This & that / Part 2

I started watching English TV series this year. All this while, I have been chasing Hong Kong dramas only because that's what my friends and I ever talk about :P Haha not really. Well before that I was using the cheapest (and therefore slowest) package of Streamyx so I can forget about downloading movies online. Finally my family decided to switch to Unifi -YAY! I started to live stream HK dramas from this super messy website.

And then, I thought, OK so I'll be starting uni soon, I guess it's time for some English TV series instead (never mind if you don't see the correlation, lol). First show that popped into my mind was Gossip Girl. The series is known for its characters' fashionable style - at least, that's what I always hear. I finished Season 1 before I went into uni, and then didn't have time to continue until my study break *coughs* which is meant for studying and preparing for exams. But I only watched a few episodes then, heheh. 

So during my one-month holiday, I was mostly in front of the computer screen everyday. 

At first I enjoyed the show. And then I didn't enjoy it. Then I enjoyed it again. And then after that, I watched till the end (Season 6) just because of Leighton Meester. Lol. All I can say is, drama and revenge is SO not my thing, but Leighton is so so beautiful and her portrayal of Blair Waldorf is flawless! Other than that, the parties and outfits - Blair's and Serena's - are mostly the reasons why I keep watching (skipped a few parts towards the end though). My favourite couple in the beginning was Dan and Serena, but it gradually became Chuck and Blair :P

Next up, I watched 2 Broke Girls. It's only two seasons, and one episode is about 20 minutes. Perfect for people with short attention spans aka me :D

I love Max and Caroline, Max more because she is so unexpected and oh-so-awesome! The jokes are great and I literally laughed out loud most of the time :D Except for the crude sex jokes, which I think are too much heh.

I watched New Girl, also only two seasons. Then I realised that I've been watching TV shows that end with 'Girl(s)' LOL LOL LOL. Quite funny lah. 

I see why so many people love Zooey Deschanel. The other show in which I saw her act was 500 Days of Summer. She has this sort of quirky charm that is just so appealing. At least, that's what I think of her - and that is also why I love her. One more reason I watch New Girl is because Taylor Swift made a brief appearance in the season finale of Season 2 :P 

Currently, I'm watching Season 4 of How I Met Your Mother. Man, I love it! Now I understand what the hype on HIMYM is all about haha! Barney Stinson is too funny :'D Plus Josh Radnor (Ted) is super duper cute.

I could have finished all eight seasons before next Monday when classes start, but because after Season 2, my player crashed and I had no idea how to fix it, so I had no choice but to re-install it. And the downloading process kept crashing, making me so fed up that I abandoned it for a few days. But I couldn't stand not watching it, plus the promo clip for Season 9 made my heart itch so badly. I tried again, and after many gruesome hours of waiting for the torrent file to load, I managed to continue Season 3! 

HIMYM is the only show (so far) that I watch from torrent files. It's so frustrating because they take quite a while to load D: So if whoever has the complete HIMYM set - actually from Season 4-8 will do - pretty please lend it to me? :P

Oh I also just started watching Triumph in the Skies II! I can't believe TVB waited for 10 years to produce part two. I remember watching part one in primary school! I have forgotten the storyline so I'm not sure if it continues with part two or not. Have only watched until episode six. I think Hong Kong is airing episode eight today if I'm not mistaken. I think I'll continue watching after all 40 episodes come out, so I don't have to wait. Yay for many of my favourite actors (and actress) in this show, namely Fala Chen, Ron Ng and Kenneth Ma!

TVB dramas are always highly influential. I wanted to become a pilot after only six episodes /.\

So other than spending my time in front of the computer screen, I also read a handful of books. Managed to finish Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (after one year) - I used to love reading classics but now I find it so hard to finish a book. Why T.T And the worse part is I only understand about 40% of what the book is saying. I wonder if anyone has the same problem or maybe it's just me, hmm. 

