today. I might as well just let him learn from scratch. I'll just leave him alone.

Grace kind of made up for the times she didn't spend with me by taking me for a shopping trip yesterday! There were SALES all over the place in Gurney Plaza yesterday and we shopped till the doors closed on us, literally. Grace spent about RM200 on me, last night and considered that for my birthday present. No words can possibly tell how thankful I am to my family members! She got me some shirt from U2 and it amounted to RM200++. I have to say, it definitely felt odd spending her hard earned money just like that. There was also a little trace of guilt in my voice after that. She assured me that she was happy to spend something for me for my birthday. She got herself quite a bunch of stuff too, you know! Handbags and shoes, just to name a few. It had me thanking God again for what I was getting.

Leave Edmund out, I have nothing to complain about on my 16th birthday. I have my cake, Evergreen Laurel Hotel's Chocolate Devil Cake, waiting to be picked up tomorrow. I know mom and dad have spent a fortune on me and I really appreciate all that they've done. Grace too! Amah had a fair share by giving me an angpao (red packet) for my birthday. I get it every year, without fail. That's her form of a good birthday wish, I assume. I really don't know how to thank all my family members for this wonderful birthday they've given me. All I can do is to say my prayers for them, thanking them for all that they've done and the troubles that they've been through just for me. Just know that... I am grateful.

Frustration in Me.

The frustration of waiting for the camera's really stressing me out. I just got off Matt's Cinema, watching Scary Movie 4. It didn't turn out to be as funny as I thought. The introduction of the movie could already give out that the whole show's been made up of cheap, lame and lousy jokes that anyone can come up with. Or is it because of my frustration that I don't think the movie was funny? I can't tell!

I need help...

My frustration's been growing over the days, with the help of the not-so-bright wheather! And I'm feeling really guilty now that I've been letting my frustration slip out on others. After Scary Movie 4, Carina said hello to me through MSN (obviously!). For no good reasons, I felt oddly annoyed. She invited me to webcam and I accepted. Due to some medication overdose and anger (of some sort) that has been building up in me, I wasn't very polite to her. The webcam connection was downright lousy in the first place to get me going! She could barely hear what I said and I could barely hear her! The images transmitted were choppy! I switched my webcam off and told her to get Adrian to fix it! My patience was just on the edge! When Adrian got around to it, I wasn't that keen on forming any real conversationg anymore and just said a shallow, "Bye and goodnight."

Then came Edward. I wasn't very nice to him either. He sounded quite cheerful and happy over his messages and I just felt extremely lousy and slightly pouting. I was pretty cold to him through my messages. He asked me for a favor and I said no, almost instantly. Not my usual self. But it was kind of true that I couldn't help him. My mobile had no credit and I don't have the person's number. Another thing was, he kind of dissapeared since I got back from BRATs! No texts or emails! No news at all! The only thing he does is leave me offline messages over MSN at really ODD hours, saying hi or just nudges! And he doesn't even keep his blog updated at all! And here I am, still remembering that he wanted to go the movies during the holidays and now? Not even a sound from him! Maybe he deserves my coldness...

Hold on a minute... this is not me! I don't know what I'm saying! I'm going out of my mind! I need my medication! Oh gosh, I'm really insane! Someone, help me! I want my camera!

Rainy Day.

Initially, I didn't want to have the title "Rainy Day". I mean, I did, but I felt it was too cheesy so I discarded the whole post. Wasn't in the mood at all to write (type). I changed my mind when I was exploring Flickr just now, when I saw this picture.

Rainy Day...

I know it doens't really depict the way I feel but I must say it's a good picture. Good macro. Which is why it's making my days a living hell.

It was indeed a rainy day here. The sky was opaque the whole day, moving only every now and then, with a nudge of the wind, letting little amount of sunlight escape through its cracks and turning opaque instantly, as if it realised that the sunlight was trying to escape. It's just another ordinary lazy rainy morning, I suppose. Settled down with a little overdue-d homework after my (holiday) morning routine - usually starting off with brushing my teeth and shower, breakfast after that (whatever that's on the table), medication, followed by a glance through the newspapers and a little fresh air at the balcony.

