Monday, February 29, 2016

February Favourites

We have 29 days this year!! Not that it's anything specifically significant to me personally but cool that we only see 29th of February once every 4 years. 

How has February been, everyone! I feel I've spent a majority of my February pretty alone - because my housemates are hardly home so I usually have the house to myself. I sometimes go days without making any human contact. 

So that would just mean that I didn't really accumulate any interesting February favourites - most of the new things I got/discovered/heard/seen were all at the end of this month so I don't know if that could be justified as a 'February favourite' when it's supposed to be something I enjoyed all month... right?

Why am I going on about the logistics of this anyway

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#1 Skin Food's black sugar wash-off mask
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Right off the bat, it smells ~ a m a z i n g ~. 

I was propelled to get this from the reviews I've read and almost everyone in the Korean skincare sphere seems to love this so I naturally had to try it out.

I haven't exfoliated my face in ages so this was so refreshing to use! You're not supposed to use it everyday and over exfoliate so I limit myself to just twice a week. And I look forward to that 2 days of the week because the feeling after you've washed this off is second to none! 

I had a hard time wearing it first because you're supposed to wear it with a damp face but how damp is damp?? I blotted my face after cleansing but then it was too dry and the roughness of this mask felt a bit too harsh for my skin. So I reapplied with a very damp face but then it was too wet pulak that I felt like the mask was just going to slip and slide. But I read somewhere that it's better if your face is wet because then the sugar becomes more likely to dissolve and therefore, you're less prone to having an irritated face.

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#2 Demi Lovato
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I LOVE her. That voice is killin' it everywhere. Her songs however some are not really up my alley but when I heard her sing 'Stone Cold', it just blew me out of the park. 

I was glad she was one of the chosen singers to sing during the Lionel Richie tribute at the Grammy's because yes! Finally! She shows that talent off! And right in front of some of music's best!

I think she should seriously be a lot more recognised for her singing, she's absolutely stunning! She's such an underrated powerhouse. It's just that her songs are not always reflective of that which is a pity. 'Stone Cold' was on replay for me this month and her acoustic live versions are even better. Honestly, I hope she releases better music to showcase that huge voice of hers. And then win a Grammy. And then prove that sometimes, maybe just **sometimes** talent > marketability. 

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#3 2 Days 1 Night
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Olan, Asil, Ariff if you are reading this, please watch 2 Days 1 Night if you haven't already!

(It's quite confusing, sometimes they refer to it as 2 Days 1 Night but in Korean, it's translated directly as 1 Night 2 Days)

When I was watching Running Man the other day, I looked at the comments and someone had listed the weekly ratings and Running Man was at about 5% and this show '2 Days 1 Night' was at 16%! I was like, 

"Wait there's a better show than Running Man ???? Say it isn't so!!"

So I started watching an episode. 

And I was gone for!

It's so so funny and it's no wonder it tops ratings each week (by 3-4x more than Running Man!) which should speak for itself! I don't know if I personally would prefer it over Running Man just yet but it's seriously damn funny on its own. 

The other day, I suggested Zaim to watch an episode of Running Man 'cause I thought it was one of the best ones they've made and surprisingly (to me), he didn't quite like it. He didn't enjoy their humour as much as I did. Which just shows not everyone is on the same page with what makes them laugh. 

BUT KOREAN SHOWS MAKE ME LAUGH. Really really hard! I think my housemate upstairs might think I've gone a bit mental from not making any human contact and then suddenly break into fits of laughter hahaha and since I always have my earphones plugged in, it just seriously sounds like I'm laughing at nothing. Kinda creepy now that I think about it but I do bring my laptop with me when I have my meals in the kitchen so atleast he knows there's a reason as to why I burst out laughing so randomly...

But anyway if you haven't watched and completely loved it already, watch it! 
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#4 Michelle Phan
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I stopped watching Michelle Phan's videos and unsubscribed her channel about a few years ago because I felt she was so unnatural on video and that fame got to her.

I apologise and I take it back.

She's actually pretty damn kick-ass.

