The year two thousand and seven anno domini.

Since today's the last day of the year two thousand and seven anno domini, I'm racking my brains for something to write about because after all, this is the last day of the year two thousand and seven anno domini. 

........*moment of silence...crickets chirping*.....

Okay, that was one sentence that did not make any sense whatsoever.

Later tonight, people all over the world will gather, eat like pigs, get drunk, and finally blow up their faces with fireworks as they go against their kindergarten teachers by counting backwards until their respective clocks strike midnight, symbolising the start of another wacky year. 

I, of course, will be somewhere in the vicinity of slumberland as the rest of the folk in Brunei celebrate the start of the year two thousand and eight anno domini. Urm... I should stop doing that. AD 2008 then.

Things to look forward to in 2008:

- Chinese New Year. (Feb 7)

- The start of the Formula One 2008 Season. (March 16)

- The 2008 Summer Olympics. (August 8 - August 24)

- The date 08-08-08. *Look up*

- After PMB holidays.

- The date 06-07-08.

- The date 10-09-08.

Leading to 2008.

I'm dreading the start of school. It's not the work that's bothering me, it's just that I'll be missing all that extra sleep I get during the holidays. I hardly sleep in the afternoons (except during bus rides) and surplus snooze time is, for me, extremely rare. In fact, it's so endangered, I believe it'll soon be listed under 'X' for "extinct".

When school re-opens, I predict the usual chaos of timetable-issuing (in which the timetables aren't even printed yet. Happened this year and we got ourselves scolded by teachers who so "assumed" we had them already), new teachers (who we shall, sadly, judge before we get to know them well) and in addition, the constant complaining of having to climb three floors up with heavy bags weighing our shoulders down.

The form ones (in which my dear friend Cassandra will be part of) and pre-Us will get to start next year's education a day later, on the third of January. An extra day of sloth is better than nothing. I bet the teachers are all quailing from the fact that they, too, will have to begin working. And we're not going to make it an easy year for them either. Muahaha. 

I wonder why we're all so mean. If we could just put aside all that fun and games (*sniffle*) and do what we were asked to do and hand it in on time, we could save a lot of trouble for the teachers and ourselves. Think of it. I have.

And through my thinking, I have concluded that even though my last-minute homework may give me very tense moments and end up a big mess, they're still passable. So, I shall continue to do so until matters in the future speak otherwise. 

In contrast to my previous conclusion, this will not (I hope) apply to PMB. 

Have you noticed, as the school term approaches, I tend to write more with the content a tad more interesting? (And that I used a lot of brackets in this post?)

The smell of the hairdresser's.

Meh. My hair smells funny. Yes, I did go to the hairdresser's today. Went for some rebonding. Straight hair. A change from that wavy mess I used to have.

It took me ages to actually make the decision to step into that fateful hairdresser's salon. My mother, on the other hand, had been bugging me to go and straighten my hair for ages.

Enough of the hair talk for now. 

Today, class, the topic we are going to study is decision-making. Riiiight. I sound too much like my history teacher right now. Must....stop...mimicking! 

Decision-making. I always get torn, and I hate it. I can never seem to make decisions on the spot, like those people do in movies. There's always another opinion to everything, that's the problem. Once I choose one way, a little something nags at me and tells me I'm wrong. Also, to add to the dilemma, I tend to argue with myself in my head. 'Causes major headaches, I tell you.

Hold on, I need to restart my computer..... Some little issues. Short post, this one. As short as the time we have 'till 2008 and school re-opens. Ciao.

When do I talk to myself?

- I tend to give myself advice or remind myself to (or not to) do certain things in public places.

- When I read the newspaper. (There's just so much to critique!)

- When I take long walks by myself.

- When I'm trying to think.

- When I'm "emo-ing".

- When I can't make out those jumbled music notes.

- When I'm annoyed, I swear under my breath repeatedly. (I omit necessary syllables, obviously)

- When I'm simming. I go, "No, you stupid sim, why can't you walk around it? Around it!"

- When I study. I mutter fast and exasperatedly. 

- When I watch Formula 1.

- Before I sleep.

You know, talking to yourself isn't such a bad thing... I think. Sure, it may be linked to a series of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and the like but come on, it was originally connected to problem solving and the use of the mind. So in general, and in my opinion, of course, people who don't talk to themselves are not connected with their inner selves and cannot solve problems on their own. You must know yourself, both inside and out. 

Though much of myself remains much of a mystery to me; I'm a very strange person as I know it. Even my dad believes that one day I'll have to seek medical attention.

My holiday starts here; I need sleep.

Hey, guess what? My feet hurt. XD

I wonder why my brother attracts so many ladies. They all come up to him to smile, wave, or touch him. Like there was this little girl in the elevator, my bro was in his pushchair, she was standing next to it, and she was touching his hand. I find it a bit disturbing.

