Season 6, Episode 8: Week 14 meets the Wedding!

" Say goodbye in the pouring rain, and i breakdown as you walk away. Cause all my life i felt this way, but i could never find the words to say. Stay... with me, stay... " - Stay, Hurts

I have to say this- this post is on the same date as the Royal Wedding. To be honest, i have never known or read so much about the royal family until today. Thanks to the Star for the coverage and SkyNews for the wedding- even with American Idol Result show airing on the other channel, i'm compelled to witness the wedding. Although it was for long hours, anticipating their union is somewhat the wedding everyone will talk about. Oh, i just like weddings!

And wedding bells and choir and the wedding gown!

After two, last weeks of this semester, i can finally take a little time off to unwind and rest before i dive into the books again. If the most hectic week is to be chosen, it had to be Week 13. Even with the Tuesday a public holiday, the rest of the week was less sleep, more stress. There were tests on Wednesday and Friday, Presentation hosting on Wednesday, assignments submission on Wednesday and Thursday and an unannounced quiz on Thursday. Looking back at that week, i always question myself, how did i survive through the week. Indeed, it is always a nice feeling to know what you've done and accomplished. For whatever the results may be, i know i tried my best in all.

I woke up this week smiling. I got up from bed and headed to my work desk- otherwise known as my table with laptop, and switched it on. The mail that caught my eyes was the one i sent over the weekend, about a work me and my team we doing. And it has gotten the approval. The April Issue 2011 of Heart of Tronoh (HOT). Do check it out. If you want to know what it is, it's my uni's official campus newsletter. I was smiling the entire day, and hopefully that smile will last this entire week- the last week. Even the last week, as always a rush to complete coursework before the semester closes- more so with the shortened semester, i had a lab test on Tuesday and test on Wednesday, and assignment deadlines on Tuesday and Thursday. Of course, the ideal getaway is, and always will be, a trip back home!

So here i am, blogging to you from home, in front of the TV watching the wedding of the year.

I just knew Thor is opening today. Who's in?


Stay by Hurts.

wc11 rings the bell and gets set for the study week ahead!

Passage of time: A Pokemon confession

" I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant ; it's what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are." - The First Movie, Pokemon.

Heard the quote before? Probably you may or may not know that i was once a fan of Pokemon. Well, 'was' isn't exactly the right word to use because i still am having that interest for Pokemon. Sometimes, i do reopen my orange box where i keep my Pokemon cards in it and duel with my brothers. I am a fire-plant deck. I know, what a combination, but i don't play for tournaments- i play for the joy of it.

I remembered fondly of my Pokemon days. I can't exactly recall how this interest sparked but cards were one of those things that amplified it. I collected cards, bought them at game shops or traded them with my family and friends. Yes, it was the Pokemon fever during my childhood years and like every child, we want to have more of everything- more cards, more rare cards, with star shaped marks or limited edition ones that make them all the more valuable.

It was sometime ago when Fridays used to be the day i go to my friend's house, or they come over, to have battles. Somehow, these card games bonded us closer together, though sometimes, battles might turn uncomfortable. But it teaches something- we win some, we lose some, but more importantly, it's about teamwork and cooperation. It was some weekends too that i can remember going to my cousin's house, as a secondary purpose to play these cards together. We played with his neighbours too- almost the whole neighbourhood had a deck. To raise the stake, bets we made. Loser loses a card- i hate this.

Because buying new cards are expensive, these Pokemon cards are seen as a reward for something. It somehow taught me about budgeting and saving. Or when i am satisfied at something i put effort in like the exams or my good behaviour, i get one. A packet of card costs about RM 12, in my days. My parents can't buy one for me only- my brothers will ask for themselves too so each visit ended up three times the price, which made it more challenging to buy. And with the amount of pocket money i received monthly, every bought Pokemon cards meant something to me. I can remember one time when i was out in KLCC, i was tempted to buy a packet. I called my mum to know if she allowed me. And she did!

