So-Called Merdeka!

On Merdeka eve’s night, I only realised that it was my beloved country’s independence day after streaming through all Facebook and Twitter news feed around 11PM. Bummer! I’be been ‘Russian-ized’.

On Merdeka Day, I had breakfast with Nicole, Kai Wen, Yi Jui and Xiao Yi who just came back from Singpopre. It was amazing how 5 of us managed to squeeze ourselves in a pathetically tiny Kancil.

I had a bowl of extra hot and spicey ‘ma la mien’ along with peppermint bubble tea. Apparently I was the only one who ordered that since the rest couldn’t withstand much spiciness. I presumed that their pain receptors on their tongues are more sensitive compared to mine.

Happy Merdeka! Malaysia.

I’m not such a lousy citizen after all, for everything Malaysia did to me, what’s important… it really taught me to see things. See things.. in a way I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to see if I were not to be a Malaysian.

Weekend *Again*

My weekend has been pretty magnificent, geez how I wish I could apply these temporary extremely impressive and daunting moments back to my daily basis back as a student life. I guess all these hectic lifestyle just suffocate my awesome moments, making them to choke and struggle as my days goes by.

I find myself comfortable with this idling, loafing and natural sloth in me especially during my summer break, hence I shall jot down what I did:

• Received random key chains from cousins and friends scattered all over the globe, I absolutely loved those from Turkey and Paris
• Had family dinner with parents & Vainny
• Fulfilled gossip moments with Vainny while crashing at Starbucks but my personal preference still lies at Coffee House
• Slept before 12 but eventually stayed up till 4AM thanks to pig who called me around 2
• Heard a great sermon by Canon Michael Woods, even his name itself can boost his sermons
• Visited Mr. Bhaludin with PBK genius, Kay before this psychologist-to-be flies to America.
• Had laksa for brunch with Kay, thumbs up to our fruitful conversation that upgraded my brain
• Watch ‘Vampire Suck"’ with Vainny and stumbled upon this amazing song from it’s OST *still searching though*
• Realised that not only in Russia, but Malaysia too are biased towards females and they always have better tees compared to guys

Mission Ah Mui gu bak mee: Succeeded

Joe Brooks - Superman

If I could be your superman,
I'd fly you to the stars and back again.
'cause everytime you touched my hand,
You feel my powers running through your veins.
But I can only write this song,
And tell you that I'm not that strong.
'Cause I'm no superman, I hope you like me as I am, oh yeah

Juggle

Just when I thought that I was about to enjoy my holidays to the fullest, I faced a hurdle. Well not really a hurdle or any obstacle, more like a dead end. Seems that some of my planning for summer break just crashed and blown to bits and pieces. Depressing, to the core.

I was cracking my brain, contemplatively and meditatively in order to make the best out of this abhorrent situation. There’s a feeling of abhor and detest but we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them right?

Egomaniacal and inconsiderate, maybe at times I do think that way. Which is why it’s best to follow what’s rational and not just obliged blindly with my self-centered feelings. Mingling around with friends had really brought me up into a better person.

I hope that all the hitch and stumbling blocks can just shift themselves away easily, *fingers crossed* may my remaining holidays be filled with excitement and joy.

Still juggling between to use flight or train back from Moscow to Volgograd and after a discussion with Mike & Areena for almost an hour, I’m still juggling between these two transportation.

St. Petersburg: Catherine’s Palace

The Catherine’s Palace is located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo (Pushkin), here’s a statue of Russia’s famous poet Alexander Pushkin himself. I think this was the hardest place to find considering the fact that we’ve been using Google Earth via hostel’s Wifi for almost the entire night. Over a long haul, we managed to find our way there.

Look how mightily the Catherine’s Palace stood, without feeble embracing it’s own aura. Simply magnificent.

It’s no secret that Russia has all the incredible various types of flowers blossoming especially during summer.

View of The Cameron Gallery

  Entrance

We had to make a decision on which statue to pose with and after so long brainstorming, this unknown guy became our choice. I simply couldn’t find the proper reason why we chose him when I think about it now.

I’ve always like these walls with ancient stone effects

I call this the untouchable garden because there was a lady that accidently laid her foot less than an inch on the grass and instantaneously security blew the whistle.

In front of The Cameron Gallery were two of these statues

More statues 

We visited one of the museums inside, and I felt in love with this light. Look at how finely crafted and detailed it is!

A drawing of the palace

Dress worn by the Queen herself

   These are royal gifts from China

Portraits of angels, hand drawn

Embellishments made from amber

Amber box. It was a bummer that we didn’t manage to visit the Amber Room located inside the palace

Oh did I mention, halfway through our excursion… our poor Dennis Boon got lost and he had to borrow some Russian lady’s phone to make a phone call in order to contact us and the lady actually snapped a photo of him which according to him, because the lady was interested in Asian tourists. But according to my point of view, I think the lady just wanted proof just in case he was a thief and ran away with her phone.