He wouldn't stop talking in the plane on the way to KL and on the way back. For two hours before we boarded the plane, he was like this, "Daddy, *translated from Hokkien* I want to go on an 'aeloplane'!(he can't say 'R' right yet) Daddy, what's the aeloplane doing? Daddy, look at the aeloplane! Daddy! Look!"

I swear my dad was tearing his hair out by the time we got in the plane. What made it worse, was that by the end of the flight where still wouldn't shut up, he started singing. Yes, people, singing. 

Then before we touched down in KLIA, he just had to shout out some random stuff, like "Whee~~! Ultraman!" I don't get that. Honestly.

And before our flight back, he was singing his own version of 'Jingle Bells' in the airport terminal. 

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the AEROPLANE!!!"

Argh. Argh. ARGH. 

Merry Christmas everybody. Merry belated Christmas. 

It's dot com!

I'm leaving for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow... Not looking forward to being trapped in an aeroplane for two hours with my brother. He never stops talking. O.o

If the hotel I'm staying in doesn't have wi-fi, I won't be blogging for a few days. But don't worry, I'll save drafts in my phone.
I'll also miss visiting a few sites on the internet, like The Sims 2 story exchange, Friendster, and homestarrunner.com.

Homestarrunner.com simply rocks. I love it so much, it's my ring tone. I'm serious! My message alert tone, to be more precise. Every time I receive a text message and my phone alerts me to that, I get strange looks from people. It's like they've never heard Homestar say "Homestarrunner dot net. It's dot com!" before. Hmph. XD

I was talking to my cousin Cindy this morning before lunch. She told me she (and the rest of her batch) won't be sitting for PSR or PMB. I'm so jealous. Envious of the fact that we (my batch) slaved for PSR and am going to for PMB next year and all they have cram for is their O-levels. 

There's a song I like, it's called Billy Brown, by Mika. It speaks of a man called Billy Brown who fell in love with a guy. The first two verses are awfully funny to me. Haha. Okay, enough of gay people (for now. It's a bad habit, you know). Though there is this James Blunt parody on YouTube...

What if Legolas and Aragorn were gay?

You know those times when you have trouble deciding what to do and end up bored because you refuse to do anything in the end? Well I'm having one of them. Should I sim, or go onto the exchange and read a story? Or perhaps watch a few videos depicting Aragorn and Legolas slash on YouTube? How about practicing my guitar playing? Maybe I should just turn on the radio?
I can't decide. That's why I'm here. To bide my time.

Ashley's grandmother came by yesterday. No, she didn't drive herself all the way; she hitched a ride with my grand-uncle (my grandmother's brother) who happens to live next door. Our families go a long way, actually. My great-grandmother had been friends with Ash's grandmother for around fifty years, give or take a few. More likely give.
Ash's mum used to run over to my dad's house to play with him (he was a cute cuddly baby then and they lived in the same row of flats or something). Then when they grew up and got married, Ashley's grandmother moved into the house right next to where my great-grandmother lives with my grand-uncle and family. Later on, I met Ash in kindergarten and we became best of friends. Fate, no?

I would like to announce a discovery: The Ugothlacy Volume 14 is out! And I'm off to read it.

Puppies!

I've been hard at work lately, and my industriousness has resulted in three puppies. Sim puppies. These little things are so cute!

The puppy on the left is Biscuit, being eaten ali- I meant, nuzzled by his mum, Caramel. Biscuit is the only male puppy I've got right now.

 

 

This one's a female. Somehow I came up with the name Toffee for her. She must be thinking, "Dude, I want your glasses!"

The dude's called Lex, but it doesn't matter 'cause he ain't cute enough. 

 And finally we have another female, Vanilla. Oh? So you've noticed I have a penchant for naming my sim dogs after food like I do for naming cities after nuts? Congratulations on being observant. XD

Unfinished Movie of the Year.

The Golden Compass. The movie. The ending. Seemed awfully unfinished. Yes, we all know a second part is coming out, but you can't leave it like that, with Lyra and Roger (who was supposed to die- oops, sorry. Just spoiled that for you. XD) and all those people suspended in mid-air. The daemons were good though, Pan was adorable. And so was the bear fighting scene. See? I can compliment if I want to. 

It's not my thing to watch movies based on books I've read. They all turn out so disappointing, somehow. I think one exception here was LOTR, I watched the movies first, then the books. But it was awesome anyway. I loved it. The soundtrack was good too.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a genius. Who else could create their own languages with dialects and everything, races, maps, entire civilizations and the like? Brilliant man.

