See I'm Stuck In A City, But Belong In A Field

“Nobody tells an actor, ‘you’re playing a strong-minded man.’ We assume that men are strong-minded. A strong-minded woman is a different animal.”
— Meryl Streep

It's another rainy Tuesday evening, and I'm sitting outside the Great Hall watching Nadia, Pradheep & Anne play 'draw something' while we wait for MTQ to start. I'm currently sprawled out on the couch in the foyer, happily mooching off the internet with no worries of rehearsals and setting up, marking the end of what has been a hellish, but ultimately rewarding week, one that was wrapped up by us pulling off an incredible Psych Night in which we raised over a thousand ringgit for Open Hands Children's Shelter. I am so immensely proud of my team - we have had every obstacle you can ever imagine thrown at us while we painstakingly planned & executed the event - and I am so glad to have such an amazing support system throughout the entire process. If you had asked me barely a week ago if I thought Psych Night would have been the success that it was, I would have just laughed (nervously, might I add) and come up with some weak response about how I could only hope for the best. But, despite our troubles, we managed to pull through, not knowing that at the end of the day this little project of ours would turn out to be our bundle of pride and joy. It is, again, one of those times I'm glad I took it on, even though I knew I had an FYP to deal with, because the feeling of tremendous achievement is one that I would never trade for the world. On top of all that, I have to say, Psych Night will always hold a special place in my heart because it marks what could possibly be the last time Nadia, Raja and I perform on campus as Three. Although our first song was marred by an unfortunate "technical difficulty", I'm still very happy with our performance as a whole, and I think it could just be our best one yet. And after that day, I know that if singing isn't right for me, stalling could just be the way to go :P

Before I sign off, I want to wish all the acts who are competing at MTQ tonight good luck. May the best act win (;

Preventing Violence, Promoting Equality

In conjunction with International Women's Day, the UNMC Psychology Society will be having Psych Night 2012 on the 8th of March (next Thursday) to bring awareness to women's and children's abuse. Some of the highlights include a talk by Ivy Josiah from the Women's Aid Organisation & a performance by the children of Open Hands shelter, of which we are also raising funds for. There will also be a drama and band performance by the students (namely, yours truly ;P).

Please come and support our cause! Tickets are available at our booth at the SA Circle on Monday & Tuesday from 11am - 5pm, and at the door.

Isn't She Lovely

“I love that feeling. You know, the one you get when you take a deep breath and suddenly everything feels like it’s going to be okay. When you’re hopeless as can be, and life is going nowhere, there’s those moments we have every now and then where we just stop, and we get this feeling, that can’t be described, but you just.. you just feel like everything really is going to be okay. Like the world stopped spinning for a second, and everything was clear. I need more of those moments.”
— The X

Wong Fu 4 Lyfe

So the boys of Wong Fu Productions came down to KL recently for a quick event, and of course, I just couldn't pass this opportunity up. I decided that day that instead of just blogging about what happened like I normally would, I'd whip out my camera to not only take pictures, but also to vlog for the first time. Here's the result of my newbie vlogging. Enjoy!

Note To Self

"This is your life. Do what you love, and do it often. If you don't like something, change it. If you don't like your job, quit. If you don't have enough time, stop watching tv. If you're looking for the love of your life, stop; they will be waiting for you when you start doing the things that you love. Stop over-analyzing; life is simple. All emotions are beautiful. When you eat, appreciate every last bite. Open your arms, heart and mind to new things and people; we are united in our differences. Ask the next person you see what their passion is, and share your inspiring dream with them. Travel often; getting lost will help you find yourself. Some opportunities only come once, so seize them. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them, so go out and start creating. Life is short. Live your dream, and share your passion."

- Anonymous

It's Hopeless Hoping To Be Found

Who knew being on holiday would mean having the busiest week of the year so far? After the exams I thought I could take advantage of the two-week CNY break to wind down & sleep in, but as the days went by, life just began to get progressively busier, and in a few days time I'm going back to campus for my final semester. Am I ready? Hardly. As much as I'd like to graduate ASAP, I'd also like for the break to stretch out just a little longer so that I can get in some me-time. I even have to rush typing this filler post because I have to head out again in an hour and I'm still not ready yet. The nap-worthy weather isn't exactly helping either. Anyway, just a few pictures I wanted to post up from the past month in no particular order:




Petronas Twin Towers on a particularly wonderful morning.

