Shoes

I was reading this manhwa (Korean manga, or graphic novel) called Mana by Vin Lee. It's rather interesting, about shamans and spirits, as well as Korean folklore and superstitions.

In one particular chapter, one of the mentioned superstitions caught my eye.

"Don't give shoes to your boyfriend/girlfriend as gifts, because they will run away and leave you."

I remember Don told me this before. I always assumed it was a Chinese superstition, since he told it to me... but it's actually Korean? Don, when did you become Korean? lolz

edit: ok, this superstition also has Chinese origins. haha. see this website here for more interesting superstitions about taboo gifts.

I'm not really superstitious... (ok, this is a lie. >__>) But.. yeah. I really believe this one is true now! Never ever ever ever buy me shoes. Once was enough, I believe it now! T__T

Other superstitions regarding shoes:

- If you dream about losing your shoes, that means you're going to lose your virginity (got that from the same manhwa)

- If you throw your shoes on the floor and they land bottom-side up, it's bad luck. (origin unknown)

- A single woman may never marry if someone sweeping the floor brushes her shoes with the broom (Mexican)

- It is bad luck to put new shoes on the bed/table... something to do with dressing a corpse for a funeral (Scottish)

If you know any more superstitions related to shoes, or just any other interesting superstitions in general, do drop a comment, I'd like to know about it too~

-

I Can Totally Relate...

... to these lyrics.

What do you do with a B.A. in English,
What is my life going to be?
Four years of college and plenty of knowledge,
Have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet,
'Cause I have no skills yet,
The world is a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake,
The feeling I might make,
A difference,
To the human race.

... and these.

Purpose,
it's that little flame
that lights a fire
under your ass.

Purpose,
it keeps you going strong
like a car with a full
tank of gas.

Eveeryone else has
a purpose
So what's mine?

I definitely have to actually watch Avenue Q for reals someday. It's kind of sad that I've practically memorized the soundtrack, but have never seen the actual Broadway performance. Darrrrnnn. One day. One day!

In the meantime, I'm sitting bored at home, not knowing what to do. Unemployment, urgh. There's only so many pages of MLIA I can read in one day. I'm bored!! Think I might be able to find a part-time job in retail, or be a secretary somewhere for a couple of months until I get a real job? heeeihhh.

I Feel A Change Coming

I'm still in UTP, although I was originally supposed to go home on Tuesday (today).

It started with the plan. And then the plan went wrong.

We were supposed to go to Pangkor island immediately after our last final paper, on Sunday. And then come back the following day, chill out and pack. Then go back on Tuesday.

But. Plans never go quite how you like them to.

On Sunday afternoon after the paper, we had our obligatory photo session, then lunch at Taman Maju. And then we went back to our rooms, presumably to "pack".

But by the time we had done all of that, we realised that it was way too late. If we had left for Pangkor then (it was 3pm), we would've reached there much too late to spend much time at the beach, or to do anything. And so we postponed the trip to Monday, and my going home was postponed to Wdnesday.

Monday came, and we finally got to go to Pangkor. Despite it being so near to UTP (about an hour's drive, which can be considered near la), I had never been there in all my four-and-a-half years there. Nothing much to tell about the trip, we basically just hung out and chilled. We probably ate more than we swam or anything, lolz.

When we left the island around noon today (Tuesday), none of us felt like going back to UTP immediately. So off we went to Ipoh to retrieve Don's repaired phone, eat our last hor fun, and (finally) watch 2012. 2012 was awesome, btw. XD

And I just got back to my room about an hour ago. And I still have a tonne of things to pack. And I haven't settled my claim forms with ESU. And I still have clearance to do. Argh.

If I can settle all these things by tomorrow, then goody, I'm going home tomorrow evening. Else, I guess Thursday morning it is. >__> Nina and Hasif threatened to kick my ass for coming home so late, but it's not like I can help it. Besides, I'll be home for a loooong time after this, and I'm never going to see this place again. I know I said a billion times before that this place sucks, but a major part of my life was here, and I will miss it when I'm gone.

* * * * *

In other news, I feel a change happening. For the better or for the worse, I cannot say. But it had to happen I guess.

Life happens. And nothing stays the same. A lot of things are coming to an end now for me, and I feel lost, uprooted, abandoned, hopeless. But I will survive somehow, because I have to. And end signifies the beginning of something new. Hopefully, that something new will be good.

Hopefully.

I think...

I love Hafez because he's the only person who has ever made me feel like I'm good enough just the way that I am.

