Brenda Yap

It feels great to be free of Cenfad, even though it's only for a month. [Anwar did give us an assignment thought -- we have to search for a site for our next project. Grrr. We never get real holidays here.]

Anyway, I'm on holiday now! :) I've been waiting for this day to come, and it has, and I am too shit tired to do anything right now. The past 3 months have been soooo damn hectic.

So.. My dad is getting married tomorrow, so I suppose I won't have much time to blog; so Happy New Year to all of you, in advance. :) Have a great year!

Should be putting up quite a number of pictures soon. :)

Okay, I don't have time to formulate a proper entry. But I just wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. :) Hope you guys had a great day.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to my dad.

My holiday only starts on the 29th 30th.

I'm going to be super busy these few weeks, because I have a big presentation on the 23rd, then I am given an additional week to upgrade my work. Then my dad's wedding is on the 31st, so I'll also be busy until then.

Christmas is coming and I'm feeling guilty because I want to spend Christmas with my mum but it's also my dad's birthday, and his weekend. I'll be in Taiping with him and Lay Kheng's family. Also feeling bad because I haven't done much Christmas shopping; time is my enemy right now.

To those coming back from the UK, I hope to meet up with you guys, but bear with me if I won't be able to make it out much this year. But don't forget about me, kay? :P I'll try my best to get out of the house. After the new year, I should be super free. :)

Thanks, Cenfad, for making this Christmas a miserable one. I owe you.

My dad's maid ran away, Friday night. Presumably with some Malay guy who she made friends with. Sigh. So, so stupid of her. I hope she's okay.

We're still in shock. We've always gotten on well with her, and she was particularly excited about the wedding, which is in a few weeks. Oh well.

She didn't even have any cash on her, nor did she take any from us. Dad was still holding on to some of her salary, and well, yesterday we spent it buying ourselves a new washing machine, since the old one had to be sent for repairs. At least some good came out of it, I guess. :P

I had a great day.

The bad news ::

1. I'm still sick; in fact I've been feeling worse. A few days ago it was just an irritated throat, but now I've come down with a bad cough and the flu as well. Plus I've been puking. >.< Not a pretty sight.

2. I have a presentation and one class tomorrow.

3. There are still 3 more weeks of college to go, til my holiday.

The good news ::

1. I felt well enough yesterday to finish off my drawings and scan them, and today Wazir was sweet enough to help me colour them in photoshop and get them printed; so I got to get more rest today.

2. I now know how to do a proper, full manicure and pedicure.

3. I left Bernice's class early today because I was feeling really shitty. [actually, I don't know if this is good or bad.]

4. It's Wazir's birthday tomorrow, and I've already ordered him an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. I haven't actually bought him a gift yet, because I really have been too busy to go out.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I know my posts have been rather scarce lately. I can't believe one week went by so fast.

I had a really busy weekend -- helped out at the Education Fair at Mid Valley on Saturday, and spent Sunday working on my thesis and attending my uncle's wedding [but no pictures, because my camera ran out of battery and I left the charger at my dad's house].

Have been feeling under the weather and today it got really bad so I had to go see the doctor. The doc says it's probably because I've been stressed and tired, and perhaps also due to all the ciggarette smoke I've been inhaling.

I've got a presentation this Friday [which, coincidentally, is also Wazir's birthday =)], so wish me luck! I've also yet to get Wazir a gift. If anyone has any brilliant ideas, let me know. =)

I'm feeling rather confused about what I really want to do right now. Maybe it's just that time of the month, or maybe I'm just feeling discouraged, but the question is; do I really want to be an interior architect?

I do enjoy the work, but most times work is just work, to me, and it just gets me all stressed out. And in a field like design, everything is subjective -- I can't just study some textbook or do some exercises and that's it. There are so many steps to carry out when faced with a new ID project :: precedent studies, site analysis, concept, sketch models, plans, sections, elevations, perspectives, axonometrics, final model, details, materials, presentation board, etc. Materials are expensive too.

I've just come to a point where it's driving me mad. Working on my project is more of a hassle than anything, and I don't know where my passion has gone. My grades are average. Not great, not terrible, just average. Perhaps I'll get an A here and there, mostly Bs, and a few Cs too. But nothing is ever certain, and the grades I receive at the end of each semester are always unexpected. Well, most times I do worse than I thought I did. :/ Occassionally I'll do better.

Oh dear God. Why am I here? Did I make the right decision? I just need some confirmation, and some encouragement. I know I've written a lot about how busy I am and how stressed I am, but it's really building up and I'm just.. fed up with it now.

Okay. I just needed to get that out. Whatever it is, I have to finish what I've started.

Here's a site Family Guy fans will enjoy :: Stewie Live. Try telling him to have sex, fart, or dance.

I feel.. strange, yet incredibly happy.

Wazir stayed over at my place this entire week, because my mum asked him to, so that he would save on petrol. We've been incredibly low on funds this month due to some unforseen circumstances. Today he left, because I'm staying at dad's this weekend.

Anyway today after class at Cenfad, we were on the way to my dad's house, where I'm supposed to stay this weekend. Then suddenly dad phones and tells me that the BMW is in the workshop, and can I go there with him and drive the BMW home? I tell him that I don't think I am capable of driving on my own, so he asks if Wazir can help instead. Wow. I was so surprised.

So Wazir and I rush back and dad drives us to the workshop in Selayang. We pick up the BMW and what the hell, I end up driving anyway, with Wazir next to me. I did something incredibly stupid, though. I drove without even realizing that the handbrake was on. Until I got home and the car smelt funny. :/ Yes, yes. It's so stupid. Thank God Selayang is so near to Kepong. No wonder the car felt heavy. Hahaha. Anyway the car's fine. Okay, let's just move along and forget about that now.