Ben's General Foods Store berry compote french toast for breakfast.

A misty Genting View Resort in the morning while everyone else was still asleep.

My comfy little study corner the night before the IBO paper.

Foster the People (:

Gladiator Nike kicks I found while I was at JPO.

Another cranberry cheesecake I made to order.

The view outside my window the morning of my final paper.


I will update soon once I find the time, I promise. Maybe when I'm bored in class? (;

I Could Watch You Forever

Just because I've always had a thing for drummers & Skrillex (;

So I'm finally done with my spring semester exams, which brings me that much closer to my graduation in the summer, and ultimately the big mass of infinite grey area that is my future in the 'real world'. As it draws nearer, it doesn't become any clearer, it just becomes much more fuzzled - like a tv channel that hasn't been tuned to the right frequency - and even as I squint my eyes to peer through the gloom, I find myself subconsciously taking a few steps forward, as if there is something there that beckons me. Once in a while I'll stumble, only to slowly stand back up again to cautiously find my footing once more. After every fall, I get up, but by now I'm no longer taking big clumsy steps into the grey abyss; I am instead gingerly sliding one foot in front of the other, carefully inching my way forward to whatever it is that calls out to me.

But before I can find out what lies in the big unknown, I have to fix my gaze downwards to whatever it is that has settled itself in front of me & deal with that first. Currently, the biggest thing I have to focus my attention to right now is the dissertation that basically determines whether or not I graduate in July. I have to say, it's no longer as scary as I thought it would be, but I guess that's because I'm already halfway through my final year. Sometime last December, I had gotten to a point where I just wanted to throw in the towel (as did most of my fellow APMSers), but after a period of moping and moaning, I realized that I just had to buck up and finish whatever it is I had started. I didn't come this far to let myself down in the home stretch.

Which brings me to right now. So here I am, writing this while waiting to take out the cheesecake that I made for someone who actually ordered it after having it during Christmas out of the oven, engulfed by the wonderful, sweet smell of it slowly baking. It's also raining outside - the rhythmic pitter-patter of the rain drops providing a familiar, comforting soundtrack to the night - and I'm glad that I can now appreciate the calm that comes with it. I've decided, that once I've set the cake in the fridge, I'm just going to go straight to bed. Not to sleep, oh no, but just to curl up & enjoy the lovely weather (: I may even pick up one of the many novels I've so heartlessly left to collect dust on my bookshelf since last year, but I guess that will depend on whether or not I doze off first.

Oh, how nice it is when your main concern is only to choose between sleep and reading. It's nights like this that I've missed so dearly.

Take A little Hit & I Lose The Time

I wish I had something more profound to say tonight, but alas, I have no inspiring words to spew out unto the keyboard this time around. I'm halfway through my exam period, and while I'm supposed to be studying for my Strategic Management paper tomorrow, I've instead chucked my notes aside for the time being to watch Junior Masterchef Australia in the middle of the night. I've loaded up on my teh-tarik, so I don't expect to be sleeping at all - just like any other procrastinating (or hardworking, depending on how you look at it) college student the night before an exam. I've even set aside a cup of tom yam Maggi just in case I get a bout of the munchies in a few hours while I study. Honestly, there is absolutely no reason behind this post. I'm just trying to kill time before I have to hit the books again, for the umpteenth time today, and bury myself in the Porter's Five Forces model & the core competencies of the Virgin Group. Ugh. I cannot wait for the weekend, when my exams will finally be over. Wish me luck.