Warning: Insomnia Alert

Thanks to what Don dubbed "the 3 Days of Hell", my biological clock is officially messed up. My bedtime is now 5pm-10pm, and after that I can't get a wink of sleep to save my life. Maybe around 7am I might get into bed and sleep, but then I'll wake up around 11am or 12pm to get lunch and schtuff.

It's 4:14am now, and I'm as wide awake as if it was 4 in the afternoon! =___=

And I'm bored out of my mind. There's only so many rounds of Farmville, Fishville, Zombie Wars and Mafia Wars I want to play. (The number of facebook apps I've added is insane >__>)

Studying? Ah, yes, that too. But ever since the 3 Days of Hell ended, I've been put into a sort of traumatic state, whereby the symptoms are lethargy and a severe phobia of textbooks.

Plus, my next paper is on Sunday, which seems sooo far away after dealing with three papers back to back. And it's Corporate Communications. What do you study for Corporate Communications? I've seen her tips. This isn't a read-memorize-vomit paper. This is a crap-for-two-pages-per-question paper. Like, goreng tahap maksima kind of paper. There isn't much to study!

And now I'm hyper. Hyper hyper hyper whee~~~~~

I'm so hyper I can bounce up and down, and run around, and do jumping jacks, and karaoke at the top of my voice, andandandandand... but I won't. Because my roommate has her final final paper tomorrow, and she needs to sleep. Good luck Reen!! And good luck all IFM-ers!!

Hyper. Hyper. Oo, whazzat? I think I just saw a blip on my screen. Oh, no, just my imagination, saying hi. Hi, imagination!! I love your hat, where did you get it? Purple velvet with a green polka dot ribbon and a giant sunflower, how lovely. And is that a Channel handbag? Or a Louis Mutton? I think your Jojo Airmani dress is a bit off, though.

... And this is me being high on teh ais. I'd hate to see me being high on weed. Make a note to never, ever let me try that. >__>

Hmm, what now? Gossip Girl? Final Fantasy 6? ahh, Gossip Girl episode 10, transfer la cepat.

The worst part of insomnia is that there's nobody to bug now that it's this early in the morning. Even people who stay up really late are asleep by now. Hmmph.

I'm bored, and you're boring. Because you're probably asleep while I'm writing this, and by the time you're awake and reading this, I won't be in the mood to play anymore. Hmmph.

SOMEBODY ENTERTAIN ME!!!

I'd Lie

I don't think that passenger seat
has ever looked this good to me
He tells me about his night
I count the colours in his eyes

He'll never fall in love, he swears
as he runs his fingers through his hair
I'm laughing 'cause I hope he's wrong

And I don't think it ever croseed his mind,
he tells a joke, I fake a smile
But I know all his favourite songs

And I can tell you, his favourite colour's green
He loves to argue, born on the seventeenth
His sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes
But if you ask me if I love him
I'd lie

He looks around the room,
innocently overlooks the truth
Shouldn't a light go on?
Doesn't he know that I've had him memorized
for so long?

He sees everything black and white
Never lets nobody see him cry
I don't let nobody see me wishing he was mine

I can tell you, his favourite colour's green
He loves to argue, born on the seventeenth
His sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes
But if you ask me if I love him
I'd lie

He stands there then walks away
My God, if I could only say
"I'm holding every breath for you..."

He'd never tell you, but he can play guitar
I think he can see through everything but my heart
First thought when I wake up, is
"My God he's beautiful"
So I put on my makeup and pray for a miracle

Yes I could tell you, his favourite colour's green
He loves to argue, oh and it kills me
His sister's beautiful, he has his father's eyes
But if you ask me if I love him
If you ask me if I love him
I'd lie

* * * * *

Been listening to this song a lot, my favourite Taylor Swift song. A lot of her songs are about unrecquited love, I've noticed. And a lot of songs I like are about unrecquited love, I've noticed as well. >__> owh well.

I'd post up a youtube video here so you can listen to the song... but then UTP has blocked Youtube. Again. Rawr. Just you wait UTP, just you wait. You'll be sorry but your tears will be too late. You'll be broke and I'll have broadband, will I help you don't be funny... ok, phail parody wtf. >__>

tralalala~ off to the mamak I go to cure my insomnia. I think. =P

Data Mining

It's nearly 4am, I'm tired and sleepy, but I'm forcing myself to stay awake. There's a lot to read, and I won't have time to read later if I go to sleep now.

It's cold tonight, courtesy of the incessant rain that's been pouring these past few days. Bundled up in Hafez's hugely oversized sweater, I'm bent over the desk, shifting papers, writing, tapping away at my calculator.