   A photo of an athletic statue and myself, also with a sporty smile

Here’s my favourite picture, I made it into my Facebook, Adium and Twitter profile picture as well as my desktop wallpaper! So much positivity and energy I see in this picture but apparently Miss Gabrille Jee said it was underwear advertisement.

I bought a ‘I LOVE ST. PETERSBURG’ tee for only 200 rubles whereas most stalls sold for 400 rubles. Good bargain.

Past Weekend

My first breakfast out with mum and cousin, Kuching’s best Kolo Mee & Teh C Peng, only in Kuching you can find original tasteful ones, not like other plagiarized imposters.

I managed to meet up with Melvin & Bernard last Saturday just before Melvin is about to start his work as a doctor by Monday. Coincidently it was Bernard’s birthday that day as well.

We had lunch, a little chitchat and went to watch ‘The Descent 2’ without even having the slightest idea how part 1 went. Apparently the movie started off well until Melvin said: “Oh I watched this before… halfway only.”

Impressive for their gory, gruesome effect especially when those smeagol-wannabes from Lord Of The Rings creatures slashed open the carotid arteries of those cave explorers.

My first impression, how the heck did smeagol got a role in this?!

I had dinner with parents at some place, shame on myself for not knowing where. 10 months without breathing in Kuching’s air into my lungs and I’ve lost my sense of direction while driving around.  Speaking of driving, I drove after 2 weeks back home. Productive much?

My dinner was Penang Char Kueh Tiaw that doesn’t taste any similar to the original Penang Char Kueh Tiaw since it doesn’t have oysters.

Originally wanted to have supper at Ah Mui Beef Noodle stall but eventually it was closed. I shall attempt on a more extreme food hunting session with fellow mates when they are back for their holidays.

Feels so weird to be the one of the only ones back in Kuching enjoying my holidays when seniors are all back in Volgograd and some even working.

Facebook Drama

I am cognizant that I’m a dramatic person. Why? It’s because life is just filled with drama! Drama is everywhere, in air until it suffocates my lungs; it’s not a boon. Just when I thought that Gossip Girl is so far the most entertaining and dramatic series ever, there comes Facebook dramas. Here’s a snippet of what’s been happening in the recent episodes.

Translation maybe a wee bit overly exaggerated, credits goes to those who understands Mandarin, then you will be perfectly on track.

It’s me, Drama boy’s friend; here to awaken these people, these self absorbed people, who do you think you are, birds’ nest? Abalone? You self-praised yourself so much! *Spit* That even my faeces worth more than these cheapos. Today, I will not switch off my Facebook unless I’m done completed criticizing these bastards. You ditched my brother, yet you flooded your friend’s wall with gibberish and false statements. You’re a horny bitch that flirts my brother, sucks away his blood and ditches him off. You uneducated, uncivilized person! My friends will help me kick you out from Facebook and terminate you. 

The story started like this, some girl named ‘Rubbish Girl’ ditches ‘Drama Boy’. I think that my assumption is right since Drama Boy has been changing his status from ‘single’ to ‘in a relationship’ several… wait not several… stunningly over a million times. So Drama Boy’s ‘friend’ here decided to lend a helping hand by updating his status, which I think is redundant and absurd at the same time. It’s either that his ‘friend’ here is from Neolithic age and doesn’t own a Facebook account, or it was Drama Boy himself playing along himself being this mysterious friend himself.

Gangster Boy here appears to be Rubbish Girl’s current boyfriend, obviously got pissed off at what Drama Boy’s ‘friend’ said and sent him a fairly offensive wall post to Drama Boy and the battle between 2 of them began. Alas! Drama Boy deleted all the insolent wall posts before I could take screen shots of them. Bummer!

  Drama Boy’s status: Gangster Boy, I’m sorry for smearing your name in front of my friends. Here, I shall apologize.

This apology apparently made Gangster Boy even annoyed and so he retorted “Drama Boy! I do not want any of your apologies! You tell me, what was the thing that my girlfriend did that made you angry in the first place.

Due to the unbearable intensity of war, Not Important Unknown Girl was considerate enough to supply sweet energy drinks for Ganster Boy which was essential for the fight 11 hours before it even began. Pre-preparation is vital you see.

Unfortunately, the war between them got exceptionally jarring and extreme it made Rubbish Girl  broke down into tears. Obviously Gangster Boy failed to calm down and responded: “ *&^%#!! Don’t you dare make any silly moves! My girlfriend is crying now! How?!! ”

In the midst of all the aviating bombing, Bossy Girl appeared from no where and gave her command “ beat him! ”

Gangster Boy announced in his status: “Okay, since you have no intention to say anything about my girlfriend, please apologize to my girlfriend, then this shall be over. ”

Drama Boy was intimidated and finally decided to apologize to Rubbish Girl: “ Sorry, it was all a misunderstanding. I’m not writing about you. ”

Gangster Boy leaved a comment: “ We’ve been friends for so long! If there’s anything why can’t you discussed it in a proper manner! ” In tears, Rubbish Girl replied that she was feeling better.