I come to find that I live in a quiet and serene suburban neighbourhood after my morning routines started to kick into my system. One can actually wake up to the sound of singing birds and amazingly clean air. There's not a sign of busy streets and honking cars. Instead, the image of green trees and manicured lawns with blooming flowers with the morning dew greets you in the morning. Take in a deep breath , standing on the balcony, one will almost feel transfixed to the spot. Ten years of living in this place, and I only realise this now. Weird. The only sound pollution I get is from the occasional sirens from the police or ambulance and one of my upstairs neighbours singing karaoke, horribly. Something tells me my music covers most of the sound in the block, though (thank goodness I have a fetish for jazz nowadays).

Tried my hands on some of my homework after my glorious morning routine. Reluctantly dragged my schoolbag out of the pile of bags that were dumped into a corner of my room since the holidays started, dust it a little and with a heavy sigh, pulled open the zip. It was as if I discovered an ancient scroll emitting the worst smeel ever as I saw the contents of my bag and gave it a shot of disgust. Lazily, pulled out my book of Analization of The Malay Literature and one of the exercise books and rummaged through my pencil case to look for my pen. Started copying notes straight from the book. I was, as usual, struggling to pen my words down with the inevitable shaky hands during (or after) holidays!

I blame it all on the medicine I took. It always felt that way after medication. The drowsiness and everything just won't stop coming! Especially the jittery hands! It's getting worse and it's actually convincing enough to believe I have Parkinson Disease! By then, excuses kept bobbing out of my head to agree with my evil self to stop whatever I was doing. I carried on for a little while and gave up not long after. Leaving my pen and books on the desk, I turned around and slumped myself on the bed, guilt and regret rushing all over me. It was exactly the same, yesterday. Just that, I didn't even bother to do my work then and I had no difficulty telling myself to go to sleep. The shaky hands was there and I just went to sleep and felt everything got better when I woke up.

The only reason I only bothered to (or at least try to) do my work was that the frustration of waiting for my camera was getting the best of me. Well, I can't hide my excitement, can I? I've been wandering aimlessly in the house (thank goodness, it's only in the house) mumbling, "I wan't my camera," since Sunday. I really want it! I guess, that explains my visits to Flickr nowadays. I've been busying myself looking up photography sites and got some really good tips and techniques. It's just that, I STILL DON'T HAVE MY CAMERA! Everything seems to be dull to me (thanks to the sky!). Days seem to stretch longer and time, slower. This is torture! OMG (I've not used this in a long time), I'm obsessing compulsively!

So far, the only thing I can say is, my days are really rainy.

Bummer.

Still sick. It's Pentecost Sunday today and I'm sick. Pentecost Sunday : The day when tounges of fire (known as the Holy Spirit) descended upon the heads of Jesus' disciples which enabled them to PREACH in tounges. It's the parish's (Holy Spirit Cathedral) feast day and there was a little celebration. Parishioners were treated to a free lunch after the 10.00 a.m. mass by the church itself. It started a few years back - treating the parishioners to a decent meal during the feast day of the parish - and somehow it became sort of like a tradition now. After all, we're Catholics. This is just counted as fellowship, I guess.

Woke up to a rainy morning. The sky's been pretty down nowadays. I think it's the monsson season, which explains all the rain we've been getting. Well, I love rainy days! Rainy days are just perfect for me to cuddle up with comforters and watch favourite movies or read or just listen to music. It feels extra chilly when it rains and the whole house seems to turn darker than usual when it rains. Cooler, in fact! Watching the neighbours on the other side of the block scampering to collect their laundry when the cloud grumbles, seems to be so much fun! Oh, I love rainy days!

Blew my nose so hard when I woke up, that for s sudden second, I thought my nose could bleed! The mucus was pure yellow when I opened the tissue paper which I blew my nose in. Didn't come as a surprise. Scrambled to my feet to the bathroom and took a quick and hot shower. Had some breakfast before my medication and took off for church.

Spent my whole day, literally coughing and blowing my nose! I don't know how the stupid cough grew so badly! I was grasping for air most of the time, regretting the whole time I neglected the thought of bringing my inhaler (and other medications) along for the day! The mucus just wouldn't stop flowing out trhough the two holes that protrudes out of my face. Seriously, can anyone tell me how the body produces that much of mucus for me to blow out?! I think it could've filled a whole pail if I were to blow it all in! It's rather irritating, to be speaking to someone when you suddenly feel something cold and watery creeping out of your nostrils and you just have to blow it out!

Food intake is absolutely out of the quetion! I mean, I did eat but the food felt like it was coming out with every cough! I felt nauseous most of the time. Felt like barfing anywhere I go. Mom says it's because of the cough that's irritating my throat which makes me feel like barfing. I take her theory. Felt like passing out every now and then when the (really) bad cough strikes my lungs and it just feels like someone just stabbed your chest! I've just taken a bunch of medications - couldn't be less bothered about the prescriptions. I think I'm overdosing on medications again. Oh well, nevermind.