I managed to get the car home, and then dad invites Wazir to join us for dinner, as Lay Kheng was on her way back from KLCC. *shock* Wazir and I just ate at college, but we just went along for a light snack anyway. I think everything went well, it wasn't as awkward as I always imagined Wazir's first meeting with dad to be. They talked, although not much, but it was a good effort.

I'm so happy. :)

Today has been incredibly hectic. First off, I had a ID critique session at 9.30am to 1.30pm; but Bernice emailed me a few days ago to let me know that she was organizing a Creative Writing Workshop by this Sri Lankan author, Romesh Gunesekera, at 10am til noon, and she was only selecting a few students from her Creative Writing class to attend. Right... Bloody clashing with my ID class, but I thought it would be interesting to find out what this workshop was about.

So I volunteered to go first for the critique, and left my original class a little early to attend the workshop. It was a mixture of Bernice's Sunway and Cenfad students. God. We were given like a couple of minutes per exercise to write, and everything I came up with was so simple and so not thought of properly, whilst everyone else came up with such deep, bombastic stuff. I felt so small during the entire workshop. Oh well. All participants received a free book, pen, and notebook from the British Council. :)

Anyway, after the workshop, I had to go back to my ID class, and participate in the other critiques. After that, I hardly had time to grab a quite bite, as it was off to Bernice's Creative Writing class. Class was aight, just individual tutorials. I pitched her my idea[s] for my character monologue, and she seemed really excited about it; so I've got the green light to continue. I had a long talk with Farid who expressed that he felt intimidated during the earlier workshop too. It was nice to know that I wasn't alone. We also chatted quite a bit about our experiences, coming from divorced families, and it was refreshing to talk about it, with someone who I could relate to.

Gosh. 3 classes, in 7+ hours. No wonder I'm really tired now. Am going to crash. Night.

I went to a friend's house today; a friend who I always assumed to be well-to-do. And I realized today, how people's homes are capable of telling you so much about a person.. I found out so much about that person from just looking at the living conditions he lived in, and today, I gained a newfound respect for him. :) I know not everyone is as lucky as I am, to be living in a lavish condominium in Mont'Kiara; and I am grateful for everything I have.

Anyway, emo-ness aside, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was rather disappointing, to say the least. Just google it and perhaps you'll find out why. Brynna enjoyed it, but that's only because she's too lazy to read the book. But the movie really was pretty rushed, in my opinion, making it not that enjoyable. Perhaps I had my hopes up too high?

Lately I keep finding myself too busy to blog. Well, not really too busy to blog, but too busy to really have anything to write about.

My weeks consist of making models, drawing plans, sketching, researching, and writing. In my free time perhaps I'll catch a movie with Wazir and Brynna once a month or so [which, by the way, Wazir and I used to do like once or twice a week]. And I don't exactly want to write about my work and workload, because having to work on it is already enough a bitch. I know that it may seem farfetched; after all, I only have 4 classes right [ID Studio, Creative Writing, Digital Presentation & Thesis Writing]-- but honestly, ID Studio takes up like 70% of my time already. Goshness.

Anyway I hope that this weekend I won't have to stress too much, because I've gotten a headstart on my work for Monday's class. Trying to do it bit by bit every night. And I'm going to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with my darling and my sister Sunday evening and I'm going to enjoy myself and not think about the load waiting for me.

Oh, my nail art class the other day was fun. :) We went through the theoretical part of the course [gosh, I didn't know just doing nails could be so complicated!], and he thought me how to file and buff the proper way. Which, by the way, is also more complicated than you would think. But it's fun. Something to take my mind off things. :) Can't wait to learn how to put on extensions, hehe.

So... You guys have a great weekend too. :)

So... My weekend wasn't that great. Penang was okay, but I came down with a sore throat, flu, and slight fever the day before I got to Penang, so that kind of got me down. I also didn't get to meet and interview anyone, as I was supposed to. Everyone was too busy, so I pretty much just went around on my own and took pictures of some historic sites and heritage buildings, etc. Here are just a few pictures.




The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. I thought it was like really famous but when I couldn't find it and asked around, so many people didn't know where it was. But the tour was really interesting, well worth the RM 10.


The Meeting Hall at Khoo Kong Si.


The Khoo Kong Si temple, which used to be a clanhouse. Amazing stuff. I have tons of interior shots; too many to put up.


Hotel 1929.

I'm feeling pretty excited about my first nail art class tomorrow morning. Granted, I have to wake up at 9.30am on a day that I don't have to go to college, but what the hell. I think I'm really going to enjoy taking this class.

I went to the chiropractor today and saw the X-Rays that I took last week.. My backbone is curved and so is my neck.. Or something like that. Bottomline is, I've got to get it corrected or it'll get worse. He says that I need to go for treatment 3 times a week, for 6 months. Each visit is about RM 80. I'm just.. stunned. That is so much money. I can't believe I have to make my father fork out so much just to correct my bloody backbone. *sigh*

Tons of work to do this week. 1:20 scale detailed model, lots of reading for thesis, and a 3-page dialogue. Also haven't gone to the gym in a while, and have to schedule my stupid facial soon. Oh, and also have to return library books. So troublesome.

Monday night :: Dinner with my grandma, father, sister, Lay Kheng and her family at Parkroyal KL.


Another birthday cake for Brynna.