Not only were the cards causing the Pokemon craze- the games too! I had a Gameboy last time (it's barely functioning today) and with the cartridge fixed to it, my game was saved. Yellow. Blue. Gold. Silver. I remembered even waking up early one day to bury my head in the small screen. Probably a reason of my short-sightedness today. Every battle creates the suspense and eagerness to win. Sometimes when my Pokemon misses, i hope the enemy also misses. I reached the end stage, after collecting all gym badges and was in the league, battling other trainers. I also had the connector- i'm not sure what it's called, but i can duel with my cousin with it.

The only problem with the game, or Gameboy, was that it was battery-powered. So each time the red light dimmed, i needed a new battery. And again, batteries are not cheap. I had an adapter though, but nothing beats the device being portable! While waiting for dinner. In a car trip. Somehow, i don't find such equivalent joy when playing today's iPod games like Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, etc. I'm not saying that it's not great. It's just that Pokemon games will always have a place in me. Moving the avatar, meeting other trainers and the screen spirals in. The avatar meets the opponent. He throws a Pokeball and out comes a Pokemon. You throw yours and the battle begins! We can attack, use items or change Pokemon.

You can witness your Pokemon evolving too, after much love and care invested in them. And that sound, the the screen blinking on and off.

Then there was the TV series and movies. I knew what time of the day the show aired and i came to the front of the TV to impatiently wait for it, as it plays the opening credits with memorable song. The title comes out and i was all eager to watch the show. Ash with his adorable Pikachu. And surely, it was every kid-with-Pokemon-interest's dream to be Ash. Living in a world to become the greatest Pokemon master, experiencing adventures with his best friends. Seriously, the bond of friendship is gold to the show. And at the end of the show, when they had fast clips to name the Pokemon, i remembered i knew all of them.

One reason why i was inspired to blog about this is because i had just watched the first and second movie of Pokemon again. Yes, the one with Mew Two and the one with the three Legendary Birds. Instantly, it ignited that long, silent passion. Watching them reminded me of Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Charizat, Psyduck, and even the miserable but entertaining to watch Team Rocket and Meowth! The movie has great values and i'm sure when i have a kid one day, i will show them what Pokemon movies are and learn the values the movies have to offer.

Playing Pokemon cards, games or watching the show is not being childish but it is an act that you relive your childhood moments. Whether or not you are a fan of Pokemon- and that you may not share the same liking to this post, i believe you have at least one childhood memory of such and that you cherish them. Being an adult doesn't mean you need to let go off the things you imagined much as a child, it is about using those memories to learn from and become a person who you really are.

No doubt, as time goes by, we tend to forget and have lost little passion of it. Find that one thing that can rekindle your sweet childhood times. It may not be Pokemon. Perhaps Doraemon- don't get me started on that, or Power Rangers, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle or Transformers, and you will realize that time, at that moment, stops and you'll be transported back to that age.

I know i did, for sure.

So the next time i head home, it will be my orange box that i will look for and search the cards i once, and always will, treasure.

I imagine myself holding my Ho-oh card with Gold Berry attached to it, with five fire energy cards waiting for a Dive Bomb!

As for now, i'll be watching the third movie soon!

wc11 confesses his Pokemon dreams...



*This post is a special dedication to all Pokemon fans out there. Do comment your Pokemon moments. =)

Season 6, Episode 7: Come night, another side of me.

Snapshot: Looking for that one star, in a starry night reflecting Earth Hour 2011.

* Not for minors (under the age of 18) for the first part of the post.

"There was a saying that we can shed light in the darkness but we can never stick darkness in the light. It tells that in every fight, in every combat, in every struggle, light triumphs over darkness, good overwhelm evil. " - A work in progress opening lines.

Finally, my friends stripped my club 'virginity'- it's funny how they labeled it. And time and time again, they asked me to go. At first, i couldn't because i had to rush to complete some tasks at hand. Then, there was so much time between then and the time to go for clubs, so i had no way of coming out from it. Completed everything, almost, and left to the clubs.

A little '6' or '9' imprinted on the back of my palm.

