Dreamz: Broke

Another dream... Side effects of Studying..

I was in a hall.. which looked like IMU's Lectuer Theatre 1. There was a religious talk/activity going on. I happened to be in charge of the microphones for this occasion but somehow the mics were not working and I kept turning the volume dial... As if that would work.... Sigh... After that, we (the organising committee) sang some songs.. etc etc

As we were leaving... Paul was telling about some free buffet. *If anyone knows my predicament for the last week or so... I've run out of money.. So I'm barely eating.. :P Well... cant eat in IMU anyway.. So I'm forced to eat at home. Don't really like the idea of borrowing money.* The words 'free buffet' shrouded my mine with thoughts of nasi beriani... I don't know why... Just a craving I guess. Felt so sad I didn't get to go for the free buffet..

We were going home. As we boarded the lift... I can remember seeing Paul.. Minu.. and Sonali. We were on the 30th floor at least. As the lift descended, it gained speed.. it went faster and then i heard.. it changed gears... Like... a manual car. Damn.. that was scary. I got out of the building.. i realise I was in Taylors Business School. Minu disappeared.. Sonali ran down the steps and went missing too. Paul was inviting me to go to Melur for some food. I looked at Melur with longing in my eyes but I didn't have any money *My wallet is actually empty today* so I said "No Thanks" and... Woke Up!

Jembo

Dreamz: Aaron Carter?

The following is not meant to make any sense.

Well.. i can remember as early as mid-way through this dream. A group of my friends (Ashok, Yong Chen, Yih Seong & some others who I can't remember) were with Aaron Carter (I don't know why).. and they were being briefed by a really attractive Rogue Malaysian Government Agent. Seems that the government had developed some kind of super weapon or some biological weapon and she (the agent) was giving information to my friends. I was not part of that group.. I was evesdropping for some apparent reason.

Anyway, they boarded one of those lorries that transports petrol and were driving on a cliff by the ocean. As they were driving.. I managed to sneakily climb onto the back of the lorry till the lorry began to slow down. I jumped off the lorry and waited. The lorry revved up and drove over cliff at full speed. In mid-air.. an aeroplane appeared and harnessed itself to the lorry and brought the lorry safely into the ocean. I got into a car (Merc) and drove over the cliff too.... Don't know why I did that...

Anyway... my car was bobbing on the ocean's surface and then I realised that I couldn't swim. Luckily, my merc drifted to shore. As i got out of the car, the Agent saw me and ordered that I should be captured. I ran like hell towards the nearby building.. fully aware that I ran as fast as I walk.. :( I turned to see who was chasing me.. it was Aaron Carter.. I ran to the building which was just a like restroom you'd find on the highway rest stops. No one was there to help me. I saw in a distance a wooden house where lots of people were gathered.. I ran for it.

As I ran, I could hear Yong Chen cheering on Yih Seong who was apparently running after me too. I reached the house safely but to my horror.. the Agent and the rest of the guys were already there but had not spotted me as yet. There was some funeral going on for a member of the royal family and there was a procession that begun to leave the wooden house. Aaron Carter found me and I had to leave. I ran into the crowd for i knew that they would not do anything to me as long as I was in full view of the public.

Somehow, i was in the procession and was forced into carrying the flag for the group whom I was in. We were behind a Silat group, who were silat-ing the whole way. At one point, we had to climb up a steep slope. Someone grabbed my feet as I was climbing.. Aaron again. By some madness, I picked him up and hurled him down the steep slope which was about 7 metres high I think. He got up unfazed and tried to chase me again.

At the top of the hill, I saw an opportunity to jump ahead in the procession. There was a group far ahead... I saw Jamie (guy), Yeap & Chee Liang there and dashed over.. thinking I'd be safe. We were at another cliff, on a narrow path. If I were to fall... I'd fall about 3 storeys and break all my bones. Once again.. Aaron was after me... I made my plans to hurl him down the cliff... Then... I woke up!!!