Tomorrow is the dreaded Data Mining paper. I have never ever faced a subject that made me feel this stupid. I don't understand a darned thing. Lectures and tutorials never helped me, and the formulas and calculations look like a string of gibberish to me. I'm just not cut out for numbers and calculations.

I have no idea what my coursework is like, except for my test 1 (there were 2 tests, each worth about 10% of coursework). I got a 0 for test 1. A big, fat zero. Never, in all my life, have I ever had a single-digit score for a test or an exam, let alone a 0. There's a first time for everything, I suppose, but did it have to come now??

As dawn and my impending doom approaches, I can only sit, hope, and pray. Not to mention try to learn and cram as many formulas as possible before 9am.

In the meantime, I have the sniffles, and it's that time of the month. I feel as miserable as miserable can be.

Tralalalalala

Lately...

I've been extra clumsy, ditzy, and just plain scatter-brained. Up to the point where, in the past couple of days, I've driven my car into a drain, circled the petrol pump three times before remembering which side my fuel pump-thing was actually on, tripped over nothing countless times... the list goes on.

I laugh and giggle over everything as if they were the wittiest, funniest things I've ever heard. Not all of them actually were that funny.

I feel alternately extremely happy and extremely sad, like a roller-coaster or something. And half of the time I don't even know why I'm in that particular mood. =___=

I have come to the conclusion that all this weirdness is a side-effect from exam stress. @__@ Because I really can't think of an acceptable alternate explanation. ah well.

* * * * *

In other news, this has been the best freakin' birthday ever (insert heavily sarcastic tone here). Cyber Law exam yesterday, Malaysian Studies today (oh... yesterday by now), and Data Mining tomorrow (today by now..?). Thank you for that wonderful present, UTP.

Oh well. At the very least, my family, boyfriend and best friend remembered. And I was stunned by the number of wishes I got over Facebook, thank you all... sorry I couldn't reply everyone.

And, most epic birthday wish yet:

"Dah 22 tahun... kena matang sikit... bawak kereta elok2... jgn bawak masuk longkang lagi."

=___=

kena bahan dgn bf sendiri. haha

I Can't Think Straight

The worst time to have your emotions all upset and tumbling all over the place, is right before an exam. Please, please, please make this go away, I don't want it. I never asked for it. Please make it leave me alone, please let things go back to the way they were before.

I can only wish.

I'm Allowed to MBLM Once in a While

He sent me this last night. And then he was bragging about how he could now drive cars, ride motorcycles, and steer a ship. I told him I'd be impressed when he can pilot a helicopter. =P

It'll be a little over 3 months before I see him again. 24th February 2010, hurry along.

Studying in Stages

Stage 1: Start!


Stage 2: Working hard...


Stage 3: ... or hardly working?



Stage 4: Lazyyyyyy


Stage 5: KO


Cyber Law 1, Shira 0.

heiiihhh.

Another Website For When You're Bored

I read about Mystery Google on MLIA today. Not really knowing what that was, I instantly Googled it. And was brought to this site here:



Curious, I typed in something random. I don't remember what, probably something like 'Twilight sucks".

Mystery Google gave me search results for "penis".

Gee Google, that's exactly what I wanted, how did you know? LOL

Anyway, how it works is that when you click on that search button, you are given the search results for the person before you. Go try it, if you're as bored as me. It certainly kills time. =P

Beautiful People

Reen was showing me this website link her friend gave her.

It's BeautifulPeople, a dating site exclusively for Beautiful People. No, seriously.

Apparently, to apply to join the site, you have to submit your photo and a brief profile of yourself. Existing members will then rate you, and if you are deemed overall to be 'beautiful', you may then join the site and meet other beautiful people.

LOL.

More about the website here.

Siapa berani nk cuba, sila try and then let me know how it goes. I mmg sedar diri x cantik, so I'm not even gonna bother trying. hahahaha

Malaysian Studies for Dummies

Dear Malaysian Studies textbook writers,

Your book sucks. It is boring and uninspiring. Completely in black and white, has no pictures... pages after pages of words, words, words... Urgh! I'd rather read the Form 5 history textbook. =___=

Your English is terrible as well. Whilst reading, I spotted numerous grammatical and spelling errors. Who the heck was your editor?

And, "bye-election"?? It's "by-election", actually. What is a bye-election? Is that when you elect who you want to say goodbye to? =___=

"From the people, to the people, for the people"?? It's "government of the people, by the people, for the people".

=___=

What are they trying to teach us??

And, again ---> =___=

Eye Spy With My Little Eye...

I guess some of you don't know.

