Who cares if you're a Hypochondriac?

I had to sit through a multi-way conversation between people at work yesterday and it drove me nuts. I felt like I was going to go insane. I wanted to scream and tell them to shut up. I have laundry waiting for me to do at home and hence, I really don't want to listen to you talk anymore. I listened to talk about swine flu, then about how one of them is a hypochondriac (there are too many hypo/hyper-acs for me to remember) : a person who has the persistent conviction that one is or is likely to become ill, often involving symptoms when illness is neither present nor likely, and persisting despite reassurance and medical evidence to the contrary - dictionary.com.

And then there was crap about how it is so difficult to understand and be understood by the Chinese student workers and by the new international students. What I think: Sorry hun, it's your job. Just deal with it. You know that the majority of international students live around this area, hence a majority of our workers will be international students. You have no choice but to deal with them and train them. It Is Your Job. Stop complaining. I've been doing this for 3 years now. And if I'm fine with it, you'll be fine with it. Can't you just be more accomodating and be more helpful to someone who has not lived out of the country ever and who is not familiar with your culture. Not all International Students are difficult to work with. Don't treat them or talk to them like they're stupid. THEY'RE NOT STUPID.

Ugh.

Ah, not a Freshman anymore.

I went to work in the office yesterday and Sharon tells me that she thought I was a Junior all this time and forgot that I am already a Senior this year. We were talking about how I started working in the office for the first time during the summer of my Freshman year. She said, "Do you remember how you were when you first came into the office to apply for this job?" I remember it very very clearly. I was so lost and nervous for my mini-interview. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what kind of small talk and questions that I should expect. When I finally realized I got the job, it was mind-blowing. haha.

I met many of the new international students just recently (when I say met, actually it means I was in the same location as them but did not necessarily talk to them, haha). Anyway, when I looked at them, I remember how I used to be in their shoes. Uncertain about how my future in Miami was going to be, whether the friends I made would stay by me throughout my four years in college, will I actually be smart enough to stay in an American college and actually do well in it! I mean, I imagine that's what they would be thinking because that's what was running through my head the whole time throughout the year.

Things are so different this year compared to last year, or the year before that or of course Freshman year! I'm staying in a new apartment this year with an additional new roommate. I'm actually taking senior-level classes now which honestly, I still can't believe I'm doing it. Honestly, I think I'm getting better with dealing with change. But it doesn't mean that change doesn't bother me at all. People say that the friends you end up making in Freshman year will not necessarily stick with you throughout your college years. I'm lucky that the people that pulled me through throughout my first year have stuck by me until now. Annie, Hui hui, Joliana, Dong... you guys mean the world to me. And I'm so lucky to still be able to link arms with you the way I always do.

Back in Oxford

Things seem the same but really there are a lot of things that have changed. I can't quite put a finger to what it is. Maybe it's just me being sensitive.

I mean, the red brick buildings still feel and look the same aside from maybe some minor changes like the demolishing of a computer lab here and there, or an office added here and there, or an office shifting from here to there. I have all my classes in one building this year.. the Speech Pathology building. How boring is that. With the changing of our class schedules and how I now have 15 minutes between consecutive classes or an hour break at the odd time of 3pm, I find myself hanging out by myself more and more everyday. It's a very weird feeling. Walking from Bachelor, the Speech building to Shriver, the Student Center back and forth all the time. There's too little time in between to walk anywhere else further away. There's only so many times I can go to the bank to check the balance in my account, or go to the food court to get some ridiculously fattening snack.

The week that I arrived in Oxford was pretty crazy. Annie and I had to move our furniture out of our friends' houses and arrange them in our new apartment.. which is now Apartment 11 by the way. So when I say Apt 11 you know what I mean. Then Bridget, my new housemate moved in her stuff and her furniture as well. So finally.. got that done. While I was unpacking my stuff, I realized how much things I have accumulated over the years. From books to clothes.... to random miscellaneous stuff like Oh, the tens of AA batteries that my mum made me bring to the US thinking that I would use all of them. I think I only used 4 batteries or less since I've brought them here. I shudder to think of what my parents will think when they see how much I have accumulated. Maybe I should donate a huge chunk of it to the Salvation Army or something before they come for my graduation. Either that, or pack it up in boxes and hide it where they can't find them and go nuts on me.

Then the week before school started, I was working like a maniac in the Dining Hall. Seriously 8-5am everyday. I went to bed at 11pm every night just so that I would be able to wake up and function to my fullest for work. I would come back at 5pm exhausted. I plop down on the couch and would fall asleep right away. Good things from work though.. is how much money I will be getting from it. I can't wait for my paycheck to come. Plus plus plus with my meal plan account for that week that was provided by Miami, I managed to buy a crazy amount of groceries, which honestly might last me the semester. So.. Miami funded my groceries for the semester!