That was how I felt the whole day. After mass, we proceeded to the optometrist, Mr. Haw. He's this really old (fashioned) optometrist. A really good one indeed. We went to him through a recommendation by an old friend of dad's after we tried out England Optical. Let's just say, England Optical didn't really lasted long. I got my second spectacles from him and ever since, we've never changed another optician. He's clients are usually seniors but I'm one of the few youngsters who believes in quality and not looks. Admittedly, he doesn't have the latest range of designs but he has really good quality spectacles. My previous one lasted me about three years - with my little attention given to it to upkeep it. Just had my new ones made last month, I think. The point is, he's vision tests are completely accurate and the quality of his glasses are of the best! Besides, he's a really friendly guy! You could visit him if you like at:

SunLife Optical
28, Light Street,
10200, Penang.
04-2634240

So mom and I got our glasses fixed while dad collected his sun shades. We left the shop feeling all cheerful. Reminded of a catalogue dad received a few days ago about a sale on furnitures at a nearby shop, we headed towards it. The sun was extremely hot today, stinging our skin each time we stepped out of the car. It took us only an hour to make up our mind on which sofa to buy. "Finally, we're getting a sofa after the renovation!" exclaimed Grace. I gave her an odd look. We filled in the information needed for delivery and dad did the payment. "We'll inform you before we deliver the sofa which is about three weeks from now," said the saleswoman pleasantly. Mom and dad nodded in agreement but I went, "Now, that's a bummer!"

I was still coughing when we left the furniture shop. Seen no improvements at all on my condition. I felt that it got worse as the day went on. It was late in the afternoon then when mom and dad decided to turn the car around to Gurney Plaza to get me my long-awaited digital camera! Well, I did a little pestering before this. =P. Wasn't in my best shape to go camera hunting, but... how could I resist? Coincidentally, it was the last day of Gurney's Camera Fair and the cameras wwere cheaper than usual. Irresistable offers were everywhere! The prospect of getting a DSLR camera seemed to be out of the question, I had my eyes on normal digital cameras.

Grace was a big help to me. She did most of the questionning and for a certain minute, she was really paying attention to the things the salesperson has to say. Seeing that my sentences are usually cut off with a bad cough, she helped me in a lot of ways. I headed straight to the Sony booth as soon as I stepped off the escalator, with Grace by my side. Had a thorough look at some of the models. The salesperson wasn't very camera-literate, so we left for Nikon booth. No models interested me and the salesperson was vaguely rude, shooting us what-the-hell-do-you-know-about-cameras looks. Squeezing our way through the crowd to get to the Panasonic booth.

Panasonic's DMC-L1 got my attention. Was convinced to purchasing it, after mom had a "frindly chat" bargaining with the salesperson. He was going to throw in a few other goods like a tripod and a leather case for us until I met the Canon PowerShot S3 IS!! It was so awesome. It basically had everything the Panasonic DMC-L1 has and more! The Vari-angle LCD screen totally got me! Not to mention the speed of this thing! It was awesome. Mom had another "friendly chat" with this salesperson and he threw in a tripod for us. With the excitement in me, my cough got even worse and my nose didn't stop itself from leaking!

The salesperson informed us that there were no more units left and I'd have to wait till this Friday to collect it. "That's a another bummer!" I said, the words coming out in between coughs. Dad paid the down-payment of RM100 (the actual cost of the camera was RM1899) and the salesperson issued us a receipt. I left him my contact details and we went home empty handed. Weird, huh?

"That's your birthday present, ok?" mom said, as we got into the car. I nodded disparagingly as I blew my nose into another piece of tissue paper, scrunching it into a shape of a wanton. Mom fell silent after that, as though feeling the burn right through her pocket. We went through McDonald's drive-in for some food (although I could barely swallow anything) before heading straight home. Couldn't help but feel happy all the way home.

Camera Surfing.

Feeling sick now. Really sick. The sneezing and the blowing of the nose is beginning to turn into a cough. My theory, the phlegm from the nose travels down into the lungs through the throat when I don't blow it out and it itches my throat, therefore, making me cough. You could think that I should be used to getting sick by now, seeing that I get sick every month. I'm not! No one ever gets use to being sick! Spent the day feeling bloated and stuffy on the ears and nose. Why the hell are they so closely related? *groans*. Discovered that yong tau fu could be a good substitute for solid food (besides koay teow t'ng and porridge) when you're sick. *blows nose* *sneeze* *sneeze*. Really sick, if you haven't noticed. Hands are all fidgety.

