Scratches on a scroll

Alright! Almost everything is done!

#I paid the required deposit to book my ass there in the University of Melbourne,
#I handed in the Yayasan loan application (only waiting for an approval *crosses fingers*),
#I renewed my passport (do not, I repeat, DO NOT get your picture taken there, at the staircase! Always bring your own passport size photos because they do not give a toot and will make you look fat in the photo!),
#I received my Confirmation of Enrollment,
#I booked my flight,
#I applied for my student visa (it's all online),
#I visited the dentist,
#I did my medical check-up and got X-rayed (this is the fourth time!),
#I got my eyes checked and a new pair of specs,

and today, I found out that my student visa application got approved! =D


I'm almost all set and ready to go to Melbourne and experience uni life and life overseas! Yeaaarh! All I need to do now is to pack my bags with only my favourite (stressed a lot by Ee Can and Ee Dol) clothing, file the important documents for me to bring over (I can forget about a number of certs I got in secondary school because they're not necessary, at all =/), and take a few more passport sized photos just in case (because a lot of things are much more expensive in Australia).

It's really such a blessing for me (stressed a hell lot by Mr Lee) to be able to go to university and further more, one which is overseas and is in a place where I have family (Ee Can, David, Justin and his girlfriend are there) that I can turn to in case of anything. Eventhough it's killer expensive to be there, everyone is trying to pull through by helping out a bit here and there and I am very very thankful for that. =)

I hope that after I graduate and get a job (with a big fat paycheck! Oowaaah!), I'll be able to bless everyone else in return and also help fund Nickki's education. =D

Posted by MisC^2 | 2 comments  

Labels: It's My Life

Cambridge A Levels was tough. It's almost like our SPM, whereby we had to study for two years and sit for the final exam at the end of Form Five, only, we have a minimum of three subjects to sit for. SPM has ten! So actually, STPM and A Levels are more alike but I would not know how to compare them. Would love to but I can't, I might get some wrong info. And if I did, I would definitely conclude that A Levels is tougher than STPM! But kiasu people who sat for STPM would fight back and say that it's vice versa. XP

I did not realise that there were two major exams to sit for in A Levels until after my college teachers explained it to me during our first week. The first exam tests our AS knowledge and the second, A2. Almost all A Levels subjects are split into two parts: the AS, where you learn all the basics of the subject (supposedly the easier part), and the A2, which is the advanced level of the subject (the killer!). In order for you to understand whatever it is you have to learn in the A2 syllabus, you would have to master the core (AS) or else die in the classroom and die in the exam room!

From what I heard, in the UK, A Levels is done in two years but for some reason, we in Malaysia have to complete it in a year and a half. It's probably so that those who have completed their SPM can take the programme in January and be in time for intakes to UK universities in August, after all, A Levels is a UK pre-U programme.

Anyway, remember what I got for AS last June?

Straight As, the perfect results.

Parents, most Malaysian ones, would expect their kids to achieve these kind of results and nothing less than that. It's a good thing my parents are fine with whatever I get but that does not mean that it gives me any reason to do badly or fail some subjects and shrug it off like it's no biggie.

So, yea. Remember how I complained so much about having not enough time to go through the A2 part of our subjects because we only had about three to four schooling months to cover them all before the major exam and that the periods in between papers were such a drag?



Honestly, I was aiming high, maybe a bit too high. I was hoping for three As (I knew I would not get an A for my Further Math) but getting a B for Economics and Physics is still pretty alright to me. But, D for Further Math eh? Hmmm... D... Not such a nice grade to look at. =/

I guess the B in Economics was more expected because my Paper 1 (MCQs) was a B and Paper 2 (essay), an A so that kind of leaves me a bit on the border line of a low A. As for Physics, I scored As in Papers 1 to 3 but maybe my overall grade that time was a low A and I have a feeling that my Paper 4 sucked pretty badly and pulled my grade down to a B because I knew that my Paper 5 would be alright cause the experiment questions were easy! XD

I really want to know what I got for each paper, only then am I truly satisfied! I need to know because I want to see whether my performance for each paper was what I expected and I need to know which freaking paper pulled my grade from an A to a B!! Grrr...

By the way, Further Math has no AS exam so whatever I did that time in my finals in October and November, gave me that big fat D. I just hope that it was the Pure Math side which I did better than the Applied Math. Eheh..

