An Unexpected Trip

I thought today was gonna be another one of those "blue Mondays" that everybody dreads.

8 to 12 went on as scheduled: sit in class → try not to sleep while lecturer drones on → take occasional notes → wait for end of class/lunch. After lunch, went up to the library to kill the 2+ hours before IDM. Turned up early for IDM as usual, since the previous class had finished and we wanted to get good seats up front.

Then the unexpected happened. Mr Julian walked in and said, "I have good news and bad news for you guys. Which one do you want to hear first?"

(Most of the class, in unison) "Bad news." LOL

I guess he was kinda startled by our willingness to have the bad news first, but he just made himself comfortable sitting on the computer desk, then said, "Okay, the bad news is there's a talk in 20 minutes at the lakeside campus. The good news is, class is cancelled for today."

There was a 2-second pause for us to absorb the news before all hell broke loose, with some exclaiming "Yay!!", while a few others (who were much smarter) asked "So we have to go and listen to the talk?"

To which the answer was, of course, yes. -__-"

So a whole group of us SOC semester 2 and 3 students hopped onto the bus, while others drove there in their own cars. We all arrived in time for Mr Paul Southern, the director for Microsoft TV, Video and Music (Asia) to start his talk. He mostly elaborated on TV stuff, so it was kinda hard for us to relate, since we don't have interactive channels and stuff. Suffice to say, it was interesting, but we didn't get an Xbox each, lolz.

I'm really tired right now. The talk ended a little later than expected, and it was raining when we were finally released from the lecture theater. I'd SMS-ed my mum saying I was at the lakeside campus listening to a talk, but they went to LCS to pick me up as usual. AND it was raining. AND the bloody bus was late. FML Needless to say, my first ever visit to the new lakeside campus wasn't all that satisfactory.

It was better after that though. Went for a simple dinner, then to pasar malam to buy some stuff. Oh wow, nobody got into a mood this evening, amazing!

Anyway, as I was saying, I'm really tired out today. Luckily tomorrow's [super boring] class starts at 10.

Ninja Joe

Before we start, no, Ninja Joe is not a shop which sells clothes. It also does not sell samurai swords or katanas. It is not an anime/manga shop. It is, quite simply, a fast food restaurant.

You must be thinking, "OMG, finally! Another food post!" and promptly scroll down to drool at the food pictures.

Let me elaborate a bit on my day so far before we get to the main course, mmkay?

Well, today I went to LCS with my mum and dad to pay the 2nd semester fees, and then dropped by SS2 for him to do his stuff. While sitting in the car waiting for my dad, I was looking around and suddenly saw a very familiar car parked just 2 cars away from ours. Turns out my 2nd brother was there too, since he had half the day off and was killing time there. -__-" So while my dad was waiting for the cobbler to finish 'repairing' his slippers, my bro and I went to the 100 Yen Shop to have an ice. We shared a green tea-flavoured one, which tasted really good (I don't like red beans though x_x).


After that, my parents and I went to Tropicana City Mall to buy some groceries at Carrefour. Since it was at the LG floor, we decided to stop by Ninja Joe to try out their pork burger. ^^ The menu selection wasn't complicated. You only have to choose from 7 flavours (I think), how many burgers you want, a choice of lemonade or honey green tea for drinks and a few other side orders. We ordered 2 burgers (RM9.90): original for me and black pepper for my dad. I added the fries + green tea combo (RM3.50), while my dad just had a lemonade(RM2.50). The burgers came out pretty fast (it is fast food, after all) but I had to wait almost 15mins for my fries. It was totally worth it though, as they came out piping hot, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

My original flavour burger and honey green tea drink.

This is what the inside of the burger looks like: bun, lettuce, tomato, mayo and pork patty.

It was absolutely delicious! The size of the burger was pretty small compared to the others we're used to seeing, but the patty was very tasty and succulent indeed. It's not as dry as beef and definitely has more texture to it than chicken. They put a little too much mayonnaise, in my opinion, but it enhanced the meat's flavour and went very well with the lettuce. (I'm sorry to say that I gave the slice of tomato to my dad because I don't like tomato, lol)

Mmmm... Yummy!

The late-but-tasty fries.

That's all for now. I'd give this fast food joint a 4.5 out of 5, simply because it serves PORK burgers.

A Good Day

Oh wow. Today I actually felt like I did something productive around the house. O_o

No classes today. I woke up around 9, lazed around on the bed until 10, then went down to get breakfast. I hadn't had my yoghurt breakfast for a several days now, so it was pretty good to get back into the routine. I couldn't find the container of pear cubes in the fridge, though, so I added a piece of dark chocolate to sweeten it up. Turned out surprisingly yummy; the dark chocolate ball with praline filling went really well with the sourish taste of the yoghurt.

