Life Happened

Yellow waning moon, cool night, blood-thirsty mosquitoes, rock hard-coarse cement ‘bench’, black horizon speckled with countable number of stars laced with wispy grey clouds.

Two dejected souls sat along the driveway at 12.30 a.m. Both dejected, both overwhelmed with the sudden realization that life had happened.

A week since my last post. That’s a long time, considering how prolific I have been for past couple of weeks. Am already rusty.

Been busy with exams. I just finished the worst week – 10 papers in total. Am happy that it’s over. Since I can’t study anymore – at least for now, decided to go over to a friend’s place. Ended up talking the night away until her mom started worrying about me driving back home so ‘late’ at night.

I really have nothing to say and this post is merely for announcing to the world that I am still alive, if not well.

Until June 8th or if something interesting happens….

Current music: Simple Plan’s Untitled.

Doctored

"You may begin.."

So everyone dashed into ruffling the test paper while some still struggled to get their Newton Meter properly clamped to the retort stand - just like the supervisor's . I was doing the latter, but soon gave up for the former.

When I got the hang of things, I set about getting the apparatus in working condition. The whole lab was clanking and crashing away as half a kilogram weights refused to stay in the air and the nimble Newton meters slipped between the teeth of the clamps.

Tedious work I tell you. Clamp. Then unclamp. Position the hanging weight, then reposition, remove the boss, only to add it again. G-clamps WERE NOT made for physics experiments, especially if you have 30 minutes to collect raw data.

Heaved a sigh of relief when I had 6 sets of readings. Now - graph drawing. The moment I set about plotting, I knew I had to do something radical. Since they wanted the y-intercept, the x-axis must start from zero, BUT 1/sinØ must always be more that 1, so all my plots were clumped to one side. I gave up when I realised that the gradient was really off.

30 minutes more before I hand over the paper - should I collect data again? No, too late, too late.

I had Rooster's Come Get Some in my head. That prompted me to do something bold.

I worked my way backwards. Saw the equation, reduced it to y = mx + c. Identified my m(gradient) - the value of which should correspond to the weights we were given, then returned to my graph. Honestly, I only kept 2 of my data intact, the rest were left to my discretion. I doctored all my point, and even had the nerve to make my best-fit curve look like one, meaning to say, I had purposely planted one point up the line and another below, to balance it out.

5 minutes left to the clock, and I was feeling guilty. Do they penalise for doctoring your results? Then again, too late to make my data believable.

Mr. Tan was smiling away as a bunch of us related how we had to be completely dishonest. His only comment was "Smart, smart. Good lar….no choice what, even my one, my gradient was 0.9 kg…good, good…"

Nature Calls!

Worked my way to the Pasar Malam, which is at least a kilometer away from the condominiums. It was still sunny, but I figured after all the deep freezing I had today, I could use some thawing. Was humming Michael Bublé's Home along the way but soon gave up when I couldn't place the song, the searing heat, the zooming motorbikes and the rough tar together in a heap.

Wouldn't it be nice to go camping/hiking/jungle-trekking? The last time I spent more then 2 hours in the jungle..…when was it? Form…..4. Yes form 4 - Prefect's Camp. Although it was very physical - we did absailing, flying-fox, jungle trekking…..since we were such an 'elite group of people', the newly appointed teacher advisor decided that we could all use a stay in the hotel - a five star hotel! As I result, I refused to go for the annual camp in Form 5 - this time it was a beach resort. How preposterous! I told her I had to be a flower girl for my Untie's wedding. Ha! ME - FLOWERGIRL?! Can't believe she bought it. But she did harass me the entire year, until we officially retired when SPM was hot on our heels.

So, basically, even with a long history of supposed exposure to the wild-outdoors - starting humbly with Brownies in Standard 3, then moved on to Girl Guides in Form 1, and finally Rangers in Form 4, I NEVER had the practical lessons of sleeping in a tent, the art of unhooking a bra with one hand, changing underwear while still having the 'outer-wear' on, cooking edible meals on firewood, singing folk-songs around campfires, or even sharing ghost stories late-late-late at night.

(I would like to note however that we, semi-senior Guides in Form 2, had to prepare a set meal using firewood as part of our Fire-Lighting component of the Second Class test. It wasn't edible to us, because ashes inevitably sunk onto the food - I wonder how the seniors ate it…ekk!)

The BIG question is - Who in KDU would agree to accompany me to answer Nature's Call? By the time exam's are over and done with, this urge might be over and done with too. (Hopefully not.) Plus with all the superhuman-cool-movies due for summer release on the silver screen, my search could be doomed from its conception! Who would ditch the 'so-planned clubbing nights', drunken sleep-overs and the Megasales for self-imposed suffering in the wild?

Who? Who? Who?

Stuck

I have hacked my muse to death, or so to speak. Plus I'm partially immobilised - I'm eating ice cream while typing this. And I can create more reasons to explain why I have ditched my blog and replaced it with TV. If only I said I was buried in books - in line with the exams, I would be really happy, but then I can't lie to myself now, can I?

There's nothing to tell, really. Life has sadly stagnated. Gossips, faces and even jokes are as stale as they can be. Exams have a way of draining the life out of everyone…yikes!

Fat's birthday is on the 16th. (That's my lil' bro's nick name). Though I know what to get him, I did tell him he's going to have to wait for his present. With all the TV watching I do, I'd feel really guilty if I added hiking in Mid Valley as another past time.

It's the same thing as last year - a book. Fat knows me well enough to know I'll give him nothing else. Hey, I'm not going to add to his collection of games for his Game Boy that I have to beg to have a chance to touch! Mind you, I never get to play it unless he's in the shower….arrrggg!!