Besides that I read Madeleine Wickham aka Sophie Kinsella's Swimming Pool Sunday, Yann Martel's Life of Pi (SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD) and Agatha Christie's At Bertram's Hotel. I wanted to watch Life of Pi again after finishing the book but until now I haven't got around to doing it. Lol. I think I can say that it's the second movie I love - after Titanic. One cannot help but to notice the similarities between both movies involving the ocean and a sunken ship. One does wonder if I have started to develop a phobia of the waters. 

Haha I don't know myself. Maybe, maybe not.

Much pondering aside, there are three more days to the start of a new semester. It should be time to mentally prepare myself for the nightmare. One of utmost importance is that I have to stop procrastinating. Seriously. Those endless late night last-minute completion of assignments scared me half dead. Once I went to bed at 4 and woke up at 6 - it was CRAZY. And because of not having enough sleep, I fell sick once a month since starting uni. So here's hoping that I will set my priorities right and finish all my work in time.

I must learn to be a responsible university student (bring on the nerdiness!). 

*Must not procrastinate

*Must go to bed by 11pm every night

This & that / Part 1

As I am in my room typing this out on my laptop, I have just recovered from a case of flu, fever, and body aches. It has been five days - sigh. I still have a bit of flu and the aches have reduced to just my back. Not sure whether the existing aches are because I have not fully recovered yet, or because of my sleeping position.

So. I will be starting a new semester (first year, second semester) next Monday, which is freaking fast. I still want more holiday! Not that I have done anything productive during my break, but I feel so lazy to start classes again. Not to mention having to face the horrendous assignments D':

Last semester, I took Media Studies, Journalism 1, Contemporary Film Studies and Psychology 1A (elective). I will be taking Introduction to Communication Studies, Journalism 2, Contemporary Television Studies and Sex, Gender, Knowledge (a unit under Gender Studies as my elective). I particularly enjoyed Media Studies (though it requires A LOT of reading - and it's not easy) and Film :D Journalism assignments are tough and challenging work. Psychology, mehhh. Nothing compared to the syllabus in A Levels :/ Anyway, here's hoping that I will enjoy every unit this coming semester!

Right after my last paper, I went to Pyramid (where else? HAHA) with the uni mates to celebrate! :D

Before my exams, I saw this super easy Nutella cupcake recipe on Facebook, and all you have to do is mash Nutella, eggs and flour in a bowl, put them in a pan and bake. As simple as that! Told myself that I HAVE to try this recipe. And here goes:

Well the top was cracked and it tasted a little dry, but other than that it was certainly yummy. But anything with Nutella is yummy so :P

I also go hiking almost every morning. You can read my previous post (here) if you have not.

Andddd, I got myself a new laptop! I felt a bit disadvantaged having no laptop to do my assignments in uni, and I always had to fight with other students for the computers because the computers in the library are seriously limited. Of course, there are computer labs but they are often occupied with classes. That leaves me with the journalism lab (which I love because it is restricted to students from the School of Arts & Social Sciences only, therefore merely a few students using at any time), but of course there will be classes going on too.

Not forgetting one thing that irks me the most, is transferring files from my home computer or laptop, to my uni's computer and vice versa. Sometimes things go wrong somehow, and the document cannot be read by a different computer so, sigh. That is why it is much much more convenient to have my own personal laptop :) Before that, I was using my dad's laptop from his office that weighs 3kg so as you can see, it is nearly impossible for me to carry it around uni.

So here it is, my dream laptop for years - a Sony Vaio :D This model - S series - was on promotion then (not sure if it still is) so pink is the only colour left :/ I would have preferred white. Haha oh well, pink stands out among the rest ;) It was selling at RM2599 instead of RM2899, so quite a good buy I think. Comes with a free laptop bag and wireless mouse, which according to the salesman, costs more than RM200. Well, the mouse looks super cool. Haha.

Specifications include: Intel core i5, 4GB memory, Intel HD graphics 4000, 13.3 inches display, 750GB hard disk drive, 1.72kg.

Oh, Windows 8. I have a love-hate relationship with you.

