In good faith

Semester's over, and basically half my time here in the US. So fast it's been eh - and I haven't been blogging much, I know.

This semester's been eventful, to say the least. Didn't start out well, there was a sort of lull in the middle, then a few minor up-and-downs before the fall break. Then went to Chicago, and thought it would be smooth sailing for the last few weeks of the semester before winter break. But it wasn't, not really.

So winter break's here, and I'll be pretty much alone or studying with a friend for the month, cos have to take exam in January mah. Sien.

Could talk about the semester in general, or the trip to Chicago, or how we got snowed in last week because of blizzard conditions in Iowa. Or I could talk about how there's been a crisis of good faith for me.

(I like the phrase - crisis of good faith - despite your thinking it sounds bombastic. Then again, I don't give shit to people who think my English is bombastic. Go find something else to criticize about. I like words; I like obscure words and phrases. Can't deal with it? BFD.)

Good faith - wouldn't you like to have it? We expect it in some situations - with your family, your friends, when dealing with supposedly creditable, believable authority. We expect that the trust we have in these institutions won't be misused, or used for the other party's own ends. We come to expect that the other party - person - would not lie to us, or withhold the truth when deception is discovered. We expect the other party to apologize, to realise his - her; their - mistake when the truth comes out.

It gets iffier with friendships, I suppose. It takes time to build up rapport, trust, and a whole shitload of other things that you take as they come. Patience, tact, communication, support, tolerance. Tolerance's a pretty good part of it - don't pretend you think your friends are perfect, and they've never let you down - but for the most part, we tolerate. Because friendships are better when you look at the big picture, instead of focusing on the petty details that would annoy the hell out of anyone if you really count them.

True, you may think that telling the truth all the time means you're someone trustworthy. But when what you do doesn't seem to be what you're saying, this is where the crisis occurs. You may say, "I've always been honest with you", but hell knows, you haven't been entirely honest to other people in your life. Well so what if your relationship with the other person was so strained you hated being in it - it still doesn't give you the right to lie.

"I couldn't get out of it" - what, so lying can be condoned in this situation? Why don't you solve that problem first before you create another? When will you learn that just because you want something badly, because you want a good change badly, it still doesn't give you the right to hurt the other party and lie? Why run the risk of hurting another person when you can't seem to stop hurting the first one? Why so selfish?

"I didn't succeed anyway - it's in the past" - more excuses. There was intention, and at one point you were actually doing it. Did you actually think about other people when you did what you did, or were you only thinking about how it would benefit you?

It's in the past, true, but once trust is lost from someone, good luck getting it back.

"The other party wouldn't like it if I told the truth" - so lie? That's it? Take the easy way out and continue deceiving the other person because you don't want to accept the fact that you're doing something you know you shouldn't? Something you know is wrong - or hell no, you think it's okay; that makes it much worse then - and you keep doing it anyway.

I'm a stickler for honesty in my relationships. If you think I'm being petty, then too bad.

***

Is it weird to want to be alone for some periods of time?

Solitude is underrated. And I'm answerable to no one when I have no obligation to be anywhere else than where I want to be. Which is here, in my room, alone.

Emo? No, I just like doing things on my own at times. I get titchy when I'm around people all the time.

***

Yes? No? What do you think?

Bringing weirdness back

I didn't like Muse's Uprising video. But this is surprisingly awesome. Probably cos Matt looks sexier here.

Did Dom dye his hair, or it's just the lights?

The lyrics, they are sexy.



Started snowing heavily last night. It's pretty, yes, until it turns to slush.

From The Guardian -I need to hunt down more videos like this.

SAKIT SAKIT SAKIT

What. The. Hell.

To start from the beginning -

My major requires me to take professional exams. Most people try to pass as many exams as they can before they graduate, because a) uni prepares you for the first few papers, and b) you won't have time to study when you're working.

I can give you reason c).

c) Because you won't be able to afford the exam fees once you start working, and your parents expect you to pay for your own fees, should the company you work for does not sponsor your fees fully.

Babi yong sui. Exam fees have gone up by $25 for the first two papers, $40 for the third. There are...five papers before you're halfway to full qualification. And I'm talking about US dollars here, okays, so find the exchange rate, get out your calculator, and find the corresponding Malaysian ringgit amount. And IT'S NOT FUNNY, when the cheapest exam - after the increase - will be $160. And the study manual, for EACH EXAM, which you have to buy separately, costs upwards of $100.

"Risk is opportunity" - buntut aku.

