24...

So the 26th came and went, and now I'm officially 2 dozen years old... If that even makes any sense. Haven't really achieved much, let alone much as I would like. Some people my age are already earning 100,000++ pounds per week! Yes yes, I am talking bout professional footballers. But hey, if they can get there during the same amount of time, why not me?

One sad thing is, I was sick yesterday. Think it started with a sore throat (but not the kind you lose your voice) from taking shots of Mr Takila and Mr Smirnoff on Saturday... Felt like sandpaper grinding each other on the walls of my throat on Sunday but by Monday it eased up but in came the cough... Don't wanna get into details here but it involves a lot of coughing and quite an amount of 'green stuff'... So I pretty much spent my birthday at home, either lying in bed or in front of the screen...But then again, I guess I should be thankful that I even get to celebrate being a year older. Some people will never get the chance to do so.


Drink with caution, side effects include blackouts, vomiting and sorethroats....

On to other things, if there is one thing I have to say I dislike about HELP UC, it has to be the way the different departments are ran. Each department (econs, business, psych) has a totally different way of doing things that makes me wonder at times, are they still under the same institute? For instance, in the econs department, all we have to do is to get the timetable, see which subjects we get, and go. Whereas in the business department, have to register for which lectures and tutorial groups you wanna join on a first come first serve basis. As for the other departments, I'm not so sure, but it can't be any much the same...

Now, if the student was to say stuck in that one department for their entire duration of the course, it's fine, probably after the first week or the first semester, they will get used to it. But if they were to be like me for instance, taking different subjects from different departments, its a real pain in the ass. Not only do I have to run to different departments to get my timetable, I have to arrange it myself. Times like these makes me miss TARc =\.

So it all boiled down to today when I (I'm from the econs department) went to see the coordinator for the business department to register for my tutorial group which I had no idea I had to do in the first place...

Me: Kak, I nak register for marketing tutorial group 6 boleh tak...
Coordinator: Hah, apasal now ni u nak register? Anyways, group 6 sudah penuh...
Me: What? I tak tau kena register untuk tutorial lah kak, can lah tolong skit, my jadual pack d...
Coordinator: Awak mia department coordinator nvr tell u that this department need to register kah? ok, give me ur ID and class that u clash... These are the only available tutorial groups.....

After taking a long hard look, deciding and changing, I made up my mind. See it is not that easy when you've actually planned your initial schedule to near perfection...

Me: Ok kak, I'll join this group lah, eh thn can I register for other subjects oso ah?
Coordinator: *giving me the O.O wtf look* you mean you langsung tak register?
Me: *givin the -.-' face* No la kak, I dah cakap, I don't know this department need to register tutorials...
Coordinator: Ok ok, here are the available slots for each subject, btw, apasal I call your department, takde orang angkat har?
Me: Oh, sekarang lunch break ma, 1230-230 they all break. Ok lah, I'll go for this and this tutorial..
Coordinator: *O.O wtf look again* Ada lunch break ka??? 2 jam lagi?? kita sini lunch pun buka juga...

So after rearranging my timetable for the 3rd time (I'm sure got at least one more time to come) I can finally sit back and relax for just that little while... But actually, I get why the administrators here give each department the liberty of setting up their own way. Some departments have way more students then others so certain things must be done this way and not that. But still, it doesn't change the fact that it is a pain in the ass...

Oh and it didn't take long for the coordinator from my department to call me and ask wtf was all the commotion about. She can even say I make her 'lose face' in front of the business dept ppl. -.-'. Luckily she's quite friendly and given the our department isn't that big, she does know almost all the students quite well so, can say it was quite a light hearted banter we had...

Oh look, now pig heads are being thrown into mosques. Another May 13th incident? Well, all I can say for now is, after watching sooooo many movies, it is pretty easy to say this is one of those reverse psychology, framing someone type of gag. Hmmm...

What Better Way To End The Week...

After 5 days of dragging my ass out of bed for the first week of class, watching the whole name calling over a 'higher being' debacle unfold (actually that was pretty amusing) and a tragic sudden loss of an acquaintance, I really needed a 'pick me up'.

