~Culture Shock in the UK~

It might seem a bit late for me to write about experiencing culture shock in the United Kingdoms now, since I've already been here for more than a month. However, it also means that I've already had enough time to settle down and observe the things here in Canterbury that's so different from what I'm used to in Malaysia.

1) Dry Toilets
All the toilets here are well-furnished with toilet papers and a good flushing system, but no WATER TAPS/HOSES!!! For us Malaysians who are *ahem* used to cleaning ourselves using our hands rather than the toilet paper, we had to take some time getting used to using the toilet paper (and slowly killing Mother Nature) instead.

2) Traffic and Rules
When the light flashes red in Canterbury, the drivers actually STOP. No, they don't see the yellow light and ram on their gas pedal to speed towards their destination. They slow down, and they stop for pedestrians to cross. Also, drivers give way at any zebra crossings if they see people waiting to cross the road. That's how courteous they are. In Malaysia, you are already risking your life by crossing even when the light is red, just because there will always be one or two motorists who can't wait for one single minute for their turn to move.

3) Recycling
The government, or rather the city council here places a lot of emphasis on recycling. All food packaging are labelled clearly whether they could be recycled, and the council sends workers to pick up recycled stuff once a fortnight. You can argue with me that Malaysia has the 3-coloured bins for recycling too, but frankly, we are still a long, long way behind.

4) Greetings
Somehow, I find the locals here a little 'on the surface'. Sure, they are friendly and everything, but somehow it doesn't go deeper than the surface. For example, when you meet them, they smile at you and say 'Hey, you all right?', but they do not actually wait for an answer. Somehow, I'm baffled as I always tend to answer the question. However, a little more than a month is too short of a time to gauge how friendly British people are, and things might change :D

5) Lack of Bolsters
Bolsters. Hugging pillows. Whatever you call them. No, I can't seem to find any in Canterbury. I miss having something long and soft to hug at night. Oh well, when I get a little richer, I'll try to get one from Ebay.

6) University Culture
Here, people address their lecturers by name, regardless of their position and qualifications. The lecturers treat us as mature adults, and there are not so many restrictions on whatever activities the students want to carry out. No paperwork, no invitation cards, none of the jiggly-wabbly-wasteoftimeandpaper-thingy all students have to go through when trying to organise anything in Malaysia. Now, this is what I call true democracy, and true support for learning.

Anyway, there's more, but these are the few main ones I can think of right now. Ciao!

~Happy Re-Birth Day, Me. 07.11.2010~

It started off as a practical joke...I changed my birthday on Facebook to the 7th of November just to see how many people will go 'Happy Birthday' on my wall XD

Not surprisingly, I received a lot of birthday wishes, some even from the people who've wished me on my real birthday - 3rd of June. That's really funny, and it shows how much people depend on Facebook these days to remember their friends' birthdays...but there were some who remembered though <3 And I can't really blame those who just added me recently either, since they probably don't pay attention to or won't remember birthdays :P

However, after the joke progressed and I read through all the birthday wishes, I felt as though it was really my birthday. Firstly it's because I didn't do much on my real birthday as I was in a camp (BTN) and there were no cakes or stuff. Secondly, it seems like a long time since I've been in Canterbury, and lots of things have happened. Next, birthdays are fun =)

At the same time, I've finally sorted out my feelings and thoughts. It didn't happen gradually - it was more like a flash since I discovered the way out. Before this, I would be dwelling over trivial things, such as other people's selfishness, bad ways, stupidity and such. Those things range from irritating me to making me angry to making me stew in solitude or disturb my emotions in general. Also, I tend to get obsessed over things that I cannot have, at least, not in the near future.