I've been doing a little research lately on digital cameras, since I got back from BRATs. Mom mentioned that she was thinking of getting me a digital camera as a birthday present, since the old one broke down. I've been looking up at various sites for camera models and the ever-so-feared PRICING!! I found the Canon EOS 30D quite attractive with an 8megapixel and 2.5" LCD screen! It didn't mention the macro distance though, cause I'm more interested in details. Quite a handful to digest after I discovered that the local price was RM5999! Nevermind that! I'm still searching for a more affordable DSLR camera and if I fail to do so, I'm just going to get a normal digital camera. I have my eyes on Sony DSC-T7!

Half A Year.

Returning from the oh-so-wonderful-and-what-a-great-experience BRATs camp, I realised it was June. I mean, who wouldn't? It came to me that half a year has passed by but New Year's Day felt like it was just yesterday. Well, maybe it's because I spent my New Year's Day in a cave for nearly 5 hours and had somehow or other, etched its way into the depth of my brains and remained fresh in my mind. It's half a year, I'm talking about here. Quite a number of things has happened and it all seemed so fast.

School is still pretty much still a blur to me just like the way it was in January. Maybe it's because of the whole school-rule-change and the new principal trying to dominate the whole school into an army base! That guy reshuffled the whole school timetable, for crying out loud! I was just beginning to get used to the one we got at the start of school term and he gets it his way. Making me hate school even more. I still find it a drag to wake up in the morning for school. Improvements have taken place, though. I've made a couple of new (now that I can safely call) friends in my classroom whom I can actually talk to. Stiil, the thouight of walking through the empty hallways of school with a slightly hunched back (due to the overweight schoolbag) and rushing to get to the next Science class makes me nauseous.

Half a year, and I lost a member of the family. Everyone's been coping really well with kong kong's passing. I heard the tombstone of kong kong was given the final touches last week and was kind of ready. I still haven't visited the grave since the funeral. Wonder how it looked like. It gave me the idea of actually having a life sized angel with a spear (inspired by the holy wings of Angel from X3) on my tombstone when I die! But nevermind that. Chinese people will curse at the mention of the word death!

Ironically, I lost a member of the family and I'm waiting for the arrival of a new one! I think I've mentioned this before, but I can't remember when, seh yi's pregnant. News of her pregnancy reached my ears right after kong kong's funeral and I was overjoyed! I seriously don't know why, but I felt the adrenaline rush over me as I saw her belly slowly inflating. Certainly is weird, considering I'm only going to get a new cousin! Maybe I'm just thrilled to see a mother getting pregnant. I could barely understand what it all meant when mom had Edmund when I was only EIGHT! Maybe after my shallow Science lessons in school, I find pregnancy a little more interesting.

But lately, I received new that seh yi hasn't been feeling too well for a pregnant mother. She was admitted into the hospital for the last three days, claiming that her baby was inactive. She doesn't seem too well to me also. The doctor said there might be possibilities that the baby might not be very "healthy". You know, born under certain circumstances. There was even a little whisper of abortion, I heard. Oh, we're all praying for her to plough through this.

Besides that, who could forget the numerous time I fell sick since the beginning of the year? Was even close to believing that I had throat cancer! It's half a year and I've fallen sick again! I don't know how I can keep up with this anymore. It's been depriving me of my energy! This time, it's not the sore throat (oh, I hope not!), it's the nose. It started yesterday when I couldn't help sneezing whil watching The O.C. I convinced myself that it's just a temporary thing and it'll go away after I get a shower or something. Went to the doctor today to only find out that it's not even the common flu! It's caused by allergies to my surrounding and I must've smelled something really awful to get my nose (the internals) swollen! I'm close to actually wearing a mask over my mouth and nose, all the time, to prevent this from happening.

I am so freaking weak! The doctor says it's all connected to me having asthma since I was eight. No surprise there! And the nose had been running like tap water - I've filled two plastic bags with wantons!

