Internet

Yay, double yay, triple yay, super yay, mother-of-all-yays!!!!! We finally have a home broadband installed!!! It's superfast and it's unlimited (at least until the end of this coming August T_T). I'm happy, so now I have to summon all my willpower and discipline to limit my internet use and not to abuse this gift from Baba :) I will use it wisely Ba (or at least without super-abusing it).

Anyway, one thing to note about the application and installation process is how anal retentive I am. Yes, anal. I asked millions of questions, repeating the questions over and over again in various different ways (re-phrase, anyone?) before I let Baba commit to Maxis (yes, we are one of the few early birds who subscribe to Maxis instead of TM's Unifi, that's another story for another post). Then, I kept on calling Mama to ask about the progress of the installation (I wasn't there physically, but hey, I'm there sprititually!). I even talked to the person who came to install our fibre-optic line like more than once.

Anyhow, I learned from experience that I cannot let go of things and I have to handle everything. Delegation is a foreign word to me (hey, I did learn about it, I just don't practice it often). At least when it comes to things I really enjoy and love. Homework and assignments, not so much. Second thing to note is this:

No matter how many pictures I took, it never fails to amaze me. There's only one word to describe this: MESS. Yes, I came to conclusion that it's a jumble of mess of gadgets of only nerds-know-what. Why, dear Maxis, why do you have to use more than one modem or whatsthemathingie for our home broadband? Why do you have to have so many electrical wires (while I do understand the need, can't you be more, uhm tidier than this?)? Please please please the great engineers of this whole wide world and Maxis (specifically Maxis), please adopt a tidier way of installing home broadbands. Please? And why do you even use a TM's gobsmackiethingie? I know you rent your line from TM (or something akin to that), but hey, at least try to paste some other signs on that huge-smack-me-in-the-face TM insignia.

Thank you.

Just Like A Melancholic Movie

I love this song. I've been playing this song over and over again these last few days. I don't care how 'pop' this song is, I love it :)

Doraemon

When I was small, I loved to watch Doraemon. I bought the whole Doraemon's manga series. I even have multiple copies of the same book. They are all gone now, gone with the wind (seriously, I just misplaced them as what a careless child that I am would do). Anyway, the main point here is, I had always believed, secretly, that Doraemon exists. Back then. Adult that I am now, I do realise that Doraemon never exists. Unless....

Anyway, Doraemon has always been my secret hero until I was about 8 or 9. I believed that one day, if I fervently wished for it, I would be granted with my own Doraemon. Of course, when I do have my own Doraemon, I would name him 'Doraemon'. What else should I call him? My Doraemon would grant me all of my wishes. The main thing that I really really want from Doraemon (still do, if only Doraemon or something like that actually exists) is the magic door. Do you remember the magic door? The door that can lead you to anywhere you wish for? Yes, that door.

I'd love to be able to arrive to class on time without the hassle of travelling and all the walking to my exact destination. Travelling all over the world would not be near impossible due to the money and time constraints (money, mostly). I can be at Egypt this friday evening and still be able to be back on saturday for my favourite drama on tv. I can be in Tokyo and find more Doraemons for my whole family.

Anyway, if wishes were pennies, I'd be super-stinking rich by now :) Doraemon never exist but the thing is, I've never forgotten him. He's super-duper cool and he's one of the last links to my childhood that I hope to never lose. He reminds me of innocence, dreams and wishes.

Short (More Like Long) News

Short post for news:

1. 2PM has just released their new album 'Hands Up'. Why is it worth a mention at numero uno. Just simply because I can. I love 2PM and I like their new album. I've bought 3 of their songs (legally. Is there any other way? Wait, don't answer that) and I'm waiting for God of Money to bestow me some richness so I can waste my life and become indolent. No, I'm thinking of ways to sell a section of my liver to pay my day-to-day expenses, school fees and yes, to buy the physical copy of 2PM new album. So, give 2PM's Hands Up a try. I love it, so it's compulsory for you to love it too. Because I say so.
2. Dora came back for her short break a few weeks ago. YAY! I managed to meet her twice. I was really happy to see her. We went for karaoke and drinks (yes, the alcoholic variety, you how I love my whiskey sour, hohoho). I missed the chance to see her one last time before she went back as we lost our way to Seoul Garden IOI Puchong. So, I feel bad. However, I'm still happy that I got to see her, even if our gossip time was so limited. Now I can't wait until Yaya comes back for her elective :)
3. 3rd block is pure torture. I love what I'm studying, but God help me, it's too much for too little time. I know I have to be diligent and study hard, but seriously, it's just too many things to read and memorize. It's like a never ending number of sand by the sea.
4. I finally, finally , finally, finally, have my driving license. Driving skills are still sketchy at best, but hey, I'm trying! It's like discovering that I have wings to fly. Well, at least a way to travel other than public transportation and walking :)
5. Jaja succeeded in gaining her MSc in Mathematics! Chuka-hamnida Jaja!!!! Life is going great for you. Many blessings in the future for you, that's my prayer! And I hope your PhD is going to start as soon as humanly possible :)
6. Baba finally subscribes to fibre optic internet (= superfast broaband, in layman's term :P) for our home. From this upcoming Thursday until October, we have access to unlimited data. That means, internet abuse. That equals to time-awasting. Hohoho.
7. Baba also finally upgraded his mobile phone to Samsung Galaxy Ace. Why not iPhone4 or BB you said? Because I chose so. Because I like it. Because there are just too many human beings that use those 2 types of mobile phones, and frankly, I've never been the trendy type. So, baba has to get used to a touch screen mobile phone I've chosen for him.
8. There was a water cut scare a few days ago. It was a scare, in other words, our home is not affected. Why I'm sharing this? It's because I don't want to stop at 7.
9. THE END. How much longer do you expect me to write?

