illinois - you're nothing without chicago.

as if ann arbor is such a big city in michigan. lol.

just got back from chicago. sangat seronok. watched broadway, went to coyote ugly, went to hershey's chocolote tasting, cheesecake factory, millennium park, navy pier, the aquarium, planetarium, and so much more. didn't buy anything tho, trying to stop spending too much.



at Broadway.

watched Broadway. how cool is that? the current show is Wicked. reminds me of the Puteri Gunung Ledang theater. just that this one is hell lot funnier, and it's far more advanced in terms of facilities. in PGL people have to tarik and tolak the gunung-ganang and all, but this one it moves by itself, lol.


finding our way to Navy Pier.

we always get this strange stare look from people whenever we ride on the bus or train. maybe they're just wondering who the hell these people are. who wouldn't? there's a guy who looks mexican, and there are some asian looking people, and also with a bunch of indians. and plus us who are so animated and close to one another, anyone would've wondered the same thing too.

we're from Malaysia lahhh. multi-racial country. period.

it was snowing like crazy, a snow storm I guess. so the outdoor ice skating rink was almost empty. the snow on the rink was so thick that you can't even see the ice underneath. brought my ice skate shoes all the way from ann arbor, was totally worth it.

sorry lah saya beginner lagi. ohoho.

at Millennium Park, Chicago.

the bean.

chinatown.

Nasi Lemakkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk. at Penang Restaurant at Chinatown.

Penang Char Kuew Teow in Chicago!

the lake behind is frozen. gila kan?

at planetarium.


ferris wheel at navy pier.

cheesecake factory. it's not really a factory lah, it's just the name of the restaurant.

who could resist? mari menggemuk seperti fayyadh.


at hershey's.

hershey's cupcake. yummmy.


chocolate tasting. we tasted milk chocolate, and all dark chocolates from 10% chocolate percentage til up to 70%.

yuck. not a big fan of dark chocolate.

Coyote Ugly.

the atmosphere in chicago is like in kl, especially at night. you don't feel safe walking alone. there are a lot of beggars on the street. and the people aren't that friendly. and and, there are more blacks here compared to ann arbor.

at giordano's.

oh yeah. guess what happened in chicago? and it happened twice! hoho. people spoke in spanish to me again. once was when I was skating with Carol, this random guy suddenly stopped beside me and starts speaking in spanish. apakahhhhh. and obviously, all I could reply is, "sorry I don't speak spanish".

random guy 1: oh sorryyy. how long have you been skating?
me: here? about a month.
random guy 1: *&$@#$^*@#^$!)(@ are you for real? you didn't broke anything in that period of time?
me: not really, just some bruises.
random guy 1: you're good man.

:D

hahaha and another one was at the bus station, when we were about to leave Chicago.

random guy 2: espaneola? (it sounds like that)
me: no sorry. *smiles*

poster of one of the unis I'm supposed to apply to. no thanks, I got a better deal :D

did you watch My Best Friend's wedding? if you do, you'll know where this is.

oh yeah. the day we arrived at Chicago, we were welcomed by the Malaysian Student Department (MSD) of Chicago. they served us Nasi Lemak, Meehun, Ayam goreng, and other malaysian kuihh!!! sangat sedap and seronokkk!! rindu rindu rindu. the MSD people were very very extra nice. two thumbs up for them. :)

umich

$15,648.44.

that's the tuition fee for studying at U of M per semester.

gila.

U of M is a public school. meaning part of the fee is covered by the state government. but because I'm an alien, so I don't think that applies to me. still, even the americans think the tuition fee here is expensive. $15k. that's like 9 times the tuition cost at UTP, and that doesn't include the living expenses yet. tetapi saya masih prefer library UTP over UofM's. lol.

actually the motive of this post is, I watched a video by AI recently, which condemns about the deterioration of local universities' quality. in his speech, he compared University Malaya with India Institute of Technology which he said is ranked no 3 in the world.

hoi. pandai-pandai jer.

*seperti ayah mempertahan anaknya*

what you're trying to say is U of M is ranked lower than IIT? what does your fact based on? rank 3 is Yale. and U of M is 38th. mana ada India.

and, I've found this funny group at facebook.

