Dedicated to…

It’s been a while since my last post, hasn’t it? I guess my blogging frequency is about as consistent as Edinburgh weather, but that’s not the point of my post. Today I’m inspired to talk about Chinese New Year hot pot, or as we call it back in Malaysia, “steamboat”.

Why steamboat though? I always thought it was because the pot looked like a boat, and there was steam coming out of it, but say “steamboat” anywhere else in the world and all you’d get is blank stares. Hot pot makes more sense I guess, but it’ll always be steamboat in my heart.

To start off, I love steamboat, I really do. My highest frequency was 5 steamboats in a month, which my Malaysian friends think is really quite a lot. Steamboat is great; first there’s a tasty broth which may or may not be spicy, or there can be two broths (which is even better), and then there’s tons of stuff that you can throw into the broth, and then you wait and eat. Most people eat the stuff with sauces, but I like the original taste.

I’ve even got a proper procedure for eating steamboat, typically anyway. I like to start with throwing some veges in there, and mushrooms, to enhance the soup’s flavour. Next is the random steamboat stuffs like fishballs, crabsticks, and those… white and brown things that I really like. Picture for reference.

These things. That’s the Chinese name right there, but I really don’t know what they’re called in English. Regardless I love these things, they’re my favourite steamboat ingredient. But I digress; back to my steamboat process. The next thing is meats or fish or other seafood like mussels. Meats cook real quick so you just gotta watch them. And repeat the last two steps until you’re almost full (though at this point most people would have given up but I’d still be going strong), then in goes the noodles. The soup would be amazing by now. My cousins all love yee mee, but I’m a total meehoon person. I’d eat one or two rounds of noodles with soup, and that is usually the end of the meal for me. Unless someone throws in an egg and makes me eat some, but steamboat egg is a real messy thing.

Ah, steamboat. I can eat it on any occasion really – on my birthday, when we go to Cameron Highlands, or just randomly when we feel like it. Now, the link to Chinese New Year – in my family, eating steamboat for the reunion dinner on Chinese New Year eve is a tradition. We’d go to my grandfather’s place, and my aunt will make a really delicious chicken/pork soup base, and then the fun and deliciousness will begin. It’s something I really look forward to every CNY. And it’s my last memory of CNY back home, actually.

I’ve not been home for four consecutive Chinese New Years, the consequence of studying overseas. For my European friends, CNY is akin to your Christmas, and it’s our time for family get-togethers. In fact, there’s so much the two celebrations have in common. They’re both big celebrations, you’d get gifts/money (in CNY that’s only if you’re not married though), you go shopping beforehand (gifts for Christmas, new clothes for CNY), the eves are a big deal as well, and you get to reunite with the relatives you miss (or you get stuck with the annoying ones). And most importantly, there’s so much food. SO MUCH FOOD.

That said, my last CNY was in 2012, when I was still in A-Levels. If I think back to that time, I probably didn’t know yet where my future would take me. I was still stubbornly aiming for architecture, which in hindsight, was clearly a wrong decision. I didn’t even know that I would be studying in the UK, so I guess I didn’t treasure it enough. Who knew that it’d be my last CNY home for a long, long time? I don’t remember the details of the day, exactly who was there, exactly what was eaten; but I do remember the warmth, the deliciousness, and the joy all round.

So much has happened since that last CNY steamboat. I’d like to think I’m more festive than most – I’ve spent all of my CNYs here in UK with friends, or people I consider second family. I actually remember exactly how I spent each of the four CNY eves here.

Second year – CNY 2013. Our seniors booked a Chinese restaurant in Tollcross and invited the masses. It was like a massive Malaysian Chinese CNY party. There were three tables in all. I wore an old-ish yellow shirt, because I read somewhere that yellow was the lucky colour for that year, and I didn’t have any new shirts. The food was… okay I guess. Clearly not memorable enough for me. But it was my first year there and I was surrounded by new friends and a new environment, which was cool.

Third year – CNY 2014. My group of friends booked a large table in Imperial Palace, and the whole gang was there, plus a couple of seniors. Food was much better than the year before, and I think it was cheaper as well. They ordered a whole lot of stuff, like fish, three roasts, etc. I was now surrounded by my closest friends in UK, plus… some other people I was acquainted with, but mostly my closest friends. Like Jag and Boon Ho. Really kind of miss them now. 😦

Fourth year – CNY 2015. I wanted to spend my reunion dinner with who I considered my second family at that point, my flatmates Angie and Shaunee, and my boyfriend Kevin. I was so gung ho about it, and Angie was more than happy to comply. We did a steamboat in our flat. I cooked up a soup base, and Angie and I went round buying all sorts of steamboat ingredients, including loads of meat and seafood etc. It was great, almost like being home for CNY, except I had to go through the effort of making the soup, heh.

And then this year, MSc – CNY 2016. My reunion dinner was spent with people that I never knew years ago, with people that I never expected to know or meet, but am glad that I did. I’ve taken up a part time job, and I feel like I spend so much time there that it’s part of my identity now. And my colleagues there really feel like my second family, almost like siblings/cousins, and for the older ones, like my uncles and aunties. Everyone’s just so friendly – I guess that’s the hospitality business for you. But CNY this year was fun as well, hot pot at a restaurant, and I guess I got to flaunt my appetite for steamboat, which was amusing. 😛

What about next year? Well, CNY 2017, I will be home again. I’ve been away from home for too long, I’ve missed four CNYs too many. I’ll make sure that within my best possible abilities, I never miss a CNY reunion dinner back home again. Sure it’s fun celebrating with friends and new people I meet (including some pretty good looking people 😉 ), but ultimately, Chinese New Year is about family. There’s a reason why it’s called REUNION dinner. It’s the time where the whole family comes home, gets together, and be a family again. And it’s a feeling I really miss.

I can’t wait to be home for Chinese New Year hot pot again.

I’ve just come back from what I fondly call the Journey of Completion with Kai Wen and Hoong Woei. After two long years and many detours, we have completed the end-to-end journey. I guess it’s not strictly similar to what people do, given that they normally marathon the entire journey in one go, but to me this journey symbolises something special.