However, now, I've figured out (at least I hope I have) a way to work around these negative emotions. The principles are:

-Smile (and everything will be all right)
-Don't do upon others what you don't want done upon yourself
-When someone does bad things to you, it's not necessary that you should act the same way back
-Go with the flow
-When you can't get/do something, you can always get/do something else to replace it
-Loss of things, as long as they are not lives and your loved ones, are replaceable
-Money hoarded is not happiness
-Remember that not everyone is born with the same strengths and weaknesses as yours
-Don't be jealous of other people, as they might envy some things you have that they don't too
-Forgive and don't hold grudges
-Help people as much as possible without expecting anything in return

So, the 7th of November, 2010 is going to be marked as my REBIRTH DAY.

Let me gain the strength to close the chapter of the old, calculative, sensitive, lazy me, and begin a new chapter of an optimistic, happy, helpful and better me.

Keep on Going~

It doesn't matter if people do not like your music.


It doesn't matter if people do not like your wallpapers.


It doesn't matter if people do not like the things you write.
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/863421/

It doesn't matter if people do not like the things you say.


It doesn't matter if your first few attempts are rejected.

Coz' the important thing is -- you loved doing all those things. You feel happy. You're satisfied with what you've done. That's all that matters.

Ha. Hi. Hu. He. Ho. Manual.

Haha. Hihi. Huhu. Hehe. Hoho. Ahaha. Ehehe. Ohoho.

In case you haven't guessed, these are the 'words' most of us young adults, teenagers and kids use very frequently while typing in chats, texts, messages and stuff. Of course, there are more evolved types of unvoiced laughter such as 'kahkahkah', 'kuikuikui', 'muahaha', and the list goes on and on. However, this post shall only focus on silent laughter that has the letter 'h' as the first or second alphabet. Besides, I will endeavour to classify the emotions of the speaker while using any kind of laughter and also name the people who usually use that kind of laughter.

Now, this is my attempt to decipher what another person means when he/she is laughing on a chat box. Feel free to feel differently, as this is just a result of my perception + my experience of the words.

I shall start off with laughter that begins with 'h'.


Haha - the most conventional laughter. Most people sound like that when they are laughing (which means if you want to be unique, don't use this one). Use it to show happiness, joy and a little surprise. Since it's the most conventional one, it does not belong to a specific group of people.


Hehe - More often people say 'hehe' to show a sense of pride and self-satisfaction. Of course, you can also use it to hint 'serves you right', 'yeah, I'm awesome', 'smirk' and similar things. 'E' is a common vowel across many languages, so it's not strange to find people of all origins using 'hehehehe' too.


Hoho - Most commonly associated with the white-bearded, red-cap-wearing old man, or else known as Santa Claus. As the 'ho' sound needs relatively more air and energy to emit, usually people use 'hoho' when they want to show that their mouths are in an 'O' shape. If not, stick to 'haha' and 'hehe'.

interesting image, isn't it?

Hihi - The mouth stretches wide into a 'eee' position and the teeth is more clearly seen with this laugh. Usually used by cute people, cutesy people and people who try to be cute or cutesy. If you think you fall into any of the categories above, go for 'hihihihihi' and add a wink ;) or a smiley :D


Huhu - Used to show embarrassment or uncertainty. However, it's most common among Malays, Indonesians and the sort. Use it on people from other parts of the world and they will think you are going 'huh?' instead.

******
Then, there are types where you start with the vowel instead of 'h', such as...

Ahahaha - To portray 'Ah, I see + laughter'. Used to show comprehension. More commonly used by Italians (I noticed).

Ehehehe - To show a little bit of embarrassment and shyness. More commonly used by Japanese and Italians.

Ohohoho - Try saying it. Yes. Ohohoho. That's just plain evil, foxy laughter. Use this to show that you are scheming something (but if you are really scheming something, why show it? :o)

******

THE END

P.S: All images (c) their owners.

More on BadaBimBumBand

I can't start to explain why I like this band so much. Maybe it's because of the amazing choreography, maybe it's because of the creative way they strut their stuff, maybe it's the way they coordinate and cooperate to perform, maybe it's the way they arrange their music to be so vibrant and spirited, maybe it's the way they interact with the audience despite being able to speak little English, maybe it's the way they're all men in unitards dancing around in the streets...