I am really thankful for my results though! 1A and 2Bs is good enough for me! =) I know that I can do better but I guess, maybe I won't shine this time around, because I'll be doing that in university! Hehehe..

Somehow, I got a place in the University of Melbourne with just my forecast results! I was offered a conditional offer because I had not sat for my IELTS but after I handed it in, I got the unconditional offer letter! Yay! I don't know what the teachers gave me for my forecast, or wrote in my testimonial (it's confidential they say) but I think whatever it is, I am meant to be there, and God intervened before my results were out so that I would be guaranteed a spot in the university! Who knows I might end up on some waiting list if I have not gotten the unconditional offer as they would tend to the straight A students first! XD

So now, my next big step after college: U-N-I-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y!!!

Posted by MisC^2 | 3 comments  

Labels: Exams, It's My Life

This notebook here is a Dell Inspiron 8200.

It's my first notebook and it was given to me by my uncle, Ahku, two years ago. It was originally his, so, my first is actually a hand-me-down, not a brand new notebook. (Some people thought that I got some fancy schmancy notebook and I had to explain to them that it's not so fantastic, it's just a dinosaur lappie!) Not that I really really mind, it's still in good condition, well, after we got it fixed because he somehow got tomato juice on it. XD

For two years, that old dinosaur served me well and provided me a little bit of entertainment when I was in Taylors. I usually blast my music, watch a bit of movies (from vcds only cuz it doesn't play dvd.. =/), stuff it with photos I snapped from my 7373 and well, that's pretty much what I use it for.. Of course, I do type my projects and school work on it when I'm in my room, sadly the battery sucks and I can't carry it around to the college library (I wouldn't want to anyway, it weighs nearly 4kg!!!) or bring it to Starbucks (don't get me wrong! I'm still not a fan of it, it's just that sometimes I crave to get out of the apartment!). So what I do is just leave it in my room on a stack of boxes and, tada, it serves me as a desktop.

As some of you know, I hardly want stuff which are not very necessary for me, especially those that come with a really pricey tag on it, but I could not help wanting a nicer notebook for myself. I kept looking out for affordable ones and took note of what I really need in a notebook. (This I had to ask some people for advice since I'm not regularly updated on techy stuff.)

But after thinking long and hard and considering the circumstances, I was prepared to accept the fact that that museum piece (as Ahku calls it) will be with me a while longer, and I actually did not care anymore about the weight, the bulkiness, the not-so-attractive design and even the shortage of memory space! It's actually quite alright as my notebook would not be the target of itchy hands and in case of emergencies, I can use it as a weapon and bash some baddy with it! =)

So to solve a bit of the problems, I sent it to our usual computer guy and got him to change a few things. Going to get an external hard drive, see if he can do something about it's speed, maybe get a dvd burner, then my dinosaur will be prepared for uni life!

Well that's what I thought.

I received a message from Ahku the next day which made me scream out loud and got me jumping up and down and doing mental somersaults (hehe..) that read:




From the moment I read that question, I knew where this was going. XD Oh my goodness! That was such a surprise!! Really!! I did not expect it at all! Wow! Wow! Wow! Now I'm really getting a fancy schmancy lappie which I might have to guard with my life! Haha! Ahku said that he doesn't want me to go to university with the other one so he's giving me a macbook as a university present! Eeeep! Thanks soooo much!

Oh but I wouldn't get to see it until I arrive at Melbourne because Ahku (he's in Singapore) will pass it to granny because she will be flying down to Perth for Ee Dol's birthday (on Australia day) and there she'll pass it to Ee Can who will then bring it to Melbourne to wait for it's new owner's arrival! Hehehehehehehe..

Oh by the way, it's confirmed, I'm not going to Monash in Sunway, I'll be flying to Melbourne. (^.^)

Posted by MisC^2 | 4 comments  

Labels: It's My Life

It's here! Woohoo!

We waited for nearly two weeks and were so worried that they forgot about our order or maybe someone stole it in the post (if that ever happens, we'll probably hunt the culprit down!) or maybe they did not have enough stock. =S Before we decided to order it, we were considering whether or not to fork out a bit of money to pamper ourselves with one of those but it will cost us about RM600. Fortunately, citibank is offering this item in exchange of a few thousand reward points!

Posted by MisC^2 | 2 comments  

Labels: Shorties

Dr. Anthony Tan is the type who is so fussy and concern about how his patients take care of their teeth, that he would actually take a few minutes of his time to lecture them about dental care and hygiene. That's good. I think our overall health can be affected by the condition of our teeth and mouth. You'll most likely get illnesses if you have bad dental problems from what I read.