'U of M - Making Smart Kids Feel Stupid Since 1817'

I know it, you know it, we all know it.At some point in our academic career here at glorious U of M, a class, homework assignment, GSI, professor, exam, or any combination of the above has made us feel completely and utterly stupid. Despite the fact that most of us came in with a very solid educational background, where we were among the best of the best and were at the top of our game, at Michigan sooner or later we inevitably end up thinking: "What the hell is wrong with me? Why can't I get this? Why doesn't it make any sense? I'm so stupid..."

and this was one of the funny comments I found in the group.

I studied so hard for my last math midterm.I almost cried as I was sitting there, taking that test. That feeling of being "defeated" by an exam. A piece of paper.I had never had that feeling before, and it felt scary and alien.

lol. true.

it's a strange thing how the schedule in university life is less packed than school life, but still it's more stressed being in university.

wee.urgh.

my skate shoes have arrived.

wee.

prison break has finished.

urgh.

and, who would have thought that getting above 80 doesn't guarantee you an A? what more if it's math we're talking about here.

even a 10 year old boy would have cried to sleep if his math teacher says he needs to get at least 90 to get a solid A for his math.

*sits alone at the dark corner of the room*

engrish

the government should've implemented math and science in english long time ago. if that's the case, we, the university students now, wouldn't need to re-learn back everything that we've learned before in BM. we could've also avoided the confusion in translating BM science terms to English, which just makes the study progress slower.

and here's another reason why most people need to learn english. I know I'm not proficient at all when conversing in English, but when you're appointed as a minister, at least go and join some english courses please. it's such a shame to our country.


I bet his SAT wouldn't even reach the 1000 score. the americans here sometimes ask me to repeat back everything that I say, cos they can't really grasp what I'm talking about because of my accent or me swallowing the words. well, I bet the americans would just give up if they get the chance to talk to the minister. period.

hari matahari

went to Yost Ice Arena today. should really avoid going there on weekends next time. the rink is full with kids. some of them skate in the opposite direction of the crowd, and don't get surprised if they suddenly throw their body to the front and fall just to enjoy sliding on ice. there's this one cute little boy who sits in the middle of the rink and makes snowball from the ice. cuteee. after the ice rink was closed he was still holding the snowball. owwww.

oh, my friend here got into The Star. :O
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/2/17/focus/20117767&sec=focus

kak nurul! cepatlah saya mahu masuk Sinar pula.

green

I've been trying to figure out how to make money, without working, but to no avail.

people in lowyat.net(LYN) are offering paypal account as low as rm3.10 for a dollar, while the current exchange rate is rm3.221 per dollar.

so if I buy a hundred dollar from LYN and transfer it to my US bank account, I will only make a profit of RM12.10 for every hundred dollar transaction, which is equivalent to only US$3.76. so I have to make at least a $1000 transaction in order to get $37 bucks. once all my money in malaysia are transferred to the states, I will then need to pay a service charge everytime I want to transfer the fund back to malaysia to restart back the loop.

it's freaking tedious, and requires a lot of time. and it's not that profitable.

I failed again in trying to make money and being lazy at the same time.

bag

hari ini, saya telah membeli sebuah beg sekolah. hal ini kerana beg silang saya sangatlah tidak kondusif untuk dipakai di sini. maka saya akan memakai beg silang tersebut untuk membawa laptop saya sahaja.



damn.

perlu lebih berjimat.

going to chicago next week. habislah duit.

and planning to go to LA before going back to malaysia this july. habislahhh.

oh, saya baru mendapat sebuah teddy bear semalam sempena UMIX. semua pelajar mendapat sebuah teddy bear yg sangat aneroxic dan kami perlu memasukkan sendiri bulu-bulu tersebut ke dalam teddy bear tersebut. sangat menyeronokkan, dan memenatkan rupanya.

nama teddy bear saya beruang.

beruang who is so full with mardi gras spirit.

hahaha ok that's the most girlish post I ever had.