I'm surprised! In my mind, i thought clubs are dark, smoky, crowded, and all sorts negative. But when i was there, it had sufficient lighting and it wasn't as dark as i thought it to be. Not much crowd though, a Thursday night out. Loud, deafening music. The first place we went was Barroom.

I had beer. And the dance floor.

Enough with that, we moved to the next club. 2 clubs in one night! Zer0 had more crowd.

I had liquor. I danced. And i puked.

Yes, people. You read right. I puked out what i drank. Not drunk, but i can feel my head spinning and i required effort to walk straight. I used to wonder how a person can be drunk. Now, i sort of know it. I'm not the extreme case, thankfully, as in almost every minute, i was making sure of myself to not allow my subconscious mind to take over.

The mark still present after a night's sleep. Written ZER0.

You don't want to know how many times i tried to let it all out. Even when we were at McDs, the place i visited first was the toilet. Knocked out almost throughout my trip back uni. Went back to my room, off to bed.

I thought sleeping at 4, i would have woken up about 10. I woke up at 8.30, somehow, energized until before i'm about to leave for class.

Long story short, clubbing was indeed an interesting experience. My friend told me, "The first time i went clubbing, i drank a bottle, then puked. And drank again." I'm a first timer at this, and drinking needs practice. I wonder if i'll practice again anytime soon.

Thank you guys- for helping me to lose my club 'virginity'.

*****

I'm so used to writing double stories in one post. Why? My time line is all messed up. When i put something on hold, another new thing comes up, piling. Therefore, the only escape from this is to do this.

26 March 2011 was a date the world united to support and show care towards the Earth we live in. *Drastic change from the clubbing post, ain't it?*

The ELC was no different. Like last year, this year, we brought the Mass Gathering Earth Hour 2011 to greater heights, reaching out to more people to join in this effort. To anticipate this, we had also initiated a Facebook-less Day and i personally thank you for supporting this effort.

We met in the lecture hall and showed inspiring videos of Earth Hour, and we initiated our countdown to switch off the lights. Then, we lighted our candles and paraded to the Pavilion. There, together with everyone, we lighted up the symbolic '60' and had tons of photographs with it.

With Jay and Nabs, ELC alumni. Candles in the night.

My friends and i posing with the symbolic 60. Much effort was put in on the board to create this masterpiece.

My uni participated as well, switching off all the street lights. Back to basics, we used candle light to guide our way. By the time we regrouped in the lecture hall, it was about time to countdown for the lights to turn on

Thank you and congratulations to those came and survived. This year, it is to go beyond the 60 minutes. After the countdown, we had games for the audience and a special performance by the 'Flamin' Lips. It was entertaining, to say the least.

It was a memorable night, for sure, knowing we still care for the world we live in.

And that's not all. That night was the first time ever i had seen a shooting star! I was too overwhelmed by joy that i didn't have time to close my eyes and make a wish. Even if i had, i knew what i wanted to wish for already.

wc11 says "What say you?" on the dance floor, under the moonlight.

Season 6, Episode 6: Smiles on Saturday

" Candy, Chicks, and Rock 'n' Roll. " - HOP movie tagline

Just to lay it down first, the 'virgin' club party was postponed until further notice- but i'm still worn out over the events that happened on that Saturday. I suppose there will always be a Saturday in every semester that i will somehow be spellbound and never want to come back uni. Last semester was Sitiawan. This semester was... *let the smiley Saturday story begin...*

Early on the 2nd of April, Saturday morning, i shared a technique i learned during my drama school years, the chain effect, with the rest of the team. My friend started to call another friend at 6.30am, and she then called another friend. And he then called another friend, until the phone-in-line returns to me about 7am. Somehow, i felt like i was back, living in those memories. Something to talk about, ain't so? Anyway, we met in the cafe at 7.15am, had breakfast together and a final briefing before we took off. You may be wondering what's all this fuss- waking up early, having breakfast, morning briefing.