She's handling her own company worth millions and still has time to produce content on Youtube. And she's super original also which I love. I think I watch most of her videos for how she edits them and all the different fancy things she'd do. Not so much on the actual make-up because sometimes her make-up looks are so not wearable and still speaks too formal and awkward (I cringe sometimes). But she's so creative, it's so sickening! I love it!! And I like how she just dresses and puts on her make-up however she likes. Blue lipstick? No problem. That kind of confidence and creativity is enviable. 

And she was also on the cover of Nylon and Forbes recently and one of her social media she was talking about it and she was thanking her supporters and said,

"Now go do better than me"

Cool tak cool dia ni??? So humble and just such an inspiration. How did she twist and turn from making a video on how to create a smokey eye to being a Youtube phenomenon and then a multi-millionaire entrepreneur ????/

Goals.

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#5 K-Pop 
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Early this month, I was treated to yet another K-Pop comeback!

[K-Pop Dictionary : 'Comeback' = when a group releases new music it is referred to as a 'comeback'. I was confused at first when I heard about it because you don't see 'Rihanna making a comeback!' headlining music websites. It's different with K-Pop... everything is different with K-Pop *heart eye emoji*]

4Minute released their 7th mini-album beginning of this month called 'Act : 7'.
And it's pretty damn ~ siiiiiiiiick ~

I knew of them but never got into their music because of IDK what reason but they're actually pretty bomb. Skrillex personally contributed to the composition of their title track 'Hate' and I really did not expect to like it as much as I actually do. I also really really love 'No Love'. Maybe a bit more than 'Hate'. 

It's hard-hitting and addictive. Definitely not my preferred taste of music but I don't know, man, it's kinda like Big Bang's 'Bang Bang Bang'. Loud and obnoxious but so good at the same time??? I don't know how the system works, guys; I too am very perplexed.

'Hate' and 'Crazy' is quite telling about what group 4Minute is. They're definitely not the kinda group to be in frilled skirts and tiaras (what is up with Korean girl groups and wearing uniforms btw ?!?!). They always put out really strong sounding songs and there have been a lot a lot a a lot of mixed reviews for 'Hate' but I liked it as soon as I heard it. I think it's cool and risky, definitely something I had on repeat this month. 

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And for my February shopping-fast update : Aced it. 

I only bought a book, 'The Big Short' and the black sugar mask this month. 

I didn't find anything nice in stores anyway. I was looking to get a bra at Victoria's Secret and they were freaking £38 !!! RM220 !! So expensive for a piece of garment that no one ever sees !!!!

But other than that, I didn't see anything that was worth buying now. It's still pretty cold but spring/summer collections are already starting to fill out stores and they're all pretty mediocre still. I suspect the better items will be out in May/June when it gets warmer. No stores want to sell their best designs now when everyone's still wrapped up in wooly scarves.

Relatively still too early to think about Summer but I'm already thinking of what to wear...

xx

Sunday, February 28, 2016

To leave

I AM SO HUNGRY! I'm currently waiting on my delivery to come. I haven't gone to the butchers in ages to get my stock of meat. I miss eating rice and you know what else I miss? Ice-cream.

I miss eating ice-cream on a hot day. My favourite ice-cream is Tropicana - the lime one with vanilla filling. That and a good ol' Cornetto.

*sigh* I miss Malaysia every day and I think a lot of it has to do with food. I miss eating really good food and just miss not worrying about what to have for breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Anyway, random rant.

I saw a quoted tweet today "Get your degree. Leave Malaysia"

This is such a stupid mentality. I cringe and get so peeved at people who are just itching to leave Malaysia to work elsewhere. I think it's actually quite offensive, to be honest.

Don't go around criticising your own country when you're the one about to pack up and leave. That's so hypocritical. 

If you want your country to be a better place, don't just leave it be and criticise it from a distance. It's not only stupid, it's worthless. What use is it if you're not doing anything good anyway? I get so angry when I hear people say bad things about Malaysia as if they've worked SO hard to change things around. Come on lah, retweeting on Twitter and reposting on Facebook is hardly any effort so don't say you've **stood** up for your country. Hardly any effort mate, you could've retweeted a joke and reposted a video just as easy. 

