My tribute to anatomy... NOT!

anatomy... study of human body structures and organization. and also, their inter-relationship. humerus, ulna, radius, femur, tibia, scapula, spatula, lumbricles, popsicles...

anatomy... its classes all allocated late late, falling between five to seven in the evening. apakan daya? cikgu import mari from other campus.

anatomy... because of its late classes, i have freaking long breaks twice a week. and the breaks in question is not less than 3 to 4.5 hours long. what to do? go home. come back later. waiting on campus for the class is too exhausting.. given the current hot and dry weather malaysia, staying home is very super tempting.

anatomy... i sleep in its lecture, tutorial and lab. why do you think i sleep?
a) the subject is tedious, wordy and too many new stuff/terms.
b) simple - i'm just disinterested.
c) "aiyahhhh... you not enough sleep lah. malam-malam dreaming about buaya and biawak.. macam mana nak tidur sedap-sedap, nyenyak-nyenyak dan tak jadi nyanyuk?"
d) it's in greek.
e) all of the above.

anatomy... bones of the hand. let's see whether i remember them. she looks too pretty, try too catch her - scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. yay!!! hahahaa... no lah. i copied from lecture notes wann.

anatomy... makes me even more convinced that i should have never taken up the double degree program in biomedical science and biotech in the first place. yalah, that time young heart so greedy mah. hehehehh. now old liao, have to start thinking more realistically about future. thinking of dropping the former, and just doing a single degree in biotech. with or without honours. fed up already. serious. can't imagine working and terperuk only in the hospital lab. gonna concentrate more on my biotech subjects.

anatomy... you drive me insane. if only you were as peanuts as chemistry. or simple to grasp like cell metabolism. or as fascinating as molecular biology. or even half as interesting as microbiology.

anatomy... SIGH. anatomy. i rather go through one more round of both human health physiology and body systems physiology. learning harmoones (hormones), receptarrrs and mortar (motor) system all over again.

anatomy... i shall endure you for one whole semester, right up to the day i finish your last paper. you will not torture me. i will be content. once i'm through with you, to hell with you.

TV series marathon

*Heaves big sigh* I'm on a watching-downloaded-TV-series-on-my-computer marathon. Holidays, my only time I get to watch as many shows as I like. And get bored equally as fast. Well, at least I can watch the shows without annoying commercial breaks, pause the show anytime I like, don't have to wait until commercials to come on for toilet breaks, can watch the show anytime I like, etc.

My eyes are very sore and somewhat red from watching twenty-four episodes of the TV show 24 season 5 in three days in a row, averaging 8 episodes a day. My mom says I'm over-straining my eyes, to which I agree. My brother says, "NOOO!!! Don't tell me the story! Don't spoil the fun for me!! I also wanna watch later". Hhhmmmm.. I smell a rich, warm golden opportunity wide open for me to give my brother a miserable time. Muahahaa. Wicked, ain't I?

One thing that draws me to 24 is their storyline and intriguing, meticulous plots. Just can't wait to watch the next episode once you've finished one. Plus, another attractant 24 has is the shock element. Anybody can be killed at any moment. And those whom you thought were the good ones end up being the bad guys, vice versa or they just are as you see them. So you have it all ways. That just makes it impossible to predict 100% what's gonna happen next. Now that I like (",)

I got one question though. How come they stopped showing 24 in Malaysia? They stopped at season 3. What happened? Too violent? Terrorrism content that might just drive some nut loose? Too many killings? And, why did they have to kill off Tony Almeida? Sayang betul. It's a good thing they didn't kill off Aaron Pierce, or I would have boycotted their following season. They better come up with a stronger president next. Disgraced President Logan is just plain weak and disorientated. I hated the character even before they revealed him to be the antagonist in this current conspiracy.

the good


the bad


the perished and will be dearly missed


Another show I'm catching up with is Ghost Whisperer. Yes, the new show with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it. She plays Melinda Gordon who can see and talk to ghosts. Earthbound spirits, her grandmother calls them, with unfinished business and she helps them. So far, I've watched 7~9 episodes. Some cases are pretty boring.. like Mended Hearts and Miss Fortune. Hmmm. Maybe the latter wasn't that bad.