May It Be -Enya

May it be an evening star 

Shines down upon you 

May it be when darkness falls 

Your heart will be true 

You walk a lonely road 

Oh! How far you are from home 

Mornie utúlië (darkness has come) 

Believe and you will find your way 

Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen) 

A promise lives within you now 

May it be the shadows call 

Will fly away 

May it be you journey on 

To light the day 

When the night is overcome 

You may rise to find the sun 

Mornie utúlië (darkness has come) 

Believe and you will find your way 

Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen) 

A promise lives within you now 

A promise lives within you now

The Warlords.

I watched The Warlords yesterday with my dad. He likes all those fighting movies.

It was a...highly disturbing movie. What with all the men crying, hugging, and just plain dying...
Basically the plot was that three guys became blood brothers, killed a lot of people, then eventually murdered each other over some woman.
In the end the youngest brother kills the woman while the eldest kills the second brother. Then the youngest kills the eldest brother. It's confusing, I know. For the first half of the movie I couldn't even tell who was who. The camera kept closing up on their faces; you couldn't even make out their features properly. Disgusting.

I'm watching The Golden Compass later with Naimah and Neko. Neko called me this morning and told me she dropped her phone in a public toilet bowl. Man, that's just gross.

And one rule I have to follow nowadays when at the cinema: No popcorn.

~*~*~

Occasion: Uncle John's birthday.
Place: His house.
Date: 15-12-2007. *real birthdate: 16-12
Time: 7 pm.
Events: Pictionary, eating barbecued food, watching television, babysitting.

The Pictionary was good, I can tell you that. Guys vs Girls. We won. XD Somehow we (all of us) managed to draw (and guess) Florence Nightingale, import, blend, grasp, skimmed milk and salute amongst other wack things.

Death by sore throat?

I've noticed I haven't been blogging daily recently. Due to several factors:-

1. I spent the last few days finishing off the Bartimaeus Trilogy books I got last month. I realised that I'm a big fan of trilogies, such as the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, His Dark Materials trilogy(the first book, the Golden Compass is in cinemas now), the Inheritance trilogy(Eragon, people) and such. Three is kind of like the perfect number for a series. Also, I'm addicted to books written in series. The problem is that I always have to have the whole set, which means spending lots of money. Trips to bookstores do not help.

2. My fever came back yesterday. Yes, I am sick again. My throat feels like I've accidentally swallowed needles or something.

3. It keeps raining heavily nowadays. You see, raining=risk of lightning=my modem exploding again=me getting electrocuted. So I can't come online. I don't want to die early.

Speaking of books, I've decided to list my favourite books of all time.

- Lemony Snicket's books. A Series Of Unfortunate Events and the like.

- LOTR! And The Hobbit. I've got The Children of Hurin, but I haven't read it yet.

- Eragon and Eldest.

- The Pure Dead series.

- So I've got a lot of favourite books. Guilty as charged.

Ash's off to Perth.

Yesterday... I had to wake up early. To catch that (purple) bus ride to the airport.

Okay, so that was partly true. I followed my mum to work so I could hitch a ride to the airport later in the morning to see Ashley off on her plane to Aussie. Perth. It's like everybody's going to Perth nowadays. What is it, the cheaper plane ticket prices? But not in this case. This one's called, migration.

So my best friend for I don't know how many (I've known her for nine) years is migrating to Australia, and what did I do? Nothing. Surprisingly I just stood and watched her hug all her other pals and as they struggled not to cry, I struggled not to shout out, "PDA!!!" (PDA is Public Display of Affection. I say it whenever Neko goes and hugs people). I got a hug too. How could I refuse? That was the last time I'd be seeing her. Unless she comes back in two years to do her passport and stuff.

I supposed it helped that I moved out of St. Andrew's two years ago, so we're not as close as before. Sharlyn kept reminding me, "You know, I cried when you left SAS. You should cry now."
No. Sorry, Shar. I don't cry. Not enough emotion in me.
Shar and I were also planning to smuggle ourselves into Australia by somehow distracting those security guards and leaping onto the luggage carousel. Actually, it was only her.

"Look, Yawen, all you need to do is get those kids to start acting sick and all that," Here she starts gesturing wildly towards the carousel. "Then, we jump onto that thing, find a big empty suitcase and poof, we're on our way to Australia."

"No, Shar," I shake my head disapprovingly. "You can't do that. We'd die of some cold-related disease on the plane."

"Aw...man! Why don't we just blow up the airport?"

"Ssh! You're not supposed to talk about bombing in airports! And no, we're not doing that."

By the way, My Chem is in Singapore today. My heart yearns to be there, to watch them play live... But alas, I cannot. It is so close, but yet so far. I was talking about them never coming to this part of the world earlier in the year.
Oh well, there's still next time.

In my pocket.

I found it. Heh. I found my pick.

After arriving at Mabel's (dad's cousin. Should I add the "auntie" out of respect?) house this morning, I attempted to look cool by jamming my hands in my pockets, where my right hand alerted me to the fact that something else was present in its pocket other than my phone. And guess what, it was right(being the right hand and all, you know, one of my stupid puns). I then pulled my pick out and said to my mum, "I found it!"
She looked very clueless.