Together We'll Make Some Rock 'N Roll

Before I go into anything else, Happy 2012 everyone! (:



Photo credit: Rampant Gaffer

I can't believe that it's already a brand new year, one that could possibly bring me much more joy than 2011 did. Not to say last year was completely disastrous - looking back, I think that I could have done so much better. So as to not repeat my past mistakes, I've decided to come up with a list of things I want to achieve for the year: my resolutions, so to speak. Because I haven't done this before, I took my time conjuring up all the things I want to do for the year. As for my reason behind this list, well, I was inspired by a talk I had with a close friend of mine where she had brought up the 'vision board' - something that I had encountered years ago when I watch the DVD for The Secret, but had never put to use - and I thought that now would be a perfect time to start.

12 Resolutions for 2012

1. Be more organized
I realised that after I left my post as SA Ents, my life literally took a whole new turn. I no longer had meetings, no longer had to clock in hours in the office, no longer had a personal vision to aspire to. And because of that, I thought that I could just sit back, relax, and enjoy being a student. Little did I know how detrimental that would be to me. This year, I'm going to make it a point to go back into the mindset that I was in while I was an SA Ents officer & take control over all my affairs again.

2. Be driven & stay passionate
I'm going to set short-term personal goals that are challenging yet achievable for me, which includes stuff like my career, studies and maybe even relationships. I want to be able to do something that fuels the fire that I know I have, that constantly excites me and challenges me creatively.

3. Learn to spot an opportunity & take the risk especially when it scares me
My granddad once told me that if you're afraid of something, you should do it. This time, I'm going to take his advice and face my fear of failure.

4. Use whatever 'failures' I've had as a lesson to learn from & not be disheartened by them
This is one thing that I know is going to be hard for me. I can never usually deal with failure well, unless it is something that I've induced. I need to change my mindset this year and not perceive it as a barrier, but as a stepping stone.

5. Have a more positive outlook on my abilities & worry less about my inabilities
I have to start believing that I can do anything that I put my mind to, and that no matter how long it takes, I will be able to achieve it.

6. Focus more on what I love instead of what I want to love
In 2011 I've realised many things about myself, one of the more profound things is that psychology may not be the path that I want to stay on for the rest of my life. I love learning psychology, but I hate having to study it. As much as I would like to turn back time and do a degree in journalism, I'm already in the home run, so I'm going to graduate this June with an applied psychology and management studies degree, and once that's done, focus on what drives me the most - writing.

7. Start reading and writing more
Ever since I started university, I haven't read as much as I used to. What used to be three books a week, has now dwindled down to three books a year - and my writing has suffered greatly for it. I've notice that my style of writing is heavily influenced by what I'm reading at the moment, and I feel the most satisfied with my work whenever I read classics like Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey. That's why I'm determined to finish all 24 books I bought at the Big Bad Wolf book fair by the end of September.

8. Broaden my horizons & gain experiences in as many fields as I can
I don't want to be stuck in just one field of work (unless I'm passionate about it, of course), so I want to do as many things as I can, not just to gain experience, but to also figure out what exactly I want to do in my life.

9. Learn to let my guard down & be more open in my relationships with people
This encompasses not just romantic relationships, but also my existing relationships with my friends and family. There are a lot of instances where I hold back, and I don't want to keep doing that anymore. I want to be able to show everyone my nutty, crazy side, as well as my serious, brooding side. If possible, I'd like to show the people who are closest to me all the facets of my personality, so that they will have an idea of who I really am.

10. Communicate my feelings truthfully to my family and friends
I want to be able to muster the courage to share my true thoughts and emotions on certain topics, instead of keeping my mouth shut just to keep them 'happy'.

11. Lose 1-2kg a month til the end of the year
This would be the more physical resolution out of everything else in the list. It's something that I've always wanted to do, but never really got around to doing, so I've decided to make it much more manageable.