Cake makes us happy.


clockwise, from far left; Grandma, me, dad, Lay Kheng, Brynna.

Tuesday :: Went to Toni and Guy at Lot 10 with my mum for my free haircut and colour. Sher told me a few weeks ago that some of the stylists at Toni and Guy are training for a promotion, therefore they need models. Cut and colour sponsored by the company. If any of you are interested, let me know.

Anyway the downside is that they're rather slow. But then again, I'd rather them be slow and do a good job than try to be quick and botch it all up. I was there from 2pm to 9+ pm. 7 bloody hours! They did a nice job, despite the length of my hair being a couple of inches shorter than I imagined it to be.


The back. No other pictures because I had terrible eyebags.

I just started classes again yesterday and well, it's all back to normal. Workload is piling up already. :P

So.. I probably won't be online for the rest of the week. I've got classes all morning and evening tomorrow, and am going to Penang straight after. Well, actually, we're stopping over at Taiping for a night, then heading to Penang Friday morning, til Saturday evening. >.< It's going to be a looong drive. I hate am disliking my thesis right now. Have to skip Amran's class on Friday too. :/

Take care you guys. :)

I feel really lost right now.

I tried working on my thesis but I feel so confused about where I'm headed and what I'm trying to write about. Inspiration doesn't come easily for me. I've contacted a couple of people in the field regarding my topic but still I feel like I'm unsure about what my objectives are.

I also misplaced my silver ring.. The one that I wear everyday, that matches Wazir's. The last I remember seeing it is when I took it off at the gym. I'm pretty sure I put it back on after my workout, but I'm not totally certain. I've called the gym and they said they didn't find anything. So.. Either some bastard bitch stole it from the locker room or.. It's somewhere in the house, and hopefully it will turn up over the next few days. If it doesn't.. I guess I'll have to get a replacement. Great. Spend more money.

I feel like crying. Bloody hell.

[edit 2346] :: I found my ring! It was erm.. in my underwear drawer. So odd. Anyway I don't care! I am so so so happy now!

This was gacked from Lainie.

Leave your name and
[1] I'll respond with something random about you.
[2] I'll tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
[3] I'll pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
[4] I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
[5] I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
[6] I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
[7] I'll ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
[8] If I do this for you, you must post this on your journal. You MUST. It is written!

So.. That should be fun. :)

Last night Wazir, Brynna and I watched Chicken Little. I booked tickets for 8pm, but we arrived late, and the only seats available were 1st and 2nd row from the screen. I hate sitting so close to the screen, so we decided to watch the movie some other time. The next screening was at 10pm and I thought Brynna would be too tired by that time. So, we went to get dinner and stuff, but she really wanted to catch this movie, so I went back to get the 10pm tickets. And guess what? Bloody hell, 2nd row from the screen again. But this time round, I got the tickets anyway, although I really didn't think it was worth RM23.

So at 10pm we entered the cinema and I realized it was the THX cinema.. 2nd row seats were actually pretty good! :) They weren't thaaat close to the screen, since it was the big cinema which they usually reserve for major screenings. Didn't know Chicken Little was so popular. Anyway. I enjoyed the cartoon. Like all Disney cartoons: feel-good, family shows.

I spent all Friday organizing and clearing my room. Picked up quite a lot of storage boxes and baskets from Ikea and was somehow inspired. Looking at my room makes me happy now. :) I know it's ironic that I'm an ID student, yet my own room's a mess.

I really haven't felt like writing much lately, so I'll just upload some random pictures instead.


This is what we do when we're bored at Cenfad.

Some stuff my mum brought back from US ::

Birks.


Nine West slingbacks.


Guess handbag. There's more stuff I didn't take pictures of.

These were taken at Wazir's place ::

Skye. Had to stick my foot in the pic to stop him from hopping off.



Pretty, pretty Smeagol, who likes to pose.


The KL library, which is much better than the National Library, trust me.

Right. I'm off to create my brochure for my budget accommodation now.

Today was tiring, to say the least. I'm on holiday but my mother has been waking me up at about 9am every day. It's bloody annoying.

Went to my mum's friend's parent's house early in the morning, with a chocolate cake; to find that their specialty was chocolate cake and that they already had one. :/ Heheh. Mum's friend, Aunty Lizzie wasn't there yet so we left the cake there and went to Wazir's house instead.

Mum wanted to visit Wazir and bring him and his sisters some cake as their parents are living in Dubai and they're here on their own. Wazir was adorable in his baju melayu. Didn't get to see his sisters as they were asleep; they were up all night cooking. Kesian. My darling rabbit, Skye looked so happy hopping around in Wazir's house. :) I definitely made the right decision, letting Skye live there instead of in my cramped condominium.

So after that, we went back to Aunty Lizzie's parent's place. Gosh, there were so many people. Found out that Aunty Lizzie's niece might want to enter Cenfad so I'll have to get some forms and information for her.

Went home and met up with dad for dinner. Wanted to go to OU but it was bloody full, so we went to Hartamas Shopping Centre instead. Was walking around when we saw Dermalogica and he decided to send me for a facial. So I signed up for a student package which consists of 7 sessions. Had my first session today. I was so tired and bored that I think I fell asleep for half of it. :P

Came home and finally decided to stop procrastinating and clean my room. I never realized how dusty it was under the bed, and how many stuffed toys I had hoarded in my room. My shelves are all bloody disorganized. It's time to get organized. :) Cleaning can be fun because I always feel a great sense of accomplishment when I'm done.