So stop talking trash and start doing things. Malaysians, we talk a big deal about EVERYTHING but we hardly do anything to realise it which really is so unproductive of us as a society. 

If you want to settle abroad, fine whatever that's really up to you. But for these youngsters to say "Get a degree and leave Malaysia", it sounds defeatist and like you don't want anything to do with the country you grew up with which is no bueno, mi amigo.

You want the country to change for the better than let's put in the effort to do something about it. Don't leave and wait for the country to get better FOR you. Strive to be part of the reason that it will. Don't look for home only when it's easy. We identify Malaysia as home yet we still can't stick around for its bad days. 

How do you expect a country to change if we waste our efforts into nitpicking and belittling it when we could've utilised it to do something better. 

xx

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

"Keep Warm"

My eyes are strained and I'm squinting as I type but still wanted to share this!

I was walking back from my Korean class to get some KFC for dinner with Nan's when we came across scarves and beanies and gloves being tied to poles, trees, bins, and even on rails! And came with it, a piece of note;



I thought this was especially lovely because it's still cold out and there are lots of homeless people around, sleeping on cardboard and living with a sleeping bag. I was so touched by the gesture. It's just really lovely to think that someone came up with this initiative and actually did it. Actually went to print that note and attach it to (what I would assume to be) donated items. *sigh* Things like these make Bristol extra extra special to me. The other day, I saw 2 girls going around with hot meals and giving it out to all the homeless people in the city. Not just merely going around and giving them food, but they actually stayed to talk with them. Just to think there are people like that still warms the heart. Heck! A beggar came up to me the other day at the bus stop,

"Hello there, Miss, I'm so sorry to be asking you this, but do you by any chance have extra change with you?"

I unfortunately didn't. 

"Sorry, sir, I don't have any on me now!"

to which he replied, with a great big smile on his face

"Oh that's alright then! You have a great night ahead of you, Miss, very sorry to have disturbed you!"

and I just wanted to cry. He wasn't grumpy or anything like that. I mean, he doesn't have MONEY and he still had the energy and decency to smile and say 'sorry' and 'thanks'. He apologised twice for asking me when it was really me who should have been sorry for not having enough money. Actually now I think about it, 95% I might have actually teared up on the bus!! 

I have grown so fond of this small city and its people and that although I have said several times on how much I look forward to go back, I just have such a big, big space in my heart for Bristol. It's my home now! Bristol keeps on giving me reasons to love it more and more and seeing wooly gloves and scarves being hung around for those who need it was really nice and special to see, I just had to share here. 

Also, this post is for future me just as a reminder to BE NICE and do good things whenever you can. 

You never lose out from being a great person. So be great.

xx

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Last Minute Essays

I am having a serious writers block right now. I'm supposed to write an essay, due in next Thursday but other than the standard "For the purpose of this essay, I will...", I can't seem to come up with anything. 

I've been staring at the damn guideline for ages now and I don't know where to start. Why can't we just have a nice, friendly multi-choice question assignment huh?!?! Don't worry, I'll still learn??? 

Other than just attending classes, I haven't been doing much. I have 3 impending coursework to send in and I've only touched one. Like a very light, don't-care-for-you, insincere kinda touch. 

Ok fine so I'm only a sentence in. 

But I WILL say that 'working best under pressure' is a real thing and that I identify myself as someone under that category. Sure, I'll give up multiple times throughout and tell myself off for not doing it earlier, but the impending fear of a near dateline scares me into staying up and writing more and more. I'm ***definitely*** a lot more efficient and productive when I do things at the last minute. 