It's half a year and my birthday's nearing. I'm 16 this year. Sweet 16 MTV style? Don't think so. The chinese believe that immediate family members are not supposed to celebrate any occasions at all for the first year of kong kong's death! It's a sign of respect and mourning for the deceased. So, any means of celebrating sweet 16 would have to be put away. But then, at the beginning of the year, I've always had the thought of celebrating my birthday. The thought of celebrating it grandly may have occured a little bit, somewhere in the corner of the mind. Reality slips back into that corner of my mind, telling me that no one would actually show up if there was a celebration of some sort. True, I guess, considering the amount of friends I've got, which is... Edward only! The thought of no one showing up for my party is even worse than the thought of having only one friend!

The first half of the year was practically filled with overdue-d homework and failed examinations. I really don't want to talk about it. It's tiresome to even think of homework, especially when one's sick! Exams? Really bad. I'm going to retire into my bed and maybe watch Family Stone or probably get started on Grey's Anatomy.

"I don't wanna spend my life wasted..."

The O.C. Completed.

I think I'm coming down with a fever or flu. I've been having a slight sore throat for the past couple of days and have been sneezing (and blowing!) my nose off for the past four hours I tried to finish The O.C. Season 2! My whole rubbish bin's piled up with wantons - a little term Carina gave for that helpless little piece of scrunched up tissue paper shaped into a wanton with mucus fillings. I wonder how the body produces such a load of mucus that could literally flow like tap water! The sore throat was right after I got back from BRATs. It still hurts.

Despite that, I still managed to finish the remaining four epsiodes of The O.C. that was held up way way before my exams. C'mon, all it needed was some clicking of the mouse to play the movie and me lying down on my bed, enjoying the show from a distance. The good things about downloading movies are that it comes in really good quality (if you're lucky, like me) and there no worry for commercial!! It usually take an hour or so for an epsiode on TV but the maximum time it could get on my computer is 45minutes. Another thing is, you don't have to keep yourself anticipated for the next episode to see what's going to happen! Keep going with the episodes, no one's stopping you! And my personal favourite thing is that I get to watch it on my bed with the comforts of my room - which could only mean, a fully air-conditioned room, with the light turned off and no disturbance at all (if you lock the room and throw away the key, of course)!

From left : Summer, Seth, Marissa and Ryan

I name it, Matt's Cinema! I mean, I've had guests coming into my room for private screenings of movies that are not even out yet. Example, High School Musical!

So back to where I was. The final four episodes of The O.C. was kind of shocking. It turned into series of infidelity by EVERYONE! Everyone (who was on a relationship in the show) was rather unfaithful to their mates. And Kirsten's alcohol addiction was quite unexpected of a model mom! Her accident totally took me off guard! And the death of Caleb Nichol was kind of a sad piint to me also. I mean, Julie was going to spare him, wasn't she? Fate. The movie ended with Trey (Ryan's brother) getting shot by Marissa! That was so cool! The close-up of his shot with the blood literally trickling out of his chest (I think that's where ther heart's at), that was pretty cool! Seth and Summer's conflict was the best, I think. Oh well, I guess this is what you call teen drama. But all in all, it had a good finale to the season. There was definitely some loose ends here and there, like what happened to Seth's comic carrier? I'm now looking for the 3rd season for me to download. That is IF i could clear my hard drive of space to make space for the 3rd season!

I guess I'm pretty glad that I finally finished the series! I'm looking forward to Season 3 to see what happens to Marissa.

I came, I saw, I conquer. Now I'm taking down Grey's Anatomy! I'll have to go stuff myself with some paracetamol first...

BRATs : Journalism

Woken up by an urgent need to pee! Edmund has suddenly decided to move into my room - which was actually made for the both of us - and he sleeps with the air-con on every single night. It's raining outside and the air-con has been switched on through the whole night... which explains my "pee" situation! I'm not sure if this is one of his all-time gimmick, you know, claiming to be moving in everytime he wants to sleep in my room but still refuses to leave my parent's bedroom completely. He's been sleeping in my room for a couple of weeks now. Oh well, mom and dad always say I need to make him feel more comfortable in my room, so that he can completely move in with me! Honestly, I DON'T want him to move in! This little hairless furball sleeps at 10p.m every night and he needs mom or dad to tuck him in! That is really annoying as my computer time gets cut off by his needs and I get intruders like mom and dad who naturally can't help nagging at the sight of me clicking on my mouse!