At first I thought it was quite cool what with the colourful boxes that you can move around and all that but man, it took me a while to really get used to it. And every time I discover something by accident, I would be so happy and delude myself into thinking that I am a genius. Haha. Thank goodness it comes with the traditional version of the desktop ;)

But I still wish Windows 8 would not be so complicated though. It is like using a huge-ass Windows phone lol. Once I wanted to use Paint, but I could not find it anywhere. By the way, even the traditional desktop does not have a 'Start' icon which is so weird :/ Well, I went online to look for a solution, and it turns out that I have to press the Windows icon + 'R', type 'mspaint' into the search box to open Paint. LOL what is this! I cannot get the icon out on the desktop also :(

Okay, enough rambling on the complications of Windows 8. Honestly after I found out that I can still use the traditional desktop (took me a few days to realise that lol), I have been using it ever since.

Here's a random picture of my CG friends :)

Then I went for my sister's orchestra in school. I stayed up pretty late the previous night, to help her colour this big poster for her exhibition.

Erm. Not so big after all. LOL.

Was surprised to see a cello there because they do not have cellists in their wind orchestra. So good to have this baby in my arms again :'D

I wish I could go back to school again! Missing the school life.

Then out of nowhere, came the minion craze. Well those silly yellow creatures are undeniably cute so I understand why people would want to collect all the minion toys, but when people start to cause havoc over these? Wow. I thought Singaporeans were terrible over the Hello Kitty craze (no offence intended) but look at us.

I wanted to collect all the toys myself, but then I figured, man I have to queue up with all those crazy people just to get a toy and even then, it may be sold out already. Nah, what a waste of effort. It is after all, a fad that will pass by so fast you would not even notice.

And the other day I went back to uni to change my unit, I saw these! Awh, my uni is so cool :P

Ramadan began and my favourite thing to do during this season is of course, visiting the Ramadan bazaars ;) I always go to the one opposite my secondary school, and it does not disappoint. Been going there and 'tapao-ing' dinner for three days in a row! And that perhaps, is the reason I fell sick :P Anyway, my favourites this year are the Mexican chicken and durian cendol. Awesome-ness.

Lastly, I went for a guitar workshop organised by my church last Saturday. It lasts for three Saturdays and I can't wait to learn more techniques!

How I lose (about) 600 calories a day

My current sport is hiking. I do it almost every day now with the exception that if it is raining or mom has got something to do. 

Initially I was super keen to start hiking. I could not wait for my holidays to come and then I would wake up every morning and hike and lose calories and slim down eventually *cough* 

After my last paper, I told myself, 'Okay, I will make sure that I start next Monday.' And guess what, the haze swept over Klang Valley (perfect timing) with some areas having API that even went up to over 300! It was so severe that anything situated three feet away from me looked blur. 

Natural limestones!

About one week later, the terrible haze subsided (oh thank God) and my mom happily reminded me that we were starting hiking the next day - yippee! I was like, but my motivation to exercise has subsided too.... Bleurghhh. Gone with the haze! (Geddit geddit?)

7.15am overlooking Wawasan.

But I still went for it. Yes, I am not one to give up that easily. But boy, it IS hard to be constantly motivated for the same thing for so long. It has been two weeks now and I'm slowly losing my fire... Okay I need to stop that thought. 

Well well, so my first time at Ayer Hitam forest reserve in Wawasan, Puchong was pretty amazing. Definitely not as terrifying as Broga Hills, which... I do not ever want to go there again. This hill is so kind to me :') I took about one hour and 45 minutes the first time - because I was snapping pictures the whole way and... of course resting A LOT. Haha. 

Some wild mushrooms.

I admit, I pretended to be Katniss Everdeen trekking through the jungle on the lookout for tributes. Well, for the first few times anyway. I seldom think of her now. It certainly made the hike ten times more interesting and fun okay.

The path. Serious jungle-trekking yo.

A green tea mushroom. Nah just kidding.

I was huffing and puffing uphill and then sitting on the ground because my legs were too tired, while watching people much much older than me walk by effortlessly. (Wh-whaaat?!)

This is so cool haha.

Sunlight streaming through the trees!