Well, it was, after all, a Smiley Saturday! Not literally, the name of our project under the ELC is called so.

So we left in our cars to the nearby school. It's a project conducted in school to promote the use of English through activities and enhance listening and communication skills. The school of our choice was the SK Seri Tronoh.

Once there, we were divided into smaller groups, from Year One to Year Six. As a facilitator, i was assigned to group 1 of Year 5 students. There were 11 students in my group. We had an ice-breaking session to break the ice and get to know each other. We will be buddies for the next three hours. So, we had out first activity, the tongue-twister.

" Tie a knot, tie a tight, tight knot, tie a knot in a shape of a ... "

And the students, in a circle, will add on to the line in alphabetical order. The facilitators had to play along. And when it came to my turn, i was the last one with all the words, and eyes staring at me.

"Tie a knot, tie a tight, tight knot, tie a knot in a shape of an apple, ball, cat, dog, elephant, ferry, giraffe, house, iguana, jaguar, kangaroo, lamp, mango, nest, orange, pencil, queen, rabbit, sheep, tiger, umbrella, violin, window, x-ray, ..." *I still remember them now*

The next thing i asked them to do was to come up with a name for our group. We're later called 'Tiger Lightning'. Moving on to our next activity, we did Snap Dragon. Probably some of you may know how to fold this already. It's the one where you can fit your fingers into four boxes, ask your friends to choose a colour then you show them the short-listed numbers inside. The activity was to improve listening skills.

Finally, we had little sketches. Something like a charades, they had to act some 'present continuous phrases'. Somehow, this got them hyped up and active. I had to follow their lead then. Just before we left, we had our final activity together which is a sing-along. Not bad, i can feel the spirit in them!

A group photo of my team, in their funny faces. Nice meeting them.

Just before we bid farewell to the school, the facilitators took a group photo together.
I felt the project, 'Smiley Saturday' was truly a successful and enjoyable one!

Headed back to uni, exhausted. But that did not deter us from continuing on with our night escape. Even with the tiredness settling in and my headache verging on returning, we were energized at the thought of going to Ipoh. And the big group narrowed down to four, as we left uni at 6pm.

We couldn't get to Jusco at the time we estimated. We were not familiar with the directions to get there, following instincts more than signboards. But we were just in time for the movie we wanted to watch, Hop.

Hop is a new movie that celebrates the magic of Easter. It's a colourful, vibrant and entertaining movie. A good choice of escape from the stress as we had real good laughs at some scenes. There are some family drama revolving around the two main characters- one a man, another a bunny. It begins with a child seeing the Easter bunny on the night before Easter. Twenty years later, they grew up and the boy, now a man, Fred, is a slacker and does not plan to get a job. EB, the son of the elder rabbit, decided he did not want to become the Easter Bunny because of the tremendous weight on the shoulder. He runs away from the family and goes to Hollywood. He dreams of becoming a drum player. He accidentally meets with Fred. And their relationship experiences downs and ups until the end. Not revealing much to you.

It's like Alvin and the Chipmunks. It has a good story to accompany. Overall, Hop makes for a good family movie and if you're in to have a good laugh, this movie offers you enough dose to enjoy for the rest of the weekend.

After movie, we went for a brief shopping. By then, our stomachs were grumbling and we didn't know what to eat. We went out Jusco to De' Garden (if i spell it right) and hunt for something good to eat. Looking at the crowd in Paparich, we dined in.

Me and my dinner. The place was nice. The food was alright, nothing impressive. Probably it was a wrong choice of meal?

The place around De' Garden is beautiful at night, with lights and water effects. It was my first time there and i'm sure i liked the place. After dinner, we went for desserts in the shops in the area. We left slightly after 11pm to get back to uni- midnight was our limit.

A very Hollywood-boulevard feel as we stared up into the palm trees.

What a weekend!

*****

Not too long ago, i was the MC for the Chem-E-Car Competition held in my uni.

Somehow, i'm getting the hang of being an MC.

With the committees of Ceremony and Protocol.

wc smiles on the Saturday...