Jembo

Recalling: Electives in Kota Kinabalu

This is the group on Tanjung Aru beach. Taken before our ascent of Mt. Kinabalu

The Philharmonic Big Group Pic

This was almost the whole group of IMU students who went to the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra performance.

The Philharmonic Experience

From left: Hui Lin, Chow, Jackie, Myself & Chia Huan

This was taken after we watched the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra performance. Didn't realise how blue my clothes were... O_0

Shopping for Bananas

Recently Watched: Delirious & Raw - Eddie Murphy

Sunday.. was suppose to have watched Da Vinci Code. Was wondering if I should. The dudes in Vatican said to boycott.. then again.. it is my own choice. I don't think my religious beliefs would change from the movie... It didn't even change from reading the book. Why didn't those Vatican dudes ban us from reading the book in the first place? Even if they did, it would actually make more people read it. The best way to make sure everyone reads/listens/watches something controversial, ban it.

Anyway, in mass the priest told the congregation.. "I'm watching it today". He went on to explain that instead of boycotting the movie etc, we should take the opportunity to watch it as a way to deepen our faith. How? After watching the movie, go seek the real truth from what the church says... not the fabricated 'truth' in the movie. In the church, there were pamphlets on the 20 lies of the Da Vinci Code... I forgot to take one on the way out.. darn..

So.. the actual gang for the movie consisted of 6 people... but due to some unforseen circumstances (last minute withdrawals..argh), only 3 people entered Time Square, Myself, Adeline & Jamie. We couldn't get the tickets for the movie even though there were 3 shows at the same time... We then decided to watch Over The Hedge. It wasn't a bad movie. Quite entertaining actually... Hamilton Rocks!!!

Before & after the movie, we went shopping... Actually.. Adeline was shopping.. Jamie & I were escorts. We basically scoured 6 floors in out time there.

Outcomes of the shopping:
1. Adeline has more clothes & shoes
2. I now know that Jamie is not as innocent as he looks.
3. I got a T-shirt which I can never wear to church.. hahaa

What's the deal on my shirt? The following is what is written on my shirt:

Top 10 Reasons Why Bananas Are Better Than Men
1. You don't mind swallowing a banana
2. It's ok to have 2 bananas in bed with you
3. If a banana gets soft, you can get another one
4. A banana's only purpose is to satisfy you
5. Bananas don't know how to fart
6. Bananas can last the whole night long
7. Another women will never try and take your banana
8. A banana will never make you late for work
9. A banana doesn't mind laying on a wet spot
10. Even the smallest bananas are 8 inches long

Jembo

You are... Peter Schmeichel (Test from ManUtd.Com)

You’re a larger than life character with a personality as big as your frame. Never afraid of making your presence felt, your strong character inspires confidence in your team. You’re always happy to voice your opinion, leaving defenders in no doubt about what you’re thinking. And while your version of the hairdryer treatment can seem a bit blunt, it’s only because you’re passionate about what you do.

Your (large) hands-on approach makes you a natural leader and someone who team mates rely on. You’re able to leap like a salmon and land like a cat, often plucking victory from the jaws of defeat. A bit of a perfectionist, your obsession with getting things right keeps others focused. And although you like to be where the action is, you’re always there when needed. In fact, you’re often the difference between success and failure.

I find the results of this test quite interesting. Peter Schmeichel has always been my all time favourite player at Manchester United. But what is said above is not exactly accurate... I don have large hands... :P

Yong Chen's Farewell In KLIA

From left: Me, Yih Seong, Patrick, Yong Chen, Chow, Paul & Siaw..
This picture was taken some time back.. when Yong Chen had shorter hair.. Hahaha.. :P

A Lil' Bit of Hope!