The last time I went to the dentist was before I left for college, that's one and a half years ago. I would expect my teeth now to have loads of plague and maybe a bit of problems but this morning, the doc said that my teeth are alright. I have a bit of plague here and there and unfortunately, I have two holes in my crooked tooth at the front. They're very small and are located in between two teeth. Darn it! I thought I took good care of them. He then lectured me, telling me that I should floss my teeth every night and explained how I should brush my teeth. Eheh.

Mummy's appointment was after mine so I was forced to wait for her. Luckily I brought my book of unsolved crimes to keep me company! =D After reading a few gruesome ones, I stopped and I read some of the magazines on the table.

Actually, I did not mean for this post to be about my visit to the dentist. I wanted to share a line from an ad I found in one of the magazines. It goes like this:

Hahaha!

Kay. That's all folks! XD

Posted by MisC^2 | 0 comments  

Labels: Shorties

Mummy and I have been sleeping at 2am for the past few days. Lucky Nickki, she has school so she gets to go to bed early! Heh. Whoever said selling homemade cookies is such an easy job must have either never done it before or got someone else to do all the work.

I'm telling you, it's tiring and I'm getting muscle aches in my arms and back! I feel like some kind of machine chopping cookies one by one, picking cookies one by one, arranging them one by one, aaaaargh!!! I wonder how could my mum do such a thing when we were younger? Imagine her long hours in the kitchen mixing batches, rolling them out, chopping cookies, placing them on trays, baking them, waiting for them to cool and finally packing them. =S

I'm not saying there's no fun in making them, I'm complaining because there's soooo many cookies to make and based on our calculations, we have to push and get as many done as soon as possible. We forced ourselves to make several batches a day and the rolling and chopping is so time consuming until the last few trays only go in the oven at night. Grrr...

"Burn in the oven, you cookies! Ehehehehehe.."

Yesterday, Nickki and I were competing to see who "builds the stronger army of snowballs" and that's when she threatened my snowball soldiers to burn in hell the oven. Mummy heard us from the kitchen and she quickly replied, "Oi! Don't! I don't want any burnt cookies!" Haha! Anyway, it's obvious Nickki would win because she rolled more snowballs than me before so she has a hang of it. I was packing the other cookies and cutting some grease proof paper at the time. Eheh. XD

Posted by MisC^2 | 0 comments  

Labels: Shorties

I don't know whether taking up Mr. Lee's offer was a good idea or not. Eventhough it's just three and a half hours of my time from Mondays to Fridays this month, I think RM350 is not enough. Working from 6.00pm to 9.30pm is such an odd time but that's the peak hours of most tuition centres.

He said that he really needed my help but so far, the only things that I've been doing are issuing receipts and answering the telephone. I kind of like photostating but they do not do that anymore. They send it out to be done because the cost is very high. All they do now is bind the photostated notes and exercises.

There's three other people but we hardly talk to each other. The boy and girl (probably around my age) are very quiet and the older lady is, kinda ok. Oh and one thing, they all speak Mandarin. Not that I really bother about it but I guess I feel a bit uneasy, and lonely. =( [Note to self: Bring a book to read tomorrow!!] My ex-colleague (I worked with Mr. Lee for a few months before I did my A-Levels), Dorothy, does not work there anymore. double =( I do wonder why she left and how is she doing. She's such a nice lady and always looked out for me. =D

So, anyway, I feel that I should not have accepted his offer because I want to have my nights free so I can do anything I want since I'll be helping mummy with the cookies during the day. It's a good thing that it's only for a few hours a day or else I'll feel as if my time is wasted on something unnecessary. I really dislike wasting my time on unnecessary stuff.

Posted by MisC^2 | 0 comments  

Labels: It's My Life, Shorties

At the end of 2006, I said goodbye to my schooling years (11 years in the same school!), I started off my 2007 in a place which I will never ever want to go back to (they better not take me again, I've wasted precious time there!) and later entered college in July the same year (it's soooo different from school!), and had many blasts and "firsts" and awesome memories in 2008!