After I was done cleaning under my bed, I thought of painting my nails, so I got all the nail polish out. Ended up giving my mother a manicure and my sister a manicure and pedicure. As for my nails.. I got tired and couldn't be bothered with them after all. Speaking of painting nails, I'm thinking of going for this professional nail art course, to learn about the proper ways to do a mani and pedicure, as well as painting nail art. Bloody hell, getting a proper manicure done costs about RM60 I think. And that doesn't include nail art and all. The only gripe is the course is rather expensive. About RM4K for 3X16 hours. But it's plus materials so perhaps it's okay?

Off to bed. Have to get up at 9am, Brynna has piano class at 10am and mum always insists on breakfast.

Oh, and Happy Belated Halloween.

My Halloween night was spent breaking fast with my ex-lecturer Shereen and her husband Abang Mi, Wazir, Joe, Stacy and Brynna at Hartamas Square. Halloween isn't such a big thing in M'sia but a lot of the Japanese kids at Mont'Kiara dressed up and went Trick or Treating. Caught us unprepared but luckily I had a stock of Kopiko sweets. Lol. Coffee sweets for kids. Well, it was that or nothing.

Today [2nd Nov] is Brynna's birthday, but we celebrated yesterday with a couple of her friends. She got some nice gifts :: a Samsung mobile phone from my father, a bicycle from my mother, a Fashion Fever Barbie from me and a Ripcurl cap from Wazir.

Anyway, Happy 11th Birthday, Brynna.

Want to go shopping so Wazir and I can buy that Zara tee he wants and the Lewre ballet flats I want. I kind of feel bad, though; after all, he's the one Raya-ing. It's just that I'm such a shoe freak and those babies are on sale now and if I don't get them soon they'll run out of my size; I know it. >.< Anyway we'll see how it goes. Maybe I don't need yet another pair of shoes. It's more important to me that he gets himself something new, at this point of time.

Oh, remember some time back I got a blogsome account so I could try out WordPress? Well Leo's such a sweetie that he got me my own WordPress blog. Props to him.

Will be going to Penang next weekend to do research for my thesis. It's going to be a long week, once I get back to college after this Deepavali-Raya break.

I didn't realize I'd been away so long. Of course, there are explanations for this ::
1. The modem at my mum's house is still wonky and it frustrates me so sometimes I can't be bothered to go online.
2. TimeNet Broadband service was down for a few days.
3. I've been swamped with work. So many late nights just working on VectorWorks. >.<
4. The phone line at my dad's house was spoilt, and it was just fixed a few hours ago.

So now I'm on a one week break and I plan to catch up on some good, needed rest. Actually, I have to design a leaflet for my budget accommodation, and also work on my thesis; but that's nothing compared to what I've had to go through over the past few weeks. :D

I went to the city library this morning for a class and my classmates and I got ourselves registered. Quite a nice place. Books weren't as abundant as I imagined it to be, however. Deadlines are in 3 weeks. Which is great, compared to Cenfad's dumb arse library, which only allows you to take books home for 2 days at a time, and if you return it late, you are fined RM1 per day. It's such a hassle to have to constantly renew books. What nonsense.

On Thursday I had a critique session and got lousy grades for it. B-. Bleh. At least I received good reviews for my verbal presentation this time. I quote, "Verbal - GOOD!" Yesh! The last critique I had, I got lousy reviews for that, because I had a really bad tummyache and well, I rushed through the whole thing ala Gilmore Girls.. :P

So here are a few pictures ::


Presentation board 1. The 2nd board, for some reason, won't load online.


3D model of bedroom for Amran's class.


Another view. You all know how much I hate modelling 3D, right?


I honestly can't be bothered to reply each and every message on the tagboard because the space is sooo tiny, so here goes ::

Auds :: Good luck with everything! Everyone's been so busy it's tough to keep in touch nowadays. :/
Mars :: Message me on MSN next time you're online and I'll send you the pic. We all look so different from the way we did then. :)
Fra :: I was just wondering what happened to you! Hehe. *hugss*
Iris :: Hey.. Thanks for dropping by. How are you? Miss ya. I've been busy, but generally good. :)
Sonia :: Yeah. I'm so fed up with all these problems. If it's not the broadband service provider, it's the modem. If it's not the modem, it's the phone line. Grrr. Good luck with your work too! I so know what you mean about holidays not being holidays. :/ Tough luck eh?

I've missed you guys. :)

Friday, 211005
2346

My internet is down, yet again. This time I'm not sure if there's a fault with my modem, or if it's my broadband service provider. My modem's on/off button is spoiled, there's something wrong with the spring or something. It's one of those where it switches on when you push it down, and when you push it again, it switches off. Anyway. For the last two weeks I've been holding the switch down with masking tape. Improvising, heh. Anyway, yea. I don't know if currently there's anything else wrong with it. It's rather frustrating.

And such bad timing, too. See, every week, I put off working on my thesis until Friday night [my class is Saturday morning], and well, I suppose that tonight, I won't get much work done. Shit. I guess tomorrow I'll just bring in the encyclopedia just to show Adela that I've been doing at least some form of research. Well. Maybe it's a good excuse. I'm currently stuck and have no idea what to do anyway. I have to contact and interview a few people regarding my thesis, but I really don't know what questions to ask them. Getting started is so hard.

I'm starting to stress out because I'm having trouble with quite a lot of my work currently. The mid semester break is approaching so most projects are due by next week. It's going to be hectic. I have 3 assignments due, and one of them involve a presentation. Haha. This reminds me. On Tuesday I had a critique session and I had a really bad stomachache, so I sped through my presentation. Talked really really fast and summarized and skipped a lot of points that I could've mentioned. Yesterday I received my report and the comment for my presentation was "could be improved". Fuck.