I'm having trouble saying the 'th' word. apparently all malaysians do. and I didn't know the letter 'h' is pronounced as 'eychhh' instead of 'heshhhh'.

ngeng.

ace

when you love someone, you gotta trust them.
there's no other way.
you've got to give them the key to everything that's yours.
otherwise what's the point.
and for a while, I believe that's the kind of love I had.

period.

go and watch Casino (1995).

random

cook: yada yada yada yada spanish?
me: voule vu couche ave mua?

ok I didn't actually say that, cos it's french. today, a cook suddenly spoke spanish to me, and I didn't even look at him at first, thinking he was talking to other people. then he repeated again, while coming nearer to me. all I could reply was, "no?".

cook: oh you don't talk spanish? I thought you do.
me: err no, I don't know spanish.
cook: ohh, everytime you come here I thought you're one of the mexican guys.
me: haha no, I'm from malaysia, somewhere in asia.
cook: oh I didn't know that, I'm david by the way. *continues preparing my food*

hehe. a good thing about being a malay guy in the US is that people here would think you're a mexican. that's kinda a relief. at least we don't have to worry about people thinking we're a foreigner. for a malay woman, it's a bit different. they won't have any idea where you're from. the best they could guess is philippine. americans tend to generalize asian as people who have those chinese/japanese look. that's it. hurmm.

and I bought this! for $20. sangat murah. it's a clearance item anyway. will be arriving next week. one step closer for me in becoming a professional ice skater. wahaha. thinking of buying another backpack. hurm let me check my account balance first.

midterms

just finished my midterms. I guess having maths and econs test back to back in a day isn't that bad after all. hoho. next week is the last week before spring break. planning to go to chicago.

currently, I think I'm addicted to ice skate instead of pool now. :D


Slyvia's CNY potluck party.


UMIMSA (UniofM Malaysia Student Assoc.) CNY dinner

jen niece.



UMIX night! free skating til 2am.

pawned

I couldn't help it but I really have to post this.

While walking down the street one day a Malaysian Boleh Minister is tragically hit by a truck and dies.

His soul arrives in heaven and is met by St. Peter at the entrance.

"Welcome to heaven," says St. Peter. "Before you settle in, it seems there is a problem. We seldom see a high official around these parts, you see, so we're not sure what to do with you."

"No problem, just let me in," says the man.

"Well, I'd like to, but I have orders from higher up. What we'll do is have you spend one day in hell and one in heaven. Then you can choose where to spend eternity."

"Really, I have made up my mind. I want to be in heaven," says the Yang Berhormat

"I'm sorry, but we have our rules," says St. Peter.

And with that, St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down,down, down to hell. The doors open and he finds himself in the middle of a green golf course. In the distance is a clubhouse and standing in front of it are all his friends and other politicians who had worked with him.

Everyone is very happy and dressed in the finest batik there is. They run to greet him, shake his hand, and reminisce about the good times they had while getting rich at the expense of the people. They play a friendly game of golf and then indulge themselves on lobsters, caviar and the most expensive food there is.

Also present is the devil, who really is a very friendly guy who has a good time dancing and telling jokes. They are having such a good time that before he realizes it, it is time to go.
Everyone gives him a hearty farewell and waves while the elevator rises.

The elevator goes up, up, up and the door reopens on heaven where St. Peter is waiting for him.

"Now it' s time to visit heaven."

So, 24 hours pass with the Yang Berhormat joining a group of contented souls moving from cloud to cloud, playing the harp and singing. They have a good time and, before he realizes it, the 24 hours have gone by and St. Peter returns.

"Well, then, you've spent a day in hell and another in heaven. Now choose your eternity."

The Yang Berhormat reflects for a minute, then he answers: "Well, I would never have said it before, I mean heaven has been delightful, but I think I am better off in hell."

So St. Peter escorts him to the elevator and he goes down, down, down to hell. Now the doors of the elevator open and he's in the middle of a barren land covered with waste and garbage.

He sees all his friends, dressed in rags, picking up the trash and putting it in black bags as more trash falls from above.

The devil comes over to him and puts his arm around his shoulder.

"I don't understand," stammers the Yang Berhormat. "Yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and clubhouse, and we ate lobster and caviar, drank champagne, and danced and had a great time. Now there's just a wasteland full of garbage and my friends look miserable. What happened?"