P/S: Dora's male cousin is just so cute. He's nice too, he sent me home, right to my front door :)

What I've Been Up To These Hot Humid Days

It's been a while. Wait. I think this has become a habit for me. To start off mysteriously with 'It's been a while'. As if I'm about to continue with a great epic news. Anyway, it's true, it's been quite a while for me. I'm not dead, I'm not sick, I'm not depressed (in case if you are wondering, 'depressed' seems to deserve it's own mention, even if it is coming under the heading 'sick') and I'm not giving up on blogging for no one to read. Real life is just too busy. I wake up at 5.45am (or 6-6.30am, depending. On my lazy-O-meter, I mean) and I get ready to leave for school. I will arrive at approximately 7.50am, just in time before class starts, so no internet for the wicked. Class will go on and on until 4.30pm (or 5pm. Again, depending. No, not on me this time, life starts and ends at school, apparently. According to Prof. Viji). Arriving at home approximately at 5pm (to 6.30pm max).

By the time I reach my home's front door, I'm too tired to do anything else other than eating dinner and watch tv, like a couch potato that I am. Then, it's further-lazy time until I sleep. The cycle continues. Wait, why the heck is this crazy lady poring on and on about her day? It's because I'm reaching to my conclusion here. Wait for it, wait for it. Which is: I have no time, even if I do have the will, to write something even reasonably logical. Lately, I've found religion. No. Not really. I found life I've lived before is becoming irrelevant to life I'm living now.

The reason is simple. I cannot live like I did before. Maybe, just maybe (more like most probably), that's the main reason of my downfall. I've taken the easy path and look where it has gotten me. Now, my life consists of self-reflection (when I feel like it), study, some form of entertainment I allow myself (before I really actually go haywire), and yes, a few stolen moments with my best friend, Put. Urgh, the latter just sounded so wrong somehow. Let's just not expound on that.

Anyway, I am brimming with ideas, and I think today is the lucky day (lucky for whom, that's the question of the day ;) ) when I'm feeling generous enough to share. And due to the fact that I finally have access to internet (stolen from Baba, what else). So, brace yourself dear readers (failed mimicry of some sort of 18th and 19th centuries writer's address to his/her readers) for some explosive readings! You know it's going to be explosive, so pardon my language. I have already turned into a potty-mouth, and I'm incurable.

PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!!

In a crazy stalker-fan mode today ;P So, let's hear it! Drum roll, please..........

Musings Of The Slow Moving River

Lately I have so many inspirations to write, more than I know what to do with. It's just the lack of time and internet access making things harder for me to share my thoughts. Anyway, one good news coming out of this few weeks is that I managed to not bungle up my driving test (again) and won (it feels like I'm winning some sort of prize ;P) my driving licence. Sigh. Finally. The bad side of things is that I'm such an incompetent driver I managed to scare off my Baba and Gegel. Anyhow, I'm practicing and that's what matters, right? Right?......Right?

Life is moving on an even pace lately. Things are slow and the highlight of my day these days is watching my new and latest favourite korean drama 'Lie To Me'. I won't delve into details, all I'm saying is I'm stark raving mad about this drama!!!! Like chincha, really!!! On another matter, Jaja finally got engaged yesterday. She looked very beautiful and the event went over smoothly. We were very much blessed by God and I am truly thankful that Jaja's is happy. May Allah SWT bless you with a happy and fruitful life ahead :)

I want to share pictures but I'm still waiting for them from Uncle Iman (he's our front door neighbour,the photographer of the day). Wait, I feel really weird calling him Uncle Iman. Even though he is married with 2 cute little toddlers, he's like 30-34 years old. Ooops, I almost gave away my age. Anyway, that's the best title I can come out with without sounding weird or cheesy. Seriously, Uncle Iman and Aunty (I seriously never called her that due to all the awkwardness) Mas' children are so cute and amusing :) Especially Irfan. Watching him makes me want to have a toddler on my own. Irfan, I mean. But then again, I'm not sure I can handle kids right now, with everything almost spilling out of my plate. Life as I know it would end, wouldn't it?

