Snow :3

it's the crunch of ice under our shoes..the sloshy sound we make as we walk on half-melted ice... ahh~

fine..the sloshy part's not really fun...

On the day we had our first snow i was jumping up and down with excitement.. running out in 3/4 shorts, t-shirt, jacket and slippers and taking pictures of the snow... it started with a very light snow shower.. and when it stopped i felt a little disappointed....

Then after a few hours i looked out of my window again...it was snowing heavily.....ahhhhhh!!!!!

this time i had to change into trousers and wear my shoes coz i didn't wanna risk losing my toes..

and the wars began... people from this hall throwing snowballs at people from the other hall..

away from the warzone was peace and serenity... the roads covered in white, fluffy snow..untreaded.. it was beautiful :')

People keep saying "you're gonna love it at first and hate the snow later" ..i haven't begun to hate it yet but i think many people have...

Today it was snowing quite heavily so most of the catering outlets on campus closed early, leaving only the main cafeteria open.. the student shop closed early, classes were cancelled, bus services weren't in full operation and even the library and chaplaincy closed early.. cars were breaking down and airports were closed..

yes, snow can be a very very inconvenient phenomenon BUT when it snows you don't feel so cold :D .. that's the best part of snow for me :3 .. i can still wear just a shirt and jacket with jeans and the temperature will be just nice... maybe blubber has its plus points ;)

-llen-

let it snow, let it snow, LET IT SNOW....

*sigh* ... weather forecasts have a way of making you feel too excited for your own good...

and i think it's safe to say that it is a very big misconception that scotland (or at least edinburgh) is a very cold place...hrmph!!

Snow was supposed to fall since wednesday evening... and we still have no snow!!!! grrr....

Then i started seeing a friend's picture of snow in Durham which is quite near to us..just about an hour's train ride away... why do they have snow and we don't D: ... surely the whole point of enduring cold cold weather is to experience snow! now we're just getting cold cold sunshine during the afternoon and cold darkness after sunset :( ..

and then a friend at Bristol said it was snowing... Bristol ain't even in the northern part of England and it's snowing!! :(

so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast is right this time and snow will finally come TONIGHT!! grrrrr

-llen-

money matters...

for some time now i've been longing for a new phone... a phone with cooler features...more importantly, a phone with wifi... coz it sucks whenever i eat with my brother at a place with wifi and he'd whip out his phone and use the wifi and i sit there.. feeling kinda alone...

and i've been drooling over HTC phones for some time now.. i fell in love with the HTC Hero and i think i still really like it but logic tells me it's stupid to get the hero due to the fact that it's somewhat obselete compared to and the brand new HTCs which have better features... and now HTC is churning out soooo many models i can't make a decision (partly because it wasn't love at first sight like with the Hero) and so i keep postponing my purhcase..

then i recently saw an offer from HMV.. get an ipod (either classic,nano or touch) and you'll get a 25 pound itunes gift card and a 20 pounds HMV gift card! .. and so my alternative to getting a phone sprang into my head... keep my current phone, get a touch which has wifi and the new touch has video calling capabilities too!!

and since the offer was ending next week i emailed dad asking if i could get it.. 189 pounds.... he was ok with it coz i think i have mentioned this in the past..

So! today after class i ventured out into the city..... but before i did i punched in on the calculator... 189 x 5 .....

see the thing about pounds and the price of stuff here is that... you THINK it's very cheap... like basic food stuff can cost as little as a pound.. shower gel on offer 84p .. but once you convert!! hah!! so yes, i wasn't quite happy with the amount on my calculator...

i paced about the room...deciding whether to go or not.. and in the end i told myself "if you want, you buy today!! you know you won't buy once you hesitate!!!"

and when i got to hmv... i walked around pretending to browse but in my mind so many thoughts were running around... "buy or don't buy.. not cheap lehh..maybe save the money and buy a phone instead...a HTC phone yummm.... ipod touch apps, games yumm...think of people without a home, without food, what are you doing getting an ipod touch when people are struggling to survive???.."

so i walked out of there empty-handed... *sigh* ..

and when i told my parents what happened over skype...they laughed at me -.- ......

i wonder... am i considered as someone....stingy? ._.

-llen-

first time for everything .......

21 November......

First time standing by the road waiting for a bus when another bus passes by and splashed water on me -.- .. good thing it was just a small splash..

i didn't feel mad/frustrated when it happened.... i actually felt like laughing ... ._. ...

-llen-

another thing i've learnt.....

this time about myself ._. ..