Two years ago when we went to Lands’ End, it was done on a whim. We just went to Penzance without a clue of where to go, and after hearing about Lands’ End we were like, eh okay sounds cool, might as well check it out. At Lands’ End we discovered an exhibition about the End-to-End Journey, and I vaguely remember Kai Wen saying that we should all visit John O’ Groats (JOG) together someday, and I probably cracked a joke about it being too cold since it’s the north of Scotland and all. We left it at that.

Two years later we actually made the journey all the way up to JOG.

The iconic signposts on both ends were pretty different. The one at Lands’ End was fenced up, people would need to pay some amount for the official photographer to take pics of them if they wanted to pose by the signpost. The one at JOG was not guarded, and there wasn’t as many people as in Lands’ End, but I guess that’s because we went to JOG in early June instead of late June for Lands’ End. On a side note I heard that the JOG signpost was removed but it still looks like it’s there, so eh.

I guess the key significance for this end to end journey is that it does not only carry the literal meaning – Lands’ End to JOG – for us. We did our first journey together in our first summer holidays during our first year in the UK. Two years later, we make our last journey together in our last summer holidays (well, strictly speaking Kai Wen’s last) during our final year in the UK. It’s the end of the road, in every sense of the word.

Travelling with Kai Wen and Hoong Woei has been fun and memorable. All the LOL stuff I don’t understand, all the jibes and teasing and annoying (not to me though heh), all the funny jokes and (failed) selfies, all the jakun-ing here and there, all the interesting local foods, all the moments we shared, and all the bad weather. Gosh the weather is bad in UK. You can’t really see from some of the pics but the wind is terrible some days and coupled with rain… Welp, it’s UK weather after all.

I’ve done a post dedicated to them and some others before (https://dedicata.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/dedicated-to-a-bunch-of-guys-plus-one-girl/) but this time round it’s purely for them. I guess it’s kind of the graduation blues. Or the fact that we’ve been friends for quite a long time now. Regardless, here I go.

Kai Wen, ah Kai Wen. My rival from college. We can’t really rival now although we’re doing the same course because either his uni’s standard is low, mine is too high, or he’s just a LOT better at me now. But given that his average is 90+ while I can’t even get close to that, I guess it’s better off that we don’t compete. But I’ve gotten my own rival now in uni so it’s all good. 😀

When I first met him, I knew that he was smart. It also did not take me long at all to realise that he was also arrogant as heck. Funnily enough he is completely oblivious about it, despite Hoong Woei and I trying to make him aware of the contrary. I think that he’s gotten more humble through the years but Hoong Woei thinks I’m just used to it. Regardless that means there’s an added freedom of what kind of stuff we can talk about without offending the other.

Throughout the first year of uni, we chatted a lot over Skype, sometimes late in the night. We were (still are) close friends and kindred spirits to a certain extent. At the start when we didn’t know anyone else in uni, at least we had each other’s companionship. I never really felt lonely in uni, even from the start, because I had him around all the time. Then of course later on I made some really close friends in uni too, but that’s a post for another day. 😉

Kai Wen visits me in Edinburgh at least once a year. The first year he came with Hoong Woei and Shihao and we did all the Hogmanay stuff. In the second, he came alone, and went to Pentland Hills himself and encountered wild Highland Cows and was terrified of them. XD To be fair there was a huge herd and he was walking amongst them. Personally I’d see that as a really cool experience. During that year we also baked a cake with Angie, Chee Yern and Mel and went round having a walk around our housing area. This year, he came with Hoong Woei to hang out a day before embarking on our trip together. He brought a petroleum rock. He says it’s a fossil. I’ll call it a petroleum rock.

I guess now that he’s going back to Malaysia for good and starting his job soon we won’t really have much more opportunities to travel together again. I… I’m actually pretty sad about it. There’s not many people I know I’m compatible with in terms of travelling, and he’s one of the rare ones. Also we are able to talk nonstop for hours, and about a lot of stuff. What can I say? We have to move on with life, time doesn’t go backwards after all. But I know for sure he will be one of my close friends in the future, same as some of my primary and high school friends, and that won’t change no matter how long we don’t chat or hang out.

Kai Wen, if you’re reading this, I wish you all the best in your career. Don’t forget about our belanja deal! 😛 If we someday somehow end up working together, you’d better be prepared because I’m going to bring on the rivalry again, heh. Seriously though. I’m going to miss you tons.

And then there’s Hoong Woei.

He generally kept to himself at the beginning of college, but many people knew he was smart because of the intelligent questions he asks during classes or guest talks (I really can’t remember). I bet he doesn’t remember now, but we actually used to work together on a Pre-U Ambassador Camp before. I wasn’t close to him back then, but I knew he was smart. And vulgar. XD Back then I had a habit of saying “don’t swear!” to anyone who swore near me. That meant I told him not to swear more times than I can count, haha. He said he used to think I was annoying, for that reason.

I gotten close to him because of David. I know he just clicks with David, they’re really good friends and probably share a friendship like Kai Wen and myself. Kindred spirits, similar interests, etc. But Hoong Woei and I are so completely different, we really had nothing in common. I was kiasu and hardworking and a go-getter, he was just relaxed and laid back and lazy. I wasn’t a gamer nor interested in anime and manga (back then, I guess Kevin changed things a lot) and he doesn’t like reading. There was pretty much nothing we had in common.

Yet conversation wasn’t scarce. Besides his usual jokes, impersonations and nonsense (which I think are pretty funny btw!), he is pretty darn smart and knows a lot of stuff. He also has the gift to explain said stuff. I learned some amount of random engineering facts thanks to him. And we can just talk about a lot of stuff. Despite his lack of interest in reading, he does have a really good ability to converse – sometimes I wish I had that.

I know Hoong Woei won’t be reading all this because of the amount of words here, heh. But I’ll include a TL;DR: Hoong Woei, you’re a good friend and I’m pretty darn glad I’ve met you. 😀

We’ve embarked on this journey together. Now we’ve grown, learned new things, and have ended it together. And I couldn’t have asked for better companions for this end to end journey.

Auld Lang Syne, my friends.

