La la la ~
Another surprise on the way ~
I love the anticipation of a parcel/new gadget ~
The One About a New Gadget
The One About Keeping Track of Age
Okay… I was filling in my birthday in a form (long story) and it calculated my exact age. I am 22 years 6 months and 13 days old. Hmm… sounds better than 23 anyway 
The One About More HDR and Surviving a Month
Saturday night is probably the only night I can stay up late. Why not Friday night you say? Well, other than the fact that I am usually tired out after a day of teaching, I have to go to school for these 2 Saturdays (the previous and the upcoming). That means I have to work 6 days a week for these 2 weeks. And when I get back, I am tired. And sleep always comes first. After waking up, it’s Saturday night already. After dinner and a little walk around, it’s time to sleep and I wake up to greet Sunday again. Before you know it, it’s Sunday evening and time to prepare for teaching on Monday. You see, my weekend pretty much sucks anyway, not to mention the weekdays where I teach and get home all drained. Time is passing fast. The upcoming week will be my fourth week as a teacher. The first month, which I never imagined I would have survived. I thought I would quit within the first 2 weeks. I survived!
So what did I spend the last few hours doing?
I was fiddling with the photos I took in KK using the Photomatix Pro program to produce HDR photos from photos taken with different exposures.
Hmm… I’m not good at this. The photos came out looking like paintings by clowns. Let’s look at the better few. The first photo will be the original photo and the second will be the HDR photo.
Next…
And next.
These last three photos are the ones I had a lot of trouble processing. The first is the original photo and the other 2 is the processed ones. For the last one, I wanted to give it some eerie, mysterious look so I darkened it a little but overall, not too happy with both.
I prefer the first set of photos and the HDR result from the program. Stunning. Then again, HDR is very subjective. Some people will love it. Some will hate it since they say it’s not natural and is post processed. But then again, the photos we take cannot really signify the mood when we took it. It cannot entirely capture the spirit of the scenery. HDR may help in some cases.
Check out the pros. Loved the photos in the blog
The One About Sci & Math Back to BM
Ooh! Latest news from our beloved Cabinet. Science and Math reverting back to BM! Time to cheer? Hurray! Now I wonder who’s not gonna benefit from this new decision.
Hmm.. hopefully you can tell that I am oozing with sarcasm. We reverted from BM to English and now back to BM. How smart is that? It’s like we took a turn for the better and now we are heading backwards to where we started.
And ooh, they’re gonna have extra 90 minutes of English class in primary school every week! That’s gonna help. Plus the so called literature and grammar lessons. Huh…
For that, I am SO glad I am not teaching permanently. My BM has long gone down the drain since I didn’t think I’d need it anymore. Btw, in my time, SPM was still in BM. Then in F6, everything was english. Man, that was some transition. Almost died in F6. So freaking difficult. And uni’s in English too.
Doesn’t that make you wonder why they want Science and Math in English for primary and early secondary school? Oh don’t give them the idea to change F6 or uni. Haha…
Blardiness… Poor future generation. I am so glad my siblings are done/almost done with secondary school. But poor cousins are gonna suffer the outcomes of poor decisions. Till then ~
The One About “如果我变成回忆” by Tank
Recently I fell in love with this song “如果我变成回忆” by Tank. Roughly translated would be “If I become memories” (sounds weird). Anyway, I heard the song before but wasn’t specially attracted to it. I heard it again when I was very sick 2 weeks ago. I had a vague memory of hearing the song in my sleep/drowsiness and woke up thinking if it was a real song. And it was. Shows how sick I was back then.
Basically, I find the lyrics very touching. The singer of the song, Tank, is suffering from heart problems and he lost his sister to heart failure and he recently underwent a surgery for a pacemaker, just in case his heart decides to stop suddenly one day. The lyrics, as I said, was very touching. Written from his own view I suppose to his loved one. Verses like he’s scared his heartbeat might stop in his dreams, or that he can’t even control his heartbeats, or if he sudden passes on and becomes a memory, leaving behind his loved one crying besides his cold, lifeless body and that he can’t hug her anymore. Anyway, the lyric is really sad but touching but I love the song.