I have learnt that it is my NATURE to be untidy... it's true!

I started out with a clean, tidy table... a few weeks later the table is covered with piles of books/papers/receipts...

I clean it all up again when it becomes too messy coz i can't do any work if i leave it... and i'll have a tidy table again... :D .. ahh...

Some people manage to keep their tables/shelves tidy on a day to day basis... I, cannot...

so the cycle continues.. after a few days the table becomes non-existent yet again ._. ..

i got so sick of looking at my table that i went to the library to do my assignments instead of tidying up...

So today after getting frustrated by how i can't find the things i need, i tidied up my table once again... i'm pretty sure in a few days it'll all become messy again... *sigh* .. how people keep their rooms tidy i don't know.... ._. .. my point is, it's not that i don't wish to be tidier... it's just that.. being untidy is part of my DNA....!

-llen-

what i've learnt so far...

1. i probably look very chinese ._. .. i mean, personally even when i see someone who i think is chinese i have second thoughts coz maybe the person might be malaysian, singaporean or hongkie...etc...so i don't directly speak to them in mandarin coz it'd be bad to assume and they end up being japanese and dunno what you're saying mah -.- .. so the other day i was trying to login to a probably faulty computer and this chinese dude just spoke to me directly in chinese saying he thinks it's faulty ._. .. but it's ok i guess... i'm proud of my heritage XD .. just a little embarrassed that my chinese isn't that pro.... :/

2. the cafeteria, amazingly, serves up pretty good curry! back home i usually ask mum to cook something other than rice coz i get bored of it but over here whenever they serve rice i try to pick the rice to go with the main dish coz it's been ages since i've had rice ._. so, many a time they have curry and rice and i must say... the curry is not bad! their nasi goreng sucks though..haha

3. the winds can get very strong at times...... so strong that it can make you feel like flying away.... when it's against your direction, walking gets a little difficult coz your eyes get watery apart from the force going against you... when it's in your direction and you're waiting to cross the road, it feels like someone is pushing you forward onto oncoming traffic.... (mama, you really must eat more before coming here ._. )

4. i realise they don't have fishballs here...... or i just haven't come across any ._. .. i dunno why but i suddenly felt like having fishballs one day.. hrrrrmmm.....

5. i think malaysian mcD is really better than the mcD here ...except for maybe one or two items that we don't have in malaysia ...

6. vaseline is a miracle worker...... when i first came i didn't bother with putting lotion on my hands.. and the wind and the cold soon made my finger bleed.. and my eczema which i haven't had in ages came back and my hands looked...zombified.... then i went to the doctor and he asked me to get a cream which didn't really help me ... but when i used vaseline...ahh...my human-looking hands returned :D

and that is what i have learnt so far in my two months here :) ..

plus the stuff i learnt in class of course XD ....

-llen-

AHHHHH!!!!!!!

while on the bus today i saw a poster... "Bon Jovi at Murrayfield Stadium"

i couldn't believe it!! i came home and googled.. and it was true!!! BON JOVI IS COMING TO EDINBURGH!!!!

but

they're coming in june... that means..... i won't be here to catch bon jovi D: D: D: .. such bad timing :(

haihhhh....



in other news, my mum was on TV ..hahaha... she was in taiwan walking up a steep slope coz the bus would only stop before the slope and a reporter asked her if it was difficult to walk up the slope -.- .. she didn't even know she was on tv until her friend texted her saying she was on the tvb channel XD ... such random stuff...

-llen-

some habits are just harder to shake.....

i don't remember when this started but for as long as i can remember i've been a very good procrastinator... i would play first, do homework later.. read fiction first, read textbook later...etc..

And everytime a new phase in life begins, for example when college and uni started, i would start the year off with such energy! set high standards for myself! say to myself :"I will finish my assignments as soon as possible!! RAWR!!"

and for the first few weeks it works... and then i start to slack......

Uni hasn't been so bad thankfully.. i usually get work done early... and right at the start of the course i found out about our management assignment about environmental scanning... it was due today at 4pm...

I gave it some thought a few weeks ago but never got the ball rolling.. i put it on my to-do sticky note and looked at it everyday.... and yet... i only really started to do the assignment last week :/ ...

And then i put it off until a day before submission.. after one afternoon of typing and typing, i was almost done! and then....i... went on youtube ..... and i had a long skype session with chin li to plan stuff...
and then it was 1am already!! i ended up working on it till about 3am and it wasn't done yet so i woke up around 9 to finish it off..

