Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Updates

I'm supposed to take pictures of my new hairstyle, and also stuff that I've recently bought, but well, I'm too lazy. I've even borrowed a camera from my sister, and also planned on what pictures to take. I guess the weather has just make me even lazier and sluggish.

1. Went to the optometrist. She said my short-sightedness did not increase in power, it's the first time in 14 years I think. What's more, my left eye has gone down 25 degrees in power!

2. Went to the dentist. I had my wisdom tooth surgically removed. Had three stitches. Nobody told me before that it's so painful! >.<

3. Had my first tennis lesson last Thursday. The coach said I'm not bad, just that I keep twisting my wrist like what I do in badminton. That really annoyed him. Looking forward to my second lesson.

4. Paid RM180 for a one month badminton training session. It's 2 hours per day, everyday of the week except Tuesday. The coach is supposed to correct my mistakes and teach me correct footwork. The warm-ups are super duper hard, I'm surprised my asthma did not attack. But then, the price is good and I've nothing much to do at home. I can't complain more. :) Bought a pair of badminton shoes for RM 120, super comfortable, happy with the decision.

5. Re-read all of the Harry Potter books. About to finish the 7th book. Loving Harry Potter even more. By the way, in case you never knew, I had an ambition to marry Harry Potter when I was 13. Note that I don't mean the actor Daniel Radcliffe, just Harry Potter, the fictional character.

6. At last submitted my application to NTU. I applied for a job at UKM as assistant researcher. I reported to JPA too. So now my job is to wait. I might go look at websites of Singaporean companies, I might get a little lucky, who knows. Heh.

7. Still doing translation stuff for Tzu Chi, since I have extra free time. I used to download video episodes to watch before translating, but I can't anymore, since the internet connection here is 10 times slower than that in the States.

8. Before I started badminton, it was at least an hour's exercise everyday for me. I must make my slim down dream come true, which I had since 8 years ago. :P Half an hour on the treadmill, and an hour on Wii Fit.

Well, that's it for now I guess.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

A New Day Has Come

2nd June
Woke up to a very cold morning in the living room on the squeaky futon. Started packing. It was basically taking out everything from the bags and putting them back again, minus the heavy stuff which I've dumped into Huey Shann's bag. Lunch was bak zhang from the previous day. I had 'students', ie. Siew Gee, Jason, Wei Ping and Billy, learning how to wrap bak zhang from me. :D

Dinner was Madras Masala. I never realize how expensive it was until I footed the bill for my 'students' plus Pei Ying. Next was La Dolce Vita for dessert. I ordered key lime parfait, which was the biggest mistake in my life. Well, second big mistake, if you know what my biggest mistake was. :P The key lime parfait was WAY TOO SOUR that it was torturing. Sigh. Didn't do anything special on my last night at Ann Arbor, apart from the fact that I turned into a cat and was killed by curiosity.

3rd June
Woke up to a very cold morning in the living room on the squeaky futon, again, for the last time. Last shower in Ann Arbor. Last laundry. Packed up everything. Last bank and post office visit. Then went to No Thai! for lunch. First and last time I finished a plate of Pad Thai Curry Noodles all by myself. Got myself a driver to drive me to the airport.

On the way, I actually felt sad to leave Ann Arbor. I was trying to memorize everything I saw that day. Bubble Island where we used to hang out for a million times. Pinball Pete's where we always played pool and DDR. Starbucks which I bought green tea frap during my cram-for-exams periods. UGLi, a noisy and dirty library which I've grown to like. University Towers, a very run down apartment building which I've lived in for a year. The Biomedical Science building, which is made entirely out of glass. It was a pity I never got to work there. :( I was afraid that I might forget how Ann Arbor looked like. College years was the best time of my life, well, minus some undesirable incidents. Good memories created, good friends made, good life experiences gained. I am missing Ann Arbor this very second. It is so very ironic, that it was my own decision to leave Ann Arbor early, and then missing it when I left it.

Waited for 5 hours at LAX. It was not nice. I reached LAX at 7pm Ann Arbor time, which is already 10pm LA time. I had my dinner that time, which was a vegetarian burrito that was pai chiak until I suddenly missed panchero's. The flight departed from LAX at 1.40am LA time, which was already 4.40am Ann Arbor time!!! That was the time that I felt really jet-lagged. I didn't sleep until I went onto the plane, which was about 5am AA time. -_-

4th June
Reached Taipei airport. Brought back memories of when I first went to USA to study three years ago. We took a MAS flight, transitted in Taipei as well. The memories were beautiful.

5th June
I looked out of the window. Palm oil trees. Landed in KLIA at 12pm. Filled out a form saying that I embarked the plane from a WHO declared H1N1 infected area, the USA. Surprisingly, nobody did any checks on me in the airport. No temperature check, no quarantine, no nothing. Boarded a 1.55pm flight from KLIA to Alor Star.

I looked out of the window. Paddy fields this time. I am back on home soil! It was a freaking 34 degrees celcius. I came back from a place with -20 celcius winters, a 50 degree difference!

Did some unpacking. Slept at 9pm.

6th June
Woke up at 5am. Went for a haircut. It's real short now. Hehe.

And this marks the new phase of my life. I am officially a university graduate now. I am nervous about what lies ahead of me. I am not sure which path to take, and what each path offers to me. I hope this long break from studying will actually let me think over things. Goodbye Ann Arbor.