I had a dream...

I was lying on a hospital bed in a small room and being given an IV drip. I am pretty scared of needles, especially the sight of needles entering veins or skin of any sort. So I turned my head away. And then I was wheeled on the bed through hospital doors into a surgery room. I watched the nurse tie on the surgeon's operating gown and watch him snap on his gloves just like in the movies. There I was, lying on the bed, with nurses all around me with their bright purple gloves. Why purple, I don't know. Isn't that too much of a bright color for hospital gloves? Anyway, they were all around me and they asked me to move from the bed with wheels to the operating bed. There was an uncomfortable roll of cloth right under my back but supposedly was necessary as the nurse said. I look directly above me and there's the 2 big round surgical lights, exactly like in Grey's Anatomy and I think to myself, how surreal this all feels. I listen to the nurses talk about how texting is so bad when people are driving and how it causes so many accidents. "What a random conversation!" I thought to myself. Then I see a breathing mask coming towards me, and I remember thinking how weird it would feel to have to breathe through that thing.

And then, the scene faded to the same room the dream began. Dong and QiaoWen was in the room. For some reason, the nurse in my dream kept calling Dong my husband, and I was really confused why. I don't remember getting married at any time! haha. Everything around me was really blurry and voices were fuzzy in my head. It was like I was underwater or something.

Then I was back in my apartment, lying on the couch with Dong next to me. Qiao wen was handing me a bowl of porridge that she cooked for me. Porridge with carrot, chicken and cauliflower, and half a spoon of marmite. Then Hui appeared in my dream, eating stir fry with General Tso's sauce on the floor. Then Bridget came back from class and we all watched a movie together. For some reason, they agreed to watch my old lady movie, Fried Green Tomatoes with me. Very unlike them, because they never agree to watch movies that I pick! Then Annie came through the door, and Joliana called, and everything was complete. I remember thinking to myself how lucky I was to have a dream like this, where all my best Miami friends were in my dream with me.

Ah, the Hershey Kiss is gone! And I am awake on a sunny but cold Friday morning!

I'm a control freak!

At Social Dance today, amidst swing dancing and waltzing with a random guy (with quite a lot of facial hair I must say, and for some reason reminded me of a Jewish version of Steve Carell because of his very 'staring' eyes), I realized that I am somewhat of a control freak. In most of the partner dances like swing and waltz, it is the guy who takes the lead. It is the guy who decides which move he wants to do with the girl, and then it is he who moves her from position to position and who lets it be known to the girl that he is the one in charge by taking the first step. Yeah, today especially, I kept on taking the first step without following what the guy wanted me to do. I thought to myself, "What the hell is wrong with you! Take a step only when the guy does! Don't just do it on your own!" Yeah, I kept telling myself that countless of times but that didn't work. My feet just kept going the way I thought we were going (or we should be going) when really, that wasn't what the guy had in mind. I mean, I guess I can always blame it on him for messing up his 'step step rock step' in swing and for always starting with a step back instead of a step front for the waltz, or for not squeezing my hips hard enough when moving me in position that I was completely unaware of the move he was making... but actually, it's also me. I kept thinking in my head, this is what's next and then it's that.. and so I just do what I thought was right instead of willingly letting the guy take the lead and following after him. Does that mean I'm hard-headed and always wanting to have the 'upper hand'? Aiyo, not really also I don't think. I'm quite soft aren't? I'm 温柔.. soft and feminine, according to my Chinese tutor. I guess even despite that, I still always try to exercise control on people closest to me.. not so much my close friends, but I guess my family members, my brother especially! But yeah, I do often like being in control... I guess it makes me feel safer and secure that things will go my way... although we all know that that is so not true!

Can't really say that I am always wanting to be in control too... coz depending on situations, I am much of a pushover too! Anyway, I had to attend my first Oxford Social Dance last weekend with Dong and it was so much fun! There were some serious dancers there that could tango and rumba for real! Dong and I just did the waltz and swing, with limited moves. Haha. I still prefer the waltz to the swing, although I really do like the twirling and swinging around of swing dancing... Waltz just has always been like the Cinderella dance to me and I have always wanted to learn it. And now that I have, I love it! I love how it's so fluid and graceful. Throughout the night, Dong kept telling me, "Suling!! I didn't push you! You're not supposed to move!" or "Where are you going missy? I haven't started the step yet!" And me, I kept going "Sorry sorry sorry!!! I didn't know you haven't stepped yet!" Damn, really need to learn to take a step back sometimes! I'll try. Lent starts today, maybe that should be my informal thing to try for Lent... taking a step back in close relationships, and being less bossy? Ugh, so hard so hard!