When it was done i submitted it into turnitin, the software that's supposed to check for plagiarism and what not... and we were supposed to attach the turnitin report with our assignment BUT turnitin wouldn't give me my report D: ... and so as submission time drew near i decided to print my assignment first and worst-case if the report still wasn't out, look for the lecturer to let her know...

Thankfully lots of other people didn't get their turnitin reports on time either *chuckles* .. so the lecturer actually sent out emails saying that we could hand in the assignment without the turnitin...hee hee...

But after this very tiring experience.... i think i really need to stop procrastinating in future :/


-llen-

Happy Deepavali!

I remember going for tuition in ET Klang.. accounts, add maths, chemistry, BM...

I remember the textile shop right below ET.. always blasting festive music whenever a festival is coming up.. When it was almost deepavali they'd play "happy happy deeeeepavali~" ..and close to raya they'd blast all the raya songs too..

It's fine to have music and all.. but it was really annoying because the speaker is right there and when you wait for your car to come around you're subjected to the loud booming music over and over again.... and i used to go there more than once a week.. (probably why i can still remember that one phrase from the deepavali song XD .. )

But now.. i kinda miss it... I've missed going for tuition since A levels (i'm not a tuition freak...i just had really good teachers!) and today being Deepavali... it made me remember that song booming from the speakers of the textile shop... how jammed it always is in Klang whenever there's a festival.. Deepavali actually made me think about Klang ._. .. wonder how i'd feel come CNY .......

-llen-

wasn't my birthday....

but it sure felt like it was :)

It's my cousin and uncle's birthday today.. it's the only shared birthday in my family as far as i know..

Tuesday being the day i have only one class, i got my lunch and came back sitting in front of my computer watching another episode of Gilmore Girls while munching away.. I checked my mail while i watched and mum sent me an email saying just "Are you back yet?" (her emails have gotten shorter and shorter and sometimes it's as though she's sending me an sms so my inbox has a lot of short messages from mum -.- ) So i assumed she just wanted to skype..

When i called her i just remembered that they were having the birthday celebration but i thought it might have been over and she'd probably be watching her usual hokkien programme.. She didn't pick up though but called me back after a few minutes...

Then i heard many voices.. i would've assumed it to be the tv but it was distinctly the voice of my cousin-in-law ..haha... then only mum turned on the video -.- .. and there everybody was :D

Rachel telling me how much she misses me :) .. cousins, uncle, Nicole, mum, aunt, the cheesecake.. and when my cousin said my hair was getting long Rachel even said "Ah yi, you cut like Nicole's hair lahh" XD .. and they sang the birthday song for my uncle and cousin and i watched and smiled.. :)

it's not my birthday but it feels as though it's a gift somehow... made me feel all warm and fuzzy <3

and here's a picture of me and my fringe which explains why i've been urged to get a haircut XD




-llen-

Family...

On Saturday night I met up with Chin Li, her mum, her sis and her sister's friend.. It felt really nice to see a familiar face again.. :)

Initially the plan was that i spend the night with them and go back on Sunday morning but in the end i went walking around with them on Sunday too..

And this change of plan was apparently very significant because I made mum worry :/ ..

Today i finally got to skype with mum and she didn't really make a big deal of it though.. she just asked why i didn't tell her about the change of plans..( it was because i didn't have internet but i guess i could've sent her a text when i knew about my change in plans :/ .. )

When dad came up he said i made them worry so much that they didn't get a good night's sleep.. i made mum pace about the room before she slept.. and she got up really early to pace around some more waiting for my email.. it's a pretty guilty feeling, realising how you've made your parents worry..

Then mum proceeded to tell me about her conversation with bro while i was without internet XD

Mum: Your sister's not online.........
Bro : She's out with her friends mah..
Mum: Ya...but she's supposed to be back already..
Bro : Sometimes i go out also i never tell you all lahh...

XD .. ahh.. my bro, how he eases my mum's worries...

Unfortunately, mum didn't stop worrying though.. apparently mum was worried that i took the wrong bus, didn't take enough cash out in case i needed a taxi, lost my way at some point...etc etc... (all of which didn't happen coz i'm responsible and carry a map and enough cash with me whenever i go to the city! hehe..)

So..it was pretty thick-skinned of me and stupid to ask my mum "Ma, do you miss me? :D :D :D" coz she then replied "If i don't miss you would i be up worrying all night about your safety?" ..

:') .. i now owe my parents really good birthday presents ...

-llen-