Got him a book on fighter planes last year, more for their pictures. Fat hates reading - unfortunately. Then this year, I hear of his ambition to become a pilot - Hurrah! How nice to know that I have the influence/capability to shape young minds…

Planning to get him The Little Prince. Originally written in French by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and naturally titled Le Petit Prince. Am afraid it might be too philosophical for him - he's 9, but he needs to start sooner rather that later, since he's my brother after all, and it's a children's book anyway. There are cartoon pictured in it, hopefully that will sustain his interest….


Got to have my shower….

Song of the day: Stacy Orrico's Stuck.

p.s - Now, I heard this song 3 times in the space of 5 hours. Twice on MTV and once on the radio. Feels like it's begging to be in my blog. Hey, the chorus has nice lyrics. Memorised it! If only I could do that for biology….hrm..

Jaded

Sputtering start to the month-long exam marathon.

Sigh.

Don't know what to say.

Truth is, am jaded.

It's Sink or Swim now….I DON'T want to sink.

Sigh

Sigh

Sigh

Zoned out with Norah Jones' Humble me

Threshold

Is it necessary or sufficient that doctors/future doctors have a higher threshold to disgusting things?

I held a piece of envelope with scores of phone numbers scrawled haphazardly on it. It wasn't the numbers, and it wasn't the fact that this envelope was left on the floorboard of his car. It was the stain and the stench.

It explained why he left a blanket on the driving seat. But it didn’t help that I was taking the wheel to ferry my brother to tuition class.

I grimaced and snatched the envelope from my brother hands. It found its way there while I was lost in contemplation.

Just a few weeks ago I was spreading around gossip regarding J.Lo's anal leakage. Never would have thought that the problem was so close to home after all.

While I was driving, queasily, trying very hard to keep my mind on the road and not what I could possibly be sitting on, I told myself I better get used to things like this….I better.

By the time I got home, I was giving myself a pat on the back. Why?

1) I brought the car back in one piece.
2) Dropped my brother at tuition in one piece.
3) I'm still in one piece.
4) I haven't shattered his ego by telling him I know his BIG secret.
5) I have increased my disgusting threshold by one band.

I really need to go and change my pants at least…

Oh, by the by….exam's in 2 days time….shit!

****

Hwee Jian is resting in Assunta with her tonsils raging out of control. She can't eat solids. She chooses not to receive visitors - it gives her a headache, which in turn causes her to vomit.

Poor girl. Get well quick!

Current music: Neil Sedaka's Breaking up is hard to do.

Dark, Grey, Heavy Clouds

Had in mind something light and funny, but I don't think it's right to post something as such, not after…

****

Johnny stood smack in middle of the pentacle, looking severely lost. He was waiting for us, Hwee Jian's classmates to come.

He came on her behalf, to collect her trial papers, while she lay in bed, resting.

Something wasn't right for a dark cloud hung over him. He hesitated when we asked how she was.

"Yesterday,…not so good".
He said it with a straight face. And we just didn't know how to react. I mean, what is not-so-good in terms of tonsils?

"She said she was okay, day before yesterday. But, she didn't reply my message yesterday",
"Hey, mine too…"

Johnny evaded it and I guess it helped when our attention shifted to the crowd barging out of the lab. All wearing smiles, all grasping sheets of paper.

So, we went in, rummaged here, there, everywhere for her papers…

Johnny decided to come in after all, despite feeling out-of-place initially.

"She's still in Assunta?"
"Yes".

He waited for awhile, but it was apparent where his heart was.

"Hey, Thanks. Thanks", he murmured. And with a seemingly enthusiastic wave, he left.

Something's just not right.

And we were right.

Hwee Jian sent us a suicidal message. She couldn't stand the pain, and the exams were on top of her head. What was she to do other than 'bunuh diri'?

Of course she didn't mean that.

Hang in there girl. Hang in there.


Current music: Barry Manilow's Can't smile without you.

Chupa-Chupa Anyone?

She opened her mouth reluctantly and with considerable pain. A few pairs of eyes ignored the equations written hazardously on the white board and trained them instead on her mouth.

There it was. 2 Chupa-chupa lollipops stuck at both corners of her throat. It was luridly coloured, punctuated with blood-red capillaries lining the glazed sphere like entities.

Hwee Jian is having tonsils.

"He said that if it doesn’t go away in 2 to 3 days, then have to operate",
We squirmed at the idea of slicing the throat to remove the bacteria infested chupa-chupas.

That was on Thurday.

Phones must have been buzzing all around when on Saturday Hwee Jian was admitted in Assunta Hospital. Messages flew and it was finally decided that we visit her at 6 p.m.

I got there early. After inquiring where she was warded, I walked cautiously through a labyrinth of dingy corridors. Hospital hallways have a way of inducing claustrophobia…

There, Fatimah Ward, Room 3. Knocked the door and turned the door handle not knowing what to expect. The first thing I saw was Hwee Jian, lying languorously on the bed, covered with a quilt, which was more like an extra large towel. Her right hand - entwined with those of Johnny's.

"PRIya!! I'm so surprised. I only told Aleesa."
"Oh well, you know how we can't keep our mouths shut….hehhehe"

I turned 90° to find her mother seated and reading a cookbook. After all the usual "hi Untie and yada yada yada", I sat on the bed and made pointless conversation. And to fill up time I noticed Untie's flair in Bahasa. Turns out that Hwee Jian and fly. hails from Kelantan…hrm…

Finally, the rest of our classmates showed up and handed Hwee Jian a 'Recover Soon' - teddy bear.
Aaawwwwww.


Get well soon Hwee Jian!

Dreaming away with Barbara Streisand and Bryan Adams' I finally found someone.