That White Cube Called INTI

Today I finally returned to that white educational institution cube we all fondly know as INTI. The new semester is finally going to start soon, and all the bozos that have been missing college will soon miss it no more. You can't study if you don't enrol, so that's what I did today. Well not exactly. I'll have to go back a second time to finalise payment.

With A-Levels making a debut in the college, you can't blame me for arriving at 7.45am. Any later and I'll probably have to park in mid-air. INTI's student population is growing like mushrooms after a damp rainy day, so it was no surprise that the number of people packed in the building made it look like the admin was giving away free gold.

Apparently I'm in for a crowded semester. It would be easier if I could just cycle to college and tie the bicycle to a lamp post. I'm sure the security guards won't mind helping me jaga my old bike.

Legion

Yes, Legion. It had a rather unusual central plot, and an unconventional take on things. All the good guys become bad guys, and the bad guys that are supposed to be bad guys are nowhere to be seen. Interesting.

The actual movie can be a bit slow-moving at times, or I may just be growing impatient. Our rebel angel (see picture) does a pretty good job with his role. The guy's got style. Practically everyone that I predicted would die, died in the end. The movie may also cause children to be scared of their grandmas. That's why it's 18PL I guess. There are some underlying themes that are unique too, if you care to notice them. All in all worth the ticket price, but don't expect a blockbuster like Transformers.

Oh and as expected Dato' and I got lost while trying to locate the car in the Queensbay parking area. We did find the vehicle. After appearing at 2 wrong floors. Pandainya.

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CNY Prices Settling In?

Today I had lunch at the new Teluk(it might've been Telok) Bayan food 1/2court. It was a bit too small in my opinion to qualify as a food court. A very well known Dato' Khoo was visiting Penang, and I had the honour of accompanying him for lunch. Can you believe that the chicken rice there costs RM5? I'm perfectly okay with RM3.50 or RM4, but RM5 is a bit too much.

Talk about Chinese New Year prices. Every time CNY comes the hawkers, butchers, fishmongers, vegetable sellers and even the fishball guy increase their prices. They tell you CNY's here, and therefore prices will rise a little. Okay, fair enough. However, I do not recall them ever lowering their prices after CNY. First they tell you the new heavier price tag will only last for the CNY month, and after that, they kinda forget to remind us the price-increases are here to stay.

If you ever have the time to confront them, they start pointing their fingers at one another. Just like the current rise in pork prices. The butchers are blaming the pig farms, and yes, you guessed it, the pig farms are blaming the butchers for the price-increase. So who's the liar?

Next time your cup of coffee goes up by 20cents because sugar goes up by 20cents per kilo, you can ask the coffee boy if he put 1 kilo of sugar into your coffee. It's worth a try!

Things Happen

In light of the dragon boat tragedy involving comrades from CLHS, I would like to convey my deepest condolences to the victims' family and friends. Sad incident. May the victims rest in peace and may the living move on.

Happy Birthday Lion!

Correction, belated birthday. Sorry ya I know my blog is notorious for posting news late but that's what gives the blog it's well... signature and flavour. For once we managed to execute a professional surprise. Imagine walking into your kitchen to find a gang of noisy youngsters waiting to ambush you. If ever surprises were graded this one would get a distinction and a place in the honours list. So happy belated birthday Lion Tan Yee Ching, may you keep roaring and may you never have to eat any of us as dinner. We don't taste good. REALLY!!!

From The Garden

Found this little fellow outside the house some time ago. It was nice enough to stay still for some photos, but I may have scared it a bit. Sorry pal. Hehheh.

Say hi to the little guy... wait I'm not sure if it's a guy.

Surprisingly it stood still.

Last one before it leapt for cover.

Ah, and here's the first little watermelon from the watermelon plants. I don't know if it'll survive. Usually the first few ones dry up before one grows ripe properly, but when the watermelons do ripen they're very sweet.

See that small one there? It still has a flower at it's end.

There are more flowers, but of course not all will bear fruit.

Yep the watermelon plant. Hopefully by next month there will be ripe fruits.

Meanwhile as the grasshopper hops and the watermelon plants flower, I'd better find something to do. I do not intend to spend the rest of my time wondering around the garden. Perhaps some laundry? Haha.

The Reunion

On the second day of the New Year (yes I know I'm late again) my primary school classmates of 6M held a reunion at Zhi Miin's house. One thing about reunions is that you always get surprised, especially when you can't recognize some of your old pals. Some of them I saw the year before last at Gurney, while some I haven't seen in... well I don't know how long.

The night was filled mostly with chatting, and a long stretch of that policeman and killer game where you have to wink without others noticing you winking. Again I realized that I haven't ironed out a long-standing problem, that is, when I'm with my primary school classmates, I just can't find anything to say. So I end up quieter that usual. So of course my standard 6 class

teacher said I haven't changed one bit. Yes I was always the quiet one back then.

It was indeed a very interesting night in which I managed to update my rusty dinosaur-age network and get to know where everyone actually is, or is going to be. Pity though that photo-taking was quite a problem due to dim lighting and the fact that everyone was finding it hard to sit still.

Ah yes and it would be necessary to thank Zhi Miin for inviting us to her lovely home, and a thousand waves of gratitude goes to her mom for being so nice to us.

Here come the few pictures I've got that haven't gone completely blur (sorry Teng Shin). You can always check out the photos PiYi posted on facebook. She did a much better job than I did.

They were doing some errr... research on facebook.

Some of the guys.

Managed to ambush Vincent finally.

Care for a snack?

Remember our good buddy TS? He's in Form 6 now. Bio.

Wonder how everyone will look like the next reunion... that, I think, will be one interesting mystery.

Genting Highlands

This year... I mean last year I had the opportunity to witness the 2010 New Year countdown in Genting. Very crowded. The fireworks would have been very pretty, but it was too misty to see much. All I could see in the sky was very colourful fog instead of sparks and explosions. Pity, really.

I decided not to visit the theme park this year due to the overwhelming crowd. Still, there was much to do and much to see around the place, so boredom wasn't a problem.

Bus station.

I enjoy watching the mist coming in.

Herbs, nuts, spices and cereals all labelled. It's a wall decoration I think.

As though we can't recognise this stuff.

Santa comes to town!

Genting Highlands - mini-sized.

3 apples a day keep guests happy. In the hotel room.

Fireworks in the preparation stage. Saw this out the window. I think that's a helipad.

It's not everyday you get to see one of these.

Found this at the back of the car. Owner must be in the casino haha.

This is the noisiest place in the entire hill resort.

My cousin and her daughter.

Some kind of family reunion lunch. Empty chair in front is obviously mine.

Playing with a fruit knife before going to the countdown.

Countdown here at the parking lot.

Now you have an idea how many people were there.

These are the blur fireworks if you bother to see them. Oh, and kindly tilt your head sideways. If you're in a hurry I suggest you don't bother seeing this video. The first 40 seconds is the countdown that can't be heard due to the noise the crowd was making.

It's late. Need to crash and sleep. Nitez everyone.