Here are some of the main highlights in 2008 (which I can remember now):

1. Family reunion during CNY! (yay! Happy! Happy!)
2. Flew on a plane alone for the first time at 18 years old (kind of late for that huh?)
3. Went to a real prom (college prom some more!) for the first time where everyone made an effort to dress well! XD (oh but I did not have a date.. *sobs*)
4. Ahku finally came down to see me (it's been more than a decade!)
5. Met Dr. M, in the flesh (what a surprise!!)
6. Had two doses of major exams in a year *shudders*
7. Scored As in all my AS subjects! (Praise the Lord!)
8. Kicked ass in IELTS without going for the workshop! Bwahahaha! (Actually, it's just a measly 8 out of 9 overall. I think my English is a bit polluted with all the lahs and bahs..)
9. Found two adorable angels =)
10. Found my kindred spirit, I think.. XD
11. Went on a few "wild goose chases" (that includes the Minex treasure hunt)

and, and loads more.

Yes, I'm not lying. There's more but I just can't remember them all now and it'll be so tedious to list them. Hey, my life ain't so boring you know! XP

So, a new year and another chapter of my life waiting to be unfurled before my eyes! I can't wait for the many changes that will take place and the challenges that I will be facing (and banging my head over) and the surprises that are in store for me! It's only been a few days into 2009 and some pretty neat stuff has already happened!

My probationary driver's license officially expired on the 2nd of January (Woohoo!) and I don't need a "P" on the car (I would not be a potential victim to reckless drivers on the road anymore, well, that is if I take down the "P" sticker though.. Nickki will be needing it up soon so it'll be a waste to take it down..) and I got a letter from Taylors telling me when my results will be out. Wait, that isn't good. =/

Ok, here's the neat stuff!

Bobby's daddy (my neighbour) surprised us with two really really big fishes yesterday! Actually we never talked to each other but I think our dogs did, so that kind of made the connection between us. Heh. You see, he, my neighbour, has a Golden Retriever (Cookie) and two Rottweilers (Bobby and Rocky) and I think they (the dogs) communicate with Bonaparte and Cleo once in a while. I'm sure those of you who keep dogs would kind of know how they exchange barks and woofs and howls. XD

So I think it's that connection which gave him a reason to give us two of the two hundred over deep sea fishes that he caught. Or it can also be that he is a really nice guy who's trying to be nice and friendly with his neighbour (he lives opposite us), or that he knows that keeping two hundred of them fishes all to himself is silly as he would not be able to finish them all before they rot.

Anyway, it was a surprise and really nice of him to do so. The fishes were nearly two feet long from it's mouth to the tip of the tail and I bet they weigh more than 5kg each! We have no idea what kind of fish it is but I'm sure it'll taste good! =) We (ok, it was Nickki..) actually took some pictures of it (we've never had a humongous fresh deep sea fish in our kitchen sink before!!) and I'm expecting her to put it up. XP

The other "pretty neat stuff" ain't that neat come to think of it. I managed to get two cartons of milk for free last Friday. Actually it started off with Nickki going in to the store, getting four cartons of milk. When she got to the counter, the cashier keyed in a different price and Nickki argued saying that it was not right because the price on the bag (it was a plastic bag with two cartons of milk) was RM5.05 and she punched in RM8.88. The cashier did not want to cancel it so Nickki paid, walked out and told me the situation.

I went out of the car a few minutes later, brought back two cartons of the four and this time, I complained on the expiry date instead of the price. It turns out that the milk was going to expire in a week and Nickki did not notice it earlier. I went to one of the cashiers and told them that I would like to return the milk which I just bought because the expiry date was too near. Then the lady called one of the supervisors.

I told the guy the same thing and somehow, the cashier lady and the supervisor was saying something in Mandarin and Hokkien. I could understand a bit and it turns out that the supervisor thought that the cashier keyed in the same thing twice. I don't know how they got to that but I just kept mum. I did not say anything about keying it twice, maybe someone before me had that problem with that cashier lady (I did not know which one Nickki went to anyway) and they thought I accused the cashier of double counting, I don't know. But anyway, the supervisor did his stuff and I got back RM17.75. Oh well, it's their mistake for not double checking with me. XD

So, I've been blessed with fresh fish and almost expired milk so far this year. Hmm.. Now, would you call that a blessing? I think I would. Teehee.

Anyway, to the new year: Challenge me! Surprise me! Tease me! Excite me! Confuse me! Bamboozle me! I'm ready for anything! Well, almost anything but.. you get the idea.

So, bring it on! ;)

Posted by MisC^2 | 0 comments  

Labels: Craziness, It's My Life