Bulan Baru (or)

How I Spent 10 Dollars on a Movie

I went to watch New Moon last night. (It's been almost a year since my last Twilight review - ohemgee!)

Anyways. Erm.

It was...entertaining, in a bad way.

*HERE BE SPOILERS*

First few minutes dah awesum. Bella with her whiny "omg I'm eighteen I'm ooooooooold no don't wish me Happy Birthday, wah!". And then Edward came out of his Volvo, right, in the school parking lot, and then walks slooooooooooo-mooooooo to Bella, who looks like she can't decide whether to hyperventilate or not. Not funny. And then the whole kissy-we-can't-decide-whether-to-make-out-or-not in the parking lot. Meh.

Then the Romeo & Juliet product placement. Hah. Not funny. Romeo and Juliet were young eejits anyway, dying cos of ~*true love*~.

Okeys. Let's see what else...

The piano got smashed. By Jasper. Who was thrown by Edward. So no more Emo Songs by Sparkly Vamp™. That's why there's no Bella's Lullaby, Version 2.0 in this movie. Cos Edward broke his own piano. I loves the irony.

Lots of sparkling in this movie though. Without the tinkle-tinkle sound effects. Huh. But still not convincing.

Halfway through the movie, Dita commented: "I don't know why people like Edward so much. Jacob is cuter."

Was sitting next to Ken Vin too, and during the movie, had fun laughing over the corny lines. Not that it helped that he kept repeating the lines back to me in some weird stalker voice. Which goes to show, doesn't it?

AHAHAHAHAHAHA the part where Jacob takes off his shirt when Bella starts bleeding - very WTF moment. Was laughing with the audience.

Ooo er, and when Bella does all those stupid stunts to ~*see*~ Edward, was whispering "S.H." to Ken Vin. (S.H....work it out. You know Chinese. The guys here taught me this. Blame them.) And when it got to the scene where she cliff-dived, in slooooooooo-mooooooo -

Me: S.H.

KV: S.H.

Me: S.H.

KV: S.H.

*Bella sinks in sea, dying*

KV: GG lor.

(GG - if you play DoTA, you'll know. The guys here also taught me this. To put it in our slang = die lor.)

Werewolves were very fake. CGI. Meh. I show you mine, okays? It's nicer.


And what's with the weird wispy Edward ghost things? Macam the people in Priori Incantatem liddat. Yer, plagiarism.

Oh oh oh and they played Muse's Undisclosed Desires in one small part. Cut short pun. Good. Probably Bella has an undisclosed desire to die, I don't know, that's why the song was there? That's, like, so deep. (Cos I was ranting in the cinema, wtf be this nonsense, I ask you.)

Soundtrack wasn't that bad, to be honest. Lykke Li? Death Cab for Cutie? I should scrap my indie pretensions and go listen to Korean or Chinese songs instead, maybe. Time to clear up all the emo whiny omg-my-life-sucks-in-suburbia songs in my iPod...

Hah, main complaint. Michael Sheen. You. Go back to being Tony Blair. Please. Don't ever try to act as a vampy vampire. It doesn't work. And the other two head Volturi macam kayu. Their chairs were more interesting.

Hahhaa and when Edward stepped out into the sun for the showdown, to quote KV, "It's like a slow-motion striptease". I don't know why girls scream over Edward, cos him shirtless is...ew.

Ending was awesome la. Dita fell asleep a few minutes before the end. Next thing I knew, I was rolling my eyes and mouthing "marry me", just before Edward said it, with a pained expression, "Marry me, Bella". Heard Ken Vin remark, "So disgusting", and then bam!, credits were rolling, and he was going, "What the hell? That's it?" and Dita's awake asking what was the ending. Yes, dear readers, Chris Weitz pulls another of his infamous Golden Compass endings and ends so suddenly you're more annoyed than intrigued.

Overall: Meh. Get the DVD if you can. I need to go home and find that copy of New Moon what my sister bought, and highlight "sparkle" and "beautiful" every time I find them.

Well the caramel popcorn was good.

I am so ~*unique*~

I searched on Facebook for other Yeen Lynns, but it seems that either a) no one else is named Yeen Lynn, or b) other Yeen Lynns are too noob, too old or too cut off from the Internet to get on to Facebook. But this makes me all the more ~*unique*~, and I sparkle.

I should be doing homework on tonight, on Friday night, but I don't want to, because I normally don't do homework on Friday nights. I rather sit staring at the ceiling than do homework, because I am ~*unique*~.