Then I remembered that there were 4 pieces of sushi waiting for me in the fridge, so I unwrapped them and popped them into the microwave oven (if any of you are freaking out over me reheating sushi... well, all I can say is, I dislike eating cold food x_x). Tasted alright, until I started having tummyaches for the next 3 hours. =_= Just great.

Note to self: Consume sushi on day of purchase.

During lunch, I surprised myself by asking my mum if she wanted me to mop the floors or anything. Yes, shocking I know. I actually offered to mop the floor! If my mum was surprised, she didn't show it. She just told me to mop upstairs, so after lunch, I armed myself with a mop-bucket, a pull-the-handle-to-squeeze-out-water mop, and a grim determination to do it until I was satisfied with a job well done...

...and I must say, I am pretty pleased with the results. 3 bedrooms and 1 hall upstairs - I swept each and every one clean before I started mopping, which makes it less of a mess when doing the actual mopping.

Napped for a couple of hours after taking a nice long shower, which felt good. Listening to classical music when reading a good book or drifting off to sleep is total bliss. The calming notes and soothing melodies are so relaxing, like a cool breeze on a hot summer's day.

Well, it's almost midnight. Time to hit the hay, and hopefully I'll wake up a bit earlier tomorrow morning, and do something else that's productive around the house.

Mistaken Nationality?

Sometimes you remember random moments that are just so random, you wonder why you even remember them. O_o

I don't remember being categorised as anything but Chinese all the time I've been living in Malaysia. I look obviously Chinese - not the single eyelid look for me, nor the skin as pure as snow. The older I got, the more I could not be mistaken for anything but Chinese, or at the very least, Asian.

Nationality, however, is another matter entirely. I've been mistaken for an ABC (Ang moh country-born-Chinese), Singaporean and Japanese in the past.


ABC - I don't like ice kacang. (Off topic, I know) Would you believe it, I actually had rosy cheeks when I was a kid. Oh, and the chubby cheeks to match (although I still have those, FML). I think it was more because of the hot weather than any miracle of the skin, except when I was holidaying somewhere cold. It probably didn't help that I only spoke (mostly) English and Hokkien. There's a photo of me eating noodles or something during a trip to Singapore, which my dad's friend took, where I look positively ang moh-ish. O_o Can I just say it was a trick of the light?


Singaporean - No duh. This is pretty common, I guess. You talk like you know what you're doing, you walk like you know exactly where the hell you're going, dress a bit nicer, and the person behind the counter automatically assumes you're not from KL but probably Singapore.


Japanese - I'm like, "what the heck?!". I still get mistaken for a Japanese sometimes when I'm walking around alone in KLCC, especially when I hang around Kinokuniya's Japanese book section or Isetan supermarket. I remember overhearing a bunch of girls saying (in Mandarin) "She must be Japanese" while furtively glancing in my direction. I was trying not to laugh out loud.

The best is definitely kept for last. The incident that takes the cake was when my dad, brother and myself were all mistaken to be Japanese. We were at KLCC and my dad was taking a shortcut through Isetan, with my bro and I hurrying along behind him. After going through the entrance, I noticed my brother smirking beside me, so I asked him what was so funny. He replied saying "Oh, you didn't hear what a couple of those salesgirls were saying when we passed by the clothing department?"

"No."

"They were whispering to each other and saying that 'those three' (meaning us) must be Japanese."

So I admit, both my dad and brother do look sorta Japanese. Dad is short and (slightly) round, but he can pass off as both a typical Malaysian or Chinese or Japanese citizen. [In fact, a Japanese man once mistook him for a fellow countryman on the Eurostar or something when he was young, and thought it was very arrogant of him not to return his bows until it was made clear my dad was not, in fact, a fellow countryman.] My second brother, who is one head taller than me and on the skinny side, can definitely pass as Japanese, which was proven when he went to Japan. I, on the other hand, absolutely lack any Japanese characteristics, except for the fact that I was somehow obviously related to the other two.

So yeah, I'm baffled. And this random memory of a random moment in time has stuck with me for a very long time, lol.


Oh well, it's easy to fool people into thinking you're not a Malaysian. One, dress nicely (and not in those lala zai fashion). Two, don't speak like a local. Say 'lah' and you're busted. If you can muster an English accent, even better. Three, act + dress + walk + talk confidently. Don't wait for the Starbucks person to ask you if you'd like a "Tall, grande or venti" and never go "Huh? I want a medium one". Four, be polite. Say thank you and smile at the cashier after your transaction is done. Thank the waiter for refilling your glass. It's proper etiquette, after all. Five, never ever be a litter bug. How hard is it to hold onto your rubbish until you see a litter bin in a shopping mall anyway?

Don't shoot me for that up there. It's just my personal opinion.


Okay, so that's about it from me. This post went on longer than I expected, but that's not surprising. I'm bored and there's nothing for me to do. I have something to do but I'm too lazy to do it now.