My glasses broke. They broke on the morning of the IT/IS beach outing. I was rushing to get ready, so I tossed my specs onto the bed. When I returned after my shower, I stepped onto the bed to hang my towel (the towel rack is over the bed), and I heard a very loud 'CRACK'.

My heart fell into my toes.

And there goes the pair of glasses that I've been using since Foundation. heiihh.

I'm planning to get corrective surgery in December, so making a new pair of glasses seems like a waste. But then again I can't permanently wear my contact lenses for the next month, my eyes will be freakin' dry. =___=

So I decided I'd buy a cheap frame for my existing lenses. Basically it was just the specs frame that broke, the lenses were still intact.

When I went back this weekend, I explained to Mum the situation. I suggested making a cheap pair at Taipan or something, but Mum was against the idea. "Who's going to send you?" she said. Mum is kinda anti-Taipan, for some reason. And since she insisted on coming along to pay for the specs, heck no way she was going to Taipan with me. lolz

So instead, we went to KLCC for dinner, and went to get my glasses made right before. As we entered KLCC, the thought occured to me... is it possible to get cheap glasses at KLCC??

We went to the optician's, and asked if they could like attach my old lens to a new frame. It turns out they could, though the cheapest frame they had for that was RM215. T___T murah la sgt. I have to pay back Mum for it later, btw.

'nyways, the guy fixed my new old glasses on the spot, so now they've been fixed to an orange frame. Orange is my least favourite colour, next to neon pink and highlighter yellow, but whatever. =___=

No photos yet for now, because my left eye is suffering from a severe eye infection. It's all puffy and swollen and oozing with pus. It's just positively disgusting.

... Lost your appetite yet? =P

I'm gonna quarantine myself until it gets better. I don't want anyone to see me like this!! My beloved family are now constantly referring to me as 'Quasimodo'. =___=

Ahh, but I'm going back to UTP tomorrow. Shit. How eh? Am considering an eyepatch. But wouldn't that attract more attention? >__>

I can't go back to UTP any later. siao ah, got finals next week. Not to mention I have to hand in my corrections for dissertation on Tuesday, and a job interview on Wednesday. dammit. dammit.

Stupid eye!! Heal!!!

Justification

Today I read an article about how staring at boobs for 10 minutes daily can increase your life span by 5 years. Something to do about the increase in heart rate, or something like that. Read it here.

I told my siblings this.

"Cool, I should try it!" Hasif said, and then proceeded to look at Nina's chest. "Wait a minute, there's nothing there." He then laughed his head off, whilst Nina aimed a slap at his head.

LMAO.

I also found another study which shows that giving blowjobs and swallowing semen can reduce the risk of breast cancer in women by as much as 40 percent. The article is here.

Umm, again. wha?

People will justify anything. =___=

And btw, if you prolong your lifespan by 5 years from boob-ogling, and then smoke (which reduces your lifespan significantly by 5-10 years), I think it basically cancels out the effect. You know who you are. =P

Of Ode to Joy and Whale Popes

I'm home!!

After dinner today, which was spaghetti bolognaise (one of my favourites =P), Aris suddenly went over to the piano and started playing.

"What is he doing?" I asked Nina.

"Oh, Aris now plays Ode to Joy after dinner if he liked the food, as a thank you. And if he's really happy, he'll play his 'Chinese version'". (The so-called Chinese version, is Ode to Joy played using the black keys, lolz)

"Yesterday," Nina went on to say, "he nearly played the Chinese version because mum made chili fish, but he didn't like anything other than the Chinese fish, so he played..."

At that point, I burst out laughing hysterically at Nina's slip, because I was trying to imagine a Chinese fish. lolz

* * * * *

We were all sitting around the living room table, each at our respective laptops/books. Nina looked up from her History textbook, and asked me, a smirk on her face.

"Shira, do you know what a 'paus' is?"

I stared blankly at her. "Isn't 'paus' whale, in Malay?"

Hasif came over and laughed, suddenly. "That's what you think. But that's 'ikan paus'. A 'paus' is..."

"The Pope," Nina said, completely straightfaced.

At that point, I imagined a whale wearing the Pope's hat, and again I laughed hysterically.

Home, sweet home. A lot of fishy jokes today. =P

It's The Final Countdown

Today I attended my final lecture as a UTP student.

And it was at Lecture Hall 1, the same venue we always attended for lectures when we were in Foundation. Just like in Foundation, the lecture hall was full of people from our batch, both engineering and technology students. Let me emphasize again that this has not happened since our first semester in UTP!

As I was sitting there in that lecture hall, I remembered so many things. If rooms could speak, would they remember the numerous jokes we made in lectures, our various antics, the little mini-dramas that happened in our lives?

