Clairine

That saree came into good use last Friday when we all decided to dress up and go out for dinner then went back to take some pictures in Ash’s house a.k.a "the lazy mansion".

If you thought those pictures in the previous post were vain… take a look at these…

Introducing the syiok-sendiri models:

Me!

May Lee!

Shantiya!

Twosomes and threesomes:

May Lee is wearing the top of a Punjabi suit

Due to the cool effects of lighting we look like our sarees are purple

Not the cliche ‘Charlie’s Angels’ again! We’re posing on an armchair in the TV room

Posing on the sofa upstairs

Posing at the staircase

Just lovely

Some candid shots:

Laughing and talking like we most usually do

Comforting May Lee about something… like we always do too

Ok laa this wasn’t exactly candid I admit

Talking about something

We played two games of Pictionary after that and Sree came up with some… interesting… ways of drawing words like "rise" and "dry"… Now we know what’s always on your mind eh, Sree…?

After that we went for drinks at Lotus at about 2 am and then went back to crash until later that morning when we woke up at 6 am to go to the Ulu Yam waterfall. It was about an hour’s journey on the way there but it took 2 hours to get back because of the jam. We stopped by at "Lake Placid" on the way to the waterfall. Apparently they call it "Lake Placid" because the water is so still that it never moves.

We had so much fun at the waterfall… the scenery was just so beautiful and the rays of sunlight shining through the canopy of trees overhead were just so amazing to look at. Took a few very natural pictures there:

Time for some syiok-sendiri photos from the guys’ side:

Sree taking a photo of himself

Gaya photo by Ash

Ravin enjoying himself in the water

Group photos:

After we got tired of taking photos and playing with the water, we played Truth or Dare… and some stuff which shall not be mentioned here happened! Let’s just say there were a lot of… erm… excited people.

Starving and tired, we drove back to Klang and had banana leaf rice at Asoka. It’s really quite nice, but a bit too spicy for me. Then we went home and crashed til night time when we went out to Kopitiam in Bukit Tinggi for our dinner-supper.

On Monday I went to Snips again for a haircut with May Lee. Before I could even open my mouth to tell the guy what I wanted, *snip snip* my fringe was gone. It was the first to go. It’s damn short now laaa! I want my long hair back :’o(

Later that night I went for a farewell bbq party at Calvin’s house.

Irys, Mei Qin, Me

Tung Jern’s shirt is blinding!

On Tuesday, I moved out from my house in Subang. I have so many fond memories in that house, and in SS15… I just couldn’t bear to leave. It was hard for me to let go of this part of my life. It still is. I still can’t believe that I’ve really moved out, they are no longer my housemates, and that I’m actually going to stay in another country soon. I don’t know what other word to use to describe how I felt yesterday other than ‘heartbroken’.

I don’t know when exactly I crossed the border of my friendship with May Lee and Shantiya til we became not just friends, not even best friends, but more like sisters. I don’t know when exactly it happened that we got to know each other inside out, outside in, in every possible way and from every possible angle. I don’t know when exactly we started to not just enjoy but love and need each other’s company.

Those days when we all had our own problems - no matter what problems they were - we would just talk and talk through the night about it, or rush home from wherever we were during the day to be back home, to be there for each other. There were also days when we just wanted to irritate each other by doing stupid stuff. For fashion advice, changing into multiple outfits in front of each other to ask for opinions, doing our hair for each other, making up, sitting on the swing outside the house just talking and talking about everything and anything, going to the park whenever any of us got damn emo about something, going out shopping whenever and wherever we wanted, taking care of each other when any of us was not feeling well… And other stuff like that time when we were dead bored and decided to walk out to Herbs and Foods at night to buy custard powder so we could all make custard pudding to eat. Living in that house with them made my life bearable when I was lonely. Living with them showed me the true meaning of friendship…

Friendship is not perfect. You fight. You argue. You make up. You care… you genuinely care for each other. You accept all flaws. You accept all differences. You are not pretensive. You can be yourself and still be loved. You can talk about anything at all. You can trust. You give more than you take. You tolerate mood swings. You do not back stab. You always, always, always, try your best to be there.

It is true that friendship is one of God’s greatest gifts. You just have to know how to appreciate it, if not it will be worthless. I find it very painful knowing that with my moving-out of the house, the bond that we share will not be the same anymore. Relationships change over time. When I said goodbye to SS15, I was saying goodbye to much, much more than just the house and the people around me. I was saying goodbye to this… thing… that has kept me going throughout the past 2 years.

I was saying goodbye to a part of my life… a piece of my heart.

Just got back home after "holidaying" in Klang.

Had a very nice holiday in the "lazy mansion".

Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, movie, sleep, eat.

That’s basically all I did for 5D 4N.

Followed Shantiya, Thayalini, Ashvin, and Ravin for a prayer session in the temple, although I just sat and watched them pray while looking around at the architecture. Shantiya dressed me up in one of her sarees! The only picture I have of it is in my handphone, and I don’t know how to transfer picture from hp to laptop… oh well.

Anywayyy I love the saree soooooo much that I went to Chennai Silk Palace and bought one saree all for myself ^^

Warning: Vain pictures ahead.

I think this is a nice picture cos I’m Chinese, with a Chinese painting behind me, but I’m wearing a saree. It’s sorta like a fusion. Sorry it’s a bit blur though.

Lousy attempt at "gaya" at the bedroom door.

Second lousy attempt at "gaya" at the window.

Mum’s attempt at making the daughter "gaya" at the staircase.