12. Make plans and stick to them
This needs no further explanation (:


There you go, my 12 resolutions for 2012. Fingers crossed, everything will go well (or even better) this year. I hope that everyone will have a splendid 2012 (:

& A Partridge In A Pear Tree

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas (:

This year's celebration was no different from the rest, as mum & I headed to uncle Kenneth's for Christmas dinner as we always do (: This time, however, I decided to do something special instead of just getting him a bottle of wine. For the past couplve days I've had the urge to bake (studying tends to do that to me sometimes) so I went through some of the recipes I've bookmarked online til I found the one that felt the most appropriate for the holiday season. I eventually settled on a cranberry cheesecake recipe by Julia (aka MissChievous), a YouTube make-up guru whose videos I absolutely adore. You can find the recipe, as well as a video of her baking the cake, here. I'd replicated one of her recipes before (a peppermint chocolate cookie one that I made for New Year's) which turned out great, so I was quite confident to give this one a go too.

Since the recipe required the cake to rest in the fridge overnight, I started baking Saturday afternoon after making the foolish decision of braving the Christmas Eve rush at Cold Storage in the morning. I would've gladly just gone to the nearby supermarket to save me the travel time, but I knew they wouldn't have cranberries, so off I went to Great Eastern in my quest for ingredients. Thankfully the crowd wasn't that bad, and I managed to grab everything I needed in fifteen minutes or so, much to my relief. I started off with the cookie base, which was a simple mix of crushed Tiger milk biscuits, grated dark chocolate & melted butter, which I then used to line the cake tin before popping it into the oven for a few minutes to set it.


Mixing the cookie base.

While the base was in the oven, I started on the cheesecake filling, which was pretty basic, except for the addition of orange zest. Julia had added some brandy in her batter as well, but as a substitute, I poured in a dash of Tropicana orange Twister along with the zest. It was actually supposed to be an orange concentrate, but I made do with whatever I could find on the spur of the moment.


Making the filling & stealing a lick or two of the batter (;

Left that in the oven for about an hour (which I later found out to be a little longer than necessary since my cake cracked in middle) & once it was done, I switched off the oven and left the cake inside with the door slightly ajar to let it cool slowly. While I was waiting for that to set, I started on my cranberry topping by first making a simple syrup of water, sugar and corn starch, then pouring in two packets of clean cranberries (which were a hefty RM20 each, damn!). In Julia's video, she took it off the heat immediately when the cranberries popped, but I left mine on til the berries got a little... mushy, for the lack of a better word. I preferred the topping to look more like a thick jam rather than the fruits still intact.





Once both the cake & topping had cooled enough, I cling wrapped them and put them both in the fridge to set overnight. I took it out right as we were leaving for the dinner as I wanted it to still be firm once I got there. It was nerve wracking opening up the spring form - my worst nightmare would have been for the cake to just completely crumble once I transferred it into the cake box. But, lo and behold, it came out nicely - albiet the crack, which I was able to cover up with the cranberry topping anyway - and it also tasted pretty good if I do say so myself ;P


Straight from the fridge.






The finished product (:

Carrying it to uncle Kenneth's, I was actually quite nervous to find out if it was any good. Sure it may taste alright to me, but that's a biased judgement, of course. I was glad that people did like it, so much so that it was literally gone in half an hour, and I had to quickly grab a slice for my mum before it completely disappeared. For that I have a give myself a mental pat on the back. Not bad for a first-shot at baking a cheesecake.


What I found after fifteen minutes, to my pleasant surprise (:

Who would've thought I'd actually blog about cooking? Haha! I guess I'm just so excited about my masterpiece I just couldn't wait to blog about it :P I'm actually looking forward to baking again, but that will have to wait until my exams are over - the number of cups of flour and sugar that goes into the batter should be the last thing on my mind right now. We'll see, though. I might just make baking another hobby of mine (;

The rest of the night was fantastic as usual. Uncle Kenneth's over-the-top Christmas decor always puts me in a great mood whenever we visit, not to mention the vast array of food & carols that were played through the night. Halfway through, out came the karaoke set and those of us who were bold enough took over and sang their hearts out. Out of all of them my favourite would have to be an eight-year-old girl's rendition of the Abba classic, Mamma Mia. It was just too cute! I just wish I had recorded it. We left a little after that and when we got home, mum and I were greeted by fireworks from one of the hotels in the area, another welcome surprise of the night.

All in all, it was an excellent Christmas, & here's to what I hope would be an equally terrific New Year's.