 My hershey kiss will be gone tomorrow! :D

I think I prefer extreme heat and *dong dong dong chiang music* instead.

YEAH. For Chinese New Year here in Ohio, we have heavy snow fall today instead. I think I prefer the crazy day heat and heavy evening rain of Taiping to walking in the snow to and from class with my head bent trying to look through the snow fall and hoping that I won't slip and fall on my butt. Yeah, definitely prefer the heat of Taiping to this! I guess at least, it's a half snow day today. Classes are cancelled after 2.15pm and campus only opens at 10am tomorrow! That means I get paid more for my 4pm shift this evening and my 7am shift tomorrow! Yay!

Ah, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year together for the first time this year. Kind of weird. Valentine's Day is different this year. Feels good. But I never realized how commercialized Valentine's Day is. Even in a small town like Oxford, restaurants require reservations. There are special 6 course dinners just for couples. What happens if you go with a group of more than 2 friends? Would the 6 course dinner still apply? Tables in restaurants are all set up for two people, everything is decorated in red and pink. Bagel and Deli uptown, that sells college student bagels even had a Valentine's Day promotion of 2 bagels, 2 drinks and a condom! The American culture seriously makes me laugh sometimes. Yagoot the frozen yoghurt store that we went to on Saturday had special Valentine's Day pink pomegranate frozen yoghurt with Valentine's Day toppings of chocolate bits and strawberry chocolate shavings. Clothing stores in the mall had promotions for women 'boyfriend' jeans. The Godiva chocolate store had heart shaped chocolates and chocolate coated strawberries. Everywhere was just oozing with commercialized 'heart'/'love' products. Crazy! Crazy! Yeah, for the first time I was a part of this whole crazy scenario this year. Had dinner but not with the 6 course partner meal (funny how they never tell you the price of it when they read it out to you!). Instead of flowers and fattening chocolate, I got a great necklace! ;D

Chinese New Year... Got invited to Chinese New Year lunch at my Chinese teacher's house on Saturday and brought Dong and Jin with me. 饺子！年糕！粽子！真得好吃极了！Not only that.. I had cempedak! That I had a fun time convincing the angmohs and Dong to try! They all found it kinda stinky and squishy. I thought it was delicious - a little bit of home. Then I had those preserved plum sweet things that mummy always gave me when I was younger after taking a spoonful of gross tapeworm/digestion medicine- another little bit of home. And then Karaoke, of course! With Jin and I doing a duet of 童话... It was a great time！

This new year made me realize how grateful and lucky I am to have such amazing people by my side. People whom I regard as my home away from home. Sometimes, things get in the way of friendships, and that sucks. It's so hard to juggle things and maintain friendships the way they were. Somewhere along the way, I guess I forgot that supporting a friend's happiness is most important. Why is it that when circumstances change, it's hard to keep a friendship. I guess it takes more effort, understanding and patience than I thought. Anyway, Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Especially to mummy and daddy! 恭喜发财！Don't worry about me, Love you!

It's a Snow Day

I just had a very unproductive day walking from class to class with no class! Annoying but I feel like I shouldn't complain about it.. weighing the pros and cons of 'class?' or 'no class?'... I still prefer 'no class'.
It's been snowing for almost 2 days straight. Too much freaking snow! Cars are getting stuck after being parked for only just half an hour. Food trucks find it hard reversing into the driveways of the dining halls. Student workers are too lazy to brave the snow to get to work. Professors have to cancel class because of the dangerous road conditions. Yeah, basically too much freaking snow. Classes after 2.15pm got cancelled yesterday and campus closed at 4pm. Campus opens at 10am today, but really there's basically not many people or cars around at all!
Oh and can you believe it, even with the amount of snow on the ground and snow falling from the sky yesterday, Bridget and I still went running! My first time exercising in the snow. A tshirt and sweatshirt is definitely not enough for running in the cold. Maybe a longsleeve, a tshirt and a sweatshirt would be good. Oh and  a hat to keep my precious ears from feeling like they're about to fall off!
The girls and I went sledding for the first time with stolen dining hall food trays! It' s the Miami winter tradition that I have not done even once yet. Now I can say that I have. And it was awesome despite the cold and my numb hands.

 

 

 

 

Seriously a whole lot of fun for only a certain period of time. And after that, everything just gets super tiring. Climbing back up the hill after sledding down, falling over with every step you take, numb toes from the snow in your boots, numb fingers from the ice frozen around your glove... yeah it gets really tiring. 