累了 照惯例努力清醒着
也照惯例想你了
好怕一放心睡了
心跳在梦中 不听话的 就停止了
听着 呼吸像浪潮摆动着
越美丽越让我忐忑
我还能珍惜什么
如果我连自己的脉搏 都难掌握
如果我变成回忆 退出了这场生命
留下你错愕哭泣
我冰冷身体 拥抱不了你
想到我让深爱的你人海孤独旅行
我会恨自己 如此狠心
如果我变成回忆 终于没那么幸运
没机会白着头发
蹒跚牵着你 槛门上搂紧
漫长时光总有一天你会伤心痊愈
若有人可以 让他陪你 我不怪你
快乐 什么时候会结束呢
哪一刻是最后一刻
想把你紧紧抱着
可知你是我生命中的 最舍不得
如果我变成回忆 退出了这场生命
留下你错愕哭泣
我冰冷身体 拥抱不了你
想到我让深爱的你人海孤独旅行
我会恨自己 如此狠心
如果我变成回忆 终于没那么幸运
没机会白着头发
蹒跚牵着你 槛门上搂紧
漫长时光总有一天你会伤心痊愈
若有人可以 让他陪你
如果我变成回忆 最怕我太不通气
顽固的赖在空气 霸占你心里 每一寸空隙
要让依然爱我的你痛苦承受失去
这样不公平 请你尽力 把我忘记
The One About Random Pics
I like this Honeydew Sago with raisins. Makes it sweeter and lovelier
The moon on 4th July 2009 at about 7 pm. The sky wasn’t actually dark yet but somehow it’s dark in the pictures. 
Silhouette of leafless tree in the neighbourhood as seen from my front door at sunrise. That was the night that I couldn’t sleep I think. Stayed up till morning 
Elmo! Hanging from my sling bag presently.
The One About Surviving Second Week
And unknowingly, I survived the second week as well. I guess I am slowly adapting to the teaching environment. And days passed by very quickly. Brother came and left. My bestest best friend is back for only about 4 days and leaving again tomorrow and I only had one chance to met up. Oh well.. I survived 6 years of her being apart that I guess another year till she grads and comes home is a piece of cake.
There are a couple of friends who are working REALLY hard nowadays. They have multiple part time jobs; tuitions, sales, etc and are busy almost everyday of the week. That’s just plain scary. I don’t see why they are working so hard. I mean, their family is not waiting for their financial support or anything. And yet, they are filling up their free time with more and more jobs. They tried to the temporary teaching posts like mine but unfortunately, were not chosen (unlike me who didn’t even want to apply for it and got it ironically). I feel bad. I have a job that they want so much and yet couldn’t get it.
At the same time, they are too busy to keep in touch. I would usually sms them but replies would be short and few. I am convinced that we will become strangers not too long in the future if this goes on and I give up the initiative to keep in contact. Sad life.
The One About Surviving the Week and Remembering Last Sunday
And so a week is over. Can hardly believe I survived the week. Can hardly believe it’s been almost a week since I got back from KK. Two very different views on time.
Firstly, teaching. I didn’t think I’ll survive the week because I couldn’t stand the first day. Then I guess I got the hang of it after I stopped caring so much. And shouted at the students, microphone or not. And the teachers gave me tips to control them. Will try them next week and see what happens.
As for KK. I really missed those days with friends in KK. I feel so alone now. As in we were almost together 24/7 in KK. Now that I’ve started work, there’s hardly anyone to talk to in school except for official business.
I guess the series of events last Sunday made me really tired and falling sick on Monday doesn’t help.
Let’s start from the beginning again. From the day I was due to leave KK. I was told to come back prematurely from my trip because I had to report to the school on Monday to secure my job. So my brother booked a ticket on MAS for Sunday evening. I got to the airport early and decided to check in. My name wasn’t in the flight list. Uh-oh…
Went to the ticketing office. After a loooonnnggggg time, they concluded that the payment we made online failed. So, they being so nice "allowed" me to buy the ticket with the "promotional" price of RM 201 (usually only available online mind you) with cash on the spot. Wanting to save time, I borrowed the money from my friend first, thinking I can go the atm machine later and return it.
Paid for the tickets, went back upstairs, went looking for the nearest atm machine. Found a Maybank one and pushed in my atm card. Waiting for it to work the wonders. Then it said my card got detained by the machine. I went blink blink at the machine. And $#*#^&@#%&@# in disbelief. Was in shock.
Fine. Stupid machine. Friends had to rush off because the driver needed to pick up other people. Not the farewell I imagined. Then again, the series of event was never in my imagination.
With a bag of fries from my friend and my hand luggage, I walked around, snapping a few pictures.
Within minutes, I got bored. I went into the departure waiting hall. And snapped more pictures. Bored what… what do you expect me to do?
You can see the sunset from the departure hall. And the runway is right over the sea. So you can literally see sunset on the sea (duh) from where I was sitting.
Anyway, I thought I can reach home in one and a half hour and finally rest. NoOoOooo… You didn’t think that my day was gonna end that peacefully?
Right. I looked at the plane. I’m taking the little MasWing plane. Yes. The small one. Albeit not the smallest one but definitely far from the usual MAS plane we take.
That’s all you say? Obviously not.
