To make up for my being absent from this blog for the last couple of weeks, I shall now indulge myself with a really looooooooooooong post. Told you there was gonna be a word vomit. You were forewarned!!
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However, since I myself am not that much of a typist I shall make things short by putting in pictures. Plus, it 3.59 am. Why am I still awake? I'm blaming the BBQ Curry Twisties.
Yuni & Osaka
About a month back, my dear lil sis flew all the way back from Tokyo just to surprise our dear mum. After weeks and weeks of planning we managed to pull the whole thing off without dear mum ever suspecting. Now although we tried to keep it just between the siblings but a major operation like that required external helping hands like our dear cousin Ika, and of course my Aunty Mama. Oh and I also had to rope in Nurul's help due to the strange fact that even though we're living in the digital age where everything can be bought/ arranged online nowadays, this one particular bus company does not sell their Ipoh-Singapore bus tickets at their HQ in Kuala Lumpur. So zaman batu.
Anyways, Yuni stayed for over 2 weeks and then she had to fly back. The pic above shows us having fun in TGIF, the night before her flight back. Our farewell gift to her was a huge steak meal. I wonder how long she'll go without meat again. Poor little carnivore, forced to go on a fish & vegetable diet. LoL.
Yuni will be moving from Tokyo Uni to Osaka Uni as soon as she gets back but Osaka seems to be extremely keen on having her over and have been bugging her with phone calls throughout the entire 2 weeks. I guess the Japanese Embassy scholarship really pay these unis extremely well.
Now there's a reason why so much planning had to be done when Yuni came back. She wasn't alone. I mean she had STUFF!! Lots of it!! Aah, the perks of having a sibling living abroad. I didn't manage to take pictures of all the stuff she brought back for all of us but suffice to say there were a lot of Green Tea boxes being passed around. I myself got some really cool stuff like Japanese makeup, cups with Japanese kanji, Japanese perfume and little knick knacks. But my favourites are these two. A delicate Japanese fan made 100% from bamboo and A clutch made from Kimono silk with a matching hand emroidered purse. The fan was extremely handy during those fan-less days at my apartment.
So now Yuni is in Osaka. She's already started class and seems to be enjoying herself. We do miss her terribly but its not like we live during zaman batu where there was no internet. I see her online every night and we do chat regularly. So since she made the effort to fly back to Malaysia I guess I have to return the favour. Hmm... I wonder how much it'll set me back to go to Osaka?
24hr Theater Project
One word... FUN!! That's all I need to describe the 24hr theater project. Wait! One more word... TIRING!! But still... it was loads of fun!! I met loads of cool new people and had gained so many new experiences that there's no way I'm missing next year's project. Although maybe next year I'm gonna try out as a writer. Try to tackle script writing for a change. I'll probably suck but what the heck. If I suck bad enough I may even win the group one of those "fun" awards they give out. This year my group went home empty-handed but Sheena's group won the 'Most Pretentious Play' award. LoL. Even Syd's group won something. Was it the 'Worst Play' award? Haha... but it was all in fun. It definitely made the night interesting. For those who wants to try out something new next year then this is something you should definitely try out. Imagine some of the participants actually slept in Istana Budaya. Talk about dedication.
IIUM Poetry Night
I'll probably wear out the word FUN after I'm done with this post. But yeah... Poetry Night was super duper fun!! I must say, after all that trepidation about being a Poetry lecturer at the beginning of the semester seems a little funny (see there's the word 'fun' again) now. And I think the students had a lot of fun as well. Sheena and I organised poetry night as a way for students to realise that poetry is not at all boring and can only be found on a page. Plus, it's also a fun way to evaluate the students without turning it into dull and dreary presentations. Plus, we also did a good deed and raised money for the Gaza Relief Fund. It wasn't much but I'm sure every bit counts.
There was a little scerfuffle at first with some so-called "trademark" on Poetry Slam. What's with the deal of an organisation claiming trademark on a genre? According to the trademark we weren't allowed to have a poetry slam unless we gained permission from the organisation first. Whaat?? Total bull if you ask me. Thank goodness Sheena and I were not the only ones who feel that way. So after discussing it with Hazlan, who is totally our hero by the way, we decided to go ahead with the poetry slam. And thank goodness we did because some of the slammers chosen to slam were actually pretty good. We may have found some slammers to actually start competing in actual poetry Slams.
So can you spot the lecturer among the students? Coz I cant.
One of the more creative submissions for visual poetry from my class. There were more but because I'm a poor, poor part-time lecturer who can't afford a camera just yet so I really had to rely on other people's pics. But trust me the other submissions were just as good and just as creative. I'm reall proud of those kids.
Responses to the Poetry Night was extremely positive so here's to hoping that Poetry Night will be a semesterly-thing. Or at least... an annual thing. *fingers crossed*
BENL Reunion Charity Dinner
BENL Alumni organised its second reunion dinner in conjunction with the charity drive to raise funds for the Gaza Relief Fund. It was mostly an effort made by the seniors from Pyan's batch but I ended up helping them out since I know that it'll be fun (hmm, I wonder how many times I've actually used this word in this post) to actually get dressed up and catch up with old friends. Unfortunately the first part of the night was not that fun for me as I was the MC. Being MC is okay but damn these people and their demands and last-minute changes. Don't you get it that MCs also get nervous. Gawd... I was so friggin nervous that I totally flubbed Prof. Q's name during the introduction. My own supervisor's name!! Sheesh! Buat malu mak bapak je.