Episodes involving ghosts of children were particularly among my favourites. Don't know why. Innocence maybe. The Demon Child episode was probably the first I watched. Ghost of a child haunting his own house, his mother, his baby sister and especially the nanny. All these antics were just to catch his mother's attention and send her a message. The other episode The Crossing tells the story of a young ghost, not knowing that he was dead or the meaning of death itself. Side note: I think Jennifer Love Hewitt has amazing chemistry with David Conrad, who plays her on-screen husband.

The episode I find most interesting, tear-jerking and my most favourite is Pilot. Hey, the cute guy from Prison Break was the ghost in this episode. OK. Aside from the fact that the ghost was cute, he was really convincing and impressive.. especially the crying scenes. See, his character never lived to see his son born. When he finally saw his already grown-up son, he cried. And when his son realizes that his father's spirit was there with him, he cried cuz he misses him so much.. over the fact that he never really got to know his father himself. They cried. I cried. Argh, told you I suck at controlling my own tears when I see others crying. Man.. I never cried so much over a TV show.


My bad. I couldn't wait for House second season to start viewing in Malaysia (They're playing Numb3rs latest season at the time slot at the moment). I've started watching several episodes already. Can't help it! There are no other medical dramas as interesting as House since E.R. and Chicago Hope. I've betrayed my age, haven't I? Scrubs portrays the life of doctors comedically but hardly focus much on anything interesting medical-related stuff. Grey's Anatomy? It's boring and way too unrealistic. Besides Sandra Oh's performance in that show, I just can't think of any other good reason to watch it. Period.

I haven't been religiously watching World Cup matches this time, unlike 2002. The last full match I watched was Germany vs Argentina. I find this time round a lot more boring than 2002's. Too much drama. Rooney-Ronaldo incident just shows how overrated and immature one is while further proves how shallow the other one is. I rather watch Wimbledon instead. I love watching Nadal's tenacity, mental strength and energy on court. But I think Federer will win Wimbledon cuz he's just too good on this surface. This is his backyard. This is his tournament to lose. He did win Wimbledon by the way.. his fourth Wimbledon. I admit that I haven't watched much of Federer's matches before. Now I'm a big fan.

Nicknames

Having my name pronounced similarly to Daisy, although mine has a different spelling and totally different meaning to it, that was where all my many, many nicknames were inspired. Courtesy of people around us. Friends and foes. Widely used especially in primary school. You know lah, how we were when we were younger. Always creating nicknames for each other. Nicer nicknames are the ones we have for our dear ones. Horrid nicknames arise when you hate someone.. like the snobbish, spoiled and bitchy barbie lookalike or the egoistic think-they-know-it-all kind. Or just simply, some teachers (not all teachers are cruel).

Perhaps my most famous nickname in primary school was Flower as in Daisy flower and Margarine cuz there was a margarine brand Daisy. I hated the Margarine nickname at that time, but now I think it's pretty cute and funny. In fact, one of my primary school friends saw me the other day and called me "Daisy Margarine" out loud. And I actually answered. Hahahahaaa.

To whoever reading this, don't get any funny ideas.

I remembered the time in primary school when I referred to a particular discipline teacher as a white goose. I disliked her (obviously). Simply because she was so hard to like. What was there to like? She made me hate being a prefect in school. Once, she scolded and yelled at me in front of all the prefects. "Stupid girl. Give you simple task to do, why can't you do it? How can you be so irresponsible? Lazy. You don't deserve to be a prefect..." and bla bla bla. Did not give me any chance to explain.

The truth was that I did my duty every single bloody day. She saw me. But obviously, she didn't even give a damn about me since she doesn't even remember that. Instead, she choose to believe those two selfish idiots I was assigned with who claimed that they were on duty everyday and even dare accuse me of not performing my duty at all. I would have covered their asses if they asked me to. Goodness, I wasn't planning on telling on them at all! And what a five-star treatment I got.

"You should be grateful that I'm not going to fire you". That was what she said when she finished yelling at me. I should have just resigned on the spot. Perhaps I was too focused on losing my so-called position and reputation which all amounted to nothing compared to the respect that I, being an individual, deserved. And which was absent in that moment. How stupid I was. Then again, maybe I did the right move not to resign. But I did make a resolution to myself never to touch prefectorial board ever again. God knows the truth. And the truth will prevail.