I didn’t realise my flight is gonna transit at Sibu until the pilot announced that we are going to reach Sibu in one and a half hours. And I went @$%*@#$%*@ yet again. I HATE FLYING! now I’m going to be flying for a few more hours than expected!!! crappiness!
Surprisingly, the motion sickness pill worked very well. I was VERY SLEEPY for the first part of the flight and didn’t feel a thing. Then we landed at Sibu. First impression. Kuching airport before renovation about 15 years ago, except smaller. Nevermind about that.
I had to get off the plane. Go through immigration, had my temperature taken, filled forms, climb to the second floor, go through immigration again, go down again, go back in the plane. What a waste of time!
The flight to Kuching took 40 minutes. A little bumpy but I was too tired to care. Was all cranky and ready to kill the next person who offends me. Strangely though, there was no temperature checks in Kuching. Maybe that’s how the H1N1 cases got through.
Ugh.. I feel tired just refreshing these memories. I reached home about 10 plus after supper (not that I can eat much). Slept like a log and went to teach the next day.
So basically, I had a pretty screwed up Sunday afternoon and night. Morning was okay but felt down since I was coming home. La di da ~
The One About the KK Trip
Okay… I am uploading the photos I took in KK on Facebook. Will upload them here gradually if I have the time. But while I still remember, let me jot down my daily activities in KK.
16th June: Left Kuching at about 10.30 pm.
17th June: Reached KK about 12 am and hotel about 12.30 am. Wanted to go to the islands but weather wasn’t good so we shopped on the way back (and yes we walked there since some people said it’s actually quite near. nearly killed my feet.) Went to 1Borneo in the evening and it’s huge! Huger than Midvalley or what little I remember of it. (I pretty much think that we covered most of KK in just one day.)
18th June: Took an early boat to Manukan Island at about 9 am. Took about 20 minutes or less to reach. Lovely place. Went back at 2 pm being a shade darker. Slept till evening. Went to the pasar malam and gawked at the ciplak sunglasses, bags, jewelleries, etc and rested the rest of the night.
19th June: Spent time at Warisan Square while waiting for free shuttle to 1Borneo (didn’t cover a quarter of it last time around). Stayed till about 8 pm. Got back and rested some more.
20th June: Woke up at 5 something and took a van sewa to Kundasang. Went to Ranau for breakfast (RM 9 for fried rice, chrysanthemum tea and a tofu stuffed with minced pork!!!) and went to Poring Hot Springs (which looked like a collection outdoor bathtubs) till about 1 pm. Went to Sabah Tea Plantation and took a short trip to Kinabalu Park. Checked in at our cute little chalet near the Kinabalu Park. Doesn’t look like much from outside but very cosy inside with 2 bedrooms and all. I reckoned this was the best night of all the rest put together.
21st June: Woke up early and showered in the cold water and equally cold bathroom. Went to the War Memorial Park in Kundasang and the Strawberry Garden near it. The Memorial Park is a really pretty place not to be missed with excellent view of the Mt Kinabalu. Drove back to KK and had lunch. Driver took us to Tanjung Aru and the KK Museum. And sadly, dropped me off at the airport. Which will lead to another story for another day. It is time to sleep.
The One About First Day As A Teacher
I got back 2 days earlier from KK to start my new job today, which I somehow unintentionally got.
I AM A TEACHER! a temporary secondary school teacher anyway.
First day was scary. Was overwhelmed by the amount of work a teacher has despite working only half days and 5 days a week. Was told that I would be a science teacher but I have to teach math and pjk also. Was assigned naughty classes and the first class was inattentive and noisy. I am so gonna be a bad teacher. I regret taking the job immediately.
The other classes wasn’t that bad but that was mainly since it was a PJK class (I let them out to play) and a Maths lesson (where they didn’t bring the compasses, etc so I couldn’t teach). The students were curious about me the new teacher and asked all sorts of questions (which I nicely answered) like how old I am, where am I from, etc.
I am not sure how long I can keep this up but parents want me to go on for the good pay. I agreed in the first place because of the pay anyway.
But the point is, I had a long day and is tired and is supposed to be in bed already. Why am I still up at 2 am?
I vomited twice tonight and diarrhea a few times. Food poisoning? I am not sure. But my breakfast turned up in my puke. Isn’t it supposed to be digested already? Something wrong with my digestive system today? Just when I thought I had nothing left to puke anymore, I was violently woken up from sleep to puke again. Gross…
Pressure of teaching maybe? I couldn’t think of anything else but that because it is scary and I don’t feel cut up for it. What should I do?
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Update: Went to the doctor the next day and yes, I had food poisoning. Had to take a sick leave on the second day of work. Spent the entire day sleeping and waking up for a few mouthful of porridge and back to sleep everywhere around the house. Miserable day but better the next day