So, it’s finally over. 2am, but eh, a writer’s gotta do what a writer’s gotta do. 😛 Note that in this post I’m going to be vague about who I’m talking about, so if people Google this, they won’t know which conference it is and who I’m talking about – helps everyone with some privacy eh? If you’re looking at this because of a link from my Facebook page, you’d know who you are. 😉

This post is pretty much to say my heartfelt thanks to sooooo many people who made this conference possible. I guess there aren’t many people reading my blog – but if you do and I’ve mentioned you, you have my sincere thanks.

I’ve got so many people to thank, so many people helped me out this time round. I’ve never felt so indebted and yet I’ve never felt so accomplished. There are 4 people in particular that I’m going to elaborate on a lot more, but before that I’ll just rattle off my thanks to everyone else:

Huge thanks to the speakers, obviously, for taking the time to come to our uni and give presentations. I think a big portion of our success today was due to the interesting talks and presentations given – they were informative, engaging, interesting. Brilliant talks. I personally really enjoyed them. I’ve not spoken to my friends about it yet, but I hope they found the talks as good as I did.

Huge thanks also to my subcommittee members, I seriously couldn’t have done it without them. From brainstorming to weekly discussions (at 5.15 on Thursdays, no less!), to meeting deadlines, giving suggestions, etc etc etc, basically it would have been impossible without them. Nope, this isn’t my conference, this is OUR conference. And what a conference it was.

Huge thanks to the supportive lecturers: Angus, the first lecturer who helped us out; Tim, who helped me out so much, stuck with me through thick and thin, and although it didn’t work out in the end, I really appreciate his help and support; Noreen, who I just met this year – she was really the turning point of the entire thing. I was facing so much problems and she helped me get past the major hurdle and things just went upstream from there.

Huge thanks to Tess – she really made all this possible. I’ve just met her in January, and she’s been such a great help since then. She’s helped with the speakers, publicity on their website, prize fund, and so much more. It’s been great meeting her and working with her, I really appreciate it.

Huge thanks to the committee members who helped me in various ways, and were so supportive from the start. Also for the jokes and the fun night out – I’ve not had many of those. No, it’s not cause I’m anti-social, it’s just that I tend to like to stay in with a bunch of close friends and homemade food.

Huge thanks to all my buddies, especially the Malaysians who came to support me! Yeah I’ve seen all your faces in the audience… I really appreciate your support, guys. It means a lot to me that some of my closest friends have decided to take out time (on a Wednesday afternoon no less!) to support my biggest event yet.

Huge thanks to my flatmates! Angie and Shaunee. They’ve been so supportive from the start too, listening to me complain about things, celebrate my successes, cook for me when I come back exhausted from Thursday evening meetings… Angie, despite being so exhausted from classes, she stayed for the entire length of the conference, and sent me a sweet message after 🙂 Shaunee, helped me jaga stuff when I went for class, when I went around doing preparations, and at the very end helped me bring some of my stuff home… Yes, they weren’t directly related to the planning and prep of the conference, but I love my flatmates, and their support really kept me sane, in some sense.

Hmm, I actually don’t think I’ve missed anyone out. Alright, elaboration time! For those who’ve never seen me post stuff before, I’m well known for walls of text. But that’s just me. 😉

The first person I’d like to thank is Eddie. Eddie’s part of my subcommittee, but he’s been so dedicated from day one. I speak to him so much via Facebook to get stuff done, and he’s basically had a hand in everything, from the posters to the brochures; from ideas of topics to suggestions of speakers. He’s attended all but one of the subcommittee meetings, and he’s pretty much the most updated of them all, as I tend to rant to him a little when there are problems with speakers and stuff. I’d say if I were carrying the event, Eddie was my main aide – I’d totally have collapsed in exhaustion without his help. Hmm I could have sworn I had more stuff to say than this – I guess the sleepiness is starting to creep in. Nonetheless, I will continue.

The next person I’d like to thank is Ben. Ben, Ben, Ben. Man, I still can’t believe he actually said the kiasu thing. And I also can’t believe I received flowers from him. No actually I can believe the flowers thing – they’re sitting right across the room now. It’s the kiasu thing that’s more surprising. I shouldn’t have said it! 😛 But Ben’s also another person that this event would never have succeeded without. I message him so much, day to day. “Ben, what do you think of ….” “Ben, I’ve received this email, do you think I should…” “Ben, I’ve CC-ed you in… Could you please ask…” “Ben, would you be free at… to talk about the conference?” And the best part? Ben’s efficiency. I can easily expect him to get back to me within the day, usually within the hour, even. I could even just bump into him on the way to the lab (he’s somehow always at the lab) and have a quick chat with him about conference stuff, and then move on with my day. And he’s been so supportive – in some sense I feel like he’s the supportive older brother, saying stuff like “you’ve done so well, LK”, “Excellent! Good job, LK”, and I just feel like I’m perhaps doing much better than people have expected me to. Because when all is said and done, I’m just kiasu like that 😛 and I feel that things could have gone better today had I have done stuff differently. But that’s just me being kiasu XD My president was happy with his club’s flagship event and I guess I couldn’t ask for anything more than that 🙂 But seriously, Ben was like a rock, like a mountain – he made me feel that everything was fine, he was calm when I was not. And that made all the difference. 🙂

I feel so formal, saying the next person I’d like to thank etc… Haha… Well the next person I’d like to thank would definitely be Gavin. He’s helped me so much, suggested things (that, if I’ve not stubbornly refused at the start, might have made the conference slightly better), and most importantly, supported me. So a couple of weeks ago, we had a speaker crisis, and I panicked. I sent Gavin a huge long email in the evening, detailing the problem and a couple of proposed solutions to see his opinions. He actually replied at 10pm, saying “Don’t panic.” It was an immediate relief to me, it’s like I suddenly felt the calming force of his words working on me, and I smiled. And he ended the email with “You’re on a ball, LK.” Thank you so much for your faith in me, Gavin – It went really well, as you’ve predicted. Your words of encouragement and support really kept me going on. You just knew I could do it, you knew I was doing all I could and you knew it’d be enough. It means a lot to me. I couldn’t have done it without you. 🙂

