My National Service stint

Alright after a bout a week recovering from NS, i think I'm ready to talk about it. (ceh, macam go to war jak) I was sent to Kem Bukit Saban, Betong, Sarawak. But i don't know why in the offer letter, the word Saban is spelled as Seban. We were supposed to leave for the camp at 9.30 a.m. from Stadium Perpaduan, Kuching but we only left after 10.30 a.m. In the bus I sat next to a girl, Rahmah. But we barely spoke during the next 4 hour ride to the camp. After reaching there around 3pm, we had our meal at the Dewan Makan. I was willing to eat anything they had to offer cos we didn't stop for lunch. The place and the food didn't surprise me one bit cos i have seen pictures of the camp in youtube. The food was okay except for the fact that something i ate or drank or breathe in gave me and a few others diarrhoea. So you see, I wasn't kidding when i said i was recovering from NS, diarrhoea to be exact, but I'll spare you the details.
For the next couple of days, we didn't do nothing much but stare into space at the dewan makan or fall asleep. The activities haven't started yet but we had to wake up early. On Monday and the following days, the routine was roughly like this:
4.30am: Wake up and bathe.
6.00am: Line up and march to the Perbarisan place which is actually in front of the resort where we have assembly
7.00am: Breakfast
8.30am: after resting in the room for awhile, line up again and march to the resort place where
we have classes.
10.0am: break
1030am: classes resume
1200: Lunch (as you can see i started using the 24 hour notation to state the time cos it sounds more military like)
1400: Outdoor activities like marching and marching (marching was all my outside activity cos i got out before the fun activities started
1630: Can play games like volleyball, football but mostly the girls do nothing but pocho-pocho.
1800: Dinner
2030: Go to class
2300: Bedtime
As you can see the schedule is really tight with hardly enough time to rest which will need a lot of time to get use. The few days that I was there, my legs well lets just said if my legs were given mouth to speak they would be crying out desperately for rest or maybe even chewing themselves off..eee scary thought. Anyways i met new friends and quite interesting ones too. There were only about 180 trainees. And some of them are school dropouts, some have trouble reading, writing, etc. A small number are already MARRIED!!! Gosh, i can't imagine being married at this age. Btw, my ex-tutorial mate, Nickelson, from Kapit got hitched a couple weeks ago, apparently it's an arranged marriage. I was placed in Alpha company and got to know 3 Bidayuh girls, Rafinnah aka Ai Yui, Joanne aka Nini and Illolita. All of them are from Serian. I was also quite close with Dayang aka Daydek from Kuching. I learnt how to converse in Sarawak Malay with Daydek but often I get tired of thinking about what to say i just speak in Melayu Baku which i have almost perfected in Labuan. Im wanndering what they are all doing right now...hmm...
I didn't like quite a few things. First, was the wolf-whistling by the boys. Honestly, they wolf-whistle at almost everything that the girls do. Like getting up from the chair or going back to the room. tsk tsk tsk macam got no girls where they came from. Then, there was the toilet. We can't use the showers cos the water pressure was so low or the pipe was broken or there was no door. So we had to berkemban and mandi beramai-ramai in kain batik.
But i also liked some stuff too. I like the classes cos the coaches are well trained and the stuff that we learn are well planned and can benefit the trainees a lot in terms of confidence and yadee yadee yada. I got out of the camp on Thursday(19 June) evening and rushed home cos Im starting uni next week!!! Gosh, wander what awaits me there.

I'm an aunt!

Revenge is sweet.

Yes maybe for you it might taste like saliva. Drink up.

Sick of being put down

haven't heard of the phrase, "if you got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all"? well, if you have any criticism, kindly voice out your opinion in an appropriate manner la. Don't have to be freaking rude about it, only with intentions of bringing me down. And don't take your anger out on me. So the fact that you were just in an argument on the phone was just a coincidence izzit? But thanks for making me realize that i should just stick to people who appreciates me and not take me as a punching bag. What a lousy day. I don't like being gang up by at least 2 people who have absolutely nothing nice to say. Heck, who doesn't? Even though you think you are making a 'lawak bodoh' but after 15 years it kinda gets tiring and not so lawak but just bodoh. Man, I'm so emotional today, and no thanks to you!

Done with Labuan. Back in Kuching

After 3 weeks of returning from Kolej Matrikulasi Labuan (KML), I'm finally blogging. After a very very long time. Almost a year already. I remember hating the place so much. But now, I'm kinda missing it. Quite sick of being at home. Here are some pictures of KML.

This is the college library where i frequently visit, only for the first couple of months. i prefer to study in the room.

This is the Menara Pentadbiran where they keep the lecturers.



Here are my roommates and I, in front of our block, Blok A for 'air'. Residents of this block have the luxury of constant water supply except for a couple of times where for the first time ever in the history of block A there was no water for a few hours. Still that is considered alright compared to the fate of residents of Block B, C and D and not forgetting E, where water cuts happen quite often. I don't really know for what reason though. Anyways, the one in brown Baju kurung is Suliha, all the way from Tawau, Sabah. She was the mother figure of the room, constantly putting other people's needs before hers. She's also really humble and appreciates her friends very much. I remember when her childhood friend had to move to pursue education elsewhere. She was in bed for practically two days and she came down with fever. Till the last night i spent with her, in our room, she still hugs the headless figurine given by that friend to sleep. She never sleeps without it. She probably still does. Standing 2nd from right is Ain. She currently lives in Miri but has spent most of her life in KL. Blessed with good looks she is never without a Malay 'peminat'. In fact, there was a commotion when two male students fought over her. She claims she can't live without her compact powder and is the roommate i always share stories and juicy gossips with. Last but not least is Suria but more known as Kynoe ( she's standing on the right) One word to describe Kynoe is quiet. She is very very quiet. I really believed at one point that if I didn't initiate conversations with her, we wouldn't have exchange words. But after awhile she did start talking but she still remains quiet and mysterious. I always wondered what goes on in her head because she hardly voices out her opinion but it does not mean she does not have any. She works quietly and is always constant at what she does. And she's from Tamparuli, Sabah.

Lost in KML

So I am already studying in Kolej Matrikulasi Labuan.(KML). My friend and I were looking for my room in the hostel. The conversation went like this....
Shake: What's your room number?
Me : 2.23
Shake: This is the room.
Me : Are you sure? Where's my bag? Where's all my stuff?
Shake: This is the room la. ( so we entered the room)
Me : This is not my room!!!
Shake: But it's the right number!!
Me : This is block A right?
Shake: Ohh...I think this is block B!
The same thing happened to me twice the next day!

Are Malaysians decent?

This morning I was woken up by a phone call from a friend in KL. It was nice to hear from her after so long. But unfortunately, she had some bad news. Last week she was mugged in the LRT station. A man pointed a knife at her, brought her to a corner and threatened her to give in all her money. This happened in broad daylight and the station was full of people jostling in a rush to get home after work. I'm sure that people saw this incident happening but chose to ignore it and carry on like nothing was happening. I guess that closing one eye is a trend among us. It's such a shame. I don't expect anyone to come to her rescue and risk his/her life for a stranger. But nobody came to her aid or offer any kind of assistance after the guy went away. Everyone just buat dunno. Nobody helped her to report this to the authorities. My friend was just left alone standing there, stunned, traumatized by what had happened. What shock me the most is not that my friend was mugged in a crowded place but how we choose to ignore an underage kid in time of serious help. I guess nobody cares as long as it doesn't happen to them. But what if the same thing happened to your kid or yourself? Wouldn't you be mad at the reaction of the people who witnessed the crime or should i say the lack of it?