As you can see I'm back from the much anticipated BRATs workshop!! I was back two days ago but haven't exactly found the time to write as I was busy sleeping for the first day and busy watching X-Men 3 at the cinema with Edmund and Adrian on the second day. My holiday's (so far) been piled up with movies and series for me to watch. I managed to watch Tha Da Vinci Code last Saturday with catechism buddies. I finished downloading The Wild, Over The Hedge, V for Vendetta, Family Stone and Failure to Launch but haven't got the time to watch them. Grey's Anatomy Season 1 is still waiting patiently for me in my hard drive and I still have four episodes left of The O.C. Season 2! I'm thinking of launching myself into a Gey's Anatomy marathon later in the day! I even had a little plan re-watching the entire two seasons of The O.C. this holiday but still haven't got on with it.

Back to the BRATs workshop. I guess it was allright. Definitely enlightening for me. There was a thousand things I never knew about tha newspaper. I also got to meet the people behind all those great articles we read about on STAR newspaper. BRATs as I got to find out is definitely not just the workshop on journalism. The workshop was rather a platform for those who aspire to become journalists to shed some light on journalism. It's more of a program you get yourself into. "Once a BRAT, always a BRAT". Once you're signed on with BRAT, you're known as a young journalist and the workshop was just a way of teaching one the basics of jorunalism. The facilitators simulated a newsroom condition for us as a team and we're supposed to come up with a newspaper by the end of the workshop.

A group which consisted of 10 members were given roles like editor, sub-editor, layout artist, artist, reporters and photographers. Naturally, I took photographer alongside Farah. The editor of my group was Zhi Sheng whom we only call as G (and the name G turned into a nickname G-spot after a group conversation turned into a sex discussion). I wasn't in that, don't worry. The sub-editor was Josephine who took charge of the sketch we were supposed to do on the last night of the workshop. She came up with a pretty good sketch! The rest of the cast were reporters and layout artists. The newsroom simulation basically meant working under deadlines and pressure and working together as a group. Thinking on our feet most of the time and making decisions firmly and carry out instructions without further questions were some of the basic things a reporter/journalist needs to abide to! We came up with the name R.E.M (Rapid Eye Movement) for our newspaper and the group as well.

R.E.M (Rapid Eye Movement)

Being a photographer for my newspaper was definitely not an easy job. For starters, my photography skills were not even close to being an amature. It was kind of blunt for me to actually volunteer for the job wasn't I? But the good thing was, photographers were given the opportunity to have their hands on one of the not-so-latest-Nokia-mobile-anymore which was N70. It was rather cool when people went, "Aww, I should've taken the photographer post!" Being the subject of envy of everyone (who was aware of the greatness of N70) for a short 5minutes was fun. =P. Photography in a newsroom is definitely not as easy as taking group shots with your friends on your birthday party. The angles of a photograph were crucial to actually give readers (mostly, lazy readers) a general idea of what's happening. G was a pretty good editor to work with.

I learnt that being a photographer gives one two opportunity which is either being only a photographer for your reporter or being a full time photojournalist. Either one, it's still cool! And I got the opportunity to have a nice little chat in the bus while returning from our assingment with the photographer for BRAT. By the way, check out the BRAT's article on STAR Metro on Monday (29/5) and you'll have a slight idea what we were doing for our field assignments. While you're at it, Tuesday's STAR Metro has another article on BRATs field assignments too. Check that out! So she gave me some really good tips on angles. She even showed me some of the photgraphs she took. Learnt quite a number of things from her considering that she was an award-winning photographer! She took a look at my photos and most of them were bad! Imagine that! And photos taken at the end of the day are supposed to be apporved by the editor before it goes for printing. The editor always has the final say! In other words, being a photographer is really not as easy as it looks.

Other than providing a bootcamp for young journalists, BRAT's main focus is that off environmental. BRAT does a lot of stuff to help raise awareness on environmental issues especially to youngsters. So it's not a surprise that they organise annual nature-trips to all over Malaysia. We were told that there would be an Year End Journey and fellow BRATs would be chosen from the three workshops they held for the year to go for the Year End Journey. Oh, how I wish I get picked! They have trips to the depth of the Sabah or Sarawak jungles or the National Parks all over Malaysia. It really sounds exciting!

Overall, the whole workshop was an unforgettable experience. Made new friends. Learnt new stuff. Hope I can put them into good use in the near future. Right now my Windows Media Player 11 is on shuffle mode and it's playing everything on my library. My bed's still in a mess and I'm planning to at least get started watching Grey's Anatomy!

PS: A little short of pictures. Ah chiu's camera was practically hopeless as it uses batteries like it was drinking water. I've only got a few pictures from friends. They're all group shots and stuff like that. No biggie.