Last night was the performance of 'Hope'.. The sketch/play written by Desmond about one of his lifes' experiences with God. The acting cast and the props/stage crew were members of Christian Fellowship & Catholic Students Society. I'm not going to give a play-by-play description of the sketch.. If u didn't watch it.. that's too bad :P

Anyway, I played a peripheral role in being "the caring husband". Peripheral as it was, I was in all the scenes but one. I uttered but one word throughout the whole performance.. "Inside." Nevertheless, I enjoyed the practice sessions and subsequently, the performance itself. As the caring husband.. all i had to do was to comfort my beautiful but distressed wife (perfectly played by Angel-ENE.. See.. i got the spelling right!). No complaints about that... Hahaha...

I thought I was rather wooden/fake in the performance.. Or maybe it was just the great acting ability of the other members of the cast that surpassed my limited talent... I tried my best.. No regrets. I do have to say though... In terms of the acting itself.. everyone really gave their best performance. None of the practices were as good as last nights performance. The singing was okay.. I guess that they (singers) didn't practice with the microphone before.. So.. at some points.. the voices did not blend as well it did in practice. Overall, I think we did as best that was possible.

What was surprising for most of us was the sheer number of people in the audience. The Auditorium wasn't overflowing with people.. but the numbers were still way more than we expected. I'm thankful for everone who came.. Especially my friends who took some time out of their hectic scheduale to come and watch. I hope we didn't disappoint & that u took home the message that we presented in the form of the sketch.

Point of laughter:
The Auditorium rang with laughter as Sebastian came on stage, dressed as a doctor. I wonder why.... Whatever the reason, it was very hard not to laugh... and I was facing the audience too.

Alejandro

Reflections: Bakat ASAYO 22/10/2005

Strange that I should be thinking about this when I should be preparing for my Hospital visit tomorrrow. Anyhow, I was sorting out my stuff when this white envelope dropped out of the 'Christian' section of my papers (notes/songs etc). Wondering what it was, I opened it and there, neatly folded was a 3 page letter by Jo (from Lifeline, SFX.. for those who don't know her.. she's just from church). It was dated 4 days after the Bakat Asayo Competition.

Background:
What is Bakat Asayo? It was/is sort of a talentime between all the churches in Selangor & KL. Well.. for all my friends in IMU, remember the time before Summative 1 during Sem1... I kept going to church every Tuesday night(I think).. and the weekend before Sum1 exam.. The reason for that was to participate in a choir that SFX (the church I go to) was sending to this Bakat ASAYO. It was a good choir actually.. 4 of us from IMU were in it.. Daphne, Amelia, Little Jeremy (okay.. he's just slightly shorter than me)& Myself.

It was a big sacrifice for us to come. For me, it was my very first exam in IMU.. for the other Jeremy, he was driving us to and fro.. and he had his Neuro exams. Can't remember if the girls had any exams at those times. Anyway, for me... I practiced at home everyday for at least an hour. I made sure I knew what I was singing.. Especially since I was singing a duet and then a trio with first, Patrick and later joined by Anthony. No way I was going to make a blunder in front of so many people. After many practices, we became actually a decent choir. One thing about our performance for the night... It was acapella. We sang Kyrie Eleison, Our Father and the Apostle's Creed all in parts/harmony.

The Experience:
Of all the choirs that performed that day.. I would say, that beyond doubt, we were the best at singing (biased opinion of course) and also looked cool (in robes of red or white)... Other choirs didn't really seem that great except for CKK.... They did have the most interesting choir performance & no doubt, some of them having previous experience in the competition helped. At least, the winning choir on the day was worthy. For their prize, they were given an electric guitar.

Obviously, the SFX choir was downcast.. disappointed.. shocked even. Not at losing to CKK.. We were okay with that... but the fact that we were not even in the top 3. It was very very disheartening to know that we were among the best if not the best and still not receive the due recognition. For me... it was even worse.. during the competition itself, my dad called me and strongly reminded me that i should be studying for my exam which was 2 mornings away. Can't imagine how depressing it was for me at that time. Sigh...