:D

Anyway, I've found more videos in my camera on BadaBimBumBand (easier said than typed), so here goes -- just to share with my readers ~

P.S: All of them are around the Canterbury city centre, since I'm relatively new in Canterbury and only managed to figure out where 'Dane Johns Garden', the castle area and castles grounds after the whole affair xD

1.



2. Jumping and galloping around?



3. Marching through the town (I was stalking behind :P)



And lastly, a group photo I snapped ~



This is my new favourite band :D so I'm gonna keep an eye out for them whenever they have street shows in the future....for those interested, here's their facebook group page link:

BadaBimBumBand

Something Exciting in Canterbury (BadaBIMBUMBand?)

I've been in Canterbury for so long, and yet I haven't found something really exciting to post in my blog about -- I mean, you wouldn't be interested to see photos of my room, my kitchen and the substandard food I've been cooking for myself...if you'd understand what I mean :D

Anyway...I've finally encountered something that was quite out of the ordinary while taking a seemingly eventless walk to town to set up an appointment with HSBC.

So it happens that it was the Eurofair in Canterbury from the 24th to the 26th of September (for more details about the Eurofair click here)

While walking around town in the afternoon, my friends and I did not notice the hubbub in town as something unusual since it was a Friday. I bought some strawberries, tried on some trench coats and boots and made an appointment with HSBC to set up a bank account.

Suddenly, I got drawn to music playing somewhere around the center of the city, and my friends and I made our way towards it. I was then surprised to see about a dozen men, all dressed in white jackets and pants and shades playing some brass instruments.

Upon close inspection, I noticed that they were all saxophonists with the exception of two guys on the drums. The music was indeed great - harmonious and clear, but what made it even more awesome was the fact that they were dancing while playing, and the arrangement was so nearly flawless that I could only hear a few blowing mistakes here and there.

They had a good way of interacting with the audience too. In one particularly mischievous song which was the one before the last, they spread out and tried to intimidate the audience by going as close as possible to them. Of course, ladies squealed and men chuckled as they tried to avoid being in the way of this marching street band. After deciding that they have scared the onlookers enough, they made their way back into a straight line and composed themselves for the next song. Amazing choereography and idea, I must say.

Anyway, after their show I had the luck to get a photo with a few of the band members before it started to rain. Here's the photo...

and the video...

Cheers!


P.S: I might write more about my daily life in Canterbury and the differences between it and M'sia if I suddenly decide that it's not too boring to read :D

Just a short post about dickless bastards.

Image from Kenwooi.com

...about the inconsideration and selfishness of some individuals.

Place: KTM Kuala Lumpur Station
Date: 22nd August 2010
Time: Approximately 5pm

The KTM train recently launched a new system - they turned the middle coach into females-only coach.

So one fine day, after getting down from the bus, I went to the station to take the train back to KL Sentral so that I can go back to my college.

However, the first train that arrived was so crowded and many passengers were already waiting to board i.

Of course, there was a big scramble to get on the train first (imagine all the people in a Mega Sale with 80% off Burberry). I, being a female, made my way to the coach that says 'females only'.

The coach was tooooooooooooooo full to make way for my two bags. Okay, I can understand that. But, inside the coach, there were a few guys staring innocently outside, probably feeling an odd sense of satisfaction for being to get into the coach on time instead of having to wait for the next train. They even had the gall to smile indulgently at me when I had to hop out of the train to avoid being turned into minced meat by the sliding doors.

I just want to say...

Female-only coaches are FEMALE-ONLY coaches. Unless you suddenly sprouted a pair of boobs or got castrated or really had to hurry to take the expressway to hell or you are a lady disguised as a man...

You. Men. Are. Not. Supposed. To. Get. On. Female. Only. Coaches. You. Dickless. Bastards.

What does it mean to love your country?

