Anecdotes of my passing...

On 25th of Nov, I went to watch the concert of From The Jam. Who are they, you ask?? Well, I had no idea myself. I won 2 tickets from a contest I entered and I was very surprised when I received the email saying to collect the tickets on the day of the gig itself. And yea..backstage passes too. It's just too bad it isn't some band like Oasis or Coldplay.. :P

I did some research on the band and apparently they were quite popular some time ago. I tried searching for their songs online to download but I could not find any. Nevertheless, in the true spirit of never giving up freebies such as this, I decided to go. I was anticipating some thrashy metal super indie music.

I brought a friend along for the show. In the foyer, there were like so many middle aged and late 20s locals waiting for the gig to start. I think my friend and I were the only non-Caucasian,...the only minority...and definitely the only Asians for miles around. The seating was fantastic, we got a spectacular view from the tier above the stage.

The music surprised me. It was actually not bad. Very listenable and there were 2 songs that I quite fancy but I have not been able to find them online. Maybe I'll try after this.

It was a wonderful experience and I am looking forward to attending more gigs like these. For free of course. But then again, Natasha Bedingfield's concert is on Feb 24 and the ticket costs 19.50 pounds. Rihanna and Mike Buble's concert tickets were too expensive...in the hundreds. way over my budget... So, please excuse me while I go scour for more contests to enter....

The weather is getting chillier now. Winter has already arrived but no snow yet. :) The weather is so nice to sleep in....it's very difficult to get up in the mornings. All you feel is just curling back under the warm blanket in the cosy room. But life goes on yea...

I've stopped cooking as often now. Grocery prices has gone up, especially the chicken. Perhaps I will wait until the discount comes back before I start hoarding food in the freezer again. No worries..i am still eating fine and healthy. I do make sure I get my fibre (fruits and vegies) as well as my usual carbs and protein. Just in a less tasty form. :P

I was making fried rice the other day when my housemate saw the usual Chinese black mushrooms I soaked in a bowl of water. I wanted the mushroom to be soft before slicing them up and throwing them into the rice in the wok. The conversation that ensued (not verbatim).

Housemate : Erm...what are those?

Me : Mushrooms...do you like 'em?

Housemate : Yea, they're alright. Why are you soaking them? Are they like poisonous?

Me : ... yea

Housemate : *shocked!*

Housemate 2 : You idiot...if it's poisonous you'll still die.

Me : *laughing really loudly* no, no..it's not poisonous.

Housemate : Oh..cheers. *laughs*

Well...it may not sound funny here, but when it happened, is sure was funny to me. Anyway, the fried rice turned out alright.

Been neglecting a bit, so I'll just summarise as best I can. Hari Raya came and gone...attended the Malaysian Society's makan which is commendable since they made it themselves. Satay, mi sup, nasi lemak and ayam...all washed down with air sirap. It was ok overall.

Diwali was totally uneventful. There was a Diwali ball in City Hall but I think it was mainly attended by international Indian students. No idea..was not planning to attend anyway.

Guy Fawkes day was spectacular, if only for its firework display. It is supposed to commemorate a 300 year-old failed plot to blow up the Parliament. I have no idea why they were celebrating this day but I enjoyed the fireworks display nevertheless. It went on and on and on...way longer than our Merdeka firework displays.

Work is beginning to pile up. I'm already in the groove of things here. Everything is falling into place. Now I'll probably consider getting some job. We'll see how it goes. The education system here is very different from that of home. Both has its pros and cons. The best would be a merge of both. Independence within a structured discipline... My independence from my self-study sessions back home came in handy here..also, my blunt-to-the-point way of answering questions as indoctrinated in me from the national exams proved to be useful. In tutorials here, the non-Malaysian students sometimes tend to ramble on things that are even remotely connected to the issue...then again, some of them just don't bother doing their work, hence the bamboozling. Having said that, there are also extremely industrious students, preparing sheets after sheets of answers in preparation for the tutorials. On a more personal note, I think it has been a wonderful experience thus far.

My pictures are up, though they are very limited because I don't carry my camera everywhere with me all the time. Links will be sent asap. Stay tuned.




Anyone knows where or what this is? :)

These pictures were taken at Tesco Extra.



A lot of pumpkins and halloween costumes...and even gasp! food... "scary" chocolates etc.. :P





wide array of costumes...