The letter:
After consoling ourselves that we should have won or at least been 2nd place, we hugged each other and went home... Happy that we did our best.. Sad that our best wasn't enough on the day. The most important thing though... we felt that we gave our all in God's name... for His Glory! We were comforted though because we knew that He knew all that we've done... He knew that we sang for Him...

The winds of disappointment lingered on inside of me for days (till i farted them out.. haha). A week or 2 after the comp., Jo's letter reached my hands. The contents of that letter was comforting and even more importantly.. it was enlightening. Words fail at what I felt when I read the letter... at some point I felt a tear well up in each of my eyes.. Not just at what she wrote... but also what I felt & thought as I read it.

Favourite Paragraph:
"I heard that your prayer was that God would receive the glory from your performance. On that count, I firmly believe you achieved your aim. While you were singing, the crowd was awe-struck into silence, a notable feat when you consider that it's half full of energetic youth."

Most meaningful paragraphs:
"Did we swagger in and out of tha Bakat ASAYO as if victory was assured? Did we secretly look down on the quality of other performances? Perhaps this defeat is God's way of showing us our need for a bigger dose of humility."

"Can we be gracious in defeat and rejoice in the fact that at least our sister parish, CKK won and that God used this means to provide them with the electric guitar that they were looking for? Can we see God's hand at work in this?"

These were just 3 small paragraphs of the letter. Anyway.. Jo did have a point.. I guess we were a bit over-confident when we went in... and more so as the night went on. The defeat was a real humbling experience that we deserved (to a certain extent).

Winning might not have been the best result for us. In losing, I feel that we gained so much more as a group... and I gained so much more as a person compared to if we had won. Guessed I was caught up in the results of the competition that I forgot what I initially was there for. Anyway, humility.. got a big chunk of that... Building lasting friendships.. definitely... Using my God-given talents for Him... yeap... Doing something I love... Hmm.. I did. Fond memories... Hmmmm...

Let's not give up and keep encouraging each other to take the long, narrow & infinitely more difficult road.... for that is the only one that leads anywhere worthwhile.
-Jo-

Jeremy

Going Back Home

I'm typing out this post from the comfort of my home in JB.

This morning started out with me playing a very peripheral role in Chee Mei's video. She's making a video to be played next week for the Students Rep. Council elections. All i was required to do was to play one verse of her Treasurer song on my guitar. Sigh... 4 days in a row have to bring that guitar. It wouldn matter if I actually had to use it for more than 10 minutes out of the 5 or 6 hours that I am in IMU.

As soon as class was over, I packed my stuff for my journey home. Nothing much to bring actually. I took a nap because I was so early... When I woke up, to my horror, it was raining. I tried to SOS a friend for a lift to the train station but he wasn't free. So i walked to the station with an umbrella, a cap and half a rain coat for good measure. I wasn't going to risk my laptop with the rain.

Took the KLIA transit to KLIA. Then, from KLIA, i was to take a shuttle bus to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). I've never taken the bus before.. So i went to the Air Asia ticket counter for directions. The stupid person at the counter gave me the wrong directions with an extremely fake/plastic surgery smile. On the way down, I got trapped by a tout who was convincing me to take a taxi to the LCCT for just $40. An absurd figure... Why was I so easily trapped? Because I obviously looked lost.... and the 'tout' was in a tux and had a name tag... Okay.. So maybe he was in charge of the taxis in KLIA... but still.. he was too smooth talking and was pressing me to take a cab.. Giving me all the excuses in the world not to take the shuttle bus... All which were LIES!!!! I hope that guy rots in hell... in a good Christian way.... :) Luckily.. another tout who was there... was kind enough to give me the right directions minus all the lies. God bless him!

The 'bus stop' was quite a slack place. Just reminded me of a slightly better (but smaller) Pudu Bus Station. I got on the bus to the LCCT which was only going to cost $1.50!!!!!! Despite the previous problems, I was blessed (I can't say lucky now... Can I, Ivy? Hahaha..) to be seated opposite a tall, dark, beautiful, and HOT young lady!!! She was about 25 I would say but definitely HOT! We smiled at each other(she smiled first) but I couldn't bring myself to go and talk to her... Darn.. Wasted opportunity... She looked a little lost and was lugging around a big bag... Maybe I should have helped her :P Hahahaa... Ah well...