And last but obviously not least, Kevin. 🙂 Guess I’m definitely biased here, haha. Kevin helped me in more ways than one: the obvious would be that as the IT director, he made the amazing website that I was so happy to send to everyone and share everywhere. And the second implicit one, was that he was always there for me. I would rant to him plenty, tell him all my problems and everything that’s happening. Kevin would be one of the first to know. And obviously as my boyfriend (with not many words to spare) he’d just listen, give opinions when it was due, and comfort me when I needed it. Huge moral support from Kevin; I really appreciate it. 🙂

It’s been a long day, it’s been a huge event, and it’s been a great semester and a half of preparation. It’s over now, I will go to sleep, I even intend to go for all classes tomorrow and try to do some of my tutorials! (because I’m a goody two shoes, aren’t I? :P) And now that conference is over, it’s time to move on. Wonder what’s the next big challenge I’m gonna tackle next? 😛

Cheers!

After a loooooooong hiatus, I’m back again haha 😀

It’s been a busy first half of the semester, but as usual, the busier I am the more energetic I get (according to my mom, but it’s true heh). I predicted right in high school – I’d end up being a workaholic haha. But it’s been a fun first half. I feel like I’ve achieved so much more than I’ve had in third year, and I like that. I feel that I’m a much better person now, and I like that too. Also the only reason I’m blogging today, although I felt like blogging a long time ago, is that my 10am tutorial’s lecturer had a sore throat (get well soon Andrew!) and class is cancelled, and today I woke up abnormally early (I set my alarm for 9am but woke up at 7.50 @.@) so I suddenly have extra time to lounge around haha.

So fourth year has been treating me pretty well! 😀 I guess I have the time to elaborate bit by bit. Dear readers beware: this is going to be a long post lol. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Firstly, as the silly workaholic I am, I took the hardest possible combination of subjects. Taking FRM (a Masters level subject that people said last year’s average mark was 50), Pensions (a heavily writing/reading subject that people say “If you want to get first class don’t take pensions”), CTF (a continuation of the two hardest subjects in 3rd year: Stochastic and Derivatives, but I’m only doing it cause I have to heh), and Econs (cause I have to, but this is the easiest la so yay, also I’ve never done econs before my whole life). But I can say, although my subjects are difficult, they have been pretty interesting. Okay I’m only referring to FRM and Pensions when I say that, I shall not elaborate more. :X But one thing I need to admit, is that all our lecturers this year have been really good compared to previous years, even if they’ve taught me different subject before. So I’m really grateful for that. Essentially it’s been a tough ride, but at least the people guiding me are good. 🙂

Secondly, I really like my new place! :3 My room is probably the biggest I’ve ever had to myself, and I have a sky window (if that’s what it’s called)! It’s great! Every night I go to sleep, I can see the night sky. So far there’s not been much to see but darkness XD but yesterday night I watched the clouds move, and that was cool. And every morning I wake up to the morning sky, blue sometimes, grey some others, but I guess that’s Edinburgh for you. Also if I look out the window (not lying down, just looking straight), I can see the roofs of houses far into the distance and it’s actually a pretty good view. The other day there were fireworks; I could see them from here too. It’s great! The best part of my place is the lighting. Gosh the place is SO bright. I love it. I’m so happy I got this place. 😀

Of course a mention about my new place won’t be complete without talking about my flatmates! 😀 I’m still staying with Angie, and we also have a temporary hobo flatmate Shaun haha. He’s been struggling to find a place so he’s staying with us till he gets one. But man it’s been so fun. There’s no system in place (besides Angie’s recycling system heh) so basically we cook or clean whenever we feel like it. But we kind of take turns cooking, there’s like an unspoken system between us. If I come home early, I’ll cook, if Angie does, she will. If Shaun feels like making something fancy, he’ll cook. Essentially the best part about this system is that the person who comes home late gets food immediately. It’s a really great feeling. There’s so much love in this household! ❤ We spend so much time together nowadays. We go to uni together pretty much everyday, then we have dinner together, and after dinner we always have a time-wasting routine, where we just sit down and chat for at least an hour. Sometimes Shaun goes and gets his guitar and we sit around singing some more. Sometimes we get on our devices and stalk people on Facebook  check out stuff together, or play random games haha. It’s a really good bonding session. And Shaun has been making us a lot of fancy treats by hand, so we’ve all become fatter. Except Shaun cause he’s a stick and will never expand horizontally. Man I’m so grateful that I have them. It’s been a fun bunch of weeks. 🙂

And then there’s my other friends. I’ve made up with someone, somehow. There’s not been any formal apology from either party. I just saw that someone on the street, said hi, and we started chatting, and now it seems all is forgiven. But let bygones be bygones. Since we’ve made up, I’ve been hanging out more and more with my former group. It’s been great, I’ve missed them. 🙂 No elaborations required here, I guess, but it’s really been nice to spend time with these friends who were once my favourite group of people in uni. 😀

But then there’s my two closest friends too, Jag and Boon Ho. We have been spending so much time together. I take the exact same subjects as Boon Ho and only one different from Jag’s. And we’ve kind of been like a trio most of the time. I’ve made a random observation once: the Chinese direct entrant girls always hang out in threes. Then Boon Ho just pointed out that we too, hang out in a trio. XD Make what of it you will. Anyway, I’m just saying that I have so much fun hanging out with them, and they’re so supportive of me and my events. I did a Meet and Greet event earlier this year, and now I know they’ve attended and participated because of me. I’m really touched, I love how they care so much about me. 🙂 Also since I’ve been hanging out with them so much I realised I kind of picked up their way of speech hahaha. But now I know so much more inside jokes, and I love it. I love these guys la, wouldn’t trade them for the world. 🙂

It’s also been a great few weeks for me in terms of extra curricular activities. My HMS things have been going well; that Meet and Greet event I planned actually had zero negative feedback! It’s all literally positivity all round haha. And we’ve planned a couple other events and they’ve all been generally successful. Granted, I’ve had some internal issues happening, but I love most of my committee lah. I’ve never worked with a bunch of more enthusiastic and efficient people. I’ll miss working with them, it’s been a great term. :’) Yes I’m stepping down soon haha. I’ve been on the committee for 2 years now, I have no idea how empty I’d feel after I step down and stay on as a normal member. But ehhh it’s past my time. I’ve had a great ride, now I should give someone else a turn. But I’m so grateful for my committee members, and that all our events this sem went well.