Sorry, My English

Translation: Pardon my English.

Today is the 'Sorry, My English' edition. I present you a finding of about a week old. Enjoy!

I love to troll too!!!!Let's trolly today! Hohoho. It seems like something Santa would say, like 'Hohohohoho, are you a good girl this year? Hohoho, I'm in a trolly good mood! Let's trolly!'. Get it?

Misplaced Loyalty

All Malaysian radio stations nowadays (and radios everywhere, actually) are trying to stay competitive in the IT period. People have become progressively dependent on the internet to find new songs to download to their mp3 players that radios are losing their influence, unlike way back then in the 90s. Even I rarely hear the radio, until I come back to KL and my daily journey to KD. This forces me to the only entertainment that I could find, the radio. I don't own any mp3 devices like ipod or so on since I know I am not a keen music listener, so I have none to plug-in onto the car audio system. And I'm way to lazy to make a playlist.

Anyway, 5 years are a long time for more English radio stations to emerge. Hitz.fm which was the ultimate English radio station back then has more competitions now. Sadly, it also means loss of revenue from advertisements, so they are putting in more and more advert time in between songs. The playlist has also becoming repetitive and another bad mark against them is that they also play old songs. There is nothing wrong with old songs mind you, but Hitz.fm is not like MixFM or other oldies-themed radio stations. Their target audience seems to be the young adults and teenagers, so playing old songs, even just last season's, is not a great strategy to fish more audience from your target market.

The talk time by the deejays have also increased. I don't mind a 5 to 10 minutes talk time in the morning, if only they play at least 3 songs in between the talk time. Idiot that they are, the usually have one song per 15 to 20 minutes of talk time and further 10 minutes of adverts. Okay, I exaggerate, but you get me right? Less talk, more songs please. The talking makes me feel like pulling my hair or pulling the deejays' hair! The exceeding talking time is causing me to switch to another radio, as long as this radio plays a song, cause the talking is becoming more and more frantic and tedious to my ears. It's not helping that morning is so not my time of the day.

Anyway, the whole point of this is my way of saying goodbye to an old friend. Yes, by getting angry and smashing on them ^^. In words. I'm saying 'So long shmuck!' to my long-lost friend Hitz.fm which I left behind 5 years ago, and now I'm leaving you again for good. Actually, I'll peek every now and then, when other radios are becoming tedious too, so....Okay. Let's just end it at that *wink wink*.

Team Player

Team work can either yield stupendously great or disastrous result for me. I am the first to admit that I am a really bad team player. When it comes to compromising, I suck. Badly. I micromanage things. I want things to go my way. I want the end result to look exactly like what I have in mind. I want things to go on my pace. If things go my way, then I'll work extremely hard to make sure I can finish it as soon as possible and as perfectly as I can. When it comes to group work, I'm a nitpicky perfectionist bitch. In another word, I'm a monster.

I have 3 strategies when it comes to tackling group work. 2 strategies are totally extreme, that I'm awed by just realising it. First, I would control and do everything. As in, as soon as we got this assignment, I would take over and start my plans. Then, I would proceed to prepare basically everything by myself, even when the others have their own tasks. Later, to show that 'Hey, I'm cool with this so I'll let you put in about 5% of your work in our final presentation! How cool was that?!!!', I'll add in some of my team mates work. That's compromise in Harley's world, baby.

Secondly, I would be diffident, quiet and passive and let the big dog take it. When I feel intimidated by someone who has a stronger voice, or I hate that 'self-appointed leader' or the group or the assignment, or I just plain fuck-it-I-seriously-don't-care-one-way-or-another, I let everyone else take over. Let them do all the decisions and let them do all the work. Basically, I become the yes-girl. I agree with anything and I would do my task (if I'm assigned with something, which is usually the case with team assignments) minimally satisfactorily. I'll put in enough effort to pass muster. Hey, at least I'm doing something right? It's better than nothing hohoho.

Lastly, which I think is the best strategy but rarely employed by dear ole moi, is the I'm-doing-all-I-can approach. I'll let another person be the leader (which I hate so much, the micromanager that I am) and force myself to be satisfied with my task which is given. I would do my very best researching and presenting and help with all I can so that all of us will get the best result or win something. This is a role that I take so rarely, I don't even remember this particular strategy. However, I'd say this is the best compromise that I could make.

Being human, that I am, I am full of flaws and makes many mistakes. Being a good team player is never in my dictionary. With my strong micromanaging personality, it's really hard for me to be a good sport and share. I want my opinions to be heard and taken seriously. Worse, I want them to be implemented totally. So, I'd say I should get a D (or an F, which ever rocks your boat) in team work like assignments, presentations or discussions. It's fully justified, even if I'd hate my marker (should one mark me a D or F) for an eternity.

P/S: Yes, I still use an old-school wired mouse. And yes, it's pink.