So, for Anwar's class, I have to:
1. Redo my model.
2. Redraw plans [ground floor, first floor, second floor], sections [horizontal, vertical].
3. Draw more sketches, especially of details and building materials.
4. Draw exploded axonometric drawings.

And hopefully, all by this weekend. Oh dear god. I want to cry. Well. I'm planning to do [1] on Saturday and [2] and [3] on Sunday. The axo can wait till Monday or something. It all sounds so easy, but it just takes forever. I take about 5 to 8 hours per model, and about an hour or so per drawing. Sounds crazy, right?

On a brighter note, at least my personal monologue is coming along well. Just some more editing and it should be done. My 3D modeling of a bedroom seems to be coming along too, so I'm feeling rather satisfied. I've always been really bad at 3D, and even know, I constantly need Wazir's opinion and advise. I know I'll also need his help to render it. I feel bad for bugging him all the time, but I really am slow when it comes to visualising things in 3D.


Sunday, 231005
0046

The internet is still down. I wonder when it'll be fixed. I already phoned TimeNet yesterday and they said they'd call me back, but they haven't.

I tried to finish my model today, but since it's my final model, I took more effort in putting in the little details; like putting in transparency to indicate glass, cutting out pivoting doors instead of the usual swing ones, etc. It took forever. 5 hours and I haven't even finished the first floor. I planned to cut out the staircase step by step [literally], but I ditched that idea. I can't even begin to imagine how long that will take me. I wonder how Stacy does it. It's crazy ass.

I've also decided that I'm too lazy to draw 3 plans, 3 sections, and an axonometric drawing. So I'm going to just do it in 3D on the computer and voila, all done. Perspective drawings are also made easy. I never quite like using the computer for my drawings, the drawings always come out looking so cold, if you know what I mean.

It's been raining all morning and afternoon. It's been a really miserable day today, marking the passing of Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, wife of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Abdullah Badawi. I was surprised to hear the news because I thought she was recovering.

I think she deserves respect for all the work she has done. When I heard the news, I immediately thought of the Kebaya Nyonya exhibition at the Petronas Gallery at KLCC last year.

Anyway. May she rest in peace.

More news here.

Seng Yip! [19/10]

So just now, I was looking through some pictures in this cd that I burned some time back, and I was really amazed at how much everyone has changed, including myself. Here's a quick and [rather] messy compilation of some of them.


Clockwise from top left :: Me [age 11? It looks funny because I cropped my cousins out of it.]; Brynna and I [about 3 years back]; Brynna; Me, Brynna and Mum [2005].
Brynna's lost quite a bit of the chubbiness. Gosh. I look the same la.. Just a little older. :P And my hair's frizzy now. My mother still looks young. :)


1st row :: Chee Yoong, Chia Ron, me, Audrey [All the Harimau captains, but where's Gavin?]; Marlyn, Jolene, Trish, Wern, Deesha [my birthday 2003]
2nd row :: Harimau house deco 2003; End of SPM 2003 [grad of high school]
3rd row :: Me [check out the braces! haha]; Jo, me, Lil, Jassie, & Yen [Eugene C's birthday 2003]; Praveen, Mars, William, me [Mars' birthday 2003]
4th row :: Stacy & I [Icon Show 2004]; Stacy, Joanne, & Shaza [Maju Junction]; Anthony, Wazir, Stacy & I [Cenfad]

Awww. I miss school now.

The critique session today went well, and we're having a final crit this coming Monday. I guess all I have to do for now is refine my model, put in details, and finish up my drawings. I have a problem with drawing at a large scale; but as most of you know, I have miniscule handwriting and that applies to my drawings too. :P When I draw big, everything ends up looking blank, cartoonish, and well, lame. Will have to do something about that. :P

For my thesis class, Adela wants me to try to find my way to Penang to interview this lady over my Raya holidays. I know I should, but I'm so lazy. I'd be lazy if I had to interview someone in KL, whatmore Penang. Aish.

I've been super busy. Have a crit session tomorrow. And really, I haven't been doing much except stupid model making and plans, so it's not really something I want to go on and on about here.

Plus, I'm having connection problems, over here at mum's place. I'm connected to the internet, but I can't access a lot of websites. It's strange. So far I can only access hotmail, gmail, livejournal, and blogger. But I can't access my blog, lol. So, unless I want to check my email every 5 seconds or write a new blog entry every 5 minutes, the internet is rather useless. :/ Under normal circumstances I'd be extremely annoyed with this problem, but right now I can't be bothered because I'm still stressed out over my work. :P

[edit :: 12.57am] Got the internet up and running properly, thanks to my ma.

Oh. My. God. I'm watching The Amazing Race :: Family Edition now and the family who arrived first at the stop just won free gasoline for life.. Shit! Imagine that. Filling your car with petrol for free. For life. Well, I'm not officially driving and all, but I know what it feels like because I pitch in for Wazir's gas fees.

I can't wait until my mother gets back from the US this Sunday. Nights have been so quiet here; my grandma and sis go to bed at 9.30pm, then I'm on my own until I go to bed. Not that I have a problem with it, just that I actually miss her nagging and bitching and us having late night snacks while watching tv. Plus I've had to go gymming alone, which I hate. Well. Sunday is coming. :) But she'll only be back for 5 days before she's off to India for a final business trip. >.< It's been a busy month for her I guess.

I've got to go work on my Personal Monologue. I still haven't decided on my final topic, but I need to hand in an outline tomorrow, so I'll just have to piece something together.