Four and a half years in this middle-of-nowhere place. A lot has changed since I first set foot here, completely bewildered and feeling completely out-of-place.

Four and a half years, and I realised that the only constant thing that hasn't changed for me since that first day of lectures, is you.

Thank you for being the most awesome friend ever, and putting up with all my bullshit for all that time (although to be fair, I put up with yours too). And thank you for being the one person I could tell everything to, even when we were in the middle of a fight (remember that loooong email? hahahaha). Thank you for keeping a smile on my face every single day (even if it's jokes made at my expense =___=). Just... thank you.

(sappy and mushy all of a sudden. excuse me while I blow my nose. *HONK!!* *sniffle sniffle*)

My final final paper is at Main Hall. Again, another bit of nostalgia for me. When we were in Foundation, most of our final papers were at Main Hall. *sigh*

Part of me is going to miss this dump. Most of me is going to miss all the awesome people I've known here. After that batch gathering at the beach, it's been one wave of nostalgia after another. I feel sad =(

Keep in touch, guys!!

* * * * *

This photo still sits proudly framed in my room.

--- 19 days left in UTP ---

The Amoeboba

This old pic of me and my foundation-time roomie Fathin is made of win. I died laughing when I saw it. hahahahaha wtf man XD

Monday Mornings

Nothing bites more than having to get up early on Monday morning to go to a class that you know is canceled, because you've been told to post a note outside the class telling everyone else that it's been canceled. =___=

Next up on today's agenda, Cyber Law quiz at 5pm. Oh yes. Ain't Mondays just wonderful.

At least, I saw something this morning that made me smile. Oh yes it did. XD

One Happy Family

Semalam kami pergi Ipoh sekeluarga.

Antara sebab utama untuk rombongan tersebut adalah kerana internet di rumah tidak berfungsi, lalu kami sekeluarga bosan duduk di rumah.

Dalam perjalanan ke Ipoh, Papa meleter saya, sebab pakaian yang dipakai dikatakannya terlalu ketat dan pendek. Walaupun saya membalas bahawa seluar jeans saya semua dalam proses dibasuh dah tiada baju lain untuk dipakai, namun alasan ini tidak diterima Papa.

Oleh kerana duit saya tidak mencukupi, saya terpaksa meminta duit dari Mama untuk makan. Kad ATM saya tidak diterima oleh mana-mana ATM di Jusco Kinta pada hari itu, sehingga sekarang saya tidak tahu kenapa.

Atas cadangan Abang, kami pun makan tengah hari di Sushi King. Kami semua kagum dengan gunung pinggan sushi yang dijamah oleh Abang seorang. Oleh kerana Papa, Mama, dan Kakak telah makan sebelum bertolak dari rumah, mereka lebih banyak bergossip dari makan. Saya mendengar sahaja sambil makan oleh kerana terlalu lapar.

Setelah kami makan, kami berjalan-jalan di sekitar Jusco Kinta. Kami dapat juga bertembung dengan beberapa kawan sekeluarga yang juga berada di kompleks membeli-belah tersebut.

Filem yang ditontoni kami pada hari itu ialah Ninja. Cerita ini ialah agak sederhana dan rasanya tidak berbaloi bayaran tiket RM10.

Selepas menontoni filem tersebut, kami pun makan malam di Nasmir. Papa sempat lagi meleteri saya tentang pakaian sekali lagi. T___T

Setelah selesai mengisi perut dengan makanan dan juga asap rokok Papa dan Abang, kami pun bertolak balik rumah.

* * * * *

I am becoming more and more Melayu everyday, no? Rediscovering my roots, you might say lolz

Have fun guessing which Usual Suspect is which in the "family". =P

IT/IS Batch Gathering...

... was a BLAST!! XD

I had soo much fun running and jumping and screaming and cheering and yelling. And then I happily KO'ed the whole car ride back. lolz

Whoever's idea it was to have a beach barbecue instead of an uptight formal dinner, that was freakin' genius. All the games and activities, both planned and spontaneous were soo much fun. And I know everyone is still having fun tagging and commenting on Facebook, even though it's now 4am. lolz

eh eh, I should sleep. Corp Comm tomorrow morning!

And, in the immortal words of Kanye West:

"Imma let you finish, but ITIS had the best batch gathering of all time! Of all time!!"

No negative comments, because I don't want to start another flame war on this blog. No, seriously, there aren't any because it was just that good. whee~~

And no photos here, because I don't own any. Dammit, I need to get a camera or something. eh, my birthday is in a couple of weeks. Anybody? ... Thought not. hahahaha XD

G'nite ppl!