So dad's cousin got married to a Muslim, by the name of...uh...I don't know, but his nickname's Pele. Quite a nice guy, so I wish the pair of them lots of luck for the future. Or something like that. Don't wanna sound real corny here.

Speaking of corny-ness, have you ever seen those wedding photo albums or wedding invitations? There's always some mushy message written somewhere in their vicinity. And the grammar is awful most of the time, too. I don't see why this practice is carried out anyway. Keep the mawkish sayings to yourselves, please.

I reminded my mum and other relatives to remind me, if I eventually get married, to not do that. You know one thing I dread is taking wedding photos? I'm not a big fan of being photographed. I'd much rather be the one behind the camera than in front of it.

My pick is missing.

Yo peeps, whattup? I'm back from my two day "busy-ness". Actually, I wasn't that busy. I just, well, didn't have the chance to come online. So the night my relatives arrived, which was, let me see, Tuesday night, the night of my last post, we went out to Escapade for dinner. Apparently it didn't help that my throat was beginning to plague me with a cough.

The day after th- I lost my pick. I can't find it. It's gone. Argh. It's GONE. I know it's somewhere in here, in the study, but where is it? Oh crud.
I cannot lose this pick. It's my last pick. Out of the three I had. Highlight, HAD. One was accidentally slid under the cupboard supporting the television in Neko's living room, one is also currently lost, though technically it's not under my possession anymore, so no, it wasn't me who lost it. I seriously don't want to lose this pick. You wanna know why? 'Cause...
...I'm lazy to go and buy more, this one has memories and a bit of sentimental value, and I'm a kind of attached to it. So there. I've admitted it. I'm attached to my pick. Laugh all you want, people, 'cause that's just the way it is.

To install, or not to install? That is(not) the question.

After two days of temperature taking, pill swallowing, not eating, and pretty much being ill, I'm back at my iMac, debating on whether I should install The Sims 2 or not. All my downloads, saved files, et cetera, are all in my other computer, and moving them over would be such a DRAG.
Speaking of file transfer, most of the music files in my iPods are corrupted. It just makes me want to say, "Profanities, profanities, expletives, more profanities, and perhaps just one more expletive."
I promise myself I'll find a way to fix that. *crosses fingers, hopes for a miracle* *thinks for a while* *hopes for a rainstorm. Sorry, brainstorm*

My dad's cousins(two of them, plus one boyfriend) are supposed to arrive today(maybe they have already arrived, I don't know) from Kuching for a four-day stay. Reason: to attend their cousin's wedding. This means I'll be missing training this Friday. Also, if I don't get better by tomorrow evening, I'll be missing that training session too.

So about Saturday, I'll continue that.

Wani kept repeating to us, "Come on, guys, let's take our last picture together."
My gosh. It was like we were never going to see each other again or something. It made me feel as if I was walking to my death as I approached the bus.

The prize for winning Sprint Maths; A cert, a file, and a pen, wrapped in pink wrapping paper. Brilliant.

Out of the three Martial Arts demonstrations, I believe Taekwondo was the coolest. Though during the slide presentation they misspelt Taekwondo as "Taekwando". But the English(pfft, screw them. Oops sorry) approved version, Tae Kwon Do.
The Karate one was...brutal. The Kendo, I'm sorry to say, was awful. Taekwondo did the aerobic version to some song, it was pretty cool, but embarrassing at the same time. Come on, people, aerobics? But hell they rocked. XD

Go, Brunei Taekwondo~!!

"Muiz looks so cute doing Kendo." -Wani

I can't believe she said that. Seriously. -.-"

I think I had an overdose of popcorn on Thursday, because my head aches, my throat itches, my nose is either blocked or running, my eyes can't focus and hurt whenever I move them, my fingers feel cold even when the aircon isn't on, I've got goosebumps on my arms, and my neck hurts. I think I'm coming down with something.

Which is bad. It's the start of the long awaited December school holidays! I can't be sick now... I don't even remember what I wanted to write here, and I assure you I had a lot. I don't know where to start though...

I'd like to start with the CCA prize presentations... My club, Japanese Club, won Best Academic Club of 2007. Sir Shamry, or Shamry Sensei went to get this really sweet trophy, so much "uncrappier" than mine.
Before that, the club representatives had gotten mixed up during the certificate giving. The Taekwondo people didn't go up, so it ended up with some Karate guy representing them, Muiz(from Kendo, tell you more about it later if I can survive that long) representing Karate, some guys represented the Girls' Fitness Club, Girls' Swimming, and Girl's something else, don't remember. So we laughed at them, I'm so sorry. But hey, it was funny.

Guess what, I can't survive that long. I'm signing out... Apologies.