OK. On with happier stuff. Prior to my return to Sibu recently, I've been hearing all kinds of stuff, particularly not too nice ones, about the new Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). My sister and I invented - now we sound like mad scientists with big frizzy Einstein hairdo - a new name for LCCT... Lousy, Chehkai and Ciplak Terminal. Creative or not?

Actually, LCCT wasn't that bad. The service was relatively fast plus we didn't have to endure a 10-kilometre marathon as we would have in KLIA in order to get to the boarding gate. See, even airport get nicknames. No one and nothing is excused from nicknames. This is an example of a nickname that was created for the fun of it.

Hmmm... Not many interesting nicknames from high school though. Had close friends like Norma, Ili, Zuhaili and Trnjit calling me Daes, short for Daesi. Some others, upon learning about my mixed heritage, nicknamed me Loh-jak (rojak.. mixed-up). Had a teacher whom we dearly nicknamed FanSu (sweet potato) cuz she was short, round and cute. When she found out she was not very pleased. We got one hour of lecture and half year of sour face. Oops. Our bad. We didn't mean it in a bad way. We still liked her.

Then came the time in Sunway MUFY 2003-2004, the nickname Miss Flowerhorn was birthed.. joint invention by Dayaa and Juwin. Fish for short. Almost everyone had an animal nickname. Piggy, Bear, Chimp, Rat, Orangutan, KingKong.. So instead of Monash University Foundation Year, we renamed ourselves to Zoo University Foundation Year intake. Come to think of it, I don't even remember how all these animal nicknames came about in the first place. Anyone remember?

Oh yeah. Mr Lee (Math B lecturer) nicknamed my gang and I as the kaypoh group, because we talk so much in class. Hahaa. But we made the class livelier what.. along with Adhi, Kelly and Budi. How can we ever get through the class without having fun?

And just when a friend from college AND my brother independently came up and added Cow into my already existing collection of nicknames, I got this as my really super belated birthday gift from Michele few days back.

Yes. It's a cow cell phone cover. And this cow is called Daisy. Haha. Seriously. Talk about freaky coincidence. Hahahaa.

The manufacturer/designer of this phone covers had to name all of their cows Daisy. Eesh. Why can't they name it with other names.. like Marigold? Why Daisy???

This time round

Note: Entry was written on 16 May 2006. Never published till now.

As most of you know, AirAsia gave away free airline tickets last year. My sister managed to grab five tickets for our family during Wesak weekend. So where do we go? Back to Sibu lah, of course. Where else would we go?

Things were slightly different this time round. It was nice kind of different.

This time round, it was the first time we went back to Sibu not during year-end school holidays.

This time round, it was our first time to the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (the newly built terminal that caters especially for AirAsia flights).

This time round, my dad went back with us after years long of him not stepping foot in Sibu.

This time round, it was also the first time for my siblings and I celebrated Mother's Day together with my grandma, mother and aunties. It was almost like a family reunion lunch.

This time round, we visited our paternal grandparents' grave. It was our first time since their funerals in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

This time round, we noted AirAsia's odd different way of organization and system.
(1) Firstly, they have no boarding passes. Just two sheets of paper stapled together which resemble receipts you get when you buy something from supermarket. What? No boarding pass? That's one mystery of cheap we'll never solve.
(2) Secondly, although we don't have the long 10-km marathon to the boarding gate, alternately we had marathon from the boarding gate all the way to the airplane. Well, this is no mystery. Things never come cheap without any facility cut. Good exercise wat.
(3) Sit anywhere you want like! It's practically like boarding a bus in Pudu Bus Station. Only difference is that, this is boarding an air bus. Literally.
(4) Jet fuel is being pumped into the plane's tank while passengers are boarding and/or are on board. Scary man... Never understand 'em, until logic is explained.
(5) Once seated in the plane, annoucement heard over the speakers "Ladies and gentlemen. Please do not fasten your seatbelt as the plane is still being refueled". Another mystery of cheap that we'll never get. Maybe so that we can run faster if the plane catches fire while refuelling. Hahahaa.

Lost in translation

My brother came back the other day with a trophy he won third place in a competition called "Perbicaraan kes buku yang membosankan". I tell you, schools getting creative in coming up with interesting competitions with bizarre names. And I'm proud to say this is the same high school I attended.