And what better way than to look forward to the weekend matches of football. So far it has been good news, better news, great news and well, silly potty one. Good news: watching Liverpool and Real Madrid falter. Seriously, the only feeling better than watching your team winning is watching your team's arch enemies choke up. =D

Better news: United returned to their winning ways with a 3-0 thumping of Burnley thanks once again to the dynamic duo of Rooney and Valencia. And it pays to have them in my fantasy team though I made a wrong captain choice this week so far =.=...


Moment of relief...

Great news: Barcelona absolutely obliterated Sevilla with a score of 4-0 with Pedro, whom if I'm not mistaken is only 18 or 19 scoring his 15th goal this season... Oi Berbatov, saw that mou? Kid a decade younger and MUCH cheaper doing way better than you... Adding icing on the cake of course was World Player of the Year Messi scoring his 100th and 101st goal for the club at the age of 22!! At 22, I was basically flunking college...


Should be scoring with girls at his age, but I'm not complaining...

And the silly potty one? How the fark can Chelsea without Drogba or Essien tapao Sunderland 7-2 with the score already 4-0 in the 34th minute? Aih... hopeless Black Cats... Watching the highlights, I had a strong feeling that the Sunderland team was actually Chelsea's youth team in disguise out for a training match.


Swore something was amiss when Malouda scored...

Oh, about the politically fuelled (come on, even a blind man can see that) name calling thing. Its one thing to fight over something you believe in, but doing so over some imaginary friend made up by adults who apparently lives 'up there'? Seriously, what are these people on?



So yeah, a pretty good way to end the week with I must say.

p/s: Sandra, if there is a Heaven, I know you will be up there reading this. Though our paths cross just briefly, you are exactly like your friends described : funny, cheerful and bubbly. Here's to you finding peace once and for all. You will be missed.

It Was Legen...Dary!...

(WARNING: Do not attempt to read the following on an empty stomach. I won't be held responsible for anyone's stomach growling when there is no food at reach)





2010 couldn't have kicked of in a better way. Couple of months ago I suggested we all went for an island retreat some time around New Year cos I know most of us needed the break especially those overworked ones (no, I'm not referring to the one who gets of at 6.15pm and claims to be overworked). But due to some unforeseen circumstances or rather typical Malaysian 'besok lusa' mentality, it did not happen. So I thought it would be nice to have a BBQ. Not just any BBQ, no, when I suggest a BBQ, it has to be LEGENDARY!


Yong doing work, one for the album indeed...

Quite frankly, I'm kinda sick with the chicken wings and measly looking hotdogs on the fire, well I thought of making a comparison bout the hot dogs but I guess I'd better not. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy BBQs in the past with all those stuff and all, especially thankful to the people who took the time to organize and cook but I think its time for an upgrade. So up popped my idea of having the most legendary BBQ to date with burgers, lamb and cheese sausages amongst others.


I give you, "The Pit"...

So as the days drew closer, plans started to come together and the necessary stuff and ingredients were bought. Heck we were so ecstatic bout it that we went shopping at 9am on New Years Day! We manage to delegate jobs to those who were there and me being me, the only thing I was interested in doing was the burgers! I thought, "Hey, all those years of eating McD, Burger King, Carl's Junior, A&W, Ramli Burger, Burger Maut, etc. should give me quite a good idea of how to make an awesome burger rite?".


If you smell what the chef is cookin'...

Now besides the awesome food, what else is essential in making an epic BBQ happen? Why the BBQ pit itself of course. None of us had those high end BBQ grills that have temperature control and the one that Liang had was well, a bit too small for my plans. Wanted to use those for the sausages though. But I figured, we have like 4.5 qualified engineers around (the 0.5 comes from yours truly with a diploma :P), impossible we can't design a grill right? Oh and we have a medic in training in case shit happened. We have the resources, so how hard could it be? With some help from my dad, Zhou, Daryl, Yong and Phang came out with what I must say is a marvellous piece of engineering.


Awesomeness at work...