I am also ~*unique*~ in that I tend to post posts like this when I have nothing better to do, especially after I drink tea and the caffeine gets into my system.

I am ~*unique*~ in that I like smelling coffee, not drinking it.

Anyways. Was wasting time on the Guardian again today (isn't it strange - I'm in the US reading a UK paper but I'm from Malaysia, ooo lookit me, I'm so ~*unique*~), and found this, on how wrong it is that Christmas decorations should be up so early. They shouldn't. Day after Halloween, wandered into Walgreens, and all the fake scary Halloween deco had been changed into Christmas. Jolly. Went to Wal-Mart a few days after that, and the same thing had happened. All those unconvincingly spooky costumes and decorations seemed to have been switched overnight into Christmas stuff - you know, happy holidays, greetings, ohey-buy-more-it's-Christmas and buy-more-baking-stuff. And that was the first week of November.

Christmas seems to have become a free-for-all excuse to sell more stuff to people who are more willing to buy. Hnah. And Oreos came out with two new variations to their cookie, one's Fudge Sundae, I think, and I got the mint fudge. Cos I'm ~*unique*~ and I like mint, although most people tell me it just tastes like toothpaste. (Don't you like the taste of your toothpaste?)

Erm. I forgot what I wanted to say. Toothpaste?

You and me are gone

Have listened to Jamie Cullum's The Pursuit and am liking it. There's his trademark tinkly piano, him with his smooth voice, and his covers, like Rihanna's Don't Stop the Music. Now have it on repeat, because there is always the fun of listening to someone banging on the piano like Cullum does.

I'm supposed to blog about the individual songs, but the thought that most people reading this don't even know who the hell is Jamie Cullum just kills it.

Watch this video then.



Funny how a song about ending a relationship can sound so happy. But endings are good sometimes.

Give me that iPod which I deserve or so help me

Just opened an e-mail in my uni inbox. Ah look, an e-mail from the Malaysian Students Department (MSD) in Chicago. A survey! Ooo, from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department. Heading goes: Attention all self-funded students. How nice.

(I added the sparkles because they look pretty.)

Complete the survey, self-funded students! Stand a chance to win an iPod Shuffle by submitting a completed survey!

Have checked with friend, who said that MSD has never done this before. Cos, this has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we have scholarship students on campus this semester.

I have nothing against scholarship students. I have friends who have scholarships. I'm not going to comment about scholarships here.

It's just that...weeeeell, hello, where were you when the self-funded students were bumming out here for years and years?

So I did the survey, cos I want to stand a chance to win an iPod Shuffle. (Kiamsiap nyer, Shuffle only. Nano price dah drop, tau tak? And this is the Land of Apple.) There were questions like Why do you prefer to study abroad? Would you choose to study locally instead if etc etc?

I can write about the reasons why, but I won't. Cos I want to sleep and it's a waste of time to.

Ta.

This is my 600th post

And I give you...

...a collage.

Which I did because I'm bored and I slept for the whole afternoon trying to get rid of a headache.

And I just drank - erm - two and a half cups of tea. Yeah. Cos there's no mamak.

Hi Jun-Yi

This post is not about my neighbour.

(Considering you also get affected by his yong sui-ness, but never mind.)

This post is about autumn (or Fall as they call it here) and it's shitty weather.

This is about trees turning red and brown and gold and leaves dying all over the ground and roads.

This is about the rain and the wind and the cold and the perpetual gloom.

This is about nights coming early, and the feeling that the year is ending in a sad, reluctant way.

This is about getting leaf mould on your shoes when you walk to class, and soaked shoes and socks when you step in puddles.

This is about Shu Yuan being a complete noob and spamming my Facebook wall and inbox.

This is about me being emo and then getting perked up on too much Starbucks Java Chip.

This is about some post I wrote because I'm bored and you're sick of my blog, so I decided to blog about other things.

HAI JUN-YI, I MISS YOUR GOSSIP SESSIONS.

This is a song for anyone -

Am feeling better today than I have in...days.

Probably it's the coffee - Espresso Chocolate Truffle from Starbucks tastes weird - giving me the caffeine rush. As always.

Or it's something to do with listening to Noah and the Whale online.

Or the time I'm spending with friends, catching up after practically half a semester of doing our own thing.

Or the thought that it'll be sunny tomorrow, and much warmer than the last week or so.

Or the hope that my newly purchased earplugs will work.

Or my mood swings are finally ending. Thank god.

Have a listen.



I think I have a new favourite band.