While waiting for my flight, I had a $13 drink in Coffee Bean. It was good though... Mmmmm.. The LCCT itself wasn't much of a place... It did have a McDonalds and another cafe and a COnfectionary.. That's about it. I don't really like the place. KLIA is way way way nicer. In the flight, I think I saw Yong Chen's sister... I wasn't sure because she looked a bit different from what I could remember. I wasn't sure if the voice was the same either... Since she didn' acknowledge me... I returned the ignorance. Later in JB, she got into a white Merc... HMM... maybe it was really her..

On the way home, Evelyn (no.. not the Sem5 one) asked me for some help about some medical stuff that she came across. It all looked so familiar to me but I just could not explain it. Embarrassed, I vowed to find the right explanations as soon as I got home. She asked about galactesemia, bubonic plague, African Sleeping Disease, Amoebic Dysentery & the hypophysis. Sigh.. some kind of med. student I am.

He who hasth seen a plate of ham & eggs with lust, hasth but committed breakfast in his own heart - C. S. Lewis

Jembo

Oh Crap...

Took A Test On My Dating Skills....

Your dating skills are BELOW AVERAGE!

You scored a 56(Almost fail.. shite) out of a possible 100 points. Your skills with the ladies need some work!

If you’re like most guys with below average skills with women, often times you are intimidated by attractive women(yup.. very true). There are many women out there that you consider to be “out of your league”.

Often when you see a woman you are interested in you don’t know how to approach her and start a conversation with her (Bingo...)

Have you ever felt insecure because you're not tall, handsome, young, rich, famous, etc.? Do you feel like attractive women wouldn't be interested in you? (like... duh!)

There have probably been several times in your life when a woman lost interest in you, and you just couldn’t figure out why. Maybe she gave you her phone number and then didn’t return your calls, or maybe you went out on a few dates with her and things seemed to be going good, when all of a sudden she became mysteriously unavailable.

These are problems that many guys have, but very few know how to actually solve.

Dreamz: Dying Early

I was in JB, at home. I had just been given the green light to go shopping for clothes. As happy as I was at being able to do a bit of money splurging, I had a sudden sense of being alone. I had the car.. I had my money... I then realised that I had no shopping buddy. I tried to think of all my friends who would go out with me. The list was... empty. Sigh..

I was looking for my bank book. My mom likes me to keep in touch with my expenditure.. So i was bugging her to show me my bank book so that I can check on my money withdrawals (current bank balance... $6.00). As I could not find the book, I called my mom to look for it. We found it under a pile of old newspapers. Nothing interesting in this dream so far till....

My mom spun around and looked at me and said "I pity you whem you grow older". As she said that, she looked at my oversized belly. I knew what she meant. My current diet (when I'm awake) is not the best of diets. Been eating too much ice cream and eggs. My mind begun spinning in all the diseases that I could be getting when I grow older... Atherosclerosis.. Arteriosclerosis.. Heart Failure.. High Blood Pressure.. Diabetes.. etc etc.. With such things in my head.. naturally I woke up.. fully alert... 2 hours before my alarm clock was due to ring...


Fact: I can't put on a straight face when someone pulls a prank.

Jeremy

Never Been Kissed

Being the Good Samaritan that I am *ahem*, I naturally will try my best to help out whenever I can. When Rashidah (or is it Rasyidah) called me to help her carry some stuff with Kabella(no idea how to spell), I agreed to go. Wasn't a very tough job to lug around boards (which will be used to paste posters and stuff on). As most people will know, Rashidah can't carry much cause of her fractured arm, so.. it was pretty much Bella, Yu-ling and myself doing the carrying. Lucky for them I came, it would have been a tough job for Bella and Yu-Ling to do it on their own. Anyway, as a sign of thanks, Rashidah gave me a hug... which isn't a problem for me. The kiss on the cheek which followed accompanied the hug was a schock though =
Anyway, later that night, I helped Kee Fong with CPR for about 2 hours. He was quite nervous about the exam and asked for help. 15 minutes after reaching home, I spent another 2 hours helping Ben and Paul out for CPR. That makes 4 hours of CPR in one night.. 0_O I'm not complaining about it.. It was fun for me.. I like teaching.. Only bad thing was that I had a sore throat the following day.