As for me, I was busy making ketchup, yes ketchup. Zhou at first asked why make when you can buy. After giving him 'the look' and giving him a taste of my concoction, I guess he knew then. Though not all of our food was 100% self made. Example, Yong was suppose to do the marinade for the lamb himself but his mom got in the way. Zhou was suppose to make croquette (sorry if spelling wrong ah, my england not the powderful) but his grandma took over and my mom had a hand in my burger making attempt. Thankful we are, cos without them, who knows what we would've been eating.


The dude staring at the camera wanted to ditch this and go Penang instead...

Anyways, when it came time to start the fire, it started to drizzle so with a slight change of location, THE BBQ got under way. See not even that imaginary person in the sky could stop me :P. Had Daryl and Phang on duty for the lamb. And I have to admit, Tesco marinaded lamb tastes pretty damn good! Of cos the home marinade one kicked Tesco butt lah but hey. I guess hours watching the Asian Food Channel on Astro thought me a thing or 2 about determining how well done to cook meat cos the ones that came out were tender, juicy and I have to say perfect! So kudos to the chefs!


Concentration is key to perfect grilling...

Next up was the burgers, already before it got on the grill, I proudly announced it was gonna kick so much ass, this burgers eat Burger Mauts for breakfast! This time, I took over the grill cos I wasn't gonna let anyone else mess with nothing less then perfection. Yes yes, I am gloating quite a lot here but hey, its my party and I do what I want to rite :P. Anyhow, remembering important tips to cooking the burgers surely did help, namely 1) Do not turn them until one side is done 2) Do not press down on the burgers. And how did it turn out in the end? I guess it was THAT good that no one bothered to take pictures of people eating em. All busy stuffing their face full. Well, the look on their faces says it all and for me, a job well done. Mr. Yeah even said it was better than McDs, and coming from him, I take that as the utmost compliment!


My master pieces...

Well, after the starters and mains, everyone was visibly stuffed like a Christmas turkey but the night was still young so what better way to carry on then to have a drinking game? Now while we were out shopping, me and Yong asked the rest who followed us who wanted to drink and one by one said 'no' or assume those not around would not. So fine, we just bought 1 bottle of tequilla. When the games got underway however, one by one begin to show their stripes and drank along.



Ahem, step one to cook an awesome burger is...

I for one was pleased cos if it was just me and Yong and Zhou drinking, it wouldn't be so fun. And thankfully Siang became our saviour by bringing a half bottle of Absolut which we cleaned dry as well! This couldn't have been achieved if not for Yong's brilliant idea for a drinking game. I was surprised to see how fast the drinks went! Another good thing for me was that no one puked or got wasted. Though I think some were pretty close to!


Great food deserves great company...

Before calling it a night, I had one more surprised up my sleeve : Peanut butter banana shake. Granted that night's batch wasn't my finest. Think the one earlier in the day was better. For those who want to know, inspiration came from Paddington's House of Pancakes. And after the cleaning up, everyone went home at 3 am. I really do hope everyone had a blast and by the looks of it at the end of the day, I hope I have my reputation intact (cyeh, 'sif I have one to begin with o.O). Drew pointed out that it was the same time that I actually said it would end on Facebook, now hows that for good hosting!


When the drinks start pouring, the horns start growing...

The next day, I was seriously burnt out. Don't know if it was the excessive indulging of good food or the way I slept and certainly not the liquor, but I felt very lethargic and aching. Haha, signs of old age. Slept almost the whole day in fact. But most importantly, NO trips to the toilet for unscheduled stops! Asked a few of them and seems that everyone did not suffer from any food poisoning. Hahaha. Daryl and me were relieved to hear that. Unless of course someone contracts mad cow disease within the next 10-14 days and turns into zombies!


One for the road before he jets to the States...

Of course couldn't have done it without the help of everyone who cleaned, carried, arranged, cooked that day. So as cliché a speech as it gets, without you guys (and girl) being there, it wouldn't have been LEGEN...wait for it...DARY! For those who must be wondering why or where I keep/get that line, here's the man himself to explain:



Oh, I really do hope the next one (when ever , where ever) will be better then this!