The day before sledding, and the night that it started to snow really really bad... we celebrated Hui's birthday! It was a great party. Just the right amount of people, and it was warm inside because of body heat. Everyone was just the right amount of crazy happy. We played games, talked and joked and laughed around small drinks, danced around to Fusion music (because none of us are even close to feeling "over" about Fusion). It was a great time. Close friends started arriving at about 10.30pm, and the rest at about 12am maybe. And people stayed till about 2.30am! The apt wasn't a mess at all after that, which was truly amazing. So yeah, it was a great get-together for everyone... and hopefully for Hui too! Plus plus plus, Bridget put on amazing make up for me, that matched the amazing top Annie lent to me!! haha. 

Ah, this is a Clawson Hall reunion all over again. Ryu is finally back from Korean Army! After not seeing him for 2 years, it's great to hang out with him again! 

And here's a roomie picture of the hosts of the party! Don't my roommates look gorgeous? I think they do!! 

This is freshman year all over again! The people that made my Freshman year so great and made me truly love Miami.

And of course, here's the birthday girl! :D My dear Flibs. Looking so mature and beautiful! 

Jo jo came to visit for the weekend, which made everything so much better! :D 

A glimpse of the game circle in the living room! Question: "Who farts the most?" *everyone points at Hui and crack up laughing* 

A glimpse of most of the people who came to celebrate Hui... 

Teresa was visiting too!! And she started the dance party in the dining room of the apt! Ah, Teresa and her awesome Taeyang dance skills! 

And finally, here's the Birthday girl and her Banana cake!

Sex and Teachers

In Religion class today, we were discussing the Bhagavad Gita (remember this from Sejarah at home?) I do. But somehow I don't remember us learning what it was about. Anyway, we were talking about the Eight Teaching in the Bhagavad Gita, and the prof asked "What do you think it means when Krishna says controlling the body gates?"
A girl answered, "Not have sex? Celibacy?" 

"Yeah, that could be one meaning. Having sex does involves certain kinds of gates."

*Class laughs*
"I remember once upon a time for me, even when I wasn't having sex of any kind, I would still be thinking about it constantly. So obviously it would be difficult for a person of any kind to meditate and get close to God while thinking about sex especially since they have had sex before."
*People in class look at each other trying not to laugh*


Umm, definitely not information you would share with a class.

The Good Life.

Because I'm not taking so many credits this semester, it's been pretty relaxing. Aside from me having to work 4 days a week in Alexander Dining Hall... and 3 out of those 4 days of working at 7am in the morning. I usually go in at 7.20am because 7am really is tooo damn early for me to be ready. But crap! I can't do that now anymore because in my lil 'Praise Pocket' at work today I found a 'Smile!' praise and on the back it said "Thank you for all the mornings, Suling. Be an early bird!" In other words.. "BE ON TIME FOR WORK!!!" Not gonna lie, that really made me feel kinda bad. But I do get everything that I'm supposed to get done with on time! But I know I know, it is my responsibility to get to work early! *sigh* Bridget keeps making the comment of me turning into an old woman these days. I get tired and start yawning by 11pm and then I wake up at 7am like an old woman. I eat supposed 'old woman food' like prunes. I'm just turning into an old woman in general she says. Damn.

Have you ever had to work with slooooowwwww people before? I can't stand it. As much of an 'old woman' I may be, I cannot stand slow people! I cannot stand it when I have to work at 7am in the morning and get pretzel doughs buttered and thawed, make coffees, clean the sinks, put out fruits for smoothies, pour out cheese sauces, stock refrigerators and do a tonne of other stuff and I am stuck with a slow worker. I have to constantly keep my anger in check when I have to ask and re-ask workers to do things. Or when there's a long line of customers waiting for coffee before they go to class and yet they don't hurry up your pace a little bit. I can't stand it when they're making pretzels while I give them a list of other stuff to do, and when I come back 15 minutes later, they're still making pretzels (2 pretzels in 15 minutes??) and nothing of the list I gave them is even done yet!!! It really annoys me when people move sooo slow! I'm the type who has to get done as much as I can in a short amount of time. I'm efficient like that. haha. And one more thing I cannot stand is people with no practicality or common sense to do simple things without having to be told to do it. I can't give examples. I'm too lazy. Plus I should stop obsessing about characteristics of people that get me all riled up. ;)

I should take a shower since I did some running today. Yeah it's winter and I ran outside for about 20 minutes I wanna say. BIG BIG BIG achievement for me. Seriously. But I really have to post up Fusion Pictures to show how amazing it went. Definitely wasn't perfect but it was still PERFECT in my eyes!

Filipino Tinikling with all the people that I now truly love. 

 

  

Chinese Dance (ah and the peeps that had to put up with my stress levels)

  

Too many other dances to put pictures up of.. but the end... 

 

And then the after Fusion celebration!

 

  

   

So there..! Now i can shower..!! :D