ING philadelphia run

Don't get it wrong! I didn't run the 8km route. I volunteered to help out :)

I'm just gonna do a quick update here coz I'm extremely tired now.... Basically, I slept at 1am and woke up at 4am for this volunteer work. It was still freezing cold outside when I stepped out of my door!

What we did was to sort out the water bottles into different loads so other volunteers could pass them to the runners at the finishing line. The most torturing job ever is to remove the medals from the plastic wrap and hang them all up.

We did like 14,000 of them. I'm not kidding. Can u imagine my fingers going through, touching over 2000 medals (well, there were a few of us).

That pile u see there is the medals' pile. Imagine sorting something like that *50 times. Can die leh.

Finally all the medals were gone!

Yet nothing beats having to stand under the hot sun for 3 freaking hours to pass out the medals to every single runner who completed the race.

This is us standing in a row to pass out the medals. Some greedy people took 1 medal, shoved it into their pocket, and took another one. haha.

Anyway, one guy shoke my hand without warning me about it. ewwwwwwww. sweaty palms.

Another guy wanted a hug. I refused.

The last one was trying to be funny by telling me I don't have to give him a kiss just because I gave him his medal.

Ohhhhhhh weird citizens of America. Some families dressed up in tutus. Some had coordinated shirts. Some had wedding veils on them! OMG, one even ran in a chicken outift! (I'm sorry I was doing serious work then, so I couldn't take pictures)

This crowd persisted for 2 hrs. Can you imagine passing out medals to every single person passing you every second, NON-STOP! I seriuosly developed some arm muscles just by doing that repeatedly.

I guess the bouncer guy couldn't take it as well? =p

I looked so happy and excited in the begginning :D

This was how I looked in the end. Tired o_0

I think these volunteers also tak boleh tahan, and went aside to take a break.

I didn't sign up for this slave labour work! I signed up for goodies bags! yeay :) I'm that cheapo. I'm not the only one ok. The runners were like stuffing their bags with freebies and food given out. As for me, I was content with having a goodie bag only :D I like the free stuff they give out during events like that, which includes the pair of cool orange shades that I'm wearing in the picture! hehe.

Alrighty folks, bedtime for me. I'm gonna collapse soon anyway.

3 weeks into SJU

I like how my sophomore year is turning out so far :)

Everything's going according to my plans. I cook what I like to eat, I take naps whenever I want to, and most importantly, I do whatever I want to do at my own pace!

Eversince day 1 of moving into a new place, I kinda got the hang of things. I wake up at 7am everyday now, eat my breakfast and then I'm off to classes!! And i'll be back in my comfort zone mostly by 5pm! whee :) I like my schedule coz there's a routine to it.

However, my socialising time has been reduced massively due the fact that everyone's everywhere. Sean's at the east of St Joes, Tony's at central campus, whereas me, amanda, karl, migs, nate, dan are at the west of St Joes. Jackie and Carmen are at the west of us. That makes them the west west ++ of St Joes. lol does that make sense?

So today, we finally came together for Jackie's bday :) FINALLY! after 3 weeks of being isolated from everyone, I get to see everyone from the group, except for JoAnn Melina Lopez! ahhhhhh, she's so freaking far away:/

Introducing my roomie, Amanda Grace Candelieri

She doesn't like rooming with me apparently.

You know what, I'm not particularly fond of it too! Haha. jk.

Potluck dinner for Jackie :)

I cooked mama ho's chicken again - mushroom + potatoes + chicken. I wanted to try something different, but I was too lazy to go downtown to get those Asian ingredients I needed =p

Dan Murray - the dishwashing man in the boys' household. Apparently, he has this weird rule. No one can touch and wash the dirty dishes except for Dan. He doesn't like it when people do it the wrong way. I wish I had a roomie like him! hehe.

After dinner, it was Guitar Heroes time! I'm no pro ok? But I think I'm ok with it la. I have this weird habit of moving a lot while playing video games, racing, or playing guitar hero. My friends like to watch me dance along to the music coz i can't stop rocking! =p

And then it was twister time!

Oh boy, we had to twist so much. I had to face Tony's butt at one point in time. Thank goodness he didn't pass any gases out.

Twist twist twist. At this point, I cannot tahan alrd. My legs were literally shaking and they hurt so much after that.

Nate, that was a super duper easy position.

And this wasn't awkward at all. lol.

GO AWAY!

You disgusting pest, go away!

Now, that wasn't merely a nonsensical rant on my part. My roomie, Amanda spotted a mice/ rat (i don't know which one) of the size of one's palm+fingers. Perhaps I should say: one's hand. lol. pardon me, i'm really not thinking straight right now coz i'm grossed out!