SAS stuff has been going great too! 😀 I’m doing the conference this year, and I’m already far, far ahead in terms of planning. Got my date chosen, got my theme and topics decided, and in the process of booking venue and searching for speakers. I’m proud to say that Ben has been pretty pleased with my progress so far, and hopefully we’d get everything settled real early so I don’t have to fret when I get nearer to the event. Also my subcommittee is great! 😀 I’ve actually had the luxury of choice this time round, so I got to choose the people I thought were most suited to the job, and indeed they were. I feel like I’ve got a really strong team on my hands here. Together, we can make this next conference a bigger success than it’s ever been! 🙂 Hahaha so semangat now. So so grateful for how all these things turned out.

Basically, I think everything has been going on pretty darn well. There’s been so many new things to laugh about (like meeting being my hobby lol), so much new food to eat (Angie made something that tasted amazingly like fried glass noodles the other day! And Shaun made amazing tiramisu!), so many things to do (at least I’ve finally got job applications out of the way haha), so much more improvements to make (So I’ve started heading to the gym…) and so many more new memories to come! It’s going to be a really great final year, I just know it! 😀

Cheers, till next time! 🙂

This post will be written in Chinese, apologies to all my readers who can’t understand Chinese.

But The Boy Who Once Was would definitely understand what I’m going to say. If he reads it, that is.

我曾经认识一个男孩，

温柔，体贴的男孩，

当初我需要人陪伴，

他默默在我身边。

我认识的那个男孩，

爱家人，爱朋友，

当初和他相处的时候，

他总是微笑，快乐。

现在的那个男孩，

沉默，冷酷，多愁，

就为了一个不感恩的人，

放掉真正关心他的人。

我不明白那个男孩，

我的好朋友，我的知己，

竟为了她，放弃我们，

我们当初的友情算什么？

我希望你回来啊，男孩，

我会再默默地等待，

你永远是重要的朋友，

我希望你快点回来。

This poem (sort of lol, my Chinese is a little out of touch by now) is dedicated to you, to the boy who asked me to watch Anohana. Don’t be like the characters in the anime; remember what we once were. Don’t leave it until it’s too late to begin to regret. 

Please come back, my friend.

Good morning. I’ve just been awakened by a dear ninja friend of mine, cause he wanted to “ninja” me, as he put it. He just kind of didn’t expect me to be still sleeping. Silly boy. (Yes Shaun I’m talking about you.) Well I woke up with the mood to blog, as I was reminiscing of the past – or rather how I met my closest friends of all time. And I’ll be blogging it here, but without pointing out names. Let’s make this a guessing game, why don’t we, readers? 😛

Let’s start with the more recent ones.

Uni friends:

1) I first met him because: One day, a friend brought 2 mutual friends for dinner. One of these two friends were convinced to change to second year, and then he was in our class. We always walked back from dinners together, to classes together, and we did some online tests together as well. He’s, undoubtedly, my closest friend in uni. 🙂

2) I first met him because: He called me Ana. I was mad at him at first, but later it became a fun tease more than anything. I’d sit next to him in class just to “disturb his peace”, then we started talking plenty and even Skyped almost night. He’s my mirror, the person I see myself in.

3) I first met him because: He lives with (2) above. That’s how I heard about and met him, but it wasn’t until (2) and I had a massive fight due to what he and I did, that we’ve become close. Also, thanks to Dikir Barat, we spent quite a lot of time together, with a third close friend, and I had the fondest memories in that period of time. He’s not only my good friend, he’s definitely much more than that. 😉

4) I first met him because: He and I were freshers that met on Facebook before coming to uni. The first time we met in person was in a uni event, where he said he was waiting for someone named “LK” and I said “uh I’m LK!” haha. We spent a lot of time together during the first few days, part of a four-person group, and I really felt like I could trust him. We explored campus grounds together while having a good chat. I can still always talk to him and have plenty of fun.

5) I first met him because: He lives with someone I was quite close to at the time, aka my “boss”. Although I spent a bit of time at his place, I did not become close to him until one day, he asked my suggestion for presents to give to a friend. Apparently, I was the only one who took his question seriously. Then, we started talking more about things, and then joined Dikir Barat and became even closer. He is the third person in the trio of myself and (3).

6) I first met her because: We had a Chinese New Year event and after the event I was having fun playing the piano in the chaplaincy. She came in and saw me playing and asked if I could help her play during the mass that evening, and I agreed. I ended up helping her play in mass for quite a few weeks. We also sometimes play duets together. She’s fun and outgoing, and she’s the reason I’m staying where I’m staying now 😉

7) I first met him because: Same as (6), I first met him at the Chinese New Year event, when I was playing the piano. He was also playing the piano when I walked in on him, that’s how I met him. Time after time, that kind of became the place we met. I used to be intimidated by his piano playing skills, and then we became closer friends and I stopped being that intimidated. He’s graduated now, but I wrote him a song before he left, and I hope all the best for him. 🙂

College friends:

1) I first met him because: He’s in my class. He immediately stood out as a very smart, nerdy person the first time he went to the board and tackled a difficult Further Maths question. We always asked him for help but the way in which he spoke when he helped people was quite stuck up. He’s much better now, of course. Anyway we became close when Thinking Skills was merged with another class, and we’ve formed a sort of trio with another friend. I chat with him plenty, he’s easily my closest friend in college.

2) I first met him because: He’s also in my class. He was the very loud but fun and funny guy in the class, since the first day we’ve met. We went on a trip to Langkawi together, and there the Langkawi gang became close but eventually split. Amongst us, he and I are still close friends. We used to always sit together in class, although that started out as my own incentive (I had a crush on him once). Then eventually it just became habitual, and it was me, him, and another guy in a row.