But as the evening progresses I relaxed and so there were less mistakes. Whew! Surprisingly the turnout this year was better. Last reunion about a quarter of the hall was empty but this time it was definitely a full house. To top it off we managed to raise about RM2000 in donations. So Abang Husni and Pyan definitely deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.
They even brought in some great entertainment that night like the traditional Malay percussion group, Dewangga Sakti and the Al-Aqsa Dabka Dancers. One of the Palestinians was particularly good-looking although you can't see him in the pic. Such a shame that he's so young :P.
This is the group photo of most of the alumnus that came. Don't you feel that somehow this doesn't show BENL folks in their true spirit?
Now that's more like it!!
Again, here's to hoping that there'll be more of this kind of reunion dinner thingies in the future.
I've gone Grey
No... I haven't grown old. Yes I'm in denial about that. Yes I got myself grey contacts. I used to wear the same colour years ago and I kinda missed having them so since they're cheap, what the heck. I got them online for only RM38. And they're wearable up to 6 months to a year at a time. Deal or what?! I've already made my second order. Brown this time. Check out the blog:
But on another note, I seriously need to do something about my online shopping addiction.
I'm err... more Mature.
Coincidentally my birthday this year fell on class day so I decided what the heck, I'll celebrate it with my class. Plus it'll be a way for me to commemorate my first ever teaching job in IIUM. So I threw a small party. Again... it was FUN. I'm simply amazed at how a certain amount of food could disappear in just a matter of minutes and at how fond I can be towards a bunch of youngsters whom I've known for only a few months. But hey, if they say you'll always remember your first love I guess a teacher of any kind will always remember the first class that they've ever tought.
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The gals of ENGL 1515:Section 4. Cute aren't they?
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My class. I shall miss teaching these kids.
I'm err... more Mature (part II) 
The very next day, IIMU threw a birthday soiree for me as well. Shucks!! I really love those folks. I couldn't manage to get a picture of the cake from the previous party (since it was kinda smushed due to a minor mishap plus the fact that it was gone within 10 minutes) so this time I snapped a picture before anything happened. That my dear readers is a picture of a blueberry chocolate sponge cake bought from a small but very good bakery in Sri Gombak, called Hidayah Bakery. Sangat sedap!! Next time you can just forget about Secret Recipe and hunt down that bakery. A 1kg cake will only cost you RM25 at the most.
The picture below pretty much summarises what I ate at my two birthday parties. The only diference was that the food at IIMU disappeared at a much slower rate. I actually got to taste all of the food before it was gone. But still... both party was fun in their own unique way.
Thanks a mundo to Kak Aini for organising the whole shebang. It's people like her that makes me stay at a job that pays me a measly RM15 an hour.
I know the pic is blurry but I just love this pic.
The third installment for my birthday took me way out of IIUM and all the way to Look Out Point in Ampang. It was a really sweet gesture made by Nurul, J- her BF, and Shazna (Nurul's sis) but unfortunately I was not told that we were headed to Look Out Point so there I was that night, wearing 2 1/2 inch heels trudging all the way up to the peak. Definitely a workout I tell you. But still... it was fun (^^).
I'm thanking god everyday for giving me great friends and I must say that there's not that many friends of mine who is greater than Nurul. That night was totally a night that I'll cherish. Good company, free food and more cake. LoL. Plus it was a bonus as well that she chose a gorgeous location that I have never been to before. So being there for the first time ever with great friends was the cherry on top of perfectly great night.
I'm not sure where Nurul got this cake from but it was totally amazing. Again, you can never go wrong with chocolate cakes. But I'm guessing that the cake was the cause of all the blurry pictures taken that night. All of us were probably sugar high. Who wouldn't be, we scoffed down half the cake. But here's to Nurul, J and Shazna. Thanka for making that night perfect.
ENGL 1515 Finals
As all good things must come to an end, the ENGL 1515final exams marks the ending of my teaching the section 4 kids. It was both exciting and sad for me since it was my first time ever being the invigilator for an exam rather than siting for one but I'm kinda sad because its the last time I'll see them as my students. Unless! Unless... I ace the interview this 23rd and get the permanent lecturer status!! Woohoo!! Then I'll probably be teaching more subjects!! But I don't want to get my hopes up so I'll leave that story for another day *sigh*.
But the invigilating experince was loads of fun. I'm sure it'll wear off by the time I invigilate more and more exams but I'm just gonna cherish it for now. As for marking the papers... well, I'm having fun procrastinating on that as well. But I'll get to it soon. I will. I will. Maybe tomorrow :D
So this marks the end of my word vomit. For now. I'll probably continue tomorrow. Somehow the word vomit doesn't seem to want to stop but my body is failing my brain. Need to catch some Zzz. A sign of maturity? Hmm... nah!! In denial? Yes, I am.
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