How can this happen in SJU's on-campus housing??

So we immediately called maintanence and the guy came knocking on our door today in the afternoon. He happily announced "pest control!" when he came in with all his tools and equipments. After assessing the situation (which took like not more than 2 seconds), he promptly added some "fertilizers" behind the stove and 3 mouse traps in the kitchen.

Mouse/ rat trap number #1

Mouse/ rat trap #2

Mouse/ rat trap #3

I asked him if he knows about the origin of the mice/ rat. He told me perhaps from the bushes outside coz the weather has been erratic lately. One moment it's raining. The next moment, it gets really warm and you could literally sweat out everything you ate for dinner just by sitting at your desk.

So day 1 passed by without any mouses/ rats being trapped. Mission failed. I'm still as paranoid as hell. I cooked fried rice yesterday and remember clearly that I had stored them in the fridge in my container. When I retrieved and attempted to heat up my fried rice, I was ghastly shocked at the amount of rice left. ONLY HALF LEFT! As I was freaking out, Amanda sheepishly told me, "I ate them".

Ok. so much for being paranoid. And then I opened the fridge again to retrieve some celery for my salad and I saw something moving. I screamed. Amanda was like realllyyyyyy concerned. "Are u ok Vi?" Turns out that the leaf from the vegetable moved. [ok, i admit I was just being ridiculous. How could the rodents get into the fridge?]

I told myself that I'm not taking anymore of this nonsense and started to store all my stuff, even unopened boxes of food into big big containers. I'm really scared. What if the evil and wicked vermin decides to pay us another visit and starts to nibble away on all my foodstuff. HELL NO. I'm not gonna let that happen.

Sigh, see what a tiny creature can do to you, or rather me? go away you irritating rodent!

Blaaaaaaaaaaah.

Seriously, I think I have absolutely nooooooooooooooo life since school started. For those friends who don't already know, I decided to take the path less taken (haha, sounds sooo poetic here!) and I signed up for 6 courses instead of the normal 5 this semester. On top of that, I am also on the peer review board, an intern at the career development center, and am the Vice-Pres of the ASA club in my school this sem.

Just in case you were wondering, what the hell is peer review board? Basically, my job is to be on the panel of jury in "court" cases held in school, and I get to decide who is guilty and innocent! Muahahahaha! suck up to me, and I'll let u offffffffffff. Lol. Of course cannot like that la, if not later I kena fired leh.

So anyhow, back to my life, instead of reading my finance text (which I was supposed to read since like a gazillion days ago), I'm here blogging coz I just didn't feel like reading anything.

Instead, I've decided to check up on the medicine that the nurse in school gave me. Again, if you already don't know, yours sincerely here has been severely sick since day 1 of school. I've had sorethroat, flu, cough and fever last week, and the evil sorethroat has successfully made my voice husky. Soooooooo sexy. 0_o I had to talk to new friends and new professors with that kind of voice!!

Anyhow, my cough persisted, and I decided it's high time I visited the nurse again. She gave me:

1) Sudafed
2) 600mg Motrin
3) Cough medicine

Mind you, I'm not doubting her credentials, but I did a search on the medicine and here's what I got:

- Sudafed provides relief of sinus pressure and nasal congestion (erm, my flu is gone, why do I still need to take this??) I've been taking sudafed the entire week!
-Motrin is used to reduce fever and treat pain or inflammation. Is my cough caused by inflammation?? I don't understand why she gave me such a huge dosage....

Sigh, why they always give sudafed and motrin one?? *Blank stare.
I'm also left with no choice, but to guai guai eat up my medicine.

*Surprisingly though, I think I'm feeling slightly better :D

Yeay!

I love half.com and amazon.com!

I bought mostly second-hand books online and I managed to save a grand total of US281.03. And I'm returning all of the new ones to the bookstore! I like how in America, everything can be returned. Lol.

So right now, I'll just have to wait for my books to be delivered:)

With Love from Philly

Hello from US and the A!

I've just moved into my new apartment and I love it so far in Wynnewood :) I hate the fact that my room's right next to the main street at first, but after living in it for 2 days, I'm starting to relish the idea of listening to the incessant noise of the passing cars :)

Right now, I feel as if I owe my parents and my friends back home pictures of my new apartment.

Ok, so this picture is for Kiat Weng. He didn't believe me when I told him I had a lot of rubbish and unecessary things! It took me close to 12 hours to finish unpacking my stuff... Ughh, I feel almost guilty coz I'm taking up 2 out of the 3 closets that we have in the apartment.