3) I first met him because: Well okay most of these guys are going to be in my class, and he’s no different. He also stood out from the start for asking intelligent questions, but as time passed he started to say more and more nonsense that I somehow find really funny. I became close to him thanks to (2), and he’s the other guy that sits next to me in class. We’ve also planned an event together in a society. Now the four of us (1), (2), him and myself, are all in UK, and I’d be sure to look for them whenever I’m in London.

4) I first met her because: As mentioned in (1)’s paragraph, the Thinking Skills thing. She’s not from my class. On the first day of the merger of Thinking Skills classes, she came late – fashionably so. (1) and I were sitting on their side of the room just to try to mingle with them, and she was the only one who came to sit with us. We had so much fun talking and fooling around, and she mixes well with all my close friends in class too. I’m so glad I met her. 🙂

High school friends:

Man, high school. How do I even begin?

1) I first met him because: I joined band. He was in my section, and he was like my teacher and mentor to begin with: responsible, but not overly friendly. In the later years, since we’ve spent so much time together, I’ve come to think of him as pretty much everything: my friend, my brother, my teacher, my rival, my partner, my motivator… Just about everything really (except lover of course, that’ll be super weird). We’re close, always always close. 🙂

2) I first met her because: Well we were in primary school together really… Yeah since I’m going to say when I first met people I should go straight to the beginning haha, she’s just categorised here cause it’s when we became really close. In primary school we wrote a story together called Asoreo (don’t ask). Back then we were moderately close, not as close as now. Then in Form 3, we were in the same class, and we decided to sit together. Then the rest was history. 🙂 She’s my closest girlfriend in high school, and I still do miss her cause we’re miles apart now.

3) I first met him because: We were in the same class in Form 2. The girl sitting next to me constantly joked by calling him “daddy”, and I picked it up from her. It wasn’t until Form 3 that we became really close. The four of us: (2), (3), one more guy and myself, we were once an inseparable and impenetrable group. We had so much fun and talked about so many random things. But the last guy was in a different class the next year, while the three of us were together, so things have never been the same since.

4) I first met her because: Primary school days again. I joined my primary school band and joined the horn section because one of my good friends was there, and she was the other girl in the section. Eventually I spent more time with her than the other friend, because the other friend was like the band head or something (I really don’t remember lol) and she had to be in charge of other sections as well. So we had a lot of fun together, joking behind the other girl’s back, playing with stuff like rubber band contract (:P if you’re reading this you’d immediately know who I’m talking about, girl) and all sorts of other crazy and fun stuff. In high school, she was close to (2) and since I’m super close to (2) too (OMG I JUST SAID 2, 3 times in a row! How do you feel about that? :P) we became close, the crazy girls trio!

Ok lol the lack of sleep thanks to Shaun waking me up is getting to me. But here, let me just give a very quick one line summary for a couple more close friends (it’s not that you guys aren’t important to me, it’s just that I’m sleepy – Shaun’s fault. :P)

5) He was close friends with my ex but twins with me.

6) We were both prefect probationers and had same initials, and we had a chat on MSN where I told him my full name and he asked if I were a girl or a guy.

7) He was also a prefect probationer but a proper pain in the butt, but fun to talk to cause he was frank, and in the more recent years he became really fun to hang out with as well.

8) She was in my class in Form 2 but we weren’t close until she sat behind me in Form 3, and we were rivals throughout high school, and of course we were always good friends.

9) She was in my class in Forms 4 and 5, and I’m not too sure how we got close, but we did. 😀

There’s one more friend I want to write about. I’m not putting her in any category, because our friendship is timeless. I’ve known her for 11 years now and counting. (Well 11 years means obviously I met her in primary school.) But we’ve not started getting close until Standard 4. She’s my dear sister, my best friend who will be forever in my life, who I know I can count on and I know can count on me, a pure heart, a fun and laughy companion, dearest, Wen Di. 😀 Be proud girl, I’m only naming you here XD

Okay I’ll be signing off now, this has been a toll on my sleepy brain lol. Shaun, you owe me one.

Till next time! 😀

Yeah it’s been a really long time since my last post haha. But I’ve been wanting to dedicate a post to these people for a really long time, and so here it finally is. These 7 are people who’ve played a big role in my first year uni life, and they are: The Best Friend, The Brother, The Mirror, The Lover, The Boss, The Partner, and The Unexpected.

Yeah okay so cryptic right? Hahaha so here we go!

1) The Best Friend

So I’ve learned long ago not to pick any one person and claim that he/she is my best friend, because that would mean there are certain commitments and expectations of that friendship. But for this guy, that’s the closest term I’d possibly give him. This guy is none other than Jag of course. 🙂

Jag and I have been staying in the same hall for a year, and being in the same hall really does bond people. We’d tell each other plenty of stuff, share stories about our past and current, and we always cook together. Same hall mah, it’s so much easier to communicate and hang out, also it helps that we don’t have to leave the building. Edinburgh is a cold city, especially during winter! XD

I have had so many fond memories with Jag. I will always remember how we’d meet up at the hall lobby every morning to walk to classes or exams together, and sometimes we’d leave classes to go back to halls together also. I will always remember how we go to each other’s place to do work, taking a chair from the kitchen and then just finishing our AFM quizzes or discussing stats or whatever. I will always remember how, after I come back from swimming on Mondays, we’d take out our meehoon and tomyam cubes and whatever fishballs and fishcakes we bought from the Chinese supermarket, and make tomyam meehoon and savour it together. I will always remember the time Jag “saved my life”, when I suddenly fainted in my room and he came over and took care of me. I will always remember the times that either of us fell sick and the other would cook chicken soup for the sick one, and have dinner together, and say “If you need anything just call okay!”. I will always remember passing the other our hall keys before we go on holidays, just in case we needed stuff from each other’s kitchen. I will always remember giving him the Master ball Easter egg and the surprise in his voice when he saw it on his desk. And of course I will always remember how surprised he was when we successfully “ambushed” him and planned him a great birthday celebration. Jag, dear Jag. You are my closest friend in uni and you know it. 🙂 I will always cherish our friendship and I know it will last forever. Thank you for everything, Jag. No matter how many words I use, it will never be sufficient to express how much I appreciate this friendship. 🙂

2) The Brother

If I were ever meant to have an older brother, he’ll definitely be like this guy. He’s one guy that I’m very keen to introduce to my mom (but it’s not happened yet haha) because he’ll pretty much be a model son to her. He’s thoughtful, considerate, smart, filial, respectful, honest, kind, sweet, and probably one of the nicest guys ever: That’s Jason for you.