Oh please, cut the crap. I’m sure she was enjoying every single nanoscopic moment now that she has become the new man seductive girl. But trust me, if I happened to un-blur her profile picture, you would probably print her picture out and stick it next to wall Justin Bieber poster and glare at it the whole day cause’ you’re bulimic and starts to put your finger in your throat.

Drama Boy decided that one apology is not enough, so he decided to clear things up by exclaiming : “ Gangster Boy & Rubbish Girl, it was all a misunderstanding and I’m sorry. For now, it will not be my fault if there are anymore people that are talking bad. Okay, I’m mentioning Crappy Boy, Poop Girl & Vomit Boy.”

Smart move there, he confesses his mistakes and pushes all the blame to 3 other of his friends! Brilliant, once a warrior forever a warrior.

Out of the blue, Flea Girl here appeared and bolted into action portraying that she’s in a really bad mood and wants to start a rebuke. You see… these are the peace-spoilers and just couldn’t stop handling peace and wants to ruin it.

So this is how the war ended, Drama Boy finally apologized and Gangster Boy reigns superior telling all his followers : “Next time if my girlfriend cries for no reason, be careful if I find you guilty because my fists will not have mercy on you. You have people on your backs, so do I.” He ends his speech with a gay comment saying how cute a guy is… =S

I was so entertained by it even though I was watching Heroes at that moment.

The point is, look how immature and idiot can teenagers get nowadays? So much drama and idiocy in life that are both amusing and absurd. 

Brownies of Happiness

I went to Bing! and spent some quality time with mum and dad. There is so much good thing that has been reverberating around me and I wonder how long will this last? Infinite amount of gratitude to the Big One up there for making my life flawless and I wouldn’t hesitate to say perfect once again :)

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections. Sometimes I feel that I’ve been channeled by all the negativity from everywhere especially when I’m comfortable in my jovial zone now. Its cynic, deflecting all the hopeful aspirations.

Redundant I tell you.

Why being pessimistic all the time? No doubt that I feel that the world collapses on me and I’ve been hurled by hardships and troubles that only builds up all anxiety and agitation; but that doesn’t mean that I need to selfishly transmit all this dismissive and fatalistic energy to everyone else right.

I’m just afraid that this happiness wouldn’t last long and I will eventually transform into one of those prophets of doom.

Side note: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AWESOME SENIOR KHOR LEET LIANG! Stop eating cats!

Never Last, Letting Go

There are things in life that never last. But the truth is, you never lost them until you let them go. Life is about choice: hanging on, holding back, letting go. Some things do last if you just let them, and if they let you.

St. Petersburg: The Peter & Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703. We spent day 3 crossing the bridge and roaming around this place. Not every place within the fortress is free, but with our student ID we managed to save 320 rubles :) but unfortunately it doesn’t cover all the places. 

There were 2 statues at the main entrance

Visitors to the fortress can again see the Angel keeping vigil over Peter the Great's city.

Some hand drawn pictures showing a segment of brief history

Amazed at their detail and meticulous art piece, this was created using colour pencil

Next, we headed to The Old Printing House. There were some displays of ancient machines used to produce these artworks.

Some French guy used colour pencil to colour the Church of Saviour & Blood

Fashion, an important element in life even back in the old days

This is my favourite piece among all. Technique used: wet on wet.

We headed outside to the fortress wrath and shot some pictures.

The Neva Gate

You can see the bridge from here

You can also take a walk here, the Southern Wall. Tickets costs around 100 rubles if I’m not mistaken, but since the sun was blazing hot I don’t see the reason to do so.

If you find yourself in the vicinity of the Peter and Paul Fortress at noon don't be surprised to hear a loud cannon shot from the Naryshkin Bastion. It was Peter the Great himself who introduced the practice of firing a cannon from the fortress every day at noon.

We arrived at this garden with gigantic artistic chairs made in abstract way that Dennis' claimed to be Alice In Wonderland.

Some faggot thought that this was a lollipop

Mike & I, outside Komendantsky Dom

We visited an interesting museum.

Amours used during the war

A series of replicas portraying their lifestyle

These are tools for making artificial flowers, amazing right!

Forgotten what this briefcase is for, but I think it would be pretty cool if it’s a cobbler or barber’s case?

Ancient typewriter, I wonder if it’s Mac

Another fascinating thing in the museum was this human live-size doll house!

    Look how detailed it is! Even Barbie couldn’t beat this!

It’s even taller than me

 Fancy lights that probably IKEA won’t be able to produce

We went to The Grand Dukes Mausoleum where they rebury most of the great dukes in here

That’s a statue of his head

In front of torture chamber, was supposedly to act scared but then baboon wouldn’t cooperate

Among all the places in this fortress, the Trubetskoy Bastion was the lamest of all. Every single rooms were similar with a brief story about the previous prisoners staying. There was one interesting one though, about some lady who got insane and burned herself to death.

Boo! End of post