A story about a girl who creates situations for herself so that she has something to share. It's true, okay? I put myself into situations knowing clearly well that it'll make a good story to tell. "Something to tell the grandchildren about," I always say after a peculiar incident.

Haha..man, that Geisha book had me enchanted for a total of four days. I know it's a relatively long time for someone to read a book, but I had to study for my upcoming assessment as well. Which explains why I stop studying at 2am and then indulge in Memoirs Of A Geisha until 4am.

It was such a night again last night. I stumbled into class to the front row and since we were late, the entire class had nothing to do but look at us as we descended the steps to our seats. Since the flip tables on our chairs were so freaking small in area and me being me had so many files and loose papers and notebooks and my waterbottle with it's ever infamous affinity for gravity, could never quite settle down in class gracefully.

So in I would swagger into the class after my long night of fiction indulgence....anyone would have thought I was suffering from a hangover. Today, all my things kept falling to the floor in front of my lecturer(the one who called my friend ugly?) and I think I muttered, "fuck". It's really annoying because the things don't just fall to the ground, but down the next step and so forth. He must have caught side of the blackness of my face for he announced to the entire class, "It's one of those mornings where women have their pre-menstrual syndrome," and he gave that smile of his which suggested that he was the best comedian there ever was.

The class gave a soft chorus of giggles that rippled through which annoyed me really. Because it was the type of giggle given to someone who was to be laughed at, not willing to be laughed at.

I really wanted to pipe back and said, "Sir, my period does not come until the 23rd of January." But there's no point in embarrassing myself in front of the entire class that way. I suppose that this is just one of my more sensible moments because I really would have given that answer in my slightly "tak-lalu-kepala-dulu" moods.

-

My 19th birthday came and went. Late at night on the 15th of January, as my housemates and I were studying together in our long row of study tables, they turned around and sang "Happy Birthday" to me when it was midnight. I bopped my head along to the tune and sang along because really, I didn't know what else to do. I never know what to do when people sing birthday songs to me. Which is why I've never really liked celebrating my birthdays and have only celebrated ....on four big occasions in my entire life. At age 1(for I had no say whether I wanted a party or not), age 4, age 10 and age 18.

Ck called me half an hour earlier just so that he could be the first. Hehe. He said he had to call me then because he was worried that he might interrupt any cake cutting ceremony at the stroke of midnight. But there was no such event. A flurry of sms came in and a few phone calls(a surprising one was from our dear Jason Mumbles!) My father and I contacted each other simultaneously wishing each other a very happy birthday and telling each other to "sang sang seng seng lah, tai kor chai/lui laa.."(Be good now, you're a big boy/girl already) which sounds really cute because he is hardly a "big boy" at 49! Sometimes it is still so hard to believe that I was am actually my father's birthday present.

This year, my father requested for a deck chair as his birthday present from the rest of the family. Hahahah, this is a very obvious sign that he is getting older. I guess he has put away his hopes for a spankin' some-fancy-branded-watch that costs many thousands of Ringgit that he has been hinting for year after year. We always knew that he was joking. (or was he?) Don't worry, dad! When I am financially able, you will get it. :)

It was a very mundane birthday for the first part of the day. My housemates kept apologizing to me that they would not be able to buy me a birthday cake and asked me if I was sad. They asked me this like every other hour or whenever the looked at me. Duh. Who would not be expecting something after all those 'pityful' looks?

It was very sweet of them to surprise me with a birthday cake(a piece of every flavour available at the shop because they did not know what flavour I liked best). So I actually have a birthday cake to see me into my 19th year! I've never been a fan of cakes and its cream....but it's always so nice to have a birthday cake to blow the candles off.

Thank you Lishen, Lie Yuen, Wuan Phing, Narjit, Cze Yin, Steven, Thong, Jamie etc.. thank you for the cute glitter fairy plaster mould thing too!!! I love glitter! Photos soon!

I am now the same age as all my closest friends, my boyfriend, my Aunty who went for national service(1st batch) and who just completed her STPM, my second cousins Christopher and Yee Teng/Hazel ....and.....a couple of childhood friends, but whatever.

-

I'm sorry I cannot stop my train of thoughts because I have not blogged for a grand total of four days. Things in the hostel has been changing. Xiong Khee has accepted Manipal's offer to do medicine and left us last December. A girl who is 25 years old came to take her room and is pursuing pharmacy in my university. We asked her what took her so long. She said that she was already doing pharmacy in Sedaya but because every morning there was no parking space for her and she got so annoyed that she decided to leave. She said, "After 2 and a half years of enduring it, I've had enough!" . Wow. Two and a half years of pharmacy school and starting anew again just because there's no parking space? Oh well, if that's how some people decide to live their lives.

Good news: Vinnie found a room in another residential area and would be moving out after the Chinese New Year. It'll be a sad time for there won't be any bitchy stories to regale but a happy house is always better than a drama-rama house.

Life as a student as most of you would attest to, proves to be difficult on one's diet. It's kuay teow th'ng every freaking day. On a good day there'd be Bak Kut Teh. Kai Fan. Wan Tan mee. Repeat step 1. Or if I'm really lazy, maggi mee with veggie that I cook with my magical rice cooker.

An imbalance diet causes my mother to worry. I became a little more dramatic when she asked me if I was eating well. Wrong move. Both my parents went silent for awhile on the other line(one listening on the upstairs phone and one listening on the phone on the landing of the staircase) and I asked, "Hello? Why no sound?" and Dad said, "We're just sad that our daughter is not eating well."