It started off long ago, he was the second Malaysian I’ve become friends with in uni. Jason was incredibly quiet back then, we once explored the campus grounds together and just had a long chat. Well more of me talking and him listening. He’s a really good listener. And in the months after that all of us found out that Jason cooks really well and of course he became our master chef. Jason’s also pretty impressive: he can play pool pretty well, and other games, and he has a lot of knowledge on a lot of stuff. All in all a great guy. 🙂 I remember fondly the times where we travelled together, him, me, Chee Yern and Chee Mun, going to York, Oxford and then London. Memorable times. 🙂 He even taught us how to play bridge, and those are some memories I’ll always remember. XD Also his birthday was the first birthday I planned in Edinburgh. Made him Maple Story poker cards, and I do hope that he still keeps them well. 🙂

There was a period of time where I became a bit distant from the group, and then when I came back, Jason was the first one to welcome me back with open arms. Okay so there wasn’t like a real ceremony or whatever but when I decided to come back, I went to have a nice long update talk with Jason. And surprise, surprise, he became so much more talkative after getting to know us better. But it’s great cause now conversation goes two ways. 🙂 Without a doubt, chatting to Jason is one of the most comfortable things to do ever. Thank you, Jason. For the memories and the friendship, and the fact that I can always count on you.

3) The Mirror

When you look in the mirror, what would you expect but your own reflection? 🙂 There is a guy in uni who I always claim to be me, except that we were brought up differently. We are very similar in many ways, but again our background was different. I always feel that if we were brought up the same way, we would act identical. Most people around me have heard of this person before, the ever allusive ninja, Shaun. 🙂

The reason I got to know Shaun was because of something that made me mad to begin with: He called me Ana by mistake. He thinks I look like an Ana, lol. From then on though, we started talking, then at some point we decided to trust each other and tell each other plenty of stuff. He became a very important person in my life because never before have I ever found someone so much like me. I never ever wanted to lose him, I never wanna lose a friend like Shaun. But one day I sorta did.

He was whatsapping with his housemates and then I “hijacked” his phone. I framed him la basically. That would’ve been fine if it stayed among his housemates, but one of his housemates Kevin took a screenshot of that and posted it on Facebook. Shaun got mighty mad and decided not to trust me again. We had a huge fight for quite a while, and it was a very, very depressing time for me. Shaun meant a lot to me. But that incident was months ago. I just met him again recently and apparently we’re cool now. 🙂 I’ve been given a second chance, and if all goes as planned, I’ll get my mirror back. Lesson learned, life goes on.

Less depressing matters aside, I have had so many fond memories with Shaun as well. There was the time where I suddenly had a massive toothache attack, and I had to look for an emergency dentist. Shaun was the one who teman-ed me to the hospital to fix the tooth. There was the time where I wanted to go to the Christmas market and had nobody to go with, and I asked Shaun and he came with me. 🙂 There was the time where I decided to randomly go over to his house just because I felt like it, and he was kinda mad at me because he was tired and I was inconsiderate, so we ended up meeting at Asda and lepak-ing there for about an hour. There was the time after our first exam, where, when most of my other friends went out clubbing and stuff, I went to Shaun’s place to have dinner and chat, and it was a lot of fun. 🙂 There was the time where I went on a year end trip with Jason, Chee Yern and Chee Mun, and I texted Shaun throughout the entire trip, and he was always there for me. 🙂 There was the time where, preparing for the year end exam, he’d go to the Piece almost every night and I’d go there just to keep him company and study with him. 🙂 Also don’t forget the many, many times we sang and played music together, Skyped night after night, talked about random things and laughed like madmen, sat together in class and scribbled random funny things all over my notes, and sat together with a tub of ice-cream and slowly finished the entire tub…

Dear Shaun, I’m so glad that I’ve met you. 🙂 Thank you, thank you for everything: the memories, the lesson, the jokes, the laughter, and of course, the chance. 🙂 Thank you Shaun!

4) The Lover

Well yes so here’s the thing. I broke up with the guy I was dating. Not gonna dwell on that, this post isn’t for him haha. But I’ll just say that it was a peaceful breakup and we’re still close friends who chat plenty, and for that I’m grateful. 🙂 We’ve both moved on, and in my case, I’m dating a guy from uni. We’ve really become close after the most depressing incident in my uni life so far: that huge argument with Shaun. Yep, so here you go: I’m dating Shaun’s housemate Kevin.

He’s thoughtful, funny, geeky, smart, kind, caring, supportive, optimistic, and most importantly, he’s always there for me. 🙂 (Also he can cook really well–BONUS!) I’m really glad that this all happened, and I’m hoping that this relationship would last till the end.

Heh so yes he’s my boyfriend but I ain’t gonna elaborate too much on Kevin. You need no elaboration, boy. 😉 Hahaha and also boyfriend mah very personal, I’m not gonna elaborate so much on such a public platform. Basically he’s a great guy that I’m very proud of and I am so keen on showing him off to all my friends and family. Kevin, thank you for being in my life, for turning it upside down, for dragging me out of my pit of emoness due to that huge fight with Shaun, for showing me awesome foods XP and teaching me how to cook, and also for being supportive to me, now and always.

5) The Boss

Hahaha take a guess who I’m talking about, people! XD I have a uni friend who, when everything started out, people said that he liked me. I always thought he treated me like an elder sister, and I’ve always had a hunch that we started becoming closer just cause I started uni with short hair lol. So it’ll come to no surprise that I’m talking about Victor.

I first met Victor after climbing Arthur Seat with Adrian. Then after that he was one of those who went to Alton Towers and our friendship started there. Victor is kind, straightforward, and overall really fun to hang out with. 🙂 He has his own modus operandi that he follows and that makes him a truly special individual.

And then the PA thing started.