Model: Clairine
Wardrobe: Chennai Silk Palace
Photographer: Mrs. Chan

The saree was initially RM300++ but Ashvin and Shantiya managed to bargain it down to RM200++ which saved me about RM60-70… thanks guys!!! I think if I were to go by myself I would have just taken the saree, paid, and left. And get conned out of RM60-70. So next time peeps! Bring your Indian friends along with you to buy sarees!

I learned few Tamil words… and heard so many Tamil songs over the past few days I thought I was going to go insane!!! Now that I’m back in Kajang I’m humming this "Lusepanne" song… Ashvin’s fave… and this "Pupuvaa" song… Shantiya’s fave… dammit I don’t know the real title of the song but I just know the few phrases they keep repeating. AAAHHH! Get outta my head!

*****

Before Klang I went to Dusun Eco Resort at Bentong, Pahang for a 3D 2N camping experience… INTI Subang Council Camp.

Had fun… lots of fun… it was a great camp, and I made lots of new friends and learned lots of new things. One thing that I learned well is that when you camp in a jungle resort, a ‘midnight walk’ is not really a… midnight walk…

What ‘midnight walk’ really means is trekking through a mountainous jungle with nothing but candles, the clothes on your back, and the shoes on your feet. In the rain. With the mud. At midnight, of course. Til, about… 2.30 am…?

Til now I can’t believe I really actually did it! I trekked through the jungle. With only a candle per 10 people, and once you ran out of candle that was it. No torchlights allowed. And it had just rained heavily so it was slippery and muddy.

I can’t even find the words to really describe how it felt. At one point 2 hours or so into the ‘midnight walk’ I slipped (nearly everyone slipped, it was soooo steeeeep) and I was stuck in the mud, on a –what– 85 degree slope? And my knee got stuck in between a tiny crevice, my foot stuck in a thick root, and my hands holding onto a rough rope which was cutting my palms, and at that point I just started… well… crying. And screaming "I don’t wanna continue anymore someone just freaking airlift me outta here I can’t go on I can’t do this anymore dammit!"

Of course, with tired, equally frustrated people clinging onto a rough rope above me on an 85 degree muddy slippery wet slope in a jungle chock full of hard rocks and vines and roots and thorns and whatnot with all the candles gone out and no light — I had to go on, couldn’t just stay stuck. So the person below me pulled my foot and the person above me pushed my body so that my knee would dislodge. And tadaaa. I was out.

I slid and bumped and was muddy and dirty and sweating and wet and tired and cut and bruised and had rope burn and very little spirit left to continue… in fact to keep me going some of the others had to bluff me and say "the campsite is just right there! 5 minutes more only… 5 minutes more!"

It was truly a test of endurance. How much my body could take. Now I can truly understand how a person who gets lost in the jungle must feel. And how that person can die. If I got lost in the jungle the longest I tell you I could stay alive is 2 days. One night without light in the jungle is……. just…… undescribable. It’s complete and total darkness. Unknown noises, trees all around, roots…vine… rocks… mud… insects… and you can’t see anything, you can only feel it.

When I got out I was really proud of myself. For lasting that long. For making it through. For really just… doing it. I was covered head to toe in mud, and had to wash my clothes in the little stream in the campsite. With just my hands and nothing else. Wow. I actually. Washed my clothes. In a stream. !!!.

The AUP participants of the council camp (there were 40 ppl in total)

I just have one picture right now. I did lots of other activities like water rafting, vietnam bridge, flying fox, and obstacle course, but those were all rough activities and I didn’t really wanna bring my camera along cos I was afraid it would get damaged. All in all it was an experience of a lifetime! Fantastic.

*****

On a more… pathetic note… I still haven’t made my decision on which university to go to.

Basically it narrows down to this:

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (more prestigious)

University of Wisconsin-Madison (stronger actuarial science program)

WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE!???!???!???!???!???!???!???

Help me.

Exams are over. Hum hum hum. Happy happy.

What a totally lazy week! Went for my lovely holiday in Terengganu and Genting then went back to Subang and bummed around until Tuesday when I finally decided to start studying for my papers on Friday and Saturday. Talk about last minute. I can’t believe I actually read a whole entire 700-pg Psychology textbook in 8 weeks. Not bad, not bad… although I probably only remember about 7 pages of it now…

In Terengganu I went fishing.

Was so lucky that I managed to catch a fish.

Then of course, I ate the fish. ^-^

On Saturday right after my Psych final at 7 pm, I went for the AUP Farewell night for a short while, but had to leave early so I didn’t take any pictures. Then I went back to Kajang for Yomae’s birthday party, which was so awesome cos I hadn’t seen all these people in AGES. Here are some pictures…

Yomae the birthday girl

Mayn mayn my girlie girl

Jo after more than a year of not seeing her!

Sam and I

Esther and I

 
Alex and I… yam seng!

Li Mei and I

Yomae’s adorable little sister

Wen Yi and I

Vivian and I

Group photo

Well it was fun… so nice to see everyone again. It’s amazing how different we all look now. I wonder how reunions will be like in 10 years time!!! It’s been 2 years since I left high school… but sometimes it feels like just yesterday.

On another note, I’ve been accepted to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Wow, that was my greatest concern, cos its a rather selective university. So now I am in a very… difficult dilemma. Wisconsin or Michigan? I don’t know. If I choose Wisconsin, I’ll leave in January. If I choose Michigan, I have to leave by the middle of next month. Fast-nya!

Life is moving too fast for me.