Okay. I kind of got sick of the old layout, as much as I loved it and all. I've yet to change the colours of the tagboard, though.

But. This new one doesn't really work that well with IE [Well, it creates a little crease near the header]. Anyway, almost everyone uses Firefox now, right?

Any feedback? Comment. I've still got the old layout saved here.

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Have to make another model at 1:50 scale, and draw plans & sections by Thursday. There's another critique session on Monday. I hate making models, there's no denying that. I hate drawing sections too. And axonometrics. But I like plans. Gosh. Remind me again why I'm studying interior architecture?

I've had a pretty good weekend. Yesterday's presentation, which I prepared for Friday night, went pretty well, surprisingly. So, yeah, apparently I am on the right track for my thesis. Yay. Spent a lot of time with my sister this weekend, and today I saw Wazir for dinner. It's been productive.


Brynna took this. Haha I can see her finger at the corner of the pic. :/ That's the prob with the T7, most people have a tendency to rest their fingers at the edges of the camera and well, that's where the lens is.


We both look kinda off in here. :/

And these are some interior pictures of my latest model ::

Top view of bedroom space. Looks shabby because I used recycled materials :: a mixture of cardboard, mounting board, and model board.


Interior view of the bedroom space.


Hallway.


There are no shots of other spaces because I haven't gotten around to modelling them in detail yet. I've just got it all drawn out on plan and some sketches. Damn stress la; I've been having so much work, and my mother is away and Brynna has exams so I've had to push her to study and tutor her as well. Am trying my best to be the good sister I'm supposed to be but I don't think I'm doing that good a job.

This is random, but I've decided I don't want a lomo camera anymore because bleh, I can do all that with Photoshop anyway. Why waste cash on a plastic camera and film and developing fees?

I think I'm off to bed. Feeling rather tired and I've got an early class tomorrow. >.< Night, all.

Today has felt like the longest day ever. Wazir picked me up for class real early,about 7am] so that we could avoid the Subang and KL traffic. So I got to Cenfad at like, 8am or so, when class only started at 9.30am. :/ I had a critique session and had to go first, which was surprisingly okay. Now I've got tons of work to do this weekend. :/ Have to rework my building layout and my model at a 1:50 scale. That's pretty big.

Anyway that class ended at about 1.45pm and Bernice's Creative Writing class started at 2pm. Didn't get much of a break. Plus, Bernice's class ran 45 minutes longer than expected, because we watched this movie, Garden State after the break. It was a rather slow-moving movie and well, I couldn't quite grasp the point of the movie, but then again, I prolly can't really comment because I fell asleep for half an hour. =P So yeah. I had class from 9.30am to 5.45pm. :/

I came home after class, ate dinner, and the next thing I knew, I was asleep. Woke up at 9.30pm. It's been ages since I've had a nap!

I have not been to the gym this week and I'm feeling guilty.

Anyhoo. I need to do research for my thesis. I've pretty much decided on the topic "Adaptive Reuse of Buildings in KL". It was that or "The Convergence of Design and Technology" but for that, I couldn't figure out what specific field of science I wanted to talk about. So, yeah. Now I have to go do some research on old buildings and stuff, both in KL and overseas, as examples. I have a presentation about this Saturday morning. >.< Wish me luck! [I haven't started any research yet.]

I've spent yesterday and today slaving over Anwar's work. Wow. I can't recall a time that I've been this dedicated to an assignment. I guess it's not that I have a choice, he keeps pushing the deadlines. I have a critique session tomorrow [err, today] morning that I just found out about on Monday. :/

I'm so tired. Gosh, I hope this isn't what this entire semester is going to be like.

Oh. Today I tried getting online and kept wondering why I couldn't connect to the internet. The laptop told me that I was connected to the wireless connection, so I figured that my broadband service was down. So I waited for like 5 hours or so.. And finally I got fed up. Then I discovered that my wireless router was switched on but my broadband modem wasn't. Shit.

Fasting for Ramadan starts tomorrow. I'll probably join in with Wazir for a few days or so.

I wanted to blog, but now I'm totally blank. Guess it can wait then. I've been pretty busy with college work lately, especially since it's my final year in Cenfad and all.

I'm so tired. Night!

postnote:: For some of you who don't know what this fasting thing is all about [like Knoizki ;)], I found some information online.

Muslims celebrate the festival of Aidilfitri - popularly known as Hari Raya Puasa, or simply Hari Raya (Day of Celebration) in Malaysia – to mark the culmination of Ramadhan, the holy month of fasting.

It is a joyous occasion for Muslims, as it signifies a personal triumph, a victory of self-restraint and abstinence, symbolising purification and renewal.

Fasting during the month of Ramadhan is compulsory or wajib, whereby Muslims are required to abstain from satisfying their most basic needs and urges, daily, between sunrise and sunset. It is one of the five tenets of Islam; as is the paying of zakat (alms tax for the poor), which must be tithed by the end of Ramadhan.

In Malaysia, the period of fasting ends when the new moon is sighted on the evening of the last day of Ramadhan. The actual sighting is conducted by state appointed religious officials at various vantage points (usually at hilltops) throughout the country.

If the crescent is sighted, the following day is then declared the first day of Aidilfitri, which is also the beginning of the 10th month of the Muslim calendar Syawal.

For more info, visit this site. =)

I've been so busy. Thursday's class with Anwar; he told us to think of our concept for the budget motel, do research, and get back to him on Monday. Saturday, the whole class attended this Design Conference at the KL Convention Centre, and we saw Anwar there. He gave us this sheet of paper with even more assignments due Monday :: sketches, conceptual model, layout plans, sections, writeup, research, etc. Dear God.