LOL. I am also sad that I am not eating well. But what can I do?

It's no fun queuing up during the eleventh hour trying to catch the last train back. Or to be stuck in Subang an hour before the bus leaves.

You know, I thought I was all high and mighty, equipped with the knowledge that I, Jolene Lai, know how to commute back and forth without needing much help from my parents or my darling bf.

Sitting in the ktm and pretending to flip through my anatomy notes like the so called diligent student that I am, I began to freak out that the ride to KL Sentral was taking up the better part of an hour.

Upon reaching KL Sentral, I ran to the toilet because I only had half an hour to switch TWO lrts and hop on to the bus that would bring me back to this shit hole I live in in the name of education and a good career.

I was in a long queue for my ticket to Masjid Jamek. Upon reaching Masjid Jamek, I stopped by the streets for a moment and felt like a true KLite. With the city wind blowing in my hair, drying my sweat and looking up at the sky scrapers..........oh fuck, 15 more minutes to 4pm!!

I immediately bought a ticket to Plaza Rakyat and climbed the stairs. To my dismay, I saw a horde of people descending the stairs. "Oh no," I thought. "I'm definitely going to miss this train.........". So I ran up the stairs and the bell on the LRT went off, indicating that the doors were about to close.

NooOOooOooOOoo....

I ran towards the closing doors....I was doubtful if I could make it.

BUT, with a mighty parabola leap I managed to jump onto the LRT and the doors closed shut behind me. All the passengers inside the LRT were looking at me. I wondered if they would start clapping their hands. Seriously, I felt like I was doing some action movie stunt. Hahahahha.

Die die die.. 10 more minutes left.

When I reached Plaza Rakyat, there was a still a long way more to walk. I ran all the way to the metal walk way that leads to the bus station. My legs were like clockwork!

Along the way I saw a lot of beggars and I thought, "I should be nice."

So as I ran along, I was putting RM1 notes into their mugs without even stopping. Can you imagine the scene? Like I was on some freaking game show.

But anyway, I managed to board the bus.

See, if I had a touch n go card, I would not have to queue up and then I would not have to be so drama-rama about my trips.

My exams are just around the corner.


about 2 weeks more to another hellish round of papers.

Yesterday, we had to conduct a very disgusting experiment during our oral physiology practical session. In a way it was fun because it was interactive.

The 1st experiment was to dry your lower lip with a tissue paper and see if the accessory glands on your lips will secrete small droplets of saliva within a second. If it doesn't, you're at risk of getting caries. (Rapid saliva flow=less chances of carries)


Can you see the droplets of saliva forming on the right hand corner of Lishen's lips? hehehe.

The 2nd experiment was to see how much of 'resting saliva' one can collect in the time span of 5 minutes.


Sorry to disgust ya. I was the only one in the entire class who collected more than 5ml. Not normal.


l-r: Lie Yuen and Wuan Phing. How dainty.


Let me disgust you again.


You guys will still read me/be my friend right? It's all in the name of science:)

I had a low pH value!! My saliva's acidic. I was freaking out because I was the most acidic one in the entire class. I was the sole person in class who had a high chance of developing caries.:(


Prof. Ferguson is a visiting lecturer and the sole oral physiologist in my university. He wrote a book for oral physiology and said that it costs 100 pounds. We found it in the university's library. XD

The 3rd experiment was stimulated saliva. We had to record the amount of saliva collected when one is chewing without the stimulation of taste.


A wax candy. Ewwww.


Yes, I know my teeth very yellow. Bad lighting, ok?

The 4th experiment was to test the buffering power of our saliva.


Once again bad news. Because a normal person's one should be all green.

After awhile, i read the manual properly again and realised, "Oh, doh." It seems that one must fast for two hours before conducting the experiment. It was also stated that citric acid containing food stimulates a rapid saliva flow and a low pH value in one's saliva.

I was walking into the class with a Lime mentos mint in my mouth. -_-;. So i'm normal after all!!


The last experiment was to chew a flavoured chewing hum. This is for the stimulation of taste buds saliva collection experiment.

Stupid Maxis did a dance that he saw on tv for us to see.






l-r: Lishen and Yan Rui


Nah, girls, your eye candy again.
l-r: Chuan Horng, Sett


Can you see my reflection in Lishen's sunglasses?


Ah Thong make spoil.


Jimmy berbodoh.


I like this photo of Lydia! She was laughing and I just snapped.


Camwhoring..


MuAhh


Imagine the shock I got when I was putting on my seatbelt in Lishen's car and suddenly I see *shudder* this.


The weekly cleaner needs a good slapping. I wonder if she knows how many pairs of my sandals she has killed. No sense of respect for other people's items.


Lishen and I camwhoring with the mirror in her room.










One with Wuan Phing's mirror.

I went to the only shopping centre in Sungai Petani with Lie Yuen for a well deserved meal of McDonalds! But do you know that one actually be persuaded to buy things at a crappy shopping mall?! We were going mad because it has been so long since we had the chance to shop.


Pinky now has new friends! Disney princesses at RM1.90 per piece. I still need to go back and get Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty. And they don't produce Mulan. :(


L-r: Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel/Little Mermaid, Belle, Princess Jasmine


Story books that I've yet to read. <3. Just bought Memoirs Of A Geisha(Mel, I can wait no longer!)


Lishen and I entwined.