Shit, gotta rush to class now!!!

Testament to my Occasional Bimbo-ness. Sigh.

So, I really hate bimbo girls. Girls that say the stupidest things like "I've been watching Hannah Montana for so long, and I did not even know that Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus was the same person!" or "So, is Malaysia developed? Do you have internet there?"

But sometimes, I'm embarassed to admit that I am rather of a bimbo at times. I do the stupidest things, and realize too late that I was being stupid.

For example, I was on my way back from a dinner with my best friend's family, and for some reason while I was driving, my front windshield started fogging up on the outside. Okay, for the back windshield there's the de-mister to 'unfog' the windshield right? But there isn't a button for that for the front windshield. So I started fiddling with the air-conditioning, trying to 'unfog' the windshield. I was thinking in my head, 'maybe it's too cold in the car, that's why it's fogging up'. Fiddling with the air-conditioning did not work. So I winded down my window. By this time, I basically could not see anything from the inside of my car. Hence, I know... dangerous driving! So, I made a wrong turn, and managed to somehow turn into a highway. I was kind of freaking out, not gonna lie. My head was practically sticking out my window to look at the roads clearly. I spotted a petrol station, decided to stop my car... and wipe the outside of my windshield with a tissue paper. All the while, when I was wiping my windshield, my mum's constant scary warnings kept running through my head... about girls stopping in petrol stations late at night and getting kidnapped or robbed and stuff like that.

Anyway, so the windshield is cleared, and I can finally breathe and drive normally again. I finally get back onto the road that leads me back home and a thought popped into my head: "Why the hell did I not use my windshield wiper to 'wipe' my windshield"

So I turned my wipers on and watched it swish back and forth a few times, and I thought to myself... "What a stupid bimbo you are!" I could have wiped away all the annoying droplets of water with a swish of the wiper, but I just could not think straight or rationally to do just that.

I really embarass myself sometimes.

And the Flurry begins all over again..

It's that time of year again for me to head back to the States. Of course I am in a jumble state of feelings at the mo. Sad to leave home, nervous about the long ass flight, stressed up thinking of all the stuff that I have to bring back, excited to see the red brick buildings of O-town again, happy to be able to meet all my friends, jittery for all the things that I have to do once school starts....

Aaah.... and so the flurry of packing begins all over again...

Wednesday, 12th August, 11.45pm... I'll be leaving Malaysia for another year.....

A Cameron Full of Pictures

Decided to head off to Cameron's last weekend for a mini family reunion. It was freezing cold there. Seriously, I was cold the whole time I was there. Of course, then I had to endure my dad's side comments of "If people didn't know better, they wouldn't have known that you have endured 3 years of negative temperatures in Ohio! What nonsense la you!" Well, with constant eating and talking and of course my sister had to end up having a fever at the end of our trip, which only got everyone flustered and worried.... it was a pretty eventful but short weekend trip. Only wish the whole clan was there.

My baby cousins.. who really aren't that 'baby' anymore..!

Cameron's is really THE place to go if you're a picture-taking kinda person just like me. Everything's just so beautiful, you feel like capturing it so you can keep it for yourself.
The places you have to visit at Cameron's.. a Strawberry Farm, Flower Garden, Hydroponic Vegetable Garden, Cactus Garden, Tea Plantation.... and don't worry.. there are so many of these places, you can pick and choose which one looks best from the outside and head on in..

One of the many tea plantations at Cameron's.

I forget which Garden place we went into.. but it had strawberries, hydroponic veggies, cactuses and flowers all under one roof.

Garden Gnomes to greet us...

I thought this was a helluva creepy cactus. What's with the 'legs' growing out.. it looks like a tarantula.! i kinda half expected it to start walking out of its pot..!

Luckily there were non-creepy ones too.. that i thought were adorable.


Chillies and Tomatoes and green veggies.. I was fascinated by them!

Flowers, flowers and more flowers... what can I say.. I love em! There's something about being surrounded by the beauty of flowers. Makes me feel all 'la-la-la-la' and then I start skipping and smiling and clicking away with my camera.. haha.



Ever wondered how Strawberries grow to become strawberries??
It actually grows from a flower... then the petals of the flower becomes the leaf.

Oh and remember this?? we learned this in umm.. primary school science..!
Periuk Kera.. or Pitcher Plant..