It being next to the main entrance to the building, my room's at the prime location! It's next to the security desk (so safety is maximized!). I like the fact that I don't have to wait for the elevator (Americans don't say lift for a building with only 5 floors) or walk a couple more steps after school and I can rush straight back to my comfy nest. Even if there's a fire, I can be last one to step out of the builiding without being burnt alive =p Most importantly, I like it coz I don't need to thread past so many people and say the occasional hi or stop to chit chat with my friends at the corridor before reaching my room! Mind you, I'm such a freaking loner. bleh. I hate making short meaningless conversations with people around me.

So this is my bedroom. The colour of the bedsheets, comforter and everthing else makes the room feel so homy!

I heart my room!

And there's the rest of my apartment - The kitchen and my wardrobe.

My wardrobe... before and after pictures

So school is starting in 2 days, and I have made it a point to visit the bookstore to purchase my textbooks immediately after unpacking. I took a snapshot of my receipt as a proof to my friends (esp my mummy, so she wouldn't think I'm spending too much on unecessary stuff!).

G-O-D. I have already spent so much on my texts, and that's not even all of them! I have more books to buy =/ This is yet another comparison that I couldn't stop myself from making. U say la, where got books so damn expensive back home in Malaysia and Singapore one??

So folks, I'm officially broke now. Don't ask me to buy anymore souvenirs or presents ah....

Anyway, a random picture of my sister and I. She's the reason why I could move so swiftly back to school :) Thank a lot Jie!

Back to square one again

I'm back in US now... Everything feels so surreal. It feels as if I've just met up with all my relatives and friends from back home yesterday. My heart is still back in Malaysia and Singapore, but I'm physically here in US.

To sum up my 4-months summer break, I must say it's a great one! I've never done so much before, but all these travellings, gatherings and working have left me kinda tired. I just feel like lazing around for these last couple of days before school starts, but my sister has just kindly informed me that we're going for whitewater rafting tomorrow before heading back to Philly! oh my, that's yet another new experience for me.

Back to my summer break... I started off working in school for about 3 months, earning enough cash to fly myself to Florida, Chicago and South Bend for short holidays and to fly myself back to Malaysia for my month-long break at home. Like I told all my friends, I spent 2 weeks in Malaysia, 1 week in Singapore and another week in China and Hong Kong. Oh boy, no wonder I'm feeling so tired now. Aside from jetlag, I've spent most of time catching up with friends, shopping and restocking my school supply...

Speaking of friends, I managed to see everyone I wanted to meet up with.

First off, there's Ms Ngan and Zhu. Too bad KB wasn't back to make the foursome group complete, but I'm really happy to see both girls in town despite the fact that it was a very short meet-up!

I miss you girls already! We used to gossip and update each other about anything in our lives. We keep no secrets from each other eh?? Let's toast to our 10th year of friendship!

This is what happens when you have lived in India for so many months. She looks like a starving kid...o_0

Why am I friends with girls like them? Only god knows.

And of course, my Singapore trip wouldn't be complete without A3-03 times! I really miss rooming with you all. I LOVE YOU, lee fang and shy min!! I still remember those days when I used to argue with Shy about the cleaniness of the room, about studying, about duties, about laundry, about food, about absolutely anything under the sun!! I'm truly sorry that I didn't appreciate you right from the start, but it's never too late to be friends eh?? I hope 10 years down the road, we will still be able to talk like little kids in love with life, with absolutely no worries in the world to bother us! Ms Shy (Up till today, I still wonder aloud, why on earth would your parents name u SHY, but I think that's just a perfect name for u!), I'm expecting your wedding invitation soon. Hehe...

We're still as happy as ever!

We gobbled up this bun which was even bigger than Shy's face.

Then there was Miss JoAnn Lopez (J. Lo for short). You're still such a diva at heart! I love spending time with you Jo coz I love you too! You never fail to make me laugh. O-M-G. I will remember THAT time, THAT particular day, on THAT particular street near your house, you made me laugh so hard that I almost pee-ed in my pants (Or did I really??lol) All your fault la, the Ah Pek in front of us turned around and looked at me with a weird glare, just because I blurted that "I just pee-ed in my pants!" Oh my, I swear that I would do and say stupid stuff like that only in your presence. And for your info, Jo, I'm scared like hell when I was at your house because of your horror stories about someone. Haha. Nah, just joking! Thanks for having me over at your place :)

This is the lovely lady that never fails to cheer me up :)