At some point he started calling me his PA. I did some random tasks for him, among them being his assistant photographer (taking the flash and other gears for him, taking photos for him if he needs it), helping him wash up after dinner, “talking cock” with him, helping him draw graphs on Excel, etc. He also had a habit of knocking on my window to “summon” me. The most random thing that ever happened to me, relating to Victor, was him knocking on my window and giving me a bunch of figures, asking me to calculate the most optimum number of days to rent a car and prepare a spreadsheet for him. The amusing thing is, I did it. 😛 He’d cook or buy me meals or ice-cream from time to time as my PA fee.

Haha Victor is a really funny and unique guy, I’ll really miss him now that he’s graduated. I’ve written him a resignation letter for his graduation. XD But I have to say Victor, my dear ex-boss, thank you so much for being in my life. You were an inspiration and a guide, and you made my uni life so much more colourful. Wishing you all the best in your future endeavours and continue being the fun guy you are. 🙂

6) The Partner

When I say the partner, I’m referring to the partner in crime. 😛 Okay just kidding haha not crime, but music. From time to time, I’d go to the chaplaincy in uni to play the piano or the flute. And there’d be this particular 36-year-old PhD student who seems to always be around. We’d play music together or he’d just request that I play two songs for him: “All of Me” and “Croatian Rhapsody”. Yep yep, I’m talking about Ivan. 🙂

When it all started out, I was in awe of Ivan’s piano skills. Well I still am, haha, I still think he’s a great pianist. But I wasn’t close to him at first. Then eventually we started playing music together and it was really a lot of fun. There was one fine day, he ajak-ed me to have ice-cream with him at the chaplaincy. So he bought a big tub of ice-cream, and we went to the chaplaincy together and sat at the piano and talked over ice-cream. This was about 10pm. XD And that was one of the most memorable moments I had with Ivan. I remember when it started out, I was so surprised that he was 36. I mean come on, his age was nearer to my mom’s than it was to mine! He was twice my sister’s age and 3 times my brother’s! And he was in uni with me and I was playing duets with him! It all just seemed so… Impossible at the time haha.

Then we’ve become close friends, and I’m sad to report that he’s leaving our uni this summer. He’ll be coming back to Malaysia before I go back to UK I think. I mean it’s good for him, he hasn’t been home for 3 years I think. But I know, just like the case with Victor, it will never be the same again. I will have lost my piano buddy, and everytime I play at the chaplaincy I will definitely think of him. I’ve written him a song as a farewell gift, a song that I will possibly post on this blog at some point. The title of the song, is “Dear Ivan”. And I shall conclude his paragraph this way too.

Dear Ivan, thank you for the music (heh). Thank you for the good times, the jokes and the dueting. I will definitely visit you in Melaka/Cyberjaya depending on where you’d be at the time haha. Then, we shall play music again. 🙂

7) The Unexpected

Yeah so I’m saving the best for last eh. 😛 The unexpected. To begin with, I felt awkward when I was around him, and I didn’t expect to be close to him because of my background, how my surroundings made me discriminate. But that aside, I’ve met Fadhli, and I’m really grateful for it. 🙂

Fadhli is my closest Malay friend. He’s Victor’s housemate, and the first few times I went to Victor’s house, I felt a little awkward in his presence. Then one day he asked me for present advice, like what should he buy for this friend of his, and I gave it some serious thoughts and gave him some serious advice. And apparently I was the only person to take him seriously in that regard. Then we had a good chat about some serious topics and I was quite impressed by how mature and open-minded he is. (But if he’s reading this, he’d probably also respond in a very perasan way xD)

Then Dikir Barat happened. To my surprise, it was a really fun experience, and I enjoyed singing and stuff with Fadhli and the rest of the team. Kevin was in the team also. And then Fadhli started making MMCS videos (which are pretty amusing btw, if you’ve got nothing better to do then search for them videos on Youtube, I do recommend them) and by grammar nazi-ing his videos, Kevin and I started becoming close to Fadhli. We eventually became a trio and had so many internal jokes and things like that. We spent so much time together, and personally those were some of the happiest and most carefree days of my life. Really, the only sad thing about the time we’ve spent together, was the inevitable “running out of time”. These days would never come again, because Fadhli, too, have graduated. And I made him a graduation present that I’m truly proud of, it made the guy roar with laughter until there were tears. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. 😀

Fadhli, I very sincerely thank you. 🙂 You have opened my eyes and mind to things I have never thought of before, and I’ve become more accepting and have more understanding towards your religion, not to mention I’ve had so much fun with you that I’m really sad that we’ll always be apart (Wah so drama right XD). But hey, keep in touch, and we’ll chat about random stuff over the internet again 😀

Alright so this was a pretty long post. And I’ve spent so long typing it that I’m now quite sleepy, so sleepy that I’m lazy to proofread, so please forgive all grammatical errors and rants and stuff haha. Either way, dear readers, thank you for bearing with me, and I do hope that these 7 people will read this post and accept my gratitude towards them. 🙂 THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!!

Cheers, LK signing out. XD

I’m sorry.

I have to admit, it’s been a long time since I have close girl friends who aren’t like me. By “like me” I mean tough-ish, a little guy-ish, not easily offended, nice and crazy. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to have close girl friends who are typical girls. I’ve forgotten how to interact with them, and how they think and stuff like that.

So I’m really sorry I offended you.

I don’t want to say your name out here, ’cause I know you don’t want to bring things to a public scale (you were always very private anyways) but I want you to know, that you have a place in my heart, and I don’t want to throw our friendship away because of such a small matter.

I have to admit, we differ in our thoughts and actions a LOT. We have different points of view about what friends should do, and we talk differently… I’m painfully blunt. I guess I gotta’ learn to be more subtle.

Again, I’m sorry, and I hope you can forgive me. Let’s put this behind, and I’ll try to be a better girl friend again.

To the rest of the world, cheers! 😀 Do have a good week ahead.

Yes this is a relatively short post. But I just wanted to use it to apologize to her, a friend who I’m not really THAT close to yet, but I hope I will be someday.

It would be nice to have a close girl (typical girl-type) friend again.