It is not as scary as Broga Hills because this hill is a combination of slopes, steep slopes, and flat grounds. Also, the level of steepness is not as dangerous as Broga. And I love the alternation of a slope and flat ground because then you would not feel excessively weary.

Such a tall, tall tree.

20 minutes later we reached a small stream.

By the way, flat grounds is my strength because that is where I can move like wind. My weakness is steep downward slopes. I look down, and I think of slipping, of tumbling down the hill and hurting myself real bad. The fear just grips my mind and takes control of my whole body that sometimes I find myself halting in the middle of a slope, too scared to continue.

Every time I go down, I subconsciously chant 'Wow wow wow' in my head. I do not even know why. It is so weird. It is like helping me calm my nerves and steady myself or something. I did slip a couple of times, nothing serious though.

Natural (and man-made) staircase.

After my first hike, I thought I needed to get a hiking stick and I got one! It does help a lot as a support especially on steep slopes.

The top! And yes, it's not really top top.

Along the way, you meet a lot of other hikers too. And well, Malaysia is a friendly country so you meet a lot of friendly hikers who wish you 'Good morning!' cheerily (some not so but still) as they pass by. Not to say  that I am an unfriendly person buttttt I would rather they not greet me because:

1) It is 7.30 in the morning (sounds like a legit reason for anything, really).

2) I am all out of energy with all the walking and climbing, that there is no more or little left for a greet (I gasp 'Good morning' 97% of the time, really).

You know, there is something about nature that just consumes your body, mind and soul. One thing I love to do in the forest, is to deeply inhale the sweet and fresh scent of it. Mmmhm.

Ooh quirky branch.

How can you not love the blue-ness of the sky, right?

Ahhh I love this picture :D

After a couple of times hiking, I improved from one and a half hour to one hour and five minutes. Oh yeah! I am still trying to break my record - by finishing the hike in one hour.

This was my sixth workout. 

Mom keeps telling me that the main reason we exercise is not to slim down but to have a healthy and well-functioning body. I'm like, mmm mmhm. Well, I have been doing this for two weeks and on average, I lose about 600 freaking calories a day. Yeah baby!!! 

I am not sure if there would be a difference in my weight at the end of this month (because I did not actually compromise on the glorious food)... Anyway, there is only two more weeks until the start of my second semester so I will be making the best out of it. 

...Please please please let me lose some weight. 

Johor Premium Outlets

Before we head back home to KL on Sunday, we stopped by Johor Premium Outlets (JPO), which is located along the highway. JPO is the first luxury premium brand outlet in Southeast Asia.

It has up to 80 (EIGHTY! Can you imagine that?!) designer brands with 25%-65% discount everyday. Shoppers can find brands like Armani, Burberry, Guess, DKNY, Michael Kors and many more here - 99.9% of which I will never visit in my whole life.

Yep, I cannot afford stepping into these stores la.

The trees are too tiny to provide sufficient shade :/



I like the architecture. Very nais!





















There's this really pretty dress from Guess that had almost a 50% discount GAHHH. But I didn't get it. That few seconds of pleasure and excitement.. *sigh*

I look so slim here. Hahahahahah.





Starbucks has sort of an oriental feel to it. Quite cool leh.



Phone casings from Cotton On cost only RM1 each waddaheck!!! But they don't have casings for my phone model :(

In the end, mom bought a Guess handbag and dad bought a pair of shoes from Clarks. Nothing for my sister and I.... Beep beep beep.

I totally want to come here again. Maybe next time I can take my own sweet time browsing through stores and then get some really cheap stuff from Cotton On, Forever 21, Roxy, Vincci and maybe even... Guess.

By the way, anyone can join the VIP Shopper Club for free and enjoy member benefits such as getting email updates on sales and special events, voucher for a free VIP coupon book, updates on new stores and invitations to special events! Just click here!

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Johor Premium Outlets
Indahpura
81000 Kulaijaya
Johor Darul Takzim
Tel: (607) 6618888
Fax: (607) 6618810

GPS 1°36'11"N , 103°37'17"E 

Opening hours: Monday-Sunday, 10am-10pm