I had a Spanish teacher the other day in class who, when she went around the class to ask how far we're in with our coursework and a girl said she hasn't started (she was representative of the whole class), merely said to her her "You're doomed". I couldn't help but roll my eyes because what a drama queen. This was a month ago. WE HAD A MONTH AND A HALF to finish a 2500 word essay. My blogpost on Reply 1988 was more than that. Geez. I was so annoyed how a teacher could say something like that as if it was the end of the world if we didn't finish this essay. Also, I didn't like how she wasn't welcoming at all of the fact that not everyone can work so far in advance. Not because they don't want to but because they can't.

I don't think there's anything wrong with working at the last minute. It's what works for me anyway. I know some people who do things way ahead and I think that's great because the determination is admirable to say the least but I also know people who do things at the very last minute and do well just the same. The one thing that the last minute person disadvantages from is that they just have to endure a lot more stress than someone who does things ahead of time. Once I've written an essay 3 weeks in advance and only to realised the due date was pushed for another 2 weeks so knowing that, I stopped 3/4 in and continued only 3 days til the dateline. See what I mean?!?!?! I could've very well just completed the essay but chose to only finish it only at the brink of the due date.

I kick myself sometimes for not attempting to start my coursework way in advance but I just cannot MOVE. I can't get the mind engine running!!! It's for good reason that there's the saying, 

"He who has begun, has half done"

because I swear getting started is the hardest thing for me. To be quite frank, I'm not too worried about how I'll go on after getting started because once I do, it takes me a relatively short time to finish. I've done an essay in 2 days. I think what pushes me to finish something in a short time is I hate looking at the accumulated tabs opened and Bookmarked. It's so messy and rimas to look at so I try to just get the essay done and over with and click exit! 

Someone, help me. I need someone to shove the textbook into my face and have me read case studies that are completely irrelevant to my life. 

About 3 months left of university!!! No more essays after this (I hope) (I wish) (I pray).

xx

Saturday, February 13, 2016

The Big Short and green tea masks

It's currently 4 degrees out (but the weather app says it feels like 1) and I just switched on the heater because even with 2 layers on, I'm so cold. Warm weather, where are you when are you coming? I'm sipping on green tea and the sensation of having hot green tea down your throat is very refreshing.

I just finished dinner and I'm kicking myself for taking a 5 hour nap.

FIVE.

I stayed up late last night and put an alarm for 9 am because I was waiting for my Amazon delivery (I ordered a cleansing oil from The Face Shop) and if I were to oversleep and not hear the mailman, he would pass it to my neighbour and that has happened way too many times. I hate going to the neighbours and ask for my delivery because I don't like to menyusahkan them. They're really nice about it because it's nothing much really, it's not like they have to do anything with it anyway. It's just that I don't like the thought they they had to hold my packages for me.

So basically I slept 4 hours last night because I didn't want to inconvenient my neighbours.

And also at 10 am just now I realised you can ask the mailman to just put your package in your back porch if you're not home.

...

So right after the mailman came, I giddily went to wash my face with my new cleansing oil (it's lush!) and had lunch before going back to sleep. I've also had bad menstrual cramps so sleep was necessary.

I have my mask days once a week and today was the day for me. I used my Innisfree green tea mask and it's gotta be one of the best smelling masks I've tried!

2 days ago, I watched The Big Short as recommended to me by Farhan and it's sooooo good, guys!!!


Obviously, I had to Google the financial and economic terms they were using and I still didn't really get it. So after the movie, I spent about an hour and half on Google and on Youtube about the 2008 financial crisis. 

I know, I know, 8 years too late but hey, I'm finally at the party!

It's such an interesting phenomenon and the movie, some articles and helpful Youtube ( 1 2 3 ) videos were incredibly insightful. 

The movie is very easy to understand (well... relatively easy)- they literally pause the movie for you to have celebrities explain to you what 'sub-prime mortgages' and 'CDOs' are. It was interesting to see how they broke the fourth wall, it does a great job in engaging with the audience thus a lot more interesting. There was an effort to distinguish itself from other 'documentary' movies which I loved a lot. It's highly fascinating and I actually watched the movie for the 2nd time after properly learning the terms and actually getting around to understand what really went down in 2007-2008. And I really appreciated it a lot more after studying about it.