The devil looks at him, smiles and says, "Yesterday we were campaigning just like you during an election......Today you voted."

gong xi gong xi

so, it's chinese new year today. gong xi gong xi.

had dinner at a chinese restaurant with almost half of the batch, hoho. a while after we finished our food, a random american lady suddenly came beside me and started talking.

the lady: Oh my god, I'm a RAT!!!
me: errr.. (with an awkward face)
the lady: see it says here 1948!! (while pointing to a paper) I'm born in 1948, so I'm a rat!!
me: ohh, okayy..
the lady: (starts going away and continue telling other people in the restaurant that she's a rat)

haha now that's funny. it's amazing how you get to meet different type of people at different places. I wish I was born in the year of cat so I can say to that lady "I'm a cat for god's sake now shut up you little rat!". muhaha.

then I took 2 fortune cookies! it tastes like some malay kuih, but I can't recall what's the name. hurm hurm. you do know what fortune cookies are don't you? it's like a biscuit, and inside it will be a small piece of paper with some motivating quotes or something. the first one I got was "You will have many friends when you need them". that really reminds me of my friends. :) and the second one was the one I like the most. "Someone is interested in you. Keep your eyes open". wahlaweh. please please please let that 'someone' be a latina girl with a hot bod like the girl in Transformers. everybody has their own dreams right? hehe

ek zem

i flunk my physics test. reallyyyyyy bad.

damn.

my chemistry test just now was fine. hope it will make it up for my previous blunder.

economics and differential equations tests are coming up next week. then it's Spring Break for 1 week.

yeay.

sengal

hari ini, saya mendapat lab partner yang sengal. bukan sahaja pemalas, tetapi bengap juga hinggakan dia tidak tahu bagaimana untuk melukis graf berdasarkan data daripada eksperimen. disebabkan itu, kami habis eksperimen lambat menyebabkan masa untuk saya menelaah kimia berkurangan.

pengajaran hari ini: jangan pilih lab partner yang lebih hitam dari anda.

apa namaa..

this post has nothing to do with ann arbor, so if you tak suka, you keluarrr..

I wish I'm still in malaysia so that I could get a clearer view on what's going on with the VK Lingam's case. I'm so interested with it that I've been viewing quite a number of videos about it. correct correct correct correct...there's always something going on in malaysia's politics. there's always people who wants to get others down.

here are some of my favourite videos.



pity TDM. nobody's on his side after his resignation. I guess it's the nature of people to butter up only people with powers. and AI, his words really make sense, a lot. he doesn't have to raise his voice to captivate people's attention, but just with meticulous arranged words. you see, a wise man doesn't have to use his voice, but just words to capture one's thought. jadi tuan penceramah kem BTN, tak payah la nak memekik sampai orang nak pekak, we are witty people, so at least try to act like one. meanwhile KJ and NTR, they only know how to shout and mumble. PL, tidur. where's your credibility?

jadi sempena pilihanraya ini, buanglah undi dengan bijak. muhaha.

ngeng

at a sports bar, having dinner with pete. sorry saya malas ambik gambar la sejak kebelakangan ini, ohoho.

Korean Drum Festival 'Sinaboro' that I went to last Saturday.

do you know that internet is a very dangerous place? for instance, I know who's visiting my blog, where you are from, what PC are you using, which page were you viewing before coming to my blog (in this case, mostly from familyabidin's website), what keywords did you use to search my blog on google and so on. there are many other things you could do, if you know how.

ahhh..the wonders of internet. :)

I have chemistry exam tomorrow, "YEAY"! -_-"

hope

Hoping too much is a shortcut to depression.

It's like waiting for a detonating bomb in front of you to somehow malfunctions by itself, which rarely happens. It's never a waste to try to defuse the bomb. Albeit it might still fail, but at least you know you've tried.

mungkin kita semua juga perlu berfikiran begitu.

berhenti berharap.

tetapi susah bukan?

hari hari

pada hari-hari yang saya bangun lambat (yakni setiap hari), saya tidak akan mandi sebelum pergi ke kelas. oleh itu, saya cuma membasuh muka dan membasahkan rambut sahaja. hari ini saya bangun lambat juga, dan hanya membasahkan rambut. setelah sampai ke kelas, saya mendapati rambut saya telah keras seperti air batu kerana air yang saya letak di rambut tidak sempat kering lalu membeku.

begitulah cerita saya tentang betapa sejuknya bandar Ann Arbor ini.