So I've been doing my homework [or trying to, at least] all weekend. Yay. *sarcasm* Of course I didn't finish everything; I'm not such a nerd. I hate being so busy and stressed.

Mum came back from India on Thursday and today she left for USA.

I miss my mum.

Well. I had my first class with Bernice today, Creative Writing. It's a fun class, really. But I find it hard to enjoy because, yes, she was right, it is a rather big group. We have to write personal monologues and stuff like that and frankly, I'm not comfortable sharing certain things with the entire class. I don't like telling and talking to people about the troubles I have and have had in my life, because they don't know me anyway.. What would they care? They'd probably just think I'm being some drama queen or whatnot. But yea. It's an interesting experience and it's a big improvement from the last class I had with Bernice; Literature & Composition. But I really would feel much more comfortable if the class was smaller or if there were more people I am close to in it. But I don't have a choice, I need to take this class this semester anyhow.

Someone phoned me during Bernice's class and I picked up and it was really noisy and I couldn't hear a thing so I hung up, cos she gave us some assignment. Sorry. :/

I am really really tired today. Class from pretty much 9.30am to 5pm. Then I came home and went to the gym. Fell asleep watching tv at 10pm just now. Guess that means I'm off to bed now. Or soon. Or maybe I'll watch some Family Guy reruns. :)

Last night, I was looking for something in my room when I stumbled across my high school autograph book. I flipped through it and was saddened to think that we all left high school, believing that we would keep in touch and continue to see each other. Well, it's obvious now -- Sri Cempaka really disillusioned us. :P But really, I did have some really good times at that school [well, of course I did. I was there for 11 bloody years.]

I thought back to my school life and remembered stupid things that I had said or done, and I feel embarrassed. Not just then, actually. Even nowadays. I have put my foot in my mouth several times. I do regret doing and saying certain things, but I cannot take it back.

So, this is my public apology to my friends - I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings, or spoken out of line, at any time. I know I have a tendency to be too honest and blurt out my thoughts; and sometimes I tend to be too open-minded about things, perhaps around the wrong people. You all know me well enough to know that I do not intend to hurt anyone's feelings, or to bitch [unless I really dislike you ;)]. But no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. I'm sorry if I have ever let you down or broken any promises; if I have been cold or distant. You all know that I'll always remember each and every one of you. *hugs*

I know there are quite a number of you who read my blog but do not comment. I guess that's pretty much why I decided to start a public blog [my old one was private]. I blog openly now because I want you to know what's happening with me, and so that I can interact easily with my friends. So, if you have anything to say, just comment and leave a message. :) You know I love hearing from you.

I'm off now. Take care, you all.

Watching my little sister grow up. She's really not a kid anymore.. I can't believe that she's so big now. But she'll always be my little baby sister.

This has been one of the most hectic weeks ever; but also one of the best. Well, I suppose it wasn't that hectic, but take into consideration the fact that I've been bumming around doing nothing but sleep and eat for the past month... I expected my first week back at college to be a lot lighter.

I've already had to do two presentation boards on precedent studies for my first project; one was research on budget accommodations and one was a site analysis of the area I'm supposed to "build" my hostel on. And right now I'm trying to catch up on my reading, so that I have something to talk about when my teacher asks me tomorrow what my topic for my thesis is going to be. I'm thinking of writing something about art and science; how design and technology have to merge together in certain aspects and bla bla bla. Honestly I have NO idea what to write about yet but I think it's an interesting topic. I guess this is where research comes in.

For my electives, I wanted to take Graphic Designers and History, and the original timetable said it was on Tuesday morning. But then I checked the revised timetable and found out that it was Thursday morning, clashing with another class of mine. Fashion History clashes with my Monday class, and I already took History of Design last semester. So with all that out of the way, it only left one elective for me; the one I really did not want to do -- Creative Writing. Bleh. But then I found out that the class was full and intake was closed. So I had to talk to the admin and all that.. They're going to find a way to fit me and Stacy into that class next week. :/ But it still sucks anyhow. I don't want so many writing classes this semester. Stress la!

My mother, Brynna, and aunt went to Redang on Thursday, and they'll be back in half an hour. Wazir was so nice to stay with me and accompany me these few days because I don't really like staying alone. We spent most of our time doing our college work though. Joe and Stacy came over lots too; it's not as stressful when we get together and work all night.

But what I find so hard to believe is that it's only the first week of class, and between me and Wazir, we've already spent RM70, just on printing. I have a sinking feeling that this semester is going to burn a hole in my pocket. Speaking of printing, I went to the shop where I always print my work, and when I put my thumbdrive in the USB port, the computer couldn't detect it. So naturally, I reached to unplug the thumbdrive, but it was burning hot. Then I realized that the plastic melted slightly in one corner.. Fuck! The bloody computer fused my 256MB thumbdrive!! I am rather pissed off about that but I so didn't know what to do at the shop. The boss wasn't in and the woman there didn't know shit about computers. I asked her what happened and she was all like "Oh, I forgot to inform you that the USB port cannot be used for printing, you can only bring in a CD." I just walked off and went to Mailboxes in Hartamas. The help there is very friendly, although prices can be slightly steep. But they gave me a discount since I'm a student, and also because I printed so much, I think. I had to buy myself a new thumbdrive, and this time I got a Kingston 1GB one. Sorry dad. But I really need a thumbdrive. :/ 1GB!! I can fit a 2+ hour movie in that! But anyway. I think I'm going back to the shop to talk to the boss for compensation. What do you think I should do? And how much compensation seems reasonable?