And then I went on to watch The Inside Job - a documentary about the 2008 crisis and it was so interesting! It was narrated by Matt Damon and there were interviews by tons of economist and high positioned people. Both these films were such eye-openers for the oblivious (me) and helped me loads in understanding what went wrong and most importantly, how it went wrong. 

And now I'm watching an almost 3 hour long documentary about it on Youtube. I love it! Hahaha I don't know why I do but I just do. It's almost like a horror movie, to be honest, because of how scary modern age power looks like.

I'll gladly sit down with someone for coffee to talk about the 2008 crisis now! Hahahaha I would love to learn more about it.

If you've not already watched these films, you should! Especially The Big Short! I didn't think I would like it as much as I actually do. Ryan Gosling and Steve Carrell were especially brilliant in it - unexpectedly the one who brought humour was the very handsome Ryan Gosling. He had to wear a wig and put on an obnoxious tan in this film but I will forever remember him as Noah from The Notebook. 
Swoooooooooon.

I'm looking to go buy the book. I haven't read a fictional book in ages so to actually read a non-fictional one is ~ m a j o r ~ , guys!! But I'm so excited to start reading it. 

Also, I was craving for something sweet so I made banoffee pie. This time, all by myself!


 I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out although it shouldn't be much for all you baking enthusiasts (this doesn't actually require any kind of baking) but it's my first time, so I'm pretty happy ! And bias aside, it tastes really good!

Sent a photo of it to my mum and

"You did this by yourself???? Whoa!!!"

Yes, Mum. *blows nails* *pats back* *flips hair* Totes on my own.

xx

Friday, February 5, 2016

Throwback Thursday : College

Throwback Thursday! 

Was looking through my Facebook photos and most of my albums are from when I was still in college.

KY still remains to play a huge part in my life as I've gained most of my close friends from that place and I've made amazing memories there and will possibly remain with me for the rest of my life. 

It's been heavily upgraded since we left and it's looking a lot more like a private snooty rich college than it was before. I still would prefer the old layout to the one now. And I've heard some of the teachers have left and it's a shame because they were all pretty amazing and I still remember all of mine whom I loved so much especially.

I ***think*** current senior batch would be Batch 17, right? I'm from Batch 14 so I really have no idea who new students are but I hope that they have great days and great nights there just like I did.

Here are some photos (very selekeh ones at that!) of my time there.




One of the first events that we had when we first entered KY was the annual Raya celebration. The celebration was held along the corridor just outside of the dining hall. Best thing about events in KY was that everyone just came out and celebrated regardless of what the occasion was. I loved how everyone just got really comfortable with each other so quickly. Also, look how skinny Olan and I were! 




This was the Lantern Festival held shortly after the Raya celebration. I remember we all had our own lanterns and mine burnt. Like, it caught fire and I had to extinguish by stepping on it. Ok, I lie. I think I grabbed the closest guy to me and had him extinguish it for me. We were supposed to go around the college but mine failed not even a minute out. But look at how beautifully coloured these lanterns were!! 




Did you really think I participated in the Mini Olympics? Come to think of it I don't know why I even went to the effort to get new sports shoes when I wasn't even going to be anywhere near active (throughout the whole damn 2 years I was there). But it was fun because everyone was out on the field and supported one another. I loved how KY students were always almost out every evening without fail. The boys would play rugby and football and then some would be in the MPH (multi-purpose hall) to play badminton, ping pong and to the gym.

Me? Well, you can almost always 99% of the time find me in my room, sprawled over my bed taking a nap.


 I had 3 outfit changes for Diwali Night. I wore my red Punjabi suit for a dance (I still cringe about it but it was super super SUPER fun) and I matched perfectly with my dancing partner, Hakim! The beautiful lehenga (purple and blue) is actually Diyana's and I borrowed for IDK what reason??? She had two outfits so she was kind enough to let me borrow one hehe. And then I switched to my beige saree that I had from one of the Pandu Puteri dinners I had during high school. I still very much love it.



What is a KY event without first bombarding photos of others. I think this was meant to just be a photo of Amiera and Adam. But then a few of us joined...