Of course, I would like to say Thank You to my beloved fellow welfarers and welfaries who came to meet me at Marina Square, esp to those whom I called at the last minute. I'm sorry if I left anyone out coz my memory is failing me nowadays and I can't seem to recall who used to be in Welfare anymore! I especially enjoyed the time that we spent sitting there talking about nonsensical stuff, trying out Guang Hao's special neoprint camera which only had 4 minutes of battery life left. Boy, wasn't it exciting to turn it on, snap a picture in a few seconds and then decorate it with the neoprint background. Ahhhhhh.... and then there was the "awkward" minute, ok maybe not so awkward after all (lol!), when I asked if anyone received my postcards, but in fact, I didn't send to anyone after all! Silly me! Only Vi-Zanne Ho would do stuff like that. Who cares anyway, all of us are mature beings, aren't we? We're so jaded in life to be content with the occasional email updates and gatherings once in a blue blue moon. Poor Charles couldn't make it to the gathering as he just got out of the hospital due to appendicitis. Ahhh.... Charles was in the middle of his Hong Kong trip and he had to fly back due to extreme pain. It's ok Charles, I can tell you all about Hong Kong since I just came back from my holiday!

Picture time with the guys!

And then the girls...

And then with Charles. He doesnt look sick to me though. lol.

Fellow welfarers at Charles' house.

I had so much time reminiscing about JC days, not only with councillors, but also with my co-OGL, Marcus Ong. This young chap is soooooooooo busy and I had such a hard time arranging for a time to meet up with him. In the end, we had breakfast together. That's how busy he is. I was glad that he could come out and meet me, because I had to unload myself of the Reese's chocolate that I bought for him and to catch up with him! He was still the same old self, always late for meet-ups as usual. He arranged to meet me at 930am, and in the end, he turned up at 945am. Mong(That's what I used to call him!) was as talkative and nice as ever, treating me to my first ever Ya Kun Toast breakfast :)

Lastly, I want to make a special effort to dedicate the last portion of this post to Kiat Weng. You thank me for making you a happy man again, as it was like a closure to meet up and talk to me at last. But I would also want to say Thank you to you as well :) Thanks for being so understanding, for respecting my decision and my wishes :)

Thank you all, my friends, for making my summer break so fulfilling and so special! :)

Of family, friends and food...

This is my cousin's daughter (only 4 years old!). She was still studying at 1030pm. Oh my, what is happening to young kids nowadays? They're losing their childhood! I think this word no longer exists in their vocabulary. Even worse, she is already learning stuff that I learned while I was in Primary 2/3 o_0

Anyhow, ever since I came back to KL, I've been playing, having fun, enjoying as much as I could!

This is my ah ma. Haha, do you see her slight smile?? I was pestering her to smile so I could take a picture of her. I know I act like a total kid sometimes when it comes to kacau-ing people.

Now there, this is my ah ma, picture taken from the front.

So far though, my favorite thing to do when I’m back in Malaysia is to eat. I told Ye Ring’s mum that I act as if I just came back from Africa. That’s how much I like eating Asian food. Just order anything from the menu and I’ll gobble up everything for u!

Food that I've eaten the other day at my ah ma's place are: Cha Sui, Sui Ngap, Tau Fu, Yao Za Guai and most imptly Durian! It's the durian season now. Aiya, forgot to take picture of the fruit durian itself pulak.

Chinese food's so oily, but they're yummy :)

Caught in the act eating durians!

So Ye Ring and I went to this Korean House to savour some authentic Korean food yesterday(shiok leh! I can’t get stuff like that back in America). Yering xiao jie so pretty pretty and professional alrd in her working clothes. She got her first paycheck yesterday so she decided to treat me. Thank you Ms Ngan! I know you will be reading this coz I know you have nothing better to do with your time =p

Ms Ngan.

This is one of my favorites. Lian Ou!

The food we ordered were making us lose our minds (at least good enough to make me lose my mind!) I love Asian food so much, in fact, that I have come to believe that in my delirium, my food would actually love me back. I think I am having a relationship with my food, almost close to affair. Haha. So while savouring my food, I can’t help but think, why do Americans bother to trying to make Asian food there? Nothing they make is even close to the authentic ones we get here.

I’m proud to be an Asian, simply because we Asians can whip up one of the best food!

p/s: a word about my body, im gaining weight everyday of course. I’m doing rude things to my body by taking in ghastly amount of food, oil, chocolate. I’m not exercising, but thank goodness im eating enough fiber. Praise the lord for giving us human such delicious looking food!