I just met Mae, Trish, Marlyn and Galv for lunch at Modestos; and it was real cheap. Lunch at Modestos is a real good deal; 50% off pizzas and pastas. Anyway we went to the Flea Market at Mont'Kiara, just down the street and I bought myself a cute new sketchbook and a cuff bracelet. I was tempted to buy a fake LeSportSac bag but decided against it. There are so many things I want but don't need and I should stop spending recklessly. No pictures; my camera battery is charging. Oh, bumped into Nabila and her boyfriend at the market too.

Oh, I cann't believe that Daniel won Malaysian Idol 2!! What?? He got 68% of the votes?

Leo, Sonia :: I'm sorry I couldn't go for the Mid V blog gathering.. My mum's coming back from Redang at 4pm, and she's off to India at 5pm, so I have to stay home. Couldn't possibly leave the house at 3pm. :/ Hope you all had fun. :)

All in all, I've had a great weekend. I hope you all did too.

So, class has started, and in one day, I already have 2 assignments. One is to do research and a short presentation on budget accomodations [for backpackers or travellers who just need cheap places to stay] and the other is to find a topic for my thesis // dissertation. I've done the former, but I am seriously having trouble finding a topic to do with Interior Design. But it has to be good. I need to write probably around 10,000 or so words? Anyone with any ideas, help? :)

I wanted to take this elective which had to do with Graphic Design & History, and I thought it was on Thursday; but I just checked and it was actually this morning. >.< I'm such a spaz. So I guess that's one class missed already. Bloody hell.

Oh dear god. On a random note, I didn't know Graphic Tablets were that expensive.

Look Yuw Sun I am wearing your pearls ::



They really are beautiful. I miss you.

Cenfad reopens tomorrow for the new semester. 3rd year Interior Design, baby. *buries head in hands* 9.30am class. Siao la. The earliest I've been waking up lately is noon.

STOMP was good. I only wish I could've taken pictures videos.

This time it was Jolene's turn. Pictures at the RSC, Bkt Kiara.


Shankari, Bren, Trish, Yeong Shuoh


Eugene, K.Ming, Yen, Yu Jin


some of my fave girls; Shankari, Jolene, Bren, Trish, Yeong Shuoh


Jo and Bren


Shanks and Jo


Jo and Trish


Lil and Jassie hug like they haven't seen each other in ages. ;) So cute.


Galv, K.Ming, Bren


Group photo. Of course, there were more people, I was just lazy to take pictures.
clockwise, from top; Jo, Jassie, Eugene, Yu Jin, Yen, K.Ming, Bren, Galv


I hate saying farewell. Jo, you know I'll miss you. Feel free to take pics if you want, but if you want the original pics, let me know. :) If you're in the area this week, give me a call; even though I start classes this week, you never know when I'll be home. Love you.

I thought that to overcome my problem with the comments spamming, I would install Haloscan; but in the end I decided not to, because I found that comments from 4 months back are archived, and are not visible to public [I think]. So instead, I activated the word verification option for Blogger comments. So now, when you leave a comment, you have to key in the characters like so ::



I know it's annoying. I'm sorry guys. Didn't know how else to get rid of the spamming.

I had the best day; kind of.

I love Wazir; really, I do.

[post-note] :: Why the hell is almost every entry I write being spammed with comments from "Anonymous"? Does anyone know how to get rid of this?

We got tickets to STOMP! =) Sunday night. Whee!

My mother has cut me off from using the internet after 11pm, so now I'm back to bumming off one of my neighbour's wireless networks. The signal is rather weak, but it's better than nothing.

Yew Sun has left for the UK; in fact, he left at 10am on the 8th [Thursday]. I didn't blog about it earlier because there was too much happening with me, and also I was kind of sad about it and I didn't want to think about it. But yes, eventually I have to face it.. He's not here anymore, and I guess I won't be seeing him until about June 2006. Time really passes too quickly. All of a sudden I find that everyone's flying off to the UK or Australia and I'm here alone. It's funny. I'm in Malaysia, our country, and when I entered Cenfad, I knew no one. But now I've got so many friends flying off to the UK and they're like in groups. Thank goodness I have Wazir.

So, here are some pictures from Friday night ::


Happy Birthday to me.


My beloved family. [- dad's side]


The two people I love so much :: Brynna & Wazir.


Wazir and me.

This was taken the night before Sun left ::


Yew Sun, Yen and I. He wanted a picture with our fingers on our noses [??]. There are a lot more pictures, but mostly in his camera. I edited all of our pimples in this pic, don't you two love me? ;)

Yew Sun, I miss you. Try to call, or email every now and then, aight?


[post-note] :: Remember what I was saying about the connection? Well, while I was halfway through writing this entry last night, my neighbour switched off his [her?] modem and I got disconnected. Bah.

This year, watches seemed to be the in thing when it came to presents.
l-r :: From Wazir's mum, Lay Kheng, and mum.


Bag; Nine West. From Wazir. <3333


Also from Wazir. To replace my old one.


Pearl necklace; from Yew Sun. I love it.


Dragonfly handphone thingy; from Praveen [and Jade? ;)], and white dangly earrings from Jolene.


Well that's it for this year. Dad bought me a cake too, and I already got the Sony T7 and the Acer laptop from him a few months ago. =) Birthday pictures tomorrow; I'm too lazy to resize and upload now. Also, my photobucket account is full.