A story about a mouse, a cat, a dog

and not forgetting...

the bird? o.o

Disclaimer: This story is not original, I merely adapted, translated and renovated it from a Chinese article I read on Sin Chew's Daily today (>_<)

Once upon a time, there was an old, old lady who lived alone in a cottage on top of the mountain. She was a kind, gentle soul who always feeds half of her meals to the animals around her. Besides, she showered the animals with compassion and love, and hence, the animals came to love her in return.

Among the animals closest to her were Bow the dog, Mew the cat, Chit the bird and Tippy the mouse. Every day without fail, Bow, Mew and Chit would flock around the old lady, waiting for her to feed them. And when she did so, they would express their gratitude - Bow by wagging his tail energetically, Mew by rubbing itself against the old lady's legs and Chit by fluttering and twittering around her. However, Tippy did not accept food from the old lady. Instead, it burrowed into the ground, found some plants or grubs or whatever and fed itself. Only after it is full, it will curl up silently by the old lady, waiting for time to pass.

Days passed, and the animals found out that the old lady's birthday was almost approaching. Of course, the most excited among all the animals were none other than the four. Enthusiastically, they went into the forest and started collecting flowers. Bow found some blue bluebells, Mew found some yellow daffodils while Chit found some red hibiscuses. The only odd one out was Tippy, who was burrowing for his food as usual.

"What an ungrateful soul you are, Tippy!" Bow growled at the mouse. "Yeah, we are here, all busy preparing a birthday present for our lovely old lady, but you're just being selfish and minding your own business!" Chit chirped angrily. "I really feel sorry for her...how would she feel if she knew that you don't appreciate what she did for you all this while," Mew purred, smiling nastily at Tippy.

Tippy heard the insults from the three animals, and it paused in its process of food gathering.

"Well, I am different from all of you. Although now I am not preparing a birthday gift for her, that doesn't mean that I'm ungrateful and selfish. Think of yourselves...every day she has to sacrifice half of her meals to feed you, and hence she goes hungry most of the time. On the other hand, I don't depend on her for my food, instead I hunt for them myself. To me, that is the best way to repay her kindness instead of fully depending on her, and showing your gratitude once a year with a flashy, lavish birthday present."

~-~-~

So guys and girls, loving our country doesn't just mean waving or hanging enormous national flags, singing patriotic songs, etc. Sometimes, being independent and resourceful and self-sufficient is the best you can do for your country, as opposed to taking it for granted and just using all the advantages available here.

But of course, contributing to your country will be an added bonus :D just like negative, neutral and positive, get what I mean?

The rollercoaster journey to UK Visa

So it happens that I'm going to CCCU soon, and so it happens that if I want to study in the UK for more than 6 months, I have to get a visa. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

Then, I found out a visa is not just a visa - it's made up of various documents, forms, some trivial and not-so-trivial stuff to be collected, photocopied, filled in and whatnot.

Lemme describe the excruciating process of getting a visa together with the rest of Da Demotivated Retards (Alicia, Daniel, Yuges, Banu and yours truly)...

1st step: Forms, forms and more forms
One would have thought that in order to get a visa, you have to fill in just the visa application form.

WRONG!

There are a total of 4 forms for visa alone, and another form for the supporting documents...
- Visa online application form (VAF9)
- PBS Tier 4 Appendix 8 for General Students
- CAS (a checklist for all the documents)
- Student survey

Before doing our visa, we have to get a Certificate of Good Conduct from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so that's another form.

And we did the MAS Grads Card (which enables us to bring an extra 10kg luggage) too, making another form

2nd Step: Wasting paper, killing trees and destroying the environment
The forms are printed out. For all three applications, supporting documents are needed. Innocent papers are used to photocopy the originals and backup forms. That's all.

3rd Step: Journey around Kuala Lumpur
This was the most fun part. On the first day, we went to get our Grads Card and bank draft done. It was quite an easy process as we just needed to bring along RM 976 in cash to CIMB and some documents to the Enrich Centre. The whole process took about 3 hours and didn't cause any headaches at all.