One thing though. "Perbicaraan kes buku yang membosankan"...... Perbicaraan tu membosankan atau buku tu membosankan? (did it mean that the competition was about criticizing boring books, OR that the book-criticizing competition itself was boring?)

Lost in translation. And interpretation. Sigh. It wasn't even an English-medium competition to begin with. Even the Malay version wasn't all that clear.

Just like how "Lord of the Rings" was translated to "Tuan punya cincin", "Star Wars" to "Peperangan Bintang" and "The fast and the furious" as "Yang pantas dan yang mengamuk". That's why I find reading subtitles hilarious sometimes when I come across wrong words used which totally change the whole meaning of the sentence itself, into something ridiculous. Either that, or the meaning is completely lost. And I also find them irritating if I was relying on subtitles to understand the show/movie in languages completely foreign to me (like Spanish).

No matter how good the translation is, there is no such thing as a perfect translation. The best, yes. But perfect, no.

quotes quotes quotes

"bacteria are like us. when under stress, they cannot grow properly." - my microbiology lecturer

"bacteria are very much like us.. influenced by our surroundings. always migrate to places where there is less stress, more ideal, less problems and more benefits. always run away from problems... true or not?" - my microbiology lecturer

"when jiejie mutates, she becomes big fat and ugly monster."
"when enoch mutates, he becomes a handsome, hunky and charming man."
".............. aarrgghhh, bei lei zha dou."
- an exchange between my younger brother and i once

ok. hitting the big 21 today... so now what?

so yeah, i'm turning 21 today. one year older. not much of a fuss... for me. seems like a big deal before i turned 21. what's the deal about being 21? truthfully, i don't really feel as much of a rush of excitement as i'd felt when i turned 20 last year and said goodbye to my childish teenage years. this calls for an investigation via online googling and short interviews with *ahem* the experienced ones. here's what i've got.

being 21 means that you can walk into a liquor store to buy alcohol with no worries about secret swat team hiding nearby busting 20-year-olds with alcohol.
i've already held wine and beer bottles in my hands many times before. and i drink wine occasionally since i was 15.. blame it all on the chinese businessmen my dad used to deal with. they drink, they get all red in their faces and still they don't admit they're drunk. siao. anyway i'm neither a heavy drinker nor am i talented at drinking. in fact, i'm pretty strict towards how many glasses of wine i take at a go. i'll probably pass out by the sixth glass anyway. so what's new?

being 21 means i can legally be in bars and clubs.
is that right... hmmm. clubs aren't really my kind of place anyway. not a fan of crowded places. can't even stand the smell of smoking cigarette butts. even if there's only one smoker around me within five-mile radius. health hazard man.

being 21 means that i can legally tour casinos and gambling "haven".
yeah.. i can confidently flash my id at anyone who thinks i'm sixteen with a smirk on my face knowing that they can't kick my pretty ass out of the place. if you see me in casinos, there's a big chance that i'm just there sightseeing cuz again, i don't like the idea of gambling. the idea of being in debt does not sound amusing at all. might as well use the money to do something good.. like shopping. what, isn't shopping a mode of exercise and good for mental health? it makes me happy.

being 21 means that i can vote.
my parents already have it all figured out, i.e. where to register. but the next elections aren't but in few years' time.

according to my sister when one turns 21, he or she would get their own set of keys to my house.
hmmmm.......... i already had my own set since 16. i walked home from school quite frequently then mah. so how? an illegal holder of my housekeys all this while lah? sue me :P

being 21 means that you are legally an adult. make your own decision about yourself and stuff (not quite sure what though).

adulthood = responsibilities.
responsibilities = worry
worry = reality check.
reality check = pressure.
pressure = headache.
and therefore, adulthood = headache. there you go.

teenagers look forward to the 16-milestone and then 18-milestone. turning 21 is your final milestone.
no more milestones worth getting excited about. hitting 30 would be just another phase, no biggie. by then, would have tonnes of other things to worry about by then.. work, husband (if married by 30), children, menopause maybe... damn.

Keren, my childhood friend, said "21 YEARS OLD CAN GET MARRIED LIAO!!!".
oookkkkk. definitely didn't see that coming. lol. good idea but in order to do that, i have to have mr right first. hahaa. if not kahwin dengan diri, syiok sendiri ah? besides, getting married isn't in my agenda for the next say 4-5 years?

cukup lah.. how many you want? these are all that i've got. wanna add on?