After my Cpr 'lecture' I went over to Rashidah's/Yu-Ling's place. Rashidah wanted help with her Campaigne (running for presidency of Student Council) and had asked me for help only moments before Paul and Ben came. It was 2.30am. When I entered the apartment, I saw Rashidah and Shafiq. Apparently, they were helping each other out in their respective campaignes. Earlier, there were more people but they had gone back to sleep at 2. Sigh.. I help with some cutting till I started smelling something burning. I didn't know what it was. Then... the lights went out. Only for that apartment. Everywhere else was fine. This was about 4am. Viewers of the Emily Rose movie... you'd be freaked if you were in my situation.

Rashidah had to do some urgent printing, so she followed me home (me carrying a printer) and printed her stuff here. No kiss or hug this time (whew!) Pitied her though.. So much work for her to do.

Following morning, had breakfast with CSS folk. Had dim "yum!" sum.

It was a Saturday.. Today, instead of going to church, I went to KLCC for the Philharmonic Orchestra performance. It was good. Definitely will go again should the chance arise. Maybe next time, I won't have to borrow a coat (Thanks Seb!! Owe u..). I went with Chow (who drove.. thank you) & Hui Lin (navigator), Jackie (made everyone look short) & Chia Huan (who made everyone wait.. hahaha) :) Darn.. no date for me. Other people whom were familiar were: Mei Yan, Liana & Gaik __ (Senoir).

Coming home, we were to make a detour to Chee Mei a.k.a Cheemz place to help her with her campaigne. Reached home later... I didn even bother to bathe.... I juz dropped into bed and snorred the night through. Went to church the morning after (now is the afternoon). And here I am currently blogging :)

Current thought: If I was going to die in the next 10 minutes, who would I say Goodbye to and what would I say to him/her ( only one person excluding family members).

Alejandro

Dreamz: Auction?

I dreamt that I attended an auction.. It was the auction that was seen in IMU somewhat recently. What happens is that guys andgirls are 'sold' / auctioned off to the highest bidder and the money is given to charity.

In my dream, I didn't really have any money to bid for anyone. :P I wish I did though.. I was extremely tempted I must say. Most of them were from my batch too. Haha.. Till this girl from my Sem went up. No idea why, but I started to go around asking friends to 'pinjam' me some money so I could bid for her. Desperate? Maybe... :p Then again... she was the first girl in IMU that made me go "Wow"... OH well... *wink*

In the process of begging for cash, I saw Jesse paying $50.50 for (exactly one note and one coin) some girl who I did not recognise... Hm... I remember asking Yih Seong for 300 bucks though.. :) (OKay.. $300.. so i was really desperate). He was kinda busy drinking champagne with Denise though :( Too bad my dream didn't last long enough to actually bid for her.

If you want to piss people from England off, tell them you've never heard about it.
- Russel Peters -

Jembo

In Memory of Garfield.. Our 121D Cat.

This picture was taken when I was in Taylors College, Subang Jaya. We stayed in the Taylor's hostel called 'My Place Apartments' which was one real crappy place. Anyhow, we (Myself, Ashok, Yih Seong, Pat, Yong Chen, Siawz and Leong) made some friends there. This is the cat we called Garfield. Can't remember why we called it that.. But I remember that it was constantly pregnant. Haha.. It liked to follow us home all the way to our door before we slip into the apartment. After 2 or 3 times, it.. or should i say she... learnt that there was no point following us home.