It was a whole different story on the 2nd day. The schedule was to get a stamp and signature from a commissioner of oaths, then go to the MOFA to get our Cert. of Good Conduct. The commissioner was located in Damansara while MOFA was in Putrajaya. So, what did we do?

First, we woke up late, and gathered at 10am. Then, we took a taxi to Damansara and got our forms stamped. Had lunch at KFC while waiting for the uber-famous 'government lunch time' to pass and made a move to KL Sentral. From there, we took the ERL to Putrajaya Sentral and hopped on a bus towards MOFA. The whole trip took about 1 hour and when we arrived, we still had to wait for the doors to open at 2pm. The application process took another hour, and then we took the bus back to Putrajaya Sentral, and another bus back to KL Sentral. Except that we missed the stop and ended up in Pasar Seni, making an extra LRT station x) By the time we got back in IPBA, we were all so tired we could just curl up and sleep on the floor.

On the third day, we finally went to Ampang Park by LRT to submit our application at the UK visa centre at Wisma MCA. It wasn't so tiring as much as unnerving, as there were three security guards at the entrance, and we had to go through body scans and stuff. Comparatively, it was a simple process though, and took just a little more than an hour~

Step 4: Free for All
Yeah, after submitting the visa application, we are basically free to do anything we please. So then, see ya =)

False Alarm O-o (and I'm a No0B)

My trustworthy Dell laptop (Inspiron 1420) has so far given me minimal problems after two years of using it. The only beefs I have about it is that it's too heavy, not fast-performing enough and the Window Explorer problem.

Today, I switched on the laptop as usual and left it on the table while I went and tinkered some on my piano <3>"Interactive logon process initialization has failed. Please consult the event log for more details."

The first thing that came into my head was 'How the heck am I supposed to consult the event log when YOU won't even let me look at my FRICKING desktop!' (Of course, I didn't say this out loud ^^)

Then I started to panic. I've heard things like this happening to other people, but never me. I think my laptop is clean enough (at least I've never had to send it for repair before) and I use an antivirus, don't surf suspicious websites and all those, so I don't think there would be any major problems with it.

Anyway, my initial reaction was to shut down the laptop forcibly (i.e. by switching off the power source and pulling out the battery). Now that I think about it, that was incredibly stupid. It's just like showering halfway and having no water while shampoo and soap bubbles are still all over you, or watching a movie and having a power outage just before your favourite scene, or...well, you get the idea xD My point is, this is an idiotic, thoughtless thing to do, even to a lifeless laptop.

So, I turned on the wireless Internet in my house and surfed the Internet using my phone (bless the Nokia Xpress music 5800) for any tips to solve this problem. First thing I saw, I wasn't the only one who experienced this on my laptop. So, I went and dug out all the manuals and backup discs that came with my laptop just in case they could be in handy.

I read through what the other users did - restored the system, ran the computer on the DVD, reboot, whatever, blah blah...and I went O_O Someone help me ! I'm absolutely clueless on how to do all these x_X

Still, I mustered all my courage to gave it a try. I rebooted my laptop, missed the time where I was supposed to press 'F12' to go into a system, and was brought to the screen where it asked me whether I wanted to start Windows normally or in Safe Mode (prolly because I shut down the laptop forcibly xD).

To be safe, I chose the safe mode :P

Miraculously, I saw my desktop materialise on the screen with the title 'windows in safe mode', without a wallpaper and with extremely ugly graphics. I was so happy I could have kissed the laptop. So then, I ran System Restore and reverted all the updates back to the last point I updated the laptop.

Hopefully this will solve all the problems --> coz' now my laptop is functioning normally, but I don't have the foggiest idea how it would turn out the next time I power it on again.

Till then, adieu~ >_<"

P.S: I know I'm being a little over-dramatic, but my laptop is my love :D