Boria was one of my favourite times of KY. The boys practiced almost every evening and some of the girls helped in preparing the costumes and the props and it was just really fun, not just for the boys, but for the whole house. We won for the video competition and best boria and overall Rumah Citra Budaya (totally had to refer to my old blog post for this). Made the occasion that much sweeter.





Our first house trip! We went to Johor. Alllll the way to Johor. I remember the trip being incredibly long hahaha but I had fun regardless. We went on a small little island which was spectacular. I can't remember the name of it but I remembered how clear and how blue the water was. The water even had a gradient of blue and turqoise, can you imagine??





This was KY's birthday celebration. I think it had a Wild, Wild West theme. Can you see the effort I went into my outfit??? 

...

I wished I had put more effort in dressing up for the events because it would've been more fun! 




This was a farewell dinner for our Garnet seniors. Except for a very few, I wasn't as close to my seniors as my juniors are with me. But the very few that we were close to, I loved very much! 






This was the End of Semester dinner and the seniors' last event in KY. Garnet won the House Cup which was preeeeeetty gratifying. I remember being so excited about and jumped up and about with the others. 




How cute was that everyone came together and donned the baju melayu??? I'm not biased but when I see other races wear baju melayu, you can almost see hearts beaming out off my eyes. I think it's such a handsome outfit! 




This was Bangsawan night. Arguably the biggest competition in KY. It's basically a malay play that every house puts on for a group of judges from Istana Budaya. I don't know how it got so big but all 4 houses put their 110% in for Bangsawan. It's a very impressive production seeing how everything from script to costumes were all handled by students who I'm pretty sure before this had no experience of doing such a thing! 

We won Bangsawan that year.






This was our college birthday in our senior year. The theme was 'British Affair' and nothing really british about our outfits hahaha!




Our last Garnet event. I totally cried. This all happened in our last few weeks in college and the juniors did such a good job with the farewell dinner; it was held in the Saad Square and it was really prettily lit and all. I was emotional that whole week so knowing that this was our last Garnet event really did make me tear up!! 




Graduation Day. 

I was a wreck! I kept tearing up throughout. And one of the admin (or as we fondly would call her, 'Umbridge') told me off so many times because my outfit was see through and kept telling me to go back and change. To what???? I still severely dislike her. 

But graduation was great. I think right after, we packed our bags and left for home. And I remember crying and when I was reading some of the tweets, everyone was so sad about it also. I was so emotional even after a week! I am very dangerous when I'm emotionally attached to something haha!








I'd gladly drive all the way to Tanjung Malim for my Garden Seafood fix. Honestly, one of the best places to eat a hearty meal and I'm not just saying that because it was just near and convenient for KY kids. It's honestly very very sedap! Highly recommended. Kirim salam to the Chinese boss who always had his grey hair in a braid. He has a soft spot for KY kids. Hahah











This was my room for the 2 years I was in KY. It was a sauna. It was facing the sun so it would get really really hot and warm and there were times when I had to move to Kaveetha's room for my nap. Only in the last few months did I decide to stick newspapers on my window. I don't know why I didn't do it earlier; it instantly made my room cooler and more comfortable. #collegehack


Our favourite spot in the whole of college was probably the cafe. We'd meet for about 20 minutes during our morning break and quickly eat our nasi lemak and then rush over to our next class. And then come back here after class ended to have a drink before going off to do sports and all that.

Other than just events, I had so many memories from my daily routine - going from class to class and memorising what block's next (we went through a number system ; so Block 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. I can still remember what block was for what!) and contemplating whether to have lunch at the dining hall or cafe. Cafe had the variety of dishes but dining hall had the rowdiness. And I had some pretty fun teachers; Mr Conquest, Ms Dalene and Ms Sabiha remains to be one of my favourite teachers ever. I hope they're doing well wherever they are in the world now! 

I miss it all! Would choose to do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

So glad I persuaded my parents to send me to KY. Couldn't imagine what it'd be like without all the friends I've made there.